live from london, this is bbc news. as russia launches a new offensive in eastern ukraine, we have a special report from the frontline. the most significant advance that russia has possibly made since the start of january. many believe this is the start of the summer offensive to... explosion. it comes as germany says it will help ukraine develop new long range missiles, capable of hitting deep into russian territory. the un security council meets to discuss the situation in gaza as the eu's top diplomat ramps up the rhetoric against israel. israel's strikes in gaza go beyond what is necessary to fight hamas.

france's most prolific paedophile - a former surgeon who raped and sexually abused nearly 300 children - is sentenced to 20 years in prison. donald trump's administration orders us embassies abroad - to "pause" new applications for student and exchange visas. we hear from a harvard student about his concerns. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala. we start this hour with a special report from ukraine. russia has launched a new offensive in eastern ukraine in a push to capture more territory. this comes amid president zelensky's visit to berlin, where germany and ukraine have agreed to working closer together on missile production. meanwhile, russian has intensified its assaults on sumy, massing large numbers of troops there, and

kharkiv and donetsk. russia's most significant advances since january have been around donetsk capturing a key position on an important supply route between two embattled cities. it comes after two weeks of hectic diplomatic efforts, failed to get an agreement on a ceasefire in ukraine. let's speak to our correspondent yogita limaye in kyiv, who has just been on the eastern front line in donetsk. give us an idea of the sorts of things you have heard and seen. in the past three weeks, we have been in the eastern donetsk region, from soldiers, civilians, military analysts and we ourselves have seen on the ground, we know that russia has intensified its push to try and take the whole of the donetsk region and it has made significant advances there. since the autumn of last year it's been trying to march into

the cities, it hasn't been able to do that because ukrainian defences have held that event off. but russia has changed tactics now, it's trying to encircle the cities, and in the past two weeks it has taken a key road that goes from one city to another, it is a key supply route and from there it what it is trying to do is it's trying to attack other roads going into those cities which would affect logistics, transporting soldiers to and from their positions on the front lines. with three of those soldiers, this is a report from the front line. the aftermath of russia's vicious onslaught over the past few days is visible across ukraine, but especially here, in towns just behind the front lines. this is rudinski, north of the embattled city of pokrovsk. a glide bomb ripped through the town's main

administrative building and three apartment blocks. from the edges, we can hear artillery fire and outgoing gunfire from ukrainian soldiers shooting at drones. you can really see, just in the past two or three weeks, things have changed on this front. the most significant advance that russia has possibly made since the start of january. many believe this is the start of the summer offensive to take... explosion. we hear a russian drone, and then another one making impact. we run to the closest cover - a tree. above us, the drone continues to hover, the terrifying whirring sound of what's become the deadliest weapon of this war. stay or come? come.

we've just run to safety inside a house here in rudinski. we actually saw a drone that was moving at really high speed and we can still hear gunshot sounds, potentially drones being shot down. you can really see and feel the russian advance here in the donetsk region. gunfire. it's changed, i would say just in the past two or three weeks that we have been here. explosion. this is what it's like every minute for soldiers fighting this war. about half an hour later, when it's safe to leave, we speed out. by the side of the road, what is likely a downed drone. in a town further away from the frontline, we see a row of homes destroyed by a missile overnight. bilicki is now

increasingly being hit, its residents exhausted. olexander, now forced to decide whether to stay or leave. "i wish it would stop. "no-one needs this war. "i've had enough," he says. i'm lucky to be alive. but the diplomatic momentum to get the war to stop seems to have hit a dead end. in villages that have been turned into frontlines, scattered all over we've seen homes that have been converted into makeshift drone workshops. and it's hard to overstate the impact of what's produced at these places, the impact that that actually has in the battlefield. a soldier with the call sign moderator is building the latest weapon to hit this war zone - a fibre optic drone. a spool with tens of kilometres of cable is fitted to the bottom of the drone.

