wanted the eu to bail them out, sue turton reports. >> these are the latest weapons in the battle over the future of ukraine. exports to russia now band by the kremlin. russia is europe's second largest food export market, with value of $16.3 billion. russia involvement in ukraine begins to bite. president putin has retail tal 88thed, apple producer charlie gauthier. >> we are defenseless in the face of international politics. we don't want to be the first victims. >> as russia and the european union play tit-for-tat, these producers on the ground have growing uncertainty as to what they dwoil with their growing -- will do with their growing mountains of stock. it's the same story in the dairy warehouse. cheese makers here say their trucks have been turned back at the border as the russian bound and that of their partners. >> losing big money you know, some of their customers work 80%, only dairy products imports. which means what are they going odo? they will either go to the company. >> while longer lasting produce can be stored, its producers are perishable, peaches from poland, rol

with more, sue turton joins me live 20km north of the town of amerrily. i believe you have been close to some of the fighting. what is happening there, sue? >> we are horing from one of the pesh fighters -- peshmerga fighters, they say they have take back amorally town. the fighters have been besieging the town. there had to be air drops of food and water. fear among the turkmen. fighters coop have been - could have been a massacre. we understand that they have driven back the fighters to the south. i understand there's a battle on one of the villages between amerli and tikrit. we under from the fighters, there's small ammunition and weapons. they are hoping it may push the fighters out of there. they are also pushing the fighters north. have been hearing artillery shells, small arms constantly, and we are estimating the battle is about a kilometre from us here. and we are hearing a lot of movement in the air. it's been significant. since noon on saturday, yesterday, there has been repeated strikes on the is positions here. there's rumour that the fighter

let's cross over to sue turton. how far have they gone to extending concessions to different factions in iraq? >> some of the meetings is over and the foreign policy chief katherine ashton said the discussion was very strong and solid and very much unanimous behind help, approved help really what's going on in northern iraq. the conclusions that came out of that eu meeting really were that they wanted for those member countries that were keen to send both weapons, ammunition and humanitarian aid to that area very much back that push but they were saying it was very much up to each individual country. and the countries standing out so far to send weapons and ammunition, of course france, the french foreign minister really drove forward to have this meeting at all in brussels while the rest of his colleagues were on holiday, they have already committed to send weapons. we're hearing that the u.k. and the dutch government are saying they will fairably consider joining that delivery of weapons and ammunition to the pesh

sue turton, al jazeera. >>> activists say that the armed forces have almost recaptured the suburb of niha on the southern outskirts of damascus. syrian organization of human rights, they report fighting against the jaba al nusra. heavy shelling in the city of homs. militia from the progovernment national defense force are behind that offensive. >>> people in the central republic are hoping that united nations will restore order to their deeply divided nation. the main goal of lasting peace is a long way. hara mutassa reports from the capitol bangui. >> the soldiers are always alert. people in the central africa republic are still tense. some carry concealed weapons for protection. >> the situation on the ground is relatively calm now. the area is secure. there's not too many problems except for crime. we're trying to disarm people. our main goal is a-lasting peace. >> the french army and african union soldiers arrived before the eu force, most will form the u.n. mission. you hear an occasional gun going off but the area is relatively safe. months of religious based violence has divid

let's speak to sue turton, 20km north. what are we hearing about this? >> yes, well peshmerga fighters here at the base camp, 20km to the north - nine if you can hear the gunfight, the battle moved north of amorally, 5km to the south. the peshmerga forces say they have taken the town of amorally. they have moved forces away. they have been beseeming the town, and have freed the people there. they've been struggling without food, water, electricity. they are push out the. >> s forces. they are up to the north, pushed to the south. there's a battle going on in the south on the road to tikrit, where they believe the is forces have machine-guns and snipers. >> there has been u.s. air strikes in the area. tell us about the significance of amorally, and the iraqi forces recapturing it from the is fighters. >> 12,000 turks were inside the up to. they have been defeated all this time. they've been quite desperate. we have had some people, like my colleagues, digging graves, with the is trying to get into the towns. the significance is the iraqi arm has helicopte

. >>> sue turton has more now on how european leaders are responding to the situation in ukraine. >> emergency meeting in brussels on friday, after they heard that there had been a convoy of military vehicles from russia going into ukraine, this really seemed to escalate the situation when all the effort had been to deescalate. 78 people killed in donetske and over 120 injured. the message from the russian president vladimir putin over the last couple of days was that they were also looking for discussion. we are hearing from the ukrainian president petro poroshenko. >> joining me now from moscow is the defense analysts pavel, what are your expectations of these discussions? >> there have been a number of contacts all the time. the lack of content and understanding, making the position he of the two sides a bit closer. russia wants a ceasefire right now in the donbas fighting, that is an imperative because the fighting is very severe and there's a distinct possibility that the pro-russian rebels are going to collapse militarily and that can happen rather soon and that would be seen u

sue turton joins he on the phone, 20km north of amearly. tell us about the retake of amearly. >> it was a joint operation between peshmerga and shia, trying to push through the ring. there's a ring around the town, and it has been bepeopled for the past 80 address. there has to be air drops of food and water. people were scared that the is fighters were so close to them. the peshmerga talk about how prnt it was that they broke the siege. that is what happened. they are telling us that they go all the way around the area, the area surrounding, to clear away the fighters. have been hearing gun fire pushing away to the north, was the place we have been out is 20km to the north. hearing gun nighting. peshmergas have broken through. they are telling us that there's a village there, and they are trying to take back from the fighters. the push is ongoing, but they got into the town. >> the push is ongoing. any ideas at this statement what their planning to -- at this stage what they plan to do next. how significant is the battle. >> i think what t

two points controlled by the islamic state group and baghdad - sue turton reports. [ gunfire ] >> reporter:. >> reporter: huge relief on the streets of amerli as friendly forces black the siege. for 80 days and nights they faced the threat of islamic state fighters taking their town. a threat leaving some to consider taking their lives. their might provoked an alliance between groups not known to fight side by side. with peshmerga, shi'ite and iraqi army soldiers banding together in a joint operation beginning at four in the morning. >> translation: we came to join the fight for amerli under muqtada alsarreda's orders, no difference between sunni, shia, kurdish or christian. we came to clear is from iraq. most came from outside iraq. >> translation: this was an 80-day seem. they were vouched by islamic state fighters. many died of starvation, babies had no milk. thousands were save. >> the aircampaign began the previous day, dropping food and supplies to the residents, and bombs on the is lines. >> there's pride among the peshmerga, that they and the shi'ite militia men broke the siege and