we don't simply focus on the politics of the conflict. it's the human suffering that we report on. we brave bullets and bomb and we always include the views from all sites. ah, reports of heavy st facing as russian troops and to ukraine, 2nd largest city khaki. ah, well again, i'm peter w, watching al jazeera light with our continuing coverage of the crisis in ukraine. an oil depot is on fire in the capital key, f after it was hit by a missile. we will stop protein from using his war chest.

western allies agree to cut some russian banks out of the international messaging and payment system. thousands are on the move ukrainian families had across the border to poland, as the russian attack intensifies day for ukraine has refused to hold. talks with russia in belarus, saying it was the staging ground for the invasion. a russian delegation has arrived in the bell. russian city of go mail. the ukrainian president loaded me as the lensky says he remains open to talks in only a neutral venue. now this all comes as russia has stepped up, its military advance as his troops and to ukraine. second biggest city khaki is situated in the northeast, near the separatist held regions of landscape under nets, more than 400 kilometers away from the capital kiev. several military vehicles have

been seen moving along the streets in car key city center. the regional governor says ukrainian forces of battling russian troops in the streets and he's wants civilians not to go outside. russian forces have attacked oil and gas facilities, sparking huge explosions. troops are trying to take over the phil give air base. that's 40 kilometers south, west of kia and an oil depot. there is on fire. after being hit by a russian missile. the me every siren society in key at the capital minutes before a blast was also heard. the cities, 3000000 residents have been told to take shelter with fears. the battle will get close to the city center. a curfew has been imposed there until 8 am local time. monday morning. just the interest correspondence of alchemy, joyce's life. now this out from the neat pro in easton ukraine, so harder

a complex, complicated picture across the country, just give us a sense of what's been going on over night. well, susan lay, complicated picture and fighting really happening in all these hot spots. a kev, south, east and north of care are ukrainian armies. true pushing back on the russian advance. according to the ministry of defense, also attacking a convoy of chechen fighters who had come across the border and were advancing towards cave. according to the ministry of defense, the of the did, the commander in charge of that brigade would have been killed in a bad attack. now, as you were mentioning earlier feature, it's clear that the russians are trying to also attack all kinds of infrastructure, the oil, they pull in a near cave, a gas pipeline. a north of car cave are also in the south of the

around of the apparition that they're trying to advance towards a nuclear plant. then the cranium, government being very alarming about it, not knowing whether that nuclear bond is to put it under control or actually chew and hate it. but it's very clear that the russians have been bog down, is taking much longer. i think that what they thought they thought that they had the military superiority and they didn't expect such a stand by the ukrainian military. and now they, i kind of not only attacking any more military assets of the ukrainian army, but actually going after civilian assets give is under curfew since last night, saturday, 8 pm to, to morrow. monday, 8 a. m. and that is to make sure to go after saboteurs have been fire, fire a gun fire fighting reported on the streets of kids in several areas here. and in

the pro also there was a curfew overnight for exactly the same reason. and we were told by the military here that actually they had intercepted at several rockets early this morning, heading towards the airport of the pro. so certainly we're not talking any more about at tags of the ukraine and military, but this is all out attack on also civilian infrastructure and civilian residential neighborhoods in cave and people here you see around me, the st. the city is empty. that same fear you have is not about if this it is going to be attacked, is about when it's going to be attack, you get the feeling. they are harder that the russian military has kind of had to take a step back. think for a bit and re plan for a bit because they, they didn't make the advances on days $12.00, and $3.00 into or up to in a round kia, perhaps the capital that everyone was assuming they were going to make. because the

ukranian military clearly was, was fighting back in a way that perhaps the russian military didn't anticipate. so that's why they're going after you're talking about oil and gas supplies, you're talking about airports, you're talking about car keys in the east because that so close to the border, there must be an easy, a get to the kia of the capital city itself. ah, well, on the phase of it, it seems that the russian military assume that it had the overwhelming superiority . certainly it out numbers the ukrainian military a did not probably expect that the ukrainian military would manage to go into combat position rather than just be on the defensive. what many people here thing is that the russians wanted to 1st go have give capitulate, and then it would have a be an easy take to, for the end gay, which is basically taking over the done yes. and no guns region,

