the syrian government turns to a faithful ally for aid after the earthquake disaster. russia is a key back for syria leader assad who is still under international sanctions. plus, we meet expecting mothers in ukraine, determined to give birth in the capital he'd, despite russia's war of aggression. ah, i'm sarah kelly. welcome to the program. teams are still managing to rescue people trapped by the devastating earthquakes and turkey and syria. but for days on hopes of finding many more survivors alive are fading within 21000 people have been killed. turkeys government has defended its handling of the disaster and the face of growing criticism, particularly in the province of had tie. one of the regions hardest hit, president wretched tie, bear to one says it is impossible to prepare for a catastrophe on this scale. pulled from the rubble in turkeys, devastated her tie province after nearly 90 hours. this little boy is fortunate to be alive. oh, exhausted, rescues, have been working non stop for days now throughout the disasters. own health has been coming in from all around the world. this ukrainian team was dispatched by keith despite the fighting back home journal to risk earth would attack ish, colleagues was surprised because of the war in our country. but we believe that we have to how that's the nature of mutual aid. well, there's no other way to do it to move her wing from william wall rescuers from turkey and further afield. aunt giving up the more time passes the lower the chances of finding more survivors. freezing temperatures are only making matters worse. thousands of bodies have already been recovered and the death toll is expected to rise even further. in many areas, there's frustration with a lack of government health. these we is civilian support these people, but i am not a crane. i can't lift these concrete blocks. i'm a mother, but my heart can only bear so much pain. no one's listening. where's the army? where's the stays? where is the unity? president irwin defended his government's response as he visited the disaster area and promised to rebuild destroyed homes within a year. with thousands of buildings flattened and countless more damaged and the cost of reconstruction expected to run into billions of euros. it's unclear how achievable this pledge may be while the prospect rebuilding may offer hope to the 100000 left homeless in midwinter. for now, the focus for many remains the increasing the desperate search for survivors. and for more we can turn now to d. w correspondence back to both coke who is in the turkish city of the young man described to us the situation where you are this is the police, are the center is close to one on this limited? i mean. okay, it was a car. maurice and this is on the interest of them on 600000 people and big city who construction is not so good. they can. you can see there are still going on, but they are getting risk of the survival. survivors are having best, jason, because the weather is so cold and they light buyer to get warm, nothing and their content, but they're not cold. so jason is like, that's the last thing about this. and many people are trying to leave this place if they can. and you know, the 1000 we're hearing behind you is just highlighting that the, the critical work that is underway there. there has been criticism, however, of the government's response. tell us a little bit more about that and, and what you have been hearing from people where you are sure vendor. good kids, actually the one to police after the 24th or 24 hours after those. great. so then the rights, mostly the, the volunteer workers, folks and the officials couldn't come here at the beginning. but after 2 days, they are more here like they came and the kids are getting less, but people say that why do we wait so much, for example, not getting the of them. and they say that we are waiting for help in 4 or 4 days. so they hear their relative sounds from rebel, they try to reach, but they don't have machines or so they criticize the government because of this they do, they, they say it is so absolutely tragic. and of course, you know, the hope is that it might still be possible to reach these, some of those people. but you know, now for days on top of this, a little bit more about the biggest challenges for search crews right now. sure. the biggest challenge is definitely the colds. it's like 0 degrees just now. 11. am here, but think about it in the night. so like mine 5 minus 10, the biggest challenge is this. and the other challenge, thousands of building collapse. it's not which month to rescue. so many, many rebels just waiting for help, but some troubles aren't even touched. they are like, but they are so cold. this fun are the biggest challenges of the rescue by g w carver. joining us there on the ground from the turkey city on one of those that have been just so hard hit by the disaster. thank you so much for following what is going on there. dozens of countries have pledged aid in the wake of the earthquake disaster, but many are uneasy about working. meantime, with theory, as government led by president bashar assad due to his role in the countries civil war assaults regime can count. however, on backing from one major international ally, that is russia, russian soldiers helping clear the rubble in a lover. arriving on the scene just hours after the powerful earthquake that devastated northern syria. military personnel also handed out emergency supplies. moscow was quick to respond thanks to its existing military presence in syria. russia has an air base in may mean near the port city of latasha, and also has a naval base and our twos russia became directly involved in serious civil war in 2015. when moscow began carrying out air strikes against forces opposed to the government of president bashar assad, with