next, a military storm. that's what ukraine says. russian is threatening tomorrow morning. president obama taking a long, hard look at what to do. can anything stop putin? >> plus, shocking the testimony in the trial of oscar pistorius. a witness describes blood-curdling screams on the night pistorius shot and murdered his girlfriend. and what happens when a meets a crocodile? it's not pretty. let's go "outfront." >> and good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, i want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. we begin with the breaking news

the world is following tonight. president obama meeting with his top aides at the white house at this moment about the crisis in ukraine. this comes after rising tensions and russian's threat of what is a, quote, military storm. ukraine tonight accused in russia of an ultimatum. either surrender the crimean peninsula or face attack. and these conflicting reports are just part of a day of fast-moving developments in the southern region of ukraine, the peninsula of crimea. senior american officials say russia has moved as many as 6,000 troops to crimea. ukrainian ambassador to the u.n. says that number is 16,000. it's pretty incredible in this day and age when we are talking about the nsa surveillance of people's phone calls around the world and social media and spying that we don't even know how many troops are there. at this hour tonight, the president says the u.s. is looking at ways to isolate russia, with economic and

diplomatic penalties, calling russia's actions a violation of international law. according to american officials, russia has complete operational control of the crimean peninsula, including border posts, ferry terminals, and all facilities. the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. says russian jets have entered ukrainian air space and russia has blocked mobile telephone services in some areas. now, there was anger at putin and it was on full display today in new york at a u.n. security council meeting. >> russia's actions speak much louder than its words. what is happening today is not a human rights protection mission, and it is not a consensual intervention. what is happening today is a dangerous military intervention in ukraine. it is an act of aggression. it must stop. >> but the pro-russian leadership in crimea is calling this a quote, crimean spring, where locals are finally able to choose which country they belong to.

ben wedeman is live in crimea tonight. who is telling the truth, as far as you can tell? these stories are completely and utterly opposite from each other. who is more of the honest broker here? ukraine or russia? >> reporter: it's really hard to say in this case. certainly, these ultimatums and the later denials that we're hearing may be part of a psychological war, because certainly, on the ground, and i've been around, we were in the far east the in kirsch, near the russian border. now we're in sevastopol, and it doesn't seem very tense, because, for instance, when we were in kirsch today, we ran into a contingent of 100 of these men in green, shall we call them, these armed men in combat uniforms outside a ferry port, where ferries go to russian destinations nearby. there we were able to speak not on camera to the commander of the forces, and he said, i'm from the russian black sea fleet. i'm the commander here.

i'm normally based in sevastopol. he insisted they were there to protect the locals, to prevent a breakup of the ukraine along the lines of yugoslavia. and we saw local people coming and offering them food. apparently, they're providing them with shelter and showers. here in sevastopol, very pro-russian area. it's relatively, in fact, it's quite calm, very quiet. very relaxed. but you speak to people in other parts of crimea and they are concerned about this russian presence. we were outside a base yesterday that was surrounded by russian troops and there were ukrainians there. very unhappy with the president. so both sides, really, are doing an awful lot of posturing, a lot of barking, so to speak, but not a shot has been fired. there hasn't been any biting. so it's very hard to tell where the truth lies. erin? >> thank you very much, ben.

and the situation in ukraine is deja vu for mikheil saakashvili. he's still in control of those two provinces. that war lasted five days, nearly 300 died. the result of that invasion, russia is still in control. troops are still there in those two provinces of russia. "outfront" tonight, president saakashvili is there. >> nice to be back on your show. >> you know vladimir putin so well. you heard ben wedeman say, not a shot has been fired. you told me ton friday, you thought this could be a hot war. >> well, i just had a long conversation with the head of ukraine's security service, and

he, indeed, did confirm there were multiple ultimatums coming from russia and he confirmed that russia is comparing for some kind of attack on ukraine and navy, that is surrounded in care crimea, and certainly, the longer it lasts, the bigger it will get. back in 2008, it's true that hundreds of people, some people would argue, from both sides, when you also see russian casualties, thousands of people were killed as a result of that invasion of my country. half a million of georgia's and we see all the same risk in crimea. we see those who don't want to live with russian occupation. we see those people who don't agree with russian president there. and certainly, putin has rooted for his people. and that's why in georgia, ethnic cleansing, occupation, and annexation of his territories, if he's allowed to get away with that. >> and ethnic cleansing is obviously a very serious, serious word. do you mean it in all of what

