His plane crashed near moscow, his fate ensuring that the russian president s revenge wasnt even a dish that was eaten particularly cold. The war between ukraine and russia, though, where ukraines progress through russias ferocious systems of mines and anti tank defences has been slow and painful during the summer, continues to drag. The americans say ukraine has now started to make notable progress, but ukrainian manpower is being increasingly squeezed, and thats a growing problem. At the same time, russia has now had to impose strict daily limits on the amount of bullets and shells its forces can use. So, both sides are feeling the pinch. Weve been seeing some remarkable shifts over the summer altogether. Chinas economy has received a series of knocks, with exports significantly down. Bloomberg the American Financial and Media Conglomerate now says china will never be able to overtake the us economy. Xi jinpings system faces some difficult internal challenges, too. Hes tightening up in all sorts of ways. The latest victim is the defence minister, li shangfu, whos vanished from The Public Eye and is said to have been stripped of his duties. A huge amount in International Affairs will depend on who the next president of the United States will be. Vladimir putin is praying for a Trump Victory next year. Volodymyr zelensky, the Ukrainian President , is terrified of it. At the last count, donald trump faced 91 criminal charges across the us, which ought to be enough to sink anyone, butjoe biden, whos 80 only three years older than trump is starting to look his age, and his son, hunter, has now been indicted on gun charges. So, its anyones guess. And all the time this summer, theres been a deeply disturbing background rumbling, the sound of a Global Environment which is suddenly becoming a great deal worse and more frightening. July was the hottest month in recorded history. Fires blazed on three continents, destroying forests and Agricultural Land and threatening towns and villages. In libya, storm daniel pounded the coastline, breaking down dams and destroying most of the city of derna a major disaster and possibly the first of many. In other words, its been a pretty eventful ten weeks since we last met. So, in this edition, well be asking how ordinary ukrainians have reacted to the possibility that the russian War Mightjust Drag On And on. Tiredness is very common for all ukrainians right now. We feel as if we were running a sprint at the beginning and then a sprint ended and All Of A Sudden we were told, oh, but now you need to run a marathon. 44 long years after the revolution in iran, whats life like in the streets of the big cities there . What you are seeing is that the public spaces have changed because women have changed. Women are appearing in these public spaces without mandatory hijab. And just how big a threat to the west, really, do chinese spies pose . Its often hard to be sure exactly whats going on because this exists in that kind of murky world of wheres the money coming from, whos really a covert agent and whos not . Its turning into a race. Can ukraine do well enough, quickly enough, in the war with russia by recapturing all or most of crimea, for instance, before donald trump can perhaps win the us president ial election in m months time and start chopping back on american support for ukraine . Ukrainian forces are starting to make headway in the east and southeast and theyre hitting russian installations in crimea. But the odds do still favour the kind of long, drawn out war which russia hopes for. Air raid siren but what is ordinary life like in kyiv and how does that possibility go down with ukrainians . Marta shokalo is bbc ukrainian editor. Recently, kyiv feels like a normal, normal kyiv to me, as i remember it before the war and People Living normal lives. There are big trafficjams on the roads already, as there used to be. There are many new places opened up, like restaurants. People are spending money. People are living normal life. Still, you always have this feeling of war as if in the air and little sad signs. You walk around kyiv and you see these pictures of men who died during the war and there is a wall near st michaels cathedral. So, it took us one minute, 30 seconds to walk, and all this time we were looking at dozens of faces and faces. And also you can meet widows on the streets. Sometimes you see those women, very young, sometimes with black, all dressed in black and with black ribbons on their heads. Then, All Of A Sudden, you have Air Raid Sirens and you can hear the explosions, especially during the night. So, in a way, you never, you cant plan your life properly. When im at my friends and my neighbours, for example, we were chatting. So, our normal chats now in ukraine is about rocket types. How they sound, what sort of rockets are dangerous, which are not. And i was always asking myself, what we were talking about before the war . Are people getting tired of the war . Do they long for it to be over . Or do they feel, weve got to grit our teeth and keep going . My first answer would be, im so tired. And i think this. Tiredness is very common for all ukrainians right now. I would say we feel like, as if we were running sprint at the beginning and then sprint ended and, All Of A Sudden, we were told, oh, but now you need to run a marathon. Its very hard when you dont see the end, as if we knew, for example, like, 0k, we just need to live through one year more and then it will be over and then we can do Something Else and plan Something Else. But we dont know that. And we, i think less and less people in ukraine say now that this war will end soon, as it was at the beginning. I remember president zelensky saying to me that if donald trump wins the election in the United States, then things are going to get very difficult indeed for ukraine and for him. Do you think thats true . I think, yes, thats true. The next year is the year of election. So, we are going to have elections in the us, we are going to have elections