christmas in kupiansk is a celebration in name only.000 people remain. it used to be five times that. siren wails. days are punctuated with artillery shells and sirens. life continues for those who've stayed. but it's a tense existence. translation: we all live in fear of death. i when we go to work, we don't know what can happen, whether russia will strike with rockets. we all live on the edge. we don't know whether we'll come back home alive. 17—year—old sofia has lived through both occupation and liberation. her dad is fighting and she's not impressed with her country's fate being determined by sceptical western politicians. translation: perhaps they should _ come here and see for themselves what the situation is like and how much the aid is needed. if there's no help for ukraine now, russia will take its aggression further. the russians are eight kilometres to the east of the city. hansk kupiansk but what ukraine's military is worried about, is them about, is them pushing once more up to the oskil river before making another push. a

you've seen what is going on in kupiansk. to continue pursuing its goal of the complete repelling of russian forces. that is still what it wants to do but i think right now it is ukraine looking ahead at an incredibly uncertain 12 months. but we always have to caveat these kind of forecasts, as we look at the state of play, with the fact that things can change very quickly. but i've got to be honest, over the past 12 months, when ukraine has launched its much—anticipated counter offensive, where we've seen only a few kilometers retaken in some areas, i think those developments have been increasingly hard to come by. president zelensky, he's adopted a tone of optimism in his christmas address. i think he almost had to, but i think he'll be looking to try and keep morale high among his people as we head into the new year. we're bringing these pictures from kyiv, james, while we talk of the celebrations in st michael, if they are celebrations. obviously, they're observing christmas mass at the moment. 31 drones, two missiles sho

james waterhouse, bbc news, kupiansk. stay with us here on bbc news. happy christmas.just be relaxing on your own. the forecast, then, for the rest of christmas day and for boxing day. well, this evening, there's still some rain around, but later on tonight, the skies are expected to clear. and boxing day is looking promising with sunshine on the way. but it remains mild, and the mild air is as a result of this south—westerly air stream. here's that weather front, the conveyor belt of cloud that has been bringing all the wet weather. well, later tonight, that weather front moves away to the east. still some showers, though, left over in the north, but essentially speaking, it's mostly clear skies. now the temperatures, despite the clear skies, won't be all that low — around about three degrees in the lowlands of scotland, five for birmingham and about seven in plymouth. a little bit colder there in the highlands. so we start the day on a bright, if not sunny note, beautiful weather, perfect weather for a walk in the park. however, the skies will turn cloudy in the sout

christmas in kupiansk, is a celebration in name only.is frontline city and only 5000 people remain. used to be times that. sarin smack days are punctuated with artillery shells and sirens. life continues for those who have stayed but it is a tense existence. translation: we all live in fear of death. when we go to work we don't know what can happen, where they russia will strike with rocket. we all live on the edge. we don't know if it will come back home alive. 17—year—old sophia has lived through both occupation and liberation. her dad is fighting and she is not impressed with her country's fate being determined by sceptical western politicians. translation: . sceptical western politicians. translation:.— sceptical western politicians. translation: . translation:. perhaps i should come here _ translation:. perhaps i should come here for— translation:. perhaps i should come here for themselves - translation:. perhaps i should come here for themselves and i come here for themselves and see what the situation is like and how much showbiz

christmas in kupiansk is a celebration in name only.people remain. it used to be five times that. siren wails days are punctuated with artillery shells and sirens. life continues for those who've stayed. but it's a tense existence. translation: we all live in fear of death. i when we go to work, we don't know what can happen, whether russia will strike with rockets. we all live on the edge. we don't know whether we'll come back home alive. 17—year—old sofia has lived through both occupation and liberation. her dad is fighting and she's not impressed with her country's fate being determined by skeptical western politicians. translation: perhaps they should come here| and see for themselves what the situation is like and how much the aid is needed. if there's no help for ukraine now, russia will take its aggression further. the briefest of pauses for a christmas prayer. large gatherings are dangerous here when russian drones loiter above. instead of these troops forcing out their invaders, it is them repelling constant attacks. translatio

james waterhouse, bbc news, kupiansk., connecting with family and friends. but for some, it can highlight feelings of loneliness and isolation. to discuss these challenges at this time of year, we can cross live to sydney and join dr amanda ferguson, who is a psychologist and host of the psych for life podcast. thank you so much forjoining us on newsday. if you canjust talk us through why this time of the year can be quite challenging for some people, and i guess social media does not help, does it? absolutely. the time of — not help, does it? absolutely. the time of year _ not help, does it? absolutely. the time of year we _ not help, does it? absolutely. the time of year we tend - not help, does it? absolutely. the time of year we tend to i the time of year we tend to think of family, our own families, what family means, relationships and even meaning of life, and, yeah, it seeing people on social media having a happy family time can be very, make us very lonely. what advice do you give to people who are dealing with lo