that word might mean? >> well, i mean, in georgia, they did apply it. there are several ways of ethnic cleansing. basically, the places they occupy in georgia, one place totally mpted the population. the other has only 20% of pre-war population. so they cleansed like half a billion people for a country of less than 5 million. it's a huge burden. and the problem in crimea, they have a big number of the indigenous population that are totally pro-ukrainian government, that don't want to live with the occupation. these people have been protesting very vividly. and certainly, i think they're all in danger as well as the other people that would not agree with vladimir putin. that's the problem we are facing there. and so, i think the world has to act, because the further it gets, it will get bigger, it will influence everything, from serious situation fonl markets. it will influence european situation. i'm sure if it goes like that,

it can influence domestic u.s. politics. so it's really a big, big crisis that is looming and getting bigger with every hour. >> and mr. president, when you talk about this getting bigger, and you said just moments ago that you're reporting that the russian navy has been surrounding the ukrainian ships off the coast of crimea. when you say get bigger, what do you think could happen? do you think there's actually going to be shots fired? there's actually going to be tanks? there's actually going to be war? and if so, how quickly? >> well, i mean, russian's brought in their latest combat helicopter gunships. they've not used it in any combat before. their russian jets have been cruising around. ukraine has enough anti-air capabilities to shoot down russian planes at any moment. i got confirmation about it from ukrainian sources that they can easily shoot them down. they have not got these orders yet. but today, all over ukraine, people are lining up for draft. there are lots of volunteers for ukrainian army, for up to

several weeks of total war propaganda or russian media. now if you look at the ukraine media, there is this big, patriotic wave of really heroic people. ukraine our hero, first of all, they use word "enemy" about russia all the time. it was not the case even 24 hours before that. and this situation is that ukrainians are still looking at the world. president obama says it will cost russia, it's a very good statement to make. i think i welcome it. the ukrainians are welcoming it. but the point is, because for putin it's a zero sum game. if it doesn't cost russia, it will certainly cost all of us, it will cost united states. that's why, you know, the ukrainians are looking with hope that their nato members are -- i hope georgia will be put on fast track for membership as well for nato. because all of us in danger. because we all need now strong banking for western alliances, just for the sake of piece. by the way, when you mentioned

that u.s. should know that, i just got confirmation that u.s. satellites are focused on crimea, so the united states have full information about what's happening really there. >> so you said the united states numbers, it sounds like you're trusting those, given that you're reporting really for us now that the satellites are focused there. let me ask you this, you've been through this before. your country was fast tracked for nato and that got taken away. in a sense, you could say georgia got punished for what happened. with the situation right now, the united states saying, sanctions are on the table, they'll work with europe on those, is that enough? do you think the west will be able to stop with without using military force? >> well, i mean, there are many others things they can apply. as i mentioned, there's a procedure for the u.n. and nato membership of georgia and ukraine. but also, there are a number of other instruments that can be used. last time i was in miami, it was full of, you know, kids of russian government members and

the russian olguards. they worked closely with putin, have houses in florida. the united states no longer gives them business to go there, you don't need to send even text, you can send physical agent to the u.s. banks, and there are a number of other measures the u.s. can apply at this stage to send very strong people. people are defecting for putin, would defect from putin if they see that their bank accounts are closed, they are no longer go freely to the west. and, you know, russia, it's not north korea. it's not, you know, it's not some other pariah state. russians want to be part of the community, but they also don't want to pay cost for all these kind of adventures. you cannot have both. you cannot go shopping to western capitals and at the same time run around and be your own country. those two are not compatible. and this should be clearly demonstrated by the united states. and it's doable. it's perfectly doable.

i heard european union say, very strong words, aggression and occupation. now, what we need to see, that the u.s. credibility's in force here, because when europeans said, we need to escalate, it's not about escalation anymore. it's already escalated. it's about the occupation. it's occupation situation here if you use the word, it should be applied to occupation or escalation. until russia leaves the territory, for good, there can be no escalation here. >> all right. well, thank you very much, president saakashvili, we very much appreciate your time. as we said, he's been meeting with the occupation in kiev and reporting tonight, they're saying that there are russian ships surrounding ukrainian vessels off the port of career mia. up next, more of our breaking news coverage. president obama has threatened to isolate putin. is it too little, too late? we'll be joined by the former chief of nato to talk about the options here. and we take you inside the courtroom for the oscar

