this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. ukraine holds a day of national unity against the threat of russian invasion. president putin claims some troops have been withdrawn from the border — but doubts remain if russia attacks ukraine they will be met with overwhelming international condemnation. the world will not forget that russia chose needless death and destruction. settled out of court with no admission of liability — prince andrew reaches a deal with virginia giuffre who accused him of sexual assault. the american author and satirist, pj o'rourke has died at the age of 7a.

winter storms have already felled around 8 million trees and storm dudley is forecast to batter scotland, the north of england and northern ireland today. hello and welcome. ukraine's president, volodymyr zelenskiy, has called on ukrainians to fly the national flag and sing the country's anthem in a �*day of unity�*, against the threat of a russian invasion. western intelligence agencies had claimed a russian attack on ukraine could take place this day — wednesday 16th february — but on tuesday, some russian forces began to withdraw from the region.

president biden, however, says a russian invasion remained "a distinct possibility." we have not yet verified the russian military units are returning to their home bases. indeed, our analysts indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position and the fact remains, right now russia has more than 150,000 troops encircling ukraine and belarus and along ukraine's border. an invasion remains distinctly possible. more us troops meanwhile have departed for eastern europe. these infantry took off from fort bragg in texas heading for poland — as part of 3,000 troops president biden ordered to bolster nato defences. russia says it has security concerns around nato — and wants them addressed. but president putin talked down the prospect of war. translation: of course we don't want it and - this is exactly why we put forward the proposal to start the negotiation process.

where the result should be an agreement of ensuring equal security of everyone, including our country. unfortunately, there was no constructive response to this proposal. amid the international warnings of a russian invasion, there's no obvious sign of panic in eastern ukraine, where many are already weary of war. a conflict — still being fought — between russian—backed separatists and the ukrainian government has claimed more than 14,000 lives in the east, since 2014. our international correspondent, 0rla guerin, reports from the strategic port city of mariupol, just 30 miles from ukraine's border, with russia. history looms large over mariupol. the soviet past carved in stone. moscow hankers for the dominance it lost. but ukraine has moved on and

says there is no going back. at the supermarket tills today, business as usual. no empty shelves, no panic buying, not what you might expect given all the talk of invasion. tatiana has seen a lot in her 7a years. she doesn't buy it. "the invasion isjust in our heads," she told me. "nobody is going to invade, not everyone is a fool. "nobody will attack their brothers." perhaps, but their slavic brothers remain within striking distance, just 30 miles up this road. it's now a dead zone because pro—moscow rebels have been at war with ukrainian troops for the past eight years.

up ahead is territory controlled by russian backed separatists and then the border with russia itself, where the road is almost empty today, no sign of trouble on the horizon, but russia's pressure on ukraine is a long—term project, and here in the east, plenty of damage has already been done. and year by year, it is handed on. this is the baptism of a four—month—old baby into the ukrainian orthodox church. his family lost everything in 2015 — when pro—moscow separatists took their city. they are internally displaced like one and a half million others. now they live in mariupol in this rundown building. three generations crammed into two rooms.

mhatve�*s grandmother, elena, tells me they had a good life before the war with a home of their own. then shelling forced them to flee. "we left our house and jobs" she says, "and we moved." now she fears that may happen again. nearby, another indelible mark left by war. a mural of a little girl orphaned in 2015, her mother died shielding herfrom shelling. 0rla guerin, bbc news. let's speak to steven pifer — a former us ambassador to ukraine, and is currently williamj perry research fellow at stanford's center for international security and cooperation.

from your perspective, can we trust a so—called russian? we trust a so-called russian? we have to see — trust a so—called russian? - have to see more evidence that russian troops are actually leaving. what i saw is that they are talking about relocating back to rostov, that still leaves russian forces quite close to your crane. what i would want to see as russian forces in belarus, which came from siberia, the far east, they have come 4000 or 5000 miles, going home. do the russians take the amphibious ships in the black sea, originally from the baltic region, do they begin going back home? i think those would be much more definitive indicators.— be much more definitive indicators. ~ ., ~' indicators. where do you think we are not _ indicators. where do you think we are not given _ indicators. where do you think we are not given what - indicators. where do you think we are not given what has - we are not given what has happened in the last 24 hours? we saw the press conference with president putin, he says he does not want to be at war with europe and yet since then, president biden stating very clearly that that is what could happen at any moment. i think

