mark: locum -- welcome. these are the headlines. russia's pledge to stop shelling appears to be just words. bombing continues despite russia's pledge to stop. th latest on that and from the frt-line citof kharkiv. vladimir putin calling on the besieged city of mariupol to surrender, where his troops struck a red cross facility. more than 4 million gradients have now fled the country within five weeks to escape russia's senseless war.

poland has taken the vast majority. others arrived elsewhere across the eu. putin backtracks or energy bis he said a week ago he would only take payment in rubles. the u.s. sent its top diplomat to algeria for a top-level meeting to open up another source of oil and gas for europe. this is live from paris. ♪ thank you very much for being with us. we begin with the latest on ukraine. bombing has continued this wednesday in spite of a russian pledge to stop. that pledge was made as a kind of first step towards a peace process. there is a report that russian forces are regrouping to refocus on other areas near the eastern donbass region.

reporter: burned out stalls still smoldering. this is what is left of a market in chernihiv in northern ukraine after it was shelled overnight. authorities said russia targeted several civilian buildings in the city on the heels of moscow's commitments to scale back is assault here. chernihiv and the surrounding region has been bombed or lent loosely since the war began five weeks ago. >> the enemy has demonstrated is decreased in activity in the chernihiv region, including airstrikes. chernihiv was shelled all night. reporter: it i the same story around the capitol kyiv. there are few sig of any withdrawal of russian troops and air raid sirens are consul he ringing. here, too, in the wake of russia's assurances, residential areas have been hit repeatedly.

ukrainians authorities said two days ago they had taken pack -- back a suburb to the west of kyiv, but there has been no end to the explosions. these residents have just been evacuated after four weeks of hiding out. >> we are from europe and -- we were hiding in the cellar of a house opposite our own home and then a shell hit the house and it burned down. only the seller remained intact. reporter: on the eastern front near the border, the ukrainian army is resisting. it claims to have regained control of a strategic highway leading to kharkiv. the city of mariupol is still under siege. on wednesday a red cross facility was targeted by russian airstrikes and artillery. mark: vladimir putin is demanding the surrender of the city of mariupol. the damage inside the city is already extensive. the russian bombardment has been

asked -- constant. putin is one more bombing is to come. the city has refused to surrender in the face of a massive humanitarian crisis caused by the siege laid on the city by the russians. this wednesday it is reported that russian shells hit a red cross facility in the city. putin told the french president emmanuel macron he will not allow a humanitarian mission to enter mariupol. there are first-hand reports of russian soldiers raping ukrainian women. the ukrainian mp quoted the case of a young woman raped in eastern kyiv in front of her child. her husband had been shot dead before she wasra raped. it's considered war crimes. we bring a now the founder of the ngo, we are not weapons of war. good evening to you.

what is your reactn to this case? it is extremely alarming. celine: it is, and i think it is not the only one. this is just the first time the general prosecutor of ukraine is opening a case. so it has to be investigated of course and confirmed. but i'm not surprised by it. we have warned about that since the beginning. each time there is an armed conflict, soon follows reports on rape. weave seen that so many times before. mark: how widespread is it? do we know at this stage how often this is happening? celine: if we talk about ukraine , that is the big thing. because it is very difficult to check. there is also a lot of propaganda, as younow, in this conflict.

from both sides. so we have to be extremely careful with that. that is why my ngo is deploying a tool that would enable women, for any victim, to alert themselves because they need a secure way to be able to speak. we all know when it comes to rape, stigmatization and shame and all of these prevent people from talking. mark: indeed, victim shaming i believe is the phrase that has emerged, where the victim feels ashamed and is unable to speak out. that is a terrible situation that makes it all the worse i suppose. i am just wondering how difficult this kind of case will be to prosecute given pressure is now near pariah status in internional l. celine: well, i mean, there are two things. one is how all these cases are going to be prosecuted and that is a big question because we do not know yet how it will be done and this conflict just started and it is already very well

documented but there is a lot of work to do in it. prosecuting israel work. it is not an easy - prosecuting is real work. it is not an easy thing to do. what people write now need is assistance, let's be clear. but we need to take into consideration that there are victims of rape in this country, so we need to try to work on how do you specifically provide the assistance they need, meaning psychologically speaking, and sexually reproductive rights assistance, and all of this. but right now it is extremely difficult because it is difficult to access in this zone, it is difficult to know what is happening, and it is difficult to reach out to the victims. mark: so many problems. at the middle of it all of course, the victims. they're the ones who need the assistance and of course we cannot get it to them. that is the massive problem. i am wondering if there is any

