also tonight, do we need a citizens' army in the uk because of the threat from russia? the son of ian coates, one of three people stabbed to death in nottingham last year, speaks out about his father's killer. he is cold, calculated and brutal in the things that he did. golden treasures looted years ago by british soldiers now heading back to ghana under a landmark deal. and there are only two of these left on the entire planet — could ivf help save the species? and on newsnight at 10.30, ukraine doesn't deny shooting down a rocket inside russia. killing we're told ukrainian prisoners. 700 deaths since russia launches full—scale invasion of its neighbor. how dangerous the moment is this?

mystery surrounds the crashing of a russian military transport plane, which moscow says was carrying ukrainian prisoners of war involved in a prisoner exchange. it's accused ukraine of deliberately targeting the plane. ukraine says kyiv had not been advised, on this occasion, to ensure the safety of airspace where it happened. according to moscow, it crashed about 44 miles north—east of the russian city of belgorod. there are said to have been 7a people on board, including 65 ukrainian pows. the un security council is to meet tomorrow to discuss what's happened. in a moment, we'll speak to sarah rainsford in the ukrainian capital kyiv, but first our russia editor steve rosenberg is in moscow for us now, steve. thank you. at around 11 o'clock this morning local time, a russian military transport plane crashed in a field near the village in southern

russia fund that news in itself was making headlines here, but very soon the story became even bigger when russia claimed that on board that aircraft were 65 ukrainian prisoners of war, and accused ukraine of shooting the plane down. caught on mobile phone, the moment a russian military transport plane fell from the sky. woman speaks russian. "good god," she cries, as the consequence of what has happened becomes clear. the wreckage was strewn across the fields of belgorod region. not only did russia accuse ukraine of shooting the plane down, it claimed that on board were dozens of ukrainian prisoners of war who were about to be exchanged. translation: on board the plane there were six crew members, - 65 ukrainian servicemen for a prisoner swap, and three russian military personnel escorting them. the crew and all the passengers on the plane were killed. with this terrorist attack,

the ukrainian leadership has shown its true colours. over at the russian parliament, mps were quick to condemn ukraine and those countries who have been supporting kyiv during the war. but this is a war the kremlin began, with president putin's special military operation. moscow has made its position clear — ukraine is to blame, ukraine shot the plane down. now, we cannot confirm that here, but what is clear is that russian officials are using what happened today to try to discredit kyiv, to portray the ukrainian government as the aggressor in this war. but keep in mind it was russia, nearly two years ago, that launched a full—scale invasion of ukraine. these russian soldiers were part of the last prisoner exchange between russia and ukraine. it took place earlier this month. ukraine has confirmed that another swap had been arranged for today,

but it accused russia of deliberate actions to risk the safety of the ukrainian prisoners. the belgorod region where the plane came down has come under increased shelling and drone attack from ukraine. but the ukrainian authorities say that some of the attacks on their country are being carried out from this part of russia. and in the village near the crash site, a memorial service. amid the mutual accusations, more victims of this war. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. let's speak now to sarah rainsford in kyiv. sarah, ukraine's not denying shooting this plane down, and president zelensky has been responding in the last few moments. that's right, no denials but no

outright admission either from here in ukraine and in fact ukraine was very quiet even though we asked for comment for many hours, i think a sign of the caution with which it is treating these reports coming from russia but certainly we have heard from volodymyr zelensky in the last moments, who's made a statement, talking about accusing russia of playing with the emotions of ukraine and ukrainian people with these claims that ukraine's prisoners of war have been killed and were on board the plane. ukraine is saying it has no verified and confirmed information that there were in fact prisoners, ukrainian prisoners on board the plane but what we do have is a statement from the general staff here at which does appear to be an implicit acknowledgement that impact ukraine may well have brought that plane down and it seems to be a justification. it has talked about the very real threat from russian missiles fired from the belgorod region towards the kharkiv region which has killed and injured dozens of people just in last week and the

