this is bbc news, i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. intelligence failure — claims the war in ukraine is going badly for russia because of bad information at the kremlin. mr putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defence at every turn over the last month.

from one nightmare to another — the refugees from war struggling to get a visa to come to the uk. one of hollywood's biggest stars — bruce willis — is retiring from acting due to a brain condition. and a distant sun — we'll tell you about the newly—discovered star that dates back almost to the dawn of time. very warm welcome the programme. british and us intelligence say russia's invasion of ukraine has been hampered because president putin is not being given an accurate picture of events on the ground. this, the white house says, has led to tensions between mr putin and his generals. it added that the russian president also did not fully

understand the extent to which western sanctions were damaging his country's economy. more on that in a moment, but first to moscow, where there are further signs of a clampdown on political dissent. here's our russia editor steve rosenberg. there were peace talks this week, but there's no peace yet. the russian military released these images of it launching ballistic missiles towards ukraine. an army spokesman said russia was continuing its special military operation, and had destroyed fuel storage sites, arms depots, and ukrainian drones. continuing in russia, encouraged by the authorities, public displays of support for the offensive. these buses form the letter z, that's painted on russian military vehicles in ukraine. you will find zs on billboards, on government buildings,

even on the side of theatres. and here, this is the home of human rights activist oleg orlov. those who criticise russia's onslaught in ukraine have become targets of abuse. translation: russia is heading towards, in fact has almost - arrived at, something very similar to what we saw in germany in the 1930s. everything feels very familiar. and that's important. in russia right now, there is no room for alternative views, for public expressions that contradict official opinion. and that is particularly true of events in ukraine. the kremlin wants the public here to believe that the russian offensive there is both necessary and just. the russian authorities have banned the word "war", in relation to ukraine. so, when dmitry reznikov took

part in an anti—war protest, he didn't use any words at all. he was still arrested, though, and fined for "discrediting the russian army". translation: i was detained within 30 seconds. _ i don't think it would have mattered what was written there. some people have been arrested just for holding up a plain piece of paper. because everyone knows what it means and what it stands for. in vladimir putin's russia, even the slightest hint of dissent is seen by those in power here as a significant threat, to be eliminated. but, in a country where opposition to the government has been crushed, where critical voices are being silenced, where the media is under almost total state control, for now, the kremlin doesn't feel under any public pressure to make peace in ukraine. steve rosenberg,

bbc news, moscow. as we've been saying, the white house says it has intelligence that president putin feels misled by the russian military over ukraine, resulting in persistent tensions with top generals. the white house spokesperson said senior advisors were scared to tell the russian leader the truth about how badly his military was performing, a view echoed by the pentagon: we would concur with the conclusion that mr putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defence at every turn over the last month. i want to caveat that. we don't have access to every bit of information he has been given or every conversation he has had. with me is our news reporter azadeh moshiri.

you have been tracking it in our newsroom in the last few hours. let's start this intelligence coming from the white house. what are they saying about president putin's perception of the war? the? saying about president putin's perception of the war? they say he has been _ perception of the war? they say he has been misled _ perception of the war? they say he has been misled by - perception of the war? they say he has been misled by his - perception of the war? they say he has been misled by his most| he has been misled by his most senior advisers, that he is starting to realise that, and as a result that means there is as a result that means there is a rift forming between him and his most senior military officials which includes his defence minister, who traditionally has been one of the people he has trusted the most, has been part of that trust and circle, in a circle, that we know has been quite small. the reason for that, according to the us, is that these people feel like they will face repercussions if they say something that president putin is not pleased to hear and, to quote antony blinken, thatis and, to quote antony blinken, that is because the achilles' heel in these autocracies is that people don't feel they can speak truth to power. and so as a result there is a war that,

according to the west, is stalling for russia, but president putin may not quite understand that. can president putin may not quite understand that.— understand that. can we trust this intelligence? _ understand that. can we trust this intelligence? that - understand that. can we trust this intelligence? that is - understand that. can we trust this intelligence? that is a . this intelligence? that is a bi . this intelligence? that is a big issue _ this intelligence? that is a big issue when _ this intelligence? that is a big issue when it - this intelligence? that is a big issue when it comes i this intelligence? that is a big issue when it comes to this intelligence? that is a - big issue when it comes to this because us intelligence officials are always very careful about what they say and when, there is always purpose behind it. there are a few things we can keep in mind. the first being that the us is the one that warned us about the invasion in the first place and it turned out to be right. in this case at the gchq, the uk intelligence agency, has backed up intelligence agency, has backed up these claims, its chief sir jeremy fleming has said that he doesn't take president putin his being told the truth and there is more we can hearfrom him and his comments earlier. it increasingly looks like putin has massively misjudged the situation. it's clear he's misjudged the resistance of the ukrainian people. he underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanize. he underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions

regime, and he overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory. so, in terms of how russia really is performing, we have to try to gather together our thoughts on this because we are hearing from uk intelligence, the white house, but also our correspondence in strategic places seeing on the ground what is going on so give us a sense of the picture before me. there is more information coming out of the uk intelligence agency and that is that, according to them, russian soldiers have a low morale, they are short of weapons and, as a result, they are sometimes deciding not to carry out orders. they are in fact even sabotaging their own equipment sometimes and they have apparently shot down their own aircraft. even though all of this is happening, they are

saying that, given peace talks, they are trying to boost mutual trust between themselves, russia and ukraine, and that therefore that is why russia is a saying they are going to scale back their operations around kyiv and produce those operations. as these peace negotiations are going on, and also around chernihiv. the rest is also warning that there are still operations ongoing, officials, ukrainian officials in chernihiv say air strikes have still been going on. in kyiv they say they still sound dull hear the sound of artillery on the edge of the city. even though there are these pledges from russia and these pledges from russia and these concerns and setbacks, these concerns and setbacks, the war is still very much going on and there is a concerted effort from rochette. azadeh, thank you, for the very latest that is going on. more than four million people have left ukraine in the biggest refugee exodus in europe since

the second world war. two weeks ago the uk launched a scheme to allow british families to sponsor ukrainian refugees to live with them. but some of those applying via the scheme have told the bbc they feel stuck in limbo on mainland europe. the bbc�*s population reporter stephanie hegarty has been following the journey of one young woman, nadiia, and her family as they escaped ukraine but soon realised that the nightmare wasn t over. nadiia escaped kharkiv in east ukraine in the first days of the war.

first they travelled to lviv, and then on to the polish border. finally, they made it to poland.

but the battle wasn't over. nadiia and herfamily applied for uk visas two weeks ago, but still haven't heard anything. 28,300 people have applied for visas via the homes for ukraine sponsorship scheme. 2,700 have so far been granted. four weeks since they left kharkiv, nadiia and her family are still waiting.

stephanie hegarty, bbc news. we will have more and ukraine later on in the programme. one of hollywood's biggest stars, bruce willis, is to retire from acting after struggling to work while suffering with a brain condition. willis is best known for starring in the die hard film series as well as cult movie hit pulp fiction. his family released a statement saying he had been diagnosed with aphasia, a neurological disorder caused by damage to the portions of the brain responsible for language production or processing. film executive and journalist sandro monetti — who previously worked with bruce willis — gave us his reaction to the news. for those of us who love bruce willis and the characters he has created, this is a day of sadness and disbelief, really. what a place he has

in the history of hollywood. he is the $5 billion man — that is how much his movies have grossed in total at the box office. and what we know is the condition you describe just makes it impossible for him to continue in acting. but he has been a champion on screen, he's got guts in real life, and importantly he has a loving family around him. that was shown when the whole family released the statement. we haven't quite seen the last of bruce willis on screen, because he's still filmed six movies which are yet to be released. and i can exclusively reveal that last year he sold his digital image rights to a world—class tech company in europe, which means his ai image has already made a tv commercial over in europe without him having to be there. so there is the possibility for the future, with bruce willis' blessing,

that somehow he could appear in films, tv shows and movies, but because of this cognitive disability, he won't be able to be there in person any more. but, you know, bruce willis, what a legend. die hard — they will still be watching that in 100, 200, 300 years. yippee ki—yay! we were lucky enough to work with him at big screen entertainment group, making one of his films, distributing another. and what an honour and a privilege to work with a true star, a true professional. we didn't notice any problems a few years ago. reportedly, on his most recent movie, he wore an earpiece to be fed the lines so there were signs of problems there. he has decided to address these health issues, and his ex—wife, his current wife, his five kids, his blended family — he is surrounded by love not just form them but from movie fans all over the world. we're rooting for you, bruce!

