Ukraine-Russia war latest: The big picture - what you need to know about the war in Ukraine right now

We've been keeping across the main developments in the Ukraine war today while our live coverage is paused - here's what's been happening.

Russian's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said the support of the United States, Britain and France for Ukraine could lead to a direct confrontation between the world's largest nuclear powers. 

"The Westerners are teetering dangerously on the brink of a direct military clash between nuclear powers, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences," he said. 

"Of particular concern is the fact that it is the 'troika' of Western nuclear states that are among the key sponsors of the criminal Kyiv regime, the main initiators of various provocative steps. 

"We see serious strategic risks in this, leading to an increase in the level of nuclear danger." 

Poland offers to host NATO nuclear weapons

Meanwhile, Poland is prepared to host nuclear weapons belonging to other members of NATO, its president has said.

Andrzej Duda said that was in response to Russia moving nuclear weapons to neighbouring Belarus.

"If there were a decision by our allies to deploy nuclear weapons within the nuclear sharing, also on our territory, in order to strengthen the security of NATO's eastern flank, we are ready," Mr Duda told the Fakt newspaper.

Promise of no 'delays or bottlenecks' on new US aid 

After a massive aid deal for Ukraine finally passed through the US House of Representatives (see post below), the Biden administration wants to start moving weapons and equipment into the country within days of its anticipated final approval, an official has said.

The legislation includes £48bn in military aid for Kyiv.  

The Senate is expected to pass it this week.

It will then go to Mr Biden.

Ammunition, air defence system interceptors and long-range weapons can begin moving "within days" once the bill has become law, a US official told Reuters.

"There won't be any delays or bottlenecks on the US side," the official said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed the new package from Washington will make little difference.

"The Russian armed forces are improving their positions at the front," he told reporters. 

"The money allocated and the weapons that will be supplied will not change this dynamic." 

Russia 'takes control of Ukrainian village'

Russia's defence ministry has claimed its forces have taken control of the Ukrainian village of Novomykhailivka, 25 miles southwest of Donetsk.

Ukraine's general staff said their forces continued to resist Russian attempts to advance near the village. 

Meta spokesperson sentenced for 'publicly defending terrorism'

Meta Platforms spokesperson Andy Stone has been sentenced to six years in prison by a military court in Moscow.

The jail term was handed down in absentia, RIA news agency reported.

Meta is designated an extremist organisation in Russia, while its Facebook and Instagram apps have been banned in the country since the Ukraine War began in February 2022.

RIA said state investigators accused Mr Stone of publishing online comments that defended "aggressive, hostile and violent actions" towards Russian soldiers involved in what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. 

US House passes major aid bill

The big news of the week came from Washington, where a massive aid deal for Ukraine edged closer to being signed into law after months of hold-ups. 

In a major win for Ukraine, the $60.8bn (£49bn) bill was passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives - which had been the source of the delay. 

Republicans aligned with former president Donald Trump had been blocking the bill, but a cross-party effort managed to break months of deadline on Saturday. 

The package will go to the US Senate, where it is likely to be passed tomorrow and will then immediately be passed into law by Joe Biden. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was "grateful" for the decision - having spent months trying to persuade American politicians to send more weapons to Ukraine. 

The situation on the ground

And here's why that aid bill is so important to Ukraine. 

Russian forces have had an advantage in recent weeks, boasting both more men and weapons. 

Since Moscow took the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka on 17 February, they have been inching forward and swallowing up villages. 

They have made more marginal gains west of Avdiivka and Bakhmut, and now appear to be aiming for the small town of Chasiv Yar. 

Ukraine's commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyii, said Moscow wants to capture it by 9 May, which is Russia's Victory Day holiday. 

Yesterday, Russia said its forces had gained territory near the key battleground town. 

Military analysts believe if Chasiv Yar fell, it would open up Ukraine to attacks on the towns of Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in western Donetsk.

'We have a chance to take the initiative' 

So will the US aid bill make a difference? 

Mr Zelenskyy seemed to think so - but he warned it would depend on how quickly weapons are sent to Ukraine.

"Now we have the chance to stabilise the situation and to overtake the initiative, and that's why we need to actually have the weapons systems," the Ukrainian president told our partner network yesterday.

He said Ukraine had suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment due to the delay already, and warned that if weapons took another six months to arrive then the situation could deteriorate further. 

NATO to send more air defences to Ukraine

Ukraine's desperate pleas for more air defences appear to have got through to NATO, which has said it will make announcements on the matter in the near future. 

An emergency meeting between Mr Zelenskyy and NATO defence ministers was held on Friday as Russia's attacks on civilians escalated. 

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting that defence ministers had "agreed to step up and provide further military support, including more air defence". 

Kyiv had been making ever more anguished calls for help with air defences due to a series of deadly Russian strikes. 

On Wednesday, a mid-morning attack on the city of Chernihiv killed 18 people and left another 78 injured. 

And on Friday, at least eight people were killed in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. 

Nuclear plant attacked 

On Tuesday, the chief of the UN's nuclear watchdog said three attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had been confirmed since 7 April. 

Rafael Grossi added the trio of attacks "have been performed with a multitude of drones", adding it was impossible to confirm who launched them.

Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for attacks on the site. 

Spy scandals continue

Away from Ukraine itself, spy scandals involving Russia continue to rock the wider European continent. 

On Thursday, Germany arrested two men for allegedly spying for Russia, with one planning to carry out attacks in the hopes of sabotaging aid intended for Ukraine.

