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narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". >> hello, i'm lewis vaughan jones. you are watching "the context" on bbc news. >> the fact that the u.s. has not made a decision so far has only had consequences. it is impacting the flow of support. >> ukraine is not losing the war, not yet, but if it is to stand any chance of winning, it will have to find a lot more weapons. >> 25 regions of russia already produced drones. we also see how their unpacking and maintaining the old ammunition from the soviet

times. it can be very old but still firing. ♪ lewis: welcome to the program. we have a special report from the frontline in ukraine and some area soldiers have run out of ammunition. the u.k. fell into receson at the end of last year. prime minister's opponents say his promise to grow the economy is in tatters. ports that russia is developing a weapon to destroy satellites in orbit. the u.s. national security adviser of congress now. in the world of artificial intelligence, one claim that there is no evidence a i can be controlled. we will see what that means in ai decoded. we will start in ukraine the eastern front in the donetsk

region. russian forces appeared to be surrounding what is left of the frontline town after months of heavy fighting. in the last half hour, the white house has said it's a risk of being captured because of a lack of ammunition. our correspondent andrew harding traveled to the frontline. andrew: ukrainian tanks heading into battle. we are close to the russian lines here, and to a town the kremlin has been desperate to capture four months pay. inside, it is not going well for ukraine. these troops are increasingly pinned down and struggling. in the ditch your a wounded soldier needing urgent help. so what is going wrong with ukraine after two years? a simple answer can be found a few kilometers away.

a ukrainian artillery team. last year, these men were firing 80 shells a day at russian positions around avdiivka. not anymore. >> these are the last two shells you have? >> yes, says the officer in charge, and these two don't even work. it is an alarming situation. russia is now out gunning ukraine by perhaps five to one. we are upset. it means our infantry in avdiivka are fighting on their own without our support. i am worried it will mean a lot moreasualties. speaking of which, more wounded arrive at a nearby field hospital. 24-year-old andre has shrapnel in his ankle. ukraine, with a far smaller army than russia's, cannot afford to

lose many soldiers. in the next-door door room, 48-year-old vadim was hit by shrapnel this morning as he stormed a russian position. we just don't have enough weapons, he says. >> what would you say to american politicians who say they are not going to give more weapons to ukraine? i would tell them to come here just once, he says, and then they will understand the blood and sweat required to build a peaceful world. and the surgeon has this morning. -- warning. urge the west to be more decisive in assisting ukraine, otherwise, their soldiers would have to fight this russian people, to --evil, too. in the woods nearby, a live training exercise. ukraine is racing to rebuild its war-weary army, but there are

not enough volunteers anymore, so more conscripts are being drafted into fill in the ranks. ukraine is not losing this more, at least not yet, but if it is to stand any chance of winning, it will have to train a lot of men like this and find a lot more weapons for right now looks like it will be a very long conflict. andrew harding, bbc news, eastern ukraine. lewis: meanwhile, nato countries have been meeting today, and the head of nato was asked about military assistance for ukraine. >> the fact that the u.s. has not been able to make a decision so far has only had consequences. it is impacting the flow of support. to some extent, this can be compensated by increased support from other allies, and european allies and canada are stepping up, are doing more.

put together with the military, economic, humanitarian support, canada and the u.k. are surprising -- supply more than the u.s., but the u.s. has by far been the biggest ally. it is vinyl they continue to provide support. therefore, i continue to expect they will be able to make a decision as soon as possible. lewis: the chair of ukraine's foreign affairs committee, thank you for coming on the program. talk to me about the shortages. how bad are they, what do you need? >> well, first alone, we need two things. we need artillery, ammunition, and we need air defense. we also need military aircraft to guarantee superiority in the air. but what is crucially important especially right now is of course artillery ammunition, artillery shells.

we are talking about a war of attrition. to win this war, we need strong artillery and we need enough artillery shells. according to stu some estimates, 2 million per year. lewis: if you need to million shares per year, how many will you get this year? oleksandr: we were promised by the european union one million artillery shells. so far we have received only 300,000. lewis: so you are a long way off of what you need. oleksandr: yes. unfortunately. russia this year has produced 2 million shells and received one million from north korea, which makes 3 million shells. the ratio in terms of frontlines is five to one. on a daily basis russians can afford to fire 10,000 shells. we can afford to fire only 2000.

lewis: does that mean that any progress is just not going to happen this year? this is simply a matter of holding on and trying to steer -- next year? oleksandr: first of all, we need to survive and defend the territories under our control. what we have now, we call the situation dynamic defense. we don't lose hope to make advancements this year, but of course to do that when we are outgunned, outnumbered by russian troops, we need more support from the west, more weaponry, and on a timely basis. we need the deliveries to come to ukrai on time. lewis: oleksandr merezhko, thank you for coming on the program. oleksandr: thank you. lewis: we are going to head to the u.s. now where donald trump will face the first ever criminal trial against a former u.s. president.

