authorities in the ukrainian capital committee of, say fighting has broken out in the streets hours after president zelensky warned the russian forces were preparing to storm the city. residents have been told to stay indoors. heavy gunfire can be heard in the centre of the capital. russia has vetoed a un resolution that would have condemned its invasion —— invasion of ukraine. 11 members voted in favour. the russian ambassador insisted his country was not waging war against ukraine or the ukrainian people but was carrying out an exercise to protect the residents of donbas. and the united states has said it is imposing sanctions on vladimir putin and his foreign minister, and will freeze their us assets, following similar announcements from the european union and britain. the russian foreign ministry said it revealed the absolute impotence of western countries.

now on bbc news, in a change to our scheduled programme, a special edition of hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i am stephen sackur. russia's invasion of ukraine is under way. it is an assault on the sovereignty of a european nation. the cost in blood and treasure is sure to be high. this war is a choice vladimir putin's choice. why did he make it, and why now? my guest is leonid volkov, one of the most prominent figures in russia's opposition movement led by the imprisoned alexei navalny. is putin waging war from a position of strength? leonid volkov in california, welcome to hardtalk.

hello. good morning. yes. now, mrvolkov, we arejoining you in california because you are a political exile. you're a wanted man in russia, a leading figure in the anti—putin movement. i just wonder how you feel watching russian forces cross that border and invade ukraine. i feel terrible. ifeel ashamed. i feel very bad because, i mean, this is something that will have terrible consequences for my country, for russia, for ukraine, clearly. and i'm afraid also for the whole world. vladimir putin isa warcriminal. we were talking about it for many years. we were trying to explain to the people also in the west

that, like, he's a criminal, he has to be stopped, he has to be deterred — when he poisoned alexei navalny, when he poisoned people there in salisbury, in the uk, and when he invaded crimea in 2014. we were talking about it a lot, and now we see apparently that was not enough because, like, the response came too little, too late and kind of untied putin's hands. i don't want, of course, to blame anyone but him. he has the full responsibility over the war crime that he is now committing, being streamed online. but still, of course, i try to reflect and to find answers, like, "what went wrong? "how is it possible that we have been so wrong?" because, like, there are 23 years of putin analysis behind us, and we were all thinking

he's evil but rational. he is... our model, our perceptions of putin was always that he's trying to make rational steps, like, to maximise his income, his ability to steal money. but... yeah, well, you talk of rationality. i'm just wondering whether your feelings about putin are altogether rational, because i was very struck by something you tweeted just a short time ago. you described him — putin, that is — as like hitler with a nuclear bomb. now, hitler to russians is the murderer of millions of your fellow countrymen. don't you have to be a little bit careful at this time of terrible, terrible significance to just be a little bit careful with your words? no, of course not.

well, i mean, 2022 is still different from 1939, and the world's ability to absorb war, to accept victims, to consider something as acceptable and not acceptable has changed over this, like, 83 years. so, of course, we have to, like, adjust our impression, our perception to this difference between 2022 and i939. still, putin, without any provocation, without any rational reason, isjust starting a major war against another european country, publicly declaring his desire to destroy it. and it doesn't so much differ, unfortunately, from september 1st, 1939, from hitler's invasion to poland.

but, hang on, whatare you...? what are you in the opposition going to do when — and i put this bluntly, and it's a horrible thing to think about, but — the body bags start coming back to russia? we know from ukrainian sources there've already been russian casualties, some sources saying 100 or more russian service personnel already killed. those are young russians who will come back to your country, they will be mourned, and you in the opposition have to figure out how to deal with this politically. what is your message to russia's people? well, our message to russian people is, of course, to resist. but now, it finally makes sense to us, actually, why putin did what he has done in the previous two years, why did he poison alexei navalny, why he had, like, expelled our organisation from our country and declare it as an extremist organisation. like, for instance, if i would publicly call russians to turn out for a protest rally in moscow, then everyone would face ten

years of imprisonment immediately, for answering my call for participation in an activity of an extremist organisation. well, let me... if you don't mind, let me go through this carefully with you. i mean, some of your group have already called for that. infact, i know from, again, reports inside russia that individuals and small groups of people have been seen in cities like yekaterinburg and novosibirsk already chanting, "stop the war!" the problem is, as you've just said, your group is now legally defined as an extremist terror organisation. those people, if they take to the streets, are going to be arrested, aren't they?

