yeah, that would change the world forever. ah, but jillions journey around the world, september 7th on d w. ah, ah, this is dw news live from berlin. the last leader of the soviet union mc held gorbachev has died with a policy of openness and reforms before but shop is widely credited for his role in helping to bring down the iron curtain and end the cold war. also coming up on the show, heavy fighting rages in russian occupied areas of southern ukraine keeps as its

forces, have destroyed bridges and ammunition depos as part of its long awaited counter offensive in the house on regent. we'll talk to a military expert. ah hello, i'm clare richardson. thank you very much for joining us. mikhail gorbachev, the former soviet leader, who helped to bring the cold war to a peaceful conclusion has died at the age of 91 after a long illness with policies that promoted free speech and reform within the communist bloc. gorbachev forged a new dialogue with the west. it was one that ultimately brought down the iron curtain that had divided europe since 1945 and put germany on track to read unification. ah, mikhail gorbachev arrived and freedom followed. when he visited east berlin for the

g d r's, 40th anniversary celebrations. gorbachev urged it shaneka to implement reforms. he warned the east german leader saying, life punishes those who come too late. a month after his visit, the berlin fell. and with the iron curtain that had divided europe for decades, it was gorbachev's reformers, policies that helped unleash a peaceful revolution across eastern europe. douglas, as yet he laid out his agenda in his 1st beach as leader of the soviet union. okay, so a stark contrast to what had gone before. we're also shoot vanya, we had for you was the order, right? right, every piece and freedom is the most important, basic right of reaction vigil for our kilobit. gorbachev wanted to

change the soviet union to bring it closer to the people. he promoted glass, massed openness, and perestroika reforms to words that will forever be associated with him. his new outlook was popular with many his policies also applied to the military, despite the resistance of soviet generals to us here we are for his honest, i'm convinced that we will also have to reform our military. but he, we have far too many weapons, law, stately, we have to seek dialogue with other superpowers and reduce our arsenals to a reasonable extent yourself. as a result of that dialogue gorbachev, an u. s. president reagan signed the 1st of many disarmament treaties in 1987. it was the beginning of the end of the cold war. in 1990 gorbachev

was awarded the nobel peace prize for his key role in bringing about a new peaceful world order. internationally, he was highly regarded but at home he was increasingly under pressure. the economic situation was dire. the soviet union on the verge of falling apart, communist hardliners stage, a coup against gorbachev in 1091 and put the soviet leader under house arrest and his holiday retreat in crimea. one man stopped the boris yeltsin, the russian president gorbachev was allowed to return to moscow, but politically, he was ruined. he else in band the communist party and publicly humiliated coverage of you. so yeah, you're sure you should. shortly afterwards,

the soviet union was dissolved in december 1991 mikhail gorbachev announced his resignation. his attempts to regain political ground in the new russia failed. many russians held him responsible for the demise of the soviet union. but while his own country turned its back on him, gorbachev was hailed around the world as the man who helped tear down the iron curtain and bring about a peaceful revolution. i'd like to welcome e wayne mary senior fellow for europe and eurasia at the american foreign policy council. think tank in washington, d. c. h is been 26 years in the u. s. foreign service, including at the embassy in moscow. at the end of the ussr, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us because gorbachev was the last leader of the soviet union. and we've just heard some of what made him a towering figure of the 20th century. what do you think his legacy will be?

i think at the moment, given what's going on in the war in ukraine, perhaps his greatest legacy is that he let the soviet union fail without spilling a lot of blood to try to preserve it. now he did accountant, some bloodshed in lithuania, some georgia when it really came to the question of, are you willing to use massive tours to preserve the communist party, to preserve your own power and to preserve the soviet union? he would not do it. and i think that legacy today is something that should be recognized as there a great many powerful figures in the world were willing to use force to hold on to their power and to hold on to their political system. gorbachev ultimately, despite his personal commitment to the lennon, a system, despite his personal belief in soviet communism, which i think continued right up through the remainder of his life. ultimately, he was not willing to scold at law. and i think in many ways,

that's one of his great achievements. and do we know what he thought about russia today under president vladimir putin? we hear from people who have spoken with him and he tended to be rather candid in his private remarks. i can say, uh he was, he was appalled. i don't think we know what he thought about the current war. i, because he's, he's been sick for quite a while. so i don't think we have any records from his thoughts about the war in, in ukraine. but certainly, i think he felt that the country was definitely going in the wrong direction in recent years under whose leadership i remember that in many ways, hootin and gorbachev both believed in russia as a debtor, chavo, as a great state, and not just a great power nodded his empire, but very much a great state. but gorbachev believed in a lenin este great state. whereas putin, it made it very clear that he thought that leninism was what was really back for

