the geography here in europe, and there is a tangible ceiling here in political berlin that german politicians a highly nervous unit. thank you so much. our political correspondent, nina houses, and this is dw news coming to you live from berlin. i'm terry marty. terry marty. terry martin, if you're just joining us, you are watching expense, special extended coverage of russia's invasion of ukraine. just a quick recap of what's happening there. russian forces are continuing their attacks on ukraine's main cities. russia claims of his taking control of the city of cason in ukraine, south the governor there says the city is completely surrounded. airstrikes have hit, buildings and infrastructure in urban areas in the capital kiya, including it's t v, tower. elsewhere, russian paratroopers have reportedly landed in the 2nd biggest city hockey, which has been devastated by days of airstrikes and the mayor of the port city of

marielle poll says it's under constant bombardment. the united nations says more than 660000 people have now fled ukraine since the invasion began with the majority crossing over into poland. but some ukrainians are travelling in the other direction as well. men who were out of harm's way, returning to defend their homeland max d, w max center reports shameeka, the train station is no place to stay. those who can keep on going inland and away from the border. not these men, they are heading in the other direction. oh, i'm not risking anything a month. um, would you need all jack? your mom? how could i live with myself and stay here in a scratch to play? sergei has a wife and 2 daughters and ukraine, leaving his job in poland and returning home to ukraine to fight was not

a hard choice for him. no t o b, i was just in shock mow my yard units on which was door more. my family was home, my wife called me when you and i could hear the bombings over the phone says telephone on your girl. she's got on the ball with us with he has a bullet proof vest and 2 helmets organized by his friends. i ask him if he thinks they are going to keep him safe. jordan, though not with the girl, i am going to put it on and i'm going to shoot russians until i find out my job watching you. tough talk to cope with the situation. sir gazed scared, he tells us who would be on the platform. the train to warsaw is expected. any minutes? here we meet katerina. she just arrived from ukraine in my city. i have mother and grandmother and they're, they're probably coming to here. my father trained to defend us well of prison,

proud of him and of course and worries like most ukrainian men. her father had to stay and fight. the 21 year old is moved by the volunteers returning to ukraine to join her father's wrecks. i admire their etiquette and courage because said they're going from other countries to our country to defend it and that's admirable. their time has come together with his comrades. sergei makes his way to the bus. he doesn't know if he will ever come back. but for now, there's only one thing on his mind defending the homeland from the russian invasion and was crossover too much sanda. he is standing by for us at the police ukrainian border and sham. michelle max, you filed that report, we just saw that ukrainians returning to their country to fight an extraordinary story. tell us more by terry. so we heard some

really moving and some really desperate accounts and we were falling this people on their way to the bus. in the report, you just saw, everybody who got on that bus essentially knows that they're going through a very dangerous situation. and it's not just men who go to fight. last spoke to a number of women, one of them, a lady who was working in cyprus, decided now to return to the train. she's afraid, but she has 2 children, 2 daughters in you train. she said they need their mamma, and she told me she has no idea if she ever made it back. so she's well aware that this may be her last trip to ukraine. same situation with the men who decide to go to fight. some of them have military background, most don't say gate. we guy, we just shown the report he's a forklift driver. was working in paul's not in poland. and he says he has to go

back. he has to fight this war. nobody else is doing it. who is going to help save his children, save his families. so they all know that they're getting into a very, very dangerous situation with if you'll, nobody else is going to fight this fight for them. they have to there been hurling scenes there at the border where you are and of course, at the border of other neighboring countries, you countries neighboring ukraine. describe the situation, max for us, where you are today, what's going on in and around that station. right. so we're had the same as the train station is the 1st point of entry for trains coming from ukraine into poland. omelets, give you a little on the set the scene a little bit. let's try for can pan around and show you what the situation is here on the ground right now. it's still relatively full, but to keep in mind that 2 trains came here last night carrying roughly 2500 people

each. so 5000. so it's not too crowded in terms of that people who come here, they are welcomed with reception. you can see like hot soup being handed out here. this is not a place to state, but this is a place where people come to where people can catch some breath and ideally leave. so transport is being organized to other places in poland or in europe. but still some people find themselves in situation where they don't know where to go. they don't have relatives in ukraine or they don't have relatives in poland. they have no place to turn to. so some people end up here find themselves stuck at the train station for many days because for some of these people at this place is as good as any other. napoleon has been very welcoming to ukrainian refugees. that's not in the case with refugees from other countries in the past. what makes this situation different mikes? right,