a new york judge has rejected his appeal to dismiss charges against him over allegations of falsifying business records. it is linked to payments made to the point star stormy daniels who had an affair with mr. trump. we have a start date for the trial, march 25. let's go live to our north american correspondent. what happened today? >> this was a hearing to decide how the judge would rule on a motion by donald trump's lawyers to throw out this case entirely. really just as the hearing was getting started with donald trump seated next to his lawyers, the judge got right to the point, said that this case would not be dismissed, and he said the trial would go ahead as planned on march 25 beginning with jury selection. that was a big loss to donald trump and his legal team who had argued that these cases should

be pushed until after the election. they say it amounts to election interference, that it's a great injustice to have donald trump trying to prepare for the selection as he is campaigning. but the judge said that is simply not a legal argument. prosecutors made the case that this trial will be getting underway weeks after what is known as super tuesday, when most states will have picked who they want to be their nominee for president. a loss therefore donald trump. a familiar sight seeing him in the corridors speaking to the press, slamming these cases as a witch hunt, but in the court, he left it up to his lawyers to battle it out but they were unsuccessful. we were waiting for so long to see in this election year which of his four criminal trials would go to trial first, marking the first time a former president will face criminal charges in a trial. now we have the answer. it will be this case, the new york hush money case. lewis: donald trump denies the

allegations against him. you reference to the other cases. where are we on those? nada: interestingly enough, there is a hearing in the georgia case, not on the facts of the case itself. and that one, remember, donald trump is accused of trying to overturn the election results from 2020 in georgia that went to joe biden. he again denies that. but the actual hearing today is looking at the conduct of the district attorney fani willis who brought the charges, and the lead prosecutor, nathan wade. those two are accused of having an improper romantic relationship, so nathan wade has already taken the stand, answering questions about the timeline of that relationship. fani willis may as well take the stand to answer questions. this is all to decide whether she should be disqualified from this case.

separately, back to the civil cases around donald trump, tomorrow, we are expecting a verdict in a case that will decide the fate of donald trump's business empire, a verdict that will also decide whether he should pay hundreds of millions of dollars. tomorrow will mark a very important day if that verdict is in fact released tomorrow. lewis: we may be back with you tomorrow. thank you. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's take a look at some other news. a number of patients in england waiting more than 12 hours for a bit on a board after being seen in a any was 19 times higher this winter than it was before the covid pandemic. new data shows we are nearly 100,012 hour waits in december and january compared to 5000 in 2019, 2020. british gas has announced their

profits for 2023 increased tenfold to 750 million pounds. they were allowed to recover losses of 500 million it wrapped up in the aftermath of russia's invasion of ukraine. the parent company said its profits fell by 17% to 2.8 billion. people are voting to elect new mps in kingswood and willingborough to decide who will replace two former mps. you are live with bbc news. next, israeli forces have carried out a raid at a hospital in southern gaza. they say they had intelligence that there might be the bodies of hostages there. the director of nasser hospital told the bbc conditions were catastrophic and very dangerous,

and the remaining patients were piled up in wards. lucy williamson reports. lucy: a medical refuge turn military target. in nasser hospital they hunted for safety. to the sounds of destruction by the light of mobile phones. hospitals are no protection from israel's army, a message for hamas heard by all. >> in the israeli army now is almost about to enter the hospital. lucy: there protection against israel's powerful army, a table. >> we have patients who need care but after the israeli army bombed the hospital, also the health-care workers here afraid, they have to leave the hospital.

about 40 health-care workers are staying at the hospital right now. lucy: israel ordered people to leave the hospital. when people went out, they shot at them and some were killed, mohammed said. they said there was safe passage but they approached us with a bulldozer and tank. every half an hour they let a few people go. [gunfire] who is forces surrounding the hospital, the army said it believed hamas fighters were inside. today, it said it arrested several suspects there. >> because hamas terrorists are likely hiding hunted injured civilians inside nasser hospital right now, and appeared to have used the hospital to hide our hostages there, too, the idf is conducting a precise and limited operation inside nasser hospital. lucy: israel's army has been

fighting its way through khan younis. holmes turned to battlefields. street by street. the only relics from a previous life, it's people. now fleeing to the border town of rafah, the last stop for civilians in this war. the red cross has warned of unimaginable carnage if the army follows them there. but israel's prime minister has been clear, he will fight hamas wherever it hides and that rafah will be next. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. lewis: we will speak to the israeli defense a spokesperson. thank you for coming on the program. can we talk about the operation at nasser hospital. have you found thomas people there? -- hamas people there? >> absolutely, the idf has been

conducting operations in khan younis, the western art of khan younis pacifically in the past two weeks. in the last few days we have been appealing to the people taking refuge in the hospital to evacuate the area. this morning we announced we arrested several suspects and indeed this evening we announced the names of three terrorists that had participated actually in the attack on the seventh of october. absolutely. hamas are continuing their action the way they have conducted themselves throughout this war of holding up inside hospitals, utilizing hospitals to conduct attacks, utilizing hospitals to hide, conceal hostages. and they are all doing it at the detriment of the people of gaza. lewis: i suppose the question many watching will feel is when does the tolerable action become intolerable in terms of the consequences?