russia's intervention, the assad regime succeeded in consolidating its control over most of the countries population centers, opposition control is now limited, mostly to adler province in the north west, which was badly affected by the earthquake. following the disaster, russian president vladimir putin santas condolences to assad, and promised assistance. assad hasn't forgotten russia's rule in maintaining his grip on power. with moscow now increasingly isolated on the international stage. assad is one of putin's few remaining allies. and i am john's now by vent a sheller of the berlin based irish ball foundation. she is a foreign policy expert who has written extensively about syria. i'm as we've seen there, there are these warring factions controlling different areas of the country. how are the internal divisions within syria itself complicating rescue efforts? right now they are complicating risky. i said it's been so so who can cross which line in which border the regime has insisted that age should go only through moscow . and you know, there's only one border crossing that is allowed for you and age into northwest 0. it's live. so this is of course a problem because a through to must hardly ever reaches it live. and chris, there were also the division between the autonomous areas and of criticism. there has been an offer of aid from these areas satisfied turkey and the regime. it has also been one that comes with syria. this is really sad to be inside the tragedy. so what can the international community then do to help syria without assisting thought? well, before the northwest, it would be absolutely essential to open and use all border crossings and there are more, i think there should be an exception. it is an emergency situation and we should make sure to have a entering through all possible ways. and i think, you know, there has been some steps that's been taken already. they are good that i mean medical assistance is obviously needed. so i think we should then it's in the border, syrians that cannot be helped inside the hospital and destroy the foster care of the hostages. and so there is a big need for a, for those who are better wanted tell us a little bit more though, because, you know, the governments of both president assad and vladimir putin, his key ally in the war in syria say that western sanctions, in fact, against them are hampering relief efforts, walk us through, you know that claim and anything potential that that could be done in that regard. while they have been issuing, they have been insisting on this point for several years now. but this is not true that humanitarian aid is effected by or it is prevented by these sections. there was one thing, the banking sector among the sectoral sanctions. this has been hampering aid so fun to recreate. fundraisers for example, have been stopped in the past by yesterday. i saw there is a general license that was issued by the united states that allows all and any aid that is related to the earthquake. i think now at this point it's a and i think it could be as much as we can do, doesn't make sense to lift the sanctions and hope that you monitor and 8 will come most. it's a political will off the syrian regime and we have not seen this are very interested in the state of citizens foreign policy expert ben to sheller, whose britain extensively about syria. thank you so much for joining us with that perspective. about the situation in the week of this earthquake disaster. we appreciate it. thank you very much. indeed. years of course, continuing to follow developments with regard to the earthquake, but in the meantime, let's get a check of some other news from around the world. us officials have released the 1st images of agents for covering the remains of a chinese balloon shot down last week. the us says the balloon was part of a major surveillance program targeting more than 40 countries. china and says it was a civilian aircraft. demonstrators have clashed with police in peru as anti government protest enter their 3rd month. the unrest was triggered by the detention of former president pedro castillo on rebellion charges. protesters are demanding castillo released and the resignation of new president deena, although od thank south africa's president, seal rama cosa has declared a state of disaster over the worst energy crisis. in decades. power outages lasting up to 12 hours are damaging and already struggling economy. scuffles broke out in parliament as opposition lawmakers disrupted proceedings demanding from opposes resignation. space acts as successfully completed the 1st full test of its starship booster engines. a key part of the company is ambitions to eventually land astronauts on mars. the test involved the most rocket engine ever fired simultaneously. a total of $31.00 space ex founder ilan musk says the starships 1st and test flight could come as soon as march ukrainian officials say that russia has targeted the countries energy infrastructure in a series of drone and missiles strikes. the attacks on friday morning triggered air raid sirens in cities across the country. residents have also been urged to take shelter in other cities, including the capital, keith authority say the zappa roots here region, at least not 17 projectiles. their hit within an hour. moscow appears to be stepping up attacks in ukraine, south and in the east. now the dw team and keith has also headed to a shelter. let's try and bring and d, w, special correspondent, abraham, who has been reporting from there. so at where are you and what is happening? we are right now in key of where, like most residents of the city, we woke up to piercing sounds of sirens signaling that the city might come under attack. and just in the past couple of minutes we heard the sort of clocking sounds coming from the