a ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, a phone call, but no breakthrough. joy blind in flooded me, putin disgust the crisis in ukraine. russia dismissing us warnings of an imminent invasion as hysteria, also coming up germany's federal convention gathers to elect the country's president weaving common flank blood to stand by expected to win a 2nd. ah,

i am jared re. thank you very much for your company. a phone call between their us and russian leaders has failed to ease tensions over ukraine. president joe biden and flooded me preach and spoke after the us warned that russia could invade ukraine at any time. moscow has dismissed the claim. as hysteria, ukraine's forces are on high alert as more than 100000 russian troops gathered near the border. germany has joined all the countries in telling its nationals to leave ukraine. a white house statement says, biden, warned putin of swift and severe costs. if russia does invade ukraine, moscow says the u. s. is guilty of unprecedented hysteria. american citizens have been urged to leave ukraine immediately. other countries, including germany, are following suit. experts say they're doing the responsible thing for is a very substantial bluff of russian troops. the russians are in

a position to launch an assault if they wanted to. what is not known and what cannot be known as precisely when that will happen. and that is why these evacuations are taking place. ukraine's president followed me, zalinski urged his people to stay calm despite the alarm, you know, i have to speak with our people, like you to, you know, like like, resident, as safe people. drew's. and the truth that we have different information. and now, the best friend for an image that hispanic in our country. and all this information details only for banding doesn't help us. thousands rallied and give to show their support for zalinski their message. we aren't going anywhere. and i'm not afraid a to worry did it wouldn't start like a week. it's a, it's already been going for 8 years. so nothing you for us away

from the rally, residents told d w. they don't want any part in a war. yes. muted auction. i mean there should be peace. that should be the principal to go in the law. we are brothers. we shouldn't be fighting each other. yeah, yep. road. yeah, i'm telling you officially, neither. i nor my friends are going to fight. yeah, i'm way there is. yeah. way, he will stoicism in the face of dire warnings. another day passes without fighting in ukraine's capital. an u. s. president joe biden spent a full hour on the phone to his russian counterpart vladimir putin discussing the ukraine crisis. so what exactly did the 2 lead us talk about? t w's, washington bureau chief, venus poll, has this assessment to hear that the resurrect has basically not changed. and that the president job by the repeat of the message he sent out before he was putting

that in ukraine attack would bring her and i, i a quote that here a swift and decisive response. he said that in case of an invasion rush, i would be hit very hard by sanctions sanctions, which also would target specifically the ali galks and also proteins, personal acids. so today's phone call was another sign. the president biden is willing to play hardball in his poll there in washington. let's go to ukraine. now . mathias bollinger is d w's bureau chief in kia mathias. hi there. how concerned are ordinary ukrainians? about a possible war? if somebody dropped you yesterday or today into the center of kia, you wouldn't think at all and not telling you where you are. you wouldn't think at all that you are in the country, threatened by war. people are out on the streets. they are enjoying their life. you see street musicians, people doing their shopping. it's

a beautiful day. but of course people are concerned and many people have done some preparations. some people have withdrawn an amount of money to be safe for the, for the, for any, anything happening. and some people have been stock piling, fuel, or food people have thought about what they will do or whether they will, for example, go to their country side. how's their summer house, or whether they might even flee the country? so people are of course concerned, but this does not mean that people are sitting there scared panicking. you don't see a panic buying of groceries and even the currency exchange is still stable. although the government has to support it, not speaking of panic, president zelinski is saying that that is his big is countries biggest enemy right now. so does zalinski not share the u. s. assessment that an invasion could happen

within days? yet he has been saying this for some weeks now that he's unhappy with the communication by the u. s. and other western partners about all these detailed or, or very specific scenarios that they are, that they are giving. there has been also some speculation about why they are doing this. it's the 1st time her a crisis is communicated this way and he feels that this is making his job to keep the country together and to keep the economy together. her make is making it more difficult because of course if, if capital flees the country which is already happening at the country will be weaker in the case that something happens. however, he does not say he has an entirely different assessment of the situation. he says he has no detail, he knows, does not know about any detail plans of an incursion, but he sees of course, the threat and he also sees the same military picture around his country that the

western allies see eyes mateus burning in kia. thank you. mateus let's get a round up of some other headlines making world news at this hour. a recent ballistic missile test by north korea is topping the agenda talks in hawaii, the us, japan and south korea. also discussing the pandemic and climate change, hungary is prime minister victor or van is campaigning for a 4th term in office or been told supporters. in budapest, there could be an influx of refugees from ukraine, should war break out there. he also hinted that hungary could leave the european union. the election is in april. police have failed to clear a major bridge crossing between the us and canada. it's being blocked by truck is protesting vaccine rules. police persuaded some drivers to move their vehicles, but they reconvened later and switzerland is holding

