berlin. former u.s. president trump makes a historic appearance in court. looking at live appearances from miami where trump has plead not guilty to charges he mishandled top secret government documents. the criminal case could see the former president sentenced to years in prison if convicted. ukraine claims new advances in its counteroffensive against occupying russian forces while

moscow hits back with a deadly strike in volodymyr zelenskyy's hometown. and unwanted visitors in slovakia develop a taste they cannot get enough of, prompting and intervention for their own good. i'm anthony howard. welcome. former u.s. president trump has plead not guilty in a historic criminal case that could have the most potentially serious legal implications for him yet. we are looking at life pictures of the miami court house where the former president has been formally charged over accusations that he illegally took top secret government documents to his florida home, then obstructed investigators' efforts to recover them. if convicted, he could face years in prison, by supporters and opponents of the former president have been

demonstrating outside the courthouse. let's cross to our correspondent who is in miami where donald trump is appearing today. what happened at the courthouse today? >> the moment we were waiting for arrived earlier today when donald trump and his motorcade pulled up to that side of this courthouse in miami. once inside, he was booked, so that means his fingerprints were taken electronically. he was not in handcuffs. there was no mug shot of him taken because he is easily recognizable. the whole process took about 10 minutes, and then he and his lawyers were brought before the court magistrate. his lawyer told the court room what his plea was. he said, "we definitely pleaded not guilty your cup for donald trump, that was a plea that was widely expected. he is set to go back to new

jersey tonight to deliver remarks on these proceedings. authorities do not see any need to detain him any further. he is not considered a flight risk. remember, we are talking about the god who has his name emblazoned on the side of his private plane -- we are talking about the guy who has his name emblazoned on the side of his private plane. suffice to say, today was the beginning of a very long process. in the arraignment, the government has to present its evidence and you have a host of pretrial process before this thing ever makes it to court, but what we knew going into this was that all of donald trump's legal troubles will lead into the run-up of the 2020 for u.s. elections -- 2024 u.s. elections. that really doesn't seem all but inevitable now. >> tell us about the criminal charges he is facing and how

strong a case the prosecution has. >> we are talking about allegations here, 37 felony charges, 31 of which fall under the espionage act, so we are not just talking about him having allegedly collected hundreds of classified documents, kept them insecurely, showed them to unauthorized parties, as well as obstructed investigators' efforts to find them, but rather, he is alleged to have done this in such a way as to threaten national security. if you read the indictment, you can see these documents contain details of the u.s. and its allies' military and nuclear capabilities. you have details about what the u.s. would do if it were attacked militarily, so what you really have here is serious business. donald trump was the former president and had access to a lot of information and he is

alleged to have handled that information carelessly. as to how strong the case is, it is worth noting that special counsel jack smith would not have brought the case forward if he did not feel that he could make the strongest case that he could possibly make. he had a very difficult job to do here. he had to go after a former president in such a way that it did not give rise to allegations of improper political meddling or bias. for all intents and purposes, observers say he has -- he appears to have achieved this, and all that work has brought us to this day in front of the courtroom here in miami. >> stay with us. we are going to take a listen now to some of what donald trump's supporters had to say. >> i'm here to support president trump. we believe and we support separation of powers. that's what makes america great.

president trump is innocent. this is just a witchhunt against a candidate running for office. >> we came to support trump, our president, and trump is totally innocent. biden family should be in there, not trump. >> we are here to support president trump, the real president. >> donald trump support as well and truly behind the former president. trump is currently the leading republican candidate for president. how could this case affect his bid to become president? >> so far, he has been using this crisis as an opportunity. he has been using this case to rally support along his base and also to fund raise, but we have been talking to those supporters that you showed there, and we asked many of them if they felt that these investigations will

