for life starts for june, 16th on d, w ah ah, this is a d, w. news live from berlin, germany advises at citizens to leave ukraine. foreign ministry says germans should check whether their presence in that country is essential and if not to leave as soon as possible is comes. as us warns, russia could invade ukraine at any time and at the winter olympics, as bogs but events get under way, the historically dominant german team is hoping that their secret training method pays off.

ah, nick spicer, welcome to the program. germany has warned against traveling to ukraine and told its nationals to leave the country following fears that russia is planning an invasion. my german foreign minister and i lena bear box said that the crisis was ex escalating. while on a trip to egypt, she told journalists that she and nato allies were still working on a diplomatic solution to germany is the latest country to issue a travel warning to the region. in recent days, there is the german foreign minister more so we will keep our embassy in kiev open, but reduce the entire diplomatic staff there. that includes this economy, employees of our partners and the chairman teachers abroad. family members will also leave the country now. our consulate, general, and annette, sky set up in 2014 will be temporarily relocated to live if the foreign office also

issues a travel warning germans who are there are urged to consider leaving the country. and let's bring in d. w. cheap international richard walker for more are welcome richard. you watch the whole press conference. can you walk us through them more with their box? it? yeah, well, i mean, a babble describe the situation in ukraine at the moment and around ukraine as precarious and emphasized that rather than the de escalation that western powers have been trying to achieve. in recent weeks of diplomacy, really intense shuttle diplomacy going on. rather, the opposite has been taking place and she referred specifically to exercises russian exercises involving 30000 troops that have been taking place just begun recently in belarus to the north of ukraine. also there naval exercises taking place in the black sea to the south. you will have russian troops a mass to the east. so really ukraine surrounded on 3 sides by varying degrees of

russian military activity. bab, box comments, i think also chimed in with what we've been hearing it from the united states of the last 24 hours. really dire warnings coming from the u. s. administration that the military action by the russian side could be imminent. and this is essentially what is driving this decision by, by the germans now, following many other countries that have been making similar announcements. saying that they're going to keep the embassy open, but reduce the head count there. and then gene germans who are in ukraine to consider whether it really is essential that and what about the timing of this announcement? why, why now? yeah. well, it's really what we've seen in the last 24 hours is a ramping up of the warnings from the american side. there was a video conference that took place between joe biden, u. s. president, and all of the german chancellor and many other european leaders. the head of nato,

the 2 presidents of the european union as well, where they talked yesterday. i think that message coming clearly from the americans as well. and also the americans have been even more direct that warning to us. it isn't in ukraine, essentially saying that it's up to them to get out of ukraine before any potential military action. and that the americans would not come in and rescue anybody who was left behind. that hasn't been quite that level of warning from the german side, leaving it up to individuals to decide whether they think is essential to stay there. but certainly kind of following the same sort of directions. and just briefly, if you don't mind, i know you can provide a yes or no answer, but does all this mean an invasion is likely around the corner? well, i think one point that an official point is out recently in a briefing was that it, you have to differentiate between capabilities and intentions and sometimes intentions. you really can't tell, especially when i talk about the kremlin, when you're talking about vladimir putin, he holds his cards close to his chest. but what's clear from the western analysis

is that the capability to mount an invasion is that right now? and that is what is causing the sense of alarm. ok. richard walker. d debussy chief international inter thanks for that insight. there are moscow of course, denies having any plans to invade ukraine, but with more than 100000 troops station near the border. and a wrap up in military drills. tensions are reaching fever, pitch us president joe biden is due to speak with russian president vladimir putin later today in the hopes of averting all our war. more activity on all sides of the ukraine crisis. russia, ministry of defense released footage of navy ships arriving in service to pull bay on the black sea in the russian annex crimean peninsula. there, here taking part in large scale landing drills. the situation makes many ukrainians uneasy. it's not a pleasant feeling. believe me,

to understand that you and circled by the russian troops from bellow, wish 1000 kilometers more than 1000 from the east. and the last couple of days, sir, russia actually closed the entire as o. c. and the, the part of the blake seed actually excess graham ports to the blacks. the united states wanted citizens out of harm's way immediately president joe biden has urged all americans to leave ukraine. if a russian attack on ukraine proceeds, it is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians without regard to their nationality. a subsequent ground invasion would involve the onslaught of a massive force with virtually no notice communications to arrange. a departure could be severed and commercial. transit halted,

while civilians pack up security forces are coming in the other direction. around a 1000 us soldiers arrived in poland to add to the $4000.00 service members already stationed there. and on romania as black sea coast, a 1000 strong strike 4th rolled in from a u. s. base and germany. nato secretary general was there when they arrived. he spoke of the importance of boots on the ground as a deterrent to russia's military build up. 2 which he called unjustified so the combination old military buildup, threatening rhetoric, ah, a track record of using force against neighbors. of course, that's the reason for her being a cedars to concerned and are being vigilant and ready also to ah, react if there once again use force against the ukraine. although the u. s. hasn't

