it's estimated that $80.00 to $100000000000.00 is required to fix my generous, re, left walk, which has been neglected for decades as a result, trucks, i, the main means of moving heavy loads across the country. and that has taken a heavy toll on the roads which need hundreds of millions of dollars of repairs every year. the decline of nigeria is real system followed decades of neglect. much of the tracks were late before the countries independence in 1960 says then there was no major investment in the sector. expertly reviving the sector will spur growth in manufacturing and create jobs. but there are concerns about whether the government, which currently aunts and operate 3 lawyers is capable of sustaining it. army decrease al jazeera lagos, nigeria. ah, this is edge 0. let's get a round up. now the top stories,

officials in the ukrainian city of mary, you paul say there are survivors after a russian air strike in a theater, where hundreds of civilians were sheltering. they say a bomb shelter underneath the theater wasn't destroyed. the exact number of casualties is not yet known. russia has denied targeting the building. at least one person has been killed in the cranium capital after part of a missile, which was shot down hit an apartment block. moscow has kept up its bombardment of ukraine cities even as talks between the 2 sides progress. the united nation says dozens of healthcare facilities have been attacked in violation of international humanitarian law. you as president joe biden will speak with chinese counterpart g jumping on friday. it will be their 1st known discussion in months. it comes to us days after the u. s. suggested china as express some openness to providing russia with military assistance. re speaking the president,

sheet him or remind me that i told him he remembers every damn thing. i've said to our son, lock it inside. we talked about the idea he does, he does not believe about democracy can be sustained in the 21st century. the u. k . will deploy its missile defense system to poland as nato moved to increase the security of its east and flank defense. as the ben wallace announced the deployment during a visit to the polish capital walsall, he says the u. k will send the sky sabre anti missile system along with about 100 personnel. the missile system is being delivered after a request from poland and will remain under the control of british forces. in other news, large crowds have gathered outside argentina's, senate building as senators debated controversial finance bill. they have 5 days to decide whether to refinance the countries $4.00 to $5000000000.00 debt to the international monetary fund. if not, they risk defaulting on the loan. does all the headlines in such stories next

or china in the u. s. sleep walking their way to war in the struggle of a ukraine? here's the test for president joe biden from is really trying to do is rewrite the security architecture in europe. if your person united states, you seriously go to walk and chew gum at the same time, you'll weekly take on us politics and society. that's the bottom line. should ukraine declare its neutrality as a way to stop the war? with fighting into a 4th week, the kremlin is considering the neutral status compromise to stop its attacks. will the ukrainians surrender to the pressure from moscow? this is inside story. ah. hello and welcome to the program. i'm hammer, jim,

jim. it's been 3 weeks since russia launched his invasion of ukraine. ukraine cities are being bombarded from land, sea, and air. as the destruction worsens, the warring sides are discussing a cease fire both sides or warning of significant differences. but one possibility is ukraine declaring its neutrality like sweden or austria and the ukrainians were announcing their ambitions to join nato, as well as promising not to host foreign, military bases or weapons. in exchange, ukraine would get protection from allies such as the u. s. britain and turkey, so far ukraine's leaders have rejected russia's proposals. ukraine is now in a direct state of war with russia. as a result, the model can only be ukrainian and only on legally verified security guarantees. even the in cbs in india received initially, sheila, through the problems which are fundamental for russia for all future of your current neutrality, ukraine's demilitarization. we indian our situation, we way and we are ready to discuss it, talks national,

our contadino is best to organize in whole these talks understanding that every possibility is to sift people but to what we see time. and again, is that the key regime which was assigned by east west in masters to create an anti russian offensive, is empty friend to the fate of the crane and people every human will bring in our guests in a moment. first, let's look at the time line of tensions between russia and ukraine. ukraine was part of the soviet union until its collapse in 1991. since gaining independence ukrainians have suffered political upheaval at home and tension with russia. in 1994 ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal and exchange for a commitment from russia to respect its independence and sovereignty. moscow has since been concerned with keeping ukraine from joining the nato military alliance mass protest. 8 years ago, toppled president victory on a coach that happened after he refused to sign a trade deal with european union. as he sought closer ties with moscow. rushes

armed forces responded by annexed the crimean peninsula and backing a separate his rebellion in eastern ukraine. ah, all right, let's go ahead and bring in our guests joining us from outside of keven ukraine. peters a my of executive director of the erasure democracy initiative. that's a non profit organization which promotes democracy and rule of law in former communist countries. from russia's capital moscow, pablo fell, going our defense and military analysts for nevaeh's, at a newspaper and from germany's capital berlin, andreas on lund analyst at the stockholm center for eastern european studies. that's part of the swedish institute of international affairs. thanks so much to you all for joining us. we appreciate your time today on inside story. peter, let me start with you today with all that you are seeing and experiencing on the ground there in ukraine. when you hear that these negotiations are going on, that russia wants to see ukraine, declare it's neutrality. do you think that that is something that is actually

