>> this is "dw news" live from berlin. tonight, trying to wipe the ukrainian city of the face of the earth -- that is how the mayor of mariupol described what russians are doing to the city, also accusing the russian military of genocide. also tonight, german chancellor scholz says albania and north macedonia should start talks to join the european union, to protect them from the reach of putin's russia.

. and talks at the european union on how to accommodate the nearly 4 million ukrainians who have been forced to flee the country. plus, an onstage slap at the oscars -- actor will smith hits chris rock in the face on live television. and the condemnations have now begun. ♪ i am brent goff. to viewers watching on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. on this monday, the mayor of mariupol in southern ukraine says the city is on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, and that everyone left has to get out. my ripple has endured relentless bombardment from russian forces in recent weeks. the mayor says nearly 5000 people have been killed, 160,000

civilians remain trapped in the city without-hour period there is growing concern that the city could soon fall under russian control. meanwhile, ukraine's defense ministry says there is no evidence russia is planning to abandon its efforts to capture the capital of kyiv. russian forces are also stepping up attacksn eastern ukraine. ♪ reporter: for a few brief moments, musicians provided those inside this kharkiv metro station and bomb shelter with a brief respite from the war. >> music is a ray of light that helps our soul survive. it brightens our lives, stops us panicking, and keeps only the darkness, whom, and bitterness of this war. >> we all need support like never before. if we can classical musicians,

can provide support to the people by playing our estimates and doing what we can do best, we will do it anywhere. many but across ukraine, and with each day that passes, the death toll increases. this watch belonged to one of the war's victims. his son victor witnessed his death. >> the russian soldiers just started firing. i looked at my dad, looked into the car, and he was already choking on his own blood. i saw four direct hits to the windshield. but there is a faint glimmer of hope that peace will return. in kyiv, the president offered moscow a compromise on the donbas as, peace talks et cetera resume on tuesday in turkey.

>> i understand it is impossible to make russia give up the territory completely. that would lead to world war iii. i understand. i am aware of that. that'why i am saying this is a compromise. but let's try to resolve the question of the donbass, the complex question of the donbass. >> but in moscow, there appears to be no shift in russia's demands. >>e have to make sure that ukraine stops assimilating itself with the west, with nato, in a military sense, with threats to the russi federation, physical military threats to the russian federation. ♪ reporter: death and destruction in ukraine. here in aviv, the funeral of a soldier, and other day that a family has been touched in the war. brent: in the ukrainian city of lviv is our correspondent

tonight, good to see you. we are in the fifth week of this war. what is a situation in western ukraine? reporter: i am actuall speaking to you from the basemen of the building that i am staying in which serves as a shelter. there have been air raid siren's going off, this is the second time i've had to go down to the bomb shelter. there were strikes more than 48 hours ago around the oil reserves, russian missiles launched from crimea. but there haven't been any missile attacks in the vicinity for about 48 hours. but there were reports of attacks 150 kilometers north of here. you probably can hear the kids playing around me right now. people are trying to make the best of it because this happens if not more than once a day,

daily, when the air sirens go off. a lot of this is symbolic strikes from the russian military, because the real fighting and suffering is happening in eastern ukraine. the donbass, kharkiv, mariupol, a lot more in kyiv, than it is here in western ukraine. brent: knowing that there are children sharing the space with you in the bomb shelter, and we are talking about war and peace, it speaks to the brutal reality of this conflict. what about a possible cease-fire? we know that there is at least one new idea being floated from the ukrainian perspective, what can you tell us about that? reporter: lost signal. i can't hear you, brent -- ok, i can he you now.

