hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. russian and ukrainian forces are still fighting in the streets of bakhmut — which russia has been trying to capture for several months. the deputy mayor of the city has told the bbc that the 4,000 civilians still living there — out of an original population of 75,000 — have no gas, electricity or water. thousands of russian troops have died trying to take the eastern city. if it falls, it would be the first russian victory of note in more than 6 months. our diplomatic correspondent,

james landale, reports from kyiv. munitions explode. this is bakhmut, or at least what's left of it, after some of the fiercest fighting since russia invaded ukraine. for more than six months, as the bbc has reported, ukrainian forces have held off a ferocious onslaught. but now russian commanders are growing increasingly confident, including the leader of the mercenaries known as the wagner group, which have been at the heart of the assault. translation: we have - almost surrounded bakhmut. there's only one road that remains in and out of the city, the pincers are closing. before, we were fighting against the professional ukrainian army, but now we fight against old men and boys. ukrainian forces are still defending the city street by street and reports suggest reinforcements are being sent in. but these russian troops, say the ukrainian army,

is destroying bridges like these, potentially to prepare for what western analysts call a "controlled fighting withdrawal" from parts of the city. local officials insist ukraine still controls bakhmut, but they accept there is now fighting in the streets. translation: the city is almost destroyed, i not a single building has remained untouched. currently there is no communication in the city so it's cut off. the russians are shelling everything. they want to destroy bakhmut like they did with mariupol. for sergei shoigu, russia's defence minister, making a flying visit to his forces in eastern ukraine, seizing bakhmut would be a rare military victory for him and his bosses in the kremlin. and perhaps a much—needed diplomatic boost after an international audience in india laughed at russia's foreign minister. the war which we are trying to stop,

and which was launched against us using ukraine... audience laughs. ..ukrainian people... but for now, ukrainian fighters on the ground in bakhmut still seem ready to fight their invaders every inch of the way, with russia paying a much higher and bloodier price. james landale, bbc news, kyiv. the united nations and iran have announced an agreement that would allow un officials to carry out further inspections of tehran's nuclear programme. the announcement was made at the end of a 2—day visit to the capital, by the head of international atomic energy agency, rafael grossi. his trip followed the discovery of traces of uranium, enriched to near weapons—grade level, at an underground nuclear plant in iran. here's mr grossi speaking a little earlier. i thought it was indispensable for me to establish a dialogue

at the highest possible level to try to put things back on track and hopefully get some results. i hope, you may have already seen joint statement which has just been issued in parallel in tehran and here in vienna, which is addressing the points ijust referred to in the first place. the interactions we have, the inspections and what is expected from iran in the second place. the issues related to some of the questions about which, you know, locations where we have been trying to find clarifications from iran. and finally, very importantly, our ability to establish monitoring

and verification measures that we believe are indispensable as a very concrete, very tangible results of this important mission. if you want to find out more on this story go to the bbc news website, that's bbc.co.uk/news. i'm lukwesa burak, you're watching bbc news. more now on the war in ukraine, and the fighting between russian and ukrainian forces in the streets of bakhmut — which russia has been trying to capture for several months. if it falls, it would be the first russian victory of note in more than 6 months. we're joined now by sir tony brenton, who is the former uk ambassador to russia. thank you forjoining us here. why

are russia struggling? the? thank you forjoining us here. why are russia struggling?— are russia struggling? they are stru: calin are russia struggling? they are struggling because _ are russia struggling? they are struggling because the - are russia struggling? they are struggling because the army . are russia struggling? they are| struggling because the army has are russia struggling? they are - struggling because the army has not been very good since the beginning of this campaign. they have not highly trained troops, their equipment is now not great having been essentially depleted and therefore actually, taking bakhmut even though it looks like we will be played up by them as a significant victory the first of which in several months. it would also give a bit of a boost to mr perugia and his mercenaries that have been arguing for some time that russian should be pursuing things more physical —— vigorously. but all of that said the fact that it has taken them seven months to take a city which no one had really heard of rather underlines the fact that the russians are deeply bogged down and not making rapid advances in that has big implications for the way that the war is likely to go in the future. 50

