this is bbc news, i'm rich preston. our top stories... on the first anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine, president zelensky hails his nation's year of invincibility and said it would do everything to win. translation: it's important. for everyone to focus and then we'll have victory because the righteous is on our side. 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. junior doctors in england announce three consecutive days of strikes in march over pay.

it will affect both routine and emergency care. and roald dahl�*s multi—million selling children's books are to be printed in their original form after a backlash against editing them for modern audiences. hello and welcome to bbc news. the us presidentjoe biden has ruled out sending f—16fighterjets to ukraine, saying the planes are not needed, for now. it comes despite increased pressure from ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky for urgent air support to help protect its skies from russian attacks. president zelensky has marked the first anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine by hailing his nation's year of invincibility. he said his country had endured a year of pain, but that

victory was inevitable with continued western support. our kyiv correspondent, james waterhouse, reports on how the first anniversary was marked. 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're 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 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 war for 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. well, fierce fighting continues in the east of the country, with heavy losses of troops on both sides. at least 8,000 civilians have been killed according to the un, which says the true number is likely to be much higher. ia million ukrainians have been forced to flee.

one of russia's key targets is the strategic town of vuhledar in the donbas region. the latest russian attempt to take the town — earlier this month — ended in humiliating defeat. from the town our senior international correspondent 0rla guerin, with camera operator goktay koraltan, sent 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... bleep you, russia! ..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. russia is facing another round of western sanctions. the european union announced a tenth round of measures shortly after the united states imposed further restrictions on more than 100 russian individuals and businesses. leaders of the g7 group of richest economies have warned they'll punish any countries that help russia evade sanctions, with the united kingdom announcing export bans on every item russia has been found using on the battlefield to date. the us secretary of state antony blinken addressed the united nations. here's what he had to say. members of this council should not fall into the false equivalency of calling on both sides to stop fighting or calling on other nations to stop supporting ukraine in the name of peace. no member of this council should call for peace while supporting russia's war

on ukraine and on the un charter. in this war, there is an aggressor and there is a victim. russia fights for conquest. ukraine fights for its freedom. if russia stops fighting and leaves ukraine, the war ends. if ukraine stops fighting, ukraine ends. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has said he plans to meet china's leader xijinping to discuss beijing's proposals on ending the war in ukraine. translation: first of all, i'm planning to meet - with xijinping, and i think it will be beneficial for our countries and for the world security. together with china, we have large trade. this is not only about war, we are countries interested in keeping our economic relationships. rallies have been held across the world

in support of ukraine. one has taken place in berlin at the brandenburg gate . our correspondent jenny hill was there. here in the centre of berlin, a symbol of the brutality of this war. behind me, you can see a tank which has been brought here by demonstrators. they say it came from just outside of bucha and they've positioned it right outside the russian embassy. its gun is pointing at the front door. there's a very sombre atmosphere here — people coming, standing, very quietly staring at the tank, taking pictures on their phones, of course, but also having their own quiet moments of reflections. a little earlier, i saw a woman, her hands clasped apparently in prayer. this year, this war has profoundly changed germany. first of all, 1 million people fled ukraine and came here as refugees, many of them still living here temporarily, waiting for the day when it's finally safe

for them to go home. but secondly, germans themselves have, for many, felt a really profound shift in attitude. this is a country which has long considered itself to have a special responsibility because of the atrocities committed in its name during the second world war. its leaders and many of its people believe that a pacifist foreign policy is important, that diplomacy rather than involvement in wars should be the priority. a year ago, it would've been unthinkable for germany to send weapons into an active conflict zone. and yet, after admittedly a great deal of hesitation and soul—searching, that's exactly what this country is now doing. a little earlier, the german president gave a speech, in which he condemned vladimir putin's actions, saying that they were an attack on the lessons learned from the first and second world wars. frank—walter steinmeier said that vladimir putin

had already lost — a man, he says, who kills people, who bombed cities, who kidnapped children and left his own soldiers to die senselessly could never go down in the history books as a victor. elsewhere there were protests too. people gathered in the spanish capital madrid waving ukrainian flags and lighting candles to show their solidarity with the people of ukraine. in denmark, people gathered in front of the russian embassy in copenhagen to protest against the war. and demonstrators gathered in front of the united nations headquarters in new york. they said they wanted to remind un leaders that they must end the war of russia against ukraine. oksana mishchanchuk was one of the refugees from ukraine who attended the demonstration at the un. i feel very, very sorry, because in this year there was a lot of tears, a lot of cry, a lot of died people, a lot of refugees, millions of refugees,

