the leader of the kamas group, ismail khaniya, was killed in a wound. israel blames palestinian groups for the attack. in turn, iran warns. the answer will be painful. it will lead to a big war in the middle east, we are talking about it on the bbc. jefer omerov works in the studio today. the main leader and ideologist of the palestinian group hamas. that's what ismail khaniya was called. the group itself reported his death in the capital of iran, taghiran, and the iranian islamic revolution guards corps reported that together with his bodyguard was also killed by him. however, how exactly was the palestinian leader killed? hamas

does not explain. the iranian media say the attack was carried out at around two in the morning local time. there were other reports that haniya was killed in an airstrike, that he was in a rest home for war veterans. there are no exact details of the death of khania yet. but both hamas and iran blame israel for the murder, which so far has not publicly commented on the murder. however, the death of hania shocked not only palestinians, but also some israelis, whose relatives are still missing. in captivity hamas fighters in the gaza strip, because it was hani who was responsible for negotiations about the prisoners. state media report an assassination attempt on the leader of hamas in the capital of iran. high-ranking guest ismail haniya, along with leaders of other regional armed groups supported by iran, attended the inauguration of the country's new president in tehran. it was. his

last public appearance. the news of the killing shocked many palestinians in gaza, as it is now uncertain what the consequences of the nearly 10-month war with israel will be. if the leader died, what will politicians do? children die, old people die, nobody cares. i hope this was the last attempt and the lord will end this war. we are all tired. gases, but most recently lived in qatar, he was seen as more pragmatic than other more violent hamas leaders still in palestinian territory, he was responsible for negotiating a ceasefire and the release of israeli hostages, now the families of the hostages fear that it will all come to a halt . i don't know how this news will affect the arrangements, but i do i wish, i really wish, that all the forces in the world would unite in order for... our people

to return home. i hope our politicians will find a way, despite this news, to release the hostages. a few hours before the strike in tehran, israel struck a high-ranking hezbollah commander in the lebanese capital, beirut. he is said to have been responsible for the deadly missile strike on the occupied dutch heights last weekend. concerns about a possible blowout. the escalation of the war is increasing. and now that iran has announced three days of mourning according to ismail khania, and has already promised a cruel and painful rebuff, the middle east froze in anticipation. although israel openly does not take responsibility for the murder. earlier , after the brutal attack by hamas on israel on october 7 of last year, telyaviv said that the destruction of hamas would be a priority for the israeli government. but who is ismail khaniya and? why was he

a possible target for the israelis? he was 62 years old at the time of the murder. hanni was born in a refugee camp in the gaza strip. from a young age he was active in the palestinian movement resistance against the occupation of israel. in 2006, he became the prime minister of the government of the palestinian authority, and a year later he headed the politburo of the hamas group, which after a bloody struggle seized control of the gas sector. in 2018, the united states. recognized him as a terrorist and imposed sanctions against him, and in 2022, hanni visited russia, where he was received by the head of the russian foreign ministry, sergey lavrov. lavrov then said that hamas shares many positions of russian foreign policy. in recent years, he lived in kateri and hasn't for a long time was in the gas sector. according to the bbc's rushdi abualouf, hania's death came as a great shock to the palestinian group. and now there is a crisis in the leadership of the hamas movement. this came as a surprise as he

had lived in durham, qatar for a long time. i saw him last november in istanbul. he traveled between durham and... istanbul. and he has been to tehran three times since hamas launched the attack on october 7. that is, he obviously felt safe going there. so it was unexpected. it was a shock, not only to me when i heard it, but to others as well leaders of hamas that i spoke to this morning. the situation there is chaotic, they do not know exactly what happened, how he was killed. they give very confusing information. but as far as we know, he was in a house in tehran and he was killed there. four other hamas leaders were in the same building with him, and the leader of islamic jihad, ziad annakhal, was also there, but it appears that it was a small guided missile that was meant to kill haniya, so he died along with his bodyguard. haniya's assassination paves the way

