charles stratford is in key with more . that is reported by the into fact, russian state media, they are quoting, the russian defense ministry is saying that russian positions of come under attack in various locations along the eastern front line in lou ganske, dawn exc. and in the upper is your of course, we have no way of independently verifying this information, but it would be consistent with what we know was a rejection of this cease fire by the ukrainians present zalinski. calling this a cynical ploy, giving the charity to russians, potentially to move men and equipment closer to the front lines. kevin mccarthy has been to become us. house speaker is now the longest voting process in a 164 years. after 3 days and 11 rounds, the republican has failed to get support from hard line party members who are blocking his bed and other round of voting is set to take place in the next hour. israeli government all imposed punitive measures against the palestinian authority after it approached the un over the occupation or thursd

now, in our correspondence, charles stratford, it's one thing, charles vladimir putin suggesting a ceasefire is another thing, of course. keep excepting one more. can you tell us about their response? well, certainly this stage it seems highly doubtful that ukraine would accept such an offer from president bush. and as you say this initially comes from a suggestion made by the the moscow patriarch, carol, russia, patriarch. carol, they're looking for they study success. he's 5 from about, well, from mid day, which effectively would be on or that it was christmas christmas eve, right, the way through the next day, christmas day until 12 midnight. and it was a response to the patriarch carol's suggestion that we heard from an adviser in the president's office. mchale police and he just called this a cynical trap. so we haven't had any official statement yet by president zalinski, but one can only assume that he's going to be consistent with what mr. pull the. mr . police said, i mean, just give you a little bit of background here. there's a very create a very interesting sort of change of atmo

charles stratford has more from keith. this initially comes from a suggestion made by the, the moscow patriarch, carroll, russia patriarch. carol, they're looking for these $36.00 assays far from about, well, from mid day, which effectively would be an orthodox christmas christmas eve, right? the way through the next a christmas day until 12 midnight. and it was a response to patriarch carol's suggestion that we heard from an adviser in the president's office, mikhail padaya and he just called this a cynical trap. israel has released the longest held palestinian prisoner, he'd been in detention for 40 years. kareem eunice is also in australia citizen and was convicted in 1983 for killing an x ray soldier in the golan heights. he was initially condemned to life imprisonment, but a sentence was crossed. the vote for a new speaker in the us house of representatives will go and say a 3rd day republican kevin mccarthy lost another 3 rounds of voting on wednesday. a group of hod line is from his party, have opposed his bid. poli

let's go to charles stratford, who is and key for us. and charles, is there any evidence at this stage to back up? russia's climate kill hundreds of ukrainian soldiers. absolutely no evidence. a tool is yet an a flat dismissal by ukrainian authorities that such an attack happened. we know that cremmit tools is often targeted is often described as a garrison town. it is, i've lots of military in it for 4 years. it's, as i say, traditionally a town associated with the military. and of course you can imagine that those numbers of ukrainian trips have increased as we've gone into this war, but no evidence whatsoever. i think this is important to put it in the context, as you alluded to in the intro of this attack by the ukranian forces on the town of mac, give on the, in the early hours of new year's day when they initially claim that hundreds of russian conscripts had been killed in that attack, and we saw for the 1st time and admission by the russians that they said 18000000 conscripts had been killed the conscript center, vocational school

charles stratford has more from outside back loots in the eastern ukraine were about 5 kilometers outside of buffalo, solid hours, around 10 kilometers in that direction. i'm not sure whether you're going to be able to pick this audio up, but there's a lot of heavy sharing going on all around this area. we in the last few minutes as well heard heavy machine gun fire. this is checkpoint, very close to us as well. we will prevent you from going any further towards that checkpoint. seems as if they're only allowing the military through i was a 2 and a half 3 months ago. and it's fair to say that the situation has dramatically changed since day. and i mean, we used to go down this road and into back moved, then it is a lot louder, a lot more heavy shelling than then. we've actually been speaking to soldiers this morning who beat inside buck mood and asking them about the situation in both moot and solid. they said to us that russian forces were in the center of solely door. they said that they were in control of that salt mine. they described russian tanks in the center of solid r as well. th

