tonight at ten, signs that the long—awaited counter—offensive by ukrainian forces might now be under way. the russians say this footage shows ukrainian bombs dropping on occupied territory — we report on the latest claims from both sides. after months of static fighting, ukraine says some of its forces are now in attacking positions as they try to seize the initiative. we'll have more from james in kyiv, and we'll be reporting on the response in moscow. also tonight... the high court starts to hear evidence against mirror group newspapers, but prince harry isn't present to explain his allegations of phone hacking. the cost of many mortgage deals is going up and with higher interest rates predicted, hundreds of deals are being withdrawn. in afghanistan, a "catastrophic"

mental health crisis, especially among women and girls, with higher rates of suicide. and the island hop that took three years — we meet the sailor from dorset raising money for cancer research. on newsnight at 10.30pm: we'll examine the tactics that ukrainian forces are likely to use, as ukraine attempts to recover land taken by russia. good evening. we start tonight with the notable increase in military activity in southern and eastern ukraine. the ukrainian armed forces say they've launched several attacks, but the russians insist those attacks have been repelled. and there's still no official confirmation that this is the start

of ukraine's long—awaited counter—offensive against the forces of president putin. russian officials are claiming that their troops have succeded in blocking attacks around donetsk, luhansk and zaporizhzhia, the ukrainian attack on donetsk was said to be on a significant scale. but the eastern city of bakhmut is described as the "epicentre of hostilities", where ukraine's ground forces are said to be moving forward strongly against russian positions. in a moment, we'll have the latest from moscow, but first to kiyv, and our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse. mr wolters, after much talk, after so many hopes around the ukrainian counteroffensive, it looks like there may be activity. president zelensky in his evening dress has talked about his troops giving the news they have been expecting, but he hasn't said what. he has described russia as being hysterical

in the way it perceives his army's steps, and that is clearer that there have been moves being made as ukraine finally try to take back what was taken. shhh. in a war of words, a call for quiet from kyiv. when it comes to its anticipated counteroffensive, ukraine has certainly revelled in trying to confuse russia. this video came with the caption — plans love silence. but today words seem to have been followed by actions. in another produced video, with its own techno music, kyiv claims its troops are advancing close to the eastern city of bakhmut and says that's not all. troops are moving to offensive actions in the eastern front too, according to the country's deputy defence minister, hanna maliar. even russia's defence ministry reported three major counterattacks, which it says it repelled. it released this footage

from near the city of donetsk. bbc verify has confirmed it was shot there, but we don't know when. "the enemy launched an unsuccessful attempt at a large—scale offensive in the south donetsk direction," said its military spokesman. so, has ukraine's counteroffensive started? well, if you look at the heightened language from both sides, as well as the military movement, it certainly looks to be in the early stages, but what will take longer to answer is the question of whether it will be successful. any potential liberation will rely on continued political support, today coming in the form of the uk's foreign secretary, james cleverly, with an exchange of pleasantries with president zelensky. when we made the commitment publicly that we would continue backing you and your country until you are victorious in your self—defence, we meant it. when we said that we would do more

and go further, we meant it. it's about opening the possibility for training missions for our pilots on fighterjets. kyiv has always managed to straddle defending with diplomacy. you can be sure the talking won't stop. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. in russia, president putin didn't comment on the claims when he made a public appearance today. so what is the view from the russian capital? our russia editor steve rosenberg sent this report. the claim by moscow is that ukraine's army launched a major attack in the donetsk region which failed. these images from the russian defence ministry, and its claim to have inflicted heavy losses, have not been independently verified. but russia has been expecting a counteroffensive by kyiv for weeks now. in the russian capital, a stark contrast to the battlefield.

