day as police confirm they've recovered a body in wales. heavy rains and strong winds have caused severe flooding in south wales and weather warnings are in place across the country. officials at one of the few hospitals operating in northern gaza say their director has been injured in an israeli drone attack. medical sources say the israeli military targeted the hospital's oxygen facilities and diesel storage with drones. exit polls in the first round of romania's presidential election show the current prime minister marcel ciolacu leading the race. the same polls suggest that the centre—right candidate elena lasconi will face the prime minister on the second round. an 11th—hour deal at the cop29 climate summit after negotiations on financing for poorer nations went into overtime — but many aren't happy, as some nations say the dealfalls far short of what is needed.

now on bbc news, ukrainecast: 1,000 days of war. in the last several hours, russia has invaded ukraine. translation: i have decided to conduct a special— military operation. this is barbaric. a whole line of traffic for as far as the eye can see, trying to get out. putin is the aggressor. putin chose this war. putin's squalid venture should ultimately fail and be seen to fail. glory to ukraine. slava. others: slava!

this week marks 1,000 days — 1,000 days — since russia began its full—scale invasion of ukraine and, along with my colleagues james waterhouse and vitaly shevchenko, we have recorded a special episode to mark that. we have been following the lives of various ukrainians for the last two years, and here we catch up with some of them and reflect on the last 1,000 days and how the conflict has changed them, and what the future might hold for them. i'm going to introduce you straight away to one of our listeners, tom. hi, tom. hi, victoria, how you doing? i'm very well, thank you. thank you so much for being with us. and i know you have a question for iryna, for 0lga and for vitalii. go ahead. i do. privyet.

on that first day of the invasion, where were you, what were you doing at the time, and how did you hear that war had broken out? what was going through your mind in those first few hours of the invasion? it was near seven o'clock in the morning, and i woke up to a phone call from my close friend and she said, "uh, ira, uh, just keep calm, uh, "close all the windows, uh, fill in the bathtub." we... we just... we just anticipated that, that electricity cuts and water supply cuts would occur and turn suspilne on. "it's. .. it's happening. it's happening now." suspilne's a tv channel. yes, it's our national—wide tv channel. and, uh, at the same time as i hear this phrase from her, uh, "it's happening," i hear the explosions behind my window and it's like, "wow,

it's really happening." uh, in the next few hours, i learned that my younger brotherjoined the military. it was... it was also a bit of shock. uh, i learned also that, uh, the majority of my friends, of my close friends, of my circle, are fleeing kyiv because, uh, everybody, everybody is preparing for the worst, uh, for russian troops to be in kyiv in, like, three days. and, uh, and where is my husband — who is my husband for two days? we were married on 22nd of february and so, we are just sitting and... what should we do now? what should we do? everybody is fleeing. vitalii. it was shocking. i remember i stayed up late i playing some computer games and just before half past four, ithink, i heard planes -

overflying my house. and it was a very strange, uh, you know, thing to hear- in the middle of the night, - because you wouldn't normally, uh, hear any military aircraft taking off at such a time. . uh, and so i went to bed and i think at half past. seven, my mother, she, - uh, came into my room and she said, "vitalii, wake up. the war began. " and she pointed at thel direction of the military airfield, and i saw plumes of smoke still rising - and i understood that- indeed, the unimaginable, the unthinkable had happened. i remember people were crying in supermarkets. i they were trying to i embrace one another. and we were... we were scared. 0lga?

i was woken up at 5am by my nephew. he called me at five and said, "0lga, wake up, the war has started." he said, "go and, uh, make, uh, some watersupplies." then ijumped off my bed and started pouring water. my kids woke up and didn't know what had happened, and i was rushing around, pouring water with...in panic. the same day, i heard the helicopters flying. it was a horrible day which i will never forget. and i have never thought that this horror will last for 1,000 days. tom, what do you want to say to vitalii and iryna and 0lga? thank you so much for

sharing your stories. um, i think in britain it's really hard for us to understand what on earth you have gone through. we know nothing like it. um, and i was speaking to my partner even earlier, and i said, "people still live there, you know." and she said, "why don't they leave?" but this is their homes. this is... this is your home. they shouldn't have to. um, but it's really good to hear the human side, notjust tactics and strategy and statistics — what you actually felt. um, so that's a real insight that we don't often get. so thank you very much for that. tom, thank you so much. after the initial shock of the full—scale invasion, war in ukraine became the norm. and, vitalii, we first spoke to you just weeks into the conflict. there was a huge fireball.. booming explosion ..and it was followed by a rather strange sight. it was like a confetti . made out of silver and was climbing up and up. then there was this mushroom,

