>> hello and welcome to focus on europe. it's nice to have you with us today. "it will be the hardest winter in our history." these words, uttered by ukrainian president zelensky, were meant to prepare his fellow ukrainians for what's coming in the next few months ahead. but already, now, today, the situation is dramatic. anyone who still has a roof over their head is searching through the rubble for whatever they can find -- especially firewood. in cities that were hit hardest by russia's attacks, there are shortages or outages of

electricity and heating. the russian army has deliberately destroyed about 40% of ukraine's energy supply so far. in the east of ukraine, along the front line, the situation is particularly difficult. ukrainian troops drove the russian occupiers out of the town of lyman and the surrounding area. but there, people are literally sitting on ruins. residential buildings have been destroyed, and the supply of water, electricity, and gas has been interrupted time and time again. locals find themselves caught between despair and relief at their regained freedom. >> the city of lyman was under russian occupation for more than foumonths. in early october, it was finally liberated. lyman is an important point on the military supply line. but liberation doesn't mean the end of the struggle for people here. the front has moved only a few kilometers farther away.

what remains here is devastation. and yet residents are grateful that everyday life is possible again. lyudmila can now move freely through the city. lyudmila: our granddaughter is seven months old and we haven't seen her for four months. our grandson is five. thanks to our ukrainian army, we were able to call them. the phones are working again, although not so well. my grandson shouted into the phone, "grandma, i love you very, very much!" for a grandmother, grandchildren are the most precious thing. that sentence never made sense to me before, but now i feel it. we've seen things here. >> a few streets away, we meet nadezhda and her husband volodymyr. the two say they had hardly any contact with anyone for months. they hardly ever left their home. nadyeshda's brother was killed.

nadyeshda: it's terrible. i hope our soldiers will stay here now and chase the russians as far away as possible, so they don't ever come back again. >> although they're still struggling, volodymyr and nadyeshda are trying to move forward. nadyeshda: we're getting firewood for the winter. no one knows if we'll have electricity or heat by then. we'll go to our cottage and spend the winter there. >> ukraine is bracing for a cold winter. they know that without a functioning energy supply, it will get even harder -- and not just near the front, and in the liberated areas. russia is continuing to target its missile strikes across the entire country, from east to west. many attacks have targeted ukraine's power plants and heating infrastructure. the capital kyiv has also

suffered outages. the head oukraine's electricity operator says these are the most wide-ranging attacks on a country's critical infrastructure in history. volodymyr: i believe that russian energy engineers are helping the russian military. those people are also criminal. >> kudrytskyj believes his former colleagues gave outhe coordinates for attacks. after all, ukraine's power system was still connected to the russian and belarus grid until just a few hours before the invasion. volodymyr: even the loss of a quarter of our generation capacity, the damage to a quarter of our key grid assets did not cause the ukrainian energy system to collapse or malfunction. we're recovering quickly. >> but there are few signs of this recovery in yampil. "we have no electricity and no internet," alyosha tells us.

"we've survived with a generator." yampil is a village in the donetsk region, right next to lyman. it was also liberated just a few weeks ago. residents have written the message "people live here" in chalk on gates and fences, hoping to be spared. slata: it was all very hard. there was a big bang one night. it flew back there, then it burned. that's what happened, mama. >> the family live on their farm, with few neighbors. but that was little protection when they suddenly found themselves in the midst of war. the children still talk about the battles. slata: when the planes fly, they're shot down by the artillery. alyosha: slata, that's the air defense system. over there, a house burned down, and back there a barn

full of wood, a motorcycle, and a tractor. >> the trauma will stay with them all their lives. natalja: the worst thing is the silence. we can't sleep at night anymore. the silence is more frightening than the noise. we've gotten used to that, to the constant boom, boom, boom. and suddenly silence. i don't know why, but i can't sleep. >> what frightens natalja the most is the thought that the russian soldiers might return. if that happens, she says, she would flee with her children. >> finding out that you or your partner is pregnant is a deeply emotional experience. but what if you can't -- or don't want to -- carry that child to term? in most european countries, the decision to have an abortion is up to the women themselves. but things are different in poland. there, abortion laws are among

