this is bbc news. our top stories... a glimmer of hope for ukraine — in peace talks russia says it'll scale back military operations around the capital kyiv. translation: the ministry of defence of the russian . federation has taken the decision to drastically reduce combat operations in the kyiv and chernihiv areas in order to boost mutual trust. western leaders express doubts about russia's intentions. the us secretary of state says moscow continues to brutalise ukraine. at least five people have been killed in a shooting in israel — the third such attack in the past week. and queen elizabeth — out in public for the first time in weeks to commemorate the life of the duke

of edinburgh. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. there appears to be a glimmer of hope following peace talks between russia and ukraine. the negotiations — in istanbul — were the first for a fortnight. ukraine confirmed it was prepared to be a neutral country and abandon ambitions tojoin the nato military alliance. for its part, moscow announced what sounds like a change of military strategy saying its troops will drastically reduce their operations around the ukrainian capital kyiv. here's our moscow editor, steve rosenberg. away from the fighting, another attempt at diplomacy.

delegations from ukraine and russia came to istanbul. but would there be any room for compromise? negotiating behind the scenes, the russian billionaire roman abramovich. today, the kremlin dismissed reports he'd been poisoned at a previous round of talks as an "information war". president erdogan was the host. he called on both sides to push for peace. translation: it will be in everyone's interest i to achieve a ceasefire and peace as soon as possible. as members of the delegation, you've taken on a historic responsibility. the whole world is waiting to hear good news from you. at these talks, ukraine made concrete proposals to russia it hopes could end the conflict. ukraine proposed becoming a neutral state. it won'tjoin military alliances or host foreign military bases.

in return, it's asked for legally—binding security guarantees, with other countries acting as guarantors. ukraine is ready to discuss the status of crimea, the peninsula russia annexed. it's also insisting that russia shouldn't prevent ukraine from joining the european union. translation: our. proposal has not been accepted yet by russia. we are handing it over to the russian side. we say, this is our position, our official position. we will wait for their answer. russia responded with what it presented as a significant concession. it said it would scale back its offensive near the ukrainian capital, kyiv. translation: the ministry of defence of the russian . federation has taken the decision to drastically reduce combat operations in the kyiv and chernihiv areas, in order to boost mutual trust and create the conditions for further negotiations and signing of the agreement. if russia does cut back its military activity around ukraine's capital, that would mark a key

shift in what moscow calls its "special military operation", but what most of the world calls russia's war. an admission, perhaps, that after struggling to make advances, russian troops have realised they cannot take the city of kyiv. but — and there are lots of buts here — russia hasn't ceased hostilities in ukraine. it made that clear today. its troops are continuing to fight. although their main focus now, moscow says, is on the donbas, in eastern ukraine. and what about those areas in the east and their status, under any potential deal? also, not clear. and remember, from the very beginning, vladimir putin's objective was to force the whole of ukraine back into russia's orbit. will he really give up on that? steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. ukraine's president zelensky

has said while initial signs from the talks were "positive", they do not "drown out" the explosions of russian shells. the us said they would judge moscow on its actions rather than its words. again, it's very early stages here. they've onlyjust recently, in the last few hours, made this proclamation, so we have seen a small number begin to move away from kyiv. that's about the most i can give you. i don't have any information on their resupply efforts for troops that are still arrayed against kyiv. i would remind that the russians still have a significant majority of their assembled combat power, to include logistics and sustainment — the sustainment capability available to them inside ukraine. daniel fried served as us ambassador to poland when it joined nato in 1998. he has since acted in a number of roles focused on russia, including assistant secretary of state for europe under george bush. a little earlier i asked him if he had enough trust

in russia during these talks to hold out hope for some kind of resolution... trust is a different commodity, and trust in putin's russia is a scarce commodity if it is one at all. the... i've heard the reports of the progress supposedly made in istanbul. the biden administration is sceptical. rather than leaping at it, they are at best reserved. you heard the pentagon spokesman just now saying that there's no evidence — no major evidence — of a big russian withdrawal from around kyiv, and if they do leave, it might simply be that they're redeploying to attack further in the east near donbas. well, that seems to be what they're saying, isn't it? that they will focus on the east and on the donbas region? i know earlier in the evening there were still sounds of shelling around kyiv in any case, but there would be a logic, a rationale to them using this as a way

