♪ >> this is dw news, live from berlin. russia tax infrastructure sites across ukraine. russian rockets hit residential buildings and knocked out power and heating in several cities, even causing blackouts in neighboring moldova. also coming up -- the european parliament, under cyber attack from a pro-kremlin group, hours after the or limit declares russia a state sponsor of terrorism.

we will hear the latest from our correspondent in brussels. and with protests in iran showing no sign of letting up, the government is growing ever more violent in its response. we take a look at the current situation in the islamic republic. and at the world cup, japan stunt germany in the first group match. the next up set of a favorite within the tournament. ♪ to those of you joining us on pbs in the united states, and to our viewers around the world, welcome. russia has stepped up its rocket attacks in ukraine, with strikes on cities across the country. authorities say rockets hit a residential building in the capital, kyiv, killing at least three people. the strikes knocked out power in the western city of lviv and

disrupted water supply in several regions. in moldova, officials say power was lost half of the country due to the strikes in ukraine. this comes after officials said a strike on a maternity ward on tuesday killed a newborn baby. reporter: pulled from the rubble of what was a maternity ward. this doctor was fortunate to make it out alive. but the strike to take the life of the baby was there to deliver. his mother was rescued. just the latest casualties of yet another attack on a health care facility. moscow has denied targeting clinics, but they have a kind of more than 700 attack since the start of the war nine months ago. russia's repeated attacks on energy infrastructure are making it harder for doctors to provide

care at those hospitals that are still standing. here, in kherson, they are forced to work by flashlight as they work to save a teenager whose hand was blown off during a strike. without power for the elevator, he has to be carried up six flights of stairs on a stretcher to reach an operating room lit with only emergency lights. >> it is hard, without an elevator, hard without light, to get the child to the sixth floor, no water, no heating. reporter: working in the dim light, doctors amputated teenager's left arm. his mother waits nearby, inconsolable. >> they shoot at civilians, at children, we didn't call them here and didn't kill any of their children, so why are they killing ours? reporter: but with russian

attacks continuing in winter beginning to bite, kherson residents are facing shortages of water, food, and other essentials. many are making a difficult choice. and joining the government's voluntary evacuation effort. boarding buses to seek safety further from the frontline. >> following today's strikes, philip schultz want to want straight on the outskirts of kyiv that was hit by a missile. reporter: at least three people died in the street behind me, just outside the city of kyiv, when a missile hit the place in the afternoon. local residents we have talked to were still under shock. there's no running water or electricity. there are power cuts and water cuts all over the capital of kyiv and many other cities in ukraine. the mayor of kyiv said important

infrastructure was hit but did not want to go into any details. what is for sure is that is another massive wave of russian missiles on ukraine. another very dark day for the country, as attacks on the civilian infrastructure continue. reporter: -- >> our correspondent also is in kyiv, giving us these details on the russian strikes. reporter: this really was a big deal. one of the biggest attacks of the last mth, month and a half, where russia has discovered it is not able to do a lot to push ukraine back on the battlefield, instead attacking the big cities, attacking civilian infrastructure, power, water, heating plants. most of kyiv is currently without power. that is definitely not the norm. driving around right now, most of the city is in total darkness. most of the traffic lights are out. occasionally you will see a few buildings with lights on.

you will ask yourself, why? often people get very annoyed because they see their neighbors with power and cannot understand wh they are connected when the rest of the city is not. the general picture here is one darkness d this is sothing repeating across the country, people without water and power. often without heating. there is a sense that in some parts of the country, they are reconnecting households to the cities, but it's obviously desperate. you can probably see around me once or has finally arrived here in ukraine after a very warm aumn. peop aresking tmselves how this is going to work outhow they are going to cope. given spring is still for five months of -- four-five months off. >> how are ukrainians holding up so far? reporter: the expectation from the russians as this would break ukrainian resistance.

