number of prisoners later today there's also talks in moscow mediated by the head of the russian orthodox church kiev's representative at those talks as ukraine will release three hundred six prisoners expects the separatists to release seventy four of its captives in return. for ordinary people on either side of the frontline however the conflict is still demanding great sacrifices what began as a russian backed separatist insurgency back in twenty fourteen has since claimed over ten thousand lives the pause in fighting gives these people in the air donetsk time to repair their homes as best they can without enough glass available people are living with plastic sheets whether windows used to be their homes a freezing cold. one of the there was a ceasefire at the beginning of the school year and another one now but we still get shells coming over it's happened seven times in our neighborhood. the winter weather has exacerbated an already die a situation waterpipe to frozen and there is no heating local residents have come up with stopgap solutions for the cold nights the cooling i fill plastic bottles

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patrick carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get to yet which is a final political solution so if you and democrats as a senior research associate at the george washington university in the u.s. and he says this latest exchange is politically significant for both sides. first of all it is. one of few realisations of the minsk agreement between ukraine russia friends and germany that was agreed upon back in two thousand and f

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patriarch kirill and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with a weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get to yet which is a final political solution. the philippine government is setting up hundreds of new shelters for some of the thousands of people displaced by fighting and flooding city took the area from fighters links to i say not after five months only for tropical storm tending to sweep through the city bright reports from. for people displaced by the more are we fighting

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patrick carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with a weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get so yet which is a final political solution russian opposition leader alexina valley says he'll organize a nationwide rally in january to support his call for a boycott of the presidential elections vanny has been barred from running in the march election over and the conviction which he says is politically motivated meanwhile the russian president vladimir putin has official

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patrick carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems has come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now we're talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get yet which is a final political solution the outbreak at the sick a virus two years ago now caused a global health emergency many cases were in the northeast of brazil where the illness was linked to an increase in babies born with a condition that severely limited their development now those children are toddlers in the extent of their health problems it's becoming painfull

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patrick carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get yet which is a final political solution. so i had odd al-jazeera as nuclear tensions escalate on the korean peninsula we speak to one family it's been separated by conflict for almost half a century. and . the capital of the world has been sprayed or it's all about the darkness. from long flowing the island winds to an enchanting desert breeze. hell i would chain of weather sy

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patriarch kirill and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get to yet which is a final political solution you know bomb has exploded at a supermarket in the russian city of st petersburg injuring at least ten people the blast was caused by a homemade device packed with shards of metal no one's claimed responsibility for the attack. aid workers have started evacuating critically ill patients from eastern guta a rebel held on play for syria

russian orthodox church. we're going to get the latest on this now from our correspondent david stern in kiev david first of all who was behind this deal and you know how did it come about exactly. well difficult to say exactly what is what brought it about this is actually part of ongoing talks known as the trial lateral contact group which meets regularly in minsk now that's russia ukraine ians the o s c e plus the russian backed separatists taking part on the side the talk about exchanging prisoners is is can it constance what brought about this this one which is the largest so far remains to be seen but one thing we can say is that a key figure previously has been made the choose now mr bender is an interesting and suddenly ambiguous figure he's ukrainian he takes part from the ukrainian side but he's very close to russian president vladimir putin in fact mr putin is the godfather of medved daughter and they meet regularly and talk about among other things the prisoner exchange so as i say what exactly brought this out the mechanism of this one remains to be seen but obviously this is he could have played a

russian orthodox church. and we're going to get the latest on this story now from correspondent david stern in kiev david why is this prisoner exchange happening now is this a sign in any way that progress is being made in the search for peace well yes this is definitely a sign that some progress is being made without a doubt with a prisoner exchange of this size as you said seventy four ukrainians will be returning home while three over three hundred separatists will be going back to the breakaway territories this is the largest exchange so far in the conflict so obviously this is a major step but on the other hand it needs to be said that the fighting continues and continues it continues in a very very high level not as high as it was a week ago but in the last twenty four hours we've seen one ukrainian soldier killed. and five wounded so obviously the fighting continues so much so that emmanuel mccall and angle americal issued a statement over the weekend calling for an immediate cease fire that still has not taken hold we're hoping that we will see a cease fire for the holiday season so obviously we have

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patrick carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get to yet which is a final political solution a bomb exploded at a supermarket in the russian city of st petersburg entering at least ten people the blast was caused by a homemade device packed with shards of metal no one is claiming responsibility for that attack. plenary results in liberia's presidential runoff are expected later on thursday former football star george way a sa

russian orthodox church. some are calling it the largest prisoner exchange in the east ukraine conflict david stern is in kiev david what have you heard has the prisoner swap already taken place you know as we've heard it's now under way but this will be a swap that goes in stages what we know at the moment is that sixteen ukrainian ukrainians have been returned to the ukrainian side as you've said before there's going to be quite a few more of them as well as three hundred four of the russian backed separatists that are going to be returning home now the ukrainians also say that some of the separatists have refused or do not want to go back we have not confirmed that but there is a question of what the final number will be and as you said this is a major major exchanges also the first exchange of this size in more than a year so obviously this is something that people here in kiev as well as the rest of the country are watching very closely give us a lot about the back story who made this prisoner swap possible. well difficult to say what exactly the mechanics of the the negotiations were these are negotiati

