There have been a few great goals, and plenty of late ones, but how is the expanded European Championship shaping up as a tournament to remember?

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After 13 days and with 36 of the 51 games played, the traditional heavyweights are all safely through the group stage, along with all of the home nations, the Republic of Ireland - and a few so-called minnows too.
Has it been enjoyable to watch though? BBC Sport's pundits Rio Ferdinand, Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy, Mark Lawrenson and Neil Lennon give their verdict on the spectacle so far in France, which teams and players have impressed them, and how things might change in the last 16.
There are more teams here, with more to play for, but there have been fewer goals. This is the first European Championship to feature 24 teams, and 23 of them were in contention for a place in the last 16 going into the last round of group games - the exception being Ukraine. But there has been an average of 1.92 goals per game so far, only the second time it has been lower than two per match in a group stage since the first finals in 1980.
Alan Shearer: In the final set of group games especially, we saw lots of teams defend very deep just to get a point so they could get through, like Slovakia against England for example.
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That's what happens when you have third-placed sides getting out of groups. I don't think the quality so far has been as high as previously but, with an extra eight teams here, that has not surprised me.
Rio Ferdinand: It has made the groups interesting until the end. On Wednesday in Group F, for example, all four teams were going for it in their final games because they needed to win.
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Having a third-placed team go through has given some of the countries who haven't been here before an opportunity to progress but I think we will see a better standard of football now the knockout stage is here.
Danny Murphy: Overall, it is a huge positive to have more teams here. Yes, some of the quality might not have been so good but it has given a few teams and tens of thousands of their supporters the chance to experience a tournament that otherwise they never would have done. That is beneficial for those nations and football generally.
But I am excited now because we are at the point where the games really start to matter. People are going home if they lose and that should create some better games, a bit more end to end and people having a go.
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Mark Lawrenson: This tournament has reminded me a lot of the Champions League. There have been a few surprise results but all the heavyweights got out of their groups. Once you get to the knockout stages, the real competition starts.
45 of the 69 goals (65%) in the group stages were scored in the second half, 27.5% of the goals came from the 80th minute onwards (19) and 22% (15) of them have come in the last five minutes or stoppage time - the highest percentage in finals history.
Danny Murphy: It is related to the defensive approach that some of the lesser teams here have adopted. If you look at quite a few of the group games, it has been the stronger teams pressing and the lesser teams hanging on for dear life. They just wear them down in the end, but it has still been quite freakish how many late goals there have been.
It has added drama and excitement, and long may it continue, but it is less likely as the tournament goes on because there will be more even games.
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Kevin Kilbane: It is almost as if the better nations always have the theory that they will eventually break the other teams down. That is the way it has been in a lot of games - all the teams are competitive but eventually that goal has come. I am not expecting the lesser sides to change their tactics in the knockout stages but, even if it takes until extra time, the stronger sides will back themselves to score.
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Alan Shearer: The moment I have enjoyed the most has to be England's last-minute winner against Wales. We were sitting in the studio with big John Hartson and Dean Saunders and you could see the disappointment in their faces when that went in.
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Alan Shearer: The thing that has angered me most is the scenes with England and Russia fans in Marseille and also when flares were chucked on to the pitch during the Croatia versus Czech Republic game. For the vast majority, the fans have been absolutely outstanding and just enjoying the tournament. Here in Paris we've got a great atmosphere and we're seeing fans outside our hotel enjoying themselves, which is the way it should be.
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Kevin Kilbane: I have been to a lot of games and have not experienced the kind of trouble that happened in Marseille. The fans I have seen have all mixed brilliantly together - every supporter of a smaller nation wants to go to a major finals like this which is why they are all enjoying themselves so much.
Neil Lennon: The colours inside the ground have been fantastic, and the stadiums have almost always been packed. For all the countries that are here for the first time, you can see how much it means to their supporters. The passion at the games has been amazing and apart from those early incidents, the camaraderie of all sets of fans has been terrific.
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Danny Murphy: I am glad the trouble has cleared up but I have to say some of the organisation at games I have gone to has been awful. I went to Northern Ireland against Germany at Parc des Princes as a punter with my wife, rather than as a pundit, and it was a nightmare outside.
The security checks meant three or four thousand of us were trying to get through three small access points. At one point it was so tight, there was kid of about 10 near me crying because he was trapped a little bit so I obviously helped him out. There was no drama and no-one got hurt but they could have done - the barriers were rocking with people trying to get through and I would not want to take my children to games here.
Someone told me it was a similar story before England played Slovakia in Saint-Etienne. I know the terror threat means security is high but they have to have more access points to the stadium otherwise if a lot of fans turn up late it will be dangerous.
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Alan Shearer: Spain have had one good performance, and so have Belgium. Italy, when they were at full strength, have been like I thought they would, and it is the same with Germany. But it is a very open tournament, which has to be a positive for England.
Rio Ferdinand: Spain did impress me, but then they lost to Croatia, who looked strong too. There's no team that stands out at the moment and maybe that's one of the exciting things. You can't say anyone is nailed on to be a finalist or semi-finalist because every team has a chink in their armour.
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Kevin Kilbane: Watching live, I have really liked the look of Croatia, who are so good going forward and especially in their half of the draw, have to be dark horses to make it all the way to the final. From the other half, Spain and Germany both look strong while France haven't put a performance in yet, but they are still unbeaten and there is more to come from them too.
Neil Lennon: Some of the better teams are starting to warm up as the tournament goes on and I would include England in that. They have been dominating games without putting teams away and if games open up will they be able to exploit the gaps that are left, but the flip side to that is they have not even been tested defensively yet.
Mark Lawrenson: I would actually go for Wales as the team who have impressed me the most, for finishing top of Group B after being seeded fourth. They are not a one-man team like many people say but that one man - Gareth Bale - has shown he is a world-class player.
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Rio Ferdinand: Dimitri Payet has been the go-to guy for France so far - everyone expected it to be Antoine Griezmann or Paul Pogba. But Payet has come out of the traps flying. He scored an unbelievable goal in the first game with his left foot and a stunning goal with his right foot when he went into the box in the second game.
We've seen it from him all season in the Premier League. But to come out in the Euros in a France shirt and do it - for me he's been the player of the tournament so far.
Alan Shearer: I have loved watching Payet. Not only his goals but his general play has been superb. I agree with Rio, I think he has been the outstanding player up to now.
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Thierry Henry: Payet has not surprised me. What I like about him is that he plays like it is his last ever game. Obviously he is getting all the press and he deserves it but for me the most consistent French player so far is N'Golo Kante. I think he is the guy who has surprised everyone in France. He is just outstanding. He is the first guy who stops everything and he is the guy also who starts the counter-attack.
Danny Murphy: Croatia have been impressive partly because of the obvious people, Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric, but Ivan Perisic has been one of the stars of the tournament for me. His power and running ability is phenomenal.
Kevin Kilbane: Perisic is just so direct, he really hurts teams. There is talk of him leaving Inter Milan at the moment but it would take an awful lot of money to get him. Italy winger Antonio Candreva is another one I really like and I also saw a bit of Albania - in terms of people who surprised me, there was their wide-man Ermir Lenjani and also Armando Sadiku, who had great movement up front.
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Neil Lennon: Poland striker Arkadiusz Milik has really impressed me - he always looks a threat and fits into the way they play so well. And the Portugal left-back, Raphael Guerreiro, who I watched live against Austria, has been quality too. He has just signed for Borussia Dortmund and he stood out in that game.
Mark Lawrenson: I have not seen a better two players in midfield in Kante and Spain's Andres Iniesta. In my team of the group stage, I've got Payet starting on the right even though most would expect him on the left. The thing is, he scored his wonder goal against in the first game against Romania cutting in from the right.
Bale has to be the lone forward, though, I don't think there can be any argument about that.
The group stage is over at Euro 2016 - but who were the best players? Pick your group stage XI using our team selector.


Norwich City and Sunderland have each been fined £30,000 by the Football Association for failing to control their players during the Premier League match between the sides on 16 April.

Players and coaching staff from both teams clashed on the touchline early in the game at Carrow Road.
Norwich contested the charge, while Sunderland accepted it, but it was found proven against both teams.
Sunderland won the game 3-0 to boost their top-flight survival hopes.
Have you added the new Top Story alerts in the BBC Sport app? Simply head to the menu in the app - and don't forget you can also add score alerts your football team and more.


Building a second runway at Gatwick Airport would be "the biggest destruction of British heritage since the Blitz", campaigners have said.

The Sussex branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) warned 17 historic buildings - including several Grade II-listed ones - were threatened.
A former residence of Henry VIII's fifth wife is among those "requiring removal", according to airport plans.
Gatwick said many buildings would be retained or relocated.
A decision on additional runway capacity has been put back until "at least October" while the Conservative leadership race takes place.
Sally Pavey, of CPRE Sussex, said expansion "would see irreversible destruction of Britain's heritage and quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people in Kent, Surrey and Sussex".
She called on the Tory leadership candidates to rule out expansion and "not betray the Home Counties" if they are chosen.
"The candidates have a duty to stand up to Gatwick and protect the lifestyle and culture for our future generations," she said.
Several conservation and campaign groups are to meet with a local MP at Grade II-listed Rowley House - one of the buildings identified in runway design documents for "complete removal" or demolition - to oppose the plans.
The 16th Century farmhouse was once owned by the Culpeper family, a member of whom was Joyce Culpeper. Her gdaughter Catherine Howard - Henry VIII's fifth wife - was beheaded in 1542.
Henry Smith, MP for Crawley, said he was "convinced Gatwick should not see runway expansion" for both economic and environmental reasons.
The Woodland Trust has also backed the campaign, having previously warned "irreplaceable habitat" would be destroyed.
Gatwick Airport said many of the buildings identified in its plans were timber-framed, making them "viable to move and relist" at new locations.
A spokesman said: "If we build a new runway everything possible will be done to retain listed buildings within the scheme, or use experienced experts to relocate them to suitable new sites nearby.
"We have a good track record when it comes to managing our local environment. Gatwick has been referred to as the airport in the countryside and we will ensure that it stays that way."
The airport has committed to retaining a Grade II-listed 1930s terminal building and control tower previously earmarked for relocation.
Known as "The Beehive", the circular building will remain in its original location.
The airport said the building was "important not only in the history of British aviation but also in terms of world airport design".