of covering their embarrassment about their lack of progress in and around kyiv. well, it does have that feel, doesn't it? the russians thought they could simply march into kyiv and it would all be over in a couple of days. now they're in significant trouble, especially in the north. they may start... well, they have already started reframing their war aims. they may decide to negotiate seriously. but so far, the negotiations don't feel that serious to people in the administration, who have told me privately they are somewhere between sceptical and almost dismissive. right. none of the negotiations in principle... the potential for real movement is there, but not at the moment. yeah, it's an interesting point. i mean, let's get back to that hope element, if we can, because the ukrainians have put a few things clearly on the table — neutrality perhaps being the biggest single message there, but also

readiness to discuss crimea. what are the gaps, then? the principle gap is that the ukrainians don't want to give the russians massive amounts of territory. the russians are probably going to insist on it. putin will need to show some show something, some victory to show his people he hasn't been defeated, and the ukrainians — feeling much more confident in the course of battle — are less likely to to give him that kind of victory. nor should they, frankly. right. so a long way to go on that. look, you've got a very distinctive footprint in this part of the world over the last decade or so in particular. last many decades, i'm afraid! well, sure, i suppose it's just been a very hot area in the last decade in particular, but ijust wanted to put this to you. is there any part of you that feels a level of responsibility for the speed and perhaps even

the aggression with which nato pushed forward on accelerating membership and moving up towards the russian border? well, first — full disclosure — i was, in the 1990s, one of the architects of that policy of nato enlargement during the clinton administration and during the george w bush administration. no, i don't feel any regret at all. my god! had nato not enlarged to take in the baltic states, they would be in the position that ukraine is in today. don't you think so? does nato enlargement really sound like a foolish idea, given what vladimir putin has done — attack his neighbour for no good reason? the fact is, nato's enlarged to bring the newly free countries of eastern europe out of the grey zone and into the west. the former us ambassador daniel

fried talking to me earlier. since russia began its invasion of ukraine, the capital kyiv, has been a key target. but its forces have not got past the outskirts of the city. now russia says it will drastically reduce its offensive around the capital. the ukrainian general in charge of defending kyiv has told the bbc that russia is suffering heavy losses and can't win. our international correspondent, orla guerin, sent this report from a key frontline, north of the capital. ukrainian forces keep watch on a critical front line to the north of the capital. having said it had no plans to invade, russia now says it will drastically reduce attacks around kyiv. these troops won't be dropping their guard. the man in charge of defending the city, colonel general oleksandr sirsky, was handing out promotions and medals today.

he's been fighting the russians in eastern ukraine since 2014. now, they're on his doorstep. the russians are four kilometres from here. is it painful for you that they have come so far on this soil? it's painful. especially here, because i fight against russia eight years, during eight years. so i'd like to say, together, we are stronger. and, er, we will...win. he told me his men are being shelled constantly, but are on the offensive in some areas. and he insisted the russians would never set foot in kyiv.

sirens wail. and inside the city, there is vigilance, night and day. territorial defence units out on patrol — through deserted streets, now lined by checkpoints and roadblocks. their mission, to monitor any movements and search for the enemy within. saboteurs passing information to the russians. after being stopped and searched, this man was allowed to go on his way. but in the past month, in this area, they've detained about 30 alleged informants. then, a sudden threat over our heads. they spot a russian drone and follow its path.

"i'm working on it," says this fighter, nicknamed chechen. blasts. well, it was quite tense here in the last few moments, with that russian drone overhead. it has now disappeared, but members of the unit say this is happening as often as ten times a night. the russians are sending their drones to try and gather intelligence from above. there's incoming fire, but from a distance. if russia does limit its offensive on the city, it's probably because it had stalled already. orla guerin, bbc news, kyiv. stay with us on bbc news — still to come... queen elizabeth was out in public for the first time in weeks to commemorate

the life of the duke of edinburgh. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can, at worst, produce a meltdown. in this case, the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union conference.

