welcome to newsday — reporting live from singapore — i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... two presidents — two versions of history. the leaders of america and russia clash over the conflict in ukraine. translation: to defend our historical lands and liquidate | the threat of the neo—nazi regime, we launched a special operation. we are seeing again today what the people of poland and the people across europe saw for decades — appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased. vladimir putin has also suspended moscow's involvement in a key nuclear arms treaty — we'll examine the implications. also in newsday this hour...

mexico's former security chief is found guilty of taking bribes — in return for helping drug dealers. and — empty food shelves in the uk — why are some supermarkets having to limit sales of fruit and veg? live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to the programme. we have a tale of two presidents for you this hour from the us and russia. we'll get to the american presidentjoe biden in a moment — but first — russian leader vladimir putin. he's announced he's suspending russian participation in the last major nuclear arms control agreement with the us. in his two—hour state of the nation address, mr putin accused the west of starting the war in ukraine and seeking to destroy russia in a global confrontation.

our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. the world according to vladimir putin feels like a parallel universe. who started the war in ukraine? "not russia," he says. translation: responsibility for fuelling the ukrainian - conflict, for its escalation, and for the growing number of victims lies fully with the west and, of course, with the regime in kyiv. i wish to repeat, they started the war, we are using force to stop it. but it was russia that invaded ukraine. western military aid has helped kyiv resist. it hasn't forced the kremlin, though, to de—escalate. today, president putin suspended russia's participation in the last—remaining nuclear arms control treaty with america — an agreement that limits

nuclear arsenals and provides for missile inspections. no longer topical, says the kremlin. translation: we know| that the west has directly helped kyiv to launch strikes on airbases where our strategic nuclear bombers are located. now they want to carry out inspections of our military sites. in light of today's confrontation, that is absurd. applause. support here, but unpicking that treaty risks a nuclear arms race. in order to avoid nuclear war, it's better to have a framework, but losing this framework, we are witnessing the real threat of a nuclear war. washington says the kremlin�*s decision to halt participation in the nuclear treaty is deeply unfortunate and irresponsible. the bbc wasn't allowed

to attend the kremlin leader's big speech. journalists from what russia calls "unfriendly countries" were not sent an invitation. but after watching president putin on tv, this is what struck me most about him. his "special military operation" has not gone at all according to plan, but regret, there was no hint of that, and no sign at all that putin is looking foran off ramp. instead of compromise, he favours confrontation. applause. and this audience loved it. mind you, the president here was preaching to the converted. all main russian tv channels carried the speech live. from these images alone, you'd never know things had gone badly wrong for russia on the battlefield. translation: russia will respond to any challenge l we face, because we are one country, one people. we believe in ourselves,

in our strength. truth is on our side. after one year of war, the kremlin is still managing to persuade most russians to believe that. to president biden now — who says democracies are stronger and autocracies weaker, one year on from vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine. in a speech in poland he said western support for ukraine would never waver and nato would never be divided — as our north america editor sarah smith reports from warsaw. in front of the blue and yellow ukrainian colours, president biden came here to project american might and to pledge to use it to protect ukraine, democracy and freedom. when russia invaded, it wasn't just ukraine being tested, the whole world faced a test for the ages. europe was being tested,

america was being tested, nato was being tested, all democracies are being tested and the questions we faced were as simple as they were profound. would we respond or would we look the other way? we know the answer, we did respond, we would be strong, we would be united, and the world would not look the other way. and ukraine — ukraine will never be a victory for russia. never. cheering. this is a direct appeal to nato allies — as well as to the american people — to keep up their commitment to ukraine, even if this conflict could last for years to come. refuting vladimir putin's assertion that the us provoked this war, he spoke directly to the russian people. the united states and the nations of europe do not seek to control or destroy russia.

the west was not plotting to attack russia, as putin said today. and millions of russian citizens, who only want to live in peace with their neighbours, are not the enemy. earlier today, mr biden met polish president andrzej duda. this display of solidarity is to demonstrate america's guarantee of poland's security and its promise to defend every inch of nato territory. but they want more than that. poland backs ukraine's demands for f—16fighterjets. the us is not ready to send planes yet, but that could change. and we will keep standing up for these same things, no matter what. with public support for the war slipping in america, the president made a direct appeal to americans' fundamental values and the need to fight for them. freedom. stand with us.

