rory challands can we see rory? i can see rory. can we hear? okay, we are hearing that vladimir putin is saying there is go to be a ceasefire, are you getting anymore on that? >> reporter: well, that's the news that has been coming out on various news agencies. i think vladimir putin spoke in the last few minutes what he announced is there has been sort of agreement reached on the main points and a ceasefire on the 15th of february, that is sunday that's tell a couple of days away. that means there is a couple of days worth of fighting still to be done before the ceasefire comes in to place. we can see one of the main motorcades leaving now. it does have the russian flag on it. so it looks like vladimir putin is link the talks rights now at this moment driving off onto the minsk streets. that shows from his perspective at least that he feels that some of the heavy lifting has been done in these negotiations. but, of course, let's remember, we have been here before. minsk talks happened in september of last year, 2014, at which there was a cease

. >> i'm rory challands. inside each of these doors is a ukrainian family. find out what they're doing here and what the future means to them. >> how science is helping individuals with robotic limbs get replacement. borderland only on al jazeera america >> the new al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrapup of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global perspective on the news. weeknights, on al jazeera america . >> welcome back. the top stories here on al jazeera. danish police say they have shot and killed a man believed to be behind two deadly attacks in copenhagen. officers say he opened fire on them in a train station. a massive man hunt had been underway after the attacks killed two people and injured others. >>> meeting against the houthi coup in aden. southern separatists have rejected the meeting. >>> fighting continues near a u.s. base in iraq. five kilometers away from the al assad base. >>> ukrainian ceasefire is being

. >> reporter: i am rory challands deep in the russian arctic. inside each of these doors though, is a ukrainian family. keep watching to find out what they are doing here and what the future holds for them. >>> and when man meets machine. how a new type of surgery is helping people who have lost limb to his get row bat i can replacements. ♪ ♪ heart breaking desperation >> we're all following stories of people that have died in the desert. >> and the importance... >> experiencing it, has changed me completely... >> of the lives that were lost in the desert >> this is the most dangerous part of your trip... >> an emotional finale you can't miss... >> we got be here to tell the story. >> the final journey borderland only on al jazeera america >> every monday night, al jazeera america brings you conversations you won't find anywhere else. >> it's nice to be doing something everybody is so aware of. >> is anybody doing this better? >> "talk to al jazeera". coming up next. only on al jazeera america. >>> god to have you with us, i am elizabeth in

let's go to rory challands. we understand that this is news coming in over the hour and waiting for russia to react to this news. what is the likely rehabilitation? >> well moscow is going let the separatists and the rebels deliver the information about what is going on in debaltseve. they are not a party to the conflict, despite what the government in ukraine says and westerners have been accusing russia of for months and months and months. of course, moscow nose what is going on in debaltseve. because what is happening is one of the key negotiating topics of the minsk talks just last week. what we underfrom the talks is hour upon hour of discussion was devoted, vladimir putin saying -- your troops are surrounded. they can't get out. they'll be given a free corridor if they surrender. petro porashenko said that the troops were withdrawing. what happened after that was a 2-day delay was built into the ceasefire. now that has effectively given separatists backed by russia a chance to consolidate their cauldron, a

. >> i'm rory challands on the freezing shore line where a russian film was made. about corruption upsetting russian authorities. keep watching to find out what the locals think >>> nigerian army is battling suspected boko haram fighters after launching an attack on made aggury. reinforcements have been sent into the capital. let's go straight to armed idris. what more do you have for us. >> well the guns have fallen slept in maiduguri. things are calming down and residents coming out of their homes to assess the situation. currently no one can say how many people were hit. according to military and other sources in maiduguri, the attack was launched. it's on different parts of the city. boko haram is important in its fight or in its effort to establish the state in the north of nigeria. basically people are beginning to come out of their homes to assess what happened. but some residents are saying that at least the rocket was fired initially. totally from the boko haram gun, and caused damage killing people >>> this has taken a week. it comes as the group has suff

in the long term it's not looking sure. >> rory challands, we've leave it there >>> two syrians in nearby districts in the controlled areas. at least five people and another seven are injured, including children. it's a rocket and we have these reports from beirut. >> a significant attack. people we spoke to said they have been relatively safe. the occasional mortar is raining down but not on the scale that is warned by the leader at the outskirts. it would be retaliation for the government in their areas. to widen this out, the fighting around the capital along the border with lebanon that, is having an impact on the syrian refugees seeking shelter along the boarder. >> they've been given 24 hours to leave, but say they have nowhere to go. >> they said tents have to be removed along the border. they gave us no reason. they told us a week. they came back and gave us a day. >> this is an area where refugees were before the war. the battle across the border is intensifying. told the fighting is around 10km away, behind the mountains. you can hear it from here. this is why the lebanese army

the situation in debaltseve rory challands following the developments from moscow. if this is the case debaltseve has fallen to the pro-russian separatists, it's a stinging defeat to the pro-russian army. >> it is the case that debaltseve has fallen. we have heard from petro porashenko in the last hour or so saying the troops that were in the area are pretty much 80% retreated. 80% of them cleared out. taken the weapons. petro porashenko is trying to portray it as if it was a planned withdrawal. he was flying to the front lines, and it was a big set back for the government in kiev. that is exactly what the rebels have been trying for and what russia has been trying for over the last week or so. going back to last week vladimir putin sat down in petro porashenko in those talks. spent a lot of time talking about debaltseve saying to petro porashenko, your troops are surrounded let them surrender. petro porashenko denied any such thing was going on and now this is something confirmed by sergey lavrov saying it is something that happened, and he said that was petro pora

