this is bbc world news, i'm simon pusey. our top stories: britain is among the countries telling their citizens to leave ukraine, as america warns an invasion could be imminent. we continue to see signs of russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the ukrainian border. we are in the window when an invasion could begin atany time, should vladimir putin decide to order it. an injunction designed to end the protests in the canadian province of ottawa comes into force, but many demonstrators are still there. the so—called �*freedom convoy�* seems to have inspired copycats around the world — in france, president macron calls for calm. borisjohnson receives a legal questionnaire from the police as part of the investigation into parties held at downing street.

let's begin with ukraine, and the us is warning that russian forces could invade at any time — although there is not yet any intelligence suggesting vladimir putin has decided to do so. president biden held a virtual meeting with the leaders of america's major european allies and nato member on friday, and the white house has confirmed that he is due to speak to vladimir putin by phone on saturday. with the latest from washington, here's our north america editor sarah smith. gunfire the russians are not trying to camouflage these military exercises their troops are conducting in belarus near the ukrainian border — these pictures were provided by the russian defence ministry. has vladimir putin decided

to order these troops into ukraine? the us say they simply don't know, but they believe he is in a position to do so, so they are escalating warnings military action could be imminent, possibly within days. now, we can't pinpoint the day at this point, and we can't pinpoint the hour, but what we can say is that there is a credible prospect that a russian military action would take place even before the end of the olympics. borisjohnson and other european leaders joined a call convened by president biden this evening, along with nato chiefjens stoltenberg, johnson urging allies to have ready punishing economic sanctions against russia. with fears that aerial bombing and missile attacks against kyiv could precede any ground invasion, brits in ukraine are being urged to leave. ..leave now. america's warning its citizens us forces will not go into ukraine to rescue them. that's a world war. when americans and russians start shooting at one other, we're in a very different world than we've ever been in. not even on behalf of simply evacuating americans? no. how do you do that? how do you even find them?

"things could go crazy very quickly" — that's how president biden put it when he repeated his warning to all us citizens to leave ukraine. the administration is also withdrawing more officials from the country, and that's because there is deep concern in washington that if someone were to get killed or injured, it would then be very difficult to avoid a major escalation in tensions between america and russia. the defence secretary, in moscow, heard again russian assurances there are no plans to invade, but left less optimistic about the chances of a diplomatic solution. look, it's all about actions. currently, there's over 100,000 — 100,000-130,000 troops stationed at readiness, or exercising, plus warplanes, plus ships into the black sea on the borders of ukraine, and that is an action that is not normal. us forces are already being deployed to poland and romania to bolster those nato allies on ukraine's border, with an additional 3,000 troops being announced

tonight as the white house warns a conflict they think could begin any day now would bring enormous human cost. the us are being remarkably frank about sharing the intelligence that they've gathered, and also about what they simply don't know — whether president putin has actually decided to invade ukraine — and the reason that such dire warnings are emanating from here is notjust to try to deter russia, but also to galvanise and unite european allies as well. but the white house has not completely given up the hope of a diplomatic solution — president biden is planning to talk to vladimir putin on the phone tomorrow. 0ur north america editor sarah smith reporting from washington. and more countries have now warned their citizens in ukraine to leave the country — australia, new zealand, south korea and japan are among the latest, adding to warnings as we heard there from the us and uk governments.

an injunction has come into force in the canadian province of ontario, to end days of protests at a major crossing with the us. but large numbers of people are reported to be still at the ambassador bridge which connects canada with the us. police have been handing out leaflets that outline the penalties protestors will face under a state of emergency declared by ontario. i've been speaking to the mayor of windsor, drew dilkens, who told us some of the impact these protests were having and what the next moves would be. well, the protesters were rolling through for several days. after the 0ttowa siege started, they started rolling through many communities, including ours. but the protests were peaceful, they kept moving vehicular traffic to and from the busiest border crossing in north america, continued to flow, and it was only sort of by surprise that all of a sudden it all came to a halt. and so it became very problematic immediately, the impact was material because we're talking about $400 million a day in trade that crosses that one

