c b b c e t v. what do you feel was. president putin proposes steps for ukraine's warring sides to bring about peace in the east. it's after he had backtracked on its initial decision to commit to a permanent ceasefire outlining conditions for a truce instead. russian journalist andre stan in has been confirmed killed a month after going missing are covering the conflict in east ukraine. with r.t.

international president putin suggested how ukraine's warring sides might work towards peace his ideas follow a conversation the russian leader had with his ukrainian counterpart the details of their phone call have been released although our correspondent in a court has more on russia's reaction in medina what is mr putin suggesting. well overall there is a seven point plan now first the russian president believes that the two sides of the conflict should stop military operation on both sides should withdraw troops from southeastern parts of ukraine and militias should do the same to their for stop the bloodshed at the troops should pull back to rule out any shelling of cities that are no fool in international ceasefire monny touring system should be in place in those areas there should be no out and used against civilians and there are also should be some kind of a system arranged to provide the exchange detainees and that should happen with no

exception now the last two points of the plan include a humanitarian corridor or there should be open for the refugees of those areas and of the reconstruction of the a war torn region show for ukraine to happen in the near future now this is briefly of the plan that the russian president is suggesting the two science could use to peace and ukraine now not being a part of this conflict russia however says that it is ready to provide any assistance possible to staff realized the situation russian president vladimir putin also says that the leader. have common views on how to ensure a ceasefire in the area. ok thank you that's been a quarter of a well president poroshenko backtracked on his initial announcement of a full ceasefire in the east his website now says he's only agreed to discuss steps

towards a truce ukrainian leader. on twitter that a permanent truce in the region was imminent correspondent paula slay is his we explain what this might mean. paula can we expect some sort of form is it viable. well there's a lot of confusion here in eastern ukraine we haven't had any official reaction to the comments made by the russian president there are some radical voices or more radical voices i should say who are calling for this military operation by the anti government fighters against the ukrainian army to continue and they say that they cannot and will not negotiate with the kiev government but of course they will need to be some kind of dialogue for some kind of ceasefire to be reached and in that respect the considerations on the points put forward by the way the russian

president will be taken heed of now earlier they will make statements that were coming out of the kiev government in the first statement that was released we heard about a permanent cease fire now this wording was later changed to talk about a cease fire regime it is very vague and as i say people here in eastern ukraine really don't know what to make of it there are a lot of questions being asked and we are hearing from the leaders of the lugansk and in that square publics that they have not been consulted about any kind of ceasefire agreement so that at this stage they're not taking it seriously although they have said that they are willing to reach a political settlement with the kiev government but only if kiev gives assurances and evidence that it really is serious about stopping its military operation here in eastern ukraine they was earlier and now the cease fire that was put forward by kiev but that was later violated people on the ground also saying that this might be an attempt by the ukrainian president petro poroshenko to simply buy time and to

assess the feeling on the ground now there are talks that are scheduled to take place on friday at this stage what we do know is that for these talks to happen they will need to be a lot more work done because the talks as they stand is more differences than they are similarities. yes we had the kiev government that really wants to remain in power and wants to return to how things were before all this mess happened and then we have the republics who are saying that they will maintain ties with kiev but they want to be in a position that they are self determined that they are responsible for their own fate and their own future. let's bring in former british scotland yard detective and counterterrorism intelligence officer. charles thanks very much for coming on to the program. what do you make of mr pushing coast today . while outwardly at least

a positive step it shows that behind the scenes as has been suspected for some time the high level talks are progressing and if people are moving closer together in their positions as president putin himself has implied today then that's got to be a positive thing above all for the peoples of the civilians particularly of southeast ukraine the areas that are under regular attack for example from your kind of artillery and so on who are dying in large numbers and so anything that is towards peace and of course that must come. eventually via political dialogue political negotiations or political settlement if something's going to be permanent is surely to be welcomed the problem is that it's unclear at this stage what those provisions are and indeed it's a developing situation it's been developing all day as to what president bush and co actually meant and that hasn't been helped has been said already by mixed messages which are unusual it should be must be said from kiev i mean given that

