the olympics. that's all true. but china's foreign minister indicated this weekend that china and russia may not be exactly on the same page on ukraine. the foreign minister saying, the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of any country should be respected and safeguarded. ukraine is no exception. now, he drew the line at nato expansion but it come to something with the deteriorating situation. china has a lot of power here, too, and a lot on the line and it is currently unclear whose side they're fully on. thanks. so for joining us. tonight, on cnn. don't miss the new original series, lbj triumph and tragedy. it starts at 9:00 eastern. meantime, it's time for "ac360." john berman here in for anderson. we're coming to you with the situation in ukraine. it is changing by the minute and

there's no way to overestimate the gravity of it. vladimir putin has ordered troops into eastern ukraine. according to a senior government official familiar with the latest intelligence, the expectation is they could move in as soon as tonight. what would be the early morning hours. what's more, it is underscored by the enormous number of russian forces you see on the ma'am. nearly a dozen officials now tell cnn what we've seen so far today appears to be the opening salvo of a larger possible military action. just moments ago, we saw video being played on the russian outlet rtbi. it shows trucks with field artillery down the road on the city to donetsk. we don't know who it belongs to. it followed vladimir putin this afternoon signing a decree recognizing two parts of eastern ukraine as independent republics and significantly ordering troops into the territories. an invasion or occupation,

despite the propaganda that putin uses, calling it peacekeeping. even more ominous, what he had to say in a lengthy and combative speech. his remarks began with a twisted history lesson, distorted to russia's point of view. he ended with a threat to all of ukraine. in fact, a sort of denial that ukraine even exists. >> translator: i would like to reiterate that ukraine is not our neighboring country. it is an integral part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space. ukraine from the beginning, and in its totality has been created by russia. those who have taken the power and are holding the power in ukraine. we demand, stop any of the military actions. otherwise, the responsibility will be on the governing --

government in ukraine. >> quite a contrast from reports earlier in the day of preparations for a thursday meeting between russia's foreign minister and secretary of state blinken in preparation for a possible biden-putin summit. the contrast also from this just yesterday from russia's ambassador to washington. >> we are not trying to take any territory of a foreign country. i would like to confirm that donetsk and luhansk is a part of ukraine. >> so much for yesterday. tonight at the white house, in nato capitals across europe, it is twofold on imposing sanctions and sadly bracing for the impact of what could be hours away, whatever that might be. as only cnn can, we have reports from everywhere that matters. kaitlan collins at the white house, cnn contributor jill doherty in moscow, and a strategic city in eastern krun. i want to start with clarissa

ward where president zelenskyy has just made an early morning address to the country. what did he say? >> reporter: that's right, john. he spoke at about 2:00 in the morning, just under an hour ago. and essentially, he accused russia of violating ukraine's territorial integrity and its sovereignty, though he did not use the invasion word. he also said that he demands, quote, clear support from the west in terms of those sanctions. that's something we have also seen echoed by his foreign minister who has taken to twitter this evening, basically saying that he is in lock-step. ukraine is in lock-step with its allies and he expects a raft of blistering sanctions to be announced tomorrow. not clear what those would look like yet. zelenskyy also that, we do not fear anything and we will not cede anything. what we're seeing on the ground already, john, according to

social media posts, according to reuters who are there, some form of military convoys moving through donetsk. as you stated, and it is a really important clarification to make, we cannot be sure if this convoy is russian military or pro russian separatists. what we do know is that this friendship and security agreement that president putin signed earlier between russia and the republics of donetsk and luhansk, as they are now calling themselves independent republics, that this basically allows for peacekeeping forces to be deployed as soon as now to help with security, to help defend borders, and really, this raises troubling concerns about how the international community responds to this. does this constitute an invasion? is it simply an area that was already under de facto moscow control? and so i think for a lot of people in ukraine tonight, a lot

