Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Kyiv has received financial and military support from its Western allies at a time when many countries are dealing with a significant increase in the cost of living.

The US, which has provided the most material support so far, has alone contributed more than $24bn (£19.7bn) in security assistance so far, while the UK has committed £2.3bn ($2.8bn) with the aim of doubling that figure this year.

A recent Ipsos poll of 28 countries, external around the world has found that global public opinion about the conflict has not changed much since the weeks following the invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago and that citizens of most Western nations remain steadfast in their support.

In the US, polling for Fox News, external and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, external suggests the majority of Americans overall want to keep helping Ukraine, despite the issue becoming more politically contentious in recent months.

The UK government says the nation will observe a one-minute silence, to mark one year since Russia invaded Ukraine.

It will take place at 11:00 on Friday 24 February.

Described as a "national moment of reflection", it will be led from Downing Street by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who labels the Russian onslaught "barbaric and deplorable" in a statement.

Image source, Getty Images

Moldova has reopened its airspace just hours after closing it for security reasons, the country's aviation authority has said.

Air Moldova, the national airline, said earlier the temporary closure was to "ensure the safety and security of civil aviation". The aviation authority said it would provide more information later.

Moldova shares a border with Ukraine and part of its territory, Transnistria, is controlled by pro-Russian forces.

Earlier this month Russian missiles crossed Moldovan airspace on the way to western Ukraine.

Image source, Reuters

As Nato members meet, question marks still remain over the membership of Finland and Sweden.

The two Scandinavian countries applied for membership shortly after the Ukrainian conflict began, with their bids ratified by every member state apart from Hungary and Turkey.

Turkey is widely seen as the main hold-up and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated his country could ratify Finland's application while not going ahead with Sweden's.

Western officials have said they would prefer both countries to join Nato together, partly because it would be easier to integrate them at the same time into Nato's military structures.

But earlier today, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said it was more important that Nordic neighbours had their memberships ratified quickly than together.

The Nato chief said he was "confident that both will be full members,” and that he was "working hard to get both ratified as soon as possible."

Ukraine's neighbour Moldova has temporarily closed its air space. The national airline Air Moldova announced the news on Facebook, saying it was "waiting for the resumption of flights".

The move comes at a time of high tensions between the former Soviet republic and Russia. The tiny eastern European country shares a border with Ukraine, which is believed to be experiencing the early salvoes of a reenergised Russian offensive.

It comes a day after Moldova's president accused Moscow of plotting to overthrow her government - something denied by The Kremlin - and the week after officials in both Moldova and Ukraine accused Russia of firing missiles through Moldovan airspace while attacking Ukraine.

In amongst all the serious talk at the Nato summit, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov found time for a moment of humour with reporters earlier.

He unfurled a handkerchief adorned with an image of a fighter jet - an item that he said was on his "wish-list to Santa".

Defence ministers from the alliance are discussing how to supply Ukraine with more arms and ammunition - with both Russia and Ukraine facing huge challenges to keep military supplies flowing.

Norway says it will send eight German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine - having earlier committed to delivering the vehicles without specifying a number.

Its defence ministry has also promised to send up to four support vehicles based on Ukraine's needs - as well as ammunition and spare parts.

The Nato country says it will be left with "a satisfactory national readiness".

Germany - which makes the much-coveted Leopard 2s - confirmed last month that it would provide Kyiv with 14 of its own tanks, following weeks of pressure from other nations.

Image source, Reuters

Here's a refresher of what's been happening in Brussels - and beyond - as defence ministers from the Nato military alliance and Ukraine's other allies meet to discuss what more they can do to support the government in Kyiv.

Fresh Russian onslaught: Before proceedings got under way, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg warned of a "race of logistics" as Ukraine braced for a much-threatened new Russian offensive. He said President Putin was preparing for "more war, for new offensives and new attacks".

US corrals support: The American defence secretary spoke this morning to call on Ukraine's allies to "intensify" their assistance to Kyiv at this "crucial moment", while Russia attempts to "wait us out".

