this is the pullman to unleash a non violent pass and re imagine that these teachings for relevance to gandhi's legacy starts january 28th on b, w. ah ah, this is d, w. news live from bullitt. russia's defense ministry says its forces have taken control of soul. the dom. ukraine denies the claim and says it's troops are still there. the eastern ukrainian town could be strategically important for russia in the don best region. also coming up germany is defense,

venice that may be on her way out. media report suggest, christina lumber is ready to quit. pressure has been building on her for months and flood ravaged california braces for even will have you right for cost as a warning of the potential for the sauce trust flooding as powerful storms take aim at the state yet again. ah, i'm all on psycho, it's good to have you with us. russia claims its forces have taken the town of sola dot in east in ukraine, if true, it would mark a red victory for moscow after months of battlefield setbacks. ukraine's military leaders reject the claim saying its soldiers holding the russian advance. the battle is ongoing. ah, in freezing winter conditions,

ukrainian soldiers in sally dark face a bleak battle against russia's constant attacks. the fight here is bloody and brutal. wow. russia is determined to take control of this small soft mining town in the eastern region of de next, a rare push forward after numerous military setbacks. its forces are already claiming victory was the only never complete control. so it makes it possible to cut off the supply line printer forces located in on the southwest back on van to mclaughlin in close. the cranial units located there, mclaughlin run, is related ukraine swiftly rejected the claim that us valid. now the terrorist state in is propaganda. so trying to pretend that our city of solid are almost completely destroyed by the occupy as is some kind of achievement for russia. you see it is, but they're already presenting this as

a success to their society in order to support the military mobilization and give hope to those who want aggression. but the fighting continues. the nets front we is holding the lives in optimal. the loss of sally dark would be a blow for ukraine after months of hard won successes, retaking towns and territories. but the fighting comes at a high cost. it's close gone, but we have gunshots. yeah, we have for grenades, shrapnel wounds and so on. so this kind of wounds in increased rush i claims to was killed hundreds of ukrainian soldiers in the battle for sali darn. but there is no confirmed death toil more than $550.00 civilians are reportedly still living in the town in horrific conditions without running water or

electricity. both sides still claim to control solar da. as we've heard, i asked d. w, russia analysts, konstantin agate in vilnius, how this battle is likely to end. well, judging by testimony is from the ukrainian military on site and some videos that appear on youtube. ah, it seems like maybe 2 thirds of the town of solid are maybe 3 course or under the russian control. some ukrainian sources on the ground actually admitted are bots. it's probably not fully controlled buttons. oh, so the battle continues bought. let's be very cautious. it seems that for now, the russian side is probably gaining the over here. now rush has been throwing a lot of resources on taking solid r y so much for such

a small town. i just seen as a doorway, a key to capturing ah, the city of buffalo, which the russians actually prefer to cool by its old soviet name, are your mosque. ah, and buttonwood is important because that's the center of, of the ukrainian forces deployed in dawn boss. essentially, it seems that the platters in moscow think that if they manage take solid are then they will try at least to encircle the, the main ukrainian battle group that is a poised to inflict damage from the russian forces. and dawn was basically, it is the biggest threat to do the russian occupation of don boss. that's why solid are is seen as very important. although we've seen many of these important places over the last nearly year. now, in, generally,

this war is always integrated into local battles into this kind of a positional tactical given take. or that never leads to any kind of major breakthroughs. now the, so by the wider war, you cranes, western allies, a promising armored vehicles and training for your brain. and so just within the next few months, how might that change the pace of the war? look, it's not only the question of to day or the next week. it is. i think the main question of this whole campaign of this whole wool of aggression of russia against ukraine. it is a question of 2023. on the one hand you have are russia, which is numerically much stronger than the grain and has that has been 40000000 population and still millions and millions and millions of able bodied men. that putin. i could throw as cannon fodder against

a grain positions. as he actually does, he doesn't care for human life, it seems. on the other hand, you have you grain which is numerically of smaller. it's probably now would have a 3035000000 people a bought with a highly motivated military. and with the armed with western oz, which a definitely old match the russian ones. so in a sense, you have a competition between the 20th century, probably when early 20th century style of prosecuting warfare and 21st century technology and motivation. in this respect, it is the question of this whole war who will gain the upper hand, who will be able to overcome? is it technology, or just numerical superiority? so far ukraine's were extremely effective in a learning and using worse than weapons. if there are more weapons than it's clear that putin will suffer more and more losses and death will eventually probably not

to morrow, have an impact on russian public opinion. and on his own generals, konstantin, thank you for those insights that dw russia analyst konstantin exit. thank you. here in germany, media reports suggest the defense minister is planning to resign. casino lumber has come under scrutiny for a number of blunders, most recently an official, unofficial new year's message that critics found distasteful. she also allowed her son to fly with her on official business in a government helicopter. someplace a member of chancellor will have shots. the social democrats has taken heed for failing to reform, germany's military fast enough. it abused political correspondence. emily, good dean has more on the story for us. emily? plenty of criticism here for the defense minister. what more can you tell us about the reports that she's about to resign?

