for the privilege. ukrainian officials have said a deadly explosion at a cafe in st petersburg shows that domestic terrorism is breaking out in russia. there s no indication of who was behind the blast, on sunday, that killed vladlen tatarsky, a well known blogger who backed the russian invasion of ukraine. these are pictures before the explosion. tatarsky was a guest speaker at an event at the cafe when the bomb went off. sergei goryashko from bbc russian gave us this update on the story. so, for now we know that the explosion was around 6pm local time in st petersburg at a cafe where dozens of people gathered to meet vladen tatarsky and to listen to his account on the ongoing russia ukraine war. and the blast went offjust after vladen tatarsky received a gift from one of the visitors. he was given a statue, a small statue of himself covered with gold paint. he just put it on the table and right after that, minutes after, the blast went off. there are some reports that the s
visit to kyiv, and i can report that kyiv stands strong! kyiv stands proud! it stands tall, and most important, it sends free. speaking today in warsaw, the capital of a former soviet bloc countries, the president pledged unflagging merrick in support for nato, which poland joint in 1999 and it was firm commitment to ukraine. one year into this war, putin no longer doubts the strength of our coalition. but he still doubts our conviction. he doubts our staying power. he doubts our continued support for ukraine. he doubts whether nato can remain unified. but there should be no doubt. our support for ukraine will not waver. nato will not be divided, and we will not tire. the president also accused russia of committing crimes against humanity in ukraine. vladimir putin, for his part, gave this as his rationale for the war. turning during his annual address to the russian people. [interpreter] the elite of the west do not conceal their ambitions. which is to strategically
hello and welcome to the programme. we start today with russia it says a pro kremlin military blogger has been killed in a blast at a cafe in st petersburg, which is the second largest city after the capital, moscow. police say several others have been injured in the incident. vladlen tatarsky was one of a handful of reporters writing blogs on the telegram platform from the front line he was a vocal supporter of russia s war in ukraine. these are pictures before the explosion. tatarsky was a guest speaker at an event hosted by the cafe in st petersburg when the bomb went off. earlier, sergei goryashko, from bbc russian gave me this update on the story. so, for now we know that the explosion was around 6pm local time in st petersburg at a cafe where dozens of people gathered to meet vladen tatarsky and to listen to his account on the ongoing russia ukraine war. the blast went offjust after vladen tatarsky received a gift from one the visitors. he was given a statue, a smal
while in the custody of the morality police had saddened everyone and was being investigated with transparency. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. a few days ago, oleksandr shapoval, one of ukraine s leading ballet dancers, was killed while serving with the ukrainian army, fighting the russian invasion. art and culture are not immune from the impact of war. my guest today knows that well. alexei ratmansky is a world renowned choreographer, with roots in both russia and ukraine. once director of the bolshoi ballet in moscow, he is now putting on a special production of giselle with the united ukrainian ballet to show the world ukrainian culture lives on. has ballet become a battleground? thank you very much. it s an honour to be here. we re delighted to have you here. you are here in london because you are mounting this extraordinary set of performances of giselle, performed by ukrainian dancers. how can you go about putting on a performance wi
days of hostilities. but, it s reported the israeli military has struck targets in gaza within minutes of the ceasefire coming into force. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. russia s war on ukraine has turned culture into a battleground. in countries supportive of ukraine s resistance to putin s invasion, some russian artists, musicians and dancers have been stripped of their platforms or they ve been asked to denounce russia s military aggression. when does solidarity turn into censorship? my guest is the world renowned soviet born conductor semyon bychkov. is art the loser when politics takes centre stage? semyon bychkov, a very warm welcome to hardtalk. thank you. you are like all of the great musical maestros, you re peripatetic, your career takes you all around the world, you are constantly travelling. is there one place you can point to and say that has done the most to define you as a person and an artist? no, i don t think so. maybe be