get much worse before it gets better. today, russian president vladimir putin said that peace talks have hit a dead end, and he insisted that his forces will succeed. what would a russian victory look like? would it include chemical weapons? well, that is the question tonight in the port city of mario poll, reports of a strange poison have not been confirmed, but ukrainian president zalinski is warning a new stage of terror. is about to begin. i bring gov and berlin. this is the day. ah, there are extremely consenting reports out of you, finest. we know that there are report, solve the use of chemical weapons in relation to the use of chemical weapons by russia. we have not been able to verify those ourselves, and these are pulling weapons if they are confer. president putin should

know that all possible options on the table in terms of how the west my response also coming up inflation at the supermarket. food prices are soaring around the world. one reason the war in ukraine and a sudden shortage of farmers are actually cubicle. most of the men volunteered to fight locally in my many were drafted to it is all on the men over 60 state line does it because we're now looking to them to drive tractors and operate other machinery to look cubic is such that we have a serious labor shortage chena at that, he's not the doctor. combine the last name of lamar. it's going with us with what you are viewers watching on p b. s in the united states, into all of you around the world. welcome that we begin the day with claims of a chemical attack in ukraine. there are unconfirmed reports that russian forces

used chemical weapons in the port city of mario po. now the claims come from ukraine's as av battalion. that is a military unit with for right allegiances. russia has denied using chemical weapons, but it's important to note that we cannot verify these claims. and that is because of what you see here. mario poll is a city in ruins. it has been pounded by russian strikes for weeks. the mer says up to 20000 residents, have died. the u. s. the u. k. and australia today said that they are investigating the claim of a possible chemical weapon in mario poll. ukrainian, president zalinski added that moscow has made clear russian forces are now preparing to launch the next stage of terror in ukraine. which in it had that to seattle. i would like to remind world leaders that the possible use of chemical weapons by russia has already been discussed. it was agreed that the reaction to

this aggression had to be much more severe and faster. so decent issue, it's just, it is time to ramp up sanction so that russia will not utter a single word about weapons of mass destruction and an oil embargo against russia is now obligatory. we'll just call them o my 1st gifts to night to susan morton. she's a senior lecturer in the war studies department at kings college london. much of her work focuses on chemical biological and nuclear weapons. it's good to have you on the program. let me just get your take on these claims that came out late last night that russian forces may have used a poisonous substance in mario poll. so i know it very difficult to evaluate from the distance that the effects reported are from the chemical often of or from something else. it's important to emphasize it. so finding ease of chemical weapons has not been confirmed. obviously there was a statement made by

a spokesman for russian back separatist group that rushes, shit, use, chemical weapons, and mario pole. and that heightened concern. but there is not yet any clear evidence of chemical use and ukraine, stumpy defense minister suggested earlier today that it's more likely that it was the phosphorus mission that was used in what would that mean this phosphate, phosphorus emissions then that obviously means we're not talking about chemical weapons, is that correct? right, so way, phosphorus is a smoke weapon, which is used by military, is around the world to mark targets, or to screen the movement of friendly forces. and it's, it's not illegal to use white phosphorus. and in war, however, it is against civilians would violate the law of i'm conflict as disease of any

weapon against noncombatants. miss martin, let me ask you, we heard today from the united states, the u. k. and australia. all 3 of them said that they are investigating this report of a possible chemical weapons. you know, we're not able to verify this because of the fighting the bombing, the shelling that's still going on in mar your poll. how are these countries? how are they going to be able to establish whether or not that chemical attack took place? well, it's not clear that they will be able to, for certain, i mean, obviously draw on as much information as you can. so this includes what you see on the ground, and the u. s. is reported that it has no information that supports the movement of chemical agents and your ukraine. you also look at the reports and evidence of symptoms from incident and how that corresponds to the expected effects of the chemical attack. you look at any video, the incident that's available. it could involve possible intercept of community

indications among russian troops. there have been instances where you've, you've had the military's discussing the use of chemical agents that has been and that's been intercepted and used as evidence for really conclusive proof that a chemical up and was east. you would want environmental medical samples as well as recovered munitions. and as you already elite it too, in case of this incident, due to the siege conditions is unlikely that any of that material would make it out to the o. p. c. w. designated lab for analysis, and we also know that the russians used chemical weapons in syria. on earlier this week, we got the report that vladimir putin is putting a general, a new general in charge of the campaign in eastern ukraine. and he was in charge of the campaign in syria. if we put $2.00 and $2.00 together here,

