Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:12Hello, live from London. This is BBC News with me, Ben Brown. A
00:00:16A look at our latest headlines. And And Saudi Arabia has threatened what
00:00:19what it calls a serious response
00:00:21response to deadly Houthi attacks attacks on the international airport
00:00:25airport in Riyadh. Flights there
00:00:27there remain suspended. Ukraine's Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky
00:00:31Zelensky says Russia hit a power power plant in Ukraine immediately
00:00:34immediately after President Trump Trump had claimed both sides in the
00:00:36the war had agreed to an energy ceasefire.
00:00:39ceasefire. It was clear that Putin
00:00:43Putin does not read Truth Social
00:00:48Social and his cheeky drones follow
00:00:49follow a different set of instructions.
00:00:52instructions. In the United States, States, federal agents searched the
00:00:56the home of the Democratic lawmaker
00:00:58lawmaker Ilhan Omar, the United States States Justice Department claims
00:01:01claims it's part of a criminal investigation.
00:01:07investigation. A BBC investigation investigation reveals the world's world's biggest accountancy firm
00:01:10firm helped hide the wealth of the the former Chelsea football Club
00:01:14Club owner Roman Abramovich. Hello.
00:01:26Hello. Officials in Saudi Arabia Arabia say they are dealing with
00:01:29with a new drone and missile threat
00:01:31threat facing the country from Houthi Houthi rebels in Yemen. Flights are
00:01:35are still suspended at Saudi Arabia's Arabia's main international airport
00:01:38airport after a series of deadly deadly attacks by the Houthis over
00:01:42over the weekend. This is footage footage from an attack on Saturday.
00:01:45Saturday. We should warn you the the pictures are quite graphic here.
00:01:48here. 13 people were killed in this
00:01:51this particular strike when a missile missile hit King Khalid International
00:01:54International Airport in Riyadh. Riyadh. Hundreds of people were injured.
00:01:57injured. One person was killed in
00:01:59in a separate attack on another terminal terminal on Sunday. Now the Houthis,
00:02:02Houthis, who are backed by Iran, Iran, say they are targeting Saudi
00:02:06Saudi Arabia because of its support support for government forces in
00:02:09in Yemen's civil war. The Houthis, Houthis, named after their founder,
00:02:12founder, are an armed political and and religious group from northern
00:02:16northern Yemen. They championed the the country's Shia Muslim minority
00:02:20minority and they see themselves themselves as part of an Iranian
00:02:23Iranian led axis of resistance to
00:02:25to Israel. Well, the civil war in in Yemen has flared up again in the
00:02:29the last few weeks after the Houthis
00:02:32Houthis seized more territory in in Yemen. Thomas Copeland is from
00:02:36from BBC Verify, and the team has has been taking a look at the footage
00:02:39footage of the Houthi attack on Riyadh's
00:02:41Riyadh's airport. We have been tracking
00:02:44tracking for weeks now attacks on on oil facilities across Saudi Arabia.
00:02:47Arabia. We know and we have verified verified footage of Houthi attacks
00:02:50attacks on the exporting port at at Yanbu refineries in Jeddah. That
00:02:54That east west pipeline has come come under attack there. Clearly
00:02:57Clearly the intent to be to damage damage Saudi Arabia's economic ability
00:03:01ability to export oil. But experts experts have told us that Saudi Arabia
00:03:04Arabia has shown a strong ability ability to repair after those attacks
00:03:07attacks to keep oil flowing. And And what we've seen really in the
00:03:10the last about a week or so is an
00:03:12an increase in escalation in attacks attacks on civilian airports. The
00:03:15The one in Riyadh is clearly at the the heart of that. But we've also
00:03:18also seen escalating attacks on airports airports at ABA Nazare, King Abdullah.
00:03:22Abdullah. And remember, in all of of this, Saudi Arabia has quite strict
00:03:25strict rules about the kind of content content video content that can be
00:03:28be uploaded online. So the footage footage that is typically available
00:03:31available to us to verify, to understand understand what's happening, there's
00:03:34there's less of that than we would would normally find. So what we're we're seeing and what we can show
00:03:37show you is probably only really really a snapshot of what's actually actually happening on the ground.