and the sky itself was turned i into dark because the military, and when i saw the fireball, i the heart literally stopped. i almost cried. and it was just to that point when you literally felt - like you're losing your consciousness. - you cannot believe i that what is going on, what is happening in front of your eyes, is _ happening in reality. vitalii, you are listening back to yourself and you are, i can see that you are really emotional about this. tell us why it's making you feel like this, hearing you two years ago. i mean, lam recalling, - as we speak, the moment i saw that missile striking the depot at that military airfield and, l uh, you know, uh, two years later, it still feels _ all so real and yet _ so surreal at the same time.

mm. uh, it brings emotions, l very powerful emotions. and, you know, ever since then, i saw so many missile attacks i right in front of my very own eyes, and, uh, - you just get used to it. vitalii, how have you been all this time? how has your life changed? uh, it's been, uh, you know, a roller—coaster, uh, in itself. i uh, in the words of a famous writer, "it was the best - of times, it was the worst of times," uh, because, i i've been able to graduate - from my institute with a degree in international law. i'm currently pursuing my master's in internationall communications. i've been able to, - you know, fall in love for the first time. you know, it also brought some very interesting - life experiences. um, i've had, um, - unfortunately, a very big falling out with my parents, - who unfortunately disowned me.

so, it had... i had to go through this, . you know, uh, accelerated maturing of sorts. uh, but it makes a person stronger and not weaker. i and i think i draw- an inspiration and a certain strength from it all. i'm really sorry to hear about family relations. i didn't know, vitalii, that you'd fallen in love for the first time. you haven't told us that before. oh. yes. — i did have a boyfriend. we met, um, - in decemberlast year. unfortunately, our- relationships were not, um, you know, um, they weren't, uh. a success _ but i still treasure - the memories of this, uh, wonderful romance, and i'm hopeful that it. will come to me again. i'm sure it will. olga, let's, uh, let's talk about you. the russians came to your city, to kherson. what was it like?

it was like the nightmare which never left me... ..before the liberation day. to see them walking along my town, native town, which i really love... ah, we tried to protest. by the way, i was one of those who rushed to pull...their war machine from the square, and i kicked one of them with my toe. so, we tried to protest. you were the resistance. and then, we... you were the resistance, olga. i did everything what i could, and first and foremost, i wanted my kids to leave the city because i was scared that the russians would come and take, start taking men into their army. yeah. were you not afraid to protest? that was dangerous. when you are afraid,

you will lose. i didn't want to lose. and i protested with as much as i could. ifihad... if i were younger, i would maybe go somewhere to fight. it's a pity i am just a pensioner. let's bring in ukrainecast listener beth ann krueger, who is in arizona. and you have a question specifically for olga, don't you, beth ann? yes, ma'am, ido. olga, what keeps you - dedicated to your students? knowing the future might be very difficult for them. - well, you know, i've been working for 42 years already, and i love teaching. and i love kids, and i love my subject. that's why i will be working as long as i can.

and you know, now i am teaching a country study of the united states and the uk. and when they are shelling here, sitting in kherson and they are shelling and you can hear blasts everywhere, and you are speaking and telling them about washington, new york, beauty of america, or beauty of london. you see, it sometimes sounds weird, but it's life. we are celebrating life at our lessons. i want them to know. i want them to be educated people. more intelligent than those russians who came here. olga, you're... you're so brave. i used to be a teacher. i appreciate everything you're doing for the i ukrainian children. thank you. i slava ukraini. thank you so much, beth ann. heroiam slava! thank you. thank you for being with us. despite the challenges,

the adversity, the trauma, the grieving, people are trying to get on with their lives. iryna, ijust want to play you this. singing in ukrainian baby fusses singing continues and that is you singing a lullaby to your baby mira, who you gave birth to this year. your husband volodymyr and you welcomed mira into the world. how is she doing, first of all? oh, she's... she is our miracle. she's trying to walk by herself. she is very smiling, very friendly. she is very talkative now. mm. and she... and she brings so muchjoy and so much fun every day. and it is difficult. it is difficult to be a young mum, even... even without the circumstances, without war, without air—raid alerts every day.

