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Governments across Southeast Asia are trying to urgently evacuate their citizens from Ukraine.

A group of 53 Thai nationals are expected to leave Ukraine today, while 23 remain in several cities and have been unable to travel “due to lockdowns and other conditions”, according to the spokesman of Thailand’s ministry of foreign affairs, Tanee Sangrat. As of 1 March, 1,143 Thai nationals had departed the country.

Similar efforts are underway across the region, including in Indonesia, which said on Monday that it had evacuated 31 citizens, according to the Jakarta Post. On Tuesday night, a group of 13 Filipinos, including three students and a baby, arrived in Manila, after travelling from Kyiv to Lviv in Western Ukraine, and then to Poland. Six others were repatriated last month.

Southeast Asian governments’ response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has mostly been muted. A statement released by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations did not mention Russia by name, but called on “all relevant parties to exercise maximum restraint”.

However, Singapore made a rare announcement this week that it would impose sanctions on Russia, which it said were prompted by the “unprecedented gravity” of the situation.

My colleague in the US, Dominic Rushe, has covered Biden’s pledge to go after Russian oligarchs in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. This is his write-up:

AFP reports that a Polish charity will take in 2,000 Ukrainian orphans. Read the report here:

Russia president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to prohibit Russians from leaving the country with more than $10,000 in foreign currency, Russia state media outlet TASS reports.

Citing the decree, the news agency reported:

The export of foreign currency cash and foreign currency instruments over $10,000 calculated based on the official exchange rate set by the Russian Central Bank on the day of export will be banned starting on March 2.”

The move is an attempt to “ensure Russia’s financial stability” according to a statement from the Kremlin press office.

It comes in response to the crippling sanctions western nations have imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The people of Japan have donated ¥2bn ($17m) to a relief fund for Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian embassy in Tokyo.

The embassy said in a tweet that so far more than 60,000 people had contributed.

The Ukrainian ambassador, Sergiy Korsunsky, thanked the Japanese public at a meeting with Kenta Izumi, who leads Japan’s main opposition party, according to the Kyodo news agency.

The Rakuten e-commerce group, meanwhile, has raised ¥1.4bn for its Ukraine humanitarian fund. Among the donors is Yoshiki, leader of the rock band X Japan, who said he had contributed ¥10m.

Rakuten’s chief executive, Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani, donated ¥1 billion to the Ukrainian government at the weekend, describing the “unjustified” Russian invasionas a “challenge to democracy”.

Japan said Wednesday it would temporarily close its embassy in Kyiv as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine escalates.

Exxon Mobil has also said it will exit Russia oil and gas operations that it has valued at more than $4b and halt new investment as a result of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision will see Exxon pull out of managing large oil and gas production facilities on Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East, and puts the fate of a proposed multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility there in doubt, Reuters reports.

“We deplore Russia’s military action that violates the territorial integrity of Ukraine and endangers its people,” the company said in a statement critical of the intensifying military attacks.

Boeing, one of the world’s largest aerospace manufacturers, has announced it is cutting ties with its Russian partners.

The US airplane maker said it would suspend all major operations in Moscow and will no longer provide technical support or maintenance, or parts, for Russian aircraft.

We have some more confirmed developments regarding Joe Biden’s announcement that the US will ban Russian flights from its airspace.

The US Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration said orders blocking Russian aircraft and airlines from entering and using all US airspace will be fully in effect by the end of Wednesday.

The orders suspend operations of all aircraft owned, certified, operated, registered, chartered, leased, or controlled by, for, or for the benefit of, any Russia citizen.

This includes passenger and cargo flights, and scheduled as well as charter flights that will “effectively closing US air space to all Russian commercial air carriers and other Russian civil aircraft,” the department said.

Biden also delivered a clear message to Russian oligarchs:

Tonight I say to the Russian oligarchs and corrupt leaders who have bilked billions of dollars off this violent regime no more. The US Department of Justice is assembling a dedicated task force to go after the crimes of Russian oligarchs. We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts your luxury apartments your private jets. We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

The US president detailed economic sanctions, such as the decision to cut off Russia’s largest banks from the international financial system and “choking off” Russia’s access to technology that will “sap its economic strength and weaken its military” for years to come.

Biden’s State of the Union speech promised an “unwavering resolve” that “freedom will always triumph over tyranny”.

Read some of the key excerpts below:

Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated.

He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined.

He met the Ukrainian people.

From President Zelenskiy to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination, inspires the world.

Groups of citizens blocking tanks with their bodies. Everyone from students to retirees teachers turned soldiers defending their homeland ...

Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression they cause more chaos. They keep moving.

Putin’s latest attack on Ukraine was premeditated and unprovoked. He rejected repeated efforts at diplomacy. He thought the west and Nato wouldn’t respond. And he thought he could divide us at home.

Putin was wrong. We were ready. Here is what we did. We prepared extensively and carefully.”

Biden then said the free world will hold the Russian president accountable.

We are inflicting pain on Russia and supporting the people of Ukraine. Putin is now isolated from the world more than ever.

Putin has unleashed violence and chaos. But while he may make gains on the battlefield – he will pay a continuing high price over the long run.

When the history of this era is written Putin’s war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.

In the battle between democracy and autocracy, democracies are rising to the moment, and the world is clearly choosing the side of peace and security.

This is a real test. It’s going to take time. So let us continue to draw inspiration from the iron will of the Ukrainian people.

Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Ukrainian people.

He will never extinguish their love of freedom. He will never weaken the resolve of the free world.”

In a moving address, Joe Biden recognised the Ukrainian ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, who is also in attendance at the State of the Union this evening.

The Ukrainian Ambassador to the US is here tonight, sitting with the First Lady. Let each of us if you’re able to stand, stand and send an unmistakable signal to the world and Ukraine.”

Markarova then received a robust standing ovation from those assembled in the House chamber.

Biden has also announced the US has worked with 30 other countries to release 60 million barrels of oil from reserves around the world.

I want you to know, we are going to be okay, we are going to be okay.

When the history of this era is written Putin’s war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.”

US president Joe Biden is currently delivering his first State of the Union address from Capitol Hill.

Biden says Putin never anticipated the Ukrainian people’s resolve to fight.

Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the very foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated.”

US president Joe Biden in on his way to Capitol Hill to deliver his first State of the Union speech.

As the president and the first lady left the White House, a reporter asked Biden whether he believed Vladimir Putin had committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Biden chose not to answer the question, but he is expected to condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in his speech tonight, according to excerpts released by the White House.

Biden’s speech is set to get underway, so stay tuned.

You can also follow the developments on our live blog, currently run by Joan E Greve in Washington and Maanvi Singh in San Francisco.

A member of the Ukrainian Emergency Services looks up at the city hall building in the central square following shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

A Russian military strike in the small Ukrainian town of Borodjanka on Tuesday tore through two apartment blocks about 56km (35 miles) northwest of Kyiv, videos on social media and confirmed by multiple news sources show.

Borodjanka is the latest civilian area to have come under attack with videos geolocated to the town and their authenticity verified by both CNN and the New York Times.

“Look what’s happening,” a man yells in a video taken moments after the military strike, with smoke still rising nearby and the bombed-out apartment complexes in view. “They are bombing everything.”

