the threat for militant extremist has the world taking notice. much more ahead this hour on the uk the decision to ratchet up the terror threat level in the face of isis. to everyone in the united states and around the world, hello and welcome back to cnn. i'm natalie allen. also ahead this hour -- >> i heard about russian tanks but no one can prove it either way. i'm more scared of the ukrainian

government anyway. >> what will happen next in the bitter conflict with russia? later this hour, a legal ruling in the u.s. state of texas caused a stir on both sides of the abortion issue. find out who is angry and why. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com britain raised its alert considering an attack highly likely. isis extremist pose the greatest security threat britain has ever faced. karl penhaul has our report. >> reporter: isis-led actions in iraq and syria and now the threat that more than 500 british jihadists involved in the conflicts could return home caused the british government to raise its terror threat to its highest level for three years. >> this is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore. the ambition to create an

extremist area in the heart of iraq and syria is a threat to our own security here in the uk. >> reporter: with british home secretary teresa may adding -- >> a terrorist attack is highly likely, but there is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent. >> reporter: the uk terror threat levels were only made public a year after the london bombings of 77, 2005, in the wake of the liquid bomb thread on planes headed to the u.s. and canada in august 2006 that the level was first revealed. then it was set at its highest level, critical. the attack on glasgow airport in 2007 again raised the level to critical. but for more than three years, since 2011, the level has been at substantial, the mid-way point on the british terror scale. intelligence services have long

known britons have been fighting along isis, but before that, the murder of james foley by a journalist believed to be british changed the way uk looks at homegrown terrorism. david cameron could pass radical measures, withdrawing passports of those suspected of terrorist-related activity. >> karl penhaul reporting there and now joins us live in london where it is saturday morning and people starting to let this information soak in there. and what is the reaction from many people there to david cameron's stand that this is a very dangerous time for that country? >> reporter: certainly no sign of panic on the streets of london, natalie. a lot of people kind of shaking their heads saying, why has this announcement come now? of course, the idea of britain's leaving either to the middle east or even afghanistan years before that is nothing new.

it's something that the british intelligence services have been aware of for years. also, britain no stranger to homegrown terrorist attacks either. of course, there have been a lot of public pressure on prime minister david cameron to appear to be doing something, particularly in the wake of that brutal execution video of the american journalist james foley, and wund one of his apparent fe soldiers of british heir. looking at what measures can be taken because there's a sense what we know, the british intelligence services will tell us some 500-plus britons possibly blilinked to jihadists syria. they doubt either the british immigration authorities or british intelligence services have a real handle on the size of the problem, and say that all of these statements, all of

these proposed measures may be jut a bit of politics rather than anything concrete to curtail any measured uncertainty. mr. cameron saying yesterday there was no specific intelligence about an imminent threat. this is much more generic, natalie. >> karl penhaul for us there live in london. we'll wait and see what other things develop this week, when david cameron announces changes to security and safety. thank you. u.s. secretary of state john kerry urging a global effort to defeat isis's in a clump in tole "new york times" saying, no decent country can support the horror es of isis and no country can shirk its responsibility to help stamp out this disease. it's hard work but extremists like isis can only be defeated when "responsible nations and their peoples unite to oppose them." the u.s. military has shed

more light on its operations against isis in iraq. the pentagon said friday american forces have carried out 110 air strikes since august 8th. that includes missions conducted that same day against isis fighters near the mosul dam. meantime, another fight is underway in fallujah as iraqi government forces push to take it back from isis. let's go live now to our reporter standing by with more from baghdad, and certainly this city fell some time ago and just now iraq forces trying to take it back. >> reporter: absolutely. about eight months, natalie, back in january. that was the first city in iraq to fall into the hands of isis, and other militants there. the iraqi government massed its troops around fallujah and other parts of anbar but never entered

the city. there were fears, since then the city under constant attack, daily shelling and bombings from official there's saying it has not stopped. according to health officials and residents, at least 17 people killed and more than 70 wounded, and extensive damage to residential areas in what they say were barrel bomb attacks by the iraqi security forces. these are highly explosive and indiscriminate kinds of bombs dropped from aircraft, but we have heard the iraqi government in the past completely denying this saying they do not use that sort of weapons, that sort of bombs, to target militants, as they say. they call them the terrorists in fallujah. they say they are not going after civilians, that avoid civilian casualties and blame the terrorists for using people and civilians as human shields.

