this is bbc news. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. more countries are urging their citizens to leave ukraine immediately. the us warns that russia could invade within days. the uk's ministerfor armed forces says the situation is escalating. this risk escalating in a way that is really quite terrifying. this is the largest concentration of troops on the european continent in 70 years. the uk prime minister boris johnson receives a legal questionnaire from police investigating lockdown parties at downing street and whitehall. large numbers of people have defied an injunction against the protests in the canadian province of ontario. police have intercepted hundreds of vehicles trying to enter paris as part of a protest against france's coronavirus regulations.

an emotional trip home for chagos islanders, exiled by britain 50 years ago — their return highlighting the territorial dispute between mauritius and the uk. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. president biden is to speak to vladimir putin by phone after the united states warned a russian invasion of ukraine could come "at any time". the us secretary of state says america are prepared either way if russia chooses diplomacy or aggression. moscow has repeatedly denied planning to invade. the british and us governments have called for their citizens to leave ukraine immediately.

in the past hour, the us has urged its non—emergency staff at its embassy in kyiv to leave. germany has become the latest country to join the us and uk, urging citizens to leave, along with australia, canada and the netherlands. and russia has confirmed that it has reduced the number of staff at its embassy in kyiv as more diplomatic efforts are made to prevent war in ukraine. with the latest, here's our north american editor sarah smith. the russians are not trying to camouflage these military exercises that 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 says 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 leadersjoined a call convened by president biden, along with nato chief jens 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. america is wanting 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 another, we're in a very different world than we've ever been in. not even on behalf of simply evacuating americans? how do you do that? how do you even find them? "things could go crazy very quickly." that is how president biden put it when he repeated his warning to all american citizens to leave ukraine.

the administration is also withdrawing all officials from the country, and that is 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, 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 as the white house warns a conflict they think could begin any day now would bring enormous human cost. sarah smith, bbc news.

speaking on a visit to fiji, the us secretary of state anthony blinken said he was planning to hold talks with his russian counterpart sergei lavrov later today. he said the us was prepared either way if russia chooses diplomacy or aggression. we and our allies have made it crystal clear to moscow. if president putin decides to take military action, we will swiftly impose severe economic sanctions in coordination with allies and partners around the globe. we will reinforce our allies on the eastern front. i speak to the russian minister later and i will make it clear, as i have consistently, that if russia is generally interested in resolving this own crisis of its own making through diplomacy and dialogue, we are prepared to do that. in fact, that our preferred

tactic and that's the right and responsible thing to do. but, it must take place in the context of de—escalation. so far, we have only seen escalation from moscow. i've been speaking to the armed forces minister, james heappey, and asked him if conflict is imminent. i think there is a grave possibility, and the reason we have seen such a shift in messaging from western governments to their citizens in ukraine in the last 2a hours is that the russian troop build—up has now reached such a point that with no notice, it is possible that an attack could be launched, and the complexity of the weapon systems that are in or on the borders of ukraine, artillery, missile systems, combat air, means that those strikes could be deep into ukraine. that's not to say there isn't an opportunity for diplomacy to win through, but our responsibility as governments is to be very clear that now, with no notice, deadly attacks could be launched and people should leave immediately.

is there a danger of this ratcheting up the tension and may be stoking the path to conflict? russia says claims that an invasion is imminent are dangerous lies. well, there are two ways of answering this. firstly, if russia wanted to reassure that that weren't the case, it could stop sending troops to the border of ukraine, and yet even as we speak more continue to flow forwards. there's now over 130,000 troops around the land borders of ukraine, with thousands more at sea and amphibious shipping in the black sea. but then, at the same time, there is a sort of balance of responsibility. there is responsibility to uk citizens who may be in ukraine. we need to be clear with them what the dangers are and tell them to leave. but that is us planning for the worst. of course, we also continue to hope for the best, and ben wallace was in moscow yesterday and i think he had a very frank but constructive conversation, and both sides have to believe

