has been waiting for years to get her turn. a private initiative is pushing to make it happen. ah, destined for space starts march 8th on d, w. ah, ah. this is the w news live from berlin, ukraine's president orders more reinforcement for the defense of bach lived regional commander's vow to continue their defense of the embattled city. even us russian forces tightened their grip on surrounding areas. also coming up, russia is considering widening

a law to make it punishable to defame any one fighting for russia. critics say that the penalties are draconian and comparable to those seen during the sullen era. and china, foreign minister tells reporter, separation should see closer relations with russia and warns of conflict and confrontation if the u. s. doesn't change it's path on beijing. and after a wave of suspected poison attacks hit iranian school, girls, teachers leave rally is calling on the tehran government to take action. ah, i'm sarah kelly. welcome to the program. ukrainian president volota mears. the landscape has ordered military commanders to send reinforcements to help ukrainian troops defends the besieged city of buck moot. it's thought that only 4000 of the

original, 80000 inhabitants of bachman remain. now the battle for the eastern city is the longest and the bloodiest of the year long war russia hopes that its troops can seize bach mood and put it on a path to recapturing the dumbass region. the fighting has been so intense in buck mood, one ukrainian commander described it as utter hell. now instead of retreating, these troops will reinforce their positions and attempt to reclaim lost ground. they're determined to save this city, but the enemy is also unrelenting. on the other my, when they could overflow all that on the platform, think they throw more forces at us to justify the aim of their so called special operations. will you please before but i think we put on a bargain. huge is important because it cuts across roadways and it's higher ground

for with football. from its height. everything here is open for the russians. so it's important for both us and them. morgan was when we'd learn market, we lonely colette. so many of them are dying, hire. i don't understand why doesn't you know, be sure that you're right. it's not russia's expected spring offensive, could hit a snag with apparent disunity in its ranks. part of its quest to capture ukraine's don bass region has been fronted by mercenaries from the wagner group who have emerged as rivals of the russian military, even though they're supposed to be partners or advanced resilience government. but wagner's owner yevgeny progression. and allo, vladimir putin is now warning his fighters might not be able to hold on, because moscow has not replenished their ammunition in what they, you do we, if we retreat you, then we'll go down in history forever. as people who've taken the main step towards

losing the war, roberson way, whoever wins control of back murder will not have much of a city left. after 6 months of fighting, its buildings are in ruins, and most of its residents have fled. still as one of the oldest cities in the don bass region, it remained symbolic. although the only visible symbol right now is one of devastation. so with russian force is said to be closing in on back mode where ukraine's president is asking for reinforcements. i asked d, w correspondent, amin ss and keith, how high a price ukraine is willing to pay to hold the city? well, the ukrainians side, is it sending mixed messages. here, zalinski has said on the one hand that his generals are unanimous and sending reinforcements to continue. trade, hold back mood, but troops on the ground. ukrainian troops have told journalists there that they

believe the fall of bar mood is inevitable. so for them, it just seems to be a matter of time. now sending reinforcements would not necessarily be a contradiction there. because if we're looking at that number of ukrainian lives lost, in order to minimize that, a tactical withdraw would inevitably mean they would need reinforcements to help them get out of that one road leading out of bar mood in order to retreat and save as many ukrainian lives as possible. meantime that the russian wagner mercenary group, which as are spearheading a backward battle, says that it's fighters don't have enough ammunition. what should we make of that? yes, that's right. good progression. who's the chief of the wagner group has been lobbying moscow publicly. that's because the wagner group is a private military organization and doesn't have the same channels of communication with moscow as the military does. he said that he's only gotten 20 percent of the

ammunition that he asked for, and he's blamed that lack of ammunition for the high death toll among his soldiers . now, moscow has denied that his claims of this lack of ammunition are true. we don't know what moscow is thinking, but it could be a simple calculation that russian ammunition rub russian weapons at this point are worth more to putin than the lives of the wagner mercenaries. he w correspondent, m e n s f and k. thank you. and the german defense minister boris. the story says, meeting nato forces. in lithuania, it is a show of support to the baltic state which borders the russian enclave of colon and grad. during a visit to a military exercise in we'll group law north of the capital. vilnius historian underlined berlin's commitment to defending nato's eastern flank. but he said that a decision on a permanent deployment of

