ah, ah ah, this is dw, use live from berlin, defying hooton's warning, finland and sweden move a step closer to joining nato. finland's president says his country is entering a new era a day after russia's president called the idea, a mistake. also coming up, ukraine says it's the 2nd largest city is secure once again. ukrainian soldiers clear villages on the outskirts of cartesian after russian troops withdraw. ah,

monica jones, welcome to the program. finland has confirmed it will officially apply for nato membership. if approved, the addition of finland were to double nato's border with russia, the application needs to be endorsed by the finish parliament, but that's expected to be a formality. sweden's governing party has also back to plan to join nato. there is one problem, though. nato, a member turkey could use its veto power to block the expansion. it's a radical break with the past one that was almost unimaginable just months ago. in finland's capital, helsinki prime minister, santa marin, announced the country's decision to apply to join nato. after decades of non alignment, they have reached a day, an important decision in good cooperation between the government and the president of the republic. we hope that the parliament will confirmed that decision to apply

for nato membership. during the coming days. it will be based on a strong mandate. finland shares a border of over 1000 kilometers with russia. after russia invaded ukraine, public opinion based in part on fears that its eastern neighbor would do the same to finland, moved strongly in favor of joining nato. this happened as foreign ministers from the military alliance. his member countries met in berlin, nato secretary general appeared at that meeting via video link. he welcomed finland's decision and encouraged sweden to follow. this would be a historic moment. their membership in a tow would increase our shared security. the most with the naples door is open. another gresham does not pay the meetings. host

german foreign minister and helena burbock added an enthusiastic note. she is on finland. if you are ready, we already feel like one potential problem. turkey has expressed reservations about letting the 2 nordic countries join anchor blames them for sheltering. curtis activists that turkey considers enemies of the state. there should be absolute security guarantees here. and this is not just about to candidate countries, but also about allied states who need to stop supporting terrorist organizations. but officials said they were certain those differences could be resolved quickly. meanwhile, nothing will change right away. the finished parliament must ratify the decision and the nato application process could take up to a year. early, i spoke to edo, sat a k, a political scientist at the university of helsinki,

and i asked her why finland didn't join nato earlier. well, i think the 1st reason is that there was to says in a lack of public support, i mean according to the tools somewhere between 20 to 70 percent, only when the date of joining the alliance before that when you, craig, and when you crane actually shocked many of cities almost finished people, really and that caused us to kind of revitalize our memories from the 2nd bill and the winter war. and therefore also we saw a drastic change in that security environment. and that led the finished government basically to take the state of you know, joining the alliance. so sending the about application in. so it's, it's not a, if you like, a married her out of love or because you say the population for a long time was reluctant to join nato. but now it's a, it's a move out to fear. what will change for fealand once it joins this military alliance? well, obviously we'll take a final step towards their family western nations. i think that's the most

important foreign policy step that we're taking after joining you in 1995. militarily, we will gain that security guarantees article 5 guarantees from nato, but at the same time we will also contribute to collecting defense. and this is important to realize also here in finland, we will be actively operating with nato and enhancing our defense capabilities. what we've done this already over the past 30 years and i think in terms of practical daily life, it are really not change a lot even in life will continue as normal. now you share a very not you personally finland. she has a very long line with russia as its neighbor. how could russia react to, to finland, to joining nato? yeah. well, we've seen already in that criminal rhetoric over the 10 past 20 years that they don't want any to, to enlarge. and this is something we have to take into account for potentially.

they could be some hybrid threats, cyber threats, and also we seen in the, in the past, my lation of air space, this might continue. they might be broken, the switch energy supply with them again f in is heavily dependent on russian energy are such as a gas. so it's is no such a big issue. and i think these are the kinds of hosting meshes that good take place, potentially. right, so a turkey, as we've just heard this report, could still vito villains plan to join nato just very briefly. what would that mean? i think it's a highly unlikely situation to happen. ah, cherokee is, are now bringing this issue on the table maybe to advance its own causes and interests. but i think this is not something odd that hopefully will happen at the end. and tenant will be able to join merits ero soccer,

a political scientist at the university of helsinki. thank you so much for your time and for sharing your insights with us. and keep ukraine says the front lines in the east of the country are shifting. he obsess, russian forces have retreated from her chief to shore up their offenses of easy on where ukraine has launched a counter offensive. ukraine and forces have been clearing the liberated villages near her chief, but many residents have already fled to the region. another city left and ruins. russian troops have withdrawn from the areas around car cave, but they have left behind a trail of destruction. for weeks you cream 2nd city faced heavy bombardments, forcing many of his residents to flee. many went to poland in the cranes kidneys, moms of falling on concave. it used to be such

a beautiful to do not right now. it's destroyed. well, that's why we left for poland. the push for thing probably no one expected this. our city is gone. when our boys are fighting for a free ukraine, it's very hard to get a hold of them in a video released by a pro russian sceptre, this commander, and also ukranian authorities showing the emissions raining down on the eyes of style c blunt and marie open. ukrainian officials accused shall dropping phosphorus bombs. they're a claim that cannot be independently verified. human rights groups have long call for a ban on this type of munitions because of the severe bonds because hundreds of ukrainian fight does have been hold up in the steed factory for weeks. but with russia stepping up, it's offensive. they may not be able to hold out much longer. early i spoke with our correspondent onion se if in live, if in western ukraine and i asked him what more he could tell us about the firing of phosphorus bombs and the assa tire low steel plant. that's right,

