Intense overnight attacks in both Russia and Ukraine

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0:07Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. Coming to you live from London, I'm Rajini Vaidyanathan. The tech giant Meta goes on trial soon. A number of US states are calling for big changes to Instagram and Facebook, which it owns. Meta's accused of deliberately designing addictive features for young users in a landmark case. We'll hear from a lead plaintiff, California's Attorney General. We want them to stop harming our kids knowingly. They designed a dangerous product. It was something they knew was dangerous and they lied to the public about it. So we want them to end those practices, stop visiting harm upon our kids.

0:45The features that they have, including infinite scroll and autoplay and beeps and alerts and likes and ephemeral content. Hurt kids, they create anxiety, depression, body image issues, learning loss, addictive tendencies. And as a father and the attorney general for the largest state in the nation, I want to protect our kids. That interview coming up here on NewsHour in about 40 minutes from now. But first, it's been another night of heavy attacks between Russia and Ukraine, with both striking each other's territory. In Ukraine, at least 17 people have been killed, most of them in Kharkiv, where Russian missile strikes hit residential buildings, shops and cars.

1:22And in Russia, Moscow's mayor says 620 drones were launched by the Ukrainians overnight, hitting another warehouse belonging to the online retailer Wildberries, Russia's equivalent of Amazon. In recent weeks, the conflict's intensified. The BBC's Ukraine correspondent Dan Johnson is in Kyiv. He brought us up to date with the latest. Attacks across Ukraine overnight and into this morning. The capital, Kiev, has been subject to seven rounds of air raid alerts, and there are explosions and fires reported on the edge of this city. I've been able to see some smoke rising on the skyline, but no update on casualties yet.

1:59In terms of the deaths, the most serious incident was in the Kharkiv region. Ten people reported to have been killed in a strike that hit homes and a row of shops, including a post office and a cafe. 17 people were injured there. President Zelensky has posted a message about that, saying it was a brutal Russian strike and that Ukraine would definitely respond to it. He said it emphasised why international support was so important for Ukraine in terms of putting pressure on Russia. There have also been deaths in Sumy, in Kherson and in Zaporizhia with more injuries too. So the vulnerability of Ukraine's air defences is still apparent right across the country.

2:44But Ukraine has had further success in targeting Russia with strikes on Moscow overnight with long-range drones. And on that topic, I've been talking to the deputy director of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Service, who told me that the long-range strikes Ukraine has been hitting on Russian oil refineries and warehouses are justified. We should destroy and disrupt, first of all, production, weaponry. And that is why one of the main targets, main object for us is the defense industry. And, of course, next one, logistic system, including, in some case, Wildberries, for example. Why? Because it's one of the elements of the logistic system of Russian Federation to wage the war, including, for example, through wildberries, some military equipment, military components, and other elements that Russian Federation uses for war.

3:43Will those deep strikes continue? Unfortunately. Even if more Russian civilians are killed? First of all, I said we must destroy and disrupt the main elements of the wage of war of Russian Federation, not civilian people. What is the thing that worries you the most when you consider the different threats Russia poses? First of all, today we really understand that possible threat in the winter period of time. Especially, for example, destroy, disrupt water supply system, heating system, electricity system, and facilities for normal life of civilian population. Unfortunately, with increasing number of the drones, some missile system, Russian Federation, it's really the threat and challenge can increase the losses of civilian population in our country.

4:37Some people would say then that is the evidence that Ukraine is not winning this war. We have not another way for surviving because we're independent state. It's our territory. It's our land. It's our culture. It's our history. We must fight to prevent the full occupation of Russian Federation. Do you think you are winning? I think yes. That's Vadim Skibitsky there. Dan, that's the sense of what's happening when it comes to the government there. What about the mood on the ground in Kyiv? Yeah, it is tense. As I say, it's been a difficult 24 hours for people here with those repeated air raid alerts.

5:18They disrupt everyone's sleep here, just the ordinary patterns of life. That is annoying and disruptive enough to the pattern of life here. But then people see the smoke rising on the edge of the city. There was an attack here on a marketplace over a weekend which injured people and destroyed somewhere as simple as a second-hand book stall, a car boot sale, the sort of place they would go on a Sunday morning for a browse through some second-hand goods and collectibles. So normal life continues to some degree. There are people out and about on the streets, even when there are air raids. There are people in cafes and bars.

5:51But at any moment, they know those sirens can sound, and that can be followed very quickly by the jet-powered drones that arrive here much quicker than the older forms of drones, and that they know the risk to life is real and apparent here. They're also aware of the vulnerability of the air defences here because they have apparently totally run out of the Patriot missile interceptors that are needed to guard against ballistic missiles. So the government, the military, is trying to say that it is on the front foot, that it is having success with these long-range drone strikes in disrupting Russia's military and cutting its supplies and also influencing the outlook of the Russian people in terms of trying to harden them against the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin's war.

