this is cnn breaking news. and welcome to our viewers

joining us in the united states and all around the world, i'm michael holmes coming to you live from lviv, ukraine. appreciate your company. we are continuing breaking news coverage. at home and abroad hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country. more on the way. the u.n. says more than 400 civilians have been killed since russia launched its attack and it looks like the worst could be just around the corner. just in the last hour we've 4r learned that a large blast has taken out a government building in kharkiv. the state emergency service says six people have been injured including a child in that explosion. kharkiv has been the scene of intense russian barrages.

all of this as a massive russian convoy is bearing down on the ukrainian capitol kyiv where air sirens have been going off. the convoy stretches for more than 40 miles. around 65 kilometers. it includes tanks and al till -- artillery. they have moved into the contested city of khersan. a russian official telling cnn russia is, quote, well behind the schedule it set for the invasion and that there was a failure to take out ukraine's air defenses on the first day of the war. the pentagon praising ukraine's defenders. >> what we have also seen is ukrainians resisting quite effectively around kyiv and

continuously. they have made it a stuff slog to move further south. make no mistake, mr. putin still has at his disposal significant combat power. he hasn't moved all of it into ukraine but he's moved a majority of it. >> despite the ukrainian resistance, there are fears they will face intense fighting. ukraine could soon be overwhelmed. one source said the rate at which cities could fall is alarming. now there were negotiations between the russians and ukrainians on monday. ukraine's president said the russians were, in fact, syncing up attacks with those negotiations. >> translator: today with the russian side's initiative, we had the first round of

negotiations between russia and ukraine. these negotiations took place with the shelling and bombing of our territory on the background. shelling of our cities. synchronization of the shelling with the negotiations was obvious. i think that with this simple-minded method russia is trying to pressure us. do not lose time. we do not accept these tactics. >> the barrage of russian shelling may have been intended to intimidate ukrainians as mr. zelenskyy said. it seems to be having the opposite effect. they are using their cars and bodies to stop the advance of russian forces. incredible forces. eventually they start turning around. then there's this which happened in another town nearby.

residents built barricades and laid out metal spikes on the road to try to stop the advancing russian convoy. and in kyiv ukrainian forces used heavy duty weaponry to stop an approaching russian convoy. cnn's matthew chance has our exclusive reporting on this. some you may see may be disturbing. >> right within the past few hours there has been a ferocious battle here on the outskirts of kyiv. this is the front line, the battle for the ukrainian capitol. the russians have been absolutely hammered. trucks and armored vehicles reduced to twisted metal as they dig in catching them off guard. look at this. i mean, what kind of munitions does it take to do that to a car, to a vehicle? i know -- i think the local

ukrainian commanders here, they've been saying they were using western anti-tank missiles to attack these. look. so recent the battle this vehicle is still smoking, there's still smoke coming out. commanders like alexander of the ukrainian army wouldn't give me his rank. the russians thought they could just march into ukrainian lands in a triumphant parade, he tells me. they were mistaken. it will never happen. >> this is a bit of a cliche but obviously somebody's brought a momento from home. now it's scorched with the debris of in this case failed attack. the tank that's left, ukrainian

forces that repelled it confident, perhaps overconfident. it can be repeated across the country as the russian troops advance. >> absolutely ukraine will win this war, of course we'll win. the russian military, it has the letter v. i think that stands for a russian word. these came from the eastern divisions of the russian military. look, there's evidence, i don't want to show you too much, interest's a body there, a russian soldier lying dead on the bridge. you can tell they're russian because they've got this black and orange george river across them which is a symbol of the

russian army. yeah. alexander -- oh, my god, another one. it's terrible to see the grim inhumanity of a war. for the ukrainians and the russians as well, the sacrifice that is being paid by all sides in this complete waste of life. matthew chance, cnn. >> now the president's of eight european countries are pushing the e.u. to immediately grant them status and begin negotiations on the formal acceptance into the block. this is a major step and one that ukraine wanted for years

now. i'll interview lithuania's president in a few minutes. first a reminder that on monday ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy called on them to grant them e.u. membership is part of that plea. >> translator: europeans realize we're fighting for country, for peace, for peace for all of the countries of the european union. the lives of children, equality and democracy. this gives us the full right to do the following. we call the european union under a new special procedure. >> cnn's natasha bertrand joins us from e.u. headquarters in brussels. how is the e.u. responding to this request? >> reporter: well, michael, they said they considered the ukraine to be part of the e.u. they feel like they are one of us, those were her words.

