violet pass and re imagined galleys teachings for relevance to. gandhi's legacy starts january 28th on d, w. ah ah ah, this is dw news wife from berlin. washington confirmed they will send its modern battle tanks to ukraine. president joe biden announces the us will deliver 31 of its powerful abrams tanks to the battle feels as cave prepares for a potential offensive this spring. this comes after german chancellor, olaf schultz announced that berlin would send its prize to tank. the leopard to,

to ukraine as well, and allow allies to do the same. also on the show at least 2 people are killed and several others wounded in a knife attack on a train in northern germany. the attacker is in custody. ah. hello, i'm clare richardson. thank you so much for joining us. us president joe biden has announced his country will send 31 of its m one abrams tanks to ukraine, a decision marx, a coordinated move with germany and other european allies, to equip ukraine with modern battle tanks ahead of a potential russian offensive this spring. now bite and also promised logistical support and training for ukrainian soldiers in operating the complex tanks. here is the u. s. president. speaking a short while ago to day,

i'm announcing that the united states will be sending 31 abrams tanks to ukraine. the equivalent of one ukrainian battalion, secretary austin as recommended to step because on hands, new cranes capacity to defend his territory and achieve their strategic objectives . were also closely coordinated this announcement with our allies. i'm grateful a chance for shoals, for providing german leopard to tax, and will lead an effort to organize a european contribution to tank battalions for ukraine. i want to thank the chance for, for his leadership and his steadfast commitment to our collective efforts to support ukraine. germany has really stepped up straight to washington than in our bureau chief in as paul in as a praise for all our faults and germany for sending their leopard at twos. and also a lot of talk about western unity. but this has been a political hot potato for a long time. how much unity can we really speak of i

think the unity is really huge, and that was kind of the main message here from, for, from president joe biden, in his address to the nation from the white house. we stand united with our allies, with germany, with france, and then he kind of named many, many other european countries. but he also said that is also approved that says, because this effort is continued effort to support ukraine in fighting, or the russian invasion is a united effort by both parties, by the republicans and the democrats and claire. it might be a little bit bit difficult. our international audience to understand, but that was not a given some weeks ago as some people here really feared that with a new congress which is not dominated by the republicans. the support might be diminished, but it's not sole bite and said, we stand here united worldwide, united in this western alliance to fight pooty. i want to ask you more about

domestic support in the united states. how much you think there is in terms of public support for sending these tanks in particular to ukraine? well, it is getting her more difficult over the course of the time in the beginning, in the very beginning when the war broke out, the u. s. a kind of the american people didn't care so much, but then when we got the 1st pictures, the 1st images from women and children, a fleeing of the country really stepped up and they were really united in supporting ukraine. but i'm in the united states support in billions and billions of dollars, and there are voices now which say, hey, we also need some money here for our own infrastructure for our own school. but present by, in obviously it was again able to walk the island, or at least kind of secure the political support we shall see in

the presidential campaigning will start prep probably in the 2nd top of this year, which role of the ukranian war will play in that regard. thank you so much for that update at is our bureau chief in his poll in washington was we've heard germany has given the go ahead for german made a leopard tank to be delivered to ukraine. and it's also a proving requests from other european countries to transfer their leopards to keith. initially, germany will send a 14 tanks and provide training ammunition and maintenance in crane has been asking allies for these weapons. for months, as its troops tried to push back, russian forces the words that keith and its allies had been waiting for me that and okay, now we will also provide ukraine with lepper to maine will. that's the tank 0 pots . why many had criticized shoals for dragging his feet on this matter,

but he defended the timing on israel also look this and i want to say explicitly it was right. and it's right that we did not allow ourselves to be forced into action . but instead, and this issue to focus on close cooperation and continue, it was your thoughts, it's berlin will deliver a company of 14 lepper, 2 tanks to ukraine. it will also give the green light to other allies that want to supply, keep with tanks on the sinister home depot here and i'm, this is not just about any weapon. this is about one of the best battle tanks in the world. news of that is an important potential game changer in this war, at least in the current face weeks. and then the sender gets in can father for the details on the road ahead will now be discussed with other allies who want to cynthia tanks. let's go to our political correspondence, simon young. for more, a simon earlier we heard biden in announcing the delivery of 31 abrams tanks,

praising germany, saying they really stepped up their support. what's your read on this? yeah, absent, it was very striking in the woods from president biden. he said he was grateful to all our schoultz for delivering the leopards and he praised what he called showed his leadership aiden, coordinating the european response. he said that germany was a strong voice for unity and arguing for a keeping up the level of support for ukraine. so it almost sounded like he was trying to come to our shows, his age. he was parents, it shows his a, draw the perhaps aware of the pressure and thinking about the pressure that jolts is based in recent weeks because of what people many people anyway, have seen as hesitation over this question of whether to deliver tanks or not. interestingly, but was also asked whether it was the german announcement to send their tanks. the prompted, they said decision from the us to send abrams tanks. he said no,

