from berlin. tonight, a possible turn in russia's invasion of ukraine. russia claiming that it is pulling its troops out of kherson. the country's defense minister confirming that withdrawal is happening, saying its soldiers' lives must be a priority. it could be a major blow to vladimir putin's war. also coming up tonight, control of the u.s. congress hanging in the balance as midterm election results continue to come in.

republicans will likely regain control of the house of representatives, but this is not the dreaded midterm defeat for the democrats. plus, egypt's human rights record in focus as it hosts the cop27 climate summit. pressure is mounting on cairo to release activist alaa abdel fattah. he has been on a hunger strike inside an egyptian prison. we will tell you why. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers watching on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. russia says that it has ordered its troops to withdraw from the western bank of the dnieper river near kherson in ukraine. the move could mark a major turning point in russia's invasion of the country. the announcement by the russian

defense minister comes after weeks of ukrainian gains in the area. russian commanders say it is no longer possible to deliver supplies to the city and that troops will pull back to defend the eastern side of the river. as you see right there. kherson is the largest city captured by russia since the invasion began in february. and the withdrawal will mark a major setback for the kremlin. let's listen now to a statement that was made earlier by russia's commander of troops in ukraine, reporting to the russian defense minister. >> after a comprehensive assessment of the situation, it is proposed to occupy the defense along the eastern bank of the dnieper river. i understand thathis ia very uneasy decision. at the same time, we will save the lives of our servicemen and the coat capability of our

troops. brent: our correspondent nick connolly is in kyiv and i asked him whether this move announced by russia, whether can be trusted. nick: certainly there are lots of voices here in kyiv that say this cannot be believed. they see this as a provocation and attempt to lure in ukrainian troops to kherson then force them into street battles. we have heard from top ukrainian intelligence officials who say some of russia's best equipped and best trained soldiers are still in kherson. they believe some of them changed into civilian clothes. making it more difficult to identify them. and they have not seen any evidence of the russian military pulling back. we have seen checkpoints disappearing, russian flags being taken off of buildings, but no conclusive proof that the russian military has left kherson. so there is a lot of cautious

questioning here as to whether this is really something ukraine can take advantage of or whether it really is going to be still a few weeks and very difficult battles for ukrainian troops to finally take kherson. brent: our very own nick connolly in kyiv with the latest on this breaking news coming out of ukraine. thank you, nick. i also spoke with mike martin. he is a former british army officer and a senior visiting research fellow with the department of war studies at king's college london and i asked him whether this announcement could be a trap set by russia. mike: it might be perceived as a trap, but there are some simple facts. this was a region that russia annexed about six weeks ago. supposedly this is part of russia. and now we are seeing the commander of russian forces announcing withdrawal. so i am sure there will be booby-traps and stay behind parties and all the rest of it.

but the simple fact is the large body of russian troops has been -- the only large body of russian troops that have crossed the river is now withdrawing. and that is a significant victory for ukraine. brent: talk to us about why kherson is so strategically important. mike: so, kherson was taken in the very early days of the war and it is the only major city that russia has ever controlled throughout this conflict. and the river dnieper cuts across ukraine. it cuts it in two. it runs from crimea all the way up to kyiv. kherson is the only city on the western side of that river. and so if russia continued to control that city they would have a springboard for further military activities in that whole bit of ukraine. dnieper is wide. at times it is five miles wide, so it is a significant defensive barrier. with russia withdrawing from

that side of the river, that means ukraine has a very solid defensive line it can use. brent: i know it is hard to estimate numbers, particularly in this conflict, but how many russian troops are we talking about in kherson? mike: again, with huge caveats, potentially 10,000 or 15,000 russian soldiers on the west bank of dnieper. brent: and what strategic step might the russian military be planning next? ke: i would actually like to turn that question around, if i may. because momentum is really important in war and you are asking me what the russians are doing. but actually it is the ukrainians that are forcing the russians to respond to them. so, the reason the russians are pulling out is because the ukrainians have been cutting their supply lines. they blew up the bridge, they knocked out rail lines. so as that russian commander said, we cannot supply our troops anymore.

