they have to take cover in donetsk right now. the firing - they were unaware of where it was coming from. tense situations in eastern ukranian cities much the operation appears to have begun. more on the situation, of course, when we find out more. >>> now, since the war in gaza started, there has been a few incidents where small rockets from fired towards israel towards lebanon. a man identified has been arrested for the attacks. he was injured whilst setting off a rocket. we went to lebanon's border with israel and met his family. >> reporter: as he walks the streets, a border village of israel and southern lebanon, people rush to check on this man's brother, who is in a prison hospital. >> translation: we are all very proud of him. he did his duty and should be released. >> reporter: this is where he launched his rockets from. there was one rocket launcher under the tree, another over there, a third one under that tree. there were six rockets in total. three reached israel, one of them exploded prematurely and injured and two

we are are joined live from donetsk. tell us about the situation and whether the bombing is companying right now. the shelling is turning. i'm tell you a bit about where i am at the moment. i'm close to donetsk raily station, that is where it appears the heart of the fighting and the battle is taking place. we understand, and i spoke to separatist commander on the ground, that his forces, he said they are trying to hold a line of donetsk, trying to stop ukranian forces from entering donetsk at the western bus station. this is a massive city of around 1 million residents. in the past three weeks, around 300 have fled from the city. this is a major city in eastern ukraine, and the ukranian army, it appears came from the airport where they were held up since may and took the fight to the separatists. what the ukrainians appeared to do or tried to do is breach the lines of the separatists and get into the center of donetsk. >>> now, the ukranian president a few days ago approved a special army operation for dong esque and lu

richard is standing by in donetsk for us now. what can you tell us about this latest fighting that we're getting reports of? >> clive, we're near the railway station in donetsk city. we heard an ex ploplosioexplosi. there's been pro russian separatist, rebels and ukrainian army. it seems the ukrainian army moved out or some forces moved out from the airports which they control towards this area. certainly exchanges of artillery fire. at one point sounded like multiple rocket launchers. the separatist rebels have rushed in reinforcements. we have seen bus loads of fighters going on, tanks moving in this area and armored personnel carriers. it seems what the army lanched is a pretty serious operation. what we don't know is what the goal is at this moment. >> sure. is the suggestion that if the fighting is taking off again and getting worse that that could make it difficult for investigators to get near the site of the plane downed a few days ago? >> in some specks, yes. donetsk is a kind of natural base for international teams to c

>> well, we're hearing from the donetsk people's republic. now this is the breakaway region of eastern ukraine, pro-russian separatists control the area in which the plane went down. so it i think they who have been the first on the screens, and what we're hearing from the donetsk people's republic deputy prime minister is many children are dead. we're hearing everyone who was on board has died. there are body parts scattered around a 15-kilometer area around the crash site. and reuters are also saying that at least 100 bodies have been seen there. so it's sounding like it's a very, very grizzly scene on the ground where this plane came down. burning wreckage of an airplane. already we are seeing the finger of blame being pointed backwards and forwards. and the ukrainians are saying the pro-russian separatists shot it down with a bulk ground to air missile. and the pro-russian separatistings say they don't have that kind of weaponry. we simply don't have such of systems. that was from the donetsk people's republic prime minister special repre

joined live from donetsk.re is the ukranian army's progress on retaking donetsk. >> well, on different fronts they are closer than on other fronts to the south and the west. ukranian army has been very close to this city for some time. the big push at the moment appears to be coming down from the north, and there they have some way to go. there's a down, horlifka, 30km from the center of donetsk, controlled by separatists. the separatists also control a large swathe of territory to the east, connecting donetsk crucially to the russian border. our colleague you were hearing from is in that stretch of territory and they are making progress. it's not quite an enclave. there is a sense that the separatist position is increasingly embattled, that they are on the back food. >> what are people doing as all this shelling and fighting is going on around them. people that remained in their homes, how are they coping? >> well, most people have not remained in their homes. that's the first point to make. it may be as many

the mood has been changing in donetsk. a couple of months ago russian propaganda, the people were extremely cautious about embracing ideas of freedom and democracy. we are ready to give people more freedom but also more responsibility. now they started -- the mood in crimea has been changing considerably. a lot of people got to understand is going nowhere. it's a dead-end. of course it's about our commitment, but it's also about commitment of the whole international community, ukraine, to its independence, to inviability, also commitment to help. and we feel this commitment exactly right now. unfortunately, it took also such tragic cases like shutting down malaysian airlines airplane. around the globe from the beginning how to legislate unrestricted access to the site of the crash, how to carry out fully transparent and effective investigation. we set up a team not from our -- not only from our authorities but also the best international gift. dutch representative, malaysian representatives, our friends and partners from t