the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become - a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians| wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is- being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustav eiffel. i this is bbc world news, the latest headlines. a glimmer of hope in ukraine — russia has said it will scale back military operations around the capital kyiv. but western countries express doubts. at least five people have been killed in a shooting in israel — the third such attack in the past week. the israeli prime minister, naftali bennett, has warned his country is facing a new wave of terror after a third knife or gun attack in a week. at least five people were killed in the town of bnei brak on the outskirts

of tel aviv. 0ur correspondent yolande knell has the latest from jerusalem. the picture is still a bit confused, but i can say at this stage, this is the deadliest attack of its kind in years in israel, and it's only a week since i last said that. we had a medic in the ultra—0rthodoxjewish neighbourhood of bnei brak to the east of tel aviv describing finding victims spread out at intervals along the street and some of them had been on foot and one of them had been in a car and there was some reports from witnesses in the neighbourhood saying that they earlier heard gunshots being fired towards apartment balconies. video footage that appears to show the man dressed in black, walking with a rifle on the street, and what israeli media are saying at the moment quoting security officials they're saying that this attacker that was shot dead was from the northern occupied west bank affiliated with a palestinian military group, that is different from attacks we've seen

in the others in the past week. which have been associated with israeli arab citizens who were linked to islamic state group. bnei brak is an ultra—orthodox jewish neighbourhood and a place where people really are religious and so the attacker went and the place that we have seen, those dressed in black and walking along the streets and at the time of the day this happened early evening, lots of people would've been just out and about. now, the pictures that we're getting there are quite chaotic and you can see lots of emergency vehicles and police and that has added to some of the confusion of what is going on. yolande knell reporting

there from jerusalem. hard to believe perhaps, but the act of lynching — of killing someone for an alleged offence without giving them a trial — is still not a federal crime in the us, as the legislation had never been passed by both houses of congress, until this month. that's when the senate finally adopted the emmett till antilynching act, named after a black teenager who was brutally murdered in mississippi in 1955. and now president biden has signed it into law making the act of lynching a hate crime. anyone convicted under the new law will face up to 30 years in prison. it's taken more than 100 years and 200 failed attempts by us lawmakers to pass legislation. when i spoke earlier to our north america correspondent david willis, i asked him whether it was any more than an event for the history books. this word lynching has been misused over the years, and consequently has lost some

of its impact. it is defined as the public killing of an individual who hasn't received the due process of the law. very often it also involves mutilation, kidnapping, and so on. running up to the civil rights era of the 1960s, there were thousands of lynchings, many of them involving black men as the victims. in the last few years, we have seen something of a racial reckoning in this country, brought about by the death of george floyd, the rise of the black lives matter movement and so on. there's a feeling here still about the deaths of george floyd, ahmaud arbery in georgia, they do require some sort of very serious punishment for those who perpetrated the crimes. than 30 years injail.

to answer your question, it's symbolic largely but it will certainly make the point that the lives of people like ahmaud arbery and george floyd really do matter. kamala harris has said it's far more than a relic of the past. and i suppose we should point out that in different states around the united states, there have been prosecutions of those who have carried out lynchings, it's not as if it has been open season. that's absolutely right. amazing, isn't it, that the first legislation of this kind was actually proposed in congress as far back as 1900, and since then, there have been 200 attempts to get anti—lynching laws onto the statute books, all of which have failed up until now. today, as president biden signed this legislation into law, he said that race

hate was not an old problem, it was a persistent problem, he said it was a problem that never goes away. very simply, the question why? why has it taken so long? the rationale would be that of course this should be a crime. absolutely, many of the occasions it has been thwarted, seen out by the senate filibuster or a victim to the opposition of those who believe this sort of matter should be dealt with at state level. we have seen we have seen trans we have seen trans does micro change in thoughts and they have come together finally to pass this legislation. let's get some of the day's other news. in china, a record number of coronavirus cases has been reported in shanghai with panic buying widely reported in parts of the city not under lockdown. residents in the eastern

half have been confined to their homes for three days and subjected to mandatory testing. 0nly around 300 cases of the more than 5,500 reported are said to be symptomatic. australians will remember shane warne at a televised memorial service at his home stadium, the melbourne cricket ground. nearly 50,000 people will attend the venue where the spin bowling great captured his 700th test wicket against ashes foes england. warne died of a heart attack three weeks ago, aged just 52. queen elizabeth joined other members of the royal family at a service commemorating the life of the duke of edinburgh on tuesday. the queen has been struggling with her walking and there were doubts as to whether she would be able to attend the ceremony. here's nicholas witchell. trumpet fanfare. discomforts and mobility issues were set aside.

