deescalation? >> reporter: not at all, megyn.hanks memo either hasn't gotten to the commanders in the field or president putin from russia isn't sending it to his loyalest here inside of ukraine. as we went around, this is still a city, a region very much on the verge of war. this is one of the main government buildings in the eastern part of the ukraine that the separatest have taken over. there is russian patriotic music playing and barricades to prevent any kind of entry by the ukrainian military. a lot of guys walking with baseball bats, faces covered and obviously, people with a lot of heavy anti-american sentiment. america kills the southeast up on the top there, a message to the american government hanging there. we had to blur it out, america something you. >> and right now, the ukrainian military is walking a very fine line here. the last thing they want to do is give the russians a pretax to send the tens of thousands of troops they had staged on the boarder here into the eastern part of the ukraine, something that pres

over a period of time as assuming this can to deescalate of the does deescalate. as the rights of the people they are concerned about are represented as the constitutional process unfolds and the future government of ukraine takes place they are absolutely prepared to. begin to respond with respect to troops and larger numbers. they indicated reiterated that they have withdrawn one battalion in response to. the efforts we've made to insist on some movement and i've raised the question of whether more couldn't now also. become part of the equation and our hope is that as these steps are taken that that can happen that would be part of a managed deescalation we said at the beginning and the document says initial concrete steps we do not envision this as the full measure of deescalation so if this starts and starts effectively and we can begin to see some progress we intend to continue to have our meetings. and we discussed with foreign minister lavrov at the end of the meeting the notion that we would continue to talk and to follow up on this so this is just the beg

the situation hasn't deescalated at all.o that, there were strong words from russian foreign minister mr. lavrov accusing ukraine of sabotaging the geneva agreements doing nothing to follow the latter of the geneva accords. similar responses from ukrainian politicians saying it's russia undermining the deal because it doesn't influence or tell its own supporters to give up the buildings, give up weapons and disarm basically. there seems to be an unstable situation. the timing of the vice president being there is important. the messages he's giving of supporting the ukrainian elections, supporting the unity of ukraine, those messages are very good for the ukrainian leaders to hear. how are the ukrainian leadership realizes it's not in control of all the country. the view of eastern ukraine is very critical. >> this has been dominating our headlines around the world for weeks. people are are wondering why this is so important nationally? >> this is a country internationally recognized. of whether the fairly small group of peop

what is being done to deescalate tempers and get this under control? >> not much i talk to the clark county

diplomats from ukraine, and the union agreed on steps towards deescalation the violence thursday. all illegally armed groups must be disarmed. the streets, squares and other public spaces in all cities must be vacated and amnesty must be granted to all protestors except those found guilty of illegal crimes. >> but u.s. secretary of state john kerry warns there must be more than words on paper, and soon is. i made clear today, that if we are not able to see progress, on the immediate efforts to be able to implement the principles of this agreement this weekend, then we will have no choice but to impose further costs on russia. there's also been report of jewish resident residenn the ukrainian city being ordered to register their religion with the no so called authority. >> we strongly condemned and rejected all expressions of extremism, racism, and religious international remembers including antisemitism. >> the summited props to send medical supplies to the military. >> the actions of the russians over the last two months is not only eric holder responsibility, and violates integr

to deescalate.very much appears to be an escalation. i see the swedish foreign minister sweeting calling it a massive deescalation of a destabilization process by russia. is there a sign that the economic sanctions, et cetera, are leading to the deescalation, that russia is considering that off-ramp as western diplomats talked about? >> reporter: no, jim, there's been a marked worsening in the last 24 hours and russia seems to be pointing the finger at the west for stirring up trouble rather than looking at themselves in this way. the white house a potential repeat of the crimea where we had popular protests backed up by armed men. it wasn't clear who the armed men who swarmed all over crimea were over a month ago, many people deeply concerned about what comes next. we're seeing weapons in a lot of places now. great heightened tension and i think a vacuum anyways in response from central government in kiev. they've had a key meeting of officials in the last few hours or so and we've yet to see many

