[000:00:00;00] ah, ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. ukraine says russian forces have the guns storming the as of steel plant. hundreds of civilians are believed to still be trapped inside their hopes. now pinned on a new russian promise for a ceasefire to allow them to leave mario full safely. also coming up how the war in ukraine is leaving more people than ever facing starvation. rising food prices combining with extreme weather patterns for

a perfect storm of hunger in south to dawn and it his mission not quite accomplished. the astronaut mathias melva stay i want i would like to stay a little bit longer. there's still a lot of stuff that i want to do. as a 4 person crew had back to us, we looked back at the german space man 6 month didn't on the i s s. ah. i manuscripts, mccann, and thanks so much for joining us today. there are reports of heavy fi saying at the as of. busy styles, steel planned in the besieged port, city of murray, you pull ukrainian forces inside the plant. se russian soldiers have stormed the facility that something russian officials have denied. now the reports come as a 3 day cease. fire announced by moscow is due to begin on thursday to allow more civilian evacuations. as

a stall is the last stronghold of ukraine's resistance in the city, ukrainian president vladimir lensky said a prolong, cease fire is vital to bring more people to safety. would you wish priority if we hope to continue rescuing people from as of style from mary paul there are still civilians left there. women children be handled to save them. we need to continue to cease fire because ukrainian side is ready to provide it. it takes time just to lift people out of those placements out of those underground shelters in gym lane. now russia denies reports that it is trying to storm the steel plant. emmanuel shaws was part of dw team in ukraine, and she has more now on those latest developments in maria pull. exactly russia deny does that it's true, but where it was so mean to plan for did something that ukrainian authorities have

said or overnight. so what we know is that there has been a heavy or sailing over or does t, the plant of our at the hours of thirsty plans. what we also know is that there are still hundreds of civilians are along a thousands of sold years or who are trapped in that's to your plans. they haven't seen at daylight for 2 months. evacuations, there are rendered very difficult because of the constance artillery fight because of the concerns shelling are which makes it a for a lot of a rub. bowles to go through before are civilians can be reached and evacuated yesterday. the united nations said that $344.00 people had been successfully evacuated from demario pl area towards a separate area. but a hopes for more of our creations, of course fades, or at a time of a heavy fight to fighting on my you. pl. as is the case, as of right now, that was d w. m a shares reporting from live. now. meanwhile,

ukraine's armed forces are claiming victories in the eastern concave region after taking back several towns there, but airstrikes on the 2nd largest city calc eve. the continue and moscow's offensive is taking its toll at amusement park rocked by missiles and harkey. cctv footage captured the shocking images. ukrainian authorities said this was one of dozens of russian airstrikes. an attempt to heighten the gremlins easter, an offensive as ukrainian forces v t. some villages in the harkey region, themes of destruction, greed them. after spending 2 months under russian control, residents are still in shock. dorm years, they lived in the basement for 2 months. they wouldn't let us out. we were sitting in the basement, we didn't have anything to eat or drink. there was no water. we were getting dirty

black water from the well and be drank. it took me a little bit more thought. it was a good early to the west in live a power plant was hit. russian authorities have confirmed the targeting infrastructure including really be lines dc. the rest is using them to send arms to ukraine, and the more we can speak now to ruth diamond, she is a russia analyst at the department of war studies at kings college london. dr. diamond, welcome to d. w. can we start with the battle for the last holdout in mario, pull the as of style steel plot. now, tactically, this battle is like to be likely to be very different, isn't it? and difficult for russian forces who are trying to dislodge the ukrainian a forces who know the site very well. how would you say, and is it likely to play out? well, is israel hotel, of course, excuse me,

but what we do know is that the loss of this is taking place on the ground that the plan has been reinforced over a long time. it's been designed to withstand to each other, but clearly rusher is now missing 2, taking the long. so one has to achieve this. eventually it's most likely that they will be successful, but it's not going to be easy for them. as far as we can tell. 1 now russia is expected to escalate its attacks in the run up to may, 9th, which is often seen important day in russia, marking the soviet union's defeat of nazi germany. how important would you say, is it for russian forces to be able to declare some kind of victory in ukraine and you know, what means do you think that they will be willing to go to, to secure this victory? yes, i mean, clearly they do seem to be strongly committed to being able to declare some kind of

