hello. ukraine s president zelensky has thanked germany for its fantastic solidarity on his first visit to the country since russia invaded ukraine. it comes after germany pledged a further military aid package worth more than $2 billion. mr zelensky has renewed his call for fighterjets ahead of a planned counter offensive against russia s invasion. the german chancellor 0laf scholz said he would continue to support kyiv for as long as is needed. translation: this war has severe geopoliticall consequences for everyone, but mostly for the men and women of ukraine. more than 1 million of them women, children and older people have found protection here in germany. 0ur citizens here stand in full solidarity to the people who have fled from the brutal attacks. mr zelensky thanked the german government for their support. above all, i would like to thank you, sincerely, really sincerely. and the entire german people for your help, for every ukrainian life saved. i would like to
continue to flock here, where the king charles the third has held meetings with diplomats from the 1a countries that recognise him as head of state. also ahead on the programme. ukraine s military says its forces have tripled the amount of territory it has retaken from russia in a little over 48 hours. and in sweden, voting in the country s general election has ended with an exit poll indicating that the prime minister s party may win slightly more seats than rivals. hello and welcome to bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. the coffin of queen elizabeth is being taken on itsjourney to herfinal resting place. it left balmoral, where she died on thursday, and has now arrived in edinburgh. crowds gathered along the route, as the cortege made the 175 mile journey to the palace of holyroodhouse where the coffin will remain overnight. as that was happening, proclamations formally announcing the accession of king charles iii took place in cardiff, edi
in northern ireland to try to help restore power sharing at stormont. and, a triumphant ukraine wins the eurovision song contest after claiming the popular vote. finland s government has announced it will apply to join nato. its parliament is expected to approve the application within days. sweden is likely to do the same. nato foreign ministers, who are meeting in berlin, say they want a rapid accession because of the crisis in ukraine. the secretary general of nato, jens stoltenberg, welcomed finland s application, and said it would increase nato s shared security. president putin has already called finland s move a mistake. from berlin, our europe correspondent, nick beake, reports. a fresh aerial attack lights the sky above the besieged mariupol steelworks. this is where the last of the city s defenders have been holed up, a final ukrainian stand against a relentless russian bombardment. but as well as by land and by sea, russia continues its assault from the air, foc