As it happened: Kyiv warned of toxic fumes after strike on oil depot

There have been multiple reports in the past half an hour that an oil depot in Vasylkiv, a city in the Kyiv region, has been hit by a Russian rocket.

Local media reported both the city's mayor Nataliia Balasynovych, as well as Ukaine government adviser Anton Geraschenko, have confirmed the hit.

Footage on social media shows huge flames billowing from the terminal. The BBC has not verified these clips.

The UK Ministry of Defence assesses that Russian forces "are not making the progress they had planned".

"They are suffering from logistical challenges and strong Ukrainian resistance," a short statement released on Twitter reads.

The MoD said Russian forces have sustained casualties and some have been taken prisoner.

Six Russian government websites are currently down, according to the Kyiv Independent.

That list reportedly includes the official sites of the Kremlin and Russia's media regulatory agency.

The outlet attributed its reporting to sources at Ukraine's state telecommunications agency.

State TV channels have also been “hacked to play Ukrainian songs", it says.

The Anonymous hacking collective has taken credit for the attacks, but this has not been independently confirmed.

As Ukrainians settle in for another long night amid Russia's invasion, Western allies have pledged to send additional weapons to support Ukraine's defence.

On Saturday:

• The US State Department said it will send $350m (£261m) in weapons - including Javelin anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft systems and body armour.
• The German government said it would supply Ukraine with 1,000 anti-tank grenade launchers and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles on an emergency basis.
• The Dutch announced deployment of 50 Panzerfaust-3 anti-tank weapons and 400 rockets.
• The two countries are also said to be considering sending a joint Patriot air defence system to a Nato battle group in Slovakia.
• Earlier, Nato began deploying more of its forces to Eastern Europe "to respond quickly to any contingency".

The Ukrainian ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, has been giving daily press briefings in Washington and speaking to US media.

"We are preparing for this night, but as the two nights, three nights before, we are very resolute to defend our country," she told CNN.

The ambassador relayed that there are reports of heavy assaults in western Kyiv, accusing Russians of attacking civilian targets

"It's horrifying," she said, but added that "the spirit in Ukraine is very strong" and that ordinary Ukrainians "are all defending our home".

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The US is calling the decision of Western allies to disconnect Russian banks from the Swift messaging system "the Iran model".

Iran was cut off from Swift in 2012 as part of sanctions over its nuclear programme, though many of its banks have since reconnected to the system.

Russian banks cut off from Swift "will now need to use the telephone or a fax machine," a senior White House official said. "In all likelihood, most banks around the world will simply stop transactions all together with Russian banks”.

Friday's decision on Swift will be applied to "selected" but not all Russian banks, and the White House said the European Union will finalise the list.

“Only Putin can decide how much more cost he is willing to bear," the US said.

"Nobody thought this is how we would spend our weekend," a teacher in the city of Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine, told our correspondent Sarah Rainsford earlier today.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Azerbaijan's state oil company, SOCAR, has confirmed to the BBC that it will provide Ukraine's firefighting and ambulance services with free petrol for the duration of the conflict.

The move follows a phone call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.

Aliyev also pledged to provide Ukraine with deliveries of medicines and medical equipment.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put the Azeri leader in a difficult position. He is wary of Russia and signed an agreement of alliance with President Vladimir Putin on the day when latter recognised separatist regions of Ukraine last week.

But he also has close ties with the EU and Turkey, both of which have condemned Russia's invasion.

Aliyev faced internally criticism for his agreement with Putin and for not openly expressing his support to Ukraine.

Prior to the invasion, Aliyev also signed an agreement with the EU to increase gas supplies to the bloc.

Three years ago, he was a comedian with no political experience. Today, he is leading his country's defence against an invasion and has emerged as an unlikely war leader.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has surprised some of his toughest critics by rallying the nation with his addresses and video selfies. He has given voice to Ukrainian anger and defiance of Russian aggression.

The 44-year-old law graduate, whose candidacy for president was initially seen by some as a joke, has appeared dignified and resolute in the face of crisis. Each of his public broadcasts have struck the right note for Ukrainians who need a commander-in-chief to lead them through this upheaval.

Read more of our profile.

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Among the range of measures that European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced was the freezing of transactions of Russia's central bank - this will effectively stop Putin from using his war chest, she says.

