this is bbc news. i'm nancy kacungira with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. in the aftermath of intense fighting in ukraine, the bbc uncovers evidence of civilian killings, that could amount to war crimes. this is more thanjust a collection of terrible deaths, this is a crime scene because under the laws of war, civilians are supposed to be protected. we report from the battle—scarred town of irpin, just 13 miles from kyiv — now a symbol of ukrainian resistance. this was a key battleground, and ukraine's victory here was critical. if the russians had been able to push through here, they would've been on that

way to kyiv. in other news: a state of emergency is declared in sri lanka, where an economic crisis has sparked violent protests. and the draw is announced for the 2022 world cup in qatar. the bbc has found evidence that russian forces have been forced to pull back from positions they held at the start of their invasion, five weeks ago. russian armour has been heading west out of the capital kyiv, and a bbc team gained access to one area, just hours after their retreat. a stretch of the e—ao highway was where shocking images from the early days of the war emerged — showing russian troops firing on civilians

trying to escape. jeremy bowen and his team have now reached the scene of the attack, and found evidence that raises the possibility that war crimes may have occurred. a warning, his report contains some graphic and distressing images. on a stretch of road that runs between two villages with names that translate as "dream" and "sweetheart" is all the savagery and waste of war. ukrainian forces had just recaptured it, their troops moving in after a heavy bombardment from their artillery. this was only a few hours after the russian retreat. in the early hours of this morning, this was recaptured? absolutely correct. so, basically, around 2am today, our reconnaissance team report that they start to see movement. oleksandr, a ukrainian volunteer who is back home from england to fight, showed a position where a russian tank had been dug in. so that is where the russian

tank was and that is exactly where he... this is the line of fire, that's how they shoot. on the 7th of march, oleksandr's drone unit filmed the tank in action. the drone showed civilians trying to get to kyiv to escape the russians. and then, they saw the tank. one of the cars was forced to stop. the driver tried to show he was harmless. and the russians shot him dead. they also killed his wife. the dead couple were maksim and his wife, ksenya. they were travelling with their six—year—old son and a friend, who both survived. she said maksim had been shouting they were with a child when he was killed. almost four weeks later, maksim's badly burned body still lies next to the hulk of their car. ksenya's remains are inside. her mouth is open, as if in a scream. the car and the back seat are riddled with bullets. the vehicle and their bodies were not burnt

when they were killed. the hypothesis is that russian soldiers tried to destroy the evidence of what they had done. the drone operator who filmed their death said the russians must have known maksim's car was not a threat. so they were trying to say that they were civilians? yes, yes, they know it. you can see it, the whole car is civilians, not an army car, and they shoot it. in the woods near the road, there is evidence the russians left in a hurry. you can see the place where, in the trees, the russians were living. there is a dug—out. there's beer bottles. it's like the marie celeste, half—finished meals. they were here for a month. the camp is full of the soldiers�* rubbish. on a front line, that is usually the sign of an ill—disciplined unit. they tried, unsuccessfully, to hide another tank in the trees.

that was punished by the ukrainians, who destroyed it. a much bigger question is whether there will be a reckoning for what happened on the highway. maksim and ksenya were not the only ones who were killed near the tank, dug into the roadside. more bodies here? yes. one, two, three bodies, i think. yes. you're absolutely right. in a couple of hundred yards, with oleksandr from the ukrainian army, we counted 11 other dead bodies. it's ukrainian. three were wearing recognisable ukrainian military uniform. the others wore civilian clothes. some of the dead were piled up and surrounded by tyres. they deliberately burned them. they set on fire to hide their... ..to hide what they did. in the desolation are a mass of questions about who they were and how they were killed.

it's hard to imagine the fear these people must have gone through in the last few moments of their lives or, indeed, the anguish survivors, families, must be feeling now. but this is more than just a collection of terrible deaths. it's a crime scene. because under the laws of war, civilians are supposed to be protected. we drove to the next village to confirm a ukrainian claim that they had destroyed more russian tanks. the russian armour was broken and, except forsoldiers, the village was deserted and still. the russians could be redeploying to the eastern battlefields, but just a few hours after they had left this strategic area close to the capital, it was clear they were being forced out. many civilians are mourning relatives and friends they say were killed by russian troops.

