this was will people, we should light on the opaque world who's behind benefits and why are they a threat to whistle peak world this week on d w? in ah, ah, this is due to the news live from berlin. ukraine says it's forces are still holding on and the eastern city a severe nest. there is intense street fighting there, and the region is under heavy russian. shelling also coming up french voters have

cast their ballots in the 1st round of parliamentary elections. president emanuel mac cole and a new coalition of left wing parties, led by shoulder mental show, our neck and neck. according to forecast, nato's chief has acknowledged that turkey has legitimate concerns about suite and finland. joining the alliance anchor is blocking the 2 nordic countries becoming part of nato, saying they have fact opposition groups hostile to the turkish government. ah, nic spicer, welcome to the program. ukraine says it remains in control of a chemical factory and the eastern city of soviet of the next hundreds of civilians are sheltering inside the plant. the city has become the epicenter of the battle for eastern ukraine. both soviet of the nest and the nearby town of lucy chance are under massive attack by russian artillery ukrainian soldiers

enlist a chance under fire from russian artillery. though they managed to evacuate a wounded civilian another barrage forces them to take cover again. this a chance is the twin city to see evarado, netscape, which remains the focus of russia's offensive in the don bus. russian and separatist forces have so far struggled to fully claim the city. several de netscape, not completely all 100 percent liberated while keep reports that ukrainian forces are still holding out. let's see what the enemy conducts, a skilled operations in the city of civil de nancy a little, but without success. there 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 stock pile 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 bus. these can't come soon enough. earlier i spoke to yuri sack in the ukrainian capital keith, he is an advisor to the accounting defense minister and asked him about the deployment of western weapons in the country. indeed we have received and we began

receiving after ramstein after the meeting. there are some air force base in germany. ukraine began receiving heavy artillery. it may stand that the $155.00 caliber and we have already received and deployed to the front. 150 of such items. and they are efficiently used along the battle field. and of course, as our president and minister of defense continues to say, we need more of these and we need more of course, the multi launch rocket systems, such as the m s and high mars the ship already occurred. the u. s. has said already there they will provide you credit for system. so i mars the u. k already said they will be providing you with i'm arrest systems. but just so that you understand according to the general style of the training on forces,

ukraine currently needs about a 100 effect systems to be able to conduct the counter offensive to be able to liberate our land. so timing is crucial and we need to receive these systems that was your 2nd advisor to the ukrainian defense minister speaking to me from keith over some other news. now, american senators have announced a bipartisan framework for curves on gun use. the move fall short, a stronger step stop by president. by many democrats with republican support. it would break a scale made in congress after years of mass shootings and protests which have little impact. hope francis has apologized to the faithful gather in saint peter's square for postponing his trip to africa. ni problems which have put them in a wheelchair have led doctors to advise him to stay at home. the pontiff said the postponement was a source of great regret. orthodox christians are celebrating an important day in

their religions calendar. pentecost is one of the oldest christian holidays falling on the 8th sunday after easter for believers that marks the holy spirit coming into the world and the foundation of the church of christ in jerusalem. voting in the 1st round of french parliamentary elections has ended with what is reported to be historically low turnout. early projections, however, show that president emanuel mack centrist alliance and it's main contender. a new coalition of left wing parties that by all new mental are more or less neck and neck. each of the rival secure between 25 and 26 percent of the vote. the 2nd round voting on june 19th, we'll decide whether mack holes government will be able to secure a clear majority. do you abuse? lisa lewis told me earlier, a little more about the meaning of the 1st round estimates. well,

it looks like you know, the projection space on tonight's estimate show that this really marks the revival of the french left the left wing alliance could get ever between 150, and 200 seats in parliament compared to about 85 years ago. and that alliance doesn't even bundle all the leslie parties. however, they were aiming for more. they wanted to get the biggest chair of the seeds and even the, the majority in parliament. that is unlikely to happen. come, you know, based on the projections that are based on tonights at resides at when you look on the other side of the spectrum, my cause party, the current president's party and is allies. they are likely to get the biggest number of seats in parliament. but again, for them it is, it seems to be a bittersweet, reside. they are obviously aiming for a majority in parliament, but estimates show that this is not sure actually, if not sure that this will happen. they could get between 255 and 310 seats in

parliament in and next week's 2nd round of voting. however, they need at least $289.00 seats and parliament in order to push through their of forms. and given that the left, it made a good score or is likely to make a good score. and next in next week's 2nd round and tonight in the 1st round, it looks like am i my car, the current president needs to take into account that many voters are actually and they, they want more left wing policies. he conscious put in place more market orientated reforms without listening to these people. but i just wanted ask you about. those are forums. if he doesn't get a call that does not get that majority and particularly an absolute majority of a 2nd round. what happens to his big reform agenda that does it die? well, you're right to ask, it will be very difficult for him to push through any reforms. i mean it's not the

