hello and welcome to bbc news. our main news this hour: ukraine and russia have launched missile attacks on each other. they have been trading missile strikes. ukraine's military has said it has struck two large russian landing ships, a communications centre and other infrastructure used by russia's black sea fleet in crimea. a russian—installed official reported a major ukrainian attack overnight and said that air defences had shot down more than 10 missiles over the crimean port of sevastopol. of the images from social media showing the moment of attack on the

city. according to reports, at least two targets and we are verifying this. this comes following a night of air strikes — on the capital kyiv and the western city of lviv. the mayor of the capital, vitali klitschko, said there were several explosions. these images we received show an explosion of a missile seen on the kyiv skyline, confirming ukraine's statement that air defence systems repelled much of the attack. let's turn to lviv now, close to the polish border there's been damage to critical infrastructure that city. the polish army have issued a statement — saying that they want answers from russia after a missile violated the airspace for under a minute — before adding that polish airspace

is now safe. this comes following a night of air strikes — on the capital kyiv and the western city of lviv. the mayor of the capital kyiv vitali klitschko said there were several explosions. we showed you some of those images are short while ago. bartosz vieleanski is the deputy editor and foreign editor of the polish newspaper gazeta vybortcha. he told me how this incident is being viewed in poland. this is big news in poland because this is the fourth incident of a missile coming from ukrainian territory, a russian missile coming from ukrainian territory and violating polish airspace. we also had casualties in november 2022 when a missile struck a grain silo in eastern poland very close to the ukraine border. we need to perceive this as a kind of russian provocation. they test us, they test our air defences, they test our resilience, our determination. this

will happen, unfortunately, and i'm afraid that next time, or in a few months, there could be more casualties because rockets carrying huge warheads, 500 kilos of highly explosive materials, could lead to tragedies and russia should stop doing that. tragedies and russia should stop doinu that. ~ . ., , ., , doing that. what has the polish leadership said _ doing that. what has the polish leadership said cosmic has - doing that. what has the polish i leadership said cosmic has donald tusk commented on this quiz mac it seems the violations continue but no action is taken and poland is a nato member. ., . , action is taken and poland is a nato member. ., ., , ., ., ., , ., member. poland is a nato member and these violations _ member. poland is a nato member and these violations are _ member. poland is a nato member and these violations are not _ member. poland is a nato member and these violations are not long _ member. poland is a nato member and these violations are not long enough i these violations are not long enough to intervene because if a missile would strike a noticeable distance within polish airspace it would be shot down by polish fighters in the air but when you have 30 seconds to react, the chain of command is too complicated to have a decision in such a short period. but i believe

he will give a statement today, or the minister of defence. they will say this is a nato territory and nato should also react. poland is not the only country whose airspace is being violated. romanians have the same problem with russian drones that crash in their territory and that crash in their territory and that is also a dire situation. the question, what could we do quiz mac they were proposing to shut down missiles in ukrainian as dace —— micro airspace. this is a risky scenario and could lead to escalation. the other problem is russia is interested in seeing how our aerospace, russia is interested in seeing how ouraerospace, defence russia is interested in seeing how our aerospace, defence works. russia is interested in seeing how ouraerospace, defence works. if russia is interested in seeing how our aerospace, defence works. if we try and overreact they will learn

too much about our readiness to face such attacks which we don't want. this is a complicated situation. indeed. thank you for explaining that to us. i know you monitor the region and the war in ukraine at the moment is high on the agenda. what more can you tell us about the attack on sevastopol quiz mac yellow mac the objective was a military one to destroy russian ships. there mac the objective was a military one to destroy russian ships.— to destroy russian ships. there was a military goal— to destroy russian ships. there was a military goal on _ to destroy russian ships. there was a military goal on that. _ to destroy russian ships. there was a military goal on that. the - to destroy russian ships. there was a military goal on that. the other i a military goal on that. the other thing was to keep morale high, especially in the west. we get used to some messages that ukraine is using because republicans blocked this aid package to ukraine because victor aubin is blocking europe and so on and so on. our mood is rather

