i'm lucy hockings. our top stories: ukrainian authorities say russia has bombed a school in mariupol where around 400 people were sheltering — president zelensky says moscow has committed war crimes. translation: to do this to - a peaceful city that the occupiers did to it is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come. fleeing the war across the danube river between ukraine and romania — we follow those searching for a safer life. their thoughts as they reach safety themselves between one world at war and another world at peace are with those they've left behind in ukraine. how ukraine's ballet dancers are being offered shelter and new opportunities in poland. the duke and duchess of cambridge arrive in belize as part of their tour of the caribbean to mark the queen's platinum jubilee. hello and welcome to bbc news. the authorities in the beseiged ukrainian city of mariupol have accused russia of bombing a school where around 400 people were taking shelter. there's no word yet on casualties.

my colleague lucy hocking has been speaking to james elderfrom unicef, the un's children's fund. he saw there. the situation remains really harrowing for children across the country. lviv is a jumping—off point, as you will have seen, it's families there, hundreds of thousands of families, pour through there. they've had nights in bunkers, nights under attacks, we continue to see worsening indiscriminate attacks in populated areas, and they're farwelling one another. husbands and wives, children and fathers. and so that place, and it's frigid cold, with a great deal of stress and sorrow, is where hundreds of thousands of people are leaving their country and going into all those neighbouring countries. so in ukraine we continue to see indiscriminate attacks killing children, dozens of children, and medical facilities and schools, and then as you rightly say, we have, gosh, now around 1.3 million children, it's a staggering number, 1.3 million children injust over two weeks in those neighbouring countries. james, how many of those children crossing over are unaccompanied, what is t

earlier, my colleague lucy hockings spoke to the city's mayor with the help of a translator in the studionto english for you. translation: the enemy is shelling our schools, - residential areas, private houses. they shelled the palace of culture, sports, schools, etc. so, these are heavy, heavy shelling and bombardment going on. alexander, i understand that you yourself actually saw some people being killed. can you describe to us what you yourself have witnessed? translation: i was participating in evacuation of a column, - and there were around 100 people. that was the only safe place, the only safe place we could evacuate people through. and in front of me, there were 50 metres in front of me, there was a family with two kids, a husband and wife, and they were killed by a mine. unfortunately, these things are happening all the time, and they're shelling... they're shooting at peaceful civilians. we should just explain to our viewers that that picture, i understand we just saw, is the mother who the mayor saw being killed in front of his very eyes. could you ask him now about those who

i�*m lucy hockings. residential areas of kyiv, kharkiv, and the port of mykolaiv all targetted. a third round of negotiations will begin at 16:00 kyiv time, in around an hour and a half. ukraininan officials say a russian plan for refugee corridors is completely immoral since it would involve funneling most people to russia and belarus rather than western ukraine and other european countries. russia has failed to attend a sitting of the international court ofjustice to respond to accusations of war crimes. this report from shaun dilley. this is the human cost of war. more than a million and a half ukrainians have left the country already to seek shelter from the bombardments. these families are amongst those who have remained until now, but like many others, they are leaving their homes behind, hoping to take advantage of a purported russian ceasefire to flee the theatre of war. today, the bombing was continuing and i decided to escape because it�*s really dangerous, no bread, milk, eggs, no nothing, and

i'm lucy hockings.njured in the russian bombing of a maternity hospital in mariupol has died, along with her baby. 2.7 million people flee ukraine to neighbouring countries. more than 1.75 million people have crossed poland's border since the war began. in the uk, plans to house ukrainian refugees in people's homes will be announced later today. households will receive £350, that's $450, a month as a "thank you". the us warns china not to assist russia with military support so it can evade international sanctions — beijing calls the accusation "fake news". ukraine says it will call for the immediate withdrawal of russian troops at talks between the two countries. a ukrainian negotiator said recent contacts had been constructive. a russian delegate says there is a possibility of draft agreements, but it's not clear what these would cover. russia's bombardment of ukrainian cities continues — two people have died after a residential building in kyiv was hit. meanwhile, poland has qualified sunday's russian

