this is bbc news — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. let's go to the joint news conference in lithuania. we shared together a deep commitment to democracy, to human rights, to the international rules based order as we recognise the foundation of our shared security which is being directly threatened by russia's unprovoked unjustified war against ukraine. lithuanians understand the critical importance of every nation's sovereignty and integrity being respected, having lived through decades of soviet occupation. a forcible occupation

that the united states always refuse to recognise. in recent years, moscow has sought to undermine the lithuanian democracy, cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns. that is because the free, open, vibrant prosperous society that the people of lithuania built since the end of soviet occupation shows what is possible when people choose the path of democracy over autocracy. that is why the united states supported the lithuanian membership of nato in the european union and this country, lithuania, has constantly made outside contributions to both organisations. —— outsized contribution. the commitment to freedom was evident at the summit of democracy which president biden convened last year, the pledge to support and provide refuge to pro—democracy activists from belarus and russia, accountability, to

increase support for media freedom and the city ofjournalist. how necessary those commitments proved to be. in the face of the current crisis, the united states and lithuania are united in our resolve to stand with ukraine. we are surging security assistance to strengthen ukraine's capacity to defend itself, increasing humanitarian aid to the ukrainian people, raising the costs on the kremlin and all who aid and enable it for continuing this war of choice. we are bolstering our share defence so that we and our allies prepared to meet any threat. united states is supporting 7000 forces to europe, we have already positioned forces in europe, that includes the extension as of last week of the us army's 366 armoured battalion which was deployed to lithuania injuly,

35 strike fighters to the region, to augment natal�*s enhanced air mission, 400 personnel from combat team will be arriving in lithuania in the days to come. united states commitment to article five, an attack on one is an attack on all, that commitment is sacrosanct, and as president biden repeated to the american people in the state of the union addressjust a american people in the state of the union address just a few days ago, we will defend every inch of nato territory if it comes under attack. no one should doubt our readiness, no one should doubt our resolve. 0ver no one should doubt our resolve. over the past several weeks, i authorised allies to provide us defence equipment to our ukrainian partners, lithuania stepped up with anti—aircraft missiles, m 72 tank weapons and other supplies to help the extraordinary courageous

ukrainian people defend their country from russian aggression. also sending 4 million euros in medical assistance, 38 truckloads packed with aid, urgently needed, given the growing carnage that is being inflicted by sieges and attacks on civilians. when the lithuanian red cross issued a call last week for donations to help people in ukraine, it failed 50 trucks the very first day. blue and yellow flags hung from homes and businesses across the country and lithuanian ngos registered nearly 6000 households willing to take in ukrainian refugees. the ukrainians who arrive in lithuania willjoin hundreds of anti—corruption hundreds of anti—corru ption activist, hundreds of anti—corruption activist, opposition politicians, journalists, human rights defenders who have safe haven here after being forced to flee attacks, threats, imprisonment in russia and belarus in recent years. belarus is the

temporary home of the leader of the belarus pro—democracy movement who i had the privilege of meeting on several occasions, most recently in munich during the security conference. i am very grateful to lithuania for hosting the state department belarus affairs unit, that unit is focused on supporting the democratic aspirations of that belarus people and holding the regime accountable for widespread human rights violations. until last may, they also provided refuge for the belarus and blogger and dissident, untila the belarus and blogger and dissident, until a commercialjet dissident, until a commercial jet that dissident, until a commercialjet that he was travelling on was intercepted by a billy ricin fighter jet and he was arbitrarily detained. wejoin lithuania in continuing to call for his immediate release, and the release of all people being unjustly detained in russia and belarus, including the growing number arrested for protests against

the war. yesterday the russian government reportedly detained more than 4600 people demonstrating against the war in 65 russian cities and towns. vilnius recognises a threat to the rules based order anywhere has the potential to weaken it everywhere. this includes the principle that every nation is free to associate with whom it chooses. that is why we respect and support lithuania's decision to respect commercial ties with taiwan. beijing has responded to this decision with coercion and political pressure designed to punish lithuania into changing course. we support the decision of the eu to launch a legal challenge against china, we have to defend the rules to keep trade fair. beijing talks about the importance of upholding international order, stability, respecting sovereignty,

but from the coercion of vilnius to its failure thus far to condemn moscow's fragrant violation of the sovereign integrity of ukraine today and in 2014, beijing's actions are speaking louder than its words. the united states continue to stand by lithuania and the right of every nation to choose its own pathway. we support lithuanian in supply chains and deepens its economic resilience. in november, we created a $600 million export credit facility here which will help facilitate us exports to lithuania and help the lithuanian businesses in the sectors that have been hardest hit by the measures, by semiconductors biotechnology. 0ur undersecretary for economic affairs was here with colleagues from the export import bank to support these efforts and deepen our economic cooperation. as

lithuania continues to stand for these principles, it can count on these principles, it can count on the united states to stand with it. thank you. the the united states to stand with it. thank ou. ,, ,, . ., , the united states to stand with it. thank vom— the united states to stand with it. thank ou. ,, ,, . ., , ., ,, ., thank you. the us secretary of state alon . side thank you. the us secretary of state alongside his — thank you. the us secretary of state alongside his lithuanian _ thank you. the us secretary of state alongside his lithuanian counter- alongside his lithuanian counter pants —— counterpart. he praised lithuania for the work it is doing in supplying ukraine in the fight against russia including 4 million euros in emergency medical supplies. he also spoke about the supply of anti aircraft missiles and anti—tank missiles and other armaments to ukraine. he talked about raising the costs on the kremlin and all who enable it to pursue this war of choice. he repeated with regards to the nato position, we will defend every inch of nato territory. let's

go back because he is answering questions now. fix, go back because he is answering questions now.— go back because he is answering questions now. a few things, as i noted in response _ questions now. a few things, as i noted in response to _ questions now. a few things, as i noted in response to the - questions now. a few things, as i i noted in response to the aggression of russia against ukraine, one of the things we did is what we said we would do for many months which is in the event of russian aggression, we would reinforce natal�*s eastern flank and that is what we have done. we are in the midst of continuing to do that now including with the deployment of additional forces including american forces here to lithuania, fighters, various pieces of important equipment, all of which is being deployed here, deployed to the other states in the baltic. at the other states in the baltic. at the same time, we are reviewing within natal our defence posture, including looking at questions of

extending the deployment of forces, looking at questions of more permanent deployments, all of that is under regular review and we are engaged with nato allies and doing just that. we were at a meeting of the nato foreign ministers a few days ago in brussels and this is one of the issues that came up. second, we said in a few other things many months as we saw, the two of us, our countries, the likelihood of russian aggression against ukraine. even as we tried everything we could push russia a diplomatic pad to resolve whatever concerns it had that anyone who would consider it legitimate through diplomacy and dialogue, even as we were doing that, we said we would be fully prepared if it chose the path of aggression. we said that we would reinforce the eastern flank

of nature, we are, we would come to the aid of ukraine by providing with more assistance, we are, we said that we would impose massive consequences on russia for its aggression, we are, and i think those consequences, the severity of the economic sanctions and other measures that had been taken are well beyond what i think many people anticipated and are certainly unprecedented. and they are having a dramatic impact already. we see the rouble going through the floor. we see their credit rating of russia going to zero, two trunk status. we see an existence of every leading company from russia. all of those things are happening in real time. at the same time, other steps that we have taken including export controls on the most important technology that russia needs to

modernise for the future including his defence and aerospace industry and energy sector, that technology has been denied to russia. that is going to have a powerful impact over time. we are also seeing the effect of the assistance that we have been able to provide to ukraine and will continue to do so, in ukraine, when it comes to the incredible courage they are showing on the effectiveness they are having in standing against russian aggression. all of these things, as we said, are happening. they are having an impact. having said that, it is also true and clear that russia has a hugely disproportionate force compared to what ukraine has. it has the ability to continue to grain down the ukrainian military, and to take horrific actions against the ukrainian people. including attacking civilians. we want this to come to a stop as quickly as

possible which is why we will continue to increase pressure on russia, continued to support ukraine. but as i said yesterday, evenif ukraine. but as i said yesterday, even if and as russia might win a battle in ukraine, it does not mean it is winning the war. and as russia might take a city in ukraine, it does not mean it is taking the hearts and minds of the ukrainian people. it cannot and it will not. whether it is one week, one month, longer, i am utterly convinced that ukraine will prevail finally. when it comes to nato, the line is very clear, i will repeat, if there is any aggression anywhere on nato territory on nato countries, we, the united states, all of our allies and partners will take action to every inch of natal territory. it is clear and direct. —— mark nato territory.

for the secretary of state, can you comment — for the secretary of state, can you comment on reports that the us believes— comment on reports that the us believes that russia has begun recruiting syrians to fight in the war in_ recruiting syrians to fight in the war in ukraine and the foreign minister. _ war in ukraine and the foreign minister, before this invasion of ukraine, — minister, before this invasion of ukraine, and the current tense security— ukraine, and the current tense security situation, lithuania was always _ security situation, lithuania was always dealing with the threat from another_ always dealing with the threat from another power, of the diplomatic pressure — another power, of the diplomatic pressure from china over your stance towards _ pressure from china over your stance towards taiwan. how can you balance those _ towards taiwan. how can you balance those two _ towards taiwan. how can you balance those two threats what can the united — those two threats what can the united states do, what are you asking — united states do, what are you asking the us to provide to help you deal with— asking the us to provide to help you deal with both of those? i asking the us to provide to help you deal with both of those?— asking the us to provide to help you deal with both of those? i have seen the re orts deal with both of those? i have seen the reports you _ deal with both of those? i have seen the reports you refer _ deal with both of those? i have seen the reports you refer to, _ deal with both of those? i have seen the reports you refer to, i— deal with both of those? i have seen the reports you refer to, i cannot - the reports you refer to, i cannot confirm that at this time. this

the reports you refer to, i cannot confirm that at this time.- confirm that at this time. as the secretary mentioned, _ confirm that at this time. as the secretary mentioned, both - confirm that at this time. as the | secretary mentioned, both cases confirm that at this time. as the - secretary mentioned, both cases are ahout— secretary mentioned, both cases are about defending _ secretary mentioned, both cases are about defending a _ secretary mentioned, both cases are about defending a similar— secretary mentioned, both cases are about defending a similar principle. i about defending a similar principle. 0ne about defending a similar principle. one power— about defending a similar principle. one power is— about defending a similar principle. 0ne power is challenging _ about defending a similar principle. 0ne power is challenging the - about defending a similar principle. 0ne power is challenging the rulesl 0ne power is challenging the rules -hased _ 0ne power is challenging the rules -hased order— 0ne power is challenging the rules —based order when _ 0ne power is challenging the rules —based order when it— 0ne power is challenging the rules —based order when it comes - 0ne power is challenging the rules —based order when it comes to- 0ne power is challenging the rulesj —based order when it comes to the borders— —based order when it comes to the borders of— —based order when it comes to the borders of other— —based order when it comes to the borders of other countries, - borders of other countries, geopolitics. _ borders of other countries, geopolitics, security- borders of other countries, - geopolitics, security architecture of one _ geopolitics, security architecture of one night— geopolitics, security architecture of one night stay— geopolitics, security architecture of one night stay in _ geopolitics, security architecture of one night stay in europe, - geopolitics, security architecture of one night stay in europe, butl geopolitics, security architecture | of one night stay in europe, but i would _ of one night stay in europe, but i would say— of one night stay in europe, but i would say it— of one night stay in europe, but i would say it global _ of one night stay in europe, but i would say it global architecture, i would say it global architecture, because — would say it global architecture, because it — would say it global architecture, because it does _ would say it global architecture, because it does not _ would say it global architecture, because it does not matter- would say it global architecture, because it does not matter if. would say it global architecture, . because it does not matter if where the country — because it does not matter if where the country is, _ because it does not matter if where the country is, indo— because it does not matter if where the country is, indo pacific- because it does not matter if where the country is, indo pacific or- the country is, indo pacific or europe, _ the country is, indo pacific or europe, as _ the country is, indo pacific or europe. as in _ the country is, indo pacific or europe, as in any— the country is, indo pacific or europe, as in any other- the country is, indo pacific or- europe, as in any other continent? every— europe, as in any other continent? every country _ europe, as in any other continent? every country has _ europe, as in any other continent? every country has hopes _ europe, as in any other continent? every country has hopes and - every country has hopes and guarantees _ every country has hopes and guarantees that— every country has hopes and guarantees that its - every country has hopes and guarantees that its borders, j guarantees that its borders, sovereignty— guarantees that its borders, sovereignty will— guarantees that its borders, sovereignty will not - guarantees that its borders, sovereignty will not be - guarantees that its borders, - sovereignty will not be violated. the other— sovereignty will not be violated. the other power, _ sovereignty will not be violated. the other power, is— sovereignty will not be violated. the other power, is trying - sovereignty will not be violated. the other power, is trying to - sovereignty will not be violated. . the other power, is trying to paint globally— the other power, is trying to paint globally agreed _ the other power, is trying to paint globally agreed rules _

the other power, is trying to paint globally agreed rules of— the other power, is trying to paint globally agreed rules of trade - the other power, is trying to paint globally agreed rules of trade and| globally agreed rules of trade and is trying _ globally agreed rules of trade and is trying to— globally agreed rules of trade and is trying to use _ globally agreed rules of trade and is trying to use trade _ globally agreed rules of trade and is trying to use trade as _ globally agreed rules of trade and is trying to use trade as a - is trying to use trade as a political— is trying to use trade as a political instrument, - is trying to use trade as a political instrument, in l is trying to use trade as a - political instrument, in some cases even _ political instrument, in some cases even as— political instrument, in some cases even as a _ political instrument, in some cases even as a weapon _ political instrument, in some cases even as a weapon. to _ political instrument, in some cases even as a weapon. to force - political instrument, in some cases i even as a weapon. to force countries to change _ even as a weapon. to force countries to change the — even as a weapon. to force countries to change the course, _ even as a weapon. to force countries to change the course, no _ even as a weapon. to force countries to change the course, no matter- even as a weapon. to force countries to change the course, no matter that it is legal. _ to change the course, no matter that it is legal. a — to change the course, no matter that it is legal, a sovereign— to change the course, no matter that it is legal, a sovereign right - to change the course, no matter that it is legal, a sovereign right of- it is legal, a sovereign right of the country— it is legal, a sovereign right of the country to _ it is legal, a sovereign right of the country to do _ it is legal, a sovereign right of the country to do so. - it is legal, a sovereign right of the country to do so. so - it is legal, a sovereign right of the country to do so. so not . it is legal, a sovereign right of| the country to do so. so not by it is legal, a sovereign right of- the country to do so. so not by our design _ the country to do so. so not by our design lithuania _ the country to do so. so not by our design lithuania becomes- the country to do so. so not by our design lithuania becomes a - the country to do so. so not by our design lithuania becomes a case . the country to do so. so not by our| design lithuania becomes a case of defending — design lithuania becomes a case of defending both _ design lithuania becomes a case of defending both principles. - design lithuania becomes a case of defending both principles. and - defending both principles. and becomes— defending both principles. and becomes a _ defending both principles. and becomes a country— defending both principles. and becomes a country which - defending both principles. and becomes a country which in . defending both principles. and i becomes a country which in some cases— becomes a country which in some cases leads — becomes a country which in some cases leads by— becomes a country which in some cases leads by example _ becomes a country which in some cases leads by example in - becomes a country which in some cases leads by example in what . becomes a country which in some cases leads by example in what it means— cases leads by example in what it means to — cases leads by example in what it means to defend _ cases leads by example in what it means to defend the _ cases leads by example in what it means to defend the global- cases leads by example in what it means to defend the global rules| means to defend the global rules -hased _ means to defend the global rules -hased order— means to defend the global rules —based order be _ means to defend the global rules —based order be geopolitical- means to defend the global rules —based order be geopolitical or. —based order be geopolitical or economic _ -based order be geopolitical or economic-— economic. foreign ministers of lithuania and _ economic. foreign ministers of lithuania and the _ economic. foreign ministers of lithuania and the us, - economic. foreign ministers of lithuania and the us, speaking economic. foreign ministers of- lithuania and the us, speaking they are in vilnius. talking about defending as you heard the lithuanian foreign minister they are

the international rules —based order. antony blinken reflecting on the hugely disproportionate in his words, hugely disproportionate forces that russia has relative to the ukrainian military but even if russia wins a battle or takes his 38 does not mean that russia is winning the war. let's continue our coverage now by going to the ukrainian city of lviv. it has been 12 days of war, citizens caught up in the fighting, tens of thousands making their way to lviv, seeking shelter in any kind of place that they can find. where i am right now is an arts and cultural centre and you can see behind me, people who have come from all over the country, mostly from the north, the east and the south of the country. i

have spoken to mothers, grandmothers, people who have fled from their babies from the bombing, the fighting, they have spent days in underground bunkers where they were until they were able to get out. not using any kind of humanitarian corridor because we know that those have not been able to access in the last few days. these are the lucky ones. with me now is daria who managed to get away from parties in the north of the country. thank you forjoining us. you are from parties. what was it like before you fled? i you are from parties. what was it like before you fled?— you are from parties. what was it like before you fled? i am a student and we are — like before you fled? i am a student and we are terribly _ like before you fled? i am a student and we are terribly afraid. _ like before you fled? i am a student and we are terribly afraid. so - like before you fled? i am a student and we are terribly afraid. so we - and we are terribly afraid. so we went to lviv. and we are terribly afraid. so we went to lviv-_ and we are terribly afraid. so we went to lviv. and you experience a lot of fighting _ went to lviv. and you experience a lot of fighting and _ went to lviv. and you experience a lot of fighting and bombing. - went to lviv. and you experience a lot of fighting and bombing. can i lot of fighting and bombing. can you tell us about that? yes.