(no sound) >>> we seem to have communication problems with rory challands. we'll try to establish communication with him later. >>> let's move on to another top story, and myanmar's president declared a state of emergency in the eastern co-can region and impressed marshall law for three months hours after a red cross convoy came upped attack. two -- under attack. two were shot. myanmar national democratic army is suspected of carrying out the attack. as president of the red cross volunteers they responded to the attack saying it was sad to hear that red cross volunteers were wounded while carrying out a humanitarian function. they should be respected and not made the object of attack. the fighting forced tens of thousands to take refuge in the province. the violence intensified earlier, and has respectfully killed 14 government soldiers and 26 m m da a fighters. now, the group says it is fighting for the rites of hun chinese minority who ran a strip of land on myanmar across the eastern border with china. violence appears, and the return of the group's leade

rory challands reports from minsk. >> vladimir putin described it as not the best night of his life. presumably the other leaders agree. more than 15 hours of wrangling trying to reach a breakthrough on ukraine. the waiting journalists had many hopes of an announcement dashed, then well into thursday morning it came. >> the first thing it's a ceasefire from the 15th of february secondly, position and that i believe the most important, very important it's a withdrawal of heavy weapons. >> these have been incredibly touch negotiations, going in, the germans were down beat about chances of success. even now with the agreement signed, angela merkel said much hard work remains. >> i am under no illusion and we are under no illusion that a lot of work is still necessary but there is a real chance to improve things. germany and france, france and germany together showed we have made a contribution in accordance with europe. >> of course, we have been here before literally minsk welcomes leaders for a peace summit back in the late summer of 2014, but the ceasefire quickly fell apart. the agr

the latest on this story from rory challands. >> reporter: if you want a symbolic location for a killing this is it. we're literally meters from the walls of the kremlin, and late on friday night this is where boris nemtsv was shot dead. people have brought flowers for the man who was the hope, and they thought he could have been president himself. >> boris nemtsov had received death threats before, but he brushed them aside and said if he were afraid he wouldn't be leading an opposition party. he was killed in front of the kremlin, shot four times by a passinger. >> he was big, handsome, bright and talented, the very kind that they kill. we needed him very much. >> this is a new spiral in russia's descent into a fascist state. this is obvious. it is a political murder of one of the brightest opposition politicians. >> he was killed two days before he was supposed to lead an opposition march in moscow. now there anger within the opposition movement, and some are calling his death an assassination. this is a man once considered to be a potential successor to former president boris yeltsin

>> rory, thank you rory challands on the upcoming peace talks in moscow. >>> let's get news out the jordan now where demonstrations are expected in the next few hours in support of king abdullah's campaign against the islamic state of iraq and the levant. jordan has stepped up air strikes against ice nil syria in response to the killing of jordanian pilot. the military has deployed dozens of plane to his carry out raids and troops have moved closer towards the iraqi border. isil released a video on tuesday showing the killing of the pilot who was taken hostage in syria last year. let's go now to amman where our correspondent is standing by. earlier on many jordanians had opposed their nation's involvement in the coalition's fight against aisles. i guess the death of the pilot has changed all of that? >> reporter: yes, a lot of jordanians are saying that one of the positive things that came out of the tragic death and the murder of the pilot as they say is a major shift in public opinion. people say they are now speaking with one voice that they are more united than before. those who had be

rory challands there briefing us on the situation in ukraine. rory challands speaking to us from moscow. >>> security has been stepped up across pakistan following the taliban attack on a school last year. 150 people mostly students died in the attack. over the past four decades there have been similar attacks in pakistan more than anywhere else on the world. snipers are seen on roof tops and some teachers are carrying guns to the classrooms. >> reporter: after the deadly attack on december 16th, the government put in new security measures in order to enable the educational institutions to meet the threat. the taliban have warned of more such attacks and that has prompted the police to in part basic weapons handling and tactics to the teachers for them to meet the first crucial minutes of an attack and feel that they have some security. the police -- the quick reaction force will be on stand by. the government has issued emergency numbers to the institutions to call the authorities in case of an attack. weapons will now be carried by teachers an