victory on may the length. and it looks as if what they might do is declare mario poll taken, which is one reason why we're seeing this attempts are that we've just been talking about. now. if there are reports that russian media figures are turning up in the city, that ground has been heard to facilitate a victory parade. so that may be one place where, where they can attempt to declare victory. in a sense, it's quite a, it's easier to put in than it would otherwise be because he's really set the terms for the war. and so he can declare victory, really when he feels like it and even the control that the department has over russian media. really it's, it's pretty likely that if putin says that some kind of victory has been achieved, that is what the russian major are going to accept. so he can really set the terms

for this. i think do you think that we are going to see a declaration of all out war from the kremlin is very difficult to call because of course, one thing that we've seen over the last few months is, is held that the crumbling can do the unexpected. and it's a, it's not necessarily something we might expect if there's no obvious punishments or think or annoy out declaration of war. and you know, we've seen an increase in fighting in certain areas and it's possible that belarus may now being used to put some pressure on ukraine in the north. and it's not totally clear what the advantage would be that the declaration of war on the mind, and indeed, that could prove to be unpopular in russia. so i think the criminal is going to

have to have some serious diamond from king's college london. thank you. so much. thank you. now the european commission to president of la funder lion has called on the you to ban oil imports from russia. she has proposed a phase out that would end payments to moscow by the end of the year. the 27 member states would all have to support such a ban and agreement on that may be difficult to reach several e u countries get most of that will from russia. but those backing the embargo, say anything less is helping fund rushes war on ukraine. stepping up, the pressure and russia was left under line to see european parliament, either lawmakers to represent the citizens to draw our code bank announcements, we call to day we will propose to ban all russian oil from europe. this will be a complete import ban on all russian oil seaborne and pipeline crude and refined.

we will make sure that we phase out russian oil in an orderly fashion. the plan is to face out oil by the end of 2020 to hungary and slovakia, which are very dependent on russian oil will be granted longer transition periods. besides the oil. ben funder line also presented other sanctions in her 6th package of the internet. the european commissioner wants to take off spare bank rushes, largest bank from the swift financial transaction system. and the past also to target military officials involved in the atrocities in mario pole. and in boucher and 3 russian media outlets will be banned from european abbeys for spreading misinformation. in addition to sputnik and russia to day, it is with the ban on energy, however, that the ear is hoping to hit the russian economy the hardest. but only facing out oil is far from enough for many lawmakers damage. they want boulder status. finally,

we have for oil even when it will, takes still 6 to 9 months or 2 implemented. i'm are also waiting for a been on, on gas because sir, what we are paying to the war machine of britain is mainly what you're paying for russian. gus, the ears ban on russian oil could cause even higher price spikes for energy and fuel in europe. putting a burden on european citizens, a prize that you has to pay to show solidarity with its neighbors. ukraine, after to manage all makers think. we have to understand that $1.00 price to fight this bloody war will be on this oil and gas embargo. in the end, yes, and we have to make sure this is socially, are compensated for those people, for those households who could not pay the higher price. dio, countries must still agree on the sanctions pack,

is before it enters into force. but that is likely to happen in the next few days. russia's invasion of ukraine is worsening, the global threat of hunger and starvation, russia and ukraine. our major suppliers of wheat, cooking oil and other food staples exports and now being disrupted, pushing prices higher and making food more unaffordable for the world's most impoverished people. and she monitoring relief is also being affected. in 2021, ukraine was the largest single source of food for the u. n. world food program, which works to feed the most vulnerable around the world. now in east and africa, the situation is particularly di, are the effects of climate change are being compounded by regional conflicts. and now the knock on effects of rushes, war in europe are exacerbating the crisis. now, while part of the region is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years,

south to don has been hit by severe flooding. now that makes outside supplies of food and grain even more vital. near look, approx garden is flooded. she tries desperately to rebuild her small embankment in her village pug we're residents, have built canoes to move themselves around as their cattle perish in the flood waters. it's the 3rd year in a row that they've had to fight the effects of heavy flooding. tackling again the water, taken everything from me, my land, my home, my food lists, luckily, the flats came to jo, ethical anchor since then. we've lived in water beach. i our best out the want to be thank you for the a large part of south sudan has been hit by the worst flooding in 60 years. nearly a 1000000 people are suffering the consequences. the catastrophe has had

a country in which millions are starving and impoverished south sedan as the highest poverty rate in the world. 80 percent of people live on less than $2.00 a day. no food prices, a rising grain comes from neighboring countries who themselves import wheat from russia and ukraine. years of armed conflict of meant that very few crops, a grown and so to sedan, it's almost totally dependent on imports. and it's often lowest in the food chain. within the worst hunger crisis begin over 8000000 people. i think we have thought we were unable to reach. we're seeing people very feeding in the face of conflict, blood and life. my food packages from 8 organizations are reaching only a fraction of south sedans. 12000000 people,