lot of fighting and bombing. can you tell us about that?— tell us about that? yes, in 2014, we heard shooting _ tell us about that? yes, in 2014, we heard shooting and _ tell us about that? yes, in 2014, we heard shooting and bombs, - tell us about that? yes, in 2014, we heard shooting and bombs, and - tell us about that? yes, in 2014, we | heard shooting and bombs, and right now it is the second time that we are hearing this. you now it is the second time that we are hearing this.— are hearing this. you have left friends and — are hearing this. you have left friends and family _ are hearing this. you have left friends and family behind. - are hearing this. you have left i friends and family behind. what are hearing this. you have left - friends and family behind. what are they saying about the situation? shill they saying about the situation? all m they saying about the situation? fill my friends and family staying and tomorrow i am going and i do not know when we will meet again. you are auoin know when we will meet again. you are going to — know when we will meet again. you are going to go _ know when we will meet again. you are going to go to poland. do you know what will happen after that? where will you go? i know what will happen after that? where will you go?— where will you go? i don't know what i can do, where will you go? i don't know what i can do. but — where will you go? i don't know what i can do, but maybe _ where will you go? i don't know what i can do, but maybe i _ where will you go? i don't know what i can do, but maybe i can _ where will you go? i don't know what i can do, but maybe i can help - where will you go? i don't know what i can do, but maybe i can help my. i can do, but maybe i can help my family. i can do, but maybe i can help my famil . . ~ i can do, but maybe i can help my famil. ., ~' i can do, but maybe i can help my famil . ., ,, i can do, but maybe i can help my famil. ., ,, . ., family. thank you so much for your time. she family. thank you so much for your time- she has _ family. thank you so much for your time. she hasjust_ family. thank you so much for your time. she hasjust arrived - family. thank you so much for your time. she hasjust arrived from - time. she has just arrived from

kharkiv in the last couple of days and she has left all her family behind, she has spent many days in an underground bunker, the people of kharkiv have no access to food, water, heating. it is incredibly cold, freezing cold, and many people said they had no access to electricity or heating. can you hear me back in london? yes, please continue. thank you. the situation is desperate here for the people who have managed to get away. they do not know where they will go next. they do not know what will happen next. many are making their way to the poland ukraine border where my colleague is. i the poland ukraine border where my colleague is— colleague is. i am across the border from where — colleague is. i am across the border from where you _ colleague is. i am across the border from where you are _ colleague is. i am across the border from where you are in _ colleague is. i am across the border from where you are in the _ from where you are in the south—eastern part of poland, there are several border crossings in this

area. people come by vehicle, on food and by train. we have based their sales in one of the train stations which has become a major refugee hub in the last few days. let me show you what it is like. this is a shame as shuggle, eight miles from the ukrainian border, some people come from lviv from ukraine and a lot of people in this area try to get to other parts of poland. some of them on to other countries this train station. there are some relief facilities here, there is food for people, there are some people who are sleeping in the station here. the life of this town has been turned completely upside down by what has happened in the last few days. this is one of the relief centres are refugee centres, there are several this part of poland. and and this place is dependent on hundreds of volunteers. at the moment, it has not been a

problem to operate a place like this because there are hundreds of polish people who are willing to help in anyway they can. if you go into ticket hall, there are people holding up signs saying how many places they have available in hostels. you get a sense looking at these pictures of the sheer numbers coming through. 0h these pictures of the sheer numbers coming through. oh and says it has had more than1 million coming through. oh and says it has had more than 1 million arrivals coming through. oh and says it has had more than1 million arrivals in the last few hours between midnight and seven o'clock in the morning, they had more than 40,000 arrivals from ukraine. the scale of this is staggering. already, despite all the warmth and welcome, there are concerns about how sustainable this effort is. i have spoken to the mayor, and he has been talking to me about his worries, about whether this can be maintained in the long term. in this can be maintained in the long term. ., . , ,

term. in our city in ten days, hundred _ term. in our city in ten days, hundred and _ term. in our city in ten days, hundred and 80,000 - term. in our city in ten days, i hundred and 80,000 refugees term. in our city in ten days, - hundred and 80,000 refugees coming in. it hundred and 80,000 refugees coming in it is— hundred and 80,000 refugees coming in it is a _ hundred and 80,000 refugees coming in. it is a very unusual situation. every— in. it is a very unusual situation. every day. — in. it is a very unusual situation. every day, about 1200 volunteers who work here _ every day, about 1200 volunteers who work here every day. is every day, about 1200 volunteers who work here every day.— work here every day. is this sustainable? _ work here every day. is this sustainable? what - work here every day. is this sustainable? what if - work here every day. is this sustainable? what if the . work here every day. is this | sustainable? what if the war work here every day. is this - sustainable? what if the war goes on and on for weeks or months? can you keep this up? and on for weeks or months? can you keep this op?— and on for weeks or months? can you keep this up?_ and - and on for weeks or months? can you keep this up?_ and that| keep this up? probably not. and that is the concern, _ keep this up? probably not. and that is the concern, people _ keep this up? probably not. and that is the concern, people are _ keep this up? probably not. and that is the concern, people are thinking i is the concern, people are thinking about what happens in a few weeks, months or a year down the line. people are not necessarily staying here, they are counted as they come across the border, they have family or friends in other parts of europe and that is where they want to go. the un high commissionerfor refugees has been here and he has seen the relief effort for himself. you talk to me earlier about his impressions of the situation. it is not only a — impressions of the situation. it is not only a logistical nightmare to think— not only a logistical nightmare to think of— not only a logistical nightmare to think of many more people coming,

but also _ think of many more people coming, but also a _ think of many more people coming, but also a matter of acceptance by the community. yesterday, as i said, i the community. yesterday, as i said, i was _ the community. yesterday, as i said, i was very— the community. yesterday, as i said, i was very impressed by heap how people _ i was very impressed by heap how people were bringing supplies, cooking — people were bringing supplies, cooking food, volunteers were helping — cooking food, volunteers were helping elderly people making children play, that is extraordinary. i have not seen this and many— extraordinary. i have not seen this and many other parts of the world. how long _ and many other parts of the world. how long this can be sustained when you are _ how long this can be sustained when you are already having a country like poland, 1 million refugees, and another— like poland, 1 million refugees, and another one may come. this is only ten or— another one may come. this is only ten or ii _ another one may come. this is only ten or ii days — another one may come. this is only ten or 11 days of influx. we need to think— ten or 11 days of influx. we need to think of— ten or 11 days of influx. we need to think of that, europe in particular, has to— think of that, europe in particular, has to think— think of that, europe in particular, has to think very hard, very seriously— has to think very hard, very seriously about how to share this responsibility of the response any more _ responsibility of the response any more structured manner. it is already clear _ more structured manner. it is already clear that _ more structured manner. it is already clear that we - more structured manner. it 3 already clear that we are moving into a bigger phase of this refugee exodus because over the weekend,

there were two consecutive days of more than 100,000 arrivals, more like 150,000 coming into poland on sunday alone. that is why the high commissioner is talking about what may lie ahead on the responsibility of other european countries. the polish government is putting forward proposals to give ukrainians a one—off financial payment and to give them access to the right to work and to health care and education for the next 18 months. for the moment, the scenes here are, what services are on offer, it is a scene of not quite chaos, but certainly it is quite frantic, people come over from ukraine certainly it is quite frantic, people come overfrom ukraine in a state of stress, largely women and children, it is not easy for people to be in the situation. and you can see from their faces and what they say that the change in their circumstances is really shocking for almost all of them.—

almost all of them. thank you. as she was saying. — almost all of them. thank you. as she was saying, what _ almost all of them. thank you. as she was saying, what is _ almost all of them. thank you. as she was saying, what is striking i she was saying, what is striking about this war, is seeing a sea of women and children leaving the country. that is the effect of martial law. men between the ages of 18 and 60 have to remain and fight. here in the shelter the coordinator told me that two young men between the ages of 19 and 20, former artist, were told that they had to stay and fight. she said the coordinator said that they disappeared. it got too much. that is the fate of so many, all of the men here in this country who can fight, who have the ability to fight, who have the ability to fight, to assist in whatever way they can to defend their country. that is what is happening here. we are also hearing from about the flood of refugees, 1.5 million people have left the country already, we are 12 days n, that looks like it is going to continue to rise, continue to expand, because

the exodus does not look like it is going to end nor does the fighting. we will have more coverage on bbc news throughout the day, please stay with us, i need to come back to you in london. we are hearing from the canadian foreign minister saying there will be more sanctions and thence against russia very soon. the canadian foreign minister, the canadian foreign minister, the canadian prime minister, along with the prime minister of the netherlands in talks with the uk prime minister borisjohnson today. we are also hearing from italy, the prime minister, saying that you countries need to act with speed on sanctions against russian people and entities over the war in ukraine. we are also, let me show you pictures we have received of russian tanks,

these pictures are coming from russia, russia is saying these are tanks near the ukrainian capital but we do not have verification or proof of that, ukraine has been warning of an all—out assault or an attempt at an all—out assault or an attempt at an all—out assault on the capital kyiv in the coming days, but russia is claiming these pictures of their tanks near the ukrainian capital. retyping those lines, from the canadian foreign minister saying they will be more sanctions and thence against russia very soon and thence against russia very soon and the italian prime minister saying eu countries need to act with speed on sanctions against russian people and entities. 0ver sanctions against russian people and entities. over the war in ukraine. russian military has been making some progress in the south of ukraine, despite failing so far to

take any major cities. to get more on what president putin military strategy might be, we can talk to the research fellow at the russia and eurasia programme at chatham house. thank you forjoining us today. we heard from the us secretary of state a little while ago, talking about the hugely disproportionate force is that russia has vis—a—vis ukraine. it might be useful to get you to be gained by taking stock for us of the relative positions of the russian forces and the ukrainian forces right now. forces and the ukrainian forces right now— right now. and as much as the situation is — right now. and as much as the situation is fluid _ right now. and as much as the situation is fluid at _ right now. and as much as the situation is fluid at this - right now. and as much as the situation is fluid at this stage, | right now. and as much as the i situation is fluid at this stage, we can see 12 days of initial war where russia does not seem to have accomplished initial gains or at least assumptions that they could push through into ukrainian territory, capture or seize land, very quickly, and then create a fait accompli after the first few days.

this has not happened. we are seeing a rejoinder between two different types of warfare, siege warfare, taking over urban centres by conducting a mix of carpet bombing, terrorising trying to force civilians out and move their forces in and then conduct the warfare. the second movement we see is more movement warfare, not extremely quick, movement warfare, as we have seenin quick, movement warfare, as we have seen in the south, through donbas, as well as the north. to try and capture more land, avoid major urban centres they cannot take over, but pushed farther to join up and link up pushed farther to join up and link up all the bubbles of seized ukrainian territory. this is a situation as we have it at the moment. do you see that as a shift in strategy by russia given that ukrainian forces didn't capitulate as russia had perhaps projected they

would? you as russia had perhaps pro'ected they would? ., ., ., , , would? you are absolutely right, the russians entered _ would? you are absolutely right, the russians entered this _ would? you are absolutely right, the russians entered this war _ would? you are absolutely right, the russians entered this war with - would? you are absolutely right, the russians entered this war with very i russians entered this war with very wrong assumptions about the nature of the resistance and probably the fact... that they were just capitulate. this has not happened of course so we can see a shift of tactics, i think the political and strategic objectives have not changed but the overall russian military strategy has not changed because you cannot rewrite a war plan overnight but the tactical operation and opinions is changing. this is probably why you see this much discussed convoy stalled in terms of military logistics to try to reassess the situation and then potentially move, enforce, in the coming days. potentially move, enforce, in the coming days-— potentially move, enforce, in the coming days. what is the status of that convoy? _ coming days. what is the status of that convoy? it _ coming days. what is the status of that convoy? it is _ coming days. what is the status of that convoy? it is hard _ coming days. what is the status of that convoy? it is hard to - coming days. what is the status of that convoy? it is hard to know - that convoy? it is hard to know exactly what — that convoy? it is hard to know exactly what is _ that convoy? it is hard to know

exactly what is happening. - that convoy? it is hard to know exactly what is happening. it i that convoy? it is hard to know exactly what is happening. it is that convoy? it is hard to know i exactly what is happening. it is a mixture of heavy infantry, ground troops, but also logistical supplies for the russian army which will be disbanded and moved to different places to resupply them. we know there has been a lot of logistical issues. the question is, can the russian army moved beyond that to continue its offensive and roll the ukrainian army be able to push against it and conduct more largerscale against it and conduct more la rgerscale counteroffensive against it and conduct more largerscale counteroffensive is to match the russian advance and further penetration into central ukraine. ., ., ~' further penetration into central ukraine. ., ,, ., ., ukraine. looking at the ukrainian forces, ukraine. looking at the ukrainian forces. what _ ukraine. looking at the ukrainian forces, what extent _ ukraine. looking at the ukrainian forces, what extent have - ukraine. looking at the ukrainian forces, what extent have they - ukraine. looking at the ukrainian l forces, what extent have they been able to deploy some of the equipment that has been deployed to ukraine, the anti—aircraft and anti—tank missiles and so on? is the evidence they have been able to use that effectively?— they have been able to use that effectivel ? . . ~ effectively? there is evidence. we can see already — effectively? there is evidence. we can see already the _ effectively? there is evidence. we can see already the effect - effectively? there is evidence. we can see already the effect of- effectively? there is evidence. we can see already the effect of air i can see already the effect of air defence systems being placed at the

right place at the right time. it is a massive stress test in terms of military logistics for ukraine and will be, as the war drags on in terms of the sustainability of the war effort. as more western systems gets in, it is a question of placing it at the right place to the right people at the right time in a very contested battlefield environment. hopefully, this will keep happening. and this is probably one of the only way is that the west at this stage can help ukraine sustain fighting operations and push back and start claiming victories. what operations and push back and start claiming victories.— claiming victories. what is your sense of what _ claiming victories. what is your sense of what might _ claiming victories. what is your sense of what might happen i claiming victories. what is your i sense of what might happen next? claiming victories. what is your - sense of what might happen next? do you think this will be a long, drawn—out conflict? do you think the ukrainians have the ability to hold off that overwhelming pressure from the russians, given the sheer size of the russian military? the sheer size of the russian _ of the russian military? the sheer size of the russian military - of the russian military? the sheer size of the russian military has i size of the russian military has deployed right now is about the size of the ukrainian army. we are

talking about roughly 200,000 people. if you recall the correlation of force, basically the ratio, you cannot invade and capture territory with a one—on—one ratio especially when you are playing a fence, so from the get—go, this operation in terms of the maximalist ambition of russian strategy was floored and designed to fail. if they had only remaining to their narrative of liberating donbas as they call that they could have had a chance, but right now, they are diluting their armed force which is diluting their armed force which is diluting their armed force which is diluting the ukrainian ability to push back because of so many fronts being open at the same time but now it is about sustainability on all sides and the rest can hopefully provide continued assistance and at home in russia what will be the human and economic cost of this conflict in terms of its sustainability so many factors at this stage, but hopefully, this will

be a genuine quagmire for the russian forces.— be a genuine quagmire for the russian forces. ., ,, , ., , . russian forces. thank you very much for our russian forces. thank you very much for your thoughts _ russian forces. thank you very much for your thoughts and _ russian forces. thank you very much for your thoughts and all _ russian forces. thank you very much for your thoughts and all that, - for your thoughts and all that, matthew bouleg from chatham house. we have heard more about protests in russia against the war in ukraine. we have seen pictures of police chasing demonstrators who were shouting now to war, no to war, and this is from st petersburg, pictures from yesterday but we are just receiving an. st petersburg, of course, vladimir putin's home city, and we know there have been arrests on a massive scale in russia, with people taking to the streets to oppose the war, despite the knowledge that they could be thrown into prison for a very long time

under new, draconian rules brought in by moscow in the last week. police there, and protesters in st petersburg. there is confusion today about the uk government policy on ukrainian refugees. home office celsius have confirmed they are examining a third route for ukrainian refugees to enter the country, in addition to the family reading and sponsorship roots and sponsorship routes announced already. it comes after the home office faced criticism of the low numbers of visas which have so far been issued. just 50 visas have been granted, that's around 1% of the total who've applied since the programme launched. and later today the uk prime minister borisjohnson is to hold talks with the canadian and dutch prime ministers in london as western governments prepare to agree further sanctions on russia. let's talk to our chief political correspondent adam fleming.

