ah ah ah ah, this is dw news lie from berlin, nigeria, main opposition parties call to scrap the country's presidential election. they're demanding a new vote. laughter alleging widespread voter fraud. early results are showing a lead for paula removal of the ruling. apc also on the program. ukraine

acknowledges russian battlefield gains near bar moods. president zalinski says the situation is becoming more and more difficult as russia makes progress in its attempted circle. the frontline city and israel steps up security checks in the west bank as violence, a surging of the region. and the latest attack, an israeli american man is killed in a drive by shooting ah, i'm good. how else as well come to the program? nigeria is opposition, parties are calling for last weekend's presidential election to be scrapped, calling them a sham, the labor party, and the peoples democratic party say the pole has been irretrievably compromised. the electoral commission hasn't commented on the demand. early results show bowler to noble of the ruling or progresses congress in the lead to replace outgoing

president mom audible hurry, but half the country states have still to report their results for more this week and i'll go back to the w correspondent, vice of interest. so is in a boucher why so the main opposition parties insist the covert calling for the cancellation of this weekend selection saying it was a sham. what are the chances of a cancellation actually happening that are very slim chance his of counseling an election that was conducted? although it has some problems because even some of the international observed bus, including the road can union follow ted the way the election was conducted. but the clinician, most of this had just started about 10 minutes ago. the commissioner,

chairman of the national electro commission has said they have 70 state choi. and that is an indication that the election is not going to be canceled up tied to for my prison or bus and your call on depressed them bahati to stop the announcement of the election to prison. did you say anything? an indication? because previously, when ever election is been seen as flawless or rather has a fraud, you wit and go to court, i challenge it that he's right out his court process because top pin or continental election is a big issue. nigeria is like calling for an i q in the country, according to so many. and now what's the biggest issue plaguing these elections is manipulation? is it logistics or is it the failure of a new electronic voting system? dement biggest issue is fella of the electronic transmission of the result as the

raised by opposition parties walk out of the coronation center yesterday saying that the result must be of low debt, which has not been done so according to them. what the electric commissioner replied them responded sin that no, the result was of law dead, but is not complete through thought that they are put in is what was uploaded from the pony units. and then down at that issues of complex of reagan and manipulation . in some areas, that was why they said they are not going to believe in the process, dental going to believe in the result. but the main issue is that electron because get transmission of results. electronic kenny is a newton in nigeria is the 1st time we are using it in presidential elections. now turn out was also quite low. and now there some protests being organized in different cities have material. last that trust in the electoral system.

yes i thing is 5050. many nigerians have been apprehensive of the electro system because the electric commission is called independent but he's still on doug. men control it is got man, it is a prison that appointed the chairman. is a government that is providing all the dead fonts for the election to take place. so it's a mixed reaction. pit some how trust and confidence. what latch nigeria don't trust the system. they've been apprehensive with the election hold. will it be free? unfair would doubt what count. these are the issues give risk was interest then reporting from a boucher for us. thank you. ukrainian

forces say the situation of the eastern city of buff mode is extremely tense. as russian troops step up their assault, they say russia is trying to cut ukrainian supply lines to the city and force them to surrender or to withdraw the fiercely contested area has become a symbol of ukrainian resistance. russians, relentless attacks on back mood had produced the city to rumble. there a few signs of life on the ground and from above, the scale of the damage is overwhelming. now moscow has thither and teams to fight at shelling ukrainian soldiers a fighting bag as hard as they can follow. we are hitting them with whatever we have us we are holding on against their infantry. they are not sparing people on the whole area is filled with their dead bodies and a day to process the sea and also for russian troops have full month's trying to

catch the city, weather him up and both sides have suffered high casualties. i don't know, i don't know when whether to brazil breakfast, my medical work practically nonstop or for the full scale invasion. we have $50.00 to $60.00 wounded in a 9 month rotation of war. now sometimes we have more than that in one day. so there's a lot of work, but these soldiers are the best back loop holds limited strategic importance, but taking it would be a major symbolic victory for russia, ukraine's president admitted things were not going well, which can avenue so the situation is constantly becoming more difficult. the enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions for fortification and defendable. our soldiers defending in the back, in what direction are real heroes of priority. little as russia ramps up its

attacks, it could be on the verge of claiming the city ending the longest battle so far of its invasion of ukraine. d. w as nick connelly is covering the war for us from keith. we asked him earlier, was behind these increasingly urgent ukrainian statements about boat. what is the real sense that this could be the beginning of the end for ukraine soldiers in back more for now, at least after weeks and months where it seemed like the russians were very close now. seems like they all really closing in and there's only one route in and out left to leading to grand control territory one route for the 61 route to get out through just recently they were still 2 and you know, we've heard for a long time that the americans in pushing the ukrainians to get out. they seem to think that basically the gain of pinning down rush forces there is not worth it anymore. they're just too many ukrainian laws being lost in that kind of cost benefit not just doesn't work anymore. and there's a sense that basically the kind of leadership here in ukraine is preparing people

