this is bbc news. the headlines: president zelensky appears to dismiss calls by african leaders for peace talks with russia. a bbc investigation suggests the number of russian soldiers who have died is four times the kremlin�*s estimate. aman is charged in the uk with the murders of three people on the streets of nottingham tuesday —— a man. "excessive force" and "unlawful discrimination against black people" — a report into the minneapolis police department is published three years after george floyd's murder. and a gun man is found guilty of killing 11 worshipers at a synagogue in pittsburgh in 2019, the deadliest

anti—jewish in american history. let's take a look now at the human cost of russia's invasion of ukraine. moscow, like kyiv, has been very secretive when it comes to casualties from the fighting, but a bbc investigation suggests at least 25,000 russian soldiers have died. that's four times higher than the figure acknowledged by the kremlin. the research also suggests many of the casualties are now older fighters, with little or no training, with significant numbers recruited from prisons. 0ur correspondent 0lga ivshina has this special report. these are the war graves russia doesn't want to talk about. since december, the bbc has located seven new cemeteries dotted across russia and occupied ukraine. they are filled with the graves of poorly trained fighters. many were prisoners, recruited by the notorious wagner mercenary group. and the cemeteries

are growing rapidly. this one is about 20 times bigger than it was six months ago. since the start of the war, we have been verifying photos of graves and social media posts with the independent russian website mediazona and volunteers inside the country. so far, we have identified 25,000 names. this is four times more than russia has acknowledged. it is illegal to report anything but the official death toll inside russia. so we have come to kyrgyzstan to speak to the families of fighters who have died. hundreds of people from countries like this, that were once part of the soviet union, have signed up to join putin's forces. filming tiktoks on the way to war, this 21—year—old paratrooper is typical of those who died at the start of the conflict. a young, highly trained professional soldier in the russian army. translation: he always wanted to be the first. i i think that is why he decided tojoin the military. and there he was also given the choice, apparently. he chose to be there.

go to war, you mean? yes, yes. as a professional soldier, he was buried with full military honours after he was killed in action in may 2022. but six months later, in a nearby village, there was no military funeral for another fighter, even though he also died on the front line. that is because he wasn't a professional soldier but a prisoner serving a seven—year sentence for assault. he had signed up to fight for the mercenary group wagner, hoping to win his freedom in return for a six—month contract. translation: a man called| and told me that my son died fighting in ukraine. i was shocked. i asked, "how come my son is even at the war?" did my son die for nothing? am i going to cry until the end of my life? the deaths of these men show how russia's war has changed.

in the first three months of the conflict, it lost large numbers of professional soldiers. but in the past three months, it's nonprofessional fighters who have recentlyjoined the russian forces that are dying in greater numbers. the shift in demographics in russian losses reflects not only the fact that the russians lost a large number of their professional troops early in the war but also the fact that they have shifted their tactics. they now see their professional soldiers as a resource that is to be held in reserve and only used when the conditions are right. now they are letting the brunt of that reconnaissance offensive activity being led by mobilised troops that they treat in quite a disposable way. 0nly publicly reported deaths are captured by our count. estimates from britain's ministry of defence suggest the true figure is likely to be at least twice as high. the bbc contacted the russian government for comment, but it has not responded. and every day, the messages and photos of graves keep coming. 0lga ivshina, bbc news,

jalal—abad, kyrgyzstan. meanwhile, president putin has warned there is a "very serious" risk of nato becoming involved in the war in ukraine. he was speaking at an economic forum in st petersburg, amid reports western countries are set to announce plans to train ukrainian pilots to fly us fighter jets. mr putin said the russian military would have to consider how to respond, if planes located at airbases outside ukraine are used to attack russian forces. translation: leopard tanks are burning. - f—16s will burn in the same way, i have no doubt. applause but if they're used outside of ukraine's borders, to be used in combat, we will have to look at how and where we are going to target the weapons that are going to be used against us in the battlefield. there is a very serious threat that nato is going to be involved

in this military conflict. so that is what president putin said earlier. what should we make of this? here's our russia editor, steve rosenberg. it steve rosenberg. was an interesting event. this was it was an interesting event. this was formerly russia's showcase economic forum, the st petersburg international economic forum, and president putin did begin by making a speech about the economy. he spoke for about an hour about the economy and was very upbeat. he was coming across as someone supreme accountant in the economy, the russian economy for made no mention of the war in that speech about the economy. the war was the elephant in the room for about an hour. and there was a sort of 0&a about an hour. and there was a sort of q&a session afterwards and he was asked about the so—called special military operation, and once again, he came across as this very confident figure, despite all the problems that russia has been