Other videos show the extent of the destruction, with some of the buildings’ foundations collapsed and the ground behind the complex littered with burning cars.

A playground nearby is also seen on fire, strewn with rubble and debris.

Russia’s military move on Kyiv has stalled as its forces struggle with basic logistics challenges, including shortages of food and fuel, with some units appearing to be gripped by low morale, a senior US defence official said on Tuesday.

The official said a miles-long armoured column bearing down on the capital Kyiv had not made any advances in the past 24 hours, frozen in place by logistics problems, short on fuel and food, and perhaps pausing to reassess tactics.

Earlier, we reported there were signs that Russian commanders are abandoning their initial approach in which they relied on lightning strikes into cities they assumed would be half-heartedly defended.

You can read the full report by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War here.

The International Skating Union, figure skating’s world governing body, has announced it will bar all Russian and Belarusian skaters from international events, a ban that would include the world championships later this month in France.

That would prevent Anna Shcherbakova, the Olympic women’s singles champion, from defending her 2021 world title.

Russia has historically dominated the figure skating domain.

Video released by Ukraine’s State Emergency Service on Tuesday shows a rescue operation following a Russian missile strike in northern Ukraine. The video shows clouds of smoke and rescue workers digging through debris in Zhytomyr.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said on his Telegram channel on Tuesday that four people were killed when homes in Zhytomyr were hit by a Russian cruise missile apparently aimed at a nearby air base.

A missile reportedly hit a private maternity clinic on the outskirts of Kyiv on Tuesday night, according to a statement from the Adonis maternity clinic chief.

“A missile hit the maternity clinic. Much damage was done but the building is standing. Everyone has been evacuated,” Vitaliy Gyrin wrote on his Facebook page.

Gyrin also specifically asked people not to come to the clinic, “Most important is do not come now to get anyone from here. Everyone is in a secure place and in safety. This is for sure.”

Gyrin also posted a series of photos purportedly showing the damaged building of the Adonis clinic.

A Ukrainian cyber guerrilla warfare group plans to launch digital sabotage attacks against critical Russian infrastructure such as railways and the electricity grid, to strike back at Moscow over its invasion, a hacker team coordinator told Reuters.

Officials from Ukraine’s defence ministry last week approached Ukrainian businessman and local cybersecurity expert Yegor Aushev to help organise a unit of hackers to defend against Russia.

On Monday, Aushev said he planned to organise hacking attacks that would disrupt any infrastructure that helps bring Russian troops and weapons to his country.

“Everything that might stop war,” he said. “The goal is to make it impossible to bring these weapons to our country.”

Aushev said his group has already downed or defaced dozens of Russian government and banking websites, sometimes replacing content with violent images from the war. He declined to provide specific examples, saying it would make tracking his group easier for the Russians.

Some more news emerging from the aftermath of an earlier missile strike in Zhytomyr late on Tuesday night.

Adviser to the Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko said Russian forces fired a cruise missile at an apartment building near Zhytomyr’s Pavlusenko hospital.

The United States is expected to ban Russian flights from its airspace, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The decision would follow similar moves made by the European Union and Canada.

We will have more on this story as it develops.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is entering a new phase, promising a more deadly time ahead for the country’s civilians and its remarkably determined army, according to western military officials.

Early signs are that Russian commanders are abandoning the approach that marked the first days of the conflict, in which they relied on lightning strikes into cities they assumed would be half-heartedly defended, the officials said, according to a report by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.

After multiple failures, officials from the US and allied nations expect Russia to use more indiscriminate tactics to suppress resistance.

After pausing to regroup and draw new assets into place around the capital, the ISW expects Russian forces to relaunch their attack on the capital, Kyiv. The new phase is thought to play out over several days.

An air strike in Zhytomyr damaged 10 private homes with three catching fire and shattering windows in the city hospital building, according to an update from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and a press release from the US Embassy of Ukraine press secretary, Volodymyr Riznichenko.

Two people were killed and three were injured. People are believed to trapped in the rubble of damaged houses. The strike occurred at 10.16pm according to the emergency service.

Hello it’s Samantha Lock with you as we unpack all the latest developments on the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.

It is nearly 2am in Kyiv where Ukrainians are battling to save their capital city after a six-day assault. Russian troops are believed to be getting closer.

For any tips and feedback please contact me through Twitter or at samantha.lock@theguardian.com

Ukrainian homes and streets wrecked in Kharkiv after shelling – video

As the bombing of Kharkiv continues overnight, video footage shows the aftermath of previous strikes on the city.

Mobile-phone video shows wrecked residential buildings with no windows, and fallen trees and power lines, in the aftermath of strikes that killed at least 11 people in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.

Kharkiv’s regional administration chief said artillery had pounded residential districts. The city has been the target of some of the worst aerial attacks since Ukraine was invaded by Russian forces.

Four people have been killed when homes in the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr were hit on Tuesday night by a Russian cruise missile apparently aimed at a nearby air base, Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said on his Telegram channel.

He said the residential buildings near the base of the 95th Airborne Brigade in Zhytomyr, 120km (75 miles) west of the capital Kyiv, had been set on fire, claiming the strike had originated from Belarus.

“So far, four people have died. Including a child,” he said.

Nike restricts purchases of its sportswear in Russia, Reuters reports

Nike Inc has made merchandise purchases on its website and app unavailable in Russia as it cannot guarantee delivery of goods to customers in the country, an update on the sportswear maker’s website showed on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

This is the latest response by a U.S. company to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Hollywood studios Disney, Warner Bros, and Sony Pictures Entertainment saying they would pause theatrical releases of upcoming films in Russia, Reuters reports.

Apple, Ford Motor Company, and Boeing also announced restrictions on operations in Russia today.

International Monetary Fund and World Bank ‘stand with the Ukrainian people’

The leaders of two global economic institutions have issued a strongly worded joint statement condemning the Russian action in Ukraine and the “horrifying” suffering of people there, and pledging rapid financial support for the country, Larry Elliott, the Guardian’s economics editor, reports.

AFP reports that the World Bank is working to approve $350m of support in the next week, as part of a $3bn emergency package over the next months.

Elliott spoke with IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva last week. Georgieva said her brother was living with his wife in Kharkiv, and that she was speaking with him every day. Kharkiv has been an early target of heavy Russian bombardment.

Polish nationalists attempt to attack African and Middle Eastern students fleeing Ukraine

Dozens of Polish nationalists gathered on Tuesday evening near the train station in Przemyśl, where refugees from Middle East and Africa fleeing the war in Ukraine are being sheltered, and attempted to attack them. The attackers, linked to the local football team’s ‘hooligans’, approached groups of African and Middle Eastern students who had just arrived in Poland from cities in Ukraine that have been invaded by the Russians, and harassed them, shouting slogans and anti-immigrant chants.

“Around 7 pm, these men started to shout and yell against groups of African and Middle Eastern refugees who were outside the train station,” two Polish journalists from the press agency OKO, who first reported the incident, told me. “They yelled at them: ‘Go back to the train station! Go back to your country!’”

Polish police reacted by chasing some of the nationalists and dispersing the crowd.

“I was with my friends, buying something to eat outside,” says Sara, 22, from Egypt and a student in Ukraine. “These men came and started to harass a group of men from Nigeria. They wouldn’t let an African boy go inside a place to eat some food. Then they came towards us and yelled: ‘Go back to your country!’”

