welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. russia says its forces have completed the capture of soledar, a small town in eastern ukraine that s been the focus of intense fighting. moscow called it an important step in its offensive, which would allow russian troops to cut off ukrainian forces in nearby bakhmut. if russia s claims are true, it would be the first ukrainian town it has captured since july after six months of russian military setbacks. but ukraine s president zelensky says the battle in soledar is still under way. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse reports. a salt mining town under russian assault, soledar has become a story of carnage and contradiction. after months of bloody fighting, an attempt by russia to give a clear message. for the first time, a claim to be in complete control, and that this town is the start of something bigger. the capture of soledar became possible due to the constant destruction of the enemy, says russia
russia says its forces have completed the capture of soledar a small town in eastern ukraine that s been the focus of intense fighting. moscow called it an important step in its offensive which would allow russian troops to cut off ukrainian forces in nearby bakhmut. if russia s claims are true, it would be the first ukrainan town it has captured since july after six months of russian military setbacks. but ukraine s president zelensky says the battle in soledar is still under way. our ukraine correspondent, james waterhouse, reports. a salt mining town under russian assault, soledar has become a story of carnage and contradiction. after months of bloody fighting, an attempt by russia to give a clear message. for the first time, a claim to be in complete control, and that this town is the start of something bigger. the capture of soledar became possible due to the constant destruction of the enemy, says russia s defence ministry. by ground attack, aircraft, missiles and
more of those pictures to come from around the planet, of course. those are the headlines. now on bbc news, addiction: a mental health crisis? a warning, this programme deals with upsetting themes. hello. hi. tony. jeremy. it is april 2021 and i am in north west england meeting tony. covid rules apply. we still have our masks on. with a bit of luck we re getting the end of it. thankfully we hit it off and that is good news because for the next year or so i will see a lot of him. when we finish with this what would you like people to understand about you and people like you that we do not understand at the moment? we feel love and hate like everybody else, we are people just like everybody else. we are human beings. most drug addicts have a reason that they are addicted. for tony, birkenhead is home. just across the river from liverpool. there are drug problems here, yes, but also an understanding of this inextricable link between addiction and mental health problems. this is
hello, and welcome to bbc news. new year celebrations are taking place across western europe and africa. crowds are in the streets of capitals from warsaw and stockholm in the east to brussels, paris, madrid and also edinburgh and london, where 2023 is now an hour old. it s the first time since the pandemic began that large scale events have taken place. greg mckenzie has been soaking up greg mckenzie has been soaking up the atmosphere amongst the many thousands of revellers. i am absolutely speechless. that was a 12 minute spectacular. the biggest fireworks display in the entire europe having taken placejust a few minutes ago. an incredible way to start the new year. big ben, the bogs of the big ben started as did the fireworks over here at the london eye. iconic around the world. a12 minute spectacular extravaganza. i am actually speechless having watched it right here and just behind us are hundreds of thousands of people who managed to get tickets and now you can hear the
the airport cope with staff shortages. a meeting of the government s emergency cobra committee is to take place this afternoon to discuss how to respond to the record temperatures that are expected to hit parts of the uk next week. a national emergency has been declared, after a red extreme heat warning was issued for the first time, meaning there s a risk to life. jon donnison has more. at the bristol harbour festival this weekend, a cold shower more than welcome. and with potentially record temperatures forecast for early next week, this summer s heatwave is entering uncharted waters. well, i don t like the heat. it s all right at the moment, it s all right in the shade, but i do burn too quickly. for those climate sceptics, i think this is evidence that something s definitely happening, so, you know, people need to take a bit of responsibility, definitely. he can t be in nursery for the full day, cos it s going to be - far too hot for him, so he ll be home for the aftern