just warning you a one year since the beginning we take a look back and into the future in the u. b. slow range. in february on d w ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. we have a special broadcast for you focusing on the war in ukraine, with the surprise visit to keith by u. s. president joe biden, key stairs and ukraine for democracy stance.

the american stand with you on the war, austin. this is biden's 1st trip to ukraine since rushes invasion almost a year ago, and he announced a fresh military aid package worth off of $1000000000.00. also coming up on the show, we look at china's role in the world admits speculation. the beijing may be preparing to provide weapons to russia. plus german made the battle tanks for ukraine. a look at the challenges as berlin leads the coalition to deliver left the 2 types. ah. my manuscripts, makennan, welcome to this special edition of dw news, u. s. president joe biden has made a surprise visit to keep his promise to step up arms deliveries to ukraine as its

forces brace for a spring offensive by the russian military bite and said that the u. s. would send another $500000000.00 military aid package to ukraine that will include ammunition, radar, and other equipment. now biden's trip comes just days before the one year anniversary of russia's full scale invasion. a gesture of solidarity and a vital reminder of unity between the u. s. and ukraine. air raid sirens blared across the ukrainian capital during u. s. president joe biden surprise visit. there were no reports of russian air strikes, but the sound is still a clear reminder that ukraine is under constant attack, making support from the us more important now than ever. surely bruce relations respond to them

today over in discuss a life or i can contract for can move affectively support your ukrainian president vladimir lensky, voice his gratitude with li ah, what can i say? i really appreciate that president. lot of america bn, all the work with on the were, you know, these, it wore a fuel, coal support from white house. you re and they were your leadership day, my boss or congress. a story for all,

for all the 2 presidents paid tribute to the thousands of ukrainians soldiers who have lost their lives since rushes invasion on the 24th of february. last year. biden's visit comes at a crucial moment in the war as the us needs to keep alive unified in their support for ukraine. if ukraine is to fend off russian offensives in the spring, we can prostrate to heave where the w's abraham is standing. by for us, a u. s. president biden's surprise visit to keep to day could not have come at a more significant time. could it? absolutely. we're just a few days a week from the one year anniversary of the war and for a u. s. president to make it here physically to show a support for ukraine and it's, it's effort to defend its territory is really quite extraordinary. and it's

definitely something that people here on the streets and key of really appreciate i was just out on the street talking to people. i mean, we've talked to a couple only one person had no idea that the district trip was happening actually . but everybody here it's it, you know, it's very appreciative of this gesture because obviously as we're approaching this anniversary, there's an expectation that russia might strike back somehow harsher. and it's, it does provide some reassurance. there's also the speech tomorrow by president vladimir putin a year ago when he gave that speech, it was just a couple of days later that this invasion happened. and so it sounds quite a strong message to the people here in key on your end in the whole country. now, president biden issued a statement from a sing more support for ukraine. can you tell us a little bit about what he actually did promise? so it's important to remember that the united states has been the biggest supporter

of ukraine when it comes to military. president boynton hasn't really promised any new weapons. he hasn't really approved any new systems or fighter jets or anything of that sort. it's just more of what the united states has already been supplying to ukraine. so we're talking about rocket launchers, artillery and, and the $500000000.00 of you know, extra aid that has been promised me. i think that maybe will become this will come as a little bit of a disappointment to people here because you know, they, from their perspective they're fighting for their life. so as soon as they got the tanks, they're already thinking about jets. and the fact that there was no talk about it today. i on the streets, i think somewhat of a disappointment, the overall people definitely appreciate the president's visit. now, as we've been saying this week, marks a year since russia invaded ukraine, can you tell us how people in ukraine are reacting to the prospects of the major

