brent: this is dw news, live from berlin. accusations flying over a u.s. spy drone that crashed over the black sea. u.s. defense minister alston says he has talked with his russian counterpart about the downing of the drone. the incident has raised tensions between the two nations even further. plus, as fighting rages in bakhmut, we look at kyiv's plans to launch a counter this spring.

also, our u.s. troubles spreading to europe? shares in switzerland's second-biggest bank, credit suisse, hit a new low today. investors still spooked after the collapse of california's silicon valley bank on friday. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers watching on pbs in the united states, and to all of you around the world, welcome. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin and his counterpart, sergei surovikin have spoken about the drone that ended up in the black sea. it was in russian airspace when two fighter jets them feel honored, causing it to crash. austin had a choice words for moscow after that incident.

>> on tuesday, russian aircraft engaged in dangerous and reckless and unprofessional behavior over the black sea. two russian jets dumped fuel on an unmanned u.s. mq-9 aircraft conducting routine operations. one russian jet struck our aircraft, resulting in a crash. this hazardous episode is a part -- is part of a pattern of aggressive and risky and unsafe actions by russian pilots and international airspace. i just got off the phone with my russian counterpart, minister sergei shoigu. i said is important that the modern powers have a model of transparency and communication. the united states will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows.

brent: 24 hours in one phone call later, i asked our correspondent in washington, what do we know today that we did not know yesterday? reporter: we clearly see, we just heard it from secretary austin, that the u.s. government does not want to escalate this incident. today secretary of defense lloyd austin talked to his russian counterpart and referred to yesterday's incident is a troubling episode, said it was dangerous, unprofessional and reckless, but he also said that this is part of the pattern of aggressive and risky actions from russia. however, he added that the u.s. does not seek armed conflict with russia, and that the u.s. will continue flying international space, that it is up to pressure to encounter u.s. aircraft in a safe and professional manner. this is a clear alert towards russia, but nothing more.

they don't want to escalate the situation. in the pentagon briefing, we also learned that they are not certain if this encounter yesterday was intentional. general milley said that the aggressive behavior was intentional, but the actual physical contact with the aircraft, they are not sure if that was intentional as well. brent: that is a slight change from what we heard yesterday. what about the drone itself, the wreckage, is it still in the black sea somewhere? reporter: yes, it is still in the black sea, around 5000 feet in the water. we also know that it is deep in the sea and very unlikely that they will be able to recover it. we also know that all sensitive information in the drone was deleted before the aircraft was brought down so if there was

important information, that is not the case anymore. brent: our correspondent from washington, as always, thank you. as the forces continue to hold off a month-long attempt by russia to take the eastern city of bakhmut, kyiv is signaling that it is gearing up to launch a counteroffensive. many are pinning their hopes on a new western weapons, including german-made leopard tanks which are due to arrive soon. the new hardware could help ukraine break the stalemate in many areas and it could help ukraine take back new territory. reporter: russian artillery fires on bakhmut after months of attempts to take the city. ukraine has forced its enemy to commit major resources and take tens of thousands of casualties. the ukrainian military says it is buying time for a spring counteroffensive. part of the preparations for that counteroffensive are happening far from the front lines.

in spain, ukrainian troops are finishing training on advanced western tanks. they hope the leopards will be a game changer on the battlefield. until now, ukraine has been using older model russian tanks. ukrainian troops are getting training from nato forces elsewhere too, like here in the u.k., learning the art of combined arms warfare. how to coordinate all the high-tech weaponry with other assaults. on the front, a tank commander has high expectations. >> the concept and tactics of tank usage in battle will significantly change because western tanks have a higher firing range and other capabilities like digital information field. if this equipment is used properly, one can destroy the enemy before the enemy approaches its firing range. reporter: analysts say ukraine will likely mount a major attack

in zaporizhzhya province, aiming at a russian city, and a successful push would cut through russian supply lines to its forces further west. there are factors like weather that can only be guessed at, not controlled. spring mud slowly offenses, bogging down the russians and ukrainians alike. that means the timing and the target of any counteroffensive are still a mystery, which is just the way ukrainian commanders want it. brent: with many of the best western weapons still to arrive in ukraine, i asked a military analyst when he expects this ukrainian counteroffensive to begin. guest: i would expect this in early may. the vehicles mentioned in that report, tanks, fighting vehicles and so forth, closer the adequate training of the many trips required, will be if not maximum at that point, will be adequate, i think. the ukrainians will have to