in the cathedral of christ the saviour, a masterpiece returns. the holy trinity is one of russia's most precious icons. but its display here has sparked controversy. for a century, the fragile 600—year—old painting had been kept in stable conditions in moscow's tretyakov gallery. but the kremlin ordered its transfer to the church. lev lifshits was part of a group of experts who'd advised against that, fearing major damage to a unique work of art. translation: this decision was someone�*s personal whim. the gallery's restoration council was categorically against this. this is a political decision. those in power here are looking to the heavens and hoping for help from above. or at least for help from the church

in continuing to justify russia's war in ukraine. translation: this icon returns to the church at a time when our fatherland is confronting massive enemy forces. it returns so that we can ask god to help our country and pray for our orthodox president, vladimir putin. these are uncertain times for russia. the war in ukraine has not gone according to plan, and now, all this talk of a possible ukrainian counteroffensive. and amid such instability, the kremlin relies increasingly on the orthodox church to sustain public support, both for the "special military operation" and for the president. more icons. this one, vladimir putin gave to his commanders fighting in ukraine. he is a really religious man, but this is not about christianity

as such with real christian values, because cruelty is not christian values. in that sense, putin is a follower of a very specific kind of religion. in moscow, those queueing to see the holy trinity icon were hoping for miracles. "it's difficult now with the special military operation", valentina says. "we pray for victory". "any sensible person will hope the conflict ends soon", says antonina. "i think god will help". russia's orthodox church paints the war in ukraine as a holy war, to make russians think that god is on their side. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. joining me now is our international editor, jeremy bowen. let's talk about the claims and counter claims today. people understandably are having some difficulty trying to unpick what has

been said and what has been denied etc. where do you think this is going? etc. where do you think this is auoin ? ~ �* , etc. where do you think this is oiiin? , etc. where do you think this is iioin?~ �*, , ., going? well, it's completed and there is a lot _ going? well, it's completed and there is a lot we _ going? well, it's completed and there is a lot we don't _ going? well, it's completed and there is a lot we don't know. - going? well, it's completed and| there is a lot we don't know. we know the ukrainians have got nine brigades in the 50,000 men, more or less, armed, trained by nato. what the ukrainians also have is a lot of worry that while nato support is broad, it might be brittle if they don't look like winners any more. so this is probably not a make or break moment in the whole war. the war is going to go on, but there are different possibilities. ukraine could triumph, show they have mastered nato tactics, so—called all arms warfare, and break through the russian positions, and the russians then would be in a very bad place. or, bad possibility for ukraine, their new troops are untested in the main. they haven't been in combat. what if they take big casualties and

a government in kyiv that is very worried about losing too many men then decides that the offensive should stall? what if it is something in between moderate success that doesn't change a great deal? what i think nato and ukraine want to show the russians is that they are adamant that they are going to keep going, keep fighting. but with one big challenge how do you turn a tactical victory, winning some land, into more of a strategic victory? how do you contain putin when he is still in the kremlin and showing showing every sign of wanting to go on fighting? that is a real challenge, and that means people need to start talking about what victory looks like. it's not simply pushing russia out of every part of ukraine, because an angry, humiliated, nuclear armed russia could still do a great deal of damage and pose a great deal of

threat. and, broader picture, last thing, huw — the full scale invasion last year has changed so much in the world, and the world is still struggling to adjust to what exactly all of that means. what it will mean in the west is probably more defence spending, and that means sacrifices. jeremy bowen, our international editor. a case at the high court brought by prince harry and other public figures alleging that mirror group newspapers illegally gathered information including hacking phone voicemails to get stories, has started to hear evidence. but harry was not in court today to give evidence, prompting the judge to express "surprise". the newspapers�* lawyer said there was no evidence to back up prince harry's claims, though they did admit previously that illegal means had been used in separate incidents. our culture and media editor katie razzall has the latest. locked in a battle with the tabloid press, harry versus mirror group newspapers, a fight that began many decades ago

and has ended up in court. prince harry claims he was targeted by the papers, even when he was a child, and right up to 2011, thatjournalists and private investigators hacked his phone and the phones of his friends and associates and used other unlawful methods to invade his privacy. his barrister said today the daily mirror had also listened into his mother, princess diana's voice mail messages. the information which he claims could only have been obtained illegally often ended up on the front pages and these stories drove sales. a headline in 2001 — "rugger off" — about how a back injury was stopping the then 17—year—old prince playing rugby, had all the tell—tale signs, said his barrister, of being discovered unlawfully. another from 2002 about drug—taking is alleged to have involved payments to private investigators. many of the 33 articles under scrutiny in the court concern his on—off with chelsy davy.

