live from london, this is bbc news. a defiant president zelensky insists the embattled city of bakhmut is not occupied by russia. bakhmut is not occupied by russian federation, as of today. there are no two or three interpretations of those words. president biden says the us is doing everything possible to help ukraine as he unveils a new aid package. jay safran reaffirmed our shared and unwavering commitment to stand for the back—up of your claim. ——j seven. polls have now closed in greece as the ruling new democracy party

and opposition syriza party battle for power in the country's parliamentary election. rishi sunak says he hasn't spoken to his home secretary, suella braverman, amid claims she asked civil servants to help her avoid a speeding fine. saudi arabia is set to make history as the country sends its first—ever female astronaut to the international space station. hello, i'm krupa padhy. welcome to bbc news. president zelensky has thanked g7 leaders for their enduring support of ukraine. speaking at the end of a summit injapan, mr zelensky said that russia's defeat would result in lasting world peace. he also insisted russia does not occupy the embattled city of bakhmut. it comes after conflicting reports of who is now in control of the eastern city. russian president putin has congratulated the wagner mercenary group of capturing the city. our asia pacific correspondent, laura bicker, sent this

report from hiroshima. this president knows the cost of war. as he paid tribute to the victims of the hiroshima bombing, he needed no reminderfrom this sombre city of what can happen when a bitter conflict leads to the use of a nuclear weapon. he's building relationships with the us president and others to ensure this does not happen in ukraine. together with the entire g7, we have ukraine's back, and i promise we're not going anywhere. the calculated risk to fly so far from kyiv appears to have been worth it. translation: we really have been working for a long time politically i with our partners to get the desired outcome of the strengthening of our skies. besides air defence, we are gratefulfor that, we are really grateful

to the united states of america as the leaders for the support of this sphere and other partners of ours. further on, we have several months for the training of our pilots and we will be working for these people to be as educated as possible, as trained and experienced as possible. and today washington confirmed that it has given the green light to training on much longed for combatjets. the united states together with our allies and partners is going to begin training ukrainian pilots in fourth generation fighter aircraft, including f—16s, to strengthen ukraine's air force as part of a long—term commitment to ukraine's ability to defend itself. president biden has also guaranteed anti—tank weapons and more ammunition but what we don't know, what we don't have is any cast—iron guarantee about who will provide these f—16s or combatjets. and that is crucial because it will take time to train them and president zelensky says this is what could turn the tide of this war.

one by one, face—to—face, mr zelensky has pushed for breakthroughs. the seating plan may have been deliberate, the indian prime minister, who has refused to condemn russia's invasion. moscow may have hoped that they could wait out the west, that interest and support for the war would wane. the message coming from the world's richest democracies is that they are in this for the long haul. laura bicker, bbc news, hiroshima. as we've been hearing, ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky has rejected claims by russia that it has occupied bakhmut. here he is, explaining why ukraine cannot share the details of his strategy in bakhmut. translation: the hardest is when, if bakhmut had some military - tactical mistake, for instance, and people could be surrounded. then all the military know what could happen. how we could create the situation

for people not to be captured. now our people are accomplishing a very important mission. they are now in bakhmut. i will not share exactly where exactly but it witnesses that bakhmut is not occupied by russian federation, as of today. so who is right about bakhmut? colonel richard kemp is a retired british army commander and defence analyst who's in kyiv. down in the area myself. i spoke to many ukrainian commanders and soldiers who have been fighting in backport in some cases for many months. and the reality is, i think that the vast majority of the city, the city itself has been now captured by the russians, but the ukrainian forces are still fighting them. they're still, in some cases, taking ground back from the russians on the flanks, on the external parts of the city. so i think, while while the

russians, as far as i can work out, appear to be in control of the city, that doesn't mean to say that they're now in a position, let's say, to launch a further operation from there. i think they're still being being tied down by the ukrainian forces in the area. so mixed narratives there coming from various sides. can you help us better understand the importance of this area? because, as i understand it, bakhmut is not strategically important, but symbolically it certainly is. i think it was very symbolically important for the russians because they haven't scored any kind of significant victory for a very long time now. and they saw and they've been proclaiming bakhmut as being a place they're going to capture for the best part of a year since they've been trying. and so they will certainly be selling this as a strategic victory back in russia as far as ukraine is concerned. of course, the loss of any ukrainian territory is a blow to the country, but i don't think it's

