ah, ah ah, ah ah, this is the w news live from berlin tonight, a mid air collision between a russian warplane and the u. s. surveillance drove the drone, similar to the one you see right here. washington saying that a russian fighter jet struck the drawn, foresee down in international waters in the black sea. also coming up tonight. why don't we put in saying that he is fighting for the existence of the russian state russian president today on a choreograph trip to a siberian weapons play,

insisting that the west is to blame for the war in ukraine. also. you see this engine here was a fight by house the whole day and before the horn, the death toll in malawi, nearly 200 now in flight home. freddy recovery efforts hampered in the southern african country by torrential rain. and by with ah, i'm regard to our viewers watching on p b. s in the united states into all of you around the world. welcome. we start tonight with news that a russian warplane is collided with, a u. f. surveillance drawn over the black sea. a washington says the incidence was caused by what it is describing as a reckless act bye to russian fighter jets

u. s. officials say one of the jets struck the propeller of the unmanned reaper drone. one of the type that you see right here causing it to crash into international waters. now, it was not immediately clear. we're over the black sea. the incident occurred, or what mission the drawn was. conduct a pentagon spokesman offered the u. s. defense department's take on what happened earlier today over the black sea. you know, we are continuing to assess exactly what happened, but i think, based on the actions of the russian pilots, it's clear that it was unsafe, unprofessional. and i think the actions speak for themselves what we, what we saw again we're, we're fighter aircraft dumping fuel in front of this. you evie and then getting so close to the aircraft that it actually damaged the propeller on the m q 9. we,

we assess that it likely caused some damage to the russian aircraft as well. ah, to our knowledge, what we know that the aircraft, the russian aircraft did land. i'm not going to go into where they landed. but again, it just demonstrative of a very unprofessional unsafe airman ship on the part of these pilots threats. one o, my colleague mckellar griffin, she's in washington. she's covering the story force michaela from everything that we've heard there from the pentagon spokesman me this was not an accident. so what was it? do we know what was behind it is really what all sides are trying to assess. we heard here in washington from the white house today, we heard from the state department and we heard from the pentagon and the message there is that this was at the very least reckless that it was dangerous. and asked, what an intention, the american suspect behind this and ned price,

the national security councils spokesman in a press called earlier today said, well, if the message was that the u. s. shouldn't be conducting these kinds of emissions in international airspace in the interest of its own security. while that simply isn't going to happen. the united states will continue to do this. and we also heard that it wasn't uncommon to have such kind of intercepts, particularly after us stepped up or the intensity of these in terms of these in a reconnaissance missions with drones. it since the russian attack on ukraine. so it's all interconnected, but this does stick out as a very dangerous encounter. indeed, in this how big over water is in the black sea, very close. as we all know, to an active war zone, which is eastern, you crate it, it would seem that this would be when washington in moscow communicate directly to avoid any accidental escalation. is that happen.

we know that both sides are talking. now we don't know what happened before, and during this we learned from the west side. they say that these 2 russian debts, when near the us drone for 30 to 40 minutes before they started into, well, basically more than intercepting it in the end, touching one of the propellers which led to the americans having to down their own drone because they simply couldn't steer it anymore, and this is where it gets crucial. this was not mand, luckily, but it was and steered by the u. s. military and the russian fighter jets were clearly representing russian. so it was a direct military contacts between the us and nato's. most important country, the united states, and that's why all these alarm bells ringing. and i think the clearest summary we got actually was from the us european command, who described this as an aggressive action by the russian side. that was dangerous

because it could lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation. that's exactly what the americans are also communicating. now. they don't want an intended escalation, and that's why they summoned the russian ambassador here and sent the us ambassador in moscow to the russian foreign ministry to protest. while high level talks are going on amongst military circles to find out exactly what happened. and amongst diplomats from both sides to understand what the exact intentions were in. we want to emphasize again mikaela that geography is important to you because of the black sea. you know, it's not that far from an act of wars on an eastern ukraine was. this also has to do with 2 nuclear power. russia and the united states would be the potential for something, escalating out of control. that potential is real here, isn't it is absolutely shoes that the tensile is hughes. the russian side

