this is bbc news. i'mjames reynolds, live in lviv. this is bbc news. russia carries out an air strike near the western ukrainian city of lviv. smoke was seen rising from an aircraft maintenance plant — no—one was hurt. lviv�*s governor condemns the strike. translation: the enemy 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. 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. us presidentjoe biden is speaking to his chinese counterpart this lunchtime, the first call between the leaders since the start of the conflict. president putin addresses russians at a major concert in moscow to celebrate eight years since the so called "reunification of crimea". in his speech, mr putin repeated his claim that the war in ukraine is an operation to save russian—speakers from genocide. translation: deliberate people from this suffering. — translation: deliberate people from this suffering, from _ translation: deliberate people from this suffering, from the _ translation: deliberate people from this suffering, from the genocide, - this suffering, from the genocide,

is the main aspiring motive of the military operation we started in donbas and in ukraine. and 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. you're watching bbc news. i'mjames reynolds, broadcasting live from lviv in western ukraine, where russian forces have carried out an air strike. a large plume of smoke was seen coming from an aircraft maintenance facility on the outskirts of the city. we saw that plume of smoke at about

6:30 in the morning as people emerged from shelters. it hit at a aircraft maintenance facility. lviv�*s mayor said no casualties had been reported. lviv is about a0 miles from the polish border, well away from the main battle zones in the east and south of the country. fighting has also intensified in the besieged port city of mariupol, with russia's defence ministry saying its separatist allies are �*tightening a noose' around the city with the help of moscow's forces. 0ur kyiv correspondent, james waterhouse, sent this report. the closest this war has got to the western city of lviv, four miles away towards the airport, and aircraft repair flood it with missiles launched from the black

sea. transition yellow the enemy 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. in kyiv, russia's advance has been frustrated by ukrainian resistance. take revenge for peaceful cities, this poster reads. 0ne soldier helped himself to ammunition dropped by invading troops. yet they haven't been able to turn around kyiv like they have other cities, people are still not safe, it has been another morning for a residential area like this has been hit by fragments of an intercepted missile. it has left the likes of this man to pick up the pieces. translation: my likes of this man to pick up the pieces. translation: my parents got this flat when _ pieces. translation: my parents got this flat when i — pieces. translation: my parents got this flat when i was _ pieces. translation: my parents got this flat when i was three _ pieces. translation: my parents got this flat when i was three years - pieces. translation: my parents got this flat when i was three years old - this flat when i was three years old backin this flat when i was three years old back in 1964. i celebrated my third birthday here. i lived all my life here. all my life. i got married here, my two children were born

here. in here, my two children were born here. ,., ,., here, my two children were born here. . , here. in the southern port city of mariupol. _ here. in the southern port city of mariupol, almost _ here. in the southern port city of mariupol, almost every - here. in the southern port city of mariupol, almost every building | here. in the southern port city of. mariupol, almost every building has been damaged from the relentless shelling. military experts say the city could fall within weeks. rescue teams are still trying to get to people trapped in a theatre bombed earlier this week while more than 1000 sheltered inside. volodymyr zelensky and vladimir putin said they are both willing to sit with each other and to negotiate peace. many ukrainians, the idea of making concessions to this conflict's aggressor in chief is not a popular one. they have already paid a high cost. here, five soldiers are laid to rest. the pain engraved on the faces of those they leave behind. james waterhouse, bbc

news, kyiv. the latest there on the conflict and all of those events which have been happening over the last years. across the border, russia has been holding a celebration to mark eight years since it admitted komiya to the russian federation after countries across the world considered it to be an illegal annexation of the territory which belongs to ukraine. there were thousands of people in a stadium in moscow including athletes, politicians and music stars. topping the bill was president putin himself, he has a little of what we had to say to celebrate what he said was the reunification of crimea. translation: deliberate people for this suffering. _ translation: deliberate people for this suffering, from _ translation: deliberate people for this suffering, from the _ translation: deliberate people for this suffering, from the genocide, i this suffering, from the genocide, is the main aspiring motive of the military operation we started in donbas and in ukraine. this is the objective. this is the aim. and you

know, i rememberthese objective. this is the aim. and you know, i remember these words from the bible. there is no other love other than if someone gives their soulfor their other than if someone gives their soul for their friends. words from the scriptures. and we are seeing the scriptures. and we are seeing the heroic deeds of our guys in this operation. that event was broadcast on russian tv — with a delay of around 30 minutes from when it started. the television coverage of president putin's speech came to a rather abrupt end. we wa nt we want to show it to you, take a look. mr putin, as you can see, was cut off in mid sentence. the coverage

reverted to an early performance. our correspondent at the stadium 0ur correspondent at the stadium says the speech continued after that, it mayjust have been a technical issue, we will try to find out and let you know. moving on, ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky has also been talking his own video message has been a reasonable contrast to that of mr putin in a credit stadium. translation:— putin in a credit stadium. translation: , , ., ., , translation: the russian invaders have continued _ translation: the russian invaders have continued their— translation: the russian invaders have continued their shelling - have continued their shelling policy. missile strikes, cruise missiles, we are taking them down as much as we can, and we destroyed the aircraft and helicopters, this is a respecting of the fact that so far, we don't have an anti—coup it anti—aircraft missiles system —— an

adequate anti—missile system, but our aim is adequate anti—missile system, but ouraim is clear, to adequate anti—missile system, but our aim is clear, to defend, to protect our country. president zelensky de vos we have heard from mr zelensky and mr putin, the two leaders on opposite sides of this conflict. but other leaders are weighing in as well. president biden is expected to ask beijing not to provide russia with weapons for its war in ukraine. in a phone call he is currently holding with his chinese counterpart xi jinping. china, and we look at china's was very carefully, has not condemned it and says it wants to remain neutral. paul adams has the latest. russia says its campaign is going well, releasing these pictures today perhaps to show its helicopter are still able to operate freely, but we don't know where these pictures are from an western officials say the russians are having to be extremely careful where they fly.

this is not the rapid russian attack everyone predicted. is that perhaps why peace talks are happening at all? they began early on in the war and have seem to gather pace but for older talk on progress like things like ukrainian neutrality there are still obstacles to overcome. what role if any is china willing to play? joe biden and xiejin ping and holding talks today. washington anxious to see of china's newly enhanced relationship with russia means that beijing is planning to help moscow to fight its war. this is an opportunity for president biden to assess where president xi jinping stands. there has been, of course, rhetorical support with the absence of clear rhetoric and denunciation or trhe absence of denounciation by china of what russia is doing. this flies in the face, of course, of everything china stands for.

but russia and china both argue the west is to blame. this is all about what they see as washington's determination to control the world and for moscow's veteran diplomat, to keep russia down. i think what we witness - in ukraine is the quintessence of the western course, - strategic course, to marginalise russia, to contain russia, - to stop russia's development. and to reduce russia to zero role. in moscow's luzhniki stadium today, a huge display of russian national pride. an event to mark eight years since the annexation of crimea, vladimir putin's first move to carve out pieces of ukraine. a russian member of parliament denounces alledged fascism in ukraine.

for all the scattered anti—war protests around russia, vladimir putin can still count on plenty of fervent support. paul adams, bbc news. an update on the conversation between biden and president xi jinping of china. in the last few minutes president xi has told president biden that the us must guide bilateral relations along the right track according to the chinese state media, which has clearly given the first lines from that. let's cross live to washington and speak with our correspondent there nomia iqbal. i was just i wasjust reading i was just reading those lines, they are not particularly illuminating at the moment, so perhaps a more general question, orthe the moment, so perhaps a more general question, or the united states and china on opposite sides of this conflict here in ukraine? that of this conflict here in ukraine? git the moment, very much so. and president biden�*s message to china

is basically, pick a side. the way the us says it is that china is trying to have it both ways. 0n the one and it is backing russia, doesn't even call this innovation but on the other hand it has said that ukraine is a sovereign country, and so biden wants china tojoin that ukraine is a sovereign country, and so biden wants china to join the west effectively to denounce russia, something that i would be very surprised to see china actually doing. china wants to be neutral in all of this. just to add to some of the lines that are coming out, as you mentioned, they come from chinese state tv so we have to be mindful of that. we will get a full readout at some point from the us are not that conversation was. but xijinping has told biden are not that conversation was. but xi jinping has told biden that the ukraine crisis is something we don't want to see, he has also said that state to state relations cannot advance to the stage of confrontation, that this confrontation, that this confrontation is not in the interests of anyone and he has also said that peace and security are the most treasured —— trick cherished treasures of the international

community. resident biden wants to test that. something the us is very concerned about is this claim that china is offering to help russia with its economy and its military, basically to get round the sanctions, which concerns america. there is no evidence, by the way, that america has provided to back up that america has provided to back up that claim and china has completely rejected it, but america has been very tough on that and president biden will be saying to xi jinping, if you cross that line, there will be consequences to pay. we have talked about diplomacy, let's talk about politics now in the united states. is there widespread popular support for president biden�*s policy on ukraine? ht biden's policy on ukraine? ut depends which policy you are talking about. when it comes to the fighter jets, for example, there are two things that president zelensky wants from america, as we saw in his

address. 0n fighter from america, as we saw in his address. 0nfighterjets, it's from america, as we saw in his address. 0n fighterjets, it's a bit more nuanced, there are certainly republicans who believe that america should be offering fighterjets. a couple of weeks ago, 40 senators wrote an open letter saying, give them fighterjets, give them the support they need. 0n the no—fly zone there is generally —— president biden is kind of fact on that because they also agree with his assessment and that of the secretary of state that if you implement a no—fly zone, then that could cause a confrontation between russia and nato troops and us troops, something they don't want, which could escalate to a world war. what is really interesting is that the opinion of the us public. recent opinion of the us public. recent opinion polls suggested that about 15% of americans would back a no—fly zone but when they were explained what that would mean in terms of an escalation and the support —— the

support sank for that. so at the moment, president biden is generally backed on some of his policies, not all of them. backed on some of his policies, not all of them-— backed on some of his policies, not all of them. thank you so much. to ick u- all of them. thank you so much. to pick up on — all of them. thank you so much. to pick up on the _ all of them. thank you so much. to pick up on the diplomacy, - all of them. thank you so much. to pick up on the diplomacy, we - all of them. thank you so much. to pick up on the diplomacy, we can . pick up on the diplomacy, we can speak now to the chief spokesperson for the e0. thank you forjoining us. the eu has said it's going to dramatically cut down on its purchases of russian energy. i wonder, though, how you might explain to ukrainians here the fact that the eu continues to finance russia and is essentially paying for the invasion?— the invasion? well, first of all, we are not paying _ the invasion? well, first of all, we are not paying for _ the invasion? well, first of all, we are not paying for the _ the invasion? well, first of all, we are not paying for the invasion, i are not paying for the invasion, quite the contrary, we are taking tough measures in order to cripple the ability of the kremlin to finance this brutal and bloody aggression which is totally illegal. we impose already four rounds of sanctions and not only the european union, these sessions have been

opposed by the us in the uk and other like—minded partners. these are massive sanctions and it is intended to cut down on the ability of the kremlin to finance the aggression. 0f of the kremlin to finance the aggression. of course we are very well aware of the demand by our ukrainian partner that we should get rid of the deliveries of oil and gas from russia, the eu acknowledges this, we are going to decrease and terminate our dependency on russian oil and gas and this is something that cannot be done on one date, we are working hard on this to make it are working hard on this to make it a reality. we are very much aware of what needs to be done in order to cut off the financial chords for putting to stop his ability to fund this bloody and illegal aggression against ukraine.— this bloody and illegal aggression against ukraine. going back to that oint, as against ukraine. going back to that point. as of— against ukraine. going back to that point, as of today, _ against ukraine. going back to that point, as of today, eu _ against ukraine. going back to that point, as of today, eu money - against ukraine. going back to that point, as of today, eu money is - point, as of today, eu money is still going to russia. how do you explain that ukrainians? fiur explain that ukrainians? our ukrainian — explain that ukrainians? our ukrainian friends, _ explain that ukrainians? oh“ ukrainian friends, partners, they know very well what the eu is doing

and support, both politically, diplomatically and economically. actually today we invest in about 300 million euros for a crane in order to help them to deal with the consequences of the invasion. we are providing assistance for the ukrainian army so we are doing what we can within the parameter —— but the parameters that are existing. some of the eu states are dependent on delivery of russian oil and gas but there is a termination this is what we're trying to explain to the ukrainian partners, there is strong determination to end it soon as it can so that we are really reinforcing the already massive impact of these listings sanctions on putin's war machine because the sanctions were introduced, they are actually bringing it up already, they are biting, the rouble has diwali, the financial markets and russia are basically in freefall. so they are taking effect and we are ready to do more. {lit they are taking effect and we are ready to do more.— they are taking effect and we are ready to do more. of course, but to reiterate that _ ready to do more. of course, but to reiterate that point, _ ready to do more. of course, but to reiterate that point, eu _ ready to do more. of course, but to reiterate that point, eu money - ready to do more. of course, but to reiterate that point, eu money is i reiterate that point, eu money is still as of now, going to russia.