that we are listening to each other and believing each other if talks are to proceed, and over the weekend and the first part of next week, there will be a lot of people trying to have those conversations. that is the only way we can come out of this conflict, and i hope that it works. just in terms of british citizens in ukraine, what happened in afghanistan was not very long ago, and obviously that presumably will be informing decisions that are being taken around when a warning goes to citizens to leave, and what might happen if they then become trapped in the event of conflict. what would happen if uk citizens are stuck, if there is a conflict? president biden has said american troops would not go in to take out american citizens. you are right to raise that. the concern, i think that many of us have in government, both in london and in washington, is that travel advice from many countries, for afghanistan changed in april,

and four months later when kabul fell, there were still thousands of people in kabul who had ignored the travel advice. but they didn't have, there was no air war going on, so kabul airspace was permissive and we were able to do what we did. this is a totally different thing. firstly, travel advice changes because it needs to change. the threat is imminent, people need to leave immediately. secondly, if there are fighterjets, artillery shells and missiles flying backwards and forwards in the airspace over ukraine, it will be impossible for any sort of military mission like the one people saw in the summer. people need to leave now by whatever means they can, and whilst commercial air is still available. the british embassy in kyiv remains staffed, does it? unlike the american embassy. well, the embassy has adopted the approach to posture,

—— appropriate posture. but my approach of planning for the worst, but hoping for the best and keeping diplomatic channels open in order to have a meaningful engagement, you need the trilateral engagement with the ukrainians, russians and our allies in the west, so i think the foreign office are brave but right to calibrate what remains in ukraine so that we can continue to play a part in diplomacy. but at the same time, that shouldn't mean to anybody watching in ukraine today that they should think of that as reassurance. they should heed my advice, heed what they have heard from government and leave now. harry lee is a teacher from the uk and lives in kharkiv in eastern ukraine, just a0 miles from the russian border. i asked him if he has any plans to leave the country. no. at the moment i have no immediate plans to be leaving ukraine. as the gentleman in kyic said, life has been continuing largely as normal. there's been no signs of any panic, there's been no signs of any stock buying things, whereas in england, toilet

paper and water bottles would be out of stock. here, life is continuing. you know, you're getting text messages every day inviting people to football matches etc. at the moment, life is continuing as it normally does here. how do you feel about the fact that there are russian troops stationed very close to where you are? i think they are probably less than a two—hour drive, if they do cross that border. things could change quickly. yes, so obviously there is that risk, and since i've been in ukraine it's always been a concern for people close to me, family and friends, that before the escalation now, it has always been so close to russia. but no, i don't think in that perspective, obviously, two hours is very little time, and i do have a kind of plan, should something go wrong, basically. but it's not something that is playing on my mind, whether i was in kyiv or here. what would be your plan, because presumably if the idea

were to leave ukraine, the obvious way would be to go to russia, but you might find yourself heading into the path of oncoming russian troops, were that to happen. absolutely, so the plan would be to go west or south—west, heading towards the borders with romania, moldova, bulgaria, or down to the south towards turkey, avoiding certain regions. what are the options for travel? when i was talking to james just a moment ago, he said leave now while there are still commercial flights, for instance. is it clear what transport would be available in the event of there suddenly being an invasion? yes, we have got access to vehicles — cars etc. whether or not public transport such as trains or domestic flights continue, i don't know. but cars are a viable option.

so we just heard that germany's foreign ministry is now urging its citizens to leave ukraine, unless remaining in the country is absolutely necessary. so there is now a long list of countries who are saying their citizens must get out. united states, united kingdom, australia, canada, japan, latvia, netherlands, and now germany. do you think they have all got it wrong? i don't think anyone has got anything wrong, and i'm not going to speculate in this whole situation who is right and who is wrong, but i think the government had to take that response because if something does happen, and i'm not saying there is no chance, there is a chance something could happen, but they need to have that prediction in place beforehand, so that if something did happen, there's not a massive situation where there are large numbers of citizens stranded in ukraine. so i think the action they have taken is probable justifiable, to advise people to leave. but i think, without oversimplifying

it, i think this whole situation is the sort of thing you have at a football match when two players go head—to—head — they push, they shout, but eventually the referee separates it. i think it is going to come, maybe eventually, but i think it will come to that. but they have to take this precaution. what would be the trigger for you to move? invasion. a simple military invasion. if bombing started, or if there was soldiers crossing the border, we would get up and leave and head towards the west. thank you very much forjoining us. zhanna bezpiatchuk is from bbc ukrainian we've heard that life is continuing as normal in the cities — does that remain the case? what i hear from the people what i hearfrom the people in ukraine are that there are no signs of panic, not in kyiv or anywhere. but on the other hand, many people, especially people that have small

