i'm trying to stop vladimir putin from starting a war here in europe. the pursuit of peace came with a price smack. ron began his reelection campaign late and he has some catching up to do. in 2 weeks. french voters will decide between the incumbent who tried to prevent a russian invasion and the far right leader, marin le pen, whose campaign funds may include a russian donation. i broke off in berlin. this is the day. ah, but just one second, they still need the french people gave me the honor of qualifying for the 2nd round against the outgoing president. is the 1st president of the 55th, which is to which i suppose so i you level of with jake don't don't be fooled.

nothing is to cite the candy 3 and i would used another thought level of 8. this is why i extend my hand to all those who want to work for france, even though they do what? winning the election. maybe more, he's a footman, is michael, than managing for us in a 2nd or so coming up, a lot of me as a lensky, the ukranian president, who knows how to win an election. now he's campaigning to win a war. it dear. yes, little lad. we will fight in the forests in the fields on the shores, in the streets. uh ah, the, to our viewers watching on p b. s in the united states into all of you around the world. welcome. we begin the day where russian president vladimir putin can already report a victory or 2 at the european ballot box long before russia invaded ukraine,

voters across the european union had begun digging into their own trenches of political extreme. just as keep in moscow are unable to arrive at a meeting of the minds. more and more voters here in europe are no longer able to meet in the middle. the moderate center is becoming a no man's land winning elections is about polling highest among the polarized. consider hungary last week, prime minister victor orbit and lead his ruling. fidel party to victory by openly criticizing what he calls the extreme liberal values of the european union. and in france, voters will go to the polls in 2 weeks to choose a president and neck in neck, raised between incumbent emanuel micron and a former political pariah. the far right leader, marine le pen, la pin in paris, or bon in budapest, have to populous to political points in their favor. they are sworn enemies of the

european left, and they are openly friendly with vladimir poot. ah, he may have won the 1st round, but for a manual mach crone, this was no time for a victory lap. down, don't be fooled, nothing is decided if we barely a month ago, micron looks like a shoe in. instead, the incumbent president ended up in the fight for his political life, with critics accusing him of focusing on global crises rather than the ones at home . at doing okay, but the a to all those who chose to abstain or to vote on the extreme deliver lic, gordon. i want to convince you in the coming day 70, that our project is a much stronger respons 30 than that of the far right. what and there scare mancha, it would defeat. you don't, you can count on, you know, growing anger of

a rising inflation created an opening for the populace marine le pen as she softened her image as a far right nationalist and re cost herself as a champion for struggling households. now that have been a dual, during this 1st round, the french people have clearly wanted to arbitrate a fundamental choice between 2 opposite visions of the future. either the division, the injustice and the disorder, imposed by ma norma call for the benefit of a few or the gathering of the french people around social justice and protection. guaranteed by fraternal framework around the age old idea of nation and people millionaire the unless you a defer with macaroni headed for a potentially bruising run off. he's hoping to stave off the threat from the right with the help of more mainstream parties. but his biggest goose could come from an unlikely backer. far less leader john. look melanie shawn who came in 3rd with over a 5th of the vote. coming down on that. we will never lose her trust in democracy.

so you must not give a vote to mrs. le pen name, we must not give one both to mrs. le pamela, been in an election that saw the extremes celebrate and traditional parties, flat line, the battle lines for francis future have been drawn. florida corresponded in paris is lisa luis. she joins winowski to see you. lisa me, this is now suddenly a neck and neck race between macaroni and marine le pen. it may surprise people outside of france, but this did not come out of nowhere did what it didn't. although people here are kind of surprised to because this is only something that appeared over the past few weeks, you know, for months on end it looked like mac call a would win this election with

a large lead. he was in the lead marie le pen was behind him, but she kept know doing the leg work, leg work. she went from town to town, from market to market and talked to people, telling them that she was the candidate place to the. but she was worried about their day to day to day worries and mesa for about spending power that she would help them get through get by and make ends meet. now what then happened was the war in ukraine started and that 1st code, of course, the so called flag a fact that's that means that people rallied around the leader in times of crisis. my call went up even further in the polls marilla and went down a bit and it seemed really like a done deal. but that flag had waned, waned after a few weeks really. and what then happened was that amendment not call, he did not enter the campaign, and that was his big mistake. he thought it is

