another ukraine city fears it is on putin's list. odessa is taking more hits from russian attacks, residents are pinning their hopes on the city's network of tunnels to survive the onslaught. putin says forces in ukraine will prevail against what he

scribes as the anti-russian enemy. abandoning plans to visit the ukrainian capital after being told he is not welcome here. brent: hello to all of you, welcome. now that ukraine has recaptured the region around the capital kyiv, military analysts believe the port city of odessa is high on vladimir putin's new list of military targets. odessa has been hit repeatedly by russian missiles, the situation is tense but residents say they are ready to defend their city, even if it means going underground.

>> the road to safety leads deep beneath odessa. a 2500 kilometer long tunnel system. nobody knows this underground aberrant better than this engineer. when the first rocket hit odessa, the pair began converting. the tunnels into shelters. almost every night, dozens of families seek refuge here. during air raid alerts. -- seek refuge here during air raid alerts. >> shattering the windows, it is quite scary. children behave ryome. >> the tunnel system is an old quarry where stuff was mind years ago. during the second world war, the tunnels were used as a hideout for resistance fighters.

their messages are still on the wall. >> fighting against the nazis and we are also using this catacomb in this war, the new war. i am thinking sometimes, we have to write new inscriptions here, 2022. >> aboveground, residents are finding it harder to maintain normality. this in was supposed to liberate the world war ii go big over the nazis last weekend but the events were canceled for security reasons. eight curfewas imposed. -- a curfew was imposed. people should be celebrating the anniversary of their liberation from the nazis, but they have to get repair for another possible attack. the people here are ready to defend their city to the last.

>> the security forces in odessa are oking wi concern towards other cities where the fighting has been intensifying. many military analysts leave putin is planng to cut ukraine off from the sea. >> odessa is a very important city. we call it the pearl of ukraine. it is also a port city. that is why it is so crucial for us and also for the enemy, for putin. >> he fears defendant odessa will be more nights underground. he has began installing an internet system in the tunnels for a long battle ahead. brent: let us go to our correspondent, she is in the western ukraine and city of lyviv. what are you hearing from that city?

about a the next target? -- it in the next tart? >> so far, it has largely escaped the worst of the fighting. as you have been reporting, we are seeing slight intensification. it is a strategic city that the russians want to take. russia moves its attention and focuses on the southeastern region, the donbass and the southern regions. where it is situated on the brak -- black sea. we expect that those attacks will intensify on friday, for example, russia reported that it destroyed a center that was set up for foreign mercenaries there and other attacks as well. ukraine said that they have not

seen any preparations for a landing operation from the black sea yet. they did say that they were worried about a potential attack coming from western territories, melt ova, a country situated on the border -- maldova, a country situated on the border has been under russian occupation. the ukrainians worry that they may mobilize soldiers to encircle troops that would be there protecting odessa. >> mariupol, there were allegations that a chemical weapon may have been used in this city. what do we know about that tonight? >> those reports are coming in late last night. the was the potential chemical weapons used there. three soldiers of the as off battalion, -- azoth battalion

depending that city, they had symptoms of an chemical attack. itould be an escalation of the war haiti -- here in ukraine. it is hard to get information out of the city of mariupol. communication has been cut for more than four weeks. bombardment since the beginning of ts war. there are more than a hundred thousa people cap there without access toood, -- kept there without access to food, the figure of people who have been killed there in the tens of thousands. it is hard to verify that without access to the city. some of the people who have managed to escape, the stories are so horrific it is hard to imagine that those estimations are far off. should the chemical weapons

attack be confirmed it would be a definite escalation. brent: an escalation indeed. rebecca, thank you. president putin insisted that his country's military campaign continue and that will is -- that it will succeed. after talks with his ally, in belarus, he described talks with kyiv at a dead end. he claimed that his country was withstanding what he calls the blitzkrieg of western sanctions. he says that rising prices will put pressure on western leaders. >> we know that today our officers are taking part in a special military operation in donbass in ukraine. helping the donbass people's republic. they're acting bravely, professionally, under effectively using the most modern weapons that have unique characteristics.

brent: i spoke to a russian expert, constantine, i asked him what more we know about the meeting between putin and lukashenko today. >> to a large extent, what we know about lukashenko and putin's meetings, the last few months, they consist of two things. look at asking putin for money, and putin asking lukashenko for port in the war in ukraine -- support in the war i ukraine. it was a bridge from which some russian columns have crossed into ukraine. i suppose there is a use of belarus' death for putin's military -- port for putin's military. they should off their

equipment -- they showed off their equipment for the russian space program. it is a way to show that even in such terrible times, the two president, the two dictators are doing business as usual. they are preparing to launch as putin said today, to launch into space. it was an attempt to show solidarity to the regime. brent: also defiance. vladimir putin talking about international sanctions and saying that russia will not be isolated. take a listen to part of what he said. >> we are not going to be isolated. no one can be isolated in the modern world. it is impossible to do with any country as you just russia. we will work with partners who want to cooperate.

