host: hello and welcome to "focus on europe." it's good to have you with us. ukraine has been fighting off russia's invasion for more than 450 days. in the donestk region, ukrainian troops appear to have launched a counter-offensive. images from the country testify dramatic developments of the ongoing conflict. in southern ukraine near kherson, a major dam has been destroyed in an area controlled by russia. kyiv is accusing moscow, while the kremlin says ukraine is responsible. up to 80 towns and villages are

said to be at risk of flooding. and in the eastern donestk region, ukraine claims to have recaptured some occupied territory, which russia in turn denies. for the moment, these competing claims cannot be independently verified. now, for soldiers on the front lines, every day brings the risk of injury and death their own, or that of their comrades. it's an experience that leaves its mark, perhaps even more so for the youngest troops like 20 year old ukrainian soldier olíjnik, who has been fighting since first days of the war. we met him at the front line in the embattled donetsk region. in the trenches there, the enemy is often just a stone's throw away. and this is where jehor is determined to continue fighting, even as he's recovering from a serious injury. [gunshots] >> fighting in the trenches is tough. and many bear the scars of war. an explosion took off part of

yehor oliynik's leg. and yet he's now back with his old unit, getting ready to fight again. feelings are running high on his return. >> they're strong emotions, you know. the adrenaline goes through the roof. what the soul wants, it gets. i used my anger, so that i didn't turn it on my brothers. i went out and i shot back. then things quieted down again and i relaxed. >> yehor is a career soldier. he joined when he was 18 initially with the artillery, before later fighting on the front line. >> on september 29, we retook the position. these were all our trophies -- sights, night vision goggles, pistols, just from one captured position. there's some destroyed

equipment there too. the emotions were running high. there were even automatic weapons -- so many trophies. they lt everythi behind. but the most interesting thing is down there in the trench. a russian "liberator". >> the mission changed his life. [explosion] one day, yehor and his team captured a russian position. as he went to check on the area, he stepped on a mine. he was overcome with fear that he might be captured. >> i immediately gave myself first aid and then just laid down. but the fear set in, and i was going to shoot myself, but then i thought about my parents. and i thought, "it's just a

leg, the knee is there, i can walk." >> sometimes his stump hurts and swelled up, which is frustrating for him. but yehor says he doesn't see himself as an invalid. he's learning to accept his new situation. >> you see, i had a tattoo here, they cut off my leg just above it. [laughter] i was wounded in this leg as well, by shrapnel. and three fragments hit the bone here in these places. >> but to get back to work as an infantry soldier, his legs needed to work too. yehor says his doctors were not happy with his decision to go back to the frontline -- and his family and girlfriend were fiercely opposed. >> my parents -- no, actually my relatives generally -- no,

wait a minute, absolutely everyone was against it. my girlfriend was too. but i said i am going. i have a duty to my country -- to defend it. because ukraine needs me. when i was on vacation, my former friends were just sitting at home, drinking, hanging out. yehor has already been back to the frontline. but fighting is more difficult than before. he has to move quickly through mud and climb over obstacles. but yehor says his comrades help him and his commanders are glad to have him back. >> everything is decided by the medical commission. if a fighter wants to return, we don't object. with yehor, believe me, everyone is proud that he didn't lose heart, that he's doing well, and asked for his

position back. there are no complaints. i have known him since august, he is a wonderful fighter. >> there are no official numbers. but yehor is not the only amputee who returned to the front. the last few months changed him, he says. >> more anger surfaced in me, a desire for revenge. and it is important to return. my personal opinion is that after you recover, you need to come back, to show them that you can do more, that you will survive it all, that you will succeed. >> after we left, yehor accepted an invitation to norway for further treatment. he is planning to return soon to take on the russians with a brand-new prosthesis. host: as the front lines shift in

ukraine, quiet descends on what only days before was a battlefield. what is left behind is often land littered with mines, unexploded bombs and the bodies of military casualties. though there are no reliable figures, it's estimated that many tens of thousands of soldiers, both ukrainian and russian, have already lost their lives. ensuring that the dead are not forgotten is the job of myhailo and his special unit. they carry out search and recovery missions for the ukrainian forces, so that the dead can receive a dignified burial. >> calm has returned to this rural part of the kharkhiv region. it's mainly farmland, surrounded by nature reserves. but a few months ago there was heavy fighting here. >> it's scary to see what happened here. i don't know what kind of mental state people are in after experiencing this. just seeing it makes you weep.

