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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". ♪ >> this is bbc world news america. dwindling ammunition, mounting casualties, the front line in ukraine. donald trump faces his criminal trial next month. it's in relation to a hush money payment to an adult film actress. israeli troops raid gaza's southern hospital in search of

hostages. ♪ welcome. nato's secretary-general says a delay in approving new aid for ukraine is having consequences on the battlefield, after kyiv described the situation as increasingly difficult. he remains confident the nato alliance is united despite house republicans holding up approval on the assistance package for e ukraine. >> there is broad bipartisan support for nato in the u.s. the criticism in the u.s. is not primarily against nato. it's against allies not spending enough on nato. >> after months of heavy fighting in eastern ukraine,

russian forces appear close to surrounding the ruins of a frontline town. ukrainian troops are holding on. commanders face tough decisions. the situation is critical on the ground. the white house says it is at risk of falling into russian control. ukraine's army is struggling with a shortage of ammunition and military supplies. reporter: ukrainian tanks heading into battle. we are close to the russian lines and to a town the kremlin has been desperate for for months. inside avdiivka, it's not going well for ukraine. these troops are increasingly pinned and struggling. the ditch here, a wounded soldier needing help. what is going wrong after two

years of war? a simple answer can be found a few kilometers away. ukrainian artillery team. last year these men were firing 80 shells per day at russian positions around the town. leaves of the last two shells you have? >> yes, says the officer in charge and these two do not even work. it's alarming. russia is out gunning ukraine 5- 1. we are upset, says alexi, it means our infantry troop is fighting on their own, without our support. they are worried it will mean more casualties. speaking of which, more wounded arrive at a nearby field hospital. 24-year-old andrei has shrapnel

in his ankle. ukraine, with a smaller army, cannot afford to lose soldiers. in the next room, a 48-year-old was hit by shrapnel this morning as he stormed a russian position. >> we don't have enough weapons. >> what uld you say to american politicians who say they will not give more weapons to ukraine? i uld tell them to come here just once, he says, and then they will understand the blood and sweat required to build a peaceful world. the surgeon has this morning. "wired to the west to be more decisive, otherwise their soldiers will have to fight this russian people too. in the woods nearby, a live fire training exercise.

ukraine is racing to rebuild its war weary army. there aren't enough volunteers anymore so more conscripts are being drafted in to fill the ranks. ukraine is not losing this war, not yet. if it is to stand any chance of winning, it will have to train a lot of men like this and find more weapons for what now looks like a long conflict. andrew harding, bbc news, eastern ukraine. >> earlier i spoke to a ukrainian member of parliament, and she told me her greatest concerns on the frontline. our reporter spoke to some ukrainian soldiers who said privately the town could fall to russian forces. what do you know about how likely that is in the near future? >> most recent news from today

was one of the strongest brades, the ukrainian army, the storm brigade has been relocated there to try and save the situation. the press office said the situation is terrifying. the ratio of forces is 1-7. you can imagine the chances for the ukrainians to hold what is left of the city. despite the relocations of the new brigades, the russians have put all available forces onto avdiivka. the situation is grave. >> we saw in a report how difficult the situation is for ukrainian soldiers now. remind us why this town is important. >> the situation is critical. russians have been trying to push through there for the

last half a year. this was largely ignored in the first stages of the counteroffensive. it's become clear in the last three months this is their main offensive line. they need to show results. it is a good example to do that and that opens up roads to other cities in the region not under russian control now. we believe putin needs to show some result before his elections, athe president of russian federation, that he can take under control the whole region, something he has been trying to do for the last 10 years. >> this comes at a time when we see military aid to ukraine slow. aid in the u.s. has been held up in congress. how much impact is that having? >> a huge impact.

today i was talking to military personnel on the frontline saying the russians have used the delays in the supply weapons to ukraine to build up their arsenals. they always had superiority in weapons, aircraft. they really used the time when ukraine was not getting weapons from western allies, they have been building new plants, new drones, aircraft. they have aircraft bombs. they have used this time when ukraine has been delayed to build up their arsenal. they are using it in places over the frontline. >> with the debate held up in congress, especially over domestic politics, do you see the u.s. as a reliable partner? >> the u.s. is the biggest partner in terms of weapons supply. we rely on the u.s. to supply most weapons.

