Russia is warning NATO it will bolster its military defences if Sweden and Finland join the bloc.
Catch up on Thursday's updates on our blog.
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By Michael Doyle
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By Michael Doyle
Russia's Baltic threats are 'nothing new' says Lithuania PM
Russia's threat to increase its military in the Baltic region is "nothing new", according to Lithuania's Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
The Kremlin has warned of increased activity in the Baltic region, including nuclear activity, if Sweden or Finland join NATO.
"That Russia threatens, it is nothing new," Ms Simonyte said, according to Reuters.
"Kaliningrad is a very militarised zone, has been for many years, and it is in the Baltic region".
Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, on the shore of the Baltic Sea, is sandwiched between NATO members Lithuania and Poland.
By Michael Doyle
Ukraine in talks for $10.8 billion financial support
Ukraine's Finance Minister says there are ongoing talks with foreign partners for Ukraine to receive $US8 billion ($10.8 billion) in financial support.
In a televised address, Serhiy Marchenko said his country had already received $3.5 billion from overseas.
He said Ukraine did not have an issue with repaying debts, despite its war with Russia.
By Michael Doyle
UK says the towns of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka could be next Russian targets
The Ukrainian towns of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka are likely to be targeted by Russia, according to the UK's defence ministry.
In its daily update, the Ministry of Defence said the attacks would be similar to those experienced in other cities.
It also said Russia had returned to "traditional" military doctrine, with "widespread missile and artillery strikes and efforts to concentrate forces for an offensive".
The ministry added that Ukraine's continued defence of Mariupol was currently tying down significant numbers of Russian troops and equipment.
By Michael Doyle
Russia issues warning to NATO over Sweden and Finland
Russia is warning NATO it will bolster its military defence if Sweden and Finland join the alliance.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, also said there could be no more talk of a "nuclear-free" Baltic.
"Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to," Mr Medvedev said.
"If our hand is forced well take note it wasn't us who proposed this."
There have been suggestions Sweden and Finland could join NATO in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Last week foreign ministers of NATO nations, as well as allies such as Australia, met and discussed the possibility of Sweden and Finland joining.
By Jacqueline Howard
Here's what we know about Russian warship Moskva, which has been 'seriously damaged' in Ukraine
Moskva, a ship in the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet, has been badly damaged and its crew evacuated amid the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Russian officials claimed the damage was the result of a fire on board, while a Ukrainian official claimed it was a result of a Ukrainian missile strike.
Moskva is one of Russia's most critical warships.
The 12,500-tonne ship usually has a crew of about 500 people.
Ukrainian authorities said Moskva featured in one of the landmark early exchanges of the war in Ukraine, when Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island, a small outcrop in the Black Sea, told the ship to "go **** yourself" after it demanded they surrender.
The Moskva is the second Russian warship to suffer serious damage.
Last month, Ukraine said it had destroyed a Russian landing support ship, the Orsk, on the smaller Sea of Azov.
By Jacqueline Howard
Nine humanitarian corridors agreed for Thursday
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says a deal is in place to allow civilians to evacuation through nine humanitarian corridors on Thursday, including from the besieged city of Mariupol.
Other evacuation routes include from Berdiansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar.
Corridors in the eastern Luhansk region will operate if occupying Russian forces stop shelling, Ms Vereshchuk said in a statement.
By Jacqueline Howard
By Jacqueline Howard
Constant threat continues: Ukraine authorities speak at daily briefing
Ukraine's army says there is still a constant threat of Russia using missile weapons across Ukraine.
Armed Forces spokesperson Oleksandr Shputun said in a daily briefing that Russia continued carrying out systematic strikes against military and civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
He said heavy fighting continued in the battered city of Mariupol.
Mr Shputun also said Russia was trying to conduct forced mobilisation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
By Jacqueline Howard
Nordic countries turning to NATO
European Union nations Finland and Sweden have reached important stages on the way to possible NATO membership, with the Finnish government issuing a security report to MPs and Sweden's ruling party initiating a review of security policy options.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 triggered a surge of support for joining NATO in the two traditionally non-aligned Nordic countries.
A recent poll showed a majority (54 per cent) of respondents in Finland would support joining NATO.
In early March a Demoskop poll commissioned by Aftonbladet newspaper showed 51 per cent of Swedes were in favour of NATO membership, up from 42 per cent in January.
Finland, with a population of 5.5 million, shares the EU's longest border with Russia, a 1,340km frontier. Sweden has no border with Russia.
Russia has warned Sweden and Finland against joining NATO, with officials saying it would not contribute to stability in Europe.
Officials said Russia would respond to such a move with retaliatory measures that would cause "military and political consequences" for Helsinki and Stockholm.
One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's reasons for invading Ukraine was the country refused to promise it would not join NATO.
Speaking on Wednesday in Stockholm during a joint news conference with her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Finland was ready to make a decision on NATO "within weeks" rather than months after an extensive debate in the 200-seat Eduskunta legislature.
By Jacqueline Howard
Almost 400 Ukrainian children killed or injured, two-thirds have fled their homes
Nearly two-thirds of the 7.5 million children in Ukraine have fled their homes since the conflict escalated seven weeks ago, according to data released by the UN.
