or feel for them. colonna is a martyr to the corsican, cause they now seek to defend nicholas hawk al jazeera gorgeous corsica football. now and 2 more south american teens have secured their qualification for this year's football world cup. in cutter year, a gray clenched their place with a one, they'll win against peru. root can still qualify, but must now go through the playoffs in june. meanwhile, ecuador secured their place despite losing to paraguay. that's because of the wind from uruguay and brazil, beating chile, it finished for nil ah, this is al jazeera and these are the top stories. now. russia's defense ministry has announced a new phase of what it calls a special operation in ukraine. moscow will now focus on taking control of the

eastern dumbass region, but is not ruling out storming, besieged ukrainian cities. russia's foreign minister says the west has effectively declared war on russia by trying to destroy its economy. she wasn't a mom of eulu to day a real hybrid war. total war was declared on us. this term, which was used by nazi germany, is now used by many european politicians when they talk about what they want to do with the russian federation. and the goals are not hidden, they are declared publicly to destroy break annihilate, strangle the russian economy. and russia as a whole. russian selling has struck the international airport in ukraine's 2nd biggest city hall to keep these pictures from airport surveillance cameras. so the moment it was bombed city clinic, where a humanitarian aid center was located, was also struck. u. s. president joe biden has visited american troops in eastern

poland the closest he's been to the conflict. he praised poland for taking in more than 2000000 refugees from neighboring ukraine, shed you to visit a refugee center on saturday. for the saudi led coalition has launched a new operation against humans who the rebels after they struck several targets inside saudi arabia. who thes hit the aramco oil facility also fired close to king of dallas is international at the u. s. is calling for strongest sanctions against north korea. after it testified, its biggest intercontinental ballistic missiles. washington introduced a resolution to the un security council having to stop further provocation from young us after north korea's leader said he's preparing for confrontation, the us. well, those are the headlines. news continues here on al jazeera after upfront talk to al jazeera. we also do you believe that the threat of an invasion of ukraine is

currently the biggest threat international peace and security? we listen, we are focusing so much on the humanitarian crisis that we forget the long term development. we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on al jazeera and lou lou. the day after russian troops invaded ukraine, russia's ambassador to the european union claimed that it was an operation to enforce peace since then entire cities in ukraine have been destroyed. hundreds of civilians have been killed,

according to the united nations. and russia has been accused of war crimes. is peace possible, while bombs continued a drop in what's rushes in golden ukraine? i'll ask russian ambassador to the european union, vladimir tis of an upfront special. ah latimer chiz up. thank you for joining me on up front. on february 25th, you claimed rushes actions in ukraine. we're not an invasion, but quote, a piece in force mit special military operation. since then, thousands of died more than 3 and a half 1000000 people have fled. ukraine intentions are higher in europe than they've been since world war 2. how was this an enforcement of peace? well indeed i can confirm it is

a special military operation rather than an invasion. and of course, certainly not an act of aggression. i don't say thousands of people died. well, i will say that, ah, according to a un sources. oh, the civilian casualties. as during this last month have been on less than a 1000, but still every, every life counts. i agree. also the almost 14000 a civilian lives that were lost in the preceding 8 years in but done by us as a result of far actions by the ukrainian army and the, the so called ah, nationalists oh, but dalliance. so the you in high commissioner for human rights recorded actually

2421. civilian casualties in the country are 925 killed and 1496 injured. but to the bigger point you're making here, if you see violence in the dumbass region, why invade the whole country? why? why attack live if, for example, well, the answer is quite simple, and the reasons are white, logical. so if oh, they should gratian in don't bust proper is settled without any change in the policies of the game for him, then that so boundary between the 2 need now independent republics of done by us and are very and the ukranian government controlled their 30 would become would have become

a constant source of tension. and so collectors are including the use of, of firepower and military actions with russian forces everywhere with tanks rolling through cities. would you in retrospect still say that this has been an enforcement piece? actually the tanks are not rolling through cities and the russian armed forces are acting very oh, i would even say delicately. well, without oh, actually entering big cities are like e 4 hotter. gov. the is not occupation. it is not distraction of civilian waters. it is not taking civilians as hostages the way the ukrainian nationalist battalions are currently doing

