ah, ah, this is dw news ally from berlin, russia pounds, cities in eastern ukraine, a regional governor. sh as many or killed by shelling in lucy. chance ukrainian forces are badly until falls off the russian onslaught. also coming up the u back ukraine's european. gree. brussels recommends granting keep candidate status, but the plan needs approval from all member states. also on the program, the u. k. government says julian assange can be sent to the u. s to face buying targets. ricky leeks founder has been fighting expedition for over

a decade. but his supporters say his battle is not over yet. ah, a michael ok, welcome. the battle for control of ukraine's eastern industrial heartland. the dumbass continues to rage full force and the civilian toll is rising. the regional governor of lou, hans says heavy shelling by russian forces in the city of lucy chance has killed many people. it comes as russia fights, a brutal battle for for control of neighboring several minutes. this a chance is the only city in the key battleground region, still under ukrainian control. d. w, as rebecca readers is in chief and sent us this update on the situation in the surcharge. ah, well the situation there, michael, as he vis describe,

is worsening. i it hasn't been very good there for some time, but it is getting worse, having confirmation now of severe shelling and multiple debts, although we don't have a figure on that yet. that concerned by the governor of new hampshire region. now that says to city, lucy, chance is, this is the city of several genetically. the fighting has been centered now for some time that city is more or less under russian control, although not entirely, we do know of course, that there are some ukrainian fighters and civilians hiding in the as a chemical plant there in that city. we've had some new figures as over 500 civilians hiding there, including 38 children in that plant. but people saying now is absolutely no way for escape. there are no bridges, there are no roots out of that city. and so it is nothing short of a cease fire will mean that those people can get out of the city. we've also seen overnight some shelling and how to keep region. and we've seen an attack on the city of mich elia,

which is kill 2 people. an injured at least 20 others on the ukrainian side. they claim to have bombed a tugboat for a russian tug boat that had weapons and soldiers on board. so the fighting continues, but as we know, this is a slow war of attrition. that is taking a huge dec talk about moving slowly in terms of territory. rebecca, the u. n. is shame the humanitarian situation in ukraine is extremely alarm there were painted picture for us of what the situation do is what i think the situation has been alarming for some time. i mean, this is definitely not new. the situation obviously in the 2 cities that i've just described that are on the almost constant bombardment and shelling the situation there is completely dire for the civilians, their people having to live almost entirely on the ground as the it is a bomb. they're running out of food and access to clean drinking water and other utilities. you know,

but it's not just in the cities that are at the center of the fighting all this off at the cities in the east and part of the don't back that have been captured by russian soldiers. they were heavily bombarded in the lead up to them being taken over and so the civilians there having to also live without access to humanitarian aid. they're running out of no access to clean drinking water and things like that . so definitely at the civilians all the losing the most in this we're having to live in the absolutely di conditions. he's rebecca readers. many things with the european commission is recommending that ukraine be granted formal e u membership candidate status along with moldova. this will allow both countries to start negotiations with brussels commission president, or sheila funder line, said that ukraine must carry out a number of political and economic reforms. the commissions recommendation will be discussed by all of the blocks $27.00 nations at a summit in brussels. next week,

it follows an endorsement for fast tracking ukraine's candidacy by 4 european leaders who visited keith on thursday earlier artists pub reeks the deputy prime minister and defense minister of lafayette. shared his thoughts on the european commission, recommending candidate status for you. correct? well we are positive about this because we have been speaking from latin side already for half a year, at least as together with some other member countries said this is one symbolic step. what european union should do because ukrainians are paying was their blood. and as a future of ukraine should be bound to european union. so actually, we really believe was at lisa and acceptance and, and information which we received now from a dumb funder lion, a is actually a small success also for countries like let them the leaders of germany,

france in italy backed candidate status for ukraine. when they visited on thursday, in your view, are they doing enough for ukraine, or do they need to offer more support? well, i guess, sir, i am very outspoken politician from small country, so probably not everybody's happy with. i'm saying to this is of war time. and that is no also time for nicety or political correctness. i would say that i highly value this announcement from german, french and italian leadership about a u candidate status, because it has a symbolic value today. it has a symbolic recognition for ukrainian swords. they are doing and they've would expect this, but we also understand that as this will be a long process, and there will be a need for a lot of jobs also now side than ukrainian side for ukraine to become