rory challands is in moscow. what kind of reaction is there. first, let's go to casuarina who is in brussels at the n.a.t.o. defence minister's meeting. specifically, what is being considered by the defence ministers. >> the americans of defense are supposed to agree firstly to establish, to enhance the n.a.t.o. forces. 13,000 to more than double the members. each spear heads, it's a kind of stand by brigade or rapid rehabilitation force, if you wanted. the numbers translates into 5,000 members. the men will be highly trained. and will mostly be weaker than currently existing nato. and all aim to be deployed when and where needed within days. then thirdly, ministers should establish a command and control center in six eastern allied countries, as well as the multinational command center in poland but they are anticipating germany and denmark. all this bottom line the all of all this is for there to be able to respond on the security challenges firstly posed by russia as secretary-general said upon arrival to the meeting. this is a defensive pla

rory challands is live in moscow. sanctions, some say they don't work some say they hurt ordinary people. if the e.u. had one thing the russians are frightened of in terms of sanctions, what might it be? >> the russians are nervous about swift international bank messaging system, used all around the world for banks to send money to each other and used for banks to send money overseas, as well. it's incredibly important and the russians are very, very nervous that possibly the next round of sanctions against them might include being shut out of swift. it would make the russian banking system very, very painful place to be for quite some time. the russian banks are very heavy users of swift some 600 of them use it regularly. we've heard from a director within the finance or economics democratic of the foreign ministry talking about today about how being shut out of swift would be an act of extreme economic aggression, and there would have to be counter measures against it. he also said that russia was building alternati

. >> i'm rory challands on the shore line where a russian film was made. a case of small-town corruption upsetting russia's authorities. watch to find out what the locals thing. >> and in half an hour the latest from the australian open as duels with novak djokovic. >>> it is now 400 days since our colleagues peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed were arrested in cairo. the three journalists have been falsely accused of colluding with the outlawed muslim brotherhood in a case that sparked international condemnation. after the conviction in june. the men were sentenced between 7 and 10 years in gaol. the highest appeals court ordered a retrial. there's no indication of when the trial will begin. the court examined the procedures of the initial case but we are waiting for the full initial judgment. mohamed fadel fahmy and peter greste asked to be deported after a decree. it's unclear if it will be successful. >> the trial of our colleagues has been condemned worldwide. and they failed to provide enough pressure to free the journalists. >> for 4

. >>> i'm rory challands on a russian shore line. a film has been made that upset russian authorities. keep watching to find out what the locals think. >> it's the biggest day in u.s. sport with the super bowl about to get under way. details soon. >>> to syria, the al nusra front claims responsibility for a bomb placed on a bus transporting lebanese pilgrims in damascus. seven were killed. stephanie dekker has more from beirut in neighbouring lebanon. . >> this is a rare attack in damascus. on a bus carrying pilgrims to a shrine. this happens every weekend, pilgrims go do damascus to visit them. a number are dead and wounded in the attack. very unusual. the center of damascus the syrian capital is relatively safe. there is fighting on the outskirts, when it comes to the center we have not seen an attack like this for at least a year. and this being a target the lebanese armed group hezbollah, based in lebanon is fighting on the side of the syrian rooej eem in damascus against the rebels a complex web of allegiances to show you who, a

rory challands in bell awe ruse. now -- bell awe ruse. now, the head of the i.m.f. announced a bail out package involving financing. >> a dialogue with the authorities that has approved successful constitute a package, bilateral and multilateral funding that over the course will be adequate to help the communities to conduct the reforms. >> let's go to kiev. associate professor. a lot of money, but a hefty price to pay. >> well the reality is we had an announcement. the figure of 40 billion, the announcement was 25 billion. nevertheless it's over four years, this is going to be a very very long and - and difficult road to economic reform. i think ukrainians are ready for it. if only we had peace to do the reforms. what sort of reforms do they have to be? >> a lot of things. firstly, there's issues with respect to doing business. it has to do with corruption and licensing, and to do with various procedures required for registering businesses and operating a business. it has to do with gas prices. the energy prices and traditionally they've been subsidised by the gove

plus... >> i'm rory challands on the

we go to rory challands live in moscow. i don't know if you are near the scene - you'll tell us that - but a thorough investigation promised by vladimir putin, yet he was a critic of vladimir putin. are there those that believe it could be a fair investigation? >> well it depend who you ask. certainly the people that have come down here to where boris nemtsov was shot - they would believe that an investigation is going to be essentially a whitewash, and have come to pay their respects leave flowers. vladimir putin is saying it will be a thorough investigation. investigators are coming out with various theories at the moment about why boris nemtsov may have been shot. maybe it was a personal issue, maybe he was a man with many girlfriends, one could have become overly jealous, maybe it was something to do with islamic extremism, that possibly it was to do with ukraine, that he had varies friends, powerful businessmen in ukraine, powers within the ukranian administration that wanted him to upset the apple court in russia crea