of anxiety, not just because of russian peace keimers potentially arriving as we speak in those breakaway republics, but also, because of the tone of president putin's speech which you just hit on. essentially negating the very existence of ukraine as some kind of a sovereign country. calling the leadership here a puppet regime of a colony. and running through a raft of historical grievances against nato which really appeared to many listeners, i think for the first time, to potentially pave the way for the groundwork for something much more expansive than what we're seeing tonight. it remains to be seen whether that will go ahead or whether this is just something that president putin will now try to use as leverage in further diplomatic negotiations. to the extent that those diplomatic negotiations are still on the table, john, we simply don't know what happens now tom meeting between blinken and lavrov, and certainly, the

future of any summit between putin and biden seems far less likely in this moment. >> kaitlan collins, to you at the white house, with the very real possibility that russian troops may be already in parts of ukraine like this, what is the biden administration's response? >> they say they're going to monitor this overnight to see what happens in these hours. it is about 3:00 a.m. in ukraine. they are not ready to call it an invasion yet. they have made that quite clear with reporters and on cnn as well. given what they are seeing on the ground, they say they want to see what putin is going to do now that he has signed this. they said it would be defying international law. they made it quite clear how they view what putin did today. but the way they are responding is still not clear yet. we know president biden signed this executive order earlier. that puts the limited sanctions on these areas, these breakaway regions of ukraine. it not sanctions on russia yet.

not on putin yet. the one we have been hearing officials talk about for weeks. those are not being unleashed yet. it appears they're saving that in the light of a full-scale invasion. that remains to be seen how the white house is going to respond. they have teased some sanctions coming tomorrow, potentially. i think it depends on what happens overnight before they see what that response is. right now, they are not calling this an invasion at the white house. >> that is interesting. alex, to you in eastern ukraine, what are you hearing from officials about what putin's moves there could look like? >> as you said, everyone believes this is the opening salvo for whatever putin has planned. we just don't know what he's thinking for the coming hours and days. we spoke with the western diplomat who said we are in a new era and a dangerous one because of that lack of predictability. now, what is especially dangerous are these so-called peace keimers in the donbas. this is an area in the last few

days where russian forces have accused ukraine of carrying out attacks against them. now that we will likely have official russian troops there, what happens if they engage with ukraine or accuse ukraine of attacking them? russia could then have an excuse to further expand their campaign. so do they want to stay in these two breakaway end cclaves for n? there's a whole menu of options given their positioning all around ukraine. they could take that land bridge to connect crimea with eastern ukraine, with russia. they could invade from the north, with belarus, and try to move on kyiv. they could come from the south, from crimea, where they have troops, helicopters and ships, and the biden administration has repeatedly said they could start a real full-scale invasion by bombing with missiles and their fighter jets. so a lot remain to be seen in the coming hours and days. i did speak with a european defense official who told me, if

he goes for war, he has to do it fast and then start preparing for peace negotiations. >> so perilous hours tonight, to be sure. jill, so putin has signed these decrees regarding eastern ukraine. what exactly do they say? what do they authorize? >> reporter: well, they recognize, number one, and that is a violation of the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of ukraine. recognizes these two breakaway regions, donetsk and luhansk people's republics and then they have a friendship cooperation and mutual assistance part of that. and within that part, the president, president putin, authorizes the russian military to carry out, to ensure peacekeeping functions, is the way it is put. so again, tacitly -- those officially, according to the

russians, in quotes there, peacekeepers, but obviously they can be used as anything they want. but that's kind of the legal part of it. what he intends to do with that, or the fig leaf of it is another question. and the real fear, i think, john, is that we've been saying, this could open the door to all sorts of things that could happen. but it really does tear apart, i think, also, it tears apart the minsk accords which were the one thing that people were hoping eventually could solve that conflict in donbas. it hasn't worked for seven years. and right now, obviously, it is in shreds. >> it has the potential for tearing up post cold war order in europe. it really does have that much potential. ukrainian civilians you've been talking to for weeks and weeks, they've been reluctant to see

this as imminent. now that it may be happening, what are you hearing? >> reporter: it is really interesting to see. there's an unmistakable shift. for days we've been talking about going out on the streets of kyiv. finding people very relaxed. generally talking to people saying we don't believe putin would actually do this because it doesn't make sense. and i think after that speech, and again, it was less even about recognizing those two republics and more about the rhetoric that president putin was using that has really sent a chill down many people's spines. we are seeing people on social media coming out saying, they really do believe it's possible. i saw one post from a mother saying some of the other parents were putting stickers on their children's backpacks to go to school, detailing what their blood group was, which certainly speaks to a certain level of profound anxiety that frankly, we had not seen in the same way until this point, john.

