zones from turkey to syria as the number of people killed in both countries rises to more than 25,000. the united nations estimates the earthquakes may have left nearly 5.5 million people homeless in syria. the government there says it will allow aid to be delivered to rebel—held parts of the country. despite the odds, people are still being pulled out alive from under the rubble in turkey, more than 120 hours after the first earthquake struck. us fighterjets shoot down an unidentified aircraft over alaska after president biden gave the order to "seek and destroy". troops are trying to salvage the wreckage. three people have been arrested following clashes with police, outside a hotel providing refuge for asylum seekers on merseyside in northwest england.

you're watching bbc news. now it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. the first anniversary of russia's all—out invasion of ukraine is fast approaching. there's both a feeling in both kyiv and moscow that it would herald a new phase in the war. president zelensky is visiting european allies with his focus firmly on the challenges to come. a new russian offensive is seemingly imminent. the west is arming ukraine, but still not at the speed and scale kyiv would wish. my guest is ukrainian mp kira rudik. can ukraine win a long war?

kira rudik in kyiv, welcome to hardtalk. hello. thank you so much for having me, stephen. a pleasure to have you on the show. i would like you to reflect on president zelensky�*s message here in europe. do you think the focus from the ukrainian government is more on the gratitude for what european partners have already delivered or more on the urgency to give more now? i think it is 50—50. what we learned over this last year is that you have to create alliances, you have to keep it and you keep the alliances with the gratitude, but also, we want the world

to keep supporting us. you know, the war did not start a year ago and it started in 2014, and what was the most painful that after a year, it became a new normal. a new normal for everyone and we had to still fight ourfight. so right now we don't want to repeat the story. we want to keep the war on the agenda and get enough of the weapons so we can actually win the war. because the strategy is to drag everyone into this long fight with the hope that the allies would not sustain it. that at some point everybody will move on. this is what he has done in georgia and this is what he has done to us in 2014, this is his plan moving on. and we need to contradict it with something. and our plan is to get the most

of what we can, fight him back, win and then defend our borders. so, is there a degree of fear in kyiv right now, fear of ukraine fatigue setting in in europe and maybe in the us as well? we live side by side with this fear is probably since the second week of the full—scale invasion. so this is why are working on all the international fronts, this is why president zelensky is doing his international visits, showing the gratitude, but also saying, "we are still fighting, we are still here, "please don't forget about us. please stand with us, please win with us." talking of fear, i do sense a different tone in recent weeks coming from your government about the scale of the immediate threat posed by russian forces on the front lines.

after all of that optimism in the autumn when ukrainian forces pushed the russians back from swathes of occupied territory, what we have heard in recent days is ukrainian intelligence and military chiefs talking about 300,000 to 500,000 newly mobilised russian troops being sent to the front line. we have had predictions that there is going to be an imminent and massive russian push on various fronts, particularly in the east. how much fear is there in kyiv that the threat now posed, it may be something that ukraine's current military configuration cannot cope with? so, let's look at the facts here. first, the mobilisation in russia started in autumn, last autumn. so by this time, they were already able to mobilise and train those troops, and we have confirmation that they have been moving those troops closer to the battlefield.

this is the fact one. second fact is putin did not have any major victory on the battlefield since before the counteroffense on kherson, so basically autumn, and he has to have some wins, he has to show why he started a war to his people, to his allies, to the whole world. and third is what we have learned during the last year is putin is absolutely (inaudible) on the dates. so the major attacks on cue in all of the cities were at hundreds day of war, and therefore half of the one—year anniversary and christmas, etc. so we are getting closer to one—year anniversary and we don't, like, anticipate, we know that the offense from the russian side will be related to the state.

