president biden calls it the beginning of a russian invasion of ukraine as he levels the first round of sanctions against the money machine that keeps vladimir putin, his cronies and their kleptocracy running. john berman tonight in for anderson. tonight there is no longer a question whether putin moving troops into ukraine would be considered an invasion. the president settled that this afternoon. he also settled how he would respond to european allies, all to make the case that vladimir putin is not getting away with a slap on the wrist. >> who in the lord's name does putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors?

this is a flagrant violation of international law and it demands a firm response from the international community. we're implementing full blocking sanctions on two large russian financial institutions. veb and their military bank. we're implementing comprehensive sanctions on russian sovereign debt. starting tomorrow and continuing in the days ahead, we'll also impose sanctions on russia's elites can their family members. they share in the corrupt games of the kremlin policies and should share in the pain as well. >> senior administration official elaborated telling cnn, quote, this is the beginning of an invasion, and therefore, this is the beginning of our response. secretary of state blinken appearing alongside ukraine's foreign minister said thursday's meeting with his russian counterpart is off. he cancelled a meeting with sergei lavrov, saying russia has not been serious about diplomacy but left the door open if it might prevent all-out war.

meantime, germany put certification of the nord stream 2 pipeline on hold. germany is russia's largest gas customer. a senior pentagon official tells cnn f-35 fighters and apache attack helicopters already in europe are being redeployed to the baltic states and poland, and u.n. secretary-general gutierrez called russia's actions so far a violation of ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and characterized russian forces as a, quote, perversion of the concept of peace keeping. back home as well, politics entered the equation with mitch mcconnell and others saying the administration's botched pull-out from afghanistan signaled weakness and encouraged vladimir putin's aggression. we have a lot to cover tonight, starting as only cnn can, in all the hot spots. cnn chief minl international correspondent clarissa ward is in kyiv. contributor and criminologist jill dougherty in moscow, and in lviv, jim sciutto. clarissa, i want to start with you in kyiv. what has the reaction been in ukraine among officials to the sanctions announced and the

canceling of the blinken/lavrov meeting? >> well, i think there's no secret that there have been some daylight between the u.s. and ukraine on the issue of how to respond to this threat that putin has been posing. the ukrainian point of view was always that if you know it's going to happen, this invasion, you should levy sanctions early. now, however, we're seeing a much more united stance. president volodymyr zelenskyy coming out and saying how grateful and appreciative he was not just of the u.s., but of the uk, the eu, germany in particular for cancelling that crucial nord stream 2 pipeline agreement which has such huge geopolitical and strategic consequences. zelenskyy also went on to say that he is now not mobilizing the army, but he is calling up reservists, and this is happening, john, as we are hearing from nato that russian troops are arriving in that donbas region. and the real question now

becomes do they attempt along with those pro-russian separatists to push the front lines to the borders that they believe cute those two breakaway republics. if they were to go ahead and push forward with that, that would result in major fighting and particularly in major metropolises, like the city of ma mariupol, a port city and so you have the sense here that really the city is on something of a knife edge as people wait to see what will play out. president zelenskyy and the foreign minister both saying today still the first choice of action, the first course of action is a committed pledge to diplomacy and trying to deter president putin from going any further. but kuleba also finished off by saying but plan b, if plan a doesn't work, is to fight for every inch of our land, john. >> so let's go to moscow.

jill dougherty, what is putin's likely response to the announcements that were made today with the sanctions? >> well, you know, interestingly, john, the kremlin said they were a little too busy to be listening to president biden. they had a meeting, the president had a meeting. so that's kind of the mood here. you know, it's really kind of a sense of inevitability that there's a plan unfolding. you had president putin recognizing those breakaway regions. then today on tv, there was a big vote, several votes on -- giving the president the green light to deploy troops outside of the border of russia because of donbas, and then you had president putin in a quick news conference saying, you know, ukraine really shouldn't even think any more of trying to become a member of nato. and i think one significant thing, too, pushback on the sanctions, the former president of russia, dmitry medvedev, i

