ah, ah ah ah, business dw slide from berlin battle at the hours of star plant in mario, poor, hundreds of civilians are believed to be trapped inside. but the hopes on our pins on a new russian promise for a cease fire. also coming up for starters, they did not have a competent campaign plan. they have under achieve adamic verdict from former u. s. general david, the tre us about proteins for the state of the russian military. and how the war in

ukraine is intensifying a food crisis in africa. rising food prices combined with extreme weather has brought millions to the brink of starvation in south saddam. ah, i'm gather has thanks for joining us today. ukraine's army says russia is trying to destroy the last remaining soldiers inside the as of star steel plant in mario paul . moscow denies reports that its forces have stormed the plot a 3 day ceasefire announced by moscow is due to begin on 1st day to allow the evacuation of more civilians. but the ukrainian president suggests that the destruction of the steel plant has made it harder for any one to leave. he said, russian bombardments had left concrete debris, trappings civilians in underground bunkers,

and that they would have to be dug out. the battle for as elf style has been relentless. this footage released by russian backed forces shows how determined moscow is to take thee still works in mary jo paul the plant is become a symbol of ukrainian resistance in the east of the country. russia wants to drive out the few ukrainian forces still here, but these soldiers are refusing to give up and appear to be fighting to the death you do. it was to grow up with their heavy, bloody battles as william was. i am proud of my soldiers for make an inhuman efforts to contain the enemy's onslaught in liquor. i think the whole world for the tremendous support of the mario paul garrison. not our soldiers to serve it. the situation is extremely difficult and that we continue to carry out the order to keep the defense, but

a motto barrel caught in the middle civilians. the fortunate ones have been freed from from that underground prison. alberto for the mirror, magneer, do escape and be beneath the piece. the sky is wonderful. you look at it. the blue and the bright sun. in. many though is still hiding in the bunkers and corridors that form part of the steel plant is, would you? i am wish for dorothea would have we hope to continue rescuing people from as of style from mary paul. there were still civilians left there. women children, he had to save them. we need to continue the ceasefire. ukrainian saw it is ready to provide it. it takes time just to lift people out of those basements out of those underground shelters. is them lay. moscow says it will allow a 3 day cease fire starting thursday to help the remaining civilians get out.

but with heavily armed troops on the ground, it's unclear if the fighting will stop. and whether more civilians will get out alive. to dubuque, responded, immoral shows is in the beef in western ukraine. she told me how ukrainian forces are holding up against roches offensive. well again, it is really is very volatile. we've heard dad say over a night or there was a heavy shedding, of course on eastern ukraine from russian forces. and dave and some miss eyes fell on the on the crime on. charles sca, causing 20 feebler people are being injured, assuming region was heat 40 times with no injury reported dare while the ukraine. an army has made some a gaze around their cities of heart, keith harrison and michel i if the situation is very volatile, like i was,

as i was saying, as some territories gain, some others or last week ukrainian armed forces, acknowledging that russia had taken a string of villages in the east, but also gaining ground. you were mentioning mario, paul, this is where all eyes, human ukraine and perhaps also in the world are turned at the moment with hundreds of civilians still trapped there along with our, with cell dears and ukrainian. so these will have called on the international community and under rest of ukraine on a foresees to come to their rescue. they've said it time and again, a sold years ukrainian sold is in mar, you, paul, with not surrender to the russian forces. now russia has been ramping up its attacks, also striking infrastructure deep inside a ukraine. poverty to stop weapons from the west to get into the front lines. has that been successful?