down and a massive attack has crippled a lot of military targets on the russian side and shown they are still ready to win, even without american support. they have a stockpile of rockets they know how to use and how to inflict serious pain in russia. that's what happened with the russian black sea fleet. it is a total disaster for the russian federation to lose a fleet. it never happened before. so we need to perceive what happened yesterday in sevastopol as kind of pr campaign to show the western allies and ukrainian society that there is no doubt that they can defend themselves and russia can't stop them. ,,, ., ~ ., ., russia is observing a national day of mourning for the victims of friday's attack

on a concert hall near moscow. these are live pictures outside of what remains of the concert hall. mourners have been placing flowers there at a makeshift memorial. others have queued to donate blood for the victims of the massacre. and here is the scene outside a court in moscow, which is expected to determine pre—trial restrictions for alleged attackers on friday's concert hall shooting. four people — suspected of being directly involved — are reported to have been arrested, along with seven others. the islamic state group says it carried out the attack. more than a 130 people were killed when gunmen stormed the packed auditorium, minutes before a veteran rock band was due on stage.

slamic state claimed islamic state claimed responsibility for the attack, but president putin has suggested that 4 gunmen arrested on saturday were trying to flee to ukraine. that's a claim that's been strongly rejected by ukraine. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg has more on the kremlin�*s response. well, we heard vladimir putin give his tv address yesterday. the kremlin hasn't made any more comments since then. the president has made no more comment since then. but what's interesting is this, because on the one hand islamic state group has claimed that it carried out the attack. islamic state has released graphic images of the attack. us officials have said they have no reason to doubt the claim by islamic state. 0n the other hand, you have russian officials determined to promote the narrative that somehow in some

way ukraine was somehow linked way ukraine was linked to the attack while providing no evidence for that. we heard vladimir putin in his tv address mention in ukraine address mentioning ukraine suggesting some kind of link, that the government had arrested people who were trying to go to ukraine border. i think he said a window had been prepared for them on the ukrainian side to cross the border. that has been completely denied by the ukrainian authorities. but it is notjust vladimir putin. 0ther russian officials and pro—kremlin commentators have been pushing this line that there is some ukrainian link here. i was reading one pro—kremlin news site this morning, quite astonishing thing is being written. one thing ijotted down, this commentator had written ukraine must be declared a terrorist state, it is time to destroy the kyiv regime. those guys must die, russia has the resources to do this.

and all of that raises the question, what will russia do next? will russia try and use what was a devastating attack on friday in moscow to use it as an excuse to launch another escalation in its war in ukraine? steve rosenberg there. let's turn to uk politics now. the chancellorjeremy the chancellor jeremy hunt the chancellorjeremy hunt has promised to protect the value of pensions in the conservative election manifesto. mr hunt was speaking to the bbc �*s lorcan spoke. 0ur westminster correspondent — georgia roberts has more. the prime minister this week has been talking about this being a bounce back a year for the uk economy and jeremy hunt the chancellor today also keen to try and capitalise on some bright spots perhaps in the economic change in weather we have coming. this week we heard news of inflation falling to the lowest it has been in a couple of years, also a bank of england report saying interest rate cuts might come a bit sooner than expected. so this is good news, especially for a uk government that has been lagging behind consistently labour in the polls, they are keen to stress

some economic good news. however, the question laura kuenssberg on the programme this morning wanted to ask is whether it is too soon for the uk government to be trumpeting news like this as a turning point, given that many people are still feeling the pinch in their pockets. let's listen to the chancellor now answering laura kuenssberg's questions on the economy. since 2010, we've talked about this before, we have grown faster than countries like germany, but in the last three years we had a once in a century pandemic, we had a 19705—style energy shock, and what they have seen from this conservative government is that we have taken the really difficult decisions. i think the first time i spoke to you, the first interview i gave after i became chancellor i had to put taxes up, very difficult for a conservative chancellor. i had to cut back public spending

