shoulders, but i have to hold this weight because i'm responsible for the few shall fall country for the people far behind the boss. sh. guardians of truth starts february 18th on d. w. ah ah, this is the w news live from berlin, ukraine's president zalinski renews his posts for membership of the e. u. at a summit with top you officials in keith's savanski says he wants to speed ukraine's entry into the block. but you official say they cannot fast track the

process plus a spy balloon over the u. s. senate authorities scrambling the pentagon points at china, but beijing said it was just a scientific mission gone awry. meanwhile, canada says it also detected a high altitude surveillance balloon and summons the chinese ambassador and poland says, dozens of countries could jointly boycott next year's olympics, unless athletes from russia and bella rues a band. ah, i'm gabelle as welcome to the program. ukrainian president loading mozilla lensky has renewed his appeal for his country to join the european union after a summit with senior european officials. in keith to day, after talks with commission, president lafond align lensky said he would haste to bring the goal of you membership closer. adding that ukraine deserve to begin,

accession talks in this year. did others mighty as billing? i was at the press conference following the talks and give and has more. so they were very encouraging words by funder line. and char michelle, are the president of the european council edge that are ukraine is really moving forward. honor the tasks that members aspiring members have to fulfill am and a both sides have reiterated that the goal is to be in europe. the goal is for ukraine to be part of the european union that ukraine belongs to europe. and this will also be in defiance of russia if underline her stress than she was impressed that ukraine was undertaking these measures that are necessarily there lot of legal reforms to be done there also, some are implementation of measures against corruption, for example, or to be done and it's undertaking this during the time of war. however, this is the beginning of such a process. and we know that there arcs quite

a few steps that had for ukraine to become really eligible for membership. and so the process will go its way. there will not be any time frame ukraine will have to fulfill all the all the steps that member, as barry members have to fulfill, there's just one exception. ukraine will gain faster access to the european market . then candidates usually do that's due to the war as means of supporting ukraine's economy. there is already a waiver on import tariffs from ukraine in many industries, and that will be extended and steps to was an integration into the european market might be faster than the membership process. now from the land also announced that there will be a new round of sanctions against russia as she given any more details.

was she cannot give more details because it's there member states there will have to agree on the sanctions. it's not she and the lansky who are negotiating these sanctions. lensky has given is input what ukraine expects. ukraine expects a are ban on the russian nuclear industry. that something that seems to be a little bit unlikely at the moment in europe. but this is something that member states are discussing with the only hint she has given at where the sanctions i had in. is that what they were focus heavily on the technology sector. because what has been found out is that russia was able to continue producing weapons, including arm drones, iraq, that the, the jones are produced by iran, but, ah, the components are for some of the weapons, ah, just often ordinary electronics components that you can buy on the market, so in order to a researcher,

to stop russia from being able to produce more rockets and more weapons. and there needs to be a better control of these components that are you, jewel used that are consumer goods, but also are used in the weapons in history. and there's also an effort to are there, there will be an effort to or prevents. so convention of the sanctions, not, no details are given on how to do this. we know that many of the inputs go via 3rd countries and things like that. but are they, these is, these are the goals to stop russia from obtaining a technology components that they use in their or military production. but how they're going to do this, what specifically will be under sanctions, is something that the e u member states will have to discuss and, and they will announce it in brussels or wherever they are meeting rather than here . were there any more robust aid commitments to ukraine?

yes, during the 2 days there was, there are a lot of, there were a lot of announcement, you mentioned the 35000000 light bulb. so there was a lot of very specific um or measures are there, there is also going to be another 8 package, a military aid package of a half a 1000000000 and also another package off of. well, that was something that was pledged before, but it's something they keep stressing. there will be direct budget a this year of $18000000000.00 euros are all over all the european union so far has pledged, partly, already paid. and partly is going to a transfer this year, a 50000000000 euros of financial age to ukraine. w respondent monte, as billing, or they're reporting from a key of their fears of an escalation. ukraine was

a key reason why germany was reluctant to allow its leopard main battle tanks to be sent to ukraine. but now that berlin is given the green light, what do germans think of their governments response to the war? well, according to the results of the latest in front as deem a port, only a small percentage of respondents say they're very satisfied. over a 3rd, a satisfied with what's being done in their name, but even more or less satisfied and 22 percent of germans are not satisfied at all . did have you political corresponded hands blunt joined me earlier to take a closer look at those numbers? well, what's clear is that there is about a 3rd of the german population that stands firmly behind all of shows. the chancellor and his government and other 20 percent are firmly against him and the rest are somewhere in between. and there's this somewhere in between sector that is really of concern to all of charles. it's the people that swing one way or the