or the ukrainian authorities have accused russia of using phosphorus bombs on the as a star steel plant. as we saw in this video that was circulating on social media, it has all the trademarks of phosphorus weapon and russia has admitted before to using phosphorus weapons. so wouldn't be a surprise here. now, this is a bomb that ukraine says. it's called the 9 m $22.00, s a grad, munitions, which is a phosphorus incendiary weapon. it can burnett several 1000 degrees fahrenheit and can cause serious burns. and the reason russia might be using this is either to create a smokescreen so their troops can form a ground assault or to suck the oxygen out of the air in order to suffocate the as of stalled defenders who are still hold up in that a steel plant, they're in rushes, trying to get them out to force them to surrender, or to take over the plant by force. now, phosphorus,

munitions are not actually banned by international law. the united states continues to use them, has used them in iraq and syria, and as long as he use it on a military population. it's not illegal where russia says his hands are no longer tied because civilians have been taken out of steel plan and where you pull and are only finally against the as off regiment that remains locked up in that fortification. right? it does exactly what i wanted to follow up on a. is there any news on the ukrainian soldiers holding up there at that steel plant? the great president vladimir zalinski said that they're doing all they can to get them out of there. they're focusing their attentions. now on rescuing the wounded and the people taking care of the winners to the doctors who are part of the as of a regiment, but are not considered combatants because they're out of commission or because their doctors are who are helping the soldiers. so the cleaning grove government is trying diplomatic ways to create some kind of for a prisoner trade with russia,

which russia has so far denied. now the wives of those defenders are worried about them. they said in their minds they don't think they'll see their husbands again. but in their hearts they still have hope. monica no right is out of your correspondence. ambien as if they're reporting for us from living in western ukraine. thank you so much. let's take a look now at some other stories making headlines around the world. the f b, i says a mass shooting and buffalo was racially motivated. a white teenager opened fire in a supermarket, killing 10 people. most of them black. it was arrested at the scene and has pleaded not guilty to 1st degree murder authorities believe the suspect posted a $180.00 page manifesto online. the election in germany's most popular state and north round was failure has ended with a disappointment for chancellor shortest social democrats. the conservatives are needing projections with almost 36 percent of the boat. while the social democrats received almost 27 percent of the greens are expected to finish in 3rd place, guns, glad to stare. the people of lebanon also went to the polls. them had low

expectations that their boat could really improve the economy or significantly change the political landscape. it's the 1st parliamentary elections and economic meltdown over the past 2 years. and a massive explosion at bay roads at port in 2020, in a symptom of the collapse polling stations across the country, suffered power crafts on sunday. d, w. rebecca richards is following the election in beirut for us. and earlier she told us which he's been hearing from voters there. yeah, i'm standing here outside one of the pulling stations in west bay route monica. as you can see behind may it's close to business if you will, the pulse. i've been closed for just over an hour. now. there is a really mixed feeling here in lebanon, in the late up this election. this being, you know, people who really hopeful they really want something to change. there's a huge section of society. i would say the majority of society, of the really fed up as you said in your late in there, you know,

people here have whole and 80 percent of people have fallen below the poverty line . you've got people that have, you know, they've been lost. 90 percent of the car think they can't get job, they can struggling food on the table money cuz these people really are in desperate this one hour of electricity from the government every day, some people are really fed up. there's a huge ground. well, and there's a lot more opposition candidates in the vote than there have been in previous elections because there's people who are just saying that's got to be changed that the huge ground. well for a change movement. but there's a whole lot of people who are really disillusion, say that they're going to bo boyd caught the pole because what's the point they know that the same old elite that carrying lead is going to be reelected any way they electro system is really stacked in their favor, so you've kind of got a very mixed emotions. they have very mixed mixed feelings. i mean, i had one gentleman just earlier to tell me that he really says, because i've got a teddy, they're really bad day to come here. and i've been on the, well,

there was a ready, a bad day to day with, with power cards today of all days. again, did that effect turn out in any way? when it's not just to day people here are so used to living with power cuts. as i said, there's only one hour across the country. pretty much one to 2 hours of state electricity a day people live on generators and fuel is very, very expensive to run those generated. so power cuts something that is, you know, people don't even look alarmed or shocked when the power goes out. they just keep carrying on with their business. i don't think that will have had any effect on the turn out. we don't have official turn out because yet they are still to be released by the interior ministry. the last we had were from 5 pm, 2 hours before poles close. they had that figure at 32 percent. now they were still some hours to go and they were still people lining up at pulling centers. but, you know, if it remains around that figure, that's a very low turnout will certainly be very disappointing for all those people who were hoping for change. so you know,

remains to be saying what happened and how many people came out today. mar, i'd rebecca, written their reporting for us for from a bay route to thank you so much. that's it for this i will adopt. he'll miss up next. exploring the heating power of music. yeah, we'll be back with the latest on the top of the hour for me in the team. thanks for watching. who were all set to go on field citizenship and we're all live as we take on the we're all about the stories that matter with policemen funnel with fire made ah.