you're watching live from paris right here on "france 24." the headlines this hour. a meeting to galvanize the world against russia's invasion of ukraine represented 40 countries led by the u.s. at rims time airbase in germany. could the conflict spillover to neighboring moldova? explosions rocked the area in ukraine accuses russia of destabilization. and u.n. secretary general good

terrorists travels to moscow to meet with putin in a bid to mediate the conflict, put degrees on principle to allow you and and red cross involvement in the evacuation of mario poll. -- pariupol. ♪ >> the u.s. is promising to keep moving heaven and earth to supply ukraine with weapons, promise made by secretary of defense lloyd austin at rams time airbase in germany. officials from 40 countries have convened to galvanize international support. for more on this u.s. led initiative, let's speak to david smith, reporting from washington dc.

david, thanks for joining us. lloyd austin who said ukraine clearly believes it can win, and does everyone in attendance. that's right, lloyd austin praised the courage of the ukrainian people and said it will go down in military history. he stood by some recent remarks where he said one of the objectives is to see russia weakened so it cannot threaten other neighbors, and he said that has been borne out by the reality on the ground, where russia has suffered thousands of military casualties and by some estimates, lost about a quarter of its military equipment. this is really an attempt to rally around countries in this common cause, and it would

produce some tangible results with germany, committing to 50 antiaircraft systems to be sent to ukraine. that is seen a significant and a big win for this meeting, because after some early promise there had been concerns that may germany was getting cold beat -- cold feet and moving quite slowly with its commitments. this appears to be a reassertion of that and certainly a success for lloyd austin, the last couple of days who has been to ukraine himself and met with president zelenskyy. >> that german announcement coming as a relief for the u.s. and there is also a sense of urgency, u.s. army general mark milley saying that time is not on ukrai's de. >> that's right, and tre was another commitment today that these 40 or so nations will meet on a monthly basis, i think

president zelenskyy will be pleased about that because he is obviously grateful for all the support but he has noted that he gets calls from different international leaders saying what do you need, and frankly he has to repeat himself from what he said a week ago. so some greater international coordination will be welcome. the u.s. still leading with $3.7 billion worth of aid plus humanitarian aid has provided. but that warning is significant because there is a sense while russia failed miserably to capture kyiv, it is making bigger strides in the south and east in the donbas region, threatening moldova. even as the meeting was happening today at the german airbase, we saw russia heightening its rhetoric, warning that nuclear conflict even is not completely out of

the question. so there's a sense of needing to continue the momentum and the race against time to assure ukraine holds off the russians and those other parts of the country. >> david smith reporting from washington dc, thank you very much. war is raging in ukraine, but diplomacy goes on nonetheless. the u.n. secretary general up met with vladimir putin in moscow this tuesday. he criticized russia's military action in ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbors territory and urged him to allow the evacuation of mariupol specifically, with civilian stuck at the steel plant. putin adding that ukraine's army should be held responsible. >> the factory is totally

isolated and i ordered not to conduct the assault, so there is no fighting around the factory. ukrainian authorities said there are civilians inside. if that's the case, the ukrainian military who are there must release them. otherwise they are acting like terrorists, like the islamic state in syria. they are using these civilians as human shields. >> despite prudence affirmations, ukraine has -- the same plant where's ukrainians and civilian fighters have been besieged. >> the main thing that stands out for me is he claims there is no fighting going on around the plant, after he ordered the assault on the steel plant to be halted. that's not what the ukrainian fighters there are saying. they say they are subjected to continual bombardments. so one of the two sides must be

lying. the other main news that came out of this meeting was that according to a spokesperson forguterres, putin agreed for participation in an end eventually evacuation from the steel plant. with details yet to be confirmed in further discussions, that wasn't something i saw a kremlin's spokesperson saying, and it sounds like there is still a lot of conditionality there. does not yet sound like a very promising achievement, given that russia has many, many times promise to put in place humanitarian corridors to allow the evacuation of civilians from mariupol since the siege began, and those humanitarian quarters have basically never materialized. >> to discuss this meanings as

well as other diplomatic efforts surrounding the conflict in ukraine, we have a professor of international security who joins us via skype. thank you very much for joining us. we just heard a short extract of that meeting and what we heard was putin using this opportunity to further push his narrative about this conflict. but we've also heard about the principal for you anand red cross involveme in the evacuation of those last civilian stranded at that steel plant in mariupol. what do you make of that agreement? is there any trust that could be put into that at this point? >> as your previous speaker said, think it is a mixture of different narratives going on here. where the red cross have been trying to get people out of this