>> all right. clarissa, kaitlan, thank you all very much. please stay safe tonight. next, russian and ukrainian capabilities. also, later, one. cia's former top russia experts and america's top former ambassador to ukraine join with us their insight on what motivates vladimir putin and the ukrainian resistance he'll face. later a look at the case the jury is waiting in the ahmaud arbery trial. a busy night ahead on "360." do your eyes bother you? my eyes feel like a combo of stressed, dry and sandpaper. strypar? luckily, there's biotrue hyation boost eye drops. biotrue uses naturally inspired ingredients. and no preservates. try biotrue!

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♪ i see trees of green ♪ ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪ so we choked this before the break. how far vladimir putin is willing to go with ukraine. whether he'll stop at just trying to cleave off a portion of eastern ukraine or expand operations across the country. there is as we mentioned new reporting on that and russian military operations across the board.

cnn national security correspondent jim sciutto is in ukraine and joins us now. you have new reporting on what the u.s. expects from the russian forces overnight. what can you tell us about the next few hours? >> reporter: well, the u.s. watched putin's statement about one recognizing the eastern regions, but then ordering the russian defense ministry to send in what he referred to as peace keepers. they believed that russia will send in military forces as soon as tonight, into tomorrow, into the donbas. this would be an open deployment, really, of russian forces there. yes, russian forces have operated there before. but to roll tanks, armor, something along those lines, it would be a step forward. so the u.s. watching that move very closely because, well, it would solidify russian control of that area but also, bring russian forces closer to ukrainian forces, where they are currently deployed along what is known as the line of contact. it has been the battle lines of

this job going war in eastern ukraine for the last eight years. >> jim, what do you make of the white house parsing its language carefully on whether russian movement into donetsk tonight would constitute an invasion? >> reporter: listen, i took note of this. i went back and forth with the national security council about this to get more clarity of exactly what distinctions they were drawing. they said the following. them they noted that russian forces had been in the donbas area before, so that additional russian forces there is not an enormous qualitative difference. they appear to be drawing that distinction. while at the same time, they said they'll be watching very closely and will react accordingly. it may be that there are different levels of deployment of russian forces in donbas and the different levels would elicit different responses from

the u.s. it does highlight what has been, frankly, a murky definition from the white house for a number of days, a number of weeks, as to what level of military action will qualify as a further invasion of this country. and it recalls those comments a few days ago, a minor incursion from president biden. perhaps a minor incursion wouldn't elicit the same response as something more major. we do hear from the white house that they will have more responses tomorrow, tuesday, u.s. time, we'll be watching those closely, as will ukrainian officials here. >> very closely. there appears to be deliberately a little more temperate than some were expecting. jim sciutto, you've done just terrific. thank you for staying up for us. >> thank you. joining us now, retired general wesley clark, former nato supreme allied commander. you just heard jim's reporting,

also, russian media reporting on a military convoy moving through the troops of what it says is donetsk. what do you see here? what is your assessment of the next few hours? >> the next thing that will happen is the russian troops will move in. i noticed there is a no-fly zone russia has called. so maybe there's going to be an air strike that comes in or maybe russia will bring its forces in, wait for a couple days in donbas, four days, and manufacture more provocations from the ukrainians justifying an offensive. the russian generals could go in with the forces they have and seize kyiv but they probably would rather start the action in donbas, draw ukrainian reserve forces. there are about 30,000 troops in the front lines in donbas for the ukrainians. they would like to see 60,000, 80,000 come up there, show they

