Ukraine steps up its attacks on Russia

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0:06Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. Coming to you live from London, I'm Rajini Vaidyanavan.

0:20The sound of Ukrainian drones as they hit targets in Russia. Overnight into Tuesday, Kiev struck Russian warehouses belonging to Wildberries, the country's largest online retailer, known as the Russian Amazon. At least five people were killed and ten wounded in what's the latest in a series of attacks on wild berries. Well, Kiev says the depots supply the Russian military, something Moscow denies. In recent weeks, the war has been getting ever closer to ordinary Russians. Just a day earlier, as people sunbathed and swam in the sea, a Ukrainian drone crashed into a beach in southern Russia, killing seven people, including three children, and injuring 58, according to Russian officials.

1:04Well, our correspondent, Steve Rosenberg, our Russia editor, brought me the very latest from a busy Moscow street. This is what we know so far. Russian officials say that overnight, drones attacked an industrial park south of Moscow. a warehouse caught fire, and the local governor, the governor of Moscow region, said that five people had been killed. Now, there was no official confirmation about who runs the warehouse that was targeted, but later came news reports of two other drone attacks in two other parts of Russia, one near St Petersburg and the other in the Tvye region, both targeting warehouses belonging to Wild Brits, Russia's largest online retailer.

1:51And this fits into a pattern, because since last month, Ukrainian drones have attacked a whole string of warehouses belonging to Wildberries. It seems to be an attempt to disrupt the operations of a really big Russian company that is used by so many people here. You know, tens of millions of Russians buy things online via Wildberries, and hundreds of thousands of Russians try to sell things through Wild Brit. So there's a sense now that ordinary Russians are really feeling the impact of the conflict, would you say, in a greater way? Much more than before, certainly. I mean, a couple of years ago, if I was speaking to people on the street about the impact of the war on their lives, so many people said to me, well, you know, the war is something happening so far away.

2:41It doesn't affect us. It's happening on television. Today, the message is very different. You know, long-range Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil facilities, for example, they sparked a summer fuel shortage in many parts of Russia. So Russians felt it. These attacks on Wildberries warehouses, that is disrupting that major company. Russians are feeling that. And also, you know, four and a half years into this war, so many people now tell me when you speak to them, You know, we know someone, we know a neighbour or one of our relatives who was killed fighting in Ukraine. So in many different ways, yes, people are feeling the effects of this war.

3:21And is that changing public perception and opinion in any way? Well, that's a really good question. One thing I've noticed is that Russians are very good at adapting to a changing situation. And I think we're seeing that now. The other thing that comes through when you speak to Russians is this sense of, well, we're powerless. You know, we don't like the situation, but there's nothing that we can do to change it. And I get the feeling that many people are just waiting, hoping for the situation to change. But, you know, there is no sense when you speak to people that they have the power to influence what is happening or to influence their government.

3:58And certainly, although it's clear that many people would like this so-called special military operation to be over, Many people talk about let's sit down and negotiate. Vladimir Putin gives the impression of someone who is determined to push on. There's no sign of compromise at the moment from the Kremlin leader. He seems determined to carry on the war until he achieves what he considers to be victory for Russia. That's the BBC's Russia editor Steve Rosenberg in Moscow for us. To discuss the Ukrainian strategy, we're joined now by a former Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine, retired Major General Vladimir Havrilov.

4:39Welcome to NewsHour, Major General. Are we seeing a deliberate change of tactics and strategy by Ukraine? Hello. First of all, I would like just to stress that Russia has been destroying Ukrainian infrastructure and logistics from the very beginning of the invasion in 2022. Ukraine was not able to respond to this due to lack of deep strike and middle strike capabilities. It took for us three years to acquire some local domestic solutions and also some partner solutions to have that capability. And from 2026, we started to manufacture numbers, deep strike and middle strike capability, which gave us an instrument to reach Russian targets deep in the territories and to start causing some painful damages to the oil infrastructure, defense industry, and also this retail type companies who are related to the supplying of military items to Russian.

5:49And I just want to say, I mean, Russia says that Wild Breeze is not related to any military supplies at all. We know that it is the Amazon of Russia. Some would wonder why you are targeting Wild Breeze in particular. What would your response be to that? First of all, Wild Breeze is the number one in size marketplace in Russia. We know that. And until recent, they had a separate chapter on the list of the items they sell, which was named everything for special military operation. And you can buy from this marketplace a lot of stuff, starting from small drones to spare parts for Russian military.

