this is bbc world news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: gunfire. attacks on ukraine target more cities and extend further into the country and russian troops regroup around the capital kyiv. we have just come through the last ukrainian checkpoint. up ahead is no man's land, and the next checkpoint is in the hands of the russians. cries. hunting for the basics to survive: the pain and suffering continues for the ukrainians living close to kyiv. an air strike on dnipro damages apartment blocks and hits a factory: we have a special report from the city. the site is one of complete devastation. the smoke is still rising

from the ruins of this building hours after the missiles struck. concerns grow about the protection of ukraine's nuclear power plants as shelling and air raids threaten their safety. and travelling to a new life in the uk: the ukrainian orphans waiting to meet their new host families. hello and welcome to bbc news. the russian military offensive has widened across ukraine and its forces are now closing in on the capital kyiv. air raid sirens have sounded in kyiv in the past hour and there are reports that heavy shelling has been heard. —— past couple of hours and there are reports that

heavy shelling has been heard. some cities came under direct shelling for the first time, including lutsk and ivano—frankivsk in the west. and to the east, dnipro, a place of refuge for ukrainians fleeing other parts of the country, was also hit. almost 2 million people have been displaced internally and 2.5 million have left the country. our first report is from orla guerin, who's been to the frontline close to the town of bucha, near kyiv, where russian troops are battling ukrainian forces just 15 miles — 2a kilometres — from the capital. the lonely road towards russian positions on the outskirts of kyiv. we head carefully towards the commuter town of bucha, bombed day and night. explosion there are battlegrounds along the way. well, this is as far as we can go. we've just come through the last ukrainian checkpoint. up ahead is no man's land, and the next checkpoint is in the hands of the russians.

we've been hearing the sounds of battle in the last few minutes with outgoing shelling from here towards the russian positions. "the fighting is hard, very hard," says victor, breaking down. "15 days." he's a pensioner turned defender of ukraine. "overall, it's fine," he says. "we have our children, our wives. "this is our land." anatoly, who is 72, is risking his life to look for petrol. "everything is destroyed,"

he tells me. "there's no electricity, no gas. "it's very cold in the house. "i'm sorry," he says, politely. "this is life." inside bucha, there is no life so, today, once again, civilians were fleeing. from russia, this choice — go or be bombed. documents are checked before they head for kyiv. ukrainian forces don't want russian saboteurs getting through. cars brimming with desperation and displaying white ribbons —

a plea for safe passage for civilians. many marked "ditey", meaning �*children�*. did you see the russian forces in your area? "we passed three of their checkpoints. "there were tanks there," says alexander. his wife, natalia, also weeps for ukraine. and day by day, the threat is moving closer to kyiv. gunfire here, ukrainian forces battle the russians in a village in kyiv region. a ferocious firefight in the forest. the ukrainians are defending

every inch of territory, but russian troops are now believed to be less than ten miles from the heart of the capital. orla guerin, bbc news, on the outskirts of kyiv. dnipro, in the east, was attacked for the first time with a shoe factory targeted by the shelling. the city is home to around one million people and our eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford has been assessing the impact of the attack on the ground. they struck at dawn, and dnipro wasn't expecting it. this was not a military target. russia's missiles have destroyed a shoe factory and they have shattered the idea many had clung to here that this city was safe. amongst the rubble of their workplace were factory staff trying to clean up, dazed and disbelieving.

many more could have died here had the factory not stopped work because of the war. "you see that black bag?" this woman says. "that is where our security guard died." "what else can i tell you? you can see it all." many ignored the wail of the air raid siren because central dnipro had never been hit. this site is one of complete devastation. the smoke is still rising from the ruins of this building hours after the missile struck, and the smell here is really acrid. but the thing that strikes me most, just being here, is that there are so many apartment blocks, residential buildings, all around here. the shock waves swept across the square, smashing windows and shaking buildings for blocks around. we saw irina cleaning up the mess, and she called us in.

for her family, the attack was terrifyingly close — right on their doorstep. they are scared, but they are also furious here at russia. "we didn't ask them to come and save us," irina tells me. "we were living fine in our own country. "we love our country and we'll defend it," she says. across the hallway, alexander is clearing up for his 90—year—old aunt, distraught that she lived through one world war and she's now being caught up in all this. and down the road, we met natalia, demanding to know why russia is firing at them, haunted by the terrified screams of her son. they didn't make it to the bomb shelter — the missiles came in too fast. rescuers have been

