ah ah ah this is the w is life from berlin, more ukrainian fighters, levy as all styled steel planted mario, paul under russian. god, moscow says more than 1700 have surrendered, but there's been no independent confirmation of where they've been taken. keith hasn't commented on how many is still there. also on the program,

the u. s. president office is full support for finland and sweden to nato. they meet every nato requirement and then so what kind of race to join the alliance says russia, wages for on ukraine, but turkey seems set to derail that class. plus a d, w exclusive investigation masks is europe helping modernized, china's army. they join a team of investigative journalists who have uncovered links between the european academia and chinese university is fostering a fusion between the military and civil society. ah, i'm so gale. welcome to the program. hundreds of ukrainian soldiers are facing an uncertain future after surrendering to russian forces in the 4th of mario paul.

moscow says most have been sent to prison camp in russia control territory in east and ukraine. cave hopes to get the soldiers back in a prisoner swap, but moscow has threatened to put some of them on trial soldiers surrender to an unknown fate. this footage, released by the russian defense ministry, shows ukrainian soldiers laying down their arms after weeks under siege at the as of style steel plant. of the 1700 soldiers, russia says, have surrendered this week over 700 did. so in the past 24 hours. amid international concern about their fate in russian hands, the international red cross has registered hundreds of the soldiers as prisoners of war. moscow has also released footage of what it says, a surrendered as of style fighters reporting on how they've been treated. or yet, you know, i didn't really know what to expect considering what we would have liked and what

we've got. it turns out to be better than we expected with what i am now in a hospital in the city of nova results. i'm being treated well. no b as miss treating me physically or psychologically the treatment is good. the government in keith is hoping to exchange the soldiers for captured russian troops . but pro russian authorities in ukraine's east have suggested that some could be put on trial. while in moscow, hardline lawmakers, a demanding that captured ukrainians, face the wrath of russian justice. all of which means that the fate of the as of style soldiers remains far from certain. unless john d, w correspondent, mathias, bullying her in the khaki of welcome mathias. how are people reacting to news of the soldiers we saw in that report?

people obviously worried about them. they have been following this very closely. it was very emotional. these people have defended. are you po for a very long time and that has also had an impact on the overall war. so many people here see them as heroes. and of course, the fact that they are now in russian hands. and the fact that nobody knows whether this prisoners will ever happened to the 2 sides seem to have talked about, of course, has people worried him. and so what's the latest on the fighting around the country while fighting is intensifying in the don bus region especially, or on the city of save or the and that's, that's probably the next big for the next city. but that is suffering in a very on a very large scale. it's being shared. the russian troops are on the border pretty much like in hockey, where i am now that which has been shown for 2 months and almost like my uber,

although it's not completely surrounded. but it showed from these 3 sides. so that's for the people there are suffering a lot and this is probably the most, this is of the next most to civic battle here. right. and where you are there in, ha, if you current 2nd largest city, what's going on there was a little bit coming back to life because the russian troops have been driven away. however, fighting is still going on outside of the city just a little further from the city. so the city is not being sold as much as before. but of course, like in every city in ukraine, rockets can still hit people are carefully coming out of the shelters, especially in these northern districts that have been show during the whole time. and some people don't trust it. we were to j at the subway station. many people told us they don't want to come out yet. they're still afraid that something might hit, and hockey. thank you. you as

president joe biden has given his full support to sweden and finland applications to join later. the northern countries made their formal applications on wednesday in response to russia's invasion of ukraine. turkey is blocked. the start of accession talks in the nato council accusing the 2 countries of harboring kurdish terrorists meeting the 2 countries leaders of the white house today, president biden threw his white behind their application, sweden and finland have strong democratic institutions, strong militaries, and strong and transparent economies and a strong moral sense of what is right, they meet every nato requirement and then some and having to know nato members in the high north, well hands, the security of our alliance deepen our security cooperation across the board.

