we're following the breaking news out of ukraine, escalating very tense situation unfolding, we're tracking some of the major developments in this situation. christianne amanpour is joining us once again from london, our chief international correspondent. when we see this situation, it reminds me of the battle days of the cold war, some are making comparisons to bosnia, kosovo and others. how concerned that this could really get out of control? >> reporter: i don't see any similarity at all to bosnia, kosovo and all the rest of it. it's very similar to the u.s. invading iraq, if you want to take the russian point of view,

they didn't like that, nobody likes the idea of them invading ukraine. the international law states very clearly what the international law is a and here the british foreign secretary called on the need to respect ukraine's independence, and it's territorial integrity as well as it's sovereignty, this is the law of the international community, of which -- signed by back in 1994. so really intense diplomacy has to happen, and crimea is begging for russia to come in and help them, for what reason, it hasn't yet been clearly said, but having said that, obviously in this state of political turmoil that we have seen ukraine since last november and escalating

over the last week very dramatically. ukraine does need the interim government, does need to reach out to people all over the country, including crimea where there is a a majority of ethnic russians, needs to reassure them. christianne, thanks very much. let's get some more perspective from the united states dwoor to russia who helped negotiate that territorial so republican agreement involving ukraine back in 19 # 94. you tweeted that russia is violating its commitments in this situation, what do you mean by that? >> it was very clear the 1994 budapest security assurances that one of the commitments of the parties was to respect the

territo territory -- runot taking over civilian airports, not setting up check points a around the country and not bringing in additional forces from use of crime crimea without provocation. this really depends a lot on moscow, russia needs to deescalate a crisis. right now i think you see a situation where the ukrainian military, which has bases and troops in crimea has shown military restraint. what i fear is that russians are considering military action elsewhere in ukraine, against

eastern ukraine then you could have a situation where some ukrainian military would fight and that brings this to a whole new level. >> ukraine was moving closer and closer towards the eu, maybe even nato membership, if you will, something that was totally unacceptable to them from their strategic interests, their national interests. so they say they will never allow that to hatcppen. >> on the question of nato, i think it's very clear that ukraine and ukraine's population don't' the future in the nato alliance. in 2008, there was a member action plan. but even then when polls showed only about 30% of the ukraine population supported that, so i think nato for now is off the table for the indefinite future. what ukraine is talking about is

an association agreement that woumtd include a free trade agreement. i would argue that a ukraine that has a free trade requewith european union, that should not be a problem for moscow. but somehow mr. putin and moscow see that in the ukraine has a threat. >> they still believe the president that was ousted as the president of the ukraine, do they still recognize him as the president of ukraine? >> there have been statements out of moscow to that effect vl it -- as for as we know there's been no effort by president putin to meet with them. the conference did not take place near moscow. it was many miles away down in southern russia. so on one hand the russians are

still saying he's the president of ukraine, but they're also keeping him very much at arm's length. >> is there some sort of mediator that can calm this down? you heard from the spokesman of ban ki-moon saying that the secretary general will be speaking with putin shortly at the situation in ukraine. would he have any impact realistically on putin, ban ki-moon? >> that depends on putin. i mean there could well be a role for a mediation provided by the united nations or someone else if the russian is prepared to have this conference mediated. but what i find worrisome, you saw what happened last week in kiev after the ukrainian president fled. no one was talking about ending the russian bases, and instead,

you had this escalation that looked like it was almost provoked by the russians. >>. >> former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. ambassador, thanks, very, very much for joining us, we're going to continue to watch the developments out of ukraine. the develop ments between russi and ukraine and the united states, much more after this. imagine if everything you learned led to the one job you always wanted. at university of phoenix, we believe every education- not just ours- should be built around the career that you want.

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. i'm back at the cnn newsroom, i'm wolf blitzer in washington, we want to once again welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. we're tracking major developments, fast moving developments in ukraine, in washington, in new york.

the united nations security council meeting right now about russian military movements in ukraine. you just heard from the u.n. secretary general's spokesman. >> general continues to closely follow the seriously a and rapidly unfolding events in ukraine. including developments in crimea and is gravely concerned about the deterioration of the situation. the secretary generation reiterates his call for the full respect and preservation of the independence, sovereignty and territorial independence of ukraine. the secretary general will be speaking with president vladimir putin of russia shortly at this situation in ukraine. our secretary general is about to fly to europe, he has

asked -- >> earlier at the white house, this was the scene, several members of the president's top national security team leaving after closed door meetings, the defense secretary, the director of national intelligence, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, they were all there. all of this coming several hours after russia's parliament approved the use of military force inside ukraine. ukraine's government has condemned russia's approval of military force, calling it a direct aggression and the opposition leader has called for ukraine's parolmeliament to con right away. much more coming up, but quickly, i want to check some other headlines a at this hour. happening near denver, in fact, a major car pileup, take a look at this, after a snowstorm caused an accident along a busy