limit his ability to run for president or even his chances to become president in 2024. many of them said no, that is not the case and they do firmly believe he will become president. in one respect, it is worth noting that he doesconvicted, ag that is uncharted territory for the united states. what will it mean to potentially have a convicted former president occupy the white house again? these are questions we don't quite have the answer for yet, but constitutional scholars will have to spend a lot of time on this in the next months in case it does become a reality. >> thanks so much. let's take a looking at some other news headlines now. in the u.s. state of montana, a first of its kind court case over climate change has kicked off. 16 units are suing state

officials for failing to take action against global warming. plaintiffs argue fossil fuel friendly policies endanger their health and threaten future generations. dozens of similar lawsuits across the country are expected to follow. scores of people are feared dead after a river boat capsized in central nigeria. the passengers had attended a wedding. local officials said about 50 people were rescued but at least 100 others died. the boat was reportedly overloaded. kosovo's prime minister has presented a plan to diffuse tensions in the serb majority north. clashes broke out last month after ethnic albanian mayors took office following local elections boycotted by serbs. dozens of peacekeepers and ethnic serbs were injured in the unrest. united nations nuclear chief says he is very concerned the

separation nuclear power plant could get caught up -- the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant could get caught up in ukraine's counteroffensive. ukraine now, where at least 11 people were killed in a russian missile strike on the central city, which is the hometown of president volodymyr zelenskyy. air attacks were also reported in the kharkiv area and the capital, kyiv, where authorities say they were stopped by air differences. >> gunfire amid claims of victory as ukraine's counteroffensive gets underway. >> we, the representatives of the 107th battalion of marine

infantry and 30 for brigade of marine infantry, have liberated the village in the donetsk region from russian troops. they will not be able to retake this village. they are firing, as you can hear, with artillery, mortars, and tanks. but we hold on. glory to ukraine. >> kyiv says it's counteroffensive has captured, but russia released images claiming they had propelled counterattacks by ukrainian forces. president putin described opposition losses as close to catastrophic. the battle for control rumbles on. the city was once home to 12,000 people. for the few who remain, information is scarce.

>> we don't have electricity or internet. you came here and told us that the counteroffensive had already begun. the fact that we are here walking around and wondering if it started does not really seem right. >> ukraine says it has liberated as many as seven villages on its front lines. >> three days ago, russian forces were still here. we chased them out. glory to this village was under russian occupation for one and a half years, but these are ukrainian lands. >> there may be optimism over purported gains, but beneath the blue and yellow of ukraine's flag lie the bodies of those killed in the fight. >> john spencer is the chair of urban warfare studies with the madison policy for them. i asked him if we could verify

ukrainian claims of having gained land on the ground and how significant that would be. >> i think we can verify those. there's plenty of geo-locating open source intelligence sources that have validated the videos of ukrainian flags going over recently liberating -- recently liberated buildings. it is pretty reliable. how significant is it in the counteroffensive? is it significant to break through the lines of russian defenses, but to be frank, we are only seeing probably 10% of what has actually been allocated for the counteroffensive, so there's a lot of fighting and a lot of new territory to be liberated to come. >> the counteroffensive is happening on many fronts. strategically spanking, -- strategically speaking, what is the advantage behind that? >> secrecy is still the number

one thing in war and campaigning like this, so ukrainians need to attack on multiple axises but truly hired what their main objective is and what their ultimate goal is. we see fighting in bakhmut, in the donetsk, in southern ukraine. that's great, but we do see, like i said, only about 10% likely marine infantry, and that increases the range of western or ukrainian systems and what they can reach in support of the bigger attacks. >> we know that some of the ukrainian equipment i have on -- we know about some of the equipment they have on their side, but how strong is the russian position? >> it is hard to say where it is strong. of course, they spent a lot of time trying to defend, but they don't have the military, the

numbers to defend that large of even a defensive line if it is well constructed. we have seen everything from shallow trenches in recent videos to more prepared defensive's, but i don't think they have the military or the flexibility you would need to hold that defensive line, so maybe it is strong in some locations and why we see again another reason ukrainians attack on multiple fronts is to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the russian line. >> fairly early days, but how important do you think these next few weeks will be in determining the outcome of the war? >> i think it is a vital phase. hopefully putin agrees to move, but this counteroffensive is vital to positioning ukraine's at a great advantage over russian forces in the south and in the east. cut the land bridge.

