putin commander in chief. it s been weeks now since we last saw him publicly directing military operations. you will perhaps remember he ordered officials some weeks ago to put russia s nuclear forces on special alert. this was very much, i think, a display for russians, and that s because bear in mind mr putin and his propaganda machine have been making a great deal recently out of the threat they say ukraine and the west pose to his country. he wants russia to be portrayed as the victim, but he cannot portray russia s weak, and thatis cannot portray russia s weak, and that is why we saw him on television today in effect telling russians he has got everything under control stop it is no accident that, last night, mr putin announced moscow had testified an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which he says will make russia s enemies think twice. says will make russia s enemies think twice- says will make russia s enemies think twice. , , a, , . ., t
and we will terms of evacuating people from the rest of the city, there were hopes yesterday of getting perhaps 6000 people to safety but in the event just for buses means perhaps a couple of hundred made it out. there are attempts today to establish safe routes to get more people to safety but this has happened time and time again, the evacuation efforts have been interrupted, and the fact that hope has been offered and then people have found that the roots are not safe, that they are not able to escape, is part of the difficulty that people have faced, part of the threat they have faced, and the procedure of mariupol has gone right since the start of this invasion. the procedure means more russian forces will be tied up in that city, which could stop russia making advances along the rest of the eastern edge foot up we are told they have only made limited breakthroughs in the last 48 hours since the new offensive stop the city of kharkiv has come under renewed shelling and there are o