welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm mariko oi. the headlines... a fresh curfew's declared in the ukrainain capital kyiv, after a series of russian strikes on civilian targets. you can see here that the scale of the destruction is absolutely immense, and spread over a wide area, surrounded by apartment blocks. there could be a lot more of this ahead. ukraine accuses russia of war crimes in the city of mariupol, but president zelensky again calls for face—to—face talks. more than 130 people are feared dead, after a plane crashes in china.

an investigation is ordered. in washington, public hearings begin for the first black woman to be nominated to the us supreme court. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. ukraine has accused russia of committing war crimes in the southern port city of mariupol, where heavy fighting has reached the city centre. president zelensky has ignored russia's demand to give up the strategic city, saying there's "no question of any surrender". the capital kyiv is under a new night—time curfew, after residential areas were attacked by russia, killing eight people. one of the targets was a shopping centre,

which russia claims was storing rockets. russian forces are trying to encircle and cut off the capital, but large areas around kyiv remain under ukrainian control, especially in the south. our international correspondent orla guerin reports. footage of the shopping centre in kyiv released by russia appears to show a military vehicle driving up, and this was the russian attack, which moscow says was targeting rocket launchers stored at the site. in the darkness, emergency services picked their way through the ruins. from the rubble, hands emerge, trembling, and a survivor is pulled to safety. but eight people were killed in this attack on the capital. here is what is left of the shopping centre. there are indications that the ukrainian military had

a presence here, but russia has hit plenty of non—military targets, in kyiv and elsewhere. you can see here that the scale of the destruction is absolutely immense, and spread over a wide area, surrounded by apartment blocks. there could be a lot more of this ahead for kyiv. russian forces are not inside the city, but they can hit hard from the outside. how are you feeling about the future here now in kyiv? i don't know now, but i don't want to leave kyiv. you want to stay? yes. it's my home. even though things are so dangerous now? i know, but it's dangerous all over ukraine.

all cities. but the key city, the key target, is kyiv, and in the forests on the outskirts, its defenders are preparing for battle. these territorial defence recruits, now training for urban combat. their instructor is a georgian, who fought the russians during the war in his homeland in 2008. the concern here is not that russia can surround or capture kyiv, but that it may avenge itself on the city. i'm not sure that they will be able to besiege kyiv, because we're a large city with a lot of defence, and it will be really hard to encircle it. but what i really am afraid of is that out of weakness, out of despair, because they are losing this war, they will destroy it as much as possible,

because of hate. then, time to get into position, behind the sniper sights. alex has been a hunter since boyhood. he is unflinching and unapologetic about his new wartime role, hunting the enemy. it's our motherland, i and we must defend it. and in this case, i think it's no difference between - the animals which i try . to shoot and the animals which come here to kill our people, kill our children, . destroy our buildings and destroy our life. | ukrainian forces may be facing a war of attrition here. british defence officials expect russia to make a renewed push for the city in the coming weeks. 0rla guerin, bbc news, on the outskirts of kyiv.

president biden has warned russia may be considering using chemical and biological weapons in ukraine. the president said that by making false chemical weapons allegations against ukraine and the united states, as its done in recent days, russia may be seeking to create a pretext to use them itself. let's have a listen to what he said. his back is against the wall, and now he's talking about new false setting up, including he is asserting that we, america, have biological as well as chemical weapons in europe. simply not true. i guarantee you. they are also suggesting that ukraine has biological and chemical weapons in ukraine. that is a clear sign he is considering using both of those. he has already used chemical weapons in the past and we should be careful what is about to come. he knows there will be severe

consequences because of the united nato front, but the point is, it's real. figs united nato front, but the point is, it's real.- point is, it's real. as it continues _ point is, it's real. as it continues its _ point is, it's real. as it continues its advance l point is, it's real. as it - continues its advance across ukraine, russia still has a challenge on its hand. melinda haring, from the atlantic council, told me why mariupol is so important to the russians. no, i have good news tonight, they won't be able to take kyiv so easily. so kyiv is a hard city to take. it is on a hill, it has narrow roads, it's difficult to navigate and is heavily defended. and the ukrainians know that russia wants it more than anything, so they're ready for a big fight, it's going to take a long time and a huge amount of indiscriminate bombing to take kyiv. and right now, the russians can't even take mariupol. so i think that right now, the focus of the action is in the donbas, and the russians are making a little bit of progress there and in mariupol. but they are too heavily focused on those areas right now. but there is really serious

