we start in ukraine, where officials say at least eight people have been killed in missile strikes on the southern port city of odesa. the dead include a three—month old baby. 20 others were injured in the attacks, on a military facility and two residential buildings. the ukrainian foreign minister says they were designed to "spread terror." it comes as russian forces are reported to be trying to storm the azovstal steel works in the city of mariupol, where ukraine's remaining forces in the city are still holding out. more on that in a moment, but first our correspondent caroline davies has the latest from odesa. thick black smoke that cut through the calm of a saturday afternoon in odesa. this was the aftermath of a missile strike on the city. blown—out glass and rubble, cars crushed and burnt, floors collapsed. through the debris, the city's firefighters led those that can walk out to safety. vitalia and her son nikita were on the 12th floor when the missile hit. translation: there was a very strong explosion i directly on top of us. it broke all the windows in the apartment. i smelled smoke very strongly. we collected what we could and then we ran. when we reached the fourth and fifth floors, we wanted to turn around. it was impossible to breathe, and all the doors were blown out. translation: we were afraid that we would suffocate, - but in the end we broke through. i got burned, there was a car on fire and the flames hit me. i didn't feel it at first, but then people told me. i was in a state of shock. while we were filming, the crowd was pushed back, told that to get too close would be dangerous. the ukrainian authorities have said that the missiles were launched from the caspian sea. despite anti—aircraft defences, two missiles hit a military facility. two hit residential buildings. at least eight people have died, 20 wounded, eight are in hospital. one of those killed was a three—month—old baby girl. at a press conference held in one of kyiv�*s metro stations, president zelensky spoke about the strike and those that have lost their lives. "a three—month—old child was killed," he says. "one month old when the war started. can you imagine what's going on? filthy scumbags. how else can they be called? there are no other words." odesa sits on ukraine's southern coast. while much of the fighting has focused in the east of the country, odesa had started to reduce its curfew and remove some of its street defences. this has come as a shock to many people here in odesa. the city has been relatively quiet over the course of the last few weeks, and many people hoped that that could mean the start of some form of normal life. this shows that things can change in a moment. it's orthodox easter sunday, but few feel they'll find peace while the threat from russia hangs over the country. caroline davies, bbc news, odesa. ukraine's president zelensky has been holding a news conference for the world's media, in the capital, kyiv. it's his first since the russian invasion, and he revealed the us secretary of state, anthony blinken, will visit ukraine on sunday. our correspondent in kyiv, anna foster, gave us this update. highly unusual to find out about a high—profile visit like this before it's actually happened. normally this is the sort of thing that's released after the event, but he did tell everybody that the most senior us officials so far, since the war began, will be arriving here in kyiv tomorrow. that press conference was the first that he's held since the war began, surrounded byjournalists. as you know, he normally does one—on—one interviews in his highly secure bunker, but here he was deep below the streets of the city. he was animated. he was angry at times. he called for a meeting with president putin which he thought might help bring this war towards an end, and he also said that the fighters who are still holed up in mariupol were crucial when it came to a new round of peace talks. he said that if those fighters were killed by russian forces, then peace talks, which haven't happened for several weeks now, would not happen again. we've also seen a video today released by the azov brigade. that is the far—right volunteer force that was integrated into the ukrainian national guard back in 2014. that's very hard to verify, but we see their fighters seemingly in the bunkers below the azovstal steel plant. we see them meeting the civilians in there, children and women among them. you see the conditions are cramped and crowded, and they're also handing out easter gifts to the children down there. in terms of evacuating civilians from mariupol, well, again, an evacuation corridor was planned, but failed. around 200 civilians, we're told, were gathered in the centre of mariupol hoping to leave on buses, but they were told by russian soldiers that if they didn't disperse, they might get shelled. thank you to anna for that update. i've been speaking to matthew schmidt, who's an associate professor in the national security department at new haven university in connecticut. i began by asking him about the importance of 0desa. it is important for a number of reasons. first off, it is a major commercial port so it essentially controls the western black sea including entrance into the sea, coming in from the west. it also controls access to a canal that runs all the way up the danube. so there is a lot of shipping that goes there into central