welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... the ukraine war: we visit the scenes of devastation in borodyanka near the capital kyiv, after it was targeted by russian missiles. 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. in the town of bucha, also near kyiv, satellite images show streets littered with bodies. president zelensky says russia is committing war crimes. at the united nations, the ukrainian leader's allegations are dismissed by russia.

translation: the massacre in our city of bucha is only i one, unfortunately only one of many examples of what the occupiers have been doing on 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. | sri lanka lifts its state of emergency — where protests against food and fuel shortages have continued. it's 8am in singapore, and 3am in ukraine where president zelensky has accused russia of committing the most terrible war crimes since the second world war. in an address to the un, he accused vladimir putin's

forces of creating "mass starvation" and shooting and raping civilians. it comes as images emerge from the town of bucha, after the russians retreat, showing the bodies of civilians lying in the streets. russia says the images shown are staged and fake. however ukraine's leader says the numbers killed in towns and villages like borodyanka, could be even higher. our correspondentjeremy bowen has just visited there. this is his report — a warning you may find it distressing. 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

stashevskyi inspected his shop. this is your shop? medical, pharmacy, it's a pharmacy, yeah? destroyed, everything's gone. we went upstairs where his wife svitlana was trying to clean up his mother's flat. their family is safe, but not their friends in the destroyed building next door. 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. i we were driving along, followed by two civilian cars. theyjust shot them. it was an execution. most people here left during the russian occupation. svitlana 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. just 25 kilometres from borodyanka — in the town of bucha — ukrainian human rights officials say a mass grave near a church may contain as many as 300 bodies. yogita limaye has 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 the 5th of 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 a 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.

to the united nations now, and in president zelensky�*s speech to delegates, he not only accused moscow of war crimes, but he said the un was proving ineffective because russia is abusing its veto on the security council. and that, he said, was preventing international action. here's our north america editor, sarah smith. 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. ukrainian 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 i 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 wants russia to 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 celll 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, calling the pictures of dead bodies 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 them, then it might as well close down. sarah smith, bbc news, washington.

the white house has given more details of new sanctions it will impose against russia on wednesday. it said the us, european union and the g7 group of the most industrialised nations had worked together on the package. they will target russian government officials, their family members, russian owned financial institutions, state—owned enterprises, it is part of a continuation of efforts to put consequences in place and hold russian officials accountable. i'm joined now by our north america correspondent peter bowes. great to have you back on the programme. more sanctions on what has been called the most sanctioned country in the world. what are they and who will they hurt?— will they hurt? they will hurt ultimately — will they hurt? they will hurt ultimately the _ will they hurt? they will hurt ultimately the russian -

will they hurt? they will hurt | ultimately the russian people but i think it's also hoped that they will hurt those in the higher echelons of russian government and business as well with an immediate impact. there is a huge sense of urgency i think about this latest raft of sanctions that will be announced, a coordinated effort between the european union and the g7 which the white house says represents 50% of the global economy. it is hoped russia will be sent down the road of economic, financial and technical isolation and she talked about the financial institutions, the state—owned enterprises and perhaps most crucially those senior russian government officials and their families. we do not have details of individuals yet but i think we can be sure these will be far—reaching sanctions, thatis, will be far—reaching sanctions, that is, it's hoped, have a quick impact, perhaps a faster impact than some of the sanctions already because it could be argued that clearly

though sanctions were imposed to ultimately stop the war but the war has not stopped and we are seeing more and more atrocities every day. indeed. you and i — atrocities every day. indeed. you and i have _ atrocities every day. indeed. you and i have talked - atrocities every day. indeed. you and i have talked about| you and i have talked about these sanctions on the programme before. as you point out, they were intended and designed to help stop the war in ukraine. and ijust wonder, are you hearing about whether there is a sort of red line at some point which sanctions become ineffective and the west does more, given particularly that we are seeing these images from bucha? i that we are seeing these images from bucha?— from bucha? i think it is true to say there _ from bucha? i think it is true to say there has _ from bucha? i think it is true to say there has always - from bucha? i think it is true to say there has always been from bucha? i think it is true i to say there has always been a red line, you could call it in terms of what the west is prepared to do. ukraine is not part of nato. and that is one of the big reasons why the military assistance in terms of troops being placed in ukraine has not happened. we know the frustration of president zelensky, we have just

