| | | | | | | Hello. Thousands of Ukrainian men have illegally fled their country, some of them risking their lives to avoid getting drafted. My colleagues have met with some of them in Moldova during their investigation. Our international editor Jeremy Bowen gives us his insights on what Israel says it has uncovered in and around Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. See you on Monday - in the meantime, try and beat me at this week’s news quiz (I did 4/7). |
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| | | | Get up to speed | | • | Russia's justice ministry has filed a motion with the country's Supreme Court to ban the activities of what it calls the "international LGBT public movement" as extremist. | | • | The White House has accused Elon Musk of repeating a "hideous lie" about Jewish people, after the X owner appeared to respond approvingly to an antisemitic post on the platform. Mr Musk has denied that the post was antisemitic. | | • | Two rebel groups from Sudan's Darfur region say they will fight alongside the army in the country's civil war. Read our simple guide on the conflict, published earlier this year. |
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| | AT THE SCENE | Moldova | | The men escaping Ukraine’s draft | | | | Erik, a 26-year-old musician, says he swam a river to escape into Moldova. Credit: BBC | | Nearly 20,000 men have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the war to avoid being drafted, the BBC has discovered. Some have swum dangerous rivers to leave the country. Others have simply walked across borders under cover of darkness. | | | | Oana Marocico and Kelvin Brown, BBC Eye Investigations |
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| Some of the escapes have been dramatic. One video shows a man swimming across the Dniester River towards Moldova, with Moldovan border guards urging him across to safety. Another shows bodies of men being pulled ashore, having drowned trying to cross the Tisa River between Ukraine and Romania. But Yevgeny, a construction worker from Kyiv who we met in a Moldovan immigration centre, said he simply walked across that country's border - the most popular route out, our figures suggest. It is then relatively straightforward for escapees of the war to claim asylum. Yevgeny told us he felt trapped in Ukraine. It had been difficult for him in the meantime to find a well-paying job, "because everything is geared towards the war" and yet "electricity, fuel - everything's become more expensive".
In the same centre, 26-year-old musician Erik says he crossed over to Moldova by walking across Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region and then swimming across a river. While fake exemptions may be possible to get hold of, Erik's experience suggests genuine paperwork may prove more difficult to get. Because of a medical condition, Erik says he needs to follow a special diet which precludes him from serving in the army. But he says when war broke out it proved impossible to get a medical certificate. |
| | | | • | The war in maps: My colleagues have the latest developments on the front line. Take a look at their maps. | | • | Fatigue on the front line: Our correspondent in Kyiv James Waterhouse examines troops’ morale in Ukraine’s different fronts. Read his report, region by region. |
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| Questions Answered | | What’s at stake for Israel at Al-Shifa hospital | | | | The BBC was on a IDF-guided press visit to the Al-Shifa hospital complex on Wednesday. Credit: BBC |
| | All eyes are on Al-Shifa hospital, in Gaza City, where Israel’s forces have been for more than 48 hours. There’s a lot at stake for Israel, which is saying the medical complex is used as a “command centre” for Hamas - something the Islamist group denies. | | | | Jeremy Bowen, International editor |
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| | What has Israel found around Al-Shifa hospital? | | Israel has reached Al-Shifa hospital on Wednesday morning. Its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview for CBS News that they have evidence that the hospital was used as a Hamas command centre. He said Israel had "concrete evidence" that there were "terrorist chieftains and terrorists’. But so far all that Israel has put on display are some Kalashnikov rifles - which are common in the Middle East - a tunnel entrance, of which there are many in Gaza, some military uniforms and a booby-trapped vehicle. | | What to make of that evidence? | | The evidence Israel has produced, so far, I do not believe to be convincing in terms of the kind of rhetoric Israelis were using about the set-up at the hospital, which suggested this was a nerve centre for the Hamas operation. If there was a nerve centre there - and there has been speculation about that possibility since 2014 - then the Israelis have not yet revealed definitive evidence of its existence to the outside world. The discovery of and evidence for a major Hamas headquarters underneath the hospital is of course still possible. It is also possible that the Israelis have found something, and for their own reasons - military or security perhaps - have decided not to reveal it yet. | | What's at stake for Israel? | | Israel's major justification for killing so many people in Gaza - more than 12,000 in more than a month, according to the latest figure from the territory's Hamas-run health ministry - is that Hamas was using them as human shields. But if solid evidence of a Hamas headquarters cannot be found, at Al-Shifa or elsewhere, then the pressure on Israel from the international community to negotiate a ceasefire is going to increase. | | | | • | The latest: Photos show desperation for bread in Gaza as the US said Israel agreed to allow 140,000 litres of fuel into the Strip every two days. Families of Israeli hostages continue to march for their release. Follow our live coverage. | | • | In the US: President Joe Biden is under growing pressure from his own administration officials to rein in Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. |
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| | The big picture | | Shower thoughts | | | | The Leonids can be seen at the same time each year in mid-November. Credit: Getty Images |
| | The Leonids - one of the most prolific annual meteor showers - will be streaking across much of the Northern hemisphere in the two nights to come. Maddie Molloy has more on how to catch them - provided you’re under a clear sky. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Playful and provocative | | From ’inflation chic’ to extreme cutouts, look back at this year's head-turning trends. | | |
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| | And finally... in Moldova | | The Moldovan president's dog has bitten the hand of Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen. The animal, a rescue dog called Codrut, had been frightened by the number of people nearby, President Maia Sandu said. Watch footage of the incident. |
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| | | | | | | | Future Earth Newsletter | | Essential climate news and hopeful developments, in your inbox every Tuesday. | | |
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