Nato countries are deploying more troops to eastern Europe as Russia continues its attack on Ukraine.
Russian missiles pounded Kyiv on Friday as families cowered in shelters and authorities told people to prepare petrol bombs to defend Ukraine's capital.
It comes after the US, UK, New Zealand and EU countries condemned Russia's actions.
New Zealand on Thursday night also announced a range of measures in response to the invasion, including travel bans against Russian government officials, the prohibition of exporting goods to the Russian military and the suspension of bilateral engagement with Russian foreign officials.
What you need to know:
- Russia has invaded the eastern European country of Ukraine after earlier this week declaring two regions within it to be independent.
- Vladimir Putin claims he doesn't want to occupy Ukraine, but demilitarise it and "de-Nazify" the nation.
- Within moments of Putin announcing a special military operation on Thursday, explosions were heard throughout Ukraine with missile strikes recorded against several Ukrainian bases.
- Fighting is now underway across Ukraine, with Russian forces advancing into the country from northern, eastern and southern border points. That includes from Belarus, where it's reported Belarusian forces are supporting Russia.
- Russian troops are currently about 30km from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and have seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Ukraine's President says Russian sabotage groups are within the capital and are targeting him.
- At least 137 Ukrainians have so far died in the conflict, with hundreds of others wounded.
- Condemnation of Russia's actions has been swift, with world leaders preparing an onslaught of sanctions against the invading country. New Zealand has laid out several measures it is responding with, including travel bans and export controls
- US President Joe Biden on Friday warned that Putin's ambitions are much larger than Ukraine and that he wants to re-establish the former Soviet Union. US troops won't fight in Ukraine, but Biden says he is sending more forces to NATO allies.
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3:30pm - Fighting has reached the outskirts of Kyiv, where it's now around 4am.
According to Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst, the capital is under attack "right now from multiple directions".
Kyiv residents were told by the defence ministry to make petrol bombs to repel the invaders, and on Friday evening witnesses reported hearing artillery rounds and intense gunfire from the western part of the city, Reuters reports.
3:20pm - The invasion of Ukraine is likely to have a significant impact on the Pacific, a senior academic warns.
Sandra Tarte, an Associate Professor at the University of the South Pacific, says Pacific nations should be concerned about the negative effect this war will have on multilateralism.
"Multilateralism is on its knees, it's in tatters," Professor Tarte said. "Particularly for the smaller island countries, we really need multilateralism to protect ourselves.
"We don't have power as such in the entire system. We rely on multilateralism and institutions like the UN and the rule of law."
Professor Tarte also said that Pacific countries will feel an economic impact.
"We will see perhaps markets react, we will see confidence plummet," she explained. "There might be supply chain issues with the oil markets.
"We are all connected. Through this global supply chain, we will see potential effects."
Read the full story here
12:27pm - An independent Kiwi journalist reporting from a Kyiv bunker fears civilians will be caught in the firing line after hearing of an imminent Russian aerial assault on the city.
"I am currently sitting here in a bomb shelter in what used to be up until about three days ago a normally functioning metro station," Tom Mutch told Newshub Nation on Saturday.
"You can see the long lines of people behind me. They're all civilians that are sheltering here. We've heard there's going to be a Russian aerial assault on the city, it could be fairly indiscriminate, and so everyone down here is hiding down for the night."
Read more here.
12:02pm - Russia vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution on Friday that would have deplored Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, while China abstained from the vote - a move western countries view as a win for showing Russia's international isolation.
The United Arab Emirates and India also abstained from the vote on the US-drafted text. The remaining 11 council members voted in favour. The draft resolution is now expected to be taken up by the 193-member UN General Assembly.
- Reuters
10:57am - A spokesperson for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy say they are discussing a place and time for talks with Russia.
"Ukraine was and remains ready to talk about a ceasefire and peace," spokesman Sergii Nykyforov said.
10:37am - Major western powers on Friday evening condemned Russia for its invasion into Ukraine as officials gathered in Kenya for a high-level environmental summit.
The intervention at the United Nations Environmental Assembly came after Ukraine raised an objection to a technical resolution proposed by Russia, as a way to object to the country's attack and going against the U.N. charter.
Representatives of the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and New Zealand used their interventions to support Ukraine and condemn Russia, a sign that politics will overshadow talks in Nairobi, where discussion issues include a treaty to tackle plastic waste billed as the most important environmental pact since the Paris Agreement.
"The European Union and its member states condemn in the strongest possible terms the Russian Federation's unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine," an EU representative said.
- Reuters
10:19am - France is sending four Mirage 2000-5 warplanes to Estonia to help boost Nato's forces in the region, the French President says.
Two hundred soldiers will also be deployed.
10:07am - Britain has banned Russian private jets from UK airspace.
Transport Minister Grant Shapps said in a tweet on Friday no Russian private plane can fly over UK airspace or touch down, effective immediately.
9:56am - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she was "in absolute despair" when she first heard about Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.
Ardern made the comment during an interview with Newshub Nation's Simon Shepherd on Saturday, when asked what her first thoughts were when she heard bombs were dropping on Ukraine.
Ardern said with the build-up of multilateral institutions and international diplomacy over the decades, "people thought that the work had been done to try and prevent anything like this happening again, so it is with great despair I saw that".
Read the full story here.
9:45am - EU states agreed to freeze any European assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister on Friday, as Ukraine's leader pleaded for faster and more forceful sanctions to punish Russia's invasion of his country.
The move against Putin and his top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, came as envoys of the EU's 27 member states agreed on a new wave of measures - their second this week - to hit Russia's elite and thwart operations of 70% of the country's banking system.
"We are now listing President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov as well," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said as she joined her EU counterparts to agree on the new sanctions.
"They are responsible for the deaths of innocent people in Ukraine, and for trampling on the international system. We, as Europeans, do not accept that."
Read more here.
- Reuters
9:18am - Russian missiles pounded Kyiv, families cowered in shelters and authorities told people to prepare petrol bombs to defend Ukraine's capital on Friday, as the mayor said "saboteurs" had entered the city and were fighting in the outskirts.
Moscow said it had captured the Hostomel airfield northwest of the capital - a potential staging post for an assault on Kyiv that has been fought over since Russian paratroopers landed there in the first hours of the war. This could not be confirmed and the Ukrainian authorities reported heavy fighting there.
"Shots and explosions are ringing out in some neighbourhoods. Saboteurs have already entered Kyiv," said the mayor of the city of 3 million, former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko. "The enemy wants to put the capital on its knees and destroy us."
After weeks of warnings from Western leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed a three-pronged invasion of Ukraine from the north, east and south before dawn on Thursday, in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
Read more here.
- Reuters
9:04am - Here's everything you need to know about the escalating situation.