6:35And we advised Wildberries many times to be careful with that, to pay attention to that. They didn't respond to it. That's why they become a legitimate target, because they supply through the marketplace a lot of stuff to the special military operation units which are taking the part in the war in Ukraine. So you say that's a legitimate target, but we are seeing civilian casualties. We've seen civilian casualties on the latest strike on a wild berries associated with that. And of course, the strike which hit a beach. We never, in Ukraine we are just following all international laws related to the war.

7:21We understand it. We never target specifically civilian population. Of course, time to time as a collateral damages it could be for civilians who are close to the military installations, also close to the areas. So on a beach, on a beach when there's sunbathing? beach is located in the area of the eastern part of Black Sea. There are a lot of naval bases, Russian Navy. And so I understand that one of the Ukrainian drones, which was targeted to the Russian some kind of infrastructure there, was shot down by Russian air defense. And we can hear it very clearly from the coverage. And it crashed to the beach.

8:05So you regret the number of civilian casualties on that occasion? Of course, of course, we regret any casualties of civilians who are becoming hostages of this war which Putin started almost four and a half years ago. OK, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. That's retired Major General Vladimir Havrilov.

8:37It's been 10 months since the US brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and the peace plan has yet to deliver much of its promise. Last week, President Trump announced a deal between his Board of Peace and Hamas on disarmament, but Israeli forces have continued their deadly strikes on Gaza. Life remains bleak for most people in the territory, who still live in tent camps or in the rubble of half-destroyed homes. But in the most trying circumstances, some are hoping to connect to the outside world and make a living using their laptops. Israel imposes tight restrictions on foreign journalists entering Gaza, so our Middle East correspondent Yolan Nell has been speaking online to local tech workers.

9:21I lost all my equipment, I lost my house, I lost my office, and I was thinking that is the end of the world here in Gaza. Mahran Bayed, his wife and three young children, now live in a tent in Gaza City. Despite his ruined surroundings, he's one of thousands of well-educated Gazans trying to make a living online, coding and programming. I can work here in Gaza. Anything that is in the freelancing work, starting from mobile application for iPhone, Android, Flutter, to websites, even ads. So anything that can be worked remotely, we can do it here in Gaza. With Gaza's economy all but destroyed and 80 % of people with no income, NGOs see the potential of remote work to fill a desperate need.

10:08Yeah, it's really critical. I mean, we talk about it now as sort of a digital lifeline, right? This idea that if you have a laptop, if you have a working internet connection, you can work and earn income. Nicole Hark is country director for the American NGO Mercy Corps, which is trying to help Gazans, focusing on training, getting contacts for freelancers and supporting the new independent co-working spaces that are popping up in Gaza City and elsewhere. It's really critical to help people get back to work. They don't want to be dependent on aid. They're not looking to sit there and do nothing, right?

10:41But it's really finding a safe space and finding something that's affordable and that continues to have consistent electricity and internet is shockingly incredibly difficult. These hubs have generators and solar panels to provide power and a better internet connection, while most of the population is still living in tents. So let's start with AI engineering. I got these two questions from an engineer and actually I stuck. Wala Valides is a 24-year-old computer software engineer and her family's main breadwinner. Today, she's talking to one of her mentors based in California's Silicon Valley. I have like lots of international mentors who not just help me in the technical skills, also in the soft skills, also in the mental health.

11:28My mental health, it's not in zero, it's in minus. So, yeah, if you want to complete despite all of these struggles and circumstances, or do you want to just, like, wait for a miracle to happen, or wait for something to happen, and absolutely it will not happen if you don't do anything. Walat has recently got a full-time job with a Dubai-based company.

11:57With almost daily bombings, as Israel says it's continuing to target Hamas, safety is still a big concern. And there are plenty of other challenges for tech-savvy Gazans to overcome, as well as the unstable electricity and internet. Banking restrictions make it difficult to be paid. I have a clap here.

12:21Mahran is finding it hard to get his laptop screen repaired at this makeshift workshop. There are tight Israeli restrictions on what comes into Gaza, including computer parts, because Israel sees them as having a possible military use. This test is very hard for us, but we are trying to survive. We are trying to say thanks God for what we can do and we start our life again. Gaza's wider recovery may be at a standstill, and yet its tech workers give a glimpse of a brighter possible future. That's Yolande Nell in Jerusalem. You can hear more on that story in Crossing Continents on assignment on the BBC World Service as well.