as this goes on, natalie, about eight months, thousands have fled their homes and many others are trapped inside the city between isis on the one hand, in the other hand, the bombardment they live through daily from the iraqi security forces. this is really doing very little for what is critical here for the government to gain the trust, to bring onboard the suni population again who are key to fighting isis like we saw back in 2006 and 2007, and right now, very little is being done to win the hearts and minds of sunis in places like fallujah. it's quite the opposite, as we hear from people there, it's actually increasing divisions and ale lalienating the people. >> that's a shame, when you realize what baghdad is up against trying to unify and create a new government that can bring the people together and fight isis, and you've said recently time is running out for

that unification to take place. >> reporter: about 11 days left, natalie, for this constitutional deadline for a new government to be formed, and as we have been hearing from the u.s., the white house, president obama, over the past few days again stressing what we already know. that a key part of the battle against isis is this government that emerges here in baghdad must be an inclusive, a truly inclusive government that really makes the sunis feel like they have a stake in this government, a stake in this country, and it's a very, very tough task. over the past few years since the u.s. military departure, sunis feel they've been margi l marginalized by the shia government and persecuted by the security forces like we've seen in fallujah. in some cases, some people see isis as the lesser of two evils rather than having the iraqi

security forces and others are being driven into the arms of isis basically, because they would rather have that than the iraqi security forces. so a very difficult and tough situation right now while these politicians are here in baghdad. they are constantly meeting, trying to form this government. it is very, very difficult to make the suni community that since 2006 has been promised over and over again all of these different concessions and commitments that were made and never fulfilled by the central government, unless something really changes here, it's going to be very difficult to fight isis without having the suni community and suni tribes onboard. >> thank you very much for us with her perspective live in baghdad. thank you. much more ahead here on cnn including allegations of an all-out russian invasion in one eastern ukrainian town, but our cnn crew found a very different story there. also, an 11th-hour blow to texas governor rick perry and a

victory for pro-choice groups. a controversial abortion story, coming up here on cnn.

welcome back. accusations of russian incursions and reminders of russia's military might are volleying back and forth across the russia/ukraine border. russia continues to insist its troops are not operating inside ukraine, but the west insists these satellite images show russian equipment there. nato secretary-general stopped just short of calling the images a smoking gun. >> despite moscow's hollow denials, it is now clear that russian troops and equipment have illegally crossed the border into eastern and

southeastern ukraine. this is not an isolated action but part of a dangerous pattern over many months to destabilize ukraine as a sovereign nation. >> now, russian foreign minister sergei lavrov is not only denying those images you just saw or any kind of proof, he says they're simply made up. >> translator: from the very beginning of the crisis we have been blamed for everything. there have been reports that there are photographs from space showing movements of russian troops, but as it turns out, it was computer games and the images were taken from there and the latest allegations are more or less of the same kind. >> in the coastal southeast, one ukrainian military leader says a full-scale invasion by russia led to the rebels taking control of one town.

