yes, do you with blue ah ah, this is dw news life from berlin. ukraine says russian forces are in control of its 2nd biggest power plants. the capture of the soviet era of the plato sca power station is russia's latest advance in the east and don bass region president. the lensky bows to retake captured territory as ukraine's counter offensive makes gains

in the country south. also coming up taiwan stages, it's the largest ever military drills. all residents must have trained to seek shelter from air rights. taiwan is taking the threat of a possible invasion by china more seriously following russia. the tack on ukraine. ah, i'm any campus mccann and welcome to the program. we begin in ukraine where official se russian forces have taken control of the countries 2nd biggest power plant. british military intelligence says mercenaries from the russian private military company, wagner had captured territory near the power plant. in recent days, ukraine's soviet area of nuclear house got power station is the latest loss in the

eastern dumbass region. it comes as president volota misled ski, said ukraine was preparing to increase its electricity exports to the european union to help it withstand prussia from russia over energy supplies with blue and d. w. montez bellinger is in odessa covering this story for us. good morning. mathias, can you give us the latest on the fighting? yes, so we've heard that the russians are seemingly in control of this power plan. this has been a target for the russians for many weeks now. and a few days ago, they had already captured part of the territory. now, one of the presidents advisors has said that they are in full control of the facility. we don't still don't have a confirmation from the armed forces or from other sources, but it looks like that and fits very much, the pattern of what we've been seeing in the east that russia concentrates is

offensive on one object. and then for weeks and weeks shells it and then takes it this. so russia is making steady gains, but they are in itself in themselves, each one in themselves, incremental. it takes a long time for them to capture any object or settlement. but so far they have added up, although we also hearing that the pace is slowing down and that ukraine has been able to repel a quite a few offensives in other parts of the country. that means north east, near hargrove and south in the his own region, ukraine is making incremental gains. they have started a counter offensive in the south, but there is no fast progress yet. it seems that we are still in the preparation phase of this counter offensive. and the ukraine has not made big territorial gains, but they are, as they say themselves,

advancing slowly. so rushes pace is flowing isn't clear now that the, the newly provided weapons from the west are helping the ukrainian counter offensive to, to really build an engine. what these weapons do at the moment is that they help us ukraine to prepare the terrain for the counter offensive. so the most important ones are long range artillery and multiple rocket launches. these weapons can target a targets well behind. the russian lines. and ukraine has used them, for example, to take out ammunition depots. and they also shelled a bridge near hassan region recently. that's an important that's an important target because this bridge is the only one that crosses the river in that area. and it's, it's a major blow to russian supply line. so what we're seeing is that ukraine is method

methodically, a, preparing the ground for this offensive. it's not clear whether they have the means to move on because of some categories of weapons that you would need need to move on. for example, tanks are not yet being delivered by the west in the same pace or in the, in the necessary quantities. so there's a big question mark on whether this offensive can move on as planned. but what we are seeing is that they may methodically prepare it. and the other effect of these weapons is, and this, in the places like in the east where ukraine is currently as far as we know, not preparing to advance, that they slow down the russian advanced by taking out these ammunition depots. ukraine has been able in some parts of the front line to decrease ration shelling by multiple times, not ts bellinger reporting from a death. i thank you so much. so now the u. s. secretary of

state antony blinkin has said that he intends to speak with russia's foreign minister, so gay lover of to free us citizens being held by russia. it would be the 1st direct talk since the russian invasion of ukraine secretary blinkin said his priority would be to secure the release of u. s. professional basketball. player, brittany greiner and former marine pool whelan, working together on. all right, let's get you up to speed. now, and some of the other stories making headlines around the world alleys, formal, protested, have been killed in the democratic republic of congo after soldiers fired shots, which hit an electric cable that fell on the crowd. the protest was against the united nations peacekeeping mission in the eastern city of vera. and he's 15 people died and protests earlier. hundreds of supporters of the powerful shiite cleric, mac tada al sada, occupied iraq's parliament building wednesday of to breaching baghdad. so high

security green zone, they were protesting against to rival blocks. nomination for prime minister, iraq remain stuck in political deadlock with in facing preventing the formation of a new government. while the 9 months after elections, intense gang fighting has broken out and the haitian capital of put a pass. rival groups are reportedly locked in a deadly battle for control of large parts of the city. suspected gang members are said to have set a church on fire in an attempt to kill their opponents and gain more territory. now, taiwan is conducting the largest ever military drills in its history, stimulating its response to a possible invasion. china claims the island as its own territory and has not ruled out using force against it. for the 1st time in decades, all residents must practice seeking shelter. as the w correspondent, zachary li,