the process is what's going to be very difficult obviously. it is enormously complex process to have a country apply for and be admitted into the european union. zelenskyy has said he wants that to be expedited. there is yet to be a vote on that and whether that will actually happen. however, many e.u. states as you pointed out are pushing for that to be expedited in light of the war russia has waged on ukraine. it remains to be seen whether that will happen. in the meantime though the european union has stepped up resistance to the ukraine. for the first time they approved over $500 million of security assistance to the country that includes weaponry. germany has for the first time taken from its own stockpile weapons that it will be sending to ukraine to fend off the russian advances. so we're seeing the e.u. has

closed off the air space to the russians. they are looking to ban russian media from the bloc so a lot going on to make sure russia can't spread the propaganda within the european union. more propaganda making sure they are penalized against this and closing off the air space and by arming the ukrainians with air defense missiles, anti-tank missiles that they believe can keep the momentum going in ukraine's favor. the ukrainians have been over performing here. the russians have not been doing so well. officials caution thaus could change. there could be a second wave of a russian attack coming. therefore, the ukrainians need all of the help they can get at this moment, michael. >> natasha bertrand in brussels. appreciate the update there. could be significant going forward. in response to the e.u.'s

decision to support ukraine with weapons and sanctions, they will continue the realization of its national interest. japan says g-7 members and allies will urge the international community to unite against russia. the white house press secretary says they have given them a common goal. >> president putin has been one of the greatest unifiers of nato in modern history so i guess that is one thing we can thank him for. >> joining me now is one of the eight presidents calling for the immediate acceptance, lithuanian pres president. thanks so much for being with us. first of all, your comments on why you chose to call for this now? >> this is our moral duty to

participate in this action, to be in the first throes of ukrainian supporters. symbolically that i visited ukraine together with the polish president six days ago, it was last day of the peace. and, you know, now having in mind these horrible events in ukraine i would like to remind our common history with the ukrainian nation n. 14th and 15th century there was so called very large state. we are whole nations, ukraine, belorussian belorussians. we live together shoulder to shoulder. our close relations, we have very deep historical roots and we feel special empathy to ukrainian nation. so this is the reason why i am

so actively engaged as it comes from my heart. >> and that makes sense from where you sit. vladimir putin made it clear that, you know, separate from ukraine, he has his eyes on former soviet baltic states like your country. do you take him at his word? do you fear he could turn his attention to your country, lithuania, estonia, latvia and others at some point? >> unfortunately and probably nobody and no country in european union, in europe can feel safe right now. yes, ukraine is target number one. but it will not support ukraine. russia will stay a powerhouse. this is the reason why we have to be united and i think this is

very good idea that this is a unifier of europe and nato. i think this is through seeing a big shift in the minds of people, in the minds of my colleagues, they are from western european countries and i think that is part of the plan as well. how big are the threats to our security and how important that is to support ukraine and to be with them in this very complicated moment of history. and our support has been viewed also not only military in their support but economic, financial support because there is a need to respond to this terrible war. first of all, this war should be

just kept to this war and we have to expel the russians from the territory of ukraine. >> i wanted to ask you about something i know you are concerned about and that is the goal of belarus allowing russian troops to invade ukraine from its territory. and now changing the constitution to allow nuclear weapons on its land. what do you think of the role president lukashenko has played? >> i think we have to name the processes of the events as they are and since the event after the elections in belarus, unfortunately belarus is not independent state anymore. we can talk about one area of the russian federation and this is the reason why our military

cooperation in nato has changed dramatically. belorussian territory, belorussian soil can be used as a place for deployment of russian troops and they can land operations towards ukraine, slavic nations, lithuania, and you mentioned amendments of legal framework after the so-called referendum. now we have amendments of constitution which allow do deploy nuclear patterns in belorussian territory. this is one more very serious threat to our security we have to keep in mind. >> let me ask you this. you have told the nato secretary general that it is now crucial

to strengthen the security of the baltic region. strengthen in what way? do you want a permanent stationing of u.s. troops? >> this is a complex process for us. we are talking about strengthening of the peaceful flank of nato. it includes of course baltic black sea region but includes the baltic region, too. i am happy and i welcome very much recent decisions to strengthen very materially, to strengthen the baltic countries and first of all i would like to tell that germany has a leading country presence send 350 troops additionally, also increase the