a german brigade to lithuania is up to nato. several countries in the region have called on a bigger and more permanent nato presence in their territories to defend against a possible russian attack. he w chief political correspondent, nina hossa, is travelling with the defense minister and earlier she explained why his visit to lithuania is so important. while the dom defense minister uses every opportunity to underlying that during the cold war, times west germany walls nato's eastern flank. and that germany was essentially very, very grateful to all the troops who came to west germany, the brits, the french and the u. s. to help protect german territory and does so now. he says it is equally important for germany to show some of the support to the current eastern flank, which is why germany's engagement in lithuania, where it is the framework nation of nato's efforts here. leading a,

all those national troops here is so important to historians. and he underlying that when i asked him in a press statement earlier, we do and we will do anything and everything which is necessary. impossible to protect eastern flying because of our obligation or duty inside the nader with our, with our allies. this is what we are, what we have been doing during the past and what were even improved during the last 12 months. and we will continue. now nina lithuania, as we've been hearing, wants german troops to be stationed. they're not just temporarily, but long term is that also in germany's interests well is away, near is one of the baltic states, and of course has felt pressure from russia, from its neighboring position to russia for a number of years now. and has warned repeatedly, over the last couple of years. so this is not a new sentiment, but of course,

since february last year, the pressure really is on the bolt, takes up to defend themselves. and they say they need native support. and a ideally lithuania wants german troops to be stationed here permanently. but this is not something that to any country, that is a member of nato would decide on its own. this depends on nato's longer term strategy. and of course, the situation there will change one's finland and sweden will also become nato members. this is still up to turkey where it has to give it's ok to this process. but ultimately, nato will have to sit down and just look at what is possible, because of course, there's also a disadvantage. if you have a certain countries stationed in lithuania, say permanently, then you are less flexible. so there's a lot of ifs and buts. but this will definitely become one of the topics that are being discussed by the german and the lithuanian defense ministers in vilnius. today. he w chief political correspondent, nina hossa. in lithuania,

thank you. the russian news agency task is reporting that dimitry yvonne off the founder of an opposition social media channel has been sentenced to 8 and a half years in prison. he was reportedly charged with spreading fake news about russia's military in russia, any one perceived to have discredited the russian army could already face adrie. coney in prison sentence, the parliament has recently no group. anyone who criticizes russian so does in ukraine, whether they're fighting for the russian army or so called volunteer units could soon face a long prison sentence. a law of punishing public defaming of the military has been in place for a year now. but that slightly to be extended to include so called volunteers or mercenaries, was not willing to borrow, which is through are these volunteers that are mentioned in the same breath as

russian soldiers super no lesson. what? it's not clear, but you know who they mean and that, that, that will worries me a lot lately about yourself. if the new law would cover private armies. yes, kenny precaution, the founder of the wagner mercenary group, once the russian parliament to add the term volunteers to the discredit taishan law of many of precautions. soldiers of former prisoners he personally recruited. oh, we need your criminal talents just with you. i myself served 10 years in prison before i became a russian hero, held these yeah, careers and i have a few more talents now that helped me a lot in life. i emerged from i graduated. lawyers complain that since the war began, the russian parliament has passed a series of bills aimed at stifling descent,

took in his book. it's not just about the wagner group, if of you, i think the idea behind the amendment is to broaden the scope of lower enforcement in general. well, you're welcome. any criticism of military special operations will be punished, won't be punishment under the new law would be draconian. up to 15 years in a penal colony is vineyard from a legal point of view. this is simply absurd for the other statements. even if it's just one sentence from a or single piece of information that is judged to be false. even though it's very likely to be correct, such statements are given huge prison sentences. we haven't seen anything like this since the 1950. as a shortage over the new amendments have already been fast tracked through

parliament. later this month i set to be approved by the upper house and signed into law by president putin. in earlier we spoke with your of a shadow database mosque of bureau chief. he is now based on the latino capital riga. as the abbey was banned in russia, we asked him how hard this new lock had hit critics of president putin and his war policies. or sarah, since the law is the source law on discrediting the armed army of was introduced a year ago, almost $500.00 people have now been punished as criminals. are one of the last case, as you mentioned, it is the founder of an opposition telegram tenell dmitri ivanov. today, earlier, he was sentenced to more than 8 years in prison on charges of so called spreading false information about russia's armed forces are almost 6000 other people in russia received the so called administrative offense, offense and penalties of the 1st step before imprisonment or a large find for