a new member. as thought as a support for ukraine at this moment, what is the most needed and what can change as this war situation is? first, the fall was a necessity for every leader in europe to accept it as it. our goal is that ukraine must to win, and russia must lose, and that must be clearly stated. secondly, i would believe that every country in europe, including germany, should put a maximum military support for ukraine to day. and now, and if you asked my position, if i would be the german politician, i would say my country has a big economic and industrial might. and because of this gravity of situation and danger for future wars, if ukraine is losing, i am putting all the industry of germany behind your crate. as you know, the better for the dumbass is reaching a critical point. we got reports of the city,

lizzie chance being heavily shelled in just the last few hours. how do you see that unfolding? while i believes that ukrainian saw it very slowly of his high casualties on both sides and little bit losing ground. but on the other hand, i am optimist, and i believes that this western assistance was western equipment was western ammunition and weapons are arriving, and that ukrainians will be capable of actually after vile to recovers their territory. was military and also diplomatic support. because our goal should be stated again very clearly, ukraine must get its territory back. so we simply must understand that this war will be longer than somebody wants. and the western societies must per, per, for resilience. and yes, it is painful. yes, gas prices are rising, inflation is rising. but if you do not want to war yourself,

help ukraine. now. that was the hardest public, the deputy prime minister in defense minister of latvia speaking to ost earlier. as we've heard, ukraine is on track to become a candidate for e u membership. but that's only the 1st step in a long and complicated process. d w max xander explains what's involved for craig, maybe on its way into the european union. and some leaders have promised it won't take longer, it will be not as usual and much of years to form this opinion. but i think a matter of weeks if we work closely together sell for. he will have another meeting his online. but despite the public show of solidarity that you commission president displayed here on her 1st visit to ukraine, there are a few legal challenges ahead o candidacy is the 1st step. countries have to

fulfill the so called copenhagen criteria, which includes having a stable democratic government that applies the rule of law. for the 2nd stage are accession talks which marks the beginning of practical preparations for you membership. so a country would usually need to undergo reform process, which includes its judiciary, the administration, its economy, and political structures. the rules add up to $35.00 chapters in total with long lists of conditions. countries are vetted accordingly by the commission on the state of their markets, agriculture, external relations and other factors. if you, negotiators find a problem like a government meddling in the appointment of judges, they can demand justice reforms which can take years. finland needed 3 years to comply. turkey started the negotiating phase back in 2005, but talks have long been deadlocked due to anchorage increasingly authoritarian

tendencies and the leaderships unwillingness to reform. and in the case of ukraine, the french president seems to have low expectations. new several to us. we all know perfectly well that the process allowing them to join it will take several years in truth, probably several decades of it. he think some good result this in ah, once all 35 chapters of requirements are satisfied and all member states have signed off on them together with the european commission and the european parliament. and accession treaty is put forward. it is then signed and ratified, and villa u r. a u member states. in the mid 2012, mostly eastern european countries, were allowed to join the block despite apparent issues with dysfunctional institutions and deep seated corruption. the understanding was that for former

communist countries change was more difficult to bring about a political decision was made at ukraine today. has institutional issues as well. on top of that, it will lead massive reconstruction efforts after the war. and it seems that at the moment, not everyone in the you is motivated to take them in. russian president vladimir putin says international sanctions against his country have failed. in his speech at the st. petersburg, international economic form, kootenai dispelled at poor forecasts with russian economy. he also said that russian actions in ukraine were not to blame for revising prices on the global food, marty, but they would blame the u. s. for grain market disruption and accused washington of colonial, arrogant, up on the fulton also said that a new global order is emerging, where states like russia would set the rules. it is, you do a,

we're talking about object of processes even about truly revolutionary tectonic changes in geo politics. and the global economy is not exclusive, but in the technological sphere. and in the whole system of international relations . you know where the role of dynamic and promising countries and regions is rapidly growing. worship those countries and regions whose interest can no longer be ignored. no more than with bulimia. it's a mistake to assume that one can wait out the times of rapid changes, that everything will be the way it was. it won't take a couple years nibble. we're joined now by our former moscow correspondent, you're in raw strato, who is now currently in riga uri. what do you make of this claim of the new global order in that the dynamics of global politics have forever changed? well that was for putting selected traditional claims to the power of the west and above all the u. s. will weaken into the power of russia. we'll strengthen. we have

to keep in mind, michael is the context of this speech as the economic forum in st. petersburg, russia has never been punished with his so many and such heart economic sanctions as this year. and never before have so many foreign companies left russia. we're talking about more than a 1000. and because of this, of this, russia is looking to work the future with great concern and to trying desperately to reorient tate its entire economy. but from put his point of view, the economy has been taken hostage by global politics and politicians in many countries. i'm making a big mistake, he says, waging economic war against russia. that sounds like a speech very clearly aimed at the local audience. in russia are putting a praise russian efforts in fighting off sanctions. how justified is that? all the answer depends very much on the industry and there are sectors of the economy where sanctions are have a heart and have had hardly any effect at all. for example,