kids, older parents, disabled relatives, they are worried. they started developing individual action plans in the event of a war. for example, one of my friends yesterday told me that she is going to move to her parents house in the west of ukraine if kyiv is attacked from the air. ukrainian also started considering a very particular possible scenario, and what to do in that particular scenario with their own lives. this is important, but overall, you know, to explain to you how people feel in ukraine in this situation i can give you a simple comparison. imagine that somebody has a very aggressive neighbour, and this neighbour comes very close to your house, comes very close to you and says, you know, i need to exercise my gun in front of your house, but i will do it next to your

fence outside, so i won't cross the borders of your property. so this is exactly what is happening now with belarus and russia, they carry out massive military exercises, drills, in belarus and the black sea. for the moment, the black sea that ukraine has access to, is partly blocked by russia, by the russian warships from three different directions. they are going to fire missiles very close to the seaside towns of the ukraine. the other point is that it is not a speculation any more that kyiv, the capital of the country, can be from the air. and it makes many, many ukrainians worry more and more about this situation, but overall, what i also want to stress is that

ukrainians are meeting all these challenges with dignity and resilience. there is no panic in the country and it is really amazing. 50 country and it is really amazing. so from what you are saying, it's a situation that has been lived with for some time, said the perspective is, well, we will sit tight until something actually happens. does that mean then that life is continuing pretty much as normal around the country?— continuing pretty much as normal around the country? yes, exactly. that is the — around the country? yes, exactly. that is the point. _ around the country? yes, exactly. that is the point. i _ around the country? yes, exactly. that is the point. i hear _ around the country? yes, exactly. that is the point. i hear from - around the country? yes, exactly. that is the point. i hear from my i that is the point. i hearfrom my colleagues, friends, my family that nobody is going to canceljob interviews, for example, or meetings, or celebrations of birthdays within the next week. so people are really getting on with their normal lifestyles. one in—depth reason for this is that the ukrainian nation used to live under pressure of the war because the local regional war is already in the ukraine �*s territory, it has been

going on for eight years. eight years in eastern ukraine. i have to explain this, the war between ukrainian army on the one hand and the russian backed separatists. these separatists are supported by russian military, and russia also supplied money, funding for them etc, and some former or even acting russian officers were involved in the command of these military operations in eastern ukraine. so, for ukrainians on the one hand, this whole situation is not new. and for them, it looks like europe, the west just now recognised fully the danger of this or and the danger of the russian politics, the russian ideology. for ukrainians, it is not

new, it looks like the russian leaders wanted to restore the russian empire with ukraine as part of this new political project. thank of this new political pro'ect. thank ou ve of this new political pro'ect. thank you very much. h the british prime minister borisjohnson has received a questionnaire from the metropolitan police as part of the inquiry into parties at downing street and whitehall during the covid lockdowns. number 10 confirmed that the prime minister had been contacted by the police and said he would "respond as required". police are sending the questionnaire by email to more than 50 people. the met has said the questionnaires will ask what happened and "must be answered truthfully". our political correspondent matt cole has more on the police questionnaire. the prime minister is around one of 50 people getting one of these e—mails, but downing street say they will not go into details about who else has got one. there have been questions about whether the prime minister's wife carriejohnson has received one, but downing street says there is public interest in giving us

details about the prime minister and they will not start engaging in other details on who else may have one. from the moment of receiving one of these, the recipients have seven days to answer them, and they have to do that truthfully. the document filling in is to be considered equivalent to being questioned under a police caution, although, of course, is not the same as being in a room full of police officers bombarding you with questions. but it is a serious document and it has to be done truthfully, and it has to be back within seven days. of course, the fact that one of these has been given to the prime minister doesn't mean to say that he is going to be found guilty of wrongdoing. it doesn't mean to say that he is going to be issued with a fixed penalty notice. but, of course, the political jeopardy is there. should he be facing a fine... some of his supporters say he can carry on, but others, particularly a lot of conservatives, are not so sure that's the case and his position could be deeply under threat if this is where this ends. but there is a bit of time to run yet. president macron has appealed for calm as the so—called freedom convoy arrives in paris.