that the war is likely to go in the future. ., ., , ., future. so what does count for russia. future. so what does count for russia- the — future. so what does count for russia. the narrative - future. so what does count for russia. the narrative seems i future. so what does count for| russia. the narrative seems to change. we heard what sergey lavrov had to say in india at the 620. is it the actual a victory on the ground or is it winning the narrative? what we do it for russia? this will do much for the narrative perhaps except domestically in russia. i think the russian view of all of this is that they need to hang in there, bogged the ukrainians down as well, that is the question of when the spring comes in the ukrainians launch their own offensive, but if they can get the war thoroughly bogged down then people, like the west will start asking themselves, is it really worth pressing for conclusion on this or should be pushing both sides to some sort of negotiation. if that is what the — to some sort of negotiation. if that is what the west _ to some sort of negotiation. if that is what the west will _ to some sort of negotiation. if that is what the west will be _ is what the west will be asking themselves, is it really worth it, you know russia do russians really believe what they have been told

about what is going on in ukraine? there is an instinct in russia to back the boss. to back the president in this case. they did that in 1941 with the nazis invaded and in 1812 when napoleon invaded. the vast majority of russians, with the russian government is doing and what putin is doing is in their interest in they will back it and something goes catastrophically wrong. but their patients is not infinite. for their patients is not infinite. for the moment russian with exams have held up in the sections have not had much effect but how long that is sustainable remains to be seen. so for russians for the moment they are saying they will make no concessions and all of that but i suspect deep down they know that their original objectives are not achievable and are enforced to the moment when the ukrainians can be persuaded that they too cannot win the war and therefore a serious negotiation about how things and can begin. so you think that this will end with negotiations around the table? ihla

negotiations around the table? no i'm negotiations around the table? i157 i'm not confident about it all. as i said it very much depends on how the anticipated ukrainian counterattacks of the spring go. if they make their slow progress so that we are in a genuine world war i situation than i think pressure towards some sort of negotiations will be much harder to resist. if on the other hand ukrainians make good progress as they did last year and begin to move, for example, towards taking crimea, then the whole situation changes and we are looking at a much more fluid situation, one where they will not want to enter negotiations because they are winning and who knows what could happen then. what knows what could happen then. what are wa . ner knows what could happen then. what are wagner and _ knows what could happen then. what are wagner and getting out of all of this besides money? i’m are wagner and getting out of all of this besides money?— are wagner and getting out of all of this besides money? i'm not your how much money they _ this besides money? i'm not your how much money they are _ this besides money? i'm not your how much money they are getting - this besides money? i'm not your how much money they are getting out - this besides money? i'm not your how much money they are getting out of. much money they are getting out of it. what they are getting out of all they are patriots, nationalists and belief in what they are doing. secondly, theirfirm belief in what they are doing. secondly, their firm view is that the russian regular forces

secondly, their firm view is that the russian regularforces and secondly, their firm view is that the russian regular forces and the leadership of the forces that she should of staff and defence minister both of whom prigozhin loaves are incompetent and should be pushed out of the way. if they do succeed taking bakhmut then that will strengthen the argument, at least in their eyes for doing exactly that, putting more dynamic figures in place. putting more dynamic figures in lace. . , . . putting more dynamic figures in lace. . ,. . . ~ putting more dynamic figures in lace. . . 4' , place. fascinating. thank you very much indeed- _ the daily telegraph has published more leaked whatsapp messages about the former health secretary, matt hancock. they appear to show that mr hancock and his staff agonised for hours over whether or not he broke covid guidance when he kissed his aide. mr hancock also criticises the then chancellor's eat 0ut to help 0ut scheme. the revelations come as mps investigating the conduct of the former prime minister borisjohnson say he may have misled parliament multiple times over gatherings at downing street

during the pandemic. for the latest here's our political correspondent helen catt. well, the latest batch are selected messages from over several months. and, of course, it's worth bearing in mind that the infection picture was changing over that time. but it seems to suggest there's a suggestion in a message from the cabinet secretary in october that borisjohnson hadn't been convinced of the need for action about a week before the second lockdown in england happened, there were also messages from borisjohnson, including one injuly 2020, in which he complains of a general collapse in social distancing at home and in social settings and the need to get absolutely militant in hotspot areas. now, of course, that was just over a month after he had attended a birthday gathering for which he was then later fined for breaking the rules. an earlier sets of leaked exchanges, a separate set appear to show matt hancock, the health secretary, spending several hours going back and forth with a press aide trying to determine if he had broken covid guidance, which, of course,

he had helped set and encouraged others to follow, when it emerged that he had kissed another aide in his office. a spokesman for borisjohnson said it wasn't appropriate to comment on these leaks. the public inquiry provides the right process for these issues to be examined. that was echoed by a spokesman for matt hancock, who said there was absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach. all the materials for the book had already been made available to that inquiry. he said that releasing them in this way gives a partial biased account to suit an anti—lockdown agenda. to tunisia now, where hundreds of malians, ivorians and 6uineans living there have been flown home after a government crackdown on undocumented immigrants. it follows a controversial speech by president kais saied that sparked racial tensions. he claimed sub—saharan africans were engaged in a plot to change tunisia's demographic makeup. rights groups say since he made the comments, many have been attacked, detained or evicted from their homes.

