for w, made for mines with b, w, news live from berlin. russia claims the 1st stage of its war in ukraine is over and has been a success. it says it will now shift its focus to the eastern don bass region. we look at whether this signals a strategic shift from moscow when the face of stiff, ukrainian resistance. also coming up in european union strikes a deal to reduce the dependence on russian gas. but increased imports from the us will not break the reliance on the russian supplies. and running the race of her

life ukrainian athlete wins the jerusalem marathon after fleeing her wart on country. ah, no, i'm told me all lady welcome to the program. after a month of fighting that has left thousands dead and sent millions on the run, the war in ukraine might be entering a new phase q of and its allies. believe that while russian president vladimir putin aimed to overthrow the ukrainian government in a lightening offensive, he's actually failed to achieve that goal. the russian army claims it'll now focus on gaining control of ukraine's eastern don bass region. but president vladimir zalinski says he will not give up ukrainian territory for the sake of peace. russia

says the 1st phase of its war in ukraine is over. it's military leaders claim the invasion has been a success so far. and its troops will now concentrate on winning full control of the east and don beth's region, fillum of them on the whole. the main objectives of the 1st stage of the operation have generally been accomplished. the combat potential of the armed forces of ukraine has been considerably reduced, which makes it possible to focus on the main efforts to achieve the main goal of the liberation of don bus. at the beginning of russia's invasion, president vladimir putin kept his initial objectives vague. weston and ukrainian intelligence said the aim was to topple ukraine's elected government and install a puppet regime in cave. but moscow has faced stiffer resistance than anticipated. so russia has relied on artillery and air strikes,

bombarding cities and urban areas from afar. in the north east ukraine, 2nd largest city. ha. keith still stands. but a month of constant shelling has left many buildings destroyed. and in dawn bus the besieged port of maria pole has endured the worst of rushes bombardment. those that have managed to escape tell of a city in ruins yet can fulfill during it. there are no roads, hospitals, shops or factories, any mold. people have no money for linear. maria pole almost doesn't exist any more than that. old that is left of it is a name on the malice, a few houses, and our memories, extra. as russia says, its re focusing on don bus, it is uncertain what this new phase of the conflict will look like. president zalinski asserted that heavy russian losses have forced the kremlin to reassess its goals and take press negotiations more seriously. got with putin's original

objective, seemingly thwarted, western leaders also fear he may resort to more extreme measures, including the use of chemical weapons. from all that spring indeed abi correspondent nick connelly who's in the ukrainian capital cave. i, nick russia seemingly shifting its focus, racing at re jigging its goals in this war. how is this russian army statement being received where you are with a lot of skepticism? his to short answer. and i think there is a considerable doubt as to whether russia really did yes. have a kind of fixed goal, whether this was more does not units stick attack on ukraine and attempt to see how ukraine would stand up to a concerted pressure. but definitely, in the 1st few days, weeks of this invasion, the rhetoric kind of coming out of moscow was totally different. they were talking about circle d knots, vacation of ukraine in its democratically elected government. they were talking

about full demilitarization, which sounded like they wanted to basically keep ukraine without no me forever. and definitely the rhetoric is being doll down, but there's definitely the sense here in ukraine that this is tactical. this is about winning time rush, having significant problems with its logistics and supplying its troops here to maybe to win time to be able to then actually continue that events and not to st on bass, but across the country. and definitely when you look at russian or state media, there was assuming the a huge appetite for ukraine basically under full russian control. so there's still no real sense here that this is over, that russia is only gonna focus in east. but this is just also for russian domestic consumption for the russian government to show its people some kind of success and say, here is a and it will goal here is something we can achieve in the short medium term. rather than this being the fiasco that lots of western experts, schooling, rushes sort of putting this in phase is talking about one phase. that's just and there's another one in don bass where does he live face in these phases?

that's not quite clear. i think people here in about half the population is an estimate still to be his 2000000 people. if you believe the statistics and they've been living now for the last few weeks with the constant threat of a russian attack on the capital itself or an attempt to storm the capital m every couple of days. there is news that in 23 days, this is in russian. a attack you expected that hasn't happened or the russians have come up against a lot stiffer resistance. they are expecting. and in the east of the city, on the other side of the river, out there reports that the russian air force have actually been pushed back by about 2030 kilometers in the west. about 20 kilometers behind me. they are basically stuck. and now if you believe the ukrainian military sources into an under threat of being surrounded. so there's definitely no sense that they are making progress on the ground. but they are definitely shelling more. they're using more rockets. and so she, yesterday, we had busy a whole afternoon, which is endless air raid warnings and lots of pretty big bangs seemingly quite close the center. so sense that while they're getting stuck on the ground,