do you think the achievements that you say were as a result of that operation are justified in honing in on one of the last functioning hospitals there? peter: i would say that hamas have weaponized hospitals. that is their modus operandi, precisely what they want. they want us not to operate their they can continue to conduct their atrocities. we cannot give them a free pass. we have to make sure they are pursued and hunted down. this war would not have taken place if it was not for the actions of hamas, the strategic decision to go to war with us, and now they are very the consequences. from our perspective, from what we are doing, we are conducting our operations in hospital throughout the day, last two days, while differentiating and

the sting wishing between the civilians, evacuating them from the hospital premise, engaging with the administration of the hospital to make sure they understand they are not the targets. we are seeking out hamas terrorists. this evening, we released a very damming report from an investigation of one of the hamas terrorists who told us specifically, in his own words, in arabic, of the 50 hamas terrorists that he knew were holding up in specific locations within the hospital premises. it is very common knowledge apparently that hamas have commandeered this hospital and many others. lewis: i am sure people will follow that argument, but these hospitals are being used right now to treat people, seriously ill people, people who need that attention. that quality care simply cannot happen under those circumstances, can it?

peter: that is not true. we have not evacuated any of the patients, medical staff. they have been informed we are not seeking them out. lewis: we can see the images of the conditions inside the hospital, people walking through smoke. that is not quality care that people need. peter: we are at war and this is a very tragic reality that we are facing. the suggestion that we allow hamas to continue to hide among the hospitals is a suggestion that is unacceptable. it is the same suggestion of telling us not to operate. we have to change the paradigm, get rid of hamas. everyone agrees on that, a clear goal that all of our allies around the world understand. of course there are challenges in operating. i would argue the idf is conducting its operations within the realm of the laws of armed conflict, in order to achieve our gos while operating with the principles of distinction

and military necessity, and where those two convene tether in order to achieve our goals of dismantling and destroying hamas as a governing authority. we need to weigh what that means to be a governing authority. they have subordinated the entire government support system, hospitals, schools, every part of their system they have subordinated it for their terrorist efforts. they have to go. lewis: peter lerner, thank you for coming on the program. next, greece's parliament will vote soon on legislation which would legalize same-sex marriage. it is given the green light, the country would become the first christian orthodox majority country to legalize it. we can speak to a journalist in greece. thank you for coming on the program. >> thank you for the invitation. lewis: what are we expecting to happen now?

>> we are certain it will pass with 170 votes in favor. this is a diverse coalition for greek standards. you will have support from most of the mps of the governing party if not all. some will abstain, some will reject the bill but also support from the major opposition parties in greece. there will be parties that will not vote for it including the communist party of greece, traditional stands for years, as well as the parties on the right, but it was not expected that roughly 170 mps, which is the alleged number right now would vote for it. it is a huge success for greece which is predominately a conservative country. the biggest success i would say for this government and the bill, it has guarantee public support, the marriage equality bill, and extending adoption to same-sex couples. i think it's a major victory for the community here. as we are speaking, there are crowds gathered outside of

parliament, waiting on bated breath and excitement, waiting to celebrate. a big day for equality supporters. lewis: thank you for that. the white house has confirmed it believes russia is developing a new anti-satellite weapon. u.s. media have been reporting it could be a space-based nuclear weapon. a detail confirmed nor denied by national spokesperson john kirby. he says the weapon is not yet active and does not pose a threat to anyone. with me now is a research analyst for space security. thanks for coming on the program. talk us through what is going on here. >> we don't know whole lot of what is going on at the moment. we know they are supposedly nuclear people satellites being talked about but we don't know if that is because the satellite is powered through nuclear or if it is a nuclear weapon itself.

lewis: what would be the difference? juliana: nuclear propulsion satellites are nothing new, nasa themselves are researching nuclear propulsion methods. however, nuclear weapons would be in violation of the outerspace treaty of 19 627, of which russia is a signatory. nuclear explosion in space would have far-reaching consequences in which neither the attacker nor the intended victim would see any benefit. certainly would violate the space. lewis: interesting, slightly worrying. parking the nuclear issue for a moment, what is t objective of having a weapon in space orbit? juliana: a couple objectives as to why russia specifically wants to build up a counterspace capability. we have some evidence to suggest that since 2010, they have been building back some of their cold war era projects in this realm. for example, satellites, we rely

on them greatly, whether in the civilian space or military realm. most military operations give abilities would not function the way that we know they do without space. for russia to be able to disrupt, potentially destroy these give abilities, they might see some benefit in that. lewis: interesting. thank you for coming on the program. just before we go, if you are feeling down after valentine's day, police in peru the skies themselves as a character from a cartoon series, care bears, carrying flowers and chocolates to lure a woman selling drugs out of her house. the woman came out when she saw the gifts, which is when the police pounced and arrested her. there you go. police released video saying they found cocaine in the house. it is a tactic that has been used before in peru.

they dressed as santa claus last christmas to catch criminals, too. that is all. i'll be back with the headlines in a couple minutes time. i'm lewis vaughan jones. this is bbc narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs app lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... george: actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo.