♪♪ it is 8:00, you're watching sky news breakfast. good to see you this morning. as we approach the fourth weekend of the war in ukraine explosions have rocked the western city of lviv this morning. it comes with more accusations from the west that russia is committing war crimes. the russian ambassador to the united nations told sky news they weren't behind the bombing of a theater in mariupol. the armed forces minister says he doesn't know how the

ambassador sleeps at night. more on that in just a moment. it is friday the 18th of march. a series of missiles strike the western ukrainian city of lviv. the mayor there says an aircraft maintenance plant has been destroyed. fake news? russia's ambassador to the u.n. tells sky vladimir putin's forces did not bomb a ukrainian theater where civilians were sheltering. >> we have this information war which is raging much, much -- on a much greater scale than the -- than the battle -- than ott battlefield and i will not be surprised at anything because who wins the information war, the one wins the war. >> i don't know how the russian ambassador sleeps at night because, you know, he sits there and he stands there and he says that to your correspondent, it is clear as day what's happening in mariupol. in the southern port city of odesa residents prepare for the

russian attack that could come soon. homes for ukraine. the new scheme to house refugees opened but the government is accused of not supporting british forces. mutiny on the ferries, angry demonstrations are planned against p & o's decision to sack 800 workers without any warning. freedom to roam, all remaining covid measures are axed for people coming into the uk, all part of the government's plan to live with covid. eager beavers in the capital, they're back in london for the first time in more than 400 years. also ahead in the program this hour, an american's admission, i will be catching up with the scottish student who bought an ambulance and drove it all the way to the ukrainian border to deliver medical supplies. sneep sneep ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪♪♪ ♪♪ and music for the monarchy. we will speak to the russian-born royal composer about her new piece for the queen's platinum jubilee and just what her child life was like growing up in russia. good morning, all, and we begin with breaking news. the mayor of the western ukrainian city of lviv says that russian missiles have destroyed an aircraft maintenance plant near the city's airport. the mayor said that no casualties were immediately reported. let's get the latest. >> reporter: the air raid sirens went off at around 6:15 in the morning, that's been commonplace over the last week or so here, but then three or four explosions i counted around 6:30 a.m. in the morning here. so just really as the city was

starting to wake up, just as the curfew had lifted. we are at the airport now or as close as we can get to the airport, the authorities are pretty jittery, they don't really want to broadcast around the world the damage that's been done because they don't want that as propaganda for the russians, but behind these buildings is where the airport complex is. smoke has been coming from there for most of the morning, starting to dissipate now. the initial thought was that they hit the airport itself because we had been expecting that actually, strategic target of the russians, but actually we're now being told that it was a site just next door, an aviation repair facility that one assumes is part of the ukrainian war effort to keep their fighter jets in the skies. in terms of what, where and how, reports, again, of russian strategic bombers were around the area in the early hours of this morning, so i think probably that's where the

strikes came from. the russian forces aren't anywhere near here to be able to carry that kind of attack out so i think we're looking at probably long range cruise missiles, precision strikes. also this morning russia's ambassador to the united nations has told sky news vladimir putin's forces had nothing to do with the attack on the theater in the ukrainian city of mariupol where it's believed up to 1,000 civilians were sheltering. he claims there is an information war taking place on a larger scale than on the battlefield. the uk's ambassador to the u.n., david barber woodward has told sky news the war in ukraine has been characterized by russian disinformation and that it is important to keep the pressure on vladimir putin to end the war. the ukrainian president has warned foreign mercenaries against fighting for russia saying it would be the worst decision of their lives.

the ministry of defense's daily intelligence briefing says that russian forces have made minimal progress this week and that ukrainian defenses around kyiv and mykolalv secured the city. ukraine homes scheme launches later today. sky's martha kelner spoke to the russian ambassador to the united nations about russia's actions in mariupol. >> look, what kind of atrocities you are referring to? >> i'm talking about narrow trenches in mariupol with babies bodies in, i'm talking about theaters in mariupol being bombed by russia. >> the theater in mariupol was not bombed by russia. i spoke about it and you may refer to my statement. i do not know anything about the trenches with killed babies in it, i haven't seen it. >> ap journalists have been -- >> there's been so many fakes.

