day violence has once again flared up. these are the images. from the streets of canada. corporation's rule the day. after the fanfare of fireworks victory day rounds off fear in russia and remembering the millions who felt the security days freedom. but in western ukraine war veterans are assaulted and insulted by nationalists to disrupt a memorial service and raise fears of a far right sir. as nato is ongoing bombing of libya fails to ease fighting over the lifeline port of misrata the mounting cost of air raids is triggering protests now in some coalition countries. and america's aims under scrutiny in the ongoing military intervention in iraq speculation grows that the u.s.

presence there could stretch beyond the withdrawal deadline. you're watching r t welcome it's eleven pm monday evening my name is kevin irwin and in the spring sunshine it's been a day of remembrance today and thanksgiving in russia victory day but as night fell the ground fireworks to moscow closed the commemorations to mark sixty six years since the defeat of nazi germany in this analogy what's the spectacular in the center of moscow. this is the culmination of the celebrations the super probably see behind me hundreds of people have made their way through what's red square onto this bridge just outside the kremlin hundreds if not thousands are gathered watching the culmination of commemorations in the russian capital with this grand firework display just to give you an idea of how grand this display is some thirty

salvos from almost one hundred launchers and guns are lighting the sky above moscow as we speak they can be seen it for almost any point we're here on red square they're also seen from victory park where hundreds tens of thousands of people usually cather on this holiday this of course is a tradition that began back in one thousand nine hundred forty five when news reached moscow that nazi germany had surrendered so people here in the capital found out that this exhausting long arifin war has ended and as you can see it's a tradition that has carried on this is a tremendous holiday here in russia some twenty seven million soviet lives were lost during the second world war what washouts called the great patriotic war just to give you an idea of the u.k. in the u.s. combined last some nine hundred thousand so twenty million twenty seven million is a huge number and that's part of the reason why this holiday is so very close to

the hearts of many russians it's usually marked here in moscow the biggest event takes place as you know on red square with the annual victory day parade this year of course was no exception some twenty eight thousand military personnel took part that's a record and it was quite a grand show is something that the country does every year wasn't as spectacular as the sixty fifth anniversary but that just goes to say that when the seventieth anniversary comes i'm sure we'll see quite a phenomenon here on red square one of the important things that at least for me that is incredible to see is the better is that come to watch this parade. to see their eyes to see them remember we had a chance to speak to some veterans about their memories of fighting nazi germany. i was in the infantry so i walked my way through the entire war from starting ground to prague one foot i was eighteen at the start and twenty two when it

finished and i met a beautiful girl while the war and we got married when the war was over. watching for girls unlike the brazier last i participated in the victory parade of a nation for the fight in moscow people and girls in street sweepers change for us they kissed us and expressed their happiness. that we won the we were completely happy especially as we marched to the great yeah. i joined the war in one nine hundred forty two and starting a grudge was the most severe but still always wounded it's and spent over four months in a hospital in the urals area i've been in the army all my life today i work with the veterans i'm happy with today celebration is the parade was drawn to what it was sunny people cheer for the victory day people greet us on the streets in metro everywhere thank you very much. so a very solemn holiday here in russia but like you heard from those veterans a joyous day as well and joyous is certainly the atmosphere that we have here

a great square as people enjoy this fireworks display celebrations most certainly looking to new into the night on this sixty sixth anniversary of victory over nazi germany in world war two and listen so victory day commemorations held across russia with better and sharing both painful and joyous memories of their struggles a coup in the eventual liberation of europe pedro all of us been following events. well tens of thousands of people have come here today to picture talk to you to pay their respects to those days millions of people he said and twenty seven million soviet citizens guy joining the second world war the great patriotic will they be here to pay their respects to them but also to celebrate what they accomplished in laying down their lives that victory over nazi germany sixty six years ago well said to tame the crowds here might be able to sing in the background as the stage sets up there's been a musical acts on playing music from the time from them the forty's popular hits

from not a playing out to entertain the crowds and amongst those tens of thousands many many veterans of being small to hear a splendid event medals that they won fighting against fascism what wasn't very nice touches it's very hot day here in the russian capital some of those veterans taking shelter in the shade under the trees when they would not really see crowds of people families young people all ages coming round talking to them asking them questions about just what they did during the great patriotic war it's very nice to see that have those people not forgotten that they are they have tried like the heroes that they. will oppose world war two the great patriotic war one of the first conflicts that it didn't just directly involved the soldiers they were fighting on either side it was one of the first conflicts that openly involved the civilian populations and sarah football the sarah first met with some of those people who lived under nazi occupation and you can leave the region or miss. it was

