ah, ah ah, the un security council has called for a rare emergency special session on russia's operation in ukraine as part of western powers attempt to isolate moscow. following a raft of aggressive nato statements and huge new armed deliveries pledged by block members, president putin puts rushes, strategic deterrence forces, including nuclear units on high alert. pretty good luis through. i'm ordering the defense minister and chief of staff to put the russian army to turn forces on specialist. you announces the closure of its air space to russian flights, as well as a ban on our t. sputnik and subsidiary companies from broadcasting in the block. and russian and

ukranian delegations are on the way to the ukranian. belarus, border after care agreed to negotiate, quote, without pre conditions. ah, broadcasting live direct from our studios and monica, this is art international. i'm john thomas. certainly glad to have you with us as we try and make our way through this ukraine situation. we start with the un security council meeting dedicated to the situation in ukraine, which wrapped up earlier, the council called for a rare emergency special session on russia's operation, which will now be held on monday as western allies. step up a diplomatic campaign to isolate moscow. a vote on the resolution by the 15 member council was procedural so russia could not wield its veto. it was adopted with 11 yes votes. russia voted no while china,

india and the united arab emirates abstained. are correspondent, kill them up, and has more the representative of the united states hurled a lot of allegations at russia, accusing russia of many things, and blaming russia for the entire conflict. hear some of what we heard from the representative of the united states before the security council. we need to take extraordinary actions to meet this threat, to our international system, and do everything we can to help ukraine and it's people. just this morning, president putin put rushes nucular forces on high alert, even though he is invading a country with no nuclear weapons and is under no threat from nato, a defensive alliance that will not fight in ukraine. we urge russia to tone down is dangerous rhetoric regarding nuclear weapons. now from there are

a number of countries aligned with the united states echoed these allegations from the united states, placing the blame for the conflict solely on the shoulders of russia. now we heard china take to the floor of the un security council meeting, and when china spoke, they called for a d. as sco lation, they urged dialogue. here's what shina had to say when they spoke to the security council meeting from china, supports and encourages all diplomatic efforts conducive to a peaceful settlement of the ukraine crisis and welcomes the earliest possible direct dialogue and negotiations between russia and ukraine. at the same time, china supports eco footed dialogues between the you and russia on european security issues. the security council should give priority to regional peace and stability and the universe. so security of all countries and play a constructive role in resolving the ukraine issue. now from there we did see

russia take to the floor and debunk a large number of the allegations, and he did rhetoric we heard from other countries, one theme that was very key in the remarks made by russian ambassador and ben zia was fake news than the fact that there are videos circulating throughout the internet that report to be from ukraine, showing russian atrocities when reality, some of them and been filmed in libya. some of them have been filmed and syria. some of them have even a been filmed and come from video games in the united states. there are videos of actual atrocities committed by the ukrainian military, against the peoples of the don boss, region that are now being shown as if to place the blame on the russian military. so a lot of deception, the russian ambassador took to the floor. here is some of what he said. debunking all the allegations being hurled at russia in the moment to just to, to these. now, there is a need to focus on resolving the situation which precipitated the crisis,

which, which we are grappling. this crisis broke out not as a result of the launch of the russian special military operation in ukraine, but much earlier when for 8 years you turned a blind to the crimes perpetrated by the ukrainian nationalists in dunbar. and again, today you did not mention at all the suffering of the residence of dunbar. that's the russian ambassador, pointing out that while there is so much concern for the people of ukraine, there seems to be no concern over the past 8 years for the people of the don boss region. the peoples republic of don adds the people's republic of lugens and what they've been enduring, the shelling the food blockades, the dan on their language, the threats against them. there doesn't seem to be any concern for the lack of democratic freedoms in ukraine itself. ukraine is being portrayed as a democracy, despite the shutting down and jailing and suppression of opposition parties. so we

