reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... ukraine says russia has launched its large—scale offensive in the east of the country. president zelensky says the battle for the donbas region has begun. translation: a very large part of the - russian army is now concentrated for this offensive. no matter how many russian troops there, we will be fighting, we will defend ourselves and we will do everything that we must to keep what's ukrainian. in the city of lviv, in the west, seven people die, as parts of the country previously unscathed come underfire. ukrainians believe this is a reminderfrom russia that it still has firepower and is prepared to use it. the chinese city of shanghai, which has been under lockdown for more than three weeks, has reported its first official covid deaths in two years. to have them here is extraordinary. . and prince harry speaks to the bbc about the invictus games, and what ukraine's presence there means.

live from our studio in singapore... this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. russia has expanded its bombardment of ukraine, hitting sites right across the country over the past 2a hours. in a televised address, president volodymyr zelensky said he could confirm that the battle for the donbas region had begun. in the east, thousands continue to flee as russia steps up its new offensive — massing troops in the region, where ukrainian forces have been fighting russian—led separatists for the past eight years. our defence correspondent, jonathan beale, reports now from eastern ukraine. this is now the sight and sound of the donbas.

severodonetsk, another city and another target for russia's unrelenting bombardment. we tried to enter to speak to families taking shelter, but the thump of artillery was steadily coming closer. explosions. let's go. well, we just came here to go to a shelter, but there's shelling a bit close to us, and so we've had to move out. a lot of crump of artillery going on at the moment. nothing appears to be sacred when russia wages war. this, one of the holiest sites in the donbas, but that didn't save svyatogorsk�*s historic monastery from being scarred by a russian air strike. this was once a popular tourist destination. now it's just another town

from which people flee. translation: what can i say? i'm overwhelmed with grief. i'm 70 years old and i've nowhere to live. the few who've stayed behind have to queue for food. they're notjust hungry, though, they're scared. translation: i cry every day. what kind of god would allow this to happen? i cry every day. what kind of god should we ask to stop all this? there is now a strong military presence in this town. just a few miles down the road, russian forces are advancing from the north. a ukrainian soldier shared this drone footage of how they were trying to slow down the russian columns — blowing up a bridge. but they know more will be coming. translation: we know that russian forces are bringing i

reinforcements into this region, but we're doing| everything possible. we are ready to repel the russian occupiers and prevent the capture of our cities. _ we will stand to the last . and defend our homeland. we headed south, the roads eerily empty. four, five... we soon found out why. plumes of smoke — once again, we were within range of russian artillery. turn, turn. staying put is like russian roulette but with heavy shelling. galena's home was nearly hit overnight. they were still replacing the blown—out windows. inside, her 11—year—old granddaughter, anastasia, too frightened to come out... ..cowering under a desk that's become her bedroom. anastasia's mum, svetlana, fears they're now trapped.

the constant bombardment�*s also taking its toll on the city of avdiivka. here, they're praying for divine intervention. pastor oleg offers a blessing and food for those who've stayed behind. but in a heated discussion, one man tells him, "it's the russians who'll bring us salvation." pastor oleg tells him, "i'm not against russia — i'm against its invasion of ukraine." nowhere is safe within range of russian artillery, and as we've seen, russia is pushing forward from the north, from the east and from the south. and there's a real danger that ukraine's forces here could be surrounded. for now, they're holding out. so, too, are the remaining

citizens of avdiivka, hiding in bunkers. but for how long? jonathan beale, bbc news, eastern ukraine. as we mentioned, in his latest address, ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky said that russia has started a large—scale offensive in donbas in eastern ukraine. let's take a listen to what he said. translation: we can assess now that russian military has| begun the battle for donbas, for which they have been preparing a long time. a very large part of the russian army is now concentrated for this offensive. no matter how many of the russian troops there, we will be fighting, we will defend ourselves and do everything we must to keep what's ukrainian. what is not, we simply don't need it. meanwhile, seven people have been killed in missile strikes in the western city of lviv, which has been

relatively unscathed throughout the conflict. our correspondent danjohnson has been to the site of one of the attacks, and sent us this report. this is how the people of lviv found out their city it wasn't as safe as they thought. missile strikes across the skies on a clear morning hitting buildings right in the heart of the city and bringing the conflict closer to the west. an industrial unit was hit. firefighters filmed their efforts to put out the blaze and save the lives of the people inside, having their morning coffee before work when the missile landed. the families of those caught up in this couldn't keep back. this couple heard the news, tried to call their only son, but got no answer. he was 26. translation: he was| going to marry and now we have to bury him.

