ukrainian forces. there are regular violations of the cease-fire that s been enforced since 2015 including exchanges of shell fire. what we know today is that the ukrainian government saying that shell was fired and it hid the rebel side and hit a kindergarten. two shells. one landed in the playground and one apparently penetrated that wall, those images around of the hole of the wall. i spoke with some military efforts. they re not entirely convinced it was an artillery shell to cause that damage but for others to assess. the point is, in this tense situation that we are currently witnessing, it could be a spark like that that sets off a bunch of broader fire. the rebel side said there s exchange of fire as well. rebel controlled cities say that residential suburbs there come under artillery fire.
you president putin, he said publicly on tv, this is going to be a quagmire. as far as putin is concerned syria was not a quagmire, syria was a success. and their tactic they are tactics there of besieging cities, hammering them, really hammering them. i went to aleppo after the side fell, the rebel side and you could drive for a mile in one direction, mile and the other and only see destroyed buildings. so i think from his point of view, he thought that probably work. now, will he do, would he do something similar say in this city, in kyiv, a city which is a big part of the history of the russian people, important to their religion and culture, what he do it here? we don t know. we will see. fine and culture, what he do it here? we don t know. we will see. don t know. we will see. one final thou~ht, don t know. we will see. one final thought, anthony don t know. we will see. one final
cease-fire, but there have been reports of violence in different parts of the country, of both sides accusing each other of violations. we ve heard from officials that they aim here to consolidate this cease-fire, and also there s going to be discussion of the humanitarian relief when they re talking about, for example, areas that are under siege in syria. there are more than half a million civilians who are estimated to be under siege, and delivering that humanitarian aid to them. but of course we have to look at who is attending and who is not attending these talks, rosemary. yes, there is high-level representation. we re talking about so many different groups that are present there from the rebel side, the opposition side. but at the same time, there are other groups that are missing. some of these rebel groups are not represented there. you also have these two groups that are considered to be the terrorist groups in syria that
however, the kremlin is inviting in coming president donald trump to join in as soon as he takes office. ian lee is monitoring the ceasefire from istanbul, turkey. he joins me live. certainly so much on the line here with this one, ian. how is it going so far and how long has the ceasefire been under way? reporter: well, natalie, it started at midnight local time here. we ve talked to people on the ground and they ve told us so far it has remained quiet. this is a staged process though, and the first stage they are looking for just a cessation of hostilities between the rebel factions and the syrian regime and their allies. this is being brokered by turkey, who is overseeing the rebel side, and russia, who is overseeing the syrian regime side. the second part is to have a mechanism so if there are any violations they re able to talk it out. and then the third is to have negotiations for a final peace deal which will take place next
including shiite militias from iraq, from here in lebanon, from afghanistan. you have palestinian factions, and then a wide array of militias, islamist and n non-islamist, fighting on the rebel side. but at the same time, we have to keep in mind for the civilians trapped in eastern aleppo, it s very simple they need to get out and they need to get out as fast as possible, because with every minute and every hour that passes, they get weaker, they don t have the supplies they need, they don t have the medical supplies they need, so they need to get out of there and get real medical attention as fast as possible. those images just tear you up. we just heard donald trump talking about wanting to build safe zones. based on what you know, all of the things that you just talked about, all of the different entities and governments that are involved here, how plausible is it to build safe zones in syria? reporter: well, you know, essentially, there are already some safe zones for civilia