is denying that there was any real intention behind this that this even took place the way the americans have described it. and that's where we are at this moment in time. what we're clearly seeing from the us side is no intention to escalate this any further w's because of no, with the least in washington. we kill a thank you. i want to bring in our correspondent jennifer polka now. she is covering the kremlin for she's joining us from the left in capital rieger. that's because g w is banned from reporting in russian. jennifer, it's good to see you. so has there been much communication for the public coming from the kremlin about what happened earlier today? yeah, there has, has been a statement by the russian ministry of defense to day. and of course, it's version of events differs significantly from the u. s. version,

the statement makes abundantly clear that the u. s. stone was in russian era space in russian controlled air space. and was also heading to what's the russian border, which is very, very critical. especially because of the closest to awards on an act of words. though the drone, according to moscow, could not be identified because the transponder, which transmits data was switched off. so according to moscow again, it is a serious breach of international norms. and well, because there was no other way to identify the object russian fighter jets had to become airborne in a line up with a drone. then, which is now the most important part as a result of sharp maneuvering as moscow holds it around $930.00 p. m, moscow time the jone allegedly went into an uncontrollable flight last significant altitude and finally crest into the water. after the collision, the russian fighter jet safely returned to their home air base. but the russian

statement emphasizes that the russian fighter jets did not use any of their on board weapons, nor did they come into direct contact with the drum. yeah, i want to pick up on them of point jennifer the because the pentagon is saying that at least one of these russian fighter jets dropped fuel on to the drone several times. i mean is, is that being corroborated by what you're hearing from the kremlin? not at all as, as that russia states, it was no contact, it was simply an uncontrolled flight maneuver, and the jone literally just fell out of the sky by itself. i'll ask you what i asked me, kill it in washington. communication between the white house in the kremlin, between washington and moscow. me is moscow being open about their communication that is taking place because this is a situation that could easily escalate at accidentally or intentionally?

yeah, well the rate of relationship between russia and the u. s. r at a very, very low point, but i don't think and of as rush as dates one single you asked own even if it is close to an could is if it is in controlled a russian controlled airspace and close to a war zone. it will certainly raised some eyebrows in moscow, but it is questionable if it is enough to really escalate the tensions between the countries. russia stated that they will try every possible diplomatic way to talk things over and find a solution. and an escalation would really be the absolute last resort. also for russia, he w. jennifer polco with the russian side account of events. very important to get in the story. jennifer, thank thomas. the gold is a military expert and journalist. i asked him whether this is the time when the white house in the kremlin should be in direct contact. not necessarily

a 1st and foremost, it should be a d, conflicting contact on the military level. and as far as we know of as a direct line between, between you as you come, headquartered in stuttgart, germany, and the military authorities in russia. so this should be the 1st line of contact. meanwhile, as we just heard, it's escalated to the diplomatic level. so the u. s. foreign ministry state department is in contact with, it's a russian counterpart. so it seems that there is contact at the moment. and this means that the conflict is going off according to the americans. this type of incident that occurred today is not uncommon, albeit it's still very reckless. what we saw talk to me about the danger level of this type of incident. well, we've seen in the past,

as the russian fighter aircraft had approached us man craft in the u. s. called and save an unprofessional manner client. this lea, a rushing pilots, tried to reach the u. s. counterpart to try to, to move them. of course, we had similar incidents with british recognizance planes earlier, also over the black sea, which led to an interruption of british directly flights for a certain time. but this is the 1st time that this approaches lead to a collision to a media collision. and that's a new quality and the escalator, a quality of this incident, this happened over in national waters in the black sea. i'm wondering what legitimate reason could a russian fighter jet have to engage with

a you wish draw over international waters? is there a reach not at all in the us as well, of nato and also nato countries are claiming they have the right to be that they do . just as on the other hand, the rationale planes are routinely intercepted over the baltic in international airspace by and they to aircraft, which means a craft is trying to identify and try to contact those that craft. this however, means that the russians seem to have an interest to get those and they to aircraft, piloted or unmanned of course, because they are flying in a pattern which allows them to pick up signals, for instance, from a russian controlled territory and getting a recognizance and what we would call you would call the spy croft. yeah. yeah,