the ukrainian president has accused the german economy of appeasement, for not doing enough to disassociate itself from its purchases with russia. how would you address that? again, the european union is totally 100% without any question committed to support of ukraine. we are standing on the side of ukraine and ukrainian people and we are trying to follow this up with concrete actions both as a diplomatic level, we are working on international isolation of putin and we are working intensively on efforts to achieve the ceasefire and the withdrawal of russian forces. 0n the other hand, we are taking economic financial steps to cripple his ability to finance this illegal aggression. again, when it comes to the energy supplies and deliveries, you cannot change the situation of dependency from one day to another. the eu was very clear in its determination to work on it very fast, very efficiently, and germany is one of the 27 member states who

are forming the consensus so let's not forget the determination, the actions that are being done and the efforts invested in stopping the war machinery which is now ongoing against the ukrainian people. and ukrainian partners know it and they know we are trying our best to change the current situation. thank ou so change the current situation. thank you so much- _ change the current situation. thank you so much. that's _ change the current situation. thank you so much. that's the _ change the current situation. thank you so much. that's the situation . you so much. that's the situation about diplomacy. i would like now to turn to look at what's going on back here on the ground in ukraine. with me is steve mcandrew, who is the head of emergency operations for the federation of the red cross in ukriane. you are here with me live, we all heard the sirens, we have the explosion, we saw the plume of smoke, what's the red cross doing? well, you said, we are right here where we are supposed to be. so right now, today is i'm talking to you we have red cross volunteers from one end of this country to another, crossing lines of conflict at the borders, helping people who are spilling out of ukraine, and

giving people food, water, shelter, housing, psychological support and other medical benefits is needed as best we can. the other medical benefits is needed as best we can-— other medical benefits is needed as best we can. .,,, , ., best we can. the red cross is meant to be able to — best we can. the red cross is meant to be able to cross _ best we can. the red cross is meant to be able to cross lines, _ best we can. the red cross is meant to be able to cross lines, to - best we can. the red cross is meant to be able to cross lines, to go i to be able to cross lines, to go from ukrainian advanced russian lines, that's the whole point of having the red cross, are you able to do that are having the red cross, are you able to do than . .,, having the red cross, are you able to do tha ., .,, ., ., ., to do that are able to do that. sometimes. _ to do that are able to do that. sometimes, not _ to do that are able to do that. sometimes, not all _ to do that are able to do that. sometimes, not all the i to do that are able to do that. sometimes, not all the time, | to do that are able to do that. i sometimes, not all the time, you have to realise it's a very dangerous proposition, so we have to do it safely and securely. so sometimes our colleagues in the international community of the red cross, they can get across, sometimes not. but i would point out we have russian red cross volunteers on different sides, polish red cross volunteers, and ukraine red cross volunteers, and ukraine red cross volunteers in the communities before, during and after and they are doing their best they possibly can, it isjust a continual gruelling struggle, and we are doing the best we can to help them stop live at the moment is quite quiet, many people are inside, a lot of

people are from the vet, some people have come here as evacuees or refugees. have come here as evacuees or refugees-_ have come here as evacuees or refu~ees. ~ . ., ., refugees. what can you do for them? ri . ht refugees. what can you do for them? riuht here refugees. what can you do for them? right here in — refugees. what can you do for them? right here in the _ refugees. what can you do for them? right here in the vic, _ refugees. what can you do for them? right here in the vic, it's _ refugees. what can you do for them? right here in the vic, it's a _ refugees. what can you do for them? right here in the vic, it's a city i right here in the vic, it's a city of around 700000 and it has almost doubled with displaced people. —— in lviv. we have about 1.8 million people displaced in western ukraine so we are doing everything we can to try and help them at least get some shelter, get some references, their basic needs, food, water and shelter but we are also supporting people that are going across the borders, and some people are even trickling back so we are doing what we can for all of them. ilil" back so we are doing what we can for all of them-— all of them. our people safe here? the are all of them. our people safe here? they are as — all of them. our people safe here? they are as safe _ all of them. our people safe here? they are as safe as _ all of them. our people safe here? they are as safe as they _ all of them. our people safe here? they are as safe as they can i all of them. our people safe here? they are as safe as they can be. i l they are as safe as they can be. i can't say yes to that, right? but they are safe in their spirit and safe in the numbers. i mean, people are very safe with each other because they carry each other in a way i've never seen.— way i've never seen. thank you so much forjoining _ way i've never seen. thank you so much forjoining us. _ way i've never seen. thank you so much forjoining us. i _ way i've never seen. thank you so much forjoining us. ijust - way i've never seen. thank you so much forjoining us. ijust expand| much forjoining us. ijust expand to people here what's going on.

things are reasonably quiet at the moment, people are still taking on the fact there was that strike in the fact there was that strike in the morning and they are wondering what happens next. there was yet another missile blast in kyiv this morning. 0ne another missile blast in kyiv this morning. one person was killed and 19 people were injured when parts of a downed russian missile crash landed his errant —— in a residential district. my colleague james waterhouse is there and sent us this report. this is the reality now for people living here, another morning this week were a residential district like this in the west of the city has been struck with the fragments of an intercepted russian missile. you can see the remnants of cars, wheelie bins, bike's, people's belongings and if you look up here, a whole side of the building has been ripped off, exposing people's homes. the power of this blast is plain to see. in that building just further down is a kindergarten. children would have been there every

window has been blown through. what we know so far is that one person has been killed and 19 injured. and yes, the city's defences are proving effective with those ground to air missiles, they are protecting its citizens but they can't be completely shielded by the reality of this war. james waterhouse in kyiv. it's funny to think that on a normal day before the war, if i had wanted to go to kyiv to see my colleague, it would be a six or seven hour drive and we could have had dinner together, but now kyiv, lviv and other cities are almost isolated from each other. you are able to travel but those journeys are dangerous and they take a long time. before we go, i want to take you through what life has been like here in lviv today. it is meant to be a refuge from the fighting that james waterhouse and my other colleagues in kyiv has been talking about but this morning everybody was

looking up at six o'clock by an air raid siren. some people said they carried on trying to go back to sleep but they were dozing, they usually ended up with nothing but on this occasion the were those four explosions, they happened about four miles behind me. as soon as the explosion happened, one a florist i spoke tojust now explosion happened, one a florist i spoke to just now called her husband, who was shift in a supermarket, to check he was another man who is a product designer and a hip—hop artist got messages from his friends in kyiv and tim didn't —— and dnipro asking if he was ok but it seems that people decided to carry on here. almost all shops are open. i spoke to two servers at a japanese food restaurant, they are ukrainians and they said they wanted to put on the uniforms and turn up to put on the uniforms and turn up to work on time, they had the menus ready and they wanted to continue serving people. ispoke ready and they wanted to continue serving people. i spoke to two women in the stationery shop who said they are scared, but they wanted to continue working and that they did not want to take that seven hour

trip across the border to poland. that's how things are looking now in lviv. do stay with bbc news. hello again. we are looking at a lot of dry weather coming our way for the next week or so. this morning we started off with some mist and fog patches, you can see some of these in the valleys in the peak district but since then, the fog has been clearing out of the way, most of us now have clear blue sunny skies. a little bit of fair weather cloud bubbling up for a time. the fine weather is brought to us by this big area of high pressure. because it is so big and intense it's not going to move very far very fast, hence when we look at the outlook, there is not a great deal of rain in the forecast. it is a largely dry picture, and at times this trend will feel pleasant out and about. today we have lots of the sunshine, just a little bit of fairweather cloud. still fairly brisk winds for

western scotland and south west england. top temperatures higher than yesterday, it will feel a bit warmer outside, 13 in glasgow, 16 in london and cardiff stop overnight tonight, there will be more of a breeze around so it doesn't get quite as cold, and the mist and fog will not be as extensive. but there could still be a few patches of frost and if few fog patches particularly through the vale of york, perhaps into parts of eastern scotland. but that will set us up for a fun weekend with lots of sunshine on saturday. a bit more cloud on sunday and it will feel a little bit colder as well, particularly across eastern areas. loads of sunshine from dawn until dusk on saturday, with that early morning mist and fog lifting quickly out of the vale of york. it will be gusty towards south west england, gusts of wind reaching around 40 to 50 miles an hour, so even though we have high pressure with us, it will be pretty windy across south west england. and those winds coming across the chilly waters of the north sea will peg back the

temperatures across the eastern coasts of scotland and england. whereas further west we are looking at temperatures lifting to around 15 or16 at temperatures lifting to around 15 or 16 fairly widely. the warmest spot is likely to be across the north west of scotland where some of the valleys could get to around 16 or 17 celsius. sunday's forecast, it will be cloudier and a good deal cooler, particularly across eastern areas. the cloud is bubbling up to bring some showers especially across east anglia and southern areas of eastern england, we could have a bit of soft hail mixed in with some of the showers. but a lot of dry weather apart from that.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories. 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. ukraine's capital kyiv continues to be targeted by russian airstrikes. a residential neighbourhood in a northern district is the latest to be shelled. president zelensky addresses the nation via video link. russian invaders have continued their shelling of our cities and our aim is clear, to defend and protect our country and our people. president putin hails what he calls a "special operation" in ukraine in front of tens

of thousands of supporters at a huge rally in moscow. to liberate people from this suffering, from of the genocide is the main inspiring motive of the military operation that we started in the donbas and in ukraine. us presidentjoe biden is speaking to his chinese counterpart this lunchtime, the first call between the leaders since the start of the conflict. more than 2 million people have now crossed from ukraine into neighbouring poland. we report on how children are being looked after. there have been a series of explosions close to the city of lviv.

ukraine's most westerly major city has, until now, been seen as a place of sanctuary for many fleeing russian attacks further east. earlier on friday, a large plume of smoke was seen rising from the area around the international airport. that's around six kilometres from the city centre. zhanna bezpiatchuk from the bbc ukrainian service is in lviv — and filed this report from near to the airport. i'm outside the lviv airport, and this is the perimeter wall of the airfield. the martial law does not allow us to film the premises of the airport or the entrance to it, but just on the opposite side from here, within one kilometre there is the aircraft repair plant that was targeted by russian missiles in the morning. the people were warned in

advance and it saved their lives. i can give you my personal account. this morning i was woken up to sirens going off and then when i looked at the window of my hotel room, i could see the black plume of smoke drifting across the horizon of lviv. this is the closest this kind of smog got to the historic centre of smog got to the historic centre of lviv, one of the most historical cities in ukraine and in eastern europe in general. hundreds of thousands of ukrainians fleeing the war in other parts of this country believed that they could find safety here in western ukraine, but unfortunately they are not safe here any more.

us presidentjoe biden, china's president xijinping, have been holding a phone call discussing the war in ukraine — in the last few minutes, chinese state media said xi told biden conflict is �*in no—one's interest�*. china hasn't condemned the invasion, and says it wants to remain neutral. i'm joined now by ianjohnson, senior fellow on china studies at the council for foreign relations in new york city. thanks forjoining us. we have got xijiping apparently, and i am caveat in this because these are lines coming from chinese state media saying that the ukraine crisis is something that we do not want to see, but we are hearing china call it a crisis and have not called it a war and have not condemned it. do they need to take a side on it before we even go anywhere near on

how to resolve this crisis or war? t how to resolve this crisis or war? 1 think from the point of view of china they wish this would go away. it is not in the interests of china and it's a terrible embarrassment to the foreign policy there has been pursued under xijiping to seek the foreign policy there has been pursued under xi jiping to seek out a large authoritarian country, that is what they thought was a strong country, which would be russia, and to form a quasi—alliance, a partnership with it and that is shown to be a strategic stake and they are paying a price for it because they are closely identified with russia even though they officially want to stay neutral, but as you say, they have not been able to use neutral language in describing the war. the to use neutral language in describing the war. we also have this line that _ describing the war. we also have this line that xi _ describing the war. we also have this line that xi jiping _ describing the war. we also have this line that xi jiping told i describing the war. we also have this line that xi jiping told joe i this line that xi jiping told joe biden that both china and the us must guide bilateral relations along the right track. ijust

must guide bilateral relations along the right track. i just wonder must guide bilateral relations along the right track. ijust wonder how thatis the right track. ijust wonder how that is meant to work if, as you say, there is that close relationship. we saw back in february president putin and xi jiping at the winter olympics. how can china and the us work together to guide the international community along the right track. t to guide the international community along the right track.— along the right track. i think xi jiinu is along the right track. i think xi jiping is repeating _ along the right track. i think xi jiping is repeating the - along the right track. i think xi jiping is repeating the vague . jiping is repeating the vague marshmallow wanting to have it both ways kind of language we have seen coming out of beijing in the last few weeks. , refusing to condemn this even though china talks about the territorial integrity of ukraine saying people should not get involved and that anything to eventually defend ukraine, sending weapons or supplies is just fuelling the fire of the conflict as if it were also somehow ukraine's fault as well. so this ambiguity, this desire to stick one's head in the sand has

characterised the chinese approach in the last few weeks but essentially i think it is not tenable and i think this is whatjoe biden and other talks over the past few days have been telling china, that you have to take some kind of position on this and you cannot be friends with everybody and we would like to mediate but we haven't actually done anything and we are against the humanitarian crisis and they have not offered any aid, some $900,000 worth of aid, and we up seeing the us push china to try and show its colours and to give it an opportunity to take a constructive role in the conflict. t opportunity to take a constructive role in the conflict.— role in the conflict. i guess when it comes to _ role in the conflict. i guess when it comes to the _ role in the conflict. i guess when it comes to the disruption, i role in the conflict. i guess when it comes to the disruption, the i it comes to the disruption, the level of destruction we are seeing, we have a weakened russia and the international community disrupted because of this huge number of people also on the move and there's a lot of displacement we are

witnessing. i guess china wins out of all of this and whatever happens, china has already won by being strong in the sense that they are not as impacted and then i guess, what does the international community do? are they looking at thai one? if the international community doesn't react now and we are seeing nato not reacting now, what happens to those areas that china is interested in? —— are they looking at thai one? we: china is interested in? -- are they looking at thai one?— looking at thai one? it's had two effects on _ looking at thai one? it's had two effects on china. _ looking at thai one? it's had two effects on china. on _ looking at thai one? it's had two effects on china. on one - looking at thai one? it's had two effects on china. on one hand i looking at thai one? it's had two l effects on china. on one hand you can say it has had a bad effect because it it has hurt its international reputation by aligning itself so closely with russia, even if it now proclaims that it is neutral, it is still closely identified as being russia's best friend in the international community and it's not a good look for china and also the economic turmoil we are seeing coming out of this, high inflation around the world, slower growth, don't forget

china is closely tied into the international economy and that will not help china and it is or rate —— already facing slower growth. this is an incredibly important year for xijinping and they want is an incredibly important year for xi jinping and they want to have everything go very smoothly until the autumn when he gets a third term as president, so in that sense it's not good for china and i think the positive side is that if russia comes out of this week, which inevitably will, and it's not able to sell its resources to western europe, gas and oil which is slowly being cut down on, if not outright boycotted immediately then china will be positioned to buy all of this at some kind of discounted price and that would probably help china, so it will put itself in a more powerful position vis—a—vis russia which will be helpful to china. in terms of taiwan it's harder to tell. they are quite different situations and china would

have to be impressed, or let's say worried by the international reaction to ukraine. it's quite a remarkable show of solidarity by open societies and democracies around the world, notjust in the west and that would have to worry china were they to do something against taiwan. tan china were they to do something against taiwan.— china were they to do something against taiwan. ian johnson, thank ou for against taiwan. ian johnson, thank you for reacting — against taiwan. ian johnson, thank you for reacting so _ against taiwan. ian johnson, thank you for reacting so quickly - against taiwan. ian johnson, thank you for reacting so quickly to i against taiwan. ian johnson, thank you for reacting so quickly to the i you for reacting so quickly to the lines coming through from that conversation between xi jinping and joe biden. nearly 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. 0ur correspondent danjohnson is in krakow, not far from the ukrainian border.