believe it was in a tweet, he said get ready. this is the new world. sorry, welcome to the brave new world where europeans are going to have to pay a lot more for gas. so there is this feeling, and you certainly heard it when the secretary of state was asked, did we underestimate, did the united states underestimate vladimir putin, and he said no, that actually, we were revealing his playbook, and that is what is being played out now. >> jim sciutto, this package of sanctions, this took a long time for the united states and its allies to work this out. how did they arrive here exactly, and what's your sense of what they truly expect to happen now? >> so let's start with your second question. it is still the view of the u.s. military that, well, one, russia maintains an enormous force, three-quarters of its conventional armed forces

postured against ukraine, and that russia's plan remains an invasion far beyond what we saw today with some forces moving into the east. a full scale invasion. that is the u.s. intelligence assessment. not clear on timing, but that remains the intention. the u.s. and nato answer two questions today. one, would they after russia's first move stick together? would they stick together and respond in lockstep? which they did over the course of the day. you saw germany start the day suspending nord stream 2. that is no small move. you saw the uk announcing its sanctions. you saw the 27 member nations of eu announcing theirs, and then the u.s. announcing. and then the second question they answered was, would a step short of a full-scale invasion trigger that unified response? you know, putin is a master of the half measures. the death by 1,000 cuts. and you can imagine he was testing nato's resolve, nato's unity, by starting small to some degree, and then you might say

that the u.s. and nato called that bluff and said, no, for that relatively small step, we're going to respond in kind, and then ramp up. that was part of president biden's message today, if russia moves further. this is quite a dangerous game of poker, if you want to call it that, or chicken, that is playing out here with very real consequences ahead for ukraine and frankly given how maximalist putin's statement was in his speech last night, perhaps for europe. >> 40 million people caught in the middle at least. clarissa ward, including where you are in the capital of kyiv where some three million people live. what's the mood been? how has it changed over the course of the last 24 to 48 hours? >> i definitely feel that the mood is a lot more grim. it's not panic, and you're seeing ukraine's leaders, they're stopping short of calling this an invasion. they're trying to keep people calm. but there is a sickening sense of dread, i think, developing among many people.

you hear anecdotally of a lot more people looking into potentially leaving or at least exploring their options. and i think the question that some have now is that while ukrainian leaders say they still favor a diplomatic peaceful solution, it's not clear at this stage what the off ramp is. how on earth does this situation now de-escalate? we have seen that meeting canceled between blinken and lavrov. what is the next opportunity for diplomacy to play out? because at this stage, there's no real inkling that russia any longer has an interest in participating in that process. >> and jill, vladimir putin said some outrageous things on tv, speaking to the russian people and the world. i'm curious, and the russian stock market fell today. there have been sanctions issued today. i am curious what the reaction among the russian people has been. >> the russian people seem to be probably i would say half are

supporting this, actually, because they believe, they have been told, especially the people who are watching tv, young people don't watch that much tv. but most of the population do, and they believe that it's russia that's under attack. that ukraine is being used as a tool by the united states and the west to bludgeon russia. and that russia is really in grave danger. you had president putin actually make a pretty outrageous comment that ukraine actually might eventually be able to put together a nuclear weapon because remember, they did have nuclear weapons in the old soviet union, which they gave up willingly at the end of the soviet union. but yeah, the rhetoric is very strong. but some people are actually following it. >> jim, just quickly, what's the next thing you are looking for here? the next move that you think will tell us where this is headed?

>> the next move would be military action, both inside the donbas and perhaps beyond. the u.s. still sees preparations for that kind of military action. they're taking it very seriously, watching day by day. listen, it is a tense situation here. lives are at stake. the pressure has not been let off from the perspective of the u.s. and nato. it's going to be a crucial few days and weeks frankly with consequences far beyond ukraine. >> jim sciutto, rest that voice if you can. clarissa ward, jill dougherty, we appreciate all the work you're doing. thank you so much. perspective now from cnn military analyst and retired army lieutenant general mark hertling. general, thank you so much for being with us. we heard at the top of the show that the united states is moving u.s. troops and equipment to strengthen the baltic states and poland. this is on nato's eastern flank and also sending in f-35s and apache attack helicopters. what does this tell you? >> the military forces in

