tonight at ten — we're live in the ukrainian capital, kyiv, with the country's president telling the united nations that russian troops are killing for pleasure. we report on the scenes of devastation in the northern town of borodyanka, targeted by russian missiles at the very start of the invasion. under the laws of war, killing civilians and wanton destruction are both crimes unless, somehow, it can be proved...that that was a military target. in the city of bucha, satellite images show streets littered with bodies. president zelensky says this is the reality of life under russian control.

translation: unfortunately this is onl one of translation: unfortunately this is only one of many — translation: unfortunately this is only one of many examples - translation: unfortunately this is only one of many examples of - translation: unfortunately this is only one of many examples of what | only one of many examples of what the occupiers have been doing in our land~ _ translation: during the time - that the town was under the control of russian armed forces, not a single civilian suffered from any kind of violence. we'll have all the day's developments in the conflict in ukraine. we'll also have the latest on the pandemic in the uk. the number of children absent from school in england because of covid is still at very high levels despite falling slightly in recent weeks. a man from gloucestershire who subjected his neighbours to years of abuse before stabbing one of them to death is found guilty of murder. and in tonight's champions�* league matches, manchester city get one past atletico madrid to win the first leg of their quarterfinal.

stay with us on bbc news for continuing coverage and analysis from our correspondence in the uk and around the world. good evening from the ukrainian capital kyiv, where president volodymyr zelensky says russia has committed the worst war crimes since 1916. during a graphic address to the united nations, he accused vladimir putin's forces of creating "mass starvation" and shooting and raping civilians. it comes after images emerged from the town of bucha in recent days following the retreat of russian forces showing bodies of civilians lying in the streets and mass graves. moscow says the pictures shown by the world's media are staged and fake and that no

civilians suffered any kind of violence while russian forces were in control of the area. president zelensky is also warning that the number of dead in kyiv�*s other surrounding towns and villages like borodyanka could be even higher. police there say they believe hundreds of people are buried beneath the rubble of civilian apartment blocks destroyed by russian shelling and survivors were prevented from escape. jeremy bowen has been to borodyanka and sent us this report. the destruction in the centre of borodyanka is the worst for its size i've seen in any of the towns around kyiv, including much fought—over irpin and bucha. the worst killing in borodyanka might have come when these flats were destroyed. a line of them stood here. you can see the gaps. after you. next door to the rubble, dmytro inspected his shop.

this is your shop? medical, pharmacy, it's a pharmacy, yeah? destroyed, everything's gone. we went upstairs where his wife svetlana was trying to clean up his mother's flat. their family is safe, but not their friends in the destroyed building nextdoor. translation: they were all our neighbours. - shortly after the air strike, people nearby heard some voices shouting for help. russian soldiers stopped them digging. they threatened to shoot if they tried. dmytro left 30 others in the cellar before the strike. when he went back in the morning, it was full of rubble. all 30 are missing. you're lucky to be alive, aren't you? "yes," he said, "my wife, mother and daughter were praying for me." this is a civilian block of flats.

now, only a ballistic missile or an air strike can do this sort of damage. under the laws of war, killing civilians and wanton destruction are both crimes unless it can somehow be proved that that was a military target. close by, local people were getting some food organised by their priest, who said he'd seen the russians shooting civilians. you saw civilians being killed by a russian sniper? translation: it was the 2nd of march near the petrol station. _ we were driving along, followed by two civilian cars. theyjust shot them. it was an execution. most people here left during the russian occupation. svetlana said coming back made her empty and scared. tell us what the town was like before. eventually she said

it was very nice, very green. hundreds of people could be lying dead under the rubble, say the police. once the heavy lifting gear arrives, they'll know more. jeremy bowen, bbc news, borodyanka. the many images of bodies lying in the streets of the city of bucha have caused global revulsion, and now ukrainian human rights officials say there may be as many as 300 corpses buried in a mass grave near a local church. the news comes as fresh stories of barbarity are emerging. yogita limaye has been back to bucha and sent us this report. destruction and death are expected during a conflict. but what's happened in bucha violates the rules of war and of humanity.

