welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines — russia continues its bombardment of ukraine. civilians are among the casualties — ukrainian fighters fight hard to repel russian forces. there are airstikes and more fighting north of kyiv. at least 22 people are killed. russian troops also advance in the south. ukraine's president warns that if his country falls, other countries may follow, but vladimir putin defends the operation. translation: they place military artillery in residential _ quarters of the cities.

at the same time, they are acting as the ultimate bandits. and there is no slowing in the wave of people fleeing the fighting — more than a million people have now left ukraine. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 7am in the morning in singapore and 1am in kyiv, where fighting is going onjust little more than 15 miles from the capital's centre. there has also been russian shelling of cities in the north, south and east of ukraine. officials are warning of a humanitarian crisis. we begin our coverage with a report from kyiv by clive myrie. we should warn you, you may find some of the images distressing.

this is the city of chernihiv, 80 miles north of the capital, kyiv. and this is war. explosion. this is a residential area. and here's another. russia's military did this to whole communities in syria as well as chechnya. their commanders have form. chernihiv lost 22 of its citizens in this attack. the governor says two schools were also hit. make no mistake about vladimir putin's desire to colonise this land. ukraine says russian targeting is indiscriminate. welcome to the town of borodyanka, population 12,500.

parts of it a wasteland now of destruction in an increasingly dirty war. translation: god forbid, - if we are no more, then latvia, lithuania, estonia will be next, then moldova, georgia, poland and so on. they will march to the berlin wall, believe me. it's the same story of destruction in southern ukraine. large parts of the port city of mariupol are being shelled. as russian forces tighten the noose, a humanitarian tragedy unfolds. the city's electricity supply has already been cut. and resistance, though noble, is futile in the city of kherson, conquered by russian tanks, the first major urban area to fall in this war. but there's no bigger prize

than the capital, kyiv. an explosion overnight rocks the railway station. debris from a russian cruise missile shot out of the sky. it's unclear how many were injured. by day, the capital is being abandoned. these cars have been dumped outside the railway station as thousands flee. it is pretty much deserted here, a couple of people out for a stroll in the snow. but this is a city that's so much on edge, and all the checkpoints we've come across, the guards have come up to us, they've wanted to check our papers, wanted to check if we're filming them. there really is a sense of dread and unease here, which is frankly to be expected. and this is why. not far from kyiv, a column of heavy russian armour inches closer to the capital, waiting for vladimir

putin's order to strike. kyiv�*s mayor, wladimir klitschko, has warned that many more people will die as a result of the conflict, but vowed that ukrainians would never surrender. thousands of ordinary citizens have now taken up arms to defend the capital and their country. our international correspondent orla guerin has been to meet some of them. the rush to get more defences in place. a democratic european capital waits for invaders at the gates. these are called hedgehogs and were designed to stop a tank. so, can ukrainian forces keep the russians out? "i don't know," says sergei. "i'm not a general.

we'll try. that's why we're here. that's all i know. you need to ask the president." the last—minute preparations here include battlefield first aid. how to apply a tourniquet so you don't bleed out. at the city's edge, olga is sharing knowledge that might save lives. how soon do you think it could be before there's realfighting here? unfortunately i think it's a few days, and we're afraid. but it's our town, it's our country, and we must save it, we must fight. olga, what were you doing before the invasion? are you a medic? no, i'm nota medic. i just... gunfire. well, we've just heard some gunfire. the troops say that happens from time to time.

it could be coming from russian forces or from russian saboteurs who are inside the city. and deep in a forest, more defences. felling pine trees to block the enemy's advance. shovels in hand, they dig in for a long fight. this could be a scene from the first or second world war, but it's now, today, 2022. well, there's a whole network of trenches being built here now. they tell us they have to be ready and soon. they believe that russian forces could reach this position within a day or two. everyone here knows the russians have more firepower, but they say their morale is higher because they are defending their own soil. and the volunteers in the forests speak only of victory.