in uk also. We are coming to elections in poland this october. Poland is crucial, also country for ukraine, in terms of support and everything. And there are even talks in ukraine now that ukraine is going to have elections itself. President and parliament. Of course, according to the law, we cannot have elections during the war, but still it feels like politicians are sort of preparing society for this. But i think if you choose between all those elections that i mentioned, the us elections are going to be crucialfor ukraine. Without Western Support and weapons, we will not be able to fight, to go on fighting. Marta, the 620 meeting in india ended without any kind of criticism of russia. Were people depressed by that in ukraine . I think, in general, ukrainians were not surprised because a 620 meeting was held in india. And its not a surprise for ukrainians that india is sort of playing this sort of different role and they are in very close ties with russia. So, it didnt come as a surprise and ukrainians are still. They live in this reality and they think that everything depends on them and it depends on Ukrainian Armed forces and it depends on the will of the nation to win. In some ways, iran is proving quite successful at the moment. The sophisticated drones its supplying to russia for the ukrainian war are having a significant effect. Its just forced the Biden Administration to swap 6 billion of frozen iranian funds in south korea to pay for the release of four american men and one American Woman whove been held as hostages, many feel, in irans jails. And yet, at home, things are as difficult as ever. Its a year since mahsa amini died in Police Custody after being arrested for refusing to cover her head in public. The big demonstrations have died down after a major security clampdown, but women are increasingly defying the laws that mahsa amini herself challenged, even though the iranian parliament, the majles, has just passed a new law reinforcing the requirement for women to wear hijab. I talked to faranak amidi, Bbc World Service correspondent, whos iranian herself, about the atmosphere inside the country. One of the first things that you witness and you notice, basically, is the change of the appearance of the cities across iran. What youre seeing is that the public spaces have changed because women have changed. Women are appearing in these public spaces without mandatory hijab. Im not saying all of the women, but many of the women. And its not limited to a certain generation. We are seeing older women appearing in public spaces without hijab. We are seeing women like shop cashier people, people in banks, in different offices, without hijab. As a woman myself who grew up in iran until i was 30 years old, i never thought i would see Something Like this. So, its this widespread Civil Disobedience that has changed the appearance of cities and public spaces. But on the other hand, there has been a lot of brutality and there has been a lot of effort by the regime and the authorities to oppress women, especially women and ethnic minorities, even further. 0ppress them physically, but also oppress, try to oppress them in mental terms, i mean, in educational terms and so on. But that clearly hasnt worked. The islamic republic, as an ideological, totalitarian regime, has failed completely in keeping its ideology alive and relevant to the generations that were born after the islamic revolution. I was born in 1979, just after the revolution, and i grew up in iran most of my life. And it even failed me, you know, i. I was never into that ideology. But equally, the demonstrators have failed to establish themselves. How do they get around that . This is one of the. Main points, major issues of these uprisings. They boil up, they come to the surface and they are shut down, by brutality. And one of the reasons for that is a lack of Political Leadership. And what i mean by that is not necessarily having a political leader like Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1979 revolution, but a Political Leadership of different parts and opposition of the Society Coming together. You have to take these Street Protests to the next level in order for this movement to come to fruition. Do you see anyone that might actually come forward . The problem with iran is that the Civil Society has been completely destroyed by 44 years of violence and brutality. You know, when you look at the track record of the islamic republic, like, from the very beginning, the mass executions of the 1980s. Whole group of opposition was wiped out. These are. Thousands of people. Were talking about tens of thousands. We dont even know the numbers. Then you have the � 90s and the serial murder of intellectuals and writers, wiped out, and then mass executions of, you know, people, anyone from ethnic minorities. And they might say that, oh, it was for drug crimes and stuff, but we dont know. A lot of times, news comes out that these were just political activists. But listen, if, after all that, 44 years of all that, nothing has come forward to challenge the system, nothing is going to come, is it . Its not going to change. Ithink, now, because, you know, were at that point where people understand that this regime is not capable of solving their problems and that they need to go. This is what the people know and this is what. The regime has no legitimacy any more for the people, especially after the recent killings and executions and murder of people on the streets. So, they definitely know that. So, it is, i think now the people understand that if we want to take this from street level to another level, we have to do something. And maybe this will be the time that people come together and actually think of how to create the Political Leadership. And this is one of the things about these kind of dictatorships that they make it very difficult for you to imagine anything but them, you know . So, one of the, during the uprising in the past year, one of the slogans that people write on