let's talk to the vice news reporter from mariupol. tell the us haow you were able o get off. >> we tried to leave the road north. we traveled along without major incidents. the coastal road is apparently blocked. when we tried to approach the town however we were turned back at a check point established by the pro russian sources. it's not entirely clear who they are. some looked like locals. we were not sure where the commander was from. they established a check point on the north side of the town. they were dug in. we were not able to pass. locals were being allowed in and out of the town without problem. he said he was unable to guarantee safety of journalists. it was clear we would not be allowed to travel a along that road. >> does it seem to you pro russian forces are completely in control of the town? >> yes, it would seem that way judging by the size of the check point there judging by the fact the ukrainian forces pulled back. just two days ago we went inside the town itself when it was still under ukrainian control. we were

we're outside of mariupol and this is what you've seen on the ground, paul? >> they're 30 klimters away from mariupol, the city that has been reportedly occupied by russian-led forces, it's 9 or 10 kilometers in, and technically, we're in a no man's land between the two sides here. smoke about an hour ago, and local residents, who are sheltering in bomb shelters, say they believe it came from some kind of a rocket or a shell. and the streets have been largely empty. people, one phrase i've heard, people are sitting on suit cases, ready to leave at a moment's notice. there's grave concern about the motives of the russian troops, and it's quite clear now with the evidence mounting that they have crossed over the ukraine an border. the politicians have stopped tiptoeing around the issue, and they have stopped using the word incursion and are openly using the word, invasion. that's why it's so critical, and we're entering dangerous territory here t if this is categorized as an invasion, what is the next logical step? is this an invasion of war between ukraine and

al jazeera's bren -- paul brennan is live from mariupol. many live it will be the next front. >> tell us about the situation from the ground and the military manoeuvres from both sides. >> the military manoeuvring has been intensifying in the last couple of days. here in mariupol, there's a state of nervous tension, frankly. the reinforcements arrived that the ukranian army promised to bolster defenses to the east of the city, in between the main body, and the town that has been captured and occupied by pro-russian forces. we saw volunteer residents digging with the ukranian army, new trenches on the city limits to try to improve the defenses there. we have not seen with our own eyes russian troops or hardware, but reliable sources that we trust have seen significant numbers of military vehicles moving out of the area, heading north, not towards us in mariupol, but north. one n must presume to engage in combat with the ukranian army somewhere in the border area. as fun as the combat goes, the latest from the military is that they have annou

we drove into mariupol just a few minutes ago. many cars loaded with belongings clearly refugees leaving the city. we're seeing that on the road. >> and so people are trying to get out of town now, are they? >> caller: they are. we were here a few days ago. this is a resort town. we saw people on the beach at that time not terribly worried. there was a flow of traffic out today. i spoke to colleagues near the area and they say the combat in region is ongoing. they saw helicopters which is unusual. ukrainians have not been flying because of threat of missiles. we don't know who these helicopters are. >> who do you think they might be? >>caller: choices are russian or ukrainian. >> so you think they're using helicopters in the mariupol area. >> caller: this is unconfirmed but we have heard, yes. >> we've seen pictures of people in mariupol protesting and demonstrating in support of the kiev government earlier in the week. you say now it's about turning and running, getting out of town. >> caller: people want to get their families to

there will be no mariupol. it will be destroyed. >> this is a conflict with victims on both sides and footage emerging apparently from donetsk shows how ukrainian army efforts to dislarge the separatists are shelling are taking a heavy toll on the civilian population. russia's intentions in ukraine southeast corner remain unclear. but the use of the word "invasion" and the pressure now for a response from ukraine's western allies means a declaration possibly of war becomes very real indeed. paul brennan, al jazeera, mariupol. >> russia was quick to respond to nato with a flat-out denial it has any troops in ukraine. peter sharp reports from moscow. >> without a formal response from the russian parliament that shar is involved in an invision, russian parliament said this is disinformation and issued a blanket denial and said russians troops are not on the ground and never have been on the ground inside ukraine. there was one glimpse of light, i suppose, today, where we learned that the russian general staffs and