other depending on what is under discussion or possibly also depending how the situation and ukraine is developing. and that to some extent, explains the reticence, the care with which short of shorts has been taking his decisions. the reason that he has often been accused of being too timid in his decisions it's got to do with the fact that he is concerned that he wants to take along his electorate, the german population, that they agree to his decisions. so even the decision on the tanks, which took months, it was a reflection of that care for care with which the mood and the population is being watched by the chancellor. that the poll says also asked about sending weapons to ukraine, and here to opinion seems divided. 44 percent. say germany is providing enough weapons. following that decision to send the leopard tanks to ukraine of course,

but about a 3rd sample, it is doing too much. so as what's going on there are germans becoming less supporters that supportive for ukraine they're i think what you can say is that the decision to send tanks, which took such a long time to take, has changed some of the opinions amongst the german population. there is a significant swing away from people who used to say that they're not enough. what's being done towards the people that are saying it is enough. now a 10 percent swing between this month and the previous month we're talking here about a month, 3 poll. so there is a period parentally, a feeling amongst the german populace amongst the electorate, that the amount of weapons and the kinds of weapons that have been sent to ukraine so far have reached a point where further deliveries further increases might become more difficult to support in the german electorate, and we already are having a discussion,

obviously about fighter jets. so the tanks are being followed by a discussion about fighter jets. that's something that appears not to see much support in the german populace. now as it looks as if some germans are still hoping for diplomatic solution here, the a 3rd saint or germany is doing enough to try and end the war by diplomatic means. but as many as 58 percent say not enough, is been done diplomatically. we have also gathered some views on the streets of berlin. let's just listen to that diploma to diplomacy. okay. but if only one side doesn't diplomacy and the other doesn't play a lot, just pretends and nothing happens, then it's of no use. isn't there feel again, leave a very difficult decisions. one should never forget that it's super difficult to weigh all of that. um, but i think overall it's fine. that's good. that's really they are very hesitant and reserved. everything should have happened much faster in the man on the street,

them hans or german chance or all our shows says he'll keep talking to vladimir putin by phone. is there any prospect of success that doesn't seem to be much prospect of those kind of talk succeeding at the moment the last time that we know that the 2 leaders spoke to each other directly on the phone is 2 months ago in early december and nothing followed on from that, they simply exchanged positions and were basically not able to find any common grounds that's also been shown by the way putin has presented himself and talked in the last couple of days on the occasion of the anniversary of the battle of styling garage which was seen as a turning point in the 2nd world war there put in, emphasized, to what extent germany had at that time devastated russia or the soviet union. and this was in the offing again at the same time in the german population. there's

a lot of concern that this kind of war between germany and russia could be happening again. and that's why there is such a lot of support in german population for diplomatic initiatives to try and in this war that corresponded hands a plant there. thank you very much. that's have a look now at some of the other stories making headlines today. ukraine has pressed criminal charges against the head of russia's wagner group. yes. can you, pre goshen has been charged with waging a war of aggression against ukraine and encroaching on its territorial integrity? the wagner mercenary group has been fighting. she has battles with ukrainian forces . prime ministers of the baltic states have met in estonia as capital talon to discuss more ways to support ukraine. the leaders also holding talks on european security, the baltic states and poland. i've called for a ban on russian and bella rouge athletes from next year's olympic games.

but frances has arrived in south saddam for the 2nd and final leg of his trip to africa. these earlier spend some days in the democratic republic of congo. the head of the catholic church is expected to bring a message of peace and reconciliation into communal violence still plays south sedan. despite the end of a civil war. in 2018, brazil's navy is planning to sink, a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the atlantic ocean, despite criticism from environmentalists, they say the 60 year old warship is full of toxic materials, but the navy says the ship's condition is too poor to risk towing it to port for scrapping now, china has claimed that one of its high altitude balloons currently flying over the u. s. is for civilian purposes and that it regrets the balloon sailed into