the african union has urged tunisia to avoid "racialised hate speech". president saied denies that his views were racist. the comments also triggered widespread protests this week. earlier i spoke to bbc africa editor will ross. he told me more about the anti—goverment protests against the crackdown on sub—saharan african migrants in tunisia. the protests taking place are against the measures that the president has taken in recent weeks, including locking up of opposition people, media personalities and really clamping down on freedom of speech, and many of the placards at these protests were really describing it as a police state and saying enough is enough, we have had enough of these measures that the president has pushed through. then we have had a number of african countries who have reacted and we have had repatriations. yes, just over the last 12 hours, we have had two planes that have taken off.

the first one to mali with 133 people on board, including women and children, a couple of hours later, 145 ivoirians set off from tunis. we are not clear whether they have to pay for these flights because they were chartered flights that were sent to basically to rescue them because they were begging their embassies to get them out of the country. we understand from the ivoirian authorities that over 1,000 people have registered their desire to get out and they want help and say they haven't got the money to get home. earlier in the week on wednesday, several dozen 6hanaians were also ——6uineans given the chance to get home. so what has happened? and what are they experiencing? tunsia was once regarded as a welcoming country. people would go and study there.

it has become hostile. what have they been enduring, the sub—saharans who are wanting to leave? well, it's been, really a response straight after that speech by the president, people then started complaining that they were not being picked up by taxes, that was kind of on one level of the scale, ——taxis and another level, they were saying that they were ordered by their landlords to get out, so people from these countries in sub—saharan africa saying that they were suddenly made homeless and we have seen footage of campsites that have basically set up in tunis where people are living in makeshift tents. there have also been some violent attacks against people from sub—saharan africa and they said this is purely based on the colour of their skin because these comments from president saied gave a green light to racist behaviour and attacks on people from sub—saharan africa. so they are really saying their whole lives have changed straight after that speech. some of the people who have left the country in the last few hours said

that they were there legally, some were even in the middle of degree courses, but they felt it is not safe for me to stay i have got to get home. often they are escaping extreme conditions in their own country. very quickly, if you could give us a bit of context, why is it that some analysts are saying that the president is using black africans, the people from sub—saharan, as scapegoats? because of the economic problems at home, many people are saying he is simply diverting attention away from the problems that he needs to fix, especially with the economy and looking for a scapegoat and saying these are the problems that these people from sub—saharan africa are taking awayjobs, they are causing crime and they are changing the makeup of the country, so a real diversion away from the problems that he needs to fix. that was our africa editor, will

ross. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, good evening. let's start with the premier league and a truly dramatic turnaround at the emirates stadium as arsenal came from 2—0 down to restore their five—point lead at the top of the table. it was mikel arteta's side celebrating at the end with reiss nelson the hero, his 97th—minute winner sealing victory. thomas partey and ben white with the other arsenal goals. philip billing scored afterjust nine seconds to give bornemouth the lead but it wasn't to be. they are the bottom side this evening after an invaluable win for arsenal: losing 3—2. i'm going to remember this day for a few things, because a lot of things happened during the game, as well as the injury of leo, after conceding the second, then you concede from a set play without really giving anything away, and the team has still found a way to win it, and i love the initiative, the courage, the personality and the willingness to make things happen when it's ugly and when it's difficult, and that's what big teams do.

earlier, manchester city beat newcastle united 2—0 in the lunch time kick—off. phil foden opened the scoring in dramatic fashion just quarter of an hour into the match at etihad stadium. substitute bernado silva doubled city's lead midway through the second half. and city remain five points off the pace. here's a check on the rest of the premier league results. bournemouth are now bottom after fellow strugglers southampton gained a crucial 1—0 win at home over leicester. wolves eased their relegation concerns with a 1—0 win at home to tottenham. not a good day for other sides in the danger zone, though, with west ham slumping to a heavy defeat at brighton and leeds losing at chelsea. rangers narrowed the gap on scottish premiership leaders celtic to six points with a 3—1win at home against kilmarnock celtic are at st mirren tomorrow. elsewhere there were wins for hearts, hibs, motherwell and aberdeen.

