>> world news and analysis from france 24. i am mark and these are the headlines. marc: russia steps up, u.s. president biden says more artillery will be sent to help ukraine's trips reduced -- troops resist. on the eastern front. preparations in france ahead of the presidential debate in the next 24 hours, macron and le pen will be sharpening their arguments for a tete-a-tete that may well designed the outcome of the election. france is handed back to

marley's army a key base in the north, a stage at the end of the operation with questions over how they will cope going forward. paying for help from russian mercenaries. this is life in paris. ♪ marc: thank you very much for being with us. dave 54 of the russian invasion of ukraine, the fight for the east is intensifying, russia trying to capture parts of the donbass in the hands of legitimate authority, ukraine. russia is reported to have captured a town and fighting has spread along the front line of 480 kilometers with russia targeting kharkiv, lou dansk. catherine clifford has this.

catherine: after a heavy night of bombing, emergency workers clear the remains of houses in northeastern ukraine. the russian defense ministry says it's troops hit 60 ukrainian military sites overnight, after moscow began a major new offensive in the donbass region on monday evening. >> the operation in the east of ukraine was announced from the very beginning to fully derail the republics. catherine: the eastern region is mostly russian speaking and separatists have been fighting ukrainian forces for eight years. russian forces seized the eastern city this tuesday. the regional government said ukrainian troops have withdrawn. in the south of donbass, fighting has escalated in the siege to port city of mariupol. the kremlin is focused on capturing this region after its attempts on kyiv failed.

attacking ukrainian positions along the front line. >> at this hospice, residents were evacuated ahead of the assault. authorities urged people in donbass to fleet west as officials called off evacuations for a third straight day from front-line cities due to ongoing fighting. marc: russia's all out assault on the donbass intensified, and nato allies have been discussing stepping up military supplies to ukraine. french president emmanuel macron was in on the international phone conference. u.s. president joe biden vowing artillery for ukraine to help defend that 480 kilometers long eastern front. we have more from washington.

reporter: according to the reout of the white house, the allies agreed on the need to continue their support for the ukrainians, whether it is economic, humanitarian, or military. also, the agreement that they needed to continue holding russia accountable. that of course meaning that they need to continue to sanction russia. and we have seen in the past that these big calls with all of the allies usually were followed a few days later by the announcement either from the europeans or from the americans or from all combined, of a new round of sanctions. and yesterday, the white house press secretary 10 psaki did acknowledge that there would likely be a new round of sanctions. that they were under consideration and they could be announced within the coming days or types of sanctions, that could be given. we have already seen quite a

wide range of sanctions. the press secretary said that the idea was to expand our sanctions targets, meaning that we could see more financial institutions targeted, more people and gears close to the kremlin targeted. but also the goal to tighten our existing sanctions to prevent aviation. so maybe closing some loopholes that they have seen russian officials or russian institutions use to get a way from the sanctions. that is a type of sanctions that we are expecting, at least coming from the american side. and usually we have seen that these sanctions seem to be parallel with what the europeans decided. marc: the word in washington. we are joined by michelle, former vice chief of staff at nato's supreme headquarters. he shaved nato. he gave us has taken possible

insight into the thinking of the nato leaders right now. >> now, for our desired not to escalate since 2014. now that is a personal opinion, but a hard opinion. what the west is doing now, especially america and the united kingdom, has helped massively. and now there is a transition phase, whereby, if you want to equip the ukrainian army with long-range artillery, air defense, and so on, now, you have to shift it to western material. and that will take weeks at least. in this phase, since you started with this, if this is a new phase, this is the last phase. it is a bit like rocky iv, the last blow, you know the film, both of them are exhausted.

will ukraine have time to integrate this new equipment before utter exhaustion? i don't know. the most important thing that the west should have done that it did not do was to keep its options open and create some ambiguity from the beginning. for me, that is very personal, the line of we will do nothing actively helped vladimir putin creative if we had only said, or face to the consequences, face the consequences. if we had used mr. vladimir putin's words and say this is not escalation. if we take control of the airspace over ukraine, this is not escalation. by the way, you have been doing that pretty you have been firing your own artillery from russian soil into donbass since 2014. so if we do the same, for example, how can you call that escalation? the problem is we let them achieve what is called

escalation dominance. he is the one who pronounces what is escalation or not. so the more he cranks up, that is not escalation. if we do something lower than the threshold that he has crossed, then he calls it escalation and we let ourselves be frightened? this is crazy. nato, the most powerful alliance in history -- that is nato speak, sorry. the most powerful alliance in history is coward by president putin who says consequences. we should have told him up front all that mess started, consequences. you will meet consequences and we rule out nothing. you will see when it comes. marc: michelle on the role that nato has played in basically as he puts it keeping the initiative and all -- 2014. we are watching.