a crime. so these are all people who are against the war. but apparently that's not enough for the russian court system for the russian justice and saw this new law is about punishing as many people as possible about intimidating a huge country in times of war. the new law tightens the penalties for criticism of any one who fights for russia as we've been hearing that includes our, the mercenaries like the wagner group. what do we make of this uri? why this move now? well, yeah. wagner mercenaries play an important role at the front and there is, yep, let's call it m. a competition, or even rivalry between the russian army and wagner's mercenaries, and the head of wagner. guinea proposed besought my report. i saw him and i report he has repeatedly complaint publicly that he. busy seizures are not getting enough weapons and that his soldiers are not valued enough by the defense ministry. and the new law is basically nothing more than a favor to pre goshen. this law prohibits negative opinions about volunteers of

private army fight the supreme gordon's people are. but the paradox there, so that private armies in russia are banned. and what's even more paradoxical, sarah, is the fact that was on the side of brigand. thousands of prisoners are fighting men who were war sent directly from jail to the front line. so considering how many concessions the kremlin seems to be making to present his wagner group changing entire laws for him, you can imagine how important he is for the grammar. how much support is there for putting war against ukraine among the russian population right now? the rational authorities made to the special mood authoration as it still colton wrote aside russia, part of the official cannon in all parts of the congress life are the authorities, are much more straightforward than before in teaching russians to be proud of the invasion as grambling rewards officials and prepare propagandists for so called military successes, organized as events,

glorifying. these are called mills restoration, opens new monuments to the russian military and so on and so on. so ultimately there is a part of society that is the radical. it determined to continue that will by any means, but the vast majority of russians have long been fed up with propaganda. they are simply trying to ignore it. knowing that protest is punishable even more with a new law, we are talking about euro shadow in riga. thank you. china's foreign minister has warned that there will be, quote, confrontation and conflict between china and the united states. if washington does not change its approach to his country. speaking on the side lines of the national people's congress, china's rubber sam, parliament, foreign minister, tin gong lame to the us for rising tensions over taiwan. he also held the relationship between beijing and moscow, the thumbs reform. ya. what your leading countries should figure out what they want

with each other. do they want to build exclusive political blocks for foster friendship that is open and sincere? china and russia have found a path of bilateral relations that feature strategic, mutual trust and good neighborliness in the setting. a good example for your type of international relations when you, when you did that. and for more on this, let's bring a database, clifford kernan. so clifford and it does this need now strength and diplomatic ties between russia and china. just walk us through what he said. well, i think it definitely does. it certainly dispels any anyone who told that relations that the, china's backing for russia was anything more than it was just a tacit support is hearing those doubts are gone. i think one of the quotes you said was, with china and russia working together, the world will have a driving force that this sounds to me like they're talking about forming a block. and in some ways, trying to isolate the united states because i think it marks a significant escalation. and this war of words that we've been having now, since,

especially since rushes invasion, incredible medically, are also militarily, well, this is always the fear is how quickly this can spill over. and, you know, they've, they've also because of the situation between china and the us regarding taiwan, you've got a whole new military dimension there. his book, in fact, at length, we have to say about us relations. and he was openly critical about american policy toward beijing. what specifically did he criticize and he also speak about i want in that regard. when i came to the last, i think what's happening am, chin gung knows the us very well. he was, he was the ambassador there. he's very experienced in us china relations. what he's doing is he's talk he's, they're basically saying that the u. s. force russia to invade ukraine by, by backing ukraine under creating an equivalence to some extent with taiwan. saying that by selling arms to i won, which is a major bug baron us china relations. that by doing this,

they're putting china into the position where it may have to act militarily. that's the background to the threat. so these are very serious and it's, it is an escalation in the war words president, she's paying also speaking about chinese us relations in a speech. he condemned what he called and i'm reading it here. the u. s. lead suppression of china. what was meant by that suppression containment? he also said these are words that we know from the cold war era. he means that and it was a common, it's a common communist party language used to describe how the west is trying to hold china back. stop china advance. but she jumping as always stopped short of mentioning the u. s. by name. and indeed, in this speech that he gave it in chinese, it's mentioned, but it's not mentioned in the english translation. they talk more about international issues, but it does again, mark mark an escalation. and what's the rhetorical war at this stage? and this is, this is very worrying development. do you think he's just playing that domestic base here?

i don't think so because i think there's certainly there's no way that this is going to come out in english and not get back to, to, to, to, to the domestic market. so i think it, i think it marks an international, and it's, this is happening in the international arena. is cliff couldn't thank you. he's a look at some other stories making headlines. at least 15 people were killed when heavy rains triggered landslides on a remote island in indonesia. does this more? i thought to be missing. rescue efforts are being hindered by poor weather. communications with the area are also down in turkey and alliance of opposition parties has agreed on a joint candidate to challenge president wretched type air to one to mal sheila davros, all of the republican peoples hardy will run against ardon and polls scheduled in may opinion survey suggested it will be the closest contest into decades.