"i think we'll win," this man says, "though it will be hard." "we will break them," his friend adds, "so their and grandchildren will remember it forever." back in the heart of the capital, independence square, cradle of the revolution in 2014. it's now deserted, and this city is a battleground in waiting. orla guerin, bbc news, kyiv. there have been more talks between russian and ukrainian officials, and while they discussed creating humanitarian corridors for civilians, there was no firm agreement. meanwhile in moscow, president putin made a televised address insisting the military operation was going to plan and accused ukraine of putting its own civilians at risk. translation: they place military artillery in residential _

quarters of the cities. at the same time, they are acting as the ultimate bandits. still to come a bit later in the programme, we'll look how the million—strong wave of people fleeing the fighting in ukraine is affecting the international community. but first — the united states turned up the pressure on russia earlier. it's imposing fresh sanctions on at least eight oligarchs and associates of president putin. those targeted include alisher usmanov, owner of a giant mining company, and the kremlin�*s spokesman dmitry peskov. let's hear from the united states. our correspondent duncan kennedy is in washington. it's great to have you on the programme. let's start with those sanctions. what do they entail and how extensive are they?—

sanctions. what do they entail and how extensive are they? well, they are re how extensive are they? well, they are pretty extensive, _ how extensive are they? well, they are pretty extensive, coming - how extensive are they? well, they are pretty extensive, coming on - how extensive are they? well, they| are pretty extensive, coming on top of these other sanctions that have beenin of these other sanctions that have been in place against president vladimir putin and others close to him over the past few days. again a united front and only from the us but other sections announced in coordination from other capitals as well. president biden said the existing sanctions were already having a profound impact in that it was time to take these things a step further. he actually describe these eight oligarchs as people who have lined their pockets with the russian people's money while people in ukraine are having to hide in subways, taking russian missiles. president biden went on to announce that these eight included many friends and close associates of b are prudent and as you mentioned they are, two of them are former kgb colleagues of the letter prudent. you'll recall that prudent used to work for the kgb in east germany and

another is his press secretary and a fourth one on this list of eight is somebody who used to train with vladimir putin as hisjudo partner. so all very close people, all very rich, all russian oligarchs and in addition to these eight, president biden also announced that a further 19 oligarchs and 47 members of their families would face a travel ban. but very importantly, said president biden, what's coming out of washington is this sense of being united with the rest of the world and also being united here in the us in the sanctions against president prudent and those close to him. so this strategy to put pressure on the russian oligarchs, people who are close to putin as he described it, what is the aim here with me if you're thinking in washington this will somehow manage to put pressure on vitamin prudent and influence his decision—making in this conflict?

yes, in short that is it. the way they put it, his cronies to put pressure on him and say we are losing millions of dollars of business around the world, our private lives are suffering for desh. for civilthese private lives are suffering for desh. for civil these knotty people and their families, desh. for civil these knotty people and theirfamilies, these desh. for civil these knotty people and their families, these won't be honoured any more, they will not be able to travel to the us and that may have implications for children public education and a lot of these guys own houses in the us. one or two of them owned yachts that are more it here in the us. so all the trappings of their wealth are being cut off by the sanctions and they are hoping that will be painful and they are hoping that that intern will be passed on to president putin. but they know this is going to take time as well, that are put it, sanctions are slower than tanks. so they don't expect these oligarchs to get on the phone to president putin deny and say you must stop this all tomorrow. they are not being like that but what they are hoping is a over a period of time,

just like they say the example in a row when they apply pressure to iran five or six years ago, once these guysin five or six years ago, once these guys in charge, the leaders feel the pain of all their trappings of wealth really slipping away from them, then the leadership in the form of in this case president putin will also have to take notice. but there is no guarantee of that, and they know that. they know this is part of a parcel of measures they are trying to apply to president putin via his surrogates. duncan kenned , putin via his surrogates. duncan kennedy, fascinating _ putin via his surrogates. duncan kennedy, fascinating stuff- putin via his surrogates. duncan kennedy, fascinating stuff and l kennedy, fascinating stuff and analysis. face isjoining us on newsday with the latest. the united nations says a million refugees have now left ukraine since the russian invasion began. more than half have gone to poland. many will have travelled there from the western ukrainian city of lviv, just over a0 miles from the border. lviv isn't occupied for now, but there are people living in the city who understand what it means to be invaded. fergal keane reports from lviv.

it is relentless. in a station where they load aid for the embattled armies in the east, and coming the other way, families propelled into exile by president putin's war. today, the number who fled exceeded 1 million, with many more on the move. these are roma gypsies who escaped the russian advance on kharkiv 1000 kilometres to the east. what is it like in kharkiv? translation: the war, it is difficult. _ everything is burning, everything is destroyed. no—one is listening to us. no—one wants to help us. his daughter sonia says it's terrible. the roma have an inherited memory of war�*s trauma. tens of thousands were murdered by the nazis in world war ii.

and this city of lviv, a crossroads of east and west, saw one of the worst pogroms directed atjews by the germans and ukrainian collaborators. this isn't about trying to draw exact historical parallels, and both russia and ukraine suffered terribly during the second world war, but if you're somebody who has a personal lived experience of that terrible time, then this is a period of increased anxiety, history casting a long, deep shadow. i met someone in lviv who grew up in the shadow of trauma. tatiana is 84 years old, a survivor of the holocaust.

