ah, on the edge of red square, to protest to sing the ukrainian national anthem before being dragged away. large numbers of russians opposed to the war and now fleeing back country squeezed by western sanctions and persecuted by the russian state. yet, many of these anti war demonstrators went on the edge of an a base that we may not be able to pull ourselves back from time. now say many of these demonstrators for western leaders to help braga, an almost impossible political solution to help bring us all back from bringing me fokker, al jazeera london. ah, all right, let's have a great chicken. the headlines here and al jazeera and a russian forces are continuing their pushed towards give. heavy shelling is hit, towns close to the capital. at least 3 people report to have died while fleeing

tanf and civilians in the besieged ukrainian cities of mary paul and von of uh huh . are facing more uncertainty after another si, fi, color, russia and ukraine accused each other of violating the agreement to help nitrate $200.00. 15000 people. she is tianna, you're about to get youngster water bill, or guardian. they've been working methodically to make sure the city is blockaded. what you're working methodically to create a humanitarian crisis here to the people are left without food, water, light, heating means of communication. and you will 40 and we're sir, but well, we do not leave the shelter. the best we can get is may be 3 hours sleep if you can call its label. sure, it's not possible to sleep during continuous shelling when planes flying over your head and miss, i'll explode next to you. a russia has worn countries against hosting ukrainian military aircraft that comes after the u. s. said it may send jets to poland if warsaw gives aircraft to ukraine. we are on we're looking actively now.

at the question of our airplanes, the poland may provide to, to ukraine, and looking at how we might be able to backfill should on decide to produce those but 2 hours of supply. those plants can't speak to a timeline, but i can just say you were looking at it very, very actively or russian military strikes if it residential areas and a school in the city of utopia areas congested with civilian life, have increasingly coming to retype throughout ukraine despite russia saying it's only hitting military targets. more than 200 children have moved from an orphanage in se ukraine, after russian troops attack to net by nuclear power station. they were in the town of south regia, where some of the children had said to been terrified by culture and error rates are you're stuck with headlines. more news coming up right after up front. i've no on counting the cost can energy reserves and china helgrin orphanage in se ukraine,

off to russian troops to talk to near by nuclear power station. they were in the town of south florida, where some of the children is said to be terrified by colson. error rates are there are still headlines, more news coming up right after up front. i've no on counting the cost can energy reserves and china help raphael blunt the impact of massive western sanctions with grain export from ukraine. disrupted, worries mouths about global food security and will e u energy sanctions to put pressure on me in mos military. counting the cost on al jazeera, as russia continues its assault on ukraine, calls for action from the international community grow louder. with the bake raging on everything from the effectiveness of sanctions to whether nato's involvement with ukraine contributed to tensions with moscow. and fears that direct action by nato could translate into war across europe. what can anything, the terror pulling in what a long war mean? not just for the people of ukraine, but for russian citizens as well. that's our discussion this week on an upfront

special, the wanted me to discuss the latest on ukraine, our doctor, stephanie best, former deputy assistant secretary general of nato, darky of guinea outbox, editor in chief of rushes. the new times magazine in all will come after he wanted it is afraid that he wanted to divide the world into one and that is fine to show all the full law. so it's a problem when you're out live to, to do that, she decided to stop the war. it seemed to be following the advice. very particular sets of advisors, particularly the most hawkish wing of his security council, should not have to follow advisors of any or kish men with

a few secured the council because she fell and hugged long. i'm going to show with this trial. so the way he, he's a graduate of be so we do want to craft of institution the k to be and these are the kind of a situation of which culture organizational culture always has been based on le wireless. so i was funny, bad for jeff, rachel, if you could get what she wanted to get a way to do, i'm sure to get by force. you're not kito. she wants to have the kind of, or that the kind of international order said spartan agreed to have with roosevelt and churchill. that's what she will. and she wants the future himself as an all day span. stephanie, in recent months, russia has repeatedly pointed the finger at nato. some of even argue that nato is

at least partially responsible for the outbreak of war, arguing that it's expansion in the early 2, thousands to include former soviet countries. is that the route of today's crisis? would you agree with that assessment? no, and a surprisingly, i don't agree with that assessment. let me, let me say, 1st of all, i mean that we do have principles and global principles, including our, the free choice of countries to determine their own security arrangements or nato didn't go around shopping and ask people to join advice. vice versa. countries like lithuania is still an error, the czech republic, poland, all these countries really sought to become a member of nato because they thought it was best for their own countries. and they took it free and deliberate choice and that's number one. but number 2,

