>> this is dw news, from berlin. more ukrainian fighters leave the steel plant invariable under russian guard. -- in mariupol under russian guard. kyiv hasn't commented on how many are still there. also on the program, the u.s. president offers his full backing for finland and sweden

because nato bids. countries raise to join the alliance as pressure wages were on ukraine but turkey seems set to derail their plans. plus mounting concern on a rare and potentially deadly illness. a growing number of countries are confirming a case of monkeypox. the infectious disease expert worries -- wonders how worried we should be. i am phil gayle, welcome to the program. hundreds of ukrainian soldiers are facing uncertain futures after surrounding russian forces. they hope to get the salt is back in a business well.

>> this footage released by the russian defense ministry shows ukinian soldiers laying down their arms after wee under siege. of the 1700 soldiers russia say have surrendered this week, over 700 did so in the past 24 hours. the international red cross -- red cross has registered wonders of the soldiers as prisoners of war. moscow has released footage of this. " i didn't really know what to expect considering what we would have liked and what we got. it turns out to be better than expected. i am now in the hospital.

i am being treated well. nobody is mistreating me physically or psychologically. the treatment is good. the government in kyiv is hoping to exchange the soldiers were captured russian troops. pro-russian authorities have suggested that some could be put on trial while inoscow, hardline lawmakers are demanding captured ukrainians face the wrath of russian justice. the fate of soldiers remains far from certain. >> people are obviously worried about them. they have been following this very closely. it was very emotional. these people have defended mariupol for a very long time. that has also had an impact on

the overall war. the two sides seem to have talked about this. >> what has them fighting around the country? >> fighting is intensifying in the donbas region. this is the next city that is suffering on a very large scale, it is being shelled. it has been shelled from three sides. the people there are suffering a lot. this is probably the most

distended of -- decisive battle here. >> you are in kharkiv. what is happening there? >> fighting is still happening outside of the city. a little further from the city so the city is not being shelled as much as before. rockets can still hit people. especially in these northern districts. some people don't trust it. many people told us they don't want to come out here. >> thank you. this is the ukrainian mp. i asked him how worried he is about the soldiers taken from mariupol. >> i think we should be focused

on several things for everyone who is watching us. the ukrainian mitary is also lice a -- in mariupol. it is diffent enforcement that are doing this for almost three months. almost without food and terrible weather conditions because during march it was extremely cold. by doing this, they saved ukraine because they kept a lot of russian forces in the south. not giving a chance for russians to move up to ukraine. >> they did what they did but where they are now is -- we are not sure where they are now. i am interested in how you feel

at the moment. >> he wants to have a lot of heroes, not that he rose. for the last one month, we did all the possible and impossible to save military personnel here. we successfully completed this. we are happy that we did that. that is why i would ask everyone to be very careful with all comments. greg's understood.

obviously it has been given more urgency by recent events. i am wondering what you feel about the speed that nato has embraced the applications from finland and sweden? >> there are several deals here. other problems with joining nato was mostly with russia. russia was making huge hits on the west and nato. openly threatening nato. unfortunately, a lot of nato countries were afraid of russia and now we know that it was probably wrong. this is a good example that person is an extremely bad stragist.

she ceived the absolutely opsite result. 1200 block matters of -- this allows them to join nato much faster than before the ukrainian army is probably the most advanced army in europe. this was sent to us by sweden and finland. we will be joining nato as soon as possible because it is how we ensure the safety for ukraine and europe. >> thank you. more developments in the war now. the u.s. senate is overwhelmingly approving $40 billion in aid for ukraine.

