with it is a testament to the quality of the waters. one of the many success stories from a bastion of biodiversity starts may 20th on d, w. mm sh. finland is on its way to becoming a member of nato. a step that just several months ago would have been a nonstarter now has majority support. russia has already warned finland. there will be consequences, but futons war in ukraine also once considered, unlikely. it's a reality and finland doesn't want to become the next ukraine to night. nato enlargement, fast track, unexpected and all thanks to vladimir putin. i'm pre gulf and berlin. this is the day

ah. everything changed. 20 pulled up abroad. the public support for nato membership has short in finland. it's a great news about time. we stood alone in 1939. we don't want to stand alone again . for us invasion, local crane has altered european, unfinished security environment. good. that it, it. so he, he, it's a big thing that we are joining nato now. we kind of trust the international law and order. we kind of crossed that within a respect toast, every native or brussel must be and routine their position. this address also coming up. nothing can escape the pull of a black hole, not even white. in fact, the black holes are not supposed to be things that we can see until now every one. so you just have to pinch yourself and you like this is the why for this that are i

got like, you kind of forget that every once in a while. and that's pretty amazing. what you, our viewers watching on p b s in the united states, into all of you around the world. welcome. we begin the day with the country make that 2 countries determined not to become the next ukraine. finland's president and prime minister have called for their country to apply for nato membership. sweden's leaders are expected to do the same. next week. finland's application is expected to be fast tracked, marking a major change of the european security equation. one definitely not in the calculus of vladimir putin. in a joint statement released today, the finish leaders, it said nato membership would strengthen finland's security as a member of nato. finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance. finland must apply for native membership without delay. finland's history with russia, an uneasy one in the 2nd world war. the fins fought off a soviet invasion,

but they were forced to make painful territorial concessions to day finland chairs, a 1300 kilometer border with russia. the invasion of ukraine has a majority offend, suddenly worried that their border could also become a front line in a russian invasion to point out neighboring sweden, also not a member of nato has also seen public opinion do a 180 in favor of joining. despite finland's participation in nato operations from lebanon to iraq, to bosnia, it is also referred to as a neutral finland. well, that has more to do with public opinion which for decades favored staying out of native public opinion has reflected that sentiment for decades. not any more. a recent poll out just this week, showing 70 percent 76 percent of people in favor, 12 percent against a u turn, driven by putin's invasion of ukraine. we stood alone in 1939. we don't want to stand alone again. every veteran who fought and survived the winter, was it never,

ever standalone again? i russia happy dreaded us so many times now again and it's, it's absolutely that we shoot at jade nato. it will give us a security nature of course. yeah, that's the light island that we, i, nature and i think that we should have at the nato reading in 1990 s many, many customer. i really am really, really happy about that. then i think it's a great thing because it's, we'll bring more safety to finance against russian aggression or russian president vladimir putin. he now thinks as an expanding native alliance on his doorstep, the opposite of what he intended with the invasion of ukraine and the kremlin, has already issued threats in reaction hears prudence spokesperson. we have repeatedly said that the expansion of nato and the stationing of its military infrastructure close to our borders does not make the world. and most

importantly, our continent more stable and secure. so much is clear wanted you. we refer to the statements made by the president starting on february 22nd. so he has said that russia will react decisively to any one who tries to interfere in ukraine. and the special military operation currently being carried out in ukraine by the armed forces of the russian federation. i don't mean l from brussels is, are corresponded terry schultz. terry, it's good to see you. me. this is a big deal, finland and sweden moving to join nato, an unintended consequence of the invasion of ukraine by russia. the speed with which public opinion changed to support native membership after decades of opposition or complacency. i mean, it's dramatic. could anyone have predicted this just a year ago? not at all. brent in fact, even 4 months ago, possibly 3 months ago, you couldn't have predicted this. because at that point,

the finish her opinion in favor of joining nato was in the twenty's. it's something like 28 percent the last time it was measured. and then as soon as of latter mir putin invaded ukraine, this time it started climbing and it didn't stop in. it probably hasn't stopped yet culminating today in the decision by the president and the prime minister to come out for the 1st time expressing their personal views, saying the country should join nato. and as you heard there from fins being interviewed throughout helsinki, many of them finally saying now what they hadn't been saying in years past that they believed that the country should have been in the alliance a long time ago. and we hear that finland and sweden could be fast tracked into native membership. but fast tracking, this still means many months before nader's article 5 guarantees would cover the 2 countries are are they on their own until membership comes through? that's right, brent. the membership process will take some time,

