ah, mm hm. ah, ah ah, this is d w. news line from berlin, ukrainian troops say they're fighting for every house and every street the spine facing and tens, rush and shelling in the city of gerald on nance, ukrainian, president lensky, says the outcome of this battle could determine the fate of the entire don bass region also coming up a public hearing made for prime time tv and

a highly anticipated 1st session, the committee investigating the january 6th attack on the capital is ready to take its findings to the american people. and thailand gives a conditional green light to growers and consumers of mar, you wanna, in a country known for its strict anti drug laws. many say it's high time or a change. ah, i'm the call for it's good to have you with us. ukrainian president followed amir zalinski says his country's forces are holding off russian troops near the southeastern city of upper regia, and also making gains near ukraine. second city har keith and the east, but in the contested city of severed on yeske, ukrainian troops have retreated to the outskirts and fierce urban warfare. the

lensky says the outcome will determine the fate of the entire east of the country. surveyor done yet is being pounded into rubble. the ukranian governor of the surrounding lu. hence, grecian says, its defenders will be forced back if the russian bombardment continues up. are you sure this more? ah, if the artillery shelley stays as intense as it is now, the time will come when their positions will simply entirely destroyed out of full flu beach us. there'll be no place for the soldiers to hide. who should be foreigners from him. um then they will most likely have to move to new positions when you military v. p non move you put those new positions could well end up being here in this a chance. but severe done yet is twin. city has also come under relentless shelling,

ukrainian authority, say they been trying to evacuate residence, but thousands of them are either unwilling or unable to flee. a persona, just 30 kilometers to the south, provide some signs of what may await them. footage from russian state media shows the town which fell to russian troops last month after fist fighting, lying in ruins. in a sign pro russian false is a tightening that grip on the region. cleanup has begun in parts of the don bass under that control. with a clear message sent ukrainian fighters on thursday, a separatist caught in the regions sentence 3 captured foreign fighters to death. the 2 britons and one moroccan were convicted of being mesmerized after a trial that lasted just 3 days. the u. k has slammed the ruling as a sham saying the geneva convention prohibits the prosecution of prisoners of war. but with russia opening over a 1000 investigations into other captured soldiers there and likely be the last to

face trial or even death. montes billing as our corresponded and key if and has more on this controversial rolling. yeah, it's these 3 citizens, they're the 1st ones to be sentenced in one of these courts. of course, it's not recognized by the western governments and bell or the governors that do not recognize the republics that have put this a case on trial. and it, they are for fighters that were listed that was ukraine says in the ukrainian army as regular soldiers. there are lots of for, for a national serving in the ukranian army. and ukraine insist that they are treated as the prisoners of war now. and there is a bit of a, let's see. um, there are many a news and, and many, many propaganda items about foreign fight as it seems that the russian propaganda has focused on them recently. and that might be part of the story here. um,

for russia has several. hm. narratives about this war going one about is about ukraine, ukrainian naziism as they call it, ukraine, being a country controlled by nurses that needs to be liberated. and the other one is about a fight against the west. and as a results with taking control of ukraine, overthrowing the ukrainian government very far now from a reach for russia. they have focused a little bit on these are western fighters. there's been more reports about them on russian tv anatomy. it might be one of the reasons why this trial has been held now being is basically portraying them as mercenaries and sent by western countries. it was a day that nearly pushed us democracy to the frank january 6th of 2021. when a mom of trump supportive storm, the u. s. capital building,

attempting to stop the certification of jo biden's election victory, 4 people died. hundreds were injured. now, 18 months later, the congressional panel investigating the attack is going public, putting its hearings on primetime t, v. to show the world what it's uncovered. please welcome the 45th. it started with speeches to an angry crowd, including one from former president donald trump. and we fight, we fight like hell. and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. shortly after a mob made its way down pennsylvania avenue to the capital building. they scaled the building, broke through police lines. they then roam through the corridors. this was a fraud. trump eventually told the crowd to go home via video messages. hours after the rampage started, we have to have peace. but the questions were just beginning specifically about the

white house as involvement in the day's events. the idea that all of this was just a routing demonstration that spontaneously got a little bit out of control, is absurd. you don't almost knock over the u. s. government by accident. the house select committee on january 6th has interviewed more than 1000 people as well. as reviewing video footage of the day and phone and computer records, press reports and court documents related to the committee have made some stunning revelation resolution. many center around former white house chief of staff, mark meadows. he was with the president from much of the day and was contacted by multiple republicans within the capital, begging him to get trump to order his supporters to go home. it's unclear how much he may have coordinated with people involved in the riot. meadows has refused to