forcing them to come to some kind of deal with russia and make life more bearable. right now we are seeing the opposite effect, anger, are seeing a lot of western help coming, images of people surviving without power or heating somehow. there's no sense of panic but there is an expectation some people may leave. the question of whether some pele might leave again after coming back, in germany or poland or somewhere else, there is an effort to try to offer people some kind of respite. police stations have opened up, where people can charge their phones and get an internet connection.

i ha seen ople ling wiout power or water for days or weeks on end. but when people are unable to reach their relatives, unable to work out what is happening to their family elsewhere, that really is the thing that really is most difficult for morale here. nicole: understandably so. thank you so much. please, try to stay safe the european parliament's website has been hit by a cyberattack hours after he designated russia -- they designated russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. it voted overwhelmingly in favor of moscow's repeated strikes on civilian targets in ukraine. the designation will have legal ramifications, as the eu doesn't currently have a legal structure in place to deal with. -- deal with it. our correspondent and brussels told us more -- in brussels told us more. reporter: the website appears to be back up now, but it has gone up and down again just this afternoon. what we saw happen is that

shortly after the parliament voted on this measure that you mentioned, to declare russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, the website was no longer accessible, even clicking on it to read the statement following the vote, you could not get in. this remains down for some time. the president of the european parliament went to twitter to say that a pro-kremlin group had gleamed response ability for the attack -- claimed responsibility for the attack and the tech team was fighting back against it. she said she had one response for the hackers, and that is glory to ukraine. this measure as you mentioned does not have legal standing. the parliament at this time only has the ability to declare individuals and organizatns as terrorist entities. but they hope that this measure will push european union governments and the eu itself to create a legal framework in which countries can be designated as state sponsors of terrorism. this is something that is done in the u.s., but they have not

come so far as to declare russia one of these countries yet. nonetheless of course, european parliamentarians spoke out against the attack and said this showed that neither measure -- that the measure of passed today declare english as a terrorist entity was well proven. nicole: here as a look at other stories making news around the world today. a russian court has opened the trial of a russian politician, the city counselor could face up to a decade in prison for denouncing president vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine. 's prosecution comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on dissidents in russia. the u.k.'s supreme court ruled scotland does not have the legal power to hold a new referendum on independence without british government support. it is a blow to the scottish independence movement, which lost a 2014 referendum by a 10% margin. the european space agency has

selected its first astronaut with a physical disability. the former british paralympics sprinter lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. the esa's latest recruitment aims to bring diversity to space travel. two of the six training astronauts are women. the statue of a controversial german colonial officer has been taken down in namibia's capital after pressure from activists. they commanded in 1993 a brutal operation in which somebody people were killed in what was then known as german south africa -- the country was a german colony between 1884 and 1915. for more than eight weeks, iranians has been protesting in the streets, calling for freedom and an end to the islamic republic, in spite of the government's violent response. on thursday, the united nations tops right body will hold a meeting to consider

launching an investigation into the bloody crackdown. and the evidence found could later be used before national and international courts to hold people accountable for crimes committed in the name of iran's rulers. reporter: down with a dictator, that is what iranians have been taking to the streets for, voicing their anger about human rights violations by the islamic republic and demanding an end the theocratic rule. resistance against the system however is something the regime shows zero tolerance for. security forces, designed to protect opponents, are attacking protesters across the country. mostly in minority regions like are just down -- like kurdistan. >> it seems like the protests have escalated and spread and actually even smaller towns and villages are now joining the protests.

the regime is using more violence,, ammunitn -- combat ammunition. we have more and more casualties. reporter: more than 300 people have been killed, according to human rights groups, including more than 40 children. in many cases, relatives are forced to pretend their deaths were accidental. thousands others are taken away by the security forces and end up in one of the country's notorious prisons, along with other political prisoners like human rights activists, where they are subject to torture, according to family members. >> the islamic republic enjoys the silent torture of hussein, and the mental torture of my parents. people are satisfied with the torture. if something happens to my brother, t entire system of the islamic republic is

