this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm lukwesa burak. our top stories — the russian invasion of ukraine continues. trapped for 30 hours under rubble after shelling in the city of mykolaiv, a ukrainian soldier is pulled out alive. very tense here. it looks like somebody heard planes overhead. i heard some explosions, and the soldiers told us to leave very quickly, which is what we're doing now. 80% of buildings in the port city mariupol have been damaged by the russian assault. those who've managed to get out have been describing what they've fled. translation: there is no mariupol. we sat in a cellar for ten days and did not leave once. we neither had water or electricity.

two former british prime ministers join calls for a new nuremberg—style tribunal to investigate vladimir putin for his actions in ukraine. welcome to bbc news. tonight, the united nations human rights office says that at least 847 civilians have been killed in ukraine since russian troops invaded more than three weeks ago, although the true figure is likely to be much higher. ukraine's president has called for comprehensive peace talks with russia "without delay". volodymyr zelensky also accused russian troops of causing a "humanitarian disaster" in the besieged city of mariupol.

the mayor of the strategically important port says street fighting is hampering efforts to rescue hundreds of people trapped inside the basement of a theatre that officials say was bombed by russia on wednesday. for the latest from ukraine, we can go live to our chief international correspondent lyse doucet, who's in kyiv. lovely to see you there. first off we know that russian forces have been really making a push in terms of mykolaiv. what a situation in kyiv? of mykolaiv. what a situation in k iv? , ., of mykolaiv. what a situation in kiv? kyiv? the focus of russian forces seems very _ kyiv? the focus of russian forces seems very much _ kyiv? the focus of russian forces seems very much to _ kyiv? the focus of russian forces seems very much to be _ kyiv? the focus of russian forces seems very much to be on - kyiv? the focus of russian forces seems very much to be on the i seems very much to be on the southern coastal belt along the black sea and the sea of as eyes. it is a strategic land court or that it would like to seize. that is our understanding. that is what we see on the ground, a swathe of land which can connect eastern ukraine and the crimean peninsula, to areas

of ukraine that it has held sway over since 2014. the situation here in kyiv, the capital, although as long been believed that this is also in moscow's sites has not changed very much in the past few days. the air raid sirens continue to sound throughout the day. there are explosions, mostly on the edge of the city. many of them coming from the city. many of them coming from the northwest. we also see dark plumes of smoke rising from the northwest where we know there has been quite intense fighting as the ukrainian armed forces tried to push back russian convoys, armoured convoys right on the edge of the city. we also can see and hear in the skies the launching of ground to air missiles, evidence that the air defences of the ukrainian army are still intact, still holding and still intact, still holding and still a key part of the ukrainian defence. ., . ., ., .,

defence. 0k, our chief international corresnondent. _ defence. 0k, our chief international correspondent, thank _ defence. 0k, our chief international correspondent, thank you _ defence. 0k, our chief international correspondent, thank you very - defence. 0k, our chief international| correspondent, thank you very much for that update, thank you. in the south—west, in a city called mykolaiv, a search—and—rescue operation is under way after a nearby ukrainian military base was hit by missiles. the city is a key russian target that has been blocking russia's advance west along the black sea coast for weeks. 0ur correspondent andrew harding has sent this report from there. hunting for survivors in the ruins of a ukrainian army base. it's believed 200 soldiers were in these buildings when russian missiles struck. ukrainian officials aren't saying how many died here, but it could well be over 100. suddenly a survivor is found. alive after 30 hours under the rubble in freezing temperatures. his name unknown for now, but most likely a local recruit

fighting for a city that's taken a hammering. abruptly we're told to move fast. ukraine is full of these sudden scares. very tense here. it looks like somebody heard planes overhead. i heard some explosions. and the soldiers told us to leave very quickly, which is what we're doing now. a few minutes later, the all—clear. but nerves are wearing thin here in mykolaiv, the front line for russia's black sea offensive. two shopkeepers emerge from a basement near the army barracks. translation: i can't tell you how scared we are. l we all live in the cellar now. when the bombs hit the army base, everything shook. and everyone's phones are filling up with pictures of their city's agonies. along the coast, a glimpse of how