hell i felt my command of the world everything was on fire burning exploding all around trees were on fire and weapons were house was burning and crushing noise was terrible people running around here in their q. and their burning as down it's hard for me to look back at the time. just eleven years old when the germans invaded the witnessed first hand not. against civilians because. i remember the retail homes for food every last really could find family he had someone who are the judge comes to reship. known as the barber also jurisdiction decree nazi soldiers were exempted from prosecution if they committed a crime against the savior people and were encouraged in the murders of the jewish and slavic civilians his war of annihilation and his instructions based on racial

ideologies carried out with devastating severity among the archives here. are thousands of documents detailing some of the atrocities carried out by german occupiers against the citizens we've heard some hiring accounts from children whose parents have been killed we also found an advertisement that went up in the city the german soldier said that they think their telephone lines were cut by one of the citizens of that twenty people are going to be killed now they wouldn't have known he was guilty but it says at the bottom here anything senlis tried again but the punishment would be even worse. during the occupation thousands of children were rounded up like cattle and west to work in the german labor camps. we were never called by names just by our numbers for each pair of course surrounded with barbed wire with bright yellow sand around it and there were through toys in the sand the children would reach out for those nice looking tours and be lectured

seated there were also taken blood from the children to use for the treatment of german officers nazi propaganda films praised the friendship mean and showing locals and germans working hand in hand they say with that who witnessed the reality respond incredulously. group together women and children trying nearby villages they were pushed into beasts and such on fire a lot of people died that way but not retaliate c. will eventually create self-defeating creating an attitude of hatred and stubborn resistance among the conquered people a young girl shot behind german lines writes to her father in the red army their blood thirsty monsters you can't even call them human kill them papa kill the enemy sarah fair r.t. kleagle region. one of the most decisive steps in defeating with nazis was the battle of stalingrad and in about fifteen minutes the pros tell you visit the city

it's now called volgograd histories which refuses to bury its. program coming up shortly slogans from. the moral of. western ukraine nationalists violently disrupted they remember and services veterans paid tribute to those who perished in the war alexia jet ski reports from the city of lahore. a holiday for millions yes clearly brought for sun unlike most of the post soviet region on may the ninth this ukrainian since he became a vicious display of neo nazis and. several thousand activists from radical nationalist parties block the entrance to red army soldiers cemeteries preventing war veterans from getting inside and paying tribute some in this part of ukraine do not see may the ninth as a reason to celebrate leaving the soviet period to be worse than enduring nazi

occupation the st george's ribbon is usually worn as a tradition on may the ninth to commemorate those who died in the great crash or to war but on this day in the western ukrainian capital city often off putting this on your lapel would have meant serious risk regardless of whether you're a veteran or not. like you do i think that the ribbons were forcibly ripped from the chests of those who were heading to the grave yards along with abuse of chance such as death to the most rights nazi salutes pearling walks and smoke bombs that is how the fourth marched made a nine year old girl here in this picture all my brothers and life the liberation of this line from the fascists but these people here do not let me come inside a century to lay flowers and he's great this is a disgrace. it's obscene surprised even the locals who had grown as used to protests on victory day these were the scenes from last year when the nationalist wipe their feet on the red tree banner the next european city i spent thirteen

years in detention in siberia to prove this we killed or. could something like this have happened in a new country that. their heroes are people regarded worldwide does not see collaborators replica shirts with the founders of the one nine hundred forty s. insurgent army step on monday when the masses here which are big hit here there are some this freedom fighters even though for a while the fourth alongside the nazi army and kill civilians jews and russians in the gruesome manner of action. he's only tention right off the sacrifice is going to remain to be liberated from the nazis and the result will prove fascist propaganda like the rehabilitation of nazi collaborators like should he gets involved there and this is only part of why the picture of the perception of the past is making waves in other former soviet states namely as as marches and glorifying nots indigence in the baltic states such as latvia and this the danger is that people are beginning to forget what we fought for what the veterans died

for as we're seeing the reemergence of far right for the nationalist forces that really in many sense resemble exactly those that merge with hitler in the one hundred thirty such behavior is the only applies to the minority most people in this country still celebrate history with proper respect but the ugly scenes in the halls should definitely allergic crane's leadership especially after demands for a revolution were clearly voiced by the andrew marr alexey recessed the art scene reporting from the fourth in western ukraine. the new nazi violence a western ukraine isn't the only source of controversy this victory day the legacy of the soviet union's wartime leaders still has the power to ignite both supporters and critics the next star a leading war story assesses stars contribution the state of victory. you know without starting with his name his contribution it's very possible. maybe quite probable that the saudi going to be one of the last the world is the symbol that

holds the whole country together simply cheering the critically up so well but no you know he's also that my study of the soviet war effort but the whole war effort revolves around him about around his abilities as a little guys as a mystery to the poor benighted he's the most important figure of the of the twentieth century one of the most important thing of the twentieth century but also very critical particularly the many crimes that were committed by. israel should be criticized for its dictatorial rule. if you look at some of the news this is sort of boat carrying up to six hundred libyans trying to free the violence to some cough the coast of north africa several people have reportedly drowned that follows an earlier report of sixty one migrants from libya dying from thirst and hunger on another vessel which had been adrift in the med for over two weeks witnesses say nato deliberately ignored the boat's mayday calls from a belgian m.p.

