i have to hold, they swayed because i'm responsible for the future fall country for the people behind the boss. sh. guardians of truth starts february 18th on dw. ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. after days of tracking it drifting high over the us fighter jets shoot down a suspected chinese spy building. the balloon has triggered a diplomatic storm bay ging warns there may be repercussions also on the program. pakistan's former president perez lashara is dead after

a long eldest. the former 4 star general seized power and bloodless qu, they tried to usher in socially liberal values to have markedly conservative country and survived several assassination attempts. and ukrainian president followed him as the lensky warned that russia is throwing more and more troops at ukraine's 2 nets. region, making it tougher defenders to hold the line. ah, i'm nick spicer. welcome to the program. the united states has shot down the chinese balloon that's been flying high over the u. s. for the past several days, creating a diplomatic and political storm. the pentagon says it was a platform for espionage. china now warns there may be repercussions over the downing of what it insists was nothing more than a civilian weather balloon blown off course. after floating across the u. s. for

days the suspected chinese spy balloon has been shot down. off the coast of south carolina. several air pulse was shot and as space closed, before the balloon was brought down by military fight jets, landing 11 kilometers of the us mainland. u. s. president joe biden said he all did the balloon to be down as soon as it could be done so safely. a wednesday when i was break down the blue order of the pentagon to shoot down one day as soon as possible. they decided without doing damage than the one on the ground. the successor took it down and i want a complimentary voters who did it. and one more to report on her. so a little later, china's ministry of foreign affairs, condemned the shooting down of the balloon. let it maintain as it was

a civilian as ship though, da, you don't? beijing previously set it regretted his entrees into us. asked space. oh, good afternoon. good u. s. secretary of state wide, antony blinker. duncan cancelled a trip to china following his discovery. and it's very, the balloon may be neutralized, but the fall out to thir, the soured, already brought diplomatic relations between china and the united states. and for more on this, we're joy life now by in chong and international relations and security expert at the national university of singapore. thank you for joining us, sir. can you tell me why would china use balloons to spy when they have spy satellites? that's a really good question. i think everyone is quite complex. i mean, balloons. what they can do is provide a little bit more loiter time. but the resolution of what can be taken, we're talking about imagery can be done by satellite in terms of being able to

collect signals. intelligence may be able to do some of that, but i love this can be done by satellite. so why beijing has chosen to use balloons is a bit curious. i suppose it can collect air samples in a way that other platforms might not be able to, but the utility, the marginal utility of that is actually still somewhat questionable. well tell me then, could there have been a reason to send the balloon beyond intelligence gathering, for instance, sending a message of some kind. right, so speculation is right, right now, beijing. the only statement that being put out has is that it's a weather balloon that is going of course. but beyond that vision is not transparent enough for folks to really understand what's going on. now, there is a lot of speculation about whether this is some effort to show a tough stance before the blinking visit. whether it was an effort by some elements within the p. c to perhaps the real, the real,

the of is it. and also there are some also some speculation that perhaps it's like any other big bureaucracy, the left hand, not knowing what the right hand is doing. there's a lot of guesswork patient has not been very forthcoming in terms of explanations beyond what we already have been given. and can you tell me a little bit more about how these devices actually work? are they hard to detect? can they transmit data in real time and anything? you know, it's just quite a new development. right? so these balloons, they can transmit data real time. they can presumably, can connect with satellites and transmit data that way. they can have a propulsion system from what we, we know from this particular device. and it seems that the solar panels that is deployed can collect electricity that allow some steering and that probably power some of the consensus on board probably powers the transmission on board as well. so that's generally how it works. i mean, really,

how they operate depends on the kinds of sensors that on board now, these balloons, one of the things is that you know, that they can be observed, but you know that they are quiet, they can travel long distances, they can watch a long time so that some of the benefits of using the balloon, but again, these do not okay. basically, satellites can do what a lot of what the balloons can do anyway. good. that was in chung with the national university of singapore. thank you so much, sir. thank you. perez lashara, the former president of pakistan, has died general machine to come to a long illness in a hospital in dubai. he was 79 sharp, became president after a military coup in 1999. he dodged 3 assassination attempts for leaving office in 2008. he later attempted a political come back, but instead was presented with criminal charges and had been living in exile.

and for more on this, i'm joined by d. w reporter dennis jarvis of danish. or how would you describe sharice legacy, both at home and internationally and quinn. i'm a sheriff took over, i literally grew up under my sheriff's rule. and i remember when my chef over to and democratically elected government on my pockets on studies professor in our school, give us a lecture on how good he will be for the country. and that's true that in initial years of his leadership, he was a popular figure, especially because under his leadership office and saw periods of economic prosperity. but he was also a very controversial figure, especially since after $911.00. when the u. s. invaded afghanistan, pakistan offered it's, it's unfeeling. support in u. s. ward on data to some specially against al qaeda and taliban. and michelle of became one of the most important allies off the u. s. and during this, this time,

we showed up for the 1st time to do doc militants ordered military operations in the border region of boxes. and i've got to stand. and there was also a diamond buckets and saw huge and very aggressive and unpopular joint campaign by the u. s. and died caused. and that led to a creation of an insurgent movement in buck given a deadly insurgent movement. no anesthetic added on buckets on a t t p which has killed thousands of bikers. i mean, ever since. but i just quickly say, but when the u. s. o n michelle was supporting the us, what on that it is them. he was also accused of also secretly supporting. i've got taliban, so he remains on complicated figure. complicated indeed, it sounds like pakistan is as is you know, much better than i has a long tradition of military involvement. let's just say it outright interference in democratic processes. has a turn to page?

