of miles of the atlantic ocean. and the bbc speaks with ukraine's president zelensky. hello, i'm azadeh moshiri, welcome to the programme. we begin with the intensifying search and rescue operation for the missing submersible with five people onboard in the north atlantic ocean. the search has entered a new stage of urgency as the us coastguard says the vessel probably has enough oxygen to last until thursday morning local time. the us coastguard also confirmed that more tapping noises were picked up by a canadian team overnight, but locating its source is extremely difficult. the submersible was on its way to visit the site of the titanic wreck, which lies some 12,500 feet underneath the ocean's surface. the international rescue operation for the sub

is being coordinated in boston. with pressure growing to rescue those onboard, there are now dozens of vessels scanning thousands of miles of ocean for any signs of the sub. soon joining the efforts is french research ship the atalante. it has equipment for searching the extreme depths. we'll be looking in more detail at the technical challenges involved. with us to discuss all of this is our correspondent carl nasman in boston. thank you so much forjoining the programme so what is the latest on the search effort? figs latest on the search effort? as ou latest on the search effort? sis you mentioned, latest on the search effort? is you mentioned, there really is a sense of urgency now not only because of the lack of time left, we are looking now at ours remaining of those 96 hours that were estimated. but also because of the calculation we got today from the us coastguard that there were some noises or sounds detected by

canadian officials, these were coming from the ocean area they were searching, they immediately redeployed resources to go and search more intently in that area. we don't know where the sounds are coming from or who or what might be making them but it is giving some urgency and a bit of hope as well. the search is now expanding, it has doubled in size from the area covered yesterday, it has gone even deeper below the surface of the ocean,is deeper below the surface of the ocean, is more capability starts to reach that area out in the atlantic, about 900 miles away from where we are here. dipping is to be more of a sense of a needle in haystack kind of effect, it a broader and deeper area, that's why now there is even more urgency. 0fficials there is even more urgency. officials are saying it is twice the size of connecticut now, the surface search area. i wonder, are there, have officials started to sound less helpful to you? == officials started to sound less helpful to you?— helpfulto you? -- hopeful. there still—

helpfulto you? -- hopeful. there still is _ helpfulto you? -- hopeful. there still is a _ helpfulto you? -- hopeful. there still is a sense - helpfulto you? -- hopeful. there still is a sense of - helpfulto you? -- hopeful. i there still is a sense of hope, and help a word mentioned times during this press conference earlier with the us coastguard. they said there is no search and rescue operation without it. when asked about if they have a timeline for when they might stop searching, they refused to answer that question and that they would continue on and that they would continue on and they didn't give any kind of deadline for stopping. you can tell if there is still hope because there is a simultaneous plan for a rescue being undertaken now. there are pieces being moved into place into this remote location that will be very crucial when it comes to trying to lift up the vessel if it is located, there is essentially a winch system with a long cable that can reach down into the depths of the ocean and is designed to lift out these kind of small vessels arriving aircraft. there is also a french robot that has reached the area, and that has reached the area, and that has reached the area, and that has robotic arms that might be able to dive down to those depths and loosen any kind of netting that the vessel

could be trapped in or even if it is the wreckage of the titanic itself so these pieces being moved into place. if the vessel has found a rescue operation could begin as soon as possible. operation could begin as soon as possible-— operation could begin as soon as ossible. ., ., as possible. you mentioned the french equipment. _ as possible. you mentioned the french equipment. the - as possible. you mentioned the french equipment. the world i as possible. you mentioned the french equipment. the world isi french equipment. the world is obviously following what is happening, but this has become an international search effort now, hasn't it?— now, hasn't it? this almost became _ now, hasn't it? this almost became an _ now, hasn't it? this almost became an international. now, hasn't it? this almost i became an international effort right in front —— from the beginning. we have from the coastguard as soon as —— but they became involved on sunday that they didn't the resources or the expertise in order to conduct this search and rescue. that was very careful what happened was a became an international effort between canada and the us mainly but also some french vessels chipping in their expertise. any ship that was in striking distance of this area was asked to help out if it had the capabilities, because of the