can cut them off when they come from the north or the south. so there may be a three or four-day pause here. in the meantime, of course, putin is still, lavrov, still working diplomacy. that will not stop during this period because they're fishing for what they can get. they're hoping this will be seen as a modest incursion. they're hoping that nato won't be able to agree. i think the white house is probably on the phone tonight with its nato allies saying, what can we do? let's get something in here. but you don't want to get out in front of the nato allies. in this crisis, nato unity is all important. we have to put the response together bit by bit. putin is testing us as he goes. his troops are poised and ready to go. he wants to do a flash and bang big operation. as it is unfolding, it seems to me they want to draw the ukrainians out of position and come in behind, cut them off and

seize kyiv. or come in from the south at the same time. >> the u.s. is still reportedly seeing preparations for potential broad-based invasion, including bases loading amphibious ships and airborne units. if a full-scale invasion happens, what do you think that would look like? >> i think they could come in with an amphibious assault. we know there are russian elements already inside ukraine. odessa had problems, where our corn was, eight years ago, there was fighting there and putin tried to take it then. so these elements are still there underground, in communication, waiting to be activated. i'm sure the u.n. security forces is after them to try to prevent it. will it be effective or not? we just don't know. usually the russians have stacks of these intelligence agents.

they have the ones that are known and another stack below them that are not known and that can be activated and used. so i think this is going to be a tough fight as it unfolds. could putin stop and simply say, this is all i wanted? maybe. but it's doubtful, given the fact that he's mobilized all those forces. and after that speech today, really jazzing up the russian people about ukraine, it will look pretty small if he says -- [ inaudible ]. >> general clark appears to be frozen there. our appreciation to general wesley clark for joining us tonight. you can see the russian troops are ringed around on three sides. there are few options tonight. that's of great concern so many. next, the threat vladimir putin leveled at ukraine and what it is to two breakaway republics.

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we mentioned at the top, these are perilous hours tonight. vladimir putin has ordered troops into two breakaway regions in ukraine. they could arrive as soon as tonight. there is this question in official circles of how much

farther russia might go. perilous hours indeed. perspective from two people who know ukraine and russia inside and out. william taylor and former cia steve hall. steve, if or when we see russian forces move into these two regions in eastern ukraine, and they may already be there in increasing numbers, do you believe this is the beginning of something bigger or do you think that putin could slow down a little bit and keep forces there in the east for a while before deciding his next step? >> well, first, they're definitely going to be there if they're not already there now. i think when we get up tomorrow morning, we'll see a lot more troops there. and this is something that i think general clark was going to before the russians hacked into his com s there. they might continue a full-blown invasion, staging it as they want to. i think there is a good

likelihood that he might sit there a while. why? look at what the west has done in the past. so crimea was annexed. it was taken away from ukraine. chopped off and made part of russia. what did the u.s. do? we sent them strongly worded letters and sanctions. then they've reinvaded now and gone into donetsk and luhansk. what have we done so far? not a lot except threaten more sanctions will so putin may decide that he will make this into some sort of modified frozen conflict. occupy the territory with the troops for a while and simply wait until the west's attention turns elsewhere. i think the speech that you saw today was primarily to prepare the russian people for greater sanctions which he thinks likely is indeed going to happen. there will be more sanctions. but those sanctions won't hurt putin that much or the oligarchs unless they're really strong super sanctions. they will have an effect on the russian people and that's what the speech was about. he might just hang there for a

while and see what happens. to his mind, he hand really invaded ukraine. he's only gone into these newly independent countries. he will watch and see what the western reaction will be before he decides how and when to move forward. >> it's interesting, ambassador, because the united states, the white house at least, has been reluctant to use the word invasion. has made the point of saying, that russian troops have been in these regions for some time so the addition of more russian troops doesn't necessarily constitute an invasion. do you think that's a fair assessment? or do you think now is the time to put these full-scale harsh sanctions into place? >> i think now is the time to put full sanctions harshly on president putin, the people around him, and sadly, the russian people. this is going to hurt as steve has just that. the president has been very clear about how these are prepared, all the work that we've done with the europeans to get ready.