state made clear there is miss out are transported on planes like the one that was brought down. we are getting some information, some hints about what might have happened but still an awful lot of questions tonight as president zelensky announced he is changing his plans for the next few days to get clarification on what has happened and of course that is really important in particular for the families of the ukrainian prisoners of war who really want answers and they want to know whether their relatives are still safe. sarah, thank you _ relatives are still safe. sarah, thank you very _ relatives are still safe. sarah, thank you very much. - there's a call tonight for the uk to train a �*citizens' army�* to fight a war on land in the future, and it comes from the head of the army. general sir patrick sanders made his comments while highlighting the threat from russia. our defence correspondent jonathan beale is here with me. this sounds rather alarming? it may sound alarming but he is not the only person warning of a potential conflict in europe, we've heard similar from the potential conflict in europe, we've heard similarfrom the head of

potential conflict in europe, we've heard similar from the head of the nato military committee, the german defence minister, even grant shapps saying we are moving from a post or to a prewar era and why are they saying this? because it russia and what it's doing in ukraine, and they do not think that is the limit of president putin's ambitions. specifically what general sanders is calling for is preparation for, in effect, mass mobilisation, the creation of a citizens' army. that does not mean people will get call—up papers or there is going to be people forced to join the military, but the preparations, he says, should be there. why estimate because the regular army has been cut to 73000 and even with extra reserves, he says that will not be enough but of course the influence to is that we are not spending enough as a country on defence. a course this get politicians, particularly in an election year, very nervous, and downing street said these remarks were very unhelpful. that said, i don't think general sanders really cares, he's

come to the end of his term, and he said he does not want the country to be in a position as it was in the sum of 2014, when all the alarm bells were ringing for the first world war and they were largely ignored. this is his wake—up call. thank you very much, jonathan beale. the son of one of the men stabbed to death in nottingham last year said his father's killer should have been convicted of murder instead of manslaughter. ian coates was killed in nottingham alongside two students last year. the caretaker was 65 and was driving his van when he was repeatedly stabbed by valdo calocane, suffering wounds to his abdomen and chest. calocane is being sentenced after pleading guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. ian coates' family has been speaking exclusively to navtej johal, whojoins us in nottingham for us. navtej. ian coates was a man of this city, nottingham born and bred. there are many people here who loved him and

miss him dearly, none more so than his family. and they are hurting and they are angry, and they are hoping that at the sentencing of his killer tomorrow they will see what they believe to be justice. stubborn! still stubborn in his old age. taught me to fish but said i was absolutely rubbish! same! fishing, football, family. the things that ian coates loved most. he wasn't the one to constantly say i love you, but we felt that love in the family household. 0n the 13th ofjune last year, ian, a 65—year—old caretaker, was taken from his family in a morning of horror in nottingham that left three people dead. they can't forget the moment they learned the news. i had to hold myself onto a lamp post just to keep myself - up because it just... the whole world around me just disappeared. i sorry.

my daughter rang me. i just screamed, i couldn't believe it. how do you feel towards valdo calocane? hatred. he's, to me, the most evil person on this planet. - he went out and brutally| massacred three people, then attempted to kill another three which, luckily, he was caught. - calocane pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility resulting from a serious mental illness, and three counts of attempted murder. but the coates family are angry that he isn't facing a murder trial. it's calculated, premeditated, and therefore it should be murder. he has to spend the rest of his life behind bars otherwise we have been let down, once again, by this country and the judicial system. the family also feel they have been an afterthought among

the authorities and in the media coverage of the tragedy. . it feels like he is the forgotten . man because of his age because of what are the circumstances, i when he should be celebrated. it feels like we were left in the dust like he was. i navteonhal, bbc news, nottingham. it's been more than a century since these treasures were looted by british soldiers from ghana — many of them hold huge cultural and spiritual significance. now, in a landmark agreement, the victoria & albert and british museums are returning them, on loan, to the asante king. our culture editor, katie razzall, has this exclusive report. there is anger. people look at it in colonial terms, looting of items, precious items belonging to people,

items that they don't easily forget. gold from the royal court of the asante kingdom, which was once one of africa's most powerful states. these objects, and many more, were looted by british troops in the asante capital, kumasi, in 1874, during the third anglo—asante war. now they're going back to ghana for the first time in 150 years, to kumasi's manhyia palace museum, in a landmark loan deal with the victoria and albert museum, which bought most of them at auction at the time. they're put on display and they're displayed both as a work of incredible west african goldsmithery, but also as a sort of sign of british imperial and colonial power. 17 v&a items are returning, including a peace pipe used by asante kings, the asantehene, and heavy cast gold badges worn by courtiers tasked with cleansing the king's soul. the agreement is not with the ghanaian government but with 0tumfuo 0sei tutu ii,