then the international community would you agree, is right to expect that the use of chemical weapons could now be on the agenda for russia and ukraine. so as high as i am aware, there is no clear evidence that russia itself used chemical weapons in syria. it maintained its alliances, syria, and continue to support syria. while syria used chemical weapons. that itself did not engage and chemical weapons. he is the science. i'm aware, i think there is reason to be concerned about the possible use of chemical weapons . we've seen a lot of misinformation and propaganda from russia about a involving chemical and biological weapons in ukraine. that in itself though, does not mean that chemical weapons will be used. for example,

you can go all the way back to the korean war where the communist alleged that the u. s. the biological weapons in korea, those were false allegations and those false allegations were simply for propaganda purposes. they were not to set up a false flag attack on the if i could ask you before we went on a time, let me ask you about how this all ties in with also the possible use of may be tactical nuclear weapons. when this invasion began, vladimir putin spokes person you'd have said in an interview that if there is an existential threat to russia, the use of nuclear weapons is certainly a possibility. when we're looking at, if you will, at the hierarchy of, of weapons that are being used, are we right in assuming that we can move from conventional the chemical weapons. and then from there, the nuclear option is the next step. i mean, is that the logic that we could use on vladimir putin?

so i don't, i don't, i don't think it's necessarily that clear of a hierarchy of nuclear deterrence work. so the extent that it does because there's nuclear, as long as nuclear weapons exist, there's a possibility that they will be used. there's a possibility of inadvertent escalation, but things just getting out of hand. i don't think it would make sense for russia to deliberately use chemical weapons and the conflict as it's it's going on. now i think all that would accomplish would be to unify the world against it, because it's not in any nation's interest for the use of the nuclear weapons to be normalized. so i don't think that this is something that's on the table, but whenever you have a nuclear power fighting a war, especially when it's, you know, allies against it, even if not active militarily or the nuclear power is that the specter of nuclear

war is there and is going to influence the conflict. yeah, and i'm sure there are lots of people around the world hoping that that level of escalation is not reached in this conflict. susan martin with keys college in london. we appreciate your time and your insights tonight. thank you. thank you. well, a russian takeover of mario pole is considered key to vladimir prudence plans for eastern ukraine military experts say that once more, your poll is under russian or kremlin control russian forces. it will be free to turn north and attempt to encircled the bulk of ukraine's army in the don bass region. now that would be a crushing blow from which keith might never recover. poon today insisted that his military campaign in ukraine will continue until all of its goals have been met. speaking after talks with his ally, the belushi president, alexander lucas shanker, he said that those goals are, quote, noble, ticklish,

no zulu. the goals of the special military operation are clear and noble. i remind you, i said from the beginning in my very 1st public statement, addressing the nation and the armed forces i set or objectives. clearly, the goal is to help the people of don bus away. when ukraine says it is bracing for the coming russian offensive in the dawn bass, the port city of odessa in the west appears to also be high on vladimir putin's new list of military targets. it's been hit repeatedly by russian missiles in recent days. earlier i spoke to our correspondent rebecca ritter, she's in the city of, of even i asked her what she is hearing from odessa of an addresser is a city that's been preparing for an attack since the very beginning of this war. so far though, it has largely escaped the worst of the fighting. as you've been reporting, we are seeing slight intensification. and definitely it is

a key strategic case city that the russians want to take. as russia now moves its attention and focuses on that south eastern region, the re, to the dumbass and the southern regions where a desiree situated on the black sea, we can definitely expect odessa are expecting that those attacks will intensify on friday. for example, russian reported that it destroyed a center that was set up for farm and mercenaries there and, and, and other attacks as well. but ukraine said today that they haven't seen any preparations for a landing operation from the black sea as yet. although they also did say yesterday that they were worried about a potential attack coming from western territory. and moldova country, situated just on the border with ukraine right near odessa. there is a small area in there called trans mystery, and that's actually been under russian controls in the ninety's has about 1500

