Ukraine

A Russian soldier has pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed Ukrainian, in the first war crimes trial of the conflict. 

We spoke to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Iryna Venediktova, who is overseeing the first war crimes case involving the Russian soldier that began today.

The first Russian soldier to be tried for war crimes has appeared in a court in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv today.

We spoke to Ihor Zhovkva, who is the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of the Ukraine, and Head of Foreign Policy.

As President Putin commemorated the end of a war 77 years ago, the war he started in Ukraine less than three months back rages on with no end in sight. 

We speak to former Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Kasyanov. 

We speak to Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Vadim Prystaiko, and Tory MP Tobias Elwood – who is Chairman of the Commons Defence Committee.

Pristine lines of goose-stepping soldiers, gleaming military hardware, stirring music – and President Putin invoking the glorious past of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany. 

While Western governments help Ukraine resist Russian forces by pouring in weapons, the reality on the frontline is brutal. Russia is pummelling Ukrainian soldiers in the east with heavy artillery.

Lindsey Hilsum is in Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region.

Before the war the outside world had barely heard of Mariupol, the industrial port on the sea of Azov in south eastern Ukraine. 

We spoke to Nina Krushcheva, great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev.

The US Congress is set to consider a request from President Biden to endorse a new $33bn spending package for Ukraine. 

After weeks living in conditions described as a living hell under constant bombardment in the freezing, dark basement below the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol – the first group of civilian evacuees are due to arrive later tonight in Ukrainian controlled territory.  

Away from the frontline, the diplomatic war of words is escalating. Western nations – including the US and UK – are pledging to pump Ukraine full of defensive weaponry, while Russia says that doing so will provoke a ‘lightning-fast’ response.