many of whom are in great need. as the rainy season begins again, and we can take a closer look at this with monson frick director of the u. n. world food program here in germany, welcome to the w. and if i can start with the fact that your organization, the well food program to live food assistance to more than 80 countries, how are you managing this current situation? well, we are administrating a leg actually already in december we were in the very dire position that in and we had to cut the ration for 8000000 people to take from 100 people to deliver it to the for this year, we estimate that be a 50 percent finance? turning to ukraine. can you tell us more about what the war means? the countries like egypt or lebanon that normally get the vast majority of their

grain from ukraine? that's right. if you look at the map, ukraine is the closest big crane provider for the middle east, north and africa region. now as we speak for in our 1000000 tom, so we are still locked in the black sea port. and at the same time, the lack of ukrainian crane, but also unilateral decisions. so russia knox weeks hole has driven reprises in a time when the has already witness for last year a see the increase in lead prices. this is comb, hounded by conflicts by the efforts of coal with that have pushed many african countries so deeply into debt that they can basically not get money on international money market. what would you say is the larger problem at the moment? is it the disruption of wheat production inside ukraine,

or is it the fact that russia is actually blocking the countries ports and preventing all wheat exports from leaving the weight experts is currently, i think the bigger problem and one that could be immediately. so if you had save access to ships, to give you an idea before the war owning the portal for data has handled for a day with an equivalent of 200000 tons. and this is now possible neighboring countries, also austria and germany are looking to train transports to compensate for the capacities are much lower than what ships could deliver. and in addition to that, the space in the silos this being needed for the next thomas. not this is when you go so far as to say that russia is deliberately triggering at global food

crisis. well, we sauntered off in the was speaking about collateral hunger. but issues such as safe passage for ships will be approved whether this is intentional or it is only in a side effect or that you mentioned that germany is trying to help you crane more supplies via rail. will that help and what else needs to be done? well, we have estimated that by rail, we could maybe get out about 1000000 tons of wheat. but in the whole cities at the black sea, there is at least 4 and a half 1000000 tons. and the new harvest coming in, so we need fundamentally more capacity to really compensate what has to be lost in the last weeks over that the past decade will say the world has made real progress

in fi thing. hunger and malnutrition in your assessment has that progress now being last? absolutely. and it's really concerning. 2 years ago we spoke about 811000000 people being food insecure. always had certainly added way more than 160000000 to that. and now also with the beginning of the ukraine war, we unfortunately estimate that even more people pushed into food insecurity for us as the world food program. it means when we had to look after basically a 150000000 people 2 years ago in general, that was already 276000000 people. and we are now rapidly approaching one 3rd of a 1000000000 people, 330000000 people who are so acutely in food insecurity that they can't do without staggering statistics. we'll have to leave it there. matson trick for the united

nations. well trade program. thank you so much for talking with the dolly. you are watching the w news still to come on the program fighting inflation of the u. s. federal reserve ops interest rates. the candidates put the brakes on runaway prices . the 1st is a look at some other stories making headlines around the world. an attack on a military base in somalia has killed at least 10 the randi and peacekeepers. according to bern, these army thousands were wounded in the attack and l bar off north of the capital market issue. the armed group, osha, bob has claimed responsibility. right to be assailant prime minister scott morrison has said his country will respond calmly to criticism from the solomon islands. this, after the solomon's leader claimed, the island nation faced the threat of invasion in a speech to parliament. tensions have risen following the solomon's decision to find

a security packed with china. and the u. s. federal reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate by half. a percentage point is the central bank biggest hike and 2 decades and is aimed at baffling the worst inflation in 40 years. the bank hopes the increase increase in borrowing rates will slow spending enough to take inflation. and for more on this, my colleague at with the w business, steven beardsley joins me now in the studio. steven, welcome. now this is the biggest rate hike in the us in more than 20 years. what does it mean for the u. s. and for the global economy. yeah, this is a large increase and it does show the urgency right now with which the u. s. wants to fight inflation. you mentioned inflation hitting a decades long, high, and it's causing a lot of problems. unlike here, it's driven only in part by energy there. it's also, if you remember the general stimulus packages that the u. s. released multiple