Quote Message: Cutting banks off will stop them from conducting most of their financial transactions worldwide and effectively block Russian exports and imports. Second, we will stop Putin from using his war chest. We will paralyse the assets of Russia’s central bank. This will freeze its transactions. And it will make it impossible for the Central Bank to liquidate its assets. from Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission

Cutting banks off will stop them from conducting most of their financial transactions worldwide and effectively block Russian exports and imports. Second, we will stop Putin from using his war chest. We will paralyse the assets of Russia’s central bank. This will freeze its transactions. And it will make it impossible for the Central Bank to liquidate its assets.

The EU will also work towards prohibiting Russian oligarchs from using their financial assets on European markets.

Quote Message: All of these measures will significantly harm Putin’s ability to finance his war. They will have an eroding impact on the economy. Putin embarked on a path aiming to destroy Ukraine, but what he is also doing, in fact, is destroying the future of his own country. from Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission

All of these measures will significantly harm Putin’s ability to finance his war. They will have an eroding impact on the economy. Putin embarked on a path aiming to destroy Ukraine, but what he is also doing, in fact, is destroying the future of his own country.

Tens of thousands of people have been leaving Ukraine in search of safety.

The BBC's Fergal Keane has been reporting 20km (12.5 miles) from Ukraine's border with Poland, where he saw a "constant procession of people, and cars as well".

As Ukraine headed into yet another difficult night, boxing legend Wladimir Klitschko made an appeal to the international community for an end "to the war Russia has started".

"There is no time to wait because that's going to lead into... humanitarian catastrophe," he says in a video uploaded to his Twitter and Instagram. "You need to act now to stop Russian aggression."

His brother Vitali Klitschko is the mayor of the capital Kyiv, where a curfew that lasts until Monday morning is in place. People there are expecting an imminent Russian assault.

The new financial measures just announced by the EU, US, UK, France, Germany and others targeting Russia will be complemented by a transatlantic task force, according to the joint statement.

That effort "will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions" by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and organisations, they say.

The group says it will also work with other governments to "deny these individuals the ability to hide their assets in jurisdictions across the world".

Western countries have already imposed sanctions on several major Russian institutions, officials and elites, including President Vladimir Putin himself.

"We stand with the Ukrainian people in this dark hour," the statement concludes.

Tonight, at this midnight hour, stark warnings sound of an imminent onslaught against the heart of Kyiv.

“In 30-60 mins #Kyiv will be under attack never seen before. #Russia will hit us with all they have,” tweeted MP Lesia Vasylenko.

Air-raid sirens have pierced the darkness, amplified by warnings in buildings and neighbourhoods for residents to immediately take to shelters. This is already a city where life has dropped underground, to basements, bomb shelters, and metro stations-turned-bunkers. A strict curfew is in force until 8am on Monday.

There’s been a chilling quiet these last three days in the heart of Kyiv. An eerie stillness on emptied streets has been shattered by occasional crackles of gunfire, a thud of artillery and a thunder clap when missiles land in the distance, on the edges of a beleaguered capital.

A Russian invasion, now at the end of its third day, has seemed to stall on the edges of the city in the midst of concerted Ukrainian resistance – soldiers guarding city gates, civilians taking up arms, even taunting Russian soldiers as they advance in their tanks and armoured vehicles.

Reports from Moscow in recent hours spoke of orders to advance on the city “from all directions.”

In the dead of a Kyiv night, there’s an ominous sense that the battle for this city is about to be unleashed.

The Swift messaging system is not the only area targeted in the joint statement just released.

Western allies say they will also "commit to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions".

BBCCopyright: BBC

Thousands of people have been fleeing Kyiv in recent days.

Earlier, at the main train station, hundreds of people gathered in a desperate attempt to flee Ukraine's capital. Even those who have cars struggled to leave the city because almost all petrol stations in the region are closed.

With the metro and buses not running, many people walked to the station - some for many kilometres - and on the way, when sirens went off, they dashed to buildings with a basement or a bomb shelter.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Evacuation trains were organised by the Ukrainian railway to take people to the west of the country and whenever one pulled up, a huge crowd quickly gathered trying to scramble aboard.

Those who couldn't get a train before the curfew began at 17:00 local time will be spending the night in the station as a Russian attack looms.