so i think the actual question is, what is it the ukrainians are going to do? and i think the is potentially time for one more move between now and when it gets really difficult to maneuver during the winter. i suspect they will try and cut through to the black sea, thus cutting the russian forces in two so you have a pocket in the east in the donbass and a pocket in the south in crimea. brent: what you are talking about here is a significant blow to russian forces, also to this war being pushed by vladimir putin. do you think it could come to that, that they could come all the way by christmas, by the end of the year? mike: well, if they have not got the troops, if ukrainians do not have the troops to have one last offensive bere christmas, before the end of the year, and of course we do not know that.

they are very, very secret about their capabilities for obvious reasons. then that will inevitably be part of the springffensive. so i think things will slow down a lot over the winter and then we will be into the spring and both sides will be looking to kick off again and that will be one of the main things ukraine will be trying to achieve. brent: we will definitely be talking again sooner rather than later, i am sure. mike martin with the department of war studies at king's college london. mike, as always, thank you. mike: thank you very much. brent: in the united states, midterm election results are pointing to a surprisingly strong showing for president biden's democrats. they are doing better than polls had protected with early indications suggesting that they have managed to fend off sweeping republican gains. but there are still many races to call in the battle for both houses of congress. of course the results will set the country's course for the next two years. at the moment, republicans have the lead in the race for the house of representatives. u.s. voters have been choosing lawmakers for the entire house.

so far, 176 out of the 435 seats have gone to the democrats. 204 have gone to republicans. let's have a closer and look now at the u.s. senate starting with the seats that are not up for grabs in this election. there are 100 total. if you add in those newly decided seats, you can see that republicans are slightly ahead with 49 seats, the democrats with 48 seats so far. you have vice president kamala harris able to cast a tie-breaking vote. the republicans would then need 51 to have a solid majority. three seats are still open. we are talking about the states of arizona, georgia, and nevada. but some of the margins there are razor thin and it is far too early to draw any final conclusions. so let's have a look now at how today has unfolded, yesterday as well so far, and what is still to come with the midterm

election results. reporter: with control of congress hanging in the balance, americans woke up to a very mixed picture. in pennsylvania, it was the democrats who emerged victorious, winning the open senate seat. >> we jammed them up. we held the line. reporter: and they triumphed in wisconsin's closely fought governor's race. >> some people call it boring. but you know what, wisconsin? as it turns out, boring wins. reporter: but it was the republicans who romped home in florida with ultraconservative governor ron desantis winning decisively. >> we not only won election, we have rewritten the political map. reporter: but with vote counting still underway in key states,

that political map is not looking as good for republicans as many analysts predicted. >> we went in expecting a big night for republicans, given the unpopularity of biden, the fact th in midterm elections the out party tends to do well. inflation is high in a lot of voters' minds. but that big night did not really pan out. republics, especially trump-backed republicans, struggled in the ballot. reporter: one key issues that appears to have helped boost democrats at the polls is abortion-rights. >> currently, particularly as a woman, protecting reproductive rights in all forms in this state and federally is the most important thing that has been driving me and a lot of my friends and i think has really pushed a lot of us to get friends who maybe would not have voted or get people to look into who they are voting for and why they are voting for them. reporter: while counting continues in key battleground

states, like here in arizona, with control of congress still unclear, for now at least, it seems the democrats have performed better than some expected them to. brent: and my colleague ines pohl is following these midterm elections for us and she is in the state of arizona today. ines, good to see you again. talk to me about why there is a delay in the election results there. ines: well brent, because it is so close. i am standing here at the maricopa county election center, where about 60% of all votes of arizona are counted, and people are still in there literally counting the votes. it is too close to call. why? because it is such a small margin. katie hobbs, the democratic candidate for governor, is in the lead with only 11,000 votes. just tgive you the perspective, also for our international audience, how

close this is. and therefore it takes so long. brent: and do get the feeling -- i know you have talked to a lot of voters -- is there a general acceptance of the legitimacy, the edibility of the ballo counting process? ines: well, brent, there were some issues yesterday, the day of the election, on election day. 60 or so printers had problems, but only for a little amount of time. anyhow, the republican candidate, kari lake, uses this kind of topic to spread her lie that the elections will be rigged if she is not winning. so this is causing some problems. talking to voters, it was quite teresting. even many republican voters said that they actually do believe that the system is ok, but nevertheless, again, kari lake and otr republic politicians, ty try to spread

