this is bbc world news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines: health bosses in the uk are warning some accident and emergency departments are in a "complete state of crisis". the president of the royal college of emergency medicine says as many as 500 people are dying every week in the uk as a result of delays to emergency care. ukraine says it has killed hundreds of russian soldiers, in a missile strike over new year. this picture, from the ukrainian military, reportedly shows the scene of the attack. russia has dismissed the figure. three people have died after a fire broke out at a hotel in perth in scotland. emergency services, including 21 ambulance crews and nine fire trucks, were called to the new county hotel just after five o'clock this morning. thousands of roman catholics have begun paying their respects

to the pope emeritus benedict xvi, whose body is lying in state at the vatican. pope francis will preside at benedict's funeral on thursday. iam i am away shortly, thank you for your company, ben brown will be here at the top of the next hour. now on bbc news, he has been the man making the headlines all year. zelensky: the making of a president. for weeks, volodomyr zelensky has been leading from the front, as ukraine resists russia's invasion. explosion comforting the war�*s many victims, berating ukraine's enemies...

sobs ..and demanding more from her allies. a war that was supposed to last days has now lasted months. russia's advance has stalled and, in places, it has been pushed back. applause president zelensky is now lauded as the man of this moment. i think your leadership has been extraordinary. but it wasn't always like this. before the russian attack, questions were being asked as to whether zelensky, a former comedian, really had what it takes to lead ukraine. in 2019, i was very sad, it was like a tragedy knowing that

zelensky could become president of ukraine. i wouldn't say he had policies, he had directions that he wanted to go in, but how to do that, i think he was really trying to learn on the job. hi, jonah, nice to meet you. i first met volodymyr zelensky in january of 2019. he was just a comedian and an actor. ajokey, fun guy, a celebrity, of course, and a real star here in ukraine. it was the start of his political journey and, for me, as the bbc�*s correspondent here in ukraine, a fascinating time. i've had a front—row seat as zelensky has gone from a political novice to leading ukraine's fight for survival against russia. happy birthday. thank you.

do you know we are almost the same age? i'm about to be 41 as well. unfortunately, i'm not running for president. laughs who knows? nobody knows. 25th of january, 2019, volodymyr zelensky turns a1. it's also the birthday of one of the most extraordinary stories in modern politics. in the centre of kyiv, ukraine's most famous comedian and actor is signing papers to officially become a candid for presidency. none of us in the press pack outside are quite sure whether we're part of a joke that we've not been let into or whether it is something more sincere. as it turns out, for perhaps the first time in his life, zelensky was being serious.

but asked to spell out his policies, it all seemed a bit vague. 0n ukraine's existential issue, russia, for example, he seemed to think that foreign investors might deter an attack. the campaign was now on, but zelensky was still making tv shows. he laughs we were invited back to the offices of his production company, kvartal 95, for a look behind the scenes. this is where you plan your comedy shows? yes, yes, not only comedy shows, everything on tv. we have documentary, dramas, movies, we have two big satire shows,

you know, political satire. the first stage is where we create the ideas, the guys are sitting here, they are the chiefs of different groups, so we have many scriptwriters, different humour. they speak about their ideas and i am the decision—maker. so you are deciding whether their ideas are funny or not? yes, yes. 0uraudience, especially tv audience, yes, it is a little bit older than, for example, movie audience in feature films. what sort of humour do people like here, if you were to compare it to british humour? we love british humour. he laughs for example, for example. he speaks in ukranian "if compare." if compare in britain, if compare, our people, they more understand, for example, mr bean or benny hill. benny hill! yeah, yeah. really? so you're sort of looking for benny hill—mr bean type jokes, rather than the more kind of surreal monty python stuff? yes.

he sings for over 25 years, i only thought about him as a comedian, a professional comedian, a good one, quite popular in ukraine, but nothing more. yarema dukh is a political consultant and used to work for zelensky�*s predecessor as president, petro poroshenko. in ukrainian entertainment business, volodomyr zelensky was a huge star. i think he had like 95%—plus of recognition among average ukrainians, so i would say that everybody knew him. a big star, but unashamedly populist too, and very much not to the taste of yarolav hrytsak, a historian at lviv�*s catholic university. i would say that most intellectuals would not hear or listen to him that much.

it was the much broader public. for what, kind of smuttyjokes? some of them very smutty and some you may say you wouldn't show to your kids under 18, so to say. pop music plays but he was recognisable, he was nude playing on the piano. and you could imagine with what part of his body. piano music plays he covered a very wide spectrum, so to say, but the point is that some of the jokes were extremely crude. crude? yeah, and therefore, his enemies, his opponents, they used to show this clip as proof that he is not capable to do any political activities. singing zelensky�*s movies and sketch shows made him famous, but one role more than any other paved the way for his presidential run.

