[000:00:00;00] hey, this is dw news live from berlin, another $800000000.00 worth of u. s. weapons are on their way to ukraine. washington hopes the assistance will help the ukrainian army to defend against a new russian offensive in the east. the latest equipment includes heavy artillery . finland says it will decide soon on applying for nato membership, public support for joining nato said. since russia invaded ukraine and

devastating floods sweep away homes and infrastructure in south africa, killing hundreds of people. presidents are, i'm opposed to just help to the victim that says the disaster is possible. climate change ah told me a lot of, well, it's good to have you with us. u. s. president joe biden has approved $800000000.00 in in additional military assistance to ukraine. the package includes heavy artillery as give repairs to defend against a massive russian assault expected in easton, ukraine. satellite images have shown large convoys of russian military vehicles converging in and near the don bass region. mar, you, poll is in ruins. after weeks of russian bombardment, the u. s. says it is once again sending arms to ukraine to stop russia's

destruction of the country. ah, today the president announced and author us another presidential drawdown of security assistance, valued it up to an additional $800000000.00 tailored to meet urgent ukrainian needs for today's fight. as russian forces shift the focus of their ruthless aggression now to eastern ukraine, ukraine's president expressed his gratitude. we've agreed on $800000000.00 in military aid for weapons ammunition, artillery helicopters and more than i am sincerely thankful for the support that you get that all the need for more arms as urgent as russian convoys converge on eastern ukraine. analysts say the weapons in the american package, such as long range howitzers are especially suited to ukraine's defense of the

eastern dawn. vast region. so you one system like that, i can fire you at 3040 kilometers away from where you are trying to break up the military long before he gets close to you and that's what ukrainians need at this moment. they need to destroy the russian convoys before they even get to the cities or near to locations. they want to take. the pentagon said it was rushing to send the equipment, but did not provide a time table for the people in the eastern ukrainian city of c of yet rodonna ask something as simple as walking to get groceries is a calculated risk that could end in tragedy. war has brought life to a standstill though it's a disaster. got every 10 or 15 minutes in bam. bam. bah, yahoo, i live on the 7th floor of a 9 floor building. it just imagine boom from one side band from the other. and then you think the roof will cave in and kill you foil?

it's i put asleep for some the fighting is too much to bear, abbas takes them away from the bombs. but others are staying behind, hoping to survive the russian advance. if weapons from the us don't stop at 1st ukrainian president villa demur. zalinski has made an urgent appeal for more weapons ahead of them. expected russian offensive in east in ukraine did only correspond, am. alexander phenomena has more from give will, the occurring in government has been bracing for a major russian offensive for in the eastern and south eastern part of the country . warning that russia was so massing their troops that there are moving them into towards, to strategically important city of ian. and apparently there's harassment now is that russia is ready. and of course everyone here understands that this is a pivotal moment. s, and as the battlefield shifts,

their weapons that the ukrainian forces are wanting are needing are also changing. and that is why perhaps we saw a very strong address from the ukranian president to day he urge western leaders to provide ukraine with heavy weapons. with tanks are more vehicles, air defense systems, of course, and combat jets to protect civilians and ukrainian forces from russian missiles and airstrikes. d w 's alexandra phenomena. speaking earlier from chief the most important warship in russia's black sea fleet, moskva has been badly damaged. after an on board explosion, the russian defense ministry said the incident was caused by a fire at the ship's ammunition debrel. the ministry did not specify the cause of the blaze was at the entire crew of 500 have been evacuated earlier. ukrainian

officials of the ship had been hit by 2 missiles, but did not give any evidence for the claim. finland's prime minister says her country will decide within weeks whether or not to apply to join nato. finland is traditionally non aligned, but public opinion on natal membership has changed dramatically since the start of the russian invasion of ukraine. russia has warned both finland and sweden against joining the alliance. their joint appearance demonstrates neighborliness. but mil sweden and finland hands of government, both moved toward nato membership. that's the main question being addressed at today's meeting and stockholm. we have to really think through what is best for sweden and our security and our peace in this new situation. and of course, what is happening and the discussion in finland is important for us to follow. therefore we need to have a very close contact. this is

a completely new security situation for finland and sweden until now the countries have been neutral viewing themselves as negotiators between east and west. but the war in ukraine has changed all that, including their attitude to nato are there is no other way to have security guarantees done under nato's deterrence and common defense ass guaranteed by natives. article 5, the moon has shifted in both countries. more and more people now support nato membership. ve mison or god and i've changed my mind over the last month on finland cannot defend itself alone. very eman, yvonne, it would be safer for us weeds to join. we should do so as quickly as possible. finland plans to decide in the coming weeks. sweden, probably by summer, russia says any expansion of nato will have negative consequences. now to a round up of some other world news headlines. pakistan's,