secretary of state john kerry have issued a joint statement calling for a deescalation of violence ints do continue after three anti-government activists were killed in a failed attack on the ukrainian national guard base. let's get right to fox news' lelalandnd vitittetertrt w witht details. leland? >> reporter: liz, this is very much a city divided, a region on the verge of civil war. just about a mile up the road from where we are is the regional parliament building here that has been taken over by those pro-russian separatists. they are heavily armed. and what was interesting is we walked into this crowd that was increasingly violent throughout the day, was just how much they viewed this not simply as a ukraine/russia situation, but a russia/america situation. take a listen. you're angry with america? >> we are angry, very angry. not only at america, but with the support of america, european union, such countries as germany and -- >> reporter: what should america do? >> america should go to america and live their own life. >> reporter: and stay out of ukraine? >> instead of ukrain

the documents include the measures for the deescalation, and the avoidance of the use of force, and resolving disputes, and the visions of those authorities, which have to be reflected in the constitution. decentralization, widening rights of the authorities in the regions. election of the executive authorities, and along with this, i will mention the role, the importance of the russian language. some people report the official status of the language has to be mutual and accepted by all political forces and all regions. we will support development of such data in a constructive way for the stability of ukraine, considering all historical language, specifics of regions in ukraine. i'm sure we will continue our meetings in various formats. i'm sure that our colleagues, which are supporting and providing the conditions for the work of osc, we come to dumb to decide for osc. we just wish that osc will consider our wishes. it has the powers to regulate the various places of disturbances, and would like this organization will address all of the aspects mentioned in our declaration, including the mo

there needs to be a deescalation. a negotiation of the issues and settlement. the bureau of land management is over his head and the white house needs to get involved to deescalate this and settle it so that all parties involved can basically cool off. >> okay. wayne, it seemed like the situation was cooling off as congressman points out and then the majority leader decided to throw some gasoline on the fire again. >> well, i happen to agree with dennis. i think if you have cooler heads then you can negotiate this. this is the way this should be done. however the law being what the law is, it doesn't matter. during the civil rights movement, the law was the law. you must ultimately obey the law but there are ways to get to that in a peaceful fashion where you don't have to have name calling and people who are accusing people of doing things that they are not necessarily doing. those people were not breaking the law. they were protesting and a civil protest, civil disobedience is a practice that we have had ever since martin luther king, it's fair, it's right, a

our most urgent task is to deescalate the situation in ukraine.rete steps that we have agreed to take in the course of the discussions today in order to deescalate the tensions and restore security for all ukrainians. the parties agreed today that all sides must refrain from the use of violence, intimidation or provocative actions. and we strongly condemned and rejected all expressions of extremism, racism and religious intolerance, including anti-semitism. let me say a quick word about that. just in the last couple of days, notices were sent to jews in one city indicating that they had to identify themselves as jews. and obviously, the accompanying threat implied is -- or suffer the consequences, one way or the other. in the year 2014, after all of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable, it's grotesque. it is beyond unacceptable. any of the people who engage in these kinds of activities, from whatever party or whatever e ideology or whatever place they crawl out of, there is no place for that, and unani

secretary of state john kerry is warning that russia needs to keep up its side of the deal and deescalateuld be, in his words, further costs. joining us, white house correspondent, michelle kosinski. michelle, what is the latest over there? >> reporter: hi, wolf. today we heard the administration back off a bit from what sounded at least something like a deadline from secretary of state kerry yesterday saying if russia didn't live up to the agreement it just signed and disarm militants, give back government buildings across eastern ukraine that it seized through the weekend, there would be tougher u.s. sanctions. today, national security adviser susan rice didn't want to put a time frame on it saying the u.s. watching and waiting in coming d days. she said getting russia to sign that agreement was in progress in and of itself. when asked, though, okay, one full day now after the signing of that agreement, have we seen any visible sign at all that russia is making a move toward deescalation? here's what she said. >> we'll continue to watch very carefully how they proceed. what they say, wh