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tonight, more on our top breaking news story. tensions high as the united states and allies in europe try to break up the situation in

ukraine. thousands of russian troops are already on the ground and president obama says putin's country is, quote, on the wrong side of history. now, today, president obama warned there will be consequences. here's how we explained that. >> if, in fact, they continue on the current trajectory that they're on, that we are examining a whole series of steps, economic, diplomatic, that will isolate russia. and will have a negative impact on russia's economy and its status in the world. >> joining me now is a former nato supreme allied commander, general wesley clark, and the former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfall. ambassador mcfall, let me hear from you. in 2008, putin rolled his tanks and fleet into georgia. and you heard the president just talk about it. the two provinces there he took are still under russian control.

they weren't a lot of repercussions. he still has the problem. president saakashvili says there are things that president obama could do. he could freeze bank accounts for wealthy oligarchs who have houses in miami, as just an example. will that work? >> it's hard to predict what will work. i think there's a short-term gain and a longer-term gain. in the short-term, president obama and other western leaders are raising the specter of these kind of sanctions to try to change putin's behavior now, hoping the that he may think more pragmatically about what he's done so far, bring his troops back. if that doesn't happen, and they remain in crimea, then they'll have to go forward with the kind of sanctions that president saakashvili was talking about. >> so, let me ask you, general clark, a lot of people may look at this and say, all right, we're talking about renegade provinces. why is this so significant? so i have this map made of crimea, just to ask you, why is this area so important? you can see you've got the ukraine here to the north.

it's a peninsula right here in the black sea. why do people describe this as a crowned jewel in the mind of putin for russia? >> well, it's the excess of russia to warm waters. that's where the russian fleet is. that's how they get out to support the mediterranean squadron. it's where the shipping comes in. it's where oil could be shipped out. so it's a very strategic, sensitive point for russia. >> general clark, i wanted to follow up on that, though. russia, last week, no one noticed this, but i saw it, sort of saved this story. eight governments, russia says it's negotiating with right now, around the world, right? we've got the caribbean included in there, all the way around, these are all warm water ports, to try to deal with the issue that you're talking about, that they only have one port, this one, which is ice-free year-round. do you take that threat seriously? that russia could get access the to ports around the world in an unprecedented expansion of its power? >> well, i think you have to take that seriously. i don't want know if it's a

threat or not. that depends if you would consider russia a threat. but i would say this in response to what ambassador mcfall said. you have to go on three tracks. one is a sanctions track and isolation track. the other is you have to understand the legal argument on this. is this the legitimate government of ukraine that's in kiev? if show, we should be saying it at every opportunity. and what made it legitimate and why is mr. yanukovych not legitimate? because that's putin's argument. and then, finally, i think you've got to really get down and look at the facts on the ground. and so i would like to see an assessment mission go in from the organization from security and cooperation in europe or maybe from nato itself. just some people who can go in and say, here's a report that the russians are on this border. are they there? what can you see behind it? because as this crisis escalates, which it might, the most important commodity is going to be on the ground, eyes on target, information. you can't get it necessarily from nsa, as good as nsa and as

good as the satellite coverage is, you have to have people who can talk to each other on the ground. >> and president saakashvili just said the satellites were point there had, but it's not enough to get all the information you need. what about this point that he raises. what about the legitimate government? a lot of people are critical of the united states that seems to champion people toppling kbofts when they don't like the guy who was in power, and out of the other side of their mouth saying the united states supports democracy and democratically-elected governments. how does this play out in this particular case, where you had a government, a quote/unquote bad guy in the american point of view, who was drtoppled by crow, and now we're saying, this is a legitimate government. >> first of all, president yanukovych wasn't a bad guy just a couple of months ago. >> right. >> vice president biden called him, i think, a dozen times to try to de-escalate this

conflict. i've met president yanukovych with the vice president. we weren't treating him that way. he was the one that shot on innocent protesters on the streets of kiev. that's an important fact to not forget, that made him a bad guy. secondly, i think you're right, at the end of the day, it's for the ukrainians to decide who should be their government, what constitutions a path out of this crisis. but it is not for russia to decide by invading a sovereign country. that is just illegitimate in every stretch of the imagination. and that's the strategic interest we have. economic interest, this trade with ukraine and that, that's secondary. our paramount priority is the legitimacy of the international system. you just can't go invading other countries and scooping up territories. that's not the 21st century. >> and, of course, i want to note to our viewers is, ambassador mcfall was the ambassador to just last week. when he talks about being involved in this, he was. before we go, with general clark, quickly, i want to show

