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narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to thipbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc news". >> this is bbc "worls america." first-hand evidence from the front line i ukraine two weeks after the counteroffensive began , the bbc reports from the scene. >> we are making small gains. the big challenge is when find a major breakthrough, and they haven't found that yet. >> in beijing, the first high-level meeting between china and the usa in five years, with

a pledge to stabilize relations. a mini submarine taking people to see the titanic shipwreck goes missing in the atlantic. the rescue operation is being coordinated in boston. ♪ >> welcome "world news america." on pbs and around the globe. we begin with an eyewitness report from the front line of the war in ukraine. the country has announced more successes, two weeks since the counteroffensive began. the operations have been focused in the southeast of the country. our correspondent joins us -- joined a b grade as it -- a brigade in the southeast of the country. we should warn you, there are images in this report that may be distressing to some viewers.

>> the struggle to take back what is theirs has begun in earnest. this was russian held ground two weeks ago. for this brigade, the journey to the front takes longer now. here in the east and in the south, there is still a lg way to go. ukraine is on the offensive. russia fought hard to keep this ground but they fought harder. >> let's go. >> this is all russian equipment and uniforms her >> the guns are louder. after months of conserving artillery, it is ukrainian weapons that bring out.

>> that ukrainian, outgoing. you hear a wall of artillery, much more than before. >> a russian shell lands nearby. corpses lie unclaimed. >> there's usually a number of russian dad, at least two, still in their. the city itself is still firmly under russian control, but we are making small gains. the big challenge is when we find a major breakthrough, and we haven't found that yet. this could come anywhere along this 1000 kilometer frontline. it could come here, or it could come to the south. we're just trying to stretch

those russian resources and manpower to the breaking point. >> we travel 130 kilometers southwest to a second area of ukraine attack. the 68th gate have captured a pocket of territory, and onto the eas of a village. here, the company commander is giving the orders. it's very important. you need to listen to me. listen closely and do everything they tell you. and smile. why are you so serio? we are winning this war. >> but winning comes out of price. it took three days to take this village and there were many casualties. >> here it is very difficult, because this main area of

activity for russian soldiers. >> their going house to house, room by room. >> every few meters, it is very difficult. i know how many people we lose, but i cannot tell you. >> more russian corpses over here. >> russian soldiers. 1, 2, 3. >> despite the pain involved in capturing this village, the men won't linger here. they are already packing up and ready for the next offensive. this specialized drone unit will

play key role in the next imminent attack. while artillery sounds all around them, they have to move fast to get closer still to russian positions. the cost of this fight is everywhere to see. destroyed western built armor litters the battlefield. but russia, too, has lost dozens of attacks since this offensive began. on a hot day, the ukrainian attack begins. the air thicns with artillery and expectation. ukrainian guns pound the russian positions. and their enemy soon response.

-- responds. but it is a miss. the drone unit cannot delay until the shelling stops. the drones carry grenades and smoke bombs. they lose as many as five of these a day. and there is more than just artillery to contend with. >> russian jets fire every day, several times. >> one of the big advantages the russians have over the ukrainians is airpower. ukrainians are tacking on the ground but the russian still have warplanes.

it makes it much more difficult for them to advance. the battle won, the danger is far from over, as we make our way back from the trenches, more russian artillery fire targets the convoy. we need to move fast. and the 49 year old commander carries an extra burden, the memory of his son. >> this helmet of my son, a little bit small for me, but it's how i can remember. >> this was the 21 year o, filmed the day before his death. he fought on the same front lines as his father, two days before the counteroffensive

began, he was killed by a russian drone. is hostile war has been especially hard for you. you lost your son. can you tell us about your son, please? >> he wanted to be a hero for me. he wanted to be a hero for me, and he succeeded. i wanted to protect him, but he wanted to be a hero, and he won. >> ukraine may yet win back its land, but there is much here that will never be recovered. >> we can cross live to spea to quinton now. thank you so much for joining us. as we saw in that report, you have been covering this war, but you had such a close view of the fighting.

