ah, ah ah ah, this is a w news. why from bad lane u. s. president joe biden makes his most serious allegation. yes. against russia is vladimir putin. yes, i call the genocide. is the bible says the criminal is trying to wipe out the entire idea of ukrainian nation, but meanwhile, russia claims that ukrainian marines defending mario poke of surrender. also on the program, germany's president abandons plans to visit key after being told he's not welcome.

i'm putting in south africa claims, hundreds of lives. president civil rabbit post for the summit. durbin worst areas, meets the families of victims rescuer, search for the missing after heavy rain mudslide, sweep away homes and infrastructure ah, i'm from get hell. welcome to the program. he was president joe biden says he believes vladimir putin war in ukraine, amounts to genocide. it's the 1st time the u. s. leader has used the term to describe russia's actions, is to by emphasize that this is his personal view, that a court would make the ultimate routing. yes, i call the genocide because it become clear clear that brooded trying to write about the idea of the baby brain mama,

the evidence of mine did different though it last week. the more evidence is coming out. and literally, a horrible thing that the russians have done in ukraine, and we can only learn more more about the devastation when your crane says it can't confirm russian media reports at more than a 1000 ukrainian marines. defending the besieged port city of mattie hope all of surrendered addressing estonia is parliament. ukrainian. president vladimir lansky repeated the claim, but russia is using phosphorus. bombs is. part of his military campaign, said europe must act to stop the war. russian troops on the streets of murray, you pull. russia has been accused of using band chemical weapons against the city. ukraine's president admitted it is difficult to verify the claim while the city is under siege. but he urged the world not to wait to act all f. hoge and no one has

given the repeated threats from russian propagandists of using chemical weapons against the defenders of murray. you pull even and given the repeated use of, for example, he phosphorus munitions by the russian army. by people, the world must react. now what must react preventively about it, but of them did not across eastern ukraine, people are fleeing ahead of an expected wide scale russian assault on the don best region. military analysts say the don bess with it's open to rain and lack of natural barriers will be harder for defenders to hold on to as to the outcome. it's flighty balance right now, because if the russians learn the lessons of the failure so far and could concentrate more force and could connect the raffles to the ground forces better and could so that it just sticks out. then they might start to overwhelm the

ukrainian positions eventually. thanks. i got you. russian president vladimir putin who has i, the don best region for years. said piece was off the table in the family go, no grains, ukrainian side moved away from its agreement and nist envil. now the requirement for security guarantees is one thing that was and the questions regarding settlement of relations with respect to crimea will suffice to pull and don best or to be taken outside the framework of those agreements. so we're back again in a dead end situation for all of us to do it as the russian army repositions for renewed assault on eastern ukraine as seen in these satellite images. there are fears the troops will leave many more destroyed cities like murder, you pull in their wake as go straight to the ukrainian capital. that 20 w corresponds to alexandra phenomena in kiefer. welcome, alexandra. and what are you hearing there about what is starting to sound like the final phase of the fight for maria?

well, indeed, the russian forces some are intensifying their assault on the city of from our, your pull. and it seems that they are determined to capture this strategically so important city. there are trying to secure a land bridge between their forces in the next crimea and at the russian army in the eastern part of ukraine. and according to the russian defense ministry, more than 101000, i'm sorry, 1000 offer service, a members of the ukraine armed forces said there i have already surrendered and are held her captive. however, this isn't information that the ukrainian government is saying they cannot confirm because of course, at the moment access to the port city of my you pull is a very difficult if not impossible, from the outside world. but according to western of military officials, the city could fall in the next days. right?

i'm, we're, we've heard a u. s. president joe biden describing this war as a gender side. how has president zalinski a responded to that? well, zelinski praised biden for using this term genocide against ukrainians. he took to twitter saying that those are true words from a true leader. he also said that it is now essential to cold the things by their names. he encourage other leaders to do the same. however, we also so already that some of them in particular, the french president, a manuel mccall, are warning against using this to him, saying that to there are against are the escalation of words. however, for the recording and president who has been accusing the russian forces of carrying out a genocide again, sir, he's people, it is very important now to hear from the you as president toys using the same term

because of course, he's hoping for more help from the you ask for more weapons. however, the key question he would be whether you ask would fundamentally change its response to the war. whether they would, for instance, decide to have american boots on the ground. that is not likely to happen because joe biden has rolled it out from the beginning. right. and these are these accusations from the ukrainian side that russia has been using a chemical weapons in mary awful presence zalinski. and i say, he can't say with certainty whether that's the case or when we likely to know more i'm not sure whether we will really learn more in terms of whether we will really be sure what kind of substance, what kinds of weapons were used in this particular case, because for that international teams, international experts would have to have access would have to collect samples on the ground to talk to victims. and that is at the moment. not possible. or thank

you for that. alexander alexandra phenomena in chief i did only reported jo delroy is here with a closer look at the latest military movements will just a few weeks ago, russian forces were close to encircling the ukrainian capital keith. but in recent days, the military map has been re drawn. the knots are about to show you come from british defense intelligence. and here we can see the territory that was controlled by russia up until late march, that was a month into the invasion. you can see the focus there around keith. but in early april, russia pull back its northern groups, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, british intelligence as those forces and now being re deployed to ukraine's 8th as part of a push to take full control of the don best region. here's some of what's happened there in recent days. there has been intensified shelling on the city of cock heave

