ah, ah ah, this is the w news live from berlin line of defense. finland takes a 1st step towards joining nato in a move that would end decades of military non alignment. the finish president and prime minister say to their country should join without delay moscow. meanwhile, says the move is quote, definitely a threat also coming up, stand off in muddy ball. keith offers a prisoner swamp to get wounded fighters out of the in battle as of styles. steel, platt offerings, a hand over russian prisoners of war in return. and an activist from the anti

kremlin punk little pussy riot makes a daring escape from house arrest. now, she's in berlin. we'll hear how she got away. ah, hello everyone, i'm layla. iraq is good to be with you. we're going to get all those stories for you in just a moment, but we want to start and share with you some breaking news that they're just coming . and astronomers have unveiled the 1st image of a super massive black hole located right at the center of our own milky way galaxy . the ground breaking image is the product of an international team of scientists known as the event horizon telescope collaboration. the cosmic body was named sagittarius h. a black all is asked. it is to have 4000000 times the mass of our son,

and is located about 26000 light years from earth. signed to say the discovery will help improve our understanding of what happens at the center of our galaxy, gaping from the hot gas exciting developments there will now to what could be a historic turning point for european security felons. president and prime minister have called for the country to apply for nato membership as soon as possible in a joint statement. the finish leadership says nato membership would strengthen filane security as a member of nato. finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance. finland must apply fernando membership without delay. while it is the 1st step in a process that could see the country wall back decades of military non alignment, the announcement is expected to put pressure on sweden, which is also considering applying to join. finland shares

a 1300 kilometer border with russia than they the national mood has changed dramatically since moscow's invasion of ukraine, as dw corresponded your shadow reports. war games to secure the peace. more than 3000 finished troops and 700 vehicles took part in the arrow 22 military exercises in west and finland. the exercises were conducted to with nature as planned. last autumn. armed forces from 5 countries are taking part in these military exercises the host. finland is not a later member yet, but that good change soon. for the 1st time in via history, the majority of finance wanted 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 bees. within the boss, welcoming

a steady stream of russian tourists from near by st. petersburg, says social worker, linda brandt up in my opinion. i never saw russia as a threat, but now i'm constantly thinking about our common border. it's over a 1000 kilometers. the vis near by border crossing is seeing little traffic from either side at the moment. this is partly due to corona virus relate 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. 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 than a line for defense through deterrence has been the principle behind the latest reinforcement of its eastern flank. in recent months, the idea being a strong defense will not be attacked. meadow says it will benefit from the finish our mis military capabilities. i think we are ready ready to, to entertain a dave if this is a 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 should be a problem. at the moment finland is a need to partner, but not a member of the block. so it may be promoted, nevertheless. finish forces have worked closely with nato for decades. ah, the others that boy on medley the da, so i met formulate them. i was, i hope that we'll join nato as soon as possible. or crown asa so buffalo fall and

that the war in ukraine will end soon and that europe will live in peace and stability. how high up or volatile backlog. my lie, i offer for, you know, you linda brant asked, the believe, joining nature you would help people, even the small, bold, a town of lump and rather feel safe. now if she says that, that now at be school and stay both in length is only possible, as in they to member wow, another unintended consequences of russia's war in ukraine. let's get you more nato course. monetary schultz is in brussels with more. i'm terry talk us through this dramatic shift in public opinion in finland. truly like it could not be more dramatic. i've been tracking this story for decades and, and never dreamed it would happen. and that's true of both advocates and opponents of finish nato membership. nobody could have predicted that so quickly that the

finished population would go from somewhere in 20 percentile approving of their country, joining nato to now more than 3 quarters. and nothing could have done that except russian president vladimir putin. it is only the invasion of ukraine that tipped the scales this quickly toward the public, wanting their country to join nato, wanting to have those security guarantees covering their territory where before they felt like their national defense was adequate. now moscow has reacted and has vowed consequences if finland joins with this escalate. i mean, i don't think anybody's fool enough to say that russian president vladimir putin is so busy in ukraine that he can't cause problems elsewhere. but he is pretty busy in ukraine and, and certainly in terms of conventional warfare, the fins have said that any tanks that were anywhere near their border have now been removed, have now been sent elsewhere to back up the war in ukraine. but that's not really

what we would expect moscow to do when it comes to finland. and for that matter, sweden, there are constantly low level cyber attacks on finland as there are on many other countries and on nato itself and, and their efforts to so disinformation in the population. but one of the strengths that the nordic countries and, and especially finland would, has and would bring into nato, is resilience and, and a very educated population about these kinds of attacks. and as i said, they're happening all the time at a low level, and they simply don't have much effect on finland. and the nato ambassador told me yesterday, and was nato ambassador that they haven't seen a higher level since the intention to join nato was announced. what if anything, terry stands in the way now or philip joining nato really nothing. the only thing that stood in the way ever was the fin. 6 some desire not to join nato and, and so now that, that the public opinion is,