presence. other countries which participate in our security system. but, yes, united states as our very close ally has to take more resistance, too. this is the reason why we are asking our colleagues in the united states to strengthen the presence of united states, not only in lithuania but also in other baltic countries. >> it's a significant request, too, mr. president. let me ask you, the world, of course, has united against this invasion in sanctions, tougher sanction, extremely tough financial steps and the fact is putin is carrying on. he might be hurting and he might hurt a lot in the future, but he seems willing to bear the pain whampt would it take to stop him doing what he is doing right now today? >> i think those sanctions which have been imposed recently and

which will be imposed in the nearest future are very serious. this time they are very serious. it was not the case during the last sanctions. not so effective and it didn't make big harm for russian economy, but this time the situation is totally different and i expect that it will bring some additional movement from their bottom of society that something has to be changed in russia because their people will suffer. we are not only talking about oligarchs, we are talking about middle class, we are talking about possible drop of gdp which will be measured in several or even more percentage points. we are talking about fully the

russian ruble, the reserves. all of the sanctions this time are very painful and russian federation has to pay the price. this was the initial intention if russia starts this war, the price of this action should be as high as possible and i think this is a case and this is how to say first of all our defense against aggression of the russian federation. >> lithuanian president nauseda, thanks so much for your perspective. appreciate your time, mr. president. thank you. >> thank you very much. save ukraine. now after russia invaded arks young mother and her children took refuge in a bomb shelter. she said their new reality is very hard to accept. >> husband was at work and life

was nice and normal here, absolutely. they have started the war. >> what she wants the rest of the world to know about their situation and why she says vladimir putin must be punished.

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it was crying. i think my house destroyed. >> your house is destroyed? >> i don't know, but people who live there, they told me. >> and she is just one of many ukrainians escaping or trying to escape the dangerous situation at home. refugees battling blizzards and enduring long lines for a chance to feel safe again. many of them heading to neighboring countries. talking about poland, romania, hungary, slovakia. 100 million ukrainians have fled so far. it is clear why we have told the fighting has caused more than

400 casualties. the u.n. is launching a humanitarian appeal to help the people in ukraine as well as a, quote, regional refugee response plan for those outside the country. meanwhile, the international criminal court has agreed to open a criminal investigation into the russian inswvasion. we are about to hear from just one of the many people seeking safety in the ukrainian capitol. the mother of three has been in a bomb shelter since thursday with her children who says are being forced to grow up way too quickly. her youngest who is only four months old has a cough and her husband who is a local journalist volunteered to fight for his country in kyiv. she spoke earlier to cnn's anderson cooper. >> today we have about 100 people in the bomb shelter.

you call it bomb shelter but most of the places where people hide, they are not really bomb shelters, they are just the basements of the building so they are not very well prepared for any kind of bomb shelling. so if the missile hits directly this building, it will not stop. and it will be a trap but at least it will protect from some tiny explosions. i don't think there is a safe place since putin invaded. yes, it's very scary but we have to understand like what happened because we are in the denial. something to prevent putin from killing more people? tanks are moving at this moment to kyiv. yes, i'm scared and, yes, it's not happening on your land, but it's happening with you, too. we in ukraine will do whatever

is needed to protect our own land because it's our responsibility, our love and we are ukrainians. we are being killed by russians, but, guys, you can be the next and it's obvious. so let's stop putin while he's seizing the territory of ukraine. if you are afraid to escalate the conflict. we in ukraine are not escalating the conflict, not provoking anyone. he decided to send his troops and airplanes and bomb my city and kill my people simply because he wanted. for this putin has to be punished. for this putin has to be imprisoned. to take him to hard international court because what he has done is an international serious and awful crime. i don't like how the world is talking to putin right now to negotiate with him to discuss something. because how can you discuss anything with a criminal who is

lying all the time? he was saying it's just a military training and then he invaded. he said we won't attack the city lands and they are now doing it. now he says i want to have negotiations. should they believe it? >> all right. organizations around the world are on the ground in ukraine and neighboring countries to help those like elena gnes in need with shelter, food, water, the basics of life. for more on how you can help just go to cnn.com/impact for more information. quick break here. when we come barks after ukraine's second largest city is shelled again, the country's president accuses russia of war crimes. our breaking news coverage continues after the break.

