hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and all around the world. i'm michael holmes in lviv, ukraine. i'm isa soares in london. and just ahead right here on "cnn newsroom." >> this is the beginning of a russian invasion of ukraine. >> this is the greatest threat to security in europe since world war ii. >> we will be standing up to

russia. >> we will continue to remain open. >> russian president says he's open to diplomacy but on his terms after the u.s. and its allies slammed the kremlin with sanctions. we're live in lviv, washington and paris. >> and the verdict is in. nearly two years after his murder the three white men behind ahmaud arbery's killing are convicted of hate crimes . now the u.s. and its allies trying to hit moscow where it hurts aimed at deterring a russian attack on ukraine. moscow not appearing to back down. in a video message posted a short time ago, president vladimir putin says russia is still attorney-client privilege

dialogue with the west but adds that russia's interests and security are, quote, nonnegotiable. russian officials also hitting back at western sanctions calling some illegal and saying that the impacts will be felt around the globe. now the u.s. president, joe biden, already calling russia's moves an invasion as he announced a new round of sanctions aimed at russian banks and the country's powerful elites. >> this is the beginning of a russian invasion of ukraine. if russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further as with sanctions. who in the lord's name does putin think gives him a right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belongs to his neighbors. this is a flagrant violation of international law and demands a firm response from the international community. >> meanwhile, new satellite images showing more russian troops and military equipment

deployed to the ukrainian border. so far cnn cannot independently confirm they have crossed into the ukraine. they gave the green light to send troops abroad. mr. putin saying the minsk agreement designed to end armed conflict in eastern ukraine quote, no longer exists. >> translator: the minsk agreements were killed long before yesterday's recognition of the people's republic of donbas but by the current kyiv authorities. >> now mr. putin is in -- also increasing support for those russian-backed separatists in eastern ukraine saying russia recognizes the independence of the entire donetsk and luhansk regions. that's important because separatists only control a portion of that at the moment. in response to the escalation, the u.s. secretary of state

antony blinken has called off a meeting with the russian counterpart. the white house says the door to diplomacy is open but so far russia hasn't been serious about a dip plomatic solution. >> it confirms what we've been saying, that he did not send more than 150,000 troops to the ukrainian boarder because of benign exercises or threatened exercises or to stop a fabricated genocide by ukraine. his plan all along has been to invade ukraine, to control ukraine, to discore reeight ukr ukraine's democracy, to reclaim ukraine as a part of russia. that's why this is the greatest threat to security in europe since world war ii. >> cnn covering this story from every angle as you would expect. our scott mcclain is standing by in paris.

white house reporter jasmine wright joining me from washington. jasmine, to you first. explain the new u.s. sanctions against russia and what is still being kept back. >> reporter: well, these are first steps for president biden. they say an effort to both punish russia for its current actions but also to deter russia from committing anymore aggressive actions in ukraine. this is a first tranche, something that president biden said earlier today. i want to read you a portion of these sanctions and who they will affect. he outlined sanctions on two large state owned rush shoon financial institutions. you can see them under banks and russian's sovereign debt and sanctions on five russian elites and their family members. the point of these he says is to cut off russia's government from western financing. this comes after months and months of being told by the white house officials that they are preparing what would be devastating economic consequences should russia do

exactly what they are doing now, which is beginning an invasion says white house officials. and so the president has also said though that this is just not only what is in store should russia go any further. they are reserving some of their tougher, harshest sanctions for the russian president should he continue down this path. now on top of those sanctions the president also says that he's ordering more troops and more military equipment to be sent to the baltic nations in a defensive posture really to bolster the defense of the u.s.'s commitment to nato in article 5 in those nato ally countries. but the president still says that he is looking for a diplomatic outcome to this situation. but it becomes hard to see, michael, exactly what that diplomatic outcome looks like in this current situation as we know secretary of state antony blinken, he canceled his meeting

with russia's lavrov foreign minister where they were supposed to meet on thursday in geneva to talk about several different things including a potential meeting between president putin and president biden. it's now off the table because both of those meetings were on the condition that russia should not invade ukraine and of course we heard new language from this administration saying that russia has now begun an invasion to ukraine making things even more difficult to see a way forward diplomatically. michael? >> all right. jasmine, thanks so much. let's go to you, scott, there in paris. g7 leaders met there on tuesday. what did they say? >> hey, michael. yeah, so the european union put out its list of approved sanctions yesterday and they look a lot like the ones that the brits have announced. brittain sanctioning five banks and three individuals as well as