people that participate in the street rallies now in russia face severe risks, not because we are doing something wrong, but also because putin is doing something wrong and because putin destroyed all opportunities for people to participate in politics, to participate in rallies and street protests. but is your message to these people in russia that they should take to the streets? i noticed one of your colleagues still inside the country has called later this week for street protests in many russian towns and cities. i'm just wondering whether you feel you can continue to try to use your social media platforms and your internet links to call for rallies and protests which you know will lead to people being arrested? we call to people to resist in different possible ways. there are people who resign, who retire from their positions within government organisations. there are people who just do not comply to the criminal

orders given by those who are criminals. so there are different opportunities to resist, and we urge people to look to find the most efficient ways to provide resistance. we support... 0n the social media, we amplify whatever, like, russian celebrities are saying aloud. and now there is a huge amount of very important messages from public opinion leaders in russia who clearly express their position, to stop the war, against the war. and so we use... we try to make the best use of our social media to reach out to our supporters in russia and to people who are still victims of propaganda, to explain what's actually happening. like, right now, and we started it, like, many hours ago, we are doing a huge live broadcast on our main youtube channel, just to explain to our fellow russian citizens what's actually happening and to counter the propaganda. that's so important.

right, but as i understand it... obviously, it is very difficult for you now. the anti—corruption foundation has effectively been neutralised inside russia. that is yours and mr navalny�*s organisation, your political movement, which, of course, had offices and organisation across the country. that also now is labelled extremist and is completely illegal. and i'm just wondering, from your personal point of view, whether you are worried that your remaining family inside russia is going to be targeted? because i know that you quite recently received a letter in exile, saying, "we know where you live," and implying that your family was potentially in danger, too. so, you have to think

about this, don't you? and i am thinking of this. i'm like... i'm an ordinary man. and, of course, i do care about my family, friends and relatives back there in russia, and those who also live now abroad, part of my family. but, well, we are talking about something that could potentially result in a third world war, so... he laughs ..i still have to do myjob. i still have to, like, organise our movement to try to make the situation as painful for putin as possible. well, i'm not saying we have enough tools to stop him right now, but we have to increase cost for him, like, both internally and internationally, in order to deter him. that's what we were calling for, like, to increase the cost. that's why we were campaigning

during the last year for these massive personal sanctions against putin's money. and these sanctions unfortunately came too late. well, we'll talk sanctions injust a moment. just clarify for me, if you would, whether you believe that putin's message, which we saw in that extraordinary address to his national security council — and we've heard in his writings as well — that ukraine is in essence a fake nation, that it really has no legitimacy, that it is run by a puppet regime which he now seems to be saying is neo—nazi in its politics, and that it is a fundamental threat to russia and russia has every right to re—exert its power in the ukrainian space. that seems to be his message. do you think that has any resonance at all with the russian people? it has some, but very limited. putin definitely wanted to replay the crimea scenario of 2014, when his invasion and conquer of crimea was unfortunately very much supported by the majority

of russian population. this unfortunately happened, and all celebrities were supporting putin and there were no protest rallies, and so on and so on and so on. and putin liked it, and maybe that was his expectation, that he will be able to do it again. he miscalculated. he was very wrong. and public opinion in russia is split. according to the most trustworthy polls, the independent levada polls, it's like 45 pro and 40% contra, which is bad news for putin, which never happened. he used to enjoy like 70 or 80% of popular support. so now the country's split. we have to work hard also to split putin's elite, to install cracks within the elite that may help, well, to stop him.

because there are people inside the government, around putin, who are very unhappy with what's actually happening. they are losing billions and tens of billions. they are losing, like, ties to europe, where the assets and children and yachts and everything is. well, just a quick word on your colleague and associate, alexei navalny, before we get to those sanctions and the impact they're going to have on people around putin, and putin himself. alexei navalny is back in court in his penal colony, facing new charges which could carry up to 15 years extended to his current sentence. and in court the other day, he basically said everything that's happening in ukraine is a diversion. and i'm just wondering what he meant by that. well, remember where we have been four months ago.

