militarily with decisions that properly belong to the ukrainian people. and that is the principle that john kerry is going to be speaking to during his visit. i'll be making additional calls today to some of our key foreign partners, and i suspect i'll be doing that all week and through the weekend. but as i indicated yesterday, the course of history is for people to want to be free to make their own decisions about their futures, and the international community, i think, is unified in believing that it is not the role of an outside force, where there has been no evidence of serious

violence, where there has been no rationale under international law to intervene in people trying to determine their own >> yesterday and the day before, as i indicated sunday in my comments that we would prefer to find an appropriate diplomatic solution to this, and i think everybody is better served through that. but we also made it clear our determination to stand up for the integrity and sovereignty of this nation ar, our disagreemen, and we shar share with east, we, south. we made it clear the decision to go into crimea is not without

cost. and now we needing to forwarto d see if we can avoid everyone being put in a corner where it's more and more difficult to find a path that presents with the solution of dialogue. i was encouraged today that russia indicated that they would prefer to see us being able to find that path. that's the beginning of negotiation. as i said this will go on for the period of time to come. our position has not changed one bit. thank you all very much, appreciate it. >> there you have it, secretary kerry in paris, france, giving us the update on the crisis in crimea, ukraine, and what looks

to be the path forward. no break through. that's the take away, no break through in the conversations today among the foreign ministers. no break through in the conversation between secretary kerry and his russian counterpart foreign minister lavrov. they will all continue to have conversations this evening, conversations tomorrow. we should know that events move to brussels starting tomorrow where the e.u. is meeting, and a part of that meet something a discussion of sanctions over in entire situation. phil ittner is on the line from kiev. do i have that right? no break through in the talks today. it makes you wonder what was the intent? what was the goal of today's meeting at all? >> reporter: well, tony, i tell you watching that press conference i'm struck by how

much talking secretar secretarye john kerry did without say anything solid. >> yes. >> reporter: clearly talks in paris got nowhere. sergei lavrov made his comments over an our ago. it is clear that h they did not make any he had way. tomorrow events move to brussels with talks about sanctions. there will equally be difficulty there as europeans try to figure out how to respond to russia without shooting themselves in the foot because their economies are deeply tied together. tony, i think it's clear that there is a very large en pass here between the east and the west. and it is going to be very difficult to make any head way. we heard secretary of state kerry repeatedly say we brought the ukrainians here because they

need to be involved in this process, but the ukrainians were not allowed to sit in the same room as the russian foreign minister. this is the beginning of a process that is going to be very difficult. at this stage it appears no real movement has been made. >> phil, the russian line is, and you mentioned the statement from foreign minister lavrov, we agree the need to help a you korean reach agreements by the 21st, i is that agreement in tatters now? they can't move forward unless the agreement from february 21st is reinstated, which means the deposed president viktor yanukovych is reinstated in kiev? is that the russian line? >> well, that's what sergei lavrov just said. he said, we believe the

agreement of februar february 21st, should be reinstated. i'm overlooking the square in kiev, and i can tell you that the people will not accept viktor yanukovych. in the country. if he does, it's more likely he'll be arrested if he does. it's this legalese that they've put forward saying that this needs to be done within a legal framework. well, that's all well and good, but the reality on the ground is those days are past. viktor yanukovych is not coming back to this country. there is clearly a disconnect herhere in a lot of different sectors, what we heard from secretary kerry or foreign minister lavrov, in this entire process as we've been discussing over the past few days, there

has been a clear stand on the various players in this equation where we have a heard perspective on what is going on, and they just don't seem to be able to deviate, whether it's the ukrainians themselves, the crimeaens, the russians, the west, be it the americans or europeans, everybody looks at this thing from their own perspective, from their own kind of blinders, if you will. it just doesn't seem like anybody is willing to take off those blinders. they're just looking at this through their own perspective, and it's not getting anyone anywhere, clearly. >> it's not. i need to get a break in here, but phil, i want to you stay on the line because there are issues we need to discuss here. we talked about brussels, and the sanctions and how difficult that will be to hash out and negotiate. then we need to look at what is happening on the ground in crimea, some interesting,

stunning developments today. we'll take a break and then we'll be right back with phil ittner. this is al jazeera. united states and secretary of state and all parties involved

russia, as long as none of us are inside of ukraine trying >> welcome back everyone. tony harris in new york city. we're just continuing our conversation. in the aftermath of the news conference just a few moments from secretary of state john kerry where he discussed essentially the outcome of meetings today in france among foreign ministers who were trying to come together, to figure out a peaceful solution

for the crisis in crimea, the bottom line on it, and phil ittner is with us from kiev right now, but the bottom line no break through in those discussions today, and it's difficult in listening to the comments from secretary kerry to discern what progress, if any, was made in the discussions today. as we've been taking note on the conversation moves to brussels where the e.u. is meeting tomorrow, and there will be some kind of discussion about sanctions. and you mentioned a few moments ago how difficult that conversation is likely to be. phil, i want to talk about this february 21st agreement that the russians are essentially drawing as a red line, there has been criticism that the president has been taking on this, and the warnings the president has been issuing in terms of what many are calling an invasion of crimea. that's un deniable at this point. but the russians are putting down a marker as well, and it's this february 21st agreement, and i am digging as quickly as i

can to find the point in that february 21st agreement that the russians are seemingly determined to bring back into force here. what i do remember is that it called for a new round of parliamentary and presidential elections. we know there is a referendum set to take place at the end of march, and there is an effort to have that postponed. but what i'm trying to understand from the language in that agreement, and i'm still working on t and maybe you have it top the mind here, what that agreement said about presidential viktor yanukovych? was he to stay in power in kiev through that transition period, through the period of new elections, do you know what language is in that agreement related to that? >> yes, tony that, agreement basically was about a power sharing agreement.