well out, we do not see it even here in a western ukraine that russia seems to have become very nervous about those are weapon deliveries, humanitarian deliveries, from the ukraine's western allies. that to give you an idea last night here in the v of we had 3 s trike alerts. today this morning we also had a one had to go about actually to go daddy's actually are like russia actually acknowledges that the goal is to hit add to military infrastructure and death. the russian authorities said that they would reach their goal no matter how many weapons are coming from the west, many infrastructures where a for us, searchers here innovative have already been damaged by does so in central are ukranian near pro r last night and we can only feel that those kind of air strikes might intensify in the days to come. d, w correspondent,

manuel shas. thank you very much. on an international donor conferences, res 6 and a half 1000000000 euros in aid for ukraine. the conference was held in the polish capital, warsaw and the contributions were aimed at showing up ukraine's economy while also providing humanitarian support. ukraine has taken the massive hits to its economy because of the russian invasion and millions of ukrainians have shred their homes due to the fight or more of this donor conference that's bringing. marina calls from our brussels bureau. molina is $6500000000.00 in aid. is that what ukraine was asking for and hoping for ukrainian president of a lot more soleski himself spoke at this conference via video message of course. and he did not comment on the specific sam that, that ukraine was expecting from international donors. but he basically said that he considers this conference very important because it shows that europe is united

standing together and that ukraine is being supported by minions, by people, but also countries and businesses around the world. and he made another interesting point and said this war in ukraine is not only going to be one on the battle field, but also the economic, the economy will play or place an important role. financial resources that are being provided to ukraine and the landscape. also the council president, sharon michelle boss at this conference. they see it only as a start for a sort of european marshal plan, of course, referring to the u. s. sponsored plan. that helped rebuild europe after world war 2 . but there's also another point i want to mention here. so lensky was not only praising your appeal, so mentioned 2 point points that he keeps repeating in his speeches in his message . it's 1st that

a europe is still very reliant on russian gas and financing rushes war in ukraine, even if they give money to ukraine to rebuild the country now. and a 1st that he expects a swift membership process for ukraine. now do we know how this money will be distributed? their basic is 3 main goals. first humanitarian aid, of course, for those ukrainians who are suffering. and the crowns are then liquidity that the, the canter country needs are badly. and then the 3rd thing is said to rebuild ukraine, of course, and not to wait until this war is over. but to star dried now, and the reason is to support ukrainians under ground and to make sure that those ukrainians who had to flee the country. there's millions of people who are in a, who are in other european countries at the moment that there can come back to

ukraine once the situation gets better. and that's not only in g interests of the european union, but also the president lensky. mentioned that this is a very important point for him. that was not enough because in brussels there for us. thank you. marina where. so the officials are my warning that her russian president vladimir putin could formerly declare war on ukraine. on may, the 9th, it would allow putting to mobilize its millions strong reserve forces. the major announcement could come on what russia calls victory day. commemorating its the defeat of nazi germany. in 1945, the u. s. beliefs. russia has already sent some 2 100000 troops to ukraine, but with at least 10000 killed and moscow's invasion faltering on our fears. putting could push for a further escalation, declaration of war, would allow moscow to call up millions of reservoirs for action in ukraine.

the former c i direct and retired 4 star general of the us army david portray us spoke to d. w as in it's pulled about the war and ukraine. and she began by asking for his take on the russian military's performance to month, into the campaign. along with just about everyone else, i thought they would be doing somewhat better than they have the sheer, massive what they could have achieved. just they had actually had a competent campaign plan, would have been considerable. the fact is though, that for starters, they did not have a competent campaign plan. they attacked and 5 or 6 different locations there. logistics proved absolutely a decimal. the level of training of their soldiers and their junior leaders is clearly inadequate. their communication systems and broken down. so general officers have to go up to the front, get out of their vehicles to find out what's going on. and they get shot by snipers . just the sheer readiness of the force has proved to be very some standard.