and a lot of horror. but, i also want to state that this year, also, it's a lot of support from all the world. meanwhile in moscow, there has been a distinct lack of coverage in the russian media marking the anniversary of the war. our russia editor steve rosenberg has been keeping an eye out. it was really interesting today that the one—year anniversary of the war didn't make the headlines, really. in the news bulletins — i was watching russian state tv earlier today — and they talked about the situation in ukraine and the war there, but they didn't really mention the anniversary. they sort of glossed over the fact that this special military operation that vladimir putin launched one year ago did not achieve its original aim, which was a swift victory for the kremlin. it did not go according to plan. it's resulted in heavy russian military casualties — the kremlin�*s had to mobilise people, dropping hundreds

of thousands of russian citizens into the army — and that wasn't mentioned today on tv. this is bbc news, our main story... on the first anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine, president zelensky hails his nation's "year of invincibility" and said it would "do everything to win". in other news, junior doctors in england are to go on strike for three consecutive days in the middle of march over pay. the 72—hour action will involve both routine and emergency care. downing street's called the strike action disappointing. our health editor hugh pym has more. 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 13th of march and end at 7am

on thursday 16th. now, 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, though 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 and 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, the 8th and the 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. let's get some of the day's other news. large parts of southern california are being hit

with wintry weather as a storm system moves through the region. a blizzard warning for ventura county and los angeles county mountains remains in effect until saturday afternoon. a flash flood warning has also been issued for much of the la area. the number of people killed by the catastrophic earthquakes in turkey and northern syria has risen above 50,000. civil defence workers in syria have called for more international help to save children injured in the disaster. floods and landslides in brazil are now known to have killed at least 5a people, with about 30 still missing. most of those killed were in and around sao sebastiao in sao paulo state. more than a month's worth of rain fell in 2a hours last weekend. the world health organization says it's working with officials in cambodia to tackle an outbreak of bird flu in the country. an 11—year—old girl died from the h5n1 variant

of the virus earlier this week. roald dahl is one of the uk's most popular authors of children's books, selling more than 250 million copies worldwide. but last week, his publisher announced that it would amend his novels to make them more suitable for modern audiences. they say that, while many of the words are — as the author would put it himself — gobblefunk, some of the language needed �*updating' for modern readers. but that decision has sparked a fierce debate. now, the publishers say they'll continue printing his books in their original form after all. with me in the studio is our reporter sofia bettiza. what is our reporter sofia bettiza. do we need to know? said, what do we need to know? as you said, he wrote lots of books that are beloved by so many readers but there is a growing trend for book publishers use sensitivity readers. what they do as they go through books and identify things that could be offensive such as gender, race,

violence, and that is what they did with roald dahl is book. it is worth remembering his conversion author because of his anti—semitic comments that he made when he was alive and so last week his book publisher announced that they were updating many of his books to make them more palatable for modern audiences.— make them more palatable for modern audiences. what kind of chances modern audiences. what kind of changes with — modern audiences. what kind of changes with a _ modern audiences. what kind of changes with a looking - modern audiences. what kind of changes with a looking to - modern audiences. what kind of| changes with a looking to make? one of the big things they changed was they tweaked references to the characters appearances and weight so for example in their tweets, mrs twit, the lead female character is no longer called ugly. in charlie and the chocolate factory, augustus clute is enormous rather than that, and the word polenta is now gender neutral. they have got rid of the words crazy and mad and it is no longer a weird african language butjust an african language, for example. l055

language butjust an african language, for example. loss of his language — language, for example. loss of his language is _ language, for example. loss of his language is exciting - language, for example. loss of his language is exciting for- his language is exciting for children, it paints a picture, it helps tell the story. talk about more about the controversy and what the publishers are doing now. well, some peeple — publishers are doing now. well, some people welcomed - publishers are doing now. well, some people welcomed the - some people welcomed the changes but a lot of people didn't and they felt very strongly about it. they said that it strongly about it. they said thatitis strongly about it. they said that it is precisely the sort of gruesome elements, nasty elements of the books that make them so fun for children. and after a week of fierce debate, but publisher said they were in the end going to publish their books in the original form. thank you. back to ukraine now and it should have been hosting this year's eurovision song contest. for the first time, a black male — who's originally from nigeria — has been chosen as part of the group who will fly the blue and yellow flag at the competition, hoping to bring glory to ukraine for the second year running. our eurovision reporter, daniel rosney reports. tvorchi!

