as ukraine prepares to mark the third christmas since russia's invasion, we bring you a special report from the city of pokrovsk, the birthplace of a well—known carol. and it is notjust the physical destruction of the city that you can see all around me, ukraine also accuses russia of trying to erase its cultural identity. live pictures of bethlehem, where muted christmas celebrations take place this year, as the war in the region rages on. a nasa spacecraft hurtling towards the sun is poised to make history, with the closest approach ever to the star. hello.

welcome. ukrainians are marking their third christmas since the russian invasion, with putin's forces pushing deeper into the east of the country. the city of pokrovsk is russia's next target. its troops are now less than three kilometres from the city centre. it's a key military hub. but it's also part of ukraine's cultural identity too. it's the birthplace of a well—known christmas carol. our defence correspondent jonathan beale has this report. music: shchedryk. the discord of christmas in a shattered city. but this is where the composer of this well—known carol once lived. pokrovsk — the next russian target. explosion most of its population's already fled. explosion no sound or sign of christmas here. just shelling. those left behind only break

cover to find essentials. many are cut off from gas, water and electricity. ihor says you never know where or when the next hit will be. he likens it to living on a powder keg. oksana hopes ukraine can hold on, but she thinks it's unlikely. pokrovsk, she says, will probably fall. russian forces are still advancing towards the city of pokrovsk. they are nowjust a few miles from where i'm standing. and it's notjust the physical destruction of the city that you can see all around me. ukraine also accuses russia of trying to erase its cultural identity, too. music: carol of the bells this familiar tune, known as the carol of the bells — or shchedryk in ukraine — was composed

by mykola leontovych. this is where he worked as a music teacher in pokrovsk — a plaque now the only reminder. the hasych family fled pokrovsk this summer. they're now shocked at the scale of devastation. mum yulia says it makes her want to cry. but she isn't letting her daughters forget home or the signature song of their city. translation: when i played it at home, it seemed happy. - it reminded me of winter and christmas. now it's more of a sad song to me, because it reminds me of home, and i really want to go back. but for one ukrainian military

band, it's also become a song to inspire resistance. they're even taking it to the trenches — with weapons as improvised instruments. translation: we'll visit any brigade on the front line - and perform ukrainian songs on any weapon. it lifts the spirits, those beats and rhythms cheer up the guys and inspire them to fight. shchedryk shows that ukraine is a civilised nation now at war, fighting for its identity. for ukraine, there is a special significance to this tune this christmas. russia may be able to destroy its towns and cities, but it can't erase ukraine's separate identity or its past. jonathan beale, bbc news, pokrovsk. but our correspondent in ukraine will vernon says on the ground the war isn't currently going ukraine's way.

things aren't going very well at all for ukraine. russia is advancing in the east of the country. in the last few days, they've seized a number of villages. they're getting closer to that strategic city of pokrovsk, as you heard in jonathan's report there. and russia is advancing pretty fast. last month, they seized an area roughly the size of london. at a huge cost, it must be said, but nonetheless, they are advancing. as well as that, night after night, ukrainian cities are being barraged by missiles, drones, guided bombs. russia has been targeting ukraine's energy infrastructure. it is bitterly cold here, and most of the power grid is damaged or destroyed. yesterday, there were emergency blackouts in kyiv, in dnipro, other ukrainian regions too, so that the ukrainians could try and repair some of that damaged infrastructure. look, the mood here is gloomy, right? ukrainians feel abandoned

by the west, frankly. a few days ago, we were in this event in kyiv, a special christmas demonstration where people gathered to commemorate the plight of ukrainians who are held in captivity in russia. there are thousands still held there. 8,000, perhaps even more than that. and people were saying, "look, at this time of year when people are sitting down to their christmas dinner or gathering with their loved ones at new year, spare a thought for ukraine and for those thousands of ukrainians who are being kept, many in very brutal conditions." a lot of what happens to this country in 2025 depends on donald trump. you know, it's interesting speaking to ukrainians, there's actually a kind of note of very cautious optimism about the new president. many ukrainians are pretty disappointed byjoe biden. they feel that he hasn't given enough support to ukraine. they think that he gave only enough weapons and money, really, to keep ukrainians fighting and dying and not enough for victory.