u. s. air space. the balloon was 1st detected over the state of montana which houses some 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos. pentagon officials have described the airship as an intelligence gathering balloon. when a montana resident spotted this object hovering over 30 minutes in the skies above his home, he had no idea what it was. i was actually at work and i was getting ready to leave for the day. and just a few minutes earlier, i had seen some news reports of some airspace restrictions here in billings. and so i thought that was a little suspicious. and i, i was looking out the window like i normally do. and i just happened to spotted out of the corner of my i, u. s. defense official say a suspect, a chinese surveillance balloon has been traveling over the country for several days, including over sensitive military sites. not deeming it to be particularly dangerous and not wanting to harm people on the ground. they chose not to shoot it

down. balloon is currently travelling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground. the discovery comes just a few days before us secretary of state anthony blinking is set to make a red visit to china. this floating of a surveillance balloon over the united states is untimely. it's either a provocation on the part of the chinese. it's a mistake. one part of the government doesn't know what the other part of the government is doing or just a standard operating procedure. can you just responding to the incident paging warrant against speculation? i'm going to go through china the responsible country and has always strictly abided by international laws. and 10 has no intention to violate the territory and s based on any sovereign countries. as for the balloon, we're looking into and verifying the situation and hope that both sides can handle

this together, calmly and carefully. meanwhile, canada says it is also tracking the balloon and monitoring what it calls a potential 2nd incident. al, from on this story, let's go to i wasn't the correspondence. so me. so my struggle assuming is this all sounds very james bond charlan now claims the balloon is for metro logical research . so what's so interesting about the weather in montana to the chinese not much, it's just cold, it's winter in montana, but in all seriousness, go ahead. there are plenty of reasons why u. s. officials are not going to buy this explanation from china. so the defense official use on that report he, he also said that his defense department is very confident that this was a high altitude surveillance balloon that it was flying over sensitive sites in order to collect information. now, montana is home to one of the nations 3 nuclear missile silo field that is at mam strom air force base. so clearly a sight of significant sensitive

u. s. military intelligence. and we mentioned that the pentagon and decided not to shoot down this balloon yet because there were concerns about debris falling and possibly injuring people. but they did say that they took necessary measures to protect intelligence in that area. we don't know what those measures are. they also said that they don't believe that this balloon actually poses a big risk, meaning that it doesn't have the counter intelligence capabilities that something more high tech might have like a satellite. but regardless, a defense spokesman said that they had been an urgent communication with china. right away and that they made clear a quote, we will do whatever is necessary to protect our people and our homeland. so being taken very seriously here. now you a search of sit antony blinking or wanted to visit china next week. herb, what could this do to to that visit on to the mood between the 2 nations? how well we are actually now seeing some reports, gary hart from both of bloomberg and from reuters news agency as well that the

secretary of state antony blinking might have postponed his trip. now there has been no confirmation yet from neither the state department nor the white house. and we do have to wait from that confirmation, but these reports are coming in that this trip has been postponed. it is important to know it was always a planned visit. it had never officially been confirmed by either side. so could be that we don't get a confirmation either way, right away. but, you know, it was always going to be a very difficult and tricky visit with so many areas of contention between the us and china. as you know, gearhart know they were at odds over in the south china sea, hong kong human rights violations in the ocean. jang region, taiwan, of course. and then there is a warn ukraine where the u. s. wants to see china take a bigger role. so it appears that with all of that on the table, this incident might have been seen as 2 significant for antony blanket to go ahead with this trip. again, these are initial reports and we have to wait to hear confirmation from the state

department or the white house, or both aqua bonnet sooner, so must go under their reporting from washington. thank you so me. the award winning iranian so make a jaffar panata as begun. the hunger strike for now he was jailed last july after protested the arrest of 2 fellow filmmakers were demanding the government end. it's violent cracked down on the mos protests. for now, he is currently being held at the country's notorious event prison, which houses political prisoners in a statement released by his wife tonight. he said he was protesting the quote, illegal and inhumane behavior through judicial and security apparatus. i'm 2 of them. so one of iran's most acclaimed and outspoken filmmakers jaffar pano, he used to be a regular on the international film festival circuit. he won several top honors, including gold and silver bears, and berlin, banned from working panell. he continue to film in secret his last movie. no bears

in which he also stars one a special prize at the 2022 venice international film festival. where supporters protested his latest arrest and the crack down by to iran, undisciplined artists through his decades of descent and protest in his work and life panel. he has become the face of artistic resistance to the iranian regime and an unwavering symbol of moral authority against government backed violence. and earlier by our star culture correspondence got roxborough exactly why jeff up and i is in prison. yes, it's a bit of actually, of a mystery because of an eye, as you said in july, went to actually inquire about the arrest of 2 of his of filmmaking. colleagues, and instead of giving him any information, the authorities arrested him. i'm claiming that they were just in acting a sentence that was handed down in 2010 when up and i was given a 6 year prison sentence um, but that sentence was actually never carried out. and so he was never actually put