. >> reporter: despite an international agreement to deescalate the crisis in ukraine, prorussian militants are vowing to continue their occupation of government buildings in eastern ukraine, violating the deal, which was reached in geneva three days ago. in an exclusive interview with david gregory, ukraine's prime minister warned moscow has bigger plans. >> president putin has a dream to restore the soviet union, and every day he goes further and further and god knows where is the final destination. >> reporter: armed prorussian militants have seized buildings in at least ten towns, and say they won't leave unless ukraine's interim government relinquishes power. >> reporter: there is a low here due partly to the easter holiday and a three-day truce called today by the kiev government. while, tonight, a top official arrives here to begin monitoring compliance of the geneva deal as prorussian militants say no deal. >> reporter: meanwhile the pentagon says the united states is considering a range of additional measures to bolster air, maritime and ground readiness in europe. a move reassurin

all sides would work toward deescalating the violence.he deal comes as vladimir putin warns he has the right to protect suggestion citizens against ukraine's military force just like he did in crimea. aljazeera is in donetsk where so far the agreement is having little impact on the ground. >> pro russian demonstrators here are deeply skeptical about the agreement reached in geneva. in fact, some feel they've been sold out by russia, saying that since they were not part of those talks, they are not bound by the agreement. they say they'll stay in these buildings they occupy until their demands are met. they want a referendum on greater autonomy for the east of ukraine. possible agreement was that there should be an amnesty for people occupying buildings and the government in kiev has started drawing up such an amnesty whereby people could leave buildings, lay down their weapons and not face prosecution. the people here say they are not going to leave these buildings until they see similar action in the capital kiev. they want to see the pr

. >> we agreed the first steps for the deescalation both sides have to avoided the threats. provocation actions. >> we agreed today that all illegal armed groups must be disarmed. that all illegally seized buildings must be returned and all illegally occupied streets, squares, and other public places in ukrainian cities and towns, must be vacated. >> and we want to take you live right now to geneva switzerland. that was reached just moments ago. entities that have an ability to make a difference, or all the entities will respond. russia has an enormous ability to impact that, and the government of ukraine has an ability to effort it. so the degree that both can take steps her that can help to provide steps to take further steps that's what we are encouraging. did the talk today and the agreement make any progress to find a compromise between kiev and moscow, and how much atonmy the eastern ukraine should have? >> well, let me say, and kathy can obviously explain here too. we were both very impressed by prime minister's definition of what he has prepared to do. the government

we are not going to count on it until we see it. >> of course, deescalation is is there, john, something that the president is hoping for, but not placing a lot of bets on. he is having conversations with other world leaders. he soak with with the german chancellor today. of the u.k., basically the president said he is not sure of anything at this point. >> so lib gi the sanctions are on hold. >> what the president said today, is that all the sanctions that have been put in place, will continue. until they see real signs of promise, and russia following flu, the sanctions will stay in place. the conversations he is having now, with world leaders especially european allies are about further sanctions. deeper sanctions and he said those definitely need to be on the table. as a looming threat, if the ground situation doesn't change. in the meantime they are talking about the economy, also, the defense component of this. dealing with nato, so in the meantime, the presidentn't ways to say okay, we will let this play out, but we are not stopping with with the efforts we are working through the

