ah ah ah, done yet sca official say the latest ukrainian artillery attacks have killed one person and wounded 2 more in the city. we hear from a local woman who normally missed being caught in this strikes. a ukrainian politician gets caught red handed with a fake news story, as she posts an old photo of an irish boy claiming he's a child victim of the ukraine conflict with south africa experiences a record number of power outages this year with a total of $200.00 days of electricity cuts

with 11 am here in moscow this thursday, december, the 29th. my name's unit only, and this is our teachers. explosions are being reported in several major ukrainian cities, including the capital key, f targeting critical infrastructure for electricity and water supplies. this footage has been circulating on social media, but ukrainian military. how's that cleared? the air defense systems have been operating throughout the country. are unsee based missile attacks have been reported. that block c port city of odessa has been experiencing water and electricity shortages. while the metro then ukraine, 2nd largest city, car coff has been temporarily holsted. meanwhile, in dawn by

a local official say, one person has been killed and 2 others wounded in the latest ukrainian artillery shelling of residential areas in the city of done. yes. this for the shows, the moment an apartment building was hit by a rocket attack. there shell fragments appear to be from a soviet design grad rocket. the merced said kids forces fired at least 16. busy of those projectiles into the city in the latest shelling, local authorities say the ukrainian military has been increasing artillery attacks on residential areas, locations, which key f denali. if we heard from a residence to say she was looking to survive for a shell exploded near her. still would you be to team no idea you couldn't use up or you could, but them phone big. mamma was who sits him yet and then you would be

a d o. e digital ukrainian military continues to target civilians on a daily basis. here in the last people's republic. right now i'm in that sound of yes, you, nevada satellite city. oh for republic, capital of done this. now this house here was completely destroyed. the woman that i spoke with, she says she was making dumplings late at night, and then this explosion took place. if you let me know i was making something some then there was a now bang. initially, i couldn't even understand whether i was scared or not. i waited for a beep and then looked out of the window as so my kitchen was in fire, it was dark already, so i couldn't see what exactly was blown up. i called imagined to services immediately. they quickly arrived and began pity, now to fire autonomy. cinema has been under ukrainian shelling every single day.

right now as i'm speaking with you, we can still hear the sounds of our children shelling by ukrainian military. yeah, that was ortiz from on costa reporting in the done yet so republic. meanwhile, authorities in the black sea port of odessa have toppled a monument to the russian imperial leader who funded the modern city. the demolition was conducted at night during a curfew. the monument depicted russian empress catherine the great, as well as several of her associates who established the city in the late 18th century, the current ukrainian authorities have alleged that the monument was a symbol of russian colonialism. wolf washington is supporting anti russia narratives. being amplified throat former soviet republics, let's go through this because it's centers on be launched by ukrainian new site of

a platform called freedom help to quote spread awareness by russian colonialism. it's financed by a prominent u. s. state funded organization. previously accused of support includes the national endowment for democracy as a nonprofit group funded by the u. s. congress for what they describe, bus promoting freedom in foreign countries. it's been accused of facilitating cruise. now the insurgencies in the former yugoslavia as well as georgia, ukraine, several regulations the organization has even admitted to taking on some rules previously conducted by the central intelligence agency. a lot of what we do today was done, covered lee 25 years ago by the ca. the biggest difference is that when such activities are done, overtly the flap potential is close to 0 open. this is its own protection. i don't think it's funny. as we get humorous, but i think it's funny from the fact that america talks about colonialism or that ukraine talks about colonialism in america has interfered with more more called

imperialism as interfere with more elections and more the sovereignty of more nations around the world than any other nation on, on earth, and we find ourselves in this place where they are exactly what they say they are fighting against. and when they speak about what russia is doing, in large part, that's what they've done across the world. they use the word democracy. they used the word freedom, they use the word that we want, we want to protect freedom of speech. but in actuality, everything that you see even down to the twitter files, which we weren't supposed to ever see. show that they've had a large degree of suppression of in the u. s. a 1st amendment, while walking across the world just spreading the proper propaganda lives. we are dealing with them playing out and planning and using things like nonprofits in order to lie to people. and so they can perpetuate the very thing that they're saying that other people and other people are doing well on a not on related fema rushes. foreign minister has issued a stern warning, but western attempts to maintain imperialistic type dominance across the world.

