ah ah ah, this is the w news. live from berlin. ukrainian fighters under siege are defying a russian ultimatum to lay down their arms. ukraine has proposed direct unconditional talks with russia to save the lives of soldiers and civilians trapped in the city of mario. also coming up ukraine exhumed it's dead from mass graves, gathering evidence of possible war crimes. asked relatives watch on, including this mother whose son never came home. russia says it as successfully

carried out a test launch of its new intercontinental ballistic missiles. washington says it is not concerned about the test. and in france, the to put presidential candidates face off for their only debate before sundays run off election. president and mccoy and his far right challenger, money le pen clash over her legs to russian money. and his record in governing france ah, i'm good. how else his welcome to the program? ukraine says it has a proposed negotiations to save those trapped in the besieged port city of mario pope. it comes as russian president, vladimir putin has ordered his military to hold off storming the cities as of star

plant, pursuing it, remain surrounded. instead. the plant is where you, cranium. troops are hold up and the last place in murray, opal not yet on the russian controlled soldiers have to fight russian demands to surrender. the side is also a refuge who up to 2000 civilians, according to ukrainian officials. but 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. steelworks 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

game was, they're afraid of the constant shelling and the russians pledge of a ceasefire. never came true. boucher messed decently. lisa put in keith ukraine's president. volota made it to lansky speaking alongside european council president charles michelle remains defiant. president of hubert. yes, duck. she clothes mighty, hopefully, all our guys and matthew paul want a victory shoot. they want the city to be liberated orders, book known 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, given the eve said it was to go through. in moscow, russian president vladimir putin said russia would work to quote, normalize life in ukraine's eastern industrial heart, land nodding. it would change for the better lash them to do. we can pers roshan one but back and my tuple life is far from normal.

these residents are evacuating a city that has been traumatic for weeks with he is with math, at least we need a break after the shelling after this nightmare. we've been hiding in basements for 30 days. oh boy. so we want to go to my son's house. he's waiting for 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. oh, it's maria port cut off all correspondence. rebecca richard is following the latest

developments from the capital keith. earlier i asked her what she's been hearing from the besieged port city. i see her there, gearhart the next few hours are going to be really decisive in the seeds of mary paul, the chechen. later of the soldiers there in mario 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 sydney is looking likely and of course has ukraine worried about the fate of the remaining ukrainian soldiers there in that as all the steel plants and some it's thought $1000.00 civilians that are also taking shelter under there. now yesterday, humanitarian corridor was open to was agreed to by the ukrainians and the russians, and was hoped that some 6000 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 that, you know, 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. russians 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 bombardments in the hockey region. the need for a region and of course the don bass. we've seen increased shelling and gains and losses on both sides. ukrainian say they are managing to hold back the russian side to prevent them from moving forward. but you cra, russia rather was mad,

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 dawn, 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, president soleski still calling get 4 more weapons to be able to fight the fight, to defend ukraine and fight the russians down there in the east. most of the landscape corps for more weapons. we've seen a lot of pledges of support these days from the g serpent, the un nato promises of more weapons and, and have a heavier weaponry hossa being received in keys. well off, you 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 $800000000.00 agreement from the us side and some of those weapons, it 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 for that. but there is also a growing frustration here in keith about the pace at which the support is coming out. everyone has known that battle said don bass said 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, he, you know, meeting 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 of all of europe are corresponding becker is as they're reporting from keith. thank you. rebecca. ever receiving a breaking news from the mario paul siege now?