It comes after the head of NATO said the alliance had expelled Russian nationals who were gathering intelligence. 

On the same day, a Polish man was arrested on allegations of being ready to help Russia's military intelligence in an alleged plot to assassinate Mr Zelenskyy.

We are pausing our live coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine today.

We'll be back again with more updates.

Here's a round-up of today, which started with the deaths of at least eight people in a major Russian missile attack in central Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for more air defences and said: "Russia must be held accountable for its terror, and every missile, every Shahed [drone] must be shot down."

In a speech after a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies on the Italian island of Capri, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it is "imperative" Ukraine gets more resources immediately to help it fight Russia.

"It needs more air defences, it needs more munitions, it needs more artillery - allies and partners including the G7 countries are committed to delivering on that," he added.

Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed to have shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber "for the first time". Russia's defence ministry said the crash appeared to have been caused by a technical malfunction.

Two detained in Poland after hammer attack on Navalny aide

Two people were detained in Poland on suspicion of a hammer attack on Leonid Volkov,  the exiled top aide of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Mr Volkov had blamed Vladimir Putin for the attack and he thanked Lithuanian police for working "energetically and persistently" over the past month on his case.

"I am very glad that this work has been effective", he tweeted. "Well, we'll find out the details soon. Can't wait to find out!"

And a Polish man was arrested over allegations of being ready to help Russia's military intelligence in an alleged plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made an emotional appeal to NATO members, saying the current level of foreign aid for Ukraine is "very limited". 

The Ukrainian president said Israel had not been left to fend for itself during Iran's aerial bombardment on Saturday.

During that attack, Western allies had stepped in to help shoot down Iranian drones and missiles. 

"Putin must be brought down to earth and our sky must become safe again... And it depends fully on your choice... [the] choice whether we are indeed allies," Mr Zelenskyy said in his speech.

He said Ukraine needs a minimum of seven Patriot or other high-end air defence systems to counter Russian air strikes. 

Russia has recently intensified its bombardment of Ukraine, and the UN reported civilian deaths had sharply increased in March. 

NATO ministers have decided to supply more air defence systems to Ukraine, the organisation's secretary general has said.

Jens Stoltenberg said several NATO allies had made concrete commitments which he expected to be announced soon.

"In addition to Patriots, there are other weapons that allies can provide, including [French system] SAMP/T and many others, who do not have available systems, have pledged to provide financial support to purchase them for Ukraine," he told reporters in Brussels.

A Russian missile attack has damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine's southern Odessa region, the governor has said.

One person was injured, he added.

This map by the British Ministry of Defence shows the latest update on advances in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The head of the European Union's executive branch has visited Finland's border with Russia to assess the security situation there.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Finland's decision to close its border crossings with Russia over a surge in migrants was a security matter for the whole 27-member bloc to consider.

"We all know how Putin and his allies instrumentalise migrants to test our defences and to try to destabilise us," she said.

"Now Putin is focusing on Finland, and this is no doubt in response to your firm support of Ukraine and your accession to NATO."

Finland shares a 832-mile (1,430km) land border with Russia.

"This is not just about the security of Finland, but it is about the security of the European Union. We are in this together," Ms von der Leyen said after visiting the border in Lappeenranta with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.

"We should be more Finnish when it comes to security."

Finland joined NATO in April 2023 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a major blow to President Putin.

Slovaks angered at their government's refusal to give military aid to Ukraine have raised nearly €2m (£1.7m) in a drive to help supply ammunition to Kyiv.

Although ammo supplies are a pressing need for Ukraine after two years of war, Slovakia has refused to join a plan led by the Czech government to buy hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds for Ukraine.

"When I heard about the Czech government's initiative, I was very pleased to hear that all ways are being sought to help Ukraine defend itself against the [Russian] aggressor, because there is no other way," said Otto Simko, a 99-year-old Holocaust survivor and journalist who helped spearhead the Slovak crowdfunding campaign.

In a video posted on the crowdfunders' YouTube page he said Russia needed to be expelled from Ukraine so "peace can be spoken of on terms that suit Ukrainian independence".

Slovakia halted state military aid to Kyiv last year, arguing the conflict did not have a military solution.

It is "imperative" Ukraine gets more resources immediately to help it fight off Russia's invasion, the US secretary of state has said after a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies.

"It needs more air defences, it needs more munitions, it needs more artillery - allies and partners including the G7 countries are committed to delivering on that," Antony Blinken added.

Mr Blinken went on to say that if China wants better relations with Europe it cannot continue helping Russia while it attacks Ukraine, adding that Beijing was the primary contributor to Russia's defence industrial base.

He made the remarks after Kyiv's foreign minister said the G7 had identified "specific steps" needed to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia, Kyiv's foreign minister has said.

Dmytro Kuleba also warned Europe would be engulfed by war if Russia triumphed in its invasion.

"We identified specific steps which Western partners will make to help Ukraine," Mr Kuleba told reporters on the Italian island of Capri, where G7 foreign ministers are meeting.

He said the West had the capacity "to provide Ukraine with all necessary resources as soon as possible to save Europe from a larger war."

Meanwhile, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said the G7 was looking to see if it could use frozen Russian assets held in the West and not just the interest from the funds.

Mr Tajani said there was an established legal basis for using the interest from the frozen funds, but experts were now looking to see if the capital itself could be used to help Ukraine.

The West has frozen some $300bn (£241bn) of sovereign Russian assets, which the UK and US want to be used to pay for the Ukraine war effort - though European Union member states have questioned the legality of such a move.