welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: ukraine's defence ministry says more than 200 and 60 wounded soldiers trapped inside a steel plant in mariupol have been evacuated. we have a special report from the frontline in the donbas in eastern ukraine, which has seen the heaviest fighting of the last few weeks. they simply cannot let the russians through here. if they simply cannot let the russians through here. if they do, russians through here. if they do. more _ russians through here. if they do, more ukrainian _ russians through here. if they do, more ukrainian troops - russians through here. if they do, more ukrainian troops to l do, more ukrainian troops to the sale, and the don will be under threat. so they hanging on for dear life here. police in the us say a gunman who killed ten people at a supermarket in buffalo, new york, planned further attacks after the mass shooting.

the british prime minister, on a visit to northern ireland, accepts that the political deadlock there is a result of his brexit deal. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. we start with news that's been developing over the last few hours from ukraine. it's being reported more than 200 wounded ukrainian soldiers from the besieged steelworks in mariupol have been evacuated. these are the latest pictures from a reuters journalist who watched as the buses reached novoazovsk, a russian—controlled town in eastern ukraine. ukraine says 260 people have been moved. more than 50 are reported to have been taken to a local hospital. well, i've been speaking with vitaliy shevchenko from bbc monitoring who explained the significance of these evacutations.

significant both to russia and ukraine. russia, it marks the completion of its huge project to seize the northern shore, the sea of azov, and thus build elaborate from russia to crimea, and also a symbolic victory. for ukraine, it means that the lives of the defenders of azovstal and mariupol, at least some of them, have been saved. these people are generally seen as heroes in ukraine. at this point, the public in ukraine believed that they have made their stand, they have made their stand, they have made their stand, they have shown what are made. now it is all about saving their lives, so expectations are running high. meanwhile,

zelensky said _ are running high. meanwhile, zelensky said that _ are running high. meanwhile, zelensky said that they - are running high. meanwhile, zelensky said that they are i zelensky said that they are heroes, and they need their heroes, and they need their heroes alive, do we know anything about their condition as they emerge? we have seen pictures emerging from both mariupol and the places where they are being taken. they show some of these people — they appeared to be badly wounded, but president zelensky said that some of them are wounded, suggesting that some are not. it is also important to note that where they are being taken. they are being taken to locations controlled by russia, or russia—back to separatist forces, submit to many in ukraine, this will look like surrender but within the past hour we have also had — we have also seen a video address made by the deputy defence minister of ukraine, and she said these

evacuated ukrainian fighters will be exchanged for russian soldiers captured by so what we hear is that this appears to be part of a planned prison exchange. on those conditions, how important will they be viewed in terms of the negotiations towards some sort of stalemate or ceasefire in this conflict? well, we have to remember that many previous plans involving russia and ukraine has collapsed, mostly ceasefire plans, so this planned prison exchange, i believe it when i see it, frankly. the very fact

that ukraine and russia have agreed on something like this, apparently, it marks the resumption of contact between ukrainian and russian negotiators, because since the atrocities in areas surrounding kyiv came to light weeks ago, there has been a stalemate between talks between russia and ukraine, and we see this, so hopefully these contacts result in more evacuations and more lives being saved. do you think there is a precedence for that now, depending on how this particular evacuation goes? this particular arrangement, i have to say, it is unusual for fighters, for one side and a conflict to evacuated to a

territory controlled by the other side, and then involved in a prisoner exchange. so, being helpful but at the same time, frankly i am a bit doubtful as to whether russia will release these people in exchange for its soldiers captured by ukraine. as i say, we live and hope, and we are keeping ourfingers we live and hope, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that lives will be saved. that was vitaliy shevchenko speaking to me earlier. meanwhile, ukraine says its troops have regained control of territory on the russian border near kharkiv. it's the country's second—largest city which has been under constant fire since moscow's invasion began. but that doesn't mean the fighting is over — far from it. russian forces have been focusing on the donbas region further south of the country. the bbc�*s quentin sommerville and cameraman darren conway have been near the eastern city of izyum, known as the gateway to donbas, where they have been on patrol with volunteer fighters of the territorial

defence force. war descended suddenly on ukraine. along the eastern front, its men may be in bunkers but they do not cower here. three times in the last month, the russians have attacked this base with infantry and tanks, and three times they have been repelled. russian tanks strike on us directly from this position. another attack may be imminent. we are waiting for them for correct fire. so here they wait. vladimir putin has turned their days into night and taken them away from their families. but, for the men of this territorial defence unit, this is now home. above their heads hangs a constant threat. the town they have dug under is all but abandoned, its people gone. orphaned pets have sought shelter here too.