Sara says that Middle Eastern and African refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine have faced discrimination and violence at the country’s border posts by Ukrainian authorities.

On Monday, the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, said: “All who flee a conflict situation have the same right to safe passage under UN convention, and the colour of their passport or their skin should make no difference,” citing reports that Ukrainian police had obstructed Nigerians.

According to reports, Ukrainian officials “showed racist acts”, attempting to force African refugees to the back of the queue at the frontier with Poland.

Boeing says it has suspended technical and maintenance support for Russian airlines

Earlier today, Ford Motor Company announced it was suspending operations in Russia as a response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Now, Boeing, the American aerospace company, has announced it is suspending “major operations” in Moscow, as well as “parts, maintenance, and technical support services for Russian airlines,” Politico’s Lee Hudson reports.

More reports of bombing in various Kyiv neighborhoods and in the city of Vyshneve, located 30 minutes outside of Kyiv.

From the Kyiv Independent:

Ford Motor Co also announced today that it will be suspending operations in Russia until further notice given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reported Reuters.

Full statement from Ford below, from the Detroit News’ Jordyn Grzelewski:

In other developments, earlier today, EU officials were considering offering asylum and refugee status for soldiers who want to leave the Russian army, as long as they have not committed war crimes.

More from the New Statesman’s Jeremy Cliffe:

Thousands of Ukrainians are currently in the capital city Kyiv, trying to escape as fears of large-scale attack loom, Shaun Walker reports from Kyiv:

The piercing screams of children mingled with the barking of traumatised dogs and the shouts of soldiers desperately trying to maintain order, as the 14.07 to Ivano-Frankivsk pulled into Kyiv’s central station.

There was a crowd of thousands on platform one, surging towards the blue carriages and desperate to secure a prized place on a ride westwards out of the Ukrainian capital. Most people would not be able to board.

“Look at these faces around us, they are exactly the same as in the photographs from the second world war, and it’s just five days. Can you imagine what will happen in a month?” asked Tanya Novgorodskaya, 48, an art historian who arrived at the station on Tuesday afternoon with her 15-year-old daughter.

She had bought tickets for six different trains, but soon realised they counted for nothing. Instead, there was a boarding algorithm: first mothers with children, then women, then old people. Others were kept away by the police and soldiers standing guard.

Quickly, the train was crammed full. Families had to make split-second decisions, as mothers and children were allowed to board but grandparents told to wait behind.

This was the sixth day of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, and by now fear had taken over. In the first days, there was a sense of shock and disbelief. Then came pride and inspiration, at the surprisingly resilient Ukrainian response and the unity of Ukrainian society.

Read the full article here.

More from on-the-ground in Ukraine: footage has emerged of unarmed people in Ukraine attempting to stop Russian vehicles with their bodies in a string of defiant acts.

In the south-eastern city of Melitopol, people pushed on Russian military vehicles with their bare hands, while in the north-east, Kupyansk residents jumped on a Jeep with Russian markers to fight the Russian occupation.

There were reports of fierce shelling in the northern city of Chernihiv, where people were filmed singing the Ukrainian national anthem and standing in front of tanks.

Russian officials have threatened to block Wikipedia following the publication of an article about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media monitoring agency, is threatening to ban the website throughout the country for an article titled “Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022”.

The agency is accusing Wikipedia of “illegally disseminated information” about the Russian military, Ukrainian civilian casualties, and bank runs.

Earlier today, Russia blocked two independent media organisations for spreading “deliberately false information” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Nord Stream 2, the company behind the controversial pipeline that was halted amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has officially filed for bankruptcy, a Swiss official told state broadcaster SRF.

The company also laid off all of its employees, noting US sanctions as the reason for the company’s collapse.

Here are more details on the bankruptcy from the Financial Times’s Sam Jones:

Speaking to SRF on Tuesday evening, the economic director for the canton of Zug, where Nord Stream is based, said the cantonal authorities have been informed today that the business was unable to continue its operations.

“The head of the office for economic affairs and labour was on site today and was informed in detail about the situation,” said Silvia Thalmann-Gut.

Nord Stream 2 did not immediately respond to inquiries. Numbers listed for its press spokespeople in Switzerland were disconnected.

Around 106 employees — the company’s entire local workforce — have already formally received termination notices, Thalmann-Gut said, citing an imminent deadline of US sanctions against the company as the cause of its collapse today.

Read the full article here (paywall).

In more economic news, Britain has put sanctions on Belarus in response to the government’s support of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, announced the foreign secretary, Liz Truss.

Here’s a tweet from Truss today announcing the first round of sanctions:

The Lukashenko regime actively aids and abets Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and will be made to feel the economic consequences for its support for Putin.

We’ve launched a first tranche of sanctions against Belarusian individuals and organisations.

This just in: the EU has approved cutting off seven Russian banks from Swift banking system, including the VTB bank, according to Bloomberg news.

A Biden administration official has also confirmed that Ukraine’s Ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, will be attending the US State of the Union address tonight as a guest of the first lady, Jill Biden.

From MSNBC’s Jesse Rodriguez:

The US president, Joe Biden, had a phone call today with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, receiving updates on Russia’s continued attack of Ukraine and to underscore the US’s ongoing support.

Here’s a readout of the phone call provided by the White House press office:

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine to discuss the United States’ continued backing for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression.

President Biden underscored the United States’ sustained help for Ukraine, including ongoing deliveries of security assistance, economic support, and humanitarian aid. The leaders discussed how the United States, along with Allies and partners, is working to hold Russia accountable, including by imposing sanctions that are already having an impact on the Russian economy.

The leaders discussed Russia’s escalation of attacks on sites used by civilians in Ukraine, including today’s bombing near Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has set out his conditions for further negotiations with Russia, insisting that Russian forces must “stop bombing people” before talks on a ceasefire can start.

Speaking in an interview with CNN and Reuters, Zelenskiy said:

It’s necessary to at least stop bombing people, just stop the bombing and then sit down at the negotiating table.

Zelenskiy urged Nato members to impose a no-fly zone to stop the Russian air force.

This is not about dragging Nato countries into war. The truth is everyone has long since been dragged into war and definitely not by Ukraine, but by Russia - a large-scale war is going on.

On Nato membership, he said:

Our partners, if they are not ready to take Ukraine into Nato ... because Russia does not want Ukraine to be in Nato, should work out common security guarantees for Ukraine.

This means that we have our territorial integrity, that our borders are protected, we have special relations with all our neighbours, we are completely safe, and the guarantors that give us security, they guarantee this legally.

Russian forces have entered the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Ukraine’s interior ministry has said.

Ukraine still controls the city administration building, Ukrainian interior ministry advisor, Vadym Denysenko, said on television.

Nearly 680,000 people have fled Ukraine since the Russian military invasion on 24 February, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) chief, Filippo Grandi, has said, with the number rising rapidly.

The UNHCR projected that more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees may eventually need protection and assistance in neighbouring countries.

Grandi said:

We are looking at what could become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century.

More than half of those who have fled Ukraine have crossed into Poland, with the UNHCR saying on Tuesday that 377,400 people had done so. Most arrivals are women and children from all parts of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said history was repeating itself after Russian forces attacked a TV tower near a major Holocaust memorial in Kyiv.