0n those visas for ukrainians wishing to come to the uk, it is a very small number granted so far when you look at the number of people being allowed into other countries. what has the uk government been saying in defence of this position? the government been saying in defence of this position?— this position? the first thing to sa when this position? the first thing to say when making _ this position? the first thing to say when making comparisons | this position? the first thing to - say when making comparisons between the uk and eu, because the eu has an association agreement with ukraine signed in 2014, you do not need the visa to be a ukrainian national to get into the schengen zone, with the eu, so straightaway there is a more frictionless process and then, of course, you combine that with geography and you can start to see why the structural factors that would mean the numbers are so different and the eu. then there's the fact that the uk has a process, to get a visa and you do need one to come to the uk, you need to provide documentation and biometric information like your fingerprint, so that takes time, so that is some

of the reasons why in the last few days, suggestions have been that there are have been 50 visas granted to ukrainian nationals, even though the number of applications is many many thousands. here is how the foreign office ministerjames cleverley was justifying it this morning. we are looking to support them. we are looking to make sure that they can come to the uk. and we are looking to make sure the process is quick. you've got to remember that, you know, two weeks ago, this situation didn't exist at all. we are looking to create something at a very, very large—scale, very, very quickly. initially, of course, it will be slower than we would like, but that will pick up. we will be accepting both ukrainians who have family and those who don't as well as supporting them across europe. of course we will. and then there is the issue of whether there will be a new route for people to come in. at the moment, you have the route whereby

if you are a ukrainian national, you can come to the uk if you have an existing family member here, there will be a new sponsorship route established where individuals, organisations and communities can sponsor a ukrainian person to come to the uk, although we're still waiting for details about how that is going to work, and there is confusion about whether there could be a third route, and we are on to the third government position on this in the last few hours. position number one was the home secretary in the sun newspaper saying she had started work on the third way for people to get here, position number two, a downing street source saying there would only be the existing routes, we are now onto the third position which is that there are two existing routes but any future routes have been a matter kept under constant review so we are sort of getting there, but a little bit of confusion about that third route. the second route, the sponsorship route, we have no idea how that is going to work. that is just a government aspiration at the moment.

we are expecting to hear more about economic sanctions from boris johnson later on today, and the economic crime bill in particular. i understand that there are concerns that it still allows loopholes for those close to vladimir putin, very wealthy individuals, loopholes for them and their money. for wealthy individuals, loopholes for them and their money.— them and their money. for years governors _ them and their money. for years governors have _ them and their money. for years governors have talked _ them and their money. for years governors have talked about - them and their money. for years i governors have talked about getting more transparency around the flows of money abroad into british assets like property and mansions, and so this crisis has finally forced the government to do something about it and what they are doing is the economic crime bill which will go through as common stages in the parliament today, and could become law, a week today. in terms of what it does, it sets up a register of foreign ownership of property, where people would have to say that they had brought this property, who they were and what the property was and that would be retrospective and apply to purchases done in the last

two decades. the government wants to beef up unexplained wealth orders where people can be compelled to explain more information about where the cash has come from but since the legislation was published in draft only a week ago, the government has published its own amendments to it already which would strengthen the sanctions regime and make it a little bit more responsive, and mean that the government could apply more sanctions to more people more quickly. then you have the amendments tabled by the opposition parties and by some conservative mps, who would like the government to go even further, who would like this legislation to come in within 28 days, rather than the six months the government is proposing. they would like it to apply to many more things, like yachts, privatejets, football clubs, and people would like to introduce a freeze on people's assets, were to freeze the assets first and ask questions later. so there is a big debate going on aboutjust how far this legislation should actually go, and a debate we will see play out in

parliament in a few hours, although we have to make —— wait to see if any amendments get selected for a vote in parliament, or if the government has gone as far as it is going to go, on this.— government has gone as far as it is going to go, on this. thank you very much, going to go, on this. thank you very much. adam — going to go, on this. thank you very much, adam fleming, _ going to go, on this. thank you very much, adam fleming, chief- going to go, on this. thank you veryj much, adam fleming, chief political correspondent. the head of the un's nuclear watchdog says he's extremely concerned about reported communication difficulties between the ukrainian regulator and nuclear sites under russian control. rafael grossi said the ukrainian authorities were having trouble contacting staff at the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — the biggest in europe. a relative of someone working inside the chernobyl nuclear plant has spoken to the bbc. that facility was taken over by russian forces over a week ago. we've called her valerie — which is not her real name — to protect her identity. she described the situation. conditions are kind of concerning right now. they are fed once a day.

it's very simple and poor food. they can't sleep normally because, they have to work, basically, 24—7, because they have to keep maintaining the plant working properly. almost all their moves are controlled. i mean, they are not interrupted at their work, but they can't move freely, theyjust always have to be convoyed by the russian army. so how worried should we be about the safety of ukraine's nuclear plants? joseph cirincione is a nuclear policy expert at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft in washington. we should be very worried. look, operating a nuclear power plant in the best of circumstances is a tricky business. these guys aren't homer simpson. they are trained engineers, technicians, they take it very seriously. it is a delicate situation. the technicians at chernobyl or three mile island didn't intend to cause a nuclear catastrophe. something went wrong.

and here you have these operators operating at gunpoint under the command of a russian military officer who knows nothing about nuclear power plants. haven't been able to communicate with theirfamilies. haven't had a shift change since thursday. 0perating under duress. it is a recipe for disaster. you cannot shut them down. and we understand that several reactors at this site are shut down but, however, that has consequences. number one, you are now cutting off electrical supply for ukraine which is dangerous in itself. and second, even when you shut it down, it is still dangerous. those fuel rods don't turn off like a light bulb. they stay hot for months or days. you have to cool it either in the reactor or in the fuel ponds which are also at the site, unprotected, no containment, no protection whatsoever, if that coolant system breaks down, if you stop pumping the water in, if artllery shell hits

one of the spent fuel ponds, then you are looking at those reactor rods quickly superheating and melting down. that is how you get a meltdown. that is how you get a major release of radioactive gases in the ground, in the water supply and in the air. joseph cirincione there from the quincy institute. a russian gymnast is under investigation because of what the international gymnastics federation called his �*shocking behaviour�* at the world cup in doha. let's get more on this now from our sports reporter louisa pilbeam who's in the bbc sport centre. the international gymnastics federation has launched proceedings into this russian athlete ivan kulyak, after he wore this insignia,

next to a ukrainian athlete who we will see in the second. he doesn't say anything the russian athlete and it is not clear whether the ukrainian athlete knows he had this symbol on his chest. the ukrainian is very stoic, and nothing is said. but this is a national war symbol that has been seen on russian tanks in ukraine. ukraine was of course invaded by russia 12 days ago. and the international gymnastics federation has called this behaviour tjy federation has called this behaviour by the russian gymnast shocking, in quotes. you may wonder why these gymnasts were able to compete next to each other on the podium receiving their medals when some of the other sporting events across the world have banned russian and belarusian athletes. just in the last few days the paralympics of course banned russian and belarusian athletes but i understand that from

today that russian and belarusian athletes are not able to compete in international gymnastics federation events, and they have also confirmed that any event that was proposed to take place in russia or belarus will now no longer take place. lisa, thank you very much. —— luisa. the price of oil has again risen sharply following suggestions that russian oil exports could be banned by the united states and the european union. with no realistic prospect of a quick resolution to the conflict in ukraine, other commodities have also soared in value, including gold and other metals, as well as wheat and maize. our business correspondent katy austin has more. it has already hit almost a 14 year high, after the us said it was in discussions with other countries about a potential ban on russian supplies. brent crude, the global benchmark, a barrel of that went to $139

before falling back to $130 a barrel. this can have all sorts of knock—on effects, including for consumers here, because that feeds into the amount you pay for petrol and diesel at the pump, those already at record high prices, so we should expect further prices to come there, and businesses as well, buying fuel and oil, also used widely in the manufacturing process, so this will have a knock—on impact potentially for the cost of living. big concerns about food security as well as a result of this conflict. we've had a warning today from the boss of one of the world's biggest fertiliser companies. he said it could be a big hit to the global supply and cost of food, the company buys lots of the ingredients forfertiliserfrom russia, lots of the nutrients needed in that fertiliser, to help crops and plants grow, and, because of the soaring wholesale gas prices, fertiliser prices were already high.

the russian government is urging its producers as well to halt exports now. so the boss of that company said it is not whether we are moving into a globalfood crisis, it is how large the crisis will be. katy austin reporting. the german chancellor 0laf scholz has announced drastic measures that would have been previously unthinkable, including an additional $130 billion for the german army. it is arguably one of the biggest shifts ever seen in germany's post—war foreign policy. before the invasion of ukraine such a militaristic stance would have been unacceptable for most germans packed in a recent poll their 78% of people said they agreed with the transformation in foreign policy. damian grammaticas has sent this report from berlin.

appalled by war, this is a nation shaking off its past. this climate activist now sees a new threat to her future. as children, we were told that europe is the safe, yeah, the safe space. we are in peace, we are in, we are secure and this has changed quickly. a new german generation, politically engaged, are against war and against the oil and gas putin profits from. what's clear is that vladimir putin's war is — just in the space of a few days — changing germany profoundly. 0ld certainties gone, new approaches being adopted fast. in the parliament, policies, some decades old, have been ditched. the chancellor has suspended a key pipeline almost ready to pump gas from russia. arms are going to ukraine and 100 billion euros will be spent to upgrade the military. in berlin, memories of the world wars germany unleashed are everywhere.

what's left of the railway station from where in the holocaustjews were transported to their deaths. the memorial to the millions of russian soldiers who died to defeat germany. in recent times, german elites thought they could partner russia — no more. we have seen that this assumption that as long as we stick to diplomacy and as long as we keep engaging with russia, they will also engage with us and they will refrain from taking military action from threatening the european security order. i think that this conviction is now shattered. the wall that once divided berlin is gone, replaced by a nation that's grown comfortable. they thought wars were a thing of the past. so germany has prosperity, but no longer the certainties that underpinned it. this means a more realpolitik—based approach to foreign policy, not one on visions and dreams and aspirations. and i think that is not a bad thing

for germany in these turbulent global and european times. polls show more than two—thirds of germans back the shift. for some, it's not enough, though others are uneasy at germany rearming. $100 billion. that's way too much, i think. it's just way too little, way too slow. we have to remember that these people in ukraine right now are fighting and dying for our values as well. european values in defence of which a new germany is awakening. damian grammaticas, bbc news, berlin. protests against the war have been taking place in major cities around the world all weekend, and as the conflict in ukraine intensifies by the day, organisers are ramping up their messages — and their tactics — as stephanie prentice reports: ladies and gentlemen, we are playing for peace.

central london, and musicians from the city's major orchestras and music schools unite to bring one of its busiest corners to a standstill. the flash mob organised in hours on social media designed to send a message that transcends words. we have just played ukrainian national anthem and two very, very important ukrainian pieces. one of them written by valentin silvestrov, the composer who, according to the report that i received, is now in kyev, is now actually under attack. his life is actually in danger. and i think playing his piece today was just chanting: stand with ukraine. stand with ukraine. _ in america's political capital, washington, rhetoric amping up, the words being used, war crimes, slaughter and murder. and a sense that every hour, not every day, counts. what we need now is

a sense of urgency. the attacks on the civilians and the destruction of ukraine is going to accelerate this week. and they need assistance now. everything we have done has been good but it has been too slow, half steps at a time. further north in toronto, a man showing his feelings to russia. cheering no—fly zone! canadians here demanding an immediate no—fly zone over ukraine. to the south in mexico city, the same conviction, hundreds marched along its famous reformer avenue, ukrainian nationals living there asking for one thing. translation: we ask you to support us so that they stop killing us. ukrainians are being killed. they are not only killing soldiers, they are killing all ukrainian civilians. they are shooting at people who are in their cars trying to flee.

and now, a familiar sight here — president putin as adolf hitler, a reminder of the broaderfears driving protest and policy since the start of this conflict. stephanie prentice, bbc news. tests against the war happening on russia, as well, we have some pictures from sunday, from st petersburg, or police chasing protesters who were shouting, no to war. according to the russian interior ministry, more than 3700 people were detained across russia, 1700 of them in moscow alone, and the information rights group, 0vd, says that more than 11,000 people have been detained for protests against the war in ukraine and

russia. a spokesperson for the group saying that the screws are being fully tightened, we are witnessing military censorship. you are watching bbc news. hello again. it has been a cold start with temperatures falling away to —6 across parts of scotland and northern england. we've started with a frost. it will be a chilly day for everyone. mostly dry with sunny spells. showers across the south—east are to fade. quite a bit of cloud across england and wales but it will continue to break up as it travels northwards. sunny skies across scotland and northern ireland will see more cloud around on a course of the afternoon. wherever you are today it will be breezy. tsese are the average wind speeds. the wind will be strengthening across north—west scotland, northern ireland and through the irish sea. temperatures today, it is a wee bit chilly for the time of year. temperatures around seven

in lerwick, seven in birmingham, nine and cardiff. heading through the evening and overnight under clear skies, temperatures will fall away quite rapidly. there will be areas of cloud moving steadily northwards through the night, and the wind is going to pick up, particularly in the west, particularly with exposure, we could be looking at gales with exposure across north—west scotland. 0vernight we expect —6 as the overnight lows, you can see from the blue on the chart we are looking at a widespread frost. tomorrow, lots of dry weather, lots of sunshine, showers across northern ireland, wales and the south—west being replaced by thicker cloud and rain coming in from the west. and the wind picking up. temperatures, 7—11 celsius, so the temperatures starting to rise but heading from tuesday into wednesday the weather becomes more unsettled. high pressure that has been in charge for the last few days moves away, and can see that we are under an atlantic influence, the wind changing direction with heavy, persistent rain coming our way.

it will turn milder, represented by the yellow in the chart, but look at the blues coming in from the west. starting off for many on a cold note with frost and some sunshine, cloud building ahead of the front. snow in the hills of scotland with persistent rain coming in, heavy at times, then we could see again some hill snow in northern ireland. six in stornoway, 13, pushing down towards london. into thursday, patchy rain across central and eastern areas. still windy, not as windy on friday, and as that front clears, we will see sunshine and showers.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm lucy hockings. our top stories. after another night of rocket attacks and missile strikes, russia says it will hold fire on new evacuation routes out of some ukrainian cities — including the capital, kyiv. ukraine says the routes are "completely immoral" as most lead to belarus or russia itself. i'm yalda hakim, live in lviv in western ukraine, as people try to make their way to safety nuclear watchdogs and experts have raised major concerns, as russia takes control of ukraine's largest power plant. oil prices have hit a 13—year high, after the us said it was discussing a potential ban on russian supplies with other countries. more than 1.5 million people have

now fled ukraine so far — as people look for safety in neighbouring countries to the west. ukraine says russia's idea that ukrainian civilian should be allowed safe passage by corridors leading to russia and belarus is completely immoral. 0fficialsite russia and belarus is completely immoral. official site people trapped in cities on the russian bombardment should be allowed to escaped ukrainian territory. the defence ministry in moscow said it was acting on a request from emmanuel macron but the ukrainian deputy prime minister said russia was trying to play the french president. meanwhile, the russian military claims its forces are continuing to advance.

the areas shaded red indicate where russian forces are in control. the two biggest cities in ukraine, kyiv and kharkiv, remain in the hands of the ukrainian government and military. kherson, in the south of the country, is still the only major city to have fallen into russian control. and bear in mind that crimea was annexed by crimea in 2014 — while the eastern areas, known as donbas, were seized by pro—russian groups in the same year. the number of people who have fled the fighting has now risen to more than a million and a half. these pictures, filmed on monday morning, show more refugees at a checkpoint to the west of kyiv — it's the last one which is controlled by ukraine, with the areas beyond it caught up in the fighting. russia has refused to attend an international court ofjustice hearing where ukraine is demanding an order for a halt to the invasion. ukraine's representative accused moscow of defiling the genocide convention by using claims of a non—existent genocide as a false pretext to try to justify the invasion. let's go live now to lviv in western ukraine,

and join my colleague yalda hakim. good to see you. can you bring this up good to see you. can you bring this up to date with the latest you are hearing from around the country today? hearing from around the country toda ? . �* . . , today? that's right, lucy. the fiuuhtin today? that's right, lucy. the fighting does _ today? that's right, lucy. the fighting does continue - today? that's right, lucy. the fighting does continue and - today? that's right, lucy. the fighting does continue and wej today? that's right, lucy. the - fighting does continue and we are 12 days into this war and 12 days of pure horrorfor days into this war and 12 days of pure horror for the citizens of ukraine who are still caught up in the fighting, the shelling, the bombing that continues in the north, east and south of the country and today we are hearing that there is an attempt for another humanitarian corridor to be created to allow people to evacuate safely and as you've been saying for the last two or three days, we've been trying to hear about people who could evacuate but have not been able to and i am here at this arts centre which was 12 days ago a place where cultural events were held and now tens of thousands of people are making their way to safety and using places like

this for shelter. this way to safety and using places like this for shelter.— this for shelter. this is the human cost of war- _ this for shelter. this is the human cost of war. more _ this for shelter. this is the human cost of war. more than _ this for shelter. this is the human cost of war. more than a - this for shelter. this is the human cost of war. more than a million i cost of war. more than a million ukrainian sublet the country already to seek shelter from the bombardments. these families are amongst those who have remained until now, but like many others, they are leaving their homes behind, hoping to take advantage of a russian ceasefire to flee the theatre of war.— russian ceasefire to flee the theatre of war. ., ._ ,., , theatre of war. today, the bombing was continuing _ theatre of war. today, the bombing was continuing and _ theatre of war. today, the bombing was continuing and i _ theatre of war. today, the bombing was continuing and i decided - theatre of war. today, the bombing was continuing and i decided to - was continuing and i decided to escape because it's really dangerous, no bread, milk, eggs, no nothing, and all of the places are closed. it's terrible. taste nothing, and all of the places are closed. it's terrible.— closed. it's terrible. we were underground, _ closed. it's terrible. we were underground, but _ closed. it's terrible. we were underground, but it - closed. it's terrible. we were underground, but it was - closed. it's terrible. we were underground, but it was a i closed. it's terrible. we were - underground, but it was a chance to escape, _ underground, but it was a chance to escape. so — underground, but it was a chance to escape, so we took our luggage and came _ escape, so we took our luggage and came here _ escape, so we took our luggage and came here by car. the escape, so we took our luggage and came here by car-— came here by car. the ukrainian government— came here by car. the ukrainian government has _ came here by car. the ukrainian government has branded - came here by car. the ukrainian i government has branded president putin's humanitarian corridors aim —— immoral as those in kharkiv will

