Ukraine latest as the UK's Ministry of Defence says Russia will "almost certainly" switch to capturing the Donetsk region after the eastern city of Lysychansk falls; the Ukrainian flag is dropped onto Snake Island after the Russians are forced out thanks to Western missiles.

Some 236 refugees from Russia's war in Ukraine have been flown on a humanitarian flight from Warsaw in Poland to Canada escorted by Phan Thị Kim Phuc.

The 52-year-old Canadian citizen became famous after being photographed in a 1972 Vietnam napalm attack image when she was a little girl.

The picture, in which she runs with her napalm-scalded body exposed, was etched on the private non-governmental organisation jet that flew the refugees to Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan.

With her husband, Bui Huy Toan, she travelled from Toronto to board the humanitarian flight.

She said she wants her story and work for refugees to be a message of peace.

Russian troops are ratcheting up their efforts to secure full control of the entire Donbas area in eastern Ukraine - and from what we witnessed, there's very little which is going to stop them right now, writes Sky's special correspondent Alex Crawford.

A huge chunk of the industrial heartland has already fallen to the Russian military allowing President Vladimir Putin to declare a significant victory after his troops seized the Luhansk region with the capture of the city of Lysychansk, the last Ukrainian stronghold there.

The Russians already control most of Donetsk, the second half of the Donbas and the signs are they are moving to claim the rest of it.

The past few days have already seen increased attacks on the cities of Sloviansk and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region - and the frontline towns of Krasnohorivka and Marinka are also particularly vulnerable.

The areas have been fiercely contested for the past eight years and President Putin launched his 'special military operation' in February after unilaterally declaring Donetsk and Luhansk 'independent'.

The Ukrainian troops we've been speaking to have told us over and over again they feel outgunned and overwhelmed by the superior numbers of heavy Russian artillery which they are being bombarded with.

They're hoping the arrival of foreign-supplied heavy artillery from American and Europe can help them reverse the tide but it may have arrived too late for the Ukrainians to keep hold of the Donbas.

We are the first British journalists to be given access to see the French-made Caesar howitzers which are now being used to try to hold back the Russian military in the Donbas.

French President Emmanuel Macron has already supplied 12 Caesars and after the G7 summit, committed to providing another six. The heavy artillery is highly valued for its accuracy and can reach targets much further away - up to 30 miles away.

The Ukrainian troops from the 55th Brigade who we watched using the Caesars told us the howtizers are much more versatile and offers them a mobility which helps safeguard the crew.

The gun can be readied to fire in about 60 seconds flat and in even less time (about 40 seconds), it can be on the move again to keep out of the reach of enemy return fire.

The truck's commander said his men spent 10 days learning how to operate the weaponised truck in France. "What we need is more of guns like this," he told us. "More people to help train us. All we need is more ammunition and then everything else we will do by ourselves."

They know they're on the backfoot right now but there's still a very high level of optimism about the long-term future here and he had this message for the Russians who're still busy celebrating their seizing of Luhansk. ''It's not for long," the commander says. "We will kick you out and get it all back."

Read her full story here.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has said the cost of rebuilding his country could reach $750bn (£619bn) - and Russia should foot the bill.

"We believe that the key source of recovery should be the confiscated assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs," he said, citing estimates that frozen Russian assets were worth $300-500bn.

"The Russian authorities unleashed this bloody war. They caused this massive destruction and they should be held accountable for it."

His remarks were echoed by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who said Russia should be held accountable for the damage.

"We are looking at options for the deployment of Russian assets," she said on the sidelines of a conference in the Swiss city of Lugano.

We brought you some images earlier of a destroyed school in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

More photographs have since emerged, showing workers clearing debris and carrying a printer out of the collapsed building. 

The school was hit by a missile in the early hours of this morning, according to regional governor Oleh Synyehubov.

Earlier we reported that Ukraine's flag had once again been raised on Snake Island after the Russians were driven out with the assistance of French missiles.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian military's Southern Command, Natalia Humeniuk, has now issued a clarification: 

"The flag was delivered to the island by helicopter. It will wait for the arrival of the troops, then it will wave," she told CNN.

She said her earlier remarks about the flag being raised should be "understood metaphorically".

"No one landed on the island. So who will install it, stick it in, raise it?" she said. "And no one will risk people for the sake of a photo for the media."

For context: Russian troops left Snake Island last week - having famously captured it in the early days of the invasion after the defending forces told them "Russian warship, go f*** yourself".

Russia had used the island to impose a blockade on Ukraine, one of the world's biggest grain exporters and a major producer of seed for vegetable oils. 

Russia said it had decided to withdraw from the outcrop as a "gesture of goodwill" to show Moscow was not obstructing UN attempts to open a humanitarian corridor allowing grains to be shipped from Ukraine.

Ukraine said it had driven the Russian forces out after an artillery and missile assault overnight.

Its liberation could be significant in helping Ukraine to keep hold of its main maritime port - Odesa. 

In an update to the Commons, Boris Johnson has hailed last week's NATO summit in Madrid as overwhelmingly successful. 

He said the meeting of Western leaders had "exceeded all expectations" in terms of maintaining unity and would "support Ukraine for as long as it takes". 

This should "explode the myth that Western democracies lack the staying power for a prolonged crisis", he said. 

The prime minister warned that if Russia's Vladimir Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, he will "find other targets". 

He added that he was also "proud to stand alongside" Finland and Sweden, which have been invited to join NATO. 

The two countries have historically remained neutral but applied to join the military alliance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Advanced missile systems provided by the US have been shown in a video from Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine's southeast. 

The remarkable footage shows Ukrainian troops firing the missiles from a HIMARS system, which can simultaneously launch multiple precision-guided projectiles.

The weapon is more advanced than those previously used by Ukraine and has more range and precision.

The UK will impose new economic, trade and transport sanctions on Belarus amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it was announced today.

The new package will include import and export bans on goods worth around £60m, including on exports of oil refining goods, advanced technology components and luxury goods.

The sanctions will also apply to imports of Belarusian iron and steel and ban more Belarusian companies from issuing debt and securities in London. 

Belarus has been a close ally of Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

Yesterday, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said his country stood fully behind Russia and the two countries would "remain together".

He also said he had thrown his weight behind Vladimir Putin's campaign against Ukraine "from the very first day".

On a similar theme to the post below, Ukraine will need $750bn for a recovery plan in the wake of Russia's invasion, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said today.

Speaking to leaders at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in the Swiss city of Lugano, Mr Shmygal said there had been over $100bn of direct damage to Ukrainian infrastructure from Russia's invasion. 

He went on to say the recovery plan needed to be in three phases and the first would focus on fixing things that matter for people's daily lives like water supply.

Mr Shmygal added that the Ukrainian government believed that a key source of funding for the recovery plan should be assets confiscated from Russian oligarchs.

A Marshall Plan-style programme will be needed to rebuild Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said today.

Ms Truss told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Switzerland that the UK was "resolute" in its support of Ukraine's territorial integrity and would "continue to lead" in supporting the country's reconstruction and development plan.

She said: "This needs to be a new Marshall Plan for Ukraine and it needs to be driven by Ukraine itself. 

"We will push for immediate investment and to drive economic growth because it's absolutely imperative we get the Ukrainian economy going.

"We need to be able to support Ukrainians to Ukraine, we need to give people hope about the future, and we need to give them the means to be able to support themselves."

Earlier today, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would set up a reconstruction platform to coordinate the rebuilding of Ukraine after its war with Russia.

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