[000:00:00;00] hi, [000:00:00;00] ah, this is dw news alive from berlin as war rages in ukraine. there are 1st glimmers of hope. ukraine and russia agree to hold peace talks even as moscow's troops draw closer to keep fuel depos come under attack, but the mare says you cranes. capital is still holding out russia orders, it forces to step up the advance on ukraine. moscow hits airfields and fuel

facilities, including a pipeline near huff keith in the east. germany says russia as war on ukraine has brought an era of peace to an end. in a wide range of speech, chancellor love shawl says it's time to get tough to defend freedom in europe. he calls for vastly strengthen military and energy security. and people take to the streets around the world to demand an end of the latter hooton's war. in berlin, tens of thousands take part our reporter is at the see ah, and warm reading to our viewers around the world. i'm michael. ok. we begin with 1st hopes of a breakthrough over the war in ukraine. president vladimir zalinski is off. it says

it will whole talked with russian officials at the border with beller. russia says it's delegation has flown in for the talks. it's not clear when negotiate. asians might begin. in other developments president vladimir putin has put rushers, nuclear forces on alert, and an escalation of tensions with the west. the u. s. has accused him of manufacturing threats. fighting continues on the ground in ukraine. russian forces have attacked fuel depots and there are reports of explosions outside the capital. keith, the mer, says there are no russian troops in the city. battles are still going on around other population sounds more. let's bring in d. w correspondent, nick connelly, who is in vineyard, sky in western ukraine. nick, why has president zalinski agreed to talk with russia now? i think 3 important also for the you going to magic efforts,

even if this doesn't reach any result, just to show that ukraine is open to negotiation is open to a deal. i think it's a question of what terms of those deals struck and also even what terms of those talks held. so the russian side today arrived in the better and prince go mo, which is just near the ukranian border. it's in the region from which attacks are still being launched on every day. and they were expecting ukraine cross the border into a country bellows, which is basically supporting the thrust of military efforts which supplies regular access to its bases. and the koreans kind of, it was expected by the russians which arrived to find some kind of capitulation and getting into russia demand. that was something ukrainian was going to agree to. i think it's an attempt by the russians to kind of show the world look ukrainian just on interesting congress because dialogue. that's why we have to fight this war because they're not turning out for these talks. we're offering them. so let's keep trying to show the rest world,

but you can't support that. it is trying to find solution, but it is not going to be dictated to moscow how these tor capital, where they happened. i think it's just pretty sort of imagine going to talk to the countries that is helping another country to attack these regardless of the how these talks and evolving. is there any indication about when these suppose that piece dogs could take place? i think it's a bit early to think about date for now. there's a lot of conflicting messaging going on about when that's going to happen. but the readiness there, but fighting continues. so i think it's kind of hard to see how they're going to really reach any results while people are still going here. it's a really difficult question, especially given what you just said, nick. but what can we expect from these talks too early to say? and the russians are going all out their demands from ukraine there as it was put by top rush officials and pitching was de notification and demilitarization of you can't get rid of your grant military so it can't defend itself in future. and they

basically branded you came into leadership as neo nazis, which is really extraordinary. you've got to power through democratic elections. you can't, president is of jewish extraction. the russians have to provide any proof of these claims. basically they were trying to legitimize you currently ship. they say rollover, take out terms, anything else will be war. so given that extraordinarily aggressive, because you can, it's very hard see where you can be struck, but i think for now it's not showing outside world that ukraine is willing to talk even though these contract and the shooting goes on. whether actually she's, i think, i think is questionable. that's a nic connelly there in ukraine. many, many thanks, nick. the turning point in the history of our continent. that's how chancellor all of shots described russia, is war against ukraine. speaking to a special session of parliament, the german liter announced a raft of policy changes that would have been unthinkable just days ago. germany

will drastically strengthen its military move quickly to eliminate its reliance on russian energy exports. he put the blame squarely on russian president vladimir putin, who he said had brought decades of peaceful coexistence to an end. the german chancellor earlier today put in that and also says imperial futon wants to create a russian empire, and he wants to reconfigure europe according to his own ideas. and he does not hesitate to use military violence. what we see this to day in ukraine. so we must ask ourselves what capabilities putin's russia has. and what capabilities do we need to meet this threat to day and in the future? later on that? so, emerson don't let me out that we must invest more in the security of our country to defend our freedom. and democracy says that if and from now on year for year, more than 2 percent of our gdp will be invested in defense. i'm joined now by our

chief political editor, michelle, yellow, clifton. and the ha, i think it's probably safe to say that this was a historic moment for german, a foreign and defense policy. absolutely, this is a paradigm shift in german defense policy. frankly, we've seen more change in that in the past 24 hours than in the previous 24 years. that is now safe to say. it started when saturday evening. we got news that all of salts is now planning for germany to directly deliver weapons to ukraine. although we're not sure yet in which table form the hand of will actually take place. and then to day we heard from a social democrat, john sa, whose chief whip in parliament is really leaning in the direction of having to having tried to understand rosa, in the past, more of a pacifist kind of angle. while he out of all people now announced these 100000000000 on top of the ordinary defense budget,

