Ukraine claims successes near Bakhmut

Ukrainian officials claim to have taken the strategic initiative near the city of Bakhmut, but President Zelensky has conceded that the counteroffensive is progressing ‘slower than desired’.

Also on the programme: Protests spread across France as unrest continues for a fourth night; and the mayor of New York announces that all children in the city’s primary schools will be practising mindful breathing from September.

Joining Julian Worricker to discuss all this and more are Jill Rutter, senior research fellow at UK in a Changing Europe, and Emile Chabal, Reader in History at the University of Edinburgh.

(IMAGE: Ukrainian troops ride a captured Russian tank near Bakhmut CREDIT: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via REUTERS/File Photo)