well, national newspapers and actually come out on friday saying that she officially resigned as defense minister. she has already apparently spoken to chancellor shots about her resignation. and she's planning on making that decision public next week. now as you to said, this comes a made a series of blunders and many scandals and put it on you know, she's, she's not necessarily the scandal of not a survey about it because her politics is so terrible. it's because of like small missteps with feeling as if she is not fit for the job. i'm and with the sort of, you know, she's got terrible path and that's just made her look that's just been a huge embarrassment. not just for her, but also for the chancellor himself. and so there is room as they come at a time where people think, yeah, it might be time to go. so what has she been like as a defense minister? what are some of this blunders that have taken place on a smaller scale? these blunders have been, you know, she showed up at a, at

a mountain training site and she was wearing high heels. so just she just looked out of step out of touch with her surroundings. and she, you know, then it also turned out that she hadn't a nail appointment during official working hours. it's like small things where you think a you not taking your job seriously. and the problem with that is obviously the context, right? we're dealing with the war in ukraine. the german reputation already appears to be very hesitant when it comes to arms. delivery is, when you look at the state of the german army, it doesn't look very good. you know, recently had a training exercise of tumors that were meant to be sent to the nato east on flank . they all failed. so, you know, we're already in the middle of, you know, a difficult time for the german government where it is under pressure for its behalf, for its attitude and for its behavior in this whole conflict. and then you have defense minister of your peers, not fit for the job. so it is very difficult. and if you look at her,

if you look at her, her career itself, i mean, she used to be just as minister and the last government under michael. and after that, she actually announced that she missed, you know, leaving politics and then everyone suppose she reappeared and became 10th minister, which it was rumored. she also didn't really want, she wants to become interior minister. so it comes all of this, you know, it just, it doesn't fit into this whole picture very well. and it appears she didn't want the job. she didn't do particularly good job in terms of, you know, help. her practice wasn't very good until the politics. there's not much you can say about it, but yet i don't think it comes as a big surprise to others. just briefly. what does this mean full of sources cabinets for the government? well, i mean, a lot of people in the government itself and government cycles were expecting

a covenant reshuffle anyways, because the interior minister said to join the election hessen, which is the area of the region, the central region in germany, around frankfurt. so that would mean she'd have to leave the her position as interior minister. and so there would have been a re shuffle anyway. but obviously, you know, it doesn't look fantastic for him because he apparently has, he has to admit in some way or another that he maybe has made a mistake with her, which he is very reluctant to admit on, on an international level. i mean, not much is going to change. i assume the decisions of am deliveries are not just all it had to session. that's the decision that will actually makes in his coalition government together with the lines partners and bats. i yeah, i mean, it, it doesn't. and brighten up jamie's reputation when it comes to its military in defense of right. thank you very much. emily gordon dw political course

now let her look at some other stories making news around the world. iran says it has hang the british iranian national ali risa. barry was a former top defense official in iran and was convicted of spying for the united kingdom. the u. case. foreign secretary says the case is politically motivated. iran has one of the world's highest execution rates in the united states. republicans in congress have launched an investigation into the trip withdrawal from afghanistan in 2021 chaos. thereafter, when the us pulled out of the country and the taliban re to control a bomb attack at cobble airport, killed more than a $170.00 afghan civilians. and 13 u. s. soldiers forecast as our warning that disastrous flooding could hit parts of california this weekend. the u. s. state has been battered by a series of storms that have killed at least 19 people. the water level at this

river in northwestern, california continues to rise. the public is on alert as authorities warn of more rounds of stormy weather. the ground is saturated, it is extremely, extremely dangerous, especially in these high vulnerable areas. and that water can continue to rise well after the storms have passed. so our message is clear, please know your surroundings. there's fear, thousands of acres of crop land could be inundated by the overflowing rivers. heating the warnings farmers dig out, drainage ditches and officials work to stop rivers from breaking that banks. the operational priority in preparation for that is to ensure that the water stays within its banks. so if we were assessing under the levy structure, we're, we're,

we're assessing what we can do to, to fight the flood. the relentless and powerful storms have caused devastation. in many areas, calls and homes remain submerged. and thousands remain under evacuation orders. the rains have ease, extreme drought in the state, but at a huge cost scientist say, climate change is responsible for more frequent and intense storms. it will change it up to noose. that's it for me. i'll go back and 45 minutes coming up after a short break sports life takes a look at the price of gambling in full ticket with ah ah, will you become a criminal.