Key points
- Russian missiles pound city of Mykolaiv - as Iranian-made kamikaze drones strike Kyiv region
- Homeless men being sent to frontline by Russian officers - reports
- Ukraine joining NATO could lead to 'World War Three', Russia warns
- Britain to send missiles to Ukraine amid Russian airstrikes
- What measures could West take if there was a nuclear strike?
- Opinion:If Putin was gone, would the war end?
- Podcast:'I have a bag ready in case Putin launches nuclear attack'
- Live reporting from Bhvishya Patel. Updates from Alex Crawford in eastern Ukraine and Diana Magnay in Moscow
Ukrainian orphans 'taken and raised as Russian', investigation claims
A shock investigation claims to have revealed a Russian strategy to take Ukrainian orphans and bring them up as Russian.
The Associated Press says it has unearthed the plans and they are "under way".
The agency's investigation drew on interviews with parents, officials and children in both Ukraine and Russia, it says, and found officials deported thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories without consent, lied to them that they were not wanted by their parents and gave them Russian families and citizenship.
Experts say it is a strategy that can be traced up to senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin.
What measures could the West take if there was a nuclear strike and what would it mean for Putin?
Speculation over whether or not Vladimir Putin will use nuclear weapons has been rife and the consequences could be disastrous for the West and the Russian president
With Russia's invasion stalling and the Ukrainian attack on the Kerch Bridge have both contributed to increased concern Putin could escalate from conventional weapons to a tactical nuclear strike.
The US President Joe Biden said last week that the world was the closest it had been to "Armageddon" at any point since the Cuban Missile Crisis, after more sabre rattling from the Kremlin.
Read more here...
Boy, 11, who was rescued from Mykolaiv building dies
We reported this morning that a boy had been rescued from the wreckage of a building in Mykolaiv after Russian forces shelled the region.
Footage showed rescue teams carrying the 11-year-old child into an ambulance after he was left trapped under the rubble of a five-story building for more than six hours.
However, regional governor Vitaliy Kim has now said the boy has died after suffering from a cardiac arrest.
"They brought him to the regional hospital for dialysis, and there he had a cardiac arrest. There are no words," Mr Kim said.
Merkel defends her decision to rely on Russian gas
Former German chancellor Angela Merkel today defended decisions made during her time in power to buy natural gas from Russia.
Speaking at an award ceremony in Lisbon, Ms Merkel said "you always act in the time you are in" when asked about her government's approach to Russia.
Ms Merkel, who retired from politics last year after 16 years as chancellor, said she had never believed in the notion of 'Wandel durch Handel', or bringing about change through trade.
"In this respect, I do not regret decisions at all, rather, I believe that it was right from the perspective of the time," she added.
When Ms Merkel left office Russia was Germany's main supplier of gas and last year, 55% of German gas imports came from Russia.
Russian forces will be 'annihilated' if they launch nuclear attack, EU diplomat warns
A nuclear attack against Ukraine will lead to Russian forces being "annihilated", EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has warned.
Speaking from Bruges in Belgium today, Mr Borrell said: "Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian army will be annihilated."
NATO is keeping a wary eye on Russia's movements in its war with Ukraine, but has so far seen no change in its nuclear posture.
Earlier today, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine would lead to "severe consequences".
"Circumstances in which NATO might have to use nuclear weapons are extremely remote," he said.
"Russia's nuclear rhetoric is dangerous, reckless, and they know that if they use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, it will have severe consequences.
"And they also know that a nuclear war cannot be won and should never be fought."
Ukrainian troops clear mines near Kharkiv
These images show Ukrainian troops clearing mines and gathering ammunition left behind by Russian troops in the village of Hrakove, near Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine.
Earlier today, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation in the liberated Kharkiv region was "just as terrible" as in the towns of Irpin and Bucha, where mass graves were found after Russian troops left.
He gave no further details in comments made in a video link with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Russia to provide free accommodation to residents fleeing Kherson
We reported earlier that the Russian-installed governor of Ukraine's Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, had urged residents to evacuate amid fighting between Russian and advancing Ukrainian forces.
In his message, Mr Saldo said a decision had been made to evacuate residents of Kherson, Nova Kakhovka, Hola Prystan and Chornobaivkato to the Russian regions of Rostov, Krasnodar and Stavropol, as well as to annexed Crimea.
Kherson is one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia formally incorporated into its territory this month, a move denounced by Kyiv and the West as an illegal annexation.
Now, Russia's deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin has announced that the Russian authorities will provide free accommodation to all residents of the occupied Kherson region who choose to evacuate to Russia.
Ukraine prosecutor opens investigation into Russian missile strikes
Criminal proceedings have been opened into the Russian missile strikes that hit cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv, this week.
Speaking at a joint press conference with International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan in The Hague, prosecutor general Andriy Kostin described the strikes since Monday as "a classic act of terror" by Russia.
He said that more than 112 Russian missile strikes had killed 17 people and injured 93.
"The goal of Russia's deliberate attacks is to cause civilian deaths and to destroy civilian infrastructure, (and) by shortage of electricity and heating, provoke a humanitarian catastrophe," Mr Kostin said.
"Coupled with the intimidation tactics against civilians, it's a classical act of terror prohibited under international law."
Mr Kostin went on to say every death and injury or damaged building would be documented and criminal proceedings opened.
'I have a bag ready in case Putin launches nuclear attack'
A Ukrainian MP has told the Sky News Daily podcast that she and her people are prepared for what may happen if Vladimir Putin launches nuclear weapons on her country.
The leader of the centre-right Holos party, Kira Rudik, told host Niall Paterson that she has a bag ready to go if President Putin launches missiles, and has also planned for other situations that Ukraine may face this winter.
"I have a backpack under the stairs with everything that our scientists say is necessary, and we all know how to act if there would be a nuclear attack.
"We have to be prepared for electricity outages and have in every single home something like a bomb shelter equipped with everything necessary if there would be another shelling of Kyiv."
Prisoners of war return to Ukraine
The head of the office of the Ukrainian president, Andriy Yermak, has shared an image of 20 prisoners of war who have been released during a prisoner exchange.
The prisoners were held by Russian forces in Olenivka and in the temporarily occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
In return, 20 Russian soldiers were returned from Ukrainian captivity.
The Russian defence ministry said today: "As a result of the negotiation process on the exchange today, 20 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory of Ukrainecontrolled by the Kyiv regime."