in ukraine, russian forces, pressing in the closer to the countries capital care of on day 2 of a full scale invasion. the man says the city has entered a defensive phase and ukrainian military vehicles are entering the capital to protect it from approaching true a promising people to take shelter in metro stations. and reports of clashes in and around here have to rush and bombarded the city with cranes government, at least $137.00 of its soldiers and civilians killed russian president vladimir putin. his claim he's willing to negotiate. after you cranes along the lines of race, the possibility of neutral status you create conditions for such talks were not immediately clear where you situational grounds is, of course, that changing rapidly, and it's difficult to confirm. so i skipped mo, from d. w reporter william blue cross on what we've been able to broadly piece together

today. and thanks very much, it is indeed very complicated. there's of course, been air attacks all around the country and major cities all around the country. but there's want to focus on the land war that is happening right now in major places all around the country. first, let's have the general map of ukraine. you know, ukraine between poland, bella, bruce and russia. and over to the east, the separatist held part of ukraine. that's been that way since 2014. there are some key points here. let's get a closer look now where russian land forces are coming in from. we see them 1st coming in from the north for through rushes, ally ballers, the east from russian base is russia proper, itself pushing in through that rushing back separatist zone in the don bas region. and of course, in the south here we have crimea. crimea is the ukrainian peninsula that russia in

2014 illegally annexed. there's been a naval base there for quite a long time in russia's, using that as a point to go into points further south. now what exactly is happening in these areas? let's have a quick look. first of all, of course, the all eyes are on key if the capital of ukraine, the big prize for russia they're moving in from the north. we can see from the map how close key of is to beller is, is not a long drive for russian forces to get there. we've been hearing that there's fighting, at least in the northern part of the city, possibly moving into the city right now. and the defense ministry, the ukrainian defense ministry, has said that they want civilians there to stay indoors and prepare molotov cocktails for possibly fighting ah, fighting those russian forces as they come in. if the ukrainian military is not strong enough to do it on their own. now of course, then we have the east, this is where most ukrainian forces are because they've been fighting this

insurgency, this rebel area, they've been fighting that since 2014. that's where most ukrainian forces are. and that's where we see in at least 3 different major points. russian forces coming in from the east and also from the south from crimea. as i said, that we're that in russian naval base is. and we've been seeing amphibious landings reports of that from maria pull and even odessa, key strategic locations on ukraine's black sea coast. now one possibility here, one of the biggest fear is, is if the troops in the south and the east can link up, they may be able to cut off the ukrainian forces in the east, get them trapped there. so they wouldn't be able to help in the fight in points for the west, such as the capital. this is a very perilous situation that ukraine is facing right now. of course ukraine outmatched and out gunned, but there's a lot, we don't know how long ukraine can withstand a russian attacks. of course, how much russia is willing to commit to this fight. and what exactly russia's end

goals are, whether it's simply to give that separate it's region over to the separatists in for fully as more so than in 2014, if they're looking to split the country entirely between east and west. and of course, if they want to do complete regime change and occupy the country entirely, very, very difficult to say, very difficult to say where the losses are right now. and of course very perilous in the days ahead. william growth, thank you so much for that. all right, now let's get a view of a conflict from one of ukraine's neighbors. thomas hendrick. elvis was the president of estonia from 2006 to 2016. welcome to d w. how much of what's happening in ukraine today is because western governments underestimated letting that person know western it depends which western governments let me just start off by saying that the distance between key and time in the stone mia,

1350 kilometers is exactly the same distance as berlin to t if so neighbors were both neighbors. but certainly i would say for a good 20 years the western part of nato. busy and the european union did not take that seriously. the eastern countries, warnings and concerns about the behavior of the russians because of course, their rhetoric as well as their behavior was starkly different. right, so some a countries including your own, have dead, have today decided to send more weapons to support ukraine. what sort of impact do you think this will have? well, it's very difficult to say what the, the actual weapons, what kind of impact they will will have. but certainly it stands in stark contrast

to. ready the decision by some other governments to not do anything or send any weapons. and so there are several so, i mean, i think it certainly provides moral support to the ukrainians who otherwise feel quite abandoned. let's talk about germany's decision then to refuse to send weapons and indeed to stuff other countries from sending a german weapons. you regard that as being a mistake quite and find even more bizarre in the rationale that was used for a number of policies. but let's face it, ukraine was along with poland then bela bruce, a far greater victim of, of german aggression and during world. busy war 2, in terms of numbers killed in the absolute numbers, as well as in proportion of the population with russia. so

it does strike people who know their, the history of the blood lands, as timothy snyder called them to be a somewhat odd decision. looking at it from the german point of view, the look the logic that is that having seen and witness to perpetrate to those horrors in the past, they're very reluctant to go down to go anywhere near that path again. well, when you read the president, the bond is pretty then the clue say it justify north stream to by saying that germany has a special to russia and therefore must do north stream too. and few crane that. busy is against it, among other inter, i'll also poland. it just, it does not really wash. we're in the situation i where,