Ammo tops agenda: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky spent last week requesting fighter jets, but the German defence minister earlier poured cold water on Kyiv's hopes that any planes will be provided soon, saying the supply of air defences was "a lot more important right now".

Moscow claps back: The Kremlin attacked the meeting of Western defence officials, saying Nato was "hostile to us... and proves this hostility every day".

Bakhmut under strain: The front-line eastern town remains a focal point in the fighting. The UK says a nearby Russian advance has gained some ground in the north, but not in the south.

Coming up: More from Stoltenberg and others in a press conference.

Despite the suggestion of the German defence minister that providing Kyiv with new ammunition is "a lot more important right now than a discussion of fighter jets", it was planes that President Volodymyr Zelensky was specifically calling for when he went to see other European leaders last week.

The quicker these jets would be provided, "the quicker this Russian aggression will end", he said while visiting Brussels.

Image source, EPA

His efforts to court the leaders of France, Germany and other EU nations followed a visit to London, during which Zelensky made the same request for "wings for freedom" and long-range weaponry.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told his counterpart that "nothing is off the table" - though Western countries have so far stopped short of committing any of their planes to the conflict.

At the weekend, the Polish president, a close ally of Zelensky, told the BBC that any such decision would be "very serious" and "not easy to take".

Image source, PA Media

Sam Hancock
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Ammunition appears to be the hot topic at today's Nato meeting in Brussels, less than a week after fighter jets dominated the headlines.

Dr Jenny Mathers, a senior lecturer in international politics at Aberystwyth University, has been telling me why that might be the case.

"Both Russia and Ukraine are struggling with ammunition supplies because this war has involved such intensive strikes," she says, adding the need for "more and faster deliveries" has been there since the war began but became more acute in recent weeks.

Asked what supplies Ukraine needs most, she says matter-of-factly "probably everything". Especially "considering they are fighting off a determined attacker who has a larger population to draw upon for troops and extensive - although aging and not bottomless - supplies of weapons and ammunition".

An influx of ammunition could prove significant to Ukraine as Russia begins what some Nato officials believe is the beginning of a new offensive. We'll bring you more of Dr Mathers' thoughts shortly.

Anna Holligan
Reporting from The Hague

As we were reporting earlier, the Netherlands says two of its F-35 jets intercepted Russian military aircraft flying close to Polish airspace on Monday.

The Russian planes were identified as two SU-27 Flanker fighter jets and an IL-20M spy plane.

The Dutch F-35s were supported by German Eurofighters as they shadowed the Russian planes, which Nato air command said were “posing a danger to other air users by ignoring international air safety rules”.

The Netherlands currently has eight F-35s stationed in Poland until the end of March.

Four of these are deployed in an "air-policing" capacity operating out of Malbork Air Base to monitor Nato airspace over central and eastern Europe.

The other four are participating in a training mission with allies, but “can be used immediately” if required.

Image source, Getty Images

According to the Dutch Ministry of Defence, the Russian military jets had flown from Kaliningrad towards Poland and were intercepted by Dutch pilots “on the border”, who then escorted the Russian formation from a distance.

Dutch planes did not enter Russian airspace, said the ministry.

Kaliningrad is a Russian Baltic coast enclave located between Nato and European Union members Poland and Lithuania.

Jonathan Beale
Defence correspondent, reporting from Brussels

Germany’s defence minister says his country has just signed contracts with the arms manufacturing company Rheinmetall to make more ammunition for the Gepard air defence guns that Berlin's already sent to Ukraine.

The German-made Gepard has been used effectively in Ukraine to shoot down low-flying Iranian kamikaze drones, but the anti-aircraft gun is no longer in production. Germany has been trying for months to find new munitions.

Boris Pistorius said it would probably take months to supply new ammunition for the air defence systems as production lines were restarted.

He added that the supply of air defences and ammunition was a much higher priority for Ukraine than any discussions about providing fighter jets.

James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv

“Agreements will bring victory closer,” said Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in his overnight address. It’s why his diplomatic treadmill hasn’t slowed since the full-scale invasion.

