sorry journey time. to. visit c.w. news live from berlin a hopeful step toward resolving the long running conflicts in eastern ukraine grows russian separatists and the ukrainian government have exchanged all the prisoners they were holding we get analysis from our correspondent in moscow also coming up. straight news pulse fires have placed a strain on firefighters including many volunteers who have taken leave from their jobs now the government is to pay them and honor their efforts.

hello i'm christine window welcome to the program. q. craney a government forces and russian backed separatists have completed a prisoner exchange the swap took place at a checkpoint near the rebel held city off horlivka in the dawn gets off eastern ukraine it's part of an agreement that russia and ukraine earlier this month. have carefully coordinated rendezvous in ukraine's rebel controlled region the free prisoners include ukrainian riot police accused of firing on protesters in 2014 the controversial swap has angered some activists there but others see it as a crucial step to improving ties with moscow. it's the 2nd

major prisoner exchange this year september saw another swap that brought inmates home and fostered hope that the war in eastern ukraine could soon be over an early victory for ukraine's new president volodymyr is the linsky. we're all agreed the 1st step to one block dialogue. we will not hear is returning our soldiers political prisoners. for more than 5 years the ukrainian army has been fighting russian back separatists in the country's east the war has cost around 14000 lives and turned a key industrial region into a conflict zone efforts to stop the fighting have so far come to little when zelinsky was elected in april he promised to restart the peace process that culminated in a meeting this month with his french german and russian counterparts in which sunday's exchange was agreed. to

a state of mind in exchange between both sides in this conflict to whom based on swapping everyone on. the deal is again raising hopes 1st swift resolution to the conflict but major hurdles between russia and ukraine still need to be overcome before peace is possible. joining us now from moscow is correspondent even. following as today's events of for us to see you even do we know yet how many prison is have been exchanged and who they might be. well by the end of the day we expect that the exchange will total between $1200.00 total prisoners so far of the 2 breakaway republics that have handled the exchange only one has gone so far that is lugansk and we expect and it's a bit later today lugansk sent 25 prisoners back to kiev and key have sent 63

to gonski most of these prisoners worst from there were guns god were central government soldiers fighting for care and the reverse side actually has a bit plenty of people who have nothing to do with the war these were included that's why the ukrainian side is sending so much more and more to the breakaway republic to get their soldiers back some of these as was mentioned at the top of the broadcast are these 5. police officers who fired on your mind on protesters they have nothing to do with the war and they have actually sparked some protests in kiev last night i acted as stood outside of the prison where they were held hoping to block their passage they weren't we expect them to be sent over to donetsk later today they are waiting at the checkpoint. and how significant is this place an exchange looking at if it's to ease tensions between russia and ukraine. it's quite significant in the fact that these prisoner exchanges have gotten the leaders back to the table the 1st prisoner exchange of this year in september. was

it was the 1st time the peace process had gotten going since 2016 so it had been stalled for 3 years and the 2nd one to end of the year is the 2nd largest prisoner swap over these 6 years it was a key part of the normandy summit agreement earlier this month and we expect that peace talks will be able to continue now at some point in 2020 early reports suggest barely april for the actual important part as was mentioned that ceasefire has not actually been implemented right but the prisoner swap is what is going to get us to that point even what do people in russia make off the peace if it's between countries russia ukraine well moscow it from all indications moscow wants peace there is this they're seeing this is a moment especially especially because the landscape has so clearly said he wants to end the war as a time to negotiate the major issue is the fact that moscow feels like it holds all

the cards and it's not really going to let go of its leverage. kieve kiev of course wants better terms for itself and moscow is going to hold firm and so foreign policy analysts that are speaking in moscow are following on twitter today a lot of them are saying well you know this prisoners swap is all well and good but what i can expect in 2020 is a frozen conflict not an actual end to the war so this is hopeful for the new year but we'll have to see in the new year what i think what actually happens with the war even. thank you. well straight day is bracing for another week off bushfires as temperatures are expected to soul emergency services have been trying to contain the blaze a since september 8th people have died 2 of them firefighters many of those on the front lines all volunteers and now the australian government says it will pay them for their efforts. it's one of australia's worst bushfire

season is over. with so many blazes to battle it's often volunteers who answer the call for help. giving their time and paying the costs just like. 1516 hour shifts in a row you're exhausted at the end of that you might have one day break and then they want you to go again. it just takes a toll physically. emotionally on the family they're not seeing you and maybe it means i use my annual leave the main said i you know i use my time in lead time. now there's help for the helpers some volunteers to be compensated for about 20 days worth of income lost while fighting the recent fires. as this is a very prolonged for us lisa this is putting additional demands on our firefighters in particular and it means that the turnouts in the call outs have been far more

