[000:00:00;00] ah, a room ah ah, this is dw news why from berlin? ukraine says its forces are still holding on in the eastern city of sierra, the nets. the region is the focus of heavy rush and shelling an intense street fighting,

marching to stop the killing. thousands joined protests across the united states, demanding tighter gun control, and an end to mass shooting. president joe biden urges the protesters to keep marching ah and greetings. 2 of yours around the world, michael oke, who ukraine says it remains in control of a crucial chemical plant. in the eastern city of she ever did ask where hundreds of civilians are sheltering. the loo, hans regional governor rejected claims by pro russians shepherd tests that ukrainian troops had been blockaded there. he says ukrainian forces continue to hold an industrial zone in the city. the area has seen consistent bitter st battles in heavy russian. shelly shepherd,

donetta has become the epicenter of the battle in eastern ukraine. d. w, corresponded rebecca readers is in the ukrainian capital keys. hi, rebecca talked to us about the situation in shepherd, annette square. reportedly ukrainian troops only remain in control of one chemical plant. that's right, michael, as you rightly mentioned severin and as has been at the center of the battle and so far the battle at the moment in the dawn bass for some weeks now and in russia has been gradually pushing forward. but it's been a very slow and gradual push forward ukraine managing to hold back her at least a fast advance. but as you say now, only this as a chemical industrial side is under ukrainian control. russia now does control the rest of the city that we're, we're, you know it's, it's a little bit of reminiscent of what we saw in mary paul and the as of style plant, where the civilians, both workers from the,

from the industrial plant and civilians trapped, they're hiding under ground with about 3 or 400 or ukrainian soldiers as well, trying to maintain their obviously trying to not the resist russian control. i don't want to give out that area and have rush a push true to the says to city on the other side. of the river, which is less chance as both sides, we understand exchange fire. many civilians are still trying to get out with their lives. what can you tell us about their situation or the situation? of course, as you can imagine remains dire in that city. it's been continuously bombarded. people are living under ground, as we said, there are $800.00 as expected, $800.00 civilians living on the ground of this a this plant. but there are other people in the city. there's believe to be between 101-5000 people still in 70 than it. they are living in these conditions. they have no access to, there's no power,

there's no water. and there's really no supply routes in. so there's really no little access to any food humanitarian aid that kind of thing. getting out of that city is almost impossible. any kind of official evacuations are long over. so anybody who is managed to get out will be doing so are really at their own risk. it is a dire situation and it will continue to be so as long as this fighting continues, that rebecca, as you know, european union chief herself on the line was in key yesterday promising some movement. this upcoming week on ukraine's bid to become an e. u member, now ukraine's a president does. zalinski talked about that in his latest video address. we hear some of what he had to say and then get your reaction to a squirrel. i'll do mine, i am sure that we will soon receive an answer on the candidate status for ukraine. so i am convinced that this decision can strengthen, not only our country yours, but the entire european union. she'll most of what else needs to happen in europe

to make it clear to skeptics that the very fact of keeping ukraine outside the european union works against europe or to quote evil rebecca, the ukrainian president, sounding a very determined there. but some e. u. leaders like french president emmanuel mccall, say it will take years, decades even for ukraine to join the european union. so why is this membership bid so important to zalinski right now? was the lens. his argument is that ukraine is perkins 1st stop, really, and that the whole european project could be at risk of collapse eve potent is allowed to continue. the lensky looking for security assurance is from the a you are being for being and being a part of the a you, as it were. i mean, the, you crime has all large factions of ukraine have long wanted to become a part of the, a you. but obviously the situation here of the security situation has obviously

hastened the desire to then have the security assurances from the year. but you know, as you just rightly stated, the president macro on france saying that this can take decades. and that is true. i mean, we've seen most a beads for the a you take a route about 10 years, so there is no legal framework for fast tracking as it were. so even if the candidacy is allowed next week as, as is expected, it's still a very long road ahead for president zalinski. he said the not necessarily looking for a fast track, but this is definitely in his mind a step in the right direction. d, w. 's rebecca readers in keep many thanks rebecca. she has to look at some other developments in the war. german media or reporting that chancel. all of schultz is planning to visit ukraine's capital keith before the end of june. the build newspaper says the chancellor will visit with the french president in manuel, mac hall, and italian prime minister. mario dragging. the german government has so far declined to comment on the report. months,

years of schooling. russian forces occupying southern ukraine have begun handing out passports. 23 locals, including the new moscow installed governor of hassan, have accepted russian passports. russia has also opened an office in mella topple in a region still partly held by ukraine. tens of thousands of people have rallied across the united states in a renewed push for tougher gun control measures. in the aftermath of last month, sir, school massacre and texas protest her say it's time for action and not more prayers . while lawmakers have drafted new legislation, the reforms are unlikely to overcome congressional hurdles and become law. the brooklyn bridge in new york, just one of more than 400 rallies held across the us on saturday. the marches were

