this is bbc news — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. a series of explosions in western ukraine near the city of lviv, with smoke rising outside the city centre . ukraine's capital kyiv continues to be targeted by russian airstrikes. a residential neighbourhood in a nothern district has been shelled. two million people have fled ukraine to poland since the war in ukraine began, with the majority being women and children. that's according to the polish border guard agency are we any closer to a ceasefire? russia's president putin lays out his demands to turkey, including that ukraine neverjoins nato. the kremlin backed news channel rt has its licence to broadcast in the uk revoked —

the watchdog ofcom says it's not a "fit and proper" channel. ukranian refugees wanting to come to the uk can now apply for visas to be sponsored by british families, under the government's homes for ukraine scheme. demonstrations are planned at ports across the uk in outrage at p&0 ferries, which sacked 800 staff to replace them with agency workers. and all remaining covid travel restrictions are lifted for passengers entering the uk. from today, unvaccinated arrivals will no longer have to take tests.

hello, and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. there have been a series of explosions near the city of lviv. the country's most westerly major city has, so far, been seen as a place of sanctuary for many fleeing russian attacks further east. earlier today, a large plume of smoke was seen in the area of the international airport. that's around six kilometres from the city centre. this is andriy sadovy. he's the mayor of lviv and says a nearby aircraft repair facility was hit, rather than the airport itself. so far, no casualties have been reported. these latest attacks come as russian president, vladimir putin lays out his demands in exchange for what he describes as a �*peace deal�* with ukraine. he'll be holding a phone call with the french president later. meanwhile, kremlin—backed broadcaster, rt has had its license to broadcast in the uk revoked.and the last hour, poland's interior ministry has

announced that more than 2 million people have crossed into the country from ukraine since the war began. we have some breaking news, a un refugee agency official has said that the we have some breaking news, a un refugee agency official has said that the humanitarian we have some breaking news, a un refugee agency official has said that the humanitarian needs we have some breaking news, a un refugee agency official has said that the humanitarian needs in ukraine are increasing exponentially. our first report this hour from our correspondent, sean dilley. the people of ukraine have endured over three weeks of brittle bombardment and indiscriminate deaths. these latest images through show the western city of lviv in targeted this morning with smoke. and in the northern suburb of kyiv, more buildings reduced to ruins by russian air strikes. there are no

reported casualties so far. while the aerial offensive is devastating, russian progress on the ground seems to be stalling. according to the latest intelligence from the uk ministry of defence, counter attacks by ukraine soldiers mean russia cannot get supplies to its forward lines. that may be why russia has been prepared to set out its terms for peace, demanding ukraine be a neutral country that would not join nato. it is assumed moscow also want eastern parts of ukraine to be under its control and for crimea to formally become part of russia. these are concessions president zelensky may find hard to make. he is prepared to meet president putin face—to—face but will not say what his terms will be. in his daily address he said it was not time to

reveal tactics for negotiating peace, sovereignty and the integrity of the state. for now, it was better to work in silence. ukraine has had to work in silence. ukraine has had to draw on every possible reserved, untrained teenagers are fighting alongside veterans. this man retired from professional tennis to take up arms for his nation.— arms for his nation. even if i am a will be able _ arms for his nation. even if i am a will be able to _ arms for his nation. even if i am a will be able to shoot _ arms for his nation. even if i am a will be able to shoot someone, i will be able to shoot someone, killing someone is marking your life. i do not believe ukrainians are willingly doing it. we do not have a choice. if we do not stand up, we do not have a country to live in. up, we do not have a country to live in, ., up, we do not have a country to live in. ., ., ., g; :: :: :: :: in. some have had to flee. 30,000 have left mariupol _ in. some have had to flee. 30,000 have left mariupol in _ in. some have had to flee. 30,000 have left mariupol in the _ in. some have had to flee. 30,000 have left mariupol in the south, - have left mariupol in the south, leaving behind a siege started with 90% of damaged and destroyed. and in odesa, the fear they may be next. families are being torn apart. they

prepare for the weeks and months ahead. our correspondentjames reynolds is in lviv bring us up—to—date on the attack in the vicinity of the airport. what do we know about it? what was actually hit? ., ., , ., hit? the authorities here are saying an aircraft repair _ hit? the authorities here are saying an aircraft repair plant _ hit? the authorities here are saying an aircraft repair plant maintenance centre was hit, not the actual airport itself. the authorities say that no one was working at the plan at the time. one person sustained medium introduce. we do not know what kind of aircraft they were repairing. we would guess that russia is trying to go after any infrastructure of ukraine, potentially including aircraft used to fight russia. we understand from the authorities russia fired six cruise missiles towards a location. ukraine said they intercepted two muscles back four landed. among people here, at first light this

morning in kyiv, they would have heard four explosions. an air raid warning was prior to that at nine minutes past six in the morning, many people when they heard the siren, you cannot miss it. they would have got away from windows, down into basements, 15 minutes later according to the timings we have, those explosions happen. a lot of people would not have heard the explosions even if they were in the centre of lviv, they would have been in business shelters. but when the all clear came they would have opened the curtains, looked out of the window and they would have seen a plume of smoke from the west of the city towards the direction of the city towards the direction of the airport. it is interesting to give you the atmosphere after the attack, speculation that it was the airport itself, it took time to confirm because the smoke came from that vicinity. in the first few minutes afterwards, you do not know what has happened. it was clear afterwards it was the aircraft

maintenance plan. nowhere in ukraine sa. ., ., ., ~ maintenance plan. nowhere in ukraine sa. the reason we are talking about this, it relatively _ sa. the reason we are talking about this, it relatively unusual _ sa. the reason we are talking about this, it relatively unusual in - sa. the reason we are talking about this, it relatively unusual in lviv - this, it relatively unusual in lviv in the western side of ukraine which has so far relatively been unscathed by the war compared to the east. there was an attack in recent days on a military base about 35 kilometres away from here. the centre of lviv, you can see it behind me, has been relatively untouched so far. it means something on the ground. if you are a family living in one of these apartment buildings, lviv might be the only major centre in ukraine where you can be sure that when you go out to buy groceries, you will come back without worrying about an air strike or shelling in the meantime. having said that, the smoke that people will have seen this morning, perhaps might make them think twice about that. should they start texting people when they are out at the shops, let me know that you are safe

on your return. the psychological impact of seeing the smoke on the horizon, people may have seen that smoke coming from kyiv, and kharkiv, and other cities, it may change the mentality here. it may make people remember there is no safe refuge at the moment in ukraine.— the moment in ukraine. thank you very much- — the uk's ministry of defence has given an update on the conflict in ukraine. it says russian forces have made minimal progress this week — that ukrainian forces continue to frustrate russian attempts to encircle the capital kyiv and mykolaiv, near the black sea — and that a number of cities including kharkiv and mariupol are encircled and being hit by heavy shelling — it adds the un has said the number of refugees fleeing ukraine has passed 3.2 million. our correspondent, james waterhouse, has the latest from kyiv. it's like a continuous rolling thunder sound and it is where the majority

of russian�*s forces seem to be gathering. once again, it is a fourth one we have woken up to news that a residential block has been hit by missiles trapped are where a project has been taken out by the city's effective defence system and falling directly on a residential area, we have had one reported death and four injuries, itjust shows the indiscriminate nature of war which can't be avoided, as long as missiles are flying in the air, it causes scenes of devastation. kyiv is a city along with mykolaiv in the south, where russian forces are thought to being frustrated by the ukrainian defences, they're not being allowed to encircle the city like in other locations. but even in other cities which are encircled, like chernihiv to the north, sumy to the north east and kharkiv which he sawjust there in the east. ukrainian forces tell us again and again that they are holding out,

they are being able to repel russian attacks. the question of course is to how much longer. as ever, this war it is mariupol in the south—east which is having a different story, there is a level of ukrainian resistance there, according to western officials, finally thought to be softening, after more than two weeks of being surrounded and cut off and bombarded by the russian troops. i think the emotion that burned through this week from the people we speak to is one of anger. i think people have had the trauma of this invasion, the shock, the upset from being either separated or losing a loved one, then there is an acclimatisation, being used to this strange new routine of being used to air raid sirens, and the constant threat of shelling, but now if you talk to people, they are not fixated on the political detail of where there might be a concession and political talk,

but they do hone in on language used by vladimir putin on the basis for ukraine to be a country, for example, or him wanting to see the russian language protected or accusing the government of being nationalists who use them as human shields in the face of the russian liberators, in theirwords, coming in. it is that kind of rhetoric that is really cutting through to people now, and they are angry, this is an assault, notjust on ukraine, on ukraine's identity, but on the future. of course, the appetite for peace on both sides is only increasing, as russia certainly experiences more losses in its advances are frustrated by ukrainian resistance and defence systems, but people are angry and the question many are asking is, ok, if there is going to be a peace deal, what are we going to get? if we're going to sit at a table president zelensky and president putin have both said they are willing to do, why are we engaging with the main aggressor in this war? the numbers leaving has gone up, at the moment, more than half have left, more than 2 million people.

that is still leaving short of 2 million who have stayed. we had a 35 hour curfew this week we thought it was quiet before, it was a deathly silence during that day and a half, the streets were completely empty, there was no traffic, and it was a nervous time, punctuated by the sound of distant explosions. those who have stayed, you see people grabbing a shopping bag, heading out, some shops are open, but very limited stock, pharmacies and a few other places are still open, people still need medicines, and of course, as ever, you have military checkpoints, barricades, armed volunteers, soldiers and digging trenches in places where they weren't before, piling sandbags where children once played, for example. this is a city still on guard, still in defensive mode, and the resolve is deep to hold. president biden will urge china not to provide russia with military equipment for its war

in ukraine, when he holds talks on the phone with his chinese counterpart today. us officials have criticised beijing for failing to denouce the invasion —— warning that china has a responsibility to use its influence on vladimir putin to defend international rules and principles. our correspondent in beijing stephen mcdonell gave us this assessment of what can be expected here in beijing, it is snowing, winter, preparations are under way for china leader xijinping to speak tojoe biden in the coming hours. to give you an idea of how important this discussion is likely to be, this is the most important media in this country in terms of the communist party delivering messages to people. this is today's front page, here, across the front page, we have an announcement

regarding these talks between xi jinping and joe biden. we are expecting them of course to be talking about the ukraine crisis, the americans have said as much, it is on the table as a topic. the tensions on this front will be washington and beijing are fighting an information war, a proxy information war over what is happening in ukraine. when we hear that the russians have asked china for military assistance, that has come from the us. and on the chinese side, these allegations that the americans have secret weapons bases inside ukraine, biological weapons bases, that is beijing essentially delivering a kremlin propaganda line. washington has accused beijing of being very close to the russian government, beijing says we are an impartial player.

we are not on either side. we can act as an intermediary when it comes to the war. really, if you look at what is being said in the chinese press, the state—run press, and what the foreign ministry says here, they are often inflating propaganda lines from russia and we never hear them on the other hand delivering the propaganda lines or any messages at all from the government in ukraine. they clearly are, it seems to me, backing one side over the other, although they say they are impartial, the differences are the us is providing weapons to the ukrainian side in the war, and china says we are not doing anything of the sort at the moment and this is what the american government wants to ensure does not happen in the future. whenjoe biden speaks to xi jinping, he will be asking for an assurance that he will not give weapons to russia.

the other thing the americans are saying they do not want you to bail out russia because the sanctions are biting there. that is a different matter, according to china, the sanctions are not the right way to go and they do not support the sanctions. the chinese government will keep supporting russia financially, trade with russia, and after all, we are now in this era, we are led to believe, that there is a no limits relationship as it is being referred to between russia and china. this is a deal that was signed with great fanfare before the winter olympics. it looks like beijing is not going to back down one little bit from that. and our correspondent laura podesta sent this update from new york. a significant exchange, the biden administration say china has been working hard to remain neutral but the white house believes china is anything but impartial. the secretary of state antony

blinken has said it has been obvious by beijing's efforts to blame the us and allies for what is going on in ukraine. prior to the invasion, us diplomats had asked their chinese counterparts to intervene with russia but that request was refused. in terms of the wider significance of all of this, the west has long feared an alliance between russia and china. the authoritarian countries lining up against the west and democracies. do you think that is how the biden administration see this? a pivotal moment in global history? absolutely. they have been referencing the reports that say russia is asking china for military aid and that has brought this matter to a head. we know president biden and xijinping are going to be talking at nine o'clock this morning

washington time and president biden is going to urge xijinping not to offer any assistance to moscow whether financial or military. as we've been reporting — the uk media regulator has revoked the licence of the broadcaster, rt , which used to be known as russia today. ofcom said it did not consider the russian—backed television station to be "fit and proper". the company complained it had been "falselyjudged", and said the british public had been robbed of access to information. our media editor amol rajan explained we live in an age of eight permanent information war and it has escalated dramatically. it is important to recognise what rts, a state

broadcaster, it serves the state, we have to distinguish between state and public, like the bbc, which is funded by the public. rts run and controlled by an organisation and it is funded by the kremlin. in this country, in britain, we have a system of independent regulation, like ofcom, which regulate the media. under ofcom rules you can be funded by the state but you cannot be controlled by a political body. not so long ago, the chinese backed channel over here was taken down by ofcom because it was controlled by a political body. in the context of what is happening in ukraine, the feeling that ofcom has is that arty being controlled by tv controlled by the kremlin is state propaganda. it is a couple of things, looking at the content of rt, it fails on two

wrens, accuracy, a military exercise when it is a war of aggression and other failures when it is a war of aggression and otherfailures of when it is a war of aggression and other failures of accuracy which ofcom are concerned about and also due impartiality, it is broad and difficult to explain but broadly means an absence of bringing ideological baggage to journalism and it is fair to say that watching rt there is a fair amount of ideological baggage. it is controlled by a political body and ofcom are concerned whether or not it satisfies our independent regulator for you accuracy and due impartiality. we havejust heard regulator for you accuracy and due impartiality. we have just heard a reaction from the kremlin to this decision, and they are saying it is madness! a predictable reaction from the russian government. what do you think could be the wider ramifications of this? it is interesting _ ramifications of this? it is interesting if _ ramifications of this? it is interesting if this - ramifications of this? it is interesting if this is - ramifications of this? it is interesting if this is the i ramifications of this? it 3 interesting if this is the right thing to do, not only for ofcom but broader society. ofcom are looking at the code they operate under and whether or not they are fit and

proper to own a tv licence, ofcom made the decision they had to make. nearly two million refugees have crossed the ukrainian border into poland, many of them children. sixty—five—thousand have already started in polish schools but they're expecting many more, with special classes giving ukrainian children an introduction to the polish language and education system. our correspondent danjohnson has been to a school in krakow, not farfrom the ukrainian border. there's little sign artem started here only a fortnight ago. and victoria just last week. now they learn in a different language, get used to a new school, and try to make friends — all despite the added weight of running from war and being cut off from family. translation: i've lost my friends. they were scattered around the world.

