Russia has launched a large-scale attack on the Donbas region in Ukraine's east, attacking along a 480-kilometre front, according to Ukrainian officials.
Catch up on Tuesday's events with our live blog.
Key events
- Five civilians killed by Russian shelling in Kharkiv
- Russia calls on Ukraine fighters to surrender Azovstal steel plant by midday
- Ukraine says no safe corridors agreed for civilians for third successive day
- Military spokesman says Ukraine repulsed seven Russian attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk
- Ukraine says 'Battle of Donbas' begins with explosions all along front
- Mayor of Mariupol accuses Russia of deporting 40,000 Ukrainians to Russian-controlled regions
- Ukraine's first step toward obtaining European Union membership
- Putin says sanctions against Russia have failed
- Kreminna captured by Russian forces, says regional Governor
- Russian attack in the Donbas 480km long, estimated 50,000 troops
- White House reiterates it won't send forces to Ukraine
- Six killed in shelling on Monday
- 'Significant part' of entire Russian army concentrated in Donbas, Zelenskyy says
- 'Battle of Donbas' has begun, Zelenskyy says
- The 'second phase of war' has started, presidential chief of staff says
Live updates
By Kate Ainsworth
That's all for the blog today
Thanks for following along throughout the day.
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By Kate Ainsworth
Five civilians killed by Russian shelling in Kharkiv
Kharkiv's regional governor says five civilians have been killed by Russian shelling on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city.
Oleh Synyehubov said that another 17 residents were wounded in the attacks.
Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city, and has faced consistent attacks by Russian forces since Russia first invaded on February 24.
By Kate Ainsworth
New Russian offensive will fail, Ukrainian presidential adviser says
An aid to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia's new offensive in the country's east will fail because Moscow's forces lack the strength to break through Ukraine's defences.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Rusisan forces were trying to find "sensitive spots" in Ukraine's defences but added: "Their offensive will fail — I give you a 99% guarantee — they simply do not have enough strength."
"The battle for Donbas, which was announced and apparently began yesterday, is under way and is going very cautiously," he said.
"The battle will not go in Russia's favour."
Earlier today Ukrainian officials said Russian forces were trying to push through Ukrainian defences along almost the entire front line in eastern Ukraine.
After being pushed back by Ukrainian forces from an assault on Kyiv, Russia has regrouped to focus on a new offensive in eastern Ukraine.
By Kate Ainsworth
Dramatic photos and video offer clues to fate of Russian warship
But photos and video released on social media appear to cast doubt on Moscow's version of events.
By Kate Ainsworth
Russia calls on Ukraine fighters to surrender Azovstal steel plant by midday
Russia is calling on Ukrainian forces and foreign fighters to leave the Azovstal steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol by 12pm Moscow time (7pm AEST).
"All who lay down their arms are guaranteed to remain alive," the defence ministry said.
Earlier today Russia-backed separatist forces said they were trying to storm the Azovstal plant, according to the Russian-owned RIA news agency.
Russia has previously made similar requests to those in the plant, which Ukraine has not agreed to.
By Kate Ainsworth
Greece seizes Russian tanker as part of EU sanctions
Greece has seized a crude oil Russian tanker off the island of Evia as part of European Union sanctions against Russia.
A Greek shipping ministry official said the Russian-flagged Pegas was seized near the coastal city of Karystos in Evia, with 19 Russian crew members on board.
"It has been seized as part of EU sanctions," a shipping ministry official said.
Reuters is reporting that the vessel had been seized, but not its oil cargo.
By Kate Ainsworth
Russian-backed separatists reportedly trying to storm Azovstal plant
According to Russian news agency RIA, Russian-backed separatists forces are trying to storm the Azovstal steel plant in the southern port city of Mariupol.
Reuters is reporting that RIA was quoting the separatist spokesperson, Eduard Basurin.
According to another separatist quoted by RIA, Denis Pushilin, the separatists aim to "liberate" the facility as quickly as possible.
Ukrainian officials have not commented on the reports.
The last remnants of Ukrainian forces defending Mariupol and around 1,000 civilians are reportedly hiding out in underground shelters beneath the steel plant.
You can read more on what we know so far about the Azovstal steelworks siege here.
By Alexis Moran
China-Russia cooperation is 'resilient', says senior Chinese diplomat
China told Russia it will continue to increase "strategic coordination" with it regardless of international volatility, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng gave this assurance to Russian ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov, on Monday, the statement said.
Le cited the almost 30 per cent increase in China-Russia trade in the first three months of this year as evidence of "resilience and endogenous power" of the cooperation between the two countries, according to the statement.
Both men also discussed Ukraine.
China has refrained from condemning Russia over Ukraine, where the United Nations has said there have been more than 2,000 civilian deaths since the war started on February 24.
Reuters
By Kate Ainsworth
By Alexis Moran
Ukraine's Deputy PM on evacuation efforts
Reuters reports efforts to create safe passage for civilians to leave the besieged southern city of Mariupol have failed repeatedly, with each side blaming the other.
Russia has denied targeting civilians.
"According to Mariupol: [the] Russians refuse to provide a corridor for the exit of civilians in the direction of Berdyansk," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
She says "difficult negotiations" were taking place to try to arrange humanitarian corridors in the southern region of Kherson and in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine.
Reuters
By Alexis Moran
US Treasury Secretary to see Ukraine PM, avoid Russians at global meetings
AP reports that US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during this week's big meetings of global economic leaders in Washington.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine — and how world powers should manage the spill-over effects on economies, including food insecurity — will take centre stage at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Yellen will convene a panel of finance ministers, the international development banks, and other institutions to talk about how they will use resources to address food insecurity.