for more radical people in rus' hamas. moderate figures like khaled mashal, who led the movement for 10 years, will now have very little influence. before the election of khania and could have a chance to become the leader. iran, which supports hamas, declared three days of national mourning and vowed to punish israel severely. a similar statement was made in hamas, a member of the group's politburo, musa abu marzouk, said: "the attack will not go unanswered." the murder was also reacted to in russia, in moscow it was called a completely unacceptable political murder and noted that it would lead to further escalation about expansion. and the president of the country, recep tayyip erdoğan, called this murder meanness and also condemned it. and what was the reaction in lebanon, where the day before israel killed the military commander of the hezbollah group.

correspondent of the bbc in beirut, hugo vechega. before the assassination of ismail hannia in iran and the concern about the possible escalation of hostilities in the region for... iran, the day before the assassination of fuad shukr, a senior commander of the hezbollah movement, became the news of the day in the region. the israeli military called him the right- hand man of hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah, i.e he was an important figure inside hezbollah. that strike happened yesterday before sunset in dahir, a hezbollah stronghold in south beirut. the lebanese ministry of health said that at least three civilians, two of them children, were killed in that strike. i was. in dahir, where there were a lot of hezbollah members and lebanese army soldiers, so the biggest concern now is how hezbollah will react. i think what happened yesterday could be seen by hezbollah as a provocation from israel. they targeted the hezbollah base in beirut, so now all attention is on

how hezbollah will respond. the lebanese government is in a very difficult position because it has very little, if any, influence over hezbollah. it's powerful. an organized group that supports iran, it is very well armed, but it is also a political party that has representation in the parliament, and it is also a very popular, strong social movement here in lebanon, so it is very influential and acts as a state within a state, it has has its own strategy, its own goals, and there is the concern of the lebanese that hezbollah involves this country in another conflict with israel. people here still remember what happened in 2006, the devastation, the destruction caused by the war between hezbollah and israel. and many fear that history will repeat itself. obviously, any kind of confrontation between hezbollah and israel would also be felt by israel because hezbollah has approximately 150,000 missiles, including precision guided missiles, that can hit israel. over the past few months, we have seen that the conflict has been

concentrated in areas along the lebanese-israeli border, so here are afraid of escalation, and it is for nothing that we see signs, both from israel and from hezbollah, that they are not interested in a major confrontation. which would have disastrous consequences for both israel and lebanon. just the evening before our broadcast, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said that israel had dealt devastating blows to iran's proxies, including hamas and hezbollah, over the past few days. he added that israel's enemies will not be safe anywhere and warned that difficult times await the country. he came forward by the israelites after a whole day of silence, when government officials declined to comment. assassinations of the leaders of hezbollah and hamas. the bbc 's jerusalem correspondent yolanda nel continues. it is quite typical for israel not to comment on such attacks. the official position of the israeli government and the israeli military is that they do not provide any comments to foreign media. as

our sources in the office of the prime minister of israel hinted to us, the ministers were advised not to comment directly on this. however , before this instruction appeared, several ministers... managed to comment, one of them wrote on the x social network, quoting the bible: "let all your enemies perish in the same way , lord," as soon as it became known about the murder of ismail khania. israel's heritage minister said hania's death makes the world a better place. ismail haniyeh has been wanted since the deadly october 7 attacks by hamas in southern israel. since then, israel has been trying to eliminate the leadership of hamas, but apart from one senior representative killed this year in beirut, israel has so far failed to find anyone from the top hamas leadership who actually planned the october 7 attacks in the gaza strip. and specifically, the hamas commander there, yahu sinwar. ismail khaniya has been living in

