ukranian troops pull out of debaltseve an important victory to russian separate its. >> i'm martine dennis also coming up, red cross comes under fire in myanmar's kokang region as the president declares a state of emergency. >> after bombing i.s.i.l. targets in libya, and killing civilians, egypt is seeking

military backed intervention. >> the finish is here. i can finally have a hot shower and long bath. >> the yukon arctic ultra marathon winner the ukranian president has announced government forces are pulling out of the eastern town of debaltseve in what he describes as a manned and peaceful way. fighting for the town continued, despite a truce. it's a key prize for the separatists. it loings the territories. the loss of town prevent defeat. ukranian troops. >> translation: i don't know our commanders didn't tell us.

they took position. we had been staying there for some time. we had had quite a lot of losses. it was a decision to reach the position. >> more from paul brennan, the correspondent. we had a couple of days conflicting information about the true nature of the situation in debaltseve. until late last night the ukrainians insisted that their forces within the down were defending, that they have not given up the railway station in the center of town. wednesday morning, on the facebook page the leader of the don blasz battalion it was a group of militia, that they were organising a withdrawal of troops, held up in the town. effectively signalling a retreat from the town by ukraine, giving

up the fight. it will be a bitter blow for the ukrainians. debaltseve is a strategic down providing the link between luhansk and donetsk. it was a clear run between the separate areas. it goes to the moral. they put a lot of investment into holding the town. if it were to fail it would be a bitter blow. >> the russian minister says the separatists are ready to pull out heavy weapons from the front lines. >> a ceasefire is in place in almost all front line areas. in some areas. they pull out. the only exception is the town of debaltseve and we are concerned with what is going on there. >> now, myanmar's president is

declared a state of emergency. and it is imposed martial law. the decision was made hours after the red cross convoy came under attack. >> two people were shot but survived. an armed group, the myanmar national democratic alliance army was suspected of carrying out the attack. the president of the mooep rah red cross volunteers responded take saying: the fighting in kokang forced tens of thousands to take refuge in china. the violence intensified earlier, and reportedly killed 47 government soldiers and 26 m m d.a.a. rebel fighters.

now, the group says it's fighting for the might of the han chinese minority running an autonomous strip of land on the border with china. recent violence was triggered by the return of the group's leader. he han in exile in china. this was the first unrest in the region since a major offensive in 2009 forced the group's rebel leader to take refuge in china. >> the director of an institute for peace dialogue explains what the conflict in the region is about. >> the mm d.a.a. is created after the mutiny against the

communist party. they have concluded a ceasefire that was burma's capital at the time. and then in 2009 he was ousted and since then he had been trying to return to his birth place. it is very difficult to differentiate between peaceful red cross, drugs and even the military trucks in the resistance experience the red cross trucks have been used by the burma army to attack the resistance. righted now. what china wants is a cessation

of hostility. it has not been acceptable. there is concern if the fighting continues, the relationship between the two nations. >> let's go back to the main story. 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 porashenko's answer then, and now we are in a situation that we are in at the moment with the ukranian army a position of value, and of value to the rebels who control it. >> the control of debaltseve. the battle for it seems to have been crucial to the full implementation of the ceasefire, can we expect it will take place across the ukraine. >> that is the question. we'll have to wait and see happened. the separatists say they are pulling back heavily artillery from quieter parts of the frontline. now they control debaltseve it looks as if they are going to be satisfied for the moment. but, of course time will tell whether it holds or not, and whether they have further

ambitions. we'll wait to see whether the ceasefire that was agreed and - well, it was delayed until sunday. that's when it officially came in at midnight on sunday morning. what was going upon in debaltseve meant the -- going on in debaltseve meant the fighting was going on way through when the ceasefire started. we'll have to wait and see whether they are satisfied, and whether that means the ceasefire can begin in ernst. >> rory challands live for us in moscow. thank you. >> reporter: the syrian observatory for human rights said at least 150 people have been killed since fighting in and around the syrian city of aleppo. among those dead are at least 70 pro-government fighters and more than 80 rebels following the announcement by the u.n. envoy to syria. syrian government is willing to

