>> this is dw news, live from berlin. ukraine launches a long anticipated offense against russian and east of the country. its forces have already broken the first line of russian defense but moscow says it is thwarting any advances and inflicting heavy casualties. deadly clashes rock baghdad's green zones.

they have stormed the government palace after he says he is quitting politics for good. and in attempt at liftoff. i am brent goff. to our viewers watching on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. ukraine tonight saying it has launched a major capture offensive to retake the southern region of here sound. how this much awaited push comes after weeks of preparation. ukraine had been attacking russia supply routes.

both sides suffered hedge account -- heavy casualties. they are facing little if any ukraine resistance. justin is a military analyst and a ceo. i asked him if this was the start of that counteroffensive against the russian military that president zelenskyy has been signaling for months. >> that situation certainly looks like more offensive operations. of course, as we discussed before on the program, there was a timeline of ukraine wanted to achieve something think you're some before any referendum could be held by russia.

ukraine has this physical debit of doing something in the region by september. >> how much of this announcement is backed by the power of western weapons versus this timing pressure on president zelenskyy to take action? >> it is a bitf all of it. ukraine has made the most of the western weapon donations. all this appears to be quiet a decent combined arms.

using hicopters and artillery altogether to achieve in this mited breakthrough in the russian front. >> we heard that near the city along the front lines, ukrainian forces may have found places that can most easily degrade russian defenses. would this be enough to put any segment of the russian army along -- on the defensive? >> this is about 100 miles wide, 30 miles deep. ukraine made a small inroad on that.

that is right in the middle of the russian lis. the bridges that russia relies on have been hvily damaged. there in this bad position with the river to their back. that puts another strategic dam inlace. it ian area that the russians to be very sensitive about after weeks of shelling there and dp stke operations by ukraine, they have been pretty degraded. the russians are not in a great position at the moment.

>> we heard throughout this conflict at the russian military outcomes the ukrainian military. we had $3 billion in weapons from the united states, additional weapons announced by washington. do they know their supply lines coming from the west are guaranteed to be in much better space than the russian side can say? >> they have plad a very good game to support and mobilize a lot of resources andt seems to build up a force capab of tryi and offensive like th were at the moment. russia is trying the same thing and buiing up the third army port in russia. very low-grade soldiers from what we ha seen so far. russia itryingo bring things

foard. they have very big systemac issues. by comparison, ukraine is getting stronger. they are certainly making extremely good use of what they are making. >> we appreciate your time and your insights. thank you. tonight, the u.s. government is urgent a complete shutdown of the nuclear power plant in ukraine. it has renewed calls for a demilitarized zone to be established around the facility. they are raising concerns about a possible nuclear disaster. a team of experts are now headed for the plant and are expected to carry out inspections over the next coming days. russian backed officials say radiation levels remained normal but people living in the area that have -- living in the area have been preparing for the worst. quick the situation has set

alarm bells ringing across europe and around the world. now, the ui nuclear watchdog has dispatched a team of experts to the site. they are going to assess any damage to the plant. some residents welcome to the visit. -- welcomed the visit. >> think this is good news. we don't need another disaster at a nuclear power plant. it would affect all of europe. i still remember chernobyl. >> others were more gloomy about what it could achieve. >> i am not sure ifhe russian authorities will reveal the full ality on the ground a if they will allow the team to improve the situation. i don't believe there will be any real results. in cities and towns near the power plant, people are already preparing for the worst and

going to sites like this one where local authorities are handing out iodine tablets. >> it is a preventive and prophylactic measure. you mustn't take the pill when you receive it. it must only be taken after an official notification from the authorities. we started the distribution last week. around a .5 -- around a .5 1000 people received tablets. >> while these habits won't have to be taken, the stanff over the biggest nuclear facility remains tense. >> olaf scholz announced plans to help organize the reconstruction of ukraine. they can help rebuild ukraine

defense systems. the chancellor expressed support for a proposal by an angle macron. he also promised back for the extension of the european union to include ukraine, moldova, georgia and the western balkan countries. >> we are not taking the attack on russia lying down. we will not stand idly by and watch women, men and children being killed or countries being rubbed off the map and disappearing behind walls or iron curtains. we don't want to go back to the 19th or 20th century. our europe is united in peace