plans, and those very difficult decisions, what they expect from a conservative government, we can now see they are bearing fruit. now, the triple—lock is a commitment to raise state pensions every year by the level of average earnings. laura kuenssberg asked the chancellor given previously it has been reported this is under review as a policy, whether or not he was committed to that, and for the first time the chancellor committed to this being in the conservative manifesto if they win the next general election. he said the government was committed still to keeping it in place. let's listen. i can confirm it will be, yes. there is two very important things i would say about that. when we came to office in 2010 pensioners were more likely to be in poverty than other income groups. now because of the triple—lock we introduced they are less likely to be in poverty and that's a very important social change. unlike adults of working age, pensioners can't work. they have retired. and so we need to respect that. but the second thing i would say is that is an expensive commitment. it is a very expensive commitment.

indeed. and you can only make that commitment if you are confident that you are going to deliver the economic growth that is going to pay for it. labour's party chair anneliese dodds was also asked about what labour's plans would be for the triple—lock and she would only say they would set out their plans in detail in due course. clearly a message from the chancellorjeremy hunt to say things were looking up economically today. but the economy is not out of the woods just yet. and as we approach not only a general election but local elections in england on the 2nd of may, we can expect the economy to remain in the spotlight. that was george roberts. —— micro georgia clear mac israel's defence minister is heading to washington as the prime minister,

benjamin netanyahu comes under increasing pressure from the us to halt its planned assault on the rafah district in southern gaza. the hamas run health ministry has said 19 people waiting for aid near gaza city were killed by israeli forces on saturday. the idf have denied firing on the crowd. meanwhile, the un secretary general, antonio guterres, whilst visiting the rafah crossing on the egyptian side of the border on saturday is calling for a ceasefire and demanding israel give "total, unfettered" access to humanitarian goods throughout the territory. 0ur middle east correspondent, yolande knell, is following developments from jerusalem. i spoke to her a little earlier. the top israeli negotiators have come back now, we understand, from doha. we've heard from an israeli official that there was a bridging proposal, that's how it was termed, that was made by the us, which is helping to mediate here, along with qatar and egypt. this basically laying out a kind of formula for the number of palestinian prisoners that

would be released from israeli jails in return for each israeli hostage that could be released, as a result of this potential deal. it's not a very positive sign that top negotiators have come back, it means they are not close to sealing a deal at the moment, we're not hearing about any breakthrough, and there is a senior palestinian official who is close to the talks, who has said that there are still deep differences between the two sides. the main one, of course, being that hamas wants a complete withdrawal of israeli troops, it wants to pave the way with any deal to an end to the war in gaza. israel remains adamant that it must completely dismantle hamas in gaza and has said that what's being talked about is only a temporary ceasefire. and then we have a number of delegations heading to washington, dc. yoav gallant is going to be speaking to mr austin but also a second israeli team, heading to washington, dc. what's on that agenda? i mean, this all comes

after the visit of the us secretary of state, antony blinken, last week. and certainly it's a big ongoing effort by the us here to reach out to those in the israeli government it feels it can talk to. they include the defence minister who will also be, we understand, talking about us military help that's needed for the ongoing war in gaza. but there's pressure being exerted by washington to try to stop israel from going ahead with what it says it plans to do to have a major military offensive in rafah in the very south of the gaza strip. and certainly one of the close advisers of the israeli prime minister will be among those going to meet different officials in washington. washington has said it cannot support such an operation because you have such dire humanitarian consequences that could result real harm to civilians. you now have something like 1.5 million

people out of the total, 2.3 million in the gaza strip, all crammed down on the border with egypt, most of them displaced by the fighting. they've been told by israel earlier in this war to head in that direction for their own safety. israel maintains that there are hamas battalions there that it must deal with. that was your land now. un secretary—general antonio terrace is in the region today. he is in cairo. a little earlier, he spoke alongside egyptian foreign minister sameh shoukry. palestinians in gaza desperately need what has been promised, a flood of aid. not trickles, not drops. some progress has been made but much more needs to be done. making that happen makes very practical steps. it requires israel removing the remaining obstacles and shock points to relief. it requires more crossings and access points.