president _ happen at any moment. i think president biden _ happen at any moment. i think president biden reflects - happen at any moment. i think president biden reflects an - president biden reflects an american assessment that there still is a significant risk of a russian military attack on ukraine, bear in mind, they help 150,000 trips around ukraine, they can withdraw some and still have a substantial capability for military operations against ukraine but having said that, i think there is reason to be a bit more optimistic. 0n is reason to be a bit more optimistic. on monday, the russians let the door ajar for diplomacy, they seem to have opened it up a little bit more yesterday. and the idea that perhaps there could now be a dialogue on the sorts of arms control and risk reduction measures that the united states and nato are prepared to engage in but we still have to see. what do you think the calculation is from president putin? i calculation is from president putin? ., calculation is from president putin? . ., , putin? i am not sure i understand _ putin? i am not sure i understand his - putin? i am not sure i - understand his calculation. bearin understand his calculation. bear in mind, rush is concerned, the kremlin is concerned, the kremlin is concerned that ukraine are slipping out of its orbit. but what it has done more than

anything to push ukraine away from russia, is the putin policy of the last eight years, the seizure of crimea and the use of military force to donbas which has claimed 14,000 live so i think it's calculations sometimes are not quite correct. when looking at what we have seen over the last couple of months, my guess is he has been surprised first of all that there has not been any movement in kyiv and that the western response, the united states and europe, has probably been stronger than he anticipated. to been stronger than he anticipated.— been stronger than he antici ated. ., ., been stronger than he antici ated. ., . ., anticipated. to what extent are ou anticipated. to what extent are you concerned _ anticipated. to what extent are you concerned about _ anticipated. to what extent are you concerned about the - anticipated. to what extent are | you concerned about the hidden war, for example, we saw some banks in ukraine yesterday attacked, we saw hacking attacks, cyber warfare, attacked, we saw hacking attacks, cyberwarfare, russia, attacks, cyber warfare, russia, of attacks, cyberwarfare, russia, of course, we do not know if it is russia but there is real concern about that risk? find concern about that risk? and there should _ concern about that risk? and there should be. _ concern about that risk? fific there should be. even if concern about that risk? fific there should be. even if the russians fully withdraw their forces back to their home

garrisons and this current military crisis passes, it does not mean that the kremlin is going to abandon or try to yank ukraine back into the russian orbit. it could mean hybrid techniques such as cyber, could mean efforts to sew and widen division missing ukraine. the russian game is not yet over. but hopefully, we are passing this more dangerous phase where the russians could and could still use military force but it would be good to get that behind us.— behind us. thank you for speaking _ behind us. thank you for speaking to _ behind us. thank you for speaking to us. - behind us. thank you for speaking to us. former i behind us. thank you for i speaking to us. former us ambassador to the ukraine. so much more detail on this story on the website. but also in our business coverage in 20 minutes, i will be speaking to an expert in the whole area of cyber security. an expert in the whole area of cybersecurity. looking an expert in the whole area of cyber security. looking at the risks that process. questions are being asked about whether prince andrew will have a role in public life after he settled a civil sexual assault case brought against him in the us

by virginia giuffre. ms giuffre had accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 — which the duke has repeatedly denied. in the agreement, he accepts ms giuffre suffered as a "victim of abuse,". no details of the pay—out have been made. here's our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. for all the show of public defiance that he was determined to fight the case in court, it was always thought by lawyers and others that he would have to settle out of court and that's exactly what andrew has now done. without, importantly for him, any admission of liability, over virginia giuffre's central assertion against andrew of sexual assault, but with the promise of a substantial donation to ms giuffre's charity in support of victims�* rights. a statement filed to the civil court in new york said...

the statement contrasts sharply with andrew's newsnight interview, when he expressed no sympathy for epstein's victims, and said he had no regrets about his friendship with epstein. do you regret the whole friendship with epstein? now, still not, and the reason being is that the people that i met, and the opportunities that i was given to learn — either by him or because of him — were actually very useful. for andrew, it was vital in the settlement not

to admit any liability — for virginia giuffre, to have had her ordeal at the hands ofjeffrey epstein to be fully recognised. this is a monumental winforvirginia. i think this was very important to her. she got a number of positive statements about her that prince andrew had to acknowledge. there's nothing positive about prince andrew that she had to acknowledge in this statement. so that's important. and she's getting surely many millions of pounds donated to her charity to help other victims of sexual abuse. buckingham palace has offered no comment, but one thing is certain — this out—of—court settlement will be a huge relief to the royal family. the prospect of a court case hanging over the queen's platinum jubilee was not one they relished, to put it mildly. i think for the royal family this was really the only decision prince andrew could have taken. this will save months of embarrassing revelations coming out and spoiling the queen's platinum

jubilee year. quite what andrew's future is now is unclear. in the court statement, he says he will work to support the fight against the evils of sex trafficking. nicholas witchell, bbc news. the us writer and satirist pj 0'rourke has died at the age of 74. best known for books including republican party reptile, eat the rich, and give war a chance — written in a style that combined conservative and libertarian ideas with the so—called gonzo journalism of the 1960s. a specific cause of his death has not been revealed but his publisher said mr 0'rourke had been ill in recent months. pj 0'rourke was one of the most prolific and one of the most widely quoted american writers. 0ften defined as a political satirist, if you like, but his work went well beyond the political. indeed, he wrote more

