this is bbc news, i'm lewis vaughanjones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. ukraine accuses russia of bombing a children's hospital in the city of mariupol, officials say there are many dead and injured, with children buried under the rubble. the attack happened while a ceasefire was supposed to be in place, mariupol�*s mayor says president putin has destroyed a peaceful city. translation: they wanted to take the lives of our - children, ourwomen, our doctors, who had been fighting for m days of war, for the lives of every child who came under fire from enemy weapons. meanwhile, in neighbouring irpin, uprooted civilians have managed to leave the town, the united nations is calling

the situation a �*dark, historic first�*. the town is being emptied of its residents. and it's notjust happening here. there are other cities in ukraine being bombarded by the russians, where civilians are being driven out. a ceasefire in the eastern ukraine city of sumy is holding, allowing many more people to flee to safety. russia's increasing economic isolation is continuing, heineken nowjoins mcdonalds, coca cola and unilever in pausing operations there. and deep in the icy waters of antarctica, a remarkable discovery, shackleton�*s vessel endurance, still in one piece, a century after it sank.

hello and welcome to the programme. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky has accused russia of committing a war crime by bombing a maternity and children's hospital in the besieged city of mariupol. a regional governor said at least 17 people had been injured. the attack came while a ceasefire was supposed to be in place. elsewhere in the country ceasefires did hold, allowing more civilians to flee other besieged cities. our first report is from our international correspondent, orla guerin in irpin. a warning, her report contains some distressing images. survivors emerge from the wreckage of a hospital for women and children after what ukraine says was a russian attack. pregnant women were among the wounded, according to the local governor.

there was supposed to be a ceasefire in place to let civilians flee mariupol. instead, they weren't safe, even in hospital beds. here, the massive craterjust outside the building. the local mayor said this was utterly evil. translation: today the russian federation led by putin raided a peaceful city, shelled a children's hospital, destroyed the most valuable thing we have, we, the people of mariupol. they wanted to take the lives of our children, ourwomen, our doctors, who've been fighting for ia days of war for the lives of every child under fire from enemy weapons. russia claims ukrainian forces expelled the staff and patients and set up firing positions. russia also claims it does not fire on civilian targets.

tell that to those we met today being carried from irpin, close to kyiv, where the ceasefire held. they survived days and nights of shelling and must now survive life cast adrift as refugees. and what future for around one million of ukraine's children, uprooted in just two weeks? the united nations calls this a dark historic first. well, hour after hour, people keep leaving irpin, the town is being emptied of its residents, and it's not just happening here, there are other cities in ukraine being bombarded by the russians where civilians are being driven out. this is just one corner of the fastest growing refugee crisis in europe since world war ii. svetlana is among the legions made homeless by vladimir

putin. "our house is gone" she says. "we've been in the cellar for ia days with no light, water or heat. but we will be back for sure." further down the road, immense relief. a reunion forfriends and neighbours — who didn't know if they would meet again. svetla na says... "you are alive, my sunlight." anastasia is finally on her way to relative safely in western ukraine with baby oleg. we first met them two days ago as they fled. but she's concerned for her father who stayed behind in the horror of irpin.

translation: he is sitting in the basement, not leaving the house. we pray that all is well with him. he refused to be evacuated. my my father says that bodies lie in the street. no—one removes them. they are eaten by dogs and dogs start to attack the people. with every day that passes, this looks increasingly like a war on civilians, on their homes, their lives, their freedom. and many already fear this could lead, sooner or later, to a wider european war. orla guerin, bbc news, irpin. in the north east of ukraine,

in the city of sumy, thousands of civilians are escaping to relative safety after the russians agreed to a humanitarian route. some 7,000 people were evacuated from the city on tuesday, including hundreds of international students who were taken to safety in two convoys of buses and cars. 0ur eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford is in poltava, where people have been arriving from sumy. they've not eaten like this for two weeks. because these children have been hiding beneath ground, as their city above was bombed and shelled by russian troops. this morning, they made it to safety. their care home evacuated from the front line. the director tells me the air strikes were the scariest. as we speak, a door bangs somewhere and shejumps. translation: it's not normal. it's so far from normal. at the start, we didn't tell the youngest children

that there was war. they didn't know, but theyjust started drawing tanks because they heard the shooting. that's not normal. so, she's trying to get help to get them even further from the fighting. children who were vulnerable even before this war now have new trauma. there were more air strikes the day their convoy travelled south. russia claims it's liberating ukraine, but no one here asked to be saved, orfor their homes, their lives, to be ruined. when the fighting was paused in sumy again today, it brought people out of their bunkers. and now, families are forced to flee, uprooted, abandoning everything. this girl has been living in a cellar with russian

