this is bbc news. i'm monika plaha. our top stories: the head of russia's wagner group says its forces now surround most of bakhmut, the eastern ukrainian city that's been the focus of extensive fighting. translation: we have practically _ surrounded the city. only one route out of the city remains. earlier we were fighting against the army. now, we are increasingly seeing old people and children. the white house confirms president biden had a cancerous skin lesion removed from his chest during a routine health screening. a probe into lockdown parties at downing street indicates the former british prime minister should have known rules were being broken. i believed implicitly