. satellite images have spotted a russian troop build up near is you him? there's been a push towards carma taught. that's the city where a missile strike killed almost 60 civilians last week. russia also attacked an airport need in april, and they are close to encircling the city of mario pole, which would give russia full control along the coast of the sea of as of will. now ukraine is also concerned about possible movements in the area of trans mystery. now that is a breakaway region in mode of, of that is aligned with russia. and now ukraine says it is concerned that russian forces station there, along with local police paramilitary, could potentially invade from the west. and in circle odessa, another sign of the latest news strategy. the u. s. says that russia has appointed a new war commander general. alexander devona calls he headed the russian forces in syria in 2050, where he oversaw a brutal campaign of bombing cities into submission. and in the latest ukraine

invasion, he's been the district commander of the southeast region. his promotion is being site seen as another sign that russia is now making the se it's key target instead of kia. but how effective will this new strategy be? well, according to some u. s. analysts rushes combat capability is being greatly exaggerated. many of its units are badly damaged and being patched together without much training. russia is also believe to be trying to recruit hundreds of thousands of new soldiers assigned that despite their setbacks, they are ready for a protracted war children. let's see if we can get more of an insight into russian military thinking with john spencer. he's a combat veteran who now serves as the chair of urban warfare studies of the modern war institute at west point. welcome to the w. let's start with general volley. cough at what difference? well, having him as central war commander make. and what does this tell us about president

putin's thinking? may i think it continues to tell us that he's not doing thing he can to try to get away after he's been defeated in trying to take ukraine as a country to take he he lost that war. so he brought a new commander and that was one of the challenges in the beginning. they didn't have an overall commander in their abysmal attempt to take ukraine and ukraine, fault them back. i mean, the fact that he's the butcher of syria, the fact that he probably wants to save this as well to make the russian people believe in their military. they've been so terrible in basic combat. tash may i think it means that the viciousness, which is hard to think about because i agree this has been really a systematic genocide by a big bully, impudent. but we, i think that we'll see much more aggressive. this is tactics at your with, from that commander now, but i save. this is

a tough question that i personally don't think so. you can only do so much with broken apart units, demoralized soldiers, soldiers with no training equipment for and apart. i mean, they lost like 7 generals now take, they'll take decades to replace. so one top general in charge of a, at a unit, a military it already hasn't performed. i don't think it will have this overwhelming effect. ok. despite that, it looks like the ukranian army is, will struggle to defend the east of the country. can you see them keeping it? absolutely. i mean, they have what russians don't the will to fight. and they've already demonstrated like, don't look at the analysis based on the numbers, you can't discount the will to fight the motivation. and these are not, your just need aren't ukrainian civilians. we're talking about one 3rd of ukrainian military in the east. they're a highly trained, highly equipped military and i see what rushes do. i think we all see what they're

trying to do if they try to save this. i personally think that i don't think of them as an underdog in this situation, but there is an urgency for all of us, all the west, everybody to descend the supplies for this different kind of fight. this is a very different fight than we've seen so far. much moving to raise as i understand it, but this is going to be a fighter. as you say, i get over a wide open to right over a vast areas and russia is throwing everything it can at it. but do you think that ukraine can keep the mount? absolutely. and no discount. i mean you at the beginning to show you mentioned all the cities that they're headed for is young from a tourist. denise, bro. it is still above a lot of urban warfare to be clear. and so the president zalinski is, is worried about the incursions from the trans nister's area of neighboring a, moldova, or do you think those, those fears are well founded? because it sounds like everyone's going to be very stretched. yeah,

i definitely think that it's a concern for ukraine, but do i think it's a real major military? i mean, it is only 2 and a half hours from odessa. it would be another problem that they would have to deal with. do i think it will happen? no. do i think it signals, more importantly, let if putin, for some way pulled some them, it was able to overwhelm the ukrainians. would a stop at? would you stop at ukraine in moldova, i think would be more concerned that they had this, you know, somewhat separatist region that couldn't say again with lies a liberating to, to, to move fort and now we have finland and sweden who seem to be moving closer to applying for nato membership, $11.00 is given your analysis of russia's fighting price or what should they be given? the apparent under performance of russian forces? yes, i mean, i think there they are to make their own decisions and that's why democracy wins be a part of nato comes with a huge,