europe, john, u.s. military forces under the command of u com, do this all the time. truthfully, when i heard the president say that and he moving forces to the baltic countries, i have been there multiple times. the forces train there multiple times. this is not something new and it's relatively easy to go from poland to the baltics, from the baltics to romania and they practice all the time. the last year i was in command in europe, we did 400 different exercises in a year with 28 different countries that were in europe. that's not a big deal. but the interesting piece is it gives a little bit of safety and a feeling of camaraderie to the baltic countries, estonia, latvia, lithuania. they are the most concerned about this because they're right on the border of belarus, along with poland, so they see themselves in the cross hairs. especially when mr. putin says yesterday that he's taking over ukraine because of the russian speakers that he needs to protect. there's a bevy of russian speakers in those three baltic countries and even in poland. they're very concerned about continued expansion by the

russian president. >> you heard president biden and others say, jim sciutto just reporting, the administration fully expects russian military action to continue and intensify, including and up to a full scale invasion. how bad would that be? give us a sense. >> it would be horrific, john. what we're talking about, i have heard a lot of analysts and commentators talking about comparisons to 1945. it will not compare to that at all. the lethality of modern weapons, the type of weapons being used, especially artillery and munitions, and what they aim at they hit and destroy. except for artillery, when you're talking about the russian use of artillery, their doctrine is to put a heavy barrage of fire on the ground in front of moving troops. they don't care what's on the ground that that artillery hits. that's area fire weapons. it's not precise.

it means it covers a large area. and the russians, truthfully, in many conflicts in the recent past, have not cared that much about civilian casualties. so you're seeing not only a president in putin who is invading another country against international law, but i think you're going to see if there is an attack, and god help us if there is, that there will be multiple casualties in the civilian populations throughout ukraine wherever they strike. >> we have about 30 second left. one of the possible areas of attack would be along the southeastern coast, an amphibious attack. what would that look like? >> yeah, that would be tough too. imagine the opening scene, if people have seen the movie "saving private ryan." it would look a lock like that, except you would not only have the amphibious assault ships. which the russians have already put in the sea. they have six ships down there already that can deliver troops, but it would also have overhead fire from fixed wing aircraft jets. it would have helicopter assaults too. a whole bunch of helicopters

coming in. they depend on that not only for transporting troops but also for delivering weapons. you would see a scene from "saving private ryan" on steroids along the coast in the sea. and that's, i anticipate that might be one of the next steps that mr. putin might execute. >> pretty chilling thoughts. general mark hertling, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you, john. >> next, i'm going to ask russian pro democracy leader garry kasparov whether he thinks this initial round of sanctions will be enough to deter vladimir putin, and whether he's overplayed his hand, putin has already. later, the domestic political repercussions of what could become the biggest foreign policy challenge for the president, not to mention a big issue for republicans who find themselves split between internationalists and isolationists.

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of the human rights foundation and the renew democracy initiative. he tweeted, putin runs a mafia. treat it like one. they hide assets with family, body guards, chefs. they buy politicians to protect them. expose it all, kick them back to the putin police state they helped build. along with tweets like that, he's also the author of winter is coming, why vladimir putin and the enemies of the free world must be stopped. g gary, thank you so much for being with us. you have seen the sanctions that they have laid out. do you think that they are enough to make vladimir putin think twice? >> i think it's too late for them to think twice. and i think he made very clear in his ranting speech that he did not recognize ukraine as an independent state. he's not done with ukraine. and it's very important that the response from the free world would make the cost of further

aggression prohibitive to putin, or at least it will lead to some inevitable changes inside my country. yeah, as for sanctions, it's less than i wanted but much more than putin expected. and yesterday, i have to admit, i was depressed hearing noises from the administration saying, oh, the latest annexation was not qualified as invasion. but today, it has changed. president biden made a very strong speech. and as far as i understand, it's a first package of sanctions. more to come. but even what we saw today, it's enough to make other people think in russia, others that always stamp putin's decisions, others, as we saw in some phenomenal footage from russia, voted for this decision, but they were scared because they knew what was coming. >> so more than putin expected. not enough to stop him in ukraine right now.