absolutely. poland has felt the pressure. more refugees arriving from ukraine into poland than any other country and it has now crossed that staggering figure of 2 million refugees in the last three weeks. this is the arena, the constant venue on the edge of crack off which is being used as a registration centre. and this is where they come to give their details and get a polish id number —— edge of krakow. that is so they have the right to live and work as promised by the polish government and will entitle polish government and will entitle polish families hosting refugees to the payments that have been offered to the polish government, around 7 euros a day for each ukrainian they are able to take in and we've seen such enormous generosity from local people and charities and organisations and we've also seen the official effort from the authorities are stepping up but i want to talk a little bit about children because they are a huge

number of those refugees, about 700,000 of those 2 million are children that have come from ukraine into poland and there are already efforts to integrate them into polish life. i have to say we have seen children playing here this morning and have been performing into the camera and microphone on the strength of their spirit is really impressive and really positive but also it is seeing the faces of some of those children at times that tells you some of the saddest stories of this refugee crisis, but there are impressive efforts to try to make them feel at home and they've already started, many of them, going to school. there is little sign that our term started here only a fortnight ago. and victoria, just last week. now they learn in a different language and 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. tare added weight of running from war and being cut off from family.— being cut off from family. i've lost my friends- _ being cut off from family. i've lost my friends. they _ being cut off from family. i've lost my friends. they were _ being cut off from family. i've lost my friends. they were scattered l my friends. they were scattered around the world. some of them are in poland, in different cities and some are in georgia and some in slovakia and germany but we communicate through apps. we are in touch. macro one —— are ten's concern is for his mother who is here helping the school translate. 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 the house, but the situation is like this and we have to get used to it. this is life. this and we have to get used to it. this is life-— this is life. not every refugee kid has this chance _ this is life. not every refugee kid has this chance yet _ this is life. not every refugee kid has this chance yet by _ this is life. not every refugee kid has this chance yet by any - this is life. not every refugee kid. has this chance yet by any stretch. space in the classrooms is a real constraint on the language barrier is a serious difficulty and every day more ukrainian children arrive.

hundreds of thousands are already here. across town, the space for mums to work and toddlers to play. like so many, christina is on her own with her three—year—old. she like so many, christina is on her own with her three-year-old. she is rurowin own with her three-year-old. she is growing up — own with her three-year-old. she is growing up and _ own with her three-year-old. she is growing up and becoming _ own with her three—year—old. sue: 3 growing up and becoming stronger own with her three—year—old. 5u;e: 3 growing up and becoming stronger and i hope she won't remember why it was like that. i am trying to give it to her like an adventure. that we are on holiday and we are visiting friends and that we are just travelling. but now, more and more often she asks to go back to daddy and... ijust cannot explain to her

often she asks to go back to daddy and... ijust cannot exp| hopeful r often she asks to go back to daddy and... ijust cannot exp| hopeful that school because they are hopeful that they can return to ukraine or they can be reunited with their fathers or husbands, so many difficult stories but so much strong spirit amongst those families and the encouragement from the polish government is notjust to register from the official data but also to spread out across poland to relieve the pressure. danjohnson reporting amongst those refugees as 2 million have crossed into poland alone of the 3 million people who have so far fled ukraine since the beginning of this war and those latest figures from the united nations. so let's take a look to speak to the spokesperson for the un refugee agency. joining us from your headquarters in geneva. this is an overwhelming displacement of people in a short space of time. it

was described as the biggest refugee crisis in europe's since the second world war. when you start with working out how to cope with such a huge movement of people in such a short space of time? ht is huge movement of people in such a short space of time?— short space of time? it is a phenomenal _ short space of time? it is a phenomenal circumstance | short space of time? it is a l phenomenal circumstance in short space of time? it is a - phenomenal circumstance in terms short space of time? it is a _ phenomenal circumstance in terms of the fact that we have 3.2 million people who have been forced to flee their homes in just three weeks alone, so this is a magnitude that really requires a response from the international community but we have seen tremendous solidarity and support from the neighbouring countries, and as you mention, poland is now one of the world's largest refugee home countries and has received 2 million refugees and others are also going to romania, moldova, slovakia, so this is a considered effort that has been made but we are seeing tremendous support from local communities and it does require a really coordinated

humanitarian response. ht require a really coordinated humanitarian response. it does reauire a humanitarian response. it does require a coordinated _ humanitarian response. it does i require a coordinated humanitarian response and when i was at the border at the start of the war between poland and ukraine i saw overwhelming warmth from ordinary polish people but it was predominantly ordinary people taking time out from their working lives and the municipal organisations kicked in but there seem to be a lack of international organisation in response to this end in terms of the un, financial help to these countries that are taking in, neighbouring countries taking a huge amount of people, what has been pledged and sent in terms of funds so far? , ., ., , pledged and sent in terms of funds sofar? , ., ., , , . pledged and sent in terms of funds so far? , ., ., , , . ., so far? the situation is such that national authorities _ so far? the situation is such that national authorities are - so far? the situation is such that national authorities are leading l so far? the situation is such that i national authorities are leading the response, so humanitarian actors including the un agencies and others are working in support of the national response, so we are providing support to ramp up the capacity to receive the refugees and register them and ensure when they arrive after this arduous journey

that they have emergency assistance to help cope as many are going through the transit centres but are staying with local communities or finding accommodation and they need support for their basic needs, for food, shelter and for health care and so on, so the humanitarian response is in support of all of these actions that are needed to receive refugees and house them while they are displaced but we have also seen strong commitments on the eu has activated a temporary directive that will make sure they can regularise their stay and it does require an emergency response and also to make sure that they have access to health care and we are talking about the emergency basement as long as the situation deteriorates, we will see more displacement and it will be harder

for people to return home. but it reruires for people to return home. but it requires money _ for people to return home. but it requires money and _ for people to return home. but it requires money and it _ for people to return home. but it requires money and it costs, i for people to return home. but it requires money and it costs, the | requires money and it costs, the infrastructure to the local communities and we have seen towns swell their populations and their increasing their and the mayor in warsaw said that in the short space of time the inhabitants of warsaw have grown by 20% and that will cost to keep those people safe. they have experienced trauma, so how do these individual countries finance this. what is the international response? the un and partners have launched an international response to humanitarian aid inside ukraine and outside the country and the original average —— refugee countries had a $1.7 billion appeal to be allocated between the two different responses and that is really in support of these countries that are on the front line and receiving these refugees, so that needs to be supported in those countries need to be supported and those local communities, they are facing the struggle and strains and responsibilities of hosting the populations, so it's imperative they

come through to help both refugees and the local communities who, as you mention, are really working and extending tremendous hospitality and support for the refugees. tare extending tremendous hospitality and support for the refugees.— support for the refugees. i've seen it for myself _ support for the refugees. i've seen it for myself on _ support for the refugees. i've seen it for myself on the _ support for the refugees. i've seen it for myself on the ground - support for the refugees. i've seen it for myself on the ground and i support for the refugees. i've seen it for myself on the ground and it i it for myself on the ground and it has been an overwhelming welcome from these countries for these people who are traumatised, and are predominantly women and children. from the un refugee agency, thank you for your time. russia's invasion of ukraine has been met with criticism and sanctions from many european countries and the us — but it's also triggered a different kind of response — cyber attacks. this is what some tv viewers in russia would have seen late in february, two days after the invasion began. hackers apparently broke into the broadcast system, and left people tuning in to some channels watching these images — outlining what russia was doing in ukraine. russia has put in tough legal restrictions on reporting events during what it says is just

a special military operation. it's emerging that the hacking group which calls itself anonymous has said it has declared a �*cyber war�* against russia, over the ukraine invasion. 0ur cyber reporterjoe tidy has been looking into this and hejoins me now. you have actually been communicating with members of this group, anonymous. talk us through what they are doing and telling you? tare are doing and telling you? i've soken are doing and telling you? i've spoken to _ are doing and telling you? i've spoken to five _ are doing and telling you? i've spoken to five or— are doing and telling you? t�*9 spoken to five or six are doing and telling you? u9 spoken to five or six different groups and anyone can be anonymous and theyjust have to hack and claim the anonymous brand. there is no leader or structure in the organisation. what tends to happen with an operation like this is someone high up or well respected in the community of anonymous or post a video saying we declare war or cyber war on someone and they've done this with isis and the police. and then people rally behind it we have seen

lots of low—level forms of attack where you flood eight computer server with information and and website falls over. and very hard to verify as well but this tv thing was to be the most exciting thing they have done and signals a shift in the tactics of anonymous because it's no longerjust about tactics of anonymous because it's no longer just about disrupting networks and causing embarrassment, this is about that they want to directly talk to the russian people who, as you say are not being told the true extent of the war and i'm sure the hackers that carries out the attack, i went to the saucy post of the original video at the back end of february who said that her dad was in russia and that was over the russian network on apple tv and this happened and this is really interesting and quite sophisticated and is called a broadcast intrusion and is called a broadcast intrusion and again, it shows us that they are trying to put their efforts into contacting people directly in russia and the hackers that did it say they

overtook the network for 12 minutes and it's all part of their campaign to get people in russia to rise up. for 12 minutes, that is extraordinary, given the dimensions of working in television and that's a long time to get that kind of access. i've been reasoning about squad 303 named after the polish air fighter during the battle of britain. the famous squadron and that squad, a very emotive name for people of polish origin but they've been contacting people directly. what have they been up to? thea;r been contacting people directly. what have they been up to? they have set u- an what have they been up to? they have set up an interesting _ what have they been up to? they have set up an interesting and _ what have they been up to? they have set up an interesting and illegal, i i set up an interesting and illegal, i would add, course, system where anyone can log onto the website and message random russian numbers, whatsapp or text message and they claimed yesterday they had reached 20 million messages sent through the system directly to russian people and are hoping to start conversations and they say conversations and they say conversations are happening with russian people. i spoke to the

people who started the squad and they now say they are effectively part of anonymous and did not start that way as they are a polish hacking team and have joined with anonymous and are planning another attack in the next 2448 hrs we will see an attack by them coordinated and i asked them, how do you justify the intrusion into peoples lives and they said, look, ukrainians are being massacred and we feel is justified. likewise tv intrusion, these things are always illegal and we know from speaking to the uk authorities that people will be encouraged not to join anonymous or the vigilante groups as it is chaos out there are right is a concern that things can escalate. fascinating to see how they are targeting people directly. lots more on the website and lots of updates on the website and lots of updates on the website and lots of updates on the developing stories taking place on the ground in ukraine and just the news that the chinese leader has been speaking to present biden in that phone call and we will

have many more lines coming from that conversation here on bbc news, so do stay with us and if you want to get in touch with me, it is on twitter, and it would be good to hear from you. we started with mist and fog patches and you can see it in the peak district but the fog has cleared out of the way and most of us have clear blue sunny skies and a bit of fair weather cloud bubbling up for a time. the fine weather is brought to us by this big area of high pressure and because it is so big and intense it is not going to move very far very fast, hence when we look at the outlook, there is not a great deal of rain in the forecast at all, and it's a largely dry picture and at times the sunshine will feel pleasant out and about. today we have lots of the sunshine and a bit of fairweather cloud bubbling up for a time and still brisk winds for

western scotland and the top temperatures are higher than yesterday so it will feel warm outside. 13 in glasgow, 16 in both london and cardiff as well. 0vernight tonight there will be a bit more of a breeze around, so it doesn't get as cold and the mist and fog won't be as extensive, but there could be a few patches of rust around and a few fog patches, particularly through the vale of york and made into parts of eastern scotland as well but that sets us up for a fine weekend, lots of sunshine on saturday and a bit more cloud around on sunday and it will feel a little bit colder as well, particularly across eastern areas. loads of sunshine from dawn till dusk through saturday with the early morning mist and fog lifting quickly out of the vale of york and it will be gusty towards south—west england with gusts of wind reaching 40 to 50 miles an hour so even though we have high pressure winners, it will be pretty windy across south—west england and the winds are coming across the chilly waters of the north sea and will peg back the temperatures across the eastern

coast of scotland and england, whereas further west we are looking at temperatures lifting to 15 or 16 degrees fairly widely. the warmest spot likely to be across spots in the valleys might be about 17 greece one. the sunday forecast will be cloudy and a good deal cooler, particularly across eastern areas in the cloud is bubbling up to bring some showers especially across east anglia and other areas of eastern england and we could have some soft hail mixed in with showers and there will be a lot of dry weather apart from that.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the globe. i'm james reynolds live in lviv. our top stories... 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. translation: the russian invasion duan translation: the russian invasion dublin invaders _ translation: the russian invasion dublin invaders continue _ translation: the russian invasion dublin invaders continue their i dublin invaders continue their shilling. 0uraim is clear, to defend, to protect our country and our people. president putin hails what he calls a "special operation" in ukraine in front of tens of thousands of supporters at a huge rally in moscow. translation: to liberate people from this suffering. — translation: to liberate people from this suffering, from _ translation: to liberate people from this suffering, from the _ translation: to liberate people from this suffering, from the genocide, i this suffering, from the genocide, is the main inspiring motive of the

military operation we started in donbas and in ukraine. activists place hundreds of empty buggies in lviv to commemorate the number of ukrainian children killed since the start of the war. us presidentjoe biden is speaking to his chinese counterpart, the first call between the leaders since the start of the conflict. president xi has yet to condemn russia's actions. i'm martine croxall in london. our other top stories on bbc news for viewers here in the uk and around the world.... the kremlin backed news channel rt has its licence to broadcast in the uk revoked — the watchdog 0fcom says it's not a "fit and proper" channel. protests in dover and other cities around the uk, after p&0 ferries sacked 800 staff without warning.