giving them to the separate is under their control what that is not happening. and when you see, even if you look at more, you pull this a port city on the as if see in the south of the country. well, that is a very, it's strategic, a area for the russians, because from there they can trade this land corridor that would link russia to crimea even they're, they're not able to take control of that poor neg, surrounding it. now they're going up there on the east and flag of the ne pro a river is where we are on the western flank of that river. now, i wouldn't be surprised if the ukrainian stud a also the destroying the bridges that connect the 2 bags. because in the end game, you have a feeling that the russians are all the time, changing their tactics on the ground, trying to serve convent, these difficult a as and trying to sort of move again. and i think you get also that feeling when we were on the road yesterday from commodore,

which is in the eastern flank of the country and the donates region all the way to here. all we so on the road is convoys of ukrainian military regrouping. redeploying also adapting their taxes to what is happening under ground to the advances of the russian army. but what we got the impression of is that ukrainian army is there is energetic, it is able to put up as than at the moment. what probably everyone is looking at both nato allies and the ukranian government is for how long that can last, simply because at the end of the day when it comes to numbers, the russian military is much larger than the ukrainian military order. thank you so much, hon. commute there talking to us live from denise pro. let's go to maria up diva. she's in car, keith. we're that heavy fighting is happening. we understand. she is the research director at the european expert association. she joins us on skype. maria of dba,

thank you for taking the time to talk to us. i don't know if you've had a chance to step outside or get an idea of what's going on on the streets if you have, can you tell us what it's like they're just now? yes, i am fall under situation very closely. i don't know if you will hear the audio from now because the show and so that yesterday about why am they continue to i today today in the, in the morning. so are even here, the, the audio of the guns on the street. so what you know from now is that the russia is entering the street, the in small groups on the light military re coast, and they're destroyed by ukraine military. so some, some of the groups already destroyed. they tried so and so until get closer to the city center and receive my new images on the destroyed rush them and military re

coast on the street. but the parents let it will take time. so they actually, the situation is very fluid and you can then military fight back fire way. and also we have to return defense you and here as well and that the people are from there. they will also participate in this. in this fight, in the street, in the, in the center. there seems to be a picture in the capital city, kiev of spontaneous residential citizen driven militia springing up all over the city. people ordinary, i hate the word ordinary, but it's appetite ordinary ukrainians, prepared to fight for their country. is that what is happening as well in concave? well, i see that now it's mostly military who is fight in the russian coupons

because we have my new military here service because we have 2 major military universe at this. and a lot of people was military background. so i think that's for now, what just happened in the military operation. citizens are advised to stay at school because they, there might be a fight on the streets and also the rush and get to also the the power power facilities here because they blowed of the, the guess pipeline. and so they apparently trying to threaten the population and the be in the, in the eastern city report. so i'm not sure if you heard the conversation, but i reported that i was discussing this with just before we started this conversation, she was making the point that there was a perception. there is a perception that the russian military is bigger and much better equipped than the ukrainian military. but from what you're saying,

that is not working to the russian advantage. you seem to be saying that the ukrainians are pushing back successfully against the russian military. isn't your feeling that the ukrainian military soldiers on the ground, i guess, can sustain this and can keep it going? yes, i'm, i'm sure invent. and i believe that you, great, and we'll send the fight. who should i should to back to, to, to russia. and i think that that does happen, and one of the reasons is because we are on our oil soil and everyone whom i know here is really angry because we were not threatened in russia. we just wanted to leave our normal lives to be a free, independent country, and the russian soldiers will come here and run. they got cut short as we have already. many, we does not only of soldiers about commanders with the commands are captured by your great, now you lecture and when they speak on the door,

