and it's the same again on thursday, more rain on the way, although this time the rain is a lot further south — some humid—feeling air. this system contains the remnants of hurricane ernesto, and that humid air will last longest across parts of east anglia. very windy on thursday across the board, guest of wind of 40—50 miles an hour, potentially. once again, temperatures in the high teens, the low 20s in celsius. so, you can see the tight squeeze on the isobars on thursday. the winds turn a little lighter for most on friday, but still blustery by anyone�*s standards, and some more heavy downpours of rain as we head through friday. possibly some more rain, too, in the south and the east as we head into friday night and saturday morning. here's the outlook for our capital cities as we head through the rest of the week. do keep an eye on the forecast. at the moment, it looks like an improving picture through the weekend. bye— bye.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. with its surprise offensive into russian territory, ukraine has successfully changed the narrative in its war with russia. no longer is kyiv simply focused on grim defence as putin's forces grind forward in eastern ukraine. but what is the long—term strategy here? president zelensky talks of creating a buffer zone inside russia. but for how long and at what cost? are kyiv�*s allies on board with what looks like a high—risk gambit? well, my guest is one of ukraine's deputy prime ministers, olha stefanishyna. ukraine's move is daring, but is it borne of desperation?

olha stefanishyna in kyiv, welcome to hardtalk. greetings from kyiv, stephen. thank you very much. now, madam deputy prime minister, you're a senior member of the ukrainian government. tell me, when did you first know of the plan to launch a major ukrainian offensive inside russian territory? well, as long as i'm a member of the government. i'm not a military person, so, of course, this is highly sensitive information. and there was an extremely small group of people engaged into this process, but no secret that it is not a decision which should really focus out our attention from the major military needs from our partners.

this is what i do on a daily basis, working with the allies to make sure that we have all the necessary decisions in the other military that enables us to defend ourselves. talking of those allies and the implications of what is happening right now in the kursk region in russia, were those allies informed beforehand of what zelensky and general syrskyi's plan was? well, of course there is... we have to understand that there is a regular coordination at the level of at least 50 different allies on different needs... ..in military and defence capabilities, but it's not an obligation of ukraine to get into a broader consensus on every step we're taking in a military force. so i don't think it's something that should be put into attention — in this kind of focus, anyway. all right. no, because what we learned from sources being quoted

in the ukrainian and other media is that it was the tightest of groups discussing and planning this operation. oftentimes it was just syrskyi and zelensky one—on—one having discussions about what would unfold. but the reality now is that, what, 1,000 square km of russian territory is now under ukrainian occupation. and as we see, hour by hour, day by day, that area is expanding. it is going to take a huge amount of military resource to keep this operation going, isn't it? well, i think the major message, i think, the partners beyond the territory of ukraine and russia should learn is that ukraine has shown once again that the capabilities of russian federation are far from those being declared publicly, in terms of the defence of its own territory, but also its capabilities on the battlefield with ukraine.

and i think this is the moment where we should again put aside all the messages which were disabling us from making a bold decision to support ukraine's ability to defend itself, with looking back on his shoulder, being afraid of provoking russia. i think that the whole operation and the whole public information we see right now shows that the capabilities of the russian federation are extremely limited in that regard... well... ..though not very small. but it also means that they would have to put a lot of focus and their attention now to this area, which would also be, i think, helpful on the other parts of the front line. yeah, it partly depends on what ukraine's intentions are. and i take your point — you're a part of, you know, the civil government, you're not one of ukraine's military leaders — but obviously the whole nation right now is considering what this operation will entail.

and one key question is how long ukraine's forces will stay inside this expanding zone of occupied territory inside russia. zelenskyjust called it a "buffer zone", the implication clearly being that ukrainian troops will stay, in part to protect those border areas around sumy, from russian missile attacks in the future. but if ukrainian troops stay, then that's a major military commitment. and i'm just wondering whether you believe that your country is capable of maintaining that. well, i think the message of the last months — and i think it was a very loudly voiced over the nato summit in washington recently — is that the major need right now is disabling russian federation from hitting, from raining ukrainian territory with the guided air bombs. and it's only possible with two ways — either disabling russian federation from launching

these missiles, or creating the area which they will not be able to launch these air attacks to the territory of ukraine. we do not have a sufficient amount of decisions and a commitment to make sure that we're fully capable to destroy the infrastructure enabling russian federation to terrorise our cities, so this is the only way we could have reacted in the situation we have right now. so i think it's not something that depends only on ukraine. we are making every possible measure to save ourselves, to help us to survive, including survive throughout the winter, but i think it's also the momentum which we can build on, in terms of making more serious decisions, building ukraine's military capacity to disable russian federation from attacking ukrainian cities. and i think that it is a momentum when we can mobilise another set of important decisions,

making sure that we can destroy the infrastructure of the russian federation producing and launching these missiles to ukrainian territory. right, but all of this involves really difficult, existential choices for ukraine, because the more you pour thousands of some of your, frankly, best fighting troops into this kursk operation, the more questions will be asked about whether it would have been better to use those resources in the defence of donetsk and those areas in the east where you are losing territory. and as we speak to each other, the key strategic town of pokrovsk is under threat. and it may be that the russians, in the next few days and weeks, will be taking that strategic town. your own people in ukraine might wonder whether this is the best use of your limited military resources. well, i think the most important

question is that the war has not started yesterday and the war has not started with the beginning of the kursk operation. this is already the third year in a row where ukraine and ukrainians survive throughout the full—scale war and ten years since russia started first its massive aggressive, occupational activity. so i think that ukrainian people have very clearly read the message that ukraine will take every possible measure to bring more leverage for future political or diplomatic solutions but also make sure that we can distract russian military command from being concentrated on the specific original areas of the russian aggression... but if i may say so, madam deputy prime minister, right now, putin doesn't seem distracted. despite the embarrassment — at the very least — of what's happening in kursk region, the russian momentum around donetsk,

in the donbas, is undiminished. and as i say to you, you are losing key villages, key settlements, and you may lose pokrovsk before too long, and that is going to be a real blow. i think it's too early to make these kind of statements or assessments. it's only a very short period of time which would not make us be in a position to make any kind of statements like that. these are some of the ongoing activities which would have been taking place regardless, the very fact whether there is or there are no developments in the kursk area. so i think we would need a bit more time to make such conclusions or any other different conclusions. but i think it's important that we could really think all together with our allies what kind of additional measures we could take to back up this very strong step ukraine has made with this decision. let's turn to those allies, then.

and you, as the woman responsible for masterminding ukraine's sort of bid to get into nato, you have a strong relationship with western partners, including the united states. so you explain to me why it is that in the middle of this offensive operation, with all the pressure that ukraine is under, why is it that the united states still refuses to authorise the use of its most potent long—range missiles on russian soil? well, i think the major message is that the discussions are ongoing. there are some... they are ongoing on the military to military level. and i think that the major decision is to be taken at a later stage. but i think that... but with respect, that later stage is going to be too late. i mean, not only are the americans refusing to change position on authorising you to use their missiles against targets inside russia, it seems

at the moment they're still blocking the united kingdom giving you permission to use the storm shadow missiles, on the basis that some components inside those missiles are made in the us. be honest with me — what do you make of the us position? i'm absolutely honest with you, and i will refer back to the previous answer to one of your questions on the kursk operation. i think it's really the momentum when we have to bring more energy to allies to get united together. i'm speaking about us and great britain. i don't think that we should point the finger to one another. speaking with me, as the one in charge of the nato issues in ukraine, allies are able to make a decision when there is desire. so i think that both britain and the united states have to build the basis how to say yes and to disable russian federation from terrorising ukrainian cities,

rather than speaking about how to avoid the provocation... but... i don't know if you saw it, but there was a statement from a pentagon spokesman yesterday still talking about the american fear of crossing russian red lines, fear of escalation. you know, and it's not just in washington — we see it in berlin as well, from the germans. all of your messages about the need to ramp up support for ukraine, about the need to understand the urgency and the momentum, i'm not sure they're listening. well, we will be repeating and speaking about that as long as it takes, until the message are well noted and until any decision which helps us to survive and save our people will be taken. we have been there in many other situations. it was also with eu membership, it was the denial when there was discussion on the f—i6s and many other elements of military that we have now on the battlefield.

i'm sure the time will come, but unfortunately, every day of this discussion costs the lives of ukrainian people and causes additional pressure within the country, because this is the time of the uncertainty, which is not understood by every ukrainian individual, because people are living in ukraine, they are dying in ukraine, they are dying for ukraine. and it's an absolutely obvious and the first, i would say, nato protocol which will be used, might be used under article 5, for every ally, that you should disable the aggressor from enabling the aggression on any kind of territory. so it's not about even ability to hit the russian territory, it's disabling russia scaling up its aggressive appetite, which is not only important for ukraine and for ukrainian people, which is also important for those allies —

russia building relations with, like, china, iran and north korea. let's talk about economic matters. there's been some independent analysis done recently which comes out with extraordinary figures. they suggest that russia has earned 700 billion us dollars in oil and gas sales since the invasion of february 2022. they also suggest that western components are still being used in russian weapons systems. they point to the fact that in a whole heap of different sectors, including automobile sales, european sales to third party countries — like kazakhstan, like turkey, like armenia — have spiked in a way which suggests that, actually, those goods are ending up in russia. in other words, in a whole different set of spheres, it seems your partners are still making profits and doing business with russia.