you're watching bbc news, i'm james reynolds, broadcasting live from lviv in western ukraine — where russian forces have carried out an air strike. a large plume of smoke was seen coming from an aircraft repair facility on the city's outskirts earlier. lviv is about 40 miles from the polish border, well away from the main battle zones in the east and south of the country. fighting has also intensified in the besieged port city of mariupol, with russia's defence ministry saying its separatist allies are �*tightening a noose�* around the city with the help of moscow�*s forces. this afternoon, president zelensky announced that 130 people have so far been rescued from the basement of a theatre which was hit by an air strike in mariupol — he also gave this update to the ukrainian people. translation: the russian invaders

continue their _ translation: the russian invaders continue their shelling _ translation: the russian invaders continue their shelling of _ translation: the russian invaders continue their shelling of our - continue their shelling of our cities, kyiv and the region, kharkiv, chernihiv, donbas cities, donetsk, kramatorsk, mariupol, missile strikes, cruise missiles, we are taking them down as much as we can, and we destroyed the aircraft and helicopters, this is a respecting of the fact that so far we don�*t have adequate anti missile systems, we don�*t have enough aircraft, but our aim systems, we don�*t have enough aircraft, but ouraim is systems, we don�*t have enough aircraft, but our aim is clear, to defend, to protect our country. meanwhile, president putin hailed what he describes as the �*special operation�* in ukraine at a rally held in moscow. translation: to liberate people from this suffering. — translation: to liberate people from this suffering, from _ translation: to liberate people from this suffering, from the _ translation: to liberate people from this suffering, from the genocide, i this suffering, from the genocide, is the main inspiring motive of the

military operation we started in donbas and in ukraine. this is the objective. this is the aim. and you know, i rememberthese objective. this is the aim. and you know, i remember these words from the bible. there is no other love other than if someone gives their soulfor their other than if someone gives their soul for their friends. words from the scriptures. and we are seeing the scriptures. and we are seeing the heroic deeds of our guys in this operation. the heroic deeds of our guys in this 0 eration. :, :, , the heroic deeds of our guys in this oeration. :, :,, , ::,, operation. that event was broadcast on russian tv. _ operation. that event was broadcast on russian tv, it _ operation. that event was broadcast on russian tv, it had _ operation. that event was broadcast on russian tv, it had a _ operation. that event was broadcast on russian tv, it had a delay - operation. that event was broadcast on russian tv, it had a delay of- on russian tv, it had a delay of about 30 minutes from when it began, and the state coverage of the speech came to a rather abrupt end, do take a look.

mr putin cut off in mid sentence. the coverage reverted to an earlier performance. our correspondent tells us the speech did continue after that for those who were in the stadium. tannerfor a look at that for those who were in the stadium. tanner for a look at what�*s been happening in ukraine over the last few hours. james waterhouse sent us this report. the closest this war has got to the western city of lviv — four miles away towards the airport, an aircraft repair facility flooded with missiles launched from the black sea. translation: the enemy strike against lviv is further proof i that it doesn�*t fight ukrainian troops, it fights its people. children, women, refugees, nothing is sacred for them. in kyiv, russia�*s advance has been frustrated by ukrainian resistance. "take revenge for peaceful cities," this poster reads.

0ne soldier helped himself to ammunition dropped by invading troops. yet they haven�*t been able to surround kyiv like they have other cities. people are still not safe — it has been another morning where a residential area like this has been hit by fragments of an intercepted missile. it has left the likes of this man to pick up the pieces. translation: my parents got this flat when i was three _ years old back in 1964. i celebrated my third birthday here. i lived all my life here. all my life. i got married here, my two children were born here. in the southern port city of mariupol, almost every building has been damaged from the relentless shelling. military experts say the city could fall within weeks. rescue teams are still trying to get to people trapped in a theatre, bombed earlier this week while more than 1000 sheltered inside.

volodymyr zelensky and vladimir putin said they are both willing to sit with each other and to negotiate peace. to many ukrainians, the idea of making concessions to this conflict�*s aggressor in chief is not a popular one. they have already paid a high cost. here, five soldiers are laid to rest. the pain ingrained on the faces of those they leave behind. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. an overview of what is going on across the country. here in lviv, we are getting the last of the afternoon light, it will be evening and curfew soon, but people have been going about their normal lives and they have also wanted to make

protests. a little earlier, our team went down to the central square and i saw this. this will buggies, strollers, lined up in one of the squares there, there were more than 100 of them, they represent, according to ukraine, the number of children that have been killed since russia began its invasion on the of february. a point that people in lviv have been wanting to make, and they made this point on the day that an air strike they made this point on the day that an airstrike hit they made this point on the day that an air strike hit the cityjust four miles from the centre of town, we all woke to see a plume of black smoke. that smoke dissipated and people then went about their jobs and in a few hours�* time there will be a curfew where people will once again return to their homes and await the howl of air raid sirens, which have been going off in the early hours for the last few days. that�*s the situation here in western ukraine, back now to martine croxall in london.

james, thank you, the latest headlines on bbc news. 130 people have been set upon in mariupol but remain trapped. president putin defines articles a special operation in ukraine in front of tens of thousands of supporters. russia carries at an air strike near lviv, activists place hundreds of empty strollers in the city centre to commemorate the number of children killed since the start of the war. president biden has had a phone call with president xi of china, asking beijing not to provide russia with weapons for its war in ukraine. china hasn�*t condemned the invasion, and says it wants to remain neutral. 0ur north america correspondent nomia iqbal sent this update.

president biden because message to china is basically, pick a side. the us sees it that chan is trying to haveit us sees it that chan is trying to have it both ways, it is backing russia, doesn�*t even call this innovation but on the other hand, it has said ukraine is a sovereign country, so biden wants china to join the west effectively to denounce russia, something that i would be very surprised to see if china actually does. china wants to be neutral in all of this. just to add to some of the lines that are coming out, and as you mentioned, they are coming from chinese state tv, so we have to be mindful of that, we will get a full readout at some point from the us on what the conversation was. but xi jinping has told biden that the ukraine crisis is something we don�*t want to see, he has also said that state to state relations cannot advance to the stage of confrontation, that this confrontation is not in the interests of anyone and he has said that peace and security are the most cherished treasures of the

international community for the president biden wants to test that, something the us is hugely concerned about is this claim that china is offering to help russia with its economy and its military, basically to get round the sanctions, to whether the sanctions, which concerns america. there is no evidence, by the way, that america has provided to back up that claim in china has completely rejected it, but america has been very tough on that and president biden will be saying to xijinping, if that and president biden will be saying to xi jinping, if you cross that line, there will be consequences to pay. the uk media regulator has revoked the licence of the broadcaster, rt — which used to be known as russia today. 0fcom 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. 0ur media editor amol rajan has the background. i think we live in an age of a permanent information war. and it has just escalated pretty dramatically. it�*s really important to understand what rt is.

rt is a state broadcaster, that means it is funded by and serves the state. there is an important distinction, i think, between the state broadcaster such as rt and a public broadcaster, such as the bbc and others that countries have, which is funded to serve 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 0fcom, which regulate the media. under 0fcom 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 a 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 0fcom 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 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 0fcom are concerned about. and also due impartiality. due impartiality is a difficult and broad thing to explain but it broadly means an absence of bringing a certain amount of ideological baggage to journalism 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 0fcom are concerned whether or not it satisfies our independent regulatory needs for due accuracy and due impartiality. ukranian refugees who want to come to the uk can from today apply for visas to be sponsored by british families. more than 150,000 people in britain have registered for the scheme, offering a room in their home or property. our special correspondent lucy manning has been to meet one family in kent who are making preparations. 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, 0lga. we�*ll speak to you soon. you take care today. so we're going to have to paint the room. i graham, his wife melina and two children are opening up their kent home to 0lga, 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. demonstrations are taking place in dover, hull and liverpool after the ferry company p&0 announced it was sacking 800 employees without any notice and replacing them with cheaper agency workers. the government says said it will review its contracts

with p&0 ferries. the firm said its action were necessary to secure the future of the company. here�*s our business correspondent theo leggett. comrades, brothers and sisters... angry workers in hull today protesting against p&0 ferries. the demonstrations are expected in dover, liverpool and larne. until yesterday, many of these people had jobs working aboard the company�*s vessels. now they are unemployed. 800 staff were abruptly laid off, theirjob is taken by agency workers as part of a cost—cutting drive. p&0 ferries is not the first company to try to save money by firing staff or changing their contracts, and it certainly won�*t be the last. but what is different here is the way that it�*s gone about it. staff were given no notice, there was no consultation, they were fired on the spot, and that�*s causing a huge amount of bitterness and anger. p&0 insists it had no choice, it says it lost huge sums during the pandemic

and without major changes could not run a viable business. the ferry operator is a subsidiary of dp world, a multinational company based in dubai, which generates billions in revenues every year. p&0 is a 200 year shipping company, they can ride out this storm. everyone is a troubling covid, now at the point of recovery they are trying to make our members pick up the tab for the covid crisis. we are not prepared do that. these pictures show security staff boarding a boat in liverpool yesterday to remove the old crew. 0ne worker described how he was removed from a vessel. it's terrible, the way i got dealt with. i was escorted personally from the bridge of the ship to my cabin, this is my home, i work and live on that ship, it's my home and i did point this out to the bailiff, this is my house, this is where i live. the company has been accused of acting ruthlessly, but the question being asked today

is whether it acted legally. you can�*t simply replace employees with other, cheaper labour. the existing employees have rights. technically they should transform to the provider and that is something p&0 and the new provider should have consulted with. if the employees were dismissed simply to allow p&0 to bring in this cheaper labour, it may well be that they have claims for automatic unfair dismissal. today the transport secretary joins those condemning p&0�*s actions. 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. sacked! sacked via a pre—recorded zoom video, withjust 30 minutes notice. no way to treat employees in the 21st century. today, many of the company�*s ferries are not operating as their new crews

have to be trained up. serious disruption is expected to last for several days, while former workers can only watch in frustration. theo leggett, bbc news. the war in ukraine has triggered questions russian air strikes have been carried out on lviv, well away from the main battle zones in the south and east. :, , the main battle zones in the south and east. :, and east. fighting has also intensified _ and east. fighting has also intensified in _ and east. fighting has also intensified in mariupol- and east. fighting has also| intensified in mariupol with and east. fighting has also - intensified in mariupol with russian defence ministry saying its separatist allies are tightening in use are in the city with the help of moscow�*s forces. we are joined by a senior fellow for land warfare at the international institute for strategic studies, the retired british army brigadier. thank you very much forjoining us. what�*s your assessment of the conflict so far in terms of who has the edge?

well, i think the russians have the edgein well, i think the russians have the edge in terms of having the initiative, because they are attacking and the ukrainians are defending. there are several different wars, there is a land war, where the russian advance is seen to have been much less than the russians would have liked, they may well now be moving from manoeuvre to attempting a siege and also bombarding urban areas like kyiv at long range. there is also an air war, where the russian air force is attempting to shut down the ukrainian air force, which may be an explanation for that attack on the aircraft maintenance facilities outside kyiv. it�*s also quite clear that russia would like to stop the flow into ukraine of arms and ammunition, particularly those provided by nato countries. as well as foreign fighters. and that explains the cruise missile attack last weekend on the camp near the polish border. and in all of this,

both sides are seeking to frustrate each other�*s military aims and also impose pain and punishment on each other, to gain an advantage at the conference table. haifa other, to gain an advantage at the conference table.— other, to gain an advantage at the conference table. how well armed ace ukraine, conference table. how well armed ace ukraine. then. — conference table. how well armed ace ukraine, then, via _ conference table. how well armed ace ukraine, then, via nato? _ conference table. how well armed ace ukraine, then, via nato? because i ukraine, then, via nato? because there has been talk that they will be provided with anti—aircraft missiles and also anti—tank weaponry. missiles and also anti-tank weaponry-— missiles and also anti-tank weaon .~ ~ :, , g weaponry. well, ukraine is much better armed _ weaponry. well, ukraine is much better armed than _ weaponry. well, ukraine is much better armed than it _ weaponry. well, ukraine is much better armed than it was - weaponry. well, ukraine is much better armed than it was a i weaponry. well, ukraine is much| better armed than it was a month ago. british arms actually started flowing before the war began, but since the war began, they have received thousands of anti—tank rockets. they have also received thousands of javelin missiles from both the uk and us, and they are receiving other arms and ammunition is from a variety of european countries. that would appear, from the images of the fighting, that both the javelin missiles and the anti—tank weapons have made quite a

significant difference at a tactical level. but i would put a cautionary note on this. the evidence from the images and reports of the fighting suggests that the russian forces are not very effective in doing combined arms tactics. if they can become more effective at combined armed tactics, which involves synchronising tanks, infantry, engineers and artillery, they could make it much more difficult for the ukrainian defenders to use these anti—tank weapons. ukrainian defenders to use these anti-tank weapons.— ukrainian defenders to use these anti-tank weapons. there have been some assessments _ anti-tank weapons. there have been some assessments from _ anti-tank weapons. there have been some assessments from m - anti-tank weapons. there have been | some assessments from m dutchman from military commentators, that on all fronts to some extent, russian forces have stalled, whether it is because they have got cheap tires that can�*t cope with the terrain more or whether troops have just deserted because they didn�*t realise why they were being sent to ukraine for two how valid do you think those assessments are? t�*m for two how valid do you think those assessments are?— assessments are? i'm not sure i auree. it assessments are? i'm not sure i agree- it is — assessments are? i'm not sure i agree. it is certainly _ assessments are? i'm not sure i agree. it is certainly the - assessments are? i'm not sure i agree. it is certainly the case i assessments are? i'm not sure i l agree. it is certainly the case that any effort russia made initially in the invasion to mount a lightning

war, blitzkrieg, failed, but they have made slow progress, but it is progress nonetheless. and if that progress nonetheless. and if that progress continues, they can gradually gain control of more ukrainian territory, particularly in the eastern half of the country. a particular development i suspect it�*s worrying the ukrainian military staff is the thrust in the south. that appears to have been better organised and more successful than the thrusts in the north and east. and if russia and its allies, in terms of the rebel forces from donetsk, gain control of mariupol, that will free up a force of troops that will free up a force of troops that could potentially move either west to 0desa, or north in an effort to cut off ukrainian troops in the east of ukraine. brute to cut off ukrainian troops in the east of ukraine.— to cut off ukrainian troops in the east of ukraine. we have 'ust been lookin: at east of ukraine. we have 'ust been looking at some i east of ukraine. we have 'ust been looking at some pictures i east of ukraine. we have just been looking at some pictures of- east of ukraine. we have just been looking at some pictures of the i looking at some pictures of the activity that is taking place in sumy, and the sheer scale of the operation. we are seeing so many civilian buildings like schools,

hospitals, homes destroyed. to what extent is this collateral damage that could be avoided?- extent is this collateral damage that could be avoided? well, the best way to _ that could be avoided? well, the best way to avoid _ that could be avoided? well, the best way to avoid collateral i that could be avoided? well, the i best way to avoid collateral damage, and of course the resulting civilian casualties, would be to have a ceasefire. but i�*m afraid combat in urban areas inevitably causes collateral damage, and we mustn�*t forget this is a two sided war, ukraine is defending at ukraine is fighting back, in some cases doing counterattacks. and a proportion of the collateral damage and civilian casualties does probably come from the actions of ukrainian forces. brigadier, we really appreciate you having you here to give us your insights. thank you very much and we had to speak to you again. goodbye. thank you. don�*t forget, there is much more on the war in ukraine on the bbc news website, including the live page, which currently is focusing on how hundreds of people

are still trapped under that theatre in mariupol. i martine croxall, thank you for watching, stay with us on bbc news. hello again. we�*re looking at a lot of dry weather coming our way for next week or so. this morning we started off with some mist and fog patches, you can see some of these in the valleys in the peak district, but since then, the fog has been clearing out of the way and most of us now have clear blue sunny skies. a little bit of fair weather cloud bubbling up for a time. the final is brought by this big area of high pressure. because it is so big and intense it�*s not going to move very far very fast, hence when we look at the outlook, there is not a great deal of rain in the forecast at all, are largely dry picture, and at times this engine will feel pleasant out and about. today we have lots of that century, just a little bit of fairweather cloud bubbling up for a time. still fairly brisk winds for

western scotland in south west england. top temperatures higher than yesterday, so it will feel a bit warmer outside, 13 in glasgow, 16 in london and cardiff. 0vernight tonight, there will be a bit more of a breeze around so it doesn�*t get quite as cold, the mist and fog will not be as extensive. but there could still be a few patches of frost and a few fog patches particularly through the vale of york, perhaps in parts of eastern scotland but that will set us up for a fine weekend with lots of sunshine on saturday, a bit more cloud around on sunday, and it will feel a little bit colder as well particularly across eastern areas. loads of sunshine from dawn till dusk through saturday. that early morning mist and fog lifting quickly out of the vale of york. it will be gusty towards south west england, gusts reaching around 40 to 50 miles an hour so even though we have high pressure with us it will be pretty windy across south west england. those winds coming across the chilly waters of the north sea peg back the temperatures across the

eastern coasts of scotland and england. furtherwest, eastern coasts of scotland and england. further west, temperatures lifting to around 15 or 16. the warmest spot is likely to be across the north—west of scotland, where some of the valleys could get up to around 16 or 17. warm for the time of year. sunday�*s forecast, it would be cloudier and a good deal cooler, particularly across eastern areas. the cloud bubbling up to bring some showers especially across east anglia, perhaps other areas of eastern england that we could have a bit of soft hail mixed in with some of the showers. but a lot of dry weather apart from that.

this is bbc news. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. ukraine�*s president says 130 people have been saved from a theatre in mariupol which was bombed by russian forces earlier this week, but hundreds remain trapped. translation: russian invaders have continued their shelling _ of our cities and our aim is clear, to defend and protect our country and our people. president putin defends what he calls a "special operation" in ukraine in front of tens of thousands of supporters at a huge rally in moscow. translation: to liberate people from this suffering, _ from the genocide is the main inspiring motive of the military operation that we started in the donbas and in ukraine.

russia carries out an airstrike near the western ukrainian city of lviv. activists place hundreds of empty buggies in its city centre to commemorate the number of children killed since the start of the war. joe biden speaks to his chinese counterpart, the first call between the leaders since the start of the conflict. president xi says conflict is "in no—one�*s interest", but has yet to condemn russia�*s actions. the kremlin backed news channel rt has its licence to broadcast in the uk revoked. the watchdog 0fcom says it�*s not a "fit and proper" channel. protests in dover and other cities around the uk, after p&0 ferries sacked 800 staff without warning. hello and welcome if you�*re

watching in the uk or around the world. there have been a series of explosions close to the city of lviv. ukraine�*s most westerly major city has, until now, been seen as a place of sanctuary for many fleeing russian attacks further east. earlier on friday, a large plume of smoke was seen rising from the area around the international airport. that�*s around six kilometres from the city centre. zhanna bezpiatchuk from the bbc ukrainian service is in lviv and filed this report from near to the airport. i am outside lviv airport. this is the perimeter wall of the airfield. the martial law does not allow us to film the premises of the airport or the entrance butjust on the opposite side from here, within one kilometre, is the aircraft repair plant that was targeted by the russian missiles this morning. the people at the aircraft plant

were evacuated in advance. it saved their lives. i can give you my personal account. this morning, i was woken up to sirens going off and when i looked out of the window of my hotel room i could see the black plume of smoke drifting across the horizon of lviv. this is the closest this kind of smoke got to the historic centre of lviv, one of the most historical cities in ukraine and in the east of europe in general. hundreds of thousands of ukrainians fleeing the war in other parts of this country believed they could find safety here in western ukraine, but unfortunately they are not safe here any more. there was yet another missile blast in the ukrainian capital

of kyiv this morning. one person was killed and 19 injured when parts of a downed russian missile crash—landed in a residential district in the north of the city. james waterhouse is there and sent this report. this is the reality now for people living here. it�*s another morning this week every day where a residential district like this in the west in the city has been struck with the fragments of an intercepted russian missile. you can see the remnants of cars, wheelie bins, bikes, people�*s belongings. and if you look up here, the whole side of the building has been ripped off, exposing people�*s homes. the power of this blast is plain to see and that building just further down is a kindergarten where children would have been. and every window has been blown through. what we know so far is that one person has been killed and 19 injured. and yes, the city�*s defences are proving effective with those ground to air missiles protecting its citizens, but of course they can�*t be completely shielded by the reality

of this war. let�*s tell you about what the dutch government are doing. they�*ve announced they will send a patron defence missile system to slovakia. part of the effort to strengthen the air defences in eastern europe. and up air defences in eastern europe. and up and running in poland. and it has been said that the worsening situation as a result of the ukraine invasion makes a contribution necessary and germany are setting a patriot system to slovakia as well so quite a lot of systems still being moved into the eastern part of

nato, and of course, this is seen as antagonistic by the kremlin that they don�*t like the things being parked close to the outer areas of nato and the need is being felt by the dutch and germans to bolster this sort of defence system, pointing east towards russia. in a telephone conversation about ukraine, the chinese leader xi jinping, has told president biden that both countries had a responsibility to ensure world peace. but despite appeals for peace, china has refused to condemn russia�*s invasion, orjoin sanctions against moscow. beijing has also warned it will defend its interests if they are affected by us action against russia. i�*m joined now by howard zhang, editor of bbc chinese.

thanks very much forjoining us to give us short inside. tell us what more we know about this conversation between president biden and the chinese president?— between president biden and the chinese president? present biden before the speech, _ chinese president? present biden before the speech, essentially, i chinese president? present biden i before the speech, essentially, they clearly told the chinese side that they will be warning china of the consequences if they continue to support russia and even had certain veiled threats saying certain secondary sanctions were possible. that was clear from the us side. the chinese side, the official media have only released some saying xi jinping says they do not want to see, nobody wants to see a war, military confrontation and that should not be the way how countries settle their differences, so the chinese side very much on the diplomatic wording side and we are still waiting for the us side to

give a postmortem after the meeting about what exactly was said. to give a postmortem after the meeting about what exactly was said.- about what exactly was said. to what extent was it — about what exactly was said. to what extent was it expected _ about what exactly was said. to what extent was it expected that - about what exactly was said. to what extent was it expected that the i about what exactly was said. to what extent was it expected that the us i extent was it expected that the us would try to encourage china in one particular direction or another? that particular direction or another? git this very moment china remains possibly the last major power that is still potentially helping russia and in many ways prolonging the war in ukraine so i think everyone is expected the us to at least press china on this and to also let china know this is a really decisive point rather than sitting on the fence and trying not to offend either side, quote unquote. you have to pick a side. ~ :, quote unquote. you have to pick a sider :, :, ,, , quote unquote. you have to pick a side. ~ :, :, ,, , g, side. what happens now then, if china is not _ side. what happens now then, if china is not saying _ side. what happens now then, if china is not saying what - side. what happens now then, if china is not saying what the i side. what happens now then, if china is not saying what the us. china is not saying what the us wants it to say? the china is not saying what the us wants it to say?— wants it to say? the us and its allies in the _

wants it to say? the us and its allies in the west _ wants it to say? the us and its allies in the west have - wants it to say? the us and its allies in the west have to i wants it to say? the us and its. allies in the west have to decide this question, because china before the ukrainian war, whether it was the ukrainian war, whether it was the chinese government who denies that they were in the war started, but president putin and xi jinping met during the start of the winter olympics and that was just a week before the war in ukraine started and both leaders before that signed and both leaders before that signed a long treaty of partnerships with no upper limits, and essentially signifying an upgrade of their partnership to almost an alliance level and no obligation for the sides to enter into any confrontation on the other side�*s behalf, and even though many are suspecting if china has already started helping russia in some way. what is at stake, particularly if china does not change its stance? it is such a huge international player,

whatever it does or doesn�*t do is going to have some kind of gravitational pull.— going to have some kind of gravitational pull. let's look at russia. when _ gravitational pull. let's look at russia. when russia _ gravitational pull. let's look at russia. when russia refused l gravitational pull. let's look at| russia. when russia refused to retreat from this invasion into ukraine the international community had to do the embargoes, sanctions, even trying to wean off the european countries from buying russian oil and cutting them off from the international banking system, so if china continues to become part of the russian invasion or actively help russia, what would that mean? that would be the consequence on the application if the us and uk and europe, everybody got together and made that decision, that would be another major shift in the geopolitics of this world. howard,

thank ou geopolitics of this world. howard, thank you very — geopolitics of this world. howard, thank you very much, _ geopolitics of this world. howard, thank you very much, from i geopolitics of this world. howard, thank you very much, from the i geopolitics of this world. howard, i thank you very much, from the bbc chinese service. 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't join 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. two million of those refugees have crossed the 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 is in krakow, not far from the ukrainian border. absolutely. poland has felt the pressure. more refugees arriving from ukraine into poland than any other country and it has now crossed that staggering figure of 2 million refugees in the last three weeks.

this is the arena, the concert venue on the edge of krakow which is being used as a registration centre. and this is where they come to give their details and get a polish id number. that is so they have the right to live and work as promised by the polish government and will entitle polish families hosting refugees to the payments that have been offered to the polish government, around 7 euros a day for each ukrainian they are able to take in and we've seen such enormous generosity from local people and charities and organisations and we've also seen the official effort from the authorities are stepping up but i want to talk a little bit about children because they are a huge number of those refugees, about 700,000 of those 2 million are children that have come from ukraine into poland and there are already efforts to integrate them into polish life. i have to say we have seen children playing here this

morning and they've been performing into the camera and microphone on the strength of their spirit is really impressive and really positive but also it is seeing the faces of some of those children at times that tells you some of the saddest stories of this refugee crisis, but there are impressive efforts to try to make them feel at home and they've already started, many of them, going to school. there is little sign that artem started here only a fortnight ago. and viktoria, just last week. now they learn in a different language and 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. i've lost my friends. they were scattered around the world. some of them are in poland,

in different cities and some are in georgia and some in slovakia and germany but we communicate through apps. we are in touch. artem's concern is for his mother who is here helping the school translate. 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 the 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, a space for mums to work and toddlers to play. like so many, krystyna is on her own with her three—year—old. she is growing up and becoming stronger and i hope she won't

remember why it was like that. i am trying to give it to her like an adventure. that we are on holiday and we are visiting friends and that we are just travelling. but now, more and more often she asks to go back to daddy and... ijust cannot explain to her why we cannot do it at the moment. i cannot find the right words, why it is not possible. children on the move sing happy birthday in many languages. krystyna hasjoined herfriend sofia and her three daughters to celebrate irena turning seven. the children are fine when mum is fine.

