about our complex relationship with animals, silva, i think i will live long enough to witness the factory farming. the great debate this week on d. w or ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. ukraine is pressing for more heavy weapons, including fighter jets. as russia starts a new offensive, keith will be making the demands at 2 k meetings of its allies in brussels today.

ah, i'm get hard elfaire. well come to the program. nato's defense ministers have begun gathering and brussels to discuss further military assistance to ukraine. ministers from the 30 member states are meeting as russian forces at mount pressure on ukrainian defences. speaking ahead of the summit, nato secretary general yann's slogan back. want that had a tip anticipated russian offensive and eastern ukraine has now begun. he says you cranes back as iona logistical race to supply it with weapons and ammunition. now while the contact group, you have the ukraine defense contact group is a gathering right now in brussels. that's bringing d, w, a bureau chief,

alexandra phenomena in brussels. there are some of your following events there for us. what can we expect from the meeting of nato? defense ministers, as well as the ukraine defense contact group in brussels. well, the main goal of this group is of course to see what is needed on a battle feel in ukraine and then to try try to provide you quinn with the weapons systems and with military equipment that is needed. and of course we heard here from native chief salton berg, but also from other defense minister say that now time is of essence. they are aware of the fact that ukrainian commanders are facing a very difficult time that they have to, to make some tough choices. because of course, they are afraid of running out of ammunition. so, and at the same time we see the russian forces are intensifying at their

attacks. so of course, added nato allies here, as well as some 20 partners who have come here together to discuss what needs to be delivered to the crew to ukraine. know that they need to come with some new announcements with some new pledges. i was kind of seeing a live pictures there of the contact group coming together. now nato stoke max seems to have a very clear stand on this. he just reaffirm but ukraine must get weapons. it needs quote, to win this war. so are all the nato allies on the same page here, and can we really expect a statement, the unified statement? well, i think that what we can expect is for sure, individual allies coming forward with some announcements, promising to deliver more weapons system to ukraine. because we have to

understand that this is up to individual allies and not to nato ass alliance, ne, to as a lions provides non lethal support for ukraine. but when we come to the topic of unity, so we have to say that nato allies have remained quite united when it comes to is supportive of ukraine. however, it's, of course they own decision, what kind of weapons they're ready to provide to ukraine. for instance, germany was very long, very reluctant to providing heavy weapons to ukraine. they have changed their stance. but you can see that it's just a, the, a decision of individual governments to say whether they would like to deliver tanks or an air defense systems or other weapons to key it. now we've

just seen the u. s. center of to friends load austin. and to the room is expected to give a brief statement before their contact group meeting is going on before he does that. one more question to you, alex, under this meeting, after all, is about further aid for ukraine. and one crucial factor, apparently is ammunition. nato is pushing to keep the flow going. how is that working out? well, ammunition is a big topic here at the top of the agenda. we have to say and to understand why we just have to understand that ukraine is estimated to be firing some $5000.00 artillery rounds every day. that is roughly what a small european nation vice in the year in peace time. so you can imagine how urgent the need is for ukraine to get more artillery,

ammunition and that is definitely on the agenda here, however, nato's secretary general dns, told thornton back also made clear in his remarks a yesterday, that nato allies a half to replenish their deleted days talks because they are also running out of ammunition and weapons system. so they need to ramp up at their production. and we can assume that a need to defense ministers are going to, to discuss exactly that here in brussels. now another item on the agenda, pretty high up on the agenda, i would assume as a western fighter jets what we see on the farm announcement from may to today on that topic. i wouldn't expect any assert announcements on that. we know that some allies have signaled some openness into

looking into this issue. but for instance, that, that's a defense minister told us today that this is nothing that you would discuss in front of cameras. it's not going to be discussed publicly. and we also have to say that many allies belief that delivering western mate fighter jets to ukraine could lead to an escalation of the situation there. so not all allies are on the same page here. however, as in stoughton back pointed out, this discussion is ongoing. however, i think we should not expect any from announcements to day. but even though president zalinski, of course has been pushing for this, especially during his visit last week to london and to brussels. is this just a matter of time you think until he the jets get to ukraine? you know, i tried to, to ask that question here and i also spoke with, hey allison,

