Hundreds held like hostages inside Mariupol hospital - official

1. Russian troops are holding 400 people, including doctors and patients, "like hostages" inside a hospital in Mariupol, the deputy mayor says
2. Earlier about 2,000 cars carrying civilians managed to leave the city, which has been devastated by intense Russian bombardment
3. Meanwhile, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has announced a 35-hour curfew in the capital, warning of "a difficult and dangerous moment"
4. Russian air strikes hit a metro station and residential buildings overnight, killing four people
5. Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova has been fined after interrupting Russian state TV with a sign reading "no war "
6. The Kremlin responds to new US sanctions on several of its defence officials by barring 13 Americans from entering Russia - including President Joe Biden
7. The Czech, Polish and Slovenian PMs are set to meet Ukraine's President Zelensky in Kyiv shortly

Three EU leaders to meet Zelensky shortly

The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia are scheduled to meet with Ukraine's president Vlodomyr Zelensky in Kyiv at 18:00 GMT, Czech media is reporting.

The three leaders intend to present a broad package of support for Ukraine following a symbolic trip that is intended to show European solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

The three prime ministers reportedly crossed the border into Ukraine this morning before travelling to the capital overland by train.

The visit comes as Russia continues it's attacks on Kyiv - where a curfew lasting until Thursday will shortly come into effect. It is not known how the curfew will impact the leaders' visit.

Burying fallen soldiers becomes part of daily life

Orla Guerin

BBC News, Kyiv

Orla Guerin

Under a bright morning sun Colonel Valeriy Gudz was laid to rest, with military honours, in his hometown of Boryspil on the outskirts of Kyiv. The singing of Orthodox priests was punctuated now and then by the rumble of distant shelling.

Many troops in uniform came to pay their last respects holding bouquets of flowers. As mourners came to place their hands on the coffin, heart-rending cries from the colonel’s loved ones pierced the air.

A lifelong friend told us he was the colonel was patriot who first took up arms in 2014 when Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine went to war with the government.

Burying fallen soldiers is part of the new normal here, as Ukraine’s losses increase. At the weekend President Zelensky said 1,300 soldiers had been killed defending their homeland.

But it does not feel as if resistance is being eroded. Instead, the deaths on the battlefield, and the killing of innocent civilians, seems to be strengthening the resolve here.

Orla Guerin

Biden to meet Nato and EU leaders in Brussels next week

US President Joe Biden is expected to join European Union and Nato leaders in Brussels next week, the White House says .

The meeting of EU and Nato leaders will likely focus in large part on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the agenda set to include issues like "security and defence" and "external relations".

The US president will join his EU counterparts on Thursday 24 March, although more details are expected soon.

Russian TV protester says it was her own decision

Carrie Davies

BBC Moscow Correspondent

MARINA OVSYANNIKOVA

Marina Ovsyannikova, the state TV employee who staged an anti-war protest during a live bulletin last night in Moscow, has been fined 30,000 roubles (£213).

She was charged with an administrative offence under Russia’s protest laws. It was because of the video she released calling for others to demonstrate against what the Kremlin calls it’ "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Speaking outside the court, Ovsyannikova said: “It was my anti-war decision. I made this decision by myself because I don’t like Russia starting this invasion. It was really terrible.

“I want to thank everyone for their support, friends and colleagues. It has been very hard few days in my life. I spent two days without sleep. I was being questioned for over 14 hours.”

She accused the authorities of initially denying her legal help. Her lawyers also said in court that despite asking for a lawyer to be present, she was not given access to one for several hours.

“They didn’t allow me to get in touch with close ones and relatives. They didn’t not allow any legal help. I was in a hard condition,” said Ovsyannikova.

She asked to be allowed to rest before commenting further and said again that it was her decision alone to stage her protest.

'We can't leave' says hospital employee in Mariupol

Days after a deadly attack on a maternity hospital in Ukraine's southern port city of Mariupol, the city's biggest hospital has been captured and 400 patients and staff are being treated like hostages, officials say.

Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko says the regional intensive care hospital, on the western outskirts of Mariupol, was all but destroyed the other day but staff continued to treat patients in the basement.

He has quoted one hospital employee as saying: "The Russians forced 400 people from neighbouring houses to come to our hospital. We can't leave."

Donetsk regional governor

The Donetsk regional governor said this was what the hospital looked like before it was "practically destroyed"

Authorities say at least 2,400 civilians have already been killed since Russia's bombardment of the city began. Many of Mariupol's residents are trying to survive in underground shelters.

One human rights group accuses Russian soldiers of threatening to shoot anyone who leaves the hospital, and anyone who has tried to get out has been shot and wounded.

You can read more about the terrible conditions in Mariupol here.

Russian TV journalist resigns

A prominent journalist working for a Kremlin-controlled TV station has resigned in the wake of the on-screen protest by Channel One journalist Marina Ovsyannikova.

Vadim Glusker, NTV's Brussels correspondent, has been confirmed to have resigned by the state news agency RIA Novosti.

NTV told RIA Novosti that Glusker stopped working for it "in early March" and that his decision was "to do with health reasons". NTV is Russia's third most popular TV station and is owned by gas giant Gazprom and is firmly pro-Kremlin.

There are also reports that Zhanna Agalakova, Channel One's correspondent in Paris, has resigned - but these have not been confirmed.

Earlier, we brought you reports that a news presenter from NTV had resigned and left the country.

Zelensky says Ukraine should accept it won't join Nato

EPA

Volodymyr Zelensky has appeared to suggest the country should accept it won't be able to join the Nato military alliance.

Speaking at a video conference with military officials earlier today, the Ukranian president said, "Ukraine is not a member of Nato. We understand that. We are adequate people."

He continued: "We have heard for years that the doors were open, but we also heard that we could not join. It's a truth and it must be recognised.

"I am glad that our people are beginning to understand this and rely on themselves and our partners who help us."

Before the invasion, Vladimir Putin had demanded that Ukraine was banned from ever joining Nato, as one of the "security guarantees" Moscow was seeking.

97 children have died since Russian invasion of Ukraine - Zelensky

During his address to Canadian MPs, Zelensky says that almost a hundred children have died during Russian's invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine's president explains the southern besieged city of Mariupol has been left without communication networks and nearly running out of food.

Zelensky adds that 97 children had been reportedly killed since the war began.

BreakingHospital staff and patients in Mariupol taken hostage - deputy mayor

Hugo Bachega

BBC News, Lviv

Mariupol's deputy mayor Sergei Orlov has been speaking to the BBC about the news just in that Russian troops have taken staff and patients of Mariupol hospital as hostages.

"We received information that the Russian army captured our biggest hospital... and they're using our patients and doctors like hostages," he said.

"We can confirm this information and also the governor of Donetsk region has confirmed this information. We received information that there are 400 people there."

BreakingRussian journalist fined after TV protest

The Russian TV journalist who burst on to a live news programme to protest against the war in Ukraine has been fined 30,000 roubles (about £213 at the current rate) for "organising an unsanctioned mass event".

A court found Marina Ovsyannikova guilty of flouting protest legislation, the RIA news agency reported.

Independent website Meduza says she was fined for the video address she had recorded before the protest, not for the protest itself.

Kyiv prepares for what Russia will unleash next

Lyse Doucet

Chief International Correspondent, Kyiv

BBC

Dymytro Bilotserkovets is helping at "humanitarian hubs" across this capital

"I know what I'm fighting for," declares Dymytro Bilotserkovets as we stand in front of tonnes of potatoes on a railway platform in Kyiv. He's from Sevastopol in the southwestern corner of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.

A member of Kyiv's city council, now he's helping at "humanitarian hubs" across this capital. Volunteers busily pack boxes. There are stacks of everything from cooking oil to chocolate and of course, salo – the very popular pork fat.