. >> they haven't deescalated, in fact, they have now fomenting this, using their gru secret service, secret special forces people that are fomenting this discontent. people in eastern ukraine don't want this. even though they are leaning sort of pro russian, they don't want this kind of thing. they want a government of ukraine, and unfortunately, i can tell you from talking to them, they feel that we are not giving them the support that they need. >> schieffer: senator thank you so much we know you are headed back into that territory later today. >> thank you. >> schieffer: and back at our capitol a lot of the same old, same old, republicans and democrats fighting over equal pay for women and there was talk about the resignation of health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. we are going to talk about that now, first with republican congresswoman marsha blackburn, she is in nashville this morning, congresswoman thank you for joining us this morning. while you were in new hampshire yesterday with a lot of the republicans who are thinking about running for president, what di

it doesn't sound like the deescalation looked for. we'll just basically see what the diplomats say in the minutes and hours to come, but the expect is as pretty low. >> we are expecting to hear from the u.s. envoy, as well as the russian foreign minister. nick, we are talking about sanctions, as well, there's all right a round of sanctions against russia for the u.s. as well as the e.u., threatening tougher sanctions. >> they're called level three sanctions. there are already sanctions in place which target members of the russian president's entourage, the political structure at the kremlin, people seen as decision makers in the deannexation of crimea as well as some crimean officials, the e.u. has similar sanctions in place and also asset freezes, money that may be held by those people in banks in the west. the next round of sanctions that are being discussed that are perhaps going to be applied as of friday by the united states or announced would be level three, targeting the oil and gas sector in russia, which of course is responsi

the goal is deescalation. >> reporter: president obama spoke with angela merkel today and planned more talks with european leaders. their support for tougher sanctions will be crucial if the russians don't live up to their part of the deal. >> wendell, thank you. let's find out what's going on in eastern ukraine. leland witt ard is live where it's early thursday morning. good morning, leland. >> reporter: good morning, bret. this is a city, a region on the brink of war, and clearly the pro-russians and the pro-ukraine wransians are jockeying for position. today the spotlight focused on this man, dennis push kin, a pro-russian speparatist who is said to be behind forcing jewish residents to -- fox news has been told by a source in kiev that pro-ukrainian groups were behind the distribution of the flyer. in an effort to draw international attention and condemnation on the pro-russians. the russian dennis planned a press conference tomorrow that he and his followers have taken over. we visited the building earlier today and were greeted by pro-russian men wielding weapons ready to defend

i think the blm had the right idea to deescalate here.nothing these groups want so much as a martyr. you don't get the oklahoma city bombing unless you have the conflagration in waco. there's going to be other would-be matterers if thing has a celebrated explosion as well. it is very smart to deescalate this. the federal government can outwait this moment. and this is not the rebirth of the militia movement. >> while the federal government is deescalating, you have conspiracy theorists that are promoting bundy and actually stoking this kind of activity. he said this. americans showed up with guns and said no, you're not, before confronting the armed blm agent and they said shoot us and they did not. that's epic and it's going to happen more. when you have alan jones stoking this kind of behavior, should we be worried that this ent eventually escalating into violence? >> we do not want a catalytic violent event like we had with waco. and as someone who trains state and federal agent, they did the right thing. we have an isolated and contai

. >>> moscow faces further cuts and does not deescalate the crisis.hey have so far shown few signs of laying down the arms. they moved to trump both of the nation's currency by raising the benchmark rate by 900 basis points to 9.5%. where do you still think the end game here is? is this russia trying to just make sure that ukraine doesn't fall into the eu if we have an independent federal ukraine? is that what they still want? >> they've been quite clear about that. that is how they see ukraine's future. at least militarily neutral. you create a situation at least within constitution where you have regions that have more autonomous rights in case there is a decision by the central government to pursue europe-atlantic integration. integration with nato. then this region in the future potentially could have a right to make this decision. >> so is this russia keeping up the pressure through to the elections? is that's what's going on? what is the danger of this spilling out into something i think nobody wants to go which is a greater conflict within ukra

