last year viktor yanukovych abandoned a deal in favour of a deal with russia, and it dropped to $268. after viktor yanukovych was ousted the crime yap parliament voted to join russia and a referendum endorsed that. with relations between ukraine and russia at a low. vladimir putin warned gas supplies could be cut. in april russia's gazprom raised the press. russia offered to low it, kiev reports that the new offer is 44% higher than the previous rate. >> we put forward proposals. it's 268 u.s. per 1,000 cubic metres for gas. another compromise praise we are ready to consider is 326. >> why does this matter? >> the european young yn gets 30% of its gas. back in january 2009 a similar disagreement led moscow and 18% reported reductions or cuts in gas supplies. gas prom switched off prices although it postponed the deadline self teems. >>> a quick recap of the top stories on al jazeera. gunmen attacked three hotels and a petrol station on kenya's coast, killing 14. the coastal area is in the heart of kenya's tourism industry. rad radio reported that the police station has been hit. sunni

causing this discontent, this bitterness against the administration that has taken power since viktor yanukovych'sr. this maidan, the crowd is still here to a certain extent, the tent city. there are still people down there on the square who want more changes to take place, who say they won't leave i until thr demands have been filled, until the corruption has been with abolished in ukraine corruption is a very significance here, a lofty objective that will take years to release. a very difficult issue for president poroshenko, how no work with people who supported him from the very beginning, how now to make this country look like it's functioning again, to get people to start leaving the square behind, to show that things are getting back to normal. because there are lots of ukrainians who feel that there is people on the maidan to step down, to show everybody that there has been a page turned, that there is a new chapter starting for ukraine. one way to do that would be to show initiative and to start to move things from maidan here, the center of this revolutionary movement that has brought pe

ukraine under former president viktor yanukovych did not sign the eating too massive eu protests and his ouster. russia in response annexed crimea, civil war corrupting. russian president vladimir putin remains ever opposed to eu ties saying yanukovych's removal was illegal and divisive. >> they're forcing an artificial choice between europe and russia. they are turning this into a painful confrontation. >> moscow is pushing for the fragile weeklong cease-fire to be extended. there were also considering further sanctions against russia if tro moscow separatists do not want down the crisis. let's get some reaction to events. gulliver is in the eastern ukrainian city. gulliver, different pictures emerging from different places in respect to how this wrestles deal is being received in ukraine. >> to those people who first came out to protest on the 21st of november last year, this is, in a way, the culmination of all of their hopes and dreams. the agreement has finally been signed. the celebration and kiev is really muted, first of all because of the number of people who have died first

this is the parliament that tripped those powers from viktor yanukovych after the revolution. this is the parliament that poroshenko now wants to dissolve so he can have new deputies to press forward with the reforms that he says ukraine so desperately needs. these are the men that he now commands. but a solution to the violence east of the country may ultimately lie with russia. talks are expected. there is hope for diplomacy, but this country is virtually at war. it's new commander in chief has to choose which path to tread. al jazeera, kiev. >> so what else has petro poroshenko promised? he said ukraine will never become a federation. he also plans to push the country towards e.u. membership, and he's appealed for separatist toss lay down their arms offering immunity from prosecution for those, in his words, don't have blood on their hands. al jazeera has been gauging reaction from the city of done doneskt. >> reporter: people here are divided whether poroshenko can bring change in the east. people for a long time have felt alienated by kiev. they said it's already an indep

this is the parliament that stripped powers from viktor yanukovych after the revolution. this is the parliament that president poroshenko now wants dissolved so that he can have new deputies to press forward with the reform he said ukraine so desperately needs. these are the men he now commands. the solution to the violence in the east of the country may ultimately lie with russia. talks are expected. there is hope that diplomacy, but this country is virtually at war. this leader now has to choose which path to tread. >> in iraq dozens of students and professors have been released after a group stormed the university taking them hostage. the police say that the group killed guards just to get into anbar university. those hostages were later freed after the gunmen withdrew from a gunfight with security ow official officials. >>> egyptian officials have sentenced ten muslim brotherhood followers to death. meanwhile, tomorrow is the inauguration of egypt's president elect general al sisi. >>> the majority of those who have died in syria's civil war are men. meanwhile the wom