former prime minister in rankin has called for fresh elections at a rally in the north western city. official con was removed by parliament last weekend and replaced. well, position lawmaker chabarise sharif, now can, has accused the us of being behind his removal. flashes are broken up between the israelis soldiers and palestinian youth after 3 people were killed during raids in the occupied west. bank. israeli forces have stepped up operations across the west bank in recent days as follows: the speed of killings and is wrong in recent weeks by palestinians. thousands of protesters of march against rising inflation in argentina. they're demanding more higher wages and jobs. the process calm as the government announced the highest inflation rate in more than 2 decades. in tina's inflation, rate of almost 70 percent is among the highest in the world. devastating floods

triggered by heavy rains. it's south africa, durban area have claimed over 300 lives presidency, rama porter, called this a catastrophe of enormous proportions and blamed climate change. the death toll is expected to rise. a search and rescue efforts continue. the water has gun, but the damage remains. 2 days of heavy rains and flats destroyed thousands of houses in and around the city of durban. major infrastructure like roads and bridges, simply washed away. as you drive through durban, you come across many of those lance lights like this one here was you can see in the middle of it there was a house that was flashed away with the lance light. there was a family staying in their grandmother with her 3 grand children. one of the children managed to get out all the others passed away. the youngest child was just

3 years old. neighbor loom deal in the, in a still trying to get to terms with what happened. she was inside when the soil started moving and the family home collapsed, killing her 10 year old cousin and terrible . i felt like my house was that dozen pieces she has it badly. joyful, always happy. last is the one around the corner authorities set up a shelter in a school. thousands became homeless overnight during a visit president sewell rama was our promised help. knowing that the limited resources of the state won't reach everyone and knowing that this will not be the last disaster. they have been similar flats in the area in the past. yes.

this is obviously is part of climate change. it is telling us that the climate change is syria. it is here. we no longer go what we need to do. the measures we need to take to deal with management capability, needs to be at a higher level, needed nina hopes for assistance from the government. but doubts, she will get it's everything the family own. she says is god like many years she tries to stay optimistic, but more rain has been predicted for the easter weekend. so long as prime minister has offered to meet with protesters camped outside the president's office. they calling on the government to step down over its handling of a foreign currency crisis, which has led to food shortages,

spiraling prices and hours of pockets every day. the government is due to start negotiations on an international monetary fund bailout next week. oh wow. angry, she lengthens are out on the streets. an unprecedented economic crisis has pushed these people to gather outside the president's office in the capital city, columbia shouting slogans, leading placards and demanding change. ha, ha ha! the one, the raj. bucks a family whose members occupy key positions in the shall uncle government including that of the president and the prime minister to resign. we believe their family rules, then the court is him and blatant of corruption are responsible for this economic collapse. the people of the island nation have been facing regular power cuts, food and medicine shortages and soaring prices of essentials. long use outside patrol and diesel stations have become

a common sight. as the country it runs out of cash to buy fuel. the crisis has brought people together. it's a paper spread as this is not politically motivated. i'm not of any party. and i don't think anyone here is this. the 1st time all of sri lanka has united against politics. this crisis has affected everybody stomach. so everyone is out on the street, irrespective of cost creed, really janai economic backgrounds. a shilling, concede, they want accountability, transparency, and a responsible government to control the unrest on the streets. a nationwide called you and a state of emergency was imposed briefly, but that barely deterred the protector that she lanchen prime minister by in the large boxes is now appealing to the people for peace and support. being that the government is working round the clock to dissolve the economic crisis,

but it is obvious that the government has lost the trust of the public. economists, roland some energy, eva agrees that economic situation has been severely mismanaged by those in power. we are in excessive debt and it's very clear that in order to, to be able to pick this debt, we have to bring in dollars. if we cannot pay any more debt, we need to seriously negotiate with our people, to whom be all money. and we have to get the economy functioning again. yeah. back at the quarters site, the crowd only increases as the sunset is not yagi along with people of all ages joining in a gun. vivia is not of done, and just so we thought we would meet and make changes, so that, so yeah, call me adobe adobe by to be solid enemy to be. but the demonstrated look the domain to stay here to keep a bare protest still this see the change the lot. even

a heavy down poor as the evening progresses doesn't dampen bester. oh, well that's it for now. roberts's next with the top business stories. and remember, you can always get all the latest news on our website. it's d w dot com follows on twitter and instagram as well at the diabetes, told me a lot ago any thanks for your company. what does more do to people are hatred and violence inherited from generation to generation and award winning documentary searches for answers for 2 years. the auto companies are so a fist family in northern syria insights into the isolated world