ah ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, ukraine's president orders more reinforcement for the defense of box load, regional commander's vow to continue their defense of the embattled city, even as russian forces tightened their grip on surrounding areas. also coming up, russia is considering widening a law,

making it an offense to defame the russian military. it couldn't in jail sentences of up to 15 years for anyone deemed to be discrediting the army or fighters. recruited by the mercenary wagner. and china's foreign minister tells reporters that beijing should seek closer relations with russia and warns of a conflict and confrontation if the u. s. doesn't change its path on of asia. and after a wave of suspected poisoned attacks hits iranian school, girls, teachers lead rally is calling on the tehran government to take action. ah, i'm sorry, kelly. welcome to the program. ukrainian president followed amir lensky has ordered military commanders to send reinforcements to help you. cranium troops defending

the besieged city of bock. mote. it is thought that only 4000 of the original, 80000 inhabitants of buck, mood remain. the battle of the eastern city is now the longest. and the bloodiest of the year long war. russia hopes that its troops can seize bartlett and put it on a path to recapturing the dumbass region. the fighting has been so intense embankment. 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 the city. but the enemy is also unrelenting. yeah, but my when it goes was for, for all that on the perfect vehicle through moore's forces at us to justify the aim of their so called special operation for your teeth for. but i think we bought a bug and huge is important because it cuts across roadways and it's higher ground

for with football bills from its height. everything here is open for the russians. so it's important for both us and them was when we'd, lennox, we lonely follette. 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 login or exams. resilience good, but wagner's owner yevgeny proportion, and alo, 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, roverson way, whoever wins control of batman 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. russian forces are said to be closing in on back mode where ukraine's president is asking for reinforcements. i asked d. w correspondent, ami anessa 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 in sending reinforcements to continue trade, hold back mode, but troops on the ground, ukrainian troops have told

a journalist there that they believe the fall of bark. 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 the 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, the bartlett battle, says that it's fighters don't have enough ammunition. what should we make of that? yes, that's right. if 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, i mean, as if in case thank you. now german defense minister boris pastorius is meeting nato forces. in lithuania, it is a show of support to the baltic state which borders the russian enclave of colleen in god. during a visit to a military exercise in luke le, north of the capital vilnius, the story us underlined berlin's commitment to defending nato's eastern flank. but he said that a decision on a permanent deployment of german brigade to lithuania is up to nato. several

countries in the region have called on a bigger and permanent nato presence in their territories to defend against a possible russian attack. d. w chief political correspondent, nina jose is travelling with the german defense minister and explained why his visit to lithuania is so important. for the dim defense minister uses every opportunity to underline 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 historian and he underlined

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, our 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 cause 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 ball takes 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. laws have 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, se permanently, then you are less flexible. so there's a lot of ifs and bots, 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 in a hasa in lithuania. thank you. the russian news agency task is reporting

that dimitry van off the founder of the 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 a draconian prison sentence. the parliament has recently given initial backing to stepping up that law to cover fighters for the mercenary wagner group. anyone who criticizes russian soldiers in ukraine, whether they are 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 at all in the borough, which is good through. are these volunteers that are mentioned in the same breath

as russian soldiers super let isn't what? it's not clear, but you know who they mean and that worries me a lot lately about yourself. so 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 ja 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 of ju, i think the idea behind the amendment is to broaden the scope of law enforcement. in general, william rollover, said, 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 or 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 on such statements, a given huge prison sentences. we haven't seen anything like this since the 1950, as a sharpie, to joe. the new amendments of 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. and for more on that we spoke with you or you were shadowed. heaviest moscow, your chief has now base in a laughin capital riga as eat up his band and russia. we asked him how hard this new law could hit critics of president putin and his war policies. or sarah, since the law is the source law on discrediting that, the armed army of was introduced a year ago. almost 500 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, are 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 the up, let's call it m, a competition, or even rivalry between the russian army and wagner's mercenaries, and the head of wagner. guinea proportion of his or to my report, i saw him and i report, he has repeatedly complaints publicly that he soldiers 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 gordon this law prohibits negative opinions about volunteers of private army fighter. so precautions people are, but the paradox there, so that private armies in russia are banned. and what's even war 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. if the rational for it is made to the special most alteration as it still colton decides, rush a part of the official cannon in all parts of the country. life or the authorities are much more straightforward than before in teaching russians to be proud of the invasion as grambling, rewards officials and propagate. propagandists for so called military successes,

