Ukraine claims a victory in Kharkiv after heavy clashes, while in Kyiv the city's Mayor says there are no Russian troops as a curfew continues.
Look back at how the day unfolded in our live blog.
Key events
- Putin rails against NATO and sanctions by putting nuclear deterrent forces on high alert
- Ukrainian delegation to meet with Russian officials
- No Russian troops in Kyiv, mayor says
- Kharkiv governor says Ukraine has control of city
- Ukraine will take Russia to International Court of Justice, Zelenskyy says
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia will provide 'lethal aid' to Ukraine
- Ukraine's nuclear agency says missiles have hit a radioactive waste disposal site near Kyiv
Live updates
By Kelsie Iorio
Putin rails against NATO and sanctions by putting nuclear deterrent forces on high alert
Vladimir Putin has ordered his military command to put Russia's deterrent forces — a reference to units that include nuclear arms — on high alert.
Speaking at a meeting with his top officials which was televised in Russia, Mr Putin cited what he claimed to be "aggressive" statements by NATO leaders and economic sanctions against Moscow.
Mr Putin told the Russian Defense Minister and the chief of the military’s General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat duty.”
It's unclear at this stage what was meant when he referred to that regime.
"As you can see, not only do Western countries take unfriendly measures against our country in the economic dimension — I mean the illegal sanctions that everyone knows about very well — but also the top officials of leading NATO countries allow themselves to make aggressive statements with regards to our country," Mr Putin said.
The US ambassador to the United Nations responded to the news while appearing on CBS News.
“President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
“And we have to continue to condemn his actions in the most strong, strongest possible way.”
By Daniel Smith
For any Australians who need consular assistance:
Australians in need of consular assistance should call the Australian Government 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 in Australia (if you're calling on someone's behalf) or +61 2 6261 3305 outside Australia.
By Jonathan Hepburn
We're closing this blog — but we'll be back soon
And that's where we're leaving this for tonight. But stay tuned, because a new blog will be running in a little over two hours.
It's 7pm in Ukraine, with all residents in Kyiv under a curfew, and things seem to have settled down for the evening.
Until next time.
By Jonathan Hepburn
EU makes unified stand, closing airspace, funding weapons for Ukraine and banning Russian state media
The European Union's chief executive says the 27-nation bloc will close its airspace to Russian airlines, fund supplies of weapons to Ukraine and ban some pro-Kremlin media outlets in response to Russia's invasion.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that "for the first time ever, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack".
Ms von der Leyen added that "we are shutting down the EU airspace for Russians. We are proposing a prohibition on all Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft. These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU".
She said also the EU will ban "the Kremlin's media 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 sow division in our union."
Ms von der Leyen added that the EU will also target Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko for supporting Russia's widespread military campaign in Ukraine.
"We will hit Lukashenko's regime with a new package of sanctions," she said.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Czechs join Poland, Sweden in refusing to play Russia in Soccer World Cup
The Czech Republic joins Poland and Sweden in refusing to play Russia in the 2022 World Cup qualifying playoffs next month in response to that nation's invasion of Ukraine.
The head of world champion France's soccer federation also moved against the Russians, saying Sunday he favoured excluding them from the competition.
Russia is scheduled to host Poland in Moscow for a playoff semifinal on March 24, with the winner due to host Sweden or the Czech Republic five days later. The winner on March 29 would advance to the World Cup being played in Qatar from November 21-December 18.
However, the Czech soccer federation said its executive committee "unanimously approved a decision that the Czech national team will not in any case play Russia."
Officials in Poland and Sweden made the same decision on Saturday — putting pressure on FIFA, which is responsible for all World Cup qualifying games, including in Europe.
FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino have not taken a clear public position on Russia, the 2018 World Cup host, since the military invasion was launched on Thursday.
The Czech federation said its head, Petr Fousek, will lead negotiations with FIFA and UEFA about its position.
