ukrainians, watch putin during that late night declaration that he was going to make these republics independent. people here knew that this was the signal for conflict. what they were really disturbed by was the way putin was acting as they are. many people described as a sar in an imperial setting in the kremlin, calling his ministers before him, calling his intelligence services before him to actually go through what seemed like a choreographed process to justify what he finally announced after a long meandering. at some stage, a history lesson about ukraine and russia that nearly enraged a lot of people, not just politicians. they felt that this was, this was it, that that would be part of the country going into russian hands, not the entire country. and that's the real quandary right now, if you look on the streets, people more or less very sullen,

having faith in their army, having faith in their intelligence services, but how without help, without any help right now, how can they win against this, this mighty machine of russian armory of cruise missiles of warships of the coast, and that's another aspect of it all they've already. it would seem reportedly last odessa, we think that that might have taken place because they, they brought in troops on to very larger ships. a carriers which are sort of amphibious assault craft they came in, they've had that taken out that the sea of, as of was a declared or a no go area for, for air that, for aircraft, and indeed for shipping. so there is another thought here that they will try to take the territory right, the way across that coastline and see of as of, and cut off odessa and mary paul as well and take that territory. if they took that

territory, they, the ukraine would be landlocked. that's if the ukraine gets through this, it is, it is a colossal thought. it's, it's a, it's a very disturbing thought. so to imagine that russia could take complete control of this country. it's not l, like it's likely solution, it's more likely that they will take a line around around the capitol and that's what a lot of people are thinking that they will actually put this capital under siege and try to undermine everything in the way of, of, of of the cyber attacks and taking out infrastructure and also using these the door. it's actors we've seen so far the false flag operations which led up to this. and the information watch is played a key place in all of its information war that was intense, right? to the very last in the very uncertain and volatile situation there in the ukrainian capital, andrew simmons updating his there from here. thanks very much,

andrew. stay safe. we will check in with you again. now let's look at what's in ukraine has been attacked so that we know up to this point. there are reports of attacks on the capitol as we've been saying, and don't the next 3 largest cities. they are car, have a desa and denise pro, a number of other cities and towns have also reported leaving targeted across the east in regions over the last year was here some of the televised address, the russian president vladimir putin made earlier this morning as he announced the military action and told ukrainian forces to retreat, please away with me. when we get older, we you to lay down immediately and go home. i will explain all service men of the ukrainian army who comply with this requirement can freely leave the area of military actions and return to the families. but when you put, when you, when we try to stop us and food, the create threats to our country, to our people,

should know that russia response will be immediate and lead you to such consequences that you have never faced in your history. we are ready for any outcome you felt fine was there from the russian president earlier this thursday. let's live now to dorsey jibari, who is in the russian capital force. so does that how, how russia has been reacting to this over the last? see, as i wake up to this news now of a clear escalation on operations in ukraine. i think what we've been hearing from local fear until now is there's still very much in shock, as i think most of the world is. until now. even all of us in this office, we still have been hearing these rumors over the past few weeks. still cannot process and understand what has happened because it really nobody would want it. we

spoke to a lot of people here. they said they didn't want this to take place. there wasn't any indication from the ordinary rushes that we spoke to, that this was something that was necessary for their country to carry out. and people have spoken to this morning when i came in a few hours ago and talked to people in the hotel, they thought i was actually joking, or making this up. they didn't leave, it was fact what the president susan had said and announced it was quite early in the morning. it was down, so it was broadcast at 6 am moscow time. and i was coming in my taxi right in to the bureau. i asked the driver if he had heard the news and he simply laughed and said to me, you must be kidding. or he didn't actually believe me. the sense here is still very much shock and i think it will be process in the coming hours. that things that we do know that have taken place as a result of what has happened is that the stock market is still closed and it's the russian stock market because of the volatility that they've seen this morning. and currency exchange, places in moscow have also stayed close at the local currency. the rubel has

plummeted drastically over the past few hours and i think it will drop further in the coming hours as well. but we've heard from the russian defense ministry that they are not targeting civilians, they are targeting military installations. it's very difficult to say how they have planned this and to avoid any simply casualties of course. but i think it's important to point out that let me put in, had warned days leading up to this. i think we were expecting some kind of encourage him to take place, but certainly not to the scale that or see now the russians have said that they want the military to lay down their arms. and that they just want to basically demilitarize ukraine. that is what let me put one's head. he said that they, it's a matter of security concern for this country, but i think it would be a very difficult sell to the local population. your to justify the events that are