air, and that's usually a sign that a, that, that something that's been trying to target. the city has been struck a down. and so that's why normally sorry, we'd be coming to you from, let's say, a less improvised setting, but we have chosen to, to start heading to the shelter. you can see it's entrance right behind me. it's close enough that we could jump into it just in case anything happens. but residents have been advised to move to shelters. i think what's striking to me here is, you know, how, let's a nonchalant, the residents are with these. with these warnings, walking to the streets, walking just coming here to the shelter. and i must say not everybody is, no one is panicking, nobody is necessarily running to the shelters. and that's perhaps a sign of how used to the situations the residents have become. it's a, it's a very grim, a, you know, side effect of this horrible war. and we understand it's not just keep, but ukrainian officials have let the entire country on alert for airstrikes. what more are you hearing about that? yes, over night, cities towards the east have come under a particularly vicious attacks. our viewers are yours were remember at names like her keith, her son, that you know ukrainian region in the east that was under russian occupation. but from march till november and then after it was liberated by ukrainian forces, has since then been under relentless attack by the russians. and this comes, you know, of course, at a, quite a symbolic time. we're approaching the one year anniversary of this war. but our president zalinski ukrainian president zalinski just last night, you know, all of the world press was full of images of him in brussels. welcomed with open arms by european leaders. and so to wake up to, to, to, to this kind of attack. i don't think it's coincidence and given russia's obsession with symbolism at certainly a sign, a grim sign coming from there. a at the ukrainians have been warning that a new russian offensive is brewing on. tell us a little bit more about how what we are seeing today. well, we have been seeing in the past week might be fitting into that. certainly. so it is, you know, the anniversary for the, for the one year anniversary of the were, is coming up. our viewers might remember that is february 24th. and russia is quite, you know, desperate after this one year after they had initially thought that, you know, this country would fall within weeks to show some kind of a wind or gain, especially in the east. and that's why we've seen, you know, these particularly the particularly heavy targeting of towns and regions in the so har keith, her son, denise pro and so on. so that certainly falls into, into, into that, into that pattern or into that expectation if you will. abraham d. w, correspond and joining us from keith, our residents have been urged to take shelter. this is of course, following moscow stepping up air air strike attacks, especially in the regents of us up arethia and car keys a i thank you so much for your recording. thank you. and with threats faced by its citizens at the beginning of the war, ukrainian hospitals were not spared from russian shelling and some have taken preparations in case they are targeted. again, a who we just heard from visited a hospital earlier in keith that has been repurposed as a storage basement, as a maternity ward. and met with a woman who are preparing to deliver their children in war time. have a look. sneeze gina cooling, spends a lot of her day waiting, waiting to hear from her husband maxime, who volunteered to fight prudence army on the eastern front internet's and she's waiting for their 2nd child, a girl to arrive close to mine. but i'm with them. we talk about family and things at home as well as social in las kamal, he feels that he is abandon us, but i tell him not to worry. well, i tell him he is just doing his duty. there are plenty of reasons to worry. russian shells have hit you cranes maternity words before in this war like these haunting images from maria pole in the early phase of the invasion show. yet new jana refuses to have her baby anywhere else, but key of some of which have come from the beginning of the war. i never once thought about leaving ukraine, lily with the thunder levied march, it was oh, it is very hard for me to consider that question. even though i have an 8 year old daughter, i still couldn't leave. i didn't want her to see the war, but i feel calmer here, and i want to see how life is like in our country. i want to be close by the portage. more moms to be, are choosing to have their children in ukraine despite the risks. says one doctor at this hospital in western cave movie during the 1st 3 months of the war. natalia coach must saw a drop in the number of patients a year into the fighting. things are slowly returning to normal. but now her job is about much more than just delivering babies. love will live like a younger yet. we have seen patients with more complications during pregnancy or for now with that even though they have complications related to birth and enormous stress. m alagood on behalf of we worked, the psychologists and our doctors also became psychologist themselves. hm. at albums. lamb. right. you send me my the kid will list the volume, the whole. hm. doctor coachman, her colleagues, turned this basement used for storage into a delivery ward under fire, a safe place to deliver babies, even if the hospitalist targeted. it's one of the reasons why renata and constantine kalashnikov have chosen to have their 1st child timothy. here he was born just a few hours ago. the collection of coughs fled from the nuts in eastern ukraine. a region that seen fighting between russian and ukrainian forces since 2014, they ordered athlete. i've already left my home once. i do not want to go through that again, visits