charles stratford has the latest from outside solids are, pricing is very much on going. we are suppose about 56 kilometers from solid off the military. i want to go about going anywhere further down this road. we're hearing a lot about going for what we understand is ukrainian artillery firing over our heads toward solid, off to my right, and towards buck moot, which is down. the road behind we, we've seen incoming landing in, feels to my left over the last sort of 10 minutes or so. what we have not seen though is any kind of large scale withdrawal of ukrainian forces. thousands of activists are gathering in the german village are fluid serrato's. they try to block the expansion of a coal mine, the sweetest climate active as granted wynberg has joined them. police have been evicted demonstrators since wednesday. the u. k. has called the execution of british iranian national into her on callous and cowardly ali rosa, i sorry, was convicted of spying further. you. k charges. he denied the execution. kane, despite last minute appeared for clemency from britain and the unite

charles stratford is in backwards with the ukranian army and has this report ukrainian defensive positions west of the front line city of bar mote. russian infantry are slowly advancing into northern and eastern residential areas. over the hill. at the center of town is almost completely destroyed. the streets virtually deserted. oh, blasts of exploding artillery and rockets is almost constant. a soldier with the ukrainians, special forces leads us to their bunker. wal mart, dark tunnels, lined with weapons, and ammunition boxes, drones feed, real time, video of russian infantry movement only a kilometer and a half away. so you have a lot of men power. solas is sent every time it looks like a ways, so we cannot stop every time because we have a less guys. and unfortunately, the also lost a lot of the guy said this moment. men rest before their next mission, often close combat were trenches are only 20 meters apart. commanders insists we hide their identities and don't film landmarks near by the could give their positions away. i will not hurt marilla, hope vito, they split into small group

charles stratford reports christmas warning for millions of orthodox christians around the world. but of course, a christmas head that has been blackened by more than 10 months of war. you join us outside this beautiful cathedral in king. this is the most important orthodox cathedral in the country. and today for the 1st time, the head of the newly formed ukraine. and also dogs church will be holding prayers of actually share those prayers already at always being held by a ukrainian orthodox church affiliated to moscow. it is a church that certainly in recent months, has been accused of having connections with the kremlin. it has had its churches radiate by the ukrainian or socrates in the craniums accusing them of having links of potentially being even linked to saboteurs inside ukraine. of course, this is something that is massively denied by that church that is linked to moscow . but i think that that is a think, reflection of just how the divisions, how this war has, has caused divisions between countries, but also between the religious communities inside ukraine. and this was

charles stratford reports from keith present zalinski last night acknowledging that the battle for sali dar was indeed intensifying he saying that the ukrainians had in his words one time in order to get more men and supplies inside that town. now solid r is around 20 kilometers northeast of the town of buck. mood, of course, park mood, st. some of the most intensive fighting over recent weeks and months. a town that is often nicknamed a meat grinder because of the sheer amount of men that have been killed in it. on both sides. moscow is reported to have appointed colonel general alexander lapin as new chief of staff of the ground forces. he was the commander of russia central military districts and was criticized last october by allies of president vladimir putin. after russian forces were driven out of the ukrainian city of leman. china has suspended short term visas for south korean and japanese citizens. it's in reaction to that covey 19 cubs imposed on chinese travelers. brazil's president luis, ignacio lula da silva, has criticized the army for not doing enough to stop supporters

out as there is, charles stratford witnessed a day of devastation in the once thriving city. how people enjoy the shelling and destruction defies. belief. russian artillery has almost completely destroyed the town of buck malt. most of the 70000 people who lived here have fled. it's even rare to see ukrainian soldiers in the open, exposed to shelling on the streets. owner, carson probation was going up and walked up the door. sir, when we talk about the direction of battle mode. so selling your frontal, we're talking about the whole front line where they're trying to get into the city from every direction, from, from the north, from the east and the south. are the intensification, the shelling of back moot is obvious. russian forces are about a kilometer in that direction. the ukrainian military is scared now because wasn't forces made such great gains around solid are in the north. they're now trying to completely in circle the city. as we walk back up the street more rounds explode, close by. we begin filming, and 2 more come in around a 100 yards away. the city we run for

charles stratford reports from outside san his off. thank we don't have authorization to take him shouts the military paramedic on. there was that a wounded ukrainian soldier with a torn a k on each leg to slow the bleeding is lifted from the car i'm thought and can't. okay, we've got to go further down the road, right. let's move now from an ambulance point virtually deserted road. we drive to wald solider, we pass a few ukrainian military vehicles heading the other way. there's no obvious sign of ukrainian withdrawal from the salt mine in town. it seems some of the most intense fighting recent days. alarming medics waited intervals along the way to take the injured hospitals back from the front line of shore pro jolla g obstinately as the battle continues. yeah, we have to stay in place, even if we could wait closer, we would no more, but we are ready to move. felicia childress, a civilian empress. kimberly the soldiers say the road over the brow. the hill is being shelled. russia says it's taken full control of solider, but the smok

