ah ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, russia claim that will roger fleet reduce military activity around teeth and chinese in ukraine. it's a sign of potential progress and peace talks held in turkey. ukraine says it could adopt neutral status in exchange for security guarantees. a meeting between rushes in ukraine's leaders is also on the table. also coming up, ukraine says its forces have retaken a key town near the capital heave that ukraine's president warden's russian troops are regrouping to seize it back and elsewhere. the country continues to suffer

heavy damage. ah, i manuscripts mckinnon. welcome to the program. we start with what could be some tentative 1st steps towards peace in ukraine. after a round of negotiations in turkey, russia said it would drastically reduce its military activity and northern ukraine, including near the capital cave and around the city of chinese. now russia also said it was prepared to set up a meeting between both countries leaders. this is the 1st sign of real progress since peace talks began. but some western leaders have express skepticism, saying moscow must now back up its words with action. a tense atmosphere in turkey

with so much at stake. ukrainian and russian negotiators hold there 1st in person talks in 2 weeks previous negotiations in belarus and online have struggled to achieve lasting results. but the mood after this round appeared cautiously optimistic. music i let in the most significant progress, since the beginning of the talks was made today, the ukranian delegation said it is prepared to accept neutral status and not to host foreign military within its borders. this prompted a promising response from the russian side. they increased the russian defense ministry has made the important decision to decrease military activity. several fold in the direction of cave and shanna have to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations. in exchange for neutrality and in place of nato membership, keith proposed

a framework for other countries to act as security guarantors. these guarantees will be legally binding and allow those countries to intervene if ukraine is attacked in the future. the delegation also stressed that any arrangement would need to be supported by the ukrainian people in a referendum, but they warned that no treaty could be signed and no referendum held while russian troops are still in ukraine. questions on more difficult topics still remain notably on the status of east and rebel territories of don yet. and lou penske, while presidents zalinski has previously indicated a willingness to compromise on the matter. the ukrainian delegation was clear. all of the position of ukraine does not change. we recognize the international board as of ukraine as of 1991. there are no compromises or red lines here on the go. prometheus said, one of either geisha delegates suggested these questions will be addressed at

a high, a level opening the door for potential talks between presidents, zalinski and fusion inside the more little yet even as talks are underway. shelling continues. footage from tuesday morning captured the moment that a russian rocket struck an administrative building in mich alive, killing at least 7 people. a timely reminder of the high stakes. behind these negotiations as frustrate to a correspondent, dorian jones, in istanbul, dorian tuck his foreign minister, said that the 2 sides made the most meaningful progress since the start of the negotiations at these talks and assemble today. would you say that that's a fair assessment? well, to be on it doesn't take much her to achieve that goal, given the fact that so little has been achieved in the previous negotiations. but having said that, it does appear that the 2 delegations really did engage in key issues that need to

be resolved for any hope of peace. the question of russia's demand on that ukraine become neutral, i was told, was discussed, along with ukraine's calls for security guarantees. talk of 8 countries providing that security guarantee, including poland, israel and turkey. it's unclear over those countries would be prepared to sign up to such an agreement, but it's a sign that the sides are talking. also the question about the break away republics of law hands went on boss and the annex crimea was also a key issue that was discuss a possible, talked possible compromise. was an ukranian suggestion that you, cro crimea could possibly be the subject of a 15 year long consultation period, although that is linked to the end of it all hostilities. so that is a sign that 2 sites are engaging in key issues which are needed to be resolved. but at the end of the day, it all depends what happens in the conflict on the ground. at the moment it appears that ukraine has fought the russians to a standstill. there is his, ah, are uneasy or our balance of power at the moment with that continues will be key to

whether this continue progress on these de go stations are continues. there are a good amount covered today, obviously better the next step. how likely is it that the ukranian and russian presidents might nice air in person any time saying well that really is key to resolving this conflicts on both sides. i think do recognize that while the ukranian president of altamira zalinski has been calling for direct talks, we've raised rushing counterpart vladimir putin even before russia invaded. are russia for now at least as ruling out any talk saying that they can only happen when there are tangible issues to be discuss where there is a potential agreement can be reached. now that's where these negotiations at the moment are so important and whether they continue, whether they can bring some kind of framework in which the president can come together at the moment is unclear whether there will be further talks. but the turkish foreign ministry are saying that their next goal is to bring the russian and earned the ukrainian foreign ministers together. they met early this month.

