oh ah ah, this is the w news live from berlin, russia claims it will radically reduce military activity around keith and chinese in ukraine. it's a sign of potential progress in peace talks held in turkey. ukraine says it could adult neutral states, us in exchange for security guarantees. a meeting between rushes and ukraine's leaders is also on the table. also coming up, ukraine says its forces have retaken

a key town near the capital. keep that ukraine's president warns russian troops, i'll regrouping to seize it back and elsewhere. the country continues to suffer. heavy damage. ah, i'm a new keeps mckennan. welcome to the program. russia says it has decided to dramatically reduce military activity in northern ukraine, including around the capital, keith russia's, deputy defense minister alexander for mean made the remarks following a new round of peace talks with ukraine. in is stumble. he said. russia had made the decision to increase mutual trust a had a future negotiations. she's days gathering was the 1st face to face meeting in more than 2 weeks. guarantees for ukraine secure see were on the table along with the possibility of keep agreeing to long term military neutrality.

we can cross straight to our correspondent, you johan. in istanbul, who is outside the dome. a buttery palace where the talks have just ended. julia that does seem to have been some movement. can you bring us up to speed? well, the talk so today here in istanbul, between the ukranian and the russian delegation have lasted about 4 hours. with occasional breaks, some progress has been made on some issues. yes. but there has been no major breakthrough. there is still no peace agreement inside and there is still no ceasefire. deal. turkey has been hosting these steals are. these are these talks today. it's trying to act as a facilitator in this crisis. and that's why we heard from the turkish foreign minister and little earlier, he said that negotiate is here in istanbul, have made a most significant progress in talks to date. so that is

a slightly more optimistic assessment on behalf of the turkish hopes. now if we look at what the delegation is actually said after they're a talk. so what stood out from the russian side is that russia pledges to significantly decrease military activity in here and, and in charity here are that might actually bring some relief. all the civilians there, but again, from what i understand this is not russia promising a full scale ceasefire. now the ukrainians want security guarantees, international security guarantees. they want to 8 countries. among them, poland, israel, and turkey, to act as guarantors under any possible agreement with russia. and they say, if that system works, they are willing to declare neutrality. that's the key russian demand. they want ukraine to drop their aspirations for nato membership. but again, this is not something with an immediate effect on the situation of the ground. so

further to or needed. can you tell us about the delegates, how high level of all they do they have the authority to actually make decisions? well, let's say they were not high level enough to actually make the decision. so what's happening now is that each side takes the proposals and what's being discussed back home to the capitals to p a and moscow. now of course we've seen some names that were already familiar from previous rounds of negotiations. the ukranian majority, leader of the ukranian podium and ukraine's defense minister was here. on behalf of the russian side. we had a chief adviser to president putin, interestingly, russian oligarch roman brung, which was also here and oligarch sanctioned by the west. so who has apparently played a role in official talks in recent weeks. but really, the turkish side now says, what's following, what's going to follow is

a meeting between ukraine's and russia's foreign ministers again. and then eventually, a meeting between the 2 presidents, mister protein and mr. lensky. mrs. lensky has said that he's willing to attend such a meeting because he believed that the only way to end this was the big question mark is whether vladimir putin is ready to talk to mr. zalinski today. if i could ask you briefly, the turkish president ad one on the russian president putin. no each other. well, but does anyone really have the influence to push putin closer to a deal while it would of course, be a diplomatic wind for president edwin. if he somehow manages to secure an agreement here, but the turkish position really is that someone has to talk to the russians. he has good relations with both ukraine and russia, but turkey also heavily rely is on russia for energy, for trade, for tourists. so there is a lot to lose for the turkish president as well. and that is also why he is trying

to act as a key facilitator as a mediator in this crisis. julian and it's tumble of many thank lantern. now here in the studio by dw fulman, moscow correspondent, emily, sherwin and emily, we just heard julia talking there about the delegates these talk. she mentioned that the russian oligarchy berman abram abramivitch has been there participating. can you tell us, why is he there? and what's his role been in the tool? it's of really a strange one on if his of the kremlin today finally admitted that he is taking part in these talks. they said that he's not an official member of the delegation, but that he is facilitating certain contacts between the 2 sides. abramoff, which is an oligarchy. as you mentioned, he's one of russia's richest men and he has long standing ties to vladimir putin. though he has always denied that the 2 men are close and russian media,

