live from washington, this is bbc news. the widow of russian opposition leader alexei navalny vows to continue his campaign against the kremlin, after his death in prison. ukraine's president says russia is exploiting dwindling supplies in his country. it comes as the white house pushes congress to advance more military support. houthi fighters in yemen claim to have sunk a british—registered cargo ship in the gulf of aden. its crew had abandoned ship. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. great to have you with us. yulia navalnaya, the widow of russian opposition leader, alexei navalny, has promised to continue her husband's life's work, after he died friday

in a russian prison. in a video posted monday to social media, yulia also declared president vladimir putin responsible for alexei's death. the kremlin denies any involvement in navalny�*s death. a family spokesperson claims russian investigators say they won't hand over his remains for at least two more weeks. more from the bbc�*s russia editor, steve rosenberg. for three days now, she's been trying to recover her son's body, but alexei navalny�*s mother — here in the middle — was told that investigators are not ready to release it or even where the body is. a clue, perhaps, caught on cctv in the dead of night, near mr navalny�*s remote penal colony, a prison convoy heading to a nearby town, just hours after the announcement of his death. it's thought this midnight motorcade may have been transporting his body. alexei navalny was an ambitious politician, promising a brighter future for russia. he once tried to run for president.

he ended up in prison. now he's dead. in a video statement filmed abroad, his widow, yulia, accused the kremlin of killing him and vowed to continue his fight to change russia. translation: having killed alexei, putin killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul. but i still have the other half, and that tells me i have no right to give up. i will continue the work of alexei navalny, continue to fight for our country. today, yulia navalnaya was in brussels, meeting european foreign ministers. for years, she's kept a low profile. now she's vowing to unite opposition to vladimir putin. and the kremlin, what has it been saying about the death of its staunchest critic? very little. president putin has yet

to make any public comments about the death of alexei navalny, but today the kremlin spokesmen described accusations that it was the russian leadership that killed him as "obnoxious and utterly unacceptable". at this makeshift shrine to alexei navalny, we discovered that many of the floral tributes have been cleared away. and yet muscovites were still coming here to honour the man who called for change but would never live to see it. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. finland, germany and sweden are among the countries announcing they've summoned diplomats from russian embassies in protest of navalny�*s death. there's new pleas for international aid by ukraine's president volydmyr zelensky, as russian forces make advances in the east. translation: now, the situation is extremely difficult _ in several parts of the front — precisely, where the russian troops have concentrated the maximum reserves.

they are taking advantage of the delays in helping ukraine, and these are very tangible things. the shortage of artillery, the need for frontline air defence. we're working as hard as possible with partners to restore and extend support. speaking to reporters monday, president biden said he's willing to meet with house speaker mikejohnson to discuss a funding bill for ukraine. and as ukraine marks two years this week since russia's invasion, our correspondent andrew harding returned to the town of lyman, close to the frontline, to find out how people there are coping. how do you judge the mood of a country this big and this broken? we've come back to a front line town — lyman — a place seized by russian forces and then liberated by ukraine back in 2022. since then, the closest front lines have remained just up the road. this was aleksander a year ago with his cats. aleksander?

yes. andrew from bbc. today he's still here. "yes, i remember you," he says. he shows me the wreckage of his old apartment block, hit by russian missiles. and he says he sees this war differently now. i want peace, peace, peace. so has your opinion changed? changed — many changed. so this is interesting. he's changed his opinion over the course of the last year. before, he said ukraine had to win this war. now he's saying there's been too much death, too much suffering. he wants talks — even if it means giving up land, peace is more important than victory. you can feel the weariness on the streets of lyman. british aid distributed here, mostly to pensioners, who ignore the sound of another explosion on the front lines.

