this is bbc news, the headlines: russia has intensified its attacks across ukraine. this was the result of an airstrike near the city of lviv. in the southern city of mykolaiv, dozens of people have been killed in a russian missile strike on an army base. in his latest video address, president volodymyr zelenskiy called for comprehensive peace talks with russia. fighting has reached the centre of the southern port city of mariupol, both sides have confirmed. many civilians are still trapped in the city, with more than 80% of residential buildings either damaged or destroyed. vladimir putin has praised russia's unity over what he calls the country's "special operation" in ukraine, and he thanked

russia's military. his comments came in a public speech, to a packed stadium in moscow. some students and public workers said they'd been pressured into turning up to the rally. now on bbc news, withjohn simpson, its unspun world. hello and thank you for being with me for unspun world with john simpson, the programme where we go to the bbc unmatched range of experts to get the unvarnished facts. this is in stumble and it is a nervous place at the moment. ——is stumble. turkey is not impose heavy sanctions on

russia like other members because it's russian links are so close so it's links with ukraine. turkey is in a tight spot economically and diplomatically that is why it is doing everything it can to bring the russians and the ukrainians together stop and the fact is the consequences of this vicious war of aggression are likely to be serious for turkey and for all of us. —— instanbul. turkey and for all of us. -- instanbul.— turkey and for all of us. -- instanbul. ~ ., , ., ., , instanbul. would you find gas at quadruple _ instanbul. would you find gas at quadruple the _ instanbul. would you find gas at quadruple the price? - instanbul. would you find gas at quadruple the price? is - instanbul. would you find gas| at quadruple the price? is that at quadruple the price? is that a price with pain? the at quadruple the price? is that a price with pain?— a price with pain? the bbc coverage _ a price with pain? the bbc coverage of— a price with pain? the bbc coverage of the _ a price with pain? the bbc coverage of the war - a price with pain? the bbc coverage of the war has i a price with pain? the bbc. coverage of the war has come a price with pain? the bbc- coverage of the war has come in for a lot of praise worldwide. one face has been clive my reef. strategically, economically... the war started

eight years ago. are the russians transferring their tax ticks in syria to ukraine? we are seeing — ticks in syria to ukraine? - are seeing parallels. not only in the military tactics but also in the information walls. war. ., ., , , war. the world has been fascinated _ war. the world has been fascinated by _ war. the world has been fascinated by vladimir i war. the world has been i fascinated by vladimir putin but most of us do not have any idea how hard the fallout will be. the bbc�*s economic editor set out for me how frightening it is going to be. the russian economy is being heavily hit, but it isn'tjust a by—product of this military conflict, it is almost like a theatre of the conflict. it is the conscious aim of the western powers, knowing the restrictions

on their use of military force for obvious reasons right now, was to try and think of ways to hit the russian economy as a sort of form of conflict if you like. so the biggest manifestation of that of course is the attack on the central bank of russia, the financial sanctions. vladimir putin has been using the gas and oil revenues to build up a buffer — a cushion as it was referred to me by one of the russian central bank advisors — which would mean if isolately financially, the russian economy would be protected, the rouble would be protected. at a stroke, due to some imaginative thinking from some western financial ministries and central banks, that cushion, that war chest, was locked away, the russians can't use it and as a result, the rouble at one point halved in value. you have seen the stock market unable to open. the last time it closed for this long it was 1917 and it didn't re—open

for eight decades! the value of leading russian multinationals fall to sort of pennies in london exchanges. is it possible to slam the russian economy and not get the blow back ourselves? surely, there will be effects on the world economy? and, indeed, that has been a strategy of the russian state for 20 years. to underpin european living standards by providing cheap hydrocarbons, cheap gas in particular, even during the height of the cold war and even during this, the gas has carried on flowing. it has flowed even faster. even through ukraine as bombs have been going off around, the pipeline has continued to pump the gas that western europe has grown addicted to, some would argue. if the gas stops flowing, or doubles or trebles, or quadruples in price, that is huge political collateral damage across the whole of western europe.

now, of course it's natural for the americans to cast around for where they and their allies, their european allies, can get their supplies of oil and gas from. i think the world has a big challenge in terms of trying to replace for europe 40% of its gas supplies. for oil, there are other supplies. it does require some diplomacy. now, the problem is that the americans, for understandable reasons, have had diplomatic issues with the saudi arabia regime and now find themselves needing a favour. so, we have also seen this with the venezualans, which is a remarkable. another country that the americans are going to see? there is currently an embargo there. venezuela, 15—20 years ago, was producing three million barrels a day of oil. it is currently under a million. so you can find the oil,

