let's start here in washington. all eyes will be on capitol hill this weekend — a dramatic shot of their life. as a foreign aid package for ukraine will finally make it onto the house floor. lawmakers are expected to vote saturday on that bill, along with several others, including assistance for israel and taiwan. republican speaker of the house mikejohnson had blocked ukrainian aid for months, and while it still faces resistance from some members of his own party, the bill is expected to pass. let's take a look at what's in that aid package for kyiv. total aid to ukraine amounts to an estimated $61 billion. with $23 billion, or about a third of that money used to replenish us weapons and ammunition stockpiles. $13.4 billion will go directly to ukraine to purchase weapons from the us. $15.8 billion will be given in security assistance.

$9.5 billion in economic help, in the form of "forgiveable loans" that the us president is authorized to set the terms of and given the power to cancel. and a much smaller measure includes $481 million that will be used to help ukrainians resettle into new neighbourhoods and pay for emergency housing. once the bill is finalized, it would take less than a week for some of the weapons to reach the battlefield. congress will be voting in the wake of more deadly attacks on ukrainian civilians. on friday, russian missiles struck a rail station and a maternity hospital in the central dnipro—petrovsk region. local officials say at least seven people were killed — including an 8—year—old child. president volodymyr zelenskyy told nato members on friday that ukraine needs more air defence systems to counter russian strikes. putin must be brought down to earth, and our sky must

become safe again. and it is real. and it depends fully on your choice. choice whether life is indeed equally valuable everywhere, choice whether you have equal attitude to all partners, choice whether we indeed are allies. ukraine's prime minister denis shmyhal was in washington dc this week and told the bbc about the dire implications globally if the conflict continues to roll on. if ukraine will fall, so the global system of security will be destroyed, and all the world will need to find and will need to look for a new system of security. or there will be many conflicts, many such kind of wars and at the end of the day it will lead to the third world war. democratic congressman jim himes is the ranking member on the us house permanent select committee

on intelligence. he has supported sending aid to ukraine since russia invaded in 2022. he told the bbc how quickly he thinks the aid will reach the frontlines. the senate passed their equivalent bill two months ago and the two—month delay in the house as very literally been lethal for far too many ukrainians and has opened up the ukrainians to attacks on our power plants, it has created immense misery in ukraine, for what? for a two—month politically partisan driven debate that we will hopefully result tomorrow. the good news is, and i have spent a fair amount of time with our defence department and other agencies, i think once this bill passes and is signed by the president, getting ammunition and aid into ukraine is a matter of days, not weeks or months. and on the heels of fresh russian strikes and ahead of a key vote for us aid to ukraine — i spoke about all of the latest with melinda haring, a senior advisor at razom for ukraine, a nonprofit human rights organization supporting ukraine.

i want to start off by talking about how mikejohnson delayed bringing this the on ukraine aid for several months, there was a bill sitting in the senate that did not come to the house. why do you think now he is changing his stance? even though bringing a ukraine aid bill could risk hisjob? though bringing a ukraine aid bill could risk his job?- bill could risk his “ob? thank ou for bill could risk his “ob? thank you for doing — bill could risk his job? thank you for doing this, _ bill could risk his job? thank you for doing this, i - bill could risk his job? thank you for doing this, i think i bill could risk his job? thank| you for doing this, i think my johnson has seen the light. he is a person of deep religious conviction and i think the moral arguments have swayed him. it's notjust the moral arguments, many people spoke with him about this decision and he did not know that there were a lot that russia was persecuting and torturing questions and people were able to see him and tell him their stories and pray with them so that emotional heart had a factor in it. he also received

multiple very dire intelligence briefings and i think that scared him as well. politics were involved as well, this has been a long process, a two—month delay that could have been resolved sooner. he is a complicated legislative piece that had to satisfy republicans, democrats to make this happen —— maga republicans. myjohnson is new to this role as well. it is a miracle that we are where we are that we expect the aid bill to go through tomorrow. that is exected to go through tomorrow. that is exnected to _ to go through tomorrow. that is expected to happen _ to go through tomorrow. that is expected to happen on - to go through tomorrow. that is expected to happen on capitol l expected to happen on capitol hill tomorrow. we do think it will pass and we will have to wait and see what happens and i want to talk about the details within the foreign aid bills, there are several of them, the senate bill has been split off. some of the aid for ukraine that comes in the form of loans, also language that would seize russian assets to help finance this. what are you making of the details? there is much ado _ making of the details? there is

