The guided bombs that moscow used to attack kharkiv, they are not as precise as ballistic rockets or cruise missiles. Their main purpose, their main aim is to cause devastation and this is exactly what the kremlin wants to achieve, kyiv says. Therefore they asked their partners to provide them with long range weapons and president zelensky has already responded to this attack by once again calling on his partners to allow them to use these weapons to hit targets deep inside russia. Ukraine currently cannot use weapons provided, such as storm shadows and other missiles, to hit deep inside russia and the ukrainian partners say that if they allow them to do so, it will only escalate the war. However, the ukrainian authorities say that these weapons will be used only to hit military targets such as airfields from where russian bombers take off and attack ukrainian cities. On friday, ukraine s president zelensky fired the head of the ukrainian air force, mykola oleshchuk, days after an f 16
but it has its problems, and among its members there are very different opinions. this weekend, citizens across the bloc will elect members of the european parliament. who will shape the eu as it faces defining challenges. so what are the issues driving this election? and what s foremost in people s minds as they head to the ballot boxes? welcome to europe votes 202a. hello and welcome from sunny lisbon, where we are coming to you from today. i m mark lowen, one of the bbc s europe correspondents. and over the course of this programme, we will bring new reports from across the continent as the election gets under way. but first, what is it all about? elections to the european parliament take place every five years. it is the only directly elected institution of the european union, shaping the bloc s policies, legislation and budgets. voting happens by proportional representation. each country gets a number of members of the european parliament, or meps, relative to its size.