let's take a closer look at nathan of latest potential enlargement with hannah smith. she's director of research and analysis of the european center of excellence for countering hybrid threats. she joins us from the finished capital. welcome to the w . will the turkeys opposition to these applications? be overcome, i believe so. it might delay a little bit and the whole process and it is kind of an understandable one of those things that belongs to this process that are already nato members. are always testing, perhaps the new comers, but i believe that this will be overcome how. what will it turkey receive in order to remove its objection? well that's perhaps a little bit early to say ok because both the, the finished president and from the swedish side, uneven from the u. s. side. they said that we take the matter very kind of

practically calmly. we look up the list to we start discussing it and go kind of on factual at bases. i forward to it. so i think that it is the process needs to be there and the diplomatic mean. so the ways to go forward. it normally takes years for countries to join night or how long during spent the process to take this time for sweden and finland probably till end of this year. and why so quickly? well, perhaps a nato has been practicing already taking new members. they also have learned that perhaps the countries like finland, sweden might in fact strengthen their lions in the, in the end. this might be a good idea. and also the fact that there is so certain that perhaps a reason to think about it. the fact that these processes could be a little bit longer, so that there isn't that kind of

a gray. so situation of time for too long. nobody saw the turkish objections coming. all they're likely to be other countries who hobbit doubts about this latest expansion. well, it is in the way that perhaps nobody saw it coming, but to be honest, perhaps the turkeys precedent to makes the decisions. and the policies had not said anything about it. so in principle, in fact, turkey is still saying what it has all the time said that it supports this, but that it wants to go through this negotiation process. it is possible that there is someone else, but so far, no one else has come forward. so perhaps turkey is that the only one ok. russia says it face to face nato expansion as a threat or a firmer than swim expecting. i mean the prob, preparing for a retaliation of some sort when at least on the finished perspective,

i have to say that we are always prepared for anything that might come over the border from the east. so in that way, the situation is not too new. obviously there war in ukraine has changed a lot and understanding that russia is ready to use military, the only borders to its neighbors, et cetera, has kind of changed a little bit this thing that so it is clear that russia has several times said that it's going to make its own threat assessment and then it will react. how exactly is it military mean? so political means about the spokesperson kremlin, said they let the military to decide. so it remains to be seen, but we are prepared and knowing a little bit of russia, something will come. thank you for that honest with, from the european center for excellence for countering hybrid threats. thank you. when you and his warning that russia's blockade of ukrainian grain is fueling

a global food crisis that could last for years, secretary general antonio good terror said the war in ukraine and other crises threatens tens of millions of people with food shortages, malnutrition, mass, hunger, and famine. you added that he's an intense contact with russia and ukraine over efforts to restore the export of gray from the region. russian blockades threatened to jeopardize their suit food supplies for millions around the world. alternative routes are becoming increasingly important. the remaining port of con, stanza is a vital hub for grain shipments. the w's direct parent reports on the challenges is facing. this ukrainian cone would never have been here at the port of konstanz, or before russia's invasion. it would have been shipped out of the now closed port of odessa, 250 kilometers up the black sea coast. it's good for business for the operators here, but there are concerns about capacity. i see we've lenient problems. that one,

the one we're going to be done done. we can manage over the main one in green, one green in many school, but of course you're not moving a hardwood region. what was this vessel leaves? port 210000 tons of ukrainian corn will be shipped out since the start of april. but that's just one percent of the 20000000 tons of grain that needs to be shifted in the next 3 months. before these ukranian fields are harvested to avoid major bottlenecks, which could cause it to rot. pretty much all of the corn that coming in to the puerto con thunder is from ukraine at the moment. this boat is headed from here though, to rotterdam. but many of the vessels go to north africa and the middle east, and there are real fears of an increase in food shortages and famine. if supply

bottlenecks arise, the port authority says it's doing everything it can. we don't have other choice. what are if i i skimming and the here hedrick where? it's very easy to scream, i don't, i cannot do nothing. i cannot, this is showcase is hard time. everybody, this is a special her situation and everybody must accommodate this situation. french solution concerns a port has another problem. no. 700 of these wagons, lay rusting on the ports under used train lines held in judicial limbo, following legal battles between state and private entities. the countries transport minister says a new 40000000 euro projects will renovate 95 romanian train lines before the end of the year. partly to make switching wheels to accommodate trains arriving from the east, which used wide tracks for 30 or 40 years. this 2 tracks wore a ban. so now we invested in gallery in order to,

to modernize this line, the soviet type of 4 lines and to come directly in the hell harbor. this really is a graveyard of these old cargo carriages right now. were few 100 meters away from the ports of can stanza, and the plan is that this won't only support with the ukrainian shipments that are coming in, but also that it will help rejuvenate this area for the future. but in the short term, europe's approaching summer will only me more grains coming in and with no end to the war in sight pressure on the infrastructure, hearing of thunder. the only that the pi along i let me take you back to our top story. russia says a 1700 ukrainian fight, as of now surrendered at the as of style a steel planted mario paul, moscow says most have been taken to a prison colony in russia controlled territory. while the injured are in hospital, and these images come from russia's defense ministry,

