>> this is "dw news" live from berlin. a bloody battle for control in eastern ukraine. pressure's mercenary groups as they have taken complete control of a town, but ukrainian president zelenskyy rebuts the claim and says fighting is still

going on. meanwhile, poland's president tells volodymyr zelenskyy this country is willing to supply battle tanks, adding to pressure on western allies to boost support with more heavy weapons. u.s. air travel is thrown into chaos after a technical glitch forces all domestic flights to be grounded for several hours. the department of transportation has launched an investigation into the cause. and it is set to be a blast of a year from space travel. we will hear from a former nasa employee who will tell us why. ♪ thank you so much for joining us. tonight, the head of russia's private militia says they have

full control of the ukrainian town. a ukrainian military command statement contradicts the claim and says fighting is still very much going on. taking the town would likely put pressure on track to encircling a neighboring area it has been trying to capture for months now. >> another salvo launched at ukrainian trenches in the months-long campaign to take the city. russian forces have concentrated their firepower in a nearby town . they are claiming progress. >> airborne units have blocked it from the northern and southern parts of the city. russia's air force is targeting strongholds. storm troops are fighting in the city. >> the assault is led by the wagner group, mercenaries under the command of a put an ally. the commission has released this

picture of him in a salt mine and claims the town is surrounded. but ukraine denies it and points to russian losses. >> we see an absolutely irresponsible, to put it mildly, attitude of the russian elite towards military personnel. they die there by the thousands. a lot of blood, a lot of artillery duels, a lot of combat, especially today. this is the hottest point in the war today. >> ukrainians are mounting a stiff resistance. here in german supply howitzer is battling russian positions. >> the deadly impact of such high precision strikes is captured by a drone used by ukrainian soldiers to acquire

targets. the russian unit comes under fire and is forced to withdraw after heavy losses. but ukraine is determined to fight for every inch of territory. russia will pay a high price for any progress on the battlefield. >> with russia apparently making gains in the battle, we ask our correspondent for the latest news. >> the ukrainian military says the fight is continuing. it says the forces are very much holding out and putting up stiff resistance, but of course, they have acknowledge the intensity of the fighting. they call it a challenging and very difficult situation. we are also seeing a lot of images on ukrainian social media about the ongoing fighting. photographers on the ground speaking of the situation as a

living hell, and i think for ukraine, the fighting which has also inflicted losses on their own troops, has become something of a national symbol of defiance. president zelenskyy said the fight is continuing, and he kind of rebutted russian claims they had gained some success in the area. he said that everything is being done to strengthen ukraine's defenses. >> it is seen as a gateway, and both sides, as you just mentioned, have suffered huge losses. it is being called the bloodiest battle of the war. why the fixation on that place in particular? >> right. it is just 10 kilometers south. it is the site in the eastern donetsk region where ukrainian forces have unlocked in a

bloody, pitched battle with russian forces. they have been locked in battle since last summer and we have seen really kind of little combat fighting in that area -- really kind of brutal combat fighting in that area. for russia, it is important. it has become something of a centerpiece in this kind of broader push and campaign to occupy the entire region. analysts have also been saying that capturing it would also open up for pressure to get closer to other more important cities in the area which are in ukrainian hands, and i think the main reason for russia capturing it would be important because it would hand russia significant success after months of humiliating military defeats. >> we often talk about the wegner group. can you tell us about the role of the mercenaries in the fight there?

>> it is a private russian mercenary group. it has recruited a lot of prisoners from pressure within its ranks, and it has played a leading role in that offensive in the east. they are known for their brutal tactics. experts have to -- experts have described fire fighters as being cannon fodder sent to the front lines. the founder of the group is a russian billionaire businessman, a close associate of the russian president, and analysts have said that for him, he views it as a way to boost his own political standing back in russia. >> thank you so much for that update. poland has said it is willing to supply ukraine with battle tanks but only as part of a wider international coalition.

the comments increase pressure on germany to find consensus with western allies on arming ukraine with the heavy weapons that he considers vital to winning the war. >> these are the german-made battle tanks ukraine desperately wants and needs. until now, no western country has given such advanced battle tanks to help the ukrainian military. ukraine's foreign minister remains optimistic that berlin will eventually relent. >> i have no doubt that ukraine will obtain german leopard tanks because deep down, the german government knows they are necessary. >> the german chancellor has been digging his heels in, saying he does not want his country to go it alone in delivering the tanks for fear escalating the conflict. they're equipped with a cannon

and armor and would be a big boost to ukrainian forces. the german government's argument of not wanting to act alone would be hard to maintain if britain does decide to go ahead and deliver its own challenger tanks. allied nations have been pressuring berlin to send leopard 2 tanks from their own stocks without the approval of manufacturing country, germany, other nations cannot supply them to ukraine. among them is poland, which wants to send them as part of an international coalition. currently, around 2000 tanks are in service in 13 european countries. calls to supply the leopard 2's are growing louder, not only from other countries but also from the european union president.