some of them are in poland, in different cities. some are in georgia, some in slovakia, in germany. but we communicate through apps. we are in touch. artem's concern is for his mum — who's here, helping the school translate. translation: i worry so much - about my relatives, about my mother, because they are so stressed. they were not ready to move from ukraine and leave their house, but the situation is like this and we have to get used to it. this is life. not every refugee kid has this chance yet, by any stretch. space in the classrooms is a real constraint, and the language barrier is a serious difficulty. and, every day, more ukrainian children arrive. hundreds of thousands are already here. across town, there's space for mums to work and toddlers to play. like so many, krystyna's on her own with three—year—old katyusha.

she's growing up, she's becoming stronger, and... i hope she won't remember why it was that i'm trying to give it to her like an adventure — that we are on holiday, and we are visiting friends and we are just...travelling. but now, more and more often, she asks to go back to daddy and... ijust cannot explain her why we cannot do it at the moment, i cannot find the right words, why it's not possible. singing happy birthday. children on the move sing happy birthday in many languages. krystyna'sjoined herfriend sofia, and her three daughters, to celebrate darina turning seven.

translation: the children are fine when mum is fine. | so are you fine? so—so! translation: i have no way out. i have three children. i am here alone. i have to pull myself together and do what i can do. young lives are being shaped, and milestones marked — away from home and without family. darina's birthday wish? to be with her dad. danjohnson, bbc news, in krakow, poland. a lot of people had been taking shelter in the theatre, children had

been painting on the roof of the building to avert an attack. the latest we are _ building to avert an attack. the latest we are hearing from the ukraine human rights ombudsman is 130 people have been rescued from the mariupol theatre after the air strike there. 130 people have been rescued, that is a picture of the theatre, the russians have denied attacking the theatre, but this is mariupol in the south of ukraine, and rescues have been digging for survivors from the rubble. 130 people have been rescued. we do not know how many were there in the first place taking shelter. we know there was a bomb shelter underneath there was a bomb shelter underneath the theatre where a lot of people were taking shelter, so how many people have been killed and injured? we still do not know but 130 have been rescued according to the ukraine human rights ombudsman.

ukranian refugees wanting to come to the uk can now start applying for visas to be sponsored by british families. more than 150—thousand people have registered for the scheme by offering a room in their home or a vacant property — but there have been some delays in matching up refugees and sponsors. our special correspondent lucy manning has spoken to one family who hopes to house two sets of refugees. so we'll know how quickly the visa application process will take. they are making plans in the middle of war. how do you feel about coming here? last week, they had never even spoken. next week, they will be sharing a house. i think it will be a good experience for me, and now i can continue to work with a ukrainian company online when i have a suitable computer. thank you about helping ukrainian people and support. you're very welcome, olga. we'll speak to you soon.

you take care today. so we're going to have to paint the room. - graham, his wife melina and two children are opening up their kent home to olga, who works in video games, from kyiv, and nastja, an estate agent, and her mum, vita. one of the rooms is my office — my work from home space, if you like, which we're going to be redecorating. british families opening up rooms and hearts to those desperate enough to plead for strangers in a foreign country to take them in. fears recalibrated when you've escaped russian shelling. what was it that made you decide that you wanted to have refugees come to stay at your house? it's just impacted us quite a lot and you can't stand by and watch something like this happen. it's a humanitarian crisis, isn't it? and i think a part of it maybe feels like we're standing up to a huge bully. i just don't think we can stand by and just let it happen without doing something. and what impact do you think it is going to have

on you and your family day—to—day? i don't think it will be a detrimental one. i think also it will probably demonstrate to our daughter, you know, compassion, sympathy and empathy, which is not a bad thing. the system to bring ukrainian refugees into british people's homes has been simplified. now they'll have to go on the home office website, fill in their details, their sponsor's details and provide a passport photo. problems? well, the checks on those people they're staying with are going to be basic, and it's still a diy refugee system. you still have to find your own matches at the moment. and how did you go about trying to find ukrainians to help? it has been really difficult, actually, and i think there's a lot of frustrated brits out there. i think there's an expectation you fill in a government website form and you kind of get in touch with someone straightaway. you have to proactively go out and look for people. their ukrainian guests will swap the hell of war and the pain of departure for the quiet of the countryside. but thousands more want to help.

millions need it. but will this scheme manage to connect them? lucy manning, bbc news. it's nowjust three weeks till the first round of the french presidential elections, but the campaign — which pits the incumbent, emmanuel macron, against 11 other candidates — has been dominated by the war in ukraine. the effect has been to increase the stature of the president, who's looking increasingly confident of re—election, while his opponents complain that the international crisis has given him an unfair advantage. hugh schofield reports. finally entering the fray. on thursday, president macron took time off from the war to focus on domestic matters and present his election manifesto. up to now, he can say with some honesty, he just hasn't had the chance. as ukraine has slid into disaster, he was occupied with higher matters,

trying, unsuccessfully, to influence vladimir putin, coordinating europe's response with sanctions on moscow and arms to kyiv. photos showed him grim—faced at the helm in elysee. just doing the job, yes, but electorally, it's been gold dust. to be fair, emanuel macron was already strongly tipped to win these elections and come back here to elysee for a second term. but what's happened since the start of the war is that we have seen his opinion ratings shoot up. today, nearly one in three of the french say they will vote for him in the multi—candidate first round of the race. and meanwhile the standing of his opponents has been in steady decline. there is a threat coming from the east, coming from russia represented by vladimir putin and it makes the people turn towards the leader. we can't divide too much in such circumstances. that's pretty much the rally

around the flag effect. it helps when the opposition, all 11 of them from far left to far right, are failing to put up much of a fight. one of his main challengers, marine le pen, is damaged by her own past associations with the russians. the other far right—winger, eric zemmour, who once said france needed its own vladimir putin, now has egg on face. the mainstream right�*s valerie pecres is also fighting to stay in the election. the battle for all of them is to get through round one to be in the run—off against macron in round two. but she says it's been impossible to fight a campaign on domestic issues because the president is constantly hiding behind the war. translation: the war in ukraine is very important but it cannot mask the various problems the french are facing at home. emanuel macron must not be allowed to escape the proper democratic debate about his record in office. it's extremely disrespectful to the french.

but war, chaos, refugees are making this an election not like any other. to upheaval in europe, there is little appetite to add political upheaval at home. in crisis, incumbents have a head start. hugh schofield, bbc news, paris. the uk's ministry of defence has given a update on the military situation in ukraine. it states, that three weeks after the invasion began, "the russian invasion of ukraine has largely stalled on all fronts." it adds — russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses. the statement goes on to say — ukrainian resistance remains staunch, and well—coordinated. and it also notes — "the vast majority of ukrainian "territory, including all major cities, remains in ukrainian hands."

talking about one aspect of the crisis in ukraine that is crucial in terms of the way the war is being fought, it is drone warfare. with me is dr tom withington is an expert in electronic warfare — and hejoins us now in toulouse, france. and also i'm joined by matthew smith, a military analyst. matthew, can you talk about how the ukrainians are doing this? we understand they have a special unit of drone fighters carrying out lots of drone fighters carrying out lots of attacks, something the russians are struggling to deal with. talk us through exactly what the ukrainians are doing. through exactly what the ukrainians are doinu. ~ . through exactly what the ukrainians are doin.. ~ ., .,, through exactly what the ukrainians are doinu. ~ ., ., are doing. ukraine has a well-developed - are doing. ukraine has a well-developed defence | are doing. ukraine has a - well-developed defence industry are doing. ukraine has a _ well-developed defence industry and well—developed defence industry and has invested heavily in these

capabilities. it not only has the systems vary widely likely bayraktar brought in from turkey and it has been adapting its own self developed systems and using those to great effect on the battlefield. the drones that _ effect on the battlefield. the drones that they _ effect on the battlefield. the drones that they are using, where have they got them from? abs, have they got them from? combination of places. they have acquired some from turkey and built some themselves. the defence industry in ukraine is quite sophisticated and they have a range of systems going from small, all the way up to larger systems which is the larger type that has a

sophisticated sensor system and can fly long distances and can deploy weapons as well.— fly long distances and can deploy weapons as well. these heavy duty drones, weapons as well. these heavy duty drones. they _ weapons as well. these heavy duty drones, they are _ weapons as well. these heavy duty drones, they are able _ weapons as well. these heavy duty drones, they are able to _ weapons as well. these heavy duty drones, they are able to drop - drones, they are able to drop anti—tank grenades, they can see with thermal cameras, and they are attacking, often, the russians as they sleep. attacking, often, the russians as they sleep-— attacking, often, the russians as the slee-. , ., , they sleep. they have a burst cloud s stem they sleep. they have a burst cloud system and — they sleep. they have a burst cloud system and you _ they sleep. they have a burst cloud system and you can _ they sleep. they have a burst cloud system and you can recognise - they sleep. they have a burst cloud | system and you can recognise these in different ways. at the basic level you can take a small quad copter, fitted with explosives and flight into something, but that would not be effective against armoured targets so we are seeing specialist units like the bayraktar and tactics that allow the ukrainians to evade whatever defences the russians are putting up. defences the russians are putting u n . ., defences the russians are putting u -. ., �* , defences the russians are putting up. tom, let's talk to you about what the russians _ up. tom, let's talk to you about what the russians are _ up. tom, let's talk to you about what the russians are doing, i up. tom, let's talk to you about what the russians are doing, orj what the russians are doing, or failing to do, about this, because

they do not seem to be able to able to counter this ukrainian drone warfare effectively. it is to counter this ukrainian drone warfare effectively.— warfare effectively. it is a very aood warfare effectively. it is a very good point- — warfare effectively. it is a very good point- we _ warfare effectively. it is a very good point. we have - warfare effectively. it is a very good point. we have seen - warfare effectively. it is a very l good point. we have seen drone warfare — good point. we have seen drone warfare being used in the recent conflict — warfare being used in the recent conflict between armenia and azerbaijan. they demonstrated very well their_ azerbaijan. they demonstrated very well their development to use these uavs well their development to use these uavs very— well their development to use these uavs very effectively and at the bare _ uavs very effectively and at the bare minimum what the russians should _ bare minimum what the russians should be — bare minimum what the russians should be doing as well as can ethically— should be doing as well as can ethically engage in these weapons using _ ethically engage in these weapons using their own anti—aircraft guns and missiles, they should also be attacking — and missiles, they should also be attacking the parts of the radio spectrum — attacking the parts of the radio spectrum that these drones depend on to fly _ spectrum that these drones depend on to fly. drones typically use a radio link from — to fly. drones typically use a radio link from the pilot on the ground to the aircraft — link from the pilot on the ground to the aircraft in the air, and that broadcasts— the aircraft in the air, and that broadcasts on a 2—3 megahertz bandwidth, gigahertz, bandwidth, and that is— bandwidth, gigahertz, bandwidth, and that is a— bandwidth, gigahertz, bandwidth, and that is a kind of similar bandwidth to what— that is a kind of similar bandwidth to what we — that is a kind of similar bandwidth to what we reduce our mobile phones, that kind _ to what we reduce our mobile phones, that kind of— to what we reduce our mobile phones, that kind of thing in everyday life and the — that kind of thing in everyday life and the drones themselves use a gps

link, another radio link where they -et link, another radio link where they get information on their position from _ get information on their position from a _ get information on their position from a satellite so, in theory, by jamming — from a satellite so, in theory, by jamming those two radio waves you should _ jamming those two radio waves you should be _ jamming those two radio waves you should be able to knock the uavs, they drone — should be able to knock the uavs, they drone come out of the fight, and when — they drone come out of the fight, and when i — they drone come out of the fight, and when i say knock it out of the fight, _ and when i say knock it out of the fight, the — and when i say knock it out of the fight, the loss of control through the radio— fight, the loss of control through the radio links should either because _ the radio links should either because the drone to crash or cause it to preprogrammed fly back to its point _ it to preprogrammed fly back to its point of— it to preprogrammed fly back to its point of origin or to land safely. why— point of origin or to land safely. why the — point of origin or to land safely. why the russians don't seem to be attacking _ why the russians don't seem to be attacking there's radio links is a very— attacking there's radio links is a very interesting question. do you think they were _ very interesting question. do you think they were just _ very interesting question. do you think they were just not - very interesting question. do you think they were just not prepared for this kind of drone warfare, or didn't expect it, i didn't know that the ukrainians had this many drones in such large numbers that are able to perform so effectively? to in such large numbers that are able to perform so effectively?— to perform so effectively? to be blunt they _ to perform so effectively? to be blunt they have _ to perform so effectively? to be blunt they have no _ to perform so effectively? to be blunt they have no excuse - to perform so effectively? to be blunt they have no excuse for. to perform so effectively? to be l blunt they have no excuse for not anticipating this. they should have seen this — anticipating this. they should have seen this. they should have seen this in— seen this. they should have seen this in previous conflicts. they should — this in previous conflicts. they should have been aware that drones would _ should have been aware that drones would be _ should have been aware that drones would be a — should have been aware that drones would be a big issue. it is something they have to face in syria

for almost _ something they have to face in syria for almost ten years. and, if you look— for almost ten years. and, if you look towards nato, as i'm sure matt can corroborate, nato is pouring millions — can corroborate, nato is pouring millions into drone defences on the battlefield, to make sure that deployed forces are not at risk from either— deployed forces are not at risk from either high—end military systems or eveniust_ either high—end military systems or evenjust things that either high—end military systems or even just things that people make either high—end military systems or evenjust things that people make in their garage, like these quad copter is that— their garage, like these quad copter is that you _ their garage, like these quad copter is that you can buy from a hobby shop _ is that you can buy from a hobby shop and — is that you can buy from a hobby shop and put some explosives on them _ shop and put some explosives on them why— shop and put some explosives on them. why they have not taken this seriously— them. why they have not taken this seriously and don't seem able to engage — seriously and don't seem able to engage these weapons is one of the great _ engage these weapons is one of the great mysteries of this war. matthew, in terms of the overall military significance of this, we don't want to overstate it but it could be crucial for the don't want to overstate it but it could be crucialfor the battle don't want to overstate it but it could be crucial for the battle for ukraine, couldn't it, because obviously they are not going to get the no—fly zone that they want, that they are asking nato for, but this gives them an element of aerial power, doesn't it?—

power, doesn't it? thing is, can they sustain _ power, doesn't it? thing is, can they sustain the _ power, doesn't it? thing is, can they sustain the operations - power, doesn't it? thing is, can they sustain the operations as l power, doesn't it? thing is, can i they sustain the operations as and when the russians get their air defences back up and running again. they haven't been able to do that so far, but they haven't been able to form any airspace control over ukraine. the system is being used just now have been surprisingly effective, but you expect in a high intensity war of the type that are seeing, in contesting the airspace they would not survive long because they would not survive long because they do not have larger vehicles, to protect themselves against being targeted by aircraft or sophisticated air defence systems so from a ukraine perspective, certainly at the higher level, it will be crucial as long as the airspace remains relatively uncontested.—

airspace remains relatively uncontested. . , ., ., uncontested. and they are able to net in uncontested. and they are able to get in more _ uncontested. and they are able to get in more supplies _ uncontested. and they are able to get in more supplies of— uncontested. and they are able to get in more supplies of drones, i uncontested. and they are able to i get in more supplies of drones, and that they need spare parts as well and i gather that drone enthusiasts in the west have been sending in spare parts and supplies. it speaks to that point _ spare parts and supplies. it speaks to that point about _ spare parts and supplies. it speaks to that point about how _ spare parts and supplies. it speaks to that point about how this - spare parts and supplies. it speaks to that point about how this is - spare parts and supplies. it speaks to that point about how this is so l to that point about how this is so enormous, you can be effective with relatively unsophisticated systems and particularly when targeting armour. we have seen in the last few weeks examples of lightly armoured supply convoys and supply trains being attacked by these systems and those are very vulnerable to attack by uavs. those are very vulnerable to attack b uavs. ., ~ _, those are very vulnerable to attack b uavs. ., ~ i. ., those are very vulnerable to attack b uavs. ., ~ ., by uavs. thank you for your analysis. — by uavs. thank you for your analysis, matt _ by uavs. thank you for your analysis, matt smith - by uavs. thank you for your analysis, matt smith and - by uavs. thank you for your - analysis, matt smith and doctor tom withington on the drone warfare that we are seeing unfold in the battle for ukraine. now to an eyewitness report

from the front line. ukraine's second city of kharkiv has been under heavy bombardment but the ukrainian army is continuing to hold off the russian advance. for this special report, our correspondent quentin sommerville and camera journalist darren conway have been following the ukrainian army as they defend kharkiv. russia says it's demilitarising ukraine. instead, it's creating a wasteland. what it can't have, it destroys with vengeance. these were family homes on the edge of kharkiv. civilians are daily targets in vladimir putin's war. by the back door, a dead russian soldier. suburban gardens have become battlefields... ..from europe's past.