last year, ukraine's former president viktor yanukovych canceled the eu deal. thousands protested this move and drove him from power. now, his successor is signing the deal. the revolution was not only pro european. it was also anti-moscow. last year, russia said it would punish ukraine economically if it signed the association agreement. question is, does this threat still stand? ukraine's relations with russia deteriorated drastically. pro kremlin separatists are fighting in ukraine's east. russia and its economic allies can influence ukraine in a number of ways. >> russia and other countries can -- a lot of pain in ukraine especially since they account for one third of our trade and is a large company in the east of ukraine that export to russia. >> reporter: many are hoping once the deal is signed, its benefits will far outweigh the initial pain it will undoubtedly bring. david stern, bbc news, kiev. >>> let's have a look at how hard the benefits will be to achieve. for more of that, i'm joined by a partner at cfc consulting, in koy kiev, in ukraine. the ne

this is the parliament that stripped those powers from viktor yanukovych after the revolution. this is the power that president poroshenko wants absolved to create the reforms that ukraine so desperately needs. these are the men that he commands. but the solution to the violence in the east of the country may ultimately lie with russia. talks are expected. there is hope for diplomacy, but this country is virtually at war. it's new command center chief now has to choose which path to tread. al jazeera, kiev. >> reporter: so how will poroshenko's plan go down in the east of ukraine? we have reporters in the region. in a moment we'll hear from david chater in slovyasnk, but first we have reaction to the inauguration. >> reporter: many people are divided over whether there will be change in the east. many people have for a long time felt neglected by the kiev. >> they couldn't even arrange presidential elections here. there were no elections of this poroshenko. what local elections are we talking about? yet again he's throwing out words and making promises he can't keep. >> the don

kiev cried foul calling it political pay back after ousting president viktor yanukovych. but russia said it had been paying below market raid and owes $745 billion in unpaid bills and said for now on all gas must be paid fo for before receiving gas. >> ukraine receives gas according to the paid volume. no type of payment either owe debts or the pre-payments for june were paid. on all owe receive zeros so now it receives gas according to paid volumes. >> kiev said it has enough gas in storage to last until december but there could be shortages in the coldest winter months. pipelines like these can be seen across ukraine. many are pumping russian gas to europe. around a third of e.u. gas supplies come from russia. of that half is pumped through ukrainian pipes. ukraine will continue to supply gas to europe so supplies there won't be hurt but ukraine is tired. they say this should be quickly solved. >> i think they will manage to negotiate and find some compromise. maybe it will not satisfy everybody but at least they will be some common agreement. they are obliged, but one

. >> previous president viktor yanukovych had refused to sign the trade deal, and his rejection is what sparked off the major crisis in the country. he was toppled, and after months of violence, russia annexed crimea. >> ukraine's new president hailed the signing of the delay deal as a milestone for his country. >> poroshenko said this was an historic step, but he asked the eu to go further and ask that one day ukraine would be allowed to become a member. >> it must be worth something, for instance, to finally consider a simple statement of the part of the eu. >> the eu signed similar agreements with moldova and georgia. the plan is for all three former soviet states to be able to trade completely freely with eu countries once they comply with eu standards. >> but get the perspective now from russia. we go to the capital, moscow. how is the signing -- how has the signing of these trade deals gone down with the kremlin? >> obviously, it has not gone down well. the death of the ukrainian economy was basically declared today. vladimir putin did not directly comment on it, but he made a pre

government abandoned a trade deal in november stating mass protests, leading to the overthrow of viktor yanukovych. >>> let's go to the top story - u.s. sending 300 - what it calls - special advisors, possibly special forces to iraq. let's go to james in london, director of the diplomacy platform. it's middle east security analyst based at kings clem. robin, are we getting mixed messages from washington. president obama is saying that there's no military solution. why get involved, basically. he's saying that they are ready to use targeted and precise action, but president obama said he need to ask hard questions before taking action abroad. bit confused. >> well, i think obama has been patience about his response to the i.s.i.s. crisis. there's no military solution. there's a military element to the response. clearly these 300 advisors will be well integrated with the iraqi security force, coordinating and strategising in terms of future airstrirks, seeing americans bailout nouri al-maliki when he went into basra, that's an important role to play. this is about stopping the i.s.i.s. surge, rollin

