this is bbc news. welcome, if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe, i'm david eades. our top stories this hour: ukrainian soldiers in the southeastern city of mariupol ignore russia's deadline to surrender. the country's prime minister says they'll fight to the end. in the east of the country, ukrainians prepare to counter the latest major russian offensive. translation: we live - in ukraine, this is our land, donbas is the ukraine, and i was born in ukraine, and i will die in ukraine. a fourth day of clashes in parts of sweden, sparked by the plans of a far—right group to burn copies of the koran. and doctors warn of

an impending medical catastrophe in sri lanka amid a desperate shortage of vital medicines. the ukrainian foreign minister says the city of mariupol no longer exists. the last platoons of ukrainian troops there have retreated to the azovstal — a huge iron and steelworks, ignoring moscow's demand to surrender. ukraine's prime minister, denys shmyhal, says those defending the city will fight to the end. russian bombardment has also continued in other areas of the east — officials say five people have died in kharkiv. wounded civilians are being evacuated by train from the front line to dnipro from where our correspondent tom bateman sent this report — which contains some distressing

images. president putin calls his goal the "liberation" of this country's east. he's showing the world what that means in mariupol. street battles have intensified for days. the city's defenders are holed up in a giant steelworks, now told by moscow's forces to surrender or die. but ukraine says they'll fight to the end. mariupol�*s fate could seal the next stage of the war as it moves to the east. and those from the hardest—hit areas are running out of time to escape. in dnipro, even some of the wounded are being evacuated west. katya's mum was killed in last week's missile strike on a train station in kramatorsk. "what i saw was like a nightmare," she tells me, "with blood everywhere. "i somehow got to a bench,

and police officers helped me. "they put me in a car and took me to hospital." where people once stood as colleagues or friends, the platform's now a place for the victims of war. tanya grieves for her eldest daughter, marina, killed in a crash in their rush to escape. "i'm scared for my children," says tanya. "we didn't want to leave, and i'm very sorry for the price i had to pay for leaving my own home." and now they travel with the trauma of this invasion, in soviet—era carriages, fleeing russia's advance. many men have stayed behind, except those that have to hold their children alone. and others will need a lifetime of care. well, these patients now face a 20—hourjourney to the west of here, with the kind of injuries they have. and what that tells you is the critical need

the ukrainians have to free up hospital space here and to the east, where they're getting ready for a major russian assault. and in the suburbs, i'm told of an extraordinary story of rescue from mariupol. nastia drove 200 miles south through russian lines in search of her parents, trapped in the siege. it was seeing the hopelessness and despair that made her go, she says. she found a city in ruins, a people reduced to scavenging to survive. the family managed to escape underfire. now, nastia's mum oxana, safely in another city, calls her daughter a hero. and she tells her daughter, "i wanted to kneel before you." nastia says their escape got them back from hell. but tens of thousands remain trapped

amid mariupol�*s last stand. tom bateman, bbc news, dnipro in central ukraine. with russia now focusing on eastern ukraine, people still living in that area are at constant risk. thousands have fled over the past two months, but many, in particular the elderly, have chosen to stay put. clive myrie has been to the village of serhiivka near donetsk to talk to some of them. there's a storm brewing in the east. the ukrainian military are on the move in defence of the homeland. the landscape flat, open country, perfect for heavy armour, as russia readies to seize the donbas region. the road signs proving useless guides, by design.

it's mid—morning in the village of serhiivkia. is that for the sleeve? and our presence piques the interest of the local territorial defence force. an army of volunteers ready for the russians. maxim is 26 and the local commander, born and bred in the village. are you worried about the coming battle in the east in this area? are you worried that the russians are going to come here? "we will be ready to greet the russians," he tells me. "they came to us with weapons, not the other way round. "we live in ukraine. "this is our land. "donbas is the ukraine, and i was born in ukraine "and i will die in ukraine." so many have left the village since the start of the war. a population of moo

is now down to just 300, and the vast majority who remain are elderly, clinging on to what they know, despite the threat. valery is head of the local municipality. he's watched his village leech its young since russia invaded ukraine. but he understands why many older residents want to stay. "they're afraid to leave their houses "and households behind," he tells me. "it's hard to go. "people think that they have lived their share "and want to die at home." raisa is one of the villagers who chose not to leave. raisa? clive. the great absence in her life is her own sister, who lives in donetsk, closer to the russian border.