as and when they retreat, they might leave behind more evidence that could add up to war crimes. jeremy bowen, bbc news, outside kyiv. welljust a few miles from the e—iio highway where jeremy was reporting, lies the town of irpin. now the ukrainians say it's been liberated, and our international correspondent, orla guerin has been there, with ukrainian troops. again, her report contains some upsetting images. underforeboding skies, we entered the town of irpin. it now stands as a testament to ukrainian resilience and russian defeat. we travelled under armed escort. a tense journey along a carefully chosen route. we were warned russian forces might still be in the forests on the outskirts.

they occupied about a fifth of irpin and have left their mark. but ukrainian troops have driven them out and reclaimed the ruins. the damage here gives a sense of how fierce the fighting has been. this was a key battleground and ukraine's victory here was critical. if the russians had been able to push through here, they would have been on the way to kyiv. the capital is just a short drive down the road. where is the child who cherished this toy? and where are the families who were shelled, day and night? most had to flee, but irpin withstood the assault and has been given the honorary title hero city of ukraine. the troops here are savouring their victory, but know the enemy may be back.

"they need kyiv," says this man, "because putin will lose "if he doesn't take kyiv, so perhaps they will try. "but we are prepared, in case they come back." his dayjob is tv presenting. just up the road, in tree—lined suburbia, a powerful message to the russian leader. his losses are mounting here. his original battle plan has failed. well, you can see here what happened to this russian tank. it's been ripped to shreds. this is an example of the defeat that was inflicted on the russians, and they are gone for now, but in the future they may try to regroup and make another push for the capital. now, irpin can begin to recover its dead, to reclaim bodies from the rubble.

there could be no proper burials under shelling. the mayor says up to 300 civilians were killed here. as supplies are going in, bodies are coming out. some were targeted even as they tried to flee. cat meows. today, another trickle of civilians making the difficultjourney out. troops carrying what they could not leave behind, their much loved pets. all here are scarred — those who stayed and those who fought. how do you feel about the russians who did this? no obscenities? no. i hate them, i hate them from the depths of my heart. i used to treat them normally.

i had friends from russia, i don't believe i have any more. there are no excuses for this. an ambulance waits for a frail survivor of a merciless and failed russian attack. and ukrainian soldiers leave the battlefield with the swagger of victory. orla guerin, bbc news, irpin. aid workers have once again failed to take vital supplies into the besieged ukrainian city of mariupol — and rescue civilians trapped there. the international committee of the red cross said several vehicles had been on their way — but couldn't enter the port because "conditions made it impossible". however, bus—loads of mariupol residents who had already reached the town of berdyansk have now reached the relative safety of zaporizhzhia. those onboard the busses appear

to have made it out of mariupol to berdiansk on their own, after which they were allowed to leave russian—controlled territory. alyona synenko is a spokesperson for the international committee of the red cross who is currently working in kyiv — i asked her what the stumbling blocks in getting to mariupol were for the icrc. the stumbling block is basicallyjust the lack of very precise and very concrete agreements, and the respect of the these agreements on all levels. they have to be respected and to be communicated through the chain of command, and everyone must be aware. and this is notjust a choice, this is the responsibility on both sides of this conflict under the international humanitarian law. so there has been a lot of disillusionment and disappointment, and it actually

hurts me to think about people in mariupol who were waiting for this convoy who were hoping to leave the nightmare that they have been trapped in for the past weeks. they were unable to. ijust can't imagine how it feels like and what they are going through, but again, we can facilitate the passage, the safe passage for civilians once both parties come to an agreement. unfortunately, until now, this has not materialised. and in terms of the role that the icrc is able to currently play, we did hear from a ukrainian mp talking about or suggesting, rather, that the icrc was involved in evacuating people to russia. what is your response to some of those rumours, allegations or other accusations? we have responded to these accusations and to these allegations a number of times.

we have said a number of times that the icrc has never and will never evacuate people anywhere at all against their will, and the icrc has not evacuated any civilians from ukraine to russia and is not planning to do so. and ijust don't know how many times we will repeat it. but unfortunately, these claims, this misinformation spreads online and even through some of the media, and this is extremely dangerous because i went today to irpin, and we had to drive along a route that was heavily mined. just to say, i think we have some pictures that you took their that we have seen. yes, go ahead. so, we have seen in the city of irpin the devastation, the level of devastation is just completely mind blowing. and while we were driving

there, people were coming out in the street and asking us to come and provide medical assistance and to evacuate the most vulnerable, like the homeless people, the elderly too, because they live in places where the ambulances cannot reach because it is too dangerous. this spreading false rumours, spreading this misinformation is going to make our work even more dangerous than it already is and it's going to make the civilians who are trapped in the cities like mariupol, like irpin, even more desperate because it's just putting life—saving humanitarian assistance even further out of reach from them. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a major defeat for amazon — it will be forced to recognise a trade union for the first time after workers in new york vote to join up.

