mark knopfler who wrote private dancer for tina turner fondly remembers the singer who died on wednesday. it s seven am in singapore and seven pm in washington where us officials say the russian wagner group mercenaries may be working through other countries to acquire military equipment for use in ukraine. the us treasury said in a statement it has imposed sanctions on wagner s chief in mali ivan aleksandrovich maslov. central to this is the battle for the eastern city of bakhmut, in ukraine. mercenaries have been fighting on behalf of russia there a battle that s taken on a symbolic significance. now, they say they re withdrawing and handing their positions over to the russian army. let s hear from the leader of the wagner group. it will make we are withdrawing units from bakhmut. today, it is sam on the 25th of may. the 1st ofjune, the main parts of ist ofjune, the main parts of the unit will be relocated at the unit will be relocated at the rear camp. there handin
hello to you. and welcome to the programme. is the bloody battle for bakhmut over? the head of russia s wagner mercenary group says its forces will hand over the city to russian forces as it declares victory and withdraws. kyiv, though, says it still controls pockets of the city. also in the programme: migration is not out of control. the uk prime minister says the number of people coming to the uk is still too high after new figures show net migration hit a new record high. as business demands more workers, we ll assess proposals for a new skills based visa system. armed officers descend on central london after a car crashes into the gates of downing street. police say a man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and dangerous driving, but the incident is not being treated as terror related. and after a storm of racist abuse against real madrid s vinicius junior, the president of la liga denies that the spanish football league is racist, but he calls for new powers to
control of the eastern city to moscow s army. the battle for bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest of the war. this aerialfootage taken earlier this month shows intense shelling in a residential area. most people fled before fighting broke out. bakhmut is of little strategic value, but its capture would be a symbolic victory for russia. the battle for bakhmut began last august. ukraine says its forces still control part of it. our bbc verify team has been looking at images that show the extent of the destruction there during these months of fighting. this is bakhmut before russia invaded ukraine. once famous for its sparkling wine and thousands of rose bushes. this is bakhmut now reduced to a landscape of ruin and death. but not defeated, the ukrainian army told us. ukrainian troops stay in south western part of bakhmut. ukrainian army keep pushing the enemy from site of the city. 70,000 people used to live here before russia s full scale invasion of ukraine. i was her
the legal definition of a landlord is to be debated in the supreme court today in a bid to help tenants in some of england s worst rental properties. if you want to get in touch with a comment about any of the stories we re covering today you can do that on twitter @annitabbc and use the #bbcyourquestions. in sport, manchester united beat nottingham forest 3 0 in the first leg of their league cup semi final. hello, good morning, and welcome to bbc news. russia has hit back at ukraine with a wave of missiles the day after two western countries confirmed it would send tanks to help kyiv s forces repel the russian invasion. one person has been reported killed and two injured in kyiv as around 30 missiles were fired at targets across the country. in his nightly address, president zelensky thanked germany and the united states for agreeing to send tanks, but said his country now needs more long range artillery and aircraft. for months, he s campaigned for these, in public, and i