President Vladimir Putin says Russia is ready for talks with Ukraine but insisted that it must meet Moscow's demands. Mr Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Ukraine must agree to demilitarise, accept Moscow's sovereignty over Crimea and surrender territory to Russia-backed rebels in the east, the Kremlin said in its readout of Friday's call.
Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 following the ousting of the country's former Moscow-friendly leaders and cast its support behind the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Mr Putin recognised the separatist "people's republics" as independent states just before he launched an invasion of Ukraine on February 24, citing their plea for military assistance.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators on Thursday held the second of two rounds of talks, reaching a tentative agreement on setting up safe corridors to allow civilians to leave besieged Ukrainian cities and the delivery of humanitarian supplies.
They also agreed to keep talking on ways to negotiate a settlement, but Mr Putin's tough demands make prospects for a compromise look dim. Ukrainian negotiators said the parties may conduct another round of talks over the weekend.
Home Secretary visits Poland
People fleeing Ukraine are escaping the "most atrocious set of circumstances", the Home Secretary has said during her trip to the Polish border. Priti Patel travelled to Poland to mark the Ukraine family scheme opening on Friday to allow Britons and those settled in the UK to bring their relatives over to join them.
Speaking to reporters, she said there was work going on "night and day" to ensure those fleeing the advancing Russian troops could seek refuge. The Cabinet minister said people crossing the border - the majority of them women and children - were coming from the "most atrocious set of circumstances where they are being persecuted by President Putin".
She said she was in the country "very much in terms of standing in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but also with our friends here in Poland". The UK's initial visa offer was restricted to immediate family, but was widened on Tuesday to include parents, grandparents and siblings, with applications opening on Friday.
A sponsorship scheme will also allow individuals and organisations to bring Ukrainians to the UK.
"We're also launching our new family extension route today to enable Ukrainian families with links to the UK to come over to Britain. That scheme is live, that is now working, that's up and running," the Home Secretary added.
"We stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine but also with our dear friends here in Poland, who are working really night and day, we can all see this, under incredible circumstances."
The Home Office, approached on Friday afternoon, said it was too early to say how many applications had been made via the Ukraine family scheme. Labour has urged the Home Office to go further by creating a simple emergency visa allowing anyone fleeing the conflict to come to the UK.
The party said the move would lift normal visa conditions other than biometrics and security checks, which could be done en route to the UK. It comes as MPs criticised the support provided by ministers to people looking to escape the Taliban in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of Western troops in the summer, and drew parallels with the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.
The Commons International Development Committee published a report on Friday, Afghanistan: UK Support for Aid Workers and the Afghan People, and said the Government had been "inflexible in its response" to the plight of people looking to escape the central Asian country.
Sarah Champion, the Labour chair of the committee, said: "By only making limited concessions to pre-existing UK immigration routes, the response from the Home Office to the situation in Ukraine shows an inflexible and begrudging approach to an acute humanitarian situation. As in Afghanistan, there has been a lack of clarity - and agonising slowness of pace - in explaining what UK immigration routes are available."
She called for the Government to be "significantly more agile" in adapting existing immigration routes, stating that the "safety of countless people and their families depends on it".
According to the UN refugee agency, more than 1.2 million people have left Ukraine since the fighting began. More than 165,000 people left the country on Thursday - down slightly from Wednesday's count and well under the nearly 200,000 on Tuesday, which amounted to the peak one-day exit of people from Ukraine since Moscow's attack began, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
'An attack on our freedoms'
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "an attack on our freedoms, our values and the security of Europe".
In a statement issued after a meeting with defence ministers from the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) nations, Mr Wallace said Russian President Vladimir Putin has "sought to break our defensive alliances, which is why now, more than at any point in the history of the JEF, our partnership is so vital".
He added: "We are united in our resolve across the JEF nations to support Ukraine. Our values are Ukraine's values and we will continue to provide lethal and non-lethal aid, alongside sending additional forces to Estonia serving with our Danish allies."
'New red flag'
The shelling of a nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine is a "new red flag" that the war does not just affect Ukraine and Russia, Ireland's foreign affairs minister has said. Russian forces shelled the station - the biggest nuclear plant in Europe - in the city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, with the attack continuing even as emergency services tried to put out the resulting fire.
Simon Coveney said the assault concerns everyone on the continent who could have been impacted by a disaster there.
Anti-Russian sentiment on pensions
Some 86 per cent of people believe UK pensions should not be invested in Russia, a survey carried out for a campaign group has found. The survey of 2,000 people across the UK was carried out for Make My Money Matter, an organisation co-founded by filmmaker Richard Curtis.
The group is urging UK pension schemes to stop investing in Russia, and to divest from their Russian investments as soon as possible. The Church of England Pensions Board recently instructed managers to exit direct holdings in Russian companies.
Asset manager abrdn - formed from the merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management - has already cut its exposure to Russia in recent weeks and declared it uninvestable for the foreseeable future. Hedge fund Man Group also previously said it had sold out nearly completely from Russia and Ukraine before Christmas on fears over rising tensions and sanctions.
And Helen Dean, CEO of pension provider Nest said this week: "In view of the situation in Ukraine, we'll be removing all our investment in Russian government bonds and Russian companies as soon as possible."
The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Advisory Board in England and Wales posted a statement on its website on Monday advising any LGPS funds who are not already doing so to consider the implications for their investment portfolios in the light of events in Ukraine.
BBC suspends work in Russia
The BBC will "temporarily suspend" the work of all its BBC News journalists and support staff in Russia after authorities passed legislation which director-general Tim Davie said appeared to "criminalise the process of independent journalism".
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea
