ticket now with this is dw, use life from berlin. finland's leaders announced they will apply for nato membership. move would, and decades of military, non allegiance, by popular opinion swung in favor of joining the organization following russians. invasion of you, great. thank you. have offers a prisoner swamp to get seriously wounded. fight is out of it in battle steel plant in return, russian prisoners of war would be handed over. ah,

i've been visible and welcome finland's president and prime minister. want this a s a p. they formerly announced their backing for an application to join nato. the joint statement, the leaders said nato membership would strengthen finland, security as a member of nato, for them would strengthen the anti defense alliance. and the must apply for nato membership without delay. it asked, but as is expected to put pressure on sweden to follow suit and also apply to joined the defense alliance for lunch is 1300 kilometer border with russia. the mood in the military non aligned country has shifted dramatically since most goes invasion of ukraine as d. w. 's. your sheeter reports wargames to secure the peace. more than 3000 finished troops and 700 vehicles took part in

the arrow 22 military exercises in west and finland ah. the exercises were conducted to with nature as planned. last autumn. armed forces from 5 countries are taking part of this military exercises. the host, finland is not a later member yet, but that could change soon for the 1st time in their history, the majority of fence want to join nato at turning point in history, keenly felt by people in law, pandora, on the border with russia for decades that they have benefited from living in peace within the boss. welcoming a steady stream of russian tourists from near by st. petersburg says social worker, lean been brought up in my opinion. i never saw russia as a threat. but now i'm constantly thinking about i common border. it's over a 1000 kilometers the vis,

near by border crossing is seeing little traffic from either site at the moment. this is partly due to corona virus or late that restrictions, but it's also a direct consequence of russia's invasion of ukraine. the war has dramatically changed to the fence attitude towards joining nato in just a few weeks. my, i got a mil at 1st. i thought we shouldn't get involved and military alliances, but i am. but now i think we should have made the decision a long time ago that my eyes have been opened and i no longer see nato as some kind of war association. but as a defense alliance, roughly the line for defense through deterrence has been the principal behind late us reinforcement off its eastern flank in the recent months. the idea being a strong defense whom not to be attacked. meadow says it will benefit from the

finish our mis military capabilities. i think we are ready ready to, to enter tonight. if, if this is the will be made, we have been training to get her with her with a good partners which are basically made apart as you know, exercises for, for, for yes. so that shouldn't be a problem. at the moment finland isn't the to partner, but not a member of the block, so maybe promoting, nevertheless, finish forces have worked closely with the need to for decades. ah, this deployment mentally that those were met. formulate them, i was, i hope that we'll join nato as soon as possible, or crime asa softball, and that the war in ukraine will end soon and that europe will live in peace and stability. i thought of a little buckle while ly offer for you know, you, linda brant asked, the believe, joining nature with how people, even the small board, a town of lump, and rather feel safe. now she says that that now at be school and stay both in

london is only possible, as in the to member. wow. well the w report on a saturday is from finland. and did you ever think it would come to this? that villain would have these ambitions while i and i did not think so, and most people in finland did not. there has been a dramatic change in opinion, both from the political leadership and, and public opinion. so as though before it were in ukraine, only 20 percent offence, really a supported a finland, joining nato. and now the most recent paul from this week puts nato membership support at 76 percent. and this just in the, in the time frame of a couple of months. i mean, the finished government at always kept this option open over the years. finland had also built a good neighborhood policy with russia. there was trade, there was tourism across the border. and now that fins are seeing that this is even

possible that russia could attack a neighboring country. it has really shifted opinions for many. but are they not worried that they could be put in stakes target? i mean, russia has several times threatened finland with consequences. should it join nato? i mean, just finland, joining will already increase nato's border to russia. with, with 100 percent will be double what it is at the moment. and so finland is also expecting that there will be consequences. a quite recent security report from the government from april already laid out. some of the options that could happen in finland is expecting similar situations to that of the what we saw at the polish root in border basically with scores of refugees arriving there. so finland is thinking that similar hybrid warfare could, could also take place in finland or cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. is

this a done deal though? now that the leadership is supported, this, i would say it is we are expecting to see in finland now, a sort of snowball effect. now that the president and prime minister, publicly back nato membership, most likely different political parties, parliamentary groups. well, today under the coming days, also announce favoring nato membership, and after that still at the end of this week, finland will officially decide on. also submitting this application, the finished president saline news is visiting sweden next week and this could also be the occasion for the 2 countries to announce together that they will submit their applications. but of course, also what has been happening over the past couple of weeks is that and the political leadership of these 2 countries have been meeting with with other statesman and trying to get security guarantees for that application process. well,