BBC

Fighting a war means fortifying a city. It's also about feeding it, if Russia lays siege to Kyiv or unleashes the kind of incessant shelling being inflicted elsewhere.

Maps online show which grocery stores are still open – so far, the basics are still for sale. But some shelves empty fast.

More than half of Kyiv's residents have left; there's still more than a million here.

Shelters prepare too. At the Palace Ukraine metro, station master Svitlana tells us if the situation worsens, they can host 1,300 people, even more if necessary. She expects volunteers will provide food.

"In this crisis, everybody knows what to do, to help civilians, to help our army," underlines Bilotserkovets.

BBC

Palace Ukraine metro station master Svitlana says they can host 1,300 people

Biden banned from entering Russia

EPA

Earlier we reported that Russia had imposed sanctions on US President Joe Biden and other senior officials.

Russia's foreign ministry says they have been banned from entering the country in response to US sanctions.

The measure "is the consequence of the extremely Russophobic policy pursued by the current US administration", it said in a statement.

In its latest announcement on sanctions, the US has targeted four people and one entity. They are accused of helping to conceal events around the death of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, or of being connected to human rights violations against human rights advocate Oyub Titiev.

The US Treasury also said it was adding to its sanctions against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and was targeting his wife.

Zelensky: We've seen who our true friends are

Canadian parliament

More now from President Zelensky's live address before Canadian MPs, where he's asking them to imagine what they would do if Canada was in Ukraine's situation.

"Can you imagine calling other friendly nations, and asking them 'please close the sky, close the air space. stop the bombing'".

"And in turn they express their deep concerns about the situation. We talk to our partners and they say 'please hold on a little longer'".

The Ukrainian president described the situation as dire, "but it's allowed us to see who our true friends are these past 20 days".

BreakingFox News cameraman dies following Kyiv attack

Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski has been killed while reporting outside Kyiv, the US network says.

Zakrzewski was killed and his colleague, Benjamin Hall, was injured when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire yesterday in Horenka, around 20km north-west of the capital, says Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott.

"Pierre was a war-zone photographer who covered nearly every international story for Fox News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria during his long tenure with us," she says. “His passion and talent as a journalist were unmatched."

Hall, a 39-year-old British correspondent, is still being treated in hospital following the incident.

It follows the death of Brent Renaud, an American filmmaker, on Sunday.

Zakrzewski's former colleagues have been paying tribute to him on Twitter. "I don’t know what to say. Pierre was as good as they come," correspondent Trey Yingst writes.

How can you explain this to your children? - Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is addressing Canada's Parliament now, where he has been greeted by mass applause.

He describes his feelings and those of the Ukrainian people over the past 20 days of Russia's "full-scale aggression". He says: "Imagine at 4am, each of you, you start hearing bomb explosions, severe explosions, can you imagine hearing you, your children, hearing explosions?"

He says cruise missiles are falling on your country, and your children are asking what has happened and you see from the news the infrastructure that has been targeted and that people have died.

The Ukrainian president adds: "How can you explain to your children that full-scale aggression just happened in your country?"

Latest movements in the Russian invasion

Russian troops continue to face sustained Ukrainian counterattacks and mounting casualties as they attempt to encircle and cut off the capital Kyiv.

BBC

Troops are now moving towards the city of Kyiv from multiple positions. Today - day 20 of the invasion - has seen powerful explosions as Russian bombardment hit residential buildings and a metro station.

BBC

Overall, Russia's progress in the north has been slower than in the south, where troops have made rapid gains. Read more here.

BBC

Zelensky to address Canadian MPs

Jessica Murphy

BBC News, Toronto

President Volodymyr Zelensky is not the first Ukrainian leader to address Canada's Parliament, nor will he be the first wartime leader.

But his address will be historic in other ways, including the fact he'll be the first world leader to appear virtually, speaking to Canadian politicians from a besieged Kyiv.

