to day in the ukrainian ford city of mario poll, another deadline to surrender came and went no surrender. a group of ukrainian soldiers remained inside the city's giant steel plant, refusing to lay down their weapons, refusing to hand over what's left of the city to the russians. defiance that is now truly against all odds. to night, even the ukrainian commander in mario poll says for his forces, these could very well be the final hours i bring off in berlin. this is the day. ah, you can see the intensity of fire by bush and troops in the hockey direction, in dunbar. and in the dimly pro region has increased significantly. it is that i have my lar, awesome on grass,

and we are facing a crisis upon a crisis as millions of lives have been chatted and to and their lives have ain't on of my my this walk in this was the russian army with the evidence scribe itself in world history, as perhaps the most barbaric and inhuman and the world in the dish. a lot of us also coming up afghanistan's devastated economy is addicted to opium. the countries only cash crop for the telly, bon, it's a mine field of heresy. heroine, money, and morals. but a chance i would if this plant is banned from cultivation, my friend we will be forced to steal. i like it doesn't make any sense to harvest of the crops, like mays, all pomegranates. they don't yielding of profit to live off, and that's why demanded ah, to our viewers watching on p b. s. in the united states into all of you around the world. we begin the day with

a military campaign. the russians may be rushing to when the invasion of ukraine began 56 days ago and its been punctuated by military missteps in the north, followed by last week's humiliating thinking of russia's main warship in the black sea military strategist say that russian forces spent the past 2 months struggling to get their act together. but now let me put, it has ordered a change, of course to make up for lost time and to ensure a speedy victory. since monday you grains industrial heartland. the dawn bus has been the target of thousands of russian airstrikes. we have more of this report on ukraine's eastern front. soldiers begin for the fight ahead that direction. russia has re launched his offensive hoping to take full control of the dumbass region. in the besieged port city of maria pole. the

fight may be almost over left a certain of the few bases are appealed to the world, but this could be our last appeal of our lives. we may be facing a last days if not hours, the enemy out numbers as $10.00 to $1.00. while a sense of normal life returns to the capital, keep in cities to the east. the wall rages on in then seen if the intensity of fire by russian troops in the hockey direction in dunbar and in the demila pro region has increased significantly on the basically consider ordinary housing infrastructure, normal targets for them. phenom as a change in this wall. the russian army will for ever inscribe itself in world history, as perhaps the most barbaric and inhuman on the world. shannon may be a shall article e nelly school iris at this hospital in chrome,

a task. the injured continue to arrive wounded by the 2nd russian offensive era as it should. i should now, it seems. yesterday russia started a large scale advance in the area. they use artillery systems, heavy artillery drones and g r a d systems. or are they in hockey? families say they laska by to those who we killed in the fight. russia's invasion may have entered a so called new phase. but the pain of loss is a constant in a wall, but far from over. when i want to bring in just in crump, he's the ceo of the global risk analysis company sybil lives. he's also

a veteran of the british armed forces with experience in the balkans, afghanistan and iraq. and he joins us tonight from the u. k. mister crop, it's good to have you on the program. let me get your take on and what, what we're seeing here. why do you think russia is attacking now? i mean, you could argue that the weather isn't good and that it would be better if they waited 2 weeks. yeah, that's a great question. the russian army has suffered throughout from the weather. in fact, the thought came early. i think they planned the invasion timing. we've been tracking the date for long period of time around the time they did on the hope that they would be able to operate across country before the fields became muddy. that happened soon, and they thought, and now when they've launched this offensive in the dumbass got 10 days of rain, low cloud, it'll make their artillery less effective. it'll make that power less effective.

and most importantly will prevent them really moving easily off the roads, which gives them a lot of disadvantages for the weather going. so it does suggest, as you said at the start of the program, that they are under time pressure to deliver results rather than waiting. now, i think that time pressure comes into things mostly for the supply of equipment coming to ukraine, as preparedness. and secondly, i think the russian army is ability to keep fighting over a long period of time, given the sanctions on russia. and i think the political imperative of the big she prayed on the 9th of may in moscow and the need to have done something by then. yeah, that's a good point. i mean, that the calendar, you can't change the facts that time is running out. if that is their deadline, let me ask you about what we've seen in just the past. 2 months, russia spent months before that building up its forces ahead of what was a failed assault on key. and since then they've had just a couple of weeks to really focus on the don't boss. is there any reason reason to

believe that they will be better prepared this time than they were before they tried to take the capitol? yeah, i think when they went to the whole country at the start, they had the wrong mission in the wrong mindset. they, they thought they were going to walk in and be welcomed that ukraine would crumble . and some of that was based on very faulty intelligence assessments. and it's notable how many russian thousands officers of most jobs since the invasion and i think been discredited by that very over assessment. they've had time to learn. they've had time to improve that communications that come on to control. they have less force, isn't ukraine overall? now they have around $78.00, assigning tactical groups and ukraine now. and they started with $120.00 plus. however, they are all in the south in the don't bass, so they've increased amount of troops they have in that area. and they put it under one command. was that most successful commander?