now to athletics, the european indoors championships are taking place in istanbul. laura muir has won gold again. the scot defended her 1500m title comfortably to make it three in a row at that distance. she also has two other golds at 3000m from previous years which makes her the most successful british athlete in the history of the championships. max verstappen's status as favourite to win a third consecutive formula 1 title was confirmed in qualifying for the first race of the season in bahrain. the dutchman beat his red bull team—mate sergio perez to pole at the sakhir circuit. ferrari's charles leclerc was a quarter of a second off the pace in third. 6eorge russell was the best of the british drivers and will start from sixth. two matches in rugby union's premiership today. leicester moved back into the play—off places with a 48—27 win over bottom side bath. and harlequins thrashed exeter to win the big 14 game at twickenham and move up to fifth

in the premiership. they ran in six tries including two from joe marchant to seal comfortable bonus point win by 40—5. plenty more rugby union coverage on the website and app including news of today's women's premier 15 scores and all the results from the united rugby championship but that's all the sport for now. thank you very much indeed. prince harry has described writing his book spare as an act of service. in an interview with the author 6abor mate, the duke of sussex said he was grateful that he could move away from the royal family and change his environment. let's hear some of what he had to say. i certainly don't see myself as a victim. i'm grateful to be able to share my story in the hope that it will help, empower, encourage others.

and hopefully let people understand that again, back to the human experience, that we are in some shape or form all connected especially through trauma. but no, i have never, i do not and i have never looked for sympathy in this. for me the experiences that i've had throughout my childhood, life, 38 years albeit relatively short i'm not looking forward to becoming 40 yet, that's for sure. but through those experiences and up through the work that i have done for two decades now around mental health and illness i've always felt as though sharing whatever i can of my story will help someone or some people out there. prince harry also described how he felt "different" to the rest of his family, comparing his feelings to that of his mother princess diana, and he suggested life in the royal

family left him feeling "strange". i certainly have felt, throughout my life, my younger years, a slightly different to the rest of my family. i felt strange being in this... container. ..container. and i know that my mum felt the same. so it makes sense to me. it did not make since the time. i felt as though my body was in there but my head was elsewhere and sometimes it was vice a versa. let's get more on this now with our royal correspondent, daniela relph. you watched that interview in its entirety what did you make of it? i felt a bit like i sat there a therapy session watch someone else's. that lasted around 90 minutes and it was very much that kind of mood in the room. it was in

california, not at their home but at a another location. it felt very much like prince harry opening his soul and talking in detail about how he felt emotionally about his family and trauma and his family. everyone watching this online conversation had to buy a ticket. and when you bought a ticket you also got a copy of the book spare. in is very much built around what he said in the book. i can talk about some of the issues raised within that book. he talked as we heard there about the book being an act of service, he felt, saying by sharing his trauma and explaining how he felt about the world and his family he hoped that that would perhaps help other people. also struck me during it was how comfortable prince harry looked in the situation. very comfortably —— comfortable with the language of therapy. in some interviews we saw from publication of spare he seemed a bit less comfortable injanuary,

in the interview work— interviewee situation. this was a clear situation. this was a clear situation where he felt more open. did we learn anything new? it is what we did _ did we learn anything new? it is what we did not _ did we learn anything new? it 3 what we did not learn in some ways. in terms of what we did learn it was building on the kind of things he said in the book. he talked again about what it had been like living within the royal family. about what it had been like living within the royalfamily. how about what it had been like living within the royal family. how he felt trapped within the royal family and as a child he said, he did not get a lot of hugs, noah touched him very much. there was a emotional and physical gifts states that he very much did not want to repeat with his own two children —— distance. he said he wanted to smother them with hugs and kisses to feel like there was a big emotional connection there something he felt was lacking. book what we did not get information on was some other hard facts from what was some other hard facts from what was going on the moment. he barely mentioned his father really only in the context of his childhood. he did not mention his stepmother camilla, queen consort. he did not mention his brother, the prince of wales and he was not asked at all about the

