this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm ben brown. our top stories. russian strikes cause more damage near ukraine's capital kyiv — as forces push into new areas across the country. president volodymyr zelensky remains defiant. 100% i am confident that we will win, there will be a victory, but 100% we don't really know when it happens. ukraine says russian troops have captured the eastern outskirts of the besieged city of mariupol, one of moscow's main targets. a three—way phone call between president macron, the russian leader and the german chancellor is described as �*difficult�*— with the french saying putin did not show any

willingness to end the war poland's parliament has passed emergency legislation that allows ukrainians fleeing the war the right to live and work in poland for eighteen months. furtherfighting has been taking place outside the ukrainian capital, kyiv, where russian forces are around 15 miles from the centre of the city. british military intelligence believes those russian troops have been regrouping, possibly for a fresh offensive in the coming days. a military airfield was destroyed this morning near kyiv. the latest information about russian positions is shown here in red. outside the capital, the cities of chernihiv, sumy, and kharkiv continue to be shelled.

while the ukrainian military say the eastern outskirts of the beseiged city of mariupol have been captured by russian troops. the city has endured days of shelling. president zelensky has said russian and ukrainian negotiating teams have started discussing what he called �*concrete topics rather than exchanging ultimatums�*. meanwhile, the french president emmanuel macron and germany's olaf scholz have held talks with president putin. we'll have more on that shortly but our first report tonight is from jeremy bowen, on the outskirts of kyiv. pictures of russian forces, time and place indeterminate, emerge from their side. among their potential targets here in kyiv, no—one knows their precise orders, but they're assuming an attack is coming. on the ukrainian side, they're trying to make checkpoints into real obstacles. the professionals are a few miles

closer to the russians. the soldiers here are all volunteers. they are still expected to fight, even with only a few days training. just over a week ago i met two university friends, maksym, aged 19, and demytro, 18, as they signed up in kyiv. what are you studying? i am studying economy. and i am studying biology. most of the recruits that day were about the same age, making jokes to hide their nerves. when they lined up outside, they looked as if they were off to a festival — except for the guns. now, demytro and maksym have been given uniforms, three days training and they are facing the russians. get used to my gun, i learned how to shoot and act in the battle.

also many other things that will be very crucial during the fight with some russians. i feel much more confident than i was before. because we get enough knowledge in tactics. do you think the battle is coming to kiev? yes, it is definitely possible. but we just have to stop them here in brovary, because if they get to kyiv then this war might be over. what do your parents think about what you're doing? "mum, i'm on the war, i am fighting with a gun in my hands." and she said, "oh, maksym..." she thinks it's a joke. "don'tjoke with your mother, it's war.

just sit in the shelter and do your work, volunteer or do something else." do you feel scared? not much. but it is human nature to feel scared. and of course, deeply in my soul, ifeel a bit scared. because no—one wants to die, even if it's for your country. so, that is not an option for us. for now, they are on the checkpoint. if the russians come, they will be firing out of a trench in the war�*s key battle. war always has a political, as well as a military dimension. while president zelensky and his government are here in kyiv, no one can say that they have been defeated, even if they are losing territory elsewhere. at the same time, president putin cannot claim victory in this war if his men can't take this city. everyone here is waiting. soldiers, civilians in and out

of uniform, and maksym and demytro. jeremy bowen, bbc news, kyiv. my colleague yalda hakim is in liviv in the last 2a hours things have intensified in the west. if you look at a map of the country you can see russian presence and bombardment in the north and east and south and we can talk more about the besieged city of mariupol but in the last 48 hours takeovers we have seen more air strikes in the west of the country, just north—west of year. a military airbase was struck there and ukrainian soldiers were killed we understand and we have not heard about any civilian casualties but that makes people here in lviv nervous because up until now this part of the country has remained untouched, no russian bombing or shelling,

no fighting although people are desperately trying to protect monuments, ancient monuments, greek gods that exist, this is a world unesco heritage site so people are concerned, in world war ii it remained untouched they are worried about russian bombardment and scenes we are seeing around the country and in kyiv it will happen to lviv so this is a city on edge but they are continuing to host thousands of people who have been arriving from places like mariupol where we are hearing devastating stories, i was reading a report from the international community of the red cross and one of their workers says there is no electricity, water and gas meaning no heating. last night it was —15 and children and incredibly scared, staying in an underground bunker,