salvaging scraps from the factory wreckage. but however resilient ukraine is, this kind of attack sows fear and saps morale, because when the sirens go now, no—one can feel safe here. sarah rainsford, bbc news, dnipro. kateryna malofieieva is a ukrainian journalist based in dnipro, eastern ukraine. thank you very much for coming on the programme. we saw the impact of the missiles heating, saw the devastation. what was it like to live through?- it like to live through? well, for many _ it like to live through? well, for many people, _ it like to live through? well, for many people, i _ it like to live through? well, for many people, i have - it like to live through? well, i for many people, i have already experienced the consequences of war, the impact of war, this is unfortunately becoming something like a new reality. i yesterday met people who fled from kharkiv here in dnipro, they came to dnipro in order to find a safe haven but as of

yesterday, dnipro is not a safe haven anymore. so literally up until yesterday, everyone understood that it was a quiet location but today, approximately 15 minutes ago, i heard explosions as well so, in different charts and social networks and information that this time, ukrainian air defence system intercepted two missiles flying over dnipro —— chats. at the moment, i have not seen the place of impact so after yesterday, you can imagine that dnipro has not been spared from the same destiny as others. crosstalk. of course _ destiny as others. crosstalk. of course that _ destiny as others. crosstalk. of course that changes - destiny as others. crosstalk. of course that changes the - of course that changes the calculation now for you and for everyone there. are you expecting now to see more people trying to leave? i don't

only meet. _ people trying to leave? i don't only meet. i _ people trying to leave? i don't only expect, i have _ people trying to leave? i don't only expect, i have seen - only expect, i have seen hundreds of people yesterday on the railway station in dnipro, literally the whole perimeter of the square in front of the dnipro railway station was full of people and people were queueing from 830 in the morning until two or three p. m.. morning until two or three p.m.. they wanted to get a place on the train that was departing to the western part of ukraine. but many of those i spoke to told me that they don't know where we are going to, we don't know what destiny awaits us and they were crying. they were crying because until yesterday morning, they could not even imagine that dnipro would be targeted and there were also people not only from dnipro but from high from the south of ukraine who were living there and i have to mention it is quite cold at the moment in dnipro and people are

tired, some have lost their homes so this is a situation on the railway station yesterday and i believe that this sound that i heard 20 minutes ago could be the reason for more people leaving. i could be the reason for more people leaving.— could be the reason for more people leaving. i expect more eo - le people leaving. i expect more peeple to _ people leaving. i expect more people to leave. _ people leaving. i expect more people to leave. just - people leaving. i expect more people to leave. just talking l people to leave. just talking about those who will stay, people who will choose to stay behind. are there supplies? is there power, food? do we know how much longer it will last? the only entrances and exits to dnipro are in control of the ukrainian forces so there is no problem with supply here at the moment. but it's not a situation like in kharkiv or maria pohl where the city is under siege for more than a week so far and in a very dire states so at the moment, quite a controllable situation —— mariupol. weekly, are you going

to stay yourself or will you be leaving? no, iam planning to stay, of course, and even to visit other areas like kharkiv again. this is my work. it's very important.— again. this is my work. it's very important. please stay safe and — very important. please stay safe and thank— very important. please stay safe and thank you - very important. please stay safe and thank you for - very important. please stay l safe and thank you for finding the time to speak to us. we really is —— appreciated. kateryna malofieieva. you are watching bbc news. the latest headlines: russian troops have regrouped around ukraine's capital kyiv. russia has also expanded its offensive to more cities, elsewhere in the country. the central—eastern city of dnipro has been targetted —— targeted for the first time. a russian air strike killed at least one person and damaged several civilian areas. i've been speaking to our reporter mark lobel for the very latest as a new set of satellite images of the russian military appearing to edge closer to the capital have just been released. another set, so 2a hours since you and i were discussing the last set, and again,

they're showing russian military forces deploying closer to kyiv in what appear to be firing artillery onto residential areas. if we have a look at them, to start with, these are, according to the us firm maxar technologies, homes and buildings on fire as part of this set, and in the town of moshchun, 25 kilometres — just 25 kilometres from the capital, kyiv. if we show you the next set, there are fires at the nearby antonov airport. this is a large airport used for cargo, and again, kind of close—ish to the capital. and then, i will show you one more satellite photo, 0k? this is from berestyanka and it shows what appears to be a line of rocket launchers trained in the direction of kyiv, around 50km away. well, we've just had the latest telegram video posted by president zelensky, where he kind of gives his

nightly address to the nation on social media, it was published about two hours ago. we'll just show you that. in that, he was saying 7,144 people have been saved from four cities — so, evacuated. that's a much lower rate than the past two days of people getting out — and none of those in that besieged southern city of mariupol where, as he puts it, "the enemy continues to torture our people." but he began that address by focusing on what he called "a crime against democracy" which he wanted to go through in detail, and he thinks this will resonate widely with an international audience. it's the alleged abduction of the mayor of melitopol, ivan fedorov. now, if we show you this video — this has been widely shared on social media — it claims to show ivan fedorov being dragged from a building in the city. now, this city is 200 kilometres west of mariupol and it's been occupied for days by russian forces — they have taken over the tv networks — and the mayor had just refused to play ball, so they'd moved him somewhere else, his operations somewhere else, and, apparently,