Russian finance officials are expected to attend several events virtually, according to a senior US Treasury official who spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity to preview plans for the meetings.
Yellen will participate if a Russian minister is there for a session or two, but will not attend every session, the official said, adding that the presence of Russian officials should not stop the work the US needed to do with members of the Group of 20 — the world's largest economies.
Yellen is expected to use this week's meetings to work with allies on efforts to increase economic pressure on Russia.
President Joe Biden has said Russia should be removed from the G20.
By Alexis Moran
An EU embargo on Russian oil in the works, French minister says
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire says that an embargo on Russian oil at a European Union level was in the works, adding that France's President Emmanuel Macron wants such a move.
"I hope that in the weeks to come we will convince our European partners to stop importing Russian oil," Le Maire told Europe 1 radio.
Reuters
By Alexis Moran
Ukraine says no safe corridors agreed for civilians for third successive day
Ukraine was for the third successive day unable to secure Russia's agreement on establishing any humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians trapped in cities and towns, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says.
By Alexis Moran
Military spokesman says Ukraine repulsed seven Russian attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk
A spokesman for the General Staff of the armed forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Shtupun says: "In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukraine's defenders repelled seven enemy attacks, destroyed ten tanks, eighteen armored units and eight vehicles, one artillery system, and an enemy's mortar with soldiers."
"The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has hit seven air targets the day before: one plane, four UAVs and two cruise missiles."
Reuters
By Alexis Moran
In pictures: Ukrainian servicemen in Donetsk region
Reuters photorapher Serhii Nuzhnenko took these images
By Alexis Moran
Why have Ukrainian forces taken refuge in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol?
Yan Gagin, an advisor to the Russian-backed separatist forces in Donetsk, told Russian television the siege of Mariupol was taking so long because the Azovstal plant was like a city under a city.
He said the tunnels could withstand bombings and "even a nuclear strike".
Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst based in Kyiv, said: "The Azovstal factory is an enormous space with so many buildings that the Russians … simply can't find [the Ukrainian forces]."
"That's why [the Russians] started talking about trying a chemical attack, that's the only way to smoke them out."
Ukraine has said it is checking unverified information that Russia may have already used chemical weapons in Mariupol. Russia-backed separatists have denied using them.
"These are huge territories with workshops that can't be destroyed from the air, which is why the Russians are using heavy bombs," said Sergiy Zgurets, a military analyst.
ABC/Reuters
By Alexis Moran
By Alexis Moran
Russian village artist finds peace art unwelcome
AFP interviewed retired engineer, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, who has spent decades painting murals in his small town south of Moscow but finds some of his art is not welcome after Russia's conflict with Ukraine.
"They've painted over it," Ovchinnikov, 84, said during a recent stop at an abandoned shop in a village field near Borovsk, his town of about 10,000 people two hours' drive from the Russian capital.
Ovchinnikov had painted a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag on one side of the building, but it had been covered over in white paint.
Moving briskly, he pulled out a black pencil and began to draw a dove over the whitewash, until another local man approached and threatened to call the police.
But Ovchinnikov insisted he had no fears about continuing his efforts. "At my age, I'm not afraid of anything," he said in an interview at his home.
Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, authorities have moved against any signs of opposition.
AFP reports that thousands of protesters have been detained, independent media have been shut down and several people have been convicted and fined under a law that makes it a crime to "discredit" the Russian armed forces.
Ovchinnikov is one of them. The silver-haired and bearded pensioner was fined after he drew a little girl wearing the colours of the Ukrainian flag with three bombs hanging over her head on a building in Borovsk.
It too was whitewashed and Ovchinnikov painted a dove in its place. He received more than 150 donations to help pay the fine.
AFP
By Caitlyn Davey
Syrian fighters ready to join next phase of Ukraine war
During a visit to Syria in 2017, Vladimir Putin lavished praise on a Syrian general whose division played an instrumental role in defeating insurgents in the country’s long-running civil war. The Russian president told him his cooperation with Russian troops “will lead to great successes in the future.”
Now members of that general's division are among hundreds of Russian-trained Syrian fighters who have reportedly signed up to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, including Syrian soldiers, former rebels and experienced fighters who fought for years against the Islamic State group in Syria’s desert.
So far, only a small number appears to have arrived in Russia for military training ahead of deployment on the front lines.
Although Kremlin officials boasted early in the war of more than 16,000 applications from the Middle East, US officials and activists monitoring Syria say there have not yet been significant numbers of fighters from the region joining the war in Ukraine.
Analysts, however, say this could change as Russia prepares for the next phase of the battle with a full-scale offensive in eastern Ukraine.
They believe fighters from Syria are more likely to be deployed in coming weeks, especially after Putin named General Alexander Dvornikov, who commanded the Russian military in Syria, as the new war commander in Ukraine.
AP
By Alexis Moran
US seeks to seize superyacht in Fiji from suspected Russian owner
The United States is seeking to seize a superyacht suspected of belonging to a Russian oligarch that is docked in the Pacific island nation of Fiji, a restraining order filed on Tuesday by Fiji's director of public prosecutions showed.
The Amadea is widely believed to be owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, sanctioned by the United States and European Union.
Reuters reported that the vessel arrived in Fiji a week ago after leaving Mexico 18 days earlier and crossing the Pacific.
Authorities in various countries have seized luxury vessels and villas owned by Russian billionaires as part of sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Fiji's director of public prosecutions, Christopher Pryde, filed an application to the High Court seeking to prevent the Amadea from leaving Fiji.
The US embassy did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment, but last week said: "the United States is committed to finding and seizing the assets of the oligarchs who have supported the Russian Federation's brutal, unprovoked war of choice against Ukraine".
Reuters