james waterhouse, bbc news, kupiansk.between major religions, at a time of "increasingly tragic conflict around the world". it's the king's second christmas broadcast. here's our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. at the church on the sandringham estate, the king and queen were joined by other members of the royalfamily for morning worship. the prince and princess of wales were accompanied by their three children, george, charlotte and louis, who feature in a new black—and—white photograph issued by kensington palace. the duke of york was with the family at church, and making a surprise return to the christmas morning church appearance, the duchess of york. it's thought to be the first time in nearly 30 years that she's been seen in public with the family on christmas day. after church, the family returned to sandringham house for lunch and to watch the king's christmas message. for this second christmas broadcast of his reign, the king focused in particular on those who render service to others. over this past year,

, well, it is clear that in addition to kupiansk, they are considering the oskil reservoir, which ineir turn would give them the opportunity to supply water for druzhkivka, konstantinivka, kramatorsk, sloviansk to this agglomeration as a water supply. and would also give them the opportunity to flank and cover those cities that they count on, moreover, once again, putin's task has been facing the rosarmy for a long time to reach the administrative borders of donetsk and luhansk regions, and with the calculation that they would do it from kharkiv region, they believe that they can do it, but as we can see, at the moment , that they have become more active, this does not mean that they have advanced somewhere, if we take the bakhmutyan direction, well, it... it should be considered in a complex with the avdiivsky one, since it is clear that the bakhmutyansky, mariyansky, avdiivsky front is a face that the russians have long trying to storm, trying to break through, moreover, again, bakhmut is a city that was occupied at one time by the wagnerites and russian troops, who did not fully o

james waterhouse, bbc news, kupiansk.s day. here are some of the best images from around the world. worshippers pray at a service in st francis church in sri lanka, where catholics represent around 7% of the population. jesus in the manger of a nativity scene in the bangladeshi capital, dhaka. children in lviv wore traditional dress for a christmas celebration in ukraine. and, surfers at bondi beach in sydney dressed festively for the occasion. that is it from us. i'm lewis vaughanjones. this is bbc news. goodbye. good evening. for most of us, it's been a cloudy, mild christmas, with some rain at times. but officially across the uk, it has been a white christmas because in the north of scotland, especially over higher ground, we have seen some snow. this pipeline of cloud has brought wet weather for quite a few of us, but with some cold air digging into northern scotland, that's where we have had some of the white stuff. and actually, that cold air will be pushing a little bit further southwards as we head through the eve

the defense forces repelled eight enemy attacks in the liman direction and four attacks in the kupianske direction. the hottest so far near avdiyivka. the russians attacked there 42 times. however, our soldiers steadfastly hold the defense. another 14 attacks were carried out by ukrainian defenders in the mariinsky and bakhmut directions. armed forces of ukraine continue the offensive on the left bank of the dnieper and inflict. impression on the rear of the russians. during the day , the ukrainian aviation made two strikes on the area where the occupiers were concentrated. and rocket launchers and gunners hit three areas where enemy personnel were concentrated. two warehouses with ammunition were destroyed. artsystem and control point of muscovites. on december 12, ukraine celebrates the day of the ground forces of the armed forces of ukraine. on this occasion. 800 occupiers went to hell, and in general, since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion, already 340, 650 soldiers are boiled in the devil's tea house, and with them their scrap metal. just last day , the defense force

speak, they carry out those meat assaults and try to push through our defenses with manpower, as for kupianskf, what does it look like, because we previously mentioned that complained this is oleg senigubov , the head of the kharkiv ova, who voiced that the military complained that it was a bit difficult to work, when local people interfered at the moments of escalation of actions along the entire front line in the kupinsky direction , how does this situation look now between civilians and military, there is such a situation, certainly not everyone is willing to evacuate, some are not going to evacuate at all and are essentially in those places where the armed forces have... the intention to set up positions, but we constantly carry out this work, we explain to people that some are leaving, some people simply move within the settlement in order not to disturb our military , we are working on this problem, of course it exists, back in the summer, at the end of the summer we worked on this issue, by the way, in the settlement of senkivka, from where the last five people were evacuated then and

the occupiers also hit kupiansk in the kharkiv region, as a result of which a private soldier was engaged house. this was reported by the ministry of internal affairs. previously , no one was injured. and to operational information from the general staff of the armed forces of ukraine. 81 combat clashes took place at the front during the day. and the enemy in the kharkiv region became more active. there, the defense forces repelled 17 attacks on... in the direction of kupina. the hottest place is near avdiivka. the russians attacked 40 times. another 11 were repelled by ukrainian defenders near bohdanivka, klishchiivka, and ivanivskyi. in the direction of zaporozhye, our defenders fought back all attacks near the robot and willow on khersonsky. the invaders tried to storm 17 times. our soldiers put up a worthy fight. during the day, the ukrainian aviation made 18 strikes on the concentration area of ​​the occupiers and destroyed them. five enemy air defense systems. rockets and gunners hit six personnel concentration areas, two artillery systems, three warehouses with ammunition and the s

