welcome to bbc news, i'm rich preston. our top stories: more evidence emerges about sexual violence ukrainian women have suffered at the hands of russian forces — we have a special report. the woman who lived in this house managed to escape, along with her child. she called the ukrainian police, she told them she was raped multiple times by the two drunk russian soldiers who killed her husband. ukraine says russian tanks have begun advancing towards the eastern donbas region for a renewed offensive. a new era for pakistan — but can shehbaz sharif heal the country's divisions, after imran khan is ousted as prime minister? at least 25 people have died in landslides and floods

after tropical storm megi hits the philippines. and back in court for a blockbuster defamation case, asjohnny depp�*s trial against his ex—wife amber heard begins in the united states. we begin in ukraine, and as more russian forces head to the east of the country for a major new offensive, horrors are being uncovered in the villages and towns close to the capital in the north, that they used to control. there are repeated stories of violence against women — in particular of soldiers using rape as a weapon of war. our correspondent yogita limaye, has been speaking to some of those affected, and a warning that her report does contain material you may find upsetting, including descriptions

of sexual violence. a quiet rural neighbourhood, shattered by barbaric violence. in a village west of kyiv, a first—hand account of rape by invading soldiers. when we started talking to this woman, we didn't know what we were about to hear. we are hiding her identity to protect her. translation: a soldier entered our house. - my husband and i were there. at gunpoint, he took me to a neighbouring house. he was ordering me, "take your clothes off or i'll shoot you." then he started raping me. while he was doing that, four more soldiers entered. i thought i was done for,

but they took him away. she returned home to find her husband shot in the abdomen. he died two days later. she buried him in the backyard. translation: i found drugs and viagra that they left behind. - they would get high and they were drunk. most of the invading soldiers are killers, rapists and looters. only a few are ok. i want to ask putin, "why is this happening?" i don't understand. we are not living in the stone age. just up the road, we heard of another rape case. it is being investigated by the police. this is the house a woman was taken to and assaulted. upstairs, the bedroom where she was later killed. it's a disturbing scene.

blood stains all over. on the mirror, a message in lipstick. tortured by unknown people, buried by russian soldiers, it says. out in the garden, we were shown her grave. a day after we went, ukrainian police exhumed her body. the note in lipstick, we are told, was left by a separate unit of russians who found her body and buried her here. they later told a neighbour, oksana, about the dead woman. translation: they told me - she had been raped and that her throat was either slit or stabbed, and she bled to death. they said there was a lot of blood. we travelled 70 miles east to another village, to what used to be the home of a family. a couple in their 30s,

and their young child. signs of their peaceful, ordinary life lie amidst the ruins. on 9 march, russian tanks rolled in. two soldiers shot the man dead. the woman who lived in this house managed to escape, along with her child. she called the ukrainian police and she has given them her testimony. she has told them she was raped multiple times by the two drunk russian soldiers who killed her husband. and she said that they threatened to kill her little boy, too, if she didn't do exactly as they said. as the soldiers left, they burned down the house. the police chief has told us they have gathered evidence and plan to go to the international court.

in kyiv, we met ukraine's human rights ombudsman, lyudmyla denisova, who has been recording rape cases. translation: about 25 girls - and women aged 14-24 were raped during the occupation in the basement of one house in bucha. nine of them are pregnant. russian soldiers told them they would rape them to the point where they wouldn't want sexual contact with any man, to prevent them from having ukrainian children. a 25—year—old woman called to tell us her 16—year—old sister was raped in the street in front of her. to calculate the number of such sexual crimes is impossible at the moment, because not everyone has come to us. among the people we met, there is no relief that the russians have gone, because they have left behind deeply wounded lives that might never recover. yogita limaye, bbc news, kyiv.

meanwhile, ukrainian troops defending the beseiged city of mariupol on the black sea, say they're now making a last stand, with ammunition running out and russian forces closing in. mariupol has been surrounded for a month, with president zelensky saying the siege has reduced the city "to ashes" and he fears tens of thousands of civilians have died there. russian troops are preparing for a new wider offensive in the east, to seize the entire donbas region. satellite images suggest a huge column of russian armoured vehicles is on the move there. our defence correspondent, jonathan beale is in eastern ukraine. many people who live in this region have already left — that's why you can see few lights on in the block of flats behind me. i think the fighting here will be different from what we've seen in kyiv — it's more open countryside. the advantage the ukrainians have is that they are already well dug in. remember, they've been fighting russian—backed separatists here for the past eight years,

they are some of their most battle—hardened troops — also tired, but it looks like their morale is still high. the advantage for the russians is they are now fighting on fewer fronts. they also have the numeric advantage — one western official said he expected russia to notjust double, but possibly triple the number of forces it has in this region, but also saying that could take some considerable time. i think everybody knows that this next phase of the war could be decisive in the east, it could also be bloody. the new russian general in charge is known as "the butcher of syria" for a reason. meanwhile, in the last couple of hours, president zelensky has warned about alleged russian threats to use chemical weapons in ukraine — have a listen. translation: today the occuwers _ translation: today the occupiers issued - translation: today the occupiers issued a - translation: today the occupiers issued a new.