europe, supplying goods and receiving goods. it's also the third largest city, there is a million people in it, and critically, it is highly symbolically important to putin. if you go back to his february speeches, he talks a lot about actions in 2014. there were a series of riots, pro—maidan rioters and then pro—russian rioters, and eventually, in ways that we're not entirely clear about, most of those pro—russian rioters ended up in a building which then ignited and they were killed. so this is part of his narrative for why russia needs to go to war and it's really the only part that has any kind of truth in it. it would be a big victory for him to capture 0desa by may the 9th, by world war ii victory day. ok, that is interesting, the strategic reasons why. do you think he will be able to do that by that date? i don't, and i think if he tries, and he tries to do something like this, 0desa would be the place, he is going to extend himself too far. he simply doesn't have the combat effectiveness with his troops any more. he has lost too many junior officers. and you good junior officers to run offences and so that is a lot of the reason he is pulling back to go on the defensive in the east, because it is easier for him to do that until he gets more officers. why then is he spreading himself out so much still? initially of course it was around kyiv, and you talked about the pull—back, but it is still a vast area he is concentrating on? i think in the case of 0desa, the other reason is that as long as 0desa is held by ukraine, it threatens the western flank of crimea, right? they can move in there and essentially close off the top of crimea, the neck there, no matter what putin does to the east. the sister city for 0desa is mariupol and it is critical for the same reasons but in the east. and as for why he is spreading out in general, the best guess is that he is trying to capture more territory in the east and build a sort of trench line to capture more territory than he otherwise would have injust the occupied territories. find the occupied territories. and finall , the occupied territories. and finally. in — the occupied territories. and finally, in terms _ the occupied territories. and finally, in terms of _ the occupied territories. and finally, in terms of the - finally, in terms of the difference being made by western supplies it was probably a couple of weeks ago where the big calls from president zelensky for an increase in those weapons, do you think they have arrived and they will make a difference? certainly some have arrived but how much in total and how fast they are getting east, for instance, i think it's a closely held military secret. i would not trust anybody who says they know exactly. it seems like they are beginning to make a difference and if the ukrainians can hold out long enough until they get the full brunt of those weapons, especially tanks especially armoured humvees from the united states, they will be able to go on the offence which is critically different and will change the tempo of the war. . ~' will change the tempo of the war. ., ~ , ., it is christian orthodox easter over this weekend, and religious celebrations have been taking place in many countries, including russia. these are celebrations at christ the savior cathedral in moscow. president putin was among those who attended. the church has backed what the kremlin says is a "special military operation" in ukraine. leading the mass, patriarch kirill said he hoped the conflict would end quickly but did not condemn it. to france, where campaigning has ended and now the wait begins for the presidential election run—off on sunday. incumbent emmanuel macron is facing off against far—right rival marine le pen. ms le pen hasn't been in front of the cameras today, but we did get this photo opportunity with mr macron, on the beach near his home in le toucquet, on the english channel. some voting is already taking place, in france's overseas constituencies. special polling stations have also been set up for french nationals in other countries, like here, in new york. in all, around the world, 48.7 million people are eligible to vote in the french presidential election. my colleague reeta chakrabarti has been following the final days of the election from paris, to get a sense of what might unfold on sunday. just under 2a hours now before we find out the opinion, the final result of the election tomorrow evening. but, of course, people are chewing over the situation, which is quite a complex one. so, to discuss it, i'm joined now by the political analyst alex kouchner. alex, viewers will maybe remember your surname. yourfather served in successive french governments. you will then therefore have been watching french politics for quite some time. how would you compare the situation now to what it was five years ago because it's the same two people who are running for election? yes, round number two, but things have dramatically changed. five years ago, both candidates claimed they would change the system. they were challengers, if you will. now, emmanuel macron has a record. he's the sitting president. so, he has to own to his own record. and marine le pen has to put behind her her very bad 2017 campaign. and what has shifted is french society. political parties are in disarray. the french society has cracks it has never seen before. we have had the gilets jaunes, then