the pressure led to prince harry suffering bouts of depression and with the mirror apparently knowing their every move, you can hardly blame her for ending the relationship, the judge heard today. prince harry was not at the high court. he flew into london overnight from los angeles. the judge said he was a little surprised at the prince's absence today, as he had previously said witnesses should be available the day before they're due to give evidence. mgn's lawyer, andrew green kc, did not mince his words, calling it absolutely extraordinary that he is not available for day one of his own trial. mr sherborne, for the prince, explained his travel arrangements are such and his security arrangements are such that it is a little bit tricky. the mirror has admitted in a previous court case that phone hacking did occur at its papers between 1999 and 2006 and has paid out £100 million in damages, but it says there is no evidence in prince harry's case — no data showing calls to his phone, no admissions byjournalists, no suggestion by the police that he was hacked.

his security operation was like very few on earth, said mr green, and journalists would have been taking an enormous risk in targeting him. as to the claims mgn hacked princess diana, he called it total speculation without any evidential basis whatsoever. outside this court, they have been preparing for the intense interest tomorrow will bring, when the duke of sussex steps into the witness box — the first senior royal in more than a century to give evidence in a court. prince harry will be cross examined for the next day and a half by a skilled barrister whose job it is to prove him wrong about where mgn got their stories. it is likely to be highly personal, about information he would rather had never made it into the public domain. it could be bruising and reputationally damaging, but in his efforts to reform the tabloid press, he clearly thinks it is worth the risk. katie razzall, bbc news. many mortgage payments are more expensive than they were a few years ago and the bank of england is

expected to raise rates from their current 4.5% to as high as 5.5%, and that has prompted many lenders to raise their rates and also to remove many of the deals that they have on offer. our economics editor faisal islam is here with more details. up until a fortnight ago, mortgage rates were settling, as the peak in bank of england interest rates was widely assumed to be here after 12 rate rises. indeed, the latest set of figures on the rate of price increases showed inflation below 10% for the first time since last autumn. but its the underlying rate of inflation across the economy, in yellow here, core inflation, which is stripping out direct energy and food costs, that actually went up, and this is what the bank of england is most concerned about when it decides rates. so, pretty suddenly a fortnight ago, mortgage companies started to assume two more rate rises in the coming few weeks, taking base rates to 5% or higher. mortgage payers such as kevin from kent are feeling the pain. well, it's started to feel

like it is almost relentless. like, 0k, where is it going to stop? every time there's been a rate increase, the bank of england has increased the interest rates, literally the next week saying, "good news! we are putting up your repayments." this is what's happening in the mortgage market. an average two—year fixed—rate is now 5.72% without the bank of england changing the official rate since last month. and for a five—year fix, this is now at 5.41%. these are the highest levels since the aftermath of that mini budget crisis late last year. mortgage companies including tsb and santander have temporarily withdrawn mortgage deals — 630 fewer on the market now than a month ago — as they hike the interest rate charged.

that is extra bad news for the 1.5 million homeowners whose fixed rates end this year — deals signed at a time when interest rates were closer to zero. this will include people with buy to let mortgages, whose tenants may see their rent go up as a result of those additional costs being passed on by landlords, while the flip side of this is that returns for savers have also increased. all eyes are on new figures for inflation and a further rate decision from the bank of england in a fortnight�*s time. faisal islam, our economics editor, many thanks. an inquest has opened into the deaths of two young people off bournemouth beach last week. the coroner heard there was a suggestion that a riptide may have led to their deaths. 12—year—old sunnah khan and 17—year—old joe abbess both died in hospital after the incident on wednesday. dorset police say they are keeping an "open mind" about the circumstances leading up to their deaths.