i would like to stress. i also recall vividly because back then i, i was there i, when we signed the strategic partnership with russia, that was back in 1997. and we established a joint permanent council. so we, we gave russia really quite a bit of said if i can say so on natal issues and be invited russia to work with us jointly. and we're almost 15 years we worked with russia. ah, it's, and now almost unthinkable. i'm into recall, but i was there, i was part of it and i still vividly recall the many, many issues and which we work with russia am at nato, has never done anything wrong in terms of suggesting to russia that we would either reduce their or ignore their legitimate concerns, by contrast, we invited them to be with us to partner with stephanie, there are some people who would say, i agree with everything you're saying. but in the absence of nato,

putin doesn't have the pretext that there would not have been an invasion. absent the pretext of nato and his concerns around nato. what do you make of that? when i suggest it's all part of put it's narrative i, he tried very hard and still is trying, i mean to basically roll back history and interpret everything which i'm talking about the past 20 years as something which ultimately constitutes a threat to what's voucher. and so this is very much a narrative and ah, reactions are in allied countries, basically, erections around the world. now make very clear that we don't buy into this narrative. we don't want to live in a world which is divided by fairs of inferences. and we go, don't want to go back as if dina has said to y'all, house tile an a power play, i mean, between the big powers. so i'm afraid to say a protein has miscalculated

a lot, agnew given the in his speech now in the offensive into ukraine. putin also said the operation aim to d. not so far. the country in your view is the invasion, again, really about nato, or is nato just a pretext. no, nato said absolutely just a pretext. there are many other pretext that booth and has used and mean again, do you not if occasion, the extraordinary extraordinary statement completely detached from reality. president lensky himself is jewish. so it's very difficult to make that argument. i mean, quinton has made other arguments that ukraine is a but brotherly nation, a brotherly, slavic nation. so therefore they're gonna, you know, invaded whether ukraine likes it or not, to support and help their brotherly nation. so i think. ringback that there are many narratives that button has tried playing out over the course of this time. and really since some since 2014. and since the 1st invasion of crimea,

since the creation of separatist regions and law hans can de nafrica at the time, the pretext was that the russia languages speakers in ukraine were being discriminated against. so therefore he is going to go in and help them up. there's been many prefects, but the end of the day i think this is really for him up a project of personal ambition to try to re establish russia's influence and control over the post soviet space i he present him. hootin has stated many times that the fall of the soviet union was the greatest catastrophic o who geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. so this is, i think something he wants to reverse and have this as his legacy. as president of russia is natal was formed in 1949 ah, during the cold war, primarily, to counter potential soviet threats. ah, those,

the organizations very existence still hinge upon a certain kind of tension or the threat of war from russia. when we became the president back in 2001 of his 1st news was i, he said that he would like to join out. he would like russia to jump wasn't, became the president back in 2000. and one of his 1st move was i, he said that he would like to join him. he would like russia to jamaica. so at the very beginning of his presidency, there was no talk about the fire and he drank from the side of the mouth month. you know, i told peter, i believe back to russia and you know, he has the right to decide which nation has for i, for, for residency. and which nation though. so she decided that the brain that we have

doesn't have this suddenly, right to decide who to ally with. and that's, that's it. i think that it's, it's so misleading to keep talking about made the threat loop that russian propaganda machine no longer talks about the nation propaganda machine . now tell story russian civil, those, that russia had to stop it for him to walk in order to prevent your grain from developing its own nuclear weapons. stephanie, that the war has put the question of natal membership for ukraine into conversation once again. it's on the table once more, despite having been repeatedly dismissed in the past. why has the idea of ukraine

is a needle member always seemed so unlikely. well, if it like the european union nation has not key aah for new members. so it is not just, i mean that we look at photos, pictures, and listen to the hi. say speeches are we want to make sure ne, to wants to make sure that any new and country accessing nato can actually make an a contribution can bring to the table net or military capabilities and shares out the same values. doesn't have any type of territorial or other related conflict. i'm afraid to say it never actually met the criteria. and there were still and there was still quite a some work to do for the ukrainians on, on their spite. so that's lawless. i mean the procedural aspect, but above all, there is a political aspect. and if there is one thing that i criticize of when