cut the strategic resupply routes and routes that russians have been familiar with since 2014. putin has gone from a path to being a great power again to now the greatest terrorist in the world, bombing civilians every day. >> great to get your insight. thanks so much. nato's secretary-general says ukrainians are making progress in their counteroffensive against russian forces. he also expects nato leaders will increase military assistance to kyiv when they meet next month in lithuania. stoltenberg made the comments as he met with u.s. president joe biden at the white house. his visit came amid speculation over if his term as nato chief will be extended past september. dw's washington correspondent spoke to us about what the meeting is focused on. >> it is billed as a courtesy visit. the nato's secretary-general is making the rounds through the capitals of the 31 nato members

ahead of that key summit -- it is always a key summit with nato -- coming up in lithuania next month, but of course, the united states is a very important partner, not just when it comes to the question who should succeed the current nato secretary-general when his job comes up in september or indeed he should take another term after extending already for three times, which is highly unusual also in the nato universe, and a strong signal again of unity and more resources being sent towards ukraine. it is no coincidence that today, the united states published that once again it will send more than $300 million worth of equipment towards ukraine. >> what about ukraine and its prospects of joining nato? was there any discussion or movement there? >> this was pretty much behind the scenes debate. there was no official press

conference area we only caught a couple of comments. what we see is the u.s. president not wanting to make any comment in that direction. we see reporting from behind the scenes basically indicating that this could potentially be seen as a provocation of russia, so the united states is refraining from that for now. legally, nato cannot take on a new member who is currently experiencing a hot conflict, and ukraine certainly is. even if there was negotiations, that would certainly suffice. it has always been rhetoric pointing toward the necessity of there being unity amongst nato members when it comes to taking on a new member. we are seeing that is already sparking controversy when it comes to sweden. we see turkey potentially at least delaying this with the u.s. president having just waited in and saying that he promises that will happen next month, so this is clearly a mighty word that joe biden

issued a head of that nato summit coming up next month. >> thank you. french authorities have uncovered a russian disinformation campaign aimed at undermining western support in ukraine. the agency responsible for finding online foreign interference said pro-russian information was promoted by accounts mimicking popular french newspapers. the information was then circulated by fake social media accounts. common theories pushed by the campaign were the ineffectiveness of sanctions and the danger of accepting ukrainian refugees. i'm now joined by a resident below for the baltics at the atlantic council's digital forensics research lab and has researched russian disinformation campaigns previously. good to have you with us. tell us more if you can about this disinformation campaign.

>> sure. we came across this campaign almost a year ago, and we particularly researched its actions on meta's platform, namely facebook and instagram. i would say the core of the campaign is exactly what has surfaced today regarding france, but even previously targeted countries as also germany, italy, including also latvia. the campaign was to basically copy the source codes of known media outlets and house them on spoofed domains. in the spoofed version, the content would really promote pro-russian narratives like lifting sanctions or stopping deployment of weapons to ukraine, but the remaining version of the website would be the same.