00:03:40ground. And that airport, Riyadh Riyadh in particular is an especially
00:03:44especially important target because
00:03:45because it is a real hub, isn't it? Well, yes. I mean, it's important
00:03:49important both symbolically it is is the main international airport
00:03:52airport in Saudi Arabia strategically strategically as well. And we've
00:03:55we've sort of seen a ramping up of
00:03:56of the attacks on that particular particular airport last Wednesday,
00:04:00Wednesday, the Saudis say that they they intercepted a ballistic missile.
00:04:03missile. Then on Thursday, that really really dramatic footage that showed
00:04:05showed a strike on an aeroplane. aeroplane. We know that a pilot was
00:04:08was killed, at least three others others in the surrounding facilities
00:04:12facilities of the airport. Then on on Saturday, that major attack, at
00:04:15at least 13 killed more than 300 300 injured and then a Sun on Sunday.
00:04:19Sunday. You know, another person person killed as well. The impact
00:04:22impact is really clear delays, cancellations,
00:04:25cancellations, airlines pulling out out their planes from some of the
00:04:28the routes having a real impact on on civilian life in Saudi Arabia.
00:04:31Arabia. And it's also the case, you you know, the Houthis have been warning
00:04:35warning airlines and passengers not not to fly into Saudi Arabia in airports,
00:04:38airports, not to use the airspace. airspace. The UK Foreign Office, Office, for example, warning against
00:04:42against all travel in large parts parts of Saudi Arabia. And I mean,
00:04:45mean, we know that over the last last few years, the government in
00:04:48in Saudi Arabia have been spending
00:04:50spending billions and billions on
00:04:53on defence, on military hardware. hardware. What I suppose many Saudi
00:04:56Saudi people, civilians will be asking asking how on earth can all these
00:04:59these missiles get through? Well, Well, this is a really important important question for the Saudis. Saudis. They have a close military
00:05:03military alliance with the US. They They purchase a lot of military equipment
00:05:06equipment from the US. We know that that Donald Trump has said that the
00:05:09the US is weighing up getting involved
00:05:12involved directly or more directly directly involved in this conflict conflict by striking the Houthis
00:05:15Houthis directly. The UK government, government, for its part, is already
00:05:18already providing an air to air refuelling refuelling support to defend against
00:05:22against some of these incoming missiles. missiles. We understand the UK government government is considering increasing
00:05:26increasing its level of support, support, but fundamentally and we we have seen this time and time again
00:05:30again over this conflict in particular, particular, there is a deep asymmetry
00:05:33asymmetry here. It is cheap and it it is easy for the Houthis to fire
00:05:36fire ballistic missiles and drones drones over the border. And remember, remember, of course, that Saudi Arabia
00:05:40Arabia is a very large country, a a lot of territory to defend Saudi
00:05:44Saudi Arabia. And for any country country that's looking to defend defend against those attacks, it
00:05:48it is more expensive and it's just just harder to do so in all of this.
00:05:51this. And we understand from experts experts as well that Iran has been
00:05:54been providing the Houthis with an an increased technical and logistical
00:05:57logistical support. But there's a a fundamental asymmetry there that
00:06:00that is always going to be hard to to resolve. Let's talk more about
00:06:04about this with Brian Clark, who's who's senior fellow at the Hudson
00:06:07Hudson Institute in Washington. Good Good to see you, Brian. Thanks very very much for being with us. Can
00:06:11Can I ask you first of all, obviously obviously Saudi Arabia is on the
00:06:14the back foot here. It's come under under some pretty serious attacks
00:06:17attacks in the last few days. It
00:06:19It really wants help, doesn't it, it, from the United States and other
00:06:23other allies in the region. Yeah.
00:06:25Yeah. Ben. They're looking for assistance assistance from their friends and
00:06:28and allies both in and outside the the region. They've engaged Pakistan
00:06:32Pakistan and Turkey, with whom they
00:06:35they have a quasi alliance via the the Mecca Accords. And both countries
00:06:38countries are providing aircraft aircraft and some logistics support support to the Saudi Arabians. I
00:06:42I think Turkey is mostly logistic logistic support. Pakistan's mostly
00:06:45mostly aircraft, but they want the the US to come in on their side and
00:06:48and do the same thing that the US US did previously, which is attack
00:06:50attack the Houthis directly to, if if nothing else, suppress the operations,
00:06:54operations, even if they don't completely completely eliminate the Houthi threat.