it's not obvious to me what they were doing during those months of maneuvers in russia and in bel already saw on ukraine's border. remember, they were out there for many, many months, supposedly training just across the board. they have under achieved in virtually every conceivable area, with the possible exception of just the ability to carry out destructive, often indiscriminate attacks by nestles rockets, bombs, and artillery and mortars. got the surprise you remember that we heard a great deal about the modernization of the russian military. a lot was native, their advanced weaponry was put on display every year and the annual jack. what's coming up on may, 9th, the victory day celebration for world war 2. and yet what it appears is that a lot of this was just in a sense potemkin bill and you say sort of look good from

a distance. they have a bit of each of these, but they don't have them deployed throughout their forces. so the very sophisticated command control communication systems about which we had been told previously it turns out, are not deployed with our forces. they're using, in fact, single channel open non secure h f radio communications, which any ukrainian citizen who has a police scanner can locate, can record an upload, especially when they're criticizing their commanding officers, which is a preoccupation of many of the russian soldiers, is appears and perhaps with good, good reason. and then of course they just janet and so that's why again, the russian leaders have to keep coming up to the front exposure themselves and getting taken out by ukrainian snipers. they talk about 9 may. this is the day for our audience in russia, declared victory over nazi germany and is a very important anniversary in russia and always celebrated. and so many feel that

the drug put in might do something. it was possible. there are reports that the russians at the very least, are considering some kind of general mobilization announcements where this would transform the country from conducting a special military operation, as they have termed it, to conducting a world war 3 or something along those lines to try to galvanize russian popular support, which until now we should acknowledge has been quite solid. in fact, vladimir putin approval ratings have actually gone up not down us fairly significantly since the launching of the invasion. what we know is the un provoked invasion of a neighboring country, but which food has reported to his people as a special military operation, of course to de nasir fy ukraine. whatever that means, noting that of course,

the president, ukraine is jewish. that was former foster general and c. i directed david the tray i was speaking to d. w. scenes for now are the ukraine war threatens to impact europe's energy supplies that also threatening other parts of the world with food shortages? russia and ukraine are both major exporters of wheat, cooking oil, and other food staples, exports and are being disrupted, pushing prices higher, making fruit more affordable for the wealth, most impoverished people. unitarian relief is also being effected in 2021. ukraine was the largest single source of food for the ones, world food program, which works to feed the most vulnerable round the world. now in eastern africa, the situation is particularly dire. the effects of climate change are being compounded by regional conflicts that and other knock on effects of thrushes war in ukraine. i exacerbating that crisis while part of the region is,

is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years. south sedan has been hit by severe flooding that makes impulse of food and grain even more vital. near luke 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. according to get 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 to what a beat. it was. 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 sudan has 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 sudan, it's almost totally dependent on imports. and it's often lowest in the food chain. only thing the worth hunger crisis with over 8000000 people. i think we have to start, we're unable to reach were seen people with feeding these conflict, blood and life life food packages from 8 organizations or reaching

only a fraction of south sedans. 12000000 people, many of whom are in great need. as the rainy season begins again, a little earlier, i could speak to david labord from the international food policy research institute in washington d. c. and he explained to me how the war in ukraine has increased. the strains on the global food supply, it's a serious problem, especially because we start from a situation where a global inventory is we are low, a foot price where increasing seems early last year. so we really didn't need the slack of supply of is here. and, and you credit and risha present to one 3rd of the global market for wheat, even if you just 5 percent of the global predictions or, you know, some countries, all countries in the world are threatened by the situation with countries that rely on the world markets are and beyond grange, you also have to visit to bill oil and also to fetch laser coming from your chest.

a foot system is really impacted by the situation. so all this, russia has restricted its own exports that you just mentioned, fertilizers as well, is russia now deliberately worsening a global food crisis. you thing. 1 may be note, i mean that in all food price crises, risha was used to put the export restriction to try to protect the market. so his behavior is not, you know, obviously you guys and geopolitical game at play here and reach out, try to be nicer. we've friendly countries and, and that the situation, but it's not something really surprising coming from russia or from other countries in the field. it's be of your quite usual to, to see now one of the mistakes have global food security. so dependent on just 2 countries, russia and ukraine, could this have been foreseen 1st, i mean that go, that security is really addressed by