and the ukrainian port city of mariupol continued to brace for an attack from pro-russian fighters who have made advances in the area this week. while some residents of mariupol have fled, others have taken to the streets to demonstrate support for the ukrainian government. for the latest we are joined via skype from mariupol, ukraine by james marson of the wall street journal. journal, prisoner exchange is this a signal that tensions are easing? >> well it is seernl siren that the -- seernl a sign that the ukrainians, ground are saying is there have been a huge influx of russian fighters of russian heavy weapons and even of russian regular troops. which is really turned the tide. and suddenly, where ukrainian ue been advancing they are retreating. a lot of soldiers have gotten trapped, become prisoners and several dozens of ukrainian soldiers have been killed. >> there is a russian spokesperson today that said that eastern ukraine should remain part of ukraine. how does a comment play like that in this climate? >> i believe, you are refer to the president's spokesman. because presiden

their objective according to the leader along the coast, the strategic port city of mariupol. in recent weeks, separatists pushed deep into the area. ukrainian battalions fighting here. the tide is turning again. that town is responding. 3,000 fighters from russia are fighting along the separatist troops. they prefer to spend holidays in ukraine rather than on the beach. the nervous government in kiev is calling on nato for help. they'll be meeting in a is summit in whales in a few weeks time. let's speak to david stern keeping on these developments. the idea that a new front is emerging when they perhaps thought they were getting things under control. >> reporter: that's exactly right david. the ukrainian officials have expressed a great deal of worry and concern about the this new front in the southern part of the donetsk region. down near the sea. we've heard that the remember eel els -- the rebels have taken back a town and number of others leaving the road open for them to try to take the strategic port of mariupol. we're hearing increasingly from ukrainian officials thei

we are counting the hours, .2 days minimum, and there will be no mariupol. it will be destroyed. >> this is a conflict with victims on both sides and footage emerging from donetsk shows how ukrainian army efforts to dislodge are taking a toll on the civilian population. russia's intentions in the southeast corner remain unclear but the use of the word "invasion" and the pressure now for a response from ukraine's western allies means a declaration possibly of war becomes very real indeed. paul brennan, al jazeera, mariupol. >> at the united nations, a tension emergency meeting at the security council. samantha power said russia has been outright lying for months. she tweeted this map to the russian men industry of foreign affairs clearly marking russia and not russia. kristen saleemy has more from the disciplineu u.n. >> they traded barbs over who is sish and putting civilians in harm's way. >> said, every single member of the security counsel expressed alarm over the escalating violence. and all members with the exception of china expressed concern over russ

past mariupol we meet members of the volunteer dnepro battalion huddled beneath a tree. on wednesday they say they were routed close to the russian border by russian forces backed up by cross-border artillery shelling. "they're regular russian troops," the commander tells me, "and i have information which i can prove 100% that the tank drivers are local but that they got special training in russia." cnn can't verify his claims, but he's convinced the separatists' plan is to move north from the sea of azov to create a corridor right up to donetsk. earlier we'd driven up that road as far north as we could go. you can hear the crump of artillery fire in the distance. this is the main highway from mariupol up to donetsk, which is about 15 k in that direction. as you can see, it is absolutely deserted. we stopped because of that shelling, which the locals say has been going on for days. and most of them spend most of their time underground. it's too dangerous, they say, to -- to be out. in donetsk itself shelling killed at least 15 civilians on thursday. the casualty count gr

we go to paul in mariupol. how was the swap made possible? >> it's been possible by intense negotiations, and the idea of the paratroopers coming in to ukraine, russian paratroopers, obviously sparked the international ferure, frank -- furore, frankly, over the involvement of russia. they were taken to kiev, paraded on television, spoke about how they had been lost, didn't intentionally stray into their territory. the return to russian soil will help to calm down the situation, and the change of ukrainians that strayed on to russian soil. that will calm the diplomatic spat between the high echelons of the two countries here. that said, the sanctions and the antagonism between the two countries will continue. there is no evidence of any russian pull-back, and the belief, the strong belief by the western allies of ukraine that russia is involved in combat on the ground on ukranian soil remains. we saw that in brussels yesterday. >> thank you paul brennan, live from mariupol. >>> there are protests in venezuela over a government plan to combat f