cnn's diana mag nye is in what's now become the bitter front in the conflict art in this checkpoint lines the ukrainian border. looks like they left in a hurry. expensive things left to rust. life seems normal saved for the border guard headquarters deserted last week locals say, just like more than 20 others along the borderline with russia. these rolling hills and not many signs of an army. i heard about russian tanks but no one can prove it either way, this man says. i'm more scared of the ukrainian army, anyway. they come through or motor bikes with guns and sometimes they're drunk. on the outskirts of this area, rebel forces seemed relaxed. settles in after seizing the

town on wednesday from ukrainian forces, the far larger port city is now in their sights. the commander says these tanks are the spoils of war as his fighters went south, not russian issue. he doesn't want his face shown but is nicknamed "fat" well known in rebel ranks after fighting in luhansk. >> new weapons to take this area? >> reporter: it's a question of training and my men are better trained thant ukrainian forces, he replies. this mean as new front opening in ukraine southeast along the sea. for a town at the epicenter of ukrainian claims of a direct military invasion on the part of russia, he could not feel more peaceful, nor this area. the rebels presence is clearly felt, you get a sense there would be to be a lot more of them to push through here or beyond. for cnn, ukraine.

let's get kiev's reaction to all of this. reza sayah is there for us. where russian troops are, who's in charge and all the wail leaders meeting in brussels to figure this out. >> reporter: yeah, natalie and important developments over the past several hours, and evidence that the momentum, perhaps, is shifting once again in the favor of pro-russian rebels in eastern ukraine in this see it saw conflict. within the past couple of hours, the interior minister on facebook reported 28 ukrainian soldiers retreated from eastern ukraine after being encircled by pro-russian rebels and separatists. remember, the ukrainian soldiers over the past several weeks had made significant gains in eastern ukraine, around the

luhansk region thenner counteroffensive by the pro-russian separatists who enkirkalaled the ukrainian soldiers over the past week. you recall earlier this week vladimir putin, the russian president, praises the counteroffensive and advised the pro-russian rebels to open a humanitarian corridor to allow them to head back west, baaing to their families. it's not clear if these it particular 28 soldiers used such a humanitarian corridor or escaped on their own. clearly, some tense situations remain in eastern ukraine, where the ukrainian soldiers look like they're in a little trouble. we're also watching southeastern ukraine where pro-russian rebels have made gains over the past couple of day, taking a town east of the critical town and many are waiting to see if they continue to move westward. if that's the case that would suggest a land link between the russian border and crimea, that

the russians annexed several months ago. also watching closely events in brussel. that's where the ukrainian president is, petro poroshenko, scheduled to make a speech in about 30 minutes. the e representatives are there, discussing the crisis here in ukraine and discussing potentially more sanctions. it's not clear if they'll announce more sanctions against moscow today, but clearly, they're talking about it, increasingly you're hearing more western leaders, more representatives of the eu suggesting that more sanctions are necessary to push back the rebels and back down moscow and vladimir putin. so we'll see what happens in the coming hours in brussels. natalie? >> all right, reza sayah, thank you. in 30 minutes we'll take you live to moscow, our matthew chance is there with russian reaction to the events on russia

the eastern border and remarks from vladimir putin. other stories we're following this hour. to miners trapped in northern nicaragua are out. the nation's first lady thanked crews for what she called a miraculous rescue to get the miners out, ongoing since the mine partially collapsed thursday. at least five other miners are now believed trapped still after that collapse. the united nations says it's been told that u.n. peacekeepers detained near the golan heights are safer and in good health. it's believed the 44 peacekeepers are being held by the al qaeda-linked front, the peacekeepers are seized after militants captured a border crossing from the syrian regime. coming up here, the latest on the eruption of a volcano in iceland and what that means for air travel in the region. more after the break with ivan cabrera at the cnn weather center.