organized after a spate of deadly shootings across the country. buffalo, new york, and you, val detects us were 2 of them, carried out by attackers with high powered firearms. weapons that demonstrated here would like to see under strict regulation. if you look at it, all of the recent murders have been done by 18 year olds, and yet they can't smoke because they can't buy cigarettes. they can't buy liquor because they're not mature enough to handle those 2 things. and yet they mature enough to handle an 8 or 15. that's ridiculous. and the biggest rally was in washington d. c. way senators, a said to vote on gun reform later this week. the us house of represent has passed bills, which would, in principle, raise the age limit on buying semi automatic weapons and establish federal red flag laws. but the bills are not likely to become law because of united republican

opposition in the senate. something activists here cannot understand if our government can't do anything to stop lighting, kids from being killed and flattered in their own school and a capitated. it's time to say, oh, then got it. from the very top of the us government, president joe biden urged demonstrators not to give up margin with the way people with affect my vote died, but protesters are not giving up yet. and they demanding action from the lawmakers . d w. c. me. so misconduct was at the rally in washington in has more on the change. protesters want they want just any sort of change. i mean,

we saw so many signs imploring lawmakers to do something to make of schools, churches supermarket safer. we have seen the spade of mass shootings in buffalo, new york, and you've all the texas, tulsa, oklahoma and the anger and the frustration was really palpable among protesters. specifically the much for allies movement. this was founded after a mass shooting in florida 4 years ago, and they have a list of policy proposals. they want to see address. that includes a national licensing and registry system, a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines. that's essentially how many bullets a gun can fire off policies to disarm gun owners who pose a risk also a national gun buyback program, while the majority of americans do clearly in survey after survey say they want some sort of restrictions on guns and becomes tricky when you talk about the how, because we did speak to gun control, advocates this past week, who say there shouldn't be a ban on assault weapons or that there shouldn't be a national registry. what they can't agree on is that something needs to be changed . america has witness more mass shootings than days in the year. so all of that is

contributed to this fresh momentum, really and the push for gun safety legislation. but we have to remind viewers that nothing has actually changed in terms of legislation. and a lot of protesters we saw it spoke to carried signs expressing their fury with lawmakers who have blocked any progress on meaningful reform. assembling block is and has been a gridlock in the senate. so the house of representatives where the democrats have a majority, they were able to pass a packet of measures this week that include things that they call common sense gun laws. like removing guns from the homes of people who are considered a risk. raising the age to purchase a semi automatic firearm from 18 to 21. but that is all but doomed in the senate. and the reason rahile is that the democrats don't have the numbers. they would need 10 republicans to vote with them on this package. there is not much chance that they will get the majority. they are still negotiating. there's some optimism, but most observers here believe that congress will come up short again on legislation on gun control. let's take

a look now at some of the other news from around the world. police in the western us state of idaho, i have arrested 31 men suspected of plotting to stage a riot near an l g b t q. pride event. lisa, the suspects are members of the white nationalist group. authorities were taped off by a call from the local resident who reported seeing what look like quote, a little army. 9 men have been arrested in china after a video showing the beating of 2 women provoked outrage security cameras at a restaurant in the northern city of tongue shine show the men dragging. the women by the hair and punching and kicking. the polls have opened in france his parliamentary elections, they could be critical to the success of president men, wilmot holes. second term agenda. the centrist presidents, absolute majority, is and stake with poles predicting a strong challenge from

a left wing alliance opposed to many of the coins policies. china's defense minister waving her has warned that any attempt to bring about ty, one's independence, will trigger a fight to the end. he spoke at a regional security form in singapore general way accused. the united states are pursuing an indo pacific strategy bound to lead to confrontation. he said china's relationship with the u. s. was at a critical juncture and that it was up to washington to improve ties at asia, most important security summit in singapore. a chat of more. we would on to know if anyone dares to spit taiwan from china, flu. the chinese military will fight at all costs. it's a smash, any secessionist attempt to see and will, resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity with our to try . couldn't go on to that warning, followed

a meeting between supa defense ministers, china's waving co and light austin, of the u. s. tensions between beijing and washington over the self governing island of ty von have sort in decent months. frequent incursions by the chinese air force into ty, once and offense zone, have angered the by an administration. we were witness. they studied increase in provocative and destabilizing military activity in your taiwan. and we remain focused on maintaining peace stability and the status quo. a quote across the tri one street, but the p. r. c's moves threatened to undermine security of stability and prosperity in the end of the civic, or you will last month, president joe biden announced that washington would defend ty von, should china attack provoking and angry rebuke. from beijing,

by the white house has since walked back those statements thought of a deliberate policy of weakness on taiwan, known as strategic ambiguity. for the small island living in the shadow of it's increasingly a sort of neighbor that ambiguity provides little comfort. this is dw news lie from berlin up. next is reporter. looking at the decline of turkeys nomad population. you can get all the latest news and analysis on our website, d, w dot com. i'm michael. okay. for me and the rest of the team here in berlin, thanks for watching is more news in 45 minutes. with