frustration of president zelensky, we havejust been hearing about his frustration at the united nations. we have also heard in some of his addresses, frustration at the west and have our countries like the united states are prepared to go. but i am not hearing at least in this country, any indication that the us is prepared to go further than the serious financial sanctions that are being imposed and will continue to be imposed later on wednesday and the military assistance in terms of weaponry thatis assistance in terms of weaponry that is being supplied to ukraine but if there is a redline, it is one certainty president biden is not prepared to cross in terms of military intervention that he has said before would be seen as world war iii. ., ,. ., before would be seen as world wariii. ., before would be seen as world wariii. . ., war iii. fascinating as always. peter, thank _ war iii. fascinating as always. peter, thank you. _ you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... we look at accusations that rape and sexual violence are among the war crimes being committed in ukraine.

25 years of hatred and rage as theyjump up on the statue. this funeral became a massive demonstration of black power, of power to influence. today is about the promise of a bright future, a day when we hope a line can be drawn under the bloody past. i think that picasso's i works were beautiful, they were intelligent, and it's a sad loss - to everybody who loves art.

this is newsday on the bbc. 0ur headlines... scenes of devastation in borodyanka in ukraine, after it was targeted by russian missiles. at the united nations, president zelensky alleges the worst war crimes since world war two have been committed — russia denies it. well, as the white house prepares more sanctions and the world digests the images from bucha — in russia, they're being used to portray a different message. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg is in moscow. 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's 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 and 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's 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, to alternative sources of information? well, that's becoming harder and harder, because virtually all independent russian news sources, news outlets

now have either been shut down or blocked. it is the kremlin that dominates the information space in russia today. as russian troops withdraw from areas of ukraine, the scale of violence and rape it is alleged that they have inflicted on women and girls, is beginning to emerge. the theme of violence and rape used as a weapon in war is sadly common to all conflicts. an international studyjust published, estimates that around 70 per cent of women and children refugees experience sexual violence. but because the war in ukraine is still ongoing, ukrainian testimonies are not yet included. associate professor cathy vaughan from the university of melbourne is one of the authors of the report. she spoke about the challenges of gathering data. it is very difficult to get quantitative data on the prevalence of violence against women who are fleeing

a conflict because for number of reasons. it's very difficult to record instances of violence along the way that happen, and then when women arrive in a place of safety or refuge or even temporary transit, it's a painful thing to talk about. and we know that the level of violence against women is underreported globally, and it certainly is in this instance where women arrive in a place of safety and they just want to get their kids to school and they want to have a roof over their head, and it's not necessarily their first priority to disclose the awful things that have happened to them along the way. indeed. professor, just in terms of the kinds of violence and the testimonies that you've collected, what kinds of violence did women experience? so, women reported violence at each stage of the flight and leaving conflict settings or forced migrant situations. sometimes women, that's why they left, so women talked about forced marriage.

the data that we were collecting was largely with women who were fleeing the syrian conflict at that time, so we collected data from late 2018 to 2021, so a lot of our participants were from syria and iraq and some from sub—saharan africa. and women were talking about leaving a conflict because of violence, leaving their homes violence in conflict. so, that's a lot of what's been discussed at the moment in relation to ukraine is the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war, which of course is a war crime, but incredibly common in conflict situations. then women also talked about violence along the way, and that could be from border guards, it could be in reception centres, it could be from host communities or other refugees. and of course all along thejourney, including to resettlement and when people arrived in countries of refuge, women were experiencing partner violence as well.

