Image source, Reuters

Aiden Aslin, a British man sentenced to death by a proxy Russian court in eastern Ukraine, has lodged an appeal against his sentence, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

In the report, a man said to be his lawyer is quoted as saying that the appeal concerned only some of the charges - the ones that carried the death penalty - such as his alleged effort to bring about "a seizure of power by force" in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

According to the report, the purpose of the appeal is to "avoid execution".

The other Briton sentenced to death in Donetsk on 9 June, Shaun Pinner, lodged an appeal earlier, Tass reported last week.

Image source, Getty Images

We've reported recently on the Pope's criticism of Russia's war on Ukraine, including what he called its "barbarous" attack on a crowded shopping centre in Kremenchuk last week.

But he is also giving a positive message about future talks with Russia.

"(With Russia) there is still that very open dialogue, very cordial, very diplomatic in the positive sense of the word, but for the moment it's OK, the door is open," said Pope Francis, during an interview with Reuters news agency.

He said he wants to visit Moscow first, and then also Kyiv, and that this might be possible after a visit to Canada later this month.

Ukraine responded by reiterating previous invitations to the Pope.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said a visit would "strengthen the role of the Pontiff in restoring peace on Ukrainian soil".

If you're just joining us, or need a recap, here are the latest developments:

• President Putin has thanked Russian troops for "liberating" the eastern Luhansk region in the Donbas
• This follows the capture of the strategically important city of Lysychansk on Sunday
• Ukrainian troops withdrew from the city to save it from Russian destruction, the regional governor Serhiy Haidai told the BBC
• President Zelensky has vowed to retake lost territories, and again called for more weapons from the West
• Russia has accused Ukraine of firing missiles at the border city Belgorod on Sunday. Kyiv has so far not commented on the claim
• The Ukrainian flag has been raised on Snake Island, according to a military spokesperson. Ukraine retook the island last week after it was captured on the first day of the war by Russia
• President Zelenksy has sent his best wishes to President Biden on the Fourth of July, US Independence Day
• However, Moscow declined to send a similar message, giving the reason as the United States' "unfriendly policies"

Image source, PA Media

In the UK, the second week of this year's Wimbledon tennis championships are under way - but this year it's taking place without any Russian or Belarusian players, because they've been banned from taking part as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.

Today officials at the grand slam tournament say they've lodged an appeal against an estimated $1m (£827,000) fine issued by the WTA women's tour, which opposed Wimbledon's ban.

Asked if reports were true that the decision had been made to appeal against the fine, a spokesperson for Wimbledon organisers the All England Club (AELTC) told the BBC they were - but refused to confirm the amount handed down by the WTA.

The Daily Mail reported that the Lawn Tennis Association, which runs the sport in the UK, was fined $750,000 and the AELTC $250,000. The BBC has not been able to independently verify these figures, though.

"It's subject to a legal process so I can't comment specifically but what I will say is that we stand by the decision we made," Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton told the AFP news agency.

"It was difficult and challenging and we thought about the ramifications. But it was the right decision for us."

Both the ATP and WTA reacted to Wimbledon's ban by stripping the event of ranking points.

Jonathan Beale
Reporting from Slovyansk, Donbas

Russia is already targeting the next lines of Ukraine’s defences in the Donbas.

In the city of Slovyansk you can hear the regular crump of artillery and smoke rising in the distance.

Yesterday Russian artillery killed six civilians and injured another 19. Two children were among the dead.

We were here just a few months ago. The city is now much emptier and the fighting much closer.

The nearby town of Lyman has already been taken by the Russians as they advance from the north. They’re also advancing from the east - having captured both Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.

The cities of Slovyansk and nearby Kramatorsk - key to Ukraine’s next line of defence - are now within range.

Image source, .

The main news out of Ukraine today is the fall over the weekend of the strategically important city of Lysychansk in the eastern region of Luhansk - part of the industrial area known as the Donbas - which Russia says it is fighting to "liberate".

Justin Bronk, senior research fellow at the British foreign relations think tank the Royal United Services Institute, says Russia concentrated all of its artillery and huge fire power on the small pocket of the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.

This had made it very difficult for the Ukrainians to respond to directly, because they could not fire back against such a massive concentration of weaponry.