well, when it comes to the circumvention of sanctions and the different western components and the different elements of the ammunition and the military production of the russian federation, it is true it's subjected to a permanent dialogue with the european commission and us partners on restrictions and disabling russia from circumvention of sanctions and other partners in that regard. but i think that it's much easier for the authoritarian countries building the alliance with the other countries of the camp, these ideological... these ideological allies to scale up its capacities than with the countries of the democratic. i think it's very important that we read this information and prevent this from happening, but also building our unity to more commitment to some actions. i think there is...there is a good

background for that. first, we have a decision on 50 billion from loan, or from the frozen russian assets. we also have the a0 billion commitment into military support and the nato decision to co—ordinate both logistics, but also military support to ukraine based on ukrainian... yeah, you point to those significant actions and measures, but bottom line, there does not appear to be the will, even amongst your best friends, to really cripple the russian economy. well, i think the question is different here, that i was... my point was that we have all the necessary background, and what we need is to mobilise the will and the commitment and the understanding. if the understanding of the allies that the aggression in europe is the new normality, that we can't go on like that and then play this game with the semi—decisions taken. if the normality is the sustainable peace in europe without war, then we have to build

on the existing mechanism we've established and really praise the ability of ukraine to withstand this war and disabling the war of reaching directly to the nato borders and, and make sure that we are going to this scenario. so i think we, of course, having the information about the situation in the russian federation, we should take it into account, but also we should be guided by a bit different, far—reaching understanding, not only looking at our back... all right. ..for what russia is doing. yeah. as i said earlier, your keyjob is managing ukraine's efforts to get inside nato and the european union. one key issue, which remains a stumbling block, is the degree to which your partners worry about governance and corruption inside ukraine. we have seen, in recent months, corruption

corroding your war effort. we've seen reports from the independent ukrainian media about corruption in procurement of artillery shells, even the way that food is procured for the army. we've seen resignations from the ministry of defence. how are you going to clear up this corruption problem which is holding ukraine back? um, you know, i think it's very interesting that, ten years ago, when yanukovych has left the country and we had a0 billion... a0 million of us dollars in our whole budget, we were speaking how to fight against corruption. and this narrative of fighting against corruption when everything was... you know, corruption was penetrating in every part of ukrainian system. but with respect, the narrative about how to fight corruption effectively is still there. you haven't solved it. yeah, but now, when we are fighting corruption, you're speaking about the corruption. it's a bit... it's a bit different. and i think that the whole visibility we have in terms of many

efforts here and there, this is the result of the functioning anti—corruption institutions from the court system to law enforcement and to the prevention. and i think this is, of course, not the best timing you would want to, expect it to, to see throughout the country facing the war. but we have decided to transform our country throughout the war as part of the european process and that's why things go in parallel. and, basically, ithink that the reaction we have as a politician to every element we face in a public area or through law enforcement is very clear. we have never been, you know, preventing our institutions from functioning or, you know, covering somebody who has been, you know, revealed of that. this is a natural process. i think many of the eastern european countries who have been going through this transformation have likely the same, almost the same stories in their portfolio. and i think we would need to go through these rough times to build

on not only the system, but the functioning rule of law spirit in a country. right. i mean, and to really get a meaningful sort of progress on both nato and eu membership, you not only have to convince your partners that you're dealing with these governance corruption issues, you also have to deal with the political unpredictability of what is happening in various partner countries. let's start with the united states. joe biden is no longer running for president. you don't know what kamala harris�*s position is going to be on backing ukraine. frankly, you might hope that it'll be the same as biden. she's said very little. but you also know that donald trump and his nominee for vice president, jd vance, are deeply sceptical about giving more money to ukraine, and they want to see a ceasefire as soon as possible. trump says he can deliver it in 2a hours. how worried are you about that? well, i think what we see in the united states

is a totally democratic process, and it's the internal process in the united states. and we have a very...two very clear stances on that. first, uh, in different times of the last ten years, ukraine has been enjoying a strong bipartisan support on, er...on its partnership between ukraine and the united states, and i think it's going to continue this way, at least the recent context that we have been having, and the president has been investing into, um, really witnessed in favour of that. secondly, i think it's important that ukraine has demonstrated that our commitment to territorial integrity and the principles of the peace formula, and they are unwavering, and we're not in a position to, you know, adjust to this or that political winds in the united states. well, if i may interrupt, cos we're almost out of time, it's notjust in the united states, cos you have to deal, obviously, with european partners, too.