fine and sturdy, the fibre optic cord is then physically attached to the controller that's held by the pilot. translation: the signal controlling the drone is transmitted through the cable, not a radio frequency. it's really important because on our frontline, the enemy has a lot of electronic interceptors which jam all the frequencies, so we can't fly our usual drones. nearly twice as expensive as regular drones, ukraine is playing a game of catch up, deploying fibre optic devices. russia started using them months before ukraine, the soldiers tell us. the chilling impact of rapidly changing technology can be seen in this recent video from the eastern front. a russian drone chases an armoured vehicle carrying ukrainian soldiers. the jammers on the top could have neutralised normal drones, but not a fibre optic one. it flies straight through the back door and explodes. transporting soldiers to and from the front is often

deadlier than the battlefield. at a safe house, just out of reach of drones, we meet sergey, who works in a mortar unit. translation: the terrain is flat, so there is nowhere to hide. and right now you can feel the intensity of russia's assault growing stronger. they're using all they have to try to cut off supply routes going into the cities. the men prepare to deploy to their positions. as the war enters a fourth summer, most of the soldiers we meet are those who've joined after the full scale invasion began. after a few months of training, they've had to learn on the job in the midst of a raging war. maxim had a job in a drinks company. now, he works in the trenches at the very front of ukraine's defence. translation: there are times i've spent 30

days in my position. there was one instance when we didn't sleep for three days because the russians kept coming at us, wave after wave. even a minor lapse would have meant we were dead. i ask how his family copes with his job. it's very... it's very hard. a soldier fighting for his country, but also just a father missing his two-year-old boy. yogita limaye, bbc news, eastern ukraine. russia's soldiers, ukraine's soldiers, sorry, have told us about changing tactics that russia's infantry is deploying on the ground, while they would attack in groups earlier and now they sometimes attack just one or two soldiers of the time, sometimes even on

because like defences. what this means is that in some parts, the front lines don't actually look like conventional lines would rush on one side and ukraine on the other, but they can actually look like chess pieces on a chessboard during play with the positions actually intertwined. despite russia having the momentum right now and ukraine being under pressure, it is not going to be quick and easy for russia to take donetsk, ukraine is holding on but it is going to require weapons, it is going to require ammunition and as this war enters its fourth year, you can also see it as manpower issues, those are evident on the ground as well against a much bigger russian army. thank you so much for that report and thanks also to the rest of your team. let's go to the middle east now, and eu's top diplomat, kaja kallas, says israel's military strikes on gaza, go beyond what is necessary to defeat hamas. she has also criticised the new aid distribution system imposed by israel in gaza, which bypasses

the united nations. let's take you back into that session, it's in its third hour now, meeting to discuss the situation in gaza and we are still to hear from the palestinian representative, we are still to hear from the israeli representative and when we get to them, china, as you can see currently speaking, we will carry that live here on the programme. the un security council is meeting to discuss the situation in gaza - but first let's hear what kaja kallas has been saying. israel's strikes in gaza go beyond what is necessary to fight hamas. humanitarian aid cannot be weaponised, it has to be in accordance with the humanitarian principles and therefore we have the humanitarian aid organisations that are able to provide that aid.

let's go back to the un, a little earlier this afternoon, dr feroze sidhwa, a trauma surgeon, has been speaking earlier at the un security council about his time volunteering in gaza. in gaza, i operated in hospitals without sterility, electricity or anaesthetics. surgeries took place on crowded and filthy floors. children died not because their injuries were unsurvivable, but because we lacked blood, antibiotics and the most basic supplies that are readily available in any large hospital anywhere else in the world. i did not see or treat a single combatant during my five weeks in gaza. my patients were six-year-olds with shrapnels in their heart and bullets in their brains, and pregnant women whose pelvises had been obliterated and their foetuses cut in two while still in the womb. mothers sheltering in the hospital cooked bread on hot plates in the emergency department during mass casualty events, as we dealt with the rain of fire and death falling around us everywhere. mr president, the foundations

of life in gaza family, health and community have been shattered. mr president, the foundations of life in gaza - family, health and community have been shattered. the medical system has not failed - it has been systematically dismantled through a sustained military campaign that has wilfully violated international humanitarian law. joining me now is our correspondent barbara plett usher who is in hostage square in tel aviv and nada tawfik who is outside the un in new york. that session at the security council, because it's a really graphic account from that doctor but we have moved note to the diplomacy and some really strong words in terms of what israel is currently doing on the ground. yeah, that's right, matthew. and you know, the majority of council members have really expressed extreme alarm over the humanitarian catastrophe. there was one line by slovenia's ambassador that really kind of summed up the mood of council members and