only be promised safe passage to russia. those in kyiv are offered safe passage to russia's ally, belarus. two ceasefire terms in the southern city collapsed over the weekend but as many get their way, they will seek their refuge in neighbouring countries, and some will be accepted by the uk. at the heart of the uk government low, confusion on policy numbers. there are a lot of — confusion on policy numbers. there are a lot of figures _ confusion on policy numbers. there are a lot of figures kicking - confusion on policy numbers. tie- are a lot of figures kicking around at the weekend that there were just 50 but i haven't had confirmation of that as yet. inevitably, as i say, we are working through the process quickly and there will be significantly more than that. poland sa s it has significantly more than that. poland says it has taken _ significantly more than that. poland says it has taken on _ significantly more than that. poland says it has taken on more _ significantly more than that. poland says it has taken on more than - significantly more than that. poland says it has taken on more than 1 - says it has taken on more than 1 million refugees since president putin launched his invasion 12 days ago. the un is already describing the situation as europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since the second world war. 0ver growing refugee crisis since the second world war. over the border, these scenes are typical of the danger ukrainians are fleeing. towns

to the north—west of kyiv have been under heavy bombardment from russian forces as they continue their attempt to take control of the capital. the ukrainian government says russia has been striking civilian targets. 0n says russia has been striking civilian targets. on a visit to lithuania, the us secretary of state condemned russia's attacks. it’s lithuania, the us secretary of state condemned russia's attacks. it's not ok for one country _ condemned russia's attacks. it's not ok for one country to _ condemned russia's attacks. it's not ok for one country to try _ condemned russia's attacks. it's not ok for one country to try and - ok for one country to try and dictate to another. it is choices. it is future, its policies with which we can associate. principles like it's not ok for one country to say it has a sphere of influence over another, to try to subjugate that country to its will. all of that country to its will. all of thatis that country to its will. all of that is at stake here by russia's aggression. that is at stake here by russia's aggression-— that is at stake here by russia's anression. . , ., , ., , aggression. amidst heavy casualties and losses, western _ aggression. amidst heavy casualties and losses, western allies _ aggression. amidst heavy casualties and losses, western allies continue| and losses, western allies continue their war against russia, not with boots on the ground but by suffocating the country's finances. mastercard and pwc are amongst the latest western countries cutting ties. netflix has cut video streaming services to the country and the social media platform tick—tock has suspended live

streaming on new content while it reviews and assesses new laws that could see people jailed for up to 15 years or publishing what russian authorities deem to be false news about the conflict. russian citizens are heavily affected as western countries seek to cripple president putin's finances. but the economic consequences are global. oil prices have hit their highest for 13 years, reaching prices hundred and $39 per barrel as the us considers banning russian crude oil imports. russia's staunchest ally, china, have insisted their relationship with president putin is rock—solid but their foreign minister says they stand ready to work with the international community to carry out mediation. for now though, no sign of a let up. it's a conflict that continues to escalate financially and with an increasing loss of life. for many, all they have is a spirit that cannot be broken. singing

the glimmer of hope in the underground bunkers where people have created an entire life for themselves but we've also been seeing absolutely gruesome pictures come out of the last 24 hours of a mother and her two children killed in a suburbjust mother and her two children killed in a suburb just north of kyiv, and these are images that come out every day, so those able to escape say that they are the lucky ones. with me now is, anastasia, who fled kharkiv. she managed to bring some pets with her as well, so tell us the situation that you left in kharkiv. alejos it was terrible. 0ver situation that you left in kharkiv. alejos it was terrible. over the last night and day there was a lot of bombing attacks and a lot of buildings were destroyed and we were leaving the heating in our flat. some buildings were without

electricity but thank you for the government for this. everything is repaired and it's very fast and they have tried to work and do everything and the last night there was a lot of bombing and today we left for kharkiv and my friends and neighbours called to me. find kharkiv and my friends and neighbours called to me. and the next street _ neighbours called to me. and the next street to _ neighbours called to me. and the next street to mine, _ neighbours called to me. and the next street to mine, the - neighbours called to me. and the next street to mine, the building | next street to mine, the building was destroyed, the stadium of the national university. i was destroyed, the stadium of the national university.— was destroyed, the stadium of the national university. i think we have those pictures _ national university. i think we have those pictures to _ national university. i think we have those pictures to show _ national university. i think we have those pictures to show our - national university. i think we have those pictures to show our viewers | those pictures to show our viewers of the flat near your neighbour's house that was destroyed. abs, of the flat near your neighbour's house that was destroyed. a, lot of the flat near your neighbour's house that was destroyed. a lot of buildin . s, house that was destroyed. a lot of buildings. they _ house that was destroyed. a lot of buildings, they were _ house that was destroyed. a lot of buildings, they were destroyed, i

buildings, they were destroyed, direct bombing, a lot of buildings have been destroyed there. there were no military objects, it'sjust a place where people live, the usual people. i a place where people live, the usual --eole. ~' ., ., a place where people live, the usual --eole. ~ ., ., �* , ., people. i know what you're trying to sa , that people. i know what you're trying to say. that it — people. i know what you're trying to say. that it was _ people. i know what you're trying to say, that it was normal _ people. i know what you're trying to say, that it was normal civilians - say, that it was normal civilians living in that residential area. but you and your daughter and your cat, your two rats. you and your daughter and your cat, your two rats-— your two rats. yes, they take them with us and — your two rats. yes, they take them with us and the _ your two rats. yes, they take them with us and the rats _ your two rats. yes, they take them with us and the rats are _ your two rats. yes, they take them with us and the rats are from - your two rats. yes, they take them with us and the rats are from my i with us and the rats are from my daughter, and we take them in a box. she must have been very scared and frightened. she is seven years old, lisi, so tell us what she saw and what she has been saying.- lisi, so tell us what she saw and what she has been saying. every day, in the corridor _ what she has been saying. every day, in the corridor of _ what she has been saying. every day, in the corridor of our _ what she has been saying. every day, in the corridor of our flat, _ what she has been saying. every day, in the corridor of our flat, between i in the corridor of our flat, between the three walls, because it is the most safe place, every day she said,

mother, please can we leave kharkiv because i am very afraid and very scared because the planes have been bombing our beautiful city. they flew under our building and our building was shaking. it was very frightening. building was shaking. it was very frightening-— building was shaking. it was very friuuhtenin. . . ,, ., frightening. yes, and then you moved into a bunker. — frightening. yes, and then you moved into a bunker, didn't _ frightening. yes, and then you moved into a bunker, didn't you? _ frightening. yes, and then you moved into a bunker, didn't you? yes- frightening. yes, and then you moved into a bunker, didn't you? yes the - into a bunker, didn't you? yes the next time. — into a bunker, didn't you? yes the next time. the _ into a bunker, didn't you? yes the next time, the next _ into a bunker, didn't you? yes the next time, the next day, - into a bunker, didn't you? yes the next time, the next day, we - into a bunker, didn't you? yes the next time, the next day, we go i into a bunker, didn't you? yes the next time, the next day, we go to| next time, the next day, we go to the bunker which is under our building and it was warm there, not cold, but some places are very cold and a lot of children have got flu, it's very cold. and a lot of children have got flu, it's very cold-— and a lot of children have got flu, it's very cold. anastasia, thank you so much, it's very cold. anastasia, thank you so much. and _ it's very cold. anastasia, thank you so much, and you _ it's very cold. anastasia, thank you so much, and you were _ it's very cold. anastasia, thank you so much, and you were telling - it's very cold. anastasia, thank you so much, and you were telling me| so much, and you were telling me earlier that her other friends, many of them have been left behind in

kharkiv and they don't think it is safe enough to leave and they do not have food, water, heating and are really struggling and suffering right now. as the bombing and shelling continues. well, as i said, there are tens of thousands of people making their way to the west of the country and then heading to the poland and ukraine borderfor safety there, and my colleague can join us there now. my colleague mishal husain at the polish—ukrainian border. iam about i am about eight miles on the polish side of the poland and ukraine border on the train station where we are today has become something of a refugee hub and relief centre in recent days. let me show you a little of what it is like here. this is what the mass exodus from ukraine means in human terms. people have made it to safety but it's a difficult situation that they find themselves in and here it is largely groups of women and children, so you see ukrainians and others of all

ages, often old, sometimes disabled or with pets and lots of women handling young children and babies as well as older relatives so it's a very different situation for them to be in. the numbers have really increased in recent days. poland has had two days now of well over 100,000 arrivals and they arrive over the border in cars, on foot, or indeed by train from kviv to this station. sometimes they have an idea of where they will go from here and other times there are some people who are asleep in the station in what is normally a ticket all our waiting room while they try to figure out where to go and what to do. the relief effort at places like this is really dependent on volunteers and there are hundreds of them, the polish people have really stepped up here and in lots of other places like this but the mayor of the town has been talking to me about what the future might look like. in our city, in ten days, about 180,000 refugees coming in.

it's a very unusual situation. every day we have about 1200 volunteers who work here every day. can you sustain this? what if this war goes on and on, weeks, months? can you keep this up? probably not. that was the mayor of the city. it is not yet clear exactly where a lot of the people who arrive here go. it certainly seems they are moving through this part of south—eastern poland relatively quickly but let me show you what it's like here. the reason this place is so busy is not only because trains do come in here from lviv, but also because this is on the main line to crack off and other destinations in poland, so other destinations in poland, so other people who want to get further in the west come through the station, so are all hours of the day and night they are bussed in from

relief centres elsewhere so one of the big questions in the long run is, what happens when more people start to arrive from ukraine, people who might not have connections in other parts of europe who might not have the number and address of friends orfamily in have the number and address of friends or family in germany or spain or the friends or family in germany or spain orthe uk friends or family in germany or spain or the uk who are willing to host them. that is when the situation becomes even more complex thanit situation becomes even more complex than it is now. the un high commissionerfor than it is now. the un high commissioner for refugees has than it is now. the un high commissionerfor refugees has been here in poland seeing the situation for himself. and it's not only a logistical nightmare to think of many more people coming, but also a matter of acceptance by the community. yesterday, as i said, i was very impressed by how people were bringing supplies, cooking food. volunteers were helping, were helping elderly people, making children play. that's extraordinary. and i haven't seen this in many other parts of the world, but how long this can be sustained when you already

have in a country like poland, 1 million refugees? and you know, another one may come. this is only 10, 11 days of influx. so we need to think of that and europe in particular has to think very hard, very seriously about how to share this responsibility of the response in a more structured manner. the polish government is thinking about the medium term and long term already and putting forward proposals today that would see ukrainians get a one—off financial payment and also have the right to work and access to health care and education for their children for the next 18 months in poland. it's been called a ground—breaking package and is looking to the eu will already to help cover the cost, and the eu has already pledged a significant package of financial support for ukraine, so the hope from poland is

that a lot of that money might come to help them with this longer—term for ukrainians. back to you. what has been most striking is seeing those people leave ukraine into poland is that the majority of them are women and children, because of martial law, men between the ages of 18 and 60 how to stay back and fight, so it is quite eerie, and heartbreaking scene children say goodbye to their fathers, the women saying goodbye to the men in their lives as they make their way out of this country into potentially a new life, not knowing when they will be reunited, if they will be reunited and if they will be able to return to their country. lucy, back to you in the studio. thank you so much. we will bring you more now on the safe passages. the idea that they should

be allowed safe passage by corridors to russia or belarus is completely immoral. a senior russian general describe their plans to enable civilians flee. translation: today the 7th of march, | starting at 10am moscow time russia | has declared a ceasefire to open six humanitarian corridors. the first is from kyiv to gostomel. there are two more from mariupol. detailed information about the humanitarian corridors was given to the ukrainian side in advance, as well as dedicated entities of the united nations, the 0sce and the international committees of the red cross. the united nations estimates that more than 1.5 million people have fled ukraine since russia invaded its neighbour, with hundreds of thousands pouring into poland,

romania, slovakia and hungary. 0ur correspondent, nick thorpe in budapest who's been watching refugees arriving at one of the main train stations. good to see you. tell some of the stories you've been hearing today. —— tell us. says stories you've been hearing today. -- tell us— -- tell us. as you can see, large numbers — -- tell us. as you can see, large numbers of— -- tell us. as you can see, large numbers of people _ -- tell us. as you can see, large numbers of people just - -- tell us. as you can see, large numbers of people just behind i -- tell us. as you can see, large i numbers of people just behind me here, they have got off the train, coming from the border from a place on the ukrainian border. and one story that struck me this morning these are people with a family with small children from way down on the edge of ukraine and close to the river danube. those people had crossed on a ferry across the river danube to safety in romania and then travel to bucharest in romania and had arrived, so not directly from

ukraine, but they crossed romania to get to hungary on their way to the czech republic where the father of the family has been working. astonishing journeys, thousands of kilometres out of a war zone across one country and then another and to link that together with what we were hearing just now, in terms of the rest of europe, absorbing these flows of refugees, this is very interesting, these front line states up interesting, these front line states up and down this border of ukraine to the west, and obviously they are bearing the brunt of the first arrivals but then obviously other countries in europe are helping out now and being the target country for many of these people, a sort of rough rule of thumb i'm hearing from poland and romania and hungary is perhaps 40% of those arriving or a little more, perhaps 50%, are

actually travelling through these countries on their way to europe, the west of europe and the others are staying put in countries like poland, hungary, romania and being accommodated initially and absorbed here. ~ . . accommodated initially and absorbed here. . . ~ . here. what is the prime minister sa in: here. what is the prime minister saying about _ here. what is the prime minister saying about the _ here. what is the prime minister saying about the current - here. what is the prime minister saying about the current crisis? | saying about the current crisis? he's had such a close relationship over the years with president putin and is in a difficult position right now because there have been strained relations with ukraine. what is the latest he is saying about the war? this is very interesting. in the pastis this is very interesting. in the past is friendship with vladimir putin, he's had nearly a dozen meetings in the last ten years, and that has been stressed by pro—government media in the last years. he spends a lot of time criticising the european union and criticising the european union and criticising brussels and making a lot of his opening to the east to vladimir putin and other countries. and i should add, very importantly,

we are only four weeks before a parliamentary election here now, and his own voting base, and he was hoping very much to win a fourth consecutive term in office, but his own voting base are somewhat confused and divided between what is becoming an hungary or a rather pro—russian stance and obviously seeing the pictures from ukraine as hungary welcomes all of these refugees from ukraine, a rather critical view of russia emerging even amongst his own voters there, so it is something that he has to navigate very carefully. his own message to his own voters has been one where he presents himself as a champion of peace and talking less about that hard past friendship with vladimir putin. macro are interesting to hear that narrative. thank you forjoining us. .

russia has refused to attend an international court ofjustice hearing where ukraine is demanding an order for a halt to the invasion. vladimir putin has justified the military invasion was to protect russian speakers in eastern ukraine. but ukraine said moscow's claim was baseless and alleged that geonocide in eastern ukraine was non—exsistent. (read 0n) we can speak now to magdalena gawin director at pilecki institute. her team is gathering evidence to present to the court. quite a challenge ahead of you. how do you go about doing it and gathering the evidence? this do you go about doing it and gathering the evidence? this is a ve bi gathering the evidence? this is a very big challenge _ gathering the evidence? this is a very big challenge and _ gathering the evidence? this is a very big challenge and when - gathering the evidence? this is a very big challenge and when i'ml very big challenge and when i'm hearing vladimir putin's lies, the idea came to me to set up the centre and gather testimonies of civilians who came to poland and i would like to remind all of us that today i received information that over 1 million ukrainians crossed the border to poland and lots of them

are in poland in different places, so this is very, very important to interview people and to find out what they experience. of course, the first wave of refugees, they did not see war because they ran away very quickly but the next wave, their experience is different and we should all know one thing, that we are seeing on the television programme only a small part of the wall reality. now all of us are focused on the question of the military campaign and for us right now we have to see if kharkiv will defend itself or not but the fate of the civilians is in the background, so we want to interview people and gather materials which would be useful for the post—war trials and

this is very, very important and a very huge operation to build such a system. i5 very huge operation to build such a s stem. . very huge operation to build such a s stem. , , very huge operation to build such a sstem., system. is it possible when you interview these _ system. is it possible when you interview these eyewitnesses i system. is it possible when you| interview these eyewitnesses to verify what they are saying or is that not so important at the moment and more about gathering their accounts? alejos we have got testimonies from the post—war, and the we are conscious that this is valuable for the trials are not and it's very important that all of these things must be written in every language and their personal data and it must be very precise and it's very, very good and one of the incidents is the different people from different angles and you know what is valuable for the trials, but

we also want to we want to see the judges for the trials, we want to route it in the memory about the war and also the perspective for example for academics, for historians, sociologists, for everybody who have seen this conflict. thank you very much for shedding some light on to how your team operates and time is of the essence in a big challenge ahead of you. thank you so much for joining us. stay with us as we bring you continuing coverage from ukraine, russia and the border countries as well. we are going to have coming up for you more on the impact on the markets as well and what is happening with the price of oil and we will be looking as well at this new russian ceasefire proposal to allow civilians to flee key cities. the ukrainians saying it is immoral and many of those people are being offered passage to russia and

belarus. more on all of the top line is coming to us from this story he obviously. hello again. it's been a cold start today with temperatures this morning falling to —6 across parts of scotland and also northern england, so we started with frost and it will be a chilly day where ever you are but mostly dry with some sunny spells and the showers we have across the south—east will fade. we have quite a bit of cloud crossing and wales but it will continue to break up as it travels northwards and sunny skies across scotland and northern ireland will see some more cloud developed for the course of the afternoon. wherever you are today you will be breezy and these are the average wind speeds but the wind will strengthen across north—west scotland and northern ireland and irish sea. temperatures today, a wee bit chilly for the time of year but we are looking at temperatures between seven in

lerwick and birmingham and london up to nine in cardiff. as we head for the evening and overnight under clear skies, temperatures will fall away rapidly and there will be areas of cloud moving steadily northwards through the course of the night and the wind is going to pick up, particularly in the west and particularly in the west and particularly so with exposure and we could look at gales with exposure across north—west scotland. 0vernight, we expect —6 as an overnight low and you can see on the blue on the chart we are looking at a widespread frost. tomorrow a lot of dry weather and sunshine, one or two overnight showers across northern ireland, wales and the south—west being replaced by a thick cloud and rain coming in from the west and the wind is picking up with temperatures seven to 11 degrees, so is notjust temperatures seven to 11 degrees, so is not just a temperatures seven to 11 degrees, so is notjust a win, also the temperature starting to rise. as we had from tuesday into wednesday the weather turns more unsettled on the high pressure that has been in charge for the last few days moves away and you can see we are no under more of an atlantic influence on the wind changes direction and we will

see heavy and persistent rain coming our way as well. it will turn milder as represented by the yellow in the chart but look at the blues coming in from the west, so we start off for many on a cold note with frost but also some sunshine in the cloud building out of the front. some hill snow in scotland and the persistent rain coming and which will be heavy at times and we could then see some hill snow in northern ireland. six in stornoway and 13 as we push down towards london. into thursday, patchy rain across central and eastern areas, still windy but not as windy on friday and there is a front clearing and we will see sunshine and showers.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe.

