best way to the heart of. gunfire rings out across the ukrainian capital as the protesters opened fire in the governmental district of kiev despite a truce agreed upon with the president overnight. activists resort to. stealing weapons taking prisoners as the crisis starts to resemble a war say they could launch a full counter terrorism response. you don't like a particular policy. or a particular president. then argue for your position go out there and win an election but the u.s. and the e.u. making no mention of the violence carried out by the opposition you are calling only on the president. and

a dramatic day at the sochi olympics with the ice hockey team beaten in the quarter finals and women's figure skating. taking a full. with the world's top headlines live from moscow this is our international with me rule receive thank you for joining us today protesters in ukraine have broken an uneasy truce agreed upon with the government over night and have started using. molotov cocktails and several policeman of reporters who have been taken hostage over the last few days twenty eight people have been killed in the clashes including ten members of the security forces and with sides now taking captives this is beginning to look like a full on conflict i should warn you the upcoming images are disturbing.

do you. get the beatitudes. should be happy with. the new. well certainly some graphic footage right there for you of the protests over the last couple of days have been the most violent and this is how the ukrainian capital looks for you right now these are live pictures you can see the smoke is still going the burning tires in the far corner but the crowds as well the crowds are back out assembling on the central square now our correspondent alexia chef ski he's been in the thick of it i spoke to him just

a short while ago. right now it seems like there's no truce at all i mean the leader of this so-called right wing sector this is the core of the protests the guys who are right wing nationals running the whole show right now they say you can see the flash bangs exploding he said that they're not debating any kind of orders coming from the opposition they're pretty much on their own and they haven't heard anything about any truce of any car and so right now i'm standing literally hundred meters from the independence square itself maybe even less it's just around the corner but you can see there's no more police the right wing sector the protesters are no here they're literally just behind me but it's right in the air it's not safe anymore here i'm afraid but i will bring you the report from last night behind the police lines that you see how tense it was despite the truce which was announced we reported from the independence square from the protesters side this time we'll take you to the other side of the barricade the police lines where obviously the atmosphere is very tense i just took a stroll through the police lines and the police are seem to be very concerned of

what's happening here over there as you can see the police line is here and over there the protesters they lit the tires on fire again the coal areas covered with black smoke it's hard to see to breathe and the police are pretty much everywhere across the place heavy presence right now especially after the information that reportedly protesters in the western part of the country leave on a front cost city stole at least fifteen thousand bullets several hundred handguns and machine guns from the security services arsenals and they're bringing over to kiev that is definitely meeting tougher security measures everywhere across the country tougher police cordon soon but you can see for yourself the movement of the police is they're all taking all the time they're moving their forces now and then it's not particularly violent at the moment although just a few minutes ago we saw from this building over there which is used to be the police or the revolution headquarters in the form of the labor union building several mortar cocktails were thrown right at the place where i'm standing right now as you can see it looks like a genuine war zone with all the rubble with all the rocks which were thrown at the

police the remains of molotov cocktails garbage everything so this used to be a beautiful area the central city of kiev is pretty much a telling story of what it has become over the past several days this is a true mayhem. right there with that report from some hours ago during the overnight and here at r.t. international we are working very hard to track him down and to find him in the thick of it with our security forces on one side and heavily armed rebels on the other so stay with us for hopefully live report in here on the program for the meantime radical activists are accused of stealing more than a thousand firearms that's prompting ukraine security forces to consider a full scale counter terror operation protesters managed to get hold of a pistol rifles machine guns and grenades and now the authorities are looking at ways to prevent the opposition from becoming a fully force you've got to reports. still we're hearing

the explosions from the fireworks which the rioters have been using to attack the police smalled of cocktails are still being thrown around as well and earlier we spoke with the ukrainian foreign minister who was urged the leaders of the opposition to disconnect themselves from the radicals or share the responsibility for the ongoing violence we call the opposition in ukraine first of all if they're not controlling the groups we have. here in kenya. it is. either to distance themselves from those extremists. or to take over their responsibilities and it's now on wednesday russia's president vladimir putin discussed the situation in ukraine with the german chancellor angela merkel saying that the west should condemn the actions of right wing ukrainian

radicals and pay more attention to what should the country's authorities are trying to do to stabilize the situation and keep this violence sort of under control and earlier the foreign ministry in moscow was also accused the leaders. the oppositional feeling to control the radicals and failing to prevent the violence from spreading out of his going to far let's take a look at the chain of events in ukraine certainly over the last few days it all began when opposition leaders urged protesters to go and march on the parliament crowds of demonstrators then attempted to take over the building the situation quickly escalated as rattles also tried to storm the office of ukraine's ruling party and off about they haven't tried to set it on fire the violence spread across the center of the city and three people were killed by becoming the first of three turns out to be many victims of a police attempted to disperse the rioters but were met with rocks and fairly