6:31But the stark reality is that still people across Ukraine are at risk from the skies and the Russian missiles that seem to come in never-ending waves overnight. That's the BBC's Dan Johnson in Kyiv. As Western allies provide support to Ukraine's war effort, Russia is stepping up its threats. Moscow says Britain will pay for supplying drones used in Ukraine's long-range strikes. Russia's embassy here in London says Britain's acting as a co-perpetrator while, I quote, hypocritically professing a desire for peace. The UK's Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has been asked about that. This is the UK doing what it has long said it would do, which is to support Ukraine 100 % against this illegal war led by Vladimir Putin.

7:20We are providing support so that Ukraine can defend itself. And that's been the British position all the way through this conflict. By previous prime ministers, it remains the case with me. We are not fair-weather friends. We will be there in Ukraine's hour of need and that won't change. Andy Burnham there. Well, Andrei Fedorov is a former deputy minister of Russia and an advisor to the current administration. I spoke to him earlier, began by asking him how Russia is planning to respond to Ukraine's campaign of long-range drone strikes. First of all, we should confirm that there is a serious increase of Ukrainian strikes over the Russian territory, quite deep into the Russian territory.

8:06And Moscow has only one way to strike back. And it means that in the coming days and coming weeks, the number of Russian strikes, especially with ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, TIRCON, will simply increase. And that's part of your strategy going forward now, then, is it? Yes. But generally, I have to say that we should expect much more escalation in the coming weeks than it was before. Are you concerned about civilian casualties? Because in July, more Ukrainian civilians died than in any month since the early months of the war. Yes, but it's a problem the same for Russia. A lot of Russian civilians have died.

8:57Indeed, but let me just give you the numbers for comparison, because the UN says the civilian death toll was 437 in Ukraine. Meanwhile, in Russia, we've heard that on Tuesday, but they said on Tuesday in the past week, 69 people have been killed. So we're talking about a different scale, aren't we, when it comes to civilian casualties, many more dying in Ukraine? Yes, there is a difference. Also because at this stage, Russian air defence is more effective than Ukrainian one. The problem is that, as I'm saying, that escalation is coming and this can lead to much more serious casualties on both sides.

9:39Including civilians. That is an acknowledgement then that the strategy would include civilian persons. It's reality of the current war, and especially with the use of drones. Let me ask you about these reports that British drones were used in Ukraine's long-range strikes and your response to that, because as we mentioned earlier, Russia's embassy here in the UK has warned that a price will be paid for that. What would that price be? It depends. It depends, of course. because in Moscow there are different ways of thinking how to respond. One, okay, maybe extreme approach is that Russia should strike enterprises which are producing drones on the British islands.

10:32So it means the direct strike on UK. The others are saying that we should maybe make some kind of, some kind of act against the UK fleet. And what do you think, as someone who advises the current administration, what do you think a response should be, if any? At this stage, I think the main thing is trying to clean up the situation via diplomatic channels. because any strike from Russia against UK could have disastrous consequences, as well as continuation of UK support to Ukraine will be considered in Moscow more and more as direct involvement of UK into Ukrainian war. Mr Fedorov, is diplomacy actually moving along?

11:28We haven't heard much about any efforts for talks when it comes to peace, have we, recently? Unfortunately, talks on Ukraine war are stopped now. And all the promises from US side to do something to promote them again, they failed. And unfortunately, we don't have a direct dialogue on this issue, on Ukrainian conflict with European Union and with UK. And what is the mood in the public in Russia? Because we're hearing as the economy is worsening, is more frustration towards the government in Russia, from ordinary Russians? Of course, all these things linked with the war and with the strikes, they're bringing more and more concern into Russian society.

12:16One is very visible, it's a gathering crisis along the country. The other thing is, of course, strikes, Ukrainian strikes on Valberis, which is the largest online service in Russia. That's the former Deputy Minister of Russia and advisor to the current administration, Andrei Fedorov. And we're just hearing that Ukraine's President Zelensky's nominated Yevheni Kamara for parliamentary approval as the next defence minister. He served as acting minister after the abrupt dismissal of his predecessor, Mikhailo Fedorov, back in July.

13:04Coming up on NewsHour, the global price of wool is finally rising. Good news for Wales' sheep farmers. If we look at the global markets, there's less sheep in Wales, less sheep in the UK producing less wool. But if we look at a comparable market to us like New Zealand, there's less sheep in New Zealand now. And they also had a carryover of wool since Covid. That's cleared in the last two years now. So the limited supply that we have, including the increased demand, is increasing, obviously, the competition in the auction, which farmers are going to see the benefits of that. Let's take a look at some of the headlines we're watching this hour.

