they say since the day victorian -- victor yanukovych fled the country they have been ignored.hey said this is the only way for them to get their voices heard. but now they do want this ref -- referendum not to split from ukraine but they want to administer their own affairs by themselves. >>> the united states and south korea are launching the largest air defense exercise they have ever done together. it involves more than 100 aircraft and 1400 personal. north korea sees it as a prelude for invasion. >> reporter: this is part of a legal exercise that every year north korea calls rehearsals for invasion. is north korea has made similar protests again this year, and indeed just a few days ago during a combined am fibbous exercise, north korea chose that day to hold its own drill firing about 100 shells into south korean waters. south korea and the united states are also launching what they are calling the biggest-ever combined air defense exercise. one other issue of note, this is also the day that the south korean defense ministry makes public its interim finings into its inves

they played a key role in the protest in kiev that led to the ousting of victor yanukovych.ow, this mayor says that a refer endsum will be held on may 11 11th. the authorities have said that they agreed in principle over a refer endsum. it's a referendum but it should be held on the same day as the presidential e elections which are may 25th a lot of the pro-russian supporters said they didn't trust that. they thought the presidential e elections would be rigged in the first place. it has to be said that the mayor gateway new. until al few days ago, the mayor of slovyansk was a woman. she had clearly den oujsed the appearance of men in fatigues. she had at the time said they were either russians or getting their orders from moscow. she has since disappeared. we vint heard from all of the other pro-russian protesters who have seized buildings in other cities and towns across eastern ukraine, whether they agree or not on that date >> reporter: the u.n. gateway warning that residents of a besieged district of damascus are in danger of starving to death. it has about 18,000 peop

ago when pro- western demonstrators took to the streets and ousted the country's president, victor yanukovych. those demonstrators resented russian interference and support ukraine's new american-backed government. but the change in leadership has angered people here in the east of the country, the majority of them russian speaking. are they ready so you can protect yourself? these men have armed themselves with molotov cocktails and told us they're ready to fight if the government tries to force them out. international agreements to end this standoff have had no impact on the ground, but, jeff, local authorities have told us they're negotiating directly with the separatists to find a peaceful solution and stop ukraine from splitting in two. >> holly williams, thank you. a man suspected of terrorizing the kansas city area for weeks with a series of highway shootings is in custody tonight. he's being held on $1 million bail. manual bojorquez on how they tracked him down. >> prosecutors have charged 27- year-old mohammed whitaker for at least a dozen shootings in the kansas city area over the l

when former president victor yanukovych fled his estate in kiev for russia - his people saw his expensive car collection - - his zoo with exotic birds - and even giant model pirate ship - all paid for with their cash. now in london - a two day forum aimed at finding the billions of dollars allegedly stolen from the country and stashed abroad by yanukovych and his cohorts. the attorney general eric holder using sport to make the point. >> the great american boxer joe lewis once said "you can run but you can't hide" and i think that is the attitude that we take here. >> holder admits the stolen assets will have been well hidden by now - behind sham companies and fake bank accounts so getting it all back won't be easy. >> i think it's safe to say that we are talking about billions of dollars - billions of american dollars - and i think that shows the magnitude of the problem and what is at stake. >> the forum heard it may take years to track down the missing billions - more than thirty nations are involved in the hunt. >> we thought it was absolutely right that the international community de

following the ouster of victor yanukovych, moscow increased gas prices by 80% and putin wants europeo help ukraine pay its growing bills. >> it might be disappointing for the protesters held up but in several locations across the southeast. it's revealed that only about 25% of the population of this region actually wants a federal system. and that's one of the main demands of the pro-russian protesters what people favor is a decentralized system in ukraine, one by which they can deal with their own local governance without referring back to kiev. interestingly enough, there is a tiny minority, about 7%, believe that the russian language is any kind of threat in this region protesters say why they are taking up buildings and making their voices heard is that they feel that the russian identity is being muz he would buy kiev. results that don't really agree with what they are demanding or the point they are putting forward. but i think results that are in tune with what we have witnessed underground, yet these protesters have a group of sympathizers who help them out on a daily bapsz a

he was a key member of former ukrainian president victor yanukovych's party but is seeking to push for more local ethnic russian control while keeping the region part of ukraine. >> this report from the city of danesk. pro-russia activists stepped in with baton to break up a peaceful pro-ukraine demonstration. >>> the european union is set to impose new sanctions today on russia over the crisis in ukraine. >> they'll target 15 russian officials the e.u. believes are undermaining ukraine's -- undermining ukraine's sovereignty. this comes a day after the u.s. imposed sanctions of its own. jim sciutto can details. >> reporter: with the crisis in ukraine only growing more violent, the obama administration introduced new economic sanctions it says are designed to punish russia for orchestrating it. [ gunshot ] >> reporter: the sanctions fix on individuals tied -- fixate on individual tied to putin including the deputy foreign minister and head of putin's 2004 presidential campaign. and igor sec hen, president of russia's leading oil company, also a close adviser to putin. crucially the sanc