feasible right now? well, so far going by the track record of the way the russians have communicated their intentions. i would not hold my breath in the weeks running up to brushes, invasion on february 24th. we heard assurances almost on a daily basis that russia had no intention of invading it. then a few days before the actual invasion, russia, and now that it was withdrawing troops from new claims borders, which never happened obviously. and then we were fully in the war situation with russia having at least it's, there are against all of your plants territory. pretty much what i'm seeing right now is, you know, i suspect may be a small screen smoke screen for russia's real intention. and that is to be group to

try to restore its morale of its fighting troops. because it's reported to be very low. and to try to storm give a 2nd time, it's simply not feasible for me right now to imagine a vitamin would be withdrawing his troops and then claiming the already existing status quo in ukraine is a victory. you know, there's a sunk cost fallacy where you know, having expended this much blood and treasure vladimir put and would probably think of that kind of scenario as tantamount doings political, or even physical death. so i'm skeptical, even though i do believe that eventually some sort of a compromised diplomatically must be found in order for this to stop. andre, as it's being reported that ukraine and russia are making progress on some type of potential see fire. do you think that this is achievable?

it will depend on the assessment of the so called correlational forces in moscow. how moscow will assess the continuing costs and risks of this confrontation. but the ukraine is also the associated costs and risks in, in for its economy. because of sanctions, and that is very difficult to say how this assessment goes, but it also clearly depends on the western measures on the degree of sanctions, the degree of military support for ukraine. but i would not exclude that at some point, maybe not, i'll, we, but we may come to this point. and then the exact relation of this neutrality i could come to the for the problem here of ukraine is not so much russia actually, but is rob the west in that ukraine has since 2008 an official membership

perspective from nature. but it has not in bonds since then to this membership. it has not received the membership action plan. it has entered a few additional programs of nature. but in substance, nothing has actually happened and that will probably continue this situation. and under the impression of, of the sad story, the yoke, nelson. i'm already saying the lensky has recently indicated that he may actually be ready to negotiate this, this issue about neutrality, about not any longer entering nato, but then i think ukraine will try to get some other mutual aid agreement problem from the west that really go beyond the budapest memorandum of 994, it will bomb some sort of real security assurances, real security guarantees at that go beyond the sudden of launch

machine, a pack from 99 before puzzle when russia demands that ukraine declare neutrality. what exactly does that mean? what does that mean for president putin? what would he like to see? well, well, the quinn has explained that russia is not so much seeking ukrainian crowder since ukraine is already right now. a neutral country officially, but the russia once iron clad guarantees of ukraine will never become. and they don't member or, and maybe more important the way that you created no weapons of any sorts, can appear on ukrainian territory that could potentially threaten russia. because gramlin and russian president, they can be not member of nato does matter if they can have any way. some american

missiles or something. these american presume missiles that thread now are not real in existence, but may appear several in several years or something are very important point for president puts in personally and for the crown one that seeing that they could be deployed in ukraine and can hit targets in the moscow area very swiftly, without the, the russian leadership being able to become mayor warren or hyde in a bunker or something. so that's what right now russia once it went through the ukraine to be under russian. so sort of control and security matters. the crush would have a decisive voice there. and also, of course, very important for russia is that the new ukranian government or the old ukrainian government, recognize the crimea, is a part of russia recognize the independence of these small states. what's in the don bus and a general one,

what russia wants to see ukraine and the centralized buffer state between itself and europe. a buffer state that eventually may become if not all, with big parts of it. a world you re unit if you will be in the process of gradually reunification. it was a rush. peter, the last time that i spoke with you on this program, you were in a suit and tie we were talking about potential diplomatic moves. things were very different for you and for so many other ukrainians. i'm. i'm speaking to you today . you're wearing camouflage. i've heard you and various interviews talk about wanting to take up the fight. i'm from your perspective. if president zalinski were to see to these demands, if ukraine were to declare itself neutral, how would you and how would so many other ukrainians take that? there's a 1000000 that had even a question or

a 1000000 rugle question. if you will, the neutrality idea in and of itself is not necessarily a negative one for ukraine. there's the, the much maligned term. some linda's ation does not necessarily have to be so finland has turned out to be quite well. one of the most prosperous, least corrupt nations on the planet. so now as you mentioned those a model of austria being discussed, sweden, all of them are good and well, the question is once you demilitarised your claim, that's the extension of neutrality bible just mentioned. and then what sort of security guarantees could you rely on in having a precedent of 1994 when the best number was find, as you also mentioned in the lead up to this conversation and russia clearly did not feel beholden to it since 2014, it's been this long kind of one long period of aggression against the crate. so