they have managed to bring people from the city into the bunker and keeping children there and they are saying many parents are reporting they are running out of food for their children. the situation is desperate, bodies lying in the streets, thousands of bodies we are hearing and nowhere to bury them, hearing about mass graves so a very desperate situation and reports in the last hour that the eastern outskirts of the city have been taken over by russian forces and many people say once mariupol falls it is a doom situation because it could cut of this country from the sea, this is in many ways a country that a lot of trade takes place from the southern ports in odesa and mariupol so there is concerns makes the country landlocked effort is cut.

the country landlocked if it is cutoff. thousands of refugees coming in as they flee the fighting, the exodus growing, 2 million people have fled the fighting. that is right and half of those are children. i was standing at the train station the other day and seeing the people flowing out from many places over the country making their way to the west whether by road or train and from that train station i was meeting young mothers with children who were petrified, the men in their lives are left behind, husbands and fathers and mothers were telling me their children are so afraid and the horrors they have managed to witness in this conflict, one mother told me i do not know if i can raise the trauma my

erase the trauma my children have witnessed, the night and day bombing and shelling, she said they were staying in their basement before the but able to get out of this city so tens of thousands of people arriving but this is a city of less than i million people and the mayor said we are completely overwhelmed and stretched, we do not have enough supplies and we have used everything we had whether it is gymnasium or art gallery and hotels and people have came from the country staying here waiting and wondering when and if they can go home, families torn apart. those who make it over to poland wondering when they can be reunited with their family behind. live now to lyse doucet in kyiv. what is the feeling there tonight? what is the latest on the russian military advance and what is your

feeling about the russian tactics. we have been hearing in the last hour a curfew but starts at 6pm and every night about this time we hear the kind of explosions you have just heard. tonight the explosions are like rolling thunder, not in the centre of the city. we had from the british ministry of defence should believe the bulk of russian forces on the approach to the capital is 15 miles from the city centre but we know that as a smaller convoy to the east of the city attacked by ukrainian forces who are using everything they have, small infantry units are ambition, anti—tank missiles and drones and effectively keeping the russians at bay but this seems to be no doubt that moscow has

this capital city in its sights and they seem to inch ever closer whilst being held back notjust by the ukrainian defences but also problems of their own making, logistical ethical teas, coordination problems, a range of problems which are frustrating the russian ambition to try to move closer to the heart of this capital. try to move closer to the heart of this capital-— try to move closer to the heart of this caital. ., , ., this capital. one wonders what the russian intentions _ this capital. one wonders what the russian intentions towards - this capital. one wonders what the russian intentions towards kyiv . this capital. one wonders what the | russian intentions towards kyiv are. roll the lay waste to the city in the way they have two a city like mariupol, and means to such a historic and cultural city with enormous importance to the russian people. you wonder will they try to destroy it and the way they have done other ukrainian cities. you ask the question — done other ukrainian cities. you ask the question that _ done other ukrainian cities. you ask the question that is _ done other ukrainian cities. you ask the question that is asked _ done other ukrainian cities. you ask the question that is asked by - done other ukrainian cities. you ask the question that is asked by everyl the question that is asked by every person in this city, every ukrainian

and people abroad, will he really try to take this capital knowing how much history there is that is a sexy to both ukrainians and russians, centuries of history. this is a heavily fortified city and putin will have seen in cities and towns across this country it is notjust the ukrainian military which is fighting back it is also the civilians including thousands who have signed up to fight our part of conscription. today resident zelensky held a press conference to show he is not hiding that it is business as usual, he is in his office. he said if putin was determined to take the city he would have to raise it to the ground. that is why you see the diplomacy intensifying but he had those phone calls with the german chancellor and french president and we had official saying that putin is not willing to

stop his advance and if what is happening elsewhere and other cities where there are ethnic russians and a lot of sympathy for russia, neighbourhoods are being raised to the ground, cities to the south as well and meeting the same fate. well this city be spared? it is such a big question butjudging from what i am healing there will be a chance they will press on towards this capital. they will press on towards this ca - ital. . ~ they will press on towards this caital. . ~' ,, president putin has held talks with the leaders of france and germany about the situation in ukraine. let's get more from our europe editor, katya adler.(os) was there any progress? i asked emanuel macron _ was there any progress? i asked emanuel macron what _ was there any progress? i asked emanuel macron what was - was there any progress? i asked emanuel macron what was the i was there any progress? i asked i emanuel macron what was the point was there any progress? i asked - emanuel macron what was the point of the phone calls as the violence rages and the fact there are still