you said that also today we're hearing that the shelling has continued in the east of ukraine how easy is it to get both sides to stop firing on each other given that mr putin has come up with his own seven point plan including stopping military actions on both sides but is that really likely. i think in any ceasefire we've seen just in situations around the world there are going to be breaches on a very local level even if it's just down to political and personal. and local security problems in communication there will be breaches of any ceasefire and that has to be taken into account in looking at the bigger picture as general ceasefire if it does indeed become announced and takes place shouldn't be threatened necessarily by localized breakdowns in its course where as has been mentioned the importance of monitoring comes to the fore if there is indeed a cease fire the red cross perhaps can take

a role to monitor or not but especially the i see you on the ground in some numbers at the moment have a lot of experience in ukraine and indeed president putin and i think president poroshenko too has welcomed the presence of the i.c. i'm bored i think support an enhanced role for them but we mustn't actually get ahead of ourselves here. there is terrible activity taking place and only on monday it was barely reported. in the western media set in the us in the u.k. media that human rights watch came out with a report which was quite a comprehensive report which was to criticized both sides for human rights abuses in the conflict in south east ukraine it did reserve particular condemnation for the ukraine government for its indiscriminate use of heavy weaponry against civilian populations and it may be that reports like this and some concerns in some parts of the west governments and some parts of western media about the death toll in ukraine may be put in some kind of pressure on the ukrainian government as

indeed are the recent advances of the rebels in the local area to actually be more amenable to stopping its so-called anti-terrorist operation and seeking a long term pace. coming up this weekend and on friday there will be talks between the warring sides again in better reduce. mr putin says he hopes progress will be made what's your opinion. well again it depends on who speaks for whom president putin of course and he's acknowledged this himself he can negotiate or make suggestions on behalf of perhaps some rebel factions perhaps the general population perhaps just in the interest of peace generally but he's made it clear himself that he cannot does not speak for all of the rebel factions one can remember when he a few months ago urged that the referendums towards separation should not take place they did take place despite his wishes and so of course that tended to show

suggested that much of the western narrative at the time that president putin was running the show from the rebel perspective in southeast ukraine wasn't correct and that may be the case even now so but it can only help the situation of course if russia on one hand. prepared to talk if ukraine. pressures puts pressure by whatever means it can on the rebels to adhere to president putin some point plan and crucially that the western powers the u.s. and the e.u. on whom really the ukraine government is dependent right now if they also put similar pressure on ukraine not to secure victory but to secure some sort of peace and long term political settlement then there may be some grounds for hope yes and whatever talking to take in place then that hope remains ok well thank you very much for your opinion on that was a child. from scott not detective and counterterrorism intelligence officer. or months into the army offensive swathes of east ukraine it devastated schools

hospitals apartment blocks and homes are either badly damaged or completely destroyed no water no electricity and the constant threat of being killed has been the daily reality for civilians in eastern regions u.n. sources say two million people are still living in the conflict many they're hiding in basements and shelters spending days at a time there is bombs and bullets flying overhead and when they get home many defined their houses are severely damaged or completely uninhabitable or entirely reduced to rubble more than a million people used to live in the nets in two thousand and twelve it's stadium hosted the european football championship matches here you can see fans on the left hand side enjoying time at the tournament and then on the right hand side of your screen that is what is left of the what was a focal point of sporting celebration and a similar fate befell don yes international airport to a modern transport hub once for the city reduced to battle scarred ruins and these

aerial pictures give you an idea of the remains of a village in the dinette region which was devastated by the military campaign over the summer at least fifteen hundred people used to live here and as you can see houses now lie in ruins most residents have fled. since the start of the conflict the un refugee agency says more than seven hundred thousand ukrainians have escaped to russia because of the fighting on top of that more than one hundred thousand have been displaced inside ukraine itself many of their homes were destroyed by army artillery fire on tans and cities in the east to the other side of the barricades the loss of life in the ukrainian army is widely being blamed on the appalling supply chain to the front lines which sample is well i mean if actual ammunition soldiers are having to use to fight and it's rusty and falling apart. officially almost eight hundred government troops are being confirmed killed and more than two and a half thousand wounded but kiev is being accused of colossal

a colossal cover up and he government forces say up to fourteen thousand military personnel have been killed or injured and that the authorities are in panic control mode here are some first hand they can't have the conditions under which ukrainian soldiers live and fight with all due to budget that usually translates into two will it was lowered to particular pretty good. local for your vocal chords to work toward result of your thoughts they want to see you brother while being with you for this new period. because your route through the. process is there. or the tragedy of war is being felt in the homes of ukrainian soldiers whose mothers are being denied information by the authorities about their children for many parents it's too much to bear. i mean.