a done deal. it wasn't a done deal. he went down the post because people felt that he was too far away from, you know, from people reality. they felt he was doing an international drop, but not being a national leader. meanwhile, marina pen continue to do to get her to talk to people on the ground. she actually didn't really talk about the immigration part of her program. she only talked about how she would help people get by, for example, by blocking the prices of essential goods and controlling fuel prices. and that had people really forget that she's still a quite a general fabric candidate with accent will be platform 1st thing that she would do, for example, if she were elected would tend to be to hold a referendum and take away some rights from people that don't have french nationality. yeah, exactly. this is a kinder gentler marine le pen, but i want to talk a little bit about the vladimir putin factor here. i mean, there are reports that

a russian bank donated to marine le pen in the past. we know that there were campaign posters in this election showing la pen with vladimir putin. they were taken down when the war began. does putin in this war? do they help la pens chances? i mean, do they make the voters think that she's better pick because she does have a connection to put i don't think that the french make that connection and majority of the french, according to polls are in favor of ukraine. they strongly opposed to what pretends ross russia is doing and ukraine at this very moment. but you know, what happened was actually that this, this proximity with preaching could have had a negative impact on emma really pens, image in france, especially during this campaign. but when the war broke out, she right away said this is not right,

there should be no invasion. i don't agree with clinton and that kind of covered her proximity with who 10 days another fall right? candidate, for example, was a lot stronger when it comes to these words, although he has kind of the same platform as a pen. but he did not do the same thing as she did. he was a bit, he was a bit less coming than her really. he said it is full, but it's nato's responsibility that this war is happening. and that could of quite a lot of betas. marina pan didn't do that, and it looks like she get through this, you know, the past few weeks. and she even climbed up in the polls. yeah, it's amazing how quickly the numbers changed. and now we've got 2 weeks to go. is it clear what emanuel micron strategy will have to be in the next 14 days if he wants to keep his jaw?

well he has to win over vegas that so far not willing to vote for him. he has to convince, as you mentioned beforehand, for example, versus that in the 1st round of aging elevator for only middle shaw from the far less and he strategy seems to be he started today actually he the campaign trail. it looks like he will really hold one meeting after the other as a place to beforehand actually didn't up to the 1st round of rates. and you only had a few small meetings, one big from pain meeting. he was very much absent from the campaign trade and that is likely to change now. and he has talked to the media today as saying that he might even think about some measures he had asked, for example, he had said that he would increase the retirement age in france from 60 to 65. now that's obviously a very controversial measure here in france. remember, you know, during the, for the last 5 years over his term and power,

he tried to push through pension reform that triggered huge protest. now as to this measure, pushing up the retirement ation. $62.00 to $65.00, you know, is it? well, maybe it's only going to be $64.00 and maybe we're going to hold a referendum if the french agrees. and he has understood that he needs to move to the left. and also he needs to move to towards more environmentally friendly measures. he said he would maybe include some ecological measures in his program to convince they stay just to wait for him. the 2nd round of fighting. yeah it's, it's a fascinating we will certainly be following the next 2 weeks very closely as we know you will, as will our correspondent mission the william parish tonight, make sure thank ah ukrainian president vladimir zalinski says that tens of thousands are dead in mario poll. the port city have seen the most intense fighting since the russian invasion

began. more than 6 weeks ago. mario pope has been under relentless, russian bombardment for weeks. officials say much of it lies in ruins. tens of thousands are trapped with little of no food in water. and russia have said that it plans to focus moving forward on eastern ukraine and to intensify its military efforts there. that means the kremlin is pulling its forces out of northern ukraine, and that includes the city of charity to heave, which was besieged by russian forces for weeks of following the russian withdrawal from the reach and the horrors of what happened. they are there now coming to light or correspondent, alexander phenomena. she filed this report from sharon heath, the city of journey heave after weeks of siege and have a shelling by russian forces. we meet svetlana and valentino sapient coin a local hospital where they survived,