interstate, our affiliate kdvr tweeted this photo of cars wrecked and jammed, statement 25 now closed no word on when it will reopen. out west in california, folks there experiencing another kind of frustration after suffering it's worst drought in 100 years. take a look at this scene in los angeles, heavy rain triggering dangerous mudslides, thousands were forced to evacuate their homes. a fire official says it will be hard to stop the flow of mud coming down. >> the natural reaction is you want to save what you have, you want to try to stop that mud from coming in, so we have some folks that are getting outside and they're working in very, very dangerous conditions and in very precarious areas to try to stop this flow of mud. you're not going to be able to do that on your own. the fire department doesn't have equipment at this point in time to stop the flow as it's coming down off the mountain. >> one couple there told us they have endured this rain and much

more crazy weather, they stay they have simply had enough. >> we had fire, drought, a and now torrential rain. pretty much everything. >> we have hit all four elements at this point. i think we're done at this point with any more crazy storms. >> i wanting to bring in our meteorologist karen maginess, the oscar is in l.a. tomorrow, the biggest threat of a storm in southern california, is it out of the way or is it still there? >> it is still there. in a season where we have seen probably the worst drought in southern california, now comes a flooding rainfall. some areas receiving almost a foot of rain, even into the desert regions, we could expect another one to three inches in the mountains of california, across the sierra nevada, there could be as much as four feet of snow. here's some of the rainfall totals in northern california, san francisco, yesterday, set a

record rainfall total for the day. but they have already seen just about 2 1/2 inches of rain. in big sur, those rainfall totals have been three and four inches but some areas did see four inches right around van nuys, california. so some of these rainfall totals are unlike what we have seen in quite some time. they are already saying that this next storm system that is moving in is going to really pack a wallop as far as the winds are concerned, also across the higher elevations, as much as 90-mile-per-hour winds have been reported there. pinion peak saw just under 10 inches of rainfall. this is not the end, this storm system is going to continue to push across the interior west and as it does, for the midwest, what a terrible winter it has been already. more snow, more ice is in store for areas from kansas city, to st. louis, to indianapolis, extending into kentucky, looks

like paducah and then going into the northeast, coming up on monday, in new york city, you could see four to eight inches of snow. very dynamic situation, we'll stay on top of it. >> thanks very much, karen maginess reporting. other news we're following, fo 27 people were killed in northwest china. a group of men stormed the train station, but officials don't know who they were. and disney is cutting off the boy scouts. the company says the group's continued ban on gay and lesbian troop leaders violates it's standards of business conducts and donations to the boy scouts of america will stop by 2015. disney has offered benefits to same-sex partners of its employees for decades. more trouble for form nfl star danger shaper who is

accused of raping women in several states. days after the former pro ballplayer turned ims in to police in nonks. sharper is accused of raping women in louisiana and california and he's under investigation in arizona and nevada. sharper's lawyer says all of the rapes war actually episodes of consensual sex with women who, quote, wanted to be in his company. and the red carpet is out and the gold statues are ready. the academy a awards are skund night, the competition is tight. michelle turner has a preview. >> the 8 6 academy awards is se to be hollywood's biggest party, with ellen degeneres as ringleader. hollywood heavyweights like jew julia roberts and brad pitt are

up for some of the nights biggest awards ensuring there will be no shortage of star power. 1970s con against astronauts. >> i don't want to survive. >> facing off against 12 years a slave, philipeana, captain phillips, nebraska and the wolf of wall street in one of the tightest best picture races in oscar history. >> for some reason my xanax isn't kickinging in. >> golden globe winner cate blanchett is going to head to head with the likes of amy adams and julie deng. first time nominee matthew mckcn

hi this year could be all about the music. ♪ let it go ♪ let it go >> farrell, u-2 and karen o are set to perform the best original song nominees, making the oscars one of the biggest concerts of the year, with hot performances and a host like ellen, it may not be the winners that get everybody talking. >> and remember, tonight you can get ready for an all new cnn film and the oscar goes to the ultimate in hollywood's biggest night, that will air on cnn, 9:00 p.m. eastern. we'll take a quick break, much more news we're following that rare meeting over at the united nations security council, the crisis in ukraine, escalating right now. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] crest presents:

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comcast nbcuniversal. obama's national security team med over at the white house. the joint chiefs of staff, the -- russia's parliament approved the use of military force in ukraine, ukraine's government has condemned the vote, calling it direct aggression. and the opposition leader has called for ukraine's parliament to convene right away.

secretary of state john kerry has been meeting with his own advisors, his own aides, he's also speaking with ukraine's leaders. lets bring in our foreign affairs reporter, she's getting new information. what are you learning, elise? >> reporter: i'm told secretary of state john kerry did speak today with the interim ukrainian president and why is that important? because right now the president has just said that he's ready to direct all of ukraine's resources to answer any russian intervention in ukraine. we look at what's going on in crimea right now, but we're also looking at the fact that over the last week, wolf, ukraine underwent some monumental changes, president yatsenyuk is out, a new interim leadership is there so the u.s. really wants to stand by this new fledgling leadership making it known that they're going to help with

whatever is possible in economic and diplomatic support as they go through the next couple of days. >> some leaders are saying they will not show up to the g-8 meeting in sochi. - >> there was talk -- clearly this is not important to president putin, although this is in sochi where the olympics just took place and an area where president putin wants to highlight on the world stage, clearly is a zero sum game for him in the ukraine and he has made the decision that he can live without the g-8 summit in sochi, but not what's going on in the ukraine. >> other options on the table, we'll learn more about those, that's coming up, elise, we'll take a quick break, much more on

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