but you then have to work out your diplomatic stand. you've got to work out what you care about the most. we are going to be in such trouble, aren't we, quite soon? in a matter of months? it's going to be a very severe adjustment to both high gas prices and high fuel prices. so, we're seeing record petrol pump prices for cars across europe, in the united kingdom as well. gas prices had already been risen for a typical household by 50%. there is is a very real path to that having to happen again, possibly even more, in the autumn. you are talking potentially to just below average income people being unable to afford bills of that type. and the government's having to think — governments across the world are having to think carefully about how you manage these things. that's on gas. on petrol, on food as well, you know, the un food price index has reached

levels of 2008. what happened after food prices reached that point? we had the arab spring, we had huge social dislocations across the world, because food prices were so high. i don't think the public fully is aware of — they're aware of what's happening right now and it's difficult enough, they're unaware of you may get the same again in autumn. if our aim was to genuinely knock the russian regime for six, you know, would you fund gas at triple or quadruple the price, is that a price worth paying? tens of billions of subsidies as a way to sort of make really clear to moscow we're not going to fund this? wars always seem to have consequences no—one expected. who, for instance, would have thought that a russian invasion of ukraine might allow

the united states to lure venezuela out of its relative isolation? yet, that's exactly what seems to be happening. daniel pardo, speaking from bogota. we are hearing that the most difficult relationship of the united states with a latin american country is having developments that we didn't think were possible. and we're seeing president nicolas maduro saying things that we didn't think was possible. that we didn't think were possible. it shows this government was more likely than we thought to be pragmatic and look for solutions that didn't include the change of a government, that do include the change of the model, the socialist model that they have put in place in venezuela. obviously, we don't know what the outcome is going to be. always venezuela, it's a very unpredictable story that we need to be very careful about.

six months or so ago, if i had known that the americans were going to go and maduro for a favour and that maduro were going to go and ask maduro for a favour and that maduro would respond by considering doing them a favour, i would have thought that was just fantasy. one of the crucial elements of this political movement that has been in powerfor 22 years in venezuela is anti—imperialism — the idea that the united states is a bad influence for the region. chavez suffered a coup in 2002. he thought that the united states was behind that. since then, he got very close to castro, to cuba — to russia, in fact — and his whole idea of anti—imperialism became a crucial element of his political movement.

well in the past five years, we have seen a terrible crisis in venezuela that includes these financial and economic sanctions to the economy and to the government and have generated a lot of suffering for many venezuelans, so i think that maybe have triggered this pragmatism that i was talking about in the government of maduro, because they might think, "look, we want to stay in power and we want venezuelans "to be happy and to do that we have "to have a good relationship with the neighbourhood, "including the united states." so, i think that is the sort of change, which is crucial. what would be the public reaction in venezuela? one of the consequences that we have seen of these sanctions is that venezuela has become a very isolated country. so i think venezuelans would be very happy to have a closer relationship with the neighbourhood, be able to travel, be able to trade, be able to have all the things that come from the united states. there is another thing here, john, which is that venezuela and the united states used to have a very close relationship before chavez. the influence that the

united states had in venezuela, because of the oil industry, was huge. in terms of culture, like the cars are american, baseball is the national sport, i think that getting close to the united states and thinking of the possibility of having a closer relationship is something that most venezuelans are going to be happy about, yes. for years now, maduro has been looking to russia, to help him to support him, what's he going to say to russia now? i don't know and i'm very curious about that, because russia is a huge influence for the maduro government. especially after the sanctions. you know, they have always been close politically, but after the us sanctions to venezuela, the only way for venezuela to sell their oil internationally was through russia and russia links and all the scheme they have these countries that are opposed

to the united states. i think he is willing in fact to get closer to them and sacrifice his russia tie. the general coverage of the ukraine war has been pretty impressive. this is a city that is so much on edge... but the bbc has been particularly praised for its reporting. just stick with me and i'll... clive myrie anchored the bbc�*s team reports from kyiv. there's a lot going on in your head and there is a lot going on, you know, in your heart as well. with that kind of conflict, which seems so one—sided. with that kind of conflict, which seems so one—sided, from the outside in terms of fire power, in terms of ferocity, in terms of willingness to target the defenceless. and all that gets you stirred up, but obviously on air, you need to be as calm about

the situation as possible. and i suppose my feelings, having been away from ukraine for the last few days, range from a sense of surprise, actually, at how significant this moment is. it's difficult to sort of understand that when you're right in the middle of it, i think, and to have a clear perspective. you realise what a huge moment this is, geopolitically, strategically, economically, and that is what we all want, asjournalists, isn't it, to be part of those huge moments in history? and to see it from the inside, as you did. and to see it from the inside, yeah, which is a really important thing. what about the people that you came across, the ordinary ukrainian people?

