♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. woman: the rules of business are being reinvented with a more flexible workforce. by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. man: people who ow, know bdo.

narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for amera's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc world news". ross: i'm ross. this is "outside source." ukraine has pushed russian forces back to their own border but elsewhere the fight very much continues. soldiers are facing some of the heaviest combat of the war. >> more ukrainian troops to the soutin the donbas will be

under threat. ross: a suspect was taken into custody last year after making threats at a school. boris johnson visited northern ireland, trying to resolve the physical deadlock there which is in part connected to the brexit deal he signed with the european union. ♪ ross: ukraine's has his troops have regained control -- control of territory all the way to the russian border near to the second largest city kharkiv. just a bike that progress, elsewhere the fighting is very intense and the front line is not moving as quickly. the focus is on the donbas region and our reporter has been

to one city in the east. i's known as the gateway to donbas. >> along the eastern front, it is mainly in bunkers. three times in the last months the russians have attacked the space with infantry and tanks and have been repelled. another attack may be imminent. so here we wait. vladimir putin has turned the days into night. and taking them away from their families. but for the men of this territorial defense unit, above their heads hangs a constant threat. the town is all but abandoned.

orphaned pets have sought shelter here, too. above, a russian iars b the signal it's time to get to work. outside these walls, everything is in the line of fire. they need little reminder that to the north, the majority of russia's forces are headquartered. to the south, most of the ukrainian army. their patrols and defense longest front line keep these two mighty forces apart.

the shells start landing closer. so you get the sense of what russia's artillery and tanks can do to ukrainian homes. the reason these men are holding onto the defensive positions they have. if they do, more troops to the south will be under threat. this is a volunteer battalion. they are facg against russian

tanks and artillery and indirect fire. >> they are going to fight every day. because we believe that all the democratic countries of the world will help us, and they will give more weapons. these brave men can destroy completely the russian army. reporter: it's time to pick up the pace. on open ground, theres no safe hiding place. pinned down, there route back is cut off by artillery fire.

they search for an escape. ut, leave this place as soon as possible. but they are stubbornly hanging on. >> i don't have anyone here. >> but she is defiant. this war wasn't her choice. it's as if she refuses to acknowledge it, even as russian shells store overhead. -- soar overhead. >> very close to us. one hour away. reporter: yuri tries to convince her to come with us. >> i don't want to betray my husband.

he is buried in theemetery here. reporter: we tried one last time. why don't you leave here? >> because it's my home, and i have nowhere to go. reporter: yrui implores her --yuri implores her, natasha, go to a nearby town. they will help you. >> why, i got used to it now. if i go, what will i do next? reporter: we have to leave, and natasha is told to pack her bags, but the background shelling stops. despite the onslaught, they push forward. this is what stalemate sounds

like on this front and this is what it takes to keep the gateway to the donbas firmly shut. ross: we've also been hearing from our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, who is in the capital okyiv. >> a motley force of national guard, civilians that we saw, properly trained soldiers have managed since ukraine started the counteroffensive around k harkiv, not just to push russia back out of several villages, but as we've seen, pushing them back almost to the russian border. but the war is not over. we heard from the governor today saying there was still some shelling, and in the donbas is

where president zelenskyy has admitted the situation is very difficult. it is the top target for president putin. reinforcements are arriving. it is going to be the toughest battle of all, and they are battling now in the donbas. ross: while the fighting goes on, where have we gotten to with those diplomatic efforts we saw during the first weeks of the war to try and find some common ground between the two sides? lyse: it's not a time for talking, ross. the armies never give up, while they still believe they have a chance to make progress on the battlefield. sometimes they do give in, for a temporary cease-fire, to allow them to regroup, to reorganize, perhaps even to help some of the civilians, thait's only a pause, because as long as two armies, and in this case, it's a case of both ukrainians and the russians, they still believe

that they have the momentum now. ukrainians are now talking about not just standing their ground, but as we been hearing, taking ground back, even taking ground back that the russians took in 2014. and from russia, there is no way rush is no way russia's going to stop its advance, not while it has not very much to show on the ground. ross: sweden has rmally announce it wants to join the military alliance of nato. it comes a day after finland made exactly the same formal announcement. this is the announcement by the swedes earlier. >> after the government's debate, we had an additional meeting and we made two decisions. the first is that the government has decided to state that sweden wants to become a member of the nato alliance. ross: we will show you this map