earlier my colleague lucy hockings spoke to german galushchenko, ukraine's minister for energy abouting data. galushchenko german said this, now we understand that we need to do as quickly as we can to repair the electricity supply, can to repair the electricity supply, to make sure that the security measures can be enforced in the station, unfortunately this station is not operating now, it is occupied by russian forces, that is also we ask the international atomic agency to participate actively in theseissues agency to participate actively in these issues concerning the nuclear object in ukraine, the issues of occupation by russians. that is also one of the most important questions which we raise everywhere, a question of security from the point of you of non—fly zone over ukraine. do we know if any radioactive substances are being released from chernobyl right now? we substances are being released from chernobyl right now?— substances are being released from chernobyl right now? we good or have this information _ chernobyl right now? we good or have this information right _ cherno

and i'm lucy hockings with the rest of your bbc news headlines.clear signs vladimir putin may be preparing to use chemical and biological weapons in ukraine. in the capital, kyiv, there's a new curfew after the russian attack on a shopping centre and residential areas that left eight people dead. and today there are growing fears that the continuing conflict could cause major disruption to food supplies. ukraine and russia are the world's largest exporters of wheat. our coverage starts with this report from our correspondent andrew plant. gunfire. gunfire at a protest against the russian invasion — people said they were fired on as they demonstrated here, in the city of kherson in southern ukraine. president zelensky said it was a rally for freedom. the ukrainian air force now say russia is increasing its attacks from the air. this footage filmed from a drone showing factories in the eastern city of mariupol being destroyed amid reports that ground attacks are slowing, even stalling in places. here, both the centre and the suburbs have been shelle

i'm lucy hockings.with the latest on that attack in mariupol and the wider conflict in ukraine. a standing ovation for ukraine's leader at the german bundestag. president zelensky says that sanctions are not enough to end the conflict. the british ferry company p&0 has suspended sailings ahead of what they've called a "major announcement". the ukrainian government has accused russian forces of intentionally dropping a powerful bomb on a theatre in the besieged city of mariupol where hundreds of people, including children, were hiding from shelling. aerial footage of the theatre from before the attack shows a large message visible from the sky making it clear that children were sheltering there. these pictures, verified by the bbc, show the aftermath of the attack. up to 1,200 people may have been inside, according to the city's deputy mayor. casualty figures are not yet known, but the latest reports suggest that the theatre's shelter withstood the impact and most people inside may have survived. details

earlier our home affairs correspondent tom symonds gave my colleague lucy hockings more detail of what'sin sensitive positions, like child protection, a major investigation, were not receiving the level of betting they should have received. concerns that 100 members of staff had been found to have broken the law in the last two years and that other people had been recruited with connections to criminals, and even more worrying, more than 2000 warrant cards, that the police take around with them to show that they are police officers, had gone missing, possibly because people have left the force, and these are cards which can get you into police buildings, and there is a clear concern. something even more sinister, the horrendous case where a police officer, i won't even name him, where he abducted and murdered sarah everard and in doing that he used his own warrant card. he was a serving officer but he used his warrant card to achieve that end. a man has been charged with murdering 19—year—old sabita thanwani at her central london student accommodation. 22 year old maher maaroufe will app

i'm lucy hockings.he murder of the russian opposition leader boris nemtsov, who was shot dead in moscow in 2015. drama at the oscars as the american actor will smith hits one of the presenters of the ceremony, chris rock, in the face. pupils in england may face tougher targets in english and maths for primary and secondary schools. china s largest city, shanghai, goes into lockdown as covid cases continue to rise. anyone testing positive is sent to hospital or forced to quarantine. ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, says he's prepared to discuss a formal neutral status for his country as part of talks to end the war with russia. but he insisted any proposal would need to be put to the ukrainian people in a referendum, and the outcome guaranteed by third parties. meanwhile, ukraine says it will not open its humanitarian evacuation corridors today, because of what it calls �*provocation' from russian forces. let's join my colleague ben brown, who is in lviv. yes, hello from lviv. well, there are mor