left wing reforms maybe, but the center right? and the market orientated reforms such as you know, his plan to push up the current pension age from 62 to 64 or 6 to 5 there. if he doesn't get the 289 seats needed to have an absolute majority in parliament, he will need to convince people from other parties to go along with his plans to vote for him. and, you know, opposed as opposed to other countries, such as germany, germany, where, you know, there is a real policy, you know, really a tradition of having coalitions and finding agreements. that's not the case in france. it's been historically speaking, always very difficult for parties to agree on common agendas, and it's likely to be a lot more complicated for him on my call to govern this country in the coming 5 years. if he doesn't get these 289 seats in a next week's 2nd round of fighting here in the legislative elections in france. ok, well, we'll be looking forward to talking to in a weeks time,

to find out what happens. lisa lewis, reporting for us from paris, nato secretary general un stoughton berg has said that turkey security concerns over swedish and finished nato membership are legitimate. the 2 nordic countries applied to join the alliance. last month, after russia invaded ukraine. but turkey's president wretched type error to one has raised objections, accusing them of backing kurdish opposition groups, which at anchor are considered to be terrorist organizations. in helsinki, the message to ankara was clear. nato is listening. welcome. we are working hard with our nato allies, turkey, turkey, and also with the finance written to address or those issues thought to turkey. a house raced and these are legitimate concerns. this is about to terrorism is about her weapons exports. the finished president also stressed the talk to ongoing, but neither hinted at any progress reasons to take st. turkeys. president edwin

took his nato allies by surprise. last month when he said he would block finland and sweden's membership bids new to accusing them of harbouring people, linked to the kurdistan work as party the p k. k, which is listed as a terrorist organization in both countries. turkey also, the keys is sweden of backing the people's defense units in northern syria. anchor regards the mainly kurdish militia as an all sheet of the p k. k of you, not shed by its nato allies. the to nordic countries, place turkey under an arms exposed embargo after it launched an offensive against the group. in 2019 adon has said that embargo is another obstacle on their road to nato membership. so what is stoughton berg statement about turkey mean in practical terms? i put that question to dean of use. terry schultz in brussels. yes. that that's what he said as thornburg has offered himself as a mediator in this dispute. so he is walking

a very fine line. he needs to make sure not to antagonize turkey further so that it will put up even more resistance to finland and sweden joining at the same time, particularly as a fellow nordic leader. i still remember. a doesn't really believe i am certain that finland and sweden are knowingly harboring terrorists or exporting weapons to, to groups considered a terrorist by the european union. and by both of these countries themselves, the p k. k. so we need to listen carefully to what stilton berg said. he said, turkeys concerns about terrorism and about weapons exports to terrorist groups are legitimate concerns. he did not go so far as to say, he thinks either of these 2 countries are doing that. but again, with turkey already being a member and with all 30 allies needing to approve the exception of finland and sweden, he needs to make sure to be listening to on cobra to make sure turkey feels like it's being taken into consideration. at the same time, he needs to keep up hopes in finland and sweden that this bold move they've taken

to apply for membership in the alliance are kept alive. and just to get into the details here between the 2 countries, turkey seems more opposed to sweden joining than finland to moral stone bird meets with a swedish prime minister. what, what do we expect there? that's true. sweden does seem to be more of a bull's eye for turkey that than finland does. and does the finished president today expressed his his surprise more than once in that press conference, that turkey is opposing his country. he said that he'd received assurances many, many times, that a turkey supported finish membership, so he's clearly very disappointed in that president saline. mr. to morrow in sweden you're likely to her secretary general stilton burg, say more of the same that turkish concerns need to be taken into account that he is going to be discussing with the 3 countries intensively. how you can resolve this. but it, it truly does seem to be a stand off right now. and i know you don't want

a crystal ball game, but doesn't seem like there's a possible compromise. there has to be a pause, a compromise, because everybody in nato, including turkey, knows that finland and sweden would be very, very useful additions to the alliance that they would make nato stronger. and that's in everyone's interest. turkey, i think, at its heart is not opposed to finland and sweden joining nato. it, it simply wants to extract the most that it can out of out of this process and it has the power to do so. right now, every one hopes this will be resolved, that the accession negotiations can be opened by the summit in madrid, the end of this month. ok, terry show support, enforce from brussels. thanks so much. before we go, here's a quick look at our top story. the sour ukraine says his forces are still holding out in part of the eastern city. as of yet, their nets were hundreds of civilians have found shelter. the city and surrounding area are witness and consistent in 10th street fighting and heavy russian. shelly,

this is of course dw news live from berlin, coming up next sports life transgender, racing charlie martin's incredible jer can always get the latest news and analysis on our website, d, w dot com. i'm next, spicer, thanks for watching. ah .