we certainly are! stay with us on bbc news — still to come... an image that was 13 billion years in the making — we'll tell you about hubble's latest amazing discovery. 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 — this is bbc news, the latest headlines... us intelligence suggests president putin feels misled by his armed forces — resulting in tensions with top generals. the uk government faces criticism over its visa programme for ukrainian refugees — as the number of people leaving the country tops four million. the global food aid charity world central kitchen says it has now distributed over five million meals to people in ukraine and those

fleeing the conflict. founded by celebrity chef jose andres in 2010, the charity has until now focused on natural disaster relief. but since the invasion of ukraine began they have set up over 1,000 distribution points to aid refugees, including at 41 border crossing points. founderjose andres has travelled himself to ukraine to oversee operations and joins us now from kyiv. thank you so much for being on the programme. it really sounds like a huge operation you have begun and you are running. talk us through how it is going. well, we set foot in poland, in medyka, within hours of the russian invasion. since then we have given millions of meals. we are in six countries, in

more than 21 cities here in ukraine. i have been here for the last two days in kyiv, doing what we do. visiting many of the restaurants, the hundreds of restaurants that slowly have joined our world central kitchen with one very simple mission, to feed as many people as we can. yesterday i was able to be in buildings where people are hunkered down in the basement. subway stations, they are being used to host families and they feel safer in the deepness of the streets of kyiv. some families have left homes, scared, escaping the horrors of that bombing and if you go to these places this is what you will see. women, children, elderly,

just hoping for this war to end. iii just hoping for this war to end. , ., . ~' just hoping for this war to end. ,, . ~' , just hoping for this war to end. i. ., ~ , ., end. if you talk us through the logistics. _ end. if you talk us through the logistics, how— end. if you talk us through the logistics, how big _ end. if you talk us through the logistics, how big is _ end. if you talk us through the logistics, how big is your - logistics, how big is your team, how have you managed to get the right people in the right places? and what about the food? basic ingredients that you need, how are you getting supplies?— that you need, how are you getting supplies? well, every emergency — getting supplies? well, every emergency event _ getting supplies? well, every emergency event in _ getting supplies? well, every emergency event in a - getting supplies? well, every emergency event in a countryj emergency event in a country thatis emergency event in a country that is going through war, you will always find the food. what you do is you put the people that know where the food is and where to take it and where to cook it. it doesn't take much more than this. obviously if you drive into kyiv from lviv it will take you ten, 11, 12 hours, it depends on the traffic at checkpoints. you will see that there are hundreds if not thousands of trucks bringing water, food, whatever it takes. medicines,

to make sure people in ukraine have what they need. we we are bringing food crossing the border from bringing food crossing the borderfrom poland, we are bringing it from livy. we will get to warehouses. the ceo works in the kitchen, one of my best friends is in kharkiv. yesterday he arrived by train and we have warehouses there. we went to see many of the restaurants they have been supporting and everyday they are making sure that anybody who is still behind can get the food they need. so you see it is very simple. in the moment you have emergencies and you need to take care of people. you do you send? not doctors and nurses. when you need to rescue people after an earthquake you send rescue experts, firefighters. when you

need to be feeding people, who do you think are the best people to do it? those are cooks like me, restaurants, the network of people that in the moments of peace keep feeding the world. in the moments of war or mayhem, it should be exactly the same people. we go from feeding the future trying to feed the many. this is how our operation works. it sounds absolutely _ our operation works. it sounds absolutely fantastic. _ our operation works. it sounds absolutely fantastic. you're . absolutely fantastic. you're doing a marvellousjob absolutely fantastic. you're doing a marvellous job and a huge need. thank you for talking to us this morning. jose andresjoining us talking to us this morning. jose andres joining us from the capital kyiv. 5 million meals provided and half of those in ukraine alone. quite a feat so far. let's catch up with all the latest sports news. hello, there, i'm tulsen tollett and this is your sports news, where we start with football. and the women's game has a new world record for a match attendance for either club or country. more than 91,500 people packed

into barcelona's camp nou as the holders beat real madrid 5—2 in the second leg of their women's champions league quarterfinal. there were five different scorers on the night for the catalans, as they prevailed 8—3 on aggregate and the crowd enjoyed a night that sent them through to the last four. while paris saint—germain are also through after an extra—time goal from swiss international ramona bachmann gave her side an aggregate 4—3 win over a bayern munich side missing 12 players through injury and illness, as psg move into the last four for the sixth time in eight years. the final two quarterfinal second legs take place later on thursday, withjuventus travelling to lyon leading 2—1,and arsenal away to wolfsburg with a tie level at 1—1. arsenal needed a late equaliser at home last week as they seek a first semifinal appearance in this competition since 2013, and they're chasing trophies on three fronts as the season nears a conclusion — second in the league, and they face chelsea in the fa