"our youth are being exterminated , " "if this continues, there'll be no ukraine left," says nadezhda. "this war will go on for a long time yet," says pasha. but it's not all gloom here. council workers are out doing what they can and a younger generation is just getting on with life. school is mostly online, but not entirely. laughter "i've got everything i need," she says. a year ago, we found families hiding from the war in these cellars. and today, the dmitrichenko family are still here. but there's regular electricity now, waterfrom a pump outside, and irina, an accountant, is quietly determined. "we're waiting for

victory," she says, "we are all tired, "but i don't see how we can negotiate with murderers." still, lyman�*s mayor is worried that america will stop supplying weapons to the ukrainian troops protecting his town. "we're fighting a monster," says aleksander, "so we need more outside military help. "our soldiers are doing their best, "but they're running out of guns and ammunition." this small town feels torn between determination and despair. what unites it now is sheer exhaustion, the knowledge that this war will not be quickly won, and increasingly, the fear that ukraine's fate may yet be decided by foreign politicians in far—away capitals. andrew harding, bbc news in eastern ukraine.

to the israel—gaza war now. a minister in israel's war cabinet has warned that israeli forces will launch an offensive in rafah in southern gaza, unless hamas releases all of its hostages by march 10th. it comes as the un says a key hospital in gaza has stopped functioning, following an israeli raid. earlier i spoke to the who's rick brennan. the who was able to access the complex over the weekend. what is the situation like? i complex over the weekend. what is the situation like?— is the situation like? i think we have to _ is the situation like? i think we have to look _ is the situation like? i think we have to look at - is the situation like? i think we have to look at nasser l we have to look at nasser medical complex in the context of the health system. it has been degraded during the course of the war, we're down to 13 hospitals from 36, minimally, including nasser. nasser medical complex becomes one of

the main referral hospitalfor the main referral hospitalfor the people of gaza, particularly throughout the war but it has been essentially under siege from israeli military over the last week or so. and that means that axis for health staff, for patients and medical supplies, fuel and so on, has been extremely limited. they essentially found a hospital that was non—functional. an estimated 180 patients still in the hospital and 15 staff but very little electricity and very little electricity and very little in the way of supply and no running water. they did a rapid assessment of the needs. they identified a0 patients for evacuation and were able to successfully take those patients to about five other hospitals to the south. they

have gone back again later this afternoon to do another evacuation. we're still waiting on the reports from that mission but what they have described is essentially a non—functioning hospital, a desperate medical staff who have done truly heroic things but against enormous odds. fix, but against enormous odds. a statement from the who said there was an acute shortage of food, oxygen, basic medical supplies. how difficult is it to get these materials into nasser at the moment? it has been essentially _ nasser at the moment? it has been essentially under- nasser at the moment? it has been essentially under siege. | been essentially under siege. 0ver been essentially under siege. over the last few days, we have asked for access and a number of occasions. we have had those requests denied twice. we did not get access over the weekend and again late this afternoon. essentially, nasserand and again late this afternoon. essentially, nasser and other hospitals have been stroked off from supply lines and it has been incredibly difficult to

get medicines, food, water, fuel, which is absolutely essential for generators and so on, so there is a limited amount of fuel. all the input that you would required to run a hospital have been in extremely short supply and hence this important health facility has been rendered non—functional and we are now in a process of trying to find other hospitals to which we can transfer patients. i other hospitals to which we can transfer patients.— transfer patients. i want to “um in transfer patients. i want to jump in and _ transfer patients. i want to jump in and ask _ transfer patients. i want to jump in and ask you, - transfer patients. i want to jump in and ask you, there transfer patients. i want to - jump in and ask you, there are essentially 13 partially functioning hospital. more than 1 million people displaced within gaza. if they need medical attention, these civilians, is there someone they can go to get that attention at this point? {131 they can go to get that attention at this point? of the 36 hosnitals. _ attention at this point? of the 36 hospitals, only— attention at this point? of the 36 hospitals, only 13 - attention at this point? of the 36 hospitals, only 13 partiallyl 36 hospitals, only 13 partially functional and easy access individual patients have