this was a service that could not be missed. more personal than a state occasion, this was a service of thanksgiving for a beloved husband. for a man who had been the most constant presence in the queen's life for the 73 years of their marriage. the queen had made her way to her seat accompanied by the duke of york. his first appearance in public since his enforced withdrawal from royal life. already in their places, four generations of the british royal family, including prince george. the only notable absentees, the sussexes, who chose to remain in california. we give thanks for his royal highness, the prince philip, duke of edinburgh. a man of rare ability and distinction. the duke of edinburgh had championed young people through his award scheme, and one of its gold award recipients spoke of its importance. the world has been through so much turmoil and in these times, it is so important to show our support to young people.

to encourage them to have opportunities and empower them to reach their full potential. the dean of windsor recalled a man who could be abrupt but who'd devoted his energy to many different causes. as we give thanks for the life of a remarkable man, perhaps our greatest tribute to him, most especially in these far too troubled times, will be for us to accept the challenge to play our part, however small in working for a kinderfuture. # god save our gracious queen... the service had been a chance denied by the pandemic at the duke's funeral, forfamily and so many more to come together in tribute. a long life had been honoured.

for the person who knew that life best, it will surely have stirred many memories and moments of reflection. the service had been a short one. at its end, the queen left, walking with care, escorted once again by the duke of york. nicholas witchell, bbc news. a reminder of our top story. russia has said it will drastically reduce its military activity in the kyiv and chernihiv regions of northern ukraine, following peace talks in turkey. ukraine's armed forces said some russian units had moved from those regions, but they added forces were regrouping to focus on the east.

don't forget, bbc.com/news, for all the latest news on the situation in ukraine. thank you for watching. hello there. the weather has been turning colder, and on tuesday, it was certainly cold enough for snow in the far north of the uk. that was the wintry—looking scene for a weather watcher in shetland. those colder conditions continue to sink southwards behind this weather front, the front bringing some outbreaks of rain, but with some sleet and snow mixing in, especially over high ground. and to the north of that weather front, a very cold start to wednesday. particularly in northern scotland, a widespread frost. further snow showers giving some accumulations in places and the risk of ice, but there will be some spells of sunshine to start off wednesday, whereas southern scotland will start off cloudy. a bit of sleet and snow in places, some patchy rain to start off in northern ireland, some wet weather in northern england, some snow mixing in up over the pennines, bit of rain into north wales

and the north midlands. but to the south of that, a mainly dry start with some areas of low cloud, mist and fog, but equally some spells of sunshine. now, a band of cloud in the rain, sleet and snow will continue to push southwards, most of the snow over high ground, but we could see some to low levels. to the north of that, sunny spells and wintry showers. to the south, some spells of sunshine, but increasing amounts of cloud, the odd shower. still quite mild in the south at 12 degrees, but more widely, we're looking at top temperatures between 4 and 8 degrees. it will feel cold, particularly as the wind starts to pick up. now, through wednesday night, this band of rain, sleet and snow continues to move southwards. could be some wintry weather, especially over the hills in the south, but possibly even to low levels. and behind that band of rain, sleet and snow, a very cold and frosty start to thursday morning. there will be some icy stretches here and there. thursday, a day of sunny spells and wintry showers, the showers tending to push westwards as the day wears on. a keen north or northeasterly

breeze just adding to a cold feel. top temperatures for many of us between 5 and 8 degrees. some spots in the west — maybe glasgow, plymouth — getting up into double digits. now, as we head towards the weekend, as this area of high pressure sinks its way southwards, a subtle change. we lose the northerly winds. we pick up something of a westerly wind, bringing something just a little bit less cold. there won't be a heat wave, but temperatures will climb a little. a lot of dry weather, just one or two showers.

hello again. i'm david eades. the headlines this hour: russia has said it will drastically reduce its military activity in the kyiv and chernihiv regions of northern ukraine following peace talks in turkey. ukraine's armed forces said some russian units had moved from those regions, but they added forces were regrouping to focus on the east. president zelensky has hailed what he called the positive signals from the day's talks, but insisted kyiv would only trust any concrete results that emerged from the meeting. mr zelensky stressed that the situation had not become easier and the ukraine military would not slacken its defensive efforts. israel's prime minister has warned his country is facing a new wave of terror after a third knife or gun attack in a week. at least five people were killed in the town of bnei brak on the outskirts of tel aviv.

the gunman was also shot dead.