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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 worls america." the widow of alexei navalny vows continue his fight. the international courts of justice hold hearings to decide the legality of israel's occupation of palestinian territory and the african union bands a controversial trade of killing donkeys for their skin. ♪ caitriona: hello and welcome to

"world news america." widow of russian opposition leader alexei navalny vows to continue his work days after he died. his widow yulia met with leaders discussing holding putin responsible. penalties were called over mr. navalny's death. the e.u. is waiting on hungry for new sanctions on russia for its invasion of ukraine. at 47 years old navalny died unexpectedly in a prison camp. his family has not been allowed to see his body to determine how he died. the kremlin says it is not responsible for navalny's death and an investigation will take at least two weeks. yulia navalnaya accused russian authorities of murdering her husband and said he was killed

because russian president could not break him. our editor steve rosenberg reports. reporter: for three days she has been trying to recover her son's a body, but alexei navalny's mother was told investigators are not ready to release it. a clue perhaps caught on cctv in the dead of night near mr. navalny's penal colony, a prison envoy heading to a nearby town just hours after announcement of his death. it is thought this midnight motorcade could be transporting his body. alex e navalny was ambitious, promising a brighter future for russia. he once tried to run for president. he ended up in prison and now is dead. in a video statement his widow accused the kremlin of killing him and vowed to continue his

fight to change russia. >> having killed alexei, putin killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul. but i still have the other half and that tells me i have no right to give up. i will continue to fight for our country. reporter: today yulia navalnaya was in brussels meeting foreign ministers. for years she kept a low profile. now she is vowing to unite opposition to vladimir putin. the kremlin, what has it been saying about the death of its staunchest critic? very little. president putin has yet to make public comments about the death of alexei navalny, but a spokesman denied accusations it was russian leadership that killed him as obnoxious and unacceptable. at this makeshift trial to

alexei navalny, we discovered many tributes -- floral tributes had been cleared away, yet muscovites are still coming here to honor the man who called for change, but would never live to see it. steve rosenberg bbc news moscow. caitriona: a short time ago i spoke to a former assistant secretary deputy of defense who told me about the international reaction to navalny's death and how we can expect russia to move forward. thank you for being with us again. i want to start by speaking about alexei navalny. we are told his mother and his team have been denied access to his body. will we ever know what truly happened to him? >> we know what happened to him.

vladimir putin and the government killed him, whether with poisoning or some other method does not matter. it is a tragedy on an international scale, and personal tragedy for the family because not only are they dealing with his death, but cannot lay him to rest. i am doubtful the russian government will ever release his body. i hope they do, but they may have reasons to fear having a burial plot where people can gather to memorialize thisreat patriotic hero. caitriona: his widow yulia has pledged to continue his work. in the nine minute video she urges others to stand with her. how effective will she be as an opposition leader? evelyn: that remains to be seen. she is a person all russian opposition leaders and people who want freedom in russia

should be able to rally around at least as a symbol. whether she can gather together a coalition which her husband did not want to do, he had his movement and did not look to create a broad umbrella movement. it will be interesting if other leaders, high-profile russians in exile, whether they will gather with her. i think they are going for the same objective and it is good to see her entering into the political scene. there is a deep caitriona: -- there is a need for something like this. caitriona: how do you think vladimir putin will respond? many that oppose are jailed or dead. more than 250 people have been arrested for bringing flowers to

his memorial. evelyn: he already sees her as his enemy and i am sure she has excellent security. i do not think it will change anything from putin's perspective. he tends to have a lower estimation of females so will probably expect less from her, but i am sure she will be effective in whatever role she chooses, whether a spokesperson or something more. the most important thing to understand, putin, in killing the most outspoken opposition leader in russia, demonrated how afraid he is and how weak he is. in his weakness, he may take action against others, and we know a pallbearer for john mccain at his funeral, and many others, political dissidents, are in prison and grave danger.