Zelenskiy tweeted:

To the world: what is the point of saying «never again» for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar?

At least 5 killed. History repeating…

Israel’s Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Centre voiced its “vehement condemnation” of the Russian attack.

It said in a statement:

We call on the international community to take concerted measures to safeguard civilian lives as well as these historical sites because of their irreplaceable value for research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust.

The death of a 21-year-old Indian medical student who was killed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, one of the first foreign nationals to die in the conflict, has thrown a spotlight on the tens of thousands of Indian students who remain trapped in the country since Russia’s invasion began.

According to the Indian foreign ministry, there were initially 20,000 Indian citizens in Ukraine, mostly students. So far around 12,000 have been successfully rescued but another 8,000 remain in heavy conflict areas or are still making their way to the borders.

Ukraine is a popular destination for Indian students, who flock to Ukrainian universities for the less competitive admission and low cost to study subjects such as medicine and engineering.

The student who died was identified as Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, 21, from the southern Indian state of Karnataka. He was a fourth year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University.

According to classmates who were with him, Gyanagoudar died when there was an air strike and shelling as he was lining up for food outside of a shop in the city.

A friend told the Indian Express:

Naveen was shot dead around 10.30 am Ukrainian time today. He was standing in the queue before a grocery shop when the Russian army fired at people. We have no information about his body.

Many other Indian students remain in bunkers in Kharkiv, said his friend.

His death was confirmed by a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External affairs who tweeted:

With profound sorrow we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning.

In a background briefing, the Indian government said India had repeatedly taken up the issue of safe passage of Indian nationals with both Russia and Ukraine, and an Indian evacuation team was positioned in the Russian city of Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said that in his call with Putin a few days ago, he had raised the issue of the safety of Indian students.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors without Borders, is setting up emergency response activities in Ukraine and deploying teams in Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

The international humanitarian medical organisation said teams had distributed war-wounded kits in the key port city of Mariupol.

The organisation said they have also provided telemedicine training for trauma care for 30 surgeons from eastern Ukraine.

At the Ukraine-Poland border, MSF teams are currently trying to get essential staff and supplies into Ukraine and set up emergency response activities across both sides of the border.

In a statement, MSF said:

Our teams at the Ukraine-Poland border checkpoints are seeing people cross over on foot, in cars and on buses, many tired and exhausted, and some with children as young as 25 days old.

Many of those crossing the Polish border told us they spent long hours in queues in freezing temperatures. Some were dehydrated and others suffered from hypothermia.

The EU is looking at cutting Russia’s second largest bank, VTB, from the Swift bank messaging system, along with six others that play a vital role in the Russian economy, our Brussels correspondent, Jennifer Rankin, reports.

An EU source confirmed reports that the EU is seeking to ban VTB and six other banks from Swift, the messaging system that underpins much global trade, pending a final decision by EU member state senior officials later on Tuesday.

The other banks that could be excluded from Swift include three already sanctioned by the EU last week: Rossiya Bank, believed by EU and western officials to be the personal bank for Vladimir Putin and many of his officials; Promsvyazbank and Vnesheconombank (VEB), both considered by EU officials to be instructed personally by the Russian president, with a key role in financing Russia’s defence sector.

The EU has already sanctioned the VTB chair and deputy prime minister, Dmitry Grigorenko, as well as the VEB chair, Igor Shuvlov, in an earlier round of sanctions adopted on the eve of the Russian invasion.

Earlier in the day, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said EU sanctions would take “a heavy toll on the Russian economy and the Kremlin”.

She said:

We are disconnecting key Russian banks from the Swift network. We also banned the transactions of Russia’s central bank, the single most important financial institution in Russia. This paralyses billions in foreign reserves, turning off the tap on Putin’s war.

EU officials are also likely to finalise a decision announced on Sunday to ban Russia’s state-backed channels RT and Sputnik. The two outlets and all their subsidiaries are likely to be added to an EU sanctions list, making it impossible to do business with them.

Some EU officials are also interested in granting passports to qualified Russian nationals, seeking to emigrate from Putin’s Russia.

In her speech to the European parliament, Von der Leyen referred to the thousands of Russians who have been arrested in anti-war protests, saying:

There is another Russia besides Putin’s tanks. We extend our hand of friendship to this other Russia.

But the idea has yet to be put to EU member states that are responsible for decisions on visa policy. Diplomats pointed out that many countries already run schemes to attract skilled workers that could be used by talented Russians, while stressing that visas were national, rather than EU competences.

The Russian advance on Kyiv has “stalled” as its forces face logistical challenges, including a shortage of food for some units, according to a senior US defence official.

The official claimed the Russian advance on the Ukrainian capital remains “basically … where it was yesterday” and cited a number of possible reasons, including Ukrainian resistance.

They said it was also possible the Russians were pausing their advance by choice:

One reason why things appear to be stalled north of Kyiv is that the Russians themselves are regrouping and rethinking and trying to adjust to the challenges that they’ve had.

But the official also noted that the Russian military had shown evidence of “risk-averse” behaviour when it came to its own troops.

You’ve seen it on the ground, where units are surrendering, sometimes without a fight. And they’ve got, a lot of these soldiers are conscripts, never been in combat before, some of whom we believe weren’t even told they were going to be in combat.

Five people were killed and five others wounded after Russian forces attacked a TV tower in Kyiv, the Interfax news agency is reporting.

In a statement on television, the Ukrainian emergency services confirmed five people have died as a result of the attack on the tower, Reuters reports.

Signal has reportedly been restored to Ukraine’s TV channels.

We would like to hear from people who are affected by the situation in Ukraine. We would also like to hear from others who are affected.

Here’s how you can share news tips or experiences, direct with our journalists.

Ukraine’s defence ministry has confirmed that the capital’s television tower has been attacked.

The ministry said some Ukrainian channels will not work for a while but backup programmes would be broadcast in the near future.

The Ukrainian ministry of internal affairs confirmed on Telegram that there was a military strike near the TV tower.

Less than 90 minutes before the attack, Russian forces said it would carry out strikes against Ukraine’s capital and warned residents in Kyiv to leave their homes.

A video appears to show civilians in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol confronting Russian troops and military vehicles.

The video shows Ukrainians shouting: “Go home!

Fascists! Are you going to shoot us peacefully? We don’t have weapons! Go Home! Go Home!

In response, a Russian soldier is seen firing his weapon into the air.

Note: the Guardian has not been able to verify precisely when and where the footage was taken.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has warned Russian “crimes” in Ukraine are “mounting by the hour”, with strikes hitting hospitals, schools and residential buildings.

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council, he said Russia’s “premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine” was creating a dire human rights and humanitarian crisis there.

We must send a resolute and unified message that President (Vladimir) Putin should unconditionally stop this.

Blinken also questioned whether Russia should be allowed to hold onto its seat in the Council.

One can reasonably ask whether a UN member state that tries to take over another UN member state, while committing horrific human rights abuses and causing massive humanitarian suffering, should be allowed to remain on this council.

An average of 50,000 Ukrainian refugees are entering Poland each day, which so far has taken in over 280,000 people, according to the UN.

When, at the end of January, Poland’s deputy interior minister, Maciej Wąsik, said his country had “to be prepared for a wave of up to a million people” in the event of a major Russian invasion of Ukraine, many thought he was exaggerating.