and freedom. it is open to all european nations who share our values. above all, it is an active rejection of imperialism and autocracy. >> in his speech here in prague, olaf scholz called for greater european 70 in the face of new imperialist autocracy. he wants to describe russians were on ukraine as a turning point for europe and promised to continue supporting ukraine. he also outlined concrete policy changes. but many of these ideas such as more majority voting instead of unanimous decisions have been under discussion for years to no avail. so how will germany convince

others to support the chancellor proposals? that remains an open question. >> were back now. at least 10 people have died after supporters of influential cleric stormed back government palace. chaos erected inside the fortified green zone. it came after he said he was quitting politics. they were calling for reform in the country. it has been without a government or a leader since elections last october. he is reported as saying he will go on a hunger strike until the violence and the use of weapons stops. >> supporters reached their dads heavily fortified ringtone. an area --

>> our revolution is solely an iraqi one. this is an iraqi revolution. iraq should be returned to his people. -- its people. >> are to south parliament and we will sacrifice for you, victory is ours. >> while they were inside, many were seen lounging in meeting rooms used by iraqi heads of state. and cooling off in a swimming pool in the garden. they were driven out by security forces using tear and gunshots. the mission to iraq as well as the lead states called on all

sides for restraint. the violence follows months of political deadlock in iraq. there is movement. it was the biggest winner in october's election. he failed to form a government that excluded those bills close to iran. his followers have since been staging a sit in outside of parliament. calling for fresh elections. while this isn't the first time the influential cleric has withdrawn from politics, the current deadlock in iraq appears harder to resolve than in the past. question on davidson is the iraq bureau chief for reuters news agency in baghdad. he updated me on the situation there. >> it is very tense now.

there have been clashes between his supporters and supporters of armed political groups. they have been corrupting in baghdad from time to time this evening. it is very tense. >> did you see this announcement coming in? did you see the violent reactio to it coming >> ethimany observers did not fairly see the announcement of this complete withdrawal from politics coming. i think people were maybe expecting a bit of violence. it had been acquired along -- it had been quiet a long time coming. it gave the green light to his

supporters to protest in whatever manner they saw fit. >> talk to me a little bit about his influence in iraqi politics. the fact that he says he is quitting politics, it has obviously led to a vacuum that is being filled with violence right now. >> yes, he has always been a very influential player in iraqi politics. his political power has grown in the last few years. he has millions of loyal supporters. they have been quaint is a been in their protests to this point. it seems like it was a bit of a free-for-all for those people when he pulled out. >>'s moves have been against corruption. do we know what he is resigning from?

>> ty always had this position of being an overarching clinical leader. what he is resigning from is any sort of intervention that would guide the political process. he has done this before. he said he will not participate in politics again. retains a lot of power in the state over certain government ministries. it is much more a very symbolic move. >> we appreciate your report, thank you. let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. brazil's main presidential candidates have faced off in the first televised debate ahead of

october general election. the incumbent president accused his once jailed rival, former president of corruption. he accused president bolsonaro of storing the country. angola's president has been handed a second term in office after the country possible electoral commission declared his party the winner of last week's election. fewer than half of angola's registered voters turned out for the pole. we have this update. >> the big question is how the opposition will react. they already conteed the preliminary results, saying that the counting came up with other numbers. now they basically have a chance

to react legally. they can complain to the electoral commission and possibly go to the constitutional cords. so far they have asked them to stay calm, stay at home but this could possibly still change. they had a feeling that the vote was rigged. there was no evidence during the accounting process. the conditions of these elections were not free and fair. the state medi was only exclusively reported about the governing party. the number of election observers was drastically reduced. 1500 election observers. also, the electoral commission is under the control of the government. the international monetary fund

has approved a request from pakistan for an extra $1.1 billion in a lot funding. the country is struggling with two months of devastating monsoon flooding. pakistan's planning minister says it might take five years to rebuild and recover from this week's historic flooding. international eight has begun to arrive but many people have already lost everything. >> drone images reveal the extent of the dev station near pakistan's river. the floods have destroyed ridges and washed away many roads, forcing authorities to use boats, military planes and helicopters to carry out difficult rescue operations. the government says one in seven pakistanis are affected by these floods. that is more than 33 million people. >> they are absolutely devastating. i haven't seen any destruction