but enough to cause problems for him domestically, if i'm hearing you right. do you think putin in some ways overplayed his hand, then? >> every dictator sooner or later overplays his hand. and i don't think he had much choice because he needs ongoing conflict. and ukraine is a natural target. he has to cover his failure of running russia. and of course, independent, sovereign, democratic, and prosperous ukraine is the deadly threat to putin's dictatorship. so that's why his aggression against ukraine, as many acts of aggressions that he committed throughout his 20 years in power, they were somehow in his nature. and now, after so many years of having no consequences for his crimes, he decided he could do whatever. and i think he was -- i wouldn't

say surprised, but he was probably confused by seeing that the free world now eventually getting its act together. >> how do you hurt putin? >> look, i don't -- yeah, i read enough history books to know that all dictators, they go through probably the same process of thinking and making their decisions. and i think that now he reached a point where he's not listening to voice of wisdom. in his immediate entourage. and i think his view about the world is sick. that makes the situation even more dramatic. the previous guest talked about the cost of russian aggression and the power, military power that russia can launch, but let's not forget, putin has his finger on a nuclear button. though i think we're far from the moment where he could

consider it, but the fact is he talked about it is sending a signal that he lost the sense of reality. and that's a price the free world, the whole world is paying for 20 years of appeasement and 20 years of ignored warnings about the danger from the kgb general who became the leader in russia more than two decades ago and who believes sincerely the collapse of the soviet union was the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century. >> antony blinken canceled his meeting with sergey lavrov as a result of this. but i do wonder, if vladimir putin, as you say, has lost touch with reality, what's the point of diplomacy at all? >> diplomacy is needed, but not with putin. what is happening now is that we are witnessing the end of the post world war ii order. international security and cooperation was based on a core principles of territorial

integrity. there was only one annexation, since 1945, saddam hussein in kuwait, not counting putin's annexation of crimea. and now putin demonstrated to all of the dictators and terrorists around the world that borders can be ignored if you have enough strength and the free world had no power to stop you if you are brazen and swift. and i think now we need to reconsider the idea of international security infrastructure, but it should be done not with putin but against putin. and that's why i think it's very important for america to redouble its efforts to unite the free world, european allies, and actually allies around the world to make sure that this act of aggression will be treated with utmost seriousness and the actions will follow the words. because it's not just about putin. it's about the whole infrastructure that he's sitting on top of.

and even if he commands his army to cross the border, body bags coming back to russia, they could actually shatter the foundation of his power. >> it is the post world war ii era and order we're talking about, to be sure. garry kasparov, really appreciate talking to you tonight. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> up next, as president biden imposes tough new sanctions to punish moscow, republicans appear split in their criticism with the former president, donald trump, praising putin today. we'll have the details next. long day huh? thank you! (beer can opening) hey buddy! you want a sam adams? all right. (slurping, burps, beer can dropping)

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president biden unveiling the first round of new sanctions against russia today, as he faces pressure both in the u.s. and abroad to punish moscow for what he described as the beginning of a russian invasion. but as the president navigates a major foreign policy challenge, maybe the biggest during his presidency, he's also facing criticism as the nation watches how he handles the conflict, especially from some republicans who say biden's former policies emboldened putin's actions. >> i don't believe vladimir putin would have a couple hundred thousand troops on the border of ukraine had we not precipitously withdrawn from afghanistan last august. >> it looked not only chaotic, but it looked weak.

and so they are pushing the limits everywhere in reaction to the perception of american weakness and loss of resolve. >> there is a divide in the republican party's view of the conflict. today, for instance, the former president praised vladimir putin. >> so putin is now saying it's independent, a large section of ukraine. i said how smart is that? and he's going to go in and be a peacekeeper. that's the strongest peace force. we could use that on our southern border. that's the strongest peace force i have ever seen. there were more army tanks than i have ever seen. they're going to keep peace all right. think of it, here's a guy who's very savvy, i know him very well, very very well. >> joining us, cnn political analyst and washington correspondent for "the new york times" maggie haberman, and chief cnn political analyst