much ado about nothing - making of the details? there is much ado about nothing with l making of the details? there is i much ado about nothing with the loans, i think they are a small part of the entire package. i expect that aspect will be for given. there are new things i like in the house bill, demands the white house and these are the white house and these are the long—range rockets that ukraine has been begging and pleading for and these are so important because the additional length allows ukraine to strike crimea and hit in occupied ukraine. and it depots and get behind enemy lines and they had not been able to do that because the white house has been cowardly. the republicans are going to force the white house to send these long—range attacks. that's a good thing. this is the act that would send $300 billion in russian state assets, it would seize them and transfer them and allow the money to be used for russia's reconstruction and that is a great thing. it needs to happen and we have seen sentiment change on that as well. i was struck by _ change on that as well. i was struck by something - change on that as well. i was

struck by something the - change on that as well. i was l struck by something the mayor of ukraine second—biggest city said, who said we need a defence support to prevent this becoming a target.— becoming a target. when i look at the package _ becoming a target. when i look at the package that _ becoming a target. when i look at the package that is - becoming a target. when i look at the package that is before i at the package that is before congress the things i want to see in ukraine tonight are 155 millimetres shells and more air defence systems and the attic on did something smart. it has been raining for this bill to been raining for this bill to be passed and it has a lot of these weapon systems in ammunition ready to go in europe so as soon as congress passes the bill biden will sign it immediately and the weapon systems can be sent. a defence is essential and we have seen it was lives and dozens of people die in the last week, you said in dnipro an these are innocent people who don't need to die. congress has not been able to act, we are seeing

unnecessary suffering because of it. i unnecessary suffering because of it. ~' , ., of it. i think the question may be that did — of it. i think the question may be that did the _ of it. i think the question may be that did the us _ of it. i think the question may be that did the us make - of it. i think the question may be that did the us make a - be that did the us make a mistake by not providing this weapon assistance at the beginning of the conflict and instead dragging it out and providing more of a trickle in terms of weaponry?- providing more of a trickle in terms of weaponry? that's an easy question. _ terms of weaponry? that's an easy question. absolutely - terms of weaponry? that's an | easy question. absolutely yes. we would be in a much different place, ukraine would be in a different place, american interests, european security would be in a far different place if we had the courage at the beginning of the war that we are showing now. present biden is self deterred, he put many lines impositions on what the us could do in places that were not necessary. he said he would not send tanks or attack is, he's put these limitations in place and he ends up sending them and he finally does the right thing but it's too late and the cost has been enormous

and the cost has been enormous and the cost is human suffering and the cost is human suffering and lives lost in ukraine. earlier, i spoke to igor novikov, a former advisor to president zelenskyy, in kyiv on what this crucial vote on saturday means for ukraine. we are inspecting a vote in the house on a us aid bill for ukraine this weekend. just from ukraine's perspective, what is at stake here? well the simple answer is everything. we are under attack from a country that is willing to take our land and kill us all pretty much. and we have seen proof of that in bucha and mariupol and elsewhere. we are fighting for our lives, fighting without weapons, it is way more difficult and any delay has a certain and tragic price and that is human lives. the bbc has been speaking with ukraine's prime

minister, he told us ukraine needed this aid yesterday. can you help us understand what has been the real world impact of this month long delay in passing any kind of supplementary aid for ukraine? i would say the actual effect was twofold. for ukraine the cost was human lives, we have started running out of air defences and the soldiers on the front line had to actually ration the weapons that they use to protect their lives. obviously we have lost some territory and lost a lot of lives because of this delay, because of the bureaucracy. but there is also more to this than just ukraine. i think it will have far reaching global consequences because first of all ukraine was actually disarmed in the framework of the budapest memorandum in 1994, we had security guarantees from the uk, the us and russia. so we gave up one of the largest nuclear arsenals

in the world and just think what is going to do to the global nuclear non—proliferation, also if you check out the news coming from iran, north korea, yemen and elsewhere in the world, i think this delay, this achilles heel of the free world, this bureaucratic achilles heel has actually told the so—called axis of evil one thing, now is your chance, grab it. i am curious, we have heard a lot from some members of the republican party saying the us has already given billions of dollars to ukraine, it simply can't afford to give billions more, there are several groups of american citizens, of republican voters who would say the same thing. can you sympathise at all with the point of view? no i cannot, because i think it is just an inability to look at the future scenario. if we just told russia, look, we will stay out of it, i'm in the united