the russian great state. but beyond that, i mean if you see the kinds of things that putin has done in the last couple years for 5 years now, i don't think any of that would have been would've been agreeable to gorbachev could meet. you simply look at what he did in the last 5 years that he was that he was in office. i mean, he is somebody who not only won a nobel peace prize, he very much deserved an obese for ice. and for that, his legacy was bringing about the end of the cold war and the end of the nuclear balance of terror. now, he did that, at least in part because he wanted the resources to help preserve and perpetuate the soviet state. he was not trying to bring about the end of the soviet union. that's something very much for his. he also came to believe in an achieved but the

legacy of bringing about the end of the cold war, particularly the nuclear balance of terror that i remember very, very vividly. i think he is one of the people who, whose achievement of a nobel peace prize cannot be disputed in it's legitimacy. and indeed, he's collected awards all over the world. but it is worth mentioning that he is widely low that in russia today. can you tell us why that is? well, i think the memory of him now is probably not as negative as it was safe, 20 or 30 years ago. because a great deal of that was because of the, the impoverishment of the collapse of the economy. a genuine hunger in many parts of russia, and of course, the collapse of a great state that everyone had taken for granted for their entire life times. and for that, of course, a great many people during the 1990 s were, were embittered. the people became embittered at the else and who was the person

who really brought about the end of the soviet union and any single political figure did. i think today another time has passed that i think, i think that what you need to distinguish is between the people whose personal memories of the early 990 s. the mid 19 ninety's caused them to seek someone to blame and people who can look back without that sense of personal personal grievance. unfortunately, i think today much of russian political culture centered very much on today is a grievance culture. a grievance at history grievance at the west grievance of america, but also a grievance at people, you know, cotillion about who's to blame, who's guilty, who has done this to me and only for a lot of russians. the answer is going to be in part. gorbachev child,

and that's on the way, mary, i want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. we're going to have to leave it there, but i'd really like to thank you for coming on to the news. my pleasure and ukraine says its troops are engaged in intense fighting across the southern ukrainian horse on region a day after saying it had broken through enemy lines at several points, key of his trying to retake territory occupied by russia. the push follows weeks of preparation with ukraine attacking russia. supply routes in an attempt to isolate troops in the area. russia captured her son early on in the war and i'm joined now by liam collins. he is a former us special forces officer. now, the executive director of the madison policy forum, think tank. welcome, sir. thank you so much for taking the time to join us. ukraine says its forces have broken through the 1st line of russian defences in the south. do you think this

could be the start of a wider offensive to regain control of the occupied areas? sir, i'm so sorry to junk been. we're having some audio difficulties. i've just been told by my producer, we're going to try and bring him back in. but for now, we're going to move on to another story. now this ukranian counter offensive comes as you defense ministers are holding 2 days of talks in prague to discuss military support for keith. talk so far have focused on setting up a training program for the ukrainian army to enable them to operate western weapons

. and germany was initially criticized for not sending weapons quickly bought. berlin has recently announced its ramping up military aid. that includes the delivery of brand new precision missiles, ukraine's ammunition supply is about to get a boost. it's howard sir. artillery units will be stocked with a new toggle shell called the volcano german. he says it's sending several 100 will canaan munitions to the front line. the gps and laser guided missiles reach up to 80 kilometers, almost doubling the range of most how it says already existing donated equipment is having an impact. hope so rascal, when it never showings on slow vianza every day. but due to new weapons that were perceived from the west to particularly high mars and houses, our chances have equalized. that's where you see that with the full one of our shots was answered with 50 shots from them myself. we'll leave it today. the ratio is one to 4 or one to 5 frequency they didn't looked at the this within that you

did. okay. ah, hi mars are the us supplied long range mobile rocket launches, which of allowed ukraine to hit deep behind russian lies. countries have pledged almost 90000000000 euros worth of equipment or military financing. the u. s. is by far, the biggest donna followed by the united kingdom and the european union. poland is number 4. it's donations include how it, sir. artillery vehicles like these to replace ukraine's soviet era tanks. and cannon is necessarily i think the advance is more successful on our side because our equipment is more modern. we attack the occupiers. more precisely. germany is the 5th biggest military donor. it is now pledged almost 2000000000 years worth of aid, including anti aircraft vehicles and training for troops to operate them. the men and he isn't. the men who are here will defend their country highland,

they will defend it against the terrible threat posed to ukraine by russia's brutal war of aggression. and we will continue to support them without financial cap relatives, but also with weapons sat about with in buffalo. ah, and private individuals have also sent millions for help ukraine by drones, for its fleet of eyes in the sky. foreign support has been crucial in keeping ukraine's resistance efforts afloat and helping it defend its territory for longer than anyone expected. after his update, as our o people in trucks injured when trying to flee the city center more and more refugees are being turned away. families played on the tax in the region to these correct only is with trade.