♪ brent: this is "dw news" live from berlin. please stand by russia steppinge on ukraine's donbass region. ukraine's president zelenskyy occasion moscow trying to destroy everything in the region. and following the deadliest school shooting in the u.s. in a decade, the governor of texas faces accusations of doing nothing on gun control. ♪

brent: i'm brent goff. to our viewers watching on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. we begin tonight with the on ths region. heavy fighting has been reported in and around the city of donetsk, where the original government says at least a dozen people have been killed in shelling. moscow says it will continue its offensive until it achieves its goals. [explosions] the battle for donetsk. its capture would allow russia to advance to the other half of the donbass region. that shelling is constant. some 15,000 people are believed to be hiding in shelters. >> it is hell.

secondly, a lot of death. third, military problems. reporter: the russians have repeatedly surrendered severodvinsk on three sides. the governor of luhansk province has warned that evacuations are too risky now. still, some are seizing what could be their last opportunity to escape. >> now it seems like the front is all around the city. surrounded with their tanks. we can see tracks from the army being deployed around the city. to me it seems like it is about to fall. reporter: elsewhere in the donbas, trains are filling up as people seek the relative safety of western ukraine. since the war broke out, ukraine habecome a country synonymous with defiance. but russia's latest offensive is

testing its limits. "my country is dying," says this man. "i am worried. but we will win." brent: i asked our correspondent rebecca about theituation in the donbass region. reporter: well, you heard some of it there. the situation in donbass is dire and it is getting worse. the governor of donetsk saying that three cities in that region have been taken by russian forces in the advancing. the governor of luhansk, where the city of sievierodonetsk is located says the city is being shelled constantly. and as you heard from the report , citizens who have not been able to evacuate, it is probably too late for them to do so with many of the roads cut off.

many of those that are still available are still being shelled. it is a terrible and terrifying situation there. authorities here in ukraine are saying that the battle for donbass is really going to be instrumental in what happens in this country, that it could seal the fate of this country. the foreign ministers saying that this is the worst battle since world war ii. he is urgently calling for foreign weapons that have been promised to ukraine to be delired as swiftly as possible so they are able to halt this current advance and even tried to push back the russians from these areas. brent: we have been in this more now for more than three months. what about where you are in the ukrainian capital of kyiv, how are they coping with what is happening around them? reporter: it is quite a different scene, obviously. i have just returned from ukraine after being a couple

weeks out of the country and even in the time i was gone, the city feels differently. the weather has changed. re shops and cafes are open. more pple on the streets. but that lies the fear still felt by the people here. the war is on the tip o everyone's tongue. it is all that everyone is talking out and people are worried that the war is happening a few kilometersway, certainly not something they are forgetting. the country is still under martial law, there is still a curfew. the threat of possible missiles here istillver-prent. but that immediate danger is not felt quite like it was a few weeks ago. but the feeling that the ukraine will come out victorious is still ever-present among the people that you speak to here. . brent: as always rebecca, thank you. the european union is moving to confiscate and sell rather than simply freeze the assets of russian oligarchs.

that he uses russian assets worth 10 billion euros every do been frozen, and they say the money gained by confiscating the assets could be used help rebuild ukraine. but some members of the european union, including germany, are skeptical. reporter: the villa of this russian oligarch, being seized by italy's financial police on the island of sardinia. the oligarch is a billionaire and close ally of russian president vladimir putin, only one of hundreds of oligarchs that the european union has slept with sanctions -- slapped with sanctions since russia invaded ukraine. at the moment it is difficult to confiscate luxuries like these in the e.u., but e.u. commission wants to change that. >> assets will be confiscated if a link to criminal activity can be proven. reporter: under the proposed legislation, inving you sanctions, for example by

transferring assets to family members, could become illegal. but some say that this will not hurt the russian economy. >> i think this is morally symbolic, with a symbolic reason to try to explain that, you will be seized if you are outside your jurisdiction. reporter: that even says that russian assets work 10 billion euros have been frozen on the bloc. brussels wants to use this money to help to rebuild ukraine. but that is easier said than in some countries like germany, this would collide with private property laws. >> there are guarantees from private assets in our constitution, in our rules based order. and we have very precise to consider what we are doing when we abolish these guaranteesrom