action that can be taken if, s ay, at the u.n. level. if they refused to cooperate in prosecuting these crimes. celine: at the u.n. level it is very difficult because we all know russia's part of the security council and has a veto right. and the crimes are clear. when we talk about that, we talk about all crimes. we talk a lot about russia. we all see what is happening. when it will come to prosecution we need to look at whether ukraine also committed crimes because that might be possible. right now when it comes to the u.n., except official statements and condemnation and all of this, i'm not sure we can do much. except for sanctions. that is what the european union

and the u.n. are doing that they cannot do much more at this stage. mark: it is a terrible situation in one's heart was out to the victims and the next victims, because inevitably there will be more victims. i suppose what you are saying is the investigation has to be exemplary, fair, right down the middle, it has to look at all sides of what might have happened and investigate it to the full. otherwise it will not have the integrity it needs. celine bardet, thank you very much for joining us and sharing your thoughts on this horrific, yet another horrific development in this situation in ukraine. thank you very much indeed. next, the number of people having fled ukraine has passed the 4 million mark. the vast majority are in poland, but there are many spread across europe. earlier this month the eu activated especial protection system for ukrainian refugees to respond to the growing crisis. it means they can live, work, study, and get access to welfare throughout the bloc.

reporter: it's the largest and flat -- fastest flow of refugees in europe since world war ii. the vast majority of those leaving ukraine are going to poland also to romania, moldova, hungary and slovakia. the flow has lessened over the past week but it remains considerable. around 40,000 people are leaving each day. for many, the decision to leave was a tough one. like for larissa, whose journey was harrowing. >> we gothroughthank god. everything was ok. driving there was so horrible. dead bodies are on the roads. no one bothers to take them away. on the roads there are mines, in the fields there are mines, and one was in the middle-of-the-road. >> my baby was born on the 17th last month and on the 21st i was discharged. on the 24th the bombing started. we stayed for a week and left on the sixth and we just arrived here. reporter: women, children, and

the elderly make up around 90% of those who have left. men ages 18 to 60 are banned from leaving the country. they could be needed to fight. most ukrainian refugees have crossed the border into poland. it shares one of the largest borders with ukraine and was already home to 1.5 million ukrainians before the war. the eu has cautioned that neighboring countries cannot shoulder the burden alone. they must encourage refugees to go to other states. >> we are telling the donors giving the money to be flexible, because maybe we need more resources and ukraine, maybe we need more resources in poland. we need to be ready for any movement in this very difficult situation. reporter: the 4 million figure is part of a wider picture. according to the u.n., roughly 6.5 million people are displaced inside the country.

and 13 million are estimated to be stranded in affected areas. mark: the plight of the refugees leaving ukraine, passing the 4 million mark. there are coders -- there of course those displaced within ukraine's borders, bringing it to 10 million or more who are out of their homes because of this conflict. we of course will continue to chant their progress. algeria, the latest destination for the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken. energy was on the menu. lincoln spent six hours in algeria including having lunch with the president. algeria is in fact an ally of russia, and is facing a growth in demand for oil exports to europe since the russian invasion of ukraine brought sanctions on russian oil and gas. algeria is 16th of the world energy producers and has extensive reserves of oil and gas.

france has kept open a president the president link with moscow but sees no change yet in vladimir putin's position. the french prime minister has spoken to france 24. this interview will be broadcast in full just after 23:00, that's 11:00 p.m. paris time. taking questions to clarify the french position and of course the broader allied position on the situation in ukraine. the world health organization this wednesday laid out three possible paths of the covid-19 pandemic might follow in 2022, with a new, more virulent variant,. the worst case scenario. the w.h.o. said the most likely way forward they tnk is e severity of the disease caused by the disease will wane over time due to greater public immunity. in france some 1446 people are

in intensive care for covid-19 . reporter: covid on the rise once more. since research and's were dropped in france, there has been a sharp climb in the amount of cases reported. worthen 200000 and 24 hours, up 120% on the week before. hospitalizations are rising as well, including admissions to intensive care. covid is now beginning to be seen as a seasonal virus. >> the virus is here, it is here to stay. we are not going to eliminate or eradicate it. it will not longer be epidemic but endemic, a bit like the flu. we risk ending up as some sort of seasonal disease. reporter: 9000 kilometers away in the economic hub of shanghai, covid cases are surging, with nearly 6000 confirmed in the city on tuesday. while only a fraction of the numbers seen in other countries, china's zero covid policy has led to the eastern half of the city entering lockdown.