we move on now, there's one thing before the french president faces off against his challenger in a hotly anticipated presidential debate. recent show emmanuel macron pulling ahead of marine le pen with many voters still undecided. some saying they did not intend to vote. the race is far from over. time now for a closer look behind the scenes of the 2022 presidential showdown. for a look at all this, catherine. catherine: this is the set where the french presidential debate will be held. for this crucial face-off, everything has been agreed upon in advance by the two campaigns. gone is the large desk shared by emmanuel macron and marine le pen during the 2017 debate. in its place, to smaller desks, one for each candidate, spaced two and a half meters apart. the two journalists moderating will be seated together for meters away. >> it is very different from an

interview, it is really a job. a moderator role is not a journalist wanting to interview, to file -- follow-up. the priority is to be serious and humble. but will the debate have an impact on voters? >> i have not made my choice. i am expecting a lot. i am expecting details from the two candidates. >> it won't change my decision. i will watch it mostly because i am curious, not really to decide. >> i do not think i am going to watch because i am not really expecting much. it is two candidates that i really do not like at all. catherine conant to ensure fairness, candidates drew lots to decide where they will sit on set and who will get to speak first. marine le pen will be on the right and she will start off the debate. the studio temperature to was agreed upon, 19 degrees celsius, to avoid sweating on air. 16 cameras will be used to film

the proceedings. 2017, 16 and a half million french people followed the debate. the lowest audience figure since 1974. marc: 19 degrees celsius is about the same temperature as the studio i'm in right now i find it quite pleasant. let's bring in for more analysis of political matters, arion, university of northumbria up in eastern england. great to see you. always a pleasure to have your input on these matters. the debate, in your opinion, because we television types like to think this debate is going to be the defining moment of how sunday will go. what is your opinion? >> i think there is a bit of a myth about the debates. they are hyped up as the be all and all, buactually, studies show that they are a factor out of many other factors.

so, you know, did le pen lose in 17 because she had a disastrous debate? no. did the debate contribute to her defeat, yes. because it reinforced perception that she was not credible, so it is one factor out of many other factors. and i know it is hyped up and i understand why. it has become a part of the floor show of those presidential elections. but it has never been the decisive factor. it is one factor out of many. marc: your take now then, so if the debate is one factor, what are the other things where this will be decided? we hear a lot about spending power, a lot about immration, a lot about the green issues. what are the things that stand out for you as an observer of >> what stood out for me in the second round, there are four

things. one, macron is final in the campaign. i think he has learned his lesson from the first round. we have seen is visible, he has a lot of valleys. second, there has been a clear shift from micronic toward the left. it makes sense because his potential reserve of folks are on the left, because the republican right did not do well. and we have seen this suddenly, you know, his pension reform is may be, after a lot of consultation on saturday, he really moved to the left when it comes to the environment. things that i saw in this second round is the fact that marine le pen has been under far more scrutiny than she was in the first round. in the first round for many months, she flew in under the radar, talking about the cost of living and social issues. and suddenly, in the second

round now, for macron but also from the media, there is a lot of questions that are asked about a program and what it means for france. she is far more under the microscope. and a final point i would make is that both of them are clearly trying to woo voters. nearly 22% of people who voted for the left in the first round and they are both trying to get them. and i think the defining factor is going to be the abstention rate, not just in terms of the level, but in terms of who abstained. marc: i could talk all night with you, but sadly, time is against us. great to have that analysis as always, for the university of northumbria in northeastern england. home of two rate football teams and one fantastic analyst of french politics. thank you for being with us on france when he for peer dino we are going to speak again very soon.

