ah, with ah, vote counting is underway in nigeria, which is electing its next president and parliament with several states seem disruptions and one even has voting voting till sunday morning. also ahead on the stories that shaped the weak ukrainians they were planning to hold these positions for a long, long time. well, this particular sector, the pro, in less than a week are to report from the don bass front lines as russian forces breakthrough ukrainian defenses. in it around the key city of audio, china has called on the west to stop abusing unilateral sanctions,

while urging all sides is interest to be considered with most western officials, dismissing beijing the proposal and leave with them. i have to say that russia is forced to suspend our involvement in the new start treating. but moscow is this. abandoning the path, leaving the door open for cooperation. if the usb escalate, it stands on russia. the comments came from vladimir during his annual address to the countries parliament on tuesday. ah, good morning for martine or national studios in moscow, and welcome to the weekly with the hour and weeks most vital stories across the world. i'm fiorella is about. we start with the general elections in nigeria, we're africa's most populous nation, is choosing its next leader and parliament. the majority of pulling stations have

already been closed and vote counting is underway. we're bringing use special coverage of one of the continents, most significant political events. this year, hey, while voting went smoothly in most parts of the country someplace, a saw unrest in law goes violence threatened the security of the elections ah, in the ocean city district of lago state unknown gunman disrupted the elections. reportedly the attackers arrived on motorcycles and fired shots to scare rotors away. the assailants also grabbed some of the sealed ballot boxes and set them on fire. several suspects have been detained. in some cases, unrest does have an impact on the election process. logos does not own the only

state that faced issues during the elections with elections being partly postponed in multiple regents the independent national electoral commission put elections on hold in 141 pulling stations in bales. the state planning to reopen them to day elections were temporarily suspended yesterday in the state of a nombre though reopened later. the region of avia e. mo, cat and cabby also faced closure. briefly. 3 districts in edo state have also seen elections postponed until the 11th of march. as a result of the absence of a logo in one of the political parties are corresponded. corolla thoughtless, sent. this report from ma goes as voting wrapped up. though is good. quoting is winding down, but emotions

a halting up here in the capital simba and at least logos and everywhere else. there is a feeling of dispute that will forever marred these elections. people feel disenfranchised, especially in some voting areas, where voting material didn't even make it. in some we're hearing reports that thugs have gone as far as to destroy voiding material. notwithstanding the full thing, the polling stations, rather where, where the, where the tolling started late itself is in areas like this. as you can see behind me, that emotions i keep ratcheting up, as people really want to know what is behind some of the major nation that they have seen from. i make that the independent national electoral commission in areas such as the one behind me counting has already begun because the number of people that are registered on the polling list have already voted you hearing

a lot of skirmishes, a lot of back and forth. people are talking about what they're interested party is should be getting there is a lot of saudi to was labor and there is a lot of youth disenfranchisement throughout the country. the youth almost leaning that there is a conspiracy theory, at least that the, the are being fought against by the establishment as it were. a lot of youth is really excited around one candidate than that is the candidacy of mr. p. towel b. and they're saying that this are, you know, these problems that we've had from the independent electoral body. i really just a way of, of causing a hurdle in, in p t r o b, destiny rather march towards her to the presidential seats as it were. and that is something that we are hearing around. no one, not even the big news cast does not independent bodies are going as far as to say

who is leading this election because the information, as i say, is very scattered and no one really wants to pin there their head to the masters. and we're to say who's leading and that information is only being related to by party agents. and i don't think that is really a source that you can trust because they have vested interest with regards to that dissemination of the fed information here in lagos, particularly when one looks at the security personnel that's been deployed for the selection. well, over 400000 members of the security personnel that's, that's our me, that's police and other security agencies that are here to safeguard the selections . however, voting went without a hitch at many nigerian cities, including conroe locals. there describe their experience. this is a little voluble red. no fighting,

no pushing. everything went going on. people i mom lives to didn't issue it even after i got him. i would i think i was on when school somewhere, mid wis. ward. i'm not up isn't chic anyhow. so like everything was loose. c for now, i don't know to let you use you pull down problem does look like every piece piece from people accessing the budget with these people on. oh you do. i'm going to go to punch. i will button the additional feel we are good to go to. more than 90000000 people reportedly register to vote across the country in almost 177000 polling stations. this election cycle has seen some stiff competition . among the candidates, 18 people are writing for the presidency with over 1000 buying for 109 seats and

senate, and another 3000 for 360 seats in the house of representatives. here's how some of the nigerians expect the electron results to pan out. we've been stuck in having the same same seto governance, you know, come over and over. we just want something new. the one we want to have hope for a better engine. light came on. well, my expectation for the next governance governments are 1st is 1st tightened the security majority. i expect the new government on doing things. the bad news abilene dorn sports. i believe it's the right step in the right direction . watch our coverage of the nigerian elections here on our tea throughout the day. we'll keep you updated on all the latest. hey.

