welcome to bbc news. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. as the battle rages, planned talks between ukraine and russia appear to have been delayed. washington condemns vladimir putin's decision to place russia's nuclear forces on high alert, calling it a dangerous escalation. translation: western countries are not only taking unfriendly - steps against our country and the economic dimension, but the top officials of leading nato countries also make aggressive statements with regards to our country. the european union announces it will ship arms to ukraine, calling the move a watershed moment for the eu.

for the first time ever, the european union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack. and searching for a safe haven. poland says at least 200,000 people seeking refuge have now crossed from ukraine. live from our studio in singapore... this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's eight in the morning in singapore and 2am in the ukrainian capital, kyiv, where residents are trying to get some sleep after a day of fast moving developments in the conflict with russia. it's now thought peace talks may take place later on monday after they were agreed — and then delayed. vladimir putin says he's

put his nuclear forces on alert and the european union has announced ground—breaking sanctions, including the sending of arms to ukraine. we'll have more on all of that in newsday, but we start with this report from our correspondent nick beake in kyiv. explosions. there wasn't much talk of peace on the streets of ukraine's second city today. instead, kharkiv gave us a grim warning of more to come if this conflict doesn't stop. explosions. earlier, locals in kharkiv had opened their windows to see russian trucks rolling in. other vehicles in the sights of the ukraine military didn't get far. and in the south of the country, this was said to be a drone strike on a russian convoy at an airport. but some appealed to the hearts of the russian soldiers to end this misery.

"what are you doing?" this woman asked. "you're our brothers. please stop. "we have kids. we are peaceful citizens." the capital, kyiv, has also been on fire. this was an oil depot that was targeted. but once again, homes also took the brunt, and in another strike, a child was killed. fears of a major russian bombardment last night did not materialise, although the fighting's moving ever closer to the city centre. hours after russia attacked ukraine on thursday morning, we met mark at a metro station. how are you? today, we spoke to him from our bunker to his, where he's been taking shelter, like the rest of the city, as a curfew remains in place. we have a little food and water. the children are crying and they are very afraid. we are trying to keep calm.

ukraine's president said russia should be prosecuted for a brutal assault on civilians. translation: russia's criminal actions against ukraine - show signs of genocide. i talked about this with the un secretary general. russia is on the path of evil. here in the heart of kyiv, we're hearing the explosions get louder, as the russians draw ever nearer. seizing this european capital while the world looks on is for now president putin's prime objective, and everyone living here simply has no idea just how much force he's prepared to use to do that, and just how many people could die. this is now an age of wartime leaders, a moment when former ukrainian prime ministers post online tutorials instructing their people on how to make petrol bombs to defend themselves. and this is how children

in the capital play today, in an underground world, mirroring the gruesome reality of what's unfolding above them. nick beake, bbc news, kyiv. despite offering talks, president putin has ordered russia's strategic nuclear forces to be placed on high alert. he says western leaders have made aggressive statements towards russia, and international sanctions are illegitimate. the us has denounced the move as "completely unacceptable". 0ur correspondent steve rosenberg is in moscow and sent this report. from the kremlin, a pointed message to the west — don't push russia. president putin summoned his military chiefs and gave them an order. translation: top officials of leading nato countries i are making aggressive statements about our country. therefore i'm ordering the ministry of defence

and the chief of the general staff to put the strategic nuclear forces on special alert. would putin really use them? he practised a week ago, overseeing exercises of russian strategic deterrence forces. typically unsubtle hints to america and nato not to stand in his way over ukraine. today's special alert, more presidential muscle flexing. across from the kremlin, muscovites gathered on a bridge to remember boris nemtsov, the putin critic gunned down right here seven years ago. for vladimir, this was a day for remembering a friend and condemning the war. this is not russia's war, not a war by the russian people or ukrainian people, this is yet another military adventure, military crime

by an unelected, unaccountable, authoritarian and frankly increasingly deranged dictator in the kremlin by the name of putin. you won't hear anything like that on russian state tv. it's been claiming russian troops are liberating ukraine and moscow is using force in the interests of peace. in russia, television remains the key tool for shaping public opinion, so if you control tv, as the kremlin does, you control the messaging, but not 100% because today, many russians do get their news and information online and there, they see a very different picture. if you use the words attack, invasion or war... we can say only l special operation. this woman edits an online magazine. like other independent media outlets in russia,