will also see history made as ukraine signs and association deal with the block for president viktor yanukovych's decision to pull out of the deal last year triggered months of unrest, which ended in his on -- his ouster. >> his successor has been addressing european representatives about the deal. he has told the council that the deal will push ukraine towards the economic and political reforms that it needs. >> let's shift our focus now to those fast-moving events and iraq were the countries most powerful shiite eric has added his voice to a growing chorus of calls from prime minister nouri out my lucky -- nouri al-maliki. >> he joins the u.s. and pushing for a unity government, but maliki says any change to the government would be tantamount to a coup. the situation on the ground is getting worse. >> this unverified videos that show the aftermath of fighting in iraq's second-largest city. it fell under control of insurgents earlier this month. as the sunni militant group continues to make gains, international pressure is mounting on the shiite prime minister to form a government of national un

today this is the parliament that stripped those powers from viktor yanukovych. this is the parliament that president petro porashenko now wants dissolved so that he can have new deputyies to press forward with reforms ukraine so desperately leads. >> these are the men he commands. a solution to the violence in the east of the country may ultimately lie with russia. talks are expected. there's hope that diplomacy but this country is virtually at war. the commander in chief has to choose which path to tread. >>> more to come, including the top story, and that is the swearing in of president elect abdul fatah al-sisi. this is him arriving at the constitutional court, awaiting his swearing in ceremony. we will, of course, cover this top story throughout the day. we will, of course, be bringing you a lot of analysts and analysis, i beg your pardon, on his ascend to power, shall we say, on him becoming egypt's next president. as a reminder, abdul fatah al-sisi was violetal in the -- vital in the coup that deposed former president mohamed mursi in july of last year. ab

ukraine's independence square was the focus of the revolution that ousted viktor yanukovych.he square is still occupied by protesters. ryan looks at how they plan to reclaim this. kiev's independence square is a living monument to revolution. a bastion of people power were ukrainians united to overthrow a corrupt and unpopular president. >> our last president is a very bad man, and all ukrainians want to kill him. >> last winter hundreds of thousands of ukrainians gathered, embattled in battles with the government. it was the second time in a decade protesters occupied the square. yanukovych is gone now, and the new rulers brought to power by the very revolutionaries say they must go. they have served their purpose. it may even be a threat. division.there is >> the election of a new president, it should slowly go away. >> independence square has done its job, but the government hasn't. we won't leave until they deliver on their promises. >> the main battleground for ukraine's new president is in square hashe main already become a challenge in its own right. after petro porosh

kiev called foul calling it it political pay back for ousted president viktor yanukovych. but russia said that it had been paying below market rate and said for now on all gas must be paid for in advance. >> in full accords with the contract the decision was taken. from 10:00 moscow time you korean receives gas according to the paid volume. right now no payments for old debts and for june have been received. >> kiev said it has enough gas in storage to last until december but there could be sportages in the coldest winter months. hard lines like these can be seen in towns and across ukraine. many are pumping russian gas into europe. ukrainians are tired. they believe this should be quickly solved. >> i think they will magic to negotiate and compromise. it may not satisfy everyone, but you cannot do without gas. >> gas is good, but they use it as a political tool. it is not acceptable. >> with a conflict in the east, but finding a compromise could be difficult. >> blood transfusions have transformed medicine over the past century. it all began with humans, now horses, dogs,

. >> calling it political pay back after street protests in february ousted viktor yanukovych. now all gas must be paid for in advance. >> translator: in full accordance with the contract the decision was taken and today from 10:00 in the morning moscow time, nafta gas receives gas from paid program. nor the preamendment for june were paid. on all of the graphs we see zeros so today nafta gas receives gas according to the paid volumes. >> kyiv says it has enough gas in storage to last until december but the eu commissioner says there could be shortages in the coldest winters months. appliance like this one can be seen in towns and cities across ukraine. many are pumping russian gas to europe. in fact, nearly a third of the prune gas comes from russia. supplies there shouldn't be hurt but ukrainians are tired. they saw supplies cut in 2009 after a similar spat, and believe this should be quickly solved. >> i think they will manage to negotiate and find some compromise. maybe it will not satisfy everybody. but at least they will be some common agreement. near obliged to find one,

