stay with cnn for the latest from ukraine. i want to hand it over to wolf blitzer. >> thank you 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. 4:00 a.m. right now in kyiv. ukraine tonight is under a nationwide state of emergency. the country remains on high alert, as the united states warns the russians are ready, ready for a full-scale, imminent invasion. ukraine's president zelenskyy told his nation tonight that russian leadership has approved an incursion. and he tried to call vladimir putin today but was met with ominous silence. we are now awaiting an emergency meeting of the united nations security council, an open session tonight convening at the request of ukraine. it's scheduled for half an hour or so from now, 9:30 p.m. eastern. we will, of course, monitor

that. we'll go there once it begins. here's the latest assessment from the pentagon. >> russian forces continue to assemble closer to the border and put themselves in an advanced stage of readiness to act virtually any time now. we believe that they are -- they are -- they are ready. we all hope that we're wrong about this, but every indication we have is that he is poised to attack ukraine again. and this time with what could be significant military force. >> new satellite imagery shows a number of new russian deployments, particularly in and around the eastern border of ukraine. one battle group has deployed approximately 9 miles east of the border. many are within ten miles of the

country. lines that continue for about 50 miles from the ukrainian city of kharkiv. so, that city in particular is of great concern because it's right up against the russian border in the northeast. the pentagon also believes additional russian forces are moving into the donetsk and luhansk regions, two separatist-held areas in eastern ukraine recognized as independent by vladimir putin on monday. a senior u.s. defense official tells cnn putin has two dozen warships, warships in the black sea. he has cruise missile capability, ballistic missile capability, armor, artillery, infantry, special forces. and only he knows the timing of his plan. but the white house has been trying to get ahead of him in recent days, revealing information about his plans and believes putin has been improvising and adapting as a result. >> our assessment is that president putin did not expect

the united states to have the level of information that we have, did not expect us to put out this amount of information that we have put out. and what we're seeing now, our assessment is that he is improvising, adapting. and we're having to respond and adapt his own actions as we are responding to him. >> the u.s. deputy secretary of state wendy sherman told me this evening putin is poised to launch a, quote, war of carnage, that could leave thousands on both sides dead. this is clearly a very, very dire moment. we have global coverage on another very uncertain evening right now. we have live reports coming in from ukraine, the white house, and of course the state department. but let's begin with our chief international correspondent, clarissa ward. she's joining us from car rec kharkiv in ukraine tonight. how dramatically has the mood shifted in ukraine tonight? >> there's no question, wolf,

there has been a dramatic shift. this really feels now like a country that's holding its breath. just earlier today, the mayor of kharkiv put out an announcement on twitter telling people to stay calm, to stay unified, to keep going to work, saying that city services are still functioning. and yet when we arrived here late this evening, we found check points going into the city. we also saw on our drive from kyiv, a large convoy of ukrainian military vehicles. but most strikingly honestly is the shift in tone, wolf, from ukraine's leadership. you heard president zelenskyy there switching from ukrainian and russian and directly appealing to the russian people to try to help avert this catastrophe, saying there's nearly 200,000 troops on this border, and your leadership has given them approval to cross in to ukrainian territory, to cross

in to another country's territory. so, clearly we are in a very different situation than we were before. as recently as just a few days ago, people here really didn't believe this could actually happen. but now we're learning that the airspace, the russians have closed the airspace to certain civilian aircraft in the country. we know the yukrainians have closed the airport here and two other airports. i think there's a sense now of people waiting to see what's going to happen. there isn't a state of alarm. as you can probably see behind me, it's the middle of the night. the streets are quiet. but it will be very interesting to see what tomorrow brings. will you start to see more preparations? will you start to see people trying to leave the city? as i mentioned before, up until this point, ukraine's leaders have really tried to tamp down any sense of panic. we heard president zelenskyy saying as recently as last week that they didn't even believe it was possible to launch a

