the most exciting sport stories about people, passions and their dr. sports life. every weekend on d w ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, b e used topped officials arrive in ukraine, european commission, president ursula funder line, and a team of commissioners travel to keith. there they are to show solidarity with ukraine, but also talk about weapons deliveries from the west plus supplying battle tanks to

ukraine comes at a cost for an already under equipped german army, the defense and mr. promises swift action to replace the missing hardware. ah, i'm sarah kelly. welcome to the program. the european commission president ursula funder line and a top team of officials have arrived in the ukrainian capital. keith, it is the biggest e u delegation to visit since the start of russia's invasion fund. our line will meet with ukrainian president followed him as a landscape on friday, and e, you ukraine's summit is set to take place in keith, military and financial help is expected to be high on the agenda. but ukraine is also hoping for progress on its application to join the e. u. and we have team coverage of this visit. i am joined 1st by d. w,

correspond max xander, who was standing by for us and tv. so max, what signal does this high level delegation sent by coming to keith? right, so sarah, this is probably one of the largest delegations that arrived here in key ever since the beginning of the full scale invasion, including the use top level, highest rank. sir. you commission president was enough on the line that you counsel present, shall michelle, in the high representative joseph burrell. so they will be holding talks to day with their ukrainian counterparts. discussing the current situation now to further assist ukraine during the war and also future partnership. and we can expect some announcement, some falling these days, including military aid. as you mentioned, perhaps suspension of customs duties for another year and, and perhaps even the integration of ukraine into the you free roaming area. but this is not the actual reason why they took the risk. why they came here today to a city that is still being regularly attack life by russian rockets. the reason is

that they want to show a strong message of solidarity show support that the you, you continues to stand by ukraine side and at russia will not prevail. how far does that support val maxed it? has ukraine has been pushing very hard to join the e u quickly. is today's visit a positive sign that can happen? right, so joining the u. m for anyone beecher craner and other country is a long, very complicated process, which involves many levels of thorough vetting. ukraine was made to candidate country on last year in summer, in record time and due to political willingness. and it was a matter of weeks rather than a matter of months or even years. but ukraine will have to undergo the same scrutiny, the same vetting as any other country. the entire system will have to be checked the laws ranging from agriculture to traffic to the judiciary system. all of that

will have to be, will be analyzed by you officials and will have to be brought at to the same level as the rest of the you and where this is not the case of for process will have to take place. this can take many, many years. now, she is pushing to join you within the next 5 years, but you officials ahead of this meeting. i've actually said that this, this, this meeting to morrow to summit rather is also about managing expectations. and if i like to, i looked at one thing to this, having, i think russian boots on the ground having a foreign country in invade you during this process is something that hasn't happened before. and this is also something that's gonna likely delay the delay ukraine's accession process mac vendor and came thank you. while most of the european union's top authorities are in the ukraine today, the european parliament in brussels is debating the blocks ukraine policy correspondent jack parrot is standing by in brussels for us. so jack, oh,

we're approaching the 1st anniversary of the war. where does e, you support stand right now? yes. a really interesting position wherein, and it's interesting with this commission, this high level commission visit to keep going on. they are there, as mike said to try and sorta the sort of expectations around the accession process broadly. the european commission is very in favor of it as all the european parliamentarians who are holding this debate today in brussels. we've had many of them speak already this morning saying that the accession process should be clear. it should be quick, but also many of them have been saying that it's important that ukraine is prepared and has fulfilled all the necessary requirements in order for it to become a new member state. and the fact that the war is going on shouldn't negate the need to try and make sure that all of those formal processes are being up held. there are a lot of divisions in the european union about this at the moment, specifically because the military hardware that ukraine is demanding and will

demand from the u. officials that are there actually doesn't come from the e u, it comes from the member states of the european union. so big military countries like germany, france, her a probably doing the most within the european union. but actually the, you doesn't have its own army or its own military hardware. so those discussions need to be had with the capitals that isn't to say that the ukrainians that are meeting with those the you officials and he won't be pressing that the people that are there in order to, to try and get that moving. but really, as, as we're saying, the big question here is about a week session. because the, the reality of this whole situation since, since 2014, when you claim really started to break away from russian influence in a, in a big way. this discussion has been a sort of turn towards the european union. so the, you knows that it needs to set out some kind of still some sort of favorable way for ukraine to join, but still upholding the processes. what else is being discussed, jack?

