calvin special every thursday on t w. ah ah, it's his daily news live from berlin, europe on the brink of a major war, and suffice in east to new crying after russia's vladimir putin sends in more troops fears grow that moscow could try to seize new territory from here. and you as president joe biden wants of russian invasion of ukraine has begun. man, he announces sanctions targeting russian bags. and oligarchs class

had a major turn around. berlin halts the controversial north stream to gas pipeline project between russia and germany. ah, i'm rebecca rich, as welcome to the program. we began with the latest on the escalating crisis of a you crime the u. s. in its western allies have announced a host of sanctions on russia in response to moscow's growing aggression against you. crime. on tuesday, russia formerly recognized 2 self proclaimed regions in easton, ukraine. as independent republics there on the front line fighting has intensified, and locals are bearing the brunt of russian force. and now the shell falls nearby. here in the front line town of chest chia and ukrainian control new hans, the war is already

a reality. an attack targets of power station ukraine says pro russian forces were responsible there is also been artillery shelling on residential areas and people hosted but yet unless we have no coverage, no light, but we are in the basement with flashlight stick with him. we went and then it stopped for a while. but when you go out the black start again. it's scary, of course, although we have already experienced this before. he was far away from the frontline, the upper house of the russian parliament voted to approve bloody me. putin's recognition of the done yet enhanced people's republics as independent states. something the un course of breach of international law. but the russian president didn't stop there. he later announced the borders of the 2 republics included ukrainian held territories. not just rebel held areas, nor was it,

but his nell, we recognized that donates, enhanced people's republics. which means we have recognized all their founding documents, including the constitution. and the constitution defines the boarders off the don yeske and lou hands regions at the time when they were part of ukraine. nobody mc, again, you will have the federal crane much. this concludes this according to nato. this could be the beginning of a major war. many fair, a full scale attack on ukraine is still part of russia's plans. ukraine is not a native member, but the alliance had been moving troops, planes, and ships to the east and flank, such as the baltic states, to prevent any escalation spilling over. in response to putin, ordering his troops into the regions, the west hit russia with a slew of sanctions. the hardest hitting so far. german chancellor wolfe schultz announced he was halting the north stream to gas pipeline, connecting russia with germany,

and the u. k. and the u. s slapped financial sanctions on russian banks plus several oligarchs close to put in a reminder who in the lord's name, this prudent thing gives in the right to declare new. so call countries on territory the belonged to his neighbors. this a flagrant violation of international law and demands of firm response from international community. clear biden's, final plea to put in a worst case scenario can be avoided and the door for diplomacy is still open. i know we spoke to date of any correspondent nick connelly in kiev and asked him how ukrainians are dealing with this escalation. the past few weeks there was a very strange disconnect where you had the world's media talking about this extraordinary level of attention to promoting visits. almost every day, and yet it felt like the people here on the ground didn't really want to engage with these headlines, didn't want to engage with the possibility of those russian tanks along ukraine's board is actually being used actually crossing ukraine's borders. i think

a few things really changed that in the last few days. that's the uptick in fighting in don't bass where we are really seeing shelling and soldiers being killed or wounded at a rate that we haven't seen since the high point of the war in 20142015. i think it's also news of foreign diplomats leaving key f m of ukraine's, which is people. so getting out to think definitely will change the mood of people now seriously. actually thinking that this may affect them in their daily lives. that isn't just something that's restricted to the dumbass, a few under clumps, away from where i am here and give it a bleed. correspondent, nick connelly there in kiev. are you as president joe biden says, roches invasion of ukraine has begun and listed what he called a 1st tranche of sanctions against moscow. the american action follows a string of punitive measures set out by european ladies. barden said the sanctions will target russian banks and oligarchs. and moscow's access to western financing. so today i'm announcing the 1st tranche of sanctions to impose costs on russia,

in response to their actions yesterday. these have been closely coordinated with our allies and partners, and will continue to escalate sanctions of russia escalates. were implementing full blocking sanctions on 2 large russian financial institutions, v e b and the military back. we're implementing comp, reverend sanctions on russian sovereign debt. that means we've cut off russia's government from western financing. it can no longer raise money from the west and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or european markets either starting to morrow and continued in the days ahead. will also impose sanctions on russia's elite and their family members. they share in the corrupt gaze of the kremlin policies and should share the pain as well because of russia's actions we work with germany to ensure nor to stream to will not as i promised will not move forward.

