tonight at ten — a special report from inside kharkiv — on the frontline with the ukranian army. we're with ukrainian forces fighting to defend the city from russia's relentless assault. and if these tactics are unfamiliar to you then you haven't been paying attention. because this is a russian attack playbook perfected in over ten years of war in syria. more than 2 million people are said to have fled the capital kyiv — but others have arrived, after escaping from the russian soldiers moving ever closer to the city. they stand, like...

stones with the... with the guns? with guns. also on tonight's programme: roman abramovich, the russian owner of chelsea football club, is among seven more oligarchs sanctioned by the british government — the sale of the club is now on hold. a change in visa rules — the government says from next week it will be easier for some ukrainians to come to the uk. and as the war in ukraine fuels inflation, average petrol prices are at their highest ever level — again hitting the cost of living. and stay with us on bbc news for continuing coverage and analysis from our team of correspondents in the uk and around the world.

good evening and welcome to the bbc news at ten from lviv. we start tonight with an exclusive report from the city of kharkiv, in the east of ukraine and the country's second largest city. kharkiv has endured nightly russian air attacks and suffered dozens of civilian deaths and hundreds of injuries. most of the city's 1.5 million residents have fled. the ukrainian forces fought back a russian armoured column in the early days of the invasion — and have been fighting since to stop a further russian advance. our correspondent quentin sommerville and camera journalist darren conway are the first to be embedded with the ukrainian army as they fight the russian advance. i should warn you their report contains graphic images from the front line that some

viewers may find disturbing. head to the very eastern edge of ukraine and a ghostly vision of the country's fate unfolds before you. the city of kharkiv is being purged of life. in near total blackout, the police in the country's second largest city take us on patrol. the russians aren't far. explosion shelling happens every night. this close to the russian border, there's another threat here... ..saboteurs. no—one escapes scrutiny. alina, 76—years—old, is lost and confused. in an instant, everybody�*s life here has been upended.

but this young nation has surprised russia and the world with its resolve. we weave our way past the fallen, into no man's land, with the ukrainian army. here is 21—year—old yevgen gromadsky. where are the russians? over the sound of shelling, he tells me: "the russian soldiers are standing about 900 meters away from here. "you can hear right now that they're firing on our positions "and we are firing back". it's a grenade launcher, british. but it's more than just a grenade launcher, it's a guided missile. is it good against tanks? it's the best we have right now. how are the russians fighting? they're fighting like soldiers of 1941. they're attacking, just like in front,

now they don't do any manoeuvrers. so, yeah, they have a lot of people here, a lot of tanks, a lot of their vehicles and techniques. but we're fighting in our land and we protect our families. so it doesn't matter how they fight, we fight like lions and they won't win. this city of a million plus people has emptied out. this civilian, so close to ukrainian lines, just didn't make it. we've actually come beyond the ukrainian front line, and we know that because look at all the destruction around here, and this whole area's littered with dead russian bodies. these men, in fact, and there are two more over there. there are two more over. there are chechen, they have ids on them. their weapons have been removed. the ukrainians keep telling us they�* re really comfortable with this type of fight

because this is their territory, they're defending their city, theirfamilies. but the challenge from them is what comes from the sky. they want more aircraft and they want more air defences. and that might be where this battle, this war, is won and lost. in a war with russia, the front line is everywhere. shouting, explosion this is what people have been fleeing in kharkiv — endless bombardment for the past two weeks. automated alert: our administration i would like to inform you that a fire i has started in the building. for that reason, please go to the ground floor. and from there, leave the building. this is what russia does to cities, it bombards them, it besieges them, it surrounds them. it terrorizes entire populations. and if these tactics are unfamiliar to you, then you haven't been paying

