while our political correspondent, nina hossa is act, build billions bill g palace, which is the official residence of the german president. nina, great to see you. stop my as re election today as president is considered certain. tell us a little bit about him. what does he stand for? well, thanks. i just, i, my a does look certain to be able to keep his office here at bellevue palace behind me here in berlin. and he has been the president for the last 5 years, but he is somebody who has a very solid background in politics. so he was german foreign minister. he was also the chief of the chancellor re under chancellor gerhard schroeder. so he's been around, he knows people worldwide international leaders and for the last 5 years or he has stepped away, of course, from party politics. and he has seen himself as a bridge builder in this position as german president. so he sees himself as somebody who can bring people back together when there is a contentious debate, for example, like in the coverage times. or he brought together people from at the supporters group and also from the opponents

nick connelly in care let's get the german perspective from a d w political correspondent, nina hossa. unless start with that same question that nina, what can no law showed? so i offer a you great or indeed russia in this situation and well, if so it's tweeted this morning that he demands immediate signs of de escalation from moscow. so he'll closely coordinate his strategy towards vladimir putin with president zalinski from ukraine. today the german government say that they're still convinced that tuesday will not be the last chance, and that talks will continue even after shows has left must go to war, can essentially still be avoided, is germany official position. and that's where demi's view, of course, differ somewhat from that of some of its allies. so they do intend to keep russia at the negotiating table for now. and they also make it clear at the same time that aggression would come at a very high price for russia and that there would be severe consequences. but shaw's nick said it has still not said explicitly that not stream to would be part of the sanctions packages. only

let's get straight across to date of your political correspondent, nina hossa. nina, where at the start of an intense week of diplomacy over ukraine, russia tensions the white house saying russia could attack ukraine any day now or what is the german government? a threat assessment. the german government is careful in its wording or law shows the chancellor says that the situation is very serious. and demi's foreign minister and elena babylon has recently called the russian troops and the ukrainian border a threat. but the message that we're getting from the german government is still war, can still be avoided and should still be avoided. so germany is now throwing all its weight behind. this adds in crisis diplomacy. so these next couple of days are full with bilateral and multilateral meetings. including with russia at the negotiating table. despite that germany has drawn a lot of criticism from its allies for not taking a tougher line against russia. what are the chances for bite and, and a shorts, and they will find a joint solution for approaching this crisis. many people have crit

i did of the political correspondent, nina hossa. let's take a look at some more stories making headlines around the world. now at least 2 people have been killed in clashes between demonstrators and riot police in sudan. thousands took to the streets to protest against october's military coup. in defiance of a government crackdown on the set, 7 people are missing after a light aircraft crash into the atlantic of north carolina. u. s. coast guard has recovered a body and found debris from the play authority say there is no sign of any survivors. least one person was killed in more than a dozen injured, went to local trades, collided outside, munich, and southern germany. accident disrupted, regional transport links cause of the crashes and investigate. it's been called the parallel pandemic. many people who get sick with cove 19 develop symptoms that remain long past that initial infection. this is so called long cove, it. some estimates suggest more than a 3rd of covert survivors will develop a longer term health problems. anything

for more of this, i am now joined by 2 of my colleagues are political correspondent, nina hossa and roman contra rankel from r d. w's, russia, ukraine, and eastern europe. department rama, let's start with you. how do you assess the situation? now? there are others reports of a troop withdrawals. we've also seen pictures. how reliable is this? well, things are changing very fast to day, so we're getting mixed singles. signals from russia. on the one hand, russia is saying we are ready to continue the diplomatic dialogue over you crying and with nato countries as well. on the other hand, or the russian parliament has just voted for a document. asking president putin to recognize of the separatist republic or republics in eastern ukrainian don't ask in the hands. this would be a major escalation. and it could be a, something of a pre stage for a possible invasion light. i would say. so if russia would sent a weapons and troops to those reasons, so very dangerous, very conflicting signals there. also the ukranian foreign minister has just made an interesting statement. let's listen to that 1

i suggest we go to my colleague at nina, at hossa, and you see their life pictures from kia ukraine, where the german char, for allah schultz is speaking. after that meeting with the ukrainian president farmers lensky. nina, um, what kind of reception that a chancellor get it was colder than know many had hoped for probably because of course the, the germany does have somewhat of a controversial position at the moment because germany has, over the last couple of weeks, refused to spell out that controversial gas pipeline, that 2nd vents ukraine beach. so that goes from russia to germany. that that would be part of the economic sanctions package that germany would launch ones of russia invade. so there has been a lot of anger about this on the ukranian side. and i would be curious to find out where that will chose actually brings himself to say the word not stream to because so far he hasn't done that. and other than that, ukraine and germany keep trying to stress that they are like minded partners, that they are very close allies. and the fact that we'll have short travel to cuba befo