we have this information war which is raging much -- much -- on a much greater scale than the battle -- than on the battlefield and i will not be surprised at anything because who wins the information war? the one who wins the war. >> well, i also spoke to the armed forces minister james heappey who certainly didn't hold back on his response after the ambassador's denial of any russian involvement. >> i don't know how the russian ambassador sleeps at night because, you know, he sits there -- he stands there and says that to your correspondent and it is clear as day what's happening in mariupol. the russians are indiscriminately using artillery and missile strikes to destroy a city that they were unable to take mill tearily and the resistance that remains a courageous. the problem that mariupol is probably the worst, the one we are most concerned about, but

actually there is no dissimilar things happening in kharkiv and other places besides. >> the uk's apology to the united nations identified russian disinformation as central to what's going on at the moment. a little breaking news on that topic. off com has revoked rt formerly russia today has revoked their license to broadcast in the uk with immediate effect. they have done so according to their press release on the basis that they don't consider rt's licensee fit and proper to hold a uk broadcasting license. today's decision by off com they say comes amidst 29 separate investigations into the impartiality of their news and coverage of russia's invasion of ukraine. more on that later in the program. let's head to kyiv where we will find alex crawford. alex, very good morning to you. just looking at the scenes of destruction around you, it is

very clear that kyiv and many, many other parts of ukraine have been taken apart by the russian bombardment >> reporter: this is the northwest of the city, it's not too far from the center of, say, a few miles, maybe 10 kilometers, the missile seems to have landed right in the middle of a quadrangle of residential apartments, many people were still inside. we arrived soon after. it's decimated. they told us -- residents told us that they have two strikes, not both in the same place, but the first one was slightly further away early morning, about 5:00, next one there was silence and two hours later right in the middle of this quadrangle of residential apartments the far one is not yet built but all the rest of these are fully built and had people in them, many of them

elderly people who had decided to stay behind. you can see they're still coming out with relatives helping them with a few belongings that they can rescue. there is a playground in the middle of here, there are a number of schools close by, there is huge shock and trauma throughout the community because this is such a residential area and the impact, because it seems to have fallen -- you can see these anti-explosive people in front of us examining parts of the missile, they sent in a whole mode of anti-detonation experts, a whole team of them earlier on because they felt parts of the explosive may not have fully detonated but the impact has been felt i would say within a kilometer radius, a number of the buildings further afield have had windows and doors knocked out of them and although they're still intact, obviously there's been quite a

big impact. many people talking about how it was so close and so violent that it felt as though there was an earthquake and everything -- everything shook. they're still spending some time trying to just go through the buildings, check whether there's anyone who is hurt and who was inside. and of course all these residents are trying to -- are trying to -- to find out if people are still there or are hurt. i understand that the mayor natalie clish co is there, i don't know if you can see him in the distance, he's been very quick to hear that this has happened. he couldn't have missed it. we heard it several kilometers away. hopefully we can get his attention and try to get him to talk to sky news. he and his brother have been visiting a lot of these sites, the last few days. there's been a lot of attention

on kyiv, the capital. we know that the russian military has their advance into the capital has stalled somewhat. suburban areas around the capital in the north particularly northeast which we visited about a week ago we thought were going to fall within a couple of days, maybe 24, 48 hours. those ones that you've seen, probably your viewers are probably very familiar with irpin, hostomel where they're still being held by the ukrainian defenses. there's been a lot of concern about what that means. have they been held back because of the ukrainian defenses because of the huge fight by all these civilians who have picked up arms because there's been a very tough anti-air defense, they're constantly knocking out missiles, clearly this one managed to get through the air defenses, but they're wondering

whether the russians are regrouping, repositioning, trying different attacks, different points, but we know there's been fighting in the north, the east and the west and we've been down to the south as well where there's still a route open, but as they're trying to encircle the -- mr. klitschko, we're live on sky news, would you say something to the british audience. what do you make about what's happened here, mayor klitschko? >> a little more than an hour ago we hear a bomb. we are not clear right now, experts give clear information. [ inaudible ] -- from this

racquet -- actually, what is crazy in front of them this is school and you see the damage, preschool, thank goodness nobody was in preschool and school. six buildings is damaged, nobody can live in these buildings. one more -- one more fact is the war against civilians. it's not a base. it's just apartments. apartments for civilians. >> -- against civilians? >> one more example. the russian propaganda, russians liar. what they explain about some special operation, special against ukraine and forces. this war against civilians,

against ukrainian population. >> we thought that the negotiation was going well, that you had progress. do you think they used this negotiation to reorganize to delay and reorganize their army? >> i'm not involved -- i'm not involved in that. i don't have a comment for that. but definitely negotiation and compromise not in the price of ukraine. we are not aggressive. we have aggressors in our land and aggressors killing our people which compromise, which solution, i don't know, it's very difficult question. that's why -- i don't know. the question to zelenskyy. >> do you expect more attacks?