and i'm lucy hockings in london. coming up on the programme... ferries should resign after he admitted the company broke the law in sacking 800 workers. brazen, breathtaking arrogance. and i think he should go. he should resin and i think he should go. he should resign now? — and i think he should go. he should resign now? you _ and i think he should go. he should resign now? you should. _ and i think he should go. he should resign now? you should. -- - and i think he should go. he should resign now? you should. -- he - resign now? you should. -- he should. welcome from lviv, western ukraine. well, as the war in this country grinds on into its second month, ukrainian forces are continuing to counter—attack and seize back lost territory around the capital kyiv. the latest british military analysis says ukrainian troops are reoccupying towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometres east of the city. in other words, as we've known for a while now, the war is not going to plan as far as president putin is concerned. of course, the russians have ev

i'm lucy hockings.y close its gas pipeline to germany if the west goes ahead with a ban on russian oil. after several days of claims and counterclaims between ukraine and russia, it seems some humanitarian corridors have been opened to allow civilians to leave ukrainian cities which have been coming under attack from russian military forces. a ukrainian government twitter account posted these pictures, showing the evacuation of people by bus in the north—eastern city of sumy. the region's governor says around 1,000 foreign students were evacuated in the first wave. sumy has been hit hard by fighting in recent days, with ukraine reporting 21 deaths from airstikes, including several children. russia says it has also set up other evacuation routes, though the ukrainian government, which has accused russia of blocking so—called safe routes with mines and shelling vehicles, has not confirmed this. here's russia's military spokesman. translation: in order to safely evacuate civilians _ translation: in order t

i'm lucy hockings. our top stories..., it depends on the russians and ukrainians. basically, the russians. and i'm on the border between poland and ukraine. pollen taking on the highest number of refugees. an investigation into possible war crimes launches, as russia is accused of bombing civilians in ukraine. in a dramatic u—turn, athletes from russia and belarus are banned from competing in the 2022 winter paralympics. ensuring the safety and security of athletes is of paramount importance to us. the situation in the athletes' village has escalated and has now become untenable. in the last hour, the uk has warned moscow that it faces decades of isolation over ukraine — and said nato's task now is to bolster the resilience of states bordering russia. but moscow remains defiant — its foreign minister, sergei lavrov, has this morning insisted that ukraine's aspiration to join nato is a threat to russian security. that's as the bombardment of ukraine targets continues. there have been massive explosions in the capital kyiv,

i'm lucy hockings. our top stories.reports say four people have died. in southern ukraine, moscow claims to have seized control of the port city of kherson. the mayor says the city is surrounded — but is still under his control. president zelensky accuses vladimir putin of trying to erase his country's history — and praises the resilience of ukrainians. ukrainians are a symbol of resilience, a symbol of the fact that people in any country can become the best people on earth at any moment. glory to ukraine. wherever you are in the world, but particularly if you are in as the fighting in ukraine continues, oil and gas prices rise sharply. oil prices surpass $110,000 a barrel and wholesale gas prices spike to near record levels. and almost 700,000 people have fled ukraine the un says there's a desperate need for supplies. the russian bombardment of key ukraine cities with shelling, artillery and air attacks has intensified. russian tanks bombed and destroyed apartment buildings in a town about a0 miles from the capital, ky

i'm lucy hockings.yiv. the mayor of kyiv has announced a further 35 hour curfew for the ukrainian capital... it'll run until wednesday. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, who was freed after being detained in iran for six years, is due to speak publicly for the first time since her release. we're expecting to hear from nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe in a few minutes from now. join us here for full live coverage of the press conference. elsewhere, and a passenger plane with 132 people on board crashes in southern china. it's feared there will be no survivors. the besieged ukrainian city of mariupol has rejected a russian ultimatum to surrender. moscow had given residents until 5am local time to give up. people in the port city have endured weeks of russian bombardment with no power or running water. around 300,000 people are believed to be trapped there. in the past couple of hours, ukraine has said that eight humanitarian corridors have been agreed for people to leave beseiged towns and cities, but mariupol isn't am