"The Czech FA executive committee, staff members and players of the national team agreed it's not possible to play against the Russian national team in the current situation, not even on the neutral venue," the federation said in a statement. "We all want the war to end as soon as possible."
FIFA's current options include removing Russia from the World Cup or letting it advance to the finals tournament by accepting the withdrawal of the three other teams in its playoff bracket.
A strict reading of FIFA's World Cup regulations would even make the Polish, Swedish and Czech federations liable to disciplinary action and having to pay fines and compensation.
In 1992, however, FIFA and UEFA removed Yugoslavia from its competitions following United Nations sanctions imposed when war broke out in the Balkans.
Any FIFA decision on Russia would likely come from its Bureau, chaired by Mr Infantino and including the presidents of soccer's six continental governing bodies, including UEFA's Aleksander Ceferin.
UEFA on Friday pulled the 2022 Champions League final from St. Petersburg, moving it to Paris, and said Russian and Ukrainian teams in its competitions must play home games in neutral countries. UEFA allowed Spartak Moscow to continue playing in the second-tier Europa League's round of 16.
Reporting by AP
By Jonathan Hepburn
Refugees head for Shehyni border crossing
The Shehyni border crossing into Poland, near Mostyska in Ukraine, has become a major crossing point for Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. Queues of cars stretch 35 kilometres from the crossing.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Ukraine is running out of oxygen, WHO warns
Ukraine is running out of oxygen supplies that critically ill people need, the World Health Organization said on Sunday, calling for safe passage for emergency imports as combat rages.
"The oxygen supply situation is nearing a very dangerous point in Ukraine. Trucks are unable to transport oxygen supplies from plants to hospitals across the country, including the capital Kyiv," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement.
"The majority of hospitals could exhaust their oxygen reserves within the next 24 hours. Some have already run out. This puts thousands of lives at risk."
Oxygen is essential for patients with a range of conditions, including the 1,700 in hospital with COVID-19 and those with other critical illnesses stemming from complications of pregnancy, childbirth, sepsis, injuries and trauma.
Critical hospital services were also being jeopardised by electricity and power shortages, while ambulances transporting patients were in danger of getting caught in the crossfire.
The WHO said it was looking to increase supplies, most likely using liquid oxygen and cylinders from regional networks. These supplies would need safe transit routes after leaving a logistics corridor through Poland.
By Jonathan Hepburn
NATO member Turkey calls invasion a 'war', will implement pact controlling passage into and out of Black Sea
NATO member Turkey changed its rhetoric to call Russia's assault on Ukraine a "war" on Sunday and pledged to implement parts of an international pact that would potentially limit the transit of Russian warships from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.
Kyiv had appealed to Ankara to block any more Russian ships from entering the Black Sea, from which Moscow launched an incursion on Ukraine's southern coast. At least six Russian warships and a submarine transited Turkey's straits this month.
"It is not a couple of air strikes now, the situation in Ukraine is officially a war … We will implement the Montreux Convention," Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, said in an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk.
Balancing its Western commitments and close ties to Moscow, Ankara has in recent days called the Russian attack unacceptable but until Sunday had not described the situation in Ukraine as a war.
The rhetorical shift allows Turkey to enact the articles of the 1936 Montreux Convention that permits it to limit naval transit of its Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits during wartime, or if threatened.
Yet Mr Cavusoglu reiterated that Turkey cannot block all Russian warships accessing the Black Sea due to a clause in the pact exempting those returning to their registered base.
"There should not be any abuse of this exemption. Ships that declare returning to their bases and passing through the straits should not be involved in the war," Mr Cavusoglu said.
Russia's Black Sea fleet is headquartered in Sevastopol, on the tip of the Crimean Peninsula.
Turkey has good ties with Russia and Ukraine. Even as NATO members have hit Moscow with sanctions, any step too far by Ankara could harm its heavy Russian energy imports, trade and tourism sector at a time of domestic economic turmoil.
Mr Cavusoglu also said he spoke to both Ukrainian and Russian counterparts and was pleased to hear the two countries will hold negotiations.