Bronk believes that what Ukraine has been trying to do instead is put pressure on Russian positions elsewhere along the front lines, at Kherson in the south and throughout Kharkiv in the north.

The Russians have been advancing a kilometre or so every couple of days and have just been grinding forward, and what we see now is the culmination of that, he adds.

Now Ukraine will have a much shorter section of front line in that area to defend, but they've had to give up well fortified urban positions as they've been ground down, he says.

So as it has less frontline to defend, the supply lines will be a lot easier - but for the Ukrainians who have a lot of light infantry who are very well motivated but do not have a huge amount of heavy mechanised forces, it's much easier to hold ground than take it back, so it is a setback, he says.

Image source, .

Image source, Russian Pool

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Russian troops on "liberating" the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, in Donbas.

In a televised meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin says the troops involved in the operation should rest, but other military units should continue fighting.

Putin has also awarded the title of "Hero of Russia" to two generals following the capture of the region.

Russia announced on Sunday that it now controls the whole of the Luhansk region after it captured the strategically important city of Lysychansk.

Moscow has said that its "special military operation" - as it calls the invasion of Ukraine - is intended to "liberate" eastern Ukraine from "nationalists". The eastern region has been the focus of its military action after initial attempts to take control of the capital Kyiv failed.

Image source, .

Image source, Planet Labs PBC/Reuters

The Ukrainian flag has been raised again on Snake Island in the Black Sea, a military spokesperson said on Monday.

It follows the withdrawal of Russian troops from the strategic outpost last week.

"The territory [Snake Island] has been returned to the jurisdiction of Ukraine," Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine's southern military command, told a press conference.

The tiny rocky outcrop in the north-west of the Black Sea was seized by Russian forces on the first day of the invasion - and has been repeatedly bombed by the Ukrainians ever since, as part of their attempts to recapture it.

But why is Snake Island important - and how did the Ukrainians take it back from the Russians? Read more here.

Image source, Alexey Stopichev/BelPressa/Reuters

Russia has accused Ukraine of firing three cluster missiles at the city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border on Sunday, the AFP news agency reports.

Moscow said its anti-aircraft defences shot down three Tochka-U cluster missiles launched by "Ukrainian nationalists" against Belgorod.

Eleven residential buildings and 39 houses had been damaged, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

The accusation came a day after neighbouring Belarus - a Russian ally - said it had intercepted Ukrainian missiles.

It's not the first time Russia has accused Ukraine of conducting air strikes on Russia, particularly in the areas bordering Ukraine.

Kyiv has never claimed responsibility for any of these incidents.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Monday, Yuri Sak, an advisor to Ukraine's defence minister, denied they were responsible - and suggested it may have been a Russian "provocation" or misfire.

"It has been repeated many times by our military and political leadership that, unlike the Russian aggressor, Ukrainian armed forces are never targeting civilian targets," he told the Today programme

"This means this was impossible that this was Ukrainian armed forces."

There has been no official statement by the Armed Forces of Ukraine about Sunday's strike.

Image source, Alexey Stopichev/BelPressa/Reuters

More now from Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai, who's been speaking to the BBC about the fall of the eastern city of Lysychansk to Russian forces.

He explained why Ukrainian troops retreated to fortified positions in the west of the Donetsk region, before Lysychansk was encircled by Russian forces.

Sophie Williams
Reporting from Kyiv

Many Ukrainians have fled the fighting in the eastern Donbas area, with many seeking sanctuary from the Russian attacks in the relatively safe cities of the country's west - including the capital, Kyiv.

We’ve just spoken with Artem Rohachyov, who fled Lysychansk last month.

“My friends and relatives are still in Lysychansk. But I don’t know how they are, there is no mobile phone reception,” he told us.

Rohachyov said he left the city after becoming injured in a missile attack.

“A missile hit where I was getting water at the beginning of June. One person near me was killed immediately,” he said.

He was hurt in both legs and is suffering from concussion. Volunteers helped him get in the car and receive medical assistance.

Image source, Ukrainian Presidency

Russia has enough multiple launch rocket systems to destroy city after city, says Ukraine's President Zelensky.