they say they are not moving. there is proven that they are not willing and so they do not want to kill people in ukraine and they, their commander came out said them that they were going on some kind of training. so apparently they're not ready for the spine because they seem like they have no morale because they cannot. so you grant was never an aggressive towards russia. they have no reason to kill people here. and that's why our, our near and our military and our people are united because we have right. and we up reject in our own home. talking to you, maria, from the european expert association point of view. your one is there or you are the research director there. when you hear moscow re heating this idea, we are ready for talks. and when you hear president zalinski rejecting that idea,

because the russians want the talk to happen inside bell roost and bella roosters complicit as far as ukraine is concerned. do you think that offer is genuine? the ment on the part of the russian precedent or is it something else? well, i hope that there will be talks, and i think that the president that the landscape is read but those, but folks on your brain on from dish and as well because what, who tim is claiming about the next, if the cation and then know that there is ation of your grand, that's complete nonsense. there are no nets here in your grant. and i told you about this kept shut russian or status when they are in russia because many people here is 30 grand speak russian. do you see any and let us hear, they say no, we don't that. so they say we understand that you will live in peace here until we came. so apparently put them lambs files and now the only option you have on the table is to, to good to go into sound form of diplomatic talk. so it would give some,

some picture to his, to his population to the rational because he was, you know, for this, all this period, the propaganda was fuel in there and ukraine, non sentiments inside russia. so kim, it's to face time sensor, his people. but as for means, of course, we do not want this talks to be immune because means if i'm the pull control of russia at the moment and the territory of villa which is used to ukraine and we had the letter, a very strong letter from the chief of you right now, but the guards to the, to, to the chief of the bill or was more to god because before russia in the way that your brand from the territory of bill or was they had talked. i mean, both of them, both what the guard chief and the bill was. john said that the key guarantees that your grand now that sort of the russian troops will not answer your grant from bill or we sent territory. and our commander wrote him

a lead time. sam can't you are not at the sort of because you don't know how you're wrong and that is why of course, there is no possibility for means would be a place where the folks would be. but there are many other places where the president gotten in turkey. he offered a stumble as a place where the dogs could be also worse. so is supposed to be the end to just so there is no necessity to have. it means the only country that now supports russian aggression, because even cars are on the goals. but not russia refused to give military how to russia, which is asked from, from products. ok, we must leave them or eva, maria. thank you so much, maria. deeper, they're talking to us from khaki. she's the research director of the european expert association. well, the russian president vladimir putin has again taken to the waves praising the

efforts of his troops as the 1st time he spoke directly to moscow's forces. instead of sending out a message to either ukraine's military or indeed the wide world where it is like an i pay special tribute to those heroically performing the military juicy during the special operation to provide assistance to the people's republic of dawn. best these days. i wish luck success and all the best to you and your close ones. dosage a barrier to joining us from the bureau in moscow this our daughter, good morning. so on the idea of talks that clearly won't happen in minsk, they can't happen in minutes for the reasons we've just been discussing. might they happen someplace else? well, the russians keep insisting on having these talks in bella roost, they haven't responded to the request from the ukranian president to have these discussions elsewhere. for now, we know that according to the,

the kremlin spokesperson, dmitri pascall, there is a russian delegation that includes people from their presidential administration, as well as the foreign ministry, and the russian military that are in bella, bruce waiting for the ukrainians to arrive. now clearly that's not going to happen, but this isn't the 1st time we've heard about this from the russian side. on friday, also the crumbling said that the president ordered a halt in the fighting that was ongoing in ukraine to try and invite the ukrainian side to hold discussions again in bella russo and that was also rejected by a kia government. of course, we also didn't have an actual halt in the fighting. we heard from our correspondence in ukraine dog. they continued. so it's not clear how that message was conveyed to the troops on the ground, the russian troops. but the i kremlin has said that they are ready and willing to have discussions, but it seems like they are adamant they want to have these negotiations in belarus, of course, at the ukrainians have said that they are willing to have talks and discuss