we need to diversify. we bieve the eu, the u.k. will have to play a bigger role so we are not so much dendent on internal political situation in the u.s. that makes the war effort on our side unstable and the russians use it to their advantage. >> 20 seconds left. what message would you deler to u.s. congress? >> we are on the frontline to fight not just for ukraine, but for western civilization. helping ukraine today is the cheapest way for the u.s. to fight against the biggest enemy of the u.s. and the west. i hope the right decision will be made to combat, not just for ukraine, but for western civilization. >> thank you for your perspective. >> thank you. >> in washington, the white house confirmed it is monitoring the development of a new russian antisatellite weapon, following

concerns over a warning of a serious national security threat facing the u.s. brought to light by the chairman of the house intelligence committee mike turner on wednesday. the republican congressman alerted the public through social media, urging president biden to declassify information about the threat while giving no further details. biden administration said congressional leaders would be briefed this week and the white house national security spokesman john kirby says the plan weapon is not an active threat. >> it is related to an anti-satellite capability russia is developing. i want to be clear. this is not an active capability deployed. the russia's pursuit of this is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone safety. we are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack humans or cause physical destruction on earth. that said, we have been

monitoring this activity and we will continue to take it seriously. president biden have been kept fully informed regularly by his national security team, including today. >> we spoke to a member of the house intelligence committee about the nature of the intelligence and reactio i want to talk about this national security threat linked to an anti-satellite capability russia is developing. how concerning is this? >> i cannot get into classified info. the nature of the threat is serious. that is why chairman turner wanted other members of congress to be aware of at it was. >> same time, it's not an active capability, according to the white house national security council spokesperson. should this information have been made public in the way it was? >> i personally was supportive of the manner in which others

were apprised. i think it was important for other members of congress to go to the skiff, classified secure facility, to go in view the documents at issue. once you notify 435 people, it becomes public. it's important everyone take up the chairman's offer to look at this info. >> are you confident the white house is taking this seriously? >> i believe so. this is a moment where congress and the white house can talk about next steps and how to deal with it. primary motive for sharing this information is to make sure people are making informed questions and approaches to what is going on right now. >> john kirby said the

intelligence community is concerned about the declassification of sensitive material like this. do you think that should be declassified? >> mr. kirby in the administration are correct to be concerned. you don't want to expose the exquisite sources and methods that source information. same time, it's important we be able to have dialogue with the white house and the agencies at issue that are tracking and monitoring this as well as the folks who would be tasked with responding. right now we have to handle this carefully. >> what about the american people? they have seen this news. should they be concerned? >> they should be asking their legislators/lawmakers to take a look at this issue and work with

committees, jurisdiction and the white house on how to respond. there are various threats that emerge all the time. it's our duty to respond to that. this is one of them. this is a serious issue. it's one i hope many legislators take seriously and look at the info and engage on it. >> criticism of the chairman's decision to send out the statement about the threat. matt gaetz said "why worry motivation to draw some much attention to this is less about intelligence and more about a politician who wants to send $60 billion to ukraine." >> i don't think that is the reason. many people were supportive of chairman turner's decision to share this information with others. i don't think it has to do with trying to sway people about

ukraine. as i said repeatedly on your program and others, we have to support that supplemental package for ukraine, israel and taiwan. not doing so would send the wrong msage to putin and xi jinping. >> we will leave it there. >> thank you. >> donald trump will become the first former u.s. president to stand trial on criminal charges when his hush money case begins march 25. mr. trump was in court when the judge set the court date after rejecting the former president's attempt to have charges dismissed. outside the court, he attacked the decision and claimed the case was politically motivated. >> it's very unfair. they want to keep me busy so i cannot campaign hard. maybe we won't have to campaign hard. the other side is incompetent. they have been a horrible job running the country. >> prosecutors allege mr. trump

misreported payments to the adult film actress stormy daniels in exchange for her silence over an affair in the run-up to the 2016 election. mr. trump denies the affair. the prosecutor in george's election interference trial against mr. trump and associates took the stand herself today. she is accused of professional misconduct by one of mr. trump's co-defendants. the lawyer contends she had an improper romantic relationship with an attorney she hired to work on the case. she admits to the relationship but denies it compromised the integrity of the trial. let's talk with karen morrison, former federal prosecutor in new york, now serving as asciate professor of law at georgia state university. thanks for joining us. what did you think of the testimony from the district attorney willis? >> she's been competent.

