Dateline: May 6

Tonight on Dateline, Nick Lazaredes is on the ground in eastern Ukraine as the world waits to see Russia’s next move and David O’Shea reports on Australia’s proposed refugee agreement with Cambodia.

With tensions in the region now at boiling point, Nick films violent clashes on the streets of Donetsk and speaks with pro-Russian militants and members of the Ukrainian National Guard.

With sniper fire peppering the streets around him, Nick witnesses the storming and ransacking of the Donetsk prosecutor’s office and films reaction to the firebombing of a building in the port city of Odessa which left at least 42 people dead.

Also this week, David O’Shea reports on Australia’s proposed refugee agreement with Cambodia.

There is increasing speculation that Canberra is about to announce a deal with Phnom Penh to send refugees from the offshore detention centres to Cambodia.

O’Shea speaks to refugees from Burma who are already in Cambodia, and witnesses their daily reality of struggle and poverty.

With claims that there is no government assistance available, they eke out a living with support from a church welfare agency.

‘If the Jesuit Refugee Service wasn’t here, we’d all be dead”, says one Rohingya refugee.

Human rights activists are against the potential proposal, describing it as “preposterous”.

“It would be disastrous and this is one of the most serious mistakes Australia has ever made regarding foreign policy.” says Sunai Phasuk from Human Rights Watch.

Tuesday, May 6 at 9.30pm on SBS ONE