we're live in the capital, kyiv. explosion. on the eastern front — we have a special report on the battle for one strategic town. the front line is about 500 metres away. they say russian troops are trying to advance, but they are holding them back. ukraine's president zelensky honours the country's war heroes and is adamant victory will come. translation: if our partners respect all their promises - and deadlines then victory will inevitably await us. if we can all do our homework, we can all win.

and the other main stories on tonight's programme... junior doctors in england announce three consecutive days of strikes in march over pay — it will affect both routine and emergency care. and a third candidate slips in before the deadline to run to succeed nicola sturgeon as snp leader and first minister. on bbc london, a year after the war in ukraine began, and coming up on the bbc news channel: a semifinal shock as england lose to south africa at the women's t20 world cup and the hosts go through to play australia on sunday. good evening. welcome to the ukrainian capital kyiv, where exactly one year ago today, before dawn,

the people of this city were woken up by the sound of air raid sirens, signalling russia's invasion. what's followed has been a year of tears and savagery, defiance and hope. many thousands have died. we've seen the worst fighting and refugee emergency on european soil since 1916. there's world food insecurity, a major energy crisis and rising global inflation. all because of a war of choice. president zelensky says the country has endured a year of pain at the hands of what he described as russian terrorists, but victory is inevitable, he says, with continued western support. we'll be hearing from orla guerin on the front—line, and our international editor, jeremy bowen, will reflect on 12 months of the war. but first, our kyiv correspondent, james waterhouse, reports on how the anniversary has been marked here in the capital. the morning war rained down on ukraine.

air raid siren. a shadow with haunting consequences. the once unthinkable playing out as the world looked on. 150,000 russian troops moving in from three directions. ukraine's leader had offers to leave. but he stayed. and is still here. this is a bittersweet day for ukraine. a reminder of remarkable survival and extraordinary loss. i kindly ask everyone to observe a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the aggression. i thank you, mr president.

russia doesn't see this as a day worth marking. at the united nations, even a moment of reflection turned into an argument. we are standing to honour all victims, said the russian ambassador. in kyiv, ukraine's leader is trying to add to his long list of supporters. if victory hasn't arrived to you by this time next year, what do you think the most likely reason for that would be? i don't want to think about it. and you forget all your words. we have to be sure together we are partners, we are together. we will win. where are our aircrafts typhoon? he means the ones britain said it might send. please ask my friend rishi. an unusually long press conference for president zelensky.

three hours with the international media. his message, that he is fighting a warfor the world, and that he needs their continued support in order to win it. the first promised tanks have been delivered to ukraine from neighbouring poland. it's this kind of hardware which kyiv says it needs to seize the initiative before russia does. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. marking one year of sorrow here in the capital. members of the g7 group of the largest developed economies say they'll put new sanctions on russia. this as china offers up a peace plan, though western leaders are wary, given beijing's close ties to moscow. there's been little diplomacy to try to end the conflict over the last 12 months. it's the armies of both sides who've dictated the war. let's take a look at a map of ukrainian territory during the conflict so far.

now before the invasion, parts of luhansk and donetsk in the east were held by russian—backed separatists, here in yellow. crimea was of course illegally annexed by russia, in 2014. but weeks into the invasion, large parts of the south, east and north of ukraine were under russian military control. ukraine has fought back thanks to artillery from europe and america, and seized back much of the north, but russia still occupies large parts of the east. and that's where the fiercest fighting is currently taking place, and our senior international correspondent 0rla guerin and cameraman goktay koraltan have been on the front line with ukrainian troops, in the town vuhledar, and sent us this report. deep in the forest near the town of vuhledar, we get a close—up of the war.

the daily battle to hold off the russians, who aren't winning, but aren't giving up either. inside the town, ukrainian troops lobbing mortars and obscenities. moving fast to avoid being targeted themselves. a once prosperous coal—mining town is now a wasteland. we head towards the front line, with soldiers at the heart of the battle. their commander, codenamed beast, has been up all night fighting. how far away are the nearest russian positions? 0ne kilometre.

we move forward carefully. the russians have no line of sight here, but they have eyes in the sky. plane. get down, goktay! we've just been told to duck down here now and take cover at the wall. the troops have heard something, possibly a russian drone. the front line is about 500 metres away. they say russian troops are trying to advance, but they're holding them back. a few hundred souls remain in this broken place, without light or heat, without peace or safety. solace comes in the form of 0leg tkachenko, an evangelical pastor in camouflage gear who braves the shelling to deliver aid.