in kupiansk, kharkiv oblast , a man was injured by enemy shelling, he was hospitalized with explosive injuries and shrapnel wounds. the condition of the victim is moderate. the occupiers hit the city the night before, and private houses were also damaged there. the head of the region oleg sinygubov informed. at night, the russian invaders set fire to the village of kindraschivka, kupianskoye district, there are also ponivy residences. the village of kozachalopan was also under enemy fire. fortunately, there were no casualties or significant damage. in total, during the day, the occupiers attacked more than 20 settlements of kharkiv region with artillery and mortars. tarnavskyi - said the spokesman of the united press center of the defense forces of the tavri region. oleksandr shtopun. at the same time, he confirmed that the lack of ammunition affects our tactics. in some areas of the front, the armed forces have to switch from offensive to defensive. shtopon noted that the russian ones too the occupiers change their strategy, in particular near avdiivka. they storm our positions less

nowadays , the occupiers are using more and more drones in... the mussk direction, in lymano-kupiansk, the enemy is using aviation more actively. only yesterday, muscovites fired at these directions more than 800 times. effective hunting. the security service of ukraine released video footage of the special forces unit on the destruction of the occupiers' manpower. this time it was the jewelry work of the operators of the strike drones of the special operations center a. in two weeks, they destroyed almost 500 russians. occupiers and promise to show a new portion of the work of our specialists. in argentina, volodymyr zelenskyi held a telephone conversation with the president of france emmanuel macron. the parties discussed priority needs and the next french defense package. president zelensky thanked for the preparation for receiving our pilots for the second stage of the f-16 training program. and also emphasized the importance of opening negotiations on ukraine's accession to the eu at the european council summit. a shipment of trucks from ukraine arrived in poland by rail. the par

the man died as a result of enemy fire kupianske in kharkiv oblast.his was announced by the head of the kharkiv regional military administration oleg senigubov. another local resident was injured and was hospitalized. during the day, the russian army struck kherson, targeting an educational institution, oleksandr prokudin, the head of the regional military administration, said in a telegram. according to him, russian shelling damaged the facade and roof of the building. the flag flew over one of the terekons within the occupied gorlovka, it was repulsed by the soldiers of the 24th separate mechanized brigade named after king danyla, president volodymyr zelenskyy wrote on facebook. in september , the general staff reported that the ukrainian military had established fire control over the bakhmut-horlivka highway, and this, i quote: significantly complicated the logistics of the russian troops. horlivka is located approximately 60 km from donetsk. more than nine are under russian occupation. years, the ground forces of ukraine, and behind us is our, ukr

the occupiers also attacked kupiansk in the kharkiv region.a result of the hit , the private was engaged. residential building, the ministry of internal affairs informed. previously, no one was injured. a motorcyclist died as a result of an accident in kharkiv, the regional police reported. the accident happened on unregulated intersection. a 57-year-old driver of a passenger car drove into the oncoming traffic lane and collided with a motorcycle. as a result of his injuries, the forty-year-old driver died on the spot. currently, law enforcement officers are establishing the circumstances of the accident. progress in the investigation of the attack on our colleague in ternopil. the court satisfied the appeal of the espresso tv channel in the case of obstruction of journalistic activity and robbery of correspondent maria ivanovska. canceled the resolution of the investigator on closing the case and criminal proceedings will be reconsidered. we will remind you about the attack on a journalist who was filming a story for our tv channel. it happen

conversation, i suggest watching a video of how ukrainian defenders repelled another assault on kupianskerection , the soldiers of the 14th separate mechanized brigade named after prince roman the great and the 30th separate mechanized brigade named after prince konstantin ostrozky showed unique footage of the destruction of a column of enemy armored vehicles near synkivka, let's see. friends, for those who are currently watching us on youtube and facebook, please put like this video and also subscribe to ours. pages on these platforms , in addition, throughout this program we are conducting a poll, we are asking you if putin's death will stop russia's war against ukraine, yes, no, if you watch us on youtube, it's pretty simple, choose either yes, or not, write your comment below this video, by all means, and if you watch us on tv, pick up your phone and vote by numbers if you think putin's death will stop russia's war. against ukraine 0800 211 381 no 0800 211 382 all calls to these numbers are free. at the end of the program, we will sum up the results of this vote. our first guest is a