rory challands in moscow there. >> as you have been hearing. boris nemtsov was reportedly researching a report on russian involvement in ukraine. both sides have been withdrawing from the front line. pro-russian rebel forces have been moving the grad rocket launches the the whole process is overseen by a group of monitors from the organization for security cooperation in europe. >> the fighting in eastern ukraine forced more than a million people to leave their homes. many thousands of others have been unwilling or unable to leave. local hospitals have been turned into trauma units, struggling to cope with staff or medical supplies. >> reporter: for this 2-year-old and her younger sister home is this simple room in the children's hospital at horlivka. they are too young to understand what has happened to them or their town in recent months. >> it's really difficult. all the children are scared. as soon as they hear the slightest sound or noise. it's frightening for adults. imagine how the children people. >> the fighting was raised the hospital

rory challands, al jazeera, minsk. >>> meanwhile fighting is continuing in eastern ukraine. artillery fire could be heard on thursday. but first, charles let me ask you about the reaction on the ceasefire deal that has been announced in minsk. >> reporter: well certainly some reaction coming through from the separatists laters here. separatists leader with some quite stringent words. he said that any responsibility for breaking or lack of compliance with this agreement would rest with the ukrainian president. and he also said that it was a necessity for continuing talks. so certainly a lot to do here yet. it's also interesting, perhaps a little bit more of an optimistic statement by his counterpart, the separatists leader and this is what he had to say. >> translator: alexander and i have another opinion but we can't help but believe and respect the opinion of three of today's most important presidents of russia germany and france. if they assure ukraine changes, then we cannot help but give ukraine this chance. >> so what exactly is happening on the ground then? because the

rory challands has more. >> this is the surgeon. with his leather and tattoos, et cetera unmistakenbly a biker, but he is a russian nationalist, fiercely loyal to the kremlin and one of a movement. >> i think the government realizes the threat. i think the most important thing for president putin is to garner the support of the people. when the people are with putin and he is already with the people then no fifth column can threaten us. >> the surgeon and his biker club the knight wofldz were one of the main atracks at saturday's rally. thousands have turned out to march under the slogan of we won't for get. we won't forgive. everyone sees the revolution as a bloody disaster provoked by the west which under no circumstances should be repeated in russia. >> i came here to support putin, to say no to maidan. sorry. i am sent mental. i came to support russia. >> soldiers, look. people die. ukrainians die. we need to put a stop to it. >> maidan is the latest in a fairly long line of grassroots movements that have at least a tacit approv

that's rory challands there at that pleading that's due to take place within the coming hours. line coming out on the reuters news agency says that the u.s. european army commander said training will be provided to ukrainian troops starting in march. the question as to however western countries should get involved in aiding and assisting ukrainian government troops is one of the critical issues they'll be dealing with of course in those talks. let's move on now. let's go to yemen. the u.k. and france are closing their embassies there just a day after the united states did the same. the u.s. is also urging its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible, pulling its diplomatic staff out because of the deterrer political crisis. the country. >> shia houthi rebels increase their hold. >> the current situation is a result of previous accumulations. the collapse of the state and the breadth of violence, the militia's and militant groups in addition to the conditions in the south which are all signs. we stress the need for all parties concerned to lead up to their responsibilit

rory challands reports from minsk. the leaders arrived self hours ago. we have heard through sources that they are prepareing a joint declaration, but it seems there's a lot more issues to be discussed. they have to talk about the lines of demarcation between the separatists, and ukranian army they have to talk about things like federalization. decentralization. petro porashenko said that he will flutely not count federalization. that would be some sort of break-up of the ukranian nation and he wants ukraine to remain sovereign, and remain whole. they have to talk about the border, what happens between russia and ukraine, how, according to the ukrainians how could they stop the flow of russian weaponry and men across the border. is it going to be monitored by the o.s.c.e. these are difficult issues there's difference between the various parties, and the talks can go on. >> an italian court convicted the captain of the did ship of manslaughter. fran shes coe schettino has been convicted. we have this report from where the trial was held. >> it's a verdict

let's go to rory challands on the update of the peace talks in minsk. any progress there? >> well, the leaders arrived several hours ago. they'll go into discussions of a very difficult round of talks. they've been talking for two hours. recently in the last two minutes they came out for break and they came out of those discussions for another opportunity. we've also heard through various sources that they're preparing some sort of joint declaration. it seems that there is a lot more talking about that happens and this could go on well into the lane. there are many things they have to talk about. there are the lines of demarcations of the separatests and the ukrainian army. they have to talk about federalization and president poroshenko said that he'll not count federalization. he said that would be some sort of break up of the ukrainian nation and he wants ukraine to remain sovereign and remain whole. and they also have to talk about the border. what happens there. they're talking russia and ukraine. how, according to the ukrainians how could they stop the flow of return