The UN estimates 2.8 million children are now displaced within Ukraine and another 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries.
This means 64 per cent of children in Ukraine, or 4.8 million, are now on the move.
The UN has been able to verify the deaths of 153 children and has recorded 246 injured so far, although the real numbers are almost certainly much higher.
“These numbers are beyond tragic and likely to grow," Save the Children Ukraine Director Pete Walsh said.
"Just last week, 39 people including four children were killed at Kramatorsk railway station during an evacuation.
“At Siret border in Romania last week, our staff met a family from Mariupol; a father and five young children. The children were shell-shocked and had been staying in a basement for two weeks, shielding from airstrikes.
“This war is spiralling out of control, leaving children with long-term trauma that cannot be underestimated."
By Jacqueline Howard
By Jacqueline Howard
More on that superyacht in Fiji
Police in Fiji have questioned the captain of a luxury superyacht owned by a Russian oligarch, after the boat arrived in the Pacific island nation without customs clearance.
The yacht's owner, Suleiman Kerimov, has been sanctioned by the United States, Britain and the European Union over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
An official at the National Police Command and Control Centre confirmed the captain of the vessel, which arrived on Tuesday, was being questioned about how it came to Fiji without customs clearance.
Commissioner of Police, Brigadier General Sitivini Qiliho, told the Fiji Sun newspaper the Attorney-General's office had been contacted by a foreign government requesting assistance in a criminal matter, and Fiji had agreements with other countries to enforce sanctions on Russian oligarchs.
The European Union delegations in Fiji had also requested cooperation, the Fiji Times reported.
Fiji had been alerted to the approach of the Amadea before it moored at Lautoka Wharf, local media reported.
An official in Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum's office declined to comment, saying it was an internal matter for the Fiji government.
The Marine Traffic website showed Amadea left Mexico 18 days ago.
By Jacqueline Howard
ICC prosecutor visits Bucha
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has visited Bucha.
This is where more than 400 bodies were found after evidence of mass killings was identified following Russia’s retreat.
“It is inevitable that the Russian troops will be held responsible,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
"We will drag everyone to a tribunal, and not only for what was done in Bucha."
By Jacqueline Howard
Presidents from countries on Russia's doorstep visit Ukraine
The presidents of four countries on Russia’s doorstep have visited Ukraine and reassured their counterpart Volodymyr Zelenksyy of their support for the embattled country.
The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia saw heavily damaged buildings firsthand and demanded accountability for what they called war crimes carried out by Russian forces.
The visit was a strong show of solidarity from the countries on NATO’s eastern flank, three of them which, like Ukraine, were once part of the Soviet Union.
The leaders travelled by train to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to meet with Zelenskyy, and visited Borodyanka, one of the nearby towns where evidence of atrocities was found after Russian troops withdrew to focus on the country's east.
“The fight for Europe’s future is happening here,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said, calling for tougher sanctions, including against Russia’s oil and gas shipments and all the country’s banks.
By Shiloh Payne
Here's a satellite photo of Russia's Moskva ship in Sevastopol before it was damaged
By Shiloh Payne
Fiji police are investigating the arrival of a luxury superyacht owned by a Russian oligarch
The superyacht Amadea arrived into Fiji on Tuesday in the country's Lautoka port without customs clearance.
The boat is owned by Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, who has been sanctioned by the United States, Britain and European Union over Russian's invasion of Ukraine.
All staff have been detained while the US embassy works with Fijian authorities to figure out how it came to Fiji without clearance from customs.
"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," the embassy said in a statement.
By Shiloh Payne
By Shiloh Payne
Putin's propaganda playbook shows how an army of fake fact-checkers is sowing doubt and confusion in Ukraine
A week before the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv came under intense shelling for the first time since World War II an alarming video announcement was circulating on encrypted messaging app, Telegram.
The pro-Russian separatist leaders of the self-declared Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) warned the Ukrainian military would invade the regions on the order of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It was civilian investigators from Bellingcat who first noticed something awry about the post.
Russia tried to build the foundation of its invasion of Ukraine on a lie — such as declaring the country, run by a Jewish president, had a Nazi problem — and it has shown no sign of changing course.
By Shiloh Payne
The latest US military aid package 'went further than many might have been expecting'
Our North America correspondent Carrington Clarke says US President Joe Biden's $US800 million military assistance doesn't come as a surprise, but what's included is significant.
"The administration has repeatedly said that more military assistance will be coming. But with the size of the package, and what is included is significant and went further than many might have been expecting," he says.
"The US has been reluctant to provide heavy military weaponry to Ukraine, especially at the start of the conflict there were real concerns any moves by the US to supply Ukraine with heavy military weaponry could be an escalating factor.
"But the sense we are seeing come out of Ukraine, the atrocities that seem to have been committed by Russian troops which Joe Biden has termed to be genocide and war crimes have given the US extra incentive to provide weaponry.
Carrington says the Biden administration has not given a "hard timeframe" on when the supplies will be delivered.