concern over mariupol started back on thursday. that's when the pro-russian rebels and separatists made a very surprise and sudden push. they opened another front from southeastern ukraine, right across the russian border. they started heading west. they took over a town just 20 miles east of mariupol. if, indeed, they continue pushing west, taking territory in that direction and take mariupol, the next stop will be crimea. of course, that's the peninsula that russia has already annexed. and if they do that, that means they will have established a land link from the russian border, all the way to crimea. we should point out, at this hour, there's no indication that the rebels are pushing west, but we do know that they're stationed just about 10 to 15 miles east of mariupol. and then you have ukrainian soldiers fortifying their positions right in front of them. and in the city itself, the residents very concerned, fred, because some of them packing their bags, leaving, others hunkering down. it looks like this could be the next flas

we'll hear from paul brennan in mariupol. >> reporter: for weeks the ukranian army was dominating in the east. in a town ukranian forces were circled. kiev admitted it was surrendering the town. a humanitarian corridor became a kill zone. instead of refusing freed captives the commander was left the task of collecting their bodies. they were given a corridor to get out. they were shot. it's a violation of international conventions. we came, but don't know how it will end. >> ukraine's border areas are shrouded in smoke. not all of it comes from the burn of the wheat stubble. near the town, we witnessed a column of personal carriers. the soldiers waved but looked exhausted. two ukranian army trucks appeared carrying soldiers, carrying white flags, heading down a dead-end road, clearly lost. we flagged down a group of civilian cars, "where are you going?" "anywhere there's no shelling." >> what we have seen is convoys of civilians fleeing for safety, and tired, exhausted looking ukranian soldiers on top of their vehicles heading back to base after what appears to have been intense batt

tanks and armored vehicles that entered eastern ukraine from russia heading towards the port of mariupol. let's take you to david stern. another convoy, more controversy probably? >> exactly peter. it remains to be seen what the ukrainian government reaction to this will be. obviously given the circumstances surrounding the previous convoy, we expect there will be a great deal of back and forth. very much controversy surrounding the previous convoy. many questions too given that the number of trucks were nearly empty. as i say, it remains to be seen what the reaction will be and what the events will be leading to that. as you remember, the russian side originally said they reached agreement with the ukrainians. then just 24 hours later said they had reached the end of their patience and sent in these trucks unilaterally which caused a reaction from the government saying this was violation of ukraine sovereignty. >> what are the chances that the russian government this time will wait so that everyone who has a vested interest when it comes to seeing what's on board the second convoy will

in the far south-eastern corner has continued with pace over the last 24 hours, the defenders of mariupol, the ukranian parpy and the volunteer brigade has been digging trenches between the main body of the city and the town which is captured and occupied by pro-russian forces. we haven't seep russian marked vehicles or armour but we know and have spoken to reliable sources. there has been hardware out of the town, heading north along the ukrainian-russian border to engage in combat with the ukranian forces. >> as far as action in the air, the ukrainian military issued a statement saturday morning say that an su 24 jet has been shot down. the pilot ejecting. it's taken 24 hours for the news to come out. the ukranian military said it was a russian anti-aircraft system that brought the jet down. ukrainians are pointing the fingers at russia and the separatists being russian backed. >> ukraine's president petro porashenko has spoken in the last hour from an e.u. meeting in brussels and says the situation is a threat to the whole of europe. >> this visit comes in a difficult circumstance from

paul brennan reports from mariupol. >> reporter: evidence is mounting. invasion is used at the highest levels. in brussels n.a.t.o. officials raised satellite images. the russian military column was shown on the move. the ukranian president petro porashenko cancelled a working visit to turkey, so as to deal with the chris circumstances and the ukranian prime minister urged the o.s.c.e. and the european union to act with the highest urgency. >> we can confirm that russian military are on ukranian ground. ukranian forces are capable to tackle and cope with the russian led forces. this is quite difficult for us to fight with russia. and it's army. for the first time, the involvement of russian regular forces has been effectively confirmed by the separatist leader in donetsk. >> among volunteers from russia, there has been many retired military servicemen. they fight alongside us understands that this is their duty. moreover, i will be frank are you. there are currently serving soldiers among this, who prefer to spend the vacations among us. >> waiting to me

