hello, i m sally bundock, welcome to the programme. ukraine s president zelensky is returning home from a meeting of g7 leaders injapan. he left the summit having secured further promises of financial and military support, including american made f 16 fighterjets. the commander of ukraine s ground forces says they re close to surrounding the eastern city of bakhmut. ukraine has disputed the russian claims to have taken full control of the city. russia has lost thousands of men in the assault on bakhmut many from the wagner mercenary group. our diplomtaic correspondent james landale reports from kyiv. for more than eight months, in what s now the longest battle of this war, ukrainian forces have defended bakhmut. the eastern city is now largely in ruins and largely in russian hands in particular in the hands of fighters like these from the wagner mercenary group, whose leader yevgeny prigozhin claimed to have full control here. from house to house, he said, we took the
britain? linton kwesijohnson, welcome to hardtalk. nice to be here. so you were 11 when you came overfrom jamaica in 1963 tojoin your mother, who was already working here. how formative was that experience for you? it was a bit of a shock when i arrived. it wasn t what i had expected. in my childhood imagination, you know, you literally imagine the street of london paved with gold and palaces and carriages with kings and queens and that sort of thing. well, it has that sometimes! they chuckle. so it took a bit of getting used to. but when you re young, it s easier to adjust to a new environment than when you re old. and once i started school, you know, i settled down and, um. i did rather well at school because the education i had injamaica i went to an elementary school was in some ways superior to what i was confronted with at my secondary school, tulse hill secondary school. for example, they didn t teach grammar in english, which i did injamaica. mm hm. and it took a
live from london, this is bbc news. the battle for bakhmut a mercenary group claims it controls the ukrainian city, but president zelensky tells g7 leaders that s not the case. the party of greece s prime minister, kyriakos mitsotakis, has claimed victory in sunday s elections, though the centre right new democracy failed to win an outright majority. a historic launch the first female astronaut from saudi arabia en route to the international space station. and it s that time of the year again the annual chelsea flower show opens in london today.
annual induction ceremony this afternoon. the organization honoring four veteran space explorers, including the first female astronaut. that ceremony getting under way about 45 minutes ago at the kennedy space center in florida. a number of fellow astronauts are expected to be on hand and we wish them well. they are true pioneers indeed. a unique pet therapy program drawing lots of attention. how adorable. take a look, folks. they are helping one group of people who work in a really stressful environment and fox news launching an exciting new show this weekend as well. i have a brand new show premiering sunday 10:00 p.m. on the fox news channel. it s like the five minus four but at ten and i m an 11.
recipients of the presidential medal of freedom for 2016. a very eclectic list. some big names. former president clinton, oprah winfrey, among those who will receive the highest civilian honor. some of the other ones are fantastic. country music star loretta lynn. longtime washington post editor ben bradley. dick lugar. gloria steinem. the last sally ride, the first female astronaut to travel to space. dean smith. later, we re going to hop aboard air force one to get history in today s deep dive. why that first one is rusting, i guess waiting to film con air 2. the first president to visit russia while in office? here s a hint. russia was still the soviet