Russia bombards Ukraine cities, Mariupol to fight to end

Russian tanks and armoured vehicles in the war.

BBC news summery - Russian shelling and air strikes hit multiple targets across Ukraine, officials sayFive people are reportedly killed and 13 injured in shelling of the city of KharkivIn Mykolaiv, near the port of Odesa, the governor reports continuous rocket attacks.

The BBC's Joe Inwood in Dnipro says air raid sirens are now "near constant" across eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian defenders in besieged Mariupol ignore a Russian deadline to surrender on Sunday.

Russia is planning to restrict access to the besieged port city from Monday, city officials say.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russian troops in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol had “decided to raze the city to the ground at any cost”. Hours earlier the country's Prime Minister Denys Shymhal said Mariupol "has not fallen" despite Russia's ultimatum for its surrender and remaining Ukrainian forces there will "fight to the end"More people returned to Ukraine from Poland than those who have left, for the first time since the war began. Nearly 22,000 people crossed into Ukraine on Saturday, as 19,200 left, figures from the Polish border service showedAnother Russian general has been killed in combat - deputy commander of the 8th Army Maj Gen Vladimir Frolov. In late March, Western officials said Russia had lost seven generals in the war so far. Russia has not confirmed that figure

With that, it's David Molloy, Sam Cabral and Patrick Jackson signing out. We're handing over to our colleagues Yvette Tan and Meryl Sebastian in Asia.

Luhansk residents urged to evacuate immediately: Report

Residents of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine have been urged to evacuate immediately, according to a report by Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.

"Next week may be difficult. [This] may be the last time we still have a chance to save you," the head of the Luhansk regional administration Sergei Gaidai was quoted as saying.

Russian forces have trained their focused on capturing Luhansk and Donetsk which are part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, an old coal and steel-producing area.

Putin had recognised the entirety of the two eastern regions as independent of Ukraine just before the war.

Ukraine's armed forces have been preparing themselves for a brutal Russian offensive in this region. - BBC News