president petro poroshenko says a "real cease-fire" is in place. a good by russia's -- echoed by russia's foreign minister. sergei lavrov has reiterated calls for peace talks. >> petro poroshenko was unusually optimistic, giving rise to hope that the cease-fire might hold. >> today is the first 24 hours for seven months when we do not have, when we had a real cease-fire in ukraine. you cannot imagine how important it is for me. this is the first time i do not have lives lovst or eight wounded ukrainian soldier. and we do not have any lost or wounded citizens. >> thursday, rebels had withdrawn weaponry from the frontlines, part of a truce. >> once the people's republic is ready to further such acts to bring peace local people -- [indiscernible] >> elsewhere, the cease-fire is looking shaky. at donetsk airport, there were bursts of gunfire. with each side pointing the finger at the other. >> the enemy tried to provoke us, firing at opposition. i did not give the order to fire back. they ended up coming down. >> ukraine and the last blame russia for s

this is a prop bega propaganda coup for petro poroshenko. >> i'm telling you that i as a president and odometer system has a heart that is happy to greet the new year. together with your families and your military brothers you will do what we've been waiting for, for so long. we're grateful again that we have you. >> there is relief but also sadness about those still being held. >> it is bles pleasant that the president met us. thank you for what you've done to release us. we hope our friends who are still being held as hostages will be released in the near future. >> this is where the exchange took place, in a secret place in the donetsk region. some prisoners are injured and have to be carried to freedom. others watch on. they know that this is still a fragile cease-fire. >> there are still many who are missing. they're on the way and we'll complete the exchange tomorrow. >> kiev said its fighting against what it calls russia's influence. moscow has always denied backing and arming the separatists, who still control parts of eastern ukraine. the russian president recently signed a ne

. >> ukraine's president, petro poroshenko has shaken hands of soldiers who have been released by easternaratists. they were thought to be separatist prisoners. a report. >> in a military air field near kiev, the ukrainian president welcomes home these prisoners of war. they were exchanged with hundreds of pro-russian fighters. this is a propagandaa coup for petro poroshenko, a leader who is struggling to go unite a divided country. >> i am telling you that i, as a president and an ordinary citizen, have a heart full of happiness that you willget the new year as i promised, together with your families and military brothers, that you will do what we have been waiting for, for so long. we are thankful again that we have you. >> reporter: there is relief but, also, sadness about those still being held. >> thanks for what you have done to release us. we hope our friends still being kept as hostages will be released in the near future. >> this is where the exchange took place: in a secret location in the donetsk region. some of the prisoners are injured and have to be carried to freedom. there

this is a coup for petro poroshenko a leaders who struggles to unite his country. >> i tell you that as an ordinary citizen have a heart full of happiness that you will greet the new year, and i promise that you will do what we've been waiting for for so long. we're thankful again that we have you. >> reporter: there is relief but also sadness about those still being held. >> translator: it is pleasant that the president matters. we hope our friends still being kept as hostages are going to be released in the near future. >> a secret location in the donetsk region, some of the prisoners are injured and have to be carried to freedom. there are international observers and ukrainian separatists. >> from the luhansk region, have not arrived yet but we will complete the are exchange tomorrow. >> kiev says it is fighting against what it calls russia's influence. russia has always denied backing and arming the separatists. the russian president recently signed a military document, and the latest twist in this criers iscrisisblaming security concerns, leaving many passengers strand he and fr

he met with the prime minister and president petro poroshenko. >> after the talks, he called for more action to end conflict in the country posses and called for pushing harsher sanctions against moscow. the visit follows the news that five ukrainian soldiers have been killed in clashes with separatists in the east. >> lots of breaking news today. stay with us. when we come back, we'll have the rest of the day's news. >> stay with us. >> welcome back, everyone. a horrific story coming out of australia -- eight children have been found dead in a home. the mother of at least seven of the children survived the incident and has several staff wounds -- stab wounds. >> police have not made any arrests are identified any suspects in the attack. the prime minister called the killings heartbreaking. >> residents in this suburb are shocked. eight children were found dead inside this house, aged between 18 months and 15 years. a woman was taken to the hospital with stab. she's the mother of seven of the children. >> i'm really shocked, too. yeah. because, you know, i just saw her this morning. r