viktor yanukovych would stay in power. in a certain capacity. the wording--the exact wording has not really been released, but he would have stayed in some capacity in some sort of coalition or power sharing agreement in a care capacity. but there are other stipulations to that. there were things like did the opposition vacate the square in the maidan square, they would put down weapons, these sorts of things. it was meant to diffuse the situation. the thought was that this would then calm things, and there would be a process. it's interesting to note, however, when that document, when that agreement was brought up the russians themselves did not sign onto it. and now-- >> exactly. >> and now they're demanding

that that's what it returns to. it's interesting to note that the very thing that the russians wouldn't agree to or wouldn't put their name to, they're now demanding is where we go. it's been a fascinating day watching from kiev, and where we go-- >> that's what i'm trying to better understand. i'm trying to follow the through-line of the russian argument here. that's where i'm having real difficulty now. because clearly what the russians are say something what happened there at the maidan, that's a coup, right? and that viktor yanukovych was supposed to remain in power through this transition going back to the 2004 constitution, and shepherding in this round of new elections. there was going to be a new delineation of powers, all that was to happen.

then the next day the president is essentially leaving the country. now remind us of the circumstances--did we lose phil? >> no, no. >> remind us of the circumstances of viktor yanukovych leaving the country because we've all seen the images of him helicopterin leavy helicopter. and then how do you remember that time period? >> well, i was looking at it very closely. what happened was that agreement was reached upon the opposition was supposed to vacate maidan. and instead of that the leaders of the opposition took to the stage and some of them said, we

haven't reached our goals yet. when the former prime minister tymoshenko came to the square, it was an eruption of emotion. and there seemed to be a move towards we've got him on the rope, let's keep pushing. let's get rid ofannan. now he disappeared, he was apparently on the run, he disappeared until he showed up for a press conference, he said that he felt that his life and the lives of his family were threatened, and that's why he left. so the feeling on the day was that this would diffuse things, and there was a hope that folks could step back, and yanukovych would still be in capacity in power, but it would only be as

much as there would be an election. >> so then the question becomes what is the appropriate diplomatic solution to what's most in the west calling-- >> i'll tell you, certainly there is an intractability in this situation, and caught amongst major global players,

whether it's russia or the e.u. or the united states, you have the ukrainians stuck in the middle. still on the ground. i can see them as i'm speaking to you on the square still coming out in numbers. it is a miserable night here. it is foggy, and it is cold. but the ukrainians and many who support the ukrainian effort are still here. i have asked them repeatedly, why are you still coming here? yanukovych is gone. they have said to me, because we are not at a point of independence yet. we are still under threat of being under a russian yoke, under the russian umbrella. that's not what they want. they're still here. elections have been called to move forward to may, and there are people still here. there is grave concern in ukraine tonight that the fate of this country is not in their

hands answered more. that it's in the hands of washington, moscow, or brussels. >> thank you. we'll see you as we pause at the top of the hour into the 4:00 p.m. iron hour. i want to get to a couple of other notes related to this story. for example, earlier today, secretary of defense chuck hagel spoke regarding the situation in ukraine. here's a bit of what he had to say. >> also this morning pursuing measures to support the allies including stepping up joint training, aviation detachment in poland, and it's an area that i visited a few weeks ago. and augmenting our discussion of n.a.t.o. policing. >> they are sending a mission of 35 military personnel to

ukraine. the unarmed troops come from 18 different countries. they're currently on their way to odessa in southern ukraine. the mission was requested by pro-western authorities in kiev. that's scheduled to last until march 12th. social media has played a huge role in the crisis of ukraine from government officials and traditional press to the protesters themselves. twitter, facebook and other social media is being used to talk about it, and in some cases propel and move forward the rapidly changing events. photos and videos are being posted online for the world to see. take a look at this from catarina, a 22-year-old ukrainian activist, who has been live tweeting from kiev since november. >> reporter: social media has played a huge role. to be honest at least at one moment on december 11th when a crackdown in maidan was taking

place, it seemed to me that social media and facebook, they were th the decisive moments. when we started sharing the message. this is a perfect explanation of what social media played here on maidan. this is sharing information, of sharing alarming messages and to bring people together, and to bring people together to solve our problems. >> just another reminder for you, for the latest events coming out of ukraine and the rest of today's headlines you can follow us on twitter. our handle is @aj. a couple of business stories. wall street stalks hav stocks hd down. the dow down 31 points.

it seems to be linked to a weak report on job creation in the private sector, dousing much of yet' big rally. yesterday's big rally. facebootarget open hauling in te of a massive data breach over the christmas holiday. we're back at the top of the hour.

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>> this is al jazeera america live in new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top stories. tensions mounting in ukraine. and a solution. an u.n. envoy run out of ukraine by pro-russian men. and a son-in-law accusing to use murderous words of power to rally people against america.