welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: barricades on the outskirts of kyiv, where they're preparing for an assault, possibly within days. president zelensky was asked about it today and he said if the russians, if president putin is determined to take kyiv, he will have to raze the city to the ground. we hear from the young ukrainian recruits at the checkpoints they'll be defending. satellite imagery shows some of the damage in the city of mariupol, with claims russian troops are stopping people from leaving. and making music amidst the madness: we talk to some of the violinists trying to raise money for the people of ukraine.

hello and welcome to the programme. first, more fighting has been taking place outside the ukrainian capital kyiv, where russian forces are around 15 miles — or 2a kilometres — 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 says the eastern outskirts of the besieged city of mariupol have been captured by russian troops. the city has endured days of shelling. president zelensky says

ukrainian and russian negotiating teams have started discussing what he called "concrete topics, rather than exchanging ultimatums". ourfirst report 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, but 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 dmytro, 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, dmytro 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 knowledges in tactics.

do you think the battle is coming for kyiv? yes, it is definitely possible. but we just have to stop them here in brovary because if they get to kyiv, this war probably 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, "0h, maksym..." "nice 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, death 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 dmytro. jeremy bowen, bbc news, kyiv. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is also in kyiv and gave us a sense of the mood in the ukrainian capital. it's bitterly cold and it has been a night of more constant and louder explosions.

when the curfew came into force at eight o'clock local time — that's 1800 hours gmt — usually every night, there is some explosions when night falls. we see both explosions — here explosions in the distance. we sometimes see the surface to air missiles streaking across the skies by the ukrainian forces. tonight, it was far noisier. much louder, more constant — like rolling thunder, for a very long time. that confirms what we know — is that fighting is intensifying on the outskirts of the city, in some places as close as 12 miles and to the east, it's about eight miles. we understand that in irpin, which used to be a charming suburb on the outskirts of kyiv, it's now flattened and blackened by days and days of russian artillery fire and shelling. that's the place where our viewers may remember the heart—wrenching images of the residents of irpin

crossing that rickety bridge made of planks and pipes — the ukrainians had destroyed the main bridge to stop the russians from advancing. but there is now fierce fighting for control of a town which is the gateway to this capital. no—one is in any doubt that kyiv is in moscow's sights. perhaps people hoped against hope that diplomacy that you heard about might make some progress to cause the russians to pull back, but they've been inching forward since the start of the invasion and they're getting ever closer. they are not in the centre of the capital, it will still take a long time, but it is clear that that is their intent so you feel the mood here is more ominous, greater foreboding, but you also hear the defiance that the ukrainians will fight. president zelensky was asked about it today and he said if the russians, if president putin is determined to take kyiv, he will have to raze the city to the ground. lyse doucet.

a senior ukrainian minister says around 13,000 people were evacuated from a number of ukrainian cities on saturday — almost twice the number who were able to get out on the day before — but she said no—one had managed to leave the besieged port of mariupol and blamed obstruction by russian forces. 0ur reporter leana hosea is here. let's first remind ourselves where mariupol is, on the south, crucial strategic port city. what updates do you have? as you said it is strategically important because if russia takes control of it it would be able to consolidate its territory from the pro—russian enclaves to the east, down towards crimea, so there is intense shelling there now. looking at the latest satellite images of mariupol, where, which were taken on saturday by the private us satellite firm maxar. this shows fires burning in the industrial district of