a o wipe out the central the point of command and control of the ukrainian armed forces and to ensure the militarization of the country. the problem on the ground today is that the opposing side, the ukrainian army and oh, more importantly the, those are so called that it tauriel defense balance. the nationalists, some of them openly nail ninety's. they use the civilian population as a human shield. they establish, they are things apc's and artillery and mong oh, residential areas in the inside essential is among the buildings where people still live and they take those civilians hostage when,

when russia, oh, proposed to have the humanitarian corridors established. it was a, the nationalist groups that prevent the people from leaving a long so that there, there is a visitor board. i hate to interrupt you there. but there is just considerable disagreement ah, with this account not just by ukrainian sources, but by the international community. human rights organizations, journalists, almost every, every one who has suits, stood in opposition to this this, this, these proceedings. but certainly that account. but i have to move on. on february 15th president vladimir putin said that russia did not want war in europe. when february 16th you yourself were quoted as saying, there will be no escalation in the coming week or in the week after that, or in the coming month. in then less than 10 days later, your country invaded ukraine. what happened? well, 1st of all, we didn't invite you brain in the sense of the word,

but oh, there was no other option. then to launch this special military operation i'm, i'm sorry to say that because actually after the last moment as. busy you can see from my own statements and those of, of president pulled in and afforded minister lovegrove. we wanted to avoid this course of events, but now uh with the benefit of hindsight, i can confirm that the you bring in, oh me ask you about that. no, sir, i let me finish. i will i do. i just ask you a question about baiting the launch and offensive at thank on the dung bus republics. oh, so what action russia? the 1st and say, duke. last to prevent that, a bloody, another blood, my psycho in douglas,

your contention is that based on your remarks that you didn't know and that president putin didn't know. intelligence reports were saying that this was going to happen. people around the world were saying this was going to happen. but one could look at these developments and not say, oh, this was a last minute change of action. but rather, that the russian government was simply dishonest about what was going on. how do you make sense of or respond to this idea that intelligence reports were saying that there was an evasion coming? and then there was an invasion coming. well, whose intelligence report any with are you suggest any intelligence reports for them to be misleading? as a more than a history has shown, ah, let me remind you of 2003 on the war in iraq and the, the white powder in the hands of law colon bowl. yeah, that would be, that would be an example of a dishonest, inaccurate intelligence report. i agree,

but in this case, it was accurate. they said you were going to invade and you invaded. so to some, again, this would make it hard to trust the russian government to depend on your analysis or your word or for even you as a diplomat. if you didn't know it was going to happen, how can we in future conversation in future analysis and future processes of diplomacy? trust they, you know what's going on with your own government? it's not oh and the show somebody knowing in advance of what the blends would be and what the actual situation. it's the course of events the o. oh, intelligence evidence that we received that the ukranian army was blaming and offensive a thank on the do alone bus republics. that was the last row and they would even then till then. and a member of president zelinski and beating the munich and security conference a few days before this was event unfolded. and he openly

claimed that he does not exclude you gray and becoming a nuclear power, obtaining nuclear weapons, and the whole audience, all the western participants. they us the student by the bloated that speech. how should i read her? oh, you that as a board of vo, distraction of the non proliferation regime of an immediate threat and next door to russia. one could actually argue any, any disruption of a nonproliferation agreement will be coming from russia. ukraine yielded all of its nuclear weapons in exchange, partly for sovereignty. and that's the very thing has been violated now. but, but we have to keep going here. the us international court of justice in the hague has ordered your country to haul its invasion of ukraine. because of a lack of evidence to justify the war, the council of europe has expelled her country from its human rights body. and the

un has overwhelmingly voted to reprimand russia's actions in ukraine. are your government's actions, not a glaring violation of international law? of course, not. first of all, the council of europe did not expel russia. russia made a decision to withdraw from the council of europe. that was the day before any o actions were taken in surrender. secondly, the international court of justice has, oh, i think in its decision, oh no, oh, wrong, legally unsound basis. ah. so we do not have any intention of following up on that and in the united nations, a look at what's happening around the russian draft of a security council resolution on the humanitarian sedation. western countries are