much worse things could still get. this is mariupol, or what's left of it. besieged by russia, hundreds of thousands of people are still trapped in the city. heavy fighting means no way out for them and no way to bring in food or water. in mykolaiv, another air raid siren and the hard—earned knowledge that no—one's safe from russia's bombs. as we've seen today, the russians are sometimes targeting purely military sites, but more often than not it's civilian neighbourhoods like this one that are getting hit. nine people who were queueing on the street outside these shops were killed a few days ago by a russian bombardment. just two blocks away, this lorry driver is trying to clear up after this. by chance, he and his family

were away when the bomb hit. "this isn't a war between armies," he says. "the russians are trying to destroy us all." back at the army base, heavy going as a front—line city waits for news of any more survivors. andrew harding, bbc news, in mykolaiv, southern ukraine. people in the ukrainian capital, kyiv, have been spending their nights underground to avoid the threat that hangs over their city. 0ur international correspondent 0rla guerinjoined them in a shelter built in soviet times. the nightly routine as the curfew descends. they seek refuge below ground in kyiv. we can't say exactly where.

some are glued to the radio, like a scene from wars gone by. and they bed down in darkness. forced into the shadows. our guide is zoe, a teacher and translator driven from her own bed by russian attacks. they bombed the city close to my apartment. at five o'clock in the morning, i got up like crazy, i didn't know what to do because it was frightening. you know, the building was shaking like this, so... and after that, i decided to come here. i'm sorry. before, i watched it only in the movies. of the second world war started. 0nly movies about it, but now we are in this reality, you know?

in a makeshift bedroom nearby, another echo of the past — a discarded lenin. many here believe vladimir putin is trying to drag ukraine and europe back to the dark days of the soviet era. at the dinner table, the discussion among friends and neighbours is about the defences around the city. and there are other worries here. like what to tell the children. julia says her six—year—old keeps asking questions. "we tell her she has to cope for a little while, and we hug her and kiss her," she says. then it's bedtime. mother and daughter counting sheep.

a familiar ritual in a time of danger and uncertainty. 0rla guerin, bbc news. here, p&0 ferries say some of their services from liverpool have resumed after all ships were called back to port on thursday. hours later, the firm announced 800 staff had been sacked and would be replaced with agency workers. the scottish government says it is now reviewing all publicly funded contracts with the company. our business correspondent ramzan karmali reports. chanting: go, go, p&0! go, go, p&0! protesters let their feelings be known about the sudden dismissal of 800 p&0 staff outside the tory party conference in blackpool. the government really needs to get its act together.

rather than be leading the destruction of the british maritime industry, they should be doing all they can to reverse the loss of 800 jobs. in dover, the company's ferries lie idle. the dubai—based owners dp world have come under intense criticism on the way they have treated their workers. their families are going to be in need. it also means that local shopkeepers are not going to have the benefit of people spending. this is going to impact greatly on the wider community. the government now is also coming under scrutiny about the legal advice it took when told about the plans, and the scottish government's told the bbc it's reviewing all publicly—funded contracts with p&0. p&0 says it is now taking bookings for its crossing between liverpool and dublin.

but for these ferries here in dover, and in fact eight across the whole country, the transport secretary grant shapps is insisting on full safety checks. this delay will undoubtedly cost the company money, but it could also have an impact on businesses and passengers alike. one of europe's biggest transportation companies is worried. we are trying to move i all our trucks and trailers with cargoes to other lines, - but we understand every carrier now will do the same. so, we see the lines, - the queues slowly growing. absolute disgrace what's going on. the government has asked the insolvency service to check if dp world acted appropriately, but it's clear p&0's brand has been damaged by this week's firings. ramzan karmali, bbc news, dover. let's get some of the day's other news. china has reported its first covid deaths since january last year as it faces its worst outbreak since the early days of the pandemic.

