♪ >> this is "dw news," live from berlin. the u.s. ones that russia wants to take over large areas of eastern ukraine completely. meanwhile, ukrainian fighters say russian forces have begun a renewed assault on a steel plant in the besieged city of mariupol. growing evidence that russian soldiers are using rape as a weapon of war. our correspondent hears

harrowing accounts of abuse. germany's opposition leader travels to ukraine to see this destruction for himself, but stay at home chancellor olaf scholz is criticized for refusing to make the trip. and the u.s. could soon end the legal right to abortion. a leaked document suggests that the court is ready to overturn the landmark ruling which has guaranteed the right nationwide since 1973. hello, i'm clare richardson. very welcome to the show. the u.s. is warning that russia wants to swallow up large areas of eastern ukraine altogether. moscow previously indicated it wanted donetsk and the wants -- luantsk to become independent

republics. earlier, a brief in allowed some residents to be evacuated, but the cease-fire broke down. now around 200 civilians are trapped underground in the steel plant, and many thousands more are unable to leave the city. reporter: after weeks under constant attack, these people have escaped the steel plant, ukraine's last stronghold in the besieged city of mariupol. many arrive in tears, recounting stories of horror. yo can' -- ou can't imagine how scary it is when you sit in the shoulder in a wet and damp basement, which is bouncing, shaking. when we were able to go outside, i saw the sign for the second time in two months." but while dozens have made it to safety, thousands remain in

danger. "at the moment, while we are here, it is being stormed. mariupol is still under siege and people could not leave today . there are tens of thousands of such people. tens of thousands of women and elderly remain invariable-- in mariupol." russian shelling continued through the day in mariupol, soon after the evacuation was completed. those who remain are in despair. "you wake up in the morning and you cry. you cry in the evening. i don't know where to go at all. i'm not alone. imagine everything is destroyed, everything is broken. where should the people going -- go now?" relatives of soldiers still

fighting at the plant held rallies in kyiv today demanding they be evacuated, too. while ukrainian authorities promised to continue the operation, they say international intervention will be crucial. clare: our dw correspondent is following two elements from lviv in western ukraine. we asked her about the situation in mariupol, which has come under heavy shelling. reporter: we heard reports of at least two women who died in that renewed shelling of mariupol. 10 civilians have been injured. on monday there were hopes of evacuating more people from mariupol altogether, be they civilians there or in the city. those have collapsed so far because of renewed and intense shelling, and not only is mariupol still attacked by

artillery, it is also -- it also gets bombed by the air. the shelling has resumed there, and there is no end in sight to those fighting at the moment. clare: our correspondent reporting from lviv. there is growing evidence that russian soldiers are using rape as a weapon of war. in areas retaken for motion troops, civilians are giving horrifying accounts of sexual violence. ukraine's ombudsman has received hundreds of reports. the true numbers are impossible to calculate. dw's correspondent has been to an area outside of kyiv and her the story of one young woman whose parents don't know exactly what happened to her. a warning that this report does contain disturbing accounts. reporter: she was about to turn 23 when russian soldiers marched

into her town on the outskirts of kyiv. she had plans. she was managing the local sushi bar and was saving money to study at university. this is the last place where she was seen alive, the s ttairs outside her flat. it was march 10. after this, everything becomes unclear. this is where one man says he thinks he sought russian soldiers killed her, but he wasn't sure if it was her or someone else. >> he put her here like this, her head was bent back. then he took her in his arms and carried her over there. reporter: this is where police told her parents they found the body. they saidt looked like she had been raped. >>he police saithat she was badly tortured. >> they shot her in the legs. >> micro wanted to live so much -- my girl wanted to live so

mu. she even applied a tourniquet to herself to stop the bleeding. >> than with a shot in the head, they killed her. reporter: forensic scientists examining the hundreds of bodies the russians left behind say many of the women have been raped. organizations across the country support those who survive. >> after 12 --of the 12 cases we are working on, 11 are cases of gang rape. in all of these cases can women reported that the occupiers were drunk or had takenrugs. in all 12 cases, it was unprotected intercourse, which means a huge risk of unwanted pregnancy and disease.