he made a tv sitcom where his hero was a simple, young teacher of history who was sick and tired of the politics and decided to go to power, and he became a president. so before he became a real president, he was president on tv, vasily goloborodko, the character zelensky played, was everything that ukraine's real presidents hadn't been up until that point. taras stadnytskyi is a peer of zelensky from ukraine's comedy circuit. when i interviewed zelensky in 2019,

he accepted some might vote for him in the hope of getting the fictional president. with the benefit of hindsight, there are those who now wonder whether the servant of the people tv show was created with a real presidential run in mind. applause

zelensky�*s political party is called servant of the people, just like the tv show, and 0lena shuliak is the head of it. when she first entered politics, she tells me she hastily watched the series for research purposes. are there many similarities between the real president zelensky and the tv president?

applause zelensky�*s sketch shows, broadcast in prime—time, lampooned ukraine's political class — like his predecessor, president poroshenko, who owed his fortune to a sweet shop chain. with zelensky having jumped in the political deep end, the election campaign was unlike anything ukraine had seen before. zelensky held no rallies and his message was entirely communicated through slick videos

of him working out and hanging out. it all felt like an extension of his tv shows. all it was quite surprising that the man who is on the stage feels like at home, he hardly campaigned, he gave no interviews, it was super hard to see him on some public rallies. he only shoot videos, posted it online, and the rest? it was the work of his team. the less he did, the more popular he became, and when the time came to vote, zelensky was odds—on favourite. are you ready to be president? i don't know! the people will decide it in the evening. i'm ready. that night, ukraine's political earthquake was confirmed. zelensky had won, with 73% of the vote.

so, there we have it, fact will follow fiction. ukraine's television president is now going to become this country's real president. incredible. i think that president poroshenko's team expected to see some other old politicians who they were familiar with, but to be defeated by the guy who literally were joking about you a year before? that's unbearable. for reformers like hanna hopko, the triumph of a completely unknown quantity like zelensky was hard to comprehend. in 2019, i was very sad. it was like a tragedy knowing that zelensky could become a president of ukraine, a country which faced russian ongoing aggression. so i was really afraid,

chairing the foreign affairs committee, having access to classified information, and just understanding that zelensky could become a president of ukraine. but then i met my spiritual friends and they told me, "hanna, please, let's trust god," because i trust god that he has a special purpose for ukraine in 21st century, so let's see. in his speech to parliament, immediately after having been sworn in, zelensky focused on what had been his number—one election promise — to end the war with russian—backed forces in eastern ukraine.

he basically believed — and i believe, he really believed that — that the war was going on because of poroshenko, because poroshenko doesn't want to finish the war, because poroshenko is corrupted, and corruption is. and war creates very profitable conditions for corruption, so to say. he didn't really see the real cause of the problem is not poroshenko, but putin. there were some early signs that this new approach might bearfruit. a prisoner exchange took place, with zelensky on hand at the airport to welcome the captives home. we have to do all the steps to finish this horrible war. do you think this is a new chapter in relations between russia and ukraine? i think this is the first chapter. kurt volker was an american envoy to ukraine, and i travelled with him to the conflict zone in 2018. he says that in zelensky�*s first few months in power, he believed he could do a deal

with russia's president. i remember even in our first meetings saying, "i understand you want peace, but putin doesn't want peace". this is what he wants to do, he is attacking ukraine on purpose. it's not for lack of some formula, he's doing it because he is trying to weaken ukraine. i think he was initially sceptical of that, but i think as he tried to talk with putin, he tried to do a couple of prisoner exchanges, i think he came to the view that actually, putin is fighting a war that he wants to fight. later that year, the only meeting between zelensky and president putin took place in paris, with the leaders of france and germany acting as chaperones. but the talks were frosty and went nowhere. paris was the endpoint for zelensky�*s attempts to strike a deal. until this war broke out,

zelensky�*s time as president was showing some signs of fizzling out. he'd promised a lot and, perhaps understandably, was struggling to deliver on it. his once sky—high ratings in the opinion polls were starting to fall. close allies from the election campaign — zelensky called them his "dream team" — turned on him within a year. comedian brought incompetent people, who now run major government institutions. 0r misrun major government institutions. therefore, you cannot achieve results, that's it. so the optimism, the hope of change that existed a year ago, that's over? i would say... look, i would say many things are over, for example, promises, by the way, another promise of his was fighting