not to the don bass for our lines were this week. russian troops, led by the wagner group, have significantly advanced near the strategically important city of our deal. most on saturday, wagner fighters took over the village of yog noise. this after the 2 other key villages came under russian control. this latest development further complicates the situation for ukrainian forces inside the city as it makes re supply and troops all but impossible. here are some of the latest road images from r d. almost in a bid to deter the advancement of russian troops, ukrainian forces detonated a local dam, flooding neighboring houses. those who had been forced to take shelter in basements are now forced to flee. once again, our correspondent eager stano visited one of the areas recently taken by russia's

wagner group. a warning, some of the footage in this report is disturbing. ah . less than 12 hours ago, the entire territory of this cargo railway station was under the ukrainian control . well now it's wagner's domain from north fenwick north. there was fighting here in the night. military formations were in residential areas. machine guns and grenade launchers were firing here. sure. they had a great position for shooting our boat, but our guys took this railway area by storm honey, we'll assume the enemy lost about 40 soldiers, sort of a 100 of the others just ran away. and this ambulance on black military

plates, which means it was officially on ukraine's army. roaster was no aid or humanitarian vehicle. it was used by keep troops to deliver reinforcements and ammunition with a disguise. it's crew found their final rest right next to it, r o j america's go. these are us made weapons. they use this ambulances cover to deliver ammunition and food supplies over muscular with very toyotas, chiefly on gov. i. so mercenaries from south africa here, i saw us instructors, germans polish ukrainians from the i dar and as of battalions, as well as the ukrainian paratrooper brigade. there was a strong group here. are you made up of all they've got? they didn't want to give up. our cham, oscar, the road we cut off was very important for them. they were using it to deliver

ammunition and food. but now that road is no more thought as well as those mercenaries. well, now you have to brace yourself for some truly gruesome images. the defensive lies here in this building are held by you k mercenaries. this is one of them all woods left of one of them close quarter combat is what wagner excelsior fighter, who was among those who stormed this building, shares with me what kind of resistance they had to overwhelm yours. machine gunners held up defenses in every stage, hearing those are they were even shooting in corridors to the door. it didn't help them though. shouldn't our guys know what to do to finish the entered the building the right way and covered each other. look, ah, the ukrainian command used this factory warehouse to shelter

a tank. ammunition greats are scattered all over the place. a roundly wagner fighters are telling me that the everything indicates that the ukrainians they were planning to hold these positions for a long, long time. but well, this particular sector, it fell in less than a week, and wishes to these are improved, some tank tracks spoke there. they made a trench probably for tank ammunition. they planned to hold this position for a very long time here and did a lot of preparation for that, but they managed to keep it for only 5 days. just uncle just was what happened to the tank. i will drop over there, about a kilometer and a half from here. it stir it was blown off. here. russia has tightened the noose further on ukraine's garrison in back. moot. because all this is a prelude to the resounding crescendo of the fool of the city to the chew. a wagner is done of reporting from the dumbass ot

and china has asked the world to prevent the conflict in ukraine from escalating further. saying leaders must come to the negotiating table and resume peace talks. the request was outlined in the countries 12 point proposal on the crisis, which included condemnation of the west is unilateral sanctions placed on countries across the world. china pulls us unilateral sanctions unauthorized by the un security council. relevant contrition, stop using unilateral sanctions and long i'm jurisdiction against other countries. so as to do their share in the escalating the crane crisis and gray conditions for developing countries to grow their economists and better to life's of their people . trying to believe that any kind of the unilateral sanctions that is unauthorized by the un security council. what should the post and also in a statement, it says that the unit, actual sanctions and maximum pressure cannot solve the issue. and that can only

create new problems. so how china handle the current issue is not posing sanctions and not providing weapons, but a calling for a political resolution with a statement has a several layers of logic. if you see the flow of the logic, it's quite agree clear. on the 1st of france, it calls for all countries to respect the sovereignty of all the nations and abandoning the cold war mentality. and the 2nd layer is about the crisis itself. it calls for seating hostilities, resuming peace talks, resolving the humanitarian crisis, and protecting surveillance. and prisoners, and also it focused on the opposed a fact brought by the crisis, including keeping the nuclear power plant save, reducing strategic risk, facilitating grain exports and stopping unilateral sanctions keeping industrial supply chain stable and also promoting post conflict with construction. so it's