we will stand with you. let us move forward with faith and conviction and an abiding commitment to be allies, not of darkness, but of light. not of oppression, but of liberation. not of captivity but, yes, of freedom. may god bless you all, may god protect our troops, and may god bless the heroes of ukraine. proud that mr putin's expectations of a weak and divided west have been met with a firm, united front against his war, president biden�*s biggest task now is trying to keep his allies as committed as he is, for as long as it takes. sarah smith, bbc news, warsaw. well, the chinese government has expressed concern that the conflict could escalate and spiral out of control. president xi is due to outline his country's plans for the conflict later this week. our china correspondent is stephen mcdonell is in beijing — i asked him

for his assessment of china's role in the conflict. well, as you mentioned, china's former minister has issued this rather ominous warning that beijing thinks the conflict in ukraine could spiral out of control, and his words, if certain countries keep pouring fuel onto the fire. now, we didn't mention the us, but that is who he is accusing her of pouring on the fuel. china has been accusing the us of prolonging the war. now, it doesn't mention the war or invasion, lest it offend russia, but now you have the us saying that china is the one that could be making the word go ——that china is the one that could be making the war go longer if it starts supplying arms and ammunition for the russian war effort. beijing says its neutral. researchers in north america say this country is already suppling these dual use

technologies. so equipment that could be used to fix fighter jets or jamming gear. later this week, china's leader will be making a speech and apparently calling for a negotiated settlement in ukraine. but if the war keeps going, it looks like vladimir putin is facing a humiliating defeat on the battlefield. it is unclear what china might do. however, there is one other thing that he did mention in his speech. he stressed that china wants all sides to avoid straying into a nuclear conflict. so there is some concern about that here in beijing. steve mcdonald speaking to us a little earlier. and what he was referring to, of course, was the concern over the threat of nuclear escalation. earlier, i spoke to lynn rusten who serves as a vice president at the nonprofit organisation, the nuclear threat initiative

in washington and was involved in the negotiation of this treaty which putin has now suspended. earlier i asked her about russia's decision today. with the russians have said and what to has set as they tend to abide by the numerical limits of the treaty, but they are suspending is the participation in on—site inspections, which both sides had suspended during the pandemic, but in the last six months or so, the united states has said, ok, it is time to work out the protocols for inspections and we can manage the pandemic. the russians haven't been willing to do that. apparently they may also not be suspending their obligation to provide data and information according to the treaty. so this is very troubling because you can't, sort of pick and choose and selectively implement only parts of the treaty. it's putting the whole treaty at risk. ~ ., ., , , ., putting the whole treaty at risk. ., ., , , ., ., risk. what does this mean for other nuclear _ risk. what does this mean for other nuclear countries? - risk. what does this mean for other nuclear countries? i'ml other nuclear countries? i'm thinking about china, for instance, because we just spoke

to our correspondent who outlined the fact that china has tried to remain neutral on this issue. has tried to remain neutral on this issue-— this issue. there are several different _ this issue. there are several different facets _ this issue. there are several different facets to _ this issue. there are several different facets to the - this issue. there are several different facets to the china | different facets to the china question. on the one hand, china and the president has more ability to influence president clinton than any other world leader. and when the whole international community was so concerned last summer and fall when president putin was kind of rattling the nuclear sabre and making veiled threats, it was very significant that the president of china publicly basically said there is no place for nuclear threats in this conflict. and i'm sure he had private counsel to. —— to influence president putin. the use of nuclear weapons, i think china can play a moderating role. to other stories now. at least six people have been confirmed dead in yesterday's earthquake — the latest — to hit the border region of turkey and syria. the tremor — with a magnitude

of 6.4 — prompted a fresh wave of panic in the area. the turkish city of antakya — close to the border with syria — was worst hit. rescuers are once again searching for people trapped under rubble. this quake came two weeks after the devastating quakes in turkey and syria which killed at least 16,000 people. a new york court has found mexico's former security chief guilty of taking bribes in return for allowing safe passage for drugs. prosecutors said genaro garcia luna was secretly taking millions from the country's biggest crime group, the sinaloa drug cartel — the same one he was supposed to be pursuing. luna faces ten years to life in prison. our correspondent nada tawfik has been following the trial. he was once the highest—ranking law enforcement official in mexico and was trusted by the former president, a top partner,

really, for us officials and fbi, but what we heard through this trial, and it has to be said, it was mainly through the testimony of cartel members who have been convicted of their own drug crimes, we heard how old he essentially allowed the cartel to become a global cocaine empire by passing on to them sensitive law enforcement investigations, at one point even giving them federal police officer uniforms and escorts so they could ship their cocaine. all of that for bribes, and all of that to betrayal of his country. a romanian court has confirmed the british american social media influencer andrew tate and his brother tristan will remain in custody for a further 30 days — until the end of march. the two men have been held for almost two months while police investigate allegations of human trafficking and rape. the brothers' have denied any wrongdoing.