reporter: ukraine's commissioner for human rights tells me the sheer numberf calls makes them think russians are using rape as a weapon. >> went a russian soldier rapes a ukrainian woman, a girl, a boy, an elderly woman, they keep saying things like "this will happen to every nazi whore," or "we will rape until you can't give birth to ukrainians." these are signs of genocide of the ukrainian people. reporter: for her parents, the only certainty they have is their loss and their fury. >> we hate the russians. i'm ashamed to speak russian. i will learn ukrainian. reporter: they buried her here in the morgu two weeks after her 23rd birday.

clare: i'd like to bring in hilary margolis, a senior researcher at human rights watch. we just heard that harrowing testimony from ukraine in our report. has your organization also found evidence of rape being used as a weapon of war in ukraine? i'm afraid we are unable to hear youhere. we are going to y to get that line back up and come to you. oh. >> i think it might be better now. are: could you tell us if human rights watch has also found evidence of rape being used as a weapon of war in ukraine? >> so, we have documented a few cases o rape in his escalation of the war in ukraine. we don't at this time have enough evidence or evidence in general to say whether it is being used intenonally as a

weaponf warfare. rape and conflict can be oppounistic or it can be intentional, used to terrorize and harm a population, and we simply don't have the evidence at this point to say that it is being used intentionally. which is not to say that it isn't, but we have not seen, nor ourselves have done documentation that shows that. clare: it must be very hard to vestigate these reports of rape and sexual abuse. are tre methods in pce that are typically used to do tt? hillary: one of the things that is reay important is make sure that anyone investigating or documenting crimes of sexual violence is well-trained and using what wwould call a,nformed -- a trauma-informed and survivor-centered approach, ensuring that that person is getting the support and care they need, doing everything possible to reduce the risks of

adding to whatever trauma you may have experienced. that is something that we really emphasize in our work and push others to do as well. clare: on the other side of the coin, how easy is it for survivors of sexual violence to get urgently needed access to services and the support, pecially in wartimes? hillary: it can be incredibly difficult. we've all seen, many of the areas of ukraine that have been destroyed, that includes hospitals, that includes medical services. we know that even prior to this escalation of the war, areas of donetsk, for example, had very little reproductive health care for women, including things like post-rape care, but also basic primary health screenings. we can oy imagine what it is like now. there are groups that are working very hard to make those services available, but it is really tricky, and especially

when you have areas that were literally coming under fire, the possibility of getting to services or even keeping services running can be nearly impossible. clare: for somebody who is seeking the services, maybe they ve already left ukraine. what would you recommend as first steps? hillary: the first step is to make sure that the survivor is comfortable, that they have privacy, that they are supported,hat they are getting mentalealth support, and also medical care. there are very te sensitive medications that should be administered urgently as possible to stop things like unwanted pregnancy and infections, including hiv, and then there is longer term care, and not in kind -- and that can include legal assistance, additional psychosocial part -- psychosocial suppo from

economic support, support for family members. there is a whole range of services that are part of case management in the case of rape and other forms of sexual violence. clare: hillary margolis of human rights watch, i want to thank you for taking a time to come on dw. hillary: thank you. clare: germany's conservative opposition leader has traveled to ukraine to meet president volodymyr zelenskyy and other senior politicians. he also went outside the capital, kyiv, to get a picture of the destruction caused by the russian army. german chancellor olaf scholz is undergoing criticism for refusing to visit ukraine, days ahead of elections in two german regional states. our correspondent was at the german opposition leader's news conference in kyiv, and she told me what he had to say about germany's response to the war in ukraine. reporter: basically made clear

that germany needs to do more. he called on the german government to step up its effort in terms of supporting ukraine, not only in military terms, but that germany should take a leadership role when it comes to deciding when and how to accept ukraine to the european union. we mention that merz was in a part of kyiv partially destroyed, and he said that germany needs to do more once this is all over to help rebuild cities. when it comes to military support, just how much of and how much engagement germany should display, and while the debate has been going on even prior to this war started, one should mention that even though prior to the full-scale invasion that started in kyiv, prior to that germany was thinking about sending the --sending

