wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... woman: a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. brett: you know as someone coming out of college it can be very nerve-racking not knowing what to expect, whether you'll like your job or not, whether you'll make friends, whether you'll fit in, and here i feel like it's so welcoming and such an inclusive place to work, you just feel like you're valued. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news"

>> hello. this is "the context." >> ukraine's action on the battlefield speaks for itself. we as a nation and as a government are doubling down on our support for ukraine. >> a line has been crossed, yet another, and russia will now have to consider how it is going to respo. >> when you bear in mind what storm shadow is capable of, it has a very substantial payload and is designed to cause damage to well reinforced structures. >> russian can -- russia can make things complicated in the middle east or on the korean peninsula, and that is something we should be expecting.

>> ukraine has hit targets inside russia using the british storm shadow for the first time. joe biden is sending antipersonnel mines to ukraine and anotr significant -- of military aid. what does it add up to? we have a special edition of the security brief and a meeting with the u.s. ambassador to ukraine. job cuts at ford, a slump in ev sales will mean jobs will go across europe. do we have the right strategy for electric cars? look, no hands, the advent of the neural earbuds, used for the first time to fly a 737 airliner. welcome to the program. the bbc has learned ukraine has fired a british made storm shadow missile into russian territory for the first time. it is thought they were fired on at least one target inside

russia, a day after ukraine fired a u.s.-made msed -- u.s.-made ballistic missile into a neighboring russian region. britisheapons have been used on russian soil before in the war, notably challenger tanks. the u.k. government is downplaying the significance, but for putin and those around him, it marks a significant shift. he has warned consistently that if british missiles were fired inside russia, they would be considered a full participant in the war. >> we as a nation and a government are doubling down on our support for ukraine, and deteined to do more. i've discussed this with a fellow minister in a call yesterday, where he talked about the robust response that ukraine is making two recent russian escalations.

that is the escalation in the attacks on ukrainian cities and children, the escalation in attacks on their energy system, and the escalation with deploying 10,000 north korean troops in combat positions on the front line. we discussed our plans as the u.k. to support them throughout 2025. i remain committed to keeping parliament as fully informed as possible. the honorable gentleman of the house will understand the reasons why at this point, i am not able to go into any further operational details. >> there have been other developments today. the white house has announced more military aid for ukraine, worth up to $275 million, most of it to meet critical battlefield needs including munitions, artillery, tank weapons and for the first time, they will be sending antipersonnel landmines, another

redline the administration has crossed out. they are of the nonpersistent kind, meaning they become inert after some time. altogether, it feels like an escalation before trump's proposed negotiation. in kyiv, the embassy was closed for the first time since 2022. they are braced for another massive aerial bombardment. there is a lot to discuss. it is a perfect night for the security brief. mikey is here, a senior british officer who flew planes for the raf and whenever we do the segment, he leads it. it does feel like a fast escalating situation. >> we've had the first use of the u.s. missiles, the first use of the storm shadow, the antipersonnel mines.

>> it has been a rapid three days in terms of policymaking decisions. let's look at what that means on a map. what we can see here is we now have effectively a layered defense system where zelenskyy can long-range deep strike, using -- you can go to storm shadow, 150 miles and then the u.s. missiles which goes up to 190. we have an area called kursk, which comes well within the range of the missiles. they were used monday against a region northwest o kursk. what we are seeing is a basket, a picnic basket full of defense weapons and deep strike weapons that zelenskyy now has. >> remind us about the storm shadow and how is it being delivered.

>> that is the su 24, the storm shadow and the french version, which is the exact same, it has been modified to be able to drop two of those. >> in months? >> the procurement process of the storm shadow took a long time. the process to modify the storm shadow onto an aircraft, i think it surprised a lot of people in terms of how quickly it could be done, months if not within a year. >> i know you have taken issue because a lot of our footage has shown tornadoes going out with the storm shadow on it. >> typhoons. >> typhoons, sorry. >> the footage we have seen today is library footage of what

the storm shadow was originally made for, the tornado british jet. that is now out of service and the storm shadow was modified for the typhoon and those of the pictures you have seen today. it is imperative to understand that that is not the delivery system. the delivery system is the us-24. -- the su-24. it is a long-range strike fighter bomber and what you are seeing is two storm shadows, or the french version being dropped from it. at this point, what is it being used on? if we go back to the slide of, the ranges what is important is that biden originally approved atacms for the kursk region.

