Missing following the strike. Earlier this month, Russian Forces began a renewed offensive in the kharkiv region, in an attempt to break through a weakened ukrainian front line. Heres one of the shop workers explaining what happened. Translation i was at work in the Furniture Section when there was a first hit. Me and my colleague fell off our feet, went down and hit the floor. There was a second hit after which we were covered in rubble. We were covered in it, our faces, too. We started to dig our way up to the top. There, the Extinguishing System had started working. We grabbed a few people and an Emergency Service guy who was shopping saved us. He was with a girl that was also shopping and he helped us to get out through the window. Me, my colleague and another boy as well as a shopper and his girlfriend made it out. 0ur International Editor jeremy bowen is at the scene of the attack in kharkiv. Ive just been talking to the mayor. He said this happened about 4 oclock in the afternoon, which as i speak to you now, is a couple of hours ago. Two people were killed, he says, here in the parking area. There are, ithink, 11 people, employees of the business who are missing at the moment. Its a diy superstore, an obvious place, you think, for civilians to go on a saturday afternoon. One of the strange incongruities of the war is that in a way, a modicum of normal life does go on while the war continues. So, people were out doing what they had to do when this place was hit, they say, by two russian glide bombs. Now, this will underline the anxiety that ukrainians feel about not having suitable air defences. President zelensky has said so repeatedly and hes said so again now after this, that ukraine needs to be able to defend itself, and of course it relies upon its western allies for doing all of that. From the Russian Point of view, this is another sign of their growing strength and the way in which theyre taking advantage of what appears to be a window of opportunity for them to up their Military Effort while ukraine waits for the kind of reinforcements of weapons and ammunition that it wants from its allies, which have been held up, particularly in the United States. And also, while the ukrainians train more troops, theres a manpower shortage, too. So, this, quite frankly, at the moment is for the ukrainians, one of the most anxious periods since those first months after the full scale invasion more than two years ago. Earlier, i spoke to Artem Litvinets from kharkiv. Artem is a chief editor of the factor druk printing house, which was hit on may 23 by Russian Missiles. I asked him to describe the situation in kharkiv now. Its important to say that the movement and shelling its important to say that the bombing and shelling of kharkiv occurs on a daily basis, you know. So, there were two strikes on the city today and one of them hit the largest Shopping Supermarket Epicentre in the afternoon on the weekend and just before the start of garden season. And there were a lot of people there and the number of victims is not yet known. And from the second one, we were hiding in the Bathroom Half an hour ago and journalists report a missile, hit the citizens. And tell us a little bit about how you cope in these situations and what kind of levels of protection you feel youre getting from these attacks. Again, no one feels safe in kharkiv now. Many businesses have left and people are also gradually migrating to safer places. But many have stayed like, for example, me and my colleagues from the publishing house. But many have stayed like, for example, me and my colleagues from the publishing house. And for kharkiv citizens to stay in the city and to continue to work is a kind of important activism, you know, and a manifestation of and brokenness. So, we dont want the city to become empty and gradually die, and kharkiv citizens are very patriotic and they are ready to stand for the city to the last. So, it was a Shopping Centre hit today and just a couple of days ago, your printing press. Tell us a bit about the impact on the factories. Are you able to function at all now or not . Not at all. At all now or not . You know, factor druk is one of the largest full cycle Industrial Printing facilities in eastern europe, and we are producing books for all but a few ukrainian publishers and a company, one of the biggest in ukraine. And it is one of the Key Companies in the publishing industry. And yesterday not yesterday, 23rd of may, Russian Missile attack on kharkiv and one missile missile struck de facto factory and resulted in the loss of seven lives and injuries to 22 workers. And one shop of the factory is now inoperable with heavy damage from the direct hit and to will need to rebuild it from the ground up. Sorry to interrupt you. Why do you think your facility was hit in particular . We think that Factor Drug Factory is a target because every single we think that factor druk factory is a target because everything ukrainian is a target, you know . And the enemy is destroying ukrainian books and culture and trying to disrupt the development of our nation. So, we think that this is a crime against culture under international law. And we are witnessing the destruction of European Values and the demonstration of russia through genocidal intent and support from all the corners of the world is currently vital for us. G7 Finance Ministers Meeting in italy say theyve made progress on plans to use profits from frozen russian assets to help ukraines war effort. A proposal put forward by the United States would use frozen russian assets in Western Banks as collateral for a 50 billion loan to kyiv. The us treasury secretary, janet yellen, said there was broad based support for the idea. But she and her italian counterpart acknowledged that more work needed to be done ahead of a meeting of g7 leaders next month. The Conservative Party have today said theyll make more cuts the chancellor has hinted in a Newspaper Article the chancellor has hinted at tax breaks for high earners while labours Shadow Chancellor said she had � no plans to raise the tax burden on working people. 