>> said many times since the beginning of pressure's invasion of ukraine that i think ukraine should get all the necessary military equipment that they need, and they can handle to defend their homeland. >> with the final decision in germany's hands, ukraine has warned that berlin's refusal is costing lives. >> let's have a look now at other stories making headlines around the world today. russia has replaced its top military in ukraine again. the head of the russian army's general staff has been put in charge. the previous officeholder was appointed in october following a series of successful ukrainian counteroffensive's. police have begun forcibly evicting climate activists from a village in western germany. protesters have occupied it for two years to prevent it being destroyed to expand a nearby coal mine. the government says the coal is needed to expand energy security

while activists says -- activists say germany is backsliding on climate pledges. u.s. flights are gradually resuming normal operations after a system outage forced the federal aviation administration to ground all flights in the country. the grounding delayed thousands of flights and caused the cancellation of hundreds more. president biden says he has ordered the investigation into the incident. officials say they have found no evidence of a cyberattack. we asked our correspondent how long it would take to get u.s. flight operations back on track. here's what she said. >> actually, they don't seem to know themselves exactly how long this will take. one thing is for sure -- flight experts are saying this will take hours if not days to ensure that things run again as smoothly as usual. the initial software problem,

all those backups that failed, the system seems to be up and running again, but we are already hearing questions out of congress, asking if that is state-of-the-art technology being used by the federal aviation authority or if there could have been a failure there, so now everybody in position -- the backlog is being worked on, but that looks very different according to which airport you're stuck at potentially here in the united states. >> a german parliamentary delegation arrived in taiwan earlier this week for a 4-day trip. the group of about 10 lawmakers met with taiwanese president and other officials in taipei. their visit comes against the backdrop of rising tensions in the region. china claims taiwan as its own territory that it will seize one day by force if necessary, they say. beijing has condemned the trip and criticized visits to the

island us deliberate provocations. dw spoke with two members of the delegation in taipei and asked if germany would consider providing taiwan with weapons for self defense as it did for ukraine. >> we have had many interesting conversations. the question is that we are looking for maybe a different kind of economic in questions of china. this is the big threat. the military thinks -- the military things are not a topic and i think they are a good partner in this area. >> wasn't it too late to provide ukraine with weapons after russia invaded? >> you cannot compare.

the difference is it is not a question of moral or war is war and dead is dead and everything is terrible. what we are seeing is that it is in europe, and we have to help because otherwise, russia won't stop. >> my colleague said it is a wake-up call, and she is 100% right. it is a wake-up call in the sense that it underlines the severe nist -- severeness of the competitions we are in. there's also the rapid change, the nature of the chinese government is undertaking, and what is necessary for europeans is -- and for germany to care about these specific questions. the chinese government is objecting to your visit.

>> the good news is it is not so astonished moment for us. how could i say that the ambassador is not happy, the chinese ambassador, that he traveled to taiwan. it is not really a surprise, but the good thing is we are a free country, so the ambassador could say whatever he wants. this is his right in a free country. we are free elected members of parliament, so as parliamentarian, we could travel wherever we want. >> xi jinping says taiwan is a purely internal matter and that china can force reunification by

force. what do you think of that? >> you can learn and see here -- we learn that nearly every day that concrete maneuvers even across the median line of the taiwan strait, so obviously, he wants to have this military option taken serious, and we say that is unacceptable. >> thank you very much. >> the world health organization says uganda's latest outbreak of ebola is over. it was the fifth of the suit on strain of the virus -- it was the fifth outbreak of the sudan strain of the virus. >> no more patients in this makeshift clinic. inside, the beds are finally empty, and this is a moment to

celebrate. the deadly outbreak of ebola in uganda has ended. >> i really feel great. as one of the people who is a frontline health worker, i'm really happy because i'm still alive. >> uganda was hit by the outbreak in september last year. about 140 people were infected. more than 50 lost their lives. the outbreak was caused by the rare sudan strain for which there is no proper vaccine. as the number of cases spiked, the country imposed lockdowns on affected areas. health staff was mobilized. >> the community is learning a lot from this success. this success is not only of

uganda, it is a northern success , and the global health community will learn and call on uganda. >> the deadly disease spreads through the bodily fluids of infected persons. it often causes bleeding and has a for talent he rate of around 50%. the end of the outbreak offers respite to communities who have lost hundreds in several outbreaks that have hit the country.