what we've heard over the last year plus several months. he said the task of listing every single cruelty in gaza had become impossible, and he said it was clear that there was a responsibility to protect civilians and that responsibility meant the council could no longer be silent. and we are hearing that, from the majority of the council, we heard from the uk for example repeating a lot of what we have heard over the last several weeks as well, that israel's actions in gaza are wholly disproportionate, that they reject any attempt to displace it civilians or take control of gaza, and overall this really is echoing what we heard from the referrers, not only the special coordinator for the middle east peace process, but that american doctor who we heard from who served in gaza twice, saying that this is all, again, man-made, forcing civilians into ever shrinking spaces, as

israel continues air strikes and destroying civilian infrastructure. all while denying people the very basics for survival and starving palestinians full in gaza. so extreme alarm, matthew, but i think what underscored the difficulty in having the security council really act and do more on this, was the united states'statement, and the us very much stuck to its ally israel's position, placing the blame fully on hamas, saying hamas had to be defeated, they had to leave gaza, they had to disarm and really, not putting as much emphasis on the toll on civilians. i thought it was also interesting that france and their statement emphasised not all... civilians in gaza are not as you can see the kind of disconnect between the majority of the community --

international community, the us and israel on the other side. let's go to barbara, people today are marking to 600th day of this conflict. there is, despite what the us representative was saying, there is growing international to disquiet. is any of that deflecting or in any way changing the likely position adopted by benjamin yahoothere is no evidence that that is the case, and here in hostage square in the centre of tel aviv, uc the heart of the domestic opposition to the war. the hostage families and their friends have been spearheading that since, for many months, many of them didn't expect to be here is 600 days later. i spoke to one woman, she said we didn't expect to be here two weeks later after the war and

here she has been almost every day since, and there is great frustration that mr netanyahu ended the cease-fire in march and resumed the offensive. he just announced today what he said was a major achievement which is the killing of mohamed seymour, believed to be the new leader of hamas after the former leader was killed. -- sinwar. we've killed many leaders, no more excuses, stop the war. that's very much the sentiment here, frustration with mr netanyahu because many believe he is continuing to work for political reasons because of his hard right allies in the cabinet. i did ask the woman i was speaking with, there is this growing swell of criticism from international leaders, but especially from israel's hostess allies, do you think that will have an impact's the majority of israelis want this to end, she said, latest polls is around 85%, if we can't get

him to stop the war, i don't know if the international community can.

straight to breaking news, because we are getting the full details of the charges facing andrew and tristen tate in the uk, they've been revealed in the last few moments by the crown prosecution service for the first time, so let me just take you through the details that have been made public. andrew tate faces ten charges including rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking, and controlling prostitution for game. the charges connected to three alleged victims. tristan tate faces 11 charges including rape, actual bodily harm and

human trafficking. the charges are connected to one alleged victim. a warrant requesting extradition of the tate brothers to the uk was issued, you may remember in 2024, however because of those domestic animal matters in romania, they need to be settled before any extradition can take place. those of the details by the crown prosecution service regarding andrew and tristan tate. i will repeat it, andrew tate facing ten charges, tristan tate facing 11 charges. that news just coming into us. if there is more, we will obviously return to the story. now, let's move to what we have been watching through the course of the day in france. a court in france has sentenced the country's most prolific paedophile to 20 years in prison. joel le skwanek admitted to raping and sexually assaulting hundreds of children under his care.

he admitted to all the charges, which took place between 1989 and 2014. many of his victims were sedated when he attacked them and had no idea what had happened. he's already in prison after being sentenced for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces. andrew harding has this report - and a warning you may find some of it distressing. in the police car, france's most prolific paedophile heading back to court here in the town of vannes. the verdict at joel le scouarnec's trial has never been in doubt. the 74-year-old admitting repeatedly to decades spent abusing hundreds of children. "i am a paedophile and a child rapist," he told the court. "i was finally able to accept that. "it was a relief. "i've come to understand the suffering of my victims. "i devastated their lives."