load the news to its been outspoken of the treatment of refugees says it shows willful negligence these kind of events are sound hardly surprising to me you're talking about the most sophisticated technological on in the world and they would not be capable of finding some boats at sea while they are have operations chasing under close to somalia where they can spot one simple tank in a city and they could not do that i highly doubt it so we don't get included details of each and every year and this holiday surprise me but it's only logical humanitarian concerns are not on the agenda of nato as i can tell that people flee the regimes that we have kept in place in the first place it's only a human reaction to a desperate situation and by bombing this country is not going to help run the country what we could do is help tunisia and how to egypt

a democratic movement there that would send a clear signal to to give also in other countries but that is precisely not what we do is very very fast with our armies but when it comes to rescue people it tells me so slow there is this not is not some some law of nature that this is a willing politics that this is our priorities and not people that are in the military and. a fierce fighting continues in the libyan city of misrata the rebel stronghold has been under siege for weeks over two thousand nato coalition air strikes launched since the beginning of the yellow intervention so far failed to topple colonel gadhafi and his other benefits by discovering are some of those involved in the campaign of finding it harder to justify the cost. for those who joined the fight in libya the cost of conflict is quickly taking off denmark's one of just six nato members conducting air strikes to enforce the no fly zone it's six f. sixteen fighter planes are racking up a hefty bill of thirteen and

a half million dollars a month we were anticipating a number that was considered a go up and ups we aren't that many nations that is using fighter planes. they say us but they're using drones they have had tomahawk missiles but i don't have any either and. then mark dropped one hundred twenty six precision bombs in the first thought night of the campaign each one costs on average fifty thousand dollars on top of that there's one point six million a month the station the jets in sicily along with one hundred thirty personnel at this rate denmark's annual cost will be one hundred seventy million dollars four percent of its defense budget the danish air force refuses to comment on the money saying it's too political a topic that parliament says it can afford it these people have come to the american embassy to show their opposition to the war it's not just the conflict they're protesting against though it's also denmark's willingness to follow the

u.s. into battle. they do this because. i don't know all some people say they have an inferiority complex and they follow big daddy and the united states and france words as war in guess. they go along we're a junior partner the danish parliament was unanimous in backing and bombing campaign in libya the first time ever on a military action but since then cracks have appeared with the far left red green alliance withdrawing its support it says nato has gone beyond its mandate by taking sides in a civil war now the party fears denmark could follow suit again with a ground offensive looming i think it's likely because the prime minister wants to be a strongman is precedes there's a coming election. and also that it's the policy of the current government to be as close to us as possible at the moment the government's against sending ground

forces six f. sixteen s are already costing the same as denmark's troop deployment in afghanistan and they've been there for ten years but as afghanistan kosovo and iraq all showed when push comes to shove a country's more than willing to join america whatever the cost are bennett r.t. copenhagen what estimates are being made on how long nato intervention in libya will last another u.s. backed mission might not be able to package bags as expected america's player keep troops in iraq beyond the deadline set for later this year i was artie's what important are explains there's more to it than a drive from democracy. she is the country clothed in stars and stripes accessorized with a nobel peace prize winning president nearing the big d. around the world let us be clear the united states of america stands with the

people of tunisia and supports the democratic aspirations of all people from tunisia. to egypt to libya. washington has said the will of the people must determine the fate of their country. but in iraq where america claims to be transplanting democracy a renewed sense of nationalism has united thousands against the us we're not supporting the democratic aspirations of people in iraq we haven't been for it for eight years now it means iraqi people have wanted us out and we stayed there for their own good that's not democracy. anger over u.s. occupation dates back to the president george w. bush upon his exodus in two thousand a washington drafted agreement promising all american troops would withdraw from iraq by the end of this here in today's more peaceful iraq critics say the pentagon is stepping up pressure to overstay its welcome and cement its footprint. is

pushing for a military presence after the summer two thousand and eleven around twenty two thousand troops but the white house is talking about ten thousand troops so actually there is an agreement there is tacit agreement that the u.s. will stay in iraq forty seven thousand u.s. troops still remain in iraq where america's embassy looms large and control over iraq's oil sector is perceived to be the ultimate trophy prize in this eight year war at the very least order to deny china or any other perceived attentional rival control of valuable resources the idea. ingrained in the thinking of these new. strategists in washington d.c. we're still very much in our. control that the middle east be closed that's where the power comes from experts say the u.s. so much threw me in the region to keep an eye on syria and contain iran if the

