live from singapore, this is bbc news. ukraine fires us—supplied long—range missiles into russia, a move the kremlin saysis into russia, a move the kremlin says is a renewed face of the western war against russia. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu visit central gaza neta nyahu visit central gaza vowing netanyahu visit central gaza vowing to eliminate hamas from the enclave. prosecutors in donald trump's new york —— money trail agreed to delay the president—elect�*s sentencing possibly until after he completes his upcoming presidential term. the president—elect spends the day with elon musk in texas as the pair watch the latest test of the spacex rocket.

russia says a ukrainian attack carried out on tuesday deep inside russian territory involved american ballistic missiles. us officials say it is the first time the american provided atacms has been fired at russian soil. ukraine says it struck an ammunition warehouse 100 kilometres inside russia, but did not confirm which weapon systems are used. in perhaps the first sign of its retaliation, mr putin announced on tuesday his widening circumstances in which he would use nuclear weapons. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg has more from moscow. breaking news on russian tv — claims that ukraine had fired six american atacms missiles into russia's bryansk

region, though no reports of casualties. the response from russian�*s foreign minister... ..sergei lavrov said the missile attack was a signal that the west wants to escalate the conflict. but is this escalation by russia? published today, a kremlin decree lowering the nuclear threshold. russia now reserving the right to go nuclear, even if attacked by conventional weapons, if such an attack threatens russia's sovereignty or territorial integrity. president putin had promised changes to the nuclear doctrine weeks ago, a clear signal to europe and america not to let ukraine strike russia with long—range missiles. then an even clearer signal. russian nuclear exercises, a warning to the west not to cross russia's red lines. but the key question —

in russia's war on ukraine, would vladimir putin use a nuclear weapon? i think it's quite serious, because even putin doesn't know whether he can use nukes or he can't. it depends on his emotions. we know that he's a very emotional man, and the decision to begin this war was also an emotional step. the lowering of the nuclear threshold does not mean that vladimir putin is about to press the nuclear button. these changes are designed, i think, at the very least, to put pressure on western leaders, who will now have to decide, is putin bluffing or not? earlier, at the museum of victory, the kremlin kick—started commemorations for next year's 80th anniversary of the end of world war ii. not a word was said here about the 1,000 days of russia's war in ukraine — a war which, for the kremlin,

hasn't gone at all to plan, but which it remains determined to win. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. ukraine hopes firing these missiles into russia it will help prevent moscow's counter—offensive and there may be further additions to their arsenal. the last few hours, the washington post reported presidentjoe biden has approved providing antipersonnel landmines to ukraine, citing two us officials, the post said ukraine has committed to not using the mines in densely populated areas. but despite the increased armoury, 1,000 days into the walk russian forces appear to be making advances into ukrainian territory. nick eardley from bbc verify has more. let me show you the picture of the picture for 2024 based on analysis by the study of war. this is the picture in february. if we fast—forward to september, look at this area

here. you can see russia has made inroads. this might look like a small amount on the map, but it is a significant amount of territory on the ground. in that advance has continued in recent weeks. more land being taken by russia. so far this year, russia has seized nearly 2,000 square kilometres of territory, just over 1,000 square miles. that is nearly six times more than it did in the whole of 2023. let me show you what all of this means in practice. this is kirk cup in eastern ukraine, you can see on the map. if we show you this video, we can still show you the devastation. this is a key town russia is trying to capture and has come with a heavy bombardment recently as part of the russian offensive. you can see the damage that has caused. there has been heavy fighting in the kursk region of russia as well, ukrainian troops captured, you can see it here, a large amount of territory in august. but russian forces have now

retaken, as you can see here, around half of that. all of these gains have come at a cost for russia. tens of thousands of troops have died. but as things stand, it looks like thatis things stand, it looks like that is a price moscow is willing to pay. and this is important with president trump's returned to the white house looming. mr trump has said he can end the war in a day. it is not clear how, but if there were peace talks, territory would be an important bargaining chip. and some analysts think that russia's recent gains will give it a stronger hand in any potential discussions. iamjoined i am joined now by samuel cherub, a senior political scientist at brands. thank you forjoining me, samuel. i wanted to ask you about that report in the wash and post in the last couple of hours that presidentjoe biden has approved providing landmines to ukraine, antipersonnel landmines. how damaging is

this? the post—reporting they abandon about 160 countries and that it abandon about 160 countries and thatitis abandon about 160 countries and that it is going to take about 1,000 years or more to get rid of the active landmines that have already been deployed. well, in the context of the wall where you have dismantled forces making headway on the ground, from a military perspective, it makes a fair amount of sense —— context of the war. these weapons have become stigmatised as a result of their permanence and their destructiveness to civilians in the post—conflict context. so there are two sides of this. but to slow a military advance, mines are quite powerful. it is just that what happens after the war is over is also quite damaging to noncombatants. find damaging to noncombatants. and we are hearing as well ukraine has used these atacms to target

a munitions factory. there was an earlier suggestion they may use them to target aircraft, russian military aircraft. what does this initial attack of the macro to suggest about what they may be used for?- macro to suggest about what they may be used for? well, i hiuhl they may be used for? well, i highly doubt _ they may be used for? well, i highly doubt that _ they may be used for? well, i highly doubt that the - they may be used for? well, i | highly doubt that the russians have left any significant assets that they could have moved already within range of these systems because potential permissions granted by the united states has been under discussion for so long. so i don't expect it to be, to hear about spectacular destruction of major russian, you know, aviation and the like. it is possible that these kind of long—range strikes into the areas that are either supplying the russian counter—offensive or —— into kursk or kursk itself could slow that operation, but we are talking