gloria borger. i want to leave trump aside for a moment and talk about what mitch mcconnell said. how much do you think the messy withdrawal from afghanistan is shaping the administration's approach here? >> well, i think you would have to say that even biden partisans remember those terrible pictures and understand how badly that played out on their television screens. when it came to the withdrawal in afghanistan. i think mcconnell is being really hyperbolic here, however, and i do think this is a completely different situation. in this situation, president biden is trying to stop a war. he's not trying to end a chaotic, messy war of many, many years. he's trying to prevent one from happening. and what he is doing is trying to gather allies together on the same page, which is incredibly difficult, particularly coming after four years after a trump administration when nato couldn't agree on anything. >> maggie, we hear mitch

mcconnell, and you also heard people like tom cotton, lindsey graham, ben sasse, critical of the biden administration's response, saying it's not strong enough. then you hear the former president praise vladimir putin, mike pompeo has praised vladimir putin in different words, and tucker carlson, much the same thing. there really does seem to be a split now in the republican party. what are the implications of that? >> john, i think that to be clear, i do think that what the current president is doing is more important than the former president. but there absolutely, at least in this regard, there absolutely is a divide within the party about how to handle putin, and you see it in the commentary you just described. i think it's one thing to have a television host like tucker carlson saying what he's been saying, and it's entirely something different to have the recent former president who is an old show leading if he want tobts the republican nominee again.

so i put that in a different category, but it is striking that i think republicans -- and this has been going on predating trump, where there has been an effort among some republicans to suggest putin is not that bad, and it's not as if there has been complete consistency among democrats on this as well, before the trump era and before the hackings in 2016. but i do think that you have seen a number of people in the republican party, either identify with quote/unquote perceived strength or suggest who cares about ukraine? then you have as you said, the flip side. you have people like tom cotton who want to be more aggressive. i think that's where most republican leaders are. >> gloria, you know, that said, i want to show you something the house republican conference tweeted out today after president biden's speech. and republican adam kinzinger's reaction to it. you can see the gop house conference tweeted a picture of biden walking away from the podium with this quote, this is what weakness on the world stage looks like, unquote, and kinzinger reported, as still technically a member of the house republicans, let me condem

condemn this damn awful tweet during this crisis. you can criticize policy, but this is insane and feeds into putin's narrative, but hey, retweets. am i right? >> yes, he's right. he's 100% right. i mean, there is the president of the united states who is just talking about the fact that ukraine being invaded by russia, and what do they do? the president has just told -- spoken to the country, and he's walking off the stage. i mean, i'm old enough to remember when something like that would be considered a disgrace by any official arm of the republican party. but obviously, you know, that's not the case anymore. there are people who believe, and i think obviously for political reasons right now, that there is no bar that is too low to criticize biden on foreign policy, whether it's we ought to take a harder line, or this isn't our problem, whatever it is, the official line will be, as you just saw in that photograph, that biden is

incompetent and can't do anything, and whatever he does will be wrong, even if it is against vladimir putin. >> and then, maggie, another thing you do hear from republicans and allies of the former president as well, putin didn't invade donbas, didn't send troops into this region under trump's watch. it's happening under biden. >> i think you're going to hear that lot, john. i have certainly heard it a lot from sources in the last day. i expect it to be a continuing line. i think it becomes a tougher case to argue when the former president is praising what putin is doing. it's a little hard for to it be both that putin was somehow fearful of trump and worried about the quote, unquote madman theory and trump's unpredictability and have trump saying wow, this is a good move. we should do the same on our southern border. i think the inherent logical consistency of these arguments don't really matter. i think basically it's going to cleave along the lines of republicans saying biden is

wrong somehow and trump is either right or republicans would be better. >> it would be better if all parties were concerned with the 40 million ukrainians caught in the middle of all this. that should be the primary concern. maggie haberman, gloria borger, thank you both very much. in a victory for ahmaud arbery's family, the three men convicted of his murder were found guilty on federal hate crime charges today. cnn's ryan young has the details next. at booking.com, finding perfect isn't rocket science. kitchen? sorted. hot tub, why not?

