ah ah ah, this is dw news coming to live from berlin, putting claims victory in the besieged city of murray of paul and again calls on ukrainian fighters there to surrender. a russian president holds off on plans to storm the cities as old styles, steel plant, instructing his forces to blockaded instead with ukrainian troops and civilians inside. also coming up, the kranick zooms its dead from mass graves gathering evidence of. busy possible war crimes as relatives watch on. we hear from a mother whose son never came home. and in france,

the 2 candidates and sundays presidential run off, hold their only face to face debate. manuel nicole and his power. i challenge it, maureen le pen clash over her links to russian money, and his record as president. ah, hello, i'm terry martin. thanks for joining us. russian president vladimir putin has claimed victory. a merrier poll saying his forces have successfully liberated the port city and southeastern ukraine. putin ordered his military to blockade the cities of soap, stars steal plants, sealing ukrainian troops and civilians. inside his a clip from his televised meeting with his defense minister say get, so i go, but it'll, again, i considered the proposed storming be industrial area, pointless. i order to bolt it. this is the case where we must think,

we must always think that it's even more so in this case about preserving the life and health of our soldiers and officers. there is no need to climb into this catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can get through the molecular to the as of stall steel plant is the last place in murray. a pole still in ukrainian hands. russia says more than 2000 ukranian troops are holding out in the heavily 4 to 5 plant. ukrainian officials say around $1000.00 civilians are also seeking refuge there with food running low key f is demanding that moscow opened a humanitarian corridor to let civilians flee was cross to key if now where dw correspondent rebecca ritters is standing by. rebecca, what more can you tell us about the situation now in maria pull?

when he heard it there from the horses mouth president ploot potent and claiming victory of mary paul for the russians. we haven't had confirmation all from the ukrainian side, but it's not unexpected. terry have been expecting mary paul to fall to russian control for some days now. but in reality, territorially, nothing really has shifted since prior to the statement by president potent that they have for some days actually held control of the city and of the port. but not all of that as of steel plant, as you just reported. and that remains the same, still thought to be 2000 or so defenders. and around about a 1000 civilians hiding in tunnels in the vast tunnel network under that as of steel plant. but there has been a shift taxi clear as you heard there, president putin calling for a c sing of the bombardment of that steel plant and instead to be blockaded. it's not exactly clear why that directive was given. whether or not, uh,

perhaps they want to keep that steel plant intact so that even when they do gain control of it, they can still use it. or perhaps they do indeed need to save some face there and change that tactically because they haven't been able to root out those remaining defenders. so what's going to become of those people in that steel plant? rebecca, both the soldiers and the civilians, and i understand they're also around a $100000.00 civilians lift elsewhere in mario poll. that's right, will the sight of the soldiers and no civilians at the steel plant, it really remains to be seen. at present, imprudent has said that he guarantees their safety should they surrender bad. those troops have ignored previous a cease and desist orders by the russians to come out with their hands up pat, assuming that they don't trust president pohden and the russians that they will in

fact be taken to safety. one of the battalion late is actually come out calling for an extraction by international forces and that they be taken to neutral territory. and that looking very unlikely at this stage, so not entirely clear what's going to happen to them. but you heard it there from president putin. no fly shall pass. so what's the situation elsewhere in eastern and southern ukraine? rebecca, what's the latest in the battle for don bass? yes. well that to expected battle for don bass is entered. it's the de terry, we've st. really an increasing a really large increasing in bombardments in that area. particularly in the city of hard keith to day the marriage come out and said it's been under almost constant bombardment. very worried for the some 1000000 people still living in that city or other areas. lou hands being in the don bass region being very badly shelled as well the mer. they're saying that the civilians have no power,

no water in utilities. why be able to be restored until after the war? and it was mc alive to the south has also been a bombarded that's another city down south near the other key port city of odessa. so definitely seeing a huge optic in fighting in that region. but thank you very much, shar correspond to rebecca rivers in chief ukrainian investigators are carrying out the painstaking work of exuding 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 their loved ones. are correspondent mathias bellinger joined other journalists on a visit to the town of borrowed young co. near chia. he spoke to one mother whose son never came home for the police. it has become a grim routine. dozens of moss graves have been opened here in the past few weeks. but for the days,

a boy called this is the day she has been waiting for. her son is being ex you today. young children, when he was on his way back, he called to say he'd be home soon, 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 blue with the town of what a young girl was heavily shelled and then occupied by russian forces. life is too far from normal supermarkets and shops looted and destroyed. people here depend on 8 deliveries to survive. at the hospital,

police have exam 9 bodies to day it was civilians were shocked in the streets are run over by tanks. some have yet to be identified. nozzle that got there, i bought that through unfortunately, will be doing this work for many more years. 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 that i'm you know, but also those who ordered you get the more nikki, of more. you cannot the recovered bodies are being sent to the morgue for forensic examination and will then be returned to their relatives. that is the film. 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 wedding. 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. now we'll continue to keep you updated, of course on of elements in ukraine, but for now let's go to france where the 2 candidates and next sundays presidential election squared off in their only televised debate. the dual on wednesday was one of the last chances for encumbered and manuel mccall and his far right challenge a marina pan to sway voters. and there were some firey exchanges. it was the most anticipated moment in the french election campaign. the only tv debate between french president emanuel micron and the woman who wants his job fall right challenger marine la pen. ruth law, jonah thomas, what's a good day bud? you? sivilton, under the glare of the studio lights the gloves were off. micron attack le pen over

her past dealings with russia, a map of the cycle shall ask of who dick bonded, 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. first check russian bank left south to cushion bank. when you don't talk to other leaders, you talk to your banker. when talking to russia, this is the problem then madam, they won't leave or present on. le pen insisted she was independent of moscow. up william, and return to a key theme of her campaigns would default the rising cost of fuel and essential lap horse in if coffee objected, a court martial my read on all the sanctions that was taken against the oligarchs against the bang us law. so the only sanction that i disagree with is the one blocking russian count is an 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 are eager. she'll to have a fair, i know him on multiple people say, well, she hood with the candidates clashed of the climate change and microns economic track record in his 1st 5 year term, something peculiar, yasser, not again, on immigration, and the treatment of muslims in france. the candidates policies are far apart as ship. all i want to ban the hedge out in public spaces. i'll say it on the clearest possible way. the fail is a uniform imposed by islamists, 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 you think or hear them? they don't accept that because what you said is very serious. i have to thank you. an opinion poll from a french broadcaster found over half the viewers surveyed thought micron was more convincing in the debate. but french voters will had the last word in sundays run

off election or correspond at least louis is covering the selection for us and joined us now from paris. so lisa, what did you make of last night's debate? well, i was watching it all the way through and i think that most observers would agree that when it comes to the style, actually morrila pen improved as compared to what she did. 5 years ago when she was already facing a minor, my car in the renovate and in the tv debate ahead of that mode, at the time she was a performer in unity, badly seemed hysterical at times. and this time around she looked a lot karma. she came across as someone who is the model more a lot more like a president when it came to the fact. so in my, my call was calling her out over and over again saying, you know, your figures are not right. your program doesn't make sense. and 80 percent of the measures that you're putting on the table would actually lead to france leaving the

european union. marina pen denied again that she wanted france to leave the european union saying that she wanted to reshape the union. a my, my car said that is not going to pos to be possible with your program and it's current state. well, we will see what kind of a judgment voters will make of this debate. historically speaking in france, a debate has never really turned around things. but it can change the intentions a little bit by a few points currently in my, my call is leading in the polls with about with about 10 percent ahead of marina penn. now mccomb has made much of the pants ties to the kremlin. we saw that in the, in our report. how is that going? how's that going down with french motors? yes, you're right. he insisted on that rash alone. he also insisted on the fact that in her manifesto my ruler, pen was still saying that she wanted to create and aligns when it comes to certain topics with russia, such as the fight against terrorism. now,

when you look at polls here in france, many people care about that, you know, a large majority of the french have a negative image of letting me put in a large majority of the friends, are shocked by the russian invasion in ukraine. and it's likely that motors will think of at that topic, especially when they turn out to vote on sunday. lisa, thank you very much. that was our correspondence in paris. lisa louis you are watching d. w. news from berlin. just to remind her, the top story. we're following for you this, our russian president, vladimir putin, has ordered his military to hold off storming the besieged city of maria polls as a ball as of stone steel plan, a ukrainian tru pulled out. instead, he wants to keep it surrounded. you're watching dw news from berlin coming up next to we've got the business for you. chelsea

delaney will be here with all the latest on the business front. of course you can catch up on hold. let us news an information any time you want on our website. we've got lots on the war in ukraine, that's d w dot com on terry martin for me and all of us here at the w. thanks to watch with not just another day. so much is happening all at once. we take time to understand this is the day in depth look at current.