a nationwide referendum on tobacco advertising and initiative. aiming to protect children would ban the ads from public spaces. voters are expected to support the new restrictions. well here in germany, what's known as the federal convention is gathering today to choose the country's president popular incumbent gunfighter stein. maya is expected to be voted in for a 2nd 5 year term after he won the backing of all 3 parties in germany's governing coalition. now the role of president is largely ceremonial. we're going to take a look now at what exactly the job entails. it's time to elect the president in germany, the countries highest office. so just who can be german president? there are just 3 requirements. you have to have german citizenship, the right to vote in federal elections and build them for se since the federal republic was founded in 1949, they have been 12 president and 7 since german,

if occasion in 1990. the post is only ever been held by men. so what does the german president do? the president represents germany at home and abroad and concludes treaties with foreign states. they also appoint german envoys and receive foreign dignitaries. the president also proposes a chancellor and after parliament. alexa chancellor, the president officially assigned them and them ministers, their roles. they also have the power to dissolve parliament and laws only come into effect after the president has signed them. they also appoint and dismiss federal judges. have the power to pardon people and to ward thousands of honors. make it $300.00 or 100 and 5th birthday, and he'll get a special congratulations off the president. the same goes for couple celebrating that. 65th 70th am 75th wedding anniversaries has listened. brooklyn. at the request of parents, a german president can also act as a good parent to a family 7 or subsequent child. since 1949 german presidents have become godfathers

to more than 81000 children. ultimately, the german president is expected to have a positive impact on society, and many use their christmas address to connect with people at home. most recently, during the pandemic president frank vall, to shine maya called on germans to remain united. the coming term for germany, president looks to be another tumultuous one, with challenges both at home and abroad. while our political correspondent, nina hossa is act, build billions bill g palace, which is the official residence of the german president. nina, great to see you. stop my as re election today as president is considered certain. tell us a little bit about him. what does he stand for? well, thanks. i just, i, my a does look certain to be able to keep his office here at bellevue palace behind me here in berlin. and he has been the president for the last 5 years,

but he is somebody who has a very solid background in politics. so he was german foreign minister. he was also the chief of the chancellor re under chancellor gerhard schroeder. so he's been around, he knows people worldwide international leaders and for the last 5 years or he has stepped away, of course, from party politics. and he has seen himself as a bridge builder in this position as german president. so he sees himself as somebody who can bring people back together when there is a contentious debate, for example, like in the coverage times. or he brought together people from at the supporters group and also from the opponents group of covert measures to enable them to have a proper and thorough debate repeatedly he intends to continue to do that. also for the next 5 years, he's already identified the topic of digitalization and ethics. so he spoken out against hate speech on digital platform several times. okay, notched. i my,

it does have wide support, but the far right alternative for germany, the left party and the free voters have also put forward their own candidates. was that because they can, it is their right to do so. now that all these 3 candidates stand very little chance, but of course there is one woman. so that also has a some sort of in a symbolic value because many people have criticized that so far in germany. we haven't had a female president, and a many people are saying that in 5 years time will probably see a woman in bellevue. but for now, the most contentious candidate is of course, the one m, who's been appointed by the far right, a f d max auto, because he is a member of the conservatives. and that is clearly seen by many people as a provocation. by the far right h d, they want to tickle the conservatives. not nina. the parties also nominate celebrities and other well known figures to attend this

a federal convention could explain why they do that. because the federal convention is a body that only comes together once every 5 years, and it is different every single time. so it's made up of all the members of parliament and all the parties get at the same amount of votes, and they can give those votes to people who they feel represent their own values. so we've got top fire our logistic cost and austin there, but we've also got football, supersize, leon, co getsco's there. we've got uncle america there. we've got her singers there. and the idea there is to make this event some sort of earn a celebration of democracy if you will. we have very few glamorous occasions and to day or with a federal convention today is such a day obeyed her in a slightly more minimal version because of course of the existing andy cove. it measures glamour and famous faces are political correspondent, nina has a thank you nina and

d. w will bring you the results of today's german presidential election, live at 2 pm central european time. well sports news now in the bonus league, our little bolcom caused a stir as they destroyed my seat by and munich for to the champions were 9 points clear in the lea going into this one, but they were no match for the harm side. who gave their fans an unforgettable afternoon. carlos gum boys, go the peak of the goals for buck them as they beat by and for the 1st time in 18 years by and were left to rude, the absence of day injured gully. manuel noah and there was no dampening book and celebrations. watching dw news lie from berlin up next traveled, the sahara with camel hood was in now dw documentary, of course there's plenty more for you on t w dot com and on twitter and instagram to a handle there is at

t w's. i'm jarrett great, thank you for watching. with sun are driven by merciless greed, brothers are fighting the destruction land grabbers or exploited lead. amazon reinforced indigenous peoples for now briefly opposing them to a report from the heart of brazil stuart's march 9th on d. w. ah.