so i'm talking to polish people here on the ground. they're telling me they, they feel a sense of injustice. they feel a sense of urgency because there is a war going on at their doorstep. so they want to help these people and take them in. and this is something that we've seen. yeah, very clearly over the last couple of days with volunteers donating, helping with ya commendation, helping with receiving people and, and transporting people. but it seems like that not everybody is equally welcome, one way or another. last night there has we have heard of some attacks taking place here in this town where a group of presumably hooligans went after activists from germany, went after. there also been reports of attacks and some indian nationals and also

journalists, and we've been approached by people here on the ground who have told me actually rumors they've been hearing on the internet for example, that some of the refugees allegedly, they believe or not refugees from the from the train that came from the syrian refugees, these kind of stories are complete nonsense and then they have, they have been debunked. and some of the misinformation is being spread now about ingredient or people coming from you train, conducting or committing crimes. here on the police has come out chile and say that there is nothing that they cannot confirm any of it, but there seems to also be that kind of sentiment among people. and which is a us pretty much based on racism. i would say thank you very much. that was d, w, correspond it much sunday at the police ukrainian board ukrainians

living abroad are watching with horror as war and goals. their country many have been involved in organizing huge peace rallies in recent days, dw met one young ukrainian busy building support for their cause. here in the german capital, berlin, 18 year old bladder is a ukrainian living in berlin. she's a student and an actress. oh, some of that is family remain trapped in a big ukrainian city. she does not want us to name to protect their safety. i know my father and sister, my whole family is still in ukraine. we're very big family. so good to every one of my friends, my mother that hit on my,

my boyfriend. my current planner is part of a grassroots ukrainian initiative in berlin. risha. they have mobilized thousands of people for that cause. on sunday, hundreds of thousands turned out on to the streets of berlin, protesting the war, flatter, and her friends organized one of the rallies. oh, i, after their protests, the group meets in this bar to organize space. medusa is a hot spot for eastern europeans in berlin. televi create your next rally. needs to be planned. but it's also a place where everybody from the group can release their stress. pete, good, that's good. we would oh. 6 together they follow the news and comfort each other

sometimes as i felt and maybe still feel guilty that i am not there. busy with them right now, sometimes i just want to crash everything in my home because if i can or do anything to save my save my parents and my friends, i'm just like i'm, we're doing the demonstrations, but still i feel so powerless. and yeah, i can do anything and i just want to be strong for them and i hope that would contribute and what he say and what they do is the strong enough for them to few it because all of my strength comes from them. when i say that, i'm gonna come out and scream at the top of my lungs every day. and i'm going to stand until i know that the people i love are safe and i actually mean it. oh,

and so they sing for peace, for their friends, for their loved ones in ukraine. oh, and for that country. oh, here's a look at the situation in ukraine itself in the week since the invasion started, the russian military has attack targets across the country. in the north, a large convoy, a russian military vehicles, remains outside the capital. kia, heavy fighting is ongoing in ha, keep with russian airborne troops landing in the city. after days of heavy shelling in the south, russian forces claim they have taken control of the city of cas on close to odessa and are attempting to encircle the port city of mario pole. russia's military advances have however, been slowed by strong resistance or some analysis. now let's bring in former

british general sir chris devereaux. thanks for joining us. general. it's de 7 of the invasion. the russians seem to be stepping up their assault. do you think we're about to see a major escalation in fighting? good morning. i think that's possible. i think the most likely scenario is an increase in the bloody fight for, for control of the cities. and i'm basing that on an assumption that the cranes will continue to fight. and i think they're fighting much harder than which expected a top us of defense, official general says that the, that a large russian military con boy heading towards the capital of kia appears to have stalled. can you offer any explanation for that? and why don't the ukrainians attacking it? well, i think you know what, we're all speculate thing and it won't be till after this is over that we really understand with confidence why that convoy is as it is. but my, my guess is,