At this rate, Warsaw could be facing Europe’s largest wave of refugees since the second world war.

At the same time, however, thousands of Ukrainians are leaving Europe to return to Ukraine and join the fighting.

Among them are many women determined to bring back their children, who are stuck in the cities that have been invaded by the Russians. Some of these women told me they are even ready to take up arms.

Russian forces have attacked a television tower in Kyiv, according to reports.

Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko confirmed the capital’s TV tower has been attacked, potentially disrupting its signal. It is unclear if the tower was directly hit.

Work will be done to restore any lost signal, the local 1+1 television channel said.

During an emergency session of the European parliament, Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the EU via video link to “prove that you are with us” as Ukraine defends itself against an onslaught from Russia, a day after Kyiv officially asked to join the bloc.

EU lawmakers, many bearing the Ukrainian flag, gave Zelenskiy a standing ovation.

In his phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on Tuesday, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, signalled that his country is willing to mediate in the conflict, the Guardian’s Vincent Ni writes.

“Ukraine is willing to strengthen communications with China, and it looks forward to China playing a mediation role in achieving a ceasefire,” according to a Chinese readout, which cites Kuleba.

Using strong language, Wang said China “deplores” the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and is “extremely concerned” about harms caused to civilians.

But Wang continued to take a balanced view on Russia’s action. He said that while China believes that the security of one country “should not come at the expense of the security of other countries”, regional security “cannot be realised through the expansion of military groups”.

“China is trying to juggle a balanced position to support Russia’s ‘reasonable concerns’ and at the same time not to burn all the bridges,” said Yun Sun of Stimson Centre in Washington DC.

Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar has told his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu of the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine for humanitarian reasons.

Nato ally Turkey borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both.

On Monday, Turkey said it had asked all countries not to cross its straits into the Black Sea under a 1936 pact, limiting passage of some Russian warships.

In a phone call, Akar told Shoigu that Turkey would continue efforts for regional peace and shipments of humanitarian aid, the ministry said on Twitter.

The north-eastern Ukrainian region of Sumy exchanged a captured Russian officer for five fighters from Ukraine’s defence forces, governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said on social media.

He added that it was the first such swap in the area, the Reuters news agency reported.

He posted a video of a blond-haired man in handcuffs wearing a green camouflage jacket, saying he was born in 1997 in the Russian city of Omsk. He also said he was being taken to be exchanged for Ukrainian fighters.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the video immediately.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, gave a passionate speech in the European parliament in which she outlined the bloc’s commitment to stopping Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

She announced that for the first time ever, they are using the European budget “to purchase and deliver military equipment to a country that is under attack” in a €500m pledge and an additional €500m for humanitarian aid.

She said the EU would “never accept” the takeover of Ukraine and Putin’s actions had only served to make members more united.

Russia Today’s European satellite broadcasting operations are expected to be blacked out later today, the Luxembourg company distributing the channel has indicated.

Société Européenne des Satellites, which operates the Astra satellites and transponders which RT leases, told the Guardian it had been working to find a EU wide suspension following a sanction announced by the French commissioner Thierry Breton on Tuesday.

SES and other satellite carriers are legally unable to pull the plug without regulatory intervention.

A spokesman said:

We have been working very closely with the Lux government on a European-coordinated approach that would enable the European Union to swiftly adopt a regulation that would allow global operators like ourselves to suspend specific Russian channels promptly and with certainty.

We are expecting these sanctions to be finalised today and our teams have been working across the weekend with our customers and partners to prepare to implement.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said:

We are suspending the licences for the Kremlin’s propaganda machine. The state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, as well as their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and to divide our union.

These are unprecedented actions by the European Union and our partners in response to an unprecedented aggression by Russia.

Ukraine is in talks with its allies on how to support its air defences, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday.

He made the comments when asked about whether Nato should set up a no-fly zone to help the country after Russia’s invasion.

“Everything they can help us with now – it’s better to help now than find themselves eye-to-eye with Putin later,” Kuleba told an online news conference.

“No need to fear that Nato will find itself at war with Russia because of Ukraine. If Russia wins – you are next.”

Tens of thousands of medical items have been flown from the UK in response to the “humanitarian emergency” in Ukraine caused by Russia’s invasion, Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, has told MPs.

He said almost 50,000 items were sent on Sunday night and revealed that a second supply flight carrying, among other things, personal protective equipment (PPE), left early this morning.

Javid also expressed hopes there will be “many more” flights to provide aid to the people of Ukraine.

Speaking at health questions in the House of Commons, Javid told MPs:

I share the horror and disgust of almost everyone within this house, this country and the whole world at the unprovoked, unjust and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine by President Putin last week.

This appalling act has created a humanitarian emergency and we’re looking at every opportunity to give the people of Ukraine the support they so urgently need.

On Sunday night, we sent almost 50,000 items of medical supplies to Poland via air for onward transport to Ukraine. And I can inform the house that another plane departed at 7am this morning with more supplies, including medical equipment and PPE.

We have all been in awe of the bravery and the heroism shown by the Ukrainian people and rest assured we all stand with them, shoulder to shoulder, in their hour of need.

At least 10 people were killed and 35 wounded in rocket strikes by Russian forces on the centre of Kharkiv today, Ukraine’s interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said.

Similar strikes killed and wounded dozens in Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city of 1.5 million people, the previous day.

In a social media post, Herashchenko said:

The rubble is being cleared and there will be even more victims and wounded.

Ukrainian regional emergency services confirmed the death toll in a statement:

At least 10 people were killed and more than 20 were injured.

They added that 10 people had been discovered alive under rubble as rescue workers cleared debris.

The EU announced yesterday it will block Russia Today from all platforms including satellite and the internet, Lisa O’Carroll writes.

French commissioner Thierry Breton said there was “no place for Russian war propaganda in our information space”.

An EU ban could also result in the station being blacked out in the UK but this depends on whether Brussels can instruct the Luxembourg satellite company, SES/Astra to drop RT services, which are then distributed in the UK on Sky and Freesat platforms.

Sources say neither Sky or SES can legally drop RT without regulatory or legal intervention.

In the UK RT is now subject to 15 investigations by the national regulator, Ofcom which could result in its licence being revoked.

The EU decision to block RT comes after Google, Facebook and YouTube all took measures to restrict access.

Numerous diplomats staged a walk-out as Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, addressed the UN human rights council, after a similar boycott of his speech at the nearby Conference on Disarmament.

The diplomats, including from France and the UK, filed out of the room when Lavrov’s pre-recorded video message began to play, in protest against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko, who led the walkout, told the crowd:

Thank you very much for this wonderful show of support to Ukrainians who are fighting for their independence.

Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s representative to the UN, shared the video of the walk out:

A further 100,000 Ukrainians refugees will be able to come to Britain, the home secretary, Priti Patel, will announce on Tuesday, following pressure for the UK to take more of those fleeing the war in eastern Europe.

The scheme will be widened so that anyone who is an adult parent, grandparent, child over 18 or sibling of a Ukrainian national living in the UK can apply to join them.

A new visa sponsor route will also be created to let British businesses bring Ukrainians to the UK.