i would like the international community, our government, the british government, to confront putin with real consequences for this action and if he does not release the remaining political dissidents in prison. caitriona: if we look at ukraine, it is approaching the second anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine. with navalny's death and withdrawal from an area, we heard president zelenskyy say the front is difficult. where is the ukrainian counteroffensive now? evelyn: they are in defensive mode now on the ground. i do not think that is the case in the maritime domain. this past week we saw the russians take out -- sorry, the ukrainns took out a russian maritime transport vessel. the ukrainians have destroyed

about 1/3 of the russian black sea fleet. that is on the offensive. but on the ground they are on the defensive, running out of ammunition and need to retrench. we the u.s. need to provide assistance and capabilities quired. longer-range artillery in particular. caitriona: you just returned from the munich security conference. what was the international response to that point about how the u.s. has yet to issue extra funding and support to ukraine? evelyn: it did put a dampening on the entire conference. people went into it feeling down and the death of navalny, which we learned about, was a shock and made us depressed. i do think there is still a

chance we will pass assistance this week. it will require special maneuvering on the part of the house democratic leader to call for a discharge petition, a mechanism to allow him to call for a simple majority to take action. it is not often used, but i feel he has to try. the overall mood was very down. with europeans more determined than americans to challenge russia because they are feeling the russian threat is on their borders more than ever. caitriona: evelyn, executive director at the mccain institute at arizona state university, thank you for joining us. evelyn: thank you. caitriona: this week marks the second anniversary of the start of the war in ukraine.

russian forces make advances in the east, and there are concerns over what a third year of the conflict may bring. our correspondent returned close to the front line to find out how people are coping. reporter: how do you judgthe mood of a country this big and this broken? we have come back to her frontline town, seized by russian forces and then liberated by ukraine in 2022. since then the closest front lines have remained. this was alexander the year ago with his cats. today he is still here. yes, i remember you, he says. he shows me the wreckage of his old apartment, hit by russian missiles.

he says he sees this war differently now. >> i want peace. reporter: has your opinion changed? >> many. reporter: he has changed his opinion over the last year. before he said ukraine has to win but now says there has been too much death, too much suffering. he wants talks even if it means giving up land. peace is more important than victory. you can feel the weariness on the streets. british aid distributed here mostly to pensioners who ignore the sound of another explosion on the front lines. >> our youth are being exterminated. if this continues there will be no ukraine left. >> this war will go on for a long time yet. reporter: it is not all gloom.

councilmembers are out doing what they can and a younger generation is getting on with life. school is mostly online, but not entirely. >> i have everything i need. reporter: a year ago we found families hiding from the war in these sellers. today this family is still here, but there is regular electricity no. -- now, water from a pump outside. this accountant is quietly determined. we are waiting for victory, she says. we are all tired, but don't see how we can negotiate with murderers. still, the mayor is worried america will stop supplying weapons to ukrainian troops

protecting his town. we are fighting a monster, he says, we need more outside military help. our soldiers are doing their best, but are running out of guns and ammunition. this small town feels torn between determination and despair. what unites it now is shared exhaustion, the knowledge of this war will not be quickly won, a increasingly, the fear that ukraine's fate may yet be decided by foreign politicians in faraway capitals. andrew harding bbc news in eastern ukraine. caitriona: a number of israel's war cabinet says his country will send troops into the southern gaza city of rafah in three weeks time if hamas does not release all hostages. israel maintains there are battalions of has fighters holed up in rafah.

there is concern for palestinians sheltering there, too. they set a deadline of the 10th of marchthe start of the muslim holy month of ramadan. the u.n. top court heard testimony that israeli occupation is a result of decades of discrimination. the court in the hague is holding six days of hearings initiating at the u.n.'s request. israel is rejecting the court's jurisdiction and is not taking part. our correspondent reports. reporter: the palestinian authority's ambassador to the u.n. struggled to deliver his concluding remarks. his voice was breaking as he asked the judges, what does international justice mean to children in gaza today? it has not he said protected their lives, their hopes or homes. the leading lawyer said the

israeli occupation was a violation of the palestinians' right to self-determination under international law. we were shown maps which showed how palestinian territories had shrunk over time. a lawyer said this was part of a deliberate political campaign which involved the expansion of israeli settlements in the west bank. other lawyers said the israeli occupation was tantamount to apartheid. israel has declined to take part in these hearings and does not recognize the jurisdiction over their occupaon of the west bank, though they have made written submissions. we will hear from 51 states making observations. each will have half an hour, to help the judges reach an advisory opinion. we are expecting to get that in the next six months. caitriona: let's go live to a

former u.s. diplomat and security advisor who served as a special representative for syria engagement and u.s. ambassador to turkey and iraq. on the question raised at the icj today, what does international justice mean for the people, the children in gaza , nearly five months into this? >> that is a good question. it means first of all under the laws, they cannot be targeted. the international court took this up, the question of genocide, by south africa. it urged israel to take more care, but did not condemn israel i action, in contradiction to its position on china in the south china sea and russia and ukraine.