temporarily suspend all aerial bombardments over aleppo. the city is divided between the rebel controlled east and the government-held west. it's syria's biggest city and once a financial hub. fighting has reduced it to rubble. the government says it will decide when to suspend bombing. but they described the news as reason for hope. >> the government of syria has indicated to me its willing possess to halt all aerial bombing. all aerial bombing. halt all types of aerial bombing, and artillery shelling for a period of six weeks all over the city of aleppo. from a date which we will be announcing from damascus. i plan therefore, to proceed to both damascus and hopefully to aleppo as soon as possible.

>> in the coming hours, the united nations security council is due to meet in emergency sessions on libya. egypt is pushing for military intervention. the western government is looking at a political solution. here is political editor asking questions of the egyptian foreign minister. >> reporter: egypt on the diplomatic solution. the foreign minister with ban ki-moon. hours after his boss asked for u.n.-backed military force. after a meeting including samantha power mr sukry clarified proposals suggesting expanded support for the government and a strengthened arms embargo. >> is the possibility of boots on the ground international boots on the ground is that

something that should be under consideration >> all measures are under observation. i will not jump to conclusions. it is up to us to forge a collective understanding and commitment. that should not exclude a form of support for the government in tobruk. it's thought the security council will need to hear from the foreign minister by wednesday. the proposal is worth examine of course, but international law must be followed. >> it's not just an egypt issue alone. it's more than egypt. it requires a coalition, legal process that the security

council deal with. >> reporter: for now egypt is going down the unroute, but international law is something abdul fatah al-sisi ignored in the past. he ordered bombings on a number of occasions, including in recent days with no u.n. authorisation at all egypt says air strikes have been targetting i.s.i.l. affiliates in libya. pictures show the aftermath of the military operation. eyewitnesses say eight civilians were killed including three chiftenlt chiftenlt. >> there was no i.s.i.s. here. there was a family killed there was a gentleman. and many seriously injured. >> still to come - why are millions of chinese leaving the capital. >> i'm lawrence lee in

copenhagen, set to become the world's first carbon neutral capital. what can the rest of europe learn from denmark about protecting the environment? >>

>> start with one issue. add guests from all sides of the debate and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get the inside story. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". next. only on al jazeera america. hello, let's have a look at the top stories. ukrainians pulling out of strategic towns. president petro porashenko said the pull out has been carried out. the russian foreign minister said separatists are ready to

pull out heavy weapons. fighters affiliated to i.s.i.l. and libya. the u.n. security council meets in an emergency session. they press for military intervention in libya mented attacks in myanmar. myanmar's president declared a state of emergency in the kokang region a pressman has been killed in southern nigeria during an attack on the potential. several others were injured. in the town in river state there has been a number of bomb attacks there, ahead of the presidential elections. well meanwhile, in the other end of the country, the leader of boko haram is vowing to disrupt the sessions. it was postponed for more boko

haram attacks. >> maiduguri, in nigeria's north-east faced several recent attacks. we look at how businesses have been hit. >> this is what many streets in maiduguri look like after five years of attacks. hardly any new jobs are created, and men of the existing ones are disappearing. this man lives apart from his wife and children. >> nothing happiness in the city. i used to earn $50 in two to three hours, to take care of my family and apprentices. some days the customers can't afford to drive the cars. many resort to taking enteg rities mean most of us go

hungry. people from this part of nigeria is often thought of to be part of boko haram. a lot of cities are threatened. this is the biggest market. over the past year it's been attacked by boko haram many times. get the threat they insist on keeping the market open. many are closed. those open few come to buy. >> because we come from maiduguri. most of the customers come they don't come with anything, most are refugees. >> that means the supplies in

his store will gather dust until normalcy returns. much the day has been good. they made much money. it isn't much but enough to find a few supplies. he's not sure when he will make that much again. >> thousands of people go to sleep less fortunate. despite the situation, they stay. there has been an increase in civilians casualties in afghanistan. a u.n. report found the numbers of civilians killed last year up by more than a fifth as compared to 2013. the reports state 3,609 civilians were killed last year and others wounded. grounding was a major factor. and it was the biggest killer of