even if nato issues an invitation to finland institute in sweden quite quickly after they formally announced that they're going to join, which of course hasn't taken place yet. we're expecting that in the next few days. but then nato will offer an invitation, but then every one of the 30 allies has to approve that through. sometimes the process is include going through their parliaments and heading into summer that could take some time. it could be even up to a year before finland in sweden or formerly members. and that's the only time that the article 5 mutual security guarantees will apply. but being very mindful of this and of course, hearing those threats of retaliation from moscow. several allies have reached out to finland and sweden and said, we have your back. don't worry if, if russia does try to attack you in some way during this waiting period, we will be there for you and don't forget that finland and sweden are used to being in this neighborhood and dealing with threats from russia all the time at

a lower level sort of cyber threats, disinformation campaigns, things like that. there is ready as any 2 countries could be to withstand this. and when you look at what is happening now, we've got the invasion of ukraine. now we're talking about new expansion. there was a time, not so long ago when we had some people saying, as we've heard them say before, that nato needed a purpose or that need or had an existential crisis. has this crisis hasn't reinvigorate the allies of us, right? when, when russia seems to be a stable partner with many people said, you know, the reason for nato to exist goes away. well, that didn't last too long. taken on the continuum of time here. and certainly, when nato says at this point that it's never been stronger, that unity has never been more complete. that's pretty much true. i mean, no country wants to be on the other side of, of this potential iron curtain coming down. and that's why you see the fins and

swedes scrambling to get in now after, after many years of saying they could, they could manage on their own. i think i've heard many analysts say that they do fear there's going to be a new division in europe, a new cold war. and yet nordic countries belong on, on the european side of that curtain. u. s. intelligence is now saying that blood reputed is planning for this war to be a longer rather than a shorter one. i know that's not the prediction. anyone, especially ukrainian, refugees want to hear. you've been meeting ukrainians there in belgium who have fled the war. right? that's right, brent. i went out to to antwerp, which is the 1st city in belgium that is setting up what they're calling a ukrainian village. and that speaks to the length of time that people expect the refugees to be here. they're building entirely new apartments for these families, all together. not integrating them into the community, but presuming that they need the comfort of being together and that they will then

bring in language lessons and other community activities to try to help them feel at home here. let's see what i found there in antwerp in the ukrainian village. little evelyn is world just got a lot brighter. right. pretty the 3 year old ukrainian says in dutch and her grandmother era agrees. upper thumb is the very, very good. good. good, thank you. done. good then, good lose. the family is moving into a newly built unit in antwerp, ukrainian village. the 1st of several emergency housing centers to be built throughout belgium era marvels at having their own kitchen and bathroom. after months in a shelter, things that once were normal can evoke extreme gratitude. when war steals your stability, project manager, your england says the apartments are designed and furnished to make these families feel good. we want to have a fully self contained apartment. so everything that they need isn't it,

the builders put up these screens symbolic of ukrainian independence to beautify the environment while the village remains under construction. but the families we met didn't seem to see anything except a safe space to call their own. the projects interpreter alona herself her refugee says it's an amazing feeling even for her in one moment. from nelson to own houses . it's really cool. 6 year old, a keen think so to his mother elisa can explain in one word with this apartment means for her family, smoke boy the freedom for a lease, and her best friend vida, it's their 2nd time as refugees. they fled eastern ukraine when conflict broke out there in 2014. now they must start over again. such trauma is one reason antwerp authorities decided to build the village even higher in ukrainian refugees to help. rather than spreading them throughout the city. give them a good feeling that they are welcome here, trying to get them,

at least together to conform to each other rental, have some a link with ukraine and all the other and integrate them in our city. but leaving the ukrainian village to enter act was the wider antwerp community will be essential to truly integrate and to find work says researcher fatty umus, who's been working with ukrainian new comers. so of course it might be difficult for them, but the government or the local authorities to take some extra measures to organize, for example, language courses or some other activities. but in fact, the village is meant to be temporary. everything, even if sewage system can be removed, bart bruland says antwerp authorities will reassess geopolitical factors in the fall to determine whether the site is still needed. many ukrainians maintain, they want to go back to their country. 22 year old alika elise's daughter keeps a virtual eye on their house in keir every day. because says as grateful as she is

