this is bbc news 7 welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories... the ukrainian port city of odesa has been struck by a volley of russian cruise missiles, killing at least eight people and leaving many more injured. ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy says us secretary of state antony blinkin will visit kiev on sunday in the highest level us visit since the war began. ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy says us secretary of state antony blinken will visit kyiv on sunday in the highest level us visit since the war began. 26 passengers and crew are missing injapan after a tourist boat reportedly sinks off the northern island of hokkaido. officials in ukraine say eight people, including a three—month—old baby,

have been killed in a russian missile attack on the port city of odesa. 18 others were wounded. this video shows the aftermath of a strike on a residential building. other russian missiles hit a military facility in odesa and a cemetery. the russian defence ministry says its missiles destroyed a logistics terminal in the port city, where it said foreign weapons were stored. in the city of mariupol, russian forces appear to be trying to storm the azovstal steel works, where ukraine's remaining forces in the city are holding out. russians are said to have resumed air strikes on the plant in the south east of the country. we begin our coverage with the attack in odesa, and this report from our correspondent caroline davies. siren wails thick black smoke that cut through the calm of a saturday afternoon in odesa. this was the aftermath of missile strike on the city. on the ground — blown—out glass, debris, burning cars. and ukraine's firefighters and army

trying to limit the destruction. vitalia and her son, nikita, were on the 12th floor when the missile hit. translation: there was a very strong explosion directly on top of us. - it broke all the windows in the apartment. i smelled smoke very strongly. we collected what we could and then we ran. when we reached the fourth and fifth floors, we wanted to turn around. it was impossible to breathe and all the doors were blown out. translation: we were afraid that we would suffocate, - but in the end we broke through. i got burned. there was a car on fire and the flames hit me. i didn't feel it at first, but then people told me. i was in a state of shock. while we were filming, the crowd was pushed back, told that to get too close would be dangerous. the ukrainian authorities have said that the missiles were launched from the caspian sea. despite anti—aircraft defences, two hit a military facility, two hit residential buildings.

at least six people have died, 18 are wounded, eight are in hospital. one of those killed was a three—month—old baby girl. odesa sits on ukraine's southern coast. while much of the fighting has focused in the east of the country, odesa had started to reduce its curfew and remove some of its street defences. this has come as a shock to many people here in odesa. the city has been relatively quiet over the course of the last few weeks and many people hoped that could mean the start of some form of normal life. this shows that things can change in a moment. tomorrow is orthodox easter sunday, but few feel they will find peace while the threat from russia hangs over the country. caroline davies, bbc news, odesa. ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy has been giving a news conference, from a subway station in kyiv. he revealed that the us�*s top diplomat antony blinken and defence secretary lloyd austin are due to visit kyiv on sunday. in a wide—ranging news conference, president zelenskyy urged russia to resolve the war through diplomacy

and said he was still willing to meet vladimir putin but not if ukraine's remaining forces in the besieged city of mariupol were killed. translation: i would like to stop, to finalise the war. _ there is the diplomatic way, and there is the military way. so any healthy and sane person always chooses diplomatic way because he or she knows that even if it's hard, it may stop the losses of thousands, of tens of thousands — and with such neighbours, hundreds of thousands, it's the middle of the night injapan, where coastguard vessels and patrol aircraft are using searching the waters for 26 passengers and crew of a sightseeing boat that's missing off the northern island of hokkaido. the authorities lost contact with the vessel — the kazu 1 — after its crew told the coastguard that it was taking on water and had started to sink. the area where the boat ran into trouble, hokkaido's shiretoko peninsula,

is a world heritage site known for its unique wildlife. local media say the passengers included two children. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent in kyiv anna foster and asked her how unusual mr zelensky�*s press conference was. it was unusual, martine, because it is the first thing he has done of this type for weeks now. he has given one or two interviews, but always from that very secure bunker he has been holed up in. russia made it very clear there was a threat to his life. so see him underground, at a metro station, where people so to see him underground, at a metro station, where people have been sheltering from the start of this invasion, seeing him answering questions from assembled journalists was a moment, it did feel like kyiv had moved on. he talked about, as you're hearing

