this is bbc news, broadcasting in the uk and around the globe. i'm lukwesa burak. our top stories: "surrender if you want to survive" — russia issues an ultimatum to ukrainian soldiers in mariupol — but president zelensky warns there will be consequences if russia takes action against the remaining troops in the city. translation: the elimination of our troops, of our men in mariupol will put an end to any negotiations. the death toll rises in south africa following heavy flooding — with a warning more rain may be on the way.

the archbishop of canterbury, the most senior cleric in the anglican church, condemns plans by the uk government to send asylum seekers to rwanda. the comments come on easter sunday. this is the scene live in st peter's square in vatican city — where pope francis has been celebrating easter sunday mass. hello and welcome to bbc news. russia has urged the last ukrainian forces defending the besieged port of mariupol to surrender in order to save their lives — with the deadline just one hour away. the city has been under siege for weeks. moscow says its troops have cleared resistance from the entire city, apart from a sprawling steelworks.

ukraine says its naval units are preparing for a russian landing operation in the area. in a late—night address, president zelensky accused russia of deliberately trying to destroy mariupol — and everyone in it. mr zelensky warned that eliminating ukrainian fighters in the city would put an end to peace talks. meanwhile, explosions have again been heard in the capital, kyiv, and in the western city of lviv. air raid sirens have been going off across much of the country overnight. this report is from helena wilkinson. forweeks, mariupol has been battered by sustained russian attacks. the kremlin says it's now cleared urban areas of ukrainian forces and it's made this offer to ukrainian soldiers fighting in the port city — lay down your arms by later this morning and your safety will be guaranteed. earlier, the president of ukraine had this warning for russia.

translation: the elimination of our troops, of our men - in mariupol will put an end to any negotiations. there is a humanitarian crisis, there is a lack of food, water, medicine. however the guys are heroically defending themselves. we are grateful to them for that. the president's warning comes as a second british fighter has reportedly been captured by russian forces in mariupol. a video of the man, who gives his name as sean pinner, emerged after aden aslin was detained earlier this week. meanwhile, russia continues to carry out airstrikes elsewhere in ukraine. in the capital, kyiv, one person was killed and several were wounded. residents have been warned by the mayor not to return over fears of further attacks. explosions were also reported in the western city of lviv overnight,

where air defences reportedly destroyed four russian cruise missiles. earlier this week, russia's prize warship sunk in the black sea — ukraine says it struck the vessel, the kremlin denied that, saying an explosion onboard caused it to sink. now the russian defence ministry has published images showing what it says is the ship's crew, the undated video showing sailors on parade being inspected by the commander—in—chief of the russian navy. the focus today will be on what happens next in mariupol. will the remaining ukrainian soldiers there ignore russia's deadline offer to lay down their arms and continue to defend the city to the end? helena wilkinson, bbc news. and there have been reports of more attacks on the ukrainian capital, kyiv. russia's defence ministry said it struck a military plant outside

kyiv, to the east of the capital. the mayor said that "some infrastructure objects were hit" in the early hours of sunday morning. for the latest on the situation in kyiv and in the besieged city of mariupol, here's our correspondent dan johnson. there are reports this morning of more attacks on the edge of kyiv in a district to the east of the capital city, where the local mayor says an attack has hit some of the local infrastructure there. we're not quite sure exactly what the target was or what the level of damage is, but that's a pattern that's been repeated for a few nights now after russia threatened to step up its attacks once again and there were air raids right across the country.

air raid alerts, at least, so people are on edge. in mariupol, russia has offered ukrainian soldiers there the chance to surrender and says their lives will be protected if they do that, if they put down their weapons, wave a white flag and hand themselves over from the steelworks, which has been the scene of a really intense battle over the last few days. i'm not sure if this is a sign that russia is struggling to complete its takeover of that plant and therefore the city of mariupol, or whether it indicates how dire things have got for the remaining ukrainian soldiers there. russia says there are about two and a half thousand of them, but there are no signs at the moment of the ukrainians taking up this offer. but the window, russia says, is only open for a few hours. this morning. president zelensky had warned that if those soldiers were killed, that would put an end to any chance for peace talks in the immediate future. but the besieging and the bombardment of mariupol has gone on day after day after day since the start of this invasion. it's a desperate situation for people there, and it is a symbolically important but also strategically important city, which russia is keen

