shopping and dining office, enjoy our services to be our guest at frankfurt airport city. managed by from board lou. with this is dw news live from berlin weld leaders meeting of the un general assembly. denounce rushes, planned to hold referendums in ukraine for ukrainian regions under moscow's control . have announced plans to hold votes on joining russia. ukraine cools the votes of sham and vows to continue liberating its territory in the east. and speaking of the,

you and germany's chancellor blasts russia for what he calls a war of imperialism against ukraine will show it tells the general assembly that keith must be on to fight back against moscow's invasion. ah, no manuscript mckennan. welcome to the program at the un general assembly and new york world leaders have condemned moscow's plans to hold referendums in parts of ukraine. on joining russia, separatists leaders in russian controlled lu hunt's done yet chaper asia and has sodom say 4 days of vo saying we'll begin on friday. now the move could swallow up around 15 percent of ukrainian territory. the call for the vote in russian occupied

regions comes as the ukrainian military has made sweeping gains in its counter offensive against the invading russian forces. those yes, my friends are sir. the don boss is returning home with that leader of the self proclaimed in its people's republic, announced a vote on joining russia. authorities in the neighboring self declared peoples republic of lou hands as well as the occupied parts of the hassan and separation regions. have announced similar polls to begin on friday in de nets. some residence welcomed the move when speaking to journalists with separatist mind as nasty, but we all support us all of us. so i think it will all be fine. this long journey won't be for nothing. we will make us the victory will be ours. what would you get on that? we're so happy this is happening when the operation started back in february, we're screaming her a, and that's what we are saying today,

if you wouldn't. but ukraine's foreign minister dmitri qu labor was quick to condemn the hastily organized votes. as sham referendums sang ukraine would keep liberating its territory ins apparition, ukrainians who had fled russian occupied areas. port scorn on the plans with by no means can i call it a referendum because what happened was a real seizure of territories which is due and what the russian federation wants to do with those territories. i believe it is illegal and pointless. um, it is a fake exercise to show that the occupied territories want to join the russian federation, which is a total lie. i will have the votes come as ukraine continues to press its counter offensive in the east where it's retaken, thousands of square kilometers within just weeks with ukranian officials saying on monday it's forces had even recaptured

a village in the lutherans region. oh. and from on its constraints, ha, correspondent, nick humanly, who's in hockey in northeast and ukraine? high neck now, russian officials a pushing ahead with that plan for these lotes. why now in the middle of the war? i think this is a recognition of their weakness, right? no one had expected least told the russians that this ukrainian can't fence, it would be as successful as it has been. and as fast. and this seems now like an attempt to kind of fix in to kind of bank the territorial gains that russia has made since 24th february at the beginning of this war to there somehow then say to ukraine, unintentional through into, well, this is where we're at and we're not going to row back on this, you know, even by a kilometer. i think it's also about the internal russian situation, trying to tell the russian population what this was all about. what will these losses have been for? and i think it's also about the details, the bureaucracy, it's about mobilization right now. russia because this is not closed as a war inside russia. they to turn it into an official war. they need to kind of

have an arch of and that would be ukraine's attacking russian church. and that would then allow russia to mobilize soldiers, ordinary people, who so far, even if they're serving the military, have been able to get out of coming here to you. crunch fight. they've tried to incentivize people with money or allow a prisoners to come fight here in return of some kind of deal to get out of jail quicker. but it's not working. they're just outmanned on the battlefield. everyone here in ukraine was looking at their phones last night, were expecting to hear from that in the future. may be some kind of big speech about mobilization and turning this into a kind of all out war. but so far that's been delayed flooding futures. we know like ski people waiting, but as the expectation of more dramatic announcements coming from moscow today. okay, so if this does work, if russia does claim these regions as its own, how will that change things in ukraine and in the wall? well, for ukraine changes nothing. we've heard from the firm, mr. of ukraine's cooling, especially a piece of political theater. some dramatic sir, but without any real impact. and we've heard time time again from ukraine's most

important ally, the u. s. that this would not be recognized. this would be irrelevant and that would not change anything about the u. s. support for ukraine in terms of military supplies. ukraine is allowed to use high tech u. s. weapons against russian forces anywhere in its territory, including crimea, which russia annex back in 2014 a while you and has been attacking russian target. so that would change nothing. i think the only thing that people here are really worried about is that this escalation for moscow, this sign that rusher is willing to do this brinkman ship to re up the states. that would frighten certain european countries would be supporting ukraine to try to force ukraine some kind of compromised year with russia. that's the main fear here . all right, thanks. i majesty de leon connelly, reporting from hockey's and germany has joined other nations and un general assembly in blasting permanent security council member russia over it's warren ukraine and hard hitting speech chance that will have, shall, its, accused, the kremlin of bringing imperialism back to europe. he said the world not,

not except a global order dictated by russia through military force. he also pledged germany's continued support to ukraine in the form of supplying weapons to keep it a day. one of the you and talks was also marked by a grim assessment of the state of the world by the u ends. secretary general. but i've come in a world conference dominated by a growing list of global crises. the 77th session of the un general assembly was the 1st in person gathering of world leaders since the beginning of the coven 19 pandemic. but it was far from a celebration. in his opening address, the un secretary general was blunt in his assessment of the global situation cost of living christ. let's have no illusions we are in rough seas. a wind sort of global discontent is on the horizon. a cost of living cries is his raging thrust. these crumbling inequalities are exploding,