or devastation at this scale. i find it very fficult to put into words the paseology's we usedo, whether it is monsoon rains, it does not seem to encapsulate the ongoing devastation and disaster. >> relief efforts are underway across the country. still, many flood victims feel abandoned by the government. >> some of our relatives have died. we are not seeing any relief from the government. >> there is also worry about what is to come. monsoon season is not over yet. more rain and flooding is expected and could leave a third of the country underwater. >> it is one of the world's most

ambitious space programs. it is aimed at getting humans back on the moon and to mars. the u.s. space agency was forced to scrub the launch of its largest ever rocket today after a number of technical problems. the next attempt at liftoff will probably be free -- be friday. >> the 98 meter rocket and its unmet capsule were left sitting on the launchpad as mates ticked by. , harris -- kamala harris had flown in. tourists had flocked to nearby locations. the whole series of technical problems meant the launch had to be called off. it is yet another disappointment for the artemis moon program after a series of postponed lunches. but nasa says spotting problems

as part of the exercise. >> that is the whole reason for this test flight, to stress at and test it, to make sure it is as safe as possible when we put humans in the spacecraft. >> that is one small step for man, one giant leap for manki. >> more than half a ctury a, landing on the moon captured the ma -- the imagination of an entire generation. now the human race is looking once again to return to the moon. if all goes well with his test mission, a crude flight could be launched as early as 2024. one of the stated ambitions of the artemis mission is to put the first woman and first person of color on the moon. it is expected to be asked for not jessica watkins -- astronaut, jessica watkins.

>> i would be thrown to be part of the effort to go to another planetary surface. whether it be the moon or the mars. >> it is the red planet that is the ultimate goal. that the artemis mission hopes to build a presence on the moon, it would then use the moon as a breeding ground for the mission to mars. at first, it has to get its maiden test flight successfully off the launchpad. >> the astro biologist keith callan told me more about what went wrong today. >> it seems that there is a valve that goes to one of the engines and when they started to pump the very cold liquid hydrogen, it did knock it cold enough for the system to seiko ahead. you don't want these engines to be warm when you started, you want them to be very cold. they took some time off and thought to we have enough time

to fix this? the answer was no so they scrubbed. >> as a layman watching this, i heard a lot of people say 50 years ago we were able to lift off. why do we have engine problems today? >> when i worked for nasa, i probably try to see more shuttle launches and i actually saw. this is unusual. what happened today, they admitted we could have tested this. the last time they did the test, they said we are good enough with that. this is not on its, it is disappointing but again as they say, it is better to be safe than sorry. that is true. i have a feeling that this could be one of several dress

rehearsals before we have an actual launch. is that a corrected assumption? >> i would not dispute that, some people are calling this the wet dress five. what we are seeing here is a very complex rocket, it has taken a long time to build, it has cost far too much money. here it is. it is already to go. i think you probably asked what this means. here we are looking at rockets out of spare parts and yet a miles to the west is a rocket that they make it so cheap that when they blow up, they have a blooper reel. we are at a time in history when maybe this is the last time we will see a rocket that is this complicated. >> perhaps. we would like to see this one take off. maybe we can do that later this week. we appreciate your time. thank you.

here is a reminder of the top stories we are following this hour. ukraine says it has lost its long anticipated attempted to take the southern region. moscow says it is thwarting any advances and inflicting heavy casualties. an international team of experts is owing to this nuclear power plant in ukraine to carry out expections -- inspections. russia and ukraine have accused each other of shelling close to the site. this is dw news. stick around, i will be right back.

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♪ >> you are watching live from paris. these are the headlines. iraqis force their way into the government palace and splash in the private pool. at least 12 killed in baghdad. this comes after the announcement of the withdrawal of iraqi politics. troops claims to have broken through the first line of russian occupied forces. safety at the region, sharply in the focus of u.n. investigators. the artemis space probe has been delayed, engine