had the russian ambassador taking the floor and just kind of refuting a lot of these allegation. now that was followed by a very theatrical speech by the ukranian representative in which he spoke in both english as well as russian and which she, you know, did a lot of dramatic things and made personal appeals to members of the security council. however, the meeting then ended pretty abruptly, the russian ambassador ended the meeting and it concluded not a lot of agreement between great powers represented in the meetings, some pretty big gaps in their understanding of world events. but it seemed like one thing that did bring everyone together was a desire for the fighting to and it seems like everyone wanted the conflict to come to an end. everyone wanted there to be some kind of resolution. so that is at least one thing the countries had in common, despite the fact that they had very, very different interpretations of events. president putin has reacted to quote, aggressive language from nato members and big new pledges of weaponry to ukraine by

putting rushes, strategic forces, which include nuclear weapons, units on hiler was room. i believe you, as you can see, western countries are not only taking on friendly actions towards a nation in the economic sector. i'm referring to the illegitimate sanctions that everyone is aware of. however, top officials of nato member states are also using aggressive language towards a country. that's why i'm ordering the defense minister and chief of staff to put the russian army the term forces on special alert. rushes strategic forces include both nuclear and non nuclear units. long range bombers, submarines, ships and jets. the high alert also connects missile warning systems and defense against attacks from space and his ilia katrinka has more well after the russian side kept hearing pretty much every day. if not every hour as a result of what's happening in the ukraine. how the nato members steps. sorry,

states are sending more and more troops and hardware to the alliance nations that share a border with russia. right? we heard the president of lot of our potent order, the russian strategic forces to be ready for any kind of scenario unfolding. indeed, russia sees this as a massive threat. however, when the white house press secretary, john saki was asked to what her reaction to the statement by vitamin was she pretty much said that a, it's actually a made up threats by the russian president. this is really a pattern that we've seen from president couldn't, through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing threats that don't exist in order to justify further aggression and the global community. and the american people should look at it through that prism. nato secretary general against oldenburg,

who was also speaking to the western media. and he spoke about how the countries of his lines are also very concerned about that decision made by mister potent. this is dangerous rhetoric. that's the reason why we are both provide support ukraine. but also are we able to last week some on so i have a significant increase the presence of nato in the eastern part lines. so the stakes are high, probably had they've ever been ha, that high and the decisions are being made on both sides. we keep hearing though more and more steps being taken by the european union just a few hours ago. the know you top diplomat said that actually we've never heard these kind of things being said before the european you and we'll send fighter jets to ukraine. and these are supposed to be fighter jets that the gradient pilots know how to operate. so you would perhaps assume that still yell some of the eastern

european countries are in possession of the jets that were so be made. so are they going to hand them over to you grade? we don't know, but it's definitely clear that now hundreds of millions worth of lethal military aid is going to ukraine. and we do remember that vladimir putin also mentioned that when he was talking about russia's response to the very latest threats from the west and from ukraine as well. or it is kevin owen and elliot, katrinka speaking there. now the heads of the you foreign ministry, agreed to provide lethal weapons to ukraine, worth about 450000000 euros. this is according to the you foreign policy chief. he also added that you sanctions will freeze about half of russia's financial reserves . the eu has also announced a band on r t and the sputnik and subsidiary companies from broadcasting in the block. our

editor in chief margarita manion has responded to news of the restrictions. but 1st, the foreign policy chief justice burrow the peoples and entities that are going to be subject to restrictive measures. political figures who whole key role, how to put in system in russia. both the ones who disseminate propaganda, propagandist and military. we are going to van russia today and his po nick from broadcasting in the union. because he had a champion self information, mighty polish. you would have saw your scuttled am normally at the desk of the ear that for years has been selling the whole world. how much the treasure and love freedom of speech and how they appreciate and loved diversity of thoughts, diversity of news and information. today, in response to the actions of russian ukraine meant to protect russian speaking

citizens there. the e. u announced that we won't broadcast there any more. what the president's decision to start, the operation has to do with us is unclear. it's absolutely obvious that no mother, whether we continue broadcasting or not, the operation would proceed. it's absolutely clear that it's just an excuse. they wanted to close us for a long time, but it would have looked bad in the eyes of their own citizens, our audience. because it's against freedom of speech anyway, and now it convenient excuse appeared and they decided to get rid of the long lasting, uncomfortable issue of us and our huge audience in this way. we'll find some other way to communicate with our audience, for sure, without direct broadcasting. but the people of the european union today can see how much that allotted talk of freedom of speech costs. lots of sanctions coming in against russia. but for more on the european specific sanctions, here's our corresponded bureau, oliver decision to place rushes, strategic and deterrence forces, which includes nuclear elements on high alert. and that was viewed as a major escalation is in europe as it was expected to be viewed. we heard from