what's your message to the people who did this? translation: it has not been done by humans. . humans cannot do such things. they are not humans. they are barbaric invaders. the crater gives some sense of the explosion and i saw the muscles this morning flying across the city skyline and then hitting. this is one of the places that has been devastated, car garage, service centre, the place that you get tyres fitted, but it is completely devastated and there is so much clearing up to do here, and that's to say nothing of the loss of life. four of the workers here were killed this morning. ukrainians believe this is a reminderfrom russia that it still has firepower and is prepared to use it. we're told the missiles were fired from aircraft in the region of the caspian sea a long way away. they shook the whole neighbourhood. this woman's lived just

across the road all her life. translation: our windows were shattered, _ everybody was frightened. we didn't know what to do. we started praying. we didn't know whether to stay or flee. - local officials said there were three strikes on military warehouses in addition to the garage. across the city, seven people died and ii were injured. translation: what we see today in ukraine is genocide _ which is purposefully committed by the aggressor who kills civilians. seven civilians had plans for life. today, their lives have ended. once again, ukrainian rescue teams are carrying out the grimmest tasks, passing on the worst news to families. if anyone needed it, this was an early morning reminder that this country, all of it and all its people, are still at war and still under threat. danjohnson, bbc news, lviv. away from ukraine,

want to tell you about this story from china. the authorities in shanghai have reported the first covid deaths since 2020. official figures show three people died on sunday. all had underlying health conditions. lockdowns remain in place across parts of the city, four weeks after they were first introduced. and some residents are understood to have been taken to quarantine facilities, with reports of food shortages in parts of shanghai. 0ur china correspondent, stephen mcdonell, has been analysing the authority's approach. after more than 400,000 infections in shanghai in this outbreak, these are the first three people to have been offically listed to have died from covid. the question of death and what causes it is a very complicated one. officials in shanghai have said these three people, a 91—year—old man, a 91—year—old woman and an 89—year—old woman, all had underlying health

problems, plus all three of them had not been vaccinated. when it comes to vaccinations, new figures released would appear to show that china really has dropped the ball when it comes to booster shots. so, when we consider the number of people over the age of 60 in shanghai who had two shots, that's over 60%. could be higher, but not too bad. those over 60 who had the booster shot, it's only 38%. it's too low if you really want to ease off restrictions in those cities. some have asked why the government doesn't switch focus from this mass testing and centralised mass isolation to the big push on getting those boosters done. the government is not showing that it's going to change tact.

towards the big push of getting krishna udayakumar, who is the founding director of the duke global health innovation centre, told me he doesn't think that china's covid figures have been accurate throughout the pandemic — and argues that the same thing is happening in shanghai. well, if we look at the number of cases in the hundreds of thousands, i would be shocked if it was only three deaths, especially in the context of the age and demographic of the population. demographics of the population, as well as the vaccination and booster rates. and this goes back to the accuracy of data from china. if we look at the entire pandemic so far, it's just about 4640 deaths that have been reported. when we see different modelling, it would tell us that that's off by anywhere from a factor of three — maybe three times as much — as much as 100 times. we don't think the numbers are quite accurate from across the pandemic.

i would argue the same as to what we're seeing now in shanghai. should we be worried about what's going on in china, apart from the fact that what is happening to people there? is happening to people there, but as a sort of lesson for the rest of the world, or is this quite a distinct case we're seeing in china? i think it is concerning for several reasons. one, i think it's showing us that our strategy of zero covid is not sustainable in the long term. two, it's also showing us that just getting high rates of vaccination coverage in a population level isn't that protective if you don't use effective vaccines and you don't vaccinate fully, which we now know with many vaccines requires three doses. also, if you have lower rates of vaccination in the most vulnerable, which are the highest aged populations. not only do we have to increase vaccination rates for everyone, we have to protect the most

vulnerable in our populations so that we're protecting them from severe disease and death, while also protecting our economy to stay open and protecting our health systems from being overwhelmed. so, do you see what's happening in china right now — obviously, they have their own distinct challenges — being repeated in other parts of the world? are you seeing some of these challenges? yes, i do think what we saw previously and hong kong previously in hong kong is what we're now starting to see in parts of china, where there are significant increases in cases, but also some increases in hospitalisation and potentially death. we do need to make sure we're protecting against that in every country by rolling out a more comprehensive set of tools. vaccination remains critical and we should increase vaccination and booster rates everywhere in the world, especially in low and middle income countries. we also need to make available

therapies, including and. antibodies and anti—virals. that requires a test to treat strategy. we have to roll out all of these things as well as the need to finance a pandemic. if you want to get in touch with me on newsday, the situation in shanghai for instance, i'm on twitter. you're watching newsdsay on the bbc. a reminder of our top headlines. the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelensky, says the expected large—scale russian offensive in the east of the country has begun. at least seven people are killed in ukraine's western city of lviv, as russia intensifies its air raids across the country.

