ah, ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin as russia and ukraine, step up, their battle for control of the east nato believes keith is getting the upper hand . you grew from women, this war nato secretary general says ukrainians, defense of their homeland and rushes. miss steps could spell defeat for moscow. also coming up and other potential set back for moscow is finland and sweden move a step closer to joining nato. finland's president says his country is entering

a new era brush as president has called the idea a mistake. and we meet the volunteer risking his own life to rescue civilians in the city of mario pulled. many of those he's trying to bring to safety. are children ah, i manuscripts mckinnon. thanks for being with us. ukraine says that it is bracing for a new push from russian forces in the eastern region of dunbar. and in the south president villa m is that etzky said moscow could not admit that its operation was quote, at the dead end. now his comments come, as russian forces started withdrawing from the 2nd largest city of ha, he following ukrainian counter offensive. but while the threats may be receding, the civilians still left in the city conditions. a dieth for the thousands of

people still sheltering and hoc eaves metro system. the war is far from over. after weeks of shelling that's left much of the city in ruins. some a scared to leave the safety of the underground. hawk arg was shavel, i felt were very afraid to go home. but there are so many explosions, so many bombs were very afraid by it's a lot of pressure. my others say that the worst seems to be behind them longer. surely we were finishing at the beginning, it was extremely hard. we will move because there were a lot of people here and a lot of destruction. we all felt defeated in yeah, what were you with now? we haven't heard bombs for last 3 to 4 days when the children were, we were frog that's likely to be down to the ukrainian counter offensive. that seen

soldiers retake nearby villages like this one north of har. keith with ukraine, claiming on sunday that some of its troops had even reached the board with russia and set up the new border post caves gains in the region come as it had started putting western supplied heavy weapons into action. ukraine's army says this is one of several recently arrived us houses. it's already using on the front line in the east with russia still trying to advance in the don bath there certain to see even more action in the days to come. earlier i spoke to our correspondent, i'm in a safe, his in levine and i asked him about the russian military losses as it advances through the eastern lo hunter and done yet scroggins. the ukrainian military has

called this said a devastating set back for russia. and it's backed up by british intelligence that russia has lost up to one 3rd of its military forces in the east of ukraine. this is over 10000 soldiers, also hundreds of artillery pieces um and doesn't are over a dozen ships. um, now what we are seeing on the ground as we've heard is that har, keith has essentially been liberated from attacks by russia, never fell to russian forces, but it was under attack. and this is you can't underestimate how much this means for ukrainians. harkey is the 2nd largest city in ukraine. it was one of 3 major cities, including a key of the capital and mar, you pull in the south that came under instant attack by russians after the invasion . and now keith as well as har. har keith have been liberated from attacks by russians, but harkey, remember,

is not exactly in the dumbasses bordering the region and in the don bass, russia has secured a lot of areas. it's cur. bombarding 23 cities, 23 towns and cities right now, and us intelligence kind of contradicts what we're hearing from british intelligence and ukrainians. and what they're saying is that it's become a stale made in the don bass, and that we're likely to see a prolonged conflict there. at a meeting of nato foreign ministers in berlin, secretary generally and tightened the delivered an update assessment of ukraine's battle against invading russian forces. his son, what he had to say, ukraine can win this war, ukrainians or bravely defending their homeland rushes war in ukraine is still going. as moscow had plant, they failed to take you there pulling back from around called kit

major offensive and almost as sold. russia is not achieving if strategic objective frank language is our regular military analyst, and he joins me now from oxford in the u. k. welcome, frank. we just heard the nato secretary general saying, russia's war is not going to plan and the ukraine could win this conflict. would you agree with him? and you to put it mildly, the war isn't going to plan as to whether ukraine can win. that is contingent on whether the west continues to supply your credit at the same or an increased rate. the americans are right in, but so the british that they're not necessarily inconsistent. what's developing in the south east now around the town of samaritan ask unless chance is a, a butler of a bottle of attrition. and that's not going to be easy at all. it's going to take several months. and unless ukraine continues to receive the munitions they need,