shelling in kyiv, but it will be really hard to take. aside from those heavy fightings in those two cities, what comes next in russia's war against ukraine? there have been warnings about possibly using other weapons, as well. yes, so that's the big question. no one knows how to get out of this mess. at this point, it looks like it's a stalemate, but putin is not ready to negotiate. he gave two big speeches this last week — he is defiant, he's emotional, he's not willing to give up or admit that his army has made serious mistakes. and the ukrainian side will not give up either. the ukrainian side will not give up crimea, it won't give up the donbas. so we're really at an impasse, and what happens on the battlefield now will determine the contours of a peace agreement in the future. so i think, honestly, i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but what we're seeing in mariupol is likely to be repeated in kharkiv, in kyiv, and other cities. so there'll be

indiscriminate bombing. vladimir putin does not value human life, and we'll see more of the same — so that's why it's imperative now to establish humanitarian zones, where innocent ukrainians can leave, where they can get out of the country and get to safety as quickly as possible. in southern china, more than 130 people are feared dead, after a passenger plane crashed in a mountainous area. urgent efforts are under way to find out why the aircraft went down, near the city of wuzhou. 0ur correspondent stephen mcdonell reports from beijing. rescue teams raced into the remote mountains of guangxi, hoping to find survivors. instead, there was barely a trace of flight mu5375, after the passenger jet completely disintegrated when it hit the ground, causing a fire in a bamboo forest. this unverified cctv footage is said to have captured

the plane's vertical descent. tv news delivered a message from the country's leader. xi jinping said he was shocked, and called on investigators to quickly discover the cause of the crash. as a precaution, all of china eastern�*s boeing 737 8005, like this one, have been grounded. boeing said in a statement that the company's thoughts are with those who were on board, and it pledged technical support for the investigation in china. for people in china, today's crash has been extremely unsettling. this is a country with a strong air safety record, so strong that travellers have, frankly, taken air safety for granted. not any more. at guangzhou airport, the wait for news of family and friends and family who never arrived. "my heart is really heavy", says one man who had to call the family of a colleague to tell them he was on the flight.

here, they must know that their loved ones are not coming home. stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... the british—iranian woman released in tehran last week says the uk government took far too long to secure her freedom. i'm so proud of both you. let there be no more wars or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. with great regret, _

the committee have decided that south africa be excluded . from the 1970 competition. singing in own language. streaking across the sky, the white—hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers on fiji. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko 0i in singapore. 0ur headlines: a fresh curfew�*s declared in the ukrainain capital kyiv, after a series of russian strikes on civilian targets. ukraine accuses russia of war crimes in the city of mariupol, but president zelensky again calls for face—to—face talks.

as we've heard, ukraine has rejected a russian deadline for its forces to stop fighting in the besieged port city of mariupol. the first international journalists have arrived into areas of the city under russian control, describing utter devastation. hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the southern city, with little access to food, water or power. in another development, the authorities in ukraine's biggest port, 0desa, say russian naval forces in the black sea have shelled some residential buildings on the outskirts of the city. it's the first time buildings there have been hit. 0ur correspondent wyre davies has been speaking to families who've escaped mariupol to the city of dnipro. a warning — his report contains scenes you may find distressing. in recent days, we've seen how cruel this conflict is,

especially for children. but there is just occasionally kindness and humanity, too. this community—run centre in the central city of dnipro is the first point of safety and refuge for many victims of the war from across eastern ukraine, including mariupol. the city they left behind is in ruins. barely a building is left unscathed by russian shelling, and according to the city council, 3,000 civilians have been killed. many of them lie where they fell, others are hastily buried by neighbours. a russian—imposed deadline for mariupol�*s defenders to surrender was ignored. so the shelling continues. some residents stay in makeshift shelters. those who can, flee north. nearly everyone who leaves mariupol in cars packed with families arrives here with absolutely nothing at all. and it is to places like this they come,

waiting patiently for the very basics — food, clothes, and medicines. children get hand—me—down toys. their mothers, the bare essentials. here they avoid talking too much about what people have gone through. it's too soon. it's also an effort dealing with so many desperate cases. translation: everything that is brought here - isn't funded by large corporations or budgets, it's from local people, and some from charities, but you can see how many people there are and what we have just isn't sufficient. in what was a school canteen, volunteers package up basic food parcels that will keep refugee families fed for a few days. for schoolteacher vadim, it is his civic duty to be helping out. because i'm ukrainian, i must do what i can. this is myjob now. this is my front now. and if i can help people i must do it. some will stay in dnipro. for others it's the start of a long journey.