but here the men of ukraine's 22nd battalion have pulled off a miracle. they've stopped the might of the russian army at their city gates. ill—equipped and vastly outnumbered, three weeks on, they're still holding the line. russian boots have failed to gain hold here. frustrated, they've sent troops elsewhere, leaving heavy artillery to bomb the city into submission. explosions konstantin, a former air force pilot, has come out of retirement to fight. translation: this is the first line

of defence for the city. _ if they get through here, they will enter kharkiv. this road takes you from russia to the very heart of the city. but the heart of kharkiv and ukrainian resistance is still beating. just beyond this position, there's only open country. and russians, they've tried to punch through here again and again and again, and they've failed. ukrainian armed forces are keeping them at bay. they've also tried to encircle this city. again, they've failed. so they're taking out their frustration with artillery, bombing notjust... explosions you can hear it. bombing not just these front lines, but also the entire population of kharkiv. a russian missile

screeches above us. in this crater, six ukrainian soldiers died in a single strike. roman tells us, "they're chickens. "they won't show themselves again, but we'll respond good and proper." and away from the front, no neighbourhood is safe. russian grad rockets fall all around us. get in here! get in, get in! this is the reckless targeting of human life.

to the south, the invaders are advancing. but here in ukraine's second city, kharkiv stands defiant while russia rages with incandescent fury. and russia knows hundreds of thousands of people are still living here. explosions rumble how do you keep out such horror? sasha and svetlana's apartment is now the front line. for the men and women of the ukrainian army, she has a message. translation: i'm very grateful to them for defending our land. | hold on, guys. we will always support you.

explosions both of my daughters, and a granddaughter are fighting for ukraine. quentin sommerville, bbc news, kharkiv, in eastern ukraine. as everyone in ukraine is pulling together to contribute in any way they can to defend their homeland, most military veterans have rejoined to help the fight. ivona kostyna is a one young world ambassador and has been supporting veterans for the past seven years. now with most of the veterans fighting the russian invaders, she's supporting the families they've left behind. she joins us live from west ukraine. thank you for being with us, de vanna. tell us what you have been doing. ma; vanna. tell us what you have been doin:. g ., , ., ., doing. my role is leading an organisation _ doing. my role is leading an organisation that _ doing. my role is leading an organisation that before - doing. my role is leading an organisation that before we |

doing. my role is leading an - organisation that before we were scattered in different regions and now we are bringing people in western regions to continue our work supporting the well—being of veterans and their families. of course now that mission is almost impossible for some time so we have dedicated ourselves to supporting the families as they have to once again relive this experience of solitude, separation and displacement around the country which is a new experience for most of them. we which is a new experience for most of them. ~ . , which is a new experience for most ofthem. ~ ., , , . , which is a new experience for most of them. ~ ., , , . , ., of them. we are seeing pictures of the veterans _ of them. we are seeing pictures of the veterans and _ of them. we are seeing pictures of the veterans and their _ of them. we are seeing pictures of the veterans and their families. i of them. we are seeing pictures of. the veterans and their families. how important are they in the resistance, in the fight against this russian invasion? thea;r resistance, in the fight against this russian invasion? they are the most equipped _ this russian invasion? they are the most equipped and _ this russian invasion? they are the most equipped and the _ this russian invasion? they are the most equipped and the most i this russian invasion? they are the i most equipped and the most prepared part of the ukrainian military and before the war were numbers of 60,000 people had been through fighting since 2021. this was not the first reserve called up the

fight again. there are families of course play a very important part in supporting those people as they fight and defend ukraine. brute supporting those people as they fight and defend ukraine. we know many ukrainians _ fight and defend ukraine. we know many ukrainians are _ fight and defend ukraine. we know many ukrainians are taking - fight and defend ukraine. we know many ukrainians are taking up i fight and defend ukraine. we know| many ukrainians are taking up arms who have neverfought, who have never served, who have neverfought, who have neverserved, never who have neverfought, who have never served, never been in the armed forces, but these are people with real experience. that armed forces, but these are people with real experience.— with real experience. that is true. these are people _ with real experience. that is true. these are people with _ with real experience. that is true. these are people with real - these are people with real experience and most had been fighting and went back to civilian life so this is the second time as they have to go through the whole veteran's journey all over again. theirfamilies must be veteran's journey all over again. their families must be very proud of what they are doing but at the same time very scared.— time very scared. scared, anxious, distressed. — time very scared. scared, anxious, distressed, stressed _ time very scared. scared, anxious, distressed, stressed all _ time very scared. scared, anxious, distressed, stressed all the - time very scared. scared, anxious, distressed, stressed all the time. | time very scared. scared, anxious, distressed, stressed all the time. i am a member of a veteran family myself and i go through this experience now with all of them, when we see all of these emotions inside of them, and it is a huge responsibility because once one person from the family goes to

fighting the second has to take over all of the household responsibilities, for children, important life decisions to be made in the new places that they are going to do. in the new places that they are going to do— in the new places that they are auoin to do. ~ ., ., i. ., , in the new places that they are auoin to do. ~ ., ., ., , , going to do. who from your family is fiuuhtin ? going to do. who from your family is fighting? my — going to do. who from your family is fighting? my husband. _ going to do. who from your family is fighting? my husband. and - going to do. who from your family is fighting? my husband. and what i going to do. who from your family is fighting? my husband. and what are | fighting? my husband. and what are our fighting? my husband. and what are your feelings — fighting? my husband. and what are your feelings at _ fighting? my husband. and what are your feelings at the _ fighting? my husband. and what are your feelings at the moment? i fighting? my husband. and what are your feelings at the moment? they | your feelings at the moment? they must be a terrifying situation for you, the family, for him.- must be a terrifying situation for you, the family, for him. based on the experience _ you, the family, for him. based on the experience i _ you, the family, for him. based on the experience i have _ you, the family, for him. based on the experience i have been - you, the family, for him. based on| the experience i have been working with veterans, i knew how to prepare myself and cope with this experience and coordinating with others in the same experience as myself is kind of peer support and that is what we are trying to provide to others so now we are operating a phone line for any family member can call and just chat and talk and express those feelings because the hardest part about being a spouse for example in these circumstances is losing the connection with your loved ones and being unable to communicate with

them as often as you were used to do so in those times it is important to know that there is a friendly voice somewhere with a person who understands and can support you through the journey. and we also, so that people in charge of those family decisions and time of war, we make sure they are as informed as possible with all of the legislative basis to keep themselves safe in legal terms. brute basis to keep themselves safe in legal terms-— basis to keep themselves safe in legal terms. we have seen in the last three weeks _ legal terms. we have seen in the last three weeks an _ legal terms. we have seen in the j last three weeks an extraordinary world from the ukrainian people to fight, to resist, not to accept this russian invasion. do you believe that ukraine will win this war ultimately?— that ukraine will win this war ultimately? that ukraine will win this war ultimatel ? , ., , ., ultimately? yes, i do believe that ukraine will— ultimately? yes, i do believe that ukraine will win _ ultimately? yes, i do believe that ukraine will win this _ ultimately? yes, i do believe that ukraine will win this war - ukraine will win this war ultimately, as we have been doing for centuries. it is not the first time resisting russia and their ideology and opinion over our future and this kind of a generational journey, i would say, so i do not see a losing point in it. we are a very strong and resistant country

and nation and no matter how the military actions unfold, the ukrainian identity is very strong, whatever it is taken.— whatever it is taken. what is the situation where _ whatever it is taken. what is the situation where you _ whatever it is taken. what is the situation where you are - whatever it is taken. what is the situation where you are right i whatever it is taken. what is the | situation where you are right now whatever it is taken. what is the i situation where you are right now in terms of the military? the experts are saying that the russian advance has stalled, that it isn't going as the russians had hoped and planned. where i am russians are trying to demoralise civilians by causing a constant threat and trying to shell western cities once in a while. they are not very good at it, so we don't get a lot of shelling but we get sirens and it is a common thing for us to spend the night in bomb shelters or in the buildings basement, because of the threat from russia but at the same time, life carries on and there are lots of women and children and restaurants are open, people can dine out, they can get out to the park, so life is feeling some sort of normal, but of

course you can always fear the worst. . ~ course you can always fear the worst. ., ,, , ., course you can always fear the worst. ., ,, i. ., course you can always fear the worst. ., ,, ., ., ,, ., , worst. thank you for talking to us, thank ou worst. thank you for talking to us, thank you for— worst. thank you for talking to us, thank you for your _ worst. thank you for talking to us, thank you for your time, _ worst. thank you for talking to us, thank you for your time, and i worst. thank you for talking to us, thank you for your time, and stay l thank you for your time, and stay safe. thank you.— thank you for your time, and stay l safe. thank you._ some safe. thank you. thank you. some breakin: safe. thank you. thank you. some breaking news _ safe. thank you. thank you. some breaking news in _ safe. thank you. thank you. some breaking news in the _ safe. thank you. thank you. some breaking news in the last - safe. thank you. thank you. some breaking news in the last few- breaking news in the last few minutes. sarah everard's killer, wayne couzens, has been charged with four counts of indecent exposure. the alleged offence aceti have taken place between january and the alleged offence aceti have taken place betweenjanuary and february of 2021, when he was serving as a metropolitan police officer. the offences allegedly predate the murder of sarah everard who was killed in march 2021. the 49—year—old former firearms officer will appear at westminster magistrates court on the 13th of april. all remaining covid travel restrictions for people entering the uk have now been lifted.

the change came into effect in the early hours of this morning, but the government says it has contigency plans in case of another variant in the future. our health correspondent michele roberts explained the current covid situation in the uk. recently we have seen them going up again. the number of infections at the moment, the best estimate is around one in 25 people might be infected with the virus. that is over 2.6 million people. it has not gone away. there is plenty of it around that you can catch. these travel restrictions, the change is that anybody, even if not fully vaccinated, even if they have no vaccine will not need to test when they arrive at the uk. the reason the government is saying it is living with covid now, that is the strategy to move towards. and part of that is because we have so many people vaccinated. the vaccines are doing a really good job of protecting against severe disease, but, as you will see by the cases, it is not stopping infections.

people are catching covid again even if they have in the past, or even if they have been triple jabbed. there are some spring boosters coming along for the most vulnerable, soon, that will help offer a bit more protection. michele roberts. some live pictures now from the border between romania and ukraine, where ukrainians are continuing to flee in large numbers. we have heard from the pope in the last few hours who has called the war in ukraine a perverse abuse of power, weighs for partisan interests, and it has condemned, said the pope, defenceless people to violence. the pope has not named russia in that condemnation, but he has used phrases such as unacceptable armed

aggression, and said that the tragedy of the war taking place in the heart of europe has left us stunned. the words of the pope, add pictures from the ukraine— romania border. you're watching bbc news. the morning mist and fog has cleared but there will be some local are pushing up from the irish sea towards the eastern coast of northern ireland. a little bit more cloud close to the western isles and shetland. for most, blue skies into the afternoon. a breeze in the north, lighter winds further south and with strengthening sunshine overhead it will feel pleasantly warm going through the second half of the day, 13—16 celsius for the vast majority, above what we would expect at this stage in march. overnight temperatures drop, more of a breeze, less fog, the main risk area across parts of north—east england, particularly the vale of

york, and parts of scotland most likely to see a frost to start the weekend. we get into the weekend as weekend. we get into the weekend as we finish the week with high pressure just to the east. huge area of high pressure across europe. we are on the fringes of it so that will make it breezy over the weekend, the wind is picking up on saturday. for most, a case of blue skies overhead yet again with barely a cloud in the sky for the majority. that mist and fog in north—east england clearing, cloud been kept at bay by the winds out into the atlantic, but the winds travelling across a chilly north sea, picking up across a chilly north sea, picking up relatively today so it will feel cold along eastern coasts compared with this afternoon. temperatures between 9—12 celsius, but the highest temperatures in sheltered west coast, we could get up to 17, maybe 18 degrees in parts of north—west scotland, where we find the warmest conditions on saturday afternoon. temperatures will drop for all of us on sunday, chilly

across eastern parts of the country and here, we are likely to see more cloud develop. there will be cloud towards the channel islands and south—west england and later into northern ireland but across eastern england especially, that cloud could begin, east anglia, the southeast, lincolnshire, to produce showers in the day. single figure temperatures along the east coast and even in the west we are talking about 12—14. showers will drift up the eastern coast as we go through sunday night. clearing into monday, high pressure still with us next week and if anything it gets a little bit warmer. goodbye for now.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories... a series of explosions hit western ukraine near the city of lviv, with smoke rising just a few miles from the city centre. here in lviv people were woken by sounds and explosions. we will bring you the very latest. ukraine's capital kyiv continues to be targeted by russian air strikes. a residential neighbourhood in a northern district is the latest to be shelled. two million people have now fled from ukraine into poland since the war in ukraine began, with the majority being women and children. that's according to the polish border guard agency.