Police in Northern Ireland say they have prevented several attempted murders by dissident republicans since a bomb attack on a prison officer.

They have again warned that they expect dissidents to attempt to carry out more attacks during the next few weeks.
Last Friday, a prison officer was injured in a bomb under a van.
A senior PSNI officer says they are deeply concerned by the numbers involved in dissident organisations and their increasing capabilities.
Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr said the police are preventing or disrupting three or four planned or attempted attacks for every one that takes place.
He said there are "several hundred active dissident republicans" who are led by a small group of people with "significant terrorist experience". Those individuals were previously members of the Provisional IRA.
ACC Kerr reinforced a warning from another senior PSNI officer last week that they are expecting dissidents to attempt to escalate their activities in the run-up to the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
"We have seen an upsurge in dissident republican activity over the last number of weeks and we anticipate that that upsurge might continue," he said.
The PSNI say they have what they call a "high rate of attrition" against dissidents, in terms of arrests, charges and the disruption of activities.
But they are concerned that dissident organisations have been able to maintain their numbers and capabilities, and have appealed to the public to help combat the threat they pose.
"There are several hundred people who can pose a significant threat to the security, to the safety, to the economic prosperity and development of Northern Ireland, and we need community support to stop these groups, to start giving us more information so that we can place more people before the courts, that's what we want to do," he said.
"We know communities have more information about these groupings, who they are, what they do, where they are storing the material, what their plans are.
"The best way we can combat these groups is for those communities to stop viewing the passing of information to the police service as, in some way a bad thing, a dirty word, informing or touting, and see it as a civic duty."
But ACC Kerr said it was important to keep the level of threat posed by dissident republican groups in perspective.
He said their capabilities and the pace of their activity is not on the same scale as that of the Provisional IRA during the Troubles, and will not reach that level "because they have very little public support".
"In some respects they are a bit like a playground bully," he said.
"Everybody else in the school around them has moved on, these people just don't understand what's going on in the playground around them, but the only thing they know, the only thing they can default to is violence.
"Well that doesn't work, it didn't work in the past, it won't work now and it won't work in the future."
This is the second warning from a senior police officer in a week.
Last Friday, Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said the PSNI were "deeply concerned" about the level of threat against its officers, prison officers and soldiers.


A company has been fined for breaches of health and safety law following the death of a worker on a diving support vessel.

Technip UK was fined Â£160,000 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
The case followed the death of David Stephenson on the vessel Wellservicer in April 2009.
He was injured in an accident close to Aberdeen harbour. Although he was flown to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, he was later pronounced dead.
Maritime and Coastguard Agency head of enforcement Jeremy Smart said: "This was a tragic incident which should never have happened and our sympathies go out to the family of Mr Stephenson.
"This incident clearly demonstrates that proper risk assessments need to be conducted before any operation is undertaken and the appropriate safety measures put in place.
"Safety failings like this are not acceptable in any industry."


In the 1920s, pregnant women were encouraged to drink Guinness to increase their iron intake.

For decades we were all told to avoid fatty butter and eat synthetic margarine. Both pieces of health advice have since been discredited.
We are now learning that millions of motorists who've bought diesel cars believing they were less harmful to the environment have been equally misguided.
Diesel cars emit less carbon dioxide (CO2) than their petrol equivalent, we were told. In fact, not only are CO2 emissions almost identical on average, but they also produce large quantities of noxious pollutants linked with thousands of premature deaths.
Carmakers say they have already taken action to reduce emissions greatly, while regulators are beginning to acknowledge the problem, but the challenge remains enormous.
The reason is simple: about half of all cars currently sold in Europe are diesel powered.
As Greg Archer at Brussels-based think-tank Transport & Environment says: "The car industry is fighting to keep selling diesel because it has invested so heavily in the wrong technology".
Air pollution caused by diesel engines is, for now, a peculiarly European problem. Of the 70 million cars sold worldwide last year, only 10 million were diesel. Three quarters of those were sold in Europe.
Quite why European carmakers developed diesel in the first place is a moot point, but some have argued that as domestic heating systems turned from oil to gas, oil companies needed to find an alternative market for their mid-range distillate, or diesel fuel.
The industry itself points to government incentives, such as lower tax rates for companies buying fleets of diesel vehicles. "All manufacturers followed this political direction," says the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.
And, in theory, it was an easy sell - diesel engines are more efficient than petrol engines, so running costs are cheaper. Using less fuel should mean lower emissions.
In practice, however, laboratory measurements of CO2 emissions from diesel and petrol engines are the same, according to Martin Adams at the European Environment Agency (EEA). And as diesel cars tend to be bigger and heavier, any advantages in efficiency are wiped out.
As a result, average CO2 emissions from diesel cars are only fractionally lower than those from petrol cars, figures from the UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers show. The industry counters that of course emissions would be greater from larger cars, and maintains that when comparing like-for-like models, diesels do emit noticeably less.
But carbon emissions aren't the main problem when comparing diesel with petrol. So-called particulate matter, which causes cancer, and nitrogen oxide and dioxide (NOx) are the real concern. Recent studies have shown that nitrogen dioxides (NO2) can cause or exacerbate a number of health conditions, such as inflammation of the lungs, which can trigger asthma and bronchitis, increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, and lower birth weight and smaller head circumference in babies.
In some European cities, NO2 levels are more than double World Health Organization guidelines, with diesel vehicles the single biggest contributor.
Indeed air pollution as a whole causes more than 400,000 premature deaths in Europe, with road transport, and diesel in particular, contributing a meaningful chunk.
Most of these deaths are caused by particulate matter. Carmakers have recognised this and modern diesel cars are fitted with extremely effective filters that stop almost all of this carcinogenic soot entering the atmosphere. But there is a "significant problem with tampering with filters", according to Mr Archer.
Although a diesel car will fail its MOT if a filter that was originally fitted on the vehicle has been removed, there are a number of specialist companies which advertise doing just this for drivers who want to improve fuel economy and performance. Removing them isn't against the law.
So when you see a car belching out thick black smoke, the chances are it will be a diesel with a faulty or a missing filter.
These filters also perform best when hot, and short trips around town won't heat your engine sufficiently. Nor do they help with secondary particulate matter, which is formed from NOx, the effects of which are not fully understood.
How to reduce emissions from your diesel car
Carmakers also have a number of technologies to reduce nitrogen oxide and dioxide levels. These include catalysts, re-circulating some of the exhaust fumes back into the cylinder, and injecting urea, made from ammonia, to trap these gases.
The problem is they are not being used widely enough and, when they are, they don't work as well as they should.
As the respected International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) says, "the technologies for real-world clean diesels already exist, but they are not being employed consistently by different [carmakers]". Some have speculated it's simply a question of cost.
Just how ineffective they are is staggering. Tests conducted by the ICCT show that modern diesel cars emit on average seven times the EU limit for NOx.
A separate test showed that some individual cars emit even more - an Audi A8 emitted 22 times the limit. Only three cars - an Audi A5, a VW Golf and a BMW 3-series - complied with EU regulations.
The reason carmakers are allowed to keep selling these cars is that EU limits are set according to tests conducted in a laboratory, where conditions bear little relation to real-world driving out on the open road.
This extraordinary situation, which has effectively rendered current emission limits meaningless, has not escaped the attention of the EU. It wants to introduce limits based on real-world testing by 2017, but needs the agreement of all member states.
Carmakers agree real-world tests are needed, but would prefer more time. Discussions are ongoing, but the likelihood is that new limits will be higher than the current 80mg/km.
Given that this limit was first agreed in 2007, we may well end up with new limits for harmful diesel emissions that are less stringent than those agreed more than a decade earlier - an absurd situation that carmakers and policymakers must do more to address.


Australian keeper Alex Cisak has joined League Two strugglers York on a month's loan from Premier League Burnley.

The 25-year-old joined the Clarets from Oldham in the summer of 2013, but has made just two appearances since then.
He has played 87 professional matches in total, having also had spells with Leicester, Oxford and Accrington.
Cisak becomes the first York signing since manager Russ Wilcox was appointed as Nigel Worthington's successor at Bootham Crescent two weeks ago.


England's game against Australia will kick off the Rugby League World Cup at the Millennium Stadium on 26 October.

The game starts at 14:30 BST, followed by hosts Wales against Italy at 16:30, with the Wembley semi-finals on 23 November at 13:00 and 15:30.
The final at Old Trafford on 30 November kicks off at 14:30 and will be shown live on BBC One.
There will be live TV and radio coverage of all England's group games, plus a quarter-final and a semi-final.
New Zealand are the World Cup holders, having shocked Australia in the 2008 decider to win the tournament for the first time.
In addition to live coverage, there will also be regular TV highlights programmes throughout the tournament and extensive coverage on BBC Radio, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport app.
All of the games at the group stage which take place on a weekday will be evening kick-offs.


Seagull chicks have been removed from a Gwynedd primary school as parent birds had been swooping on pupils, staff and parents.