times or recent years to fight the chrome pandemic release the effects of it. and that's also help drove up inflation. now what we've seen is that the markets are somewhat relieved because though this was a large hike, it wasn't as large as some had feared. so they ours were responding positively. you don't remember that the fetish right to walk a fine line here. it has to try and fight inflation, but it can't do too much. remember that raising business interest rates, it cuts into business profits essentially. so on the one side it needs to fight inflation. on the other side, it can't go too far, or it will cut into the economic engine of the u. s. that's the big danger there. it does have an effect overseas. multinational companies raise capital in the u. s . and also it affects the strength of the dollar, and there's a lot of loans out there in the world that are denominated in the stops. this will have ripple effects that we will see a year. it still hasn't raised interest rates. why is that? europe has a different beast, the european central bank covers 900 different countries that all use the euro. and there are different strengths from germany to italy. so there underlying financial

conditions also dictate what the c b does or doesn't do. in this case, the be has said very clearly we're concerned about the economic performance of nations right now. there are different levels of growth if they raise rates to high than perhaps they put some of those economies back on their heels. and then they're going to struggle with borrowing rates. think about how difficult it is for italy to borrow. for example, if that's the case, then you have perhaps a crisis. however, there is more and more pressure to do something. inflation here is rising fast. it is largely driven by energy, however, and because of the war. so we have seen a recent interview, for example, the executive board member, an executive board member, and they used to be saying it could come as soon as july that they raise rates. they were saying 2023. the question, the fundamental question, both here in europe and the u. s. is what can monetary policy that is raising these rates? what can it really do to fight inflation is driven by energy cost. that is the underlying question. that's what we're going to be watching. i'll have to leave it that steven beardsley with. thank you. now, full astronauts have left the international space station and are on their way back

to us. now. the capsule safely undocked from the i ss, ending the crews 6 months science mission. if everything goes according to plan, they are due to touch down thursday night off the coast of the u. s. state of florida on board that capsule is german astronomer mathias melba and t w's. leah i'll brush takes a look back now at his time in space. next step is european space agency as when germany astronaut mathias mar arrived in space 6 months ago. the 1st thing he wanted to do was looked down at his home planet. i was like, wow, wow, is like i, i had goosebumps all over my buddy and shivering, almost like, wow, i'm really in space at dawn. i'm the me. i see a beautiful blue, blue, blue plaid it since then down on that blue planet, a war has started. and fears have arisen that the tensions between russia and the e u and

u. s. might affect the international space station as well. but 400 kilometers above earth, life goes on as normally as it can in 0 gravity. we are all up here for the same purpose to explore and to keep this does face station maintained and to keep performing the science on the in our laboratories. and so that is all we focused on, so the dynamic hasn't changed and we have about a 40 year history of working with the russians. and that is all still very much in working in play here and has been a real pleasant flavor working with our colleagues friday evening. we always eat together. we shed he the highlights of the week in the evening, we float over to the russian sick man. they come over to us here and do the spirit and space stations really, really good. as new rockets head to the station,

leaving the conflict on earth behind a new crew of cosmo, not joined the international team in march right in time from ours birthday party. the fact the new comers were wearing the colors of the ukrainian flag was just a coincidence. they said, oh we're mars time in space was mostly occupied not with political conflicts, but with scientific experiments. and maintaining the station he even conducted a space, walk a dream for every astronaut. i want to stay, i wouldn't, i would like to stay a little bit longer. there's still a lot of stuff that i want to do. so i would mind to stay in mind, so 2 or 3 long up here in space. understandable as at least the i s s. has long

been considered a no waste, this of peace. who is a quick reminder of our top story ukrainian forces inside mario pulls as a style steel plant to say russian soldiers have begun storming it and that there is heavy fighting. russia denies the reports. it has announced a 3 day cease fire to allow more civilian evacuations. here up to date, coming up next folks on europe. thanks so much for watching the w ah,

with a shoot low school. the 2 in the spotlight goes down. the worries about family members to you. i was fortunate they can forget about the war, at least for a few focus in on

d. w into the conflict zone with tim sebastian. more than 2 months into the war in ukraine on both sides are taking heavy losses. i guess this week is last year basil and co ha leticia and human rights lawyer who joins me from kia. what makes us so sure, misquoted wouldn't. who's nuclear conflict zone in 60 minutes on d. w. oh. it started today and transformed into an orgy of hate and violence. the history of the ku klux klan, the oldest terrorist organization in the united states. it's members fight for a racist state,

ruled by white supremacy. what we're talking about here is not only disorganized violence. it's not only terrorism. it's politics. founded over 150 years ago. it's repeatedly died out, but always been resurrected. the ku klux klan starts may 11th on d. w with hello and welcome to focus on europe, and we begin in russia where each may people not the end of the 2nd world war in your facilities highlight, the countries rolled as a great liberator from nancy,