i think we underestimate just how much there just to effort is required to move in on the convoy of that size. and he just, it's 150 miles, a kilometer story from the us border to here and, and just moving that distance to the lodge. i'm a force is logistically challenging and it storage the, the russians don't have massive amounts of transport vehicles. they tend to rely on rail, which is not available to them in ukraine yet so. so i think it's, it's still for logistic reasons. it's also still no job because it has been ukrainian resistance. why are they attacking it more? i suspect we're not necessarily seeing all the attacks that are going on, but there are also will be a degree of, of support to that conway. and i think it will not be easy to cause

a massive disruption. well, several western countries and the e u r. decided in recent days that they'll be sending military equipment more military equipment to ukraine. can this still make a difference for ukraine? oh, sure. the challenge, of course, is to get that military equipment into the hands of ukraine soldiers. even if you can get it to the border, it's not a simple thing to get it into the, into the right place. but, but, you know, my assumption is that the cranes are working very hard at that. and for sure, it is evidence that the military supplies that have already been delivered in particular, antea cra, weapons, and anti tank weapons, are damaging those russian forces. i spoke to a former ukranian government official just a short while ago, and he suggested that the morale of the russian forces is declining. do you get the

feeling that the hearts and minds of russian troops are really in this fight against ukraine? a very much doubt they are, my expectation is that a lot of those russian soldiers will be very surprised to find themselves in ukraine. they would have been told that they would go on next size, and not that they were going to rule. and they will be very surprised to see themselves fighting against their slavic brothers and cousins. so, and they're obviously not winning easily either. so the combination of all, i think will make morale in, in the russian forces in ukraine right now. very, less general. let me ask your final question. how do you see this war playing out? well, i think there are a range of scenarios. the most dangerous isn't we're thinking about it's it's, you know, that we are effectively in world war 3. we just haven't realized it yet. i don't

think that's the most likely scenario. i think that what, what happens is alone fights for control of the cities from the russian forces and, and a gradual wearing down of the, of the russian economy. hopefully to the point at which the pushing regime collapses. sir chris debrel, former british general, thank you very much for taking time to talk with us today. thank you. my pleasure. and we can now talk to sac a pet her cough. he is a former deputy minister of justice for european integration for the ukrainian government. he joins me from chia. mr. pathos. gov. thank you. first of all for being with us, you've decided to stay in the ukrainian capital. describe the situation there for us. it's been, it's been again nervous nights not much of anything happening in key f. yesterday there was this big strike of the 2 taller. we expect more strikes coming today. and

later on we're seeing, you know, russians losing the battle on the ground and changing the tactics of attacking infrastructure within the cities and doing the indiscriminate shelling. so while, while the see if you remain on the phone control of, of the ukrainian administration and, and non forces, we are prepared where we're, we're awaiting pretty much an attack on all the civilians. it's just a matter of time and matter of who gets lucky and who is not so lucky. as you know, a russian military convoys some say it's 60 kilometers long is approaching key of how much does that worry you and your fellow citizens? look, it says that it couldn't move much for the last 24 hours or even more and the end of this hard to tell what's going on. but the footage that we've seen,

and i've seen from, you know, the soldiers that were already taken. it seems that the russian army has not really changed much since ninety's or even earlier. so they were not organized at all. they have a, you know, they took people by surprise and, and some of them didn't even know that they were they going or what, what, what is their odd, what is their target? so i think that was partly, there is no supply lines ready for this big campaign. and i, we've seen, you know, russian tanks just getting lost in ukraine and, and looking for no going around the country asking for directions and, and trying to get some food, a foil in. also, we're seeing a russian soldiers, you know, just leaving their tanks to leave in their, their detachments. some of them are, you know, or many of them are, you know, 1920 you old voice who were, you know, who just signed a contract and didn't,

didn't want of you know, fight with you trained didn't want to be aggressor aggressors, but we're just fooled into that and, and they trying to, you know, you know, get out of this as soon as possible. so i think it's a combination of the low moral these organization. you know, bad planning. and the, and all that together is, is the reason why the column this huge column is moving anywhere. ok. now you were dealing very much with trying to get ukraine into the european union. that was your official job in the government, among other things. present. zalinski is asking that you now to accept you crane as a member state, do you see any prospect for expedited accession for ukraine to the eve? look, i'm still do that just in a different capacity. it's not a matter of the president or a government, it's the matter of will the people do and i would clearly see people conceding, they fight for the future, for the independence and for the right of a choice to,