are we any closer to a ceasefire? russia's president putin lays out his demands to turkey, including a guarantee that ukraine neverjoins nato. the kremlin backed news channel rt has its licence to broadcast in the uk revoked — the watchdog ofcom says it's not a "fit and proper" channel. ukranian refugees wanting to come to the uk can now apply for visas to be sponsored by british families, under the government's homes for ukraine scheme. demonstrations are planned at ports across the uk in outrage at p80 ferries, which sacked 800 staff to replace them with agency workers. and all remaining covid travel restrictions are lifted for passengers entering the uk. from today, unvaccinated arrivals no longer have to take tests.

there have been a series of explosions close to the city of lviv. ukraine's most westerly major city has, so far, been seen as a place of sanctuary for many fleeing russian attacks further east. earlier today, a large plume of smoke was seen rising from the area around the international airport. that's around six kilometres from the city centre. andriy sadovy, the mayor of lviv, says an aircraft repair facility was hit, rather than the airport itself. so far, no casualties have been reported. these latest attacks come as russian president vladimir putin lays out his demands in exchange for what he describes as a �*peace deal�* with ukraine.

he will hold talks with the french president macron today. meanwhile, kremlin—backed broadcaster, rt has had its license to broadcast in the uk revoked. and poland's interior ministry says a total of more than two million people have now crossed into the country from ukraine since the war began. our first report this hour from our correspondent, sean dilley. russia's war in ukraine just took another step closer to the west. these pictures show what ukrainian authorities say was a russian shelling from the sky. just 70 kilometres away from a nato member, poland's border. lviv has been removed from much of the violence, which has been concentrated in the north—east. hello, everybody. arnold schwarzenegger - hello, everybody. arnold schwarzenegger is i hello, everybody. arnold schwarzenegger is the i hello, everybody. arnold i schwarzenegger is the latest high—profile figure to appeal directly to occupying forces, to lay down their weapons. he recalls his father fighting for the nazis.

down their weapons. he recalls his fatherfighting for the nazis. he father fighting for the nazis. he lived father fighting for the nazis. he: lived the rest of his life in pain, pain from a broken back, from the shrapnel that i was reminded him of those terrible years, and pain from the guilt that he felt.— the guilt that he felt. ukrainians continue to _ the guilt that he felt. ukrainians continue to push _ the guilt that he felt. ukrainians continue to push back _ the guilt that he felt. ukrainians continue to push back in - the guilt that he felt. ukrainians continue to push back in lviv. i the guilt that he felt. ukrainians. continue to push back in lviv. the russians are here with the locals are not making it easy for them was that the situation is echoed in other parts of the country. the russians insist their actions are justified. russians insist their actions are 'ustified. , ., , ., , �* , russians insist their actions are 'ustified. , �*, ., justified. units of the people's to nest public _ justified. units of the people's to nest public with _ justified. units of the people's to nest public with this _ justified. units of the people's to nest public with this purpose i nest public with this purpose russian _ nest public with this purpose russian armed forces are fighting against _ russian armed forces are fighting against nationalists in the city centre — against nationalists in the city centre. �* . against nationalists in the city centre. . ., ., ., ., ., centre. aware how nato involvement could lead to — centre. aware how nato involvement could lead to a _ centre. aware how nato involvement could lead to a short _ centre. aware how nato involvement could lead to a short pass _ centre. aware how nato involvement could lead to a short pass to - centre. aware how nato involvement could lead to a short pass to world i could lead to a short pass to world war iii, the west remains resolute they will not be committing bits on they will not be committing bits on the ground. that does not mean they are not involved. l the ground. that does not mean they are not involved.— are not involved. i thank the congress — are not involved. i thank the congress for _ are not involved. i thank the congress for appropriating l are not involved. i thank the i congress for appropriating these funds. this new package will provide unprecedented assistance to ukraine. the united states hasjust upped its financial commitment to a billion us

dollars to help ukrainian defences. among the pledged aid, weapons, state—of—the—art technology that makes president putin's task harder. air to air makes president putin's task harder. airto air missiles, makes president putin's task harder. air to air missiles, tanks drawing rockets and drones that can be used to bomb enemy targets. amid the mist and horror, the tantalising prospect of what have until recently been taken for granted, peace in ukraine. but for all this to end, moscow has its price. yesterday president putin shared his demands any funk with his turkish counterpart. some will be easy for ukraine to agree to, not joining nato and remaining neutral chief among this territory in ukraine and the ownership of premier which was illegally annexed by russia in 2014 are still to be

discussed. a conversation president zelensky and putin have agreed to have, and if the can agree, the scenes, the death and destruction, the humanitarian crisis could all stop. our correspondentjames reynolds is in lviv. tell me more about what happened. everyone here heard air raid sirens at about six in the morning. i know the precise time because that is what the app tells you, everyone here who has a mobile phone has downloaded the air raid app and that went off, sirens were heard across the city. here is one of the points, the city. here is one of the points, the sirens are often every night, so some people decide to move to shelters, others were so exhausted from the war, continue dozing, but

with the air raid warning going up on the background to stop that died down, some people got to shelters and a few minutes later we understand about 6:25 there were those four explosions on the western outskirts of the city. anyone who was not in the shelter would have heard those explosions, but having spoken to people you know, many people didn't. they will have only noticed that something happened when they opened their curtains and got out of their shelters. it was already late at that time, and if anyone looked towards the west of the city they would have seen a plume of smoke from the airport area. and then about 20 minutes or so, when people did not had —— did not know what had been hit. rumours were going and it was the airport, and it turns out as we've been hearing in the years, it was an aircraft repair centre. once that was confirmed people surge understand exactly what had happened. i want to tell you about the walk i have just done. i went to speak to a forest at now asked her about her experience, she'd been extremely worried because her partner, her husband was working in

a supermarket overnight. she wanted to check if he was ok. i went into a stationary store, to older women were serving customers they're selling fluorescent pens, i asked them if they were ok, one woman said she was extremely afraid. i went to a restaurant serving japanese food, two young servers who were already in wearing uniforms, getting ready, no one was there. but they said they had seen information about the attack online, they had been dozing in the morning and they wanted to carry on working. i then spoke to a musician who said he had actually been alerted to what happened here about text from friends in the rest of ukraine who had got to the internet before him, because he was dozing during the air raid siren. he and his wife then took their dog for and his wife then took their dog for a walk. t and his wife then took their dog for a walk. , , ., , a walk. i guess there two elements here to the — a walk. i guess there two elements here to the russian _ a walk. i guess there two elements here to the russian attack - a walk. i guess there two elements here to the russian attack on i a walk. i guess there two elements here to the russian attack on that. here to the russian attack on that facility. one is aiming at a strategic asset of the ukrainians, the other is to imagine spread fear in those parts of ukraine, which

thus far have been relatively safe. is it your impression from talking to all of those people and seeing what is happening in lviv that some who viewed lviv as a sanctuary may now be having second thoughts? l now be having second thoughts? i think what struck me when i spoke to those people there was they had already been afraid, that this wasn't really a total safe haven, that people had used it more of a way station on their way through to what people would consider real safety. that drive are still possible, but people here have thought there was some kind of safety, and by that some kind of safety, and by that some kind of safety, i mean this. if you leave your house in the morning and go to the market, go to the shops, people here would think, they will probably be able to return without worrying. in other parts of the country in kyiv, concave and so on, that simple trip to the shop is not a lot more complicated and worrying, but now people here are inheriting some of the worried that they will have seen

from relatives and friends across the country. russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov, has been talking on the rt television station which has just had its licence revoked by britain's media regulator. he said that the us and the west are pushing for a world in which russia has no influence. i think what we witness in ukraine is the quintessence of the western strategic course to marginalise russia, to contain russia, to stop russia's's development, and to reduce russia to zero role in world politics and world economy, world trade, world sports, art, science. education. and we observe unprecedented steps, our

western colleagues are taking, and one of the underlying strengths is the united states' desire, which has been much more manifested by the biden administration, to come back to you nepal, and if you wish, they are trying to take the concept from their soil and to be the melting pot for the entire world and they would be the military. the european union already, i think 99% stopped trying to be independent, president macron keeps repeating the strategic autonomy for the european union as a school and he will be fighting for it, but my guess is he will not succeed. germany is already

absolutely ready to be under the united states' orders, and the situation with nord stream 2 clearly indicated what exactly is in world politics germany occupies now. our correspondent, james waterhouse, has the latest from kyiv. it's like a continuous rolling thunder sound and it is where the majority of russian's forces seem to be gathering. once again, it is a fourth one we have woken up to news that a residential block has been hit by missiles trapped are where a project has been taken out by the city's effective defence system and falling directly on a residential area, we have had one reported death

and four injuries, itjust shows the indiscriminate nature of war which can't be avoided, as long as missiles are flying in the air, it causes scenes of devastation. kyiv is a city along with mykolaiv in the south, where russian forces are thought to being frustrated by the ukrainian defences, they're not being allowed to encircle the city like in other locations. but even in other cities which are encircled, like chernihiv to the north, sumy to the north east and kharkiv which he sawjust there in the east. ukrainian forces tell us again and again that they are holding out, they are being able to repel russian attacks. the question of course is to how much longer. as ever, this war it is mariupol in the south—east which is having a different story, there is a level of ukrainian resistance there, according to western officials, finally thought to be softening, after more than two weeks of being surrounded and cut off and bombarded by the russian troops. i think the emotion that burned through this week from the people we speak to is one of anger.

i think people have had the trauma of this invasion, the shock, the upset from being either separated or losing a loved one, then there is an acclimatisation, being used to this strange new routine of being used to air raid sirens, and the constant threat of shelling, but now if you talk to people, they are not fixated on the political detail of where there might be a concession and political talk, but they do hone in on language used by vladimir putin on the basis for ukraine to be a country, for example, or him wanting to see the russian language protected or accusing the government of being nationalists who use them as human shields in the face of the russian liberators, in theirwords, coming in. it is that kind of rhetoric that is really cutting through to people now, and they are angry, this is an assault, notjust on ukraine, on ukraine's identity, but on the future. of course, the appetite for peace on both sides is only increasing,

as russia certainly experiences more losses in its advances are frustrated by ukrainian resistance and defence systems, but people are angry and the question many are asking is, ok, if there is going to be a peace deal, what are we going to get? if we're going to sit at a table president zelensky and president putin have both said they are willing to do, why are we engaging with the main aggressor in this war? the numbers leaving has gone up, at the moment, more than half have left, more than 2 million people. that is still leaving short of 2 million who have stayed. we had a 35 hour curfew this week we thought it was quiet before, it was a deathly silence during that day and a half, the streets were completely empty, there was no traffic, and it was a nervous time, punctuated by the sound of distant explosions. those who have stayed, you see people grabbing a shopping bag, heading out,

some shops are open, but very limited stock, pharmacies and a few other places are still open, people still need medicines, and of course, as ever, you have military checkpoints, barricades, armed volunteers, soldiers and digging trenches in places where they weren't before, piling sandbags where children once played, for example. this is a city still on guard, still in defensive mode, and the resolve is deep to hold. plenty of top—level diplomacy today, president macron expecting to speak to president putin. president biden will urge china not to provide russia with military equipment for its war in ukraine, when he holds talks on the phone with his chinese counterpart today — president xijin ping. us officials have criticised beijing for failing to denouce the invasion — warning that china has a responsibility to use its influence on vladimir putin to defend international rules and principles.

our correspondent in beijing stephen mcdonell gave us this assessment of what can be expected. here in beijing, it is snowing, winter, preparations are under way for china's leader xi jinping to speak tojoe biden in the coming hours. to give you an idea of how important this discussion is likely to be, this is the most important media in this country in terms of the communist party delivering messages to people. this is today's front page, here, across the front page, we have an announcement regarding these talks between xi jinping and joe biden. we are expecting them of course to be talking about the ukraine crisis, the americans have said as much, it is on the table as a topic. the tensions on this front will be washington and beijing

are fighting an information war, a proxy information war over what is happening in ukraine. when we hear that the russians have asked china for military assistance, that has come from the us. and on the chinese side, these allegations that the americans have secret weapons bases inside ukraine, biological weapons bases, that is beijing essentially delivering a kremlin propaganda line. washington has accused beijing of being very close to the russian government, beijing says we are an impartial player. we are not on either side. we can act as an intermediary when it comes to the war. really, if you look at what is being said in the chinese press, the state—run press, and what the foreign ministry says here, they are often inflating propaganda lines from russia and we never hear them on the other hand delivering the propaganda

lines or any messages at all from the government in ukraine. they clearly are, it seems to me, backing one side over the other, although they say they are impartial, the differences are the us is providing weapons to the ukrainian side in the war, and china says we are not doing anything of the sort at the moment and this is what the american government wants to ensure does not happen in the future. whenjoe biden speaks to xi jinping, he will be asking for an assurance that he will not give weapons to russia. and our correspondent laura podesta sent this update from new york. a significant exchange, the biden administration say china has been working hard to remain neutral but the white house believes china is anything but impartial. the secretary of state antony blinken has said it has been obvious by beijing's efforts to blame the us

and allies for what is going on in ukraine. prior to the invasion, us diplomats had asked their chinese counterparts to intervene with russia but that request was refused. the uk ministry of defence has given an update on the conflict in ukraine. it says russian forces have made minimal progress this week — that ukrainian forces continue to frustrate russian attempts to encircle the capital kyiv and mykolaiv, near the black sea — and that a number of cities including kharkiv and mariupol are encircled and being hit by heavy shelling — it adds the un has said the number of refugees fleeing ukraine has passed 3.2 million. ukraine has consistently been asking nato for more air defence assistance

as russia continues to bombard ukrainian cities from the sky. slovakia has confirmed it is willing to provide kyiv with powerful, russian—made, s—300 anti—aircraft missile system , but only on the condition that it receives substitute air defence equipment from nato allies. with me isjustin bronk — he specialises in airpower and technology the military think tank — the royal united services institute. i want to get to those s 300, but let's start with the headline we began with the server, missile strikes very close to the city of macon in western ukraine. how significant do you believe these to be? i significant do you believe these to be? ~' , . ., , ., ., be? i think it significant insofar as the russians _ be? i think it significant insofar as the russians are _ be? i think it significant insofar as the russians are using i be? i think it significant insofar as the russians are using the l be? i think it significant insofar. as the russians are using the one bit of theirair as the russians are using the one bit of their air capabilities, air launched cruise missiles, that are relatively effective and have consistently been in action throughout the campaign, to emphasise both ukrainian citizens but also to the west, who are

supplying weapons and other aid through western ukraine, that the entire country is fair game, the entire country is fair game, the entire country is under threat to both pile pressure on the government in kyiv and to perhaps make the west think twice about stepping up any, for example, in—person training missions in the west of ukraine. by emphasising they would be a danger of their personnel being directly hit there as well. $5 of their personnel being directly hit there as well.— of their personnel being directly hit there as well. as we have been seeinu hit there as well. as we have been seeing and — hit there as well. as we have been seeing and hearing, _ hit there as well. as we have been seeing and hearing, the _ hit there as well. as we have been seeing and hearing, the real- hit there as well. as we have been i seeing and hearing, the real russian focus remains around some of the big cities, and the latest british defence department assessment is that in many of these fronts they are stalled. is that the way you see it at the end of this week? certainly in the north and north—east, the russians seem to be struggling very much to make any ground at all. they have pushed significant forces over the past week and a half, particularly into the north eastern axis, trying to close those pockets and complete the