the lie that the system cannot be trusted in case they did not win. brent: i am wondering how that is affected by the news they are getting from the rest of the country, particularly the news coming out of pennsylvania with fetterman there winning for the democrats for the u.s. senate. has that had an impact on the mood there in arizona? ines: sure. i mean, republican kari la herself, she was very optimistic that she would win, and one has to say her opponent katie hobbs was not ry visible in the race, and they thought it would be an easy win, and obviously that is not the case. not only in arizona but in other parts of the united states. it is much harder for the trump-endorsed candidates to bring home the win. so the mood within the republican party here, republican supporters, is down. we shall see where this leads

to. my idea, my understanding is this will lead to spreading the lie that the system is rigged because it will be hard for them to accept a loss. brent: dw's ines pohl on the story for us tonight from arizona in the u.s. ines, as always, thank you. we want to get a view now from germany regarding these midterm elections. michael link is the coordinator of transatlantic cooperation at the german foreign office and a member of the business friendly fdp party. it is one of the government coalition partners. my colleague emily gordine asked him about the impact of these relations on the impact with germany. emily: what do these results mean for transatlantic cooperation? michael: i think we have a unique opportunity now to use the next two years where we still have president biden and

this administration in office to try and elaborate as much as possible in cooperation with the european union and the u.s. yes, we do not know yet exactly the results in the senate and in the house, but we have a president and an administration which is extremely interested to work together with the eu as much as possible. when it comes to ukraine, when it comes to issues like human rights in a digital world, and when it comes to china. so let's take that up. but we need to live up to the expectations also from the u.s. side. and there, i think europeans can still do more. emily: what is your biggest concern when it comes to the results? what is the worst case scenario? michael: frankly when i remember the last gener elections, where we saw two months later certification of the results in the u.s. congress, january 6. we saw the fatal nonrecognition of the result by those who lost

the elections. so, the question is, will those who lost, say, in some governor's races or in some important senate races, will they accept the results? that is to be watched and that's to be observed, and i really hope that maybe in two, three, four weeks, we can be relieved and say everybody recognizes the results, because that is exactly what is at stake now. peaceful recognition of the electoral results. emily: if president biden does become bogged down in national politics, and foreign policy takes a step back, what will europe have to do in response? michael: well, first of all, of course that is on the u.s. side to define the necessary balance between, let's say for a second will have a congress dominated by the republican party. in case that turns out, then they have to find a way to go forward.

then i am pretty sure gridlock is not the solution for the next three years. there might be some infighting on issues like inflation, the border, crime. but even the republicans, even if they have the majority, they cannot afford to do nothing for two years, to block everything. so they will have to find a way forward. and we europeans, especially we germans, need to be ready for the following. whoever is in charge in the u.s., regarding china, democrats or republicans, will certainly address us with the question, where do you stand on china? what can you do together with us to really confront the systemic rivalry which we have with china? and i think dependent on who is in charge in the u.s., this is the question we have to face. brent: let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world this hour. lawyers defending the u.s. basketball player brittney griner who is detained in russia says she is being transferred to a penal colony.

the two-time olympic gold medalist was arrested in february for possession of a small quantity of cannabis oil and she was sentenced in august to nine years in jail. meta, the company that owns facebook, says it is laying off 11,000 people, about 13% of its workforce. in a letter to employees, ceo mark zuckerberg took the blame, saying his decision to hire rapidly during the pandemic was based on a projection of rapid growth. the company has instead suffered falling revenues. japan and south korea say that north korea has fired a ballistic missile off its east coast. ongyang has carried out a series of missile tests in recent weeks amid heightened tension in the korean peninsula. now to the middle east and egypt, where human rights violations have been overshadowing events at the cop27 climate summit. protesters have come out in force in support of the jailed a british egyptian activist alaa abdel fattah.

the pro-democracy activist has spent many years in prison. and for months now, he has been on a hunger strike. and since this climate summit began, he has refused to take water. with human rights groups as well as his family expressing fears for his health, international pressure for his release is mounting. reporter: this is alaa abdel fattah. the british egyptian activist is currently imprisoned in egypt. in a desperate bid for freedom, he has been on a hunger strike since april. and to coincide with cop27, he has taken it to a more dangerous level. his family are gravely concerned. >> i am here to do my best to try and shed light on my brother's case and to save him. today, he took his last glass of water. so, it is a matter of hours. i am really worried.