so, are you fine? so—so! 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 and her birthday wishes to be with her dad. as well as the strength of spirits from the kids it's worth reflecting on the position ukrainian mothers are in having so many difficult decisions to make to try and look after their kids and keep the show on the road and work out where is best to go and where is safe. not wanting to go too far from the border and not wanting to put their kids into school because they are hopeful that they can return to ukraine or they can be reunited with their fathers or husbands, so many difficult stories but so much strong spirit amongst

those families and the encouragement from the polish government is not just to register for the official data but also to spread out across poland to relieve the pressure. more than three million people have fled ukraine in total, according to the latest figures from the united nations. shabia mantoo from the un refugee agency says it is an extremely complex task to care for everyone. it is a phenomenal circumstance in terms of the fact that we have 3.2 million people who have been forced to flee their homes in just three weeks alone, so this is a magnitude that really requires a response from the international community but we have seen tremendous solidarity and support from the neighbouring countries, and as you mention, poland is now one of the world's largest refugee home countries and has received 2 million refugees and others are also going to romania, moldova,

slovakia, so this is a considered effort that has been made but we are seeing tremendous support from local communities and it does require a really coordinated humanitarian response. it does require a coordinated humanitarian response and when i was at the border at the start of the war between poland and ukraine i saw overwhelming warmth from ordinary polish people but it was predominantly ordinary people taking time out from their working lives and the municipal organisations kicked in but there seemed to be a lack of international organisation in response to this end in terms of the un, financial help to these countries that are taking in, neighbouring countries taking a huge amount of people, what has been pledged and sent in terms of funds so far? the situation is such that national authorities are leading the response, so humanitarian actors including the un agencies and others

are working in support of the national response, so we are providing support to ramp up the capacity to receive the refugees and register them and ensure when they arrive after this arduous journey that they have emergency assistance to help cope as many are going through the transit centres but are staying with local communities or finding accommodation and they need support for their basic needs, for food, shelter and for health care and so on, so the humanitarian response is in support of all of these actions that are needed to receive refugees and house them while they are displaced but we have also seen strong commitments on the eu has activated a temporary directive that will make sure they can regularise their stay and it does require an emergency response and also to make sure that they have access to health care and we are talking about the emergency basement as long as the situation deteriorates, we will see more displacement and it will be harder for people to return home.

but it requires money and it costs, the infrastructure to the local communities and we have seen towns swell their populations and their increasing massively and the mayor in warsaw said that in the short space of time the inhabitants of warsaw have grown by 20% and that will cost to keep those people safe. they have experienced trauma, so how do these individual countries finance this. what is the international response? the un and partners have launched an international response to humanitarian aid inside ukraine and outside the country and the original average —— refugee countries had a $1.7 billion appeal to be allocated between the two different responses and that is really in support of these countries that are on the front line and receiving these refugees, so that needs to be supported in those countries need to be supported and those local communities, they are facing

the struggle and strains and responsibilities of hosting the populations, so it's imperative they come through to help both refugees and the local communities who, as you mention, are really working and extending tremendous hospitality and support for the refugees. the former police officer who killed sarah everard last year is to be charged with four counts of indecent exposure in the weeks before the murder. wayne couzens is already serving a life sentence and will never be released. the office for national statistics has reported a significant rise in levels of coronavirus in the uk. its latest estimate suggests nearly 3.3 million people would have tested positive last week — up from 2.6 million

over the previous seven days. it comes as the final uk travel restrictions are lifted. baikonur, kazakhstan — where three russian cosmonauts are preparing to blast off to the international space station. a two leg —— decade—long project of cooperation between the us and russia and today three russian cosmonauts are due to head towards the international space station. it is due to leave any time now. we have lived- _ is due to leave any time now. we have lived- -- — is due to leave any time now. we have lived. -- we _ is due to leave any time now. we have lived. -- we have _ is due to leave any time now. we have lived. -- we have lift - is due to leave any time now. we have lived. -- we have lift off. i those on board willjoin the current 7—member crew who are scheduled to fly back on the 30th of march.

remaining on board, the international space station with the newcomers will be american and german crewmates from the european space agency. we are looking at a lot of dry weather coming our way for the next week or so and this morning we started with mist and fog patches. in the peak district but the fog has cleared out of the way and most of us have clear blue sunny skies and a bit of fair weather cloud bubbling up for a time. the fine weather is brought to us by this big area of high pressure and because it is so big and intense it is not going to move very far very fast, hence when we look at the outlook, there is not a great deal of rain in the forecast at all, and it's a largely dry picture and at times the sunshine will feel pleasant out and about. today we have lots of the sunshine and a bit of fairweather cloud bubbling up for a time and still brisk winds for western scotland and the top temperatures

are higher than yesterday so it will feel warm outside. 13 in glasgow, 16 in both london and cardiff as well. overnight tonight there will be a bit more of a breeze around, so it doesn't get as cold and the mist and fog won't be as extensive, but there could be a few patches of rust around and a few fog patches, particularly through the vale of york and made into parts of eastern scotland as well but that sets us up for a fine weekend, lots of sunshine on saturday and a bit more cloud around on sunday and it will feel a little bit colder as well, particularly across eastern areas. loads of sunshine from dawn till dusk through saturday with the early morning mist and fog lifting quickly out of the vale of york and it will be gusty towards south—west england with gusts of wind reaching 40 to 50 miles an hour so even though we have high pressure with us, it will be pretty windy across south—west england and the winds are coming across the chilly waters of the north sea and will peg back

the temperatures across the eastern coasts of scotland and england, whereas further west we are looking at temperatures lifting to 15 or 16 degrees fairly widely. the warmest spot likely to be across spots in the valleys might be about 17 degrees. the sunday forecast will be cloudy and a good deal cooler, particularly across eastern areas and the cloud is bubbling up to bring some showers especially across east anglia and other areas of eastern england and we could have some soft hail mixed in with showers and there will be a lot of dry weather apart from that.

this is bbc news — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. ukraine's president says 130 people have been saved from a theatre in mariupol which was bombed by russian forces earlier this week, but hundreds remain trapped. translation: russian invaders have continued their shelling _ of our cities and our aim is clear, to defend and protect our country and our people. president putin defends what he calls a "special operation" in ukraine in front of tens of thousands of supporters at a huge rally in moscow. translation: to liberate people from this suffering, _ from the genocide, is the main inspiring motive of the military operation that we started in the donbas and in ukraine.

russia carries out an air strike near the western ukrainian city of lviv. activists place hundreds of empty buggies in its city centre to commemorate the number of children killed since the start of the war. joe biden speaks to his chinese counterpart, the first call between the leaders since the start of the conflict. president xi says conflict is "in no—one�*s interest" but has yet to condemn russia's actions. protests in dover and other cities around the uk, after p&o ferries sacked 800 staff without warning. 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.

hello and welcome to bbc news. fighting has intensified in the besieged port city of mariupol, with russia's defence ministry saying its separatist allies are �*tightening a noose�* around the city with the help of moscow's forces. this afternoon, president zelensky announced that 130 people have so far been rescued from the basement of a theatre which was hit by an air strike in mariupol but many more are still trapped — he also gave this update to the ukrainian people. translation: the russian invaders continue their _ translation: the russian invaders continue their covert _ translation: the russian invaders continue their covert shelling - translation: the russian invaders continue their covert shelling of - continue their covert shelling of our cities, kyiv and the region, kharkiv region, chernihiv, donbas, don letts, kramatorsk, mariupol, missile strikes, cruise missiles, we are taking them down as much as we can, and we destroyed the aircraft

and helicopters. and this is respecting the fact that so far we don't have an adequate anti—aircraft, anti—missile system, we don't have enough aircraft. but our aim is clear, we don't have enough aircraft. but ouraim is clear, to we don't have enough aircraft. but our aim is clear, to defend, to do prades to protect our country. —— to protect our country. meanwhile, president putin has been defending what he describes as the �*special operation�* in ukraine at a rally held in moscow. translation: to liberate people from this suffering. — translation: to liberate people from this suffering, from _ translation: to liberate people from this suffering, from the _ translation: to liberate people from this suffering, from the genocide, - this suffering, from the genocide, is the main inspiring motive of the military operation we started in donbas and in ukraine. this is the objective. this is the aim. and now, i remember these words from the bible. there is no other love, other thanif bible. there is no other love, other than if someone gives their soul for theirfriends. words

than if someone gives their soul for their friends. words from the scriptures. and we are seeing the heroic deeds of our guys in this operation. that event was broadcast on russian tv — with a delay of around 30 minutes from when it started. the state television coverage of president putin�*s speech came to a rather abrupt end. take a look. mr putin there, cut off in mid—sentence — with the coverage reverting to an earlier performance. our correspondent who was at the stadum tells us the speech continued after that for those in the stadium. we are told that some people there did not know this event was dedicated in part to support russian forces. one man who works in the moscow mattress —— moscow metro for this that he and other employees had

been forced to attend the rally. our correspondent in kyiv is james waterhouse — he sent us this report. the closest this war has got to the western city of lviv — four miles away towards the airport, an aircraft repair plant hit by with missiles launched from the black sea. translation: the enemy 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. in kyiv, russia�*s advance has been frustrated by ukrainian resistance. "take revenge for peaceful cities," this poster reads. one soldier helps himself to ammunition dropped by invading troops. yet they haven�*t been able to surround kyiv like they have other cities. people are still not safe — it has been another morning where a residential area like this has been hit by fragments of an intercepted missile. it has left the likes of yevhen to pick up the pieces.

translation: my parents got this flat when i was _ three years old back in 1964. i celebrated my third birthday here. i lived all my life here. all my life. i got married here, my two children were born here. in the southern port city of mariupol, almost every building has been damaged from the relentless shelling. military experts think the city could fall within weeks. rescue teams are still trying to get to people trapped in a theatre, bombed earlier this week while more than 1000 sheltered inside. volodymyr zelensky and vladimir putin said they are both willing to sit with each other and to negotiate peace. for many ukrainians, the idea of making concessions to this conflict�*s aggressor in chief is not a popular one.

they have already paid a high cost. in the west of the country, five soldiers are laid to rest. the pain ingrained on the faces of those they leave behind. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. as we heard in that report, there have been a series of explosions close to the city of lviv. ukraine�*s most westerly major city has, until now, been seen as a place of sanctuary for many fleeing russian attacks further east. earlier on friday, a large plume of smoke was seen rising from the area around the international airport. that�*s around six kilometres from the city centre. zhanna bezpiatchuk from the bbc ukrainian service is in lviv, and filed this report from near to the airport. i�*m outside the airport. this is the perimeter wore at the airfield. we are not allowed to film the premises

of the airport where the entrance gate, but on the opposite side from here, one kilometre, there is the aircraft repair plant that was targeted by the russian missiles this morning. the people at the aircraft repair plant were evacuated in advance. it saved their lives. i can give you my personal account. this morning, i was woken up to sirens going off, then when i looked out of the window of my hotel room, i could see the black plume of smoke drifting across the horizon of livy. —— live. one of the most historical cities in ukraine and eastern europe in general. hundreds of thousands of ukrainians fleeing the war in other parts of this country believed they

could fine safety here in western ukraine, but unfortunately, they are not safe here any more. joining me now from dnipro is our correspondent wyre davies. you are aware of the situation further south in mariupol, where according to russian reports, they are tightening a noose around the city centre? i are tightening a noose around the city centre?— city centre? i think those russian re orts city centre? i think those russian reports are _ city centre? i think those russian reports are bizarrely _ city centre? i think those russian reports are bizarrely very - city centre? i think those russian i reports are bizarrely very accurate, they are tightening a noose around they are tightening a noose around the city centre, russian soldiers have been seen on streets on the outskirts and we have spoken today to a family, two generations of one family who escaped from mariupol, they described it as hell. the journey out was littered with mines, with russian checkpoints, but they said they had no choice but to leave because there is no food, no water,

no electricity, no heating in many parts of the city. it is freezing cold in the open, a lot of houses, as we have heard, a lot of the buildings have been completely smashed. more than half the city is said to have been flattened. 300,000 people are still trapped in the city of mariupol and we have heard today from the ukrainian president saying that it�*s impossible to get humanitarian corridors into there, they are making it very difficult for people to escape. but those people who have escaped are interiors, they are devastated because they have had to leave many friends and family behind in those pockets of the city which are completely surrounded by russian forces. i completely surrounded by russian forces. . , , completely surrounded by russian forces. , ., ., forces. i was 'ust reading that the ma or of forces. i wasjust reading that the mayor of mariupol _ forces. i wasjust reading that the mayor of mariupol has _ forces. i wasjust reading that the mayor of mariupol has said - forces. i wasjust reading that the mayor of mariupol has said that i forces. i wasjust reading that the i mayor of mariupol has said that 8096 mayor of mariupol has said that 80% of residential buildings are damaged or destroyed, 30% cannot be restored, there is no city centre left, he says. the one bright part of this is that after that attack on

the theatre, some people have emerged, there are survivors? iii}. emerged, there are survivors? 130, were to emerged, there are survivors? 130, were tap to — emerged, there are survivors? 130, were tap to be _ emerged, there are survivors? wc, were top to be about emerged, there are survivors? i7§i2 were top to be about 1000 people emerged, there are survivors? i2 were top to be about 1000 people in the theatre at the time of the attack, even though the words children were written in russian on either end of the data in paving slabs, in big letters to deter, to make it clear to anybody attacking from the sky that there were children inside the theatre. there were still thought to be hundreds of people trapped inside the theatre, it is not clear if they are alive or dead. additions are absolutely freezing, but because of the inability to get help their to lift the heavy rubble, nobody knows yet how many people survived. there was not said to be a bunker underneath the theatre from which some people have been rescued. —— there was said. but with so much of the city flattened and summon emergency services unable to operate as normal, many of those survivors, if they are still alive, having to endure these conditions, without

people able to get to them. but it�*s partly because, of course, of the resistance of the ukrainian army and civil defenders around the city that russian troops were not able to overrun it, so of course they elected to flatten it, as we have seen previously in previous campaigns in chechnya and in syria. russia has flattened the city, 80% of the buildings, so we heard, have been damaged. for of the buildings, so we heard, have been damaged-— of the buildings, so we heard, have been damaued. ., ., ., ~ been damaged. for the moment, thank ou ve been damaged. for the moment, thank you very much- — been damaged. for the moment, thank you very much- the _ been damaged. for the moment, thank you very much. the latest _ been damaged. for the moment, thank you very much. the latest on _ you very much. the latest on mariupol. and in the next half hour, we hope to be speaking to somebody from the medical charity about the humanitarian crisis in mariupol. i�*m joined now by adam casey, fellow at the university of michigan�*s weiser center for emerging democracies. adam casey, thank you very much for joining us. to what extent is there anything like free speech in russia these days?—