full-scale invasion with the amount of troops that russia had amassed at the border. there has clearly been a dramatic shift in tone and in the calculations that ukraine's leaders are making. and so the question now becomes, is there anything that can be done to avert this catastrophe and to try to turn this situation around? w wolf? >> it really looks ominous. clarissa, you're there in kharkiv. the u.s. had warned a particular concern for that city, that city where you are. what more can you tell us about what you're actually seeing right now on the ground? >> so, on the ground, wolf, you're seeing, as you can probably see behind me, it's incredibly quiet. it's the middle of the night. but this is a city of 1.4 million people, wolf. and it is pretty extraordinary to be in a situation where we could be potentially -- or certainly seems they're closer to -- an actual imminent invasion of some sort or incursion of some sort, and we

don't yet see any mass panic. we don't certainly see any evidence of evacuations. we know there are public bomb shelters, one of them not far from here, everyone very clearly hoping that those will not be needed. but when you look at those satellite images that you mentioned just ten miles on the other side of the border, 50 miles from here, let's say, it clearly shows that things are moving in a very ominous direction indeed. so, the question now becomes, at what point does ukraine's leadership start to instate -- you know, we know there's that state of emergency, and we heard from the mayor of kyiv saying, you know, people shouldn't go out after a certain time. they should have their documents on them. and laying out a raft of rules and regulation in the state of emergency. we haven't really seen that playing out here yet. and given the fact that this city, in particular, seems to be at least in the view of intelligence coming out of the u.s. on a sort of heightened state of alert, it'll be very

important to see how this local municipality even starts to try to implement some measures to protect the people of this city, wolf. >> i want you to stand by, clarissa. we're going to get back to you as we learn more. stand by. right now, i want to check in over at the u.s. state department. kylie atwood is there for us tonight. what's the word there at this hour, kylie? >> listen, wolf, what we've been seeing from u.s. officials over the last few hours is them describing the alarming current force posture of russian troops, right? saying, essentially, that they are as ready to go into ukraine as they have ever been. one senior defense department official saying that russia has close to 100% of the forces at the pentagon believe that it needs to carry out a full-blown invasion into ukraine. and 80% of those forces are in a posture of ready to go. so, that is where we are at right now. u.s. officials are looking at what they see on the ground, and

they see that russia is barrelling forth towards an invasion. i want us to listen to how the secretary of state describe what russian forces have been doing in the last few days. >> everything we've seen over the last 24 to 48 hours has russia putting the final touches on having its forces in place across all of ukraine's borders to the north, to the east, to the south, to be ready for a full-on invasion. >> and one thing that we are seeing the state department do this hour, wolf, in real time, is call out what the russians are doing with these false flags. we saw the state department spokesperson, ned price, say that there is no price that ukrainians are going after any of the separatists in those eastern regions, those eastern areas of ukraine. of course that comes as the russians are claiming that the kremlin has been asked to go and send forces into that area

because the separatists need those forces to defend against ukrainian aggressions. the state department saying that is just plain false. and they're doing it in real time. it is significant because what they are saying is that we expected this, and now, as we are seeing it playing it out, we are calling it what it is, disinformation, a false pretext. >> we're awaiting this meeting of the united nations security council. can anything come of that realistically at this late point? >> it's a good question. i think it's a significant point for the international community to come once again together and condemn what russia is doing here, as they maintain this aggressive force posture and could potentially carry out this invasion. but this is more symbolic than it is anything else. it is more political than it is anything else because what we could see from the united

nations tonight are a tremendous number of countries coming out against russia. but there is no indication that as they have done that over the last few days in these u.n. meetings that it has changed anything about what russia is planning here. >> what is the u.s., kylie, bracing for in terms of humanitarian assistance, the humanitarian impact, if russia were to launch a full-scale invasion? >> wolf, rest assured, it is going to be an incredible humanitarian crisis. you heard that earlier this afternoon when you spoke with the deputy secretary of state. she was saying that this wouldn't only be a war that was carried out by russia's choice, but it would also be a war of carnage. and we know that u.s. intelligence assessments put the number of deaths of civilians in ukraine, if there is all-out invasion, at tens of thousands. we also know the deputy secretary of state talking about

