Ukraine war - latest: Half a million without power after 'significant' accident at electricity substation; 'evidence' of war crimes and 'mass killings' (2023)

These pictures show Ukrainian civilians taking part in military training at the Infantry Academy in Toledo, Spain.

More than 18.1 million border crossings have taken place out of Ukraine since Russia's invasion, according to data from the United Nations.

The figure reflects cross-border movements out of the country - and not individuals.

Just under 10 million people have crossed back into Ukrainian territory since 24 February last year.

Yet movements back to Ukraine can be pendular and do not necessarily indicate sustainable returns as the situation across Ukraine remains highly volatile and unpredictable.

Refugees have fled to neighbouring countries with the UN also recording more than eight million refugees across Europe, with just over half (4.8 million) registered with official schemes - such as the UK's Homes for Ukraine.

Half a million people are without power following a "significant" accident at anelectricity substation in Ukraine (see 12.17pm post).

Maksym Marchenko, a Ukrainian colonel, wrote on Telegram: "A serious accident occurred at one of the energy facilities of NPC Ukrenergo, which caused a fire.

"Because of this, the Odessa region and the city of Odessa were almost completely de-energized. As of now, almost 500,000 subscribers have no electricity."

The emergency measures have been taken to eliminate the consequences of the accident and to resume the operation of the energy system.

"At our request, the Minister of Energy and the head of Ukrenergo were urgently sent to Odessa. Together with them, they have already held an urgent meeting of the operational headquarters to eliminate the accident and supply electricity to consumers," the head of the Odessa regional district administration said.

The United States and Russia have faced off today over a report into the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine - with Moscow calling it "politically motivated".

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus's report waspresented to the organisation's executive board, on which bothRussia and the United States sit.

It covered events in the first nine months of 2022 andclassed the situation in Ukraine - which Russia invaded on 24 February - as one of eight acute global health emergencies.

The report documented more than 14,000 civilian casualties,with 17.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and7.5 million Ukrainian refugees displaced across Europe.

Of 471 attacks with heavy weapons on healthcare facilitiesglobally, 448 occurred in Ukraine, the WHO report said.Russia's representative to the WHO board called itpoliticised and one-sided and described its references toUkraine as unfounded accusations.

Moscow has denied targeting civilians in Ukraine since itbegan what it calls a "special military operation", which has devastated Ukraine's cities, killed thousands of combatants, andshaken the global economy.

Sheba Crocker, the US representative to the United Nations,called for an updated report to document incidents in Ukrainesince September.

A ska punk band from Vienna, Austria, has decided to disband citing the war in Ukraine as making it "impossible" to continue safely.

Russkaja - which describes its sound as "Russian turbo polka metal" - said it could not continue with "an image and style that is making satirical use of Soviet symbols and language".

The band, whose name literally translates to "Russian" was formed in 2005 by a Russian singer who moved to Moscow 30 years ago.

But the ongoing conflict has brought an end to the seven-member music group's touring - but it released a final album as a "farewell gift" to fans.

"What once was fun in the band's music is nothing but bitter now and the band members cannot go on stage anymore without feeling that bitterness in every note played and every word sung," the group wrote on Facebook.

"All the lyrics written have a totally different meaning now and none of the bandmembers wants to represent this since in these times it is only associated with war, death, crime, and blood spilled.

"The time has finally come to stop this. We tried to do statements, [and] position ourselves publicly for what we stand and that's peace and unity.

"But we can feel that it's not enough and also it will not change anymore.

"We realized that this war will not stop soon and even if it would, the Soviet imagery and style are forever damaged now.

"RUSSKAJA has also become a target on the web, there are s***storms every day and with every new single we release.

"People call us Russian terrorists and pro-Russian even if we are the exact opposite. Finally, we also care about the safety of our crew and all people involved and we don't want to risk anything violent happening when we're on the road and playing shows.

"To most of us, RUSSKAJA was not only our band but it was also our existence. This decision is very very sad for all of us but after all that happened since 24 February 2022, we don't see any other chance here.

"We hope that all fans, promoters & partners can understand the hell we're going through taking our own baby to the grave after all these years."

Rishi Sunak has spoken to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy today, with the two agreeing on the importance of the international community speeding up assistance for Ukraine.

"The Prime Minister said he was focused on ensuring the UK'sdefensive military equipment reached the front line as quicklyas possible," the prime minister's office said in a statement.

"Both leaders agreed that it was vital that internationalpartners accelerated their assistance to Ukraine to help seizethe opportunity to push Russian forces back."

Mr Zelenskyy said he talked about "expanding the capabilities of the Ukrainian army" as well as re-emphasising his country's stance that "representatives of the aggressor have no place" at next year's Paris Olympics.

At least 220 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have died in the war, saidVadym Huttsait, who won an Olympic fencing team gold in 1992 for the so-called Unified Team (which comprised 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics).

He also coached Ukraine's winning team at the 2008 Games.

Last week the International Olympic Committee said it was open to including Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals at the Games and opened a door to them competing in qualifiers, prompting an international campaign by Kyiv to keep them out.

Germany has evidence of war crimes in Ukraine "inthree-digit range", the country's prosecutor general has said.

Peter Frank told the country's Welt Am Sonntag newspaper he saw a need for a judicial process at an "international level".

"Currently, for example, weare focusing on the mass killings in Bucha or attacks againstUkrainian civilian infrastructure," Mr Frank told the newspaper.

So far, prosecutors have pieces of evidence in the"three-digit range", he added, without elaborating.

Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russian forcesof committing atrocities in Bucha, a satellite town of Kyiv,soon after launching their invasion last February.

Moscow hasdenied the charge. Russia has also targeted key infrastructurein Ukraine but denies deliberately targeting civilians.

Germany began collecting evidence in March 2022 to prosecutepossible war crimes, including by interviewing Ukrainianrefugees and evaluating publicly available information, Franksaid, adding that German prosecutors were not yet investigatingspecific individuals.

"We are preparing ourselves for a possible later court case- be it with us in Germany, be it with our foreign partners, beit before an international court," he added.

Asked who should be tried, Frank said Russian state leadersand those implementing decisions at the highest military levelshould be held accountable.

Ukraine is pushing for the creation of a special tribunal toprosecute Russian military and political leaders it holdsresponsible for starting the war.

The number of Russian soldiers around the southern city of Mariupol has increased by up to 15,000 according to Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol.

"The majority are quartered in the Mariupol district in villages using the "human shield" tactic," he wrote on Telegram.

"In general, we can talk about approximately 30,000 occupiers, concentrated in Mariupol and the region."

He said military occupiers are "quite chatty with the locals".

Soldiers, he added, give the impression of "actively forming reserves to continue the attack on Ugledar".