with oligarchs, it's over. i think reforms, the window of opportunity has closed. ruslan ryaboshapka was sacked as attorney—general afterjust seven months, he says for pushing too hard to tackle corruption and the powerful oligarchs. or perhaps he became tired with all this reform and he decided to be in a more comfortable situation. it was bad news and a bad discussions with the so—called reformers, and he chose another option to be, like, in warm bath. you're saying, effectively, he chose the side of the oligarchs over the side of the reformers? absolutely, it looks like that. eventually, zelensky did try and take some targeted measures against particular oligarchs. but his critics saw it as too little, too late. zelensky was too timid,

then he passed this anti—oligarch law that targeted individuals, rather than changing the structure of the system, and that was perceived as unfair by many of them, and so it never really got off the ground. 0n the international stage, zelensky had to learn fast. he found himself caught up in donald trump's attempts to use american military aid to get ukraine to investigate his rival, joe biden. for zelensky, it was important to generate more support for ukraine and not to be a part of domestic political games so, of course, lack of experience could create some problems at that time, but this is how he learned what international policy is, and how not to be in the trap — how to diplomatically present ukraine, but not to be used for the interests of somebody. with rumours of impeachment hearings mounting, zelensky met trump in new york.

his acting skills, for once, deserted him. because of the dynamic in the united states, president trump kept the meeting going in front of the cameras for about 45 minutes or so, so very difficult to have a serious conversation between two leaders of countries when you are doing so much of it in front of the media. i think zelensky handled it well, and i think wasjust saying, "0k, we've got to get through this period and then let's see if we can resume a normal relationship again". air raid siren wails then, on 24th february, everything changed, with the start of the russian invasion. a man who had turned to politics just three years before was now facing down the world's second—most powerful army.

this war has brought out the very best in volodymyr zelensky. whereas president putin has come across as aloof and distant, zelensky has seemed very much relatable and down—to—earth. staying with his people in kyiv, and staying in touch with video messages.

the updates, delivered straight to social media, have enabled zelenksy to speak directly to ukrainians and people around the world. at times, the news has been almost unspeakably bleak. through it all, zelensky has sought to raise spirits and to inspire hope. we have young, smart charismatic personalities,

who deliver simple messages, who basically tell the truth. and then you see putin, who is ageing, who is hiding somewhere, who has this long table, and nobody knows what he is thinking. russian tv and the kremlin have resorted to hurling unsubstantiated insults towards kyiv. this guy has a nerve, i mean zelensky, he has balls. because the thing is, the first days, it was a disaster and it was stress, it was depression. and all of a sudden, you see

somebody who behaves very different, and he is the president of your country, and this works immensely on ukrainians. before this war, zelensky struggled to get invites to western capitals. now, barely a day passes without him addressing a parliament or international organisation. the message follows a set path — showing the full horrors of russia's war on ukraine, and then demanding that the outside world do more to equip his country to resist. everybody saw the picture of zelensky in bucha. and can you imagine such a picture of putin? never. zelensky often visits hospitals

to see wounded soldiers. he is also visiting ukrainian families. you can get access to president zelensky. you could see him everywhere. the first chapters of the zelensky story are far—fetched — a comedian and tv president leading a country at war. russia's size and might mean the odds are still stacked against ukraine, but given what has happened to volodymyr zelensky so far, anything is possible.

these are the temperatures in the early part of the evening. early in the night, frost developing in many parts of the country, but temperatures were left later on. we will have clear skies for a while, very few showers around, then the wind picks up on the western restart to blow in this cloud and rain and snow perhaps over the higher parts of scotland. temperatures in scotland and also the north east of

england won't be far away from freezing first thing tomorrow, but the temperatures will have risen elsewhere. and we have got this band of cloud and rain pushing eastwards, some snow for a while over higher parts of scotland, may be a brief brighter slot, parts of scotland, may be a brief brighterslot, but parts of scotland, may be a brief brighter slot, but with more cloud and thickening it up, bringing in more rain more widely i think through the day and some of that rain will be heavy over the hills as well. the winds will be stronger tomorrow particularly across wales in the south west, may be brighter in the south west, may be brighter in other parts of scotland, temperatures in the central belt 7 degrees. highs of 13 in the south.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm ben brown. our top stories: a warning over the uk's national health service — senior doctors say some emergency departments are in a "complete state of crisis". ukraine says it has killed hundreds of russian soldiers in a missile strike over new year. this picture, from the ukrainian military, reportedly shows the scene of the attack. russia says 63 soldiers were killed. thousands are paying their respects to the late pope benedict xvi, whose body is lying in state at the vatican. in scotland, three people have died, after a fire broke out at a hotel in perth. the coffin of football legend pele arrives at the stadium of his former club, santos, for a public wake.