this drone is called the im, q 9 reaper surveillance drone. i assume the russians would possibly say that it could be connected directly to the war in easter ukraine. i mean, is that the thinking that one could assume at this moment? well, you could assume, but even if you say this drone is related to the one ukraine, it still has every right to fly in this international space. and luckily, the u. s. and russia are not at war, so from, from a national illegal standpoint, for a russian fight to pilot. this might be an unfriendly craft, but it's not an enemy. military expert, thomas gold. we appreciate your time in your valuable analysis tonight with this breaking news story. thank russian president vladimir putin. he has repeated his

claim since the beginning of the invasion that russia is fighting for its own survival in ukraine, insisting that the west provoked moscow into the conflict. he made the remarks again to day during a rare public appearance outside the kremlin. this one took place at a military aircraft factory in siberia, where the kremlin is ramping up production. vladimir putin has shown the round the plant, which makes military helicopters, including those used by the russian army in ukraine, as the carefully choreographed to precedes put in stuffs by a group of workers. but the russian president is here not to answer the questions. he wants to send a couple of messages to the people at home. one of them is about why russia is continuing its war of aggression in ukraine. lena said nobody, but for us it is a fight for the existence of the russian state itself because our adversaries,

as i used to call them partners, they have one task. and we became convinced of this in previous decade to rock the boat shatter russia into pieces. so for us, this is not a geopolitical task, but the task of the survival of russian statehood, destiny. it's the latest explanation that putin and russian stay tv have been using to justify this stoled war. the conflict has made russia the most sanctioned country in the world. but putin, as well as many western observers, say the russian economy is faring much better than expected to now national. what did our adversaries hope for you that we would collapse in $2.00 to $3.00 weeks or a month or so? that's what the hope was. i should bullet business would come to a halt as our partners would refuse to work with us in the economic area. it's finance. we that the financial system would collapse. ellis. e. le le. yeah.

that's what the hope was last year. that didn't happen. it turned out that the fundamental pillars of stability of russia was to be, are far more robust than they had thought them to be. the h included friendship with them. the economy may have survived, but it's been increasingly put on a war footing. as the president was in siberia, his defense minister, sergei show a go towards a miss al factory new moscow. urgent workers to double production economist war. and that sanctions will eventually lead to falling, leaving standards for the russian people. but so far it appears that is a prize putting is willing to pay to continue his war. my next guest is angela stant. she is a senior fellow at the brookings institution. she has written extensively a bell, russia's relations with the us in europe. her latest book is putin's world. russia against the west and with the rest is then it's good to see you again. i want to

start just by asking, getting your take on the images that we saw today of vladimir putin, almost bathing in the carefully choreographed, albeit, but bathing in the crowd of people. that is something we haven't seen in a very long time. what's the message there? well, i think the message there is everyone thought he was just sitting in a bunker. didn't want to see people. he, the messages, you know, i mean good health, i'm in control, i'm you, leader. and you know you, people want to see me. so i would sort of, i'm back again in the saddle after coded and only other things. so i definitely trying to rally the population. and i'm wondering, is he sending that message in with these images because he wants to or is it more because he has to well, i think that this, the much speculation right about his health, about the state of mind because he's been absent so much. so i think he must feel

that there are some pressure on him again to show the public that he's in charge. he's in control. he gave a speech a couple of weeks ago to the like a state of the union message saying we will win on the battle field and we are winning. so he wants to give a more upbeat message to his population. and do we know our russians, are they buying in to, to this message and how secure is the image of vladimir putin in the russian public sphere? well, i think to has used this year of the war, paradoxically, to consolidate his power. you would have thought that a leader where the army has done so badly, whether over 200000 people dead was severely wounded that they might have been booted out of office but not. and so he strengthened this hold on the country. and if we can believe that public opinion polls that come out and you have to be a little bit skeptical,

the majority of the population that has remained in russia and don't forget that 1000000 of left are the majority remained either support the war or that kind of indifferent to it, and so, so far he succeeded in convincing them apparently that in fact the west is trying to break up russia and this is a fight for their existence. mr. i want to get your opinion on what happened today with this drone and these russian fighter jets, the account that we're getting from russian from the kremlin is different from what we're getting from washington. is this a situation that that could work to vladimir putin advantage? i would be skeptical about that. i mean, the russians have been harassing as your previous guess, said, and been harassing u. s. a. nato aircraft. they've been doing some quite dangerous maneuvers in this time. they actually force that for the drone down. i'm sure the russians will try and use this at to say that this is something invented by the west and they weren't