exile for seven years. he is a native of gaza, born in the palestinian refugee camp of ajshati. in the past few years, he spent time in either qatar or turkey and represented hamas on the international stage. since the beginning of this war, he has often visited iran, called on the country to directly participate in the war, but in the past these proposals were rejected. and what consequences will this murder have for the region? bbc security columnist fran carner, further. these blows were well thought out, but it is a very dangerous game on the part of israel, because iran will be forced to respond. for tigran, this is a complete humiliation, because ismail khania was a guest, he was placed in a home for war veterans. for iran, this is extremely sensitive. the inauguration of a new president, and the fact that israel is for nothing, that it won't admit its involvement,

but the whole world assumes that israel did it, so the fact that israel is able to act with complete impunity, relying on its network of underground agents inside the islamic republic and take it easy killing someone believed to be involved in the october 7th attacks will certainly force iran to retaliate. the question is how, because last time when there was a similar situation, after the attack in april on the iranian consulate in damascus and the killing of the commander of the alkuts brigades, iran responded with a wave of missiles and drones. if you remember, about 300 rockets and drones were launched against targets in israel, and in response we had to create a coalition of our own, which included the united states, jordan, britain, france and others in an attempt to ... repel this wave of missiles, then it brought already response to israel striking

near iran's wisfahanni nuclear facility, so we are in a very dangerous situation now, it won't necessarily lead to a huge outbreak of war, the risk is there, but there are precedents in the past where igniting a wider conflict has been avoided, e.g. , january 2020, when president trump ordered the assassination of hashem soleimani. commander of alquts force, the external wing of the irish islamic revolutionary guard corps, was killed at baghdad airport, many called for revenge, but the wider the conflict did not happen then. president reagan in 1986 struck targets in gaddafi-era libya. then they also shouted that the near east would be engulfed in flames. but this time, i think the situation is complicated by the fact that there are... a lot of moving parts, the houthis in yemen seeking revenge for the israeli

strike on their main port of hodeidah, then hezbollah in lebanon, a movement wounded and fueled by the assassination of fuad shukr in beirut, hours before haniya's assassination, and we have an offended and dangerous iran that feels the need to give some pushback, so the middle east held its breath again, so subscriptions. to our pages in social networks so as not to miss the most important news and analysis miya on facebook, instagram and tiktok, on youtube you can watch our episode if you missed it on the air, so that's all we have time to tell you today, look for more stories on our website bbc.ua, on our pages in social networks, and we will broadcast you again tomorrow.

greetings friends, the second part of the verdict program is live on the espresso tv channel, my name is serhiy rudenko and... the next 45 minutes we will talk about the following: tax increases are inevitable, a hole in the budget of 500 billion. hryvnia forces the government to resort to a tough fiscal policy. are ukrainians ready to pay more? personnel scandals in the army. instead of firing kombrig and shklov, after a public speech in his defense, subordinates were promoted. is democracy acceptable in the army during war?

the russian front inside ukraine. from burnt military cars. to the political murders of public figures, how are the russians trying to destabilize the situation? friends, we working live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms, for those who are currently watching us on these platforms, please join our pages and also take part in our survey, today we ask you the following, are you ready for a tax increase in ukraine? yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube. if... you have your own separate opinion, please leave it in the comments below this video. if you watch us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote with the corresponding numbers. so, if you are ready to raise taxes in ukraine, call 0800 211 381 or 0800 211 382. all calls to these numbers are free,

vote at the end of the program, we will sum up the results of this vote. i would like to introduce today's guests. of our program, this is maksym rozumny, political expert, doctor of political sciences. mr. maxim, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today. greetings, good evening. well, we will still be joined by oleksiy koshel, doctor of historical sciences, political scientist, head of the committee of voters of ukraine, we are waiting for him to be included, and since, mr. maksym, we are asking our tv viewers whether they are ready for a tax increase in ukraine, well, this is kind of rhetorical. questions and ask ukrainians if they are ready, no one is ready for a tax increase, i will ask you if you are ready for a tax increase in ukraine, well, i am probably ready, how can a conscious citizen not be ready for a tax increase, but how political scientist,