the walls, on the streets, is, imagine one day you wake up and theyre not there. Yes. It makes me cry, actually. It will happen, of course, at some stage. Sorry, very much. Its the way. Its your country thats why you feel emotional. Do you think there will ever be a time when you can go down one of the main streets in tehran, like you are here in london, with the tats and the. Right. Now im seeing young women doing it in iran, so it makes me happy. Im, like, i didnt do it, but you girls are doing it. Good for you. Dressed like you . Yes, thats it with bare arms and. Bare arms. They wear crop tops. No they have pink hair and piercings. Thats what im saying. The image of the streets has changed so dramatically that sometimes, when i see photos on instagram from my, people i know whovejust taken a photo in a coffee shop or on the streets, i cannot say if this is west or this is iran. Last march, britains police and Security Services arrested a young researcher who was working at the Houses Of Parliament on the grounds that he had been spying for china. The researcher denies it emphatically, and he was released on bail. The case has onlyjust recently been made public. We hear a lot about chinese spying in the west, but is it something we should really be worrying about . I turn to the bbc� s security correspondent, gordon corera, for enlightenment. The fallout for countries, when they are discovered to be spying on each other, can have real, real consequences diplomatically. We saw that earlier in the year where a chinese spy balloon was discovered floating across america. Now, the fact is, thats the kind of thing, spying from space or the air, it happens all the time. But when it gets discovered, when it becomes a big public thing, it can have a fallout. And in that case, led to meetings being cancelled between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries. And i think its the same thing with this current uk china spying scandal. The significance of the individual and whatever may or may not have happened is there, but its also the fallout, the way it can change perceptions of china in the uk. Was it an attempt by china to simply find out what british politicians were thinking and talking about . Or was it a desire on the chinese part to try and manipulate british politicians, for instance . The allegation is that theres covert attempts to somehow manipulate the political system. Now, we dont know that thats whats being alleged in this case we should be clear about that. But it is something that china is accused of doing. Of course, lots of countries lobby and try and influence other countries, but the accusation is that its done secretly, with the chinese hand hidden. And in other countries the accusation has been funding candidates, funding people who would be sympathetic to china or trying to denigrate those who might be critical of china. And overall, trying to, if you like, shape political debate to make it harder to be critical of china and to have more supportive voices. And i think thats a category which i think western countries are becoming more worried about. I think with china, theres another level of complexity and what you see from what the government says its worried about, what a recent Oversight Report suggested they were worried about was actually creating, for instance, financial dependencies, where people who were looking for or getting jobs with Chinese Companies after they left office and therefore, who might be inhibited in what they say. So, there are kind of layers of influence and dependency which are different from just blackmail and coercion, but which can have some of the same impacts. I think china, because of the scale of the chinese economy, it poses a slightly different challenge. Do you believe that there is a real attempt by china to kind of buy Trojan Horses in british and canadian and australian politics, to get people to be actual agents of china itself . What youre seeing often in countries, as i said, the us, the uk, canada, australia, are Security Services and others pushing some of these things into the public domain, talking about them more because theyre hoping that that can disrupt that activity. It is often hard to prove and its often hard to be sure exactly whats going on because this exists in that kind of murky world of wheres the money coming from, whos really a covert agent and whos not. Are western countries doing the same thing in china . I think there is no doubt that western countries are spying on china, extensively, and have been doing for years, for decades. So, i think that is absolutely clear. And china will say thats happening. It will say that theres Cyber Espionage and Human Espionage going on against it. Just in the last few weeks, i think, china suggested it rolled up a couple of people who it said were agents of the cia. What about in universities, where there are dedicated groups, supposedly, of Chinese Students working for china in the university . So many of the high end Research Areas that china is said to be interested in are often taking place at universities artificial intelligence, bioengineering, advanced materials. The research is in universities rather than, if you like, Defence Companies where, in the past, espionage might have happened. So, thats one issue. Theres an issue about free speech at universities and whether, for instance, some of the chinese backed institutes have been trying to impact the willingness of other groups to talk about issues like, for instance, taiwan or hong kong. And then theres issues around actual spying and accusations that chinese intelligence have put students or others or engage people to try and steal secrets. So, theres a kind of complex mix of issues there. And i think there is, again, its complicated. And i think there is a fear, rightly, amongst some universities of being seen to label all Chinese Students as spies. And when there is a huge number of Chinese Students who will have nothing to do with espionage. If i were the chinese