a home and usually such the channels play out well, i was the only one i was super lucky. music under the swastika starts november 19th on d. w. ah, this is d. w live from berlin, a setback for russia, and it's war in ukraine. moscow confirms its troops are withdrawing from the key city of hast song. so what does this mean for the future of this conflict? also on the program, u. s. president joe biden praises his party strong showing in today's mid term elections. but with some races going down to the wire,

it's still unclear who will be calling the shots in congress. ah, ah, i'm sure gail, welcome to the program. russia has ordered its troops to withdraw from the strategic city of her son in southern ukraine. her son was the 1st major cities of fall after russia invaded and was the only regional capital under russian control. booth being called a major setback for moscow with some analysts say it could be a turning point in this war. keith, however, is urging caution. but the good news rushes commander in ukraine announces a retreat in a military briefing on state tv. again, it is no longer possible to keep supplying the city more than more like your book when you arrive further to nibble. this is a very difficult decision, but we will be saving the lives of our service men and the combat capability of our

troops, which is necessary to stay on the right bank in a limited area. russian troops swept across southern ukraine from annex crimea at the start of the war. seizing her son in early march. ah, in recent weeks, ukrainian forces have been closing in on the city. and russia has been relocating tens of thousands of its residence. the streets of her son are now virtually empty. a ukrainian takeover of the city would be seen as a significant blow to russian president vladimir putin. only weeks ago, he announced what he called the forever annexation of the her son region, along with 3 others in a big ceremony in moscow. on the streets of

t f. some had their doubts about a russian retreat. and when is this is i think this is russia planning something? yes. an idea. i can't really believe it. why would they gather 40000 soldiers there in the 1st place? i think they are preparing something for the ukranian army at me. a feeling i could buy the country's president wurrell middle with jeremy does not give us gifts away . does not make gestures of good will with we fight for it all. we will move very carefully without emotion that without unnecessary risk, to liberate all our land and minimize our losses, yet namely, recapturing her son could allow ukraine to win back more last territory in southern areas, including crimea, which russia i legally ceased in 2014. well let's look at this with mike martin. he's a senior vincent research fellow at the department of war studies at kings college

london and a former british army officer. i welcome back to d. w. as well. first question, do we believe this announcement? and if we do, what does it tell us? we do believe the announcement. you wouldn't announce it on television at nation state level. and actually we've seen over the last month or so on withdrawal of russian forces. they've been blowing up some minor bridges to help them in the retreat, and they've also reinforced over the other side of the river. they've set up a very big defense line. so we can definitely believe this, right, i'm, so what does it tell us about the way this war is going for? russia? is a nother over the last 6 months, really, the tide is being out for the russians. the high water mark was really the beginning of april, where russia, you remember control territory north of keys up in the northeast,

in the khaki region, her son in the south. now all of those 3 regions have been liberated or are shortly liberated by ukraine. and so really the amount of territory controlled by ukraine, if we take that as a metric of success, has gone up and up and up, and the amount controlled by russia has gone down and down and down. why make this announcement on national television? why not? if you're going to withdraw, just withdraw and keep quiet. i mean, that's a very good question. i, i suspect is quite interesting that the president putin wasn't in the announcement . and so i suspect that because it's inevitable, russia had to withdraw. and as i said, we've been, we've been seeing this happen over the last 6 weeks, or 2 months. the getting the military to announce in this kind of slightly weird briefing from the senior general to the defense minister, i think is a way of making clear who's responsible for the retreat and,

and president putin wants it to be care that it's, it's not him. so what happens next in russia? withdraw south coast on across 3rd in the pro river. you craig move forwards and then what and tries to press on with the momentum behind it. well, russia does what i think we've got one more play before before winter sets in. and once, when does that, then everything is going to slow down, it becomes much more difficult to fight in some way. like in crane. i think ukraine has 2 options, really one is to press forward as you say, and take this particular piece of land on the right bank of the river. it will do that very, very slowly and very, very carefully. because inevitably, russia will be trapped things and left, stay behind parties and the rest of it. but you credit also has another option. it rushes pulled out of this area. why not strike in another area of the country?