charles stratford met some of them inside, back, moot. ah, these people endure a level of suffering that is difficult to imagine that most the old and many have emotional a psychological problems. i'm glad that families live far away will flip the fighting months ago. they braved a shilling to come here, the soup on to charge their phones. rushes bombardment of mood is getting heavier by the day. the sink of little boys that only that a while and my neighbor was killed in her cellar. she burned alive. i fled my home 4 days ago during the fighting. i had to crawl along the street to escape. there was an explosion. 2 meters away from me with us you were destroyed. central town is almost completely deserted. russian forces are only around a kilometer away. the artillery explosions are relentless. some people wait patiently in the cold whiskey their lives desperate for food and humanitarian aid with others are so hungry they seem oblivious to the danger of simply standing outside. yeah, yes, that i cannot get all the aide i need without docum

charles stratford has won is joy from outside backlit and ukraine's dumbass region. we have just come out of van mood having spent the morning in there with ukrainian special forces. they were pretty candid in their sorts. they said that they believed if it hadn't fallen solid are that is then it was going to imminently full. and they said that they were very few ukrainian soldiers left in the city and they were plans potentially for getting the remainder of those out. but as you say, things remain unclear and there is be no any kind of an official recognition by the ukrainians that indeed it has fallen. but of course, that puts huge pressure now on the town of bah, moot, which is only a 1012 kilometers further south. the scenes inside the city are truly incredible. hardly a single building, certainly in the center that isn't it partially or completely destroyed the streets virtually deserted, very, very few civilians as well. and interestingly very few military, the special forces guys that we spoke to and had been there. so 3 months. so there was a hell of a lot of

charles stratford is near bark most and has more on the fighting around the city which to spend the last few hours inside the besieged city of bar mode. where he at a new ukrainian tank defensive position on the outskirts of the town effectively. the reason why these men are here is because of an intensification of the shelling of buckling in recent days. we do know that russian forces have taken control of a lot, at least of the town of solid on the surrounding areas to the north of buck. mood and we also know and we saw today the intensification of shelling from villages to the south east of bathrooms as well. an indication of russian force is trying to completely surround the city of bar mood. we spoke to some of the estimated to 2 and 5000 people. civilians are still living inside the city. most of them refusing to go, they say because they've got nowhere else to go. but most of them elderly and the infirm as well. living on the desperate, desperate conditions. i mean, the town has had no electricity since august. and you can imagine how cold that is in conditions like this. no water

at a charles stratford reports now from cave, for the 30000000 members of the church. attending mass is not only a spiritual act, but a political one. 0 churches have stood here for almost a 1000 years, gives elaborate. cathedral is one of the most important orthodox christian institutions in the world. but this is christmas service is different. it by law, for the 1st time the liturgy is being delivered in ukrainian by recently formed ukrainian orthodox church. for centuries, the ukrainian church is conducted the christmas service in ancient slavic, and russian. the times have changed. she has only saw it. i think people have changed the stace, it's changing. we see historical justice and the nation is being formed. it's very important to eradicate everything russian from ireland, i guess, or russian church that oh, was here before. i'd ever supports in like her russian or see him put his regime was so know when we gen have rudy korean church, so i'm really glad to oh, sentiments like these have been growing since roches illegal annexation of crimea and areas of the dumbass in 2014,

charles stratford is in care of with more. that is reported by the into fact roches state media. they are quoting, the russian defense ministry is saying that russian positions of come under attack in various locations along the eastern front line in lou ganske, dawn exc. and in the upper is your of course, we have no way of independently verifying this information, but it would be consistent with what we know was a rejection of this cease fire by the ukrainians present zalinski. calling this a cynical ploy, giving the chew tea to russians, potentially to move men and equipment closer to the front lines. israeli government says it will impose punitive measures against the palestinian authority outward approach. the un over the occupation of thursday, the un security council held an emergency session after the intrusion into the alex and mos compound bi israel's national security minister. the secretary general of the p aloe says the measures equate to piracy of palestinians. money or my thing for me, chinese authorities of urged people to limit the number of trips and gatherings