there, wanting to have a meeting with vladimir putin. he also revealed that the us secretary of state, antony blinken, and the defence secretary, lloyd austin, will visit kyiv tomorrow. unusual to reveal that before the event, but it would be the latest in a string of high—profile visits to this capital. it just shows you how things are slowly starting to come to life. i just want to show you, while we are talking, this building behind me, so familiar now. these beautiful golden domes of saint michael's monastery have at night, been completely dark so far, ever since the start of the war. and it is greek orthodox easter, russian orthodox easter tomorrow, so for the first time, the lights are back on. you can see that building in the background, there is still a curfew, it should be busy, worshippers all evening long, but it is just the first is no sign of normality returning here. and then the issue of odesa where,

of course, the russian explanation of their action there is markedly different to what other people understand have happened. it is. that is right. they always say after strike like this that they are targeting military infrastructure, but of course, as you saw in caroline's report there, they did target some military infrastructure, but the two of their missiles also hit a residential building. and you saw the impact it had there. it shows that even though russia is concentrating its forces and firepower on the east in places like mariupol, it will still hit other targets as well, the timing of this is particularly notable because a russian general said yesterday russia had ambitions to try and capture the whole of the southern coast of ukraine, the whole of that coastline right to the way to trans mystery, that russian speaking a breakaway state in moldova. —— tra nsnistria. that would leave ukraine completely landlocked. we do not know if that was the creme

and's official position or it was all script and something he meant himself, but this attack today has drawn attention —— if it was on that the kremlin�*s official position. let's take you to moscow now, where the orthodox church is celebrating easter. this is the country's main cathedral, christ the saviour. russian president vladimir putin is often among the congregation, for the easter mass, which will be led by this is a very important ceremony, the most important holiday in the orthodox calendar, and it is being led by the patriarch kirill.

dmytro cherevko, a spokesperson for the ukrainian militaryjoint co—ordination press centre in odesa gave me details on the response of the defence and emergency services to the attack. as far as we know, it is a result of a rocket missile hit. a fire broke out in an area of about 220 square metres. all relevant services were involved in responding to the effects of these strikes and the fire was eliminated by rescue services. an operational group is working at the scene. state emergency services involved 96 people and 18 units.

the workers keep going. the russians claim that their missiles hit a facility which was storing foreign weapons, what is your response to that? the official reply is that the rockets hit the civilian buildings, that led to civilian casualties and some people dead. that is our official reply to that question. what preparations are you making in odesa in case there are further strikes? so, right now, odesa keeps preparing and ready for further attacks. however, we are still waiting for the assistance of our western partners, especially we are expecting the weapons from our partners, to protect our skies,

because this is the most vulnerable site. odesa is a port city, as marie paul, how concerned are you that odesa will see the sort of attacks that mariupol has suffered? we are preparing right now for different scenarios and our military chiefs are trying to predict the different actions of our enemy. so, basically, right now, the city is mostly safe and we are ready for different ways of actions of russian troops. dmytro cherevko, from the press centre in odesa, thank you very much for talking to us on bbc news. voters in france will head to the polls on sunday

to decide the victor of this year's presidential election. if he succeeds, emmanuel macron will become the first french president to win a second term in 20 years. he's the favourite, but opinion polls show his far—right challenger marine le pen could perform better than she did in 2017. i'm joined now by my colleague reeta chakrabarti, who has been following this election in paris. how feverish has the campaigning being over the last two weeks since the first round?— the first round? well, it has certainly — the first round? well, it has certainly hotted _ the first round? well, it has certainly hotted up, - the first round? well, it has certainly hotted up, martin. j the first round? well, it has - certainly hotted up, martin. this is an election where everybody had said it has got off to a slow start, partly because of the crisis in ukraine and partly because emmanuel macron, as president, has been, his attention has been elsewhere, if you like. it has certainly been a case that he only ended the race really at the last minute and he only really started campaigning in earnest a little while before the

