Ukraine

Putin says Russia fighting for motherland in Ukraine in Victory Day speech

Despite rumours he would make a major announcement his speech stuck largely to defending Russia's invasion.

He tied the war in Ukraine to victory in 1945, blaming the West and Nato for rejecting security demands.

Almost 10 weeks into the invasion, civilian casualties continue to mount.

Some 60 civilians are feared dead in the eastern town of Bilohorivka, after a Russian attack on a school where people were trying to escape bombardment.

Russia denies it plans to declare war on 9 May

Moscow has up until now denied it is at war, instead referring to the invasion as a "special military operation".

But Western officials have speculated that President Vladimir Putin could use the 9 May Victory Parade to announce an escalation of military action.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, said there was no truth to the rumours "at all".

Ukraine says Russian strike knocks out Odesa airport

Russia has sporadically targeted Odesa, a Black Sea port, and a week ago, Ukraine said at least eight people were killed in a strike on the city.

"As a result of a missile attack in the Odesa region, the runway at Odesa airport was damaged. Its further use is impossible," the Ukrainian military said.

There was no immediate word on the strike from the Russian military.

Russia renews attack on Mariupol and missiles hit Odesa, Ukraine says

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the country's army was not ready to try to break through the siege of the port city by force. But he told an evening news conference that Kyiv had every right to do so.

The attack on Mariupol has raged for weeks as Russia seeks to capture a city seen as vital to its attempts to link the eastern Donbas region with Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow seized in 2014. It has been the biggest battle of the conflict so far.

Moscow-backed separatists have held territory in the Donbas region for years.

First civilian deaths in Lviv shatter sense of safety

At least seven people were killed and 11 injured in the early morning attack on Monday, the city's mayor said, warning that the death toll could rise as emergency services clear through the rubble.

Lviv is the hub through which tens of thousands of people have fled to neighbouring Poland after withstanding weeks of strikes in cities such as Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol.

But Mayor Andriy Sadovyi told reporters that the morning strikes showed there were now "no safe and unsafe locations" in Ukraine.

"Everyone is unsafe," he added.

Residents rebuild Bucha as Russia bans UK PM

As the BBC's Anna Foster reports, most people are yet to return, and there's just one small, hardy group who are trying to pave the way for others to come back.

Sergei and his wife arrived at their flat five days ago. Now they and their neighbours are trying to rebuild their damaged homes, and clearing away the debris of countless Russian shells.

"You always want to come back home", he says. "So we used our first chance to return as well. And we used our chance to make sure that all the property is safe, even from locals that might come and steal something."

No quick return to normal for scarred Bucha

In one of the doorways a blackened kettle boils on an open fire, blowing clouds of steam into the bitter air. This place should be buzzing with life and sound, with the chatter of children playing and clambering over the climbing frame that dominates the square.

But since the Russians came, everything has changed here. Most people fled, and they're yet to return. There's just one small, hardy group who are trying to pave the way for others to come back.

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Russia says 1000 Ukrainian troops have surrendered in Mariupol

Taking the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, would give the Russians full control of Mariupol, Ukraine's main Sea of Azov port, and reinforce a southern land corridor before an expected new offensive in the country's east.

Surrounded and bombarded by Russian troops for weeks and the focus of some of the fiercest fighting in the war, Mariupol would be the first major city to fall since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

Ukraine war: Zelensky tells UN of horrors of Russian invasion

He said people died in their homes and on the streets and were crushed by tanks in their cars "for pleasure".

Russia should be held accountable for what had happened, he said, and removed from the UN Security Council.

Horrific images of bodies in streets in towns such as Bucha have generated shock and condemnation worldwide.

After his speech by video link to the Security Council, Zelensky showed a graphic video of images of dead Ukrainians, some burned and disfigured.

Ukraine forces retake areas north of Kyiv as Russians look eastward

Ukrainian presidential adviser Okeksiy Arestovych said Ukrainian troops had retaken more than 30 towns and villages in the region since Russia announced this week it would scale down operations around the capital to focus on battles in the east.

British military intelligence said Russian troops had abandoned Hostomel airport in a northwestern suburb of the capital, where there had been fighting since the first day of the invasion.