that is one element to consider. the 2nd element of this is of by the light of mr. level that image has the mandate to promise anything, such as signing off on the russian sovereignty over crimea. and eastern ukraine knows this, and that's why you sort of try to box you bring in into the corner knowing that the st. the my dog, you know me forced to lensky out of our, especially now that you crazy and it's 4th week has expended so much blood and treasure fighting off the world's 2nd largest army, to sign off on something like this was very, very risky for july. you felt once again, you know, ukraine understand that will have to be some sort of a formula worked out. i think it's already come pretty close to acknowledging that nato will be pretty much a no goes old, meaning it's graded to sort of part with it yet,

ever joining nato. but in the absence of nature, there has to be some sort of iron clad security guarantee by several parties. turkey us have been mentioned to where ukraine would feel confident, you know that it could do that puzzle. we all know how difficult it is when a ceasefire is declared in certain situations to ensure that the situation on the ground can be stabilized. that's a very different kind of matters. i want to ask you if a ceasefire is declared, if these negotiations get to the point where there is some kind of a truce, could the situation on the ground be stabilized at present? i don't believe that's possible. it's a kind of salon me situation with ukrainians. and russians intermixed troops. i mean in different parts of the ukraine. there's a 5 russian, the fence of happening and there is no straightforward front line one has

and kind of maintaining a ceasefire. there is virtually impossible a ceasefire could be only if it's immediate withdraw of russian troops or ukrainian surrendering. i mean, it should be followed almost immediately by measures to the couple the are the fighting people from both sides. and that's right now, the problem, because a russian withdraw say, is that we greatest demanding antebellum will draw to the positions of the 24th of february this year, which will swear, but russia won't take. and any kind of russia keeping some kind of piece is that if there's already taken, that will mean that there's going to be more fighting. right now. i don't really see a ceasefire or an agreement emerging. both sides are talking about wanting to have it because everyone wants peace. and no one wants to be the bad though,

and who says no peace and sorry. but in fact, every positions of the 2 sides right now are almost incompatible. i'm afraid that there's going to be continued bullshit for the time being. it's going to be decided for the time being not by diplomats, but by soldiers fighting with arms in the field. andreas, i just wanted to take a step back for a moment and see if you could try to walk our viewers through just how big a geopolitical shift is happening, especially in europe right now as a result of russia's invasion of ukraine. i think it's a fundamental shift that goes far beyond the east european region. russia is going to be a very different actor afterwards. i think the queue is going to change. nato is going to change the biggest change that i see and the service change. and is

that true with the international regime for the prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons? because the most scandalous, perhaps, aspects of this entire conflict is that it's defined, of course, by the presence of nuclear weapons on the russian side, and the absence of nuclear weapons on the ukrainian side. and the scandal here is that russia does not only have nuclear weapons, it is also explicitly allowed to have you clear weapons by the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and ukraine is it does not only not have nuclear weapons, but it's also explicitly forbidden to have you cleared weapons and the most grotesque aspect of this is, of course, they knew that ukraine was for a short period of time in the early $909.00. he's the 3rd largest nuclear weapon states of the world and had more nuclear ammunition and warheads

than china, france, and great britain together. it could not control most of these weapons, but anyway, it had a huge arsenal back then gave it away, gave it to russia and 20 years later, with the annexation of crimea. it was, it was punished for this. and this is going to make actors and politician and experts diplomats around the world, not only in europe or in asia, but around the world. think twice about their security, about the validity of international law, about how they can protect themselves and how they may also be able to snatch a territory that they want to get from a neighboring peter. despite the repeated, please from president zalinski and so many other ukrainians, nato has continued to refuse, imposing a no fly zone over ukraine. do you think that at some point that might change,

that pressure would build? so substantially, from possibly even within nato member states, that there could be a shift in that stance. many of us are tempted to speculate on that. one has to be careful not to be just to, to, to come across as a war monger because we all understand the implications of the war and i was own, we understand the european concern, the global concern that, that would lead to a direct confrontation with a nuclear power. so having said that, i would say that the following, the logic of this escalation and once again, serious questions about the rationality, vladimir, i spent 2 years in a bunker, hiding from colvin and apparently not hiding from his own officials on possibly afraid of assassination of them. 1 may wonder if he is still with us in this realm that in this world, rather than the world of his own invention. and so this is

a very dangerous moment. obviously no one wants to escalate any further. but at the same time, there is an understanding on the part of the nato in the us, that a fight recreating is something larger than a 5 just for ukraine. sovereignty is fired for the western credibility and legitimacy. having said that, you know, what's the next best option? the next best option is for the nato to enable ukrainians to try to enforce their old semblance of an old wise zone with air air defense systems with missiles and yes, with fighter jet something that the polar than us have come very close to deciding on. there's a snaffle now, i think last speech to congress yesterday was a very serious contribution to that decision being made, considering that joe biden is now under pressure from the opposition from members of his own party to deliver on the promise to you. it's possible if russia were to