this as well tonight, that there would be a tremendous refugee crisis created, that there could be up to 5 million refugees that pour over ukraine's borders and into europe. so, this won't only impact ukraine, but it'll also impact the rest of europe. >> yeah, millions of refugees that would spill over first into poland and then other european countries. kylie, i want you to stand by as we await this emergency meeting of the u.n. security council. right now i want to turn over to the white house. mj lee is on the scene for us over there. what are you hearing, mj, over there? >> wolf, there is certainly tonight a recognition at the white house of the real gravity of the situation. and really over the last 48 hours, we have seen the urgency and the tone from u.s. officials. everyone from the president on down incredibly intensifying. of course it started with the president saying yesterday that an invasion has begun. and then tonight from the pentagon, they said that they

are ready to go, referring to russian troops and suggesting that a full invasion was imminent. and since then, we have really seen a rapid rollout of sanctions against russia. we have heard white house officials saying that more sanctions could definitely be on the way. and tonight, we should note that white house officials and u.s. officials definitely took note of this dramatic speech from the ukrainian president. and one of the reasons this is so significant is because this is a leader, as u.s. officials know very well, in the past at times have been ren sent to talk even realistically about the possibility of a full-scale russian invasion, in part because we know he didn't want to set off panic among his own people. so, the tone of his voice in the remarks that he made as he essentially sort of pleaded for peace and spoke directly to the russian people, that was something that u.s. officials certainly took note of. and if you need a sign of just

how much this is at the top of the president's agenda, we got his schedule for tomorrow. and one of the first things that he will be doing is going to the situation room and convening a meeting, a virtual meeting, with g7 leaders. so, again, this is a rapidly evolving situation that u.s. officials are watching very, very closely, wolf. >> yep, as they should. mj lee at the white house. we'll get back to you as well. once again, we're awaiting these emergency u.n. security council meeting on this crisis in ukraine, as we monitor our live signals from inside ukraine right now. as we wait, we're going to walk you through what a full-scale russian invasion could look like with one of our top military analysts standing by. we'll be right back. ♪cold beer on a friday night♪ ♪a pair of jeans that fit just right♪ ♪and d the radio up well i've seen the sunrise...♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's

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the u.s. believes it's imminent. president zelenskyy also says vladimir putin has ordered an invasion. let's go live to cnn's matthew chance. he's in the capital of kyiv for us. the president, president zelenskyy, matthew, as you know, said he tried to call putin today, was met with silence. was this a last ditch attempt to avert a full-scale war? >> reporter: i think it was, yes. and it didn't just end with a phone. >> caller: call because volodymyr zelenskyy also posted an address on social media in which for a period of it he spoke in russian and spoke directly to russian people. he said, look, you've been told that ukrainians need to be freed but we're already free in this country. you've been told we hate your culture, but of course how can you hate any culture? he said there are differences between the two countries, but there was no reason for them to be enemies. so, it was this, as i say, very

emotional direct appeal to russia, having failed to speak directly to the leadership to get whatever they've got planned off. so, it does indicate how seriously and how tense the situation is here. that's sort of reaffirmed by the fact that a state of emergency has been imposed inside ukraine across the vast majority of the country, obviously not rebel provinces that have been recognized by russia now. and that means that from 11:00 at night, it means there's extra security outside key government buildings and transportation hubs. and it also means that people who are signed up for reserves in the military are not allowed to leave the country, in case they're needed to fight what could be an extraordinarily bloody war. the big concern at the moment, wolf, is the region in the east of the country in donbas, where the rebel groups there that have recently been recognized by russia have been claiming there's been an upsurge of