and in very stressful, distressing circumstances, we know that the level of partner violence can go up, and so women had a range of people who were using violence against them along the way. yeah, professor, i know that the testimonies from ukraine have not been collected in this report yet, but we've already heard from our correspondents and teams on the ground these reports are beginning to emerge. how widespread do you think the issue of sexual violence and rape could be in ukraine? certainly the accounts that are coming out of ukraine are quite distressing in relation to women's stories of sexual violence. and of course sexual violence also can be used against men and people with diverse sexual orientation and gender identity in conflict settings as well, but certainly the majority of victims that we hear about are women. and it does sound like this has been used quite widely in a number of the settings. and i also worry about women

who are on the move because they're very vulnerable at that time, whether it's from combatants, from people who opportunistically use sexual violence against them. so, i think the likelihood is that we will hear increasing accounts of sexual violence over this period, as we hear from other conflicts around the world, whether it's, you know, the tigray region in ethiopia or obviously violence against women in afghanistan was pre—existing. now to the crisis in sri lanka where the president has lifted the state of emergency. the government there has been rocked by ongoing protests against food and fuel shortages. a0 lawmakers have now left the coalition government led by president rajapaksa, who has called for opposition parties to form a national government. sri lanka is seeing widespread unrest caused by power cuts and shortages, because of an economic and foreign exchange crisis.

rajini vaidya nathan reports. well, it's been another day of protests across sri lanka, and we're here in colombo in independence square. and as you can see, there's a large crowd that's been gathering here. many of them are calling for president gotabaya rajapaksa to leave office. some of them have been chanting things like saying, "go to the moon, president rajapaksa." huge pressure on the president, but he remains in office. now, that's despite a day of intense politics. at parliament today, more than a0 mps quit his coalition government, and the new finance minister left his role after less than 2a hours in the job. now, away from the political, the personal suffering continues. people still say they're struggling to get hold of cooking gas and petrol for their cars. and i was talking to two labourers earlier who say that even the cost of a basic bag of rice has now become

prohibitively expensive. the country is still experiencing regular power cuts. the power in this area also went off recently as well. itjust gives you an idea of the suffering, and people here are asking even if the government eventually falls, which for the moment doesn't like it's happening anytime soon, what will be the solution in this deepening economic crisis and how will sri lankans have a way forward? and finally, a sumatran rhino has successfully given birth in an indonesian sanctuary, after suffering eight miscarriages in the last 17 years. these pictures capture the rare moment the female baby calf was born to mum, rosa, in way kambas national park on thursday. officials say both mother and calf are doing well. rosa was brought in for a breeding programme at the sanctuary in 2005 with the hope of saving the species. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news.

hello. the weather looked very different between the top and tail of the uk on tuesday. across england and wales, the sun came out for many. and in the sunshine, temperatures got up into the low to mid teens. this was the isle of wight tuesday afternoon. here we are, though, in aberdeenshire tuesday afternoon, a very different picture — some fresh snowfall, temperatures barely scratching above freezing. arctic air to the north of the uk. to the south, atlantic air. the two mixing out towards the west, with this occlusion turning back behind an area of low pressure. slightly cooler air flooding in to all parts of the uk on wednesday. relatively milder air, though, just pushing into the far north of scotland. but that big area of low pressure does mean, for all areas, it's going to be windy and there will be some bands of punchy

showers marching through. but we've lost the snow from northern scotland, the cold air really confined to the northern isles, but mostly rain that we'll be seeing here. further south, some good spells of sunshine between the showers, but when the showers push through, they possibly could be accompanied by some hail, thunder and lightning. temperatures down a couple of degrees on tuesday. it was a very mild start to the week. wednesday into thursday, we start to pull colder air in, though, to the north of our area of low pressure once again. and through wednesday evening, but particularly overnight into thursday, the colder air mixes in with our weather fronts. and it looks like we could see some significant snow for northern scotland once again. a risk of ice here for first thing thursday, certainly, and potentially that wintry weather affecting the central belt of scotland through the morning rush hour. we will see the showers thinning out as they sink south through the course of the day, but still the chance of a wintry element across the pennines into thursday afternoon. sunshine for many come thursday afternoon, but it will feel chillier, especially in contrast to the start of the week.

and then cold air right the way across the uk for friday. i think there will be quite a bit of sunshine, some wintry showers in the north and east. biggest question mark — what this area of low pressure deepening to the south of the uk will do. at the moment, it looks like it will slide in to the continent, bringing some very wet and windy weather to northern france. but it also looks like it could bring some very wet weather to the south coast of the uk and be accompanied by strong winds. if it pushes a little further north, there's just the question about whether it will bring something more wintry. stay tuned.