. how about this picture post card? new guinea where a volcano began erupting friday spewing ash nearly 18 meters above sea level. this caused flights to be re-routed. of course, that's not the only volcano we are following. there are a few out there blowing their tops and doing other things, coming out sideways, at least one in iceland is. ivan cabrera joining us now. the one in iceland is not affecting air travel. is that correct? >> it has locally right over iceland, but you're absolutely right. coming out sideways, much better than blowing its top here and that is what we do not want in iceland. i've been looking at the webcam set up. it's blurry right now. got to focus the thing and i can't see anything so i don't know if we have a continuous situation here, but they lowered it to orange. we did have that fissure,

sideways eruption, much better. from a red to an orange alert, bouncing back and forth trying to make up its mind. hopefully it's done so. the last few hour, 5.3 earthquake, no bueno. we don't want that main chamber eruption. we've had the fish susure erupt on the side. it has put local residents, some evacuated, a potential of the local flooding because of melting ongoing. that is the iceland volcano. showing you pictures of iceland of what, at least to what has been happening there, but now look at this. this is not iceland. this is down in papua, new guinea. took us by surprise. natalie, hasn't blown in about 20 years. so how than? look at that, right in the tropics there.

that's png. and another one monitored as well in the philippines, but i'll leave you with this picture here. won't leave you yet, but look at this incredible image. i can't get over this with the light there shining on the ash. this one has caused problems with air travel, as you can well imagine. some flights from australia out of the south have been impacted. we're flying around this thing. not a problem. the pilots, they have been certainly alerted to the situation, surfaced at 60,000 feet, rheed then the orange. problems here, but this not going to spread hemispherically. we're in good shape. keep you posted on the island volcano and the weather forecast for labor day is coming up next. >> thanks. a strict anti-abortion law signed by governor rick perry dealt a severe blow. a federal judge struck down a key part of the law that could have shut down many abortion

clinics. elise underwood reports. >> reporter: the doors of more than a dozen clinics across texas will stay open. >> it's fantastic to see the face of the women in the waiting room and to have people in the community know we're able to keep our doors open to the women and families who need us here. >> reporter: the texas alliance for life say the decision is a major disappointment. >> abortion is a very serious medical procedure and women are entitled to certain protections to assure that those abortions are not done in a manner that puts their health and safety at risk and the judge is preventing the state from offering those protections for women. that's very unfortunate. >> reporter: whole women's health was the latest group to file suit arguing the law puts an undue burden on women forced to travel hundreds of miles for care. the group was already forced to close its austin clinic because its lease was running out and they couldn't afford to wait for a ruling. a decision means they can plan for the future. >> we are also relieved from the burden of the public's

requirement in those communities and it's clearly stated. we can reopen our clinic and see the women in that community. >> reporter: while doors start to reopen the state is already making plans to give the regulations one more day in court. >> the attorney general has already announced that he will appeal this decision to the fifth circuit court of appeals in new orleans. >> reporter: while the speal aps in the works, clinics can stay open at least nor now. >> elise underwood reporting there. british officials raised the terror alert level concerning isis and other extremist groups pup up next here, i'll talk live with an expert who says it's all part of a long-term plan. and what's vladimir putin's end game in ukraine? one russian lawmaker thinks he knows.

welcome back. you're watching cnn. i'm natalie allen. our top stories this hour -- concerns about islamist extremist prompting the british government to raise its alert level to severe. the fourth highest of five levels. authorities are worried british citizens could return from fighting in the middle east to launch attacks at home. an insurgent attack on the headquarters of afghanistan security agency in jalalabad killed six people. police say explosives were detonated outside the building allowing others to get inside. 45 people are thought to be injured in an e-mail to cnn the taliban claimed responsibility. ukrainian president petro poroshenko is in brussels meeting with european leaders about the crisis in his country. the leaders are considering additional sanctions on russia

over its support for pro-russian separatists in eastern ukraine. senegal reporting its first known case of the deadly ebola virus. a 21-year-old university student from neighboring guinea tested positive for the disease and is being treated in hospital. sinegal is now the fifth african country to be hit with ebola. in the u.s. the national institutes of health sizz the first human trial of an elollbo vaccine will begin next week. more now on our top story -- the british government saying the threat from islamist militants like isis is forcing if to raise its terror alert level to severe. there's no intelligence an attack is eminent. meantime, the u.s. says it has no plans to follow britain's lead. pentagon correspondent barbara starr reports.