difficult area of mariupol and they have made numerous efforts to do so, but each time these humanitarian corridors have not actually held. and therefore it is the job of the u.n. to try again to see that move toward some kind of success. but there hasn't been an ability to deliver that, one has to be skeptical whether that will continue in the future. >> can we take a step back and think about the purpose of going to kyiv to mediate in this conflict with a party with putin that has not been exactly forthcomin that whole such an important position in the united nations. what kind ofaneuver does

guterres have in this? >> there has been a lot of criticism of the u.n. for not doing more in the conflict thus far. guterres, where there he goes to russia or ukraine first, it's a masterful piece of choreography. the important thing is that he is going, he's trying to use the good offices of the u.n. to further the diplomatic process, trying to get the two sides to come to some kind of cease-fire, which seems to be receding in significance. you are absolutely right to say that the central position of russia as a permanent five-member security council makes a whole intervention by guterres very difficult, because russia can veto anything that is put forward in the security council. and it is a mark of how

hamstrung the organization is in the face of it with its leading core members being accused of conducting this kind of aggression in the world, it makes the organization very difficult to carry on any of its core functions about international security and peace. >> a ting moment for the you in there. there are talks between the two warring sides continuing, but sergey lavrov accused zelenskyy of pretending to negotiate. are these talks also to a certain extent purely performative, or is there actual progress being made at some level? >> it's so much dependent on what the rusans are actually looking to achieve, and whether they will accept more limited gains, if you le, in ukraine,

than they originally set out for. the fact that ty have run into this comparative brick wall of sustained ukrainian resistance means that it's very difficult to see the russians stopping now. they are much more likely to continue this offensive,o shift it as we have seen to the east of the country, to wear their own artillery and tank rmations have a better chance of success, where they can conctrate their center of gravity. that's really also why the west is pouring in this military equipment, and much heavier equipment than was hitherto the case. it's not just purely defensive equipment, antitank weapons and air defense systems, but now they are beginning to offer combat vehicles, tanks, armored personnel carriers, etc., which

maneuver and to start driving back the russians, if that's possible, by the ukrainians. so the whole kind of gravity of the conflict is now changing potentially. i wouldn't want to over exaggerate the possibility of ukrainian success at this point, because it is still far from certain, but nevertheless, the west is seeing a potential there for ukraine to be able to conduct some really significant successes in the future. one of the very interesting pieces of information that came out over the last day or so is that we are beginning to see some ukrainian strikes into russian territory, to actually damage russia's ability to deliver military equipment, logistics, fuel, into the ukrainian theater. that is really significant, i

think. >> that's all we have time for, unfortunately. thank for those insights on this developing conflict that is changing day by day. that conflict threatening to spill over into moldova as well, especially in one russian-backed separatists region, for the second day in a row, explosions have rocked that area, knocking out to powerful radio antennas. no one has prime responsibility, but ukraine is pointing the finger at a russian false flag operation while russia is pointing the finger back atkyiv. >> ukraine has been quick to accuse russia being behind these explosions in moldova, and russia has also stated that -- hinting that the mold opens might be to blame for this and

perhaps the ukrainians and it may be forced to intervene, worrying words coming from russia. they're asking mold opens to remain calm and for the media to be responsible and saying the hypothesis is that it could be internal fractures that certain vested interest there within that area might have an interest in destabilize this situation. she did stress that any destabilization there could be dangerous for moldova and that moldova would be upping its security on the border between moldova proper and the republic which is -- there are russian forces there and have been since 1992. >> it's time for the business

news with kate moody. thanks for being on set with us. as russia is halting shipment of natural gas to bulgaria starting on wednesday, how significant is this? kate: for now officials in both poland and bulgaria say there's no shortage for households and businesses. poland's climate minister tweeting that national gas reserves were 76% full at the moment and the countries are also seeking alternative sources of gas. the move could have bigger implications for that you as a whole and more e.u. countries could find themselves cut off. russia had threatened to stop supplies if it wasn't paid in rubles instead of euros. e.u. members have refused to do so, saying gazprom is in breach of its contracts.