balance the troops available with the time left in the fighting season, as it were, later in the year. so early may or late april. brent: we know that ukrainian troops have been fighting for more than seven months. could the losses there jeopardize kyiv's ability to launch an effective counteroffensive? will the law of diminishing returns begin to set in? guest: from what we are told, or from reports, it seems clear that that is the view that the u.s. advisors, or the u.s. high command, that the utility or the balance of casualties, the diminishing returns is starting to click in now. in other words, ukrainians are inflicting casualties, but they are also taking too many. but the answer is no, this will not impact the overall thrust of the counteroffensive. the reason is this -- ukraine is

preparing quite a large force. currently it has not been deployed yet. reports are that they are developing about three core, nine divisions or so, we are looking at 60,000 troops or there about. and it is that forces that will spearhead the counteroffensive, whenever and wherever it is, comprised, of course, of those troops that you saw in the report and of many others that have been trained. so bakhmut is a bleeding ulcer, but it is not decisive. brent: i assume that you are expecting then that ukraine will be able to make some serious gains with this counteroffensive? guest: we should not expect rapid gains. the russians have been preparing to receive this offensive now for about four months. they have repaired with quite heavy engineering works to resist ukraine. and it will take some time and a

great deal of effort to get through those. this is unlikely to be, this counteroffensive, to be a rapid thrust with collapsing russian forces, the russian forces are very stolid and historically tended not to collapse the way some of us would like. the possibility that the offensive may not go through that route to cut into crimea, it may go elsewhere, some people say bakhmut might be a place, with the weekend russian forces there, but look, none of us knows. the answer to your question is that it is unlikely to be a rapid strike. brent: we have talked numerous times about how successful levels really depend on the types in the amount of western weapons that the ukrainian forces have, and at what time they have access to those. we have all of these variables. is it any clear at this point

what a victory is going to look like for ukraine? they guest: have stated very clearly that victory for us is the return of all our territories. the general said that last year and it has been repeated many times since. and that would include crimea. the question for the west, particularly the united states, is, what they tolerate, would they allow ukraine to make the move into crimea if they managed to break through russian lines? their strategy so far, publicly at least, is extremely unclear and contradictory of the u.s. so we don't know. i would suspect there would be serious consideration given to the potential russian response were an attack on crimea to go forward, but we are a language way to go from the air. brent: there is also the u.s. presidential election next year people are talking about. can't forget about that. frank, we appreciate your insights.

. guest: thank you. guest: thank you, sir. brent: some other stories making headlines around the world. russian president vladimir putin and his civilian counterpart bashar al assad or holding talks focused on mending syrian ties with turkey as well as rebuilding war-torn syria. . wednesday march the 12th anniversary of the start of the uprising that triggered the country for such civil war. thousands of syrians have rallied in rebel-held idlib to mark the start of their pro-democracy protests in 2011. it is the last major area not under the control of president assad's russian-backed forces. more than a dozen people have died in flash floods in southeastern turkey. many more are missing after heavy rainfall sent water surging through streets and homes. more than one million people are living in temporary shelters, in the region following last month's devastating earthquakes.

worries about the stability of the banking system have spread from the u.s. to here in europe. shares in credit suisse fell to a record low today, after the lenders' biggest shareholder, saudi national bank, said no to a new cash infusion. the swiss national bank says it is willing to make funds available if need be, but it has stressed that it thinks the lender has adequate levels of capital. hmm. concerns have been growing about banks' liquidity imports as of the atlantic following the collapse of silicon valley bank in the u.s. last week. i am joined now by nicholas, a senior fellow at a think tank in brussels, and at the peterson institute for international economics and washington, d.c. nicholas, it is good to see you again. 48 hours later, here we are still talking about banking

problems. today's massive share price would drop credit suisse, the saudi national bank saying no more from us. is this contagion coming from the u.s. to europe? nicholas: i don't think it is directly contagion. credit suisse has had problems for some time. by happenstance, these stories came together in the same way. the u.s. story of silicon valley bank, signature bank, also have problems linked with the tech sector and silicon valley. the story of credit suisse, which is very specific, has been observable for some time. but it is also a big story because that is a very big bank. so there is a component effect in terms of concern in the marketplace. brent: how concerned should investors be right now when they look at the markets here in europe, how fragile do you think they appear? nicholas: i don't view credit

