o renewed attempts are under way to bring the remaining civilians trapped at the as of stalls steel plant to safety. they haven't seen sunlight or had access to enough food and water for 2 months. survivors say those stuck under ground aren't even aware the city around them has been reduced to rubble. mario paul has faced the most destructive siege in putin's war on ukraine. it's capture would let russia claim total control of the strategic port city. just the kind of victory it's believed put in once before. monday is victory day celebrations. i'm claire richardson in berlin. this is the day. ah, laura luke grady, since 14 small, rough proceeded. sleigh mentions and limitless in its potential for global harm. forward 2 and a half months, the russian army has committed numerous crimes against humanity,

just killing the raping. get ready to go for sorry. some of the bill allows. we must hold those in russia leash perpetrated and ordered the war crimes committed in ukraine to account the one to break us down. but the only thing that will break it break down in the end is brush up also on the day for the 1st time in northern ireland history, a nationalist is likely to become 1st minister, shin fain looks at to win the most seats in elections, bringing the possibility of a united ireland closer the journey towards irish unity is unstoppable. i think we will see a referendum within the stack head. i think we will see that referendum for unity being one. hello and thanks for joining us. thousands

of civilians have been cost to safety. after being evacuated from a perceived steel plant in mario poll ukraine, the survivors have been brought to russian occupied territory, bought their, accompanied by members of an international rescue effort. united nations says around 500 civilians have been evacuated from russian controlled areas around mario polk this week. displaced ukrainians, q for 8. the fled from regions occupied by russian forces including besieged mario pole. while they've made it out, others remain trapped in the as of style steel plant, ukraine's last stand in the port city. there is a risky over the lease currently, russian shelling in the assault of as a stall does not stop civilian, but civilians still need to be taken out. a women children, many children are still there. just imagine this held them more than 2 months of constant shelling,

bombing constant death was you nearby born. this video released by the as of regiment shows heavy shelling of the steel plant. the remaining ukrainian soldiers have vowed to defend it until the end. russia says it's a grade to a ceasefire to allow humanitarian corridor out of the plant that ukrainian fighters claim, otherwise isn't rentable boiled water for the 3rd day. the enemy has broken through the territory of the as a stall plant where heavy, bloody fighting continues. luciana pollution itself, once again, the russians violated the promise of a truce, did not allow the evacuation of civilians who continued to hide from shelling. and as the star plants basement, the un and the red cross were able to evacuate hundreds of people during a brief ceasefire on wednesday. we are accompanied by 11 buses, filled of civilians are women, children, an elderly who wants who are seeking safe haven outside the steel plant. mary,

a pole is largely under russian occupation and clean up efforts have begun in preparation for may 9th, when russia celebrates the soviet union's victory day in world war 2. analysts say moscow is eager to gain full control of the strategic port city in time for one of russia's most important holidays. let's bring and dmitri kornberg, he's an expert on security issues in the former soviet union and on russian foreign policy. and the russian military is now with a c and a, a non profit research and analysis organization in arlington, virginia, a very warm welcome to the day our russian forces are still unable to secure full control of the as of stall works in mario paul. how indicative is that of the whole offensive? well, it's part of a general record of poor performance by the russian military. but other style is a particularly difficult environment for them to, to,

to capture because of the reinforcement of the tunnels and the bunkers and so forth . so it's, it's quite a, it's, it's quite difficult to, to fully take it over. still, it is remarkable that there are ukrainians holding out at this point. i'm, do you think that russia has now settled on the capture of the dumbass and a land of bridget to crimea as it's final war in i think for now. yes, i wouldn't be surprised if they are successful in that aim, which is not necessarily, you know, could be a certain then they could revisit and expand the aims later on. but for now that's, that's what they're aiming for. yes. and have you been surprised by the way things have been going for russia in this conflict? i was surprised initially. i thought that they would perform better in the early

days of the 1st couple weeks of the war since then. i think it's just been more of the same. so i'm, i haven't been surprised that they have been less successful with the, the, the sort of the phase 2 don bos offensive them, than they expected. that that's kind of more or less in line with their performance in the 1st in the 1st space. now the west is pouring increasingly potent military aid and cash into ukraine. at what happens here, if the war drags on well, i can get support going to continue. and one thing that we're potentially tracking is that as the russian trip forces become exhausted and the and ukrainian forces in the meantime get more modern, more western weaponry. we could see more calendar offensives, perhaps in the summer, if the war continues. yeah. if we are looking at