irina abramova lived peacefully here with her husband until 5th march. then a russian tank pulled up outside. their home was shelled. as it was burning, russian soldiers shouted, calling the couple outside. translation: they wanted to know where the nazis are. _ they said we have an evil government with nazis in it and we should be punished for it. i said, "we're not guilty. we're just humans." minutes later, her husband 0leg, a ao—year—old welder, was shot in the head. russia saying it's not killed civilians deliberately in ukraine. what do you want to say about that? translation: my husband wasn't a soldier. _

he'd never held a gun. he was a peaceful man. they took him from our home in his slippers, asked him to take his shirt off, made him kneel on the ground and killed him. she wears 0leg's wedding band around her neck. she says it's all she has left of him now, along with the shirt and sweater he was wearing the day he died. translation: | want. the whole world to know that the russians are killers. they�* re not human. they're killing women, children, civilians. she shows us the spot outside their home where 0leg was killed, bloodstains still visible

where his body lay for weeks. translation: he was - the best man in the world. he was kind and caring. he was the love of my life. i could give anything to bring him back. the more you talk to people in bucha, the more you learn of the terror that this town lived through. a local resident told us that a woman riding a bicycle was shot on this street. in a house down this road, a man was trapped in his basement for weeks without much food. he dared not go anywhere because there was a russian tank standing outside. in the backyard of the church in bucha, the bodies of people who died here continue to pile up in a shallow trench. ukrainian and russian soldiers and ordinary people together in a single grave. more than 300 civilians

have been killed here. only a few have so far had the dignity of a proper burial. yogita limaye, bbc news, bucha. addressing the united nations today, president zelensky accused moscow of war crimes, saying the un is proving ineffective in stopping the violence because russia is abusing its veto on the security council, preventing international action. showing a short but gruesome video alleging civilians were being shot in the streets, he called for russia to be excluded from the council. the kremlin denies its forces have committed war crimes. our next report is from our north america editor, sarah smith, and it does contain some of those disturbing images. horrific images of dead civilians lying in the streets of bucha shocked the world, but russia claims the scenes have been staged.

analysis of satellite imagery taken in mid—march shows bodies lying in the precise positions corpses were later found, proving they were killed when russian forces controlled the area. president zelensky told the un security council the most terrible war crimes since world war ii are being committed in ukraine, saying what's been revealed in bucha is also happening elsewhere. translation: the massacre in our city of bucha is - only one, unfortunately only one of many examples of what the occupiers have been doing on our land for the past 41 days. there are many more cities, similar places, where the world has yet to learn the full truth. he lambasted the security council for failing to guarantee the security of ukraine and showed an extremely graphic video of dead civilians in several ukrainian towns which visibly shocked the council. we are appalled by what we have seen and reiterate our solidarity with ukraine.

the us said russia must be removed from the un human rights council in response to human rights abuses in ukraine. reports indicate that russian federal security agents - are confiscating passports and ids, taking away cell phones _ and separating families from one another. - i do not need to spell out what these so—called - filtration camps are reminiscent of. it's chilling. russia denies that its forces have killed civilians and says the pictures of dead bodies are fake news. translation: during the time - that the town was under the control of russian armed forces, not a single civilian suffered from any kind of violence. that impassioned plea from president zelensky to the un, along with harrowing accounts coming out of ukraine, are piling pressure on world leaders to respond. further sanctions are expected

to be announced tomorrow, and the us has committed to hold the russian leadership accountable for war crimes. but with no explanation as to how or when that might happen. the un needs to act immediately, president zelensky demanded. if it can't do anything beyond talking about the war in ukraine, he told him, then it might as well close down. sarah smith, bbc news, washington. let's go live to moscow and our russia editor, steve rosenberg. are people there seeing the images of the alleged war crimes that the whole of the rest of the world are seeing, steve? well, russian tv has been showing graphic video from bucha of bodies scattered along a road, but because the kremlin controls completely television here, it controls the messaging, and it has been using these images to paint a very different picture for the russian

public. so, for example, when i watched the main political talk show today on russian state tv, it did run the bucha pictures, but with the word fake in big red letters plastered across the screen, to try to convince the viewers that these claims of russian war crimes were simply an invention. in the same way that the kremlin uses television to try to persuade russians that there is no war going on in ukraine, it is simplya is no war going on in ukraine, it is simply a special military operation, and that russia is not the aggressor, it's acting in self defence. now, do russians have access to alternative views or alternative sources of information? well, that is becoming harder and harder, because virtually all independent russian news outlets now have either been shut down or blocked. it is the kremlin that dominates the information space in russia today.

dominates the information space in russia today-— russia today. steve rosenberg, live in moscow. — russia today. steve rosenberg, live in moscow, thank _ russia today. steve rosenberg, live in moscow, thank you. _ the reason bbcjournalists and others have been able to visit areas once cut off by the war is because russian forces have been withdrawing from towns and villages close to the capital as they prepare to refocus on taking territory in the east of ukraine. 0ur security correspondent, frank gardner assesses the current military strategy. the overall picture of the war in ukraine has changed in the last week, although russian forces seen here in red are still largely around the edges of ukraine. the ukrainians have been counter attacking and they're in green. the new phase of they're in green. the new phase of the war is focussing on the east of the war is focussing on the east of the country, the area known as the donbas, where most of the fighting is now. the bulk of ukraine's army is now. the bulk of ukraine's army is trying to stop russia from seizing the whole region and bringing it under moscow's control.