circle of ross made the comments in an interview with russia's channel. then she looks the sounds in we're talking about the establishment of a colonial order that the west hides under the slogan of respect for the rules based world order. i have repeatedly asked my western colleagues with whom we were still communicating at that time. can you hand over a list of these rules? where is it all written down? no one has ever given any references to any specific rules. and the answer why is simple? because these rules mean that everyone must obey the united states, that dominance mentality has not disappeared. unique with any issue, e, it is not only nato, but also the european union as an association and not so long ago. claim strategic autonomy has completely submitted to this western line show you the collective west is at war with us. led by this western power, the united states of america renewals, this war was declared to us quite

a long time ago after the coo and ukraine took place, orchestrated by the united states and in fact, supported by the european union. and after the minsk agreements, which as it finally turns out, no one was willing to fulfill we, we chose those who are reliable, who are able to negotiate them. we have very few opportunities to talk to the west right now. you actually, there is no special desire. when you read the statements of foreign ministers or prime ministers who say that it's necessary to deal with the security of europe against russia. many countries have faced a need to choose what is probably difficult to make such a decision. considering how much everyone was tied to the system of globalization created by the americans and discredited by them. because washington proved it's on reliability as a curator of the system. every time there are any election campaigns, americans need to invent some external topic, either a threat or a task,

and then given their weight on the world stage. global processes become hostages or strongly influenced by their internal political struggle. little now democrats, in the american sense, are those who are loyal, not even to the united states, but to the democratic party of the united states. report. social media users have debunked yet another fake news story from ukraine. it's r for a local lawmaker tried to puffs off and old photo of an irish boy and a no deleted tweet. now i suppose it child victim of the ukraine and on bus conflict the saddest part. there are no children in ukraine any more. only little humans with very grown up eyes, old to even somewhat tired of a life yet. unlived pictured mark 8 years old, just survived a russia artillery attack. readers added contest they thought people might want to

know. this image predates the conflict and ukraine, and if he is on a novel published in 2013 the ukrainian m p that posted this photo and the 1st po in the 1st place straight up, lied about it. i mean, she said that there was an 8 year old boy there that survived some sort of russian artillery attack. when in reality this kid was an irish orphan. this was a picture that was taken from the cover of a book, a 2013 spanish translation of the misremembered man. so while you definitely shouldn't a judge, a book by its cover, you most certainly should not take what ukrainian officials are saying at face value about this kind of stuff. the photo is lifted from a 2013 book by christie mckenna, more broadly, it is true that the crimes of nazi regimes bring disaster on their own children. do ukrainian officials and pundents no nails for vass image such as to keep posting such fakes. the tweets glaring and accuracy didn't stop it from getting widespread distribution though i mean, after all,

the ukrainian m p that tweeted it has over 330000 followers on twitter and the u. n's head of global communications even responded to it with a broken heart that despite the fact that her account said that all the information there is verified and based in science, i mean this time it clearly wasn't. so it makes you wonder, just how often were being duped here. well, i don't know. could this not have just been an honest mistake by this particular envy? well, i mean, we have actually been seeing this pretty consistently, children being used in the western media and by ukrainian officials to manipulate people's emotions, to change their opinions on the ukraine conflict through bought through that way. and we actually made earlier this month, a report covering all these stories, just how many of them are either fake or actually the fault of the ukrainian military with

