with ukraine's president spending a whrilwind week here in the us to shore up international support. volodymyr zelensky started the week at the united nations general assembly, then moved on to meet with leaders here in washington, both on capitol hill, and in the oval office. on friday he wrapped up the week in canada, addressing the country's parliament after a meeting with prime minister justin trudeau. so what did mr zelensky get for his efforts? on friday, canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, pledged nearly $500 million in aid to ukraine. that includes 50 armoured vehicles as well as training for f16 pilots and engineers to be delivered over a three year period. and it's in addition to a $325 million package from the us, announced during mr zelensky�*s visit to washington on thursday. those commitments come as ukraine struck a symbolic blow against russia on friday. kyiv used cruise missiles to strike the headquarters of russia's black sea fleet in crimea. thick black smoke was still rising from the building

in sevastopol hours after the attack. the russian defence ministry said one serviceman was missing. our corespondentjames waterhouse has more from kyiv. this is clearly a continuation of ukraine's tactic of specifically targeting sites in occupied crimea, but the apparent direct hit of russia's naval headquarters in sevastopol is hugely symbolic. it's not yet clear what operational damage will be caused for russia, but this is a place where it has exerted such dominance through its navy, where it launches missiles across ukraine, it blockades ukrainian ports. and i think what this attack does is undermine russia's continued occupation in a place that seems a cornerstone of its invasion from as far back as 2014. there is also a connection between this missile strike and ukraine's continued counteroffensive further north. what they are trying to do

is frustrate russian supply lines and isolate swathes of occupied territory in the hope that troops will run out of supplies. now, president zelensky hasjust completed a visit to the us. he's in canada currently, and i think what we're seeing now is battlefield progress increasingly getting linked to the politics of it all. because, yes, he is being warmly welcomed by both countries, but there are political corners that are growing increasingly sceptical as to what the ukrainian victory might look like and as for how long western allies should be pumping billions of dollars into ukraine. so it's becoming increasingly high—stakes for president zelensky, who's now having to do a fair bit of negotiating in his foreign policy. let's take a moment now to size up the state of the war. and for that, we have some interesting statistics from a briefing by general mark milley, chairman of the joint chief of staff and defense secretary lloyd austin, courtesy of foreign policy.

for instance, senior us officials say that ukraine hs a liberated more than 54—percent of russian—occupied territory taken sine the invasion. the us defense department believes that about 200,000 russian troops remain on occupied ukrainian soil. and russian attacks on ukraine's ports and infrastructure have destroyed about 280,000 tonnes of grain. that's enough to feed more than 10 million people for a year. earlier i spoke about all this with bill taylor, former us ambassador to ukraine. ambassador, it's great to have you back on the show. i want to start with developments that we saw on friday — ukraine's attack on the headquarters of the russian black sea fleet in crimea. what you think that signals? sumi, that signals a strong message from the ukrainians to the russians that they are going to push this war hard. they are going to attack into their own territory — occupied territory. the russians are occupying crimea. that is ukrainian territory.

the ukrainians are sending the message that they have got the capabilities now to hold those military targets in crimea at risk, and that they are ready to do it. i talked to ukrainians yesterday and today. they are very pleased about this. these are civilians that are watching this. the military has crimea in their sites, so the strong message is they are not giving up on crimea. and, ambassador, do you think this is going to be opening up another front then in the current counteroffensive, pushing more on crimea? so, the counteroffensive, as you indicated, has several fronts. they are still pushing around bakhmut but you are right — a major effort is moving to the south, toward the land bridge. the road is called mia and it goes across the southern parts of ukraine, and if the ukrainians can get to that, or get in range, artillery range of that, they can cut off

crimea. so, yes, i do think crimea is in their sites. crimea is where the russians have been moving forces through, and so ukrainians know that. ukrainians want to cut that source of russian soldiers, equipment, ammunition, fuel — they want to cut that off and this is the way they are doing that. they are both cutting off the mia across the south up into donbas, but also attacking into crimea itself. i want to ask you also about ukrainian president zelensky�*s visit to washington on thursday. he had said ahead of his visit he will of course get assurances from the white house and president biden but that he needed to make his case to the public and also to members of congress. do you think that he did?