it requires an exponential increase in commercial goods. i repeat, it requires an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. the current situation in gaza serves no one and has an impact around the globe. the daily assault on the human dignity of palestinians is creating a crisis of credibility for the international community. it is challenging the values we proclaim as universal. , challenging international law, challenging core humanitarian principles. it is challenging our basic humanity. white mac that was un secretary—general antonio terrace speaking a short time ago. —— macro antonio gutierrez delayed presidential elections will take place in senegal later. the outgoing president, macky sall, had tried to postpone the vote till december, long past the end of his mandate. it took considerable domestic and international pressure —

and a ruling by senegal�*s constitutional council — to get today's date agreed. seven million people are eligible to vote for the 17 candidates. they include one woman. 0ur west africa correspondent thomas naadi has more from dakar. there was a lot of anger on the streets but i am currently in the hometown of the opposition candidate and he is expected to vote here at some point today. there is a lot of enthusiasm amongst the voters and also a sense of hope and pride because they see him as one of their own. 17 contestants are present in this election but it will likely be reduced to a two horse race including the former minister of finance, and the stakes are high in this election and candidates are confident of victory and as you said, senegal is one of the most stable countries in west africa. it has never experienced a military

coup and has witnessed the peaceful transition of power. to a lot of people here, it feels like this particular collection could be a turning point for democracy in the country. a lot of people here feel this particular election could be a turning point for the country's democracy. turning point for the country's democracy-— turning point for the country's democra . ., .. ., , democracy. one of the candidates were chosen _ democracy. one of the candidates were chosen by tampon _ democracy. one of the candidates were chosen by tampon macro - democracy. one of the candidates| were chosen by tampon macro and democracy. one of the candidates - were chosen by tampon macro and then were chosen by tampon macro and then we have a more anti—establishment candidate just released from jail. why was he injail quiz candidate just released from jail. why was he in jail quiz mac? they were on separate charges. he was supposed to run on the ticket in the opposition but there was a conviction is qualifying him from

contesting this particular election. there had to be a replacement and he was chosen to run on the ticket of the opposition. they were released a week before this particular election. ., . , week before this particular election-— kensington palace has said the prince and princess of wales are "enormously touched by the kind messages" they have received following catherine's cancer diagnosis. it released a statement on saturday night which also added they were "grateful" that the public understood their request for privacy. catherine revealed in a video message on friday that she had begun treatment. here's daniela relph. this is the national with erica johnson. catherine, the princess of wales, made a shocking announcement... making headlines globally. kate middleton... the impact of the princess' diagnosis has been felt far and wide. her video message was the most direct and personal we have ever seen the princess. this, of course, came as a huge shock.

it was also an attempt to shut down the rumours. i think what the princess of wales is hoping is that this message will be direct enough to appeal to people's better natures and say, "look, the invasion of privacy that has been going on on social media for the last couple of months has just been way too much. people need to stop and think and not engage in that kind of activity going forward." and now a fresh statement from kensington palace — a public thank you. it said: family has rallied around the princess, including those with whom relations are strained. the duke and duchess of sussex sent a public message of support.