they're now using the same kind of increasing, using kind of tactics. they've used, in fact give a miracle of using more artillery, more in the way of missiles to reach areas. they're not getting to on the ground and looking at president zalinski of ukraine. would there be any change in the way he views the independence or the the of the sort self proclaimed or republics of the net scanner lou has i think that's definitely a red line before that from him. the same goes for recognizing russian control of an ex crimea. there had been some news yesterday from turkey, where president edwin released sources close to him had claimed that there was some growing closeness or willingness to make compromises there between ukraine and russia was then ruled out and been pretty clear terms by ukraine's foreign minister . i think the only place where there is some potential for concessions for getting closer is on nato. there have been signals from the ukraine government. they might be willing to give up on that aspiration to join nato. the membership is still very

much on the cards, but for now it doesn't seem like either side really is willing to give up and to sign up to pay for compromises. ukraine definitely doing better than anyone had expected, at least, or even maybe some you ukrainians and a desire to stick this out. and to really force russia to give peace terms that are acceptable to most ukrainians. after a month, warren, lots of dead r d. w correspondent, nick connelly in kiff. many thanks. you can now speak to ben hodges, a retired us lieutenant general, and former commander of the u. s. army in europe, who's joining us from doha. welcome to the w general. now, the russian military making this statement, apparently shifting its focus from the key of offensive and now to liberating as it says, don bass, what do you make of that?

this is a colossal failure by the russian federation, armed forces. and of course, they're going to try and dress it up as something else that they've accomplished everything they meant to. but they haven't accomplished anything except demonstrate their military has suffered from decades of corruption inside the miniature defense and inside the army. and they've demonstrated that ukrainians have something to fight for. were russian soldiers done? so i would say this clearly is the combination of rushes ability to launch or conduct sustained, offensive operations. large scale. unfortunately they, they still have the ability to murder innocent ukrainians. what do you expect from the russian forces around kill those talk of the long convoy vehicles approaching the city and all these other forces? what kind of campaign will they be carrying out right now? i think what we're going to see is a, an attempt by the russian forces to harden what they have. so you'll start seeing

reports of digging in, in, in fortifications to make it difficult for ukraine to, to push them out. if ukraine is able to launch a counter offensive, and this would be done in my view to to create new facts on the ground for negotiation to create a new sort of frozen conflict. and of course, this is what we, we cannot afford. we should not allow, allow russia to be rewarded for their attack on ukraine. we, the west need to be talking about. this is democracy versus autocracy. and so we should be pouring in support from ukraine so that they can in fact, push russian forces back to the pre 24 february line. it's lots of sources are talking about of the russian suffering massive casualties. you mentioned that

the russians have had a failure there, but we're hearing estimates of between 7 and 15000 troops killed in action. how reliable are these figures? well, i'm always suspicious. so when somebody makes an estimate, i can i have from 7 to 15000. i mean, that's a, that's a heck of a range for estimates. i generally tend to stay away from body counts because there's so many reasons why they are seldom accurate unless you actually see them dead soldiers. so i would generally go with the lower estimate. but then you have to also assume that anywhere from $2.00 to $3.00 times as many have been wounded. that's kind of the standard conversion factor if you will, if you're trying to estimate the damage to the opposing force. so however, many russian soldiers been killed, even though the lowest meant as a staggering number of casualties in just 4 to 5 weeks of war time. and it will be

impossible for the kremlin to hide this from the russian population to where they've tried to in the past. ukraine is pushing for a no fly zone. no general, you have signed a let's how back king that. but doesn't that open a kind of worms for us to then see direct confrontation between nato and russia? you know, i did send that letter and i would sign it again. even though there is risk exactly as you point out, the direct confrontation that could result of nato aircraft in the sky versus russian aircraft. but look, how many people will remember? shrub needs. july 1995 were soldiers stayed outside the city under the un mandate. while republic services forces murdered 8000 bosnian men and boys. and it feels a little bit to me like we're not doing enough to help prevent the murder of ukrainian citizens. and so yes, of course is risk with a, with

a no fly zone. but i think there is a way to do it. first of all, we have massive advantages over the russians. if you put together the combined military economy and population of the 30 nations of nato versus russia. i mean, it's a staggering advantage that we have. and so we should, we could do this by communicating to the russians. look, if one russian airplane comes up, it will be destroyed immediately, and then we will go after other things. so communicating this very clearly is a way to do this to allow the evacuation of people out of cities like mariel. yes, of course there's risk, but if, even if i was still the commander today, i would absolutely be advocating for this general very briefly. i know it's a difficult one, but how long do you see this conflict continuing and what kind of outcome do you expect? i think it depends on us, the west. if we do not ramp up the support for ukraine, like,