than 20 books on subjects as diverse as politics, economics, etiquette, cars and so on. he was a hippie in the 60s and he started working on underground newspapers and magazines before making his way to national lampoon which in the 1970s here in america was a very influential humour magazine. from there, he went on to write for publications such as rolling stone and the atlantic monthly. and as you mentioned, his work was once likened to and i quote here, a cross between the hedonism of hunter s thompson and the patrician mockery of tom wolfe. he was a conservative republican, of course, he once said, "god is a republican, santa claus is a democrat" but in 2016, he announced that he would not be voting, he would be voting for hillary clinton, not donald trump, having said of hillary clinton, she is wrong about absolutely

everything but she is wrong within normal parameters. that was seen as somewhat of a criticism of donald trump, her opponent, whom pj 0'rourke regarded as unstable. but throughout his career, his chief target was self—importance, whether it was his own or other people's and indeed that won him support from both sides of the political divide. he was working, it is said, on a book, prior to his death, about the united states viewed from his hometown of toledo in 0hio, that is a place he once called one of the junkyards of american capitalism. that was david willis, or north america correspondent. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: thousands of private photos of women have been shared on the social media app telegram, without their consent.

nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home — the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect for the morale of the people. i'm terrified of the repercussions in the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got under way, there was no let—up in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flow down to the sea on the east of the island, away from the town for the time being. it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded - their new—generation space station with a spectacular night launch. _ they've called it mir — l the russian for "peace".

this is bbc news, the latest headlines... diplomacy continues over the crisis in ukraine and president putin claims some troops have been withdrawn from the border, but doubts remain over russia's intentions. settled out of court with no admission of liability — prince andrew reaches a deal with virginia giuffre, who accused him of sexual assault. an investigation by the bbc�*s global disinformation team has found that thousands of private photos of women are being shared, without their consent, on the social media app telegram. the app now has more than 500 million users worldwide. the investigation found nude pictures shared in telegram channels in more than 20 countries, despite the platform's claims that it moderates public spaces and removes illegal pornography. this story has some

some sexual content. sara is from havana, cuba's capital city. she comes here to find calm ever since she found out that a nude photo she'd taken and shared with one other person had been posted on the social media app telegram. we've changed her name for her safety. she doesn't know for sure how it ended up in a group with 18,000 followers, many of whom are from her neighbourhood, and may all have seen her naked. translation: i saw super vulgar comments about how hot i was, l asking if there were more photos of me. sara reported the picture of her to telegram, but got no response. our investigation has found groups with pictures like sara's in more than 20 countries shared with tens of thousands of people on telegram, and there's very little these women can do about it.

nigar is from azerbaijan, but she now lives in exile. her brother has a youtube channel where he openly criticises azerbaijan's president. that made nigar a target. translation: my mum started crying and told me there - is a video, it was sent to me. i was devastated. absolutely devastated. the videos showed nigar and her husband having sex. they were posted in a telegram group with over 40,000 members. she says she was secretly filmed to blackmail her brother. the group that posted footage of nigar has since been shut down. but this kind of action from the platform is rare, as we found out for ourselves. we reported 100 images as porn to telegram. one month later, 96

images were still there. telegram did not agree to an interview, and their statement didn't refer to ourfindings. they insist they have teams who proactively monitor public spaces. but as the platform continues to grow, there are fears that more women could be targeted and their bodies and lives exposed. hannah gelbart, bbc news. and you can watch a longer version of this investigation on the bbc news youtube channel. the family of a woman who was shot dead on a film set in the us are suing the actor, alec baldwin, and the movie's other producers for wrongful death. last october, baldwin was pointing a gun at halayna hutchins when it went off; he says he never pulled the trigger. the lawsuit, filed on behalf of ms hutchins' husband and son, says the makers of the film, �*rust�* didn't carry out proper safety checks.