thousands of drivers are arriving in the capital to blockade major roads in protest at france's continuing covid restrictions. police have set up checkpoints at exits from the paris ring road and have been stopping cars that look like they are occupied by protesters. the demonstrators say they are inspired by a blockade by truckers on the us—canada border. earlier i spoke to anne elizabeth moutet about how the public feel about the movement. there is an element of support in france, not everywhere, but it is a kind of a revival of those demonstrations that we knew about three years ago before covid, and that convergence with other regions in which, you know, the cost of living going up fast, is also taken into account. general discontent, and the fact that it looks like this election is going to be once again a rerun of five years ago. we are having the presidential election in

two rounds on the tenth and 24th of april, and as it is, president macron is highest on the polls, even though he doesn't have a majority for the first round, but he does in the second. there is a feeling of helplessness, i think, the second. there is a feeling of helplessness, ithink, that the second. there is a feeling of helplessness, i think, that has sparked these movements. there is what happened in canada, which inspired people. you have facebook groups, the largest one has got 250,000 members, and this is how they organised. 250,000 members, and this is how they organised-— they organised. what is the latest on where the _ they organised. what is the latest on where the restrictions - they organised. what is the latest on where the restrictions are - they organised. what is the latest on where the restrictions are in i on where the restrictions are in france, and the issue of compulsory vaccination, and where that might 90, vaccination, and where that might go, how long there might be to run on it? of course, in the uk, we are seeing the restrictions potentially in the next couple of weeks potentially all about to go completely. this potentially all about to go completely-— potentially all about to go comletel . �* , , ., completely. as it is, we have chan . ed completely. as it is, we have changed the _ completely. as it is, we have changed the covid _ completely. as it is, we have changed the covid pass - completely. as it is, we have changed the covid pass to . completely. as it is, we have changed the covid pass to a i completely. as it is, we have - changed the covid pass to a vaccine pass, which means that you having had covid does not count any more. you having a negative test doesn't

count any more. you need to have been vaccinated. it was very much expressed by the authorities that this is something to push people being vaccinated. an injunction has come into force in the canadian province of ontario, to end days of protests at a major crossing with the us. large numbers of people are reported to still remain 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. jessica murphy reports. freedom! in the canadian province of ontario a state of emergency has been declared after a court injunction to clear the ambassador bridge. it's a vital trade link between the us and canada that has been blocked for days. they are hoping to wake everybody up and i think we have done a lot in the last five days here. it's unclear if or when police will move in to end the blockade but protestors voted on friday to stay. so we have option one, leave our cars here and park them, get out, stand in front of the intersection and lock arms, no—one is going nowhere.

at a press conference, called to address the crisis, and facing pressure from the us, prime ministerjustin trudeau said the border blockade is to end. president biden and i agree that for the security of people in the economy, these blockades cannot continue. so, make no mistake, the border cannot and will not remain closed. most truckers are vaccinated and still working their routes, but the chaos is causing supply chain shortages on both sides of the border and disrupting the auto industry. you are doing it for yourselves. meanwhile anti—vaccine mandate protests are entering their third week in the national capital. supporters have descended on ottawa at the weekend and protesters are still dug in. the government says everything is on the table to wind down the demonstrations but with no immediate strategy, it remains to be seen how the protests will end. a new campaign aimed at saving thousands of lives by highlighting

the early signs of a heart attack, is being launched by nhs england. among the symptoms doctors say people should look out for are sweating, uneasiness and chest tightness, as jon donnison reports. a new tv advert urging people to look out for the early signs of a heart attack. a feeling of unease. but a poll of 2000 people carried out for the launch of this nhs campaign found that fewer than half those asked knew to dial 999 if they or a loved one were experiencing some of the more vague symptoms, such as sweating, light—headedness, or feeling weak or uneasy. if people are suffering a heart attack, the earlier they call for help, the better. there is a phrase among cardiologists which is, "time is muscle." the longer you leave things, the more likely people are to suffer from a bigger heart attack which is likely to have a greater impact in their life going forward. so the sooner they call for help, the better.

