i'm wolf blitzer. thanks very much for joining us. please join me tomorrow for a special two hour saturday edition of the situation room. that begins live at 5:00 p.m. eastern. our breaking news coverage continues right now with don lemon tonight. >> thank you, wolf. we'll be watching tomorrow. this is don lemon tonight. our breaking news, ukraine's capitol city is in the cross hairs tonight, and what's happening there right now is more dangerous, more dire than it has ever been. explosions seen and heard tonight in parts of kyiv itself.

>> and there's also this, it is eyewitness video also in kyiv. that is in ukraine's capital city, many explosions in multiple parts of the city. ukraine says heavy fighting is under way in an eastern suburb of kyiv. the fighting getting closer and closer to the city center from multiple directions. we've got it all covered for you. let's get right to cnn's alex marquardt in kyiv, kaitlan collins at the white house, orrin leiberman at the pentagon. explosions heard tonight in kyiv and heavy fighting south of the capital. this comes as ukraine's president says the fate of ukraine is being decided right now. russian forces are advancing. give us the latest there, please, sir. >> don, clear evidence that the

russians are encircling the city, there is fighting in every direction. and it's not just it's coming from every direction, but as you noted it is coming closer and closer to the city center. in just the past few hours we have heard explosions to the west near a military base. we don't know the nature of that fighting, but those explosions just within 3 to 4 miles we understand of the city center, that is the closest that we have seen those explosions yet. we've also been told by the ukrainians that there's fierce fighting to the south and to the east of the city. and then over the past few days since this invasion started we've also seen russian forces making their way in from the north. our colleague matthew chance was out near the airfield which we understand has been taken by russian forces. as the u.s. and other nato allies have feared, russian forces moving in on this city,

encircling it, the president of ukraine warning earlier tonight that tonight would be decisive, that the coming hours would be decisive for this country. so it is -- it is disturbingly quiet here, don, until it is not. we drove into the city around 11:00 p.m. tonight. there was not a soul in sight. there is a curfew in effect but of course you can understand a lot of people staying inside as a result of this fighting getting closer and closer. and every few moments it seems you hear a burst of explosions. we heard small arms fire not too long ago, and so this fighting getting closer and closer to the center, president zelenskyy saying his forces are fighting back valiantly. he says there have been hundreds of russian casualties, but ukraine has also sustained casualties. don, we drove all across this

country today from the south eastern part all the way here to the capital. there has been a radical change on the ground among the people since this invasion has started. long lines at gas stations, check points with sandbags piled high, roadblocks so that you have to swerve and slow down presumably to prevent, you know, russian forces from having an easy time on these roads. so there has been a significant change. obviously not just since this invasion started but really in the past few hours. they've been running special trains, evacuation trains out of the capital of kyiv. so in the words of president zelenskyy, this is a decisive moment, and we are keeping close watch, john -- excuse me, don, as these explosions light up the sky. and we continue to hear air-raid sirens and violence continuing as this new day continues to

break. >> and we're watching some of it unfolding, the video sent earlier. the pentagon says the u.s. will provide additional security assistance to ukraine. kyiv is under siege now, so what is the plan, orrin? >> reporter: well, the pentagon isn't about to put out in great detail what it's going to do to make sure ukraine has help. i don't think you'll find anyone in the u.s. government is willing to do that right now for security reasons. u.s. secretary john kirby said the leth and nonlethal aid that's not in the past tense, strongly suggesting efforts are ongoing. of course that raises the question how exactly did you get it in? before russia invaded ukraine it was flown in on usa aircraft, u.s. military planes. that's not happening now. what other options are there? through the border perhaps. we know poland has said it sent

a convoy through the border andatize reached its neighbor ukraine. could the u.s. do that? certainly it's possible, but the u.s. is being very careful with the info it's putting out about the sort of aid it's working to get into ukraine. >> kaitlan collins at the white house. imposing sanctions on russia and the foreign minister sergei lavrov. what impact will this have? >> it's not like anything will deeply change their lives. it's not like putin stores a great deal of his wealth in the united states. obviously he knew he say at risk of something like this happening not just now but ipren recent years, of course, so that is reported he stores his wealth elsewhere and what not. it is symbolic but also very provocative because you rarely see a world leader, certainly one of putin's stature get

