at 12 years old, lera has been learning to walk again, after the blast that shattered one of her legs and burned the other very badly. passing over the holes left by shrapnel... ..lera points out where she and herfriend, kseniya, came that morning to sell bracelets they'd made themselves. she didn't hear the air—raid siren. missile whooshes. the russian missile smashed right into the heart of chernihiv. it was a hot holiday weekend and the streets were crowded. seven people were killed that day, including a child, and dozens were injured. but the missile exploded just metres away from here... ..its shards slicing into buildings and people all around. when russian troops invaded ukraine in 2022, they never took chernihiv — but they did occupy much of this northern region. the ruins are a reminder of the weeks when the city was under siege and under constant fire. the russians were eventually forced to retreat, and life slowly returned to the streets. then, last august, the city theatre hosted a drone exhibition... ..and russia attacked. when you look at the destruction here, the damage to this theatre, it really drives home, yet again, just how dangerous life is in ukraine. and the fact that whatever russia is aiming at, when it fires its missiles at city centres like this, so often it is civilians and children who are injured and killed. 500km east is kharkiv, very close to the russian border. in 2022, russian troops almost surrounded this city, too, pounding it with shells and missiles — but they never took it. the district of saltivka was closest to russian positions. its apartment blocks were battered for weeks. so, anya and her children are the only people living in this entire building in this... ..middle of this complete destruction. she said she's just going to come down and open the door to take me up. 0bviously, there's no lift, and they're on the third floor here. the family escaped at the height of the fighting, but they moved back last year because, despite everything, this is home. they've had a new wall put in. the old one had a giant crack after a missile hit the building two floors up. and in the kitchen, anya shows me holes made by shrapnel. angelina is eight, and remembers finding the flat in ruins. it was during all this that angelina's family fled saltivka, looking for safety. but after a few days, they decided to head back to the basement of their home, and hope for the fighting to stop. in early march, the giant block of flats next door was destroyed by a missile — and angelina was terrified. the far side of the country is another world. many ukrainians fled to ivano—frankivsk after the full—scale invasion. russian missiles do reach here — but you get a lot more warning. but daniel can't escape the war completely, even here. he's come to collect a special delivery from his dad back in kharkiv. daniel and his mum left the city before the war, but his father stayed and was drafted into the army. mm... it's a nice present. my dad sent me compass and markers. the two now chat online whenever they can. daniel's dad doesn't want us to show his face. but he's teaching his son to draw, remotely. a family separated by war, keeping things normal when nothing around them is. air-raid siren. when the siren wails here in the west, there's no rush for the bunker. instead, daniel's mum checks an app on her phone. so, erm... it's not dangerous for our region now. the threat is far away from here... ..in the east, like daniel's dad. lera still loves making jewellery, especially now she's stuck at home, as her leg heals from multiple operations. she's not been to school for months, and she's bored and frustrated, so focusing on something like this is a help. lera lives with her sister, irina, who worries she may be bottling up her feelings, and wonders whether that might all spill out one day. for lera, this war has been doubly cruel. a few months before she was hurt, her brother died fighting on the front line. sasha was 27. lera and her brother were close — but she's barely talked of him since he died. sasha volunteered for the front line. he went missing in action afterjust five months. recording plays. it's the first time lera has heard her brother's voice since he was killed. mm—hm. lera's loss is daniel's greatest fear. he's now throwing himself into all sorts of things. distraction for a boy uprooted. his mum works hard, too, to channel his energy into something positive. he was very upset, and now it's much better. i tried to find things he loved before, to continue doing these things here. it works. daniel struggled to settle here at first. he thinks other children don't get what he's going through. at the very start of the war, daniel and his mum fled even further west, joining a giant wave of refugees to europe. they came back, partly because kateryna is a child psychologist, and she saw a huge need for her skills. how serious is the damage, the psychological damage that this war has done to children? do you think that there's enough help for all the children who need it? angelina's whole neighbourhood is in tatters. this was daniel's home, too. his family don't think it's safe to return yet — but angelina's had no alternative. but russian forces never stopped attacking kharkiv, and are getting closer again. air-raid siren. angelina sings. angelina dreams of being a singer one day. if vladimir putin hadn't invaded, she'd be here by now — at her neighbourhood school. but the russians don't seem to care what they hit. angelina sings. angelina's old kindergarten is in ruins, too. it was shut for safety, like all schools in kharkiv, at the start of the war. angelina barely remembers it here. before the invasion, there was covid. that's years of playing alone. isolation is a big issue for ukraine's