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 re—grouping, 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 noone 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.

the russian defence minister has said that 16,000 fighters from the middle east have volunteered to fight with the russian army in ukraine. if they do take up weapons there, it won't be the first time russia has actively engaged in recruiting what many people consider mercenaries. hanan razek has the story. syrian fighters that reportedly want to go and fight in ukraine alongside the russian troops. and a warm welcome from the kremlin that says it has received more than 16,000 applications from middle eastern fighters. but the bbc has learned that russian mercenary fighters are already in ukraine. first seen supporting separatists in ukraine in 2014, the russian wagner group has been infamous for operating mercenaries in other countries, including syria and libya. 0ne wagner fighter told us about his involvement in the current invasion.

his words have been voiced by an actor. there have been reports that there are around 400 wagner fighters in ukraine. a sign of desperation. it allows the russian government to keep the death toll down because they are not going to report the deaths of mercenaries within ukraine, nor are they going to report the deaths of syrians who may have gone over to volunteer to essentially serve as foreign fighters on behalf of vladimir putin. we understand from mercenary sources the recruitment was first carried out weeks before the invasion by russian military intelligence.

we have been told they are being trained near this military base in southern russia. we have asked the russian ministry of defence about this and they have not responded yet. we have learnt that recruitment is taking place on a private telegram group used by mercenaries. there have been invitations to what's called a picnic to taste pork fat, a popular dish in ukraine. the message appeals to those with mortgages, debts, or those who have been banned from mercenary groups to apply. the brand has changed. 0k? if you really think about it, for the last five or six years now we have been hearing more and more about the wagner group's human rights abuses in places like syria, libya, central african republic. moscow has always denied always denied any ties with mercenary groups but the worry is that the involvement of mercenaries

might deteriorate the humanitarian situation even further. hanan razek, bbc news. now on bbc news, it's time for our world. since russia's invasion of ukraine, more than two million refugees have fled the country. it's the largest movement of people in europe since the second world war. can you believe this? can you? hundreds of thousands of them have flowed through lviv station.

the story of this station is the story of ukraine's people — and the war that's consuming them. this is platform 5. jenia is saying goodbye to his family —

his wife, 0ksana, 12—year—old son ilya and nine—year—old anna. they are on their way to poland, but men of fighting age are not allowed to board the train. platform 5 is the part of this station which thousands are desperate to reach. but it's a place of pain and sorrow.

this is the life they left behind in kharkiv. phone rings

it's notjust ukrainians who are trying to escape. doha is a student who wants to get home to morocco. we've been waiting for two days now. we are coming from kharkiv and, in kharkiv, there are shelters. we left everything. whimpering she took this footage as the shelling came closer, just a few days earlier. she's travelled for hours on packed trains to get to lviv. so i'm just looking here at the people. people are crowded. people don't even ask about us. they were just walking on us.

we were nigerians, moroccans, arabs, egyptians. from tunis, from everywhere. it's like the whole world is on that train with you. yes, i, i cried so much and ijust want to go home. really. i'm not safe any more here, i left everything, i left my studies. just pray with us, guys. but in the invasion�*s first days, not everyone gets on a train. platform 5 is often packed. there are thousands of people along this platform. can any train possibly take the number of people who are here? it seems very very doubtful. there's an air of desperation. it's quiet desperation, but no less real for that.

scuffles. yelling. rina and herfamily are trying to get to platform 5. she's so worried about being separated from her children, myrion and eliazaria,

that she's writing her phone number on their arms. i had work in ukraine. i had a life in ukraine and it's my country and i want to come back and come back quickly. i want to come back tomorrow but it's not safe now for my kids. just two weeks ago, this was rina. music.

a well—known ukrainian pop star, now her life has been upended. i have big concerts and some people of ukraine very liked my music and it's very good. so i start in this way and now it's finished. she sings in ukrainian. bravo!

lviv is a city in the west of ukraine, just a0 miles from the polish border. since the war began, its station has acted as a giant heart, pumping people in and out. the people who keep that heart beating are the train drivers. boris has been one for more than 25 years. he's getting ready for a night shift.

this is where the drivers rest. some are now unable to return to their home cities because of the fighting. tonight boris will be driving back to the capital, kyiv, nowjust 20 miles from the front line. around 200,000 people

are on the move through ukraine by train every day. travel is now free — no one needs a ticket. tonight boris�* train is returning to kyiv laden not with passengers, but with supplies for the people left there. he will be taking a new route, as a bridge has been destroyed in the fighting. what does it mean to you to rescue

tens of thousands of your fellow ukrainians on this train? you are a very modest man, but i think you are very brave.

0utside platform 5, thousands of people are waiting for the next train out of ukraine. two weeks ago, denis was an events manager. today, he oversees 800 volunteers operating in the station. somebody needs to help people. old people. mums with kids. disabled people come out of the train and they

are under deep shock. because their houses was bombed. it's a real situation. mums, kids, disabled people, old people. let's come and see what's going on inside. this is the food station. this is the storage. lots of volunteers work here. and the doctors office. ah, this is my wife, natasha. natasha is a volunteer doctor in the station. bbc. 0h hi there! they have two young children who are looked after by friends while they work. 24 hours, we stayed here. it's very hard.

pain of people, so many childs. they haven't eaten for five or six days and they have a problem with their stomach. we use volunteers on every exit. we have some kind of food place here. there is a mini clinic and place for disabled. all these people are waiting for a train to poland. we have 7—8 trains per day.

they absolutely don't know about the future. they have no plans. they have no jobs. what about the money. lots of them have no money, absolutely. everything is for free, of course. local businesses give us everything we need, food, beds and medicine. everything. denis has just brought 14—year—old uliana and her mother gallina and the family to the mother and baby room. they've travelled for two days

from the city of dnipro. i'm with my little brother, with my mother and grandmother. but my father is in poland now, so we are going to him. for all these families, the mother and baby room is a refuge from the chaos outside. i think it's the most good place that we could be in. i'm so happy, i could relax there, so i'm so happy. my mum is so tired. because she has so many problems, because we don't know where we were or where we will go.

so it is hard for she. in the makeshift hospital, in what used to be a waiting lounge. someone has collapsed in the queue. days travelling on crowded trains are putting more pressure on the most vulnerable. natasha's family is russian. 0n the day russia invaded ukraine, she sent a text to her sister

in moscow to asking why she hadn't been in touch. the next exchange of

messages was the last time the sisters spoke. it's one small example of the damage this war is doing. rina made it to platform 5 with her children and her mother.

rina made it to platform 5 with her children and her mother. she's now in poland, on her way to germany. doha finally reached morocco. jenia is with friends further east in of ukraine. his wife and children are hoping to reach their aunt in london.

and boris is still making the journey to and from kyiv. and, on platform 5, the arrivals and departures go on. the relentless separation of families by the war.

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 14 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, 14 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. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. 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. ukraine says it was unable to evacuate citizens again, on saturday. still no diplomatic breakthrough — talks are described as difficult with claims president putin is showing no willingness to end the war.