huge coalition against evil. i think i mean the right to be concerned, the russia has underperformed, but it's still a threat. me. he, in the russian polish are a threat to the, the free world ice for joining us. john spencer, from the modern war institute at west point. thank you. ukraine has captured victim adventure co considered to be russian. president putin's closest allied ukraine in an operation described by security services as lightning, fast and dangerous, but via choke has already been placed on the house arrest on charges of treason. he could now be part of a prisoner swap. but a once high profile politician now ukraine's most high profile prisoner president val odom, is the lensky released pictures of victor med that took in handcuffs as he announced the news of the arrest last month. the ukrainian government suspended

medford chuck's opposition political movement. he had taken an anti e use dance and wanted closer ties to russia. in january, the us put him under sanctions accusing him of plotting to replace to lensky in the wake of a russian invasion. he was evidently very close to the russian precedent. he even claimed putin as his daughter's godfather. med. that shook had grown rich from russian oil interests and his closeness to the kremlin. he enjoyed a lavish lifestyle owning a luxury yacht. last year or thirty's opened to treason case against him, that ukrainian officials say he managed to escape house the rest soon after the russian invasion. now president zalinski is suggesting that the captured med, chuck could be handed over to russia in exchange for ukrainian prisoners of war. as i mentioned, our felons prime minister says her country will make a decision on whether to apply it to join nato within weeks. and

a martin has been holding talks in stock home with a swedish counterpart, magdalena anderson. to lead us say, a europe security landscape has changed. falling rushes, invasion of ukraine of an hour, carefully considering whether their country's security will be improved by joining the military alliance. both finland and sweden make independently their decisions, recording security policy arrangements. but we do it thus with a clear understanding that our choices will affect not only ourselves, but our neighbors as well. our aims clear, we want to guarantee peace in the future for us and for a region for europe and to contribute towards thus aim with our own choices. we have to analyze the situation to see what is best for sweden's security for the swedish people in this new situation. and he shouldn't rush into that. you should make it very seriously. that is how i work. as the swedish prime minister would

take a closer look at, at this process with the w corresponded jack power. okay. brussels. welcome jack. i'm so talk a service through how friedland will go about reaching this decision on nato membership. well, this is the interesting point. there is, it's not just about whether they should, but how they should go about joining nato. if they did want to what sanmar in the finish prime minister has done is put forward this security report to the parliament, which they will now start to discuss. they will have a look about what it means for their country, how it fits in with their countries, current security and military commitment. the big discussion is about whether this should be put to a referendum or to the people to decide whether they want to join the nato military alliance. actually the finish president recently said that that probably wasn't necessary because what they've seen is overwhelming evidence that the people of finland are in favor of joining the nato military alliance has gone up by about 19

percentage points since the invasion of ukraine at the end of february, meaning that somewhere in the region, depending on the polls you look up, some can be sort of late, sixties, early 70 percent of the population are in favor of joining nato. so now what they're going to do is she said, is going to be within weeks, they're gonna have to start having serious discussions about joining the nato military alliance. remember that in june there's this big summit of nato leaders in madrid. and most people are saying that sort of forms a kind of time frame that if these 2 countries, finland, sweden did want to apply to join to be members doing it before that june. summit would be a good thing to do. my and similar situation in sweden. well actually in sweden, if you watch that press conference earlier, it looks more like freedom or a little. the sweetest prime minister, slightly more reticent than the finish, prime minister about that, that potential joining of nato. one of the major newspapers in feed suite,

in the sense a bullet that has just released an article saying that actually they have the sources within the government telling them that the swedish government will apply for nato membership themselves before the june summit as well. so that's also the debate, how they will do it would then need to be a referendum that the e u commissioner from sweden. hanson said that she didn't think that a referendum would be necessary. remember in european union countries, we saw that that referendum only a few years ago, which was down to the wire and cause a major shift in a political upheaval in britain. and so i think politicians in, in europe is slightly nervous to this kind of thing on their own political fortunes to vote when they know they already have pretty broad support for membership in sweden. i think the, the most recent poll, the i've seen said about 59 percent right. people are in favor of joining nato. and one of these countries in this way, why they have voided,

nicer membership until now. approval is historical, partly good, you know, to try and prevent any sort of trouble with russia. finland has had this sort of special security relationship with russia. they have a 1300 kilometer plus border with russia and oversee the kremlin, even even, you know, in the last few days, the criminal spokesperson, dimitri passcode has come out and said that if, if in sweden were to join nato, that they would have to re balance their situation could be potential for russian troops to be heading towards the finish border in this sentence has been, it's been a delicate balance until it for this, for this period. historically, obviously there was the war in 1939. the film is involved with the soviet union with the soviets. and so because of that, there's been a complicated relationship with and i may start to be changing off the invasion of ukraine. thank you. jack. jack park in brussels. take around from some other

