ah ah ah ah ah, this is dw news lie from berlin. ukraine says its forces are still holding on and the eastern city of savannah. the next. the region is the focus of heavy russian shelling and intense street fighting. also on the show. coach answer all of scholes soon be on his way to ukraine and german newspaper report that

a joint visit is plans with the leaders of france and italy before the end of the month. plus, marching to stop the killing. thousands joint protest across the united states demanding tighter gun control and an end to mass shootings. presidential biden urges the protesters to keep marching ah, a marina evans dean, thanks for joining us. ukraine says it remains in control of a chemical plant and the eastern city of savannah. don't ask where hundreds of civilians are sheltering. but will hans regional governor rejected cleans by pro russian separate is that ukrainian troops had been blockaded there. he says ukrainian forces continue to hold an industrial zone in the city. the area has seemed continuous and intense. st. battles and heavy russian showing severe to

denounce, has become the epicenter of the battle in eastern ukraine. dw rebecca readers is monitoring the war from t if i asked her for an update on the situation instead of the next well, as you said, marianna, quite rightly server. the net has been at the center of the battle for don basses. it's been called for some weeks now and it continues to be so russia is managing very slowly, however, to push forward, then our control around about 90 percent of that city. but fighting continues and is now centered in this localized area underneath this chemical plant. that is where the russian troops are and now fight a fighting ukrainian forces there. and we're seeing st. reminiscent of matter you, paul, and the as of style plant. we're also hearing about 800 civilians, 200 workers, 600 or family members and various civilians also taking cover there underneath that

steel. we're sorry that the chemical plant. but what, what is concerning is that ukraine has said that that city may well fall in the next day or 2. and then russia will advance and to on to the next is to city this a chance. and then they will have captured all of the new hans region, which is part of what they try to do to capture that on bass. will rebecca, we should also remember that as this intense fighting goes on, there are still many civilians there who are trying to get out. do these people have any way of leaving the area where all this fighting is going on? well, at the moment, it's just too dangerous to really attempt any evacuations from several the net people in the house region have been warned since early april to leave that region and many people have but in several de next there is still around about $10.00 to $15000.00 people believe to be taking shelter. there were seeing people evacuate

from some surrounding towns and villages, still mainly in the don at region. but it, but definitely people and several donetta really struggling there. the gadarian situation is very dire. as you can imagine, there's no electricity or running water and humanitarian aid is impossible to get ins for running out of food as well. being completely bombarded and living on the ground with no way of getting out at this stage. rebecca just yesterday and the european union chief, or sla underline was in t f. and she promised that by the end of the week, there would be an official response to ukraine's request for membership status on their bid to join the you. we know that president zalinski talked about that in his latest video address. i'd like to listen to part of it now and then get your reaction to a squirrel. although i am sure that we will soon receive an answer on the candidate status for ukraine. also. i am convinced that this decision can strengthen, not only our country yours,

but the entire european union. she'll my stuff is 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 european or to pull people was the last key sounding very determined. but we have heard from some e leaders like the french president of mine on la cron and others saying it's going to take years or maybe even decades for ukraine to join the european union. so we're back a, why is this membership bid so important to zalinski right now, if it's not going to happen in the foreseeable future? well, marianna zalinski has been pushing to this for some time, but i was the formal application to join me a you came here 4 days after rush invaded ukraine and the urgency is perhaps obvious they're they really looking for security assurances from the a you. but as for president, micron of france has stated, and as we've seen from other a u. s. session processes eighty's

a very long process. and this is something that is not going to happen overnight. that something that isn't on the line. the european commission shape will have been pains to get across to president salenti and i'm sure president zalinski also understands that, but this is a very important 1st step and it is looking like the commission will rec men that they be granted candidacy status. and then it needs to go and be voted on by 27 members. therefore, therefore triggering a very, very lengthy process that could take indeed years or decades dw rebecca readers for us in key of rebecca, thank you so much. a german media outlet is reporting that chance are all of shoals plans to travel to ukraine's capital key of before the end of june. the big newspaper says that the chancellor will visit together with french president amount of my crohn and italian prime minister. mario dragging. this would mark the 1st time that shoals has visited the ukranian capital since the war began. german