reports now from the capsule type pay on the roof r o m p. only the south of lou warning sirens can be heard. police instruct every one to 6 shorter immediately. cities, of course high was shut down for 30 minutes for this nation wide military, 3 o. the military, i says, i said this year are the largest in taiwan history. as you can see behind me, all calls have been forced to put over to the side of the road, and everyone is to seek shelter, doing the air read jail. how many people are taking the exercise seriously in light of the war? ukraine, that has served us a wakeup call for tie one over the thread from china. not and i think the drills unnecessary. we should be prepared beforehand. so how's the day mom was through the exercise. we know what instructions to follow in case of

a war. i think if the government held drills more frequently, people would know how to react in an emergency situation. shit up all, some down. the total was because of the war in ukraine. we want to know where we can go and hide when we get a tax id. for example, where are the shelters in taiwan? novel is it on coastal dynamic ambulances in fire trucks play encoding rule in these 3 o. the rescue workers packed he's putting out a fire after supposed may sell, attack the toe, and he's got them and wants to make it as real as possible to risk public awareness of emergency. we're nearly all the purpose of this year's exercise is to test how we would react in a real war. and we will do a review after the exercises and see how we can improve one, the $3.00 oh $5.00. the military exercise will conduct elusive time. and this will again have ukraine in made. reservists,

dick launches under a breach others wilkerson practice in urban warfare. and on the open sea, several ships carry out may new verse. i was president, how you win over the seals and naveed these 2 years. this actually demonstrated the duty and determination of the soldiers of the republic of china to defend the country. let's continue to work hard and got a homeland together. china's thread pumpkin pie one to stay the preparation for chinese, a pep. but as far as page in is concerned, any attempts by pie was to come font. it's me, terry will be doomed to fail. and we joined now by d. w. correspondence, zachary lead, who's in taiwan. i'm final report, zachary, these drills are in an annual affair, but tell us what's different about them this here. now he's actually list your

entire one. the era deal is involving civilian participation in the military exercise. we're both conducted this week. and this is the reason why we cody is the largest military because they look high, won't have access, as opposed to i was the face of been much more we and if you learn some doors for the sales, are you trying to get all the calls and do show to as soon as a read do the latest, the new rule new year. and also i was nice. tell us president, tell you when i was doing the military exercise, this only takes and i think years it be ok. now we saw people in your report to really worried by the war and ukraine to what extent has it made china threats to the tie would need feel?

morrill lee, i've come to some local people. i was a lead told me their concern about the possible attack and they be the way you can then popo dan. this is why the people are taking the exercise very seriously. however, how many people i can be very used to china. great. well, you can see on the road and the see people i know will read in their coding to know, quote, the people you know were read, that was my husband anytime. ok. and now the us is also playing a role in these heights and tensions with china warning of consequences potentially if the us house be can nancy pelosi, what to visit taiwan? can you tell us more about that? exactly. a pillow system possible be that i was already discussion about increasing

pays to pay it in china and buy one. and also a tony government actually always will come. corey obese. those to be the ones that actually are very happy with the high one has very a few diploma countries. there has diploma the nation with white again. china julia update regarding pelosi, phoebe and this will increase. let me try and buy one. we also need to take bite coal with chinese president cmc. today. it is expected they will discuss reward. you can also tie one issue. most people here believe that also including the experts i've talked to, i believe hello, see my big i hope. but again, you will definitely increase 10 to 15. try fi one, w correspondent zachary lee. thank you so much. and in other headlines

from around the world in the us fire fighters say they are making progress against the state of california's largest blaze. this year halting its expansion towards the 70 national park, but they're still far from bringing it under control. some 6000 people remain under evacuation orders. dozens of homes and other buildings have been destroyed. and flash flooding in the us state of missouri has killed at least one person and left 100 stranded record rainfall has caused widespread damage across the st. louis area authorities have declared a state of emergency with wall storms expected. later this week to, to france, when a jonas vin gord received a hero's welcome upon his return to his native country, denmark, the 25 year old was greeted by cheering crowd at city hall. and copenhagen is the 1st day in since 1996 to win cycling biggest event.

and in the old germany all through to the final of year 2022 after beating france $2.00 to $1.00. germany's women cat that cool and a fiercely contested match in milton keynes and the u. k. captain alexander pup netted both goals and she's now joint top score of the tournament. her team will face england in the final, at london's wembley stadium on sunday. and that's all from us. i manuscripts mccain and thanks so much for watching the delete issues with also great.