radek sikorski, in warsaw, welcome to hardtalk. hello. good to see you again, stephen. it s great to have you on the programme. let s begin with a simple thought. the portents for ukraine in its grim battle against vladimir putin s forces in ukraine, the portents are really very negative, are they not? the supply of weaponry and of money coming from kyiv supporters is drying up. how concerned are you? that s not quite right. i was in kyiv within days of my appointment in december. my prime minister, the former head of the european council, donald tusk, has just been there, and the ukrainians have achieved a victory that has not been noticed in the western press, namely that, against stiff russian opposition, they have cleared western black sea of russian ships and they have now resumed grain shipments, not under a deal, from odesa via the western black sea to the bosphorus and to africa and beyond. that s a considerable military success. that s not insignificant. and they als
thanks forjoining us. we begin in ukraine where a fresh air attack on kyiv has left at least one dead and a further three injured. the city s mayor vitali klitschko says around 20 russian explosive drones had been eliminated but that a fresh wave is heading towards the capital. russia has stepped up its attacks on kyiv over the past month, using barrages of drones and missiles in an attempt to overwhelm the city s defences. this latest attack comes as one of the country s most senior security officials says ukraine is ready to begin it s long awaited counter offensive. oleksiy danilov, the secretary of ukraine s national security and defence council, has been speaking exclusively to our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. this is what s left of bakhmut in eastern ukraine. images filmed by russian forces of the ruins they now largely control. mercenaries from the wagner group claim they re withdrawing, being replaced by regular russian troops. but ukraine insists its fo
counter offensive. the comments come after attacks on dnipro and the wagner group claiming it fully captured the city of bakhmut. the battle there for control has been the longest of the war. the head of russia s wagner mercenary group has announced that its forces have started withdrawing from the ukrainian city. ukraine denies this. now, one of the country s most senior security officials says ukraine is ready to launch its long expected counter offensive against russian forces. oleksiy danilov has been speaking exclusively, to our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. this is what s left of bakhmut in eastern ukraine. images filmed by russian forces of the ruins they now largely control. mercenaries from the wagner group claim they re withdrawing, being replaced by regular russian troops. but ukraine insists its forces are still engaged on the ground and the outskirts, as the country s most senior security official told us. translation: we controljust a small i part of
security official tells the bbc that ukrainian forces are now ready to launch a long awaited counter offensive. the comments come after russian attacks on dnipro and the wagner group s recent claims it has fully captured the city of bakhmut. the head of russia s wagner mercenary group has announced that his forces have started to withdraw from bakhmut. ukraine denies this. the battle for that city has been the longest and bloodiest of the war. now, oleksiy danilov the secretary of ukraine s national security and defence council says an assult to retake territory from russian forces is ready to launch. he s been speaking exclusively to our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. this is what s left of bakhmut, in eastern ukraine. images filmed by russian forces of the ruins they now largely control. mercenaries from the wagner group claim they re withdrawing, being replaced by regular russian troops. but ukraine insists its forces are still engaged on the ground and the o
this is bbc news. the headlines: israeli air strikes pound the south and north of gaza. us defence secretary lloyd austin says the us has spoken to israel about making the war in gaza are more surgical. so we will continue to stand up for israel s right to defend itself and we will also continue to urge for the protection of civilians during the conflict, and to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into gaza. en verify, we look at how the war is impacting en verify, we look at how the war is impacting this trade route for oil in the impacting this trade route for oil in the red impacting this trade route for oil in the red sea. and the bbc understands the democratic unionist party has ruled out any deal to restore power sharing in northern ireland before christmas. time for a look at the business news now with tadhg. we are also talking about the potential looming crisis in world oil shipping. the oil giant bp has supended all shipments of oil through the red sea afte