More than five million people have now fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24, the United Nations’ refugee agency said.

The Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday put the total number of refugees at 5.01 million.

More than half of the total, over 2.8 million, fled at least at first to Poland.

Although many have stayed there, an unknown number have traveled onward.

The United States, Canada and Britain said they would send Ukraine more artillery, while Norway said it had shipped Ukraine 100 Mistral air defense missiles.

Russia has denied using banned weapons or targeting civilians and says, without evidence, that signs of atrocities were staged.

Video released by Ukraine’s Azov battalion purported to show people living in a network beneath the sprawling Azovstal steel plant, where they say hundreds of women, children and elderly civilians are sheltering with supplies running out.

A Ukrainian military commander whose troops are surrounded by invading forces said he and his colleagues are facing their “last days, if not hours”.

Serhiy Volyna, who is defending the besieged city of Mariupol, said Vladimir Putin’s soldiers are outnumbering them ten to one and pleaded for help evacuating wounded civilians.

“This is our appeal to the world. This could be the last appeal of our lives,” he said in a video message to the Washington Post. “We are probably facing our last days, if not hours.”

“The enemy is outnumbering us 10 to one. They have advantage in the air, in artillery, in their forces on land, in equipment and in tanks.”

There will be “no good outcome” to the war in Ukraine, Bill Browder said when asked how the next phase of the conflict might play out.

The American financier and Kremlin critic said the Russian president is someone who wants to “absolutely destroy his enemy.”

I have suggested it is Putin’s “main gameplan” to take the conflict to Nato’s border in the neighboring Baltic states.

Japan has formally revoked Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status over its invasion of Ukraine, as Tokyo steps up sanctions amid revelations of the Russian military’s widespread atrocities against civilians.

The stripping of Russia’s trade status is Japan’s latest move against Moscow and was part of a list of sanctions measures Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced last month that also included a decision to expel eight Russian diplomats and trade officials.

The revocation of Russia’s trade status by Japan’s parliament, combined with other sanctions collectively imposed by other countries, is expected to intensify pressure on Russia, but the moves could also prompt reprisals from Moscow.

The revocation of the trade status applies to tariffs on all Russian imports, allowing Tokyo to impose higher duties on such products.

Putin’s troops continue “shooting at civilians” during their fresh offensive in eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian ambassador has said.

Olekseii Makeiev told LBC “nobody is safe in my country” amid the ongoing invasion.

He also accused the Kremlin of committing war crimes.

The US will not send troops to Ukraine to fight Russia, America’s interim ambassador to the UK has said.

Amid a fresh Kremlin assault on eastern Ukraine, Philip Reeker said the US will continue to support Kyiv and Nato.

But US boots on the ground is not an option, I added. More comments from Mr Reeker below:

Ukraine hopes to send 90 buses to the besieged southern city of Mariupol on Wednesday to evacuate about 6,000 women, children and elderly people, the city’s mayor said on national television.

Major Vadym Boichenko, who has left Mariupol, said he hoped a preliminary agreement with Russia on establishing a safe corridor would be signed up and hold.

He said about 100,000 civilians remained in Mariupol and that tens of thousands had been killed in the Russian siege of the city on the Sea of ​​Azov.

The Russian ministry of defense has said its forces hit 1,053 Ukrainian military facilities overnight, destroying 106 firing positions, Reuters reports.

The claims have not been independently verified.

An increasing number of Swedish voters are in favor of joining Nato, a new poll by Demoskop has been found.

Commissioned by the Aftonbladet newspaper, the poll showed that 57 per cent of Swedes now favor membership, up from 51 per cent in March.

Those opposed to joining fell to 21 per cent from 24 per cent, while those who were undecided dipped to 22 per cent from 25 per cent.

It comes as policy-makers in both Sweden and Finland weigh up whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should hail an end to decades of military neutrality.