over the last 12 hours, and overwhelming number of members have over the last 12 hours, an overwhelming number of members have been in touch with us and been very open, for which i am grateful. they have told us that if we do not reconsider the decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences for the beijing 2022 paralympic winter games. multiple national paralympic committees, some of which been contacted by the government s teams and athletes, are expressing their intention not to compete. ensuring the safety and security of athletes is of paramount importance to us, and the situation has escalated and has now become untenable. that decision will directly impact 83 paralympians from russia and belarus. yesterday, they were told they d be able to compete as neutrals now they won t be taking part at all. the games start tomorrow. the committee reversed his decision. here s bbc sport s jane mcdougall. they were heavily criticised yesterday when they initially said that they would
is being abandoned. these cars have been dumped outside the railway station as thousands flee. it is pretty much deserted here. a couple of people out for a stroll in the snow, but this is a city that s so much on edge, and all the checkpoints that we ve come across, um, the guards have come up to us. they ve wanted to check our papers, wanted to check if we re filming them. there really is a sense of dread and unease here, which is.which is frankly to be expected. and this is why. not far from kyiv, a column of heavy russian armour inches closer to the capital, waiting for vladimir putin s order to strike. clive myrie reporting from kyiv. next, we will take a few minutes to look at the issue of russian gas and
let s go to the city of lviv. it s in western ukraine near the polish border. lviv isn t occupied for now, but there are people living there who know all too well what it means to be invaded, as fergal keane reports. it is relentless. in a station where they load aid for the embattled armies in the east, and coming the other way, families propelled into exile by president putin s war. these are roma gypsies who fled the russian advance from kharkiv 1000 kilometres to the east. what is it like in kharkiv? translation: the war, it is difficult. everything is burning, everything is destroyed. no one is listening to us, no one wants to help us.
there in that piece, lviv in the last few days. as you saw out there in that piece, lviv really - in the last few days. as you saw out there in that piece, lviv really has l there in that piece, lviv really has become a hub, a hub between east and west. 65 kilometres away from the polish border, those who can afford to stay in hotels, we are seeing so many internally displaced people staying in hotel here. i met a young family with a two and a half year old child who told me they had come from kyiv, and i asked them, how long do you plan to stay? they said, maybe another two weeks, they do not know. they hope to return home to theirfamilies. families here are torn apart. some families, their parents do not want to leave their land and home behind, they want to stay and protect what they have built their entire lives and generations, and then there is martial law that exists here in ukraine and has been enacted and put in place last week, meaning between the ages of 18 and 60 must rem
expectations are low. top of the agenda is a cease fire, an armistice as well for weapons to be put down, moved out, as well as corridors for humanitarian aid to move in. the uk defence secretary has warned that the consequences of russia s war in ukraine will be felt throughout europe for months and years to come. ben wallace is on a diplomatic visit to the baltic state of estonia which is a member of nato. he also had this to say. the message to president putin is stop. it isn t too late to stop at your doing, what you have done so far is a legal and you risk being isolated for decades to come. russia s foreign minister, sergei lavrov, has been speaking again in moscow. he s repeating moscow s view that ukraine s aspirations to join nato represented a threat to russia s security and so