when. you look. it up but. we discussed the move towards peace in ukraine with political analyst alexander and he believes kiev's recent defeats in the east have pushed it to finally seeking a nonviolent solution i think there are forces in kiev who are interested in peace now now that they've suffered really devastating military losses and setbacks. terrorist operation have been going well we would be talking about this as any sort of an option the public pressure would have been less had it been going well. had mr poroshenko is military forces been successful instead they've been losing ground they've been losing territory you know then public pressure increases very much the economy ukraine's economy is on life support and on top of all that you are doing

badly. on the ground in militarily so of course there is great public pressure on mr poroshenko as well the ukrainian government has taken a further step towards nato membership it's approved a bill to cancel the country's nonaligned status meanwhile u.s. president barack obama has stressed that he supports nato military expansion in europe and also expressed his view on the conflict in ukraine. and joins us live now to tell us more. and what does mr obama think needs to be done. well you see this might not be a great moment for a paper partially to talk peace with russia when his friends to the west of the border are making statements against russia and preparing to deploy more forces in eastern europe to defy russia and that's basically the gist of what president obama is saying in a stone here before heading to the nato summit in wales he says there will be more

u.s. forces in lot fia lithuania and it sonia here's how he explains the expansion. we must continue to stand united against russia's aggression in ukraine. thank you keep in mind that repeatedly president putin has ignored the opportunity to resolve the crisis in ukraine diplomatically. while president obama also says the u.s. will be assisting the ukrainian army to any way it can training including training he was asked about the early report of president obama and ukraine's but. agreed on the ceasefire steps for eastern ukraine he said it's too early to tell and those are just reports at the moment so we understand that the talking points that the u.s. president has prepared for the nato summit door still in force a diplomatic breakthrough at this particular moment may not feed into the let's

stand up against russian narrative very well at least for the moment after all ukraine the ukrainian government as you just heard has asked the country's parliament to consider dropping the country's nonaligned status and seek membership of nato and that's that nato want that law changed. science can see that done each again from washington that. well let's focus on the upcoming nato summit in the u.k. raising money to bolster a military presence in eastern europe in the wake of the ukrainian crisis appears to be a key priority whatever nato leaders planned hundreds of peace protesters turned out weekend in host then use of newport and cardiff in wales they want less money spent on more and nuclear weapons. so could nato afford to boost defense infrastructure across eastern europe or

currently the twenty eight member states spend as much as one trillion dollars a year maintaining what the alliance already has that means the organization alone gets more military funding than the rest of the world put together washington is currently putting most of that bill with just over a quarter of nato is budget made up by other members those in the alliance as opposed to contribute two percent of their g.d.p. each year but not everyone does in fact more than eighty five percent of countries on the list are either unwilling or simply not ready to provide that much cash geo political analyst william angle believes that ukraine's hopes of joining nato are nonsense. i think there's a deep split cleft between poroshenko those faction and then you have a coup was the. golden boy of the victoria nuland the state department neoconservatives in washington. and i think that the more the situation in east ukraine develops into a catastrophe for the demoralized ukrainian army forces that are trying

to the to not destroy the place ethnic cleansing the more that that happens at the hard successful the more that split between poroshenko had him send you the prime minister is what is going to manifest itself and how that plays out is very unclear at this point i don't i don't hold much weight by any of the steps that he's talking about full nato membership for ukraine something that's akin to lunacy in my book and one tragic development from ukraine is confirmation that russian journalist under a standing dead will have more on that story in a company. cut right to see touch first strike. and i think the church.

on a reform or splinter. instrument. in the. we think of why we think there are good. for us and beaches. coconut palms gently swaying in the ocean breeze. in fact. white has a deep dark little secret a secret the u.s. government would like you can go. to our labor. to buy. dearly sharpshooters get all wheeled in there is.