organized as events glorifying the so called neutral duration. opens new monuments to the rational military. and so on and so on. so ultimately there is a part of society that is radically determined to continue that war 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. you're in the shadow in riga. thank you. china's foreign minister has warned that there will be, quote, confrontation and conflict between china and the less. if washington does not change its approach to his country, speaking on the sidelines of the national people's congress, china's rubber stamp parliament, or minister chin gong lamed the u. s. for rising tension over taiwan. he also held the relationship between beijing and moscow. yo talk with y'all are leading countries should figure out what they want with each other. do they want to build

exclusive political blocks or foster friendship that is open and sincere? china and russia have found a path of my letter relations that features strategic mutual trust and good neighborliness in the setting. a good example for him type of international relations when you, when he did that and for more on this us burgundy, debbie is clifford kuhn in. so clifford, i'm, it, does this need now strengthen 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 that just a tacit support is hearing. those doubts are gone. i think one of the quotes he 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 as significant escalation and this war of words that we've been having now since, especially since rushes invasion be critical, medically,

are also militarily, well, this is always the fears. 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 see also speak about taiwan in that regard? when it came the last, well i think what's happening and jingle 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 taiwan, which is a major bug barren 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 threats. and these are very serious and it's, it is an escalation in the war words president, she's paying also speaking that chinese us relations in a speech he condemned, 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 there 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 us by name, and indeed in the 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 the 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 an english enough 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 clifford can and thank you. and here to look at some other stories making news. at least 15 people were killed on heavy rains triggered landslides in a remote island and indonesia, dozens more. i thought to be missing. rescue efforts are being hindered by poor weather. communications with the area are also down. people across france are experiencing widespread disruption today as millions strike against president microns pension reforms. almost all train and metro services are suspended, and schools across the country closed. it is the 6th day of strikes over the proposed reforms since mid january and exhibition detailing the

reconstruction of the notary dom cathedral has opened in paris. it shows the progress made and the methods used to restore the iconic landmark large parts of notre dom we're destroyed by a fire in 2019. it is expected to reopen to the public at the end of next year to iran. now where teachers have taken to the streets to protest a series of alleged poisonings and schools targeting young girls. these images have emerged from santa dash, the capital of ron'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 of another government building. and to ron, there have been several 100 suspected poisoning cases and more than 50 schools since november. and let's bring in d w's. theresa trapper 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, an unforgivable crime. and he said that whoever's responsible needs to be severely punished, but so far this level republic, security forces have not come up with any details or 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're 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 that is the tac 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 universities. 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 protesters 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 these protests back in september was the death of a young woman that was previously arrested by the 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 an appeal. and in 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 roper thank

you so much to sports now and in football. barissi a dormant face. chelsea and the champions league last 16th night. they take a one goal lead to london from the 1st match of the tie as they look to continue their hearts. drake, this year exam range. oh, mercy dockman to europe's most informed team. the last way over burned is league, a title rivals. leipzig made it 10 out of 10 in 20. 23. full marks then for dormant and their coach 8 in tears ich z doing do runs. why? but it wasn't always like this. i think we worked so hot, bullets access and her we spoke her in the winter breaker lot. and you say yes, do it better because you are not happy. halterman's have the form opponents. chelsea

at the checkbook. they spent nearly 70000000 euros more than europe's for the big leagues combined in the january transfer window. not the chelsea's money and big names signings have helped bring them success. they're on an awful run with just she wins from their last 11 games. believe it or not, the mood as has been has been positive throughout. it's not happy and joking and small in when, when you lose and of course not. but the same time there's a, there's been a support for each other and her a good spirit and a good, a good atmosphere. a good atmosphere is something dormant, have lent on recently, as they prepare for their next battle. at stanford rich is a reminder of the top stories that we're following for you. ukrainian president followed him, your zaleski has ordered military commanders to send reinforcements to help your

premium troops defending the besieged city of buck. doubts are emerging over the strength of russian forces, amid reports of ammunition shortages were to be of the news coming up next in database news. asia, why south korea wants to forgive japan for past war primes and focus on the future with help with my colleague louis chan. do stay with us if you can for that. i'm sarah kelly in berlin. thank you so much for watching. take care a ah, with

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