anchor: hello and welcome to france 24. the headlines this hour -- ukrainian forces push back from severodonetsk. president zelenskyy says they are fighting for every meter. a coalition in france begins a crucial week of campaigning after estimates showed emmanuel macron could lose the parliamentary majority like -- next week. temperatures in europe set to soar this week. extreme expect -- extreme heat expected in france this week. ♪

ukrainian forces have been pushed back from the key industrial city of severodonetsk . according to the country's president, his troops are fighting for literally every meter. for weeks, severodonetsk and its sister city have been russian targets. this as moscow tries to capture all of the donbas. reporter: after another night of heavy shelling, the strategic eastern city of severodonetsk is almost entirely under russian control. ukrainian forces that had resisted moscow's advance for weeks were forced to retreat from the city center on monday. >> help artillery support. there was an operation in

severodonetsk. they had partial success. the fighting continues. reporter: some 500 ukrainian civilians and as many soldiers were still entrenched in severodonetsk at a chemical plant, in a scenario reminiscent of the siege of mariupol. severodonetsk is a key strategic target for moscow, trying to assert control over the donbas region. on sunday, russia fired a slew of rockets on the western city and claimed it destroyed a warehouse containing weapons supplied by the u.s. and europe. >> high precision missiles destroyed a large number of weapons and military equipment delivered to ukrainian nationalist groups, including some from the united states and europe. reporter: ukrainian officials confirmed russian rockets hit a military facility in the area but said no weapons were stored there. meanwhile, kyiv called for more

heavy weapons deliveries, including drones and rocket launchers, ahead of a meeting of western defense ministers on june 15. anchor: ukrainian police have uncovered seven bodies in a grave near bucha. they said several corpses have hands and legs tied. the police claiming they were tortured. for more, we have a report. reporter: the france 24 team went to the exit may -- exhumat ion of new bodies in bucha, and authorities have dug out from a mass grave. the police chief said any of the bodies had their hands tied, and shot wounds to the head and knees, showing signs of executions. they are being examined by

forensic pathologists, going through these discoveries ever since russian troops withdrew in april. there have been more than 1300 bodies found in the greater capital region. many of those civilians indeed. it shows the extent of those killings, that bodies are still being dug up some three months later. this kind of situation is very distressing for the people here, but it points to the level of destruction that took place under occupation. the bodies were found in a wooded area that had been occupied by russian soldiers, so clearly the authorities think these people have been taken prisoner by russian troops and executed. they are now examining the corpses they found today and they are continuing to search for more. anchor: our report from kyiv. as civilian casualties continue to rise in ukraine, some

hospitals are transferring some of the youngest patients directly to bomb shelters, to keep them as safe as possible. reporter: a broken arm. these young ukrainians injured in everyday accidents. >> i was on the playground and i tripped and fell. >> i was at school playing and i fell and broke my hand. reporter: these patients and recovery. to protect them from the conflict outside, doctors have set up their rooms in the hospital air raid shelter. >> for these children, it is not good to be moved around. to get out of bed and have to get down when sirens go off, it is better for them to stay here quietly in their beds. reporter: the hospital's location is being kept secret for security reasons. in the shelter, special equipment is kept to treat new patients in case of emergency. >> there was a lot of shelling

here. we stand ready day and nht to receive wounded children. since the beginning of the war, we have received 30 children and most of them were seriously affected. reporter: for the children, time spent in the hospital basement can be a long drag. >> my hand is better and i am very happy. reporter: the smiles return when one of them can finally go home. anchor: the center right coalition in france has begun a crucial week of campaigning. it received a wake-up call last night after estimates showed emmanuel macron could end up losing his arla mentoring majority. the first -- parliamentary majority. the first showing of the coalition, they said that every effort would be made to ensure the center right came out. reporter: a wry smile in the

first round of france's parliamentary election. visibly disappointing, the former presidential candidate will have to watch next week's runoff from the sidelines. >> the results did not match our expectations but we managed to plant a flag in every french district. reporter: one of the other upsets solve the former education minister eliminated. he accused left-wing rivals of foul play and said he planned to challenge the results in court. >> i failed by a thin margin, 189 votes, and a campaign marred by a series of incidents. reporter: while some established politicians suffered shock defeats, sunday's vote also had a share of surprise winners. including a hotel made running for the new left-wing coalition who came in first place in her district. >> i am really moved.

having a hotel made elected to the national assembly would be a first in french history. reporter: in order to achieve her goal, she will first have to defeat the former sports minister in sunday's runoff. and in another district, a local baker will face off against the ruling party candidate in what thomas is to be an atypical second round. anchor: the first round of the parliamentary vote in france was marred by storically high voter abstention rate, over 52% of voters gave the polls a skip. we report on why. reporter: sunday's first round of france's legislative ballot was overshadowed by low voter enthusiasm, within abstention rate of 52.3%. that means one in two french people decided not to vote.