responsible. reporter: often, families are not even told where relatives are or what is happening to them, so some come to the present everyday, demanding information -- prison everyday demanding information or the release of their loved ones. a release that is everything but certain and the sharia law protesters can be charged for wagin war, background that may result in the death penalty. >> the aim is to maintain or even build up the barrier of fear that they need in order to rule the country where people don't want them. so that penalty is a most -- is the most efficient tool to spread fear and the society. reporter: so far, that fear is not putting protesters off. they keep going to the streets, determined to continue until the regime falls. nicole: more protests triggering

more violence leading to more protests. we have a lecture at the department of international relations at the university of sussex. i asked him whether iran is trapped in a vicious cycle. >> indeed, that is indeed the case up until now, this cycle of violence. the regime hoping more violence will suppress the protests or scare people off the streets. in particular kurdistan has been -- has seen violence by the forces for precisely that reason. so far this has not worked as you also mentioned. a test for the viability of this strategy is a general strike which has been called for by the main kurdish organizations to take place tomorrow across iran. the intention is to relieve kurdistan from the massive

replacement and pressure that it is currently under by people in other parts of iran. if that takes place to a reasonable extent, that would be a milestone in this process because it shows that coordination and cooperation between different parts of iran, different regions, especially a place like kurdistan which is politically quite organized can actually countermeasure and design countermeasures against the government's excessive violence across iran. that may force the government to change its calculation and how it is dealing with the protests. nicole: the u.s. today sanctioned three more iranian security officials. have the sanctions had any effect so far? >> not really. many of these officials do not necessarily have to travel or do not travel normally.

and as we see, the cost of maintaining this huge repression is huge, the government has been able to pay for it partly because actually the russia-ukraine war has led to the massive increase in energy prices as we know, which has resulted in an implicit decision by the u.s. in not fully enforcing its sanctions on oil industry in iran. there are many reports since the biden administration came to power that iran is able to and actually does sell oil to china and other customers at a very reduced price and that is enabling iran to actually basically finance its repression of the process. so far these sanctions have not had an effect on the repression of the protesters by the regime. nicole: tomorrow germany will demand an investigation of the crackdown in the u.n. human rights council. what you expect -- what do you expect? >> from what i've seen in the

news, this meeting will look at a draft resolution, which demands a high level international investigation into the repression and crackdown on the protesters. this is actually approved, i think it is a quite significant move because that will set in motion a longer process of international united nation-led investigations into this killing of the protesters. given the history of the region in terms of humanitarian intervention, we rember 1991 following the kuwait war, how the operation provided comfort to save iraqi kurds from the regime at the time, depending on the scale and continuation of the protests, some sort of international intervention or at least exercise of further influence iran's behavior might be on the agenda. nicole: many thanks. >> thank you. nicole: a 16-year-old student

has been killed and at least 18 people injured following explosions at two bus stops in jerusalem. police have described the explosions as a coordinated attack. here's more. reporter: at a bus stop on the outskirts of jerusalem, a blast caught on cctv camera during the morning rush hour. israeli police tried to piece together what happened. a bomb built to spray out shrapnel on anyone nearby. around half an hour later, at another bus stop elsewhere on the outskirts of jerusalem, a second explosion. the israeli authorities believed the two separate blasts are related. >> i really, really hope we captured terrorists -- capture the terrorist or terrorists. it is clear that it is something

more complex, based on the connection of the events. reporter: a teenager attending a jewish religious school was killed. and over a dozen people were injured. the man expected to be israel's next prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, visited survivors in hospital. >> we still have a fight with brutal terror that is raising his head again. we will do everything possible to restore securit to all citizens of rael soon. reporter: netanyahu is in talks to form a far right coalition government. ultranationalist lawmaker -- expected to be part of it. he demanded israel lay siege to the groups carrying out the attacks. attention has been mounting for months between israelis and palestinians. and the twin blasts are making the situation more volatile. meanwhile, security forces

search for evidence. the palestinian militant group hamas didn't claim responsibility for the blasts. ♪ nicole: before the bar got rolling for germany's world cup opener against japan, the team had a message for fifa, german players covered their mouths during a team photo just ahead of kickoff. it was in response to the threat of sanctions over the one love armband. on the page, germany were eager to set things straight after a disastrous exit in russia four years ago. but their opener didn't go exactly as planned. reporter: they broke the deadlock 30 minutes into the game after converting from the spot. germany could have easily increased their lead, but lacked bite. the chances were they are, the finishing was willful, though.