fighter jets flying overhead. her mum can't find them rooms here. "it's too expensive," she says, "and everywhere is full." so most are trying to get out. poltava has become one giant waiting room, as thousands are now evacuated here away from the front line and the immediate threat, and then stranded. there are people here from all over this region who fled the areas where the fighting is now at its fiercest, and they've come here in hope of getting a ride as far west as possible. but for the moment, there is no information, no trains. they're just standing and waiting. when a train pulls in, they surge forward. it's a moment of hope but it's a fleeting one. this train is travelling east, not west — towards the fighting, not to safety. sarah rainsford, bbc news, poltava. the head of the un nuclear watchdog, the iaea, says in recent days his agency has

lost remote data transmission from its systems monitoring a second major nuclear power plant in ukraine, at zaporizhzhya. rafael grossi said the reason for the disruption in the transmission of safety data was not immediately clear. the development comes a day after the iaea lost remote data transmission from the chernobyl nuclear facility. i asked nuclear policy expert joseph sirin cirincione what the implications are for the lost power supply at chernobyl. we dodged a nuclear bullet today, the loss of power does not seem to have affected the main safe equipment. the iaea's statements today relieved a lot of us about the ability of those spent fuel ponds to maintain integrity and to prevent any overheating of even these very old fuel rods. i

read the stress report done on this facility back in 2011 and they tested out exactly this kind of incident and they concluded that the fuel would remain safe about 50 days, after which radiation levels would start to rise. so we have avoided a catastrophe for now but the situation in chernobyl is completely untenable, we can't go on like this. we should expect similar crises to erupt in the days ahead. 50 erupt in the days ahead. so we've got — erupt in the days ahead. so we've got that figure of 50 days, something has to change significantly before then. lets move to the other nucleoside, the biggest one that russia has taken with those staff, they are working around the clock to try and keep that going, how worried are you about that situation?— worried are you about that situation? . . , ., situation? that frankly is more worrying. _ situation? that frankly is more worrying. the _ situation? that frankly is more worrying, the zaporizhzhya - situation? that frankly is more | worrying, the zaporizhzhya site because that is an active clear site stopping the reactors have been put into standby mode but those fuel rods are hot so they have to be constantly

maintained. if you were to lose power there, maintained. if you were to lose powerthere, if maintained. if you were to lose power there, if something were to happen to the integrity of the spent fuel ponds, then you could see a fukushima like disaster with the fuel rods melting and spewing out radioactivity, and the reason we are so worried about this is there is nothing normal about this situation. no country, no group has ever occupied a nuclear power plant stopping no—one has ever forced the operators to maintain the plant at gunpoint under duress cut off from communication, no shift changes. running a nuclear reactor is tricky business under normal circumstances. something like this is completely unprecedented so we are worried about a major accident by carelessness, fatigue, stress, a fight, the collapse of electrical power or new assaults, new fights breaking out that could damage the facility and cut off its

electric power. its multiple incidents we are worried about incidents we are worried about in these facilities.— in these facilities. given all those risks, _ in these facilities. given all those risks, what _ in these facilities. given all those risks, what is - in these facilities. given all those risks, what is in - in these facilities. given all those risks, what is in it. in these facilities. given all| those risks, what is in it for the russians, why are they taking this risk? it’s the russians, why are they taking this risk?— taking this risk? it's very hard to understand, - taking this risk? it's very - hard to understand, chernobyl is at the top of the list of places you don't want to go to and at first it seemed to be just a military expediency, sees the electric power but this may be something even more sinister here, there may be a polluted employee to hold these plants hostage and may be to threaten sabotage on it, threatened ukraine with an intentional radiological disaster. this is why the iaea directors call for an immediate ceasefire, access to the plants, visits of international inspectors is so important, even despite everything else thatis even despite everything else that is going on, something at these plants could be a catastrophe beyond anything europe has seen since chernobyl. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we'll tell

you how the world's most famous undiscovered shipwreck, sir ernest shackleton�*s endurance, has now been found. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this, the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 24 hours then, the soviet union lost an elderly, sick leader, and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. _ then he came out| through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged a1, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. reporter: paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? - it feels fine, thank you.