now i don't think that's enough to overcome all of the schools and problems they've had, but they've certainly improved that chance is compared to when they went. what then now calling phase one. that's a retrospective way. but again, you know, we've heard talk of a huge russian operation to encircle a large portion of the ukranian army in the east basically to defeat them in one big knockout blow. are you seeing anything that could back up that prediction that this has been a part of the russian plan from the start? if you look at where they are, all these attacks and they're passing the operations, and they're war aims, one of which the demilitarization of ukraine focused on destroying ukrainian regular army in the northern part of the dumbass. and so i think the plan to close the spin says maybe towards neat pro in the center of the country. and the south of caucus has been there from the start. they just failed to get very far with it on their 1st go. this is

a 2nd go out. what we're seeing so far is more that they're trying to do smaller advances in sacraments. now that might be a precursor to a big move once they can break through the ukrainian lines and get out into more open country. and they certainly have a lot of forces gathered south of khaki to do that. but we're not seeing that move yet. and it might be, they go for lots of small pushes and try and take away little groups of ukrainian troops, one at a time. isolate the cities rather than going for really big, sweeping advance would look spectacular on a map, but on the ground leaves that trips very strong out and exposed counter attack. so that's one of the things we're looking for is to quite how deep there and supplement goes. and how essential then, are the weapons that are being provided by the west to ukraine's ability to, to basically repel the russians. that critical as particularly in the field of artillery ammunition, i think at this point the rates of consumption about 2 rounds that you're seeing in

this sort of warfare are a huge russia is obviously suffering from that, but they can bring up more more easily. ukraine is that is infrastructure badly damaged and obviously has less ability to replace its losses to replace it's i munition. and that's why it's been such a focus not in the last few days with the supply of artillery pieces. probably mostly towed pieces going to ukraine itself. one of the problems they have there is actually alteri ammunition of the wrong caliber. so nato tends to use 155 mates rounds. the soviet rounds a similar, it's slightly smaller one by 2. and ukraine will end up using both systems not going to compensate the artillery supply. but nonetheless, they really need these things to be able to carry on fighting the longer. and maybe we've made a mistake because we equipped them to fight what we thought would be an insurgency by this stage. and actually, they're still fighting a conventional pitched battle, a huge battling dumbass. and maybe we've been saying that wrong equipment

previously, we helped them in defense. we haven't helped them counter attack and they need to be able to do that. and. and hands are asking for the sort of weapons they're asking for, like ahmed vehicles where your tanks, in particular, like more auxilary. and of course, underneath that, the missiles still very useful for them, but missiles on the road didn't allow you to go on the offensive. they only allow you to, to defend rich and they want to attack me just ask before you another time is to have the ukrainians. so the whole time had they been asking exactly for the weapons that the need. yes, they've actually been austin to this for quite long period of time. i think since quite early on in the conflict. if you look back, then he's been asking for help to close this guy's name. moved support for the air force, which is now starting to happen. it's been asking for more ahmed vehicles, but again, i think the assumption was that they wouldn't be able to use those. we couldn't get them there in time. we've now decided that we can send those things,

but we are over 55 days into the complex and of course then supplies have to get across the country to the dumbass as well. so it really is a race against time. we come back to the point, this is why russia's meeting now. they've calculated that. this is the best chance to meet that timelines and they know ukrainians still waiting for more support, but it is coming in. there's been produce this effort to do that. and i'm sure that will continue as we see this 5 developed in the next couple of weeks. just crump mr . grump. we appreciate your time and excellent analysis tonight. thank you. ah. i'm turning now to lithuania, where fears had been rising, that they could be moscow next target. a particular concern is a narrow stretch of land between lithuanian and the russian enclave of colony grot . many lithuanians fear that moscow could some day attempt to cut this land bridge to its western nato partners. and that's why it's some are trying to ensure that