this is an invasion. let's be clear. this is an invasion. they are going across the international boundary from russia into ukraine and they are not denying that these are russian soldiers. these are russian units. this is an invasion. now we have to do what we said we would do. i'm looking forward to seeing tomorrow. >> you've gone further than the white house is willing to go. you've said words the white house would not say. so what do you think the effect of, is of the white house reticence? at least so far in these early hours? >> clearly, the white house is talking to the europeans. and it is true that the sanctions are much stronger, at least somewhat stronger if the europeans are with us. if there's some question about which of these sanctions, you know, we could do a lot on our own. the united states has a lot of ability to use a lot, particularly the financial

sanctions. we could do this on our own and that doesn't take the europeans. it would be good if the europeans join us but this needs to happen now. we have that exactly what we're going to do and we made it clear that the trigger was a soldier, or a tank or an airplane or mals going across that border. and that's what is happening. that's exactly what is happening. so i think the united states has to take that step. and i'm hoping the europeans will join us. >> we'll see what happens the next few hours and tomorrow morning when the white house has a chance to reassess. steve, the speech from vladimir putin, a sense of denialism, a sense of denying the actual independent history of ukraine. anilistic in many ways. and i think that putin has used this time of language before. in such a key moment with the world watching, why do you think he did it with the impact? >> well, first, let me strongly

agree with the ambassador there. he's right. if sanctions aren't taken, some sort soon, the russians will interpret that as weakness and they'll continue to push until they find something harder. with regard to putin's speech, you know, make no mistake. he's not a history scholar. he doesn't intend to be, he doesn't want to be. he uses history more like stalin and lenin used history, which is politically. he knows he who control the history of the past will control the politics of today. so that's what he's doing. he's cherry picking, taking bits and pieces, pasting it together, all to get the russian people inside russia nodding their heads saying, yeah, he's right about that. he thinks he might even get some westerners to say things because he understands our sense of fair play and let's listen to both sides. and maybe putin is right. they are russian speakers and maybe it was part of russia and maybe it's not so bad. so there is an external audience for that, too.

he doesn't give a flip about the history of it. he just cares about ma anymore lating a message, and that's what he's doing. but cloaking it in history. >> i appreciate you both being with us tonight. thank you. >> thank you. just hours ago, the jury adjourned after day one of deliberations in the hate crimes trial of ahmaud arbery's killers. we'll have the details next. and with a clear plan, rayna can enjojoy wherever she's headed next. that's the planning effect, from fidelity.

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we will continue to follow the breaking news out of ukraine with more on those russian troops being ordered into the eastern portion of the country. first though, major events back here in the united states. the federal hate crimes trial of the three men convicted of killing ahmaud arbery is now in the hands of the jury. deliberations are set to resume tomorrow morning after more than two hours of deliberations today. the cnn national correspondent ryan young has the details. >> reporter: just two days from now marks the two-year anniversary of ahmaud arbery's murder. his mother said she hopes to have guilty verdicts in the federal hate crimes trial by then. >> i think the doj presented the case well. the anniversary date is the 23rd and hopefully we'll have a good verdict by the 23rd. >> travis mcmichael, his father, and william brian are charged with a hate crime and attempted

kidnapping. the mcmichaels each face a weapons charge. conviction could bring steam fines and add on life sentences. >> we find the defendant guilty. >> in november during the state trial, all three were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of arbery. only brian is eligible for parole after three years. the murder was caught on camera, leading to outrage across the country. >> ahmaud was chased down for five minutes. >> during closing arguments today, the prosecutor said the murder was about racism. going on to say the men hunted him like an animal. >> they killed ahmaud because ahmaud was black and what we heard over the last two days, these guys were racists. >> they were killed racially. >> reporter: the defense disagreed during arguments, acknowledging their clients used racist comments in the past but