sanctioned like this. normally that is something reserved for the leaders of north korea or syria, and now putin finds himself on this list because of course what has happened in ukraine in recent days. this is decision we should note president biden just made in recent hours. he told me last month that was something on the table, but yesterday when they rolled out those sanctions when russia attacked ukraine, this was not included on the list, and he said it was simply still on the table but didn't explain why they didn't take that step yesterday, don. then you saw the european union went after putin, went after sergei lavrov who was his top diplomat and sanctioned them. when it comes to united states sanctions it means there's travel restrictions in place for both of them and several other members of his inner circle. what this shows you is really they're trying to send a message to him because it's not just the european union, not just the united states, canada as well. you're seeing these countries send this message to putin as a response what has happened here. a question of whether it changes what he's doing in ukraine seems

very unlikely. but it is them trying to say this is the list we believe you now belong on. >> and the question is what will get his attention? to jill dougherty now in moskow. is anything beneath vladimir putin? >> well, i don't know how to answer that actually because i don't think we've seen quite this behavior before with president putin. i mean, just go back a month. there were many people saying, well, he's not serious, this is just a bluff, he'll never do it and now look where we are tonight. it's kind of an odd feeling, too, because i was watching here in the bureau we have three screens right on top of each other, and i was watching two russian stations and cnn. cnn has all the live reporting, obviously. russian tv is really not playing

anything live at this point from kyiv. it's all coming from the donbas region. and remember that's an area that was declared independent, those two peoples republics that were declared independent this week. and why would that be? well, what they are doing in this kind of mirror image they are saying these are the people who are under threat, those russian speakers who are in the donbas region. you have a lot of video. there was a reporter dressed in a flack-jacket who was running around with tanks that are russian. and i should say they're local russian-backed separatists with tanks saying we're being attacked by the ukrainians, we have to protect the people. so they're making the case at least to the russian public that the people who are really under threat are the people in those regions. and that gives them the justification for going after

the ukrainians who they argue and say are really the culprits here. so, again, mirror image. >> kaitlan, you said you had a conversation with the president last week. you asked him a couple of questions, he answered. but as russian troops get closer to kyiv, talk to me more about the conversation president biden is having with zelenskyy? >> i think they're really worried, because, yes, we're talking about the resistance you're seeing ukrainian fighters put up against the russians. but they do know they have ultimately their sights set on kyiv and taking the government there. and clarissa ward talked about this david and goliath comparison. and president biden did speak to president zelenskyy today. it was a call that lasted about 40 minutes. you saw afterwards they talked about strengthening sanctions,

talked about assistance, talked about united states support for ukraine. but i think the recognition inside the white house is obviously zelenskyy feels he's in danger. he's talked about how he's putin's number one naerm right now. where he is he says he's staying in the capital. there have been conversations that happened privately about his safety, about the white ho house. you heard them say earlier this comment from jen psaki at the briefing i thought it was really striking. she said zelenskyy is still the president of ukraine. of course it is in question that may not always be the case or they may actually try to overthrow him. so i think there is a real recognition here of the risk and gravity of the situation that is happening on the ground. so they've stayed in contact with him. of course they've stayed in contact with other ukrainian officials, but certainly you've heard these warnings from zelenskyy he's making in these videos, and they're getting very

desperate about the level of concern they have. >> speaking of that in the videos, alex, zelenskyy and his aides posted a video from kyiv streets earlier. watch this and we'll talk. >> we are all here, our military are here, citizens and society are here. we are all here defending our independence, our state, and it will remain so. glory to our defenders, glory to ukraine. >> alex, it's interesting because he said that he was, you know, target number one for russia and for putin, but there he is on the streets with identifiable buildings. the sheer bravery we are seeing from the soldiers, from ukraine's leadership, it's really incredible. >> yeah. he said he was target number one and his family was target number two. as you can see in that video there he and his aides are dressed in all of military garb. they put that video out in