in jail. so the authorities say that they are now actually keeping him in jail because of that original arrest back in 2010. but since they are incarcerated him in july, we had of course, this huge uprising in a september after a young woman died in a while she was after she had been arrested by the religious authorities in iran. and as course caused these incredible street protests that have really rocked the iranian government. and so now the reigning regime is in a position where they definitely do not want to release. and i use one of the great dissident directors of iran has become sort of a symbol for resistance to their government. now he says that and i quote, i will refuse to eat and drink any food and medicine until the time of my release. that particular wording, what does he mean by that? yeah, he's referring specifically to the court system. the legal system in ran because

his a conviction wasn't 2010. and because it wasn't enacted is because the statute limitations in iran, he should be allowed to appeal the conviction the supreme court of rand as agreed with that um and under iranian law, that he should be released on bail until his appeal. that just hasn't happened. and can i, he is saying, the iranians, the justice system works incredibly quickly when it comes to arresting and convicting. and then executing, protesters are which a few of which happened, executed a, since the protests in september. but when it comes to enacting the supreme court, the rulings in his case, other just taking their time. now they think the iranian authorities will back down it's very difficult to see is see them doing it. i mean the under incredible pressure, obviously, from the ongoing protest in iran and i'm outside iran and i use is

a huge symbol of, of resistance. he's incredibly well known filmmaker, internationally. he's one awards in at the can on vessel in venice many times in berlin because he's such a symbol of the resistance in such a dissident symbol for the entire world. really. it becomes very difficult, i think, for the reigning government to concede. and in this case, but having spoken to a number of a ring until makers outside of the country who, who know him and, and, oh, those situation, they're actually quite helpful. they think that the situation has gone so far and his is, his legal case is so strong that them they might be away for the reigning government to back down and, and actually release to the scott rocks for that. thank you very much. we're going to russia now, as censorship has only arisen since moscow launched its invasion of you crime. but that's not stopping some artist from expressing their opposition to the war. and exhibition in saint petersburg has gone ahead. despite the dangers of

a wide eyed child, dobbs of peace and the words love against hate, all displayed on me to long cardboard posters. these are the works of 77 year old st. petersburg artists, elaina, or sip over 2 dozen of these posters, created from 2014 to the present day were on display here at the local headquarters of the russian political party. yap local exhibition opened on the last day of january the very next day. it was rated by police and the works confiscated. organizers had anticipated such a reaction there decided not to feature or supervise most critical work, fearing it could fall under new laws, restricting freedom of expression in russia. who knew feel of what with mowgli? unfortunately, we were not able to exhibit all the works here publicly because we need to comply with the new laws. and we wouldn't want to put elaina or suppose her and the party

at risk. even on the young some of her work, you are very striking. region absolutely accurately from thought they contain words that one would have to pay a fine for luckily more who look with you through the way it's elena, are sick over her, studied and taught art all her life look graph. she created her 1st political poster in 2002 market this after the seizure of moscow theatre by chechen rebels see good since then. she's taken part in countless protests. often being detained. after russia invaded ukraine, or supervisor joined anti war rallies. she says she was not afraid then and she isn't now despite the new repressive loss, both knew that there was the what could be worse and what is happening to her. nothing is scary. you never know what scary. this is my country,

my homeland. why can't i say or do something peacefully without weapons? daily news. bitter. several dozen people came to the opening of the exhibition in saint petersburg visit. his also wrote letters to russian political prisoners with events like this inspire hope in a bright future court. because there are many people who think the same and it's necessary for us to be close to one another. to know, appreciate and love each other. i blew. typically. police seized a total of 19 paintings by alaina or suppose her lace, or the artist told reporters that she also got a visit from the police that night that she says she will keep protesting. she is known in the city as the conscience of saint peter's bag. you are 20

w news is a reminder of our top stories era sirens sounded, others top european officials began to join summit in key. ukraine wants to speed up the membership talks for the blog says that cannot fast track the process. and china as drank at one of its high altitude balloons, flying over the u. s. as civilian, and that it regrets itself into us airspace. your secretary of state, down to the blinking, has reportedly canceled his trip to play ging over the incidents. and that's it of from me and the news team for i'll have an update for you at the top of the off next as eco in. ah ah

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