donetsk -- in donetsk, pro-russian rebels are promising to put up a fight. >> this ridge near the eastern town of donetsk was blown up earlier on monday -- this bridge near the eastern town of donetsk was blown up earlier on monday. it could be part of the rebel efforts to slow down any attempts by the government forces. pro-russian rebel forces are vowing to stand firm in donetsk despite losing other strongholds to the ukrainian troops over the weekend. the ukrainian government has released footage of its soldiers entering and retaking slovyansnk. later, soldiers are shown to subdue and detained several men in police uniforms. the troops handed out food and promised to help get life back to normal soon. a similar scene in -- seen nearby -- a similar scene nearby. >> the president allows the raising of the flag. he congratulates the soldiers. mr. president, we have cleaned out all entrances to the town that were mined. the cleanup has begun after ukrainian troops evicted the pro-russian rebels. despite the superior firepower of the ukrainian for sirs, -- ukrainian forces, it could be much

let's bring in ivan watson in donetsk. this is a crime scene happening in the middle of a war. >> reporter: that's absolutely true. with residents here in this separatist controlled city i'm in called donetsk, describing shelling continuing throughout the night in the northern edges of the city and throughout the day on monday, we heard the constant rumble of artillery and witnessed, saw some civilian neighborhoods, residential neighborhoods hit by artillery that appeared to have come from ukrainian government military positions with eyewitnesses telling us that several civilians were killed as a result of what looked like indiscriminate shelling that clearly raised fear among the population here, which is greatly diminished. this city is largely empty at this time. it does not look like a normal city. the streets are largely empty. we saw terrified people bidding farewell to their children, their wives, sending them on the train to moscow, out of the war zone and to safety on monday. again, that underscores the complicate

ivan watson live in donetsk.o much. >>> the trains have now arrived in the ukrainon controlled city of kharkiv. the bodies will be processed, then flown to the netherlands. the pain and anger is unrelentling. >> i'm angry about the whole situation. i'm not only angry with the rebellion but also the ukraine government who was too weak not to be able to silence the rebellion. i hope president obama finds a way to punish the responsible people for this act. >> nick paton walsh is live for us. this is a complicated and heart breaking operation that these officials have to do here to get these bodies back home to the netherlands. what can you tell us is happening now? >> reporter: i'm standing outside the territory where the process will happen. the train arrived in kharkiv and the bodies will be put in coffins, then in planes that will fly them back to the netherlands. the place i'm at now, we saw the train arrive an hour and a half ago. one of the railway stations in kharkiv, on the ground, what used to be a tank fa

they have now returned to donetsk.parate developments, ukraine's army says it is continuing to make advances against positions held by pro-russian separatists. now, these pictures are from social media, but they seem to show government forces close to the main rubble stronghold of donetsk. the army has reclaimed a string of key towns in the past few weeks as they attempt to cut the alleged supply routes from russia. however, civilian casualties continue to mount. local authorities in the second rebel stronghold of luhansk says one civilian was killed and ten injured in the fighting in the past 24 hours. tom burridge joins us now from kharkiv. let's talk about the attempt to get to the mh-17 crash site, another attempt and another failure. >> sure, clear frustration, i think, for all the international monitors going with those dutch forensic experts, trying to reach the crash site, that large area of country side to the east of donetsk for the fourth day running and being turned back. we believe they were turned back at

there has also been other fighting going on between donetsk and the russian border. we know that there are other civilian casualties, possibly as many as seven. it's a tension situation here around donetsk because this is where there is an impending and expected battle of some sort between the ukrainian army who has been advancing as well as all of the spraift fighters who have been bunkered in, if you will inside donetsk city. right now, very tension on the outside as this movement comes forward. we can confirm on sunday there was fighting going on. >>> still to come on al jazeera taking security into their hand, the kenyan villagers using bows and arrows to protect themselves plus. >> i am tania page reporting from musutu, a land locked country, selling trout into the japanese market. ♪ >> well, back. you are watching al jazeera. here is reminder the top stories. is you's prime minister says his schmitt ready for all possibilities in gaza. the offensive could take a long time. the palestinian territory has been attacked for six days, 167 people have been killed. ro