response to what they called fake reporting that he had fled the capital. zelenskyy clearly trying to lead from the front here. he has been walking a very difficult line, trying takeep his population calm, trying to prevent panic, but at the same time agreeing with the u.s. assessment to some extent that there was a really significant threat from the russians and calling for as much weaponry as they could possibly get. so there has been a huge influx of money and weapons from the u.s. and from other nato countries, but they are still distinctively lacking all kind of things they would need to face the russians. most notably sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry. we've seen them get stinger missiles, don, which are shoulder mounted missiles you fire at helicopters and jets. but they don't have any real sophisticated air defenses. so that david and goliath

comparison kaitlan and clarissa have been making is absolutely apt. you have one of the biggest militaries in the world in russia coming at ukraine now, encircling ukraine with 175,000 troops was the last number that president biden gave. and ukrainians have been keen to tell me over the past few weeks that this is not the ukraine of 2014, and that's when russia came in and annexed crimea. they built-up their military since then. they've gotten a lot more sophisticated, a lot more training -- >> are we hearing -- is that explosions we're hearing in the background or no? am i mistaken? >> i've not heard anything in the past few moments, don, but it is highly possible. this is something that happens really, you know, every couple minutes. and as we were saying we have heard those explosions from all around the city. that is the north. and to east is where there is more fighting, but to the north

is where we have seen some of the fiercest fighting where the russians have been trying to come down. to your point about the ukrainian forces, we have seen them putting up a significant resistance. we heard praise of them by military experts and officials in nato. they have managed it appears to at least slow the russian advance and inflict significant casualties on the russians. but they are alone in this fight. president biden made clear quite some time ago that no americans were going to be coming here and fighting. nato said the same. this is not a nato country, so ukrainians are alone in the fight. >> that leaves me a good question for orrin leiberman. he talked about missile defense and so forth, orrin. there have been conflicting reports about who has control of ukrainian airspace right now. is it the russians? who is it? >> so let's first talk about why this is so important.

if you're going to conduct a massive d operation, not only taking out ukrainian air defenses but also establishing air superiority but uncontested. the russians have not established air superiority. that's because the ukrainians have been effective to some degree and extent of fighting back and using the anti-craft weaponry they have, the sphingers from the u.s. and i believe other nato countries have provided stingers as well. how much of this is left-hand after the russians would have targeted it, how much has already been used, those are two critical questions. and right now i suspect only the ukrainian military knows the answer to that question. but with what they have, they

are able to contest control of the skiesch. frut whum we know and been told here the russians do not have air supremacy and they have degree, unclear how much or how little air superiority, but ukrainians are fighting back and that includes in the sky. >> orrin, jill, kaitlan and alex, thank you very much. we've got more much our breaking news tonight. kyiv in the cross hairs, usha closing in with explosions in multiple parts of ukraine's capital city. ever get a sign n the universes trying to tell you something? the clues are all around us! not that one. that's the one. at university of phoenix,

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kyiv under attack tonight with explosions in multiple locations. let's get right to cnn military analyst, retired major general james spider marks. general, good evening to you.

ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is critical in the fight to keep ukraine. kyiv is under siege. what do we know about the russian attacks? how much danger is kyiv in right now? >> kyiv certainly is in great danger. what's working to the ukrainian advantage is most importantly the fact that the invasion into the vicinity of kyiv and the rest of the country is starting to bog down. what works to the ukrainian advantage is that they can get inside the necessity for the russian forces to achieve speed. what putin was hoping to have was within 24, maybe 36 hours, maybe two days was to have kyiv under his control in some capacity. he's not there. it's getting close, but he's not there. if it takes additional time, they then become exposed. now, in the vicinity of kyiv you're never going to see anything that looks like that, where it's just going to be completely surrounded by forces. what's going to happen primarily