experiencing since mr putin ordered the full—scale invasion of ukraine last year. he said that ukraine was running out of its own military equipment and was fully reliant on arms from abroad. he said he claimed that you cannot go on fighting like that you cannot go on fighting like that for very long. we have what he said about the f—16s. so despite all of the reports we have been hearing, all the problems russia has been facing, remember, this operation was only supposed to last a few days when he launched it last year, it has gone on nearly 16 months, despite all of that, the public image she is putting across is," keep calm, carry on and russia's going win this." == keep calm, carry on and russia's going win misf— keep calm, carry on and russia's going win this-'_ keep calm, carry on and russia's going win this." -- rush is going to win this. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg there. the usjustice department has published a damning report

on policing in minneapolis which was prompted by the killing of george floyd three years ago. the attorney general, merrick garland, said the city's police routinely used excessive force and discriminated against black people and native americans. he said they deployed firearms when they weren't needed and violated people's right to freedom of speech. but the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to george floyd possible. as one city leader told us, quote, "these systemic "issues didn'tjust occur on may 25th, 2020." there were instances like that that were being reported by the community long before that. the department ofjustice has concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the minneapolis police department and the city of minneapolis engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the first and fourth amendments of the united states constitution. there is also reasonable cause to believe that they engage in conduct that violates title vi of the civil rights act of 1964, the safe streets act

and the americans with disabilities act. specifically, we found that mpd and the city of minneapolis engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force, unlawfully discriminating against black and native american people in enforcement activities, violating the rights of people engaged in protected speech and discriminating against people with behavioural disabilities when responding to them in crisis. the attorney general, merrick garland, there. 0ur washington correspondent jessica parker has been looking at the report's findings. a scathing report from the us department ofjustice today, and as we were just hearing, what it is pointed to is that while the death of george floyd clearly made headlines around the world, sparked protests in the us and beyond, what they are saying is that actually this was not some isolated case.

they have been looking into the activities of the minneapolis police department, they've been doing right arounds with them, speaking to community leaders, looking at footage, and they found that it is a much more systemic issue. sojust footage, and they found that it is a much more systemic issue. so just to bring a few more of the incidents they have found, they said that officers routinely disregarded the safety of people that were in their custody, officers failed to intervene to prevent unreasonable use of force the other officers, used tasers in the reasonable and unsafe manner and there were several instances where officers were not held accountable for racist conduct. this is a long report as a result of a two—year as investigation that began after the death of george floyd, but also a list of recommendations, and during the press conference and in this report, it is saying that city leaders, police leaders, are being cooperative in china bring change to the force. —— in trying to bring change.

0ur america correspondentjess parker there. an american man has been found guilty of killing 11jewish worshippers, in what's considered the deadlines anti—semitic attack in us history. the attack happened five years ago when robert bowers opened fire inside the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh. bowers pleaded not guilty to all 63 charges against him. the jury convicted him on all counts after less than a full day of deliberations. live now to washington and our north america —— let's get more this from our north america correspondent nada tawfik. differ mendis the back run on this. ., , tawfik. differ mendis the back run on this. .,, 1, , .,, tawfik. differ mendis the back run on this. , ., on this. robert bowers was a 50-year-old _ on this. robert bowers was a 50-year-old truck _ on this. robert bowers was a 50-year-old truck driver - on this. robert bowers was a 50-year-old truck driver and | on this. robert bowers was a i 50-year-old truck driver and he 50—year—old truck driver and he burst into the tree of life synagogue in october of 2015 —— tell us a bit of a background on this. he yelled all jewish people must die. they spoke of the trauma and terror they felt as he made his way into the synagogue while they were

worshiping, one rabbi describing being locked into a bathroom, trying to get in touch with emergency responders, and robert bowers got into a gunfight with police and was eventually shot three times and he surrendered. and at the time, this was extremely concerning, especially because of the context, there was a lot of fear about the rise in anti—semitic attacks and anti—jewish sentiment in the united states. so there was really an outpouring for this community at that time. horrific incident five years ago, and today some powerful testimony heard in court.— heard in court. that's right. the 'u took heard in court. that's right. the jury took less — heard in court. that's right. the jury took less than _ heard in court. that's right. the jury took less than five - heard in court. that's right. the jury took less than five hours i heard in court. that's right. the jury took less than five hours to j jury took less than five hours to reach this verdict, and i think it is interesting to point out that his lawyers never argued that he did not commit this crime, that he did not shoot 11 worshipers was to what they argued in order to try to save him from the death penalty was that he did not do this out of religious hate, that instead he felt an