a criminal investigation into the cinematographer�*s killing is continuing. it's time to batten down the hatches again if you live in scotland, or parts of northen england and northern ireland. storm dudley will arrive today — which is just the latest in a series of storms to cause havoc and a huge amount of damage, including eight million felled trees. our environment correspondent claire marshall has been to meet some of those trying to pick up the pieces. the met office has issued a rare red weather warning. some very strong winds, particularly affecting coastal areas. conditions really are brutal — there's driving rain, - dropping temperatures and winds that are forecast to _ potentially gust to up to 90 miles an hour. i it's relentless. one winter storm after another blasting the landscape. millions of trees have been brought down. the northeast of england has been hit really hard. at great knott here in cumbria,

which is one of our larger woods, we've lost over a third of the woodland. this is the heart of the lake district. that's the tree up there. kelvin archer manages the woodland trust's forests in the north of england. it's a big oak, isn't it? it's a real shame it's gone. he spends most of his time now assessing damage — his dog always with him. predominantly, this normally happens in scotland, which this year has been hit horrendously hard by the storms. it doesn't normally come down this far. we had the beast from the east a few years ago that did hit us here, but this last couple of years we've been hit again and again. northeast is starting to look a bit like scotland for wind blow and wind damage and storm damage, and now we're getting it over in cumbria. so there's a clear pattern of change. close to the shore of lake windermere, this is wray castle. there's clearing up happening here, too. the storms have cost the national trust around £4 million — the charity says already it's been the worst season for 40 years. it says that, in a huge blow to british heritage, many

iconic trees have been lost. so this is a national champion crested beech. it's a champion of britain and ireland because it's the biggest tree of that species in terms of girth. when you lose any big — really big, prominent tree, it's sad, and this one, particularly because it's been at wray castle for a long time. it's an important tree because it's the biggest, and to see it blown over is really sad. i think it's probably a douglas fir. richard takes us deep into the worst—hit area — it's still closed to the public. many of these trees have been weakened, and his team hasn't yet been able to make it safe. this is the kind of hidden damage that forest managers are really worried about. across the uk, there are hundreds of thousands of giant trees like this that have fallen. many of the felled trees can be sold for timber, but there are so many of them that they're likely to fetch a lower price. but storm damage can have its benefits.

bonnie waring is a senior lecturer at imperial college london. when a tree falls down, it creates a gap in the canopy that lets light through. that helps light—dependent species thrive, and the dead tree itself is a really important habitat for species that are of conservation concern. however, richard admits finding the scale of the restoration work ahead daunting and depressing. if you look at all the smashed tops of the trees, kind of reminds you a bit of those photos you see of a battlefield. i've never seen a battlefield, but the pictures you see, the trees sort of look like that. itjust looks like somebody�*s set off a bomb. and now storm dudley is on its way. the horizon is darkening once again. winter isn't over yet. can the survivors stay standing? claire marshall, bbc news, cumbria.

we have all the top business stories next. do not go away. see you in a moment. hello, there. it's going to be a stormy few days ahead. the first of two named storms arrives during wednesday, that is storm dudley. and ahead of dudley we have seen this stream of cloud pushing in on those stronger winds from the atlantic, bringing yet more rain across from the west. by the time we get to wednesday morning, most of that wetter weather is out of the way. still some wetness there across northern scotland, but away from here, it's a mild start, and there may be some early sunshine, but it will cloud over quickly. we've got the rain coming in from dudley, soon arriving in northern ireland, heavier more persistent rain here pushing into northern england and heading northwards into a good part of scotland. further south, perhaps not too much in the way of rain, but it will be turning milder, very mild in the southeast, temperatures here reaching 16—17 celsius.

as it gets milder, the winds are going to be strengthening across many parts of the country throughout the day. now, the main core of strongest winds is still where we have this amber wind warning from the met office. in this area, we are expecting gusts of around 70—80 mph perhaps, more likely to have some damage and disruption as well. now, the winds are picking up sooner because the storm is moving in rapidly. it's going to move away very quickly as well, leaving northern parts of scotland, taking some damaging winds into continental europe on thursday. so by the time we get to thursday morning, the winds won't be as strong. it's still going to be windy, butjust not as windy. there will be some sunshine during the day on thursday and some showers, and those showers could be of a wintry flavour in the hills in scotland because it's quite cold air here. temperatures in the southeast peaking at 12 celsius. the winds gradually ease down during thursday, but then we will see the winds really strengthening again in time for friday. that's when we see the next named storm arrive, this is storm eunice.

and the pressure is falling so rapidly, it's undergoing what we call explosive clyclogenesis. and it's likely to bring some potentially damaging and disruptive winds more widely towards the uk. not only some very windy conditions, we've also got the possibility of some snow and blizzards in the north. now, at the moment, that is perhaps more likely to be affecting scotland, perhaps the far north of england, but a lot depends on the track of the low. there is still some uncertainty, but it's likely that on friday we will see some more disruption more widely across the uk.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. global financial markets rally after russia says it's recalling some troops from the ukrainian border but president biden warns an attack �*is still a possibility�*. aianb cashes in on the reopening of international travel, by posting record profits and says its bookings are almost back to pre—pandemic levels. and it's national almond day. the nut industry has remained resiliant despite the the pandemic blues and proved to be a tough one to crack!