anything like free speech in russia these da s? , ., , , these days? there is absolutely,... thank ou these days? there is absolutely,... thank you very _ these days? there is absolutely,... thank you very much _ these days? there is absolutely,... thank you very much for _ these days? there is absolutely,... thank you very much for having - these days? there is absolutely,... | thank you very much for having me, there has been a really serious and far—reaching crackdown on russian media stopped there has been actions taken the russian government, they are seriously criminalising speaking out against the war. russia before this had actually a relatively free and competitive but heavily state—controlled media environment, and that has changed really rapidly in the last few weeks. 50 and that has changed really rapidly in the last few weeks.— and that has changed really rapidly in the last few weeks. so much more difficult would _ in the last few weeks. so much more difficult would that _ in the last few weeks. so much more difficult would that make _ in the last few weeks. so much more difficult would that make any - in the last few weeks. so much more difficult would that make any kind . difficult would that make any kind of resistance or palace coup against president putin if the slightest bit of dissent is cracked down upon? yes, so i think the crackdown on media more affects the behaviour and views of everyday russians. i think it probably has lost a bit of effect. but putin has been in power for over 20 years and he has taken a lot of action to make himself invulnerable for a coup. so putin has a variety of security services outside the army, that monitor the

russian armed forces and he surrounds himself with long—time loyalists and people that are unlikely to move against him. how does he command _ unlikely to move against him. how does he command the loyalty? unlikely to move against him. how| does he command the loyalty? so, russia has does he command the loyalty? sr russia has several overlapping security services, which somewhat duplicate the efforts of the others and one really important thing is russia re—established and are put in relatively early after coming to power, a military counterintelligence department, the fsb, —— in the fsb. he called it the mini fsb when he was the director and it is organised around monitoring the political reliability of the military. 50 monitoring the political reliability of the military.— of the military. so who applies ressure of the military. so who applies pressure to — of the military. so who applies pressure to president - of the military. so who applies pressure to president putin? l of the military. so who applies l pressure to president putin? we of the military. so who applies - pressure to president putin? we all need a critical friend, pressure to president putin? we all need a criticalfriend, are his? i need a critical friend, are his? i think what has really happened over the last few years is he has removed most people who are capable of really speaking truth to power, and i think this invasion has got much worse than putting expected and that is part a reflection that he does

not have dissenting voices in his inner circle. it not have dissenting voices in his inner circle-— inner circle. it is one thing to sorta personalise _ inner circle. it is one thing to sorta personalise regime, i inner circle. it is one thing to | sorta personalise regime, but inner circle. it is one thing to i sorta personalise regime, but to what extent does that in turn isolate you?— what extent does that in turn isolate you? yes, absolutely. i think putin _ isolate you? yes, absolutely. i think putin is _ isolate you? yes, absolutely. i think putin is surrounded i isolate you? yes, absolutely. i think putin is surrounded by i isolate you? yes, absolutely. i think putin is surrounded by a | isolate you? yes, absolutely. i i think putin is surrounded by a lot of sycophants. they are people that are unlikely to move against him. i think even if his inner circle, even if all of them wanted to remove him, the consequences of attempting a coup and failing are enormous. you are looking atjail, exile or death. evenif are looking atjail, exile or death. even if his inner circle are dissatisfied with how the war is going, there is little to suggest many of them knew about it beforehand, they still have relatively few easy mechanisms to remove him. but relatively few easy mechanisms to remove him-— remove him. but the elite, the oligarchs. _ remove him. but the elite, the oligarchs, those _ remove him. but the elite, the oligarchs, those billionaires i remove him. but the elite, the l oligarchs, those billionaires who have benefited from president putin�*s time in power, they are feeling the squeeze. what pressure might they exert upon him? yes.

might they exert upon him? yes, absolutely _ might they exert upon him? yes, absolutely so. _ might they exert upon him? yes, absolutely so. i— might they exert upon him? yes, absolutely so. i think _ might they exert upon him? yes, absolutely so. i think the - might they exert upon him? 13:3 absolutely so. i think the key elites that would actually be capable of removing putin are not really these oligarchs, they are lower key, they are the people who run the security services and the powerful ministries in russia, they are the only people that if they were able to successfully coordinate together would be able to get rid of him. the oligarchs, even though they are feeling the squeeze, probably have fairly conditional loyalty to putin, they don�*t have a lot of actual mechanisms to get rid of him if they are unsatisfied.— actual mechanisms to get rid of him if they are unsatisfied. adam casey, we appreciate _ if they are unsatisfied. adam casey, we appreciate you — if they are unsatisfied. adam casey, we appreciate you talking _ if they are unsatisfied. adam casey, we appreciate you talking to - if they are unsatisfied. adam casey, we appreciate you talking to us, i we appreciate you talking to us, thank you very much. 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. i think we live in an age of a permanent information war. and it has just escalated pretty dramatically. it�*s really important to understand what rt is.

rt is a state broadcaster, that means it is funded by and serves the state. there is an important distinction, i think, between the state broadcaster such as rt and a public broadcaster, such as the bbc and others that countries have, which is funded to serve 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 a 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 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 and broad thing to explain but it broadly means an absence of bringing a certain amount of ideological baggage to journalism 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. demonstrations have been taking place in dover, hull and liverpool after the ferry company p&o announced it was sacking 800 employees without any notice and replacing them with cheaper agency workers. the government says said it will review its contracts with p&o ferries. the firm said its action were necessary to secure the future of the company. here�*s our business

correspondent theo leggett. comrades, brothers and sisters... angry workers in hull today protesting against p&o ferries. more demonstrations are expected in dover, liverpool and larne. until yesterday, many of these people had jobs working aboard the company�*s vessels. now they are unemployed. 800 staff were abruptly laid off, theirjobs taken by agency workers as part of a cost—cutting drive. p&o ferries is not the first company to try to save money by firing staff or changing their contracts, and it certainly won�*t be the last. but what is different here is the way that it�*s gone about it. staff were given no notice, there was no consultation, they were fired on the spot, and that�*s causing a huge amount of bitterness and anger. p&o insists it had no choice, it says it lost huge sums during the pandemic and without major changes could not run a viable business.

the ferry operator is a subsidiary of dp world, a multinational company based in dubai, which generates billions in revenues every year. p&o is a 200—year—old shipping company, they can ride out this storm. everyone has had trouble with covid, now at the point of recovery, they are trying to make our members pick up the tab for the covid crisis. we are not prepared do that. these pictures show security staff boarding a boat in liverpool yesterday to remove the old crew. one worker described how he was removed from a vessel. it's terrible, the way i got dealt with. i was escorted personally from the bridge of the ship to my cabin — this is my home, i work and live on that ship, it's my home and i did point this out to the bailiff, this is my house, this is where i live. the company has been accused of acting ruthlessly, but the question being asked today is whether it acted legally. you can�*t simply replace employees with other, cheaper labour.

the existing employees have rights. technically they should transfer to the new provider and that is something p&o and the new provider should have consulted with. if the employees were dismissed simply to allow p&o to bring in this cheaper labour, it may well be that they have claims for automatic unfair dismissal. today the transport secretary joined those condemning p&o�*s actions. 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. sacked! sacked via a pre—recorded zoom video, withjust 30 minutes notice. no way to treat employees in the 21st century. today, many of the company�*s ferries are not operating, as their new crews have to be trained up. serious disruption is expected to last for several days,

while former workers can only watch in frustration. theo leggett, bbc news. joining us now from dover is our correspondent duncan kennedy. what are the demonstrators are saying to you?— what are the demonstrators are saying to you? well, it's a mixture of thins. saying to you? well, it's a mixture of things- ltut _ saying to you? well, it's a mixture of things. but once _ saying to you? well, it's a mixture of things. but once that _ saying to you? well, it's a mixture of things. but once that were i saying to you? well, it's a mixture of things. but once that were not i of things. but once that were not piano workers were saying, we fully support the piano work and really, they should get the jobs back. support the piano work and really, they should get thejobs back. the piano workers themselves, they have felt like a bereavement happened in the past 2a hours. feeling betrayed by one of the company did. we heard in the report there, this whole business of being sacked by video, that really went down extremely badly. it hurt a lot of people. they ultimately feel as though the company, this is their words, have not acted legally, they find that very frustrating. they say there should have been a period of consultation, at least 45 days, the

government should have been involved because it involved more than 100 workers, but none of that has taken place. so the word is, things like betrayed, let down, and very, very angry. but some of these people who have been working for decades for p and dow have been let go in this way. and dow have been let go in this wa . ~ . and dow have been let go in this wa , ~ ., , ., ., and dow have been let go in this wa. ., ., . ., and dow have been let go in this wa. ., ., , way. what sort of challenge are they ho - in: way. what sort of challenge are they hoinr the way. what sort of challenge are they hoping they will _ way. what sort of challenge are they hoping they will be _ way. what sort of challenge are they hoping they will be able _ way. what sort of challenge are they hoping they will be able to _ way. what sort of challenge are they hoping they will be able to mount, i hoping they will be able to mount, either through the unions or under their own auspices? it�*s either through the unions or under their own auspices?— their own auspices? it's a good question- _ their own auspices? it's a good question- i _ their own auspices? it's a good question. i don't _ their own auspices? it's a good question. i don't think - their own auspices? it's a good i question. i don't think everybody is question. i don�*t think everybody is clear about this yet. i have been listening to various lawyers on this, and to the layman because my care, it does sound a bit ambiguous. on the one hand, one would have thought that piano has taken legal advice on that, but the unions and these workers are insisting, that can�*t be the case because under the law, we should have been consulted, there should have been negotiations. i�*m not sure where thatjoint is fixed, whether there is going to be tested in the courts somehow, whether there will be a industrial tribunal, those kind of things. we

have had an updated statement from p and dow today, we heard yesterday how they were saying that they had lost £100 million last year, they were forced into doing this. today i think in reaction to what�*s happened, how many people have reacted against what they did, they have sounded a little bit more reasonable. they said things like, we fully understand the distress of this announcement has caused, but we had to do this as a last resort. again, they not grown back and actually announcing these job cuts, which is what these p and dow people want, they want the jobs back, which is what these p and dow people want, they want thejobs back, but at least they have tried to address the backlash they faced right across the backlash they faced right across the political and working spectrum. but i don�*t think it will ameliorate the anger that these people are feeling, they really do feel as though they have been hard done by and in this day and age, legally, they can�*t be allowed to get away with it. they can't be allowed to get away with it. , .., they can't be allowed to get away with it. , .. ., ~ i. , with it. duncan, thank you very much, with it. duncan, thank you very much. duncan _ with it. duncan, thank you very much, duncan kennedy - with it. duncan, thank you very much, duncan kennedy in i with it. duncan, thank you very i

much, duncan kennedy in dover. the former police officer who killed sarah everard last year is to be charged with four counts of indecent exposure in the weeks before the murder. wayne couzens is already serving a life sentence, and will never be released. the office for national statistics has reported a significant rise in levels of coronavirus in the uk. its latest estimate suggests nearly 3.3 million people would have tested positive last week — up from 2.6 million over the previous seven days. it comes as the final uk travel restrictions are lifted. much more on the situation in ukraine here on bbc news in the next few minutes, but in the meantime, let me point you towards the bbc news website, where you will find a live page with the very latest from our correspondence who are in the region. at the moment the concentration is on the russian

shelling which is still hampering the evacuation of mariupol. sit stay with us here on bbc news. i�*m martine croxall. hello again there is that we are looking at a lot of dry weather coming our way for the next week or so. this morning we started off with some mist and fog patches, you can see some of these in the valleys and the peak district but since then, that fog has been clearing, most of us now have clear blue sunny skies. a bit of fare with cloud bubbling up for a time. the fine weather is brought by this big area of high pressure, because it is so big and intense it�*s not going to move very far very fast, hence when we look at the outlook, there is not a great deal of rain in the forecast at all. it is a largely dry picture and at times the sunshine will feel pleasant out and about. today we have got lots of that century, just a little bit of fairweather cloud. still fairly brisk winds for western

scotland in south west england. top temperatures higher than yesterday, so it will feel a bit warmer outside, 13 in london and cardiff. overnight tonight, there will be more of a breeze around so it does get quite as cold in the mist and fog will not be as extensive. but there could still be a few patches of frost and a few fog patches particularly through the vale of york are perhaps in scotland. but that will set us up for a fine weekend, lots of sunshine on saturday, a bit workload around on sunday and it will feel a little bit colder as well, particularly across eastern areas. loads of sunshine from dawn till dusk through saturday, with that early morning mist and fog lifting quickly out of the vale of york. it will be gusty towards south west england, gusts reaching around a0 to 50 miles an hour, so even though we have high pressure with us, it will be pretty windy across south west england. those winds coming across the chilly waters of the north sea will peg back the temperatures across the

eastern coasts of scotland and england. furtherwest, eastern coasts of scotland and england. further west, temperatures lifting to around 15 or 16, fairly widely. the warmest spot is likely to be across the north—west of scotland, where some of the valleys could get up to around 16 or 17, worn for the time of year. sunday�*s forecast, it will be cloudier and a good deal cooler, particularly across eastern areas. the cloud is bubbling up to bring some showers especially across east anglia and southern areas of eastern england. we could even have a bit of soft hail mixed in. but there will be a lot of dry weather apart from that.

this is bbc news. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. ukraine�*s president says 130 people have been saved from a theatre in mariupol which was bombed by russian forces earlier this week, but hundreds remain trapped. translation: russian invaders have continued their shelling _ of our cities and our aim is clear, to defend and protect our country and our people. president putin defends what he calls a "special operation" in ukraine in front of tens of thousands of supporters at a huge rally in moscow. translation: to liberate people from this suffering, _ from the genocide is the main inspiring motive of the military operation that we started in the donbas and in ukraine.

russia carries out an airstrike near the western ukrainian city of lviv. activists place hundreds of empty buggies in its city centre to commemorate the number of children killed since the start of the war. joe biden speaks to his chinese counterpart, the first call between the leaders since the start of the conflict. president xi says conflict is "in no—one�*s interest" but has yet to condemn russia�*s actions. 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. protests in dover and other cities around the uk, after p&o ferries sacked 800 staff without warning.