occupiers issued a new statement which testifies to their preparation for a new stage of terror against ukraine and our defenders. one of the mouthpieces of the occupiers stated that they could use chemical weapons against the defenders of mariupol. i want reminder will�*s leaders at the possible use of chemical weapons by the russian military has already been discussed. for more on this, matthew kroenig joins us from washington. he's the director of studies at the atlantic council. thank you very much for being with us. we've had this mention of the use of chemical weapons, what do you suspect may have been used?— been used? well, it is difficult _ been used? well, it is difficult to _ been used? well, it is difficult to know, - been used? well, it is| difficult to know, there been used? well, it is- difficult to know, there are reports of respiratory irritation, there are three major types of chemical weapons, chemicalagents, choking agents, blistering agents and nerve agent and all of them because respiratory irritation. the pentagon has released a statement saying

that they've feared that russia might use teargas mixed with other types of chemical agents, and so that is presumably based on intelligence, so perhaps teargas, perhaps chlorine which is another type of commonly available chemical agent that can also cause respiratory conditions.— can also cause respiratory conditions. did this surprise ou? conditions. did this surprise you? unfortunately - conditions. did this surprise you? unfortunately it - conditions. did this surprise i you? unfortunately it doesn't. russia was — you? unfortunately it doesn't. russia was involved _ you? unfortunately it doesn't. russia was involved in - you? unfortunately it doesn't. russia was involved in using i russia was involved in using chemical weapons against his own people in syria stop biden administration has been warning that putin may use chemical weapons and ukraine for several weeks now and while chemical weapons are not very effective on the battlefield against other armies, they have proven to be effective for terrorising civilian populations and it does seem like this is part of putin's strategy now, to inflict pain and terror on the ukrainian populace, so

unfortunately i think many saw this coming. unfortunately i think many saw this coming-— unfortunately i think many saw this coming. we've heard many horrible stories _ this coming. we've heard many horrible stories particularly - horrible stories particularly those about civilians being targeted but what does this latest development signify? i think it shows that putin's initial strategy of trying to take ukraine, take care of, hasn't worked and so he is scaling back his wargames and also turning from a strategy of defeating the ukrainian military to terrorising the population. what it means to the broader war effort is unclear. president biden has warned putin against using chemical weapons, warned putin against using chemicalweapons, has warned putin against using chemical weapons, has said he would pay a serious price of he used chemical weapons. when a journalist asked a follow—up question, what would that praise be, biden declined to comment, so unlikely i think that biden involves the us military direct lead. i think if there is retaliation it will likely be and stepping up to

the kinds of activities we have seen already, maybe more sanctions, more support to the ukrainians and perhaps more of a reinforcement of nato's eastern flank.— eastern flank. ok, we will leave it — eastern flank. ok, we will leave it there. _ eastern flank. ok, we will leave it there. thank - eastern flank. ok, we will leave it there. thank you | eastern flank. ok, we will i leave it there. thank you for making the time for us. let's get some of the day's other news. the prime minister of sri lanka, mahinda rajapaksa, says his country has reached a decisivejuncture and called for patience as protests continue over the government's handling of the economic crisis. in a televised address, mr rajapaksa said the unrest was harming the economy. officials in shanghai have announced a slight easing of strict covid lockdown measures, for a limited number of residents. communities which go for at least two weeks without a covid infection will have their restrictions altered. the current rules have provoked increasing anger from those unable to orderfood to their apartments. president biden has announced new rules to crack down on what are known as "ghost guns", privately made firearms

without serial numbers that are increasingly being used in violent crime in the us. ghost guns are sold in kits and can be assembled at home. a new prime minister has been sworn in in pakistan, after the former cricketer imran khan was ousted in a confidence motion. his successor shahbaz sharif is the brother of anotherformer prime minister — nawaz sharif — and takes office amid corruption allegations — which he has said are politically motivated. i asked farahnaz ispahani, who's a global fellow at the woodrow wilson center and a former member of pakistan parliament, why mr khan was being ousted now when elections are due to take place next year. firstly, mr khan when prime minister hounded the opposition to the point where they all got together, very disparate political parties from the left

to the right and in between, and also, he lost the support of the pakistan military which you know is a very important institution. so he lost their political support as well so basically, he got himself into a situation where he hounded the opposition, his allies deserted him and at the end of the day, the military left political support for him. so that is why he ended up where he was, the first prime minister in pakistan to face a no—confidence motion and although he and his supporters like to think there is a bigger conspiracy, these are the facts. they are just three points in front of you that any student of politics would tell you is very realistic. mr sharif has several challenges up ahead, he has also made several promises, one of which is that he wants to improve relations with the united states, is that possible?