a protracted conflict, did you really think that the west will be able to keep up the pressure? i think so, i think the certainly the u. s. and it's european allies have the resources, and i think that there is a belief in the capitals in the west and this early in the native member states. that if that, that, that russia needs to be stopped at this point, or that there will be of further aggression down the line. and the political consequences for russia itself in a protracted war. the, well, the political conflict. consequences are a little bit uncertain because one thing we've seen is that bruton has become more popular domestically, even as he's been russia's become isolated from, certainly from the west, and from a lot of key asian states as well. not china, obviously, so, so but,

but the others. and so i think that support for the war in russia is likely to continue. but the economic problems could be kind of an achilles heel for, for bruton, as they really begin to bite. maybe later, later this year, early in $23.00, a vis monday rash will be celebrating victory day, a mark in the anniversary of the soviet union's role in the defeat of nazi germany . what are you expecting to hear from vladimir putin on this day? you know, i'm not expecting any a major changes. i see i seen a report said, you know, is there the possibility that gooden could declare a general mobilization or something else along those lines? i don't think that's going to happen. i think that there will be most likely scenario is some kind of statement about the progress that's been made. oh,

perhaps. so you know, highlighting the advances in the dawn bus and so forth. a minimizing any failures and, and kind of a declaration of the significance and justice from their point of view of, of the, of, of the aims of what they're calling the special operation. and you think that will include claiming a victory in mario paul specifically um, i think it will dependent to some extent on the situation. ok, certainly most of the city, you know, 95 percent of the city is now under russian control. so. so i could certainly see some kind of demonstration along those lines, but it's hard to actually declare victory when they're still on, you know, when there's obviously still fighting and, and bombing and so forth going on of the area that's, that's being that the korean forces are are still holding on to i touch on this

briefly about putin and still enjoying strong backing in russia for his war in ukraine. give any reason to believe that that will change. i don't think so. i don't not a, not in the short term of the anyway, i think that there is a combination of a rally around the flag effect among a sizable part of the population in part assisted bi limits on, on the kinds of information that russians get from their state controlled media and also the departure of a lot of the more opposition oriented or more western oriented people to other countries. so you know, those there are several 100000 i think who of lashed in just since the beginning of march. and so, i think bess provided oh, couldn't with some,

some kind of a breathing space in a way because the most, oh anti guten, people have are leaving. dmitri gordon berg with cna. i wanna thank you so much for taking the time to come on a day. really appreciate friendly ah, well, after initially hesitating to send heavy weapons to ukraine, the german government has now changed course. the 1st delivery of 7 self propelled artillery vehicles is in the works. ukraine's as the additional support will be critical in defending the dumbass region. the howitzer in action, according to the gym bundeswehr, it's one of the most modern artillery systems in the world. armed with $150.00 millimeter shells that have a range of up to 40 kilometers to how it so requires a crew of $3.00 to $5.00 soldiers. germany now wants to give 7 such how it says to the ukranian armed forces. as part of a german dutch deal,

germany's defense minister announced the move during a visit to slovakia, dusty minds on together. we will now support ukraine even further by ensuring that it will be able to fight with howitzer to thousands in the future. and so contract kemp and kung as we can get us up next double ha, therefore i was starting next week there will be training in germany on this weapons upon campus howitzer went and afterwards a total of 12 wrote 5 deco systems to 7 german systems arch list support ukraine and his courageous fight comp on testers. this pacific, how it says have just been repaired and therefore not currently being used by the german army. the bonus van normally estimates about 40 days for training. in this case, however, it could all go much faster. ah, and the british province of northern ireland is awaiting final election results set

to mark a pivotal moment in the history of the territory. violet papers counted so far suggest that the nationalist should fain will become the largest party that would leave its main candidate, michelle o'neill as the most likely person to lead the next government. it would be the 1st time since the partition of ireland a century ago at the northern irish government would be led by a party that advocates the end of british rule. there. the main pro british party, the d u p. how seen it support drops and specs it, although support for the union with britain remains strong in the province? i think unice are very concerned about what a shouldn't feared victory in the selection would be in terms of the 3rd divisive border pulled clown. so why we put forward an effect of 5 point plan that we believe address all of the issues that matter to people right across northern are working to help in the constitution. she is composition must be hon. belzoni dish, unless they have all the things didn't happen, nobody has said that word a decade of opportunity,