a layer of promotion of, you know, based on the basic base on the grounds of talks meant also different layers of idea . given the current to situation, china has been always, are calling for peace. and china has been always saying that it wants to play a constructive role in this regard, including it's the mentioning that the dialogue and negotiation are the only visible solution to the ukraine crisis. and the international community should stay committed to promoting talks for p. so not only the 2 sides, but also the entire international community should support the peaceful resolution or political resolution of the current situation. the chinese st mentor immediate the announcement from the west with joe biden labeling beijing's a time to mediate in the conflict irrational. while nato chief gen stalsen burg

believes further art supplies to kiev is the only way to achieve peace. beijing has branded the military block as having a cold war mentality which has escalated the conflicts. china doesn't have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion over ukraine. so meaning that if he want a peaceful, negotiate the solution away ukraine conveyed sovereign in the punctuation. then we need to support ukraine militate. now, military support today is the way to achieve a peaceful agreement to, to morrow that out. a key issue. and all of these major crisis shows that cold war mentality will lead to division and confrontation, although the cold war concluded over 3 decades ago, the 0 sum game and it's mentality still exists. block confrontational leads to conflicts and was nato is a product of the cold war, but it did not. and with the cold war and has expanded an escalate of the situation

and has become the major factor into conflict. i myself, joseph gregory mahoney, professor of politics. that is china. normal university says that nato is exploiting that ukraine conflicts. nato is opposed in part because nato is a military organization, one that's led above all by the united states. now the culture of the us military is always oriented towards fighting. there's an institutional aggressiveness that only understands one way forward. and this is doubly true here because nato is exploiting this conflict. to expand in ways previously unimagined was soaring budget's prestige empower. but behind all of this is a u. s. g o strategic game, one that wants to reinforce it's a gemini over europe, knock russia down, and then leverage those gains if realized against china. ante, china, hawks, and nato are nothing new. that said,

the nato chief appears sympathetic. it seems to washington's ongoing efforts to expand nato to confront china, given his recent trips to asia, i don't think the you, in an absolute sense is opposed to piece the rhetoric i'm seeing from e. u and european national politicians, aside from a for a few including i think mc wrong, who i think is slowly coming back to his senses is consistent with washington and western mainstream media. narratives that have simply overwhelmed the discourse in care of president zalinski echoed washington's dismissive tone, saying he has little faith and negotiations. that's as ukraine's top officials repeatedly said, yeah, won't make any deals with moscow. opting for a military solution. ortiz marina. close. the river has the details in this, in a court, the speeds or message divorce, where one side refuses to speak to the other to reach any sort of settlement. the discord would likely grow and dry gone at cost to both parties involved. and it is

this parallel were seen on an international scale in ukraine. right now our best negotiators and diplomats are soldiers. negotiations with moscow are currently impossible. we will not participate in any talks. if russia goes for wilful war crimes, even in this than what is the point of talking to a country that voluntarily worsens its negotiating position, the only desire is to destroy the racist monstrosity with the terrorist country. negotiations only through the sites of the defense forces. we latoya, we are ready for a dialogue with russia, but with a different russian precedent. or is she in this position has been officially signed into law? it seems the ukrainian government is not only nor interested in peace. it's actually made peace illegal. while all along russia has been making clear, it's ready to returns. it talks, it was russia on the eve of the ukrainian crisis, which consistently proposed to the west to sign agreements on mutual security

guarantees. all of them were arrogantly rejected. we have repeatedly said that the president does not refuse to negotiate by those who do refuse should understand that the longer takes the more difficult it is to find a solution that is unlike ukraine. russia has never refused dialogue and as such for diplomatic waste or resolve the conflict, this is all constant position. at the same time, a western mainstream, media and politicians have largely ignored ross's calls for peace pretending they're not happening. this dance certainly fits the narrative of russia as the uncompromising aggressor, but at what expense to later we'll continue to stop read ukraine for as long as you take santo or we're going to be with you, mr. president. for his lauren too. will lose of you. i mean, obviously ukraine can count on italy because as we've shown from the beginning, even across governments, we have been there and we will be there. she said,

even if both sides could somehow reach for deal like them in sc agreements, supposed to end the war and that on boss. it would still be meaningless because we now know the intent to do so was never truly there. to 2014 minsk agreement was an attempt to give you crane time ukraine use this time to become stronger as you can see today. the ukraine of 20142015 is not the ukraine of to day since 2014 ukraine has strengthened its military posture. it is now better trained and equipped, and it is the merit of the minsk agreements that have given the ukrainian army this opportunity. i needed the minsk agreements to gain at least 4 and a half years to build the ukrainian forces to build the ukrainian economy. to train ukrainian forces alongside nato to create the best armed forces in eastern europe, according to nato standards. so while the global it leads talk of negotiations and