a strategic blow. i think that potentially it does open up the opportunity for russia to advance further to the west in donetsk province and maybe even approaching the other two major cities in donetsk of kramatorsk and sloviansk. but if they're not able to do that, then it means that little has been achieved in back for them. and as things appear at the moment, the ukrainians are still very actively bottling up the russians in that area. violence broke out on the sidelines of the g7 summit as riot police wrestled people protesting the meeting of world leaders to the ground. the demonstration was organised by the far—left extremist revolutionary communist league national committee, which denounces g7 summit as a conference of "imperialism for nuclear war". whilst ukraine has been a major focus at the g7 summit,

china has also been on the agenda. president biden stressed the joint decision by the g7 nations to "de—risk and diversify" from the beijing government. we are not looking to decouple from china. we are looking to de—risk and diversify. our relationship with china. that means taking steps to diversify our supply chains so we are not dependent on any one country for necessary products. it means resisting economic coercion together and countering harmful practices for our workers. it means protecting the narrow set of advanced technologies critical for our national security. and those elements are all agreed on by the g7. polls have now closed in greece's parliamentary elections. projections suggest prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis and his centre—right new democracy have done well and are set to be the largest party.

they had been facing a challenge from former prime minister alexis tsipras and his left—wing syriza party. live now to athens, and let's speak to our europe correspondent, nick beake. what more can you tell us about his exit polls we are receiving? sometimes there are modifications or changes after exit polls but broadly it shows the ruling centre—right new democracy party has done better than people were expecting. now, in normal times, people were expecting. now, in normaltimes, if people were expecting. now, in normal times, if there are no more times in greek politics, that would suggest they would form a majority government, but they have changed the system here, this is a legacy of the system here, this is a legacy of the former government, and what has happened is that it is a change whereby the party that comes type does not get this 50 seat bonus in parliament, so it's much harder to form a majority government, so the sort of figures were looking at is that democracy is set to have got

between 36—40% of the vote, the party 25—29%, so a gap of ten points it would seem between the two parties. what happens now is it all depends on the third—party and whether they are willing to go into a coalition government with a party to get on top. parties as we often see in elections around the world, in the run—up to the vet said there were not going to coalition with them, they will have to wait and see, if they don't manage to do that there could be another vote in the weeks to come, but this is encouraging for the current prime minister, kyriakos mitsotakis. let’s minister, kyriakos mitsotakis. let's take a step back— minister, kyriakos mitsotakis. let's take a step back and _ minister, kyriakos mitsotakis. let's take a step back and try and tap into the voters's mindsets here because craig jw went up by 6% but the cost of living crisis is still playing in the minds of people there. can you paint is a picture of that day to day life is like for people? if that day to day life is like for eo - le? , ., that day to day life is like for neale? l, that day to day life is like for --eole? ,, ., that day to day life is like for --eole? ., , people? if you look all the facts and figures _

people? if you look all the facts and figures and _ people? if you look all the facts and figures and charts, - people? if you look all the facts and figures and charts, they - people? if you look all the facts l and figures and charts, they show that the greek economy is moving in quite a healthy direction. you mentioned gdp going up there, one of the fastest growing economies of the euro zone countries, those that use the euro as their currency, but talking to people on the streets in the north of the country, is we were a few days ago, they say it is not translating to the cash they have in their wallet and purses and how far that goes, and that i think it's a legacy of the economic pain of the past decade or so, remember, we were talking for years about the bailout, the restrictions on spending here, the restrictions on spending here, the high unemployment, particularly affecting the younger people, and there was talk of a lost decade economically and also in terms of prospects, particularly for the younger generation, so there is this frustration and weariness, but it seems if the exit poll is to be believed that most people in this country believe that the economy is on the right track and that by and