about slow, not stop. at this point, it is kind of inevitable that the russians will retake the kursk region at some point in the next, in the coming months. i in the next, in the coming months— in the next, in the coming months. . ., ., months. i wanted to ask you about that. _ months. i wanted to ask you about that. we _ months. i wanted to ask you about that. we heard - months. i wanted to ask you about that. we heard that i about that. we heard that report from our correspondent showing just the advances that the russian forces have made. will things like landmines and atacms, are theyjust going to be slowing what is inevitable? how do you see this or progressing? i how do you see this or progressing?— how do you see this or progressing? i think with kursk, progressing? i think with kursk. it _ progressing? i think with kursk, it is _ progressing? i think with kursk, it is going - progressing? i think with kursk, it is going to - progressing? i think with kursk, it is going to be i kursk, it is going to be something the russians are not going to stop fighting until they get back because it is internationally recognised russian territory. in other areas of the front line within ukraine itself, russia has been making headway. i don't see antipersonnel mines, given the ukrainians themselves have been deploying them, as being the fundamental game—changer. no single weapon system

permissions to use them in a certain weight will fundamentally alter the dynamics. and the dynamics right now one in which ukraine is losing ground in part because of manpower —— in a certain way. in other words, theyjust certain way. in other words, they just don't certain way. in other words, theyjust don't have the personnel to hold this territory when the russians are pressing across a massive front line. and i think that is the fundamental dynamic right now where we see russia making gains all the south to the kursk region in the relative north of the front. == kursk region in the relative north of the front.- kursk region in the relative north of the front. -- all the way from — north of the front. -- all the way from the _ north of the front. -- all the way from the south. - north of the front. -- all the way from the south. thank l north of the front. -- all the i way from the south. thank you forjoining me, samuel. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has visited central gaza brigades to eliminate hamas from the territory. his office released this footage showing him eating soldiers south of gaza city. he also announced a $5 million reward for each hostage being held in

gaza —— visiting soldiers. it said israel had not given up efforts to find them. 97 hostages are still believed to be in gaza from the 251 initially kidnapped by hamas last year on october seven. mr netanyahu had this for his troops. translation: here in the centre of the strip and in all parts - of the strip, they have achieved excellent results in our important goal. hamas will not rule gaza. we are eliminating its military capabilities in a very impressive way. we are moving on to governmental capabilities and the hand is outstretched. hamas will not be in gaza. israel's campaign in gaza has damaged or destroyed 80% of buildings, according to some satellite estimates. and nearly 44,000 palestinians have been killed, according to the hamas—run health ministry. meanwhile, israel continues to strike what it says are hezbollah targets in southern lebanon and the capital, beirut. a top us envoy is currently in lebanon, working to broker a ceasefire deal between the two sides. the bbc�*s hugo bachega

is following from beirut. amos hochstein has been leading the biden administration's efforts for a ceasefire in the conflict between israel and hezbollah. and the fact that he came here to beirut was seen as an indication of progress in these talks. here, he had meetings with senior lebanese officials, including parliament speaker nabih berri, who has been supported by hezbollah to negotiate with these international mediators. amos hochstein said they had very constructive talks and now was a real opportunity to bring an end to this conflict. now, the lebanese authorities say that any deal should be limited to the terms of the united nations resolution 1701. this is the resolution that ended the conflict between hezbollah and israel back in 2006. it requires hezbollah to remove its fighters and weapons from areas near the border with israel.

now, the israeli authorities are making demands, demands that the lebanese say are unacceptable. it wants the right to act inside lebanon if there is any violation of the deal. there's also the idea of an international mechanism to monitor the implementation of this deal. now, these talks are expected to continue. at the same time, we've seen, in the past week, an escalation in israel's air strikes across lebanon, including here in central beirut. the israelis are describing this as a strategy of "negotiations under fire", and they say this is going to continue. iamjoined by i am joined by a senior fellow with the middle east programme at the centre for strategic and international studies. thank you forjoining me, natasha. i want to ask about that visit by benjamin netanyahu to gaza. is seeing any of that damage i mentioned likely to have any impact on the sustained bombardment of gaza or are we

likely to see any improvement when it comes to aid access or was it reallyjust about when it comes to aid access or was it really just about trying to boost troop morale? i was it reallyjust about trying to boost troop morale? i mean, it seems to _ to boost troop morale? i mean, it seems to me _ to boost troop morale? i mean, it seems to me that _ to boost troop morale? i mean, it seems to me that it _ to boost troop morale? i mean, it seems to me that it was - to boost troop morale? i mean, it seems to me that it was used | it seems to me that it was used to boost troop morale. he offered a reward for $5 million for each hostage returned. he also said that hamas would never come to rule gaza again. and also said that military capabilities of hamas had been wiped out. so it remains to be seen, i think, wiped out. so it remains to be seen, ithink, why wiped out. so it remains to be seen, i think, why the fight continues to this day and the continued destruction as well. you mentioned that 5 million dollars per hostage, is that likely to be enough for hamas or is this about as well trying to appease the families of hostages domestically that have been so critical of president netanyahu?— been so critical of president netan ahu? , ~ �* netanyahu? yes, i think you've hit the nail— netanyahu? yes, i think you've hit the nail on _ netanyahu? yes, i think you've hit the nail on the _ netanyahu? yes, i think you've hit the nail on the head. - netanyahu? yes, i think you've hit the nail on the head. i - hit the nail on the head. i think it is primarily to appease the families of the

hostages that have been furious, in addition to several officials within 1531 00:15:03,968 -->