Children at Ysgol Eifion Wyn, Porthmadog, have been kept in at break this week due to the birds' behaviour.
They had been nesting on the school roof but took exception to people passing by beneath them.
Gwynedd council appointed a contractor to legally remove them.
A spokesperson said: "As soon as the Council's Property Service was made aware of the matter by the school, officers made a request for the necessary licence from Natural Resources Wales to remove the chicks from the roof.
"The licence, which is a legal requirement before any removal work can be carried out, was secured on Thursday afternoon, and the chicks were removed immediately."


Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has got married at a star-studded ceremony - after postponing his nuptials three times.

The Premiership winner tied the knot with Rebekah Nicholson at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire.
Guests included stars from the worlds of music and football.
The 29-year-old had already postponed the big day three times to avoid footballing commitments but will miss England's friendly on Friday.
Fellow England internationals were all apparently invited but manager Roy Hodgson poured cold water on the plans.
But he did give permission to the Foxes' Danny Drinkwater - as long as he made it to England training by 17:00.
With England commitments taking up much of the summer, Vardy - who signed from then non-league Fleetwood Town four years ago - has said he will delay his honeymoon.
Guests at the glitzy bash included One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson and Kasabian guitarist - and Foxes fan - Sergio Pizzorno.
Vardy's Premier League-winning team-mates Wes Morgan, Danny Simpson and Marcin Wasilewski also saw him tie the knot along with best man David Nugent.
Vardy has previously said it would be a quiet night for him as he prepares for a busy summer of football.


Jobs and trade will be lost in Wales if it is easier to move goods into the EU via Northern Ireland than through Welsh ports after Brexit, the first minister has said.

Prime Minister Theresa May has spoken of a frictionless Irish border post-Brexit.
But Carwyn Jones said he would not support any deal that made it harder to move goods through Wales.
He was speaking on the BBC's Sunday Supplement programme.
Ms May said in January: "We need to find a solution which enables us to have as seamless and frictionless a border as possible between Northern Ireland and Ireland so that we can continue to see the trade, the everyday movements that we have seen up to now."
But Mr Jones said: "If there was a frictionless border... between north and south, if you were moving goods into the island of Ireland, you would then be tempted to go via Scotland or via Liverpool if we had customs posts and border control in the Welsh ports.
"So we need to make sure that goods are able to move between Wales and the Republic of Ireland on the same basis as they are between Northern Ireland and the Republic, or we lose trade and we lose jobs in the Welsh ports.
"What I would not support is any kind of deal where it's easier to move goods into the EU via Northern Ireland than through the Welsh ports."
Following a summit of British and Irish ministers on Brexit in November, Mr Jones said it was agreed there "should be no hard border" between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
"Access to the single market is the most important issue," he said at the time.


Activity in the UK's manufacturing sector grew at its fastest pace for three years in April, according to a closely-watched survey.

The Markit/CIPS UK manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 57.3 from 54.2 in March, well above economists' expectations.
A reading above 50 indicates growth.
Markit said the sector enjoyed "solid improvement" last month, with new orders being received at the fastest rate since January 2014.
The survey found the main source of new work came from the domestic market, but there was a "solid increase in new export business" due to a combination of better global economic conditions and the weakening of the pound.
The fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote in June has made UK goods cheaper for foreign buyers, but has also pushed up the cost of imports for UK companies.
Markit said price pressures faced by manufacturers remained "elevated", but noted that input cost inflation had "eased significantly" since January.
"Although only accounting for 10% of the economy, the upturn in the manufacturing sector represents some welcome good news after the sharp slowing in GDP seen in the first quarter," said Rob Dobson, senior economist at INS Markit.
"The big question is whether this growth spurt can be maintained, especially given the backdrop of ongoing market volatility and a number of political headwinds such as elections at home and abroad.
"Other surges seen since the middle of last year have generally proved short-lived, as weak wage growth sapped consumer spending."
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics last week indicated that the UK economy grew by just 0.3% in the first three months of the year, the slowest rate since the first quarter of 2016.


Lego hit record sales last year, but could not dislodge Barbie maker Mattel as the world's biggest toy company.

The perennially popular plastic brick maker grew sales by 6% to 37.9bn Danish kroner ($5.38bn; Â£4.42bn), a slowdown from 25% growth the year before.
Finance chief John Goodwin said its "performance up to 2016 has been absolutely phenomenal, some would say supernatural".
But he said it slowed last year to more "sustainable levels of growth".
Sales were strong in the UK and other European markets, but were flat in the US despite a significant increase in marketing.
The Star Wars Millennium Falcon was its best-selling toy again, ahead of the Amusement Park Roller Coaster and the Porsche 911 GTS RS.
Bali Padda, the new chief executive of the Danish firm, said it would seek to improve results in the US this year.
Mr Padda, who is from the UK and is the first non-Dane to run the business, also said Lego continued to "see strong potential in China".
China is a major part of Mr Padda's growth strategy, but the firm has warned that copycat Lego toys are a major problem in the country.
In an interview with the BBC in December, the boss of Lego's new Chinese factory could not tell the difference between a real and a fake Lego figurine.
Worldwide, Lego sold more than 75 billion parts, 3,700 shapes and launched 335 new sets last year.
However, US toymaker Mattel had sales of $5.46bn, staying ahead of Lego even though its sales declined by 4%.
Hasbro, which makes My Little Pony and Nerf guns, was the world's third largest toymaker with $5.02bn in sales last year.


A joint Iraqi-Kurdish military force of up to 25,000 fighters is being prepared to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS), a US official says.

According to the senior military official, the operation to recapture the northern city will probably take place in April or May.
Iraq's second largest city is currently being held by 1,000 to 2,000 IS militants, the official added.
Mosul was home to more than a million people before it fell to IS last June.
The unnamed official told reporters that no decision had been made on whether a small group of US military advisers would be needed on the ground to direct air support.
All of the fighters in the force will have gone through US training by the time of the operation, the official added.
He said the operation would be needed by May, otherwise it would be compromised by the summer heat, although he added that it could be delayed if the Iraqi forces were not ready.
Mosul residents recently described their life under IS rule. Here are some excerpts:
The Mosul diaries
The BBC's Gary O'Donoghue in Washington says that telegraphing the timing of the attack is unusual, but the US insists that IS forces are now in retreat and Washington needs to show that its efforts to rebuild Iraqi military capacity are bearing fruit.
Earlier in the week, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi confirmed that his forces were "planning an offensive on Mosul".
In an interview with BBC World Affairs editor John Simpson, Mr Abadi said he hoped Mosul would be liberated in a few months' time, with a minimum of casualties.
He said the US-led coalition against IS had stepped up its operations in the past four or five weeks.
"I think the air campaign has increased in its quality and intensity," he said.
Meanwhile, military chiefs from more than 20 countries gathered in Saudi Arabia to discuss how to strengthen the Iraqi army against IS.
An official told AFP news agency that a "firm plan" was being looked at to empower the Iraqi army.
The US administration has been criticised by Iraqi politicians for lacking a clear-cut strategy in the fight against Islamic State (IS).
By announcing a large-scale military offensive to oust the group from Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul, Washington wants to send a strong message of support to thousands of Iraqi army troops.
But it also wants to signal to arch-enemy Iran that it will not let it dictate the military endgame in Iraq.
Spring is seen by military experts as an opportune moment to retake Mosul and perhaps other towns and cities.
The Americans also want to win more time to train thousands of Iraqi army troops on guerrilla warfare, capitalising on the strong determination from heavyweight countries in the region like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to take on the common enemy of Islamist jihadists.
On Thursday, an opposition news service, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said bombing raids by US-led coalition aircraft in Syria had played a key role in the recapture of 19 villages from IS in Raqqa province.
Fighters from the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) and three other rebel groups have advanced steadily into IS-held territory since securing control of Kobane on 26 January.
The YPG and its allies are also now in control of about 35km (22 miles) of the motorway connecting the cities of Aleppo and Hassakeh, the Observatory added.
Ain Issa and the motorway are 56km from the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the "caliphate" declared by IS in June.


West Brom have signed Bournemouth's Marc Wilson on loan until the end of the season, with the defender leaving the Cherries for personal reasons.

The Republic of Ireland international failed to make a Premier League appearance for Eddie Howe's side after joining from Stoke in August.
"We felt we could not stand in Marc's way after the reasons he gave, which will remain private," said Howe.
Wilson, 29, has been out with a hamstring injury since 7 January.
He picked up the injury in the last of his three appearances for Bournemouth, a 3-0 defeat by Millwall in the FA Cup third round, having also featured in two EFL Cup ties earlier this season.
Baggies head coach Tony Pulis previously signed Wilson when in charge of Stoke in 2010.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page or visit our Premier League tracker here.


A blanket ban on so-called legal highs has come into force in the UK.