i'm here in the uk or around the globe. lucy hawking i our top stories: here in the uk or around the globe. after another night of rocket attacks and missile strikes, russia says it will hold fire on new evacuation routes out of some ukrainian cities — including the capital, kyiv. ukraine says the routes are "completely immoral" as most lead to belarus or russia itself. nuclear watchdogs and experts have raised major concerns, as russia takes control of ukraine's largest power plant. oil prices have hit a 13—year high, after the us said it was discussing a potential ban on russian supplies with other countries. more than 1.5 million people have now fled ukraine so far, as people look for safety in neighbouring countries to the west. in the last few minutes, an advisor to president zelensky, mykhailo podoliak, has tweeted that the third

round of negotiations between ukraine and russia will begin at 1600 kyiv time — roughly two and a half hours from now. the ukrainian delegation team will remain unchanged. so will remain unchanged. we have just heard that the round so we have just heard that the third round of negotiations with the russian federation will begin at 4pm key have time and we will bring you all the latest on those talks as they get under way —— kyiv time. the head of the un's nuclear watchdog says he's extremely concerned about reported communication difficulties between the ukrainian regulator and nuclear sites under russian control. rafael grossi said the ukrainian authorities were having trouble contacting staff at the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the biggest in europe. a relative of someone working inside the chernobyl nuclear plant has spoken to the bbc. that facility was taken over

by russian forces over a week ago. we've called her valerie, which is not her real name, to protect her identity. she described the situation. the conditions are kind of concerning right now. they are fed once a day. it's very simple and poor food. they can't sleep normally because, they have to work, basically, 24/7 because they have to keep maintaining the plant working properly. almost all their moves are controlled. i mean, they are not interrupted at their work, but they can't move freely, theyjust always have to be convoyed by the russian army. live to vienna and we can speak to laura rockwood, director at open nuclear network. really good to see you again and get your thoughts. really good to see you again and get yourthoughts. how really good to see you again and get your thoughts. how worrying is this

that it appears we have these ukrainian nuclear sites and there is a lack of communication, people don't know what's happening there? it's very troubling and the most troubling part is apparently the staff at the reactor facilities are now subject to seeking prior approvalfrom now subject to seeking prior approval from the russian commander at the location before they can take any action. what's troubling is we have no idea what kind of nuclear expertise this commander has and if something should happen that requires immediate handling by the staff and they are required to go through the russian commander it could get very complicated. iloathed through the russian commander it could get very complicated. what is our could get very complicated. what is your concern. _ could get very complicated. what is your concern, what _ could get very complicated. what is your concern, what could _ could get very complicated. what is your concern, what could happen? i could get very complicated. what is i your concern, what could happen? you could have your concern, what could happen? ym. could have something happening, perhaps a projectile damages the reactor system and the operator needs to take measures that are necessary to control that damage. if they delay that kind of action they

could in effect be prevented from taking measures that would prevent a meltdown. i taking measures that would prevent a meltdown. ., ., meltdown. i mentioned that the zaporizhzhia _ meltdown. i mentioned that the zaporizhzhia plant _ meltdown. i mentioned that the zaporizhzhia plant is _ meltdown. i mentioned that the zaporizhzhia plant is the - meltdown. i mentioned that the j zaporizhzhia plant is the biggest meltdown. i mentioned that the i zaporizhzhia plant is the biggest in europe. can you give us a bit more of an idea about how big it is and what happens there, how many staff would be working on site usually? i don't know the number of staff but you were talking a very large facility, it involves six separate nuclear reactors and also has a pond, in effect a swimming pool where the store used nuclear fuel and they also have separate storage where they put used fuel that they consider dry storage, so what you want to make sure is whether the material in the reactor or in the storage areas are fully cooled by water and to do that you need electricity from the external power grid, so very large facility, indeed

ukraine cosmic nuclear power is 54% of its electrical grid, so if the electricity work to go out, let alone a catastrophe, this could be a very bad for the people of ukraine. is there any chance of getting iaea inspectors or people in there to see what's going on? that inspectors or people in there to see what's going on?— inspectors or people in there to see what's going on? that remains to be seen. what's going on? that remains to be seen- raphael— what's going on? that remains to be seen. raphael grossi _ what's going on? that remains to be seen. raphael grossi has _ what's going on? that remains to be seen. raphael grossi has offered i what's going on? that remains to be seen. raphael grossi has offered to | seen. raphael grossi has offered to convene a discussion between the russians and ukrainians with a view developing a framework to prevent some of these activities threatening the nuclear power plants. with far there hasn't been an agreement to do that. i think the russian response initially was that this might be useful, so we will have to wait and see. i would expect some sort of decision being taken in the next couple of days. clearly it is for

ukraine to control its own nuclear facilities but if it's being impeded to do so by the russians, then clearly the russians would have to be engaged in that discussion. there are so much — be engaged in that discussion. there are so much concern _ be engaged in that discussion. there are so much concern over _ be engaged in that discussion. there are so much concern over the - be engaged in that discussion. there are so much concern over the nuclear issue, notjust what is happening at the power plants but nuclear weapons, the fact that president putin has raised the threat. do you know if western agencies have noticed any changes, anything people should be worried about? i’m noticed any changes, anything people should be worried about?— should be worried about? i'm not aware of any _ should be worried about? i'm not aware of any but _ should be worried about? i'm not aware of any but the _ should be worried about? i'm not aware of any but the thing - should be worried about? i'm not aware of any but the thing to - aware of any but the thing to remember is that both the us and the russian federation have nuclear weapons that are pretty much ready to go very quickly anyway so you might not detect any significant movement, any change in the location or the readiness of the nuclear weapons even if you were looking for it. ., , ., ., weapons even if you were looking for it. ., , ., weapons even if you were looking for it. really good to have you with us a . ain, it. really good to have you with us again. laura- _ it. really good to have you with us again. laura- my _ it. really good to have you with us again, laura. my pleasure. - let's get a check on how

global markets have been absorbing the latest developments related to the war in ukraine. tadhg enright is here. and oil prices have spiked higher. that's right, lucy. 0iland that's right, lucy. oil and gas prices are soaring as western leaders dial up the rhetoric and talk about sanctions on russian energy exports. up to now the west has focussed on sanctioning banks and individuals and avoided russian oil and gas, because of fears that it would inflate prices. but that could change. on sunday, us secretary of state anthony blinken said the us and europe are "having a very active discussion" about a total ban on russian oil imports. and speaking on sunday the head of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, said "we have to get rid of the dependency of fossil fuels from russia". brussels is expected to publish a plan tomorrow. but considering the west's reliance on russian oil, could this really happen? well, russian exports account for around 8% of the total global oil supply.

in the us, russian oil only accounts for about 3% of the its total oil imports so although it would drive higher prices the effect would be relatively small. but it's europe that will feel the pinch, with around 30% of oil supplies and 39% of the continent's gas supplies coming from russia. so let's have a quick look at how that's effecting the european markets. you can see there, sell—offs pretty much across the board by the ftse 100 in london and the worst losses suffered by the dax in frankfurt. the germany economy is the most reliant in the eu on oil and gas exports. the price of oil they are $125 a barrel in one point in trading earlier today, it hit an incredible $139. for more on this i'm joined now by aneeka gupta, director, of macroeconomic rresearch

at wisdomtree investments. thank you for being with us. plenty out there believe it's a case of when, rather than if, russian exports are sanctioned. would you agree? yes, it looks a lot, comments by secretary— yes, it looks a lot, comments by secretary of _ yes, it looks a lot, comments by secretary of state antony blinken have raised the probability of sanctions against russian oil but as you mentioned i went to the high dependence that europe has on russian — dependence that europe has on russian energy supplies, it looks less likely— russian energy supplies, it looks less likely that europe will be in a position— less likely that europe will be in a position to — less likely that europe will be in a position to work immediately. i think— position to work immediately. i think the — position to work immediately. i think the us will go first and then as europe — think the us will go first and then as europe puts its strategies in place. — as europe puts its strategies in place, tomorrow we have a new strategy— place, tomorrow we have a new strategy coming up by the european commission which is looking to reduce — commission which is looking to reduce its _ commission which is looking to reduce its dependence on energy from russia. _ reduce its dependence on energy from russia. its— reduce its dependence on energy from russia, it's trying to increase its imports — russia, it's trying to increase its imports from qatar, norway and saudi arabia _ imports from qatar, norway and saudi arabia the _ imports from qatar, norway and saudi arabia. the us is also trying to

push _ arabia. the us is also trying to push its — arabia. the us is also trying to push its efforts on energy independence and the energy transition to renewable sources of energy— transition to renewable sources of energy so — transition to renewable sources of energy so i— transition to renewable sources of energy so i think europe is doing everything it can to move on the right— everything it can to move on the right direction. i think pulling that— right direction. i think pulling that last _ right direction. i think pulling that last lever right now would not be the _ that last lever right now would not be the best step forward. renewable ower and be the best step forward. renewable power and the _ be the best step forward. renewable power and the like _ be the best step forward. renewable power and the like being _ be the best step forward. renewable power and the like being increased i power and the like being increased is a long game but we are looking for a short—term strategy. we heard that president biden sent a team on a charm offensive to venezuela and saudi arabia to persuade them to ratchet up their production. what is the likelihood of success? saudi arabia is aware _ the likelihood of success? saudi arabia is aware there _ the likelihood of success? saudi arabia is aware there is - the likelihood of success? saudi arabia is aware there is a - the likelihood of success? saudi arabia is aware there is a lot - the likelihood of success? saudi arabia is aware there is a lot more to be _ arabia is aware there is a lot more to be done — arabia is aware there is a lot more to be done from 0pec and its members and as— to be done from 0pec and its members and as we _ to be done from 0pec and its members and as we saw at the last meeting, they haven't really made much move. let's they haven't really made much move. let's not _ they haven't really made much move. let's not forget that nearly two years _ let's not forget that nearly two years back we had oil in negative territory. — years back we had oil in negative territory, 0pec was scrambling and

since _ territory, 0pec was scrambling and since then— territory, 0pec was scrambling and since then we have seen a lot of coordinated effort, taking on in part by— coordinated effort, taking on in part by 0pec and its members and i think— part by 0pec and its members and i think this _ part by 0pec and its members and i think this stance so far has been that saudi — think this stance so far has been that saudi arabia looks to pretty much _ that saudi arabia looks to pretty much stick to its current levels even _ much stick to its current levels even though it has the ability to release — even though it has the ability to release a — even though it has the ability to release a few more reserves, sol think— release a few more reserves, sol think we — release a few more reserves, sol think we might see a bit more success— think we might see a bit more success coming forward from venezuela. i put a lower probability of success — venezuela. i put a lower probability of success from saudi arabia. gil is of success from saudi arabia. oil is somethin: of success from saudi arabia. oil is something we _ of success from saudi arabia. oil is something we need _ of success from saudi arabia. oil is something we need to _ of success from saudi arabia. (1) i. 3 something we need to keep the economy motoring. when it comes to gas, as the weather gets better, is that less of a concern? i gas, as the weather gets better, is that less of a concern?— that less of a concern? i doubt it because the _ that less of a concern? i doubt it because the way _ that less of a concern? i doubt it because the way we _ that less of a concern? i doubt it because the way we see - that less of a concern? i doubt it because the way we see the - that less of a concern? i doubt it| because the way we see the cycle that less of a concern? i doubt it. because the way we see the cycle is i’ilht because the way we see the cycle is right now— because the way we see the cycle is right now europe will come out of the peak— right now europe will come out of the peak of the winter season but it also needs— the peak of the winter season but it also needs to ramp up supplies for the next _ also needs to ramp up supplies for the next winter season, so in that

respect _ the next winter season, so in that respect if— the next winter season, so in that respect if you look at europe, if europe — respect if you look at europe, if europe would even consider pulling that last _ europe would even consider pulling that last lever it would only have supplies — that last lever it would only have supplies for the next four or five months — supplies for the next four or five months which is not adequate enough so unless— months which is not adequate enough so unless it _ months which is not adequate enough so unless it gets that source from any other— so unless it gets that source from any other country which is a lot less— any other country which is a lot less likely— any other country which is a lot less likely in the case of gas, which — less likely in the case of gas, which needs the necessary infrastructure to push that gas through. — infrastructure to push that gas through, we are likely to see it be a lot— through, we are likely to see it be a lot more — through, we are likely to see it be a lot more difficult situation. thank— a lot more difficult situation. thank you, anika. the boss of one of the world's biggest fertiliser companies has told the bbc that the war in ukraine is a threat to global food supplies. yara international operates in more than 60 countries and sources many raw materials from russia, which is a major supplier of nutrients. its chief executive was speaking to our business correspondent, emma simpson, just hours before the russian government urged its producers to halt fertiliser exports.

if you look at europe itself, around 25% of the the key nutrients, nitrogen phosphate and potash, come from russia, so obviously that would have a significant impact. and we're also sourcing some of these raw materials into our production and that would have an impact on our ability to maintain production at the level we have done. but at the same time, we're doing whatever we can at the moment to also find additional sources. but with such short, short timelines, it's limited what we can do. so could this cause a fertiliser shortage, then? there's certainly a risk for that. these are very integrated global supply chains and trade flows, and any disruption to that could delay deliveries and then not be available at the right time for the farmers, which in turn would have a direct impact

on the coming harvest. so this is something that we're concerned about and consequently, we're looking at alternative sources of nutrients. presumably, this situation could push food prices up even further, couldn't it? yes. and that has already happened. we saw the un food price index hit an all time high back in early february. half of the world's population gets food as a result of fertiliser. american express has followed visa and mastercard in announcing it's suspending operations in russia in response to the invasion of ukraine. the payment giants account for about 90% of credit and debit card transactions outside china. now russian banks are looking to china for an alternative. 0ur correspondent nick marsh explains how china's unionpay could fill the gap.

from thursday any visa and mastercard cards issued in russia are going to stop working abroad. the same goes for foreign cards issued by those companies. they're going to stop working in russia. so that's going to cause some complications, to put it mildly. so the central russian bank has proposed a solution. we'll see how temporary it is and how long it's going to last for. but it is to start issuing cards through unionpay. they're also going to use mir, which which is a russian transaction system. but unionpay is very interesting because it is a huge player in china. it's approved by the central bank of china. and if you actually look at it in pure numbers in terms of actual volume amount of money that goes through this system, it's the world leader. if you look outside of china, it's only got about a 1% market share. so huge in china, but outside it's really struggled to make a dent. so even though unionpay says it's accepted in around 180 countries, it doesn't mean that everywhere within that country is going to accept unionpay. in fact, you'll probably struggle in many places, especially in western countries, to get your unionpay

card accepted. so, you know, even though russian banks, i mean, it's not a simple like for like replacement. but it is interesting, though, that as soon as these big, you know, western heavyweights, amex, visa, mastercard when they pull out the first system that the russian banks are turning to is a chinese one. that's it from me. back to you, lucy. a bit of news coming from turkey on the diplomatic front. the foreign minister will meet with his russian and ukrainian counterparts in a city in the south of turkey on thursday, march the 10th, so the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and ukrainian foreign minister will be at that meeting and they said they

will have a trilateral meeting on the tenth and they would like it to be a turning point, an important direction towards peace and stability so this is the diplomacy forum being held in a few days' time when the ukrainian and russian foreign ministers will be meeting, so we were hearing that from turkey and we will bring you more as soon as we get it. during an emergency parliamentary session on ukraine last week, germany's chancellor, 0laf scholz, announced drastic measures that would have been previously unthinkable, including an additional $113 billion for the german army. it's arguably one of the biggest shifts ever seen in germany's post—war foreign policy. before the invasion of ukraine, such a militaristic stance would have been unacceptable for most germans. but in a recent poll, 78% of germans agree with the transformation in foreign policy. damian grammaticas sent this report from berlin. appalled by war, this is a nation shaking off its past. this climate activist

now sees a new threat to her future. as children, we were told that europe is the safe, yeah, the safe space, we are in peace, we are secure and this has changed quickly. a new german generation, politically engaged, are against war and against the oil and gas putin profits from. what's clear is that vladimir putin's war is — just in the space of a few days — changing germany profoundly. 0ld certainties gone, new approaches being adopted fast. in the parliament policies some decades old have been ditched. the chancellor has suspended a key pipeline almost ready to pump gas from russia. arms are going to ukraine and 100 billion euros will be spent to upgrade the military. in berlin, memories of the world wars germany unleashed are everywhere. what's left of the railway station

from where in the holocaustjews were transported to their deaths. the memorial to the millions of russian soldiers who died to defeat germany. in recent times, german elites thought they could partner russia. no more. we have seen that this assumption that as long as we stick to diplomacy and as long as we keep engaging with russia, they will also engage with us and they will refrain from taking military action, from threatening the european security order, i think that this conviction is now shattered. the wall that once divided berlin is gone, replaced by a nation that's grown comfortable. they thought wars were a thing of the past. so germany has prosperity, but no longer the certainties that underpinned it. this means a more realpolitik—based approach to foreign policy, not one on visions and dreams and aspirations. and i think that is not a bad thing for germany in these turbulent global and european times.