two people have died in the province ofjilin in the north—east. officials said they were elderly with underlying health conditions. china has continued with its zero—covid policy, locking down entire cities and enforcing mass testing. the family of a joint british—iranian citizen held in iran say they feel betrayed by the british government. morad tahbaz, a 66—year—old wildlife conservationist, remained in iran while two other joint british—iranian citizens, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and anoosheh ashoori, were freed by tehran last week and allowed to return to the uk. let's return to ukraine now, where themilitary have announced a 38—hour curfew in the southern city of zaporizhzhia following a russian rocket attack. 0ur correspondent wyre davies sent this report from there. this is the town of zaporizhzhia. it's about 130 miles just to the north—west of the besieged city of mariupol, which, of course, has been virtually flattened by russian artillery fire.

now, in recent days and weeks, those people who've been able to flee from mariupol have been coming through here. many of them, including children, being treated at local hospitals. but the big fear here now is that this city will become the next target for the russian offensive. indeed, in recent weeks, there have been sporadic missile attacks in the area. and in the last 24 hours, seven people were reported to have been killed in attacks against a local training base and factories. and that's meant a curfew has now been declared, a 38—hour curfew, in this city declared by the army and by local authorities, and that's already led to pretty big queues at checkpoints in the city. people fleeing the city to the north to dnipro. of course, the fear is that even though many of these big old civic buildings are standing, that this city will soon resemble what has happened in mariupol.

zhanna bezpiatchuk is from the bbc ukrainian service. she's also in lviv and sent us this update from the train station a little earlier as people made the journey from the west of ukraine to neighbouring poland. this is one of numerous vacation trains which is about to depart. it leaves for poland, for the polish town of chelm, just very, very soon, in a few minutes. there is no precise schedule for such trains, but it's about to depart. and believe me, almost everybody on this train doesn't believe that it might be a one—way journey for them. people really believe that they will return to their homeland as soon as possible. i know that the family of one of my friends, one of my closest friends, is about also to take one of these vacation trains to the polish town of chelm within the next days.

her mother, her brother and grandmother. then they will go to poland, from poland to france in order to reunite with the family there. so, that's the reality for many, many ukrainians, for hundreds of thousands of refugees from this country that have to flee it and flee the war of not their making. i talked also to many other people who stay here in western ukraine, and i have to remind that yesterday the aircraft repair plant in lviv was hit by russian missiles, and many people that fled the war in the other parts of the country and found the safety here in this part of ukraine. now they're worried by this situation, but for many, the western edge of the country is the only safe place that they can hope for.

because, for example, many mothers whose sons serve in the army, they're going to be conscripted or they'lljust continue their civilian work, their important civilian work in this country. they want to stay in ukraine, support their children, support their granchildren, support their families. it doesn't mean that everyone from the areas which are heavily hit by the battles, by bombardments, wants to flee the country. and this is still the safe place for ukrainians. so far, it's been reported that a total of 6623 people were evacuated from ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on saturday. ukrainian officials say it was considerably less compared to friday's attempts, with more than 9000 evacuees having managed to leave the warzone. in an online post, the deputy head of the president's office recorded 4128 people who had left

the besieged port city of mariupol. these are amongst many ukrainians to leave their homes, and for those who have stayed put, finding food and medicine is dangerous and difficult. earlier today, my colleague james reynolds was at a distribution centre just outside lviv where volunteers are gathering aid for people in need. in normal times, this- was a furniture warehouse, but since the start of the war, this has become an aid - distribution centre. it receives and then sorts. through tonnes and tonnes of supplies which have been sent from across the world. _ so, let's split up, you go this way and i'll go that way _ just to get a sense of the scale of what's been donated. - and you're now walking through this column where people are sorting. out clothes and shoes. and on my side, people are sorting through tins and tins of food. -