[ inaudible question ] >> if you look at mariupol, if you look in kharkiv, if you look in other cities, chernihiv right now, where the city will be destroyed, i expect the russians do it exactly the same way in kyiv. >> mayor klitschko, how far do you think this will impact the spirit of the kyiv residents, the ukrainian people, these constant attacks against civilians? >> the spirit. please talk to the people. the spirit and the will to fight, to give -- it russia thinks people will be -- will be disappoint, people will be depressive, it's not. people want to fight. and every day the civilians ask me, please, mayor, we need the weapons, we're ready to defend

our families, our houses and our city. >> do you think there's any mistake, there's been a mistake or was this deliberately targeting civilians? >> okay. if we're talking about mistake. here is mistake. last morning it was mistake, 24 hours ago, two days ago was mistake? huge mistake destroy kharkiv and mariupol. how many mistakes they do? how many civilians have to be killed enough to explain about mistake from russian forces. >> [ inaudible question ] >> stay with ukraine. unity is our key. pressure to the russian federation, economic pressure, sanction, political pressure and support of ukraine because we need support right now to stop

the war. we have to stop the war. we have to stop the killing of people, children. right now, by the way, 19 people right now in hospital, four from this attack, four of them are children, one people die. >> what is your message to putin? >> he is unhealthy. it's not reason to talk to him. he do it -- to do it like that is, is my hometown, is my home country, he is not a healthy man. he is unhealthy. there is no reason to talk to him. he is unhealthy. he's huge danger not for ukraine, he is huge danger for the whole world. >> do you think there is any space for negotiations? can you negotiate in this circumstance? >> sorry.

sorry. >> reporter: so you heard the mayor -- [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: thank you very much for talking to us. you heard the mayor there very strong message not just from the residents of kyiv but also i'm sure he speaks for much of the population of ukraine that they're not going to give up. i don't know whether you want me to ask him anything else, neil, or you feel you've heard enough. the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world also talking about how he feels the spirit will -- of the ukrainian people and even those in the capital city are not going to be dented by this as there is a danger, though, that there's going to create a huge amount of fear these attacks are so indiscriminate and random, but it's hard to protect yourself against this, but once again he's saying he's urging the world, particularly europeans to

stand with them in these very dark hours they're going through as a country. >> alex, a question, not for the mayor of kharkiv but a question for you in fact, a huge amount of commentary at the moment is focused on the russian actions in and around mariupol and in places like kyiv where there have been prima facie is that cases of war crimes. we've heard the russian ambassador to the united nations denying what happened in mariupol. just in general from what you have seen on the ground in your view have the russians committed war crimes in ukraine? >> reporter: it's obviously not for me to say and i'm not a legal expert but all i can tell you is on the ground we're seeing repeated multiple attacks against what can only be described as civilians areas, huge built up areas like this. there's a playground right in the middle of a quadrangle of residential flats. there is -- as far as i can see

there are no -- within -- and we drove several kilometers to get here, there are no obvious military targets. and there is a supermarket over there, there's old people that live there, there's a school down there, one there and one there, and as you can see the remnants of a playground in the middle of this. we've been to hospitals further afield which were targeted, we've seen the ambulances with bullet holes in them, with big red crosss on them. we've seen countless residential areas in a number of different places and as mayor klitschko pointed out how many of these can be mistakes when they are repeated over and over again? i'm pretty sure under international law that even mistakes are one degree of potential war crime because you are meant to -- all the warring parties are meant to take very extreme and strict measures to protect civilians and all

noncompetence including journalists, a number of whom have been killed and even our own colleagues injured. >> indeed. alex, stay safe and we will speak again soon. thanks for now. and that was the situation in kyiv. what of the southern port of odesa? residents there are preparing for a possible russian attack that could -- could come from the sea. let's speak to sky's nick martin who is in odesa for us. nick, you're down there, keeping an eye on what is happening out at sea i'm sure but just how concerned are the residents of odesa that there could be a beach head not far away from where you're standing in the not too distant future? >> reporter: look, there is an enormous amount of concern, but actually at the same time people are just trying to get on with their lives. there was an air raid siren in the city center yesterday that we were caught up in and i was looking around and even though

