[000:00:00;00] a mystery. believe me. starts december 25th. oh d w ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, ukraine's president urges americans to keep supporting his nation's fight against russia. during his for to washington volunteers, alliance receives pleasures of military assistance,

including the patriot air defense system. russia responds by accusing the us of fighting a proxy or so on the show cove at 19 sweeps there, china now that beijing has abandoned its strict 0 cobra policy infections are surging as the virus moves through the population largely unchecked. ah, 11 cry. richardson, thanks so much for joining us. oh, stories coming up in just a moment, but 1st we do have some breaking news. federal prosecutor here in germany have arrested an employee of the foreign intelligence service for allegedly spying for russia. the suspect who has been identified only as karsten l, is accused of sharing state secrets with moscow. i do want to get straight across your dw is a political correspondence, simon young for more on this, simon,

what more can you tell us at this stage? yet clever sees, as you said, an employee of germany's federal intelligence service, the foreign intelligence service, b, n, d 's, a german citizen. and he's been arrested on charges of spying for russia on the orders of the federal prosecutor. he is alleged to have passed information that he obtained during the course of his duties at work to russian intelligence services. during the past year. now he appeared before a federal judge on the 1st day on charges of treason, and he's now being held in custody. so the ban ds been warning for some time that russia might try to infiltrate the intelligence community. this is certainly the most serious case that we know about at the head of the b and

d. dr. bruno call has said that, you know, it's important that information about the ongoing investigation doesn't become public. he said, any details that are made public can only assist the opponent as he called it, in their efforts to damage germany. and he went on to say that russia is a particularly ruthless and violent opponent. perhaps i won't get many more details on this case, but certainly it's a very serious information leak at the heart of germany's intelligence establishment. we will of course, be keeping everyone updated as more information comes in. but thank you so much. has date of these political correspondence, simon young for us. the ukranian president volunteers zalinski is back home after a surprise visit to washington d. c. he broke up the journey by stopping in poland, where he met with his polish counterpart on judah and aid to do as that the leader

spoke for about 2 hours, posting on social media, lance he said they discussed the years historic challenges due to a full scale war while in washington, the lansky predicted that next year would be a turning point in the war, but he stress ukraine is still very much relying on continued support from its western allies. precedents zalinski was given the red carpet treatment as he arrived at the white house greeted like an old fred by z u as counterpart joe biden . they've spoken many times on the phone, but this was a 1st face to face meeting since russian made it ukraine in the oval office flight and granites lensky, another wish high on ukraine's weapons list, continues to strengthen ukraine's ability to defend himself, particularly air defense. and that's why we're going to be providing you credit

with patriot missile battery 1st and lensky. it was an opportunity to pay his respects to ukraine's biggest back. i want to give you something one guy is really, really hero real captain. and he asked me to pass his award. he asked me to best work the prisoner by them. you will understand a said captain, fall timers. battery. yes, he is very brave and he said give it to very brave brazza and i want to give you that is the cross cross for military marriage. that is one god movies. yes, well, one deserve much appreciated. thank you. thanks for joe biden. it was a chance to send a clear signal to russia that the u. s. is in it too,

when it denies days is committed to ensuring that the brave ukrainian people can continue continue to defend their country against russian aggressions. as long as it takes the president of ukraine next not rooting lensky. a hero's welcome. as he addressed a weird joint session of the united states congress. against all odds and doom and gloom scenario, see a grain didn't fall. you green is alive and keegan. our 2 nations are allies in this battle and next here will be it turning point. i know it, the boy when ukrainian courage and american resolve must guarantee the future of

our common freedom. the freedom of people who stand for their well use what a mere zalinski knows, support like this or washington will be vital in the months or years of fighting ahead. but it's not guaranteed. some republicans are concerned about the billions being giving to ukraine. and when they take control of the house next year, they might trade a title, the purse drinks or earlier i spoke to russia, analyst maria cut, i might say, who told me about moscow's reaction to zalinski z u. s. trip. well, the reaction from the russian side want as expected kremlin the spokespersons meet your past call, expressed to disappointment, since there was neither a cold for peace, nor readiness to listen to russia. security concerns as he puts it according to the

kremlin. this means that the you ass indirectly fighting with russia. essentially what moscow does is to reinforce, once again, good narrative about total dependency of flood him is the last, is a decision making on the binding administration. and here it must be sad that in russia it's widely believed that that's ukraine, that washington is fueling the conflict by providing military equipment for ukraine . vladimir put in has stated several times that he wants peace and military assistance. the ukrainian hayes view is somewhat alienating cave and moscow from peace talks. i will show on this as a proxy where maria, i want to ask you, do you think that the u. s. s. promise of more support and the delivery of patriot missile systems is going to further escalate the situation. well, moscow has already stated that the petra to pump system, which will help you create to define its air space, will be seen as an escalation and