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nearly two years to the day that ahmaud arbery was killed by three white men outside of new brunswick, georgia, a federal jury has found the men guilty on all federal hate crime charges, determining they chased arbery because he was black. it was an emotional day for jurors and the family. cnn correspondent ryan young has the latest. >> victory. >> holding their hands high outside a georgia courthouse, another victory for the family of ahmaud arbery, nearly two years after his murder. >> i knew that we would get victory on the state level and in the federal level. >> i give all glory to god. and we got justice for ahmad. >> a jury found travis mcmichael, his father gregory mcmichael, and william bryan guilty of all counts in their federal hate crimes trial. all three men were convicted of interference of rights, which is

a federal hate crime, and attempted kidnapping of arbery. the mcmichaels were also each found guilty of an additional firearms charge. the mcmichaels and bryan are already serving life sentences for the felony murder of arbery after a separate state trial in november. only bryan is eligible for parole after 30 years. but these new federal convictions could add more life sentences. >> we got a victory today. but it's so many families out there who don't get victories. >> this is a federal hate crime case that almost did not go to court due to a plea deal with the defendants which was ultimately rejected by a judge. arbery's mother expressed her outrage with the u.s. department of justice today. >> i told the doj that yes, they were prosecutors, but one thing they didn't have, they didn't have a son that was lying in a cold grave. and they still didn't hear my cry. what the doj did today, they was made to do today. >> the u.s. attorney general reacting to today's verdict and

wanda cooper jones' comments on the doj. >> the justice department has a legal obligation to prosecute hate crimes. i cannot imagine the pain that a mother feels. to have her son run down and then gunned down while taking a jog on a public street. >> and remember, today's decision and the previous convictions almost did not happen. glen county police and local prosecutors did not arrest or charge arbery's killers after they chased and fatally shot him on february 23rd, 2020. when the video bryan recorded of the encounter came out nearly 2 1/2 months later, the georgia bureau of investigations intervened and arrested the mcmichaels first and later arrested bryan. >> we waited without any arrest for 74 days and now today that we're actually here with another guilty verdict, i mean, it's great.

>> john, you know, in the state case, you got to see this play out across the world, but in this case, it really was up to us, the reporters, to tell you what happened in court. as i was sitting back in the rows, i could see travis mcmichael almost bend over when they said guilty after guilty. then i focused on ahmaud's family. you can see the pain and at the same time the joy they were experiencing from finally getting this verdict. then i looked up to the jury, and it's the jury that showed so much emotion. you could see several of them crying. especially the jury foreman. a black man who was crying over and over again as they were talking about this verdict coming to an end. you think about the pain this community has experienced. let's not forget, before this video was put out, people watched this and decided not to put any charges on these men until so many people started fighting to change that. john. >> ryan young, our eyes and ears in the courtroom. thank you for being there. appreciate it. >> just ahead, a look at what should have been an easy layup for senate republicans holding an open seat in a very red

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republican attempts to win back the senate may hinge on a fight for an open seat in missouri once thought to be safe. the reason, a former governor who had resigned after accusations of sexual misconduct and blackmail is now the apparent front-runner for the party's nomination. manu raju has the details. >> reporter: the allegations were stunning. the sitting missouri governor who was a rhodes scholar and a navy s.e.a.l. accused by his former hairdresser of coercing her into oral sex and threatening to blackmail her with nude photos of her to cover up their affair that was nearly four years ago, forcing eric greitens to resign as republicans try to impeach after testimony revealed the startling allegations. now he is trying to revive his political career. joining a crowded gop field filing papers on tuesday, and he stands a real chance of emerging

as the gop nominee. and that has republicans, including his primary rivals, very nervous. has he been exonerated? >> absolutely not. it was deplorable, his behavior. it brought shame and disgrace on our state. >> it's not that he's not electable, but we're going to spend $40 million, $50 million, the republican party is, to try and drag him across the finish line. >> he was unfit for office then, and he's unfit for office now. >> reporter: but greitens is employing a trumpian playbook, defiant and dismissive, calling the allegations made up and full of lies. >> none of that was true? >> none of that was true. >> you know that those were lies, and what's great for us is that here we are, and, again, god is good. that pain will come. that suffering will come. and eventually the truth will reign, and that's what's happening today. >> reporter: a criminal charge against greitens was dropped by a democratic prosecutor in