what differences have you now noticed as this counteroffensive's initial steps have begun? >> the noise, that's the big difference. in those very same areas that you saw my report a couple of months ago, ukrainian soldiers complained to us that they didn't have enough ammunition, they were not firing back nearly as much as the russians were firing at them. i spoke to a commander at the time and he said we know the counteroffensive is coming. that conservation period is over. ukrainian guns are running hot all over the front lines. they are laying down artillery and dropping artillery from drones across the front lines. there has been a real pickup in momentum and they are advancing forward. many of the assault brigades

have been desperate to be on the move and they are on the move. but ukraine's gains so far are modest, that are small. they still have a considerable y to go. this important we have not seen the main forces of this counteroffensive committed to the battle. they are still waiting for the men on the ground right now to find that weak spot along the russian lines and then exploit it, then try to split the russian forces in the south of the country. >> quinton, thank you so much. you can find more of quinton's reporting on our bbc website, as he continues to bear witness to the war in ukraine. let's move on to the u.s. secretary of state's visit to china. the two countries have agreed to keep working on improving relations. mr. blinken has been meeting president xi and what has been billed as a highly significant meeting. this report from beijing. >> first a handshake, then a

meeting which carried great hope that collapsing superpower relations could be restored, or at least stabilize. china's leader told the u.s. secretary of state that oh it to the world to try to get along. state to state interactions should always be based on mutual respect and sincerity. i hope that through this visit, mr. secretary, you will make only positive contributions to stabilizing u.s.-china relations. >> even modest progre is being celebrated. >> we welcome further visits by chinese officials to the united states. >> previous cooperation on trade, climate change, and cross-border trade has all but disappeared because of geopolitical rivalry. there have been some near misses

as the aircraft of china and the u.s. challenge one another in contested waters of the south china sea. analysts say the possibility of war is no longer remote. >> china is actually becoming more powerful. under such circumstances it is an increasingly dangerous situation in which china and the u.s. could have confidence, and it is possible that work could happen. if it did, nothing good would come of it, for both countries and for the region. >> officials associated with these talks say that antony blinn and his chinese counterparts really spoke their minds and the meeting went hours longer than expected. there is much at stake for the whole world if relations between beijing and washington continue toe. cpsla while the u.s. and china are

talking of the best, they are also preparing for the worst. >> now in russia, president putin's most prominent critic, alexey navalny, went on trial again today, facing a series of charges, including extremism. the case like others against him onrevious occasions as -- is being seen as overtly politically motivated. reporter: on trial again. the jailed kremlin critic in the dock, in prison. we were allowed into the penal colony to watch, but only on a video screen. he is facing multiple charges, including extremism, that could keep him walk up for decades. on paper at least, it is a moscow court that is hearing this case. yet they are 150 miles from the

russian capital in a penal colony. that suggests they want to limit the publicity that will inevitably come from russia's most high-profile prisoner. but the prison picture show didn't last long. the judge decided the trial should be behind closed doors. the press had to leave. his father's reaction. they have no shame. a protest leader, and anticorruption campaigner, alexi navalny has long clashed with the kremlin. remember this from fiveears ago. >> he is president putin's most vocal critic. he has now been arrested by

police. >> in 2020, in siberia, he was poisoned by a nerve agent and airlifted to germany for lifesaving treatment. he claims it was the kremlin that tried to kill him. the russian authorities denied it. in 2021, he returned to russia. he was arrested on arrival and has been behind bars ever since. russians are td by the state media that mr. navalny is a dangerous extremist. in the town where the prison colony is, that messaging seems to be working. >> if they put them in prison, he must've done something wrong. >> locked away here, alexi navalny's message, that russia needs change, is harder to get out. steve rosenberg, bbc news. >> earlier i spoke to the

great-granddaughter of the former leader of the soviet union, nikita khrushchev. she is currently a professor at the new school, and joined us from moscow. thank you so much for joining the program. another trial is outside of moscow, it is a closed trial. they are clearly trying to avoid any fanfare or too much attention around it. much influence does alexi navalnactually have from jail? >> thank you, yes. another trial, many more accusations. now it is extremism, terrorism, supporting nazism and whatnot. the issue of national security is how it is being played. navalny is still popular among the oppositn, but let's remember that in the last year,