0ur Political Correspondent leila nathoo reports. Day three of the election campaign, and the Labour Leader is hoping for a path to victory. Going door to door in the West Midlands this morning, sir keir starmer said he wanted 16 and i7 year olds to be able to vote and asked people to trust labour to manage the economy. Stability now is change. Its strange to say that in 2024, but a stable economy has to be the first step of an incoming labour government, and that is what well make an absolute priority if were privileged enough to come in to serve. Hello, richard. Visiting a supermarket in london, the woman whos pitching to be in charge of the public finances, Rachel Reeves, promised she would never play Fast And Loose with taxpayers money. All parties received a warning from the independent Institute For Fiscal Studies today to be open with voters about the economic challenges ahead. No chance to ask the Prime Minister for his thoughts, though. He had a chat with some veterans in the north of england. Is your campaign on track . Later spotted leaving conservative headquarters tight lipped, a Junior Minister taking questions instead. Inflation was sort of ii , ii. I . Now its down to almost target 2. 3 . That doesnt happen by accident. Its not all the government working in partnership with the bank of england. But what that means is that now we are now back on to a situation where things can start to improve and get better. Hello. Hello there. The Liberal Democrat leader, sir ed davey, made the most of the sunshine in chichester today to set out his economic approach. We are the ones talking about the windfall tax on the oil and gas companies. Ive already made clear that the tax cuts to the big banks the conservatives have given since 2015, they need to be reversed and well show that we are being responsible. No guarantees for any party that the rest of the campaign will be plain sailing. Leila nathoo, bbc news. The Conservative Party have today said theyll make more cuts to national insurance, if re elected. But what trade offs would be needed, if they pursue that . For his thoughts, i spoke earlier to pauljohnson, director of the Institute For Fiscal Studies. It might be an extremely difficult thing to do given the state of the public finances at the moment. They have Just Announced two really big cuts to national insurance, which is been very helpful to people on average earnings. But were now in a position where, Givenjeremy Hunt and Rachel Reeves said they want to get the debt down, there really isnt space for more tax cuts unless theyre going to spell out exactly what Spending Cuts are going to come alongside those not least because penciled into the governments figures already are some harsh cuts across ranges of public services. [30 across ranges of public services. Do ou across ranges of public services. Do you think voters understand enough about debt . I mean, needs be taken presumably in relation to the countrys income. Do you think thats spelled out enough in these discussions . I thats spelled out enough in these discussions . Discussions . I think Neither Party is sellin discussions . I think Neither Party is spelling out discussions . I think Neither Party is spelling out the discussions . I think Neither Party is spelling out the difficulties. Is spelling out the difficulties. Theyre both saying they want to get that down. Im simply taking them out there where there. Im not saying that is necessary. But both the chancellor and the Shadow Chancellor remain absolutely Crystal Clear that they are absolutely committed to getting debt down. Getting debt down will require either some Spending Cuts or some Tax Increases or some combination of the two. What concerns me is neither of them are making that in the least bit clear. Youve already heard jeremy hunt saying he wants to reduce taxes well, we all want to reduce taxes well, we all want to reduce taxes, but you cant reduce taxes and keep spending at its current level and be your target to get debt down. Those things are simply not compatible. And a reminder, you can follow all the latest on the General Election on our website. Were running a live page with continuous updates. You can find that on the bbc news app or bbc. Com news. China has ended two days of Military Drills in which it practised encircling taiwan as strong punishment for what it calls the islands separatist acts. The drills came three days after the inauguration of taiwans president william lai, when he urged china to stop Military Intimidation of the island. The us defence secretary, lloyd austin, is set to meet his chinese counterpart, admiral dong jun, next week, at a Singapore Defence