. >>> just after 7:00 pm local time in moscow let's talk to rory challands our correspondent there. is there a ceasefire in place anymore, rory? can we use that word to describe what is going on when events like this have unfolded today? >> reporter: you certainly can't use it to describe what has been happening over the last few days. whether we start to see more general deescalation of the tensions now, i think that remains to be seen. what we're going to have to watch for is whether debaltseve is enough of a prize for the separatists. it is obviously a big prize for them, and a big loss for the ukrainians. but are they going to be satisfied with this the separatists? or are they going to keep on pushing, try to gain more grounds off of the ukrainian army? might they try to push for mariupol, for example. it doesn't seem like they are going to do that at the moment. the separatists have said that at various points along the front, they have already started moving back heavy weaponry artillery, for example, in accordance with -- with the minsk agreement, and that's fire. there are

rory challands has more. >> reporter: president putin has described it as not the best night of his life. more than 15 hours of wrangling and cajoling trying to reach a break through on ukraine. the waiting journalists had many hopes of an announcement dashed then well into thursday morning, it came. >> translator: the first thing is the ceasefire starting at midnight on the 15th of february, second thing that i think is very important is the withdraw of ukrainian troops in today's contact line and withdraw of this militia from the line acceptfied on the 19th of september last year and the political settlement that takes into account the rights of the people who live in the region. >> reporter: these have been incredibly tough negotiations going in the germans were particularly down beat. even now, angela merkel has concerns. >> translator: germany and france france and germany together show that we have made a contribution in accordance with europe. >> reporter: of course we have been here before literally. minsk welcomes leaders for a peace summit back in the late summer of 2014 but th

rory challands with more on what the leaders hope to achieve. >> reporter: we're talking about things like ceasefire lines, where are the front lines that separate the ukrainian army and the separatists themselves. we're talking about things like the border between russia and ukraine, who is going to make sure that border is not the conduit for weapons and men as the ukrainian governments and western governments have been accusing russia of using that border over the last year or so and we're talking about self determination, independence autonomy for the self declared republics themselves. but it's the sequence of them how do these things get put in place, the order in which they happen that can allow a ceasefire to take place, hold and deliver some sort of meaningful situation by which a proper political settlement can occur? there have been various leaks that have been come out about the terms being set out in these talks. we will have to wait and see what the leaders decide when they come here. we're expecting them maybe as soon as in the next hour or so. you won't be able to see,

rory challands has the later. >> reporter: we have heard the things that the leaders who had a phone conversation earlier on thursday -- we have heard these things before. they were talking about a ceasefire being implemented along the entirety of the front line in eastern ukraine. they were talking about the withdrawal of heavy weaponry the release of prisoners, and allowing the osce in to monitor and facilitate these measures. despite the fact that the fighting is continuing around the town which is down on the seacoast near mariupol. i went to a press briefing of the russian foreign ministry earlier on thursday and asked the press spokesman there what this fighting meant; whether the russian government thought the separatists were trying to take more territory. his response was that the seep are only responding to aggression from the ukrainian army. so the russians are very clear about where they think the fault lies. now ukrainians themselves have been trying to count their losses after the bedockel of debaltseve. they say 90 soldiers were captured and 80 are missing. the separat

leaders of the >> rory challands has more now. >> hopes that it's meeting in minsk seem to be rising the russian foreign ministry says it expects serious and significant decisions to be made there. however, the russians aren't fully signing up yet. we can listen now to some comments that vladimir putin made in sochi earlier on sunday. >> let us go. conversations with colleagues from kiev berlin and paris in the so-called normandy format has just ended. we agreed that we will try to organize a meeting in the same format between heads of state and governments in minsk. we hope to meet on wednesday. if by then we have managed to agree some positions which we have been discussing very intensively in recent days. >> note what he said we aim to meet on wednesday if certain positions have been agreed first because there are clearly lots of details that will have to be thrashed out first. much of that will happen in berlin on monday when deputy foreign ministers meet there. then, on tuesday in minsk, there will be a meeting of the contact group. >> includes the ose and crucially represent ti

in moscow this report has gone down well as rory challands now explains. >> reporter: for many years russia has complained that its interests and concerns are ignored in weatherern capitols. the argument goes issues russia considers paramount to issues are arrogantly advanced in the face of russian objection. so it's little wonder that this british report which accuses the u.k. and e.u. of sleepwalking into the ukrainian crisis it is little wonder it is being picked up by state news agencies. the report's conclusion that europe and russia should be talking to each other about shared shared shared strategic interests that goes down well here. >>> it's make or break day for greece. neave barker is monitoring events at the euro group meeting in brussels and filed this report. >> reporter: it's now crunch day for greece and it's crunch day for the euro group as well although the deadline for the renewal of the bailout isn't until the 28th. that's next week. and a decision needs to be made this afternoon to allow european parliaments the chance to ratify. greece put forward something of a

rory challands with more on what the leaders hope to achieve at this meet approximating. we're talking about cease-fire lines. where to separate the ukrainian army and the separatests themselves. we're talking about things like the border between russia and ukraine. who is going to make sure that border is not the conduit for weapons and men as the ukrainian government and western governments have been accusing russia of using that border for over the last year or so. and we're talking about self determination independence, autonomy for self-declared rubles. but it's not all these things. it's the secrets of them. how they're put in place, and how they're they happy and how a cease-fire put in place holds and delivers some meaningful situation by which a proper political settlement can occur. if they don't agree. if there is no deal, then we're in a very sticky situation. what has triggered this flurry of activity, this diplomatic burst of action that we've seen over the last week is a real worry in europe and america of the united states as well. that this situation is g