charles stratford has the latest from keith. a residential street on file homes destroyed real good. obama. a dead woman covered by a plastic sheet hold the rosa marble, whom the aftermath of yet another barrage of russian missiles when the ukrainian capital keep not almost awesome and growth of america me and my husband were literally thrown into the corridor. we regained consciousness. we heard glass chattering, and then there was an explosion, one after another. we ran to the basement mode. now when we came out into the street, we saw ambulances, and there are casualties. scoring for hip, seeing the so tell was reportedly only closed down in recent days was also hit by what's believed to have been an intercepted russian missile. the walker's mother, the hulu. it was a nightmare. it was a massive explosion. we have a strong building, but it still shook. i was standing by the window and went to the corridor and hid. i can't believe it was so close yet and i show you another neighbourhood. police gather shrapnel, nearer to me to

stratford, al jazeera of mort. it asked about his journey relieved now from came natasha. charles, they're talking about what's happening in the east of the country, but we're getting reports a russian my sal attacks in ki, possibly elsewhere in ukraine. what's going on? holy nose, a short while ago. air raids, a siren sa, which are good in many pulse the country, particularly in the east. none for the time being and keith, but that sunny wasn't the situation earlier today when those sirens went off. after a series of explosions, we heard at least 4 explosions. very distinctly, i hear in the capital. now what we understand from the local authorities in keith is that some critical infrastructure was struck. so we're talking about things like power or electricity facilities, a sort of facilities that have been repeatedly targeted by russian forces over the past. few months we're trying to make life extremely difficult for ukrainians. we also know that more than a dozen homes were damaged in the capitol. as far as we know, no casualties though, have been reported and these and there

charles stratford is following those developments from keith. this initially comes from a suggestion made by the the moscow patriarch, carol, russia, patriarch. carol, they're looking for the study success. he's 5 from about, well, from mid day, which effectively would be on all that all christmas christmas eve, right. the way through the next day, christmas day until 12 midnight. and it was a response to the patriarch carol's suggestion that we heard from an adviser in the president's office mikhail portfolio. and he just called this a cynical trap. let me just give you a little bit of background here. there's a very create a very interesting sort of change of atmosphere in ukraine that is gathering place in as far as a move away from fundamentally unorthodox christmas here because many ukrainians associate orthodoxy with russia and by default russian aggression. so for example, christmas that is just gone by the for the, for the julian calendar that now is being gradually pushed for by many people and you're going to be celebrated on the 24th

charles stratford reports from keith present zalinski last night. acknowledging that the battle for sali dar was indeed intensifying he saying that the ukrainians had in his words won the time in order to get more men and supplies inside that town now solid r is around 20 kilometers ne of the town of buck. mood, of course, buck mood is seen some of the most intensive fighting over recent weeks and months . a town that is often nicknamed a meat grinder because of the sheer amount of men that have been killed in it. on both sides. moscow is reported to have appointed colonel general alexander lapin as new chief of staff of the ground forces. he was commander of russia central military district, and was blasted last october by allies of president putin. after russian forces were driven out of the ukrainian city of lima, china has suspended short term visas for south koreans and japanese. that's in reaction to their cove at 19 cubs imposed on chinese travelers. brazil's president lewis ignacio lula da silva, has criticized the army for not doing enough to stop supporters of jaya boss, and ar

charles stratford has more on the story. now. he is reporting from ukraine's capital keith. as reported by the into fact, russian state media, they are quoting, the russian defense ministry is saying that russian positions have come under attack in various locations along the eastern front line in the guns don't ask and ins, apparition of course we have no way of independently verifying this information, but it would be consistent with what we know was a rejection of this sci fi by the ukrainians presence of these gate. calling this a cynical ploy, giving the truancy to russians, potentially to move men and equipment closer to the front lines. and this comes in the context of renewed phase, actually escalating phase amongst the ukrainian military crane and government. they convinced that there is going to be a renewed offensive by the russians in the coming weeks and months as the temperatures get colder. as according to some military, unless the ground gets harder, enabling them to do so. so yeah, as i say, we have no way of independently confirming this kind of information

charles stratford is there hearing a lot of heavy shelling as you can imagine of shelling that is increased in recent days. interestingly, to put a timeline on it, or you can say that a lot of this fighting has actually increased since we saw rosen forces make gains in and around the town of solid are, which is north of back, moot in that direction. we understand now according to ukrainian, the ukrainian military that russian forces are trying to win circle that city of buffalo. and interestingly, since we've been here this morning, the town of kelly schiffer which is to the southeast of it, is also getting heavily shell. there's a lot of heavy, heavy fighting being heard there. we've seen smoke rising. some of the process we speculate could well, have been asked strikes interestingly in the last 10 minutes or so. we've seen certainly what the ukranian military tell us will ukrainian jets in this area. they were still throwing out those flags that chaff time to try and deter any kind of heat seeking weapon that went after it. that was aimed at it. we understand that that is just a precautio