another breaking development in ukraine is the forensic confirmation that russian news photographer on the ice then in is dead france has joined the international monitoring mission in europe the o.s.c. in demanding an investigation into the death of the thirty three year old who went missing nearly a month ago really going to his goal that he to. false hopes for injuries safe return from ukraine have been shattered astara genetic test has proven conclusively that the remains that have been found in southeastern ukraine indeed do belong to andre stern and it was a photo journalist working for ria novosti which is part of all stress disorder news corp the head of which has made this statement on the death of andre we've followed andries fate and demanded that international organizations freed him. where thanks to everyone who rushed down the road for your activities and for your

support. unfortunately when we were trying to do everything possible and even impossible for his freedom andre was already no longer with us now those words of brad is a different and by a massive show of support that was that began right here there are a sea of subordinate headquarters where i'm standing was spread all over the country even all over the world not just journalists but people in other countries including organizations such for protection of journalists worldwide have issued their support they have been calling on and reserve these because it was assumed that entry was detained by ukrainian forces as they have previously done to a number of russian journalists or journalists working for russian news outlets including our team but no information was provided by kit that would specify exactly what was happening to andre or where he was staying in sir friends journalists we've been working with them they have discovered andris car among

other vehicles that were part of a civilian convoy of refugees that was in donetsk region that convoy was fired upon by ukrainian forces and on tree whose remains were found right there on the spot was one of those who died in the doubt attack he survived but his mother for whom it is obviously a very tragic time and her tragic loss is shared by thousands of people in the world the world over and of course by andries friends and colleagues for mourning him today. but i understand his mother was visibly distressed today at her son's former workplace in moscow a number of his colleagues and acquaintances spoke to on of the veteran journalist and his work. jude law he was a man of a man saw he was kind and i think the main element of our profession he was reliable when andrew was near i always felt my back was covered first of all he was a great person and a good friend you clueless need more straight to him none of us thought this was

possible through these days and weeks we hope for a miracle which. bosses really told him what to do it was mostly he who preached subject to his colleagues and managers understand him was a respected photographer who worked in conflict zones around the world for various media including reuters and a pain in ukraine he covered the mass anti-government rallies in kiev before moving on to report on the ongoing army assault in the yeast here are some of the pictures he took while working on the front lines around the world the u.s. is vowing to degrade and destroy the islamic state group president obama made that

pledge after it was confirmed that a second american reporter has been executed by the jihadist militancy a gruesome video of the killing of stephen sort of he was taken captive more than a year ago on tuesday and it previously been seen in the video where another u.s. journalist james foley was beheaded again the killer has a british accent that i just video saw him threaten the execution of a third journalist to have his claim the killings are reprisals for u.s. airstrikes against them in iraq middle east expert joshua landis told us that the fight against islamic state militants will turn into another afghanistan for the united states. it's very difficult in this situation because isis dominates a region the size of great britain in both syria and iraq if you're going to destroy them and kill them and and hit their buildings you have to have somebody else to replace them otherwise they'll just spring up and you'll infuriate the sunnis that are trapped in between baghdad and damascus so the u.s.

has to come up with a strategy somebody has to pay for it and there has to be an exit strategy and obama does not want to get stuck in some swamp the way the u.s. did in iraq originally or in afghanistan without an exit strategy. now coming up a chance for you to follow all correspondents here adopting the latest episode of news team and if you're watching us in the u.k. it's getting on the ground. if you want people who watch these from. egypt to see that it has some goodies little school course we're going to be.

forced to move. from the most will and being. she is in retreat ukraine civil war has grounded into a stalemate and the economy is crushing this is created an opening for dialogue all parties seize the moment when will moscow continue to be blamed. and i'm not a politician but we see that it is arab countries that sit on the world's greatest oil reserves and the west just cannot stay away from such tremendous wealth so in order to get their heads without oil the west employs what i was all cultural terrorists.

took right from the scene took the first trip. and i for being put. on a reformist twitter. on instagram. the in the. news today and signs of progress in secret peace talks. many many people would see as threats where demonstrations are feaster kate saying what if you can see the covering.

seven pm in moscow i matras or bring you today's breaking news coverage here on r.t. international ukraine's president says there's been a coup in his country opposition activists in full control of the ukrainian capital kiev now and the new interior minister says police are now on their side the presidential residence stands over truly a bad end after the head of state himself fled the city or he's alexei or a share of skiis live for us in kiev with all the latest election. yes indeed despite that what seems to be a true political may have the mayhem in the streets of the riots changed the political situation right now with obviously all the governmental buildings in kiev now if you applied by the opposition including the administration of the president the parliament the government.