through healthcare will really depend on the security part. what we have seen progressively, as we have had expanding military operations, evenif expanding military operations, even if hospitals are not directly attacked, in the instance of nasser it has been essentially under siege so patients have not been able to access that facility and we have seen the same as that in other hospital. to give an idea, i was in gaza last week and visited two hospitals. 0ne al—nasr hospital, a 65 bed facility with over 300 patients now. i went through a field hospital run by the international medical group. as the israeli forces are planning their offences in rafah, the managers of those two hospitals are now looking at options for evacuating their patients and

also relocating their operations. they know that with a big military operation, they too will be cut off from supply lines, they too will not be able to have the staff and patients access the hospitals, and that this is a recurring theme throughout the war. this is what has happened in most of the hospitals across gaza since the hospitals across gaza since the start of the conflict. fin the start of the conflict. an incredibly _ the start of the conflict. an incredibly troubling situation. thank you for sharing with us today. thank you for sharing with us toda . . ~ thank you for sharing with us toda . ., ~ ,, i also spoke with joel rubin, former us deputy assistant secretary of state in the 0bama administration about israel's looming offensive in southern gaza. we have seen prime minister benjamin netanyahu says he's going to launch a operation in rafah by the start of ramadan, march ten, if hostages are not released before then. at the same time, more than a million people have taken

shelter in rafah. are you concerned about what we might be about to see? it is great to be with you and i am very concerned. i have been to rafah and it is a city divided into, between gaza and sinai and there is a tight bond between the two sides. this has the potential to explode across the border and really harm palestinian civilians. that said, israel has been conducting pin oint raids but the idea of going into rafah with all civilians in that is unacceptable and that cannot go forward. if it does it doesn't could create a humanitarian catastrophe that neither israel nor egypt should allow to happen and neither would want it to happen as well. i will ask about the us response in a moment but on the hostages, we saw the israeli prime

minister say that they can be released through strong military action and tough negotiations but until now we have seen a few histages released through military action. what you think of that is a strategy? it is always to the wire in the middle east. negotiations combined... are grown out of a combination of pressure and diplomacy. the first hostage exchange, the qatari and egyptians were central in negotiating and that was a gold standard for this war and that is the way that most israeli hostages got out and that has to be the way to get the remaining hostages out and they need to come out immediately. i do not think the israelis have any clear idea of where all of them are, if they did they would have gotten them out already and so perhaps this is a gambit to try and

keep the pressure on. there is a lot of pressure on qatar. qatar has a strong mediating role. nonetheless this seems to be going down to the wire. and the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu will try to use that to get the hostages out. ceasefire negotiations appear to have stalled despite these efforts from qatar, egypt and us. we have sent the us secretary of state antony blinken travel to the region several times. what do you think the us should be doing at this point to try to broker some sort of at least temporary ceasefire? it is very frustrating. diplomats say how close i got to a ceasefire and a hostage exchange

and how it disappears. we have topline diplomats including bill burns in the cia engaged. we need to see more pressure from the united states as well. president biden has made it clear publicly and privately that he wants to see a ceasefire that has a hostage exchange. he has put forward a certain moves on the military that show he is serious about this, especially regarding not using military aid from the united states that harms palestinian civilians and causes humanitarian crisis. i think we're going to need to see continued public and private pressure and our diplomats probably sitting there for the next couple of weeks to get the deal done. president biden had has also made clear he does not want to see an israeli ground operation into rafah unless a ivilians there are safely evacuated. do you think at the same time the biden administration is able to influence the decisions the israeli prime minister is making? from the public eye, it does not look like he has enough influence but from behind the scenes, the united states has

had a major impact on how israel has conducted this war, particularly in the last a—6 weeks. heavy operations in the north ground to a near halt. israel has listened to the biden team behind closed doors but it is not enough. it is really not enough and i think the president, he is leaning in and there is still pending spending bill about whether or to provide military spending in israel and that should go forward but it also includes aiding the palestinians with humanitarian assistance but the biden team is quite aware that prime minister netanyahu is publicly picking fights. i just want to add that it comes off prime minister netanyahu is hoping to get a different president next year, donald trump, in the white house and he should not be engaging in political attacks or arguments undermining biden who was always been a supporter of israel.