shakhtar donetsk faced its arch rival kiev. the match is known as the ukrainian derby and attracts millions of fans in the country. reigning champions shakhtar donetsk have won five straight ukrainian titles. but this year players face big challenges trying to retain their title. the political and financial crisis off the pitch has dealt a heavy blow to the league's 14 clubs. four of them play in the donetsk area, currently controlled by pro-russian rebels. shakhtar donetsk plays their matches shorthanded. one argentine and five players from brazil have refused to travel to ukraine after a malaysia airlines flight was shot down. brazilian douglas cosa said on his instagram account that all players run a deadly risk if we are in the region. his coach has also expressed concern. >> it destroyed this town, destroyed the life of the poor people, innocent. i don't know why they aren't arriving at the understanding of each other and to make the right decision. it's impossible to do such a thing in europe. >> reporter: the team has ma

let's get more now from barnaby phillips who joins us live from donetsk.arnaby, get us up to date on where you are right now. what's happening? >> reporter: what we hearing is that the ukrainian army is advancing to the north of donetsk, and, also, in areas to the east, possibly with the intention of trying to cut the city off from the russian border. of course, that would be a vital blow for the army if they were to succeed in that regard. specifically, what we have been hearing about is fighting near an important town, a place called holeska, 30 kilometers north ofdon done. there are reports that holitska wasshelled this afternoon. both sides are plablaming each other, the separatist and the government army for what happened. the government is saying that something like a dozen civilians were killed including two clirn. on social media, there are reports that more civilians were killed. 20, maybe as many as 30, and some of the photographs on social media, i have to tell you, are absolutely horrific, and this emphasizes that there is a very nasty war goin

natalie reports from donetsk. >> reporter: in donetsk the shelling continues. the smoke is rising close to apartment blocks built in the soviet era. many of them are empty. emergency workers here estimate more than half of the city's population has gone. that's almost 600,000 people. this is why they're leaving. a shell landed next to the school. it was emptied because of the holidays. like many here, it's caretaker says she can't understands why ukraine is at war. >> translator: we're really in shock. ukrainians and russians lived and worked together peacefully. we didn't even think about our nationalities. now we're just thinking about how to survive. >> reporter: more civilians are dying in this conflict than soldiers. hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured. now human rights watch is accusing ukrainian forces of firing ground rockets on people's homes. the elderly couple that live here were watching television when the rocket hit their apartment. i can show you how luck it were to survive. you can see the gaping hole in their rooftop. both

donetsk is a dying city.the majority of shops, businesses, factories, cinemas in the city center have closed. people have left because they fear the worst. some are going west to government-controlled areas. some are going east to russia. >> these people are going to the russian city of rovt of and will come back when things are better. obvious in kiev -- over in kiev, an abandoned cement factory is a shelter for 200 people that fled from the war zone, including sasha, who felt he had to move for the sake of his daughter, anna. >> there is a real war there. massive shelling, my daughter is disabled and is more relaxed now that we are out of it. >> back at donetsk station, more goodbyes. nobody knows when they'll see friends and family again. nobody imagined ukraine's crisis would come to this. >>> australian police have arrived in ukraine to help secure the crash site of the malaysian airliner shot down 10 days ago. they are joining a dutch-led security force in the eastern city of kharkiv. 28 australians wer

i r ivan watson live for us from donetsk. thanks, ivan. we want to show you this huge explosion which shook gaza city this morning. take a look. now this happened about two hours ago. a towering plume of smoke rising to the sky there. several large explosions followed. the cause of the blasts is undetermined. >> and shells hit a hospital in central gaza on monday killing five people. israel's military says a crash of missiles stored near the hospital was the target and accused hamas of putting civilians near the line of fire. >> 583 palestinians have been killed in the conflict. most of them civilians. 27 israeli soldiers and two israeli civilians have died. cnn's martin savidge is joining us live from jerusalem. the objective of the mission is to destroy the tunnels and stop the rockets from coming in from gaza. but is there any indication how long this operation will last given the death toll continues to rise? >> well it does indicate if the goal is to destroy all of the tunnels it's going to take some time merely by the fact they are s

on sunday, thousands rallied in donetsk. >> i would take up arms tomorrow. better to die on a barricade than be under the ukrainian hoof. >> warner: but officials in kiev claim the military now controls nearly two-thirds of the two regions where rebels had declared independence. they also say they've secured all road border crossings with russia, to try to prevent more russian equipment and forces from entering. in washington today, senators pressed for u.s. new sanctions against russia. but assistant secretary of state victoria nuland repeated the administration's preference to act in concert with the europeans. >> we are continuing to prepare the next round of sanctions. as we have said repeatedly and as the president has said, these sanctions will be more effective they will be stronger if the u.s. and europe work together. >> warner: meanwhile, as the battlefield balance seems to tips it's way, the kiev government is taking a harder line, declaring that any talks on a new cease-fire will begin only when the rebels disarm. >> woodruff: and margaret joins