to claim victory over, even despite the fact that it has bombed the city to ruins. there's one thing i think that some people will be asking, and in terms of targeting kyiv, why once again are they doing that and how were they doing it? because we understood a number of days ago that they had pulled out of a number of areas around the capital. so how are they targeting in terms of missiles, those suburbs that are being hit? yes, the russian forces that were approaching the capital city and occupying areas to the north of it all pulled back more than a week ago, and those areas are clear of troops now. they're still dangerous because mines were left behind, but the russian forces withdrew and are now focusing on the east of the country instead. but we have seen renewed attacks coming from the air, from russian jets that are flying air raids across ukraine, launched mainly from belarus orfrom russia. they've targeted so far

military facilities. it was a weapons factory that was hit yesterday along with ammunition stores. and we have seen some loss of life associated with this. but russia says it is taking out military targets. it hit the factory that actually makes the sort of missile that ukraine claims was used to sink the moskva, the flagship of russia's black sea fleet, which now sits at the bottom of the black sea. whether this morning's attack is on another military facility or not, we'll have to wait to see. but the risk is that civilian targets may get hit, maybe inadvertently. and also, when ukrainian air defences are shooting down missiles, we sometimes see that the bits of the missile that are left after those explosions can cause damage in other areas as well. so it is something that will concern people right across ukraine. and the fact that there have been so many air raid warnings in the last few nights is a reminder to people right across the country of the risk that they face, even if they're way away from the intense fighting in the east. here in the uk, the archbishop of canterbury has

used his easter sermon to strongly criticise the government's plan to send asylum seekers arriving in the uk to rwanda. during his address, justin welby said the policy raises "serious ethical questions" and goes against the country's "christian in a statement, the uk home office said: "the world is facing a global migration crisis on an unprecedented scale and change is needed to prevent people smugglers putting people s lives at risk and to fix the broken global asylum system." earlier i spoke to our political correspondent, ione wells. earlier i spoke to our political correspondent, ione wells. i think it is a really significant intervention and it is not usual for the archbishop of canterbury to make such a strong comment on government policy.

the government is used to having its policies criticised by opposition parties but less by what he describes as the judgment of god. later in his easter sermon he says the government asylum policy cannot stand up to the judgment of god and cannot carry the weight of our responsibility as a country founded on christian values and also it is opposite to the nature of god who he says took responsibility for our failures. it is all in response to a recently announced uk government policy to send asylum seekers who have arrived to the uk via for example boats crossing the channel or lorries making that crossing to rwanda to have their asylum claims process there as opposed to in the uk. many people, even politicians will

probably say should the church be doing politics? what reaction has there been from the home office? the home office have responded quite robustly with the claims he has made and said there are a number of safe and legal routes for people who want to seek asylum in the uk like existing resettlement schemes and also said the uk has a proud history of welcoming refugees in need and said their plans in their view would disrupt the business model of people smugglers particularly involving people wanting to cross the channel into the uk. the archbishop himself has acknowledged the details of the scheme are for politics and i think we will see a lot of this next week. this policy was announced when mps were off for the easter break but they will be back on tuesday and i think there will be a lot more debate when they are back then. as nearly 400 people are now known to have died in flooding in kwa—zulu natal,

the south african president, cyril ramaphosa, has postponed an official visit to saudi arabia in order to focus on the devastation. specialist rescue teams are searching for dozens more who're still missing. more than 13,000 homes have been damaged in the disaster. vumani mkhize reports. a deadly flash flood swept through this informal settlement north of durban in the middle of the night on tuesday. people here ran for their lives as the rising floodwaters engulfed everything in its path. the mangled remains of debris are what's left. sombre residents look on as a rescue team searches for the missing. a recovery operation is underway here at the informal settlementjust north of durban. members here of the rescue team are essentially looking for two people, a youngster aged eight years old and someone who's also aged around 30. and as you can see over here, there are cars and debris that have been strewn all along along the river. and it'sjust an indication of the severity and the violence

of the water that was cascading along here. the search and rescue team can't get heavy machinery into the area. they painstakingly use their bare hands. so currently we've got two community members missing in this area. we brought in canines because, as you can see, it's a very big debris pile. a lot of material to move. a lot of heavy logs, vehicles, household items so we can't exploit the whole area. community members are traumatised by the floods and are finding it difficult to come to terms with what happened. translation: we are in pain. we can't even sleep properly at night. every time i close my eyes, i can just see the rain and water coming. i can't sleep and i can't eat. this woman who lost her house

tells me she wants the government to help her find shelter because she can't live here any more. up on the hill, this man shows me where the informal settlement used to be. the floodwaters swept through this area first, and there were people that are also found there as well, right at the top? yeah. wow. there was something like seven people. seven people were found and they were found the siege of mariupol may be nearing its end — with russia issuing a deadline for ukrainian soldiers to surrender. the archbishop of canterbury — the most senior cleric in the anglican church condemns plans by the uk government to send asylum seekers to rwanda. the death toll rises in south africa — following heavy flooding — with a warning more rain may be on the way.