Laws criminalising the production, distribution, sale and supply of what are otherwise known as new psychoactive substances began at midnight.
The chemicals, sold under names such as spice and black mamba, are designed to give users the same effect as drugs like cannabis and cocaine.
Last year legal highs were linked to more than 100 deaths in the UK and a rise in violent assaults in prison.
Will ban on legal highs work?
Offenders who break the new laws will face up to seven years in prison under the Psychoactive Substances Act.
Police will also be able to shut down "headshops" - stores which sells drug paraphernalia - and online dealers in the UK.
However, there have been warnings the ban could drive the sale of the drug to the so-called "dark web" - a largely untraceable area of the internet that does not show up on traditional search engines.
A survey by the YMCA charity - conducted ahead of the ban coming into force - also suggested two-thirds of young people who currently take the drugs are likely to continue using them in the future.
Under the new legislation, authorities will have powers to seize and destroy psychoactive substances, as well as carry out searches of people, premises and vehicles.
If a person is found to be in possession of a psychoactive substance in prison, they could face having up to two years added to their sentence.
The legislation has come under intense scrutiny since it was first proposed by the government last year.
It had been widely expected that the measures would be rolled out in April but the start date was pushed back.
What are legal highs?
Analysis: BBC home affairs editor Mark Easton
The story of prohibition over the last 100 years is not a particularly happy one.
Banning alcohol in the US in 1920 pushed the trade underground, with criminals selling bootleg booze of dubious or dangerous quality.
Some 10,000 people died from drinking poisonous liquor before prohibition was lifted.
Many argue the so-called "War on Drugs" has done the same: Simply handing the trade to unscrupulous international criminal gangs.
Drug deaths in Britain are currently at record numbers. But with no governmental appetite in Britain for decriminalisation or legalisation of drugs, prohibition remains the only response the Home Office is prepared to consider.
Read more from Mark
Simon Blackburn, of the Local Government Association, said legal highs were a "scourge on society and shatter lives".
He added the new blanket ban "should help to reduce anti-social behaviour" linked to their use.
"Councils have made every effort to crack down on these substances and the unscrupulous traders selling them, which has seen so-called 'head shops' closed down, intoxicating substances seized, on-the-spot fines issued and successful prosecutions.
"However, this work relied on laws designed for very different purposes, making it much harder for councils and the police to tackle the problem."
Edmund Smyth, criminal lawyer at Kingsley Napley, said police "have ever-more stretched resources so questions remain about their ability to enforce the new regime effectively".
He added: "Many have criticised this act in draft stages - it may prove to be a sledgehammer to crack a nut and have unintended consequences. But it is here and carries serious consequences for those who fall foul of the new law."
Campaigner Karen Vandersypen - whose son Jimmy died in 2014 after taking a legal high - said she was "delighted" the ban had become law.
Jimmy, 20, had a heart attack and later died after taking synthetic cannabis from a shop in Kent.
"We are absolutely delighted this has come into effect," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"It is just such a shame we have paid such a high price for having it there."
The ban comes into force a day after the owner of a shop selling legal highs and a shop worker were arrested in Greater Manchester after nine people fell ill after taking substances.
Some of the legal highs which have hit the headlines in recent years include:


Decades ago, an IRA bomb in a bin in central London threw to the ground a young Colombian working for the Coffee Federation.

Juan Manuel Santos just happened to be walking by that night. But he then made a point of following Northern Ireland's troubled history of making war, and peace.
"When I saw the picture of the Queen shaking hands with one of the IRA leaders I said, 'My God, this is possible,'" President Santos told me on the eve of signing a historic peace accord with one of his oldest enemies.
In a world dominated by horrific forever wars, Colombia's agreement with the Farc guerrilla movement stands out as an extraordinary moment for this country, and a rare affirmation of the power of peace talks.
"For us it is the most important moment of our generation," said a visibly emotional Colombian negotiator, Sergio Jaramillo Caro, when we meet just before the signing ceremony on the edge of the charming walled city of Cartagena.
Like all guests invited to this occasion, he was wearing white to mark the end of a dark chapter that left more than a quarter of a million dead and tens of thousands kidnapped or who just disappeared.
"What we have seen in Colombia is an example that if you work hard at it, with a lot of international support, you can get something worthwhile," he said, while a Colombian choir rehearsed Beethoven's Ode to Joy on the edge of the picturesque harbour.
And Colombia's own negotiations drew on lessons from places like Northern Ireland and South Africa, whose processes succeeded, and others that failed.
Every conflict is different, but every peace process throws up similar challenges and controversies.
"There's a pattern," says Jonathan Powell, who was chief negotiator on the IRA deal for the British government and became an adviser to President Santos.
"You usually get to an agreement when there is a mutually hurting stalemate, so both sides realise they can't win militarily."
President Santos, a former defence minister, made it clear that his long fight against the Farc - as well as the secret channel he established two decades ago - gave him the gravitas to sit down with his enemy.
"No other Colombian has hit them so hard, so I had the moral authority to negotiate the peace with them," he told me in our interview, a white dove of peace pinned to the lapel of his suit jacket.
One of the toughest challenges is the balance between peace and justice. It bedevils every peace process.
Colombia broke new ground on how to reconcile both.
It is the first peace accord in Latin America that has not ended in an amnesty.
It also brought in to negotiations the victims, who number an astounding eight million, as well as civil society groups.
Colombia's answer to transitional justice includes special tribunals to try Farc members, as well as soldiers and police in Colombian security forces, for alleged war crimes.
There is also a process, inspired by South Africa's Peace and Reconciliation Commission, that allows fighters to admit to their actions, and serve punishments ranging from community service to restrictions on their movements.
I asked President Santos whether he would have wanted a tougher deal.
"I would have liked to see longer jail terms for commanders of the guerrillas," he said.
But he insisted there was no impunity.
"My instruction to negotiators was to go and seek the maximum justice that will allow us peace, and I think we struck a good deal," he said.
A 52-year war means a generation of pain and distrust.
Some are ready to forgive, even if they cannot forget. But others are not.
In a popular coffee shop in Cartagena, I met former Farc hostage Sigifredo Lopez.
His wife, Patricia, wore a large white badge to show she was voting Yes to support the peace deal in a national plebiscite on 2 October.
"We don't want any more victims, any more violence," Mr Lopez told me emphatically.
His soft eyes still seemed full of sadness.
He was held hostage from 2002 to 2009 with 11 others, and was the only one to come out alive.
"We went to Havana and met our Farc kidnappers," Patricia said.
"They cried when they heard the stories of children whose fathers they massacred, and they accepted their responsibility."
The next morning, at a large loud rally to support the No campaign, I heard the angry voices of those who accuse President Santos of letting the Farc get away with it.
"We want peace, but this accord will not bring peace," said senator Luis Araujo, whose father was kidnapped by the Farc for six years.
"They need to spend more time in jail."
"You have to strike a balance," says Mr Powell.
"In Northern Ireland, we let IRA terrorists out of jail after just two years.
"It was a very difficult thing to do.
"But if you go to a terrorist leader and say, 'I want you to sign this agreement to make peace and go to jail for 35 years,' they won't be ready to sign."
If the history of peace deals have any lessons, it is that most fall apart.
Implementation will be tough in a country marred by so much violence.
The Farc, rooted in a Marxist-Leninist peasant revolt, must now move away from its vast network of criminal activities, including the lucrative cocaine trade, in exchange for entering the political process and becoming part of Colombian society.
All the negotiators I spoke to admitted a hard road still lay ahead, but they believed the Farc had changed.
"Any dialogue between human beings changes them," says Norwegian special envoy Dag Nylander, whose country, along with Cuba, served as guarantors of this process.
"What was possible today was not possible four years ago."
"We thought this process was impossible," President Santos said, when I asked him if Colombia offers any hope for other intractable conflicts.
But he also offered a word of caution.
"It would be a deal that will not satisfy everybody but will bring peace - and that's a better deal than continuing the war," he said.


In our series of viewpoints from African journalists, Ghanaian Elizabeth Ohene considers whether Ghanaians, like Gambians, should be given longer weekends - to attend funerals.

By now almost everybody has heard about the latest edict from His Excellency, The President, Sheikh, Professor, Dr, Alhaji Yahya Jammeh, the ruler of The Gambia.
He has decreed that the public sector should embark on a four-day week work regimen, with schools the exception.
In praise of the dead
According to him, a shorter working week will allow Gambians to devote more time to prayers, social activities and agriculture.
Government employees will still work a 40-hour week, made up of four 10-hour working days starting at 0800 and ending at 1800.
I have been wondering if this was something we could adopt in Ghana.
The truth is that over here, public sector workers have always found ways to have four-day weeks if they want.
It is not official but many people end up doing four-day weeks.
I probably need to point out that we in Ghana take funerals seriously and these are time-consuming ceremonies.
Most of us spend weekends attending funerals around various parts of the country; that is how internal tourism works here.
Funerals are not one-day events.
I shall not get into all the rituals and arrangements that have to be done from the moment of death.
Nor am I talking about keeping bodies in mortuaries for months on end.
I refer only to the time that has been agreed for the burial and funeral rites.
In many parts of the country, Fridays tend to be the days when bodies are taken home from the mortuary to be laid in state.
This is not something that can be done during the lunch-hour break.
If you have a funeral to attend, you need to have Friday off and you are deemed to have a funeral when the dead person is a parent, a sibling, a child, a spouse or partner, an in-law, a grand-parent, a cousin, an aunt, an uncle, a friend, a classmate, a nephew, a niece, a boss, someone you go to church with, a workmate, a neighbour and of course, a president.
In other words, you are likely to have a funeral every weekend.
Even though Fridays are official working days, we have all learnt to accept that if we have any business with anybody in the public sector it is not a good idea to try to go to the office on a Friday.
The unwritten rule is that business is conducted in the public sector from Monday to Thursday.
On Saturdays, we have services and bury the dead and have funeral rites and on Sundays we have thanksgiving services.
So, would it be a good idea to simply declare Fridays non-working days?
I can think of a really smart way of packaging the announcement to make it sound like we are the business-like people that we indeed are.
It would go something like this: As part of innovative efforts to brand Ghana and make us a leading funeral tourist destination, Fridays will be spent organising funerals.
But something tells me if Fridays are sanctioned officially as non-working days in Ghana, Thursdays will become the new Fridays.
We shall thank God it is Thursday instead of thanking God it is Friday.
The impossible traffic in town will move from Fridays to Thursdays and we will spend endless hours stuck in traffic on the roads and officialdom will find reasons to make Thursday afternoons inconvenient for meetings.
I have this horrible feeling that the weekends will end up as stressful as the working days.
Then there is the other little problem of Ghana not having the equivalent of anybody who can simply decree that we change from a five to a four-day working week for whatever reason.
If you would like to comment on Elizabeth Ohene's column, please do so below.