robe sector assets. reporter: -- from private sector assets. reporter: if the law is passed, russian oligarchs would have a harder time getting their hands on their villas again. brent: here is a quick round up of more of the stories related to this war. vladimir putin has visited wounded soldiers at the hospital in moscow. the kremlin released this footage, the first showing putin with wounded troops since the war began. military analysts estimates up to 15,000 russian soldiers have been killed in the fight. representatives from sweden and finland have held high-level talks with turkey. they want to convince the turkish president erdogan to end his opposition to their nato membership bids. erdogan has a cute finland and sweden of supporting groups that his government use to be terrorists. a day after the deadliest school shooting the u.s. has seen in a decade, acquisitions and anger are on this way -- on display.

the shooting took place in the southern town in texas. today the governor of texas gave a contentious news conference. take a listen. >> sit down. you are out of line and an embarrassment. a! sit-down. brent: governor greg abbott was interrupted by his democratic rival to o'rourke, who accused abbott of doing nothing to address good balance. on tuesday and 18-year-old government. could it an elementary school. shortening two children died and two teachers. he was later killed in a shootout with police. with grief turning to anger as the country and another mass shooting, americans are once again confronting the question of what can be done to stop this gun violence. >> grieving family members, waiting to know if their kids survived. >> we can't get anything, anything as little as they are ok or not ok.

we are still waiting. no information has been released to any of the parents here. >> we have the list here. she is not here. so we will go down to san antonio until we find her. reporter: ateast 19 children and two teachers were killed i this texas elementary school. the death toll is expected to rise. residents in the small town of uvalde are still trying to process the tragedy. >> it is breaking my heart. i never expected anything like that to happen here in uvalde. and then, the person that did this, he used to go to the school here, i mean was a high-school student here! reporter: with more than 200 mass shootings in the u.s. so far this year, many americans are asking themselves the same question over and over again, including nba coach steve kerr. >> when are we going to do something? [shouting]

i am so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families out there. i am so tired -- excuse me. i am sorry. i am tired of the moments of silence. enough! reporter: as gun control is back in the political debate, the people of uvalde gather to mourn after the deadly shooting. something far too many families and friends have to go through in the u.s. brent: joining me now is jake charles, the executive director at the center for firearms law at duke university in the state of north carolina. he writes and teaches on the u.s. second amendment, and the right to bear arms. for all americans. mr. charles, it is good to have you on the program. people are looking at this, and what they see is a crime, a man with a gun goes in and he guns down children, teachers,

but u.s. lawmakers always bring up the idea that any attempt to control who can own a gun would be an infringement of constitutional rights. can you explain, how is that possible? guest: absolutely. a couple of things, one is that the u.s. second amendment was ratified in 1791, and a plate almost no rule in american history for about 200 years. in 2008 the united states supreme court said it protects an individual's right and to service in the militia, the introductory clause of the second amendment talks about a well-regularly militia -- the court said it is unconnected to that, and its primary purpose is for self-defense. we have seen proponents of expansive gun rights have latched onto the self-defense explanation of their right to keep and bear arms and many states including texas have loosened their gun laws just in the last few years.

so what we see is gun laws becoming looser and even after tragic mass shooting events like this. at the same time, the supreme court has said that although the second amendment protects an individual right, it leaves lots of room for legislatures to enact gun regulations that we just haven't seen congress and the states enacting many of those regulations. brent: we heard from u.s. president biden yesterday basically throwing the country, "we need to find our backbone here. we need to pass legislation for better, sensible gun control." all the polls show a majority of americans in favor of background checks, for example, for people who want to buy firearms, but that legislation is a louis down in the u.s. congress. what is happening here -- by that legislation is all shot down in the u.s. congress. what is happening here? the will of the people being ignored? guest: it is hard to know why