to, to choose to become if or europe elation so i'm, i'm doing the same thing just like, you know, 4040000000 of ukrainians are doing every day, both now before and after that. so it's not a decision that is macon by someone in the government. it's would the people, once am, i think it's there for the people to give the signal from the ear that they are heard. they are supported. they, they are parts of the european family, ukrainian and russian officials have held talks, as you know, to end the conflict. and so far, there's been a result from those talks what, what needs to happen to stop this war i think its honestly as to uh, to watch and all that. i think its a complete look, you know, complete a lockdown and st. and stopping of all economic activity,

the financial activity in russia who's in doesn't care about the lives of his soldiers. he already know, we already have thousands of dead russian soldiers here. he doesn't really care about them. ah, what he cares is, is about his influence and the only way to stop him is just physically make it impossible for russians to go on. and so i think that's the only thing, not just sanctions, but pretty much close the country. stop the country from functioning. make it, you know, middle ages. ah, middle age is kingdom where no, no, no, no commission, no, there are no communication. no modern technology, no ability to wage. busy war i think that's the only way and that would make russian people think about it twice, whether they need a crazily to like that sir. he had her cough, the former deputy minister of justice for european integration for the ukrainian government. thank you very much for taking time to talk with us. thank you.

russia's war on ukraine is also shaking up the world of classical music, top conductor. malaria garcia has been fired from his post as cheap conductor of the munich philharmonic for failing to criticize is long town ally vladimir putin se decision to invade ukraine across europe. and the us, russian artists with ties to the kremlin, have been put on notice. speak out against proteins invasion of ukraine or base being canceled. 0, one of the world's most visionary conductors, and a long time ally of russian president vladimir putin. for years concert houses in the west looked past conductor, valerie garr gibbs close ties to rushes, authoritarian leader. but after putin ordered the invasion of ukraine, many are finding that impossible, and are demanding the conductor distance himself from putin. new york's carnegie hall cancelled garr gives appearance. so has lascola opera house in milan. in

germany, munich, mayor gave garry give an ultimatum. denounce putins war against ukraine and against munich sister city, kiev, or lose his job as chief conductor of the munich philharmonic. dare give didn't respond. on tuesday, the mayor fired him one of the world's top opera singers on an a trip co has also been a long time putin supporter. in 2014, she made headlines, posing with a russian separatist leader and flag in eastern ukraine. last year, the russian soprano celebrated her 50th birthday with a gala at the kremlin this past weekend under enormous pressure mitrovica posted on social media. i am opposed to this war. i want this war to end and for people to be able to live in peace. but she stopped short of criticizing, pu tim,

saying artists shouldn't be forced to take political stances. that stance was not enough to save her high profile concerts in the us. and europe after increased pressure for her to sever ties with putin tribe go cancelled all performances in the west, saying it was not the right time for her to perform. you are watching d. w. news from berlin. just a quick recap of what's happening in ukraine on the ground. russian forces are continuing their attacks on ukraine's main cities. regional government building and ca. keith was a blaze following days of airstrikes and russia claims. it has taken control of the city of cassandra in ukraine, south after fierce fighting us president george joe biden has vowed to make russia pay the price for launching an attack on ukraine in his 1st state of the union speech biden said the war in ukraine was premeditated an unprovoked and the,

and else further sanctions on russia, including a ban on russian aircraft from u. s. aerospace and our coverage of the russian invasion of ukraine continues on in the next hour. my name is terry martin. i'll be back in just a couple minutes. ah, ah, ah, with

who a russian aggression has been met with swift and crippling sanction. the western powers are counting on economy pressure to force russia to end its war. the question is, will it work? the fate of europe depends on the,

on the business special in 30 minutes on d, w. o, i think with

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ah ah ah, this is dw is coming to live from berlin. russia stepped up. it's a tax on ukraine's cities building, sorry. blaze in car, keith after days of bombardment and russia claims to have taken control of the city of cas on in ukraine. so we'll have the latest from our correspondence. also coming up, german chancellor, pull up shorts, visits israel, a country trying to balance support for ukrainian jews and its reliance on russian security forces will cross lat.