13:41And Wassim Assad, a cousin of the ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, has been sentenced to death by a court in Damascus for crimes including murder and torture. An alarm mark trial gets underway soon in California, which will see the tech giant Meta accused of fuelling a mental health crisis in a generation of children.

14:04This is NewsHour, live from the BBC in London. More than 400 people crossed the English Channel from the European mainland in small boats in the past eight days. On Monday last week, a large dinghy carried 230 people, the largest number in a single vessel. Authorities continue to pledge to crack down on the criminal gangs arranging these perilous journeys. A raid by German police working with the UK and France earlier this year led to the seizure of more than 9 ,000 life jackets, dozens of dinghies and engines and pumps also. The BBC's learned that Germany carried out these first raids under a new law to crack down on smugglers using its country as a staging post.

14:47Jessica Parker has the story.

14:53We're on the road to West Germany. I can't say exactly where, the police have asked us to keep the location a secret. But we're going to get a rare glimpse into their work in efforts to crack down on small boat crossings to the UK. Because remember, gangs use West Germany as a hub for storing small boats equipment before it's then rushed to the coast of northern France. Big heavy metal doors. And in we go. Oh, wow, this place is huge. I'm in a big brick-walled warehouse and I'm looking at stacks and stacks of packaged-up life jackets. There's loads of them. They say they took more than 9 ,000 during this raid.

15:42This equipment was seized during spring raids that used a new law in Germany for the first time, and we're seeing the results.

15:55Listening to my footsteps, you can get maybe an idea of how big this warehouse is. And I've come over to more cardboard boxes. And inside those are dinghies, deflated dinghies. Also on the programme, a BBC investigation finds evidence that people traffickers are storing small boats in Germany before migrants use them to try and cross the town. Two years ago, our BBC investigation exposed West Germany's role as a staging post in the small boats supply chain. Our reporter went undercover. They tell me the equipment comes from Turkey. They have about 10 warehouses around Essen. Germany then agreed to change the law, specifically criminalising the facilitation of people smuggling to the UK because certain anti-smuggling laws had stopped applying to Britain after Brexit.

16:47To remedy this, the United Kingdom was added again to the list of countries which the code applies to. Bernard Schmeisel is a specialist in UK German law. So now it is the same situation as it was before Brexit, but the UK is explicitly mentioned. Do you think it's really a priority for German police to prosecute these kinds of cases? They all are understaffed and they, to be honest, may focus on what they see more purely domestic matters. But technically, they have to go after this. So if they're being notified about such a suspicious activity, they will have to investigate and then they will eventually have to punish those people.

17:40One law change agreed here in Berlin isn't going to be a silver bullet, but migrants and enforcement sources say tougher policing in Europe is helping to disrupt supply chains, possibly a factor driving some smugglers to put more people onto bigger boats. Because these gangs don't just abandon their money-making schemes. Rather, they evade and they adapt. The BBC's Jessica Parker there.

18:36Investigations now begun just days after Italians celebrated the recovery of three artworks by Cezanne, Renoir and Matisse, which had been stolen from a museum near Parma earlier this year. So how could it all happen when the town was so busy? Christopher Marinello is a lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International. Well, that's exactly how they did it. I mean, they planned it perfectly for when most law enforcement in the town were focused on crowd control. And they assume that they might be able to get away with something if they acted quickly. And that's what we're seeing, a rise throughout the UK and Europe of these quick three to five minute smash and grab type heists that we're seeing.

19:22And they're very difficult to stop. And quite easy to carry out in some ways then. Oh, absolutely. I believe I could get in and out of the British Museum with whatever I wanted in three to five minutes. I mean, that's the problem. You know, we don't want our museums to become fortresses. We want them to be accessible, but we're losing our cultural heritage at an astounding rate. Something needs to change, doesn't it? Oh, absolutely. And one of those things that needs to change is funding to law enforcement and making crime pay again. I mean, it used to be that, crime didn't pay. But now we're seeing throughout Europe, the last several heists, that criminals are getting away with a lot of valuable items.

20:09And we need to strengthen that deterrent factor. And that means penalties and money to law enforcement, which just isn't there. How valuable are these works? Will it be easy for the thieves to sell them on? No, no. They're not going to be able to sell these very easily. And criminals don't think about that next step. You know, if they were smart, they'd have proper jobs, but they think they're going to find buyers. And the more press that this story gets, the more difficult it's going to be to sell these to anyone. I mean, they may travel at five or 10 percent of their true value, you know, in the black market or maybe be traded for guns or drugs or they could be used as collateral.