A video of a hillwalker's encounter with a huge swarm of biting midges has been viewed thousands of times on the internet.

Craig McLaren, assistant outdoors education officer with Falkirk Outdoors and a keen photographer, was on a trek in the Cairngorms last week.
He was leading a group of seven that had tackled Cairn Toul, Sgor an Lochain Uaine and Braeriach.
The video has been viewed more than 250,000 times on Facebook.
The group of hillwalkers were returning to a spot where they had left mountain bikes, which they had used to get into the remote area of the Cairngorms from Rothiemurchus, near Aviemore.
Mr McLaren, from Edinburgh, said the midges swarmed around them soon after they arrived at the bikes.
He said: "I told the others to carry on ahead on their bikes to where our bus was parked while I stayed to fix a puncture. I gave them the keys to the bus so they could get inside to escape the midges."
Despite being filmed with insects all over his hands, he said his midge repellent cream prevented him being bitten.
"However, the zips were down on the pockets on my trousers and lots of them went into my pockets. My clothes were full of them," he added.
"I also had to keep the midgie net on over my face once I did get on the bike."
It was in Torridon on Scotland's west coast in the early 1990s where I first experienced swarms of midges.
The tiny, biting beasts thrive in the west where there are vast areas of moist peat for them to lay eggs and a warm, wet climate to nurture the hatching larvae.
On my Torridon hillwalking trip, they made a beeline for me in their thousands every morning and evening, buzzing and biting and leaving my hands, arms and legs covered in a dot-to-dot picture of itchy, red lumps.
Not everyone is bothered by midges. They seem to have a type. My wife doesn't get bitten and one of our two children can also wander through a swarm and emerge unscathed.
Three years ago, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland compiled a tongue in cheek list of the benefits of the biting pest.
They suggested these included midges being food for pipistrelle bats, birds such as warblers and swifts and insect-eating plants like sundew and butterwort.
Midgies also protect wild landscapes by putting people off from visiting the areas, added the council.
But it is hard to see the benefits of the bugs when they are eating you alive.
In 2009, I interviewed two men who were cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats in just their underwear for charity.
The duo were about to enter the Highlands in their boxers. I asked if they were prepared for midgies. Not having encountered the insects before they gave a "yeah-okay-whatever-that's-a-weird-question" sort of response.
Speaking to them later, a good few days into the Highlands leg of their journey, they sounded to be acutely aware of the dreaded Highland midge.
Mr McLaren said the group had enjoyed a trek high in the Cairngorms in weather far better than forecast.
They had expected fog, but had fine weather and clear views from the summits.
Mr McLaren said: "What is ironic is that I took photographs of the hills and spent a lot of time tagging those images before uploading them to the internet, but it is the video of the midgies that has had all the views."
He added: "I was recently over at Assynt in the west and locals there said the midges have been the worst there in 40 years.
"There are usually two hatchings of midges in a year, but this year, because of the good weather and a lack of a hard frost over winter, they are expecting a third."
Autumn's warm weather last year also produced a rare third hatching of biting midges.
Scientist Dr Alison Blackwell, who runs the Scottish Midge Forecast, said the consequences could be more of the insects next year.
The scientists said that overall this year there were fewer midges than previous years because the cold and wet summer affected the two main hatches.


Hong Kong's high court has disqualified two pro-independence lawmakers from taking their seats in parliament.

Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching altered their oaths to insult China, and promote Hong Kong's independence from China, when being sworn in last month.
Beijing pre-empted the court judgement, ruling last week that legislators who did not take their oath in a solemn way would be disqualified from office.
Critics called the intervention a violation of Hong Kong's rule of law.
The ruling has sparked large protests in recent weeks, both for and against the Chinese government's involvement.
Judge Thomas Au said that Ms Yau and Mr Leung had clearly refused to be sworn in properly - and as such were disqualified from office. He also issued an injunction to stop them from acting as legislators.
Ms Yau and Mr Leung condemned the ruling.
"The judgement simply reflects that elections in Hong Kong are meaningless," Mr Leung told reporters after the ruling.
"Our one role is to represent the Hong Kong people," he said, adding that they would appeal against the ruling even though the court costs could bankrupt them.
Mr Leung and Ms Yau, both members of the pro-democracy Youngspiration party, were elected in September.
At their swearing-in ceremony in October the duo unfurled a pro-independence banner and used what is considered to be a disrespectful pronunciation of the word China.
Ms Yau also swore while taking her oath.
Both their oaths were invalidated - and the government sought to block them from retaking their oaths, saying they should be disqualified altogether.
During their oath, the duo pronounced China "Shee-na" - a variation on Shina, a term used by the Japanese during World War Two that is considered disrespectful in China.
Hong Kong is semi-autonomous under the "one country, two systems" framework - in place since the territory was returned to China from the British in 1997.
Hong Kong's mini constitution, the Basic Law, states that it handles most of its affairs internally, while Beijing is responsible for defence and foreign affairs.
But the Basic Law also allows Beijing the final say in how to interpret its laws.
Beijing issued an interpretation last week, saying that oaths should be taken in a way that is "solemn, accurate and complete", and that anyone whose oath is invalidated does not get a second chance to be sworn in.
Critics say what Beijing has done is effectively change the law, rather than just clarify how it should be enacted.
However, Judge Au said that he arrived at his conclusion independently of China's ruling.
The seats of Mr Leung and Ms Yau have been declared vacant, and by-elections will need to be held to fill their seats.
However, Mr Leung and Ms Yau say they will appeal against the court decision - and apply for an injunction to stop a by-election in the meantime. It is not clear if the courts will grant an injunction.
They would not be drawn on whether they would stand in any by-elections, saying that appealing against the court decision is the priority.
"What is the meaning of a by-election if the result can be overruled by the government?" Mr Leung said.
The Hong Kong government welcomed Tuesday's court ruling - and is certain to fight any appeal.
And Beijing has also taken a firm stance. Li Fei, deputy secretary of China's top legislative panel, warned there would be "no obscurity and no leniency" in China's "firm and clear attitude towards containing and striking the Hong Kong independence forces".
Analysis: Helier Cheung, BBC News, Hong Kong
The court decision ends the immediate question of whether Ms Yau and Mr Leung are still eligible for office.
But the judgement, and last week's ruling from Beijing, also have wider implications for Hong Kong's politicians - as they leave open the possibility that other legislators could be disqualified because of their oaths, too.
Many pro-democracy legislators are known for expressing their views in parliament in creative ways - for example, by yelling pro-democracy slogans before or after their oaths, or holding yellow umbrellas to show their support for political reform.
Following Beijing's ruling, some Chinese officials have suggested that this could have invalidated the oaths of up to 15 pro-democracy lawmakers.
Now, several Hong Kongers have begun to attempt to launch legal challenges to disqualify legislators - on both the pro-Beijing, and pro-democracy, sides.
One lawsuit even argues that the Chief Executive CY Leung's oath should be invalidated, since he missed out the words "Hong Kong" when he was being sworn in.


Europe's Herschel space telescope has produced a majestic new version of a classic astronomical target - the Eagle Nebula (also called M16).

This dense region of gas and dust some 6,500 light-years from Earth hosts copious numbers of bright new stars.
Radiation from these objects is sculpting the clouds of gas and dust, producing in places great columns and curtains of material.
The picture is being featured on the BBC's Stargazing Live series.
Brian Cox and Dara O'Briain are presenting the popular programmes this week from Jodrell Bank radio observatory in Cheshire.
Look just below the centre of the image and you will see the columns that were famously dubbed the "Pillars of Creation" when they were pictured by the Hubble telescope in 1995.
But Herschel and Hubble see distinctly different things in the nebula.
Hubble is sensitive to optical light, the kind of light we detect with our eyes. This is easily blocked or scattered by the dust, and shows us merely the shape of the billowing clouds of material.
Herschel, on the other hand, is sensitive to much longer wavelength radiation, in far-infrared. This enables it to detect the emission coming directly from the cold gas and dust that cloaks so much of the region.
It is a powerful ability that enables Herschel to look inside the columns and curtains, at the places where dense gas is collapsing under its own weight to trigger the nuclear reactions that give rise to new stars.
Herschel's is a false colour image in which the bluer material is relatively warm and the redder material is relatively cold. It is "relative" because these are temperatures below minus 200C.
"The Eagle Nebula is one of the iconic regions of space popularised by Hubble but this has been our first chance to look at it with Herschel," explained Professor Glenn White from the Open University.
"The dusty material you see in Herschel's image is the material that will form the next generation of stars.
"Where you see little points, what you're looking at are the cocoons, the envelopes, inside which young stars are forming. Those stars will eventually blow away all the material that surrounds them and their optical light will become visible to us," he told BBC News.
Also released by the European Space Agency (Esa) is an image at X-ray wavelengths of the central portion of the nebula.
This picture, acquired by Esa's XMM-Newton space telescope, picks out the cluster of hot young stars that are doing so much to shape the whole region.
The intense radiation from this cluster, known as NGC6611, is working to erode the famous pillars.
Scientists are using the XMM data to try to hunt down the remains of a giant star thought to have exploded thousands of years ago.
If we could magically and instantly transport ourselves to the Eagle Nebula, we might even see that the shockwave from this supernova has toppled the famous pillars completely.
However, because of the great distance to the region and the time it takes even light to travel across the vast expanse of space, the pillars' fate is something we will not know until long into the future.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter


A security contractor has been killed outside the Australian embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, officials say.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop issued a statement identifying the victim as a 34-year-old Australian man.
Ms Bishop said at a press conference that the man's death was not related to Baghdad's broader security environment.
She refused to confirm reports the man was shot dead, saying only that the Australian government was investigating the shooting.
Ms Bishop's statement said the man worked for Unity Resources Group, which provides security for Australian diplomats.
Headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, the private military group employs former soldiers from the British and Australian SAS forces.
The government statement  added that the embassy in Baghdad maintained an increased level of security


Nato's chief has dismissed as "nonsense" a claim by Russia's Vladimir Putin that the Ukrainian army operates as a "foreign legion" for the alliance.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also called on Russia to stop providing military support to pro-Russian rebels.
President Putin said Ukraine's army was operating against Ukrainian national interests by seeking to contain Russia.
Violence in eastern Ukraine is at its worst level for months, with a series of deadly attacks over the past week.
The military said early on Monday that seven Ukrainian soldiers had been killed fighting Russian-backed separatists in 24 hours.
It said the heaviest fighting was continuing around the town of Debaltseve.
On Saturday, a series of rocket attacks left 30 people dead and many more injured in the Azov Sea city of Mariupol.
Ukraine's security service on Monday released a video in which it presented what it described as a captured artillery spotter for the Mariupol attacks.
The footage showed the man - a Ukrainian national identified as Valeriy Kirsanov - admitting he guided the strikes which had been carried out on orders by a Russian regular army officer.
The rebels blame the attacks on Ukrainian troops, calling them a provocation.
Nato and Ukrainian officials were meeting in Brussels to discuss the recent surge in fighting.
"The statement that there is a Nato legion in Ukraine is nonsense," Mr Stoltenberg said. "There is no Nato legion, the foreign forces in Ukraine are Russian."
The Nato chief also urged Russia to stop providing backing to rebels, saying hundreds of pieces of advanced weaponry including tanks, heavy artillery and armoured vehicles had crossed the border.
He was responding to comments that Mr Putin made to students in St Petersburg.
"In effect, it is no longer an army but a foreign legion, in this case Nato's foreign legion, which does not of course pursue the aims of Ukraine's national interests," said the Russian president.
Those aims were "connected with achieving the geopolitical objectives of containing Russia", he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kiev government had tried "to derail the peace process... again and again".
There have been warnings from the West that existing sanctions against Russia could be stepped up in response to the latest violence. EU foreign ministers are due to hold an extraordinary meeting on Ukraine on Thursday.
Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, accused the West of "economic blackmail".
During ongoing violence around Donetsk, nearly 500 miners were briefly trapped after shelling hit an electricity substation and cut power to their mine.
Emergency workers said all the miners had been rescued.
Rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko said on Saturday that separatist forces intended to surround the government-held Debaltseve, where the military said the violence had been most intense overnight into Monday.
Mr Zakharchenko also initially said his troops had begun an offensive to retake the strategically important city of Mariupol, but later backtracked and blamed Ukrainian forces for the deaths there.
OSCE observers said analysis of a crater in Mariupol indicated that the rockets had been fired from rebel-held territory. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said intercepted radio and telephone conversations proved separatists were behind the attacks.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in fighting since the rebels seized swathes of Donetsk and Luhansk regions last April, according to UN estimates. More than a million people have been displaced.
A ceasefire agreed as part of a peace deal signed in September has been repeatedly violated by both sides.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of arming the rebels and sending its troops into Ukrainian territory.
Russia has denied directly arming the separatists, and blames Ukraine for the surge in fighting.
The OSCE said its permanent council would meet in Vienna on Monday "in light of the rapid deterioration of the situation in eastern Ukraine".
Ukraine: the human cost
Source: UN report of 9 January for refugee figures; news reports for casualty estimates


Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha says he has asked Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej for permission to bring an end to martial law.

Martial law was put in place shortly before the army seized power last May, ousting the elected government following months of unrest.
The law banned public gatherings and heavily restricted the media.
Gen Prayuth said he would introduce new measures, which correspondents say could be even more sweeping.
Gen Prayuth, who led last year's coup and has since been appointed prime minister, said the government was "waiting for the king to royally approve the disuse of martial law".
"We have prepared Article 44 and will use it soon," he told reporters.
Among other powers, article 44 of Thailand's new constitution allows the prime minister to issue executive orders to "disrupt or suppress" threats to national security or the monarchy.
Gen Prayuth said soldiers would be "able to apprehend people, if an incident occurs, without an arrest warrant".
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says the new measures have the potential to be even more sweeping than martial law.
Rights group Human Rights Watch said implementing article 44 would mean "ultimate power without accountability".
"This is something very unique and worrying and it is not going to improve the rights situation and ongoing repression," said spokesman Sunai Phasuk.
The Thai junta - officially known as the National Council for Peace and Order - has insisted that martial law is necessary to maintain stability after years of turbulent politics.
It has promised to restore democracy and hold elections in late 2015, but has repeatedly cracked down on dissent, jailing critics and censoring the media.
International players have voiced concern that the military is consolidating power, while the tourism industry - vital to Thailand's economy - had complained that martial law was stifling the sector.


Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter has praised England lock Geoff Parling for playing through illness in their 26-17 Premiership victory against Bath.

He shrugged off a cold to play the entire match as Exeter closed to within three points of leaders Saracens.
Baxter had already been forced into one second-row change, with Ollie Atkins stepping in for the injured Jonny Hill.
"He (Parling) understood our resources were pretty stretched and fair play to him," Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.
"Geoff was actually really quite ill but came in and was aware we already had one change in the second row.
"The way the game was going from lineout to lineout it was important to maintain that stream of lineout possession. I thought Geoff did extremely well there for us."
Baxter was also delighted with the performance of prop Harry Williams, who made his first top-flight start for the club.
"I thought Harry did really well and to be fair I think the other five lads behind the front row backed them up exceptionally well," added Baxter.


The centenary of the death of a famous British wartime flying ace has been marked by relatives visiting the French cemetery where he is buried.

Capt Albert Ball, from Nottingham, was 20 when his fighter plane crashed in a French field on 7 May 1917.
He already had the Military Cross and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. He was considered one of the great British pilots of World War One.
Two of his relatives visited the cemetery in Annoeullin.
He was buried there by the Germans with full military honours.
Relative Yvonne Neville said before her visit: "It will be very interesting and very touching to see (the French memorial).
"His father insisted his body should remain in that cemetery but all the other war dead were taken awayâ€¦ so that cemetery only has Albert as a war hero."
A service was also held at his memorial in the grounds of Nottingham Castle.
Capt Ball attended Nottingham High School where a plaque still marks his achievements and later Trent College in Long Eaton.
He was known for his "lone wolf" style of flying and attacks on multiple enemy aircraft.
He died without a shot being fired.
Simon Williams from the school said: "What seems to have happened is that he got disoriented in cloud andâ€¦ the plane became inverted which killed the engine.
"He (and his plane) fell out of the cloud and crashed into a field."
Capt Ball was awarded his VC for "most conspicuous and consistent bravery" and was credited with 44 confirmed and 25 unconfirmed kills.
His businessman father made sure he attended a good public school in his native Nottingham.
"Desperate to live up to his father's expectations and his own sense of duty, the war was in some ways an ideal opportunity," historian Paul Davies said.


A memorial to 42 victims of the Great Flood in 1953 is being installed in the Lincolnshire resort of Mablethorpe.

The tribute will be unveiled on 31 January to mark the 60th anniversary of the flood.
Former Mayor of Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea Helen Parkhurst helped raised the funds for the memorial as part of her civic engagements in 2010.
The 6ft tall, six tonne Norwegian granite stone will be placed on the seafront.
The flood victims died on 31 January when sea water breached the coastal defences causing widespread damage along England's east coast.
A total of 307 people drowned in England and 24,000 homes were damaged.
Mrs Parkhurst said: "The memorial rock, which is the same type as those used in sea defences, will provide a lasting memorial to those who lost their lives."
Leader of East Lindsey District Council, Councillor Doreen Stephenson, said: "Although 60 years have passed it is important we remember that flood risk is still an issue we face.
"We must ensure we're all prepared should sea waters breach our defences again in such a way."
The memorial will be located by the skate park on North Promenade.


The UK has recorded its highest temperature of the year so far - 33.9C (93F) at Gravesend in Kent.

The warmest weather has been in east and south-east England, where Met Office health warnings are in place.
Temperatures elsewhere in the UK have been significantly lower, though it has been sunny across much of the country.
The Gravesend temperature is some way below the highest ever recorded in the UK - 38.5C (101F) at Faversham in Kent in August 2003.
Met Office meteorologist Charlie Powell said Wednesday's top temperatures could be followed by thundery showers overnight and on Thursday.
He said showers could affect much of England and Wales on Thursday, while it would be a fine day in many parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.
A series of lightning strikes have already been recorded on Wednesday evening in Hampshire, Surrey and west London.
The Met Office has issued level three heat-health warnings for London and east and south-east England, as well as a less severe level two warning for the east Midlands.
The advice says people should stay out of the sun, drink plenty of fluids and keep their homes cool by shading and closing windows during the day, then opening windows at night.
Dr Thomas Waite, of Public Health England, urged people to remember that others can suffer in hot weather.
"Older people, those with underlying health conditions and young children may all feel the ill effects of heat over the coming days," he said.
"We're urging everyone to keep an eye on those you know who may be at risk this summer.
"If you're able, ask if your friends, family or neighbours need any help."
Although there is no official definition of a "heatwave" in the UK, the term can be used to describe an extended period of hot weather relative to the expected conditions in an area at that time of year.
This is different to the Met Office's alert levels, which trigger action from health professionals and emergency planners.
The criteria vary by region - for example, the daytime temperature threshold in north-east England is 28C, but in London it is 32C. The average threshold temperature is 30C by day and 15C overnight for at least two consecutive days.
Parts of the UK are currently at level three of four - four being a "national emergency" red alert, which is issued when a prolonged hot spell becomes severe.
Source: Met Office
The previous top temperature recorded in the UK in 2016 was 33.5C (92.3F) at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on 19 July.
That was also the hottest day of the year so far in Wales - with 32.4C (90.3F) recorded at three locations - and in Scotland, where 29C (84.2F) was recorded at Prestwick in Ayrshire.