they're now — instead of getting this grand welcome from the residents there, have had to abduct the mayor allegedly, and zelensky said "these are russian invaders�* actions" and this kind of action he thinks now equates them to the actions of isis — the so—called islamic state group. yes, very strong words and extraordinary events if those allegations are true. let's move on now to nuclear power plants — there's been worries about them, obviously, since the beginning of this. what more do you know now? yes, just to remind everybody — about a week ago, there was that firefight near zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — if we can show you those pictures — that was the shelling there. that's in south—east ukraine. well, the head of ukraine's state nuclear company talks of an audacious takeover bid from russian officials. they tried to enter the control room at this nuclear power plant — the largest in europe — to take full control. the russian forces said it now belonged to russia's

state nuclear company — the head of ukraine's state nuclear company. he said ten officials barged in with two senior engineers. they were unsuccessful in taking control of those operations, but it's in an area with 500 russian soldiers with automatic weapons, so it's very threatening, he says, for all the staff running that. and separately, he said, chernobyl — of course, its disused, but there's spent nuclear fuel in that nuclear plant — he said that they are still trying to repair the powerlines, they're still disconnected from the monitoring systems — the international atomic energy agency — but he thinks that some progress is being made in repairing that external power because, of course, the big news there was that it had been cut off from external power. at the moment, eight of country's 15 reactors are still working. mark lobel there.

the russians have captured the city of. one area where the russian advance on the ground has made progress is in the south of ukraine. they have captured the city of kherson and are pushing west, towards the key port of odessa on the black sea. but the city of mykolaiv stands in their way and while ukraine's forces are holding fast, it too has suffered extensive damage. from there, andrew harding sent this. a snowstorm enfolds us as we head for the frontlines, towards a ukrainian city that is blocking the russian advance. civilians gather on the outskirts of mykolaiv, fleeing the madness. are you worried about the bombs and the artillery? yes, yes. it's also very loud, especially at night. explosions. loud and deadly. the russians are trying to blast a path through this city in order to seize the whole black sea coast but mykolaiv is proving obstinate. air raid siren wails. 0k, wejust heard some artillery in the distance and then an air raid siren, so we are going to suit up.

you, too, joe. in a cellar, volunteers follow the example set by millions of ukrainians nationwide, forming a diy army. it's plates for body arms what we made from our factory. it's really heavy but it's good. that defiance is echoed by the local governor, who tells us the russians are actually in retreat here, for now. we pulled the enemy back from the borders of our city, from about 15—20 kilometres in the southern and western part. for now, they are almost surrounded. we are attacking them. so, from your perspective, you are winning this war? you know, we are winning this fight, but not this war. not winning the war. at the local morgue, it's a struggle to keep up with the bodies — soldiers and civilians alike out in the cold.

some survivors here are still too frail to be moved to safer ground. 250 casualties in under a fortnight. what would you say to the world? to the world? what is your message? close our sky, close our sky. we cannot work under the bombs, under the rockets. it's dangerous. you want a no—fly zone enforced by the west? yes, yes, of course. in the meantime, the russians stick to theirfamiliar routine — shock and horror, almost no weapons too gruesome, no target off limits. the fear in civilian neighbourhoods like this one is that this is just the start, that because russian ground troops are being blocked from sweeping through this city, they will now do what they have done in so many other parts of ukraine and simply intensify their aerial bombardments. and then what? this woman survived, but her city's fate remains unclear.

andrew harding, bbc news, mykolaiv. in recent days, russia has repeatedly been accused of planning so—called �*false flag' operations in its war against ukraine. they're called false flag because it would involve a deception — mounting some kind of hostile act whilst trying to pin the blame on someone else. the united states says it believes russia could do something involving chemical weapons in ukraine. there's also fear false flag operations could be used as a pretext to bring russia's ally, belarus, into the war. here's lyse doucet in kyiv. a lot of talk about belarus in the last few hours. a lot of warnings about belarus. ukraine has sent a flash a few hours ago saying they believe russia was going to state what they called a false flag operation, that they would attack belarus, blame it on the ukrainians, and then move across the belarusian border with belarusian armed forces. even before this invasion began, it was announced that

belarus could become involved in this war on the side of russia if necessary. but president lukashenko has said recently that wouldn't happen, but that threat still hangs in the air as russia seems to be running into problems, needing evermore forces, even though 150,000 of its troops are now said to be on the ground across ukraine. the united nations says more than 2.5 million people have fled ukraine since russia invaded. most of them have entered ukraine's nearest european neighbours, and volunteers are helping to support refugees across eastern europe. the eu says ukrainians will be allowed to work in member states without a visa for three years. here in the uk, the prime minister says plans to allow some refugees to live with host families in the uk will be revealed next week. for ukrainian people waiting to get here, the announcement can't come soon enough. here's our special correspondent, lucy manning.