extreme tight deadline we have. it's a remote area, takes time to bring in these sorts of boats and equipment into the region. even if you have something that could help if it is too far away, it simply wouldn't make it in time. so we are seeing all kinds of agencies and even private vessels learning their expertise to the search. and do we know anything _ expertise to the search. and do we know anything else - expertise to the search. and do we know anything else about i expertise to the search. and do l we know anything else about the company that organised this titanic sub and this visit to the titanic? because people are wondering how this could have even happened in first place. there are beginning to be some questions about the safety record not only of the vessel itself but also of the company 0ceangate. we know in 2018 there were some court filings that involve the case between a former employee and the company, and apparently they had raised concerns about safety checks and quality controls and he had actually asked for private certification from an outside firm, that

employee was later fired. we know from the new york times that there was a group of several other deep sea explorers that had sent a letter to the ceo of 0ceangate expressing concerns about the experimental nature of this vessel. so there have been some questions raised. 0f vessel. so there have been some questions raised. of course the ceo himself stockton rush has been very open about the fact he wants to innovate and he wants to push boundaries and some of this might have been a bit experimental.— bit experimental. thank you so much for that _ bit experimental. thank you so much for that update. - bit experimental. thank you so much for that update. there i bit experimental. thank you so | much for that update. there are so many more updates from him and the rest of our colleagues on the ground on our bbc website. before this latest mission, possible safety concerns about the missing titan sub can actually be traced as far back as 2018. us court documents showed a former employee of 0ceangate raised a number of concerns in an inspection report. bbc�*s science editor rebecca morelle has more. 0ceangate's deep sea submersible, the titan, has some unusual features. its hull, the part where the passengers sit,

is made from carbon fibre with titanium caps at each end. carbon fibre is used in aeroplanes and yachts, but not for deep sea vessels. it's extremely strong, but questions have been raised about its reliability under extreme pressures. the shape of the sub is also different. most have spherical hulls, so there's the same pressure all the way around, but the titan is tube shaped. this is so it can fit five people inside, but it means the pressure isn't equally distributed. in 2018, safety issues were raised by an employee of 0ceangate, david lockridge, an experienced submersible pilot. in american court documents, he said the structural integrity of the titan had not been properly tested, and this could subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible. concerns were also raised by engineers from the marine technology society over the experimental approach adopted by 0ceangate that could result in negative outcomes from minor to catastrophic.

an 0ceangate spokesman told us they couldn't provide any information at this time. experts have said this incident should lead to changes. it's a wake—up call for us. and that's why i think a really thorough, rigorous investigation should be done and shared with the community and lessons will be learned. and whichever side of the fence you are on in terms of sub design, you will learn something from this. subs that carry passengers can go through independent safety assessments by specialist organisations, but the titan was not certified by any external agency. in a blog post in 2019, the company said its design fell outside the accepted system and that simply focusing on classing the vessel does not address the operational risks. so is this unusual? any sub that dives 4,000 metres or beyond is a one off vehicle, but it doesn't mean it can't

be independently classified. this sub, called the limited factor, has repeatedly been to the deepest place in the oceans, the mariana trench, nearly 11 kilometres down. nothing is more unique or cutting edge, but the team behind it worked with assessors and the limiting factor has full certification. no—one knows what's happened to the titan, but it may be a turning point for how this industry is regulated. let's take a look at what we know about the titan. the missing submersible weighs about 23,000lbs, or roughly 10,400kg. the titan is about 22 feet long — or 6.7 metres. it's also capable of reaching depths of up to 13,123 feet below sea level — roughly 4,000 meters. and with the help of four electric thrusters, the titan can reach speeds of about three knots, or three miles per hour.