a format of these talks and before they agree to anything, and also the location is important. because we know that bella, luce, is one of the areas where russian troops have entered from in ukraine into crane. so it's very unclear now what the russians are thinking, but i think a lot of people have said that this seems to be yet another ploy, or, or a to appear that the russians are willing to hold. talks with the kremlin, says, they are willing to discuss the ongoing crisis in ukraine with the brain in government. also, they have president vladimir putin has said that he doesn't recognize the ukrainian president vladimir zalinski as legitimate so it's also unclear as to who the russians want to have these talks with. because they say their government and she have is a puppet of the west. and the cues, the president, the ukranian president of being basically controlled by the western leaders. so they haven't specified whether or not they'll be actually willing to talk to him or

they have somebody else in mind. ok, we'll leave it there also. thank you very much. storage about a, with the latest on those offer of talks from moscow. let's bring in 20 k, go dad a. he's a senior fellow at the international institute for strategic studies. he is also, formerly the georgian deputy foreign minister. he joins is leih from berlin, 20 k, go dad. say you have 1st hand experience of what is like to be on the receiving end of the russian military. why, in your opinion, as russia apparently changed tack here instead of going after the capital city with all the symbolism, i guess that would flow from that. they're going after most ways, bridges, airports and gas and oil installations. oh, because they are good morning. they are probably understood that, ah, key of was not that easy to, to take over. and so there are several attempts from the russian side of

taking the control of this big city failed. and thanks to the resistance of the ukrainian army. there were several attempts in last to 48 hours and they all failed . so the russians now, they understand that this war will be longer bleed creek didn't really work this politically. what mr. putting wants really is to take the control of it as much as territory as possible and to force new craniums to accept or during the talks, the conditions that are a separable to russia meaning arena changed and. 4 different sketches for a crane, etc. so they are doing both the same time. so the military advance and success should be converted into the diplomatic victory. that's the tactics i put in was using all the time. even if his invasion of crating seems totally irrational. ah, he's ah,

understanding of the situation was that it was possible to after the successful or a successful control of baylor was established last year. and he was the right to moment to attack the crane. and to reconstruct this. i kind of thing pyre. he's, he's looking for purely from a tactical point of view or a maintenance of the tactical points of you could also be that the corridor of tanks that we saw of what 2 days ago now coming down from the north to the south, from belarus, to what's key if it is literally to rock too long, it is overstretched and point number one, point number 2. if you take care of taking key f is ok, the key ping key f is a completely different strategic go to point that they would have to stay with. so in circling it going into it, you get that imagery, you get that very symbolic imagery of a tank outside the presidential palace. for example. it had better be

a successful russian tank and not of the remnants of a burnt out russian tank because that says something completely different about how good the ukranian forces are here. yeah, completely right. it is impossible to control for a long time. the city like here and the same applies to the, to the rest of the territory or crate crate is a country that is a, i mean, bigger than france. so it's a geographically, it's a biggest country in, in, in europe. so that's why i think that the, the objective was to us, to surprise the enemy to, to shock the international community with this very swift and rapid advance toward ski, if taken care of presidential palace. and then asked the international community to, to negotiate and to get as many diplomatic, our successes as possible, including, i don't know, total demilitarization of to craig asking nato forces to,

to leave the, the, the deporting countries that join nature since 1997. these are the conditions of quoted but when the europeans and americans of the whole community of democratic states are now introducing very, very strong, a very strong measures against russia and sanctions. this will also answer in the, in the negotiation as a factor. so they are that the west also has some, some things to, to propose and to, to trade with. so it will be a complicated process of negotiations. it will take time of the craniums. i know i heard your previous and to look at or cannot accept the conditions to work with current conditions and the fact that they are resisting it makes russian situation russian. russian position more difficult because more ukrainians are resisting less . the russians can impose things on them because the russian army is not invincible

