i think the mysteries all of us join me if i take on the live this man with the misconceptions and the beat. the contradiction. hardly get up on al jazeera ah marshes, president let him a push in signs of decree, recognizing the 2 separatist regions in east and ukraine as independent to find western warnings against a move. ah, hello, i'm marianne, timothy and london. you're watching al jazeera also coming up us and european union immediately announced sanctions against the rebel territories and those involved in recognizing them as people and danny at celebrate the announcement. putin or does

russian peacekeepers into the to break away regions. also coming out this hour, let us learn to live with this virus or since prime minister. now it is an end to all covered restrictions in england, including the legal requirement to self isolate. ah, low and welcome to the program will a to move that could dramatically inflame an already difficult situation in eastern europe. but the russian president, vladimir putin, nonetheless signed a decree to recognize the independence of to break away regions in ukraine. he then ordered what he's described as peacekeepers into the rebel regions. now, putin made the recognition announcement in a long televised address in which he said the eastern ukraine was ancient russian land. it followed a highly choreograph meeting where he questioned the members of his security

council. one by one, seeking their input on don bass recognition with his vizier. she turned your credit . mm hm. i consider it necessary to recognise the independence of the sovereignty of the de nits and lou heads. republics, russia has taken this decision in the support of friendship and assistance for these republics. those who are holding back, we are trying to stop military action as soon as possible and stop the bloodshed go . well, the reaction with swift nation is actually general against dalton bug condemned russia's decision. he said that moscow is continuing to fuel the conflict and eastern ukraine and also trying to stage a pretext to invade the earth p and commission present one to line described to move as a blatant violation of international law. she said your opinion would react with sanctions, and there's also been reaction from the white house you as president joe biden will soon issue an executive order outlining sanctions on the brake white regions. they will bind new investment, trade,

and financing by americans in the dumbass region. i'll deserve it, but it's smith has been following developments from the russian capital moscow. this was an hour long speech from vladimir putin, in which he excess essentially blamed the collapse of the soviet union on the creation of this independent state of ukraine called into question, ukraine's very right to exist as a country outside of russia. vladimir putin's tone was at times frustrated, and at times bleak, and he blamed after that long historical lesson of why he believed ukraine was not really a legitimate country. he then went on to blame nato for its failures, to address the situation in the east of ukrainian acute nato as his frequently accused nature in the past of expanding into all of those eastern european countries that were released from the soviet union at the brit when the soviet

union broke up, he blamed 8 accused nato of a deliberately expanding into into those areas. and he said that in east of ukraine, nato has failed to address the situation in don bass. this is where there's been a 7 year long, more than 70 a long now conflict with these russian separatists. and what vladimir putin has done is essentially ripped up the minks agreement. this is the 7 year long ceasefire between ed negotiated with ukraine and russia. and with the french and the germans, that were supposed to find a solution to the situation in east and ukraine and say in said, vladimir putin has said that it hasn't worked. that isn't working. i am now going to give, recognize these 2 countries as independent states, straight after he finished his speech, he went on to sign that agreement, which included a friendship and cooperation agreement. which means that if the leaders of lou ganske and don't ask, need help from russia,

they can call on it. it means russia could send in troops to push back ukraine from its own sovereign territory or other i spoke to ukraine's ambassador to counter andre because mango immediately after let him appreciate speech. and he gave us his reaction to that and said the ukraine sounds ready to defend itself. in fact, 275 percent of the russian army, which means more than $150000.00 troops, is around ukrainian territory. and in this very moment, the russians are crying about the ukrainians threat. this is keep up receive. we are ready to fight. we are not expecting some need to soldiers. we will fight instead of us. we have the trained and equipped army. we are grateful for our allies, for our partner's country, united states, united kingdom, poland, canada, bolted countries of some other countries for providing us with more than weapons.