i think he did, sumi. i think he certainly had a rapt attention, a rapt audience in the senate, the united states senate. the photos of the majority leader and minority leader on either side of him, senator schumer and senator mcconnell on either side of president zelensky, walking him through, having good conversation. that was a strong indication that president zelensky was going to be able to make that case to them very well, and it turns out actually that he was able to make the case on the house side as well despite all of the drama that is going on on the house aside. the house of representatives is not in good shape right now. they are trying to figure out how they can fund the country. they have got a lot going on there, but they gave president zelensky a good attention, a good meeting. they had a good session, and apparently even mr mccarthy was indicating that he is supporting these weapons. that may be the case, ambassador, but we also saw

the speaker say that he would not bring this $24 billion additional aid package for ukraine to the floor for a vote before the end of the year, and he did add this: . do you think there is a clear answer to that question right now? i think there is a clear answer to that question, and ukrainians actually have been pretty straightforward about that answer, and it is theyjust want the russians out of their country. theyjust — that is victory for them. they don't want more than that. there are some people who are talking about more than that, going into russia — no. the ukrainians just want the russian soldiers out of their country, and we talked about how they are trying to push to the south. they are trying to push to the east around bakhmut, so that is what they are after that is what we — we are helping them. we are helping them do exactly that, so i think that is a clear answer to what

is victory for the ukrainians. we have heard, ambassador, that the counteroffensive in ukraine, as you said on various fronts, has been making slow progress. winter is just around the corner. what needs to happen in the next two months, really, in particular? in the next two months before the weather changes, now, they are not like the winter or the rainy season or the wet season. it is not going to stop the counteroffensive. it will slow it, make it more complicated, but the ukrainians are going to continue this counteroffensive, but in the next two months, back to your question, they hope they can make some grinding progress. as you just said, they are making some progress right now. apparently there are reports now of armoured tanks and armoured personnel carriers that have actually broken through the russian lines down in the south, moving towards mariupol, moving towards melitopol. so, that is actually progress, and if that continues over the next couple of months then they have a chance of cutting off the mia we talked about and threatening crimea. ambassador, great to get your thoughts on bbc news tonight. thank you. thank you, sumi.

we mentioned earlier the $325 million commitment from the white house, so what does that involve? for one, more controversial cluster munitions, in the form of 155 millimetre artillery shells with cluster warheads. it also means more ammo for the himars rocket launcher, as well as three million rounds of small—arms ammunition. more of the man—portable javelin and ata anti—tank missiles that were so crucial to ukraine's early success, as well as larger wire—guided toe missiles. for air defence, sidewinder missiles and avenger air defence systems, plus fifty calibre machine guns for use against unmanned aerial vehicles. the us is also offering fifty nine light tactical vehicles. for more on us military support, i spoke earlier with an advisor to zelensky, alexander rodnya nsky. alexander, very good to have

you back on bbc news. thank you forjoining us. we have seen multiple us media reports that the bbc have not been able to verify just yet that the us is going to send ukraine atacms, these long—range missile systems. can you confirm this is the case? i cannot personally confirm any of these rumours. it is true it is in the news but that is for our military and political leadership to finally confirm. but i will say that, of course, we are pressing our partners and the us in particular very hard to give us these long—range missiles because it would make a difference in the war effort, and we are obviously in this fight together and we share common goals, and that is to liberate ukraine and make sure that democracies prevail over autocracies. so, ukrainian president zelensky has wrapped up his visit to the us and it was a different visit this time. he did try to convince congressional leaders that support for ukraine should continue, particularly among republicans who have expressed more scepticism about continuing to support ukraine. do you think that president zelensky was able to make his case?