such as those artillery pieces use on the piece, then they will that they, they, they don't face to feet, but they won't be able to when one can't emphasize enough, they need those weapons to continue coming in greater and greater quantities, can we talk about the reports aware hearing that russian forces may have fired phosphorus bonds that they as of cell steel plant over the weekend? do you think it was phosphorus that was used? and if so, what does this tell us about russians? military staff strategy going forward? yes, i knew it looked to me looking at those horrendous pictures. that was phosphorus goes a phosphorus bombs, phosphorus is illegal, it's unlawful under the hague convention of the hey series of conventions in the law of armed conflict. because it's in century it burns and burns and cannot be put out in central weapon. it's an unlawful weapon. and it demonstrates a certain level of last resort from russia. you are escalating up the lighter of,

of a north of weaponry. russia is fully aware of that and it does say something. however, what we must remember is that my uncle still stands, it's likely to remain in ukrainian hands for quite some time. this is a heroic and historic military defensive action on the part of the defenders. so yes, russia russian desperation, but yes, also ukraine continues to hang on that. the british defense ministry. we're hearing a saying that bella roof has announced the deployment of special operations forces along the ukrainian border. how significant is this? would you say it's nothing new? the bell russians just finished, there are spring exercises, so their forces are mobilized along that southern front. any way and have been for several weeks that in itself is not significant. there is no way. i think most of us would agree that beller us is going to take part in this war actively with its

main force. it's sort of main main core of soldiers and armor. what they're doing, however, is fixing ukrainian forces in place and particularly with mentions, as you said before, there are special forces that's going to require a countermeasures and a party apprentice. and that means that those forces will not be reinforcing, dont by so what they're doing is holding ukrainian defenses in place that there, there's no way really that belarus politically can, can get involved actively. lucas jenko present, balderas. he needs us forces in his country to make sure that his own rather shaky regime stays in place. so we shouldn't worry about invasion from there. but yes, there are significant in the war in that they're holding ukrainian forces in place up there around give military analysts. frank edwards, thanks as ever. thank you and you are in a historic shift away from neutrality. both finland and sweden have taken steps towards joining nato. the move is prompted by concern for their own security in the

wake of russia's invasion as ukraine. but there is one problem. nato 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, the helsinki prime minister, santa marin, announced the country's decision to apply to join nato. after decades of non alignment, we have reached to day an important decision in good cooperation between the government and the president of the republic. we hope that the parliament will confirmed the decision to apply for a native 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 2 would increase our shared security. the most would love naples door is open and that the aggression docile pay. the meetings, host, german foreign minister and helena burbock added an enthusiastic note she on finland. if you are ready we are ready. piano soon after sweden's prime minister answered the call, thus just unprovoked invasion of ukraine is said, not only illegal and indefensible. it also undermines the european, secure it the order that sweden bids it security on. as the member of nato,

sweden will not only achieve more security, but also contribute to more c court to more security one potential problem. turkey has expressed reservations about letting the 2 nordic countries join anchor a blame them for sheltering kurdish activists that turkey considers enemies of the state. there should be absolute security guarantees here. 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. and we can frustrate to brussels nouns, feet to our correspondent, they're christine mando. hi, christine, can you walk us through what still needs to happen before finland and sweden

officially apply to join nato? good morning, anne. yes. so effectively, nato membership needs the unanimous approval of all of the alliances, 30 members. and what that means is that every single member state has to go to their parliament and have that ratified in. this is why this process could take up to months. for his part, the nato secretary general said both sweden and finland would be welcomed with open arms at the accession process would be quick, but in reality it doesn't look like it would take at least a few months before all those processes. those former processes can conclude and each members are parliament. so it's gonna take a while, if everyone agrees but to how likely is it that turkey could veto finland and sweden's membership id. while turkey's opposition does pose a serious threat, and as we have just heard in the report there, there does seem to be confidence among the and other members, states, and, and allies. for example, the secretary general said he was confident that they would find common ground. and