trying to the block it unfortunately because oh, it is biased and we know that western countries oh, in particular the united states are oh, trying to influence how many oh, developing countries and other countries of the world. endor falling there are, they are version of events and they are course of action, which is a totally unfair and does not do credit either to the united states or all those other western countries that are following suit. just a quick, just a quick back check. again, mark 16, several weeks into the invasion accounts of europe, expelled russia from the continent. foremost, human rights body. they said the russian federation ceased to be a member of the council of europe. as of today, that's march 16th at the 47 nation organization. did that also,

the international court of justice says that there wasn't sufficient evidence of a claim of genocide to justify russia's actions and so forth. but again, let's keep moving because our, this month, russian forces bomb de maternity hospital, a maternity hospital in spite of an agreement to a 12 hour pause intended to allow civilians to escape. now the associated press, the world health organization, the un amazon or national human rights watch. they all affirm this claim. there are witnesses to this. everyone has declared that this has happened. are you saying that it didn't happen? oh, are you saying that it's not a war crime to bama maternity hospital? well, this is a, a flagrant ok. so for fake news spread spreading by western median western governments. the russian army did not bomb m maternity

hospital in mighty open or anywhere else. that maternity hospital had been occupied by the us off nationalists, but they land since the end of february let is about 10 days before the alleged ah bomb, big ha took place on there and they kicked out all, all the doctors, all the pregnant women, all the newborn babies and established themselves inside that maternity hospital. that is a fact that is actually if you look closely, even through the year or the video footage of the situation, there are, don't you have any questions? why, after there's bombing old that these in the garden, in front of the maternity hospital on the left standing, why there's only one single, ostensibly pregnant woman being guided by people who have nothing to do with the

medical profession. and nobody else. well, and the, the house behind that, the building behind them is vacant. there is nobody else does differ that i'm clear and i understand because you're saying that there was one only one women. first of all, there were images of several blood stained, a pregnant mothers of fleeing a blown out hospital. we've seen images. are you saying this will be for i was last for clarity's sake. are you suggesting that those images are fake? yes. okay, let's keep going. oh, what about the bomb that was dropped last week on a theater in maria paul, where hundreds of civilians were sheltering. we have satellite images easily visible from an aircraft that revealed the outside of this building. painted in very large letters was the word children. that's more crime. no, yes, it was a war crime to

o. paint those letters. and the crime was perpetrated by the same muzzle. but then in that duke, a few 100 civilians put them into the basement of the theatre. and on top of that, they established their headquarters in the building. there was no annual bombardment in mighty holborn. oh, that can be easily checked by satellite images of b o. explosion that took place in front of the of the theater was a result of a detonation of a bomb or an artillery shell placed there by those who had occupied of the, of the upper us section of the theatre. and actually as a result of that exclusion, the civilians of that were kept hostages hosted jane

a downstairs in the basement. ah, they are good, not leave. and oh, did any one say how many casualties were there in the theatre? what we know for sure is that hundreds of children were sheltering there. what's indisputable is that a bomb went off. you're simply suggesting that russia's not responsible for that, ah stands again in sharp contrast to other accounts, to expert opinion, to outside journalists and to the very satellite images that you say would, would exculpate you. but let's keep going. there have been reports that ukrainian citizens are being forcibly taken to russia of force deportations are recognized again as a crime against humanity, according to the international criminal court. what is your country taking people against their will? no. actually, we are taking people according to their wishes and a russia, the russian forces established humanity in corridors out of mighty open in

different directions in the direction of the don't bust people's republic than russia and in the direction of the government control that attorney. and it is a v, a nationalist, but they'll end that, that preventing people from leaving towards russia. all of that is a crime where it is so you know, over 350000. 0, citizens of far don't buy a new grain. they voluntarily left. oh, to russia and are accommodated there by the of it is russian regional authorities. again, the claim here is that between $44500.00 more poll residents were forcibly moved, but will continue to monitor this. and that is no claim that has nothing to do with the reality. ok,

well it will continue to watch and see if this is indeed another violation of international law. let's talk about another group of people who have been suffering as a result of this war. russians, more than 15000 people have already been detained across russia. as a result of peacefully protesting your government's war on ukraine. human rights groups say that police have used excessive force and in some instances degrading treatment even torture. do ordinary russians have a right to disagree? of course russians haven't right to agree or disagree. actually, the level of support of the government's position in this situation has grown. and the latest figure is 74 percent of russians, according to an influential bowling result. a is a favor of fully of what he's doing and the government and the president, our billing. i don't know whether you got the figure of 15000. i think it's