denied race was the reason for the killing. the jury heard testimony from more than 20 witnesses. several of whom spoke about racist language used by the defendants including the n word. the defense only called one witness who talked about the georgia neighborhood where the men lived and where arbery was killed. she had never met the mcmichaels or brian. >> and ryan young joins us now. you were in the courtroom this afternoon. at one point, the family got emotional when the prosecutor was talking about how the defendants treated their son. what happened? >> reporter: yeah, very emotional. we saw some of the jury members lean forward during this testimony. they were talking about the idea of after the shooting. we spent so much time playing the shooting and the chase. sometimes people forget about what happened in the moments afterwards. at some point, no one went over to administer any help to ahmaud. no one stopped to say, are you okay? of course, he was shot. no one called 911 to get him

help. and they talked about him being treated less than human. there was no empathy in that moment. and then they started reading the words, the text memorandums with the n word over and over again. you could tell it was taking an emotional toll on the family that has been you this so much. you think about that two-year anniversary. and it just seemed to kind of bring that entire courtroom into silence. it is one of the things you can't see because this is a federal court case. because it is a federal court case, we can't bring you those images but i can tell you, each time the prosecutor used the n word, it really stood out in court. >> we appreciate you being there for us. i now want to bring in the former mayor of atlanta, and the cnn commentator and former south carolina representative and author of, who are your people. mayor, how do you think this trial has unfolded so far?

do you think the prosecution has done enough to prove its case with an admittedly different bar than a standard murder trial? >> it's very tough to prove a federal hate crime case. but given other circumstances, given how high that bar is, i think that they did a really good job. what they reminded this jury of over and over again was this circumstantial evidence of the racial epithets used by these defendants. that's important when you are proving a federal hate crime case, it's not enough that the person is racist. you have to show that there was racial motivation associated with the crime. and so i think they've done a good job. but again, this is very tough when you think about the case of dylan, the circumstantial evidence was brought in to prove that he was a racist and that when he killed the church members at mother emanuel, it

was motivated by his hatred of african americans and that's what the prosecution has attempted to show here. >> and clearly the defense is arguing the opposite. travis mcmichael claimed when mcmichael shot and killed arbery, he was defending himself. would travis mcmichael have grabbed a gun and done to it a white guy? the answer is yes, unquote. so do you think that was an argument that the jury might buy? >> i mean, it's the only argument he had. at the end of the day, the defense attorney has to throw everything against the wall that he possibly can. again, that is going to be the question that the jury has to answer. was ahmaud arbery killed because he was black? mayor bottoms and i will sit here and resoundingly say the answer tom question, based on all the evidence and the prism we see this through is yes. that is what the jury has to decide. it is not enough that they are racist. the question is, was he killed because he was black? so look, when you have a

prosecutor and you have a prosecutor reciting the language utilized by your clients over and over and over again, that is going to years into the brains of the jurors. so the question is now, what can you do? the fact is, this is a very, very, very difficult case to defend. the defense is doing their absolute best they can with absolutely nothing and terrible clients at that. >> all the racist slurs. all the overt racism that was presented to the jury, mayor bottoms, what is the impact on a human being to hear that much in a courtroom over these days? >> well, you know, when you hear that there were 17 social media posts associated with disparaging words toward african americans, and then you look at how they treated ahmaud arbery

after he was shot down, laying in the street, and the prosecutor reminded the jury that he was not given the dignity of a dog. so the prosecutors did a very good job humanizing ahmaud arbery but also, reminding this jury that there were several actions that could have been taken for these men to have shown that they had some respect for him as a human being. so it's difficult not to look at it from the lens of it being a racially motivated crime. there were other people that we know who trespassed on this property. they weren't chased down in the street and gunned down the way ahmaud arbery was. and it is interesting that these three chose to be tried together. if anyone had an argument that it was not racially motivated, i would have thought that would have been the third defendant,

but he has chosen to put his fate in the hands of the same jury that heard all these things about the mcmichaels. >> about 30 seconds left. i was interested in the defense argument that whatever the language was, the defendants weren't member of hate groups. why does their membership in a hate group matter or not matter here? >> what does that have to do with the price of tea of china? that's what my mama would say. nothing to do with nothing. like i told you, this is simply the defense attempting to do whatever they can do. i may not, what we're seeing in this country, what i think mayor bottoms would agree, with we're seeing this uneven dispensing of justice. from kim potter getting a slap on the wrist to these individuals being tried not once but twice and probably being found guilty every single time. >> i appreciate it. mayor, nice to see you. thank you very much. ahead, we return with a