how did you relate to them, what did they say to you? i was fascinated by their resolve, and it's that resolve and that backbone that i found very, very impressive. but also worrying, because fundamentally, given the force of arms of the russians and their greater firepower, i don't see how the ukrainians are going to win this on the battlefield. and as a result, you're thinking in your head, this is going to be a bloodbath, this really is going to be a bloodbath. and that, sadly, is what we're seeing. there was a woman i saw in a bread queue and we were talking to her, and she said, "we will fight the russians, even on our own." she must have been in her 50s,

you know, heavy coat, keep out the winter chill, waiting in the queue, we approached her, we talked to her, and that was very much the attitude, even though we're on our own, we're going to fight, because this is our land, and this... it deserves to be saved. when you talk to people — people like this woman in the queue and all the other dozens of people that you spoke to — what were their attitudes to the west, to the way we responded to their plight? i think there was a general sense that the west would not leave them to completely take on the might of russia on their own. that, at some point, potentially, there may well be western boots on the ground to help in this fight because this is a fight between authoritarianism and essentially totalitarianism, in some people's view, and freedom and democracy, and that's what the west is supposed

to be all about. but as time went on and you talked to more and more people, there was a sense that this was not going to happen. that the fears that perhaps an american engagement with the russians would lead to world war iii and that, gradually, what was sinking into people's minds is that they were fighting this war on their own. so, i think there is a sense of abandonment that is beginning to creep in. would you want to go back? yeah, absolutely, absolutely. it could be worse? it could be worse, but i think — i think it's important that no matter in whatever small way, journalists are trying to bear witness to what's going on and i think it's important for the story to be told and to be told truthfully,

because there's a lot of nonsense out there — a hell of a lot of nonsense — and you want to feel that you're continuing to report a story that has begun and hasn't finished. we've got used to expecting that when war crimes are committed, some of those responsible for them will pay the price at the international criminal court, but what happens when a country like russia isn't a member of the icc? anna holligan is the bbc�*s long—serving correspondent at the hague. this court deals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. it is a court of last resort, designed to hold the most powerful leaders to account when their own countries are unwilling or unable to do so. so, a war crime, essentially, the most important thing is, civilians are off—limits. you cannot target civilians, you cannot target any of their infrastructure.

hospitals, apartment blocks, for example, and you can't use indiscriminate weapons, so, things like cluster bombs or vacuum bombs, they're banned, too. and so are things like chemical weapons, and that's, of course, the fear now. a record number of countries referred the invasion in ukraine to the icc, so, 41 countries, including the uk — never happened in this court's history. and what that meant, already, they've managed to send an advance team down onto the ground to start gathering evidence. they have to establish a chain of command. they have to gather clues — things like forensic evidence, photos, videos — to try to work out who at the top is giving the orders to commit any possible atrocities that we're witnessing in ukraine today. i know you're an expert in these things. is it your opinion that human rights crimes have been committed?

i think there is no doubt that human rights violations have taken place in ukraine and every single international justice expert i've spoken to here in the hague and beyond is adamant about that, but what we have to look at is the process ofjustice because that's what matters in terms of actually getting people in the dock. at the moment, everyone is wondering will we ever see vladimir putin in the dock here in the hague? it feels a long way off. but, of course, there have been cases in the past where people who have seemed untouchable one day, heads of state, have appeared here in the hague. it's about the commanders on the ground who are receiving orders, working out where those orders came from. the issue with this case which has been launched by the international criminal court is that russia is not a member of the icc, but ukraine is not a member, either. ukraine accepted jurisdiction, which means that those commanders who are on the ground now committing, possibly, war crimes, can be held accountable,

could be arrested and could be extradited to face justice in the hague. in terms of the people who are still in russia, that's another story. what would it take to get russia to send them to a court that it doesn't actually sign up to? the prosecutor who is here today, he has the benefit in a sense, that this conflict is ongoing and it's much easier — usually, these things happen years after the event. i myself have — have witnessed all sorts of things which i thought were war crimes happening and yet, we're talking about the russians, we're not bringing americans or british or any — anybody else. isn't this a little bit victors' justice? again, the issue is the united states is not a member of this court and so, the power it has to bring prosecutions is limited. that's undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges

of internationaljustice — ensuring there is a level playing field. it's 11 years since the arab spring lead to a vicious civil war in syria. soon, russia threw its weight behind the distinctly unmilitary figure of president bashar al—assad, and kept him in power. i talked to amira fathalla of bbc monitoring about the way russia's tactics, especially against civilian targets, have been carried over from syria to ukraine. the situation in syria now is a real picture of kind of fragmentation and also real entrenchment of different players in different parts of the country, so for the most part, while there is still violence and there is still conflict, you don't see that play out across the entire country as you might have done several years ago at the height of the conflict. at the moment, the government controls quite significant