her sister doesn't believe russia has committed war crimes in this conflict, and she believes the invasion is just. "at the moment, i'm not in touch with her. "due to political reasons, we didn't find common ground. "we lost touch. "so i don't know what she's thinking right now. "since march 27th, we haven't spoken. "i haven't wanted to." march 27th, that's very sad. "that's how it is." the local cherry blossom heralds the onset of spring, but no one's under any illusions that winter is coming to the village of serhiivkia, right across eastern ukraine. clive myrie, bbc news.

what to make of the change of strategy and tactics by russia stop. a little earlier, retired us army colonel chris t mayer told me that the terrain in ukraine at this time of year makes offensive manoeuvres almost impossible. logistics has not been russia's strong point in this so far but, really, i was surprised at the initial strategy to go towards kharkiv and kyiv because, unless the russian general staff really believed that the war would be over in a week, attacking in the last week of february does not make sense. world war ii proved that the spring mud in ukraine makes offensive manoeuvre nearly impossible until about mid—may. so it may not be that attack is really imminent — they may wait for the ground to harden. but on the other hand, it did not stop them in february, and their tanks ran into the mud. your previous reporter talked about the open fields, yes, but those open fields are great for armoured welfare when the ground is hard.

yeah, i mean, it is a very different terrain, isn't it, compared to moving into some of the cities like kyiv? well, the idea of course, in an armoured attack, would be to isolate those urban areas and then take them down with infantry, supported by armour. but if you can't do the cross—country manoeuvre that armoured requires to isolate the cities, you are in a difficult situation. do you think the russian army nonetheless has the capacity and the wherewithal to adjust its strategy and logistically then to put it into play? because as you said, the initial attack and the direction of those attacks does suggest that there was incompetence at best, some would say? well, again, iam kind of surprised that the broad front strategy was tried to begin with. so maybe now they are going for plan b, and plan b is, ok, instead of going through the whole of ukraine, we're just going to focus our power on the east part of ukraine, where,

again, the ground is a little bit more suitable for armoured attack, maybe. maybe they've learned. however, if we look at what they have done in chechnya, what they did in georgia, what they've done even in syria and what they have done more recently, they don't show a really fast learning curve. we have had warnings such as a threat of unpredictable consequences from the west supporting ukraine with more military might. do you think there is a sort of logical thought process behind that as to what those consequences are or is that chat? personally, i think it is chat. i think that the way you stand up to a bully is to stand up to the bully and to say, go ahead, try it. but right now, under any sort of international law going back for hundreds of years, we have a moral imperative to provide the ukrainian people, the victims of the aggressor in an unjust war, with all the resources

they need to defend themselves against the unjust aggression. right, so we are into the scenario where either russian might is so much greater in terms of pure numbers, than ukraine's, or we enter an indefinite conflict. what would your best estimate be? my best guess would be that it is going to wind up being a frozen conflict just as it has almost anywhere anywhere else that russia has tried to use military power. but the long—term issue will be whether or not we, the west and ukraine, will agree that their aggressive unjust moves justifies taking the territory they have already taken. colonel chris mayer there. in sweden, plans of a far right group to burn copies of the koran have sparked four days of violent clashes

in a number of cities. cars, police vehicles and rubbish bins were set on fire and at least 17 people have been arrested. mark lobel reports. fury at the authorities. the police targeted by protesters in this residential area in norrkoping. a spillover of days of clashes across swedish cities. three people needed medical attention here after being hit by police bullets. several vehicles were set on fire. at least 17 people were arrested. flashpoints have stemmed from a series of organised rallies since thursday, led by the leader of a danish far right political party, currently on tour in sweden. inflammatory events that include the actual burning or threat of burning of the koran. leading the rallies rasmus paludan. he represented the far—right stram kurs or hard line party in the last danish elections,

where they received 1.8% of the vote, failing to win a seat. in 2020 he was jailed for a month for offences, including racism. he plans to stand in swedish elections in september. iran and iraq have both summoned their swedish envoys, to protest against the authorities, allowing demonstrations during which the central religious text of islam is set on fire. at least a dozen police officers have been injured in the clashes so far. sweden's national police chief said he'd never seen such violent riots on his streets before. mark lobel, bbc news. you are watching bbc news. the headlines: ukrainian fighters in the city of mariupol ignore russia's deadline to lay down their arms.