being a neutral observer will lead to deescalation of dangerous situation. thank you. >> i thank the representative of luxembourg for her statement. i give the floor to the representative of chief -- chile. there. [speaking spanish] displt madam president, we thank the asg for his briefing on the human rights situation in ukraine. chile endorses the appeals made to guarantee accountability with regard to all human rights violations committed during demonstrations in kiev. between december 2013 and february 2014. we must adopt immediate measures in order to build trust between the interim government and the population, taking into account in particular ethnic minorities. similarly, it is urgent to guarantee full respect for the rule of law, democracy and human rights in ukraine. including the rights of all minorities. we believe it is particularly disturbing to see the worsening of the human rights situation mt. eastern region -- in the eastern region of ukraine, in particular violations of rights of freedom to expression, the freedom to meet. there have been

is now urging russia to deescalate the situation here. this as the u.s. and european union prepare to leavy new sanctions on russia. we're also joints chiefs chairman has been in contact with his russian counterpart. >> ed henry is traveling with the president in seoul, south korea. >> while, president obama is on south korean soil just over a hundred miles away, north korea is threatening to unleash a fourth test of a nuclear weapon. a tense situation that mr. obama called a threat against the united states. >> it's important for us to look at additional ways to apply pressure on north korea, further sanctions that have even more bite. >> this trip, though, has been marked by questions about whether the president backs up tough talk on the world stage. so he was careful to stress there's no magic bullet to deal with north korea, a principle that appears to apply to ukraine as the president again warned of potentially bigger sanctions that would target specific sectors of russia's economy like energy. >> what's also important is laying the groundwork so t

reporting extensively on the situation in ukraine oxer writer says that care is not interested in deescalating tensions there. really desperately tries to get into a bigger conflict with russia the front of this is very easy to call for the support of the west to call for the support of talk it's well it's off the european union the western ukrainians it's less interest in an armed conflict it's the eastern ukrainians we have to see that the government in kiev this is not any more extreme on behalf of its people and we see in the social affairs that people start suffering western ukraine from here for really the liberal shock therapy the first series is what the people have to expect there so it would be possible if both sides would take on behalf of the people but it least one side is not doing this and this is for sure on which the ukrainian side this week so key of launching a military crime down on the process that is seeking to curb the anti my down rallies in the east but they're termed fell flat as well take a look at how the bans have been unfolding in recent days the deadline had set

united states is urging russia to deescalate the situation.t, more dangerous on the ground as well. cr e ukraine's prime minister accusing moscow of wanting, quote, world war iii. president obama says targeted sanctions against russia now are ready to go. his words, ready to go. let's go to senior international correspondent nick paton walsh on the ground for us in eastern ukraine in donetsk. that's a flashpoint. what's the latest there? >> reporter: wolf, the concern is now ukrainian officials announced what they refer to as the second phase of their anti-terror operation. that will involve encircling the flashpoint of the unrest in the town of slovyansk. could that result in casualties, further conflict? we heard of explosions today an an airfield near there. of course, as you mentioned these violations of ukrainian airspace by russian aircraft given there are 40,000 troops across the border. extremely high levels of volatility here and really let's look at what things have picked up simply today. tensions flaring in ukraine as the region te

the eu blames him for failing to deescalate the crisis and deploying massive russian forces as they putukraine's border. all will have assets frozen and be subject to a travel ban. it comes amid more violence in the country. this is the eastern city of donetsk which shows a pro ukrainian rally of around 1,000 people apparently under attack. there have been take overs in various towns by masked and armed men. we are in the eastern city. >> reporter: protests last night was a demonstration, detete display of support in this eastern ukraine region for kiev, for ukraine to stay united. people were telling us they certainly don't want to become part of russia and don't want independence to this region of the country. they were out demonstrating, about a thousand marching through the main avenue here when are that protest turned quickly ugly indeed. there was what appeared to be a carefully coordinate add tack by groups of pro russian men with baseball bats, iron bars. i saw one man carrying a shotgun. certainly we understand from organizers more than a dozen were injured as that turned viole