thank you so much for joining us tonight. we have been talking this evening about the time possibly left for this crew, the time, the amount of breathable air they might have left. it is not clear at this point how much oxygen is still available but how would you calculate what they might have left to them at this point? well, we really do not know the detailed circumstances. there are calculations available based on the average person's age and weight, how much oxygen they consume in the period of a minute or an hour but there are so many factors here that we don't know about. are all the occupants still alive? the more that are still alive and

oxygen is consumed. what of the body temperature? with hypothermia, they will be starting to get calls for sure and as your body temperature drops, your oxygen consumption will decrease also. there may be manipulations they can do inside, first of all limiting their activity, huddling close together so they don't shiver because that can use up a lot of oxygen. reducing their activity as best they can, trying to maximise their oxygen reserves, but by doing those type of activities, and just really planning their activity, for instance if they are banging, in a way thatjust reduces the amount of oxygen they are using. we only have an approximate guess of how long the oxygen reserves are. if the banging is caused by perople inside the submersible, they are obviously still conscious. it is the oxygen levels drop, the carbon dioxide levels go up

and temperature goes down, at some point they will lose consciousness. but if the banging is them, then at least one occupant has to be conscious. can you give us an idea, once the oxygen runs out, how much longer would they remain alive? again that is really a function of their temperature. it's not the oxygen just running out, it will not go down to zero, they will have died before that time. it will reduce and as the levels decrease, the level of consciousness that the divers have well, it will start to decline. the will function, they will lose any sense of colour vision, we know that is the first thing that goes. then theirjudgment on their activities will be impaired, they will not be able to think as well. but the same things can be caused by temperature falling as well. i know there are a lot of variables, we don't know

at this point and you pointed out some of them to us by can you give us an idea, in this very small space, oxygen would be running thin, what with the experience be like in this chamber? if the camera dioxide levels go up, if the c02 scrubbers get exhausted or they lose power, that would start them to breathe faster and it would cause anxiety, heart rate would increase. it could be counteracted by the falling body temperature. if you get very cold, your breathing rate and your heart rate will drop, so those two things would oppose one another. actual hypoxia, you get very little warning of loss of consciousness or function, it kind of suddenly you may lose consciousness or become non—functional. so i think we likely haven't reached that point yet but i want to be clear, even after they lose consciousness, it may happen, that doesn't mean they're going to die and it doesn't

mean it is not recoverable because we see in operating rooms and hospitals all the time, critical situations in which people survive so i don't think it is fair to say that once the oxygen drop so much that they lose consciousness, all is lost, don't think that's fair. they may be the difference between the different occupants, some are more resilient than others and they have a better chance of survival. so maybe some people will survive. given that, what do you think it's important for the search and rescue teams to prioritise? they have to find the submersible and they have to be thinking about why this has happened, why haven't they dropped their weights? they are still conscious. and that's what the banging is, is the submersible upside down, is it on its side? is there some intervention that can be made from the surface, so the they can release the weights?

think about what the causes are, how they lost power for the steering, and what interventions might be possible. it is so far down, dropping a line from the surface will be very difficult to get that right to the submersible but maybe with rovs, would be possible. great to have you on the programme. thank you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing| you different stories from across the uk. the county durham community of stanhope — replete with pubs, cafes, shops. but what this town no longer has is a bank. barclays was the last branch open here until it closed in april — and that's made local people and businesses very angry. there's a lot of people still don't have online banking. like myself — i don't. barclays says the closure was

a response to changed customer behaviour, with fewer people relying on the branch, more banking online. so with many other banks closed or closing, is this part of the answer? a banking hub. if you can't use online banking, that service is really important — particularly in communities like newton aycliffe, where there's lots of people that we know use cash and don't use internet banking. but with so many branches shutting up shop, many are still left feeling short—changed. for more stories . from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. let's turn to ukraine now. political and business leaders from across the world are in london to discuss ways of rebuilding the country, during and after its war with russia. estimates of the cost already exceed more than $380 billion dollars and that figure is rising. so far the eu has pledged $50 billion