now tatiana has family who are trapped in kyiv.

this great city is now a temporary haven. it's also where lawyers first discuss the very concept of genocide and crimes against humanity. like historian sofia, who now helps refugees and worries for ukraine and the world. you cannot rebuild life which was killed, and there are so many of that happening right now. and the question for us is what kind of world we want to live in, in the future. the world where, because of, you know, geopolitical situation and world order, we can pay the price for human lives. i think this is about here, this is about syria, this is about so many places in the world. at the station, a volunteer plays ukraine's national anthem. the history of lviv is a story of survival, but also of war�*s immense continuing cost.

fergal keane, bbc news, lviv. the european union has agreed to give ukrainian refugees temporary residence for up to three years in eu countries. those fleeing the fighting have mainly entered neighbouring eu states including poland, hungary and slovakia. the larger arrows here indicate the largest numbers of people moving. some will head on to other countries, including germany. trains full of refugees from ukraine are still arriving in berlin, from where our correspondent damian grammaticas reports. "six people," the shout, and someone steps forward to give a family of six just arrived from ukraine shelter — free, no time limit. at berlin central railway station, every sign a german family offering space in their own homes.

putin's war has woken something here, a desire to help, and deeper down, memories, too. i'm more or less a child of a refugee, so i feel obliged to do something for refugees. it's not hitler this time, but, for me, it somehow feels that what putin does is what hitler did before. what's amazing here is although there have been hundreds of refugees arriving, there are more than enough german families to take them in. and it's notjust here. there are efforts being made right across berlin. in a berlin suburb, baskets of food delivered by neighbours. this family have opened up their home. this four—year—old boy already has new toys and new children to play with. for his mother and grandmother, though, the war, even here, is inescapable. my house. videos sent by friends of the damage just done to their home in kharkiv. and the boy's father isn't here, unable to leave ukraine.

he keeps asking every time about his dad. i what is he asking? where is his dad andl when he can see him. and what can you say? i don't know... i hope soon. when we started reading the news, i don't know, we said right away, we need to take someone in, to give someone peace, because it could have been us. yes. this is how we feel. it could've been us. and it was tarik. he fled syria six years ago, walked for two months to reach germany and now is taking this convoy to ukraine to bring back refugees. i know what's the meaning of fleeing from the war, i so that was also my motivation

in this case, to support people | who are fleeing now. so, a refugee from one crisis heading to help those from another, the common thread from syria to ukraine — russian aggression uprooting so many lives. damian grammaticas, bbc news, berlin. one of the aid organisations operating on the ground is the international committee of red cross. it is the middle of the night for their teams in ukraine now, but for an update on their humanitarian efforts, we can speak to anita dullard, a spokeswoman for icrc, who joins us from their asia—pacific hub in bangkok. it is wonderful to have you on the programme, anita. i can imagine it is such a fluid situation right now as we have been seeing for the reporting that my colleagues have been doing on the ground in that area. what are some of the most urgent priorities for people that you are trying to get out of ukraine

at the moment? figs you are trying to get out of ukraine at the moment?— you are trying to get out of ukraine at the moment? as you sake of the situation is — at the moment? as you sake of the situation is changing _ at the moment? as you sake of the situation is changing hour— at the moment? as you sake of the situation is changing hour by - at the moment? as you sake of the situation is changing hour by hour. | situation is changing hour by hour. and we have seen the casualty rates rising and hospitals are really struggling to cope. many ukrainians do not have access to water, they don't have electricity in there is mental connectivity across the country by phone. we will sheltering who were often for hours on end are worried about going outdoors because of the shelling in the fighting. and that means that they are having difficulty having access to food and other necessities. we are getting calls to our centre for people who are wounded seeking assistance from those who were desperately seeking solutions to leave the country or who have lost contact with her family and artist really seeking information about how to find them and to reconnect. some of our main priorities over the last days have beenin priorities over the last days have been in it mary a poll to provide food and other essentials to people who have been displaced in our living in shelters, together with the ukrainian red cross, and we've

also been providing wounded kits and first aid kits to hospitals in the mariupol. in kyiv, we've delivered war wounded two to hospitals in the capital together with the ukrainian red cross and are there to treat trauma burns and gunshot wounds. and a donbas, we are looking to the urgent water needs and providing clean cooking water to those in need. ., ., ~' clean cooking water to those in need. ., ., 4' ., clean cooking water to those in need. ., ., ~ ., ,., clean cooking water to those in need. ., ., ., , need. looking at some of the images we've been playing — need. looking at some of the images we've been playing on _ need. looking at some of the images we've been playing on our _ need. looking at some of the images we've been playing on our screens, i we've been playing on our screens, pictures we will try to leave ukraine and what must be such unimaginably difficult times, how do your teams on the ground work in the midst of what is effectively a conflict zone to get people out? look, it's really difficult. and at the moment, sometimes our movement is limited because of the fighting and what we have had a few calls to barriers to the conflict was of the bit —— primary one is to adhere to