the current asantehene, who once worked for brent council, monarch for a people whose history is steeped in gold and wealth. the deal�*s chief negotiator is ivor agyeman—duah. there's so much interest in these items. these were objects that were created by the royal artisans for all sorts of ceremonial reasons. at least these objects will be home after 150 years. the british museum is also loaning 15 gold items, including a sword of state looted by british troops during the anglo—asante war of 1895—86. british law bans some national institutions, including the british museum and the v&a, from permanently returning objects. in giving a piece back, you're also giving back a missing piece of history. nana 0foriatta ayim is a special advisor to ghana's culture minister. she welcomes the loan deals with the ashante king — the ghanaian government could not have agreed to the terms. the metaphor is, you know, someone comes into your home and steals something

from your house, keeps it in their house, and then x amount of years later comes and says, "i'm going to lend you your thing back." i mean, it doesn't make any sense. those objects, with origins in war, in looting, in military campaigns, we have a responsibility to the country's origins to think about how we can share those more fairly today. and it doesn't seem to me that all of our museums will fall down if we build up these kind of partnerships and exchanges. have you felt ashamed that these items are here? i don't feel ashamed they're here. i feel they're part of a history of british—ghanaian interactions, some of which is around war, some of which is around slavery, some of which is an incredible creative ghanaian diaspora in the uk today. the v&a insists this is not restitution by the back door. for ghana, it's both a way forward and a way to bring the treasures back.

and katiejoins me now. could this move pave the way for other objects that the uk has to be returned to other countries? i think the short answer is yes, for those uk museums band by law from saying here you go, take your items but that is only going to work if the countries that claim the object are happy with the idea of a loan and it is politically very sensitive. if you take the elgin marbles, they are in the british museum, greece four years has said they are ours, we were on the loan for them is a nonstarter. similar to asante gold in ghana are the bronzes which were taken on the 19th century and adorned the palace of benin. would the nigerian government accept a loan? i think it is unlikely, vertically as there are other museums in the uk that are not banned by the same laws which are signing the bronzes were good to

nigeria or planning to. some people here of course a fear that if you start doing this, even a loan is problematic, in the sense that once an item goes back to its country of origin, it will never come back to the uk. when it comes to ghana, i've been assured by the chief negotiator that the items will be sent back if necessary, when the agreement is up. katie, thank you very much. let's turn to some other news now. two children who were found dead at their home in costessey in norfolk died from stab wounds to the neck, a postmortem has shown. their father and a family member were also found dead at the scene. officers are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths. more expensive stamps and fewer deliveries per week are all possibilities for the future of the postal service, as a range of proposals are put forward by the regulator. it says the centuries—old service has to be reformed — because of the present—day reality that far fewer letters are being sent. royal mail said its current delivery

network was "not sustainable". 12 years ago, we wrote and sent more than 14 billion letters a year. now, it's down to just over 7 billion. today, the prime minister told mps he's "absolutely committed" to retaining deliveries six days a week. here's zoe conway. so, have you thought any more about making a hole in the wall... alison and chris young have been married for 52 years. for their anniversary, their daughter sent them a card. it was found in a nearby street, two weeks late. are you quite upset about that? very upset, because when you get to my age and my husband's age, anniversaries are very significant. to actually hold and have something that she's gone out and bought with love, that's what post and letters and cards is all about. alison has osteoporosis. she says hospital letters are also arriving late. how would you rate the service that you're getting

from royal mail at the moment? absolutely disgusting. royal mail desperately wants to be freed from its legal duty to deliver six days a week to every address in the uk because it's losing the company so much money. royal mail made losses of £419 million last year. what you want to do is make sure we can find a model that works for all our customers, for our staff, and make sure we've got a sustainable one price goes anywhere, universal service in the future. the regulator, 0fcom, estimates royal mail could save up to £650 million a year if it cut letter deliveries to three days a week. something's got to give or the service is just going to be too costly and either stamp prices will go up or it will become unsustainable, so we're opening up a debate on this today. we're not proposing a specific answer. what we want to do is hear people's views. today, the prime minister said the six day a week service was safe. mr speaker, i agree about the importance of royal mail's universal service obligation and as you will have heard

from the minister this morning, we remain absolutely committed to ensuring that it remains as it is. for the number of delivery days to be cut from six to five or even three days a week, will need a vote in westminster. and that's not going to happen any time soon because politicians of all the parties know how much the post means to people, particularly the elderly, who are especially good at turning out to vote. don't cut it. sort it out. for alison, the post is an essential public service. but how does that square with royal mail's need to compete and survive? zoe conway, bbc news. the former minister sir simon clarke has told the bbc he was acting on his own when he called for rishi sunak to be ousted as prime minister. today, he has been speaking exclusively to our political editor chris mason who joins us now.