alleged links to care for schools and this week school tried to detain the police chief in the city of mariupol but local prosecutors declared his attempts illegal john della hasan the amnesty international director for europe and central ages says schools actions just the very tip of the violations in eastern ukraine. he does this without any. outside the realm of the law and gravely risking. the important need the ukrainian authorities have to demonstrate that they're capable of restoring the rule of law and they respect the. rights and areas that they take back into their control there's a much bigger issue in a much bigger problem in the ukraine impunity for human rights violations and at the moment that extends far beyond the activities of mr. so that it is clear that he has committed. a number of very serious crimes they need to be investigated and he needs to be brought to account the likely outcome of that would be criminal prosecution. then michel evidence about who was responsible for the shooting down of flight m.h. seventy nine ukraine was based on nothing more than social media pos

aljazeera, mariupol. >> we have team covering tracking the ukraine crisis.'s go to peter sharp in moscow. peter, good morning. nato secretary general rasmussen just accused russia of violating ukraine's sovereignty. any response from russia? >> no, nothing from the kremlin, and we're not surprised. the kremlin never react to these individual statements. sergey lavrov, russia's foreign minister reacted to the nato claims last night of satellite imagery which is said to show russian vehicles, arm vehicles on the move. lavrov said this was images taken from a computer game and basically laughed it off. the kremlin just refused to engage in these allegations, and they just maintain that they have never and will never have their soldiers on ukrainian soil. >> peter, president obama said yesterday in his press conference that the sanctions against russia are working. what has been the economic fallout there, and is there pressure on putin to that end? >> yeah, there's growing pressure now, and as we speak in milan, e.u. and european foreign ministers are coming up

mariupol which is among the most important locations in the region. ortiz spotlessly yes and she joins us live now with the very latest thanks for joining us once again paula so we can apparently we've had mixed messages from ukraine's president is army's also said to be reeling in what more can you tell us. well certainly the messages that are coming out of kiev are mixed indeed the latest comments from the ukrainian president petro poroshenko is an offer of cooperation that ukrainian and russian troops jointly patrol the ukrainian russian border so that no kind of military hardware can cross through that border now this comes hot on the heels of an earlier statement in which he directly accused russia of invading ukraine or is it. just today because of the escalation of the situation in the donetsk region and because of the french rule invasion of ukrainian territory by the russian army i have decided to cancel my visit to turkey new york or any other. now russia has repeatedly denied that it's giving any kind of military assistance or troops to the

because the russian forces are moving along the coast and may be taking the town-- the port city of mariupol. >> sreenivasan: are there case where's ukrainians are retreating, either tactically or otherwise? >> yeah, they've been in retreat for about a week now. but more problematic for the ukrainians is that several of their groups have been surrounded and, of course, getting out alive, that is a consideration. there have been efforts to negotiate a deal, i believe, a trade for prisoners, and if the ukrainians would give up some prisoners, then the russians might let them out of encirclement and back do into their own territory. but, yeah, the ukrainians are taking a beating at this point. >> sreenivasan: how effective are-- some of the videos we've seen out of there of-- especially on the ukrainian independence day in the last week and a half or so, we saw that there were actually the separatist forces were parading ukrainian soldiers through the streets. is that kind of a message getting out to wider ukraine, that this is an active war, that there are prisoners of war? >> well, i think, a

right on the coast and then a minute take over the region's biggest city of mariupol the ukrainian army meantime continues its shelling of cities all across the eastern region. i was ready for one hundred thirty. thirty. three years or so to get thank you thank you thank you thank you theory furious but apparently it's not just civilians who have grown war weary about a thousand criminal cases have been opened against ukrainian soldiers for evasion of service desertion and defections in a recent case over sixty troops crossed into russia seeking refuge now the losses of the ukrainian army continue to grow the official stats from kiev suggesting over seven hundred soldiers have been have been killed over two thousand wounded but the government is accused of underreporting of the anti kiev forces claiming the army has lost something more like fourteen thousand soldiers whether both killed or wounded and in kiev itself have a look at these pictures where over four hundred people picketing the president's administration they say the authorities have abandoned soldiers in the city of it you