and our planet is burning. people are hurting, with the most vulnerable suffering the most. but amidst the host of crises discussed on the 1st day of the assembly, russia's war in ukraine quickly took center stage. japanese prime minister assume yoke tisha condemned the invasion as a direct threat to the international order. gressick elizabeth, we must face the fact that the credibility of the united nations is at stake due to the aggression against ukraine by russia. he need a permanent member of the security council. look, she should not get that. he will say that while others focus their accusations directly at the russian president lacy democrat, german chancellor old f sholtes lashed out at what he called prudence, imperialist ambitions, and vowed to continue supporting ukraine most often. so he isn't just destroying ukraine, he's also ruining his own country,

miss law. this is why we will not accept a piece dictated by russia. and this is why we will not accept any sham referendums heiner. and this is why ukraine must be able to defend itself. against russia's invasion once before up via them couldn't. but despite the widespread condemnation, it remains unclear just how the u. n. will be able to respond. and as delegates prepare for more speeches in new york, all will be keeping an eye on the conflict raging half a world away. once more d w reports and ms. melissa kent joins me now in the studio. hi melissa. now the german chancellor suddenly had some pointed remarks about the war in ukraine, didn't he tell us what he said? that's right. well, we heard that. he said that he would pledge to continue support for ukraine through weapons, but also through economic and humanitarian assistance assistance. he spoke about how russia is blatantly flouting the charter of united nations by invading its

neighbor and its responsibility as a permanent member of the security council, the most powerful body of the un to maintain peace and security. he again use that to bring up the need to reform and expand the security council. he spoke about how the war is having a ripple effect around the world, raising fuel and future food prices, which were already being impacted by the coven, 19 pandemic. and the crime climate change, he actually quoted his predecessor, nobel peace prize winner, willy brad thing, where hunger prevails. there can be no peace. and yesterday, as you mentioned, moscow said that it plans to hold referendums and areas under its control and eastern ukraine. chancellor, olaf shows said we will never accept a peace dictated by russia nor any sham referendums as he put it. and how is the war in ukraine impacting this? he is un general assembly, i mean on the sidelines as well as in the grand grand holes of the,

of the u. s. i mean, do you think more countries are now likely to show support for ukraine? very good question. it is dominating discussions. and as far as what can be done at this meeting, not much, i'm afraid the security council is deadlocked. the main players president putin will not be in new york for the general assembly this year. his foreign minister sergey loud rog will speak at the podium. the lot of me was the lensky, the president of ukraine, will deliver his address via video. but this is the largest international gathering in the world. it's a time for countries big and small to meet formally and informally and discuss the matter is important to them. it provides a space and an opportunity, and when it comes to ukraine, i think much of this will depend on how much russia is willing to listen, and how much it is bothered by its growing isolation over the war and ukraine. i know that you've covered the un for many is and the secretary general antonio terrorist gave a really dreary assessment of global affairs, saying that way,

grid locked in colossal global dysfunction. tell us a bit more about what else. he said, i yeah it, his speech was basically a report card on the state of the world. and as he mentioned, it was grim. he went through a litany of crises going on in the world, obviously ukraine. but all the ethiopia, this a hell. haiti, syria, me and mar, he called climate crisis. the defining issue of our time and urged nations to abandon their suicidal dependence on fossil fuels. he spoke about ukraine, of course, but also highlighted some successes, the black sea grain initiative, the fact that there are now un inspectors on the ground in eastern ukraine at the nuclear power plant to monitor and avoid a potential catastrophe. so he was at pains to highlight the, the, the benefits of cooperation and negotiation. he w report melissa can thank you so much. all right,

we have some breaking news coming in. russian president vladimir putin has announced a partial military mobilization in an address to the nation. putin said the aim is to quote, liberate the dumbass region in ukraine. we will have more on putin's address coming up later in the news hurricane fiona is that wreaking havoc across the caribbean, winds of more than 100 kilometers an hour, have left much of puerto rico without electricity and clean water. national guard troops have rescued hundreds of people stranded by flooding. ah, this bridge was installed in recent years at a cost of some $3000000.00. beyond widespread damaged we infrastructure. overflowing rivers have also forced cousins of people from the homes. authorities have opened more than

a 100 shall, does. across the island those will haven't fled the homes have had to travel long distances to get essential supplies. well, we're looking for gasoline, water, ice, all the supplies necessary for getting through the storm. we were hoping it wouldn't be so big, but well, it was bigger than we expected on that room. but you have to make, due with what you have a sub scenes of devastation of familiar input are equal, which never fully recovered from hurricane maria. the 2017 storm was the, was recorded on the island, it left about 3000 people dead and forgot the longest bar blackout ever experience in the u. s. now, many areas in puerto rico are once again in darkness. if it looks like the governor

has one that it could dig days to get the bar back on it more just audio in many areas that had never seen flooding or york that has been an unprecedented accumulation of water in which in fact in many areas it was greater than what we saw during hurricane maria edward dung, maria tor dc. it is still too early to know the full scope of the damage and that's in use for now. robots has your business news update coming up next. and i think it's mccann and i'll be back in 45 minutes. the thanks for watching intently. she's up to date. don't miss our highlights. the d w program on line d, w dot com highlights you become criminal m pre climate.