irrational need to attackjewish people because he felt they were supporting immigrants and refugees. thejury clearly supporting immigrants and refugees. the jury clearly rejected that. as i mentioned, they heard for many eyewitnesses, they saw moving images, a prayer book pierced by a bullet hole, they saw a torah that had survived the holocaust there at the synagogue, and they had heard from the likes of witnesses describing, as i mentioned, the terror of that day. so jurors ultimately found that he was guilty of these hate crimes and now this will move into the death penalty phase of the trial, to see whether a jury phase of the trial, to see whether a jury will unanimously decided that these crimes should be... he should face the death penalty for those crimes. ., ., face the death penalty for those crimes. . . ., ~ face the death penalty for those crimes. ., ., . ~' , ., face the death penalty for those crimes. . . ., ~ , ., ., face the death penalty for those crimes. . . ., ~ ., , crimes. nada, thank you for bringing us the latest — crimes. nada, thank you for bringing us the latest on _ crimes. nada, thank you for bringing us the latest on that. _ crimes. nada, thank you for bringing us the latest on that. that _ crimes. nada, thank you for bringing us the latest on that. that is - crimes. nada, thank you for bringing us the latest on that. that is our- us the latest on that. that is our north america correspondent nada tawfik speaking to us live.

around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bring you different stories from across the uk. we have all noticed the price of our weekly food shop going up at details but what if a medical condition means you should only eat certain foods? my you should only eat certain foods? my name is david, i have celiac disease. clec disease is a lifelong autoimmune condition and the only treatment is to follow a strict gluten—free diet for life. treatment is to follow a strict gluten-free diet for life. david has alwa s gluten-free diet for life. david has always prepared. _ gluten-free diet for life. david has always prepared, bringing - gluten-free diet for life. david has always prepared, bringing a - gluten-free diet for life. david has always prepared, bringing a pack i gluten-free diet for life. david has i always prepared, bringing a pack up to work today, but even that is getting more expensive. the cheapest gluten—free bread cost seven times more than the cheapest standard loaf, with a weekly gluten—free food shop up to 20% more expensive than the standard one, according to a study. reasons for the higher prices include increased production costs and less demand. i include increased production costs and less demand.— include increased production costs and less demand. i think something needs to be — and less demand. i think something needs to be done _ and less demand. i think something needs to be done to _ and less demand. i think something needs to be done to make - and less demand. i think something needs to be done to make it - and less demand. i think something needs to be done to make it easierl needs to be done to make it easier and cheaper, more affordable, for

people with celiac disease to get the gluten—free products they needed. the gluten-free products they needed. ., ., , ., needed. for more stories from across the uk, head — needed. for more stories from across the uk, head to _ needed. for more stories from across the uk, head to the _ needed. for more stories from across the uk, head to the sac— needed. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news - the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. a multi—million—dollar podcast deal between prince harry and meghan and spotify has been cancelled. a joint statement from the couple and the streaming giant said they had "mutally agreed to part ways". but us media reports suggest the royal couple failed to meet the productivity benchmark and therefore wouldn't be receiving their full payout. here's nicky schiller. so there will be no more harry and meghan on spotify. the deal was one of a number of commercial arrangements that the couple made when they quit the royalfamily and moved to the united states. the series itself was launched to a blaze of publicity in 2020. now, the contract was said to be worth $25 million. however, american media are reporting that the couple might not get the full value of the contract as they didn't hit what is known as a productivity benchmark.

now, interestingly, we only had a very short statement from the two companies saying, "spotify and archewell audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series that we made together". now, it does come after spotify last week announced job cuts in its podcast department. meghan's series was called archetypes. it ran for 12 episodes and featured a number of celebrities, including mariah carey and serena williams. here's how meghan described it last year. people should expect the real me in this and probably the me that they've never gotten to know, certainly not in the past few years, where everything is through the lens of the media as opposed to, "hey, it's me". i'm just excited to be myself and talk and be unfiltered, and, yeah, it's fun. the series did win top podcast award at the people's choice awards in december, and meghan is said to be looking to develop content for a different platform. the royal couple have, of course, since splitting from the royalfamily, looked to capitalise on their fame.