of europe, it marks nat membership. nato expanded more into eastern europe after 1997. to the north you see sweden and finland, primarily to the west and south you see the countries who have been members of nato for longer than before 1997. they've been major contributors to the alliance and partners but they haven'been full members. nato now says they will be welcomed with open arms. the response is not so enthusiastic from vlimir putin. >> russia has no problems with these states. therefore, the expansion of nato at t expense of these countries does not pose a direct threat to russia and the expansion of military infrastructure into this territory will certainly require a response. we will see what our response will be based on the threats

that will be created for us. ross: here is lyse doucet again. lyse: it affects a number of dimensions. as vladimir putin said, it will depend on the forces on the ground. it finland and sweden, although they have been probably neutral for many years, the reality has been that they've had a very close partnership with nato. they've had military exercises, their weapon systems are more closely aligned with nato. so there may not be many changee common border. what we've seen for example in the baltic states in recent years is very strong movement of members of nato armies, in finland and sweden, then russia will look at this again and

reassess the threat alon its border. but military history will remember this as a disastrous military campaign. it isn't over yet, but a spectacular goal by russia and starting a war that he said was all about reducing the threat from nato and in the end, has got a lot more nato than less. ross: now let's talk about the shooting on saturday in buffalo, new york. 10 people were killed, the deadliest mass shooting the year in the u.s. details are emerging, the -- suspect was detained by police last june when he made a threat against a high school. this is the suspect, 18-year-old payton gendron, who is currently in police custody. police say he drove more than 300 kilometers across new york state in order to carry out the attack. >> the shooter came here, it was

a premeditated act. he wanted to kill as many black people as possible. ross: this is an attorney representing the family of one of the victims. >> this was an act of domestic terrorism. perpetrated by a young white supremacist. ross: we also heard from a man who lost a relative in the incident. >> with the help and assistance of others, we can make some positive change and shed light on this people, this cancer, that is growing amongst us. ross: our cbs correspondent, bradley blackburn, is in buffalo. bradley: authorities are trying to authenticate the manifest he apparently posted online. there are racist ramblings and

the suspect describes himself as a white supremacist and an anti-semite. so they are reading through those documents and hoping they offer some clues as to how he wound up at this place. we are seeing a growi number of these kinds of attacks. we do see evidence that they are connected. for example, one person who look to that 180 page manifesto through connections to the 2019 attack in new zealand and say this you shooter look to those shootings as an example and a model. in fact, language from some of the manifesto that was done in new zealand was used in his own 180 page manifesto. ross: in that manifesto there are references to a theory that is popular among far right race is to suggest why people are being replaced by minorities in

the u.s. and other western countries. if we look not just to this attack but across a number of mass shootings in recent years, what can we understand about the motivation of people who carry these attacks out? bradley: there is no one profile of a mass shooter. we studiedhooters going back to 1966. we have noticed commonalities, one of the key things is it is often angry young men who are searching for a pla in the world and answers ttheir problems, and they are airing a grievance and they are doing it in a very public, very horrible way. i think that's what we see here with this particular situation, which is, we got somebody who is targeting racial and ethnic minority groups because they seem to be the target of what he

sees as being his frustration or his anger with society. this is a sort of commonality that we have seen in the history of mass shooters. unfortunately there are so many that we had the opportunity to go back and look at over time. ross: we will talk about nortrn irish politics. boris jon has been in belfast, trying to solve a political gridlock that is in part connected to the brexit deal mr. johnson signed with the e.u. north korea's leader, kim jong-un, struggling to contain a nationwide coronavirus outbreak. reporter: we do have to take them on their word, but the fact that their publishing every day deaths and a number of cases does suggest tt in some way they're trying to speak to the international community,

potentially as a cry for help. but interestingly, help is being offered north korea at the moment by the government here in south korea and by others, and yet north korea has yet to respond and yet to ask for help or accept help. so it is an interesting situation, yes, as to what north korea is trying to say, while at the same time not being ready to ask for help. of course it has no vaccine, it has repeatedly turned down offers of the vaccine, meaning the viru it is spreading through the population, as it was back in the early desert 2020 for much of the world. it has very little built up immunity. ♪ ross: i'm ross atkins with "outside source." our lead story is the ukraine says it has pushedome russian

forces all the way back to their n border, but that that does not mean the fighting is in anyway finished. we've seen some of the heaviest exchanges further south in the donbas region. boris johnson has been holding emergency talks in belfast with that range of northern ireland political parties. e main union's party has blocked it from happening because it is opposed to the current trade arrangements that were put in place by mr. johnson's brexit deal, and in particular by something called the northern ireland protocol. not everyone gave mr. johnson a warm welcome, as you will see. that's the reception the prime minister received from a couple of people who turned up at the castle's gate, not necessarily representing the broad sentiment. this comes in the context of an election a few days ago that change the balance of northern irish politics.