in ukraine recovery support. and the united states will send an addiional $1.3 billion for ukraine's rebuilding efforts. 0ur correspondentjames landale has more on the conference. the purpose of this conference was perhaps counterintuitive, designed to try and find ways of starting the process of rebuilding ukraine's economy even while the fighting is raging. and that's because the participants here have all reached the conclusion that they need to start now. they cannot wait until the war finishes. so, many countries the us, the eu, the uk and others all have made pledges of many billions of pounds to start that process off. but they know it's not enough. many of them said that russia had to contribute, too. they said russia had to help rebuild what it had been destroying. but they also know that they're only going to really achieve the reconstruction of ukraine if private sector money is there, too. and there are lots of business

people in there who have doubts and the doubts they have are this — why should they risk the lives of their workers in a war zone? how do they know that the money is going to be spent wisely and it's not going to be expropriated by a country that until recently was considered very corrupt? and how do they know that if they build a bridge or they build an office or a factory, that it's not going to be bombed by russian missiles? so that's what they've been looking for today. what we've heard from the government is they're looking creatively at finding new forms of war risk insurance so companies can have better insurance when they go into a war zone like ukraine. and ukraine has been saying, well, look, we're doing lots on the corruption front. we're reforming. i have to say, some of the business people i've spoken to are yet to be convinced by that. so that's one half of this conference. the other half, well, there's been a discussion about nato. the british foreign secretary james cleverly suggested that perhaps ukraine might get

a fast track to nato's membership, wouldn't have to go through the lengthy formal application process thatt�*s known as the membership application plan. the french foreign minister, catherine colonna, told us that she was on a pretty same sort of thing. and that's really interesting because it's a way of suggesting to ukraine and to the rest of the world that ukraine might get a quicker membership application through without actually putting a timetable on it, which is what ukraine wants. so lots of food of thought there, food for thought there for nato's big summit next month. so what we've seen today, i think, is the western community, western international community saying, look, it is still committed to ukraine for the long term, both militarily and economically. ukraine's president sat down for an in—depth interview with the bbc�*s yalda hakim about the state of the war in his country. president zelensky, thank you so much for your time. i'd like to begin by asking you about the counter—offensive.

how is it going? translation: not everything is easy. there are certain difficulties because, first of all, ourland is mined. we would definitely like to make bigger steps — they are a bit smaller than we want — but nevertheless, those who fight shall win. and to those who knock, the door shall be opened. that's why, by all means, we have confidence in the success of the counter—offensive actions. well, in ukraine, your deputy defence minister, has admitted that it will be difficult to win back land in this counter—offensive. translation: no counter—offensive operation can be easy. it's not easy, first of all, for those currently on the front line. last autumn we took counter—offensive actions, too, and it seemed like process was too slow. but then the moment came when everybody saw how quickly we began to advance. the same thing will happen here. i mean, russia has done everything in its power

to stop this offensive. translation: every day russia brings atrocious i tragedies to our land. sometimes it seems to me that they don't care in general whether it's the military or the civilian population. the fact that they are ready to commit horrors, cause great suffering and man—made disasters on a large scale, it is crystal clear. the americans have made clear how they measure the success of this — they want you to make as many gains on the battlefield so that you're in a stronger position when you get to the negotiating table. translation: for us, - it's very important to move forward because we have to motivate not only our army but also our western allies. aid can be slowed down or stepped up. to be honest, aid depends on us moving forward. a lot of things depend on that. but, for me, the most important

success of our offensive lies in motivating people. mr president, are you feeling the pressure from your partners, that they expect results and results quickly? translation: some wanted and expected very much. - some want some sort of a hollywood movie, but things don't really happen that way. the americans say that they will stay with ukraine till the very end. do you believe them? translation: is there any other option? - we believe them because, on the one hand, they are our partners. on the other hand, we need to understand that we have to count on ourselves. well, let's just look at some of the things you need. the f—16s, for example — the us officials are now saying it could take months for ukraine to get those f—16s. translation: there are certain bureaucratic things that i, - unfortunately, can't and am not willing to understand because