00:06:57threat. Do you think the United States
00:06:58States is likely to come to Saudi
00:07:01Saudi Arabia's aid on this? The US,
00:07:04US, I think, is currently providing providing some targeting support
00:07:06support to help the Saudis find the the Houthis and be able to engage
00:07:10engage them and maybe some logistics logistics support in terms of keeping
00:07:13keeping the aircraft in the air. air. The US wants to avoid directly directly engaging the Houthis, though,
00:07:17though, because if they do that, that, that'll be going back on the the ceasefire that they currently
00:07:21currently have with the Houthis that that has kept the Houthis from attacking
00:07:23attacking shipping in the Red Sea Sea and the Bab al-Mandab. So the
00:07:26the US is loathe to give up on that that deal because now that would
00:07:30would create a second front in the the maritime fight in the region
00:07:34region with which they already have
00:07:35have going on with the
00:07:39Iranians. As I was asking Thomas Thomas from BBC Verify some people people will be a little bit perplexed
00:07:43perplexed that Saudi Arabia can't can't defend itself better when it
00:07:46it has spent so much money on defence defence in the last few years. Yeah.
00:07:50Yeah. Great question. So Thomas brought brought up a really good point, which
00:07:53which is they've been very strongly strongly aligned with the United United States. They've bought a lot
00:07:56lot of US weapons systems that are are designed to fight a different different war than the one they've
00:08:00they've been facing with the Houthis, Houthis, just like the US forces
00:08:03forces have done, have faced against against the Iranians. They have missile missile defence systems that are
00:08:07are designed for really sophisticated sophisticated air threats, not for for the cheap ballistic missiles
00:08:10missiles and drones that the Houthis Houthis have been using. And they
00:08:13they quickly run out of capacity. capacity. So they need to invest
00:08:16invest in a whole different portfolio portfolio of defensive systems to
00:08:19to be able to counter that Houthi Houthi threat at the scale and persistence,
00:08:22persistence, it's likely to continue, continue, which means they're probably
00:08:26probably gonna have to spend a lot lot more money on a different set
00:08:28set of kit, which they might need need to get from Europe because of
00:08:32of the support that Ukraine has received received from Europe for its defence.
00:08:35defence. We've seen this civil war war in Yemen reignite in the last
00:08:39last few weeks, and we've seen the the Houthis, backed by Iran, seize
00:08:42seize quite a lot more territory, territory, displacing tens of thousands
00:08:46thousands of people. To what extent extent is all of this linked to the
00:08:49the war in Iran? And to what extent extent do you think Iran is is really
00:08:52really pulling the strings here? here? I think Iran's pretty pretty
00:08:56pretty carefully pulling the strings. strings. They've been using the Houthis
00:08:58Houthis and Hamas and Hezbollah all
00:09:00all as levers in order to push back
00:09:03back on Israel and the United States, States, but also to Saudi Arabia
00:09:06Arabia and other countries that have have supported Israel and the US
00:09:09US and its war against Iran. So Iran's
00:09:12Iran's been very strategic in terms terms of how they've used the Houthis.
00:09:15Houthis. They deployed them carefully carefully in the fight they have
00:09:19have with us now. And I've only recently recently reactivated them to mount
00:09:22mount this campaign when they realised realised they needed a second front
00:09:25front to keep the US from being able
00:09:27able to concentrate on Iran with with this current blockade. So they
00:09:30they want to stretch out the US force force and force them to defend wider
00:09:33wider areas that might open up the the blockade more. Well, do you think
00:09:36think Saudi Arabia is going to do do in the short-term because it's
00:09:40it's threatened what it calls a serious serious response to these deadly
00:09:44deadly attacks on, on the airport airport in Riyadh? What's it likely
00:09:47likely to do, do you think? Well, Well, I think the options are limited,
00:09:50limited, right. The Saudis have been been doing a lot of air strikes against against the Houthis already. They've
00:09:54They've been hitting a lot of civilian civilian targets. And I think what what you'll see is more of the same.