rory challands on the phone with the latest from minute he can. despite what poroshenko is saying we understand that they are back in the negotiating room rory. >> reporter: this is turning out to be an incredible difficult negotiation. it's been going on for well over 12 their hours now. [ inaudible ] various stations in hopings and he can peck take that some sort of deal imminent each team and hopes have been dashed. and. [ inaudible ] >> rory, we'll have to leave it there, i am afraid the quality of the phone line not good enough. thank you anyway. >> let's hear from pavel our defense analyst and columnist who believes ideal is on the cusp but that poroshenko must stand firm when dealing with vladimir putin. >> i believe it's more jockeying for position. i believe that some kind of deals is imminent because right now to kind of continue the fighting would mean to introduce more russian troops, regular troops and if he introduced them without air support, there is going to be heavy losses. i believe both sides right now are going to be kind of s

rory challands has more from minsk. >> reporter: the leaders arrived here several hours ago, they had some photo opportunities and then they went in to the discussions to begin what is obviously a very, very difficult round of talks. we have also heard through various sources that they are preparing some sort of joint declaration, but it seems like there is a lot more talking before that happens. there are many, many issues that they have to discuss here. they have to talk about things like the lines of demarcation between the separatists and the ukrainian army. they have to talk about things like federal saying versus accident traildidhe central action, petro poroshenko says no federal ionization, that would be some sort of break up of the ukrainian nation and he wants ukraine to main sovereign and remain whole. they have to talk about the border, what happens there between russia and ukraine. how, according to the ukrainians how can they stop the flow of russian weaponry and men across that border. is it going to be monitored by the osce. these are all difficult issues. there is som

. >> we can go live now to our correspondent covering those talks in minsk rory challands. rory, we can hear from him who's already filed his report. >> first of all the most important thing a ceasefire. that is supposed to take place on sunday, the 15th of february. we understand that there will be a pullback of heavy artillery that will begin two days after the ceasefire and should be completed within 14 days. all foreign military are to be removed from ukraine says petro poroshenko, of course by that, he means russian troops. we also understand that there is going to be the freeing of hostages. now, alongside that, the ukrainians are saying there's an agreement reached for the release of a ukraine pilot who is currently appearing in a russian courtroom accused of the deaths of journalists. we understand that the separatists, the separatists of the self pro claimed donetsk republic have signed this along with the contact group representatives which involves the osce and russian ambassador and various other european representatives, and also, there are going to be regular

rory challands, moscow. >> ukraine's president is mourning the loss of boris nemsov saying he was a bridge between ukraine and russia. forces continued withdrawing as part of a peace deal with pro-russia separatists. rebels say they have shifted the bulk of their heavy we hopeonry on the front line but isolated clashes continue elsewhere. president boris shenko says he believes it was related to the conflict in ukraine. >> boris declared he would reveal persuasive evidence about the involvement of russian armed forces in ukraine. someone was very afraid of this. boris was not afraid. the hangman and executioners were afraid. they killed him. >> joining me live from moscow is sergei markcov who was in the duma and did the chairman on international affairs. thank you for taking time to talk to us. mr. markov to what extent would you say the killing of boris nentosv has deprived russia of a voice the opposition in the country at a time when those figures have been increasingly squeezed? >> reporter: he has been my friend almost 20 years. we have been political opponents but we keep very frien

. >> i'm rory challands deep in the russian arctic is an ukrainian family. keep watching to find out what they're doing here and what the future holds for them. >> and there is no place like home for australian cricket cup. >> rain pryor >> everyone wants to be that thing... and i'm not that thing i'm like hello... i'm me... >> surviving a chaotic childhood >> i'm like dad... they're hookers in this house... >> ...and breaking free and following her own path >> when you come to a show of mine... someone in that audience didn't like what i just said... >> every sunday, join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... talk to al jazeera part of our special black history month coverage on al jazeera america >> again, you're watching the al jazeera news hour. intense fighting in eastern ukraine just hours before the cease-fire is due to come into effect. some of the worst violence has been around the town of debaltseve. and the port city of mariupol. >>> talks take place as houthi form a yemeni government

challands reporting from moscow. secretary of state john kerry says there's gaps in reaching a nuclear deal with iran. kerry warned that america is ready to act if no framework is reached by the march deadline >>> the nigerian army has retaken a town formerly under the town of boko haram. it is on the border with chad niger and cameroon. the town is a headquarters for a multinational military force from all four countries, we have more from abuja. >> reporter: the recapture of baga is a significant victory for the nigeria army. it's been the thorn in the fight against the group over the last year. two controversial event have taken place in the town this year in january. there were reports that at least 2,000 people were killed by boko haram, and the military were basically accused of turning a blind eye to this. 2013, similar accusations. two people were killed by boko haram, and dumped in a mass grave. there were accusations of nonresponse to sos calls. it was importance for the nigerian military to get the town ba