attention, because this is the russian attack play book, perfected in over ten years of war in syria. we know that russia bombs hospitals. so here at the city's hospital number four, they keep the wounded in hallways — away from the windows. miss valentina has been hit by shrapnel. "i have a poem for you", she says. translation: these stupid russian shrapnel pieces - i will carry all my life. but as long as my heart still beats, i will still live and love. and so too, will eight—year—old dmitri, now that this has been removed from his skull. this is the war that russia has fought before and is fighting again. we don't know the rest of ukraine's fate, but kharkiv has already shown what's coming next. translation: defenders, we will ride together. - we will win this war and all our heroic people

will gather to rebuild our beloved ukraine. quentin somerville, bbc news, kharkiv, in eastern ukraine. in kyiv, russian forces continue their advance towards the capital. more than half the population of kyiv has fled since the invasion began. the mayor of the city descibed it as a fortress. humanitarian organisations have warned that many people there have run out of food and are still living without water or gas. russian forces are said to have rolled their armoured vehicles up to the north—eastern edge of the city today. jeremy bowen has sent this report from kyiv. when your world is turned upside down, there's separation, loss, confusion, and relief at getting out alive. hundreds more have been evacuated

from villages in the firing line outside kyiv in the last few days. taking bad memories into new uncertain lives. did you see any russians? yes. what were the russians like, did they speak to you? they were mute, mute. they were mute. no comments, no words, no. and nothing. they were mute. they stayed like... ..stones. medics can help with the physical pain of wounds. kyiv�*s hospitals are ready, expecting many more. but what do you say to someone who needs the comfort of home? when everything familiar has gone?

this minibus was from the children's home, many with special needs, and carers who had spent two weeks in cellars trying to keep them calm. the police took videos to record who had escaped. then they checked their bags. the fear of russian infiltrators is strong. food is not in short supply, along with plenty of questions what about the russians will do next, and allegations about what they are doing now. translation: the police commander l said they had had many phone calls i about violation of the rights of civilians and weapons, injuries and murders. appeals for information about the missing. at another crossing point, hundreds more walking out of the firing line.

and a priest who helped rescue them from the russian army. there is nothing which is related to god in the actions. so, there's no reason for them to attack ukraine. we are not attack anybody, so we just made decision to have different future, we want to have democracy, so if russians they want to restore soviet union, may god bless them, but we ask them to do it within their borders. ten miles east of kyiv, russia's tactical blunders continued. tanks are easy targets when they push forward, bunched up, in broad daylight, but the ukrainians are still outnumbered and outgunned. at strong points round the city, ukrainian troops are waiting. they know the russians are regrouping, and will try again. petrol bombs aren't all they have got. nato has sent in thousands of modern anti—tank weapons for whatever is coming down the road.

the russians are about 5k in that direction. if they want to come into the city, they will have to take this piece of ground and push in. if they are encircling kyiv, they can probably stay more or less where they are. the men at this position have to assume that an attack is coming. for the soldiers who waited, the sky was bright, and the forest still and lonely. jeremy bowen, bbc news, kyiv. humanitarian corridors within ukraine have been set up in an attempt to allow hundreds of thousands of civilains to escape the fighting. one of those corridors is from sumy in the northwest to poltava — almost 200 hundred kilometres to the south. in the past three days 60,000 people — that's one in five of the population have left sumy. our eastern european correspondent sarah rainsford has been meeting some of them.

sleeping peacefully at last. after 15 days of fear. this little boy arrived from sumy last night. to a city where there are no bombs and no fighterjets. but the children here have brought their memories. daniel's poem is about enemies and occupiers and longing for peaceful skies. he and his mum escaped sumy squeezed into a car with strangers when the shooting was stopped for a few hours. translation: we walked over broken glass, we saw the ruined build, - the bombing, the roofs ripped off, it was scary. that is why we are fleeing, running as far as possible from the shooting. trying to save our lives and the children above all. "it is so russia doesn't kill us," daniel pipes up. he is eight years old.

