this, so get ready for the brain, hold you to the answer to it. everything starts january 15th oh d w ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. president vladimir zalinski tells ukrainians on christmas eve that tears will give way to hope, even as a new russian attack takes more lives in the liberated city of harrison. and also coming up on the shelf 3 major aid groups say they're suspending operations in afghanistan after it's holly bon order all

n g o's. to stop employing women and extreme weather knocks out, powered to millions of homes and businesses of profs north america disrupting holiday travel plans. ah hello, i'm clare richardson. thank you so much for joining us. for orthodox russians and ukrainians, christmas is normally celebrated in january. but after russia's invasion, many in ukraine are now choosing to mark the occasion today instead, as ukraine continues to suffer from deadly russian attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure. president val ettinger zalinski has delivered a christmas eve address, saying he believes tears will give way to joy. christmas on the front lines. these ukrainian soldiers in bah mote have faced relentless russian

attacks. for months. the city has seen some of the toughest fighting of the war since it began in february. but even here, soldiers are taking a moment to reflect on the occasion. it will not be near christmas during war a still christmas out on the verge, the holiday should remain a holiday. no matter the circumstances we have now. excellent trouble. you can probably hear the incoming shelling magic love, and our guys are responding finance that alive. but the holidays a holiday here, and it should remain so you will not fall in love with them all across ukraine. christmas celebrations have been very different this year. russia has bombarded energy infrastructure for months without leaving millions without power, water, or heat. yet the scanner, good on christmas eve or russian missiles struck a market in the liberated city of her son. at least 10 people were killed and more

than 50 wounded. but despite the enormity of the challenge facing all ukrainians, president zalinski christmas address struck a tone of defiance and hope. last, the loudon will glad we will see my heroes more cheerfully than ever before. which nice to be louder than the sounds of the generator. my butcher, melissa, we will hear voices and greetings of our loved ones in our souls, even if the connection and the internet go down with the kidney damage last night. and even in complete darkness, we will find each other to hug each other tightly. and if there is no heat, when we will hunt for a long time show to warm each other or dinner. russia says it has no plans for a ceasefire over the holiday period, but that hasn't stopped ukraine from celebrating this christmas. meanwhile,

ukrainian officials are now saying the death toll of the attack on her son has risen to 16 people. surgery, petty half is a former ukrainian deputy minister of justice. and he earlier gave her, gave us his assessment of russia's attacks on christmas eve. there's no big strategy behind that except for to rise in the population. they cannot win this war in a conventional sense. and they are lacking the me files long range missiles that they are using sparingly to target the electric greet of ukraine. but they have enough of the conventional tillery that they're using along the phone line, wherever they can, to not only try to win this war. but unfortunately, to target the civilian population. before when they were stationed in harrison, they were shooting over mc life and the big city that is less than 60 kilometers

away. now that they've been pushed on the other side of the pro. they are shooting her song repeatedly almost every day. so this is just the terrorist tactics trying to secure the ukrainian population into submission. well, 3 major aid groups have suspended their operations in afghanistan, saying they can't work without their female staff as follows, and order by the countries taliban rulers telling all humanitarian organizations to stop employing women. the ban comes just days after the group bard women from attending universities. the taliban are trying to utilize them from public life. but of god goodman, i fighting back. not lifting the taliban crush a tree. in this ali zoom in, protesting for the right to university education were dispersed with what again you know,

you need not getting any weapons that donavon forced us to come to the street. and in the used quarter canons on us, we all got drenched, and many goats fell down dest, scared of her voice. if and don't have any of the weapons, we want our rights to get it on the taliban. a thought on women's rights, she was no sign of stopping women humana didn't book of death pretty needed in poverty stricken afghanistan. now they're being told to stay home. the u. n. has gone against him eating the minstrel in the humanitarian victory. effective humanitarian assistance relies on this meaningful participation, as they stated. and we cannot overstate the importance of their capacities in sight and ability to reach women and girls across the country. despite what might condemnation that taliban are not going down to the pressure and at closing doors to any meaningful engagement. for more,

i'm very pleased to welcome at ronnie's loc for of decade a special representative of the un assistance mission in afghanistan. he also coordinates at 28 n g o z in afghanistan. so we have 3 major n g o is announcing they are going to be suspending their work in afghanistan after the tale buns ban on women's staff. do you believe that that is the right response? well, for those liberal choices, when we're talking about the speech of gustavo, the poorest country in the world, i'm a bit worse. sure. it has an extremely high level need. but it's also true participation of women staff in the discharge of community work is essential, am visible of me to a delivery, and we can all deliver aid. we ok. i want to ask what kind of communication channels the u. n. has with the taliban,

what kind of pressure might you be able to exert that would change their minds on this issue? i wouldn't use the word pressure. i wouldn't say there will negotiations. that about is the fact off. where did you start? and as such, did due to bearers, the beer, the responsibility, the prime responsibility or provision of each to the people. and we are here in our, in partial capacity to deliver that h to the. now if we cannot deliver the, the support required and facilitation required, and that includes having women are participating in assessments in discharge for the service and in provision. this is essential elements of operational independence. not at least we'll just understand this is a universal principle of b. so what we're talking to them is that we need to make sure that they provide us