rory challands has more from moscow. >> reporter: this is a list the eu has been working on for a while now. it has announced that it will expand the number on the black list on february 9th in response to the shelling of mariupul at the beginning of the year that needed some sort of coordinated response. what we have now are the details, the actual names of the people on the list. we have two russian deputy defense ministers we have two state duma members a singer known as the russian frank sinatra and valeri rushkin as well. the self proclaimed luhansk peoples republic. and militias fighting the ukrainian army, the spar sparta battalion and others, the list has been greeted with a certain amount of consternation by people within the russian government who says that it's not helpful to the implementation of the minsk peace agreement but also at least one person rushkin has decided that this is a badge of honor. he says he's quite proud to be on this new eu list. >> hundreds of huh gairians hungarians are expected to sign a new energy deal. robin forester walker reports that diplomacy i

rory challands reports. >> reporter: it's been 7 months sense this family fled the bombs of eastern ukraine, leaving behind their house and everything in it. they share one room in a college dormitory. they didn't have a knife or fork when they arrived. they do not do much complaining. >> translation: he started working as a builder. he got work at the port. a representative from the company came here and said he needed men. several guys from the dorm got jobs there. i work as a shop assistant. >> the dorm houses 53 ukranian ref disease. -- refugees. since november the 1st they have been paying their own way since the russian government shut off support. thankfully most have picked up work. home may be thousands of kilometres away. internet keeps them connected. kristina is getting news from back home. >> why didn't you leave? >> i didn't get the chance to go. it's because of work. she had a job and salary. now they can only work half a day. she wants to leave, but can't. you need a permit to leave the city. >> not all are happy with the ukranian refugees taking their jobs. it is all prefer

. >> okay let's go to moscow talk to rory challands and get the russian point of view. does russia accept those people the russian separatists, do they accept that they have broken the ceasefire. >> no, of course not. they have been saying all along that it's essentially the ukranian army creating the situations that the separatists in the east are responding to. and it's - the government in kiev essentially is creating the war. so when we here from people like john kerry saying there'll possibly be a winding up of sanctions is that what we hear from the kremlin is sanctions would be counterproductive, exacerbate tensions and promote the kremlin to come up with a suitable response. the west has a dilemma, it is not prepared to consider a military force in eastern you cray other than the supplying of ukranian army with defensive weapons. the sanctions that it is applying don't seem to have noticed anything. we are in a position where per talking about doing another turn of the screw. not to say that sanctions had zero effect. they had significant effect. and that is to a

rory challands with this update. >> so the russians and separatests have the what they wanted. vladimir putin was saying to petro poroshenko saying, look, your troops are cut off. they're surrounded. do the right thing. don't let them die. let them surrender. but petro poroshenko denies what vladimir putin was telling him and did he not want debaltseve to be used as a bargaining chip. they lost it now. what happens now? it depends on the rebels, the separatests have as much ground as they want at the moment, and whether they'll start respecting the cease-fire as agreed in minsk, or whether they might think that they have the wind in their sails and will carry on pushing for other victories maybe down in the south places like mariupol. a lot of it depends on what the fighting conditions will be. is a thaw going to be immanent in which tanks would get bogged down in the mud. that is a fact. there is supposed to be a phone call later between angela merkel merkel, franÇois hollande and petro poroshenko, and there is going to be only one happy caller involved in that call, and that

rory challands reports. >> reporter: it's been seven months since this family fled the bombs of eastern ukraine. they left behind a house and everything in it. now they share one room in a college dormitory. they haven't a spoon or a fork. this family doesn't do much complaining. >> he started work as a builder. he got work at the port. a representative came and said they needed men. several got jobs there. i work as a shop assistant. >> reporter: it houses 53 refugees down from a peak of 128. since december 1st they've been paying their own way after the russian government shut off financial support. thankfully most picked up work. >> home may be thousands of kilometres away. these days the internet keeps friends and family connected. >> >> translation: why didn't you leave? . >> translation: i didn't get the change to go >> translation: it's because of work. she had a job and salary now she can only work half a day. she wants to leave but can't. you need a permit to leave the city >>> winter nights are long and cold. accommodation is cramped, as the man overseeing the building pointou

. >> rory challands. >> kamal, those wall it's over the shoulder there are the kremlin walls and surround the vertical power structure. it is that vertical power structure that boris nemtsov criticized so often. this murder comes at a sensitive time. it's sensitive not just geo geopolitically because of the east-west stand off over the war in ukraine but there was supposed to be a rally that boris nemtsov was supposed to be at. this will is human tragedy that has touched the hearts of mean here. >> the place where boris nemtsov died is now a shrine. this murder has shocked many. >> it's a tragedy for the whole country. >> the people like him are important in any country especially here. people who can follow their views and who are honest. >> it's hard for me to talk about it. i feel sorry for him as a person. he was murdered. i don't know if it was a provocation or not but it doesn't matter. this person was a part of our history. for some, a positive figure, for some a negative. >> this man was once thought to be a potential successor to former president boris yeltsin. but yet sunny chos