tvorchi, the ukrainian electronic music duo made up of andrew and jeffrey. their song, heart of steel, inspired by the resilience of the azovstal steelworkers in mariupol last spring. # tell you how i feel...# russian soldiers bombarded the complex, taking control.... # cos i've got a heart of steel...# - ..trapping around 1,000 ukrainians for weeks. the band say the song is about knowing when to stand up for yourself and showing strength. you're not the typical ukrainian act, so what was that like, then, to get the public vote and the support from ukraine to say you two, we want you to be our representative at the world's biggest stage? we didn't even expect to win, you know, wejust kind of went through it because we had a song and we had a strong message, and honestly we had a train ticket back home. jeffrey moved from nigeria to ukraine about ten years ago and met andrew at university.

so, i came like hey, like i tapped his shoulder and said, "you know what? "let's talk. "i would like to check out my english skills and i can help you improve your ukrainian ones if you're interested in," so that is how our friendship started, from just the tap on the shoulder. i did this once in my life and now this is one decision that i even can't explain. in december, a drab metro station turned bomb shelter was transformed into this brightly lit tv studio the competition that tvorchi won. we definitely had fun, but you know, at the same time, we were pretty sick because of how cold it was down there and the trains were passing by as well. kalush orchestra's victory at last year's eurovision brought pride at a time of pain. in may, when the united kingdom hosts the competition on behalf of last year's winners, tvorchi are hoping to show the 160 million watching at home a different

side to ukraine. it's really a huge opportunity, of course, you know, to showcase what ukraine is about, what our music is about, but, you know, like i said, we'rejust there to have some fun and do the best we can. we'll see you in liverpool. we're coming for you. # cos i've got- a heart of steel #. daniel rosney, bbc news. ukraine has unveiled a new postage stamp to mark the first anniversary of the war. the stamp depicts a boy defeating a man injudo — the image draws from putin, who's a black belt injudo, and the young fighter is ukraine. �*get lost putin�* is added to the lower, left part of the stamp. kyiv residents queued at post offices to buy the new stamps. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @richpreston

hello there. on friday, we had some sunny spells that worked southwards across the uk through the day. lovely end of the day in cumbria. see the blue skies and the setting sun here. wasn't like that everywhere, though. across northeast scotland, we certainly had a lot of cloud, and that cloud thick enough to bring some showers. now, i'm talking about this cloud here in aberdeenshire. that cloud is actually from this cloud sheet you can see here in the north sea. now, this cloud sheet is really very extensive, and if i put on the winds that are blowing that cloud long, those winds will take that cloud sheet in across eastern areas of the country. the big problem is the computer models really aren't doing very well with this cloud. you can see it's nowhere near extensive enough. but i think over the next few hours, we are going to see that cloud sheets come in across northern and eastern scotland, eastern areas

of england, running right up to the pennines, i think, and probably across the east midlands and into parts of east anglia as well. that will keep the frost at bay for these areas. but, further west, we are looking at clear skies and it's going to be a cold night with temperatures down to about “4. now, bear in mind, i think it will be a cloudy day across northern and eastern scotland, and for much of the day, eastern england. a cloud thick enough for an occasional shower and there'll be a cold northeasterly wind as well. the best of any sunshine will be further west, so west england, wales, northern ireland and west scotland not faring too badly. temperatures, perhaps, actually, close to average or a little bit below even, but it will feel chilly in those cold northeasterly winds. now, heading into the second half of the weekend, the area of high pressure bringing this relatively quiet weather is here to stay. the winds not quite as strong, but they'll be coming straight up the thames estuary, adding to the chill in london. and, once again, there will be extensive cloud across these eastern areas tending to work inland at times. but again, it's the western side of the british isles that will have the best of the breaks in the cloud and the best in the day's sunshine.

temperatures 7 or 8 celsius. now, into next week, this area of high pressure isn't going to move very far, very fast. the winds change direction a little bit and that will kind of tend to change where the sunny breaks are, but again, i think probably western england, west and wales will have some of the best breaks on monday, perhaps a little bit more in the way of cloud filtering through the central belt of scotland. and the largely dry and quiet weather continues for most of next week, with temperatures running more or less near average for the time of year. that's the latest.

this is bbc news, the headlines: on the first anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine, president zelensky has praised his nation's "year of invincibility". he insisted that despite thousands of deaths on the battlefield, and accusations of war crimes by russian troops that have shocked the world, victory was inevitable. a series of ceremonies took place around the world to mark the anniversary, including in the uk where a minute's silence was observed. ukraine's western allies have again pledged to help kyiv repel the russian invasion, with another $2 billion of weaponry. in other news, junior doctors in england have announced three consecutive days of strike action in a dispute over pay.

the walkout, starting on march 13th,