develop in syria go to the extent that there is a fall of the regime we don't know what kind of regime or maybe it'll be. us three maybe it will be something even worse you cannot withdraw at this juncture you cannot leave the vacuum iran will just take advantage of it but from the perception of american interests meanwhile the perception of america's democracy remains somewhat distorted has it been used as a tool to achieve the geopolitical gains in financial interests who are all washington to me and listen to the voices of the people bring up what ny artsy media want to do that sally will be exploring just a little later on in the program people of show examines if people power is fighting the losing battle these days when it comes to stop them a country from starving for awards paid the team on here will not say just a bit less than ten minutes time. we bring up to date on some world news

a brief now though pakistan says it will investigate how the son a beloved is able to hide in the country for years the country's prime minister rejected claims that pakistani authorities really are incompetent in searching for the al qaeda leader or complicit in hiding it barack obama urged her to stand to look into what he called a network support unit that kept safe for almost a decade before being killed by u.s. commandos a week ago. heavy gunfire as we've heard in the syrian capital as security forces across the country continue to try and break authentic of protests it comes amid reports of nationwide house to house raids with hundreds of allegedly detained as authorities only in on protest leaders since the outbreak of violence over eight hundred people are thought to have died with around eight thousand believed to be prison or miss. footage here for you from inside the japan's badly damaged fukushima nuclear plant workers could be seen setting up a new cooling system following the installation of air purifiers that officials say is significantly reducing radiation levels at the facility shutting down.

plant which is two of the kilometers west of tokyo japan says that it's because of severe seismic risks these days. we continue our coverage of the victory day celebrations and let's head to volgograd it's renowned for its many monuments which evoke its wartime past and the sacrifice made by soviet soldiers but then over a million people lost their lives during a bloody six month battle against the nazis artie's tom barton explores a city that will never forgot what it means to be fighting for freedom. today the city is called volgograd but sixty eight years ago it was called starling grat and it was the scene of one of the largest battles in military history and even today its left its mark spoke physical and spiritual on the city here and its population and its that being what i've been examining in my report. right back

from the past this old soviet like tankers lay under the mud for sixty eight years it proved too weak to stop the nazi invaders reaching the city of stomping ground. drivers called the mass grave its arm of a south in it could be pierced by machine gun bullets it was part of the soviet armies which biota nine hundred forty two were desperately trying to protect stalin city of gold from a vast access offensive the author was an eighteen year old cadet as the germans closed in he was read stalin's infamous order not to retreat one step back whatever the cost. in our first combat we were bombed in our offices and were killed that was our baptism of fire. over the next six months the bomb and determination of soviet soldiers saved the city and trapped the invading germans in and circumvent which destroyed hitler's biggest army since that great victory much

as changed stalin grab changed its name to volgograd the soviet union itself collapsed and those who remember the battle and now all. but when it comes to monuments volgograd made sure the heroism of the moment was set in stone somewhere we're going up you have to be careful here this is the most dangerous or. we could be inside a military bunker a metal and concrete certainly make it look like one issue but we emerge to a panoramic view of the city of volgograd far beneath we've just popped out of the head of the city's iconic. mother russia statue in some ways this statue is a metaphor for the war itself a rough and ready construction as practical as the soviet soldiers who fought here a strength as defiant as the soviet army clung to the banks of the volga. size as vast as the battle that raged around here but many more reminders abound which are a lot less stylized and

a lot more poignant these soldiers weren't buried in solemn ceremony belie where they felt unseen till now these teams of volunteers have been researching in excavating the battle site for years but also. because relatives of soldiers are getting very old themselves the documents we find will decompose we don't dig them up the quicker we do with the better for both the historians under sort of relatives. they want to try and record the human stories of the stolen ground battle which claimed as many as two million lives and many generals say the war isn't over and so the law is biting is very that's the moto of every church group so they reckons there are enough bullets and bones left for even his grandchildren to find the terror and tragedy of these ultimate sacrifice has yet to be revealed this vehicle is one of the more concrete reminders of what happened here sixty eight years ago but what they will be digging up isn't just metal and gunpowder

it's memories it's an artsy oh god which. was measured just now very shortly tonight people of us cross-talk us discuss why the global antiwar movement is losing its voice surely for that a recap of our main aims here on our team from moscow. download the official anti ugly cation chobani phone the i pod touch from the i.q.

stops to. munch on sea life on the go. video on demand policies minefield comes an r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the calm day for instance this is not a prohibition but more. a form to. say everybody is sure to support the train strikes they have no idea about the hardships the face. plate one is this is all going to need some. are in the army or the life of the usaf is the most precious thing in the world. uses of some sacrifice and heroism with those who understand it fully but you have to live it.