13:03You're listening to the BBC World Service and this is NewsHour. Coming up, we hear from one of the writers who's turned the chronic and painful medical condition endometriosis into a musical comedy with a serious message. Patients themselves don't know about the symptoms to look for to ask their doctor about. This is a chronic, systemic, full-body disease that affects every part of your life. And we thought if we can just get some more people aware of it, that we would be doing our mission. We'll have that coming up in about half an hour. A reminder of some of the other headlines we are watching this hour.

13:38Oil companies have reported record profits as the Iran war continues and a mass funeral has taken place in Gaza for more than 100 people whose bodies have been recovered from rubble nearly three years after they were killed in an Israeli attack. There's plenty more headlines as well on the BBC News website.

14:03This is Rajini Vaidyanavan with NewsHour coming to you live from the BBC in London. In recent months, dozens of people have been killed across Pakistan-administered Kashmir in violent clashes between security officials and protesters from the group Joint Awami Action Committee, or the JAAC. Well, the BBC is the first media organisation to gain access to the city at the heart of the protests, Rawalakot. With the internet cart and roads blocked, getting information has been difficult. Our Pakistan correspondent Caroline Davies reports from Islamabad about what the team on the ground has found.

14:44Despair in the makeshift clinic. Shafkat Hussain came in with low vital signs, a gunshot wound to the chest. but his friends clasped his hand at his bedside, the sheets stained with the blood of the previous patients, and hoped until he passed. We only asked for affordable flour, electricity and our basic rights. Instead, our brothers are being killed. Why are live bullets being fired at us?

15:15Like many in Ravlakot, Shafkat had been protesting for weeks. They started in June, led by the Joint Awami Action Committee, or JAAC, a group of local activists that have grown in influence since they formed in 2023. The authorities say the JAAC want to disrupt the ongoing regional elections, that they are armed and that the authorities won't tolerate the march. There was a crackdown, leaving dozens dead, and violent clashes spread across Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Some security officers have died, but most casualties are protesters. Getting inside Ruralikot is difficult. Roads are blocked or guarded.

16:00The internet and phone signal cut. It's meant it's nearly impossible to know what is happening. When the team arrive, they find family after family mourning loved ones they say were shot dead in the protests. This woman lost her only son. He said martyrdom is a great honour. He fought for what was right. He never lived as a slave. And this man, his brother. He was the youngest in the family and was loved by everyone. It is a great loss for us. At the same time, I feel proud that he gave his life while standing up for the rights of the people. He was not fighting or attacking anyone. Protesters don't trust the local hospitals, scared they'll be arrested, instead going to makeshift clinics.

16:48The doctor running it says they struggle to keep up.

16:54We have enough supplies to provide first aid. We can stop bleeding, clean and dress wounds and remove superficial bullets. But patients with serious injuries to the chest, abdomen, head or other vital organs need advanced hospitals. Even major hospitals would struggle if many such patients arrived at the same time. He says they've treated around 50 to 60 critically injured patients in the last week and that he personally treated 15 to 20 with gunshot wounds. Most, he says, were under 40 years old. The authorities have said security forces did not fire on peaceful protesters, but that law enforcement acted against individuals who were involved in attacks on law enforcement personnel, threatened public safety or obstructed lawful authority.

17:42They say it's not true that protesters have been arrested in hospital. The authorities accuse the JAAC of being foreign-funded terrorists and the group has been banned. The JAAC maintain they are peaceful. But we asked one of their core committee, Umar Nazir, about the deaths of security officers. Look, perhaps such deaths did occur. I will not comment on that. However, I believe that certain elements who are under their control were infiltrated into our ranks. They did not provide us with evidence on this alleged infiltration and the authorities say the JAAC are running a disinformation campaign against them.

18:28The BBC did not see weapons or shooting at the protests they observed. The JAAC say they're open to talk, but there are more protests planned.