border crossing. you talk about $400 million — what wider impacts are these protests having? well, it's very disruptive to the auto industry. we are the auto capital of canada. just the other side of the river, about 1.5km away is detroit, michigan, the auto capital of the us, and all of the supply chains that support the auto industry in north america rely on smooth and efficient border crossings and this has to be open, there is no alternative but to get this bridge open because plants are starting to shut down, running out of supplies. and so, things have to happen, action has to be taken, we have an injunction and if people won't leave voluntarily, we'll have to help them leave with police support. and is your message to those protesters, is that to say you can protest, obviously, that's your right, but not in this way? yeah, protesting, of course, is permissible. we live in a democracy. the hallmark of democracy is the ability to express oneself and protest and demonstrate. that's ok. what's not ok is choking off

the busiest border crossing between our two countries. and you talk about the court injunction there. locally, what are the windsor police and local authorities doing to try and de—escalate these protests? 0bviously, there's a lot of emotion around at the moment. what are you trying to do? they've been trying to de—escalate and negotiate for the better part of five days, so we have additional police resource that has been sent from all across the province of ontario to our city. the royal canadian mounted police have sent units down here as well. public order units are here. listen to thejudge�*s injunction and move on voluntarily. failing which, police will have to move in and take additional actions. and what do you see happening in the nearfuture? do you think there's any chance that this is going to escalate, or do you think that the likelihood is that these are going to fizzle out now? well, that is the million—dollar question, and so, the difficulty with this particular protest is that you have people here who have said that they are willing to die for the cause. and although it's a sort of framed by many to be a vaccine mandate protest or a mask mandate protest,

it has morphed into something entirely different, and i would describe this as more of an anti—government protest, where people are here, protesting climate change. it's more like the things you would see at a g7 or 620 meeting, where there are all sorts of protesters who've arrived. there's no leader and there's no common message and that's basically what we have on the ground here today. drew dilkens. here's the global news canada reporter sean 0'shea with an update. well, the mood, simon, here is quite a party atmosphere, actually. even though the injunction that was referred to earlier came into effect at 7:00 this evening, there's been no effort by the police to enforce that injunction. so behind me, you see people who are waving their canadian flags, people who have their signs, people who've been drinking all day. as i say, it's a party atmosphere. they had a meeting a little bit earlier about whether they were going to obey that injunction.

they talked about different options, and the rousing support was for the first option, which was that they were going to stay and not go. we'll see whether in fact that happens later today. yeah, so despite this injunction and despite what the various authorities have been saying to move on, do you get the sense that these protesters are in it for the long haul? well, they've said for several days — we've been at this protest for a couple of days, we were in the ottawa protest, in toronto, and so there have been many protests, and the words that you hear from people are "we're not going to leave until many of these mandates are removed, until all of them are removed actually." but that's not likely to happen, the mandates at least. but we know, from a policing perspective, that hundreds of police have been deployed here. the local police have been buoyed up by the ontario provincial police, the provincial police force, by the royal canadian mounted police, their tactical unit has arrived, and so we know that they're massing hundreds

of police officers to be able to evict these protesters should that be required, and as i'm saying right now, they're not leaving on their own, the injunction is in effect, it is nighttime right now, there's a party atmosphere here. many of the people who are here aren't part of the camped out protest. many of the people here are from the community. but the main camped out protest consists of trucks, pick—up trucks, cars, people who are sleeping here and who are in here and have been here since the very beginning. the big question is — will the police move in, and when will they move in? and we can obviously see dozens of people behind you at the moment, sean. what's a significant of the area you're in at the moment? well, the area we're in is just at the canadian end of the ambassador bridge. this is the most important crossing in north america. trade between canada and the us, about a third of it goes along this bridge. it has been closed for days now. this has never happened before. that is so tremendously difficult for businesses, auto manufacturing on both sides of the border, the parts, businesses, for the people that work there,

it's just tremendously difficult, and so this is the area that they've blocked. so they had to close the bridge because there'd have been no way for people to get off the bridge. and as i said, they control this area, and have done so for several days, in spite of the fact that police are off to my left and off to my right basically doing crowd control at this point. but we know from our sources that there are, as i said, hundreds of police officers waiting to be able to be deployed here, knowing that it may take force to remove the people who've been asked to leave should they decide not to. meanwhile, in france, president macron has appealed for calm after so—called freedom convoy supporters landed in paris, inspired by the canadian trucker demonstration. it's a ripple effect being seen in other countries across europe including austria and belgium. stephanie prentice reports: dance music plays