i believe so and i hope so, and i know that opinion polls fluctuate in all democracies, including in the us, and electoral cycles obviously have their characteristics which make them turbulent, and it might seem at times that support is swinging either way, but, listen, as i said before, we are in this fight together. it is about making sure that democracies prevail over autocracies, and that no dictator is encouraged around the world in using force, essentially, to push their way through and achieve whatever objectives they see fit. that would obviously be disastrous. that would mean calamity for the rest of the world. you can think of all the crisis regions around the globe that would become inflamed, and so we are in this together, and the cheapest way actually for democracies is to make sure that they don't have to get involved at some point themselves, which is one big concern among the voters, it is to give every possible support there is to ukraine

right now and to do it as quickly as possible. 0k. i want to ask you about that support. we spoke to a democrat congressman, raja krishnamoorthi of illinois yesterday, and this is what he told us. i think american people want to spend the money or want to give resources to the ukrainians. they want to make sure that it is going to the intended purposes and that it is effective, and so i think those are the types of provisions that might accompany further aid. would you support, alexander, provisions that would involve more direct us oversight of how aid is being spent in ukraine? by every indication that i know of and by everything that i can tell you in terms of the evidence, everything that we have received, all the support of the military assistance has been spent exactly the way it should have been spent without any sort of risks that could have occurred along the way. we have put it to use very effectively, and again, that is everything that i know, so i think first of all i should mention this — i don't think there are any measurable, significant risks that we can think of right now when we talk about this, but if our partners want some

additional conditions then i am sure our political leadership would be willing to consider those conditions provided that we can still operate effectively and get the support and the military assistance that we desperately need. if we talk about at the bigger picture of global support right now, we are talking after a g20 where we saw wording in the final statement that was watered down, essentially, in order to create some sort of consensus when it comes to condemning russia for its invasion of ukraine. do you think there is a sense in president zelensky�*s administration that support for ukraine is waning as this war stretches on? i don't think there is such a sense among us in the presidential office, and even though you might — the public might perceive it as some sort of dilution of the common position that we have in the civilised democratic world, i do not think that is what we see when we talk to our partners and that is certainly something that i think the president has said and other people in the presidential office have said more recently, even including during this trip

to the us and to canada. so, look, i mean, there is always going to be politics, as i said before, and it does have its turbulences, but i think support by any measure that we can see is firmly behind ukraine. that is what we saw at the un general assembly, of course, from president biden where he reaffirmed the us�*s unwavering, as he said, support for ukraine. there are americans, however, who have urged negotiations, including richard hawk, the former diplomat. china has continued to reiterate its position that there needs to be a ceasefire and peace talks — that is the only way to end this war rather. do you think conditions are right at the moment to try to start some sort of negotiations? the big risk is any sort of ceasefire agreement potentially with the current russian regime is not going to last very long.

we want meaningful change to the russian position to the russian regime, to have a meaningful genuine ceasefire or even into a war with the liberation of our territories. just giving russia some breathing space in order to regroup and rearm themselves and launch yet another offensive is not something that is in our common interests, and that is something to keep in mind. both when we have these discussions among the west but also more generally. you can't trust these people, they have broken literally every major agreement, every major promise they have made over the last years. especially when it comes to ukraine. so that is not a trap, that is a trap we need to be careful of. alexander rodnya nsky, thank you. to break this all down, i spoke earlier with an expert panel. liana fix is fellow for europe at the council on foreign relations. and kori schake is senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the american enterprise institute.