or as they call it since the special military operation in ukraine began, essentially there is not zero but almost no existence of civil society. every organization that deals with human rights is now branded as a threat to national security. these oppositions are being closed. people who work for these organizations are being prosecuted. navalny is the longest leader of the opposition. one of the longest leaders of the opposition, but he is just one of many that are being absolutely pushed to the back burner of russian society. so he is still there but is really not major news anymore. >> you have been following this as long as navalny has been targeted by the kremlin. as you know, he just seems to get under president putin's skin

like no other. i wonder whether the war in ukraine has made that a bger concern for the president. >> i don't think so, actually. he certainly does get under prudent skin like no other, also because he has been there for a very long time. he has been producing films and investigations about the kremlin. he really doesn't mince words. when igets to putin, for some years he was the man who is not to be named, although unlike the dark force of lord waldemar, this was -- the kremlin refuses to use his name. they believe it gives him more power. so the kremlin a certain

concern. but i don't think is in -- influence increase. i think basically as i said he is one of many. the minute there is that might potentially be seen as a threat, or even not as a threat but just mention the word civil society or investigation or some sort of interesting human rights, the kremlin, and now it's not just the kremlin, it's the whole apparatus since the last 23 years of putin, the apparatus pushes on to delete and devalue and, in fact, threaten everybody who is part of that. >> nina khrushchev, thank you so much for speaking to us from moscow. in other news, u.k. members convicted of the -- the former

prime minister faced a 90 day suspension though he was still an mp, but he quit after being sent the court's findings in advance. a record order for the 500 airbus 820 aircraft, the largest single purchase by any airline in commercial aviation history. the deal announced on the 1st avenue the paris air show is worth roughly $55 billion before any bulk discounts. it's one of the largest operators of internal flights in india. now to a search operation where the clock is ticking. the u.s. coast guard is currently searching waters in the north atlantic for a submersible used to take tourists to view the titanic shipwreck. the company that operates the craft said it was exploring all options to bring the crew back to safety. jessica parker is in boston for us. thank you so much for joining.

what is the latest we know about the search? >> we've just actually been hearing from t boston coast guard. they say essentially an international search operation is now underway involving people from canada and from the united states. it is happening 900 miles off the coast here in what is described as a very remote location. clearly it would be a remote location and challenging circumstances. they are using aircraft and sonar technology to search for this vessel. looking for potentially whether it could be on the surface or indeed underwater. as you were saying come there is time pressure here. if it were still underwater, we know it would be operating on limited oxygen supplies, information suggesting that would have around four days of oxygen supplies as it began its dive. >> do we have any idea about what could have actually happened? >> we really don't know what

might've happened at this stage. we know that it left newfoundland a few days ago and reached the titanic wreckage site on sunday morning before beginning is dive. it travels aboard a sort of mothership. during the dive, about an hour and 45 minutes in, contact was lost. people have various theories as to what may have happened. we really don't know what might've happened at this stage, whether there could've been some sort of problem and the vessel had problem reaching the surface, whether it has reached the surface, and eventually they may find it. so there arearious options, but at the moment, we don't know the details. the focus of course is trying to find the vessel and rescue the people aboard. >> just briefly, there were reports that there was a british explorer on board. what do we know about him? >> yes, hamish harding is police

tube -- believed to have been on board this vessel. he is a businessman, chairman of an aircraft firm, seems to be something of an explorer as well. he is believed to be on the vessel. obviously at the moment officials have not been publicly naming who may be on board. we know that five people are aboard and one of them is a pilot. >> thank you so much. there is more information from our reporters on her website. it's a traditional dance to challenge rivals. the team got to perform the dance for the president of the czech republic. in a display of pride and strength, the new zealand ambassadors performed the traditional dance in the gardens of the castle.

the amateur teams played rugby matches around europe and the u.k. and they are set to play a match in the czech capital this week. rugby has gained popularity in the capital. thank you for watching. this has been "world news america." narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: you're watching pbs.

amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the “newshour” tonight, america's top diplomat and china's president agree to stabilize relations, while leaving daunting differences unresolved. amna: new reporting shows fbi leadership resisted investigating former president trump's role in the capitol insurrection for more than a year. geoff: and a group of young people find a unique clause in montana's constitution to sue over inaction on climate change. >> as i've learned about climate change and i've seen what our lawmakers have done promoting fossil fuel industries, i've realized that that is unconstitutional acts. ♪