military elements to ukraine. that changed because last week the german bundestag, the lower house decided that germany wants to send heavy weaponry, including tanks, to ukraine. there is already a change in that strategy, even though there was this debate about sending helmets, and now we have germans talking by the tank. nonetheless, what is quite striking in this entire visit of friedrich merz is the fact, and u poied it out, that the chancellor himself, olaf scholz, did not visit ukraine. in fact, he refuses to do so. clare: that is whwhy merz has driven to keep, quite controversial in germa. you tell us about that? reporter: basically this comes amid a controversy that surrounded the planned visit of the president just a few weeks ago, who was uninvited by ukraine on the grounds that he has allegedly a bit too much of

a close tie to russia, especially during the time he was foreign minister, during the government of former chancellor merkel. there was a lot of controversy surrounding who and w ishen-- who and w is going to visith. we don't know if scholz is going to change his mind, but after the visit of friedrich merzthe pressu is on scholz to follow suit and come to ukraine as well. clare: thank you so much as always. the war in ukraine has rattled leaders in georgia. former soviet state that russia invaded in 2008. moscow took control of two regions which it recognized as independent republics. we asked the president of georgia how western allies can effectively support her country. >> what we really need is quicker and shorter path to

integration, both in eu and nato, because that is where we see ultimate security. our ultimate security cannot be the war, because we will never be able to win the war with russia. reporter: georgia has put forward a formal application to join the european union. what importance would it have for the country, were it to join the union? >> it's not -- it is now a path that has become a reality. thanks to what the ukraine -- the war in ukraine has shown to european leaders, the weight provided before this long-term perspective that was very lengthy, both in eu pena nieto, in fact -- eu and nato, is not

in fact giving those countries a sense of belonging, that we after all of these years do deserve, and so one of the ways to show support for this country against the threat and aggression is to embrace them, and i think that is the realization that we are seeing now. reporter: germany has said it would support georgia in this process. but in the past we have seen with joining nato that germany has not necessarily been so supportive of that membership happening soon. should germany and other european countries have done more earlier to support georgia in these endeavors? pres. zourabichvili: i would say yes. but what i can say is they have changed now. i am more interested about the support today than about the analysis of the past, and i think it is remarkable, the way

in which germany has evolved in its vision of both europe, supporting ukraine, supporting it very directly, and that gives us a lot of hope. reporter: you don't think that if european countries had acted upon this sooner, maybe some of the events that we have seen could have been prevented, or some countries in the region -- pres. zourabichvili: i do not like to change the weight of responsibility from one side to the other. yes, european countries and the united states could have done more, could have been more vigilant, could have been more clear about was -- about what was the nature of russia, but they are further away than we are and don't have the same experience, and that doesn't change the fact that there is only one responsible, and that is russia. reporter: thank you very much for your time. pres. zourabichvili: thank you.

clare: the watchdog reporters without borders says media freedom in russia has deteriorated significantly this year. moscow has clamped down on public protests, and the common has made it illegal to spread whate calls false information about the war in ukraine. offenders face up t15 yearsn ja. many independent media outlets have stopped covering the conflict in order to protect the journalists. the europe and central asia program coordinator at the committee to protect journalists, and i asked her whether there is any free press left in russia at all. >> well, it is pretty safe to say this stage in russian development that independent journalism and media are dead. the individual media outlets and journalists are still contributing from inside russia to foreign-basededia outle.