political analyst, i still try to predict the situation. and if now experts from ex-expert economists say that about 40% of the ukrainian economy is in the shadows, so i think that after the increase in taxes , this percentage will increase by more than half, that is, more than 50% will be in the shadows, it is difficult to fight with this, perhaps even impossible and... this puts into great doubt, so to speak, the success of this plan, i mean filling the budget with additional money, but it is obvious that the government will still be forced to move in the direction of somehow increasing the state's income, and actually these maneuvers we

we will observe in the coming months in the political environment. in the verkhovna rada, uh, in the comments of our leaders, heads of state and, obviously, ordinary citizens. thank you, mr. maksym, and we have already been joined by oleksiy koshel, doctor of historical sciences, political scientist, head of the committee of voters of ukraine. mr. oleksiy, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today. good evening. today, mr. oleksiy, we are conducting a poll and asking our tv viewers whether they are ready for a tax increase in ukraine, sir. maxim already answered this question, are you ready for the increase in taxes in ukraine, which is announced in the office of the president of ukraine? well, i want this decision to be prepared in the cabinet of ministers and for this decision to be comprehensive. that is, yes, the state treasury needs quite serious funds. yes, we are waging a war, we need

to accumulate all internal resources as much as possible now. but is the only way to increase? taxes, i'm not sure, that is, we have many items in the budget that can be cut, and they are talking about it, if i'm not mistaken, somewhere at the end of january of this year, i heard the first statements that the budget for this year needs to be revised, well, let me remind you, august is almost here, so far i have not seen any draft law, the number two issue is the implementation of reforms that can give quick money, first of all this is a customs issue, i came across a figure as... for the 20th year, for the 20th year, representatives of the cabinet of ministers talked about the fact that because of gray schemes at customs, they emphasize because of gray schemes, not because of smuggling, we lose every year. .. 8 billion dollars, a huge figure, now she has not gone anywhere. the third question is reasonable privatization, which should be carried out now. recently, there was a pr campaign

that the kozatskyi hotel was sold there for a record price, well, i go to my office near this hotel every day, it is right on the independence square, the windows overlook the fountains , i took a calculator and listed the hotel on independence square, it was sold at a price of 1,000 dollars per... meter, well, i apologize, in lviv the so-called khrushchevki are cheaper, on the outskirts, i am not talking about the city center, so there must be reasoned decisions, well and of course, i will remind you of the words of the special representative of the united states, who is responsible for the economic recovery of ukraine, pena pritzker, who yesterday stated that it is necessary to eliminate gray schemes and clearly... said that these are cigarettes, and i will remind you that according to the international monetary fund, we lose from 17 to 31

billion hryvnias every year to gray cigarettes alone, every year on some unfortunate cigarettes, gray alcohol, er, petroleum products and many other things, that is, we need to save, then we raise taxes, but raise them sensibly. it's not just, you know, whip format, now let's wave and the money will go to the treasury, you raise taxes, a shadow automatically appears, gray and black schemes automatically appear, and it will be on any market, so we need to raise taxes wisely, and now we are offered such black and white option, these are bad for them, we will give 30%, there is a jewelry business, well , i'm sorry, it will still be fine even a jewelry business, all the same. on ordinary people, because people get married, buy wedding rings, people are born, christened, buy crosses, relatively speaking, and they will pay for this 30% citizens even, even in such a rather

specific business, i'm not talking about everything else, by the way, the cabinet of ministers also proposes to raise taxes, i don't know who was the first, whether the cabinet of ministers or the president's office proposed, well, we we perceive it as the only one. a team that is still working now, because there is a mono-power, there is a mono-majority, there is a mono-responsibility, so the minister of finance, serhii marchenko, in an interview with rbc ukraine, said that the deficit of the state budget this year is estimated at 500 billion uah, and it is necessary these funds should be covered by taxes, because mostly these funds are needed for the defense and defense forces of ukraine, i'll be honest, the situation... ensuring the security and defense sector remains critical for us. we don't have the time to prolong the discussions we proposed - said serhiy