like the berlin airlift, i mean that sort of sense of urgency. if we don't do that, then russia is going to be able to sit there and continue to kill ukrainians. they may not take any more territory. in fact, i'm sure they won't take any more territory, but they will continue to destroy ukraine, and that's why we have got to do a lot more. ok, retired lieutenant general ben hodges. many thanks for speaking to us. thanks for the privilege the e you has signed a deal with the us to help secure more natural gas and wean itself off russian imports. it's one of many steps now being taken in the you to cut economic ties with moscow. but experts believe it will take years to build an, an energy infrastructure that does not rely on russian energy supplies. pipelines. still bringing rushing gas into the e. u. around 40 percent of europe's gas consumption comes from russia,

which is why e. u leaders haven't been able to agree a ban on imports as a way of trying to force moscow to end the war in ukraine. but what they did do the summit in brussels, attended by president biden, is a great deal to buy more gas from the u. s last year and i think for vending machines we need to work toward developing infrastructure, which will allow us a greater capacity to move gas where we needed to see them both of often. that means we have taken a conscious decision to better connect national networks, exidine lender get on to under the plan is to increase imports from america by an additional 15000000000 cubic meters this year with a name to increasing that to $50000000000.00 per year in the coming years, currently, e u imports from america stand at 22000000000 cubic meters annually. the use annual dependence on russia is a 150000000000 cubic meters, though. so the increases from the us, we're be enough to plug the gap. i know,

i know that eliminating russian gas will have cost for europe, but it's not only the right thing to do from a moral standpoint is going to put us on a much stronger strategic footing. what isn't clear from the statement? it's how much more expensive the gas coming from the us will be for europe, or how shipping ports, which are ready nearly a capacity for importing gas will be expanded. liquefied natural gas doesn't just flow through pipelines. like rushing gas does. there's a well in america, you take a bucket of a gas out liquify, it put it on a ship, send it across the atlantic, it goes into and import terminal, which will take that liquid gas turn it back into. gotcha gas. and then it goes into the domestic pipeline infrastructure, and it is exactly the same way that the russian would be, but there are all those following the agreement with the u. s. u lead is continued

the summit and hit a major friction point over whether government should be allowed to intervene in the market to comp energy prices, which is soaring for the citizens. w correspondence, simon young sent us his assessment of the deal between the you and the us. well, this is all part of a, a shift away from dependence on russian energy sources. we've seen the german economy minister, robert har, back going to the gulf to sign deals with countries, their own energy supply. and he's also saying by the way, that reliance on rushing coal will come down by half in the next few weeks and he expects a reliance on russian energy of russian. the oil, excuse me, from. busy germany at to be virtually ended by the middle of 2024, as he seeing all these kind of positive signals. people say we can do without

rushing russian oil and gas when we need to d w political correspondent simon young. meanwhile, us president joe biden is in the polish capital. warsaw in a show of support for his nato ally. the visit comes after he announced a new energy deal with the aimed at replacing some of the russian gas supply to the block earlier. biden travel to the ukrainian border where he met polish president on j duda in the southeastern city of issue, where the u. s. military supporting polish troops. as part of nato abide on is to hold more talks with due to this weekend on the west, military humanitarian and economic response to russia's war on ukraine. speaking at a briefing with president duda and military officials, biden was clear about what he thinks is the way forward. the single most important thing that we can do is keep

democracy united in our opposition effort to devastation occurring in quite frankly, because. ready the legal definition of w barbara fazel explained what signal biden is hoping to send with his visit. the message is absolutely clear. he has, particularly by traveling to the border region was ukraine has sent a message to president putin, that the nato alliance is ready to defend every foot off their territory. and that was something that the major leaders reiterated when they mentioned buffers on thursday, and that is the main message of president biden. he said around $10000.00 us soldiers are stationed in poland. and this town know that he visited today has

about 2700 of them. and he sat down with them to have a slice of pizza. as american presidents tend to do when they visit their truth, said, he said, we are very grateful for your service. and it is very important to defend the boarders here and defend the nato alliance and to show moscow that they can't advance any further. so that is the strategic aim really off this visit here. d w's . bob are available in warsaw. ah, now to some of the other stories were falling for you this hour. who the rebels attacked an oil depot in the saudi city of jet. on friday, on the eve of the formula, one grand prix there. the fire burned overnight with smoke, still visible on saturday morning. saudi authority said it would not disrupt the property of opened in malta for its general election labor prime minister

