and in central africa, we ve a special report on the race to stop the plunder of rich peatlands releasing damaging carbon dioxide. hello. one of president putin s closest advisers, the foreign minister sergei lavrov, has told the bbc that russia has not invaded ukraine. he s repeated the kremlin line that there is no war, but instead a special military operation . this comes as russia s invasion of ukraine is almost four months old. mr lavrov, who s been at the heart of power in russia for over 20 years, spoke to our russia editor steve rosenberg. hello, thank you. how are you? it was the first time sergei lavrov had agreed to meet since moscow launched its offensive in ukraine. russia s government has created a parallel reality. invasion? what invasion? translation: we didn t invade ukraine. - we declared a special military operation because we had absolutely no other way of explaining to the west that dragging ukraine into nato was a criminal act. russia s special operati
at least four people dead. and an apology from uefa after the chaos that marred the champions league final between liverpool and real madrid. fanfare. a thanksgiving service at st paul s cathedral marks queen elizabeth s 70 year reign, but the queen herself was absent. hello. president zelensky has marked 100 days since russia invaded ukraine with a defiant video message, praising his country s resistance and insisting it will be victorious. in the past week, vladimir putin s forces are said to have made significant gains in the eastern donbas, but the governor of the luhansk region says ukrainian troops have now recaptured 20% of severodonetsk. 0ur international correspondent 0rla guerin has been with ukrainian troops near bakhmut, one of the next towns in russia s sights. a dirt track that leads to a grinding war. we re in donbas, the key battleground. the russians are two miles down the road. this area, around bakhmut, is still in ukrainian hands for now but the enem