no. so yeah, military has room for the most for decades. this is the 1st time in pakistan's history that pakistani military is hugely unpopular, especially because a former prime minister of the country m. ron han last, deer accused them in the tree of conspiring, but the us to oust him from his office to a new confidence ward and barnum and fence. then he attacked military and military space that they have. they have learned from their mistakes. they will not interfere in politics, but many activists in buckets, and believe that the military still plays a huge the influential rule in pakistan. all righty w search means chevy. forgive me. thanks so much for that insight. ukraine's president vladimir lensky says the situation in the eastern province of donuts is a critical case as a has fought off, a new russian assault on the city of mood. on saturday, the fiercest fighting of the war is concentrated on the eastern front. on the front

line in ukraine's east, less than a kilometer away from russia's border. ukraine's territorial defense unit is trying to hold the line for you. i'm up. they were under constant shedding. have just been told that a drone is in the air along. the russians are conducting reconnaissance flights while opposite. usually the shutting starts an hour later. it's dangerous commercial for we can only stay out for a bit. and then it's back to the bunker creature for summer, which was the sort of the lord that he was little sure of the battlefield isn't cut short if by shelling the bumper you before you buy the unit shelters under ground, waiting for the artillery fire to subside e or, and the other men here are civilians, although they volunteered to fight on the front lines in the yard. but they say they don't have the right equipment to fight. the russians alluded. what's your

funny mom november over? i'm going over. we don't have enough weapons here. you baby, boss of to live race from the west would help as a lot of little been on the when he tanks and mortars and artillery to defend ourselves. wal mart delirium, luke of florida multiple could see quite, you're more on that for them for, for now, the unit relies on the labyrinth of trenches for protection and surveillance of the building. with what, what would move the we can watch them from here with i. e at the store, ah, if we see something, we foreign them fire power using what could be a museum artifact, a soviet era machine gun the command center is in the basement of an administrative building. this is where the unit pushed back russian forces in september, even coordinates or just him or not. is this,

you have positions everywhere and we're always changing locations. okay. the russians can locate us in the tac. it's already happened even here to the principal . the command station is decorated with weapons and uniforms, left behind by the enemy. next door is the russian tank that has been seized and repaired. ah, the ukrainian troops want to use it on the battlefield as they brace for what they believe is an imminent spring offensive saying in ukraine intense fighting, still in the eastern doughnuts region. so why is the region so important to the russians? thursday, the analyst constantine entered. well, 1st of all, the city of bus mote is importance for the russians are. it has a limited military importance because it opens the roads to 2 other more

significant centers. they're slowly asked and grammar, dorsey, but it is no political important because it has become a symbol of o russian ability to control the whole of easter. he cried, as is the dream of thoughts. and to finalize the occupation of don boss in bold is a point. it's he grinning pocket of resistance which basically hampers this effort . but it's also politically significant. give gainey pre gordon, put into former chef who is now chief russian mercenary russian mercenary commander . number one promised fortune to secure buttonwood quite a few months ago, and he still can do it in the sense, it's become also politically significant for the kremlin inside, as inviting if you wish. as a brief look at some other stories making news around the world, german chester, olaf sholtes has told germany's built newspaper that ukraine agrees. weapons

supplied by the west won't be used to attack russian territory. shelter also dismissed. russian president vladimir putin equating this week of german tanks being sent to crane with nazi germany attack on the soviet union. tens of thousands of people attended a mass held by pope frances on sunday in a stadium in juba, the capital of south sudan. the pontiff used his visit to urge rival factions to make peace from south sudan. the pope is returning to the vatican. his trip had also included the democratic republic of congo, e. no anti government. protestors have clashed with police in lima, the capital of peru, after parliament rejected a proposal to bring forward elections. since early december, thousands of demonstrators across the country have been demanding the resignation of president, deena, blue archie. after her popular predecessor pedro castillo was impeached and arrested. for trying to dissolve congress time for a quick recap of our top story, this, our american fighter jets have shot down

a suspected chinese surveillance balloon over american territorial waters. the balloon triggered a diplomatic storm that's kept the secretary of state from visiting china. efforts are now under way to collect the debris and that is your news. round up world stories is next. next, spicer in berlin from me in the entire news team here. thanks for watching. imagine so many pushed in full blood us her now in the world climate change very off the story. this is my plan the way from just one week how much was can really get.