doesn't stop there either. earlier this year we saw another ukrainian m p, or a ukranian official, rather post a picture of a drawing of a girl on twitter who apparently was from ukraine and she had cut her hair to protect herself from being raped by russian troops. so the story goes, except we saw no evidence come with this story, and the drawing was essentially a copy and paste a job from an actual photo of a girl who died an al switzer. now, we've seen a lot of these faith's going around the internet, but just to give you an idea of the sheer scale of this fake information war, we can look at an australian report that was published about twitter activity towards the earlier days and weeks of russia. special military operation,

we found that between 60 and 80 percent of tweets using the hash tags we studied, came from bought accounts during the 1st 2 weeks of the war. we found that 90.16 percent of accounts fell into the pro ukraine category, while only 6.8 percent fell into the pro russia category. i think it goes without saying that in our day and age, the information war effort is just as important as that of the conventional war. and no doubt social media platforms play a central role in that. one of the major problems is that often these myths are debunked. long after this faith content has already made its way across the internet. my colleagues, nikki, are in, donal quarter. now, while a senior key of official publishes a faith story, britton's telegraph newspaper has published the photo showing a ukrainian soldier proudly displaying a nazi symbol. the skull and crossbones icon in a pouch on his sleeve was used by nazi german s. s forces during world war 2. we

spoke to jim chambers, a journalist and activist who said western media outlets have simply turned a blind eye to blatant extremist sentiments. the new, pre at some point when the members of the media intelligentsia and the ruling class in general decided we can't really hide this. so let's just act like it's not a big deal. or like some other form of nationalism the same way they say. so let's use jewish, you know, they say, well of course we don't support nazis. you know, where the, where the reasonable progressives of what we're about freedom and freedom of speech and free value. and there's no way that, you know, this is crazy that they would be not, is that symbol means something else. and people just don't really pay attention and sort of believe what their top, i think it's so easy for them to just turn out propaganda in relation to ukraine that no one feels the need to fact check to pay attention. ah, all right,

let's set turn attention on the program to africa. south africa has undergone record power outages this year with blackouts occurring for a total of $200.00 days, 2 to persistent breakdowns in the energy industry. local reporter can lego missile me on location on the power plant in the country dells further into the current crisis. more than 200 days of power cuts in 2022 alone. that south africa's lead to struggle. rickard, rotational black counts due to ailing and repaid infrastructure as what the country to its knees with just 12 hours of power a day, leaving many without heat and i'm able to work, correction crime and sabotage at power plants has been cited effect of leading to the mobilization of the military to protect the countries electricity plots, the number of different factors. some of them operate snow relating to is comes,

inability to maintain as co fleet. you also have issues with the cof fleet, boiler tube, you know, maintenance you tube tube leaks the call that's being delivered on site. you also have what the term sabotaged, but ultimately is vandalism. 5th of the infrastructure, which is obviously affecting the transmission and distribution. and some of the generation facilities as well as come holding one of south africa largest energy companies experienced record rotational blackouts. in 2022 with outdated and poorly maintained power stations. continually breaking down the company stated to ramp a power cuts from low cheating, which is a way to ease the stress on main power sources went to mind is overwhelming. small businesses are struggling to keep afloat amid the darkness with increased crime throwing a new feminist. the work now be rolling blackouts remain a noose around south africa growth process. south africa at the moment. i think

this is unprecedented. we are sitting with an energy availability factor, which is the complaints that are available and only 50 percent. this is the lowest it has ever been in is comes almost a 100 years history for more than a 100 years history. so we really are in trouble as frustrations continue to grow among south africans. many on looking to turn it to, to keeping the lights on. but schools are already cash strapped, with no additional fees. it's been a nightmare. and especially with the economy, it is right now have what is high cost of living and high and adding no cheating on to the me. what is getting spoiled medication? it's just, it's been a nightmare. i installed it at 3 k, v, a solar system where now the s glum becomes