russia is trying to bomb his city into submission. tens of thousands of civilians have now been evacuated, but ukraine's soldiers are still resisting. and behind the lines there is a giant support effort. the school that is now housing evacuees is also feeding hundreds of soldiers. teachers and residents all pitching in. now we are cooking for our soldiers so they can protect our homes, our children, our parents, grandparents and our whole country. just two weeks' ago that was a normal school kitchen, but now all of this is being prepared to feed ukrainian soldiers, and people displaced by the fighting. the lady in charge told me she can't believe they are doing this, but it's a massive collective effort to provide the food and to make

it here at the school. this classroom is now home for a family from kharkiv. safe, but stranded, with nowhere else to go. svetlana talks of the terrifying sound of russian fighterjets, but also of friends in russia itself, who tell her ukraine provoked this war and who claim even now that no civilians are suffering. that really hurts, svetlana says. her niece's world has shrunk to this. it is safe for now, but katya's learned it can be shattered in an instant. sarah rainsford, bbc news. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov met his ukrainian counterpart for talks in turkey earlier today. they're the highest—level diplomatic contacts between the two countries since the war began.

afterwards, mr lavrov said moscow wanted ukraine to remain neutral as a country. ukraine's foreign minister dmytro kuleba said both sides agreed to try to find a solution to the humanitarian crisis, but insisted that ukraine would never agree to russia's demands to surrender. the discussions have been taking place in antalya, from where our diplomatic correspondent james landale sent this report. foreign ministers don't usually hug, but dmytro kuleba could probably use one. ukraine's top diplomat came here, though, not for a warm turkish welcome, but for the chance to make peace. and this is the man who potentially could help — sergey lavrov, russia's veteran foreign minister, 18 years in post with the ear of vladimir putin.

for 90 minutes, they sat only a few feet apart, but the gap between them was huge. mr lavrov refusing to agree a ceasefire, mr kuleba refusing to surrender. he asked for a 2k hour pause in the fighting, a humanitarian corridor out of mariupol, but said russia's foreign minister seemed unable to make any commitments. they will continue their aggression until ukraine meets their demands, and the list of those demands is a surrender. this is why it is not... why it is not acceptable to us. mr lavrov said for the war to end, ukraine had first to be disarmed and give up hopes ofjoining the eu or nato. and incredibly, he defended the deadly bombing of the maternity and children's hospital in mariupol, claiming it had been a base for ukrainian forces — only for russia's defence ministry later to deny responsibility for the attack. translation: it had no women,

no children, no medical- professionals inside. it was occupied by the militants. how can you talk of diplomacy and ceasefires and negotiations when maternity hospitals are being struck, when so many civilians are dying? translation: the demilitarisation of ukraine, the denazification - of ukraine are needed, and we can delay no more because of the threat to the russian federation. sergei lavrov says he wants to strike a deal, he says he wants the war to end, but his language is aggressive, it is robust. he accuses the ukrainians of being nazis. and so far all the diplomacy, the devastation of ukraine continues. there may be a ceasefire one day, but only after more people have died and more cities have been laid waste. james landale, bbc news, antalya.

in a moment, we'll talk to our security correspondent, gordon corera, who's at the foreign office in london and to our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, who is in the capital of ukraine. but first to our russia editor, steve rosenberg, who's in moscow. steve, president putin today claimed that russia will emerge stronger from international sanctions, how does he reach that conclusion? to be honest, i think this is wishful thinking on vladimir putin's part because the tsunami of international sanctions hitting russia threatens to cripple the economy here. today, president putin said "we will adapt, we will overcome, we will take measures against those foreign companies pulling out of russia", raising fears of nationalisation and seizing of assets but is that really the solution to rush a's problem right now? one of the richest men in

russia wrote today that those kind of measures would put russia back 100 years, back to 1917, at the time of the russian revolution. vladimir putin came to power more than 20 years ago and the one thing he promised russians was stability in four years after, he cultivated the image of mr stability. the only man in the country capable of keeping russia together. that stability has gone now. it's been shattered by president putin's decision to send troops into a sovereign nation, into ukraine, for what he still calls a special military operation. steve, thank ou special military operation. steve, thank you very — special military operation. steve, thank you very much. _ our security correspondent gordon corera is at the foreign office for us this evening. gordon, there is concern in london and washington about the use of chemical weapons? by by russia?