people across france are experiencing widespread disruption today as millions strike against president mcmillan's pension reforms. almost all trained and metro services are suspended and schools across the country are close. it is the fixed day of strikes over the proposed reforms since mid january lets head to iran now where teachers have taken to the streets to protest a series of alleged poisonings and schools targeting young girls. oh, these images have emerge from santa dash the capital of iran's kurdistan province, where teachers and parents appear to have gathered outside of the department of education. and earlier video purported to show a similar protest outside another government building in tehran. there had been several 100 suspected poisoning cases at more than 50 schools since november. and let's bring in

d w as teresa trucker who is following the story for us. what are the authorities have to say about this? well, so far they haven't said much like supreme leader, early harmonies said that these are attacks were a big and unforgivable crime. and he said that whoever's responsible needs to be severely punished, but so far is that my republic security forces have not come up with any detail for evidence. and they also haven't arrested any one. and members of the government were quick to point their finger towards the countries enemies, a term they usually use for the united states and israel. and some even suggested that it might be the girls themselves causing the symptoms by being hysteric. and all of that is, of course very hard to investigate due to the lack of press freedom in iran. we are hearing a report from eye witnesses saying that schools are locked after an attack. so parents can even go to see their children. and the same as apparently happening in hospitals where security agents arrived shortly after the patients to take control . and what we do know is that these,

the tax seem to be not very sophisticated doctors and often treating these patients say their symptoms point towards the use of pesticides. so something used in agriculture, and that, of course, would be widely accessible. you reported extensively from iran, people that you're speaking with there, who do they think is behind this? well, they're also confused because i mean what's making these things even harder to understand . the fact that women's education girls education is not very controversial in iran . it's part of everyday life. they're in effect and you know, as it is, women have outnumbered men long time ago. and still many people believe the government is either behind that or is at least complicit in it because they say that in a country road security forces are able to arrest, protest us just shortly after protests or women who don't wear a headscarf. or even people buying spray paint, it's virtually impossible that they don't know what's happening in all these cities around the country and that they're not able to prevent that at all. and many even

suspected might be a way to scare the school girls. because if you remember, school goals were the ones that were the driving force behind the protests against the government that we've been seeing since last autumn. tell us a little bit more about our, where those protests stand in the mean time and how this might now factor into it. could this re energize the protest movement? yeah, absolutely. i mean, if you remember what started this protest spec in september was the death of a young woman that was previously arrested by that is so called morality police for not wearing her her job the way the islamic republic wanted her to. and now even younger girls are being targeted in school where they should be safe, and that's making people very angry. i mean, we've seen protest over the weekend, we're seeing protests today by teachers and santander also. and other bill. and many of these protests people are once again shouting the rallying cry, women life freedom, a cry that now after these attack seems more urgent than ever. teresa trevor,

thank you so much. sports news for you now and in football barissi a dormant faced chelsea and the champions league last 16 tonight they take a one goal lead to london from the 1st match of the tie as they look to continue their hot street this year the same. right? yeah. mercy adornment europe most inform team the last way. know if a bonus league high. so rivals right. 6 made it 10 out of 10 in 2023 full marks. then for dormant and their coke. jayden teds. it's going to reasons why, but it wasn't always like this. i think we worked hot. well that's access and the smoke in the winter break a lot and you say you have to do it better because you are not happy. well don't

have to fall opponents. chelsea have to check book, they spend nearly 70000000 euros more than europe's for the big leagues combined in the january transfer window. notes the chelsea's money and big main signings have helped bring them success around an awful run with just $2.00 wins from the last 11 games. believe it or not, the mood as has been has been positive throughout. it's not happy and joking, and small. and when, when you lose and of course not, but the same time there's a, this been a support for each other in a, a good spirit and a good, a good atmosphere. a good atmosphere is something dormant, have led on recently as they prepare for the next battle at stamford bridge. this is d. w. it is from berlin. here is a reminder of the top story that we're following for you. president vladimir

zalinski has ordered military commanders to send reinforcements to help ukrainian troops defend the fugitive city of bucks. moved, doubts are emerging over the strength of russian forces, amid reports of ammunition shortages of next, it is close up looking at how us drones are being used to track down and kill suspected terrorists, but how civilians sometimes become the unintended targets. stay with us if you can for that. and thanks for watching ah, with

who targeted killings by combat. drones are being prepared at the u. s. military base and lunchtime the problem the base is on german soil. does german law permit drone attacks? what does the u. s. systematically abuse jem and law? death by drone?

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