a conservative mp has been charged with a racially—aggravated public order offence. colonel bob stewart, who's 73 and has represented beckenham since 2010, is accused of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour in central london last december. he's due to appear before magistrates next month. the prime minister has announced that two more barges have been bought by the government to house up to a thousand migrants. rishi sunak also said the number of people making the crossing in small boats is down by a fifth since last year. the first barge to hold asylum seekers is due to dock in portland in dorset this month, as our political editor chris mason has more details. rishi sunak went out into the english channel this morning to talk to those responsible for rescuing those in small, flimsy inflatable boats trying to make to it the uk.

when you talk to the teams here who are the ones who are out on the front line, picking up toddlers who are suffering from hypothermia, if you're in a makeshift dinghy which is not seaworthy and it is freezing, i'm sorry, but that is completely and utterly wrong. the inner tube of a motorbike tyre, a makeshift life jacket for a child, fuel cans and a foot pump. addressing reporters in dover, the prime minister claimed the government is making progress with what has been a problem getting bigger and bigger, but the progress is modest. is it credible to promise to stop them — literally no more boats? for the first time, numbers are down. this year, january to may, the numbers crossing are down by 20%, down by a fifth. we haven't seen that before. and it is specific to the uk because if you look at what's happening in europe, the numbers so far this year are up.

but the prime minister's promise to clear the backlog of longstanding asylum cases by the end of this year will only happen if the government manages to quadruple the rate of processing them. the total asylum backlog has got bigger over the last year. here's part of their plan to try to cut, at least a bit, the vast hotel bill for housing migrants. this barge will be home to asylum seekers at portland port in dorset in the next few weeks. two more barges will soon house another thousand people, but we don't know where they'll be yet. i think everybody wants to make sure that we stop the boats. we don't want people making that dangerousjourney. all we have really had from the government, though, is the announcement of a policy that doesn't work and then the reannouncement of the same policy, essentially. people in aycliffe in dover see the issue of migration close up. a few have been roamingl around the estate, walked into people's houses. i leave my front door. open while i'm at home. i don't no more. the prime minister says he wants to stop the boats,

do you think he will manage it? no, probably not. they're getting stopped and brought and taken wherever, to hotels and everything like that, and people here are on the breadline that don't have any money to eat. it's frightening, it really is, because they come up all round the cliffs here and come up from the beach. what is so striking about this hugely complex issue is how prominent the prime minister has made it in shaping perceptions of his own competence. he wants to stop the boats, notjust reduce their number, and that is very, very difficult. then there's the issue of the backlog of asylum seekers, the cost of their accommodation, the difficulty of returning them home or elsewhere. steady progress still leaves a huge problem for this government and any successoi’. chris mason, bbc news, in dover. in afghanistan, doctors have told the bbc that there is a "catastrophic" mental health crisis, particularly among women and girls, and they report a sharp increase

in cases of suicide. the united nations has also raised concerns about the latest trend. the bbc�*s yogita limaye has travelled to different parts of afghanistan, with colleagues imogen anderson and sanjay ganguly, to investigate what's going on. translation: | just want| someone to hear my voice. i am in pain and i'm not the only one. most of the girls in my class have had suicidal thoughts. we are all suffering from depression and anxiety. in her 20s, this afghan student told us why she tried to end her life. we're hiding her identity to protect her. going to university and meeting my friends was the only comfort and happiness i had in my life. and it was banned.

i started spending a lot of time alone, at home, with just one thought on my mind. that nothing was ever going to be ok again. one night i tried to take my own life. her words give an insight into a less visible yet urgent crisis facing afghanistan. particularly its women. in a patriarchal society, especially one worn out by a long war, one in two people, most of them women, suffered from mental health issues, even before the taliban took over. now, experts tell us, the situation is worse than ever before. i am really sorry for your loss. can you tell us what happened? we spoke to the father of a girl who took her own life on the first day of the new school term this year. he is in a remote province.