there are some foreign correspondence working for well-known foreign media outlets. but in terms of the impact, those local journalists have on russian audiences, and also in terms of their access to the audiences, given how russian authorities have been tryingo block every avenue and platform independent russianournalists have been using in order to establish a complete censorship, we can say that independent journalism is dead. clare: today is will press freedom day, and i would like to bring up a statement from the nobel peace prize-winning journalist dimitri more tough -- dimitri muratov, editor-in-chief of a newspaper which was forced to suspend its activities, and he himself suffered chemical burns on a train in russia in

april. "in the absence of a free media, propaganda always starts preparing for war. propaganda is the kitchen of war. propaganda is war itself." how big of a role are propaganda and disinformation playing in the war in ukraine? gulnoza: well, first of all,he information war between russia and ukraine did not start february 24, when russia launched a full-scale invasion in ukraine. it has been going on for 8 years, since russia annexed crimea and gain control over eastern regions of ukraine in 2014. both russian and ukrainian audiences have been victim of propagda. we have seen a lot of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and outright lies about events in both countries. but what we can see in ukraine is that ukrainians have become much better in debunking fake

news and fighting propaganda. they have been better at reaching out to world audiences and bringing their version of events in ukraine. that is exactly how we learned about the horrors of war in different areas across ukraine taking place these days. the biggest victims of rsian propaganda are russians and the first place, because as i said, and you mentioned also the new legislative amendments and the attempts to block websites or to block social-media platforms so russia have fewer and fewer avenues to receive information, to exchange views, and unfortunately, this propaganda has impacted some audiences even beyond russia like in the caucasus or in central asia, where there are a lot of people

who still rely on russian media outlets as the source of information, and that led to the division of societies or sometimes even families, when some of them support putin and the war and others support ukraine. clare: gulnoza said from the committee to protect journalists, speaking to me earlier. we can bring up to speed on other stories making headlines around the world. police have arrested over 200 people at antigovernment demonstrations in the armenian capital, yerevan, and several provincial cities. the protests reflect continued bitterness over the handling of a territorial dispute with azerbaijan. opposition parties are calling for the prime minister to step down. a woman has been rescued 88 hours after the collapse of a building in china's hunan province. she is the ninth person to be pulled out alive from the rubble. rescuers said the woman repeatedly made knocking signals. let's go to the u.s. now, where

a leak from the supreme court suggest that the legal right to abortion there could soon be ended. the draft opinion indicate justices are prepared to overturn the roe v. wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973. president joe biden opposes the ruling, says the right to seek and legal abortions is fundamental. the court is expected to publish its decision in late june or early july. >> our body, our choice! reporter: the bombshell leak set off a fireball of fury in the u.s. capitol as pro-choice protesters gathered outside the supreme court for some >> they are not going to get away with this. i don't care what i have to do, but they are not going to do this to do you see and they are not going to do this to america. there is more of us than there is of them and we are going to fight. reporter: though only a draft, it is the longest evidence yet that the majority of the supreme court is preparing to overturn the right to abortion. a right established nearly half

a century ago in the 1973 landmark ruling roe v. wade. the opinion, penned by justice samuel alito and backed by other conservative justices, goes further than many expected. the 98-page-long document calls roe egregiously wrong from the start, and will leave the rights of a woman to choose in the hands of lawmakers and individual states. for antiabortion activists, it would mark a victory decades in the making, made possible by president donald trump, whose three appointments to the supreme court altered the balance in conservatives' favor. but for millions of women, the ruling would come at a high cost, as many seeking an abortion would have to travel to other states to get one. a toll critics say would hit those already struggling emotionally and financially the hardest.

currently, 26 of 50 states are set to ban or restrict abortion. many worry it would deepen the divide in an already polarized country. with democrats predicted to lose control of congress in the midterm elections this november, progressive lawmakers are calling on the party to fight back before it is too late. in a tweet, senator bernie sanders urged his colleagues to pass legislation securing the right to abortion. with the controversial issue now all but sure to dominate the coming months, america could be headed for a highly divisive midterm election. clare: that is your update. thanks for watching. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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>> welcome to live from paris. these are the headlines. civilians who escaped the besiege still works in mariupol arrived to relative safety. macron was speaking with putin for two hours tuesday and the bombing continued. our correspondent is standing by in ukraine. a woman's right to choose is reportedly under threat from the u.s. supreme court.