[000:00:00;00] ah ah, this is dw news wife from berlin. russia steps up assault on ukraine, including firing cruise missiles out the southern port city of odessa. meanwhile, ukrainian officials say all civilians have been evacuated from the besieged. mario gall steelworks also coming up on the show as moscow prepares for monday's world war 2 victory de commemorations. we ask russians just how appropriate it is to celebrate right now. and china cement is control over hong kong. as it select

a new leader hardline former security chief john lee is set to become the territories new chief executive. but only a handful of beijing royalists could vote. and lee was the only candidate. ah. hello, i'm clare richardson, thanks so much for joining us. russian forces have stepped up their attacks across ukraine, including firing cruise missiles at the southern port city of odessa. they've also resumed the bombardment of the besieged steel plant in mario pole. after the remaining women, children and older adults were evacuated. observers believe moscow ames to make symbolic gains before monday's anniversary of the soviet union victory over nazi germany in world war 2. the most intense attacks have been in eastern ukraine,

where many people have been left homeless. clothes hang from blasted trees in the eastern ukrainian city of back. moot, a grim decoration for a war. nobody here is celebrating residence survey, the damage following another rush, an air strike. svetlana has come to collect belongings from what was once her home . god was the token i survive with that. this was my parents house. my sister was living here. i was living here. 2 people are homeless now and 2 of our neighbors were killed. yes, they're killing people, use it as ukrainian forces. go on the offensive intense battles in the eastern done. it's gretchen have seen front lines shifting village by village, 30 kilometers away in the town of coast hunting yoga. vasily bullets here says he ran to protect his 3 children who were sleeping in another room. when shelling began to civilians like these,

it makes little difference whose ordinance is falling on their homes and schools. a dealer social worker could everything should be normal, like it is for everybody else. so what can we do now? who's guilty or i don't know. who should i blame for this? barrages of russian rockets also ran down on her keith destroying civilian targets, including a museum, even as ukrainian forces around the city drove the russians back. numerous russian rockets also struck civilian targets in the port of odessa. some observers save vladimir putin once a symbolic victory to celebrate on may 9th, the day that russia commemorates victory over nazi germany at the end of world war 2. the as of style factory complex. last bastion of ukraine's forces in maria fall looks like his most likely target. the last civilians had been trapped in the plants underground. bunkers have now been evacuated, and vast out of murray will fall. president zalinski says he wants to negotiate

safe passage out for all civilians who are still in the ruined city. earlier i spoke to d. w correspondent mathias ballinger in a cave, and i asked him if put and had ordered a show of force had of monday celebrations. it's very likely that he will try to claim victory over maria. poland. it's also likely that this doesn't really depend on what is happening in the as of steel works, or we know that fighters are still in their wounded fighters, but as also active fighters and that the attacks on the steel works have intensified. but we do not really know, or whether it, how far they have gotten, and whether it's likely that they will or be able to control the whole plant within these 24 hours that we have until the 9th of may. um, it's a very difficult to say and, but i don't see really what would prevent them to declare victory even if they are

not in control of the still works. have been saying a lot of things and they haven't been very or very, very compliant to fax in these in this regard. i think the 9th of may is very symbolic, and we are hearing that they're preparing for some kind of a celebration in murray, you, poland remains to be seen how these celebrations look like in this an actual situation. but this is a high, highly symbolic city. and looking at the situation in ukraine, more broadly, are you seeing signs that ration and attacks are indeed increasing? definitely, definitely. there have been a number of rocket attacks on odessa yesterday and this night or this night we haven't confirmed whether it was rockets but it was explosions and we can assume it was rockets because there are no, no, and there's no it artillery nearby or anything. so our desa has been a target in the, in the past a few hours. and hm,

we are also seeing intensified fighting in don bye and the don barson region. so it seems that they are trying to achieve as much as they can or to send a signs of string before this celebration and does appear ukraine. a ukrainian counter offensive is also advancing, sending rushing troops, fleeing from high cave or more. can you tell us about that? no, this is the ukranian troops have taken a quite a few villages north of hark. if that's important because these were the positions from where the city was shell. so this eases the pressure on the city as well. and it drives the russian troops further back to their, to the russian franchise. so we could expect her that her situation or on harkey, is easing while in don bass. it's intensifying,

did other correspondence matches wire for us into thanks has always and as we mentioned earlier, russia's preparing to hold its annual victory day celebrations on monday to mark the anniversary of the soviet union's victory over nazi germany in world war 2. with the event normally featuring huge parades of soldiers and military hardware, he w, ask people on the streets of moscow just how appropriate. they think that is right now. oh yes, though, the victory parade for the great patriotic war is always appropriate. it's our history with, oh, well nobody should forget our ancestors triumph. 3 wanted i'm going to see what military hardware is on, show you what we've got, but well, we still have but we're not private. we're not officers with his tradition. every year with traditions are important for our generation. that's why we need the parade. the parade is always called for. it's about remembering a student should we kneel before europe instead,