and we've seen this actually consistently from ukraine. they offer up an assault in one area and then they drive through an attack in another area. so i wouldn't be surprised if over the next 2 weeks or certainly before christmas we see an assault from the ukrainians in another area. thank you for that. very clear, mike martin from the department of war, started at kings college, london. and keep that's the united states where democrats did much better than expected in tuesday's mid term elections. it's still unclear who will control congress as a few key contests are still undecided. the president biden praised his party strong, showing, saying that forecast of a wipe out by the republicans had failed to materialize. well, we had an election yesterday and it was a good day, i think for democracy. and i think it was a good day for america. shoot me a little hoarse. our democracy has been tested in recent years,

but with their vote. so the american people have spoken and proved once again that democracy is who we are. while the press in the pundents are predicting a giant red wave, it didn't happen. and i know you were somewhat miffed by my my obsession optimism. but i felt good during the whole process. i thought were going to do fine while any seat last is painful. some good democrats didn't. when the last night, democrats had a strong name, get more for washing the correspondence. we had a cook. net welcome. mckayla is that it is a good day for democrats. the fact that they haven't got wiped out well, what's a good day? you know, if your expectations are exceeded, i guess it is, and that's what happened for the democrats. they really were dreading this. traditionally here in the us, i can say

a politics usually serve the party of a sitting president, a defeat at midterm elections. so it really wasn't that bad, was it a victory for joe biden? that's another question. if you have 3 quarters of the country saying that it's going in the wrong direction, his popularity ratings also not particularly high. so he's held the shop together. was it the strength of the democrats or the weakness of the republicans? and that's the hot debate here right now. with everybody pointing towards trump, who the republicans feel lost it for them pretty much across the board, a missed opportunity after lot of debate of a quality of candidates as well. but of course, a sigh of relief. that's also what dos biden's spoke of. and he too said that generally is plan was to run again, but that decision would still be taken. so this will be left to a lot of party committees on both sides of the aisle to discuss what the cause was

. that some results are still outstanding. and we're pretty much on a knife edge at the moment. what are we likely to find out who controls contract? i don't have any results for you either. we know that in arizona that is highly contended in both races, their governor and the senatorial the seed, and we expect county to continue all weight into friday even. and what it may come down to is what we already know will be a re run in georgia over the senate race there that's expected on the 6th of december. and so if you really don't see any result this week, it might well have to wait for another month or all of us to find out who controls the senate. and other results are still trickling in, but no clear way to go as yet. okay,

but one of the big winners in this these midterms is flawed as republican governor rhonda sanchez, who's thought to be considering a run for the presidency. we'll take a look at your report. mckayla. i may come back to morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your governor speaking. rhonda service is the top gun of florida republicans, but his main aim to become the next republican candidate for president to do that to likely have to take on the man who championed him. donald trump takes credit for this santa selection to governor in 2018. now their rivals america's comeback begins this november, and it recently, trump gave him a derogatory nickname, calling him ron de sanctimonious. that was just after the former president strongly hinted he wants to run again for the republicans. and now in order to make our country successful and safe and glorious, i will very, very,

very probably do it again. okay. that would be a blow to desantis own ambitions in florida. he was, will pillar for keeping schools open during the pandemic, and not the some called him the trump with brains. and he seen as offering a more constructive take on the america fast doctrine. and my view is, is, you know, obviously free enterprise is the best economic system. ah, but that is a means to an end. it means to having a good fulfilling life in a prosperous society. polls put, rhonda sant is a way ahead of all other potential republican presidential candidates, apart from trump. he'd likely have to put his biggest ambitions on the ice for a while. if the former president does decide to run again in 2024. so we had a customer where do these mid terms? leave the republican contest for the present unseen?

2024. well it's leave them a need for a fresh poll because this was a defeat for donald trump. a ticket. donald trump's election denied candidates in these midterm elections. and rhonda santa's, he won by almost 20 percent ahead of his rival. he won big with the hugely important latino community, which is quite something in itself for the republicans and his supporters cheering. they said all 2 more years, 2 more years, one dissented. they certainly want to see him as the next candidate for president donald trump is expected to declare his candidacy on the 15th next week. and there was even talk that he made delay. but rhonda santas is the over arching signing star. it's really interesting to see also the media coverage right now. the new

york post, which always bactrim speaking of a trump t dumpty who failed to build a wall. there's a lot of tram criticism within the republican party. so if there is a whatever was a momentum for the republicans to discuss openly whether to rid themselves of trump, this could well be the moment because there is a very powerful alternative powerful at the ballot box. on turn have at hand right now, and that's rhonda santos mikaela mikaela cutler in washington. this is dw, is reminder of our top stores at this hour and was being called a major setback for moscow. russia ordered its troops to withdraw from the strategic southern ukrainian city of hassle. defense minister said i shall go. a said russia was no longer able to keep the city supplied and wants to save the lives of its soldiers. us president joe biden has praised his parties better than

expected results in tuesday's mid term elections with a number of contests, still undecided. it's still unclear who will control congress and with the democrats will be able to advance that political agenda over the next 2 years. i think you're up to date, i'll have more well near the top of the our business that news is next. africa neutral spectacle.