[000:00:00;00] ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. ukrainian fight is under siege, are defying a russian ultimate to lay down their arms. ukraine has proposed direct unconditional talks with russia to save the lives of soldiers and civilians. still trapped in the city of mario pl. also coming off ukraine zooms heads dead from mass graves gathering evidence of possible war crimes as relatives watch on,

including this mother whose son never came home. i'm french presents presidential candidates face off in that only debate before sundays run off election. president manuel mccall and his fall right challenger, marine the pen clash over her legs to rush money, and his record in governing france. ah, i'm gabelle, as welcome to the program. ukraine says it has proposed negotiations to save those trapped in the besieged port city of mario paul. it comes as a key putin ally says, russian troops will have complete control of the cities as of style steel plant to day. the seal plant is where ukrainian troops are hold up the last place in mario paul, not yet on the russian controlled soldiers have to fight russian demands to surrender

. the hours of staff steel plant is also a refuge for up to 2000 civilians, according to ukrainian officials. reason efforts to open humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave have been largely unsuccessful. chechen soldiers on patrol in matter you pull into distance as of style steal works. russian soldiers are here to they've hung red flags along a possible route for ukrainian forces who wish to surrender. their fight for control of their city may be almost over. shall dorsey being the civilians trapped inside the us of the style complex. you have no way of leaving their bunkers, askew care because they're afraid of the constant shelling and the russians pledge of a ceasefire. never came true. boucher messages. louisa, but in keep ukraine's president volunteered to lansky speaking alongside european

council president charles michelle remains defiant of hubert. yes, duck, she clothes mighty. hopefully. all our guys and matthew paul want a victory, which they want the city to be liberated or as political. no one is going to surrender to the enemy, writes as the the so that's how they feel. that's who they are to. that's what's inside their souls. the key yet, he won, the eve said it was a fool in moscow, russian president vladimir putin said russia would work to quote, normalized life in ukraine's eastern industrial heartland. nodding. it would change for the better lash them to do. we can pers roshan one but back and mother you pull . life is far from normal. these residents are evacuating a city that has been traumatic for weeks with he is with martha with we need

a break after the shelling after is nightmare. we've been hiding in salesman's for 30 days. oh boy, we want to go to my son's house. he's waiting for me. mom, when are you coming? he keeps asking me. i have a son, a daughter in law, on the granddaughter when i bought a ticket just before the war, and then on the 24th of february, it all began and almost 2 months later, the war continues. these residents don't know when they will be able to return as the battle from under you pull rages on this crossover to keep. now where to w correspondent rebecca, to standing by rebecca, can you tell us about the efforts to evacuate mario full as you her there, get her the next few hours are going to be really decisive in the seeds of mary paul,

the chechen. later of the soldiers that there in mary paul on the russian side, fighting for that city, saying that they will have full control of the city by the end of the day. that remains to be seen, but suddenly is looking likely. and of course, has ukraine worried about the fate of the remaining ukrainian soldiers there in that as of the steel plants and some it's thought $1000.00 civilians that are also taking shelter under there. now yesterday, a humanitarian corridor was opened to was agreed to by the ukrainians and the russians, and was hoped that some $6000.00 civilians and soldiers that would be able to get out in that corridor. but as we know from previous humanitarian corridors, they are incredibly fragile. they're incredibly dangerous and very rarely successful. and that was the case yesterday. unfortunately, it was not 6000, but rather a couple of dozen people that managed to use that card or some good news, but not enough. and to that, you know, i, as we've been saying,

today's very decisive in this battle for the city humanitarian catastrophe. with more than a $100000.00 people still believe, to be trapped in that city, which looks soon to become under russian control. russia also staging a major offensive in the east of the country. any updates on that well, the battle for the don bass is as being dubbed is entering its 3rd day now and we have seen an increase in bombardment in the hockey region. the ne pro region and of course the don bass are, we've seen increased shelling and gains and losses on both sides. ukrainian say they are managing to hold back the russian side of prevent them from moving forward . but you cra, russia rather was map, did manage yesterday to take control of a small city there. but on the ukrainian side, they've been able to also recapture some small towns or in the dumbass,

namely one near done yet. so wins and losses on both sides. but we are expecting that to ramp up, and we've seen thousands and thousands of people trying to leave that region. but, you know, presidents lensky, still calling, get 4 more weapons to be able to fight the fight of defend ukraine and fight the russians down there in the east. the rest of the landscape corps for more weapons. we've seen a lot of pledges of support these days from the g serpent, the u. n. natal promises of more weapons and, and have a heavier weaponry of house are being received and he's well off. he know he was very grateful for all the support it can get. you know, salenti has said that europe is starting to see what they're facing and stepping up and definitely the, the plate pledges are welcome. also seen that 800000000 dollar agreement from the us side and some of those weapons that was believed. some planes have made their way already here to ukraine and some other part. so obviously ukraine's ukranian