never of. so why shouldn't it be appropriate? what does the 1945 victoria have to do with today? we'll hook up the breed is appropriate. it's an occasion to deserve to be celebrated. the question is how we will, of course, events in ukraine are overshadowing everything. but remembering the bossed is important. you premiums were also part of the victory with us bringing our russia analyst, constantine edgar, for more on a story constantine, how do you expect the war on ukraine to effect celebrations in russia this year? what can i know? it's quite interesting when hearing these people speaking on the 3 to moscow, i think this is a big tradition. it isn't during the solid days stopping in mid sixty's,

there was never a parade on this day. it was always a day off. well, off sort of piece and remember the soviet got to reading troops and hardware along the red square is actually very much put in string. it started like, you know, the, it's very much tutoring who develops it into this kind of main main sho, rocking military force and how your brain is going to impact it. well, i think that to, to, we'll have to declare victory. of many people say, oh maybe there's another scenario he will threaten the west with some kind of doomsday scenario using russian nuclear, who is a rational being afraid to face off with nato. this is the kind of record i'm pretty sure we're going to expect from him. and it's not for nothing that we know, at least that's where the russia source is, the thing the russian official sort of thing in a flight box over the right square,

which is also traditional recent. yes. one specific playing a little bit, this it unusual 80, which is that up flying commands forced of the president in case of nuclear war. so judge the symbolism by yourself. we are expecting a pretend to make a speech on monday. we'll be keeping an eye out for both of those. i want to ask you if this war on ukraine drags out, if we see increasing sanctions, do you think that will have an effect on the support that putin enjoys domestically? well, i think a lot of it is supportive ignorance, because people are bogged with propaganda. they don't really understand a lot of them don't really understand what happens on the ground in the right. although there are those that feel that so finally proven is basically getting even with the west for the collapse of the soviet union for the perceived humiliation after the end of the cold war. and i suppose that sanctions do not buy that much because generally, sanctions take

a long time to have an impact. probably we can judge what kind of effect sanctions have on the russian society only by the end of this year probably won't give us a copy yet. off to the position i was anxious and probably the logo remembrance russian sales commodities, oil gas, ah, raw materials. although it's limited now, but i think that will still continue to sell this stuff to other parts of the world . and this will bring in some money. so it's never going to be completely destitute . and that means that the, the impact of central's, we'll have a need some time for people to grow. what really happened and what is more important? not a lot of these people initially will make a direct connection between the war in your gray and, and the sanction. a lot of them will continue to blame the west. konstantin. i got

my thanks. thank you so much for joining us and helping us understand let's move on now to some of the other stories that are making headlines at this hour. across the united states, people have rallied in favor of abortion rights, including outside the supreme court in washington, d. c. a draft opinion lead to last monday shows the court appears that to overturn the landmark of roe v wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 irish nationalist party sion fane has won the most seats in northern ireland legislative elections. it's leader in the british territory. michelle o'neil called the victory a defining moment. the mainly catholic party supports reuniting the north with the republic of ireland. tion. fain will now try to form a government and a hard line. former security chief has been installed as the new leader of hong kong. john lee, one of the approval of around 1400 pro beijing members of

a closed election committee. he was the only candidate on the ballot. lee oversaw a crackdown on the territory democracy movement. he's going to now replace outgoing liter carrie lamb in july international observers. fear lead election will further tighten beijing's grip on hong kong. so to find out more or less and bring indeed of you correspondent phoebe cong. joining us now from hong kong. a phoebe who is john lee and what 2 people in hong kong make of him. well this is the photo counting center was john lee was just officially selected as hong kong next chief executive. so on our he, he was like a very highly controversial political faker. in hong kong, or who over saw the crackdown on hong kong 2019 very massive antique government tro test. and also he was a key fact go to execute beijing's national security law in hong kong by arresting a numerous opposition,

figures and silencing many are independent media organizations. so i'm, he has earned to repetition as a heart liner. and that also makes him lake enough unpopular among the general public according to the popularity ratings factors that we have to like observed throughout the past few years. so upto john lee have a managed to secure 99 percent off to support those 2. in this election there is only like less than $1500.00 are members of all black of the election. come to members can vote today which has only seo upon seal 2 percent of the population. so all outside of holding sation outside vote counting center alike outside hong kong on the streets. or we can feel a sense of indifference from the general public that many people we have spoken to that don't care about the election, or if they have no expectation in the next lead there, because simply they don't have a say on this. who the next day there will be detail you corresponded to phoebe

cong for us there. thank you so much for that update. let's hear news update at this hour coming up next. is world stories with much more on the war in ukraine. you can of course, i'm more news, an analysis on our website, d, w dot com. or you can check us out on social media. that's at the feet of units. i'm richardson in berlin. thanks much for joining us with . one of mankind's oldest ambitions could be within reach ah, what is it really is possible to reverse aging researchers and scientists all over the world or in a race against time?