government has so far declined to comment on the report. was short time ago, i spoke to the w political correspondent, benjamin of our as gruber. for more details on this story. hoping to this media reports berlin in paris, haskin in toes for a long time. no. t planned this visit. it was the idea of french president manuel chrome to invite this italian counterpart of italian prime minister maria drive that they would wait for the trip for the parliamentary elections that are taking place now in france. they want to send the sign of unity in support of ukraine and battle would go to kia ford before the 70 to some of that will take place at the end of june in bavarian germany. while we do have to remember that the german chancellor has been widely criticized for being indecisive in his reaction to this war. and also in particular for not sending ukraine enough military support. so how

significant would a visit a key of b, especially now more than 3 months into the war? it is highly significant in as you just pointed out, the has the criticism not only from the position but also by a government parties by the probations, f d p party by the greens and also within the social democratic party to tell shows that it's important for him to go there to give a sign in to actually also say not just was not just promises that many have been demanding by the german chancellor, but it shows him self pointed out. he does not want to be one of those who go into craig pretty quickly for info or trinity and that elite again. so he needs to have something in his suitcase with him. within this delegation, i could be 2 things on one side, having showing german support for a possible membership for the european union for ukraine. you just mentioned it with rebecca that a european commission president was on the phone. the line was dan said that they

want to show the support and want to have this final assessment that will present next week. so once that could be that, and on the other side, it could be these heavy weapons that ukraine is having, relying on, especially now that, that mission is going out in the ukraine, ukraine's defense ministry has stated so it's not just going there, but also having something in the suitcase this one. what many are wondering and asking the german chancellor ticket to have a is benjamin r as river? thanks so much benjamin. all right, let's turn our attention now to the united states where tens of thousands of people across the country have rallied inner renewed push for tougher gun control measures . in the aftermath of last month, school massacre and texas. protesters say it is time for action and not more prayers. while lawmakers have drafted he ret legislation. the reforms are unlikely to overcome congressional hurdles and actually 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 u. val to texas were 2 of them, carried out by attackers with high powered firearms. weapons that demonstrate is 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 cuz 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 representatives has passed bills, which would, in principle, raised the age limit on buying semi automatic weapons and established 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 start, like seeing kids from being killed and fluttered in their own school and the capitated. it's time to say, oh, then gods from the he taught of the u. s. government president joe biden urged demonstrators not to give up the martin the board with double what physician lloyd people listen but my vote on but protest is on not giving up yet. and demanding action from the law make is known as some other world

news. now men have been arrested in china after a video showing the beating of 2 women provoked outrage security cameras at a restaurant. the northern city of tongue shun show the men dragging. the women by the hair and punching and kicking them. voting is underway in france's parliamentary elections. the outcome of the vote could be critical to the success of president a mental microns 2nd term agenda. the center president's absolute majority is at stake with opinion polls predicting a strong challenge from a left wing alliance that opposes of many of microns policies. police in the western us state of idaho have arrested 31 men, suspected of plotting to stage a riot near an l. g c p q. pride event. police say the suspects are members of a white nationalist group. authorities were attempt off by a call from a local resident who reported a seeing what looked like quote,

a little army you know what they're going to have in their a week has passed since a journalist and his researcher went missing in brazil. yesterday investigator is raised the prospect that human remains found near a river might hold a clue to the men's whereabouts. but to day reuters news agencies reporting that federal police are skeptical of that. for this journalist, don phillips and his associate bruno herrera, who previously led the government's indigenous agency, had been reporting on issues in the amazon, including deforestation, and the encroachment of business interest on to indigenous lands. the search continues, british journalist dom phillips and brazilian indigenous expert, bruno paddy eta, were last seen on june 5th. the 2 had received chats as they conducted research in

brazil, jawad he rally afford ested region, which has seen a surge in illegal fishing. logging, mining and drug trafficking. police have arrested one man so far suspected of tailing, the missing men. a spot of blood was found on his boat. locals have joined in on the search too, but there is still no sign of the missing men. we haven't found anything. we came all the way on the river, and there is nothing. i don't mean to me. them brazilian authorities, including the president, said they are taking action bears your pre middle mirror from the moment they went missing. our armed forces and federal police have been unstoppable in the tireless search for these people vulgar. we pray to god that they all sound alive. you vision in quadrants won't hear this, but pressures mounting while the bull sonata government,

which has faced accusations that did not scale up the search fast enough. you're up to date on d. w. news coming up. next, are a documentary looking at germany's volcanic eiffel region, and don't forget, you can get lots more news and information on our website. just go to d, w dot com. i'm there and i haven't seen, i'll have another news update for you at the top of the hour. hope you join us then it is a secret war in the scene unless one absence of that conflict between yvonne on the one hand and israel and the united states on the other. for more than 40 years, the adversaries have been.