well, on... can ijust play you this? iryna giggles it's from joanna. yes, of course. who is a ukrainecast listener in west yorkshire, here in the uk. hello, iryna. it's a long time since i've had children, but i do remember how vulnerable you feel, both when you're pregnant and when you have a small baby to look after. and i'm wondering, i can't really imagine how that must be in a war zone with all the insecurity and all the noises and so forth and so on. so, can you tell us a bit about how you've managed to cope through your pregnancy and caring for your new one? we're all adapting. we're all trying to move on with our lives as... as we should. because we, you know, we're one life. we're one life to live. and there are some

circumstances and... but life goes on and we should live. and i want to raise her as a brave person, as a joyful person, as a person who loves life as much as i love my life. and so i decided to have a child here in kyiv and stay here and raise her here for as long as it takes. and of course, i was worried. i was worried about my pregnancy, but at the same time... i'm so sorry to interrupt, iryna. yes. is that mira in the background? can we hear her? yes! is she there? yes, yes. we can we say hello? yes, of course. victoria chuckles mira, please say hello! to the listeners of the ukrainecast. ha—ha! hi, mira! here is she! oh, my gosh. look at that smile! she's so playful and so

friendly and so artistic. she loves being a part of everything. aw. iryna, you never thought about leaving 1,000 days ago. and you've talked about the relentless drone strikes that you and kyiv has to endure. i understand your reasons for staying, but is life safe for mira at this moment in time? because it was hard for you when you were pregnant. now she has arrived, and things are as tough as they are. is life truly safe? it is not. life is nowhere safe in ukraine. nowhere in ukraine. yesterday, we had one of the most massive missile and shell attack of all of the full—scale invasion. and we experienced missile flying in uzhhorod and chernivtsi, which are considered the safest cities in ukraine.

yeah, western part of ukraine. there is no safe places in ukraine. and we are considering... we are considering moving, for example, to my parents�* house, which is in zhytomyr oblast. she hesitates just to have, for example, heating. because when we experienced this summer, for example, when we experienced long—time electricity cuts, i'm speaking to you now, and we have no electricity in our home, at our home, because from today, we are returning to our regular electricity cuts. and this is the second one which started 15 minutes ago. and i'm speaking to you now. it's so difficult. yes, it's quite difficult. and this summer it was extremely difficult because, seven—plus hours without electricity. 38 degrees in our apartment. and mira could not sleep.

and sometimes without water supply. it was tough. it was really tough. but now, now winter comes and it brings even more challenges, even more difficulties. our first priority is to stay in kyiv as long as possible. but when it's... when it's no longer possible, we should prepare for all the possible scenarios. 0k. let's introduce ian, who is one of our listeners. tell us, ian, why you continue to listen to ukrainecast, if that's ok. my father was a child - in world war ii, and all his stories about sheltering - in bomb shelters very much seemed like tales of the past, like history that can _ never happen again. so it was quite a shock i that war has broken out. so i see it as part of my duty to listen and to not - let the story get lost.

yeah. and you have a question which we're going to put to olga, then vitalii, and then iryna. go ahead, ian. yes. so for all the ukrainians i on the panel, what, if any, land would you be willing to give up as part of- a peace deal with putin? i think that we cannot leave any our land to russia because it's not only land, there are people there. people, millions of people are living there and being in an occupation, i understand how it is being occupied under russia. they suppress, they torture. they kill. people just disappear. can you imagine what will happen to people on the occupied areas? that's why the end of the war means all our territories free and all our territories ukrainian. vitalii?

