hello, you're watching bbc news — i'm rich preston. our top stories... the white house says russia's claim of withdrawing forces surrounding ukraine is false and that in fact it's sent in thousands more troops. heavy rains trigger landslides in brazil killing almost a hundred people — rescuers launch a desperate search for survivors. america's top covid advisor says it's time to inch back to normality, despite the risks that still remain from the virus. they are trying to balance the fact that the world and the united states and particularly certain parts of the united states are just up to here with covid, they just really need to somehow get their life back. and, more bad news for britain's royalfamily — police investigate one of prince charles' charities over cash for honours claims.

for the last couple of days, russia has been claiming its troops have been withdrawing from border areas near ukraine. the united states has now pushed back against that, with a white house official calling that claim "false". these pictures were released earlier by russia's defence ministry showing tanks on the move — along with a statement saying some troops were returning "as planned" to their garrisons. but the white house says russia has in fact increased its military presence along the ukrainian border — by as many as 7,000 troops. 0ur north america correspondent david willisjoins me now. david, what are we hearing from

the white house?— the white house? white house officials have _ the white house? white house officials have essentially - officials have essentially accused russian officials of lying when they said that troops were being moved back from the border although white house officials say that those claims are false. indeed, they say that when the last few days, as many as 7000 additional troops have been added along the ukrainian border and some of them as recently as today. now, those claims echo allegations made by the nato secretary general earlier today who made the point that instead of actively withdrawing troops, russia was accumulating them along the border with ukraine and white house officials have also said they are increasingly concerned about the possibility of so—called false flag operations by russia, whereby russian troops would carry out some sort of attack against their

own forces as a pretext for launching some sort of invasion into ukraine. white house officials say that in recent days there have been reports in the russian media of the discovery of unmarked graves of russian soldiers, the development of chemical and biological weapons by the us and ukraine and other such claims all of which they say are false, but there will be more to come, american officials believe, in the next few days, as russia seeks to sow confusion in this regard. strong words from the us, any sense of how the white house might proceed?— sense of how the white house might proceed? president biden said earlier _ might proceed? president biden said earlier this _ might proceed? president biden said earlier this week _ might proceed? president biden said earlier this week that - said earlier this week that there is still plenty of room for diplomacy, but with around 150,000 or so russian troops encircling ukraine, there is growing pessimism i think amongst senior white house

officials about the possibility officials about the possibility of a diplomatic solution, indeed today the us secretary of state antony blinken was quoted as saying that russia could pull the trigger at any time in regards to some sort of attack on ukraine. the europeans, the us have threatened to issue tough sanctions against russia in the case of any invasion, but all they can do for the time being is really wait and see what vladimir putin decides to do, whilst at the same time seeking to shore up the western alliance, the kind of unity if you like, today are not regard the white house announced that it was sending kamala harris to europe in the next few days to basically show allegiance with ukraine. . , basically show allegiance with ukraine. ~ , ., ukraine. david willis, our correspondent _ ukraine. david willis, our correspondent in - ukraine. david willis, our correspondent in la, - ukraine. david willis, our. correspondent in la, thank ukraine. david willis, our - correspondent in la, thank you for the update. meanwhile, on wednesday ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky, travelled across the country to rally his forces. the bbc�*s sarah rainsford was

with him, and sent this report. today was ukraine's turn for a show of force, aiming its tanks and missiles at an imaginary invader. military exercises, as the president looked on. it's the kind of cross—border attack that western governments fear russia is planning here. some had even named today as the launch date. instead, volodymyr zelensky was on a morale—boosting tour. laid out for him to admire, weapons sent by allies, including britain. remote assistance. i asked mr zelensky whether the threat had receded now. translation: we react to the reality we have. l and we don't see any withdrawal yet. we've only heard about it. when the troops do withdraw, everyone will see that. notjust reconnaissance or the military, we'll all see it. but, for now, all we

have are statements. so, they're preparing for every scenario. this exercise is all about simulating a massive incursion into ukraine. and, of course, in this country, that's notjust a hypothetical threat, because there are still tens of thousands of russian troops on ukraine's border. today, moscow produced this, meant to prove its tanks were heading home, never a threat. and this — vladimir putin, busy showing he doesn't need friends in the west, he has other options. so, nato is still sounding the alarm about the biggest concentration of forces in europe since the cold war. we face a dangerous moment for european security. russia has amassed an invasion force on the borders of ukraine. at the same time, there are signs from moscow that diplomacy should continue.