but many of them see donald trump as someone who likes to win, someone who likes to do a deal. and the hope here in ukraine is that, as soon as donald trump realises that vladimir putin is in no mood whatsoever to compromise or negotiate in any meaningful way, that perhaps mr trump will swing his support behind kyiv. 0ur our thanks to will vernon there in ukraine. a russian cargo ship has sunk in the mediterranean sea. this video — posted on social media — shows the ursa major listing off the coast of spain. the russian foreign ministry says the vessel sank after an explosion in its engine room. two of the 16 crew members are missing. the ship is reported to have been transporting specialised cranes to the russian port of vladivostok. tracking data from marine traffic shows that it left st petersburg on 11 december and had recently passed through the staits of gibraltar. it's the third russian ship

to go down in ten days. russia has been accused of using a so—called "ghost" fleet of ships — which are often poorly maintained and lack proper insurance — to circumvent sanctions. it's not known whether the ursa major was part of that fleet. we will keep you posted of developments. christians across syria have protested after masked gunmen set fire to a christmas tree in a town in hama province. they're demanding the new islamist rulers protect religious minorities. the ruling faction, hts, said the men responsible for burning the tree in the christian—majority town of suqay—labiyah had been detained. it described them as foreign fighters. local firefighters put out the blaze after the attackers left. the islamist hts movement, which has its roots in al-qaeda, has promised to protect minorities since toppling president bashar al—assad earlier this month. now, christmas celebrations are muted for a second year in bethlehem. this is the scene live

in the city, the biblical birthplace ofjesus, where traditional festivities have been scaled back, leaving church leaders to focus on providing spiritual guidance and solidarity during a time of profound grief. 0ur correspondent emir nader is in bethlehem — where he says few have come to mark the birth ofjesus. it is quite incredible to be here as the world begins to celebrate christmas and to see bethlehem looking so quiet for the second year in a row. usually by this time, the main square here, manger square, would be full of marching bands, processions. we can see the i,700—year—old church of the nativity, wherejesus is believed to have been born. usually we would see pilgrims from around the world that would have travelled here to take part, tourists from around the world, but the hotels are empty and many of the shops are shut. that is because many

of the people have the war on their mind which is going on in the palestinian territory of gaza not so far away. the cardinal leading the mass tonight, the head of the catholic church here, has just returned from gaza where he addressed a massive palestinian christian group there, and he told the congregation that, "the world is with you, the war will end the war will end and we will rebuild." he has said that everything is destroyed in gaza, but the people are not. it is a very solemn mood here obviously, as of today, over 16,000 palestinians have been killed in the war, and people are really hoping for a ceasefire deal to be reached. emir, when it comes to that ongoing war in gaza, for the first time, israel has publicly acknowledged killing the hamas leader ismail haniyeh in iran. what has the defence minister israel katz been saying? he made a speech yesterday saying that israel took responsibility, for the first time, for the assassination

of the political leader of hamas in the iranian capital tehran in july. they hadn't previously acknowledged that. it came as part of quite of a belligerent speech by the minister of defence, after days of exchanges of missile fire with houthi rebels in yemen, who have been sending missiles out of solidarity, they say, with the palestinians in gaza towards tel aviv. the minister of defence, israel katz, directed a speech towards the houthi rebels saying, "we will decapitate you and your leaders in the way we have done with hamas and hezbollah as well." i will correspond in their first mic in bethlehem where christians are marking a muted christmas this year —— emir nader. pope francis will launch a special holy year for catholics worldwide later. known as a jubilee, it occurs

about once every 25 years. francis will signal thejubilee by opening the normally bricked—up holy door of st peter's basilica ahead of christmas eve mass. more than 30 million catholic pilgrims are expected to visit rome during the holy year. professorjacob phillps is a professor of theology at st marys university in london. welcome, professor. remind us of the significance of the jubilee year, this important yearfor jubilee year, this important year for catholics that happens once every 25 years.— once every 25 years. good morning- _ once every 25 years. good morning. every _ once every 25 years. good morning. every 25 - once every 25 years. good morning. every 25 years, | once every 25 years. good - morning. every 25 years, there is a year which is understood to be a particularly special year, year of grace and blessings during which catholics are invited to visit rome and walk through the holy door, there are various available, and that walking through symbolises entering into this period of renewal and reconciliation and forgiveness of. �* , ., ,

of. and when it comes to this conce -t of. and when it comes to this concept happening _ of. and when it comes to this concept happening every - of. and when it comes to this concept happening every 25 l concept happening every 25 years, just explain to us why that period between what is such an important time for catholics. it such an important time for catholics-_ catholics. it has its origins in the bible, _ catholics. it has its origins in the bible, in _ catholics. it has its origins in the bible, in biblical- catholics. it has its origins i in the bible, in biblicaltimes in the bible, in biblical times during the writing of the old testament or the hebrew bible, there was a tradition of jubilee years which were times where debts were forgiven, those who were imprisoned or oppressed were released and people who were in exile were invited to come home. i think invited to come home. i think in today's language, you can understand it as a sort of spiritual and social reset, if you like. in the middle ages, from about 1300 onwards, the catholic church started holding these jubilee years catholic church started holding thesejubilee years which they read about and studied in the bible and therefore it is understood at a point where the institution itself, which is understood as a divine vehicle in a sense, the institution itself is involved in opening the gates of heaven, the gates of grace and blessing, so that catholics are invited to