suisse is really a european story, i view it as a swiss and global story. this is a very global bank which happens to be headquartered in switzerland but has activities really in many places. he mentioned saudi arabia, a shareholder, and also others. and switzerland is not in the european union. so if you look at the impact of the credit suisse story, it has had some impact on european bancshares which have gone down, but also u.s. bancshares, which to me is quite natural. brent: if we had not seen these bank failures in the united states in the last few days, do you think the saudis would have just given us extra cash -- would have just given extra cash to credit suisse? nicholas: these are two different stories, so we will never know. but had there been no problems in the u.s., it is very plausible that credit suisse would have had essentially the

same problems as we have seen this week. we will never know. there is a lot information that is being collected about credit suisse and who is exposed to risk in the case of credit suisse going into a more difficult situation. but that is not really shared in the public domain at this point. i guess we will discover more in the next few days. brent: there is a lot of talk about the u.s. federal reserve pulling back on its interest rate hike because of thinking worries in the united states. what about european central bank, should it follow the u.s. fed? nicholas: i will give a response that sounds like a central banker talking and central banks, inflation is their date. the ecb's mandate is about price stability. the doctrine is that that should not prevent them from doing what they have to do to fight inflation. i think by and large, they will

remain focused on inflation and manage whatever happens in the financial sector with other instruments, and if necessary, crisis management. having said that, at this point there is no financial crisis in the eurozone. credit suisse is in switzerland. silicon valley bank is in the u.s. share prices have gone down for some banks, but not dramatically, so there is speake is no indication of a banking crisis in the eurozone and we some clear words there. brent:. niculescu, as always, we appreciate your time and insights, thank you. guest: thank you for having me again. brent: a court in pakistan has ordered authorities to temporarily stop attempts to arrest former prime minister imran khan. the decision comes on the second day of violent clashes between his supporters and police.

dozens of officers and protesters were injured in these altercations that you see. police have been trying to arrest the ousted premier at his home for failing to appear in court on corruption charges. let's have a closer look at the situation in pakistan tonight. reporter: using water cannon and tear gas, pakistan pushed back supporters of imran khan pti party who gathered to prevent authorities from arresting him. khan was ousted from office by a no-confidence vote last year, and has been snarled in legal wrangles since. the government said khan sold estate gifts while in office, but the one-time cricket superstar says the case is politically motivated. authorities want to stop his party from taking part in upcoming elections. >> they are pushing the pti party against the wall.

more than that, they want to exclude me from politics. that is the reason they came to arrest me. reporter: it's the latest sign of instability in pakistan, is nuclear power. the country is reeling from an economic crisis and vista defaulting on its forward obligations unless it can secure an international monetary fund bailout. the security situation is also deteriorating, with a spate of deadly attacks on police headquarters, linked to the pakistan taliban. dozens of police and khan supporters were injured in tuesday's operation. footage shows teargas canisters landing inside khan's garden of the police did not appear to breach the gate or the wall. can go have been pressuring the government that replaced him, lead by prime minister sharif, with popular rallies and daily addresses. last year khan was shot in the leg during a political rally, an assassination. he blamed onsharif.

brent: syria has launched a campaign to vaccinate millions of people against cholera. the risk of contagion has increased following last month devastating earthquake. reporter: a camp for internally displaced people in idlib province, syria, one of the last areas not held by the government, which is not helping residents here recover from the quakeidl. now afterib years of hardship and war, the latest threat is cholera, and disease that spreads through contaminated food and water. many sick people have died in recent months of cholera in northwestern syria. the vaccination teams heading out now aim to reach tens of thousands of residents, but the task is monumental. there are about 4 million people living in areas outside

government control. the united nations has provided more than 1.7 million doses of vaccine. authorities have recorded more than 500 cases of the disease. it is a race against time. the earthquake destroyed sanitation infrastructure and clean water supplies. >> the cholera vaccine is safe and effective, god willing. we hope all the residents will cooperate with us and take the vaccine in order to eradicate the disease in these areas, which include many camps with poor sanitation. so we are working on shielding our people before the disease spreads wildly. if it works, the vaccination campaign will protect the people stuck here from one hazard. but many more remain. brent: china has reopened its borders to tourists, announcing it is once again issuing travel visas.