a decade of opportunity to bring it right. but she is the we work towards the and i'm please now bring in neil o daugherty, a professor of political science and says geology at the university of galway in the republic of ireland. he is also the author of deniable contact back channel negotiation in the northern ireland conflict. now it's nearly a quarter of a century since the good friday agreement set up a framework for the peace process to start in northern ireland. so i'd like to begin by asking you, what would shin feigns victory, signify in this context? a, it signifies a very deep shift in the politics of northern ireland and a long term change in the relationship between the 2 jurisdictions. in ireland, that's not to say that the re unification of ireland is going to happen in the next 5 years. or even in the next 10 years. but certainly the relationship between the 2 parts of ireland is undergoing ongoing change. and the emergence of sinn fein is

the largest party with around 30 percent of the votes and well ahead of the next largest party. the d u. p is huge. the symbolic northern ireland was established in the 1st place as a state for northern irish protestants who wished to identify with britain and stay in the united kingdom. and that lasted for around a 100 years. unionists supplied every prime minister for every government and northern ireland and for the 1st time that will not be the case. there will not be a unionist 1st minister, very are looking at a historic 1st or what has caused the loss of support for the d. u. p, there supports his call in 2 directions, one to a right wing union as challenger, who wants them to be even more hard line and more opposed to nationalism. and to the compromise that the united kingdom made with the european union and the withdrawal agreement. so they lost some votes in that direction,

but they all unionists also lost vote to the moderate alliance party which is neither nationalist nor unionist. so there are many liberal unionists who in recent years have been abandoning the 2 main union as parties. partly because those parties have ended up on the wrong side of so many debates. most importantly, the debate around the european union, many in the union community, actually voted to remain. and the you are supportive of maintaining a good relations with you and are not attracted by the very negative approach, especially of the largest union party, the d u p to the european union. and how is the union as a community likely to react to action, feigns 1st minister it remains to be seen, but i think there will be huge pressure on the democratic unionist party to go into government which and feign and to acceptation fame. first minister sion fame after

all has been willing to go into government with the d as deputy 1st minister in successive administrations. for the d u. p to refuse, then to take up the deputy 1st minister role and going to government, which insane would be an extraordinary. busy rejection of a system that they have accepted for many years. a rejection primarily on the basis that they didn't want to national store or republican 1st minister. although the piece formal reason for not going back into government immediately is they want to see aspects of the withdrawal agreement between the you and the united kingdom. changed that agreement to ensure that there will be a soft border in ireland. but that is led to the introduction of some controls on goods between great britain and northern ireland. so the d p is saying that until that agreement has change. they won't go to government, but i think they will be pressured into government relatively quickly. because all

of the other significant parties want government to get back up and running and are willing to accept ish and feign 1st minister. tell us more about the fact that those post praxair rules are imposing border checks between or their ireland and the rest of the u. k. i'm how significant of a factor that has been it was very important in mobilizing a union, a space to, to trying changes. but the issue has developed in a very curious way. initially, unionist leaders were indicating that they could live with this with the protocol that they could accept these limited controls. because he claim it actually puts northern ireland in a very privileged position. it can trade into the u as though it's in the u, and it can trade into great britain because it's still part of the my night at tingle freely. so actually, some union could see the great benefits of this arrangement. but then partly because the british government and, you know,

backed resistance to this protocol or, you know, show that it was willing to, to pose this protocol. and really pushing in us, in the direction of becoming much more strongly opposed to it. so that became this big touchstone issue for unionists and the main unit party, the democratic union party adopted this is a central issue partly because they were afraid of losing a lot of their supporters to this right wing challenger within unionism. now you've touched on this just briefly, but i want to ask you if sion faint emerges with the largest number of seats in the republic of ireland and the next elections in 2 years. how quickly do you think we would see moved toward a united ireland? well the 1st step in any process of that kind is to have a referendum and that would take place in northern ireland and in the republic of ireland. but the british secretary of state for northern ireland is the only person

who can called at referendum, who can make the decision. and they will only do it on the basis that they believe such a referendum would pass. so we might be some years away from that yet. and even a sion pain comes into government in the republic of ireland. they will obviously then be able to increase the pressure for such a move. but the british government has the ultimate sale. whether referendum is called or not. now support for issue unification in the north is running at, you know, most polls showed it as a kind of $40.00 to $60.00 breakdown around 60 percent or a little less saying they would vote to stay in the u. k to more around 40 percent saying they were joining united ireland. but there is in all of these polls a big pool of don't knows. and you can see the chin fane is now orienting itself to and to winning over a substantial number of these don't knows it over the next 5 years,