ukrainians today put on a show of unity, a flutter of patriotism and defiance. this nation that's trying to turn west, but that russia won't let go. from military exercises, president zelensky headed towards ukraine's very real conflict, and we flew east alongside him, to where troops have been fighting russian—backed forces for eight years now. there, he told soldiers they were heroes, thanked them for standing firm in a crisis which the world is watching nervously, but in which it's ukraine that's on the front line. sarah rainsford, bbc news, mariupol. landslides and severe flooding have killed over ninety people in brazil. more than a month's worth of rain fell in just a few hours in the worst affected area —

the city of petropolis — in rio dejaneiro state. here's our south america correspondent, katy watson. well, we're talking around 200 individual mudslides. around 400 firefighters are on the ground, and it's very much an active rescue effort. the governor of rio dejaneiro, he talked about the fact that this was a war zone. and they've brought in dozens of trucks, water trucks, diggers. they've even enlisted the help of 2,000 people to be able to clear the way for these vehicles to be able to get to the site where most of the mud is and where they are still digging and trying to find anybody who is missing. i think it's very much an active case on the ground, an active rescue effort at the moment. this is a city that's about an hour and a half from rio de janeiro. it used to be the summer residence forformer brazilian emperors, it's now a weekend retreat for many people in rio

and neighbouring states. it's a mountainous region, so landslides have happened before. in 2011, more than 900 people were killed after mudslides in petropolis and in neighbouring cities, but the quantity of rain that fell on tuesday afternoon and tuesday evening, we're talking the same amount of rainfall in three hours that the city normally has in about a month. and it devastated parts of the city that were completely wiped out by these mudslides. and, of course, it often hits poor neighbourhoods where the foundations perhaps aren't as strong. that's the inevitable reality in such an unequal country such as brazil. but you've also got to look at the wider picture. here in brazil, we've had floods near the state of rio de janeiro, in sao paulojust a few weeks ago and in the northeast of brazil, and i think that's something that people are linking these floods and the extreme

weather conditions. certainly it's something that a lot people are looking at. so while landslides are not uncommon, perhaps the ferocity, the intensity of these landslides is something that's worrying a lot of people. presidentjoe biden�*s senior medical adviser on coronavirus, dr anthony fauci, has said it's time for americans to start moving back towards normality, despite the remaining risks from the virus. dr fauci admitted many states are facing tough choices. there is no perfect solution to this. they are trying to balance the fact that the world and the united states and particularly certain parts of the united states are just up to here with covid, theyjust really need to somehow get their life back. you don't want to be reckless and throw everything aside, but you have got to start inching towards that and when you do that you then veer away from paying attention to something that might be important, so someone has got to ask the question

which i do not have the answer to, what is the balance? really being strict to prevent any kind of infection or the negative impact on society of being too restrictive and people argue about that all day. i mean, is the impact on mental health, is the impact on development of children, the impact on schools, is that balanced against trying to be covid pristine and protect against infection? i don't have the right answer to that and i don't pretend to have the right answer. anne rimoin is professor of epidemiology in the fielding school of public health, at the university of california, los angeles. thank you for making the time for us, we heard anthony fauci saying you do not want to be reckless, how do you interpret what he is saying, well we slowly see all restrictions in america disappear? i slowly see all restrictions in america disappear?- america disappear? i think we

