paul brennen, al jazeera. leaders from ukraine russia, germany, and france, spoke by phone earlier on thursday. the details from moscow. >> now forgive me if this sounds slightly repettive but what the four leaders were discussing on the phone earlier, we have heard from them many times before. angel merkel, francoise allan and vladimir putin we are talking about implements a cease fire. down the entirety of the front line in eastern ukraine, they were talking about the withdrawal of heavy weapons they were talking about the release of prisoners and allowing the o.s.c.e. into monitor and facilitate the implementation of these measures all of these things were talked about, they are still being talked about now despite the fact that fighting is still going on. but also down on the coast. i went to a press briefing at the russian foreign ministry earlier on today. and i asked the question alexandar. i asked him what this fighting meant, whether the separatist were trying to take new territory. >> active plans on

from mario paul brennen sent this report. >> east of the city, the ukrainians delivers fresh tanks to the front line on tuesday, and the continuous sound of artillery from the positions further forwayrd is why. while it is true they have fallen silent along large sections of the line of conflict, it is not happening here. >> bombing every day from separatist and we can't give him. >> you can't reply -- >> we can't. >> the orders. >> this is fire only in one way. >> we were taking further forward along dry dusty lanes passing abandon houses and weaving between military defensive positions. >> there are tanks and guns and there is no intention to withdraw them yet. >> these tanks are on the second defensive line in case the enemy break through the front line. we need to have antitank armor, do you hear the sound? it mite just be shelling or they may be preparing a ground assault, if it is an assault i must be able to with stand it or do you think i shows july stand and watch. >> just a few hundred meters back the sound of tank and artillery fire is almost continuous. the ukrainian army

paul brennen reports from a check point near. these are the russian soldier whose are claiming victory in the battle. many of the vehicles are flying the russian flag. and their alee general to moscow is openly declared. taunting the ukrainian president one fighter shouts hello from russia. street by street, combat continued here for four days. after the supposed cease fire deal. small numbers of ukrainian soldiers are still thought to be holed up stranded inside the town, the dead, lie where they fell. on the approach road, at a place we found the aftermath of a ferocious battle. the crossing was littered littered with the debris of an increasingly desperate struggle, numerous casualties on both sides here. >> here is a burnt out tank, absolutely blackened by the intensity of the fire and the fighting. there are more vehicles here a further tank down on the far side, two bodies are still lying in the the open over behind the camera there as well. the fighter from the russian city described the final assault. >> the battle finish

paul brennen, al jazeera outside. >> russian president vladimir putin says fighting during the cease fire was inevitable, because crew cranian troops were encircled he says he hoped both sides will lay down their weapons. >> i hope that the militia fighters representatives and leadership of the donetsk people of republic, would not detain ahold these people, and let those troops freely speakingspeaking in hungary where he schaus just sign add new gas deal with the country's prime minister, he says the agreement replaces the 20 year existing contract and will allow for more affordable gas for hungarys. >> hung barry needs russia. it is important that russia is hope to receive and in the interest of hung hungary are to have safe energy. both partieses free to strengthen relations and these are rooted in our mutual respect for each other. >> where there's been more violence with bomb attacks reported across the country. 20 people were killed in a military check point near the city. where three explosions were set off. the check point was manned by civilian fighters who are said to have

and head over to ukraine and bring in paul brennen so the u.n. security council supporting what kind out of minsk the reality is not so good is it? >> well, it isn't good at all no. the -- the start of the withdrawal of heavy weaponry was supposed to begin on tuesday, and we haven't seen any evidence of that whatsoever neither side is prepared to unilaterally start pulling back the heavy weapons. as far as thaller weapons go, and that's something that is not happening. i have to say that the cease fire is being generally on servinged. one is down south. the other main flash point is around the strategically vital town, it is a railway hub, it is wanted by both sides ukraine and the separatists i believe it is vital to their interests and both sides are prepared to fight bitterly for it throwing almost everything that they have in keeping control of that strategically important town. and while the guns continue to fire, i am afraid the heavy weapons are not going to fall silence, and not doing to be withdrawn beyond the range of the front line we

. >> fears are growing that the city in the ukraine could become the latest battlefield paul brennen has seen soldiers digging new defensive positions to the east of the city. >> the east of the city ukrainians delivered fresh tanks to the front line on tuesday. and the continuous sound of artillery and tank fire from the positions further forward is why. while it is true that the guns have fallen silent, along large sections of the line of conflict, it is not happening here. bombing every day from separatist and we can't give him -- he can't reply. >> we can't. >> under orders in. >> this fire in one way. we were taking further forward passing abandon houses and weaving between military defensive positions. >> there are tanks and guns and no intention to withdrawal them yet. >> these tanks are on the second defensive line in case the enemy break through the front line, we need to have antitank armor, do you hear the sound? it might be shelling or they may be preparing a ground assault. if it is an assault i must be able to with stand it or make a reply p just a few hundred meters ba

paul brennen has our report which contains images that some viewers may find distressing. the battlefields are bleak and killing places. the druggive path leave as stark impression. the airport is such a place nearly four months of bitter fighting left this whole area shatters. the interior are strewn with debris and rebel, and the personal effects of those that fought and died here. the salvage operation is far from dig kate. >> be the concrete beam falls down, and a body is under it, we have to lift it up, but it is all in the confined area we cannot use any heavy lifting we have had to use a controlled explosion to get at it. >> a group of soldiers have been press gained into excavating the bodies of their dead comrades. >> the task of locating ex-ability thatting, and identifying the corpses of those killed in action is extraordinarily difficult. as you can probably tell, just by looking at the conditions in which these coffin stricts are having to work. >> the bodies of some 30 ukrainian soldiers have been found here so far. but the process of transferring them to a m

paul brennen, al jazeera. ukraine. >> foreign ministers of ukraine, russia, france, and germany have demanded the cease fire be strictly implemented. they held talks in paris, but couldn't agree on how to condemn determine the recent violence instead they surge both sides to start a total cease fire and a complete withdraw of heavy weapons. lithuania plans to restart service in the face of growing fears about russia, and about 3 1/2 thousand men aged between 19 and 26, would be recruited for nine months each year. university students would be exempt. the move was prompted by drills near the baltic state which is are members of nato. >> after the finance minister to improve it's economy the list of measures submitted this morning include as host of anti-policies including electricity, healthcare, food and public transport for the poorest, greece also wants to offer aid to those on low pensions, and stop people's main homes being repossessed. by tackling tax evasion corruption, and the smuggling of fuel and toba