good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. after weeks of intense earthquake activity in the south west of iceland, this volcano finally erupted late last night. the length of the crack you can see here is more than two miles long. the eruption is close to the fishing town of grindavik, which was evacuated last month, though so far the lava seems to be flowing away from it. for now, the eruption is not expected to halt international air travel as it did in 2010. our correspondent nick beake joins us from near the town of vogar at the edge of the exclusion zone now. sophie, it s absolutely freezing here, but you can see that the volcano tonight is illuminated, and all through the day, we got a glimpse of the power of this force of nature. as you say, there is no immediate risk to life. that is certainly what the authorities are saying here today, and the direction of the lava seems to be moving away from the built up areas, but certainly they are not taking anything for
good morning to you. i m jessica dean in washington. jim sciutto is off today. we re following several major stories this morning. overnight ukraine rocked by a barrage of russian missiles. the defense minister saying it s the most massive missile attack since the invasion began in februariment we know power is out in several regions including parts of the capital kyiv. we ll be live on the ground ahead. plus, the u.s. reinstating covid tests for travelers coming from china as beijing drops its own restrictions despite an overwhelming surge in cases. a fresh apology from southwest airlines today, plus new steps the airline is taking to reimburse passengers whose holiday travel was ruined. still more than 2,300 southwest flights canceled today. we re told the scheduling nightmare could end as soon as tomorrow. let s begin this morning on the ground in ukraine. cnn senior international correspondent ben wedeman is in kyiv. ben, you saw firsthand some of this damage. tell us
overnight the u.s. vowing more support for taiwan amid continuing threats from china. the biden administration approving a $180 million arms stale that could include antitank systems. cnn s pentagon current oren liebermann is joining us with more. can you break this down how this is different from what the u.s. pljed previously? broadly speaking, the intent is the same. first, the capability. this is a volcano system capable of dispersing antitank mines over a given area. even if this system isn t something we haven t seen the u.s. give high want or the taipei offices, diplomatic office over the course of the past year, the intent is the same, meant to show u.s. support for taiwan and show china the cost of a military incursion of taiwan if that s a decision china would make. u.s. security officials have