the media outlet against her has actually been reporting as well that he may have asked foot in directly to be involved in these talks. while actually vladimir medina, sky, who is the head of this delegation, is not in direct contact with put in himself. so that's interesting. and they're also reporting that he met. he may have met with zalinski as well. meanwhile, there are these strange reports that he was actually poisoned early on, you know, in, in march along with 2 other ukrainian delegates in the ukrainian delegation in these talks. we don't know how significant his role is. maybe he's, he's behind what we saw today, the progress. okay, interesting. now, and do we have the feeling? would you say that russia is starting to back down? do you think that's something we could be talking about now? well, i think coming off the back of the talk stay, there were some concessions or at least gestures from the russian side. so the deputy defense ministers today talked about that significant reduction of military

acted activity and journey of and, and key f. and he also said that that was a and you know that they were taking that measure in order to increase trust between the 2 sides. and nadine ski, the head of the allegation, talked about the idea of the 2 presidents meeting, granny and president and the russian president as a kind of concrete thing that could really happen. and i think that's really significant because you have to remember, of course, the russian side said officially that they didn't want regime change in ukraine, but a lot of experts say that they did. they wanted to get rid of lensky. now it may be that zalinski and put in are sitting across from each other at a negotiating table looking at each other. and that would essentially mean that putin has to acknowledge that zelinski is the legitimate president of ukraine. so it does feel at least that there are some shifts happening here, but of course, for putin, he needs to sell whatever happens as a victory to his people, doesn't he? so how's he going to do that? i would say that it's not hard to sell, because then you have to remember that the russian narrative,

especially said tv is totally totally different. they said that they never planned to take over ukraine. that they were going in, in order to demilitarize the country as they say, and d not suffice the country, both of those words are so vague that they can mean anything that you want it to mean am. and they were also saying that it was actually the ukrainian side, storing these p stocks that they wanted peace in the 1st place that they were forced into this war war. so i think when it comes to the narrative on stay tv this, this will be pretty easy to spend. all right, emily show and thank you very much. now on the ground in ukraine, the situation is a mixed picture. tens of thousands of civilians remain traps, and dia humanitarian conditions in the besieged port, city of mario pole. and in the southern city of nikolai, of several people were reported killed when a russian missile hit a regional government building. dozens more wilmont were wounded. that ukrainian forces for that part are recapturing territory from the russian aggressors

gunfire in the ukrainian town of air pin. here ukraine says it is made new gains in repelling russia's invasion. the town on the outskirts of keith was taken off. the fierce battles and heavy shannon president zalinski announced the recapture, but warned the situation is still tense. over by give it, the occupiers are being pushed away from your pin movie. he pushed away from key the lou depaulo robert is too early to talk about a secure situation. the fighting continues over. ukrainian soldiers are expecting further attacks and have been preparing to hold a ground. one soldier explained, they were able to push back russian forces 3 to 4 kilometers from their position this barbara's work. when we worked you this barbara were shooting at us. within 60000 people used to live in our pin. many of them were forced to flee. some manage

to escape fighting on the front line. to get to keith. i wouldnt shibel. i just pray to god for salvation. worsley then i pray every day for the soldiers who defend us . let them have courage. god. let them have strength failed. ho. ukrainian troops said they were also able to retake control of the town of trust dentist in the northeast, close to the border with russia. russian army tanks and artillery were left behind after a counter attacks by ukrainian forces. and in near by car cave, the war has left homes and streets in ruin. the besieged city of mario pole is still contending with a major humanitarian crisis. 160000 people are trapped without food,

water and power. at least 5000 have been killed. officials have renewed their appeal for people to be evacuated. even with peace talks underway, russian troops continued to bombard defense facilities in ukraine. and ukrainian soldiers are determined to stand firm against russia's aggression. amnesty international has accused russia of committing a war crimes in ukraine. the human rights group says the russian army is deliberately targeting civilians and striking hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings. the invasion has uprooted more than 6000000 people within ukraine and has sent almost 4000000 refugees into neighboring countries. russia, meanwhile, has accused ukraine of torturing captured soldiers. ukrainian officials say a video showing the alleged torture is fake. and we can talk now

to agnes color, miles, the secretary general of amnesty international, which has also published it's 2021 report on global human rights today. miss cullum, our thanks so much for joining us here on d. w. we will come to your reports in just a minute, but can you tell us 1st, please about the kinds of human rights violations that amnesty is currently monitoring in ukraine? absolutely. i think the best way of describing the situation is to sever the contrary. the fire is on fire. we are being documenting on the condition of the human rights and human italian lo violations including being discriminate, all the barre targeting civilians, civilians, infrastructure, such as the hospital and schools. we know that in c t under feature human italian corey. those are not functioning, trapping people in the, in those cities. we also documented the use of weapons which shove

