To the program. We begin in russia where President Putin has carried out a rare reshuffle of his security chiefs. His top Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu has been removed from his post. Hes a long standing ally of Vladimir Putin and has served as Defence Minister since 2012, Playing A Key role in russias invasion of ukraine. His replacement will be andrei belousov, an economist and the deputy Prime Minister. Earlier our russia editor Steve Rosenberg explained that at the kremlin, reshuffles are unusual. Whoever the russian government ministers are, whoever� s sitting around that cabinet table, there is one man and one man alone in russia who calls the shots, and that is Vladimir Putin. Hes the man with all the power. Having said that, a Government Reshuffle in russia is interesting, particularly when key ministers like the Defence Minister is being changed. They dont happen too often. The foreign minister, hes been in his post for 20 years. Mr shoigu, he has been Defence Minister for 12 years. He was appointed by Vladimir Putin in 2012, i think. The two men were said to be pretty close for a long time. They even went on holiday a few times to siberia together. Last week, we were on red square watching the Victory Day Parade and Defence Minister shoigu was there inspecting the Russian Troops. But there had been rumours for some time that he could be moved, he could lose hisjob, and it seems thats whats happening. He still has a job to go to. Hes being moved to the Russian Security council as the head of the security council. But i think thats a demotion compared to being Defence Minister. Whos coming in, whos replacing him . Someone called andrey belousov, whos an economist, and i think that reflects the fact that over the last couple of years, President Putin has put the russian economy on a war footing and wants an economist to run things because its vital, as far as hes concerned, that the Defence Industry has enough money to fund this war. Ive been speaking to russia expert, ariel cohen, a senior fellow at the atlantic counil in washington dc situation. Shoigu who was an unpopular Defence Minister, to say the least. A lot of people in the military blamed him for the failures of the first year, year and a half of the war with ukraine. Yevgeny prigozhin, the rebel of 2023, He Rebelled Injuly and was put down and then murdered, was demanding that putin fire shoigu. So, shoigu is kicked upstairs to the security council. But the most important thing here is the removal of a very powerful man, nikolai patrushev. Patrushev is a spook. He is, in fact, a security manager, vehemently anti western. And now apparently he is going to the russian senate, which means its also kicked upstairs. So, mr belousov, whom i met, who is a very statist economist, is not a Free Market Economist who advocated things like Emergency Taxes on Extractive Industries and whatnot, so he will be somewhat of putins albert speer, the german architect who supervised very efficiently the end game of the third reich in the military industrial sphere. And i think belousov, who actually was a part of a quite successful Economic Team together with the central banker, is going to be in charge of Military Production and financial issues, including evasion of the western sanctions. And what will be the implications then for the ongoing war in ukraine . More money, more economic swaps. We are hearing about russian gold being sold to earn revenue for russia in the middle east and elsewhere. More dealings as we saw when russia sells, for example, oil to india, and then that oil is smuggled back or sold back to europe and keeping the russian economy on the straight and narrow as much as they can. And i hearfrom my moscow sources that belousov is a Defence Minister, not just for the war in ukraine, but if the war in ukraine succeeds, possibly russia will continue its push to the west, be it the Baltic States or poland, which makes the whole thing much, much more dangerous for the west because that will be a war with nato. And also belousov is not going to run Military Operations. There are generals and mr putin, who is increasingly comfortable in his role as a commander in chief. Things in ukraine are going betterfor russia. They are attacking from the northern border of ukraine, russian Ukrainian Border in the direction of kharkiv, the second largest city in ukraine. So, putin doesnt want to share the laurels with shoigu, with patrushev or anybody else. President zelensky says theres fierce fighting along a large part of the kharkiv border in eastern ukraine. Russia says it has captured another four villages in the region an area where Russian Troops had been pushed back nearly two years ago. It means that since they launched their Surprise Offensive two days ago, they have taken nine villages. Today there have also been strikes on the russian side of the border in belgorod with Russian Military saying a Ukrainian Air strike destroyed a section of a io storey apartment block. With the latest on the conflict, our defence Correspondentjonathan Beale reports from vovchansk. The road to russia, just