extensive than in previous years going well and beyond and above what is normally expected of those who are engaged in volunteer service and. already public servants have been pledged additional leave to join the fight. with a strain these some are just getting started the country needs more helping hands to step up to the challenge. earlier we spoke see james morris of the new south wales rural fire service we asked him about the decision not to cancel sydney's famous new year's fireworks display despite outbreaks off for the bush fires of a nice look at the stage obviously way type precautions working with the car a technique i didn't seize and organizations are closely with them in regards to our total fire ban exemptions and and their requirements and at this stage given the full cost conditions we don't believe that there will be any she's at this stage in regards to the sydney harbor thought i was going ahead we'll obviously

continue to work with them and if we need to have a heart and level of response from our forefathers from both the artifice and foreign risk the new south wales throughout the sydney. area to say working conditions we are expecting. to move through needs dave number of hours to move through from around to 7 pm on needs a summary are largely to say those much cooler conditions on we certainly by the time we reach me not. mentioned we do have a number of new started from lightning down in the south eastern parts of new south wales just storms moving through which certainly isn't a good thing considering we've got the stop these worsening weathering coming. that was james morris of the new south wales rural fire service speaking to us earlier now let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world at least 10 people were killed when a missile hit military parade in

a town in southern yemen the ceremony for new recruits was being held by a south yemen sits a script a spokes woman blamed who the rebels for the attack. more than a 1000 demonstrators have gathered in hong kong to mock a turbulent year in the samuel thomas region protests began in june over a proposed extradition law but grew to dumond's for democracy protesters say beijing and the local government all eroding freedom and democracy. a german rescue ship has stocks in sicily after rescuing more than 30 migrants in the mediterranean be alone could even reach the southern port of ports and on sunday the migrants were picked up off the libyan coast last week. new york's governor says a stabbing attack on a group of people celebrating the jewish end of the festival was an act of terrorism 5 people were wounded in the attack at a rabbi's home north of new york city police have arrested

a suspect in the case. files and their families in western kenya are coping with the off to math of flooding and heavy rains that began on christmas eve many fear the flooding could get worse as they wait for aid to arrive east africa is being bested by abnormal behavior rains linked to the indian ocean being warmer than usual. in the kenyan county of kisumu the water has crept everywhere residents struggle to find safe and dry places away from the muddy waters they are appealing to the government for help. children food went with the water in the books for the kids to my belongings outside here and i don't know where i will go to. there's no place to sleep we don't even have tents no water to drink and i have children in college as well as in secondary and primary schools. adult court it started on christmas night has left homes and businesses sup merged

this week's floods are the latest to hit kenya earlier heavy rains have already forced thousands of people to evacuate many have started to return to clean up their homes but this week's dumb and poor has those hopes residents look at the tide of brown water with anxiety and gloom. some sports news just coming in in the german football 4th place stuart mint have signed one of the most sought off the forwards and here it's a 19 year old adding brought holland holland has been playing with the austrian club he has scored 16 goals this and 8 goals in the champions league group stage is 2nd only to buy ins. now a while champion who is a virtually unknown in his homeland germany's lucas cole is a master of the admittedly nice autistics sighting but rather than extending he's

run at the top goal is either to also on his secrets to potential rivals on the other side of the world. lucas cole is in a spin normally that might sound like a bad thing but in artistic cycling it can be very positive he's unbeaten in the last full world championships but now he's helping athletes from mccown to learn his tricks even if they end up being title challenges to unseat him as we have to think long term because it doesn't help our sport if only people from germany keep on winning that's my motivation is that so my name on the transfer of knowledge happens via video cold produces 5 all 6 training videos a year he sends them to building artistic side. listen mckerrow he uses what's up which still works in the special administrative region of china. and practice you know when their best artistic cyclists are looking to try out

a new trick and refine it they ask me what they have to be careful about what's most important and they stick cool is very happy to give away such tips in 2018 he visited macau and this year the macau coach and 2 athletes came to germany to learn more. the exchange of information is already beginning to pay dividends. 100 you can see quite easily in artistic cycling how much progress you're making day after day. we've seen with one of the macau athletes that they have made a big improvement between tournaments. cool hopes that by training of his own future opponents competition intensifies and he can push himself to even greater glory. that's a really cool era binder off the top story we're following for you ukrainian government forces that rushing back savers are 2nd place if an exchange of

prisoners captured during the crane's 5 year conflict it's part of an agreement reached any of this month to speak ukrainian fresh out of the conflict has claimed more than $30000.00 lives. and you're watching the news from delhi and coming up next a documentary looks back at a landmark year off change $979.00 i'll be back at the top of the next talent choice if you can.