barnaby phillips there from donetsk, thanks for that.t fighting has forced investigators hoping to get to the site of the downed malaysia airli airline difficult. nazarene sent this report. >> reporter: the damage to the first class cabin and the cockpit has been appalling since we were here almost a week ago. there are papers strewn all over the place from the pilot's cases. flight plans just blowing in the wind. this place is just completely unguarded, the ukrainians and the separatists are battling close by. we have heard shelling in the distance. the investigators have been unable to get here so far. but we have seen holes in the metal of the aircraft which appear to show that shrapnel did hit the aircraft in places. they will be very interested in that, and also to see if there were any remanents of explosives as well. they will need that to work out what kind of missile did bring down airliner mh17. >>> the european union is set to impose its most punishing sanctions yet over the crisis in ukraine. russ russia's financial sectors w

donetsk is a dying city. the ma rt jo of shops and businesses and factories and cinemas here in the city center have all closed. people have left because they fear the worst. some are going west to government-controlled areas. some are going east to russia. these people are going to the russian city, and they say they'll come back whether things are better. over in kiev, an abandoned cement factory is now a shelter for 200 that just fled from the war zone, including sasha who felt he had to move for his sake of his daughter, anna. >> translator: there's a real war there. lots of shelling. my daughter is disabled and she's much more relaxed now that we're out of there. >> reporter: back at donetsk station, more good-byes. nobody knows when they will see friends and family again. who would imagine ukraine's crisis would come to this? >>> still to come here on this news hour, we meet a former cuban revolutionary who made his own museum in a key event in the history. in sports find out who is in the final. >> wha

let's get more now from barnaby phillips who joins us live in donetsk. now, barnaby, explain to us where exactly you are and what's happening. >> reporter: i in the center of donetsk, which is still very firmly under separatist control, but it does seem that the ukrainian government army has been making advances, of course, they have been very close to dondon on the south and the west for some time, but they are now pushing forward to the north and, indeed, in areas to the east, and that's important because at the moment, dondon is connected in one contiguous area to the russian border and the sectors control that entire area. if the ukrainian army were to be able to cut this city off from the russian border, that would be a major coup. now, in your introduction, you were talking about the latest fighting, in a place called holivka, a town that as far as we know is controlled by the separatists, about 30 kilometers north of here it was shelled today. and as you said, at least 13 sillians, including two children, were killed. some of the pictures on socia

and he's now pushed back to donetsk.e know he's russian and he feersd side the self-proclaimed prime minister of donetsk in the '90s. that's the breakaway republic in moldova. they were both friends from then. and they both appeared in crimea, when crimea was being annexed with the newly appointed there. i was there at the time of his appointment and his adviser then popped up in donetsk a couple of months later as an adviser to alexander borodai. and all of these men are russian. and the question is, how much are they following the kremlin's orders. and when you ask them, i asked mr. borodai, do you speak to vladimir putin, he said, no, i have no contact with mr. putin. they position themselves as having really come to ukraine of their own free will to support those people in the east who want to stay affiliated and close to russia, presumably believing in this sort of grander idea. so i think it's not particularly controversial to hear from the head of intelligence that it say russian and intelligently trained russian

, and if so, was it wise to begin military action in donetsk this morning? >> the key priority for us is to recover the bodies. to collect all evidences of these crime. as i already said, we recovered 272 bodies. 251 of which are already loaded in the refrigerators. we facilitated how to deliver these bodies to any distant nation which is needed, including capital kiev or amsterdam as i already said. in amsterdam we can get perfect forensic expertise as our dutch partners can provide well-equipped facilities. there is no indication of any kind of military activity or counter terrorist operation at the area of crash site. we do understand our responsibility because the key priority is to collect all evidences and to have thorough investigation. >> reporter: sir, how long are the negotiations going on? how do they happen with the discussion of the terrorists or whatever you call them. and the train can move as soon as possible, what's the timetable for that and how are you talking to them and who is talking to them? >> we have just lost the line there to the p