millions are on the move — out of ukraine, inside ukraine. all have lost their homes and are looking for a new one. into the third week of this invasion, and finally british families will get the chance to help. the children of the dnipro orphanage have each other, but little else. everyone caring for someone. fleeing from the fighting just in time. probably still a couple of hours away from the polish—ukrainian border. heading to meet them in lviv, a scotsman — part of a group of hibernian football fans who've been supporting this orphanage for years. steve and his charity have arranged homes and care for the children in scotland, but they still can't get them to the uk. the only thing that needs to happen for us to be able to bring the kids back, is for the uk government to say that it's ok to bring them in. we've got the support network in place, we've got

the funding in place. the children know us and trust us. and that's it, that's all we are asking — just let us in. what's your message to the government on setting up the sponsorship scheme? get it done quickly and make it easy. the longer it takes, the more pain and suffering you are putting those kids through. we've got them away from the initial worry of being stuck in dnipro, but they are still in limbo. the government will eventually announce next week plans to allow british families to open up their homes to ukrainians, and for companies and communities to sponsor refugees. but millions in poland, hungary, moldova, have already been doing this while british people have only been able to donate. the bus with the children finally crossed into poland last night. most of these children don't have passports, so they and others will still face visa bureaucracy. it's not clear how long they will have to wait to restart their lives —

to be children again. for those who have watched the dislocation from the comfort of their homes and want to bring refugees into them, vetting will be required, which could also take time. but as many ukrainians can come to the uk as there are people and organisations willing to houses and support them. the country is set to show its generosity. lucy manning, bbc news. let's show you the scene in kyiv right now. air raid sirens have sounded in kyiv in the past couple of hours and there are reports that heavy shelling has been heard. earlier, satellite images showed russian forces firing artillery towards residential areas on the outskirts of the city.

that's it from me. this is bbc news. this weekend, it's going to be a mixed bag. there's certainly some sunshine on the way, but many of us will need our umbrellas as well. now, right now, a weather front is crossing the british isles, extensive cloud out there. it's rain—bearing cloud. this is how it's going to stay for the next few hours or so. it's very mild out there as well. by early on saturday morning, temperatures will be around 7 or 8 degrees celsius. it might be a little bit colder across parts of northern ireland in rural spots, maybe down to around 2 or so if the skies clear and the winds drop out. so, the forecast for the morning shows a lot of cloud and some rain across scotland, parts of northern england, brighter across the rest of england and wales, and in fact, some decent sunny spells here through the middle of the afternoon.

and i think the best of the weather will be the further east you are, but notice this sort of curl of rain here, this is a low pressure that's swinging into the south—west of the uk — not only rain, but also some very strong winds. we're talking of gusts of 50, 60, maybe even 70mph, so really quite stormy around some of the coasts for a time, but we are only talking about the tip of cornwall, perhaps devon, maybe southern parts of wales — so not widespread gales, but very, very windy indeed, so take it steady if you are across this part of the world through saturday and saturday night. elsewhere, it won't be quite so windy. now, let's have a look at sunday's weather map. low pressure just off the coast of scotland there, but pretty much dominating the weather across the uk. so this is early sunday. you can see a weather front curling into this area of low pressure, outbreaks of rain, sunny spells and a mixture of showers in the afternoon. it's going to be that changeable day and very gusty winds right across the country, we're talking 30, 40, maybe even 50mph around some exposed coasts. so on saturday, the winds will be strong here. on sunday, it will be blustery

right across the uk. temperatures on sunday typically between 10 and 12 degrees celsius. not as mild as it's been, but, you know, mild enough. monday, a much better day. the winds will be lighter, there will be more sunshine around, still some showers across northern parts of the country, but in the south, it really is an improving picture. and that's how it's going to be over the next few days into next week. in fact, in the south of the country, temperatures could even peak at around about 17 or 18 degrees. so a mixed weekend and then better the week ahead. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: russian forces are widening their attacks on areas across ukraine with more intense fighting reported in the countryside. russian troops are also beginning to regroup around the capital kyiv. moscow says it has now hit military airfields in the western cities of lutsk and ivano—frankivsk. the central eastern city of dnipro has been targetted for the first time. a russian air strike killed at least one person and damaged several civilian areas. fire and smoke could be seen rising from the city centre. authorities say apartment blocks and factories were hit. the united states has accused russia of violating nuclear safety principles, saying it was concerned by the continuing attacks on ukrainian nuclear facilities. kyiv says that technicians have started repairing damaged power lines at the chornobyl nuclear power plant that were cut earlier in the week.

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