-- france 24. let's turn to matters in africa. a key base in the north of molly has been handed back to forces. they french withdraw from the sahara region of africa is raising questions about the future, the state security in the face of jihadist movements. >> 100 kilometers to the west of the city, france's military withdraw continues as confirmed this tuesday by the general staff of france's forces. this is the fourth base to be returned to forces. in an interview with france 24, the spokesperson of france's general staff says they aimed to remove the remaining 2500 troops by the end of the summer. >> mali's armed forces are going to have to carry out decisions by themselves because the decision to remove forces stems

from the position of their authorities. from now on, the fight against terrorists will be their problem. >> these were thscenes two months ago, when the ruling class demanded that soldiers involved in an operation against islamist groups in africa's sahara region leave the country. they accuse them of being inefficient in tackling the insurgency. paris meanwhile has refused to work alongside russia's group which is been called upon by the ruling forces. both mali and russia deny that the organization is made up of mercenaries and say that they are in fact helping to train local troops. the ngo human rights launch is accused both russian troops of killing civilians in march and south of the country. russian equipment continues to arrive. to combat helicopters and

surveillance radars were delivered this monday as ties strengthen between them and the kremlin. marc: who better to join us then kate moody. great to see you. international fund has/the forecast of global growth as a result of the war in ukraine. kate: the imf had pared back forecast because of the resurgence of the omicron variant of covid-19. three months on, the outlook has been hit by further disruption. the imf projects the global economy will sustain 3.6%. that's lower than the january outlook, 1.3 percent lower than projection six month ago. economies closer to the conflict will suffer more and the near collapse of ukraine's economy, 35 percent contraction, this year and 8.5% drop in russian gdp. it russia's invasion of ukraine has caused supply chain issues

and an energy crunch, which is being felt around the world. marc: beyond its immediate and tragic humanitarian impact, the work will slow economic growth and increase inflation. >> overall economic lists have risen sharply and policy trade also become more challenging. like seismic waves, it's affect will propagate far and wide. kate: inflation remains one of the major challenges for governments around the world and while the imf sees it remaining elevated for longer than perspective -- expected, it predicts prices will rise five .7% in advanced economies this year, 1.8 percent higher than the january outlook. emerging market and developing economies are more exposed to the disruptions and commodities prices in particular. the forecast for nearly 9% inflation is significantly higher as well. imf said central banks should walk a careful line as they start tightening monetary policy. both russia and ukraine are

major exporters of timber. supplies have been disrupted and that means that furniture prices are rising here in france. we have more. reporter: russia, with its huge expanses of trees, as the world's largest area of forest and is one of the largest exporters of timber. deliveries to western europe though have stopped because of the war in ukraine. that has put the furniture making industry in france under pressure. this timber merchant in the suburbs say that wood and plywood are increasingly difficult to buy. >> this plywood arrived yesterday. we ordered it three months ago. it normally takes four or five weeks to calm, we are stopping as much as we can. when we can't get them. reporter: they have turned to sweden as an alternative but it's not enough to fill the

stock. the problem for the company is the panels needed to make the 18,000 cages and 70,000 bathrooms it produces each year. the timber shortage is hiking costs, it has increased in price significantly since the start of the year. >> 20 to 25% more, which is an additional cost of almost 10 million euros a year. the main risk now is if the pricing increase continues and threatens profitability, further down the line, we face not being able to make the furniture. for the moment, we will manage. reporter: the company says it has not yet passed the cost on to customers but says it will have to do so at the timber price continues to rise. kate: checking on the day's action, wall street has closed higher, nasdaq of about 2%. shares of media companies goes. johnson & johnson shares were up about 3%, despite the pharmaceutical company lowering

its sales outlook for the year and saying it stopped providing guidance linked to the covid-19 vaccine due to demand uncertainty. earlier, we saw a relatively muted but lower close for the major european indices. down about a 10th of a percentage point here in paris. french court has slapped a fine of 370 5000 euros on food delivery group deliver after finding it guilty of undeclared labor. two former executives at the french branch of that british company were also fined and given a suspended jail sentences. the court said freelance delivery writers should in fact be considered employees and not independent contractors. delivery argued it had changed its operating model since the case was brought in 2015. it is a ruling that echoes decisions in other countries like spain and the u.k. about that so-called big economy. and one that the plaintiffs lawyer says could have wide ranging implications for workers rights in france.