marchenko. he says that the government is quite correct in raising taxes. and he added that the increase in military levy rates, in particular, has quite the right connotation from the point of view of messages. mr. maxim, mr. oleksiy. talks about all these gray schemes or semi-gray schemes or dark schemes that exist in one way or another in the ukrainian economy, but we know that economists, professional economists estimate the share of the shadow economy, or the economy that is in the shadows, at 40%, and not less than 40% or 35-40% , and this is a sufficiently large percentage, and it is clear that in the current conditions of tax increase. may inevitably lead to further shadowing of the economy, shadowing of salaries, deductions, well, everything else, that is, in some fragments, there

will be a 15% increase in taxes on new cars at the first registration, it will also probably lead to some shadowing or resolution of these issues, why do you think the government works like a fire brigade, why is there not a broad vision... a vision of what to do with taxes, what to do with customs, although we know that zelenskyi in fact, when he came to the presidency, to the presidency, he held these numerous meetings, there he lined up customs officers in transcarpathia, he asked what cars they drive, these same questions remained relevant, because those who live in ukraine, they clearly know how customs works, how do customs officers work, i... live customs officers, the situation has not changed in 5 years, why do you think? i would start with the fact that the situation has not changed not only in the last 5

years, i remember very well an example when we, well, let's say, in a political sense , tried for the first time what is called living in a new way , yes, after the orange maidan in 2004, i even remember how the then presidential candidate viktor yushchenko said, don't teach an apple tree how to give birth, but drive pigs away from it, that is, this story is about... the corruption tax paid by ukrainians, paid by ukrainian business, our, by the way, and foreign partners, investors, this corruption tax could be reduced with the right political will, and also with the right political will it would be possible to search for all, yes so to speak, those tools, levers.

reserves, which another participant in our conversation spoke about in detail and correctly, for this you need a professional team, for this you need motivated executors and, well , what is called political will, which i am talking about already said, this political will is obviously absent today, there is an office of simple decisions. simple decisions to raise electricity tariffs by two times, then by two more times, simple decisions to raise taxes, and actually, ukrainians have learned to avoid taxes, but if, for example, they cancel, here is this third group of fops, that is, their taxes will be raised, that's it there will be a strong, so to speak, blow to social stability, and precisely then.

some such light, easy consequences will not be avoided, that is, as i am talking about about a public-resonant decision that is insufficient, obviously calculated in an economic sense, in a budgetary, financial sense, and which is possible, well, this is an assumption, a hypothetical one, the possibility should be made... on our external partners, who actually give us money, and perhaps sometimes in conversations with our representatives they wonder why ukrainians pay so little for this war, just as, for example, our european partners wonder why ukrainian men are abroad of conscription age, this is the picture, so to speak, that ukraine

pays more, it seems to me that she is part of this, this event, this, the actual decision, which lies in the public plane. thank you, mr. maksym, mr. oleksiy, tell me about these decisions regarding the increase of taxes or fees, how will this affect the reaction of ukrainians in ukrainian society, what will the reaction be and what may be the consequences. firstly, there will not be an immediate reaction, because while all these tax increases for business will be transferred to the shoulders of ordinary ukrainians, a certain period of time will pass, firstly, secondly, there is a certain habituation to price increases, in our country, and in the period before the large-scale invasion, the prices were high enough, let's say, for food products they were commensurate with the countries of the european union, for some groups of goods they were higher, for some they were lower, eh, so

i don't think there will be an instant. .. reaction, there will be protests, no, it won't happen, but the consequences for business, i think, will be quite serious, because part of the business is now in the format of simple survival, firstly, secondly, uh, i i think that what mr. maksym was talking about, i think that we will see a surge of new schemes, because one of problems that take place in decision-making at the level of the government and at the level of the parliament. this is that decisions are very often made of extremely low quality, where there is a low quality of management decisions, a large number of schemes automatically appear, that is, obviously part of the business will get out of the situation in this way, but once again i emphasize that, unfortunately, there is no discussion in the authorities about how to accumulate...