the strictest in europe -- and that's something that women like justyna wydrzynska are fighting against. the activist is now facing the prospect of a long prison sentence. but justyna isn't fighting alone. >> "you will never walk alone" chant the demonstrators in front of the courthouse in warsaw. they're here to show solidarity with justyna wydrzynska. she faces up to three years in prison for helping a woman obtain abortion pills. in poland, the medication used for medical abortions is prohibited. justyna wydrzynska is revered by many young women. she and her network are fighting for self-determination, and against some of the most restrictive abortion laws in europe. that's won them many enemies in conservative and catholic poland. justyna: i didn't think i would be this nervous, but i am.

as i head into court, i don't feel any guilt. i believe what i did was good. you have to help people. i stand here today to represent the countless people who help each other when they're in a difficult situation, when they need an abortion -- mothers who help their daughters, daughters who help mothers, friends who help friends. >> one time, justyna wydrzynska sent her own medication to a woman in need. now she's standing trial for that. she was moved by the woman's plight, and was reminded of her own abortion. it took place here, in her hometown of przasnysz, 17 years ago. when she became pregnant, she already had three children, and was stuck in a marriage where she felt controlled and oppressed. justyna: i felt that when i did it, when i terminated the pregnancy and freed myself, when i regained control over my body, i also

regained control over my life and the lives of my children. and that's what happened. i thought, when i gave the woman my pills, it could do for her what it did for me. your autonomy is something worth fighting for. >> the activist is convinced that poland's abortion laws are misogynistic. her daughter sylwia is 18 years old and has experienced what it's like to live with taboos. sylwia: there's no sex education anywhere, especially in my school, where it's never talked about. once, in religion class, we brought up the subject of abortion with our pastor. he didn't even allow us to give our own opinion. whenever the topic comes up, it's shut down as quickly as possible. >> in poland, abortion is only permitted if the life or health

of the pregnant woman is at risk, or if a pregnancy results from rape. justyna wydrzynska has founded a support network that advises polish women who cannot or do not want to continue a pregnancy. she provides information about websites where women can order the pills needed for a medical abortion. justyna: the medication comes from abroad, from other european countries, directly to the addresses provided. just like other organizations operating in poland, we never distribute medication ourselves. we only provide information. >> 34,000 women sought help from polish women's organizations last year. thousands of polish women traveled abroad to obtain an abortion. the activists have organized a rally in the middle of warsaw. they're offering testimony from polish women who have terminated a pregnancy.

>> i don't regret my decision. my only regret is that in poland, this decision has to be made behind the backs of doctors, the government, and in my case even my family. >> i was a young doctor at the time, working at the nearest hospital. i was afraid if something went wrong, that i would end up there and get into trouble -- that i would lose my job and my license to practice. >> justyna wydrzynska holds on to the hope that one day things will change in poland. until then, she wants to continue to help women in crisis. >> another person who's committed to helping others is seyhmus baras, a doctor in turkey. his profession is something he's passionate about, and yet he quit his job at the hospital because he experienced pretty terrible things there. turkish president erdogan, here at the opening of a large hospital in ankara, likes to boast about his country's healthcare system.

but behind the facade, things look rather different. >> every morning, seyhmus baras puts on his apron to help his mother in the family restaurant. it's an unfamiliar feeling. baras is a doctor, and normally he'd be wearing a crisp white coat. just a few months ago, he was still working shifts in the emergency room of a large hospital in eastern turkey. th, one day, he was attacked by a patient's family, and chased throu the corridors. surveillance camer recorded the assault. before the incident, the patient had complained about the care he was receiving at the hospital. seyhmus: when i told him to please not be rude, he went after me. i defended myself, but his wife brought the rest of the family in from outside. they all started beating on me. >> a traumatic experience that left its mark on him.

