"BBC News at Ten at 12/03/2025"

BBC News at Ten at 12/03/2025

00:00 - 00:02: Tonight at 10:00 - President Putin visits the Kursk
00:02 - 00:05: region of Russia for the first time since parts of it
00:05 - 00:07: were seized by Ukraine.
00:07 - 00:10: Dressed to send a message, the President said he hoped his
00:10 - 00:14: army was on the brink of regaining the territory.
00:14 - 00:17: It comes as US officials travel to Russia to try to get
00:17 - 00:20: an agreement on a ceasefire.
00:20 - 00:25: Also tonight…
00:25 - 00:26: Sir, you’ve got to get up.
00:26 - 00:30: We have a special report on the devastation being caused
00:30 - 00:33: in the US by the illegal drug fentanyl - and the drugs traders
00:40 - 00:44: Of course we feel guilty, but if we stop it is going to continue. It’s
00:44 - 00:46: not my problem, you know?
00:46 - 00:48: Preparations for the COP30 climate summit in Brazil lead
00:48 - 00:49: to deforestation in the Amazon.
00:49 - 00:52: And the Harris hawk in Hertfordshire that has tall men in its sights.
00:53 - 00:55: On BBC London: Family and friends of 14 year-old Kelyan Bokassa,
00:55 - 00:58: stabbed 27 times on a bus, gather for his funeral service
00:58 - 01:04: in south-east London.
01:18 - 01:19: Good evening.
01:19 - 01:22: President Putin, dressed in military uniform,
01:22 - 01:25: has visited Kursk in the west of Russia for the first time
01:25 - 01:30: since parts of the region were occupied by Ukrainian forces.
01:30 - 01:34: Mr Putin went to a control centre used by Russian troops and said
01:34 - 01:36: he expected the territory will soon be completely
01:36 - 01:38: liberated, in his words, from the enemy.
01:38 - 01:41: Ukraine seized parts of Kursk last August,
01:41 - 01:44: and has been fighting to retain control.
01:44 - 01:47: It comes as US negotiators travel to Russia in the hope of persuading
01:47 - 01:51: President Putin to agree to the deal that was negotiated
01:51 - 01:56: yesterday with Ukraine, under which there would be a 30-day
01:56 - 01:58: ceasefire, the swapping of prisoners of war,
01:58 - 02:02: and the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia.
02:02 - 02:09: This report is from James Waterhouse in Kyiv.
02:10 - 02:12: Not something you see every day - Vladimir Putin
02:12 - 02:18: with soldiers, in camouflage.
02:18 - 02:20: He’s visiting forces in Russia’s Western Kursk region
02:20 - 02:22: where they have been pushing back Ukrainian troops.
02:22 - 02:25: Kyiv seized some of this territory last summer and hoped it would force
02:25 - 02:28: Russia to compromise.
02:28 - 02:30: Putin barely reacted, until now.
02:30 - 02:33: TRANSLATION: Our task in the near future,
02:33 - 02:41: in the shortest possible time, is to finally defeat the enemy
02:41 - 02:45: who has dug into the territory of the Kursk region.
02:45 - 02:48: This on a day when you had a rare positive mood in Kyiv’s
02:48 - 02:49: presidential office.
02:49 - 02:51: Volodymyr Zelensky seemed pleased with an agreed truce
02:51 - 02:53: proposal with the US, claiming it showed Ukraine
02:53 - 02:56: is ready for peace.
02:56 - 02:58: TRANSLATION: Today, everything depends on whether Russia wants
02:58 - 03:03: a ceasefire or whether it wants to continue killing people.
03:03 - 03:05: Because America has demonstrated its steps and position,
03:05 - 03:09: and Ukraine has demonstrated its position very clearly.
03:09 - 03:13: Ukraine may be back in sync with the US but its leader
03:13 - 03:15: still has his red lines - never recognising the territory
03:15 - 03:18: Moscow has seized by force.
03:18 - 03:21: America’s unpausing of military aid is a relief but not the
03:21 - 03:24: answer to his battlefield problems.
03:24 - 03:27: Russian troops are also advancing in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region
03:27 - 03:30: which is mostly occupied.
03:32 - 03:34: TRANSLATION: Well, I think that Russia is unlikely to accept this
03:34 - 03:37: truce deal but Donald Trump is unpredictable.
03:37 - 03:39: I hope that this will cause a reaction that will
03:39 - 03:41: not be in favour of Russia.
03:41 - 03:43: The US president, however, sounded more upbeat.
03:43 - 03:51: We had a great success yesterday.
03:52 - 03:55: We have a full ceasefire, if it kicks in, we have to see,
03:55 - 03:57: it’s up to Russia now, but we’ve had a good relationship
03:57 - 04:01: with both parties actually, and we’ll see.
04:01 - 04:03: People are going to Russia right now as we speak.
04:03 - 04:09: If Russia’s foreign minister is anyone to go by, the Kremlin
04:09 - 04:11: doesn’t seem to be enthusiastically waiting for America’s peace vision.
04:11 - 04:14: Well, nobody is talking to us.
04:14 - 04:16: They keep saying nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,
04:16 - 04:20: but they do everything about Russia without Russia.
04:20 - 04:25: What Russia is doing is continuing to bombard Ukrainian cities.