a global supply. i mean brazil ogden, tina thailand, depending on which community you are looking at, indonesia, hope i'm on the walk, doesn't you been just on these 2 countries are these being said, we should not forget also about reshay's or love this country on earth. so it doesn't, it's not surprising that a lot of all fertilizer or the nitro sources can come from these. now, i mean in the last 50 years or what have been much more diversify, actually in food supply. if you go back 50 years in the past, the u. s. representing more than half of all the great markets in the world, nowhere in a better situation. but of course, for country that sort of our product from the black seen particular. if you have a war in the black sea that creates a problem far enough africa on part of east africa and but the global for to blade self esteem there. now, would you say that it is? it is wise for countries to now look after after decades of globalization that have, as you said, diversified food supplies. is it wise for countries to now look at what they

produce of for themselves, and also be so dependent on imports? i mean, each wife or country to take care of their agriculture, to take care of the farmers and to promote sustainable way to produce food. but depending on the well market or is it on market is not to pro empathy. you know, what's happening, self. sudan, if that's what we're trying to produce food, when you have a conflict, when you are fluid and you will still be very happy to be able to bring foot from somewhere in this market need to exist on a regular basis. similarly, maroka is going to lose half of his production of grains due to drug this year. and just in a walk re impacted by clement sent and more and more. what we need is more cooperation is more diversity, but not a more egoistic behavior. david lebow that from the international food poly research policy research institute in washington d. c. thank you very much for having me. turn out of look at some of the other

stories making headlines. thousands have been hospitalized in iraq. after a severe sandstorm blanketed much of the country, people were advised to stay in doors and flights to and from backed out were suspended for hours. it's the 5th such storm to hit iraq. in recent wells, health organization estimates some 15000000 people have died. you to the grown of ours pandemic in the past 2 years. that's more than double the official death toll and includes people unable to get medical care because of overwhelmed health systems. the united states alone has reported nearly 1000000 corona virus, death. people and the chinese capital bay ging have begun returning to work after a 5 day public holiday with a government on high alert over the latest corona virus on break. dozens of subway stations have been closed as a preventive measure and schools,

an indoor dining remain suspended. residents are required to undergo 3 tests per week. bought us and britain are going to the polls and local elections. the boat is being watched as a test of conservative prime minister boris johnson's popularity in the wake of the lockdown parties. scandal in northern ireland. nationalist shin fein is seeking to become the biggest party for the 1st time in the provinces. history for astronauts have left the international space station and are on their way back to the caps. you'll safely undocked from the i assess and ending the cruise 6 months science mission open. if everything goes according to plan and due to touched on thursday, nights of the coast, your state of florida, what a ball dock. castille is germany settled, but he has malt w's. leah, i bless, takes a look back at his time in space. next step is european sneezing and he asked when

german astronaut mateus murderer 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 goose bumps all over my buddy and shivering. almost like, wow, i'm really in space at down. i'm the me. i see a beautiful blue blue blue planet. 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 a friday evening, we always eat together and we shed he the air, the highlights of the week in the evening. we float over to the russian sick man. they come over to us sia 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 so we're mowers, time in space was mostly occupied not with political conflicts,

but with scientific experiments. and maintaining the station he even conducted the 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 a 2 or 3 long lpn space understandable as at least the i s s. has long been considered a no waste this of peace. lou, you're watching the w. c. as a reminder of the top story, we're covering ukrainian forces inside mario balls also steel plants say russian soldiers have again launched attacks. russia denies 3 volts. it has announced a 3 day seas 5 to allow russia says most civilian evacuation

coming up next is focused on a europe audit artist. visit a circus, offering shelter to refugees from you crank it from me of the new scene for now. but just a reminder, you can find a lot more use analysis and lots of video on our website, d, w dot com, out office in berlin from me and the new scene here. thanks for watching. ah, with

ah, with a show close to the to a new spotlight goes down. the worries about family members to ukraine. you notice how to sign into sports like they can forget about the war at least for a few focus in

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. they are peers and rivals with one daring goal to out smart nature. one of the most insightful discoveries in the history of mankind. more life starts may 28 on d, w. ah, hello and welcome to focus on europe. when we begin in russia, where each may people marks the end of the 2nd world war in europe. now, festivities highlight the countries role as a great liberator from nazi germany. but now russia itself is pushing ahead with a brew.