the decision came as the u.s. authorized a shipment of weapons to ukraine. russian missiles have hit a warehouse in eastern ukraine. officials said storage facility is now completely unusable. russia has completely targeted ukraine's warehouses and other civilian infrastructure. we would like to exacerbate food shortages at home and abroad. olaf scholz says ukraine's allies will not accept a piece dictated by vladimir putin. addressing german lawmakers ahead of the european meeting in ukraine, he pledged to supply more weapons to ukraine and to work quickly to make europe independent of russian energy. the un's warning that russia's blockade of ukraine is feeling a

global fuel prices that could last for years. antonio said the war and other crises threatened tens of millions of with food shortages, malnutrition, mass hunger and famine. this and it talks with russia and ukraine over efforts to restore the export of grain from the region. with those russian blockades threatening to jeopardize the food supply for millions around the world, alternative routes are becoming increasingly important. this is a vital hub for regiments. jack reports on the challenges he is facing. >> this ukrainian corn would never have been here at the port of costanza before russia's invasion. it would have been shipped out of the now closed port of odessa. 250 km of the black sea coast. it is good for business for the operators here but there are concerns about capacity. >> the next few weeks, there

will be more to come. we are hoping to manage the remains. >> when this festival leaves port, 10,000 tons have left port since the start of april but that is just 1% of the 20 million tons of grain that needs to be shifted in the next three months before these ukrainian fields are harvested to avoid major bottlenecks that could cause it to rot. >> all of the corn coming into the port is from ukraine at the moment. this boat is headed from here and elsewhere. >> many of the vessels go from north africa to the middle east and there are real fears of increasing food shortages and famine. the port authority says it is doing everything it can.

>> we don't have another choice. it is very easy to scream i can't do anything. this is a special situation. everybody must accommodate the situation. >> they have another problem. 700 of these wagons lay resting on the port, held in judicial limbo following legal battles between state and private entities. the country's transport minister says a new 40 million euro project will renovate 90 million train before the end of the year probably to make switching wheels to accommodate trains arriving from the east which use water tracks. >> for 40 or 50 years, these tracks were abandoned. now we invest in order to modernize this line.

the soviet type line and to cut directly to the harbor. >> this really is a graveyard of these old cargo carriages right now. we are a few hundred meters away from the port of constanta. the plan is that this won't only support the ukrainian shipments coming in but also it will help rejuvenate this area for the future. >> europe is approaching something that will only mean more grants coming in. with no end to the war inside, pressure on the infrastructure hearing is only set to pile on. >> joe biden has given his full support to sweden and finland's application to join nato. the nordic countries made their formal applications on wednesday in response to russia's invasion of ukraine. turkey has blocked the start of recession talks in the nato council, accusing the two countries of harboring kurdish

terrorists. president biden gave them his full support. >> sweden and finland have strong democratic institutions, strong militaries, strong and transparent economies and a strong moral sense of what is right. they meet every nato requirement and then some. having these two new nato members in the high north will enhance the security of our alliance and deepen our security cooperation across the board. >> the director of research and analysis at the european center of -- and then i asked her whether she thought turkeys opposition could be overcome. >> i believe so. it might delay a little bit the whole process and it is kind of understandable. one of those things that belongs to this process already that

nato members are always testing the newcomers but i believe this will be overcome. >> what will turkey receive in order to remove its objection? >> that is a little bit early to say because both the finnish president from the swedish side and even from the u.s. side, they said we take the matter very practically, calmly. we look at the list and we start discussing it and go on a factual basis forward. i think the process needs to be there and the diplomatic means are the ways to go forward. >> it normally takes years for countries to join nato. how long do you expect the process to take this time for sweden and finland? >> probably to the end of this

year. >> why so quickly? >> nato has been practicing already taking new members. they have also learned that countries like finland and sweden might in fact strengthen the alliance in the end. this might be a good idea and also, the fact that there is a certain reason to think about this. there is not that kind of gray zone situation or time for too long. quick nobody saw the turkish objections coming. are there likely to be other countries who harbor doubts about this latest expansion? >> it is in the way that perhaps nobody saw it coming. perhaps the turkish president who makes the decisions and the policies had not said anything about it. in principle, turkey is still

saying what it has set all the time. that it supports this but that it wants to go through this negotiation process. it isossible there is someone else but so far, no one else has come forward so perhaps turkey is the only one. >> russia says it sees this nature expansion as a threat. >> at least from the finnish perspective, i have to say that we are always prepared for anything that might come over the border from the east. in that way the situation is not that new. the war in ukraine has changed a lot. and the that russia is ready to use military beyond its borders to its neighbors has kind of changed a little bit. it is clear that russia has several times said it is going to make his own threat

assessment and then it will react. how is it military means? the kremlin said that the military decide. it remains to be seen but we are prepared and knowing a little bit of russian, something will come. >> thank you for that. >> authorities in the state of massachusetts recorded the first case of monkeypox. >> monkeypox is a rare viral infection usually found in small mammals in central africa. the spread of the virus is usually caused by people traveling to those areas.