baras loves being a doctor, but since the incident, he hasn't been able to go back to work. according to one survey, one in four employees in the turkish healthcare sector has experienced physical violence at work. last year, hospital workers across the country had to call security more than 100,000 times. at a doctors' union rally, baras tore up his diploma and hospital scrubs in protest. seyhmus: academic training has never been treated with as much contempt as it is today in this country. >> but there are other reasons for the rise in violence against health workers. baras has come to a meeting of the doctor's union. on the wall, there's a picture of a colleague who was murdered not long ago. the rise in violence also has to do with the difficult

working conditions, especially in state hospitals. bulut: when a doctor has to care for up to 150 patients a day, of course they're overstretched. the patients' expectations of a functioning health care system can't be met when we're working under those conditions. >> the solidarity he received from colleagues has been a great support for baras. he's even received a call from finland. a doctor of turkish descent offered him a job at his practice. now baras is learning finnish. seyhmus: i originally only wanted to go abroad to train as a specialist. but now i've decided to leave the country for good. >> and he wouldn't be the first. experts say an exodus of young, well-trained doctors is looming.

this photo, taken in germany, shows a meetup of young turkish expat doctors. pres. erdogan: if they want to leave, let them leave. we'll go our own way witnew ctors from our universities. >> to the ears of overworked and underappreciated doctors, this sounds like mockery. physical assaults, insults, and threats leave their mark. derya: they become wary of patients. they relive the events over and over again. they're even afraid of coming to work. just the sound of someone talking loudly can make them panic. >> seyhmus baras is also still suffering the effects of the attack. at least the courts have recently started imposing higher sentences for assaults on healthcare workers.

baras's attackers have been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. that's helped baras feel a bit better. seyhmus: i'm starting to sleep a little better now. those first weeks, i couldn't sleep for more than two hours at a time. >> seyhmus baras says that in light of turkey's healthcare crisis, it should be the politicians who suffer sleepless nights. for now, he plans to continue working in the family restaurant until he leaves for finland. >> the pennine alps, at over 3000 meters above sea level. even if this picture fills you with awe at the natural beauty of our planet, you have to remember that global warming, caused by us humans, is having a devastating effect on remote locations like this one. the sweltering summer of 2022 alone caused a record ice melt, and the rhone glacier in switzerland has been affected in a big way.

its massive ice sheets are shrinking every year, >> an almost helpless attempt to stop the seemingly unstoppable. the rhone glacier is covered with white tarps, in hopes of slowing down the melting. it hardly snowed at all last winter. then summer came early. by march, it was already warm here. the glacier tongue continues to retreat, and now a lake has formed beneath it. scientists from e-t-h zurich university are recording the slow death of the glacier. andreas: early in the summer, we observed major changes. we suspect that a cave has formed under the glacier, at the base, and that the ice cover has now become very thin. that's why it's sinking. >> the sun warms the ice from above while the water wears away at it from below. the researchers drill holes for

pressure and temperature sensors, and for cameras. they hope the information will help them understand why the glacier is melting ever more quickly. mylene: now that the ice above is getting thinner and thinner, the ice of the glacier is starting to sink. down there, the river has sort of broken out. the glacier's roof has collapsed, and it's gradually retreating. this big funnel, this crater, is slowly subsiding. maybe this summer, or no later than next summer, they'll meet. there's a gradual retreat, where the lake is getting closer and closer and the glacier keeps receding. >> the rhone glacier is shrinking. if global heating continues at this rate, scientists say, the glacier will be gone by the end of the century. all glaciers in the swiss alps are affected. scientists at e-t-h zurich have calculated that swiss glaciers have lost half their volume since 1931.