Ibrahim Kalin, spokesperson for President Tayyip Erdogan, said earlier on Sunday: "On the fourth day of the Ukraine war, we repeat President Erdogan's call for an immediate halt of Russian attacks and the start of ceasefire negotiations".
Reporting by Reuters
By Jonathan Hepburn
World's largest aircraft burnt in Russian shelling
The world's largest cargo plane, the Ukrainian-made Antonov-225 Mriya, was burnt in a Russian attack on Hostomel airport near Kyiv, Ukrainian state arms manufacture Ukroboronprom said on Sunday.
"The Russian occupiers destroyed the flagship of Ukrainian aviation — the legendary An-225 Mriya. It happened at the Antonov airfield in Hostomel near Kyiv," Ukroboronprom said on its Facebook page.
It said that the plane restoration would cost more than $3 billion and take a long time.
The An-225 was designed in Ukraine in the 1980s to support the Soviet space program. Two were made but the second has never been completed.
The sole operational An-225 was used for Soviet military missions, mothballed for eight years then refurbished and used as a commercial cargo aircraft.
It is the heaviest aircraft ever made, has the longest wingspan of any operational aircraft and holds records for cargo carried.
It also has an international following and has visited Australia.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Finland changes long-standing policy to allow weapons exports to Ukraine
Finland is to allow neighbouring Estonia to export to Ukraine Soviet-origin howitzer field guns, which were previously sold to Estonia by Finland but could not legally be sold onwards, the Finnish government said on Sunday.
The decision came as a policy shift from Finland, which is not a NATO member and has previously maintained a policy of not allowing weapon exports to war zones.
Finland will also directly donate 2,000 bulletproof vests, 2,000 helmets and two first aid units to Ukraine, Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen told reporters on Sunday after a government meeting.
Finland shares a long border with Russia and in fact were a grand duchy of the Russian Empire from 1809 until the collapse of the empire with the Russian Revolution in 1917.
With reporting by Reuters
By Jonathan Hepburn
Russians nationwide risk arrest to protest against invasion
From Moscow to Siberia, Russians have taken to the streets again on Sunday to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Demonstrators marched in city centres, chanting "No to war".
Protests against the invasion started on Thursday and have continued for four days in a row, despite police swiftly moving to detain hundreds of people each day.
In St Petersburg, where dozens gathered in the city centre, police in riot gear grabbed protesters and dragged some to police vans, even though the demonstration was peaceful.
According to the OVD-Info rights group that tracks political arrests, by Sunday afternoon police detained at least 356 Russians in 32 cities over anti-war demonstrations.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Speaking of Canada — they're also boycotting Russian vodka
Canadian liquor stores are removing Russian vodka and other Russian-made alcoholic beverages from their shelves in an act of condemnation over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Liquor stores in the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland said they were removing Russian spirits, while Ontario, Canada's most populous province, also directed the Liquor Control Board Of Ontario to withdraw all Russian products.
In Ontario alone, all products produced in Russia will be removed from 679 stores.
"The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation, along with other Liquor jurisdictions throughout Canada, has made the decision to remove products of Russian origin from its shelves," the NLC Liquor Store said in a tweet.
Canada imported $C4.8 million ($5.22 million) worth of alcoholic beverages from Russia in 2021, according to Statistics Canada data. That is down 23.8 per cent from $C6.3 million in 2020. Vodka is the second most popular spirit among Canadian consumers after whisky, Statscan said.
Reporting by Reuters
By Jonathan Hepburn
Canada, France join growing list of nations banning Russian commercial jets from their airspace
European nations and Canada moved on Sunday to shut their airspace to Russian aircraft, an unprecedented step aimed at pressuring President Vladimir Putin to end his invasion of Ukraine.
"We will hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked attacks against Ukraine," Canadian transport minister Omar Alghabra wrote in a Twitter post.