i'm afraid i have to interrupt you there. the, are you a search of defense that austin is speaking? now let's listen. the united states will continue to work urgently with our turkish allies and others to rush assistance to those in need and an anguish after this terrible tragedy. now i'm proud to be here with representatives from across the globe, and we're here to reaffirm our resounding support for a free and sovereign ukraine. nearly one year ago, putting began his unprovoked, an indefensible invasion of ukraine. potent thought that in a matter of days, his forces would seize cave and overthrow ukraine's democratically elected government. and he thought that the international community would just live with it . as president biden's that said last week in his state of the union address,

hooton's invasion has been a test for the ages. in a test for the world blazing gentlemen, we've responded by standing up for our shared values of sovereignty and freedom. and we've risen to this challenge with unity and result. we've moved out with urgency the urgency that the moment demands, and time and time again, it has mattered that we delivered on what we promised to ukraine. russia did not prevail. keith did not fall and ukraine's friends did not falter in the year since putin's war of choice began, ukrainian soldiers have won the battles of keefe, kirk eve and curse on they pushed back invading russian forces with javelins and stingers. and other systems donated by the countries in this room. the world was

inspired by the resilience of ukraine's people and the courage of ukraine's troops, even in the face of setbacks. ukraine has shown that it will prevail and more countries have rushed to help ukraine fight for his territory, its sovereignty and its freedom. and your presence here just proves that countries of good will from all around the world, continue to step up and to ensure that any setbacks are only temporary. and together, this contact group has made it clear that we will support ukraine's fight for freedom or the long haul and help ukraine hold in advance during the spring counter offensive. with unity and urgency, we will again deliver the support that we have promised to ukraine. we will put the

cape put capabilities into the hands of train ukrainian forces so that they can be integrated together on the battlefield. now we know how to do this. last april we have held our 1st contact group to coordinate our contributions to ukraine. and these meetings continue to embody the unshakable, enduring support for ukraine from all over the world. this contact group stands as a testament to our unity unity of purpose, unity of effort, and unity of values. none of us could have accomplished this much alone. but together we have committed nearly $50000000000.00 and lethal assistance to ukraine since the start of rushes all out invasion last february 24th. in our coordination is making a real difference in real time. united states,

germany, the netherlands, are working together to provide patriot air defense systems to ukraine. france in italy are working to provide a sam, t air defense system in a consortium of countries including germany, poland, canada, portugal spain, norway, denmark, and the netherlands are working together to provide leopard battle tanks to ukraine . for more armoured power, united states, the czech republic in a netherlands are jointly providing more than 90 t 72 tanks. this is in addition to poland, latest donation of t 70 two's. the u. k has provided a company of challenger main battle tanks and has worked with several countries to source more ammunition for ukraine's defenders. and we're working together on training for the ukrainian armed forces through bilateral and multilateral training initiatives. like the european union's mult,

you european union's military assistance mission. all of these donations and join initiatives flow from our unity in our resolve. but we still have much more to do together and we must intensify our focus. ukraine has urgent requirements to help it help it meet this crucial moment. in the course of the war and president, zalinski underscored, ukraine's need for more equipment at our last meeting and ramstein. so we're fortunate to be joined again by my good friend, ukrainian minister of defense, alexey rusnick off intellectually. thanks for your leadership and for joining us again today in person. let me also welcome ukraine's deputy chief of defense. lieutenant general worship is great to have both of you here with us and your presentations will help us sharpen our focus on a situation on the battlefield and ukraine's most critical needs. of course,

that was the u. s. a sector of defense i lloyd austin. we have to leave that press conference and now i, i sandra you, you've listened to what he said, what stood out for you then? well, i think that his message was very clear. he said that now it is a crucial moment for ukraine. and he stressed also at that all the members of ukraine's defense contact groups are supporting, are continuing to support ukraine and their support is unshakable and enduring. and he also made clear at that ukraine's and ukraine success on the front lines at times was possible due to western weapons deliveries. and he made clear that they are want to discuss what needs to be done next. and so what kind of systems ukraine needs a to

a pushback against russian forces. and so there he mentioned a 1st and foremost air defense systems that are very crucial for ukraine's defense at the moment. to dubuque, as one, and i have son of a noun that reporting from brussels. thank you very much. and of course we'll keep you updated about the results of those meetings in brussels in further program. so that's it from me as a new scene for and also to talk. next is our environment, our environment naturally. equally. i'm going out office in berlin for me and the team we're all set to go beyond the obvious, isn't cement. we're all in as we take on the we're full about the stories that.