>> during the course of their admission, they were identified as a possible monkeypox suspect. this is really unusual because the patient had no travel history. quickly he more broadly about the patient diagnosis. >> doctors are now working to establish whether they are connected to small outbreaks currently being seen in europe. italy and sweden have been the leaders countries to confirm cases following britain, portugal and spain. they have to be very careful.

monkeypox is similar to human smallpox. although milder. most people recover from it in a few weeks. feeling tired and swollen glands. the virus is usually transferred through close bodily contact or bodily fluids. while the world health organization says the general public should be aware of unusual skin rashes, experts stress there is no need for alarm. >> it then can spread from person-to-person but it is not very efficient at transmitting. what we normally see is one or two people getnfected from that case and then it dies out. it is not very infectious within human population. >> while authorities stressed the rest of the general public is low, they are urging any suspected cases to self-isolate immediately.

>> eric is the cofounder of the world health network. welcome to dw. how worried should we be? do we have to get our face masks back out? >> we have 75 confirmed and suspected cases. this would be very similar to smallpox. 75 potential cases in several countries, it is very alarming and i don't think what used to be the normor monkeox we shld assumis the norm again

because there is something very unusual in terms of the speed with which it spread and the long incubation time, 12 days, sometimes potentially 21 days. it means i could silently incubate many people before realize it. this is y we are seeing a sudden surge. spain has one of the biggest outbreaks. >> is there a favored theory about why these cases are popping up so far from what you call the virus's natural habitat? >> normally it is an animal zoonotic. there are some discussions that it was sexually-transmitted. but i don't think that is inherently the main thing. there is also a discussion that

it is airborne because there has been experiments that have shown it is also respiratory. it is not just skin to skin contact but also potentially respiratory and airborne. if that is the case, it could be much more contagious. we don't know enough. the problem is there are two strains of this. the congo strain has 10% mortality. >> for some context, you talk about those two strains, one at 10% mortality.

>> before the age of vaccines, covid really varied, covid was more severe and elderly. and then milder. omicron and covid is five tes greater hospitalization rate than delta covid in kids under five. it really depends on the variant in the cases. if you're listed, the chance of hospitalization and death is about the flu. many people are not boosted and the new variants will cause infections, refection. waning immunity here. this does not protect you against a future strain. i think covid is worse. usually around .5% in some

populations in termof fatality. even if it is a little bit lower, the exponential spread is what will always kill more people. >> it is late at night and i will not sleep well tonight but thank you for joining us. >> be safe. after the thrilling win, the players arrived back to a hero's welcome in the city. 100,000 people are packed back here. glassner has said that he is going to party through until saturday and there might be a few fans who will follow suit.

in 1992, he wrote the soundtrack for the conquest of paradise was top of the charts. he has had no formal training and aimed he never learned to read music and he died in a we will be back in just a moment. dw taking you through the big stories of the day in the day. goodbye.

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>> welcome to "live from paris," world news analysis from france 24. russian soldier facing life in prison for killing a civilian appeals for forgiveness from his widow. in mariupol there's a question mark over soldiers still inside. food shortages across the world as grain is not leaving ukraine. the united nations calls on russia to stop blocking

ukraine's ports. and the latest from the cannes film festival, day three from the french riviera. we are finding out about three films in competition. stay tuned for our special program. all this life from paris. -- live from paris. thank you very much for being with us. the ukrainian state prosecutor asked a court in kyiv to sentence a russian soldier to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial arising from russia's february 20 invasion. the 24-year-old tank commander asked the widow to forgive him