5 years or so. and the tone of their president, mary lou mcdonald, when she spoke about the election results earlier today was very much at aimed at this middle ground and, and thinking of irish reading cation as a project that could, you know, bring people together. right? well i thank you very much, neil. oh, daugherty for taking the time to come on the show. really appreciate your invite there. thank you. ah. afore crew members from the international space station have returned safely to her? their capitals splashed down off the coast of florida almost a day after it left the orbiting lab. germany's mathias mara was among the returning astronauts who were part of a 6 month nasa science mission of to $175.00 days in orbit. it was a watery return to earth among those floating in the gulf of mexico, the 12th german to make it into space. almost 24 hours earlier,

mathias maorga bid farewell to the i says it's been like 6 outstanding months up here in the space station. thanks to the my crew my it's, it's been so beautiful thanks to all the people on the ground that supported us. it serve the end of a 6 months mission. but i think the space stream lives on morrow spent his time in space, like all the astronauts aboard, carrying out scientific experiments and maintaining the decades old station. he also became only the 4th german to leave the i assess and conduct a space, walk the very last of his he turned out that way and back on earth mara and his nasa kali's capsule was dragged to board. a space ex recovery ship outside for those inside, it was the end of an almost day long journey. yet the astronauts made their exits with smiles and waves. if not on their feet coverage. after so long without

gravity, it was stretches for every one before. ah. and before we let you go check out this racing rivalry between china and taiwan, whose cars go faster after some big talk on social media from a chinese racer. a taiwanese driver responded to the challenge. here's database zachary li, with the fast and the furious man. i want to say your mail is not quite does tie on province even have any false cause you'd like until i should bala ah, this video by chinese influence a young early this year, claiming that taiwan has no fast cause field public anger in taiwan there friday they belittled us by saying that we don't have any such cause. it feels like where poor and they're great. it's not ok to call taiwan a province. we're a country either, you know, and it sounds like you think you're the best friend, but the world is big and you horizons are not broad enough. the video also

attracted the attention of tie when he's racing driver li else, is she in noticed high ones? godfather of racing, lee, i decided to stand up for taiwan. wasn't easily able to nadia. this is nora invite nor war between taiwan and china. so it is just racing and i am professionally of collateral gym. so i threw down the gauntlet builder that you, some guy with my agent in china told me not to do it because relations between taiwan and china, a tense. i wish that yang saved you not a fast causal cow look like. of course we do da da, the old server. look why lot usually atlanta, ah, we also wanted chinese influence. it took up the challenge and gave lay out 2 months to prepare the i'll spread tens of thousands of dollars on modifying a car. the rivalry mobilized nationalism here in taiwan and fed antique china sentiment some media even dubbed at an online war. they had me a gathering of m a chair racing jobeth year in taiwan. this people have been

watching closely, la rivalry between now and the chinese car raised influencer. and now shown this approach to go out. breaking speed record is not just for prisoner achievement by no. so in a way a bus they be in phase for taiwan. all right, the dangers of picking fights on line. that was the day as ever the conversation continues online. you can find us on twitter at deed of units. and of course there's more use and analysis on our website. that's w dot com. i'm clear. richardson in berlin for me and the team working behind the scenes. thanks much for joining us. through

ah, with ah, the plane, the most powerful go of old time. that's how the tanks are drumming up. support for the cooper version. good. sending a now car. so of course we want to know how good the car is. i v and put the e s u v, through the red necked on

d w to the point. strong opinions, clear positions, international perspective with russia now pushing for full control of southern eastern ukraine. western countries are ramping up, military support for kids is the west to becoming a partner to the conflict. find out on to the point to the point. being 60 minutes on d. w. o. william, how to think on. it goes on dollars when i and was how, you know, if i had known that the boat would be that small, i never would have gone on the tray, but i would not to put myself and my parents in that danger. god, it's

a female for that. he was late, who love on centralized london, liberty to give him i had serious problems on a personal level and i was unable to live there. but let him go to that you want to know their story, migrants clarified and reliable information for my grants. ah, who did destroy the parts of your trade is if he gets the workman with down wish dropping impossible, it couldn't possibly if i'm within the window mun, india they as they get out contin.