i am also here to put pressure on world leaders coming, especially prime minister rishi sunak. reporter: rights groups say abdel fattah is one of more than 60,000 political prisoners in egypt. he spent most of the past decade behind bars, first being sentenced for protesting against a ban on unauthorized demonstrations and later allegedly being detained by security forces in response to protests against government corruption. as world leaders gather in egypt for cop27, alaa abdel fattah's detention has been condemned by human rights activists. >> the extraordinarily severe human rights situation in the country becomes a global priority and is squarely at the heart of the cop27 agenda. in other words, yes, it is about

climate justice, but you cannot deliver climate justice anywhere in the world, including in egypt, if you do not have human rights protection. reporter: british prime minister rishi sunak says he will raise the activist's case with the egyptian president el-sisi at cop27. alaa abdel fattah supporters have stressed the urgency of releasing him as his hunger strike increasingly endangers his life. brent: earlier, i spoke with hossam bahgat. he's the executive director of the egyptian initiative for personal rights. i asked him about the chances of abdel fattah being released. ssam: that is unfounately the only question that no one can answer right now except for presidt sisiwho has the

power to save his life, really, and address this very critical matter and end the injustice that alaa abdel fattah has been subjected to for most of the last decade. alaa was arrested and prosecuted for having shared a facebook post about prisoner abuse. he was charged with spreading false information. he was tried before an emergency state security court that does not allow any right of appeal against s sentences and was handed a five-year prison sentence because of this one facebook post after a grossly unfair trial. once in prison, he was denied most of the basic rights of prisoners enshrined in egypt's own prison laws. and of course, all criminal complaints and attempts by his family, himself, his criminal defense team in order to remedy

these injustices have faen on deaf ears which has led him to this situation of hopelessness where he has decided to stop eating completely and stop drinking water once the cop27 summit started in egypt. brent: i have got less than one minute. but i want to ask you, the fact we have this climate summit taking place in egypt, do you think that is going to work in fattah's best interest? hossam: right now, reay, the situation is so despere that we a trying everything we can. so, cop27 is of course a major opportunity for us to have a global spotlight on egypt, to highlight the severe human rights crisis in the country, and to call on world leaders and international civil society to show solidarity not just with alaa, but to the thousands of political prisoners that alaa represents. brent: yes, and as you say, he's not an exception, he is one of

many. human rights activist hossam bahgat, we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us tonight. thank you. football now. in midweek bundesliga soccer action, dortmund traveled to wolfsburg with the chance to get within striking distance of bayern munich. but the home side, who were on a two game winning streak, had other ideas. they gave wolfsburg fans reason to celebrate with a 2-0 victory. reporter: despite dortmund dominating their most recent fixtures against wolfsburg with a handful of victories, the wolves refused to allow history to repeat itself. he put the home side ahead on the five minute mark. dortmund were unable to deal with the corner. and he headed it in from close range. after a poor start, wolfsburg have not lost since mid-september. and the substitute secured a

third straight victory for the wolves in the 90th minute. 2-0, the final score. dortmund fumbled their chance to pick up points when they need it most once again, while wolfsburg has seemingly found their groove. brent: also on tuesday, league leaders bayern munich strengthen their hold on the top spot with an overpowering 6-1 win against bremen. three of bayern's goals came courtesy of serge. this was his first at the 22 minute mark. you see it right there. a blocked shot fell right to him, who beautifully curled into the far corner, just like a hairdo. here's a reminder of the top story this hour. russia claiming that it is withdrawing troops from the city of kherson. the country's defense minister making the announcement today

after heavy ukrainian attacks in the city. the move marks one of russia's most significant retreats, and it could be a potential turning point in the war. and in the u.s., control of congress is yet to be decided as midterm election result continue to come in. republicans have the lead in the race for the house of representatives, but democrats are doing better than the polls predicted. and in a major victory, democrat john fetterman has won in the senate race in pennsylvania with the overall battle for control of the senate currently neck and neck. you are watching "dw news." after a short break, i will be back to take you through "the day." our continuing coverage of the midterm elections continues right after this. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and curacy. visit ncicap.org]

>> welcome back. you are watching "live from paris." joe biden been speaking in the wake of the midterm vote. he says it has been a good day for the democracy -- for democracy. results are still coming in. the count continues. the republican red wave did not materialize and biden says a young people turned out and voted. mosley for the democrats. russia in retreat at kherson. moscow pulls pat -- pulls back its troops.