manage to take keys. what exactly does that mean? does that mean that there is no more chance for diplomacy? does that mean there's automatic regime changes that mean negotiations continue? what happens if that were to occur? i don't think that russia has right now the capacity to actually successfully dig key if it's a very big city and the russian forces that are there are to the north of the city are just simply not big enough. but russia can bombard, key of which you didn't do up to now, but they can begin the kind of see gen, a bombardment, which would make life very miserable and very dangerous in df. again, i'm not sure that that's right. now going to happen immediately. it seems that the russian main military thrust is going to be to do all possible to swiftly

capture mario ball and maybe put more pressure on the co. i've russia, as of right now, running low on reserves, socially and actually moving more forces to north of here. i mean, maybe if they had them, they can't keep them there. they're very enormous logistical problems, especially with those of parents, troopers that are deployed there. so i don't thank you for it. now is on the cards, of course, things may change if both equal decisions are made in russia, but nothing or what a memoir inmate this possible, an effective, a swift defensive to take the city non it's, i mean it's bigger than muscle and it will take, i mean, i don't know for months a year, maybe to go through it and turn it into a pile of total route, rumble and then take it and repair it that way. i don't think rush is ready for

that. i don't think it has the capacity. andreas, from your vantage point, is there any acceptable off ramp than to the conflict that can be offered to president putin? right now? i don't think that it actually depends that much on what is offered because my, my impression from the russian for again the machine. but it can basically provide the sort of off ramp or 14 in almost any way. if there's any concession that ukraine can make symbolical on some products that will, that could potentially be already enough for protein to withdraw if he wants to withdraw. that's, i think be the crucial question. and as i said, well that the costs and risks of this entire operation will have to raise and the west is the only the only the actor can raise your costs by

imposing more severe sanctions by delivering have your reference. and i agree with peter that maybe ukraine does not even need to a no fly zone imposed by nature of what it just need needs is the right material. the right weapons, perhaps also volunteers or better routes. more veterans or army veterans from patches on the nato countries that would come to the international legion most urban ukraine that already exists and would been operate and, and provide the logistics support for lead anti aircraft weapons. peter, we only have about a minute left. i just want to ask you very quickly, are you hearing from your craniums any sense of hope that the negotiations that are going on right now might actually yield some kind of meaningful cease fire or into the conflict?

i don't think the gradient or ukrainians now that i talk with are putting any of their hopes in diplomatic or in the process. they're putting their hopes in the result of the crania step show to fight for their country and to fight against the enemy. this is as black and white as carpets go. and the sort of national mobilization i've seen and the rise of national spirit is unlike anything you quinn has knowledge since the 1940 since world war 2 are i we're, we have run out of time. so we're gonna have to leave the conversation there. thank you so much. all of our guest peters on my a pablo felon howard and andreas on land. and thank you to for watching, you can see the program again any time by visiting our website al jazeera dot com, and for further discussion, go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha inside story. you can also during the conversation on twitter or handle is at a j inside story from emergent human. the whole team here, bye for now.

the latest news as it breaks, this is one of the growing number of chip points around the city of suffer risha. most of the men that you see here, a members of the civil defense forces they all volunteers, were detailed covering, paid workers are focusing on the most vulnerable, but many more need help from around the world. because an area that generally fees abundant rainfall, but strong wind lack of humanity by making it easy for fire like this one to spread all across. so how do you define successful 1st here in charge of accounting, we bring you the stories and developments that are rapidly changing the world we live in. what do you think's been driving to policy markets? counting the cost on al jazeera, discover

a world of difference in determination. i'm talking about where need we are moving to treat with shop soldiers. and on the 16 people with corruption and compassion al jazeera world, a selection of the best films from across our network of channels. in just under a year's time, castle is our bait stadium will host the opening match of the 2022 world cup. the official opening of the stadium came on day one of the ira cup for many friends were already counting down to the big kickoff next november, 10th. 20. as this tournament on fall over the coming days will play a key role. but organize is getting ready to host the middle east. biggest ever sporting event next year for the castle. national theme is like it used to flying

in front of expected home crowds. they'll be hoping to convince both the fans and themselves. so they really are ready to take on the world. i'm making my own faith that i do live in forever. i ran away from not, but i ran away from the country. martin is my get outing. got a win win award winning documentary on out there. ah, hello, i'm has, i'm seeker in the how the top stories on just in a rescue cruise in ukrainian city of murray. you, paul say they found survivors after russian asked strike a theatre more than a 1000 people, including children, were believed to be sheltering that they've also been further strikes in the north . knew the capital give rama bride reports from the wave in western ukraine.

after an unrelenting siege in days of being battered on all sides, the southern port, city of mary, you pulse, one of the most.