>> now that the court clearly found that there was concealed labor, that it was intentional, that it was not a simple platform for putting people in touch with each other as they claimed, but a real meal delivery service, which is very important. >> so it is important for delivery, it is important for many of the platforms based on the same models. kate: a spokesman said at the company is considering an appeal but in the meantime it will continue operating in france. marc: kate, thank you very much. indeed, kate moody with business. across the studio, is the question. james has the answers. good evening to you, sir. starting with a video claiming to show vladimir putin mocking candidates. for the french presidential election. james: which could be true, because there is a lot of geopolitical tension and

interpersonal tensions too, so if you see a video on social media with the russian president saying negative things about emmanuel macron, it is not beyond the bounds of the possible. in any case, what we see here is a video of the russian president -- let me get rid of that pop up. of le. and he is saying rather negative things. the french are very good at electing clans. when you see polls, you realize electors -- in any case, it goes oto have a lot of negative comments about the french presidential election and french leaders. that is a video that came up in quite a few facebook shares and caught about 4 million views since the first of march. in any case, just to kind of cut the tension out of it, sometimes they are completely bogus and invented. anyone who can understand russian would pick it up quickly. but for someone who does not

understand russian, they were quite well-timed and you can be led to believe, given the facial expressions that this was something that was actually being said. there are a couple of clues in the video, first of all, the background it that this was a session of the st. petersburg economic forum in 2019. if you go to a transcript of the event, there is no mention of emmanuel macron or napoleon, who he was supposedly comparing him to in the subtitles. or anything else that was sort of defamatory or negative or critical, because vladimir putin did not actually mention him at all in that entire transcript. which was over the course of an hour. hours long meeting with for example president xi jinping of china. and others in attendance. you only mention of macron was by the slovakian president in a very short mention. so if you understand russian, you know it is bogus. and if you go to the actual transcript, it is plainly bogus. there again, it is easy for

these things to be believable in the current -- the context of the current tensions between russia and frae, amongst others. marc: i was impressed when he said reading his facial expressions because i find his spatial expressions externally difficult to read, especially since they seem to be fixed these days in terms of his face does not move a great deal. james: that is also true. marc: any idea who is behind this one? it's kind of hard to work out who stands to gain what in this kind of manipulation. james: true. and again, the roots of it are unclear. it seems to be -- a lot of people feel it is a parody. if you look at the comments going down through, this is not the only example of where this service. the video was shared a number of different times, but 4 million views in total of the total up the number. marc: it's meant to be comedy? james: again, it is often difficult to know if somebody has caught the attention behind some the for click this. someone trying to be amusing? certainly in the current context, where anything could lead to confusion, is -- you

would argue that it is willfully misleading the public. with maybe a slight degree of dark humor. marc: i'm reading with the french subtitles but they're actually quite funny but you cannot translate it because we would get taken off air. let's move on to your next true or fake segment here. i'm taking a look at the post fact checking media called war on fakes. james: so fact checking, i suppose, the fit -- the pitfall of back-checking is that it might not be 100% neutral. i'm i going one direction a little bit more than the other. i suppose ideally, it would be a completely objective enterprise, but certainly if you have a fact checking website called war on fakes, i mean, you would hope that it's all fakes. but if you have it being promoted and touted by the russian foreign minister, it might be -- might lead you to think that it's not 100% down the center straight objective journalism.

and it certainly, the slow thing of liberation in this instant, they managed to look -- they did this graphic here showing that basically two individuals were at the source of most of the content of this new website, which also appeared about one week after the ukraine war, focusing mostly on content coming out of ukraine. those two individuals have close ties to the russian embassy in mexico for one part and another lady also very close to the russian foreign ministry. that would seem to indicate they are not entirely neutral objective journalists. marc: indeed. the russians have been waging this war for the past two decades. i noticed recently a lot of russian propaganda across africa on social media as well. trying to reshape things across africa, to do something that maybe we should be taking a closer look at. james: informational war. marc: indeed. thank you james. kate with the business as ever, always on the money.

great to see you. thanks to you for watching. do stay with us will become back live from paris. -- when we come back live fro paris. join us every day on france 24 for the last stretch of the presidential lace -- race. this is the mother of all elections, the chance for france to choose their president. we will have our special envoys on the campaign trail across the globe, the latest analysis, the best polls. join us here on france 24. >> france 2022, the choice, on france 24 and france when he four.com.

ñçñqñqñqñqññññ#ñ#ww ñ?ñ? 04/19/22 04/19/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we can now say russian forces have started the battle over donbas, of which they ve long prepared. not focused on this offensive. amy: russia has launched amazed her -- a major offensive while launching missile strikes