..a soldier who attacked it... ..and a volunteer who almost died trying to defend it. now bbc eye investigations can take you inside these ruined walls to show what happened in just one of thousands of houses... ..being attacked and defended... ..in cities all across ukraine. marina's house at number 17 sadovaya street started as an empty shell.

dog barks. she and her husband decorated its walls with what meant most to them. but the peace upon which number 17 was built wasn't to last. shouting.

because number 17 is in vuhledar, eastern ukraine. in february 2022, the invasion began. explosion nearby. when the guns reached vuhledar... ..marina's husband stayed and joined the army, while she took their children and fled. she could do nothing but record what she thought was her last glimpse of the dream they built.

but as it turned out, this wouldn't be her last glimpse. explosion. you're now seeing through the eyes of a soldier. he's a marine from russia's 155th brigade, operating under the call sign fima. pinned down, he grabs a photo album belonging to the homeowner. looking to his right, he notices a sofa. marina filmed this sofa months before, as her dog played on it... ..in the living room of number 17.

in early october 2024, russia took control of vuhledar. 155th marine brigade had been trying to capture the city for two years. according to the bbc russian service, the total losses of 155th marine brigade could reach 2,400 soldiers. injanuary 2023, fima led a handful of the soldiers

to sadovaya street to break the stalemate. this video shows him taking shelter with wounded comrades in number 17. artillery thuds. as footage of their breakthrough went viral, fima was hailed as a hero, forced to return home by a bullet in his leg. speaking under his call sign to pro—russian media, he painted a valiant picture of his firefight in number 17, recalling how he crawled without body armour to attack a tank with nothing but a handful of grenades. but there's a crucial detail that fima failed to mention. what fima didn't mention is the ukrainian man being held captive in number 17 who was starving to death. this is 0leksii. he's 27 and is en route to defend vuhledar.

before the war, 0leksii worked as an it specialist. when russia's invasion began, he became a volunteer fighter. by the end of 2022, 0leksii was a drone operator with ukraine's 72nd brigade in vuhledar, donbas. his love of dancing earned him the call sign dancer. as fima's brigade started to push forward... ..0leksii and his comrades couldn't withdraw in time. they were trapped. they decided to burn all the equipment and get out. his father, 0leksandr, remembers, that same day, he lost contact with his son. soldiers yell.

0leksandr started searching for his son... ..looking through every pow video the russians posted on telegram. but he wouldn't find him. 0leksii had already been captured... ..and was being held in number 17. 0leksii was held in the basement.

he was wounded. 0ne bullet went through his leg and another stuck in his back. 0leksii was lying on the floor, curled up under marina's carpet. his comrades also had injuries, and without proper medical help, they later died. in the video, you can see at least 20 people around 0leksii, all russian soldiers. the bbc was told some of those soldiers denied 0leksii water, and would occasionally beat him. from her neighbours, marina knew about prisoners of war in the house.

it was fima's unit, holding number 17. when fima's body cam footage went viral, he was only ever referred to by his call sign. and only one blurred—out photo of him was posted alongside the interview. when bbc eye compared photographs from hundreds of 155 soldiers to that picture... ..we found a match. same hairline. same mole on the neck. clear evidence of a leg injury. and, to top it off, a cake he was given after returning from hospital. fima's real name is andrei efimkin.

he's 28 and was born in russia's far east. andrei did his national service in 2014 and signed up to the 155th brigade of the russian army in the autumn of 2022. documents leaked from russia's ministry of defence state andrei efimkin took part in the attack on vuhledar and confirm he sustained a leg injury in february 2023 and was recalled from the front. 0leksii had no such luck. at this point, he was still starving in the basement... ..and his dad was still looking for him.

in early march 2023, another battle video went viral. ukrainian troops were advancing in vuhledar, retaking the suburbs. one unit had reached number 17 sadovaya street and started to search the basement. muffled voice yelling. 0leksii was alive, rescued by a colleague from new zealand he'd fought alongside before. i know him, i know him. l he was in the brief house. kane laughs, oleksii cheers.