nhs figures bear that out. each year in england there are more than 80,000 hospital admissions for heart attacks. the overall survival rate is around 7 out of 10 people. that rises to 9 out of 10 people for those who seek early hospital treatment. the doctors behind this new campaign say that a heart attack is always a medical emergency, and that it is never too early to call 999 and seek advice. jon donnison, bbc news. a boat sent by the government of mauritius has arrived in the disputed chagos archipelago in the indian ocean. the united nations' highest court has ruled that britain's occupation of the islands is illegal, but britain has refused to hand control to mauritius. mauritian officials are expected to raise the nationalflag on at least two of the islands

andrew harding joins us now live from the archipelago. he was on the boat travelling to chagos and has now arrived. so, andrew, what does the reaction from the people who are on the boat with you when they arrived there? bier? you when they arrived there? very emotional- — you when they arrived there? very emotional. five _ you when they arrived there? very emotional. five people _ you when they arrived there? - emotional. five people who have come back to this island, they were kicked off essentially by britain 50 years ago. they worked, they dropped to their knees and kissed the sound of the beach behind me. since then, they have gone to inspect some of they have gone to inspect some of the ruins of their old homes on this extraordinary island, on which nobody has been to in these past decades. strict controls from britain about who could actually get there, until mauritius made this very bold move, to send its own boat

without securing permission from britain, simply going ahead and coming here. as you can see behind me, the mauritian officials are busy putting in a concrete base for a flagpole, and then they will raise the mauritian flag over this island, as on a couple of other reefs and islands in the coming days. a really very defiant, bold move by mauritius that says look, international law is on our side. only five other countries in the whole world now support britain �*s claim to the chagos islands. it is time, officials here are saying, for britain to accept international justice and hand the islands back to mauritius, back to the people of chagos. sadly, there are many in mauritius desperate to come back and stay here. in britain, they are divided, many of them supporting britain in its claim to the islands. so, has there been any reaction from britain to this? hat

so, has there been any reaction from britain to this?— britain to this? not that i'm aware of in the last— britain to this? not that i'm aware of in the last few _ britain to this? not that i'm aware of in the last few hours. _ britain to this? not that i'm aware of in the last few hours. i've - britain to this? not that i'm aware of in the last few hours. i've very i of in the last few hours. i've very busy on the island here. britain is aware of this trip. they will say, they say they will not try to obstruct it. and america have made no move to obstruct the trip. so, i think britain �*s position is that they still claim sovereignty over they still claim sovereignty over the islands, but there are, i think, suggestions, hopeful and optimistic suggestions, hopeful and optimistic suggestions from lawyers here, they think that britain may be starting to move towards a position where they may try and cut a deal. tell us more about — they may try and cut a deal. tell us more about the _ they may try and cut a deal. tell us more about the history. _ they may try and cut a deal. tell us more about the history. what - they may try and cut a deal. tell us more about the history. what is - they may try and cut a deal. tell us| more about the history. what is the basis of written �*s claim to the islands, and what was the basis of the legal case against britain?

briton was negotiating to put a and air base on diego garcia and immersion government was then told it could not have independence which it could not have independence which it one —— great britain was negotiating. it one -- great britain was negotiating-— it one -- great britain was negotiating. it one -- great britain was neuaotiatin. , , ., ., negotiating. unless it gave over the chaos negotiating. unless it gave over the chagos islands _ negotiating. unless it gave over the chagos islands to _ negotiating. unless it gave over the chagos islands to britain. _ negotiating. unless it gave over the chagos islands to britain. the - chagos islands to britain. the britons call that blackmail but they agreed and ireland was cleared of the inhabitants in one of them is just walking past me here. he has been very emotional today. leading the to go see a delegation here and they were cleaned off the island, just give me a few days to clear their belongings because the british felt that the islands were empty, uninhabited, it wasn't such a big dealfor them to split uninhabited, it wasn't such a big deal for them to split up their colony and only give part of it independence, the key part of it, but a succession of un courts have ruled that that was wrong at that britain has never really enjoyed sovereignty and the chagos islands

and that they