this is a propaganda coup for petro poroshenko, a leader struggling to unite his divided country. >> i'm telling you that i, as a president, as an ordinary citizen, have a heart for you as we greet the new year, and i promise that we'll do what we've been waiting for for so long. we're thankful again that we have you. >> there is relief that also sadness about those still being held. >> it is present that a president matters. thank you for what you've done to release us. we hope that our friends are still being kept as hostages will be released in the near future. >> this is where the exchange took place. in a secret location in the donetsk region. some of the prisoners are injured and have to be carried to freedom. there are international observers, armed separatists and ukrainian soldiers who also watch on. they know that this is still a fragile cease-fire. >> there are several people on the list who are missing. they're from the luhansk region, they have not arrived yet, but we'll wait to complete the exchange tomorrow. >> kiev says its fighting against what it calls russia's infl

president petro poroshenko has picked a team that includes three foreigners, and observers say that's a sign he'll pursue a pro-western policy. ukraine's parliament approved all the lineup proposed by poroshenko and the ruling coalition. prime minister arseniy yatsenyuk will retain his post. georgia's alexander tash villi was named health minister and the new finance minister is a u.s. national with state department experience. ukraine's conflict with russia has hit its economy hard. the international monetary fund has offered an aid package but ukraine's leaders have to carry out economic reforms to secure it. >>> the president of kenya is calling on everyone in his country to help fight terrorism, even as some citizens raise more questions about his ability to do that. islamist fighters with the al shabab group killed at least 36 workers at a quarry in the northeast. the massacre happened on the outskirts of mandera, a town near somalia where the militants are based. the gunmen reportedly singled out non-muslims before they shot them. alhabab claimed responsibility and said the atta

interested in a political solution to scale back the crisis in ukraine and he intends to speak with petro poroshenko in the next few days. geoff cutmore here in moscow. >> vivid imagery from mr. putin indeed and in the meantime today, general motors announced it's slamming the brakes on deliveries to new car dealers in russia, because the ruble there fallen so hard so quickly that auto prices in the country are skyrocketing. >>> well, moving now to the latest in cuba after yesterday's stunner that the u.s. and cuba will normalize diplomatic relations and permit freer travel and trade. now both big and small businesses from the u.s. and inside cuba are gearing up to compete in a whole new economic marketplace. michelle caruso-cabrera is in havana. >> reporter: here in cuba, a muted reaction to the announcement made simultaneously by president obama in u.s. and the leader, raul castro. here we won't see major rallies where thousands bust in across the country. the city center, listened to hours worth of speeches, something perhaps would have seen in the past. but we did see last night, a small celebra

petro poroshenko says the meeting is set to take place in minutminsk on tuesday.s optimistic that both sides will agree on how to implement a peace deal that was reached in minsk in september. mean while, the crisis in eastern ukraine was discussed during a meeting between the fence president and russian president vladimir putin. orland made an impromptu visit in moscow on saturday. now, he is the first western leader to meet with putin in russia since moscow annexed the crimea peninsula in march. >>> in greece, protesters have fought with police in central athens. the clashes occurred after demonstrations marking the anniversary of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed teenager. at least 6,000 people took part in the march fo for the person o was shot dead in 2008. after confrontation in place. his death caused some of the worst riots in the country in decades. >>> u.s. president barack obama has co con condemned the killino hostages. calling them barbaric murderers. a south african teache teacher n american journalist were shot dead during a rescue operation. it