expense that a sense of renewal and homecoming and reconciliation and forgiveness. people will be encouraged to work for forgiveness in their own lives with those who they have become estranged from. they will be asked to reflect on how they are involved in schemes of oppression or imprisonment. and indeed there will be asked to reflect on their own lives and enter into a period of forgiveness of sin. this year in particular, rome, the vatican have been doing an awful lot of preparations, anybody who has been to the vatican city has seen that a lot of the monuments have been barricaded, underworks lot of the monuments have been barricaded, under works in order to prepare for this particular year. order to prepare for this particularyear. but order to prepare for this particular year. but arguably there is concern that may be as many pilgrims will not be arriving for 2025. it many pilgrims will not be arriving for 2025.- arriving for 2025. it is a contentious _ arriving for 2025. it is a contentious issue - arriving for 2025. it is a contentious issue in - arriving for 2025. it is a | contentious issue in the arriving for 2025. it is a - contentious issue in the world of catholic media whether the numbers of pilgrims going to rome has dropped. 0bviously rome has dropped. obviously this is politically quite loaded, some would question the current leadership of the

church and suggesting fewer people are attending the vatican says this is, the canonisation of saints than used to. i haven't seen any firm data confirming that, you see photos which are quite unreliable as you never know what time of day such things were taken. i think it is fair to suggest that the jubilee year of 2000, the last one, was particularly special, entering into the third millennium, a pope who was immensely and almost unanimously adored and it was also the time that in very practical terms, budget airlines were at their peak in the year 2000 and people could fly to rome from this country for £50 for the first time in history so i would like to think the numbers would reach what rome are suggesting they will. they say about a 26 million made it to rome in 2000 and i sincerely hope it will be the same this time round. professor phillips, professor of theology at st mary's university, thank you very much for speaking to us here on bbc news. we are going to take a short pause. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc

news.

now it's time for a look at today's sport. gavin, good to see was always. good to see you too. england test captain ben stokes will be out of action for at least three months. stokes was injured during the final test against new zealand last week and he needs surgery on a torn hamstring — the same one he tore in august. he'd already been left out of the squads for the limited overs tour to india next month, and the champions trophy in february, due to the injury. his target will be the one—off test against zimbabwe in may — and then there are just five more test matches until england attempt to regain the ashes in australia next winter. australia play india in the boxing day test. the series is currently tied at 1—1 with two matches left to play after the third test was drawn, with poor weather limiting play. the home side won the second test, but won't let the dampener last time affect them. 0pener sam konstas is set to become australia men's youngest test batting

debutant in 71 years. we said from the get—go going into the summer we wouldn't shy away and age was no barrier, and what he has shown is an array of shots and to put pressure back onto opponents, and he gets his opportunity, so we are really excited for him. boxing day, the biggest stage. you may as well get that one out of the way early. the darts is in full swing at the pdc world championships — but several of the big names won't be there this year though, including former champion rob cross. there were two more shocks at alexandra palace — cross being one of them. he became the 14th seed to depart — beaten by scott williams. sixth seed david chisnall also went out, losing to ricky evans. it comes afterformer winners michael smith, and gary anderson went out earlier in the tournament. and the festive football resumes on boxing day — with several big games in the premier league. tottenham away at 11th placed nottingham forest is one to look out for, with spurs hoping to bounce back from defeat to liverpool,

where they conceded six goals. we just wejust had a we just had a heavy defeat and i said i take responsibility for that because i see what effect that has on everyone involved with the football club so that it weighs heavily on you. i don't think there are many managers who bounce into interviews after being beaten that sort of feel cheery about it. yeah... fairto say that sort of feel cheery about it. yeah... fair to say i'm getting tired of the same questions and answering the same way. ijust questions and answering the same way. i just think questions and answering the same way. ijust think it is almost like people want to poke the bear to see if i react. and that's all the sport for now. kasia, we will have more later on. studio: looking forward to it, thank you so much. a nasa spacecraft is set to make history today. it will get closer to the sun than any other human—made object. the parker solar probe must survive the radiation and extreme temperatures it will encounter, to solve some of the mysteries

