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Russia wanted a quick victory in Ukraine, but it hasn't succeeded.

Instead, it's withdrawing its troops from key cities, leaving in their wake shocking evidence of torture and war crimes.

It's not the end of the war: It's widely thought the Kremlin will now focus on taking control of other parts of the country.

Today, former US Army Major John Spencer, who was part of the advance group that captured Baghdad from Saddam Hussein in 2003, on why Russia has failed so far, and what comes next for Ukraine's terrified civilians.

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John Spencer, retired US Army major and former Chair, Urban Warfare Studies, Modern War Institute, US Military Academy, West Point, New York

Devastating fires one year, disastrous floods the next: it feels like Australia is being continually battered by natural disasters. 

So what comes next, and is there anything we can do to stop it? 

Today, Robert Glasser, a former UN adviser on disaster risk reduction, on how climate change is driving the crisis, and why nowhere in Australia will truly be safe.   

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Dr Robert Glasser, Head, Climate and Security Policy Centre, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Virginia Guyler, Lismore resident

A photo of members of a family killed in a Russian mortar attack near Kyiv, subsequently published unblurred on the front page of the New York Times, became the first defining symbol of the horrors of the war in Ukraine. 

Now, amid reports of more atrocities and a Russian retreat from the Ukrainian capital, it could be used to help build a case that the Kremlin has committed war crimes. 

Today, we speak to the New York Times photojournalist, Lynsey Addario, about the day she took the image, and we ask whether it's likely Vladimir Putin and his military chiefs will ever be brought to justice for the horrors of their invasion.

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Lynsey Addario, photojournalist, The New York Times 

Professor Todd Buchwald, former head of the US State Department’s Office of Global Criminal Justice and professor of international law, George Washington University Law School, Washington DC

Further reading:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-02/graphic-nyt-photograph-that-could-lead-to-war-crime-charges/100960860

At the moment around the country, 60,000 people are catching COVID every day, and official figures show at least 4.5 million of us have now had the disease. 

It means more and more Australians now have the debilitating condition known as 'long COVID'. 

But how much do we really know about it? 

Today, we speak to a Melbourne nurse who hasn't recovered from a bout of COVID she had in 2020, and we hear from a doctor at the forefront of global research into what remains a mystery illness. 

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Irene Tey, long COVID sufferer

Dr David Putrino, director of rehabilitation innovation, Mt Sinai hospital system, New York

Within days, the Prime Minister will call an election and ask voters to trust him to continue leading the nation. 

So can we? 

Not according to one of the Coalition's longest serving senators, NSW Liberal Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who delivered a scathing character assessment of Scott Morrison in the Senate chamber and who claims many others in the party feel the same. 

Today, the host of RN Breakfast, Patricia Karvelas, takes us through the extraordinary intervention, and what it means as we prepare to head to the polls. 

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Patricia Karvelas, Host, ABC RN Breakfast

It's a pre-election, 'no losers' budget from the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, who says the worst of the pandemic is behind us and the economic outlook is rosy.

Today, in a special budget lockup episode of ABC News Daily, our business editor Ian Verrender explains whether we can trust those forecasts and assumptions, and lays out what it all means for you.

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Ian Verrender, ABC business editor