as they escape to mariupol, some were told by russian soldiers to keep going as this city too would soon be under attack. "we were driving out under fire," says 0lga. "shells were exploding. "they were bombing us and there were dead bodies everywhere." the un says there are 6.5 million displaced people inside ukraine alone. the city and this community are doing their part to make that transition less traumatic. wyre davies, bbc news, dnipro. more on that story. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky says a meeting with president putin is necessary to determine russia's position on ending the war he launched in ukraine. here's our chief international correspondent lyse doucet with the latest from kyiv. president zelensky has asked repeatedly to meet president putin. i remember injanuary, even before this began when one world leader

after another was speaking to president putin, president zelensky said, "why are you not talking to me?" people ask him now, "what is there to talk about?" and he says, "even if there is a 1% chance of ending "this war, i will take it." but we hear from the turkish and israeli mediators, while they say they've made some progress, they say the time is not right — and that is the message we also hearfrom russia. president putin himself keeps repeatedly saying that this campaign is going according to plan — whatever his plan is — and that it will only end once it achieves its goals. we still ask, the people of this capital ask, what are the goals of president putin here? we're at the third 35—hour curfew here since the invasion began. last night was a night of sustained russian artillery fire — louder, closer than it's been before. but still, no clear

movement of russian forces into the city. there is an assessment that they are consolidating their positions on the edge of the city, digging in their artillery. but still, they cannot take this capital or even encircle it. it's a month now on thursday since this invasion began. and thursday will also mark a moment of intense diplomacy. presidentjoe biden will be in brussels, there'll be a nato meeting, a g7 meeting, an eu meeting trying to find ways to end this war. will it make president putin change his mind? it hasn't yet. the us senatejudiciary committee has begun holding four days of hearings on the nomination of the first black woman to the supreme court. ketanji brown jackson was nominated by president biden last month. in her opening statement she pledged independence and said she would decide cases from a neutral position.

if i am confirmed, i commit to you that i will work productively to support and defend the constitution in this grand experiment of american democracy that has endured over these past 246 years. i have been a judge for nearly a decade now, and i take that responsibility and my duty to be independent very seriously. i decide cases from a neutral posture. i evaluate the facts, and i interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me, without fear or favour, consistent with my judicial oath. judgejackson used her opening statement to set out her stall, ahead of four days of what could be challening questioning from senators. i asked peter bowes whether republicans were likely to back her nomination.

it is not a foregone conclusion. i think things have changed in this country as we are seeing across the nation but we are also seeing the extreme partisan politics in the senate as well and that is going to apply i thing to the line of questioning from some republicans. 0ne republican said he is looking forward to a candid conversation with the judge about her past sentencing record. she has been criticised by some for allegedly being too lenient and some of the cases that she has presided on over the years and the allegations from republicans might be that she has been soft on crime and perhaps, in this politically charged yet with an election coming up, the bed term elections in november, that is acclaimed the republicans perhaps notjust directing at this nominee but the biden

administration as well. it is quite likely we could see some fireworks before the end of the week. �* ., , ., ., week. before we let you go, if ou week. before we let you go, if you want _ week. before we let you go, if you want to — week. before we let you go, if you want to be _ week. before we let you go, if you want to be approved, - week. before we let you go, if you want to be approved, this| you want to be approved, this would be a very historic moment? ——if she was. would be a very historic moment? --if she was. extremely historic. moment? --if she was. extremely historic the _ moment? --if she was. extremely historic. the first _ moment? --if she was. extremely historic. the first woman - moment? --if she was. extremely historic. the first woman if - historic. the first woman if confirmed to be appointed to the supreme court. — — first black woman. the conservatives will still have the six — free majority but is but as her individual role is concerned, hugely significant. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe has made her first public appearance, since she was relased by iran last week. she's returned to the uk after nearly six years in detention. here's our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley. out of the darkness into the spotlight. for six long years she was silenced. it was her husband who

had to speak for her. of the psychological torture she endured, the agony of being separated from her daughter. but today, at last, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe got to have her say. and she began with some important thank yous. my amazing husband, who has been tirelessly campaigning for me, so thank you so much. and my daughter for being very, very patient with mummy to be coming home. so i am so grateful. at this point, gabriella, who's seven, is much more interested in the games on a mobile phone. nazanin flew home in the early hours of thursday morning, along with another british national, anoosheh ashoori, after the uk repaid a long overdue military debt. but she wasn't keen to give the government any credit today. i was told many, many times that, "oh, we're going to get you home." that never happened. so there was a time that i felt like, do you know what? i'm not even going to trust you, because i've been told many, many times that i was going to be taken home, but that never happened.