was this an upset in the making? the japanese fans seemed to think so. they made it a reality by giving japan the lead, 2-1 the final score. the next big upset at this world cup. this time it was japan meeting world cup champion germany. nicole: in today's matches, an uneventful game between croatia and morocco ended in eagleless -- a goal less draw. and a dominant display against costa rica. they found the back of the net after an artistic effort in the 11th minute, the first of three goals for spain in the first half a, and he did not slow down there. torres with his second goal of the magic, then 18-year-old gavi added another. the final score, a convincing

7-0. germany crashed out of the last world cup and 2018 in the group stage after losing their opening match against mexico. we asked our sports correspondent if history was about to repeat itself. reporter: i think it would be tempting to say that, obviously, after this result. there's a lot of disappointment here for germany fans and everybody who has watched the germinating. there's an obvious difference. for 70 minutes germany were very good tonight and the problem was that at the end, they played bad football when it counted. that is ultimately why they lost the game. i'm not sure whether it is the same as pressure four years ago. some have said it feels that way. there was a key difference in terms of the performance. there are some reasons to be optimistic tonight if you are a germany fan even if it is not obvious. nicole: they came under a lot of fire for bowing to fee for bowing to fifa pressure over the one love armband.

in a move that was heavily criticized on social media, they opted to show their disagreement by covering their mouths. here's a look at how fans reacted. >> i very much appreciated the sign, because it is really hard to tolerate that the organizer of the tournament basically prevents us from thinking and speaking what we think. so from that perspective, i really appreciate this sign of our team. >> it is good that they have done something, that they have sent this message. because this is the right thing that they are doing here of course. the signal could have been stronger however. at least it has been signaled. >> i think it was something good in between. between violating the rules and not doing anything, so yeah, i appreciate what they did. >> instead of covering their mouths, they should have just played better football and put more energy onto the pitch. nicole: one fan, claiming the

debate was a distraction. nobody out of the germany camp has pulled that card yet, but could this controversy have played a role in germany's poor performance on the pitch? >> i think it is a complex situation. he thought it was too cheap to say this is the reason we lost the game. that is fair. on the other hand have to say that it played a role -- you have to say that it played a role. they talked about it with the players. they wanted to send a message. this has been a point of discussion throughout the tournament, even before the start of the world cup in qatar. it's been something they have been thinking about. it was on their mind. the issue is that they played good football for 70 minutes. if they scored a second goal, we wouldn't be having a conversation. instead, they end up losing the game and we are talking about both issues.

as i said earlier, the reason germany lost and it was a played better football when it mattered, not because of the armband conversation. nicole: they are probably looking their wounds while spain destroyed costa rica -- what is it mean for germany on their chances to go far at this world cup? >> well, nothing good, if we are honest. you never want to lose the world cup opener. spain wenning heavily has major consequences. germany please explain next -- plays spain next. japan plays costa rica and the opening game of that day. if japan wins, it means that germany effectively have to beat spain to avoid an unimaginable embarrassment, which would be going out of the world cup after two games, which is worse than pressure, hard to believe but that is where germany are. nicole:onathan harding in doha , thank you so much.

here's a quick reminder of the top stories we're following for you today. russia has launched fresh attacks on infrastructure sites across ukraine. the rockets have knocked out power and heating in several cities and caused massive blackouts not only in ukraine, but also in neighboring moldova. stay with us, after a short break, i will be back to take you through "the day." i hope to see you there in a few moments. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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mark: welcome to "live from paris," world news and analysis from france 24. these are the headlines -- 67 cruise missiles fired at ukraine. the military in kyiv revealing this new statistic, saying its energy supply has been targeted. civilians will be the victims, they say, as temperatures plunge below zero already this winter, and tonight, separation -- zaporizhzhia power station is once again running on generators. the united