the men know it won't be long before the next attack. above, a russian barage is the signal. outside these walls, everything is on the line of fire, and they face it daily. they need little reminder that to the north, the majority of russian forces are headquartered, and, to the south, most of their ukrainian comrades. there are patrols and defence along this front—line, keeping these two mighty forces apart. the shell

start landing closer, as the russians move. explosions. so you get a sense of what russia's artillery and tanks can do to ukrainian homes. this is relentless. the reason that these men are holding on so tight here in these defensive positions is because they simply cannot let the russians through here. if they do, more ukrainian troops to the south in the donbas will be under threat. so they are hanging on for dear life here. at the front, there's no bunker, but they are armed to the teeth. yuri, this is a volunteer battalion, these men were doing ordinaryjobs before the war, and they are facing against russian tanks, russian heavy artillery, in direct fire — how are they managing to hold

the russians off? our men, they are going... they fight. every day by this fire, you can watch it, because we believe that all the democratic countries, all the world will help us, and when we will take, we give modern weapon, these brave men, they can destroy completely the russian army. as the day grows long, it's time to pick up the pace. on open ground, there's no safe hiding place. explosion. pinned down, the route back is cut off by artillery fire, so through gardens and back yards they search for an escape. rapid gunfire.

a soldier calls out, "leave this place as soon "as possible", and it is here we find natasha, stubbornly hanging on. "do you need help leaving?", yuri asks her. translation: i don't have anyone here. - but she is defiant. this war wasn't her choice. it's as if she refuses to acknowledge it, even as russian shells soar overhead. let us go to her house, she invites us. we can't go forward, can we? loud explosion. very close to us. very close to us, on our way. yuri tries to convince her to come with us. explosion to stay risks death. translation: idon't- want to betray my husband, he's buried in the cemetery here. i won't leave him.

explosion we try, one last time. natasha, why don't you leave here? translation: because it's myl home and i have nowhere to go. yuri implores her, "natasha, go to a nearby town, "they will help you there." explosion translation: why? i got used to it now. he says, "we can help you, are you ready to be evacuated?" translation: ifi go there, what willl do next? - off you go, guys, thank you. we have to leave, but natasha is told to pack her bags. they will come back for her when the shelling stops. despite the onslaught, the men pushed forward. loud explosions.

this is what stalemate sounds like on the eastern front. and this is what it takes to keep the gateway to the donbas firmly shut. quentin somerville, bbc news, near izyum, ukraine. in other stories today, turkey's president has restated his opposition to finland and swedenjoining nato. president erdogan said they need not send delegations to convince turkey, a nato member, of their bids. he's chiefly angered by what he sees as their willingness to host kurdish militant groups. translation: the swedish and finnish delegations _ translation: the swedish and finnish delegations are - translation: the swedish and finnish delegations are coming. finnish delegations are coming to turkey on monday, are they coming to convince us? excuse me, but they should not tire themselves. first of all, we should not say yes to those who impose sanctions on turkey to join nato, because the nato would cease to be a security organisation and become a place of representatives of terrorist organisations being represented. you're watching

newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we'll have the very latest from california, where police say the suspect behind a mass shooting at a church, was a chinese—american man motivated by hatred of taiwanese people. this morning, an indian air force plane carrying mr gandhi's body landed in delhi. the president of india walked to the plane to solemnly witness mr gandhi's final return from the political battlefield. ireland has voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage. in doing so, it has become the first country in the world to approve the change in a national referendum. it was a remarkable climax. to what was surely the most extraordinary funeral ever given to a pop singer. - it's been a peacefulfuneral demonstration so far but suddenly, the police are tear—gassing the crowd. we don't yet know why. the pre—launch ritual is well—established here. helen was said to be in good spirits, butjust a little apprehensive. in the last hour, east timor- has become the world's newest

nation. it was a bloody birth i for a poor country and the challenges ahead are daunting. - but for now, at least, i it is time to celebrate. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our top story: ukraine says over 260 soldiers from the azovstal steelworks in mariupol have been evacuated. the deputy defence minister said they would eventually return to ukrainian territory under exchange agreements with moscow. us presidentjoe biden will visit buffalo in new york state on tuesday to meet with families of the victims of saturday's mass shooting that killed 10 people. saturday's attack is thought to be the worst mass shooting