st. louis. and an fbi agent investigating the republican was later indicted for lying about his interview with greitens' accuser. a missouri athethics board also found no wron doing about separate allegations of misconduct from 2016 that would fine his campaign for not reporting in-kind contributions. yet his accuser has never retracted the allegations of sexual assault, including that he taped her hands to pull-up rings and he allegedly took a picture of her with her pants down, allegations all detailed in a gop-led statehouse investigation. >> you will find out there is no exoneration because it shows his basic character in a way that i think would be shocking to the average person if they just read it. >> there's a lot of questions left unanswered when he left. that's going to be his job in the campaign. >> reporter: it's been a decade since the last gop nightmare in missouri when democrat claire mccaskill defeated a republican engulfed in controversy.

>> look, ten years ago, missouri lost a republican seat because of the controversies involving todd aiken. what about folks are saying this could be a repeat? >> i think that's absurd. >> reporter: but democrats like lucas koontz are hoping to take advantage. >> what kind of impact will that have in the general election here? >> i think it's going to be good for us. >> reporter: now, donald trump is still neutral in this race, but he has been actively following what's going on, talking to a number of the republican candidates, including billy long just this last week. and eric greitens himself has been seen at mar-a-lago in recent days. and how badly do these republican candidates want that trump endorsement? none of them other than one, st has pushed back that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. one candidate, billy long, was even wearing a tie today that was signed by donald trump, and he had in the breast pocket of his jacket, a $45 bill. whose picture was on that $45

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our planet offers countless sources of energy. but it's only human to find the ones that could power a better future. more now on our breaking news. president biden promising more harsher sanctions after the ones he announced today if russian troops encroach further into ukraine. our frederik pleitgen is in russia near those regions of ukraine controlled by the russian-backed separatists. fred, you've been there for a long time now talking to a lot of people, doing some phenomenal reporting. what's the latest you've seen in recent hours? >> reporter: hi, john. it certainly was extremely interesting and insightful to be able to go into that area, which is right near the border with ukraine and right at the border with the donbas region, which is of course those separatist

republic that vladimir putin has just recognized. what we saw on the ground there was really an army, i mean a lot of russian soldiers pretty much in every village you saw the soldiers. then the other thing we saw was a lot of military technology, a lot of military gear, a lot of military hardware there on the ground from troop transporters, from a lot of soldiers on the ground, to also pretty heavy-duty hardware as well. we came across a big column of tanks, armored vehicles, and also self-propelled artillery. one of the things the u.s. has been saying is they're not only concerned about the concentration of soldiers that they see in that region, but also the posture of those soldiers, the way they've been fanning out towards the border area. that was definitely something we saw on the ground there as well. you didn't see soldiers inside bases. you saw them in their vehicles at the side of the road. and that's something that the u.s. says indicates an attack could be imminent at any point in time. and this did appear to us to be an army that would be able to strike at any time. of course vladimir putin has said that's not the case.

vladimir putin has also said his army will not go into the donbas yet. one of the things we picked up from people on the ground there is they said what we saw today was actually less hardware than they had seen in the past couple of days. they believe that some troops may have already crossed the border. right now, anything to support that is circumstantial. but that's certainly the vibe you're getting on the ground there. and it really is, i have to say, a very tension situation in that border area. >> thank you to you and your team who have been there giving us a very unique perspective on what's going on. stay with cnn for the latest from ukraine. the news continues. let's hand it over to wolf blitzer and "cnn tonight." wolf. >> john, thank you very, very much. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, and this is "cnn tonight." brand-new satellite images this evening show russia moving additional troops closer and closer to ukraine's border in recent days along with the construction of a new field

hospital. dozens of tents and vehicles have appeared recently according to images taken over an airfield in belarus less than 25 miles from the ukrainian border. the area was apparently completely vacant just a few weeks ago, and this is only heightening concerns about vladimir putin's intentions. the world is now watching and waiting for his next move after the west slapped russia with a coordinated series of very significant consequences. today consequences for what president biden now refers to as the start of an invasion of ukraine. >> this is the beginning of a russian invasion of ukraine. who in the lord's name does putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors? this is a flagrant violation of international law and demands a firm response from the international community. >> and that firm response came in the form of numerous economic sancti