The change was announced by No 10, with the home secretary, Priti Patel, expected to give more details in a Commons statement later on Tuesday afternoon.

For more live updates from the UK, head over to our politics blog.

The European Union will have to seriously look at Ukraine’s request for EU membership and respond to Kyiv’s “legitimate” request, the chairman of EU leaders, Charles Michel, has said.

Michel was speaking at the European parliament after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, received a standing ovation for his powerful speech.

Michel told the European parliament:

It is going to be difficult, we know there are different views in Europe.

The council (of EU governments) will have to seriously look at the symbolic, political and legitimate request that has been made and make the appropriate choice in a determined and clear-headed manner.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said Hungary was supporting an initiative by eight European Union leaders to start membership talks with Ukraine.

In an open letter published yesterday, the presidents of three Baltic states, as well as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Slovenia called on EU member states to immediately grant Ukraine EU candidate country status and open membership talks.

Speaking at an online news briefing on Tuesday, Szijjarto said:

Hungary backs this initiative and we urge Brussels to put the issue on the agenda.

Szijjarto expressed solidarity with Ukraine, its eastern neighbour and home to a large ethnic Hungarian community, adding that Hungary backed Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Hungarian people did not want this war, Hungarians want peace and we are doing all we can to ensure that peace is restored as soon as possible.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has described Russia’s missile and rocket attack on Kharkiv as an act of terror and a war crime.

Addressing his people in a Facebook video message, Zelenskiy said:

This is terror against the city, this is terror against Kharkiv, terror against Ukraine. There was no military target on the square.

The rocket to the central square is outright, undisguised terror. No one will forgive. Nobody will forget. This strike on Kharkiv is a war crime.

Defending Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, is the “key priority” for the state, he said.

Kharkiv and Kyiv are currently the most important targets for Russia. Terror is meant to break us. To break our resistance. They are heading to our capital, as well as to Kharkiv.

Ukrainian sources in Sumy and Okhtyrka have given conflicting accounts of when the attack on the barracks in Okhtryka took place, with one suggesting it had happened on Monday evening and others over the weekend, the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont writes.

“We’ve been attacked every day since the 24th,” one resident called Igor told the Guardian.

Every single night by Grad rockets. They’re not just hitting the military in the region but also civilian targets.

He added that recent strikes had involved thermobaric rockets.

It’s awful I feel angry and desperate. They are moving from place to place to fire.

Sumy has been in a better situation because it has less important targets but Okhtryka … has barracks and is an important target for them to encircle and take Kharkiv. It also on an important transport junction.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told the European parliament that the EU must prove it is with Ukraine.

Addressing the European parliament via videolink, Zelenskiy says:

Without you, Ukraine is going to be lonesome. We have proven our strengths. We are exactly the same as you.

So prove that you are with us. Prove that you will not let us go. Prove that you indeed are Europeans and that life will win over death, and light will win over darkness.

At least 136 civilians have been killed, including 13 children, and 400 have been injured since Russia invaded Ukraine last week, according to the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR).

OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell said 253 of the casualties were in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine.

The real toll is likely to be much higher.

India has confirmed one of its citizens has died during an attack in Kharkiv on Tuesday morning.

From Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India’s ministry of external affairs:

Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments on the unfolding crisis in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.

Nato’s chief Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia to end the war in Ukraine and withdraw all its forces, adding the alliance would not send troops or combat jets to support Kyiv as it does not want to become part of the conflict.

“The Russian assault is totally unacceptable and it is enabled by Belarus,” Stoltenberg said on Tuesday after meeting Polish president Andrzej Duda.

“Nato is a defensive alliance, we do not seek conflict with Russia. Russia must immediately stop the war, pull all its forces from Ukraine and engage in good faith in diplomatic efforts,” he added.

Western sanctions will never make Russia change its position on Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that while direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv had begun, there were no plans for talks between the two countries’ presidents.

Peskov dismissed as fakes allegations of Russian strikes on civilian targets and the use of cluster bombs and vacuum bombs as fakes, Reuters reported.

He declined to give an assessment of the military situation on the ground on the sixth day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin describes as a special operation to demilitarise and “denazify” the country.

Peskov declined to comment on whether the Kremlin considers the capital Kyiv to be under the control of Nazis, referring the question to the Russian military.

Boris Johnson has said there is an “unfolding disaster in our European continent”.

Speaking in Warsaw, the UK prime minister said the Polish government and people were doing an “amazing job, an inspirational job” in addressing the humanitarian crisis.

“We in the UK stand ready to help you, we have humanitarian supplies already coming in – I think two planes of medical supplies have already landed, there is more to come,” Johnson said.

The UK government has come under pressure from Conservative and opposition MPs to do more to take in Ukrainian refugees.

Johnson told his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki: “We stand ready, clearly, to take Ukrainian refugees in our own country, working with you, in considerable numbers, as we always have done and always will.”

The prime minister also paid tribute to the “leadership and courage” of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president.

“I think he has inspired and mobilised not only his own people. He is inspiring and mobilising the world in outrage at what is happening in Ukraine,” Johnson added.

Officials in Ukraine’s second largest city have released a video showing a regional administration building being hit by a missile that then exploded

As fighting continues in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, people have been fleeing to neighbouring countries.

People in Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia and Romania fear Nato membership may not stop further Russian incursions.

The Guardian spoke to people living in countries near Ukraine about the situation, how they feel about their own safety and what it might mean for them.

Millions of artworks and monuments are at risk from Russia’s military onslaught in Ukraine, with one museum already burned to the ground, the global arts organisation Getty has said.

Ukrainian scholars are warning of an “unfolding cultural catastrophe”, Getty said in a statement from James Cuno, the president and chief executive officer of the J Paul Getty Trust.

Fedir Androshchuk, the director of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in Kyiv, said he was attempting to safeguard the museum from attack or looting alongside two colleagues and two armed police.

“The museum is located in the middle of a rich cultural heritage area near three fine churches, but also close to some possible targets (the Ukrainian security service and border forces),” he wrote in an email to a Swedish academic.

Getty said Russian forces had begun destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage, including the Ivankiv museum, about 50 miles north of Kyiv, which housed “precious Ukrainian folk art”.

Monuments at risk represent “centuries of history from the Byzantine to the baroque periods” and Unesco world heritage sites.

Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs tweeted on Monday that 25 works by the folk artist Maria Prymachenko held by the museum had been lost. “She created world-famous masterpieces. Her special gift and talent captivated Pablo Picasso,” said the ministry.

More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian shells hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv.

This is a video of soldiers searching through the rubble after the attack.

The European parliament is set to call for EU-wide restrictions on imports of Russian oil and gas to the bloc, as it urges even tougher sanctions aimed at the ‘strategic weakening’ of Russia’s economy and ability to wage war.

The text will be voted on after an address to MEPs from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is expected to address the assembly in Brussels via video link.

MEPs are arguing for more severe sanctions as a response to Russian attacks on civilian areas and infrastructure.

In a resolution likely to be adopted by a large majority on Wednesday, MEPs also call on the EU to close ports to Russian ships and refuse access to vessels bound for Russia, with the exception of those carrying vital humanitarian supplies. It also proposes measures to “restrict the import of the most important Russian export goods, including oil and gas”, although stops short of calling for a ban.