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

eiffeh — this is bbc news, the latest headlines... in the aftermath of intense fighting in ukraine, the bbc uncovers evidence of civilian killings, that could amount to war crimes. aid workers have once again failed to take vital supplies into the besieged ukrainian city of mariupol — and rescue civilians trapped there — because "conditions made it impossible". in sri lanka president rajapaksa has declared a state of emergency giving security forces sweeping powers after hundreds of people tried to storm his residence in colombo. the country is suffering an unprecedented economic crisis with acute shortages of essentials such food, power and medicines. for more on the situation in sri lanka i spoke to alan keenan, from the international crisis group

which works to prevent conflict and wars around the world. there have been protests slowly building all over the country, but particularly in colombo. professional areas, and increasingly in upscale middle—class professional areas, where people are just completely fed up with the complete collapse of the economy, but also of governance, but i think what's particularly striking about the protest last night was that they were at the president's private residence. and it was filled with angry chants asking him to go, demanding he and his family leave the country, and just months ago, people were terrified of him. his reputation as the ruthless commander or a civilian commander of the military in the final months of the war and his connections with brutal counterinsurgency campaign that helped win the war and the repression of dissent afterwards, all that has meant that until recently, people have been often too scared to call him out

and to challenge them publicly. so to have crowds of people chanting his name and demanding that he go is a real change in sri lankan politics, i think. that is quite a big change, and as you say, what led to those scenes is the economic conditions. tell us what has led to the economic conditions. well, sri lankans had long—term structural problems with debt, with having an economy that doesn't produce enough and that relies on credit to buy the important goods that fuel the economy both literally and feel the power plants, —— the economy both literally and fuel the power plants, but also they fuel people's cars and the imported goods, the medicines, the food, that people rely on. so that debt has been slowly rising over the years, particularly after the end of the war in 2009, when the previous regime under the current president's brother borrowed extensively and especially from china

for infrastructure projects, which really didn't produce a lot of benefit in the end. so, slowly, the debt has been mounting. the previous government that was in power from 2015 to 2019 made a little progress in balancing the books, but when they were elected at the end of 2019 and took power, he immediately cut taxes, soon thereafter the pandemic hit, which killed tourism, one of the main earners for hard currency for sri lanka. and then basically the government resisted from that point on doing what everyone knew it had to do, which was to call in the international monetary fund to help get creditors on board for restructuring the debt, which is the only way sri lanka will ever be able to pay. finally, just a few weeks ago, except that they would have —— finally, just a few weeks ago, accepted that they would have to call in the imf cannot at this point, they run out

of money, so they literally don't have the money to import the medicines are the food or the fuel, and as a result, people, as your report said, are standing in long queues throughout the country for basically anything of any value. and power cuts are going as long as 12 hours, 13 hours per day. so it's really quite a disaster for everybody. i was speaking to alan keenan from the international crisis group. workers in new york have voted to form amazon s first union ? in what s being called a major david versus goliath win. the company had vigorously fought the organisation of its workforce. the effort in staten island originally stemmed from disputes over covid safety rules two years ago and could now pave the way for more syndicates at other warehouses in the country. the bbc�*s business correspondent michelle fleury was there for the result. cheering. history in the making for american workers. this, the moment union organisers celebrated.

to the first union in american history. cheering. after amazon workers in new york voted to unionise — the first successful attempt since the retail giant was founded in 1994. this will be the catalyst for the revolution. that's exactly what this is, y'all just witnessed that. an independent group just took on one of the world's biggest companies and won. 55% of workers at this staten island warehouse voted in favour of union of a union. chris smalls, the fired amazon worker leading the fight, had this message for the e—commerce giant. they'll have to negotiate with their workers now. you know, my message is that now we have a union they'll have to collectively bargain with. this victory all the sweeter, after a second vote on a union in alabama appears headed for defeat. how does it feel to have made history? we showed the power, i guess, that individual workers can have when they come together and try to improve their working conditions. it's something that the company's spent millions and millions of dollars to stop

because they know how powerful it is. yet amazon isn't about to give up. america's second—biggest employer said it was evaluating its options and implied it might not accept the results, citing what it perceives as the undue influence of the national labour relations board. those involved in the successful union effort here in new york hope this will embolden others to do the same. this was a call to action not i just for amazon workers here, but for amazon workers around the us. - and for workers around the us in the world to come _ together and take back what is actually ours i and what we deserve. but anotherfight awaits the amazon labour union. right now, they are savouring their historic win, but perhaps their biggest challenge lies ahead — negotiating with amazon for better pay and conditions. cheering. after decades of decline, american unions are having a moment — and there's no bigger prize than amazon, given its size and impact. michelle fleury,