that is where the remain effort is going. we spoke on security brief two weeks o about how there is a buildup of north korean troops, up to 50,000 combined russian-dprk troops. this is what the storm shadow will be going after. zelenskyy will be going after high-value strategic assets such as command and control systems. >> why is it specifically good at that? >> it has been designed for that. the storm shadow can travel up to 600 miles per hour. when he gets released, it will descend 150 feet, and then it will -- >> so they would be on the ukrainian side of the border when they release this. >> absolutely and that is for defense reasons. the ukrainians have to be careful about the amount of air assets they are losing. effectively the su-24 is the

only one that can carry this storm shadow. that has become a prized asset, almost a strategic asset. they want to be able to stand off a little bit so they are outside of russian air defense. >> we've not had confirmation it has been used from the ministry of defense. we didn't have a statement from the defense secretary. there has been a strategy of ambiguity. i would suppose that they will maintain that. that is important only talk about these fragments of missiles we are seeing, because it could be the french version. >> keir starmer, he has held his cards very close to his chest. as a former pilot, you don't want politicians telegraphing what your next moves are going to be. you don't want to give putin ammunition in terms of where he has his air defense systems, his bunkers that are now in vulnerable positions.

what keir starmer did was absolutely correct. what you will see in this picture is a storm shadow. the point of this is they look exactly the same. until we get verified over the -- verified evidence of debris or fragmentation or a senior official from the u.k. saying yes, we approved storm shadow and it was used, then there is always a small area of ambiguity as to whether that could be scalp. it is important to say we've heard nothing from the french government. >> mikey, thank you very much. while that decision, the white house has taken to send landmineto ukraine underscores the growing unease within the biden administration over the current battlefield situation, russia is making slow incremental gains, costly yes but they are advancing. this is another biden rersal. some might say too late.

there are questions over what the repercussions will be. concerns in kyiv, exacerbated the decision to close western embassies. the shelters in the city were a little fuller today. with us to discuss is the senior director of the atlantic council, and former ambassador to ukraine from 2003 to 2006. also here is the former ukraine foreign minister from 2019 to 2020, also ukrainian ambassador to no from 2017-2019. just the right people to discuss where we are at tonight. first of all, the u.s. said early this morning it was closing its embassy due to information about a significant air attack. the italians, spaniards and greeks all closed their embassies. does that tell us there is a response coming? >> i think that is the expectation that putin is not

happy with the decision on the atacms and this is how he is responding, instead of threatening wh nukes which is his normal tactic. >> why do you think joe biden has taken this flurry of decisions? he seems to have scrubbed out all of these red lines. >> biden had has -- has had a consistent pattern since the first days of the invasion, which was being intimidated by putin's nuclear threats and to say no to very reasonable weapons systems. because those requests were reasonable, over time he would change his mind. it began with the longer-range missiles and we saw it with abrams and patriots, we saw it with atacms and now the decision to u them. this is the standard pattern of the biden team. the other steps he has taken about military equipping, we have seen this throughout his administration and that is nothing new.

>> are they taking less seriously, the threats from vladimir putin that he would turn to nuclear weapons? >> they have over time, refused to provide weapons in a timely fashion because they were intimidated by putin's nuclear threats and then they got accustomed to giving the weapons and that pattern has persisted down t-- down to this decision to using atacms on russian territory. to call it a major escalation is wrong. the major escalation is the introduction of at least 10,000 north korean troops, 9000 -- >> putin has consistently said when he talks about tse longer-range missiles that if the u.k. were to -- if the ukrainians were to use the u.k. missileshan the u.k. would be seen as a participant in the war, rather than an ally. do you think from the u.k.

perspective, this incases the threat level at home? >> no. we have seen russian threats going back to the first days of the big invasion, many of which have proven to be toothless. whether it was about sweden and ukraine joining nato -- sweden and finland, whether it was about strikes into crimea or other parts of ukraine claimed by russia. all of these things, putin waived his nuclear want and for a time that would intimidate, especially biden and schultz. by and large, the british have been pretty strong on this, not intimidated by the threats and then eventually the biden team would calm down and send the stuff they should have sent earlier. >> talk to me about the feelings in kyiv today because i mentioned the shelters were a little full, people were a little unnerved that some of the embassies were closing. is there a heightened sense of concern in kyiv at the moment?

>> you are right. the american embassy was shut down for a day. it is not closed down, it has not been abandoned. the other nations, they overreacted, but- the russians are sending more rockets to overload our system and exhaust our supply. this is the 1001 day of our war. >> president zelenskyy has talked about this a lot, feeling that he is not getting enough supplies of air defense missiles. do you have enough to defend the capital? >> you are right, but we are not

defending the capital only. industrial sites and centers were bombed. yesterday, a tiny town, i personally have no idea where it is, people were killed including one child. it is happening all around the nation. fortunately we have systems like patriot systems provided by our allies and we are trying our best to protect our nation, but kyiv is an obvious target. more or less of the big cities. -- all the big cities. >> how do you square the statements that ukraine can have the weapons it needs for as long as it wants with the u.s. position, which of course is going to change fundamentally in two months time? >> the biden administration is trying to give as much as they could, and logistics because