they are prepared. now loosely, scalouse gus is training for the worst case scenario. is a member of the lithuanian rifleman union, a state backed paramilitary group that has been growing ever since russia annexed. grant mia in 2014. 0, oh, so propaganda, old boy, russian stayed propaganda. targeted lithuania for us, it meant we could be the next ones with especially if you live here in the saw called swanky gap, lethal any us only length connection with its western natal pod mouse. this stretch of land is crucial a for the transport of goods and military equipment. these to walk a gap is just 65 kilometers wide. it's located exactly here, between the russian exclaim of callian grat on the one site and thrushes allied

bellows on the, on the site. in lithuania, many fia that russia might try to cut to this land breached of the west. dense with moscow has been rising. lithuania has been a member of nato since 2004. but since the start over the void, ukraine, politicians and normal citizens have grown more determined. i would say we owe you more about your, which should defend your freedom and so on. it's like understanding before forces, fundamental things we have to few here have to prepare ourselves. that's why we need, ah, more natal presence in our region as a very credible debt, that of deterrence against russia. this is also the aim of an unusual art exhibition in the capital videos. this strain from moscow stops twice a day here on its way to the russian exclaim of calling and grat. russian passengers

are not allowed to get off, but they are confronted with photos of war outside to their windows. when polio was least caused gus is not training for battle, he takes off his rifle, manny uniform to work as a lawyer. he believes that the kremlin and not ordinary russian citizens are responsible for the war in the ukraine. 3rd glencoe, so i, i have russian clients that i keep in touch with. i don't feel any personal hatred towards them, but rather towards the russian state and russian state propaganda. hogan was the one that came many he would agree with him. lithuanians have been called to between a constant state of vigilance and resilience. but with the onset of the going ukraine, people living in the swanky gap,

i looking to the future with even more concern kremlin spokesperson. dmitri pet scott says russia has handed ukraine a written list of its demands, as part of peace talks, has called told reporters that moscow is waiting for a response from keith rushes earlier to her, she, she demands have included you, crane becoming a neutral country. seating the don't ask and who hunts regents to pro russia separatist and recognizing the 2014 annexation of crimea, crayton, president, zalinski says he has not seen or heard about this doc. and this week, zalinski also said that giving away any territory is out of the question for you. great, let's bring and thomas graham. now. he's a distinguished fellow at the council on foreign relations. he joins us from new york city. mr. graham, it's good to have you on the program with this,

russia says that it handed over its proposals to ukraine on a path to peace. obviously, we don't know what's inside, but what can we read into the fact that this path still seems to be open? well, i don't think it's a serious fact. at this point in the previous negotiations, demands that russia were russia was making on ukraine's were basically that a capitulate that had agreed to the independence of the the separatist regions, to rush with annexation of crimea. and that ukraine become neutral. clearly, all these things together aren't acceptable to your crime. i don't think that moscow is engaged in serious negotiations at this point. so what do you think they're up to right now? well i think part of this is that they want to to put pressure on your brain. but obviously they are launching a, a new offensive in east by they hope to take over the full glass, but no,

not in the near future. and something that would allow them to claim something about minor victory in relating withdrawal from around here earlier in this month. and they want to indicate of ukrainians that they're still flat to please grant that's open in, in an effort to demoralize the brand new population. and all of this comes on top of the, the very heavy and bombardment grain in the past few days, continuing attacks and civilian infrastructure and civilians. so i think this is all part of a plan to try to break the, the will of the branding people last weekend, mr. pest. gov said that president putin is hoping for an end to this entire operation within a matter of days that they got our attention. a matter of date is russia maybe here seeking a way out a chance to be able to declare victory by may 9th i'm

sure that the president would like to have something positive to say by may not. there's a big event right for the victory over nazi germany. but it's hard to see what he could accomplish in the next couple of weeks. ukraine is being supplied very rapidly by the by western countries and the will to fight the heck by defective in dealing with the russian military. so far. finding the russians are facing the top salons in the east, and i would doubt that good will have a major victory report. and you are aware that the west, particularly the u. s. in the u. k, they have delivered more and more heavy weapons to ukraine. they are committed to that there's also reporting that the weapons being delivered continue to become even more potent. how worried should we be or, or is there

a danger of some sort of mission creep taking place here? now i don't think it's so much mission creep on the western side at this point, but it does create a paradoxical situation. and is that the worst the russians do militarily in the east, the greater the sanitation on the russian park to escalate the conflict? i so far the russians have not for, with any great, a bigger the the concord that are 1st, these weapons in you, in your brain that your brain receives much more effective weapons. weapons that you can use to read off this latest reference, russian like that. i think we can go after that. that does raise the question of where they would pack these on board, many granny and territory where i grant shipping points are located in a natal concrete. if it's a ladder than that raises the question of article $599.00 could lead to