russian offense in the coming weeks? it's certainly something that's in the air, but they have been, you know, they've been definitely used to this talk of an eastern offensive or, you know, in the past weeks, every day we hear the offensive has started the offensive sorts of people have sort of become i wouldn't say desensitized, but they've learned how to live with this constant threats or just to give you an example. and this is something that you see here all the time when there are these arete sirens. i mean, what you're supposed to do is go into a shelter and hide until that air read alert has subsided, but people just go on with their lives as they would any other day they've learned to live with this risk and with this danger. and so there's definitely a sense of, of defiance on the streets of key of these days. but also it's, it's a, it's, it's obviously a horrific anniversary and something that people didn't really didn't want it to last this long. so there's also a sense of soberness and the year i would say the w special correspondent,

a e for him reporting from keith. thanks so much for a now the war has had a massive impact on ukraine, off the battlefield. thousands of civilians have been killed, although the exact death toll is unknown. millions of people have been displaced and the ukrainian economy is in ruins. the war has also had a major impact on the rest of the world. of course, the u. s. has poured tens of billions of dollars and to military and economic aid for ukraine. leaders have promised to support ukraine as long as it takes, but there are worries that the high costs may eventually exhaust the american people's patience. so let's turn out to washington d. c. where we can speak with d w, fear a chief in his pool, and his tell us what message was president biden sending with his visit to keith today? when i, yes,

present biden only decided on friday to go ahead with this really high risk visit to give after he apparently was really huddling with top members of his national security team in the oval office that shows you what big of a deal this trip is. it was a really high risk the president took here and not only in that regard, it was definitely an important and symbolic wizard, one year off to russia, invited to green what we just heard from iowa and give it so. or maybe we also should quote, give may or vitaly critical who summed it up like it shows the whole world that the united states supports ukraine. so traveling to achieve definitely send out the strongest symbol possible, much more powerful than visiting poland was president biden did last year. now biden has pledged mil, military assistance to ukraine, but can you tell us?

is american supports, the ukraine still a steadfast, as biden says, or are there signs that it may be starting to wayne you know, when we talk about american support or the ordinary people in the us, we always have to keep in mind how big this country is and how diverse the circumstances are, people are living in. so given the amount of money, the u. s. has already spent to support the crane. i think it is quite surprising how few people criticize bite and politics outside of washington bubble where everything is politicized anyhow, so my take is, as long as the economy is doing ok, the majority of the american people probably will keep supporting the q ukrainian cost. also because they like to be kind of bag in the driver's seat at nato, but we saw during last summer with the exploding gas prices. so if the,

if the economy is dwindling, that also might cause a bigger challenge for biden, to keep i think we had some technical issues there. apologies for that, but that was washington d. c. bureau chief in this poll speaking there. now moving on to china, which has largely been seen as a bystander, as the war in ukraine has unfolded. chinese officials have called the peace talks and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries. but that may be about to change us secretary of state antony blank and says china may start providing lethal support, arms and ammunition to russia. and as the conflict drags on, china seems to have it sites on reshaping the global order. rushes,

frontline and ukraine has advanced, retreated an inch forward since its invasion a year ago. but one thing has stayed constant. european hopes that russia's biggest ally could push it to end. the destruction would all be crude, he should get. that is important for us. i said, china does not choose russian side and withhold that we expect china to fully use its influence on russia to bring russia to respect international law. it was on the sooner shabby. i said to president she, that it's important for china to exert its influence on russia. china has often called for peace negotiations, da da, da honda. we have both talked about the current ukraine crisis and the 2 sides both hoped that this crisis can be ended as soon as possible. the situation can be eased

and it really must not be escalated. but beijing looks reluctant to clip russian wings before russia invaded ukraine. president, she and who sinned declared and no limits partnership between their countries to zillow and they've met in person since then. and more face to face meetings, i'll plan more am because m putin didn't win the war quickly to rethink its relationship while keeping this very strong alliance intact. so china's main focus is to make sure that it continues to trade heavily with the west white, also maintaining its close friendship with, with russia. yes. local stores on one limits on this, no limits. partnership may be russians, threats to use nuclear weapons in the conflict. in a statement president, she called on the international community to jointly oppose such a move. but china may be offering russia material support in the war,