"it's a matter of life or death," he tells me. "we bring bread and water. "the risk is huge, but so is the reward "saving people's lives." "hang on," he says. "it's one loaf per person." valentyna waits her turn. she's 73 and says she has nowhere else to go. "we are frightened, of course, but what can we do? "we live with it. "you can't say, don't shoot. "they have theirjob. "we have our lives. what was life like here before the invasion? how were things before?

"it was good. the town was quiet, calm and clean. "people worked. we had money. "what can i say? it was a good town. and there was a good life for many in ukraine, like ruslan and denys, nine—year—old twins, the stars of this family video. they were side by side always until russian shelling tore them apart. their mother, anastasia, takes me to the park in central ukraine where denys was hit by shrapnel last september. "he was lying next to my legs," she says. "why didn't it hit me?

"ruslan was screaming, denys, get up! on his grave, this photo, taken two days before his death. ruslan cannot accept his best friend is gone. he sends himself messages from denys's phone. that piece of shrapnel will follow him through life and follow her. 0ne family, one loss, one year of russia's war. 0rla guerin, bbc news, eastern ukraine. the view from the eastern front. well, our international editorjeremy bowen has reported on the conflict from the very beginning. he's kept in touch with many of the ukrainians he's spoken to along the way, and he's been back to meet some of them

to get their reflections on 12 months of war. the russians expected a quick victory, taking back what president putin believes is theirs. a year later, the war is not close to over. ukrainians are fighting back in a war nato believes is vital to global security. this volunteer sniper kept the video of his first firefight. i was crying because i was thinking that i did things which i'd never done before. i was thinking about these dead guys, like, hey, they have families, some of them maybe have children. any sympathy you had at the beginning forjust poor russian soldiers has gone? they should suffer. they should not like just be killed, they should suffer about things which they've done. their families should never see them, even dead bodies.

millions of ukrainian civilians have been forced from their homes. these were escaping from the suburb of irpin into kyiv last winter. it looked like a throwback to europe's dark 20th century. in fact, the war has initiated a new and dangerous era. the threat for people a long way from the battlefield is that the war might spread beyond ukraine. a year on, a new irpin bridge and the old challenge avoiding direct confrontation between russia and nato. the way that the ukrainians stopped the russians just back there changed every calculation about the war. nato saw it had an ally worth supporting and then moved very fast to do that.

now, that has carried some heavy costs economic, a massive military commitment and even a risk of nuclear war. now, the ukrainians are conscious that future nato governments might not want to carry that heavy a burden, which is why they're calling 2023 their year of victory. ukraine's fighting spirit is intact, but neither side has the edge it would need to win. these were ukrainian volunteers signing up a year ago, from 60—somethings to young men just out of school. the war started here for maxim, then 19, and his friend dmytro, 18. what are you studying? i am studying economy. and i'm studying biology. good luck, guys. yeah, thank you. good luck. they didn't feel as brave as they tried to look. there was a lot of fear, i'm not going to lie, because i haven't experienced anything like that before. we had some stupid brave.

..braveness, bravery, and it helped us to overcome our fear. after a few days on checkpoints and some basic training, both dmytro and maxim were plunged into the fighting. when the war switched to the east, dmytro stayed in kyiv. maxim has fought and was wounded in some of the toughest battles in donbas. this video is from his body cam. by the summer, in the ruins of eastern ukraine, as the battle for control of bakhmut was starting, maxim was an experienced fighting soldier. we were defending the... explosion. ..the chemicalfactory. he's still only 20. explosion. both maxim and dmytro

share their president's view — no trading ukrainian land for peace with putin's russia. we have a joke, putin will be awarded as a hero of ukraine for hisjob that he did to unite ukraine, to build our economy, to build our army and to make ukrainian nation great. and that unity was strengthened when ukrainian troops fought their way into bucha, outside kyiv, and found evidence of russian war crimes. a few miles from bucha, irina, on her own, buried her son in her garden after russians shot him on the 10th of march last year as he went to work. this was oleksei as a boy. he was 27 when he was killed. a year later, irina walks to the cemetery every day where he was reburied.

she dressed her boy in new clothes with a flower in his buttonhole, as he was engaged. she sobs she is tormented by what happened. the russians wrecked her house after they killed her son. translation: we were hungry and cold. you shudder all the time, can't get any sleep. how long do you think the war might last? translation: until putin dies. that's how long we have to suffer. until that animal dies. the cemeteries are expanding and more offensives are coming. ukraine will get more support from nato. russia could get more from china.