>> reporter: two leaders with very different public messages on isis. british prime minister david cameron announcing the threat level is raised to severe in the uk. >> this is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore. >> i don't want to put the cart before the horse. we don't have a strategy yet. >> reporter: president obama not ready to commit to fighting isis with air strikes in syria, but britain clearly feeling the pressure that isis could strike it at home. the new warning means an attack is highly likely. >> the ambition to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of iraq and syria is a threat to our own security here in the uk. >> reporter: particularly worried, because it was a british voice on the tape showing the murder of american journalist james foley. an estimated 500 people have traveled from britain to fight in syria and iraq along with hundreds of other europeans.

u.s. and european security services believe isis fighters are back at several locations in europe, but those cells may not be under direct isis orders. officials won't say where the cells are. u.s. officials say they don't believe there's a cell in this country, but are tracking about a dozen americans fighting for isis overseas. just this week, two american isis fighters were believed killed in syria. >> i think our european allies feel a greater sense of urgency. i think they feel as if the threat is closer to home right now, and for us, it's more of a, of a distant issue. >> reporter: for now, the u.s. plans to changes. the department of homeland security says it's unaware of any specific credible threat from isis. some analysts say, however, this is not the time to sit around and wait for what may be an

inevitable attack. >> we need to understand that this is a threat now to our homeland, and we have to start designing a game plan to defeat them as quickly as possible. >> reporter: u.s. law enforcement and intelligence experts will tell you one of the biggest worries they have is the so-called lone wolf attack. it is one of the most difficult threats to detect. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. let's take a close are look at prime minister david camerons key points in raising the terror threat there in the uk. mr. cameron said isis poses the greatest, deepest threat britain has ever known, and the recent killing of american journalist james foley is clear evidence britain cannot hope to ignore isis calling islamist extremist the root cause of the terrorism threat says the group sends an pois poisonous outology that will fight for years probably decades to come and mr. cameron would

reveal plans monday to stop would-be isis from traveling. and joining me now live from london to talk about the steps being taken and this threat, thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> let's start first with david cameron's words. he wasn't mincing words when he talked about what he views his government views as this threat against the uk by perhaps home-grown terrorists. other people say this is just politics. what is your take on this development? >> the fact that the terror threat level has been raised to substantial is interesting, because in the past, when it has been at that level, it's been in the aftermath of a terrorist plot being disrupted by the authorities, like the 2006 airline liquid bomb plot, or because an actual attempted terrorist attack has failed, like the detroit-bound flight

where it was supposed to be brought down with an explosive. this is the first time the threat is raised without a threat. in part because authorities believe there is intelligence from human sources as well as electronic chatter that suggests more increasingly the uk will be targeted. the only thing we don't know is when that may be. so the uk is prepares itself for a potential plot in the future. >> right. there seems to be some confusion, though, or some, we don't really know the exact number, of how many residents there from the uk who have gn to syria and iraq, and nip idea how many numbers, how many people there could be that could call some sort of serious threat back in the country? >> well, natalie, the estimates vary, but it's believed there are at least 500 britons that

have gone to iraq and syria to link up with groups like isis or even the front. t problem is these individuals have weren't recruited through new media, they've seen other britons put up videos on youtube, updates on twitter, communicating with people on facebook. it's a form of new media recruitment that is taking place and not just britain has this problem. germany, france, denmark. hundreds of their nationals have also gone there. this is a european-wide concern and problem and unfortunately, it doesn't look like the recruitment is stopping anytime soon. we're seeing more people volunteering by the day. >> and the u.s. president obama has most recently said as we heard in barbara starr's story, that there is no plan right now by the united states to fight isis in syria and then he urged that the region should take the lead and it should be a regional

problem first and addressed regionally first. is that wise and can that work? >> the problem is, there is no country in the region near iraq or syria that is capable of defeating isis or dismantling its infrastructure. the u.s. is the only country in the world with the capabilities and receipt sources to do that and, of course we know that puts a lot of burden on the u.s. armed forces, but as the british prime minister has mentioned, this is a generational threat with isis emerging, growing, expanding its tentacles. already american nationals have also gone to link up with isis and the worry that we have in the uk and the worry that there will be in the u.s. in the future is potential blowback. what happens when our nationals come back to our respective countries? will they give up the ideological narrative or isis or will they plan to carry out a major terrorist attack?