they have been ordered by the authorities not to call this a war. what is the kremlin trying to do to the truth now in russia? what they always do. they always turn truth into lies. . they lie, theyjust lie. censorship at home, war abroad. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the pressures on russia — both economic and political — are growing. for the first time ever, the european union is to finance and deliver weapons and equipment to a country under attack. the eu has also decided to close its airspace to all russian aircraft, including the private jets of oligarchs. bp has also announced it's trying get rid of its nearly 20% stake in the russian 0il giant rosneft. oil giant rosneft. our business editor, simonjack, has more. as tens of thousands took to the streets today in berlin in outrage for russia's invasion of ukraine,

any remaining caution around ramping up economic sanctions against europe's biggest energy supplier were replaced with new resolve, including a total ban on russian aircraft in european airspace. so, let me be very clear — our airspace will be closed to every russian plane, and that includes the private jets of oligarchs, too. this came on top of the weekend's announcements that russian banks will be excluded from an international payment system, isolating russia from global trade. perhaps even more damaging, russia's central bank will have its overseas assets frozen, putting russia in the company of pariahs like iran, venezuela and north korea. against a country the size of russia, these measures are completely unprecedented, and i think that not only in terms of the draconian nature of the measures, but the timing of the measures and the degree of coordination between the main countries in the west is something that

potentially the russian federation would not have priced in. central banks like the bank of england have reserves of foreign currency stashed in other central banks around the world, and in times of economic crisis, you can use that money to buy your domestic currency, propping up its value. if you freeze or seize those overseas assets, you can't do it, leaving the currency — in this case, the rouble — more vulnerable to collapse. for russia and its citizens, seen queuing outside banks like this one in st petersburg, another plunge in the currency would present serious economic and social difficulties, according to a moscow—based expert. the rouble is facing - collapse of 30—40% when the market opens tomorrow. prices are going to be - higher, there are question marks over job security. all of these things have - changed literally in the last couple of days, and how that translates to the social - and political stability- russia has always enjoyed, that's becoming quite

an urgent question. l voice-over: due to a unique shareholder structure - which includes bp... this evening, bp yielded to heavy pressure from the uk government by announcing it would off—load its 20% stake in russian oil and gas giant rosneft, saying it would take a multi—billion pound loss as a result. bp said it is too early to say how or to whom the stake would be sold. as long as russia has customs buying its oil and gas, which these sanctions won't prevent, it will have financial fuel for its war machine. the ultimate sanction would be an international embargo on russian energy, which would damage both sides in this escalating economic war. simon jack, bbc news. we're already starting to see the impact on the currency. it's plunged nearly 20% to a new record low versus the us

dollar. of course, as simon mentioned in that piece, the currency, very sensitive to the fact that these sanctions have been put in place, and it has a huge impact on the domestic economy as well. people lining up economy as well. people lining up at the banks, at atms to get their cash out because they're worried the value of their currency could fall even further. we are also starting to see movements and asian markets, with many investors buying the japanese yen as a safe haven tradable to keep... —— we will keep you up—to—date. first i want to tell you about another story. as you can imagine, it's a terriyfing time for people in ukraine living in the midst of this conflict — but also for those with family and friends in the country, but who are living elsewhere and trying who are living elsewhere and trying to get in touch witht hem. to get in touch with them. 0lga kravchenko lives in the uk

but has family in kyiv and runs a business with staff in several ukrainian cities. she told me it's been difficult to keep in touch with her family. it's currently after iam in ukraine, and i will find out in the morning because we're currently in the shelters, hoping for the best, so i can't say my family is safe because they're still in kyiv. and my team is in kyiv as well. 0lga, i am so sorry to hear that and i do hope that you are able to get in touch with them as soon as possible. just talk us through how difficult it's been both in your attempts to try and get in touch with them and what it's like to be so far away from what's happening on the ground right now. it's very surreal. it's been just four days and the scariest four days of my life, especially

of my family and my friends, but i'm grateful that i can get in touch with them, i call my mum almost every hour, just making sure they're fine and keeping their spirits up as much as possible. my grandma is making ukrainian borscht to feed the family, and my team is messaging me on our work chat to make sure that everyone is aware of what's happening. it's not the war chat i've ever imagined. i'm just checking in and asking how they are doing, but there are still explosions, we were making molotov cocktails and building barricades, and i still can't believe it's happening to my country, it's happening to a democratic country in the middle of europe in the 21st century.