authorities really grateful and happy to that. but there is also growing frustration here in keith about the pace at which the support is coming out. everyone has known that the battle for don bass that renewed aggression in the east was happening was going to happen for weeks and yet, you know, european leaders still sitting around discussing what they might send and when obviously keep, you know, needing those weapons. now they need them on the battlefield to be able to defend russia, and they've been saying that they're not just doing it for you crime, but doing it for all of your it all corresponding. rebecca rick, is there reporting from keith? thank you. rebec investigators in ukraine are carrying out the painstaking work of exhuming bodies from makeshift graves. it's part of an efforts to gather evidence of alleged atrocities committed by russian troops. hundreds of dead civilians have been found while forensic teams do their

work. relatives of those killed weight nearby to claim their loved ones are corresponded. mateus burning up, visited the town of bordeaux danco that's near chief and spoke to one mother whose son never came home to the police. it has become a grim routine. dozens of mass graves have been opened here in the past few weeks. but for an addition, a boy called this is the day she has been waiting for. her son is being ex you today will show them. oh, it was on his way back. he called to say he'd be home seen, but he never came. question to him boy call was shot on the street in the early days of the war. his body was given a makeshift burial on the grounds of a hospital when the morgue had to close because it had no power. please say that here in the northern suburbs of keys,

they have recovered more than 1000 forty's. the town of what a young girl was heavily shelled and unoccupied by russian forces. size is too far from normal supermarkets and shops looted and destroyed. people here depend on a deliveries to survive at the hospital, police have examined 9 bodies to day. it was civilians were shocked in the streets or run over by times. some have yet to be identified. nazare that got there. i bought that through. unfortunately, we'll be doing this work for many more years already, but we'll work as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. so we have sold evidence to hold the aggressor accountable in the international courts will, if it's not only those who did it from you know, but also those who ordered you to get the more than that, give more, you cannot the recovered bodies are being

sent to the morgue for forensic examination will then be returned to their relatives. that is the bill. hm. yeah, i know that his soul is gone. i know this is just a body, but it's the body that i used to hug and love. you would good. it's my child, i cry every day because of the blood to madison a boy cause one small comfort and soon she will be able to bury her son properly. let's have a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world is railey warplanes struck la garza strip overnight after palestinian extremists fire for rockets into southern israel. it's the biggest escalation between hamas and islamist group which governs the palestinian territory and israeli forces since

last year's 11 day war. a small commercial airplane crashed onto the street and the haitian capital potter prost killing 6 people. plane went down shortly off the take off to you to an engine failure. everyone aboard the aircraft and one pedestrian were killed. to france, no air. the 2 candidates and next sundays, presidential elections squared off of their only televised debates. the duel on wednesday was one of the last chances for encumbered in manuel marco and his far rides, challenger melinda pen to sway voters. and there were some fiery strangers on the streets of paris. it was billed as france against france. and the big argument a life tv jewel between french president emanuel micron and the woman who wants his job fall right. challenger murphy, le pen mutha young at to school. so go all day,

but you civil told it is okay. he said and under the glare of the studio lights the gloves were off. roughly current president manion, the cron, attacked maxine la pen because of her past dealings with russia as an escort. dip on did you depend on russian power? you depend on mister putin as a few months after saying that, madame le pen, that you took out a loan from a russian bank in 2015 for the 1st check russian bank left to cushion bank. when you don't talk to other leaders, you talk to your banker when talking to russia, this is the problem them vulnerable or pleasant can le pen insisted she was independence of moscow and returned to a key lean of her campaign. the rising cost of fuel and essentials, merging left course in if jose objected, are caught more sure my read on all the sanctions that were taken against the oligarchs against the bang us law. so the only sanction that i disagree with is the

one blocking russian cat is a coil in port zuka. why? because i think that's not the right method. this is not what will actually hurt russia, least and above all, it will hurt the french people a lot which equal to so i feel i know him on multiple people sitting on st. hooked with the candidates, clashed over microns economic track record over the last 5 years. and climate change either you or not again, but on immigration, in the treatment of muslims in france, the candidates policies a far apart as ship. all i want to ban the hill job in public spaces. i'll say it on the clearest possible way. the fail is a uniform imposed by islamists. alma was apology, said miss rosalie, you will create a civil war in the housing projects. madame la fern, i'm being honest, what you're saying is very serious, isn't oscars, could, would need to go higher than that. they don't accept that because what you said is very serious. i got to think it on an opinion poll from

a french broadcaster found over half of the viewers surveyed thought micron was more convincing in the debate. the french voters will have the last word in sundays run off election. and that's it for now, for me and the news to him to not go away. business is off next and i'll have a well news update for you at the top of the all in the meantime there's always a website you w dot, i'm grab alphas, i switch ah, listen carefully. don't know how things you need to do go