of course, it will help us to stop. but if we will have a critical mass, critical number of such of happens, it could really stop the aggression before is beginning. since the price of response, the price russia to pay would be much, much greater. out there is harder. abdul hamid is reporting from constant in oscar, in that on the screen of east in ukraine and says very the real sense of fear among people that that situation could escalate quite quickly. both sides are denying that they're shooting at each other, but it is happening. so this can only spiral further out of control and that could happen very, very quickly. you could have now do the. busy do people in the, in the self profane republic, the russian back separate is feeling in bolden by the words coming out of moscow by

the moves coming out of moscow. maybe feeling a bit stronger or. ringback they could be told alter, to hold back. i mean, it's all really up in the air and that, you know, about 10 days ago i was in those areas traveling along that contact line. and whoever i spoke to at the time, including soldiers in the trenches, brushed away the idea that they would be a military escalation. that they would be a full scale. invasion of the minister of defense was on a daily basis as saying that dude, the number of troops gathered on the russian side of the border were not enough for, for an invasion. president zalinski was calling upon ukrainians to come down. he had harsh words for the rhetoric coming out of suited western capitals and he did tell ukrainians to not listen to these applica elliptic scenarios. busy that were being depicted well now, fast forward to 10 days, 2 weeks forward,

things that seem to have changed completely. everything is up in the air. and people now are wondering if all of that would happen. meanwhile, some people have been out celebrating him ukrainian city of daniel skinny rebel territory of the same name fireworks for set off, and people wave russian facts enough to putins address number of explosions have been hired in the city over the last couple of days made a rise in violence in east, in ukraine, or ukraine's presence has spoken on the phone to us leader joe biden. since that speech from russia's brought him a push. and that's get more and all of this. mike, hannah, who is in washington. so that has been this announcement of sanctions from the u. s . and probably the announcement of russian troops, they say it's a peacekeeping operation in easton, ukraine is just going to add to tensions. indeed,

yes sir. well, the u. s. has already imposed sanctions on entities within ukraine, within the use contested areas. it will full details will be released shortly when president biden science at executive order. now, while president putin was speaking, president biden was talking to his ukranian counterpart, had that conversation, we are told last at some 35 minutes a little bit shorter than the speech that president putin made. president bind and then held phone calls, joint phone calls with the german chancellor and the french president. so a great deal of diplomatic activity at the white house in the course of the afternoon. clearly these latest occurrences ratcheting up the tension. and now, with the announcement that president putin has signed for what he calls peacekeeping forces to go into the contested areas, this is going to wretched up the crisis even further. and perhaps increase a sense of urgency on the part of the ukrainian president roger museum. and you've

been speaking to joe bite in any detail on that conversation. well, we weren't given full details of exactly what was discussed, but it's not as the president putin's move came as a surprise us sources. have today's been saying that these breakaway republics may be used as a pretext for complete reduction involvement in ukraine. this has not been borne out. so, when president biden and presidents lensky with talking there, they were well aware that this process was well on the way on the question of sanctions. so we don't know because that's a critical point. the ukranian president absolutely insistent that the us should introduce sanctions before russia invades the u. s. as equally adamant that it will see sanctions as a deterrent and does not want to introduce them before any invasion because that would remove the deterrent. now this is obviously add different positions from

ukraine and the u. s. and no doubt this was one of the issues that was discussed during that phone call. but full details of what was said between the 2 leaders still hasn't been made public. all right, thank you very much. my camera 14 test from washington or shabba towns. he joins us live now from the united nations. and so she had tell us more about reaction coming from the inspector general and tony the terrorist. there has been this announcement from russia about peacekeeping operations. they describe it deploy to easton ukraine, but also that declaration from president putin. the recognition of done yet can the hands quarter, what is the you and how to say about this? un secretary general has spoken about the recognition of the independence, not, not the, not the peacekeepers but the recognition of independence in a strongly worded statement. here again,

as the secretary general considers the decision of the russian federation to be a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of ukraine. an inconsistent with the principles of the charter of the united nations, so unequivocal from the un secretary general, it is inconsistent with the trotter of the united nations. that has been a lot of movement here over the last hour. actually, we were discussing earlier that ukraine had asked for a, an emergency meeting of the un security council to discuss developments. well there, they never went through any of a formal the formal arrangements in order to get one. but that's all. but rather than super seated because what we hearing from parents from the lisa palace in paris, france, a permanent member of the un security council, has now what is going to request an emergency meeting off the security council? we have been checking with the current president of the security council to see whether they have file that paperwork because if they do that, that's not meeting tub at any time. if you could come in the coming hours and we