the world has been discussing russia, the results of russian parliamentary elections, no recognition of legitimacy of state dumas has been elected. something very painfulfor putin. the world was discussing alexei navalny�*s poisoning. there was a request of 55 countries, led by great britain, in the 0pcw, the chemical weapons organisation, targeting russia, threatening sanctions, asking questions about navalny�*s poisoning. there was a lot of buzz around alexei navalny�*s new trial and his persecution, and also persecution of independent ngos and independent media in russia. that's all gone. so putin may... putin was able to divert the agenda completely, so something that was, like, very important and very painfulfor him... right, but... ..four months ago is not any more existent on the agenda. and... yeah, but it didn't take

the invasion of ukraine to make it pretty obvious to me and many others that, as long as vladimir putin's in power, it seems highly unlikely that vladimir — that alexei navalny will ever be freed. would you accept that? and do you think that there is a real danger, given his health problems — he looks gaunt, he's suffered the novichok poisoning — is there a danger that alexei navalny may die in prison? there is a danger. definitely so. and also, because of this diversion, because the only things that kept alexei navalny relatively secure was the attention the world was paying, and now the world — it's completely understandable. but now the world is not able to pay that amount of attention. and the timing of alexei navalny�*s new trial is anything but random. it's of course not. it was very carefully selected so that the first trial was during — the first day in court was during the first problems on the ukrainian border,

and then, the next day, during the start of military operation, and so on and so on. so putin, of course, makes it very efficient, like, to make the trial about — against, like, the world political prisoner number one non—existent in the western media. yeah, 0k. you and navalny described putin as the richest man on earth, as a result, you say, of just the systemic, massive corruption engaged in by himself and his key associates. what confidence do you have that, for all of the words from president biden, prime minister boris johnson and many others, what confidence do you have that the western powers are going to impose the sort of economic pain on russia that really will force putin to think again?

we hope they will finally decide to do so. so, once again, we have urged them. we have asked them, like, for years to do this, to use, to exercise their leverage on putin, because they actually had enormous leverage on putin. corrupt regime needs at least two countries to operate. the one country where the rule of law is non—existent. in our case, russia. which allows them to steal enormous money. but also they need a second country, because they want to pass the assets they stole to their children, to their heirs. they need rule of law to legalise those assets, to buy something, to buy some property, to make it legit and to be able to pass it to their heirs. as they perfectly know, it's not possible in their home country because there is no rule of law. so, for years, they've been

pumping, like, hundreds of billions of dollars, like putin and his friends, to the west. london being the most important destination for the money stolen from russian taxpayers, and that's somethings that always made and still makes him vulnerable. but i come back to the question, because i understand what you are saying, but the fact is that the london property and financial markets are now so used to russian money that there is a real danger they will suffer great pain if they withdraw from it. same with the international energy market. same with the luxury goods market in countries like italy. there are all sorts of different ways in which the wielders of power in the west are going to have to accept real pain at home if they disengage completely from the russian economy.

my question is again this, do you think those in the west are prepared to take that pain? they were not... even if they were not prepared, the time has come. so, first of all, like, let me rephrase. it's always painful to get off heroin. but you are literally saying, like, "ok, it's so painful that i'll do it later," but later, you will still have to do it if you want to survive, but later it will be more painful, right? so the earlier you do it, the better. and if you would have — if you would have done it, like, a couple of years ago, the war would not be happening today — that's first. and second, yes, now the influence of putin's money in the west is so large that getting rid of it and exercising it as leverage would be painful. and, well, undersimilar conditions, a great leader of your country said, "i can promise nothing but pain and blood and tears,"

and i don't recall... right... so even if there now is an acceptance in the west that they need to take drastic measures, which will be painful at home, but they need to do it to isolate russia completely in economic terms, even if they do it, russia now seems to be feeling it is increasingly resilient. they've built up massive foreign currency reserves. some say $600 billion worth, or more. they've struck new trade and energy deals with china, which insulate the russian economy to a certain extent. are you sure russia is as vulnerable as you claim it is? well, that's the only leverage the west now has on russia. well, i don't pretend and i don't expect that, like, nato would start a war with russia. not going to happen, right? so the only, like, "peaceful" leverage the west still has is going after putin's money