nothing happened at that talk. but the hope is that these 6, these talks, which are seen as being positive, the, whether these form, if they can get together, can continue this progress. and at the end of the layout framework, which can bring the 2 presidents together. now we've heard that the ministry of defense, or of the russian federation says that it will fundamentally cut back military activity in northern ukraine. can we see this as a sign that russia is ready to step back to a certain extent? well, i think it all depends whether this happens on what does russia mean by significant drawbacks? very ambiguous words here. it's expect that people will be looking specially ukraine weathered rush matches these words with positive action. if it does that, then this will certainly be seen probably the most positive concrete outcome of these talks in his sample. and that will lay the basis for possible future talks and ultimately the meeting of the, to present, and a hope of bringing some kind of piece to the end of this conflict. but it's still

a long way to go. and people are still very nervous, whether this progress that we would possibly cheating tuesday, as tuesdays talks, can be sustained during janes. and if danville, thank you. now on the ground in ukraine, the situation is a mixed picture. tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in dia, humanitarian conditions in the besieged port city of mario pal, and in the southern says he is nikolai of several people reported killed when a russian missile had a regional government building. dozens more were wounded, ukrainian forces for their part all 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 shining president zalinski announced the recapture,

but warned the situation is still tense. oh good bye. give it. the occupiers are being pushed away from your pin. will he pushed away from the key the little co. ebert is too early to talk about a secure situation. the fighting continues over ukrainian soldiers are expecting further attacks and happening. preparing to hold a ground, one soldier explained, they were able to push back russian forces 3 to 4 kilometers from their position. the suburbs work over and we walked to you. this barbara who are shooting 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 don't you wouldn't shovel my jesse 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 counter attacks by ukrainian forces and a nearby car cave. the war has left homes and streets in ruin. the proceed 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 war crimes and 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. earlier i spoke to the secretary general of amnesty international agnes calamari, and i asked her about the kinds of human rights violations i'm going to stay is currently monitoring and ukraine. i think the best way of describing the situation is to say that the contrary, the fire is on fire. we are being documented on the condition of the human rights and human italian low valuation including being discriminate, all deliberate targeting of civilians, cb and infrastructure such as the hospital and schools. we know that in c t under

each human italian, corey. those are not functioning, trapping people in the, in those cities. we also documented the use of weapons which of disproportionate impact weapons, many of which i've actually been the object of conventional international law. so the situation right now is one of major, severe suffering are imposed on the people of ukraine. i shortly after russia invaded ukraine, german chancellor will have charlotte's announced a historic increase in military spending. this included a one time thumb of $100000000000.00 euros to swiftly upgrade the armed forces and the pledge to spend at least 2 percent of germany's economic output on defense every year. so what exactly is germany planning to buy with these billions is

a closer look. these us build aircraft up top of the boon desert shopping list. the f 35 can carry all types of weapons. it's design and coating. make it difficult for radar to detect with germany's current free to fight our jets aging fast and upgrade is long overdue. d f m rises is us with the f. 35 is the most modern combat aircraft in the world, martha and many of our partners, especially here in europe, have also chosen it. so some models and partner together with our partners in the alliance will strengthen our ability to secure nato s face. was incredibly to ter, lockwood, and also if need be, defend ourselves was our business. and as i most of the fertile, even the deal marks a shift in policy instead of pursuing its own development projects. the bond as there's buying what's on the market. even though critics say it increases germany's

dependency on the u. s. the war in ukraine has made military modernization even more urgent. when it comes to add a fence, the german armed forces are now also considering purchasing an israeli anti missile shield. this system is called arrow 3 and compliments the so called iran dome, to protect israel against rockets. it can shoot down long range ballistic missiles and would be powerful enough to protect countries in eastern europe as well. that something germany so far has not been able to do, but might need to in the future seem assault on a double muscle, prepare ourselves for the fact that we have a neighbor who is currently prepared to use force to assert his interests. cuz it's and that's why we have to make ourselves strong together so that that doesn't happen just us on tablet. also needed new heavy lift transport helicopters to replace the old sikowski. c h 50 three's, a system developed. and the 1960 s,

the list of what the bond is there needs to bring it into the 21st century is a long one from navy ships and tanks to radio equipment and ammunition. using the backlog, caused by decades of chronic under funding, will likely take yes. that's in years round up. thanks so much for watching t w. i stay informed live and on demand. podcast and language courses, video and audio. any time anywhere. the d w media center.