western mariupol and neighbourhoods badly damaged, as you can see there, like smoke and fire but nine months ago, lastjune, the satellite took images over mariupol and you can see here what was once a neighbourhood, there is clearly a football pitch which may have been a matter of weeks ago would have been the scene of fun and games but now, obscured with smoke and rubble. and here, we can see high—rise apartment blocks set amongst the trees, just across the street. now, it is a blackened, smoking wasteland. and coming up smoking wasteland. and coming up here, yeah... it’s smoking wasteland. and coming up here, yeah...— up here, yeah... it's an extraordinary _ up here, yeah... it's an extraordinary contrast i up here, yeah... it's an - extraordinary contrast between the images. extraordinary contrast between the images-_ the images. absolutely, and here is a _ the images. absolutely, and here is a hospital _ the images. absolutely, and here is a hospital and - the images. absolutely, and here is a hospital and look i the images. absolutely, and| here is a hospital and look at it. look at it now. clearly, very damaged. ukrainian authorities have said the russian military has captured the city's eastern outskirts but as an mp from president zelensky�*s party says, russia still has not got control over

the city. today we have received information, saying that our troops — information, saying that our troops have managed to repel russian — troops have managed to repel russian attacks. and russian troops — russian attacks. and russian troops are not yet occupied mariupol, it continues to struggle but the price might be very high in terms of civilian lives — very high in terms of civilian lives because russia is three and — lives because russia is three and targeting deliberately civilian objects and civilian populations. ——is shelling. 0scillators we know about the humanitarian situation? bid humanitarian situation? aid a . encies humanitarian situation? aid agencies are _ humanitarian situation? c agencies are calling it desperate and apocalyptic. == desperate and apocalyptic. -- what else _ desperate and apocalyptic. —— what else do we know. desperate and apocalyptic. -- what else do we know. the i desperate and apocalyptic. -- | what else do we know. the city has been _ what else do we know. the city has been under _ what else do we know. the city has been under siege - what else do we know. the city has been under siege for- what else do we know. the city has been under siege for over. what else do we know. the city| has been under siege for over a week and people are without water, there are reports of people trying to eat the snow and trying to get water from the river. they are running out of food and there are reports of food and there are reports of looting on the street. it's ups or the freezing but there is no heating so, and there's bodies just on the street, that's what aid agencies are

saying, left over from the bombs and people are also dying because they have not got access to their medicine so they may be dying from existing health conditions. so, both sides blaming each otherfor preventing aid coming in or refugees leaving but what is clear is that the fighting is too intense and civilians are in a desperate situation. absolutely dreadful details there. thank you. let's get some of the day's other news. in iraq, the state news agency says the city of erbil has been hit by several missiles. video on social media shows several large explosions in the vicinity of the american consulate. no casualties were reported. erbil is the capital of the autonomous kurdish region in northern iraq. the saudi authorities have executed 81 men — the largest number of executions carried out there in a single day. the saudis say the men were guilty of serious crimes, including murder and rape, but activists estimate half of them belonged to the marginalised shia minority.

a soviet—era scouting drone has crashed near the croatian capital, zagreb. authorities there say it's not clear who launched the military drone, which apparently flew from ukraine across hungary, without being intercepted by nato. investigators will examine the black box of the drone, which narrowly missed a student dormitory when it crashed. 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. french and german officials said it is difficult, vladimir putin is not open to realistic conditions for a ceasefire, and the kremlin says they used the opportunity to complain about alleged human rights abuses by ukrainians on russian soldiers, so you could say, well, you know, what is the point of these conversations? what else went on in those 75 minutes? i mean, emmanuel macron has held about ten of these calls already since russia invaded ukraine.

he's been criticised by some at home and abroad as being naive or arrogant or being played by moscow, and i actually put that to him a couple of days ago and he said, you know, these calls are not a whim of his — they are coordinated with all of the western allies. so, i mean, he and france, like 0laf scholz in germany, they are imposing sanctions on russia, they are supporting the military in ukraine but, they say, in case vladimir putin looks for that off ramp, if he is ready for a ceasefire, when he is available to talk, negotiate realistically, then it is important to keep these lines of communication open and ready and so, emmanuel macron has said you know, these calls to the kremlin, they will continue. katya adler with the european perspective. this is bbc news. a reminder of the headlines: fighting is intensifying near the ukrainian capital of kyiv, where they're preparing for an assault, possibly within days.