sent ground forces to ukraine. it continues to supply weapons to the beleaguered country. part of a $200000000.00 security package meant to keep this crisis from escalating into an outright conflict. and for more and so we're gonna cross to vladimir. yes, he po from dw russian, who joins us from london. at lettering, we just heard about all his western countries, getting their nationals out of the country, suggesting they leave closing embassies and so on. russia has confirmed that it is reducing it's diplomatic staff in ukraine. what's the justification there? russian foreign ministry indeed confirm today the trust is pulling or has put already some of its diplomatic stuff. all the grain during provocations from kia is focus coming from the russian foreign minister. this important point, whatever happening with my paper in the next day and in the ukraine, russia is always blooming ukrainians, or the best or united states for what it's going to happen there. the russian

foreign ministry didn't call any concrete numbers of how much, how many diplomats are put off the ukraine. russia joined the list of the countries reducing stock all of the grants, but this is part of the russian, texas or toxic. always blamed the united states. yet if you, i mean there's a, there's a parallelism and it seems an element of theater. and, you know, i guess if you decide who is, who is sincere in withdrawing their nationals and sensing danger. but let's move on to what's going to be happening later today. the united states president is scheduled to talk with latimer by phone. what can we expect to happen? and to be said, honestly, my expectations are very low. i would not expect much from today's talk between prison and put them in prison, but i still hope they can escalate them somehow. but i'm afraid we are getting for the verse because like in my opinion is reaching the point of no return

on our end. and i'm not sure we can solve this huge diplomatic or military crisis we during the rush and the best with the huge amount of issues, problematic is just by just one call tonight. so my expectations are quite low. that's hard to see how that could solve everything, but like if i can just ask you about what's going on in russia, how much support is there for the russian president amongst the citizenry for a possible invasion of ukraine? well one think is quite sure what they were for putting decide what they were she decides to do in the ukraine or barrel russian over support, because the russian government isn't the total control of the russian public opinion. so i've just spoke to 2 frames for most completely surprised with all the call with us. i was on the right side of the nav and everything is

going according them because of the united states trying to sleep great into the metal. so what they were, what they were here in the next week on the next united states in the rest with public opinion. all right, that was the w russians, letting me, yes it joining us from london. thank you so much for that insight. let's stick with our ukraine, mean theme, but move to the beijing winter games. now the international olympic committee says there will be no repercussions for ukraine's law to slap her ask of it. the winter games athlete flashed a sign urging peace in his homeland, amid the tents situation with russia. at the end of a skeleton, bob around the 23 year old used his moment to make a gesture of peace. he revealed a sign saying, no war in ukraine. the i o. c could have considered his act. political which is

against olympic rules are corresponding and beijing, jonathan cranes explains why the i o. c decided against taking action. you're expecting athlete protests but not necessarily on ukraine may be about china and human rights better yet. this was a skeleton athlete by the name of law to slough harris cabbage. now he held up her opposed to saying no war in ukraine. he was basically saying, look, any normal person just wants peace, don't they? but the, i see actually for bits protest during the competition, it's all to do with its rule 50 and, and, you know, protecting political neutrality. but in this case it has come out and said, look, this is just a gesture of peace. we see the matter close, so at least some common sense has prevailed here. and gouging you, pardon me? has become the 1st chinese man to an olympic gold and speedskating. he won the 500 meters to send the home crowd in beijing. wild. hasley was limited due to the cro virus pandemic, but they still made a huge amount of noise gal previously,

one bronze in the 2018 games. and of course the olympics are in full swing. the pandemic, however, means athletes haven't had as much of a chance to practice. as usual, it's forced many to find new and creative training matters. for the past 18 months, the german bobsled team have been using a secret weapon located in the munich office building that it hopes will take them back to the metals podium in b. j. chairman, bobsled athlete hands, peter hanning. hoffer is getting ready to practice on the beijing olympic course, but he's nowhere near china. he's using germany simulator, which they created to give their team a competitive edge at the winter olympics. there's a mulatto franzoni simulator is really realistic. i wouldn't have imagined it could be as good as it is. it feels a lot like a real life bob sled. the simulator allows the athletes to train in

a real bobsled mounted on a special platform where they see intricate digital models of real life tracks. with the or the driving lines in 3 dimensions. so we really have a complete picture of what is going on in the simulation. and this is why we can make a, yeah, very good suggestions to bump, drive us on how to improve. beijing provided the added challenge of an unknown track. so the simulator created its own mock up to help the german team keep up with their chinese competition, who've been practicing on the real course for the last year. picking la, absolutely. bob, beijing was a totally new truck. none of us had been there. and so no one could share any tips or impressions for my coming here. gave us a chance to get to know the track in advance on my calendar. and i was one of the song, them getting an impression of the track here puts you at a huge advantage. it means you're a step ahead on the track in real life palsy, on the bottom line with mottos. the germans, who have historically dominated bobsled,

are hoping this technology helps them to secure more metals in beijing. either way, the simulator has one major advantage for pilots. when they crash, no one gets hurt. and your of course watching d. w. news live from berlin, coming up next his sports life. why football is hiding uncomfortable. truth, i'm nick spicer. thanks for watching. nico is in germany to learn german lodge, benita, why not learn with him online? on your mobile and free c w e learning course, nico speak? ah chi, hold your hm. meetings we had a lot in common.