but were both injured in an air strike that hit their house for the ballistic wounded. some one look less than a 2nd. loosely sweet. we just heard a whistle here, creek boom. the symbol i screamed get down was uncovered. my son, feeling like little some would even school valentin still has surgeries ahead of him. svetlana is doing a little bit better. she shows me pictures of their house before and after the attack. this done up on why did they attack us over? i don't know, we didn't do anything bad where civilians are stopped. aquarium when islam the hospital itself was not spirit either bought and russia load. the hat of the trauma center here tells us after russian strike his team struggled to keep going with you all before we worked without water and electricity luma would headlamps on and took care of those seeking medical assistance. and also it was very hard on me,

but we stayed here and did what was necessary. roland williams, social medicine and the situation worse. and when russian forces completely encircled the city, residents tell us journey heath and you are to weeks of fresh and siege and just barely came through. water and electricity were almost completely cut off. no age could come in. local officials say at times the city buried up to 100 people in a single day. some of them were killed by russian troops. others died because they could not reach the hospital. due to heavy shelling in the local morgue, edward slept please using refrigerated truck. but at bodies it still needs to the identified or pickup by relatives that elizabeth or they were you co, many people left the country to escape the fighting. that they are not in ukraine and cannot get back to bury their relatives at the moment. so that's why there are

still many bodies here to preserve the right with you with those who come here to claim their loved ones are overwhelmed. like we've met egos, family, he was a husband, a father, a brother, shut debt by russian soldiers who rented them. he was the best buy that he could have. i was so proud of him and now something this terrible, his happy to death and destruction is all that is left after the withdrawal of russian forces from jenny heath. and what those who survived the most, if that the russian army might return before the war in ukraine, the imprisonment volumes zalinski was considered a political white weight, a man out of his depth, an actor comedian who was thrust into the biggest role of his life, post invasion. he's become the lead actor in

a social media campaign that appears to be winning hearts in might so lens, he is now seen as a stirring war time. communicate or a modern day. winston churchill, some have said who rallied britons during the darkest days of the 2nd world war. why then zalinski has inspired his people to fight against dramatic odds. always striking the right tone for the white global audience. he has rallied the world around him and against russian president vladimir pu. he did yet, but we will fight in the forests in the fields on the shores, in the streets of troy hollowed amid zalinski, addressing the british parliament, a standing ovation after a speech that recalled wartime leader, winston churchill from a career as an actor, playing a fictional, ukrainian president, in a satirical t v show zelinski has become the face of ukrainian resistance. when the

war started, he dumped his politician suit and tie for a green t shirt or a signal that business as usual was over. and that the stakes for him were life and death than the other lessons that much of wood according to our information. the enemy has listed me as target number one and my family as target number 2. they want to destroy the country politically terminating the head of state. so lansky has surrounded himself with communications specialist. his chief of staff andrei year mac has a background in media production, including films, and the man who directs the information policy me hydro padaya is a former journalist, the communications they help him. kraft are intended to convey the stakes for ukraine and to inspire the audience to act. savanski messages are simple, emotional, and memorable. that's helped change longstanding policies in his favor. just one

example, germany up and a decades a foreign policy to send weapons to ukraine. gentlemen, on his recent address to finland's parliament, had a particular nerve for the country which also borders russia as pri. thank you. do understand that in the russian army will count the order to invade your country. they will do the same with your country as well. something i don't want you to witness. they will do the same what they did in the city of gotcha to your cities as well, to the cities of any country. the power of words to inspire action from an actor who became a war hero. it's a remarkable evolution of fest evolution. we want to talk about that tonight. i'm joined now by an yanna. she's arlen. she's a professor of information systems and responsible artificial intelligence in

michigan state university. in the u. s. professor, it's good to have you on the program. a lot of miss zalinski. he obviously, we can't say that ukraine is close to winning this war by, you know, any shot. but can we say that he's, he's already won the social media war against russia? absolutely. i think the one of the very 1st videos that was posted on not february 26th, 25th and 25th. that to read you us. they were posted on instagram telegram, youtube and other channels within. i think. and we're, they've been watching 3000000 times. and the most effective thing about zalinski social media is how i think the city and the immediacy and the sense of connection office message. it turned everyone who watched it into sort of they became champions of the ukrainian cause. so i think he has been remarkably effective at