she's managed to push back and refocus the hearing away from who paid for what dinner when, which is what most of the day has been about, to the fact that she is not on trial and mr. trump and his associates a. unfortunately, things have gotten tense. kind of aggressive between ms. willis and some of the defense lawyers. the judge has been trying to rein people in. it's been a day. >> looking at what we've seen, ms. willis admitted to this relationship. should she be disqualified from leaving this case against donald trump and associates? -- leading this case? >> it doesn't seem so from a

legal standpoint. the defense seems to be arguing the relationship has caused or leads to a conflict of interest but it is sort of difficult to see in what way -- it's not like an obvious conflict of interest say if a lawyer is having an improper relationship with a judge. then there is a problem the judge might be biased. >> it raises questions about willis and this being one of the top prosecutors on the case. if she were to be disqualified, this case is considered one of the most significant facing the former president. what would it mean for the possibility of the trial going forward? it was proposed to go forward in august. >> if she's disqualified, there's little chance the case would proceed before the election because things have

been moving slowly in georgia with trying to reassign prosecutors. things have been lingering over a year. it would be disastrous for this case if she were to be disqualified. >> interesting. what we saw in new york, the judge there, in donald trump's, one of his criminal trials, putting a court date march 25 for him, and this is of course the criminal trial linked to the payment to stormy daniels. what do you think of this case possibly looking like it will be the first criminal trial donald trump is standing in? >> it seems a shame in the sense that it is the least interesting case facing donald trump or the one with the least impact in terms of the country. it was the first indictment. with all the delays happening in the other cases, yeah, they seem

like they are the last people standing. it might be the first actual trial. >> taken together, georgia, this first trial date for the new york criminal case, what are the prospects of the other criminal cases, the federal election interference case and the case on mishandling classified documents, of those cases going to trial before the election? >> whether the d.c. case, the real big federal election interference case goes to trial will depend on how long the supreme court takes to decide the immunity issue. if they were to decide it quickly, within a month let's say, there's a chance that case could go to trial by the summer. but in the absence of that, i don't know. >> karen morrison, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> we move on to other news.

israeli special forces rated southern gaza's main hospital forcing patients and staff to flee under gunfire. a spokesperson called the operation precise but gaza says one person wasilled in the strike. the hospital was being used to hold hostages, the israelis said, and that dozens of terror suspects were captured in the raid. hamas denies holding hostages at the complex. we have the report and a warning you may find distressing. >> a medical refuge turned military target. they hunted for safety to the sounds of destruction by the lights of mobile phones. hospitals are no protection from israel's army, a message for

hamas heard by all. >> now is almost about to enter the hospital. >> their protection against israel's army, a table. >> we have patients who need care but after the israeli army bombed the hospital, most of our health care workers here are afraid about themselves. they have to leave the hospital. about 40 health care workers stayed. >> israel ordered people to leave. >> when people went out, they shot at them and some were killed. they said there wasay passage but they approached us with a bulldozer and tank. every half hour, they let a few people go.

>> with is forces surrounding the hospital, the army said it believed hamas fighters were inside. today it said it arrested several suspects there. >> hamas terrorists are likely hiding behind injured civilians inside nasser right now and appeared to have used the hospital to hide our hostages there. the army is conducting a limited operation inside the hospital. >> israel's army has been fighting its way through, poems turned to battlefields, street by street. the only relics from a previous life -- it's people. now fleeing to the border town of rafa, the last stop for civilians in this war. the red cross warned of unimaginable carnage if the army follows them there.

israel's prime minister has been clear. he will fight hamas wherever it hides and rafa will be next. we see williamson, jerusalem. >> some news out of greece. the first orthodox christian country to legalize same-sex marriage. 176 of the 300 mp's voted to approve the measure with the orthodox church criticized it. -- which the orthodox church criticized. the past with the support of left-wing opposition members. a female stingray is making waves in the u.s. after she appeared to become pregnant with no mail involved. charlotte has lived with sharks in a fish tank for the last five years. don't expect a new species anytime soon. scientists believe the pregnancy is likely due to asexual reproduction where a female egg

is fertilized without the male. it has never been seen before in this species. thank you for watching. stay with bbc news. ♪ 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.

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. geoff: a new york judge denies former president trump's request to delay a criminal case that stems from alleged hush money payments. amna: and shelling and air strikes between israel and hezbollah escalate, endangering civilians living near the border with lebanon.endangering civilig the border with lebanon. >> it's very hard to survive