world news headlines now. starting the israel palestinian official says, ready forces shot and killed a man your military operation in the west bank. israel has stepped up rides and arrest across the west bank over recent days on a spate of killing cities rather than the past 2 weeks by palestinians. least 16 people were killed and others injured in a track accidents in the west, papua province of indonesia. the truck had been descending from a remote mountain village, it was carrying miners from an illegal gold mine and their families. several tornadoes are swept across the central united states. a chain of thunderstorms brought hail and strong winds to parts of iowa and texas. dozens of people were injured and several structures damaged in one of the tornado strikes. shanghai streets remain mostly empty as police warned that they will punish anyone violating the city strict corona virus. lockdown was and 25000000 residents have

been ordered to stay at home. and cars have been banned from roads. with few exceptions, shanghai is now battling china's biggest cove in 1900 outbreaks since the start of the pandemic. and more than 250 people have died in devastating flooding in the south african city of durban and the surrounding area. days of record rainfall of also left a thousands of homes destroyed roads and bridges. another critical infrastructure have been damaged by floods and landslide. timeframe. rescue efforts military have helped to take residents to safety and the worst effected areas that african present cell number pose infinity. debit on wednesday and will go to devon then and join d. w correspondent, advent crecia. welcome adrien and tell us more about a situation than the city and its surroundings.

betsel and to meet particularly said how many children were affected when pending right now you can see behind me, where the lent light it's happening. this was the room of 10 year old. that collapse on her. she passed away and family just told me about it. they obviously devastating and just next to the camera and just joan. it is another place that collapse the neighbors plays with grandmother. stayed with 3 children, only one of the kids, the wife, all these, the others died. the youngest one was just 3 years old. and as you drive through durban today, you can see this devastation and these kind of lives all over the place on a different area. so it is likely that the death toll will continue to increase at the rescue works continue and was the city prepared for this, this massive rainstorm? well, obviously not prepared enough. some officials even said to give me the price. i was strong storm and that's rainfall. where some critics already complaining that the

grading system were not in place that there was not proper investment into the structure and the yes. so this might have accelerated biscuits, esther fee that to y'all ever keep on saying that a major issue was landslide. so they tried to push away the responsibility, but it's clear that this area has seen those events in the past. it is whether appearance has been happening in the past years. $2900.00, for example. also 60 people died when a similar with the current came to this area as well, but it's all over southern africa that's especially this year. we're seeing an increase the number of these then they truly have that cycle and tropical storm. we've seen almost 200 people killed and a tropical storm and gas in february and march. and scientists are saying that this is clearly in relation to the global climate change we see more intense rainfalls. we see these cap test refuse, and this is something also south africa president theorem up with a mentioned here. you also said that this event, what we're seeing here now is part of climate change, right? and so what help is the government providing

that we speak as you are and i was, i just came to visit this place and he went to several locations, the president himself, to talk to the resident to see what the needs are likely that they're going to declare the state of disaster for the entire province to facilitate and help on the national level as well. but we've had also critical voices from residency with that well, when we had the last disaster, we've got lots of promises and little happens. many people are still waiting for for new houses ever since then. the summer, not optimistic. on the other hand, we do see that help is coming in metro. this brought in relief organizations trying to help those who are affected of this disaster at the moment, the government that the key priority is to get shelter for the thousands of people who became homeless over night. thank you for that. to address address increase in durban. i set you up today. so more world news at the top of the hour. i'm melissa john has that news and just about me to and of course

headlines and analysis available around the clock on d. w dot com on the d w. i'm with, [000:00:00;00]

with you. ah, sure. this is 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 gast dependency made in germany? in 60 minutes on d. w. are you ready to get a little more extreme? these places in europe are smashing all the records. stepped into a bold adventure. just don't lose your grip and the treasure map for modern globetrotters discover some of europe's wykard breaking sites on youtube and know also in book form people and trucks injured when trying to see the city center more and more refugees are being turned away. the water families played on the taxi syria for the credit on, with people seeing extreme around getting

$200.00 people from the agency around the world. more than 300000000 people are seeking refuge. ask why? because no one should have to flee. make up your own mind. d. w. made for mines. ah, you're watching d. w. news asia coming up today. growing tensions in the south pacific as china looks to move into australia's back yard. we look at beijing proposed security deal with the solomon islands and what that means for the region. plus another national security concern tech talk in taiwan. the chinese social media app is popular there,

but officials say teenagers must use it with caution.