crield cried foul, calling it political pay back after street protest in february out offed viktor yanukovych. but ukraine owes $4.5 billion in unpaid bills. said now in future, has to be paid with cash. >> from 10:00 in the morning moscow town, gas ukraine receives gas according to the paid volume. as of now, the prepayments for june were not paid. on all of the graphs we see zeros. so today nafta gas receives gas according to the paid volumes. >> kyiv says it has enough gas in storage to last until december, but there could be shocialgs in the coldest winter months. appliance like this could be seen, russian gas to europe, in fact around othird of the eu a.m.'s gas supplies come from russia and from that, around shafhalf is pumped from ukraines pipes. 2009 after a similar spat and should be quickly solved. >> i think they will manage to negotiate and find some compromise. maybe trillion not satisfy everyone but at least there will be some common agreement. they are obliged to find some but you can't do without gas about. >> translator: gas is good but they use it as a political tool. it's n

this is the agreement that viktor yanukovych planned to sign, but pulled back because of pressure with moscow, leading to him getting kick the out of ukraine. >> it's an important symbol for petro porashenko to say i'm going ahead with this, and our future is with europe. the truth is that kiev - ukraine will be in a situation for the foreseeable future where it will have to appease moscow at the same time as trying to warm relations with europe. the previous president was unable to manage that. it was always one or the other. i'll sign with europe or i'll go along with the russians. that was the game that vladimir putin was playing. petro porashenko may be better at the balancing act. let's hope. >> let's go to another hot spot. egypt. you lived in cairo, you note the country well. on tuesday president abdul fatah al-sisi rejected calls for sentences to long prison terms. that was a day after abdul fatah al-sisi met with john kerry. cause. >> what is abdul fatah al-sisi doing? what does he want? >> what abdul fatah al-sisi is doing in terms of al jazeera and the press is to say i have

calling it political pay back after street protests in february ousted moscow backed president, viktor yanukovychow says they had been paying well below market rate, and says now all gas must be paid for in advance. >> translator: in full accordance with the contract, the decision was taken, and today from 10:00 in the morning mass cow time, they will receive gas according to the paid volume. as of now no payments were paid. on all of the graphs we see zeros, so today nafta gas receives gas according to the paid volumes. >> reporter: kiev says it has enough gas to last until december, but they are warning there should be shortages in the coldest winter months. pipelines like this one can be seen across ukraine. many are pumping russian gas to europe. around a third of the eu's gas supply come from russia, and around half is pumped through ukrainian pipes. ukraine will continue to transit gas to europe, so supplies there shouldn't be hurt. but ukrainian's are tired they saw supplies cut in 2009, and believe this should be quickly solved. >> translator: i think they will manage to negotiate and fin

that led to the protests that pushed viktor yanukovych out of power. is the military threat putin's this. >> it might be. petro porashenko made clear that he's planning to do this. what whenninged is more people in ukraine now are united about the european course, about going to the west. petro porashenko is responding to popular opinion to sign the agreement which will include a free trade agreement. it will be a big boom. >> on wednesday, petro porashenko offered a unilateral ceasefire to the separatists after government forces took control. he replaced his foreign minister who used an obscenity to describe vladimir putin. he offered amnesty to the separatist. it seemed like good news. it didn't seem to have a result. things seemed to have gotten worse. all the parties had to participate. the russian military forces, military intelligence in eastern ukraine, they haven't been involved in negotiations. it's not a surprise that they rejected it. what they are calling on is the kremlin to save their bacon, if you will. to come in and use conventional fo

today, this is the parliament that stripped those powers from viktor yanukovych after the revolution. this is the parliament that president petro porashenko now wants dissolved, so that he can have new deputies to press forward with the reforms he says ukraine needs. these are the men he commands. a solution to the violence in the east may lie with russia. talks are expected. there's hope the diplomacy, but the country is virtually at war. the new commander in chief has to choose which path to tread. >>> fighting between the government and separate its in of the east has been on the rise. there's no science that is will end soon. >> reporter: people are divided over whether petro porashenko can create a change in the east. many people, for a long time, felt alienated by kiev. the donetsk people's republic says it's an independent country, and the chairman of the country is dismissing petro porashenko's offer to hold local elections in the region. >> they couldn't arrange president yam elections year. there were no elections of petro porashenko. what local elections are we talking abou