theossibility of cease-re has become more real because of the comments from the ukrainian presiden. basically what he said is that he iwilling to give ukrainian neutlity. has entered before that this would be on th tle, but it sounds in his remarks, this is the furthest he has ne and said neutrality would be an option, of course he sd he would have to put this up to the referendum in the country. know how many of them would give anything russia any advantage, anything that would give them any ground. in donbass, a different question. zelenskyy said that instead of demanding all russian troops leave the country, he would reset to basically february 23, before the complete russian invasion of this country, and then decide the question of the donbs after they went back to

that being the territory. that the russian troops would be out of the rest of the country like in kyiv, for example. brent: the ukrainian government, we understand, is investigating possible torture of russian soldiers by et's troops. what are the allegations? reporter: this is an interesting case, also interesting to see how the ukrainian government reacted. there were videos circulating yesterday on pro-russian accounts on social media, showing gruesome videos -- i don't recommend watching it, it is tru torture, if it is real, shing soldiers shooting russians in the leg, as soon as they got out of the truck, breaking their bones, beating them into most so that they are unrecognizle. the government first said this was russian disinformation, but then they said that if it were true,hey will investigate it,

they will punish anybody who was involved if it turns out to be true. because the ukrainian army is a european army and they follow international standards, and if thisndeed was true, it is a crime and needs to. brent: be punished. brent: o correspondent amien essif, thank you. military drones are an important weapon for both ukraine and russia. the unmanned aircraft, radio services -- they come in a variety of sizes into everything from surveillance to communications. they are designed to fit in the back back but they can hit targets with high precision. reporter: and i in the sky with a deadly payload. switchblade hangs out in the air, sends images back for

humans to figure out targets, and then it becomes a missile. they are advertised online. they weigh just a few kilograms and can be launched from a small tube, requiring little setup or training. but it is the weapon system whose name cannot spoken, at least by u.s. officials. >> i can't confirm a particular system that -- the president or we did speak of tactical aerial systems, we are providing a hundred of those, but i am not in a position to speak to all the systems included in that package. reporter: ukraine has already been using so-called loitering munitions strikes russian forces. turkish made drones. lightweight laser guided bombs. this portage reportedly shows footage of their strikes on russian targets. meanwhile, the russian military has been using drones as part of its invasion.

this video shows the aftermath of an alleged drone missile strike on a science institute in kyiv, and the small drone recovered at the scene. will the switchblade be a game changer? some analysts say the u.s. is sending too few of them, a supply that will only last uple odays. that as ukraine battles against the superior firepower of its invader, ukrainians can use all the help they can get. scholz today said talks to join the european union as soon as possible. he made the comments after a meeting with students prime minister in berlin. he said that it is important that the e.u. speed up talks with the two balkan nations to prevent them from being pulled into russia's sphere of influence. schultz and anderson also discussed the question of swedish neutrality as the

country consider joining nato. she said sweetest membership in the european union means it is no longer a neutral country. here is more of what the german chancellor said today. >> she and i agree that we want to strengthen the e.u. and make it more resilient as well. the turning point in history means we must achieve real progress within the european union. the time has come to have the albanian and macedonian accession talks begin as soon possible, otherwise the balkan states will be vulnerable for russian influence, and we need to strengthen our capacity in a number of different ways. brent: dw news spoke to the swedish prime minister about e.u. accession talks, and here's what she told us.

>> countries should be able to join the european union when they are ready, and i think it is important to all countries can have a process, closer to european membership. from a swedish perspective, we have been supporting countries, for instance, ukraine to, build their institutions so they can become closer to becoming members of the european union. attacking ukraine was not only an attack on ukraine, but also the european security order, which means every country can make the decision themselves. we have the right to do the decision that we think is right for our country. but of course when we do that, we have to weigh of the different options we have. the situation around the baltic sea has changed, after russia's invasion of ukraine. we have had the deteriorating security situation around the baltic for a long time. what we have done from the sow perspective in the last year is to increase our defense

spending. we also follow germany to go after 2% of gdp. we also increased multilateral cooperation. like being a part of nato. we are in close cooperation with finland and also with the joint expeditionary force with other countries and we will continue in that direction. but we also have a discussion with other parties in parliament to analyze and see what that means for how we will act in the future. brent: that was the swedish prime minister speaking with us earlier. some of the other stories were following, russia added this broadcaster, deutsche welle, to a list of media organizations that it labels foreign agents. that designation requires all of our content to be labeled with a disclaimer. a russian delegation has arrived in instant bow ahead of planned peace talks with ukrainian negotiators. tuesday's meeting will mark the second time turkey has hosted