we are at war and we need to get things done quickly. the price is time. time means lives. i believe that we will start the training period this summer, as well. we will certainly continue to put pressure to bring the dates forward, but i believe it can be august. after this training begins, we want to believe that in six or seven months we'll have our first planes. mr president, i also want your reaction to the ukraine recovery conference in the uk. just your message to that conference. translation: huge thanks to the prime minister, - to the government, to the businesses of the uk and all the people for their support. part of such support are just saying not to recovery, but transformation of ukraine, and therefore anti—corruption reform — which is very important — to work on judiciary reform, to work with our partners to make ukraine attractive for investment after the war.

that's what we need. ukraine will be different, transformed. the only thing that will not change is the strength of our people. our china correspondent stephen mcdonell has more on the impact of biden's remarks. now, can btecs? of course it can. they can still go ahead and have a meeting late in the air, probably october, whether leaders of these two world superpowers can sit down with one another, possibly in california, in october. by then people will have forgotten about this although it will be mentioned in some reports as background i guess so they really have to try to ride this out. if they want to stop this relationship from collapsing any further. but you would love to be a fly on the wall when

antony blinken got the news thatjoe biden said this. i mean, surely he would be tearing his hair out, he's got all this trouble had come here to patch things up and just a day later we have this fresh crisis with beijing and washington slinging mud at one another. our top story, the missing sub in the atlantic, the search area has now doubled, it is twice the size of connecticut and there are plenty more updates on that story from all our correspondence on the ground, in boston and stjohn's under other areas. stay with us on bbc news, much more to come. hello. wednesday brought plenty of summer warmth and sunshine. but there were some showers too, not least in the north of scotland. take a look at what

happened in wick. these thunderstorms really lined up and delivered 58 millimetres of rain. that is more rain than wick would normally expect to see in the whole of a typicaljune. now for thursday — high pressure is going to be building its way in across the uk. you might think that that would mean completely dry weather. well, actually, in spite of that building area of high pressure, there will still be some scattered showers, but this time mostly across england and wales. and in between the showers, some very warm sunshine. many places will spend the day dry and certainly most will start the day dry. there'll be some early mist which will clear away, some spells of sunshine, but we will see showers developing, particularly across england and wales. and with light winds, those showers are likely to be quite slow moving — not as many showers for northern ireland and the bulk of scotland will stay completely dry. temperatures north to south, 15 to maybe 28 degrees celsius. and then through thursday night, we'll see increasing humidity, more cloud and some rain

splashing its way and particularly to northern ireland, perhaps western parts of scotland as well by the end of the night. those higher temperatures, 10 to 15 degrees, an increasingly muggy feel, which certainly will continue to be the case into friday. more cloud across the north and the west of the uk with some outbreaks of rain even down towards the south—east, a bit more cloud in the mix. still some spells of sunshine, but with that extra cloud, temperatures a little bit lower, 20 to 25 degrees, a very warm and muggy night on friday night. and on saturday, we will start the day with a fair amount of cloud, perhaps some mist and murk here and there, some spots of drizzle. things should brighten up as the day wears on, some spells of sunshine. and if you get enough sunshine, it will feel very warm indeed, perhaps up to 28 or 29 degrees in the south east, but glasgow, belfast, still up to 24. that wedge, a very warm and humid air between these weather fronts here. but as this cold front swings its way eastwards as we get into sunday, well, that will change things. the timing is a little bit

uncertain, but it looks like that cold front will bring some quite heavy and perhaps thundery rain eastwards across the uk. so that wet weather sweeping its way eastwards and with it some cooler, fresher conditions.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. the existential challenges facing ukraine aren't just on the battlefield. as kyiv�*s counteroffensive against russian forces in the east and south of the country continues, the scale of kyiv�*s economic losses becomes ever clearer.