is you're going to see the city have forces up here, and then you're going to have forces that are going to be coming down here, and they already are. forces are coming into here, and also they're trying to work their way into the city. the best thing that can happen for the ukrainians if they can start -- bring it in a little more closely -- if they can start to take out some of these crossing areas you have here, the bridges, the avenues of approach, the ability for the russian forces to maneuver within this very tight terrain with some degree of flexibility, they're going to lose that. the second you walk into terrain like that it gets incredibly compartmentalized. the ukrainians, they could be taking these bridges out because you're going to have forces over there, russian forces over here and over there, and you want to isolate them and keep them from joining up and achieving a

greater objective. >> let's talk about that because you're pointing out waterways here, the significance of the river. what kind of obstacles can that put up a russian offensive? >> yeah, let me take you back here. what's really important is you've got the river coming down through here into the city. that ouautomatically is what we call a barrier. that will really advantage the defender, forces in kyiv and elsewhere. so this is to a great advantage, but what has to happen is and i haven't seen it yet and hasn't been reported yet is efforts by the ukrainian forces to create what's called counter mobility operations, that's dropping bridges, putting up very significant barriers, forcing the russian forces into areas where they can now target with a degree of accuracy as those forces slow down. that's what's most important. >> there's also an amphibious

assault under way in odesa. how does that factor into putin's overall strategy? >> when you look at this here's the area most important. crimea is right here, and what happens is putin has naval forces down here. and this would be a holding action more than anything else. that would give him the ability to protect here and hopefully prevent any type of nato forces that might be trying to contest these naval forces. it wouldn't be to nato's advantage to insert naval forces -- nato naval forces into the black sea. that's a bathtub. that's not a place you want to be. you're a very vulnerable target but so are the russians, but that's a calculation that works into it. so this is not a prime objective. the prime objective for putin right here is kyiv. and bear in mind you've got let's say 200,000 forces.

what's called the tooth to tail ratio. of that 200,000 probably mow more than 65 to 70,000 forces are available to try to control key objectives in ukraine. it's not going to happen. if you had the entire 60,000 forces in kyiv working this type of outward in, you might have some degree of success, but just think about it in terms we can understand. the new york city police department is in the vicinity of 50,000. how much challenge -- how many challenges do they have trying to maintain law and order and control in a city of 3 million here? i mean it's an approximation that makes sense. urban fighting like this, don, absolutely sucks up people. this is all about infantrymen on the ground. everything else is a support activity, logistics, air, intelligence, medical support,

truck drivers, et cetera. if you want to control something, you've got to get out of your vehicle and start busting people. >> general, very informative. the fate of ukraine being decided tonight. that's what their president is saying, explosions across the capital tonight. stay with us. in fact, subaru u has won most trusted brand for more consecutive yearsrs thn any other brand. no wonder kelley blue book also picked subaru as their best overall brand. once again. it's easy to love a brand you can trust. it's easy to love a subaru.

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explosions seen and heard across kyiv tonight as russian troops surround ukraine's capital. i want to bring in now former defense secretary william cohen. we're so lucky to have you on here to give your perspective. russian forces are close to the city. thousands of people could be slaughtered in ukraine. what should the u.s. do now? >> well, the u.s. is continuing to support ukraine as best we can, but i think there are a number of suggestions coming up that we should have either air cover, no-fly zones, corridors developed to get supplies to the ukrainians. that should have been considered long before this. we should have anticipated this day was coming. so any notion we're going to act at the last moment is very dangerous. the one thing we need to do is to calculate what our moves are and what russian moves are. in this particular case we have to be careful. you're dealing with a man who is

threatening nuclear war against anyone who supports the ukrainianians. so i think we have to be careful here. we are providing whatever support we can. the ukrainians are showing us what the ancient greeks once said. i would rather die on my feet than live on my knees. they're showing us what courage is, and what we have to do is find out how can we continue to help them assuming they survive during a night, which i hope they will, and assuming that president zelenskyy continues to live. obviously president putin wants to kill him. >> i want to read this. u.s. embassy is warning u.s. citizens tweeting this, the situation throughout ukraine remains highly volatile and conditions may deteriorate without warning. u.s. citizens should remain vigilant and know the closest shelter or protected space. pretty serious stuff. does it sound like the fall of

