full military honours his country calls him a defender of the fatherland. and yet it was russia s army that attacked ukraine, on the orders of president putin, to restore russian power, and to force ukraine into russia s orbit. russian national anthem plays. but at what cost? steve rosenberg, bbc news, kostroma. you re watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. after yea rs of after years of campaigning and diplomacy, nazanin zaghari ratcliffe is about to arrive home in britain. we will examine what led to her
in other news an earthquake injapan has struck off the north east coast, knocking out power to over 2 million homes and killing one person. the magnitude was 7.3, and the epicentre was near that of the earthquake 11 years ago, which left more than 18,000 dead and damaged the fukishima nuclear power plant. the earthquake shook japan for two minutes, causing a blackout in the capital, tokyo, and derailing a bullet train. none of its passengers were hurt. two british iranian dual nationals are flying home to the uk after being released from several years in jail. this is where they are due to land in the next a0 minutes or so, at raf bryce norton. nazanin zaghari ratcliffe will be reunited with her daughter and her husband, richard. she was freed along with a retired engineer, anoosheh ashoori, who was also convicted for alleged spying. mr ashoori s family said they did not allow themselves to feel joy until the plane left iran.
day after day, week after week, richard ratcliffe waged a tireless campaign for nazanin, working around the clock, and last year went on hunger strike for nearly three weeks an act of desperation to pressure the government to do more to get her home. he s always said she was being held as a bargaining chip, to get the uk to pay its long standing military debt. i think it s wonderful news, and i think we must always realise that, sadly, the regime in tehran is capable of holding people in this way. i think people do need to recognise that. and i m glad that, after a great deal of uk diplomacy, we ve been able to get her out, get her back to her family. it was back in april 2016 when nazanin was arrested as she prepared to leave for london after visiting her parents. months of solitary confinement followed, along with blindfolded interrogations and psychological torture.
welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i m mariko oi. our headlines this hour. nazanin zaghari ratcliffe is due to be reunited with herfamily in britain after finally being freed by iran, where she s been held for nearly six years. her husband, who led the campaign for her release, called it the beginning of a new life . we ll look back in years to come and be a normalfamily, and this will be a chapter in our lives, but there are many more chapters to come. also in the programme. ukrainian officials say a theatre in mariupol that was being used as shelter for civilians has been destroyed. russia denies attacking it. president biden brands vladimir putin a war criminal, as the us pledges a further
turnaround. it follows six years in detention in turnaround. the telegraph leads with the words of nazanin s daughter gabriella mummy really is coming home same story in the mail with those words of gabriella on its front page. the mirror leads on the words of richard ratcliffe when asked what his wife wants she s home which is a cup of tea. the guardian highlights the six years nazanin spent detained in iran and reflects on the british dual national anoosheh ashoori who s also been freed from prison in iran. the i leads on continued russia bombardment in ukraine as russian forces bomb a theatre used as a shelter for civilains the financial times leads on a possible end to the war in ukraine it says that a peace deal with russia would involve kyiv declaring neutrality and limits on its armed forces. so let s begin. welcome back. rob, do you want to kick us off this hour with that