0leksii couldn't walk any more. he crawled towards his rescuers and they put him on a stretcher. 0leksandr was finally reunited with his son in hospital. 0leksii weighed only 42 kilos.

in total, 0leksii spent 46 days in captivity under extreme circumstances.

the lack of food started to affect 0leksii's mind.

but the hunger was nothing compared to the overwhelming thirst. when the russians retreated and left him in the basement, his desperation almost cost him his life. 0leksii was later told he sustained multiple organ

burns because of those few sips from the tubes. had the help come just a few days later, he wouldn't have made it. the new zealander who rescued 0leksii was kane te tai. he stayed on the front and was killed just two weeks later. they perform a haka. even though they never had a chance to meet, to 0leksandr, kane means the world.

marina once again saw her house in the news. she watched the video of 0leksii's rescue on social media.

six months later, fima no longer tries to hide his identity, giving interviews to state tv using his real name and not covering his face — something rare for russian soldiers. andrei efimkin recreates the vuhledar dacha assault with new recruits as a military trainer... ..and walks with his newborn child and his wife, who says she couldn't be more proud of her husband. applause. andrei even shares his experience with elementary schoolchildren, where

the teacher presents him as a hero. the bbc reached out to fima and asked him about what happened in number 17. we asked him what he was doing in marina's living room.

when we mentioned marina, andrei quickly ended the call. we tried to reach out to him again and ask why his unit held 0leksii captive with no food, water or medical care. he did not respond. marina still grieves her lost home. as time passes, she tries to

build a life in a new place... ..to learn a new language and find a job. but she neverforgets her home. 0leksii's dad is a famous music producer born in ukraine. he used to work with russian rock bands before the annexation of crimea in 2014. since then, he moved back to work in ukraine and tries to maintain hope for mankind.

0leksii is living and working in kyiv. he's getting ready to retire from the army. he still has a bullet in his back. doctors told him it might be too dangerous to remove it. he now watches fima, who was in the house as he starved, being interviewed on russian tv.

fima is now back to the front line. and what about number 17 sadovaya street? there's almost nothing left of marina's house. it can only be recognised by a blue spot where a swimming pool once used to be. like most of the houses in vuhledar... ..obliterated in the fighting.

hello. it's been an unsettled start to the weekend, with low pressure pushing several bands of rain southwards across the uk on saturday, but we did manage some spells of sunshine between these successive areas of rain. it was a mild day, particularly across southern areas of england and wales. top temperatures reached 17 degrees, but in cardiff we've got a drop of four degrees celsius on the way as we head into sunday. low pressure then clears off out of the way. a ridge of high pressure follows, bringing a better day

for many of us on sunday. however, it is going to be a chilly old start to the day underneath these clearing skies, temperatures are dropping like a stone at the moment. we've got a few showers coming and going across the far north coast of wales, parts of coastal cheshire and into northern areas of scotland, but otherwise it's dry. lowest temperatures heading into sunday morning, about minus three degrees celsius. so, a cold start to the day then for sunday. but underneath this ridge of high pressure, a lot of fine weather and for some a fine sunrise, some of this high cloud in the west getting illuminated by the rising sun. through the day, well, there probably will be a few patches of rain getting into northern ireland and western scotland, but nothing particularly heavy in the afternoon. and for the most part, i think temperatures will probably reach around ten to 13 celsius. well, that takes us into sunday night and we're looking at a more substantial pulse of rain as a weak area of low pressure scoots its way eastwards across england and wales. scotland and northern ireland having largely dry weather with a few mist and fog patches and again a few patches of frost.

into monday, the worst of the rain will clear away from central and eastern england, but it might well stay damp, even into the afternoon, for some. the best of the weather on monday for scotland and northern ireland, where it should stay dry with spells of sunshine. if anything, temperatures coming up by an odd degree or so, and generally getting close to or a little bit above average for the time of year. tuesday looks like being a drier day for all of us. however, there's likely to be quite a lot of low cloud first thing. some mist and fog patches around as well. probably see a few bright or sunny spells breaking through that, particularly to the north of high ground, so northern scotland might be one of the sunniest places. it's turning milder, though, 14 degrees for glasgow and edinburgh, 17 for cardiff and for london. it gets even milder into the middle portion of the week, could hit 20 degrees in london, but the week's often going to be quite wet and at times really quite windy. bye for now.

live from washington, this is bbc news. the un says a fifth peacekeeper has been wounded by gunfire in southern lebanon, as 40 nations condemn recent attacks on un workers. us presidential hopeful kamala harris releases her medical records, accusing her republican rival donald trump of a "lack of transparency" for not doing the same.

it is obvious that his team at least does not want the american people to see everything about who he is. donald trump criticises kamala harris at a rally in her home state of california. we used to have the greatest, abraham — we used to have the greatest, abraham lincoln. now look at this stuff _ abraham lincoln. now look at this stuff. can you believe what _ this stuff. can you believe what we _ this stuff. can you believe what we are doing? she's so bad~ — one of the leading advocates for scotland's independence from the uk, alex salmond, has died at the age of 69. hello, i'm carl nasman. 40 nations that support unifil in southern lebanon have released a joint statement, calling for an immediate halt to israel's recent firing on un peacekeeping positions in lebanon. us defense secretary lloyd austin joined the calls on saturday, telling his israeli counterpart in a phone call he is "deeply concerned" over israel's

attacks on peacekeepers.