we the great—granddaughter of soviet—era leader, nikita khrushchev, has told the bbc that president putin may be prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons if necessary to win the war in ukraine. nina krushcheva, who is an international affairs professor based in new york, said the russian president saw himself as the latest in a long line of strong russian leaders. she was asked if there was anything that could stop him. yes, there is, president putin will stop president putin i think. but i don't really think that vladimir zelensky�*s pleas are going to really work for putin at all because the russians, the russian side already said that the ukrainian side has been withdrawing from negotiations, changing its position.

so the fact that zelensky now says that there will be no negotiations if soldiers are mariupol will get killed, probably for putin is not is not a surprise. it is possible that mariupol will fall and it is possible by may, by may 9th. i'm sure you know there is a victory date world war ii victory day on may 9th. so there is rumours back and forth that putin would like to stop the war or at least declare some sort of victory by then. so it is possible that with the taking of mariupol, that could be one of those prizes and sort of a declaration for at least the completion of this stage of the war. but once again, i think putin knows only what putin knows. we don't know. even those who are expected horrible things from putin like me and a lot of others, i am still completelyjust stunned

by the brutality that's being exerted on ukraine altogether. and it does seem that at the beginning at least, they were sort of more cordial approach to the war. but once ukrainians started fighting back and and hitting back then, the russians became as brutal as possible. and also they've been changing troops a lot. and i think the russian guard has been particularly and also the chechen battalions from north caucasus. they've been particularly brutal, so it actually depends what kind of troops they have. but generally, i think this war is really the one that putin plans to win and plans to win at any cost. lord peter ricketts is a former uk permanent representative to nato and a former national security advisor to the uk government. here's his take on whether president putin can win the war.

winning would be to turn ukraine into a vassal state of russia. i think that would be his initial plan and he has failed and what he is trying to find is a face—saving solution and as your correspondent said a few minutes ago i think to be able to succeed in capturing mariupol, the ruins of mariupol, having smashed the city to pieces together with enough territory so the eastern donbas region and crimea region link up but it is nothing like he set out to achieve. russia holds about one third of the donbas region. mariupol defeated him before and he is

determined to get it this time. where does ukraine stand on that? he is determined to get it and at enormous cost it will finally succeed in overcoming the resistance in mariupol. to me it seems impossible for president zelensky to concede russia now occupies the entire eastern side of the country and somehow ukraine no longer has any rights over that and becomes either dependent or in some way part of russia. i think the kind of conditions that vladimir putin might settle for are those which president zelensky or any possible ukrainian government could not possibly accept. i think we are headed for an angry stalemate rather than a negotiated solution.

as a former national security advisor, playing out the scenario of mariupol falling to russia, what would concern you most about the geopolitics of the region if that happen? i think it is absolutely disastrous for europe to see a proud city smashed to pieces by the artillery of an adversary. that takes us right back to the second world war. it also frees up russian forces to move north and try to push out the boundary of what they control in the donbas region. at the moment they only control part of that region. all intended to show that russia leaves this war occupying a significant slice of eastern ukraine. the geopolitics of it are very alarming. it suggests that despite all the rules in the un charter a country can use overwhelming force to occupy and subjugate part of a neighbouring state.

as we know, millions of ukrainians have fled their country in search of safety. about 6,000 people have been granted humanitarian visas in australia, allowing them to work and study for up to three years. the bbc�*s phil mercer has met some of the first ukrainian refugees to arrive on australian soil. for this woman and her eight—year—old son, andre, fleeing their home in kyiv was the start of a torturous journey. horrified by war, australians are doing what they can to welcome refugees from ukraine. among the displaced, there is a relief but also fear for family members left behind. i went from kyiv to slovakia to poland, and then from poland to austria and then from austria to australia. in australia, i feel very safe. our dream is for the war to end soon so my parents and husband will be safe. maria is a ballet dancerfrom kyiv, now given sanctuary half

a world away in australia. her story of separation is agonisingly familiar. i left my family behind. it happens to be that there are mostly men in my family so they all had to stay behind. it is really difficult because we cann�*t give each the love and support that we all need right now. ukraine is my home and i'm very hopeful that i will be able to go back. i just don't know when, i don't know how long the situation will last. refugees have been resettled in australia for decades. in more recent times, those fleeing conflict in syria, iraq and afghanistan have been given protection here. australia is now opening its doors to ukrainians and there is the hope that many more thousands fleeing the war will be able to come. campaigners, though, say that australia's decision to grant humanitarian visas to ukrainians is in stark contrast to its treatment of other asylum seekers who came by boat and were sent to offshore