one other map here, and this sort of makes the point about how ukraine is to russia. you see chernobyl on this map. most americans think chernobyl is in russia. well, it was in the ussr, but you can see how far away it is. in the middle of it is is ukraine and in the middle of it is belarus. it sort of makes the point here about how russia feels. >> it certainly does. ukraine is a big country. it's strategic, it's right in the heart of europe. and russia has, as putin said, when he went to the president inauguration of president kuchman in 1999, he said, russia and ukraine, we're more than brothers, we're in each other's souls. so putin himself feels very strongly about this. and that's why another thing we need to be thinking about, where really is the center of gravity over the next few days? and in my view, you have to really pay attention to the loyalty of the ukrainian military. so far, it looks good. one admirable turned, he was replaced. but that's going to depend a lot

on whether they think they're in a hopeless situation, and it's in russia's interests to make them feel that way. so anything we could do, through a visit of a couple of nato staff officers or something, to say, how are you doing? what do you need? we did this for georgia. we need to be doing this for ukraine. we need to be doing it soon, because if that army crumbles, it's going to let the russian forces just walk in. and it will change the facts on the ground so fast that the economic isolation and the sanctions we put in, they may not have time to work, even though i think they're the absolutely appropriate things we need to be doing right now. >> all right. well, thanks very much to both of you. and we're going to talk about those sanctions and whether they will work. "outfront" next, though, the world's financial markets plunged, and this was really completely around the world. the reason? the crisis in ukraine. plus, president obama takes vladimir putin to task. so will these sanctions work? and will they get there in time? and one of the most incredible

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breaking news. markets around the world fell sharply thanks to the crisis in ukraine and the escalation today. in new york, the dow jones industrial average down 153 points, about a full percentage point. oil prices surged nearly $2 a barrel. russia is the largest provider of crude oil. russia's currency plunged to an

all-time low. a pretty incredible plunge when you look at this. joining me now, peter costa, the president of empire constitutions. this is a severe market reaction to a crisis that's been going on for a while. why the sudden plunge? you saw it in germany and saw it everywhere? >> part of it was saber rattling, with the russians saying the they were going to invade, let's say, crimea, to take it over. and the other thing, the market was ripe for a little bit of a sell-off anyway. we've been looking the for a reason to sell. seeing the markets in europe start getting hit very early on, that just, you know, cascaded to new york. and i think that it was a little bit of both. i think it was, you know, we were expecting this to happen. it happened. writ, you know, anytime there's any kind of geopolitical situation, it could be very consequential to the markets, that's what this was. and we were ripe for a little bit of a pullback. >> so you're being calm about it, but if there are sanctions that have to be ratcheted to the

next level, that means europe has to be involved, because europe is the big buyer of the natural gas and the crude oil that is so crucial to russia's existence. if that were to happen, oil prices could surge for everyone, everywhere around the world. is that going to happen? >> i do think that's going to happen. but i think what will end up happening, the u.s. will ramp up production, they're also going to put pressure on the saudis to ramp up production. i do think there's going to be, you know, the u.s. economy is not the big driver of oil, you know, that it used to be. china is. >> right. >> so i think that we can put pressure on the saudis to increase production, there can be more production out of venezuela. they need money more than anybody. and i think you'll see these production levels start going up, which the price of oil will go up anyway, but i don't think it's going to go up as severely as people think it will. >> peter, thank you very much. ironic, of course, china's the biggest buyer or soon to be of russian crude, and venezuela is having a huge crisis of its own. up next, more of our

breaking news coverage here on cnn. president obama says putin is on the wrong side of history. putin, though, is describing this as a crimean spring, where they're going to get what they want, which is to be part of russia. how far will president obama go to stop vladimir putin? and disturbing testimony today at the trial of oscar pistorius. what a neighbor heard. and new picture of a massive sinkhole in which eight corvettes were swallowed. how they started to get them out today. yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief!