on holding on the ground in ukraine door. so thank you. oh, no, sorry, we will stay with joseph now. i just wanted to ask you another question about this . if i could, we expecting to hear not only from the russian president at some point, but also from any other russian officials, perhaps or not update on, on, on where they are in all of this. we haven't had any official, i'm confirmation that they will be addressing the media from the defense ministry. the foreign minister usually has at briefings on thursdays and we expect the kremlin spokesperson, who has daily briefings to also continue that later today. so we'll get the regular schedule that briefings, but we have not heard of any special or extraordinary and meetings for the press to take place where they will be briefed. this is very usual here at the defense ministry in the foreign minister are very closely guarded institutions and they

don't really speak to the media. they don't share information easily. but i think we expect that a vladimir putin. he is scheduled to meet with a pakistani prime minister who arrived in moscow late last night and to have a joint meeting and to talk about bilateral ties. i would assume that it's still taking place we haven't heard otherwise, and we expect that him put to address the media following that meeting. so we'll have to wait and see in the coming hours if that will still take place. but i think the general census here now today will be very important. so once these air rates finished, as angel was mentioning, if the ground troops follow, then we under would understand that this could really go on for a very long time and can become very, very dangerous. and, and i think that is something people here just cannot process at the moment door. so thank you daughter jabari in moscow for all right, we're going to go now to give more than us reaction on this. u. s. president joe

biden has released the statement on what he's called russia's unprovoked, an unjustified attack on ukraine. he said president putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring. he says, and the united states and its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way the world will hold russia accountable. live now to how does your castro in washington d. c. so strong was there as well from the us president on this. what are we expecting to hear from the us government in the, in the coming hours as it continues to react to what's happening and you claim has been a few hours time. we do expect the president to make another live address to the nation that will be about noon time here in washington in which he will detail

these severe sanctions that he has promised to levy against russia. notably, that will not happen until after bide and meets with the g 7 leaders in the coming hours. presumably to shore up the allies and make sure that they're all in the same page when it comes to these new round of sanctions. what we're expecting from is from them is something similar to what we just heard announced from the e u. more sanctions against a bigger russian banks, bigger than the ones that are already under sanction. and also perhaps targeting for president putin himself in sanctions or more members of his inner circle. also export controls on u. s. technology banning the export of aircraft components, computers, semiconductors, et cetera, to russia itself. those are all measures that the white house had in a sense held in reserve, waiting for this moment a full on invasion as it,

as is occurring. but the question is, how effective will they be? obviously, they did not deter russia from taking this step. and the president in his announcement of these upcoming sanctions, it said that now the deterrence is to keep russia from attacking nato territory. and of course, that is also top of mind as, as he has into this g 7 meeting. and the u. s. secretary of defense, the secretary of state as well, has already been in contact with nato's secretary general, talking about the share response to this. and of course, we know that the pentagon proactively over the last few days, had already configured some troop movements within europe itself. moving more us infantry personnel into the baltic states toward the eastern flank, i and, and, and, and, and anticipation of any defensive posture that needs to be taken were russia to

expand its invasion further. and heidi, in terms of the domestic implications of this for president by jan, how he handles this crisis, which many people see it could spiral into the bloody is conflict that europe has seen since since world war 2. it is going to have profound implications, isn't it for his political fortunes and us relations with the world? i think absolutely, but biden has been clear that he does not want to engage us forces in combat against russian troops. he wants to avoid that in all scenarios, and there is no appetite for that. among the american public either of course, spied and just withdrew from afghanistan. that was pretty dramatic, having a lot of criticism from that. and the last thing he wants to do is to get us troops involved in another conflict overseas. but as far as these sanctions goes,

which is really all that is at the u. s. disposal. at this point, there is bipartisan support for tougher sanctions against russia. and in a rare moment of bipartisan unity, we're seeing senators from both parties saying that russia has committed war crimes and initiating this invasion, some of the strongest language that the putin is and the spot that needs to be removed from the, from the international community. so a lot of words of condemnation and as well, of course, we saw that president lensky of ukraine. also one of his 1st moves when this invasion unfolded was to call the white house. according to president biden, valencia reached out to the white house, asking biden, to urge other world leaders to stand with ukraine. and certainly biden says he is

doing such not standing militarily. however, using these things, sions, as the defensive mechanism. hardy, thanks for that. how does your tests are life for us in washington dc? our peters are maya is executive director of he raised democracy initiative and tribute to to the desa review. he has more on what he makes of the latest developments. most analyst sitting here in ukraine would tell you that he would start with a shocking all campaign in the east of ukraine for now. and not very many could have predicted that he would be striking at so many multiple targets at once. you know, he wouldn't have said that he's only going up the military installations and not going to target population centers directly. it seems like what they were seeing, and i tried to poke the west in the i to put the this isn't a rush of responding,