it wasn't that way round and were all united were all in the same page. so this message of unity coming through loud and clear. well now that germany has made the long awaited promise of sending leopard to tanks, the german defense minister has called it a potential game changer in the war. do you think he is right on that regard? certainly could be because the leopard too, in particular a one of the world's most modern sort of battlefield systems. it's a quick and and deadly tank. and if enough of them arrive on the cranium, ukrainian soil, they can certainly do a lot of damage. that is what president lensky has said he wants, he wants the capability to try and take back some of the territory that russia has ceased. so this initial announcement, of course, is not a large number of tanks. but if it opens the way for all those nations,

strictly the european nations that have a german made leopards which germany now says it's giving the green light for them to send, then that could be the beginning of something. it also is the 1st step, this announcement, i think for germany is a rebuild, a bit of international trust that's been lost because of these weeks of seeming indecision over over the question of tanks in the end that it's just 14 leopard, 2 tanks that are going from germany to ukraine. do you think that that's enough? well known in itself, but the government spokesman said today that would be just the beginning of the plan is to get what if it comes to battalions, which most people interpret as meaning about 88 tanks from the various european countries that have these leopards. so 2 battalions of, of, of leopards that will go 3 soon and the manufacturer, which is a german of leopard says that it can provide perhaps $29.00 more by

march. so i think we're going to see in the coming weeks and months is more, more a promise series of tanks going into ukraine. and just to be clear on the potential logistical challenges that might why ahead, how are these tanks going to be maintained and who is going to pay for it all? well, from the german point of view, they have say the government has said that they will. this is part of who integrated package that will be munitions, that will be training. there will be maintenance and all the logistics that go with it because the tanks are not just tanks. they require a lot of backup and of course beans. as i said, these are very modern, takes every complex systems. it'll take a few weeks if not a couple of months, perhaps to train the ukrainian crews, even experience crews on how best to use them. but it won't be immediate, but i think leopards certainly can. and probably will make

a difference on the ground in ukraine. thank you so much for reporting. i mean young for us in berlin. well, police say 2 people have been killed and several others are injured in a knife attack on a passenger train in northern germany. the incident took place as the train was traveling between the cities of keel and humbug. police arrested the alleged attacker in the town of brock's debts. the motive behind the incident remains on clear. well, let's bring in journalist jenny yvette in hamburg in northern germany. any thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us. can you tell us what we know about this attack so far? what we know for sure is that this afternoon, a man attacking people on a train on a traveling pastor, passenger, and commuter train, between keel and hamburg. a talked people in a, in a starting attack. and the 2 people have died and 8 people have been injured, 3 of them seriously. among these c with the injured people,

is the attacker we've been told he's been taken to hospital. there was may him on the train. i witnesses say that the man began to run a mock that people were running through the train and panic that there were bloodstains on with the train. and apparently the, the fight that the attacker was stopped by people on the train and overwhelmed and that this disturbance, this altercation then continued onto the platform once the train stopped and brought it. so a really, really shocking incident. and of course, the station itself was cordoned off as a major police operation underway still to this point, and train services were interrupted. of course, this all this afternoon, but to a series incident. and i'm very, very shocking. and you're describing absolutely harrowing seems there at this point . do we have any information about the suspect or even a possible motive? very little, the police are really seem very scanty detail this the saying nothing at all about the the and that with the possible motive,

apart from the fact that they're investigating in all directions. so that could be a psychological motive or that could be an extremist motive. but that's simply not known under to take time to investigate this. all we know is that the man is said to be in his twenties to thirty's, and that's not, there's nothing, there's no further detail on on him personally. there are sources saying to the, to the d p, a press agency that he hasn't been known to the police in the past for any kind of extremist behavior. but again, that needs to be reported and, and investigated by the police. and we have to see what, what emerges there, the seems to have been no incident leading up to this attack. the seems looking very, very southern and it's taking people by surprise. it's a very, very shocking incident. indeed. absolutely. perhaps also important context to include though that germany has suffered a number of knife attacks in recent years. to authorities have any suggestion as to why this keeps happening. well, i suppose in many countries you have incidents of violence. you have,

you have attacks of all kinds of the stage. i'm that the seems to be no suggestion, but there's a link between this, the talk and any other talk we've seen in the past. the fact is that there are more gums and more knives around in society. we have gang violence in germany. but again, there is no suggestion that there's a link to any of these phenomena between the pink, between those phenomena and this particular talk this afternoon. it's a, it's, it's, it remains to be seen what the motive is and, and if this has any connections to, to, to other violent incidents. but there is nothing that suggests that this, this, this is the case right. now, journalist any that we really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. thank you so much. thank you. and just before we go, we can get a reminder of our top story at this hour. u. s. president joe biden has announced his country's will deliver 31 abrams battle tanks to ukraine. his dress, the tanks are to help you. crane defend itself,

and are not what he described as an offensive threat to russia. as news update at this hour, coming up next in doc filled the growing demand for gemstones that are might under questionable circumstances. stay tuned for that. don't forget you can get more news and analysis on the website to d, w dot com or check us out on social media. that's of you news. that's all for me for now. i'm claire richardson in berlin. really appreciate you watching leonardo da vinci's mysterious masterpiece. this perhaps the greatest leonardo masterpiece in the collection of the louvre. it is the virgin of the rocks. was there another symbolic meaning to this beautiful painting that perhaps.