we heard ambassador bill taylor tell us he thinks volodymyr zelensky was able to make his case on capitol hill in washington this week — but we know there is still scepticism among house republicans, and republican speaker mccarthy said he would remove the $300 million for ukraine currently in the pentagon appropriations bill because of opposition. so would you say president zelensky�*s visit was successful? yes i would. it sounds like the president of the united states continued, committed to continuing weaponry to ukraine, and including the possibility of longer range missiles. and to other things important to ukraine. it is the president's job to deliver congress on this. and president zelensky came to washington on a particularly difficult week where the house of representatives are struggling to try and get the consensus to pass a spending bill, so i am not surprised either that the speaker of the house asked not for a major international event

in the house of representatives, or that he is turning keys in locks, trying to find the votes. whether that is appointing a special inspector, to root out any potential corruption and to reassure americans that the support we are giving is going to the things ukraine genuinely needs. or whether it is private meetings without being public fa nfa re. because getting the federal budget passed is actually important for ukraine as well as for the united states. you are right, kori, there is a lot going on on capitol hill this week. liana, i want to get your take on this question, it did seem to be more of a difficult visit this time for president zelensky. it is not only this visit which is more difficult, it's the general context for ukraine which is becoming more difficult, not only in the us, also in europe. the slow pace of the counteroffensive, although certainly there is still more

to come before winter sets in, is something that has discouraged some publics and has given space to questions about how long this war will continue and it has certainly dampened the hope that there will be one counteroffensive successful this year, and then the war might somehow get to an end. so it is the international context that has changed, it is the counteroffensive that makes it more difficult, that is a challenge that zelensky will face not only in washington but also in european capitals. liana, given that context, what does that mean for international support for ukraine right now? first of all it means that allies will have to prepare that support for ukraine should not only be limited to this year but that the counteroffensive will go on next year and possibly even the year after. so it is important to switch from this more short—term perspective of, short—term hope for the counteroffensive which was especially raised at

the beginning of the year, an expectation then, to more prolonged and structural healthy ukraine. and what that means is to make sure that budgetary support for ukraine is anchored in long—term cycles and is not held hostage to short—term budgetary discussions. again not only in washington but also in europe. so ukraine needs a reliable basis and notjust month—to—month support in discussions. kori, what is your thought on this, does there need to be an international reframing of the expectations and the perspective of what will come out of the current counteroffensive? yes, i think it was always unfair to ukraine to put such enormous weight on the counteroffensive, especially since the deliberations among the free societies that are aiding ukraine, and the 6— eight month lag on weapons deliveries gave russia the opportunity to build deep defensive positions in the territory of ukraine that they occupy.

so we bear some culpability for how slow the pace of the offensive has been for ukraine, and again the president should be helping americans to understand that. instead ofjust committing to whatever it takes for as long as it takes, people want to know and they are watching with real sympathy and anxiety, the suffering of ukrainians, they want to know where this is headed and the president should be doing a betterjob of that as should other western leaders. liana, do you think this is also something that should be better communicated as kori said? it is indeed a problem, i would entirely agree when it comes to the western theory of victory, the famous endgame question of when and how will this end, so there has been no sufficient answer, both in the long—term from western allies, no agreed upon answer and there has been no clear goal that was set for the counteroffensive

to which especially weapons supplies could be tailored. and that may be prudent because we see that you can't predict what is happening on the battlefield, but on the other hand it is also more difficult to communicate to publics if the message isjust as long as it takes, because the question is how well this end, what is the plan to end this and how long will it take. so this is certainly a problem in the narrative, not only for ukraine but also for ukraine supporters, which is difficult to address but will become even stronger in the next year. all right, really interesting perspectives, thank you both forjoining us on bbc news.

we've talked a lot about the military and diplomatic side of the war, let's focus on the human toll now. ukraine's military does not release figures for those killed and injured, but the bbc has been given access to a major hospital where doctors say they've treated more than 20,000 soldiers since russia's invasion. orla guerin reports. sirens under a blanket of darkness, the wounded are brought in. on arrival, each one is numbered. each one a husband, a father or a son. this is the pain of a generation. staff here treat 50 to 100 new casualties every day. another badly wounded soldier has just been brought in. he's in his 20s and one of his legs has already been amputated. this is where you can see the cost of the war —