keep hearing about paperwork is being un, hasn't actually been filed. but it's interesting when i discuss calls to the president, the current president of the un security council. it's russia. russia has the bumps lee had, is the monthly rotation, the head of the un security council at this point for the next 7 days, at least. and it's true that they could put up some procedural hurdles if they wanted to, but they would probably be very easily overcome to prevent any sort of any emergency meeting, given the support from the security cause the 2nd general and several other members off the security council they just need 9 members to overcome any procedural handles. but also when you discuss the possibilities here, they're all those you say, well, russia probably wouldn't necessarily want to prevent a meeting because i do want to, that's their grievances about ukraine out there as well. so the, a lot of developers just lost are we will expected at emergency meeting of the un security council, a formality, not just a matter of when a, but i guess,

even if the security council was to me and it's an opportunity for everyone to arrow that grievances, any punitive action very unlikely because russia has veto power. oh, we've seen it all before. this would be a moment off expressing of grandstanding the usual grand stunning that we see at the un security council of accusations being, being thrown back and forth. but yes, russia is a permanent member of the security council, so no action would actually be taken. thank you so much, albertine see with all the reaction at united nation. thank you. she had. well, let's just take a look at what we've seen in terms of troop numbers and deployments. estimates do vary, but it is thought there about 15290000 russian troops surrounding ukraine. european council on foreign relations believes there about 10250000 troops on russia's

border with ukraine. he believes are also about 35000 russian back. separate is fighters in the break regions have done yet going to hands. so there are further $32000.00 troops in russian, annex crimea, $30000.00, embed ruth plus another 1000 soldiers stationed in moldova. and at least 13 russian battleships have been conducting the live fire exercises in the black and seas will only ra russia that had killed 5 ukrainians who crossed into russian territory. but ukraine has denied this claim very strongly. they say not a single soldier across the board with russia, and none had been killed ukraine. 5 minutes to denounce the russian claim as fake news. charles stratford has been on the road with ukrainian army patrol close to the russian border. he sent us this report. destroyed homes in a deserted village, close to the front line. the families that used to live here left when this

war started almost 8 years ago. and need a broken belongings remain. russian bank separate dispositions of just over the horizon. all ukrainian army soldiers tell us their shelter has been repeatedly targeted in recent days. craters gouged out by separatist artillery shells just a few meters away. 27 year old burn has been at this dug out for 3 months. the ukrainian soldier says separatists a using higher caliber weapons than before. if any of them are with it, there they are targeting infantry in the dugouts. i stood at the entrance and had 1st incoming 10 meters away from me. they shelled along the road. we walk along perhaps try to hit our communication lines. the shelling is much more frequent and concentrated recently. soldiers take us along a trench to the observation postal stored above support his opportunity. this used to be a separate his trench, says the soldier,

there were still anti personnel mines. so be careful where you put your feet if you don't want to lose separate his positions are under 50 meters in that direction. most of the men here we speak to say they have very little hope that a peaceful solution can be we start to fill when suddenly the whistle of an incoming shell. inquiries for me, all the enemies. you see the bushes there says the soldier possibly will. 23 meters from there is a separatist trench on. the hook. between us is a minefield and i'm selling. the bunker is small and cramped. 26 year old kid fish, which roughly translates as chaos started fighting the separatists. the beginning of the conflict 8 years ago, which is the brittany. i can't understand putins politics. it's stupid to be a fit of something. when there's no threats. i can't remember when nato has ever

been a fit to russia, not since the collapse of the soviet union and ukraine independence more than 30 years ago. but that's not what russia's leader thinks. vladimir putin, his vision of the future, remains unclear. john strafford al jazeera eastern ukraine. marching out is era, life in london wants to lead. ah, the take talk war. social media helps build a clear picture of what's happening along the russian ukraine border. was i following other stories this hour in me and mas military edge is the un top court to draw the case brought by gambia, accusing us of genocide against its rank a minority? ah,