despite threats of more sanctions from the u. s. government u. s. based security research as see for a d. s alleged that chinese companies are exporting equipment to sanctioned russian defense firms. but beijing says it's exports to russia are in line with its laws. china is already benefiting from the war in ukraine in other ways. russia now needs china more than china, needs russia, and em, i think china is always prepared to, to use this leverage that it has to its own advantage. i'm on, i think it's hoping it's already taken advantage of cheap energy. and it's also looking at the invasion of ukraine to see what it could mean for its own ambitions and in taiwan and in the south china sea. as moscow's troops struggle on in ukraine, scheiner is working towards its long term goal of expanding its board as an influence on the global stage. more, i'm joined now by

d. w. 's, chief international editor, richard walker. richard, and can you tell us how can we see china's position evolving here with regard to the war in ukraine? yeah, as we saw it, very well explained in that piece there. and also with those comments from a colleague, clifford coon and essentially we see the other one had child would stressed of its independence in this. that is neutral, that it doesn't have any stake in this conflict. and that he doesn't like to see was and they want to see this war stop. but it is providing has been providing support to russia into effective ways in one way, economic and another way, diplomatic. in the economic way. what we're seeing is that russia has been able to divert some of its hydrocarbon exports to china that it would otherwise have still sold elsewhere. the china is happy to keep buying, you know, russian oil,

for instance. and on the diplomatic front, that's even potentially more important that the china has, has never voted in the same way as the west. for instance, if the united nations in condemning this war in calling russia to stop its invasion. and, and what we saw just towards the end of last year, we had a lot of movement and chinese politics. she, jim pink chinese supreme leader was with confirmed into, into another period of office cementing his grip on powder. and he had a meeting with jim pink just before with vladimir putin to a virtual meeting just before the end of the year. and shipping was quoted as saying china stands ready to join, hands with russia and all other progressive forces around the world who opposed gemini and power politics. and some people looking at what russia is doing. and ukraine might think. well, this sounds like looks a lot like germany empower policy that is aimed at america. and this is really

china's kind of big picture issue is that it sees america as, as the impediment it rise as a global power. and any help that it can get on the diplomatic side against that it seeks. and this is why it has a strong incentive to kind of align itself more closely with russia. now, to the extent that that is fueling concerns that maybe even china will stop providing some weapons to russia at the same time. china. and i would say that it was to present a piece plans or trying to say no, no, no, we're still, we're still independent. we're still on the fence. we want to potentially even mediate at this point. so it's quite a fine line that it's working. but to say that china is neutral on this, what is, is really not true. do you think that we could say that china is watching how the west is reacting here? or is it a thinking ahead to how potentially the west could react to, to

a chinese invasion and i want, yeah. what, i think almost everybody is watching the invasion of ukraine and thinking ok, what is the potential read across to another. you know, another very serious potential conflict that could emerge across the taiwan straits and china seas. taiwan is part of its territory. it says that it retains the right to attack it to, to take control of it. and, and china will certainly be watching, you know, what's going on, the crane, the way you crane is fighting the extent to which the west is supporting it and thinking, hey, what does that, how does that transfer across to tie one? of course, there are differences to imagine if taiwan was invaded, how well would the west be able to supply weapons to taiwan, given that it's an island compared to what it's able to do and you crate. so there are similarity potentially, but also differences. and we got a chance just over the weekend, there was the music security conference which we've been covering a lot of the last few days is massive gathering on security and defense. we got

a chance to speak to a former member of china military as a senior officer and to ask him, what is chinese perspective on this war? and i think we can just play that now. listen, the, the chinese or sometime feel flattered in that. now, does everything seems to be related to the china, even about this war, you the heart of europe, which has nothing to do with china, but people would still say which side of you want to take an oil question seems to be suggesting it indirectly, that a child, you to have a clear cut position, and this actually is a kind of asking china to take a side. and then we have this question whether china would it be? garcia is the mediator. this is what i learned madeline convers, go to china, just the unit, persuade russia. yeah, go make a usually, implants are about, you know, what the russia should not do, so, so forth. and then it even give people some imagination as to how