shelling by ukrainian government military forces into that area, particularly in donetsk, one of the main rebel cities there. and they've appealed directly to moscow for military assistance to help them defend, as they would characterize it, against that military attack by the ukrainian military. of course the ukrainians deny there's any such attack underway, and they deny they're planning to take back that region by military force. but if the kremlin grants that assistance, it could open the flash flood gates to thousands of russian troops who have gothered near the border of ukraine right now to go into that region and to -- for that invasion that's been widely tipped by u.s. intelligence and others to take place very soon. just very quickly, we're up on the top of the roof of the hotel in central kyiv that we're staying in. and of course the u.s. intelligence has been passed on to the ukrainians is that there could be, you know, imminent

attacks occurring in places all over the country, including here in the ukrainian capital of kyiv. this is the sort of panorama we've got from this view from the south to the east, all the way to the north. of course russia is in that general direction there, to the sort of northeast of here. so, we're keeping a close eye on the situation. ukrainian officials i've spoken to tonight are saying they're also bracing for the possibility of there being some kind of attack perhaps here, perhaps elsewhere in the country, by russia in the -- possibly in the hours ahead, possibly in the days ahead. >> we will stay in very, very close touch with you, matthew. be careful over there. as you learn more, we'll of course get right back to you. right now ukraine remains on very high alert as russian forces continue to amass at its borders. president zelenskyy now warns that an invasion could be triggered at any moment.

the latest satellite imagery shows just miles from the ukrainian border. for the latest on what these military moves could mean, retired army general spider marx is joining us right now. general, the satellite imagery shows us the new buildup is only ten miles of the ukrainian border and less than 50 miles from the ukrainian city of kharkiv. what does that tell you? >> well, i tell you, wolf, what we're seeing as a result of the great work by the cnn correspondents' commercially available imagery you've shared, the analysis the administration has released, and certainly open sources of intelligence, really shows us that there is a significant buildup of forces right there. we've seen the cell phone footage. we've seen the imagery. and what that tells you is there is a real possibility -- only 30 miles from the border to the

second largest city in ukraine of kharkiv -- that forces could come across here at any time. and let's be frank. the forces have been available over the past couple of weeks, could have initiated this. so, what you've seen president putin doing is decreasing his risk. he's going through risk mitigation measures right now, which increases his logistics, his medical supplies, et cetera, and additional forces. but additionally we've seen lots of footage of activity down here, which could provide movement into this area, which is where the separatists have been for the last eight years, fighting alongside russian soldiers. and here is the rest of the donbas region. so, one of -- here's what i think's probably going to happen. movement will occur here if it hasn't already. additional movement into this area would be significant. military operations. there would be killing. there would be blood that would be as a result of these ingaugements. simultaneously, the commander on

the ground now has an option, to put these ukrainian forces in a vice, coming from this direction and coming from this direction. but also bear in mind, it gives him an option. this is the second largest city in ukraine, as i indicated, which means they've got roads, they've got network, they've got the ability to move stuff around. they could come in here and also threaten kyiv because there are also forces up here as well. there are forces all around ukraine right now, maybe 190,000 russian troops. general, we'll get back to you as well. thank you very much for that explanation. any moment now the united nations security council will begin its emergency meeting on the crisis. we're watching for that meeting to begin. stand by. you're looking at live pictures coming in from the u.n. right now. there's the u.n. secretary general. also, only vladimir putin himself knows his next move, but we're going to bring in someone very familiar with how he operates for some fresh insight on putin's thinking, the former