351 members of russia's lower house of parliament. in europe's case they're going after 27 people and entities. we're talking about, again, banks, military, personnel, politicians. things like that. they are also barring russia from using european sources to finance its debt. now this is not, as jasmine described in the u.s. as well, this is not the full package of sanctions that europe could have unleashed but it is what they were able to get done quickly and with little pain. the french finance minister said for his part this morning that there are infinitely more penalizing sanctions in the reserve that europe can put in place if there is further russian aggression. the question is can they get other e.u. nations to agree. they have to have a unanimous consensus which is what they reached. e.u. officials will tell you it is no secret they can only go so far as essentially hungary will

allow them. the hungarians have a much closer relationship with russia. it seems like there are limits on how far they are willing to go. other countries are wanting to go much further, one of them lithuania. they're not certain that these sanctions are going to have much of an impact in deterring president putin and said that if they don't go even further to match the russian aggression if it does come to that, it may actually be an invitation for putin to keep going. the one big sanction in europe that may actually have a big impact is not one from the european union but from germany, something they announced unilaterally. that's the nord 12rstream 2 pipeline. lithuania says that might hurt. >> i think this is an unexpected move probably. i don't think kremlin was expecting this because there was quite a lot of speculation about nord stream 2 project.

we were critical because we were claiming this will become a geopolitical tool. >> reporter: so if there are further sanctions announced, the question is what kind of consensus can european countries reach and how much pain are europeans willing to endure in order to get russia back in line, michael. >> all right. jasmine wright in d.c., scott mcclain there in paris. thanks so much to you both for the reporting. now we have breaking news coming in to us here at cnn. ukraine has just been telling its citizens to avoid traveling to russia and recommending anyone already there to return to ukraine. an interesting development. that's just happened. we will peek across that and bring you any further developments on that. hungary responding to the russian crisis by deploying troops to its eastern border with ukraine. hungary's defense minister says it's for humanitarian tasks and

border protection. u.s. president joe biden announcing tuesday that he is moving additional troops and equipment to strengthen u.s. allies in the baltic nations. cnn's oren lieberman has more on that decision from the pentagon. >> reporter: president joe biden made it clear the u.s. would defend, as he called it, every inch of the u.n. territory. he made it clear he would not be sending troops in ukraine to avoid the possibility or probability of encounter between u.s. troops and russian troops that could lead to an escalation between the two super powers. he said they would be sending troops to estonia, latvia, lithuania. these are all troops that are already in european commands. these are troops moving on the continent. about 800 troops of ba tallian

task force will move towards the baltic states. and jets will be heading. 32 apache attack helicopters. now defense officials said they would be in position by the end of the week. when he announced them, they were for a defensive purpose to make sure the u.s. stands by its nato allies. this is in addition to all of the other u.s. troops in europe, some 90,000. oren lieberman, cnn at the pentagon. now we've heard a lot from world leaders about the crisis in ukraine but what do people in ukraine and russia have to say about what's going on? well, cnn has released the results of an exclusive poll carried out in both countries

from february 7th to the 15th. first, the poll asks russians and ukrainians if it would be right or wrong to use -- for russia to use military force to accomplish various goals. to prevent ukraine from joining nato, 50% of russians say it would be right to use military force. 25% said it would be wrong. meanwhile, 70% of ukrainians said it would be wrong. 13% said it would be right. meanwhile, both russians and ukrainians think their countries should be separate nations. just one in 1ten ukrainians say it should be one country. you can see that at cnn.com. meanwhile, here in lviv, residents are reacting to the escalating crisis and vladimir putin's latest moves. here's what some of them had to say. >> translator: russia can't stand to see ukraine as an

independent state. ukraine is and will always be independent. we are ready and we are taking it seriously. we are not panicking as you see. we are calm and we are just waiting for the order. i nl ready to defend my country, my homeland which we all love. >> translator: he is making the wrong decision. people don't want war. we want to live in peace. >> all right. joining me now from kyiv with her perspective on all of this is ukrainian journalist natalia komenu. good to see you. do you think putin will pause and consolidate or do you think further invasion is likely? >> reporter: so the difference is at the moment that though for eight years there was the territories occupied by russia. russia still didn't recognize them as independent and in terms