is so strongly in favor. now that the president and the prime minister have said they want to do it. we expect the government to say this on sunday. there's really nothing that stands in the way and to day secretary general un stolberg. i issued a statement saying that he would ensure a smooth and swift accession process. once the finished government does submitted application to do so, which we should point out, it hasn't yet done. and in conclusion or session, the process could take some time. we understand that leave of finland exposed and vulnerable. that's true. i mean, even a smooth and swift process means many months, while all 30 nato allies it ratify, finish, and swedish membership. should they should the country submit their applications and it could be up to a year before they actually are members and then would be covered by these article 5 mutual security guarantees. so this has been a concern, but we've seen individual nato allies step up and say, if anything were to happen,

if russia were to retaliate against you, finland and sweden, we will come, defend you bilaterally. and we saw this as recently as yesterday with u. k prime minister boris johnson, actually signing agreements with both england and sweden. 2 to send a british defenses. if anything were to happen, i think they feel pretty secure in both their own very strong national defenses. and with the assurance is that they're receiving from allies themselves. neither correspond terry schultz reporting from brussels. terry, thank you very much for that back story. thank you. we're meanwhile low ukraine is proposing a prisoner swap to resolve the stand off at the stall steel plant and multiple the plan would allow wounded ukrainian soldiers to move to safety and exchange for ukraine releasing russian prisoners of war. meanwhile, ukrainian forces say they've successfully pushed back russian troops around the north eastern city of harkey. some residents who fled the fighting have now become

returning to their villagers. who were you more home at last. ready tatyana 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 his goats, at least, survived the honestly, you him that are with them. he had russians are brothers, as though couldn't. i couldn't never imagined anything like this, this aggression luxury and destruction. a visual when i came home, i kissed the ground. now i have nothing floyd where i supposed to live and what should i do? was your neighbors in the village weren't spared either. and also came back to find a piles of rubble, where their homes once stood. but perhaps nowhere are the ruins greater

than mar, you pull. after weeks of relentless bombardment, russian forces in their separate just allies are now in control 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 swapping them in exchange for

russian soldiers captured during their invasion of ukraine. now were battling shifting. let's get an update for you from did of the correspondence. i mean as if in the viv western you close to see you are, i mean any more details about the prisoner exchange at the medical post steel plants has moscow responded to the swap request. moscow still not responded layla to this. so most recent request, but previously they've said that they will not go for a anything but a prisoner of war to a prisoner of war suave. in other words, this is an unusual request that a moscow, russia would swap the prisoners of war, ukrainian prisoners of war in exchange for combatants who have not yet surrendered to russia's military and others would be combatants who are wounded. i would show you crane counts as civilians. that's why there have been reports that there is civilians left in the as of south steel plant. but russia seems intent on them of forcing the defenders of that plans to surrender because that would mean

a total victory. and mar, you call, and it seems that they will accept nothing less. in other words, a prison of war swapped for combatants of would not fire with moscow, but moscow has caved, su, ukrainian demands for prisoners of war swabs previously. so we'll have to see how this plays out lever still still made in matthew, paula and mario po, steel plant. but in the meanwhile, we understand russia suffered setbacks. that's right, layla in har keith, as we've seen that the russians have been pushed out of the villages surrounding the city, which means that their tanks and their assault on that city is far out of range so that shells can not reach the city. this is very important because without ground support without shelling, russia has not been able to take any city. so a lot of the attacks that we're seeing elsewhere in ukraine, like here in levine, or, and chair near of, in the north, just recently a shell caused destruction there of civilian buildings. these are more of

a terroristic style attack, meant to scare the population. but in no way could actually claim the city for russian control now. and don bass though we're seeing the opposite, where russia is securing its hold on areas that it already had been involved in. and also surrounding cities like a severe done yet, which is the last city in the east that is still under ukrainian control, but is now completely surrounded by russian military. and most analysts believe that it will fall soon to russian forces. and there's been a, a warning from the kremlin about the west supplying weapons to ukraine. that's right. and dmitri med did. it was one of the closest advisors to the russian president vladimir putin said that the west needs to be careful of its actions. he complained about the amount of weapons coming over the border into ukraine to supply ukrainian forces. he said that there is a limit to how much russia would take and said that this could escalate into a nuclear war. he didn't said he would say russia would start the nuclear war,