some popular measures, including background checks are not being passed at the natial level, especially. there is a couple of explanations. one, as you mentioned, the national rifle association is very powerful. it is mobilizing and activating voters for whom gun rights issues are their number one issue, and some of them are single-issue voters. a lot of it has to do with political polarization. the two parties in the united states are so far apart on issues that there is less room to compromise. and also it is a feature of the u.s. congress, where there are two members of each state senate and the better what size the state is. that stops a lot of measures that would have national popularity, like universal background checks, and translate into legislation. brent: i was reading the statistics about the numbers of firearms in the world. being the united states there

are enough firearms -- in the united states there are enough firearms for every american to possess one and then there would be 60 million or 70 million extract to go around. with so many weapons like that in circulation around the country, is it realistic to expect that legislation would ever be able to address this problem? guest: that's right. there are about 400 million private firear owned in the united states now, a dramatic increase even from recent times in u.s. history. one of the arguments that i think is a good one that you are ising, is that restricting the supply of firearms might not do anything. if we can stop the sale of private firearms tomorrow, we would still have more firearms than we have people in the united states. but restrictions on identifying the people who are most at risk of violence, providing different

resources, or in some cases, temporarily removing guns from those people has shown promise in some cases. we have seen bipartisan efforts at the state level, where states have enacted laws, often called "red flag laws" that allow someone to go to court and get an order to temporarily remove someone's firearm, when that person is sure to be at risk to themselves or others. brent: interested to see if we can get something at that on the federal level being put into legislation. jake charles, executive director from the center for firearms at duke university, we appreciate your time. guest: thanks for having me. brent: police in pakistan have clashed with supporters of the ousted prime minister imran khan in an effort to stop a planned rally. he has been leading a convoy of his followers to the capital of islamabad in the hopes of topping the new government and he wants to force early elections. >> roads into islamabad have

been blocked. thousands of supporters have been arrested or beaten. and his rally, banned. but authorities have been unable to stop ousted prime minister imran khan from marching on to was the capital. >> we are peaceful people. our party supporters are peaceful. our rally is peaceful. we have an event planned in islamabad. we don't want to damage or destroy anything. no matter what they do, no matter how much they beat us, we will reach islamabad no matter what. our protest is not here. we will break down all the barriers and get to islamabad! reporter: khan was removed from power in a no-confidence vote last month. who went to the new government to be dissolved and an election called for this year. but the coalition currently

ruling pakistan accuses khan of spreading chaos at a time when the country faces crippling debt and soaring inflation. and frustration is growing across the political divide at pakistan's economic and political plight. brent: in sri lanka, feel prices hit a record high. it's not the news -- fuel prices hit a record high. the country's 22 within people are already going to the worst economic crisis since independence. according to local reports sri lanka has pretty much run out of fuel. for many people the drop in supply is turning everyday living into a battle for survival. our correspondent reports. >> since the fuel shortage has started in sri lanka, it is very difficult to find fuel. i have stayed without fuel for 2-3 weeks and it is hard to run my day-to-day life.

if i have to get fuel, i have to stay the whole night to get fuel. >> they are controlling the petrol stations. no petrol here. and because of the fuel, to be honest, i didn't get passengers. i was staying in the queue for the whole week to ge petrol. if i get petrol today, tomorrow i will run the date. day after tomorrow, i have to stay in the queue again. so i will be losing passengers for one whole day. it's a big loss for me. since the fuel price has gone high, we have had to increase our fare. the passengers, they cannot support the price. >> everything initial anchor has gone high. normally, everyday we used to buy bread to have with ge in the

evening -- to have with t in the evening. the price of bread has doubled. sometimes i stop at my friend's place to have a small chat. he is also an auto driver. i have plenty of friends who drive auto here. they also couldn't find fuel. right now at my house, we are using kerosene to cook. very soon we will also end up using wood. i have done engineering. and it is hard to find a job. i will not get my degree yet because i have a pending payment to be done. so i thought i could afford by running an auto, and since this

