welcome to 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. in other news, large parts of southern california are struck by record—breaking blizzards and freezing temperatures. 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. president biden has ruled out sending f—16 fighterjets 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. james waterhouse reports from kyiv 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 for 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. 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. when he was addressing foreign journalists on friday, president zelensky also said

he plans to meet china's leader xi jinping. he wants to discuss beijing's proposals on ending the war in ukraine. he said the proposal signalled that china was involved in the search for peace. 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. well, i hope so.

but it's early days on the peace process, as i think you know. and certainly everyone has their expectations. pretty modest at this point. but i still like this step forward. i think that the idea that china is willing to, first of all, firmly recognize the two parties here so they're not buying into the russian narrative that ukraine is not really a real country, that zelensky is a nazi who somehow needs to be deposed. they're not they're not saying it, but they're very clearly dismissing putin's most ridiculous and egregious charges against ukraine and against its president. and they're trying to say the principles of territorial sovereignty, inviolability of borders and non use of weapons of mass destruction are crucial. these are all points that are essentially china taking the side of ukraine. and china is not going to say that because if it did, it would be useless as a mediator. but i still like the fact that this dialogue is beginning. i have no idea where it's going, and my expectations are modest. but today's developments, i think, were a positive step. what's in this for china? china doesn't want the world to blow up. you know, i mean, ithink china wants an international economy

that functions reasonably well. it doesn't want its relationship with the united states and the west to completely deteriorate to a point where the i billion wealthy consumers that have been driving its economic growth for generations now or decades now no longer are able to interact with china because we've settled into a new cold war. china doesn't want this whole situation to fall apart entirely, but it also wants to have putin's back. and so we better be realistic in our expectations. china's not switching sides. china is going to try to find a middle ground. i don't know if a middle ground really exists, but if there is one, i think beijing would like to find it as much as anybody else. xijinping and vladimir putin have made this promise that they have this no limits friendship. does that no limits stretch as far as china being honest with russia and saying, listen, half the world against you here, more than half the world's against you here? well, there are a lot of things to say about

that, first of all. more than half the world is actually sitting this war out. if you count india, africa, latin america, most countries are actually trying not to get involved in this fight between the west and russia, as they see it. but, yes, to your broader point, i think that clearly china is trying to say we don't want an all—out fight that would lead to years of warfare, an escalation beyond ukraine, an overthrow of the ukrainian government, further threats of nuclear weapons usage. china's basically saying, no, no, no to all of that. and i think china's instincts are correct. so we'll see where this can go. it's often easy to start a negotiation with broad principles that sound like apple pie and motherhood, and we don't want to get our hopes up too high. but china has said the right things today, and i'm behind what they've done. are there any particular areas that china has leverage over russia on?

well, china has not provided weapons to russia so far. and we need to keep saying this because now all the talk in washington is how china might be thinking of doing so after a year, and, yes, that's worrisome. and yes, the fact that china is continuing to buy russian oil and gas is problematic. but the fact that china has not had putin's back to the extent that we've had zelensky�*s back, that's big news. and i think we want to keep it that way. we want to keep china sort of outside of the actual direct combat involvement in even terms of weapons transfers or intelligence support. so i like the idea that china is now trying to look for some way to be a mediator. it's going to always lean towards russia, and we shouldn't be naive about that. but today's development suggests that it's more interested in ending the war. and president zelensky�*s reaction, i think, is excellent. he's taking china at its word. he doesn't want to be naive, and he knows china has been a friend of putin, but he also is willing to go along with principles that, if they are truly followed in

this negotiation, could help us on a gradual, long path to peace. michael long path to peace. o'hanlan there from the brookings michael o'hanlan there from the brookings institute. this is bbc news, the headlines 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. 620 finance ministers have been gathering in india for the first major meeting of the group under the country's presidency. the uk chancellorjeremy hunt said he had been trying to "�*win the argument�* there that russian aggression towards ukraine must not be allowed to succeed. but with the uk and us strongly stressing their support for ukraine the 620 meeting has highlighted the differences in approach towards the war by various countries. our correspondent leila nathoo reports from india. it's here in the hills near the indian city of bangalore that the first major meeting of the 6—20 under india's presidency