the international red cross as it was, registered hundreds of prisoners of war from the steel plant, including wounded fighters. as can reassure from this latest news from andre as that choke, who's a ukrainian and pain from the opposition holiday party. he joins us from keith. welcome to d. w. and how concerned are you about those troops taken from mario, paul? i think we shall be focused on just several thinks for everyone who is watching us . so 1st everyone shall understand that always for people. i mean, the president military, it's not on the origin front as all of it was also a police in money when it was a national guard, it was different law enforcement people who are jointly defending, made open for almost 3 months, almost without food, without water in absolutely terrible weather conditions because during march it was

extremely call to put by they made in the recall. so they were protecting city almost 3 months by doing this. they saved ukraine because they kept a lot of rational forces in the south. no, not given a chance to russians to move up to the north of you brain from the i so that they did miss all i did, but where they are now is well without. we're not sure where they are now, and i'm interested in how you feel about their face at the moment. look, i understand well that everyone wants to to know the sensation, but to you need to understand that you bring and political leadership wants to have alive heroes, not dad heroes for the last the one month we did all possible and impossible to save civilians and military personnel from milan, rooper, and from his old style we successfully completed the vocation of civilians. it was

a huge amount of people there, most of them now unsafe and we're happy that we did that right now. we're in the very, very sensitive process of education and saving of all our military personnel, which is physically unable to continue to fight. so this is why i ask everyone to be very careful with all comments. understood, understood, less then talk about you cra, ukraine and nato, because of course ukraine has been trying to join nato on and off since the early ninety's. and obviously it's been given more urgency by recent events. and i wonder what your feeling is about the speed at which nato has embraced the applications from finland and sweden. there are several detailed procure, 1st wally to this, to that. other problems with joining nature was mostly because of russia. because your indicates, russia was making huge influence on the west, on nature. in fact,

open the threatening nature that induce you will join your brain. it will be a huge problem. and unfortunately, a lot of major countries were afraid of russia. and now we know that probably it was wrong, but now i think if the pros this with this, we didn't the, and till, and it's a good example from one side that to the news, extremely bad to strategist. because during last year, you were threatening that the show drove back from the blunder. so the russian, but she received absolutely opposite result. you will receive additional, i think, 1200 kilometers all the nato, a border, exactly lose to russia from another. had this good example for ukraine that is possible to join nature much faster than we thought before. i knew where for the moment it's, and this was that you bring an army, is probably the most advanced army major countries in europe. so that's why we hope

that we will follow the example which is shown to us by sweden and finland. and we still where might started on joining nader as soon as possible because it is probably the only option to ensure that for you. great. and in fact, for europe, thank you so much for joining us. ukrainian. m. p. andrea, such i did of the investigation has revealed how collaboration between scientists in europe and china might be having unintended consequences. together with partners from 6 other countries. d, w has been working on the china science investigation. for months. the team has been proving how european researchers have cooperated with china's national university of defense technology. now they reveal some startling findings. they compute hulu to through about the tools. this is a promotional video for one of china's top universities. to me is my who sure will

enter the journey of strengthening the military and below that some head of building a world class landing the videos for the national university of defense technology will n u d. t, a place that's deeply integrated with the chinese military. it's all part of what's called military civil fusion. as practice by china's ruling communist party, military civil fusion or m c. f is enormously important because it essentially inserts the military into all aspects of the economy. and vice versa. ok, so why we talking about this while the n u d t and other chinese universities like it have been getting help in their mission. from right here in your d. w in its partners in the china science investigation, have been investigating links between these institutions and european universities . and we've discovered a huge array of connections. including almost 3000 scientific

publications, co authored by both sides, some on highly sensitive subject. german researches have worked on more than 230 papers with the n u d t. so this is a big trove of papers. we looked at a lot of them and a lot of them seem quite a lot kids, but we also find some papers that might have a dual use applications. so that means they could be useful civilian, but also for military purposes. one quite interesting example is a study that looks at how you contract groups of people and china causes the surveillance state that might have an interest in tracking. for example, a certain ethnic group like the week is. so you can see this is an interesting example that could have civilian but also more ferris, the military application research on dual use technology is meant to be carefully regulated. so we talk to the head of one major funding body. not who,