thanks for coming in on that breaking news on a saturday. the thank you very much. ukraine is proposing a prisoner swap to resolve a stand off at the as all star still planted, marty opal plan would see would ukrainian soldiers evacuated in exchange? ukraine would release small russian prisoners of wool. meanwhile, ukrainian forces say they've successfully pushed back russian troops around the north, eastern city of hot keith. some residents who fled the fighting have begun returning to their villages. a home at last, tatiana has returned to her village for the 1st time in 2 months. but there's not much left of her house. her garden is littered with the aftermath of russia's invasion, touch on as goats, at least survived the on the slide. you met with them, you had russians are brothers though. i could never imagined anything like this,

this aggression and destruction. when i came home, i kissed the ground. now i have nothing. where am i supposed to live in? what should i do? was your neighbors in the village weren't spared either and also came back to find the piles of rubble where their homes once stood. but perhaps no. where are the ruins greater than mar you, paul? after weeks of relentless bombardment, russian forces and their separatist allies are no one controlled of almost all of the strategic port city. before rebuilding can begin, cruise must 1st clear massive amounts of rubble. i used to have 3 rooms now only half of one. when i came up from the shelter,

i opened the door and there was no apartment any more. that was scary. residents who have remained behind are now trying to get on with their lives. and in many cases, that means improvising the loan hold out of resistance remains the us up style steel plant where fighters trapped under ground have been withstanding russian pounding the ukrainian government has proposed to swapping them and exchange for russian soldiers captured during their invasion of ukraine. i spoke with dw correspondent ami, and as if in the viv about the possibility of a swamp of russian prisoners for injured ukrainian soldiers, it looks unlikely at this point then because russia has so far said it will only swap prisoners of war for prisoners of war. if you look at it, this is an unusual asked to swap a prison prisoners of war from the russian side for on the ukrainian side combatants who have a so far refused to submit to the russian forces to give up the as of style steel

plant. now they would be suggesting to swap wounded prisoners, but russia does not see them as captives and says that that's not playing by the rules of so far, not a yes from the russian side. and keep in mind that russia is very fixated on a victory here at the as of style steel plant because of the regiment that is defending it. now these are from a they have far right roots. this battalion, a lot of them were nazi insignia on their clothing. so this lend some weight to the false russian claim that they did not defying ukraine and in russia, this would be a big victory if they were able to capture that plant and either take them captive or essentially kill the people who are defending that plant. as us, as of battalion, but russia has also swapped ukrainian heroes of war, including the defenders of snake island, who once told a russian warship, it gave that an expletive and told to go away before they were captured. and now

the president has praised ukraine's latest counter offensive in the east, claiming that some towns have been recaptured at the tables turning their now this would be a big victory for ukraine if it could secure hearty, which is the 2nd largest city we saw that happened with the 1st largest city, the capital key of where russian forces were pushed out of villages and eventually gave up trying to capture the capital. and that's what they're hoping to see. and harkey right now, because these villages have been liberated russian tanks and artillery are not in range of firing on that city, which is a godsend for a lot of people living there. but russia remains entrenched in the area so in the east of ukraine. and what you don't hear a lot on ukrainian media is the victories of russia severe the nets, which is the largest city in the east that it has not been captured by russia has been completely surrounded. and a lot of analysts are saying that battle is loss of that city will fall to russia. and russia seems to be shoring up its victories in the east and securing an area

that it had mostly occupied already a since 2014 been i me and what about ukrainians? did they see some sort of end to this will now zalinski said recently that they need to be patient that ukrainians cannot expect a victory every day or even every week. and as many people have described it outside of ukraine, it's a stalemate, but ukrainians, at least here in the west, remain very confident that they will win this war. a lot of ukrainians are now proposing a maximum list. a gains from this war saying that they want to push russia completely out of the so morale is not broken. and don't forget that ukraine still has hundreds of thousands of men that they can call on to fight. so this is turning into a situation, been the like they've seen since 2014 where russia is mostly confined to the east. it's something that they've been used to, and which they've already been dealing with for many years and are willing to deal

with for many more years until they can reclaim their country and secure a victory over the invaders. and that's how they see it been. i mean, as if thank you very much for your reporting from the video. finally, let's look at some of the other stories making headlines today. north korea has reported its 1st official corona virus outbreak, media se, as some variant of the army virus has been detected in the capitol, pyongyang leader kim jong and has ordered a lockdown. north korea has until now declined foreign vaccines. a big south korea is offering assistance, kohls, amounting for an independent investigation into the death of serene avalon clay. a veteran al jazeera journalist, was fatally shot while covering and his writing military writing the occupied west bank. a colleague say, is why the troops killed her and is ready. military chief says it's unclear, pulled the trigger and the largest white diamond of its kind to be auctioned has

been sold for of a $20000000.00 euros. eggs sized jim nicknamed the rock, was snapped up by an unnamed bye at the auction house. christie's in geneva, switzerland. it's mine to published in south africa about 20 years ago. up next, the documentary on the history of the k. k. k. to grant ah interest, the global economy, our portfolio d w business beyond. here's a closer look at the project. to analyze the fight for market dominance. get to stick with the w business beyond.