traditional now molotov cocktails being lobbed over the crowds as well as several policeman died in those clashes now let's take a look at where the protesters and police have been taking up position now by the time the truce was agreed upon security forces had managed to clear the europeans square and push demonstrators away from government buildings now activists still control the city council building as well some of the side streets but most of them are concentrated in the rafa used independence square now a german journalist and writer he believes ukraine's opposition has now actually lost control of the crisis that it worked so hard to create. well we should remember that for example of germany's number one opposition to the dr vitali klitschko was already taken by his own protesters weeks ago when he delivered his speech so they of course they choose their leader as is the leader say what they

want to hear and we shouldn't forget that they are different protest groups and they are of course in the meanwhile elements who don't listen anymore to anybody who just want to violence and to trust fund riots and who will push that so deeply pessimistic that somebody of the opposition could stop this even if you wanted. a washington was quick to respond to the bottom's in kiev twenty senior ukrainian officials accused of sparking the clashes and i'll be banned from traveling to the u.s. for more on the reaction from america and europe is gone a teacher can. president obama knows what the ukrainian leaders should do we are told going to go right merrily responsible for making sure . it's stealing which fuse for protesters in an appropriate way. president obama has however made no suggestions on how ukrainian authorities should

deal with rioters torching the city shooting beating and sowing molotov cocktails at police. neither has he called to the so-called peaceful protesters to wait for elections to express their aspirations as he would at home find a different circumstances you don't like a particular policy. or a particular president then argue for your position go out there and win an election. european leaders don't seem to want to wait for elections either all but calling for the ukrainian president to step down. the ukrainian authorities are by to lose all legitimacy the kind of authorities in ukraine need to make space for a transitional government of national unity and early elections in order to bring back the legitimacy of national authorities. was washington and brussels are considering sanctions against ukraine the u.s. has already barred a number of he korean officials from entering the country shouldn't there be

sanctions against the opposition because they're the ones who are obviously defying democracy by torching the capital as opposed to accepting the results of a legitimate election and we're going to challenge them next next time around washington may stand up for democracy in words for that it is the people themselves that make those decisions and that's what the united states will continue to strive . to achieve. but behind the scenes u.s. officials are apparently trying to decide who should be in the ukrainian government and who should not so i don't think leetch should go into the government i don't think it's necessary i don't think it's a good idea in terms of they're not going into the government just let him sort of stay out in doofus tradable hallmark and stuff. it makes me wonder if bombarding the police with molotov cocktails and shooting at them is also part of the opposition's quote unquote homework in the name of democracy get a second party. and we spoke to stephen cohen professor emeritus of russian studies

at princeton university he believes that the west is fueling the crisis but one ever admit it publicly. we get this incredible statement by the european union in washington that they're going to sanction people who resort to violence now of course that's meant to be a threat at the president of ukraine but how about the guys wearing masks in the streets and hurling them or twelve cocteau's. them all of the molotov cocktails and somebody from the state department going to go on the street and get their names phone numbers and addresses it's preposterous it's a profoundly divided country but that's what this is about what precipitated it was in my judgment it's not the president of ukraine not as the media has played really but the european williams also great backed by washington and you don't have to be highly educated to understand that if that happens this new cold war divide between two koreans on russia's borders that you're going to have decades of instability in

the cold control for a hot war this could be the worst kind of history unfolding. and there are people who made this happen who are taking their responsibility now the unrest is not isolated just to be a crane in the capital here on this map you can see all the main pockets of violence across other regions particularly over there in the west the western city of a scene kangaroo court said work protesters detained the local government demanding he step down he refused so he was chained up in the city's central square and one of ukraine's our largest cities that over of off radicals seized and then set several government buildings on fire while here on r.t. international we continue to follow the situation in ukraine we will keep you fully updated throughout the day.