states, then russia will be encouraged to go further into europe and sooner or later will start attacking the us. it already has, there has been cyber attacks, there has been disinformation and influence campaigns in the us, and i think if we look at what is happening in the american democracy at the moment, i think russia had a lot to do with that as well. crosstalk we are seeing a brewing conflict in the middle east, i am sure you have been watching with israel and iran trading missiles back and forth now, what do you think and what is your impression on how the events in the middle east might be affecting the war in ukraine and public attention, has it increased the urgency for this aid package, or does ukraine feel like attention has shifted elsewhere? i would say initially when 7 october happened in israel it distracted a lot of attention, and in some shape and form it paved the road to this

six—month delay. but what has happened between iran and israel recently actually brought attention back to ukraine as well. i think the west is slowly waking up to the fact that it is not only about ukraine or israel, it's a hybrid world war iii pretty much between the axis of evil, being iran, north korea and russia and a couple of other countries, and the free world, and it is the fight for what the future world actually looks like. igor novikov, joining us from kyiv, thank you very much. when it comes to the battlefield... ukraine is now in a situation comparable only tojust after the full—scale russian invasion in february 2022. not only have conditions along the frontline significantly worsened, but the very possibility of a ukrainian defeat is now being discussed openly. let's look at the front line and how it is evolving. the ukrainians withdrew from this eastern town

of avdivka in february and since then, russia has been focusing attacks around the villages in the southern zaporizhzhia region where ukraine made gains in 2023. there is intense fighting around donetsk — also a large concentration of russian troops across the borderfrom kharkiv, ukraine's second—largest city. where russia has been using glide bombs for the first time. in fact the lack of anti—aircraft missiles has exposed all ukrainian front—line units to renewed russian attacks, they are now dropping thousands of bombs on defensive positions for the first time in this war. and i spoke to melinda haring again to discuss this further. we saw that map of the front lines and how it is being reshaped by this russian advance. what do you make of where the war stands now? the war is at a _ where the war stands now? the war is at a very _ where the war stands now? tue: war is at a very dangerous point, the ukrainians are having a hard time holding that very long line that you have

just shown your audience. and delete is the united states delay in congress has made it more difficult. the town of avdivka did not have to fall. there is huge pressure now and it could fall very quickly, there's a lot of talk about a russian offensive and the russians try to retake kharkiv in the north soon. initial intelligence assessment say that if we do nothing within a matter of weeks that the ratio between russia to ukraine shells is going to be ten to one. the ukrainian side has been rationing for a long time so the situation is very dire and it is urgently united states make the decision to send the weapons, the europeans don't have the ammunition, they cannot flip a switch and send the ammo that the united states can. that's why the decision is so crucial right now. we can. that's why the decision is so crucial right now.— so crucial right now. we heard from the former— so crucial right now. we heard from the former adviser - so crucial right now. we heard from the former adviser to - from the former adviser to volodymyr zelensky, the president under enormous

pressure since the invasion began. what will this moment in the war now look like for him? he is under a lot of pressure, the mobilisation decision in particular really has strained society. the troops were on the front lines have been out there for more than two years and i went out to the frontlines to zaporizhzhia an october and they told me they were frustrated that they felt like they and their families were bearing the brunt of society and zelensky had not put the economy in a war footing and he had not turned over the troops. parliament has solved the problem, it took too long in my opinion, but i think zelenskyy�*s numbers, he is trying very hard to keep society going at this hard moment. it is an on enviable position that he is in right now. �* , ., ~'

