of the orthodox church. it's no longer that it was secularized, and i took and see him. he was in there and then to our surprise was not on the agenda at all. he said he would like to visit the mosque next to the blue moss. and as a customer with muslims, he, he removed his shoes and went to the mosque and prayed. they're not the not the action but managed to be a rabbit conservative, which i'm very, thank you so much for that sir. you're watching dw news where we've been covering at the funeral of that i hope benedict presided over by the current pope francis or john barrick has been our guide over the last hour and a half or so. and johnny, thank you so much for the for that. thank you. so let's look at what else is going on in the world, and we'll start a new ukraine. well, with russia, in fact,

the russian president, vladimir putin, has an answer deployment of a warship, armed with hypersonic cruise missiles to the atlantic show of force comes as western allies move towards increasing their support for ukraine. i supply armored vehicles. deployment of a new generation of missiles also comes after what's believe to be russia's biggest single military loss. can ukrainian strike via video link? russian, president vladimir, who tim joined, descending a ceremony for a new frigate equipped with miss the celebration. looks like a distraction tactic off the russian troops suffered heavy losses in her son and my gift criticism of the military's leadership is mounting. moscow says 89 russian soldiers were killed, in my case dozens more than the death till it initially announced its thought the men were killed in the school building where they were staying in part of a russian controlled area of east in ukraine. military officials say the soldiers themselves were partly to blame since your commission is working to investigate the

circumstances of the incident. but it's already obvious that the main reason for what happened was the switching on and massive use contrary to the ban of mobile phones by the troops who were in the zone of enemy weapons. this allowed the enemy to locate the troops for myself, driving. like karen tomorrow on tuesday, people around russia a morning, the dead investigations by the military commission on going. meanwhile, some politicians and ministry. commentators venting their anger at the russian military leadership on the online service. telegram and calling for revenge. deputy do must speak at andrew med v a t f says housing troops and buildings rather than bunkers is akin to helping the enemy and well rushes steps up its attacks on ukraine civilian infrastructure. it plans to protect itself with a new hypersonic missile system we through that here

just because i am sure that such powerful weapons will make it possible to reliably protect russia from potential external threats and send over us with that, put in, sent off the new frigate on its hypersonic cruise missiles for now on a training mission. i spoke to a correspondent, a roman, gone to ranko, a key if and asked him what he's been hearing about those ukrainian warnings at russia is planning to call up more troops for a major new offensive. well, yes, we're hearing. i'm such of such statements. nearly every day hear from top ukraine and officials from president himself, from the ukraine and military. they're saying that russia is preparing an offensive . nobody won't knows when exactly and at what place and some say that could happen and maybe in the coming days or weeks, other site would happen in february or march. and the weather conditions are decreasing here in ukraine. so frost is coming with temperatures sinking on to

minus 10 degrees celsius. and this will make it possible for russia to use a heavy tanks. but it will also make it possible for you, craig, you have a tank. so this an escalation possible escalation coming. we don't know that for sure, and ukraine is also considered, well, russia could strike from the north, from belarus, or from the east at the moment. the heavy fighting continues, especially in the east, around the city of baltimore. but on the other hand, we hear reports from ukraine and not yet confirmed by independent sources that the ukrainians were able to push back. the russian forces in back more at least a little right at that, that talk of tanks is, is interesting and timely because it does look now as though france will become the 1st western country to deliver light tanks to ukraine. and how is that likely to change things? well, it could be a game changer, but it depends on how many such tanks or france will provide and whether other

countries will follow. because we are also hearing that the united states are considering of sending m similar, similar a light, a military vehicles to ukraine. bradley for example. and it will also put additional pressure on the german government to leave a martyr on those light infantry vehicles that the ukraine has been asking for 4 months. if that happens, that could make a change, of course. and here and key of people hope that if that happens, if france does deliver and other countries follow, then maybe in the next step uh, western countries will provide ukraine with main battle tanks like the german leo, pud. 2, and this will be definitely a game changer and these coals, these warnings by the romanian a president about a russian offensive being in the offing. are they actually being taken seriously or is it more of a sort of an effort to guard against complacency? no, no, they are taken of being taken seriously, and i would say that some military experts here in your crime and, and,

and some breast and experts also see the decision by the united states, for example, to provide patriot a defend systems to ukraine and other non weapons, a new weapon systems to ukraine, as an indirect indicator that the russia is preparing for, for a new, new offensive. and the russian president himself said that in his girl remains. so he's not or considering any option of giving up his, on his own major goals, which is to control major parts of ukraine. and the former president would read of speaking again that the russian russia wants to ago regime change and key of so all the things are taking here very, very seriously. thank you so much. that room room gunter icon, keith the european union has a great number of restrictions on travelers from china in response to a surgeon coven infections there, but stopped short of making the restrictions mandatory for member states. recommendations include requiring negative cov 19 tests from passengers departing

from china, as well as face masks on flights as a to and from the country by showing threatened countermeasures against these restrictions which is condemned as discriminatory. and not based on science. i asked our brussels bureau chief alexandra phone number, why the e u was only made these recommendations. instead of issuing mandates because member states could not agree whether it is urgent to take action right now, italy, spain, friends are saying yes it is. they do not trust information coming out of china. they say they want to protect their citizens, and that is why they of them there are already demanding and negative coverage tests from anyone arriving from china. other member states, such as germany are saying this is not a science based approach. the situation not is not as bad as, as it is being pictures other as states. for instance,