a back up rather than the primary source of power. the state owned company has warned that the 1st 3 months of the year will be difficult. for many south africans . it simply means that adjusting and bracing for yet another power this year ahead is what needs to be done. that's a home. so me for arts and johannesburg. now what should be a time of celebration right now over the christmas period is anything but for christians and serious north western it live region, a new report by a human rights group say they're being brutally oppressed in the province and are afraid of practicing their religion. the organization, syrians for truth and justice, sees the properties helping sees on a must feel by islamists militant groups in the area near the turkish border. some christians have been abducted for ransom and even killed indiscriminately by armed insurgents. and what appeared to be religiously motivated crimes. according to the

report western medium for top described insurgents who control much of the globe region though, as legitimate political opposition to the u. s. opposed government in damascus. there have been multiple ceasefire agreements implemented for the region with a fragile truce still in place left. aust live now to independent investigative journalists, vanessa bailey, speaking to us from the syrian capital. good to have you in the program today, vanessa. your your immediate thought saw on this report stating that christians have been brutally oppressed, even killed by islamist in certain groups in it. lead province. well, i mean, actually this report is a refreshing change from the usual protectionism that we have from western aligned human rights groups like amnesty international human rights watch who still

protect the image of the so called rebels which are in fact varieties of service groups affiliated to or dominated by trade, or even though they have been rebranded multiple times. and this level of prosecution of christians, of course, is what would have happened in the rest of syria and did happen in certain places. like the christian town of marlo la to the north west of damascus early on in the conflict when it was run over by are taken over by the free, sorry, and ami and news for front combined. so this, this level of prosecution of the christian communities, the desecration of places of worship, and the prevention of christian festivals and christie and worship is something that has been ongoing in the terrorist told areas. now, of course, predominantly in the northwest atlanta for some time. yeah,

just as you're speaking there, vanessa, we're looking at some of those sites absolutely stunning. there are no more many of them. another aspect of this as well, if it can put it to you. many western media outlets are cited information by the white helmets group as far for the reporting about syria have done for some time the organization has had a share of controversies which you've investigated directly. yeah, absolutely. and you know, i need to make very clear that i've been reporting since 2017 on the fact that the white helmets in collaboration with the armed groups, as i said, dominated by i'll create are under whatever name you want to give them. i have also participated in the pillaging the seizing of property, the displace thing of christian civilians from these areas. and particularly in the desecration of churches in, for example, jacobo um, which is an area that some of my friends are came from that are no longer inside

syria. ah, and relatives of those friends have told me directly that yes, the white helmets came in with the armed groups and, and they effectively kicked, are the kristian or communities out of their homes in order for al qaeda to be able to occupy those fines stretches are also being occupied, they're not only being desecrated and people are not only being prevented from worshiping in those churches. they're being used as military centers, i munition centers and so on. so of course, when we have the white helmets are crying on, on western media that are russia and syria are all bombing hospitals and schools and churches and so on. of course, what they omit is the fact that these buildings right from the beginning of this conflict have been occupied by the armed groups and converted into military centers, detention centers. torture centers are certainly far removed from their original purpose. and of course,

that's exactly what we're saying now in ukraine or why then a despite from what you're seeing a bunch of people coming on the news white's helmets, representatives and seeing that you would expect government to be and be more thought her i would suggest possibly not, but you would hope that they would be in, in their belief that the white helmets are totally clear of any blame here. but they've been really active washington in particular, in its support for the group not on washington. i mean, this group was effectively incubated by british military intelligence. operatives and cuts out agencies are again working for british intelligence from the very beginning. they've been embedded with the armed groups and they've been tasked with documents and crimes that only serve to criminalize the syrian government and russia and allies in such area. of course,

there is not one single report or condemnation from the white elements against mr. front or against isis, or against any of the terrorist groups that have carried out multiple a trustees in syria. and it's no different. and the white helmet can continue to protect basically the image of these terrorist groups and also to, to be in the wing. so to speak, to produce the, the kind of chemical weapon narratives through further demonizing criminalize, the syrian government and to maintain western intervention. both political, military, indirect, and direct inferior and to continue with sanctions since the stabilize or this country that is on the gone 11 years of hybrid war. but as you touched on what i'm about to ask, not, but if we could, maybe just expand on it because i think it's perhaps not spoken about enough western powers. i've made a myriad of claims of

