voiceover: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. a myanmar militaryjet circles a primary school. after seizing power in a coup, they are trying to crush an uprising, demanding democracy. when they think it's safe, they run. but the plane circles back.

explosion and gunfire. across myanmar, the military is carrying out air strikes. on the ground, they are struggling to crush the resistance, so they've taken this fight against their own people to the air. the military is increasingly isolated by western sanctions, but it's russia that's providing them with deadly air power.

explosion and gunfire air strikes are now a daily occurrence for the people of myanmar. more than 200 attacks have been reported since january. monasteries, hospitals, churches and schools have been hit. seven of his friends were killed. soldiers took their bodies away and burned them. the deadliest attack in april killed more than 170 people.

captain zay thu aung was a pilot in the myanmar air force for 18 years. everything changed for him when general min aung hlaing seized power in february 2021, ousting the elected government. it sparked a mass uprising,

demanding democracy be restored. the military responded with a violent crackdown. captain aung knew he couldn't stay, and started planning to defect.

do you feel ashamed that you were once one of them? thit naong naong took part in the protests. his tattoo of the face of elected leader aung san suu kyi became one of the lasting images of the uprising.

before the coup, he was a gym instructor. now he's a resistance fighter. his unit is part of a civilian militia network, called the people's defence forces. gunfire

they're being backed by ethnic armed groups, who have trained the young protesters, and they're proving to be a stronger force than many expected. in october, thit noang noang's group seized a military base, capturing three soldiers. shouting and scenes like this have been repeated across myanmar. these unexpected gains have pushed the military into the air.

what would the myanmar military�*s strength be like, without the air force? the myanmar military is increasingly relying on its air power, because the resistance forces on the ground have been effective in pushing them out of this territory, and on their ends, the myanmar military has been unable to control territory in a consistent manner. myanmar witness is tracking the aircrafts the military are using. the russian presence has become more important. the military�*s actions have been condemned by most nations, but russia — who has long had ties with the military —

has stepped up to become their strongest foreign backer. russian representatives have made very clear that, despite the war of 2021, they will continue to provide the myanmar military with air force assets. with russia's help, the military is upgrading its air force, with these fighter jets. the sukhoi 30 is an advanced fighterjet that has both air to air and air to ground capabilities in the version exported to myanmar. it has an even greater capacity to carry weapons, up to 8,000kg, and, as of this moment, represents the most advanced aircraft in the arsenal of the myanmar military.

captain aung knows these jets well. before defecting, he helped prepare for their arrival. so far, two have been delivered.

he shares his vital intelligence about the aircraft with groups trying to bring them down. are you ever troubled by the fact that you're giving information to groups that are fighting against your former colleagues, yourformerfriends? but information that you are giving may lead to the killing of your former colleagues.

in the air, this is how the resistance is fighting back. 25—year—old khin sein leads a group of female drone bombers. they adapt civilian drones to carry home—made bombs. the resistance relies on public donations.

she was a university student when the coup happened. chanting the military crackdown pushed her to take up arms, and it's scenes like this that keep her in the fight. this village near their camp was destroyed by soldiers. she heads off with her unit

to carry out another attack. things didn't go to plan. the bomb exploded in their hands. thit naong nao�*s group is gaining ground. he frequently comes in contact with the military.

but his guns are no match for the junta's airpower. gunfire.

across the border in thailand, the impact of the air strikes on the rebel soldiers is clear. these injured fighters are here illegally, so we are not showing their faces. this 22—year—old is now paralysed from the waist down. what kind of planes were they, could you see them clearly? his mum crossed the border to look after him. and how did your mum

react when you said you were injured? and will you keep fighting? this history student lost an eye. he plans to go back to fight with drones.

that night, we head to a safe house, a place the resistance is sheltering their former enemy, newly defected soldiers from the myanmar military, who refused to fight their own people. the youngest amongst them joined the military when he was just 15. did you hear how people hated you, hated the military? did you hear what they were calling soldiers?

but, right now, soldiers, young men like you, are raping women, burning villages, killing civilians. is the military finding it hard now to recruit new soldiers? it took captain aung a year to defect and flee across the border to thailand.

his life now is a world away from his career in the airforce. he can't formally work or send his son to school here in thailand, but counts himself lucky to be out.

despite her injury, she is fighting on. she hasn't seen herfamily in over two years.

singing.

hello there. well, the weekend certainly started off on a soggy note. plenty of rain around. not that it made much difference for these surfers enjoying the waves coming in at newquay. mind you, there weren't many sun worshippers on the beach. it was pretty dismal, wasn't it? not much sunshine around at all. most of us, you had extensive outbreaks of rain around, although it was a different story across northern scotland, poking out in the sunshine here. actually, we had temperatures as high as 22 degrees in highland scotland, and this beach in tiree kind of looked caribbean—esque in the sunshine. now back to the wet weather story. we've got more of that rain to come over the next few hours, particularly for northern ireland. across northern england, the rain heavy, the rain easing off for a time over the next few hours for the south of england, southern

parts of wales. but there'll still be some patches of drizzle around, a bit of mist and fog too. for the most part it's not too cool, but temperatures dipping down into single figures in scotland. but it is here where we'll start the day with a bit of sunshine. that rain band then still with us for sunday morning. the rain probably starting to fizzle off in northern ireland, but particularly wet across a swathe of northern england where we're looking at around 20 to 30 millimetres of rain, double that over the cumbrian fells, the north york moors and across the pennines could bring some localised surface water flooding. south of that rain band brighter weather for southern wales, southern england, sunny spells and just a few showers and with the winds coming up from a south westerly direction temperatures do get into the twenties, so it will feel quite pleasant in the sunshine. cooler air though for scotland, sunny spells, yes, but there will be some passing showers as well. 0n into monday's forecast our area of low pressure that's brought us the wet weather through the weekend starts to clear off into the near continent. but before it does do we are looking at a bit of rain to start off the day particularly across the midlands, east anglia, south east england monday morning. that will clear away. and then it's a day of sunny spells and just a few showers,

perhaps some longer spells of rainjust coming into the north west of scotland. but overall, i think a slightly better kind of weather day. temperatures, though, still below average for the time of year with those north westerly winds. fortuesday, more showers in the forecast. and then the middle of the new week sees another area of low pressure. well, you know what that means. a lot more rain on the way. so no sign of any prolonged, nice settled sunny spells of weather it is staying unsettled. showers around on tuesday. longer spells of rain later in the week.

live from washington. this is bbc news. cambodia's longstanding prime minister casts his ballot in an election he's almost guaranteed to win. thousands are forced to evacuate from the island of rhodes as wildfires rage in greece for a fifth day. and it's day four of the women's world cup and we'll have the latest from the pitch. hello. i'm carl nasman.