wanted to be part of the negotiations for a resolution and he said he would be speaking with petro poroshenko, the ukrainian president, over the next few days on video conference. so that was taken, i think, as broadly positive in terms of trying to de-escalate the current crisis over ukraine. of course, president obama has a fresh set of sanctions sat on his desk, ready to be signed, should the white house decide that they still don't think moscow and president putin are giving enough at this point. but we continue to listen in to the president's speech and if there is anything fresh that we need to bring you, we'll do that. back to you. >> cnbc's jeff cutmore live for us in russia. thank you. this is a rolling live, four-hour press conference as jeff points out. we'll be turning sound this morning for you from the questions he's taking from an international audience of journalists. >>> we have your nba highlights for you including an triple overtime for the grizzlies and spurs. we'll let you know who pulled out a win. and actor stephen collins admitting to sexual misconduct with three women

important part of this, and we want them to be complied with the minsk meeting came from me and from petro poroshenko. i have no doubt that he is striving for this. but he is not the only one over there. we have been hearing statements from other officials, who advocate basically a war to the end. that all of this is likely to lead to a continental crisis. we hear many statements. president poroshenko is oriented towards settlement. but concrete actions and steps are needed. our representatives in minsk signed a memorandum in september and there were protocols to it that defined the disengagement line. representatives of donetsk didn't sign those protocols. that's the problem. they said at the very start, we can't. when we tried to insist, i'll be frank with you about this, since the public needs to know these things, they told us that they can't leave these villages. their families live there, and they can't risk their children, wives and sisters being killed or raped. however, the ukrainian officials did not withdraw their troops from the areas that they were supposed to leave, such as the donetsk

this is a propaganda crew for t petro poroshenko struggletology unite his country. >> i am telling youhat i, as a president, as an ordinary citizen, have a heart full of happiness that you will greet the new year, as i promised, together with your families and military brothers, that you will do what we have been waiting for, for so long. we are thankful again that we have you. >> reporter: there is relief but, also, sadness about those still being held. it's not known exactly how many prisoners there are, but ukraine's military says around 600 ukrainians are separatists hands. >> thanks for what you have done to release us. we hope our that are still being kept as hostages will be released in the near future. >> reporter: more than 4 and a half thousand people have died in this conflict. this is a fragile cease fire. kiev said it's fighting against what it calls russia's influence. moscow has always denied backing and arming the rebels who still control parts of eastern ukraine. the russian president recently signed a new military doctorine naming nato expansion among key external ris

the swap is part of ukrainian president petro poroshenko's plans to end the pro-russian uprising in the east. more than 4700 people have been killed in the conflict since russia and neched crimea from ukraine back in march. expanded u.s. sanctions over that annexation force mastercard and visa to stop service in crimea, according to russian news agency tas. tas says the companies informed banks they can't process any more credit card transactions. earlier this month, the u.s. imposed a ban on doing business in in crimea. >>> russia's economic issues and the conflict in ukraine do not appear to be a threat to vladimir putin's popularity. the country's independence polling agency says mr. putin's approval rating is at 85% in december. meantime, mr. putin signed a new doctrine on friday listing the u.s. and nato as top military threats to his country. erin mclaughlin has more for us from moscow. >> russian security analysts tell me they see this new doctrine as the kremlin's response to western sanctions and political statements on the situation in ukraine. and while calling it defensive i

a few hundred prisoners were exchanges between the two sides part of petro poroshenko's plan to end a pro-russian uprising in the east we have been covering here for months now. more than 4700 people have been killed in the conflict. meantime, the russian president signed a doctrine on friday calling the u.s. and nato top military threats. russia is in the middle of a standoff with the west over ukraine. erin mclaughlin has more from moscow including what this doctrine could mean for peace talks. >> russian security analysts tell me that they see this in new doctrine as the kremlin's response to western sanctions and political statements on the situations in ukraine and while calling it defensive in nature, the new doctrine identifies nato expansion and western military activities on russia's doorstep as areas of deep concern. in previous doctrines, the focus had been the situation unfolding in central asia, but analysts tell me that the kremlin is essentially signaling that russia's response 0 to nato and europe will be an area of primary concern in its long-term planning which will