for this antwerp apartment, it reassures her to know their home in ukraine is waiting for them to say that there was a great story. and we can see there, we can, you can sense that the people, the ukrainians, want to go home. but do they see an end to this war anytime soon? none of the people i spoke with grant could give any idea about when they were going back. they just said that's what they're looking forward to and that they believe their soldiers are as brave as they possibly could be. but they were seem to be settling in for the long haul. the long haul. it is a corresponded to results in process to not carry as always, thank you. we may now have the 1st video obtained by the media that shows russian soldiers, committee war crimes in ukraine, sienna and the bbc have obtained footage from march,

which claims to show russian forces gunning down civilians. on the outskirts of keys. cctv cameras appeared to capture the moment that the soldiers arrived at a motorhome dealership. a security guard comes to meet them as you see right there at the gate. and we understand they talk smoke cigarettes together before the soldiers leave. to then return and shoot the guard and the owner of the company the security guard survived the attack, but later died of his wounds. as he bled out of the out in his office, the russian soldiers then looted the shiver. i my next guest to nights is an advisor to ukraine's ministry of foreign affairs on issues of international criminal justice. he's also ukraine's agent in the i c. j case against russia on allegations of genocide in the hague. i'm pleased to welcome

to the program tonight. anton court in of it is good to have you on the program. tonight, i want to just get your reaction to the video that has been obtained by the media. what do you, what, what do you see there? and good evening from good brent. well, actually it's no surprise we all hear in ukraine know that the commission of war crimes and the commission of crimes in particular by russian soldiers against ukrainian civilians in the outskirts of ki, of, in butcher, in their being in storm in danica. and actually in many, many other places, they are now being fixed and documented by ukrainian, prosecutors by investigators, from a foreign states who came here on the side to war, to gather evidence, to seek them the demand, everything this so way things that sooner than later,

a lot more of such evidence on camera by the national media or ukrainian media will come to the arena and we'll see more of the atrocities committed by the russian here in ukraine. this is a, this is an unusual situation. you have a war raging in your country, and you are about to put suspects russian soldiers on trial for war crimes. this is going to be a trial for ukraine's justice system as well. isn't it? well, of course it would have been, i would say, a test and the challenge for legal and justice system of every nation. but this is what we need to do, and we don't need to wait for that till the end of the war till the end of this conflict. and this is a big task and challenge both for ukrainian prosecutorial authorities and ukrainian

courts, but also for the international criminal justice system in particular for the international criminal court. because it is obvious that the biggest portion of cases, the gates, russia soldiers, of course, should be persecuted, hearing ukraine. but there should be the cases of, for those who are on top of the 3 of the big, big fake space cases. and they should go to the i c c to the hague. busy so a lot of little that happened and so do you think that will happen? i mean, i know you're talking about vladimir putin there. do you think that he will ever have to face justice for you know, ordering this invasion what we need to do on the old that we can in order for, in particular, putin as his accomplice is still face trial. and for letting all this happen for committing a crime of aggression and there is an important incentive launched just in

the end of february by prominence international lawyers and the ukranian lawyers. busy establishing the specialty, you know, for the crime of aggression against ukraine. so. 2 we are now working on it, and this is exactly the instrument which can lead to responsibility of the highest ranking russian officials for the crime of progression against ukraine. and i know that you're collecting evidence and it seems that the act of collecting evidence is, is not particularly difficult. i mean, the russians soldiers, they don't seem particularly concerned about covering up what they are doing and leaving behind. do you get the sense that they are, they're able to do this? they're doing this because they think they can do this with impunity? well, it may be the case of, but i think there is also another issue. another reason why are they behave like

that? this is their strategy of waging war. they are in general war criminals. every war in which russia participated him brought a lot of hundreds and thousands of war crimes and cramped against humanity in georgia in chechnya hearing ukraine. and i do believe that this is really one of the instruments of waging war for russia to commit war crimes. but i think that now this is a moment when they should stop feeling that they will not have any going to be late january. and i think that this is, as i said, a challenge and the test both for ukrainian legal system and for international criminal justice, people on the trip to bring perpetrator to trial. how much support are you getting from outside ukraine before this?