russian president vladimir putin has apparently ordered his forces not to storm the city's last remaining ukrainian stronghold. instead, he said he wants the steel plant where ukrainian troops and civilians are hold up to be fully blocked. we'll keep you updated on this development as we receive further news. meanwhile, ukrainian investigators are carrying out the painstaking work of exhuming bodies from makeshift graves. it's part of an effort to gather evidence of alleged war crimes committed by russian troops. while forensic teams do their work, relatives of those killed weight nearby to claim beloved ones. our correspondence, mateus billing our joint other journalists on a visit to the town of burrard younger 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 additional boy corps, this is the day she has been waiting for. her son was being ex you today. you don't show that more. he was on his way back, he called to say he'd be home soon, but he never came. question to him, boy cole 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 bodies. overdue . the town of what a younger was heavily shelled and then occupied by russian forces. by if is too far from normal supermarkets and shops looted and destroyed, people here depend on a deliveries to survive. at the hospital,

police have exam 9 bodies to day it was civilians were shot in the streets or run over by tunnels. some have yet to be identified. nozzle that got there about a 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. we see it's not only those who did it from you know, but also those who order 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 it is to kill him. 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 the way it is good. it's my child. i cry every day because of

a boy. he medicinal boy cause one small comfort that soon she will be able to bury her son, property rushes. defense ministry says it as successfully completed the test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile launch took place in north western russia . close to the finish border. it hit its target and they come chuck up peninsula. that's east of japan called the sar much the a long range weapon has been in development for several years. russian officials say, can defeat existing missile defense systems, us defense officials said russia gave advanced warning of the tests and did not consider it a threat to the united states. russian president vladimir putin, however, framed the test as a warning delay when you can, these truly unique weapon willing handsome military potential of armed forces. it

will reliably provide security for russia from external threats and will make those who in the heat of frantic aggressive rhetoric try to threaten our country, think twice with written, interesting, frankly, which is a former military intelligence officer from oxford. i asked him earlier if the west should be worried about this newly developed weapon? no, not really with waiting for this vehicle. this rocket to be tested for about a year. it's part of a decade long program to replace what nato calls the sites and by the way was made to meet pro, in your credit, the late eighty's early ninety's. so we're looking for replacement for this is it, it was tested yesterday. nothing particularly to worry about because it's likely to be, it was accompanied by the expected sabre rattling, but it's really nothing particularly out of the ordinary. there's

a lot of speculation as to whether moscow my turn to tactical nuclear weapons. this is an integral of continental a strategic missile. but what does it say about the nuclear threat? well, it has to be said that there is a nuclear threat arising from ukraine. it's different in scale from that presented by the, the new missile that was tested yesterday. and it is a serious threat. we speak a lot about chemical weapons, which is a weapon of mass destruction. technically, that really isn't relatively low like casualties. but a nuclear weapon, of course, is entirely different and you can use a tactical nuclear weapons, is present russian military doctrine, particularly in break through the car was a new crane. i don't think it's likely that they will use such a weapon, but it does exist in doctrine. if you really ation, if you kind of throw back the russians are facing human nation and defeat,

that will be an option. however, nato has been playing a really quite clever game over the last week anyway, over this, they have been adopting enough to do what's called constructive ambiguity. that made it very clear that there will be serious consequences that have been left unfair. what those consequences will be and they have plenty of arrows in their quiver to be able to deter this. if it is very unlikely it will, by the way. now the white house, it did not seem to be too fast about this test to say the bay had been given advance notifications. what does that tell you? it simply confirms that this was an expected test. as i said, this is a decade long program to, to replace an old system. the americans are conducting similar replacement, texas sciences. interestingly, i think it was 2 weeks ago. the americans postponed a similar test or tested

a similar kind of miss on the intercontinental ballistic missile. so as to avoid any sense of escalation in this context, because that's not the approach russia take. so now the pentagon movie particular about this, that will be watching it for a long time, expecting it. it happened, it succeeded in suppose it was supposed to on development, will continue in russia as it will in america, sunshine, which dash invest electra and former military intelligence officers speaking to us earlier than the 1st weeks of the invasion, russia seized control of the chernobyl nuclear power plant that's the side of the world's worst nuclear accident was the 1st time that soldiers have ever occupied a nuclear power plant. as part of a war after moscow's force, his left reports continued to emerge of the reckless actions they took them, with russian offices, exposing their own soldiers to extremely high doses of radiation. this is one of

