berlin. germany's fourth prime minister makes a visit to ukraine. she says it is the symbol of madness of the war of aggression. kyiv says 12,000 children have been abducted from ukraine and taken to russia.

dw visits one fortunate family that has been reunited. at least 14 people are dead after california is hit by floods and mudslides. the entire seaside community of montecito was told to evacuate. prince harry's long-awaited memoir finally hits bookstore shelves. the release follows leaked revelations about sibling rivalry and his estrangement from the royal family. ♪ to our viewers on pbs and all around the world, thank you for joining us. the german foreign minister has made a surprise visit to the northeastern city in ukraine near the front line.

she visited a power station and a children's hospital. ukraine has been under increasing attack from russia. she referred to the incredible stamina and bravery of the ukrainians. >> german foreign minister annelina belbach followed an invitation of her ukrainian counterpart. to show a different part of the country apart from kiev that has been visited by foreign heads of state and top-level politicians uh quite frequently in the past she's actually the first foreign guest who have come to hakif a region that's being shelled

almost on a daily basis a town that has or a city rather that has been largely destroyed that has been besieged for quite some time and is dealing with serious issues. with its critical infrastructure and this is also one of the points one of the the the points of her visit to raise the attention for the consequences for the critical infrastructure here for the situation with with power with heating with water came with a promise a package she pledged which includes transformers and generators to help with blackouts that plague this town as well as 20 million euros in demining funding because the point here was that reconstruction cannot wait until the end of the war but it has to be started now what did the foreign minister say max about delivering german tanks to ukraine right so that is a quite a controversial issue not just here in ukraine but even more so perhaps in berlin where the coalition government cannot decide on

sending heavy tanks to ukraine so far so the german foreign stated that she is in support of everything that can help liberate ukraine and she is in favor of weapons deliveries in fact she said that to put pressure on. she said the ukrainian tanks they don't want them to move up and down on the streets but you need them to eventually with the war. he also said the german government knows this. that is very much a matter of time for them to come around and eventually send the tanks. >> russia's invasion of ukraine has also made victims of the youngest people. ukraine says 12,000 children

have been abductive from occupied territories and taken to russia. we found one family for whom the separation has finally ended. >> reunited at last. oksana and her daughter. it is nearly one year since they last hugged. oksana is a combat medic for the ukrainians but her brother is separatist. while she was on the front line, he took his family and her daughter to russia. to understand how this was possible, we travel to central ukraine. oksana moved here after her house in the east was destroyed by russian missiles. she preferred to not bring her daughter to our interview. she is still recovering from head injuries sustained on the front line last september. a widow, she left with her

parents somewhere she thought was safe. >> when i was injured, all of my possessions id phone were burned. i could not contact my family immediately. when i finally found an opportunity to call my mother, i found out that my own brother had taken my child to the territory of the russian federation. >> it took four months to get her back. >> i immediately filed a complaint with the police. i knew the if i didn't solve this at an official level, i would never see my daughter again. i am a military person so there was no way i would be able to go to russia and my brother did not want to return my daughter. >> this is where ukraine's parliament commissioner for human rights investigates. >> this is part of the entire war crime system and genocide of the ukrainian nation which the russian federation is carrying out.

ukrainian children are deported, russians are trying to resettle them throughout the territory as quickly as possible. >> it can often take months for families to find out where the children are. volunteers say it's a complicated process to get them back. >> we started to organize the trips to russia after being contacted by mothers reporting the abduction of their children. we organized the necessary documents and covered all expenses. then we arranged the travel itself. having to go through european countries then belarus, russia, then returned the children this time. oksana fought for the chance to talk with her while she was in russia. eventually he gave me my daughter's new phone number and began to allow her to be in touch and give her some internet

so i could talk to her sometimes. she went to school there, she was treated well. she constantly said mother i want to come home. oksana no longer talks to her brother. she hopes to go back to the front lawn, but for now they are making up for lost time. >> we are together all day long especially now that it is the holidays. they communicate a lot. >> for more, we are joined by a researcher with amnesty international. and misty international says the unlawful transfer of people amounts to war crimes and likely crimes against humanity. can you tell us how this happened?