150150082 be precise. 15000. 5 in 88, the tensions have occurred at anti war actions in russia, starting from february 24th. so even if the 74 percent number that you're saying is accurate, even if the overwhelming number of russians support this war, there still descent. and it seems that if you're numbers right, that an overwhelming and people who are opposing the war are being detained for it . ah, well, the latest show of support was quite visible last sunday if you so the image from the louis gale olympic stadium, there were 203000 people. but they say participating in a rally and concert in support of what a russia and it's on me are doing. of course there are cases of for disagreement, but i think the figure of $15000.00 is the gross exaggeration. oh, how many?

how many people have been arrested for anti war actions then? what numbers? no, i don't know it's, i think it's a very small number, and i will, i need to add that the russian police is employing that a, i would say, oh, a lie measures are due to dispel. those brought this in combat emberly, a more humane than a mania of that belief sections in even in the european union, not to say other countries. last week, we saw reports that there had been progress in negotiations between russia, ukraine, but as german foreign minister on a lena bear bark said if one side speaks about peace talks. and at the same moment, when bards, hospitals, and buildings, then this is not really about talks, but what will it take for the kremlin to withdraw troops from ukraine? well, you know, i am

a bit skeptical about those dogs so far because the gradient side, 1st of all, they ask for those dogs to start, then they failed to show up before they are due. then when they ultimately show up, they have no instructions to proceed. and then one of the negotiating team is short upon returned from the 1st round, showed by the ukrainian security. oh then, oh, they are saying one thing, one day, a totally different thing next day. and back and give a zalinski and his, oh, cronies are saying different things every, every single day. some could argue that that's no different than saying that there is no invasion happening in, in a few days later, invading a country. but at the end of the day, what is the end goal in ukraine?

is it a pro russian government in kiff? no, actually what we want is a peaceful democratic grain where the rights of all people are including language rights would be respected. because today in 2 days you brain, the russian language which is spoken by more than half of the population is actually actually been oh, oh, pressured out of the, of the education system of the media and of any other form of communication, which i think is a clear violation the way the existing ha, european rules and legislation. we want you brain to be a neighbor that would not threaten russia anymore. we want you brain

to be neutral as it was the glare to be when it got independence. ok. and when you mentioned early on without naming it on the budapest memorandum of $94.00 above and nuclear potential, it was not ukrainian nuclear. i said it was soviet nuclear acids that were transferred to russia from your brain, from bella, rouge and other former soviet republics. so that o memoranda was based on the declaration of independence of ukraine, of 1991 which proclaimed that the brain would be a neutral and none a line country messages off. thank you so much has been as time with us at upfront . thank you everyone that is our show up front will be back next.

as the warn you crying, brian's on al jazeera correspondence bring you every angle. there is a do medicare in prices erupt in on multiple from if not only managed to escape the water, but also the fashion of life on the russian occupation. troy street, totally destroyed, keep central station has become evacuation said replaced with rush and forthcoming . closer pensions are going up by the hour. stay with al jazeera, for the latest developments, a sanctuary for journalists. it was a haven on the wall and shelter for civilian refugees. rhetoric scattered into the garden during cambodia as bloody sat off flooring us to leave. and suddenly

we were turning the fax on the conveyor rouge had taken anything of value out of the hotel, cambodia. let them know a new episode of war, hotels on all jazeera, with blue. ah, ah. just a mind play tricks. a damn car is always is parked right there. or are they really out there? and you pass the fan by like a pull up of those are magazine or act like they're not in the car of filmmaking.

takes the f, b, only to court, to find out approximately 33120 pages records. and in the process, mobilizes her community, as long as people are free to talk, and there is no check against the citizens. the feeling of being watched on out is the, ah, a new phase. russia's military says that it will now focus on taking control of the eastern don bass region. russia is accused of using cluster munitions and attacks and hockey's, including at a school. one of the impacts was hair right in the middle of the children's playground. and you can see the damage that's been done across this children's play area. ah.