at morteratsch in graubünden, this has been documented for 146 years, from 1876 to the present day. and if nothing changes, this is what it could look like by the end of this centy. the meltinice unveils tragedies from the past, like the crash site of a small aircraft that went down on switzerland's aletsch glacier in 1968. it also leads to new tragedies -- for example, the glacier collapse in the dolomite mountains of italy on july 3. a huge block of ice broke loose from the marmolada glacier, claiming 11 lives. the melting is man-made, largely caused by global heating, but also by more than 150 years of pollution. the black layer that covers the ice is not just rock dust. andreas: the dark color is also soot particles, which then forms a greasy mass that stays on top,

and has a negative impact on the ice. because it's darker, it absorbs more sunlight. >> that leads to even more heat, which causes the glacier to melt even faster. that means that during a hot dry summer, the rhone river is higher than usual -- not lower. at least for now, until the glaciers have melted. this would devaste switzerland's water and energy supply. the country generates 60% of its electricity from hydropower. mylene: it's kind of painful that our politicians aren't sitting up and taking notice. it's high time that we introduce truly effective climate protection measures. but the broader public also needs to act. we have to put pressure on politicians, because politics alone won't fix it. >> otherwise, these scientists say, time will run out.

>> to stop global warming, it would be a huge help if passenger planes could fly without emitting any co2. it's a pipe dream, right? no, it's the dream of a french inventor. engineer jean-baptiste loiselet has been relying on the power of the sun and wind to fly thousands of kilometers in his "solar glider" -- using only renewable energy. and he is convinced that his technology has an even bigger future ahead. ♪ jean-baptiste: it's my dream to travel as far as i want without polluting our planet. and i feel like we're on our way there. it's just wonderful. >> jean-baptiste loiselet has been in the air for five hours, and he's covered 220 kilometers today.

>> he must be back there. ah, there he is! >> loiselet is on the 15th leg of his airborne tour de france. he's landing in graulhet, in the south of the country. the tour is intended to promote his project “wings for the planet.” jean-baptiste: what a flight! >> the adventurer and engineer quit his job to focus exclusively on his solar-powered glider. his invention draws curious onlookers wherever he goes, and they want to know how it works. jean-baptiste: my glider takes off on its own, with this propeller. it may seem small, but it's a meter across in diameter. it's powered by batteries, and they're charged by the solar cells on the wings. >> loiselet spent three years working on the glider, and put

all his savings into the prototype. >> i'm impressed. it's very smooth here. he completely integrated the solar cells into the wings. >> i'm an engineer and a pilot, and i have an idea how much work went into this. i think it's fantastic. it makes you dream. >> dream of climate-friendly flight, without emitting a single gram of co2. jean-baptiste: it's already happening. see, it can fly! >> he's preparing for the next leg of the tour. jean-baptiste: either i'll fly to montpellier, to pic saint loup, or i'll fly over floraque. >> the engineer loves nature and technology. he used to work designing underwater robots. once, near the south pole, he watched a young albatross in flight. jean-baptiste: albatrosses in flight are fabulous. they inspired me.

i said i wanted to fly like them one day. >> this year, loiselet is touring france by air, more than two thousand 2000 kilometers. it's how he imagines the future of travel. jean-baptiste: i'm currently 7000 feet above mont saint michel. >> many in the aeronautics industry think he's out of his mind. loiselet is convinced that even jumbo jets will one day fly powered by the sun alone, emission free. jean-baptiste: of course it's hard to imagine a boeing or airbus with solar cells. but modern photovoltaic cells harness just 20% of the energy. in 10 to 20 years, it might be 40% or 60%. planes might be traveling at just 400 kilometers an hour instead of 800 -- but that's enough for domestic flights. >> during takeoff in graulhet,

loiselet demonstrates his invention. conventional gliders need a winch or a motorized plane to start, and a lot of energy. but loiselet makes it up into the air on his own. jean-baptiste: bye bye, graulhet. my tour de france is almost over. >> the aviation pioneer is already planning his tour of europe, to get even more people on board with the dream of flying with the power of the sun. >> well, i would love to fly in one of his airplanes. that was focus on europe for this week. thank you for watching, and if you missed anything or want to share it, you can find the complete broadcast on dw.com. on behalf of the entire focus on europe team, stay healthy, and until next time, bye for now. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.

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11/17/22 11/17/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el sheikh, egypt, this is democracy now! we are outside the plenary of the foreign minister of egypt has just gotten into his car. they have just driven off but there are hundreds of activists that have just come from a people's plenary that have gathered