In his regular evening address yesterday, Zelensky warned Moscow that Ukraine "will reach the level when the fire superiority of the occupiers will be nullified".

He says with an increasing supply of Western weapons, Ukraine will reclaim lost territories, including Lysychansk and other cities in Donbas.

"We will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons," says Zelensky

"We are gradually moving forward - in the Kharkiv region, in the Kherson region.

"There will be a day when we will say the same about Donbas."

Today is, of course, 4 July - Independence Day in the US.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sent his best wishes to the people of America and their President, Joe Biden.

"Happy Independence Day to the people of the USA and @POTUS! I wish the friendly people of the USA peace and prosperity. I appreciate the leadership assistance of the United States in Ukraine's defending of common values - Freedom, Democracy and Independence," Zelensky tweeted.

The US has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia began the invasion of its neighbour on 24 February, providing Kyiv's armed forces with millions of dollars of weapons, while Washington has also targeted Moscow's economy and elites with financial sanctions.

For its part, Moscow has declined to send best wishes to the US on 4 July.

The AFP news agency reported Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters: "Congratulations this year can hardly be considered appropriate. The United States' unfriendly policies are the reason."

The fall of Lysychansk is not the end of fighting in Donbaspublished at 10:29 BST 4 July 2022

10:29 BST 4 July 2022

Jonathan Beale
Reporting from Donbas

Image source, Reuters

Lysychansk overlooks Severodonetsk, across the Seversky Donets river. There was some hope that, built on high ground, it would provide a natural strong defence. But the noose around the city tightened, with Russian forces controlling most access in and out.

Some Ukrainian units had already pulled back to the next lines of defence over the past week.

Ukrainian officials had been unusually quiet on Sunday about the fighting in the city. That might, in part, be explained by "operational security" reasons. They would not want to broadcast any tactical retreat. But losing Lysychansk will be seen as another setback in the east.

The fall of Lysychansk is by no means the end of the fighting in Donbas. Ukraine still controls large urban areas in neighbouring Donetsk. Their forces have been preparing new defensive lines between Bakhmut and Slovyansk - though they too are now under intense Russian shelling. Both sides have been taking heavy casualties.

The question now is whether Ukraine can halt the advance, and whether Russia can maintain the momentum.

What weapons are being supplied to Ukraine?

Ukraine's military has confirmed that the eastern city of Lysychansk has fallen to Russian forces, following days of heavy fighting.

The BBC's Joe Inwood, who's in the capital Kyiv, spoke to Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai, who explained why Ukrainian troops withdrew.

Haidai says Russia had a huge advantage in artillery and ammunition so could have destroyed Lysychansk from a distance so "there was no point in staying".

The troops withdrew to "ready fortified positions" in the west of the Donetsk region, from where they will continue to fight Russia. "Everyone left without losses. Everything is fine," he says.

Asked if this is a difficult personal moment, the governor says although this is a painful moment "this is not a lost war".

"This is just one battle we have lost, but not the war", he says. "We needed to save our troops", he added.

Haidai says Ukrainian troops do not have enough long-range artillery to defeat the Russians.

Using a football analogy he adds: "If we have one good player in the football team, we will not win the match. We need more."

When asked if all of Luhansk has been taken, he says battles are still going on in Belogorivka and Novokostiantynivka.

"The next goal of the Russians is to seize the Donetsk region."

Image source, .

Good morning and welcome to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.

The main news is the fall of the eastern city of Lysychansk which is now under the control of Russian and separatist forces.

Here are the main developments so far this Monday:

• Russia said on Sunday it now controls the whole of the Luhansk region after it captured the strategically important city of Lysychansk
• Russian President Vladimir Putin was told by his defence minister that the region in the Donbas has been "liberated"
• Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai says troops withdrew from Lysychansk because Russian forces could have "destroyed the city from a distance" with its superior weapons, so there was "no point in staying"
• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said this was done to save the lives of his troops
• Zelensky renewed his plea for more Western weapons, and says the Ukrainian army would return to Lysychansk "and definitely win"
• Elsewhere, a major international reconstruction conference is taking place in Switzerland with the aim of rebuilding Ukraine after the war

Stay with us for further updates throughout the day.

Image source, .