first round. he has certainly thrown his heart into it since then and it has been quite inferior should —— feel reassured —— feverish campaign. in the debate on wednesday, marine le pen is said to have performed much better than she did five years ago but commentators still gave the edge to emmanuel macron in that and thatis edge to emmanuel macron in that and that is probably reflected in the polls. he has a lead in the polls and it is thought the debate wasn't particularly a game changer. that lead is anything between six to eight points to about 15 points, but people say it is still an predictable election and that anything could happen. haw predictable election and that anything could happen. how engaged have voters been? _ anything could happen. how engaged have voters been? voter _ anything could happen. how engaged have voters been? voter apathy - anything could happen. how engaged| have voters been? voter apathy could change the result rather markedly. that is a very good point, there is a lot of apathy and a lot of none of the above, if you like. you have to remember that these two candidates,

marine le pen and emmanuel macron, between them they only got 51% of their support in the first round, that means that nearly half of the people who vote in the first round voted for neither of those too, so everybody is looking to see of the runner—up, the person who came third, will do. he wasjean—luc melenchon, he was of the radical left, he got nearly 8 million votes, he got 7.7 million votes in the rest round, he was only little bit behind marine le pen, so what will the people who voted for him do? it is a choice that nobody is relishing, amongst his supporters. you keep hearing this phrase from them that the choice they are presented with tomorrow is like choosing between collar and the plague. hardly flattering. so, what will they do? will they hold their noses and vote for one candidate or the other, will they stay at home or will they go to

they stay at home or will they go to the polling booth and put in a blank vote, essentially a protest vote? all will be revealed tomorrow. just briefl , if all will be revealed tomorrow. just briefly, if there is one outstanding policy matter that is important to voters, what is it? it is policy matter that is important to voters, what is it?— voters, what is it? it is probably the cost of _ voters, what is it? it is probably the cost of living. _ voters, what is it? it is probably the cost of living. that - voters, what is it? it is probably the cost of living. that is - the cost of living. that is something which is of great importance to people in many countries right now because of rising fuel prices, rising energy prices, food prices, related partly to markets, related partly to ukraine, and that is an issue that marine le pen has talked about for quite some time. so, that is probably something that will be uppermost in people's mines, at the same time there remains a fear attached to voting for marine le pen because of her previous pronouncements and the fact that she does remain in many people's eyes, most people's eyes, of the extreme right.

most people's eyes, of the extreme riuht. . ~' ,, , most people's eyes, of the extreme riuht. . , . most people's eyes, of the extreme rpm, ., , . right. thank you very much, we look forward to seeing _ right. thank you very much, we look forward to seeing you _ right. thank you very much, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow. - )downing street has confirmed that the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, has not received a second fine for breaking lockdown rules. there are reports that the metropolitan police has issued fines for an event in the garden of number ten on 20th of may, 2020. earlier our political correspondent damian grammaticas told me that the prime minister may not have escaped a second lockdown fine just yet. it does not mean he may not get a fine, butjust means we do not know. up until this point, he has not received a second fine is what we know. it is being reported that fines are being sent out, a couple, perhaps, being sent by the police for this event on 20th may. the prime minister has been fined once for breaking the law by the police. that was at the event to celebrate his birthday. this is a month before that, may 2020, in that first lockdown when you were only allowed outside your house to meet one person in public or for a necessary work reason. this event, we know, happened in that garden in downing street,

the pm's private secretary invited people to bring your own booze, people may remember that for this event. the prime minister had to go to parliament injanuary to say he had been at it, he was there for 25 minutes, he said he thought it was a work—related event, that was the explanation he gave. the police, it seems, have started sending out letters, downing street says not to the prime minister, does not mean he will not get one future, we just do not know. how many dates are they still looking at which could generate fines? they are looking at a number, i think we have had three different parties, now, if you count this one, for which they have issued fixed penalty notices. i think that means there are another handful they are still looking at and this, of course, is one that had drawn a lot of attention because of the nature of even in the garden. 30 people talked about being there, tables laid out with food and drink.