we had covid, and now we have the ukraine war. so, what you have today is a very tough political landscape for both candidates. we saw in the first round the traditional parties of the left and the right, the socialists and the republicans, an abysmal result. has the traditional left—right split gone out? well, party—wise, yes. as you say, they were all but written off. the socialist party, who has actually given us more last president before emmanuel macron, did i.7%. that is dismal. and the conservative party are now under six. they are all but written off nationally, but politically, you still have politics from the right and politics from the left. and actually french people still relate to that, and it's still a very strong market for them. this is marine le pen's third attempt at the presidency. how successfully has she managed to soften her image, would you say? well, it's quite the feat. in that sense, she did have a very successful campaign. after all, she is again at the second round. and what has changed is her programme. 0h, actually not her programme, the way she presents it. she's been moving away from race and immigration and closer to wages and communities. this has softened her image. she was also very much helped by eric zemmour, an extreme right—wing polemicist with trumpian bravado, whose rants on immigration seem to have made her appear more poised and actually she's no longer a fringe candidate. in that sense, she is very successful. if you look back 20 years ago, marine le pen's father was running in the second round. 82% of the french people voted against the front nacional, with 80% saying that party was a threat to democracy. in 2022, 47% of the french feel that marine le pen is the closest candidate to their worries. 51% think she is the one who changed things best, and we are now having debates on whether or not she is from the extreme right. hint, the answer is yes. the thing is voters don't seem to feel that way any more. voting takes place on sunday in france and we will have a special programme bringing you the result, starting at 17:30 gmt - that'518z30 bst for viewers in the uk. join us for that, as france decides. this is bbc news. a reminder of our headlines... the ukrainian port city of 0desa is struck by russian missiles, killing at least eight people and injuring many more. president zelensky says the us secretary of state will arrive in kyiv on sunday — the highest—level us visit since the war began. downing street has confirmed that borisjohnson hasn't received a second fine for breaking lockdown rules. this comes after reports that the metropolitan police has issued more penalty notices, for an event in the garden of number ten on 20th of may, 2020. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas gave us this update from downing street. we know that the civil servant sue gray looked at 16 different events here and elsewhere. the police are looking at 12 of those, and we understand they have issued fines, 50 or more already, relating to three. now the reports that they have begun issuing fines for one more event, that garden party in downing street on the 20th of may, as you say. downing street here say the prime minister has not had a fine in relation to that. we don't know if he will in the future. what we do know is that he admitted to the house of commons that he was at that event and he was there for 25 minutes, and the rules at the time said you could only be outside your home for an essential work reason and he said he thought it was a work event, but we will wait to see. the issue this week, is the woes this is bringing him and he tried in parliament to get his mps to vote to delay parliament deciding to hold its own inquiry. it seems many of them were not happy about being forced to go on the record and do that, so he backed down and that inquiry is now going ahead. this all leaves uncertainty for him and uncertainty, too, about how solid the backing is amongst his own mps. and in boxing, tyson fury has retained his world heavyweight titles in his all—british battle against dillian whyte. the two men took to the ring in front of more than 90,000 fans at wembley. fury was always on top, and was comfortably ahead when he put whyte on the canvas with an uppercut in the sixth round. whyte made it back to his feet, but the referee stopped the fight — also known as a technical knock out. it means fury retains his wbc title and keeps open the option of a fight to unite all of the heavyweight titles. but after the fight he hinted he might retire, saying he had done his duty to his fans by fighting in the uk again. and some football news, with two of europe's biggest clubs having won their national titles in record—breaking style. first to secure the trophy were bayern munich in germany. they beat borussia dortmund 3—1, meaning they are now bundesliga champions for an unprecedented 10th straight year in a row. and in france, paris st germain guaranteed their record—equalling tenth ligue 1 title, despite a 1—1 draw at home with lens. a group of would—be hosts, sponsors and supporters of ukraine have held a vigil outside the home office in london. many say they've been frustrated by the red tape and delays for families coming to the uk. they want the government to speed up the process and sort out the logistics. 