0lga, when you are talking about your mum, 0lga, when you were talking about your mum, it did strike me. those kinds of conversations one has with their mother and the kind of conversations that you're having now. is she safe? she is in kyiv. she is around kyiv, so i can't really say if she is safe or not. i was trying to get them out of kyiv and trying to get into the west, but unfortunately, that wasn't possible. my mother decided to leave the centre of kyiv. it was just too scary to go and we don't know if there is petrol. so, relatively safe. they are not in the centre of the city. region where you can hear a lot of explosions. they can hear explosions very remotely, so i'd like to say they are safe,

but i cannot be sure. hundreds of thousands of people have been trying to escape the ukraine conflict in the past few days. the vast majority of those who've left so far are women and children. our special correspondent, fergal keane, has sent us this report from the city of lviv, in the west of ukraine, near the polish border. choir sings. there are many leaving. but across the city of lviv this morning, the voices and prayers of those for whom this place is home, a home they will not abandon. the church of saints peter and paul was damaged in world war ii, shut down by the soviets, and is now a garrison church for ukraine's army. these are the faces

of the dead of the eight years of war with russia... ..and of some of their children. we don't have fear because it's our home. lviv is our home. russia are coming to our home. if russia goes to your house, what do you do? at lviv station, now a focal point for the thousands fleeing, there is fear. inna is a professor of architecture, a mother with a teenage son and two daughters. their father is fighting at the front in the east. translation: it's| difficult to describe the pain and fear inside. everything is burning. it is hard to explain to our children. they miss their relatives and friends. it is very painful.

i can't describe it. among those thronging here are many foreign students who have come from kharkiv, where fierce battles are raging. these young men are nigerian. there is still an ongoing war in 2022. man, who does that? i think we are more civilised than this, you know? everybody's life matters. we just have to try and stay strong, stay alive. local mercies, but a bigger question of responsibility. there may yet be a legal reckoning for all of this. i've been told by a top british war crimes lawyer that a special tribunal to prosecute president putin is being considered. so, we're in a very. different world today from the world of 75 years ago or 100 years ago. _ the fact that you are president of a country no longer excusesj you for potential proceedings before international courts i for crimes of this kind.

so, will it happen? who knows? - that's partly a political and military question. | could it happen? absolutely. - in time, these will be essential questions for the refugees. but the immediate priority is escape. people keep coming up to us and asking us what they should do, where they should go. but there's no advice really to give them because it's evening now and there's no train for the rest of the night. that much we know. and this is a humanitarian crisis that is growing in scale. as russian attacks intensify, so does the terror inflicted on the defenceless. fergal keane, bbc news, lviv. as well as those seeking safety abroad, many have had to leave their homes, displaced within ukraine. 0ur eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford, reports now from the eastern city of dnipro.

just four days ago, these corridors were filled with students. now their hostel is sheltering families fleeing a war they don't understand. they have run to the dnipro from further east in ukraine, where there's been fighting for eight years, but always at a distance. until vladimir putin declared open war on their country. it was when a shell landed next door that nadyezka and herfamily packed up and fled. translation: we're ashamed. i never thought we'd be in this situation. we were normal people. we had jobs, schools, a normalfamily. and now, we have to ask for help. and the scariest thing is we don't know how long this is for and whether we will have anything left to go back to. lyudmila tells me every time a door bangs, they think it's an explosion and they need to grab the children and hide. and nadyezka is constantly

checking for news of family and friends they left behind. the town's group chat is now full of videos like this. the boys just miss their own toys and their kindergarten. just speaking to these families here, you realise the depth of what they're going through because nadyezka wasjust telling me, a few days ago, the main things on her mind were home improvements and shopping and how the kids were getting on at kindergarten. and now, she tells me, she worries about whether they're all going to wake up safely in the morning. this is where other families will sleep tonight, on the floor of a concert hall and bar. locals have rallied around to make it as comfy as possible, but this is tough for everyone. natalia's motherjust made it here from right near the front line and natalia herself is furious with vladimir putin. translation: he says he's.