large they trust that now democracy centre—right party on the left wing syriza to steady economy in the coming years, that is the picture on the streets, and it seems to be borne out in the exit polls which is a reflection of writing today. figs borne out in the exit polls which is a reflection of writing today. $5 i a reflection of writing today. as i understand _ a reflection of writing today. as i understand it, _ a reflection of writing today. as i understand it, playing a paper's mines there, the country's rest of a train crash that happened back in february? train crash that happened back in februa ? , ., , february? this really caused national anger _ february? this really caused national anger and _ february? this really caused national anger and grief. - february? this really caused| national anger and grief. and opponents of the government and other people were saying this was in some way symbolic of notjust a broken railway system that was not computerised in places, but allowed two trains to hit each other head—on, but was symbolic of broader dysfunctionality, a balkan state, if you will have it, here in greece, so that caused lots of anger, it was brought up time and again during this election campaign period, particularly by younger people

because 57 people were killed, most of them students, and they were going back to their studies after a wreck with a family during a national holiday, so that cast a cloud for a lot of people over the selection period. another aspect they got quite a lot of attention internationally, surprisingly not so much domestically, this so called greece's watergate scandal, basically you had opposition politicians and journalists spied upon, the prime minister was forced to apologise, his chief of staff, his nephew, was forced to resign, the head of the spy agency here missed hisjob, but the prime minister stayed in position, so it does seem like the government has ridden out some of these controversies over the past few years and with the economy going in the right direction it would seem they have done enough to come top of they have done enough to come top of the polls but as i said right at the start because of this change to the parliamentary voting system, it all hinges on whether discussions with the party that came third as well as

some of the smaller parties can bear fruit in the coming days. if they don't come top of the polls but as i said right at the start because of this change to the parliamentary voting system, it all hinges on whether discussions with the party that came third as well as some of the smaller parties can bear fruit in the coming days. if they don't, probably back to square one in a way, and that and plenty more over on bbc news online, including a piece on how families of that train crash have been impacted. the british home secretary, suella braverman, is under pressure about her actions after being caught speeding in her car. the punishment for minor cases is usually a speed awareness course. it's reported that ms braverman requested a private course to avoid points on her driving licence. now opposition parties are urging mr sunak to launch an ethics investigation. this report from our political correspondent, charlotte rose. the issue at play here isn't the speeding fine itself, but whether suella braverman used her position to try and avoid doing a speed awareness course

with other members of the public. the government doesn't dispute that she approach to civil servants to try and book a one—to—one session, but was told they couldn't get involved. in the end, she paid the fine and took the points. her team believe that's the end of the matter and deny there has been any breach of the ministerial code. the prime minister was asked at the g7 summit earlier if he would launch an investigation. i don't know the full details of what has happened nor have i spoken to the home secretary, you can see first—hand what i've been doing over the last day or so. but i understand she has expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine. but speaking to the bbc�*s laura kuenssberg show, a former party chairman said he would welcome more information. it certainly brings into question, i think, the use of civil servants. so i think there's definitely questions to be answered. let's see what is said, i guess it will be in the house of commons, an urgent question or a statement

on monday, let's see what is said there. one of our viewers wants to know, they have e—mailed in today, - why do government ministers think. they are above the rules and can ask that kind of special treatment? i don't think ministers do think they are above the rules. some people have recently lost their licence and some people are getting fines. we have seen that across all walks of public life. opposition parties seem unwilling to let the issue drop. what is going on in this government? he should never have appointed her in the first place, he has been too weak to sack her for incompetence, and now he's so weak, he won't even call an inquiry. suella braverman will have to face mps when she answers home office questions in the commons tomorrow afternoon, and there will be questions too for the prime minister on his return from the g7. the bbc understands he was not previously aware of the matter. charlotte rose, bbc news. at least 12 people have died after a crush at a football stadium in el salvador�*s capital. the incident occurred during a match

between local team alianza and their opponents, fas, at san salvador�*s cuscatlan stadium, when many fans tried to enter the venue after the gates had been closed. there have been reports of fighting in sudan despite rival generals agreeing to a temporary ceasefire. previous truce attempts between sudan's regular army and the paramilitary rapid support forces have tended to collapse within minutes of beginning. but the new deal, which starts on monday, is enforced by a "ceasefire monitoring mechanism". the bbc�*sjewel kiriungi is following developments. with this particular ceasefire agreement, it is backed by the united states and saudi arabia who say there will be an international ceasefire monitoring mechanism that will make sure that the parties of this ceasefire agreement actually honour it. what we've seen is that the citizens are sceptical because so many previous attempts at reaching