you have long been in contact with victor yanukovych in the coverage, especially when he was presidentf ukraine, has he always been such a traitor? [applause] >> you know, in russia we have this expression that any czars -- of head of any state bears a huge burden of responsibility. at critical times, a person acts according to his experience and his values. as for viktor yanukovych, he did his duty as he felt necessary. of course, i spoke with them many times during the crisis and after he ended up in the russian federation. we spoke about the possibility of the use of force. you can think what you want about it, but this is what he told me, in response. as he put it. i thought many times about using force. and then he said, i could not make myself do it. sign that kind of order to use force against my own people, my own citizens. as for the special force, for sure you and your friends did an honest and professional job. you did your professional duty. it makes me and others respect to you and your comrades, your other servicemen, but eventually what happened to you and your colleague

you have long been in contact with victor yanukovych in the coverage, especially when he was presidentf ukraine, has he always been such a traitor? [applause] >> you know, in russia we have this expression that any czars -- of head of any state bears a huge burden of responsibility. at critical times, a person acts according to his experience and his values. as for viktor yanukovych, he did his duty as he felt necessary. of course, i spoke with them many times during the crisis and after he ended up in the russian federation. we spoke about the possibility of the use of force. you can think what you want about it, but this is what he told me, in response. as he put it. i thought many times about using force. and then he said, i could not make myself do it. sign that kind of order to use force against my own people, my own citizens. as for the special force, for sure you and your friends did an honest and professional job. you did your professional duty. it makes me and others respect to you and your comrades, your other servicemen, but eventually what happened to you and your colleague

they say since february 23rd basically since the day victor yanukovych fled this country. they say basically that they have been ignored all along from the authorities in kiev and that's what pushed them to take over that security building that's not too far away from where we are standing. they say it's the only way for them to get their voices heard. but now, they do want this referendum on federalism not to split from ukraine. actually, some of them showed proudly their ukrainianpass port. they want to be able to administerthane own eva's by themselves. >> hoda del hamid in eastern ukraine. the crisis could speed up a gas deal between russia and china. they have been talking for nearly a decade about a gas pipe agreement. now, the talks are heating up. a deal would allow russia to sell pipeline gas to china for at least another 30 years. russian state-owned gasprom said an agreement would be signed in may when russian president vladimir putin will be in bay ying. >> there has been progress until negotiations between israeli and palestinian dealers but is denying there i

because at the end of may, ukraine will hold an election for a replacement for victor yo yanukovych,ed getting more cozy with russia and their president putin. back to you. >> peter ducey, live in d.c. with the latest on crimea. thanks, peter. >>> some other stories making headlines, was it a desperate call for help? a malaysian newspaper reporting the co-pilot of the missing malaysian jet tried making a call moments before the plane disaer paed. the airliner was quickly moving away from cell towers and the call didn't go through. the malaysian government denies it. 12 aircraft and 14 ships are searching the southern indian ocean today. it's been five days since any new possible black box signals have been picked up. >>> and johnny depp, the star witness in a murder trial? the actor subpoenaed at the premiere of his film "transcendence." nancy lekon is accused of plowing down and killing another woman with a limo in 2009. she pled not guilty by reason of insanity and her public defender wants to call the actor to the stand to prove it. >>> attention high school boys, are you looking

if you look at the government that was formed of to mr yanukovych was overthrown it was absolutely a government of the victors the people who were involved in the protests against mr yanukovych which formed a government a coalition government that included themselves partly because they're divided amongst themselves so they had no room to bring in easterners and they left them and that is what the problem is if they're going to use a harsh response that sounds like they're going to use force that would mean bringing in interior ministry troops police even dare one say the army but the danger with that is if you start using force against these protesters then that will start countervailing force from the protesters and then outsiders might get drawn in. events changing rapidly in ukraine artie's on top of what's happening hope you stay with us to keep across all the latest on our web site r.t. dot com minute by minute updates next but analysis there and also more later the program to submit a galaxy not so far away police darth vader's being forbidden from running in ukraine's parliamentary race did enter but

mr covert was overthrown it was absolutely a government of the victors the people who were involved in the protests against mr yanukovych which formed a government a coalition government that included themselves partly because they're divided amongst themselves so they had no room to bring in easterners and they left them out and that is what the problem is if they're going to use a harsh response that sounds like they're going to use force that would mean bringing in interior ministry troops police even dare one say the army but the danger with that is if you start using force against these protesters then that will start countervailing force from the protesters and then outsiders might get drawn in which exuberance changing rapidly in ukraine artie's on top of what's happening very if you stay with us you will be able to put across all the latest party dot com we've got minute by minute updates and expert analysis. of folks imprinted on syria the syrian rebels have reportedly rolled out the big guns it appears they're made in america security sources claim washington has been secretly supplying advanced cells to what

yanukovych which was. overthrown it was absolutely a government of the victors this was a point made incidentally by the russian foreign ministry basically the people who were involved in the protests against mr you only code which formed a government a coalition government that included themselves partly because they're divided amongst themselves so they had no room to bring in easterners and they left them out and that is what the problem is and as we've seen now with a few local government building storms and the protestors are taking action into their own hands responding with fairly aggressive rhetoric i mean how far do you think they will go on this i don't know there is of course and of another factor which is that the russian government has said that if the force used against the ukrainians mr putin has also rising to bring in the russian army he's already made that clear so and the federation council has passed it i think there will be enormous pressure on the ukrainians from europe especially to try and keep this thing moderate because nobody outside the ukraine wants this crisis to escalate so my gue