i thank you for your question. it's a very delicate, very sensitive question to all of us ukrainians, of course. but i do think we have to be realists. we have to evaluate what our position or where our troops stand as the peace negotiations open _ they will open, inevitably. that is for sure. but i am not prepared to say at this moment which of the territories we should be prepared to concede and what territories we should not be prepared to concede. i was and still remain a proponent of an armistice and not a, you know, sustained sort of, you know, let's say, settlement that will, you know, just make the situation set in stone in terms of the occupation. but i do think that we have

to be pragmatic and we have to be realistic about our military potential and about our capabilities. go ahead, iryna. the only thing i want to remind all of you about is the resistance movement on the occupied territories called zhovta strichka — yellow ribbon. there are people in the occupied, even for ten years, in the occupied crimea and donetsk and luhansk, which are ukrainians, which are resisting and which are hoping that one day, those territories will be liberated. this conversation about territories is not about territories at all. it's about people, first of all. we can absolutely not let these people down

because they are ukrainians. ian, what would you like to say, finally, to olga, vitalii and iryna? thank you, everyone. those were very moving words that you had. - and i wish you all good i health, and slava ukraini. heroiam slava. thank you very much. heroiam slava. thank you, ian. when you look at what is happening around ukraine politically and what is going on on the battlefield, do any of you feel like, for the first time, a form of end might be closing in on this full—scale invasion? regardless of how you would like it to end. the tide is turning. it's turning not in our. favour at the moment. and if they continue - to progress at their present track, at their present pace, i i am very much afraid we'll be dealing with russian soldiers standing on the front line, i on the frontier between, |

let's say, dnipropetrovsk and donetsk regions. and that is far more worse. thank you so much for becoming ourfriends. and hopefully one day, we'll actually get to meet you in person. i'mjust in awe. you are real heroes. . nothing more i can say. we are just ukrainians. our armed forces are heroes, are real heroes. our air defence are heroes. they are constantly saving our lives as civilians living in ukraine. and we are just regular ukrainian civilians, yes. there's so many things that you've said that will stay with me, but, iryna, it's you saying today, "we've got one life to live." and that's true of absolutely all of us, wherever we are. particularly for you guys coping with this, and we just

want to say thank you so much for talking to our listeners around the world. and thank you to mira, as well. ukrainecast from bbc news. storm bert has made for a very difficult weekend, to say the least, across large swathes of the uk. the snow yesterday, of course. today further very strong winds and very heavy rain. that rain has caused some significant flooding impact, particularly across the south—east of wales, but also across some other areas. flood warnings are still in force and will remain in force. you can check the latest on those on the bbc weather website. it's no wonder we've had such flooding issues, because the rain for some has been relentless. this radar picture runs over 36 hours.

150mm of rain has fallen across some high ground of south—west england and parts of wales as well. now, that rain is very slowly sliding eastwards. this frontal system will push away from the south—east corner as we go through the night, but storm bert, our area of low pressure, still close by. still some very strong winds for a time, particularly across northern and western parts of scotland. not quite as mild as it was last night, but certainly not as cold as it was last week. and then as we head into tomorrow, well, it is going to be a better day. not a completely straightforward one. this rain clearing the south—east corner. then for southern and eastern parts it will be largely dry. a few showers for the south—west and for wales. a few more for northern ireland, northern england and especially scotland. some heavy thundery showers. and it will still be pretty windy up towards the north. storm bert still fairly close by, the centre of the storm, just to the north—east of us. temperature—wise, north

to south, well, we're looking at around 8—12 degrees, because as storm bert clears away north—eastwards, it will leave some colder air in its wake. now, again, it's not going to be as cold as it was last week, but still a little bit chillier than it has been at times over the weekend. cold enough for some snow in the showers over higher ground in northern scotland on tuesday. many spots further south will be dry, but those temperatures north to south around 7—11 degrees. a bit of uncertainty in the forecast for the middle part of the week. this area of low pressure sliding across southern counties of england, wales, the midlands could well bring some outbreaks of rain. this may end up being a little bit further south or a little bit further north than these graphics suggest. could be some brisk winds with that as well. the end of the week does look quite a lot quieter.

live from london, this is bbc news. storm bert batters parts of the uk for a second day, as authorities confirm they've recovered a body in wales. are the water levels higher than you were expecting?

absolutely, yes. a hospital in northern gaza says its director was injured in an israeli drone attack. exit polls in the first round of romania's presidential election show the current prime minister leading the race. moana — the polynesian girl who saved her village from a millennial curse — is back in cinemas with a new adventure. we're at the the london premiere. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. welcome to the programme. police in north wales say they've recovered a body in the search for a 75—year—old man who disappeared on saturday. brian perry was walking his dog in an area affected by significant floodwater, next to the river conwy, near trefriw. there's been no formal identification, but the police say his family have been informed. storm bert is battering parts

of britain for a second day —