the area was wailing around and warning people to find shelter a lot of people ignored t got on with what they had to do, some people have done an enormous amount of preparation should this war reach odesa. we went down in a subway and spoke to a family that had been evacuated from mykolalv. there's sort of two schools of thought, one is that the threat is on the horizon, we know that there are russian navy war ships out there in the black sea, they are part of a plan no doubt to take this city, but there is some intelligence coming from the uk as well to suggest that there isn't any evidence yet of an immediate threat of an amphibious attack on the beaches or the port here. so that's some good news for people here but it hasn't stopped them from preparing for that eventuality. the theory and i'm no military

expert but the theory is that they'll try to surround odesa from the north, the west and then bring in the military to try and close it. we'll see over time if that happens. meanwhile, some people are leaving here and the total number of people who have left ukraine now is topping 3.2 million people. can you believe that? >> almost can't. nick, thanks very much indeed. now as we've been reporting this hour off com the broadcasting regulator was removed rt, russia today, it's removed their license to broadcast in the united kingdom because of concerns about the fitness of the license holder to broadcast in this country. they also tell us there were around about 29 separate investigations into rt's coverage of the war in ukraine. we have just in the past few minutes heard from rt itself. they say the uk media regulator has falsely judged rt to not be fit and proper and so has robbed the uk public of access to

information. let's bring in our political correspondent rob powell on this particular story. you could have seen this one coming, the number of investigations there are into rt. certainly would suggest that they have some problems with the way in which they've been broadcasting, but at the same time in the united kingdom it's one of those situations we do not like to censor people here. >> yeah, and the chief executive of off com has said this morning that this is not something that they do lightly, that freedom of expression among broadcasters is something that's important, but they say that it wasn't necessarily those 29 individual investigations that led to this license being revoked, it was a separate broader investigation where they pulled in such facts as the fact that rt is funded by the russian state and that the fact that the russian state has invaded a sovereign neighbor and the fact as well that the russian state has recently

passed laws which severely restrict how the media in russia are able to report, especially around the invasion of ukraine, and they say that specifically calls seriously into question with about whether rt can fulfill its obligation under the license in this country to report impartially and they have concluded, therefore, that it cannot and that is why they have withdrawn this license. in fact, rt has been unavailable to watch in the uk for a couple of weeks now because it was taken off air due to eu sanctions affecting the satellite that it broadcasts from. i suppose what we will be watching for now and what the fear was in some parts about actually being taken against rt is whether the russian state then takes action against broadcasters within russia specifically of course the bbc as well and if that happened whether that would have a knock on impact to the amount of clear factual information that is making its way to russian ears

within the state as well. now, we heard from the minister for armed forces this morning, james heappey, he was on before this ofcom news broke but he did react to what we heard from the russian ambassador at the u.n. overnight where he denied that russia was responsible for that bombing at the theatre mariupol. he was very strong in his words, he said that he doesn't know how the russian ambassador sleeps at night, but still wouldn't go as far as president biden, wouldn't explicitly say that vladimir putin was a war criminal. >> rob, thank you. now as millions of ukrainians continue to flee the country a local mp has not only picked up a gun herself to defend the country from russia but is working to increase support for ukraine on all fronts. joining us now on the program a member of the ukrainian parliament. great to have you on the program this morning. we are not stating where you are at the moment for security purposes, but just so we're clear, you are not in ukraine at

the moment? >> no, you can state it very well and good morning to everyone. i am in the uk where i was having meetings with parliament, with the prime minister all to ram up more support for ukraine and today i will be leaving in just a matter of a couple of hours and going back to ukraine, hopefully with the result that i can bring back to my people, to the leader of my parliament and my country. >> to what are you returning? we were just speaking to alex crawford on the ground in the capital and you can see -- you can see -- wherever you point a camera there are buildings that have been destroyed, there are families that have been ba reached. it is still a very horrible and unbalanced situation in and around the capital at the moment, isn't it? >> absolutely. every morning i wake up to the news of more and more destruction happening across the country no matter what city you take, no matter what part of the

country. just this morning as we speak i see messages popping up that lviv the city in western ukraine, the capital of western ukraine was bombed. there are no casualties, that is good, that is good news already, but the damage is still to be assessed. the fact that a lot of ukrainians from other parts of the country they flee there, they settled there, so essentially lviv has become sort of an internal refugee center for displaced persons. now even there is not safe. >> what do you make of the peace talks that are still ongoing between obviously the interested parties in and around the region, predominantly russia and ukraine? is this anything more than a talking shop? is this anything more than a russian attempt to destroy what is going on in the streets of your country? >> russia is good at one thing and one thing only and that is lying. they lie to their own people,