together with petro poroshenko, without a doubt, the president of the ukraine wants to achieve resolution of this crisis. it leads to a continental crisis , we hear many statements. but he wants a peaceful settlement. arrangements have to be put in place. i was one of those that initiated those arrangements. i would say something to you. our representatives signed a memorandum back in september. memorandum, it was protocols. protocols were established. when we tried to insist and be frank, we were open about that. these things have to be known to the audience. us that theyd to would not leave those contested villages because their families, their wives, their brothers and sisters. they did not want them to get raped or killed. that was the greatest challenge. troopsy withdrew their from the points they have to leave. i am aware of the recent developments. armedlitia took those forces. they provided them with food. the even let them maintain their rotation mechanism. i believe the hostages, the prisoner of war should be exchanged. a ukrainian authority is said to --e been detained [indisce

it's willing to be involved in negotiations that are political and he is set to talk to petro poroshenkorainian president, over the next two days, so we might actually start to see some light at the end of the tunnel. you might ask yourself why it's come to this now and why president obama putin may seem more conciliatory. that picks up the point of your question. the economy is really not in good shape now. this rapid decline we've seen in the ruble, a long side oil prices, is beginning to bite. the president said it may take two years before the russian economy really starts to grow again. he did, though say he supported the action of the central bank here. which has hiked interest rates to 17% and the finance ministry which has now pumped $7 million into defending the russian ruble. a punchy performance from the president but it looks like we could get some progress after all this on ukraine. we can hope. >>> up next a look at the past to help guide the future. we'll take you back to cuba in the 1960s with an nbc news historian. and we'll explain where we've been and where we might be

important part of this, and we want them to be complied with the minsk meeting came from me and from petro poroshenko i have no doubt that he is striving for this. but he is not the only one over there. we have been hearing statements from other officials, who advocate basically a war to the end. that all of this is likely to lead to a continental crisis. we hear many statements. president poroshenko is oriented towards settlement. but concrete actions and steps are needed. our representatives in minsk signed a memorandum in september and there were protocols to it that defined the disengagement line. representatives of donetsk didn't sign those protocols. that's the problem. they said at the very start, we can't. when we tried to insist, i'll be frank with you about this, since the public needs to know these things, they told us that they can't leave these villages. their families live there, and they can't risk their children, wives and sisters being killed or raped. however, the ukrainian officials did not withdraw their troops from the areas that they were supposed to leave, such as the donetsk a

. >> ukraine's president is urging russia to withdraw its troops, petro poroshenko saying it's the only way to bring peace to the region. the separatists in donetsk are backing off. a ceasefire appears to have held there. it's unclear if peace talks will be held next week. >> police are clearing the streets this morning in hong kong. >> that is what it looked like del, earlier home run month. all of that has come to an end as police unceremoniously dismantled the protestors main camp near the city's financial district. this is a live look at what's happening on one of the main streets of hong kong right now. those who refuse to leave are in many cases being arrested. sarah clark is there. >> they have forcibly removed remaining protestors taking part in a peaceful sit in. there were 100 ahead of me. this includes legislators arrested, taken away one by one, put on a police bus and removed. we've seen the last lot of protestors, about 600 protestors left this area once it was declared illegal. once they left, details were taken, they were recorded by police and they may be charged down t

president says it's a milestone, 24 hours with no casualties in the eastern part of the country, petro poroshenkoaying it's the first time in seven months that a real ceasefire is in effect. it's not clear if peace talks will begin next week. last week, six were killed in donetsk. >> a former satisfactory jet leader is criticizing the u.s. in an interview with time magazine, gorbachev blaming the u.s. for provoking a new cold war. he backed president vladimir putin's actions in ukraine, saying he was working in the interests of the majority. >> a former state department official saying governments around the world should step in and hold russia accountable, c.i.a. countries should intervene even without proper legalization. >> if russia can invade ukraine and nothing happens, next thing, another country will in void another country with that rules are critical to upholding international order. that said, we have a global system that was designed after world war ii to privilege the five victors of world war ii, russia, china, france, britain and the united states. my pop significance is we need to