have to focus _ america disappear? i think we have to focus on _ america disappear? i think we have to focus on what - america disappear? i think we have to focus on what he - have to focus on what he actually said and what he said was, we need to be inching back towards normalcy and that is really key here. he is not saying we will take off all restrictions and go back to normal, but that we will be in a process of moving forward in the right direction and we still have very high case rates, we still have a lot of hospitalisations, 2000 deaths a day and we are not there yet, but we can see light at the end of the tunnel and that is great news. we have to think about what life looks like will be see a decrease in cases, we will have to start thinking about practical ways to pull back and give people the opportunity to enjoy life in a way that has some semblance of normalcy but be ready to move back if needed, if another variant or something else comes down the pipe. variant or something else comes down the pipe-— down the pipe. that is the problem- _ down the pipe. that is the problem. it _ down the pipe. that is the problem. it is _ down the pipe. that is the problem. it is not - down the pipe. that is the | problem. it is not possible down the pipe. that is the i problem. it is not possible to give a firm date because as we have seen, the virus can be unpredictable.— unpredictable. you are absolutely _ unpredictable. you are absolutely right. - unpredictable. you are absolutely right. no i unpredictable. you are l absolutely right. no one unpredictable. you are - absolutely right. no one knows what will happen, all we can do

is hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and be ready to pivot as needed. eventually we will have to start moving in the direction of relaxing restrictions, because we will see cases go down, the risk will be lower and at that point, people will have to start thinking about their own risk and thinking, the government is not giving me guidelines here, so what is important to me? who do i want to protect? myself, my children, do i have people in my household who are immunocompromised or a great rescue? just because you can do something, does not mean you should and people will have to start thinking about their individual risk and how they are going to behave. anthony fauci alluded _ are going to behave. anthony fauci alluded to _ are going to behave. anthony fauci alluded to it _ are going to behave. anthony fauci alluded to it in - are going to behave. anthony fauci alluded to it in the - fauci alluded to it in the clip, this has been and continues to be a divisive topic, perhaps in america more so than other countries, how do you balance the personal and political opinions versus state opinions versus federal

opinions versus federal opinions versus federal opinions versus public health demands? i opinions versus public health demands?— opinions versus public health demands? ~ ., demands? i think we are getting to a oint demands? i think we are getting to a point where _ demands? i think we are getting to a point where we _ demands? i think we are getting to a point where we will- demands? i think we are getting to a point where we will not - demands? i think we are getting to a point where we will not be l to a point where we will not be able to have a blanket rule nationally, we are going to see cases, vaccination rates, local immunity, in different places and we will have to have rules that make sense for different places. we see cases really trending down quickly in some places in the north—east, in the west, but there are other places still experiencing high rates of transmission and i think we will have to move to a point where we'll see a lot of local guidelines in place and there is no perfect answer here, because of course nothing is happening in a vacuum. you do not have this pandemic happening just alone, we have all of these other issues, what will help the economy, all of these things together. it is going to have to be a combination of things and once we have access to testing and all of these therapeutics that can make covid infection be

much less dangerous, we are going to be at a better place. we will have to leave it there, thank you forjoining us. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: an onslaught of the omicron variant sees hong kong's hospitals overwhelmed and overflowing. 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—generationl space station with a - spectacular night launch. they've called it mir — l the russian for "peace". this is bbc world news, the latest headlines the white house says russia's claim of withdrawing troops surrounding ukraine is false and that in fact it's sent in thousands more troops. staying with that now — it's notjust the white house and us military analysts who've been watching the movements of russian soldiers and military equipment. journalists and other civilians have been poring over satellite images and other publicly available �*0pen source' information — and sharing their findings on social media. earlier i spoke to analyst kyle glen about the evidence

of a supposed russian withdrawal... they seem to be making some kind of token moves away from the border, they are not necessarily that close to the border and as far as i can tell and others can tell at the moment, there is no real solid evidence to back up the russian claim that any of the troops are heading home. let claim that any of the troops are heading home.- claim that any of the troops are heading home. let us look specifically _ are heading home. let us look specifically at _ are heading home. let us look specifically at this _ are heading home. let us look specifically at this picture - specifically at this picture that the russian mod release, you and the wider open source community have been analysing this, can you talk us through it? , . ., this, can you talk us through it? y . ., ., , ., it? they claimed to show russian _ it? they claimed to show russian troops _ it? they claimed to show russian troops moving i it? they claimed to show i russian troops moving away it? they claimed to show - russian troops moving away from the training grounds and boarding trains and heading home towards their bases. a lot of analysts have found that the