18:40That's the BBC's Caroline Davies reporting from Islamabad there. It's one of the world's toughest endurance challenges. The Via Alpina is a trail across the Alps spanning 2 ,000 kilometres over eight different countries with 116 stages. Ultra runner Sophie Woods has become the fastest person to ever run it, completing it in just 29 days. Well, the course has an elevation equivalent to climbing Mount Everest 12 times, going through Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and France before ending on the Mediterranean coast in Monaco. Well, 42-year-old Sophie began the marathon on the 4th of July in Italy and she finished on Saturday night.

19:25She's been telling me about the challenge. Every day was tough, just really tough. You know, I think when we first planned it, I actually expected to move faster than I did. The terrain was a lot more technical than I was expecting. And we faced quite a few sort of crises along the way. I mean, you talk about some of the challenges there. Of course, Europe is going through a heat wave at the moment. What sort of extreme weather conditions did you personally encounter on your run? So we had two heat waves, which was awesome. I think it probably got up to about 37 degrees, which is a lot when you're at altitude running.

20:03And then we also had some storms to contend with. And then there were just all sorts of things, like the van had, you know, a flat tire at one point. We had to deal with huge swarms of bugs. And it was, yeah, it was a challenging time, not to mention the fact that there were wildfires happening at the same time that we had to actually divert away from because the route went right through them. And how do you prepare for something like this? I've been running ultramarathons for the last decade. I've run in some of the most incredible races around the world and I think that that really prepares you.

20:42It's spending long days out by yourself, learning how to be strong and capable in the mountains and have skills to effectively save yourself in these sorts of conditions. It's something that you build over years of experience. But leading into this, I was very aware that my body was going to take a pretty big hit. And so I was focusing a lot on my strength work, on making sure that I was eating really well and making sure that I started with as many stores as I could. You've spoken in the past, haven't you, Sophie, about some of the fertility challenges you've faced as well. and how some of that in some ways inspired you to take on this challenge.

21:24I wonder if you could share more about that as well. Yeah, I mean, going through trying to get pregnant and IVF whilst also being an ultra runner is a really contradictory sort of thing. You're so used to getting your body to do what you ask it to do and then all of a sudden it just won't cooperate. And coming to terms with the fact that we weren't going to have a child has been really, really difficult for me. And so this kind of, I guess I fell out of love with my body and out of love with my sport. And this has really reignited that passion again, because my body's amazing. She's just done the most incredible thing for me.

22:02And I've had the most amazing adventure, which is why I got into the sport in the first place, was to have adventures in incredible environments. And how do you mentally prepare for this? You've spoken about the physical preparation. The mental side of it is really important. And I think that I have really practiced this through my years of racing of just, I just keep moving. No matter what happens, I just keep moving. Like the urge to stop, there is always going to be that little voice in your head being that, just have a wee seat. Why not? There's one there. You know, nothing grows in the comfort zone.

22:38So you just got to keep moving forward. And I think if you practice that enough, it just becomes conditioning. and also the fact that I had so many people out there supporting me and cheering me on. That is invaluable to know that no matter what time of day I was out on the trail, if it was the middle of the night, there were people somewhere in the world checking on my little dot, making sure that I was still moving. Sophie Woods inspiring us all there.

23:05It's been five months since the deadliest civilian strike of the US-Israel war in Iran. 120 children killed at a school. Experts say the evidence indicates it was American forces that hit the school, but the US government has not admitted responsibility. I'm Asma Khaled and I host the Global Story podcast on the BBC. The BBC has now visited the site of the school and spoken to Iranians about what they saw. For more, listen to the Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

23:37Welcome back to NewsHour. Europe spent this summer trying to buy its way out of the heat. Air conditioner exports from China into the European Union hit nearly$3.8 billion in the first half of this year. That's up more than 40 % on last year. Many shops across the continent have sold out and prices are climbing. Business Daily's Sam Fenwick has been following the money chain behind Europe's aircon boom. This is a queue outside a discount supermarket in Paris one morning in July. The queue goes around the building. They're not there for freshly baked bread. They're there for a box with a fan in it.

24:19Within minutes, the shelves are empty. There are scoffles in the aisles and fights break out and this footage goes viral. Only about a fifth of European homes have air conditioning at all. In Northern Europe, it's more like one in ten. But France alone has had four heat waves since May. Nicolas Léger is a retail analyst at Nielsen IQ in France. He says 4.6 million fans and air conditioners were sold in France between January and June, double last year, three times the figure of four years ago. But then the stock ran out. This year, the average price spent by Barriers has increased by 10%. Sometimes you have no choice.