open communication is good, not progress but a good thing to keep it going. 75 minutes of talks between the german chancellor and putin and himself. both the french and german to say he was not open to a ceasefire under realistic conditions and the kremlin said he took the opportunity to complain about alleged violation against humanity of the ukrainian against russian soldiers and macron�*s office released pictures of him with his head in his hands so why does he do it. he is criticised by some at home and abroad is being played by moscow, he says these calls are not his idea, they are coordinated with international allies. it is good he says to keep lines of communication open. at the moment to keep pressure on russia with huge sanctions isolating it diplomatically, helping the ukrainian military about providing putin with an off ramp for

when he is open to a ceasefire and realistic negotiations that there is this possibility through these calls and that is why he said for now he wants to keep going. d0 and that is why he said for now he wants to keep going.— wants to keep going. do we think there may be _ wants to keep going. do we think there may be more _ wants to keep going. do we think there may be more conversations wants to keep going. do we think - there may be more conversations with macron and putin?— there may be more conversations with macron and putin? absolutely. macron held his last conversation _ held his last conversation with putin 48 and was ago and if you think it is held in coordination with international allies it makes sense from the us perspective, do not necessarily whatjoe biden era to regulate with putin, one of the big fears about this bloody attack in ukraine as it could spread and end up seeing nato and russia nuclear powers, us and russia face—to—face so this way it is the europeans, emanuel macron has had a long—term relationship and dialogue with vladimir putin since he became

president in 2017, one of his first meetings was to invite him to paris so the russians are running to talk to him and the international community thinks keep the lines open just in case when putin is ready to end the bloodshed and start talking realistically. poland's parliament has passed emergency legislation that allows ukrainians fleeing the war the right to live and work in poland for eighteen months. the refugees will receive the right to access free health care and education, as well as social benefits. once registered, the refugees will be allowed to extend their legal status for up to three years. it's thought about a million refugees currently remain in poland, most of them women and children. the bill also provides payments to poles who host ukrainian refugees for up to two months. our correspondent adam easton is in warsaw — and told me more about the reaction

to the situation from polish people. the word i would choose is overwhelming sympathy from neighbours who are suffering and dying in this atrocious war. we have seen an extraordinary response from polish society in particular, thousands of poles have opened their homes to take in ukrainians largely women and children and putting them up in their own homes. this is not the majority of people because the majority of the estimated 1 million refugees who are thought to be in poland now, 1.6 million have actually crossed the border from ukraine into poland but it is believed a proportion have now left poland to other countries.

most of them because poland is home to a very large ukrainian community have gone to stay with family or friends but also thousands especially in the initial wave of this refugee crisis but that is changing that picture now, the warsaw mayor said about 95% at the beginning but now 70% people going to family and friends and 30% have nowhere to stay so they are reliant on polish people to put them up in private homes are temporary accommodation centres. this rushed legislation by parliamentjust approved is crucial to legalise the enormous wave of people for up to three years they will be able to stay in poland and work here, their spouses will also enjoy the same rights even if they are not ukrainian citizens and their

children will be able to go to polish school. there is already 24,000 ukrainian children attending polish schools and the last couple of weeks and there are significant challenges they are especially with the language barrier but this is something this bill addresses and also the economic needs of the polish people hosting ukrainian families because it allows them to have a daily benefit of around $9 per person they hostjust to ease the economic pressure on those people hosting in their homes. it is significant, it is the biggest refugee crisis poland has faces one since wwii what to the measures

at the moment are temporary at the big unknown is what will happen if this war continues for months or more because that will put incredible strain on polish society and the mechanisms to house the refugees and basically poland does not have the infrastructure to accommodate this number of people for a significantly longer period. thank you. outside of kyiv the latest military intelligence suggests russia is still attempting to cut off and capture the cities of kharkiv, chernihiv, mariupol and sumy. the last of these lies directly on the border with russia. earlier i spoke to the regional governor about conditions in the city. he said russian forces were using brutal tactics...