what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much, do you think? i don't know, really — _ i've never been married before. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: ukraine accuses russia of bombing a children's hospital in the city of mariupol, officials say there are many dead and injured, with children buried under the rubble. meanwhile, in neighbouring irpin, uprooted civilians have managed to leave the town, the united nations is calling the situation a "dark, historic first." let's look at the fallout in russia now, where heineken has become the latest high profile name to suspend operations in the country, after mcdonald's, coca—cola and unilever announced

they were pausing operations. the us secretary of state, anthony blinken, says the exodus of international companies is having a profound impact. moscow is accusing the united states of waging an economic war on russia after it banned russian oil. 0ur moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg, reports now on russia's increasing economic isolation. life is changing for russians. sanctions are making their country look very different. at mcdonald's, final orders. it's suspending business in russia over what it calls the needless human suffering unfolding in ukraine. customer alla believes the russian offensive is destroying russia's future. translation: it's very sad. it's notjust mcdonald's that's closing. all western businesses are shutting down. everyone who can is leaving.

it is a symbol of the new times. we will be left isolated. back in the ussr, happier times, when mcdonald's opened up here. the fast food was slow, but only because of the huge crowds of customers. it felt then as if russia was getting an appetite for good relations with the west. well, i was actually in the queue here 32 years ago when mcdonald's first opened. it actually took me three hours to get inside. and i can remember the excitement in the crowd because for muscovites, this place was a symbol, a symbol of russia opening up to the world, a symbol of east embracing west. but it feels now that that's all gone. and instead, russia's increasingly isolated. international brands are vanishing from moscow's shopping centres. but russians have less money to spend here anyway. sanctions have caused the value of the rouble to plunge. but for those who back moscow's onslaught in ukraine, many of them claim they couldn't care less about global corporations disappearing from the russian market.

the era of post—soviet colonisation by the west started with the arriving of mcdonald's to russia, and the era of sovereign greater russia starts with mcdonald's leaving it. so, have a nice trip. for the moment, moscow is defiant, uncompromising, unapologetic. but russia is intricately connected to the global economy. isolation will hurt. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. just some breaking news out of washington, dc relating to ukraine, actually relating to theissue ukraine, actually relating to the issue of the us providing aid to ukraine.

we are getting this from reuters, suggesting $13.6 billion worth of aid for ukraine, provisionally approved, a majority of the us house of representatives on wednesday voted to approve a wider, bigger, $1.5trillion bill that would include that $13.6 billion in aid for ukraine. the vote, still under way, if approved by the house, it then moves on to the senate. so not confirmed yet, but that is news from reuters out of washington, dc. south korea's presidential election has been narrowly won by the conservative opposition leader, yoon suk—yeol. in one of the tightest races in the country's recent history, he beat the governing democratic party candidate by less than one percentage point. mr yoon is expected to adopt a more hardline policy towards north korea. the north korean leader, kimjong—un, says his country is developing a reconnaissance satellite in order to collect information on the us military in the region.

on saturday, pyongyang test fired a ballistic missile it said was linked to the development of the satellite. australian prime minister scott morrison declared a national emergency over unprecedented flooding in two states. at least 20 people have been killed in new south wales and queensland as rising waters inundated homes over the past two weeks. federal and state governments have faced anger for not acting faster to help residents. a man who became the first person to receive a heart transplant from a genetically—modified pig has died, two months after the operation. 57—year—old david bennett, seen here in the middle, who had terminal heart disease, died yesterday. before the operation he said he knew the risks and acknowledged it was a shot in the dark. novak djokovic has withdrawn from indian wells and the miami open, the first two tennis masters series events of the year, because of us coronavirus rules.

regulations require any non—us citizen to have a covid vaccination before entering the country. djokovic told the bbc last month that he had not been vaccinated. now to an extraordinary discovery. more than a century after it sank, the lost ship of the antarctic explorer, sir ernest shackleton, has finally been discovered. the ship, called the endurance, was found by a team of scientists, in remarkably good condition in the seas off antartica. 0ur science editor rebecca morelle has the story. emerging from the antarctic deep, the world's most famous undiscovered shipwreck, now found. it is the first time anyone has seen it in more than 100 years. endurance, perfectly preserved, frozen in time, 3,000 metres beneath the ice.