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secretary general, antonio guterres. he will open up this session. we will also hear from the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, the rust ambassador will speak, the ukrainian ambassador. we'll have extensive coverage of that. we'll get a sense of what's going on right now. at the same time, earlier tonight there was an extremely somber message from the president of ukraine, volodymyr zelenskyy. watch this. >> translator: we have no need for another cold war or a bloody war or a hybrid war. but if we are attacked militarily, if they try to take away our freedom, our lives, our children's lives, we will defend ourselves. when you attack, you will see our faces and not our spines, our faces. >> all right. let's discuss with the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, bill taylor. ambassador, thank you so much for joining us in this

critically sensitive, delicate moment right now. as you heard, the trigger could come at any moment now. how do you interpret this dramatic shift from the ukrainian leader? >> so, wolf, i think it has become clear to president zelenskyy that president putin could well do what he's been threatening to do. president putin has clearly been trying to rattle president zelenskyy, trying to intimidate, probably trying to intimidate president biden as well. and as you saw tonight, president czelenskyy is not rattled. he's grim. he's determined. i was in his office three weeks ago. he was -- he was focused at the time. he wasn't as grim and determined and a bit pessimistic as he is today. back then he was still of the view that there was not enough

forces on his border to do a major invasion. well, there's now enough forces on the border to do a major invasion, and that ishas gotteno president zelenskyy. he has not folded. he has not conceded. he has not backed down. but he is now worried. >> as he should be. this could be very, very bloody. the u.s. deputy secretary of state, wendy sherman, a woman you know. i know her as well. she told me earlier tonight that putin has closed the door to diplomacy. first of all, do you agree, is every diplomatic option for all practical purposes, ambassador, been exhausted? >> wolf, it's not impossible that president putin could have a -- could have a change of heart. probably unlikely. but if he wanted to avoid the bloody carnage that you just described -- bloody on the russian side.

it will clearly be terrible for ukraine and ukrainians, military and civilian. but there will also be many russian soldiers killed. wolf, president putin has not had to face a large number of russian soldiers killed in the previous battles, in the previous operations in ukraine. he went into crimea in 2014 without firing a shot. he has been in donbas for eight years. and just two nights ago, he went into donbas under total russian control, so he didn't lose anyone there either. he, indeed, has lost a couple of soldiers, russian soldiers, during the eight years of battle. but he suppressed that. he has -- he has tried to hide that. president putin is worried about russian soldiers dying, and they will die in large numbers if they go in and attack the ukrainian military. he's got to worry about that.

and he could have a change of heart. >> we can only hope. what do you believe, ambassador, is putin's ultimate goal right now? does he want, for example, to topple president zelenskyy? does he want to occupy the whole of ukraine? and then what? >> wolf, i don't think he wants to occupy the whole of ukraine if he doesn't have to. indeed, that's probably -- that's probably an impossible task for the forces that he's got. he needs many more forces to occupy the entire country, a country the size of texas. he can't do that with 200,000 soldiers. he can't do that. what he wants, though -- you got the right question. what he wants is control of ukraine one way or the other. he thought he had control of ukraine through the minsk process. in the body ukraine. and from those puppets, controlling the body of ukraine,

he can control ukraine's foreign policy. that's not working. that didn't work for him. now he has to look for another way to get that control. his ultimate goal is control in ukraine. >> the 8,900 -- >> president biden, as you know has responded with sanctions in step with other western allies. but what more needs to be done, ambassador, if we see a full-scale russian invasion? >> every sanction in the book to include sanctioning the central bank of russia. the swift is not off the table. everything -- we should seize assets. everything that we can do to cripple that economy. sadly, it has to affect russian citizens. hatz to affect president putin. this is a war criminal. he has to be brought to justice in some way. that has got to be clear to him that this is a bad mistake. >> we're monitoring the u.n. security council meeting.