international human to law and protect civilians and take precautions to protect civilians for military operations. and that also includes providing safe bet of people who are seeking refuge. in addition to that, we are also offering for international human and organisations who are trying to provide assistance to people who really desperately needed safely because we cannot do it if there is fighting and there is no means to travel around. that's really hampering our ability to find the extents of extents —— help required. indeed, anita, that he so much for joining us on the programme and i wish you and your teams at the very best of luck in your efforts on the ground there. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the sacklerfamily, who own purdue pharma, have agreed to pay $6 billion for its role in america's opioid epidemic. the sum is nearly $1.7 billion more than a previous settlement. purdue, which filed for bankruptcy

in 2019 amid thousands of lawsuits, made drugs like oxycontin and is blamed forfuelling the opioid crisis. the us embassy in havana has announced its to resume consular activities including some visa processing after a five—year break. president biden is easing restrictions on communist—led cuba that were imposed by former president donald trump. the french president, emmanuel macron, has confirmed that he's standing for a second term in next month's election. opinion polls suggest he's the favourite. if he wins, he will be the first french leader to win a second term in office for two decades. let's just cross live to kyiv and these pictures from the city centre. it's coming up to 1:30am in the morning there.

just reminded the russians remained stalled outside of kyiv as we understand it. we will have lots more on that story in later hours on bbc news. do stay with us on this story. hello there. cloud and outbreaks of rain are continuing to move very slowly eastwards. we should have more sunshine around across the uk this weekend, but on thursday, the best of the sunshine was across northern ireland. highest temperatures, though, were in the south east of england, 1a degrees, ahead of that band of thicker cloud which is taking that rain very slowly eastwards. there are some breaks in the cloud coming in from the west, a few showers around as well, but temperatures early morning could be close to freezing perhaps in northern ireland and western parts of scotland. further east, it's milder, but it is wetter. we've got cloud and rain from the word go. and for a while in the morning, that rain could be on the heavy side before it pulls away from much of eastern scotland and eventually from the north east of england. we keep some rain, though, further south across eastern england. further west, though, we're into that brighter sky,

some sunshine and maybe one or two showers for northern ireland, western scotland, wales and western england. and these areas on the whole a little bit milder, i think, on friday. still quite cold, though, for eastern scotland and the north east of england. improvements, though, this weekend. more sunshine to come for scotland and northern ireland, and we should slowly see the weather improving across england and wales as that rain finally moves away. but we start the weekend cold in scotland and northern ireland, a slight frost here. there's even a risk of temperatures close to freezing in the south west of england and south wales. further east, though, we've still got that band of cloud and rain. and that will tend to sink its way southwards and westwards, taking some of that damp weather towards the south eest of england, but allowing more sunshine in wales, now, and the north of england, together with sunshine in scotland and northern ireland. and in the sunshine, temperatures 8—9 degrees, so a milder day for eastern scotland and the north east of england. second half of the weekend sees the back of this weather front at long last. looks like it is going to be fading away a little more quickly now

as that area of high pressure builds down from the north. so, the rain gets squeezed out. if there is any rain, it's really down through the english channel. a dry picture, generally, i think, on sunday. more sunshine to come across england and wales, certainly some brighter skies here, and we continue to see the sunshine after a cold start in scotland and northern ireland. still not particularly warm for the time of year. temperatures only around 8—9 degrees. high pressure builds in this weekend, and then it starts to slip away to the east of the uk, allowing a stronger wind to pick up, but it looks like all these weather fronts and rain are going to stay away towards the west.

this is bbc news. the headlines: air strikes and more heavy shelling have taken place in chernihiv, north of kyiv. at least 22 people have been killed. president putin has claimed his military campaign is on track. the russian bombardment of cities across ukraine is intensifying. this is the town of borodyanka just north west of the capital. despite the shelling, ukrainian fighters have managed to repel russian forces. in the south of ukraine, the port city of mariupol is under siege and completely cut off with no power or water supplies. ukraine's president has warned if his country falls, the baltic states will be next. more than1 million ukrainians have now fled the country since this conflict began. eu interior ministers have agreed they should be given special temporary protection for up to three years. those are the headlines.