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welcome back to our viewers around the world tonight. breaking news in the ukraine crisis. troops are mobilizing. already, there is a war of words. ukraine's ambassador to the united nations tonight, upping the estimate of russian troops in the crimea from 6,000 to 16,000. ukraine also claiming russia threatened a military storm. russia calls it quote/unquote rubbish. crimea's vice premiere says this is the ycrimea spring, where th people of the peninsula can finally make their own choice. already a lot of lies, but as samantha powers said to the u.n. today -- well, here's her point of view. >> it is a fact that russian military forces have taken over ukrainian border posts. it is a fact that russia has taken over the ferry terminal in kirsch. it is a fact that russian ships are moving in and around sevastopol. >> those are the facts, reported

by u.s. intelligence. and of course, tonight, president obama is threatening sanctions against russian president, vladimir putin. congress, of course, is needed for those. which is why the fact that the senate's top democrat is not on board matters. harry reid told the magazine, politico, quote, the most important thing for us, the united states, so to make sure that we don't go off without the european community. we have to work with them. their interests are really paramount if we're going to do sanctions of some kind. we have to have them on board with us. joining me now, cnn political commentator, and ambassador mark wallace who served at the u.n. under president george w. bush. great to have both of you with us. this issue of europe is a really big deal. and it's not just some people out there who are on the right side of the ledger may say, oh, harry reid, he's being wishy-washy. he's not. it's a mathematical fact, when you look at who buys what russia makes, which is oil and natural gas, it's russia, 15 of the top 30 biggest buyers are european and the others are china and we know they're not going to get on board with the sanctions. so sanctions will not work

without europe. >> that's the huge diplomatic challenge for barack obama. one of the biggest of his presidency. and the question is, can he get the europeans, who can put more pressure on russia, but also have more to lose, because they rely on all that russian gas, especially the germans, who have already said they don't want to kick russia out of the g-8, can obama rally them to take a tougher position so we can be unified and put more pressure on russia. >> germany was the single biggest buyer of oil, with the latest stats i had. and what about the british? obviously not a part of the eu, big oil buyers. and today there was a photo taken of a document somebody was unfortunately had it out, at least for them. we got a picture of it. and in it, it says, the uk should not support trades or close the financial center to russians. if real estate market could plunge. >> there are no good options, really, before the united states right now. it's equivalent to talking about sanctioning russia and blocking oil sales or blocking the

bosphorus or something. there are really no good options at dealing with right now. it does reflect a little bit where foreign policy is right now. president obama has been running much of america's foreign policy through vladimir putin's russia. we have to re-evaluate our approach. >> we could have avoided being in this position of weakness? >> one of the unintended consequences has been empowering vladimir putin. certainly we're not responsible for putin's intractable options in russia, invading crimea. but it does suggest that perhaps we should rethink that reset with putin. >> and let me play for you, peter, republicans have been very critical of president obama. you know, it's pretty easy to be very critical of somebody when they're not in their position. but here are two prominent ones, john mccain and mike rogers. >> i think putin's playing chess and we're playing marbles. >> we are where we are because

of a feckless, misguided, delusional foreign policy that has put us in this place today. putin is acting the way he is because he believes, and very likely, he will, get away with it. >> very likely he will get away with it. that seems like -- look, maybe that's true, but what poptions does the u.s. have? because from what i'm hearing, from anyone on the left or right side of the aisle, politically, no one has an answer. >> when the soviets went into buddhist in '96, dwight eisenhower did not risk u.s. lives. when the soviets went into prague in '98, johnson did not risk u.s. lives. when we went into georgia in 2008, george w. bush, which i don't think anyone else would call feckless, did not risk u.s. lives. we have to do whatever we can for ukraine. but it is a long-established fact that the united states does not going to risk significant u.s. casualties to fight a war with russia near russia's soil.

and that fundamental reality, as much as we can try sanctions, as much as we can try diplomacy, is a fact before barack obama and after barack obama. >> there's also this issue, mark, though, about -- people have been asking me this question. the united states wants to say it's for democracy and all these countries, but only when they like the person in power or like the person being taken out of power. what if crimea would democratically vote to be a part of russia, wouldn't the u.s. have to support that to be consistent with its morals? >> well, i think what john mccain is saying and what lindsey graham and others are saying is what you're hearing in private around the world. that there is a pullback of american leadership, and you're seeing that. it's creating a vacuum and a void. right now, the united states ran its foreign policy on syria, regrettably, through russia. right now we're dependent upon russia related to iran. but at the same time, we're lecturing some of our allies in the region and telling them how to do their business with israel, saudi arabia, and others. and i think what we have to do is engage in a smart policy.