>> we will continue to work on modernizing the dialogue with the whole of society. to all those who abstained, i want to tell them to believe in the strength of their vote and to make their voice heard sunday. reporter: the abstention rate has broken records for the first round of legislative elections. it is the lowest since the current fifth french republic was established in 1958. according to political scientists, the low turnout is because of voters's disillusionment with candidates. it could also be due to the french electoral calendar, since the parliamentary elections take place weeks after the presidential vote and it is difficult to reengage public interest after an intense national campaign. >> this civic disengagement shows the extent of our antidemocratic electoral system that requires reformatting. reporter: there is a week to win

over and mobilize abstainers. since 2002, less people turnout for the second round of legislative spirit -- legislatives. anchor: the british government has unveiled new legislation which changes the post brexit trade rules for northern islands. it officially -- essentially scraps part of the deal with the eu. johnson's government says the changes are lawful but not everyone in the eu agrees. for more on the reaction from brussels, here is dave keating reporting. reporter: certainly it is a reaction of anger, but certainly not surprised because we knew this was coming. it doesn't really cushion the blow. i think people in brussels are furious about this on two accounts.

one is they say the u.k. has not seriously tried to engage with them since february on fixing the problems they say exist with the protoc. the other, and this was said during a press appearance, is that they believe this is a violation of international law, and the vice president said earlier tonight that in these times we are living in right now, the respect for rule of law is critical, and the eu believes the u.k. is undermining that. specifically, how? they say this legislation, which the u.k. says is not illegal under international law and does not violate the treaty because they are using this special legal argument that says if a treaty is causing hardship it can be adjusteunilaterally. the eu says no hardship is being caused, they are not hearing that from businesses in northern ireland, and the economy in northern ireland is performing better than the rest of the country and the eu says northern ireland unless -- unlike the

rest of the u.k., still has access to the market. so they will respond proportionally in three ways. first, they will unfreeze a receipt or they started last year against the u.k. it was suspended in september last year to give more time for the sides to come to an agreement as a gesture of goodwill. they said they may do that and i am told they will do that in the next days. then, the eu may launch additional action against the u.k., specifically for what has been proposed here tonight. third, they alluded to the fact that t free trade agreemt which the u.k. in eu signed was only possible because of the protocol, the eu would never have signed a free-trade agreement if the u.k. did not agree to the protoco and at this poi people in brussels believe boorse johnson signed e per call to get his free-trade deal but had no intention to honor it. it was hinted that could mean the free-trade deal goes away, it is canceled because it is

invalidated by the invalidation of the protocol even though that is a separate thing, that it was necessary for the free-trade deal and that brings us back to know deal brexit. anchor: the biggest criminal trial in france in its final weeks. prosecutors calling for life sentences for 12 out of the 20 minute suspected of key roles in the 2015 terror attacks in france. the coordinated attacks were claimed by the islamic state group. a 32-year-old french born elgin citizen is the key accused and is believed to be the lone survivor from the terror cell that struck the city. another defendant, who accompanied the group to paris before the attacks and returned to belgium. he was arrested in march 2016 in the aftermath of a terror attack in brussels. prosecutors are seeking life sentences for both. defense lawyers are due to give closing arguments next thursday

with a verdict due on the 29th of june. for more, we can bring in a lawyer representing one of the men. thank you for joining us. prosecutors are calling for a life sentence, essentially 22 years for your clients. is that proportional given the logistical role he played? >> first of all, we have to see if we go through the arguments of the prosecution, and the prosecution comes to a -- which is maybe not our point of view. if you look at what i think we should focus on, the day before, and it comes out, the proof being given by the prosecution that he will pronounce, he did not go for. because he did not go for it, we cannot give a sentence for some buddy who did not go for it. you have someone who was there

on the night of the killings. if you give a life sentence to both of them, you tell to the next one, and i hope there will not be, but if there is, you give the next one a message, go for it, because either way you get a life sentence. anchor: according to your client , he was supposed to be one of the suicide bombers on november 13, yet he decided not to at the last minute and fled for belgium. i want to know why. >> it is redundant for him, because if you see the pictures on the screen, the 22nd of march in brussels, he stopped also, you can see it on the video cameras. in france where you have is at the moment, the different teams start to communicate together

because he left and they needed him. why i think he did it is because he is human and he did not want to go for it. anchor: yet he was still at the brussels airport. >> and still he didn't go for it. anchor: i'm sorry, he saw what happened after the november 13 -- the chaos and devastation it caused the country. a human would not go back and think of carrying out another attack. >> you have to understand -- anchor: i understand. >> i am not saying he is more human than anybody else but we have to be careful, because as you say, there is 103 dead and 400 injured. there are families still crying. what i mean by that is i understand, why did he go in the end? but if you see your picture on every screen and you are the most wanted person and you know

you might go for a life sentence, where do you go back? to the others. anchor: you are due to give your closing argument on the 23rd of this month. any idea what you will be saying ? >> i have to reserve that for the court. but i come from those neighborhoods, i am from brussels, and i have a lot to say about what has happened. we had a lot of young people going to syria, for example, and i think i can give a bit of understanding to the court, what was life like in those neighborhoods at the time. anchor: does your client feel any regret? >> he expressed it clearly. anchor: can you tell us what happened during the trial? this trial has gone on for months. >> 10 months. that is why i also say he is a human being.