for the murder of her husband. 24 hours ago, he pleaded guilty to the murder. >> in an exchange with the victim's widow, a russian soldier expressed remorse before a kyiv port at having italy shot a 62-year-old ukrainian man. >> do you repent the crime you committed? >> yes, i plead guilty. i know that you will not be able to forgive me, but i apologize and ask forgiveness for all i have done. >> the sergeant said he and four soldiers stole a car after his regiment's tents were destroyed by ukrainian fire. they came across a civilian talking on the phone which is when prosecutors say acted on an order to kill him to stop the men reporting their position to ukrainian forces. >> he had a shot to the head.

i ran up to him, and the skull was pierced. >> the victim's widow added that although she supported the life sentence, she would not object if he were exchanged for ukrainian prisoners. more than 11,000 cases have been referred to the ukrainian prosecutor's office with around 40 suspects arrested. mark: concern grows for the soldiers still inside the steel in mariupol. -- inside the steel plant in mariupol. the number still on the ground is unknown. >> these are images released from russia's ministry of defense. they appear to show recently evacuated ukrainian soldiers.

before boarding buses, their bags were searched and identity documents sees. -- seized. >> the russian armed forces continue a special military operation in ukraine. over the past 24 hours, 771 militants surrendered at the steel plant in mariupol. in total since may 16, 1730 militants have surrendered, including 80 wanted. >> russia's defense ministry has also released testimony from ukrainian soldiers who claim they are being taken care of. >> the conditions are acceptable. we have food and pillows and bedsheets. it is ok. >> the seriously wounded were evacuated during the first

stage. they assured us that everything was fine. i hope that kind of treatment continue. >> the surrendered soldiers have been taken to pro-russian areas of ukraine, and while kyiv is hoping to get them back in a prisoner swap, russian officials have threatened to put some on trial for war crimes. >> u.s. president joe biden this thursday strongly backed inland and sweden's bid to join nato as the nordic nations promised to address concerns raised by turkey. there is bipartisan support in u.s. congress for ratification. president biden: sweden and finland have strong democratic institutions, strong military, and strong and transparent economies and a strong moral

sense of what is right. they meet every nato requirement and then some, and having two new nato members in the high north will enhance the security of our alliance and deepen our security cooperation across the board. >> meanwhile, the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken accused russia of using it as a weapon in ukraine. they accused russia of holding hostage the food supply for not just millions of ukrainians but also millions around the world who rely on ukrainian exports. blinken appealed to pressure to stop locking ukrainian exports.

>> $30 billion -- that's how much the world tank has committed to spending in an attempt to battle the ongoing world food crisis. the financing will include efforts growing food. >> it is aimed to secure countries most affected by this food crisis, and those are mainly countries in africa, the middle east, central asia, and south asia. >> russia's invasion of ukraine has accelerated already existing food insecurity. >> the invasion saw global prices rise to unprecedented levels from june last year. >> the war in ukraine has upended the fragile economic recovery from the pandemic.

we already see economic repercussions playing out globally through multiple channels. one of these is the surging crisis in food, energy, and other commodities driving inflation. >> between ukraine and russia, they produce 30% of world wheat exports. in response to the crisis, many countries have made changes in an attempt to protect their food security, such as india, the world's second-largest producer of wheat. mark: the communications officer for the middle east at the world food program joins us now. thank you for being with us. we appreciate your time. tell us -- how acute is the crisis in the middle east and europe? >> the world food program is seriously concerned about the impact of the crisis in ukraine on the world's most vulnerable.

there is a ripple effect we are seeing firsthand here in the middle east and north african region, a region highly dependent on import of food specifically from ukraine and russia. we are already seeing now an increase of food prices and in wheat specifically, and the alternatives are very difficult to get either because of the increasing prices in fuel are because of the export bans we are starting to see in many countries around the world, such as it's a serious situation in a world plagued by conflict, by climate change, and by economies that are nearly collapsing. look at lebanon, syria. most of these economies are in

really difficult situations. mark: i hear exactly what you are saying. can you give us a sense of how difficult it is for an african family to feed themselves. >> let's look at how the food prices have increased. in lebanon alone, the price of the basic food market -- food basket has gone up 352%. by 97 percent in syria. 81% in yemen. some of these families have already suffered in with enormous amounts of inflation of food commodities, and just in the last few days, we have started to look at food prices as they increase. in egypt, for example, the price of food commodities has increased, so it has become quite a struggle for many families to get food put on the table for their families.