hello. we've got more heavy showers coming in across northern and eastern parts of australia over the next couple days. but by a large it looks pretty much settled for the most part, high pressure in charge here. so we'll keep it warm and sunny. the heat still sing those temperatures getting up in the mid thirty's therefore perth, that we go with those showers just around northern parts of wu wei the top and over carpet terrier showers their evening to the out back of queensland and also to the out of new south, well, some heavy downpours coming in to sidney, unnoticed for tuesday. lottie drive of south australia, adel, so for victory and temperatures will pick up nicely here. as we go on through wedding stay, i'll swear. more heavy shower sir, for news. well, so much of queensland for wednesday is warmer. 32 celsius from melbourne, and also for adelaide. c. temperatures just using a touch as we go on through tuesday through thursday. sorry, with some very heavy right by this state up towards the gold coast, pushing up towards bruce. but eventually we will see some wet weather making its

way towards the sea. but for now is fine and dry spot to try to cross the east side of japan. but we got some very heavy snow in the forecast over the next couple of days. maybe 50 to 60 centimeters coming in across western pos upon shoot anaconda. ah, with this feels like representation of who i am and what i want people to remember me by boxing is my get out to is is not a human just martinez. the people around like 2 got away. i'm chatted a story about my life is going to take 50 future to do a don't need to do the can you let's do deep award winning documentary witness on out his era. ah

ah ahem! back main story now, in a move that could dramatically inflamed, already difficult situation in eastern europe, russian president vladimir putin has announced his country will recognize the independence of 2 breakaway regions of east in ukraine. he then signed another decree, allowing him to send what's been described as russian peacekeepers into the rebel regions of ukraine. was people celebrated in the city of don. yeah, the us and the you immediate, the voucher imposed sanctions president joe biden will issue an executive order banning trade with dunny asked hans, while that you will sanction those involved in the recognition of the rebel regions earlier on russia that had killed 5 people from ukraine who it claims were

breaching its border in the rust of region and captured a soldier alive. ukrainian military is branded this fake news. well ahead of russia's f. s b security services, almost 70000 people have fled from east and ukraine to russia. many of them are women and children evacuated on the orders of separatist leaders and dani ask. one group was sent to the russian city of tarango on saturday and reportedly house for several hours in buses without food, water, or bathrooms facilities and vacuum told journalists that, that there were many small children and the elderly on board, separate authorities and out on friday they would be evacuating round $700.00 people from eastern ukraine, citing fears of an imminent attack by ukrainian forces. korea did mean we were invited and we came with children there. infancy we left to avoid chilling, but with the hope we were promised. you are my maker correct? yes, they make fun of us. everyone is sick with children,

people on crutches. there's a 90 year old grandmother here. not telling us anything. there were the police. i asked them where we would be accommodated. they said we know as much as you do. like, oh boy secures are global affairs analyst and former spokesman for the o. r. c. special monitoring mission to ukraine and says that reports moscow is sending peacekeeping troops to ukraine. could be a ruse today. what was not surprising is actually what mr. put in did. i've been predicting that for weeks that he would formerly recognize the independent so called independence of these 2 occupied areas. what remains to be seen now is whether russian troops will come in. and i think this is what this report lose to is that russian troops under the guise of peacekeepers will come in and formalize the control of that area. the other thing quickly, i mean, as of today or yesterday, there were still a sizable contingent of my former colleagues from the i see monitoring the

situation on the ground. now now that these areas are, in a sense, independent not part of the territory. what's going to happen to them? so a lot of parts in play here. that remains to be seen what the impact will be if mr . biden's, so called sanctions that were just announced of trade in financing restrictions on people doing business in those areas that anything to go buy that no bit turn whatsoever to russia. they will continue to expand you know, the thing with friends to put in is when it smells weakness, which is what the sanctions are. he what prod further for, for a soft tissue. so the western response to be far, far more robust than what we just thing on washington this evening. while social media and publicly available satellite pictures have been used to track the movement of russian forces on the border with ukraine and li harding reports, it's helping build a clear picture of what's happening on the ground. the satellite images from