the ukrainian prime minister says they'll fight to the end. in the east of the country, ukrainians have been preparing to counter the latest major russian offensive. doctors in sri lanka say they are running out of vital drugs and equipment and need urgent help. the country is going through its worst economic crisis in living memory, and a shortage of foreign exchange means it is unable to import medicines that are desperately needed. sri lanka is due to start talks with the international monetary fund this week, but if help doesn't arrive soon, medical unions fear it could lead to a catastrophic number of deaths. 0ur south asia correspondent rajini vaidyanathan reports from colombo. already in a critical condition, sri lanka's now heading towards a medical emergency. doctors are running out of life—saving drugs. the future of this island nation becoming ever more fragile.

at the largest children's hospital in the country, we meet dr senapathi, who manages resources. these are difficult times. these surgeries, we need very specific things. sri lanka imports most of its medical supplies — a lack of foreign currency to buy them to blame for the shortages. stretched to the limit, operations continue at this hospital. others have already stopped some procedures. we don't know what would happen if the dollars don't bring these things to the country. we might end up in a very difficult situation. this is a very stressful period. health official officials at this hospital agreed to speak to us but i've spoken to many doctors across sri lanka, who say that the government says they are not allowed to speak out in an individual capacity. but they tell me that they are worried that their hospitals are running low or running out of essential medicines and that

if something isn't done soon, sri lanka will face a medical catastrophe. with few doctors willing to speak publicly about the shortages, some have taken part in silent protests. while hundreds of medical students stormed the health ministry, joining anti—government protests against food and fuel shortages. this is a crisis of scarcity with no clear end in sight. medical unions are appealing to the world to help. we need supply to come in in whatever the form, that is from any other country, the government procurement, or in—region donation. so if this situation continues, there will be a day in the nearfuture, maybe couple of weeks or one month, i am afraid to say there may be a situation where we won't be able to save the patient life or limb.

sri lanka's health ministry told the bbc it's working to overcome the shortages and is getting help from nearby india and other donors. but this is a public health system in distress. no—one knows how or when sri lanka will recover. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, colombo. at least a43 people have died in devastating floods in the province of kwazulu—natal in eastern south africa. teams of rescue workers are continuing to search for dozens of people who are still missing, but their efforts have been hampered by yet more rain. pumza fihlani reports from durban. this was no ordinary easter for the people of kwazulu—natal. church services have been disrupted across the province after severe floods damaged scores of places of worship. south of durban, community members have gathered to pray with this grieving family

who have lost two people. a week ago, five homes stood here, but injust minutes, everything was gone. this three—year—old and her mother were asleep when flash floods ripped through this homestead. the toddler's body was found days later in a nearby river, but the mother is still missing. translation: the lord was showing off - when he blessed me with this child. in the mornings, she would kiss me and ask me, "am i your grandchild?" and i would say, "yes. "you're my baby. " i loved these children. thousands of people have been displaced by the floods. in this small village alone, 15 homes have been destroyed. a handful of families have found temporary shelter here. we are in a small church now that has been turned into a temporary shelter for about 25 people. these are people whose homes

were washed away in the last few days by floods, who've lost all their worldly belongings, and they are currently being housed here. everything that we see, from the food and the mattresses, and the blankets that we see inside here were donated by neighbours who were lucky to survive what has happened. the local pastor says the need for extra support for this traumatised community is evident. we do have counselling. we still need a lot of counselling, but people are together, are hands—on together to help those who are in desperate need. but the people here tell me that the church is not home. there has been no help for them yet from the state and so, they do not know where or how they will rebuild their lives. pumza fihlani, bbc news. an arab— israeli party has suspended its involvement in israel's governing coalition,

in protest at days of violence at the al—aqsa mosque compound injerusalem. the raam party said its four members of parliament would resign if the government continued to act against the people of jerusalem. the french far right presidential candidate, marine le pen, and several members of her party have been accused by the eu's anti—fraud body of embezzling 620,000 euros. they're not accused of profiting directly, but of claiming the funds as expenses for staff and events while ms le pen was a member of the european parliament. it comes a week before she is due to take part in the second run—off against emmanuel macron. her lawyer told a french national tv channel that she denied the allegations. to the uk now where the most senior clerical figure in the anglican church, the archbishop of canterbury, has strongly criticised the government's plan to send some asylum seekers to rwanda. in his easter sermon,

justin welby said it posed serious ethical questions, and was "the opposite of the nature of god". but a cabinet minister said the archbishop had misunderstood the government's aim, which is to combat people—traffickers. 0ur religion editor aleem maqbool reports. happy easter to all of you. lovely to see you. in his most important sermon of the year, the archbishop of canterbury dealt very directly with the issues of the day, drawing attention to the pressures felt by many here struggling with the cost of living, and calling on russia to commit to a ceasefire and withdrawal from ukraine. but he also talked of serious ethical questions about the government plan to send asylum seekers overseas. it cannot carry the weight of our national responsibility as a country formed by christian values. because subcontracting out our responsibilities, even to a country that seeks to do well, like rwanda, is the opposite