it's on the coast right now aiming to take over the region's second biggest city of mariupol ukrainian army continues its shelling of cities in the eastern region. if you. are going to i think you are going to be. very resourceful or to be thank you even before you go over theory fury about a thousand criminal cases have been opened against ukrainian soldiers for evasion of service desertion and defections in a recent case over sixty troops crossed into russia seeking refuge now the losses of the ukrainian army continue to grow official statistics from kiev suggesting over seven hundred soldiers have been killed and over two thousand have been wounded though the government is accused of underreporting antique here forces claim the army has lost more than fourteen thousand soldiers both killed and wounded and in kiev over four hundred people have picketed the president's administration they say the earth or piece of abandoned soldiers in the city of you know b.s. and troops there have been encircled by anti government forces for five days now and as artie's policy reports despair is gro

on the coast there and they're now aiming to take over the region's second biggest city of mariupol now the ukrainian army meantime continues its shelling of cities all across the eastern region. five. oh. oh thank you thank you you thank. before you go over thank you. thank you. thank you thank you but apparently it's not just civilians who have grown a war weary about a thousand criminal cases have been opened up against ukrainian soldiers for invasion of service desertion and defections in a recent case over sixty troops crossed into russia seeking refuge now the losses of the ukrainian army continue to grow the official numbers from kiev suggesting that over seven hundred soldiers have been killed and over two thousand have been wounded but the government is accused of underreporting and forces claim the army's lost more than well fourteen thousand soldiers both killed and wounded twenty kiev over four hundred people have picketed the president's administrations they say they are already use of abandon soldiers in the city of it you love vice troops there have been encircled by anti

so the fear in mariupol they will push west and take over this city. so yesterday we saw residents digging trenches along side a road block outside the city. this is what they had to say about defending their city. >> translator: today we found a human chain in order to show the whole world that in particular to putin we will not give up our city. if he wants to come he will have to shoot innocent people. he will have to shoot women and children. >> reporter: we have combed all of the roads in that area and seen no sense that tanks or further troops are going to be pushing forward over the last two days, not a sign of it. if they did want to push west they would need a lot more troops to do it. >> diana, thank you so much. >> thank you. two people have been killed more than 150 hurt in clashes between protesters and police in pakistan. police fired tear gas as the crowd threatened to march to the prime minister's home. the protesters who have demonstrate forward two weeks say the last election was rigged and they want sharif to step down. >> also in th

this is happening as fighting continues in the east and particular near the southern port city of mariupol. ukrainian officials are saying russian armored vehicles and russian troops without marking are trying to move into ukraine. we do not have independent conversation of this. we're getting contradictory reports. this goes hand in hand with other reports we heard previously from officials and western journalists that armored vehicles with russian number of plates, russian military plates and russian forces have been moving into ukraine. the convoy is taking place against the backdrop. it will remain to see how this particular convoy will be treated. >> okay. david stern in kiev there. thanks very much david. >>> now, the united nations has told bbc there's a worrying increase in the number of girls who have fled the conflict in syria forced into early marriages. new figures from the u.n. show one quarter of all registered marriages of syrian refugees in jordan involve a girl under 18. some as young as 12. we have this special report. >> born into exile, he is just a few hours old. a chi

ukrainians say supported by the russian forces on the coast of the place which is half way to mariupol was the area which the ukrainian government sorted. it was under control. now there's an attack will there. there are other attacks reported elsewhere inside. the latest comes from the national security council of ukraine is an accusation of russian gun ships firing at ukrainian border guards and killing four today. this whole activity on the ground doesn't really bode well for the success of talks should they happen and rhetoric on both sides. particularly yesterday russian foreign minister lavrov is strong accusing each other of really perpetrating grave crimes. i think against that a background, progress where the two presidents should meet looks problematic. >> all eyes on this. many thanks. >>> now, there's of course there's more on our website. there you'll find a full background and analysis of the situation plus video and audio content. a look also at the key players in the crisis. it shows how the conflict has spread. go to bbc.com/news. >>> american officials have confirmed