territory. also interesting that it controls the major cities like damascus and aleppo, even if it doesn't have, for example, a total hold on the wider province of aleppo. and other parts of the country are then ruled by completely other players. so, in the north—west, there's rebel groups backed by turkey. there's also jihadist groups. in the north and the east, there's kurdish—led groups. and all these different players actually control different parts of the country and all happen to be very fierce opponents to each other. now, are the russians are still involved in the war in syria? absolutely. the russian support for the syrian government really is what tipped the balance in favour of the government. russia is still definitely involved. we still hear of russian air strikes on rebel—held territory and we also hear of russian air strikes targeting islamic state

militants in desert areas of syria, where they carry out sporadic attacks on syrian government forces and also on kurdish—led forces as well. and is there evidence that the tactics and the weapons, the kind of weapons that the russians used in syria, are being used in ukraine? we are seeing reports from ukraine of suggestions that russia has used thermobaric bombs, for example. we saw that in syria. the fact that russia is carrying out strikes on civilian areas, including hospitals that have maternity wards and children's wards, we've seen that in syria, so we're definitely seeing parallels. but not only in the military tactics but also in the information war and in the messaging put out by russia. tell me more about that. so, we sawjust recently

russia saying that ukraine or ukrainian fighters were preparing, like, a false flag chemical attack that they would carry out and blame on russia. and this echoes so much with what we see in syria because this is something that both the russians and the syrian government have been saying for years is happening or will happen. so, the idea of blaming the other side from what you're actually thinking of doing... planning to do. ..that is just a carbon copy of what's happening? exactly. it may be that they are planning to carry out a chemical attack themselves, that they set up the scene to say that opponents are about to do it. what about russia saying that it was going to use troops from syria — or volunteers, anyway, from syria, and other countries? any truth in that? we are definitely seeing reports from various parts

of syria, saying tens of thousands of people are signing up. russia has recruited in syria for other conflicts before. we saw this with libya. we also saw reports that russia was trying to hire syrian fighters to go and act as security guards in venezuela. so, it's a tried and tested pattern. we know — we know that this has happened before. amira fathalla of bbc monitoring. here in istanbul, people think they'll be among the first to experience the disturbing economic effect of this wholly unnecessary war in ukraine, but they won't be the only ones. the entire world is going to feel the consequences quite soon. and on that disturbing note, let's say goodbye until the next time.

hello there. at 17.5 degrees celsius in west sussex on friday, it was the warmest day of the year so far. no surprise, really, because the march sunshine is strengthening and there was barely any cloud to block that sunshine out during the course of friday. it'll be a similar story through the day ahead. and with the high pressure sitting around for the foreseeable, certainly for the weekend and beyond, i suspect we will see higher than 17.5 celsius. but a fairly brisk wind around, at least for the first part of the weekend and there may well be one or two showers by sunday but, for the most part, because that high pressure is across the uk, it will stay dry and fine and as the winds start to weaken into the week, temperatures will rise and it will be really quite warm, it will feel quite warm in that strengthening march sunshine. but a chilly start on saturday and some patchy fog around, so the frost is more likely across northern and eastern areas. not as widespread as friday morning and the fog won't be, but there will still be pockets around potentially. we've seen some in northern

ireland, northern and eastern areas, a few other spots as well. but otherwise, it looks like a sunny day on saturday, but a fairly brisk wind. breezier, certainly, than we saw during friday. now, that wind will be strong and gusty, particularly across western areas. but coming in off the north sea, as well, it'll have an effect on temperatures here. so, it's also coinciding with some spring tides, so we've got some potentially overtopping of the waves but some strong and gusty winds across the south—west but, as i say, for many western areas, and the south as well, gusting to 30 or a0 mph. coming in off the north sea at this time of year, many of us see temperatures at their lowest, so that will obviously hold the temperature right on the coast down at 15 or 16, as we saw friday but we could actually see 18 in the north highlands with some shelter here from that breeze, so clearly, we may get above 17.5 during the day ahead. more likely saturday, i think, than sunday. sunday looks like it'll be slightly cooler —

that's because we'll have more cloud, so a colder start as well, more widespread frost sunday morning and more fog around once again, so we've got that to clear. the wind still coming in from the east off that chilly north sea, bringing the risk of some showers and more cloud into southern and eastern areas and more cloud into the west. so, hence, with more cloud around, it may well be a little cooler than saturday.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. our headlines today: fighting reaches the centre of the besieged city of mariupol where more than 80% of residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed by russian bombing. the ukrainian president volodymir zelensky says 300,000 people are still stuck in mariupol, as he calls for meaningful peace talks with russia. did p&o break the law when it sacked 800 members of staff? the labour party and the tuc urge the government to publish its legal advice. good morning. in sport...

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