the most radioactive places in the world. yet the more than a month, russian soldiers lived here, digging deep into the contaminated soil of the chernobyl exclusions own ukrainian officials say that bunking down in the zone so called red forest manned up costing some of the troops their lives. although molested their shift, 3 little corporal in the red forest where russians dug trenches, ally, they lived here only breathe in dust here. usual cooked their food and set fire's hair. a hoodie le awhile in the thought, so gross was burnt for them and they inhaled burnt substances you with the holy, which hang a 3rd of course it will damage their healthily fix. it will kill some of them slowly, but toggling on some of them will be, will die quickly. ah, dick, which with cold water. but russia's occupation of this site, but more than the lives of it soldiers in danger. for a time, the decommission plant was cut off from the power grid and forced to rely on diesel

generators to keep critical safety systems running, sparking phase of immune you could a disaster reaching well beyond ukraine when russian troops hurt a left at the end of march they looted offices some report li, even stole highly radioactive materials, possibly to sell ukrainian authorities still unable to monitor radiation levels at the site after soldiers also stole the systems main server. chernobyl was never ready for a military occupation with the russians gone for now. and the anniversary of the 1996 disaster approaching authorities are working to make sure it will be more prepared in the future. now as have look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today is really warplanes struck the gaza strip. her overnight after palestinian extremists fired for rockets at southern israel. it's the biggest escalation between hamas than islamist group that governs the

palestinian territory. and is railey forces since last year's 11 day warm authorities in shanghai say the city will remain on the tight cove at 19. looked down that despite some districts reporting no new infections, millions of people are barred from leaving their homes in attempts to contain the outbreak. the strict measures are part of china's 0 covey policy. go to france now where the 2 candidates in the next sunday's presidential election squared off for the only televised debate the jewel on wednesday was one of the last chances for incumbents in monroe mccall and his father rides, challenger marine, append to sway voters. and there were some firey exchanges on the streets of paris. it was billed as france against france. and the big argument a life tv deal between french president emanuel micron and the woman who wants his

job saw right challenge f mathy le pen. ruth, while i go to school, so go home. they bug you, civil. told it a little crazy. don't fit. and under the glare of the studio lights the gloves were off. with current president manion, the kron attacked martin le pen because of her past dealings with russia, as in yeah, that's good for 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, the self tick cushion bank. when you don't talk to other leaders, you talk to your banker. when talking to russia, this is the problem them volleyball players on la pen, insisted she was independence of moscow and returned to a key leim of her campaign. the rising cost of fuel and essentials moving left horse in, if horsey objected or caught much,

or my read on all the sanctions that were taken against the oligarchs against the banks less. so the only sanction that i disagree with is the one blocking russian count is a coil in port zuka. why? because i think that's not the right method. this is not what we'll actually hurt russia list, and above all, it will hurt the french people a lot which eco shall to so i feel i know him on multiple perform it all. she took the candidates, clashed over microns, economic track record over the last 5 years, and climate change. your answers, not again, but on immigration and the treatment of muslims in france. the candidates policies a far apart as ship. all i want is about the head job in public spaces. i'll say it on the clearest possible way. the fail is a uniform imposed by islamists. alma was a policy 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's because what you said is very serious. i got to think it on an opinion poll from a french broadcaster found over half the view is surveyed, thought micron was more convincing in the debate. but french voters will have the last word in sundays run off election with m all it's crossover to d. w correspond lisa lewis in the paris lisa, how did this debate go down and for us? well, obviously each camp is saying their candidate a came out on top. when you look at, you know, what people are saying across of social media and to be life. been talking to there's though a, some kind of consensus that in marina penn, when it comes to stay at the style did better than 5 years ago, you know, when we look back to 2017, she was already facing in my, in my car, in the run off debate a run of vote and also in the debate ahead of that vote. and at the time she