of, for instance, support, they still played this game that there are rebels. so what they had and even the military actions were bad, were horrible for people, but they were limited. what now we have is russian troops in those so-called republics might mean that russia might use air force and navy, something the so-called rebels can buy on the free market. that is why ukrainians are taking it seriously, that it could be a different type of warfare. the decision by russia isn't to recognize those who hold republics in their current territory or overtake more land and for more towns where over -- around 2.5 million more people are residing is not yet there. i think right after the speech

ukrainians were worried about whether there would be an imminent assault. the sanctions worked. we had a calm day. so i think it's up to be decided. it's really about how the west reacts, how ukraine would react because the shelling is still bigger than the last half of year. >> to that point you tweeted about the need for more osce observers in the donbas, especially given the separatists could well increase shelling on ukrainian positions to provoke a response to use to go forward. how important is that observer sfloel. >> reporter: so it's really critical. we know that the observers cannot stop the work but at this dire moment when there is the could be stant attempt to either provoke ukraine because, as i

said, the shelling is stronger than it was in the last years, it's very hard to verify, even for the good media, for the independent media, western media who is shelling. it's also possible that we all the time following the kind of local pro separatist news so they always show some kind of possible terrorist attacks. some point of history, that's now. >> certainly an important role. i did want to ask you this. you know, as a ukrainian, do you think that donbas is or could be lost to ukraine now, even if there is some magical resolution? how difficult would it be to reincorporate that area back into ukraine proper? not that that's likely to happen any time soon, but what are your

thoughts on that? >> dealing with the reconciliation process for last years, i was quite sure that there is a probability to bring the people together unless russia hindered it if there is a political will. what's happening now and those recognitions isn't bringing us anywhere close. yet, couple of things probably to add as well about what ukrainians feel now today. we also very much concerned how the ukrainian government answer whether ukrainian military, whether they would be provoked because it's at any given moment things could split further. but interesting enough, russia always tried to divide ukraine critically politically. the imminent reaction was that the president and the one of the richest ukrainian oligarchs, they were fighting three months

ago. yesterday the pro russian ollie gashing said he would pay more taxes in advance. 50 top ukrainian business men are gathering and even political factions including the ones we consider pro russians are kind of unified. so i think it's very interesting dynamic happening here. >> right. that is a great perspective. appreciate it. always good to talk to you, natalia. thanks so much. >> reporter: thank you. i'm michael holmes in lviv ukraine following all the latest on the russia/ukrainian tensions. for now let's go back to isa soares in london. back to you, my friend. >> ahead right here on "cnn newsroom," the impact of the sanctions on russian gas and oil as well as gas prices in the u.s. we'll take a look at how americans may feel at the pump. guilty of a federal hate

crime. that is the verdict of the three men convicted of killing ahmaud arbery. you are watching "cnn newsroom." l essential oils into a mist. air wick essential mist. connect to nature. ancestry's helped me really understand my family's immigration experience. ♪ i've been able to explore and learn a tremendous amount about how chinese americans have experienced civil rights

and immigrant rights and what life must have been like for them. and as i pass it on to my daughter, it's an important part of understanding who we are. ♪ with mucinex all-in-one you've got unbeatable relief from your worst cold and flu symptoms. so when you need to show your cold who's boss, grab mucinex all-in-one... and get back to your rhythm. ♪

don't play around with cold and flu symptoms.