a few miles from the border. And proof that the russians are back in the Kharkiv Region again. The town of vovchansk was liberated in a surprise ukrainian offensive less than two years ago. Now its at risk of falling back into russian hands. Alexi, a local policeman, is once again telling the population to leave. He says its better than dying. The shelling is constant and chaotic. And its all over the town. We quickly move on at the sound of a russian drone. This is all thats left of sergeis home. The familiar russian tactic of reducing towns to rubble. But sergei says he cant leave. He needs to look after his goats now his only worldly possessions. You can still hear the artillery battle going on. It was more intense yesterday. This devastation one mans house was created by a russian glide bomb. Jet roars nearby. And thats the sound of a jet somewhere. Explosions. Ukraines outgunned and outnumbered, and russias using aerial glide bombs to devastating effect. Alexi simply says, look at whats happening. For some, its made the decision to flee unavoidable, though its still heartbreaking for olexander. This was the home he grew up in. He doesnt know if hell ever return. Ukrainian officials insist they were ready. Not everyone agrees. This Drone Footage appears to show Russian Troops crossing the border unopposed. Ive been in front line. For something youve already fought for before in 2022. Same again. Youre angry . Very angry. Denys, a ukrainian reconnaissance commander, helped push back the russians in 2022. Now hes having to fight for the same territory again. Translation there was no first line of defence. We saw it. The russiansjust walked in. Where were the minefields . They just walked in. Ukraine says its repelling this attack with reinforcements, but russias been probing the entire 800 mile front, and in kharkiv, its exposed the weakness. Jonathan beale, bbc news, vovchansk. To the war in gaza now and the Israeli Military says it has opened a new aid crossing into gaza, in Co Ordination with the us government. The opening is called the western erez. Its exact location has not yet been confirmed and its not yet known whether it will make a difference to aid reaching those most in need. Meanwhile, more palestianians have been told to leave the Southern City of rafah towards a coastal area around al ma wasi, which israel calls an Expanded Humanitarian Zone the un says there is no sanitation or clean Running Water in the area. biv 0ur middle east correspondent, lucy williamson, reports from jerusalem where citizens are marking israels remembrance day. A country increasingly divided by its war aims, brought togetherfor a day by its war dead. Israels Prime Minister marked the start of the nations annual remembrance day, honouring those who died at the hands of israels enemies, and seven months after the hamas attacks, the soldiers now fighting in gaza, who he said wanted to finish the war. Translation all of them, without exception, even the amputees, told me that the spirit of our people lifts them. Keep going until victory, and we will. Netanyahu has insisted he will keep going in gaza, even as warnings increase over the future cost of war. Americas president has said he will not supply weapons for a major Ground Assault on the town of rafah. He doesnt want to see american weapons used in that kind of operation. Thats not to say that he is going to abandon israel or cut them off from weapons. He was focused on a particular operation that he doesnt believe will succeed in defeating hamas and that will cause grievous harm. Israels army is still fighting hamas across the gaza strip, returning to areas it once labelled clear. And in rafah, once labelled safe, carrying out what it calls a precise operation. Some of the one million palestinians sheltering there have begun moving out from eastern areas as the army edges in, lives shrinking with every move. Zeinab ignored three Evacuation Orders before moving herfamily to the coastal area of deir al balah, the tent that sheltered them for five months in rafah too worn out to mend. Translation my children and i ran under fire. People died in front of us. Shrapnel hit our faces and houses were hit by strikes while we ran. We have no money. 0ur Situation is very hard. I came here and there is no place to stay. Siren wails. Tonight, a siren marked the start of the remembrance ceremony byjerusalems western wall. Israels Military Chief taking personal responsibility for those killed and kidnapped by hamas. But many here tonight will be thinking of those still fighting in gaza, where palestinians are also counting their dead. Lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. Im joined now by ben scott former australian representative to the Palestinian Authority and Senior Advisor at the Australian National universitys National Security college. Hejoins us now from canberra. Depite warnings from the us and others, israel is already carrying out military operaions in rafah. Are they getting close to their end game or wiping out hamas . I think israel is a very long way from its and game of trying to wipe out hamas and i think