i think prime minister sharif is going to face a huge problem and with the united states, basically it is notjust that he will have to work slowly to win over notjust president biden but the us as a whole, because at the moment the us is not that involved with pakistan. it is dealing with ukraine, it has got a lot of foreign policy issues in the middle east and so pakistan is just not at the top of the agenda. of course mr khan's huge rallies in the street and all of that are obviously disconcerting for people here also but the bottom line is, i think they will be reassured here in washington that they are dealing with someone who at least is calm, capable and experienced.

you say reassured but no western government really likes instability and this, as you say, the first time a pakistani prime minister has been forced from office in this way. we have seen thousands of people out on the streets, is this really reassuring to western nations? is mr sharif a safe pair of hands? let's look at it this way. he is a safe pair of hands because he has run the country's largest province, 60% of pakistan's population for over a decade, three terms. so yes, he knows how the bureaucracy works, he knows how to deal with the opposition, he has a lot of experience. with billy idol. stay with us on bbc news, still to come... back on the campaign trail, emmanuel macron heads for areas that are strongholds

for his rival marine le pen pol pot, one of the century's greatest mass murderers, is reported to have died of natural causes. he, and the khmer rouge movement he led, were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent protests in indonesia, where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust. the magazine's offices have been attacked and its editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock, and as for her sporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors will be chasing her new world—best time for years to come. quite quietly, but quicker and quicker, she seemed just to slide away under the surface and disappear.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines... the bbc uncovers more evidence of the sexual violence ukraininan women have suffered at the hands of russian forces. ukraine says russian tanks have begun advancing towards the eastern donbas region for a renewed offensive. in the philippines, at least 25 people have died in landslides and floods caused by tropical storm megi, which hit the country's eastern and southern regions on monday. our philippines correspondent howard johnson has the latest. at the moment, the philippine coastguard are trying to help a lot of people in the central part of the philippines, and we're seeing footage on social media of people waiting chest—height through water, fast moving water. since sunday, it has dumped nearly 300 millimetres of rain

in some parts of the country. and we have seen that people have been disconnected from their land, from their homes. we have seen the electricity go down, the phone signal is down in certain areas, they are being badly affected. we saw landslides that killed more than 20 people, and still the full extent of the storm will only emerge in the days ahead. this is during holy week, a time when most people travel back to their home provinces to be with their families and also during presidential campaigning. we have seen both the front runners, bong bong marcos, and lenny robredo offering their help with aid. and this was an area that was hit four months ago by a subito fearne, the red cross had people in this area, at least 2.4 million people are still in need from that storm and are being devastated again by a second storm and that will definitely up and people's lives in this period when people should be celebrating with their families.

in france, emmanuel macron and marine le pen have begun the final stage of their campaign for the presidency — with both of them through to the second round of voting in two weeks' time. some polls have put them almost neck and neck. here's our paris correspondent, lucy williamson. in the north—eastern town of dinard today, mr macron got a master class on why people are voting for marine le pen. "everyone talks about the taxes, the taxes, "the taxes," this woman says. "we have no spending power, we just work and buy "groceries to eat." "let's see how we compare with others," mr macron replies. he is here to chase the support of far left voters. there were lessons there, too. translation: i'd like you to address the needs of us - workers, increase salaries, because today we can't make ends meet. marine le pen is doing better in this election because she has spent years talking about rising prices and the struggle

to make ends meet. her solutions include no income tax for anyone under 30 and a huge cut in vat on fuel. it has helped make her the first choice for voters in their late 20s, 30s and 40s. and her team includes lots of young faces in key roles, like the party's temporary president, who is only 26. translation: we talk- about all kinds of protections, all insecurities, and it is our greatest strength. i don't feel that our measures are radical because they are the majority view in the country. priority for french nationals, economic patriotism, closing radical mosques, deporting offenders. when we defend radical ideas, i think we are defending common sense. at the final result in this election could come down not to supporters of marine le pen or emmanuel macron, but supporters ofjean—luc melenchon, the far left candidate who came in third, people like clementine here. five years ago, they voted mostly for mr macron in the run—off.

