this is bbc news — i'm james reynolds. our top stories... this is the scene in the ukrainian capital kyiv, president zelensky says the next 2a hours will be crucial in the fight against the�*s invasion. the us says that russia should turn down his rhetoric after he puts his nuclear forces on alert. western countries are not only taking unfriendly steps against our country in the economic dimension but top officials of nato countries are making aggressive statements with regards to our country. the russian rouble plunges on asian markets as western sanctions begin to bite. we will bring you the latest from singapore. searching for a safe

haven, pullen says at least 200,000 people seeking refuge have now crossed over from ukraine —— poland says. ukraine's president zelensky says the next 2a hours will be "crucial" as his country begins a fifth day trying to push back russian forces. analysts believe the ukrainian resistance has held up better than russia expected but now the general staff of ukraine's forces says sunday was a difficult day. here's 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. the president of the european commission says that for the first time ever, the eu will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment, to a country under attack. european leaders have also agreed a significant escalation of sanctions against moscow, and russia's central bank has issued an appeal for calm, amid fears of widespread deposit withdrawals. in a significant move,

ursula von der leyen also says eu airspace will be closed to russian aircraft, including the private jets of oligarchs. our business editor, simonjack, looks at the wider economic consequences for russia, of its invasion of ukraine. as tens of thousands took to the streets today in berlin in outrage at 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 overjob 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 $14 billion 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 starting to see some impact of the eu's moves on the russian economy particulary on the rouble — its currency. let's speak to our business reporter monica miller in singapore. the markets are open there. can you take us through the fall of the rouble so far? {iii you take us through the fall of the rouble so far?— you take us through the fall of the rouble so far? of a sunday niuht the rouble so far? of a sunday ni . ht we the rouble so far? of a sunday night we have _ the rouble so far? of a sunday night we have seen _ the rouble so far? of a sunday night we have seen the - the rouble so far? of a sunday night we have seen the rouble| night we have seen the rouble falling 30%, after these punishing sanctions have started to take place and as you mentioned by the european leaders as well as the us. the two thing is that they did, one of them was cutting off russia's major banks from the swift network, which is like a whatsapp system of banks to interchange in global trade. but on top of that western allies are frozen out russia's central bank which is now not

allowing them to sell overseas assets like gold which they need to boost up the rouble to make up for the losses for these banks that can no longer do business or they are very limited in terms of business. we just learned that the russian moscow exchange is going to open three hours late because the rouble has fallen to an all—time low. certainly russia is now starting to see the economic impacts of these sanctions. the economic impacts of these sanctione— the economic impacts of these sanctions. ~ ., ~ sanctions. monica miller, thank ou so sanctions. monica miller, thank you so much- — president putin has ordered russia's strategic nuclear forces to be placed on high alert. he says western leaders have made aggressive statements about russia, and that international sanctions are illegitimate. us officials said the announcement was unnecessary, adding it was an �*escalation�* that risked �*dangerous miscalculations�*. here's our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg. 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 reporting. stay with us on bbc news, still to come... football fans unite in the english league cup final to show their support for ukraine. prince charles has

chosen his bride. the prince proposed to lady diana spencer three weeks ago. she accepted, she says, without hesitation. as revolutions go, this had its fair share of bullets. a climax in the night outside the gates of mr marcos' sanctuary, malacanang, the name itself symbolising one of the cruellest regimes of modern asia. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly using a cell from another sheep. warren beatty and faye dunaway announced to the world that the winner of best film was la la land. the only trouble was it wasn't. the mistake was only put right in the middle of gushing speeches by the team behind the modern musical. not for 20 years have locusts been seen inl such numbers in this part of africa. - some of the swarms have been ten miles long. - this is the last time the public will see this pope. very soon, for the sake of the credibility and authority of the next pope, benedict xvi will, in his own words, be hidden from the world for the rest of his life.

this is bbc world news, the latest headlines... vladimir the latest headlines... putin was my decision to vladimir putin was my decision to place russian nuclear forces on high alert is criticised by the united states who called it a dangerous situation. well, earlier i spoke to bradley bowman, who's senior director of the center on military and political power at the foundation for defense of democracies. it is quite significant. there are growing questions regarding the mental condition of vladimir putin. when you try to analyse him psychologically, i will not try to do that, but obviously he is feeling perhaps upset with the lack of progress in ukraine. he is seeing the growing unity of nato, and he is lashing out in the ways we have not seen in years. so, when one moves nuclear forces to a higher state

of alert, well we don't know for sure what that means, it may become clear in the coming days, it means fewer safeguards and it is for the purpose of achieving a lunch more quickly, obviously that is deeply concerning and increases the risk of miscalculation and your correspondent got it right. the us response has been to reiterate that the united states and nato present no nuclear threat to russia and that this is a deeply irresponsible and destabilising step and our strategic command saw mr putin's statement on his nuclear forces, strikes an appropriate posture and remains ready should the president called upon us, i think that is the right response. you talked about the danger of miscalculation, during the 13 days of the cuban missile crisis in 1962, it turns out that the us and soviet union continued to communicate behind—the—scenes. should the us and russia today do the same? it is a great question.