intelligence organisations, id actually be much more worried about all the students that come to britain, to america, to australia, to canada, and end up getting infected by democratic notions. Chinese activity is primarily about cementing chinese power and stability and Economic Growth at home. And often what they do in the west is an adjunct to that goal. So, youre right, when it comes to, for instance, students, thats perhaps their first concern, is the importation back into china of western ideas, rather than the exporting of intelligence activity. If the chinese find out more about what britain really thinks about them. Yeah. And we find out more about what china really thinks about us, that aint bad. No, and i think this is a really interesting argument about espionage and intelligence gathering. Actually, for each side to understand the other and to not misinterpret what theyre up to can be quite useful. There are areas where i think the issue of china has particular importance and significance. And i think those issues of kind of the economy and influence or interference, sometimes they link as well, is the one that matters in a way that, if you like, just intelligence gathering, spying, espionage is, perhaps we should treat as more normal and not something to be too worried about. What sort of scale are we talking about . The assessment would be that the Chinese Intelligence Services as a whole are, by number, perhaps the largest in the world, although americas are huge as well. So, you know, the ministry of state security, you know, the Peoples Liberation army, the ability to engage what the americans call nontraditional collectors. And what that means is jargon for people who arent, if you like, paid spies, but who they can use, whether they work for companies or students, to carry out intelligence activities. So, the concern is that the scale of china, of course, its the largest country in the world by population, is also one of the challenges. Gordon corera, our security correspondent, on the perennially fascinating subject of espionage. Well, that brings the First Programme in our new series to an end. Its really good to be back with you. And thanks for watching. Till we meet again, goodbye. Hello. 0ur weekend is certainly shaping up to be a tale of two halves. Weve had some beautiful sunrise pictures this morning. Theres some lovely sunshine out there. Take, for example, earlier on, north ayrshire, but this is one of the areas where we could see a really different story tomorrow, increasingly wet and windy. So get out and enjoy the sunshine if you can. The Morning Cloud and a few scattered showers easing away across northeast england. Sunny spells elsewhere. Yes, it will cloud over from the southwest, with rain into Northern Ireland by the end of the afternoon. But temperatures will peak between 12 and 18 degrees and the winds will be light. But the change comes from out in the atlantic. The remnants of what was Ex Hurricane Nigel is going to intensify an area of low pressure. Not unusual at this time of year, just adds a little bit more energy into the atmosphere. And that means its going to turn increasingly wet and windy for the second half of the weekend. And well start to see the signs of that as we close out saturday. Some rain pushing in from the west and that is going to act like a blanket of cloud, so it isnt going to be as chilly a start. In fact, widespread double digits for many first thing on sunday morning. Now, the rain to begin with could be quite light and patchy, but it will intensify as we go through the day. A Conveyor Belt of wetter weather driven in by the strong to Gale Force Winds from a southerly direction. Not all of us will see the rain. Central and southeastern areas may stay dry with some sunshine and more warmth for sunday. But again, a windy day. So, the rain really turning quite heavy as it pushes its way out of north wales into North West England and Northern Ireland. Temperatures all a degree or so higher in comparison to today, perhaps peaking at 21 degrees. But the rain will be accompanied by 50,60 mile an hour gusts of winds. And we close out the day on sunday, heavier bursts into Northern Ireland and in particular into western scotland. Areas weve already seen significant rainfall so far this month. So, there is a possibility that we could see some localised flooding. That front will ease away, and then monday a slightly quieter day. Not for long though. More wet weather is expected to push in from the west. So our week ahead, once weve got monday out of the way, looks likely to be showers or longer spells of rain and still windy at times. Live from london. This is bbc news ukraines Military Intelligence chief claims russian commanders are among those injured in a Missile Strike on russias Black Sea Fleet in occupied crimea. Separatists in Nagono Karabakh give up their weapons as humanitarian aid begins to reach the thousands stuck in the enclave. Actor and comedian Russell Brand speaks out after being accused of rape and sexual assault. In a video posted to on social media he didnt directly address the allegations. And in the uk borisjohnson urges the government not to scale back plans to build the hs2 High Speed Rail Link amid Speculation Part of the route could be axed. Hello. The head of ukraines Military Intelligence has claimed that russian commanders were among those injured in fridays Missile Strike on the headquarters of russias Black Sea Fleet in occupied crimea. The building in sevastopol appears to have been hit by at least two missiles, causing extensive damage. There are reports that storm shadow cruise missiles, supplied by britain and france, were used. Black smoke was still rising from sevastopol hours after the attack. Ukraine has claimed that dozens of Russian Military personnel including senior commanders were killed or injured the attack. This has not been independently confirmed. Russia has said only that one serviceman is missing. It comes as reports in the American Media suggest