if you believe this date, this one—year anniversary date is important to moscow, how disappointed are you if you don't have the modern battle tanks that the americans and europeans have promised you, because, yes, they have promised 100 at least, but there is no way that they will be available to your troops until later in the spring. that is a big problem, isn't it? it is, and of course we are disappointed and upset and, you name it, these feelings. however, when we are talking about the disappointment, we also are looking back and saying, "look how far we come and how much better we are, better shape with better equipment than we were a year ago." so there were so many impossible things that you and me would think, like, would never happen that actually happened, starting with the heavy weapons, right now the promises of the tanks

is much better than no promises because we know that at some point we will have those. but sure, in the short run, they can't fight with promises, never mind the tanks issue where at least you have a commitment to tanks coming, when it comes to war planes, combat aircraft, president zelensky in london again made a passionate plea for these warplanes, he called them "the wings for freedom." but we know that from 0laf scholz in germany and most particularly tojoe biden in the united states, the answer still is "we do not think it is right for us to send warplanes "to ukraine." warplanes to ukraine. " so again, ultimately, it is a question of disappointment, isn't it? not really. we again learned that �*no�* is something that you could work with,

something that you can fight. again, we have heard this �*no�* for a year, since day one when i was sitting in the same room, begging the world to help us because the bombardment was everywhere. the explosions that you could have heard on tv when it was happening. everybody said no, and they said no for many other things that right now have turned to yes. so we know that it is just like another international project that we have had to work with to get their warplanes. nobody is talking about them, and to answer your question — what would happen if we fail? what would happen if we, like, stop existing? to be honest with you, if you read carefully what western politicians are continuing to say, their focus is often on not so much what happens if ukraine is defeated, their focus is on what happens if we supply potent weapons which become escalatory, a word often used with regard

to their relationship with russia and their fear of a moscow—inspired escalation. and to quote 0laf scholz when he ruled out sending warplanes to ukraine, he used this simple phrase — "remember — nato is not at war with russia." do you find that thinking problematic or do you recognise that it as absolutely what western leaders have to say? two months ago, 0laf scholz and many others said "absolutely no tanks." so right now when they are saying, "0h, we are not in war with russia," we totally agree. but the question that i never heard in answer to is when everyone is afraid of russia escalating. escalating to what — a nuclear attack? i think after discussions with president xi and with statements to india,

it has been pretty much ruled out. so what the escalation would look like? i don't think there is a proper answer to that. the escalation is that russia will go and attack nato countries? excuse me, they are failing in ukraine right now. they do not have potency for that definitely. so the question again that we need to reform the ideas that you mentioned is — what would happen if ukraine fails? because i have an answer to that. right now, it is not only russia who is watching on the world's response, and nato already committed to supporting ukraine and it's already a battlefield between putin and the whole western world who is supporting ukraine. so if we fail, it would mean that tyranny wins, that the whole forces of nato is not enough to contradict

russia. then i can name you many tyrants who will raise their hands and say, "great, thank you so much for this fantastic example. now we know how we should act. we should get a nuclear weapon and then we should take over our neighbours�* land and we know that we will get away with that." this is not the world that we want to live in, right? this is something opposite of what we want to build. indeed, and one of the key elements you thought would sustain you and make you victorious was not just the military balance which you feel, will ultimately work in your favour if the west gives you weapons, but also the economic arena where you appear to have believed that the isolation of russia and consistent sanctions imposed by the international community would, in the end, bring russia down. how do you feel about the fact that the imf now predicts that the russian economy is actually

going to grow in 2023 by 0.3% and then by 2% in 202a. does it make you feel that that economic battle is one that you are not going to win? when we are talk about russian economy and sanctions, we need to remember that real sanctions that were hitting russia hard only started working in december and january of this year. the embargo on oil and the caps on gas and oil prices. before that, they were rather sanctional, so cutting russia's ability to trade and hitting particular personalities. so we will need to fight for probably another year to see how bad they perform under the sanctions.

but you need to be a realist here — you probably know better than i do that russia's deepened its economic with china, indeed president xi is expected to go to moscow quite soon to get symbolise that partnership. we know that the indians are actually buying more russian energy because of the opportunistic price levels they can get it out. we know that brazil and south africa and a host of other countries are not only refusing to impose sanctions but are also refusing, frankly, to condemn vladimir putin and want friendly relations with him. the idea that you could isolate russia and bring it low, economically, frankly, it does not seem as though it is going to work. it will work in the long term. so again, we cannot expect that it will happen overnight, that russia will be weakened overnight. and what needs to happen soon is acknowledging russia, as a state sponsor of terrorism, putting secondary sanctions on them, pushing harder. basically what has been done to them was the hope that the economy will be torn apart was just step one of the longer plan. one of the items that we are working

