Image source, Telegram

As we've been reporting, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says the UK government will do "whatever is necessary" to secure the release of two Britons given a death sentence by a Russian proxy court in Ukraine.

Here's what we've heard from their families so far:

• The families of both men say they were long-serving members of the Ukrainian military - and not volunteers or mercenaries, as they've been accused
• In a statement last week, Aiden Aslin's family said it "was a very sensitive and emotional time" and they were working with the Ukrainian government and the Foreign Office to try to bring Aiden home. "Aiden is a much-loved man and very much missed, and we hope that he will be released very soon," they said
• Shaun Pinner's family said they were "devastated and saddened" at the verdict and described the trial in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic as "illegal" and a "show trial"
• They added that Pinner has lived in Ukraine for four years and he was a "contracted serving marine in the 36th Brigade" of the armed forces and should be "accorded all the rights of a prisoner of war according to the Geneva Convention and including full independent legal representation"
• Meanwhile, Brahim's father told Moroccan media outlet Madar21 that his son was not a mercenary, but a student in Ukraine when Russia launched its invasion

Image source, Getty Images

Now back to the battle in Severodonetsk, in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. With the final bridge out of the embattled city down, hope has been fading for civilians and troops trapped there.

But the city's mayor says while the situation is "very difficult", there is communication with the city, according to Reuters.

Ukraine says more than 500 civilians are trapped inside a chemical factory in an industrial zone where its forces have resisted weeks of Russian assault.

Evacuations are still being carried out "every minute when there is a lull and there is a possibility of transportation", Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk says.

"But these are discreet evacuations, done one by one, and every possible chance is taken."

The news agency also quotes Damien Megrou, a spokesperson for a unit of foreign volunteers helping to defend the city, who says there is a risk of leaving "a large pocket of Ukrainian defenders cut off from the rest of the Ukrainian troops" - as in Mariupol which fell in May after months of Russian siege.

More now from the UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who has defended her previous support for Britons who wished to join the fight in Ukraine.

Back in February, she told the BBC it was up to people to make their own decisions, but argued the war in Ukraine was a battle "for democracy".

"Absolutely, if people want to support that struggle I would support them in doing that," she told BBC One's Sunday Morning on 27 February.

But in a BBC interview this morning, Truss insisted she had been clear at that time that Foreign Office advice to Britons was not to travel to Ukraine.

"We've always been clear that our travel advice is not to go to Ukraine and I was clear about that at the time," Truss told the Today programme on Tuesday.

It comes after two Britons were sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court in Ukraine for fighting with the Ukrainian army "as mercenaries".

Image source, Itar-Tass News Agency

As we reported earlier, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says the UK government will do "whatever is necessary" to secure the release of two Britons condemned to death last week by a Russian proxy court in Ukraine.

• Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who were both already living in Ukraine at the time of the Russian invasion, were captured in April while defending the besieged city of Mariupol
• They were sentenced alongside a third man, Moroccan national Saaudun Brahim, in what has been described as an illegal "show trial" in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, a pro-Russian breakaway region in eastern Ukraine
• All three men were charged with being mercenaries, the violent seizure of power and undergoing training to carry out terrorist activities, according to Russia state news agency RIA Novosti
• The Britons' families have insisted they are long-serving members of the Ukrainian military and not mercenaries
• Brahim's father told Moroccan media outlet Madar21 that his son was not a mercenary, but a student in Ukraine when Russia launched its invasion.

A further 70 people have been evacuated from Lysychansk and its surrounding settlements, says Serhiy Haidai, regional governor of Luhansk.

Posting on Telegram, external, Haidai described the conditions in the region, which is under heavy artillery attack from the Russians, as "real hell".

He said evacuation was fraught with risk, with residents "running under fire to the car" and only able to move onward under the cover of darkness when night falls.

"The shelling is so powerful that people can no longer stand in the shelters," he wrote.

"But we cannot lose as long as it is possible to save at least one life - we will save".

Taking Lysychansk and its twin city, Severodonetsk, has become a top military goal for Russia, as it would give Moscow control of the entire Luhansk region - much of which is already controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

On Monday, the final bridge leading to Severodonetsk was destroyed, effectively cutting off the city - and halting both supplies and evacuations.

Lysychansk, across the the Siversky Donets river, remains in Ukrainian hands but is under sustained attack.

Image source, .

As we've been reporting, heavy fighting is continuing in east Ukraine, with several key locations under intense Russian bombardment.

Here are the latest developments:

• Russian forces have cut off Severodonetsk following the destrucion of three bridges to the eastern city
• Russian troops are continuing to attack Ukrainian positions north of Kharkiv

• Russian forces hold defensive positions in southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia

Read the latest details of Russia's invasion in maps.

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to show clear support for Ukraine.

In an interview with German broadcaster ZDF, external on Monday night, Zelensky said Germany should not try to balance its interests between Ukraine and its relationship with Russia.

"We need from Chancellor Scholz the certainty that Germany supports Ukraine," he said. "He and his government must decide: there can't be a trade-off between Ukraine and relations with Russia."

There has been speculation Scholz could make his first trip to Kyiv since the start of the war later this week.

The chancellor defended Germany against accusations it wouldn’t deliver weapons it promised for Ukraine.

Before modern weapons could be delivered, Ukrainian soldiers needed to be trained how to use them, he said last night.

Leading politicians from across Germany's political spectrum accuse Scholz of acting as a brake on arms deliveries.

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Spending money on new coal, oil and gas as a result of the war in Ukraine is "delusional", according to UN Secretary General António Guterres.

Many countries want to increase their own fossil fuel production in order to depend less on Russian supplies.