as i said last week,

defending freedom will have costs for us as well and here at home. we need to be honest about that. i'm going to take robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at russian economy, not ours. i want to limit the pain to the american people by feeling it at the gas pump. this is critical to me. >> u.s. president joe biden pledging he will do everything in his power to prevent prices rising at the gas pump in the coming months. russia's ambassador to the u.s. is warning that these sanctions on russia will have global effects on everyone. european markets, you can see there on your screen, they have opened higher. green arrows right across the board. xetra dax up. paris cac carant up better. markets crawling back from the losses. hoping that moscow won't go any

further in the incursion. seeing similar gains in the asian pacific region. u.s. futures, expect it to have a turn around as well. green arrows right across the board after global stocks stumbled, remember, on tuesday. then a quick look at oil. currently steady reaching nearly $100 a barrel although experts did predict this and here's what gasoline prices look like currently around the u.s. as you're waking up this morning. the national average sitting at $3.53. that is nearly $1 more compared to this time. germany's decision to put nord stream 2 on hold has drawn praise but also brought a sigh of relief. for weeks the german chancellor feared to hedge when it came to using the pipeline as leverage against russia. cnn's anna stewart is here with me to discuss all of the sanctions and the impact it can have on global markets.

anna, as we looked at the markets, it's seemed a bit of a pull back, but it's incredibly volatile as investors try to make sense of the geopolitical issues. >> huge volatility. i think investors were bracing for what could come and then a reaction once they were announced. we had sanctions being announced from the u.s., e.u., u.k. watching a lot of different areas. we saw the dow jones at one point drop 700 points. it came up a little, still closed down. futures still looking high. so much concern really on energy and it's both a direct potential impact for disruption to oil and gas from russia but also the indirect impact you could have if russia were to withhold gas breaks. and that's why we saw oil hitting a seven-year high. why oil prices were up 30%. also very bruising for russia's financial markets though we had

the main stock index 4%. it's down 27 this year. russian ruble heading for a record low. >> i sue the move on the ruble. be interesting to keep an eye on the russian markets to see whether it's being felt. oil and gas, nord stream 2 being put on hold. when we were talking about crimea, europe thought gas was being weaponized. europe knew this. what was your assessment? >> europe was very concerned. germany was reluctant to take the measure. it was the biggest stick they could wield against russia financially, blocking and certifying it. it cost them $11 billion to make. they could have brought in $15 billion a year. >> this is expensive for us though? >> well, this is the problem. for germany, which is hugely reliant on russian gas for over 1/3 of all of the energy

needs, this could be a problem. this is worse, a tweet from dmitry medvedev, he took to twitter following this announcement saying german chancellor olaf scholz issued your threat. welcome to the brave new world where europeans are going to pay 2 euros for one cubic meter of natural gas. that would be over doubling the current price. why? this pipeline doesn't exist. actually, there's enough in the existing pipelines in russia to massively increase. this is all to do with energy security. that's what the eu president had to say. there's a benefit to this which is weaning europe's reliance on gas. >> and the crucial part for nord stream 2 is will it contribute to a better security of energy supply or will it be a risk for

the energy security of supply? and at the moment being we see that the focus on nord stream 2 will increase our dependency of russian gas. this is something we do not want. >> reporter: actions so far have been incredibly positive, from the u.s., e.u., u.k. looking at some wealthy individuals, russian oligarchs, looking at some of them. they haven't played the trump card. it remains in their hands. they have a lot further to go. >> yeah, that might be the nuclear option. we shall see whether they do take that. anna stewart, thank you very much. now sanctions may not make moscow flinch, at least not yet, but what about members of the billionaire boys club? who are cozy with the kremlin? what russian oligarchs stand to lose in the standoff? we'll have that for you and the

family of ahmaud arbery celebrates the outcome of their trial. more on the long journey for justice after this short break. >> what we got today we wouldn't have gotten if the family didn't take it up on januarary 21st.

at xfinity, we live and work in the same neighborhood as you. we're always working to keep you connected to what you love.

and now, we're working to bring you the next generation of wifi. it's ultra-fast. faster than a gig. supersonic wifi. only from xfinity. it can power hundreds of devices with three times the bandwidth. so your growing wifi needs will be met. supersonic wifi only from us... xfinity. welcome back, everyone, to "cnn newsroom." i'm michael holmes coming to you life from lviv. the ukrainian foreign minister issued tougher sanctions saying it is the only way to stop vladimir putin from further aggression. he tweeted, hit hard. hit now. a little bit earlier the russian

president announced that the country's interests and security are non-negotiable but that the kremlin is open to finding diplomatic solutions to the most difficult problems. now that message after western powers imposed sanctions over what the u.s. calls the beginning of an invasion in eastern ukraine. now more russian troops have begun amassing along the border, but it's not clear if any have actually yet crossed. russia has been downplaying the impact of sanctions but the french finance minister says they can get much, much worse if europe resorts to measures it is holding back. a number of countries punishing russia. that's growing. australia imposing travel bans and his country will always stand up to bullies. japan is freezing the visas and assets of people who recognize the independence of those break