with more accounts from donetsk which is on the brink of becoming a war zone here's our correspondent i'm on cost of half. eastern ukraine homes ablaze cars riddled with bullets this is what locals here have been waking up to day after day for the past several weeks and the human cost of the sustained government assault has been steadily rising but by junior that children have been genuine in waiting for them some you know maybe ten year book by them i don't you know you have right here with many hundreds killed since the ukrainian army's operation began half a million have already packed up their belongings and fled across the border to russia but for those who stayed on constant reminders that nobody is safe from these dogs. we've been hiding here for two months already sharing can start any time so monday i went outside to some water and it was a miracle that we survived we had to hide from shells this plant is behind in lunch every single moment we're afraid to die i don't netsky is one of ukraine's largest cities home to a million people many caught in the crossfire between and f

phil black live in donetsk.> a day of mourning has been declared in the netherlands today as the first wave of victims on the attack on flight mh-17 leave ukraine. right now in the air on the way to the netherlands. turns out there were 200 bodies on those death trains leaving donetsk meaning the remains of nearly 100 other people on the doomed jetliner are still missing. nick paton walsh has beens with all morning from kharkiv, ukraine. he's there on the tarmac as you see the c-130s are very referrer rently being loaded with coffins. nick, what's happening there? >> reporter: well, christine, the flight in the last hour, we saw the bodies now we're told by ukrainian officials yesterday that 50, the first 50 to depart today. since we've been standing here, another cargo plane has arrived. basically there are two on the tarmac. we think one is much larger capacity than the c-130 transport plane still stands here. and a second plane will be taking off with all bodies on it. on the tarmac, a somber ceremony -- ukra

we hope that they will not bomb donetsk. but other hopes are weak. >> reporter: as the train pulls out of the station, the next time they speak the situation on the ground in donetsk could be completely different. >> we have a sense from your report of how people are feeling, a sense of shock, a sense of panic. what are the separatists doing? >> well, the separatists part of doing that story, very tense border check points. we went through the first one fairly tense. outgoing firing and it was a very tense moment there as we turned around and came back for the city. as we came back in that checkpoint that we went through before they had become very tense. we went around the northern side of the city, too. there were check points. as we saw in that report the railroad station, the northern side of the city. we heard thumping of mortar rounds going out. very tense and very surreal twist. the fighters here in town, hundreds of them here they're holding a dance, a mixer at lenin square behind me. it's very tense and that perimet

donetsk is a dying city. the majority of shops and businesses and factories, and cinemas in the city center have closed. people have left because they fear the worst. some are going west to government controlled areas. some are going east to russia. >>> these people are going to the russian city of rost of and say they'll come back when things are better. in kiev, an abandoned cement factory is a shelter for 200 people who fled. including this man who left for the sake of his tauter. >> translation: there's a real war, a lot of shelling. my daughter is disabled. she's relaxed. over it. >> back at donetsk station, more goodbyes. nobody knows when they'll see friends and family. no one imagined ukraine's crisis would come to this. >> the u.n. peacekeeping mission in mali discovered the second black box from the alaljeery crash. it may hold information about the jet's final moment and information about why it went down. french soldiers arrived at the crash site. 118 on board the airliner were killed on tuesday.

have fled to donetsk to join the battle there. more onespondent has the upcoming ukrainian offenses. ukrainian offensive. >> just this morning we have had reports that the town has been retaken. obviously the big story here is the strategic repeat, as the separatists call it, to the regional capital. the ukrainian army has so far said it plans to locate them, but both sides are consolidating their position. of threee been reports bridges entering donetsk that were yesterday blown up by separatists. the ukrainian army has been very careful so far to present itself invasion.ate force of the two towns, especially done yes, -- especially donetsk, a city of one million, are expected to hide behind the cover of a massive amount of civilians, so there is the fear of a high number of civilian casualties. thatkrainian army is clear it does not intend to carpet bomb, to indiscriminately destroy parts of the city. of they that perhaps 25% population there supports the separatist cause, so they do not want to give them any reason to be portra

it claims that the russian separatists in donetsk had overtaken on june 29th a missile base in the donetsk area that had buk missile systems at that army base. they overtook it from the ukrainian army and as we reported the ukraine military did with buk missiles. they fly up to 72,000 feet. we are now learning that the donetsk rebels in fact overtook an army base that had some of these missiles on site. it's not clear whether these missile systems were intact. whether they were usable. how many they had. it certainly is curious that some three weeks later there are reports that a buk missile may have been what brought down the malaysian flight 17. it's notable that on june 29th, the rebels in fact overtook this base and they were bragging about it through what is an arm of the russian government. shep? >> jennifer griffin at the pentagon. good information. john bussey from "the wall street journal," if this is the case and russian missiles are responsible for this i heard them speaking from gretchen's studio a minute ago. whatever leverage vladimir putin thought he had, it's over. >> a lot