has been taking place. it's a forum to discuss major issues affecting the global economy. clearly, the fallout from the war in ukraine is having a huge impact on countries around the world. but prime minister modi's address to finance ministers gathered here was notable for the absence of any mention of russia's invasion, instead only referencing rising geopolitical tensions. india is maintaining a neutral stance on the war, a position starkly at odds with g7 countries who were here condemning russia, reaffirming their support for ukraine and calling for further sanctions. india, though, wants to have a very different conversation. it wants to use its presidency of the 620 to represent those developing nations who don't have a seat at the table here of major economies to champion their needs. so it wants to talk about food security, sustainable growth, the country's debt burdens. india is growing in international political and economic importance and increasingly wants to set its own agenda.

let's get some of the day's other news. 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. 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 the british prime minister rishi sunak and the european commission president ursula von der leyen which was described as positive.

parts of southern california are under their first blizzard warning since 1989. the winter storm that started rolling into the golden state on thursday will start to intensify on friday. a massive storm has already brought major blizzards and temperatures far below freezing to much of the northern us. the cold snap comes as parts of the us southeast basked in a record—breaking heat wave. warning coordination meteorologist at the national weather service eric boldt has been monitoring the storm. when we start issuing a blizzard warning, one of the first we've issued in decades, that is the unusual nature of this event, where just a lot of precipitation in the mountains and also down here closer to the ocean where we all live. it's not going to be a record—breaking amount of rain associated with this butjust a strong storm overall for the month of february, one of our wettest months of the year.

but the biggest difference is just feet of snow expected in the mountains and that's going to really help the snowpack levels and eventually the drinking water reservoir storage. i'm joined from los angeles by news reporterjon baird. 6ood good to see you, what has the weather been like today? i good to see you, what has the weather been like today? i was u . weather been like today? i was u- in the weather been like today? i was up in the mountains _ weather been like today? i was up in the mountains for - weather been like today? i was up in the mountains for ten - up in the mountains for ten hours today and while the rain wasn't heavy at times, they had closed the main artery from southern california to central and northern california, it was snowing, it was dangerous to drive so they shut that down completely which leaves a lot of people stuck without having to make a long drive all the way around, truck drivers were stuck up there, people can't get through back and forth from the southern part of the state to the northern part of the state. but when i was living there at two o'clock this

afternoon our time and driving back towards southern california, towards the beach, basically the rain was really coming down and there were spots on the freeways where you could easily slide out, water was being sprayed up, it was, in fact i think we went into a flood watch for southern california, and the conditions were really bad, and they were very concerned that throughout the night tonight, that were going to have some flooding situation here and we are going to have heavy snow up in the mountains.— mountains. what have local officials and _ mountains. what have local officials and the _ mountains. what have local officials and the emergencyj officials and the emergency services been telling people? are people being told to stay at home? , are people being told to stay at home?— are people being told to stay at home? , , ~ at home? yes, exactly. and i have to tell _ at home? yes, exactly. and i have to tell you _ at home? yes, exactly. and i have to tell you that - at home? yes, exactly. and i have to tell you that when . at home? yes, exactly. and i have to tell you that when i l have to tell you that when i was up there this morning interviewing people, up in the mountain, basically we talked about that because i have been up about that because i have been up there in that area during snowstorms before and it was chaotic, and there were a lot

fewer people, people who were not stranded because they have been telling everyone all week long do not travel, this storm is going to be intense, and there is a blizzard warning, and we don't have blizzard warnings in southern california. i grew up here, i don't ever remember one, i was told i had won in 1989, i don't remember that. we told i had won in 1989, i don't remember that.— remember that. we 'ust don't have those. h remember that. we 'ust don't have those. the _ remember that. we just don't have those. the first - remember that. we just don't have those. the first visit - have those. the first visit since 1980 99, how unusual is this for you?— this for you? -- 1989. we had snow in the — this for you? -- 1989. we had snow in the mountains - this for you? -- 1989. we had snow in the mountains and . this for you? --1989. we had j snow in the mountains and ski resorts is in california, we do get snow, but not like they were talking about. a blizzard warning, when i read that the other day, i did a double take, what are you talking about, a blizzard warning? i had never heard of it. and i was not up in the snow today because the highway patrol said you cant go up highway patrol said you cant go up there because you are media but you don't have chains that were it would be dangerous, we