there is increasing recognition in israel that that is not a realistic objective, if were talking about out hamas altogether. Doing serious damage with militate abilities is a realistic goal but not much plan of what happens on the day after. What has been underlined by the fact that we see more Fighting Northern Gaza and areas as your reporter said which is villa that were cleared, hamas is coming back, giving rise to much more frustration inside israels National Security establishments and more general, speaking more openly and criticising the Prime Minister. Whats your take on israeli Prime Minister netanyahus decision to ignore pleas for restraint from the us and other countries including australia . Prime minister les bennett now has a series of goals, his most immediate one is to keep his calls and together as long as possible which means continuing the Military Operation which the Military Operation which the right wing of his coalition is very much in favour of. He wants to stay in office long enough so when the day of reckoning comes isjudged less on the failures that lead to october seven and more on what 0ctober seven and more on what has happened since and so you really need something that can be shown domestically to be a win. To that end, he is really trying to turn this more adversarial relationship with the us to his advantage. You have held the us to his advantage. You have held dramatic the us to his advantage. You have held dramatic posts. Youve held diplomatic posts in both ramallah and tel aviv can i ask about the prospects for diplomacy and if you see scope still for a peace deal . A long term peace still is something a long way in the future but much more can be donein future but much more can be done in the meantime to save the environment around the parties. So this was a Lesson We Saw at the United Nations to give a little bit more recognition to the palestinians in the un is a minor step in that direction. I think the International Community can do much more to lay out what the parameters of a two State Solution looks like. We will leave it there, solution looks like. We will leave it there, thank solution looks like. We will leave it there, thank you. Solution looks like. We willl leave it there, thank you for talking to me. Ben scott former australian representative to the Palestinian Authority and Senior Advisor at the Australian National universitys National Security college. Thank you very much. Around the world and across the uk. This is bbc news. Youre live with bbc news. To spain, where a separatist coalition in catalonia has lost its decade long majority after sundays elections for the regional parliament. With most votes counted, the Socialist Party which governs spain nationally, is emerging as the biggest in the catalan chamber. It would still need to make alliances to govern. 0ur correspondent guy hedgecoe has been following developments from madrid. This was a clear victory for the Socialist Party of spanish Prime Minister which made gains on the last election in catalonia in 2021. However, it is not clear whether a socialist will be able to form a new Catalan Government because of the fragmented nature of the region � s politics. The other Major Development with this result was the fact the Pro Independence parties lost their majority in the regional parliament. Something that has not happened for a long time and it will be seen as a major setback for the independence movement. Having said all that, together catalonia party, the hardline Pro Independence party, a former catalan president that has been in self exiled for the last 6. 5 years did perform relatively well and came in second. Because of the fragmented nature of catalonia � s politics, there is a possibility instead of the socialist forming a new government, it could be this part of the spider that could form a lot will depend on the conversations that take place the coming days and weeks between different parties across political spectrum. Georgias government has issued a warning to protesters that it would arrest anyone who blocked the parliament ahead of an expected late evening rally against a russian style Foreign Agent bill. Demonstrations have gripped the tiny Caucasus Country for weeks over a bill targeting ngos. Dubbed the russian law, it mirrors repressive legislation used by the kremlin to silence critics. 0ur South Caucasus correspondent Rayhan Demytrie is in tbilisi and sent us this. Protesters are back on the street outside parliament and this time around they are planning to spend the night here. We have seen some demonstrators with sleeping masks, camping gear. Weve met protesters of different generations here. There are parents with their children and even grandparents with their grandchildren. Actually, im here to protect the independence of my country. I dont want to go back to ussr. I dont want to be back to the russias influence. My final expectation is that were going to win since this is going to be out, were going to win the election. And we already see that georgian people is so ready to be part of the european union. It is peaceful so far. Some