testify as have many of trumps closest allies. trump's ongoing hold on the republican party has made the committee's work more difficult. most republicans have openly attacked the committee's work and say it's a partisan hit job. but democrats hope the hearings will show how far the white house was willing to go to keep trump in power. so all eyes on this 1st session of the january 6th hearings for more, i'm joined now by our correspondence stephan simons. he's in washington 7th. this session is being broadcast live on prime time t v in the us. how much interest is this investigation generating in the public? well, the public hasn't heard from the investigation much. there have been some leagues, and, you know, pundents off democrats and republicans in the past few months is saying this or that, but a public hearing like informing the public that hadn't happened to day. so it's

hard to gauge how much interest this no doubt though the democrats have to make their case to the public because the public, of course, is entitled to know what those members of the select committee to investigate january 6 have hurt 1000. it is a 1000 interviews, a depositions, and almost a $145000.00 documents involved and so on. so the democrats will try or the select committee members. there are some rubber republicans in there. we'll try to make the case to the public in that case is called donald trump. how much did the president for president know? how much was he involved actively in actively, whatever, doesn't matter. so what we will hear is more testimony life testimony from one capitol police officer who was apparently the 1st that's what the committee says, the 1st one attacked. and you will hear and see video brand new video we haven't seen before. the public hasn't seen before. america hasn't seen before that democrats from us with depositions, maybe from family members of donald trump. yvonne contract a son of a donald trump,

maybe a former general attorney bob bar. like we'll have to wait a little bit of the investigation is wide reaching of course back focused heavily. you mentioned it already on former president down trend. what are we hearing from his camp in the lead up to the hearings? yeah. in advance of this hearing public hearing now, and this is one of for, for there's 2 more, for example, schedule next week. um, the president made sure and clear towards his party rank and file that he expects a strong, vivid defense of his himself or his personal, his job of his presidency, of everything and of what happened on january 6 of course. well, so the pundits and some politicians on the republican side are not getting tired of saying that this is, as we said in the piece, a hitch off the democrats trying to torpedo the president and the for president's

legacy. the fox network. arguably the stakeholder of their g o, p, they're a grand old part of the republican party and the conservative part of america is not broadcasting this life as the only one of the 5 big networks here they have pushed coverage to a sister network, which is in the portfolio of the fat forks network. very interesting. thank you. stephanie diamond in washington. now take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today. at least 3 people have been killed after a shooting in the us state of maryland. police say the suspect, open fire at a manufacturing facility before fleeing the scene. the incident comes as you, as lawmakers consider new gun safety measures. in the wake of recent mass shootings, germany, the united kingdom and france, have urged iran to stop what they call a nuclear escalation and quickly move toward reviving the 2015 nuclear accords. the

joint statement came after the un atomic energy watchdog accused run of removing 27 security cameras that monitored its nuclear program. the u. n. warns the move could be a fatal blow to the deal. supporters of a british journalist who has been missing in the amazon jungle since sunday have called on authorities to step up search efforts. dom philips and and indigenous official, bruno pereira, vanished while on a reporting trip in a remote area. popular with cocaine smugglers and illegal fishermen, thailand has become the 1st asian country to legalize the growing and possession of marianna. although smoking it and public is still banned, growers will have to register with a government and when marianna is offered in food or drink, it's strength will have to be limited. there's plenty of public

interest. 6 and a triumphant 1st customer with options resembling a fast food menu, closely scrutinizing the product. wow. oh, and buying some apparel as well to mark the occasion. country me, milan sang, i got here last night. after work i showered and took the bus. i knew the shop was still closed, so i waited with some beers and watched the staff getting ready. i wanted to witness the beginning of change will be the final and now i got in gallup on but too much change is not what authorities want. the cannabis on sale is low potency, and people are being warned against smoking in public and creating a stink violations can bring fines and even jail and beyond the head shops,

getting lit is not something everyone approves of ah young lives at wow. i think i'm a python and i feel like tie people are not fully ready for the legalization. that's high because people do not properly understand the use of cannabis when a bad because i why they need to be educated on how to use kind of it. and also the limitations because as we all know, it could cause more harm than benefit. there are also concerns about unwanted drug tourism that bangkok could become an asian amsterdam. others are less worried. i just think that up, she's got a lot more to offer than just made out to smoke. cannabis mother is a beautiful, beautiful paw. the world i think can is kind of his be legalized would make me come any more. so for better or worse, thailand's cannabis experiment is open for business and that is all from me for

now. after a short break, my colleague christy plans and we'll have the business update for you if you want more news at any time, go to our website or follow us on instagram or twitter or you find us at w and the cough released from me and the entire team here in berlin. thank you so much for watching. thank oh lou, what people have to say matters to us. ah, that's why.