encirclement of car cave which has intermittently been circle but ukrainians have managed to keep limited corners open into the city and south of the city —— kharkiv. the fact they have not made notable progress there in the last week and a half is indicative they are struggling to amass significant comeback parish a break to the ukrainian defences in the north. in the south are continuing to advance but again they tend to be avoiding the kind of centres of resistance and are trying to further push ukrainian forces back to make it more difficult for any sort of attempt to break in and relieve the city. attempt to break in and relieve the ci . , , city. president zelensky says in this context — city. president zelensky says in this context of _ city. president zelensky says in this context of cities _ city. president zelensky says in this context of cities under i this context of cities under bombardment, much of it coming from the air, that ukraine desperately needs defence help and need to urgently. we have the news that these s 300 russian—made anti—air missile systems may now be given to

ukraine. how significant, how much of a game changer could this be? ukraine started out with a few batteries of s 300 systems themselves they had from the soviet era, they try to upgrade the systems but essentially they suffer from a significant lack of spares and they were not vertically mobile. this enabled the russians to hit their primary radars that guide the missiles and from the systems. and hit some of the systems themselves on the first three days, and have continued to hunt down the remnants there. a supply of s 300 either from slovakia to potentially greece or bulgaria that also had the systems... bulgaria that also had the systems- - -_ bulgaria that also had the systems... bulgaria that also had the s stems... ~ ., ., , , systems... we are looking at stills of these missile _ systems... we are looking at stills of these missile systems, - systems... we are looking at stills of these missile systems, there i systems... we are looking at stills of these missile systems, there is| systems... we are looking at stills. of these missile systems, there is a huge irony here that these are classic bits of russian kit which are now potentially going to be sent via nato into ukraine to hit russian aircraft. ~ , , , , ., ., aircraft. absolutely. this is one of the core features _ aircraft. absolutely. this is one of the core features of— aircraft. absolutely. this is one of the core features of this - aircraft. absolutely. this is one of the core features of this conflict l the core features of this conflict is ukraine is fighting, although with increasing numbers of shorter

fire western weaponry, overwhelmingly with russian descent and soggy era upgraded soviet—made kit. —— soviet era. these are remnants of various supply deals between the soviet union in the early period and russia in the 90s, being upgraded and passed back across, but crucially they are systems, because they're russian—made, systems ukrainian forces already understand, know how to use and potentially have a logistics supply chain for, whereas western systems would take months to be able to support and used effectively and to train on. me be able to support and used effectively and to train on. we have a coule effectively and to train on. we have a couple seconds _ effectively and to train on. we have a couple seconds left, _ effectively and to train on. we have a couple seconds left, do _ effectively and to train on. we have a couple seconds left, do you i effectively and to train on. we have a couple seconds left, do you see l effectively and to train on. we have| a couple seconds left, do you see in the next week any sign of a strategic shift from russia will be more of the bombardment, the besieging of the city is? i more of the bombardment, the besieging of the city is?- besieging of the city is? i think that will depend _ besieging of the city is? i think that will depend on _ besieging of the city is? i think that will depend on whether i besieging of the city is? i think l that will depend on whether they manage to link up their pushers from the north, from the south, and the southern pushes from active. if they can link up they can the bulk of the regular ukrainian army and that may cause a strategic shift.—

cause a strategic shift. thank you for our cause a strategic shift. thank you for your expertise. _ perfect spring day across much of the country, the morning mist and fog has cleared, some fog pushing up to eastern coast of northern a little more cloud. for most, blue skies into the afternoon, a bit of a base in the north, later went further south and with that rendering sunshine overhead, i will feel pleasantly warm as we go to the second half of the day. 13—16 c for the vast majority. what we would expect at this stage in march. temperatures will drop out of the sun, and there is more of a breeze, less fog, the main risk area across

parts of north—east england, particularly develop york and thence by two fog patches into the morning, in scotland most likely to see frost to start the weekend. we go into the weekend as we finish the week, high—pressure to the east of us. huge area of highbridge across europe, on the fringes of it and it's going to be busier as we go through the weekend. that went picking up on saturday, but for most of you, i will be a case of blue skies overhead yet again. barely a cloud in the sky for the vast majority, the mist and fog in north—east england players away, most of the cloud being kept at bay by those went out into the atlantic. the one will be travelling across, a chilly north sea, picking up relative today. you'll feel colder across eastern coasts compared with this afternoon. sheltered western coasts will see the house of temperatures, 15—16 quite widely. we could get up to 17, may be 18 in parts of north—west scotland where the warmest conditions will be on saturday afternoon. on sunday those temperatures will drop all of us, a

chilly day most notably across eastern parts of the country, and it is here we like to see a bit more cloud develop. there will be cloud around here and there, some towards the channel islands, south—west england and into northern ireland, across eastern parts of and especially, the cloud could thicken up especially, the cloud could thicken up to produce a few showers late in the day. the temperatures, single figures for some along the eastern coast and in the us, 12—14 instead of the 15th and 16th of saturday. showers will drift upwards, clearing into monday. next week high—pressure still with us, dry, and if anything it gets a little warmer.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm stephen sackur. our top stories: a series of explosions hit western ukraine near the city of lviv, with smoke rising just a few miles from the city centre. the city has become a safe haven for people fleeing the russian invasion. ukraine's capital, kyiv, continues to be targeted by russian air strikes. a residential neighbourhood in a northern district is the latest to be shelled. two million people have now fled from ukraine into poland since the war in ukraine began, with the majority being women and children. that's according to the polish border guard agency. are we any closer to a ceasefire?

russia's president putin lays out his demands to turkey, including a guarantee that ukraine neverjoins nato. the kremlin—backed news channel rt has its licence to broadcast in the uk revoked — the watchdog ofcom says it's not a "fit and proper" channel. ukranian refugees wanting to come to the uk can now apply for visas to be sponsored by british families under the government's homes for ukraine scheme. demonstrations are planned at ports across the uk in outrage at p80 ferries, which sacked 800 staff to replace them with agency workers. and all remaining covid travel restrictions are lifted for passengers entering the uk. from today, unvaccinated arrivals no longer have to take tests.

sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's louisa. it's the final day of the cheltenham festival, on gold cup day, where all eyes are on rachel blackmore. the irish jockey will be hoping she can become the first woman to win the prestigious trophy as she takes to the course in front of a packed crowd. rachel will face tough competition from 2021 champion minella indo and runner—up al boum photo who are among the ii contenders in the race. there was drama at goodison park as everton scored a late winner to boost their hopes of premier league survival. they went down to ten men in the second half against newcastle but alex iwobi's goal in the 99th minute sealed a massive victory. everton are 17th, three

points from the relegation zone but frank lampard admitted he may have over—celebrated a bit. i think i have broken a bone in my hand. after the goal, i realised as the game settled, sort of settled, i was shaken, but so, for the three points we got in the end, not a problem. i won't complain too much. part of the reason there was so much added time in the game was because a protester tied himself by the neck to the goalpost. he was wearing a t—shirt that said "just stop oil" and was, after around eight minutes cut loose and taken away by the stewards. west ham also left it late to make it into their first european quarterfinal since 1981. ukrainian winger andriy yarmolenko scored an emotional winner in extra—time as they knocked out sevilla in the europa league. also in the europa league, rangers lost on the night but reached their first european quarterfinal in 14 years.

ryan kent scored in a 4—2 aggregate victory over red star belgrade. leicester made it through to the europa conference league last 16. cameron norrie's indian wells title defence has ended, after losing to 18—year—old carlos alcaraz britain's norrie lost britain's norrie lost the quarterfinal 6—4, 6—3 to alcaraz, who becomes the second—youngest male semifinalist in indian wells history. norrie broke twice in the first set but couldn't capitalise before needing treatment on his hip during the second set. alcaraz will now face rafael nadal, who remains unbeaten in 2022, winning 19 in a row. he defeated a frustrated nick kygrios 7—6, 5—7, 6—4. day three of england's second test against west indies gets under way from two o'clock today.

ben stokes will be looking to continue his form as yesterday he got his 11th century for his country to put england in control — they declared on 507 runs. it was also a great day for debutant bowler matthew fisher who got his first test wicket with only his second delivery. west indies will resume trailing by 436 runs. a russian court has extended the detention of us basketball star brittney griner for another two months. the 31—year—old has been held in moscow since february, when customs officials allegedly found cannabis oil in her luggage. little has been known of her circumstances until yesterday when a spokesperson for the state department told the bbc that us diplomats "closely engaged on this case and are in frequent contact with brittney griner�*s legal team". today is the final day for potential buyers to submit a bid to purchase chelsea. the club is available after owner roman abramovich was sanctioned

and had his assests frozen for his alleged ties with russian president vladimir putin. lifelong chelsea fan lord coe is backing an offer led by former liverpool chairman sir martin broughton. the owners of the chicago cubs baseball team, the ricketts family, remain serious contenders, as does american businessman todd boehly and swiss billionaire hansjorg wyss. british property tycoon nick candy has the support of former player and manager gianluca vialli, while the ceo of saudi media, a chelsea fan, could table the biggest bid, links to the saudi state could prove unpopular. valued at around £2.5 billion the club's wage bill is £28 million a month. petr cech warned without a quick sale the club might not survive until the end of the season.

that's all the sport for now. one bit of breaking news, the court of arbitration for sport has rejected a request from the russian football union to overturn the decision by fifa not to let any russian teams play in an international competition. let's return to the war in ukraine and the efforts to try to bring it to an end. russian—ukrainian talks have continued this week. with russia wanting ukraine to disarm and disavow all western alliances, which kyiv says would return it to a vassal state of moscow. i'm joined now by mikhail kasyanov, former prime minister of russia from 2000 to 2004.

i know you are not in russia but you are watching very closely what is going on. what you think the strategy of vladimir putin is, is he serious about a ceasefire and peace top solicitor smoke screen wally continues bitter war? i top solicitor smoke screen wally continues bitter war?— top solicitor smoke screen wally continues bitter war? i don't think that vladimir— continues bitter war? i don't think that vladimir putin _ continues bitter war? i don't think that vladimir putin is _ continues bitter war? i don't think that vladimir putin is serious i continues bitter war? i don't think that vladimir putin is serious in i that vladimir putin is serious in conducting talks with results that will be comfortable for the ukrainian people. —— will he continue this bitter war? i think he wants to establish the neutral status of the country but most important for him as the official recognition crimea as part of vladimir putin is russia. vladimir

putin is crazy about crimea and he cannot have his place in history decided he wanted to put himself in. i don't this negotiation will come to striking a real deal, they are getting the time for regrouping. last night there were little strikes, etc, and that is why i believe these negotiations are not serious conducted by vladimir putin. on the other hand, vladimir putin has problems. the british of defence claims that the russian offensive is told in many places, but he also faces massive economic and financial challenges as a result

of the very significant sanctions now in place put there by the united states and western allies. how worried you think vladimir putin and his team marked by the impact of the sanctions? . , his team marked by the impact of the sanctions? ., , .., . , sanctions? that is correct, very much worried _ sanctions? that is correct, very much worried indeed. - sanctions? that is correct, very| much worried indeed. yesterday sanctions? that is correct, very i much worried indeed. yesterday when he had his broadcast with the confluence with the members of the government, it was absolutely clear vladimir putin is nervous and members of his team are nervous because they did not expect such devastating sanctions. still there is some foreign exchange in the country as a result of purchases by germany and other countries of natural gas, but it is absolutely not comparable with what he had before and you can recall that vladimir putin mentioned that he was prepared, he prepare the country for new sanctions, but he didn't expect this, he didn't expect that sanctions would be so harsh, so

strong, and right now they are strong, and right now they are strong and that is why they are very nervous, they don't know what to do now, what to do with the up two or three days, to increase the invasion and get additional support of the resources they have, military resources, or to stop the circulation for vladimir putin that will be the beginning are present. he has the choice, which do you think he will do? push on and double down orfind a think he will do? push on and double down or find a way to save face? i think he will find a way to progress and increase the invasion and at is why i am worried that something me for —— offer may happen. ——

something that is awful may happen. it is very difficult for him to be defeated. the recognition of neutrality of ukraine is not enough for keeping his face.— neutrality of ukraine is not enough for keeping his face. thank you very much forjoining _ for keeping his face. thank you very much forjoining us. _ for keeping his face. thank you very much forjoining us. he _ for keeping his face. thank you very much forjoining us. he did - for keeping his face. thank you very much forjoining us. he did briefly. much forjoining us. he did briefly serve as prime minister under vladimir putin at the beginning of the 2000s. as we've been reporting, the uk media regulator has revoked the licence of the broadcaster, rt, which used to be known as russia today. ofcom said it did not consider the russian—backed television station to be "fit and proper". the company complained it had been "falselyjudged", and said the british public had been robbed of access to information. our media editor amol rajan has the background. we live in an age of a permanent

information war and it has escalated dramatically. it is important to understand what rt is. rt is a state broadcaster, that means it is funded by and serves the state. there's an important distinction, i think, between a state broadcaster such as rt and a public broadcaster, like the bbc, which is funded by and serves the public. rt is run by and controlled by an organisation which is called tv novosti, and tv novosti is funded by the kremlin. in this country, in britain, we have a system of independent regulation, we have these independent bodies like ofcom, which regulate the media. under ofcom rules you can be funded by a state, as tv novosti is, but you cannot be controlled by a political body. not so long ago, cgtn which is the chinese—backed channel over here, was taken down by ofcom because it was controlled by a political body. in the context of what is happening in ukraine, the feeling that ofcom has is that rt, being controlled by tv novosti which is ultimately controlled by the kremlin, is basically an arm

of state propaganda. it is a couple of things. looking at the content of rt, it fails on two grounds. one is due accuracy, the idea that this is a military exercise when it is clearly a war of aggression and repeated other failures of accuracy is something ofcom are concerned about. and also due impartiality. due impartiality is a difficult to explain but it broadly means an absence of bringing a certain amount of ideological baggage tojournalism and it would be fair to say, watching rt, there is a fair amount of ideological baggage. so it's the fact it is controlled by a political body in this current context and ofcom are concerned whether or not it satisfies our independent regulatory needs for due accuracy and due impartiality. tadhg enright is here with more news of the impact of the ukraine crisis. airfares could rise by as much as 10% this year because of the surge in the price of oil. that warning comes from the boss of delta, one of the world's biggest airlines.

ed bastian has told the bbc that delta will have to follow the lead set by emirates, japan airlines and airasia by adding fuel surcharges to its international routes. he told aaron heselhurst there was increased pressure on the cost of flying. it is going to go up because you need to be able to push forward your cost of production, whatever business you're in. now, in the us, we're not allowed to put surcharges on our products, so all of our domestic flying, we actually have to get it into our base pricing, so it takes a little bit longer, typically. and we can increase the price, but it's a competitive battle with all the airlines, so the airlines are struggling between the rise in fuel or maintaining their revenues and their market share, so itjust takes longer in the us to get filtered—through pricing, compared to international where you are able to identify a specific surcharge and put that on your ticket, so international is very different. the international recovery rate tends to be faster than the us.