well the, the big discussion is about now as well as the ministry harddrives have been saying . so the tanks were gemini, allowed the tanks to go in. that was a big step. and, and this sort of la other countries to re re export tanks into, into ukraine that's been high on the list of demands to the ukrainians to some time . and neither discussions attaining towards aircraft as well as i say, the officials don't have the power to do that. and we've seen some reluctance in france and germany on that issue as well. we're approaching the year now as well. a lot of what the european parliament parliamentarians have been talking about this morning is about the reconstruction as well. the idea of some sorts of support for ukraine, post war to bring it back to being a peace time country and rebuilding the infrastructure that's been destroyed as part of the invasion that will be necessary for it to join as a new country sarah, jack patrick and brussel, thank you. arithmetic stories making headlines. the

u. s. is to expand its military presence in the philippines. defense secretary lloyd austin confirmed the move after a meeting with the president of the philippines ferdinand marcus, junior. u. s. troops have been granted access to more military camps in the country . but general austin said that the u. s. wasn't looking to have a permanent basis there. israel launched air strikes on targets in the gaza strip early on thursday. and palestinian palestinian militants fired rockets into israel in response. the strikes came hours after israeli air defenses intercepted a rocket launched from gaza. this latest exchange of fire comes amid a surge in violence in the region. protesters chanting shame, a confronted warners at the funeral of australian catholic cardinal george pell and sidney pell was one of the most senior figures in the vatican when he was found guilty of sexually assaulting fire boys. he spent

a year in prison before his convictions were washed. the scandal had indian billionaire. good tom, donnie has called off a major share sale as his business. empire continues to plunge in value. his sprawling from grammar which stretches from ports to petrol stations, has lost more than 90000000000 euros and market value following allegations of market manipulation and fraud on that story is coming up in our business program in about 8 minutes from now in the united states. now family friends and civil rights activists have said good bye to tyree nichols. the 29 year old black man died from his injuries after being beaten by 5 black police officers in the city of memphis. mourners were joined by us, vice president comalla harris, who echoed calls for police reform. ah, you ah marsh troy. after days of protests over his teeth,

mourners gathered to celebrate tyree nichols life, his friends, family, and civil rights activists. attending mister nichols funeral on the 1st day of black history month. remembering a father, son, brother denied a skateboarder, liberty, and photographer last steady diary was a beautiful person. if it is to happen to here it is a bachelor book. these flowers now lie and memory of tyree nichols at the skate park. he used to visit mister nichols died 3 weeks ago after being brutally beaten by memphis police officers who pulled him over while he was driving home. 5 officers have since been arrested and charged with murder. in his eulogy, civil rights leader, reverend al sharpton,

condemned to their actions. there is nothing more insulting and offensive to those a worse dead fight door. open doors that you walk to those doors and acts like the folks we had to fight for to get you through the door. you vice president carmella harris also paid tribute to mister nichols saying the country mourned with his family. this is a family that lost their son and their brother through an act of violence at the hands and the feet of people who had been charged with keeping them safe. and as vice president of the united states, we demand that congress passed the george lloyd justice and policing act. joe biden

will sign it. i re, nichols family are also calling for the act to be brought in, which would require a database will police officer misconduct and a ban on no, not warrants those calls for change. now getting louder than the hope that more lives won't be lost. so is congress likely to pass the george floyd justice and leasing act? washington correspondent, stephan simons. now i'll, that's a tough question. you know, if you would have asked me 3 years ago after recovered or the untimely and horrible death of george floyd, if this is going to happen, if the george floyd, police and justice act will go through congress, i would have said yes, no doubt ill go through and guess what? it didn't a crash and burn in the senate. now the senate is in democrats hands, but the house is in republicans hands and i'm not so sure if it will really happen

. i think millions of americans are hopeful, many politicians on both sides are hopeful. it will because that's what not only camel harris, but also al sharpton and everybody there and everybody in the community, black african matter community and those families who lost their daughter's brothers sisters. her husband's father's mothers and hoping for real change. and al sharpton said in his eulogy, which was really strong that he and many, many, many others will not stop fighting for the george flight policing and justice. and going through congress real reform, structural reform, accountability for police, and then the prevention of something happening, what we just witnessed on video for the world to see, to tarry nicholas. and that was correspondence, stefan simons,

joining us. some other news coming out of the united states, but on a very different note. now, american football superstar tom brady has announced his retirement at the age of $45.00. he is widely considered the greatest quarterback in the nfl history grading one a record 7 super bowls for the new england patriots and tampa bay buccaneers. he retired briefly after a championship in 2021 but ended up returning for a far less successful year. brady made the announcement on his social media accounts insisting his career really is over this time in return for good. i know the process was a pretty big deal as farm. so when i woke up this morning, i figured i'd just brush record what you guys know for, so i won't be long winded. you only get one super emotional retirement essay and i use my not last year. so really thank you guys so much to every single one of you

for supporting me. a quick reminder now of our top story here. i dw news, the eagles top officials have arrived and t to show solidarity with ukraine, ukraine's defense minister has warned that russia could be planning a new offensive to coincide with the 1st anniversary of the invasion. up next, it is business news with chris cobar and more on that scandal head indian billionaire go to madonna and the 90000000000 euros and market value of that is at stake. there to stay with us if you can with mind is with using tech.