conference. It coincides with increased tension over taiwan. With me is zhou bo, a retired senior colonel in the chinese Peoples Liberation army, who is now with the Tsinghua University in beijing. Thank you very much for coming to talk to us. What was the aim behind these drills . Was it to practice seizing taiwan . I think this was a clear warning seizing taiwan . I think this was a clear warning because seizing taiwan . I think this was a clear warning because we seizing taiwan . I think this was a clear warning because we know l clear warning because we know he describes himself as a pragmatic taiwanese worker. But we didnt expect that he actually would go even further than his predecessor, because in his remarks, he clearly mentioned that there are two sides and not interrelated. He believes that the Taiwanese Authority is the same. This is a violation of the consensus of what more than 180 countries around the world, part of china. ,. , countries around the world, part of china. ,. ,. , china. The response from the us has been that the china. The response from the us has been that the state china. The response from the us has been that the state of china. The response from the us has been that the state of parliament china. The response from the us has been that the state of parliament is l been that the state of parliament is deeply concerned about chinas drills. They have strongly urged restraint. Do you think that will be listened to, because its quite dangerous. I listened to, because its quite dangerous listened to, because its quite dangerous. I dont think so. It deends dangerous. I dont think so. It depends on dangerous. I dont think so. It depends on the dangerous. I dont think so. It depends on the reaction. Dangerous. I dont think so. It depends on the reaction. It i dangerous. I dont think so. It | depends on the reaction. It can dangerous. I dont think so. It depends on the reaction. It can be expected because i believe he would have expected that. We did it the day before after nancy pelosi visited to taiwan. This should be no surprise. As well as. But visited to taiwan. This should be no surprise. As well as. Surprise. As well as. But its not ust in surprise. As well as. But its not just in taiwan surprise. As well as. But its not just in taiwan that surprise. As well as. But its not just in taiwan that china surprise. As well as. But its not just in taiwan that china is just in taiwan that china is exercising that kind of pressure. We seem chinese ships doing the same to japan, weve also seen it in the philippines, where theyve resorted to ramming and water cannon to keep philippine ships away from the disputed south china sea. Is this a bullying pattern by china . I disputed south china sea. Is this a bullying pattern by china . Bullying pattern by china . I think ou bullying pattern by china . I think you putting bullying pattern by china . I think you putting too bullying pattern by china . I think you putting too many bullying pattern by china . I think you putting too many questions i you putting too many questions altogether. If ijust tell you honestly between china and the philippines, if they killed chinese, what would you think . They killed chinese in 2006 and 2013 and china has not killed even a single filipino. Using water cannon is actually a kind of determent. Just to no back actually a kind of determent. Just to go back to actually a kind of determent. Just to go back to taiwan, what is the plan from china . If taiwan continues to say the things its been saying, is the plan to attack taiwan . Whats the timescale . I is the plan to attack taiwan . Whats the timescale . The timescale . I think we are still confident about the timescale . I think we are still confident about the the timescale . I think we are still confident about the peaceful confident about the peaceful reunification. I believe taiwan issues are two fast. Facts. But i think the world should understand that chinese is still talking about peaceful reunification and for peace to prevail, the whole world needs to convince beaching that peace is still possible. Beijing. The still possible. Beiing. The rhetoric coming still possible. Beiing. The rhetoric coming out still possible. Beijing. The rhetoric coming out of the Chinese ForeignMinistry Taiwan forces will be left with their heads rolling and blood flowing. That doesnt sound like conciliatory language. Doesnt sound like conciliatory lanaauae. , ~ doesnt sound like conciliatory lanaauae. ,~. , doesnt sound like conciliatory lanaauae. ,. ,. , doesnt sound like conciliatory lanaauae. ,. ,. , language. This kind of language is a kind of traditional language. This kind of language is a kind of Traditional Chinese language. This kind of language is a kind of Traditional Chinese languagej kind of Traditional Chinese language that basically means that this kind of Independence Move is doomed. Thats it. We of Independence Move is doomed. Thats it. ~ ~. , of Independence Move is doomed. Thats it. ~ ~. ,. , of Independence Move is doomed. Thats it. ~. ,. , thats it. We know that the us is unha thats it. We know that the us is unhappy about thats it. We know that the us is unhappy about the thats it. We know that the us is unhappy about the way thats it. We know that the us is unhappy about the way things i thats it. We know that the us is | unhappy about the way things are going between china and tai