there are lots of volunteers here. some of them have been older, retired people. . and they've decided to sign up for 6—8 hour shifts here. - they get bus rides in, and they sort through everything to make sure i everything's in good order. and then the businesspeople who run this centre organise it. _ they'll start to re—pack it, i and they then are in contact with places across the country. which really need food and shoes and tins and tins of food. and one of the most important needs of all is medicine. - and if you just look over there, you'll see the pallets that - need to be sorted out. those have to be sorted out by specialists, by doctors i and pharmacists, and they will then be sent out and driven _ out to the hospitals - that need them the most. heavy bombardment from russian forces continues in kharkiv in the east of ukraine.

my colleague matthew amroliwala has been speaking to inna sovsu. she's a ukrainian mp and deputy head of the golos political party. she started off by telling us about her family and friends who are currently in kharkiv. i was getting desperate messages from them from the first day of war. they are all terrified. and what is important to know is that kharkiv is a russian—speaking city to a very big extent, and i was getting messages in russian from many, many people who were saying one thing. we want the whole world to know that kharkiv is a ukrainian city. and we want to stay part of ukraine, so please do not surrender. that was the messages from people i was getting who were sitting in bunkers for days and nights without water, without electricity, but the only thing they wanted the world to know is that this is a ukrainian city and they need it to stay this way. tell me the impact it's had on you, because am i right in saying that

you've been separated from your son recently? my son was relocated to the western ukraine by his father. my boyfriend joined the army. my parents left western ukraine. then my dad came back tojoin the territorial defence, and now he's helping evacuate people. i did come to see my son a day ago, just to double check on him and talk to him and calm him down a little bit. i will have to go back to kyiv, though, unfortunately. but staying away from your loved ones is one of the biggest challenges, of course, for everyone, for us here. i miss my son a lot. now i'm seeing him, but i will have to leave again soon. i miss my boyfriend so badly. i randomly get messages from him, but i never know where he is, if he's safe, and that is of course extreme pressure, yeah. those are incredibly difficult conversations to have. do you think vladimir putin is serious about peace talks, and do

you think is that partly why president zelensky wants to meet him in person so he can actually make thatjudgment? there is something... i actually talked to my boyfriend this morning, and he's with the army and he wanted me to say this. he says please say thank you to liz truss if you can for saying what she said. she basically said that putin is using the negotiations as a smoke screen in order to recruit the forces and to prepare for further attack. that is what it feels like on the ground for people fighting against russians here in ukraine. there is no single sign that russian forces are trying to surrender, that they are trying to stop the attacks. they're actually getting more and more violent here in ukraine. and that is why we are extremely sceptical about the possibility to make a deal with putin. we are seeing that they're just lying all the time. we did see about a week ago when lavrov blatantly claimed they didn't

start a war in ukraine, so making deals with such people is extremely dangerous. and that is why we are extremely concerned about the promises they're giving. a final quick thought, and i'm going to put onto our screen something you post on social media only a few days ago, and you tweeted... i mean, it is a very straightforward post that you make, but it underlines so totally how dramatically life has changed in just three weeks. it is true, and i posted that the day when there was yet another strike in kyiv at 5am in the morning when i think three residential buildings had been destroyed. and it was a sunny day. it was the day when we were having the parliamentary session, and i walked around the city.

i went to the supermarket. i passed by the bakery that i used to go to, and the supermarket shelves are half empty. the bakery has a sign, the bakery which used to have dozens of baked goods, it had a sign that they are now only selling coffee and bread, and ijust felt so acutely this change in my life that i was building for years, that is just completely gone right now and i will never be able to fully get back to how it used to be before. that is for sure. but i just want at least some sense of normality. that is eight ukrainian mp. here in the uk, two former british prime ministers, gordon brown and sirjohn major, have called for a new international tribunal to be set up to investigate vladimir putin for his actions in ukraine. they've signed a petition alongside 140 academics, lawyers and politicians campaigning for a legal system modelled on the nuremberg trials of nazi war ciminals after the second world war. gordon brown spoke to bbc radio 4 earlier.