polls show more than two thirds of germans back the shift. for some, it's not enough, though others are uneasy at germany rearming. $100 billion is way too much, i think. 100 billion is way too much, i think. it's just way too little, way too slow. we have to remember that these people in ukraine right now are fighting and dying for our values as well. european values in defence of which a new germany is awakening. david grammaticas, bbc news, berlin. more than 1.5 million people have now left ukraine since the conflict began according to the united nations. they've described it as the fastest—growing refugee crisis since the second world war. some of those fleeing have acute needs — with cancer patients having to leave their hospitals, with treatment interrupted, as they seek safety elsewhere in europe. 0ur correspondent mark lowen

has been hearing some of their stories in poland. they, too, are the fighters of a debilitating disease made deadlier by the war they've fled. ukraine's young cancer patients evacuated to poland, victims of a battle on two fronts. taken to a hotel to be examined, the most urgent to be sent to hospitals here and across europe. "our hearts are tearing from pain," says this lady. "my son always says he's fine, but we need to continue his treatment." the app was born a day before russia's invasion. —— 0livia. lilya's little brother

0lexi has a brain tumour and is weak from the journey. he had three operations and then he had chemotherapy, but he didn't complete therapy because the war started. the next morning, they wait for triage. the days to get here perilous for some. well, this isjust a desperately sad situation. children who are safe from the war but now plunged back into danger with their illness. rushing to resume treatment that's been broken off. this is a conflict that is killing, uprooting and now threatening the most vulnerable. the one doctor is overwhelmed. she checks 12—year—old andrei, whose soft tissue cancer has spread to his lungs. this is a very serious situation. are there patients who you think could die from having to have everything interrupted like this? yes, just...

most of these kids are in a life—threatening situation and any kind of delay of their treatment is very bad for them. this, of all places, is little andrei's first ever trip abroad. "i miss my home and my grandma and grandpa" he says. "at least here we don't have to run into shelters, "because that was scary and hard." as volunteers from germany take the first children to a hospital there, more arrive. the cruelty of one man's war now forcing them to battle. mark lowen, bbc news, central poland. heartbreaking seeing what they are going through. to update you on some

of the diplomatic lines, it looks like a third round of talks are due to be held between ukrainian and russian negotiators. that will be in about two hours' time. we also heard from turkey's foreign minister that he intends to meet with their russian and ukrainian foreign ministers and lets you some pictures from the uk as well. there has northolt airbase were boris johnson has been holding talks with the canadian prime ministerjustin trudeau and the dutch prime minister mark ruta. they will give a conference and a few hours but a few lines coming from that, boris johnson saying we have to do more on sanctions, we want to go as fast as we can on sanctions and talking about ukrainians coming to the uk, he says president putin is producing huge waves of people and we will respond to that but we don't want a

system that doesn't have any checks, although we will be very generous. i will bring you more on those talks shortly. stay with us on bbc news. hello again. it's been a cold start today with temperatures this morning falling to —6 across parts of scotland and also northern england, so we started with frost and it will be a chilly day wherever you are but mostly dry with some sunny spells and the showers we have across the south—east will fade. we have quite a bit of cloud across england and wales but it will continue to break up as it travels northwards and sunny skies across scotland and northern ireland will see some more cloud develop for the course of the afternoon. wherever you are today it will be breezy and these are the average wind speeds but the wind will strengthen across north—west scotland, northern ireland and irish sea. temperatures today, a wee bit chilly for the time of year, we are looking

at temperatures between seven in lerwick and birmingham and london, up to nine in cardiff. as we head for the evening and overnight under clear skies, temperatures will fall away rapidly and there will be areas of cloud moving steadily northwards through the course of the night and the wind is going to pick up, particularly in the west and particularly so with exposure, =we could look at gales with exposure across north—west scotland. 0vernight, we expect —6 as an overnight low and you can see on the blue on the chart we are looking at a widespread frost. tomorrow a lot of dry weather and sunshine, one or two overnight showers across northern ireland, wales and the south—west being replaced by a thicker cloud and rain coming in from the west and the wind is picking up with temperatures 7 to 11 degrees, so is notjust wind, also the temperature starting to rise. as we head from tuesday into wednesday

the weather turns more unsettled, the high pressure that has been in charge for the last few days moves away and you can see we are no under more of an atlantic influence on the wind changes direction and we will see heavy and persistent rain coming our way as well. it will turn milder as represented by the yellow in the chart but look at the blues coming in from the west, so we start off for many on a cold note with frost but also some sunshine in the cloud building out of the front. some hill snow in scotland and the persistent rain coming in which will be heavy at times and we could then see some hill snow in northern ireland. 6 in stornoway and 13 as we push down towards london. into thursday, patchy rain across central and eastern areas, still windy but not as windy on friday and as a front clears we will see sunshine and showers.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm lucy hockings. our top stories. russia says it will hold fire on evacuation routes — ukraine claims that some lead to belarus or russia and are "completely immoral". i'm yalda hakim, live in lviv in western ukraine, as people try to make their way to safety. these are the latest pictures from irpin near kyiv where police say around 2,000 civilians have been rescued. a ukrainian negotatior says a third round of talks between russia and ukraine are due to take place in the next few hours — although there's not yet any confirmation from the kremlim. oil prices have hit a 13—year high, after the us said it was discussing a potential ban on russian supplies with other countries.

more than 1.5 million people have now fled ukraine so far — as people look for safety in neighbouring countries to the west. i'm mishal husain, on the border with poland — where more than a million people have now arrived from ukraine, and more are coming every moment. in this border town the train station has become a major refugee hub. it's been several hours since the latest ceasefire was due to come into force in parts of ukraine, to allow civilians to leave areas which are beseiged by russian military forces. yet it seems the two sides can't even agree on where the safe routes should go. ukraine's president has said corridors heading towards russia and belarus are �*completely immoral�*.

speaking in moscow though, a russian general said there would be a genuine opportunity for civilians to leave. today, the 7th of march, starting at 10am moscow time, russia has declared a ceasefire to open six humanitarian corridors, the first is from kyiv and there are two more from kyiv and there are two more from mariupol and rostov. 0ne from kyiv and there are two more from mariupol and rostov. one is from mariupol and rostov. one is from kharkiv, and there are two others. detailed information about the humanitarian corridors was given to the ukrainian side in advance, as well as dedicated entities of the united nation�*s, the 0sce and the international committee of the red cross. let�*s take a look at the latest developments in the conflict this hour. the third round of talks between delegations from russia

and ukraine will start in a couple couple of hours in belarus. the number of people who have fled the fighting has now risen to more than a million and a half with two thirds of that number heading to poland. and in the hague, russia has refused to attend an international court ofjustice hearing where ukraine is demanding an order for a halt to the invasion. let�*s take a look at the latest situation in terms of territory. the areas shaded red indicate where russian forces are in control. the two biggest cities in ukraine, kyiv and harkiv, remain in the hands of the ukrainian government and military. kherson, in the south of the country, is still the only major city to have fallen into russian control. police in the city on irpin on the edges of kyiv have said that following heavy attack, they have managed to evacuate 2,000 civilians, although it was unlcear over what period of time. some residents were forced to cross a river using planks after a bridge was destroyed. let�*s go live now to lviv

in western ukraine — and join my colleague yalda hakim. lucy, thank you so much and you mentioned irpin, devastating, gruesome pictures coming out of the last 24 hours were mother and two children who were killed after they tried to cross the bridge and get out, and that really is the situation for so many people in this country caught up in the fighting and there�*s been an attempt on the last few days to create a humanitarian corridor to get those desperate to get out of the shelling, the bombardment and those who are lucky will make their way to western ukraine which remains untouched by the bombs and explosions and shillings. the art centre was turned into a shelter and joining me is one volunteer who used to be, 12 days ago, you are an

architectural historian and now you are a volunteer. tell me about the sorts of things you are hearing and seeing because your life has turned upside down in the last week and a half. in upside down in the last week and a half. , ._ , half. in the first days we were shocked and _ half. in the first days we were shocked and devastated - half. in the first days we were shocked and devastated and i half. in the first days we were i shocked and devastated and had half. in the first days we were - shocked and devastated and had no clue what _ shocked and devastated and had no clue what we were going to do but some _ clue what we were going to do but some of— clue what we were going to do but some of my colleagues at the centre for urban _ some of my colleagues at the centre for urban history, we thought we had a conference and a cafe and those could _ a conference and a cafe and those could be _ a conference and a cafe and those could be turned into a temporary shelter~ — could be turned into a temporary shelter. and in the next few days we had a _ shelter. and in the next few days we had a flood _ shelter. and in the next few days we had a flood of refugees and this is something we will not have seen in the whole — something we will not have seen in the whole of the history of lviv. you were — the whole of the history of lviv. you were telling me something about the elderly women here, including your own grandmother, who lives just outside kyiv and you said she survived the second world war and is not going to evacuate and will not leave her home.— not going to evacuate and will not leave her home. right now she's not ”lannin to leave her home. right now she's not planning to do _ leave her home. right now she's not planning to do that _ leave her home. right now she's not planning to do that and _ leave her home. right now she's not planning to do that and lives - leave her home. right now she's not planning to do that and lives in - leave her home. right now she's not planning to do that and lives in the i planning to do that and lives in the south _ planning to do that and lives in the south of— planning to do that and lives in the south of kyiv so it's a place untouched by the war for so long and

i've untouched by the war for so long and i've been— untouched by the war for so long and i've been really surprised by hearing _ i've been really surprised by hearing when i was talking to her that she — hearing when i was talking to her that she was not scared. she actually— that she was not scared. she actually has been trying to call me and its— actually has been trying to call me and it's usually the other way round — and it's usually the other way round. she was born in 1938, and she has survived — round. she was born in 1938, and she has survived the second world war and we _ has survived the second world war and we will— has survived the second world war and we will survive it again. a week and we will survive it again. a week and a half ago _ and we will survive it again. a week and a half ago you _ and we will survive it again. a week and a half ago you were _ and we will survive it again. a week and a half ago you were a _ and we will survive it again. a weekl and a half ago you were a researcher here in the centre and now you are doing this and you say people across the city have stopped their normal jobs under making helmets and camouflage nets and making molotov cocktails. . camouflage nets and making molotov cocktails. , , , _, cocktails. yes, basically, everyone i know cocktails. yes, basically, everyone i know they _ cocktails. yes, basically, everyone i know they are — cocktails. yes, basically, everyone i know they are either _ cocktails. yes, basically, everyone i know they are either looking - cocktails. yes, basically, everyone| i know they are either looking after their children or parents, but everyone _ their children or parents, but everyone else's volunteering to do whatever— everyone else's volunteering to do whatever they can and everyone has turned _ whatever they can and everyone has turned into — whatever they can and everyone has turned into a dispatch heavy trying

to connect — turned into a dispatch heavy trying to connect with anyone we can so there's— to connect with anyone we can so there's a — to connect with anyone we can so there's a lot _ to connect with anyone we can so there's a lot of volunteers and in poland _ there's a lot of volunteers and in poland and — there's a lot of volunteers and in poland and germany on the us and in the uk. _ poland and germany on the us and in the uk, everywhere and we are trying to connect— the uk, everywhere and we are trying to connect each other the best we can. �* , ., to connect each other the best we can. �* y., ., ., to connect each other the best we can. �* ,, ., ., of to connect each other the best we can._ of course. i to connect each other the best we i can._ of course. and can. are you afraid? of course. and in the first — can. are you afraid? of course. and in the first days _ can. are you afraid? of course. and in the first days we _ can. are you afraid? of course. and in the first days we were _ can. are you afraid? of course. and in the first days we were really - in the first days we were really scared — in the first days we were really scared that whatever is going on in the east _ scared that whatever is going on in the east of— scared that whatever is going on in the east of ukraine might very soon coming _ the east of ukraine might very soon coming to— the east of ukraine might very soon coming to western ukraine as well because _ coming to western ukraine as well because when we woke up on the first day of— because when we woke up on the first day of the _ because when we woke up on the first day of the war there were rockets and in _ day of the war there were rockets and in the — day of the war there were rockets and in the region of some of the airports — and in the region of some of the airports here, so we really did not know _ airports here, so we really did not know what — airports here, so we really did not know what to expect and right now we are unsure _ know what to expect and right now we are unsure as well. do know what to expect and right now we are unsure as well.— are unsure as well. do you think you will be forced _ are unsure as well. do you think you will be forced to _ are unsure as well. do you think you will be forced to leave _ are unsure as well. do you think you will be forced to leave lviv - are unsure as well. do you think you will be forced to leave lviv at - are unsure as well. do you think you will be forced to leave lviv at some l will be forced to leave lviv at some point of the war rages on? i will be forced to leave lviv at some point of the war rages on?- point of the war rages on? i really ho -e point of the war rages on? i really hope not- — point of the war rages on? i really hope not. thank— point of the war rages on? i really hope not. thank you _ point of the war rages on? i really hope not. thank you so _ point of the war rages on? i really hope not. thank you so much - point of the war rages on? i really hope not. thank you so much forl hope not. thank you so much for “oininu hope not. thank you so much for joining us- _ hope not. thank you so much for joining us- just — hope not. thank you so much for joining us. just another - hope not. thank you so much for joining us. just another story - hope not. thank you so much for joining us. just another story of. joining us. just another story of another volunteer here, who was an architectural historian 12 days ago and her life has turned completely

upside down like the hundreds of thousands of people who have been forced to flee the country, many of them making their way to poland where my colleague joins us who is on the polish and ukrainian border. let me show you first of all what it is like _ let me show you first of all what it is like here — let me show you first of all what it is like here. this is the main station — is like here. this is the main station in _ is like here. this is the main station in the town, about eight miles— station in the town, about eight miles inside poland, about eight miles— miles inside poland, about eight miles away from the border and because — miles away from the border and because it — miles away from the border and because it is on the main line between _ because it is on the main line between lviv and ukraine and to the west in_ between lviv and ukraine and to the west in poland, there are refugees coming _ west in poland, there are refugees coming in — west in poland, there are refugees coming in by train and also those who cross — coming in by train and also those who cross the border on foot and in cars who _ who cross the border on foot and in cars who also come here because this is where _ cars who also come here because this is where they get transport if they are going — is where they get transport if they are going to go by train to other parts _ are going to go by train to other parts of— are going to go by train to other parts of poland and on to destinations elsewhere in europe, so let me _ destinations elsewhere in europe, so let me show you what it's like there today _ let me show you what it's like there today it's _ let me show you what it's like there today. it's absolutely packed, and every _ today. it's absolutely packed, and every hour— today. it's absolutely packed, and every hour people are coming and going _ every hour people are coming and going from — every hour people are coming and going from here and i was here before — going from here and i was here before 5am, the middle of the night, essentially, and it was the same

scene _ essentially, and it was the same scene then— essentially, and it was the same scene then and the same people arrive _ scene then and the same people arrive here — scene then and the same people arrive here and are looking for trains— arrive here and are looking for trains and _ arrive here and are looking for trains and the platform where the trains— trains and the platform where the trains from lviv coming which are uncertain— trains from lviv coming which are uncertain because you can imagine what _ uncertain because you can imagine what the _ uncertain because you can imagine what the conflict has done and a special— what the conflict has done and a special platform and and the numbers are really— special platform and and the numbers are really staggering and what we've seen in _ are really staggering and what we've seen in the — are really staggering and what we've seen in the last couple of days means— seen in the last couple of days means we _ seen in the last couple of days means we have this number from the polish _ means we have this number from the polish border of more than a million arrivals— polish border of more than a million arrivals from — polish border of more than a million arrivals from ukraine in the last 11 days _ arrivals from ukraine in the last 11 days but — arrivals from ukraine in the last 11 days but in— arrivals from ukraine in the last 11 days but in the last two days, saturday _ days but in the last two days, saturday and sunday, both were days when they— saturday and sunday, both were days when they were well over 100,000 people _ when they were well over 100,000 people who crossed at the various border crossing points nearby and even _ border crossing points nearby and even between midnight and seven o'clock— even between midnight and seven o'clock this morning there were more than 40,000 arrivals, sol o'clock this morning there were more than 40,000 arrivals, so i think you can get— than 40,000 arrivals, so i think you can get a _ than 40,000 arrivals, so i think you can get a sense of the scale of this which _ can get a sense of the scale of this which is _ can get a sense of the scale of this which is why there are so many places— which is why there are so many places like _ which is why there are so many places like this where there are