whether it's democracy promotion for americans or republican, or democrat, we support democracy. but at the same time, we have to be smart about it. and we shouldn't be empowering a vladimir putin stronger, which i think is what president obama's policy has done. >> the pentagon has just this moment suspended all cooperation with russia. perhaps not surprising, but it is significant. how significant is that, as you talk about escalation here? >> i think what the obama administration is trying to do is trying to have a kind of escalating ladder of potential sanctions, in order to do two things. first of all, prevent russia from going further into the rest of eastern ukraine and create some kind of possibility for a diplomatic resolution where they will get out. but i do think it's really important that you bring this point up. we have to strengthen the government in ukraine. but we also have to remember that this government in ukraine was not elected by anybody. it may well represented the desire of the people and that yanukovych was horrible and corrupt and killed people, but we have to think about creating democratic legitimacy for this government in ukraine, because right now it does not have it

via an election. >> it wasn't elected at all. he was toppled and now definitely not democratically elected. thanks very much to both of you. "outfront" next, a lot of excitement in hollywood last night. some awards still need to be handed out and jeanne moos will do them for you. plus, dramatic testimony during the murder trial of olympic athlete oscar pistorius. a witness describes what she heard the night killed his girlfriend. we'll be live in south africa. so i got the new nokia lumia icon. it's got 1080p video, three times zoom, and a twenty-megapixel sensor. it's got the brightest display, so i can see what i'm shooting -- even outdoors, and 4 mics that capture incredible sound. plus, it has apps like vine -- and free cloud storage. my new lumia icon is so great, even our wipeouts look amazing. ♪ honestly, i want to see you be brave ♪ ♪

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and now let's check in with anderson cooper. he is live in kiev with a look at what's coming up on "a.c. 360." hi, anderson. >> hey, erin. yeah, i'm right on independence square, where up until a little bit a week, week and a half ago, there were protesters fighting and dying right in this area. manning the barricades behind me, it's now a memorial for those who died. there are still protesters here. there's a lot of people just hoping, praying, worried about the future of ukraine and what is going to happen now. we're going to have complete coverage tonight on "a.c. 360." we'll talk to senator john mccain, who's been very critical of the obama administration response to events on the ground in crimea. we'll also speak to the former u.s. ambassador to russia, who left his post just about a week ago. so he is very fresh perspective on vladimir putin and what vladimir putin is thinking and trying to achieve in crimea. full reports, live from ukraine, coming up, erin. >> thanks, anderson. we're really looking forward to

seeing that in just a few moments. well, claims of blood-curdling screams and gunshots riveting testimony this morning on the first day of the murder trial involving oscar pistorius, who you may know as blade runner. the trial in south africa that has drawn reporters from around the world as the one-time olympian makes his case that he didn't mean to gun down his girlfriend, model reeva steenkamp, in the bathroom a year ago. now live to south africa. >> reporter: oscar pistorius greeted in court by a crush of cameras. the south african olympic sprinter dubbed the blade runner is charged with killing his model girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, on valentine's day last year. prosecutors say he shot her through a locked bathroom door in a fit of rage. the charges that put the double amputee behind bars for life. >> do you understand the charges, mr. pistorius? >> i do, i do, my lady. >> how do you plead? >> not guilty, my lady. >> reporter: pistorius' lawyer

then read a statement from the athlete. >> while i admit that i inflicted the fatal gunshot wounds to reeva, this was done as an accident as i had mistakenly believed that intruders had come into my home. >> reporter: the defense revealed a key part of its case and says the investigation has been riddled with mistakes. >> whilst the investigating officer tasked with preserving the scene, that the scene was contaminated, disturbed, and tampered with. >> reporter: but prosecutors maintain pistorius knew he was shooting at his girlfriend. pistorius' name, michelle berger, the first of more than a hundred potential witnesses, testified about the night that the three-month romance between pistorius and steenkamp seemed to take a fatal turn. >> just after 3:00, i woke up to a woman's fatal screams.

