Russia fighting to take twin cities on river banks

We're pausing of coverage of the war for now - our team in Singapore will pick it up again in a few hours' time.

In the meantime, here's a round-up of what's happened today:

• Russian officials say the country is prepared to continue fighting in Ukraine for as long as it takes to achieve its goals
• Its army is close to encircling the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the last major settlements in the Luhansk region still under Ukrainian control
• Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, described the offensive in Donbas as ruthless, and said it was the largest battle on European soil since World War Two
• Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared a state of emergency, saying "the world is on the brink of economic crisis"
• And the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen accused Russia of using food as a weapon in the war in Ukraine

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The sinking in April of the Moskva, the 510-crew missile cruiser that had led Russia's naval assault on Ukraine, was a major symbolic and military blow.

If you've been following our coverage, you'll remember that when it sank, Moscow said a blast on board had caused an unexplained fire, while Ukraine said a missile strike had taken it out.

Russia did not admit to any casualties - in fact, it published footage showing what it said was the crew of the Moskva on parade in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

But now Ukrainian news agency Unian says Russia has spent the last two weeks retrieving bodies from the wreckage of the ship, as well as secret documents.

The agency quoted a Ukrainian intelligence official as telling a Crimean radio station that Russia had sent five to seven ships to the area.

"Basically, these were lifeboats, boats, tugs, which took out the bodies, removed all the equipment that is classified there and cleaned up this cruiser - got what was left there and should not fall into the hands of third countries," they quoted Vadym Skibitsky as saying.

We've had many reports in recent days of heavy fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine, as Russia tries to consolidate its position in the east of the country.

In its latest update, Ukraine's military says at least 14 civilians were killed and 15 injured in mass attacks by Russian forces today in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

The BBC can't verify these figures independently.

In a Facebook post, Ukraine's military said Russian troops had used aircraft, multiple rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, mortars and missiles in their latest assault on the regions.

Large parts of the two regions are controlled by Russian-speaking separatists, who want to break away from Ukraine.

Here's a look at how things have changed in the area since Russia invaded three months ago:

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It's less than a week since the city of Mariupol finally fell to Russia after almost three months of relentless bombardment.

Now the Russian Ministry of Defence says it will open a humanitarian sea corridor to allow foreign ships stranded there to leave.

A key target from the beginning of the invasion, Mariupol gives Russia a land bridge to Crimea (which it seized in 2014) and full control of the Sea of Azov, cutting off Ukraine's maritime trade.

"A humanitarian corridor will be organised 115 miles long and 2 miles wide in the direction of the Black Sea," the Interfax news agency quoted the head of the ministry's National Defence Control Centre as saying.

The Russian navy had de-mined the waters, he said.

We don't know, at this stage, how many foreign ships there are in Mariupol, or who they belong to.

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Some reaction now to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declaring a fresh state of emergency over the war in Ukraine.

Hungary is already in a state of emergency, imposed due to the Covid pandemic, which was due to expire next week.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) criticises the latest move, describing it as "the state of emergency that has become permanent".

It gives Orban "more leeway than usual", allowing him to "restrict or simply suspend everybody's fundamental rights," the group says.

Shortly before the move was announced, the Hungarian parliament amended the constitution to allow for such a measure. Orban's Fidesz party has a two-thirds majority in the chamber.

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Today marks three months since Russia invaded Ukraine. Here's a roundup of the latest developments:

The fight for twin cities: Russia is trying to encircle two cities in Ukraine's easternmost region, Luhansk. Capturing Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which straddle a key river, would mean Russia was well on the way to its goal of taking the whole of the Luhansk region

Long conflict: Two senior Russian officials have signalled that Moscow is ready for a prolonged war in Ukraine, with one saying "we are not rushing to meet deadlines" over the conflict.