. our mother that they were describing, we saw them and failing. we so doesn't. so russian tanks and armored way goals are totally destroyed. please are destroyed, and the tubes on the ground was the young boys of 2021 years old. they don't know where they are going. they they, they have no appropriate military formation. and are all these are give some hope to new crania that they can do just standing grandma and that is that the conditions of the negotiations will start. one days, of course, it cannot be in bella was, which is now as independent as one of the russian ridges on the silica shank was totally the russian under, under put into control with their other options. everyone was proposing now to re key her other eastern european own countries like hollywood, mr. garcia, i just wanna interruption ported there for a 2nd sir,

i'm wondering if we can just pull up a map of the region that we're, i know that we, we have a stack of maps that we have. and i want to pull up the map just to go through one idea with you that was on day one and day to of this war i could, there was that i can victory understood. there was a belief that what mister putin was trying to do was try to create, in effect essentially a buffer zone in the eastern sector of ukraine. so in other words, he was going to take landscape burnett's, they were going to express loyalty to moscow, which is what they've done. the nets would become this buffer zone day to was kind of the narrative then became, oh, they're gonna try and move from crimea, which they annexed, as you know, several years ago now and take, marry a poll and create a bigger rump country, almost occupying what 25 percent of the eastern sector of this country, our correspondence auto bill hamid. into meet demitra this morning, making the point loud and clear. they have not managed despite having cruise missiles. they have not managed to take mary. a poll has that part of the campaign

completely failed o, at least at this stage. yes, the key fob originals also failed. and despite their superiority numbers, and also in, in the equipment when you were attacking, you still need as huge superiority like 3 times, 4 times more troops. and those were defending the territory. all the experts will tell you that and somebody who and i don't, but they did the area that surround storm bus was the most militarized and well protected area by ukrainian forces because they are here for 8 years. so at these parts of the frock line, russian success is extremely limited and it's even considering there's a failure because multiple, it's only 10 kilometers from the frontline. i didn't get it get they didn't manage to, to, to control is sitting there some successes in other parts of

a crane from the russian side in the south of ukraine that those troops came from crimea and, or could buy boxes on. and we call life a regions and that is approaching we just but still there, they are taking the cities, they enter the cities and then they don't know what to do and the local population is resisting. they are not welcome there. so it's impossible to control this country. in the long run, they succeeded in making 4042000000 ukrainians. the enemy, like 10 years ago, the cravens and russians were still considered as brother brothers and even those previous 2. there were no question that ukraine want to be independent, but even those who wanted the kind of thing never thought that russia will become, they exist tension. and it's because i think we've got 30 seconds left on our conversation. so just in the next 30 seconds, is there a calculation here going on the part of loud a supportive voice use of ukraine, the calculation, the possibility of bite administration in washington, and also,

boris johnson, who's been loud loud loud on this one in 30 seconds, is the calculation we will keep the administration in key f, safe and secure, as well as we can until the russians run out of energy, time resources or commitment that there seems to be a kind of a, a timeline balancing act going on there. right. and i think it's even worth the determination of ukrainian leadership and the president lensky himself, who refused to the proposals from the americans, from the french, from other other leaders to did they propose him a safe, i say, haven't in the countries, but he refused. and the fact that he's saying in cuba plays a very important role that is communicating with the population of be great. that's the the, the rest of the country is still what will i sent? they believed that they cannot be defeated. 20 thank god say thank you so much for joining us from berlin. i apologize sir, for interrupting you, but there are certain very important points that we do have to get the sooner in

our conversation. thank you so much. at 20 k godaddy talking to was there from berlin. ah, 830 gmc, almost precisely to the 2nd. that means it's 1030 mid morning in ukraine, where the president has rejected russia's offer of talks and bella roost in minsk sang minsk was complicit in the russian invasion. the kremlin said his delegation is ready to meet in the bell. russian city of carmel, vladimir zalinski says he remains open talks in a neutral venue. russia has stepped up, its military advance as the troops and to ukraine, 2nd biggest city ca keep on day 4 of its land. air and sea invasion military vehicles have been on the streets and heavy fighting has taken place with civilians warned not to go out or to appeal to me. it is falling was going on from the ukrainian city of denise.