more from mariupol. >> reporter: the exchange of soldiers is a positive sign. the 10 soldiers were the russians who, the evidence was placed that the russians were on ukranian soil. the paratroopers were paraded, effectively showing the ukranian authorities, what they say was a russian invasion. we had them, and ukranian soldiers, exchanged in return. the signs are positive all around. in the town encircled by spiritist fighters, ukrainian soldiers are trapped. we are told that 14 did make it out. the rest are prisoners of the separatist fighters there. we heard on friday, saturday, that there had been a humanitarian corridor was created but the soldiers were caught in a crossfire. it's an indication of how chaotic the situation in eastern ukraine is. >> one child has been killed and 10 others injured after an explosion this a suburb of paris. the french interior ministry believes the blast was caused by a gas leak. emergency officials are working to pull people out of the rubble, and 10 people could be trapped. >> iceland has raised the aviation warning to the

the defenders of mariupol, and the volunteer brigade of local residents have been digging trenches on the approaches to the city, between the main body of the city and this town which as been captured and occupied by pro-russian forces. we have not seen russian marked vehicles or arm your ourselves, but we do know did have spoken to reliable sources that say there has been movement out of this town, heading north along the ukrainian-russian border, one must assume to engage in combat with forces to the north of here. as far as actions in the air, the ukranian military issued a statement saying an su-24 jet was shot down. the pilot ejected. it happened friday morning, and has taken 24 hours to come out. the ukranian military said a russian anti-aircraft system brought the aircraft down. that was specific in the statement. ukrainians are pointing the fingers at russia and the separatists being russian back. >> ukraine's president petro porashenko is in brussels, he's due to speak shortly and we'll bring it live as it happens, of course. >>> a ukranian civilian airliner crashed in southe

paul beban has more from mariupol. >> reporter: limping back to safety, the trucks are the remnants of a ukranian force of several hundreds of men, trapped in the towns. fortunes on the battlefield have changed trrnalts there's no way the separatists bat for themselves they were weakened. without brigades reinforced with tank and artillery, they would never have had this success. >> this is another area where last week the ukranian army held sway. the militia are back in charge. we saw two separate units of the fighters operating unhindered in the up to. >> the fighting was not heavy. they left without a fight. we are pushing them in all directions, trying hard. >> huddled in the back of an ambulance we saw three captured conscripts berated by militia men. nervously, almost whispering they asked that we don't show their face, and described the experience of being under artillery attack. 80% of the battalion died. "my friends were torn apart in front of my eyes." 200m down the road we saw two tank in control of separatist fighters. they are not too friendly, we had to retreat. there's n

i am now down between the city of mariupol in a town between where i am now and the border has been taken over by russian separatists, backed up local ukrainian battalions tell me by heavy russian weaponry, russian tanks, russian military units and the commander said they make no pretense of the fact this they are russian. their vehicles, number plates, are covered. we have been routed from that town and these troops were supported by artillery fire from across the border. this is very serious. it opens up a new front as they are trying to battle pro-russian separatists farther north around li luhansk and donetsk. the opening up of this new front and the influx of russian troops takes this conflict to a whole new dimension. brook? >>> how is ukraine responding to this front? how strong is the ukrainian military? >> well, the ukrainian military is a pretty creeky old soviet style military. petro poroshenko, the ukrainian president says, we will be tough. we have what it takes. we must not panic in response to this new threat. what we have seen on the grown, we saw volunteer battalions that

confirmed the rebels have captured the town of novoazovsk on the azov sea-- leaving the port city of mariupolsuddenly vulnerable to attack. ukraine's government said images from novoazovsk showed a russian tank on the streets. and nato released its own satellite images, showing russian self-propelled artillery units on ukrainian roads. the alliance said well over 1,000 russian troops have crossed the border-- and warned of more to come. >> these latest imagery provides concrete examples of russian activity inside ukraine, but they are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the overall scope of russian troop and weapons movements. >> sreenivasan: earlier this week, ukraine had released a video showing what it said were russian servicemen captured on its territory. and today, the rebel "prime minister" acknowledged several thousand russians are fighting with the rebels on their own time. >> ( translated ): among volunteers from russia there have always been many retired military servicemen. there are also currently serving soldiers among us who preferred to spend their vacations not on sea bea