volunteers who are giving out food, taking _ volunteers who are giving out food, taking women and children and people who need _ taking women and children and people who need special assistance into certain— who need special assistance into certain areas and trying to direct people _ certain areas and trying to direct people on— certain areas and trying to direct people on their way and asking where they have _ people on their way and asking where they have family and friends, but they have family and friends, but the main — they have family and friends, but the main issue here is that this is an operation which is almost completely dependent on volunteers. the mayor— completely dependent on volunteers. the mayor of the town has told me there _ the mayor of the town has told me there is— the mayor of the town has told me there is more than 1000 volunteers working _ there is more than 1000 volunteers working in— there is more than 1000 volunteers working in and around this particular hub every day and it is hard _ particular hub every day and it is hard to— particular hub every day and it is hard to see _ particular hub every day and it is hard to see how that can be sustained over the long run. that is the concern — sustained over the long run. that is the concern now, whether there will still be _ the concern now, whether there will still be this — the concern now, whether there will still be this many volunteers who are willing — still be this many volunteers who are willing to come and help, next week. _ are willing to come and help, next week. the — are willing to come and help, next week, the week after and probably for that— week, the week after and probably for that period of time, but next month— for that period of time, but next month and — for that period of time, but next month and if it carries on for longer. _ month and if it carries on for longer, that's a different situation. and the un high commissioner for refugees who has been here _ commissioner for refugees who has been here has also been talking about— been here has also been talking about what happens when there are more _ about what happens when there are more arrivals from ukraine who come over the _ more arrivals from ukraine who come over the border with less means,

without— over the border with less means, without the names and addresses of relatives— without the names and addresses of relatives and friends elsewhere in europe _ relatives and friends elsewhere in europe to — relatives and friends elsewhere in europe to get to, that is when all of this— europe to get to, that is when all of this becomes even more complex than it— of this becomes even more complex than it is— of this becomes even more complex than it is now. thank you for the summary there of the situation on the poland and ukraine border. we are hearing so many devastating stories of people fleeing, and in the room just behind me there are newborns, a two—month—old who has come here with herfamily, fleeing two—month—old who has come here with her family, fleeing the fighting and the conflict and there are so many children here who don�*t know what is going on but they know there is a level of uncertainty and they have shared the fear of their parents. she was given a picture by one of

the young children here and we will show you this little picture that was drawn, and these children, they draw these things and it�*s their way of expressing their thanks to you for helping them in this time. yes. for helping them in this time. yes, it is from a — for helping them in this time. yes, it is from a girl— for helping them in this time. yes, it is from a girl in _ for helping them in this time. yes, it is from a girl in kharkiv - for helping them in this time. yes, it is from a girl in kharkiv and ukraine— it is from a girl in kharkiv and ukraine is— it is from a girl in kharkiv and ukraine is my land and it is written in russian — ukraine is my land and it is written in russian because it's mostly russian — in russian because it's mostly russian speaking people living there but it doesn't matter right now. and she said _ but it doesn't matter right now. and she said that when she goes abroad, that's— she said that when she goes abroad, that's what— she said that when she goes abroad, that's what they are planning to do, she hopes _ that's what they are planning to do, she hopes to continue her studies in art school— she hopes to continue her studies in art school and it's something she has been — art school and it's something she has been doing for around a year. the mothers i have been speaking to here at the centre say that their children saw horrific things, that they with or without food, water, heating four days and that they could hear the bombardment overhead and many of them finding sanctuary in underground bunkers, bunkers that were created during the second world war and that people are now being forced to use again because of the

ongoing shelling and the ongoing fighting. there is a desperate plea and hope that a humanitarian corridor can be created in certain parts of this country to give the people a chance to get away from the fighting. lucy, overto you. taste people a chance to get away from the fighting. lucy, over to you.— fighting. lucy, over to you. we are auoin to fighting. lucy, over to you. we are going to dip _ fighting. lucy, over to you. we are going to dip into — fighting. lucy, over to you. we are going to dip into a _ fighting. lucy, over to you. we are going to dip into a press _ fighting. lucy, over to you. we are | going to dip into a press conference taking place in vienna right now, and you can see the atomic watchdog chief, and we think he is talking about the situation in north korea but he has spoken about his concern with what is happening in ukraine because it is the first time war has beenin because it is the first time war has been in a country with such an advanced and established nuclear power programme, and he has heard from the russians, who say that they will, are backing the idea of a trilateral meeting with ukraine on ensuring the safety of nuclear facilities but russia has said they will not hold it at chernobyl which is what the iaea wanted but they

said they would participate in those talks, so we are keeping an eye on this news conference. for viewers watching on bbc two, we now say goodbye to you. but our coverage continues on the bbc news channel and bbc world. let�*s take a moment to look at how russia�*s military campaign is unfolding. after the ease with which its military occupied crimea in 2014, it�*s possible the generals in moscow were expecting a similar rapid success for this invasion. but despite an apparent overwhelming superiority in forces, the military operation does not yet appear to have achieved its objectives — with growing casualties on both sides. 0 can talk now to ruth deermond a lecturer in post—soviet security, from kings college here in london. it is assumed that russia

underestimated how strong the ukrainian resistance would be. what do you make at this point of the russian tactics and what president putin�*s plan is? i russian tactics and what president putin's plan is?— russian tactics and what president putin's plan is? i think the problem is exactly what _ putin's plan is? i think the problem is exactly what you _ putin's plan is? i think the problem is exactly what you say _ putin's plan is? i think the problem is exactly what you say that - putin's plan is? i think the problem is exactly what you say that there i is exactly what you say that there seems to have been a serious miscalculation on the russian part, based, i think on the assumption that they were fighting the kind of war that they fought before in places, particularly crimea, but also in eastern ukraine since 2014 where there was a largely pro—russian population, or at least a substantially pro—russian population. but was not going to put up population. but was not going to put up the kind of resistance we have seenin up the kind of resistance we have seen in the rest of ukraine and in some ways that�*s a very surprising miscalculation because it was fairly clear that the rest of ukraine did not regard russia or likely russian occupation as a positive thing. so the various tactical problems, but i think the underlying assumption that

this would be a quick and easy occupation is the source of many problems. occupation is the source of many roblems. , occupation is the source of many problems-— occupation is the source of many roblems. , , ., problems. does this mean we might see russia stepping _ problems. does this mean we might see russia stepping up _ problems. does this mean we might see russia stepping up its _ problems. does this mean we might see russia stepping up its close - see russia stepping up its close combat and its artillery and missile fire power and thatjust means that civilians are going to get caught up even more in this?— civilians are going to get caught up even more in this? what we seem to be seeinu even more in this? what we seem to be seeing is — even more in this? what we seem to be seeing is in _ even more in this? what we seem to be seeing is in the _ even more in this? what we seem to be seeing is in the last _ even more in this? what we seem to be seeing is in the last few _ even more in this? what we seem to be seeing is in the last few days - be seeing is in the last few days after the failure of the initial attempt to take ukraine quickly, so what we have seen is a terrible increase in the use of rocket attacks against civilians and obviously attacks on the nuclear power station that we saw two days ago and i think that is a recognition of failure on the part of the russian armed forces. the capacity to step on the ground is not clear and there seems to be serious problems with the way the russian army is performing on the ground. we seem to be losing a lot

of personnel and equipment, and most of personnel and equipment, and most of the forces in the area are committed at this point, so there doesn�*t seem to be a huge reserve of forces and equipment to come up and reinforce the troops that are already there. not in the short term, anyway. already there. not in the short term. anyway-— already there. not in the short term, anyway. what do you think the russian reaction _ term, anyway. what do you think the russian reaction would _ term, anyway. what do you think the russian reaction would be _ term, anyway. what do you think the russian reaction would be if - term, anyway. what do you think the russian reaction would be if say - term, anyway. what do you think the russian reaction would be if say a i russian reaction would be if say a no—fly zone was agreed? i russian reaction would be if say a no-fly zone was agreed?- no-fly zone was agreed? i think a no-fly zone was agreed? i think a no-fly zone _ no-fly zone was agreed? i think a no-fly zone would _ no-fly zone was agreed? i think a no-fly zone would be _ no-fly zone was agreed? i think a no-fly zone would be responded i no-fly zone was agreed? i think a l no-fly zone would be responded to no—fly zone would be responded to very negatively by the russians because, of course, a no—fly zone only works and can only be enforced if those enforcing it are willing to shoot russian planes out of the sky, and the idea that nato is going to deliberately get into a war with russia, which is what that would mean, i think is not something either russia or nato are really willing to contemplate at this point. because of this very serious

risk of escalation. 0bviously both sides are nuclear, so a no—fly zone, if there was an attempt to move in that direction, would carry the risk of escalation to nuclear conflict. thank you very much forjoining us in good to get your thoughts. russia has just set out its most details statement yet about what it wants to end the fighting. the demands — outlined by kremlin spokesman dimitri peskov — are a ceasing of military action against the russia invasion. a change to ukraine�*s constitution to enshrine what russia calls �*neutrality�*, acknowledging crimea as russian territory and recognising the separatist republics of donetsk and lugansk. most of russia�*s military advances have been near the capital kyiv, in the east of ukraine, and along the black sea coastline. the city of 0desa, to the west of the crimean peninsula, is also now on the front line —

the ukrainian military says it is fighting fierce battles with russian forces on the roads which approach the country�*s biggest port. lets speak to an mp who represents a constituency in the 0desa region, 0leksii goncharenko. he joins us from he capital kyiv. thank you very much for taking the time. what are you hearing from 0desa? time. what are you hearing from odesa? ., ., , , ., odesa? fortunately there is no fiuuhtin odesa? fortunately there is no fighting on _ odesa? fortunately there is no fighting on the _ odesa? fortunately there is no fighting on the ground - odesa? fortunately there is no fighting on the ground in - odesa? fortunately there is no i fighting on the ground in odesa, odesa? fortunately there is no - fighting on the ground in odesa, and fighting on the ground in 0desa, and there is some bombing in the city but in general it is more or less calm and i hope it will remain so. the occupants cannot go through to 0desa on the land, because our army is destroying them and killing them in hundreds and because of this we are not ready to prepare an operation whereas the plan is to attack 0desa from several destinations. attack odesa from several destinations.—

attack odesa from several destinations. . , , ., destinations. are people trying to leave, destinations. are people trying to leave. and _ destinations. are people trying to leave. and can — destinations. are people trying to leave, and can they _ destinations. are people trying to leave, and can they do _ destinations. are people trying to leave, and can they do so - destinations. are people trying to leave, and can they do so safely i destinations. are people trying to | leave, and can they do so safely if they are? leave, and can they do so safely if the are? . leave, and can they do so safely if the are? , , ., , leave, and can they do so safely if the are? , , .,, they are? yes, the people in odesa are mostly — they are? yes, the people in odesa are mostly leaving _ they are? yes, the people in odesa are mostly leaving for— they are? yes, the people in odesa are mostly leaving for moldova - they are? yes, the people in odesa are mostly leaving for moldova and | are mostly leaving for moldova and romania. they do have this possibility and thousands and thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people already left. are you still with us. i thousands of people already left. are you still with us.— are you still with us. i am here, and i are you still with us. i am here, and i see _ are you still with us. i am here, and i see you- _ are you still with us. i am here, and i see you. and _ are you still with us. i am here, and i see you. and i _ are you still with us. i am here, and i see you. and i hear - are you still with us. i am here, and i see you. and i hear you. i are you still with us. i am here, | and i see you. and i hear you. it are you still with us. i am here, i and i see you. and i hear you. it is laruel and i see you. and i hear you. it is largely russian — and i see you. and i hearyou. it is largely russian speaking, the city of 0desa. what is the sentiment amongst people there about what is happening? no, we seem to have lost alexi whojoined us happening? no, we seem to have lost alexi who joined us to talk about 0desa. finding ways to live safely for moldova and he said at the moment there doesn�*t appear to be much fighting on the ground and we

will attempt to return to bring some more its obscene very much a symbol for president putin. the international community is continuing to consider its response to russia�*s invasion and boris johnson hosting his canadian and dutch counterparts in london and their agenda is how to deal with a growing number of refugees leaving uk. the uk has been criticised for issuing comparatively few visas for ukrainians to come but mrjohnson has defended the policy, saying the uk will not have a system where people enter without checks or controls at all. clearly this crisis is evolving the whole time and i�*ve said before that the uk will be as generous as we can possibly be and we intend to do that, but we have two very generous roots already, so the family reunion route which is uncapped and could see hundreds of thousands of people come to this country plus there is

the humanitarian route and under that scheme, people can sponsor people coming from ukraine. we are surging officials into the border countries to help people to come, to poland, bulgaria, romania, and also to france and clearly what is happening now is that putin is doubling down on his aggression, and he is deciding to attack in a pretty indiscriminate way which is producing huge waves of people and we will have to respond to that and we will have to respond to that and we will. we�*ve always been very generous in the way we respond to people fleeing war zones, and no country in europe has done more to settle vulnerable people since 2015 than the uk. brute settle vulnerable people since 2015 than the uk-_ settle vulnerable people since 2015 than the uk-— settle vulnerable people since 2015 than the uk. we are also keeping a close e e than the uk. we are also keeping a close eye on _ than the uk. we are also keeping a close eye on the _ than the uk. we are also keeping a close eye on the press _ than the uk. we are also keeping a close eye on the press conference i close eye on the press conference being given at the international atomic agency in vienna. their

director—general has been speaking about ukraine. let�*s have a listen to what he had to say a few minutes ago. the substance of the initiative is what matters most. the substance of the initiative is at the end of the day what matters most. what are we going to be having on this agreed framework? then there is the issue of the place and the logistics which are not easy at a time of war, so initially we proposed to come to chernobyl, chernobyl was the first facility in ukraine being seized by the military forces of the russian federation, so it was obvious that my first intent was to go there because it was the first place having ad hoc arrangements to try to maintain the contact with the side, and to maintain the necessary surveillance. safeguards wise, safety and security

—wise, my offer still stands and we heard from the russian federation that they would rather do it somewhere else. but this is going to be part of a process of consultation where we are going to be listening to the russian side unto ukrainian side, and see what is possible in terms of a place or other realities which are going to be extremely difficult but we have to do it and there is no way i would say it today that we should not be losing time, almost every day there is a new episode, the episode last friday at the nuclear power plant was extreme, perhaps, but there are some other episodes which indicate that we need to have an agreed, clear framework of what is supposed to be done, so i hope that my consultations in the next two hours are going to be successful.

next two hours are going to be successful-— next two hours are going to be successful. . ., . . successful. the chief of the iaea there, reiterating _ successful. the chief of the iaea there, reiterating that _ successful. the chief of the iaea there, reiterating that russia i successful. the chief of the iaea| there, reiterating that russia has said that russia will agree to talks about the nuclear sides with iaea and ukraine and they had said that they will not have their much a novel where the talks had originally been called for by the iaea. this is really significant because it is the first time we�*ve seen a war in a country with such an advanced and established nuclear power programme like we have in ukraine and the largest power plant in europe has already been hit and the iaea said it was by a russian military projectile, so those talks are absolutely crucial and we just heard from the iaea saying that russia is amenable to holding those talks and while we are talking about talks and other areas of diplomacy, the other news we have had in the past few minutes is that more talks will be held on the border between ukraine and russia and will be held in

belarus in a few hours�* time and we will get more on what you are seeing here, borisjohnson speaking to the prime ministers of canada and the netherlands. stay with us. a quiet start to the new working week but it won�*t last unfortunately and it was quite a cold start this morning, —7 in glasgow and a hard frost quite widely in scotland but also accompanied by beautiful blue sky and sunshine as well. there was a little more cloud across england and wales and one or two fairly light showers as well which are drifting steadily north and west as we go through the day but the emphasis is on the dry, settled story with some breaks in the cloud doing some sunny spells and the best of the sunshine in scotland. as we go through the afternoon the wind will start to strengthen along the west facing coast down for the irish sea has well and with the wind direction coming from a cooler

source, a south—easterly direction, temperatures will struggle for the time of year, with highs between seven and nine celsius. through the night tonight, the wind will continue to strengthen out to the west and there will be a bit more cloud as well tending to develop and cloud as well tending to develop and cloud across england and wales continuing to push steadily north and that will mean that the coldest of the weather as we go through the night is likely to be through central and eastern areas and that is where we are likely to see a frost first thing on tuesday morning. but again, lots of sunshine to start the day, beautiful start and as we go through the morning and into the afternoon cloud will continue to thicken and the winds will strengthen further with some rain, some of it heavy push into northern ireland and western phrygians by the end of the day. ahead of it we might see temperatures returning to double figures at ten or 11 degrees as a high. as we move from tuesday into wednesday, the front clears away but will be replaced by yet another and we will see the winds are strengthening further still, so gale force gusts of winds are likely but

the good news is that the wind direction is changing to more of a south—westerly and a mild sauce so temperatures will return back to where they should be for this time of year but gale force gusts of winds across west coast of scotland and some heavy rain drifting steadily east but really, from east yorkshire down towards east anglia and the south—east, it should stay dry with some sunshine and highs of around 13 degrees. that front has to clear its way through on wednesday into the early hours of thursday and it will allow for a dry day on thursday before more wet and windy weather returns by friday. take care.

