it s six in the morning in singapore, and 11 at night in london. we begin in ukriane, where russia has launched its biggest wave of drone attacks on the country in months. ten regions were targeted, and at least three civilians were killed. this comes after a lull in russian attacks on civilian targets in recent months which saw the capital, kyiv, go days without an attack. the southern city of odesa has also been targeted. russia has stepped up its aerial attacks ahead of an expected offensive by ukraine. a ukrainian general in bakhmut said russia had intensified its shelling of the devastated city too. russia s wagner group boss says moscow has agreed to his demands for more ammunition days after he threatened to withdraw his men from bakhmut. russian troops and fighters from wagner, a private military company, have been trying to capture bakhmut for months despite the city s questionable strategic value. meanwhile, the british foreign ministerjames cleverly is travelli
they re trying to hold every inch of territory in that city. how has that changed the way they re fighting this side? reporter: it s made it on the russian side, dirtier. on the ukrainian, more desperate. the last few days as the offensive gains in intensity, as the conditions on the ground worsen, those images geolocated by cnn that showed the conditions around bakhmut pretty grim with mud, making the roads pretty much impassable. what ukrainian authorities and president sens has said tonight is things are getting more and more challengichallenging. what we re seeing are a series of intense attacks, but it is the battle for the town of bakhmut that gets worse and more intense by the day with ukrainian officials describing it as the epicenter. there have been today hundreds of artillery barrages and rocket strikes by the russians as they try and encircle the town, and specifically the areas of settlements to the west of it. desperate pleas on the part of the ukrainians once
lab in chiwuhan, china. and in east palestine, the new technique to track contaminated water from that city. and the growing concern to other cities taking in truckloads of contaminated soil. and an image in oklahoma, cnn is on the scene. welcome to the lead i m jake tapper. we start with the groundbreaking assertion with the u.s. energy department that the covid-19 pandemic likely began from a lab leak in wuhan, china. this all comes after the energy department updated its 2021 report with this claim, saying it made the new conclusion, based on new evidence coming to light. two sources telling cnn the department is issuing the report with, quote, low confidence. that s a term that doesn t mean that they don t believe their own conclusion. it means that the evidence as of now is only circumstantial. the new assertion reveals that the u.s. intelligence community is more divided than ever on how the pandemic began. four other agencies in the u.s. government said the outbr
prompting concerns now that the fed could keep raising those interest rates well into this year. welcome to fox news live, i m aishah hasnie, hi, griff. griff: i m griff jenkins. and it s great to be with you. and the biden administration is facing scrutiny over the massive amount of spending over ukraine. lucas tomlinson is on the snowy white lawn of the white house kicking things off for us. high inflation is reducing savings nationwide and producing more credit card debt coupled with higher interest rates. many americans are feeling the squeeze and we don t have to tell the viewers, we feel it every day. let s look at the new inflation index that just came out. this is the personal consumption price index, the feds preferred gauge of inflation. and it rose and beating analyst expectations roughly 4% increase and annual rate 5.4%, as you mentioned the first inflation in inflation data since it peaked in june making some wondering if fed is behind in inflation fight. and p
terms if they refuse to appear for sentencing. nominations for the snp leadership race close at midday with humza yousaf, kate forbes and ash regan expected to appear on the ballot paper. and new research for the bbc suggests the price of pasta has nearly doubled in two years with the rate of food price rises still running at almost 17%. good morning and welcome to bbc news. president volodymyr zelensky has said ukraine will do everything it can to defeat russia this year in a statement marking the anniversary of vladimir putin s full scale invasion. ceremonies are taking place across the country remebering those killed or forced to flee from the conflict. here in the uk rishi sunak will urge allies to increase military support to ukraine during a meeting of g7 countries. there will also be a minute s silence across the uk at 11 o clock. our first report comes from james waterhouse. a thud, marking the moment when ukraine and the world. air raid siren sounds. ..changed foreve