20:52Sort of like a get out of jail free card, they call it, where criminals who may be stopped and arrested for drug smuggling could say to the prosecutors, look, I know where these paintings are. I want a reduced sentence. I'll make a deal with you. And those deals have worked in the past and they will again. You work for Art Recovery International. It's only been a few days since Italians were celebrating the recovery of those three works of art. How do artworks get recovered in these situations? How difficult is it? It's extremely difficult. You know, I get contacted by people all the time, tipsters.

21:31In fact, even the recent Louvre theft, I've had someone convinced that they knew where they were and knew who the perpetrators were. But I need cooperation from the authorities. You know, there was no reward issued for the Louvre. and the person that contacted me wanted a reward. So I passed on the information to law enforcement and didn't really hear anything back. So, you know, the way these things are recovered is if the criminals slip up and try to sell them to somebody who notifies us or notifies the authorities or we see them, we spot them being sold somewhere at a dealer or a gallery or an auction house does their due diligence and checks, You know, this is how we spot them in the marketplace.

22:14But if they aren't brought to market, they could languish on the black market for years, if not decades. Christopher Marinello, they're a lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International. More information that we're getting on this from Italian officials. They say that thieves were able to bypass alarm and security systems and stole three of the five remaining panels of the San Gregorio polyptych. They were also able to remove the double-sided panel, which depicts the Virgin Mary and dead Christ in Pieta, from an armoured display case. Experts estimate the stolen work to be worth anywhere between$81 million and$92 million.

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23:38Welcome back to NewsHour. The production of wool has a long history here in the UK. It was first spun and woven into cloth in the Bronze Age and became Britain's most important export in the 12th century. Fast forward many years and in the last 12 months, the price of wool has increased by more than 70 % climbing after a global stockpile produced during the pandemic dwindled. Here's our Wales correspondent, Howell Griffith.

24:09As spectator sports go, competitive sheep shearing may not be mainstream, but it always draws a crowd at the annual Royal Welsh Agricultural Show. This year, the sheep farmers visiting had reason to be cheerful. The money they receive for each fleece has been rising. On average, it's up 70 % on last year. According to Gareth Jones from British Wool, it's part of a commodity boom, shaped by international supply and demand. If we look at the global markets, there's less sheep in Wales, less sheep in the UK producing less wool. But if we look at a comparable market to us, like New Zealand, there's less sheep in New Zealand now.

24:52And they also had a carryover of wool since Covid. That's cleared in the last two years now. So the limited supply that we have, including the increased demand, is increasing, obviously, the competition in the auction, which farmers are going to see the benefits of that. And where's that demand coming from? So we see it in the domestic market. So 50 % of our wool stays here in the UK. We have 180 brands who are working with us, who are specifying British wool in their products. But we also have China, which is an important market for us. We also have a bedding manufacturer in South Korea. And also we have some licensees in Japan.

25:27So it's very much, here in Wales, we're producing a fantastic fibre, but it's in demand worldwide. Come on. On his farm in the hills above Llanfair Cerenion in mid-Wales, Wyn Williams keeps a flock of around 700 sheep. He's been here for the last 38 years, rearing mainly for meat. But what he gets for the wool makes a real difference. There's not everybody that can shear. And also your helpers, the wool wrappers and everything, it assists with the cost of the... And most importantly, we have to shear from an animal welfare and health perspective. Who would want a big, big, strong winter coat still on with the excessive heat that we've got at the moon?

26:16Wool has been spun in Britain since the Bronze Age and while technology's changed over the centuries, the process of sorting through each fleece is still done by hand. At a depot in Newtown, Barry Bellis says he can recognise 68 different grades of wool, from the finest destined for knitwear to the coarser kind that could end up in carpets or even slug pellets. If you've got a nice white fleece like that one, you're able to dye that pink, green, blue, whatever colour you want. So there's more value to this fleece than there is this one, whereas this type of fleece, that will tend to go into a carpet blend and stuff like that because of the colour.

26:54Rising wool prices aren't necessarily good news for shoppers, of course, but they do offer reward for one of Britain's oldest industries. I will Griffith reporting there. You're listening to NewsHour from the BBC with me, Rajini Vaidyanathan. It's been a week since former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was handed a death sentence in absentia for his role in overseeing a brutal 14-year civil war in his country. He fled to Russia when his regime fell at the end of 2024. Now one of Assad's cousins has been sentenced to death after appearing in a courtroom in Damascus. Wasim al-Assad was convicted of crimes including multiple murders and torture.