a legitimate target for it for its attacks. however, many analysts believe that this can be part of the so called the escalation game when russia threatening western countries in hope that that will support ukraine last. and we have heard this vague threats from cram lynn since february, especially at the beginning of the war. when they made many was to lead us alerts and cautious about about military assistance for ukraine, but humor continued and grow missing, or ukraine, that when we see now the communist, threatening narrative does not work well. well, at this moment. okay, now briefly i, before i let you go, we're also hearing reports that russia's defense minister survey shows who has visited frontline troops again as to visit in less than a week. can you tell us what you think is behind that? well firstly, we don't really know he was actually on the front line these time as you saw the ride the a couple of days ago, it was announced by the russian minister of defiance that troy go visited the front line. but after some time,

some analysts and journalists discovered that he was filled in an area and occupied crimea, which is not close to the frontline and well anyways, he did it for, for a reason, given the rising, this content over the conditions and equipment was by many family members of russian soldiers. this was to show to the russian audience that the military commander is also with their army and cares about his soldiers. but choice was visit can also be a message for ukrainians. we are here and we are not willing to stop our aggression . ok, thank you so much for that. that is russia analyst maria cutter. much. i really appreciate it. let's bring you up to speed now with some other stories making headlines around the world. israel designated prime minister benjamin netanyahu has managed to form a new right wing coalition government. he made the announcement after weeks of negotiations with religious and far right. political partners. netanyahu let his

party to win the most seats in israel's november election, but needed coalition partners to govern and afghanistan, dozens of women have rally didn't capital kabul to protest. a ban on women entering universities has only been announced the measure earlier this week, prompting international condemnation female students have since been turned away from university campuses across the country. millions of americans are under severe weather warnings as a major winter storm moves across the us. freezing arctic air is bringing blizzards and ice winds to much of the country. the record breaking cold comes as millions hit the rose or are taking flights for the holidays. and parts of northern india including the capitol, delhi are shrouded in dense fog. as the country's pollution crisis combined with winter weather to wreak havoc on wednesday, vo visibility lead to a major vehicle pile up near the city of well core and cove at 19

cases are surging across china right now until recently the country had some of the toughest control measures in the world, but public anger and rare street protests have led to many of the rules being relaxed. now experts are warning that hundreds of millions of people could soon be infected. and chinese authorities have narrowed the criteria for identifying covered deaths. that means that despite the jump in cases and overwhelmed funeral homes, there have been no official recorded deaths for 2 consecutive days. at times china 0 called it policy looked like this empty streets and some of the world's largest cities like shanghai here, 28000000 people are nowhere to be seen. other times it looked like this with aggressive scenes and supermarkets and people desperate to grab some of the sparse food and supplies. i'm still available to the child waller. there were also containment camps. entire city blocks and neighborhoods locked up and barriers

built to prevent free movement. china 0 covet rules were some of the most strictly imposed anywhere. residents were repeatedly told 0 cove. it was the only way to keep them safe. george indian, we each and we must unswerving lea at here to the principle of people 1st and life . first, the trilogy of curbing imported cases and domestic resurgence is and the policy of dynamic 0 cove it found in. but then this fall cases began to spread rapidly despite the strict policies many chinese experienced for the 1st time someone close to them getting sick with cove it and as cases spiraled, so did public discontent. in late november, a rare showing of public descent erupted in multiple parts of china. oh, there were street demonstrations and even some called for present teaching ping to resign. c reg, the kind of public outcry,

unheard of inside china then 2 weeks later, a change of heart from the government. the health department announced the loosening of 100 covey rules and holly footer. it just it how so she, our focus will be increasingly science based and targeted who she had, we should firmly correct oversimplification or a one size fits all approach and avoid taking excessive policy steps. even gamma on december 7th, china loosened measures, allowing home quarantine, reduce testing, making it easier to travel. chinese authorities and state media largely ignored the protests and accusations that 0 cove had failed. instead, they've been insisting the relax policies are due to a weakened corona virus. but weakened or not, the infections have been spreading rapidly, creating fear and anxiety, and further disrupting an already fragile economy. experts warn china could soon be

facing a peak of up to 800000000 cases in the country, which they say could mean as many as one to 2000000 deaths in the coming year. just before they go, whenever you a reminder of our top story ukrainian president valeria zalinski has met with his polish counterpart while traveling back from a brief visit to washington. d. c. there's lensky thanked americans for supporting ukraine's fight against russia's invasion. during talks at the white house, he was president joe biden pledge to continue supporting ukraine for as long as it takes a to his update at this hour. i'm claire richardson, thanks so much for watching. with