in-person discussions between the two sides. the kremlin has said it expects no significant breakthroughs. the european union once member states to end golden passports, which have allowed what the people to buy their way to e.u. citizenship. the war in ukraine has shown a light on previous beneficiaries with cross -- close links to the kremlin, including many russian oligarchs. the russian newspaper novaya gazeta has publication, to prevent the kremlin from shutting it down completely because of its reporting on the war in ukraine. the newspaper garnered international attention last year when its chief editor dmitry muratov won the nobel peace prize. more on the humanitarian crisis in this war. today e.u. interior minister is met to discuss how to deal with

the millions of refugees fleeing ukraine. they discussed a range of issues including the distribution of refugees across all e.u. member states, as well as how to financially support that. ministers agreed on the creation of a platform to register those who are seeking temporary protection. poland alone has taken in more than 2 million people from neighboring ukraine since the start of the russian invasion. dw correspondent christine one verse discovering today's meeting for us in brussels. good evening. christina, has the decision been reached in brussels today on how refugees from the ukraine should be distributed across the entire e.u.? reporter: going into this meeting, poland and germany wrote a letter to the european commission asking for the commission to play a more active role in distributing ukrainian

refugees across that you member states. the commission declined to do that and instead is insisting on a voluntary based system with member states stepping up to take what they can. more member states are buried more of a load than others. what the commission will do now is compile an index, assess e.u. member states, their existing burden and capacity, publish that and hope that e.u. member states will step up and do their best. part of this is also about incentivizing e.u. member states , ukrainian refugees who are in poland, to come to the states. that you you commission has encouraged member states to do that. a lot of ukrainian refugees prefer to be in poland because it is closer to home, assimilation is easier because the languages are closer. so part of that will be having e.u. member states actively

reach out to you couldn't refugees to give them some incentives to come to their territories. the european union will be working with third countries, we are talking the, the u.k. and canada, so as to share the load. at the peak of this migration flow, we had up to two hundred 50,000 people a day leaving ukraine and coming to the european union. those numbers are down considerably. we are looking at 40,000 a day. with that that is just a temporary lull and the numbers will pick up again, remains to be seen. but the european union has struggled in terms of reaching a common migration policy, they have rejected the idea of quotas . it is still up to the member states to take the initiative. but it is not even europe's biggest refugee crisis since world war ii that can bring them together, members just cannot agree.

brent: tell us more about the platform to register ukrainian's temporary protection in the e.u.. >> the idea is to consolidate the data. right now member states are putting their own data into their own databases. the european union wants to gain oversight. it is an i.t. platform they will build that will collect all the data from the member steps and put it in a single platform. part of the result is also the security of people leaving the ukraine. there are unaccompanied minors and vulnerable people who could go missing or slip through the cracks. the idea is to keep ahead of that. and there have been reports in germany where you are, about human trafficking. berlin police at some point sent a message to ukrainians not to accept right from everybody offering it because it is believed that ukrainian women

are being targeted and lured into prostitution. so this is an attempt to consolidate data to keep you posted if, and also to keep an overview across the bloc. brent: i will correspondent with the latest from brussels tonight, thank you. more than half of ukraine's children have been displaced by the war, with huge implications for their education. some ukrainian teachers are try to keep up the routine using the internet to teach children scattered across europe. we met one young schoolgirl whom fled to germany, but she is still attending classes run from back home in ukraine. reporter: it is 8:00 in this western german city. the first lesson of the day is starting for this girl. it is an online lesson normally she would in kyiv at her school, but at the beginning of march, she had to flee ukraine with the

amil. >> it is quite important to stay in touch with teachers and classmates. we all need that. that will get to see how all of us are doing. that way everyone knows i am doing well. reporter: today, olena is giving the lesson. fore the war began, they could all be at school together. now, most of her classmates are scattered all over europe. that is why olena teaches them digitally. she is still in kv. >> it is dangerous to stay at home. but tching the children distract me from the reality that we live in. i would like to close my eyes and wake up in another life. but unfornately, that is not possible.