away regions. some of the western sanctions are putting the squeeze on russia's oligarchs. cnn's tom for man explains. >> reporter: the west is hunting rich russians. their yakchts, homes. the billionaire boys club. >> they'll impose sanctions on the russian rich boys and they share in the pain of the policies and should share in the pain as well. >> reporter: many russian oligarchs who spend time outside of russia have deep ties to putin. numbly named to the sanctions list, dennis bortnokof, son of the director of the federal securities service. the modern kgb. peter fradkof, strong ties to russia's defense ministry. vladimir kareyenko. he oversees the domestic policy

of putin. the list could grow. >> oesh russian elites and family members are on notice that additional actions could be taken against them. >> reporter: the brits have names too. >> we are sanctions very three high net worth individuals. >> reporter: ten ch henko is one of the richest in russia with "forbes" estimating at 24 billion. his business deals integrated the illegally seized crimea into russia. the rodenbergs have ties in gas and plenty of businesses are on the list. edward fishman is formerly with the state department. >> they support putin politically. as a result, they're allowed to benefit. >> reporter: some of putin's pals were hit with sanctions

when crimea fell. >> this changes the calculus. >> reporter: analysts believe that did slow russia's role into ukraine and this time many say the economic consequences for putin should be steep and for the oligarchs, their wives and miss stresses and their assets that they shelter abroad. >> you're not going to turn a russian billionaire into a coward. what you can do is create substantial frustration and annoyance in their lives. >> reporter: the sanctions could freeze assets for many of these super rich russians, block new investments, stop them from traveling and maybe even keep their kids from attending western universities. will all of that rocking of the yachts be enough to make putin change his direction? maybe. tom foreman, cnn, washington. and joining me here in lviv ukraine is cnn's jim sciutto. great to have you on and your

expertise. before we move on, just in the last hour or so, ukraine has been sort of playing this down but trying to play calm the whole time saying, well, we don't expect a war. they just told their citizens in russia to get out. >> yeah. >> what do you make of that? >> they must not think it's safe for their citizens in russia. that's a remarkable state to be in. we've seen a number of steps, u.s. diplomats leaving the capitol and for pooerds of time. that's about a threat for their safety, right? we've seen russia remove its diplomats from kyiv. in addition to being a diplomat on the move is about their safety. you have multiple layers here. the u.s., ukraine and russia deeming this area to be unsafe and now ukraine making the judgment it's not safe for their citizens to be in russia. in terms of measuring the temperature and the zseriousnes and urgency, that's an important indicator. >> russia is recognizing the two

break away regions. he recognize the the entirety of those regions. the separatists do not control the entirety of it. it sort of leaves the window open where we're going to get the entirety of it. what's your read? >> he's a very legalistic guy in terms of what the law is which is fungible to his thoughts. term limits. he likes to have some sort of legal justification for these things. this gives him the option to expand beyond where the existing line of contact is further into that toreerritory. the other parts are controlled by ukrainian military. that's just in that part of the country separate from what the west sees elsewhere around ukraine, other forces positioned to coming down, for instance, to do a pinscher move on kyiv and elsewhere. you have the russian president setting the groundwork for a major invasion in this place. he has the forces and now he has

what he claims to be the legal backing to do so. >> yeah. when it comes to the sanctions, you know, putin's pretty much ignored these ones. he knew they were coming. he knew sanctions would come whatever he did. he's been planning for it building up his currency reserves and so on trying to sanction proof the country. he must know that even worse ones are coming. >> yes. >> do you think he's sort of baked that into his calculations and that it's worth? >> to some degree. there are costs here for him as well. it may be that he's surprised by the unity because he had been deliberately trying to drive fissures within the alliance to make sure everybody wasn't on board with the same thing. it was only in the last couple of days you've had the italian prime minister saying we can't target the energy sector. nord stream 2 is effectively gone and granted that does not affect current supplies but it would increase russian leverage over europe and energy terms down the line.