for potentially bad news ahead. having said that, the citric, important, such as we heard in the report, isn't that huge. this is more about symbolism, but russia really needs a big what they can sell as big when, after months of defeats. and if you look at the real kind of geography of that part of the country, this is kind of a total balance which is still safety, ukrainian control, or a lot more important in terms of the logistics of being able to fight a war. so definitely a sense that this could be a d, w as an economy, they're reporting from keith. and i also spoke about back with, with marina miran. she's a military expert with kings college london. and i asked her why the russians are putting so much effort into taking buttonwood, if the town is indeed of little strategic importance. well, there are different opinions on the back mod and how it gains strategic importance, right? so obviously it is strategically important, despite what might be claimed by the media. first of all, for the russians,

it would boost the morale of the troops if they managed to take both. conversely, it would also undermines a moral of the ukrainian troops. and that would also lead to a loss of credibility, perhaps, or from the western part nurse in the capabilities of the ukrainian armed forces. so the rest, this importance that is strategic indeed. and there is a military strategic importance, which would allows the russians to launch offensive to come a thought. ask for instance, if they take book mood because they would be controlling important roads and therefore cut off ukrainian armed forces and making the defense much more difficult for the ukrainian armed forces. so there are many sides to book more. we shouldn't be dismissing its importance just yet. mouth. recently, there were also some tensions was in the russian military, reportedly, and explicitly between the infamous walkman, mercenary group, and moscow's minister of defense. how united are the russians on the front line?

really? it is very difficult to say right now, it would suggest that they have a unity of effort on the battlefield because the wagner group is leading the fight . and we remember as, as wagner, it was also partially responsible for taking solid are. and now wagner is taking settlements all around but move to surround the ukrainian forces they are. and we've seen also last week said the chief of the group, you're gaining, proportion has become very vocal again, criticizing the ministry of defense for not supplying it where it was nested was a necessary ammunition and not supporting the wagner group. so essentially we have seen that, you know, in, in the political sphere it seems that the wagner tried to contest the ministry of defense. however, as of now, we're seeing that on the battlefield, they're still trying to achieve a common military strategic objective. and our ukraine is still waiting for

a western bill time to arrive on the battlefield. is that going to turn the tide and keeps favor? it is a difficult question because we have seen reports at some things had allegedly already arrived. and i am referring to left for a 2 tanks, however, right? now's the weather is getting warmer in ukraine. and so the issues that the russians had faced last year was their tanks during the initial stage of the invasion will be plaguing the ukranian. armed forces was a lot of mud and the roads literally disappearing and melting. that's what one seeing the other thing is that what is the number of that hangs that have arrived and how will they be integrated into the overall operational concept? will the ukrainian forces they had, have enough hangs more than a squadron that is 12 tanks to, to, to form a kind of, you know, to support them, was mechanized infantry to, to, and support them was air support?

so the, the question is how these things will be used and where will they be used will be essentially decisive when it comes to tanks. and as of now, we don't know when the rest of the batches of leopard 2 tanks will be reaching ukraine and the estimate suggest not early as an early may so that you know, the question is, will that be a little bit too late? marina miranda from kings college london. thank you very much, maria. thank you. my. as the wall grinds on the casualty numbers amounting to on both sides, tens of thousands of soldiers have died with some estimates. putting the number much higher and onyx report, we mason orthodox priest, who has been laying ukrainian soldiers to rest every day. this his father taught us, michel, i shook a military chaplain, preparing for his daily duty at the vive cathedral. and these are ukrainian soldiers carrying their fallen comrades their loved ones have

turned out their fellow fighters to, to say good bye. ready the steady stream of funerals have taken a toll, the manner sylvester, to each thankful me personally, the distance between earthly life and the churn. a life has shrunk to the bare minimum shortage because quite often i have to realised that we are really saying good bye. and praying to the defenders of ukraine who died defending our motherland . but that is shamal. sparkle, shameless him, alma says, oh, it's time to take the fallen to their final resting place and emotional last journey. and just one of many for father taught us. yet the less sure that the course if i think i can give you a clear number, but he can all be seen at the cemetery. obviously we're talking about hundreds of funerals. certainly the more plus what you're boring. so little tucker, it sometimes happens that we bury several of our heroes before lunch. and then

after lunch, whenever there could be 5 falling in a day, sir, to whom we said good bye to our chair. the final moments above ground before the earth swallows them up amid so much grief, follow tad us, says his job is also to keep up morale. sir, is it? no, it's not easy psychologically, but for now we're holding on on that as him with him on not just given up and praying. mullen was invalid. one last good bye. and then father taught us must ready himself to bury more soldiers in finland. the parliament is holding a final debate on a bill aimed at speeding up the country's application for nato membership. the debate coincides with a visit to helsinki from nato's secretary general. yes, thornburgh, speaking alongside, finish prime minister, santa maria. he said now is the time to allow both finland and sweden to join the

alliance. that comment was directed to nato members, turkey and hungary, who are still standing in the way. as the w 2 shows, reports, turkeys, opposition is causing the most concern side by side. that's how almost every one presumed nordic neighbors, finland, and sweden would travel the path to nato when they submitted their applications in may. this is for a good day or at the critical moment for our security, but turkish president wretched tie up to one, put the brakes on the 2 countries bids do primarily to their perceived tolerance for kurdish groups. he considers enemies. the 3 countries made a deal at the nato summit in madrid to work out their differences. but only finland has succeeded in sweden where the officially designated kurdish terrorist organization, the p k. k is more visible. activists have targeted air to one personally,

and burned the qur'an stoking anchor as animosity garage. oh, we do not have relatively a major problem with respect to finland on that. we are always on the learning that sweden should take concrete steps is this, this has led to a distinct change in nato's emphasis that the nordics joined together. the main question is not whether the feminine sweden are ratified together, or the main question is that they are both ratified as full members. as soon as possible, there's been a shift in helsinki to finish president sally mister says joining together is his preference, but our hands, sorry, no way tight. we applied for membership should be not say that, no, we cancel our application. no, that we can do things are thinking more about their other neighbor now decades of opposition to nato membership, evaporated after russia launched warren ukraine will be very hard for decision

makers to justify the people war, i think over 80 percent in favor of nato right now. and also we're seeing over 50 percent defends, now if they were going in in nato at this point. even if we are not ratified a swedish prime minister of christus and has reacted angrily warning that leaving sweet and outside nato even temporarily, would compromise both of their security. henry von and disagrees with them. would be a nato invites the surrounded by nato members and have would have finland on eastern neighbor, innate, so i would say would be the worst possible scenario i would say to you, significant improvement at the moment. it's the most likely scenario with finland holding parliamentary elections in april. the current government would like to see a finish flag raised at nato under its watch. and there still a sliver of possibility for attend to mc session as stalled talks with turkey resume in march. he w,

tara schultz file that report. and i also earlier where the debate and finland now stands. the finish parliament is this afternoon, holding its final debate on finish membership in nato. and this is something that the government wanted to do to get everybody behind. it's moved to join after so many decades of the country being firmly opposed to nato membership. so the public opinion has changed so dramatically that more than 80 percent of people are in favor of joining nato and the parliamentarians reflect that opinion as well. there's only a handful of people who still oppose membership. they say that they're worried that nuclear weapons would re station unfinished territory that us troops would be there that it would invite russian attacks. but the bill will, will pass overwhelmingly. now finland applied funny to membership together with sweden and it was expected that would join at the same time and now finland is contemplating to go. it alone is causing strain on the ties between the 2 neighbors

. that's right, finland is very much portraying this as not it's choice to leave sweden behind, but a choice that's in the hands of hungary and turkey who of course are in control of when they ratify the finish and swedish memberships. so this is something that even nato has begun to say that it's, it's not up to finland and sweden, it's up to hungary and turkey. so yes, i would say there has been a bit of tension. we heard the swedish prime minister say that this puts his country in danger, and he also believes that reduces the security of the nato alliance as a whole. but behind the scenes finish and swedish politicians have worked together for decades. it's, it's the closest of relationships between neighboring countries, really, and i'm told that will not be a lasting impact, even if sweden has to trail behind finland a bit. in joining nato. responded to shows that thank you, terry terminal, to have a look at some other stories making headlines. the opium parliament has become the

latest you institution to band the popular tick tock, app on staffs, phones. it follows similar decisions of the european commission and council, the u. s has also given federal employees 30 days to remove the app from government devices, tick tock as a chinese company, and there are fears the app could be used for spying. hong kong has announced its lifting one of the world's last face mask mandates imposed during the corona virus pandemic. from wednesday, residents will be able to leave home without a mass for the 1st time and nearly a 1000 days. it's the last pandemic measure. still in force in the financial hub, north korea's leader kim jong on has ordered a fundamental transformation of the countries agriculture. there was speculation about a serious food shortage in the state in the country. state medium hasn't reported what measures will be taken. on monday i came, opened