problem has been, up it has been very difficult for me to pay the fees. some of my friends they watch the petroltation. if they see any petr station pumping petrol, they quickly inform us. we all get together and stay in the queue to get petrol. i have come here to pump petrol. my friend give me some fuel. that will be enough for me to run the whole day. i have paed my au there. i think i will have to wait the whole night to get fuel. if i am lucky, i will get the fuel by tomorroworning. i never thought that my country will end up like this. right now there is no future. there are a few things -- they are building a few things in sri lanka, but it will take some time for the country toecover. ent: a quick rou up now of some of the stories that a connected to the war -- not

connected to the war. south korea's military says north korea has fired three ballistic missiles apparently in preparation for pyongyang's seventh nuclear test. on a trip to asia early this week, u.s. president biden called for new measures to deter north korea. authorities in burkina faso say rescuers found the bodies of four of the eight miners who had been missing since april. contact was lost after their mine flooded. authorities have been pumping water out of the mine for weeks now. u.k. prime minister johnson is facing pressure after publication of the report into a series of lockdown-breaking parties in his office. the report says leadership must share responsibility for what happened. it comes as new photos have emerged of alcohol-fueled gatherings at downing street during the lockdown. the war in ukraine has been front and center at this year's

canfield festival, currently underway in the south of france, and today was no exception, with ukrainians fusing their appearance to deploy their anti-russian protest banner. reporter: it is the story of a female fighter, a ukrainian soldier. after two months as a russian prisoner, she is released. while in jail, she had been repeatedly raped. now the question is, how will she ever find peace again, especially when she later finds out she is pregnant? it is the feature film debut of ukrainian director. >> because it is a story of survival, a story of the will to survive and to keep standing and

fighting, and i hope it will make its contribution into our general survival, standing and fighting as ukraine. reporter: filming started last year in donbas, where fighting had been going on for years before the major attack there earlier this year. the fictional story they were producing turned into reality with all the horrors of the war whose end is not insight. >> our general and cultural identity, in particular, is under attack. that is why each case of ukrainian culture being successful, being presented, being loud and noticed is a part of us still being alive. reporter: presenting the film here in cannes also shows the war affects everyone, including

those on the red carpet at a glamorous film festival. brent: finally, to something that we all struggle with -- deadlines. . they are generally dreaded, but they are a necessary part of life. it is difficult to push through procrastination sometimes without deadlines. they cafe in japan has set out to do just that. reporter: ever tried rushing to meet a deadline and hating yourself for doing so? now, here is a solution for procrastinators. the manuscript-writing cafe in tokyo. authors, illustrators, or anyone else with each duelist cannot pay or leave, until their work is done. it is giving those halted by unfinished business a much-needed push. >> my goal is to write three blog articles today. i will do my best to achieve

that. reporter: three hours later, she made it. >> i finished about 80% of the work. i think it's good to be able to concentrate on writing the articles without doing other unnecessary things. reporter: here is the concept. as soon as they enter the cafe, customers must write down their goals. the cafe staff will check in on their progress. sometimes their presence alone is pressure enough. it went viral on social and people are saying that the rules are scary, or that it feels like you are being watched from behind. but actually, instead of monitoring customers, i am here to support them. reporter: the cafe was meant to be an entertainment venue, but a pandemic-driven alcohol ban force to the owner to rethink everything. now he says beating procrastination has become his new purpose.

>> here are the cards on which customers have written their work goals. i don't know what kind of work might be bored here, but i am proud i am able to offer support so that scripts that were written here could be published for the world. reporter: upon completion, customers get a stamp on their gold card that -- on their goal card. that is when they can walk on the street again with a sense of achievement. brent: after a short break i , will be back to take you through "the day." tonight, the uniquely american nightmare of gun violence. ♪ ♪

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>> world news and analysis from prez 24, these are the headlines. the texas gun minute barricaded children in the classroom, killing 19 of them into teachers and shot his own grandmother before the school atrocity. the shock over the biggest school shooting in the decade brings up, the u.s. asks questions about its gun laws. russia attempts to surround the city of severodonetsk. a bid to take full control of the eastern donbass region. ukraine