when you look at the sweep yesterday, it was not an insignificant start. you started with nord stream 2, you have the u.k. sanctioned banks and oligarchs. you faced some before. you have the russian duma who votesed to recognize there. individuals feel that. then you have the u.s. piece with the president promising further ones today. they clearly have some sort of menu that they're ticking through with each moment. when that reaches a point where the costs are too high for putin, we don't know. maybe never. when you listen to that speech the other day, putin was making the case to say, this isn't a country. >> yeah. right. exactly. exactly. ominous signs all around. jim sciutto, great to have you here. here with us in lviv. now i am michael holmes in lviv. we're going to have much more ahead on the russia/ukraine crisis coming up on "early start" in 20 minutes. isa soares back k in a moment.

do stick around. ththat's also gentle on skin. for wrwrinkles results in one week. neutrogena®.. for people with skin.

switching wireless carriers is easy with xfinity. just lean on our helpful switch squad to help you save with xfinity mobile. they can help break up with your current carrier for you and transfer your info to your new phone. giving you a fast and easy experience that can save you hundreds a year on your wireless bill. visit your nearest xfinity store and see how the switch squad can help you switch and save. switch to xfinity mobile and get connected to the most reliable 5g network. talk with our helpful switch squad at your local xfinity store today.

welcome back, everyone. a jury in the u.s. state of georgia has found all three white men who killed ahmaud arbery guilty of a federal hate crime. prosecutors say racism played a key role when the men chased arbery down two years ago before shooting him. cnn's ryan young was there as the verdict came in. >> reporter: holding their hands high outside a georgia courthouse, another victory for the family of ahmaud arbery two years after the murder. >> i knew we would get a victory on the state level and on the federal level. >> i give all glory to god and we got justice for ahmaud. >> reporter: a jury found travis mcmichael, his father and

william bryan guilty. all three were convicted of interference of rights which is a federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping of ar bure. they were each found guilty of an additional firearms charge. they are already serving life sentences for the felony murder of arbery. 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 so many families out there who don't get victories. >> reporter: this is a federal hate crime case that almost did not go to court because of a federal plea deal. >> i told the doj that, yes, they were prosecutors. 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. >> reporter: the u.s. attorney general reacting to the verdict and wanda cooper's comments. >> the justice department has a legal job to prosecute the hate crimes. i cannot imagine the pain a mother feels to have her son run down and then gunned down while taking a jog on a public street. >> reporter: and remember the decision and the previous convictions almost did not happen. lynn county police and local prosecutors did not arrest or charge arbery's killers after they chased and fatally shot and killed him on february 23rd. when the video bryan recorded nearly 2 1/2 months later, the georgia bureau of investigation intervened and arrested the mcmichaels and arrested bryan. >> 74 days. you have to wait 74 days until they saw the video. >> we waited without any arrests

for 74 days and now today that we're actually here with another guilty verdict, i mean, it's -- i mean, it's great. >> reporter: just a lot of emotion in this case. you can hear wanda cooper jones saying they will continue to fight moving this case forward. when i was sitting behind them in court, you could feel their emotions. marcus and wanda cooper jones as each guilty verdict was read. on the other side of the court, you could see the mcmichael family crumbling. even some of the jurors became emotional. ryan young, cnn, brunswick, georgia. in washington, former u.s. president donald trump has lost the latest legal battle to keep the records out of the committee investigating the january 6th insurrection. the u.s. supreme court decided on tuesday it would not hear the case. a winter storm is pushing

temperatures below freezing for much of the u.s. right now. pedram javaheri has the latest forecast just ahead. over 10 million americans underneath wind chill alerts in places where you expected 25 to 50 below in places you don't expect in northern texas, parts of northern oklahoma as cold as 15 below. we'll break this down with details coming up in a few minunutes. i hit a patch in my life where we lost our homeme, we lost our clothes, and we had to live in hotel rooms because i didn't have that credit. i picked up the phone ani called them. editrepair.com, it was, "hey, we can come together. this is what we're going to do," ki of thing. i can't thk credit repair enough because they have allowed m. bad credit doesn't have to be forever. get help from creditrepair.com.

do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining

insurance. - i think we should explore a few solutions? - [narrator] grammarly's suggest catch when your tone might undermine your message, and it offers suggestions to make you sound more confident. - let's explore a few solutions. - [narrator] try grammarly today at grammarly.com. liz, you nerd, cough if you're in here! shh! i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. what about rob's dry cough? works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs.