but that's what it's implying. so this comes just a few days after russia said that they do not want to have a nuclear war. what's happening here is that russia is keeping this as an option to scare the west, and i think that there are examples of leaders in the west that are taking this very seriously off. schoultz is one of them. this is why he's been very hesitant to send a more heavy weapons into ukraine at a fears of escalating the conflict beyond control. because layla, most people who have studied nuclear war, know that it doesn't come down to a board meeting where people say we're going to launch nuclear weapons. these things are on hair trigger alert and it could be out of the control anybody. so i think both sides are being careful here in their words, as well as in their actions. i mean, i see for reporting from that the ukraine. thank you very much. i'm you want to tell you about the other stories. we're keeping an eye on diplomats from the group of 7 wealthy nations are meeting in germany to discuss the war in ukraine energy and food security relations,

where china and climate change are also on the agenda. ukraine's foreign minister is among those invited to the 3 day g. 7 summit as a guest sales koya says yours, korea has would test launch 3 short range ballistic missiles to work with c at a military parade. seen here, back in april, north korea's leader kim jo on said he would speed up the development of nuclear weapons. despite a un resolution banning the north from launching a listing missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. the united states says it has now seen more than a 1000000 coven 19 deaths. residential bind. describe it as a tragic milestone. has comments come ahead of a virtual summit on the pandemic at which you will appeal for renewed international commitment on tackling the virus on. meanwhile, experts in south africa see new sub variance of ama, kron could cause

a 5th wave of grove in 1000 infections. only round a 3rd of the population is vaccinated, though most have acquired a degree of natural immunity through previous infections. experts say that's helping to keep hospitalization. rates down, did we correspond 8 or increase reports from cape town? a crowded venue life music, good pipes that sweat him soon dantes. oh, and his band have been missing for almost 2 years. south africa, strict cove at 19 restrictions have kept things quiet. doing that time. it really feels good for them to open up even though things are still weird. but i'm happy to see that everyone is enthusiastic. most importantly one's died of being tired. so we just happy to be outside and see if we can make it work, i guess will never be normal, but will establish when you know, of course, we have to be vigilant and still take care of us all. but i'm feeling positive and got a feeling people out and about here in cape town, seem to share most ignore the rules and don't wear a mask while indoors. this despite rapidly increasing numbers of infections,

but even viral adjusts and not ringing the alarm bell, because about 80 percent of the population have already developed some immunity, mainly due to previous infections. the big round of natural infection and increase in coverage of vaccines is really, really been, ah, very helpful is tisha. those 2 things that the immunity is important. boosting that community with the vaccines natural immunity and then vaccines is very important. we really need to get most people vaccinated this, especially as early day town than you or me, concept variance be a for and be a 5 begins to emerge. both strains were discovered by south african scientists and data suggests they transfer much faster than other people that were just infected with on the chron be a one that was the original one. they can easily get to rein fax it with be a fought and be a 5. so we know that this previous immunity from previous infection, it is not very protective from 2nd infection. but we do expect that this immunity

to will be protective against hospitalization and death as long as hospital to remain relatively empty by religious say. there is no need for boss to remain empty to that's why they are not calling. what types of cobra regulations in south africa a member of the russian punk rock band pussy riot has escaped house arrest in moscow. the group 1st came to prominence in 2012 for it's open criticism of latimer pollutants regime. they stormed a moscow cathedral to perform a punk prayer to protest the close relationship between the kremlin and the russian orthodox church. maria, and, you know, and 2 of her band mates were sentenced to 2 years in prison. now and you know, has made it to find out how she did it. karen home started here from our

culture desk. it sounds like something out of a cold war spy movie or book. tell us more. yeah, well it was a certainly a very dramatic escaped layla melody. yeah. yahoo not as you mentioned was already under house arrest in moscow. that's part of the increasingly brutal crack down on descent that they're saying they're back in april already the authorities had announced that they would convert her house arrest to 21 days in a penal colony. so yeah, exactly not very inviting. and she decided that although she's committed to staying in russia, she had to get out. so what she did was she disguised herself as a career to be able to get by the police that were stationed, always the permanently around her apartment. she left her mobile phone there to avoid being tracked, and friends were able to help her get lithuanian visa. so she was able to make it to bella ruth and then needed another week to get across bella ruth. and eventually, after several tries over the border into lithuania and from vilnius,