just monitoring some of the basic foods, you will see huge spikes. this means we will see an increase in the number of hungry people in the region already affected by conflict and climate change and with already high numbers of good and security. yemen has almost 60 million people food insecure. in syria, 60% of the population insecure. lebanon, huge numbers. we are looking at now a ripple effect, and we will see increasing numbers. it is a difficult site with the region and also political instability, so -- and it is coming also at a time that the world food program is having an increased operation with many countries having decreased their

food production. mark: you are really painting a grim picture of what is happening, and it backs up what i have been hearing from contacts in south africa. the moment conflict began in ukraine, food began to be more and more expensive. it is so difficult for ordinary people across the middle east, across north africa, and indeed going down the rank through africa, to feed themselves. you mentioned that you at the world food program are basically getting strapped for cash, things are tighter you, your budgets are increasing because of the pressure you're under. >> it will be impacted in two ways. it will cost more to buy food for hungry people, but also the number of people needing food assistance will increase. the alternatives are far away and expensive, and it is happening at a time when economies are suffering.

i think we have not even seen the peak of this crisis. even if the worst happens tomorrow, we think the world needs six to 12 months to recover, so it will take time, but, it is a time where many of these countries need to think about investments in the agriculture sector being less dependent on food imports because it is an area of vulnerability. climate change is also affecting many of these untries. also with the price of fertilizers, it is going to be a difficult time. government need to prioritize safety nets and protection for people going through this difficult time.

mark: thank you very much for your time here and thank you for explaining the scale of the crisis that ordinary people are facing in your region and beyond, of course. and antony blinken calling on russia to stop blockading ukraine's courts so the wheat and the food supplies can get out. thank you for joining us. we, of books, are watching the situation in ukraine for you, and anything that happens, we will bring it to you as soon as we can. next, embarrassing slip of the tongue by former u.s. president george w. bush may have drawn some laughter from an american audience, but it raised the ire of people in iraq. bush called the invasion of iraq unjustified and brutal before

correcting himself. >> russian elections are rigged. political opponents are imprisoned or otherwise eliminated from participating in the electoral process. the result is an absence of checks and balances in russia and the decision of one man to launch a holy unjustified and brutal invasion of iraq -- marine of the ukraine -- i mean of the ukraine. 75. mark: it is the kind of thing you could not really make up, could you? we will have more reaction as we go through the program. for now, we take a break from the news and head down to the cannes film festival.

♪ >> hello from the cannes film festival where politics has become the star of the show. the ukrainian president gave a surprise address via skype. he was an actor before he was elected and beliefs strongly in the power of cinema. here's a look at how the conflict is being reflected. >> the red carpet may be rolled out, but it is blue and yellow on everyone's minds this year. the 75th edition of the festival reaffirm support for ukraine with the country's president kicking off the ceremony with an

emotional appeal. >>eople die every day. they are not going to get up after the last applause, but will the cinema be silent or will it talk about it? >> cannes is not shying away from the war with two ukrainian directors in its selection. one won in 2019 inspired by fictional war between ukrainian forces and pro-russian separatists in eastern ukraine. this year, he returns with "the natural history of destruction" that will be shown in a special screening. also competing is a fellow ukrainian director whose film " butterfly vision" is on the trauma left by the donbas war.

"mariupolis 2" is now showing at cannes. while there is a strong ukrainian presence, the festival has barred russians with ties to the government participating this year. >> there will be no official russian representatives. that is to say, from the russian government which is the one that is waging war in ukraine. however, we think that we should try to make a distinction with the russians who take risks once again to resist the official line.