you went to the heart of it. i am all in favour of imposing very severe consequences on russia for this extraordinary invasion of ukraine, the likes of which we have not seen since frankly, world war ii, trying to overthrow a democratically elected government by force. i am all for that and part of that should be diplomatic isolation, but as your question suggests, we also need to be able to communicate so we need to isolate them diplomatically, but i do hope that the us chief of staff is talking to his counterpart and the us secretary of defence is talking to his counterpart and as far as i can tell they have not spoken since the beginning of this latest invasion, so some people would say that that is going to not help isolate them, but if they are close to issuing that kind of order

that putin is suggesting then you want at least those defence lines of communication open and by the way america and nato and russian aircraft have been coming into closer proximity with one another in the coming days in these conditions in eastern europe, as russian combat aircraft conduct attacks in ukraine, so i would say it is even more important in and around ukraine now to communicate. is there somewhere in washington on someone's desk, a red phone, a hotline, to someone else's desk in moscow? my understanding is that there is a line that has been established in the past. my understanding and this isjust based on reporting i have seen recently, is that there has been some effort on the us part to establish communication that has been unsuccessful. reporting is not confirmed, so i think the problem right

now is not the means, it is the will on the part of the russians, and as we move forward imposing severe consequences i don't think putin is going to back down, indeed he is going to escalate, we have not seen that all of the russian forces arriving in ukraine and he is going to escalate and become more brutal and when sanctions start to bite including the swift sanctions, he will start punching back so we had better be ready for more increased things like cyber attacks. do you think any sanctions will hurt president putin personally? no, i am reminded of pakistan when they decided to test a nuclear weapon, there are sanctions, but let's be clear what we need. it will not just affect the economy, but the end is an change of policy. it is not clear what any of these will change on his policies but at the minimum we have to pose consequences

over time and by the way meanwhile the world is watching, china is watching, iran and north korea are watching so we need to make sure that people understand that if you try to accomplish political objectives with military force, there will be consequences, and severe ones at that. 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 ukrainian 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 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. natalya's motherjust made it here from right near the front line and natalya 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. tens of thousand of people across the world have demonstrated against the russian aggression. aru na iyengar reports. below the brandenburg gate in berlin — once a symbol of the cold war division between east and west, now one of peace and reunification. it's become a rallying point to show solidarity with ukraine as it battles the invading russian army. police said the crowd was over 100,000 strong — organisers said it was five times more. i'm afraid of escalation of the conflict and war spreading further. but i'm also afraid that this will be just the start of something bigger in europe and in the world. from the us... ..to portugal, protesters are taking to the streets to mark their dismay at president putin's actions. around 70,000 gathered in prague — many here feel a shared link with ukraine, having

suffered russian invasion after the prague spring in 1968. translation: | think - the czech republic is doing its best to help, and i think it's because we have a similar and rather recent experience. we were in a similar situation. otherwise i think the global reaction is a bit slower than it should be. around 15,000 turned out in amsterdam. if putin is mad enough right now to open an open war in the middle of ukraine, in the middle of europe, we do not know what's going to come next. translation: it's terrible | what's happening in ukraine. the whole world has to protest as much as possible. but in russia, a different atmosphere. in st petersburg — russia's second city — police arrest anti—war protesters. they may not be waving banners, but these russian voices are getting louder against an invasion

they don't agree with. around 2,000 were detained in the latest protests in 50 cities and villages across russia. aruna iyengar, bbc news. football — and liverpool have beaten chelsea to win the english league cup at wembley. before the game, players and fans showed support for the people of ukraine. tim allman reports. the shadow of war can fall an awfully long way. this was the crowd at wembley stadium — club rivalries temporarily set to one side. and has the name of this historic football anthem ever seemed more appropriate? the players did their bit, too — both team captains carrying a wreath in yellow and blue — the colours of the ukrainian flag. it must have been a strange day for chelsea supporters — their side famously owned by a russian billionaire. obviously we all support ukraine and we want peace in europe, and i think chelsea should have said that —

as many other clubs have done a few days ago. chelsea has been around far longer than roman abramovich, but obviously we're grateful for everything he's done in terms of the investment in the club. but, you know, some things are bigger than that. as for the game itself, it ended in penalties — lots of penalties. 0nce liverpool's goalkeeper caoimhin kelleher scored his, 21 had been successfully converted. unfortunately for his chelsea counterpart, kepa arrizabalaga, 22 proved to be the unlucky number. liverpool winning their first domestic cup competition in a decade. elsewhere, there's more pressure on football's governing body to kick russia out of the world cup — a growing list of countries say they will not play them in any venue at any level. so far, fifa have said they will only be allowed to compete under the name of the football union of russia, without flag or anthem. for many within the sport, that doesn't go far enough.

do stay with us. 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 through 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 builds 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 top temperatures around 8—10 degrees on tuesday. heading on into 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 for most of us, with a few rain splashes moving northwards. northern and eastern scotland keeping sunshine 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.

this is bbc news —

the headlines... ukraine's president zelensky says the next 2a hours will be "crucial" as his forces fight to push back russian troops. analysts believe the ukrainian resistance has held up better than russia expected but now the general staff of ukraine's forces says sunday was a difficult day for troops. 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 about russia, and that international sanctions are illegitimate. us officials said the announcement was unnecessary — adding it was an escalation that risked dangerousness miscalculations. the russian rouble has plunged by around a third in trading on asia's markets as western sanctions begin to bite. european leaders have also agreed a significant escalation of sanctions against moscow, and russia's central bank has

now on bbc news it's time for hardtalk.