kyiv is imminent? >> i don't know. i don't think anyone can say it will happen tonight, tomorrow, the next day. clearly, if this continues for a time as the generals have said, general marks, then it becomes more dangerous for the russians. then i would worry that putin would simply start destroying buildings, just firing into -- indiscremently into civilian areas and killing as many as he can. that is the potential we have to be concerned about as this thing drags on and ukrainians feel emboldened by their success. so we have to face this new or face it later. because if he is successful in taking ukraine, that pushes him up against nato countries, and then he's going to do the same thing. i want you to back away or else don't forget i have nuclear weapons. and then we're going to have to face this issue at some point in time if not tonight. but we have to deal with him in a way that, frankly, i think that other countries have as big a stake as we do in this.

where are the chinese, the new best friends of the russians? why aren't they speaking out and saying we're opposed to any sovereign country, why aren't they speaking out condemning it? where is india? in fact they bought their s400s. we have israel saying they might want to play here because they've been getting close to the russians. we need all hands on deck here all those countries that deal and trade with russia saying it's not going to sanctions going to hurt you but trade with all these other major countries might hurt you in a major way, and then you might have your own citizens rising up to overthrow you. that's what you have to be concerned about if this goes the wrong way, mr. president. >> you just mentioned pushing up against nato countries, nato nations. the nato response force was activated for the first time in history as a defensive measure

in response to russia emphasis invasion of ukraine. can you please speak to the significance of this? it's never happened before. >> well, it's never had to happen before. this is the first time this response force is being called out. again, it's more optical, more optics involved so to speak, that we are reinforcing, we are prepared to reinforce all of the areas that are butting ukraine. don't come across and try to extend this across ukraine because you'll be facing a much bigger force than you are right now. so i think it's symbolic and more have to come. i think if putin is successful in taking over ukraine if he can hold it, all the nato countries are going to have be on alert for what his next moves are going to be demanding that they remove nato forces, they remove u.s. forces, they stop their training and practice together. all of that will be on the line because what putin has said i don't just want ukraine, i want

you, meaning the united states, out of europe. so we're going to have to face this with the threat of nuclear weapons. and again, i would -- i would hope that we would be able to penetrate russian telecommunications as such to bring the message to the russian people this man wants to threaten the united states and nato countries with nuclear war over an unjust attack upon nelo either russians or ukrainians as putin himself as indicated, we share the same genetic make-up, so i think what we have is putin is conducting a war that is unnecessary. it's going to be brutal. and the fact is it's going to be war crimes committed, and he has to be held accountable for it. and this notion of denazification, that's just -- that's just playing upon what he has become. he has become more of a

hitleranian force than certainly ukraines who are fighting for their freedom. >> secretary, always a pleasure. we'll be talking soon with what's going on. thank you so much. explosions across ukraine's capital. morning breaking there right now, and the situation is ever evolving. we've got more right after this. will look back on our lives and think, "i wish i'd bought an eveven thinner tv, found a lighter light beer, or had an even smarter smartphone." do you think any of us will look back on our lives and regret the things we didn't buy? or the places we didn't go? ♪ i'd go the whole wide world ♪ ♪ i'd go the whole wide world ♪ my mental health was much better. my mind was in a good place. but my body was telling a different story. i felt all people saw were my unconolled movements.