the east coast of madagascar is being lashed by high winds and heavy rain as cyclone freddy makes landfall. it's the second cyclone to hit the island this year, afterjanuary�*s devastating cyclone cheneso which killed 33 people, and left 30,000 homeless. freddy has been developing across 6,500km of the sentience ocean — for weeks now, taking its time. but now it's here — bringing with it winds of more than 150 kilometres per hour. as it travels across the madagascar landmass it will weaken — but not for long — strengthening once again — across the waters to mozambique by friday. kenya's parliament has ordered an inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse on tea plantations revealed in a bbc report. it found more than 70 women had been abused by managers at plantations operated by two british companies — unilever and james finlay. the companies say they have suspended the three managers in question and are shocked by the claims. the fairtrade foundation

said the investigation — by bbc africa eye and panoroma — was "a metoo moment for tea". you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... it's getting harder to find yourfive a day in the uk — we'll look at why some supermarkets there are having to limit sales of fruit and veg. prince charles has chosen his bride. the prince proposed to lady diana spencer three weeks ago. she accepted, she says, without hesitation. as revolutions go, this has had its fair share of bullets, a climax in the night outside the gates of mr marcos's sanctuary, malaca nang. the name itself symbolising one of the cruellest regimes of modern asia. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly using a cell from another sheep. warren beatty and faye dunaway announced to the world that the winner of the best film was la la land,

the only trouble was it wasn't. the mistake was only put right in the middle of gushing speeches by the team behind the modern musical. not for 20 years have locusts been seen in such numbers in this part of africa. some of the swarms have been ten miles long. this is the last time the public will see this pope very soon for the sake of the credibility and authority of the next pope, benedict xvi will in his own words be hidden from the world for the rest of his life. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines... two presidents — two versions of history. the leaders of america and russia clash over the conflict in ukraine. mexico's former security chief is found guilty of taking bribes — in return for helping drug dealers.

and with more on that top story. this week marks a year since russian forces invaded ukraine. as the conflict between russia and ukraine continues, many families have been forced to flee the country over the last year and some won't return for fears of their safety. on tuesday, president biden spoke in warsaw about the 1.5 million ukrainian refugees that have settled in poland and in the uk. over 115,000 refugees have arrived in britain under the homes for ukraine scheme. olga kravchenko is the co—founder and ceo of musemio — a virtual reality app for children to explore arts, culture and history. we spoke to olga when russia first invaded ukraine — her mother was trapped inside and initially she wasn't able to get in touch with her. from portsmouth in the uk, olga explained how the past year has been for her, herfamily and her team. it has been a horrible year, it is been the toughest year it's been a real roller coaster from trying to rescue my family, my mum and grandma, getting

them out of the country, they are now settled in the uk for the foreseeable future, we are volunteering trying to encourage people to donate and also managing my team who is also based in ukraine with the daily challenges that the war would throw at when you are running a business, not the challenge i was ready for, but something we are all adjusting to, the new reality. indeed. i remember when we last spoke, you were not able to get in touch with your mum. i'm glad to hear that she is indeed safe and with you in the uk, butjust talk us through those days when you had not had any contact and how you managed to get her and other members of yourfamily to where you are. we had quite low contact at the beginning of the war, because they would end up going into the underground parking during the sirens.

and eventually they managed to move to the south of kyiv and they stayed there for around three weeks since the beginning of the invasion and itjust wasn't safe to leave. it was my mum and my grandma driving. for them it was a real challenge. it was really hard to find any petrol, but eventually around three weeks later, two and half, they managed to find enough petrol that would last until they would actually get to the western part of ukraine. the western part of ukraine has been followed because all ——the western part of ukraine has been full because all the refugees will be pretty much coming through these areas, and on the night when they managed to get close to the border, they couldn't find any place to sleep, so they ended up sleeping in the car. they were lucky to have a car. i mean, there are so many more people who had to cross

the border on foot. and eventually they managed to reach hungary, and that's when me and my husband flew there to pick them up, to help them with a visa, lucky by this plains, the uk had set up a very good process for the family scheme for us to come for homes for ukraine. looking back now, at that time, did you think that the war would last for this long? no. ididn't think... i think everyone really hoped, especially in the first few weeks in that there will be an end, there will not be so many deaths, so many civilians and so many military men dying as a result of the invasion, and i could never have imagined that we will be marking the one—year anniversary and there shouldbe be a second anniversary because this is just impossible

to imagine that there is still a full—fledged war going on in the middle of europe. in the uk, the royal college of nursing has suspended next week's 48—hour strike in england as they re—start talks with the government over pay. the rcn originally asked for a pay rise of 5% above inflation, but has since said it would be willing to meet the government half—way. next week's walk—out, from 1—3 march, was set to be the biggest strike of this winter's pay dispute, with half of front line services affected. some british supermarkets — including asda and morrisons — have started limiting the amount of fruit and vegetables that people can buy. the shortage of produce such as cucumbers, broccoli or tomatoes — is being blamed on bad weather and poor harvests in europe and north africa. the bbc�*s rural affairs correspondent claire marshall reports. asda and morrisons say they've had problems getting hold of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other salad and vegetable crops,