looking at my, my, for, or employer, i think the decision came back at the booker, as summit in 2000. and 8 was not helpful because it left georgia and ukraine with this and beauty. it was agreed because there was no agreement that we would invite ukraine as well as georgia and to become member at some point, but we didn't specify date and that left 2 countries in limbo. i thought strategically speaking, politically speaking, that was not helpful. neither for nate was caused, nor for the course of the 2 countries concerned. agnew. another thing that creeds difficulty is this question of energy independence. ah, right now, europe plans to reduces dependence all russia. ah, and that is perceived by moscow as a threat. you yourself have called for more sanctions on russia's north stream to

pipeline the natural gas pipeline that would double rest as natural gas exports to europe via germany. in your view has europe's energy dependence on russia. emboldened bruton. absolutely, and i think this energy dependence also was one of the reasons put in miscalculated with this invasion. but if you look at europe today, the reality is it's at least about a 3rd. it dependent on russian gas imports. fortunately with the globalization of the gas markets and the united states becoming a major gas producer, and l. n. g ex, border, there are more options for europe, b and importing states. but nonetheless, today they remain highly dependent. and north stream too, is a pipeline that had a big impact on the way this crisis unfolded because the north stream to pipeline, directly from russia to germany, once it was completed, completed today, it's not certified and not operation and, and hopefully it won't become so. but once it was completed,

it allowed you russia to bypass the ukrainian gas pipeline system, which was one of the primary means of sending gas from russia to europe. and now that there is an alternative route, there was essentially this created a green light for food. and government to invade ukraine and to if damage but that pipeline in the process, if you know there was nothing holding it back from outright war and damaging the pipeline system because there was a belief that now they'll have an alternative pipeline system. so this gap dependence oil dependence really has a direct links with this current war in ukraine. let's talk a bit about sanctions. there's been a lot of debate over the impact of sanctions on russia. many of express concerned that the effects of sanctions are more likely to be felt by ordinary russian citizens rather than by the powerful,

by the state itself. our sanction the right choice. i'm not sure that i want to answer this question because as a political fines, as they would say, yeah, i think that these functions are going to to create some press look problem and we'll put you and may lead to the fleet of daily and change of the however, the kind of the sanctions that i have been, i have been imposed on russia. they effect a lot of my fellow citizens. we just yesterday in the day before yesterday i woke up in a new world. you country. and my in fact, you know, life looks ugly, a lot of been sold. now people are trying to

withdraw currency dollars and euro's and they need to be difficult. now, ready? not clear how russians are going to, well actually going to why they're going to need to come back maintainance or for their ultima bias. but i have a lot of problems that we're going to face pretty soon. however, i have to talk about that because i feel so shame about what my country is doing not doing right now through the neighboring country to i see pictures from the web and i know that hundreds and thousands of greens dumping each day or you know, they get to play,

it was from the crane and i see what russian russian knew file and russian bones. i'm doing too hot to, to keep on to what do you and i'm terrified that this is done by the army, which i as a taxpayer, as a federal level. they're asking for the ration i pay for that. and that makes me feel ashamed. and you know and know functions are good. now, if i put an energy people, i'm not going to be punished for the kind of past that they didn't do that. they had been doing to grain empty europe in general. listen way in europe was found ourselves in 1939, 1939. that was the year when the world war to start. i couldn't believe

that we were the country, which was 25000000 people for the world war 2. and these very country way each piece of land is somebody is great. this country started to war and killing people. right now, drink sanctuary. you are a, it's just impossible to conquer stephanie. earlier this week, switzerland announced that it would freeze russian held financial assets in the country, totaling more than $11000000000.00. it's a big number that's according to the new york times. that's a rather shocking move, given switzerland's long history of neutrality. what, what does that kind of move tell us?