footage actually shows the opposite, it shows tanks moving towards training grounds rather than away from them. those images are from someone i work with quite regularly who does good work with geolocation videos like that and we have located the coloured boxes that have been partitioned off. it is using kind of imagery that is using kind of imagery that is open to everyone, from search engines to kind of match up search engines to kind of match up the areas that you are looking at to the areas in the video. whether it is street signs or a mountain range or recognisable buildings, you can match up images from archive images to recent footage and that seems to be the same with a lot of the russian claims. they are either moving towards the areas moving away from them

or they are releasing videos that are nearly 200 kilometres away from the ukrainian border. you have been looking at images in bella roush were russian troops have been on men over and we can see some of those images now, talk us through these? , , . . images now, talk us through these? ,, ., ., , ., these? russia have been moving a lot of heaps — these? russia have been moving a lot of troops into _ these? russia have been moving a lot of troops into belarus - a lot of troops into belarus over the last few weeks and months and one of the areas that we spotted was an air base just to the north of the border of ukraine. looking at satellite imagery, which is the green and pink kind of pixels, the more intense the pixels are, it shows how urban an area is and when you look at a military base for example, if an area was dark and the next imagery is very colourful, you can make a safe assumption that something is awry at that base. as well as land—based

movements, you have been watching activity in the black sea, what did you see there? there was quite a large russian camp in crimea in recent days we noticed the camp starting to empty, less equipment in the camp and it was moving or seem to be moving to a dock on the black sea. recently we saw low rise satellite imagery from the 15th which appeared to show at least two russian landing ships which quite recently arrived in the black sea at this dock near the black sea at this dock near the camp. the assumption at the moment is equipment is moving from the camp onto the landing ships, which is significant, they did not arrive by ship. kyle and i am speaking to me earlier. here in the uk — the royal family is facing further turmoil — after the metropolian police said it would be

investigating allegations of cash—for—honours, linked to one of prince charles' main charities. the inquiry centres on the prince's foundation, and accusations involving a saudi national. prince charles' aides say he had "no knowledge of the alleged offer of honours or british citizenship, on the basis of donation to his charities." nicholas witchell reports i'm here! turbulent moments they may be for members of her family. one person, though, was, as ever, staying calm and carrying on. good morning, your majesty. how are you? well, as you can see, i can't move. well, many congratulations on the start of yourjubilee year. good morning. the queen was at windsor castle this morning, meeting military officials. there are still evidently some mobility issues, but her appearance dispels the rumours that she caught covid from the prince of wales. and the underlying message — it is business as usual, despite the problems faced by not one, but two of her sons. first, prince charles. there is to be a formal police investigation into his charity, the prince's foundation, over allegations that honours

and british citizenship were promised to a saudi billionaire in return for cash donations to the charity. in a statement, the metropolitan police said... the man who is expected to be at the centre of the investigation is michael fawcett, chief executive of the prince's foundation until his recent resignation. he's worked for charles for decades. he used to be the prince's valet. in a statement, clarence house said... and then, to prince andrew and the continuing questions around his out—of—court settlement with virginia giuffre, variously estimated to be costing him anything up

to £12 million. it's not thought andrew has that kind of spare cash, so will the queen have to help him? if andrew goes to the queen for help, more than likely, the money will come from the duchy of lancaster, which is effectively the queen's cash cow. last year, it brought her about £22 million in money. and it's really rental income from a portfolio of land. it seems inconceivable that any public money from the sovereign grant would be used. but already there are calls for greater openness from the palace. andrew is going to have to confirm that the public haven't paid this, because that threatens to have wider implications for the royal family. for the royal family, the threat of a damaging court case involving prince andrew has been avoided. but a number of questions remain. china's president — xijinping — has urged hong kong's leaders to take �*all necessary measures' to control an outbreak