by russia ? that by russia? that is right, the alarm bells have been run today. the foreign secretary said she was very concerned about the possible use of chemical weapons. the white house said something similar last night. the prime minister said he was worried that what he was seeing was straight out of the kremlin playbook, in his words. so what is behind this? well, it appears there was some kind of intelligence in the last week that the kremlin might be considering using chemical weapons. we obviously don't know exactly what that intelligence was. but also, russia has form, it used nerve agent in the uk in salisbury in 2018 and its ally the assad regime used it repeatedly in syria. but then there is also the way in which russian officials in the last few days have been talking about ukraine developing nonconventional weapons. for instance, a claim today from the russian foreign minister that ukraine had a secret biological warfare lab funded by the americans. the concern is that kind of language

is paving the way for what is called a false flag operation, in which the russians perhaps use chemical weapons that then blame it on the ukrainians. something that was tried in syria, hence that reference to the kremlin playbook. the hope is by calling this out based on whatever intelligence there is, they might be able to deter and stop russia from going forward. able to deter and stop russia from going forward-— going forward. gordon, thank you. and to lyse _ going forward. gordon, thank you. and to lyse doucet. _ as fighting continues on the outskirts of the city, we hear that there are indiciations that the russian forces are trying to encircle the capital? yes, this is a city tonight bitterly cold and very quiet, eerily quiet, when we see the images of how so much more of this country burns with every day. there is no doubt that this capital is in moscow's sites. we have seen over the past two weeks, how its advance is notjust been stalled but it's also been

attacked and ambushed. tonight, we hear reports russia is still trying to advance in multiple directions but on every approach, there is also intense fighting and an effective fightback. some of the images we saw today were in the east, where the ukrainian forces were able to repel a russian armoured convoy. russia is said to be trying to advance on two parallel tracks from the east, from the north—east where the us believes they are about 25 miles away. the closest approaches from the north—west. the us again estimate that it north—west. the us again estimate thatitis north—west. the us again estimate that it is less than ten miles and has moved a few miles in the past 2a hours. that is why this city has emptied of its rituals and rhythm. you mentioned at the start of the programme the mayor has said about a little less than 2 million people have emptied this city. war has pulled to life from kyiv but many of the people who are staying here are staying to fight. they won't be

fighting on front lines, but on a home front and we had seen in the past two weeks that also has a power of its own. . ~ past two weeks that also has a power of its own. ., ~ i. past two weeks that also has a power of its own. . ~' ,, i, past two weeks that also has a power ofitsown. ., ~ i, . of its own. thank you. lyse doucet re ”ortin of its own. thank you. lyse doucet reporting from _ of its own. thank you. lyse doucet reporting from kyiv. _ and for more on the latest developments in ukraine, head to our website for live updates and deeper analysis at bbc.co.uk. i'll be back later in the programme, reporting on how the citizens of this city have cast aside their usual lives to do everything they can for the war effort against russia. but for now that's it from me, and it's back to the studio in london. reeta, many thanks for now. here in the uk, the russian owner of chelsea football club, roman abramovich, is among another seven people who've been hit with sanctions because of their suspected close links to president putin. the decision means that although chelsea can still play matches, the sale of the club is on hold, and it's now banned from selling tickets, players,

and any merchandise. tonight, the mobile provider three has said it is suspending its sponsorship with the club. here's our sports editor, dan roan. one of the most expensively assembled squad in world football, taking to the field against norwich city tonight, just hours after being plunged into chaos. for almost 20 years, chelsea have been bankrolled by the riches of roman abramovich but today the club paid a heavy price for his ownership — his uk assets dramatically frozen by the government. despite his previous denials of direct links with vladimir putin, they described him as a pro—kremlin oligarch, who'd benefited financially from what it called a close relationship with the russian president. abramovich has links to putin, who is mounting a barbaric and evil attack against the people of ukraine. i'm afraid sanctions have consequences. abramovich�*s actions have consequences too. some, however, suggested it was too late.