Jewish and Muslim organisations have staged a joint protest in the German capital Berlin over a regional court's ruling that the circumcision of young boys constituted bodily harm.

The protest was prompted by the news that a rabbi in Bavaria was being investigated over the practice.
The ruling on circumcision was handed down by a court in Cologne in June.
However, the German government has since announced it will legislate to explicitly legalise the practice.
About a thousand people joined the protest to hear speeches from the chief rabbi of Berlin and other religious leaders.
"I'm here to stand for the freedom of religious rights," protester Fereshta Ludin told the BBC.
The court in Cologne had declared that the ritual circumcision of a Muslim boy, in accordance with his parents' faith, had caused the child bodily harm.
The German Medical Association then told doctors across the country to stop performing the procedure.
Both Jews and Muslims feel that, whatever the court intended, the ruling will be used as a way of attacking their religions, the BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin reports.
On Wednesday, the state government in Berlin announced that circumcision was legal there, as long as it was properly carried out.
The federal government, perhaps in response to international condemnation, has also said it wants to legalise the procedure explicitly, our correspondent adds.
There has also been renewed debate over the practice in the US, one of the countries where it is most prevalent.
Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a review of scientific evidence on the circumcision, saying that "the health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks of the procedure".
However, the AAP added it did not recommend it for all newborn boys, saying the decision was best left to parents, in consultation with doctors.


Meet the pigeons who are doing their bit for science, by helping to track how pollution moves around big cities.

7 March 2017 Last updated at 07:48 GMT
We know that pollution from car engines rises up to rooftop levels, but these scientists want to find out exactly where it goes next.
It's a difficult thing to work out from the ground, so they've recruited some feathery friends to track what happens up in the sky.
They strap small sensors to the birds, so that they can record where they fly and how warm the air is.
Martin's been finding out how their first test flight went.


Middlesbrough goalkeepers Victor Valdes and Brad Guzan are both set to leave the relegated Premier League club.

Valdes, 35, will leave Boro at the end of June after his deal was terminated a year early by mutual consent.
Guzan, 32, had already agreed to join MLS side Atlanta United in January.
Boro also announced the departure of their head of recruitment Victor Orta, while striker Alvaro Negredo posted a message of thanks to the club's fans as his loan from Valencia came to an end.
"I go with the sadness of leaving the club in a place it doesn't deserve and with the certainty that you will go back where you belong, the Premier League," he wrote on Twitter.
Middlesbrough are yet to appoint a permanent manager, with former assistant Steve Agnew having taken temporary charge following the sacking of Aitor Karanka in March.


Peter Crouch scored a hat-trick as Stoke City eased into the third round of the EFL Cup with a comfortable victory at League Two Stevenage.

The ex-England striker gave the Premier League side an early lead, heading in after Jon Walters' effort hit the bar.
Phil Bardsley made it two before half-time with a stunning 30-yard shot.
Crouch nodded home Marko Arnautovic's cross after the break before adding his third with a clever scissor kick which bounced into the top of the net.
Stoke made five changes from the team beaten 4-1 by Manchester City in the league on Saturday, with Crouch making his first appearance of the season.
Stevenage's defence were unable to handle the 35-year-old's presence in the box as they were thoroughly outclassed by Mark Hughes' men, registering just five shots to the Potters' 25.
While all of the former Liverpool man's goals were from a few yards out, the highlight came from right-back Bardsley who found some room and unleashed an unstoppable left-foot strike into the top corner.
The scoreline could have been worse for the hosts, Crouch seeing his shot blocked before Charlie Adam's follow-up was tipped around the post by Jamie Jones late on.
Match ends, Stevenage 0, Stoke City 4.
Second Half ends, Stevenage 0, Stoke City 4.
Attempt missed. Bojan (Stoke City) right footed shot from outside the box is too high.
Corner,  Stoke City. Conceded by Luke Wilkinson.
Attempt blocked. Ramadan Sobhi (Stoke City) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Stoke City. Bojan replaces Joe Allen.
Attempt blocked. Glenn Whelan (Stoke City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Fraser Franks (Stevenage) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Fraser Franks (Stevenage).
Charlie Adam (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Andrew Fox (Stevenage) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Peter Crouch (Stoke City).
Corner,  Stoke City. Conceded by Jamie Jones.
Attempt saved. Charlie Adam (Stoke City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Attempt blocked. Peter Crouch (Stoke City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Foul by Andrew Fox (Stevenage).
Joe Allen (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Phil Bardsley (Stoke City) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left.
Attempt saved. Dale Gorman (Stevenage) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Substitution, Stoke City. Erik Pieters replaces Ryan Shawcross because of an injury.
Foul by Luke Wilkinson (Stevenage).
Marc Muniesa (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner,  Stevenage. Conceded by Phil Bardsley.
Corner,  Stevenage. Conceded by Geoff Cameron.
Attempt blocked. Matt Godden (Stevenage) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Goal!  Stevenage 0, Stoke City 4. Peter Crouch (Stoke City) right footed shot from the left side of the six yard box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Joe Allen with a cross.
Attempt blocked. Jonathan Walters (Stoke City) right footed shot from long range on the left is blocked.
Corner,  Stevenage. Conceded by Geoff Cameron.
Attempt blocked. Dale Gorman (Stevenage) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution, Stevenage. Michael Tonge replaces Charlie Lee.
Attempt saved. Charlie Adam (Stoke City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Foul by Luke Wilkinson (Stevenage).
Jonathan Walters (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Tom Pett (Stevenage).
Geoff Cameron (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner,  Stevenage. Conceded by Ryan Shawcross.
Substitution, Stoke City. Ramadan Sobhi replaces Marko Arnautovic.
Corner,  Stoke City. Conceded by Fraser Franks.
Attempt blocked. Marko Arnautovic (Stoke City) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Stevenage. Jobi McAnuff replaces Connor Hunte.


A 39-year-old man arrested over the murder of Basil McAfee in north Belfast in December 2013, has been released on bail pending further enquiries.

Mr McAfee, who was 50 and a father of two, was found dead by his mother at his home in Henderson Avenue.
Police said he "suffered a violent death" and that they believed his killer used an axe and a large knife.
Items, including money, were taken from Mr McAfee's house.
The 39-year-old man was arrested in north Belfast on Wednesday morning.


January signings Luciano Narsingh and Jordan Ayew are in contention to make their first starts for Swansea after recently impressing as substitutes.

Winger Jefferson Montero is back in full training but will not feature.
Jeff Hendrick returns for Burnley after completing a three-game ban but striker Ashley Barnes is suspended after being sent off against Hull.
Steven Defour and Johann Berg Gudmundsson remain sidelined with respective hamstring and knee injuries.
John Roder: "Swansea's win at Turf Moor on the opening day in August was one of only three Premier League victories the Swans would manage before the New Year, while it was a rare home defeat for the Clarets.
"Burnley started a run of four consecutive away matches with a draw at Hull last weekend to earn only their second point on their travels this season.
"Swansea, transformed under Paul Clement, are entering a crucial set of fixtures. After Burnley, they play fellow strugglers Hull, Bournemouth and Middlesbrough.
"This match could be another tight affair. I wouldn't be too surprised if a single goal settles it, yet again."
Twitter: @johnrodercomm
Swansea City head coach Paul Clement: "We are all very aware of the run we have coming now with the three games in March and Middlesbrough at the start of April.
"We have come off the back end of a difficult run of games and picked up a good amount of points against teams in and around us.
"That is what we are going to have to do on Saturday. We're very aware that this a crucial period for us, this run of four games, but we are really only focusing on getting a result against Burnley."
Burnley manager Sean Dyche on Andre Gray and Michael Keane being linked to other clubs: "It's a very different business from 10 years ago. I heard another manager the other day speak completely openly about someone else's player. I couldn't believe what I was hearing."
"The way it is now, it's just people throwing names around willy-nilly about who they want, who they can get, what their contract situation is.
"It's not a private business any more. You have to adapt to it and be flexible within it. It's all you can do."
Burnley created some chances against Hull but Swansea are much improved at the back these days.
Eventually, at some point, Burnley will end their long wait for an away win, but I don't see it happening in Wales.
Prediction: 1-1
Lawro's full predictions v former England cricket captain David Gower
Head-to-head
Swansea City
Burnley
SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a super-computer created by @ProfIanMcHale at the University of Salford that is used to predict the outcome of football matches.


A new emoji to encourage people to register to vote in the EU referendum has been launched by Twitter and the Electoral Commission.