Active warfare: Russia's military campaign in Ukraine has entered its most active phase, Ukrainian's defence ministry spokesman says

State of emergency: Hungary's leader Viktor Orban has imposed a new state of emergency over the war, saying the government needs stay out of the conflict and protect families' financial security.

Russian forces appear to be consolidating their positions in the east of the country. Track the invasion in maps here.

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The Premier League in England has approved the £4.25bn takeover of Chelsea Football Club by a consortium led by US baseball team LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly.

The league says the consortium has passed its owner's and directors' test.

The club was put up for sale before owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned over his links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The purchase remains subject to the UK government issuing the required sale licence.

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Poland has sent a “very large number” of tanks to Ukraine, the Polish President Andrzej Duda says.

During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Duda said the transfer had reduced Poland’s defence capabilities.

"We are counting on the support of the community, which is Nato, and we are counting on the support of the USA and also Germany,” he said.

In April, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki admitted for the first time that Poland had sent tanks to Ukraine.

No details have been released, but media reports suggest they have been supplying Soviet-era T-72 tanks.

President Duda said the Polish army was now using a lot of German Leopard 2 tanks.

"If we were supported by our German allies with a batch of tanks that would replace the ones we gave to Ukraine, we would be very grateful. We had such a promise, we hear that Germany is not willing to fulfil this promise, that’s a big disappointment for us," he said.

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Western officials including the British ambassador to Ukraine have tweeted an old photo purporting to show Russians burning textbooks during the current conflict.

Melinda Simmons wrote: “Burning Ukrainian history books is not denazification. It is the opposite.”

Others including former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt also tweeted the photo.

Russian state TV was quick to pick up on the messages, with one broadcast accusing the ambassador of posting a “Photoshopped” image from 2019 which had nothing to do with Ukraine.

But that’s also untrue. The earliest copy of the photo is on a news story about a pro-Kremlin far-right rally in Crimea published in 2014. The article states the book burning happened even earlier than that. Similar pictures showing some of the same books alight were included in a report from Ukrainian news agency UNIAN dated March 2010, from the Crimean city of Simferopol.

Activists in those photos were advocating a union between Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

The BBC has contacted the British Embassy in Ukraine and the Ambassador Simmons for comment.

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Two senior Russian officials have signalled that Moscow is ready for a prolonged conflict in Ukraine.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the offensive would continue until all its objectives had been achieved.

He told the Collective Security Treaty Organization - a Eurasian military alliance of five former Soviet republics and Russia - that Kremlin would continue with its aims "regardless of the massive Western aid to the Kyiv regime and the sanctions against Russia".

Russia's aims have changed during the course of the invasion - read more on that here.

Meanwhile another close ally of President Putin, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, told a newspaper that Moscow's offensive would last as long as necessary.

"We are not rushing to meet deadlines," he said, adding, "all the goals set by the President of Russia will be fulfilled."

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We reported earlier on the words of a Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman, who said Russia's attack on Ukraine had entered its "most active" phase.

Oleksandr Motuzyanyk also said the battles being fought in the east could determine the country's future. He told a televised briefing:

Quote Message: The situation on the [eastern] front is extremely difficult, because the fate of this country is perhaps being decided [there] right now.

The situation on the [eastern] front is extremely difficult, because the fate of this country is perhaps being decided [there] right now.

Russia is trying to encircle Ukrainian troops in two cities straddling the Siversky Donets river - Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. Their significance is explained in an earlier post.

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Russian forces have shelled a nitrogen plant in Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, killing four, according to Luhansk's regional governor Serhiy Hayday.

He said Russia had focused all its resources on capturing Severodonetsk and Lysychansk "but has made hardly any progress in the past three months".

"So they continue to shell cities, especially places where people gather," Hayday said in a Telegram post.

"This morning, the Russians again opened fire on the Azot [nitrogen] plant, where, everybody knows this, several bomb shelters had been arranged. Four people died as a result."

Hayday said one civilian was fatally wounded by Russian fire in central Severodonetsk.