on is making sure that russian central bank assets are being confiscated. so putin has been preparing for the war and has stored about $500 billion in the countries that he actually despises. so in the united states, canada, united kingdom, other democratic countries. and what we should do right now, what is fair and logical way to go on is to confiscate those assets and use them to support ukraine. that would be another hit to the russian economy and that would be the fair way not make people in the country that support us pay for putin's crimes, but also, make putin pay for his crimes and for the destruction that he made. and when we are talking about the international coalition and the countries that do not want to stop dealing with mr putin, it will be another sign for them

that the ones who are breaking the international laws will be punished as well. i guess the theme of our conversation today is that this is now looking like a very long war and ukraine has to prepare itself for that long struggle. do you think, in terms of ukraine's internal cohesion as a society, it is able to sustain all of the pressures that come with fighting in all—out existential war for years? it is a challenge indeed. and it is easy to be united for one month, it is harder to be united for six months and it is very hard to be united and cohesive for years. but for us, the question is — what is the alternative?

0n the political matter, it has been a year and we were doing very well for this year, we made a vow at the very beginning, at the first day of the full—scale invasion to put political differences aside and to work as one. and no matter how painful it was, i think we managed to sustain it. but aren't there are now signs of fragmentation? i mean, one immediate example — your defence minister was widely tipped just a few days ago to be removed. it was felt that zelensky wanted a new approach in the defence ministry. reznikov made it plain that he was not prepared to budge, and now there is a great deal of uncertainty about exactly what is happening. this is not good for that projection of unity, is it? ah, of course, and this is why we are working to make sure that media announcements are not being made before the decisions are made, because they hurt everybody.

it's not a good time to change a minister of defence when you are on track to getting the weapons that you need and that when you are preparing for a massive attack from your enemy. however, the reasons why the minister of defence was supposed to be removed were the recent claims of the corruption that we are fighting, and this is one of the huge challenges for our country. do you think... it should be clear to everybody — you are actually the leader of an opposition party in kyiv, the holos party. so in a sense, before the war began, you were a harsh critic of zelensky when it came to allegations of corruption in high places in ukraine and the failure to take on the so—called oligarchs. are you satisfied with what he has

done in the recent days and weeks? we have seen various senior officials fired, allegations of corruption, even within the defence department when it comes to the procurement of basic goods like foodstuffs for the armed forces. zelensky says he is now on top of it. do you think he is? i think firing people and creating cases for people is a good start, but i will be satisfied when i see that the processes are changed and that there is a proper control of them and that we are moving towards the transparent procurement for the army. this is what we are fighting for, not for having somebody fired, but to make sure that every single day we are becoming better in those processes and those matters. we understand that the war can be long—run for us. this is why we need to prepare on a larger scale, not on the scale

of one or two or three people fired. what does an opposition leader do at a time like this? when all of the talk of need for national unity, have you buttoned up your lips to a certain extent when it comes to critiquing the government and president zelensky in particular? yes, we are doing it behind the scenes. i am working as team ukraine, not as in oppositional leader. there is no opposition in times of war. but hang on. that is very interesting. you say you have signed up to team ukraine. there are questions about how he is handling the reform of the constitutional court, which the european union is not happy with. there are also questions about the way in which the county government is handling the question of minority rights when it comes

to russian language in russian culture in your country. doesn't ukraine, even at this time of terrible war, doesn't it need an opposition that is really willing and able to confront difficult truths? this is the work that is being done. we have all the spectrum of opinions in ukrainian parliament, and we are the people who are telling our government when they are doing things wrong. however, because of the war, we are doing it behind the scenes. not on the tv and not in a public matter as we used to do before. but the whole point of ukraine's battle is that you are fighting, you say, forfreedom and democracy, and democracy has to play out in public. how can the people of ukraine be entirely confident that behind the scenes, you are really fighting for what you believe to be