position that he is in right now. 2 ., ~ ., position that he is in right now. 2 ., now. let's talk about russia, under these _ now. let's talk about russia, under these heavy _ now. let's talk about russia, under these heavy western l under these heavy western sanctions with arguments about how effective they have been. there was a recent bbc investigation that revealed russia has lost at least 50,000 soldiers in this war. to what extent do you think russia and of course vladimir putin are feeling the impact of the conflict more than a couple of years in?— conflict more than a couple of ears in? ., . , ~' years in? unfortunately i think russia can _ years in? unfortunately i think russia can go _ years in? unfortunately i think russia can go on _ years in? unfortunately i think russia can go on as _ years in? unfortunately i think russia can go on as is - years in? unfortunately i think russia can go on as is for- years in? unfortunately i think russia can go on as is for a - russia can go on as is for a long time, we have a lot of debates in washington about the coming decline of the russian economy. i don't see it, it is macro figures looking strong and i think if you are uppermiddle... and i think if you are uppermiddle. .. and i think if you are u--ermiddle... ~ ., ~ uppermiddle. .. what you think that is able _ uppermiddle. .. what you think that is able to _ uppermiddle. .. what you think that is able to hold _ uppermiddle. .. what you think that is able to hold up - uppermiddle. .. what you think that is able to hold up so - uppermiddle. .. what you think that is able to hold up so welll that is able to hold up so well economically?— that is able to hold up so well economically? they have good economists — economically? they have good economists that _ economically? they have good economists that control - economically? they have good economists that control the i economists that control the economy, and that's a big piece of it. vladimir putin is very good at and his economists are good at and his economists are good at and his economists are good at that high level economic picture. they also

control the media and is no political freedom there the combination means that they can carry on for a long time unfortunately.- carry on for a long time unfortunatel . ~ . ., unfortunately. we have about 45 seconds left _ unfortunately. we have about 45 seconds left but _ unfortunately. we have about 45 seconds left but looking - unfortunately. we have about 45 seconds left but looking ahead i seconds left but looking ahead here, what do you think comes nextin here, what do you think comes next in the conflict? t here, what do you think comes next in the conflict?— next in the conflict? i think the us, congress- next in the conflict? i think the us, congress has - next in the conflict? i think. the us, congress has woken next in the conflict? i think- the us, congress has woken up and feels a sense of urgency, it will pass this bill and that will give the ukrainian side a much—needed shot in the arm. when you talk to ukrainians they feel like everyone has forgotten them, washington, the united states in particular so i think the summer will be hard, i think i would take the concerns seriously that russia is going to try and counteroffensive the summer and hopefully the arms will arrive in time and they will be a rotation of troops on the ukrainian side and they will be able to withstand a russian counteroffensive.— able to withstand a russian counteroffensive. that crucial vote in the — counteroffensive. that crucial vote in the house _ counteroffensive. that crucial vote in the house of- vote in the house of representatives expected on saturday. melinda, senior

advisor at razom for ukraine, thank you very much for your time today. thank you very much for your time today-— time today. thank you, measure _ to kenyu to break down the situation. i spoke to michael bociurkiw — a senior fellow at the atlantic council's eurasia center. michael, you were recently in ukraine, where you were based in odesa. we have seen this wave of russian attacks, ukraine losing its positions on the front lines in terms of the battlefield — what is the feeling right now on the ground in ukraine? good to be with you — not very good at all. there is basically three frontlines happening right now, one is the physical one which stretches through a good part of ukraine and now all the way up to kharkiv because of the missiles, then we have the long—range missiles and drones happening on a daily basis, and pretty much 24/7 in odesa and other key cities in ukraine, and then we have the hybrid or grey—zone warfare russia is employing. just today was a pretty scary

hit on odesa, one of the two main ports was hit by russian missiles, this was an area where grain destined for asia and africa is being loaded onto ships, and also there are really important storage terminals, for things like sunflower oil, and a singapore—owned facility was hit according to president zelenskyy. let's call a spade a spade, this is a direct russian attack on a critical part of the global food supply chain and you wonder whether western nations might think about deploying the same kind of muscle they have as in the red sea to the western black sea where a lot of this food goes to world markets. we also know russia has been targeting ukrainian civilian infrastructure — we are talking about power plants, the electric grid — how is that impacting the country right now? very badly.

one of the key providers of electricity in ukraine has lost 100% of its generating capacity, other key providers have also been badly hit. and this is notjust in kharkiv, this is nationwide. we are starting to get blackouts in odesa as well, and the thing there is, the port operates on electricity. if there is no electricity the ports can't function. and just in the past 24 hours, a key railway station in dnipro, in eastern ukraine was hit, and dead and injured there as well. so ukrainians are looking at a possible near—term future where they will be lots and lots of power outages and again this is also going to impact on the ukrainian economy, which is on very shaky ground as it is, after more than two years of war. what did you make of the recent comments by president zelenskyy after the defence of israel, that big iranian bombardment, he seemed to imply there

was a bit of a double standard saying that ukraine should get the same kind of treatment, same kind of defence from its western allies that israel did? let's be clear on one thing, there is a common enemy here, iran — and they have been providing russia for the longest time these very lethal drones that have been sent day after day in huge waves to key ukrainian cities and ruining ukrainian infrastructure. and of course the iranians have been aiming or been threatening israel either directly or through proxies, and the west seems to have a bit of a double standard. having said that i think israel is coming around to recognising, israel has a lot of muscle, coming around to recognising that ukraine needs robust offences as well. i spoke to ukraine's ambassador to canada today and she said at an absolute minimum, ukraine needs about seven patriot batteries to defend key ukrainian cities along with ammunition and other sorts of things.

