hello. i m helena lee. great to have you with us. we begin with some news from the war in ukraine. russia says its troops have fully captured the ukrainian city of bakhmut. kyiv has denied those claims, but if true, it could mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15 month war. russia has been trying to take bakhmut since last year in a grinding war of attrition. and in the last few minutes, the russian news agency interfax has said president putin congratulated his troops for capturing the city. earlier, ukraine had said its units were still fighting in the city. this comes on the heels of the us agreement to allow ukrainian pilots to train in american made f16 jets. a move moscow had criticised. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has been on a whirlwind tour in an effort to drum up support and weapons for an expected counter offensive against russia. it s been a busy few hours for zelensky, touching down injapan on saturday for diplomatic talks
a very warm welcome to the programme. i m sally bundock. we start here in the uk. allies of the former uk prime minister, borisjohnson, have condemned the cabinet office for releasing details about possible covid lockdown breaches to scotland yard and thames valley police. lawyers preparing the government s case ahead of the public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic have sent the police information about meetings held at downing street and the prime minister s country retreat, chequers. the allegations have come to light during preparations for the covid public investigation. mrjohnson has replied to the allegations in a statement. his team says. 0ur political correspondent, jonathan blake, has more details. there is no investigation. what has happened here is that the lawyer through borisjohnson lawyer through boris johnson cosmic ministerial diary from the time of the pandemic in the process of preparing evidence for a forthcoming public enquiry which will examine th
violence in el salvador has lowered crime, but it s believed thousands of innocent people are still stuck behind bars more than a year later. hello. i m tadhg enright. g7 leaders are starting their summit in hiroshima, with promises of new sanctions against russia over its war in ukraine. leaders including president biden met the japanese prime minister, fumio kishida, at the city s peace park, and others. the new sanctions are expected to target individuals and entities across europe, the middle east and asia. britain and the eu have indicated they want to restrict trade in russian diamonds. the british prime minister, rishi sunak, also announced a ban on imports of russian copper, aluminium and nickel. live now to the bbc s nick marsh in hiroshima. thanks forjoining us. it s an event really rich in symbolism stop we ve seen leaders posed together in hiroshima, the site of the bomb. russia was expeued of the bomb. russia was expelled from the group had now it s top of their