ursula on the line, the u commission president, who said a to boo has gone, and the european union will now provide a weapons into a conflicts own at the you will provide weapons to ukraine and it isn't going to be the whole of the e u. member states doing this hungry has said that they won't be providing weapons . however, countries that have never done this previously have said that they will, including sweden have said that they will be providing arms to, to ukraine. right now. we also heard from a you, leaders like joseph maralie, a you commission. hi, barry, you european union. i representative for foreign affairs saying that our t sputnik and all subsidiaries would be banned from broadcasting within the european union. and today we're taking a crucial estate jordan holiday tap for the russians. information manipulation in

europe may manning russia today. and sputnik from broadcasting ended up in union. while we're also seeing the closure of u air space to all our russian owned russian registered or russian controlled aircraft, as was announced by ursula on the line. we are shutting down the e u. s. face for russians. we're proposing a prohibition on all russian owned russian registered and russian controlled aircraft. these aircraft will no more be able to land in take off over fly the territory of the european union. and that includes the private jets of oligarchs to the european union. continuing to take more sanctions against russia in retaliation for russia's actions in ukraine. earlier, my colleague kevin owens spoke to political science, lecturer john laughlin, who told us that europe's ban on our tea, raises disturbing issues and questioned nato's sabre rattling in countries outside

the military block. nato is the most powerful military alliance in the history of humanity. its expenditure dwarfs that of russia, its power dwarfs that of russia. how can anyone say after these decades of natives was in yugoslavia in libya that is not a threat to any one. particularly when the british foreign secretary britain is one of the most important nato powers. it seems to imply that moldova is part of nato motive, or is not part of nato. she also says we have to fight for ukraine because otherwise we will be threatened. well, nature does not have to fight few crane nature has to fight for its members states . it doesn't fight for other countries. it fights for its members states. so everyone is losing their heads at the moment. and therefore, it's entirely understandable that russia should be raising the stakes in this way by saying as to lavonne, delay on the european commission president. and i'm saying that so the, you, i'm just reading your, the quote will ban russian media outlets. that's

r t a and sputnik accusing us is spreading harmful dis information. we try our best to put a balance across, and we know we're licensed by off. come in the u. k. and europe, they've deemed us to be okay to license. we are of course, going to put the russian point of view. what's wrong with that? well, and what's wrong with it is that it's totalitarian. if you don't suppress media outlets, that's a basic principle. if the e u is going to suppress r t and sputnik, that means european union citizens will no longer be able to watch those channels. no one forces them to watch them. it is a measure that she is announced which drastically reduces the liberties of you citizens. it. i'm sure it doesn't make it slightest bit of difference to russia. ah, but it does make a difference to people who want to watch out in sputnik. and i mean, we've got used to tell attorneys and for 2 years now with all the coven madness.

but this is a, this is so this is in the same category. in any case what, what laws is she is claiming to be operating under lee? you doesn't have that authority any more than as the authority, by the way, as far as i know, to close as spaces you mentioned in your report. above all, i mean, independently of the issue between russia, nato and ukraine. i think anyone watching this, any european citizen watching this should be deeply preoccupied by the assault on his own rights, his or her own rights. you mentioned just now in your report from london about the seizure of assets belonging to rationale, goths in london. well, what happened to due process, what happened to property rights? and we really saying that from one day to the next, somebody's property can be taken away just because they are deemed to be politically close to russia. this is literally dictatorship. i don't want to sound hysterical, but somebody has to a pulley alarm bell on this and say that these kinds of measures are undermine the very thing which are the british government and other european governments claim to