peace or clain to these apparently have to happen with doubt rosters, voice been heard or even represented at the negotiations. sounds more like a kangaroo court than a real dispute resolution letter is zalinski is dependent on the west for political, economic and military survival on the willing to see how western interference in ukraine has led key of down the rocky road to war with moscow over the last decade, but it's too late to change direction as washington, once every one playing by its own rules. when it comes to our, the way we're approaching the relationship with with china, we're not seeking to contain china. we're not seeking to whole china back. we are seeking resolutely, so to uphold the rules based international order and in, in a, in a proper way. that means insisting that countries make good on their commitments

and play by the rules that we've all agreed to. it seems the collective west has agreed that now is not the time for peace, no matter how loudly they claim to seek it, or how often they gaslight moscow, any conferences talks or votes without russia's voice cannot to piece bubble rather leave the conflict down the road. to nowhere and russia has suspended its participation in the new start nuclear treaty, but is not withdrawing from the agreement. that was white, a mere potent statement in his annual address to russia's parliament on tuesday without shanella but wicked with renewed representatives, the u. s. is sending signals and putting out ultimatums to russia. they say you, russia must implicitly do as we have previously agreed to, including the new start treaty. while we the us or do whatever we want to us. they say there's no connection between the new start treaty issues and the ukrainian conflict or other hostile actions by the west towards russia is over there as if

there's no loud statement that the u. s. aim is defeating russia strategically differently. so it's either utmost cynicism and hypocrisy or utmost stupidity. anything we can't call them idiots though they're not stupid. they wanted to feed us strategically and also want to continue to inspect our new killer objects. in this regard, i have to say with manners that russia is forced to suspend our involvement in the new start treaty. leaving soon out of the suspension of the treaty could be reversed according to russia's foreign ministry. moscow says a u. s. t escalation and its aggressive san tor g. russia would create the conditions for the pact to fully function rash, also states it's still intense to follow the timeline on weapons reductions set out in the bilateral agreement. but that checks on stock piles would not be allowed. new star is the last remaining nuclear limitation packed between moscow and

washington. the deal was signed in 2010, and is set to expire. and 3 years, the treaty, curb strategic arsenals, capping nuclear assets at fixed quantities. it also includes on site inspections to verify compliance. yon co valet political analyst and senior editor for issue insights says the us stance toward russia makes it clear why moscow decided to suspend its participation in the treaty. it's not a surprise that the government of the russian federation would suspend and it was important that he used the word suspend. he didn't use the word abrogate, remove marine, renounce. it makes sense here from, from his perspective, the russian federation is not just to war with ukraine. it's at war with nato, a war, particularly with united states,

and to have inspections of weaponry. whether or not that weaponry is going to be used in ukraine, in this case, nuclear weapons wouldn't be. but that just see the intrusiveness of having your enemy go on your territory, hoping around is unsettling. and so it's, you know, it's not surprising when there is a cessation of the issue, a war in between russia and ukraine. at some point some will be a return to a, to the inspection regimes. but you know, we don't know how long that's going to take this. you just hours after vladimir putin's address, the u. s. president, how the meeting with this polish counterpart in warsaw where they discuss new arms deliveries to ukraine. but despite this continued policy, joe biden still blamed putin for prolonging the ukrainian conflicts. president

boone chose this war every during the war, continues, is his choice over the past year. democrats or republicans that are united states congress have come together to stand for freedom. that's all americans are and that's what americans do bite in state make came during his visit to the polish capital on tuesday, or he stressed the importance of collective european security and claim nato is quote, stronger than ever. it follows the american leader surprised trip to kiev on monday, or he talked and walked with president lensky, while air raid sirens were heard ringing out across the city. despite there being no shelling in the ukrainian capital mass media mock the incident and even called it a hollywood, john ah,

research, i don't offer that city in 5 days. it was phony. baloney, hollywood, chunk or 100000. i was notified a russia was that all i listen. geopolitical analysts mark so boda believes biden's visit to poland and pierre is a little more than a start to mislead the western audience about the real situation in ukraine. they were definitely trying to spin a dramatic propaganda narrative with president biden's speech in warsaw. i mean he punched home freedom and democracy versus autocracy light versus darkness good versus evil. and all of this, of course is, is really an obscene misrepresentation of the situation. and you grand, i read an a p piece that described zalinski and bite in walking

through the streets of kia with the air, raid sirens, as a taste of the terror that the people of kias have lived under. never mind, of course, the 9 year bloody war that the kid regime is waged on the people of don boss. this is a propaganda set piece. the target of which is the people of america and the west to create an atmosphere that bite in wanted to present his trip to kiev under those were the hour and weeks tops. stories for more updates on the latest news around the globe, head over to r t dot com. thanks for tuning and we'll see you again at the top of the hour. ah .