satellite imagery shows some of the damage in the city of mariupol. the ukrainian government says it was unable to evacuate citizens again on saturday. president zelensky says about 1,300 ukrainian troops have been killed since the start of russia's invasion. he told journalists in kyiv that far larger numbers of russian soldiers had died, perhaps ten times as many, but those figures can't be verified. as russian forces continued to shell kyiv, mr zelensky said they'd have to destroy the capital and its population to occupy it. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner has this assessment of russia's military strategy. it looks like, and it feels like, the beginning of the endgame — although who knows how long that's going to last? if we look at the map here on day 17, the red areas are where russian forces have taken control. in the south, they continue to make advances. they are pushing to the north—west. in the north is where the real battle is going to be fought.

that's for the capital, kyiv, around here. now, you remember that great big russian armoured column that was stuck for days north of the capital? most of that has redeployed into the forests, to the north—west, moving their artillery and rocket systems within range of the capital, looking to encircle it. if president putin can't take kyiv, then his war has failed. and that appears to be what he is determined to do, is to capture the capital. but it's not going to be an easy battle. and who knows when that assault is actually going to begin? a direct hit on a russian armoured column as it advances on the capital, kyiv. western supplied anti—tank weapons have slowed the russian advance, but they haven't stopped it. in the air, russian warplanes remain wary of ukraine's air defences. but they have the advantage of numbers on their side. the latest pentagon assessment is that the russian air force is flying an average of 200 missions a day, compared tojust ten for the ukrainians. now, some of those russian sorties don't even need to cross into

ukrainian airspace. they can fire their cruise missiles from inside russian territory. this is what they're up against, western supplied missile systems, plus some old soviet—era stock. the ukrainians have shot down a number of russian helicopters and planes. russia has threatened to start targeting the supply of western weaponry. meanwhile, the pentagon has dismissed fears that some of these weapons could end up with criminals and terrorists. "we believe that risk is worth taking," says a us defence official, "because the ukrainians are fighting so skilfully "with the tools at their disposal, "and they're using them so creatively." president putin has made it clear what he intends to do with any anti—aircraft missiles his forces captured from the ukrainians. "i support the possibility," he says, "of giving these to the military units "of the lugansk and donetsk people's republics. "please do this." the kremlin�*s position towards ukraine has barely moved since the day this invasion began, two and a half weeks ago.

"this war can stop when you want it to, "you just need to lay down your arms, surrender, "give in to all our demands and forget about being a part "of western europe." frank gardner, bbc news. john gilbert is a retired colonel and a chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons inspector. 0verfour decades, he's been part of chemical weapons negotiating teams in moscow, geneva and the hague. he's in south carolina. thanks very much for coming on the programme.— thanks very much for coming on the programme._ so, j the programme. thank you. so, first of all— the programme. thank you. so, first of all them, _ the programme. thank you. so, first of all them, how _ the programme. thank you. so, first of all them, how do - the programme. thank you. so, first of all them, how do you - first of all them, how do you assess the threat and the risk of chemical and biological weapons being used by russia? well, one of the things we are seeing is that putin seems to be increasingly frustrated at the fact that ukraine hasn't collapsed quickly, and turned themselves over to him. because

of that, i believe it's very likely he is going to continue to escalate his war against the civilian infrastructure and civilians inside ukraine. part of that may have already started by russian officials claiming, falsely, that ukraine or the united states has been working with chemical or biological weapons. this may be a precursor to an actual russian use of chemicals against civilians in ukraine itself and then blaming it on the ukrainian.— the ukrainian. yeah, that so-called _ the ukrainian. yeah, that so-called false _ the ukrainian. yeah, that so-called false flag - the ukrainian. yeah, that - so-called false flag operation so—called false flag operation that the west has been trying to warn people, kind of pre—empts, innocence, getting in there, what about the russian capabilities if they do decide to do that?— decide to do that? under the international _ decide to do that? under the international chemical - decide to do that? under the i international chemical weapons convention, years ago russia