the west was due to follow suit on friday, but some areas have been locked down earlier than planned. despite the rising cases worldwide, the world health organization remains cautiously optimistic. >> based on what we know now, the most likely scenario is that the virus continues to evolve. but the severitreduces over time as immunity increases due to vaccination and infection. reporter: according to the w.h.o., the number of global covid-19 cases has now passed 480 million, with the death toll surpassing 6 million. mark: keep your mask on and keep your distance. that is the best advice we can all take. next, russian and american astronauts landed in kazakhstan this wednesday after their mission at the international space station. planning of course in the middle

of the ukraine war in the diplomatic fallout it has created. so in all way they are really coming back down to earth. >> touchdown. touchdown confirmed at 6:28 a.m. central time, 7:28 a.m. eastern time, 5:28 p.m. at theanding site. reporter: the space capsule landed successfully in kazakhstan. aboard the eventual -- aboard the vessel was two russian astronauts. and hitching a ride with them was nasa astronaut mark, who had been in space for a year and 10 days, a record. but he did not stay long. he plans to return to houston immediately amid rising tensions between the u.s. and russia over the war in ukraine. in space, the conflict seemed far away, as she hugged her

russian mates goodbye. this is one of the few projects in which russia and the u.s. work together towards a common goal. >> when we started we were competing with each other and that is one of the reasons we were so successful in the beginning. as time went on we realized that by working together we could achieve even more. and that is continuing to this day and i hope it will continue. reporter: u.s. economic sanctions introduced in the wake of the invasion include restrictions on high-tech attempt to degrade the country's space program. nasa announced the iss will be de-orbited in the next decade, marking the end of the historic collaboration. mark: cosmonauts -- and not coming back down to earth -- cosmonauts and astronauts coming back down to earth. germany issued a warning about its supplies of natural gas. it comes of course at the

standoff with vladimir putin. kate: last week russia said countries that had imposed sanctions on it, like germany, would have to begin paying for natural gas imports in rubles as of thursday. germany refused, describing it as a breach of contract. putin backtracked on that demand with just hours to go before the deadline, saying he would allow payments in euros for now, but german officials are still urging households and businesses to reduce energy consumption as they seek to diversify their suppliers. monte francis reports. reporter: russian gas accounted for more than half of germany's gas imports last year. that fact coupled with the war in ukraine prompted the minister of europe's largest economy to issue an early warning that it could be heading for a gas supply emergency. all the while, trying to strike a reassuring tone. >> it is important to emphasize that security of supply is

guaranteed. that all contracts are being fulfilled. and that gas and oil are arriving in germany as planned. reporter: germany's early warning is the first of three levels and includes the formation of a crisis team to monitor imports and storage. only at the third emergency level would the government intervene in the market to ration and divide up limited supplies. moscow had threatened to cut off gas deliveries unless it was paid in rubles. something eu countries and the g7 had flatly rejected. late wednesday, vladimir putin said he would continue accepting euros for now. government officials say it is another sign that germany must end its dependence on russian energy sources, and soon. >> we are very dependent on gas, oil, and coal from russia. and we want to phase that out as soon as possible. reporter: but for now, germany

remains reliant on russia. its reserves are at 25% of capacity, and the economy minister warns that a stop to deliveries from russia would have serious consequences. in the meantime, he is asking the german public to conserve energy where they can. kate: let's look at the trading action. wall street closed lower. nasdaq down more than 1%. s&p 500 down about .5%. oil prices rising again as the u.s. and allies worn that more sanctions against russia are likely and that could impact oil energy supplies. brent crude back up around $113 a barrel. a mix close for the european indices. consumer prices rose by 7.6% in germany in march and 9.8% in spain, the highest levels of inflation around for decades.