it's already international well at the start of another day of a limpid action russian fans and soft cheer and need of a bit of a boost the nation's ice hockey team crushing out in the quarter finals was a major disappointment and that was followed by figure skating wonder gold and major gold medal hope fifteen year old yulia lipnitskaya taking a tumble during her brood seem well the pressure on the young star has been absolutely enormous after a gold medal in the team event she became the face of the games teen sensation teen prodigy ice skating sensation skating into the pantheon of young superstars these are just a few of the hundreds of headlines which followed a performance and now they're being blamed for ramping up the expectations on the teenager and possibly making the pressure a bit too much where we addressed all this with our tease and you farmer he's following all the drama on the ice and well he had this report we spoke about just a bit. while it is

a strong argument and the reason this is so this is you need sky put in that amazing performance in the team events at the start of the lympics it seems the whole of russia in fact the whole world has been tipping here to get gold in the women's individual it really has thrust under the media spotlight to such a degree she felt she had to leave so she over the last few days to go and train in moscow and the result is that last night she fell only the second time in her career she's now in fifth place and it pays to be the running for a medal but there is a silver lining to all this because while she was taking the media beat her teammate she's only seventeen years old i believe this hoping they can put in the performance of her life visibly surprised in the schools came in she's now in second place and within touching distance of a gold medal in the senior members of the russian figure skating. say she is a hot towel and that shouldn't be discounted. you know everyone has been talking about she's great no doubt about that she's very hot working but with the have

adelina sotnikova who is just a couple of years older and is also one to go some british you will see them competing not only with the athletes from other countries but also with each other they're both capable of making it on to the olympic pedestal so fingers crossed and the force on the putting any pressure on the nation that russia hasn't done so well information events such as the ice hockey waits failed to medal my friend thirty limps on the right also on his being disappointed that russia has come on leaps and bounds in extreme sports and we have today the man ski cross will say the ladies skiing five and yesterday of course we had the wild getting cold for russia in the sniper shooting and apart from other things that to me underline the limp experience he in sochi because he's an american isn't he was born in america but he took a russian passport when that goal for russia but when i spoke to some americans yes they did a good angry and they hate him fight him a little cheap you know where the olympic village for the athletes of the olympics

or super excited and perhaps a special someone or a special rendition for vick while he's an american but he's one snowboarding gold for russia but you're not bitter no not at all it hurts a little bit but we're still going to play form right now so i take it away. from. this band incidentally called the dixie cakes that all life managed and they are great fun ship that if you ever get the chance or do you watch and enjoy. well in sochi athletes and officials have been wondering in and out of our studio for a chat with the head of the austrian olympic committee was the latest to share his impressions of the games with all of us at odds. i have to say. that just. perfect in best conditions i can see and imagine you without any

wish is really very very excellent and volunteers are very friendly. and everybody is so friendly and nice and their districts are so clean so i think russia did a very perfect job to itself sportive nation and i can just say. we will have more full updates from sochi on another day of big medal hopes join us in our limbic studio throughout the day on r.t. international. the g twenty four team promises. winter sports and. joining us now on how to make seven zero and the rest of our link used for sochi twenty four take. on ott.

when i close my eyes i see people who. you know sometimes i think itself is a face covered by. people in moscow on both sides of the barricades with you. sometimes it feels as if all of ukraine is know.

this is also the international live from moscow thank you for joining us live pictures for you right here as we get back to our breaking news for you this hour rioters with live ammunition have broken through to the ukrainian parliament ending the truce that was agreed upon with the country's president in the overnight several police officers have been taken hostage and radicals are reportedly using unknown toxic substances against the security forces across one of the. wall is in the hot spot right now as cross live to him while we still cannot lie. last

time you and i spoke you were surrounded by a by rebels and protesters and demonstrators in looking very very dodgy situation now a bit calmer way you are however we see a body in the background being taken off on a stretcher what happened to the troops see. it's no truce at all rory despite the agreements which the opposition and the government have managed to agree on last night a cease fire the right wing sector the core of the protest clearly not obeying to this cease fire as their leader said that they would not listen to any orders and they want the revolution to go until the very end and this is exactly what we're seeing right now less than an hour ago the right wing sect of the right just started their offensive against the police when i was getting here to this live position i saw several badly wounded police officers carried away from the scene that was just literally minutes before the whole hell break loose broke loose here as you could see on my previous broadcast area here was covered with the right wing sectors the real fighting was happening literally meters from where i stand right

now we could have heard bullets flying across the area where i saw some of the rioters carrying carrying hand weapons and rifles also tear gas and molotov cocktails and basically all the all the signs of the mayhem we do know that a sniper is operating from a building on the music school just next to where i'm standing right now and we also have information that the building of the ukrainian parliament is no. are you apologize we just lost our t's election or have ski hardly surprising though the live reports continue to come breaking news on r.t. international that was. downtown central kiev and i just are discussing as well that a sniper has been seen operating on one of the rooftops in central kiev what appears to be a truce that was agreed upon overnight with the president and the opposition is now in a state of tatters more live reports to come here on r.t. international thank you for joining us. or for the meantime here on the program