chris, is there momentum behind sir clarke? the question stop sir simon clarke said his party is heading for annihilation but he said he understands why some of his comments today have really criticised him. no—one likes the guy who is shouting, "iceberg!" but i suspect that people will be even less happy if we hit the iceberg. let's be clear — you think rishi sunak is so bad that the better option would be another round of the conservative pantomime of whose turn is it next? we need to look in the mirror as a political party, as professional politicians, and recognise the reality of what is likely to happen unless we act. but if you look in the mirror and the alternative is a fourth prime minister in a parliamentary term, i mean, people would just say that is a joke, wouldn't they? i totally accept that, clearly, political unity is a very valuable thing but if the unity is behind the wrong project, or a project which is not connecting

with people, then it's not worth anything. who do you think should be prime minister? well, i have been very conscious, chris, that i didn't spell that out in the article. i mean, that is partly because there are a number of people who could do it. suella braverman? no, look, chris, i... kemi badenoch? robertjenrick? i have a lot of admiration... simon clarke? i have a lot of admiration for lots of colleagues. i am not putting myself forward for the leadership. instead, if you wonder what has happened to my tie, i have lost it somewhere this evening, it has disappeared. tonight, figures and government saying the downing street adviser has left number 10, did so some time ago. will dry. what is interesting is he has gone to work for the same bunch of conservatives who are quite keen to see the back of rishi sunak and he has concluded that conservatives are heading for the most almighty of defeats. what does all of this tell you? it tells you that these are symptoms of the

conservative party fearing defeat. i should also say, there have been shed loads of conservative mps publicly and privately today saying all of this talk of a leadership contest or rishi sunak�*s future is completely bonkers. i contest or rishi sunak's future is completely bonkers.— contest or rishi sunak's future is completely bonkers. i hope you find our tie, completely bonkers. i hope you find your tie. thank— completely bonkers. i hope you find your tie, thank you, _ completely bonkers. i hope you find your tie, thank you, chris. - donald trump has won the new hampshire primary — the second contest for republican presidential contenders ahead of november's us election. he beat his last remaining rival, nikki haley, but she has vowed to fight on. 0ur north america editor sarah smith has the story. nikki haley! cheering and applause. when is defeat really a victory? nikki haley thinks it's when you lose by a bit less than the polls predicted. this race is farfrom over. despite losing in the state she had the best chance of winning, she insists she will battle on. well, i'm a fighter. cheering. and i'm scrappy. cheering. and now we're the last one standing

next to donald trump. and to the victor, sour grapes. donald trump is angry that nikki haley won't drop out and that she's claiming credit for being his sole remaining competitor. this is not your typical victory speech, but let's not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night. she had a very bad night. as the campaign now moves on from new hampshire, nikki haley is arguing that she is the candidate who would be more likely to beat joe biden in november, and the president seems to agree with her. he would clearly rather run against donald trump. after all, he has beaten him before. of course, there is no guarantee that mr trump will be defeated byjoe biden a second time. joe biden is playing a very dangerous game. donald trump is the weakest candidate against him, but he would cause the most concern should he win.

and joe biden, at 81—years—old and clearly showing his age, is the weakest democrat. he's betting the house that he can defeat the most extreme republican. and if he fails, he will never be forgiven. just this radical left... will you shut up? listen, who is on your list, joe? american voters don't want to listen to this all over again. they say they're depressed by the prospect of a rematch. yet that seems almost inevitable, as donald trump looks all but certain to be his party's candidate for president in november. sarah smith, bbc news, manchester, new hampshire. the singer song writer, raye, has received a record seven brit award nominations. # back to my ways like 2019 # not 24 hours since my ex did dead it they include one for artist of the year, a category in which six of the ten nominees are female. that's in stark contrast

to last year, when there was an all—male best artist line—up after the merging of the male and female categories. after the resulting criticism, the organisers expanded the artist of the year category from five to ten slots this year. now, have a look at this image from kenya, the world's last two northern white rhinos — the final survivors of a species almost wiped out by illegal poaching. both are female, but there is now a glimmer of hope for the future, after scientists successfully achieved a surrogate ivf pregnancy in the closely—related southern white rhino. here's our science editor, rebecca morelle. the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet. najin and fatu, a mother and daughter, living in a reserve in kenya. the species is all but extinct.