From Monday, anyone who uses the hashtag #EURefReady will find a neon tick emoji appear in their tweet.
People need to register to vote in the EU referendum by midnight on June 7.
On June 8, another emoji representing a neon ballot box will become available to Twitter users who use the hashtag #EURef.
The launch follows a previously successful campaign to encourage young people to register to vote in the 2015 general election.
During that promotion, users in the UK saw a reminder in their timelines and on that day almost 30% of all applications came from 18-to-24-year-old voters.
Rob Owers, from Twitter UK, said: "We're excited to give people a new, fun way to have their voices heard ahead of 23 June.
"The #EURef is one of the biggest decisions UK voters have been asked to make in decades, so we're keen to ensure people make the most of the live, global conversation unfolding on Twitter to inform their decision."
Since the Electoral Commission launched its public awareness campaign on 15 May, more than 1.35 million people have applied online to register to vote across the UK.
The Commission says that under-25s and 25-to-34-year-olds are the groups making the most applications to register online.
However since the campaign launch on 15 May, the hashtag #EURefReady has only been used 1,200 times.
So far the most followed accounts using the hashtag have been Cambridge University and the leader of the Green Party Natalie Bennett.
The hashtag #EURef has been used more than 360,000 times in the same period.
EU referendum: How to register to vote
The UK's EU referendum: All you need to know
The Electoral Commission said that they started really pushing the hashtag #EURefReady from Monday, but that they are working with a "range of different partner organisations" to ensure that the hashtag is used more widely up to the registration deadline.
They added that over the weekend, a reminder about the forthcoming deadline was released on to Facebook and the campaign plans to keep promoting videos on the site.


A stabbing in Caerphilly county is being treated as attempted murder, police have confirmed.

Gwent Police said a man, 47, from Pontypool, Torfaen, received stab wounds to his torso following the attack on a street at Mill Court, Hafodyrynys, near Crumlin, on Tuesday.
He remains in a critical condition at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales.
Two men, aged 35 and 32, were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and are currently in police custody.


Athletes could be falsely accused of cheating if blood data is not analysed correctly, the head of UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) has warned.

The Sunday Times published data from 5,000 athletes, which it says reveals an "extraordinary extent of cheating".
But Ukad chief executive Nicole Sapstead says other factors must be taken into account to ensure accuracy.
"You can't just look at anonymous data in isolation. You have to look at it in context," she told BBC Radio 5 live.
"You have to look at whether that data was collected when an athlete was at altitude, after they competed, after they were training, whether they had a medical condition that might justify some of those results.
"This data, without a narrative behind it, can be misinterpreted.
"Let's say we have an athlete whose data shows a strange fluctuation at some point in their testing history. Then they have to go through the ordeal of explaining why there was a blip on their profile.
"It continues to draw speculation and inferences where there doesn't need to be any.
"I don't think any athlete should be put in the position where they feel the need to stop the public from suspecting them."
Ukad is the latest organisation to comment on the doping allegations following a week that has brought the integrity of athletics into question.
The Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD/WDR obtained leaked International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) files containing the results of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes between 2001 and 2012, which the newspaper published on 2 August.
They used two of the world's "foremost anti-doping experts", scientists Robin Parisotto and Michael Ashenden, to review the data, which the paper says reveals the "extraordinary extent of cheating" by athletes at the world's biggest events.
Among the allegations was that a third of medals (146, including 55 golds) in endurance events at the Olympics and World Championships between 2001 and 2012 were won by athletes who have recorded suspicious tests.
Also, more than 800 athletes - one in seven of those named in the files - have recorded blood tests described by one of the experts as "highly suggestive of doping or at the very least abnormal" and a top UK athlete is among seven Britons with suspicious blood scores.
The World Anti-Doping Agency's independent commission quickly announced it would investigate the claims made by the Sunday Times and the ARD/WDR documentary Doping - Top Secret: The Shadowy World of Athletics.
Media playback is not supported on this device
On the subject of the Wada investigation, Sapstead said: "I am very encouraged by the fact the World Anti-doping Agency is running an independent investigation on this and I can only hope at the end of that - which I believe is the end of the year - we can all be a bit more comfortable about the state of some of the sports out there."
In a statement, the IAAF described allegations of widespread doping in athletics as "sensationalist and confusing".
Athletics' world governing body stressed the results were not positive tests or proof of doping and also rejected the suggestion it had done nothing to act upon data showing "suspicious" results.
The IAAF would go on to criticise the scientists involved in the investigation, stating on 8 August that "they do not have access to IAAF testing records and are therefore not able to know if proper testing follow-up was conducted".
Britain's Lord Coe, who has made independent testing a key part of his campaign to be elected as the new president of the IAAF this month, described the allegations of widespread doping in athletics as a "declaration of war" and says it is time to "come out fighting" to protect the sport's reputation.
"The fightback has to start here," Coe, an IAAF vice-president, told BBC Radio 4 on 5 August.
Sergey Bubka, Coe's rival for the position of president, said even more transparency in the organisation is needed to aid the fight against doping.
The Sunday Times responded with a statement standing by its story and accusing the IAAF of being "disingenuous" by dismissing it as sensationalist after spending "just two days conducting what it describes as a 'thorough' investigation".
The Sunday Times continued with its allegations, claiming on 9 August that the London Marathon was won seven times in 12 years by athletes who have recorded suspicious blood scores.
Based on "an expert analysis", the newspaper also claimed the winners of 34 major city marathons - one in four - "should have faced censure or at least been investigated over evidence of potential blood doping within their test results".
London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel subsequently criticised the IAAF, blaming it for a "failure to take effective action".
This came two days after Russian Liliya Shobukhova, who won the London Marathon in 2010 and was runner-up in 2011, had her results since 2009 annulled for doping.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Double Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah is one of eight British athletes who have agreed to some details of their anti-doping blood tests being made public in an attempt to prove they are clean.
The 32-year-old, who recorded no abnormal tests, has repeatedly insisted on his innocence after his coach Alberto Salazar was accused at being of the centre of doping allegations, according to a BBC investigation.
Salazar also denies any wrongdoing.
On the subject of British athletes, Sapstead said: "UK Anti-Doping runs a comprehensive programme on British athletes. They are subject to the type of scrutiny not many athletes are subject to around the world.
"We do that through education, through testing, through using intelligence to inform on testing programs and by analysing our samples for a multitude of substances, including putting some athletes through the biological passport.
"What I can say is that the public should have confidence that there is an organisation within the UK that is targeting and properly focusing on the athletes that they think might be doping and also giving the public reassurance that all the athletes that it does test are by and large clean."
On Monday, a group of athletes led by Germany's Olympic discus champion Robert Harting released a YouTube video claiming the IAAF was not doing enough to fight doping.
In the video, the athletes held up messages, with one reading "I want to run against clean athletes, not monsters".
In response, the IAAF invited Harting to its offices to see how it is "rooting out the cheats and protecting the credibility of competition".
It added that it "greatly admires" Harting's "no-nonsense anti-doping stance".


Artist Ai Weiwei has accused Lego of "censorship and discrimination" after the company refused to allow him to use its bricks in a new exhibition.

Lego refused a bulk order for bricks that were to be used in a new artwork about political dissidents as part of an exhibition in Melbourne, Australia.
Toymaker Lego said it never sold directly to anyone wanting to use its product to make a political statement.
The artist has since been deluged with offers of Lego from supporters.
Ai used Lego last year to create portraits of 175 dissident figures who had been jailed or exiled, from Nelson Mandela to Edward Snowden, on the site of the former Alcatraz prison near San Francisco.
He planned a similar work for the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, but a bulk order placed by the museum was rejected by the Danish company.
The Chinese artist said the company told the museum its bricks could not be used for artworks containing "any political, religious, racist, obscene or defaming statements".
Referring to The Lego Movie's slogan "everything is awesome", Ai wrote on Twitter: "Lego will tell us what to do, or not to do. That is awesome!"
He added: "Lego is giving us the definition of what is 'political', and all the big corporations are telling us what to love or hate. That is awesome."
In an Instagram post, he wrote: "As a commercial entity, Lego produces and sells toys, movies and amusement parks attracting children across the globe.
"As a powerful corporation, Lego is an influential cultural and political actor in the globalized economy with questionable values.
"Lego's refusal to sell its product to the artist is an act of censorship and discrimination."
Lego spokesman Roar Rude Trangbaek would not comment directly on the case but said that, as a principle, Lego "respects any individual's right to free, creative expression".
But he added that the company had a long-standing policy not to directly sell to anyone if it knew that its bricks would be used to make a political statement.
The artist also linked Lego's stance with plans for a new Legoland in Shanghai.
Lego said the theme park was being built by Merlin Entertainment and not Lego, but that Lego does have some ties with Merlin because it uses the Lego brand.
Ai Weiwei is known for his criticism of the Chinese government as well as for being one of the world's leading contemporary artists.
He was arrested during a crackdown on political activists in China in 2011 and was released without charge after 81 days. The Chinese authorities kept his passport for four years, but it was returned earlier this year.


A man who raped a 20-year-old student in Cardiff during freshers' week has been jailed for 12 years.

Remus Hamza, 40, who is Romanian and lives in Cardiff, had denied raping the woman near Cardiff University as she walked home alone on 20 September last year.
But he was found guilty by a jury at Newport Crown Court on Wednesday.
Judge David Wynn Morgan described Hamza as a "dangerous offender".
The court heard the woman lost her friends during a night out and started to walk home along Greyfriars Road, under an underpass by City Hall and then along Museum Avenue at about 02:00 GMT.
There she was approached by the defendant who raped her behind a bush.
The prosecution said Hamza was "preying on single, drunk females" and the victim was so drunk she could not have consented to sex.
But Hamza told the court the sex was "consensual" and the woman could "have said no" to his advances.
He admitted the woman was intoxicated but claimed she had been "aware of herself".
The court heard the attack was only interrupted when a witness took out his phone and photographed Hamza on top of her.
Sentencing Hamza, Judge Morgan said: "There were no mitigating factors in your case. The risk of harm you pose to women is high."
Speaking after the hearing, Rhodri Thomas, of the Crown Prosecution Service's Wales Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit, said Hamza was "responsible for a deeply unpleasant attack" on a "vulnerable young woman".
"We want the clear message to go out that being vulnerable through alcohol consumption does not mean that a victim is somehow to blame for what happens to them," he said.