your correspondent barbara starr mentioned the lone wolf. these people are much more smaller in networks, harder to monitor and detect, and that, of course, makes the job of counterterrorism all that more difficult. >> so that's one front with isis. the other front is there on the ground in iraq, and i know you've said that in the past few weeks, that iraq leadership under al maliki, for example, didn't seem to care that some of the cities had fallen. they're trying to take back fallujah right now. take it back from isis. what are the chances that this country can come together, sunis and shia, and unite in their government to try to do their part up against isis? >> well, the prime minister-elect of iraq, he has a very difficult job. he has to undo a lot of the damage that his predecessor nuri maliki created. maliki basically ostracized the

suni arabs of iraq, discriminated against them, prevented them in playing a role in iraq's government. he turned the iraqi army into his own personal militia. basically, a lot of people were disenfranchised. now, in order to win them over again it's going to become a very complicated process, because many of them have fed into the isis narrative. this is a conflict and a battle that is going to take years even a decade now to try and fix, because isis have got a foothold. this is not a small group operating in mountains and caves like al qaeda. they're in possession of major towns and cities, and that is why the u.s. needs to continue to play a major role in assists countries working with the kurdish peshmerga, hedging reconstitute the iraqi army, because of the fact that boots on the ground is the only way isis can be effectively dismantled. air strikes may confine them to an extent but won't eliminate them. >> interesting to see in the days ahead what we hear from the united states.

after this decision there by david cameron. thank you for your expertise, with the asia-pacific foundation. thank you. well, an attack may not be imminent, but one new report contains some startling details about possible isis plans. foreign policy magazine says files found on a laptop that once belonged to isis include talk about biological weapons and the bubonic plague. cnn terrorism analysts saying there's no evidence isis has a program dedicated to weapons of mass destruction. here's one of the journalists who wrote the article in "foreign policy." >> what i think is very important, and what is kind of worrisome are three elements. we have basically a tunisian national, a chemistry student, who traveled to syria, joined isis, and who carries this manual of biological weapons on his laptop. who clearly has an interest in trying to develop it.

these three factors make it very worrisome. how far they are, we don't know. maybe the guy, the laptop owner, maybe he's dead. we don't know, but we know there's a certain interest among isis people with a science background into developing these kind of terrible diseases. >> hundreds of foreign fighters who joined the bloody ballots there in syria and iraq have documented their journeys online. these jihadists may be the clue to finding the murderer of american journalist james foley. cnn atika shubert speaks with experts on how they're using social media to find crucial information about the fighters. >> reporter: there are thousands fighting in syria and hundreds from britain. many of them online, boasting about battlefield exploits, posting gruesome photos of executions and beheadings. >> at the moment, our database contains just over 450 individual people who have gone

out to fight in syria including men and women. we have gone through instagram, twitter, facebook all social media accounts and begun to build a profile of the individuals out there. >> reporter: the international center for the study of radic radicalization at king's college in london tracks many online. peter norman founded the center. >> up to 12,000 people have gone to syria. 20% are westerners. of the westerners, 2000 of western europeans. the western europeans, brits, represent maybe 400. certainly a sizable number, but it is by far not the largest number. >> reporter: they, like many analysts and investigators have been scouring their databases to see if there is a match for foley's killer. the masked man with the british accent. here they show us how they build profiles on known militants. >> from sweden. he's from sweden. what's helpful about this is that you can get a sense of what weapons they're using, what they're equipped with before