grocery stores are fool in russia. but with the departure of western economic giants such as i key or seamans, huge gaps and have also opened up to which russian firms cannot close so quickly. of course, put in sas at that the, this is an opportunity opportunity for russia economy. but the reality is that, that russian technologists often lag behind their western counterparts by many, many years. one example, if of this is ladon, the infamous russian ca, brent. before the war loudest cause what produced with the help of french renewal. but i know like many western companies left russia as a result, new law just running over the production lines, have now become empty shells of their former cells. they are now lacking abs systems and ab x, ultimately more people could be killed in car accidents in russia. and it was clearly a very defiant, vladimir putin. to what extent do you believe that sanctions actually affect his decision making?

while sentients along michael definitely cannot force put into and the goal putting started it for political reasons. he obviously didn't expect these kind of resistance in ukraine and now preparing his country for a long war. even if the sanctions cause at deterioration in living standards, even these people in russia no longer have the as same food in the fridge and rushes propaganda machine can spin this in favor of their narrative, buckle up your belt. people times are getting tough by the west is to blame. so what the has sanctions a can do is make life uncomfortable for the elite. i may be so uncomfortable that they might even think about rebelling and evade, and up it could lead to put his downfall. at d w. 's your research, a reporting for us from reagan. many thanks. britain has approved the extradition of wiki leagues founder julianna's sonjee to the united states. he's wanted there on 18 criminal charges,

including spying. washington says a sons' endangered lives by releasing troves of classified military records and diplomatic correspondence saunters wife stella. moore's called friday's decision. our dark day for press freedom and british democracy and his vow to appeal the decision at britain's high court that she says, washington is trying to punish her husband for revealing crimes of corruption in julian to the country that has in the us, lawmakers have presented fresh evidence of donald trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat a committee is investigating whether trump's false claims about the result led to the storming of the capital on january 6th, 2021. in the 3rd public hearing the panel of shared evidence that trump tried to force his vice president mike pence to overturn the election result for sure to the cost he was not present in person at the hearing. but for more us vice president

mike pence was at the center of it. none the less because the house select committee, which has spent a year investigating the january 6 attack on the u. s. capital presented never before seen evidence form and showing how former president donald trump let a campaign to pressure pens to overturn his 2020 election defeat. don trump wanted mike pins to do something. no other vice president has ever gone. the form of president wanted hands to reject the vote, and eva declared tromp the winner. our sin, the boats bear to the states to be counted again. according to testimony, trump pressured his vice president in private, but also publicly like in this tweet post of the day before the riot which reads, the vice president has the power to reject fraudulently. a chosen electors, pence then follow trumps demands. aware that he did not have the power to overthrow

the election result, as explained by his legal counsel, greg jacob, after 4 and no vice president in 230 years of history had ever claimed to have that kind of authority to both presents his refusal to go along with trumps plan could have cost him dearly. busy duties to hon. this footage played at the hearing shows rioters at the capital calling for his death. ah, it was revealed for the 1st time that the attackers came within 40 feet around 12 meters of pence and his family while they were being escorted to safety. by his secret service detail, the hearing also presented further evidence that donald trump and his legal advisor, john eastman, knew that their plan to invalidate the election result was historically unprecedented. and most importantly illegal. but they went ahead with it anyway. according to this email shown by the panel, eastman even asked to receive

a presidential pardon after the riot. 3 more public hearings are planned by the committee to lay out their findings. the focus is expected to remain on the evidence alleging that trump knowingly broke the law while in office and on retracing the series of events that led to the unprecedented attack on us democracy . for more, let's welcome a jim ronald. he's a lawyer, a u. s. presidential historian and an expert on the $972.00 watergate scandal. he joins us now from cleveland, ohio. welcome to d. w. jim. many have been calling for trump to be indicted over the january 6 insurrection. to do that, prosecutors would have to prove criminal intent that trump knew what he was doing was wrong, and went ahead and did it anyway. based on the case this committee is made so far, do you see any evidence of that? yes. hello, michael, thanks for having me. i. yesterday was

a turning point. i vice president pants is attorney greg jacobs connected the dot in for criminal intent. clearly, trump was told what he wanted to do. the scheme that was put together by this guy named eastman was illegal. he knew it was illegal, he was told repeatedly, it was illegal, and yet he went forward with it. so i think the dots have been connected here and, and that there is sufficient proof of criminal intent by the former president to try and stop the peaceful transfer of power. and there are multiple felonies that, that gets involved into. how likely is it trump will getting dieted, let alone convicted? well, you know, it's a, it's a good question and i would pose the question the other way around. what would happen in this country if he's not indicted? this evidence is compelling with richard nixon. we got tapes to show he was

