hello and welcome to bbc news. dmytro kuleba, ukraine s foreign minister, has warned that countries which mistreated ukraine during the darkest moment of its history will be held to account after the war ends. in an interview with the bbc, he also warned western allies that delaying the delivery of weapons will cost the lives of ukrainian soldiers. he has spoken to our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. the battle for bakhmut is now the longest of the war. more than half a year of bloody fighting for control of what is little more than rubble. but ukraine s foreign minister told me holding the city was vital, and notjust for the damage it s causing to russia s army. defending bakhmut is emotionally very challenging, because people find it hard emotionally to take, carry the burden of this death, loss of human life and destruction. it s a struggle to save those who are behind bakhmut from that same destiny as bakhmut is now suffering from. he said what ukraine needs
hello, welcome to the programme. we have got another action packed programme for you tonight. coming up, the white house says they have still had no consular access to anerican journalist evan gershkovich, who is being held by the russians on spying charges. we will speak tonight from the former soviet dissident natan sharansky, who was held in the same moscow prison in the 1970s. we will also hearfrom mark urban on his continiung investigation into russia s 331 parachute regiment, and the losses that unit has sustained in ukraine. but we start tonight with the clean up within britain s biggest police force. the met commissioner, sir mark rowley, who was appointed in september, believes there are hundreds of corrupt officers serving in the force who should not be in the job. and so concerned is he at the scale of the problem, that around 90 of his officers from serious and organised crime have been tasked with investigating their own. this morning, sir mark set out the plans
let s turn to ireland now where us presidentjoe biden has already had a busy day and where in the next hour he s expected to address a joint sitting of the irish parliament. in the past hour we ve seen him arrive at farmleigh house in dublin for a meeting with the irish prime minister leo varadkar. mr biden praised irish values and set out plans for a closer relationship between the us and ireland. . , relationship between the us and ireland. ., , , relationship between the us and ireland. . , , ., ireland. there really is an opportunity ireland. there really is an opportunity to ireland. there really is an opportunity to make - ireland. there really is an i opportunity to make serious progress, notjust because of the accords that we signed 25 years ago, but just accords that we signed 25 years ago, butjust in terms of the way ireland is moving, and the way that it is taking its place in the world, and i just think that it feels so good to be able to have this emerging
let s turn to ireland where us presidentjoe biden has been meeting with leading politicians and is now on his way to address a joint sitting of the irish parliament it s been an extremely busy day for the president. he set off to parliament from farmleigh house in dublin after meeting with the irish prime minister leo varadkar. while in the grounds of farmleigh, he watched a gaelic sport demonstration by local children. inside, the taoiseach praised american leadership since the russian invasion of ukraine last year. mr biden praised irish values and set out plans for a closer relationship between the us and ireland. there really is an opportunity to make serious progress. notjust because of the accords we have signed, 25 years ago, but in terms of the way you lead ireland and ireland is moving in a way that is taking its place in the world and i think it feels so good to be able to have this merging and stronger relation between the united states and ireland. this mornin
than a year, because the democratic unionist party, the biggest party which wants to keep northern ireland in the uk, is vetoing the formation of the power sharing coalition because of its concerns over brexit trade barriers with the rest of the uk. setting that aside, when you look back at the last 25 years, the change in northern ireland has been remarkable. the level of political balance has dramatically reduced to the extent that it is relatively rare now, so coming after a bitter sectarian conflict that lasted three decades, and cost the lives of three and half thousand people, it has been a very successful, peace process, most would say. the president biden is likely to again reflect on that, the fact that it was a peace process that benefits the whole island of ireland. most of ireland in northern ireland but the republic was touched by the conflict as well. so we can expect him to talk about that. with regard to the major conflict in the world today, ukraine, that has