0ur reporter nickjohnson went to meet them. for the past five weeks or so now, people here in the uk have been able to register their interest in opening their homes to people in ukraine who are fleeing the russian invasion there. now, government figures show that around 72,000 visas have been issued to people in ukraine, but those same figures show that only around a third of those people have actually made the journey to the uk. now, people in ukraine can apply to come here under two different methods, one being the family scheme where they might have family connections here in the uk already. the second way is under the government's homes for ukraine scheme, also known as the sponsorship scheme, where we're talking about people registering for their houses to be opened, families here wanting families from ukraine to come and join them here. but we've heard about delays to that process, we've heard about significant issues with those visas being issued, and it's led to a number of people taking action, including those here today, a protest outside the home office organised here by kitty hamilton. kitty, tell me your story, the efforts you've been doing to get people from ukraine here. well, approximately five weeks ago, when the scheme first opened up, we put our names down to show for an expression of interest, which is actually a misnomer. you don't put your name down for interest reasons, you put it down because you're committed to helping people fleeing war, which is what we did, and we've heard nothing back from the home office. so, we went through our own routes, through friends of friends who knew some ukrainians and actually put us in touch with them, and what we did was get in touch with them. that night, i was up until one o'clock in the morning, filling in their visa applications because we thought it was urgent. five weeks later, i'm still waiting to find out whether or not the family is going to come over. worse than that, what we've now found out is that the mother has been accepted, but her children are "under consideration". one of them is five years old. what is there to consider? i just don't understand. so, we've effectively got one family. the adults have been approved, the children still haven't, and obviously they need to travel here as a family. yes. what are they saying to you? what's their situation in ukraine at the moment? they are being so patient and kind, but they are under such stress. the mother told me just the other day — she's in lviv now, they already evacuated from kyiv — and what they found is that actually they've got bomb, missile raids going on all the time. they've had bombs go off near their homes, and the mother is just saying, "i don't want my children growing up with this." nobody should be exposed to this, and that's why they want to come over. and we want them here. they're not staying forever. they're staying until this war is sorted out. they want to go home. little marta, i had a lovely little photograph of marta, the five—year—old girl, who's got a lovely picture of herself on a ukrainian field with a blue sky, and her words are, "i want to go home." but they need to be here first, until it's safe. in response, a british government spokesperson said... "the changes the home office has made to streamline the visa system, including simplifying the forms and boosting staff numbers, are working and we are now processing visas as quickly as they come in ? enabling thousands more ukrainians to come through our uncapped routes." let's get some of the day's other news. more than a hundred people have been killed in two explosions at an illegal oil refining depot in nigeria. officials said that the victims were burned beyond recognition in the blasts in imo state, south of the capital, abuja. rescuers injapan are searching for a sightseeing boat that sent out a distress signal that it was sinking. the vessel was carrying 2a passengers, including two children, when it got into difficulty off the eastern coast of the island of hokkaido near the kashinu falls, a popular tourist attraction. more than 45 people have been rescued but a child has died, after a boat sank off the northern coast of lebanon. the vessel was carrying about 60 passengers when it capsized near the port of tripoli. the lebanese transport minister said they were still looking for the rest of the people on board, who included both lebanese and syrian citizens. here in the uk, a ferry owned by p&0 has been cleared to resume sailing. the vessel's permission to cross between dover and the french port of calais was suspended over safety concerns after the company sacked nearly 800 staff in a cost—cutting move. the ban on sailing contributed to huge trafficjams approaching dover in kent. and staying in the uk, a 33—year—old man has been arrested in the town of bedworth in warwickshire after a series of attacks in the town centre. two men and a woman were stabbed. one of the victims is in a stable condition in hospital. the other two have been discharged. officers say at least ten people were attacked. supermarkets across the uk are limiting how much cooking oil customers are able to buy, with exports hit by the war in ukraine. the country is the uk's biggest supplier of sunflower oil. simon browning reports. the sunflower — the national symbol of ukraine, its bright shining star. yet this spectacular yellow flower is also a highly productive major agricultural export. ukraine normally produces more sunflower oil