it tells me that the global communities really are really running around one point, which is to, to really express their opposition, their frustration, derringer, or de, outburst our with regard to what's ongoing and in ukraine, even smaller countries neutral countries like so as a lend you mentioned half joined to chorus i, i must admit, i feel a little bit embezzlement about it. on one hand, i think it's absolutely good and important that the international community comes together from various sectors, countries, tech sector, sports cultures. you name it to express at their opposition. but the more we do it, the more we do it, the more i fear, i mean, we corner president coaching considerably. and if he were to put ourselves into his shoes and consider policy options, what is it i mean, that can actually on the how can move forward, what is his exit strategy?

i feel, i mean, that we ourselves need to also get and smarter and develop a strategy. how to actually manage such she hooting regime under global pressure. i think that's it. question which is on the table now for policy makers across the board. how do we manage that ag net? i'm thinking about what jenny says about. the kind of enormity of the moment. she's making comparisons to 1939. ah, the push that stephanie is talking about from the global community is part of the response to this moment. what do you see as the proper global response, the proper type of pressure, switch them and gives one model of it. but what do you see is the kind of broaders response that you'd expect from the global community? well, one specific thing i would like to see, particularly in europe is that and it's going to be difficult to understand,

but it's a move that europe will have to make. at some point, it's essentially sanctioning russian sources of energy, russian, oil, and gas. it's again, not easy to achieve because europe is dependent on this, but there are global markets. they may have to pay more. but if you look at it today, essentially the money that europe, spencer, or send to russia, if for oil and gas imports, this is essentially the russian military budget. so if you want to cut off the russian military budget, one of the primary things you could do is really start to get serious and start sanctioning russian oil and gas. i think 1st stopping the north stream to pipeline m, even stopping the operations of north street one pipeline. and i think germany in this last week has really had an epiphany. they really started reexamining. their policy in germany is europe's largest gas market. largest client of gas

from so the move they make will have a big difference. and i'm also seeing changes in turkey as well. jerky is the 2nd largest market for gas from india in, within the european context. and with the decision of prison. an urge that on to close the boss for a straight to russia and military ship movement is a step in the positive direction. in guinea, we've seen thousands of russians marching in anti war protests. we've even seen some unexpected, high profile figures inside of russia speaking out against the war. is there any descent in your view, within the inner circle or even within his government for what's happening right now? i have no doubt that that people who are trying to oppose the war, especially those in the, on the,

on the financial side of the russian government. because basically russian economy will be in piece of, in the math of several one. so dissertation is extremely difficult. and i rush in hop current sort of frozen. so central bank is unable to interfere, therefore, are actually current to last thought that the sample would, it means that prices for all who put what that commodities will go significantly. and those who went for will become much, much for russian young people. they're leaving the country on math. they just running outside the country, rush and reach people, russia middle, the also, or everybody is trying to find a way to get out of russia. 6000 people with the

taking the as they to 5 in different pro, just across the country. my publication, the you times go to blog because, you know, russian got one believes that we shouldn't use the word war or the there are no more, no invasion. no, i can't reach was taken down by the russian government as well. it's as being you for the majority of reporters decided to leave the country . i mean, if you ever really do that, the for, for my assumption indeed and will continue to cover this are every step of the way, stephanie, if jenny agnew, thank you so much for joining me on of fun. that's our show up front. we'll be back next week.

my name's a place where the scissors can truly call it their home. have different grooves bringing the wanted me to want to know you all and don't read money. man, i do is billions and is just full of surprises. my name here is, am yes, to every know my nigeria on al jazeera in the early hours of the morning. these palestinian families are being forced to leave their homes and belongings. these are the military sometimes uses this area in the north of the occupied west bank as a training ground explosions like these often break the piece here. i feel for the

children they get scared the bombing. i tried to call them down there, but we are scared to these really are me told them just either that it takes measures to protect civilians during back the sizes. what is really, officers previously said that trainings are used to push palestinians out 48 families once lived in this village called zeek. now, there are only 20 people here, say they have nowhere else to go. so they have to stay out until they're allowed to return to their home. after midnight, the military drill will continue for 3 days, which means they'll have to go through this again. twice this week. from the world's most populated, recheck in depth and untold stories across asia and the pacific to discover the current events with

diverse coaches and conflicting politics. one 0, one east. on al jazeera. oh, well the crating civilians come under a tank from russian bombardments with death and widespread damage in several cities . i'm here at the high school number 25 and as you told me, and that's actually just west of her to capital here. and i'm here at what's left of the school ah, 11 o'clock, this is out 0 life.