been a lot of talk that the russians are trying to push west towards this major coastal town of mariupol. no evidence at all of that and there is a major up crane yan -- ukrainian road block. 1,000 troops which nato says are on this side of the border along a huge stretch of the border about 450 kilometers to the main area of the rebel held territory, 1,000 troops isn't very much and certainly difficult for us to see them. but a major escalation if you consider that now towns on this side of the border are bng taken by russian forces. >> all right. diana magnay in ukraine, thank you very much. bring in barbara starr at the pentagon. you are hearing from u.s. officials about what they are hearing and seeing what the intelligence is telling them. >> that's right, good morning john and michaela. u.s. intelligence began to gather information and assesses that now overnight about 1,000 troops have moved into this southern area and there may be now a total of upwards of 2,000 russian forces inside ukraine. what officials are telling us are these are regular russian forces. no separatists, no r

but further south very close to the szov sea near to mariupol there seems to be another oichbs going on where according to a local commander russian tanks are pushed in from across the border there and engaged ukrainian forces in very heavy fighting. so there is a sense that there seems to be a new counteroffensive by the rebels backed by russian support of some kind that is putting very, very heavy pressure on ukrainian forces as they attempt to win back control of the rebel-held parts of eastern ukraine. diana magnay, cnn, slovyansk, ukraine. >>> now we want to turn to the worsening crisis in libya. the u.n. security council is calling for an immediate cease-fire there as well as sanctions against those involved in fighting between rival militias. but the measure makes no mention of outside nations believed to be involved in the conflict in libya. with more on that here's becky anderson. >> reporter: black plumes ever smoke line the horizon. gunfire rings through the streets. it's the worst fighting libya has seen since rebel groups overthrew the dictator moammar gadhafi in 2011. o

but further south also very close to the azov sea near to mariupol there seems to be another offensive on where according to a local commander russian tanks have pushed in from across the border there and engaged ukrainian forces in very heavy fighting. so there is a sense that there seems to be a new counteroffensive by the rebels backed by russian support of some kind that is putting very, very heavy pressure on ukrainian forces as they attempt to win back control of the rebel-held parts of eastern ukraine. diana magnay, cnn, slovyansk, ukraine. >>> well, we've seen our fair share of maps showing the cities impacted by the fighting in eastern ukraine. now canada's delegation to nato is using its own special map to give a not so subtle message to moscow. >> yeah. you want to look closely at this. this is its twitter page. it all seems pretty mundane. but look at that map there. it had a few notations there they sent out. russia, there in red, and not russia. the message, "geography can be tough. here's a guide for russian soldiers who keep getting lost and accidentally entering ukrain

the last army elements we saw were 30km away at a checkpoint closer to mariupol.what is unclear is the ultimate ambitious of what the militia in this area are. >> the frontier is 10km away. and the ukrainian border guard are prisoners. the crossing is open. the fighter calling himself the frenchman showed evidence of fighting. separatists have six tank here. the fighters deny they are from russia. >> translation: there are no russians here, no russian equipment coming through. we are fighting with the machinery with the ukranian army. est dents have been volunteering to help the ukranian army. having presented what it says was compelling evidence, direct russian involvement. ukraine's western allies remained reluctant to respond to direct involvement of their own. >>> anthony is an executive director of the american institute in ukraine, and joins us in our studios. thank you for being was. first up, what is your reaction to hearing the president of the e.u. saying the crisis in ukraine reached a point of no return? >> well, there has been a - there has been drama

it was the second day of fighting around novoazovsk, which lies close to the major port of mariupol, and on the same road that leads to the russian-annexed crimea peninsula. ukraine also charged that a russian helicopter attacked a border post yesterday, killing four guards. and kiev released sound and video of what it said were 10 captured russian soldiers. several complained about their government's actions. >> ( translated ): stop sending the men here, stop it, it shouldn't be happening. why is this being done, it's not our war? it's not our war and if we weren't here then none of this would be happening. they would have sorted out their state and their own problems by themselves. >> ifill: moscow said the soldiers accidentally strayed across the border. >> ifill: the obama administration would not confirm reports today that u-s planes are conducting surveillance flights over syria. they could set the stage for air strikes on "islamic state" militants there. the pentagon's main spokesman, rear admiral john kirby, declined to say directly if the flights are under way. he did acknow