be standing full, namely the rule of law and democracy the ukrainian delegation is traveling to the ukraine. belarus border for talks with russia through a long route. this is out of concern for their lives. according to a source close to the situation. the russian delegation is already at the scene waiting for their ukrainian counterparts. claims kids in augusta with vin, ukrainian delegation advanced to the tongs by a long route through the republic of poland, and then through the territory of the republic, vellerilla through the war southbridge border crossing billows. they said this was downtown security issues since hostilities are ongoing on the delaware to see in the order area. and in particular in the charity of re little adding that they can become victims of either accidental rocking fire or territorial defense. actually saying that is because they distributed tens of thousands of machine gun while pronounce an art images to civilians without checking him or their medical certificates or criminal records. the russian delegation is already at the agreed

meeting place. one of the state residences on the banks of the pretty young, where they are waiting for grant ukrainian colleagues with us. there's been a lot of back and forth so far. it's safe to say now the peace talks are happening . the russian delegation is now in the gama region in belarus, where the negotiations are expected to take place the exact location those captain secret for security reasons. but we understand that it's going to happen right on the border between ukraine in belarus, near the trip. it's river, perhaps at one of the border crossings on many are not invited obviously, but we expect the public statement from the russian negotiators as soon as the meeting is over, are russia's chief negotiator latimer. minsky said earlier that the parties are now deciding on logistics and security arrangements. so let's have a listen to what he said. we have received information from the ukranian side that it agrees to negotiate talks will take place in the global region as we proposed earlier. now we are creating a path for the ukranian site to pass through safely. we awaiting here for the

ukrainian delegation. kansas were initially low that these talks would happen. the russian delegation came to many earlier on sunday, only to hear that keith has no desire to sand. his delegation to bowers on the grounds that mince allegedly took active part in russia's military operation in ukraine. this is something that the battle russian president, alexander lucas angle, vehemently denied than the russian sad. we're going to wait until 3 pm moscow time and then we leave. and actually we're about to depart from moscow. the ukrainian president found his fellow russian counterpart and said that he's ready to send his people and have negotiations. however, he said later on that he doesn't have high hopes of for the outcome of these talks is worth yet to be honest, i do not believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try so that not a single citizen of ukraine has any doubts the knives president did not trying to stop the war when there was at least a small chance. but

a chance none the less. it's hard to tell exactly what has caused this new turn from the craning side earlier, the ukranian president suggested other european capitals like warsaw brought his lava boot a past as well as eastern bull and turkey and the capital of another former soviet for public. there by john bach, who but as the deadline said by the russian side approach of latimer zelinski, all of a sudden changed his mind and confirm the cranium. delegation headed by a deputy foreign minister is on its way towards the valor is border russian delegation, invalid reason includes a deputy foreign minister deputy minister of defense had of the foreign affairs committee in russia's parliament, russia's envoy and valor. ruth, as well as russian presidential aid me treatment in ski, he is the had of the russian delegation will know from what the russian president said earlier that the russian offensive was hold it on february 25th wednesday. lensky 1st mentioned, he wants to talk and discuss

a natural status for ukraine. then he changed his mind, and the operation was resumed. it's also hard to tell if the 2 sides can find common ground here. right, let's have a look at the developments on the ground in ukraine as we understand them right now . entering the 5th day of conflict with reports of advances by russian troops and don bass forces against ukrainian army in various parts of the country. now if you look at the map, martin, red and blue, here are the 2 don bass republics, according to the borders recently recognized by russia independently, the russian defense ministry has announced that lu ganske militia forces have retaken territory and yet forces have advanced by 12 kilometers and apparently, eye witness video appears to confirm multiple accusations of ukraine's military using civilians as human shields and operating inside residential areas. now we

have not independently verify this video as of yet, but the footage allegedly shows frightened residents trying to get an armored personnel carrier out of a public courtyard in front of residential buildings. which one woman says is full of children hiding from the war. take a look and you can judge for yourself. oh, and despite the russian army advance, the done yes. can lugens republics claim that several towns were targeted in missile attacks, including nikolai of co, where russia, military forces and say she, they rescued an elderly woman for a deal with in staying in the done yet scandalous guns? republics are one closer off is in the don bass region with the latest. the