robert abella, who took over from joseph muskrat is expected to secure another term, but labor is still tainted by the corruption exposed by journalist ethnic i wanna and it's yeah, who was killed by a car bomb in 2017, a volcano interrupted near a scenic lake in the philippines authorities raised their lead level in the region and urge residents to evacuate. the volcanic earthquakes and concerns that further eruptions may occur with expos wanting of possible fast moving gas. it's an army in the lake. taylor whole kings, the drama of celebrated rock band fighters has died while on tour with the band in columbia. the 50 year old joined the group formed by ex nevada musician dave roll in 1997 in a statement the band call his death. tragic and untimely loss. climate

activists from the fridays for future movement have taken to the streets around the world, demanding stronger action against global warming. the conflict in ukraine has given the demonstrations added urgency. ah, the war in ukraine was at the heart of the climate strikes. 10000 people. chic to the streets and berlin to demonstrate for a rapid fossil fuel phase out for climate justice and above all 4 piece. for that they demanded and input ban on russian oil, gas and coal. michelle just moment on. i'm ashamed at the moment that we don't touch the hard to end this war by stopping their oil imports and, and in video early from one stop by the korean hang on. just prices are of course connected in many ways of meaning that will cause us enormous damage to the climate and them cities are destroyed, human lives, destroyed bombs, so dropped that causes considerable damage to the climate. that's what's incredibly important to think about. crisis together,

all these crisis have to be considered unsolved together. in the protests and berlin was the largest of around $300.00 events in germany. world wide demonstrations took place in more than 1000 places from taiwan to nigeria and australia. there demonstrate us gathered in front of the prime minister's office to demand better climate protection in the phase of more frequent natural disasters. west main climate disaster of the climate is also with bush fires in floods and not, not just bush 5 mega bush by the mega floods that are just absolutely ravaging our communities. and we know that it's fossil fuels that are exacerbating these floods in these climates is awesome. climate activists in both australian berlin hope that the war in ukraine will end soon. however, they are fight for climate justice will probably continue for a very long time. a ukrainian runner who fled her country last month has won the

russell and marathon valentina veronica left ukraine with her 11 year old daughter on her husband was also her coach. stay behind. she told the w that fans back home had urge her to run for peace. just a few weeks ago, valentine of the red skirt was pleading for her life. now the ukrainian marathon runner is trying to promote peace around the world, starting with the jerusalem marathon. before the race, she told d w about the support she still has back home. and i got a lot of for message from my grand kids, you know, from ukraine. osler's from a lot of people from you again for in i was a, the service and a very nice i speak here about it was unusually wet and cold for the start of the jerusalem race. but after the journey she has been on,

she just felt relieved. to be running again, the race was a mixed event. so she cleverly used male runners as pace setters in a bit to be the 1st woman to cross the line. she achieved her goal and celebrated with the israeli and ukrainian flags. she hopes to soon be reunited with her husband, who is also her coach, but has remained in ukraine after the russian invasion. she vowed to do even better in the race next year. with the digital rather today the rather than spend and i'm running next year when i will, guy is my husband here, craig and i kind of using a it is a metal that mean so much after a terrible mom for her family. she's yet another ukrainian sport start doing incredible things in the face of adversity. hey, you're watching

d. w. news. he has a recap of our main story. russia's military has signaled it may be reducing its military ambitions and ukraine. senior russian army officer says the 1st stage of its military campaign in ukraine has been largely completed and that moscow would increasingly focus its efforts on east and ukraine. the united states and europe have announced a new energy partnership to ease europe's reliance on russian gas. the u. s. is to boost supply of liquefied natural gas, but experts believe it will take years to build an energy infrastructure that does not rely on russian energy supplies. well, that's all for me for now, but up next is our business special. how russia's war in ukraine is changing global trades. we'll have more news at the top of the hour,

and of course our website has lots of stories that he w dot com. i am told me a lot. well, thank you for a company with with

ah, with who rushes war in ukraine is rewriting global trade alliances as the west coast time with moscow? russia is looking east for partnership with india and china. an in depth look at the global economic effects of the war in ukraine, on the dw business special on

d. w. with . what does war do to people are hatred and violence inherited from generation to generation and award winning documentary searches for answers for 2 years. the author accompanies a cell, a fist family in more than syria, with insights into the isolated world of radical islamists and into a spiral of violets without

ah a film about family, faith, masculinity of fathers, and starts april 16th d w. ah, american gas to the rescue, the us pledges to boot shipments of natural gas to the european union, but will be enough to break the blocks reliance on russian energy. also coming up, india comes under fire for buying of russian oil spurned by the west. will take a look how economic ties between moscow in delhi are evolving and will tell you the story of 2 farmers forced to leave ukraine due to russia.