russia lies to all and any kind of interaction. these peace talks are essentially a lie show put out by putin and his cronies. can we trust them? no, we cannot. do we need to sit down in the peace talks? yes, we need to make the effort because this is what should be done when situations escalate to the level of wars as they have now. we do try to find a solution, a peaceful solution, but with them it's impossible because every time they tell us there's going to be a green corridor they breach that very promise on that very same day shooting down civilians. so we are well aware that it's not going to take us anywhere anytime soon, but at the same time we need to keep talking to keep understanding where they stand because even in these lies, if you read between the lines you can still get some information which is useful for you and useful for ukraine to keep the people of ukraine safe.

>> one thing that president zelenskyy has been absolutely consistent in his calling for a no fly zone over ukraine, part of an attempt to reduce the number of civilian casualties we've been seeing. do you understand why the west, why nato has proved so reluctant to institute the no fly zone in they constantly suggest that if nato and russia were to come into any form of conflict we would be looking at not just war in ukraine but a third world war. >> look, we are in third war world. please have no illusion about that. you know, when hitler attacked poland back in 1939 people in france and in the uk were also sitting back and saying, oh, oh, that's about them, that's not about us. that is so far away. that's just the war between germany and poland. no. it wasn't, was it? it was the beginning of world war ii. essentially here it's exactly the same thing. it's just a matter of time when

the others start coming in and start actually making the military effort on the ground, but that time is measured not in minutes but in human lives and ukrainian lives at the moment, but that will -- you hear -- i heard that you banned russia today but surely before that and by analyzing some russian media sources you can clearly see that putin is not going to stop at ukraine. his head journalists are talking about actually going further and creating a big ban in europe with the invasion of the other countries. his goal is to rebuild a russian empire bigger than anything the world has seen before. he takes the inspiration from stalin and hitler. so, come on, is he going to stop and is it just a war between russia and ukraine? no, definitely not. and the sooner putin is constrained and contained within russia, the better for the whole

world and the less victims there will be at the end of it. so it's better that governments and parliaments across the world actually step up as world leaders taking the responsibility and doing the only responsible thing there is is providing security and standing shoulder to shoulder with ukraine against this new -- that has come up in the world. >> we wish you a very safe journey back to your home country. thank you so much for joining us on the program. appreciate it. demonstrations are expected today after p & o ferries laid off 800 members of staff via video message and without any prior warning. the armed forces minister james heappey told us it was a horrendous way to treat people. >> it's disgraceful. to be honest with you now as far as i know from colleagues around government i don't think the government got much more notice than the employees of p & o did. absolutely horrendous way to

treat their staff and i know there is a lot of anger amongst ministerial completion for transport. >> we gave them 10 million pounds in terms of furlough money, can we get that back were p & o ferries? >> i don't know. it sounds like the kind of thing if i were the treasury i would be asking for. i don't know exactly how these things work i'm afraid, i'm sorry. let's bring in our reporter in dover this morning. we are expecting some disruption obviously to the cross-channel ferries but more than that, p & o boss right side waking up to an absolute pr disaster this morning. >> reporter: they really, really are, neil, that's right. 24 hours ago seafarers working for p & o on ferries like the ones behind me were getting ready for a normal day at work but by lunchtime 800 members of staff had been laid off in the form of a prerecorded video message on zoom. p & o's justification for that

is the fact they have had a catastrophic couple of years because of brexit and then the pandemic which obviously caused travel to come to a standstill but the nature of that decision and how abrupt it was has cause add great deal of anger. i know you spoke to simon caldor a travel expert who had this to say about those layoffs. >> dp world appears to have instructed p & o ferries, right, just sack everybody, we have other staff waiting, they will be able to take over, we will resume the operation -- well, they were going to say in a few hours, they are now saying maybe a week or so, and everything will carry on as normal. as we've seen from the outrage right across the political spectrum, that simply isn't working. >> reporter: so simon talking about dp world the dubai-based logistics company who owned p & o ferries.