reach consensus over the matter, but of course, because nato membership requires the unanimous approval of every single member stays. if turkey doesn't come to the table that could effectively put a stop to this process. now if finland and sweden do officially apply to join nato, other countries have already made security assurances to the 2 nations. can you tell us a bit more about that? that right, so nato has this principle of if you attack one member, you attack every single of all the other members raise an attack on one is attacking against all that principle would not apply to sweden and, and finland until they become members of the alliance. so any security guarantees could not come from the alliance as a collective, but that member states would have to step up and do that. so for example, the united states, as well as the united kingdom have stepped forward. this was our when it was very clear that both nordic countries were seriously considering later membership. and

for its oper, a british official said, it was unthinkable that britain wouldn't come to 2 to either one of these countries defense in the event that they did come under attack for their parts. and they are thinking that this will provoke russia, had to, to perhaps target them via with cyber attacks or, or hybrid is hex targeted. specifically, you know, propaganda campaigns at russian minority or the ethnic communities in, in their countries. so that is the concern and the united states, the united kingdom to members says they have really come out and said that they would support both these countries in the event of any such t w's, christine manuel and brussel. thank you so much now, and other developments in the ukraine conflicts ukraine has accused russia of dropping phosphorus bombs on the as of style steel plant in maria pull images of the alleged attack were released by a pro russian separatist commander. the use of white phosphorus is not banned under international conventions,

but human rights groups have called for it to be outlawed because of the severe burns that it causes. ukrainian president vellum is zalinski, says negotiations on saving ukrainian troops defending the as of style plant are at a complicated and delicate phase. ukrainian sources say some 1000 people are holding out of the site more than 18 days after the invasion started. they're refusing to surrender to russian forces. now for weeks, thousands of civilians were stuck in the port city of mario pool without enough food or water, and under constant bombardment from the russians. now official efforts to evacuate and kept running into obstacles as a result, ordinary ukrainian started driving to the city to try to rescue those traps. we spoke to one of the volunteers who risked his life to save others. yup. and most i understood that the city is under siege. i on let's do that. nobody is driving there. now i'm with my employees were there,

and i just promised them i would capielo my friends and i would willing money to buy this bus. i am on the road, i hope all will be fine and that will get there. you will stop by me, a little krinski book book. and then when i drove past the last ukrainian checkpoint in nora, however, i encountered the war. the mines, the burned on tanks all the horrors a, b, b. yes. to bibles here and to hear none the less fear was still there, but i drove yeah, yeah. i do believe, well. i had a business in mary, jo paul, it was a club, most of the space was in the basement. it had concrete ceiling, so we transformed it into a bombshell to who there was a grill. so we could cook food and water. we would joke that this is a 5 star bomb shelter. that's

really all we did come under fire o at everything that came at us. missed was something hit here and here and here is just the run down here with a car. drove by that moment in that car, grandma died. no rush to see the children makes me cry. yes. so scared, screaming. i hope god will say it's horrific. just horrific. we try our best with so it's horrible. the memory is are coming back. oh dear. as it was, what was it the 1st opportunity we left, we took children, pregnant women and mothers with children. look on my passengers,

all hello, wave into the camera. oh, there was terrifying what we came across mines and tanks. but there were lots of mannequins. i mean, the dead people with we told them they were mannequins, but in fact there were bodies. right, right. o. as in us another bus as joined us, we are becoming more and more durable global a deal. oh, not on my 1st trip. i was the only one product, and on my 3rd trip i would already be standing in the queue at the tech points for 40 minutes. there were so many people who wanted to help and get people out here to lose volunteers had read thousands out of the city in their own cause and many did not return that of somebody to mine. you could put some came into crossfire

while driving at night. these are regular ukrainians, regular people sheesh, the head of rushes, orthodox church, patriarch, carroll has supported positions war in ukraine. from the start, he described those opposing the invasion of the forces of evil. now this is angered many ukrainians who say carol has given his blessings to putin, to kill his fellow slabs and people of the same faith. so far russian attacks have damaged as many as 92 churches and places of worship in ukraine. there have also been increasing reports of attacks against the clergy, their rushes war. it seems also has a religious dimension. much of this religious conflict has been fueled by the russian orthodox church in moscow and in particular by its head patriarch carol.