the country closed its borders three and half years ago to contain the spread of covid-19. but last month leading declared victory over the pandemic. now visitors have began arriving across the world. chinese nationals are preparing to go abroad. reporter: her shanghai souvenir sales store struggled during the pandemic and now she is hoping the influx of tourists will help bring her business back to life. >> i am looking forward to the opening up to foreign countries as soon as possible and people coming to shanghai. because of the three pandemic many show owners have lost a lot. they don't make money, and they must pay rent. some are even bankrupt. a shanghai tourist attractions like this are still not as busy as before the pandemic, but travelers, who already arrived, say that they hope to come back again. >> next time i am coming for a longer stay. i hope i will be able to invite

my husband and my son. they really want to come and see what we are working with here, and also to tour shanghai and the area. reporter: beijing is now reissuing all types of visas, and honoring those granted before the pandemic. the goal is to attract more foreign visitors. beijing is also working with local travel agencies to boost travel abroad. these measures are already having an impact as tourists, look to europe for the next vacation. >> we wanted to look to switzerland. there is no language barrier. that we wanted to tour like locals. . we can even go to neighboring countries with the schengen visa. reporter: there are around six direct flights to china from major cities in europe. france, germany, austria and switzerland were among the top submissions for the pandemic. brent: the fifa president gianni infantino is the most powerful man in football and he is running unopposed for reelection at thursday's fifa congress in rwanda. but there has been fierce

criticism of fifa's attitude to human rights under the swiss. dw news spoke to the german football association president ahead of the vote. reporter: fifa president gianni infantino has faced plenty of criticism for his perceived autocratic style, for his organization's lack of transparency, and on human rights issues surrounding the world cup in qatar. denmark and norway had withdrawn their support for him well in advance of the vote. now, the german football association, the dfb, has joined them. >> i find there is often a lack of transparency and clarity about how decisions are made. that is all i am asking for, nothing more, nothing less. reporter: the relationship between the dfb and fifa is strained. the dfb says questions on human rights often remain unanswered. gianni infantino, meanwhile, is certainly known for talking a

good game. >> human rights and potential human rights at the international level is a top priority for fifa. we put it as a condition in our bidding process for all our competitions and wherever we go around the world, we are, of course highlighting the need for protecting human rights. reporter: fifa had said it was open to creating a compensation fund for maltreated qatari workers. that has not happened, but the upcoming fifa world cup was awarded to saudi arabia. >> for me, it's about fifa's credibility. it has to stand by the statements its president makes. i have to admit i don't feel that is the case, so i find it hard to offer my support. reporter: infantino will not be the flavor of the month in europe, but his huge popularity among the majority of fifa's 211

members new skis reelection as president is likely to be a formality. brent: finally, you could say that this is the moonwalk meeting the catwalk -- nasa has given a sneak preview of what the next generation of moon suits will look like. they will be sleeker, more flexible and offer more protection than their predecessors from the 20th century. they will also come in different sizes, particularly important as the artemis mission will also include a woman. but the designers stressed this is, just a prototype and that the final suits' color will in fact be mainly white, for thermal reasons. nasa hopes to land estimates on the moon's south pole by late 2025 at the latest, and they will be styling and profiling, we are told. [laughter] before we go, here is a reminder of the top story we are following for you. defense secretary lloyd austin

and his russian counterpart sergei shoigu have spoken to each other after tuesday's drawn incident in the black sea. the u.s. military says the drawing was an international airspace when two russian jet dumped fuel on it, causing it to crash. this is dw news. after a short break, i will be back to take you through "the day." stick around. we will be right back. ♪

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>> it's 9:00 p.m. this is live from paris. these are our head lionels on "france 24". in a new day of strikes and protes across france, unions make another bid to stop a pensions reform bill from being passed in parliament. the russian and u.s. defense ministers speak by telephone after a u.s. surveillance drone crashed in international waters yesterday after an encounter with russian fighter jets. and of course in pakistan, orders the police to halt their operation to arrest the former prime minister in a bid to end clashes outside his home.