now they're defending sloviansk and donetsk. what do they do in terms of donetsk and how do they make of the situation they're in. i've be been speaking to alexander. that's not his real name. he puts himself forward for the spokesman of the donetsk republic. >> he promised to get rid of any separatists in a week or two. it's now, what three months, and we're still here. you know, to this moment, the situation in the area is a stalemate. >> they've been taken back by government forces. they're going to do the same thing with donetsk. >> i would say a victory of the army wasn't planned to retreat. there's just no point of defendi defendi defendi defending. most forces here are called to regroup to come up with a plan. i think the next move will be an attack. >> an attack by your forces you say? >> yeah. >> right. in which direction? are you still getting material, support armed men coming from russia? >> i can't say much about it. from what i've seen, most of the arms are coming from donetsk region. most are ex ukrainian weapons.

or bam barred donetsk. this is officially ukrainian position, so we are not going to do that, because ukrainian government would like to spare the lives of civilians, so i think that the best way for ukrainian officials side to do is to separate terrorists from support from a broad -- and propose amnesty to some of them. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> still to come, al shabab said it carried out two attacks in kenya in which 22 were killed, but not everyone thinks they did it. we have the details. >> as malawi celebrates independence, we ask what has been achieved. >> the race blown wide open at the british grand prix. details coming up in sport. ort. >> now inroducing, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. a global perspective wherever you are. the major headlines in context. mashable says... you'll never miss the latest news >> they will continue looking for suvivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no c

been discovered at the sites and said these technical elements had now been taken to the city of donetsk and they are now on their guard and he said here all. somebody tampering there with this evidence so they will be kept under guard until international experts do get here and to go elements will only be be given to those international experts that is once they arrive from he. meanwhile russia's president has called for the safety of everybody involved in the investigation to be assured acosta has more on what led him or putin to say the russian president wants to ensure that there is a fourth or an objective investigation and to make sure that happens it's important to ensure of course the safety of all the observers axworthy international investigators who are there about to start investigating the scene of the crash was stupid you've got to it's important that all the people who are accountable for the situation in this region of ukraine are more responsible both for their own citizens and people of those countries who suffered as a result of the tragedy we need to do everything we

let them try to come to donetsk. they will see that war is just starting. >> it is still unclear how much of a loss it represents for the insurgency. beetsk was the first to declared the people's republic. -- to beple's republic declared a people's republic. >> there is nowhere else to go. >> after almost three months of fighting, it is the first time government forces have been -- have managed to take back a key rebel stronghold. pro-russian rep -- residents are calling for help from the neighbor. they will address allegations in london that there was a ring of child abusers in the british parliament during the 1970's and 1980's. the home secretary will also tell mps about a second review over whether her department failed to act on claims of a pedophile ring back in the 1980's. pedophiles in parliament? whirleions have world -- d for decades. they are facing growing pressure to open an inquiry into whether politicians from the 1970's and 1980's abused children and covered it up. this comes after it was revealed tha

donetsk is one of with two regions declaring independence from kiev. the second, luhansk is rallyingy as troops struggle the to stop the separatists. ukraine's president petro porashenko is returning his president to the path towards europe. last week he signed an agreement with e.u. opening trade. telephone negotiations between petro porashenko, his european allies, and russia's president vladimir putin were not enough to keep kiev from acting. putin says the ukrainian president bore a full responsibility for the latest violence, and pledged to defend russian speaking citizens. >> president petro porashenko... unfortunately president petro porashenko made a decision to commence operations. >> reporter: the russian foreign miles per hourry is calling for you -- foreign ministry is calling to ukraine to continue the ceasefire, adding that the authorities do not care about the fate of small children. with the war of words escalating with the fighting on the ground, russian diplomats joined foreign ministers from germany, france and ukraine on wednesday i

today it's under fire. >> he's there in donetsk.the big questions asked at the moment is whether or not there will be further sanctions against russian say. we have more on that. >> absolutely. all eyes on europe because the ball is really much in europe's court now increasing the pressure on putin. the leaders of britain, france and germany are preparing to impose tougher sanctions on russia. international shock and anger has intensified over the shooting down of flight mh 17. last week the u.s. imposed the most serious sanctions to date against moscow. foreign ministers will meet to discuss what sanctions should be taken. stephanie discusses why she thinks new sanctions will be hard. >> it's harder than most know. they have a strong economic tie with them also strong energy vulnerability. france of course has the defense relationship with russia and going to be furnishing the warship by october to russia. that's not being talked about a lot publicly but definitely talked about many brussels. that's not on the negotiating table at

