By The Visual Journalism Team
BBC News
Published 8 hours ago
Russian troops are continuing to surround several cities but their advances have ground to a halt in many areas, with Ukrainian forces launching a series of successful counter-attacks.
Here are the latest developments on day 30 of the invasion:
- Ukrainian forces re-occupy several areas west of the capital Kyiv
- Major Ukrainian fuel depot south of Kyiv hit by Russian missiles
- Russian forces continuing advance into southern city of Mariupol
- Second-city of Kharkiv remains under heavy aerial bombardment
- Russians making small gains in Donetsk and Luhansk in the east
The ferocity of the Ukrainian resistance has meant Russian forces have been forced to change their approach, according to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The MoD said the Russians are now pursuing a "strategy of attrition" which could result in increased civilian casualties and greater destruction of cities in the coming days.
The fight for Kyiv in the north
Russian forces have been attempting to encircle and cut off the capital, but large areas around Kyiv remain under Ukrainian control, especially in the south.
In recent days, Ukrainian forces have launched counter-attacks to the west of the capital and regained some territory that had been occupied by Russian troops.
The nearest Russian troops have advanced to the west of Kyiv is about 25km (15 miles) from the city centre, around the suburbs of Irpin and Bucha.
This means Russian artillery remains out of range of central Kyiv, but shelling of the outskirts continues to cause casualties and destroy homes and infrastructure - and the city is still vulnerable to Russian warplanes.
On Friday, Russia claimed to have destroyed Ukraine's largest remaining military fuel storage site, located about 35km (22 miles) south west Kyiv, in a missile attack.
To the east of the capital, Ukrainian forces have repelled renewed Russian attempts to advance toward Brovary, about 20km (12 miles) away from the centre of Kyiv.
In Boryspil, around 15km (10 miles) south east of Kyiv and home to Ukraine's largest airport, about 20,000 civilians are said to have left the area, answering a call to clear out so Ukrainian troops could push the Russians further back.
The Russian advance on Kyiv from the east has been hindered by its inability to take control of Chernihiv, a major city to the north east of the Kyiv that sits between the capital and the Russian border.
Chernihiv's governor says the city is effectively surrounded by Russian forces, but Ukrainian troops remain in control of the centre at the moment.
Russian progress slows in the south
Russian forces initially made rapid gains in the south, with their main objective being the creation of a land corridor between Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and areas held by Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Standing in the way of that objective has been the port city of Mariupol, which has been encircled by Russian forces since the start of March. Ukrainian officials say about 100,000 civilians remain trapped in the city.
The government in Ukraine has rejected demands to surrender Mariupol and Russian forces have continued to advance into the city centre.
However, a Ukrainian attack on Russian vessels in the nearby port of Berdyansk on Thursday may disrupt attempts to reinforce Russian troops in the area, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
To the west, Russia is likely to continue a push towards Odesa with the aim of cutting off Ukraine's access to the Black Sea. Russian naval forces off the coast have fired on the city in recent days but military experts believe capturing Odesa by landing troops from the sea would be very difficult.
Russian advances on Mykolaiv, which lies between Russian forces and Odesa, have slowed and a counter-attack by Ukrainian troops and volunteers has pushed Russian forces back from nearby Voznesensk.
Russian advances in the east
Fighting continues in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where Russian-backed separatists held significant territory before the Russian invasion.
The ISW says Russian forces there have secured several minor advances in both Donetsk and Luhansk in the past couple of days.
In the north east, Russian troops have almost surrounded the city of Sumy, but Ukrainian forces have prevented attempts to cut it off from the south.
A similar attempt to encircle Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, has also been repelled with analysts saying Russian forces there are in short supply of ammunition.
By David Brown, Bella Hurrell, Dominic Bailey, Mike Hills, Lucy Rodgers, Paul Sargeant, Mark Bryson, Zoe Bartholomew, Sean Willmott, Sana Dionysiou, Joy Roxas, Gerry Fletcher, Jana Tauschinsk and Prina Shah.
About these maps
To indicate which parts of Ukraine are under control by Russian troops we are using daily assessments published by the Institute for the Study of War with the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project.
From 2 March this daily assessment differentiated between "Assessed Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory" and "Assessed Russian advances in Ukraine", the latter indicating areas where Russians are believed to have launched attacks from but which they do not control.
To show key areas where advances are taking place we are also using daily updates from the UK Ministry of Defence and BBC research.
The situation in Ukraine is fast moving and it is likely there will be times when there have been changes not reflected in the maps.