that is twice more than twice the current defense budget here in germany. and he's also agreed to above 2 percent of g d. p going into defense, the latest as of 2024. this is something donald trump tried to get the germans to move towards it throughout his tenure and failed. and this is all just happened of the past 24 hours freedom. you make mention of the agreement to send weapons to ukraine. another major see change is russia's war, rewrite in european security policy. yes, it is all i saw. it said we've woken up in a new era era, and that's how it truly feels. also speaking to m p 's here in german parliament today. and amongst the biggest skeptics that am having a deterrent, having a strong military really would be a way forward in such modern times protecting relation with russia,

which geographically is so important to germany and europe. it is now sunk in a one from one day to the other that the limits of dialogue have been reached. in fact, we hud direct appeals towards the russian people. the all politician speaking here to day were great pains to differentiate between russia and vladimir putin calling it putins war. and not ross's war on ukraine at leading to basically offsets predicting that also in russia, democracy and freedom would prevail in the end. while this is very much sounding like those who are against vladimir putin to now stand up to him within his own country. you well know michelle yellow, there have been large protests here and abroad, demanding more help for, for ukraine. what role does public opinion player why the internationally of their own, a military forces, and in fact in the whole of german society, is if anything, anti, and military in terms of applying military pressure anywhere in the world. that's

also why germany, parliament has to agree on any forces of being deployed abroad because of germany's dark pass. so yes or so it could be so that a broad majority would of back him on his actions. but this is really leading the way this goes beyond what the now opposition angler map of conservative party ever would have dared to ask from their former coalition partner the social democrats. that sir chief political editor near yellow clifton, and many thanks. i am now joined by ben hodges, a former u. s. army officer, who served as commanding general united states army, europe, and co author to book future war and the defense of europe in 2021 general is good to have you with us. germany has pledged to spend more than 2 percent of its budget on defense, something the u. s. has been pushing for years. your reaction?

well, obviously i'm proud to see germany. our most important. our extent this responsibility is always had to be a decision by germany, not something imposed on germany. it had to be a decision by german. and so now the owners and the german government accepting his responsibility on it's welcome. i'm not sure whether you know this, but just very recently, putin just just put out rushes nuclear deterrence forces on higher lurch. what do you make of this? well, nobody should be surprised that he would do this. of course it cost him nothing. nothing to threaten the use of nuclear weapons. they've been doing this for years and all of their exercises, but it will cost him everything if they should make the terrible calculation to

employ a nuclear weapon, no matter how large or small it will cause it. russia everything, i think it's also important to keep in mind that bella roost, vice versa, is having a referendum to date. and that referendum will include welcoming nuclear weapons, isabella ridge. it'll change the constitution well, nuclear weapons and bella roost, it'll change the constitution to remove the word neutrality from the constitution. and it will also your president shingo immunity for life. this was happening today in belarus. and so this is the problem with russian nuclear weapons. want to get back for a moment. what's happening on the ground at the moment? did you ever think that the ukrainian forces would hold, which is what they appear to be doing for the time being against one of the most powerful armies in the world? well,

of course i watch the ukraine now with the last 8 years since they were 1st invaded in 2014 in the united states and canada and u. k. and poland and live the one you have been working hard with our ukrainian partners to help improve their capability. but the real credit goes to ukrainian soldiers. i have been so impressed with what's happened over the last 4 or 5 days. in the we know from history that the will to fire the heart is even more important than what type of weapons you have. i would say that the ever deal that they are not as good as we had maybe assumed just because they're large. they have not, they do not have any real experience at large scale joint operations at the operational level like this and so many of their mistakes they're making, their vulnerability of the logistics vulnerability is becoming very apparent. right?

not to sound like an apologist or a proponent of any forces here, but based on what you've seen, is it possible russia hasn't yet fully and leave the full might of its forces on ukraine for whatever reason was out of their question. there has been speculation that they were employing there. let's say less ready forces using chechens using conscripts in the opening phases in some parts. so i can confirm that i don't know how much of that is true. certainly they have use a lot of their airborne forces and they're special forces in the early day in the early hours. and most of them were defeated. so there's no doubt they have more capability that they can bring into the fight. but i'm not sure that they are

prepared for this logistically. i mean it is hard and this is very difficult. the amount of ammunition and that is expanded in lot or more is much more than we ever anticipate. same thing for fuel. ok, that is a mr. ben hodges, former commander of u. s. army europe. many, many thanks. her. thanks for the privilege. as we just heard, russian president vladimir putin has put his deterrence forces, including nuclear armed forces on higher lured in a video speech distributed by the kremlin. putin said that nato powers had made aggressive statements toward russia. he also cited economic sanctions that will cut off major russian banks from international transactions,