of coronavirus. more than four—thousand new cases were reported on wednesday — a new record. the territory's chief executive — carrie lam — has admitted authorities are overwhelmed as space runs out for the infected to self—isolate. the bbc�*s tim allman reports. in hong kong, the hospitals are almost bursting at the seams. at this accident and emergency department, the patients queue up on trolleys outside. for more than two years, the authorities have tried to keep the virus out, but covid numbers are rising at an alarming rate. none of this lost on the central government in beijing, with president xijinping urging the hong kong authorities to get a grip. quoted in a local state—run newspaper, he told them to... they should... the effects of the virus are

being felt in numerous ways. locals are facing food shortages, as many of the lorry drivers who bring supplies into the territory have tested positive. hong kong imports around 90% of its food, most of it coming from the mainland, but the authorities insist action is being taken. translation: the first task is to recruit more lorry - drivers who have not been exposed to infection risk, and second is to ensure that all cross—border drivers will have covid—i9 tests every day. once the results are negative, they're allowed to work across the border. so far, hong kong has been relatively lucky, with only around 200 deaths since the pandemic began. but with medical experts warning the number of daily cases could reach nearly 30,000 a day by the end of march, that luck may be running out. tim allman, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter —

i'm @ richpreston. a stormy end to our week — the first of the storms, storm dudley, arrived during wednesday afternoon and into the evening. and as we went through the latter stages of the day, wind gusts were quite widely around 70 mph, gusting in excess of 80 mph through capel curig. now, it looks likely that we'll continue to see some rain and snow, as well, over the next few hours, even snow falling at lower levels across the highlands — so there will be some accumulations, there will be some icy stretches to look out for first thing. so we keep the potential for some rain and some snow over the next few hours, further south across england and wales. quite breezy still, but the winds will start to ease down, and it will stay largely fine and dry here. but temperatures will hold up above freezing — so first thing tomorrow morning, around 4—7 celsius, noticeably colder into the far north.

now, as we start off thursday, then it looks likely that we'll continue to see some showers slowly easing and, as we go through the day, still windy, but not as strong as they have been. a good deal of dry weather on thursday, with some sunshine coming through. temperatures in the north between 5—7 celsius — not quite as mild in the south, with 12 celsius the high here. but we have to draw your attention to what's happening during thursday into friday — this is storm eunice. now, this will intensify quite dramatically, this area of low pressure, and will cause some issues. now, in several areas across scotland and northern ireland, it's not the wind, it's the snow. we are likely to see some heavy wet snow falling on power lines. that could have an impact — 10—30 centimetres of snow. as i say, the winds not quite as strong here, we're looking at gusts of winds around 25—35 mph. but the snow will start to tot up. now further south of that, the snow will ease and it'll be largely dry with some sunshine

— but look at the gusts of wind. we are likely to see, widely, gusts in excess of 70—80 mph inland, and on extreme west—facing coasts, we could see wind strength around 90 mph gusts, potentially up to 100 mph. so the met office has issued an amber warning. be prepared for some significant disruption, dangerous, damaging gusts of wind. and, even as we head into the weekend, we keep plenty of isobars on the chart — showers on saturday being replaced by longer spells of rain.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the us has dismissed reports that russia is withdrawing from ukraine's border and instead accuses moscow of sending more soldiers. washington says russia's presence has increased by as many as 7,000 troops — labelling moscow's claims of a reduction "false". landslides and flooding in the brazilian city of petropolis have killed more than 90 people. many more have been made homeless. nearly a month's worth of rain fell in a matter of hours, causing mudslides that buried homes and flooded streets. rescuers are searching for survivors. presidentjoe biden�*s senior medical adviser on coronavirus, dr anthony fauci, has said it's time for americans to start moving back towards normality. dr fauci acknowleged covid—i9 infections would likely rise as restrictions were lifted and said tough choices lie ahead. now on bbc news, it's time for click.