the president of the european council right now is hungary. viktor 0rban doesn't want to offer more support to ukraine. he wants a ceasefire based on the current front lines. robert fico in slovakia is the same. public opinion in countries like austria and germany is moving away from assisting ukraine. you've got a big problem here, haven't you? well, i don't think it's something that comes as a surprise to ukraine. we have calculated that we're having around 20 different elections in 202a and �*25 around europe and on the other side of the. ..of the atlantic. so it's nothing that comes as a surprise to ukraine. that's why it's twice more important for us to keep the unity and a strong decision—making process concentrated on multilateral platforms like nato, like eu, like g7, and we have already made a number of progress on that. so we have the decision that the nato membership of ukraine is irreversible, which really complicates any other, you know, discussions in that regard.

we have a commitment of a0 billion in military support granted at the level of at least 30, er...32 nato allies. and we also have a decision of the g7 on the 50 billion in financial and military support of ukraine. so that secures a lot our ability to survive throughout the war, regardless of the political winds. but i think that ukraine's stand is really, er...is really strong in that regard. and of course, we have, you know, hungarian presidency in european union. we also have some of the complications in the bilateral relations. but i think that the major narrative we have in our mind, that we have to invest heavily in building our relations with our neighbouring countries and the key allies, and there is no alternative to that. all right. well, sadly, we're out of time. but, 0lha stefanishyna, i thank you so much forjoining me on hardtalk. thank you. thank you, stephen.

hello there, good evening. some unseasonably wet and windy weather coming up in this forecast. it certainly is going to feel like autumn at times this week, but there will also be some sunshine. lots of blue sky around today, for example, but also some heavy, blustery showers — most of those out towards the north and the west, such as here in the lake district. now, that really sets the scene as we head through the rest of the week, with northwestern areas of the uk bearing the brunt

of the worst of the weather, wettest and windiest here. but there will be some sunny spells. it's looking quite changeable at times, and you can just see that tight squeeze on the isobars out towards parts of western scotland earlier on today. strong gusty winds, a cold front going through, introducing fresher feeling conditions for tonight. so, the skies will clear, the winds will ease down a little. there'll still be a few showers around, but a largely dry start to the day tomorrow, and certainly a cooler one than we saw earlier on this morning. many of our temperatures could drop back into high single figures. so, a mostly dry start to the day on wednesday with some early brightness around, but cloud is thickening from the west and through the morning, we're going to see rain pile in across northern ireland into western scotland. the rainfall totals really starting to rack up here, and that rain will be pushing eastwards across scotland and perhaps as far eastwards as the pennines. some strong, gusty winds, too, and there could be some coastal overtopping, some large waves with high spring tides. but further south, it's a mostly dry story, butjust turning a lot cloudier — temperatures below the seasonal average. and it's the same again on thursday, more rain on the way,

although this time the rain is a lot further south — some humid—feeling air. this system contains the remnants of hurricane ernesto, and that humid air will last longest across parts of east anglia. very windy on thursday across the board, guest of wind of a0—50 miles an hour, potentially. once again, temperatures in the high teens, the low 20s in celsius. so, you can see the tight squeeze on the isobars on thursday. the winds turn a little lighter for most on friday, but still blustery by anyone�*s standards, and some more heavy downpours of rain as we head through friday. possibly some more rain, too, in the south and the east as we head into friday night and saturday morning. here's the outlook for our capital cities as we head through the rest of the week. do keep an eye on the forecast. at the moment, it looks like an improving picture through the weekend. bye— bye.

welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. the headlines. we're live at the democratic national convention — as former president barack 0bama prepares to take to the stage later. specialist divers have recovered the body of a chef working on board a luxury yacht which sank in a freak storm off sicily. six people are still missing. and these new cctv images appear to show the vessel in the middle of a violent storm, before the tragedy. vaccinations against mpox are expected to begin in the democratic republic of congo — and other parts of africa — next week. and it's the end of an era as taylor swift takes to the stage for the final european performance of her current tour.