now, a fertility breakthrough has offered some hope. in a world first, scientists have successfully carried out rhino ivf, but in a less endangered southern white rhino — a close cousin to the northern white. a southern white rhino embryo created in a lab from sperm and an egg was implanted into a surrogate mum. it's taken years and 13 attempts for a rhino to fall pregnant. it is really a great milestone to achieve the first successful embryo transfer in the rhino. it's very challenging in terms of placing an embryo inside of the reproductive tract, which is almost two metres inside of the animal. with this achievement, we are very confident that we will be able to create northern white rhinos in the same manner. the material they need is held in a lab in berlin. this is a frozen ark. tissues from hundreds of different animals are perfectly preserved in liquid nitrogen

inside these tanks. but the most precious samples are stored inside here. a small number of northern white rhino embryos, created by the scientists here. and they're the last chance of saving this species. there are just 30 of these lab—made northern white embryos, but there's a complication. najin and fatu, the last northern whites, can't carry a pregnancy. so instead the embryos have to be implanted into a southern white rhino surrogate mother. ivf across two subspecies has never been attempted before, but the team is confident it will work. the speed of progress we did, we will see relatively soon the first calf on the ground, and then i may retire before the first reintroduction into the wild will take place, but i think it is not too far away. it might be in 10, 15 years. but the ivf success with the southern white rhino

was struck by tragedy. two months into the pregnancy, the rhino died of an unrelated bacterial infection. a postmortem found the foetus had a 95% chance of being born, proof that the technique works. the team's attention is now turning to the northern white rhinos, so the first calf will be born while najin and fatu are still around. it's a race against time for this species. rebecca morelle, bbc news. and in football tonight, liverpool have reached the final of the league cup. they drew 1—1 with fulham at craven cottage, going through 3—2 on aggregate. they will play chelsea in next month's final. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. it has been quite a storm jocelyn, but now a thing of the past. actually, the weather over the next few days looks quite a lot calmer.

it is not completely plain sailing, there will still be some rain at times. it will still be quite breezy but not as windy as it has been. mostly very mild that the time of year. there is some mild air incoming right now, behind this frontal system here. this is a warm front, you can tell that by the red semicircles and as it draws north—eastwards, it will introduce warmer or at least milder air from the south—west. we will all feel the effects of that over the next 24 hours. so this one from bringing cloud and rain in from the south across england, wales, northern ireland, across southern scotland. northern scotland holding on to clear skies, 1 degrees in aberdeen, 11 degrees in plymouth first thing tomorrow morning. that is where the mild air will tomorrow morning. that is where the mild airwill be tomorrow morning. that is where the mild air will be and it continues to waft its way northwards through the day. 0utbreaks waft its way northwards through the day. outbreaks of rain on and off. quite a lot of cloud, breaking from time to time to give a little bit of sunshine. the best chance of

sunshine. the best chance of sunshine will be across northern ireland at western scotland towards the end of the afternoon but those temperatures, 9—13 at best. as we head through thursday night, this frontal system pushing eastwards will give a short, sharp burst of heavy rain and squally winds, not widespread windy weather but it might wake up tomorrow night into friday. what it will leave behind, as you can see, it's sunny skies. a beautiful day on friday, aside from some wintry showers in the north, some wintry showers in the north, some snow over the high ground in scotland. it will feel more chilly for a time on friday but that will not last. mild air is set to return as we head into the weekend. these south—westerly winds back with us and so temperatures are set to climb. fora lot and so temperatures are set to climb. for a lot of places over the weekend, it will be largely dry and there will be some spells of sunshine. as you can see, as we head through saturday and particularly into sunday, the temperatures up to 12-14, into sunday, the temperatures up to 12—14, so above where they should be for the time of year. some rain across the north and west of the uk at times, quite breezy but certainly

nothing as windy as we saw earlier on in the week.