brent: maybe mr. putin does not realize but size does not always matter here. who is going to want to cooperate with russia considering what is happening now in ukraine? >> not a lot of countries want to cooperate. very interesting piece of news today was the chinese, they removed some of the russian banks absent from its store. that is china, which is supposed to be one of russia's closest allies in this war against the west. i think -- look, if you are right, if putin would have said the same thing in front of us, everything is going according to plan. nothing is wrong. russians can sleep calmly in their beds because the world

is going to come to their rescue. it is too early to say it to what effect the sanctions will have on russia. some of them are designed to have a long-term effect. those who, those companies who could russia now, those who are unemployed will still have to look at the job market and find that there are no jobs to realize, that they are not doing well. everything takes time. there is nothing surprising. putin has been saying we will be ok from day one of the so-called special operations. brent: the russian public, how are they reacting to this war? they say that they will one day discover this war means they are losing their jobs? >> i do not think at this moment, the russian public realized what is happening.

it is upon us. i think it will take quite a bit of time. as you know, opinion polls in pressure not reliable. people lie because they think that they are talking to the state. i think you can say that a lot of people in russia are still under the sway of the kremlin. essentially, what putin did, he told the russians if you peel off all of these frederick -- rhetorics, it is about powerism. we are doing it because we cannot, not because we need. that will take quite a time to die down. -- quite a bit of time to die down. brent: thank you.

we turn now to bucha. people are trying to bury their dead, the civilians were killed by russian troops, a man in bucha who risks his own life bearing strangers while russians patrolled the streets. >> he barely has a spare moment, it is one funeral after another. they're only burying those who died of natural causes, if there is such a thing in wartime. he was driving the streets of bucha, recovering the bodies of civilians shot by russian forces while colleagues watched him. >> the hardest thing was collecting children's bodies. it does not make sense. i even recovered cyclists bodies, people who are out on their bikes. we went out of town and found a

car shot to pieces. inside of the car was a husband and wife, just out to look for food. the russians did not care who they shot at. >> in bucha alone, hundreds of civilians lost their lives, many were shot walking the streets looking for food. he sensed he was being watched through the side of a gun, the second he left home. >> we arrived to pick up the bodies and suddenly they started shooting at us. someone hit me in the face with the but of a gun, they have been tricky and started shooting at us. one russian checkpoint would let us come in and recovered the bodies but then at the next checkpoint you would get shot at. there was no coordination between them. it is a miracle that we are still alive. we are on our third fan already.

-- van already. >> his team would bring the bodies to this churchyard where they have duck two pits. how many people he buried in total, he cannot recall. it is upwards of 120. >> it was total chaos. we were not counting carefully. we were burying people while we were getting shelled. we were afraid. we knew that no one come apart from us would do the job. we collected all of the documents we could find, and gave them to the police. >> the bodies are now being exhumed and taken to more city give -- taken two kyiv. in the middle of the horror, there is friendship in unexpected places. >> we met during the worst of

the fighting here, we did not even know each other before. the guy has helped me recover the bodies, we are a team now. i cannot see us giving this up. we have a lot of bodies to bury. brent: the message today from ukraine to german president, you are not welcome here. his role is mostly ceremonial, he was encouraging relations with russia and he admitted this had been a mistake. he ended up cutting that trip short, he returned to germany, he did not go on words to ukraine. >> it was a conscious display of harmony when the german president was welcomed by his polish counterpart. their plans to travel to ukraine together were meant to send the same message but after the

talks, the german president made the shocking announcement -- a shocking announcement. >> my colleague and friend, the polish president, suggested that the two of us together with the president of estonia, latvia, and lithuania, travel to kyiv to send a strong signal of joint european solidarity ukraine. -- to ukraine. i was ready to do that but apparently, that was not wanted by kyiv. i have to acknowledge that. >> all that was left for the german president to say at the joint news conference was to stress that germany and poland remain close partners. that is as he headed off to ukraine, he got on his plane back to berlin. brent: i spoke with our political correspondent, i asked him what the reason could be for

this. >> there are several reasons for that but you mentioned that he was the foreign minister, he had a close relationship to the russian foreign minister. also a close relationship to the now former chancellor who is known to have close ties to the kremlin. the only to the german public but he is seen as an architect of the russian family approach that germany has shown during the years of angela merkel. many are criticizing him as part of this establishment. as you mentioned, he apologized, last week, admitting that germany should have taken another stance when it comes to russia. website am wondering what this means for -- brent: i am wondering what this means. facing pressure to go to kyiv like his european colleagues, is