a truce have not yielded much. it's expected that with the coming days we will wait to see if the air strikes of the types we have been witnessing shall come to an end. a lot of questions still. we saw only weeks ago thousands of people making their way to port sudan, making their way to egypt by land. it was evident that the humanitarian situation was extremely serious. paint us a picture of what it's like now on the ground. well, the aid agencies we've spoken to say they have really struggled to get humanitarian assistance to some of the affected areas. it's expected that this particular ceasefire will allow humanitarian access and we will also see the withdrawal of armed forces from essential facilities such as hospitals which have been trying to take care of some of the people affected. there have been reports of mass looting as there are shortages of essential items such as food,

money and cash. so we are waiting to see whether this particular ceasefire will actually allow humanitarian assistance to some of the affected communities. now to northern ireland, where sinn fein�*s vice president, michelle o'neill, has called on the british and irish governments to deliver a plan to restore a power—sharing government. it's after her party delivered a stunning success in the council elections, becoming the largest party in local government for the first time. a warning, emma vardy�*s report has flash photography. sinn fein are celebrating a second historic win in 12 months. the party made breakthroughs across northern ireland, winning seats in areas it has never had councillors elected before. the party says the victory is an endorsement by voters that the blocking of the stormont assembly must end. for me, it definitely

was about positive leadership, it was about a restoration of the executive, it was about making politics work, and i'm very glad that that has resonated with the electorate and that they have come out in such strong numbers where we now are on course to have a very momentous election result. and then it is now obviously what we are going to do next, which is, in my opinion, we need to work, double down in terms of getting an executive restored. northern ireland is currently being run by civil servants while the dup are preventing a return to power—sharing as a protest over the brexit arrangements, which they believe undermined northern ireland's place in the uk. the dup avoided any losses, which they say shows there is support for their tough stance. obviously been at the expense of other nationalist parties, and that is something where i think for unionism perhaps it is a wake up and smell the coffee moment. so, as people look at these results today, and they look at nationalism coalescing around sinn fein and unionism being divided across three parties, i think that is not a sustainable

model for the way forward. there has been talk of a possible return to power—sharing in the autumn, but the dup want legislation from the british government to address their concerns over brexit. sinn fein say voters should not be kept waiting any longer. emma vardy, bbc news. a woman from saudi arabia will make history later when she blasts off from florida to spend ten days on board the international space station. rayyanah barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, will become the first saudi woman to voyage into space. she will be joined on the mission by fellow saudi ali al-qarni, who's a fighter pilot. well, a little while ago, i spoke to sameer hashmi, who is injeddah, saudi arabia, who told us a bit more about his mission. she is a cancer researcher, she will become the first woman to go into

space, which is why this whole trip is very historic, notjust saudi arabia but the world. she has been a fighter pilot for a long time. saudi arabia conducted research, they have been working on this project for a while now because they want to make space as a critical plan of the programme to diversify the economy and organise the economy as they try to move away from oil, so they have done a lot of interviews, screened a lot of profiles, and it was indeed a historic day for saudi arabia because it will be its first fourier in space in almost a0 years. they are not the first saudis to make the trip, in 1985, the half brother of the current crown prince, he had also made a trip in a satellite in

1985, but nevertheless given that saudis are now trying to re—enter space after such a long time, it's pretty significant for the country. after eight years away from the music scene — britpop band blur are back with a new album — and the cover has put the spotlight on a small town in inverclyde — on scotland's west coast. a photograph taken nearly 20 years ago of gourock lido has been chosen as the artwork — much to the delight of local residents. our reporter aileen clarke has been to find out why the band have swapped parklife for pool—life. # girls who want boys # . blur blasting out of the tannoy at gourock pool as swimmers enjoyed the sun and the buzz about their pool being on the front of the band's next album. well, my phone's been going nonstop since news broke last night through different taggings and messages. it's been overwhelming. it's been great.