and this is what that was and the must emphasize that the german research foundation doesn't fund any research with military relevance that is excluded from our funding for the home. and yet as our investigation shows questionable, research projects have been happening. yes, no. so he asked the junior minister, responsible, why the government isn't preventing this. he pointed to germany's constitution on is as old as in dalton, germany, we guarantee academic freedom. so research buddies and scientists decide for themselves. we can't do that centrally from belinda and we don't want to any mom. now there's no evidence at this point that laws have been broken. but both the european union and germany have declared china to be a systemic rival and authoritarian state. there's hushing for a very different kind of world. china expert dd kirsten tattler says doing the kind

of sensitive scientific research with china. the we've uncovered is deeply complacent. there is a fang, don't bite the hand that feeds you and i would actually turn it around and say, don't feed the hand the bites you shoot. you. the national university of defense technology is clear what it's trying to achieve with the devotee the lives to the modernization of the national defense army. do question is to year a p and universities really want to help. let's take a closer look at this with that now me comrade from d. w investigative team. welcome naomi. so we are there in the report, no indication of anything illegal, a going all. and if you recognize it, pretty much any technology can be used for military purposes, people are bound to ask why any of this matters. right, and we're not saying that we should capital corporations with china entirely, obviously need to cooperate with china, particularly when it comes to important topics like climate change research. but

what we're saying is that may be aware, you know, showing a picture that there's a lot of research going on in very sensitive fields with china's elite military university. so one study that we looked at basically identifies how to track groups of people. so you can imagine a direct application named you can track certain ethnic groups if you want. so we're just raising the question whether in fields that have potential military applications. a direct collaboration with research is from a military from china's top military institute on necessarily what your wants to do and we saw in your report that certainly as far as germany is concerned, this is very much a hands off approach. totally, absolutely. and it's quite interesting because there were researches or journalists part of this research where it's completely different in denmark, for example, it's changed completely within the last 2 years. there's been a reversal where denmark used to be very open. now a lot more thorough background checks,

particularly when you look at you will use the technology. so technologies that can be used for civilian military purposes. universities are starting to conduct more background checks to check what exactly they're doing and what potential applications might be. so that the purity of, of academic research is one thing, but as you say, if you were we was what was research projects with this military university? is that okay? yes. go ahead. he just seems why do universities wants to collaborate with them at all? well, i mean, this is china's top institute, obviously it has a lot of money and, and has very qualified research. is that come with a lot of money. i mean, we have to remember that out of university than europe, a pretty cas strapped. so who would turn down a top research it with a lot of money, but there's also another aspect which is that in china, you have access to lot of data that you can't access in, in europe because of se, privacy concerns. now, china is the surveillance state. they have loads of data and to conduct good

research. you need as much data as you can guess. it's very attractive to work with this university which has the data that you maybe can't get hold of here and has money. ok, now me, i come up from d w 's investigatory investigative team. thank you so much. a football news now on wednesday night sore throat, in conclusion to the europe lake with i'm tracked frankfurt a winning and a penalty. shoot out a bunch of stake, a side force off scotlands ranges and a tough final in survey. and an emotional reset from a white state back in front of the city's main scratch to hail the heroes. job coach oliver laza is on his way with the trophy of funds. get ready to party for a 2nd night. they've been defensive a lot of his life pictures as we get see the funds awaiting the return of there. rotate to leave you with more world news at the top of the hour

next. on the w, i debate show to the point to asking by the nato, a threat to russia has brought a new i'm good with with, [000:00:00;00]

with ah, with or to the point to the strong opinions or positions international perspectives. sweden and finland want to join the nato military alliance out of decades of

neutrality. so will it make them safer? a nato stronger, and he's russia writes available for them before find out until the point shortly to the point next, d, w. o, 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 are in a race against time. the

dna molecule has 28000000 different power blocks that they are peers and rivals with one daring goal to out smart nature for a longer, healthier and fuller life. one of the most in info discoveries in the history of mankind down the hatch. more life starts may 28th on d, w with sweden and finland. both say they want to abandon decades of neutrality to join the nato military alliance. the decision comes at a crucial moment in the war. in ukraine. images of ukrainian fight is many, horribly wounded. being evacuated from the as of steel work to murder you. paul,