here is more now from rory challands in moscow. >> the likely cremlen response is any increase in sanctions would be counterproductive which would further lead to the exacerbation of tensions and the kremlin would be forced to come with age appropriate response. the west is in a dilemmafa. it isn't minded to use force other than supplying with offensive weaponry. the safrpsz it has applied don't seem to have changed the kremlin kremlin's behavior in any way we are talking about giving it another turn of the screws. it's not to say they have had no effect. they have on russian public opinion and annoyed a lot of ordinary russians and made anti-western sentiment more pronounced. >> that's been played to maximum effect. today, saturday saturday you have had thousands and thousands of people out on the streets of mofkt 0 on what is being called an anti-maidan rally, to say the people on the streets of moscow were saying what happened in ukraine a year ago was a bloody disaster and nothing of the sort should be allowed to happen here in russia. >> reporting from moscow. some of the rments of war

rory challands went to the arctic city of minsk, the home for many refugees. >>> it's been seven months since this family left eastern ukraine. they left behind their house and everything in it. now they share a room in a college dormitory. they hadn't a spoon or fork when they arrived, but this family doesn't do complaining. >> he started working as a builder. he got work at the fort. a representative from the company game and said he needed men. guys from the dorm got jobs. i work as a shop assistant. >> there are 53 ukranian refugees gown from a peak of 12 # -- down from a peak of 128. since december the 1st they've been paying their own way after the russian government stopped support. thankfully most picked up work. the internet keeps friends and families connected. this woman is getting news from luhansk. >> translation: why didn't you leave? >> translation: i didn't get the chance to go. >> translation: it's because of work. she had a job and now they can only work half a day. they want to leave, but they can't. they need a permit to leave the city >> reporter: the night are long

now let's talk to rory challands who joins us live from the russian capitol. let's talk about reports of russian forces carrying out military exercises in crimea. what is thinking behind this? what are you hearing? >> well it's elementary that if you want to go into bargaining situation you want to go in to that situation as strong as possible. so this is a tiny reminder of its military capabilities. there are military exercises going on in crimea newly acquired crimea there are also exercises going on at the moment in the southern russian military districts, which borders ukraine. 2,000 intelligence personnel on exercise there. that's military theater, really but of course as charles was just telling us what is going on in ukraine is far far more deadly and there seems to be a kind of uncanny historical exco playing out at the moment. going into the minsk talks of early september 2014 the ukrainian army was surrounded and routed and now we have a similar situation where the ukrainian army seems to be surrounded. this is a boot really on the jag jugular of the

rory challands. >> reporter: five hours of discussions here in mosque outside, face-to-face negotiations between vladimir putin, angela merkel and fan swa hollande. all we know is contained in the most highly held talks. he said the talks were con stockedive. what happens next is a document is going to be prepared which takes in all of the suggestions and that will be forwarded on to the different parties. the negotiations will be picked up on sunday in a phone call that is going to be conducted in the normandy format. that will mines it will involve all of the people here in moscow this afternoon and also include pet petro poroshenko. these talks have not been clearly fruit-bearing, very very difficult. we knew precious little about what was going to be talked about coming into it and precious little going out of it. but obviously, not much agreement reached so far. things were probably talked about were the demarcation line between the separatist areas and the rest of ukraine. things also talked about would be the border between russia and ukraine and, also how much autonomy could be g

. >> we'll cross to rory challands. how is the meeting likely to play out, with the meeting? >> they planned to meet on wednesday. we heard from vladimir putin, causing a little doubt. he said they'll gather in minsk if certain agreements are made first. presuming that does all happen and they meet in minsk, russians are hopeful that there'll be something significant coming out of it. they are talking about important decisions, hoping to be made there. now, what they want to see is some sort of ceasefire, talk about special status for the don blask and protocols. that's what the leaders have been talking about. everyone will come to the meeting with different thinking slightly different requests. we have heard petro porashenko talking about how he doesn't want any sort of u.n. peace-keeping force on the ground in eastern ukraine, but may be open it a referendum on the federalization of the east. we have had francois hollande talking about a demilitarized zone between ukraine and the east of the country. whatever is decided, western leaders are going to be looking to russia to

rory challands was there. >> the leaders have arrived several hours ago. they had photo opportunities and then they would begin what was a very difficult round of talks. they've been talking now for two hours. recently in the last few minutes they did come out of a break and came out of those discussions for another photo opportunity. we've heard through various sources that they're preparing for some sort of joint declaration but there is more talking before that happens and this could go on well into the night. there are many many issues that they have to discuss here. they have to talk about things like the lines of demarcation between the separatists and the ukrainian army. they have to talk about things like federalization versus decentralization. petro poroshenko said that he will absolutely not count federalization. he said that would be some sort of break up of the ukrainian nation, and he wants to see ukraine remain sovereign and remain hole. they have to talk about the border. what happens there between russia and ukraine. how, according to the u