there are obvious legal implications here. according to their own rules there must be a consultation period if they're laying off more than 20 members of staff so that means there could potentially be tribunals with staff claiming that they were unfairly dismissed and already there was anger on board the boats yesterday, some people at some of the boats that were at ports across the country staged sit-in protests and allegedly had to be taken off those boats by security staff who had balaclavas on and equipped. it's quite clear that the anger caused by that abrupt dismissal will continue. >> many thanks. the human cost of vladimir putin's war against ukraine grows more grim by the day but the humanity by others continues to grow. the homes for ukraine refugee scheme officially opens and it's

estimated more than 150,000 brit ens registered their interest in those fleeing war. someone who has come back from lviv, shadow minister for mental health, good to see you this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> tell us exactly what on earth you were doing in ukraine. you went to warsaw and then all the way to lviv. >> yes, that's right. i've been a humanitarian doctor for 14 years and have worked with an ngo called med global for many years and med global was invited by the ukrainian health ministry to provide an assessment and specialist training for doctors across the ukraine. they were also so desperate for medical supplies to get to the front line. so we took 170 bags of medical equipment that was much needed to ukraine and set about providing training for doctors because what they were concerned

about is that the syrian playbook would be playing out and they were asking us to provide training on mass casualty triage, we're seeing that now, because doctors are trained to treat patients but they are not trained to work out what to do with 100 injured people and chemical weapons, something they were concerned about, we were training them on what it means to see the difference between chlorine gas, sarin gas, nerve agents, how to secure hospitals. >> are they expecting vladimir putin to use these tactics? as you say, straight out of the syria playbook? so far we haven't seen the chemical attacks that we saw bashar al assad per -- against his own people with the assistance of the russianes. >> pray to god there is no use of chemical weapons. we spoke to over 250 doctors and their medical teams while we were out there and just even while we were there over 70

medical facilities had been targeted. and things like understanding, for example, that if there is chlorine gas it is very, very dense and can be thrown into bunkers where people are and just to drive people to come outside so that they can be shot. and the doctors we spoke to were very, very concerned that this would happen because what they're seeing with regards to siege and starvation, they're worried very much so that chemical weapons will come next. >> tell us a little bit about the struggles that the medical -- your medical colleagues are going on the front line in ukraine. it strikes me whenever you entered a period of war, of course, you have all the medical ailments people have been suffering with and will suffer with outside of wartime, you have the conflict injuries and you have a group of medical professionals who are to a large extent being asked to operate outside of their usual area of expertise. >> it's hugely uncomfortable and we actually had medics who were

in tears and one of the things that we talked about was the mental health impact and the ptsd that they would be experiencing, but, neil, i think the best way to illustrate what you've asked me is to tell you the story of a family whose story i promised i would tell. the reason i'm here today is because i promised i would tell the story of a family. this highlights the atrocities that's happening. there was a family of two cars who in broad daylight traveled in perceived safety from kyiv at 11:00 in the morning, putting on their vehicles that there were civilians inside, white flags outside, they were pulled over by a military vehicle. in the front there were two grandparents, in the second war there were two mothers and their two sons. a rocket was fired straight at the vehicles and they were shot, russian soldiers, shot them

indiscriminately. they fired rounds into the cars so that the grandmother bled out unable to say good-bye to her family because she was choking on her own blood. the children whose arms were shot, they still have shrapnel in them, a mother whose arms were blown up, they couldn't get medical help for a week, they knocked on doors, the medical facilities had no problem they could give them, the doctors had no equipment. when we heard of this family we thought we cannot leave them behind so we took them back to poland with us to a hospital and i promised i would tell the story because i'm a mother, this mother talina that said, please, just tell -- tell people across the world, tell people in the uk we just want peace. we are not bad people, we just want peace. and this highlights what doctors are having to go through because they would have gone to medical facilities desperate for help, screaming, they said people wouldn't want to open their doors because they were afraid of being shot themselves. every medical facility they had

no equipment there. >> the indiscriminate nature of the violence, the blanket bombing of places like mariupol that has dragged in civilians as you've been mentioning, the sky news team there but for the grace of god we could have lost friends and colleagues on that day as well. >> and they're doing an incredible job and hats off to them because they're in there, you know, your sky colleagues are in there doing the very toughest of things in the toughest of sir, toss bring the truth, the truth about what's happening. >> we have to leave it there. do you think you will be making any other trips back out to the region? >> for now my focus is working here and obviously thank you very much for the opportunity to tell the story and to do the advocacy, but for now i am staying here but i will be supporting them remotely with some extra training. >> no one would blame you. great to have you on the show. thanks very much. >> thank you. as the displacement of ukrainian refugees gets of