converting people over and the urgency of the message was really very, very, very effective. yeah, it is amazing considering that, you know, he's up against roger which is a country with a huge arsenal. when we're talking about military weapons, but russia also has an arsenal of hackers. it knows how to use social media. look at the presidential election back in 2016 in the us. are you surprised that vladimir putin in russia have really been so easily pushed to the side by zalinski? absolutely. i think that before the, this ukrainian invasion happened qualifies for the starting social media. we expected that russians would be very good at this sort of, you know,

you want to call a dis, information or amplification of information. but sort of, we thought that they would be very good at navigating their side of the story. and they have done it in the past, but i think what the ukraine, the last few weeks have shown us is not only bill platforms. i think the big technology platforms have done a very good job of being proactive with ms information. so that was part of the story. the other part of the story is just the, the appeal and the immediacy. and i think the, the communication team of zalinski, they are what i would call out of the digital natives. they understand the medium. and that's more effective probably than you know, any other propaganda. because in a war there are competing narratives and felony guess when really effective ukrainian. i'd getting their side of the story that making us all be, you know,

they are champions. you know, there are numerous reports, almost daily, of mercenaries, russian forces that are positioned to strike and kill zalinski if they can. me. that is a real possibility. what would social media mean for the consequences of that assassination? if that assassination were to take place? i'm i mean, you know it so it will make him an instant my tires quite obviously. and zalinski has been very open about that from the beginning. i think that's part of the reason why this all social media campaign by ukrainians has been so effective. because all of us, when we watch the videos, there is no mistaking that this is really authentic, and it's very immediate. one of the earliest videos on 25th or 26th february,

actually i'm one of the ukrainian odd of that cabinet members shows the timestamp shows his cellphone with a time stamp. so there is no mistaking the urgency zelinski has said, right from the beginning that i, you know, he could be a dead person. he said, i need a munition. not a ride. he said we are here. so i think yes, those are those bite sized messages. and they are so powerful endurance meeting with all of us because maybe it's the plan to make maybe it's the connectedness of social media. but when we watch those images, you see someone who is just like everybody else. um, you know, dad, with young children, all these people are fairly young is cabinet members. it's just someone who has like any off eyes and suddenly their lives have been up ended in ukraine. and this is the number one reaction i'm hearing on social media and people see those messages. they feel this could happen to any office. i think that's the most

powerful part of the a below. so she media is the sense of solidarity. promotes and modifies may be watch those videos. professor got about a minute. let me ask you about that. there is so much negative news about social media out there right now, and you don't have to tell you about them for everything from what facebook is done . on instagram, tick, tock, teenagers, and teenage suicide. you name it. in here we have an example of social media that may actually be helping to redeem a little bit of humanity. are you surprised to see the i am surprised and also high then because i think this is an example where all the platforms have done the right thing. the technology platforms have done the right thing and be american, at least from where i see it. the technology industry has really rallied behind ukraine and they have been very proactive controlling the some of the noise sources

of misinformation. so i think one of the good things is in 2016. what came out of it is a lot of conversation and dialogue. facebook actually cooperated with the authorities and turned over a lot of data so that we can analyze the bought activity professor unfortunately, we're out of time, but it's fascinating conversation with you and please come back again because i have a feeling that we'll be talking about this for a long time to come on a to start with michigan state university. thank you. thank you. for the day's almost done, the conversation continues on line. you're focused on what are you doing? the w news, you can follow me a break golf t v. i remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day. we'll see you then

with a pulse with the beginning of the story that moves us and takes us along for the ride. it's all about the perspective. culture information is d w news and more. d, w, made from mines. it's been festering beneath the surface.

the ports of the netherlands operate as a massive drug distribution center is the police spend every day tracking down ruthless mafia behind the skiing are good, but the criminals keep casting their nuts even wider. a state and the power of the drugs mafia. tucson been 60 minutes on d. w. one for several dead and right wing extremists, i suggested again, well, bobby, and company in wait in burned in south africa. people with disabilities more likely to lose their jobs. in the pandemic black lives matter. shine a spotlight on racially motivated police violence, same sex marriage is being legalized in more and more countries. discrimination and

inequality, or part of everyday life. for many, we ask why? because life is diversity, make up your own mind in d. w. need for mines. ah. oh, you listening to this is when kids have to run through the basement that you can't . yukon billeted from his brain, you conducted from the his memory called the music in ta, life is of life and help the sole survivor, who in the video gushing is similar, was not that long ago. and it's sheets are side.