paul brennan is in mariupol with the latest. >> reporter: in recent weeks the ukranian army dominatedthe east. the tide turned. in this town ukrainian forces have been encircled for the past week. kiev admitted it was surrounding the town. a supposed humanitarian corridor became a kill zone. instead of receiving freed captives, the demander was left the task of collecting their bodies. >> translation: they were given a corridor to get out, and they were shot. it's a violation of international conventions. we came now, we don't know how they will end. border areas are shrouded in smoke. not all coming from the burn. near this town we witnessed a column of personnel car yours. the soldiers waved, but looked dusty and exhausted. they had the experience of men engaged in a battle. two ukranian army drugs appeared, carrying soldiers. they headed down a dead-end road, lost. we plastic bagged down a group. fleeing south. where are you going to. anywhere there's no shelling. what we have seen as we travel around the region is a combination of convoys, civilians fleeing for safety and tired ex

fromove 430 miles novoazovsk through mariupol, which is essentially pittsburgh on the black sea. russians were encouraged to take patriotic vacations and crimea. if you look down in the crimea and to the east, they are going to try to build a bridge to russia, and actual physical bridge. that is going to take a long time. people have been waiting to get back and forth to crimea from the russian mainland. >> now there are two fronts in eastern ukraine. >> it is not just donetsk ben luhansk. and governments are slowly figuring out how to describe russia pulse role in this. -- russia's role in this. we are getting closer and closer to saying this is just russia. saying that really this is a war yet. i'm not seeing the war word used in any official capacity. onto our next front-page story. this links up to what is going on with russia. jpmorgan and five banks hit by russian hackers. is according to people familiar with the investigation. no sign or report that the attack was used to steal money from accounts. the attacks linked to russian sponsored government hackers. >> the key phra

you see the city of mariupol, that's a key coastal city. now after these tanks and the russian troops, maybe 1,000 of them have moved in, it could create this contiguous line all the way to crimea. we can see that right now. of course, crimea effectively part of russia. we don't recognize it, but the russia say it's part of russia so now they have a full connection. >> that's what russia has been trying to do for longest time is to try to take this eastern portion of ukraine and make it contiguous so that russia doesn't have to show its cards when it crosses the border, reinforces its existing locations that have been in crimea for years, primary in sebastopol. we've seen this developing over time and putin sees this as an tune to establish. >> let's talk more about what we've seen and walk over to this wall. nato has received satellite imagery now of what they say is going on here. they have released these pictures. hopefully we have four of them here. well, let's take a look at this. we have this picture right here of what's going on in t

at this hour, the prorussian rebels are about 10 to 15 miles east of mariupol.here is no indication that pro russian -- increasingly, it looks like that's going to be the next flash point in this. >> all right, thanks so much. our apologies on the very dicesy phone line, but given the condition, i think most people can understand why. thanks so much. >>> back in this country, are america's kids getting enough sleep? some doctors say no and want schools to delay their starting times every day to give students the rest they theed. we'll talk to a parent, a doctor and a high school teacher. in fact, all of them are parents, next. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters shopping online is as easy as it gets. and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. buy their services directly at angieslist.com no more calling around. no more hassles. start shopping from a list of top-rated providers today. angie's list is revolutionizing local service

i'm in the town of mariupol which is near the sea but it was here that this town was captured by pro-russian forces two days ago, prompting fears that a southern front would be opened. >> and it appears that we are having some technical difficulty with the signal we're getting from diana magnay. we'll try to reestablish that. i want to bring in now ambassador daniel bear in eenna, austria, the u.s. representative to the organization for security and cooperation in europe. ambassador, thanks for being with us. we're hearing what's going on there on the ground and hearing words to describe it, we're hearing incursion, what so many people are using. we're not hearing the word invasion. in your opinion, is russia invading ukraine? >> i think as the president said last night, this is a continuation of a month-long effort by the kremlin to cause violence, destruction, devastation in eastern ukraine and in the last 48 hours or so, we've seen a significant escalation of that, including evidence that there are russian forces inside of ukraine that are participating in this. and so we've seen the esca