- that moment you walk in the office and people are wearing the same gear, you feel a sense of connectedness and belonging right away. and our shirts from custom ink help bring us together. - [narrator] custom ink has hundreds of products to help you feel connected. upload your logo or start your design today at customink.com

authorities in the u.s. state of oregon say this massive fire broke out on tuesday after a possible boiler exploded at a potato chip factory. six people were injured. officials say it was the largest fire the area has seen in the past decade. roughly 60 firefighters were on the scene working together to put out the flames. winter weather alerts are in effect for much of the u.s. right now. meteorologist pedram javaheri has the latest. good morning, pedram. >> good morning, isa. all of the elements coming into play here. we've got that in place, ice threats, snow and across portions of the west significant snow as well. notice this. parts of 13 states and 13

million people underneath these wind chill alerts. in spots as cold as 50 below and even into northern texas. portions of the oklahoma panhandle we're talking about getting down into the single digits and even into the afternoon hours. amarillo, dallas into the teens. incredibly cold air mass in place across a large area of the united states and, yes, winter weather alerts in place for not only snow and sleet but freezing rain and ice secretions. that could be disruptive and expands back towards the four corners region where it's significant mountain snow. some places as much as 2 feet of snow into the forecast. skiers and snowboarders, travelers across the interstates are not going to be the case. significant amounts of snow could come down. notice the arctic air eventually wants to set up shop across portions of the midwest and on into the northeast. if you are tuned into the northeast, you know how mild it's been across the region.

look at new york city, aiming for 65 degrees dropping to 35 degrees come thursday. even in washington in the 70s cutting your temperature in halfback down into the 30s. a significant shift of temperatures in store. if you tuned in in dallas, talked about the cold wind chills. this is what happens. hang in there. next time this week spring is knocking on your door steps. climbing back up to 70 degrees. ranging to 2 in billings montana to the middle 80s in tampa, florida. the weather has large areas of the u.s. >> thanks very much, pedram. waiting for spring as well. persistence pays off for the u.s. women's national soccer team. they have reached a $24 million deal with u.s. soccer ending their years' long battle for equal pay. the agreement will see the american women and men's national teams play the same pay rate in all friendlies and tournaments including the world

cup. u.s. soccer will pay 22 million to the players as well as 2 million to post career goals as well as charitable efforts. the women's team has brought home for world cup. let me check, wait for it, none whatsoever. and if someone paid you 1,800 to stay off social memedia, would u do it? this teenager took it up. he took it up until his 18th birthday. some of the best money she's ever spent. social media can be a depressant. the 12-year-old initially planned to buy a house but is back to the drawing board now that house prices are a little better. could you do it? get in touch with me. our producer can't. i would be able to do it. that does it for me. i'm isa soares in london. coverage of the russia/ukraine

tensions continues on "early start" with christine romans and laura jarrett. !♪ wooo! vaporirize sore throat pain with don't settle for products that give you a sort-of white smile. try crest whitening emulsions... ...for 100% whiter teeth. its highly active peroxide droplets... ...swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. shop crestwhitesmile.com.

better skin from your body wash? try olay body wash with skin care super ingredient collagen. olay body wash hydrates to improve skin 3x better, from dry and dull to firm and radiant. with olay body, i feel fearless in my skin.

at xfinity, we live and work in the same neighborhood as you. we're always working to keep you connected to what you love. and now, we're working to bring you the next generation of wifi. it's ultra-fast. faster than a gig. supersonic wifi. only from xfinity. it can power hundreds of devices with three times the bandwidth. so your growing wifi needs will be met. supersonic wifi only from us... xfinity.

good morning, it is wednesday, february 23rd. 5 a.m. exactly here in new york. thanks for getting an "early start" with us. i'm christine romans. >> i'm laura jarrett. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. a lot to get to this morning. >> yes. >> we begin with this, an urgent plea from ukraine to its citizens, get out of russia now. president biden cutting off the kremlin with tough new sanctions to punish what he calls the beginning of a russian invasion. u.s. allies, australia, japan, cana