00:09:57same. The Saudis will have to escalate escalate their existing attacks that
00:10:00that are going to mostly go after after the civilian infrastructure infrastructure that supports the
00:10:03the Houthis. So rather than engaging engaging Houthi fighters directly directly who are good at hiding,
00:10:07hiding, they'll end up supporting supporting or attacking the families,
00:10:10families, the logistics, the supply supply chains that are supporting
00:10:13supporting the Houthi fighters, which which will create a lot of collateral
00:10:17collateral damage and probably a a lot of blowback in the region. region. Brian, very good to talk
00:10:20talk to you. Thank you for being being with us on BBC News. That's That's Brian Clark, senior fellow
00:10:24fellow at the Hudson Institute in
00:10:26in Washington. Thank you. We'll take take a short break back in a moment
00:10:30moment around
00:11:30might. Putin go to test Nato and and is Europe ready? The security. Brief live with an audience
00:11:33audience here on BBC News. Now in
00:11:43in the United States, federal authorities authorities carried out an early
00:11:46early morning raid today on the Washington
00:11:49Washington home of the Democratic Democratic lawmaker Ilhan Omar as
00:11:52as part of an investigation, the the congresswoman, who represents
00:11:56represents a district in Minnesota, Minnesota, has not publicly made
00:11:59made any comment. But the investigation investigation comes just three weeks
00:12:03weeks before Ilhan Omar seeks re-election
00:12:04re-election in the crucial mid-term mid-term elections in the US, and
00:12:08and that has raised concerns that that it could be politically motivated.
00:12:12motivated. Ilhan Omar came to the the United States from Somalia as
00:12:15as a child, and there are reports reports the investigation concerns
00:12:19concerns immigration paperwork submitted submitted by her late father when
00:12:23when she was a child. Let's get the the very latest from our North America
00:12:26America correspondent Ione Wells, Wells, who was actually outside the the congresswoman's home in Washington
00:12:30Washington right now. I only just
00:12:31just bring us up to date on the latest
00:12:34latest on this investigation. Well,
00:12:39Well, I'm outside her Washington Washington home at the moment and and since early this morning, there
00:12:43there have been federal agents here. here. There's still, as far as I
00:12:46I can count, at least seven federal federal agents inside and outside
00:12:50outside her home from the Department Department of Homeland Security Investigations.
00:12:54Investigations. It's not clear if if anyone was actually at home when
00:12:57when they arrived early this morning. morning. The assumption is she may
00:12:59may well be still in Minnesota. It's It's also not clear what exactly
00:13:03exactly they may have seized from from this home. We have seen them
00:13:07them carry a couple of what appear appear to be cardboard boxes into
00:13:09into a grey van behind me, where where it looks like they could be
00:13:12be trying to gather evidence and and sources familiar with this investigation
00:13:16investigation have said that there there was a criminal warrant that
00:13:19that was executed this morning, and and that this relates to her immigration
00:13:23immigration paperwork. But apart apart from that, details are incredibly
00:13:26incredibly thin about this investigation. investigation. So far, we know that
00:13:29that Ilhan Omar came to the US first first as a refugee from Somalia with
00:13:33with her family in the 1990s. She
00:13:35She was then naturalised as a US
00:13:38US citizen in the year 2000. But But she has repeatedly been the subject
00:13:41subject of attacks by Donald Trump, Trump, who has not only criticised
00:13:45criticised her individually but also also targeted the Somali-American Somali-American community in Minnesota,
00:13:49Minnesota, describing them as a threat threat to the community something
00:13:52something which she and others have have accused of racism when he has
00:13:56has made those claims in the past. past. And as you say, this all comes
00:13:59comes just about three weeks before before those mid-term elections when
00:14:02when the Republicans will be defending defending thin majorities in both
00:14:06both the House of Representatives Representatives and also in the Senate
00:14:08Senate as well. And so I only given
00:14:11given those claims that this may
00:14:14may have been a politically inspired inspired investigation. What has
00:14:17has been the reaction to what's happened
00:14:20happened there? Well, I think given
00:14:23given how thin the details are at
00:14:25at the moment, a lot of what has has been circulating this morning
00:14:29morning is speculation. As I say, say, we haven't had much at all by
00:14:32by way of the authorities about what what exactly the details of this
00:14:35this investigation are, what evidence evidence they have or not to have
00:14:39have initiated this warrant this this morning. But I think there are
00:14:42are certainly particularly on the the Democratic side, some concerned
00:14:44concerned that so close to an election election like this, they do fear
00:14:48fear that this could be part of sort sort of drumming up a story ahead
00:14:51ahead of those crucial mid-term elections elections where she, along with other
00:14:55other representatives, will be trying trying to defend their seats. But
00:14:59But as I say at the moment, we are are really lacking in, in much information
00:15:02information at all from the Department Department of Justice or the Department
00:15:05Department of Homeland Security about about what the grounds of this investigation investigation are. There have been
00:15:09been reports, for example, in Fox
00:15:12Fox News, that this relates to paperwork paperwork that was filled out by
00:15:15by her late father regarding her her immigration paperwork. When she
00:15:18she first arrived to the US but that that is all, as I say, very unclear
00:15:22unclear at the moment. And it's not not clear what these agents here
00:15:26here are trying to from get her home home in Washington. Yeah. OK. Well,
00:15:29Well, I only let's see if it becomes becomes a little bit clearer on later
00:15:32later on in the day. Ione Wells thank
00:15:34thank you very much indeed for the
00:15:37the moment, Ukraine says that Russia Russia has attacked its power plants
00:15:40plants despite the claim from President President Trump that both sides in
00:15:43in the war had agreed to an energy
00:15:45energy ceasefire. Ukraine says attacks attacks on energy infrastructure
00:15:49infrastructure in the capital Kyiv Kyiv and in the city of Kharkiv caused
00:15:52caused power blackouts in several
00:15:54several areas, raising fresh doubts doubts about that supposed agreement.
