the opaque world who's behind benefits and why are they a threat to whistle this week on d w? ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. ukraine says his forces are still holding on and the eastern city of soviet or the near the region is the focus of heavy russian shelling and intense street fighting. also coming up french voters had to the polls

in the 1st round of parliamentary elections. president, model mac ron has been challenged by a new coalition of left parties, led by john luke menache and missing in the amazon. the search for a british journalist and his brazilian colleague who disappeared while the reporting trip a week ago. ah . a marina evans dean, thanks for joining us. ukraine says it remains in control of the chemical plant and the eastern city of savannah. the nets where hundreds of civilians are sheltering severe the nets has become the epicenter of the battle in eastern ukraine. both this city and the nearby town of lucy chanst have been a target of heavy russian shelling. i la la ukrainian soldiers enlisted chanced under fire from russian artillery though they managed to evacuate

a wounded civilian another barrage forces them to take cover again. this chance is the twin city to see ever done yet, sc which remains the focus of russia's offensive in the dawn. bus. russian and separatist forces have so far struggled to fully claim the city sever denette is not completely all 100 percent liberated while keep reports that ukrainian forces us still holding out. lest the little the enemy conducts a sold operations in the city of civil de nancy a little, but without success, no might with street fighting, still raging across the city. most of ukraine's forces are hold up in the as out chemical plant, along with an unknown number of civilians. the fist fighting has made evacuating the city impossible. but in this war of attrition,

the don bus is not russia's only target. the russian ministry of defense has released this footage of strikes against what it claims a ukrainian strongholds. a russian news agency is also reporting claims that a large stockpile of us and european supplied weapons in west and ukraine was destroyed. the loss of these supplies would be a major blow for ukrainian forces, with some troops warning they are running low on ammunition. the west has promised to send additional weapons and for ukrainian troops in the don bas. these can't come soon enough. d, w 's rebecca writers is monitoring the warfare key. if i asked her for an update on the situation and see it and then ask, well, as you said, marianna, quite rightly server. the nets 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 i'll control around about 90 percent of that city. but fighting continues and is now centered in this localized area underneath this chemical plant. and that is where the russian troops are now fight a fighting ukrainian forces there. and we're seeing scenes, reminiscent of matter you, paul and the as of style plant are also hearing about 800 civilians, 200 workers, 600 family members in various civilians. also taking cover their underneath that steel, we're sorry that a 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 least chance. and then they will have captured all of the loo hans region, which is part of what they're trying 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 to any evacuations from several the net people in the la hans region have been warned since early april to leave that region. and many people have been in several de next. there is still around about $10.00 to $15000.00 people believe to be taking shelter there. we're seeing people evacuate from some surrounding towns and villages still mainly in the donnette region, but it, but definitely people and several donetta really struggling there. the ground italian situation is very dire, as you can imagine. there's no electricity running water and humanitarian aid is impossible to get in. so running out of food as well, being completely bombarded and living on the ground with no way of getting out at this stage. when rebecca just yesterday and the european union chief or sla funder

line 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. just for a moment, i am sure that we will soon receive an answer on the candidate status for ukraine. i am convinced that this decision can strengthen, not only our country yours, but the entire european union. she'll much thought what else needs to happen in europe to make it clear to skeptics that the very fact of keeping ukraine outside of the european union works against european or 2 table was the lansky sounding very determined. but we have heard from some e leaders like the french president in battle, not crohn and others saying it's gonna take years or maybe even decades for ukraine to join the european union. so rebecca, 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 for this for some time, but it was a, the formal application to join me a you came as 4 days after rush invaded ukraine. i'm in the urgency is perhaps all the is there, 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's something that isn't on the line. and the european commission shape will have been pains to get across to president salenti and i'm still president. zelinski also understands that, but this is a very important 1st step and it is looking like the commission will rec men that baby grants is candidacy status and then it needs to go and be voided, owned by 27 members. therefore, amid therefore triggering a very, very lengthy process that could take indeed years or decades. d w is rebecca