can't come in to rescue you, so i didn't go up there, but the conditions were so bad they closed the road, and now we have this brain that, it wasn't torrential, but it was steady, and everything was flooding. cars were going up and down the freeway, people whispering up water, it was like they were in a boat. g ., �* ., water, it was like they were in a boat. g ., a, ., a boat. 0k, john baird, local news reporter _ a boat. 0k, john baird, local news reporter in _ a boat. 0k, john baird, local news reporter in los - a boat. 0k, john baird, local. news reporter in los angeles, thank you for being with us. roald dahl is one of the uk's most popular authors of children's books, selling more than 250 million copies worlwide. 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 more do we need to know about this?— about this? roald dahlwrote lots of books _ about this? roald dahlwrote lots of books that _ about this? roald dahlwrote lots of books that are - about this? roald dahl wrote | lots of books that are beloved by so many people, such as the bfg, but by so many people, such as the bf6, but there is a growing trend for book publishers to use sensitivity readers, so what they do is they go through books and they identify elements that could be offensive, such as violence, race, gender, and that is what they did with his books. about a week ago, roald dahl�*s book publishers said they had updated a bunch of his novels so they would be more suitable for a modern audience.- so they would be more suitable for a modern audience. some of the people _ for a modern audience. some of the people who _ for a modern audience. some of the people who were _ for a modern audience. some of the people who were critical- the people who were critical about this move say that one of the attractions about roald dahl is an author is his exciting use of language, whether made up words or really descriptive language thatjust engages children, so what were some of the word the publishers wanted to change? fine some of the word the publishers

wanted to change?— wanted to change? one of the main things — wanted to change? one of the main things they _ wanted to change? one of the main things they did _ wanted to change? one of the main things they did as - wanted to change? one of the main things they did as they i main things they did as they removed the references to the characters appearances and white, so for example in the twits, the female character is no longer called ugly, take charlie and the chocolate factory, we've got augustus 6loop, he is no longer called fat but he is now enormous, and the plumper, they are gender neutral. why? because of the criticism they received. many people felt very strongly about it, they called this censorship, they said it is precisely the gruesome and the nasty elements of the books that make them so fun and so popular with children. so, after about a week of fierce debate, the publisher made a u—turn and said they were going to publish both versions and to give readers the choice, they can stick with the original, or by the new reedited books. i

by the new reedited books. i have to ask you, what is your favourite roald dahl book? that would have _ favourite roald dahl book? that would have to _ favourite roald dahl book? that would have to be _ favourite roald dahl book? t�*isgt would have to be the bfg would have to be the bf6 because the main character is called sophia. let's tell you about some stamps that have been issued in ukraine to mark the one—year anniversary of russia's invasion. anniversary of russia's invasion-— anniversary of russia's invasion. , ., ,, , . ., invasion. the stamps depict a boy defeating _ invasion. the stamps depict a boy defeating a _ invasion. the stamps depict a boy defeating a judo - invasion. the stamps depict a boy defeating a judo master, | boy defeating a judo master, the image draws on president putin who himself is a black belt injudo, the putin who himself is a black belt in judo, the young fighter represents ukraine, kyiv residents queued at post offices to buy that new stamps, the artist initially painted the artist initially painted the mural in a town in kyiv where many buildings were reduced to rubble after the russian attacks.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @richpreston thank you for your company, will see you next time, goodbye. 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 along, 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. the 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, western 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 the 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 worth of weaponry. in other news, large parts of southern california have been struck by record—breaking blizzards and freezing temperatures. extreme weather warnings remain in place for ventura county

and the los angeles mountains. flash—flood warnings have also been issued