declared and opened to inspection all of its chemical weapons stocks. they also dismantled all of their chemical weapon production facilities and destroyed the chemicals themselves under international inspection. so right now the inventory of the most lethal chemical weapons russia possessed is probably very close to zero... crosstalk. lots of people would be very surprised to hear that. i lots of people would be very surprised to hear that.- surprised to hear that. i can say with _ surprised to hear that. i can say with some _ surprised to hear that. i can say with some confidence . surprised to hear that. i can i say with some confidence that the stocks of things like nerve agents or blister agents like mustard are probably very, very low and probably not the first thing that russia might choose to attack civilians with. interesting. what about, more widely this date, given there are those supplies, what about the state of the military in

your assessment, the state of the military in yourassessment, more the state of the military in your assessment, more widely? the military has certainly underperformed, but i'm sure putin expected it. there could be a number of reasons for that, but one of the things that, but one of the things that i think people need to consider is that most of the enlisted troops in the russian army are conscript, on one or two year commitments. annually, the conscript call—up happens around may orjune, after school is out. then the conscripts go through a period of training. this past year, most of those who were trained in the 2001 class, went through about 4— five months of training, probably not much more, and since then many of them have been living in tents on the western russian border and in belarus. that's probably not what they signed up for.

and, also, for the one year construct —— conscripts, their term of service is done in about two or three months. how motivated are they going to be, how aggressive are they going to be in the face of that short period of time left while they are watching many of our counterparts die in front of the ukrainian resistance? think part of that is what is frustrating putin, the fact that his troops are not performing well.- that his troops are not performing well. that is an absolutely _ performing well. that is an absolutely fascinating - performing well. that is an i absolutely fascinating insight, both of the troops and the capabilities of the russian military, thank you for coming on and talking to us. john gilbert there, retired colonel. thank you. a group of top international violinists from 29 countries have collaborated on a video performance to raise money for people in ukraine. let's take a listen.

well, that is beautiful, isn't it? earlier, my colleague lukwesa burak spoke to the violinist illia bondarenko in ukraine, who you saw playing at the start of that video performance, and kerenza peacock, who told us how the war inspired her to create the project. 0n the day that putin invaded ukraine, i was going about my normal day as a violinist, i was about to practise scales and then run a few errands, and i thought such a horrific situation. i wondered what my fellow violinists were doing in ukraine, so i randomly befriended some on instagram and ended up talking to a whole

bunch of violinists there, who said they were all practising their scales, but were then going to work out how to arm themselves. i just thought it was a horrific situation and i ended up getting in touch with illia, who was sheltering in his basement, and that is how this whole idea came about. i've got a daughter who practised piano scales, they're not the best of fun, are they, so might as well put them to use. illia, i wonder if i could come to you, what did you think when kerenza reached out to you? i was really impressed, because i didn't expect kerenza would ever see the video on my instagram with my string quartet and would answer me and would ask me if i am safe, my health, and i was really surprised and impressed and grateful for her and she offered me that idea to make that video, that project. it's wonderful. of course, there has been a particular musical video that has gone viral, that was vera lytochenko, who was playing to lift the spirits of those in bomb shelters in ukraine. have either of you reached out

to her or heard from her? no, actually, i think we had already collected our videos for this when that came into the news. so unfortunately i have not reached out to her or got her contact details but i would love her tojoin with us on something. maybe we can arrange it. how much money has been raised so far i don't know if it is kerenza or illia who has a figure for us? well, we have actually been sharing the links to a lot of different charities, but on our youtube video we are donating to the un refugee agency and i think we only put the donate button on the and i think we have a few thousand dollars.