ah, long before the start of the invasion, carol positioned himself and his church, a strong ideological allies of the kremlin. the hero has repeatedly cast russia as a defender of divine law, against the forces of evil, which he had done a fight as emanating from western democracies. carol's proximity to the kremlin goes hand in hand with putin's commitment to the church. in 2012, the patriarch described pollutants political projects. as a miracle of gone. over the next few years, he became a staunch supporter of the kremlin agenda. in a sermon in march, this year, carol rebuked members of his own church, who opposed the war. we will never make peace, he said with those who violate the law of god. for carol, the invasion of ukraine is a religious crusade aimed at defending divine law. those who oppose it are

therefore enemies of god. the kremlin and its forces have effectively been granted a religious stamp of approval for their actions. many of the victims of the violence unleashed by the kremlin and blessed by the church and moscow. our heroes own faithful ukraine has almost 12000 russian orthodox parishes . many of which now stand in the way of russian munition and more in this we can speak to our religious affairs expert martin got good morning martin. and we saw in that report how close the relationship between vladimir putin and carroll is. how important is the patriarch for the russian presidents? i think that the patriot is actually very important for the russian president for one thing because he actually has suffered not only political,

but strong ideological proximity and backing to many of the positions. very conservative ones that have actually emanated from the kremlin. on the other hand, you have to keep in mind that the orthodox church in russia has about something in the order of 78 to 80 percent of presence among the russian people. so that means that all the way from moscow to the small parishes, parishes, i'm sorry, the better the better of moscow has actually enormous penetration in terms of politics, in terms of social word. and obviously in terms of ideology. so it's an excellent promoter of the kremlin position. okay, and what was a, what's his motivation? why is carol, say, supportive person? i think what carol cease in booting, what the orthodox russian orthodox church has seen in put in for a very long time. it's a 2nd spirit as somebody who holds some of the same ideas and wants to return to a form of, you know, very classical conservatism, which actually opposed to

a lot of the progressive costs that emanate from the west. so carol, that sort of mentions repeatedly gay, gay pride parades, which in some sense, it's laughable. but on the other hand, i mean, this is actually a good example of the imaginary of a very conservative part of the country. i think it's worth saying that, you know, put in east looking also for somebody that can order has been looking for somebody that can do that for him. and so in a sense is a perfect match. now carol is on the ease at sanctions last, why sanction a priest? any? what effect would this have if this will, if he what could be sanctioned? well, it seems to be the case that carol is also an extraordinarily rich man who has actually profited enormously from the proximity to the kremlin desert, mostly unconfirmed reports and things that sort of circulate in, in open source intelligence and, and so one bed this mean. so,

so that carol has actually some of the profile of the inner circle of booting and some of the other people that had been hit by you weren't on your sanctions. dw religious has corresponded martin, gac, we'll have to leave it there. thanks so much for all. okay, let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories making headlines around the world. north korean leader kim jong and has ordered his military to get involved in fighting a growing cove at 19 outbreak. state media reported nearly 400000 more people with fever symptoms on monday and put the death toll. so thought 50 is thought, most of north korea's population of 26000000 is unvaccinated, and the party of german chancellor will have so it has hit a record low in elections in germany's most populous states will thrown with failure. he s p

d finished 2nd with almost 27 percent in its former stronghold. the conservative c d u party, which is in opposition and the national parliament is set to lead the next state assembly. there was also vote in lebanon with a 1st parliamentary election since the country's economic collapse. the vote as a test of whether the iran backed has bala and its allies can keep their majority despite soaring poverty and anger at parties in power turn out was only 41 percent . now a full moon has provided spectacular views over the weekend as to astronomical events. took place at the same time, stargazers across europe witnessed a full lunar eclipse as the earth passed directly between the sun and the moon. turning it, a shade of dark red at the event also coincided with a super moon, which is when the moon appears larger as it passes close to earth. and in the

americas, the eclipse fell at night, tracing people to the full spectacle. the lunar event was visible across much of the world with australia, one of the few countries not able to see the phenomenon. and the focus on celestial bodies continues into mario today coming up next week, which looks at why the moon has once again become the focus of space, travel. iran, you could mckinnon. thanks for watching t w. ah, [000:00:00;00]

with who i hello there. i am. the moon, you all know me, at least by sight. but feel if you know my secret, which is like to live, discover what i can offer. and why everyone suddenly wants to visit me. then

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