a party atmosphere with a serious message. demonstrators from across france have now reached paris to protest against all covid restrictions, harking back to some french fundamentals. all chant: liberte! liberte! _ the crowd, bolstered by the presence of far—right candidate florian philpott, who's campaigned against health passports. translation: hang in there! don't you fall apart! _ because their world is falling apart. it's you — we — who are going to win! bravo to you! long live freedom! love live the resistance! long live the freedom convoys! horns blare the �*freedom convoy�* is a reference to the situation unfolding in canada, where truckers have brought the capital, ottawa, to a standstill, triggering the closures of local businesses and an avalanche of noise complaints. horns blare oh, the horns are back! inspired by them,

french drivers setting off from bayonne, lyon, lille and strasbourg. people from all corners of the country united by one message — we want our lives back. liberte! translation: we want our liberty back. - that's it. but it may not all be all about liberty. many protesters are angry about rising food and energy prices, and some see this latest protest as a resurgence of the yellow vest movement for economic and political reform. translation: when you ask the people here, _ they don�*t have money for electricity, for gas and especially for fuel. the price of fuel has almost doubled — it now costs 2 euros per litre. we can�*t live like this because the salaries aren�*t going up. horns blare across europe in austria, the honking sounds that have come to define daily life in ottawa, with truck drivers showing their opposition to restrictions by blocking off

parts of vienna, defying police orders to not enter the city. horns blare as with canadian and french organisers, the group here say their intention is to be peaceful, but the threat is there — no more restrictions and no vaccine mandates or it�*s the city streets, not its residents that will be on lockdown. stephanie prentice, bbc news. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: britain is among the countries telling their citizens to leave ukraine as america warns an invasion could be imminent. under soviet communism, as many as four million died of hunger when moscow forced people from small holdings onto inefficient collective farms. the bitterness remains to this day and, in a special report, fergal keane has been to kharkiv, close to the russian border, to meet some of the last survivors of the famine. as the kremlin�*s choirs praised stalin, the world was told ofa happy land.

archive: and today it is, above all, the granary - of eastern europe, with the black earth bringing forth millions of acres of wheat. but 95—year—old petra knows what a lie that was. forced collectivisation of farms brought starvation and terror to his family. translation: it was very scary. there was a brigade with pitchforks, who came to every house searching for bread. i was five at that time. we locked the door and all the windows, but they used crowbars to come inside. and then they went to all the barns, trying to find any buried bread. food was seized to punish peasants who resisted collectivisation.

it is thought up to 4 million people died in what ukraine calls the holodomor — "killing through hunger". russia denies the famine was a deliberate attempt to break the independent spirit of ukrainians. oleskandr, aged 98, remembers the corpses of the starved. translation: what could i see? i saw people who died. they made a big pit and threw all the bodies there. my father went to western ukraine, taking everything good from our home to exchange for food, but he got nothing. you can say i had a life, but it was no life. her great—grandson has heard her memories, as has his older brother, who is serving in the ukrainian army. near the family home, there is a mass grave from the famine era.

stories of the famine are passed on within families from generation to generation. but it�*s also an important part of modern ukraine�*s story of origin — this idea of a nation in the 1930s suffering the oppression of a dictatorship based in moscow. this old steel door here? yeah. ukrainians who resisted ended up in places like this. some historians say 5,000 or 10,000 people was killed here. in this basement. interrogation cells of the secret police in kyiv. i went there with the man who is creating a national record of what happened. it is just impossible to imagine what went through people�*s minds as they came through that door, into this place. sighs.