cup semifinals next month. the hubble space telescope has set a new record for capturing a picture of a single, distant star. the light from the giant sun has taken nearly 13—billion years to reach us. in cosmic terms it almost dates back to the big bang. tim allman reports. for more than 30 years, the hubble space telescope has been orbiting the earth, scanning the cosmos, looking for the unknown, the extraordinary, the seemingly impossible. its latest discovery, perhaps its most amazing yet, a celestial object that is a long, long, long way away. you see that red stripe in the centre of the screen? it is a crescent of light that has been dubbed the sunrise arc. almost hidden away inside it, barely a smudge, is a star, the most distant star we have ever seen.

they have called it earendel, old english for morning star. and it came into creation less than a billion years after the big bang. the hubble can see that far back in the distance and so it is seeing the light that is basically being emitted right now by that star, where the light that we are seeing here on earth was created 12.9 billion years ago. normally, a single star at that distance would be impossible to see, but a phenomenon called gravitational lensing played its part. if a cluster of galaxies happen to be in the way, they can bend and increase the light of a more distant object, effectively becoming a cosmic magnifying glass. there is speculation earendel may be what is known as a pioneer star, one of the first stars to shine in the universe — a mystery, a marvel. practically from the dawn of time. tim allman, bbc news.

next we have all the top business stories including the news that president biden is expected later today to announce that the us will be releasing more than 1 announce that the us will be releasing more than1 million barrels of oil per day. this has cost the price of oil to fall quite significantly today on financial markets. we will make sense of that and all the other top business stories right here next on bbc news so stay with us. hello, there. spring is on hold as we edge towards the end of march. cold air has been sweeping southwards. some of us have seen some sleet and some snow. and through thursday, the day starts off with a widespread frost and some ice. it's going to turn into a day of sunny spells and wintry showers. this cold front has been ushering in the cold air. along the line of this weather front, a band of cloud, rain, sleet and snow.

behind it, speckled shower clouds in cold air. that's where we have some wintry showers feeding in from the north. so the very first part of the morning, we'll tend to clear that rain, sleet and snow away from the far south. some of those wintry showers continuing to push in the especially eastern scotland and northeast england, but there will be one or two elsewhere. temperatures widely falling below freezing, “4 or —5 to start the day across some rural northern areas, and ice a potential difficulty across parts of eastern scotland and northeast england. through the day, it's a mix of sunny spells and wintry showers, the showers a mixture of rain, sleet, hail and snow, most accumulating snow, i think, confined to the hills. could be a few more showers just easing into southeast england at times, where it will be windy. around some of these eastern coasts, could see gusts of 40—50 miles per hour, just adding to that cold feel. temperatures for most between 5 and 8 degrees, maybe 10 in parts of south wales and southwest england. through thursday night, we will see further wintry showers streaming in from the northeast,

potentially some more persistent rain, sleet and hill snow clipping the far southeast of england, and temperatures again widely below freezing. a widespread frost for friday morning. could well be some icy stretches here and there. for friday, for most, it's a similar day, a cold day, a bright day, with plenty of sunshine but some further wintry showers. we will see some slightly more widespread rain, sleet and snow pushing into western scotland, maybe getting into parts of northern ireland as we go through the afternoon. temperatures, well, maybe just a notch higher, but still disappointing for what will be the 1st of april, 6 to 10 degrees. and those temperatures don't climb an awful lot through the weekend. they may climb a little. there's quite a lot of dry weather on the way, but there will be some showers as well. but as we head into next week, signs of a more significant change. the winds turn to westerlies, and that will bring milder air from the atlantic. with that, though, some rain at times.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. extra oil in the pipeline. the us could release more than a million barrels a day from its strategic reserves to ease prices lowering the gas pressure. russia rows back on threats to cut off supplies to europe — ahead of a deadline tomorrow young and jobless in france — why youth

unemployment is a major issue in next week's presidential election plus — eyes on the prize. uk foreign secretary liz truss heads to india — but will tensions over russia get in the way of a free trade deal?