>> i think both side really would like to deescalate this. think the russians, for one set of reasons, that is, they feel they could increase their influence in eastern ukraine without moving troops there, by intimidation and by supporting pro-russian groups in eastern ukraine. i think the west does not want a big confrontation with the russians on a military basis and a lot of people in the west want this to settle down because many people, particularly in europe, have very close trading relationship with russia and if this thing really blew up it would adversely affect financial and energy and commercial ties. lou: i think we can call it what it is. it is an utter dependency on the part of europe on russia which in and of itself just about determines the outcome i would think of, of these events. >> well i think the certainly western europe depend heavily on russia for markets and for energy and the financial markets in places like london on russian finance. russians also depend heavily on western europe. the russian economy is not in good

russian foreign minister lavrov has accused authorities of breaking a deal reached thursday to deescalaterisis. he says kiev is failing to control what he describes as extremist including right wing activist russia accuses of shooting three dead in a man made check point on sunday. the ukrainian like seright sect nationalists deny. >> this is for those that want to put an end to geneva a accord. all signs show that kiev maybe doesn't want to control extremists that continue to call the shots. we are worried instead of accepting responsibility for what's happening, both kiev and their backers who brought them to power, namely the u.s. and european countries are trying to put the blame on russia. >> sergei lavrov there. wendy has the latest developments on ukraine itself. >> reporter: the outskirts of eastern ukraine, latest flash point of violence in the country torn apart. this violence makes a mockery of the international agreement reached in geneva last week which was supposed to ease tensions in eastern ukraine. after the shootings, the pro russian activist leader and self appointed le

but to achieve that, we also need deescalation of the military situation. that's why it is a matter of urgency that russia pulls back its troops. >> in kiev, developments in the east have been taking their toll on parliament. these are pictures this morning. tempers flaring between opposition nationalists and separatists. deputies blamed each other for events in the east and for bringing down the government of the former president viktor yanukovych. suddenly this happened. we just missed the best part of those pictures showing the fighting between parliament. let's go to kiev now. david, there's physical representations of anner ager a frustration between parliament today. >> indeed. emotions are running high. tensions are still high. we still have this situation in the east which although is not as -- not escalating quite the level it was last couple of days, still extremely tense. we have pro russian activists occupied two government buildings. one in donetsk. they've called for a referendum there if you call. authorities have cleared activists from one o

you mentioned that they were kind of deescalating last weekend when the bureau of land management steppednow this just start it is all over again. it gets those supporters out there riled up and it's hard to tell whether or not harry reid meant to do that or not, but that's what it does. >> bundy was on fox news channel last night. he obviously has very strong feelings about this situation. let's quickly listen to what he had to say. >> . >> certainly the video we saw over the weekend of these federal police with their guns out>> certainly the video we sa over the weekend of these federal police with their guns out>> certainly the video we sa over the weekend of these federal police with their guns outover the weekend of these federal police with their guns out>> certainly the video we sa over the weekend of these federal police with their guns out helped deescalate the situation. but what about senator reid's allegation that bundy has had women and children up you front so that they may bear the brunt of this? >> there was a report that that was the plan, if they could put women and chil

powerless to stop the rapid collapse of the economy and official structures he agreed roadmap to deescalatetensions has gained little traction from the white house and the people in east and south who crave the west started this crisis will be left to to russia . your friend post a photo from a vacation you can't afford. to different. your boss repeats the same old joke of course you like. your ex-girlfriend still paints tear jerking poetry keep. ignoring. the post only what really matters at r.t. to your facebook news feed. the. economic ups and downs in the final month the longer the deal sank i and the rest because i meet a single day every week. and we're back with got so daca you don't gobble former mayor of japan south no four talk about witness of the focused human nuclear disaster. that's why didn't it was a laugh thanks again for being with us so after this tragedy the guy wanted to build nuclear waste storage facilities on the territory or for you were very much against that but now as i understand this facilities are going to be built after old geezer that they will prevent resid