in both countries it was driven by the soaring cry -- prices of food, fuel, and electricity. the spanish government announced a plan to help households and companies deal with the soaring prices. brian quinn explains. reporter: rising prices and rising discontent. spain is in the midst of its worst bout of inflation since 1985. consumer prices for the will -- for the month of march up 9.8% compared to a year earlier. february was already at 7.6%. at its core, soaring energy costs, which have been on the rise since last year. in the wake of russia's invasion of ukraine, oil and gas prices has spiked further, as has the cost of food. under pressure, the prime minister is taking action. >> our plan is for 6 billion euros of investment by june 30 via direct aid and tax cuts, along with the more than 10

billion euros in loans to soften the consequences of this crisis on families, businesses, and the most vulnerable organizations. reporter: that 16 billion euro plan includes a $.20 per liter discount at the fuel pump, a 362 million euro package for the agriculture sector, 68 million euros for fishermen, and it cap rent increases of 2% over the next three months. with advanced liquid natural gas facilities and an already high proportion of renewable energy, spain and portugal are less dependent on russian gas than it many eu member states, but they are far less connected to the continent's energy grid. that reality convinced eu leaders friday 20 allow an exception to the bloc's electricity pricing rules. the two countries are expected to announce a proposal to cap gas prices in a bid to bring down skyrocketing electricity costs. kate: that is all the business

news for now. mark: thank you very much. always a pleasure to see you. kate moody shedding all the light on the business news for us as ever. let's take a short walk across the studio and find kathleen a martian deva. truth or fake, that is the question. we are trying to clarify the origin of a video of a woman online denouncing president volodymyr zelenskyy during what we think is a ukrainian live tv broadcast. clarification, please. truth or fake? >> a video with over one million views on it. she is holding up a poster denouncing zelenskyy. it reads something like, zelenskyy surrender, stop taking drugs, and go back to acting. let's take a closer look at the video.

so, we also heard her speaking. she got some words out as she held up this poster. obviously this reminds us of the viral story of the russian journalist who held up an antiwar poster during a live russian tv broadcast and was arrested for it. so users are claiming that only that video was shared on western media, while this anti-ukraine one was nowhere to be seen. the video became viral in italian and russian and even on french social media networks. this is indeed an edited video. the author of the video publishes satirical anti-ukraine, anti-zelenskyy, and pro-russian content on her accounts. she has over 33,000 followers on her tiktok account and here is a video that has gained over 1.6 million views and counting. so it is extremely viral.

on her tiktok she explains she filmed this video with a green screen, digitally adding in the newsroom. here are more examples of your -- of her satirical content. we have this video from march 22 where she can -- she pretends to be a news reporter showing a satirical zelenskyy murder attempt. and on march 27 as well she has this video shooing the -- showing the z russian military symbol for victory. she got this video from a channel called ukraine 24. at the start of the war they started a broadcast called freedom that informs the war in ukraine. but satirical content, especially so well done as the one we saw, can easily be refused -- confuse for real content. mark: so this woman thinks she is funny? ok. she is not funny, but she thinks

she is funny. so she is not trying to fool anyone, she is just playing spoofs. catalina: she is playing a dangerous game. mark: she is playing a very dangerous game. let's get back to that interruption of the broadcast. did she actually interrupt the broadcast? catalina: she did. mark: so she is faking her fake? catalina: this is a visibly edited video she used a green screen effect and digitally added in this robust -- newscast. of course this is a dangerous game where users can take this out of context. mark: the green screen overlay, the reason why most presenters avoid using the color green, because you end up becoming the background. thank you for clarifying that one. thanks for watching, wherever you are, especially if you're

caught up in the conflict happening right now. we want to bring you the best information we can and the truth straight down the line. we will be back after a short break. ♪ >> the french presidential election is just around the corner. and what better excuse to embark on a road trip across the country in an electric two-seat, a car full of contradictions just like france itself. we will be exploring the major themes of this election. everything from culture to security and the economy. we will be tveling north,, south, east, and west. see you on the road. >> france 2022, the road trip, across all france 24 channels and france24.com.

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03/30/22 03/30/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> yes, we can call the signals we hear from the negotiating platform, but these signals do not drown out the blows of russian shells. amy: as the outline of a possible peace deal emerges, ukraine is offered to become a neutral country and remain nuclear-free in exchange for security