camps in the pacific. the government, i think, has got very, very selective compassion. the welcome for ukrainians is not therefore the afghans, the tamils, for the rohingyas, for the iraqis. the reality of australia's refugee policy is not a welcome one. the department of home affairs told the bbc that australia's humanitarian programme was designed to protect refugees who were subject to persecution or significant harm. it said it was working to ensure that visa options were available to afghan nationals and that priority was given to the most vulnerable applicants. australia has set no limit on the number of visas offered to ukrainians. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. those who've stayed in ukraine have been living in a warzone for nearly two months now. in the face of death and destruction, people are doing what they can

to keep their spirits up. tim allman reports. orchestra plays james bond theme. the people of this city and this country have been both shaken and stirred, so what better to meet the mood than a little james bond? these musicians, some from a local academy, have grouped together to form a street orchestra, bringing a little hope in these troubled times. translation: the idea came up that we need to play for people, | especially nowadays, to bring some positivity to people at a difficult time. head north to the besieged city of kharkiv and the best place to be is underground. oleksandr and anton put on a puppet show for the children who have to shelter here. a distraction for a moment or two at least from the bombardment this city is having to endure.

translation: for me, the exchange of emotion is very important. - we give the children our emotions and they give us theirs and that lifts our spirits. we can't name it, you have to feel it when you see the reaction. and in the capital, kyiv, an easter vigil takes place, another moment of normality in a country where that is now rare. they pray for salvation, they pray for an end to war. tim allman, bbc news. let's cross live to st peter's square in vatican city because pope francis has been celebrating easter mass, during his

one point catholics have been celebrating the feast. hello there. it looks like the weather is going to cool down a bit from tomorrow, but today most parts of the country will again be warm with some sunshine. but we've got this change happening really across some western most parts of the uk, with those weather fronts actually bringing more cloud and bringing some rain as well. but ahead of that, with the sunshine, pollen levels are remaining high across much of england and wales, but also into some central and southern parts of scotland, where we're seeing the best of the hazy sunshine. there is a bit more cloud across southern parts of scotland, that rain mainly affecting the western isles this afternoon, continuing in northern ireland and

some rain pushing late in the day into western fringes of wales and the far southwest of england. that will peg the temperatures back a bit here, but ahead of that in the sunshine, temperatures are widely 18 degrees and could make 20 for the fa cup semifinal at wembley. that band of rain then continues to push its way eastwards overnight. it'll be followed by some showers for northern ireland into scotland and over the irish sea, and the breeze will pick up a little bit as well. temperatures overnight will be at sixes and sevens, but as you can see, there's little or no rain running through the midlands, much of southern england as well, that weather for much weaker here. it's more active further north, and that's where we've got most of the rain nearer that area of low pressure. and it's around that that we've got the stronger winds overnight and into tomorrow. the winds more of a westerly and that will bring in cooler, fresher air. there's our weather front,

that band of cloud there. the rain moves away into the north sea. cloud could linger in the southeast, perhaps, for a while, and then we'll see some sunny spells, a few showers around most of the showers for northern ireland and particularly western scotland, where we've got these stronger winds for all of us. it will be cooler during tomorrow, but still 16 or 17 degrees with some sunshine towards south eastern parts of england. heading into tuesday, it probably starts off quite chilly. actually, those showers of monday will have cleared away and then we'll see more showers developing, i think, on tuesday. slow moving, perhaps heavy showers, some sunshine around as well, but temperatures are continuing to drop away. typically, 13 or 14 celsius in the afternoon and really through the rest of the week, it remains dry, though showers do tend to fade away, but we'll see easterly winds picking up. that means temperatures are going to be near average and the best of the weather

is likely to be in the west. this is bbc news. the headlines: "surrender if you want to survive" — russia issues an ultimatum to ukrainian soldiers in mariupol — the deadline expires

one hour from now. but president zelensky warns there will be consequences, if russia takes action against the remaining troops in the city. translation: the elimination of our troops, of our men in mariupol- will put an end to any negotiations. the death toll rises in south africa following heavy flooding — with a warning more rain may be on the way. the archbishop of canterbury, the most senior cleric in the anglican church uses his easter sunday sermon to condemn plans by the uk government to send asylum seekers to rwanda. the comments come on easter sunday. this is the scene live in st peter's square in vatican city — where pope france has been celebrating easter sunday mass.