worse, two friends traveled from cornwall to the ukraine-polish border who help translate for those affected. charlotte hobson and gavin knight are russian-speaking translators helping ukrainian refugees arrive in poland. very pleased to say that gavin and charlotte join us on the program. guys, lovely to have you on and what a fantastic story. charlotte, you're closer to me on the screen so i will come to you first. what on earth gave you the idea for this one? >> well, i've been working with russia and russian culture for -- you know, my whole life now so obviously when the war started i just felt incredibly engaged with it as so many people have. it was gavin that heard from a friend of his that russian speakers were needed on the border so he rang me up and said let's go, and we just immediately decided to go, we were gone in 24 hours, because it just -- it felt so good to be able to do something practical,

to be able to be of some practical help. >> gavin, tell us, then, just a little bit about the journey itself, getting yourselves out there and those that you found when you got there. what were you asked to do? >> well, the ukrainians were coming over the border and they were speaking ukrainian russian whereas the volunteers, army of volunteers were mainly polish so they couldn't speak russian or ukrainian. we were there to help them communicate when they needed to get transport, get accommodation and we were helping them as they came over the border. i mean, often the mothers were very traumatized and stressed, they had small children, babies, grandmothers and pets. so we were there to talk to them, comfort them and help them out. >> charlotte, tell us, then, just about a couple of the people that you have met, bearing in mind that i cry at a moment's notice these days.

just tell us about some of those that you managed to help as you stood there on the border. >> well, we -- i mean, the first day that we were there the most shocking story that i heard was a family who had come out of mariupol and they walked over the border and they were just -- they were just in tears. so we just came up to them and started -- what we did with all of the refugees which was just try to get them in warm, get them to eat a little bit, you know, there was lovely food that was cooked by some lithuanian volunteers. so they told us this story of escaping from mariupol over the broken bridges, said they had to pick their way across, little planks and stones across this river and then they had to walk, you know, walk until they got to a bus and they were -- they said that the russian soldiers were

standing there with clash any kofs picking people off as if they were going hunting or if it was a computer game. obviously that's not verified, but they were in such a state of distress and terror. it was awful to see. >> i can understand, gavin, that the effect that that state of terror would have had on people crossing the border. we're actually just looking at the romanian border crossing at the moment. i'm wondering about you and charlotte. you have heard horrific stories firsthand delivered by those who experienced them straight as they come across the border. i expect that both of you will be quite affected by what you've seen and heard. >> we could have cried every day with them and hugged them and they were just, you know, so grateful. when i told them that charlotte and i filled the van with our supplies and as soon as we heard the news we traveled across

europe to get there some of them burst into tears, they were overwhelmed by the support. long after this conflict is over i will always remember how poland stepping up as a nation. i think it was very positive for them to see how many volunteers. because this post was staffed only by volunteers no red cross, no u.n., and i think that had a strong effect on them. some of them, you know, were quite -- sort of obviously very traumatized, russian soldiers charging into the flat and saying this is our flat now, they had these terrible journeys on foot, the older grandmothers were of course finding it very difficult, they had three heart attacks just before we arrived and there was a medical field hospital there that was very busy. we set up a children's play area as well because we noticed that the mums were very stressed and tired and traumatized and they really needed a break from the

kids so we set up this play area -- >> it appears that we may well have lost gavin and charlotte there. so let me tell you about the story that he was trying to tell you. they wanted to set up like a play area so that the children could play, of course, mothers exhausted and traumatized by their journey could have a break away. they tried to spend some of the money that was raised, they prevented by doing so, by a lovely couple bosin e & o la, they took them off to their home. in fact, david -- story, gavin might be able to finish the story, i'm told. gavin, i was filling in the gaps in terms of your story about the play area. i got up to the point where you met a couple people in the supermarket. >> yes, we met these lovely people in the supermarket and they ran around and helped us get everything together, they had some children's toys in the play area and we rushed over to

this big tent and built this playhouse and a slide and toys and then the kids came in and they immediately went in there and started playing with it. then the mums, you know, who were really stressed and traumatized to sit down, have a break and process what they had been through. so that was, you know, one of the successes that we had there. but there was -- you know, we were constantly connecting with them on a very human level, talking to them. it was part social work but we had to organize all the drivers going out to warsaw, across germany, to france, to finland, all sorts, and there were coaches a viefg from denmark and netherlands getting people out. there is a big logistics exercise by charlotte stepped. >> and was actually brilliant at. >> we have to leave it there. charlotte, before we let you go, of course, both of you, russian speakers, you know the country and russian people very well.