readers for us in key of rebecca, thank you so much. was going to check now some other news making headlines. this our forum, mcdonald's restaurants in russia, have reopened under a new name and logo delicious, full stop. but not all russians are happy about the change. the opening ceremony and moscow was disrupted by a protester holding up assigned, demanding the return of the big mack burger. mcdonald's closed, it's $850.00 russian outlets in response to the kremlin invasion of ukraine. on a visit to helsinki, nato secretary general against oldenburg, has said that turkey security concerns over swedish and finish nato membership were legitimate. the to nordic countries applying to join the alliance last month. bud turkeys president rich of tab ardon has raised objections, accusing them of backing kurdish opposition. groups that anchor considers to beat

terrorist organizations. hope frances has apologized to the faithful, gathered in saint peter's square for postponing his trip to congo and south sudan. ne problems which have put him in a wheel chair, lead doctors to advise him to stay home. the pontiff said the post homeland was a source of great regret. orthodox christians are celebrating an important day in their religious calendar. pentecost is one of the oldest christian holidays falling on the 8th sunday after easter. it marks the holy spirit coming into the world and the foundation of the church of christ in jerusalem to france now, where voters are heading to the polls once again, this time to choose lawmakers in parliamentary elections. the 1st of 2 rounds takes place today. paul show that president amount on lacrosse, the centrist alliance is neck and neck, with a new coalition of left parties,

led by john louis shawl. losing the majority here could be disastrous to microns plans for reform. a short while ago, d w correspondent lisa lewis explained what's at stake in today's parliamentary election in france. well, as you just say, there's a lot at stake, read according to french law, the parliament can actually revoke the government here in france. and that would mean that if the left wing alliance that new left in the lines under fall as party left once. and so we were to win the parliamentary elections than that, then the government would actually left we so that center right, president in my, my call would have to govern together with a left when government. and that would make it a lot more complicated for him to push through certain reforms, certainly not those that aiming to increase the wages of people working for the hospital or teachers, but others more market orientated reforms such as pushing up the pension age from

the current 60 to 26465 years. and so it would be much more complicated for him to govern france. that would be good news for certain left wing voters, but rather bad news for certain conservative voters. and also for economists who are worried about frances public debt, but it's currently at about 110 percent of g d p. okay, so very large implications if the left wins and majority in parliament domestically . but what i found on an international level, how would there when impact things abroad? well, it would also be significant for a frances role in the world, you know, as only middle shore. as you said, the leader of the far left party that has been able to determine very much the program, the platform of this new left thing alliance. he's very critical of the european union. he's also very critical of nato actually at the new laughing lines has said that they would maybe not respect certain rules and they will also lead want to

leave nato frances, obviously one very important member of the european union together with germany and a left when government and france at this stage would weaken the european union, also possibly nato, and that in times of crisis when there is a war raging in ukraine, is lisa lewis and perez lisa, thank you so much. 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 today, reuters news agency is reporting that federal police are skeptical of that british journalist dom phillips and his associate, bruno herrera, who previously loved the government's indigenous agency, had been reporting on issues in the amazon, including deforestation, and the encroachment of business interests onto indigenous lands the search

continues, british journalist dom phillips and brazil in virginia, sex bird bruno paddy era were last seen on june 5th. the due had received chats as they conducted research in brazil, java, he valley a forested 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. lucas have joined in on the search too, but there is still no sign of the missing men. the lad, we haven't found anything. we came all the way on the river, and there is nothing. i don't mean to me then, and brazilian authorities, including the president, said they are taking action bellagio, premier or mail from the moment they went missing. our armed forces and federal

police have been unstoppable in the tireless search for these people. follow, we pray to god that they are found alive. you vision in quote that i was going to give. but precious mounting while the bull sonata government, which has faced accusations that did not scale up the so much fast enough. oh, the disappearances. i don't have flexion of a state policy of complete disregard for the environmental cause for protected ages, for the public servants, for state solven's, fulfilling their function and for the indigenous themselves in that own deputy. i own the far right president has also been criticized for allowing a surge in default a station in the amazon and pushing to open protected indigenous lands to mining subjects. the 2 missing men were looking into and before we go, a quick reminder of our top story. ukraine says his forces are still holding out in

part of the eastern city of soviet or the nymphs where hundreds of civilians have found sheltered. the city and the surrounding area are witness thing, consistent intense street fighting and heavy rushing shelling you're up to date on dw news of next reporter with the last of their kind turkeys no matter. i'm marrying evans dean from me and the entire news team here in berlin . thanks for watching. ah, what secrets lie behind these walls? discover new adventures in 360 degrees and explore fascinating world heritage sites.