a u. s. company show a build up of russian troops on the border with ukraine. fields and forests once largely untouched in russia, now covered and tracks from military vehicles about 15 kilometers from the border with ukraine. ah, social media post from people in the region are giving more clues about what is happening on the ground. al jazeera was able to independently verify this video, posted by a truck driver passing armored russian vehicles in my. what's my, the other content includes pictures and posts from the wives of some russian military personnel. i'm talking about their husbands activities. this, the information is being used by investigative journalists to build a picture of what is happening in the region on the fly, bears of roughly went so useful because their last was out exactly what russian forces amassing ahead of any possible invasion. those is a clue to have a pen, elf evasion, and that any final reasons that they're making to weaving,

position head off. they see the day invasion. so the videos come from are happy, shouldn't useful. staci examine will go on in the ground. and the online content is making its way into popular culture. one of the reasons, one of the reasons we know what's going on with russia's military is social media. because video is a russian troops massing on ukraine's borders are being widely disseminated on tick tock, leading the media to label the conflict, the tick tock war. the information war is not just being conducted by governments, but on people's mobile phones. leah harding al jazeera. we want to turn to other stories now in following developments in men, mother military there is urging a top un court to drop accusations of genocide against his wrangell minority, taken over the case from deposed leda unsung sushi who presented me in mas arguments in the international court of justice in 2019 sushi was removed as lead

a just over a year ago in a military co. and the national unity government made up of members of i also ministration says it also wants to represent me and mom, the case was filed by gambia over a military crack down against rank of muslims in rock hind state in 2017. well now here in the u. k, the government is lifting all of its covered restrictions a month early. the prime minister boris johnson says the nation is going to have to learn to live with the virus if it's going to move forward. but as jonah hall reports from london, has been some doubt of his motives from opposition, voices, a moment of pride or self preservation. so let us learn to live with this virus, or is johnson roadmap for life alongside cove is 19 brought forward by a month. we'll see the lifting of all legal rules and restrictions relying instead on personal responsibility. we have a population that is protected by the biggest fascination program. in our history.

we have the anti virus, the treatments, and the scientific understanding of this. and we have the capabilities to respond rapidly to any resurgence or new variate. and this is because it is time that we've got our confidence back. it is an extraordinary moment. people in england to being told that from thursday they won't have to self isolate, even if they're coded, positive, free testing and contact tracing will be phased out, to be honest. the preferred to waited another month so. so we were in spring when these sorts of viruses spread less read readily. but ultimately, yeah, we're pretty close to the point where the value of self i lation isn't worth the pain. earlier in the day, a cabinet meeting to sign off, the plan was postponed at the last minute because of a disagreement between the health and treasury secretaries. all resolved, so the meeting could proceed a few hours later,

but not without casting another layer of doubt on boris johnson's government and his leadership. and remember that even as ministers argued the queen herself 95 going on 96 is battling the virus suffering mild, cold like symptoms at the moment, buckingham palace says and continuing to undertake light duties. so england is about to take a big step towards living life as if the pandemic is over the government portrays. it is a great leap to freedom. critics no say it's just another tactic to pluck a conservative party and the hope being to discourage them from throwing boris johnson out of office over the potty gates scandal. still being investigated by the police. whatever the case, the benefits both for public health and for the health of boris johnson's government are yet to be proven, showed a whole al jazeera london, a new social media commission by donald trump has just launched on apple's app store. for me, us presidents,

new platform is called at truth social. it marks has returned to social media off to being banned from several platforms, including twitter, off to the attack on the u. s. capital in january last year. but it's not for it to be the big return. he was hoping for, some uses already, reporting malfunctions and problems registering and account ah look at the main story now. in a move that could dramatically in fame and already tense situation. in eastern europe, russian president vladimir putin has signed a declaration to recognise the independence of 2 breakaway regions of ukraine. he then ordered the military or what he described as peacekeepers into the rebel regions. putin may be announcement in a publicly televised address in which he said eastern ukraine was ancient russian land. it followed a highly choreograph.