how many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? five? it should have been one of them eventually. so now, here we are. what's happened now should have happened six years ago. she didn't want to answer questions about the detail of her prison ordeal, including solitary confinement. it will always haunt me. i always felt like i am holding this black hole in my heart all these years, but i'm just going to leave that black hole on the plane when the plane lands. i'm not going to live for the rest of my life with a grudge over the past six years. can i ask how you felt as you walked down the steps of that plane at brize norton? is it too early to say what the future now holds? um... it's very early to think what is going to happen next. that moment was precious. i have been waiting for that moment for such a long time, and i was overwhelmed. specifically to get to know gabriella and richard after such a long time,

it was a very, very emotional moment. but i don't know, we will see what happens in the future. i think it's too early for me to think about that. i'm just enjoying the moment. at nazanin�*s request, the daughter of a british born iranian left behind in tehran was there too. morad tahbaz is a 66—year—old wildlife conservationist serving a ten—year term, who thought he was part of the deal that brought nazanin home. roxanne tahbaz made a direct appeal to the government. to prime ministerjohnson and foreign secretary truss, we beg you to please stand by your word and bring back both of my parents, my father and my mother. i believe that the meaning of freedom is never going to be complete until such time that all of us who are unjustly detained in iran are reunited with theirfamilies. her own family will, she made clear, keep her grounded now. gabriella told me on the phone one day that, mummy,

you do realise that you are very famous, and then it's me and then it's daddy? laughter. fine. then i said, ok, you know, it's not good to be famous, because you want to have a normal life, and, you know, just to have... and she was like, "oh, you're not going to be famous for ever. maximum a week! so we're bracing ourselves for a week of fame, and then we'rejust going to have a normalfamily. and with that, she was off to start a new chapter in her life, away, the family hopes, from the public gaze. a reminder of our top story, a fresh curfew in kyiv. the ukrainian _ fresh curfew in kyiv. the ukrainian president - fresh curfew in kyiv. the ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has again called for direct talks with vladimir putin to try to put an end to the fighting but he said such a meeting would be unlikely to lead to agreement on longer

term issues such as constitutional changes and security guarantees. he said any decisions made in these areas will need to be put to ukrainian people in a referendum. it's very settled on the weather front right now, and that's how it's going stay generally over the next few days. how about the details? and there are a few to talk about — just the chance of catching a shower on tuesday. some of these fairweather clouds will build into shower clouds, but i think the vast majority of us will miss them. now this is the high pressure that's dominating the weather across europe — it really is an extensive high, and so many towns and cities enjoying that spring sunshine. so the forecast, then, through the early hours shows a little bit of cloud here and there, perhaps some mist and murk forming through the early hours. generally frost—free with temperatures of around 3—6 celsius, but in northern parts of england, in the northeast and also in scotland, just a touch of frost,

particularly in rural areas. so we wake up to lots of sunshine, and again, these shower clouds may develop across parts of wales, central england, and the north here. i mean, you could hardly see them on the weather map here, so again, for most of us, it's a dry day. temperatures typically 15—18 celsius, but some of us will warm up to around 20 or so, particularly across southern parts of england, the usual spots. so the forecast into wednesday, then, and light winds, again, lots of sunshine, again, just the outside chance of those showers being sparked off by the higher temperatures. and i think widely in the high teens across england, and certainly in the lowlands of scotland easily 16—17 celsius. and pleasant enough for northern ireland too, the mid—teens. now the high pressure is right over the uk on thursday. that means very light winds across central areas of the country. so even though the temperatures may be not quite as high on thursday in some areas, it's still going to feel every bit as warm

because the winds will be light, and we'll have so much sunshine around, as well. now, friday and the weekend, the high pressure is going to wobble a little bit — all that means is that the winds will start to sort of change in direction. but on the whole, it means very little change in the weather overall. so here's the outlook, then, for the next few days — a lot of fine weather, it really is a cracking week of weather. i think the next spell of more unsettled weather won't arrive until around the end of the month. that's it for me, bye—bye.

this is bbc news, we will have the headlines and all the menus straight after this programme. three weeks in and despite the continuing diplomacy, kyiv is a city on edge. nowhere is safe. this russian aggression is spreading westwards towards lviv, until now relatively safe city. and after 18 days, this missile attack on ukraine's international centre for peacekeeping and security,