their netflix series, for example, is reportedly worth $100 million, whilst harry released his autobiography at the beginning of the year, spare — that part of a $20 million deal with penguin books. that's nicky schiller with the overview there. earlier, i spoke to afua hagan, journalist, broadcaster and royal commentator, and got her take on this decision. i think there are two parts to this story here. i think first of all there is a story of spotify, who cut 6% of its workforce injanuary and then at the beginning of this month shed 200 jobs in their audio streaming department. that was a further 2% of their workforce. they are really slimming down on the amount of podcast they are doing and ina in a really saturated market. they revamped the app, $500 million, signed loads of these big podcast

deals, to do podcasts, and now the market is absolutely saturated, so they shed 200 jobs, they are scaling back the podcast they are doing, and unfortunately archetypes is a casualty of that scaling back. i do think there was something trade of differences, certainly, between the sussexes and spotify, perhaps on both sides of the podcast did not turn out to what you decide wanted, but in saying that, it was hugely popular, especially amongst fans of meghan and harry. people really loves to hear from the different guests, serena williams, mariah carey or paris hilton, whoever meghan was talking to about the different archetypes that affect women. i think those two sides of the story. there is a site of creative differences certainly but also about spotify scaling back their podcast operations. you said it was a very _ their podcast operations. you said it was a very popular _ their podcast operations. you said it was a very popular podcast, - their podcast operations. you said it was a very popular podcast, or. it was a very popular podcast, or you a big fan of it? i

it was a very popular podcast, or you a big fan of it?— you a big fan of it? i did en'oy archetypes. d you a big fan of it? i did en'oy archetypes, actually, i you a big fan of it? i did enjoy l archetypes, actually, especially you a big fan of it? i did enjoy - archetypes, actually, especially the conversations with serena williams and paris hilton as well. and lots of people did, but also less people did not. lots of people were not into that kind of thing. thought that maybe meghan markle was over sharing, having conversations with these people. i listened to all 12 episodes and i did enjoy them. afua hagan speaking to me a little earlier. three new categories have been added to the grammys, including best pop dance recording, best alternative jazz album and best african music performance. it means the 66th grammys, which will air early next year, will now have 94 categories. many see the latest addition as further recognition of the rise and dominance of african acts and, in particular, the afrobeats genre. here's simi jolaoso, who's in the newsroom with more. sounds and musicians from africa have been reshaping music worldwide. artists like davido, burna boy and wizkid have been dominating charts and breaking records, so it's no wonder that this new african music category has been

added to the grammys. african artists have won grammys in the past. you've got angelique kidjo from benin, who has been nominated for 12 and has won five grammys. most have been in the best global or world category. so this move, giving africa music its own distinct category, just shows that the recording academy are finally recognising the rise and dominance african music is having worldwide. an example is, recently, burna boy performed at the uefa champions league final. in 2021, wizkid sold out the o2 arena in london, leading to two additional dates being added. then you've got fireboy dml�*s song peru and ckay�*s love nwantiti which broke charts and dominated apps like tiktok and instagram for weeks and weeks. now, although afrobeats may be the most popular music genre out of africa at the moment, the recording academy have made it clear that this new category

recognises recordings that they say utilise unique expressions from all across the african continent. so that includes afrobeats but also includes other genres, like amapiano, alter, ghanaian drill, ndombolo, kizombo, south african hip hop and many, many more. simi jolaoso simijolaoso there. rhun ap iorwerth has been elected the new leader of plaid cymru. it comes just a month after the resignation of the former leader, adam price, following a report revealing a culture of sexual harassment, bullying and misogyny in the party. mr iorwerth was the only candidate for the vacancy and says he's "committed to learning lessons" after a "difficult period" for the party. here's hywel griffith. stepping up to steady the ship. plaid cymru's new leader takes charge, knowing he needs to get to grips with problems which plague his party.

in may, a review found it had failed to deal with allegations of bullying and sexism for years — years when rhun ap iorwerth was one of its deputy leaders. are you as culpable as anyone else in the party for those failures? what will you do differently? i think everybody in the party at a junction like this has to take a step back and say, "ok, what did we do wrong? what did we say or not say? what did we do or not do?" that includes me, it includes everyone within the party, because if we don't deal with that, we find it difficult to move forward. the ultimate destination for plaid cymru remains welsh independence, but the demand for a referendum within a decade seems to have been dropped, to court the more indy—curious. for decades, the political landscape in wales has been dominated by labour. for plaid cymru to challenge them, it needs to lay claim to places like this, caerphilly, in the south wales valleys. so are people here persuaded by plaid's new leader? are they interested in independence?