there is a lot of heavy industry in the donbas and there is concern that the donbas and there is concern that the fighting could trigger the release of toxic chemicals. it is a different picture in the north around kyiv, where russian forces have been withdrawing. they're almost certainly going to be used to reinforce the effort in the donbas. but they left behind them scenes of devastation and evidence of possible war crimes, which russia denies. in the south, the city of mariupol is now largely in russian hands. but that has come at a terrible cost, with most of the city in ruins. to the west the black sea port of 0desa has been bracing for a russian attack. russian missiles have been hitting targets like thinking refinery, so ukraine could soon be running low on fuel. all of this

poses a dilemma for the west, because the challenge for nato is to keep providing powerful enough weapons for ukraine to defend itself against the russian invasion, but without them being so powerful that it provokes moscow into retaliation and a wider european war. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner reporting there. the town of borodyanka is to the north—west of our position here, and it's where when i was last reporting from kyiv, i could see and hear explosions from missiles and artillery. we knew at the time the fighting was intense. and now we can all see it was intense. it was also depraved and personal. the terrible toll on civilians, the mutilated bodies, shot and burnt, some with their hands tied behind their backs. the russian forces accused of these atrocities were on their way

here to the capital. they've now retreated, to regroup, and to move onto other areas in the east. given the barbarity and savagery of the fighting up here, pity the people of eastern ukraine, a part of this country vladimir putin has explicitly said he wants to conquer. that's it from me and the team here in kyiv tonight, now back to huw in the studio. thanks clive. the day's other main story is the state of the pandemic. the overall number of children absent from school in england because of covid has fallen slightly in the past fortnight, but teachers�* unions say rates of absence "remain at concerningly high—levels". almost 180,000 pupils were off school on the 31st march because of covid, while a6,000 teachers and school leaders were also absent. the department for education insists that society is now learning to live

with and manage the virus, as our education correspondent elaine dunkley reports. girls, keep moving, don't stop in the middle. back in time for the end of term. i was off last week, positive with covid, as was my deputy head. at the prescott school in knowsley, a high number of staff are off sick with covid. today we have got five staff off for covid—related reasons. last week we had about 10. for this head, keeping the school open has been a challenge this term. it's been very touch and go in terms of thinking do we have to send a year group home? and of course who do we send home? so on days where we have struggled to get supply, or where we haven't been able to get the staff to teach the subjects that we need to teach, we have had to collapse some classes with teachers teaching more than their usual number of students within a lesson. we are very much living with the impact of covid on a day—to—day basis.

next term, these year us will be sitting that are gcses. for tori, there's a lot to do in a short space of time. i can't grasp the fact that we have our gcses next month. like it hasn't sunk in for a lot of people. we have had a load of different supply teachers this term. i feel like if we didn't i have the most time off when we would have done a lot better throughout all the mocks we - have done. ben is keen to get into construction. in his mocks, he got a borderline pass in maths and english. but, despite the disruption, he's hopeful. me maths teacher and me english teachers are - doing the most they can. through the easter holidays, we have got three revision. sessions throughout the _ week and i think it will really help. i next term, there will be more changes. in england, children with covid can return to school after three days, however they're advised to stay at home if they're unwell or have a high temperature. the government has also confirmed that

schools will no longer be able to order free lateral flee tests. we're appealing to the government to really bring tangible support, using intervention such as testing again to really make sure that we avoid that vicious circle of infection and reinfection and keep children in school, where we all want them to be. the government says schools in england are learning to live with covid by managing the virus with with good ventilation, hygiene and vaccinations. here, as the pressure of the pandemic continues, they're desperate to get to the end of term. we are on our knees as we come to the end of another very, very busy and very challenging term. elaine dunckley, bbc news in knowsley. at bristol crown court a man who subjected his neighbours to years of anti—social behaviour, before stabbing one of them to death has been found guilty of murder. can arslan — a 52—year—old — lay in wait for matthew boorman as he came home from work, then stabbed him 27 times.

at the time of the murder, arslan was the subject of an injunction prohibiting him from threatening or abusing his neighbours and had been served with a notice of eviction. 0ur correspondentjon kay reports. his hands covered in blood, this is can arslan moments after he murdered matthew boorman. his neighbours fear he is about to kill somebody else. no! stop! one of them follows with a piece of wood, trying to stop him, as arslan breaks into another house. inside, he stabs another neighbour, before he's confronted — the knife still in his hands. then he casually smokes a cigarette, while matthew boorman lies dying in his garden near by. arslan had stabbed him 20 times in front of his wife and three young children.

i have the suspect secured... minutes later, can arslan was arrested. laughing his laughing was throughout. he laughed when he was killing matthew boorman, he's shown| no remorse since the killing and has shown contempt to the court - all the way through. for years, arslan�*s neighbours had made complaints about his aggressive and threatening behaviour. and just five months before the murder, the boorman family had told police they feared for their safety. we are truly heart—broken. we all miss him every single day. after today's verdict, matthew boorman�*s relatives paid tribute to the loving husband and father, who loved music and rollercoasters and now they want answers.