our corresponnt will explain how. reporter: election result brought a significant shift in the political landscape of northern ireland, for the first time theargestarty in the assembly is an irish nationalist party, party that is committed to taking northern ireland out of the u.k. and making one country with the republic of ireland. that party ishane finn, -- shine finn. the democratic unionist party whose reason is to keep northern ireland within the united kingdom. the cross community alliance party, that finds itself neither unionist or nationalist, has moved up from fifth place to third, more than doubling its numbers in the assembly chamber. so those will be big changes. on thing that has not changed is the sense of deadlock. the democratic unionist party has been blocking this simile

from meeting at all. ross: the u.k. wants to remove goods that move from great britain to northern ireland as well as the power they e.u. currently has to oversee those arrangements. this is the e.u.'s current position. >> there's no mention of renegotiating. it is a black-and-white agreement that was signed on the dotted line. there is no doubt that the protocol created a difference between northern ireland and britain with certain aspects r goods only. we also know that -- in the british market, it massively outweighs all of those effects. ross: the nationalist party came top in the northern irish elections, is president agrees with the e.u.'s decision and has

this to say about boris johnson's visit. >> the unfornate thing is the british government now is playing a game of brinksmanship with the european institutions, indulging a section of political unionism which believes it can hold a veto and hold society at ransom. ross: but boris johnson has had this response. >> we will allow this to be done in a consensual way with our friends and partners, ironing out the problems and stopping some of these barriers of east and west. to get that done, to have the insurance we need to proceed with a solution at t same time. w heard from chris page a little while ago here is more from him on what has been happening in these talks in belfast. chris: the dep says it wantsn essence an end to the checks on goods arrivinhere in northern ireland from great britain under the terms ofhe brexit termed

the northern ireland protocol. in order to prevent checks on the land border between northern ireland and the irish republic, it meansnstead there are checks on goods that arrive here from britain because the e.u. needs to protect its own single market and needs to prevent any goods moving from britain into the single market by going across the open land border into the republic. so it has been a really difficult circle to square. it is an issue that was huge during the brexit negotiations. the du p is a poster that border as unionist and view it as an economic barrier within their own damages northern islands place in the u.k.. sinn fein would say brexit on the whole is a very bad thing. they have criticized boris

johnson for planning to take unilateral action for being able to scrap parts of the protocol. balancing the critical relationships is very difficult. boris johnson says he was going to sort out the protocol and says it has to be a legislative solution. in other words, he's pulling toward government plans are put together a new law, if there is not a new deal with that you you -- with the e.u. ross: mcdonald's is selling its business in russia in response to the war with ukraine. it says is not consistent with its values to continue operating there. a correspondent has more from moscow. reporter: mcdonald's had temporarily shut its restaurants across russia back in march. that's when international

companies had suspended their operations. the fact that mcdonald's has come out and said we are pulling out, i think that is recognition of the reality that things are not going to return to normal here, that what the criminal -- criminal and it special military operation has changedhings -- the kremlin calls a special miliry operation has changed said it is no longer consistent with mcdonald's values. it really is the end of an era. i remember when the first mcdonald's restaurant opened in russia way back in 1990, there was such excitement, such who crowds. it took three hours to get in. i remember that day, the burgers, fries, and pies were a symbol of moscow embracing the west, fast food to help end the cold war.

fast forward 32 years and things have changed. basically russia and the west have lost their appetite for one another. russia's offensive in ukraine has sparked international sanctions and the kremlin accuses the west of affecting russia. ross: that finishes this edition of the program. th narrator: funding for this esentation of this program is provide... narrator: final services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman fodation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. woman: the rules of business are being reinvented with a more flexible workforce. by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. man: people who know, know bdo.