and how satisfying is it for you personally that you're getting such recognition for this pool? it's a place that's close to my heart. this is where i grew up. this is where i swam as a child. but beyond delighted at the level of response. from breaststroke to britpop, they're lapping it up here. back in 1995, blur took the ferry from gourock over to play a gig in dunoon. now, all these years later, highlighting the town's pool a welcome surprise. so what do you think of your pool being on the front of the album cover? it's so cool. i think we should invite blur to come for a midnight swim. but i mean, the stuff that i felt a bit in, good place, a bit of sea or beach swimming pool. do you think it might encourage more visitors to come and check it out? i think it would, yeah. it'd be quite nice for the local area because it's such - a nice setting here. when i was a child, i used to come here when it was a saltwater tidal pool. and look who i met up with poolside. ian gault, the local man,

also known as the lone swimme in the photograph. it was confirmed by the people who worked in the pool that it was me and indeed it is. you can tell because i'm not a good swimmer. and if you look at the actual photograph, you can see my arms in the wrong position and my heads in the wrong position. and what do you think about now being on the front of an album cover? well, as i say, it's the closest i shall ever come to being a rock star. but also its a nice thing. i'm quite pleased for the town, and maybe it will encourage more people to come down and start using pool. and let's face it, if you were looking for a striking image for your album cover, well, this is the pool with quite the view. that was aileen clarke reporting. our breaking news this hour — polls have closed in greece and the party of the prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis has done well, and are set to be the largest party. new democracy were facing a challenge from the left wing syriza party led by the former prime minister alexis tsipras. stay with us here on bbc news.

there's a lot of fine weather to come across the uk in the week ahead — our good old friend high pressure building up from the azores. some areas may catch a few showers but those will be in the minority. in the sunshine, many will end up feeling rather warmer, actually, particularly in contrast to recent days. here is the high pressure stretching up from the azores. you can see it wobbles about day on day, and those changes in wind direction will have subtle effects on how the weather plays out. low pressure to the north occasionally trailing its weather fronts south, giving the increased chance of a shower in one 01’ two areas. here's how we end sunday afternoon in terms of our temperatures. 20—21 across many parts of england and wales, 16 for scotland and northern ireland, where we've had the tail end of a weather front around here through sunday daytime,

and it will continue to slowly slip south overnight sunday. very little rain, though, in association with that. if anything, perhaps a greater chance of the odd punchier shower across east anglia thanks to something a little more unsettled out in the north sea. just a degrees for newcastle. clear skies, light winds underneath that ridge high pressure taking into monday. here's the high on monday. as you can see, just trying to continue pushing east, sending those showers further east into the north sea. could be the odd shower around early on, though, across parts of east anglia and i think we'll keep a little more cloud for lincolnshire, east anglia and into the south—east through the day. the weather front makes its way south, weakening all the while, but what it mightjust do is enable a few showers to break out across northern england on monday afternoon, the odd punchier one maybe, most likely for high ground across the pennines. 20—21 in the sunshine again on monday, a little warmer in scotland and northern ireland because there will be more sunshine here. we are looking at a glorious week ahead for the chelsea flower show,

a lot of fine weather to come, just a bit of a dip in temperatures on tuesday. that could be the case for many parts of england and wales. little bit of a change of wind direction, pulling in something a little cooler off the north sea, and the chance of a little more cloud around. instead of 20—21, we are looking at 18—19. scotland and northern ireland, 16—17. as the week plays out, high pressure stays with us so, aside from the risk of the odd shower across scotland and northern ireland courtesy of the tail end of some weather fronts, very little rain to speak of through the week ahead.

this is bbc news. the headlines... ukrainian president zelensky says russia does not occupy the embattled city of bakhmut. it comes after conflicting reports of who is now in control of the eastern city. russian president putin had earlier congratulated the wagner mercenary group for capturing the city. us presidentjoe biden says the united states is doing all it can to strengthen ukraine's defenses for its war with russia. it comes as the us announces a new package of military aid for ukraine. polls have closed in greece's parliamentary election. according to exit polls, incumbent prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis and his centre—right new democracy party

are ahead of the main rival, the leftist syriza party.