The address will be widely watched. Canada is home to one of the world’s largest Ukrainian diaspora - second only to Russia.

The 1.4 million strong Ukrainian-Canadian community has mobilised to help the war efforts - from humanitarian appeals to preparing to welcome refugees and volunteering to fight in Ukraine.

Along with its Western allies, Canada has introduced new immigration measures for Ukrainians fleeing the war and has sanctioned nearly 500 individuals and entities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, including another 15 allies of President Vladimir Putin allies on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be introducing the Ukrainian leader.

The Ukrainian city where people enjoy the sunshine as the sirens wail

Sarah Rainsford

BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

BBC

Two people walk through Uman

The air raid siren has been wailing here in Uman most of the morning. There were several sirens overnight, too, sending some residents to their bunkers and basements.

But this pretty city, some 200km directly south of Kyiv, has been spared Russian strikes since the first day of the war.

As one woman in a coffee shop put it: "Our air defences are working well."

So there are now little groups of people out and about near the river bank with prams and puppies, taking in the glorious sunshine, even as the sirens sound non-stop.

These scenes are hard to square with what we’ve witnessed to the east over the past three weeks. The families in Kharkiv, including babies, who have moved under ground to live on metro carriages. In Dnipro, weeping men on a train platform sending their wives, mothers and children to safety. And the children fleeing the siege of Sumy with their parents, who told me about learning to dress in 30 seconds and run for cover whenever they heard Russian planes overhead.

BBC

BBC

But even in Uman, life is far from normal. There's a curfew, like everywhere. Our hotel serves dinner in the dark and the first three families I spoke to had all been uprooted by fighting elsewhere.

One mum with her young daughter had fled the devastation of Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, a week ago. She does feel safer here, and when I wondered whether she planned to move further west she said she only wanted to go home to Chernihiv, where her mother has stayed, under fire, refusing to evacuate.

There are posters on lampposts around town, as we’ve seen across the east and north. One of them says: "Don’t flee, defend Ukraine." Another swears at Russia and Vladimir Putin, and there’s a third I hadn’t seen before which shows a baby curled up on a Ukrainian military uniform next to the slogan "everything will be ok".

But "ok" feels a long way off.

Russia could be planning chemical 'false flag' operation - Stoltenberg

More now from Jens Stoltenberg's press conference.

The Nato chief says that Russia is "making absurd claims about biological labs and chemical weapons" in Ukraine.

"This is just another lie," he says, noting that Russia had originally said it did not plan to invade Ukraine.

"We are concerned that Moscow could stage a 'false flag' operation, possibly including chemical weapons," Stoltenberg says.

A false flag is a political or military action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it.

Stoltenberg says any use of chemical weapons is "absolutely unacceptable".

The US has previously raised similar worries, with the White House saying nations should be on the lookout for Russia "to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them".

Divisions in Nato and the EU are becoming starker

Katya Adler

Europe Editor

The journey to Kyiv by train today by the prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic may seem quirky, counter-intuitive or downright fool-hardy, but the three leaders were determined to deliver three separate messages from the war-torn region:

1. Solidarity with Ukrainians
2. A warning Moscow may also have its sights on other former communist countries like theirs
3. Frustration with the West’s handling of the crisis

Of course, Western powers prefer to show a united front.

They’re mindful of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desire to divide opponents, in order to weaken them.

But divisions in Nato and, even more, in the EU, are becoming starker.

Countries closer to Russia insist everything should be done to stop Putin.

Most favour a no-fly zone over Ukraine, as the country’s president has repeatedly requested.

But Nato's chief says no, that could bring the whole alliance into direct conflict with nuclear power Russia.

In Brussels, differences between EU leaders are becoming more pronounced.

Eastern and most central Europeans (nicknamed the sanctionistas) favour speedy and tougher sanctions...driven by worry for their own national security.

While Germany, Italy and Austria have finances on their mind.

They want to penalise Russia, but have a more slowly, slowly approach - out of fear of the impact on their own economies.