in an interview with the bbc, the prime minister, liz truss, has apologised for mistakes in the government's financial strategy — a strategy that she set in motion. the majority of measures in her so—called "mini budget" have been reversed by the new chancellor of the exchequer, jeremy hunt. russia has attacked the ukrainian capital, kyiv, with a wave of explosive drones. the air strikes killed at least four people, including a pregnant woman and her husband. the us, britain and france have accused iran of violating un sanctions by supplying russian forces with the pilot—less weapons. who is now 50 years—old.

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. crane has proved its resolve but this will keep throwing up new challenges. the biggest items from missiles and strikes of civilian. my guess is the energy minister. battlefield gains cannot disguise strategic vulnerability. it is —— is ukraine ready for putin's escalation strategy?

minister, welcome. you have another day of air strikes in kyiv, these so—called kamikaze chrome is supplied to russia by the iranians are causing has havik in kyiv and many towns and cities across your country. how worried are you about the fear they are spreading what we see is they start using drones and targeted all the drones to the infrastructure and that is the infrastructure and that is the massive shelling is which

started the massive shelling is which starte: a, the massive shelling is which starte: ., ~ ., ., the massive shelling is which starte ., ~ ., ., ., started monday a week ago and the shelling _ started monday a week ago and the shelling is _ started monday a week ago and the shelling is continue - started monday a week ago and the shelling is continue every . the shelling is continue every day and today it is not on the grounds. they are shelled by missiles and energy objects. it is really a new approach with the russians against the ukrainians. the targeting of energy infrastructure. indeed. i know you — energy infrastructure. indeed. i know you in _ energy infrastructure. indeed. i know you in ukraine - energy infrastructure. indeed. i know you in ukraine are - i know you in ukraine are careful about giving too much information about the targets and the success the russians have had in knocking out targets but it is quite clear your energy infrastructure is vulnerable. i believe after the first wave of strikes you refer to a week ago, more than 30% of your energy infrastructure received hits and there were

many cases of serious power outages. you are vulnerable, ryan chew? {iii outages. you are vulnerable, ryan chew?— outages. you are vulnerable, ryan chew? of course we are t in: to ryan chew? of course we are trying to repair _ ryan chew? of course we are trying to repair as _ ryan chew? of course we are trying to repair as quickly - ryan chew? of course we are trying to repair as quickly as l trying to repair as quickly as we can but when the missiles hit so many of the objects, it makes dramatic damages to the infrastructure but of course the energy sector is working 2a hours a day and preparing everything they can. we still maintain the stability of the system but we also need to make some extraordinary decision. in terms of air defence you are clearly lacking right now, you are shooting down some of the kamikaze trounce but not all of

them. what do you need? that is really what _ them. what do you need? that is really what we — them. what do you need? that is really what we communicated - them. what do you need? that is really what we communicated at l really what we communicated at the beginning of the war. you remember the first day of the war started with the challenge at tunable and there was zaporizhzhia and there was the matter of safety and security for the whole world and that is why we ask from that time and now we repeated so we need air protection system, we need to close the sky 500% to ensure missiles will fail. close the sky 50096 to ensure missiles will fail.— missiles will fail. you cannot close the _ missiles will fail. you cannot close the skies _ missiles will fail. you cannot close the skies if _ missiles will fail. you cannot close the skies if your - missiles will fail. you cannot close the skies if your allies| close the skies if your allies are not prepared to give you their most effective and sophisticated air defence systems. we understand the germans are sending the so—called iris system, the americans have promised these

so—called nasam systems but as i understand they are not in ukraine yet. you have been making these requests for months and months, what do you make of the delays you have clearly encountered? this i clearly encountered? as i understand _ clearly encountered? as i understand it _ clearly encountered? as i understand it some - clearly encountered? as i understand it some of. clearly encountered? as i | understand it some of the systems already in ukraine, they were transmitted very quickly, and some of them are on the way. it gives us the feeling that we should be my better protected before the winter. now it is very important because the temperature is now not below zero. we repair very quickly and some consumers for several hours, it doesn't make so much harm.

now, it's very important because the temperature is not below zero and the possibility very quickly and even when we speak to some consumers, for several hours, it, if these missiles and train attacks will be repeated during the winter, it is very important that we have strong air protection. one country under the spotlight as israel. israel is a very sophisticated air defence system that they call the iron dome that stops rockets are being fired — iranian made rockets — fired by hamas into israeli territory. it is not clear that israel is in any way prepared to give you assistance to create some sort of iron dome shield. have you or your government had any contact in recent days with israel? as i understand, due to the close cooperation of iran and russia, the position of israel could be changed or maybe already, so, more to the diplomats they understand that the communications of this, i hope we can count on them.