a political conference dedicated to agriculture. israel has closed off access to the town of jericho and the occupied west. bank security was tightened in the area after an israeli american man was killed in his car during a drive by shooting israeli forces. se palestinian gunman targeted several vehicles before fleeing the scene. the incident came a day after 2 israelis were killed by a palestinian in the west bank. town of lora israeli. settlers was funded by attacking palestinian homes and property in the area, killing one palestinian mad. earlier we spoke to a correspondent rebecca richardson. we are so what efforts were being made to reduce the risk of further escalation. oh, of course, seen all the international calls for com, or we've seen even calls from come from, you know, certain israeli politicians, benjamin netanyahu saying don't take matters into your own hands and other ministers echoing that. but we have seen some ministers from the far right from the

security minister. been it my bend, veer's party court, you know, condoning the violence in fact, supporting it. so you know, the tensions are being stoked regardless. and i think, you know, we are seeing calls for calm, we saw a couple of weeks ago as tensions were flaring again, a few weeks ago after another raid in the northern west bank. we saw it timed with the u. s. secretary of state here. and he was calling for com, we did see a momentary law intentions, but even given things like the summit that was held in jordan on sunday. and out of that summit they were, they were assurances from the israeli side saying that they would hold settlement expansion at least for a few months to try and calm things ahead of the ramadan. the islamic ramadan holy month coming up, and everyone worried about things spiraling out of control. but it is hard to see with, with, you know, out of that meeting benjamin netanyahu said no, we're not going to hold these settlement expansion. so definitely

a lot of tit for tat going on. it's very hard to kind of know where it's going, but it certainly doesn't feel like it's going in the right direction to w rebecca, which is that reporting from jerusalem. and we stay in israel. german foreign minister and alina burbock has expressed concern about the plan, changes to the judicial system, in israel added news conference with her israeli counterpart, ella cohen and berlin. she also said that germany was, quote, very concerned about plans by the israeli government to introduce the death penalty . comments come after is new, right? been government led by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu went ahead with its proposed changes. eli cohen said that is wally settlements in the west bank would continue to be built under the current government as it had under the previous one. he also called on the palestinian authority. it is to do more to stop the escalation of violence in the west back a country which

a strong commitment to the rule of flow re condemn via alas, and do everything in our power to avoid it. however, we cannot dig in all the bankruptcy. we see when faced with barbaric acts, such as the wires we experienced this week. it is clear that this balance will only come to an end when the palestinian takes the size decisive actions to stop it. like on speaking man. and i'll some sports news for you and a major change in french football. the president of the federation know, laguna has resigned. he's involved in a scandal over alleged harassments. the french sports ministry has concluded he's no longer fit to be president allotted, inappropriate behavior toward women. the 81 year old had already taken

a step back following an investigation into other allegations. the french women's head coach court in the actual is expected to resign as well. due to criticism from key players. last week, captain wendy, of the now quit the team. she said she wants to preserve her mental health. in watching d. w news from berlin and he has a reminder of the top story we're following for nigeria, as 2 main opposition parties are demanding this past weekend's presidential elections to be cancelled. and i call in for a fresh vote, alleging widespread vote of fraud with early results signaling a lead full ball or to new book of the ruling. apc coming up next in d, w. a news asia soaring food prices in pakistan, forcing parents to make difficult choices for their children's future. and

onions are now so precious that one filipino coffee use that big day to highlight the problem. my colleague, parish manager will have those stories and a lot more after a short break. and if you want more news, just go to our website at d, w dot com and also recommend you check out and subscribe to social media channels. the hand is asked d, w i l 1st me at the new scene i spoke with

cars made in germany for decades. they were a symbol of excellence and reliability with what they are glamorous image is getting its blemishes or cost cutting measures and a focus on efficiency affecting quality german cars. when will they lose their

sterling reputation? read in 60 minutes on d w. a. hello guys. this is the 77 percent the platform for africa. you beat issues and share ideas. you know, on this channel we are not afraid to copy. young people clearly have the solution. the future, you know, the 77 percent every weekend on dw. so i was just rescuing deduct from a farm this one body job. i found it like this and i couldn't just leave it there. how should meet you? this is such a great burden. it was so dirty that cleaning your turn,

the entire bathroom into a matt. this is the water birds 1st as well. but one of the most beautiful moments i've ever experienced with a dock you series about our complex relationship with animals. well, i think i will live long enough to witness the end of factory farming. the great debate this week on d. w or this is did under years asia coming up to date, how inflation across the region is impacting people's lives. beginning in pakistan where soaring food prices have left some parents with no other option than to pull out their kids from school. we look at how bad the situation is and what the government is doing about it. and in the philippines the humble onion has become so precious that one right.