>> particularly with regards to children and specifically separated unaccompanied or orphaned children, children who were fleeing on their own, there seems to have been an orchestrated policy by the russian government and russian forces on the ground to not let them flee toward ukrainian government held territories and instead to push them back into russian occupied areas or into russia. we spoke to 15 and 16-year-old boy who were fleeing mariupol. instead of being able to flee onto ukrainian government held areas, they were turned around and pushed to donetsk. this is a violation of international law. >> what happens to the children who end up in russia or russian-controlled territory? >> as you are aware,

interviewing people inside russia itself is very difficult, risky if not impossible. most of the people we interviewed were able to leave however looking at the policies and laws inside russia right now, it is clear there is a concerted effort to absorb these children into russian society. the simple five the process whereby these children can apply or have rusted -- russian citizenship imposed on them. that means it would be easier to adopt them into russian families. we are seeing policies and laws that would make these children effectively russian and deny them their ukrainian identity. >> this didn't just start with the most recent aggression. this is going on since 2015. can you tell us how it started? >> yes absolutely. in russia's first war that began in 2014 and 2015 in eastern ukraine, we also saw similar

cases where children were stopped at checkpoints and turned around. then sent to russia. the ukrainian government at that time filed a case with the course -- court of human rights and those children believe that -- before that case was resolved were sent back to ukraine. have not seen the same this time. the number of children being returned is very low and there is no concerted effort or mechanism to return these children to ukraine. >> is there any number you have, do we know how many children are affected and how many families managed to be reunited like the ones we have seen in the report? >> it's really not clear. the ukrainian government has been documenting the number of children it believes to be missing or having been taken to russia. the problem is the lack of transparency on the russian

side. they are not saying how many children they have, where they're located or how old they are. that is problematic because without this information, we cannot trace these children. maybe they were living with a parent and their parent died but that doesn't mean they are an orphan. maybe they have an aunt or family that they could stay with but they cannot find them. the problem is the total lack of information. >> thank you so much. let's have a look at other stories making headlines. 24 humanitarian workers are in trial -- on trial in greece for helping people cross the mediterranean. amnesty international says they could be sentenced to 25 years in prison if convicted. the accused workers say they

were trying to save the lives of migrants and distressed. it is been recommended to travel with masks after the discovery of the latest covid-19 subvariant. europe had its second warmest year on record in 2022. records were smashed in several countries and heat waves caused several death. worldwide, the past eight years have been the eight or missed on record. leaders of the u.s., canada, and mexico have been holding the second day of talks in next coast city. they make up one third of the global economy said their corporation is closely watched. known as the three amigos

summit, it is a tent is by -- attended by the leaders of the u.s., canada, and mexico. earlier i spoke to our washington bureau chief who is following the summit in mexico city. >> we just gotta read out from the white house. they are tackling the issues that matter to the biden administration. climate change, immigration, the economy. these three countries are really powerful and therefore this summit is not only watched in the northern hemisphere of the americas but all around the world. the main topic probably will be for that reason the economy and we will hear something how the u.s. probably will help mexico in producing for example electric car to fight the climate crisis.

we will also hear that they tried to fight the root causes of migration. this is a jiu-jitsu for all the people living in the three countries and is important to know that all three leaders are facing reelections soon if president biden will run again. >> is this meeting want to provide a way forward for the thousands of migrants stuck in limbo at the u.s. southern border? >> no, people being stuck there were hoping that the outcome would make the situation better but joe biden has made it clear that he wants people to come to the border. what he put out is this new agreement that he will allow around 30,000 migrants per month into the u.s. but they have to apply through an app.

that means they have to have access to a mobile phone. they have to be able to fly into the country. they have to have sponsors in the united states. that will limit the access and make the situation for those already stuck at the border probably even worse. >> it won't stop the people already making the trek up north with the risks they are taking. lots of attention on u.s.-mexico relations but it would not be the three amigos without canada. what has been the role of justin trudeau at the summit? >> joe biden and justin trudeau met early this morning. joe biden said when we worked together, we can achieve great things. he said justin trudeau is a person on whom i can always count. they also talked about migration and the economy but also about their shared values. they talked about ukraine and they want to support ukrainians in their fight against the russian invasion.

with the two northern members of the three countries, they were talking about broader issues not only the economy and migration. >> thank you. heavy rains have caused rock slides and flooding in many areas of the united states. in the western coastal state of california, at least 14 people have been killed so far and more than 200,000 homes and businesses left without power. residents in the town of montecito home to any celebrities including prince harry and meghan markle have been asked to leave. >> flooding his cause devastation as far as the eye can see. homes and cars damaged by the floodwater. california is fighting a series of relentless and powerful storms. torrential rains and high winds

have forced authorities to issue warnings for large parts of the state. in santa barbara county, all 10,000 residents of the star-studded town of montecito were asked to leave. >> that's the price of living in such a beautiful place. when it rains like this, it causes a lot of destruction. >> in santa cruz, the rockslide and floodwater forced the closure of the highway. scientists say these powerful storms are climate change induced disasters. dealing with the new reality requires climate adaptation and climate resilient infrastructure. >> hot is getting hotter, dry is getting drier, what is getting wetter. the consequence of this not only in terms of our deeper understanding and are