delta's ed bastian speaking there. and viewers of bbc world news can see more of that interview this weekend on talking business with aaron heslehurst. oil prices are going up again. hopes are fading that peace talks to end the russian invasion of ukraine will achieve a breakthrough soon. the international energy agency has also warned that global oil supplies could be three million barrels a day lower from next month because of sanctions on russia. having fallen below $100 a barrel earlier this week, the price of brent crude jumped at its most dramatic pace in two years, hitting $109 per barrel. let's have a look at the oil price. these heightened prices are adding to prices paid by consumers notjust for petrol and home heating, but filtering through to prices for a whole host of things that we rely upon. for more on thisjoining me now is fiona cincotta from city index. take us into the minds

of market investors and why they're losing hope of a breakthrough. all prices fall earlier this week —— oil prices and are pushing higher now with the news coming through that peace talks are not coming in the right directions. that suggests we will have totes applied for oil for quite a while longer and also raises concerns over more sanctions on oil going forward. oil supply was tight even before week came across this ukraine crisis and that means oil prices will continue to be supported at these high prices so unless we see a substantial supply coming to the market we are not really going to be expecting oil prices to come lower. although creeping up again, still in a better position than this time last week.

is this the territory where you expect the price to remain until there's a breakthrough? it would take some sort of breakthrough in boosting production, progress in peace talks but even when there was progress in peace talks and if we did see a truce it is unlikely that the united states would remove the sanctions and are quickly so this price is likely to stay. what could push the price higher is any sign that europe are going to start putting sanctions on russian oil which seems terribly unlikely at the moment but it is that for that drove oil prices up to $113 per barrel early in the mind. that is eased at the moment but if it were times we could see oil prices push higher, otherwise i think we stand around the 100 dollar

mark. through all of the fighting an outline of a peace agreement seems to be emerging. in a phone call between president putin and turkey's president erdogan, the russian leader set out his demands. the bbc�*s world afairs editor, john simpson, who's in istanbul, has been given details of that call. half an hour after coming off the telephone call between president putin and president erdogan, ibrahim kalin started to tell me what had been happening. president putin is proposing six things. one is that ukraine should be neutral and shouldn'tjoin nato. well, it has already accepted that it shouldn't. there should be disarmament, which simply means that ukraine

wouldn't have the kind of heavy weapons to attack russia if it wanted to. thirdly, that it should protect the russian language inside ukraine. and fourthly, the question of denazification. this is kind of a strange thing. to my mind, i still haven't really figured out what that means because ukraine... it is a bit insulting to ukraine, isn't it? yes, of course, and they completely reject that, of course. i mean, there has never been that kind of nazification on ukraine, ukrainian lands. but the russian side has brought this up. however, that is one of the easier items to deal with. those are the four easy things. now for the two difficult ones. they are both territorial. one is about donbas, although the turks were much, much vaguer about the details of this, but it could be that russia would demand the independence of those two small russian—speaking statelets in east ukraine.

and the second is crimea. and this meeting between president putin and president zelensky should take place sooner rather than later, because it is only at that level, at the strategic level where leaders meet, i think the key decisions will be taken, and hopefully a permanent ceasefire and a permanent peace agreement will be reached. all other initiatives are important. they help. but ultimately, you know, it is president putin who is going to call this thing off. now, of course, russia took crimea off ukraine illegally in 2014. now, maybe, russia wants to force ukraine to say that the taking of crimea was legal, which will be a very, very bitter

pill for ukraine to have to swallow. can i ask you finally, you were just a few minutes ago listening to president putin talking on the phone. there has been quite a lot of speculation about his state of mind, about his sanity even, and his health and so on. what did you think? what was your impression as you listened to him? he was the same as usual. calm, confident. he didn't talk about nuclear or anything. and he talked about the negotiations and the items on the table. you know, it was kind of around that tone and framework. and calm? and calm, yeah. all remaining covid travel restrictions for people entering the uk have now been lifted. the change came into effect in the early hours of this morning, but the government says it has contigency plans in case of another variant in the future.

our health correspondent michelle robertsjoins me now. it is tempting to think with the uk government lifting these last travel restrictions that in the uk the view is covid is pretty much all there as a problem, is that overstating it? it is and there is a lot of the virus around and we will get more up—to—date figures in the next ten minutes but from what we know at the moment around one in 25 people in the uk currently have covid so there is plenty of it around. anecdotally, i had to spreading fast. i many people who have gone down with it. across europe and asia we are hearing about a rise in covid cases. we note that the vaccines are doing a greatjob in preventing against a severe disease but they're not stopping reinfection is our new infections. that is why we are

seeing many new cases but the strategy for managing that is varying. there are some lockdown is happening in china at the moment. severe new measures and in hong kong where it appears that some people are getting very, very sick. and that concerns her match —— how much vaccine has gone into peoples arms and in the uk we are starting next week to vaccinating the higher rest and over 75 is and people with health conditions with a fourth booster doors. in china and other places that has been some vaccinating but not the high, high risk have got the same coverage as the uk. when you talk about things such as systematic fourth booster doses, how many countries have the capacity to deliver that question mark mine for many parts of the world they are still struggling to get real coverage of first and

second doses. this is a global problem and what the world health organization keep reminding people. we are still in the pandemic in the virus itself is not really changed and we see but it can still be lethal for some people and the real weapon against that is vaccines. a quick final one, how far out in front is the uk with this lifting of pretty much all travel restrictions? is that being followed elsewhere is that quite unusual? much of europe and america and canada as well as looking at moving towards living with covid so restrictions are riesing but it does not mean necessarily it will continue on a smooth path. we will have bumps in the road and this virus is not over yet. just a reminder you can catch all the latest news on bbc news on the ukraine war. missiles of landed

close to lviv and that is diplomacy with joe close to lviv and that is diplomacy withjoe biden talking to the chinese leader. weather—wise, a perfect spring day across much of the country, the morning mist and fog has cleared, some cloud pushing up to eastern coast of northern a little more cloud for shetland. for most, blue skies into the afternoon, a bit of a

base in the north, later further south and with that sunshine overhead, it will feel pleasantly warm as we go to the second half of the day. 13—16 c for the vast majority. what we would expect at this stage in march. temperatures will drop out of the sun, and there is more of a breeze, less fog, the main risk area across parts of north—east england, particularly developing around york and then by fog patches into the morning, in scotland most likely to see frost to start the weekend. we go into the weekend as we finish the week, high—pressure to the east of us. that wind picking up on saturday, but for most of you, i will be a case of blue

skies overhead yet again. barely a cloud in the sky for the vast majority, the mist and fog in north—east england fades away, most of the cloud being kept at bay by those winds out into the atlantic. the one will be travelling across, a chilly north sea, picking up today. you'll feel colder across eastern coasts compared with this afternoon. sheltered western coasts will see the highest of temperatures, 15—16 quite widely. we could get up to 17, may be 18 in parts maybe 18 in parts of north—west scotland where the warmest conditions will be on saturday afternoon. on sunday those temperatures will drop all of us, a chilly day most notably across eastern parts of the country, and it is here we like to see a bit more

cloud develop. there will be cloud around here and there, some towards the channel islands, south—west england and into northern ireland, across eastern parts of and especially, the cloud could thicken up to produce a few showers late in the day. the temperatures, single figures for some along the eastern coast and in the us, 12—14 instead of the 15th and 16th of saturday. across eastern parts of and especially, the cloud could thicken up to produce a few showers late in the day. the temperatures, single figures for some along the eastern coast and in the us, 12—14 instead of the 15th and 16th of saturday. next week high—pressure still with us, dry, and if anything warmer.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories... russian missiles have struck an aircraft repair plant near the airport in lviv in western ukraine. the city has become a safe haven for people fleeing the invasion. the mayor says the attack shows that no place is safe in ukraine. this really shows there are no safe cities. we are under attack, because that shelling happened from the territory of the black sea and nobody can forecast where the next missiles would go. ukraine's capital kyiv continues to be targeted by russian air strikes. a residential neighbourhood in a northern district is the latest to be shelled.

the kremlin backed news channel rt has its licence to broadcast in the uk revoked — the watchdog ofcom says it's not a "fit and proper" channel. ukrainian refugees wanting to come to the uk can now apply for visas to be sponsored by british families, under the government's homes for ukraine scheme. demonstrations are taking place at ports across the uk in outrage at p80 ferries, which sacked 800 staff to replace them with agency workers. there have been a series of explosions close to the city of lviv. ukraine's most westerly

major city has, so far, been seen as a place of sanctuary for many fleeing russian attacks further east. earlier today, a large plume of smoke was seen rising from the area around the international airport. that's around six kilometres from the city centre. sadovy, the mayor of lviv, says an aircraft repair facility was hit, rather than the airport itself. so far, no—one has died and one person has been reported as injured. these latest attacks come as russian president, vladimir putin lays out his demands in exchange for what he describes as a �*peace deal�* with ukraine. he will hold talks with the french president today. in other talks, president biden will speak with his chinese counterpart, xijinping, in a few hours�* time. mr biden is expected to insist that china will pay a price if it supports russia�*s

invasion of ukraine. meanwhile, kremlin—backed broadcaster, rt has had its license to broadcast in the uk revoked. and poland�*s interior ministry says a total of more than two million people have now crossed into the country from ukraine since the war began. our first report this hour from our correspondent, sean dilley. russia�*s war in ukraine just took another step closer to the west. these pictures show what ukrainian authorities say was a russian shelling from the sky. just 70 kilometres away from a nato member, poland�*s border. lviv has been removed from much of the violence, which has been concentrated in the north—east. hello, everybody. arnold schwarzenegger is the latest high—profile figure to appeal directly to occupying forces, to lay down their weapons. he recalls his father

fighting for the nazis. he lived the rest of his life in pain, pain from a broken back, from the shrapnel that reminded him of those terrible years, and pain from the guilt that he felt. ukrainians continue to push back. the russians are here with the locals are not making it easy for them was that the situation is echoed in other parts of the country. the russians insist their actions are justified. units of the people's republic are fighting against nationalists in the city centre. aware how nato involvement could lead to a short pass to world war iii, the west remains resolute they will not be committing bits on the ground. that does not mean they are not involved. i thank the congress for appropriating these funds. this new package will provide unprecedented assistance to ukraine. the united states hasjust

upped its financial commitment to a billion us dollars to help ukrainian defences. among the pledged aid, weapons, state—of—the—art technology that makes president putin�*s task harder. air to air missiles, tank destroying rockets and drones that can be used to bomb enemy targets. amid the mist and horror, the tantalising prospect of what had until recently been taken for granted, peace in ukraine. but for all this to end, moscow has its price. yesterday president putin shared his demands with his turkish counterpart. some will be easy for ukraine to agree to, notjoining nato and remaining neutral chief among this. other issues such as territory

in ukraine and the ownership of crimea which was annexed by russia in 2014 are still to be discussed. a conversation zelensky and putin have agreed to have, and if the can agree, the scenes, the death and destruction, the humanitarian crisis could all stop. in the last few minutes, the mayor of lviv, andriy sadovy, has been giving an update on the attack — take a listen... translation: they have entered the oint that translation: they have entered the point that the — translation: they have entered the point that the premise _ translation: they have entered the point that the premise of _ translation: they have entered the point that the premise of the - point that the premise of the aircraft repair plant have been destroyed, and though we decided to take all the production away from those premises, even before, only one person was wounded, it was moderate severity, moderate degree wound but nobody has perish, but this really shows there are no safe

cities. we are under attack, because that shelling happened from the territory of the black sea and nobody can forecast where the next missiles would go. earlier, our correspondent, james reynolds, who�*s in lviv — told me what it was like in the city when the explosions went off. everyone here heard air raid sirens at about 6:09 in the morning. i know the precise time because that is what the app tells you, everyone here who has a mobile phone has downloaded the air raid warning app and that went off, sirens were heard across the city. here is one of the points, the sirens are often every night, so some people decide to move to shelters, others were so exhausted from the war, continue dozing, but with the air raid warning going off

in the background. that died down, some people got to shelters and a few minutes later we understand about 6:25 there were those four explosions on the western outskirts of the city. anyone who was not in the shelter would have heard those explosions, but having spoken to people here now, many people didn�*t. they will have only noticed that something happened when they opened their curtains and got out of their shelters. it was already light at that time, and if anyone looked towards the west of the city they would have seen a plume of smoke from the airport area. and then about 20 minutes or so, when people did not know what had been hit. rumours were going that it was the airport, and it turns out as we�*ve been hearing in the news, it was an aircraft repair centre. once that was confirmed people surge understand exactly what had happened. i want to tell you about the walk i have just done. i went to speak to a florist now

asked her about her experience, she�*d been extremely worried because her partner, her husband was working in a supermarket overnight. she wanted to check if he was ok. i went into a stationary store, two older women were serving customers selling fluorescent pens, i asked them if they were ok, one woman said she was extremely afraid. i went to a restaurant serving japanese food, two young servers who were already in wearing uniforms, getting ready, no one was there. but they said they had seen information about the attack online, they had been dozing in the morning and they wanted to carry on working. i then spoke to a musician who said he had actually been alerted to what happened here by text from friends in the rest of ukraine who had got to the internet before him, because he was dozing during the air raid siren. he and his wife then took their dog for a walk. i guess there are two elements here to the russian attack on that facility. one is aiming at a strategic asset of the ukrainians, the other is to i imagine spread fear in those parts of ukraine, which thus far have been relatively safe. it is it your impression from talking to all of those people and seeing what is happening in lviv that some who viewed lviv

as a sanctuary may now be having second thoughts? i think what struck me when i spoke to those people there was they had already been afraid, that this wasn�*t really a total safe haven, that people had used it more of a way station on their way through to what people would consider real safety. like poland, a two hour drive. that drive still possible, but people here have thought there was some kind of safety, and by that some kind of safety, i mean this. if you leave your house in the morning and go to the market, go to the shops, people here would think, they will probably be able to return without worrying. in other parts of the country in kyiv, and so on, that simple trip to the shop is not a lot more complicated and worrying, but now

people here are inheriting some of the worried that they will have seen from relatives and friends across the country. russia�*s foreign minister, sergei lavrov, has been talking on the rt television station which has just had its licence revoked by britain�*s media regulator — he said that the us and the west are pushing for a world in which russia has no influence. i think what we witness in ukraine is the quintessence of the western strategic course to marginalise russia, to contain russia, to stop russia�*s development, and to reduce russia to zero role in world politics and world economy, world trade, world sports, art, science, education. and we observe unprecedented steps, our western colleagues are taking,

and one of the underlying strengths is the united states�* desire, which has been much more manifested by the biden administration, to come back, and if you wish, they are trying to take the melting pot concept from their soil and to be the melting pot for the entire world and they would be the melters. the european union already, i think 99% stopped trying to be independent, president macron keeps repeating that strategic autonomy for the european union ais his goal and he will be fighting for it, but my guess is he will not succeed. germany is already absolutely ready to be under the united states�* orders, and the situation

with nord stream 2 clearly indicated what exact place in world politics germany occupies now. as sanctions intensify against russia, the uk media regulator has revoked the licence of the broadcaster, rt, which used to be known as russia today. ofcom said it did not consider the russian—backed television station to be "fit and proper". the company complained it had been "falselyjudged", and said the british public had been robbed of access to information. president biden will urge china not to provide russia with military equipment for its war in ukraine, when he holds talks on the phone with his chinese counterpart today. us officials have criticised beijing for failing to denouce the invasion, warning that china has a responsibility to use its influence on vladimir putin to defend international rules and principles.