they ebony washington bureau chief and as paul has some analysis for us on the u. s . president. speech in as how forceful is this response from the u. s. it was approved, forceful, and as the republicans and them democrats have urged the presidents over the course of the last days to import the imposed har sanctions. he got quite a positive reaction from both sides of the political spectrum, which is fairly rare these days. so president joe biden described the events of for the 1st time as the beginning of a russian russian invasion. this is the 1st time he is using this word than he laid out what he called a 1st trans. and you know, what is really remarkable in that regard, that they also going to kind of sanction ali galks and maybe a put in himself. how much of an impact will they, sanctions really had. i mean, the threat was already clear, but that didn't seem to deter payton well

above president, vladimir putin is prepared to put a couple of 100 billions, a kind of hazard ready to, to kind of overcome these immediate empowers of the sanctions. but you know, in the long run, for things like putting an awesome to on hold will hurt him. and definitely also what i just said, that the oligarchy also kind of put in sanctions. we shall see if this makes this life a little more difficult. and it biden really stress the point that these were just a 1st tranche, and how likely is it? and when might we say the u. s. government entities further measures against russia? well, it really depends on the behavior of flooding you put in if he really invades ukraine as whole there will definitely harsher sanction. the big question is of there will be taken out of the swift so that there will be really much harder to do

international business. and then we also hear that maybe they will be cut of the micro chip or market worldwide. so there's a lot more, a president joe biden, and also other european leaders have kind of in pet or to put on the table. if vladimir putin really is willing to invade the whole of ukraine in a weight and say, some very nerve wracking days and weeks ahead in as pol in washington, thanks very much for your time. will the strongest european retaliation at this stage is germany's decision to hold the k. nordstrom, to gas pipeline the pipeline should bring rush and gas to europe. but still, nate the go ahead from russian. we're a german rather regulators. chancellor shalt says the project is now suspended indefinitely. german chancellor shots on his way to announcing a key foreign policy decision to hold the highly controversial note string to

pipeline in response to russia's recognition of 2 separatist regions in ukraine. largest sort of the situation. today's fundamentally different sir, and therefore in view of the latest developments, we have to reassess the situation also with regard to north trim tooth by not string to aimed to transport russian gas directly to germany under the baltic sea. its construction was finished last year and was pending regulatory approval for a long time. both russian and german leaders, including shots in the past, had defended the project. but it had plenty of very vocal enemies, ukraine as a start, because it undercuts its own pipelines. but also the u. s. and various e u countries were concerned, it would give russia too much power has and leave europe vulnerable. those countries welcomed tuesday decision with ukraine's foreign minister according it,

morally politically and practically correct. big words of support towards the german chancellor who had previously been criticized for being too vague on the north stream to pipeline alaska. straight to our political correspondent, thomas sparrow. here in berlin, thomas, we just heard it there. sholtes had been criticized for being weak on this issue. now he shocked many by putting the pipeline on eyes. how significant is this moved by germany? absolutely. allah shawls have been criticized for being too vague on the issue of north stream too. but in this particular case, he clearly stated something that actually germany's allies had hoped for, for a very long time halting north stream to this is a particularly important decision on various friends on the one hand, because it sends a clear message of condemnation towards russia. germany clearly rejects alongside

its political allies, russia's latest moves in ukraine. on the other hand, it sends a message of support to germany's allies, germany's political allies, the united states, but also allies within europe. that for a very long time had been very critical of north stream too, because on the one hand, they believe that that left europe too vulnerable. and on the other hand, they believe that it gave russia too much power. so absolutely, a very significant move by allah sholtes, specifically, from a political point of view when it comes to showing condemnation to was russia and support to its political allies and welcomed fathers, allies as he say. but who is it going to hurt more russia or germany? well, it's important to stress rebecca, that this pipeline is still not functioning. so it's still not delivering gas from russia to germany was waiting for regulatory approval. so i don't think that will be immediate pain from an economic perspective for either country. there is

obviously a very big economic risk for both of them for both russia and germany. but it's important to understand this decision in political terms because of the political messages that it sends, because of the political responsibility that germany takes with this decision in a very delicate, in a very sensitive moment for europe altogether. so there are risks involved, obviously, but it's a decision that has to be analyzed. first and foremost from a political point of view that germany is taking alongside its political allies. does this significant decision by chancellor shall signify? do you think tom, at that germany has lost hope of a diplomatic solution to the crisis? germany hasn't lost hope of a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but it is safe to say that diplomacy has been affected. that what germany and by the way other countries had hoped for with diplomatic talks with sitting at the table with russia actually did not happen. and in particular,

for the german case that happens with the not with the so called normandy format, a format that has been there for many years now that brings together france and germany, russia and ukraine. this is how this has been badly affected now with russia's latest move, but even though it has been badly hurt by russia's latest move, chancellor shots clearly stressed that he hoped to keep that normandy format. basically, what germany other other allies have also been reinforcing is that even though the focus now is on the sanctions that have been placed, they still hope to have channels of communication open with russia to try and resolve the situation altogether. thomas, thank you very much for that analysis. state of it is thomas farrah as western governments prepare sanctions against russia, european footballs, governing body. you, eva, if i see criticism for keeping the champions league final instant petersburg thought him have heard and welcome to you. i for both alexander shaeffer hun to st

. petersburg after it was chosen as host 3 years ago. the wife, as says it's monitoring the ukraine situation, but is not plot planning to change the venue. reacting to the decision, british prime minister barak johnson said it's inconceivable that major football tournaments cannot take place in russia place. you're watching dw use stay chain for business headlines with christie plant. stand for what secrets lie behind these will discover new adventures in 360 degrees and explore fascinating world heritage sites d w world heritage. 360 get out. now sometimes a seed is all you need to allow big ideas to grow. we're bringing an environmental

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