you refered to winter coming, and temperatures are going to drop rapidly in ukraine. can you guarantee the ukrainian people will have access to electricity, heat, hot water through difficult months to come? we do everything to guarantee this and to prepare for this really hard winter and we cannot compare it to any winter which was before. and we have preparing for this, for this difficult situation, we need to do some extraordinary decisions, but what is also important is we have to speak to our people and say we are fighting and doing everything every day and we need help and now we are asking

the population for consumption of electricity to be lowered in peak hours and the home, the one nation is fighting against and the need to unite also the issue of where they could help the state to maintain. so your answer is they should sit in a relatively cool apartment, they should not be expecting to heat their homes and the way they have done in the past? we do not ask them to sit in darkness, no. we could supply electricity in the apartment and all heating systems are operating. but they could shift the time using a number of equipment which consumes more electricity, they can do it nonpeak hours which is from

five o'clock in the evening to ii and you could do it during the night to give the system more stability. some fundamentals which that approach is not going to deal with it. zaporizhzhia is our most important, your biggest nuclear power plant is producing zero electricity for the grid and that is not going to change because the plant is controlled by the russians. how do you cope with the loss of your biggest power plant? of course, that is the most important issue, in the energy sphere. it produces more than 6000 mw of electricity, which is a huge amount and even the occupation, the ukrainian

staff operating in zaporizhzhia, we supplied electricity to them. from september, this possibility, because we understand that this is all the same change. because now, in zaporizhzhia, they started targeting the energy infrastructure, it's already influencing a difficult decision which will be made in the week, but we have to stop exporting electricity to europe. and it was quite a win—win situation. and from one hand, to give money to ukraine in financial part of energy markets and on the other side, we help europe to save on russian gas and oil. and coal. that deal is now off, you cannot supply any electricity to the rest of europe and i think many people watching and

listening around the world will be more worried about the remaining serious potential for dangerous outcomes in zaporizhzhia in the nuclear power plant itself. the russians are in control and there is fighting close by and they accuse you of shelling in the vicinity of the plant and we know that power is consistently being cut to the plant, it's reliant at times, i think maybe even now, for these generators to keep the cooling systems going. to the outside world, this looks horribly dangerous. and you're absolutely right. in zaporizhzhia, that is really the danger and is a big threat because what happened today, today, supplying electricity to this, and to generate, the blackout of the station and

this is the fourth time it's happened. it's a very dangerous situation, especially from many points of view. when you're ready on these generators, means that you depend on some accidental shelling that could stop this generator operation and then you are facing a nuclear disaster. and the soldiers on that side. you're not occupying the plant, the russians are, and face serious questions about what they're doing in zaporizhzhia, but you face serious questions too. your military needs to, you military needs to back off the region around that power plant. it's just simply too dangerous to engage in military operations there. we're not talking about the military operations on the plant or shelling it,

that is what really russians did when they capture the station, it was march and they shelled the station from any kind of weapons, from tanks and that's really the craziness of what they're doing. and we're not talking about the operation on the site, the station or shelling it. we understand the risks. you are at war with russia but you must be very aware of the bizarre relationships that you still have with the russians, albeit one step removed. for example, you need gas in ukraine. i know you put your reserves, please i know you built your reserves up, but you do need to import gas and allow the gas to get comes from europe but it's actually russian gas which your re—importing via pipelines in europe. you want the europeans to completely wean themselves off russian gas, your have to wean yourselves off

russian gas and russian petroleum products as well, aren't you? in fact, that is an issue that... all that is happened around the gas and supply of gas to europe, that is a big question of a russian monopoly in europe and now, we have no nord stream one and 2 from the supply of the gas to europe and so, ukrainian pipe is whether very important pipes today and taking this into account, increasing the volumes of gas and supply through ukraine. we stopped legally buying russian gas here from 2015. but you're still using gas which originates in russia, right? today, we are producing ukrainian gas which we put in storages, but also

we use imported gas. you know that some of it is russian. it could be, some of it. but we buy from our european allies. there is some very bizarre outcomes at the moment and it is not going to change into ukraine going to change until ukraine truly finds a way of developing the infrastructure that is not reliant on these fossil fuels that russia continues to dominate. that is the goal of our energy structure and strategies for the future. we do not want to use their gas in the future. that's our strategies of the future. how worried are you that in the end, this coming winter is going to be very, very

difficult for europe and the difficulties that european citizens face with their energy supplies might well corrode support for ukraine. ministerjust a few days ago when he was talking about the difficulties with energy supply. he said a few weeks like this and there could be deindustrialisation and the severe risk of fundamental social unrest. that is what putin wants and that'll be very bad for ukraine and support you get from europe. i know not only in belgium. we follow the situation in europe very closely and from my personal feelings, this very important sanctions. yf we can think of

any kind of way where we can, for the price of gas, you should pay more for the gas and that's what russia wants. they tried to influence the european country with gas and this possibility to push politically on the countries. and we will discuss on the level that we need to pay more for the gas because of the prices — this incredible increase in prices is because of them. it comes down to the fundamental problem that you're fundamentally

dependent on western allies. and in the coming months, when things get truly difficult, that support may begin to crumble. and that is the great mistake of the civilised world. and that's not the issue, now, we are on the front line. but we are fighting forjoint values and fighting for civilised choice and i think that is more important than payments and how much you should pay for the gas and that is the issue of solidarity. european solidarity, which is really very helpful in your really very helpful and you're right, we understand that this is something that we need. you must be a realist and you're talking to me from your office, you're wearing military fatigues and i know that is a symbol of the struggle that you in all ukrainian leaders feel you are in. it is an existential war, as you see it. but it's not quite as