defending us, but who from? from ourselves? by burning down our houses and our land? for now, yes, it's calm here, but my heart is shattered. my family has been pulled apart and i'm frightened for my children. ijust really want this to end. it's a nightmare. and the danger is following her. as we finished speaking, an air raid siren wailed across the city for the first time. sarah rainsford, bbc news, dnipro. washington has described president putin's decision is a dangerous escalation. i president putin's decision is a dangerous escalation.- president putin's decision is a dangerous escalation. i have to sa this dangerous escalation. i have to say this came _ dangerous escalation. i have to say this came as _ dangerous escalation. i have to say this came as a _ dangerous escalation. i have to say this came as a complete i say this came as a complete shock to the united states, where the administration here learned about it only as putin made that announcement publicly, and what senior

officials in the pentagon are warning is that by invoking the use of potentially using nuclear weapons, putinism raising the chances of a miscalculation that could make it much more dangerous —— putin is. they are also concerned about the tact is that they see already being deployed on the ground in ukraine. they believe that russia will attempt to isolate and lay siege to the capital, kyiv, and that will of course vastly increase the risk of civilian deaths and casualties. 0ne of civilian deaths and casualties. one other thing the un will hold tomorrow, a resolution condemning russia and they've had only ten similar sessions since 1950. are north america editor, sara smith. pro—ukraine demonstrations have been taking place around the world. in uk, the largest gathering was in westminster in london. several thousand people were in the crowd, including dozens of young people from st mary's ukrainian school in west london. paul murphy—kasp went to meet them before

they set off. for over 60 years, this saturday school has taught young ukrainians living in london about their country's history, language and culture. the invasion back home is now putting into question ukraine's future, but, while times are tough, community here is pulling together. what happened on thursday shook them all and they could see for the first time fear in their eyes. we started getting initiatives from our school children, from year eight, nine, year ten pupils that they would like to do something for the civilians back in their home country, that they would love to fundraise for the children. but what do young people actually think about what's going on? i feel very worried because that's my family, my grandmother and grandfather, i feel very sad for them and i hope everything will be all right in the country because it's my home. my family's there, my aunties, uncles, grandparents. - they're planning on staying i

there, but i don't want them to stay there, i want them to come here. _ it makes me feel very worried and, on the news, they say everything on the battlefield and what's happening, so sometimes i even cry. they sing. while eyes are focused on the response from world leaders, ukrainians here want action. it's notjust a problem of our children, ukrainian children. children across the world are watching what their leaders in their countries are doing today. the children want to act, they don't want just to use the privilege of clear skies and continue with their lives. chanting: stand with ukraine! paul murphy—kasp, bbc news. that's all the time we have for you on the programme. thanks forjoining us on newsday. do

stay with bbc news. hello. after a largely fine and settled weekend with plenty of springlike sunshine, things are looking a little bit more unsettled as we start this working week. this was the picture as the sun went down sunday evening off the coast of north yorkshire, but we've had a weather front moving its way in through the course of the night. through monday, it will be bringing cloud and rain to many parts of the uk, particularly towards the north and the west as well. first thing monday, that rain will be sitting across parts of southern and eastern scotland, northern england, down through wales into the southwest of england, too. this frontal system will really be quite slow—moving to the day, so some of that rain for the southwest of england, wales, northwest england is going to be persistent and heavy, too. it's also going to be quite a breezy feeling day, particularly across the far northwest. for the western isles, we could see gales developing through the course of the day. top temperatures for most of us between about 8—11 degrees,

but for the southeast of england and east anglia, where it stays drier for a good part of the day, a very mild 13 celsius. but eventually, that rain will sweep its way eastwards across all parts. it'll be followed by clearer skies, just a few showers continuing, a bit more of a breeze here on tuesday, but certainly a touch of frost for many of us away from southern england and south wales first thing tuesday morning. during tuesday, we have this weather front that will hang around across southern and southeastern parts, clears away from the rest of the uk as high pressure built in. a lot of dry and settled weather, but that cloud and patchy rain continuing into the far south. bit of uncertainty about how the far north it gets. mostly any rain will be confined to the south of the m4 corridor, but to the north, plenty of blue skies with temperatures around 8—10 degrees on tuesday. heading onto the middle part of the week. there's a bit of a wave on that weather front, so it starts to move back northwards across the uk

into wednesday, but as it bumps into that higher pressure, it is tending to fizzle out. really quite a weak affair. a fairly cloudy day when most of us, with a few rain a fairly cloudy day for most of us, with a few rain splashes moving northwards. northern and eastern scotland keeping it for most of the day. not feeling particularly warm, highs around 8—10 degrees for most of us. further ahead towards thursday, still some outbreaks of rain as the next front moves its way in from the west, but for many of us, things are turning a bit drier and brighter through friday and on into the weekend, too. more details as ever on our website. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all of the news story straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. much of the world is now transitioning from locking down to living with covid—19, and that means that, in cities like london, cultural life is returning, performers are back on stage, audiences can gather to enjoy them. my guest today is the world—renowned hungarian conductor and composer, ivan fischer, known for his innovative style.