Guterres says our global energy mix is broken, and more coal will only reinforce the "scourge of war, pollution and climate catastrophe".

The UN chief says that renewable energy is the peace plan of the 21st Century.

In a video message to the sixth Austrian world summit meeting in Vienna, the UN secretary again took countries to task for their continued reliance on fossil fuels.

National plans to reduce carbon emissions were "simply not good enough," he said, pointing to a disconnect between the views of scientists and citizens demanding action and governments that were "dragging their feet".

Read more about this story here.

Image source, Reuters

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said the UK government will do "whatever is necessary" to secure the release of two Britons condemned to death by a Russian proxy court in Ukraine.

Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin were captured while serving with the Ukrainian army and tried as mercenaries, in what was described as an illegal "show trial" in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic last week.

Truss did not rule out the possibility of negotiating directly with the pro-Russian Donetsk People's Republic, but refused to go into details.

"I am doing everything I can, in the best way I can - in the way that I judge is most effective - to deliver these people's release."

She maintained "the best route" to secure their release was through the Ukrainians, reiterating that the two men were prisoners of war and should be treated according to the Geneva convention.

"We are working flat out on this," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged his ministers to do "everything in their power" to secure the pair's freedom.

At least five people were killed on Monday in the Russia-backed region of Donetsk, separatist officials and Russian media report.

Ukrainian artillery strikes hit targets including a market and a maternity hospital, with Russian news agencies reporting a child was among the dead after the attack which left at least 22 people injured.

The BBC is unable to confirm these reports.

Image source, Reuters

Pope Francis is reported as saying Russia's use of mercenaries in Ukraine, including Chechens and Syrians, is "monstrous" in an article in the Italian daily newspaper, La Stampa.

The piece, which reports the Pope's conversation with editors of Jesuit European cultural magazine, says the Pope suggests the Ukraine war was "perhaps in some way provoked or not impeded".

He describes Russian troops as "ferocious and cruel", adding that Ukrainians are "fighting for survival".

Asked whether he's in favour of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, Pope Francis says he will not reduce the complexity of the war to a distinction between "good and bad".

He goes on to say he hopes to meet Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church in September in Kazakhstan.

Image source, Getty Images

The actions of Russia in Ukraine are "absolute evil", President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his regular nightly address to the nation.

During his speech he said Ukrainians have been paying a "very high" price in ongoing battles in the Donbas region, describing them as "one of the most brutal battles in Europe and for Europe".

Zelensky admitted the price of the battle "is very high - it's just terrifying".

He again requested that Ukraine gain more Western weapons to help "ensure our advantage and finally the end of Russian torture of the Ukrainian Donbas".

Russia's military have likely made small advances in the Kharkiv region in Ukraine for the first time in several weeks but its main effort remains the assault against Severodonetsk in Donbas region, the UK's defence ministry says in an update.

The MoD says funding from the Russian government is allowing the country's defence industrial base to be "slowly mobilised to meet demands placed on it" by the war in Ukraine.

Russia's Military Industrial Commission predicted on Friday that state defence spending would increase by 600-700 billion roubles (£8.5 -10bn; $10.5-12.3bn), which could see a 20% increase in Russia's defence budget, the MoD says.

However, the industry could struggle to meet many of these requirements, partly due to the effects of sanctions and lack of expertise, it says.

Russia's production of high-quality optics and advanced electronics likely remain troubled and could "undermine its efforts to replace equipment lost in Ukraine", it adds.

Image source, .

Orla Guerin
Reporting from Lysychansk

"Max speed!" The instruction comes via walkie-talkie from the armoured police car in front, as we hurtle past the burnt-out carcass of a Ukrainian military truck.

There's a high risk of Russian attack on this stretch of road, but it's the safest route left into the beleaguered city of Lysychansk.

The eastern city - once home to around 100,000 people - is under sustained attack.

Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has already pronounced it "dead", along with neighbouring Severodonetsk.

The once imposing Palace of Culture is now a charred shell, its graceful columns blackened and broken.

Russia isn't just bombing buildings here, it's erasing history. The tactic is deliberate - shell, flatten, crush, and leave nothing but scorched earth.

Read the full story here.

Image source, .

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Kyiv

Image source, .

There had been fears Severodonetsk would become a new Mariupol – a repeat of the brutal siege that led to the total destruction of the city, followed by the encirclement and eventual surrender of thousands of Ukrainian troops.

With the loss of the final bridge connecting the old industrial city to the rest of the Donbas, that fear is one step closer to becoming reality. No supplies can get in… no people can get out.

That will include members of Ukraine’s foreign legion, soldiers from around the world who travelled here to help fight the Russians.

There will be particular fears for them if captured given the recent death sentences handed down to three foreign fighters captured in Mariupol.

Addressing the nation last night, Ukraine's President Zelensky said: “The price of this battle for us is very high. It’s just scary.”

He called for more modern artillery to be sent to the front… to help turn the tide in the fight for Severodonetsk before it is too late.

Good morning, thanks for joining us as we restart our coverage on day 111 of the war in Ukraine. Here are the latest developments:

• All three bridges leading to the eastern city of Severodonetsk, in Donbas, have been destroyed, the regional governor Serhiy Haidai says
• The evacuation of civilians and delivery of aid to the city is now impossible, he adds
• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has described Russian actions in his country as “absolute evil” in his nightly address
• The president added that Ukrainians have been paying a “very high” price in Donbas but he reiterated his desire to “liberate” occupied territory

• UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned the war risks plunging millions into poverty across the globe
• Ukraine's grain harvest is likely to drop to about 48.5 million tonnes this year from 86 million tonnes last year, following Russia's invasion, a senior government official says