"inhuman and cruel" is how many human rights organisations are calling the british government's new scheme to send asylum—seekers 4000 miles to the east african country of rwanda to have their claim processed. similar allegations were made against the australian government when they processed asylum—seekers offshore on the islands of nauru, and manus in papua new guinea. the australian government has since abandoned the use of offshore processing and now pursues a policy of turning back all boats heading for its shores. for more on this, i'm joined now by madison gleeson, a senior research fellow at the kaldor centre for international refugee law. she joins us from sydney. it's great to get you on the programme. in the first instance, i'd like to ask you on your thoughts on what the british government is trying to do with regards to having these

claims processed in another country. the government says this is actually a humane approach and will be much fairer and will provide the best solution to this problem. what are your thoughts on that? thank you. i understand that in the uk, there has been some consideration and in doing so, the government might look around other countries to see what has worked elsewhere. but to have honed in on offshore processing is to be adopted, is a somewhat bizarre because it did not work here. on almost every measure, it was a failure, and we abandoned it quickly. it is concerning to see the uk's proposing to follow suit and perhaps walking to the same problems. but follow suit and perhaps walking to the same problems.- to the same problems. but in all fairness, _ to the same problems. but in all fairness, just _ to the same problems. but in all fairness, just to _ to the same problems. but in all fairness, just to look - to the same problems. but in all fairness, just to look at i all fairness, just to look at the other perspective, what are

the other perspective, what are the solutions in this case? what did work than in australia if you're saying offshore didn't? ~ , ., ., didn't? the australian context is very different. _ didn't? the australian context is very different. i _ didn't? the australian context is very different. i think - is very different. i think that's very important to remember. whereas, the uk is concerned primarily with boats coming across the channel. we were dealing with people clearly and directly from their country of organ it —— fleeing their country of origin. and being interception on the way to australia. also boats being pushed back to indonesia. in terms of where people are coming from, and geographically, it's a very different context from the uk. what we saw in australia when offshore processing failed to achieve the desired results, failed to stop people from coming by both, they pivoted to a different policy, turning back all boats at sea. that has seen a reduction in the number

of people trying to reach australia by boat, but carries with it obvious concerns. indeed, madeline. you point out that the strategy failed, but specifically, the aim of ensuring that not more refugees would come to australia's shores, was there any improvement in those figures? in fact, the situation went backwards. in the first year of offshore processing, more than 24,000 people arrived in australia by boat. to put that number in context in the previous year, the number of people arriving by boat in australia was in the hundreds or at its peak. perhaps five or 6000. that lead to 24,000 or more. that's not because offshore processing was pulling people in. it failed to appreciate the reasons why more people are getting on both at the time. it wasn't well

designed to meet those needs, and what we saw was not even a continuation, but a massive skyrocket in the number of people arriving by boat in that first year. people arriving by boat in that first year-— people arriving by boat in that first ear. , ., first year. madeleine gleason, thank you _ first year. madeleine gleason, thank you so _ first year. madeleine gleason, thank you so much _ first year. madeleine gleason, thank you so much for- first year. madeleine gleason, thank you so much forjoiningl thank you so much forjoining us on the programme. a national state of disaster has been declared in south africa in response to floods that have claimed hundreds of lives. the south african military has deployed more than 10,000 troops to help with relief and rescue operations following the devastating floods that swept through parts of kwa—zulu—natal province last week. the death toll now stands at over 440 and more than 60 people are still missing. in a televised address, the south african president, cyril ramaphosa, said a massive and urgent relief effort was needed as lives were still at risk. it is clear that there are other areas of the country that need emergency intervention as well. cabinet met in a special session last night and decided

to declare additional state of disaster. the bbc�*s pumza fihlani has more. we've just come across a community which are trying to rebuild a bridge that was washed away a few days ago. they told us that this has been here for many decades, but because no help has come, they have decided to come out and try to put whatever infrastructure they can to hold it in place, and the reason for that is that there's a school just across from where we are standing, a primary school. they're worried that in a few weeks' time when schools reopen, children won't be able to go to school. another reason why they have decided they don't trust the authorities to do this — just on my right here, there is a bridge that was last constructed in about 2016, and they say if this bridge had been standing, that people here would not have to come out and it would have been spared, and they also said how they physically had to go

out into the community and tried to locate people who had been washed away further upstream and their bodies were found here. they said a week in, no one from the government has come over the weekend and no one from any sort of rescue effort has visited this area. he says that officials here have made numerous promises to the people of this village to try and rebuild this bridge that's decades old, but so farm nothing's happened, and he says they are the sort of community that gets up and tries to do things for themselves. he said they realise how dangerous the task is, but that on the other side of it are communities will make it possible for them to get to hospitals or even shops, so it's a matter of deciding between letting the people from either side to stop or doing what they can to help them. the south african president, cyril ramaphosa, has declared