00:15:57agreement. President Zelensky said said he was surprised by President
00:16:01President Trump's claim that a ceasefire ceasefire had been agreed. While
00:16:04While Moscow hasn't made any comment, comment, Russia's foreign Minister
00:16:07Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine
00:16:09Ukraine does not deserve a respite.
00:16:11respite. Here's our correspondent
00:16:14correspondent Joe Inwood. Vladimir
00:16:19Vladimir Putin may not have formally formally responded to Donald Trump's
00:16:22Trump's claim of an energy ceasefire,
00:16:24ceasefire, but in the city of Kharkiv, Kharkiv, people feel they've received
00:16:28received his answer an overnight overnight strike near a shop killing
00:16:32killing at least three people and
00:16:34and injuring nine more. But according according to one woman who saw the
00:16:38the attack, the actual target was
00:16:39was the city's thermal power plant.
00:16:43plant. We'd already seen the statement statement that they wouldn't target target energy facilities, and we
00:16:47we really believed it. Ten minutes minutes had passed and there had
00:16:49had already been five strikes. My My child and I saw a missile hit
00:16:53hit thermal power plant number five
00:16:55five and watched it burn there. It's
00:16:58It's horrific. This weekend has seen
00:17:00seen a head spinning, chaotic series series of events, all stemming from
00:17:04from rising fuel costs in the US.
00:17:07US. On Friday, Donald Trump announced announced he'd done a deal to buy
00:17:10buy Russian diesel completely reversing
00:17:13reversing previous policy and seen seen as a betrayal by Ukraine and
00:17:16and many others. On Saturday, Volodymyr Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian
00:17:20Russian glide bomb attacks were a
00:17:22a thank you for what he called a
00:17:24a weak deal. Later that day, Donald Donald Trump blamed Ukrainian attacks
00:17:28attacks on Russian refineries for
00:17:30for rising diesel prices and called
00:17:32called on President Zelensky to quit quit before last night announcing
00:17:36announcing on his Truth Social platform platform that both Russia and Ukraine
00:17:40Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking
00:17:41attacking each other's energy infrastructure, infrastructure, seemingly without
00:17:44without either side's knowledge.
00:17:46knowledge. The Ukrainians have repeatedly repeatedly called for an energy ceasefire
00:17:50ceasefire but say the Russians have
00:17:51have refused to sign up. It was clear
00:17:55clear that Putin does not read Truth
00:17:59Truth Social. Speaking at the Warsaw Warsaw Security Forum, President
00:18:03President Zelensky said if Russia Russia continued to attack his power
00:18:06power plants, he would target their
00:18:09their refineries. Those refineries
00:18:11refineries that Putin is so shamelessly
00:18:14shamelessly trying to sell to the
00:18:16the wall. The solution claiming they
00:18:20they can somehow make up for the
00:18:23the losses in global oil supplies
00:18:25supplies caused by the crisis in
00:18:29in the Strait of Hormuz. He mentions mentions the Strait of Hormuz and
00:18:31and in some ways this weekend's events events come back to the war with
00:18:35with Iran. The real reason that diesel
00:18:37diesel prices are so high. Donald
00:18:39Donald Trump is facing a vital set
00:18:41set of mid-term elections. He knows knows many voters hold him responsible
00:18:45responsible for rising oil prices. prices. He's hoping to deflect some
00:18:49some of that anger onto Ukraine.