she was able to get to iceland on the invitation of, of a friend there. and she's now travelling with a nice landing passport. so she had lots of friends along the way that were helping her with this that she says that a little magic was also in the car. yeah. i mean it's, it's, it really interesting story. i would like to know more about it. how does she describe the situation in russia? right? i did really gram, i mean putin, as we know, has been cracking down really hard on any kind of criticism of his regime, but also the war effort. in fact, maria yohina was arrested 6 times since last summer. each time for 15 days, and she's actually the 2nd member of pussy riot to actually escape this way. so just at the end of march, her band meet and our current girlfriend, it will see shy and actually got it exactly the same way. so with one of these green suits with the backpack a career suit that she ordered online. you know, they have a very long history of run ins with the authorities. so they've had to get quite creative. and you're kind of says that at the moment all activists and all of their

friends are on a so called list. and that there's absolutely no possibility to, to act or speak out. if you do anything, it's getting progressively worse. and this is what she told us about the atmosphere in russia at the moment. i think russian propaganda should be somehow translated to the rest because you guys should know what they're talking about. it's not just like g europe anymore. it's not just like they have different values anymore. it's pure hatred. it's your call for keeley. so we should certainly be taking notice of what's being said over there. she says that during her sit still in jail, she was allowed to only a radio, but that radio is few in nothing but propaganda at the moment. and she urges us not to believe that, you know, numbers like the fact that 80 percent of russians actually support the war because they simply can't say anything. so i understand what we just that quote that we

just saw, that was from an interview conducted here. i believe culture. yeah. it was she. yes she is. and she's been joined by several of other of her band mates of, of the put the right art collective, who also fled from russia by the way. they're planning a concert tour to raise funds for ukrainian refugees. they'll be kicking off tonight in berlin and heading to places like amsterdam and barcelona. for instance, i also with a new song about the ukraine wars. i will try to keep tabs on that and possibly have more information for you. i think i should add that it's simply crazy that what they did 10 years ago there in that cathedral was considered by many at the time to be something of a vulgar stunt, if you will. but i think it, it's in the end, it looks like we really should've been paying more attention to pushy right, because it hasn't, in fact, become very prophetic, the relationship between the kremlin and the church and everything that we're seeing unfolding. so more on that story at some point. thank you so much carol. how started from r d w culture desk. riveting?

thank you treating. thank you. now when german astronaut mathias mart started his 6 months mission to the international space station, there was no question about continuing cooperation with russian cosmonaut. but the invasion of ukraine has now thrown this into doubt. back from his mission mathias mauer says that up in space, there is no sign of conflict. the view of us roster notes mathias mara. this was a personal highlight of his time in orbit. if all the pastor was active, the noise, when i'm talking to clinton and then you look at our planet and you recognize things that you've only heard about to statistics. and suddenly you take what's happening down there to heart. you see where people live, where people impact on nature, and when nature is changing, vendor power spent just the 6 months on the international space station. but the assist under an incredibly good job up in space. so a lot of experiments are, have been conducted there. but also an e v a,

which of course is always a highlight. russia invaded ukraine during my hours time in space. but the relationship with the russian cosmonaut on board state positive and i did come to mind the ambient went in the space community. we've built up so much trust in the past 20 or more than 20 years old. would have met be mentioned to you right at that and we want to carry on with that one for the even the love to for what our level things are excellent. and we want to act as a bridge to find a way back to that at once. this crisis is over in the clinton, russia has questioned the long term future of the i assess, but for now the program continues. and a recap now, as the top story that we're covering, this our finland's leaders have called for their country to apply for nato membership. as soon as possible is the 1st step in a process which could see finland and decades of military non alignment.

he wants to get every new is live from berlin up. next it's news, asia, we'll have more headlines for you at the top, the hour and i hope to see you then for now. thank you so much for spending as part of your day with ah, with

the international region ukraine. thousands of on teams from old research knives fighting against clinton's. we a company come from south america. sondra from noise in a lot of ami down them lead to the front return on certain focus on europe. in 60 minutes on d w. ah,

what people have to say matters to us. i am. that's why we listen to their stories. reporter every weekend on d. w. one of main kinds, oldest ambitions could be within reach, or what is it really is possible to reverse aging researchers and scientists all over the world torino race against time. the d. n. a molecule though has 28000000 different powered philosophy. they are peers and rivals, with one daring goal to out smart nature for a longer,

healthier and fuller life. one of the most insightful discoveries in the history of mankind. more life starts may 28th on d, w. this is did up in years asia coming up to date, an unprecedented ton of events in north korea. the country declares a severe emergency full but an outbreak of omi crohn. if the 1st time young young has admitted to having any coven infections, why has it made the admission now? and what is the risk for the population? and a promise of greater cooperation between the e. u and japan in the wake of russia.