than anywhere else in the world, but the war, like most things, has almost stopped sunflower farming and production and now food supply chains around the world are short. some supermarkets have now put limits on how much cooking oil customers can buy because demand's surged for alternatives like olive oil and rapeseed oil. tesco now has a limit of three bottles per customer. waitrose and morrisons — two, and the other supermarkets are watching the situation keenly as they monitor customer demand. the british retail consortium says the restrictions are temporary. most supermarkets in my understanding have solid supplies in their warehouses, but they don't want to see any risk of that running out if people go and buy more than they need so they put in these temporary measures while they ramp up production of oils and try to look for alternative sources of sunflower oil to make sure that we at home can get the products we need when we need it. sunflower oil is notjust a staple for home cooks. manufacturers use it for our cupboard and freezer favourites. tasty biscuits, crunchy crisps, oven chips. the food standards agency has now warned consumers that some products labelled as sunflower oil may now contain alternatives to make sure they're still available. today, the boss of iceland said palm oil, a product they'd removed from food production, will now be added back into 50 products temporarily because of sunflower oil shortages. the sunflower in a war zone highlights the jigsaw of our globalfood chain. it's hoped the conflict is short—lived and the symbol of ukraine can regain its farming domination. simon browning, bbc news. we have a live page on the war in ukraine on our website. it's constantly being updated, and you can also find analysis of events — including our top story — ukraine's foreign minister has denounced a russian missile strike on a residential block of flats in the black sea port of odesa. eight people were killed. just log on to bbc.com/news or download the bbc app. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones this is bbc news. hello there. there are some changes on the way for next week, and i'll show you those a little later on. saturday, though, was dry with some spells of sunshine for much of the country. and warm, as well — in dorset, temperatures reached 20 celsius. different story in the far north of scotland, where we've still got a lot of this cloudy weather. temperatures were nearer 8—9 celsius in the afternoon. it was also cooler around those north sea coasts. the wind continues to come in off the north sea, where sea surface temperatures are only around nine degrees. we've still got those east—to—northeasterly winds on sunday, not as strong as on saturday. many places will be dry with some warm sunshine coming through, as well. now, close to this area of low pressure, there could still be a bit of rain threatening the far south of england. still got high pressure to the north of the uk, keeping the run of east—to—northeasterly winds going. and these are the temperatures we start with on sunday morning. still a bit of rain there potentially in the far south west of england to move away. elsewhere, though, a generally dry and sunny start. we'll see some cloud building up, particularly in england and wales, and there could be 1—2 isolated showers popping off, but generally it's dry. similar story for northern ireland — more sunshine in the southwest of scotland, where it's a bit warmer, north—eastern parts of scotland cooler still with some of that low cloud. highest temperatures, southern england, south wales, 18—19 celsius. most of the wet weather on these weather system is getting steered to the south of the uk. high pressure is dominating, and it's centred all the way up there into greenland. now, we'll have lighter winds on monday. they're coming more from the north, so it'll be a bit cooler. and we'll find more clouds spreading out and increasing through the day, and the greater chance of catching 1—2 showers in england and wales. should be dry in scotland and northern ireland, cloudy in northern parts of scotland, and generally it's cooler on monday, with highs around 1a celsius or so. and it could be a chilly start on tuesday, with cloudy skies across the north, and that northerly breeze will push the cloud further south, and temperatures will range from 16 in the southwest of england and south wales to only around nine celsius in northeast scotland and the northeast of england. so, these are the changes for next week — it'll be cooler, there'll be a lot more cloud around, but this generally dry theme is set to continue. goodbye. this is bbc news, the headlines... government officials in ukraine say at least eight people have been killed in missile strikes on the southern port city of odesa. the dead include a three—month—old baby. 20 other people were injured in the attacks. the ukrainian foreign minister says they were designed to "spread terror." ukraine's president zelensky has announced that the us secretary of state and us defence secretary will visit kyiv on sunday. they're the most senior us officials to visit ukraine since the start of the conflict. mr zelensky expressed his gratitude to the us for its provision of weapons. voting has begun in some french overseas territories, in the second round of the presidential election. the polls will open in france itself in a few hours' time.