like, about three hours. i think he wants

to stop fighting. they have a big, powerful machine, you understand that. he wants to stop. that was my question to him. because if he's going to go on, that would have been a big problem for us, and that would have caused me a big problem because you just can't let that happen. i think he wants to end it. and they want to end it fast. both of them. and zelensky wants to end it too. with me is bbc russia's senior reporter olga ivshina. we reporter olga ivshina. have had confirmation, that is we have had confirmation, that is sergei lavrov and a

of é- ' if is ”5 ff" ww "7

but we have to have the right number of people with the right equipment and the right training, and start to fund that now. i was speaking to sources in the ministry of defence last night, they gave no indication that going beyond that 2.5% figure was an immediate possibility. they said the priority was on setting a date that the uk would hit that target. so no immediate signs that that could happen anytime soon. i think that will be a question that sir keir starmer will face when he makes his trip to washington to visit donald trump for the first time next week. harry farley at westminster, thank you. we can go to kyiv

and our ukraine correspondent

until there is a clear plan, a clear path to how a peace agreement could be agreed and implemented. so it's not clear what will come out of these initial talks. the american side is saying this is just about seeing how serious moscow is and opening a channel of communication. but the tone over the past week has been a warm one from washington. and for ukraine, as it continues to fight this war alone, of course with the help of western help, the consequences of what we may see

the consequences of v pictures 1ay see the consequences of v pictures 1ay s kyiv. we live pictures from kyiv. we have a live page up and running with the very latest, including

the news that president zelensky is currently in the uae, and has discussed mediation and prisoner exchanges with russia while on a visit to abu dhabi, and there may be a role that the uae can play on that. you can find out more on the bbc news website and app. marco rubio flew into saudi arabia from israel where he had met president benjamin netanyahu. both men praised president trump's plan to remove palestinians from gaza — and rebuild the devastated enclave as a resort. that plan has been flatly rejected by palestinians and arab nations, and would also violate international law. our middle east editor sebastian usher is injerusalem. i asked him about the cabinet meeting taking place today in israel. yes, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu will hold that cabinet meeting. it won't be for several

hours, around 6:30pm in the evening here, localtime. it has been made clear in the israeli media that will be to discuss the cabinet�*s position on the second phase of the ceasefire. we are still in the first phase, there are less than two weeks of that to go, there are still hostages to be released in that phase. but the talks on the second phase were supposed to have already begun. they haven't, as far as we know, there are hopes that this week they could get under way. certainly time is running out. again, reports from the israeli media that after this cabinet meeting, mr netanyahu may give instructions to a negotiating team that has been sent to cairo to discuss the first phase, that he might give them instructions on what they are to say about the second phase, but as i say, there isn't that long to go and there have been concerns emerging in the past week or so that the second phase, which seemed to be locked in,

it may now be more up in the air. in that phase all the remaining hostages in gaza are to be released and israeli troops are to make a full withdrawal from gaza. from the israeli government, from ministers and from

for zakariyya, there's new hope, but the future is uncertain. fizz 3:3%z~5—5, ”12"; 71—1 t will ;;.,.—; . .... .. fl . ...... ...

of that up in the temperatures. but with the higher temperatures, we are not initially in the west on wednesday, then for us all on thursday and into friday. will go from 15 or 16 to 10, ii or 12. across england and wales, some patchy light rain across scotland, and we will have some sunny breaks out towards the west. in across northern ireland,

and as it bumps into some to lower levels. under clear skies further south, we are looking at some patchy frost. still brisk winds out towards the west then there will be a brighter gap, it will be transient but still in the cooler conditions that bit further east.

quite a windy day. the odd rumble of thunder. the rain, but even so, we will also see some showers develop. but temperatures by then for us all,

talks in the pipeline. on business today we will look at what events are ukraine will mean for the future of energy security in europe.