literally crashed and got lost in all the details. and her daughters this time around are independent, appeared lot calmer, and been a lot more like a president. however, when it comes to the fact, it's a my remark, heart seems to have attacked her on numerous dossier caught her out, said that the figures didn't add up. he said that she was actually not the candidate of increase spending power. that's what she's been trying to depict herself as over the last past few months. and he also said that 80 percent of the measures at that, you know, are part of her program would mean that funds would have to leave the european union. marine the pen said no, i don't want to leave the european union. i want to redesign it. but in my, my car said, this is not possible with your current program. as you said, a broadcaster did carry out a whole 2 thirds of those 650 people only that were interrogated. they said actually that they thought that my car came out as the clear winner. it remains to

be seen if this will have an impact on the reject election results. you know, in the past, historically speaking in france, debate have never really turned around things, but they can have a slight impact, you know, pushing one candidate a bit up. another one, a bit down in the polls. now, mccaul accused le pen of having strong ties to the kremlin. what impact do you think that accusation of will make on voters? that's to, that's the one point where he insists it on. he talked about that russia lane that was mentioned in the report early on. he also talked about the fact that marina pan supported the annexation of premier in 2014 by saying that the offender. and that was actually controversial on international level. she recognized that referendum, you know, that will certainly be invaders mind on sunday. when you look at polls on russia and on p 10 a. vladimir putin, it from russia,

the russian president and maced french people are saying that they are concerned about, you know, that they're shocked by the russian invasion in a ukraine. and that they dislike vladimir putin say it's likely that, that, that will be in their mind when they make their choice on sunday. in france he w, corresponded lisa lewis, they're reporting from paris. thank you. lisa. now wimbledon organizers have bound russian and bela erosion. tennis players from the this year's tournament because of the war in ukraine, the band will prevent a number of top rank players from competing in the grand slam event. the kremlin has called it unacceptable and both the russian, men's and women's tennis association. so the banners discriminatory the green, green grass of wimbledon, part of what makes it arguably the most well known tennis tournaments in the world . but this year no russians or better ruffians will grace the hollow turf organizes

taking the decision. because quote, it would be unacceptable for the russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of rational belarus in players with the championships. the ban means big name players like daniel medford of the russian world. number 2 and battery says arena isabella anchor, who reached the wimbledon semifinals last year. won't be allowed to take part. in february, the international olympic committee called on the sports bodies to pan russian and bell roost in athletes. but wimbledon is going against the grain in tennis at regular tournaments, players from russia and batteries can take part as neutrals, others in the sport, believing it's unfair to punish individuals for regimes actions. when bowden though, closing its gates to russia and belarus, the possibility of someone from those countries lifting the famous trophy and the resulting propaganda bruised back home too much for organizes to bear

it watching dw news, his a reminder of our top story, russian president vladimir putin as ordered his military to hold off storming the cities as of style steel plot, where ukrainian troops are holding out instead, he wants to keep it surrounded and will keep you updated on the developments. there is an onyx program at the top of the od uncle way. now up next is conflict. so thanks for watching. ah, with

you into the conflict zone with sebastian, russian forces have begun to the 2nd phase of the war and ukraine that you gave me an official said. they were confident they could hold off offensive. as the war goes on, she believes the dangers arising. he's nina, of course java, great granddaughter of the former soviet lead indicate the crucial conflict zone

on d. w a. the seat of the nation, the history of the red army. in part one is our documentary founded in 1918 to defend the young, the soviet union. but the real test of the red army was yet to come. the great patriotic war against nazi germany. in 45 minutes on d, w o. in william had a bank on his gonzalez with ion was, hey, if i had known that the boat would be that small, i never would have gone on the trip. i would not to put myself and my parents in that danger will caught in the middle for that he was legal,

would love one centreville hospital on the liberty to give them i had serious problems on a personal level and i was unable to live there with you want to know their story info, migrant clarified and reliable information for migrants. russian forces have begun the 2nd phase of their war in ukraine with an expected push in the eastern dumbass region. but ukrainian officials said they were confident they could hold off the offensive film on either side is off at any hint of compromise. in fact, positions in both moscow and kia. seem to pardon my guest this week or has a unique perspective he's mean of who's java. great granddaughter of the former soviet leader nikita khrushchev and she joins me this week from new york where she's.