where germany has put a stop to, to north stream a to so the company, the country is very much getting in line with its allies. i wonder how worried you are tonia, about a spillover from this concurrent conflict. why should we have more of a spillover than anyone else? i mean, i think there's a general spillover that europe should worry about. but other than that, i think, i mean, we are not, we're not direct neighbors, but, but certainly if russia successful, i think it will encourage you more aggressive behavior. we also said president putin has suggested negotiations in minsk. can there still be talks with mr. brewton,

after what has happened. melissa decision for president lensky to make quite clearly not. but i would find it extremely difficult, especially. ready since bella rose susan, the ally of the belligerent, but you know, the city said that the strong do. ready what they want and the, the, we could do what they must. so we'll see, i don't, i don't really imagine him doing that given current, the current situation. but on the other hand, i don't have as adequate an overview of how bad it is. i do not think it would find broad support in the ukrainian public, so which i think is quite, quite fiercely opposed to, to caving into moscow. and it's rather ridiculous demand. thank you for joining us

. thomas hendrick ellis, former president of his, don't you and if you just joining us, you might be wondering how relations between a former soviet bloc members deteriorated so quickly. the w reports of michelle stockman has taken a look at how ukraine's westwood pushing, including it's designed to join the north atlantic. military alliance has nato has so incensed russian. 8 years ago. vladimir putin had a friend in t at president victor young, coach having pro russia president was very important for russia man that a lot of the forms were installed. it meant that any union with the west would not be possible. and in 2013, when young coach refused to sign an association agreement for closer ties to the you, the people rebelled. scores died, hundreds were injured in the might on revolution. jacobi was ousted, and

a new pro you government formed the kremlin, answered back with tanks. and annexed ukraine's crimean peninsula. moscow also threat support behind separatists in the pro russia don baths region war broke out as the 2 eastern provinces done yet so nuanced declared independence . european leaders brought the 2 sites together for the minced peace accords. but the war ground to a stalemate, a development far from the battlefield, also spiked tensions. and june 2015. russia announced the north stream to gas pipeline. it's route under the baltic sea would bypass ukraine, meaning kiev would lose billions in transit fees. another turning point in 2019 was brought him year zalinski as ukraine's president. he vowed to restore the

don baths region and renewed calls for nato membership. he bought the lead, the many leaders hint slightly that ukraine shouldn't take the risk of talking constantly about membership of the alliance. because this rescued connected to russia's reaction, most of them. but that was a red line for moscow orchard to work on nuclear. no one thought that if you crank reg, such threats for russia, we create similar threats for herself. what are the at the sure, what also got the root? it was want to prove justification for the russian true filled up around ukraine's borders. but unlike 8 years ago, ukraine is a battle hardened nation that's about to resist. hillary, recap, the latest developments for you. russian forces are closing in on ukraine's capital care of on day 2 of a full scale invasion mass. as the cities entered,

the defensive phase and ukrainian military vehicles are entering the capital to protect it from approaching troops. oh, and this is prompting people to take shelter in metro station. i've also been reports of classes and, and around the city after russia bombarded it with missiles overnight. the current government says at least $137.00 of its soldiers and civilians have been killed across the country. russian president vladimir putin. a claims he's willing to negotiate with cranes. vladimir savanski raised the possibility of neutral status for ukraine. but the conditions for such tools are not immediately clear. where you are one of vladimir putin stated reasons for invading. ukraine is the danger of the nato military alliance coming too close to russian territory. now with war on its doorstep, leaders from the alliance are holding a virtual summit. the discuss increasing its presence on its eastern border. nato

comprises 30 countries with the us, the most powerful. if you take a closer look at its european borders, we see the baltic states of estonia and latvia, both border russia, lithuania, border. so russia's allied bela roost. troop deployments in estonia and latvia are small at just over $1000.00 each. while reinforcements from germany recently landed in lithuania, poland has just over 6000 troops at the moment on the member states on the southeast and flank of smaller garrisons. the u. s. is sending reinforcements as the alliance moves to strengthen its eastern edges now a short while ago and they to secretary general install timber, gave his opening remarks ahead of the virtual summit. russia has sir, shattered peace on the european continent. what we have warned against for months has come to pass. despite all our efforts to find the diplomatic solution.

moscow bears sole responsibility for the deliberate, cold blooded and long planned invasion. we condemn rushes, aggressions in the strongest possible terms, and call on russia to immediately cease it's military action. we stand with the brave people of ukraine. we fully support ukraine's sovereignty, and for the total integrity, it's right of self defense. on its right to choose his own paul or russian ministry besides the ukrainian capital, moscow has said it will topple the ukrainian government the mayor of care for the answer that the that has announced that the defense of the city has begun. thousands of civilians how flat those who remain are braced for a violent confrontation.