also on the programme. lucy letby goes on trial accused of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of ten others at a hospital in chester. she pleads not guilty. in aberdeen nicola sturegon tells the snp that the economic case for scottish independence will be published in a week s time. and how councils across the uk are supporting warm hubs where people can keep snug at a time of rising energy bills. and coming up on sportsday later in the hour on bbc news, there s a premature end to the w series season. the championship for female drivers scraps its last three races because of financial reasons. good evening. parts of ukraine have suffered the biggest bombardment by russian forces since the early weeks of the conflict. more than 80 missiles have struck both industrial and civilian buildings. it s the first time the capital kyiv has been targeted in months. president putin says the strikes on ukraine are retaliation for saturday s attack on a key bridge linkin
commander of nato and msnbc news analyst. always good to see you. i want to start with the crimea bridge. how important is it for russia s war effort and ukraine s counteroffensive? it s very important, and the reason is that it is the major conduit across which logistics we supply food, fuel, ammunition, has been flowing from mother russia across that stretch alongside the black sea and the sea of azov to the russian troops that are dug in. this puts a significant monkey wrench into vladimir putin s planning. so there s a practical component, chris. secondly, as you pointed out in that excellent read-in, it s a very symbolic, very symbolic point. putin himself drove across. the ukrainians hit it once early in the war, kind of knocked it down. the russians repaired it.
lot of poverty. it s a significant humanitarian crisis in every sense. putin has pulled out of the deal for a variety of reasons, not just because of the bridge, although i m sure that upset him further. but he s pulled out of this deal because of the sanctions that russia is under, the way he feels he s being treated in the west. all of that plays into this. the chances of him willingly going back into this deal i think are extremely low. the next step in the process, frankly, is going to be weather nato decides to step up and escort these grain tankers in and out of odesa, the free ukrainian port. i think that will be under consideration at nato. that s escalatory, puts nato warships nose to nose with russian warships. this is a humanitarian effort. i think nato is going to look very seriously about escorting these grain ships.
ukrainian naval drones struck a key bridge linking russia to occupied crimea overnight, a critical conduit for supplying russian forces fighting in southern ukraine. the kremlin says two people were killed and a child injured. now, kyiv didn t openly admit to the attack but offered a hint staying in a statement the details will be announced after the victory. the bridge is a source of pride for president putin who attended the opening ceremony back in 2018, personally driving a truck across the span. just hours after the explosion, russia announced it was pausing its participation in a deal that allowed ukraine to export grain by sea, a decision that could have major implications for world hunger. joining us now, add march james stavridis, former supreme allied
here are the ukrainians knocking on the door get. this is good news for ukrainian, bad news for russia. the kremlin claims, as i m sure you know, admirable, the bridge is unrelated to the black sea grain deal, but the implications are potentially serious. the international rescue committee said in a statement the expiration of the deal risks holding global food security at ransom. the world s most vulnerable will face the harshest consequences of today s withdrawal. do you agree with that? what are the chances putin could be persuaded to resume the deal? first and foremost, the real problem here is delivering those agrarian products, not just grain. it s also fertilizer. it s a whole host of critical food items. most of them go from ukraine out into the mediterranean and very poor countries in north africa and the lavonte. that s where there s already a