about our nearest star. 0ur science editor rebecca morelle has the story. 0ur sun in all its fiery splendour. we've been studying it for centuries, but there's still so much we don't know about it. now the closest—ever encounter is set to finally shed light on our star. three, two, one, zero. nasa's parker solar probe blasted off in 2018, heading to the centre of our solar system. it's been orbiting our star, getting ever nearer, but this latest flyby is taking us to a new frontier — to touch the sun. even though we've had missions that have gone very close to the sun, that wasn't close enough to get into this sort of magic region where all of this physics and all of this — all of these processes are happening, and the the only way to be able to understand those processes is to fly through them and take the data right where all the action is happening. this mission is breaking records. parker solar probe hurtles past the sun

at 430,000 miles an hour. no human—made object has ever gone so fast. it's the equivalent of flying from london to new york in less than 30 seconds. at its closest, it's 3.8 million miles — 6.2 million kilometres — from our star's surface. that's closer than any other spacecraft. it will have to endure scorching temperatures of 11100 degrees celsius as it passes through the sun's outer atmosphere — known as its corona — and this could solve a long—standing mystery. the corona is really, really hot, and we have no idea why. so the surface of the sun is about 6,000 degrees or so. for the corona — this tenuous outer atmosphere that you can see during solar eclipses — that reaches millions of degrees, and that is further away from the sun. so how is that atmosphere getting hotter? the mission is also studying the solar wind — the constant stream of charged particles bursting out from the sun's corona.

the probe's even recorded the sounds of the sun. three different types of solar wind. various tones dispersive chirping waves. langmuir waves. and doctor who—like whistler mode waves. when these particles interact with the earth's magnetic field, the sky lights up with dazzling auroras. but this space weather can cause problems, too, knocking out power grids, electronics and communication systems. the hope is the mission can help us to better understand this. but first, the spacecraft has to survive its burning—hot flyby. i will worry, but we really have designed that spacecraft to withstand all of these brutal, brutal conditions. it's a tough...tough little spacecraft. during this close approach, the spacecraft is out of communication for several days, so the nasa team face a nervous wait over christmas before they can finally discover the secrets of our star. rebecca morelle, bbc news.

a lot to discuss. let's join... mark mccaughrean, a scientist at the max planck institute for astronomy. mark, will this little probe make it?— make it? always a good question. _ make it? always a good question, it _ make it? always a good question, it has - make it? always a good question, it has never l make it? always a good - question, it has never been this close in before so there is always a chance it will encounter something new but it has been very close on a number of occasions before and it is proven to be a very, very robust little spacecraft. when i say little, it is about 600 kilos so less then a small car. when it comes into contact with that magical area, that corona area, what kind of data are you hoping for and how will it be fed back to earth?— fed back to earth? well, the robe fed back to earth? well, the probe goes _ fed back to earth? well, the probe goes so _ fed back to earth? well, the probe goes so close - fed back to earth? well, the probe goes so close to - fed back to earth? well, the probe goes so close to the l fed back to earth? well, the i probe goes so close to the sun that it has no cameras to look directly at the sun, the amount of energy is just so high it would fry the cameras so what it is measuring our particles,

electrons, protons, other things coming off the surface of the sun in the solar wind, the magnetic field, and also the magnetic field, and also the amount of energy it is receiving at different wavelengths from the sun. not taking pictures but measuring that energy. and then what we are actually doing at the european space agency with the mission called solar orbiter is measuring how that changes as it moves towards the earth. so measuring very close into the sun where, as in your piece, the energy rises enormously, the energy rises enormously, the temperature rises from only a few thousand degrees to millions of degrees in that very narrow range. how does that then propagate all the way out to earth where space whether there might be the issue? i whether there might be the issue? ~' ., whether there might be the issue? ~ ., , issue? i know in the peace there, rebecca's - issue? i know in the peace there, rebecca's piece, i issue? i know in the peace| there, rebecca's piece, we issue? i know in the peace - there, rebecca's piece, we had there, rebecca's piece, we had the scientist saying we don't know why the corona area is so much hotter than the sun itself but what is your thinking on the reasoning behind that? this actually comes _ the reasoning behind that? ti 3 actually comes back to solar orbiter, the european mission in collaboration with nasa and

during very early phases of that mission, it was launched in 2020, it saw some very, very small scale structures which couldn't be seen without going close to the sun, things that got this nickname called campfires, small flares with very high energyjust on the surface of the sun linked to the magnetic field which leaks out from the sun and they may actually be the way that that high energy, getting to high temperatures, leaks out from the surface of the sun. but what these two missions working together, that is one of the big question is that they are designed to answer. with this latest flyby and then a couple more next year, roughly