this is a herculean act for any justice system. where are you getting help from outside from western europe, the united states? well, of course we are getting support in particular, when about the international criminal court. 43 states asked the office of the prosecutor, going to open investigation into the situation of ukraine. so $43.00 states, acted up, women say on behalf of ukraine. yes. on behalf of finding justice for the victims and, and, and for the message was to describe when we talk about the rental, the tribunal for the crime of progression. we also do see the support from european nations, from prominent international lawyers who want to assist and to help as much as they can in order for us to establish that bureau. when we talk about ukranian national capacity to work with this cases, we see that

a lot of states investigators prosecutors, belief when your to your brain but we will definitely be following all of this and the trials that result, anton, to rid of it. we appreciate your time and your insights tonight. thank you. thank oh, astronomers as say we now have a picture of something considered unseeable. today, scientists unveil you see it right behind me. the 1st image of a super massive black hole located right at the center of our very own milky way galaxy. the groundbreaking photo is the product of an international team of scientists, known as the event horizon telescope collaboration. and the black hole is named sagittarius, a star, and it's estimated to have $4000000.00 times the mass of our son. and is located is just around the bend, about 26000 light years from earth give or take. so if light

can't escape a black hole, we're not meant to see it, right. i put that to dr. sarah. i. so she is with the harvard and smithsonian center for astrophysics, and part of the team that captured this if let. so the black hole itself, we don't see, but what we see is the shadow, it casts on it on all the swirling gas that goes around it to the black will itself, have all these gas swirling around it that it eats up, or it decks out. and discuss because it's rotating very rapidly around the black hole. it's very, very hot and it radiates and it radiates radio waves that we observe what the e it's t. and so these radio waves create this glow about, we see around the black hole. and this black hole is actually inside this dark patch, which we call the shadow that it casts on to this. a swirling, hot gas is fascinating is especially just to think that radio waves were taking

those to making an image of do we know what is inside the black hole? what will the ever be able to actually look inside with, you know, the technology that we have? right? no, we don't know what is inside a black hole and actually going to see what is beyond the event horizon is impossible as the the description of the event horizon is really the point of no return. so even if you go in there and see what it is, you wouldn't be able to come back out and tell anyone what we'll do. what would happen to us? i mean, this is for no, all of the fellow space nodes out there. what would happen if we were to actually try to peer inside and go when? right, and so that depends on which black hole you choose to go into. i if you go to us solar math class, so very small,

black holes are the ones that are about the math of our son there. if you get too close to the black hole, you get a get a fight you get stretched out into then spaghetti before falling into the black hole. but for super massive black holes like sanitary thar are famous for cement of a battle that blackland enmity. 7, they're so big, so large and so massive that you would just kind of float right in and nothing would happen to you. you'd just enjoy the view. i. yeah, i guess so if you, if you could make it the 26, what is it? 26000 light years away that you would have to travel. right? yes, a fascinating. yes, it's a pretty long way. it's a long way. and what does this mean though for research now? i mean, i know it's an exciting time to actually be able to, to put an image to somebody that you know, we, we hear about what would this be the foot moving further for research so, so the black hole at the center of our galaxy has had indirect evidence that it was there for a while. and in 2020 the nobel prize in physics was partly awarded to studies of

orbits of stars in our galactic center. that had very peculiar orbits around this very dark and hidden compact mass. and we have thought a lot about what the specs could be and the best scenario is that it's a black hole. but that's always been in direct evidence that it is a black hole. and today we're actually seeing it for the 1st time. so today is really the 1st time we have direct evidence the at the center of our galaxy, there is a black hole, which is i think it's pretty amazing. i'm not only that you have now 2 black holes that we can see. and these 2 black holes are fairly different in size, and in their environment, they are in very different galaxies, both medi 7 inside a terrace, if our behaved very differently. and now we have 2 black holes, we can study, and i think it's really opening up a new laboratory for black will. astrophysics is really exciting. it's fascinating . and dr. sarah, as a who we appreciate you sharing your enthusiasm in helping us lame and also to

understand the what's inside of michael. thank you. thank you for the day's almost done. the conversation continues online. you'll find us on twitter a d, w. she can follow me on twitter, it read golf t v. every member, whatever happens between now and then, tomorrow is another day we'll see that everybody ah, with

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ah ah, this is dw news wife from berlin, a new line of defense. finland takes a 1st step towards joining nato in a move that would indicate to military non alignment today's leaders of finland, saying their country should join the alliance without delay. moscow saying that would definitely be a threat. also coming up tonight, the un wanting and investigation into alleged whites of uses or by russia and ukraine.