one big challenge for the war�*s second year — controlling the pace of escalation, keeping the killing in ukraine. jeremy bowen, bbc news, kyiv. reflections in 12 months of war there. our russia editor steve rosenberg is in moscow. president putin shocked the world a year ago. what's the thinking in the kremlin now? well, put it like this, clive. vladimir putin has a dictionary on his desk, i suspect that these words are not in it. de—escalation, off ramp, defeat. from everything he has been saying in recent weeks, it is pretty clear that putin is determined to push on in ukraine, either because he truly believes he can secure victory there, or because he thinks that he's in it so deep that he can't see a way back for himself. eitherway, ican�*t that he can't see a way back for himself. either way, i can't see an end to this war anytime soon, and

actually, that is the message from putin to the people now. get used to this. this is the new normal. russia, mobilised, and on war footing. and to get russians to rally around the flag and the president, the state media here is telling people that the west is trying to destroy russia, like napoleon tried, and hitler tried, and that is very powerful and potent and that is very powerful and potent and persuasive propaganda from the kremlin. 0k. kremlin. ok. steve, thank you. steve rosenberg, our russia editor, live in moscow. we'll be back with a final thought from lyse doucet a little later, but for now back to you, reeta, in the studio. clive, thank you. junior doctors in england are to go on strike for three consecutive days in the middle of march over pay, their union has announced. the 72—hour action will involve both routine and emergency care. junior doctors make up more than 40% of the entire medical workforce,

covering those who've just left medical school to doctors with many years' experience in hospitals. downing street has called the strike action "disappointing". our health editor hugh pym is here with more. yes, reeta, the british medical association says this will be the longest ever continuous strike in the nhs by doctors, and it will affect all forms of care, including emergencies. the strike will start in england at 7am on monday, march 13, and end at 7am on thursday the 16th. junior doctors cover a range of experience, from newly qualified medics earning just over £29,000 a year, right through to experienced doctors at more than 58,000, the level below consultants. this doesn't include extra payments for unsocial hours. ministers say the work ofjunior doctors is valued,

but the strike vote was deeply disappointing. the bma has called for a pay rise to reflect the impact of inflation over a decade and a half. doctors have lost 26.1% of their pay over the last 15 years. we are not worth less than a doctor in 2008. doctors are graduating on £14 an hour. junior doctors last went on strike in 2016, again affecting all forms of care, but not for as long as the planned strike next month. nhs leaders say consultants will have to cover emergency care while theirjunior colleagues are absent, which means cancellations and disruption for non—urgent operations and appointments. i think that across the country, health leaders are going to be really stressed about this announcement. it's not something that anybody wanted to hear, and knowing that it is going to happen and that there's going to be industrial action for three days, it's going to be pretty difficult to deal with across the nhs. as well as the junior doctors'

action in the middle of the month, there will be strikes by ambulance staff in england and wales and at some nhs trusts in march, on the 6th, 8th and 20th. there's no strike action in scotland after a higher pay offer and some unions are considering an offer from the welsh government. meanwhile, the royal college of nursing is in talks with ministers about pay in england. these are said to be ongoing and are set to continue next week. reeta. thank you very much. now a look at some other stories making the news today. there are fresh hopes that a new deal on post—brexit trade rules for northern ireland could be announced in the coming days. it follows a call between rishi sunak and the european commission president ursula von der leyen, which was described as positive. it comes after plans to sign an agreement earlier this week were delayed. police have confirmed they're treating the attempted murder of an off—duty officer in omagh as terrorist—related.

detective chief inspector john caldwell remains critically ill after he was shot at a sports centre on wednesday. five men have been arrested. investigators say they're focused primarily on the dissident republican group the new ira. sir bernard ingham, who was margaret thatcher's press secretary for the majority of her 11 years as prime minister, has died at the age of 90. known for his no—nonsense approach to dealing with the press and dislike of "spin", he became a staunch alley of mrs thatcher's. she rewarded his loyalty with a knighthood in her resignation honours list. sir bernard ingham, who's died at the age of 90. the snp has confirmed that three candidates are in the race to succeed nicola sturgeon as party leader and first minister of scotland. kate forbes, ash regan and humza yousaf all secured enough nominations to make it on to the ballot paper. voting begins on march 13th

and will close on the 27th. our scotland editor james cook has the latest. stepping into the spotlight, ash regan�*s campaign are calling her the underdog. she is calling on campaigners for scottish independence to unite. the truth is that our movement has been divided for far too long by petty differences and personal agendas. instead, she promised a relentless focus on independence, insisting an election victory at holyrood or westminster would provide a mandate. you have said that you will explicitly declare in your manifesto... line one. line one, that should you achieve a majority of seats and votes that on day one... yeah. ..of being in power you would open negotiations. absolutely right.