maybe in a conflict you would have to have sort of intelligence that you gleaned on the ground, and now you can see that stuff on twitter. >> even tell where they are with a shot like that. >> yeah. >> reporter: that constant ringing noise in the background, that's one of their contacts, a british jihadist in syria carefully suggesting that some fighters may want to come back home, even though they face time in jail. incredibly, more than 200 fighters have returned home from syria since the conflict began. >> how many people are you with? he said, i'm with 80 people. brits? he said 30 brits. >> and [ bleep ] he thinks you can be a conduit to help him come back. >> yeah. because they are reading the headlines and saying, they are going to be locked up and thrown away, taking their passports. >> reporter: and a flag of this video. the most recent slick propaganda from isis designed to show their planning operations and showcasing video taken from a drone camera. >> looks like he might be going

on a suicide mission. that would be really interesting. >> wow. yeah. >> reporter: despite trolling through videos like this, however, none of the jihadis the center has been profiling match the man in foley's video. even if he is found, he is still far from the reach of the british government. with no guarantee that foley's executioner will ever face justice. atika shubert, cnn, london. coming up here on cnn, we'll go live to moscow to get reaction to nato claims that these images you see here show russian troops and equipment inside ukraine. the future of kids? like a stock. not the kind of stock that's about making money. but a stock for social change. a whole new kind of investment called better futures. when you invest, it helps kids go to college. believe in us, invest in us.

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back now to the continuing developments from ukraine. ukrainian military officials say a russian-built anti-aircraft

system has shot down one of its military fighter jets in the eastern part of the country. nato says russian equipment has been seen inside ukrainian territory and it points to satellite imagery as proof. russia has something to say about that. bring in our senior international correspondent matthew chance in moscow. not just sergey lavrov, also vladimir putin just saying quite simply, matthew, these images are fake. >> reporter: well, look, i mean, every kremlin official talking on this subject is repeating the same line. despite the mounting body of evidence assembled the satellite images you mentioned released by nato, western military alliance, the detention of ten russian paratroopers inside ukraine earlier this week, who were interviewed and paraded on television, despite all of those aspects of evidence that have been compiled, the kremlin line is exactly the same, which is

look, we're not putting troops into ukraine. we deny these allegations that are being levied against us, particularly high-levelleveled united states says thousands of troops or inside ukraine. a british official told cnn between 4,000 and 5,000 troops britain believes are inside ukraine. the kremlin response time and again is the same. complete denial, saying that the troops captured were in ukraine accidentally. using other reasons to explain satellite images and things like that. bottom line is they're not confirming that russian troops are engaged in any kind of combat operations inside ukraine. >> all right. it's the same old, same old story from russia. all the while, no one believes them. so -- and any idea what vladimir putin's end game here is with this part of ukraine?

>> well, on your first point, in terms of nobody believing them i think the purpose of these explanations is to create a veil of doubt. that is cast by the kremlin across this whole situation. and that serves a very important purpose of potentially helping to divide the western allies. i mean, nobody wants a military confrontation with russia, and if there's an element of doubt that is not engaged in an invasion, if there's any way of avoiding that conflict for some parties amongst the western powers, then that will be enough to divide the western alliance. that's one of the reasons, i think, vladimir putin and other russian officials are coming out with these increasingly implausible explanations for the evidence that's been mounted against them. in terms of what vladimir pun's game plan is here, it's very difficult to predict. it's one of the feeatures of ths administration here in russia. it's not easy to sigh what