a legend. human rights abuses by the syrian government for the past decade. and yet they're apparently ignoring accusations now by human rights groups. there. it has been in the past as well, many years spoken about what christian communities are going through a bunch of groups, what they're doing to them. why is there that willful or otherwise ignorance? oh, because western regimes from the very beginning have been working on an ethnic, cleansing of christian communities from the middle east. not only syria, also iraq, where they weaponized and instruments lies. the kraidish are factions, for example, against or iraqi christians to drive them out. why do they want to join them out of the region? because then that enables them to continue the sectarian division tactics that they have tried to use against syria since 2011. because the christians, i mean, syria, you have to remember is, is the cradle of christiana need ah,

in one of the areas in what, in a, sorry, there is the church which holds the letter or the paper assigned by the prophet muhammad, the christians, must always be protected by muslim communities inside, not only syria but across the middle east. why do they want christians gone? because christians are, ah, somehow provide a kind of a buffer between, for example, the sunni and she up fractions in these countries and, and in the middle east. and without the kristian balance thing there, of course, then it's much easier for them to create this or a sectarian division upon which they thrive. and which they used to to effectively produce the conflicts that these stabilize the countries that are being targeted by them. so therefore, you know, the, the western regimes, while they purport to be protect thing christianity and, and to be protect thing christians abroad. this is a total fallacy. what they've actually done since 2011 in syria is to effectively

ah, massacre, ethnically cleanse, displace the christian communities. i mean we have to remember and aleppo, for example, the terrorists embedded in the east of a leper. routinely targeted the predominantly kristian areas and armenian christian areas. for example, in aleppo, the same in damascus. this is being a calculated policy by the west since the beginning of this conflict. a word on the media as well. if we could do western nautilus have portrayed the lid province a sebastian of political opposition to damascus. but there is, there have been many claims that those very group supported by the press could be engage in the brutal oppression of christians without. in my note, this begins to emerge more and work. are you confident that a change in coverage will happen now should, should we believe that the truth will come or does inconvenient us it appears to be absolutely not. absolutely not. because if, if the truth comes out now,

that's why the protection of the white helmet brand has continued despite the fact that there are accusations from siri and civilians. organ trafficking, child abduction, child kidnapped that use of children both dead and alive as props and the chemical weapon productions. ok. and none of those are crimes have been investigated by any human rights groups or you and the agency since those reports have started coming in. i was actually told by a high level official at the u on, in geneva, that the reason the white helmets will never be investigated is because they're too political that to, i'm aligned with weston agenda is in syria. and the same goes for the narratives. you know, we know that these narratives have been doctored and produced by the b, b, c, and the guardian and channel for et cetera. there are leak to k for enough hist documents to prove this. right?

so the, the chances of any of those coming to light or, or even being admitted or very far from, from a possibility right now. but, you know, that's where i think it depends upon all of us investigative journalist upon russian media upon every single non allowing media blocked to actually highlight what is going on and live it late because this fire lights, every single human rights declaration ever created. since since the 2nd world war and the white helmets and these armed groups should not be protected, they should be prosecuted for what they have done, not only to christian communities, but to all, i'm sorry, and minority communities and all syria and communities since 2011, the love is indeed what we're trying to shine a light on here. we always appreciate when you can come and give your expertise all not vanessa. thanks so much for your time today on your continued report. touch on

that issue on more. besides a vanessa bailey independent investigative journalist live from damascus today. now, 2 decades ago, the bosnian world was raging. one of the biggest atrocities during the 3 and a half year conflict was the beheading of serbian prisoners by prisoners of war. by islamists indeed. next, we recall not amid attempting to give a deeper picture of the war in our documentary balls near victims of g 3. ready ready ready ready me. ready ready ready ready me option and that's not to play out there bought a lot liquid out the other and then also to be coming.