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ukraine's president zelenskyy saying ukrainians will stand their ground as explosions are heard overnight in multiple locations in the capital kyiv. joining me now former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, william taylor. ambassador, thank you. appreciate you joining us. we're at an incredibly tense part of this invasion right now. zelenskyy said the fate of ukraine is being decided right now. what will it mean if russian

forces move into kyiv over the next few hours? >> well, don, it will mean that the russians have been able to amass enough forces around kyiv to go in. and they will be rounding up people who will lead the country, in particular president zelenskyy. they'll be looking for him. president zelenskyy has been curaej s. president zelenskyy has not backed down a bit. he's led his country. he's stepped up. i mean, don, here is a 43-year-old president who's had two years in office, no previous political experience. he's facing down a kgb operative who's been in office for 22 years. and the ukrainian president is standing tall. he's standing tall. he is defying all that military might, military equipment and those soldiers all around kyiv,

all around where he is. now, he has -- he has disregarded some other advice in previous times. so a weekend ago -- last wkd he decided to go to munich. to go to that security conference, and many people told him don't go -- don't go because you might get caught out, the russians may not let you back in. he went, made a good speech, demonstrated strength and went back. that's where he is now in kyiv. so he's demonstrating courage. >> putin is directly speaking to ukrainian armed forces in a televised address asking them to rise up against their own government. listen and then we'll talk about it. >> translator: do not let

banderites and neo-nazis use your children and people as shields. it looks like it will be easier to come an agreement. >> those words are shocking he's using, but we're seeing how many ukrainians are willing to fight and die for their country. is this a miscalculation on putin's part? >> total miscalculation. so, don, this is just another demonstration of how president putin and probably the people around him don't understand ukraine. they don't understand exactly what you just said, the willingness and determination to fight, to defend their own land and not just their land. they want to defend their own culture, their own language, own history orb own heroes. they want to defend their sovereignty with all that entails. and president putin he's

thinking of generations ago -- he's thinking of certainly eight years, nine years ago when there was a pro-russian president of ukraine who was willing to do what president putin told him. that's a totally different ukraine. so today based on -- because of putin's invasion in 2014 and because of the invasion right now, killing ukrainians -- the ukrainians hate him. ukrainians hate him. they will hate whoever he puts in. if he's somehow able to put in a leader, a puppet, he will not last. the dukrainians will go to the streets again. >> should putin be charged with a war crime? >> absolutely. >> and one quick thing because before you go.

i've heard people talk about putin's mental state here. do you have an assessment of that? do you have any comment about that? >> i don't. i don't. i've never met the guy and fine with me. i've talked to people who have interviewed -- who have gotten information from some very senior western leaders who have seen him recently. and they come back and they describe a different man than they saw a year ago. so we hear that there is a problem. now, one other thing we know, don, there are military leaders, major general -- retired major general, russian, who have told, advised, pleaded with president putin don't do this because you will destabilize your own regime. this general talked about an uprising. the major general, three stars,

talked about a possible uprising among russians. so you've got to question if president putin is mentally stable. >> ambassador, thank you as always. we appreciate it. our correspondents are spread out across ukraine and the surrounding region. we'll keep you updated there. and we want to talk about history. standby. let's listen in for a second. so we were going to go to break here, but we are hearing explosions in the sky around kyiv, ukraine. our crews there preparing to do a live shot. you see alex marquardt, our correspondent there on the ground. so we're going to stay here. i'll let you listen and i'll jump in.

we are told what you're hearing is gunfire. we're going to get our correspondent alex marquardt up in a minute, and i'll let him explain what's going on. but i'm getting -- you can hear it? as we get alex up i'll keep talking here. south of kyiv, saying there's heavy fighting in the streets. our alex marquardt is there getting ready to do a live shot to explain what is going on. we were preparing to go to break and all of a sudden we heard our correspondents there's some sort of activity going on, not necessarily explosions but gunfire we're told in the streets surrounding kyiv, the capital city. also in the town south of kyiv

there's heavy many wounded, unfortunately they are in the 200s, occupied with fighting. alex marquardt, if you can hear me, just jump in, we're able to take you whenever you're ready to talk to us. alex, are you there? >> don, i can hear you. >> what do you got for us, what's happening? >> reporter: well, as you very accurately described, just in the past few moments, not one but several burst of gunfire. the reason you were able to hear it down the line, that we were able to hear it, having just stepped inside, was that it really was quite loud. that was not small arms fire. that appeared to be some kind of antiaircraft fire. i came out here as soon as we started hearing it and looking at out into the sky. you can see the trace-arounds going up.