it was very dramatic. you could hear that it was blood-curdling screams. it leaves you cold. it was very traumatic for me. you could hear the anxiousness in her voice and fear. >> the same witness who was not shown on camera today, also said she could hear a man yelling for help, but could not say whether it was pistorius. >> just after her screams, my lady, i heard four shots. bang, bang bang bang. >> that account contradicts pistorius' version of events. and when asked on cross-examination if she thought if blade runner was lying -- >> i don't know how -- i cannot see how it's possible not to hear, because i heard it. >> you heard? >> a woman scream. >> robin is live in south africa tonight. robin, reeva's family was looking at him, at the mood amongst the family, side by side in the courtroom. you were there. what was it like? >> well, it was quite

claustrophobic. the families were all sharing the same bench. at one point they were literally within touching distance of each other. from what i could see, oscar pistorius never made eye contact with the family. he rarely turned back toward us, the media, he spent a lot of time writing notes, talking to his lawyers. as for reeva's mother, we know she did give him a few beady eyed looks. long sustained stares. generally, it was an unemotional courtroom, oscar would cry, breakdown. this was definitely more clinical, more procedural, both families seem to be able to deal with the weight of what was happening. >> thank you for covering this

for us as the trial continues. there are two different versions of what weren't down the night oscar allegedly killed his girlfriend reeva. his neighbor said she heard someone screaming for help. >> this fits into the prosecution's story. the prosecution said all along, they were having some kind of a big argument in the middle of the night. they proceeded from the bedroom down the hallway into another part of the room. you go all the way down here and in the bathroom, she barricaded herself in the bathroom, and at that point the prosecution said he became angry after trying to smash the door down and shot through it with intent to kill her. the idea she would be screaming and you hear gunshots, fits nicely into the prosecution's story. >> the prosecution is saying, this season the what happened. that the athlete thought someone

entered his home, an intruder. is there anyway to make that claim? >> here's the story, it's important to understand what they said. they were both asleep in bed, that he got up and went out to the balance con economy in the darkness to bring a fan in. while he was out there, she got up and went down the hall and he did not know it. so when he came back into the room he heard a noise. he thought somebody had broken in through the window here, which was open and barricaded themselves in here, he said he was shooting through there to protect himself and steenkamp. can that fit together with her screaming, no? the witness said she heard a man screaming. you know there will be challenges on the sequence, did she really hear this before that? how does it all come together? those are the two stories and they're going to keep pushing

against them on both sides. >> thank you very much, to tom foreman. we have another story we brought you on this program. the united states has begun removing a corvette in a sinkhole. the first car removed was a 2009 blue devil zr-1. as you can see coming out with the crane how they did this in the museum. nearly unscathed that car was. another ruby red corvette was removed. officials are hoping to remove a 1962 black corvette tomorrow. not many animals could turn a crocodile into its prey. but this is incredible. a python in australia did it, it's so rare and amazing, the woman who took the photos told the australian broadcasting that a three foot crock fought the

python and then became exhausted and gave in. the python made the crocodile its meal. next, jeanne moos with the craziest moments of the oscars. predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance so she could take her dream to the next level.

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a lot happened at the oscars last night, you probably saw them. but one of the most of course ward moments? jeanne moos. >> oscar hangover, there was cate blanchett on ellen's show. >> would anyone like to hold this? >> when ellen asked if cate

slept with the oscar, she said it was the closest she and her husband had ever come to a threesome. what did john travolta just call her? he was supposed to introduce idi idina. we don't know if there's a ildin. her name is idina. what if john travolta had to pronounce all the names. some people say he's dyslexic and that's why he was unable so read the name on the teleprompter. number four, our favorite awkward moments. >> i'm just nervous. >> the actual liza minnelli was described by ellen as one of the most amazing liza impersonators. and kim novak got her back

rubbed by matthew mcconaughey. >> i'm really glad to be here. >> it's been a long time. >> some who remembered her from hitchcock's "vertigo" lost their balance, kim should sue her plastic surgeon, tweeted donald trump. another reason to fall for jennifer lawrence. she fell again, over a traffic cone getting out of her limo. >> ellen's oscar pizza kapper. she ordered a pizza. he thought he was delivering to the writers. ellen passed pharrell's hat to leave a tip. >> here's $1,000. you have a total of $1,000. >> and our number one oddball moment. that self-y full of stars. sure, it got mocked by larry the cable guy, it was photo shopped

with rod ford, ellen everywhere, and pepperoni pizza. whether out of popularity or coincidence, moments after it was posted twitter crashed. even better than that, was when liza minnelli crashed the self-ie. jeanne moos, cnn new york. >> our coverage of the crisis in the ukraine continues now with anderson cooper live in kiev. good evening, i'm anderson cooper reporting live from kiev in ukraine. a country on the brink. as the new prime minister has said. russian forces in the crimea, the fear that they may move further into eastern ukraine. i'm reporting from independence square, where a week and a half ago, people were fighting and dying for change here in ukraine. they got the change. the former president fled, no one could have predicted what happened next. russian force