we've had to deploy unit or escalates a number of help you want to see us be able to disarm and deescalate and often our deputies and our one fte that's used for eviction assistance is usually the representative in trying to explain to someone, you know, we're you need to go to seek those resources or you need to go to get this information if someone want to do what they can to stave off the eviction or, you know, seek housing somewhere else often we're the people that are the shoulder that people are relying on strangely same time there being a evicted. i want to try to do what we can to evaluate within the perimeters of what the law requires of us so that point of stress i've done ride along these to see what it like when someone is being evicted and someone says you're going to have to carry me out in the body bag that in and of itself necessity at that time something you can see the zip codes despite the master order of 2 thousand orders in 2013 there were 5 hundred less evictions carried out only 14 or 15 hundred maybe pledged based on streams of intervention and one hundred and 6 of

the decision to deescalate, i tip my cap to them. no one should be shot or even tased over these grazing rights. it's not worth it. i'm glad to see the federal government deescalating. this does remind me of the clinton era vintage peak militia paranoia. >> absolutely. the federal government is at war with the people. right. we saw with hillary clinton. we saw it with obama. there was an eight-year gap in between for this, and again, it all comes back, if you take a couple steps back to democrats in the white house, to obama and the ain't government fever. >> do you think there's a dangerous precedent in again, like i think the bureau land management played this correctly in backing down. is there a dangerous precedent that says the law does not get enforced if you can get several hundred people bearing guns to show up and stand in the way of the federal officials who would enforce that law? >> right. but it wasn't just those hundred people. it was the echo machine. it was the right-wing noise machine, and it was the combination of t

. >> deescalation, that's the coal of a diplomatic deal -- goal of a diplomatic deal for the ukraine. the deal was reached in ukraine, here is what it says: >> after announcing the deal secretary of state john kerry called on the russians to stick to it. >> we expect the russian separatists who they have been supporting lay down their arms, leave the buildings and pursue their political objectives through the constitution that the agreement guarantees. >> the white house welcomed the agreement. president obama voiced doubt about the commitment to see it through. >> libby casey reports from the white house. >> president obama not expressing a lot of confidence in the deal, saying he's waiting to see proof that russia is serious about changing the situation on the ground. he said at this point no one is sure of anything, although he used words like hope and promise, and said there is a possibility, a prospect that diplomacy could lead to deescalation. the preference would be for vladimir putin to follow through on a glimmer of hope coming out of the geneva talks, but we are not going to

shoot people and switched science to join the protesters in the town of slavyansk following the deescalation deal struck in geneva the military operation was declared inactive on friday however the army remains poised for action in the town of resume active is still man the barricades across the region that let's have a closer look at bows of sent in to forcefully quell the crowds as well as the regular army the new stablish national guard is in action for the first time concerns over the last two of the ukrainian military and security forces who is the government in kiev to form get another armed runge the national guard is completely independent from the country's army and police its main task being curbing lot of calls terrorism and stamping out of separatism it's largely made up of self-defense units brought about the violent change of power in ukraine radical elements feared to be playing a big part. the new government in kiev setting up a national guard precisely know to incorporate the paramilitary fighters of the right sector into something that would look more like a state organizat

its truth here is operations in eastern ukraine have been suspended following the agreement to deescalate tensions strike in geneva between ukraine russia the e.u. and the u.s. troops continue setting up checkpoints in the area around the town of is ume not far from there in the town of slovyansk activists reportedly captured a local t.v. station and put russian channels banned by kiev back on the air and also made them available to people living in another town where journalist graham phillips talked with the locals for us. now here kramatorsk outside this occupied administrative building in the center which has been in the hands of these anti kiev government activists since last weekend in the week we've seen developments involving the ukrainian army nearby coming into the city of locals tony at standing against their armored vehicles of course followed by defections will go also not seen in terms of developments is something rather interesting coming into the information war by when the kiev government came to power in a coup but we came to february twenty second twenty third one of th