why on earth didn't the government do something much sooner about it? i'm delighted that roman abramovich and deripaska have been sanctioned today but, to be honest, i think they should have been sanctioned several years ago. chelsea is now in limbo — barred from buying and selling players or renegotiating contracts. it can't sell further tickets and commercial activities will be restricted — with no merchandising available. under a special licence, however, the club can continue to play, to pay players and staff, and existing ticket holders can attend matches. this evening, chelsea's manager gave this reaction. this is like quite a big change from yesterday to today, yeah. but still we cannot influence it. we didn't cause the situation. in the moment, it seems like business is more or less, like let's say football—wise, protected. chelsea's shocked travelling fans, meanwhile, still trying to take it all in. obviously we all support ukraine.

what russia's doing is totally wrong, but i don't think we should suffer for it. what on earth is the future going to bring and how- will the government treat the club? chelsea was put up for sale only last week, as calls for its owner to be sanctioned intensified. that's now been stalled, although the government is open to allowing a deal on condition that abramovich receives no funds. crowned club world champions just last month, chelsea was today meant to be celebrating its 117th birthday. instead, it's been plunged into chaos. it's understood that interest in buying this asset hasn't been dented by today's seismic news, but already there are signs of financial difficulties ahead. the club's shirt sponsor, the telecom brand three, has now suspended its deal, thought to be worth around £40 million. chelsea's women's team were also in action this evening. like the men's squad, several of their players are out of contract this summer and facing uncertain futures. the club's ownership,

so long defined by trophies, now responsible for unprecedented turmoil. dan roan, bbc news, stamford bridge. as we've heard, roman abramovich is one of seven more russian oligarchs to be hit by sanctions, all billionaire businessmen believed to be part of vladimir putin's inner circle. the men's assets will be frozen and they are now subject to a travel ban. our business editor simonjack looks in more detail at what the sanctions are and how much they can achieve. pictured with putin, chelsea owner roman abramovich, aluminium tycoon oleg deripaska, energy boss and old putin friend igor sechin — they're among seven oligarchs the uk followed the eu and us in sanctioning. that means uk assets frozen, they can't travel here, their yachts can be seized and their ability to move money around the world severely restricted. the last two weeks have witnessed the most robust, onerous, powerful set of sanctions i for one

have ever seen. did those who were worried about it have enough time to get money out of the uk? roman abramovich was sanctioned this morning. until this morning and until the moment he was sanctioned, he was at liberty to legitimately do whatever he wishes with his assets. given international sanctions, few banks outside russia would have handled their money anyway, but the uk is now off limits. london in particular, with its luxury shops, its armies of private bankers and lawyers, and of course politicians grateful for party donations has long been a favoured haven for the russian super—rich. and the idea of sanctions is if you make their lives less comfortable, they will bring pressure to bear on vladimir putin to stop the war. at least, that's the theory. but in putin's kremlin, the idea oligarchs have power or influence is a fantasy,

according to experts. the oligarchs know that their position in charge of state companies that they run is purely conditional on their relationship, their personal relationship with him. they are essentially the managers, they're not the owners, and so if they speak against the war or speak against the regime, they stand to lose this access to material wealth within russia that they have. ukraine will need rebuilding one day, and the head of its central bank said oligarch money should help pay for it. a large share of financing is needed to be obtained as a reparation from the aggressor, including funds that are currently frozen in our allied countries. it's notjust the super—rich being forced to shake their western ways. as the world's biggest brands abandon russia, ordinary people are seeing the clocks and living standards rolled back 30 years. it's hard to tell whether either form of pressure will make a difference. simon jack, bbc news.

the war in ukraine is expected to have a dramatic effect