disproportionate impact weapons, many of which i've actually been the object of convention and the international law. so the situation right now is one of major c via suffering are imposed on the people of ukraine. russia has stifled independent media since the invasion. many people in russia we believe, are just simply not aware about what's happening. what can the international community do to counter rushes correct down on freedom of speech? or shall clock down on freedom of speech started before the aggression of ukraine. it does only become worse over the last few weeks, but $22021.00. i'm the commercial document to the shrinking space of independence and the searching voices. beginning. indeed at the beginning of the

year, we over alex final and then the target to avoid independence. right now, when the international community can do it, and sure to the extent possible sub some avenues for information on 50 board to the russian people. and that she's what i'm the international and i'm doing. but, you know, in a lot of these information on pope, again, the already on the of the weapon of war. so this is part of witching, the war, you know, trying to keep board of the story or people around the world. miss culmer, let's talk about your report in your report. your organization says, russia's invasion of ukraine was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to human rights violations. in your report. you also say that states use the pandemic as a pretext for suppressing free speech and descent in many parts of the world. you

document whitening inequality with wealthy countries breaking promises to care for the most vulnerable and transfer medical technology to developing countries. and you say many states, an armed groups disregarded human rights law and committed war crimes without being held accountable. and you report refugees and people displaced by conflicts all over the world has been systematically denied the basic right to seek protection. mis kalima is ukraine's refugee crisis, the flexing attention from other crisis regions around the world. in many ways, a tease, you know, no way to demonstrate that the international community can do more when it is confronting on international crises, such as in ukraine. so look, the fact that the international community east ending up to the aggression of

russia against ukraine, the fact that european states are demonstrating gender or the key to what ukrainian refugees must be celebrated. absolutely. but what we must also insist upon is that the standards that are applied to the day of your russia and to the ukranian refugees, our pride across the board to others as we speak right now. they're all refugees took between bella, russia and poland, was denied entry into, into poland. i would like to also point out that the war currently taking place in new chris, he's also a war values. we need to keep them on high ground in that, in that war, if we have any chance of winning it. and whenever we are preventing refugees, such as the one, talking to norman fleming, beloved russia, whenever we are having double standard in the implementation of international rules, we are actually failing to win that wall of values. can you tell us

a little bit about how the coven pandemic was added to a worsening human rights situation worldwide? absolutely, 20. 21 for i'm listening to national. it is a year of the trailer. we start the year with government telling us we're going going to be back better. in fact, they did not. what's happening 2021. me that political elite and corporate to call . you didn't, to ensure that the, the vaccine remain within a few hands at the expense of the vast majority of the population by the end of the year. only 8 percent of the population in the though the poor countries of the world ad being vaccinated. the impact of that ease, ease, cost it in human life. it means that millions of people have died. that which could

have been preventable. it is costed in kids not being able to school to go to school. it is cost of unemployment because there would be no global economy, quick coverage, just some piece more recovery in a few countries. and on top of that, now in the few months, 1st few months of 2022. we have a war in, in, in ukraine which is, i think, the terrible impact on foot. which meant that many countries around the world are going to actually experience food shortage. in addition to an explosion of prices of basic necessities that ease the outcome of one year on betray on in 2021. i miss callum. i will have to leave it the agnes column of amnesty international. thanks so much for your time. thank you very much. now while facing continues on keith's outskirts in the capital's city center,

regular life has cautiously but slowly been returning. for those who have decided to stay enjoying a coffee again and a cafe provides a stark reminder of how things used to be. a correspondent in keith sent us this report. this is home, most streets and it looked like these days before the war kia was one of europe's party destinations. this street was full of young people, spending the evenings and not far from here. you would hear the constant drum of the bass from tech, no clubs. now the only drum you hear is from artillery from the outs. goods, saving statues from all the fighting has left its mark on the city. even though downtown keith has so far been spared heavy shelley. it's mostly the elderly was still in the capital. it was not a village. i was born here. my mother was born here and my grandmother. my great grandmother lived here. when i was here yesterday and i'm here today,

i am out and about with chris bull, hadn't been as i have memories of every corner here. boy and i pray to god that i and all other residents of keys will be all right. sampled the doping stillness. yes. and we, we have everything there is heating, there's water, there's electricity. it would be a sin to complain. of course, there are restrictions. the very fact that there is a war is a terrible psychologically. but physically we are managing with that yes. according to official estimates, half of the population has left on the ground. it feels like more than that, those that remain have been anxiously following the fighting. so far. the outer defenses have held monkey of center my non square exact for weeks key of has been 45 people have prepared themselves for a possible russian thought. but as the russians are stored in front of the city,