>> i think deescalating is unfortunately not where we're at. probably russian prime minister demetri medvedev had it best when he said in a facebook posting today that ukraine is, quote, on the brink of civil war. i think more or less that's unfortunately where we stand. and while ukraine is perhaps understandably from the point of view of the united states acting to restore its control over disputed parts of eastern ukraine, that certainly seems to be having the effect of further inflaming the russians. >> i think what one of the oddest and strangest dimensions to this is the fact that some of the militants in eastern ukraine are quite clearly russian, but they are denying their allegiance to any particular country or military. a local newspaper editor, i believe his name is victor butko, was quoted in "the new york times" saying a green man was in my office yesterday. he stood right there. he was a russian and a russian officer and i am certain of it. i lived 66 years in this town and i know these men were not from my town. there's a headline

. >> i think there is the possibility, a prospect that diplomacy may deescalate the situation. >> it is absolutely clear now that what is important is that these words are translated immediately into actions. >> we'll have a live report from ukraine. and we'll discuss the potential for new sanctions if separatist forces refuse to stand down with russia's ambassador to the u.s. it's a "fox news sunday" exclusive. >>> then, the president says obamacare is working. and the laws critics should move on.]pa&hc& our sunday panelÑi weighs in. plus, the frances effect. a look at the catholic church's leader in his first year. >> he touches people and he shows them a face of the church that's always been there that hasn't always been quiteÑi as evident. >> the archbishopçó ofÑi washin cardinal done arald world joins and our power player of the week. of the year. it was the large eflt distillery in the uioed Ñistates. >> all right now on "fox news sunday." and hello again. happy easter from foxñr news in washington. añr deadly gun battle at a checkpoint in eastern ukraine broken the fragile tru

its truth appears operations in eastern ukraine have been suspended following the agreement to deescalate tensions struck in geneva between ukraine russia the us and the e.u. though troops continue setting up checkpoints in an area concentrated around the town of zoom not far away in slovyansk kiev activists have reportedly captured a local t.v. station and put russian channels back on the air that after they've been banned by here they also made the channels available to people living in another town where journalist graham phillips went to speak with locals. now here come a torch guy inside this occupied it ministers a building in the center which has been in the hands of these anti kiev government activists since last weekend in the week we've seen developments involving the ukrainian army nearby coming into the city of locals tony at stan the against the armored vehicles of course followed by defections what we've also not seen in terms of developments is something rather interesting connected to the information war i when the kiev government came to power in a coup that we came to fe

we have stated again and again that our preference is deescalation and a diplomatic solution, but russia should not for a single solitary second mistake the expression of that pre -- at nate toe last week and in all of my conversations of the past weeks it is clear that the united states and our closest partners are united in this effort despite the costs and willing to put in effect tough new sanctions on those orchestrating this action and on key sectors of the russian economy. on energy, banking, mining, they are all on the table. and president obama has signed an executive order to implement these actions if russia does not end its pressure and aggression on ukraine. now let me make an equally important statement. it doesn't have to be this way, but it will be this way if russia continues down this provacative path. in my conversation yesterday, with foreign minister lavrov we agreed to meet soon in europe, next week, with ukraine and our european partners to discuss deescalation, demobilization, inclusivity, support for elections and constitutional reform, and it is not in our judgm

here today made it clear that the preference of nato, the preference of all of us is to see a deescalation, to find a diplomatic route in order to be able to work hopefully, ultimately together to strengthen the possibilities of ukrainions making their own choices about ukraine in the fumpt that's the goal -- future. that's the goal. at the same time it's important for everyone in the tworld understand that the n.a.t.o. -- world to under that the n.a.t.o. alliance tags seriously an attempt to change borders by use of force. so that is the wake-up call. as a result people have made a commitment to strengthen missiblely, as a matter of deterrence and a matter of reality, the deployment and efforts of those who are members of this alliance. with respect to the - the deescalation, we were happy that yesterday russia made app announcement - vladimir putin made the announcement initially, that they'd move a battalion back, and that's obviously small compared to the numbers deployed but it is a welcome gesture in the right direction. the question now is will they be able to build on that to move