austria are hoping for their chinese new year. a try a trouble rush to start. they don't want to discourage tourists from china, from a coming to their country because of course, at that is also important for their economy. right. will, the pandemic coverage actually ended in the e. u. we have 7 day averages in germany in france, running at more than 33019000 cases a day. so what a brussels got specific concerns about china. i think that then the major concern is, of course, the fear of new variance and there, mistrust of information coming out of china. china was a withholding information at the beginning of their pandemic. and now critics are seeing it's happening again. even experts of their world health organization are complaining they. china is not very transparent. a bit about what's coming, what's happening in the country that china should be more for,

it's coming with sharing data. we know that hospitals and funeral homes in china, china are overwhelmed and still according to official data. they're on only few official das registered. so i think that they were peons are not trusting their to data coming out of china. and that's to me major reason for their their concerns. thank you so much. alexander alexandra, for norman in brussels. now to washington, which is in a 2nd dramatic a day in the us congress, republicans in the house of representatives or failed to elect a speaker following a sick vote. conservative kevin mccarthy is better to leave the republican majority in the house as being blocked by a group of right wing hard liners or even defied an appeal from former president trump. on miss macarthur's behalf. lawmakers have returned until at noon thursday to allow the republicans to seek away out of the impasse mccarthy. but is there

a way out we asked her correspondent in washington, sumi so miss gander. we don't know exactly how they're going to solve this crisis. we just know that they're working on it. we've heard rumblings and rumors that kevin mccarthy has been huddling with his critics. those who have been standing in his way on the path to be the speaker of the house and trying to crank out some concessions to bring them over to his side. it looks like things might be moving in his direction, but none of that has actually played out into a vote on the floor of the house of representatives. so that means we're going to head into a 3rd day and a 7th round of voting. and some of our viewers might be wondering where does this actually go? well, this is pretty new territory here in modern politics. it hasn't happened in 100 year. so lawmakers themselves are navigating the situation, but we know they're going to continue to vote until they select a speaker of the house. that could be kevin mccarthy. it could be someone else. we could just see a several rounds of voting ahead of us. but let's see what progress has made in negotiations through the light in the morning. so miss on the scanner in washington

. so today is the day that sarah pope, a meritus of benedict the 16th was buried at the vatican, presided over by pope francis. we cover that live here on d w, and that john barrick covered the election of joseph rat singer as he was back then in 2005. it was also here to cover his funeral. us a welcome back to the studio, a job. the former pope asked for a simple ceremony. we see the pictures there of peter square, he's coughing there are being carried in by 12 coffin bears. i'm talk us through what happened today, what it was indeed in rome terms, a simple ceremony and certainly in compared with what a sitting pope would experience it as a, as a funeral, a paypal funeral. we didn't know really until yesterday. exactly what

form certainly would take open it himself and asked for it to be simple. and but the decision lay ultimately, of course, with his successor, frances, who obviously accepted his wishes. and it's very much in the whole style of frances frances doesn't like it very elaborate ceremony. and so what we saw was really basically the, the kind of funeral service that you would see in, in a, in, in germany or in poland or brazil, or anywhere else where catholic bishop would die. and we got an insight into the affection with which pope frances that held for his predecessor, yes, there were people from all over the world. of course, in particular the people from bavaria in southern germany where he himself hailed

from we're very, very affectionate towards him. many of them were, we even had somebody holding up him or several people holding up a banner, they're saying, sante soap, so latin for making the st at once. and waving the bavarian flag, he was, he was, however, a somewhat one has to say, a somewhat divisive figure. because for a long time within the catholic church, for a period of 12 years he was, he was prefect of the congregation to the faith. the chief theologian of the catholic church and there under pope john on the 2nd, it was his job to rein in elements within the church which seemed to be threatening disunity that gave him reputation of being an arch conservative and very strict. hold in god's rot via indeed the british pressed it. that was,

that was an invention of the, of the british tabloids i believe. and really i think a very unfair, they also when he was, when he was a point when he was elected po for the british, one british tabloid at least, found a photograph of him in a, in a, in the hitler youth uniform and, and, and published that which was to say the least absolutely misleading and if not vicious as a criticism, because we know in 1939, everybody or young men at the age of 14 were drafted when they wanted or not, they had to lose. he had no choice a quick word about that. the ceremony itself is surprising to see a pope francis apparently replaced in the middle. yes, hope frances has been suffering various ailments in particular. he has it's not serious ailment as such, but extreme pain in his leg. one leg,

and he is unable to stand for very long without excruciating pain. but he did choose to do so for much of the ceremony. it was only in the major central part of the ceremony with his a long prayer where the celebrant has to stand at the altar and that sir cardinal returning stood in for him. okay, thank you so much, john barrick, thank you for being our guide. a through that's at settlers, you're watching the w news line from burning more at the top of the hour and around the clock on website the ww dot com. i've been with the question of the questions about life, the universe and.