i thought, if there's any wood—built ship that could survive the impact of the sea bed, it will be the endurance, and she did, she held together beautifully. but i have never, ever seen a wreck anything like as beautiful and as inspiring as this one. the condition of sir ernest shackleton�*s ship is astonishing. the ship's wheel is almost pristine. bolts gleam in the woodwork. the portholes look polished. and these white circles are dinner plates, abandoned by the crew. this was the polar ice breaker that brought the team to the wreck. the conditions were challenging. the agulhas ii had to carve its way through the thick ice in the weddell sea. underwater robots were deployed and spent weeks searching the deep, until the endurance was at last found. probably the most famous as yet undiscovered shipwreck in the world, and now we know

exactly where it is. we know what it looks like, we know what condition it's in and we can broadcast images of that around the world. it matters because people will see those images and will connect to this extraordinary story from our history, the greatest story of antarctic survival of all time. and this was the ship just before it sank, captured in footage restored and released by the bfi. the endurance became stuck in sea ice soon after it set off from south georgia, drifting for months before the crew was eventually ordered to abandon ship. the endurance expedition was amazingly well documented, with photographs, film and crucially, navigation records, which were vital for locating the wreck beneath the ice. what is extraordinary is it was found just four and a half miles, that's about seven kilometres, from the coordinates recorded on the day the ship sank, more than 100 years ago. this was all down to frank worsley, the ship's captain.

frank worsley really needs to be recognised now, even more than he was at the time, as an expert navigator. he was using all of the equipment that was at his disposal at the time and clearly, because the ship has been found so close to that location, he did a brilliantjob. the discovery gives us a new link between the past and the present. the ship won't be raised, and nothing will be removed. left exactly as it was found, resting in the darkness of this most remote corner of the world. rebecca morelle, bbc news. very powerful images there, and some more powerful images from kyiv, where members of the city's orchestra held an impromptu open our concert in

the city's independence square. here they are in huts and coats, playing and freezing temperatures, in front of a small crowd waving ukrainian fries. the conductor said the aim was to promote ukrainian government's call for a no—fly zone across the country and an end to the wall. the concert was broadcast live on ukrainian tv. let's have a listen. orchestra plays ukrainian national anthem. managed to keep right up to date with all those events in ukraine as they happen, go to the website. you will find our live page there are continually updated with all the latest news and developments. do check that out. and if you are online you can get me on social media as well. i am on twitter.

hello there. this week starts off on a cold, chilly note for many of us, but temperatures have been rising as the week's worn on, in fact, we are staying in the very mild theme for the rest of the week, certainly for the working week, but it will become more unsettled with breezy, even windy conditions and also rain at times. now, we've got high—pressure to the east of us over the near continent, low pressure to the west over the atlantic. it's drawing up some very mild airfrom biscay and iberia. this weather front continuing to thicken the cloud up across more central parts of the country today. so we start off with quite a bit of cloud around, bit more cloud generally across england and wales than we had through yesterday morning. cold, frosty start for northern ireland but bright with some sunshine, some sunshine getting into western scotland, and it will also be bright across eastern england and the southeast, where, again, we will see temperatures very mild for the time of year 1a—15 degrees, even double figures further

north and west. it will be a little bit breezier as well. now, as we head through thursday night, it turns cloudy, outbreaks of rain pushing up from central and southern areas, it will spread northwards across northern england and in toward scotland. so more cloud around, more breeze, so it will be a milder night for most of us and a mild night certainly for northern ireland. so that's how it's looking to end thursday, into friday we see a little more active weather front start to sweep in from the atlantic. that will bring more windy weather but also some heavier rain, which will start to push into southwest england and wales, northern ireland, as the day wears on. one or two showers ahead of it, but generally dry and bright, quite mild and windy across northern and eastern areas. this rain will be spilling its way northwards, and it will be a blustery day wherever you are, certainly windy across more northern and eastern areas, especially close to the coast. temperature wise, again, it's pretty mild, highs of 10—13 degrees, maybe not quite as mild as it will be

for thursday because we've got more cloud and rain around. now, into the weekend, it stays unsettled, a particularly deep area of low pressure moves in towards the southwest and the west of the uk during the latter part of saturday into sunday, and as that spreads northwards for sunday, we will see a mixture of sunshine and blustery showers. some of these will be quite heavy. so it is an unsettled picture into the weekend, some wet and windy weather pushing into the south and west later on saturday, and it's sunshine and showers for most on sunday.

this is bbc news, the headlines: ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky has accused russia of committing a war crime by bombing a maternity and children's hospital in the besieged city of mariupol. a regional governor said at least 17 people had been injured. the attack came while a ceasefire was supposed to be in place. elsewhere in the country, ceasefires did hold, allowing more civilians to flee other besieged cities, after the russians agreed to a humanitarian route. some 7,000 people were evacuated from the city of sumy. the united nations is calling the civilian situation a �*dark, historic first�*. russia's increasing economic isolation is continuing. after mcdonalds, coca cola and unilever announced they were pausing operations, heineken has become the latest high profile name tojoin that list. this is bbc news.