Other demands include a halt to all new EU investment into Russia, which is unlikely in reality, as well as a definitive ban on Nord Stream 2, beyond the suspension of the approval process already done by the German government.

MEPs also want all proposed Russia sanctions mirrored for Belarus, which has been a launchpad for the Russian attack.

After Ukraine’s government filed an application for EU membership on Monday, the resolution calls on EU institutions towork towards granting EU candidate status to Ukraine as part of a “merit based” process, while continuing to integrate Ukraine into the EU single market.

Such words may seem irrelevant or fanciful, as a 40km invading Russian convoy approaches Kyiv and civilians are killed in heavy shelling, but are intended to send a signal of support. The reference to “merit based”, however, also keeps in check membership hopes. A group of western Balkan countries have been in the EU membership queue for eight-to-17 years and senior officials have long said there would be no shortcuts in tackling corruption and judicial reform.

More immediately, the EP resolution calls for “multibillion euro assistance” for Ukraine, while stating Russia bears responsibility for the significant losses and should be required to compensate Ukraine.

The European parliament has almost no powers to set EU foreign policy, but often puts pressure on EU decision-makers in national capitals to go further and faster.

German warplanes are flying armed air patrols in the skies over Poland, the German air force said on Tuesday.

“Safeguarding the skies over Poland,” the air force said on Twitter, above a picture of a starting fighter jet, without giving details.

A military spokesperson told Reuters the Eurofighter jets were flying missions out of Germany over Poland.

Germany is also refuelling allied jets over Romania with an A400M tanker and supporting a multinational refuelling mission over Poland, according to the spokesperson, on top of having deployed six Eurofighters to Romania where they fly armed air patrols for Nato.

On Monday, Germany announced it would send Tornado warplanes and a maritime patrol aircraft to the Baltic Sea area.

Turkey is calling on all sides in the Ukraine war to respect an international pact on passage through the Turkish straits to the Black Sea, defence minister Hulusi Akar said after Ankara closed access.

Nato member Turkey borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. Under the 1936 Montreux convention, Ankara has the right to limit transit through its straits during wartime.

This allows it to curb Russian warships going to the Black Sea. The pact grants exemption to ships returning to their home bases, Reuters reported.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was cited by state media as saying that Turkey had demanded all Black Sea and non-Black Sea states to halt passage through its straits.

“Eroding Montreux or disrupting the status quo in any way is to nobody’s benefit. We see a benefit in preserving Montreux. We tell all sides that it would be beneficial to abide by Montreux,” Akar told reporters after Monday’s cabinet meeting, his ministry said.

In a call on Monday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken “expressed his appreciation” to Cavusoglu for Turkey’s implementation of the accord, state department spokesperson Ned Price said.

At least four Russian ships are waiting to cross from the Mediterranean.

YouTube has blocked channels linked to Russian state-owned media outlets RT and Sputnik across Europe – including the UK – amid the invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Google Europe said:

Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we’re blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately.

It’ll take time for our systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action.

The platform had previously limited the ability of RT and other Russian channels to make money from advertising on the site.

An adviser to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was deliberately shelling cities, including residential areas and civilian infrastructure, to spread panic among Ukrainians.

“The veil has come down. Russia is actively shelling city centres, launching direct missile and artillery strikes on residential areas and administration sites,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak.

“Russia’s goal is clear – mass panic, civilian casualties and damaged infrastructure. Ukraine is fighting honourably.”

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists, Reuters reported.

It comes as the UK’s deputy prime minister Dominic Raab warned Vladimir Putin and his commanders must be held accountable for any war crimes during Moscow’s siege on Ukraine.

He told Sky News: “Those that engage in war crimes will be held to account.”

He said it must be clear to “both to Putin but also to commanders in Moscow and on the ground in Ukraine that they will be held accountable for any violations of the laws of war”.

The mayor of Mariupol said on Tuesday morning the southern port city was under constant shelling that had killed civilians and damaged infrastructure.

“We have had residential quarters shelled for five days. They are pounding us with artillery, they are shelling us with Grads, they are hitting us with air forces,” Vadym Boichenko said in a live broadcast on Ukrainian TV.

“We have civilian infrastructure damaged – schools, houses. There are many injured. There are women, children killed.”

Russia will face the collapse of its economy as a result of western sanctions punishing Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday.

The US and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia’s central bank, its top businesses, oligarchs and officials, including Vladimir Putin himself, and barred some Russian banks from the Swift international payments system.

“We are going to deliver a total economic and financial war against Russia,” Le Maire told France Info radio. “We are going to provoke the collapse of the Russian economy.”

The Russian rouble fell steeply on Monday, although the currency clawed back a bit of ground on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has called for further international sanctions against Russia after what he said was a “barbaric” attack on the city of Kharkiv.

“Barbaric Russian missile strikes on the central Freedom Square and residential districts of Kharkiv. Putin is unable to break Ukraine down. He commits more war crimes out of fury, murders innocent civilians,” Kuleba said on social media.

“The world can and must do more. INCREASE PRESSURE, ISOLATE RUSSIA FULLY,” he wrote.

Kharkiv region head Oleg Synegubov said that Russian missile attacks had hit the centre of Ukraine’s second-largest city, including residential areas and the regional administration building.

Synegubov said Russia launched Grad and cruise missiles on Kharkiv but that the city defence was holding. “Such attacks are genocide of the Ukrainian people, a war crime against the civilian population,” he said.

Wearing a flak jacket and a helmet, Synegubov said in a video posted on social media on Tuesday morning that it was too early to know the number of casualties.

He shared a video showing Kharkiv regional administration building being hit by a missile and exploding. Reuters was not immediately able to verify that video independently.

Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven said they would contest the “spurious and unfounded basis” of European Union sanctions imposed for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The EU on Monday sanctioned both Fridman and Aven, along with dozens of other prominent Russians, Reuters reported.

The EU said “Aven is one of Vladimir Putin’s closest oligarchs” and that Fridman had been “referred to as a top Russian financier and enabler of Putin’s inner circle.”

“Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven … are profoundly shocked by the demonstrably false allegations made in the EU regulation purporting to justify the basis on which they have been sanctioned,” the businessmen said, adding:

Mr Fridman and Mr Aven will contest the spurious and unfounded basis for the imposition of these sanctions – vigorously and through all means available to them to reverse unwarranted and unnecessary damage to the livelihoods and prosperity of their many employees, customers, partners and stakeholders and the businesses that they and their partners have built up over the past 25 years.

Aven said it was wrong of the EU to say that he was an “especially close personal friend” of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin. Fridman said it was untrue that he had ”cultivated strong ties” to the administration of Vladimir Putin.

They both said it was untrue to state they “were unofficial emissaries for the Russian government” or that they had supported or benefited from Russian decision-makers responsible for the destabilisation of Ukraine.

Russia’s advance on Kyiv has made little progress in the past 24 hours due to logistical difficulties and the army has increased its use of artillery north of the capital, a British military intelligence update said.

“The Russian advance on Kyiv has made little progress over the past 24 hours probably as a result of continuing logistical difficulties,” the British defence ministry said in a military intelligence update.

“Russian forces have increased their use of artillery north of Kyiv and in vicinities of Kharkiv and Chernihiv. The use of heavy artillery in densely populated urban areas greatly increases the risk of civilian casualties.”