translation: until that day she had believed that the schools _ would eventually reopen but when that didn't happen, she couldn't cope. she became extremely distressed and took her own life. what impact has it had on you and your family? our life has been destroyed. nothing means anything to me or to my wife any more. we are at the lowest we have ever been. five other families also told us their daughters killed themselves for similar reasons. we started looking into this issue because we saw an increasing number of articles in the local news reporting suicides from different parts of the country. partly because of the stigma associated with it, and partly because the taliban are not recording numbers, official figures are not available. in the absence of that, we have been speaking to families in different provinces who have lost loved ones to suicide in recent months.

we have spoken to people who have attempted to take their own lives, we have seen recent research that suggests two thirds of afghan adolescents, mostly female but also male, are suffering from depression in parts of the country and we have asked numerous mental health professionals to give us their assessment of the scale of the crisis. we met this teenage girl in the presence of her psychologist, who has been treating her since she tried to take her own life. she sighs translation: the staying at home without an education or a future, it feels ridiculous. i feel exhausted and indifferent to everything. education is the only hope we had and it has been taken away from us. there is nothing left for us now.

hundreds of miles away, this is one of the psychologists we met. she receives seven to ten new calls for help each day. we have a pandemic of suicidal thoughts, mental health issues in afghanistan. which rarely people think of, which rarely people talk about. it is like as you are slow poisoned, we are like this. she said the economic crisis is another major reason and men are also affected. the taliban did not respond to questions about a surge in suicides since they took power. for the first time in a0 years, no part of this country is at war. but its people are not at peace. yogita limaye, bbc news, kabul. a man from dorset is about to

complete an epic voyage, sailing around every island off the coast of england and wales. ken fowler started the challenge to raise money for cancer research. it's taken him over three years, but he's due to finish this week by sailing around the isle of wight, his 263rd island, as our west of england correspondent danjohnson reports. ever felt like you're going round in circles? ken knows that feeling all too well. when i first started planning it, ithought there were about 180 islands. obviously, maths is not my strong point, because it turns out there are 263! this is longships, off lands end. hi, ken, how are you doing? yeah, absolutely beautiful, dan. it was so stunning out there. we got the tide calculations bang—on, and now it's just pushing me home, it's so good to have done that. this isjust one man, in a very small boat. you feel really lonely out there. you talk to birds, you talk to anything. small things become really exciting.

and i'll be really honest — i probably cried more on that boat, in my adventures, than i have in any other part of my life. and that's because it's personal. so this is my dad. i sadly lost him when i was only 2a, to cancer. he was one of six siblings. sadly, five of them died of cancer. so ken's raising cash — and awareness. nobody�*s ever done this challenge before, because it is just so difficult. most of the time, you've got your feet tucked under a strap and half of your body's hanging out. the windier it gets, the more you have to hang out. i kind of equate it to, like, doing sit—ups for five hours. it hasn't all been plain sailing. he even rescued some teenagers, stranded off the norfolk coast. and all this in something just bigger than a bathtub. i sailed past a walrus when i was in the scillies. i've had pods of dolphins come and ride the bow wave on the boat. i've been past islands where agatha christie wrote novels.

they say "no man's an island", but ken's surely the closest? this has shown me what an absolutely stunning country it is. and, equally, we always think of it as such a busy place, but when you get out on the water, its not. it's really quiet, it has absolutely magical moments. and the rock formations, the wildlife, the scenery, you know, you look out there today, it's absolutely magical. and now, there'sjust one more round trip to go. big things like this are never easy, and that's why you go out and do them. the last lap, the isle of wight. danjohnson, bbc news, cornwall. time for a look at the weather. here's chris fawkes. we have had a bit of a blockage in the weather over the last few weeks and this had been exemplarfight by two places, this month in lancashire, not a single day with temperatures in the average, chilly with that cold wind but a different story in western areas, in county

tyrone, here