with the conditions so that we can see c, v, that's where our conversation. and so without those conditions, can you tell me a bit more about how this band is going to affect the when's work in afghanistan up just the fool of the injury was around to me before. so you can not extend the certain bands or restrictions in yours and expect that you handle more. so a search which is what it is your issue, is that an entire issue for us as the international community. and as the number of the efforts are, are very simple. if we're not able to assess the community, so we're not able to deliver it there, then the people will not be benefiting. and it's a cold winter. and we need to make sure that full blanket cooking materials and everything else, what makes essential a life saving assistance available is reaching communities rod, any disruptions. that's why they're talking to the de facto what it is to re engage

in. and they record me and we're asking for the diverse hey, i want to thank you so much for joining us on t. de leon is to speak about this important topic that's around these. i like our off deputy special representative of the un assistance mission in afghanistan. you move well, a massive winter storm has triggered blizzards, freezing, rain and flooding. in many areas of the united states and canada. extreme weather has led to power outages for nearly 2000000 homes and businesses disrupting travel plans for millions of people. authorities also say at least 17 people have died as a result of the storm. ah, it's a white christmas for much of north america. in fact, it's a complete white out blizzards like these a hammering many areas of the united states and canada. i order per vin for snow has been piling up from coast to coast,

with freezing wind seeming temperatures. plunging the massive storm, coming at one of the busiest travel times of the year leading to the cancellation or delay of thousands of flights. joselet, is it under the lead here because of the grizzle? well, boys i had a go saw that has been flooded. so it's not the right time for me to get to know we've not been on the visit. i thought flexible of that and brain, over the condo for those who did make it to the destination, it wasn't always a smooth, right? so this is what i woke up to. you know, i live in addition to the snow and ice flooding has had some regions. the storm has been caused by a so called bomb cycling with atmospheric pressure dropping very quickly. the very low temperatures, affecting much of the country of forecast to remain in the coming days with much of

the us staying well below freezing and they have been fatalities due to exposure. i see car crashes and other effects of the storm. again the flesh freezing the ice roads are not going anywhere soon. this is going to be an event. it's going to continue through the weekend and windshields are going to be absolutely bone chilling. that's why this is a life threatening event. the big chill is it to stick around for a freezing feast of season across much of north america, before a return to calmer and more season, a wither next week. well, the nutcracker. ballet has long been a part of the holiday season around the world. but because a russian composer kyoto, tchaikovsky is behind, as quintessential christmas classic, some companies are choosing to pause performance as of the ballet. we have this report from poland. it's

a fairy tale ballet we're toys come to life on christmas eve. and it's one of the poems, beloved holiday traditions. but this year there won't be any performances of the nutcracker and the national opera. because the composer tchaikovsky is russian. something ballet fence here agree with the rugger, or if you take into account how the russians are waging this war, also killing people than you need to make hard decisions hot from over your was not total summers up will be my pleasure through the this is an act of the nutcracker isn't on the bill. instead, they're performing don quixote poland, minister of culture encourage pulls to turn their backs on russians. and a gesture of solidarity after russia invaded ukraine. most of bolan's, national leaders are taking part in the boycott eventually, but the move is controversial. yes, them school and those gorgeous share. a pop said, you boy, corpse, i can understand and i support a boycott of artists and actors that would earn profit for the russian state bird

of bits, animal price. what does his kimmel was out of action? a shoe. i believe i support urbana literary and musical works that glorify russia lot that out skewed that a matter of you to ne jackie moses knew that emma will be glad if he coach with the nutcracker from j kosky. many polls want to see despite russia's war, but not in the national feeder. instead, smaller companies are offering the belly with the green performers ticking over the stage. while pope francis has urged an end to what he calls the senseless war in ukraine during his christmas day addressed to worshippers. speaking on the balcony of saint peter's basilica in rome, the pontiff also condemned food being used as a weapon and said the world is suffering from a famine of peace. he also calls on people to look beyond the shallow glitter of the holidays and help the homeless refugees and the poor mother. just before we go, let's get a reminder of our top story at this hour, ukraine's president a holiday. reza lensky has urged his people to persevere in the face of russian

attacks in his christmas address. it was the lens. he said it quote that we will endure this winter because we know what we're fighting for. his remarks came after russia launched new deadly attacks on the city of her son. that james of tapp hist our stay tuned for doc film coming up next, presenting a closer look at the battle over introducing genetically modified crops in africa. there's more on our website to at and t, w dot com, i richardson in berlin for me in the team. thank you so much for watching. and we've got to understand, but globalization work, but he does not reach more than 30 percent of the world population. in the mediterranean as become a kind of great sarcophagus. if anything he was proud of it was to be a steal worker who had to win.