what do you think of russia currently given what you have seen on the ground in ukraine? >> it's so sad to see. it's the second tragedy really because, you know, russia is not -- or putin -- russia is not all the soldiers that are committing these terrible atrocities on the ground. russia is also, you know, a huge percentage of russia is against -- is horrified by this as we've seen with all the demonstrations and the protests. so my feeling is that i just hope and pray that with all the pressure russia is being put under that this will bring putin's regime down and at last the russian people will get a government that they better deserve. >> charlotte, gavin, well done. fantastic effort by both of you. i'm sure the people you helped will remember it for the rest of their lives.

thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. local media in ukraine reports that 3,810 citizens were evacuated from cities through humanitarian corridors. yesterday many are seeking safety in neighboring countries but the journey to get there can be hard, especially for the elderly and those with disabilities. in an attempt to provide a helping hand but scottish student bought an ambulance with the ambition to drive it to the polish border. i spoke to him last friday before he is the off. >> after class i'm going straight to the border and to england, getting a ferry to the netherlands then into germany and then into poland and then the ukrainian border is where they're meeting me and to take responsibility of the ambulance. >> i'm over the moon to say we are joined by umran. lovely to see you this morning. we have a bit of stuff to get through haven't we?

what exactly has happened since the last time we spoke? you drove an ambulance all the way to the ukrainian border. tell us about it. >> yes, lovely to see you again as well. straight after class i was delayed by an order but i got to england and i was on the ferry. i fell asleep on the ferry because i was so tired and the next thing i hear, come to your vehicle and the netherlands. i drove through the netherlands, germany and once i got to poland i had on online lecture to go on for an hour so i stopped the ambulance and was part of the lecture and the lecture was surprised to see me online, and then i was very, very happy when i arrived at the ukrainian border to hand over the ambulance. they got it through customs

within 20 minutes. we were so happy that i got it through. they said we need the ambulance straightaway because there are a lot of people that need evacuated. i said, yeah, take t take it. >> so the ambulance that you -- you know, that -- sleepless nights, drove all the way there that was immediately going to be used by the ukrainians, you must be very, very pleased. >> yeah, i was very ecstatic and very happy about it. just getting there, although the emotions changed when i had seen what was going on in ukraine and all the refugees walking through to the polish border. i started crying at the border to be honest. >> what did you see? i mean, you have delivered ambulances to a number of places over the years. what was it that you saw on the border with ukraine that affected you in that way? >> well, it was like 2:00 in the morning and it was minus 3

degrees in poland and near that border region and so i was thinking to myself i don't have the right clothing for this, but then i seen brothers with their babies in the cold and walking to the polish border and their arms are getting really sore, you can tell their arms are getting sore but they're still trying -- holding their babies and just to get to safety basically. there was old women, like reminded me of y gran and they were confused, didn't know what was going on. it was a really sad situation to see. yeah, i was like -- i was just crying at the border to be honest and i thought that i have not done enough, to be honest to help, i should have done more. >> don't you dare tell yourself that, umran. you have done a very, very good thing. but on top of that tell me this isn't true, you actually made it back in time for your lectures. >> yeah, i did.

so i got back -- i did get back in time. i still have my 100% attendance record. tuesday i was supposed to have a seminar in class but the lecturer made it online due to other reasons so i was in the seminar when i was at the polish airport and just yesterday i had an exam as well at university and i think i've done well. yeah. >> if you haven't, umran, give me a shout, i have a word with the vice chancellor and she can perhaps fiddle the results for you. we make these things happen. well done again. i think your friends, your family will be incredibly proud of what you have done and we are just very grateful that you made it there and back safe and in one piece. great to have you on the program. you look after yourself. >> thank you so much. take care. stay where you are, coming up in the next hour of sky news breakfast we will take you back

to kyiv where the mayor says one person has died and 19 others injured in russian shelling of residential areas. s injured in russian shelling of residential areas. one piece. injured in russian shelling of one piece. injured in russian shelling of one piece. injured in russian shelling of one piece. injured in russian shelling of

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good morning, and welcome to "way too early" on this friday, march 18th. i'm jonathan lemire. russian forces once again struck the western city of lviv this morning, launching six missiles near the city's second largest airport. lviv's mayor says the russian missiles hit a facility used to repair military aircraft and destroyed the building. ukraine's air force says two of the missiles were intercepted. let's go right now to nbc news correspondent molly hunter who joins us live from lviv. molly, good to see you. glad you are safe. give us a sense of