women and children. the u.n. served a significant increase in human rights violations by pro-government groups, and the perpetrators largely operated with impunity. >> reports found an increase in the number of civilian casualties, because there'd been the increase of usage of high explosive weapons, and a high increase in the usage of iuds improvised explosive devices. but the main reason many were killed and injured is because there's an and pannings of ground conflict. and the reason is afghan security forces lost air support, widening the ground fighting special near

residential areas. there isn't a great deal of optimism that 2015 will be better. people are concerned that foreign forces have withdrawn and it's a big test. they are largely on their own once the spring offensive gets under way. >> denmark is the first country to become green. as lawrence lee found out the revolution is green. denmark's revolution is achieved without fanfare. woodchips not goal hit the area. it provided steam of this driving hot water and wint

driven electricity. >> we are wary of the environment. we have to deliver greener power for heating. cost-effective to heating, and independent of other countries to a large extent. >> not for denmark over whether turbines are ugly. there's barely a country in europe that doesn't have challenges working out where the energy will come from in the future. nuclear is expensive. that as a huge defense and foreign policy ramifications. denmark is set to be self

sufficient in a few hours and is driven by the thirst for energy. >> if you are green if you don't rely on russian gas, you do not feet threatened. >> if the day game where rusha stopped the gas, we'd have to deliver sacrifices for our neighbours. if all the european states do it. they would be in a different situation. >> reporter: keeping the lights on is entangled with european policies. the argument is compelling.

>> now competitors are preparing to cross the finish line at the end of a yukon arctic ultra marathon. the extreme race through the north of canada included foot bike and skis. daniel lack was near the finish line. >> there you have it the finish or first place in the foot section of the race. a bit of drama in the last minute. there's a mountain bike section. peter of germany, he came along and waited and crossed at the same time. they have come a remarkable distance. it's a finish at night. many have gone through the night and there are more on the trail. everyone is celebrating the

finish. >> congratulations. >> reporter: this remarkable man led throughout. he has come more than 690km in less than 10 days this is a race that was not finished between 2009. people tried but didn't make it. people are doing it in less than 10 days. when i asked him earlier whether he felt good about it he was a little unconcerned. >> i wouldn't say that i'm an athlete. i'm a formal person. i know the finish is clear. i have a shot shower and a warm bed. >> it's the thought that keeps almost anyone in the race going, 10 people heading for the finish line give or take a few. we await the first cross country skier, the top finisher.

finishing this 690km event is victory in and of itself. >> millions of chinese people are preparing to usher in the year of the sheep. some 3 billion people are leaving the capital of china for beijing, to make the trip home. they go by road train, air. adrian brown reports on the exodus from beijing. >> reporter: you need to be patient when you travel in china, especially at this time of year when it's a country in motion. they are part of world's migration. take 25 million migrant workers from home to see children for the first time in a year. for many the coming year of the sheep is tinged with uncertainty, factory workers worry that the slow down in economy is far from over.

>> i will never come back from the city to work in my life. it's meaningless. we come from mar away nothing is left. >> reporter: the chinese place debate on the calendar. that's debate whether it's the sheep at all. they use the same word for sheep and goat. >> of all the signs this is least desirable. they seen as meat creatures. not a good year to be born. which is why hospitals expect viewers births. >> probably a 20% drop. women say they'll skip the year of sheep and have the baby the year after. >> whether you are superestablishes or not. there's no denying the improvement in air quality. with polluting factories closed

for the next week skies are clear and blue. and for many that is the best new year gift of all. don't forget you can keep up to date with the developing stories on the al jazeera website. aljazeera.com. night. hello, i'm ray suarez, wednesday was to be the day people covered by the executive action could start their application for deferred deportation. after the ruling of a federal district court judge in texas, there'll be no action protecting the undocumented from being sent home. at least for now. it's a last minute monkey wrej winning prays and leaving illegal immigrants in the lurch. what no one knows is whether it's temporary.