>> tens of thousands of dead bodies litter the battlefields. it's not possible to remove them all. myhailo, a commander with the ukrainian army, knows that better than most. he and his team have the grim task of collecting the dead both ukrainian and russian. >> the bodies of russian soldiers are also valuable to us because we can swap them for ukrainians. >> it's for their ukrainian comrades that they're doing this. they want all those defending their homeland to know that the fallen are important. that their memories are honored. so the men take their work very seriously. today, they're searching for five of their comrades. >> we've analyzed all the information, where they were attacked from and how they pulled back. there's now only one area here where they could be. >> they're risking their own lives to do this.

the entire area is mined. the search is partly carried out by a drone pilot to reduce the risk. >> my job is to fly the drone over the area and to watch from above. to search for human remains in the fields, and for any exposed mines that might be in the field and visible from above. >> he scans the ground meter by meter, and warns his comrades of any threats. they work all day. but on this day they find nothing, other than a russian reconnaissance drone, some russian weaponry and a lot of ammunition. the five ukrainian soldiers remain missing. weary, the men return to their quarters, still processing the events of the day. >> it's the not knowing. it's hard to explain but it's also difficult for us, and that's the situation right now.

when family members don't know what happened to their sons, their parents, that's the worst. >> in the evening, they get a call from the mayor of husarivka, a village not far from here. the bodies of dead russian soldiers have been found on the edge of the village. the next day, they go to meet the mayor. yuri doroshenko leads them to the place where the bodies are. >> volunteers were driving by and wanted to check out the rubber tires over there. so they went over on foot and discovered the two bodies. >> the soldiers quickly get down to work. they first record everything exactly. >> in every case, it's always the details that are important. we do everything according to internationally agreed procedures or procedures enshrined in law. and we do it with respect.

>> even when they're dealing with enemy soldiers, it's important to everyone here to respect the dead. they also have to be especially careful. this area too was heavily mined, and some mines still haven't been cleared yet. >> the men say it's also not uncommon for russians to hide booby traps under the bodies of their dead comrades. so they first attach ropes to the remains of the russian soldiers and move them carefully. on this occasion, there are no explosive devices. the soldiers prepare the body bags. before closing them, they examine the pockets of the dead, documenting everything. >> check the other pockets. >> there is a wider. -- a lighter. >> the men find lighters and cigarettes but initially nothing that reveals the soldiers' identity.

then suddenly, they find what they are looking for. >> oh good, we needed that! >> it's an identification tag for one of the soldiers. later they find bank cards too. all clues that will help them to identify the dead. the bags and the bodies will not stay in ukraine for long. the warring parties regularly exchange their dead. the men hope that these two russians can be exchanged for two of their dead comrades, who can then have a dignified burial. above all, so that their families will have closure. host: france, meanwhile, is taking to the streets over its recent pension overhaul. its main provision increased the country's retirement age from 62 to 64 -- a move that is widely unpopular, even though in most countries in europe, people have to work much longer than this. but pensioner myriam bass believes that the reforms are

the only way to plug a widening pension deficit. others, like melanie, a young graduate from paris, say that work conditions in france are already quite difficult and that people should be able to enjoy retirement well in time. ♪ >> since her retirement, myriam bass has been living life to the fullest. every monday afternoon, the former english teacher goes dancing in the bois de vincennes in paris -- a former hunting ground. she says her days are full but relaxed. >> it's important to transmit experience. i take my grandchildren with me travelling. on vacation, i teach them how to knit and how to dance, too. >> she says that she loved her job and didn't stop at 62 like

the majority of her colleagues. she carried on teaching for another three years. >> a lot of young people start working late now. so it's normal that they have to work until they're 64 or 65. >> myriam bass does not understand why so many french people are against the pension reform, which increases the age of retirement to 64. she points out that there are more and more older people, and fewer younger ones. the state had to react. some of the dancers did go out to protest against the reforms. but often they have a different attitude to work. some even carry on until they are well past 80. ♪ >> i work. on a voluntary basis. as a manager in companies. in start-ups.

>> according to a study by the prestigious higher education establishment sciences po, most french people do not feel similarly fulfilled by their work. melanie studied art history and was hoping to curate exhibitions, but she did not find a job. >> here we are in front of the notre dame cathedral. >> melanie gives guided tours of paris to tourists but she's not happy with the job. >> i started two months ago and have no social life any more. i work every weekend -- on holidays, i finish late at night, sometimes 10:00 p.m. it's a shame because i like the profession, but i see that i'm having to sacrifice something to do it. she spends her lunch breaks alone -- not with colleagues. she feels like a small cog in the paris tourist industry machine. yet, on paper at least, french legislation is worker-friendly,

offering a 35-hour working week and at least five weeks' annual vacation. myriam bass says that many young people do not realize how lucky they are. >> i think the attitude to work has changed. in my day, working was about fulfillment. i was a teacher, so i wanted to teach, to share. now i'm scared that for young people, working is more about earning lots of money. >> melanie does indeed want to earn money, but she wants recognition. and not just having the feeling of being a number. >> this is the defense area, the business district of paris. all these towers are office towers. >> one statistic says half of the working population in france is frustrated. too much hierarchy and not enough freedom. melanie agrees.