this is bbc news. welcome if you�*re watching here in the uk or around the globe. i�*m lucy hockings. our top stories: after further rocket attacks and missile strikes, russia says it will hold fire on evacuation routes — most lead to belarus or russia itself, something ukraine says is "completely immoral". meanwhile, ukrainian police say around 2000 civilians have been evacuated from irpin, near kyiv. a ukrainian negotatior says a third round of talks between russia and ukraine are due to take place in the next few hours. oil prices have hit a 13 year high, after the us said it was discussing a potential ban on russian supplies with other countries. more than 1.5 million people have now fled ukraine so far, as people look for safety in neighbouring countries to the west.

ukraine�*s president, volodymyr zelensky, has vowed to punish anyone who commits atrocities against civilians, after officials said russian forces had targeted hospitals, nurseries, and schools. a number of ukrainian cities suffered another night of intense shelling, with residential areas of kyiv, kharkiv, and the port of mykolaiv all targetted. a third round of negotiations will begin at 16:00 kyiv time, in around an hour and a half. ukraininan officials say a russian plan for refugee corridors is completely immoral since it would involve funneling most people to russia and belarus rather than western ukraine and other european countries. russia has failed to attend a sitting of the international court ofjustice to respond to accusations of war crimes. this report from shaun dilley.

this is the human cost of war. more than a million and a half ukrainians have left the country already to seek shelter from the bombardments. these families are amongst those who have remained until now, but like many others, they are leaving their homes behind, hoping to take advantage of a purported russian ceasefire to flee the theatre of war. today, the bombing was continuing and i decided to escape because it�*s really dangerous, no bread, milk, eggs, no nothing, and all of the chemists are closed. it�*s terrible. we were underground, but it was a chance to escape, so we took our luggage and came here by car~ — the ukrainian government has branded president putin�*s

humanitarian corridors immoral as those in kharkiv will only be promised safe passage to russia. those in kyiv are offered safe passage to russia�*s ally, belarus. translation: detailed information about the humanitarian _ translation: detailed information about the humanitarian corridors i translation: detailed informationl about the humanitarian corridors was given to the ukraine side in advance as well as the entities of the un, the osce and the international committees of the red cross. two ceasefire attempts in the southern city of mariupol collapsed over the weekend but as many get their way, they will seek their refuge in neighbouring countries, and some will be accepted by the uk. borisjohnson metjust boris johnson met just intrude borisjohnson metjust intrude out to discuss the international response and responded to claims the uk had only issued 50 visas to ukrainian refugees. i�*m uk had only issued 50 visas to ukrainian refugees.— uk had only issued 50 visas to ukrainian refugees. i'm not sure those numbers _ ukrainian refugees. i'm not sure those numbers are _ ukrainian refugees. i'm not sure those numbers are right - ukrainian refugees. i'm not sure those numbers are right but - ukrainian refugees. i'm not sure those numbers are right but wel ukrainian refugees. i'm not sure i those numbers are right but we are processing thousands as i speak to

you and clearly this crisis is evolving the whole time and i have said before that the uk will be as generous as we can possibly be. poland says it has taken on more than1 million refugees since president putin launched his invasion 12 days ago. the un is already describing the situation as europe�*s fastest growing refugee crisis since the second world war. over the border, these scenes are typical of the danger ukrainians are fleeing. towns to the north—west of kyiv have been under heavy bombardment from russian forces as they continue their attempt to take control of the capital. the ukrainian government says russia has been striking civilian targets. on a visit to lithuania, the us secretary of state antony blinken can downed russia�*s attacks. amidst heavy casualties and losses, western allies continue their war against russia, not with boots on the ground but by suffocating the country�*s finances. visa, mastercard and pwc are amongst the latest western

countries cutting ties. netflix has cut video streaming services to the country and the social media platform tiktok has suspended live streaming on new content while it reviews and assesses new laws that could see people jailed for up to 15 years for publishing what russian authorities deem to be false news about the conflict. russian citizens are heavily affected as western countries seek to cripple president putin�*s finances. but the economic consequences are global. oil prices have hit their highest for 13 years, reaching prices of $139 per barrel as the us considers banning russian crude oil imports. russia�*s staunchest ally, china, have insisted their relationship with president putin is rock—solid but their foreign minister says they stand ready to work with the international community to carry out mediation. for now, though, no sign of a let up. it�*s a conflict that continues to escalate financially and with an increasing loss of life. for many, all they have is a spirit

that cannot be broken. singing: let it go. the head of the un�*s nuclear watchdog says he is worried about purported difficulties in communications with staff at the ukrainian nuclear power plant under russian control. rafael grossi said the ukrainian authorities were having trouble contacting staff at the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — the biggest in europe. a relative of someone working inside the chernobyl nuclear plant has spoken to the bbc. that facility was taken over by russian forces over a week ago. we�*ve called her valerie, which is not her real name, to protect her identity. she described the situation. the conditions are a concern right now. they�*re fed once a day. it�*s very simple and poor food. they can�*t sleep normally because they have to work,

basically 24/7, because they have to keep maintaining the plant working properly. almost all their moves are controlled. i mean, they are not interrupted at their work, but they can�*t move freely, theyjust always have to be convoyed by the russian army. earlier i spoke to laura rockwood, a director at open nuclear network, an advisory group which seeks to reduce the risk that nuclear weapons are used in error particularly in an escalating conflict. she gave me her reaction to these developments. it�*s very troubling and the most troubling part is apparently the staff at the reactor facilities are now subject to seeking prior approval from the russian commander at the location before they can take any action. what�*s troubling is we have no idea what kind of nuclear expertise this commander has and if something should happen that requires

immediate handling by the staff and they are required to go through the russian commander, it could get very complicated. what is your concern, what could happen? you could have something happening, perhaps a projectile damages the reactor system and the operator needs to take measures that are necessary to control that damage. if they delay that kind of action they could in effect be prevented from taking measures that would prevent a meltdown. i mentioned that the zaporizhzhia plant is the biggest in europe. can you give us a bit more of an idea about how big it is and what happens there, how many staff would be working on site usually? i don�*t know the number of staff but you�*re talking a very large facility,

it involves six separate nuclear reactors and also has a spent fuel pond, in effect a swimming pool where they store used nuclear fuel and they also have separate storage where they put used fuel that they consider dry storage, so what you want to make sure is whether the material in the reactor or in the storage areas are fully cooled by water and to do that you need electricity from the external power grid, so a very large facility, indeed ukraine�*s nuclear power is 54% of its electrical grid, so if the electricity were to go out, let alone a catastrophe, this could be a very bad for the people of ukraine. is there any chance of getting iaea inspectors or people in there to see what�*s going on? that remains to be seen. rafael grossi has offered to convene a discussion

between the russians and ukrainians with a view to developing a framework to prevent some of these activities threatening the nuclear power plants. thus far there hasn�*t been an agreement to do that. i think the russian response initially was that this might be useful, so we will have to wait and see. i would expect some sort of decision being taken in the next couple of days. clearly it is for ukraine to control its own nuclear facilities but if it�*s being impeded to do so by the russians, then clearly the russians would have to be engaged in that discussion. there�*s so much concern over the nuclear issue, notjust what is happening at the power plants but nuclear weapons, the fact that president putin has raised the threat. do you know if western agencies have noticed any changes, anything people should be worried about? i�*m not aware of any but the thing

to remember is that both the us and the russian federation have nuclear weapons that are pretty much ready to go very quickly anyway so you might not detect any significant movement, any change in the location or the readiness of the nuclear weapons even if you were looking for it. let�*s show you the latest pictures we are getting income they are remarkable, of people desperately trying to leave irpin, near kyiv. the bridge has been bombed so they have lied planks near the bridge and art gingerly making their way across. it�*s a desperate situation for these people who were very worried about their own safety, fleeing for safety. 1.5 million

people have now left ukraine and it brings it home, seeing these pictures in the code of desperate people crossing on planks across a river that has been blocked in irpin, which is north of kyiv. let�*s bring it more on those refugees. we are pouring into romania, hungary and slovakia. nick thorpe is in budapest where refugees have been arriving by train. as you can see, large numbers of peoplejust behind me here. they have just got off the train coming from the borderfrom a place on the hungary—ukraine border. one particular story that struck me this morning, these were people from a family with several small children from way down on the edge of ukraine, actually close to the river danube. those people had crossed

on a ferry across the river danube to safety in romania. they had then travelled to bucharest in romania and they had arrived, so not directly from ukraine, but they crossed romania to get to hungary on their way to the czech republic, where the father of the family has been working. so astonishing journeys, thousands of kilometres, first out of a war zone and then across one country and then to another. to link that together with what felippo grandi, from the unhcr, was saying just now to you, in terms of the rest of europe absorbing these flows of refugees, this is very interesting. these front line states up and down this 2100—kilometre border of ukraine to the west, obviously they are taking, bearing the brunt of the first arrivals, but then obviously other countries in europe are helping out now and being the target country for many of these people, the sort of rough rule of thumb i am

hearing both from poland, from romania and from hungary this morning is that perhaps 40% of those actually arriving or a little more, perhaps up to 50%, are actually travelling through these countries on their way to europe. west of europe and the others staying put in countries like poland, hungary, romania and being accommodated initially at least, absorbed here. what has the prime minister of hungary said about the current crisis? he has had such a close relationship over the years with president putin. he is in a difficult position right now obviously because there have been strained relations too with ukraine. what is he saying about the war? this is very interesting. in the past, his friendship with vladimir putin, he has had nearly a dozen meetings in the past ten years, and that has also been very much stressed by pro—government media in these last years.

he spends a lot of his time criticising the european union, criticising brussels and making a lot of his opening to the east to vladimir putin, and other countries, and i should add, very importantly, we are only four weeks before a parliamentary election yet now. his own voting base, he was hoping very much obviously to win a fourth consecutive term in office, but his own voting base are somewhat confused, somewhat divided between what is becoming in hungary among them at least a rather pro—russian stance and obviously seeing the pictures from ukraine. as hungary welcomes all these refugees from ukraine, a rather critical view of russia emerging even among his own voters there. so it is something he has to navigate very carefully. his own message to his own voters has been one that he is presenting himself as a champion of peace and talking less about that past relationship, that past friendship with vladimir putin.

nick thorpe describing the picture around him at budapest central train station. that scene is repeated on all those border countries. as the fighting intensifies, buses and trains continue to arrive in the western ukrainian city of lviv. people are leaving their homes and belongings, and trying to find sanctuary elsewhere. our special correspondent fergal keane has been travelling with some of those who�*ve fled.

these children from kharkiv are orphans. they have special needs and serious health conditions. their distress is difficult to watch. but it is an essential truth of the work�*s destruction for those who are their carers. translation: it�*s their carers. translation: it's deplorable- _ their carers. translation: it�*s deplorable. we are being bombed from morning tonight. we have been in the bomb shelter all this time, all the kids. this is what they are fleeing. the destruction that�*s broken the calm, ordered life they knew. uprooting a million people so far. the buses heading to the polish border. care and nurturing travel with them.

translation: we are tired and you hear how the children behave, - they also want calm, silence, coziness and warmth. what to the children mean to you? translation: many people ask me why i do this job. i i feel that i am needed here. just when you think that this war cannot get any more obscene in the way that it ruptures human lives no matter how young, it does. and the sobering, sad part is that it will continue to do so. they�*ve been travelling 30 hours already. there are many more hours ahead. the price of oil has again risen sharply following suggestions that russian oil exports could be banned

by the united states and the european union. with no realistic prospect of a quick resolution to the conflict in ukraine, other commodities have also soared in value, including gold and other metals, as well as wheat and maize. our business correspondent katy austin has more. it has already hit nearly a 14 year high. that happened after the us said it was in discussions with other countries about a potential ban on russian supplies. now, brent crude which is the global benchmark, a barrel of that went to $139 before falling back a bit to $130 a barrel. this can have all sorts of knock—on effects including for consumers here because that feeds through to the amount you pay at the pump, those were already at record high prices so we should expect further high prices there and businesses as well are buying fuel and oil is also used

widely in the manufacturing process so this will all have big knock—on impacts for the cost of living. while the violence continues in ukraine, the ukrainian government has called on the international court ofjustice, in the hague, to issue an emergency ruling, calling on moscow to stop its invasion. the hearing is taking place without russia being represented. vladimir putin has justified the military invasion was to protect russian speakers in eastern ukraine. but ukraine said moscow�*s claim was baseless and alleged that geonocide in eastern ukraine was non—existent. magdalena gawin is director at pilecki institute. her team is gathering evience to present to the court and told me more about the intricacies of the procedure. this is a very big challenge and when i�*m hearing putin�*s lies, the idea came to me to set up the centre and gather testimonies of civilians who came to poland and i would like to remind all of us

that today i received information that over1 million ukrainians crossed the border to poland and most of them are in poland in different places, so this is very, very important to interview people and to find out everything what they experienced. of course, the first wave of refugees, they did not see war because they ran away very quickly but the next wave, their experience is different and we should note one thing, that we are seeing on a television programme only a small part of the war reality. now all of us are focused on the question of the military campaign and for us right now we have to see if kharkiv will defend itself or not but the fate of the civilians is far in the background,

so we want to interview people and gather materials which would be useful for the post—war trials and this is very, very important and a very huge operation to build such a system. more than one and a half million people have fled ukraine, escaping the violence. part of this has meant families separating — causing heartbreak and sadness. since the war started over a week ago, the bbc has been following one couple who were separated for several days. rita miles and herfour children were in the north of ukraine — while andy, her partner, was in hampshire in the south of england. the war meant rita�*s flight to london was cancelled. but over the weekend, they were reunited in romania after a difficultjourney out of the war zone. sima kotecha went to meet them in the city of iasi. a family that were separated by war. rita and the children were in the north of ukraine,

andy was in the south of england. several days of intense bombardment meant rita and the family bunkering down in their basement. but after days of planning their escape, it was time. were there any moments when you thought this could end in the worst case scenario? i think it was probably from the second night. because on the second night, we, again, woke up from these horrible noises, and that was scary. they ploughed through cold weather and heavy traffic and made it across the border to moldova. walking across the bridge, we are not in ukraine any more. the heartbeat was faster and faster, and i couldn�*t believe, actually, that we managed to do all this way without actually some big trouble from soldiers or from anybody else.

when do you think you�*ll see your mum again? it is very difficult to answer this question, but when i was hugging her and my brother as well, i said, i am not going to say goodbye, i�*m going to come back very soon and be annoying, as much as possible. i really hope it�*s going to finish quite soon. it can�*t be like this, it�*s not right. and then across another border, the family reunited in romania. a moment they envisaged through the dark times. this is really quite the moment. the family have been separated for days now. and after a lot of worry, a lot of panic, a lot of anxiety, they have finally come together. now a new life awaits in hampshire, away from the war, but memories still linger on.

relief for one family who have managed to get to safety. i just want to bring you some of these pictures from irpin — north of kyiv. there have been have eight fighting and just around 2000 people have managed to get out, and look what they had to do. the used planks to cross a river. a bridge was once there which is crucial to get out of there which is crucial to get out of the city but they have had to light planks down to get people across, 2000 people in the past day or so because there has been heavy fighting on the other live pictures from the rave train station. the vivre has been a focal point refugees escaping the fighting but it is also a hub for humanitarian aid for refugees, tonnes and tonnes of aid arriving in lviv from all

over the world to be dispatched to various reasons and you can see the aid coming in there as well. you can reach me on twitter — i�*m @lucyhockingsbbc thanks for being with us. a quiet start to our new working week but it will not last, it was also a cold start this morning, —7 in glasgow, a hard frost widely in scotland but are accompanied by beautiful blue sky and sunshine. there was more cloud across england and wales and one or two nuisance, fairly light showers, they are drifting steadily north and west as we go through the day but the emphasis is with that right settled story, some breaks in the cloud giving sunny spells, the best sunshine into scotland. in the afternoon the wind will strengthen along west facing coast down through the irish sea and with wind direction coming from a

south—easterly source those temperatures will struggle for the time of year, highs between seven and nine celsius. tonight winds will strengthen out to the west, more cloud tending to develop, cloud across england and wales continue to push north and that means the coldest weather as we go through the night is likely to be throughout central and eastern areas and that is where we are likely to see a frost first thing on tuesday, but i get lots of sunshine to start the day, a beautiful start. as we go into the afternoon at the cloud will thicken and the winds will strengthen further with rain, some of it have eight pushing into northern ireland and western fridges by the end of the afternoon. i of it we might see temperatures returning back to double figures. as we move out of tuesday into wednesday that front players away but will be replaced by another and we will continue to see winds strengthen

further so gale force gusts are likely but the good news is the wind direction changing to more of a south—westerly, a maddened source so temperatures will return to where they should be for the time of year but gale force gusts along west facing coast of scotland, some of the rain heavy as it continues to drift east but from east yorkshire town to east anglia and the south—east it should state bright with some sunshine and highs around 13. that front has to clear its way through wednesday and into the early hours of thursday, it will allow for a dry day on thursday before more wet and windy weather returns by friday. take care.

civilians to escape. but ukraine says the proposal is "immoral" because some citizens will only be allowed safe passage to russia. ukrainian authorities say rocket attacks have continued on residential areas in several cities. oil prices hit a 13—year high, after the us said it was discussing a potential ban on russian supplies with other countries. borisjohnson holds talks with the canadian and dutch prime ministers as western powers prepare to agree more sanctions on russia — amid more criticism of the government�*s refugee policy.