confidence as returning to the capitol, people are slowly returning to the streets. their feeling more comfortable being outside. businesses are now reopening, some never closed. their doors like this coffee shop in the trendy padilla neighbourhood. on the very 1st day of the war, the owner decided he had to stay before they kill holiday. priscilla gow. mazacco leave at 8 a. m people came in and asked whether they could get a coffee. some of them usually we open at 12, but they looked at me in a way that i couldn't say no. then even more people came and that's when i understood many are leaving. but there are those who want to stay just and they need something to look for, which is great. but they didn't look what it was, melinda, when they knew the other. since then, the cafe has remained open. the staff have been donating meals to those in shelters . and to the military in a city where so many civilians have left,

there was in uniform on know, among the most regular clients now to some of the other stories that were following for you at this hour, ukraine's president violence. he has once again pleaded for the west to provide fighter jets and tanks to help defend his country from russian attacks. he accused western countries of cowardice and warned that russians aggression would not stop in ukraine predicting that russia would move against the baltic states and poland. and a criminal spokesman says, russia has no plans to use nuclear weapons in the war against ukraine. and a tv interview, dmitri prescott said, russia would only use nuclear weapons if it faced a threat to its existence. that in the person has stoked upstairs of nuclear war. after warning, western intervention in ukraine would trigger consequences. you have never seen. because the school and more than 300000 refugees have made their way to germany

from the ukraine. we met one family that fled to berlin, the husband as to his ian. and that meant that he could make the journey and crunch contrast to most ukrainian men of conscription age who are not allowed to leave the country can yes, no, no shot and i get like all ukrainians who fled the war by not mishal truthful were afraid, but bunny good for that. we heard the sounds of the sirens and goose and the bombs fit in some one road for the one book is a beautiful return 2 days. i couldn't believe i was in berlin. i couldn't understand what was happening. i was in a state of shockley. the floor below shop of circum cook them appear to be there on the day, the war broke out atlanta. every one ran down into their sellers who do of to him with the could reserve the underground. with the notices,

every sin was when i hear helicopters, i think the wars come here. i'm sure it stays with you. you know, in aircraft isn't what it was when you were a child where you look up and thinking, wow me now on you here, an aircraft, anything you were at war was an aircraft. his badge of for them got to with every one in ukraine knows they could die at any moment. heard you moment, there's not a moment's rest or peace. i slept with all my clothes on the skull. so could you hear the sirens did of the plains approaching and caused you to have some of your yes, your tires, dog guard, whatever happens. i think the russians will get their comeuppance. but asking that our dollar for the death of the innocent children and people in ukraine, now grania and of shows up on her. so will your visorio history won't forget those people will remember how russia behaved and what they've done that for that was the

fellow oh, the groovy, mr. de la was mose night for a moment. there was a low ball and we were able to escape was small hulu. we heard the train station was a nightmare. valuable is la jasmine, jasmine willis, and there to be quite honest. i don't even think about the future of i think about my grandmother who stayed in ukraine and i think about what's going to happen next in our country. did i want the war to stop on you right now in your book the ship would it does say to you, you get your stub as good a is a coin show us. why not? and she 1st cook if good me problem. now we're trying god willing to forget our lives over there. a bit me a bull portal. true to thumb amy barbara. when we hope we can be open enough to accept this new life, the bureau was no 3 ethan over his you're watching

d. w. news coming up next in d. w. news, asia, why australia, new zealand are concerned about a potential chinese military base on the nearby solomon islands. and the russians in taiwan, rethinking the future following that country's invasion of ukraine. stories in with their advantage in just a few moments. i'm and you could mckinnon about the whole team here at the w. thanks for watching. ah, with

a beginning of the story that moves us and takes us so long for the ride. it's all about the perspective culture information is dw news. ah g w leads to

mines every day, camels for us and for our planet. global ideas is on its way to bring you more conservation. how do we make cities greener? how can we protect animals and their habitats? what to do with all our waste? we can make a difference by choosing reforestation over deforestation recycling over disposable smart new solutions over steam set in our ways, or is truly unique. and we know that, that uniqueness is what allows us to live and survive google ideas, the environmental series in global 3000 on d, w, and online. a man with the memories of a woman ali from syria is born in a female body,

forced into marriage, great, far from home, ali can finally become the person he's always wanted to be. and i move this very badly poetry credit and we'll go from with it. i was born in berlin. starts march 30th on d, w. b o o. this is the debra news asia coming up today. alarm over a potential chinese military presence in the south pacific australia. new zealand are concerned over the proposed security fact. it's been china and the solomon islands. it could see the chinese navy set up a base on the solomon's. i asked an expert why that is watering plus concern over the chinese military, 5000 kilometers away in taiwan as well. and look at life on the taiwanese island.

jade. that would be the front line in any future chinese.