and where to run to poland. we do not have a home there. we do not speak the language, it was hard enough getting settled in kiev, either ring a bell or some to the last us of que despite the war, both renata answered jana are optimistic about the future of the country. they're bringing their children into. they did of that, i believe that we will rebuild everything. i believe that ukrainians will be happy again, we will draw the right conclusions and never forget this time roast. okay. for that to happen, ukraine meets peace. and susanna knows, should likely have to wait a long time for that. and as we've heard on the political level, ukraine president volota, mr. lensky has renewed his appeal for ukraine to join the european union. he told m e. u leaders meeting in brussels that europe will only be at peace once russia is defeated. zalinski is also called on you allies to keep military and economic aid flowing to cave images for the history books. president zalinski and the you parliaments, president met celeste, ending side by side to demonstrate that ukraine is part of the european family. it is this family and its values zalinski emphasized in his address did, did people of ukraine defend every day on the battlefield? said la fever all bo, this is our europe, not these are our rules. this is our way of life. a deal grain him for ukraine. it's away wholly away to its home slash this whole dormer, zalinski priest, the chamber for its early backing of you. kennedy status will ukraine, pointing out that this support motivated his country to be strong and to stay the course? president salons, he speech was her powerful mom. it was moving the fact that he spoke with such a character and passion for joining our family. here in the european union, we have been walking this path for the past year, and there is only so much who can add on except for solidarity and our feeling that we belong together. and this is the feeling that we all felt to day solidarity with your queen. that was what you opinion leaders wanted to demonstrate as well when they came together in brussels for they were meeting with the ukranian president. tougher sanctions on russia and further arms deliveries were at the top of their agenda with zalinski once again asking for western made fighter jets for his pilots . you so much and i'm sure visiting number for us to survive. we need these weapons for that is what i'm talking about actually. but there are positive signals concerning the respect of weapons. roy, we've got positive signals that we heat each other. awesome. we all know that i really want the signals to become concrete words. similarly, but a torrijos concurrent in his walk. hello. and he made clear that his country also needs a concrete date for the start of accession talks with the eel. of course we need this year. and this year child, when i say this year, i mean this year i will this o 22023. i feel i feel really responsibility of the timothy, the richard joe feel with your doorbell. but despite all the laughs and a lighter tone, ukraine is likely to have a long way to go to join the block. it's a merit base process. the commission president funder lion said not one said to rigid timelines for the lensky however, ukraine's e. u membership is not a distant dream, but a future that is certain. his visits to brussels has seen a lot of good will, and promises to provide more military support. but the ukraine and leader made it clear that what his country needs right now is not promises, but swift action. and finally now the oscar and the grammy award winning american composer burt bacharach has died at the age of $94.00. ah, the house is not in those noon to whom sir. i think he was one of the most plentiful authorizing music history he compose. he works for a string of stars from dusty, springfield, and tom jones to dion warwick. he produced dozens of heads including walk on by, i say a little prayer and raindrops keep falling on my head. dobs, keep all and all in law. he and joe slug to god is we got too big for his bed. here watching d w. a quick reminder of our main story today. more than 21000 people have now been killed in the earthquakes and turkey and syria. rescue worse continue to co people alive from the rebel defying the odds. but 4 days after the catastrophic quakes, hopes of finding survivors are slowly beginning to fade. president volota mir zalinski has renewed his appeal for ukraine to join the european union. he told leaders meeting in brussels that europe will only be at peace once russia is defeated. and ukraine becomes a phone member of the block. and with that now you are up to date on d. w. news coming up next. that is level 3000 looking at the guatemalan seeking better lives and opportunities in america in the united states to stay with us if you can for that. i'm sarah kelly in our land. thank you so much for watching. take care. ah ah, with ah, with who in a globalized world where everything is connected, all it takes is a smart to set things in motion. local hero show out there, ideas can change the world. global 3000 the next on d w. we're here because if you are there. mm. german colonial history is a book filled with horrifying chapters 4 generations of people share not only their stories, but those of their families and a film about racism, survival and resistance. in 45 minutes on w. o. sheree that you still would have to check in austin, you mouth right. you will send this new meditation equals must the end of a superpower. the collapse of the soviet union rushes more in ukraine. one year since the invasion began, we take a look back and forth and into the future. in the new building. slow rain. in phoebe oh d w ah. ah, well come to global 3000. strengthen numbers. how thousands of volunteers in india i helping to save local lakes and rivers.