no, i think we should be together. i don't think — no, i don't think that would be the best thing for us. you couldn't be persuaded? no, definitely not. we need the people in wales telling us what is best for us, and we should have our own — we should be completely devolved and independent. plaid are desperate to make the case for change and show they have changed too. hywel griffith, bbc news, caerphilly. kent and sussex will implement a hosepipe and sprinkler ban, after demand for drinking water reached record levels injune. the current spell of hot weather means some people have been without water since monday, because of supply issues. duncan kennedy has more from east sussex. in wadhurst, people are asking, "where's the water?" give it a try. david hasn't had mains since monday. nothing. just like thousandses of others in this east sussex town. nothing at all for five days.

pretty disgusted, really. you are paying for a service you are not getting. we have to modify what we do so we can cope. so we have had to change what we do in our lives because of this. at the local primary school, they have had to close classes for the early years, leaving parents angry and frustrated. it feels absolutely crazy that in this century, we have no water from our taps or in our toilets. it's just mad. we're having to share water from any source we can get hold of, the children have been off school. it's been working from home, covid—style teaching our children at home again. it has been horrific, actually. another school in neesham has also been without water for days. it has been extremely frustrating and it is difficult for everyone. the children have had to go back to home learning, parents have had to cancel work plans, to support their children with the learning. but this isn'tjust a problem for one town. south east water, the supplier involved, has today announced

a hosepipe and sprinkler ban for all customers across sussex and kent. the company says there's no drought, but it's simply a case of massive early summer demand they cannot meet. it is important to note a hoespipe ban is not because we don't have raw water stock, we have enough raw water, this is a demand driven issue. so i cannot produce any more water than i am, every source i have is running at maximum and we cannot keep up with demand. hosepipe bans rarely start this early in summer, but places like wadhurst now being supplied with bottled water may see more of this, as demand battles supply for this precious resource. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in sussex. a brand—new dinosaur species have been found on the isle of wight the first discovery of its kind in more than 140 years. the remains plum to

a group of grass eaters... —— the remains belonged to. they have been named in honour of professor paul barrett, who has worked in the natural history museum in london for 20 years. research say the creature seems to be close limited to other dinosaurs which have been found in china, suggesting this species have wandered far and wide and thrived in different climates and environments during the early cretaceous period. for i go, i want to bring you some lovely footage of an athletic officer. it has learned how to play basketball —— athletic officer. juno is a nine—year—old rescue her living at oregon zoo, and as you can see she has mastered the art of the slam dunk. staff at the zoo train did you notably vascular several years ago, to exercise her elbowjoints and ease arthritis. she has her own custom—made basket but they made out

of rock and, as you can see, is making the very most of her training facilities. if i was into ponds, i would say simi —— i would say otterly adorable, but i am not, so i will not, so i will say here is ben rich with the weather —— if i was into puns. hello. the weekend is here and there are some changes afoot on the weather front. those changes started to take place across the west during today, more cloud in the sky there. across parts of cornwall, we've seen some showers. and that's because we are closest in the west to this area of low pressure, this swirl of cloud here. and as this draws closer, the showers will become more widespread. so through tonight, south—west england, wales, parts of north—west england, south—west scotland and especially northern ireland will see some heavy, thundery downpours. the downpours across northern ireland could welljoin together into longer spells of rain. quite humid in the west — 15 for liverpool and for cardiff. cooler and, in fact, rather chilly for some eastern parts of england and eastern and northern parts of scotland. tomorrow, showers and thunderstorms,

particularly in the west. one or two may get a little bit further east, and certainly there will be more cloud in the mix and some low cloud and some very murky conditions developing across the northern isles, maybe getting into some northeastern coasts of scotland. pollen levels tomorrow, high or very high for the majority, so continued issues for hay fever sufferers. and temperatures 20 to 24 or 25 degrees, so down just a touch on where they have been of late. now, we could see a shower at edgbaston through tomorrow. 0n the whole, it will be dry, but the increasing chance of some heavy downpours into sunday and monday for the ashes cricket. now, through saturday night, we'll see quite a lot of low cloud rolling onto eastern coasts of england and scotland and further showers in the west. and as we get into sunday, this area of low pressure wobbles a little closer to our shores. also, this frontal system pushing up from the south. so this is a combination that will bring more in the way of downpours and thunderstorms. don't take the position on the graphics too literally. they will be showers, they will be hit—and—miss. there'll be places in between that stay dry.

but particularly across england and wales, we could see intense thundery downpours, with the risk of localised flooding. temperatures certainly lower than they have been. 19 to 23 degrees covers it for most places. during sunday night, it could well be that the showers and storms join together into a more coherent area of heavy, thundery rain, which will then push its way northwards. low pressure still close by for the start of the new week, so there'll be further heavy showers around. an unsettled start to the week, perhaps turning drier in the south later on. temperatures remaining above the average for the time of year.