existential if you are living in paris, i guess, and the truth is, the french government to take one example, is not offering you the levels of economic or military assistance that you say you need. why do you think that is? i think that's more the question of... i don't want to say that about some country. but the most important issue is everyone should understand that this is the most important thing that is happening in their history. we cannot think that, after the war, we will be as before. that's not only the issue of ukraine, we will never be as before, before

february, the whole world changed. that is very important to be part of the right side in the situation. i cannot imagine that you would ust watch on tv. as your allies, the americans put in $50 billion worth of military and economic assistance in europe not so much. and they have a stake in what is happening. they watch your strategy and see that you made significant gains in the east, but also in the south, you appeared to be intent on pushing towards kherson but they do not believe that you can deliver a knockout blow to the russian occupation forces. so they want to know what is your end game, what is your strategy for ultimately ending this war? is it all about liberation of every inch of territory or can you acknowledge that there may be something short of that?

i am sure that the end of the war for us will be the liberation of our territories in accordance with the international law. in accordance the international rules. you know, for vladimir putin, that cannot happen. that is an existential threat to him. where is there any prospect of this war ending? i'm struggling to see it. they are planning to take half of ukraine for three days, and it's what putin is planning in and failed and i'm sure he will fail to stop us. i just wonder whether you feel that in washington, for example, they are calibrating their support for you. this really do not want ukraine to lose, but they do

not necessarily want ukraine to achieve all—out victory because asjoe biden says, the world is very close to what he calls armageddon. nuclear confrontation. and he is determined in the white house to avoid that. without a victory, we cannot be safe. any kinds of agreements would be discussed with russia, they will solve nothing. he's talking about nuclear we already have the accidents in chernobyl and zaporizhzhia and every day, the world is on threat of nuclear accident. it's not a question of nuclear weapon, it already exists. what you think happens next? we are assuming the government launch the dramatic strike on the

bridge. that seemed to lead to putin's retaliation with missile strikes across your country. escalation appears to be inevitable. given what you're saying to me, give what putin is saying in moscow, is there any way out of escalation? the escalation started in moscow, the war started from moscow and if they want to stop this war, they can do it immediately. the question is, how they can communicate what it was, special operation, mobilisation, and that is more challenging for them now. and in the end with winter coming, it's going be very hard for the coming months and have great faith that ukrainian lives ukrainian military can sustain this fight? i am sure about this. i am sure that ukrainian people and ukrainian army will sustain this fight

and we will achieve great results and we will win. german galushchenko in kyiv, i thank you very much for joining me on hardtalk. thanks. thank you, sir. hello there. monday brought plenty of afternoon sunshine across england and wales and it was very mild for the time of year, with temperatures reaching as high as 20 in london. that's four degrees above the october average. meanwhile, in scotland, an area of low pressure was with us all day, bringing cloudier weather and outbreaks of rain that

struggled to clear away. now, what we're looking at over the next couple of days is this area of low pressure will move out of the way, and in its place, an area of high pressure will build in from the north. but because it's coming in from the north, it will have some colder air trapped in that — that reaches scotland. meanwhile, to the southwest, low pressure lurks. that's going to be flicking bands of rain across the uk over the next few days from the southwest. looking at the weather picture at the moment, it's quite quiet weather—wise. clearing skies for most of us and it's a much colder night as well, so temperatures starting off tuesday morning down into low single figures and, for some, i reckon there will be some mist and fog patches around, probably the worst of it across parts of wales, the midlands, east anglia and southern england. it'll take the first couple of hours before that mist and fog has cleared out of the way. then you can see the extent of the day's sunshine, just a few passing showers for orkney, shetland, clipping aberdeenshire, and there may well be a little bit of cloud just coming in across cornwall, threatening an odd spit of rain, but for most, it's dry.

temperatures mild again — england and wales 14—18 degrees, bit closer to average for scotland and for northern ireland. heading into the middle part of the week, we see this area of rain extending in from the southwest. now, as the rain comes in on wednesday, it's going to come in kind of sporadically in bursts here and there. might stay dry across northeast england and dry for scotland, but you'll notice more cloud building in here, probably quite misty as well. cooler weather for scotland and the far northeast of england — 9—12 degrees is below average, but still mild further south, even with the rain moving in. now, for thursday, we've got a heavier band of rain that's going to push its way northwards followed by probably a mixture of sunny spells and showers. if anything, it will get a little bit milder again with temperatures up to 19 degrees in london. mild as well for northern ireland, but still relatively cool in scotland. friday, the low pressure is still with us, but it's getting closer. really, we'll see some showery bursts of rain extending northwards across the country, and some of those downpours could be quite heavy at times. that's your latest

weather, bye—bye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. ready to fight on — britain's prime minister liz truss says she will not be stepping down, despite admitting mistakes were made in her government's financial strategy. i do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for mistakes that have been made. french oil workers and transport staff go on strike as anger builds against president macron's government. the worst is yet to come — with a warning of yet more torrential rain and further flooding, and karim benzema of real madrid and france