a similar company might occur in taiwan street. yeah. so all this is what i may need because this war has nothing to do with china, but still it even by to so many people, their imagination or discussion about ro over china. now i did speak to members of the chinese delegation in munich, and it's interesting, you know, they, that the line, they're trying to walk at the same time that they, they coming out potentially with a piece plan. but at the same time, they really try to down play any sense that they really have influence over vladimir putin. they don't want to kind of beat because in this, in this role is sort of led me, putin sort of a overlord. now, so it could be so interesting to watch what comes from the chinese side during the course of this week is some expectation is peace plan could be coming in days. and just a quick question about india, richard, is it a reliable partner for the west of providing a counterbalance in the region?

well, and i mean, the india has its own problems with china, certainly, but it has a close historical relationship with russia. russia has historically been india's biggest provider of weapons and it has a close relationship going back to the cold war with, with, with russia. india has been very much insisting on an independent, you know, being on the fence a neutral position of this war. if you see like china so far has being as being neutral but inclined towards a russia, at least in their presentation things. and you might say india is perhaps usual, but perhaps slightly inclined to in the other direction in favor of ukraine. if you read between the lines of the statements that they put out about days, but they are determined to, to stay like not to get kind of completely dragged into this, not to be pulled along by the west. completely. to be interesting to watch the end of this week, all i show the german chancellor expected to go to india and he will definitely be

speaking to renter emoji who we see the picture back there with let me put in trying to pull him off that fence a little bit, we'll see how far he gets watching close the ws chief international editor richard will. thank you. ok, we're going to take a closer look. now the impact that the conflict in ukraine is having on african nations brushes. invasion of ukraine has fueled a food crisis in many african nations and also pushed up the energy prices that many african nations have longstanding ties with russia and some have deepened those relationships since russia invaded ukraine. this is jim flaw because in calgary, one of the rubies informal settlements before the war, they used to big up to 7000 mondays, the bread truck and vans here daily. but with the ukraine wall, which praises doubled. deliveries were delayed quantities decreased, and the victims while abused inside the bakery and it's hard to make drastic

changes to stay afloat. have you had to go several days without working? so you walk in for 65, you're working for 3040. yeah. so units, obviously they had to use and as an employee or not. and at the event, because we do do we do data events that we did, we did as part of payments for it from a michael just 3 hours to the rest of nairobi there, which shortage combined with higher praises would normally have meant increased income. but that was not the case, as he depended on fatter laser supply from ukraine and trasha. apple bellini, b f a t. initially we're used to buy a 50 kilogram bag of fertilizer at 2800 shillings. but in the recent past, we have been buying the same 50 kilogram back at 6300 shootings. so even if the buyers are coming in plenty, the cost of production is too high and as a result of the profit margins have become very literally double bond am. i will not let this own up a take which any with about 40 percent of width supply in africa coming from russia

and ukraine. experts say it's time africa stopped relying on food from outside the continents, and found alternative means to feed how most vulnerable people, economists, exxon iraqi says that african countries should land lessons from this crisis we and make changes. we would want the government to do more. but have things like strategic already solves relatives like statistic good start to get green. this offs would also want the countries in the country in future. today's it of diversified the social therefore that we don't just get it from korea. we can get we from argentina. we must also make fleming court, so people are proud of it. and on the way to do that is to give it support for that is the banks, whether the government was, if the such, you see troops lead to keep support from us over the past year, africans have had to fit the high price of their dependence on wheat from ukrainian trasha. i wake up call to how far away wall can he to close the home?