thank you for talking to us. brazil has recalled its ambassador to tel aviv in an escalating diplomatic row following president luiz inacio lula da silva's controversial statements about the israeli action in gaza. the president of brazil said israel's military campaign was between a highly prepared army and women and children. israel's foreign minister described lula's comments as anti—semitic. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. david cameron has become the first british foreign secretary to visit the falkland islands in thirty years. his visit is being seen as a demonstration of the uk's sovereignty over the contested territory. in a 2013 referendum, the islanders voted to retain their status as a uk overseas territory, but argentina's new president has said he hopes to take control of the islands by diplomatic means. a bbc investigation has found that many nhs patients in england are stuck on hidden waiting lists, potentially running into millions.

the published waiting list stands at 7.6 million. but people who are referred to a specialist for cancer treatment or heart failure are no longer counted. nhs england said hospitals should be monitoring and counting such cases. a bbc panorama report found that uk special forces blocked some afghan troops from relocating to britain after the taliban seized power. leaked documents show the applications were rejected despite compelling evidence of service alongside the british military. afghan commandos accompanied british troops on some of the most dangerous missions of the conflict. you're live with bbc news. iranian—backed houthis in yemen say they've targeted three vessels in the red sea within a 2a—hour period. the group said monday it targeted two us ships, and the british—registered rubymar, which was hit by two missiles. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale has this update. since november, houthi rebels based here in yemen have attacked merchant vessels steaming

up and down the red sea. they say they are doing it to support palestinians in gaza, claiming they are mostly attacking ships linked to israel, the us or the uk. the attack on the british vessel took place here, on sunday, close to the bab al—mandeb strait, between yemen and djibouti. the ship that was hit was the rubymar, a cargo vessel flagged in belize, operated from lebanon, but owned by a british firm. it was heading north, bound for bulgaria. a spokesman for the houthis, which are backed by iran, said its armed forces attacked the ship with missiles. it suffered catastrophic damage and had sunk. there is no independent confirmation of this but the uk authorities did say the rubymar was taking on water, it had been abandoned and the 2a—crew had been rescued. all this is damaging trade as ships take the longer more costly route around africa. egypt's president, fattah

el—sisi, says his revenues from the suez canal were down by 50%. since the middle ofjanuary, us forces occasionally with raf warplanes have hit back and attacked houthi military targets in yemen. a uk government spokesman said it and its allies reserved the right to respond appropriately, and the european union also agreed today to set up its own naval mission to protect shipping. but so far, none of this appears to be deterring the houthis. their spokesman promised more escalation and claimed it had made two further attacks, this time on us vessels, down there, in the gulf of aden. animal welfare charities are welcoming an africa—wide ban on the controversial donkey skin trade. it will make it illegal to slaughter donkeys for their skin in 55 countries across the continent. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill reports. this donkey is much more than raziki's companion.

translation: without my donkey, life - would be incredibly challenging. with their strength and ability to work in heat and drought, these animals mean the difference between a livelihood and destitution for millions of people in poor, rural communities around the world. they can be a lifeline. but these photographs tell another story. donkeys taken to slaughter for their skins. animal welfare campaigners in africa say the trade in donkey skin has decimated the population of the animals and fuelled an increase in donkey theft. hides are exported to china and used to make a popular, traditional medicine. it's called ejiao and the skins are boiled down to make it in liquid, powder or edible form and it is believed to have benefits from strengthening the blood to aiding fertility. to understand the extent of the trade i sat down with experts at the donkey sanctuary who have been examining its impact across africa. what are the effects of this huge demand for donkeys for their skin?