There are no direct flights between Russia and Canada, but several Russian flights a day pass through Canadian airspace to other countries, a spokesperson for Mr Alghabra said.
Germany and France also joined Britain, the Nordics and the Baltic states in announcing bans on Russian use of their airspace, a major escalation in a tactic by mostly NATO allies to wage economic war against Putin in retaliation for the invasion.
Britain has banned Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot from entering British airspace. Poland and The Czech Republic also said they were banning Russian airlines from their airspace, while airlines including IAG-owned British Airways and Virgin Atlantic began routing flights around Russian airspace.
Russia is now widely expected to further retaliate against the air blockades and other sanctions. It has already responded to the earliest European airspace bans with its own edicts barring airlines from Britain, Bulgaria and Poland.
Reporting by Reuters
By Jonathan Hepburn
Russia has a pattern of manufacturing threats to justify aggression, US says
President Vladimir Putin's order to put Russian nuclear forces on high alert is part of a pattern of Moscow manufacturing threats to justify aggression, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Sunday.
"We've seen him do this time and time again. At no point has Russia been under threat from NATO, has Russia been under threat from Ukraine," Ms Psaki said on ABC America's This Week program.
"This is all a pattern from President Putin and we're going to stand up to it. We have the ability to defend ourselves, but we also need to call out what we're seeing here from President Putin," Ms Psaki added.
The United States is open to providing additional assistance to Ukraine, she said.
She added that Washington has not taken sanctions targeting Russia's energy sector off the table.
"We have not taken those off, but we also want to do that and make sure we're minimizing the impact on the global marketplace and do it in a united way," Ms Psaki said.
Mr Putin threatened in the days before Russia's invasion to retaliate harshly against any nations that intervened directly in the conflict in Ukraine, and he specifically raised the spectre of his country's status as a nuclear power.
The US ambassador to the United Nations responded to the news from Moscow while appearing on a Sunday news program.
"President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable," Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. "And we have to continue to condemn his actions in the most strong, strongest possible way."
Reporting by Reuters and AP
By Kelsie Iorio
Meeting confirmation comes after talks between Zelenskyy and Lukashenko
Ukraine's defence ministry says Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko contacted Volodymyr Zelenskyy by phone, which led to an agreement for Ukrainian and Russian delegations to meet on the border of Ukraine and Belarus.
"Alexander Lukashenko has taken upon himself the responsibility for all of the Belarus-based aircraft, helicopters, and missiles to stay grounded during the Ukrainian delegation passage, negotiations and return," the defence ministry says.
By Kelsie Iorio
Ukrainian delegation to meet with Russian officials
The office of Ukraine's president has confirmed that a delegation will meet with Russian officials as Moscow’s troops draw closer to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said on Telegram that the two sides would meet at an unspecified location on the Belarusian border and did not give a precise time for the meeting.
The update came hours after Russia announced that its delegation had flown to Belarus to await talks.
Ukrainian officials initially rejected the move, saying any talks should not take place in Belarus, where Russia has placed a large contingent of troops.
The meeting news came shortly after President Vladimir Putin's order that Russian nuclear forces be put on high alert in response to what he called "aggressive statements" by leading NATO powers.
Reporting by AP
By Kelsie Iorio
'This war must end' Hungarian foreign minister says
Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto has called for an end to war in Ukraine as he handed over a consignment of aid, saying it was creating "one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophies" seen in Europe for a generation.
Szijjarto said 66,000 people had fled Ukraine to Hungary since Russia invaded on Thursday.
By Kelsie Iorio
No Russian troops in Kyiv, mayor says
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has posted an update on Telegram saying nine civilians have died in the city since the Russian invasion began.
One of those was a child.
"There are no Russian troops in the capital, but our military (and) law enforcement ... continue to detect and neutralize saboteurs," Klitschko said.
He also reminded Kyiv citizens that the 5pm-8am curfew is still in place.
"It is for the safety of the residents that we have imposed a curfew until tomorrow morning," he said.
"Do not go outside."