this time around, many of them say they are not going to vote at all and of those that are, half say they will vote for marine le pen. i'm not going to go vote. there is no way i can let her win and there is no way i can let him win. and people don't know anymore where to go, you know, what to think and who to believe. and if we compare melenchon and le pen's programmes, we can find some similarities, we can find some points that are in le pen's programme and melenchon's programme. the hopes and fears of voters may be outgrowing this election. mr macron is still the favourite but before there is any change in government, what has changed in france is the mood. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. jury members have been chosen

for the legal battle betweenjohnny depp and the actress amber heard. the actor is suing his ex—wife for $50 million, claiming she defamed him in an opinion piece she wrote for the washington post, about being a domestic abuse survivor. he has repeately denied abusing her. our north america correspondent, david willis has the details. johnny depp, as you said, sued the sun newspaper over claims he was a wife beater and lost. now he is suing his ex—wife, amber heard, for $50 million, claiming that she defamed him in an article that appeared in the washington post in 2018, in which she described herself as a domestic abuse survivor. now, that, according tojohnny depp, amounts to a claim that was himself an abuser. the london court laid bare some very unsavoury details about the couple's relationship. his affinity for drugs and alcohol, and he said that it cost, the surrounding publicity, cost him his role

as captainjack sparrow in the pirates of the caribbean franchise and a role in fantastic beasts. for her part, amber heard has said he basically libelled her when he described her as a liar and she is counter—suing for $100 million. now, opening statements are due to begin in the morning. proceedings will be televised, and even though the judge in this case has urged both amber heard and johnny depp to avoid posing for photographs and giving autographs outside the court, as they did in the high court case in london, fans were queueing from 5am this morning to try to get a seat in the courthouse. and they are expected to lay siege to that building in the next few weeks to hear not onlyjohnny depp and amber heard give evidence, but also some very famous witnesses, including actors james franco and paul bettany and amber heard's ex—boyfriend, elon musk. why is this taking place in fairfax, virginia, when both of these two people, amber heard and johnny depp live here in los angeles, i hear you ask. well, according tojohnny depp's lawyers, it's all very obvious, fairfax is where the online edition of the washington post is published.

amber heard's lawyers take a more cynical view of that, they say it's simply because virginia's defamation laws are more favourable to plaintiffs than those in california. and this star—studded trial is expected to last about six weeks. before we go, a reminder of the top story. the bbc has uncovered more evidence of the sexual violence ukrainian women have suffered at the hands of russian forces. ukrainians are accusing russian soldiers of using rape as a weapon of war.

the allegations are denies. that's it from me, goodbye for now. hello, there. it was a much milder start monday morning, largely frost—free, as it will be again this morning. and that's because we've changed the wind direction. they're coming in off the atlantic, they are gathered around an area of low pressure, which means we are pulling in more cloud and showery rain, as well. but it will at least stay relatively mild, if not warm in the sunshine as we saw on monday night, 19 celsius in heathrow. but lots of heavy showers have been gathering towards the south through the night. there could be some rumbles of thunder, patchy rain heading its way northwards elsewhere, and that's why we are seeing our temperatures holding up. the winds starting to ease, so it won't be as windy on tuesday, and we've still got this onshore breeze for the east of scotland, and the northern isles — so quite chilly here, but it shouldn't be as chilly

for the eastern side of england, but as you can see, we've got showers and longer spells of rain, some of them heavy, some of them thundery pushing their way northwards and eastwards through the day. where we see some sunshine, temperatures will lift above average, particularly for england and wales. 18—20 celsius, possibly, across the east anglian region in the southeast, but for most, temperatures a little bit above par, except where we have the more persistent rain, which is likely to continue its journey northwards, then, through tuesday night into wednesday. eventually, the milder air reaches the northern isles, and again, it looks like a relatively mild start to wednesday, but misty and murky in places. we could have some patches of fog around tuesday, as well as wednesday, which will take their time to break up. and then it's more likely to be a day of sunny spells and scattered showers, so perhaps a bit more sunshine on offer. but again, like we will see on tuesday, pollen levels pretty high, and temperatures getting into the high teens more widely as well. further north, it will feel warmer, i think, across scotland and northern ireland on wednesday. come thursday, we've got another weather system starting to work its way in from the west ahead of that early

morning mist and fog taking the time to break up. but again, temperatures 15—19 celsius, and that's above average for this time of year. and then further ahead into the easter weekend, that weather system weakens, as it works eastwards, because it's working at a high pressure. so it's how established that high pressure becomes, really, this weekend, how good it is at keeping our weather fronts at bay. there is still a little bit of uncertainty, as you can see, with low pressure close by to the west, later on into the easter weekend. but at the moment, for many, there will be some warmth around, often dry and bright, but we do need to keep an eye on that one. do stay tuned.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the authorities in kyiv say they're documenting numerous cases of women who have been raped by russian soldiers, moscow denies any such cases. meanwhile ukraine says russian tanks have begun advancing towards the eastern donbas region for a renewed offensive. shehbaz sharif has been sworn in as the new prime minister of pakistan during a ceremony in islamabad. mr sharif, whose brother nawaz held the same job for three terms, was chosen following a chaotic session in parliament. the election was held after imran khan was ousted in a no—confidence vote. the hollywood star johnny depp's legal battle

with his former wife amber heard has begun in the us