but progress, the bombing of the nato bombing of yugoslavia in 1999. you know, it was eric and i wouldn't, they wouldn't, it wouldn't work and wouldn't take it to the bank. and when he says he's not, does not have occupation of ukraine and mine only just a bullet village very well. we'll see what happens. but maybe he's just softening up what? there is a mass of land invasion. there's already in the information of troops waiting towards a desk and heart game, you know, and then he's also, there's another very still don't. it's regarding ukraine leaders that, that he's going to take them to court for the military crimes against the don't ask that might mean they will try to go in to actually arrest those people. so anything is possible, you know, the situation is developing very, very quickly. and, you know, obviously this is very scary, but the ukrainians of founding resolved their, their, their, their,

we've heard from you create an official and they're willing to fight. you know, we'll see what really, you know, developed we've been speaking to a number of analysts. several allows us to get their take on all of this idea is thought nicole is a russian foreign affairs analyst. he is downplaying the size of the military operation by russian. this is not a big operation. and i think that this operation, special operation, but as it was told by russia will be limited to only 2 years from republic, say independent republic shop for don barza. no guns can, will be as a, i think there will be no, any movement to watch or the capital offer you pray. and then also there will be just for some short on strikes against the nazis and terrorists record is ations, which are actually present, which are destroying or trying to destroy the people off off are

done that scandal guns. so this is a shot operation, ultimately saying, and i think that it will assume close out of its been strong condemnation from european union. a foreign policy just for al is spoken alongside your commission. president ursula on the lay and in brussels. here's what they had say. these are among the darkest hour to 40 up sees the end of world war 2 and major nuclear power as attack and neighbor country and is threatening reprisals of any other state than may come to which rescue. it is not only did great this violation of international law. it's a violation of the basic principles of human good distance. it's costing

many lives with unknown consequences ahead of us. later today, we will present a package of massive and targeted sanctions to european leaders for approval. with this package, we will target strategic sectors of the russian economy. by blocking the access to technologies and markets, the key for russia we will weaken russia's economic base and its capacity to modernize. and in addition, we will freeze russian assets in the european union and stop the axis of russian banks to european financial financial markets. we action there from the european union now for brief port t a is chief 1st draft. you'll see a rasp, newson, global, and a former director of policy planning at nato explains why sanctions might not be enough

to stop presidents. we can well, i think nobody wanted this to, to happen that quickly and strongly. but it's not surprising coming from present. i'm putting who, who wants basically ukraine to be, you know, decide country to his plan to rebuild some kind of rush and pyre. and i think what he saw these obviously we are, you know, the us and sanctions package sound impressive days. indeed, a lot of unity and coordinated talk. but the bottom line is that this is not enough to stop pushing and putting in the following is kind of twisted vision of putting ukraine down and making sure ukraine is, is not going to be a threat to his political project. so i think we are putting shot yet again after 8 years after crimea and eastern, but we're still putting shot in terms of how we are willing to react. and i think

the big difference is that the president put in is putting russian soldiers on the ukranian soil and this should be obviously completely condemned. but nato is not willing to put any natal soldiers on the ukrainian soil and present putting those that bay well. and therefore, he can go all the way to kit of these pictures, sir. supposedly she supposedly showed vices in the region of lou cannot independently verify them at the moment, but these are the latest pitches that we are getting from that region. let's go live now. back to moscow dorset jibari is there for so dorsey, as you're saying earlier, many russians waking up to this news. and certainly this was not something that many of them had expected. this kind of escalation of operations in you claim

certainly not has em. i think it was very much a shock not only to us when we woke up to the news, but also i spoke to a few people on my way into the bureau. the taxi driver that drove me here and i told him that this had taken place and he thought i was kidding i that i was making it up. i think there was a sense that really this is something that was not necessary that is not necessary . and i think this country is now waiting for their president to justify further the actions that we are seeing now unfold a new crane because this not as a clear it just a small operation in dom bus in southeastern ukraine. those regions are, of course, very much part of this country's identity. the 2 separate us regions within dumbass of la ganske and danielle have been declared independence states by vladimir putin as of monday. and i think there is some understanding that that region is in don't

bus. there is disputed areas between the separate is there and the ukrainian army. but the explanation about what has happened in the rest of ukraine will be what people are looking for. i spoke to an analyst on the phone and he told me that there was the country was prepared for a incursion into don boss. but on this scale, i don't think anybody was expecting it. and i think this is very much what they did . the president was a true was relying on their shock and all factor that he was looking for. as a result of all the, the events that have unfolded here. over the past few weeks. the president had said that to the american government, that ukraine's desire to join nato is a red line for this country that that will never be accepted than i think the events were seen on folders. as a result of that, the president had said that they are not looking to am. it hurts any of the civilians in ukraine they put in had said that the you wants to demilitarize crane