so, yeah, we are encouraging people to give where they can enter the international rescue committee as well. 0bviously, obviously, you are in ukraine, how have you managed to take part in this virtual concert, logistically, was it quite challenging? it logistically, was it quite challenging?— logistically, was it quite challenging? logistically, was it quite challenuuin? ., challenging? it was really hard because directly _ challenging? it was really hard because directly in _ challenging? it was really hard because directly in that - challenging? it was really hard i because directly in that moment i because directly in that moment iwas _ because directly in that moment i was underground, because in those — i was underground, because in those moments there was bombing. and i was only with my grandmother and eye asked her to make — grandmother and eye asked her to make a — grandmother and eye asked her to make a video when i'm playing _ to make a video when i'm playing and itjust to make a video when i'm playing and it just was a few minute, _ playing and it just was a few minute, because when we were living _ minute, because when we were living upstairs, now in kyiv we are trying _ living upstairs, now in kyiv we are trying not to make so much sound. — are trying not to make so much sound, because every sound we are trying — sound, because every sound we are trying to hear the siren or

something like that, and run underground.— underground. that was illia bondarenko. _ underground. that was illia bondarenko. that - underground. that was illia bondarenko. that is - underground. that was illia bondarenko. that is it. i'm| bondarenko. that is it. i'm lewis vaughanjones. this is bbc news. bye—bye. hello there. cloud, wind, and rain moving in from the southwest will dominate over the next few hours. it's an area of low pressure that will gradually sit towards the west of northern ireland, that's where we will see the strongest of the winds and perhaps the heaviest of the rain throughout the day this sunday. elsewhere, there is a weak weather front which will produce some showery rain through central and eastern scotland and eastern england first thing. that will ease away, sunshine comes through and a scattering of showers across england and wales, some of them heavy and thundery. the sharper showers, the most frequent rain likely to be to the northwest, that's where we will see the strongest of the winds as well, 50—60 mph gusts not out of the question. windierfor all of us through sunday, top temperatures though 9—13 celsius. if you dodge the showers and keep a little bit more sunshine, that will feel pleasant enough. now, as we move out of sunday into monday, start a new working week, we are likely to see this weather front here bringing

some outbreaks of rain to begin with, but on the whole, it's an improving picture. much lighter winds on monday, that means with the sunshine coming through, it will feel noticeably warmer out there. so the rain quite light and patchy, and it will drift its way steadily eastwards and fragment further into the afternoon. more cloud for scotland but generally sunny spells, a few isolated showers, lighter winds and highs of 1a degrees on monday. now, with some clearer skies, we could see some patchy mist and maybe some fog forming first thing on tuesday morning. it's going to be a chilly start on tuesday. the fog will lift, we will have sunshine coming through, not a bad day, largely dry with light winds for all of us, and again, pleasant enough, 1a degrees the high. wednesday, the middle part of the week, looks likely to be the day where some of us will see some rain at some point, and some of it quite heavy in actualfact. now, to the south of this weather front, it could turn very mild indeed with more of a southerly flow across eastern and south—east england. so, here, 16 degrees not out of the question, but some of that rain really could be quite heavy, and behind those weather fronts, up into the far northwest, here, it will be noticeably cooler, 8—9 celsius the overall high. so, that's how we are looking through the middle part of the week. let's just summarise that

for you one more time. it looks likely that our week ahead will be largely dry with lighter winds and mild, but looks likely that on wednesday, there will be some rain for all of us at some point. take care.

this is bbc news. the headlines: furtherfighting has been taking place outside the ukrainian capital kyiv, where russian forces are around 25 kilometres from the centre of the city. british military intelligence believes those russian troops have been regrouping, possibly for a fresh offensive that could happen in the coming days. a senior ukrainian minister says around 13,000 people were evacuated from a number of ukrainian cities on saturday — almost twice the number who were able to get out the day before — but no—one managed to leave the besieged port of mariupol, blocked by russian forces. in iraq, the state news agency says the city of erbil has been hit by several missiles. video on social media shows several large explosions in the vicinity of the american consulate. no casualties were reported. erbil is the capital of the autonomous kurdish region in northern iraq. now on bbc news, dateline london.