state of their relationship at the moment, whether they talked, whether there had been any contact. he also was not asked on whether he would be coming to his father's coronation in may. so some big big gaps in the conversation, though quite insightful in many ways, some big gaps in information and facts. than? gaps in information and facts. any reaction from _ gaps in information and facts. any reaction from the royal household? no don't expect any either. i think the position will remain the same after all of these things particularly after the publication of spare they took this position because they were so many allegations and things being said that there was not a lot of point in them having anything to say back. could you tell us why he chose to be interviewed by this man. he is could you tell us why he chose to be interviewed by this man.— interviewed by this man. he is an author also _ interviewed by this man. he is an author also with _ interviewed by this man. he is an author also with penguin - interviewed by this man. he is an j author also with penguin random house is so a neat collection there are also a specialist in grief and trauma something of a therapist himself. so there was a match there in terms of the situations and

conversations that the two men found themselves discussing because there was a feeling that they would be a good match for this kind of concept and chat. ., ~ good match for this kind of concept and chat. ., ,, , ., , . the inaugural match of the women's premier league cricket tournament took place in india on saturday with experts billing it as a game—changing moment for women's sport. the wpl generated hundreds of millions of dollars and that's before the first ball was bowled. some players are expected to earn more for the three—week tournament than they normally would in an entire year. sharda ugra, a independent sports writer based in india, and told me how historic this tournament is for women in sport. we've waited for so long, and the fact that it's underweight, ——on the way, and that now you've got this competition going, i'm just hoping it becomes like a runaway train that just takes women's sport to where it's never been before,

and i'm notjust speaking about cricket or about india but elsewhere around the globe as well, i think it's that important an event. why has it taken so long? because there have been so many voices, you know, we've heard campaigns on social media, people have been saying, it's the women's chance and time as well, what was it that made them flick and say, ok, let's do it, did it come down to money? no, i think it came down to the fact that at some point a few months earlier, the pakistanis said we are going to start our women's cricket 20 franchise competition,20 and honestly that's the reason. and if we had more time we could have a long discussion about it but basically that's what i think it is. you know, i think all the franchises that were playing in the men's ipl, a large number of them wanted to field a women's team, so you have ten teams, 0k, at least half of them wanted to. but itjust did not get under way until right now, and the only reason that seems plausible to me is because

the pakistanis says, we are going to do it. and because the pakistani league has been delayed but it is under way, and i think the response and the media rights and the franchise, team rights and the player option, showed you how much interest there was in what they think is a very large market waiting for this kind of an event. i love the fact that india said, no, no, no, we're going to do it first. that's fantastic! thank you for that. australian women, actually dominate the game, how strongly do they feature in the wpl? they are very much part of the wpl. they're captains of the teams, one of the teams that played today had an australian captain, this is the gujarat 6iants, and very much they're seen as the country that has set the benchmark for how women's cricket should be played and marketed as well. and i think literally the indians, because we've taken so long, it will take us some amount of time to catch up. to be very honest, everyone in cricket says that if india gets its act together, we're all in trouble, but you know,

when it comes to men's franchise cricket or women's franchise cricket, anyhow... so, the australians and england are very much seen as... wpl is the last women's franchise tournament that has been started by a major cricketing country. it is there in england, it is there in australia, south africa as well. so, this is what we are seeing, and i think the australians have set the benchmark but i think the indians come very close in terms of the amount of depth of talent that they have. they turn up at these world events and they reach semis and they reach finals and they threaten and they constantly are there or thereabouts but they haven't been able to push themselves over the line because they've not got the kind of backing and the kind of structure that both australia and england have put in place over the last, say, ten years. now on bbc news, the weather. hello. trying to make plans for sunday, what's in store with the weather?

pretty much a repeat performance of what we've had today. a lot of cloud around. there will be some coastal showers on both the west and east coast and a line of more persistent rain pushing its way across north—east scotland. but those temperatures largely between six and nine degrees, turning colder, though, in the northern isles. and it's the colder air that will dominate the weather story over the week to come. now, in fact, the cold air is going to arrive from monday onwards. it's going to turn increasingly windy, and we will see the risk of some snow showers around as well. so first thing on monday, there's a weather front sinking its way steadily southwards, to begin with across england and wales, it'll be showery outbreaks of rain, snow showers starting to track in across the far north of scotland, and by the end of the afternoon, across the scottish borders into north—east england, we could see some snow here as well. four to six degrees in the north, still on the mild side further south. this is bbc news, the headlines... russian and ukrainian forces are fighting in the streets