russia's invasion of ukraine has fanned inflation around the world. new projections from the world bank suggests that energy prices will climb a further 50% in 2022 after nearly doubling last year. natural gas prices will be especially affected while the price of a barrel of brent crude oil is expected to settle around $100, more than 40% higher than last year. food prices are on track to climb a further 23%. they already spiked more than 30% last year. crane and russia are major producers of wheat and belarus is a major supplier of fertilizer. the world bank says price pressures could persist for several years, until at least 2024, and it will stall progress in reducing global property, weighing the most on vulnerable populations. $44 billion and promised to

shake things up. elon musk is poised to take over twitter in a deal that was announced on monday. if the acquisition goes through, we will be one of the biggest intech tech history, but it sparked debates about what changes must might try to enact, including adding an edit button, delisting on the stock exchange and possibly new rules about what users can and cannot publish. >> keen on making an entrance to and dropping a bombshell, elon musk has once again pulled off a surprise. the $44 billion, the richest man in the world has bought his favorite social network, twitter. he had long complained about what he sees as the platforms overly strict moderation policy and the lack of freedom for its millions of daily users. >> failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. >> named times person of the

year in 2021, he presents himself as a free speech absolutist. the twitter takeover has raised concerns among its users. quick things will probably get worse if he's trying to open up freedom of speech because that allows room for fake news and hate speech to spread. >> what is he want with this not very profitable business? some experts say the acquisition is politic. >> he wants to extend his inflnce and get on the good side of political plars so he can use these fridships to facilitate his entrepreneurial projects. >> the white house said that president biden was concerned about the power of large social media in everyday lives. his predecessor says he won't be

making return to the platform, at least for now. kate: elon musk has been trying to break into the potential huge market for electric vehicles in india, lobbying for lower import tariffs. tuesday, india's transport minister said that as long as tesla isn't investing in the global economy, the cars made in china will not be allowed to be sold there. >> he can start manufacturing here. kate: let's take a look at today's trading action. twitter shares dropping nearly 4% and tesla shares about 12% in the red by the closing bell. all that drag down trade on wall

street as well. the dow jones shed 700 points, taking the nasdaq down nearly 4% at the close, the lowest level of the year so far. makes close for the major european indices, hsbc stock falling about 5%. that's all for now. >> that's kate moody with business. time now for truth or fe, thanks for being here. today, conspiracy theorists claim that putin didn't attend the orthodox mass in moscow. >> conspiracy theories claim putin is in hiding following the invasion of ukraine and recently some rumors on twitter claim that russian state tv sent images of putin assisting in orthodox easter mass on april 20

third. here's an example of a tweet shared on april 24 with over 575,000 views. he denounces the video published by russia today that shows putin at easter ma as fake russian propaganda. the tweet reads, putin was too much of a coward to be present in a church during the actual event and that these images are staged. let's analyze the video tother. we see putin standing nt to this painting of the crown where he's holding a red candle. here we see him next to the painting again, standing next to the mayor of moscow where he is holding a red campbell -- a red candle once again. here we see the painting of the crown behind the pastor where

putin all of a sudden disappears. the author of the tweet claims that putin has a body double for public events and says these are archived images from easter mass from 2021 in moscow or that these images were prerecorded images from the easter mass from 2021 in moscow, where these were prerecorded where he says in an empty church and then broadcast as live on russian state tv propaganda. indeed, we see the images of easter mass in moscow from the 2021, they do seem very similar or putin is dressed in the same way with the same red tie, navy blue suit, and a candle. >> so how can we confirm if he did attend the easter mass this year? >> we will explain how we dispel

these conspiracy theories. the red tie and suit seemed to be a common theme for putin during easter mass. have these images from 2016 or he is wearing the same time in the same suit. these images from 2018, and right here, 2019. he is dressed the same way throughout all these years for easter mass, it is a common thing for putin. some say how about the red candle from this year and last year, they seem pretty similar. it was broken now for us, in the image from 2021, he doesn't have the drop saver for the candle that would clearly see in the one from this year's easter mass. in the scene where the conspiracy theorists claims that putin seems to disappear, it's just a matter of camera perspective, where the shot changes from one scene to the next. finally, the conspiracy theory

mentions the prerecorded footage of putin in an empty church, we can see curtis us -- courtesy of david, there are clearly people here, but this isn't the first time this happens, other pro-ukrainian accounts were showing this video earlier in march saying that putin did a bogus green screen video and 90 didn't really attend because he was in hiding. these claims are also fake, so we have to be very careful with all those posts on social media on putin and zelinski, since we have seen many pro-russian claims that zelenskyy fled ukraine since the war began. >> thank you s so much for that, reminding us there is more --

that's it for this addition. we will be back in just a few more minutes.

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04/26/22 04/26/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we understand migration is a huge issue for the united states . in the case of cuba, have agreements from decades ago in the trump administration chose not to comply with them and the biden administration has continued the same approach. amy: the u.s. and cuba hold high-level talks for the first time in four years the