>> visits it to be an unprecedented year for private and commercial space missions. a couple of different firms working with nasa will be putting landers down on the surface of the moon in the next few months. some of the research they will conduct will pave the way for future manned missions to our newest celestial neighbor. aerospace manufacturer boeing looks set to finally begin shuttling astronauts back and forth to the international space station with that star liner. the spacecraft passed muster on an un-crewed flight to the iss. rival spacex has been carrying astronauts up to the station for three years. this year, it is planning to send numeral for space tourists -- 4 space tourists. that is scheduled to last three days and incorporate the first

ever civilian spacewalk. down the road, another mission is planned with its starship launch vehicle atop the company's super heavy booster. it will be the most powerful rocket ever built. moving farther out into space, we will see the return in september of material from an asteroid -- astronaut. the round-trip osiris spacecraft has taken seven years to complete. a few weeks after it arrives back on earth, nasa has penciled in the beginning of a trip to another asteroid, this time one rich in metal. the mission will take the probe way out into the solar system to the asteroid belt far beyond the orbit of mars. it will collect data on the super heavy asteroid. and esa is also breaking ground

with a launch to our solar system's largest planet. the trip to jupiter will zero in on the gas giant and some of its frozen satellites after completing an eight-year journey to get there. an exciting year for space research and travel in 2023. >> many exciting space missions are planned for 2023. the head of nasa says it will be a game changing year. a short while ago, i asked a nasa biologist and former astronaut if he had a personal favorite he is looking forward to. >> the one that i'm really personally looking forward to is a commission from -- a mission from esa to go to jupiter. it will be studying closely one of the moons of jupiter, ganymede. i'm really interested in that. some of the other stuff coming up, like, for example, there's

going to be a launch of possibly the starship by spacex, the biggest rocket ever built times three. if that happens, that's just going to get everybody dropping their pencils and watching their screen. if not for that, so use -- soyuz is going to get launched because the one of their does not work. they are launching it with nobody inside to bring the other guys home, so that should be interesting. between that and the missions already in place, again, i'm busy every day covering space, let's put it that way. >> space activity seems to be picking up speed. is that just my perception or has there been a space revival of sorts? >> i would not call it a revival. i think things are just speeding up. there's more countries and more companies and more people putting more things in more places in space. i did another interview early this morning about the problem

we are having in the states with air travel and traffic and so forth. i set all the stuff we are putting into space, we need to come up with a plan to track that, too. there's so much of it now. if anything, the issues are how you manage that and getting people interested in putting things up there. >> talking about people interested in putting things up there, spacex and boeing are just two of the commercial players in the game. we heard about them in the report. how much of a role do they play currently in pushing for crucial advancements? >> spacex has a spacecraft that one version you could launch with just cargo on board. the other you could launch with astronauts. there are some astronauts out there now on spacex spacecraft. there was a problem with the russian soyuz craft, which is totally different on the outside but does the same thing. they finally came up with a plan

to launch a russian spacecraft empty, and then everyone comes home. they toyed with the idea of splitting the crew in half, half coming home in a spacex capsule and the other half coming home in the russian spacecraft. when the boeing spacecraft becomes operable, you will have three options. it's like you go to a party at summit's house and some of his breakdown, you get in somebody else's car and go home. >> now that you mentioned russia, with everything going on down here, not only the war in ukraine but also growing tensions with china, where do you see global cooperation in space going this year? >> there's an analog on earth, and that is in antarctica where many countries have made claims over the last century or so. everybody cooperates. it does not matter you are. if there is an accident,

everybody throws in their resources. we have an avalanche that killed several people at everyone from everywhere came in to help. that's what you do when you have a crew or admission in an extreme environment like space -- or a mission in an extreme environment like space. for the most part, you're up there with a crew. the interesting thing is we get along better in space then we do on earth, so maybe we are learning something interesting about how to get along with each other that we can apply back on earth. just a thought. >> we don't have much time, but i do want to ask you if we missed something. are there anybody space projects we should be watching out for that are still flying under the radar? >> the interesting answer is i don't know but i would not be surprised. you can now launch spacecraft that are this big for about 100,000 dollars or about the same in euros. there's also it's of countries like nepal and so forth that are

watching now -- there's all sorts of countries like nepal and so forth that are watching now. i would love to be totally surprised and caught offguard by something like that, but just today, web space telescope, u.s. discovered its first planet. it is about the size of earth. does not have the same atmosphere. i did not expect to see that. it just popped up out of nowhere. we will see that every day from now on. >> always great speaking to you. >> my pleasure. >> and some sports before we go. at the snowboard world cup in austria, the home team has beaten germany in the parallel slalom mix event. austria came away with the gold medal. their german rivals narrowly won the first run, but the latter failed to finish the second, handing the wind to the austrians. -- handing between -- handing

the win to the austrians. equity was discussing the claims of sexual harassment that have been made against the 81-year-old. the federation itself is the target of an investigation ordered by the french minister after claims of sexual harassment and bullying in the organization surfaced in the french media. you are watching "dw news" from berlin. after a short break, i will back -- i will be back to take you through "the day." hope to see you then.

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>> live from paris, world news from france 24. these arthe headlines. ssia gives conflicting versions oevents. mercenaries paint a bloody picture. moscow says airstrikes and ground fighting are continuing. this is in line with ukraine's present statement that the battle is ongoing. more on the situation, we are live in kiev. more demonstrations from

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