natya, along with her sister and rather, have been placed with a host family in germany. it gives them security and the time being. nevertheless, like thousands of other ukrainian children, the kidsre missing important school lessons. that is why they will be enrolled in germany until then, online lessons help them. >>. >> i do exercises withhem, paint with them. we carve, we make all kinds of artwork. this gives them sength, it gives them courage and also confidence for the future. >> thas for doing the shopping today. we need lots of things. reporter: she is in germany. her classmates are in poland, the czech republic, pennsylvania, but the teacher manages to reach them all.

brent: some of the other stories we are following for you, in china, millions in shanghai are in lockdown, confined to their homes in order to control a growing outbreak of covid-19. the financial hub has become a coronavirus hotspot in recent weeks. this is china's most extensive lockdown in two years. canadian indigenous leaders met with pope francis at the vatican. they want him to apologize for the catholic church's role in the abuse of indigenous children in residential schools in canada. many were subjected to abuse, rape, and malnutrition, in what has been called a cultural genocide. the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is meeting with his counterparts from israel and four arab countries to discuss reviving for 2015 deal to limit iran's nuclear program. but the start of the summit was overshadowed by a terror attack where the so-called islamic state in an islamic city. canadian football fans are celebrating, after their country

qualified for the men's world cup for the first time in 36 years. their spot was guaranteed by a 4-0 victory over jamaica. it meant well scenes outside the stadium in toronto as planned started planning their trips to qatar later this year. it is the maple leafs' first world cup finals appearance since 1986. good for them. the feel-good family film coda was named best picture at the oscars in a surprise win last night, making it the first streamed film to pick up the prize, but the most unforgettable moment of the sermon he was an outburst of violence from one of hollywood's biggest stars. will smith walked up to the stage and slapped comedian chris rock in the face. reporter: it was the year's biggest night, with a star-studded lineup. the academy awards honoring the

film industry's best movies at the oscars ceremony. but the night was overshadowed by an incident on stage. comedian chris rock made a joke about actor will smith's wife jada pinkett smith, who suffers from alopecia. . it didn't go down too well. >> jayda, i love you. g.i. jane 2, can't wait to see it, right? [laughter] uh oh! [laughter] ph wpw! wow! wow sude! >> keep my wife's name out your [beep] mouth! reporter: a jaw-dropping moment for viewers around the world. smith then went on to win best actor for his performance in king richard, a movie about the father of tennis stars venus and serena williams. he apologized in his acceptance speech.

>> art imitates life. i look like the crazy father, just like they said. just like they said about richard williams. [laughter] but love will make you do crazy things. reporter: the lapd says it will not take things further, as chris rock declined to file a police report. oscars organizers tweeted that it doesn't condone violence. the academy also tried to show off its diversity compared to previous years. apple tv's "coda" took the spotlight, winning best picture, marking the first time it streaming service took home the best award. the "power of the dog" which lead with 12 nominations, tiktok onane campion's directing win. jessica chastain landed best actress for her role "in the

eyes of tammy faye." and best international film was awarded to japan's "drive my car." ♪ while the oscars was hoping to have a boost in ratings, this year's physical confrontation between two superstars certainly dominated the headlines. brent: you're watching dw news from berlin. after a short break, i will be back to take you through "the day." we will have the latest on the war in ukraine and the latest on that face-slap in the oscars. we will be right back.

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across all france 24 channels and france 24.com. host: welcome to world news and analysis from -- i am mark and these are the headlines. the city has been liberated from russian invaders. meanwhile, over 10,000 people have been killed so far in the russian bombardment and siege . peace talks. ukraine and russia have to sit down once again hosted by turkey, but there is little sign of a cease-fire. special arab israeli summit in the desert.