and trying to use it. so this is something that, at least, is worth trying, because everything else we know already. all those diplomatic efforts of this, like, you know, shuttle diplomacy didn't work. another thought. you're an it expert. that was your specialism before you got into politics, and cyber warfare is something you study closely and know a great deal about. it seems right now that, again, russia is on the front foot. they're very capable of disrupting ukraine's cyber capabilities. they're also very capable of disrupting your political activities on the internet. do you fear that, again, the west has underestimated putin's ability to exert power through digital means? yes, the west has underestimated the risks here in the cyberspace, and indeed we don't see any solid response and any strategy of response. ok, so putin is bombing

ukrainian cities right now, and we don't see any disruptions in communications of russian ministry of defence. only in those of the ukrainians. so, like, presumably many nato countries should have developed also, like, a cyber unit that should be capable of operating in the cyberspace to deter attacks like this. but this is so far not happening, and that's quite disappointing. leonid volkov, i have to ask you this. do you believe that vladimir putin has just taken the biggest political gamble of his life? because whatever happens next in ukraine, what we can say for sure is that it is deeply uncertain and it could carry a very high cost for russia. yes, putin is taking enormous risks.

he — well, i believe — i still believe he miscalculated. he overestimated his ability to be lucky and to get out of any trouble situation without being held responsible for it. so i believe that, actually, as we say in russia, putin is trying to eat a piece of cake that's too large for his mouth. i believe he will actually strangle over this. 0n the other hand, nationalism is an extremely powerful force in russia, and that remains true, does it not? er, it's not really so. and it doesn't work against ukraine. i mean, ukraine is our neighbours. 50 million ethnic ukrainians live in russia. almost every... almost every family in russia has relatives or close friends, or both, in ukraine.

you just can't sell this nationalist idea, even through the most powerful propaganda machine, even through putin's propaganda machine. it wouldn't work. leonid volkov, we have to end there. but i thank you very much indeed forjoining me from california. thank you. well, we have some pretty good weather on the way for this weekend. lots of sunshine across england and wales. a little bit more cloud for scotland and northern ireland but, on the whole, it is still going to be a dry one. so, let's have a look at the big picture at the moment.

so, we are in a sort of window of decent weather across western europe here. there are storms out in the atlantic but, for a change, they are heading way to the north of us, so we're just being gently brushed here in the north—west of the country by these atlantic weather fronts. it'll be dry because they'll stay out to sea and, in fact, most of us will be under the influence of the high pressure and, indeed, this is the case through the early hours. you can see the clear skies and light winds across england and wales. a bit more cloud here in the north—west because we are closer to the weather front. as i said, that weather front will stay out to sea, so it'll be dry, but it will be mild for belfast and glasgow — we're talking around 8 degrees first thing across many parts of england — certainly a good chance of at least a ground frost outside of town. so, light winds and sunny skies for many parts of england. very pleasant indeed for wales. in scotland and northern ireland, always a little bit more cloud and particularly windy around some of these western coasts. in fact, off the hebrides, winds will be near gale force

during the course of the day. temperatures fairly similar wherever you are — 10,12 degrees. now, here's the weather map for sunday, and the high pressure slips away a little bit further towards the east. that brings a weak weather front in and that spells cloud and maybe some rain for a time in western parts of scotland, maybe a little bit more cloud across other western areas but, on the whole, for most of us, it's going to be at least another bright day and a generally dry one as well. very, very decent indeed. in fact, the best of the weather will be across eastern and southern areas but the weather fronts are encroaching. it's because that high pressure, that is, is slipping out towards eastern parts of europe, and that does mean that the weather fronts advance towards the uk. so, we are expecting rain and gale force winds in the north—west of the uk but the rain will spread into england and wales through the course of monday. so, after the two dry days, saturday and sunday, make the most of the weekend because monday is looking pretty wet, especially out towards the south—west. bye— bye.

good morning. welcome to breakfast, with ben thompson and victoria derbyshire. 0ur headlines today: explosions. the battle for kyiv. reports of explosions and gunshots in the ukrainian capital, hours after the country's president warns russian forces are preparing to storm the city. we are all here. our soldiers are here. the citizens are here, and we are here will stop we depend our independence. that is how it will go. as ukrainians arm themselves, the uk government warns people to brace themselves for sickening scenes over the coming days. at the united nations,

a resolution calling for moscow to stop the attack is blocked by the russians.