and that is what the mission is. now, at the moment the defense industry, the russian defense industry has said that there is no threat to civilians in ukraine, and that they are just carrying out airstrikes against most military installations in the country. but it's going to be very difficult in the coming hours once we will hear from you crane and officials about possible casualty civilian casualties . because this is a very large country ukraine, of course. and it will be very difficult to see how the russian army can carry out these precision strikes without any civilian casualties. but still, they say that is what their mission is. and we'll find out in the coming hours. if that will see troops, russian troops on the ground in ukraine, i think that is the point that a lot of people care cannot process. i did was a event yesterday we covered it's a national holiday on on wednesday. they equivalent of remembrance stay in this country. where people,

late flowers outside the tomb of the unknown soldiers here by the prom and wall. and many people i asked their, do you think they will be war with ukraine? what do you think of the idea of a concept that there could be a war? and all of the people told me that it's on imaginable that this country would go to war with its neighbor ukraine because it russians believe that you can use their family, their sisters and their brothers. there is no reason to fight with them. so i think we're now all waiting to find out whether or not that you put and we'll speak again in the coming hours and possibly get some more information or some more clarity about what he's thinking. but again, i mean, it's going to be very difficult to predict. the effects here that we're seeing as a result of this is the russian stock markets have plummeted, nearly 45 percent down. and they have not been closed as a result of the volatility of the market. the ruble has lost about 20 percent of its value over the past 3 hours. the for foreign currency exchange,

places are all close. you cannot buy in the us dollars or sell them at the moment. so there is a sense that this is going to be very difficult here to process. and we're also, we're already seeing the financial ramifications of it as well. all right, stay with us said door, so we will come back to you in just a moment. want to get some reaction from easton ukraine. now leah need pacific is the separatist leader of one of the self declared republics. there the self declared republic of lu hands in easton ukraine. he has given his full backing to the russian military operation. this is the moment we had been waiting for for the past 8 years of suffering of patients, the residence of dumbass have been ridiculed, to have been suffering. we recalled 2014, when the green military men killed dumbass residence because they wanted to speak the russian language who wished to remain loyal to the soviet union, our brother and sister in the fatherland. we have

a common shared great history. we have not raised the issue of succession. we have not perpetrated killing. we didn't impose ideology, we simply requested to remain loyal to our land, our home, and to remain with our faith in the russian atmosphere and to stand up to the cranium, malicious bar. so that was leonid, the possession of the sceptre leader of the self declared republic of the hands in easton ukraine. back to you, daughter then. so that's the sentiment from him there. what, how much support is there for what the, what the separatists are doing and have been doing an east in ukraine? well, you have to remember that area is very tricky. because in doing boss, the 2 self declared republics of lugens and on. yeah, it's our home to,

to 1000000 people roughly, and out of that to 1800000 of them hold russian passports. and this is the argument here is that they are defending russian citizens because the separatist leaders on wednesday evening sent a letter requesting assistance from flattery of russian troops. because they said they were under attack by the cranium military. and that is the justification that letting me put used in his speech that was broadcast for sending russian troops into that area. but here's the thing, because the borders of, and those self declared independent republics are not fully agreed upon that this was an issue because under their own constitution, they are, they claim that they are in charge of much larger areas in dumbass than they actually are currently they control about 30 percent of the area that they claim, and the russian president vladimir putin,

after issuing that decree on monday evening, and recognizing the independence of those regions. he also said that they recognize it within the borders that is stated on their, their constitution. and he even admitted at a press conference that those would also fall in under ukrainian at control. and he said that is something that they can work out later. and now we understand that the main aim of this mission to go into that area was to basically push back the borders that they control of the separatists further into ukrainian territory. this was as a result of the russians believing the russian president, believing that ukraine's central government is not fit to basically run the country that ukraine doesn't have her. it's not a sovereign country because they don't represent the entire population that is in ukraine. something of course the administration and kia as well as entrenched community was very, very st adamantly against them. but i think this is the rhetoric that we saw

building up now as for the ordinary russians, stay believe that's done yet. and lou hans are but very much part of this country in terms of their culture, their people and, and it's not so something that really should have escalated to this point. they don't see the point of fighting over certain borders and boundaries, but of course, that is exactly what has taken place down than day for the moment. so dorsey jabari life was there in moscow next door. so let's go back to heidi's, jocasta. now in washington d. c fours i saw it is still very early there in a morning in washington, but we are expecting to get more reaction on what's happened in ukraine over the last few hours or from, from the u. s. leadership there. that's why we've heard in statements from president biden. he actually released 2 statements since this russian invasion

began him both using very strong language to condemn this violation of international laws. he puts it at one of those statements was actually a transcript now transcript, rather a read out of a phone call between president zalinski of ukraine and president biden made in the early moments of this military invasion in which biden says zalinski asked him to call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly against president putin's flagrant aggression and to stand with the people of ukraine. and since the time we have seen us allies from across the globe taking that stands, we have heard statements from australia, from the e. u from south korea, and we are expecting the president biden to morrow, or rather it's already to morrow in the coming hours to be meeting with g 7 leaders . this is a scheduled meeting. but now we're also learning that.