'No one will ever love me': One of the saddest phrases about war I've heard
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One of the saddest phrases I have heard about war had nothing to do with explosions or ambushes.
It was spoken by a young girl in Kyiv, about the impact of her rape by a Russian soldier.
“Realistically, no one will ever love me… not like a real person, not like a girl. They just want… it,” she told me. What a tragedy, at 18, to already feel so discarded.
I’m Emma Murphy, ITV News International Editor. Amid talk of finding a peace in Ukraine, we have been speaking to Ukrainians about war and peace, the impact of the former and their hope, or lack of hope, for the latter.
Daryna, who was raped by Russian soldiers at 17, was one of those we interviewed. Had she been hit by bullet the long term damage may have been easier to contain.
The same could be said for the others who found the courage to speak with us.
Young boys abducted, taken to Russia and indoctrinated to fight against their homeland. Children whose parents have disappeared into Russian detention. Men who have endured such torture in Russian cells that it is incredible they survived.
Russian troops are accused of carrying out more than 140,000 war crimes in the space of the last three years. Such is the scale the Ukrainians have set up a special department to look into all the allegations.
What we heard is a horrifying reminder that when politicians talk of summits and sanctions the reality for many is savagery and torment.
You can watch what is at times a distressing report here.
Peston: Is the PM’s winter fuel u-turn a political error?
I am not sure the prime minister’s partial U-turn on abolition of universal entitlement to the winter fuel allowance is the cleverest political action he will ever take, says Political Editor Robert Peston.
But Starmer won’t say what the new income threshold will be to receive the £200 payment, because he says that will be decided and announced at what he calls a “fiscal event”.
In the meantime, he may suffer the worst of all political consequences…
Don’t forget, you can catch up with the latest news from Westminster on our weekly Talking Politics podcast.
And, if you want to get an insight into what’s got people Stateside vexed, give our Talking Politics USA podcast a watch.
Disunited Kingdom? ‘I’ve no regrets over rioting’
The impact of last summer’s riots following the appalling Southport murders continues to be felt in communities up and down the country.
ITV News West Country presenter Sabet Choudhury has explored the factors behind the riots by hearing from those who took part and those who have been left in fear.
You can watch the special programme ‘Disunited Kingdom: Are we a nation divided?’ on ITVX or our YouTube channel. And there’s a What You Need To Know podcast here.
Plus:
‘I was praying for my life’: Asylum seeker recalls how mob besieged hotel
How my father’s fears triggered an investigation into the riots
Inquests into deaths of breast surgeon Ian Paterson's patients to cost £6.5m-plus
The inquests, which are currently suspended, started in October last year and are examining the deaths of 62 women who were operated on by Paterson and later died of breast cancer.
So far, only one inquest has concluded, and it found that the woman in question wasn't even operated on by Paterson.
Now, an investigation into the cost of the inquests, obtained via Freedom of Information requests submitted by ITV News, has revealed the sums involved.
Midlands Correspondent Stacey Foster has this exclusive report on ITVX.
Would you pay a cruise ship tax for a Scotland stopover?
Last year, there were around 1,000 cruise visits into Scottish ports, which brought 1.2 million passengers - an increase of almost 400,000 compared to five years ago.
But in a town like Lerwick on the Shetland Islands, the population can boom 50% overnight when one of the bigger liners pulls into port.
And that creates as many problems as it does opportunities for the local economy, as ITV News Scotland reporter Louise Scott reveals…
Ministers thinking ‘very carefully’ about changing mental capacity laws
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said he is considering "very carefully" a law change that a mother believes could have saved her autistic son, who was murdered.
ITV News has been investigating the issue, following the campaign by Fiona Laskaris, whose 24-year-old son Christopher was exploited and ultimately murdered by a convicted criminal in his own home in 2016.
Political Correspondent Romilly Weeks has the latest.
Could there be a robot in every home by 2030?
In a suburb of Shanghai, there is a hub for tech companies where they are slowly but surely creating a robot revolution.
ITV News Asia Correspondent Debi Edward visited what they call the "training centre" of Agibot, where she watched as a team of operators helped put the human into humanoid robots.
Agibot’s director of testing, Ruan Cheng, believes that by the end of this decade every home, at least in China, will have a robot…
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'It's just been ripped from him': The devastating impact of early dementia
Ian Burton was diagnosed with early onset dementia at the age of 50.
Now aged 61, he's now unable to walk and communicate with his wife, his children and grandchildren.
His wife Wendy wants people to be more aware of the rarer types of dementia and told ITV News Central their story…
On board a ‘Little Boat’ marking 85 years since the Dunkirk evacuation
It was called ‘Operation Dynamo’: War-time leader Winston Churchill’s audacious plan to rally scores of little boats, small ships and yachts to set sail from the south coast of England to rescue thousands of British troops surrounded by German forces in France.
That it was to succeed was dubbed a miracle. And this week, 85 years on, ITV News Meridian boarded one of those vessels still on the waters to make that trip to Dunkirk once again.
You can catch up with a special programme to commemorate that mission on ITVX.
Plus:
What’s coming up…
Sunday May 25: Final day of the Premier League season - with Champions League places up for grabs
Monday May 26: King Charles and Queen Camilla begin state visit to Canada
Tuesday May 27: Inquest held in Lewes into the death of Rebecca Turner, 36, who died in a Bangkok hotel room after unwittingly taking a lethal mixture of drugs
And finally… would you take a cuddle from a stranger?
If someone was walking towards you carrying a poster offering free hugs, how would you respond?
Well, Samii Wood is a professional ‘cuddle therapist’ who argues that very often a big hug can go a long way to making people’s day look and feel a whole heap better.
Samii can often be found in a ‘cuddle huddle’ dispensing more tailored treatments, so ITV News Anglia’s Rosie Dowsing went along to give it a go…