a larger conflict. and just briefly, do you think that the chances are very good that we'll see an attack by russian forces on those convoys within ukraine? i think the, the, the risk of that is growing, particularly as the military conflict becomes much more bitter in the east. so i would expect something like this to happen within the next few weeks. mr. thomas gram with the council on foreign relations. mr. graham, as always we appreciate your time and your insights tonight. thank you. you're welcome. the the taliban recently, band farmers from growing poppy. it's a plant that is used to produce heroin, but one senior member of the taliban admits that the band is not being enforced. why would if ghana stands ultraconservative leaders look the other way? because they can't overlook reality. afghanistan is broke and foreign aid is not

coming back anytime soon. one of the only ways to fund the state is by exporting opi the brown mass oozing out of this pompey plant is extremely valuable. and right now its harvest time in afghanistan, farmers are collecting the raw material necessary for opium, morphine and heroine production. but in early april the taliban forbade poppy cultivation, but to choose i will if this plant is bound from cultivation, my friend that we will be forced to steal. i like it doesn't make any sense to harvest of the crops, like mays, all pomegranates. they don't do yielding of profits to live off, and that's why the man of the jury machine we visited these farmers just as this year's crop was being harvested for 28 years. mohammed tanya's family has been cultivating opium. the extremely dry climate in south afghanistan is ideal for the plants was tied our credit,

but we thought of planting opium because we don't have enough water. all the necessary equipment for the crops show that the people are poor and opium is profitable. the. this farmer tells us he has 25 family members to care for. he has many children. he also grows grapes, but that's not enough to make ends meet. these bags contain his valuable product and this is the market where the ra opium will be sold. and it's the place where local drug lords meet. they smuggle the opium to pakistan or iran. from there, it is refined to heroin and shipped around the world, including to europe. the dealers are not happy with the ban on opium cultivation. di water, we told the taliban, they hot to do something for us 1st. if they want us to stop selling opium was actually one moment for the 2 numbers. in early april the taliban announced they were immediately banning the cultivation of opium. but the deputy minister for

taliban drug policy tells us this law is not being enforced. proposal. woodard ball, as you can see from our announcement, said that for the moment we will not be taking action against pharmacy planted opium this year. if we do that, so many farmers will suffer, great problems list were, was good on deal, which gladly in 2020 afghanistan was the world's largest opium producer, responsible for 85 percent of global production. according to the u. n. the $1011.00 tax the cultivation and trade of the crump, earning millions of u. s. dollars and helping finance their wor, something they have never officially admitted. a shy sunny explains to us why the taliban are trying to been opium production. his institute collects data and research is drug cultivation in afghanistan. the objective is certainly to get the approval 1st of the international community hopefully moved closer and closer to

the recognition of the regime, which is very important for them because it would been allow many other revenues to fluid. oh, so when the taliban minister confirmed this in the interview, he said the world has to help us. we asked them to take notice and stand by our side or didn't how to move michelle 100 or the days almost done the conversation. he continues online. you'll find us on twitter either at dw, she can follow me on twitter at brent gov tv. every month, whatever happens between now and then to morrow is another day. we'll see that everyone's

ah. with oh, wondering more delivery by ukrainian center, get mother's fear of the bombs has prevented the beast from being picked up. ah marina and spent none. have been teaching to you in this key bomb shelter for weeks. ah,

focus on europe next. on d. w a little tougher alley. so stronger than little braver. i'm still paid a lot less. why must women fight their way through the world of work? and how much better do they have to perform? ah, the gender equality j. made in germany. in 60 minutes on d, w. o, it's a nation and transformed into an orgy of hate and violence. the history of the ku klux klan, the oldest terrorist organization in the united states, its members fight for waste,

a state ruled by white supremacy. what we're talking about here is not only disorganized violence, it's not only terrorism. its politics found it over 150 years ago, gets repeatedly died out, but always been resurrected. the ku klux klan starts may 11th on d w. ah . this is focus on europe. i'm lar babel ola. nice to have you with us. russia is launching fresh attacks and new crane as moscow declares a new phase of the war. ukrainian forces are calling on their allies to send more weapons with the conflict approaching its 2nd month places in ukraine's east and

south are under heavy bombardment. russia has sent foul.