hello and welcome if you�*re watching in the uk or around the world. let�*s return to our lead story and the situation in ukraine. officials in the west of the country say one person was injured overnight when russian missiles hit an aircraft maintenance site near the city of lviv — which, until now, had been spared the worst of the violence. i�*m joined now by malcolm chalmers, deputy director—general for the defence think tank rusi. thank you forjoining us. different commentators will tell you that russia is doing well with its aims, or not so well, where do you stand? i think it�*s very clear and i think everybody would agree that compared with what putin thought he could achieve at the very beginning of this invasion, he is very farfrom what he thought, at the time when i

thought there was a belief in the kremlin that was clearly wrong that ukrainian resistance would crumble and many ukrainians would support the russian intervention in the strike into kyiv would be allow them to capture the president and allow them to install a puppet government, that seems a long time ago. and it�*s also —— true that ukrainian morale is high on russian morale is low and the russians are taking many casualties. 7000 8000 us estimates are more according to the ukrainians themselves, so it is difficult for the ukrainians taking casualties but defending a country, the defending position tends to be easier, certainly defending cities is a lot easier than going on the offence and these are terror attacks

on cities, indiscriminate missile and rocket attacks and in part it is and rocket attacks and in part it is an indication that they don�*t have the people and capabilities and skilled personnel necessary to take those cities block by block but it�*s early days and a lot could change in the coming days and the russians, this is a massive country, the size of france and they have 200,000 troops, which is not actually a lot to launch a campaign against a country of that size, especially since they are attacking on three separate fronts and it varies quite a bit and probably the russians are doing relatively better in the south of the country in part because they can use crimea which is a massive military base for them and nasa has a large point for those but even in the south they are not achieving their objectives and mariupol will be critical in this regard and the

civilian population are suffering, but so far russia has been unable, despite the massive bombardment to be able to capture mariupol and until they do that take some of the other cities in the south, and in some important regards this as a war of attrition and the russians don�*t have the unlimited resources and in world war ii and the cold war, massive resources there are millions but russia is a smaller campaign and they are acting very effectively in cutting off the supply change for russian forces. it�*s all in the balance and we will know a lot more in the days or weeks. haifa

balance and we will know a lot more in the days or weeks. how important is the morality _ in the days or weeks. how important is the morality of _ in the days or weeks. how important is the morality of this _ in the days or weeks. how important is the morality of this war _ in the days or weeks. how important is the morality of this war you i in the days or weeks. how important is the morality of this war you will i is the morality of this war you will see the incredible outpouring for ukrainians who have been attacked and did nothing to provoke the attack. how important is that. in bringing a ceasefire and eventually a withdrawal. but the most direct impact is on opinion in ukraine. fin impact is on opinion in ukraine. on the one hand it gives it gives the justice of the cause to the ukrainians. it�*s always very important.

and for the russians in the field, the soldiers in the field, it is important. russia is seen as a brother nation. in the middle classes are more aware that and and very patriotic people in the country they are right or wrong so there is an impact there. i was going to say it was good a you tojoin us. there was going to say it was good a you to join us. there was another missile blast. there was yet another missile blast in the ukrainian capital of kyiv this morning.

one person was killed and 19 injured when parts of a downed russian missile crash—landed in a residential district in the north of the city. james waterhouse is there and sent this report this is the reality now for people living here. it�*s another morning this week every day where a residential district like this in the west in the city has been struck with the fragments of an intercepted russian missile. you can see the remnants of cars, wheelie bins, bikes, people�*s belongings. and if you look up here, the whole side of the building has been ripped off, exposing people�*s homes. the power of this blast is plain to see and that building just further down is a kindergarten where children would have been. and every window has been blown through. what we know so far is that one person has been killed and 19 injured. and yes, the city�*s defences are proving effective with those ground to air missiles protecting its citizens, but of course they can�*t be completely shielded by the reality of this war. joining us from dnipro medicines

sans frontier emergency coordinator alex wade, thank you very much forjoining us. you are obviously trying to make sure that the people of mariupol are properly supported, so what are the conditions like for your staff there at the moment? the conditions are utterly catastrophic and have been for well over a week now. and many of our staff have been able to leave and seek safety in other parts of the country but there are numerous others who we haven�*t had contact with and we are worried about. the conditions we�*ve been reporting throughout the week is the total lack of water, lack of access to food and no heating, it gets below freezing at night, lack of access to medical services and we know that there have been bodies littering the streets from bombings. we know that

the hospital was hit with incoming shelling and have lost contact with the hospital and mariupol. we had beenin the hospital and mariupol. we had been in touch with them and we�*ve been in touch with them and we�*ve been able to communicate with them and we are worried about the conditions in this hospital. we know it's been difficult _ conditions in this hospital. we know it's been difficult to _ conditions in this hospital. we know it's been difficult to establish i it�*s been difficult to establish humanitarian corridors to allow people in and out. what would be the ideal situation people acting in mariupol right now? in ideal situation people acting in mariupol right now?— ideal situation people acting in mariupol right now?

world the rules of war defined by international we�*ve not been able to have assurances from all sides that it won�*t put more people in harms way. in some respects normal life is to continue in babies need to be born and women need to give birth but at the same time some of the health needs must be evolving, given the trauma that people that people have suffered. you trauma that people that people have suffered. ., ., ., ., suffered. you have the mental health im act on suffered. you have the mental health impact on people _ suffered. you have the mental health impact on people will— suffered. you have the mental health impact on people will be _ suffered. you have the mental health impact on people will be traumatised | impact on people will be traumatised and suffering from depression and anxiety. and you have the medical

needs that everyone has people who needs that everyone has people who need access to continue care and people have started dying and people have access to continued and they have access to continued and they have lost access to the care they are used to and it�*s outside the conflict zones we are trying to follow up. conflict zones we are trying to follow up— conflict zones we are trying to followu. ., . follow up. assuming acute manic a an and follow up. assuming acute manic aryan and how — follow up. assuming acute manic aryan and how sensible - follow up. assuming acute manic aryan and how sensible and i follow up. assuming acute manic i aryan and how sensible and feasible would it be to bring people out for health care if delivering in mariupol is so dangerous? we health care if delivering in mariupol is so dangerous? we want to be careful that — mariupol is so dangerous? we want to be careful that discussions _ mariupol is so dangerous? we want to be careful that discussions around i be careful that discussions around humanitarian corridors but as a corridor is not an objective. it is a tool to obtain an objective. and civilian combatants who are not

there are safe and we have to provide the protection to get services in and it should be at all times that people are protected and hospitals are protected and medical services are available so what we want to see is assurances from all sides and civilians will be safe and that the flow into the city can happen unhindered so people have access to medical services and they should not be a temporary window on that. meet. be a temporary window on that. alex wade, be a temporary window on that. alex wade. thank — be a temporary window on that. alex wade. thank you _ be a temporary window on that. alex wade, thank you very much for talking to us. in a telephone conversation about ukraine, the chinese leader xi jinping, has told president biden that both countries had a responsibility to ensure world peace. but despite appeals for peace, china has refused to condemn russia�*s invasion, orjoin

sanctions against moscow. beijing has also warned it will defend its interests if they are affected by us action against russia. howard zhang, editor of bbc chinese has more on this. president biden, before the speech, the us has been clearly told the chinese side that there will be war in china of the consequences of china continuing to support russia and even had certain veiled threats saying secondary sanctions were possible, so that�*s very clear from the us side. the chinese side, the official media have only released and president xi jin says that nobody wants to see a war and a military confrontation and that should not be the way that the whole countries settle their differences. and we are still waiting for the us

side to give and what exactly is said. to side to give and what exactly is said. ., ., ., , side to give and what exactly is said. ., ., .,, , . said. to what extent was it expected that the us would _ said. to what extent was it expected that the us would try _ said. to what extent was it expected that the us would try to _ said. to what extent was it expected that the us would try to encourage i that the us would try to encourage china in one particular direction or another? �* , ., , china in one particular direction or another? , ., , ., another? because at this moment china remains _ another? because at this moment china remains possibly _ another? because at this moment china remains possibly the - another? because at this moment china remains possibly the last i china remains possibly the last major power that is still potentially able to help russia and in many ways prolong the war in ukraine, so and everyone is expecting the us to at least press china on this and let china know that this is a decision point rather than sitting on the fence and not let either side, quote on quote, you have to pick a side.— have to pick a side. what happens now with china _ have to pick a side. what happens now with china is _ have to pick a side. what happens now with china is not _ have to pick a side. what happens now with china is not saying i have to pick a side. what happens now with china is not saying what | now with china is not saying what the us wants it to say? that now with china is not saying what the us wants it to say?— now with china is not saying what the us wants it to say? that is very much the un _

the us wants it to say? that is very much the un and _ the us wants it to say? that is very much the un and its _ the us wants it to say? that is very much the un and its allies - the us wants it to say? that is very much the un and its allies in i the us wants it to say? that is very much the un and its allies in the i much the un and its allies in the west will have to decide, because china before the ukrainian war, whether the chinese government denies they were in the know before the war started, but president xi jinping and president putin met during the start of the winter olympics and that was just a week before the war in ukraine started and both leaders also signed a long treaty of partnerships of no upper limit and essentially signifying an upgrade of their partnership to almost an alliance level and of course and they don�*t have to enter into any confrontation on the other side�*s behalf but many are suspecting that if china is already starting to help russia in some way. what is at stake?—

what is at stake? particularly if china does _ what is at stake? particularly if china does not _ what is at stake? particularly if china does not change - what is at stake? particularly if china does not change its i what is at stake? particularly if. china does not change its stance, because it is such a huge international player, does or doesn�*t do will have signed of —— kind of gravitational pull. let�*s kind of gravitational pull. let's look at russia. _ kind of gravitational pull. let's look at russia. when - kind of gravitational pull. let's look at russia. when russia i kind of gravitational pull. let�*s look at russia. when russia refused to retreat from this invasion into ukraine, it had to take the embargoes, the sanctions, even trying to wean off the european countries from buying the international banking system, so if china continues to be part of the russian invasion or actively help russia, what would the international community do? that would be the consequences. that would be the implication if the uk, us, europe got together and made that decision, then that would be another major shift in the geopolitics of this

well. through all of the fighting an outline of a peace agreement may have been 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�*t join 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 201a. 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. john simpson asking the questions there. according to city hall officials in mariupol in the south of ukraine, they are saying that regarding the strike on the theatre by russia earlier this week, and there were thought to be perhaps a thousand people and hundred and 30 survivors found so far, they are saying that they believe that no one so far has died and they have not found anybody

who has died in that building and they will be sheltering underground in the basement as a sort of makeshift bomb shelter and one person is badly injured, they say that thankfully at the moment they are still looking for survivors and hundred and 30 have been pulled out safely and one person injured and no one has died as far as they can tell. it looked as if according to local officials early in the week that the building was more or less intact when it came to the basement area. more than three million people have fled ukraine in total, according to the latest figures from the united nations. ukranian refugees who want to come to the uk can from today apply for visas to be sponsored by british families. more than 150,000 people in britain have registered for the scheme, offering a room in their home or property. lucy manning has been to meet one family in kent who are making preparations. 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 for helping ukrainian people and support. you are very welcome, olga. we will speak to you soon. you take care today. so we are going to have to paint the room... i 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 are 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. fear�*s recalibrated when you�*ve escaped russian shelling. what was it that made you decide that you wanted to have refugees come and stay at your house? ijust, i think... 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 may be feels like we are standing up to 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�*s 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, kind of 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 are staying with are going to be basic, and it is 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. come on, little babies! 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. nicola sturgeon has been giving details of the so—called super sponsor scheme which is open by the scottish government and scotland wants to welcome you, she says, and anyone who goes on to the uk visa application site just needs to

select scottish government and do not have to arrange for their own individual sponsor. that will all be done when they arrive. our hearts are already open now our doors are as well. we are looking at a lot of dry weather coming our way for the next week or so and this morning we started with mist and fog patches. and you can see it in the peak district but the fog has cleared out of the way and most of us have clear blue sunny skies and a bit of fair weather cloud bubbling up for a time. the fine weather is brought to us by this big area of high pressure and because it is so big and intense it is not going to move very far very fast, hence when we look at the outlook, there is not a great deal of rain in the forecast at all, and it�*s a largely dry picture and at times the sunshine will feel pleasant out and about. today we have lots of the sunshine and a bit of fairweather cloud bubbling up for a time and still brisk winds for western scotland and the top temperatures

are higher than yesterday so it will feel warm outside. 13 in glasgow, 16 in both london and cardiff as well. overnight tonight there will be a bit more of a breeze around, so it doesn�*t get as cold and the mist and fog won�*t be as extensive, but there could be a few patches of rust around and a few fog patches, particularly through the vale of york and made into parts of eastern scotland as well but that sets us up for a fine weekend, lots of sunshine on saturday and a bit more cloud around on sunday and it will feel a little bit colder as well, particularly across eastern areas. loads of sunshine from dawn till dusk through saturday with the early morning mist and fog lifting quickly out of the vale of york and it will be gusty towards south—west england with gusts of wind reaching a0 to 50 miles an hour so even though we have high pressure with us, it will be pretty windy across south—west england and the winds are coming across the chilly waters of the north sea and will peg back the temperatures across the eastern

coasts of scotland and england, whereas further west we are looking at temperatures lifting to 15 or 16 degrees fairly widely. the warmest spot likely to be across spots in the valleys might be about 17 degrees. the sunday forecast will be cloudy and a good deal cooler, particularly across eastern areas and the cloud is bubbling up to bring some showers especially across east anglia and other areas of eastern england and we could have some soft hail mixed in with showers and there will be a lot of dry weather apart from that.

this is bbc news — welcome if you�*re watching here in the uk or around the globe. i�*m tim willcox. our top stories... fighting intensifies in the southern ukrainian port city of mariupol. ukraine�*s president says 100�*s people have been saved from a bombed theatre there but hundreds remain trapped. translation: russian invaders have continued their shelling _ of our cities and our aim is clear, to defend and protect our country and our people. president putin defends what he calls a "special operation" in ukraine in front of tens of thousands of supporters at a huge rally in moscow. translation: to liberate people from this suffering, _ from the genocide, is the main inspiring motive of the military