i�*m joined now by dr zeno leoni, an expert on china from the defence studies department at king�*s college london. thanks forjoining me. let me put it bluntly, how much leveraged asjoe biden have with president xi jinping of china right now?— of china right now? biden has very little leverage, _ of china right now? biden has very little leverage, because _ of china right now? biden has very little leverage, because this i of china right now? biden has very little leverage, because this is i of china right now? biden has very little leverage, because this is not| little leverage, because this is not about the personal relationship between biden and xijinping, this is about the fact there are structural problems between the united states and china. for good reason, we forgot about the fact that prior to the invasion of ukraine, there was a trade war between the united states and china that was going on, and we remember

how little the sanctions, the trade sanctions put in place by the trump administration could do to change the foreign policy or internal politics of china. i think biden here is trying to use the crisis in ukraine to put china under the spotlight, and to see whether china finally wants to try to become a responsible great power, and i think the indication here is that there is a hegemonic parting here because china does not want to play that role yet. china does not want to play that role et. . .., , ., china does not want to play that role et. ~ , ., . ., , role yet. the americans are clearly worried china _ role yet. the americans are clearly worried china might _ role yet. the americans are clearly worried china might choose - role yet. the americans are clearly worried china might choose to i role yet. the americans are clearly| worried china might choose to both economically, financially or maybe even militarily support vladimir putin�*s war machine. do you think the chinese will take a decision? i don't think so at this stage, don�*t think so at this stage, because the problem is that russia

is having on the ground in ukraine cannot be easily fixed by buying a few more missiles from china. as far as we know, these are related to the morale of troops, logistics, planning. on the other hand, china was to provide lethal weapons to russia, that would drag china directly into a proxy war with ukraine, with nato in ukraine. militarily you don�*t see it happening in terms of training support, but clearly russia is looking to china for major economic and financial support, given the level of sanctions in the west. is putin going to get what he wants and that from? {in putin going to get what he wants and that from? ., ., ~ that from? on the one hand, i think china could — that from? on the one hand, i think china could do _ that from? on the one hand, i think china could do just _ that from? on the one hand, i think china could do just enough - that from? on the one hand, i think china could do just enough to i that from? on the one hand, i think china could do just enough to keepl china could dojust enough to keep russia a float, perhaps by using its banks, companies and currencies to help russian trade and the economy

to bypass the sanctions. on the other hand, we shouldn�*t assume that the kremlin will be happy... to become a vessel state of china, to the kremlin will be very witty in that regard. help may be minimal, just enough to keep russia afloat. very interesting insight. i thank you very much indeed. more than two million refugees have crossed the ukrainian border into poland, many of them children. 65,000 have already started in polish schools but they�*re expecting many more, with special classes giving ukrainian children an introduction to the polish language and education system. our correspondent danjohnson joins us from krakow not far from the ukrainian border. these are ukrainian refugees who are registering here for the equivalent

of a national insurance, id number, so they can claim benefits and so the polish families that have taken on so many refugees can get the payments they have been promised by the polish government is up a major milestone today as we had 2 million ukrainian refugees having come across the border into poland, more than any other country, and it is putting pressure on the services and the accommodation here in krakow and other cities, but i want to talk about the children. i don�*t know if you can see these guys playing here, is the faces of those kids that provide some of the most uplifting images of this whole refugee crisis. their positivity, but there are also some incredibly sad stories there, we know now that children make up at least 700,000 of those 2 million refugees who have come to poland, and around 65, 70,000 are already in school here, getting integrated into polish life. there�*s little sign artem started here only a fortnight ago. and victoria just last week.

now they learn in a different language, get used to a new school, and try to make friends — all despite the added weight of running from war and being cut off from family. translation: i've lost my friends. they were scattered around the world. some of them are in poland, in different cities. some are in georgia, some in slovakia, in germany. but we communicate through apps. we are in touch. artem�*s concern is for his mum — who�*s here, helping the school translate. translation: i worry so much - about my relatives, about my mother, because they are so stressed. they were not ready to move from ukraine and leave their house, but the situation is like this and we have to get used to it. this is life. not every refugee kid has this chance yet, by any stretch. space in the classrooms is a real constraint, and the language barrier

is a serious difficulty. and, every day, more ukrainian children arrive. hundreds of thousands are already here. across town, there�*s space for mums to work and toddlers to play. like so many, krystyna�*s on her own with three—year—old katyusha. she�*s growing up, she�*s becoming stronger, and... i hope she won�*t remember why it was that i�*m trying to give it to her like an adventure — that we are on holiday, and we are visiting friends and we are just...travelling. but now, more and more often, she asks to go back to daddy and... ijust cannot explain her why we cannot do it at the moment, i cannot find the right words, why it�*s not possible.

singing happy birthday. children on the move sing happy birthday in many languages. krystyna�*sjoined herfriend sofia, and her three daughters, to celebrate darina turning seven. translation: the children are fine when mum is fine. | so are you fine? so—so! translation: i have no way out. i have three children. i am here alone. i have to pull myself together and do what i can do. young lives are being shaped, and milestones marked — away from home and without family. darina�*s birthday wish? to be with her dad. danjohnson, bbc news, in krakow, poland. there are growing efforts to try to

spread the pressure across this country and others. also attempts to house all the refugees, to look after everyone and to provide some fun and light relief for the kids, to see these playing is really enjoyable. they have been having fun, performing to our camera and microphone, and it�*sjust like that that really do give you some hope amidst all the gloom of this refugee crisis. that�*s great to see, thank you very much indeed. a backlash against p&o ferries is growing after the firm sacked 800 staff without giving them any notice. the government said it would review its contracts with p&o ferries after it fired its employees, planning to replace them with cheaper agency staff. unions hit out against the dismissal, saying it marked a "dark day" in the shipping industry. p&o said it was a "tough" decision but it would "not be a viable business" without the changes. there are more protests going on today.

the transport secretary grant schapps has condemned p&o�*s actions this morning. he was making a speech at the conservative spring conference in which he praised the covid furlough scheme, and used the opportunity to express the government�*s anger at what had happened. up and down the land, including a shipping company called p&o. so now i want to take the opportunity to put on record my shock and my dismay at the insensitive and brutal treatment of its employees yesterday. applause. sacked, sacked via a pre—recorded zoom video with just 30 minutes notice, no way to treat employees in the 21st century. our correspondent duncan kennedy is in dover.

thanks forjoining us. clearly you are at some sort of demonstration, what is going on?— are at some sort of demonstration, what is going on? about two to 300 --eole are what is going on? about two to 300 people are marching _ what is going on? about two to 300 people are marching along - what is going on? about two to 300 people are marching along the i people are marching along the seafront here in dover, relate to express their support, and their disgust at what has happened to these p&o workers. here we have firefighters, teachers, nurses, local people from dover. i�*ve spoken to many of them and they say they have come along to support these workers and to register their anger at what has happened to them. we�*ve got the head of the rmt here who said what the p80 company have done is completely illegal and what they are trying to do here is convey the whole union wide movement support for these workers with the hope of trying to get those job cuts reverse, but there is no sign that

p&0 reverse, but there is no sign that p&o are going to be doing that. they haveissued p&o are going to be doing that. they have issued these redundancy notices to these workers, and at the moment that seems to be the position they are sticking to it. the union guide is here and all the people you speak to here are saying it is illegal what has happened, p&o should have consulted, should have told the government what is happening, but they say none of that has been done and that these workers have just been sacked on the spot. so what you�*ve got here are the people who work alongside these ferry workers, the guys who act for them with the union and just other people who are saying that this must not be allowed to stand, there must be ways of stopping this, trying to put pressure on piano to reverse it, this is just one way of getting their voice across. —— on p&o to reverse it. thank you forjoining us down there in dover. we�*ll bring you all the latest on the ukraine crisis here on

bbc news. do keep it here and stay with us. goodbye for now. weather—wise, a perfect spring day across much of the country, the morning mist and fog has cleared, but some low cloud pushing up to eastern coast of northern, a little more cloud close to the western isles and shetland. for most, blue skies into the afternoon, a bit of a breeze in the north, ligher wind further south and with that strengthening sunshine overhead, it will feel pleasantly warm as we go to the second half of the day. 13—16 c for the vast majority. above where we would expect at this stage in march. temperatures will drop out of the sun, and there is more of a breeze, less fog, the main risk area across parts of north—east england, particularly the vale of york with dense

fog patches into the morning, and scotland most likely to see frost to start the weekend. we go into the weekend as we finish the week, high—pressure to the east of us. huge area of high pressure across europe, we are on the fringes of it and it�*s going to be breezier as we go through the weekend. that wind picking up on saturday, but for most of you, it will be a case of blue skies overhead yet again. barely a cloud in the sky for the vast majority, the mist and fog in north—east england clears away, most of the cloud being kept at bay by those winds out into the atlantic. the one will be travelling across, a chilly north sea, picking up relative to today. you�*ll feel colder across eastern coasts compared with this afternoon. temperatures 9—12 celsius. sheltered western coasts will see the highest of temperatures, 15—16 quite widely. we could get up to 17, maybe 18 in parts of north—west scotland where the warmest conditions will be on saturday afternoon. on sunday those temperatures will drop for all of us, a chillier day, most notably across eastern parts of the country,

and it is here we�*re likely to see a bit more cloud develop. there will be cloud around here and there, some towards the channel islands, south—west england and later into northern ireland, but across eastern parts of england especially, the cloud could thicken up to produce a few showers late in the day. the temperatures, single figures for some along the eastern coast and in the us, 12—14 instead of the 15th and 16th of saturday. showers will drift upwards from those eastern coasts, clearing into monday. next week, high—pressure still with us, dry, and if anything it gets a little warmer.

this is bbc news — welcome if you�*re watching here in the uk or around the globe. i�*m stephen sackur. our top stories: russian missiles have struck an aircraft repair plant near the airport in lviv in western ukraine. the city has become a safe haven for people fleeing the invasion. the mayor says the attack shows that no place is safe in ukraine. this really shows there are no safe cities. we are under attack, because that shelling happened from the territory of the black sea and nobody can forecast where the next missiles would go.

ukraine�*s capital, kyiv, continues to be targeted by russian airstrikes. a residential neighbourhood in a northern district is the latest to be shelled. the kremlin—backed news channel rt has its licence to broadcast in the uk revoked — the watchdog ofcom says it�*s not a "fit and proper" channel. ukranian refugees wanting to come to the uk can now apply for visas to be sponsored by british families under the government�*s homes for ukraine scheme. demonstrations are taking place at ports across the uk in outrage at p80 ferries, which sacked 800 staff to replace them with agency workers.

through all of the fighting in ukraine, an outline of a peace agreement seems to be emerging. in a phone call between president putin and turkey�*s president erdogan, the russian leader set out his demands. the bbc�*s world afairs editor, john simpson, who�*s in istanbul, has been given details of that call. half an hour after coming off the telephone call between president putin and president erdogan, ibrahim kalin started to tell me what had been happening. president putin is proposing six things. one is that ukraine should be neutral and shouldn�*tjoin nato. well, it has already accepted that it shouldn�*t. there should be disarmament, which simply means that ukraine wouldn�*t have the kind of heavy weapons to attack russia if it wanted to.

thirdly, that it should protect the russian language inside ukraine. and fourthly, the question of denazification. this is kind of a strange thing. to my mind, i still haven�*t really figured out what that means because ukraine... it is a bit insulting to ukraine, isn�*t it? yes, of course, and they completely reject that, of course. i mean, there has never been that kind of a nazification on ukraine, ukrainian lands. but the russian side has brought this up. however, i think that is one of the easier items to deal with. those are the four easy things. now for the two difficult ones. they are both territorial. one is about donbas, although the turks were much, much vaguer about the details of this, but it could be that russia would demand the independence of those two small russian—speaking statelets in east ukraine. and the second is crimea.

and this meeting between president putin and president zelensky should take place sooner rather than later, because it is only at that level, at the strategic level where the leaders meet, i think the key decisions will be taken, and hopefully a permanent ceasefire and a permanent peace agreement will be reached. all other initiatives are important. they help. but ultimately, you know, it is president putin who is going to call this thing off. now, of course, russia took crimea off ukraine illegally in 2014. now, maybe, russia wants to force ukraine to say that the taking of crimea was legal, which will be a very, very bitter pill for ukraine to have to swallow. can i ask you finally, you were just a few minutes ago listening to president putin talking on the phone.

there has been quite a lot of speculation about his state of mind, about his sanity, even, and his health and so on. what did you think? what was your impression as you listened to him? he was the same as usual. calm, confident. he didn�*t talk about nuclear or anything. and he talked about the negotiations and the items on the table. you know, it was kind of around that tone and framework. and calm? and calm, yeah. three weeks into the russian invasion, drones have proven to be a useful tool for the ukrainian defence. especially the relatively cheap turkish tb2 drones, which carry lightweight, laser—guided bombs, and have helped slow down the russian advance.