>> i want to like my work. i want it to fulfil me. if you don't want to get up in the morning to go to work, you end up not going anywhere. it's counterproductive. >> but the young woman has to earn a living, so she doesn't have much choice. she has to work. and because she has to, she would prefer to stop working as early as possible. so, she too can enjoy life in retirement, dancing in the bois de vincennes. host: some 14,000 weapons have been collected in serbia's nationwide disarmament campaign. it's part of a one-month amnesty where citizens could hand in their unregistered weapons without fear of punishment. but dejan tomka says it's too little, too late. serbia is awash in illegal firearms, and the government only took action after 17 people were killed in two mass shootings in may.

while thousands across serbia have joined protests against gun violence, gun ownership is something many in the country take for granted. >> it is a booming business. shooting is a popular sport in serbia. today's guests are given a sniper rifle. this one was used in afghanistan and bosnia, the operators say -- with a hint of pride. the owner's stance on firearms is clear. >> a firearm per se doesn't kill anyone. that's the message we want to get across. you can commit a crime or a murder with any weapon or object. there are two sides to everything. >> recently, two crimes involving firearms sent shock waves through serbia. in may, a young man killed eight in a neighboring village. his family had an arsenal of weapons stockpiled. the day before, in belgrade, a student shot eight classmates

and a security guard with his father's gun. since the shooting sprees, tens of thousands have taken to the streets. including dejan tomka, whose children attended the school where the shooting took place. the system, the state, everyone has failed in his eyes. he feels society is becoming more violent. demonstrators want the president and government to step down. dejan tomka's children narrowly survived the massacre at the school. he says he will never forget the fear, and complains that they have been left to cope with the aftermath themselves. the families feel abandoned. >> at first there's a feeling of shock from the whole situation, which is much more intense than you can grasp politically or socially.

and then we had to deal with the trauma, this fear, that we had all developed. the school shooter in belgrade was only 13 years old. the gun was legally owned by his father. weeks later, people are still struggling to comprehend what happened. according to the small arms survey research project, serbia ranks third in the world when it comes to the possession of weapons. statistically, one in three serbs owns a gun, often illegally, although the number is falling slightly. the serbian gun lobby talks exclusively about legal firearms. >> 7% of the population is legally armed, not 36, as foreign media report. that makes 12 weapons per hundred inhabitants -- 10 times less than in the u.s.

if the numbers are correct and they certainly are, we are among the least armed countries in europe. >> in the wake of the shooting sprees, the serbian government has called for people to turn in their illegal weapons anonymously and without penalty. thousands have done so already. on top of that, the legal trade in both weapons and weapons parts has been completely banned for two years. a step too far for the shooting range operators. >> something happened that should not have happened. irrespective of whether the guns were legal or not. but i think it's too rash to prohibit legitimate gun owners from doing what was previously legal. >> dejan says guns are only part of the problem.

he talks of a "general brutalization" of serbian society and says pro-government channels such as pink tv are contributing to this. pink tv broadcasts the lowest form of content, in his view, insults and fights. >> it is a latent form of violence. it does not directly victimize, but it creates a feeling, an atmosphere in which we are constantly one step away from verbal violence. and after that, we're only one step away from physical violence. >> people have called for pink tv to be shut down. pressure on the state is growing. the government knows that the mood is turning against it. in may, serbia's autocratic president aleksandar vucic organized a demonstration for himself and had loyalists transported from all over the country to belgrade.

>> long live long live aleksandar vucic. i support my fellow countryman vucic. for serbia. >> the government is still firmly in the saddle. but there is an air of change in serbia. host: now, that's what i call paradise in the caribbean. we would do anything to preserve it, wouldn't we? this paradise island belongs to the dutch antilles, and thus politically to the netherlands. but affluent europe is a major driver of climate change, which poses a threat to the island of bonaire. environmental engineer jessica johnson has long experienced the dramatic consequences of global warming on the ground. but she has a plan to mitigate them a little. >> bonaire is an island in the caribbean netherlands, and is under threat.

>> as we have sea level rise and worsening storms as a result of climate change, we're going to expect the waves to come over this small breaker and then potentially enter the protected wetlands area. >> jessica johnson is an environmental engineer from the u.s. she's decided to be proactive and not wait for others. her plan is to help mitigate the climate catastrophe -- by planting mangrove seedlings. >> so our idea is that we create this green barrier between the open ocean and this protected area. >> mangroves grow in saline, coastal waters. we visit a part of the forest where the mangroves are still intact. sabine engel is our guide. the marine biologist grew up in the dutch caribbean and is the driving force behind an association comprising hundreds of volunteers engaged in conservation. they call themselves the mangrove maniacs. [water splashing] >> sabine has to get right into the water to plant the seedlings. they take root in the chalky

silt, in biodegradable bags. each one is a source of hope, although even they can't hold back the sea forever. >> mangroves are the hype at the moment. everybody thinks that mangroves are the solution. but is a caveat -- the mangroves will suffer from sea level rise. >> but the roots of a mature mangrove can hold the sand together and break the waves. so, the idea in itself is good but time is short. in the race against climate change, these structures can give the seedlings a much-needed head start. >> in just a few years, this will disappear, and the mangroves will stay because their roots will be through the rock. >> adapting to climate change here in bonaire is part of the fight against global warming. host: there is little time to lose. that's it from "focus on europe" for this week. thank you for watching, take

care, bye. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> you're watching dw news, live from berlin. a third day of unrest after a french teenager is shot dead by police. clashes erupt, as thousands pay tribute to the 17-year-old, prompting fury and allegations of systemic racism inside law enforcement. also coming up, the u.s. supreme court strikes down affirmative action ruling race cannot be used as a factor in college admissions.