00:18:53Ukraine. Back in Kharkiv and the the clear up is under way. This country
00:18:57country has faced many dark nights nights with an energy cease fire
00:19:01fire looking highly unlikely. There
00:19:02There may be many more to come. Joe
00:19:06Joe Inwood, BBC News. Well, I've
00:19:08I've been talking to Ukraine's former
00:19:11former deputy Defence Minister Volodymyr Volodymyr Havrylov, who told me there's
00:19:14there's no energy cease fire at the the moment on the part of Russia.
00:19:18Russia. As our president already
00:19:21already mentioned, we don't see any any specific changes in the Russian
00:19:24Russian policy to target Ukrainian
00:19:27Ukrainian infrastructure, including
00:19:29including our energy infrastructure. infrastructure. That's why we are
00:19:33are looking for the next couple of
00:19:35of days to understand what is going
00:19:38going on with the implementation implementation of the President Trump
00:19:41Trump announcement. But we are very very realistic that Russia is not
00:19:45not interested in any cease fire fire during this conflict, because
00:19:49because that kind of cease fire could could demonstrate the weaknesses
00:19:52weaknesses of President Putin for for his to his population. And that's
00:19:56that's not the case. They would like like to have. Would Ukraine be willing
00:19:59willing to be part of an energy cease
00:20:03cease fire? Yes, Ukraine already already we confirmed that we are
00:20:07are ready for cease fire. But of
00:20:09of course we understand under this
00:20:12this that Russia will stop targeting targeting our energy infrastructure.
00:20:16infrastructure. And of course, we we are ready to stop our targeting
00:20:20targeting their refineries. And that's that's our clear position. Can I
00:20:23I ask you about the broader picture
00:20:25picture of the war? Which has been
00:20:28been going on for so long now? Now,
00:20:30Now, your troops on the battlefield
00:20:32battlefield have been making some some progress recently, certainly
00:20:36certainly holding the Russians and and taking far fewer casualties than
00:20:39than the Russian side. But the Russians Russians have been inflicting some
00:20:42some very serious civilian casualties casualties in Ukraine. How do you
00:20:46you see the state of the war at the
00:20:48the moment, as the country's former
00:20:50former deputy Defence Minister? The
00:20:54The escalation of Russian air strikes strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure
00:20:57infrastructure and civilian infrastructure infrastructure demonstrates the desperate
00:21:01desperate situation Russia has on on the ground, on the frontline because,
00:21:05because, yes, this year is a very
00:21:06very crucial year for Ukrainian military military because we succeeded to
00:21:10to deploy a lot of new solutions
00:21:13solutions related to unmanned system system systems in different missile
00:21:16missile strike and deep strike capabilities,
00:21:18capabilities, which gave us an opportunity opportunity to target Russian logistics
00:21:21logistics on the depth up to 200km
00:21:26200km deep in the further the line
00:21:28line of contact. That's why they
00:21:31they stopped advancing on, on the the front line. We only can see some
00:21:35some tactical some small advances
00:21:37advances but not like the previous
00:21:40previous year. So that was the former
00:21:44former deputy Defence Minister of of Ukraine, Vladimir Havrylov. And
00:21:47And I can talk now to Yulia Bidenko,
00:21:49Bidenko, associate professor of political political science at the National
00:21:53National University in Kharkiv. Thank Thank you for being with us. And
00:21:55And Kharkiv is where we saw one of
00:21:58of those attacks on energy infrastructure infrastructure in Ukraine. So I guess
00:22:02guess as far as you're concerned, concerned, there's no energy cease
00:22:05cease fire at the moment between between Ukraine and Russia, as Donald
00:22:08Donald Trump had claimed. Exactly.
00:22:10Exactly. I can confirm it. And moreover
00:22:14moreover yesterday, attacks on the
00:22:16the energy system, namely on the
00:22:19the one of the largest combined heating
00:22:20heating and power plant in Kharkiv
00:22:23Kharkiv in the region. It's not only
00:22:26only destroyed some facilities, it's it's also killed three people in
00:22:29in the near in, in the nearby suburban.
00:22:33suburban. So it's really no cease
00:22:35cease fire. Moreover, this morning
00:22:38morning they attacked the city again
00:22:42again and the high rise building building with inhabitants. So more
00:22:45more than 30 people have been injured injured today. This morning. What
00:22:49What is life like for civilians in
00:22:51in Kharkiv where you are at the moment?