this is one of the original reasons for the demonstrations that drove mr viktor yanukovych away. now the signing with the e.u. is a big deal for the ukrainians across the country, now the separatists supported by the russians, indeed, led by, trained by, equipped by the russians coming across the border oppose that. so they, however, are also disunified. they are squab lipping among themselves. some agreed to the ceasefire extensions some have not. this makes it difficult for them to present a united front. >> the russians are not happy, an advisor to vladimir putin accused the e.u. of putting nazis in power in ukraine. >> nazi development - the nazi government is: . >> are you saying that petro porashenko is a nazi: . >> he accused europe of forcing ukraine to sign the agreement and he called it economic suicide for the ukrainians. why are the russians saying this kind of stuff? >> it's no - there's no explaining the russian statements about this. they are does connected with reality, and this argument that in ukraine there are these nazis - is a cary over from the old foreign p

today this is the parliament that stripped those powers from viktor yanukovych after the rev lurks andhis is the parliament that petro porashenko wants resolved so he can have new deputies to press forward with the reforms ukraine needs. nears the men he commands. a -- these are the men he commands. a solution to the violence may lie with russia. talks are expected. this country is virtually at war - there's hope for diplomacy. they need to choose which path to tread. >>> vice president joe biden was at the swearing in ceremony along with others. he promised millions in aid to ukraine and neighbouring countries. petero poroshenko was elected on the 25th. there was no sign the resistance will end soon. kim vinnell reports from donetsk. >> reporter: people here are divided over whether petero poroshenko can create a change in the east. many for a long time felt alienated by kiev. the donetsk people's republic has dismissed petero poroshenko said offer to hold local elections. >>. >> translation: they couldn't arrange presidential elections. there was no elections of petero poroshenko. wh

them, we saw these demonstrat n demonstrations that led to the ouster of the former president, viktor yanukovychhe agreement, if you're of that camp, this gives a sense of security where ukrainians feel they're more in the camp or more part of europe, moving closer to europe. there is this division in society, the latest polls show around 50% of ukrainians support integration with europe, with a much smaller number against it. the division is there. and the division is very much visible on the ground in the east. so ukraine's sense of security is at a very fragile point right now. and it remains to be seen what exactly is going to happen in the upcoming days, both in the east and also in the relationship with moscow. >> a tense time certainly. david, thank you very much. david stern in kiev. >>> let's catch up on other news for you now. and we're going to start in india. 14 people have died. dozens more have been injured in this explosion. this is a gas pipeline that has gone up in the state of pradesh. the blast was in the early hours, it gusted dozens of houses and forced people to evacuate fr

. >> brown: last november, poroshenko's kremlin-backed predecessor, viktor yanukovych, balked at signingde agreement to further integrate ukraine with europe and move it away from russia. that triggered a popular uprising in kiev, and yanukovych fled in february. >> of course, all of us would have wished to sign the agreement under different, more comfortable circumstances. on the other hand, the external aggression faced by ukraine gives another strong reason for this crucial step. >> brown: that "aggression": russia's invasion and annexation of crimea in march; major troop buildups on the russian border with ukraine; and accusations of moscow's support of separatists in eastern ukraine. today, president vladimir putin said a long-term cease fire needed to be guaranteed before peace talks among warring parties in ukraine, and he had tough words for poroshenko's government. >> ( translated ): the anti- constitutional coup in kiev and the attempts to artificially impose a choice on the ukrainian people between europe and russia have pushed society towards a split and a painful confrontati

we've seen it in our ally ukraine where viktor yanukovych planted pro-russian agents throughout the ukrainian government and armed forces, but the ukrainian people refused to accept russia's attempt to reintegrate them into a 21st century reincarnation of the soviet union. they stood up in the maiden square, a place i visited a few weeks ago, and they braved the freezing cold. they braved the murder out army snipers who shot the protesters down in that square, and they stood and demanded freedom. they demanded to stand with america, with europe, and the west. iran, in its attempt to create a modern version, a new version of the persian empire, has attempted a similar play on behalf of so-called supreme leader khomeini through the means of the iraqi regime of nouri al-maliki. sadly, iranian forces today permeate both the government of iraq and the iraqi security forces. america has demonstrated beyond any shadow of doubt our offer of liberty to the people of iraq, indeed thousands of our sons and daughters have given their lives in pursuit of freedom in iraq. but if the iraqi government is mor