even where i am here in canada, justin trudeau — warm, fuzzy language about defending ukraine, but at the end of the day words don't stop russian missiles the same way patriots do. so i hope western leaders have a think about that. and just south of the border of course, we will be seeing a vote in the us house of representatives on the ukraine aid bill — what kind of impacts do you think that might have, is this something that would be able to start to stave off these russian advancements we have been seeing? well, my fear is that it is coming a little bit too late. of course it will be welcomed by ukraine, ukraine and its diaspora community has launched a huge campaign to lobby us legislators but it is the same as what has happened since the beginning of the war, this is a drip—drip—drip feed of assistance to ukraine. having said that, a lot of this

money, especially military support, will stay in the united states, it will go to defence contractors, but there is a few billion in there dedicated for budget support, so ukraine will be able to deploy that to pay pensions and teacher salaries and things like that. if this aid does not come soon, a lot of analysts are now beginning to think that the russians will get further, they could occupy ukraine within two years, and as speakerjohnson, who i think has had an epiphany overnight, said in the past 24 hours, that if ukraine is not defended, the russians will go further into poland and the baltic states, and eventually us troops would have to get involved. so that is a pretty scary scenario. a seniorfellow at a senior fellow at the united councils centre. and a reminder you can find all of our coverage of the war in ukraine our our website.

that's bbc.com/news. and we will have live coverage on saturday of that crucial vote on foreign aid from capitol hill. stay with us here on bbc news. i'll be back at the top of the hour with all of our top stories. thank you for watching, this is bbc news from washington. hello there. many parts of the uk had some lengthy spells of sunshine on friday, but there were a few showers around. the remain of some of this shower cloud in wolverhampton gave this fine end to the day, a fine sunset, and the majority of the shower cloud through friday afternoon was associated with a stripe of cloud you can see right here. this was actually an old cold front. the significance of that is colder air is behind it. and as we go through the next few hours, that will be pushing in across much of the uk. milder air recirculating around our area of high pressure into northern ireland and western scotland.

so it's here through the weekend that we will see the nation's highest temperatures. now on to the next few hours, we're looking at that colder air arriving, a lot of dry weather, a lot of clear skies. and that means it's a recipe for things turning pretty cold. and heading into the first part of saturday morning, we start off with a frost, even some patches of frost, i think, across rural areas of southern england. the lowest temperatures probably down to about —3 or so into rural areas of northern england and scotland. for saturday, where we get this colder air moving in, for most, it's a glorious start to the day with clear, blue, sunny skies. a bit of cloud coming in to eastern areas of norfolk and suffolk and maybe a bit of cloud developing through the day elsewhere. some splashes of rain possible for the far north of scotland, but otherwise it's dry. the highest temperatures likely in northern ireland. we could see a 17 here in the very warmest spots. for sunday, generally, there's going to be a bit more cloud across parts of scotland, thick enough for some splashes of light rain, fleeting rain, really, a few showers coming in across east anglia and south—east england, where we'll continue to have

quite a chilly wind. could be even warmer for northern ireland — if we were to get 19, well, that would be northern ireland's highest temperature of the year. so we'll be monitoring that carefully through the weekend. on into next week, high pressure stays to the west of the uk, and we continue to see this feed of cloud coming down the north sea. if anything, the cloud getting a bit more extensive, a bit thicker, and that means there's more likelihood of seeing some patches of drizzle across northern and eastern scotland and some eastern areas of england as well. the best of the sunshine, probably parts of north west england, wales, south—west england, northern ireland might still do ok, and western parts of scotland. where the sunshine comes out, it shouldn't feel too bad. but if you're in the east where it's going to be quite cloudy with that wind coming in off the north sea, it will probably feel quite chilly. temperatures picking up a little later next week.

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