they're end game is tactically, of course, it's not clear whether they're supplying pro-russian rebels in ukraine with weaponry or not. not clear whether they have russians for forces on the ground or not and if they do what the purpose of that would be. strategically things are much more clear. seems vladimir putin made a decision he does not want ukraine to move away from what russia calls its sphere of influence, move into the western orbit, join western institutions like the european union and nate oh the western military alliance, and he seems to be, you know, demonstrating by his actions that he'll stop at nothing, not even conflict, to prevent that from happening. i think that's the red line that he's drawn. and i think that's the main problem for western powers as they seek to prevent vladimir putin from taking further steps. already imposed sanctions. they've had no effect except increase his determination to back the rebels in ukraine. the question is, what else can they do? >> right. seems with every talk of

sanctions, he just digs in further. so we'll wait and see what happens next. in this ongoing conflict. matthew chance for us there live in moscow. we thank you. coming up here, quite an unusual scene on the streets of atlanta, and those characters might look familiar to you. we'll explain, right after this. back to school shopping for my girls isn't easy. that's just not enough crotch. do these shoes say "mathlete" to you? ha! where do you put the books?! these are still cool, right? number 15 of my 20, desperately trying to keep my girls from growing up too fast. the new amex everyday credit card with no annual fee. make 20 or more purchases in a monthly billing period and earn 20% more rewards. is this nut-free? it's membership that rewards you for the things you already buy, every day. what's your 20?

here in the u.s., this is the weekend marking the unofficial end of summer. say it ain't so, ivan cabrera, joining us now in the weather center t. is for some of us. are you telling me captain packard is in atlanta and i didn't know about this? >> right around the corner. get to that in a minute. >> i can't wait to hear about it. first, yes, a little labor day weekend weather here and if you're watching from the south central u.s., specifically louisiana and texas, flash flooding unfortunately. not just a few showers that will make you go inside for a bit. no. this is going to be heavy rain unfortunately here. severe storms to the north. watch for that, and this will actually push further to the east. the most severe weather threat migrates and increases further east. we'll watch that throughout the weekend here. there's your beach forecast. pick one, and what's the closest one to us, natalie? down towards the -- >> that's -- panama city, or

daytona. >> oh, low 90s though. golly. jump in the water. if you're doing this kind of work, well, then sorbet is what's on tap for today, because it is hot out there. firefighters doing their work out there in that las vegas area. hopefully they'll get to a beach somewhere. for them, even a longer drive. >> absolutely. yes. probably working like us this weekend. that's all right. >> sue you tomorrow. >> okay. all right. as ivan mentioned it is indeed interesting weekend here in atlanta, because it's dragon con. the annual science fiction convention. fantasy fans converge on atlanta to see the creators of their favorite comics dressing up, as you can see there, it's part of the fun. jennifer westhoven spoke with one of the people behind some of these impressive costumes. >> reporter: costumes may be playful but at dragon con, they are serious business.

people line up to get one made by katherine jones who owns god save the queen fashions. she started doing costumes for drag queens in atlanta, but after she went to dragon con in 2008, her business blew up. >> i didn't understand the extent and how crazy it was. it's an overwhelming amount of people with costumes and that was kind of what solidified things. i was like, oh, this could be something. >> reporter: katherine and her team can spend up to 200 hours on one single costume. >> a lot of people don't understand that when you request these costumes, it might look like a very simple costume, especially on-screen. you have to take into consideration these movie budgets are going to be thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, and so many man hours, and what we're trying to do is re-create that on a more reasonable scale.

a simple body suit might be $250 custom made to your measurements. some costumes might be many thousands of dollars rsht what's the most popular costume right now? >> definitely the one we get the most requests for is captain america. >> reporter: that explains some unusual people i saw out on the sidewalk on my way into work this evening. thank you for watching cnn. i'm natalie allen. "new day" is up next for viewers in the u.s. for everyone else, i'll be back with your headlines.

we're glad that you're with us. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. it's "new day saturday." it's a long weekend for a lot of people. labor day weekend and security is being increased across the u.s. now, u.s. officials say this is not because of the growing terror threat posed by isis. >> we're actually going to the white house in a few minutes. the militants have stormed huge swangs of territory in iraq and syria, they brutally beheaded an american