bbc news, new york. the draw for this year's men's world cup has been made in doha, and it's thrown up some fascinating fixtures. england has drawn iran and the usa in group b — the other place could be scotland or wales. and former winners germany and spain have both been drawn together in group e with japan. martin lipton is chief sports writer for the sun newspaper. the highlight from a domestic position in england is that they've got a fairly good draw in truth, the sort of dry —— they've got a fairly good draw in truth, the sort of draw you would probably picked not only in the initial phase, but also the likelihood of playing one of qatar, ecuador and senegal in the second round before they get serious in a matchup with france. the other games, interesting draw, the spain—germany one is quite a good one. portugal and uruguay

who played in the knockout round of the last world cup when uruguay knocked portugal out in the same group. belgium in a difficult group as well as, you know, croatia is two of the last four semi finalists in the same group in the first round. but you do think that the timing of the event will favour the bigger teams, that they will be less tired in the middle of the season than at the end of the season, and it would be no surprise that seven of the last eight teams were indeed european again. let's bring you some breaking news now. will smith has reportedly resigned his membership of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences following his actions at this year's oscars. the actor said he was "heartbroken" by the decision and said he would accept any consequences that came about from his scheduled disciplinary hearing, in a statement shared with us media. will smith who has reportedly

resigned his membership of the academy. that is all for now. to stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. yesterday was another cold day, we had further wintry showers around. we saw some snow even on the sea front of hastings, in east sussex. and at the moment, the radar picture's also picking up plenty of showers, many of them in scotland are actually falling as rain. greater chance of wintry showers across parts of eastern england. then we've got this zone of patchy rain working across northern ireland, just fringing into western—most areas of wales. now that'll also be rain, but over the hills in the far west of wales, you might see a little bit of snow for a time. and the risk is there for some of the moors in the southwest early saturday morning, perhaps over the tops of bodmin, for example. but otherwise, a widespread

frost around, it's going to be a cold start to the day and, where we've seen those showers, an icy start to the day, as well. now, for many of us, there'll be lots of sunshine through the morning, this zone of rain easing away from the southwest, any hill snow also working out of the way. showers then that start off near the east coast will migrate inland — many of them will be of rain by the time we get to the afternoon, but there could be a bit of hail, maybe an odd wintry one left over. temperatures generally a degree or so higher, about 7—10 celsius — but crucially, it won't be as windy, so it won't feel anywhere near as bitter now for sunday. this area of high pressure stays to our west. we get this weather front toppling around the top side of it — that will bring another change to our country. now for sunday, it'll be a cold, frosty, but lovely, sunny start to the day. however, the cloud will tend to build and fill across the skies across much of the uk. then we've got this weather front moving into scotland and northern ireland — that will to be bringing outbreaks of rain through the afternoon, the rain turning quite heavy into the highlands and the western isles. but again, the temperature�*s just coming up by an odd degree, 10—11 celsius pretty widely. now, looking at the night—time

forecast through sunday night and into monday, our weather front pushes its way southwards and eastwards. behind that, the air turns a lot milder — it's coming in off the atlantic, for the most part coming in on a west—northwesterly airflow. however, we are going to start seeing cooler conditions just coming back into northern scotland as we head through monday afternoon. so the temperatures in lerwickjust six celsius, but otherwise a much milder day, 13—111, rain at times. now, deeper into next week, we get this battle zone between the mild atlantic air, the cold polar air, and that means we'll see rain — but also, the prospect of hill snow hasn't entirely gone away.

this is bbc news, the headlines... in the aftermath of intense fighting in ukraine, the bbc has uncovered evidence of civilian killings that could amount to war cimes. meanwhile, russian forces near kyiv have been forced to pull back from positions they held at the start of the invasion five weeks ago. aid workers have once again failed to take vital supplies into the besieged ukrainian city of mariupol — and rescue civilians trapped there. the international committee of the red cross said several vehicles had been on their way, but couldn't enter the port because "conditions made it impossible". a state of emergency has been declared in sri lanka after hundreds of people tried to storm the colombo home of president rajapaksa. the country is suffering an unprecedented economic crisis with acute shortages of essentials such food,

power, and medicines.