04:25 - 04:28: In Kryvyi Rih, what’s called a double tap -
04:28 - 04:31: a missile strike quickly followed by another on the same spot
04:31 - 04:35: to inflict maximum casualties.
04:35 - 04:40: Here, one person was killed and 15 were injured.
04:40 - 04:43: For all of the talk of peace, it’s still hard to imagine.
04:43 - 04:47: James Waterhouse, BBC News, Kyiv.
04:47 - 04:50: President Trump’s trade war has escalated again
04:50 - 04:52: with the introduction of 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium
04:52 - 04:56: imports into the US.
04:56 - 04:59: Tariffs are part of the President’s ambitions to make America richer -
04:59 - 05:02: but also to force China, Mexico and Canada to step up efforts
05:02 - 05:04: to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs
05:04 - 05:08: into the US.
05:08 - 05:15: Fentanyl killed more than 70,000 Americans in 2023 alone.
05:15 - 05:18: Most of it is made in Mexico and smuggled across the border.
05:18 - 05:21: Our correspondent Quentin Sommerville and camera journalist
05:21 - 05:24: Darren Conway have spoken to members of the drugs gangs in Mexico -
05:24 - 05:32: and seen close up the impact fentanyl is having in the US.
05:34 - 05:36: Where Mexico and the United States meet, the ground is shifting.
05:36 - 05:38: SIRENS
05:38 - 05:40: It’s Saturday night, and every drug, every vice is served
05:40 - 05:44: on the streets of Tijuana.
05:44 - 05:47: Here, it’s dangerous being a cop.
05:47 - 05:50: So for their own safety, they keep their faces covered
05:50 - 05:54: when they’re on patrol.
05:54 - 05:57: This small-time dealer is caught with a dozen wraps
05:57 - 05:59: of coke and some meth.
05:59 - 06:02: These are still good business for the cartels,
06:02 - 06:08: but nothing makes them money like fentanyl.
06:08 - 06:10: But this deadly business and the cartels are now attracting
06:10 - 06:13: attention like never before.
06:13 - 06:16: If Mexico can’t get a grip on its criminals, America says it
06:16 - 06:20: will do it for them.
06:20 - 06:24: This is cartel country, the heart of the fentanyl trade.
06:24 - 06:27: The drug is 50 times more potent than heroin, 100 times more
06:27 - 06:30: powerful than morphine.
06:30 - 06:33: And tonight, we’re going to meet the men behind the trade
06:33 - 06:38: which is killing tens of thousands of Americans every year.
06:38 - 06:41: We’re just coming up to their neighbourhood,
06:41 - 06:43: and we can’t be seen filming around here.
06:43 - 06:49: Obviously, they don’t want us to give away their location.
06:49 - 06:53: The US has these men in its sights.
06:53 - 07:00: Their cartel has just been declared a terrorist organisation.
07:00 - 07:03: But, despite the threats, they say it’s business as usual.
07:03 - 07:07: This one batch could possibly kill thousands.
07:07 - 07:10: At their request, their voices have been altered.
07:10 - 07:12: Yeah.
07:12 - 07:14: It’s a very dangerous drug.
07:14 - 07:17: It’s very deadly.
07:17 - 07:20: More than that, if you don’t know how to use it, yeah,
07:20 - 07:24: you’re going to be in big trouble.
07:24 - 07:26: Why do you sell fentanyl?
07:26 - 07:28: It’s not that I want to do it.
07:28 - 07:30: People ask for that, you know?
07:30 - 07:35: And I know it’s bad, but that’s what they’re asking.
07:35 - 07:37: That’s what they want.
07:37 - 07:42: Do you ever feel guilty about all the people that it’s killing?
07:42 - 07:46: Yeah, yeah.
07:46 - 07:48: But if I don’t do it, anybody’s going to do it.
07:48 - 07:51: I don’t feel guilty for all the people, you know?
07:51 - 07:53: That’s the truth.
07:53 - 07:56: Yeah.
07:56 - 07:58: I feel guilty because we have family, too.
07:58 - 08:01: Like you.
08:01 - 08:02: Like everybody, you know?
08:02 - 08:04: Of course we feel guilty.
08:04 - 08:06: But if I stop, it’s going to continue.
08:06 - 08:09: It’s not my problem, you know?
08:09 - 08:11: This shipment will go through a legal border crossing
08:11 - 08:14: in the fuel tank of this car.
08:16 - 08:20: Right under the noses of US customs officers.
08:20 - 08:23: We’re going to put that…
08:23 - 08:31: This is just one car, one driver, 5,000 pills.
08:31 - 08:35: But the same thing is happening in hundreds of safe houses
08:35 - 08:36: all across this border, ready to flood America
08:36 - 08:38: with more fentanyl.
08:38 - 08:41: And the men here tell us that this trade is unstoppable.
08:41 - 08:47: Mr Trump, he’s determined to stop the drugs trade.
08:47 - 08:50: Yeah, well, last time he was in office, he tried
08:50 - 08:53: to do the same thing and it never happened.
08:53 - 08:56: So I think it’s never going to end.
08:56 - 08:58: There’s always going to be a demand.
08:58 - 08:59: Where’s the biggest demand?
08:59 - 09:02: The United States.