“Russia has failed to gain control of the airspace over Ukraine prompting a shift to night operations in an attempt to reduce their losses,” it said.

Britain’s deputy prime minister has said that anyone engaging in war crimes in Ukraine would be held to account.

“This is turning into a much much more perilous misadventure for Putin than I think he realised,” Dominic Raab told Sky News. “I think we’ve been very clear that those that engage in war crimes will be held to account.”

Raab added that Britain would not seek to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, and said that the conflict would not be over even if Russia managed to occupy Kyiv.

I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest on the war in Ukraine over the next few hours or so.

More on the Kharkiv missile attack from our correspondent Luke Harding:

Ukraine’s operational command says Russian forces have fired a rocket at the regional administration building in Kharkiv. Video shows a massive explosion with the building hit directly. Several civilian cars were passing at the time.

The strike was an attempt to kill Kharkiv’s governor and his team leading the defence of the city, Ukraine’s second largest, Kyiv says. Residents say Kharkiv was targeted again last night and this morning.

A second video showed extensive damage from the strike to a private flat across the road Kharkiv’s administration building.

Vladimir Putin is frustrated with the slow progress of his military in Ukraine and has been lashing out at people in his inner circle, according to the US network NBC, citing US officials.

NBC says current and former officials briefed on the matter have been told that US intelligence fears the Russian president may take out his frustration by escalating the war on his neighbour.

The report claims that western intelligence have “good visibility” into Putin and although they do not believe he is mentally unstable, he has been unusually harsh on people close to him as his anger grows at the military setbacks and worldwide condemnation of his actions.

It follows news earlier from US senator Chris Murphy who tweeted some snippets from a classified briefing on the war.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has fallen behind schedule thanks to fierce local resistance, and multiple Russian equipment and logistics failures, according to the briefing.

Financial markets have been much calmer today after the crash of the rouble on Monday and some big swings in stock markets.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.42% and Japan’s Nikkei jumped 1.47%.

The Russian rouble regained some footing after crashing to an all-time low, while the safe-haven dollar resumed its rise against major peers.

The opening calls for European stocks point to some more losses but not as dramatic as Monday’s.

Poland’s deputy interior minister said on Tuesday that about 350,000 people have entered his country from Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last week.

“Over the last 24 hours, 100,000 people crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border,” Maciej Wasik told public broadcaster Polskie Radio 1. “In total, since Thursday, there have already been 350,000 refugees.”

Peter Beaumont in Lviv has more on the deaths of more than 70 Ukrainian troops at a military base in Okhtyrka. Here it is:

Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, regional governor, posted photographs of the charred shell of a four-storey building in Okhtyrka which is located in Sumy oblast between Kharkiv and Kyiv. Rescuers can be seen scouring the rubble for survivors.

In a later Facebook post, he said many Russian soldiers and some local residents died in the bombardment on Monday.

According to some reports shelling or missiles hit a building being used as a base by the Ukrainian military, as well as fuel tanks. One local official claimed fuel-air explosive had been used although that could not be independently confirmed. Video from the time of the attack showed a column of thick black smoke above the town.

Okhtyrka mayor, Pavlo Kuzmenko, posted on Facebook, saying: “Again, the enemy is waging a vile war. A fuel-air bomb was dropped on an oil depot, oil tanks were blown up.”

More multinational businesses have distanced themselves and their dealings from Russia, with Hollywood film studios – at least for now – joining British oil companies Shell and BP:

• Disney, Warner Bros and Sony have all paused theatrical cinema releases in Russia. Disney said the release of the upcoming Pixar film Turning Red was on hold in Russia, citing the “unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis”. Warner has paused The Batman while Sony wil not be releasing its latest, Morbius.
• Mastercard said late on Monday it had blocked multiple financial institutions from its payment network as a result of sanctions imposed on Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Visa followed its rival with a statement saying that it is taking action to ensure compliance with sanctions and would also comply with any additional sanctions that may be implemented.

Here’s our full story on the Hollywood studios’ decision:

British prime minister Boris Johnson is due to fly to visit countries on Nato’s border with Russia on Tuesday, pledging that Vladimir Putin will “feel the consequences” for invading Ukraine.

Boris Johnson will travel this morning to meet counterparts in Poland and Estonia and visit British troops as he pushes for western unity in punishing the Russian president for starting a conflict that has taken “hundreds” of lives in only five days.

Before his trip to eastern Europe, Johnson urged allies to “speak with one voice” to ensure “Putin must fail”. Johnson said:

Alongside all our international allies the UK will continue to bring maximum pressure to bear on Putin’s regime to ensure he feels the consequences of his actions in Ukraine. We speak with one voice when we say, Putin must fail.

My colleague in Canberra, Daniel Hurst, writes about Australia’s decision to commit $70m to provide Ukraine with missiles and ammunition. Read the full story here:

Ukraine’s UN ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, has hailed the end of Russia’s month-long term holding the presidency of the UN security council on Monday night, saying: “I’m looking forward to midnight when this abomination – occupation of the seat of the president of the security council by Russia – will be over.”

Virginia Harrison has written an explainer on thermobaric weapons, after the Ukrainian ambassador to the US said a vacuum bomb – another term for the weapon – had been used during the invasion:

China’s embassy in Ukraine has announced that it has begun to evacuate citizens from the country, according to the BBC’s China correspondent Stephen McDonell.

The Chinese media outlet Global Times said on Monday that the embassy in Ukraine was considering plans for evacuations because of the “deteriorating situation” in Ukraine.

But the embassy said that the first group left yesterday, according to tweets by McDonell, and that they were Chinese students from Kyiv heading to Moldova and that more groups of students will follow.

The rise of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy from comic actor to the figurehead of a heroic pushback against the brutal might of the Russian military is the subject of our Today in Focus podcast.

Luke Harding, one of our correspondents in Ukraine, tells Michael Safi how Zelenskiy was considered a bit of a joke candidate when he ran for president in 2019 but prevailed in the election, and now personifies the defiance and dignity of Ukraine’s embattled population.

Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you are in the world and welcome to our live coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top developments of the past few hours:

• ‘Dozens’ of people have died in Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv after heavy bombardment by Russian forces in the past 24 hours, according to local officials. Footage shows Grad missiles raning down on the city.
• The international criminal court’s prosecutor has announced that he will launch an investigation into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
• Russia has assembled a military convoy north-west of Kyiv that stretches for 40 miles, according to satellite images taken by a US company. A major assault on the Ukrainian capital has been expected for days.
• The invasion has fallen behind schedule thanks to fierce Ukrainian resistance, and multiple equipment and logistics failures, according to a classified US briefing. The US also expects a “long and bloody battle” for Kyiv, US senator Chris Murphy said.
• British prime minister Boris Johnson will fly to Nato’s border with Russia on Tuesday to meet leaders of Poland and Estonia, and British troops.
  
• Disney has called off all upcoming theatrical releases in Russia, including Pixar film Turning Red, as international businesses continue to withdraw from Russia. Warner Bros and Sony are pulling The Batman and Morbius respectively.
• Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN read aloud a text message exchange said to be between a Russian solider in Ukraine and his mother shortly before he was killed.
• The US will expel 12 members of Russia’s UN mission, accusing them of having “abused their privileges” by engaging in espionage that is harmful to national security.