once it gets to the gist, to the important part, we'll, of course, have some live coverage of that. so, stand by. ambassador, the u.n. ambassador is warning that this could create some 5 million refugees out of ukraine. what will that mean for poland and other countries in europe that will have to absorb these ukrainian refugees? >> of course it will be a big challenge. we've seen in the past where refugees from other parts of the world have come into europe and caused -- caused problems, political problems, humanitarian problems. this will be the same way. this, however, ukraine is close to europe. indeed, it's part of europe. ukraine is historically european. large parts of ukraine have always been -- >> hold on a moment, ambassador. the u.n. secretary general, antonio guterres, is speaking. >> -- in the meeting of the general assembly. but of course it wouldn't make any sense to bother you reading

again the same text that i'm sure you are all aware of. in between during the day, events took place, and with your permission, mr. president, i would like to ask ms. rosemary decarlo to be able to brief you on those events. but simultaneously, the day was full of rumors and indications that -- of an offensive against ukraine was imminent. in the recent past, there were several situations with similar indications, semimilar rumors. and i never believed in them, convinced that nothing serious

would happen. i was wrong. and i would like not to be wrong again today. so, if indeed an operation is being prepared, i have only one thing to say from the bottom of my heart. president putin, stop your troops from attacking ukraine. give peace a chance. too many people have already died. thank you, mr. president. >> i thank the secretary general for his introductory remarks. >> all right. so, there you have strong -- very strong words from antonio guterres, the united nations secretary general, give peace a chance. too many people have died. he says he was always pretty upbeat that this moment would not occur.

he said, i was wrong, and he said to president putin, stop your troops. bill taylor, you've watched a lot of u.n. meetings, you know security council meetings. this meeting with the secretary general opening up with these strong words, it underscores how dangerous this moment is right now. >> it does, wolf. it's a very dangerous moment. it is sad that the security council can't do anything about it. one would have hoped years ago when the security council, when the u.n. was put together, that this -- this organization would step in somehow and stop this kind of war. but it's clearly not. the russian is actually in the chair right now. the russian is in the chair of the security council right now. and so the u.n. security council cannot really do anything other than just bring attention to this crime that's about to be

committed by one country, one big, powerful country against its neighbor, against its sovereign neighbor. >> i'm anxious to hear what the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., linda thomas-greenfield, is going to say. she's there, and she's going to be delivering a major statement on behalf of the united states government, on behalf of president biden. bi we'll be listening very carefully to her words, right? >> we absolutely will. the security council has met before. she gave a great speech. secretary blinken gave a great speech at the security council as well. they have put the russians on notice. and yet the russians seem oblivious. the russians seem not to hear. the russians seem intent on controlling ukraine, on dominating ukraine, on bringing ukraine back under their control without regard to international law, without regard to the u.n. charter, without regard to any of the commitments that the russians have made to the

ukrainians and to the international community over the years, without any regard for that. they seem to be poised to invade. >> all right. we're going to continue to monitor this emergency meeting of the u.n. security council. rosemary decarlo, the undersecretary general for political and peace building affairs at the u.n. is speaking. we'll monitor what she's saying. we'll wait for the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. to address the security council. let's take a quick break, resume our special coverage right after this. ? having everything i want in the place i love. jamaica. heartbeat of the world. let's go!

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> major breaking news we're following right now. we're monitoring the u.n. security council emergency meeting underway. we anticipate that the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., linda thomas-greenfield, will be speaking momentarily, outlining the u.s. position, as it unfolds right now, given the fact that u.s. officials believe that the russians are now on the verge -- on the verge of launching a full-scale invasion. linda thomas-greenfield, the u.s. ambassador, is speaking.

>> and for your remarks tonight. colleagues, a few moments ago, i spoke to president biden, who asked me to convey in the strongest possible terms his and our steadfast support for ukraine and support for the urgent meeting this council has convened tonight. furthermore, he asked me to share that the united states and our allies and partners will continue to respond to russia's actions with unity, with clarity, and with conviction. we are here tonight because we believe, along with ukraine, that a full-scale further invasion into ukraine by russia is imminent. tonight, we're seeing the russians close airspace, move troops into donbas, and move forces into combat-ready