shell citizens and settlements. on the other hand the control of our towns, they marauder, they rob and do not allow to take bodies of civilians from the street on buddy then. —— bury them. they place the military equipment in the middle of residential areas, they use civilians as a shield, getting them

outside in cold weather. the terror is on the fact the russian invaders get those who try to find shelter and bomb shelters, they get them out, burn the houses and make them watch their houses being burned. the town with a rich history of cossack history with a population of more than 40,000 was wiped out, they destroyed the ruins, the heating plant, there is no water supply or heating, the windows are broken and the residential blocks of flats and this town is disappeared within two weeks of this war.

let me tell you the latest from president zelensky who has said about 1300 ukrainian troops have been killed since the start of the russian invasion. he told journalists that far larger numbers of russian soldiers had died. it looks and feels like the beginning of the endgame. in the south they have taken advances to the north—west and in the north is where your battle will be for for

the q n. the rationale mod, that was stuck for days north of the capital, most of that has redeployed to the forest to the north—west moving their artillery and rocket systems within artillery and rocket systems within a range of the capital looking to encircle it. if putin cannot take kyiv and has failed and that appears to be what he is determined to do to capture the capital but it will not be easy. who knows when that assault will begin. the latest pentagon assessment is that the russian forces flying 200 missions a day. they can fire crews

missing from inside russian territory. they are up against western supplied missile systems and some old soviet—era stock. they have sucked down a number of russian helicopters and planes was to russia has lent to start targeting the supply of western web. the pentagon has dismissed fears that some of these weapons could end up with criminals and terrorists. we believe the risk is ticking says a us defence official... putin has medically what he intends to do with any anti—aircraft missiles has forces capture. i support the possibility of giving these to the military units... the claremont position towards ukraine has barely moved since the invasion began. this

war can stop when you want to, you just need to lay down your arms and said and given to our demands and forget about being a part of western europe. hello. this beautiful image you see behind me is a classic sunshine and showers sky, we saw many images similar to this being sent in by our weather watchers on saturday. puffs of white cloud skittering across bright blue skies occasionally. then those clouds tower high enough to drop some showers. sunday is going to be a very similar looking day unsettled, breezy with showers sweeping across the uk thanks to this area of low pressure. at the moment, though,

the low is pushing through a more organised weather front, so there will be some more persistent rain moving from west to east overnight into the small hours of sunday and then the centre of the low across the republic of ireland, pushing its way northwards through the small hours. very windy for many of our irish sea coasts, thanks to the wind, the cloud and the rain, though we have got a mild nightahead. and then through sunday daytime, perhaps the biggest question is how quickly this weather front will sweep away eastwards. how heavy any rain tied in with it may be. and then behind this front, which i think will make for some quite grey skies, perhaps first thing across some eastern counties on sunday bring some patchy rain. it looks a lot brighter, but this low centre will drag in some areas of showers. at the moment, looks like perhaps wales and the southwest could see some heavier ones. we could see some, though just about anywhere. it will be blustery where we have showers generally quite gusty winds across the uk throughout the day. the showers could bring some hail and thunder. they're going to be quite frequent, i think, close to the low center

across northern ireland and western scotland. highs of 11 or12 degrees for sunday. and then we look on into the week ahead. and in contrast, actually for many of us, it's a relatively drier story throughout the week ahead. high pressure is always going to be trying to build in monday. we've got the remnants of sunday's lowjust sitting across scotland. it will still make for quite a windy story here. also for northern and eastern reaches of northern ireland. chance of some showers for northern ireland early on, but it's scotland that tends to get targeted through monday, perhaps a few for northern england. some brighter intervals, though in between times and some drier weather as well. getting a lot milder, though warm feeling if you like 13 or 14 degrees across england and wales with sunshine on monday and then much of the uk, the week ahead is going to bring plenty of dry weather. but wednesday looks like our wettest day, with some pretty heavy rain across a central swathe of the uk.

hello again, you're watching news with me, ben brown. russian strikes cause more damage near ukraine's capital kyiv — as forces push into new areas across the country. president volodymyr zelensky remains defiant. translation: 100% there will be a victory and we -

will win but we 100% do not know when it will happen.