Children under rubble after Russian airstrike on maternity hospital, says Zelenskiy

Journalists have described corpses lying unburied in the streets and hungry residents breaking into stores in search of food and melting snow for water, while thousands sheltered in basements.

Civilians were unable to evacuate from Izyum because of continued Russian shelling in the eastern Kharkiv region, said the regional governor, Oleh Synyehubov, adding that buses intended to evacuate them were still waiting at the entrance to the town.

Speaking in Washington, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, reiterated the Nato position that a no-fly zone would bring Nato into direct conflict with Russia.