children. millions are now studying online, like angelina, if they're studying at all. so her mum tries to take her out as much as possible. only in kharkiv, that often means staying underground for safety. angelina now goes to a special class at a metro station. they call it animal therapy — and she loves it. children laugh. it's notjust the dog. it's the chance to mix with other children and to let off steam like any eight—year—old. it's clear angelina misses company, most of all. physically, lera is healing. the worst pain has passed. now she's coming to these group therapy sessions. some of the children have lived under occupation, others underfire. they've all known fear and anxiety, like lera has. lera's been a long time alone with herfears and her frustrations. now she feels ready to step back into the world again. daniel's been working on his self—confidence, too. he's good at this. he's small for his age, and he got badly bullied at his new school, so now he's at fight class. the trainer, sasha, believes in building up the boys' resilience... ..and sharing their worries, too, if they need to. can you tell me what it feels like when you're wrestling? like you're in a film and you do some, uh... . .super scenes. you feel like a superhero? yeah. back east, daniel's hometown of kharkiv is a nervous place again. covered in the scars of the first russian assault, it's braced for another. not far from here, russian troops have crossed the border again. vladimir putin says they're not planning to take kharkiv — but ukraine has learned never to trust him. when the sun goes down over saltivka, the lights don't come on any more. russia has been destroying power plants across this country. angelina has adapted to the blackouts. some of the pain of this war is visible... ..like lera's limp, or the faces of the soldiers who died defending her city. but some of the battles here are internal. it's the strength all ukraine's children need to draw on in a war that's already taken so much from them, and where the danger is still all around. hello there. all week the weather story has been stuck in repeat. it's been cool and showery to the far north—west — further south we've seen some sunshine and we had that on thursday, a maximum of 20 degrees with some sunny spells and lighter winds in london. but further north in shetland, a brisk west to north—westerly wind at times, sharp showers, just a maximum of ten celsius, 50 fahrenheit. now, we're going to see more widespread rain to start the day on friday with this weather front sinking its way south and east. it'll be clearing scotland during the morning rush hour, leaving a trail of sharp showers following on behind. there's our weather front moving out of aberdeenshire, across the scottish borders, leaving northern ireland as well. so there will be a little more in the way of drier, brighter weather for northern ireland as we go through the day. starting off fine and sunny once again across england and wales. the cloud will develop as we go into the afternoon. there'll be a few isolated showers ahead of that front, but the front will think its way steadily south and weaken as it moves into northern england and north wales. sunny spells, blustery showers accompanied by that brisk west wind in scotland making it feel once again disappointingly cool forjune — ii to 14 celsius at the very best. highest values in the south and east once again, 19 or 20 celsius. so as this weather front continues to sink its way steadily south, the cooler air will always sit in place across scotland and perhaps northern fringes of northern ireland. with cloud sinking south to begin with on saturday morning we mightjust start off with double digits, but that means it is going to be a cloudy start across the midlands, stretching down into south wales with outbreaks of light showery rain. that will push its way into the south and east during the afternoon. sunny spells, blustery showers, particularly across north and west facing coasts, so stuck in a rut. and again, those temperatures, similar values to what we've seen all week, 11 to 14 celsius in the north, perhaps 17 or 18 in the south and east. don't expect that much in the way of significant change as we move into sunday. again, the wind direction, in fact, strengthening. more showers to come. high pressure is desperately trying to build, but it is going to keep us waiting, so no significant change for the second half of the weekend either. best of the sunshine likely for england and wales. live from washington. this is bbc news. top members of the us congress confirm israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu will address a joint session in late july. the bbc sees evidence of brutal violence against rebels and young people in myanmarfacing off with the country's military dictatorship. world leaders gather to mark 80 years since d day — as they reflect on the war in ukraine. the us cricket team pulls off a shock win against the powerhouse pakistan at the men's t20 world cup. us speaker of the house mikejohnson and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell announced israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu will address a joint session of congress onjuly 24th to talk about israel's war in gaza. the two republicans along with democrats senate majority leader chuck schumer and house minority leader hakeem jeffries sent him an invitation to speak last week. in accepting the invitation, prime minister netayahu said "i am very moved to have the privilege of representing israel before both houses of congress and to present the truth about ourjust war against those who seek to destroy us to the representatives of the american people and the entire world."

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