involved in criminal activity. now we have with trump insiders and a lot of them saying the same thing that what he was doing was illegal. and we really need to have the political will to bring this indictment because this is criminal activity at the highest level. and it really just cannot go a unaccounted for a lot of powerful testimony at thursday's hearing, including from retired federal judge, michael lydig. i want to get your reaction to what some might describe as one of the more chilling statements he made. donald trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to american democracy. not mentioned words here. do you agree with that statement?

so a 100 percent and this is a very conservative judge who is a very thoughtful guy. you can see how deliberately he speaks, but what he's saying is absolutely true, which is january 6 was bad but, but it's worse now because we, we look back a year and a half later. and people still believe the big life. they still believe this was not a big deal, and they're telling us that in 2024, if this happens again, they will, they will attempt this again and they could very easily succeed. so i think he is exactly right. this is a very precarious moment for american democracy. jim, in the half minute we have left here, i want to ask one more question today marks of 50th anniversary of watergate, a monumental political scandal that forced the resignation of a president richard nixon. of course, based on what you've seen so far years from now, how will this current scandal stack up to watergate by comparison? this scandal is by many factors worse than watergate. watergate was

a true problem, and i don't mean to minimize it. it was abuse of power. nixon did a number of things including in foreign affairs that were really agree, jesus. but this is a president not only was going after democracy itself to stay in power. he literally was scheming and happy to see his own vice president assassinated in that process. you cannot imagine a worse scenario in my view, and this is much, much worse than water gym. ronald lawyer, u. s. presidential historian many, many. thanks sir. thank you, michael. get to see him now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world at this hour. in nigeria, a mass funeral has been held for the victims of the church massacre. 40 people were killed when gunman targeted a catholic church in southwest under state. nearly 2 weeks ago,

children were among the dead, such attacks in the state or in fact, men. 3 palestinians were killed in the occupied west bank after raid by israeli forces. 8 people were wounded in the operation. israel's army says it was conducting a search for weapons. rage in the west bank were ramped up after a series of deadly attacks in israel. china has launched its largest and most modern aircraft carriers marking a military milestone for the country. it comes during heightened intentions over territorial disputes with the u. s. anti want waging aims to modernize its military to live or washington was by 2027 being killed punky hydra basketball now. and the golden state warriors have won the n b a championship. after beating the boston celtics in game 6 of the finals, the warriors 1st championship in 8 years was heralded by fireworks at their home

stadium. the chase center in san francisco. thousands of fans had come to watch the game live on the stadiums, big screens, and the celebrated wildly as their team won by 13 points in both. before you go, is a quick look at our top stories at the shower. the civilian death toll is rising in the battle for control of ukraine's eastern dumbass regions. the governor of lou, hans says heavy shelling by russian forces in the city of lucy chance has killed many people. russia is fighting for full control of neighboring several of the nets . european commission officials are recommending that ukraine the put on a fast track for you candidacy. president ursula funder line said the recommendation bill was on the understanding that the country would carry out a number of reforms. recommendation will need the approval of leaders of the 27 more. now your states stay tuned for eco india,

looking at how the world can prepare for a future with more extreme heat way. don't forget the website is there for all of our latest news. at at d w dot com. i'm michael oke, who in berlin for me and the rest of the team here. thanks for watching with

ah ah, the co india, a killer heat waves are hitting record in india, a community seems to have found a solution based on early morning. how effective is it and can it be implemented in lower income countries? eco, india. connect on d, w ah

. in we'll get to the dark side where intelligence agencies are pulling the strings. there was a before 911 and after 911, he says after 911, the clubs came off where organized cry, rules, and genuine use a global network of companies bank. so in operators, we will provide those services to anyone. operation, the criminal economy, where conglomerates and make their own laws. they invade our private lives through surveillance. hidden, opaque, secretive. what's true, what's vague? it doesn't matter. the only criteria is worked. we'll hook people up. we shed light

on the opaque worlds who's behind the benefits. and why are they a threat to us all opaque worlds this week on d w? ah ah, ah blistering heat for days that stretch in 2 weeks. scientists say this springs, devastating heat wave, and south asia was made more likely by climate change and offered the region a glimpse of what's to come down to prepare for the future of such intense heat. that's what we'll dive into today. hello and welcome to eco india. i'm sunny thought i'm.