The G7 is holding a virtual meeting after Ukrainian cities and infrastructure were hit by Russian airstrikes for a second day.



The western city of Lviv's energy facilities were hit by three strikes today, its mayor said, causing power blackouts.



And the southern city of Zaporizhzhia was shelled again overnight, with one dead and buildings damaged, the regional governor says.



People across the country have been advised to stay in shelters, and not to ignore air raid sirens.



Meanwhile, the UK's spy chief has said there are no current signs Russia is considering using nuclear weapons.



Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday's strikes were retaliation for Saturday's attack on a key bridge linking Russia with occupied Crimea.

 

'Desperation' spreading in Russian military and society, says GCHQ.

Here are the quotes from head of GCHQ Jeremy Fleming’s interview with the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. PA Media quotes him saying:

We believe that Russia is running short of munitions, it’s certainly running short of friends.

We’ve seen, because of the declaration for mobilisation, that it’s running short of troops. So I think the answer to that is pretty clear. Russia and Russia’s commanders are worried about the state of their military machine.

The word I’ve used is ‘desperate’. We can see that desperation at many levels inside Russian society and inside the Russian military machine.

It certainly doesn’t imply complacency.

Russia, as we’ve seen in the dreadful attacks yesterday, still has a very capable military machine. It can launch weapons, it has deep, deep stocks and expertise. And yet, it is very broadly stretched in Ukraine.

Fleming was also asked about the prospect of Russia using nuclear weapons.

“I would hope that we will see indicators if they started to go down that path,” he said. “But let’s be really clear about that, if they are considering that, that would be a catastrophe in the way that many people have talked about.”