faces 11 corruption cases which each carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison of stoke to phil robertson, who's the deputy director at human rights watches, asia division. he joins us now live from bangkok. phil, what's your reaction to this? well, on songs of cheese life as a free woman as effectively over. ah, it's quite clear that the military junta there is going to do everything they can to keep her behind bars. she's 76 years old. now she's at 11 years in prison and there's going to be more coming with other criminal charges and other court trials coming later this year. i think that they're trying to a locker away for life that they do not want to see her or her political party ever surfacing again. and this is part of their effort to destroy our popular democracy in human rights. in myanmar you are in no doubt that this was a sham trial. ah, yes, it's actually sham. i mean, these are kangaroo courts. they are waiting for the instructions from the military who don, how to rule there. there's no iota of independence. a of these courts, do we have any idea about her well being where

phil robertson from human rights watch. ah, australia's home affairs minister says it's very likely china could deploy troops in the countries neighborhood within the next year. karen andrews was speaking on a radio program. a she was referring to a newly inked security deal between the solomon islands and china. i leaked draft of the agreement, suggested china could deploy troops to the islands or even build a military base. their australian prime minister scott morrison has called that a red line. and with madison facing a federal election less than a month away, it's become an important political issue as well. australia's opposition has promised a defense schools to train neighboring armies if it winds to meet election. this as a response to china's potential military presence on the solomon islands. the prospect of a chinese vice, less than 2000 kilometers from australia's coastline, is dramatically detrimental to australia, security interests. and that is occurred on mr. morrison's watch. the labor party is criticizin

phil black is in lviv and nic robertson is also standing by in brussels with new details from apparently very tense meeting between austria's chancellor and vladimir putin. phil, let's first get to you. what's the latest on the ground there? >> dana, today a senior adviser to the ukrainian government said that from ukraine's point of view, russia's new operations in the east have already begun because they are already seeing widespread escalation and shelling and bombardments across the three key regions in the east. kharkiv, luhansk and donetsk. also a major push to enforce with new troops and hardware continuously arriving. those satellite images show that eight-mile convoy heading south towards a key battle front. and so what they are waiting for now is a final decisive push by those russian forces to try and break through ukraine's defensive positions in order to expand russia's control over the whole donbas region, which president putin has stated is his goal. you mentioned they've appointed an overall commander in the field for the first time. a general with a reputation for brutal

. >> cnn's nic robertson standing by live in brussels. first we go to phil black in lviv, ukraine. so there were some incidents around the city? >> reporter: well, lester, we've had recent statements from both russians and ukrainians saying there were missile strikes carried out here by russian forces here in the west of the country. according to the russian statement, it was just one of a number of strikes that have been carried out in the last 24 hours or so right across the breadth of ukraine targeting a number of specific key pieces of ukrainian infrastructure. it is part of an ongoing campaign by russian forces using that clear superiority that it has with the long-range precision weapons to knock out things like fuel storage depots, repair stations and command posts. regardless of what happens on the ground, russia is still continuing to show and use that it has that capability in order to try to degrade ukraine's ability to fight back. >> phil, thank you. nic in brussels. we saw yesterday zelenskyy speaking at the u.n. security council really damning indictment. huge accusat

nic robertson is at the nato headquarters. we begin with phil black in lviv, ukraine, with the latest on overnight developments. phil. >> reporter: max, as you've touched on, with the confirmation that russian forces have pulled back from the north of the country, from the areas around kyiv, they have left ukrainian territory, the focus focuses on the east of the country. the battle to come although ukrainian officials in the east would say that battle is very much underway. it is expected to take some time for the forces that have pulled out of the north to be refitted, resupplied before they are repositioned for russia's new expected offensive more focused operations in that donbas region. what we're hearing from officials in the east is that, again, as we've touched on, the fight is very much already underway. that there has been a noticeable escalation in russia's assault across three key regions. notable assaults on residential areas. the call has gone out for civilians to get out and get out while they can. firstly, because it's dangerous

. >> nic robertson, ed lavandera, thank you both for your ongoing reporting. >>> we have breaking news out of the white house. phil mattingly is joining us, what can you tell us, phil? >> reporter: well, ana, the horrors of bucha accelerated the nonnegotiations between western leaders about what to do to impose costs on russia because of what they put in place in ukraine. we now know tomorrow, according to a u.s. official, the u.s. in coordination with the eu and g7 allies will roll out a sweeping new sanctions package. a package that will ban all new investment to russia. it will also ramp up sanctions, many in place at a lower level, scaled those sanctions up on financial institutions on standard enterprises, on the capacity of the russian economy to this point. this comes just a couple hours after the treasury department announced that russia can no longer use dollar denominations held in u.s. banks to pay off its debt payments. these are all really critical steps being taken. you're seeing immediate action on the global stage in response to bucha, that. >> phil mattingly, thank you. >>> secretary of state anto

robertson live for us in brussels this hour. thanks very much, nic. appreciate it. >>> as the russian military moves through ukraine, they are leaving more than just destruction and heart break as our phil black now reports. >> reporter: weaving through the trees, carrying a delicate cargo. not the wounded but something with the potential to do worse. they're collecting active will have munitions. there are blackened trees pretty much everywhere. ukrainians say rockets rain down on positions there. this is what's left of the battlefield. >> reporter: here lies a russian rocket. those weapons are banned by more than 100 countries. this one standing proud shows why they must work quickly. when the soldiers last saw this damaged rocket, it was lying horizontally. someone has lifted the warhead so it now points to the sky. the professionals carefully stretcher it away and add it to their growing collection. that was a single 500 pound bomb and that's how you make it save. they have two more to go. they're air delivered bombs recovered from a downed russian aircraft and they're going to destroy both at the same time. the big ones are easy to find and you get the feeling fun to destroy. most

brussels, cnn's nic robertson with the position now to not put sanctions on someone close to vladimir putin and reporting on two mysterious explosions in moldova to the southwest, cnn's phil black. first, clarissa ward's report. >> reporter: beginning of a 24 hour shift for paramedics, aleksandra and vladimir vensel, they prepare the ambulance for the carnage that kharkiv residents confront everyday. "we have two tourniquets," vladimir says. aleksandra's mother stops by the dispatch center to give her daughter a hug. this is one of the most dangerous jobs. every moment together is precious. a loud stream of booms signals the day's work is beginning. "that's incoming now," this ambulance worker tells us. aleksandra and vladimir answer the call. she says, the code used when someone has been wounded by shelling. their flack jackets on, they're ready to roll out. so they've said they got reports one person at least has been injured in the shelling and they're hearing some rockets, as well, so we're going to see what's going on. the shells hit a residential apartment building. the paramedics need to act fast. russian forces are increasingly hitting the same target twice. it's