he going to be a persona non grata there? >> even if he has not declared that, he could travel, what he, if the head of the state, if he was not able to do so? pressure is growing for a loft to go there to show solidarity, to also meet the crane resident. that is what several european leaders have done after the russian invasion. there was a prime minister, boris johnson who walked through the streets of5. many are saying -- through the streets of kyiv. many are saying it depends on what he can deliver, not just for a photo opportunity but also helping ukraine not just with promises but with actions. we look at oil or gas imports from russia, also weapons and

heavy weapons from foreign ministers. wanting and asking germany, it will have consequences on a possible trip by the german chancellor. it was even asked if you would go there, if there was any solidarity driven in the pipeline when he met boris johnson in london. if there is a trip that would happen, the public would know. there are security concerns when european leaders travel to a war zone like ukraine. brent: it is an awkward situation to say the least. benjamin, thank you. i look at some of the other stores were following for you. germany's foreign minister made a visit to the troops who are stationed in molly. -- mali. the mission began nine years ago , berlin is yet to decide whether or not to extend the mission.

france announced earlier this year that it will be pulling out its troops. boris johnson has been fined for preaching covid-19 regulations. police have been investigating several gatherings that government offices during lockdown in what has become known as the party gate scandal. opposition parties are calling for boris johnson to resign. the u.s. state of virginia has began hearing the defamation case brought by johnny depp against amber heard. he is suing his ex-wife for $50 million for allegedly damaging his reputation and career. back in 2018 she wrote a newspaper piece saying that she was a survivor of domestic abuse without naming her ex-husband. in the united states, the morning commute turn into the scene of a massive shooting today. at least 16 people were injured during the attack.

no motive is known, yet for the shooting, the attacker is still on the loose. >> confusion and panic during an morning rush hour commute in the heart of new york city. >> at first it was a momentf shock. i was with some of my friends. i did not know what happened. i was scared. i did not know what to do, i got off at the train, i stood by some police officers and i hope for the best. >> the violence started on a train car probably through our diverse working-class neighborhood in brooklyn. -- traveling through a diverse working-class neighborhood in brooklyn. he opened a gas canister and opened fire. the gas spilling out into a

broadway platform -- 28 train platform. a lady said she saw everything that had happened she heard shooting. i do not know. she was very nervous. >> emergency crews rushed more than a dozen victims to two local hospitals. >> oh my god. >> we have 16 total patients. 10 are suffering from gunshot wounds and five are in critical but stable condition at this time. >> during the chaos, the gunmen got away. he has to describe as a short, heavyset black man wearing a green reflective constructed vest -- construction vest and a gray hoodie. >> were not allowed -- we will not allow new york to be terrorized by a siegel individual. nypd is searching for the suspect our lord and we will find him. -- suspect and we will find him.

>> investigators do not believe it was an act of terror, but yet another mass shooting. brent: it police officer shot an -- a police officer shot an israeli individual. tensions are high as muslim, jewish, and christian holidays converge this wee >> fearing more bloodshed, israel ramps up the counterterrorism in the west bank. palestinians launched attacks at israel that left 14 israelis dead in cent weeks about the same number palestinians including a sealants have also died. one of them was this man who was involved with his family in an exchange of gunfire with israeli forces. hundreds of palestinians came to mourn him in the west bank.

>> the army is spiteful of any palestinian. it is a hateful army. some officialsave accused israel of using excessive force. >> to say that the israeli army has injured or killed people who were not involved in vionce. all of this comes during the muslim holy month of ramadan when tensions tend to run high. last year, classes during ramadan led to days of in the gaza strip. it also coincides with passover which might add more tension. brent: you are watching dw news. later analysts belve that the ukrainian port city of odessa is now on the list of military targets. it is bracing himself against the attack, including preparing the vast network of tunnels to be used as bunkers.

do not forget you can always get news on the go, download our app from google play or from the app store that will give you access to all of the news from around the world and push notifications for any breaking news. if you are part of a new store, you can use the dw app to send us photos and videos of what is happening. this is dw news, after a short break, i will take you through the day. we will be right back.

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>> you are watching live from paris. these are our headlines this evening. in new york, at least 17 people have been injured after a gunman opened fire in rush hour on a subway train. we will bring the latest on that tragedy. russian troops have intensified a campaign to take the port city of mariupol, what is expected to be a massive onslaught across eastern ukraine. and the second round of the french presidential election with both candidates campaigning hard.