in the years that preceded matthew's death, multiple agencies and authorities were warned of the threat that this man posed, not only to matthew, but to many other neighbours who were threatened and harmed by him. can arslan will be sentenced here injune. in the meantime, the way in which the gloucestershire constabulary dealt with with him in the months before the murder will be investigated by the independent office for police conduct. jon kay, bbc news, bristol crown court. the bbc understands that the government is to cancel its first global lgbt conference due to be held in london this summer. its after more than 100 organisations pulled out following the announcement that any forthcoming ban on conversion therapy would only be for gay or bisexual people in england and wales but not transgender people. 0ur lgbt and identity correspondent lauren moss is here.

let's explain why this is significant and why people are so worked up about it. like significant and why people are so worked up about it.— worked up about it. like you said this came about _ worked up about it. like you said this came about after— worked up about it. like you said this came about after the - this came about after the government look like it would drop a pledge to ban conversion therapy in england and wales. that is practices that try to change somebody�*s sexual orientation or gender identity. the government said it wouldn't be for people who were transgender and more than a hundred organisations pulled out of the conference injune, the first of its kind, where countries have been invited to the uk to discuss equality and rights. tonight after that and the resignation of the government's business champion, the government's business champion, the bbc understands that the event will be cancelled. so i'm told that liz truss who is also the minister for women and equality is considering her options on this. some conservative mps very unhappy about this and there has been a

furious reaction among some, one said if it is cancelled they feel there has been a failure to deliver for people. the government say boris johnson is committed to bringing forward legislation on this, but the issues are complex and i understand related to concerns a ban could hinder people struggling with gender identity. they say they will carry out further work on this.- identity. they say they will carry out further work on this. the green party has launched its campaign for the local elections in england and wales. the party's co—leaders accused the government of failing voters on living costs and on the environment and promised insulation projects to reduce energy needs and keep homes warm. insulation programmes don't sound very glamorous, but what they can deliver is nothing short of incredible. imagine a warm, snug home, even on the coldest days,

little no no heating bills at all, and a neighbourhood that has nearly zero emissions. also today, welsh labour launched its campaign for may's council elections saying it would help people through the cost of living crisis. the party leader sir keir starmer said the first minister of wales mark drakeford had shown what labour could do for people when it was in power. one of the first british soldiers to land on the beaches of normandy on d—day injune 191m has died at the age of 96. harry billinge, from st austell, cornwall, was 18 when he served with the royal engineer commandos, ahead of the landings which changed the course of the second world war. after the war he spent more than 60 years collecting for the royal british legion�*s poppy appeal, as our correspondent john maguire reports. as an 18—year—old commando engineer, harry billinge was among the first

to land on gold beach during d—day. the sights he witnessed would stay with him for the rest of his life — always determined to remember those who were left behind. and it was hell. i never seen anything like it in me life. you had the ships firing over you and you had the germans firing from inland. 88 millimetre guns they used, which would blow you off the face of the earth. saw you on the telly. in recent years, he devoted as much time as he could to raising money to help build the first memorial on the normandy coastline to honour the men and women under british command who died on the beaches and the battlefields beyond. there's about 35 quid there, harry. he raised more than £50,000 for the memorial... mr harry billinge for services to charitable funding. - ..and was awarded an mbe by the queen for

his efforts. with covid restrictions lifted, along with other veterans, he was able to travel back to normandy last october and for the first time see his dream become a reality — set in stone. i never thought i would be here. it's wonderful. i feel very humble today. i'm deeply moved. there is a special inscription on the walls to honour harry's tireless efforts. they deserve that. i don't. but as always, his thoughts were with the friend and comrades who never made it home. i didn't expect my name to be here. harry was 96 and died following a short illness. he was adamant that we should always remember the sacrifices made here just as he always remembered. i came home.

so many poor devils didn't. one of the d—day heroes — harry billinge — who's died at the age of 96. football, manchester city and liverpool have both been playing tonight in their first leg ties of the champions�* league quarter—finals. 0ur correspondent andy swiss tells us what happened. this year, perhaps? for all their recent success, manchester city have never won the champions league, and atletico madrid were out to frustrate them again. for the first half, their defence smothered city�*s attack, leaving pep with a puzzle. could his team crack the code? well, with time running out, phil foden found kevin de bruyne and at last... leaves it for de bruyne! from stalemate to celebration, how city were made to work for it, but that was enough for a 1—0 win and a crucial lead heading into the second leg. liverpool, meanwhile,

were in lisbon to face benfica, and they get off to a thumping start.