so far in the us this year. an investigation into the incident is underway to see whether authorities missed telltale signs left by the suspected shooter. among those killed was the mother of the city of buffalo's ex—fire comisioner. we are going we are u-oin to cry and we are we are going to cry and we are lloin we are going to cry and we are u-oin to greece but that is not going to greece but that is not all we are going to do, because we are angry. we are mad about it. ——to grieve. we are mad about it and unless we find some positive way to channel that energy, we are going to do something that we are going to regret, that is the truth of the matter. he regret, that is the truth of the matter.— regret, that is the truth of the matter. ., , the matter. he took away my mother and _ the matter. he took away my mother and my _ the matter. he took away my mother and my best - the matter. he took away my mother and my best friend. l the matter. he took away my i mother and my best friend. how dare _ mother and my best friend. how dare you — mother and my best friend. how dare you. how dare you. this needs— dare you. how dare you. this needs to _ dare you. how dare you. this needs to be fixed, asap.

us civil rights attorney benjamin crump has condemned those who radicalize white supremacists. surrounded by ruth whitfield's family, one of the victims of saturday's shooting, he said those who "curate this hate" must be held accountable, as well as the shooter. what happened on saturday was an act of domestic terrorism. and we have two define it as such. we can't sugarcoat it, we can't try to explain it away talking about mental illness, no. this was an act of domestic terrorism, perpetrated by a young, white supremacist. neda tawfik is in buffalo for us. i put it to her that the community must be devastated. yeah, they are very much

grieving. this is very raw for the community here and every single person i spoke to said, that could have been me. that could have been anyone in this community and here at the tops grocery store very much still is an active investigation, the area is taped off but you've seen community groups popping up, serving food, offering counselling services to those in need. one of the president they spoke to of the buffalo urban league top about how this isjust trauma on urban league top about how this is just trauma on top of trauma because in this community they feel the systemic issues and underlying issues of racism, of being a community that has a lack of investment, property is being devalued and so this grocery store was actually key for them, a key source to be able to get fresh fruit and groceries and so as i'd say a sense here, the fact that they were targeted because of the colour of their skin by a white supremacist who was radicalised

online and drove for several hours, it is a lot to take in the community but you also see that their anger is manifesting in a way that they want to see real change, notjust to gun laws but infighting systemic racism, to really have this appeal to america, to really try to educate people better to fight against this. an update for you now on another shooting in the us, police there say the suspect behind a mass shooting at a church in california on sunday was a chinese—american man motivated by hatred of taiwanese people. for more on this, i spoke to our north america correspondent david willis. thought to be the work of a chinese—born american citizen who was living in las vegas and travelled all the way from las vegas in order to carry out this attack. they say that he changed the doors of the church locks, they also say that he poured glue into the locks in

order to prevent those doors from being opened, to keep those who were present inside and there were about a0 people apparently attending a lunch in honour of a former local pastor before opening fire and they say it was only the intervention of one of the people present, a local doctor who charged at this man as he started opening fire, managed to overpower him and that gave the others present the chance to tie him up before sheriffs deputies arrived at the scene and they say that this man came obviously bent on a lot, causing a lot of harm. he had two guns with him on several molotov cocktails and investigators also found notes investigators also found notes in his car written in mandarin in his car written in mandarin in which he poured scorn on taiwan. , ., ., , taiwan. so is that what they are suspect _ taiwan. so is that what they are suspect thing _ taiwan. so is that what they are suspect thing is - taiwan. so is that what they are suspect thing is the - are suspect thing is the motivation behind this? what have they been saying about

that? �* , , ., that? the fbi is investigating this case as _ that? the fbi is investigating this case as a _ that? the fbi is investigating this case as a racial— that? the fbi is investigating this case as a racial hate - this case as a racial hate crime and that investigation of course has just got under way. this man will appear in court locally near laguna woods, that is a city about 50 miles from los angeles tomorrow where he is expected to face murder charges and also possession of explosives charges stopping the district attorney in that area has said he is considering pressing for the death penalty in this particular case, even though california of course hasn't as a state executed a prisoner in more than a decade. let's turn to the uk where the british prime minister borisjohnson has accepted that the political deadlock in northern ireland, is a result of the brexit deal, that he approved and signed. after talks in belfast, mrjohnson told the bbc

