The European Commission believes it can replace 24 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian gas with zero-emissions renewable energy sources this year.

Read the story here.

6 mins ago (14:42 GMT)

Ukraine negotiator says talks with Russia will continue on Tuesday

Talks between Ukraine and Russia have paused and will continue on Tuesday, one of Ukraine’s negotiators said on Twitter.

“A technical pause has been taken in the negotiations until tomorrow. For additional work in the working subgroups and clarification of individual definitions. Negotiations continue,” Mykhailo Podolyak said.

15 mins ago (14:33 GMT)

Response to Russia could shape new era: Japan PM

The Russian invasion of Ukraine may have ushered in a new era, Japan’s Prime Minister has said.

“Whether the world can respond resolutely to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and protect the core of the international order is a litmus test to foresee the era that follows the post-Cold War period.” Fumio Kishida said.

Japan has frozen the assets of major Russian banks, President Vladimir Putin and other leaders, and blocked certain Russian banks’ access to international payments system SWIFT.

29 mins ago (14:19 GMT)

Photos: Destruction in Ukraine as Russia’s attacks intensify

Russia’s military forces have kept up their punishing campaign to capture Ukraine’s capital with fighting and artillery fire in Kyiv’s suburbs, even as Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held a new round of talks on Monday.

The attacks around Kyiv came a day after Russia escalated its offensive by shelling areas close to the Polish border.

See the pictures here.

58 mins ago (13:50 GMT)

More than 160 cars exit Mariupol via evacuation corridor

More than 160 civilian cars have been able to drive out of the besieged southeastern city of Mariupol along a humanitarian evacuation route, the city authorities have said.

“As of 13:00 pm (1100 GMT), more than 160 private cars have managed to leave Mariupol on the road to Berdyansk,” the city council said on Telegram, in a significant evacuation since Russian forces surrounded the city early this month.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had warned on Sunday that residents faced a “a worst-case scenario” unless the warring parties reached an agreement to ensure their immediate safety and access to humanitarian aid.

1 hour ago (13:45 GMT)

Russia accuses Ukraine of missile strike on Donetsk, Ukraine denies

Russia’s defence ministry has said 20 people have been killed and 28 wounded by a Ukrainian missile with a cluster charge in the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine denied launching the attack. “It is unmistakably a Russian rocket or another munition, there’s not even any point talking about it,” Ukrainian military spokesman Leonid Matyukhin told a televised briefing.

Pro-Russian separatists who control part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said earlier that a child was among those hit in the alleged strike and accused Kyiv of committing a war crime.

1 hour ago (13:41 GMT)

At least 636 civilians killed in Ukraine so far: UN

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has confirmed the deaths of at least 636 civilians in Ukraine through to March 13, including 46 children.

The actual toll is likely much higher, it said, since there have been delays receiving and corroborating reports from places with intense hostilities such as Kharkiv and Mariupol.

OHCHR has some 50 staff members involved with human rights monitoring in the country.

1 hour ago (13:27 GMT)

Ukraine says more than 100 hospitals damaged

More than 100 hospitals in Ukraine have been damaged since the invasion began, the health minister has said.

Seven have been destroyed completely and “can’t be restored” and 97 more have been damaged by shelling and bombardment, Viktor Lyashko wrote on Facebook.

Lyashko added the healthcare system was operational and almost 2,000 foreign medical doctors and nurses had volunteered to work in Ukraine.

3 hours ago (11:46 GMT)

Russia has not asked China for military aid: Kremlin

The Kremlin says Russia has not asked China for military assistance and has sufficient military clout to fulfil all of its aims in Ukraine in time and in full.

The comments by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov come after US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia had asked China for military equipment.

3 hours ago (11:34 GMT)

Greece, Ukraine discuss plight of war-hit ethnic Greeks

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says he has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the “dramatic” conditions facing Greece’s ethnic minority in war-hit southeastern Ukraine.

The two leaders discussed “the need to open a humanitarian corridor for safe exit and access for humanitarian supplies,” the Greek PM’s office said in a statement.

Greece’s consul general in Mariupol is among those trapped in the city, Mitsotakis said.

Athens last month said nearly a dozen members of the Greek minority of over 100,000 dating to the 18th century had died, blaming Russian attacks.