if a user who clicked on the spoofed link would land on the fake article but started to click around to make sure if, say, le monde wrote the article, the user would think that le m onde did it because all the hyperlinks are the same. this is the clever part because it takes very little resources to do but has a very effective cognitive effect on the reader. at the same time, we have to say that the campaign was mostly unsuccessful in terms of engagement it garnered because the only significant engagement was for the posts that were also promoted by paid advertisement, so we saw very low investment in authenticity of the pages that promoted such narratives, and the only traction they garnered was paid, which we see is basically not organic traction,

thus we cannot really assess if it is really effective in real life. >> if there is low engagement, as you say, why does the kremlin keep doing it? >> most likely, it is in the long game. we know propaganda is effective in long-term. repetition is one of its key features because the human brain is wired to reject something new, but more often our brain is exposed to information, the more familiar it seems to our brain, the less dangerous it seems, so slowly we start to accept it as part of our reality. therefore, repetition and consistency in repetition is essential. though the campaign is not very successful in the garnering comments, likes, other types of engagement, it still can generate eyeballs, and people may share the spoofed links

outside the networks, and it may have some limited traction. >> thanks so much for your time. >> thank you. >> in ecuador, gangs are fighting for control of the drug trade. the violence is being fueled by poverty with devastating consequences for the population. >> this is what is left of her house, blown up last year in a bombing attack during a gang dispute, part of the battle for control of the city. five people were killed on the spot. she now lives at a friend's house. she lost an i and some of her hearing. she is still struggling to regain her mental health. she lives in fear. >> i don't even want to remember anymore.

those days were quite sad for me. the truth is that i did not expect what happened to me. i did not expect it. but i thank god that i'm alive and i'm fighting with my family who support me. >> newspapers are full of headlines about drug gangs' brutality. ecuador recorded a record 4600 homicides in 2022, making it now one of the most violent countries in latin america. cocaine from neighboring columbia -- colombia's north. impoverished neighborhoods like this one are home to gangs fighting for control of the drug trade. poverty fuels the violence here. the government has declared a limited state of emergency, bringing the military out to the streets. soldiers are even stationed in

front of schools where some gangs recruit children. billy is a human rights activist. he does not believe that militarization is the solution. instead, he says social measures to reduce poverty would also reduce crime. "prison violence is transferred under the communities, especially here. this is a place where the state had already withdrawn during the pandemic, and these communities already have precarious conditions. they were abandoned into the hands of criminal organizations ." nowadays, crime scenes like this one have become a common site -- common sight. >> the denver nuggets have won

their first ever nba championship after a victory over the miami heat on monday night in game five of the final series. in front of a home crowd, the nuggets came back from 10 points behind to close out the series 4-1, clinching their first championship after 47 years in the league. the heat mounted a comeback of their own but were ultimately unable to steal the win. nikola jokic was named most -- most valuable player. when you hear the term "junkie," you probably think of people with a drug problem, but addicts come in other forms as well. in slovakia, authorities had to step in after repeat offenders destroyed thousands of euros worth of farmers crops. >> an intervention to save these

swans from themselves after the birds got a taste for poppies. >> they are dehydrated. the swans lose muscle mass and then just crawl around. >> hundreds of swans first arrived in february when heavy rain warmed and late in the field. they have since returned over and over again, drawn to the addictive poppies. some of the swans became so high they could not fly or even walk. swans are a protected species in slovakia, and it took four months to gain permission to remove them. >> we assumed they would just fly away, but they did not. it is a rare case in slovakia so we did not have any experience. hopefully we will be smarter in the future. >> conservationists have taken the swans to a channel far away from the poppy field where they are going cold turkey as they sober up. >> here's a reminder of our top

stories this hour -- former u.s. president trump has been released from court after plead not guilty to charges he mishandled top government documents. he told supporters afterwards that the government was out of control. he could face years in prison if convicted. ukraine says its forces have made new advances in its counteroffensive against occupying russian forces. moscow has hit back with a missile strike on the central ukrainian city killed at least 11 people. you are watching "dw news." after a short break, i will be with big in-depth review of the world's top stories in "the day ." stay with us if you can. ♪

>> i am mark owen and these are the headlines. donald trump pleads not guilty to possession of illegal documents, facing 37 felony counts of willfully retaining classified documents. national security could have been jeopardized. conviction could mean a jail term and possibly the end of his . we will have more live from the courthouse in miami. good evening, kevin. and 11 people killed as russia