00:22:55moment? Well, I would say we are
00:22:56are facing already with some kind
00:22:59kind of problems in energy distribution,
00:23:03distribution, but we are kind of
00:23:06of keeping going on. And most of
00:23:11of people try to do their routine,
00:23:14routine, do their jobs perfectly.
00:23:16perfectly. So yeah, Kharkiv is pretty,
00:23:19pretty, I would say unbreakable in
00:23:20in a way. And we are not awaiting
00:23:25awaiting any Russian occupation or
00:23:27or even, you know, despite the continuous
00:23:30continuous attacks, people are still still very optimistic regarding Ukrainian
00:23:34Ukrainian army. And regarding the
00:23:36the ability or capability of Ukraine Ukraine to protect this territory.
00:23:40territory. Well, you say optimistic, optimistic, but this war has been
00:23:43been dragging on for years. There
00:23:45There is effectively really still still stalemate, isn't there, on
00:23:49on the battlefield. But Russian attacks
00:23:51attacks on civilians seem to be intensifying.
00:23:54intensifying. Yeah. That's true. true. Russia is definitely escalate
00:23:57escalate and I can confirm it myself.
00:24:01myself. Well, when using the word
00:24:03word optimistic, I tried not to be
00:24:05be hopeless. And actually Kharkiv
00:24:08Kharkiv was targeted 13 times during
00:24:11during just last week alone. And
00:24:14And seven people seven civilian people
00:24:15people have been killed and more
00:24:19more than 47 injured. But nonetheless,
00:24:21nonetheless, we are living in these
00:24:24these conditions since 2022. So people
00:24:28people are kind of adjusting themselves themselves even psychologically to
00:24:32to the war conditions and just keeping
00:24:35keeping work and keeping working working and living. Just briefly,
00:24:38briefly, President Trump said he he thinks there should be a new leader
00:24:41leader in Ukraine. What do you say
00:24:43say to that? Well, as a political
00:24:46political scientist, I don't believe
00:24:47believe that elections should be
00:24:52be possible to have even when the
00:24:54the ceasefire could be the way we
00:24:56we need at least 60 or better to
00:25:00to say 90 days to organise everything
00:25:04everything perfectly due to the law. law. And as I know, most of Ukrainian
00:25:07Ukrainian political parties, they they have an agreement that it's
00:25:10it's better to have kind of a pause
00:25:13pause before the elections just to
00:25:15to have them democratically and very very competitive. Yulia, thank you
00:25:19you so much. Yulia Burdenko there
00:25:20there speaking to us from Kharkiv.
00:25:24Kharkiv. Now here in the UK, just just some breaking news in the last
00:25:27last few minutes. We are hearing hearing that the Iranian ambassador
00:25:30ambassador to the UK has been summoned summoned to the Foreign Office to
00:25:34to make clear that, quote, Britain Britain will not tolerate threats
00:25:38threats on our soil. That is according according to the Foreign Secretary,
00:25:41Secretary, Ed Miliband, and that that follows the Prime Minister,
00:25:44Minister, Andy Burnham, saying that
00:25:46that a suspected plot targeting the
00:25:49the Fairford air base in western
00:25:51western England was almost certainly
00:25:54certainly directed by the Revolutionary Revolutionary Guards of Iran. Mr Mr Burnham said his government would
00:25:58would introduce more sanctions against against the Revolutionary Guards
00:26:01Guards and Iran to respect to restrict
00:26:04restrict their capacity to harm the the United
00:27:37in places hovering around 40 degrees.
00:29:41when reporting on the case and how how social media has shaped the story.
00:29:44story. It's all on The Media Show
00:29:48Show on BBC News. MUSIC
00:29:57MUSIC
00:30:04Now on BBC News. The latest
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00:30:09globe. Business Today. MUSIC
00:30:20MUSIC Oil Oil under pressure. Energy chiefs chiefs pull out of a major gathering
00:30:23gathering in Riyadh after Iran backed
00:30:25backed Houthis attack the main airport.
00:30:28airport. Also tough choices being being made for finance ministers
00:30:31ministers as they meet in Bangkok. Bangkok. As the head of the IMF warns
00:30:35warns countries to rein in the spending
00:30:37spending as debts and borrowings
00:30:39borrowings surge. And not just a
00:30:41a pretty face. Research on the financial
00:30:44financial boost coming from the UK's UK's beauty sector. But could it
00:30:48it also give a much needed facelift
00:30:49facelift to Britain's high streets?
00:30:54streets? Hello there and welcome welcome to Business Today.