After significant deals around longer-range missiles and tanks, Kyiv will welcome the issue of ammunition being discussed at today’s summits. This is currently being used faster than Western allies can make it.

But Ukraine has also got pretty good at asking for more. The question of supplying fighter jets will come up too. So far, the response to that idea has been… non-committal.

With growing claims that Russia has started an anticipated offensive, Kyiv is desperate to change the tide.

Even if Ukraine is able to keep defending, a war of attrition is especially bad for the underdog. Russia might be sustaining bigger losses, but for now it’s able to.

As Nato chiefs gather today, Russian forces are believed to have launched the early salvoes of a fresh offensive.

Russian strikes killed three and wounded seven civilians in Ukraine yesterday, according to reports picked up by the BBC's Monitoring service.

In the Kherson region, two civilians were killed and three wounded, the regional administration said on Telegram.

It says that Russian troops shelled Ukrainian-controlled towns and villages 54 times using MRLS, artillery, tanks, and mortars.

The city of Kherson - home to 289,000 Ukrainians - was attacked 13 times.

In Donetsk in the east of Ukraine, one civilian was killed and three were wounded, regional head Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.

In Dnipropetrovsk region - home to Dnipro, Ukraine's fourth-largest city, one civilian was wounded in Nikopol.

Image source, Reuters

Two Dutch F-35 jets have identified and "remotely escorted" a Russian spy plane and two fighters which crossed into Polish airspace, the Netherlands government has said.

The Royal Dutch Air Force is carrying out Nato's air policing mission in Poland.

This is the first time an intervention like this has been made since the Ukraine conflict began.

The aircraft were flying out of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast, which is located between the Nato territories of Poland and Lithuania.

Image source, Reuters

Russia has issued a strongly-worded response to today's meetings of Nato members and Ukraine's Western allies.

The Kremlin claims that the alliance "is hostile to us... and proves this hostility every day".

Russia warns that Nato's increased involvement in supplying weapons to Ukraine will drag out the conflict - and raise the possibility of further escalation.

When quizzed by reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added that Nato "is trying its best to make its involvement in the conflict around Ukraine as clear as possible".

Jonathan Beale
BBC defence correspondent

Nato’s secretary general says the war in Ukraine has now become a race of logistics – with both Russia and Ukraine facing huge challenges to keep the supplies of ammunition and weapons flowing to the frontline.

Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine’s current rate of ammunition expenditure is many times higher than the rates of production within Nato member states.

Earlier, he said the waiting time for large calibre ammunition – like artillery shells - had more than doubled, from 12 to 28 months.

He added that Nato nations would have to ramp up production not just to help Ukraine – but also to replenish their own limited stockpiles.

While there is a sense of urgency in delivering ammunition and heavy weapons – including promised tanks - Kyiv’s pleas for Western jets have still not been answered.

Nato ministers are at least expected to discuss the issue – but any talk of providing Ukraine with warplanes remains vague and only mentioned, it at all, for the longer term, rather than the immediate future.

Many of you will be very familiar with the Nato defence alliance and what it does, but for those who need a refresher...

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a Western military alliance made up of 30 countries including the US, UK, Germany and France.

It works under the key principle that if one of the member states is attacked, the rest will come to its defence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Nato’s expansion in Europe after the end of the Cold War was one of the factors which influenced his decision to invade Ukraine, despite assurances that Kyiv wasn’t anywhere near joining the alliance.

Ironically, Russia’s provocation motivated not just Ukraine but also Sweden and Finland to apply for membership.

After listing some of the recent military aid and training provided to Ukraine, the US Secretary of Defence says Nato's mission is to give not just equipment, but to ensure "full and lasting capabilities".

He speaks of the importance of sustaining Ukrainian momentum, adding: "The Kremlin is still betting that it can wait us out." But, turning to the upcoming anniversary of the start of the war, he adds: "One year on, we are as united as ever".

Before closing his address, Austin aims another barb at Russia and "autocrats" - saying Nato must stand up for a world in which "rules matter".

Image source, Reuters