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Meanwhile, the pro-rebel Luhansk Information Centre website reported, quoting an "eyewitness", that the plant was shelled by Ukrainian artillerymen.

It said "several workers were killed and several more wounded, according to preliminary information".

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Some 82% of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine should not give away any territory as part of a peace deal with Russia, according to a new survey by one of the country's top pollsters.

The huge majority said they did not support territorial concessions, even if it prolonged the war and increased the threat to Ukraine's independence, according to the poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

Just 10% of the 2,000 people surveyed found it acceptable for Ukraine to concede territory to achieve peace, while 8% were undecided.

According to the poll, 77% of Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territory opposed any land concessions.

The Ukrainian government has consistently said it will cede no territory to Moscow.

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The metro in Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, which has been used as a bomb shelter since the Russian invasion began, resumed services today despite sporadic shelling in the north eastern region.

"We have restarted the Kharkiv metro and almost all its stations today," mayor Igor Terekhov told journalists.

He said he decided to relaunch services "because we have to relaunch the economy", adding that train rides would be free for the next two weeks.

The Kharkiv metro, with 30 stations, has sheltered thousands of civilians trying to escape shelling on the city, which is adjacent to the Russian border and was the focus of intense shelling since the February invasion.

Ukrainian forces have now pushed the majority of Russian forces away from Kharkiv, pushing them back towards the border.

As we've been reporting, Russia is trying to encircle two cities in Ukraine's easternmost region, Luhansk.

The regional governor says the density of shelling has been growing every day as Russian forces try to capture the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.

They straddle the Siversky Donets river - there's been fighting around there since 2014 and there have been concrete Ukrainian positions that have been hard to overcome.

Capturing them would mean Russia was well on the way to its goal of taking the whole of the Luhansk region.

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Welcome if you're just joining us - here's a look at the main news from the war in Ukraine so far:

Food crisis warnings: The UK says grain and food shortages due to the war could cause more deaths than the conflict itself, while Poland's president says it could also lead to mass migration to Europe. The president of the EU commission accused Russia of using food as a weapon by confiscating grain and blockading ships in the territory it controls. Ukraine's foreign affairs minister also claimed "Russian thieves" are stealing Ukrainian grain to sell it abroad.

Fighting in the east: Russia intensifies fighting as it attempts to capture Ukraine's entire eastern region. In Mariupol, an adviser to the mayor says 200 bodies were found in the rubble of a high-rise building in the Russian-controlled city. In Donetsk, the city of Svitlodarsk has been taken over by Russian forces, according to Ukrainian officials and pro-Russian separatists of the Donetsk People's Republic. Analysts say Russia is trying to encircle the towns of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, and Rubizhne in the Donbas region.

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Military assistance: Poland's president says the country has sent a "very large number" of tanks to Ukraine, and Denmark pledged to send US-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles and a launcher to Ukrainian forces. Colombia will also deploy a team of its military engineers to train Ukrainian troops on de-mining techniques.

China's influence: US President Biden calls the war a "global issue" as he meets key Asian allies to discuss security and economic concerns, including their differences over the Russian invasion and China's growing influence.

Meanwhile, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, says the Kremlin is planning to develop closer ties to China and it would now look to count "only" on itself and "on countries which have proved themselves reliable and do not 'dance to some other piper's music'".

Russian forces have completed removing mines from the Azov Sea port of Mariupol, its defence ministry has said.

Earlier in the war, Russia accused Ukraine of laying mines to protect ports and said several hundred of the explosives had broken from cables and drifted away - Kyiv later dismissed that as disinformation.

"Mines have been removed from the territory of the port and nearby waters," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia declared victory in Mariupol last week after its months-long battle to conquer the Ukrainian port city.

The last fighters defending the city's Azovstal steel plant surrendered, months after the troops had been holed up in the huge complex, preventing Russia from establishing complete control over the city.