some people are nervous whether the new coming administration would be as willing to provide as some other nations. luckily we have btain providing long-range missiles for quite a long time already. i have to tell you that i heard a previous concession and the missiles are coming to kursk and crimea was hit before. by the russian constitution, they have the same meaning and status. i would not worry much about escalation now. >> ambassador, do you buy into this theory that joe biden is now supplying all of this because he is trying to assist the ukrainians in their bid to hold onto kursk, and the idea that if there is a negotiation coming, have something to trade? >> i have no doubt that biden

wants to do as much as he can for ukraine within the framework he has set up. he deserves credit for the substantial aid the united states has provided for ukraine, for rallying nato and partners in support of ukraine. i menoned the one serious weakness with his administration was the fact that they have been wary about sending more advanced weapons. it is important for eventual negotiations that ukraine retain kursk. i credit zelenskyy for that operation. it was very much in ukraine's interests despite some backdoor criticism coming from other capitals. it is important that they retain it. we don't know what trump will do any contingency, i am verye for cautiously optimistic that he will do the smart thing, make sure that ukraine is in a position that when negotiations come, it has a reasonable position on the battlefield. >> very interesting.

thank you very much for your time this evening. we will take a short break. you are watching the bbc around the world and here in the u.k. ♪ shop sound like is -- you might

think -- that would be the main talking point in the united states. that is not how washington works. instead the focus today is on this door, a congressional meeting room where the house ethics committee is currently gathered in private to decide what to do about their report into matt gaetz. they are under significant internal pressure. gaetz is donald trump's pick for attorney general and the speaker of the house once that report buried. it is a report of illicit drug

use and sexual misconduct. joining me to discuss is our senior north american correspondent. what do you think is going on behind that door? >> we think it is actually over. we think about 10 minutes ago, they started to emerge from that committee. people we have standing outside that door say they were saying nothing and could not discuss whether any decisions had been made or any votes taken. it does seem like there has been some sort of conclusion to that meeting. you said the report was finished. earlier today, the chairman of the committee said the report was still being finalized. there is some doubt about what it's status is. certainly a massive amount -- we do know some of its contents because some of the lawyers for some of the people who gave evidence to that committee have already told us what their

clients said to those members of congress. >> i can't believe that it wouldn't be leaked. the house is a pretty leaky place isn't it? >> it is leaky but this committee is slightly different. it is 10 members, five from each side. it sees itself as somewhat above the fray. it takes its work very seriously and does it quietly behind the scenes and i think there is a slightly different ethic going on in the ethics committee. clearly we are in very partisan times and that will have its impact inside even a body like that, but as things stand, it has been reasonably watertight in terms of the committee itself, but it is under enormous pressure, particularly from democrats to release this report, enormous pressure from a bunch of republicans not to release this report and this will only grow over the coming months.

leaks are certainly a possibility, publication a possibility as well. keeping a lid on this sort of stuff, does it really work? >> meanwhile, we've got the incoming vice president, jd vance walking matt gaetz around the senate, introducing him to those people who will sit on the committees and i'm sure they will do have the courtesy of a hearing privately, buis there any confidence that matt gaetz would be confirmed if it came to a vote? >> i think the confidence is low. you are seeing some republicans even today in the senate, more generally saying they think it is a very difficult path. some republicans on the judiciary committed in the senate -- committee in the senate have their doubts. the margins are reasonably small. it looks like it'll end up being 52 or 53 republicans in the senate to 47 or 48 democrats.

you only need a very small handful to say not so sure to make it a very tight vote. they know there are going to be all sorts of other battles they want to win with other controversial nominees. matt gaetz is the most controversial among a bunch of controversial nominees. you can see how difficult this bar is. that is why they are in there early, two months before the inauguration, gladhanding, persuading. >> donald trump was asked last night on his way to spacex in texas whether he had an alternative and he said no. he still wants matt gaetz. in terms of the political capital he has to burn through, to get what he wants, what do you think the thinking is within the transition team? >> i think they think they have sufficiently captured this republican party for political

capital not to be so much of a calculation. bear in mind, the greatest political comeback of all time, probably true. they are absolutely delighted that they won the selection, they are all in with the maga agenda. there is some residual sense of independence in the senate. it is an institution that has its traditions and prides itself on having the ability to advise and consent and of course senators have a six-year term, which means they are slightly more immune to that kind of political pressure. all the same, it is donald trump's party and they will largely give him what he wants. >> always good to talk to you. we will keep a weather eye on that door in case we get any announcements. we will take a short break. we will be back after the break with some thoughts on electric announcer: funding for presentation of this program

is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

♪ ♪