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patrick carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with a weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get to yet which is a final political solution. they think liberia where the presidential hopeful childress says he's on track for victory in the presidential election runoff but no results have been released so far the former football star is up against the current vice president joseph because i am at the reports from the capital monrovia . us liberians wait for the outcome of

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patrick carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems has come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with a weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get so yet which is a final political solution. the philippine government is setting up hundreds of new shelters for some of the thousands of people displaced by fighting and flooding and . they are the area from fighters linked to october after a five siege and four tropical storm tembin sweep through the city bribe reports from. four people displaced by the more are we fighti

the two separatist regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patrick carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get to yet which is a final political solution sophia and zeneca of as a senior research associate at the george washington university in the u.s. and he says this latest exchange is politically significant for both sides. first of all it is. one of your realisations of the agreement between ukraine russia friends and germany that was agreed upon back in two thousand and fifteen a

moscow that was attended by the head of the russian orthodox church patriarch kirill the heads of the separatist regions. the ets and representatives from kiev as well of course it was a high level meeting but the support for all of this came higher up even than that so we know the let me add putin had given is personal push to this he said that he was going to use his influence as he put it with the separatist regions to get this done and of course it was supported by the governments in kiev so everyone seems to be in working together in the last few days to get this thing nailed and how much optimism is there from the fact that you've had this contact between the opposing sides even if it's in direct contact how significant a breakthrough is this prisoner swap. it is certainly a step in the right direction you can't deny that that the you know this is the first big prisoner swap for fifteen months or so and people are talking on both sides now about carrying this on that this won't be the last there are other prisoners on both sides and they'll be working in the coming weeks and months to get those exchanged as well there are of course que

russian orthodox church. while it's being called the largest prisoner exchange in the east ukraine conflict and the w.'s very own david stern is in ukrainian capital kiev with the very latest david to talk to us a little bit about whether this swap has actually taking taken place so what are you hearing. or not hearing anything yet we will only hear about it after it happens and the logistics and the mechanism of it will also become clear but as you say what we're anticipating is that seventy four ukrainian soldiers will be released as well as three hundred six from the russian backed insurgents now what we're hearing at the moment again this will only find out if this is actually the fact but what we're hearing is that first it will be the ukrainians who are released they will then go to nearby cities and then they will be flown back to kiev little bit later closer to the evening the insurgents will be released at the moment we're still waiting to hear whether it is under under way but we did the last thing we heard it was happening any time soon are it happening any time soon ok tell us a little bit about who made this prisoner swap possible in the f

russian. orthodox church patrick carroll the leaders of the two separatist republics of deniece going to school and representatives from kiev as well but there was higher pressure than even. putin said that he would use his influence with the separatist republics to push this through and of course it was being supported by kiev so i think all the stars really aligned once and there was actually some movements could be pushed in two results and those results we can see right now is this a significant breakthrough in the conflict the rory. it is yes it definitely is because the last significant prisoner swap was fifteen months ago the minsk talks in two thousand and fifteen said that all prisoners had to be exchanged within days of the agreement that never happened though so to reach a point where such a significant exchange of prisoners could take place the kind that we're seeing right now means that there has had to be a degree of goodwill on both sides and that goodwill has had to be converted into solid action having said that there are prisoners on both sides remaining so this is probably the first of several and the lea

coups kiev's and voile on various humanitarian matters to the minsk talks it was also attended by patry our carol of the russian orthodox church and the various leaders of the separatists republics in eastern ukraine so that was i think what broke through and made this. swap actually possible but there was also some heavy influence going on from flooding near putin and of course the leadership in kiev. that emir putin essentially said that he was going to use his influence with the republics to make sure app and so yes we have had i think some top down approval of this walk and it's bearing fruit as we can see going on right there so right this moment but is this a significant breakthrough in the conflict for you. i think it undoubtedly is because this is the first prisoner swap to have happened in something two thousand and fifteen so there has been a long time with very very little agreement very very little movement so to get to a point like this there has to have been serious dialogue on both sides and a degree of good will coming from both sides as well having said that there are still prisoners being held that arms inclu

russian rebel groups have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war the central government in kiev released two hundred three men and the separatist seventy four the swap came after mediated talks by the russian orthodox church. with but that in an explosion has ripped through a supermarket in the russian city of st petersburg authorities say ten people were hospitalized but the explosive device was traced to a storage locker room no one has claimed responsibility for the blast which occurred northwest of the city center before and yes that would be through the. middle of a chord in me and maher has reminded to reuters journalists in custody for a second fourteen day period authorities are probing allegations that to to breach the country's official secrets act the journalist reporting on the crisis in the country where a military crackdown has seen more than six hundred thousand will hinge on muslims fimian march. aid workers in syria have begun evacuations from the besieged rebel bastion of eastern ghouta emergency medical cases were among the first to leave according to the un there are still more than three hundred fifty thousand civilians in one of the last remaining rebel strongholds in the country. ar