that is an important point. cariona: is that where international focus should be given one million people are sheltering in rafah with nowhere to go while israel is planning its operation with airstrikes ongoing? james: as the american government has said and president biden,iis need a credible, executable plan for these million civilians along the border, and that makes sense. it is not all about civilians in gaza. it is about an existential attack on israel, on the seventh of october. existential in the mind of israelis and many of us in americ israel has to fight this war and that involves taking out the remaining hamas battalions, four of them, of the original 24,

that are still in rafah, and getting hostages out through negotiations. without pressure on hamas, you will not get them to release hostages. caitriona: israelis have set the beginning of ramadan as the date to have all the hostages before it begins a grand invasion. you spent a lot of time in that area. does that put at risk of the possibility of this escalating further into a religious war? james: of course it is a bad time. in the paris negotiations the u.s., israel, egypt and qatar took part in, the offer was made to hamas far 135 days of temporary cease-fire to get hostages back and humanitarian aid in. that would have gotten us beyond ramadan. the problem is, hamas rejected

that and came up with demands tantamount to israeli surrender who netanyahu rightly declared to be delusional. so that is where we are now, trying through diplomatic channels to get a temporary cease-fire. caitriona: what should the u.s. be doing? we have seen a nuanced shift in language from the biden administration. jame much of this is generated by the domestic political situation in the u.s. arab states and european republics are concerned with civilian casualties, but the main driving factor for the biden administration is the opinion among the left and muslim americans on gaza. the problem the biden administration has is, you do not get to ambitious plans to fix this problem, a two state

solution or stable gaza, if you still have hamas there. but you cannot get rid ohamas unless they surrender, which they are not likely to do, without continuing military operations. that is a conundrum the biden administration has been in since day one and has not solved it because there is no way to solve it. you have to prioritize the existence of israel or no more civilian casualties and the administration is not willing to make that choice. caitriona: what happens if there is no release of hostages or pausing fighting, no further peace deal? james: the best solution would be some kind of negotiated solution. hamas is pinned against the egyptian border. militarily it has no way out, but it does have the civilian casualty card. the best would be a negotiated settlement, hostages returned,

some kind of demilitarization of the remaining hamas elements, leaders go away as happened in 1982 in beirut, and some kind of interim governance of gaza takes place that can preserve peace and give israel the security it needs to withdraw. that is the maximum solution the u.s. is pushing for, but requires hamas to not hide behind a million civilians in rafah, which they are doing now. caitriona: thank you for joining us, james jeffrey, former u.s. diplomat. animal welfare charities welcoming a ban on the controversial donkey skin trade which will make it illegal to kill them for their skin. our science correspondent reports. reporter: this donkey is more than a companion.

without my doey, life would be incredibly challenging. with their strength to work in heat and drought, this is the difference but between livelihood and destitution in poor rural communities. they can be a lifeline. these photographs tell another story. donkey is taken to slaughter for their skins. animal welfare campaigners in africa say the trade in donkey skin decimated the population of animals, and have fueled increasing donkey thefts. the hides are sent to china for a popular medicine. the skins are boiled down to make it in liquid, powder or edible form and are believed to have benefits from strengthening to -- the blood to eating fertility. to understand the extent of the trade i spoke to experts at the donkey sanctuary. what are the effects of this huge demand for donkeys for

their skin? >> from 2016 to 2019, almost half the population of donkeys and kenya have been slaughtered. >> it is unsustainable. >> if somebody loses their donkey, there is no livelihood. reporter: donkeys do not breed well in intensive farms so countries with large populations of working donkeys were targeted by the trade. in response to shrinking donkey populations and public outcry, leaders of 55 african ates have banned the sale of donkeys for their skin. this gives protection to 33 million donkeys and communities that depend upon them for their livelihoods. some say banning donkey exports in one part of the world could just shift the trade elsewhere. we want to see investment in sustainable alternatives such as producing collagen in labs to provide source materialithout

the need to eliminate a product culturally significant, but removing the need for suffering. reporter: these animals have carried people for millennia. the hope is they will be protected for the next generation. 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. william: good evening. i'm william brangham. amna nawaz and geoff bennett are away. on the "newshour" tonight, alexei navalny's widow accuses the kremlin of covering up the opposition leader's killing and vows to continue his fight for a free russia. poland's foreign minister discusses the state of ukraine's nearly two-year-long war with russia, and the impact congres'' stalling of u.s. support is having on the battlefield. >> without the united states, we are behind the curve in making