in other news for you today — the manchester united footballer christiano ronaldo and his partner have said one of the twins they were expecting has died. writing on social media, the star said, "it is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that our "baby boy has passed away. it is the greatest pain that any parents can feel," and finally — prince harry has hailed the courage of the ukrainian national team at the invictus games, the international sporting event for injured servicemen, women, and veterans. he was speaking to the bbc as the competition continues in the hague. from there, our correspondent anna holligan reports. each competitor bears the scars of conflict. for many, who thought they wouldn't make it, sport has provided a lifeline. in an interview with the bbc, prince harry highlighted how far the ukrainians had come. i think what people need

to remember, or perhaps don't even know yet, is a vast majority of the ukraine team were serving in some shape or form. so, they removed their uniforms, put their team strips on, jumped on the coach, came over here, slept for a couple days, tried to decompress and then were straight into it. and then they've got to go back. so, i think to have them here is extraordinary. their presence has added poignancy. many will be returning to the battlefield. translation: we don't have another choice. - it's simply the question of survival of our nation and our people. all of us must fight. our government decided we should be here, - despite the difficult situationj and talked to the world show that we are getting killed, but we are fighting - and staying alive. his attitude embodies the spirit of these games, but there is a focus here too and repairing lives. invictus athletes are encouraged to bring

the people who have been part of their journey to recovery. there is a real family vibe here inside the invictus park. these games are partly designed to recognise and celebrate the vital role that families play as support structures, helping wounded soldiers to rebuild their lives. and this is a mission the prince wants to extend even further, taking invictus into new territories. we are constantly inviting new nations. this is about healing and as the bigger teams, us and the uk decrease in number will provide in number, will provide an opportunity for more nations to come in who desperately need this opportunity and this place to heal together. anna holligan, bbc news, in the hague. that's all for now. do stay with bbc world news. hello. for those of you who have extended your easter break into this week, there is some good weather news

in that there'll be a lot of dry weather around. admittedly, there will be some more showers, more especially during the next 24 hours. as the week goes on, increasing breeze will turn eastern areas that bit cooler. 0ut there to start tuesday, a bit of a chilly start as it is. touch of frost in places, particularly in southern scotland, across ireland and towards the borders of southeast wales and southwest midlands. a lot of cloud across england to begin with, already producing one or two showers, a few lingering showers in the west from overnight. but through the day, the cloud starts to increase across parts of england into wales, showers become a bit more abundant, some becoming heavy and thundery. showers throughout the day in the highlands of scotland, and whilst the odd one's possibly in northern ireland, southern and eastern scotland, there will be dry and sunny weather to come here, and much more sunshine in east anglia and the southeast later. temperatures down in recent days, but at levels we should be this stage in mid—april. some showers continue into the night, but notice how they're starting to track further westwards. a further developing easterly breeze, most noticeable for england and wales. that could bring in some mist and low cloud toward some eastern coasts of northern

england and east scotland not only through the night, but into wednesday, where, again, we could start with a touch of frost in the north and the west. but for most on wednesday, actually a lot more sunshine around away from those eastern coasts, a few showers dotted around in the west, but more of you will have a dry day. but with that east—to—southeasterly wind, you're going to notice temperatures along those you're going to notice temperatures along those coastal strips close coastal strips close to the north sea a good deal to the north sea a good deal cooler than you've cooler than you've been used to. been used to. whereas, sheltered in the west, whereas, sheltered in the west, you're going to see you're going to see temperatures climb up temperatures climb up into the mid—teens, maybe high into the mid—teens, maybe high teens for one or two. teens for one or two. so, a big east—west contrast, so, a big east—west contrast, whereas across europe, whereas across europe, it's a north—south contrast. it's a north—south contrast. who would've picked norway out who would've picked norway out for your easter break? 20 degrees in oslo on wednesday compared to wet and windy conditions and rather cool conditions across eastern spain. spanish costas not looking great over the next few days due to this area of low pressure. as that pushes its way in towards the mediterranean, high pressure expands for your easter break? across the north atlantic, iceland and scandinavia. we're going to drag in more of an easterly wind here in the uk. it does mean a lot of sunshine around for thursday, a bit of cloud building up through the day.

an isolated shower can't be ruled out, but most places will be dry. still that east—west split as i mentioned with temperature conditions. but as we go into the end of the week and weekend, it does look like whilst many in the north will stay dry, increasing chance of some showers spreading out from the south. take care.

this is bbc news. from the actor will smith. my guest today has spent more than 25 years finding laughs in sometimes unlikely places, omid djalili was born in london to iranian parents.