any human being on this planet, seeing 400 people coming in front of the court and telling how hard it is for them to still live after what happened, at the moment, you feel what the people say. the first one, second one, third 1 -- you can be as strong as you want but you feel it. you sought on the faces of the people behind us. all of them were more more, how can i say, shocked by what people suffered. i think he expressed clearly his regret about what happened to them. but again, he said also he did not have any blood on his hands because he renounced it, those were his words. anchor: but he still drove a cell -- >> he did not drive anything. he is the secondhand. he is with them but --

anchor: he is accused of coming before -- the day before the paris attacks. >> yes. his neighbor. they are neighbors, three houses close together. those people lived in a 100 meters square area. anchor: i know this trial has a lot of media attention and understandably so because of what it caused for this country. i know we had the attacks in january 2013 that started, but this was different. i have never seen paris stop the way it did the day after that attack. if your client -- what does he see for his life? does he think he will have a future? >> i don't think at this stage

he can see he will have a future. when we are finished here, we have to go to brussels and he has to be judged in the trial in brussels. i think the only moment where you can look for further life is when you know exactly what you are sentenced to in both countries. when we are finished in paris, we go back to brussels and start a new trial for the brussels attacks on the 22nd of march. anchor: i know everyone has a right to a defense, we live in democracies and that is how it goes. what sort of effect has this trial had on you. as i've been mentioning, the november 13 attacks have taken a toll on france and lawyers that would defend would be terrorists , they would be not welcomed, i would assume. >> i think you have the wrong

idea. the 400 people that came in front of the court, they all thanked us to be there, the injured people. i think democracy in our country's -- when you say france was stopped, belgium was stopped as well, we are the little brother of france. we suffered as much as the french people and we suffered again on march 22 from the same people. from everybody's understanding, and i think because we had a lot of trials against terrorists, i think people understood our duty. democracy shows its importance when you see the people can be defended and defended well. because when they are condemned and guilty by a court in a democracy, they have no right after to say anything. anchor: very briefly, you mentioned mullen back, and we

talk about the suburbs and disgruntled youth. short answer -- has anything changed? >> of course it has paired -- it has. the neighborhood has totally changed. i had the privilege to bring ten french lawyers to the neighborhood and they are astonished. it has really changed and they have done an incredible job to change also the mentality, to go through every single mosque and every place see who was there. they've done a really nice job. anchor: that is good to know. we have to leave it there. thank you. in other news, a mass withdrawal of members of iraq's parliament, it dramatically alters the political landscape you the move -- landscape. this comes eight months after general elections. temperatures in europe are set to soar this week, extreme levels of heat expected in france in the coming days.

neighboring spain already in the midst of a heat wave after the country experienced its hottest may in at least 100 years. for more, sarah morris is standing by in madrid. just how hot is it where you are? reporter: in the last 12 hours, there were five of the 17 regions in spain with temperatures over 40 degrees. two thirds of the country on standby for extreme temperatures in the coming days. this heatwave is expected to last until thursday and friday. it is the earliest heatwave on record, starting on june, june 11. it is on par with another early heatwave that struck in 1981. basically the most affected regions are in the south,

bordering portugal, and some of the central regions, and of course here in madrid where i am, where wednesday is supposed to be the hottest day. there are all sorts of precautions being taken across the country, including in schools, where the regional authorities are giving schools permission to adjust their timetable because many schools don't have air conditioning and teachers say they are becoming ill equipped to cope wh temperatures like this. anchor: it seems every year we have a new record set for summers in spain. but it is not even summer yet technically in europe. reporter: that's right. the records are being set year after year. this june comes after the hottest may in 100 years on record. the maximum temperature was set

last august, 47.4, that happened in montoro where the residents swelter to in southern spain. many people are asking how much has this got to do with global warming and climate change? meteorologists and experts say there is plenty of evidence that it is the result of global warming. they say look back to the 1980's in spain. there is now an extra month in spain on the summer compared to the 1980's, the temperature has gone up on average by 1.7 degrees on preindustrial levels. that might sound great for the tourist season but it is bad news for the risk of drought. anchor: sarah, thank you. sarah morris reporting from a very steamy madrid. temperatures in france expected to get hired toward the end of

the week. kevin spacey is expected to appear in a london court later this week. the american actor has been formally charged with sexual offenses against three men in britain. the alleged incidents took place in london between 2005 and 2000 eight, with one in western england in 2013. kevin spacey has won two academy awards and his celebrated career team to a screeching halt after he was accused of rape. more news coming up. stay with us. ♪

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06/13/22 06/13/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! juan: with the failure of last week summit of the americas for president biden and with new caravans of migrants heading north in mexico to the u.s. border, it has become more evident than ever that the harvest of empire is still with the united states. we will not be able to