from 2016 to 2019 almost half the population of donkeys in kenya had been slaughtered. completely unsustainable. this is affecting very negatively the livelihood because if somebody loses their donkey, then there is no way of making a livelihood. one reason for that decline is donkeys don't breed well in intensive farms, so countries with large populations of working donkeys are targeted by the trade. now in response to shrinking donkey populations and public outcry leaders of 55 african states have banned the slaughter of donkeys for their skin. this gives protection to over 33 million donkeys and of course the communities that depend upon them for their livelihood. but some say banning donkey exports in one part of the world could just shift the trade elsewhere. what we really want to see is investment in sustainable alternatives such as producing collagen in labs. they can provide a source material for this trade without the need to have to eliminate

a product that is so culturally significant, but removing the need for suffering. these animals have carried people for millennia. the hope now is that they will be protected for the next generation. victoria gill, bbc news. let's turn to some other news from around the world. a landslide in eastern afghanistan killed at least 25 people.it happened after heavy snowfall. a regional official says more than 25 homes were destroyed. another atmospheric river is pinwheeling into california from the pacific ocean, prompting the waterlogged state to brace for more heavy rainstorms. officials are warning of dangerous flooding, strong winds and mudslides. capital one, one of america's largest banks has announced it is acquiring the major credit card company discover financial services. the deal is valued at more than $35 billion. consumers advocates have warned that such a deal would raise anti—trust concerns. thank you so much for watching bbc news. stay with us.

hello. this round of incredibly mild weather continues as we go through the next few days. on monday, we saw temperatures reach 15 degrees almost in parts of london. that makes it seven consecutive days of seeing the temperatures of 1a degrees or more and well above the average of 6—8 celsius. but that kind of weather will be back later this week — feels much more like february with temperatures 6—9 degrees for many, which will actually be higher than many have been by night recently. and if that's the case, we start tuesday — 7—9 degrees in western scotland, northern ireland. but it's here where we start to see the rain arrive, first of all. in fact, a spell of at times heavy rain sweeps across scotland, northern ireland during the morning, followed on by sunshine more extensively for the afternoon, a few showers in the highlands and ireland. through the afternoon, though, northern england and wales turn increasingly wet and windy.

to the south and east of that, many will stay dry during daylight hours, but fairly cloudy, some sunshine and again, 1a—15 celsius will be possible. the patchy rain will, by the end of the afternoon and evening, edge its way southwards. it looks like it starts to fade, but then regains strength. after some clear skies for a time in the north with a touch of frost. cloud and rain will surge its way northwards later in the night on wednesday and mild weather fights back once again. so it will be a very mild start to wednesday but a thoroughly wet one. these weather fronts bring in outbreaks of rain quite extensively, pushing its way eastwards with some strong and gusty winds throughout the day, too. wettest in the morning for many, and particularly so on hills exposed to those southerly gales brining up from the west later — sunshine and showers — but rain will hold on across shetlands into the middle part of the afternoon and it may never fully clear the channel islands and the english channel. in the sunshine, it's going to be mild. southerly winds, a0 mile an hour winds, if not more. and temperatures again in double figures, if not low teens for the most part.

but that milder weather is eventually pushed out the way. this area of low pressure to the north of us, as it works its way eastwards, introduces winds from the north atlantic, and that brings a drop in temperature. clears away the rain slowly, though, that we see again across england, wales, eastern scotland on thursday. bright conditions into the west, but the showers will be a mixture of rain, hail and on the hills a bit of sleet and snow on the tops, too. temperatures dropping as we go through the day. and that cooler run continues through the rest of the week and into the weekend with further spells of wind and rain at times.

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. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. when donald trump said he would let russia do whatever the hell it wanted in nato member states that were not prepared to pay their defence bills, he set alarm bells ringing right across europe. add to that the politicking in washington, which is blocking further us assistance to ukraine, and there is a growing, urgent sense that europe needs to get serious about its own security. my guest is bulgaria's prime minister, nikolai denkov.

is the eu's poorest nation, where pro—russian sentiment