positions. this is a perilous moment, and we are here for one reason and one reason only, to ask russia to stop. return to your borders. send your troops and your tanks and your planes back to their barracks and hangars. and send your diplomats to the negotiating table. back away from the brink before it is too late. last week, the united states informed this council and the world about what we expected to see unfold. we said that russia would manufacture a pretext for an attack. we have since seen numerous false flag events staged along the lines of contact in donbas. we said russia would theatrically convene emergency meetings at the highest levels

of the russian government. we all saw this on monday with the state televised security council meeting held by president putin, an orchestrated moment in which the russian government decided to recognize as -- and i quote -- independent states, unquote, sovereign territory of ukraine controlled by russia's proxies since 2014. they literally violated ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity on live television before the world. we said that false proclamations would come, declaring russia would need to defend russian speakers in ukraine. we got that and much more from president putin's speech on monday and during the speech of the russian ambassador in the general assembly today. no one could have predicted just how dangerous inciting and far

reaching president putin's speech would be, for putin arguing taking the world back to a time of empires and colonies. finally, we said the attack would come next, that we could expect communications to be jammed, cyber attacks to shut down key ukrainian institutions. last week, we attributed to russia denial of service attacks against ukrainian banks. and we saw similar activity this morning targeting government sites as well. and in the last few hours, we have received very concerning reports of destructive malware placed on hundreds of computers and executed on at least some. after that, we said would come the bombs and missiles, the soldiers, and the tanks. already soldiers have been deployed to the occupied region

of ukraine. ladies and gentlemen, we are here tonight because we believe the rest is imminent. now, over the past few weeks, russia has called our predictions hysterical. russia said we were lying. russia said we were supplying the world with misinformation. russia's diplomats even laughed in the face of the human suffering we were sounding the alarm about. but what we said would happen has come to pass, for all the world to see. so let us be clear. all parties are not culpable here. there's no middle ground. calling for both sides to de-escalate only gives russia a pass. russia is the aggressor here. russia's attack on ukraine is

tantamount to an attack on the u.n. and every member state in the chamber tonight. the security council is charged with adjudicating threats to peace and security. russia is bypassing its -- russia is bypassing it entirely and taking matters into its own hands. and that undermines the institution. it undermines everyone who participates in it. the united states, ukraine, its allies and partners across europe, u.n. officials, every other member of the security council, we have all repeatedly implored russia to engage at the diplomatic table. those calls were not heard. instead, tonight russia has brought its people, the

ukrainian people and the world to the brink of a conflict that will produce an untold amount of human suffering. i said it in the general assembly this morning and i'll say it again tonight. everyday russians should be asking themselves right now how many russian lives putin will sacrifice for his cynical ambitions. responsible members of this security council will stand together and we will stand with ukraine and we will do so despite a reckless, irresponsible permanent member of the security council abusing its powers to attack its neighbor and subvert the u.n. and our international system. this morning in the general assembly we saw dozens of leaders from across the globe stand up to defend the u.n. charter and ukraine against

russia's brazen attacks. we were proud to stand with them. today i had the opportunity to meet with ukrainian foreign minister kaleba. and many of you were in the general assembly hall this morning when foreign minister kaleba received enthusiastic and overwhelming applause after his remarks. since he could not be here this evening i would like to conclude by echoing his words. this morning he warned us all that, quote, no one will be able to sit out this crisis if president putin decides that he can move forward with this aggression against ukraine. your governments and your people will face painful consequences together with our government and our people, unquote. he is right. history tells us that.

and we must confront this threat head on in this council in the u.n. and in our capitals. the people of ukraine are counting on us. let's not let them down. thank you, mr. president. >> translator: i thank the representative of the united states for her statement and i now give the floor to the representative of the united kingdom. >> well, we're going to continue to monitor the united nations security council emergency meeting, but we just heard some very powerful words from linda thomas-greenfield, the u.s. ambassador to the united nations. she did not mince any words. she said that a full-scale further invasion of ukraine by russia is now imminent. she said this is a perilous moment indeed. pa reid zakariah is with us. bill taylor is still with us. fareed, let me get your thoughts right now. it looks like a full-scale war, if it already hasn't started, is about to begin.