the cost for soldiers, the cost for ukraine — and there's no let up — the casualties keep coming. alexi is 38 and days ago lost both his legs. translation: the in'uries both his legs. translation: the injuries are _ both his legs. translation: tue: injuries are severe. both his legs. translation: tte: injuries are severe. i am glad he survived. was caused by the explosion of a mine. unfortunately his friends are no longer alive.— no longer alive. war is frightening, _ no longer alive. war is frightening, says - no longer alive. war is | frightening, says alexi. no longer alive. war is - frightening, says alexi. only a fool would not be scared. what more can i say? bullets whistled, mines explode. more

than 20,000 injured soldiers have passed through these doors in europe's newest war. a conveyor belt of broken bodies. even when the fighting is over, for many, the battle will last a lifetime. orla guerin, bbc news, southeastern ukraine. and before we go, let's recap the week of diplomacy by the ukrainian president. volodymyr zelenksy addressed the un general assembly on tuesday. he called for international unity in his nation's fight against russia, and later criticised the un security council because of russia's veto power. then it was on to washington, where he met with congressional leaders on capitol hill, and joe biden at the white house. and as we mentioned, zelensky wrapped up the week in canada, secuding hundreds of millions in military aid from prime minister justin trudeau. that's all for this bbc special look

at the situation in ukraine. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. it's the autumn equinox on saturday morning, so the first day of autumn, officially. how about the weather? it's looking a little mixed this weekend, and quite an interesting headline there. the tail end of a hurricane is expected to bring us some warm weather to some parts of the country, but also a dose of wind and rain. and here it is, hurricane nigel soon to become an ex—hurricane, also being absorbed by the weather systems in the mid—latitudes and all of that is heading our way. and also a south—southwesterly wind ahead of it will develop, ahead of this large area of low pressure and that means somewhat warmer weather streaming in from the south. so it's a tale of two halves, quite literally. so the forecast then through the early morning shows clear skies across most of the uk.

having said that, it is going to be quite chilly despite this remnant storm heading our way. temperatures will be around eight degrees even in the south of the country, and close to freezing, if not below, in the sheltered glens of scotland. now, here it is, that weather front by this stage bringing cloud, a shield of cloud to northern ireland, wales, and the southwest. within it, some outbreaks of rain. but out towards the east and the north, it's a cracking day both in the morning and the afternoon. we're expecting sunny spells, temperatures around 18 in london, a bit fresher there in scotland. and then it's saturday night into sunday that that weather front sweeps across the uk. the winds will freshen and we are expecting some rain. some of the rain will be heavy at times. so here's the forecast then — out towards the west and the north, increasing winds, gale force winds around some of the coasts and some heavy rain at times. the further east and southeast

you are, the sunnier and warmer it will be. in fact, 20 degrees in london. but even further north where it's cloudy and rainy, temperatures will be close to 20. but let's take a closer look. and here are the gusts of wind, 50 to even 60 miles an hour. now, that is a strong wind blowing out of the south. and then all of that rain sweeping across the country as well sunday evening into the early hours of monday. now, here's the outlook into the week ahead. those temperatures remain in the low 20s across the south of the country. but be warned, at times we could be seeing some pretty gusty, rainy, windy weather in the week ahead. bye— bye.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. margaret atwood. one of the world's best—selling critically—acclaimed authors, she's published more than 60 books, and has won the booker prize, twice. the winner of the first booker prize of the 21st century, margaret atwood. cheering and applause. her stories often centre on oppression and brutality. most famously, her 1985 novel, the handmaid's tale, a dystopian vision of america, in which women are enslaved, now an emmy award—winning television series. there's an eye in your house.

in this episode of this cultural life, the radio a programme, she reveals her formative influences and experiences, and how, even in high school, her creativity was clear. i put on a home economics opera. it was about fabrics. can you remember how it goes? # fabrics need a swim in the suds. # it makes them feel just like new. # plink—plink, plink—plink. laughter. i want to make sure the mics are recording us. margaret atwood, welcome

to this cultural life. thank you very much. happy to be here.