legitimate interests, the interests of russians have been attacked directly, like they were in south ossetia, for example, i don't see any other way but to respond in full accordance with international law. >> reporter: russia denies ukraine's allegations that its agents are already aiding the insurgency, but it's massed troops and is carrying out military exercises just over the border. the separatists want a referendum, and they hope for an independent state. they say ukraine's government discriminates against russian speakers in the country's east, and they blame the u.s. for supporting ukraine's leaders in kiev. if this does spiral into civil war, the fear is the u.s. and russia would be dragged into the conflict. >> pelley: holly is joining us now. holly, we heard earlier today that the ukrainian government was going to send troops to a village near where you are. do you know what happened? >> reporter: well, scott, ukraine's interior ministry said that the village of svyatohirsk was liberated from separatists by the country's special forces but this could be part of the propaganda war

they've walked away from the nato talks with georgia because of the invasion in south ossetia in georgiaback in 2008. >> they said they wouldn't be there long. they built full-time bases for their fsb officers along the borders. i have been on the border and seen these sites. they have schools, they have playgrounds. these are not temporariry facilities, they're there for good. i think all the indicators led putin to believe he can be more bold, a lot more aggressive. there's judst not a lot nato an the u.s. can do. you don't want to push this too far. i think this is a good step by the administration to show we will back our nato countries and allies. >> let's talk about this joint u.s./yemeni air strike, drone strike, in yemen, aimed at al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. here's the key question, did they kill the master bomb maker ibrahim al asiri who presumably was targeted? >> can't talk about specific operations, but i can tell you that there's been no confirmation that the bombmaker has been killed. i can tell you that this is someone that we worry about greatly. this is somebody w

in swathe, russian troops intervened in app breakaway region of south ossetia, when it was threatenedy georgia, resulting in a full-scale war. very much reminding the west, as the break down in relations get worse, what russia has, if if feels it is pushed. >> al jazeera's peter sharp in moscow. more to cox, include -- more to come, including how sherpas are turning anger into action. >>> dare devils in dubai set a record - what goes up, must come down. >> you're with al jazeera, i'm martin dennis, and these are the top stories. barack obama is backing japan in the dispute over the senkakku islands islands. china claims the territory as its own. the american president is on a tour of four asian countries. >>> a security guard working at a hospital in kabul has opened fire. three women have been kill. >>> hamas and fatta reach a deal to end years of palestine division, and agree to form an interim unity government and hold elections in six months. >>> now, the u.n. security council is considering imposing sanctions on both the government and the opposition in south sudan. the council w

in 2008, when russia invaded georgia and grabbed south ossetia, that george w. bush, the republican president stood up for the allies and did all of that. that's a right wing talking point with no grounding in reality. that rhetoric is damning, and demonstrates the worst thing through a party son lens. what we have is an international crisis and an actor, leader of the country, creating a great daner, not because obama is soft and bush strong. >> how much should we care. the american people don't care, given what we see from polls about what is going on in ukraine. the reality is the trade with ukraine is negligible. we are doing a segment on venezuela next, and we have more trade with venezuela than russia. >> after russia invaded crimea, i made that argument - crimea is not all that important and it's not of central security importance to the united states. destabilising ukraine is different. civil war in ukraine is different. a failed state close to europe is a big problem for the united states and our allies. i'm talking about major european allies. failed s