consciousness in terms of lived realities but also policymaking, we are moving dramatically in different directions. >> tens of thousands remain without power. forecasters expect more range on top of heavy downpours. >> good to see you again. taking place five years to the day after deadly mudslides killed 23 in montecito. how typical is what's happening for this part of california this time of year? >> we talk about the wintertime weather patterns that california gets. it's either feast or famine. sometimes no precipitation whatsoever. other times, penance in an atmospheric river. that comes into the coast like a firehose. you see prolific rainfall rates. in the mountains, tons of

snowfall. the sierra nevada's saw 1-2 meters of snowfall in the past 48 hours. rock slides and mudslides are issues for flooding as well and 14 are dead so far. >> california seems to be very susceptible to extreme weather events. every year, we talk about wildfire season. the governor of california now saying dry is getting drier and what is getting wetter. how closely is this link to climate change? >> when i tell people the both drought and flooding can be tied to climate change, people say how can it be? it comes down to warmer air's ability to hold more moisture. when the temperature gets warmer, the atmosphere can hold or moisture.

in the summertime when there isn't as much moisture, the air is drier the air gets warmer so it sucks more water out of the ground and reinforces drought. two sides of the same coin. in terms of atmospheric rivers, sometimes we get coincidence. the weather patterns that favor more rainfall. however climate change is putting that into record territory. >> it looks like this is not the end of it. what do people have to brace for in the coming hours and days? >> you can see sunshine behind me. we're getting a break between two different rain systems. overall, it is been a busy stretch of eight of these really bad weather systems since christmas time. zone pattern steering the systems into the west coast. i think it will last the next 10 days. expect three or four more big storms.

>> thank you for breaking it down for us. it's not all bad news for prince harry today. his memoir has gone on sale after a flurry of interviews and a series of leaks. readers are thirsting for gossip they wasted no time in getting their copies. it is already the fastest selling nonfiction book in europe ever. >> this shop in victoria station opened at midnight. the first to start selling one of the most hotly anticipated books of the year. after weeks of media hype, people are keen to finally get their hands on a copy of prince harry's memoir and make up their own minds about his story. >> i expect to be able to read more about the truth of what goes on hind the palace walls. i feel like they are a notoriously secret family.

>> i want to be able to paint the picture myself, to see for myself. >> i want to hear his story in his words because at this point, the british media are radicalizing the british public against prince harry. >> according to the prince, the ghost written met warner -- memoir. the book made headlines long before its publication. it contains explosive revelations about the royal family and their treatment of the prince and his wife, megan. passages from the book were leaked before its release. in one of them, harry describes a physical altercation with his brother, prince william. the sibling rivalry something he also brought up in a string of interviews with british and u.s. broadcasters to promote the book. >> there has always been this competition between us.

they pitched the whales is against sussex is. they always pitch us against each other. the only way i can check us and correct those mistruths is to write something. >> how much this will hurt the royal family is not clear yet. for now, readers will have to decide whether the book that has been causing issued stir worldwide lives up to the hype. >> rafael nadal will be vying for a 23rd grand slam singles title next month but he also has a passion for boats. he has launched a new team in the world's first all electric powerboat series. the boost may just be a drop in

the ocean he thinks it is worthwhile. >> powerboat racing is entering a new era. the world's first all electric championship is being watched later this year. as the sport matches formula e by investing in environmentally friendlier technologies. they have a big name on board. nadal might be famous for his tennis exploits, but he is a new championship team owner. >> i love boats. i love competition. at the same time, i know the formula one championship will help the technology in the nautical world. i'm excited about that, but at the same time i'm a competitor.

it's going to be a worldwide competition between great teams on excited to be part of it. on the other hand, i know the tour around the world will help oceans to restore and protect the biodiversity. >> the spain crew will compete against another team affiliated with the name. >> it is right to hear that you are joining the world championship with team spain. i know you have 22 grand slams, but let's see who is champion of the water. let's go. >> they want their teams to produce exciting racing while also trying to preserve marine ecosystems. >> a quick reminder of our top stories today. the german foreign minister has made a surprise visit to a

northeastern ukrainian series -- city. she praised what she called the stamina and courage of the ukrainian people. severe storms are bringing more flooding and mudslides to the u.s. state of california. at least 14 people have died in the last 10 days in storm related incidents. residents in a community of montecito have been told to evacuate. you been watching dw news live from berlin. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. we will see you there.

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paris here on "france 24."ve strikes scheduled us france's government reaffirms its mission to overhaul the country's pension scheme. opposition politicians and the public alike. fighting continues in eastern ukraine with case defense ministry saying it is now likely that russian troops captured most of one town. it's taking could be a symbolic territorial gain for moscow after months