doing anything that was inappropriate. i doubt that this will work to rushes interest. and what about the notion of one of your boots and looking at all of this with a long term perspective and just waiting, waiting it out, waiting for western unity with ukraine to fall apart. i mean, does he have that leverage still going for him at this point, despite you know, the dismal performance by his military? yes, he certainly still waiting out the west. he's looking at the united states and, you know, his people are listening to the debates and the congress. the republican party candidates are now coming out saying like governor on to sense is that this is a local territorial dispute, which has nothing to do with us interests. he's looking at your way. you obviously had some demonstrations in different countries against support for ukraine because of the sanctions because of the economic impact. so he's playing

a long game and you know, his previous experience has informed him that you know, the west doesn't hold together forever. that democracies get distracted, they have elections, they have to turn to other things. so that's certainly what he thinks he's doing now. and the images that we saw today of him at this factory and it looks like an economy that is working. it certainly doesn't look like an economy that has been hit with a major economic sanctions. i mean, is he right when he says, yeah, you've tried to hit us, but it really hasn't hurt us. yeah, the russian economy is proven much more resilient than the people in the west thought it would. the sanctions have had an impact, but they haven't really affected the life of the order of average russians, at least in the cities, the super market, so full with goods that not western goods anymore, but they're from company of other places. so i'm, so he, i think he's right in saying that the weston sanctions have not crippled the russian economy. and the at the russia has been quite resilient. angela's name is

always good to get your insights and your takes on what is happening, particularly in russia. thank you. thank you. let's take a look down some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world. a new report on the state of germany's military says it has quote, too little of everything. the situation has become even worse in the past year, despite a 100000000000 euro fund announced by the german government last year to upgrade the armed forces. clothing weapons, and soldiers are all in short supply. sweden's prime minister says his country will join nato, but most likely not at the same time as finland the nordic neighbors. you may recall it, they applied for membership together, but objections from turkey are delaying sweden's membership bid all 3 existing members of nato, all 30 have to approve any new members for so you know, we did. the malawi government says at least

a 190 people have been killed in the country after sy clone. freddy slammed into south eastern africa with to ritual rain and high winds. and this is the 2nd time in the month that freddie has made landfall in southern africa. it struck earlier in the month in madagascar. it is one of the strongest and longest lasting storms to ever be recorded in the southern hemisphere. on the outskirts of malawi, 2nd largest city blan tire, a thriving community, has been reduced to this area. he always acquired by houses the hall from us. and before poor people are born upon everything's port brockport from hartford, pulling down towards leslie lucrative it. earlier europe blend of all blank walls,

but they are all poor and that so quickly in minute 9 families ruined my friend of 40 in another town ship. not far away, some homes with sped, but they've been inundated with flood water and mud from landslides, rescue as and the locals have on earth, thousands of bodies, and the occasional survivor. this time a young girl who had become stuck up to her neck in mud. with a voice of her, of her, of her child, chloe. believe me, believe me. then after opening the door, then we have discovered that we have along with mud along our house. the mug over there is a month,

landslides have left gaping cracks in the terrain. and the endless down poor has turned streets into rivers. days ago these people were going about their daily lives. now they wait at the local mortuary to identify their loved ones. so they can bury them with dignity. the impact of the sight clone has piled more woes on a country already grappling with the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history. so cost to say best, no less healthy site to the heavy rain. it's battering malawi and according to scientists, climate change means tropical stones. like this one unlikely to become more and more frequent. and before we go, his reminder of that top story, we're following for u a. u. s. surveillance. drone like this, when seen here has been struck by a russian warplane as it was flying over the black sea,

the unmanned vehicles propeller was damaged, forcing the u. s. to bring it down in international waters. now the kremlin says the drawn was in russian controlled aerospace moving towards the russian border. but it says it did not cause the drone to crash. you watch the w news after a short break. i'll be back to take you through the day stick around. we will be with ah, with

ah ah ah, no one does coastal protection better than the dutch small wonder because large parts of the netherlands lie below sea level. the threat of flooding has long and still the spirit of innovation here, making the country a role model worldwide in combating rising ties.

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