it's something i've seen before, elsewhere. we have not heard explosions in quite some time. but it is clear that fighting is going on all around this city. as we have been discussing, russian forces closing in on the city from every direction, north, south, east, and west. and on top of that, we have now the biggest explosions we've seen inside the capital limits since this invasion started, that happening just about three miles away in the western part of the city. so throughout the evening, and this was a night that the ukrainian said would be decisive, we have heard these explosions coming from all directions. they have lit up the night sky, throwing a glow into the clouds. we heard air raid sirens into the capital and now we heard this gunfire going off in the past five to ten minutes, several bursts of heavy gunfire,

shooting up into the sky. we did see those trace-arounds. so don, this fighting very much raging, as the question looms of how close these russian troops are and how long the ukrainian government can hold on to their capital. >> alex, this is fairly close to you, 35 kilometers south of kyiv, we're told by the mayor, and correct me if i'm pronouncing it wrong, a town called vasokiv, fighting in the middle of town, fairly close to where you are, completely occupied with fighting, the mayor said. she said there were losses on the ukrainian side, many wounded, unfortunately, they are in the 200s. i'm not sure if you had that information. but you can speak to me about what is happening in and around kyiv as you're listening to what you say is gunfire right now. >> reporter: yeah, and don, i have heard that. we were told that it's about 20 miles south of kyiv. i just came up from that

direction, just a couple of hours ago. we did not see or hear it, but of course that doesn't mean it's not happening. it does sound quite localized. i should say, what's really interesting about that report is that that's in the south. we understand that russian troops have come in from the north, from belarus, as well as from the east. but this fighting that we're now seeing in the west, and that report in the south that you're talking about, that should give ukrainian forces major pause. and all of us here in the city, real pause, because it shows that they have -- are completing this encirclement. russian forces obviously amassing huge numbers of troops, of weapons, of fighter jets and helicopters. for now, it appears that the ukrainians are putting up significant resistance. we heard from outside experts in

the u.s., we've heard from officials here on the ground, boasting of the fact that the ukrainians are for now keeping the russians at bay. but they are coming at this country and at this city with an overwhelming force. and that is why president zelenskyy earlier today said that this city was in for a tough night. so we have heard these explosions, we have heard this gunfire. it is going on 6:00 a.m., the sun is about to come up, and this fighting is very much continuing. >> i can't tell if it's the wind from your mic sometimes or if we're hearing gunfire or explosions there. how sporadic or how often are you hearing this sort of activity, alex? >> since i've been on with you, i haven't heard anything more, so i think that might be the

wind. but it is bursts. it's fits and starts. and so there was a lull for around 45 minutes to an hour. and then it comes back up again quickly. so there's really no predicting. and then it's really coming from all different directions. as we said at the top of the show, you know, the closest explosions we have heard yet, just around three miles away, near a military base, we should point out. the russians appear for now to be targeting military installations, military forces. there is real concern, however, that if -- >> alex? i've got to get to the top of the hour and we're going to have you back on the other side, i want to reset. why don't you stand by, alex marquardt, reporting there from kyiv. we've heard some gunfire, we're told. they're trying to get a handle on exactly what it was, trace-arounds, we're told. we're about to go to break. we heard from alex's location,

that sound of gunfire. alex will join us on the other side of the break. we'll continue with our breaking news coverage of this invasion, of this war, really, happening in ukraine. back in a moment.

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. this is "don lemon tonight." we start with breaking news tonight, air raid sirens sounded in kyiv and heavy fighting reported in the outskirts of the city. u.s. officials fear kyiv could soon fall into russian hands. besieged ukrainian president zelenskyy calling for ukrainians to stand their ground. we're covering all the angles for you. cnn's alex marquardt is in kyiv. scott