d. w is alexander phenomena reports ah, a chick point on the outskirts of loose skin, north western ukraine, sasha barbados, one of the local fighters who have joined ukraine's defense forces. he tells me that moral among the troops remains high. despite the dire situation in the country, little speed remembered about the moment it is calm here or suleima. we are preparing the defense of looks and the region with everything we have horrible were employed at the same time, were helping those who volunteer to join the army on deploy to the front in the east and to defend our ukraine. you call that a bullion national, where you live still seems to go on here in western ukraine despite the heavy fighting that it's taking place in other parts of the country. and yet, residents tell us, they want to be ready for whatever might come next. at the beginning of its invasion, russia targeted an url field not far from the city. the military airport in loads with one of the 1st facilities hit by russian messiah in ukraine. since dan, it's been relatively quiet here in the region, but people are scared t

d. w is alexander phenomena metal with some of them. we are here at the railway station in the leaf, and you can see how busy it is here with long lines of people trying to get on a train to the polish border. mothers with a small kids, women with their pads, with hastily packed suit cases and plastic bags. many of them seem to be traumatized. many of them are worried sick about the loved ones that they're left behind. when we start to cover who we are from cock have and the city has gone water than yet, but also mina, come with them. i just have one question. what was it all for? who benefits from destroying such a beautiful city? we once had a wonderful mayor, he's now turning over in his grave. you can't look at that's left of the city without cried. i was born there. i grew up there, i spent my whole life there. with you said lip, nobody even the british lot. but do you both the people there now have been left for dead up at their hiding in basement with them. i can't even think about it when i sit down. bas. yeah, they're sitting t

and of course what they say they are not going to do is to of to accept any ultimatums or to surrender. that's off the table course d. w. 's, alexander, phenomena reporting for us their interview. thank you. joe biden has told reporters that he thinks vladimir putin as a war criminal because of his actions and ukraine. it is us presidents, sharpest condemnation of russia's leader yet, until now the white house has avoided calling put in a war criminal, saying a formal process is needed to make the designation under international law. biden also announced an additional $800000000.00 in military aid to ukraine, including more drones, anti tank and anti aircraft weapons fight russian aggression. natural. now, to some other developments and the conflict, the united nations top court has ordered russia to immediately haul to its invasion of ukraine. and it's largely symbolic ruling, the international court of justice that it see no evidence to support the war. moscow claims ukraine is carrying out genocide against russian speakers in the east of the country. nato secretary general yen suttonberg says the alliance has no plans to intervene

is getting worse in ukraine. d. w, brussels bureau chief, alexander phenomena. thanks so much and talk about the german perspective. now we have our chief political correspondent, melinda crane in the studio. melinda, welcome. and now, when this conflict started, the german government made this historic decision to suspend the north stream to pipeline bringing gas from russia to germany. yet it's hesitant to move beyond that, as we just heard, that they don't want to stop importing russian energy completely. explain to us why . well, germany is significantly more dependent on russian natural gas than most other e u. member states. and germany has a very powerful industrial sector, which gets a lot of its electric power from natural gas fueled power plants. so it would indeed cause a lot of pain to cut off those supplies. cold turkey as it were. and in fact, chancellor will have schultz told the parliament that this week saying that it would hurt industry, it would cost jobs and could plunge germany and even europe into a recession. nonetheless, the fact is that

d. w . 's, alexander phenomena reporting for us from the v is good to talk to you. as the shelling destroys ukraine, cities, leaders on both sides have intensified their rhetoric. you as president joe biden has branded russian president vladimir putin, a war criminal for the 1st time. that is widening the diplomatic rift between the us and russia at a time when many see a diplomatic solution as the only way to end the bloodshed. it was a day of high drama and emotion which intensified after ukrainian president ballade . amir zalinski spoke to congress, making an impassioned call for more western support. addressing the president by them. president joe biden followed up with a pledge for more assistance, including angry aircraft systems, weapons, and drones. while sticking to his refusal to create a no fly zone over ukraine, he also issued the harshest us condemnation of putin's actions since the war in ukraine began 3 weeks ago. oh, here's war for me. oh, it's an explosive phrase which signals a grim new reality in relations with russia, holiday of assistance. think

is this table ceasefire. that's what they're people neat. d w correspondent, alexander phenomena, they're reporting from levine and western ukraine. thank you very much. lozano ukrainian president valona zelinski has used a life address to deliver a harsh assessment of germany's political class in a powerful and often pointed speech to germany's parliament. zelinski said lawmakers enabled putins invasion of ukraine by allowing germany to become dependent on energy imports from russia. he also accused chancellor all of shows of failing to recognize the growing threat posed by russia. his country is not far from germany, and it is being destroyed by war blue in his address to the german parliament, ukrainian presidency. lensky vividly described the atrocities ross or is committing in ukraine. the 3rd building is only over the past 3 weeks. many people have been killed thousands of ukrainians. the occupiers have killed 108 children in the middle of you who in the year 2022 blighted lot. i said raoul, there were heads in hands as german lawmakers listened for 11 minutes to

d, w one and alexander fund nomine. bear. thank you very much, osama time. now to have a quick look out. some of the other developments in this conflict, british prime minister boris johnson, is holding talks in the united arab emirates and later in saudi arabia to encourage all producers and gulf states to increase output. he's hoping to reduce the west reliance on russian oil and gas. britain, like much of the west, is facing spiraling and energy prices. to journalists, working for the usa network, fox news have been killed in ukraine. irish camera man pierre's arcos, chesty scene here, the front of this picture, and ukrainian producer, alexandra. cough. she never died when their car came under russian fire outside cave. at least 4 journalists have died covering the conflict so far. credit rating companies say russia maybe on the verge of defaulting on its foreign currency debt is the national sanctions have limited its ability to access foreign exchange reserves. moscow was due to pay more than $117000000.00 in interest on sovereign bonds on wednesday, with more payments looming later in the months. brushes foreign minister, sergey love. rob has said that he sees, quote, s