ukrainian army are retreating, but so they are destroying everything on their, on their way on this, on this retreat. according to a local officials, the crating, an army or targeting civilian infrastructure in people's home. and they're using a so called the a scorched earth policy against the civilians and not the military. now they added that to ukrainian military, the ones who are still fighting or placing their positions in near civilians, homes and schools, and kindergartens, and virtually turning civilians into a human shields. once again, this according to the local officials, and of course we can hear artillery strikes here in the nest where i am right now. on saturday, a massive, massive artillery attack was heard throughout the city and they were 152 millimeter hollitz. her hollitz or shells that,

that lands it's about 5 kilometers away for war around standing right now. and it wants to villian was reportedly killed during those at sax. the city of the nest suspended public transportation. many houses had been destroyed the apartment buildings. and so here is one witness account from saturday night of what can you do? you just can't do anything about it. thank god, or at least i am alive. god is looking out for me. well, the salt number of civilians who were killed her during the ukrainians armies. attacks now stands at 8 people this only over the last as 72 hours and the scores of people had been in had been injured as well. like i said before, civilian infrastructure had been targeted here in san nest. as the thousands of thousands of people now have no access to water or electricity. now, over in logan's people's republic, an oil depot, a fuel depot was sir, ah,

struck by a ballistic missile. are creating a huge a fire. apparently the missile is called a tortuga, or it's an mater classification, as, as $21.00 scarab. and it is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. that wasn't the case. in this instance, however, it weighs 2000 kilograms and a very, very 5 frightful weapon. now, people's sir militia reported that there had been no, it's allergies or there in logan's. however, some people were wounded as a result of this ballistic missile attack, according to a local officials. and according to the russian defense ministry are done. african logans people's militias are moving deeper and deeper into the territory formerly controlled by ukraine and both or both. the republic, sir, report that they have liberated several settlements in le ganske and in don't ask

as well. they're also reporting that the summer ukrainian soldiers are actually surrendering and switching sides as that. they've been promised a safe package, a passage back home, and an amnesty from this a war on our head of the nest people's republic. denise bushland said that this operation will, will last for a few more days, but he said it will not stop until the rest of the nest people's republic is liberated and that's a statement is echoed by the soldiers on the ground as well. or in my personal opinion, we must get our territories back from these evil people. so there will be peace in every one will sleep well closer to roger. the enemy is behaving in different ways, and most places they run, but sometimes they fight to the very end. but that's mainly those fighting for political reasons. basically, everyone has running away and giving up. it's been a relatively quiet here in the anesco. this says sunday as the fighting is moving

further away a from from the city. some of the most fear. so fierce fighting is taking place in the south of the republic, near the city of farm rouble, which is currently encircled by the neo nazi asoft. but sally, which has been linked to o war crimes by the united nations, and reportedly they have a place their positions around the civilians using them as a human shield on yeah. param, pill of the gray zone, independent news site, told us that in her view, washington's influence is a major factor in the situation in ukraine. right now it's been going on for 8 years. ukraine's sovereignty was initially violated in 2014, when the united states supported openly a coup in p. m installed the public government and then sparked off conflict in the countries east. the suffering of the people of don bass to have experienced shelling and artillery fire at the hands of the ukrainian military over the past 8

years. leading to the death of nearly 15000 people. their story has been completely erased in u. s. media, i think if you pulled the average american individual u. s. american individual, they wouldn't have even known that there was a war in ukraine for these past 8 years. president biden just approve $350000000.00 in weapons to be released to ukraine to the cleaning government. i wonder where those weapons will go, considering a russia has all but wiped out ukraine's main military capacity. it's disturbing because just in recent weeks in the united states report surfaced in media, showing that and this is according to u. s. officials, the united states has been covertly training ukrainian forces in order to respond to a potential russian entry into their country. creating the kind of pretext for

a situation as we saw in syria where the u. s. isn't officially working with the government or the military, but training paramilitary groups in order to d, stabilize ukraine and embroil russia in a prolonged conflict. i think that is the worst case scenario we could see play out at this point. people have taken to some of russia's biggest cities to protest against the military operation. oh, hundreds, it came out on to the streets of simpleton, attempting no to war. footage shows some protesters being taken to police. there are also reports that more than 300 people have been arrested in 32 cities across russia. similar demonstrations are being held around the world as well. one of.