that the northern ireland protocol needed to be fixed. it keeps northern ireland aligned with the eu single market, for trade in goods. our political editor chris mason has the latest. lowden guitars in county down make instruments for ed sheeran, among plenty of others. they import some of the things they to make them from the rest of the uk, and sell plenty back over the irish sea. the boss says the deal the prime minister did to deliver brexit has made business harder. we have had some of our most valued partners in england say, "look, these guitars, this administration, it's just too much work." so we have seen sales impacted there. but it is daunting, to have to fill out import documentation for something you never even had to think about before. and this is why businesses are having to adapt. when the uk left the european union, it was agreed that goods arriving in northern ireland from scotland, england and wales would be monitored to make sure they met eu standards. that's because northern ireland shares a land border

with the republic of ireland, which is in the eu, and brussels doesn't want unchecked products ending up in what it calls its single market. but an open border on the island of ireland is seen as an essential part of the peace process. prime minister, do you accept that the reality of what you're with here in northern ireland today is a direct consequence of the deal you signed? yes, absolutely. and i want to be clear that i think that the protocol has a lot to be said for it, and it's very important in the sense that it does guarantee that north—south trade. that's why we want to protect the protocol. but what we can't have is an arrangement that is unbalanced. help me out, then, here. you signed this deal. presumably you knew what was in it. what has changed since? i think it's very important to recognise that the protocol is a classic piece of brussels negotiation. which you signed up to. yes, and i signed up to it in good faith, imagining that it would not

be interpreted in too draconian a way... are they acting in bad faith now? i think what they are doing is being overzealous in the way that it's being applied. earlier, the democratic unionist party, who hate the protocol, had seen the prime minister and told him as much. clearly, we want a fully functioning executive. we want that to happen as soon as possible, and therefore we are looking now to the government. we've had the words. we now need to see the action. there are, though, plenty here who are relaxed about the protocol, and some are happy with it. sinn fein, who'd like a united ireland, won more seats than any other party in the elections the week before last. we had what we would describe as a fairly tough meeting with the prime minister. we have put it to him very directly that the absolute priority is about getting government working here in the north. people are facing incredible difficulties in the midst

of a cost of living crisis, and it's simply not acceptable, it's not good enough, for anybody, the dup or the british government, to hold society here to ransom. you promised to get brexit done. isn't your trip here today proof that you haven't? we've got an ongoing and dynamic relationship with ourfriends in the eu. you've not got brexit done. no, i disagree with that very much. but, chris, where you're right is that we have a residual issue. it's causing... in northern ireland, it's causing stresses and strains. back in county down, another guitar is finished, but the soundtrack and consequences of brexit can still be clearly heard. reminder of our top story, ukraine says more than 200

soldiers, many of them wounded, have been evacuated from the steelworks that was the last hold in mariupol. that's all for now, stay with bbc world news. hello. the weather's been all over the place in the last few days. yes, we've had some sunshine, some warmth, too, but also big thundery downpours, particularly in northwestern england and in northern ireland recently. now, on the satellite picture, you can see the motion of the cloud — it's mostly coming in out of the south and the south—west. so that's where the warm weather is coming from, too. and here are the thunderstorms we've recently had — now most of them have died away, we still have a little bit of rain here and there, but i think through the early hours of tuesday morning, it is a mostly dry picture out there with clear spells, a bit of residual cloud, that's pretty much it. oh, and mistand murk forming in the countryside, too. now, the temperatures early on tuesday will range from around eight celsius

in aberdeen to 12 in norwich, london, and along the south coast of england. now there is rain in the forecast for tuesday, but it'll be mostly affecting western areas of the uk. so, here it is, this weather front — in the morning, maybe just about fringing cornwall into western parts of wales, and spreading northwards. but notice how this area of rain expands during the course of the day, progressively getting wetter around these western areas. but further towards the east, the weather will be dry, hazy sunshine at the very least, and sunny closer to the north sea, and look at the temperatures — 26 in london, and easily into the low—to—mid—20s in yorkshire, as well. and then, tuesday evening, that rain will reach wales, the north—west of england, and move further north into scotland, as well, and there could be some thunderstorms returning to southern parts of the uk, as well, tuesday evening. here's a look at wednesday's weather map — still dominated by an area of low pressure and these south—westerly winds

pushing in very volatile weather systems, difficult to predict, really. but the thinking is that on wednesday, we'll see a return of thundery showers quite probably to south—western parts of the uk, whereas further east and north, it should be sunnier. but look at that, northern ireland closer to the weather front — so there's likely to be some rain, too. and here's the outlook from tuesday onwards, just about into the weekend — it will be changeable, staying on the warm side with sunny spells, but always a risk of showers with thunderstorms.

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