>> well, that's certainly the signs are pointing in that direction. and as ambassador thomas pointed out, greenfield-thomas pointed out, u.s. intelligence in this regard on this issue in this period has been unerringly accurate. the fact that the russians have closed down the flight space is one more sign. what we do not know is what the ultimate aim of this military intervention will be, this phase of it. is it to take control of the entire donbas? as you know, president putin recognized these two republics and in their constitution, what they claim is their constitutional area, which is about twice as large as the land they actually control. so are they trying to do that, or is this actually a march on kyiv itself, on the capital? in which case -- in either case we're in for some very bloody

warfare. but if it is a march to kyiv, this is going to be like nothing we have seen really since the second world war. >> yeah. it's imminent. she kept saying that, bill, ambassador taylor, she kept saying's in imminent. the -- ukraine right now, thanks to russia, is on the brink of war. >> and wolf, she also said that there's no justification. president putin seems to be desperate to find a justification. he's encouraging these puppet governments, these two lnr and dnr puppet governments to give him justification so they've been asking him to come in and help them. they've been trying to get the ukrainians to attack them so they can call in the russian military to attack them and trigger this invasion. president putin has nothing to

tell the world about why he is invading ukraine. he has nothing to tell. and so that's what linda thomas-greenfield was saying when she was talking eloquently there at the security council. >> if it happens, fareed, let's say there is a full-scale invasion of ukraine right now by russia, then what happens? walk us through what you envisage. everybody seems to think there would be an enormous number of casualties, civilians and military, plus millions potentially, millions of of refugees. >> so as i said, let's think about it in two stages. first imagine they try to recapture the area that they claim is part of these phony independent republics. and i think bill taylor's point is very well taken. the ukrainian government has so far showed extraordinary restraint. they have been shelled upon. they have been attacked. cease-fires have been violated every hour.

and the ukrainian government so far has not responded. but that will not persist. if this new intervention takes place, the ukrainian army will start fighting back. now, the russian army is the largest land army in europe. so it is an unequal contest. but the ukrainians have two things going for them. the will to fight to defend their own country and a lot of fairly sophisticated military hardware that has been given to them by the united states over the last few years. i think you are likely to see a very bloody war unfortunately. again, as i said, the ukrainians are outmatched. the russians have a very formidable force. but the ukrainians will fight. they will fight hard. they will fight to preserve their country. and most importantly, even if the russians do, quote unquote, win, if me they take the capita if they take the symbols and seats of power, the ukrainians

will keep fighting and the ukrainians will fight it through an insurgency. they will fight through various forms of resistance. i think that president putin will be surprised to see that this is not going to be -- this is not going to be an easy one even if technically he is able to achieve some military objectives. >> you know, ambassador taylor, we've just learned that president putin has just announced that a military operation has begun. he says to protect donbas. this disputed area. part of ukraine controlled in large measure by pro-russian sympathizers over there as well as russian troops. what do you make of this? >> wolf, president putin has a fine opening gambit. he is going to be able to push hard.

it will be bloody, but he will be able to overrun or push through a determined ukrainian resistance, ukrainian military, does have, as fareed says, that has sophisticated weapons but even more important it's got the will to fight, defend its own country, its own land. but the russian army will be able to put vsh through. it's a big country. it's the size of texas. the ukrainian people will resist. the ukrainian people will make it hell for russian occupiers. the ukrainian government will presumably leave kyiv. it will set up somewhere else, maybe in the west. but it will continue to support it. and the ukrainian people will continue to support it. and the russian opening is fine. they don't have an endgame, wolf. they don't have an endgame. >> yeah, we're going to continue our special coverage. i want to thank all of our