russian soldiers and the ukrainians are worried that they may try and use though. so does mobilize them to try and in circle troops that would be there protecting odessa. let me ask you a little bit about another port city and that is more your pulled up today. there were reports, allegations may that are chemical weapon may have been used in the city. what more do we know about that to not that's right. actually. those reports are coming in late last night that there was potential chemical weapons used. there are 3 soldiers of what's known as the as of battalion, the ukrainian battalion, that a defending that city at 3 soldiers were reportedly had reportedly had symptoms of a chemical attack. those reports to night still remain unconfirmed. it would be a definite escalation in the war here in ukraine. now it's really difficult to get real time information out of that city of mary paul communication has been kept

there for more than 4 weeks. we do know that it's been under heavy bombardment since the beginning of this war. there are a still more than a 100000 people trapped there without access to, to food, to electricity, to clean drinking water. more crucially, presidents lensky, put the, the figure of people who've been killed there in the 10s of thousands. now, it's hard to, to verify that yet without any access to the city. but some of the people i've been talking to who have managed to escape from mary, you pull the stories a so horrific. it's hard to imagine that those estimations are very far off. but should that chemical weapons attack be confirmed? it would be a definite escalation. i escalation in the record reader to the williams to night from the western ukrainians with the up would be. rebecca, thank you. oh, whoa. the waved has been shown this spring, but what will happen this coming all them or what happened to the harvest from the

fields of ukraine? the fertile black soiled there is particularly suited for growing grey. normally the country supplies about 10 percent of the world's wheat exports, the biggest buyers, whether far away egypt, indonesia, pakistan, and bangladesh, as you see right there, but many parts of ukraine, they're under attack, large numbers of people are displaced, the humans food and agricultural organization. it's warning of a wheat supply shortage that could trigger famine, especially in africa. the winter wheat was done last year and it promises a good yield. andrea tango, an agricultural entrepreneur from them agro shows us how the soils worked and the weeds removed. but andre isn't quite sure how things will go this year. he seed company is changing its production from peace to war. time. the main issue was what ukraine itself needs to survive. right now. sure. you know,

just as the fighters are doing their job at the front front, we are doing ours with weed cultivation. we realised that the war affects everything where we are growing more summer. we t me, i'm speaking on behalf of my agricultural company here in the theory, and we are planting less, mays, williamson, and more lead with you. that's how we are strengthening our food security hits natasha lab, especially this natural upper door shibel. sparkle, crops such as mays, sunflowers or rapes, seed are cultivated less. the focus now is on cereals. that's what the government wants. that's what the president wants. the military, on the other hand, doesn't want us to show where under his farm is, because there's an army based nearby. that's why we can only show the pigs outside . inside, we see the snails that andre exports to spain or france and the sacks of seas. it's

all labor intensive that hawk bid number 3 us. we have $22.00 full time employees and about a $150.00 seasonal workers for the 2 or 3 months during the production period is on the bus and. and then i need someone to for cross reading the plants, that's a special job, la jolla for that will i have to hire someone else's on cable to desired see from the she she or what the gifted about. me, martha darian, they my, are you today? ins off cra this center of the community. we meet only vault sky, the mayor, he carries a hand gun, and on his phone, he has pictures of himself training with a kalashnikov rifle. the war feels close inside. he shows us the remains of a russian missile that hit a few days ago. he fears that neighboring bella rues could enter the war, but 1st he has to win the battle for the next harvest, we will article to lugubrious law. most of the men volunteered to fight to look for you know, many were drafted to it is all one of the men over 60. he stayed behind,

was it research? we are now looking to them to drive tractors and operate other machinery through qc . if such that we have a serious labor shortage chena at that instant, the doctor la combined the last no problemo of scramble to swim along with russia. ukraine is the bread basket of the world. ukrainian farmers used to export more than $4000000.00 tons of their grain every month. but now it's just a few $100000.00 according to the government. that's mainly because of the occupied ports in the south, which means wheat maze and cooking oil can no longer be exported. agricultural production itself could soon decline as well. the shock waves are already being felt around the world. food prices are rising, the u. n is warning of famine, especially in poor countries. tatyana heckman assesses the future. ah, it, it, with those shows his thoughts if the situation remains as it is now after volume the buddha, then we will have no problem with food production in ukraine. i expect the wallace