but experts worry that as russia builds up its air defence systems, it will be harder to use them. i�*m joined now by the founder and ceo of drone ua whos have been helping ukraine�*s war effort. what are you doing grinning military? what are you doing grinning milita ? ,, ., ., what are you doing grinning milita ? ~ . . , what are you doing grinning milita ? ,, ., ., , ., military? -- ukrainian. they are ”rovidin military? -- ukrainian. they are providing support _ military? -- ukrainian. they are providing support to _ military? -- ukrainian. they are providing support to the - military? -- ukrainian. they are providing support to the police l military? -- ukrainian. they are i providing support to the police and joining the forces to protect our country. every citizen of ukraine is taking part in the defence so basically everybody who has any skills is bound to be useful for the wartime that is happening right now, useful to protect the government and

protect the country itself. we are using our technologies, our drawn is that we have used before in the agricultural and energy sector ——drones. but now the commercial market of drone pilots are looking for enemy troops using drones as a tool for surveillance, as intelligence.— tool for surveillance, as intelligence. tool for surveillance, as intelliaence. ,, ., ., intelligence. see you are all about about providing — intelligence. see you are all about about providing surveillance i intelligence. see you are all about about providing surveillance and l about providing surveillance and reconnaissance for the ukraine military. that makes your drones target. how many have you lost to russian fire? i target. how many have you lost to russian fire?— russian fire? i believe there are hundreds of— russian fire? i believe there are hundreds of them _ russian fire? i believe there are hundreds of them in _ russian fire? i believe there are hundreds of them in every - russian fire? i believe there are hundreds of them in every day l russian fire? i believe there are i hundreds of them in every day we lose them. this is not about the fire itself, about a different kind

of signal the russians are using to detect pilots of drones and the drones to make them unable to be controlled. they are trying to make it difficult to use drones for surveillance. it it difficult to use drones for surveillance.— it difficult to use drones for surveillance. it is quite clear ours is surveillance. it is quite clear yours is a — surveillance. it is quite clear yours is a surveillance - surveillance. it is quite clear. yours is a surveillance mission surveillance. it is quite clear- yours is a surveillance mission and yours is a surveillance mission and your drones are not armed. does ukraine have enough turkish drones which are armed to continue to use them to good effect? first which are armed to continue to use them to good effect?— them to good effect? first of all, this is important _ them to good effect? first of all, this is important to _ them to good effect? first of all, this is important to mention - them to good effect? first of all, this is important to mention that | this is important to mention that surveillance of forces and intelligence team is looking into enemy troops, there are sending the exact coordinates for the armed forces as well so they can shoot and fire and shoot the ground target from the sky and i am glad to see

that they are working extremely nicely. this is what we see from our official government channels. if they are enough, i would not say so. ukraine is in need of more arms, more defensive equipment, more anti—air equipment, but in the case of drones there will always be a lack of this equipment. we need more to protect our land.— to protect our land. fascinating to talk to you — to protect our land. fascinating to talk to you and — to protect our land. fascinating to talk to you and thank _ to protect our land. fascinating to talk to you and thank you - to protect our land. fascinating to talk to you and thank you very - to protect our land. fascinating to l talk to you and thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news. earlier i spoke to mikhail kasyanov, the former russian prime minister from 2000 to 200k. i asked for his opinion on this week's talks between russia and ukraine and what putin's strategy is.

i don't think that mr putin is serious in conducting talks with results that will be comfortable for the ukrainian people. i think mr putin wants to establish the neutral status of the country but most important for him is the official recognition crimea is part of putin's russia. mr putin is crazy about crimea

and cannot have his place in history decided he wanted to put himself in. i don't this negotiation will come to striking a real deal, they are getting the time for regrouping. last night there were little strikes, etc, and that is why i believe these negotiations are not serious conducted by mr putin's team. on the other hand, vladimir putin has problems. the british ministry of defence claims that the russian offensive is stalled in many places, but he also faces massive economic and financial challenges as a result of the very significant sanctions now in place put there by the united states and western allies. how worried do you think putin and

his team are worried by the impact of the sanctions? that is correct, very much worried indeed. yesterday when he had his broadcast with the conference with the members of the government, it was absolutely clear vladimir putin is nervous and members of his team are nervous because they did not expect such devastating sanctions. still there is some foreign exchange in the country as a result of purchases by germany and other countries of natural gas, but it is absolutely not comparable with what he had before and you can recall that mr putin mentioned that he was prepared, he prepared the country for new sanctions, but he didn't expect this, he didn't expect that sanctions would be so harsh, so strong, and right now they are strong and that is why they are very nervous, they don't know what to do

now, what to do with the next two or three days, to increase the invasion and get additional support of the resources they have, military resources, or to stop the circulation for vladimir putin that will be the beginning of his end. he has the choice, which do you think he will do? push on and double down or find a way to save face? i think he will find a way to progress and increase the invasion and at is why i am worried that something awful may happen. it is very difficult for him to be defeated. the recognition of neutrality of ukraine is not enough. let's cross to moscow now

where president putin is speaking on the anniversary of the russian takeover of crimea. translation: march 18, the day of returning crimea and sebastopol to the native just world on the planet. this together with millions of songs, perform a russian anthem, the symbol of greatness and strength and power of greatness and strength and power of our country and today together with us are great heroes. what of our country and today together with us are great heroes. what we are watching _ with us are great heroes. what we are watching is — with us are great heroes. what we are watching is a _ with us are great heroes. what we are watching is a pretty _ are watching is a pretty extraordinary event in moscow where thousands of people have gathered to

commemorate the eight year anniversary of russia formally annexed in crimea, the crimea territory taken from ukraine in a short military action ordered by vladimir putin in february 2014. in march 2014 the formal annexation of crimea into the russian federation took place. as you can see from the flag—waving, smiles and songs in celebration, vladimir putin is encouraging all russians to glory in this annexation of crimea on this eighth anniversary. vladimir putin is there and i believe he is going to speak to the big crowd but he clearly is not doing yet. i think we will leave this event for now and if we have flooded via putin speaking —— and if we have the speech from

vladimir putin we will bring you it when we get it. during the war in ukraine, we have spoken to many people who have escaped the fighting with their families but one family decided to leave kyiv when the airport was bombed and after sleeping on makeshift beds in the basement of a farmhouse 50km outside of the city, they finally made it to houston in texas. joining us to tell us about how he and his family escaped the war, it must be weird being in texas after your life in ukraine. how tough was getting out? it after your life in ukraine. how tough was getting out?- after your life in ukraine. how tough was getting out? it was very difficult with _ tough was getting out? it was very difficult with a — tough was getting out? it was very difficult with a lot _ tough was getting out? it was very difficult with a lot of _ tough was getting out? it was very difficult with a lot of unknowns, i tough was getting out? it was very difficult with a lot of unknowns, a l difficult with a lot of unknowns, a lot of things we were taking risks for, but we had to make the decision

because it was getting very dangerous where we were and so we had to really make a decision fast and it took us three days to get to the border but the first few hours with the most dangerous because we went into small routes through villages. locals were very helpful because we didn't have gps, we didn't have internet, so we managed to navigate us out of the main road but it was a very scary time. you are our but it was a very scary time. you are your ukrainian _ but it was a very scary time. you are your ukrainian wife and your family were holed up for some time in a farmhouse outside kyiv with russian forces mobilising on around you. if you had not left, given what you. if you had not left, given what you now know about what was happening in the neighbourhood, what you believe would have happened to you? i you believe would have happened to ou? .., you believe would have happened to ou? . ., , ., you believe would have happened to ou? .. , ., ., you believe would have happened to ou? , ., ., . , you? i can tell you that the city which was _ you? i can tell you that the city which was destroyed _ you? i can tell you that the city which was destroyed as - you? i can tell you that the city which was destroyed as a - you? i can tell you that the city which was destroyed as a town | you? i can tell you that the city - which was destroyed as a town very close to our village where the

farmhouses and the chechen forces had come in the day after the city was bombed on the day after we left the actually came to our village and went house to house, including our house, where our mother and lawyers. so i believe if they had phoned us there with new —— we would not have been very welcome. you there with new -- we would not have been very welcome.— been very welcome. you are in texas now, i been very welcome. you are in texas now. i believe _ been very welcome. you are in texas now. i believe you — been very welcome. you are in texas now, i believe you have _ been very welcome. you are in texas now, i believe you have decided - been very welcome. you are in texas now, i believe you have decided to i now, i believe you have decided to make a new life in the united states but i'm very interested to know if you feel ordinary americans are really engaged with what is happening in ukraine. presidentjoe biden calls it a fight for the forces of freedom against autocracy, but are ordinary americans around you caring about what is going on? yes, actually, i have a lot of friends were very engaged, notjust because i live there but in general they do believe in these principles.

it is good and evil. they are very engaged, paying attention, especially because it is a bipartisan initiative that we need to help ukraine, so i do believe americans are very engaged, especially because the principle is freedom, is democracy, is liberty, so i do believe they're watching this very closely and supporting very closely. lute this very closely and supporting very closely-— this very closely and supporting very closely. this very closely and supporting ve closel . ~ ., ., ,, ., very closely. we are thankful to you for 'oinini very closely. we are thankful to you forjoining us— very closely. we are thankful to you forjoining us and _ very closely. we are thankful to you forjoining us and sang _ very closely. we are thankful to you forjoining us and sang you - very closely. we are thankful to you forjoining us and sang you manage | forjoining us and sang you manage to get out for you —— with your family. let's cross to moscow now where president putin is speaking on the anniversary of the russian takeover of crimea. vladimir putin is in the stadium so farwe vladimir putin is in the stadium so far we have had a lot of celebration and songs before the appearance of the russian president. the event, as you can see, is continuing with a

lot of triumphalist speeches being made. we want to try to stick with it are at least keep a monitor on it because it is going to be very interesting to see what tone and what message vladimir putin takes when he addresses the huge crowd. the stadium i once visited, it is a huge stadium. there must be many tens of thousands of people inside it right now and it is unusual to see vladimir putin and such a public place. as you know in recent days and weeks he has usually been filmed, often with those famous long tables, but usually closeted inside his office and some people call it a bunker, very farfrom public his office and some people call it a bunker, very far from public view. but today clearly he has made a decision to be seen by the russian people. he is clearly not going to be on the podium for the next short while so we will keep an eye on that and we will bring it to you when

vladimir putin does indeed talk to that vast audience. ukranian refugees wanting to come to the uk can now start applying for visas to be sponsored by british families. more than 150,000 people have registered for the scheme by offering a room in their home or a vacant property. as of today uk households will be able to sponsor a ukrainian national�*s visa to enter the uk and host them for at least six months under the homes for ukraine scheme. the initiative was launched just two days ago with more than 100,000 housholds registering to support ukranian refugees in a single day. sarah hare is one of those individuals who has registered her interest and is currently going through the process. first of all, tell me about your situation and what you believe you can offer. me situation and what you believe you can offer. ~ . , situation and what you believe you can offer. ~ ., , ., can offer. me and my daughter live in very rural _

can offer. me and my daughter live in very rural herefordshire - can offer. me and my daughter live in very rural herefordshire near- can offer. me and my daughter livej in very rural herefordshire near the welsh border and when we were first aware of the terrible war over their and seeing the images of people fleeing, we made a unanimous decision that we needed to do something to help. we can, we have got quite a large three—bedroom bungalow, we have a lovely double spear room, so we signed up to the government scheme. —— a lovely spare room. we were very grateful it had become open and apparent and we have connected with the lady who has escaped, she isjust outside poland. she is li0 years old and on her own and in the early stages of pregnancy so it is vitally important we can get her over here as quickly as we can. i get her over here as quickly as we can. . , get her over here as quickly as we can, ., , ., get her over here as quickly as we can. ., , ., ~ ., ., can. i am interested to know how secific can. i am interested to know how specific you _ can. i am interested to know how specific you can _ can. i am interested to know how specific you can be _ can. i am interested to know how specific you can be about - can. i am interested to know how specific you can be about the - can. i am interested to know how| specific you can be about the type

of person you believe you can accommodate. i do not know if the woman you are talking about speaks english, is that important to you? she has been very honest that her english is weak and i have been communicating very well with her mother who is currently in america, her mother speaks perfect english, and has been the three—way conversationalist for us, giving us the information and reiterating it back to her. i have spoken to her briefly yesterday. she is in a place where she has very little wi—fi at the moment and from what her mother has explained it is podcasts that she can catch to communicate. you have committed _ she can catch to communicate. you have committed to _ she can catch to communicate. you have committed to six months for the first instance, are you sure this will work for you and your family? obviously this means a lot to you and i guess why you're doing it.

absolutely. we left it open, it's a huge commitment. however it is a humanitarian problem that you can't imagine anybody in this century ever having to go through so the six months is open, she can stay here for as long as is necessary and it is not a problem at all. i am also very fortunate that i have friends nearby who have done the same thing, registered as a sponsor and find somebody so we are going to have a support network. we somebody so we are going to have a support network-— support network. we wish you the ve best support network. we wish you the very best of _ support network. we wish you the very best of luck. _ support network. we wish you the very best of luck. i _ support network. we wish you the very best of luck. i hope - support network. we wish you the very best of luck. i hope that - support network. we wish you the very best of luck. i hope that the l very best of luck. i hope that the lady you have been topping to is able to reach the uk and indeed you can offer her that home for at least the next six months. —— the lady with whom you have been talking.

these are pictures from within the stadium and the performances are continuing. this is in essence about glorification of the annexation of crimea by russia in 2014. that is when it became plain vladimir putin had territorial ambitions inside ukraine, notjust the annexation of crimea but he also moved forces into the region of east ukraine known as the region of east ukraine known as the donbas and eight years on he has pushed a much more significant invasion force into ukraine and as the missiles rained down on ukrainian towns and cities in moscow tens of thousands of people have gathered to mark what they regard as the triumph of the annexation of

crimea. we will leave you with these images. much more to come on bbc news. we are looking at a lot of dry weather coming our way for the next week or so. we started off with a lot of fog but since then fog has been clearing out of away and most of us have clear blue sunny skies. just a bit of fair weather cloud for a time. the fine weather is brought by this big area of high pressure. because it is so big and intense it will not move very far or fast so when we look at the outlook that is not a great deal of lane and the forecast at all, it is a largely dry picture and at times the sunshine will feel pleasant out and about. today we have lots of that sunshine. just a little bit of fairweather cloud for a time. fairly brisk winds

for western scotland south west england. top temperatures higher than yesterday so it will feel a little warmer than outside. 13 in glasgow and 16 in london and cardiff. overnight tonight there will be more of a breeze so it does not get as cold and the mist and fog not get as cold and the mist and fog not as extensive but that could still be a few patches of fog and particularly through the vale of york and perhaps in two parts of eastern scotland. that sets us up for a fine weekend with lots of sunshine on saturday. more cloud around on sunday and it will feel colder, particularly across eastern areas. loads of sunshine from dawn till dusk threw saturday with early morning mist and fog lifting quickly out of the vale of york. gusty to what south west england with gusts of wind reaching li0 what south west england with gusts of wind reaching a0 to 50 mph so even although we have high pressure with this it will be pretty windy across south—west england and those winds come across the chilly waters of the north sea will peg back the

temperatures across eastern coasts of scotland and england whereas for the waste we are looking at temperatures lifting to round 15 or 16 degrees fairly widely. the warmest spot is likely to be across the north west of scotland were some of the valleys could get to around 16 or 17 degrees, one for the time of year. sunday's forecast, it will be cloudier and a good deal cooler, particularly across eastern areas. cloud is bringing showers especially across east anglia and perhaps other is of eastern england. we could even have a bit of soft hail mixed in with the showers. but there will be a lot of dry weather apart from that.

russia carries out an airstrike near the western ukrainian city of lviv. smoke was seen rising from an aircraft maintenance plant — no—one was hurt. but lviv�*s governor condemns the strike. translation: the enemy's strike against lviv is further proof - that it doesn't fight ukrainian troops, it fights its people — children, women, refugees. nothing is sacred for them. ukrainian officials say 130 people have been rescued from the rubble of a bombed theatre in mariupol. hundreds are said to still be trapped inside. but more than 1,000 are said to still be trapped inside. us presidentjoe biden

is speaking to his chinese counterpart this lunchtime — the first call between the leaders