go back to 1942, when the allies got together and said that they would punish war crimes, and that led to the nuremberg trials. what's unique about this is that we're seeing, as you just reported from mariupol, the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, which is against international law, the targeting of schools, hospitals and public buildings, against international law. we're seeing the breach of humanitarian ceasefires. of humanitarian corridors that are being created by the russians, and of course we're seeing nuclear blackmail. all of these things are adding up to massive loss of life, of course. russia's space agency has denied that three of its cosmonauts were showing support for ukraine by boarding the international space station wearing yellow uniforms. the cosmonauts docked safely on fridayjoining american, german and russian crewmates already on board. the men's bright clothes, reminiscent of ukraine's flag, prompted speculation they were protesting against the invasion.

but a statement from roscosmos said, "sometimes yellow is just yellow." hello again. it's been the warmest day of the year so far. temperatures earlier this afternoon reached 20.2 degrees celsius in kinlochewe in highland scotland. now, there were a few places in portugal that got a little bit warmer than this, up to 22 degrees, but otherwise, this was actually one of the higher temperatures that we saw in europe. certainly beating all of these warm spots. athens today just nine degrees celsius. but it could've been worse. for those seeking out a of warmth in turkey, well, that wouldn't have gone so well today. it's been snowing in istanbul, for example. and now leaving europe's weather behind and back to our weather, we're looking at drier conditions overnight tonight. the brisk winds that we've seen by day will slowly moderate somewhat, and most parts, it's going to stay clear and starry. but there'll be a few patches of cloud in the south west.

maybe a few mist and fog patches through the vale of york and eastern scotland with a few patches of frost here and there in the countryside. so, a chilly start to the day on sunday, and although the higher pressure is still hanging on, it's not going to be as warm as it was on saturday because we've got some slightly cooler air moving its way in from europe. now, most areas will keep the sunshine all day. there'll be a bit more cloudy in western counties of northern ireland, and the cloud will tend to build in east anglia, threatening a few afternoon showers, well, late in the afternoon. but those temperatures not as high, 9—13 degrees celsius. a few showers, then, for east anglia running into eastern areas of england. might even have a bit of soft hail in some of those. but we're going to start to warm up the weather into the new working week. so, on monday, high pressure still dominating. this little weak area of low pressure could get close enough to bring an odd shower to eastern scotland, but otherwise, it's staying fine. temperatures rising. we're looking at 13 degrees in cardiff, 15 in london. the cool air with us for a time of scotland, but through monday and into tuesday,

we're going to increasingly get this flow of southerly winds pushing that milder air ever further northwards and boosting temperatures significantly. so, tuesday, plenty of sunshine for most areas. there could be a few afternoon showers across central regions of the uk, but look at these temperatures. 19 degrees celsius in london, 16 for cardiff, getting warmer for northern ireland and scotland, 14—15 degrees here. and we're going to keep that very mild weather with lots of spring sunshine later in the week as well. that's your latest weather.

this is bbc news, the headlines... fierce street fighting has been hampering efforts to reach hundreds of people still trapped beneath a bombed theatre in the ukrainian port of mariupol. civilians who have been able to escape mariupol say conditions in the city are terrible. rescuers in the port of mykolayiv are searching for survivors among the rubble of a military barracks that was hit on friday in a russian missile attack. dozens of people are thought to have died. the un human rights office says that at least 847 civilians have been killed in ukraine since the russian invasion began. most of the casualties were caused heavy artillery, missile and air strikes. two former british prime ministers join calls for a new nuremberg—style

tribunal to investigate vladimir putin for his