the bbc understands they've also reached out privately. public sympathy remains strong. we've been thinking of her all along and wish her the best. they're going through something so private and hard and, you know, the public eye on it, it's really tough, to be honest. yeah, she's got young kids, right? and she's a human being, so i thought it was all quite upsetting. protecting her three children has been a priority for the princess of wales. she said she's taken time to explain and reassure george, charlotte and louis. the new message from the prince and princess is both a thank you and a polite warning. they now want to be left alone. we don't expect to hear from them over the easter holiday. instead, we may see the king back in the royal spotlight. christmas at sandringham — the last full gathering of the royal family. next sunday, many will be back for the easter church

service in windsor. buckingham palace are hopeful the king will also be there. daniela relph, bbc news. pope francis has been marking palm sunday for the catholic religion today for the nearly 1.4 billion catholics. he did however decide at the last minute to skip the homily during his dell the palm sunday mass. it is held in saint peter's square. the vatican did not give an immediate explanation — but the pope has been suffering on and off from bronchitis and the flu. it is unsual for a pope to skip delivering a homily at a major event like this. vatican officials estimated some 25,000 people attended the mass, under a sunny spring sky.

he also added that he had prayed for the victims of the attack in moscow. the cowardly attack. you are watching bbc news. a chilly start to the day for many areas but the with the wind is turning lighter today and more sunshine around, fewer showers, it should feel a bit warmer as we head into the afternoon. still quite a cool breeze across northern and eastern scotland and also eastern england in areas closer to the area of low pressure. further west the wind turns lighter, the showers fade because of this ridge of high pressure moving in ahead of this area of rain arriving across western areas overnight with some slightly less cold air as you can see here. still quite a chilly feel across northern and eastern parts of the country with that strong northerly breeze. lighterwinds country with that strong northerly breeze. lighter winds further west, fewer showers,

breeze. lighter winds further west, fewershowers, most breeze. lighter winds further west, fewer showers, most showers will be across the east of the country, some wintry over the hills of scotland. through the afternoon we see temperatures up to 12 or 13 degrees in the south and it will feel quite pleasant with lighter winds and strong sunshine overhead. this evening and overnight cloud and rain pushes into western parts of the country, the winds start to pick up so temperatures recovering here but a chilly night to come across northern and eastern scotland, eastern parts of england, a touch of frost in places, some mist and fog as the winds will be like to hear, 7-9 as the winds will be like to hear, 7—9 across plymouth by the end of the night. this area of low pressure sits to the west of the uk during monday. it is here where we will see the wet and windy weather. further north and east tending to be a bit drier. still quite chilly across northern scotland, few wintry showers here and as the rain pushes northwards into the colder, likely to see more significant snow falling over the mountain tops late in the day. some good spells of sunshine across the midlands, southern and eastern england, up to 12 degrees

here, but a chilly day to come across the north and not feeling particularly pleasant for the west because of all the cloud and rain. and things don't really get better. as we move through this new week, even into the run up to easter, we'll keep low pressure close by bringing bands of rain, fairly strong winds at times. sunshine and showers won't be raining all the time. and earlier in the week, with that cold air looming across scotland, we're likely to see further hill snow at times, you'll notice towards the end of the week, slightly milder air moving up from the south. so a very unsettled week to come with some hill snow across scotland. but you'll notice towards the end of the week into these the weekend, temperatures slowly start to recover.

this is bbc news, the headlines... ukraine claims to have hit two russian ships and other key infrastructure used by russia's black sea fleet in crimea. russia launches missile strikes on ukraine. poland says one projectile crossed over its territory. meanwhile, russians mark a day of mourning following friday's deadly attack on a concert hall near moscow that left at least 133 people dead. vladimir putin claims all four gunmen involved in the attack have been arrested. the chancellorjeremy the chancellor jeremy hunt the chancellorjeremy hunt confirms the triple lock pension protections will be in the conservative manifesto.

the prince and princess of wales thank the public for their support following catherine's announcement she is being treated for cancer. while watching bbc news. —— you are watching bbc news. our main news this hour, ukraine and russia have launched missile attacks on each other. the ukrainian military has said it has struck two large russian landing ships, a communications centre and other infrastructure used by russia's black sea fleet in crimea. a russian—installed official reported a major ukrainian attack overnight and said that air defences had shot down more than ten missiles over the crimean port of sevastopol. russia launched an attack on kyiv.