yeah — pain. investigation of stalin�*s crimes has been suppressed in russia. dr drobovitch sees a clear line between this and aggression towards ukraine. they protect stalin. they hide the truth. they attack us. they don�*t recognise us as an independent country. why? we don�*t understand why. perhaps because all in this conflict know the power of the weapon of memory. fergal keane, bbc news, kharkiv. borisjohnson is being formally questioned by police as part of their investigation into lockdown parties at downing street. the prime minister is one of 50 people who have received a questionnaire, which has the same status as being interviewed by the police. a spokesperson said that mrjohnson would respond as required. here�*s our political

correspondent ione wells. after weeks of facing questions on lockdown parties, from journalists, from mps, now, the prime minister must answer to the police. these questionnaires are being sent by the met police to more than 50 people alleged to have been at events during covid—i9 restrictions during may 2020 and maple 202i restrictions during may 2020 and maple 2021 in downing street and across whitehall. these written questionnaires have the same status as a police interview under caution —— april. borisjohnson will be expected to answer truthfully and account for what he was doing there and why to help police decide whether or not he has broken the law. getting a questionnaire does not necessarily mean the police will find he has or issue him with a fine. previously, his defence has been to draw on how downing street is both his workplace and residents. he previously apologised for being at a drinks gathering in the downing street garden on may

20, 2020, by downing street garden on may 20,2020, by claiming... i believed implicitly that this was a work event. but politically. _ was a work event. but politically, this - was a work event. but politically, this is - was a work event. but politically, this is a i was a work event. but i politically, this is a very difficult situation for a serving prime minister to be in. while some allies have said they will support him, even if he received a fixed penalty notice, many tory mps think if he is found to have broken the law, his position would become untenable. ione wells, bbc news. in phoenix, arizona one suspect is dead and a woman is in a critical condition after what�*s being described as a domestic incident. the police were trying to take a baby away from the scene when the suspect started shooting. nine officers were injured and five of them were taken to hospital with non—life—threatening injuries. the man was later found dead at the property. let�*s get some of the day�*s other news. the united nations is warning that south sudan is in danger of returning to civil war due to delays in implementing the 2018 peace deal. a visiting un team said key elements of the agreement were behind schedule, including setting up a court to try perpetrators of atrocities.

president biden has ordered half of the afghan government assets frozen in the us to be used for humanitarian aid in the country. the other half is being held for settlement of claims filed against the taliban over its role in the 9/11 attacks. government data from brazil shows that the amazon rainforest recorded the worst monthly rate of deforestation injanuary. the country�*s space agency said 430 square kilometres of timber were felled — that�*s five times the rate injanuary last year. the us secretary of state in fiji as washington seeks to beef up its presence in the pacific. antony blinken�*s also set to announce the opening of a new us embassy on the solomon islands. it comes as china increases its influence in the region. a boat sent by the government of mauritius to the disputed chagos islands will arrive in the next few hours. the islands are administered by britain, which has refused

to recognise a ruling at the international court ofjustice that it should relinquish control. those on board include a number of islanders who were forcibly evicted to make way for a us military base. our correspondent andrew harding sent us this report. we are with the mauritian government and their delegation. they have already run up the mauritian flag and they have brought other flags with them that they are going to plant on two of the disputed chagos islands. there are also scientists on board who are going to be measuring the reefs — that�*s part of a maritime dispute between the mauritian government and neighbouring maldives and their archipelago — and perhaps most significantly, there are also five people who were thrown off the chagos islands 50 years ago by the british government, and they are now returning for the first time without british government permission to see their island homes and to return again to inspect the graves of their ancestors. they say they are victims of a

british crime against humanity. andrew harding there on the mauritian boat heading to the chagos islands. it�*s not long now until what is supposed to be the most —— a village last seen 30 years ago has re—emerged at the bottom of a reservoir in north—west spain. the village was deliberately flooded in 1992 but now, a recent drought has revealed old cars, preserved cafes and even a functioning water fountain, bringing some nostalgia for those who once called it home. it�*s not long now until what is supposed to be the most romantic day of the year. all around the world, people will be giving cards and gifts to their loved ones. but for some, this valentine�*s day may not go exactly to plan. the bbc�*s tim allman explains. at the california flower mall, this should be one of the busiest times of the year. but the course of true love never did run smooth. there are supply problems, trouble with deliveries, and even a shortage of roses.