freedom and justice? so, first of all, we do hope that the limitations that we all put on ourselves are temporary. and we know that the fact that we are fighting for those democratic values is so important that we keep them all intact. like, the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freedom of democracy and processes. however, at every single point, we have to make tough decisions on how not to hurt our country at this time because winning the war is much more important than anything. the example is right now we have only one tv channel where all the channels are transmitting to. we have done that because the strength of the russian propaganda and the russian attacks at the very beginning of the full—scale invasion were very strong. it is temporarily, and this is one

of the ways how we are defending ourselves against the enemy. we are almost out of time. a final question coming back to the notion of a long struggle, a long war. ukraine is a country with a population that is less than one—third of that of russia's. in terms of scale and the ability to fight a long war and to endure terrible cost, russia is better placed than ukraine. does that mean that at some point you recognise there will have to be a negotiation and there will probably have to be some sort of compromise to end this war? it has been and in it will be a david—versus—goliath situation where we cannot rely on the scale or on our similar ability to provide as many weapons, as many soldiers as russia. we have to find different

strategy where we have to be struck smarter, stronger, more modern in fighting back. in terms of negotiations, what we learned is that you cannot have negotiations with russia unless you have a proper way of ensuring that they will keep their word. and there is no sign in the past that would prove that they will keep their word. it is quite the opposite. so before, there is any way a person or an organisation or anything that can assure us that russia will not attack us again, there are no negotiations, there are no deals. you know, one of the personal things that we all share is we have seen all of the terrorists of this war and what we owe to our next generation is that this war will end on us. and for this particular sake, until we find a proper way to make sure that putin,

russia or whatever would not attack us again, we will continue fighting. kira rudik, i thank you so much forjoining me on hardtalk. thank you very much indeed. good afternoon. sunshine is in relatively short supply today. there is a bit of brightness out there. this was the scene earlier on for one of our weather watchers in northumberland. north east england and eastern scotland, seeing some of the best of the sunshine because all of this cloud is feeding in from the west. so it's where you've got a bit of shelter to the east of higher

grounds that you have the best chance of seeing some brightness. this is how we end the afternoon, with temperatures in parts of eastern scotland, northeast england, up to 13 degrees, but it is mild elsewhere, despite those fairly large amounts of cloud. a few brighter breaks here and there. and then overnight there will continue to be large amounts of cloud, the odd spot of patchy rain and drizzle, but where we do see clear spells for any length of time, perhaps most especially in the northeast of scotland, and maybe parts of east wales and south west england, there could be a patchy frost, but most of us will see temperatures above freezing. now as we head into sunday, high pressure will still be with us. the centre of the high perhaps starting to drift a little further eastwards and that will allow the breeze to pick up a little bit across western and northern parts, which should help to break up the cloud and give a little more in the way of sunshine through parts of south west england, wales, northern ireland and across scotland, particularly in the north east of scotland, actually, seeing some sunny spells during the day, and there's confirmation of those slightly stronger winds in western and northern parts. further south and east,

i think the cloud will be quite hard to shift. the winds will be that bit lighter, but it is going to be mild temperatures of ten, 11 or 12 degrees. now as we head on into monday, our area of high pressure still with us, but it continues to drift a little further eastwards. this frontal system trying to push in from the west. it's going to take a while to do so. and in the meantime, on monday, we'll have a southerly wind. and as that wind becomes a bit more of a feature, well, the cloud should tend to break up a little more. so we should see more in the way of sunshine on monday. still feeling mild, nine degrees in aberdeen, 12 in london and in plymouth. and then as we head deeper into the week, well, there's some uncertainty about the timing, but it does look like that frontal system in the west will eventually shift eastwards, bringing some rain, probably most likely from wednesday onwards. and once that front has moved through, we will see further wet weather at times as we end the week. but throughout it is going to stay mild with temperatures generally between ten and 13 degrees.

this is bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. the headlines. aid agencies call for better access to the earthquake disaster zones from turkey to syria, as the number of people killed in both countries rises to more than 25,000. over on that side of the border, there is the constant sound of sirens, of heavy machinery, of people working. there is none of that here. down there are small children removing the rubble. people are still being pulled out alive from under the rubble in turkey, more than 120 hours after the first earthquake struck. the un aid chief calls the scale of the disaster, and the response to it, unprecedented. what is so amazing is that people are still coming out of the rubble alive six days in.