here's the quote: the people -- donetsk people's run, the top military commander, wrote the followingn the russian version of facebook: we just downed an an26 transport plane near torez. down near the progress mines, which is where this jet went down. the vk page attributeed to igor, the rebels shot down another an26 on june 14th and killed 49 service members. so, that is two different people with these rebels who first said they shot down a ukrainian transport plane, then deleted their post when they found out it was actually a passenger shut from malaysia airlines. in addition, these rebels are saying we can't do that because we don't have any of these weapons that you're talking about. these weapons they say the missile that went up and took down the jet, we don't have those. not true. jennifer griffin reports, and others have commented, that they took over a military base in ukraine where these specific missiles are located. jennifer griffin is in washington now with more information. >> in fact we just retrieved a deleted tweet from the donetsk run, the official twitter page of t

coming up in program push be to donetsk. pushing in to the city currently held by pro-russian separatists. >>> anger, frustration, desperation. we look at the plight of the central africa republic's food supplies become increasingly scarce. ♪ ♪ >>> we begin in gaza where a temporary truce between hamas and israel came in to effect just over two hours ago. the short humanitarian paws paue comes after 19 days of violence in which at least 900 palestinians have dimed take a look adied.take a look at the s. you can still see smoke rising above the roof tops but there is also traffic to the street. the israeli military says this paws, thipause, this lull wouldt 8:00 and end in 12 hours. but it also said that its operational activity to his locate and neutral tunnels in the gaza strip will continue. nevertheless, an opportunity for people to get out. to get supplies in for perhaps the first time in several days. compare it to this. this was what was happening, there you go, in the minutes leading up to the ceasefire where activity

donetsk people hoping the night will pass. >>> we move just north of donetsk now where we find our senior correspondent in the kharkiv. matthew, good morning you do. osce and other officials now turned back three days in a row because of the clashes near the crash site. will they make another attempt today? what will it take to at least hold the gunfire so they can at least access the crash location? >> that is a good question. and our understanding that for a fourth successive day the international investigators, the dutch and australian team here and has been trying under the escort to get to the site will again attempt to make that journey to that area, despite the fact there's been fierce fightings, we just heard in that report raging around the area. not specifically in the crash site itself but in the towns very close to it. overnight the united states again calling on russia to use its influence with the pro russian rebels that control the crash site at the moment to allow as much unfettered access to those international investigators as well. the security situation has not allowed

donetsk people hoping this fight will pass. nick peyton walsh, cnn, donetsk. >>> matt through walsh is in the city. he joins us live. you're near the site. at what point will they be able to get there, do you think? >> reporter: that's a good question, max. that's not one that the inspectors are able to answer. they tried for through consecutive days. we heard in the report that you just broadcast that the fierce fighting around the crash site though not at the crash site itself. our vantage point is that that fighting is still continuing. the united states overnight has called on the russian government to use all of its influence to put pressure on the pro russian rebels to allow unfettered access to the international investigators who were divided between the city of donetsk and here. it's not just the rebels engaged in a military confrontation right now. the military forces are also trying to retake territory from the pro russian rebels. that's underway as well. and while that fighting takes place in the region around the ge

what is happening regarding ordinary civilians in the town of donetsk? >> well many of them have run away. by some estimates as many as 600,000 out of a population of 1 million. you can see from the figure that people are spread frightened, yet the city center is calm, spooky, i would say. almost deserted on a sunday. shops, businesses have been closed for many weeks. factories have been closed. there's some naturalality. buses and trolleys run. public offices are working. and there is still some degree of connectivity with the rest of the country. i know that sounds strange, but trains are running on a daily basis. that's the way many leave the city. the train timetable has been disrupted at times, particularly over the past 36 hours because of fighting down the line, but the city authorities were keen to tell us as of midday today trains are running as normal. it is a city that is under siege in some ways, but it's not completely surrounded and there are escape routes for the time being. >>> interesting stuff. thank you for that barnaby phillips, updat

the ukrainian army has told aljazeera that they are starting their offensive on donetsk.nd the separatists have told aljazeera that they're going to defend the city to the last man. i spoke to a military spokesperson, of donetsk people's republic here, and here's what he had to say. >> interpreter: it's true, with us the russians military help, but until now, we have not received any. you need to understand that our enemy, the ukrainians, are not only using all of their power, but also the power of nato, and that's why we ask russia to help us against this military machine. if we had the support that you are speaking about from russia, we would have beat them by now. >> he's denying that he's having any russian support. but many here would disagree with him. in the past few months, since april, the u.s. embassy in kiev, said that the separatists have shot down around 19 ukrainian aircraft, between hospitals, and transporter planes and fighter jets, clearly they have a lot of heavy weaponry here. >> thank you. >> well, tens of thousands of frightened civilians have been ab