with whom? with the uk government. on day one? yeah. and if they don't come? listen, we have got to move away from this point where we are asking permission from the uk. this is about scotland and it's about scotland expressing its views on how it wants to be governed. so we are going to get away from that and this is my attempt to move us forward, move that conversation forward. but the concept of a negotiation obviously requires two parties. of course. if they refused to turn up, what would you do then? so, we are going to be getting international recognition obviously for the fact that scotland has made a democratic choice in this case. in a general election? yes. kate forbes has broken into maternity leave from herjob as finance secretary to join ash regan in the contest, along with the health secretary humza yousaf. but the two heavyweights have found it heavy going, facing questions about how their faith influences their politics. miss forbes came underfire for her opposition to gay marriage. mr yousaf was accused of dodging the final vote on the subject, which he denies. so the campaign focus has been on social issues,

but what if snp members are having a parallel campaign, concentrating not on culture, but competence? the first poll of party supporters does come with some caveats, but it suggests a big lead for kate forbes. james cook, bbc news, on the firth of forth. we will get more from ukraine in just a moment. first, we will get more from ukraine in justa moment. first, let's we will get more from ukraine in just a moment. first, let's take a look at the weather with chris. hello. we had a stunning sunrise this morning. look at this. this crimson beam of light piercing the morning sky is called a sun pillar, and is caused by ice crystals reflecting the first rays of the sun's light as it comes above the horizon. we ended the day in north—west scotland with some much thicker cloud, a little less pretty, i suppose, with a few showers falling from it. this cloud is really important, because it is from this big sheet out in the north sea at the moment, and the thing is, the

winds are going to be driving that sheet of cloud in towards our shores. in fact, sheet of cloud in towards our shores. infact, it sheet of cloud in towards our shores. in fact, it isjust beginning to arrive around the east coast at the moment. the significance of this is, unfortunately, the computer models are really struggling to get a hold of this. there is hardly any cloud here, but it is here in reality, and it will be coming in sure. so eastern areas in england and scotland, that i will probably keep temperatures from falling below freezing, whereas out west, with clearer skies, a cold night with a widespread frost, and at this temperatures probably down to about —4 temperatures probably down to about “4 or so. tomorrow morning, and east— west split, with eastern scotland and eastern areas of england starting with a lot of cloud and probably some light showers. there might even be the odd bit of sleet. furtherwest, there might even be the odd bit of sleet. further west, the best sunshine for northern ireland in west scotland, west england and wales as well. will feel a little cold tomorrow. temperatures a little below par for the time of year, factoring in the chilly north—easterly winds, it will feel quite cold if you are out and about. the area of high pressure we have at the moment are still with us recently and much of next week. it

will drag on a lot of cloud across eastern areas on sunday, still with a view showers. winds not quite a strong, but probably funnelling down the thames estuary, and could be quite cold in the centre of london for sunday. temperatures not changing too much, 7—8, typically, but more of the same into next week. thanks, changing too much, 7—8, typically, but more of the same into next week. thanks, chris. now more in our main story, the first anniversary of the war in ukraine. let's rejoin clive myrie in kyiv. reeta, thank you. helping to guide us all through the twists and turns of this conflict has been my colleague, our chief international correspondent lyse doucet, who's with me now. lyse, we were here together, this time exactly a year ago when russian tanks rolled in, and i wonder what are your thoughts now is this conflict enters its second year? it is so chilling most of all, clive, for ukrainians to remember those fateful hours of a year ago, and it has been a year in which

ukraine became a different country, and so much of the world as we knew it is different too. and as we have been hearing throughout this programme, it has been a yearfor ukrainians of crushing losses, but still this soaring hope. ifound it extraordinary on this visit to see how the resolve of ukrainians has still not been broken, despite living for months with flashlights because of the power cuts, living with explosions and shortages and curfews. but if there is one word which stands out at this one year mark, it is the word victory. we headed tonight from president zelensky, saying that victory would be there as if his allies continue to support them. we heard it from moscow, president putin vowing to achieve victory. we heard it from poland, with president biden saying that russia will never have victory in ukraine, never. but if you look at the landscape of war that lies in people's hearts, you know that this will be yet again another year of

crushing losses and soaring hope. indeed. ok, ten micro too, thank you. and thank you for your coverage throughout. —— lyse. that's it from us here in kyiv. on bbc two, newsnight over on bbc two newsnight with victoria derbyshire is about to get under way with a special programme recorded with an audience of ukrainian refugees. and in a moment, here on bbc one, we'll be joining our colleagues across the nations and regions for the news where you are, but before we go we'll leave you with some of the most images from the past year here in ukraine. a conflict that has transformed the world. good night. ukrainian choral music.

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