and at the time, you could only do something that was necessary for work. but what the police have said is they will not be issuing any more information themselves until after the local elections, so a couple of weeks' time. we have to wait for downing street, who might, themselves, say if the prime minister does get a new fine. but this week mps agreed for there to be an investigation the privileges committee looking into whether the prime minister misled parliament and we will not hear about that until after the police have reported fully. yes, that new, third inquiry into all of this, we have the internal sue gray civil service one, that we wait to see that, which will come after the police complete their inquiries. then now, we will have this parliamentary one and that, in many ways, is perhaps one that might provide the mostjeopardy

for borisjohnson because, ultimately, these things will be decided in the political arena and that will be an investigation by that parliamentary committee into whether he misled or lied to parliament when he made his statements about these gatherings and events, when he said no rules were broken, the guidelines were followed. that, though, could be weeks or months away. the israeli authorities say they'll close the only border crossing from the gaza strip on sunday, in response to a series of rockets fired into israeli territory. closing the erez border crossing would affect thousands of palestinians who work in israeli territory. it is not clear when it'll be re—opened. palestinian militants in gaza fired two rockets at israel on friday at the end of another day of clashes at the al aqsa mosque compound in jerusalem. supermarkets across the uk, are limiting how much cooking oil customers are able to buy, with exports hit by the war in ukraine. the country, is uk's biggest supplier of sunflower oil.

simon browning has that story. the sunflower, the national symbol of ukraine, it's bright shining star, yet this spectacular yellow flower is also a highly productive major agricultural export. ukraine normally produces more sunflower oil than anywhere else in the world but the war, like most things, is almost stopped sunflowerfarming and production and now food supply chains around the world are short. some supermarket have put limits on how much cooking oil customers can buy because demand has surged for alternatives, like olive oil and rapeseed oil. tesco now has a limit of three bottles per customer. waitrose and morrisons, two, and the other supermarkets are watching the situation keenly as they monitor customer demand. the british retail consortium says the restrictions are temporary. most supermarkets in my understanding have solid supplies in their warehouses but they don't want to see any risk of that running

out of people go and buy more than they need so they put in these temporary measures while they ramp up production of oils and try to look for alternative sources of sunflower oil to make sure that us at home can get the products we need when we need it. sunflower oil is notjust a staple for home cooks. manufacturers use it for our cupboard and freezer favourites. tasty biscuits, crunchy crisps, oven chips. the food standards agency has now warned consumers that some products labelled as sunflower oil may now contain alternatives to make sure they are still available. today, the boss of iceland said palm oil, a product they had removed from food production, will now be added back into 50 products temporarily, because of sunflower oil shortages. the sunflower in a war zone highlights the jigsaw of our globalfood chain. it's hoped the conflict is short lived and the symbol of ukraine can regain its farming domination.

simon browning, bbc news. more than 100 people have been killed in two explosions at an illegal oil refining depot in south—east nigeria. the blasts occurred in imo state, south of the nigerian capital, abuja. officials say victims were burned beyond recognition. this is the latest in a number of fatal accidents linked to illegal crude refining in the country. at least 25 people were killed in a separate explosion at another illegal refinery in the neighbouring rivers state in october. a man has been taken to hospital following a fire on a double—decker bus in the centre of glasgow. the incident forced the closure of a number of streets while fire crews dealt with the blaze. police said a 54—year—old man was hurt, but his injuries were not life—threatening. a spokeswoman for first bus said it would support the emergency services with their inquiries. construction is getting under way in california on the world's biggest wildlife overpass. dozens of mountain lions are known