france banned controversial shale gas extraction three years ago after concluding the environmental risks which was too high since then the country's energy giant has turned its attention to britain that's where fracking has been given the go ahead and the head of the company's gas and power division admits that he's aware of the consequences but he told us see exploration will carry on anyway. police think it's fair to the public in the u.k. who are concerned about shared gas exploration and fracking. that france has banned this and our government pushing ahead with this case to different countries of different different views. of the we wish more comfortable we've yet to give you a new q well of course our fracking is. we have been speaking about the waste and. of course some of this is because

but who derives from. the people you do it what do you think should be something that begin and that can take place so of course and. with clearly we know the conditions. in order to prevent this for up and using the problem for a lot of people who live in the communities where fracking could take place if it's not david cameron it's not. he's going to be affected by these potential consequences of what you say to these people in this community when we try to convince the people of these communities to show could be the developing new century but it's not really a debate is it because the plans are already sort of going forward so the decisions being made essentially whether they like it or not. what has been the city to do exploration but we will leave the track to have the proper permits you know to start putting the explosion successful. we are far from being in

a situation of the well we are going to put this massive. six month last we heard in that interview there are no guarantees when it comes to shell gas despite the u.k. government fishing and head with exploration plans far from being questions gold and gas case when it comes to shells assets the ration the consequent. remain extremely. firm international petroleum week. are quickly a global snapshot for you some of the headlines in brief time a rally against the visit of u.s. president barack obama violence in mexico demonstrators from labor unions and various anarchist groups clashed with police in the town of toluca president obama was there for talks aimed at boosting trade ties and engaging mexico into a broader asian pacific trade pact. the death toll from the ongoing unrest in venezuela sparked by last week's rallies against the country's ailing economy has

risen to at least six sporadic clashes between protesters and police continue to across the country until late on wednesday the opposition leader leopoldo lopez who initiated the protests and remains behind bars for allegedly trying to overthrow the government he has urged his supporters to stay out on the streets. and there was public anger in the spanish city as well thousands are called on the government to scrap plans to change abortion was. dressed in police uniform burned by the crowds the new proposed legislation would restrict abortions to pregnancies where the health of the mother is at risk or in the case of rape. so is the chaos a simple matter of people frustrated with democracy or think girls from regional and outside international play is deeply buried in what's happening the details coming your way what is the chaos in kiev all about.

trends arrow to vnukovo report your best way to the house of mosco. recently swiss voters nearly passed a referendum to put a strict quota back on immigration switzerland is a relatively small country and some estimate that almost a quarter of the population is made up of immigrants from e.u.

countries that is a lot of people and the swiss are worried that the increased foreigners will also mean increased crime rent prices burd the state and erode traditional local culture as modern immigration almost always does the swiss population's democratic choice to restrict immigration is next with being blasted by the e.u. brass what threats to cancel bilateral agreements how dare you have a different version of democracy than we in the you have switzerland how dare you i don't think this event will have much effect on the e.u. bureaucratic machine nothing could make them change their hyper liberal minds but i think the swiss anti immigration referendum will have a huge effect on local populations of countries like germany and the u.k. which are seeing horrible effects of open borders and growing anti e.u. sentiment as i speak i don't like to make predictions by i think a lot of disenfranchised people across the e.u. are going to become quite jealous of the swiss move and demand the same type of changes at home but that's just my opinion.

so james when you're fourteen promises alternated an exhilarating winter it's not a t.v. show me any so now i make heaven i went on the bus tomorrow hey can you stay in for sochi twenty four take. on oxy. when i close my eyes i see people in masks. the people i remember best of all of that come back times and they're all wearing masks. sometimes i think that you're a modern itself was a face covered by a mosque. was the only people in mosques on both sides of the barricades and you know sometimes you said it feels as if all of ukraine is no masked.

i'm from kiev. lived here all my life i have two children and a wife and i love very much you know it's interesting i want to say it because it's real history taking shape right before my eyes what's happening now will remain in history forever but i'll be trying to tell that it's a black or a white page in history. i was done in two thousand and four i remember the environment. people treated each other with. i was looking for the same people on the other my down hoping to meet the same attitude the same wall you know when you put the. if. for some reason it turns out the people are getting ready to fight if the schoolmaster.