during the trial the prosecution called the retired surgeon "a devil in a white coat." his crimes left some of his 300 or more victims struggling with trauma they barely understood. today, grown up, many of those victims told us they had no trust in joel le scouarnec's expressions of remorse. translation: i saw no sincerity from him. i just hope he cannot hurt people any more. but i don't expect him to change. le scouarnec spent years raping patients in rural hospitals, but administrators knew as far back as 2005 that he was a paedophile, that he had watched child abuse online. he still kept his job. this case has exposed serious failings by the french police and medical establishment, who could have intervened and stopped le scouarnec's crimes many years earlier. there is also a real concern today that the issue of child

abuse is still not being taken seriously enough by the french establishment. last year gisele pelicot drew global attention to the trial of her 50 rapists and to the issue of drug-facilitated rape. by contrast, many of le scouarnec's victims feel forgotten. some have now begun to protest, accusing the french authorities and local medical bosses of failing to accept their share of the blame. they are in denial. it is both individual and collective. it is quite astonishing, really. translation: our government and our society are not outraged. the rape of children seems too complicated to acknowledge. france denies this exists. perhaps this trial, with all its devastating detail, will

now prompt some soul-searching in france. le scouarnec himself says he wants to become "a better person, to regain his humanity" during the long years that now await him in prison. andrew harding, bbc news, vannes. we started this hour with that special report from ukraine, developments on that story come a breaking development, serge lovegrove has just said that moscow is ready to hold a second round of peace talks in kyiv and istanbul, that's where the first round happened on the 2nd of june and a exchange memorandum on reaching a peaceful settlement on the conflict, that is just come from russia's foreign minister. back to the un special counsel because the palestinian representative has started talking. for her important

briefing and her efforts. i also expressed our deep appreciation to the doctor for his compelling briefing, for his service to save wounded palestinians, especially children, and gaza, and for his appeals for an end to this brutal war on our people. let me also reiterate - our support and gratitude to the secretary general antonio guterres, to tom fletcher, mr leslie renee and many others in saving lives at the expense of theirs. mr president, there is cruelty in

the bombardments, cruelty and the wanton destruction. cruelty and the blockade and even cruelty in the distribution of very limited aid. we would be asked how can you complain about food finally being delivered? after having complained about starvation and famine. isn't it any aid better than no aid at all? who said these should be our choices? the doomed fate of our people, a full blockade against an entire civilian population including 1 million children, depriving them of food, water, medicine, shelter or a system of aid that is degrading,

discriminatory, limited in food and limited in quantity and which aims at the forcible displacement of the population and at facilitating the unlawful seizing of land. do you know how we know this is the objective? the israeli officials are openly telling the world that this is their intention. statement after statement, threat after threat. after seeing starvation used as a weapon of war, now we see aid being used as a weapon of war. should we remain silent? because the alternative is worse? or should we stand up for the humanity of palestinians of all civilians

in any situation of armed conflict. the images of hungry, desperate people storming out of the cages they were forced into in order to get aid is gut wrenching. and heartbreaking. these are people, human beings, deprived of water, food, medicine for so long, and hanging to life by a thread. this is outraging the palestinian people, all of them. including me. it is outrageous to see the situation and still you are not acting. how much more do you want? israel wants to appear as allowing aid in, while

continuing to make sure life cannot actually be sustained in gaza. if israel wanted aid in, it would open the crossings. and allowed humanitarian aid to enter immediately and fully in coordination with the un including unrwa, which proved during the cease-fire its ability to deliver aid to all those in need throughout the gaza strip. the un plan with its proving capacity on the ground, remains the only viable plan to deliver aid in line with the humanitarian obligations and principles, and it has all necessary safeguards if that is the true concern. but the true concern is how to get rid of the palestinians by killing them, starving them and

destroying us so they have no choice to leave if they want to live. if they want to in his speech yesterday, and said two truths. the first is a freudian slip, and i quote, "when you try to target civilians, you invariably hit civilians." and indeed, israel has been hitting civilians. the second truth is, and i quote, "you always dehumanize, demonise before you annihilate." let me repeat that, "you always demonise before you annihilate."