>> when dissident filmmaker is doing just that. his film "tchaikovsky's wife" has been selected to compete. >> he is perhaps the most awaited director at this year's cannes film festival. he's the only russian to receive an official selection. in previous years, he was barred from coming by russia, but now he is in exile in berlin, and his film is competing for the big prize. >> hello. >> hello. >> what does it mean to be here at the cannes film festival? >> it is really important because it is the best platform for giving birth to the film. film is a baby, and you need to

find the best place to give it earth. >> i was in the screening with you. how do you feel sitting there watching the dome with the audience and after not being allowed to come for the past two films? >> saying the truth, it is always torture to watch the film with the audience. it is really not possible -- almost not possible to focus on what is happening on screen, but it is a very touching moment when they applauded at the end of the film for me. i felt kind of a lot of love and -- i don't know -- tenderness to all these people who supported us and me personally. [cheers and applause]

>> you were not allowed to come for the last two films. do you feel like a dissident artist? >> as an artist, under pressure, i would have a major artist risk or something like that, but i don't think of myself in those terms, like dissident, risk, pressure. i'm just trying to do what i have to do. >> president zelenskyy gave a speech during the opening ceremony. what do you think about a little leaders speaking out during the festival? >> i think first of all it is really fortunate to give a statement that the festival is not really far from what is happening today in europe. it is a terrible, bloody war. the festival is not only about art and films and blah blah blah

. it is also part of this agenda, and it is really close to what we are thinking about everything. >> what does it mean to you to be the only russian director in official selection? >> it means that we are fighting for russian culture, not robert kanda, not kind of coming from the state culture, but real russian culture. it always is about humans' lives, about how honorable people are, how fragile human life is. that's why the russian culture is always completely against war. >> let's talk about the film. it is tragic.

>> yes, it is a sad story. a story of obsession, a story of huge egos fighting with each other. it is about people who do not understand each other and that has led to the true tragedy. >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> it is visually exquisite as well. the description talks about homosexuality, but the film is not really about that, is it? >> it is not about the

homosexuality tchaikovsky. >> why did want to tell it from his wife's point of view? >> it is interesting. i like to be in the brain of the women. it is important sometimes to use female lenses. >> one line that struck me in the film was geniuses are permitted anything. do you think that is true? >> of course it is a question. it is a question coming from dostoyevsky. is it possible for a genius or for napoleon to kill the people, for genius to be responsible for the suffering of other people? it is a question each person has to answer by himself.

>> one question she asks in the film, he's so talented, he couldn't do such a thing. people don't believe talented people could do bad things. >> it is a problem. she generously gave all her love this image of a great composer, and for her, it is not acceptable to get that the genius can be complex, and it is a problem when we create an idol or a monument instead of a person. each person consists of blood and flesh.

>> [speaking foreign language] >> the next film you have been working on is about the russian poet and dissident name enough. you were filming it when the war broke out. what was that like? >> it is a long journey. we started the second part of it really soon. it is an extraordinary book by a famous french writer, and the book is about a very special russian character, very typically russian, by the way, who by nature is from ukraine.

he lived next to kharkiv. it is a film about what is happening to us today. >> he was incarcerated by vladimir putin. you have had your own problems, your troubles with vladimir putin who gave you a travel ban, put you under house arrest. do you identify with the poet in any way? >> when you say putin gave me the house arrest, it does not work like this. it is a system and long talk about how it works, but of course, the characters talk a lot about their russian world and the war with ukraine in a way, so he is kind of profiting off of what is happening today. >> what you think will happen

next with the work in ukraine and the conflict? >> i think it will be over soon. the most terrible thing today is the suffering for the people, violence. culture and film and theater and music has to raise the level of human state to get less violence in the world. >> thank you. >> thank you for the invitation. ♪

ñçñqñqñqñqññññ#ñ#ww ñ?ñ? 05/19/22 05/19/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the russian invasion in ukraine, climate change, covid-19. it threatens tens of millions of people, followed by malnutrition and a crisis that could last for years. amy: as the united nations warns again abt