of the nature of god. in a response tojustin welby�*s remarks, a home office spokesperson said: in his sermon, the archbishop of york said that in law, there was no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker. but he's been talking about compassionate immigration policy for years, so i asked him was anyone listening to what the church had to say? i suppose i'm going to say with a smile that... it's hard to be held responsible for the fact that people don't listen. i think we've all woken up and thought, "this is not how "the world is meant to be. "it is not how i want it to be. "i want it to be a different world." in the queen's absence from windsor, the duke and duchess

of cambridge led the royals at their service. in his easter message, the prince of wales said he had been profoundly moved by those ready to open their homes to people fleeing conflict. the mostjoyous scenes of the day were in a st peter's square packed for the first public easter mass there since the pandemic began. but the pope's message focussed on events in ukraine, calling this "an easter of war". translation: may there be peace in war-torn ukraine, _ so sorely tried by the violence and destruction of the cruel and senseless war into which it was dragged. may a new dawn of new hopes appear. the tidings of hope this easter have undoubtedly been tinged with a sense that more empathy and understanding would be welcomed, both at home and abroad. aleem maqbool, bbc news.

the new york city easter parade tradition is back, after covid—i9 put a stop to it last year. hundreds gathered on 5th avenue on sunday to celebrate easter and the coming of spring and many of them were wearing the elaborate hats that are a hallmark of the event. the tradition began as a casual easter stroll up the avenue, in the 1800s, and it always starts from st patrick's cathedral, where a service is held every easter sunday. a reminder of our top story: the ukrainian foreign minister says the last platoons of ukrainian troops in mariupol have retreated to a huge iron and steelworks, ignoring moscow's demand to surrender. ukraine's prime minister, denys shmyhal says those defending the city will fight to the end. if you go to the website, you

will have updates as they come into us here on bbc news. thank you for watching. hello. for most parts of the uk, easter sunday was another day of spring warmth, although out west across parts of northern ireland especially, it was cloudy and wet and cool. and for all of us, easter monday is set to be a slightly cooler day. no more temperatures up into the 20s as we've had so far this long weekend because we've got some cooler air working in around this area of low pressure. 0ne frontal system that has been sliding eastwards, not much rain left on that as it clears the east coast. some showers through the morning across parts of scotland and northern england. plenty of sunshine, actually, to take us through the day but we will see some showers as well, especially in western parts, and more general showery rain in north west scotland, where wind gusts will exceed a0 mph — in fact, gusts of 50

or 55 mph in the most exposed places. temperatures a little down on where they have been, 12—17 degrees, but if you see sunshine, it's not going to feel too bad. now, as we go through through monday night, we'll see some showers continuing but large areas of clear sky. some rain into north west scotland, maybe northern ireland later in the night. but under those clear skies, it's actually going to turn really quite cold. a touch of frost for some to start tuesday morning. for tuesday, this area of low pressure will be retreating northwards but it leaves this little stray weather front behind, so that will generate some rain at times across parts of north west scotland and northern ireland — some of that quite potentially heavy into the afternoon. elsewhere, sunny spells and scattered showers. again, some of those showers could be heavy, and temperatures generally a little lower than they have been —13—15 degrees. we look ahead to wednesday and many places are going to have some fine weather, some spells of sunshine, a few showers popping up. there is a weather front out

towards the west trying to push towards northern ireland but it looks like it will make very little progress. temperatures again 11 to around 16 degrees. now, that frontal system out towards the west is tied in with an area of low pressure but instead of sweeping across our shores, this low is set to retreat southwards, being fended off by this big area of high pressure that's going to be building to the north of the uk, and that is going to generate quite a brisk easterly wind, so it will feel rather chilly, i think, as we head towards the end of the week along some north sea coasts with some shelter further north and west, some relative warmth, and it will be mostly dry.

this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: ukraine's prime minister has said the country's troops in the besieged port city of mariupol will fight to the end against russian forces. denys shmyhal said the city had not yet fallen despite weeks of attacks by russia, and moscow saying any remaining soldiers would be spared, if they surrendered. for the fourth day in a row, swedish police have clashed with protesters angry after a far—right group burned copies of the quran. three people were injured in the eastern city of norrkoping when officers fired warning shots at rioters. at least 17 people have been arrested.