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more now on our breaking news this hour. vladimir putin ordering russian troops into eastern ukraine. u.s. officials believe this could happen as early as tonight. the u.n. security council is expected to meet on the matter in just moments. for more on these russian troops, i'm joined by tom foreman. how much military pressure is russia prepared to apply in this specific area. >> we're going to find out how much they're willing to apply. we know this. it's a pretty small area compared to ukraine, ukraine about the size of texas. why, if it's that small, do we have such a buildup of troops here? because, according to military experts we've talked to and generals we've listened to, because it allows them to project tremendous force into this area while they walk their troops into that disputed area. what kind of force are we talking about? pull back bombers capable of flying tremendous distances, firing missiles that will crush

through concrete bunkers, communication systems, headquarters. that's one of the weapons they have out there ready to use. the russians really, historically, love artillery. they use it a lot. and things like this short-range ballistic missile system. we know there are 36 of these, according to ukrainians, on the edge of this fighting zone. important to note here, range of 310 miles. you can fire almost halfway across the country with that. so, without even entering ukraine, they could strike everything in the disputed zone while people move in. beyond that, you will see the presence of tanks in the area. the russians tend to use tanks differently than the u.s. and others do, according to many people who have encountered them in the field. they use them more in support of troops. and beyond that, you would have areas, when you look around the region here down here in the water, you would likely see some action by the black sea fleet, maybe down in here, maybe landings in here. you put it all together, and

suddenly, john, what you're talking about, is an ability to exert enormous influence on this area, in many cases by weapons that aren't even crossing the board r. >> limitless possibilities. >> absolutely. >> this is a complicated question, but one that could be important. how are russians defining the borders of this conflict? >> that is absolutely one of the key questions here. look at this area. what if you say we want to go in and have our peace keeping forces, they call it, in this area. that doesn't seem terribly likely, especially since we know the russians would like to have a land bridge to crimea down here. what if they say we're going to push it out this far. that starts looking more likely. many military leaders think they may have designs further than that, including this simple notion. think about this. if the ukraine army has to be in here to resist this in some fashion, what is to keep the russians, with all those numbers, from sweeping in behind

them, as general clark mentioned a short while ago, in which case they find themselves trapped, the country very much reduced from what it was before. then you start talking about going perhaps all the way to the river. and suddenly you have a very, very different map of ukraine. >> appreciate i can't it. thank you so much. >> you're welcome. next, the foreign policy decisions that unravelled the presidency more than five decades ago. a new cnn series on the 36th president of the united states next. and they stay there. and they say yeah. and they stay there, up, down, up, dodown. never losese confidence in how you run your business. intuit is brininging quickbooks and mailchimp together to help you set up and grow. dj khaled: man, i love this scent.

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cnn is following all the breaking news out of ukraine. first a cnn original series, "lbj: triumph and tragedy." here's a preview. lbj could be mean and tough, demanding. if he was trying to persuade you to do something, it wasn't at all unusual for him to take his fingers and sort of punch you

here. >> he would grab you by the lapels, 6'3", 230 pounds. he could stare you down. but you felt that you were doing something important that had real meaning, so you put up with that. >> stay with cnn for the breaking news on ukraine. the cnn original series "lbj: the cnn original series "lbj: triumph and tragedy" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com president johnson's victory was breathtaking to behold. >> we have the opportunity to move upward to the great society. >> selma had the reputation of being one of the toughest towns -- >> you've got two minutes to turn around. >> this bill will strike down restrictions to voting. >> you had this enormous high sign of the voting rights act and then a couple days later