a 3 years that will change the world for ever. but jillions journey around the world starts september 7th on d, w. ah ah. ah, this is dw news live from berlin. the last leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev has dies with a policy of openness and reforms. gorbachev is widely credited for his role in helping to bring down the iron curtain and end of the whole war. also coming up on the show, heavy fighting rages in russian occupied areas of southern ukraine. cave says its

forces have destroyed bridges and ammunition depos as part of its long awaited counter offensive in the san region. will talk to a military expert. ah . hello, i'm clear richardson, thank so much for joining us. a cal 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 produce free speech and reform within the communist bloc. corporate shove, forged a new dialogue with the west. it was one about ultimately brought down the iron curtain that had divided europe since 1945 and put germany on track to re unification. ah, mikhail gorbachev arrived in freedom followed when he visited east berlin for the

ged asked 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 violin 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. works out a stark contrast to what had gone before. we're also shoot for one year. we had for you was the order, right, right. every peace and freedom is the most important, basic right of action. rachel or our kilobit gorbachev wanted to

change the soviet union to bring it closer to the people. he promoted glass, most 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 voters 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 well daughter. 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 hard liners, stage a coup against gorbachev in 1991. and put the soviet leader under house arrest and his holiday retreat in crimea, one man to stop them. 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 the yo yos are issued 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. or a wayne marry, spent 26 years in the u. s. foreign service, including at the embassy in moscow at the end of the u. s. s. r. he spoke to me earlier about corbett jobs legacy. i think at the moment, given was 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 in georgia. but 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 are great many powerful figures in the world who are 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 linen assistant, 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 that boy. and i think in many ways, that's one of his great achievements and to 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, 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, not it is an empire, but very much a great state. but gorbachev believed in a lenin este, great state. whereas putin and 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 old oak is for us. 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 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 a enough time has passed that i like that. i think that what you need to distinguish is between the people whose personal memories of the early 1990 is 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 really, for a lot of russians, the answer is going to be in part of gorbachev child and that's on later. when mary, i want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. we're gonna have to leave it there. but i'd really like to thank you for coming on to dig up the news. my pleasure. let's get more on water. me put his war in ukraine and chief says its troops are engaged in intense fighting across the

southern harrison region a day after claiming to have broken through enemy lines at several points. ukraine is trying to retake territory occupied by russian forces. the push follows weeks of preparation with ukraine attacking russia. supply routes in an attempt to isolate troops in the area rush captured her son early on in the war. i'm joined now by liam collins, a former us special forces officer, and now the executive director of the madison policy form. think tank everyone welcome to the show. ukraine says its forces have broken through the 1st line of russian defences in the south. i want to ask you, if you think this is the start of a wider offensive to regain control of occupied areas. yeah, i think it's definitely the start of that and we seem dropped the war when ukraine decided to conduct a car offensive to keep or we're going to conflict harkey. they've been successful when they, when they been able to map enough forces to conduct those those counter attacks. so

it looks like the start of a successful color attack. and what in particular about the harrison region is so important. it is it a weak spot in the russian front lines. what russia has the master forces in the east, so they have less force to put down in the south. so that's part of it, right? is just the force rachel, between the ukrainian or russian. a 2nd part of it is you got the negroes splitting it there. and so the ukraine is to be able to write some of those bridges and disrupt their russian lines of communication, which are much longer in the south. your supply lines in the are in the east, and that's the reason you have it on the russian forces that are there. so those 2 things combine it, made it a more conducive zone for a counter attack. and do we know anything about how many casualties, both sides have been sustaining? no, it's in. it's in the thousands, but obviously both sides want to keep that hidden. they have, but it's, it's clearly in the thousands for both sides. and as we see right in this war of

attrition is larger tillery strike, especially in urban areas, are very costly in terms of forces. heavy use of, you know, it exhaust the, the supply lines into it is increasing that number of casualties pressure. and so in this, how vital have western heavy weapons been, i in pushing this counter offensive. yet without a doubt, this is one of the reasons ukrainian tried to wait to long to conduct this counter offensive. jaron occurs on in the, in the southern area is because they had to wait to get some of these long ridge rocket systems, right? the time our, i'm our rockets you've talked about, you know, these are basically rocket systems in the back of trucks. they're very mobile, so it's hard for the russians are, you know, by where they're at to conduct your contact. it allows ukrainians to range much farther than they could previously with, with smaller artillery pieces. and this allows them to strike the supply depot to the russians. their supply lines, and this is allowing them right, getting those key assets allows them to, didn't engage the troops on the front. and will that be enough and you've called

this a war of attrition. do you think there is an end in sight, or is that going to be the case in the months to come? no, this is a very long, many minds, many years. conflict with no end, you know, in the near term. you crazy. not willing to give up train the rush already has russia want to walk away with a loss. and so what we've seen kind of play out to date in the east is right. small incremental gauged by the russians at great cost to go through russians and ukrainians. to gain more, you know, very small territory. and that's really what we see now with the western supply weapons ukrainians. now it looks like it might give them a slight upper and it is war of attrition to gain new territory, but it's going to be a long slow spot for sure. ma'am collins from the madison policy form. thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us on the news. thank you. and before we go, let's get a reminder of the top story we're following for you. former soviet leader may help

. well the child has died age 91 with policies that promoted free speech and reform within the communist bloc. gorbachev forged a new dialogue with the west that ultimately brought down the iron curtain and brought about german reunification. she's up to at this, our coming up next and doc film looks at the war in afghanistan. it's impact on us soldiers. stay tuned for that or find more on our website at w dot com. i'm clear, richardson and for lynn from the team. thanks much watching in the interest the global economy, our portfolio w business beyond. here's a closer look at the project. i would.