to have died on la highways in the past two decades, but now they'll be able to cross safely in the santa monica mountains. a cougar kitten taking some of its first steps, but as it continues to grow, it will find that the ground it walks on is not always so safe. us highways have become somewhat of a dangerfor mountain lions. at least 26 are known to have died on la freeways in the last two decades. do it! - cheering but now, thanks to the state of california and several wildlife organisations, construction begins on the world's largest wildlife overpass. we can share this earth instead of claiming it and dominating it. we can coexist side—by—side with all kinds of wildlife instead of paving it over

and choking it off. the crossing near la will cover a 10—lane highway, which is used by about 350,000 cars a day. it will allow the mountain lions and other wildlife to cross between two natural habitats and make the highway less dangerous. from 2016—2020, there were 44,000 reported collisions with wildlife on california roads, and that cost up to over $1 billion in injuries to humans, human death and property damage. the aim is to have the crossing ready in the next three years, so that these big cats of hollywood can roam safely. azaday moshiri, bbc news.

the duke and duchess of cambridge have released new photographs of prince louis to mark his fourth birthday. the pictures were taken earlier this month by his mother. they show louis, who is the youngest of william and catherine's three children, enjoying a trip to the beach, whilst on a family trip to norfolk. let's take you to moscow now, where the orthodox church is celebrating easter. this is the country's main cathedral, christ the saviour. russian president vladimir putin is often among the congregation, for the easter mass, which will be led by russian orthodox patriarch kirill. choral singing.

bbc papers is coming up next, lewis is in the chairfor bbc papers is coming up next, lewis is in the chair for that, bbc papers is coming up next, lewis is in the chairfor that, waiting in the wings, he thinks i can't see him, but i can. time for the weather with darren. in the far north of scotland, we've got a lot of this cloudy weather, temperatures were nearer eight or 9 degrees in the afternoon. it was also cooler around the north sea coasts, the wind continues to coming off the north say where sea surface temperatures are only around 9 degrees. we've gotten east to north—easterly winds on sunday, not as strong as saturday, many places will be dry with warm sunshine coming through as well. close to this area of low pressure, there could be rain threatening the far south of england, high—pressure to the north of the uk keeping the run of eastern north—easterly winds

going. these are the temperatures we start with on sunday morning. still a bit of rain there potentially in the far south—west of england to move away. elsewhere, a dry and sunny start, some cloud building up, particularly in england and wales and they could be one or two isolated showers popping off, but generally dry. similar in northern ireland, more sunshine, north—eastern parts of scotland cooler with some low cloud, high temperatures in southern england and wales, 18 to 19 degrees. high—pressure dominates and it is centred all the way up there into greenland. we will have lighter winds on monday, they are coming more from the north, so it will be a bit cooler. more cloud spreading out an increasing through the day, and a greater chance of catching one or two showers in england and wales, should be dry in scotland and northern ireland. cloudy northern parts of scotland and generally cooler on monday with highs of

around 1a degrees or so. it could be around 1a degrees or so. it could be a chilly start on tuesday with cloudy skies across the north, and that northerly breeze will push the cloud further south, and temperatures will range from 16 in the south—west of england and south wales to only around nine celsius in north—east scotland and the north—east scotland and the north—east of england. these other changes for next week, it will be cooler, there will be more cloud around, but there will be more cloud around, but there will be more cloud around, but there will be more cloud around, but this generally dry thing —— theme is set to continue. goodbye.

hello. this is bbc news. the headlines. ukraine says at least eight people have been killed and 18 injured by a series of missile strikes on the strategic port city of odesa. volodymyr zelensky says antony blinkin will visit kyiv on sunday in the highest level us visit since the war began. in france, emmanuel macron and marine le pen are urging people to turn out and vote on sunday in the election. downing street confirms the prime minister has not yet received any further fines for breaking lockdown rules. more than 90,000 fans are in wembley stadium watching tyson fury defend his world heavyweight title

against dillian whyte