when you were in donetsk, were they controlling above?imeter outside the city dat -- and they do control. there is an air base just to the south of the airport that the rebels reported having taken control of. this may be something that proves critical in the story. at the time they claimed they had taken control of the air defense regiment, and it included missiles. those claims are being wiped from the record. this is part of the information war we have seen from ukraine the last few months. they are now claiming that is not the case. >> ryan chilcote said in a lot of finger-pointing is going on and this will go on for next days, probably several weeks. how does this get resolved? >> that is a very good question. i think if the rebels and do own after having been behind the strike -- let's be clear, we do not know that this plane has gone down as a result of the missile strike -- if they claim they were responsible, that will be huge for them in russia. >> mike mckee joining us with breaking news. michael? >> the black boxes from malays

hundreds of fighters flooded south to donetsk. the city's largest concern over casualties is greater. the ukranian army will need a different battle plan. three bridges on main roads into donetsk were blown up. this one 30km north. the ukranian army leaves the scene of one battlefield as victors, but heads into a new one, that could have different rules. . >> the anti-government fighters in ukraine are trying to barricade themselves inside the eastern city of donetsk. the pictures are said to show a group of armed men stealing a world war ii tank from the local war museum in donetsk. the men say they have the expertise to make it battle ready again. >>> still to come - bringing electricity to the masses - the renewable energy project offering a ray of hope. plus... >> after the injury of a star striker, nervous brazilians face germany with hope. >> it's a chilling and draconian sentence... it simply cannot stand. >> its disgraceful... the only crime they really committed is journalism... >> they are truth seekers... >> all they re

you know, luhansk, donetsk and sort of a large suburb of donetsk is nearly 2 million people, and thenarge swath of territory that takes up a chunk of the russian border in the southeast of ukraine. so, you know, the ukrainian military has said that they halved the territory the rebels control. that might be a little bit of an overstatement but they certainly have staken some substantial ground. but they still have a very serious fight ahead. you know, without the ground troops they would need to come in and take control in a more precise fashion, it's appearing, on artillery and shelling, they are inflicting some civilian damage. >> woodruff: what about claims from the ukrainians there are russians mixed in with the rebels doing the fighting with them? >> it's something we have been following a long time. it's impossible to say whether they're actually commissioned russian military officers. it's not a situation like that, it doesn't seem, but there are certainly many russian passport holders who are among the fighters. how many is unclear but quite a number. >> woodruff: sabrina tave

to safety. >> this is an orphan on the outskirts of donetsk.middle of the night they were evacuated to an orphanage inside donetsk city. >> translation: we went to bed. the bombing starting. it was the scariest thing. >> reporter: the night the children were evacuated a mortar landed outside the orphanage. this orphan grew up. she's a teacher and checks the building every day. >> i hope god will help us, that the children will come back, and we'll have peace in our land. >> while there, stanislav approached us, his mother-in-law's body is in his car. >> she lived on the fourth floor of this building. he came to check in on her and found her charred remains in her bedroom. >> i need to register her death. we need to bury her. i can't find the right authorities. thank goodness my wife is not with me. nine civilians died in two days of shelling. the children got out in time. for the 33 orphans here, it's a peaceful and welcome change. how long will it last. there are hundreds of fighters in donetsk, and the ukranian army is on the move. >> to the

more for nazani in donetske. >> reporter: the sound of shelling rings in the skies of donetske, thislumn of smoke from a burning factory. the airport control tower is on fire. the pro-russian forces try defend the city, sending a artillery and reenforcements to the front line. the ukrainians admit they are trying to surround donetske but say they are not responsible for any civilian deaths in the city. >> translator: the ukrainian army is not responsible for explosions inside the city. we have an order not to allow any air and heavy artillery strikes inside the civil parts of the cities. but we do have evidence that terrorists are launching strikes in order to discredit the ukrainian army. >> reporter: some residential areas have been hit by shells and hundreds of people are taking cover in shelters like this one. many of the women here are wives, of coal miners. much of the work has stopped because of the fighting. they blame the ukrainian government. >> where is the international community? why are they staying silence, look as how many women and children are here. how can they do