inflation isn�*t helping much, either. i don�*t think you can put a price tag on the cost of love. it has ultimate value, so you do what you can with your heart and you flood your loved one with flowers and appreciation. it�*s — it�*s just going to cost a little bit more this year. if you can�*t say it with flowers, why not say it with chocolate instead ? this award—winning belgian chocolatier has all kinds of flavours on offer. translation: for valentine's day, i made different - types of hearts. there�*s a caramel and sea salt, which is a must—have. aside from that, i made a raspberry coulis and another heart — passionfruit and apricot smoothie. although the proof of the pudding is usually in the eating, some have other things in mind. "it can spice up relationships," says this woman. "it�*s possible to put it on the body. "you can eat it, especially

if it contains an aphrodisiac. "i think it goes well with love." but what if your romantic situation is currently a little sub—optimal? well, here at this conservation centre in the uk, you can name one of these cockroaches after an ex — proof not every love story has a happy ending. there we go! tim allman, bbc news. the first aardvark to be born in a zoo in the english town of chester has been given a very appropriate name. this is dobby the baby aardvark, so—called because of his resemblance to the character in the harry potter books. he is currently being fed every few hours through the night and will be for the next five weeks to help him gain strength. very cute. that�*s just about it from us. you can reach me on twitter. i�*m @sipusey. and there is more news on our

website. but for me and the rest of the team, thank you very much for watching. please stay tuned to bbc world news. hello there. during friday afternoon, you might�*ve noticed that we had a lot of high cloud moving in across our skies — high cloud that was picked up by the setting sun here in nottinghamshire to give a fine end to the day. but this cloud was the first signs of an approaching weather system that will be bringing wet and windy weather our way this weekend. choose your moments wisely and there will be some windows of drier and brighter weather to be found. now, on the satellite picture, this is our area of low pressure that�*s moving in to bring that wet and windy spell — notjust for saturday, but there�*s another dollop waiting in the wings for sunday as well. all the while, fairly tightly packed isobars, with the winds coming in from a south—westerly direction. it will continue to be on the mild side for february. now, right now, we�*re seeing the rain affecting western areas.

we did have a frost earlier in the night but as the winds continued to pick up, most of that lifted out of the way. and heading into the first part of saturday morning, these are your temperatures — around 3—8 degrees. now, it is going to be quite a wet day for some of you and, broadly speaking, the weather slices and dices into three zones. we�*ve got this area of fairly heavy, persistent rain working in particularly to wales and northern england, where it�*s not going to be the greatest of days weather—wise. scotland and northern ireland — quite a bit of cloud, a few bright spells, but there will be showers here. it�*s across east anglia, south—east england and the south—east midlands that you�*ve got the best chance of just about staying dry, but it will be breezy and there will be some high cloud around, so bright for much of the day rather than sunny. temperatures are about 8—10 degrees, so a bit milder than friday. there will be some rain around as well through saturday night, but the next zone of rain really coming in quickly as we go through sunday with some strong winds. now, we�*re looking probably at gales developing towards the south coast of england as this area of rain extends all the way towards parts of scotland, although perhaps not

reaching the far north. it may well stay bright here through much of sunday, with just a few showers around, particularly for shetland and orkney. a mild day for the time of year, though. highs of 8—11 degrees celsius. now, looking beyond this weekend and into next week, the atlantic stays pretty lively. we�*ll see further weather systems coming in from the west, bringing rain or showers, so it is going to stay pretty unsettled. and so far, this february has been pretty mild. well, that theme�*s set to continue as well in the week ahead, the temperatures at times reaching around 14 or 15 degrees.

of the famine.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the white house says russia has got the troops in place to attack ukraine at any time — and urges all us citizens to leave the country within the next 48 hours. other countries have also advised their nationals to leave — including britain, the netherlands, japan and south korea. an injunction has come into force in the canadian province of ontario, to end days of protests at a major crossing with the us. but large numbers of people are reported to be still at the ambassador bridge, despite a court asking them to clear the area. britain�*s prime minister borisjohnson has received a legal questionnaire from the metropolitan police as part of their investigations into a number of parties held in his downing street residence and other government venues during coronavirus lockdowns. a spokesperson said that mrjohnson would respond as required. now on bbc news, it�*s

time for the travel show with rajan datar.