more now the situation in ukraine from charles stratford in keith present zalinski last night acknowledging that the battle for solid was indeed intensifying. he saying that the ukrainians had in his words one time in order to get more men and supplies inside that town. now solid is around 20 kilometers ne of the town of buck, mood, of course, buck mood is seen some of the most intensive fighting over recent weeks and months . a town that is often nicknamed a meat grinder because of the sheer amount of men that have been killed in it on both sides. solely dog is a salt mining town. it is the largest salt mine in ukraine and it has a vast network of underground tunnels. around 200 kilometers, in fact have underground tunnels, some as high as 30 meters. i mean a football match, for example, is being held under ground in solely in the past. so one can you imagine this is a huge strategic importance. we can only speculate that certainly according to the russians, they are saying that the ukrainians are using those tunnels as defensive positions to store ammunition and so on. so we can only spec

charles stratford has more from keith. it's better to say that what significant here is that this is a rare admission by the russian defense ministry that such an alleged attack happened. and they are admitting to that 63 soldiers according to them, were killed in this attack, using what they describe as a u. s. supplied him ours rocket systems. interesting, there has been a statement put out by the strategic communications directorate for the ukranian armed forces. now this is only telegram channel and it uses some pretty floral language as world are describing what it says were $400.00 soldiers in this attack that were killed describing them as pig dogs. emotional brazilians are paying their final respects to football legend palais in this city. of santos, where he 1st gained fame. a 24 hour wake is taking place at the stadium, which is home to the lake football as long time club. these are live pictures of the scene. and i will be lay to rest on tuesday. it's already force is of entered the town of cuff darn, i ain't je

before that we hear from charles stratford, who spent a day with ukrainian special forces in backwards close to solid r ukrainian defensive positions west of the front lines, city of moot russian infantry are slowly advancing into northern and eastern residential areas over the hill. the center of town is almost completely destroyed . the streets virtually deserted. blasts of exploding artillery and rockets is almost constant soldier with the ukrainians. special forces leads us to the bunker. warm dark tunnels, lined with weapons, and ammunition boxes. drones feed, real time video of russian infantry movement only a kilometer and a half away say half a lot of men power source is sent every dance. it looks like a ways. so we cannot stop every time because we have a less guys. and unfortunately, the also lost a lot of the guy said this moment men rest before their next mission, often close combat were trenches are only 20 meters apart. commanders insist, we hide their identities and don't film landmarks near by the could give their positions away. i want to protect my hope of a veto. the

as charles stratford now reports to machine gun bullets ripped through alexander's legs. when he was fighting on ukraine's eastern front line, a 3rd bullet was stopped by the mobile phone in his pocket. his sciatic nerve was severed. he cannot feel his right leg. and he is afraid, he will never be able to fulfill his goal in life. in a sport, ukraine is famous for around the world. boxing fair internet match has been a more, it is not just a part of my life or it is my life. or should i say it was, but now i need to find something else. ah, is alexander competing in 2016 rose to become car q regional champion before returning to a fight in the war. last year he lived in france where he became regional champion in nice for more. ready her former box and grace mazda personally, because i grew up desire to father. how can the mother race and man alone i got into boxing, and it radically changed me as a person. it hardened my character. and now my at the challenge is like being in the army or on the battlefield, or he in hospital i am holding on. i can take a punch for school

as charles stratford reports to machine gun bullocks ripped through alexander's legs while he was fighting on ukraine's eastern front line. a 3rd bullet was stopped by the mobile phone in his pocket. his classic nerve was settled . he cannot feel his right leg. and he is afraid. he will never be able to fulfill his goal in life. in a sport, ukraine is famous for around the world boxing the mattress in the order. it is not just a part of my life. it is my life. why should i say it was 3, but now i need to find something else. the diesel examined are competing in 2016, rose to become car key regional champion. before returning to fight in the war. last year he lived in france where he became regional champion in nice promot. ready home in the box and raised me as a person because i be off is out to father. how can the modern race and man alone i got into books and, and they dramatically changed me as a person. it hardens my character and no matter the challenge is like being in the army or on the battlefield, or he and hospital. i'm hold him gone. i can take a bunch of people to school there