let's go to nairobi now and speak back to d. w as felix marengo. who fall that reports? felix, you, you mentioned the need for africa to decrease its reliance on foreign imports in your report. can you tell us? has any progress been made in that regard? good afternoon. yes, there's been some efforts in that regard. last year, the africa development bank promised that they will invest up to $10000000000.00 us dollars to ensure that africa becomes the global food baskets, especially if in 2023 onwards, where the process is still ongoing, but no major changes have taken place. so africa is still remaining, and they simply remember towards the end of last year, africans was still relying on grains for different nations to feed some of them most vulnerable people who've been vastly affected by the drought that

has been taking place. and also the supply has been delayed over time because of course there was there destruction in the global foot. so is there any effort that has taken place? yes, but not enough has been done to ensure that africa is now reliant on its own production. and of course, finding new trading partners, changing local food production, all of that takes time. so what are some potentially foster solutions to protect people from, from hunger and poverty. so the last time the africa union lead doesn't matter. they are agreed to that. it was important for the africa continental free trade agreement to be implemented faster, so that approximately 30000000 tons of food could be exchanged among the african countries. at least that would ensure that if maybe a country like uganda has more food than kenya,

then you're going to can actually transfer the food to kenya, and african countries can be able to share food amongst themselves. secondly, these also the issue of making agriculture to be lucrative to young people because the average age of farmers for possibly in kenya is 60. so with a 6 year old, you don't expect them to be as productive as a young person. and lastly, it will be to ensure that fun inputs for the lasers and other things that the farmers needs to produce more a subsidized rate, and it's cheaper to the farmers feel it. thanks so much for that. that's felix marina reporting from nairobi. now the region most directly affected by events in ukraine is europe. the conflict in ukraine has revive memories of war on a scale not seen since world war 2. it's also awakened fears that a new type of cold war could emerge with russia. the war has had an impact on the economy of every single country in europe,

and it's also drawn european nations closer together with many supplying weapons and funding to ukraine. our correspondent racing birch are joins us now from the european council in brussels. hi there, rosie. you foreign ministers are looking right now at a 10th package of sanctions on russia in brussels. and can you tell us more about what these sanctions are likely to target? well, that's been one of ukraine's big asks, from the beginning, hasn't hit tougher sanctions on moscow to try and tighten the screws on rushes ability to keep financing. it's warren, ukraine, and e ministers as we speak are looking at, as you said, a 10th round of sanctions. now in the past, they have bond imports of most russian oil bond imports of russian coal with face new ride. they're like, they're looking at around $10000000000.00 euros worth of export restriction. so that means banning european companies from exporting to russia to key types of

equipment which could be used for military purposes. and they're also expected to beat sanctioning, targeting people deemed as propagandist, no exact wording on what that might mean, but it could be, for example, artists, singers, performers, tv presenters. now ukraine of course, will welcome use talk of tougher sanctions. but would like to see these sanctions be even tougher still, one thing ukraine is cold for a sex is targeting rushes nuclear sector. that so far is not on the table based on the discussions i've been having with ministers. but of course ukraine has another very big ask and that is to one day join this european union. not just to be a guest or an invitee, but to have a permanent seat at this table. and while ukraine did become an official candidate for european union membership last year in a move that few had ever predicted or expected so quickly before the full scale invasion will, there still appears to be a very long road ahead. a while one of the messages to you crate is that it belongs

in this european union family, according to officials and leaders. the other message behind closed doors is also one of expectation management. because this is a process which can take years, if not more than a decade. he doesn't brussel correspondent rosie birch. i will have to leave that. thank you so much for that. now germany is one of the biggest providers of the aid and weapons to ukraine. and today the defense minister visited ukrainian troops. training on germany made battle tanks in the north west of germany, boris pastorius advice id ukrainian boxing legend vladimir touch go. and the ukrainian ambassador alone for the visits ukraine's armed forces are being trained to use the left the 2 tanks as well as murder, infantry fighting vehicles. berlin is leading a coalition of countries scrambling to provide ukraine with 2 battalions of laughter. twos in the coming months. keith says that critical to pushing back russia and

d w political correspond julius ideally is out the military training ground in munster, an organ.