if ukraine produces 100000000 tons of grain. oh and half of it goes for export up to walla. the harvest could be bad twice since i've muslim and still we would not go hungry level. but conversely, this means if he were exports to the world where many countries rely on ukraine surpluses. ukraine will manage to find ways to deliver their products overland via the you. but the question is, how much the country will be able to export to the rest of the world? this is what earlier we spoke with martin frick. he is the germany director of the u. end world food program and with the world's breadbasket dragged into a warp. we asked him whether or not a new wave of hunger is now on its way. i think we already seen that, and it's important to know that the ukraine war is just an additional stress on what has been extremely difficult to are now. here's prices sky rocketing beyond an

old time for food prices and the war in grain as we have just heard. as basically directly a factor, 12 percent of the globally traded calories this and another shock wave and poorer countries and poor families of the victims of their behalf. so many food insecure countries that are depending on him from ukraine and also russia, particulary in the middle east. and north africa region, but also in sub saharan africa and in southern africa among the countries that are most dependent on for example, live or no or egypt or livia, but also our operations as the world food program, a heavy be affected with disorder and crisis. mauretania, synagogue guinea, sierra leone gun nigeria,

depend sometimes to 7080 percent of foreign in. now these countries, as anyone else in the world are coming out of 2 years of them in the world have spent a staggering $26.00 trillion dollars on the damage. which means that countries are even more in depth than they ever wear additional. their exchange rates are melting away. and in this situation, you will have globally, sorry, prices for staple foods and a very strong dollar in simple terms. they just cannot afford any more to buy the most basic foods and that is affecting the countries that cannot afford. and it's affecting the poor family that austin spend already 7080 percent of the family income for break. that was martin frick, the germany director of the u. ends. world sued program. ah,

more than 2 years into the corona virus pandemic, china is now battling with its worst outbreak ever. hardest hit is the country's largest city, shanghai 26000000 people are under locked down. now, this is china's 0 covey policy at work and the human calls are melting fabi encroachment reports. tonight for weeks, the streets of shanghai have been empty. supermarkets, a shot delivery workers that would normally be leaving their way through the city and nowhere to be seen. social media is full of cries for help and complaints about a lack of food. some videos, show unrest, neighborhoods where people are desperate to find food. and in one unverified video, people even seen looting a supermarket authorities as grambling to deliver supplies. but they are huge

probably for me, for delivering vegetables, some of getting their food early. some are getting late, it has a big impact on people's lives. cindy and les, it's a tomato farmer works on the outskirts of the city. he's doing his part to try and help. he's moved out of his home and into a dorm at the industrial greenhouses. whereas company growth tomatoes. this is the video he shot on his phone of the room. he's saying in general, you were understaffed at the moment and need to ensure we keep up production. so he start work early and work over time for about 2 hours a day. but reports say the biggest hurdle and the delivery of goods is at the last mile. many delivery workers and other supply personnel remain under lockdown themselves. the challenge is in getting food from markets and warehouses to people's home. the local government is now trying to mobilize delivery workers to get back to work. as long as there aren't any positive cases within that residential compound. the bottlenecks could pose

a serious problem to the government. frank spy is c o and founder of china crossroads and a risk specialist. he's a resident of shanghai and has been under locked on himself for over a week. when you induce food insecurity to a country whose purpose is to modernize and make people live better, i think it adds a certain twist that, that, you know, people here are the leadership here or not, not so comfortable with for the past 2 years, china is talented it's approach towards containing the virus and pointed towards its ramp and spread in the west as a mock of superiority. this could break the narrative that china system is better at doing this, especially if it really explodes the next few weeks. so we could be at quite an an inflection point and how would evolves and how the world comes to see trans performance uncovered. but how its own people see it is what matters the most. and authorities will need to get

a handle on the situation quickly to prevent people's frustration from spiraling any further. and finally, tonight, happy birthday wishes to a viewer and a mother in california named weight. her son wrote to us and says she watches us every night. so way i want to say thank you and wish you a happy birthday. no, the day's almost done, but the conversation continues online to find us on twitter either w news. you can follow me on twitter at brent golf tv and remember whatever happens between now and then, tomorrow is another day we'll see then ah,

[000:00:00;00] with ah, the war hoses, a challenge for the economy calls for a boycott of russian gas are growing louder. but what would a supply fries mean? countries with their own liquid gas reserves have a clear advantage. how can europe free itself from gas dependency made in germany next on d,

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feel the magic discover the world around you. subscribe to d w documentary on youtube. oh no. it's a contradiction at the heart of europe's response to the war and ukraine that you ascending ukraine weapons to help defend itself against russian attacks. but at the same time,