and are putting some limits on what you can buy. the reason? extreme weather across the key producer region of southern spain and north africa. this is morocco. snowstorms have led the government to hand out emergency aid to thousands of families. retailers are saying the limits will be temporary, which means there's no reason to panic—buy. more produce is grown here during the summer months but according to the british retail consortium we import around 95% of tomatoes and 95% of lettuces between december and march. we expect this to be short—term disruption due to bad weather at the moment but genuine supply is really good from these parts of europe and north africa so people don't need to be worried. a little bit frustrating at the moment but it will soon pass. but should there be shortages in the uk? at the national farmers' union conference in birmingham, there's been criticism of the government's record on food security. the rhetoric of successive

governments that we are a wealthy country, we canjust import our food, must be exposed as naive in the extreme, in a rapidly challenging world. the farming minister mark spencer, though, told us that some empty shelves can be seen as an opportunity. there has been some shortages. now, that actually is an opportunity for uk producers, if they can make those figures stack up, to produce more food here domestically. we want to try and support them in doing that. the shelves in the dairy aisle of one major uk supermarket get filled with milk created by abi reader's cows, but business is hard. climate change, the war in ukraine, the lack of labour, the price of fertiliser and the rising cost of the feed these animals eat are all having an impact. there are empty sheds out there that should be growing fruit and veg. there are empty sheds that should have poultry in them to produce eggs. and this food just isn't coming through the system.

there's a chill wind being felt by those living and working in the countryside, just so many pressures. if the outlook doesn't improve, then the rural landscape could change forever. the fact is that there are a growing number of hungry mouths, and it's becoming more expensive and difficult to feed them. claire marshall, bbc news. and finally — an historic two—day football game in the uk — involving thousands of players competing to move a ball to opposite ends of a derbyshire town — has begun. the royal shrovetide football match in ashbourne — traditionally played on shrove tuesday and ash wednesday — has been held nearly every year since at least 1667. the game dates back to the 12th century. look at all those people having a rather good time there indeed. that brings us to the end of newsday at this hour.

thank you so much forjoining me. stay with bbc world news. hello there. we're seeing a change to cooler weather on wednesday, even with some rain around as well. now, it has been really dry for many central and eastern parts of england this month. we started the week with temperatures as high as 17 celsius. but things are changing because we've got this cloud that's moving up from northern france to bring some showers, and that's ahead of this thicker band of cloud that's bringing the rain on that weather front there. that's going to continue to push its way steadily eastwards, and then following on from that, this is where we get the cooler air coming in from the atlantic. and we start the day with temperatures around about 5—6 celsius with a lot of cloud around. we've got the rain across eastern scotland that will move away, sunshine and showers will follow wintry over the hills, perhaps, and a cool wind

for northern ireland, sunshine and showers here. more cloud for england and wales, could keep some rain across some northern and eastern parts of england, may well turn a bit brighter with some sunshine, but again, some showers for wales, the south west and later the midlands. and for all of us, it's a bit cooler, the temperatures typically around 9 celsius or so. now we've got cooler weather because we're changing the wind direction. instead of that very mild south—westerly that we started the week with, it's more of a north westerly wind turning northerly across england and wales as we head into thursday. around the top of that area of high pressure, some weather fronts will bring some wetter, windy weather across the north, but we've still got some rain to clear from overnight across southern parts of england. that cloud could be very slow to break up, other parts of england, of wales seeing some sunshine, more cloud coming into scotland and northern ireland, wet and windy weather coming into the far north of scotland. temperatures could make double figures in scotland and northern ireland, but it's chilly 8—9 celsius for england and wales. that high pressure is not really dominating just yet. instead, we've got this weather front, an area of low pressure sliding down through the north

sea. now, there's not going to be much rain left on that weather front. it's a band of cloud, most of the rain dying out, we'll get a northerly wind following on behind, maybe a bit of sunshine coming back into scotland and some sunshine perhaps towards wales and the south west of england. probably quite a bit of cloud on friday, although it won't be quite as cold, those temperatures generally around 9—10 celsius. so we've got some wet weather around the middle part of the week, that's going to introduce something a little bit colder. but then with high pressure building through the rest of the month, looks like we're back into dry weather.

you are watching bbc news. stay tuned for the headlines, and more after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in vladimir putin's mind, ukraine is a fake state manipulated by the west. his effort to drag it back into the russian world began long before his all out invasion a year ago. back in 2014, he showed his contempt for kyiv sovereignty

in crimea and the donbas. ironically, putin's denial of ukraine's identity has