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$1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. welcome back, everyone. i'm michael holmes live in lviv, ukraine. bitter fighting still underway all across the country as ukrainians try to hold off a massive russian invasion. a convoy rolling towards the capitol of kyiv. the convoy stretching more than 40 miles or 65 kilometers. we've seen escalating attacks on kharkiv including a major explosion that happened just a short time ago.

the blast, this is right in the center of kharkiv. it destroyed a historic government building and officials say at least six people were hurt including one child. this comes just one day after ukrainian and russian officials met for negotiations at the border with belarus to discuss a possible cease-fire. obviously no breakthroughs from what we're seeing but officials did indicate there could be more talks to come. meanwhile, officials in the u.s. say a second wave of russian troops is likely on the way and they could overwhelm ukraine's armed forces. ukraine is welcoming a decision from the international criminal court, meanwhile, to investigate russia's invasion. the ic c. prosecutor says there is reason to believe, quote, both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have already been committed. ukraine's president accusing russia of committing war crimes by bombing kharkiv and attacking civilians. new video shows the siege of the

city as it unfolded. cnn's alex marquardt has the details. we want to warn you the report has graphic content. >> reporter: the fighting getting closer to home on monday in kharkiv. this is video from one of five residential neighborhoods in ukraine's second largest city. two people can be seen running and crawling as a hail of rockets rains down. across the city to the east more video shows a chaotic scene after still smoking missile falls and is lodged in the street. further north buildings come under fire from rocket strikes exploding over the apartment complex. from those apartments a man says the russian world, you say, already right on my doorstep. two bodies lie motionless on the floor. u.s. officials say the russians have hit citizen targets.

they say they will avoid civilian areas. people in kharkiv seeing things very differently. alex marquardt, cnn, kyiv. ukraine's crisis will feature prominently in president biden's state of the union address later on tuesday. he's expected to highlight his efforts to rally a global consensus in support of ukraine and its battle for democracy. cnn white house reporter jasmine wright joins me now live from washington with details. what can we expect? a really important state of the union for the president. >> reporter: that's right, michael. this is going to be a critical speech from president biden coming amid the back drop of an international crisis. now just a few months ago officials thought this would be a perfect platform for the president to launch a domestic reset, really focusing on the thing happening here in america. of course, with the situation

unfolding in the last months it is going to have to shift a bit to focusing on ukraine. white house press secretary jen psaki really previewed some of what president biden will touch on. take a listen. >> the president will lay out the efforts we are taking, he has taken, he has led on to rally the world to stand up against democracy. he will talk about the steps we have taken to not only support the people but all of the steps he's taken to build a global coalition imposing crippling financial sanctions on president putin and he will talk about the steps he's taking to mitigate president putin's invasion of ukraine on the global economy and the american people. >> reporter: so that mitigation effort psaki was talking about is likely talking about gas prices. president biden pointed americans could feel in their pockets because of this crisis.

this speech happening in a few hours will come a day after u.s. lawmakers were briefed in a classified briefing. afterwards they came out and offered grave warnings about the potential invasion intensifying. i want to read you one quote, one lawmaker said progressing towards blatant siege. asking president biden for more sanctions to deter russia. white house officials have been concerned over what they have seen in the last few days including intensifying violence and more civivilian casualties. this will all be a part of proib's speech that he gives in a few hours. a defining moment of his presidency. the first state of the union speech that he will have as president. michael? >> all right. jasmine, appreciate it. jasmine wright there in washington for us. now social media footage of course has played a key role in

cnn's coverage in the invasion of cnn. ahead, we'll show you how our team verifies the accuracy of the coop tent you see. we'll be right back.

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with up to $750 off a new samsung device. switch today. welcome back. i'm michael holmes coming to you live from ukraine. lviv is the city we're in in the west of the country. cnn has used social media footage in some of our reporting of the russian invasion of ukraine and our network goes to great lengths to ensure the images are real and they are accurate before we present them to our audience. cnn's katie pulvase explains how the investigative team vets the material. >> reporter: social media footage has played a key role in our coverage of ukraine.

it's also really important that we understand the footage is real and accurate and current and so one of the ways we've been doing this is by geo locating that footage. here is an example of how our investigative team has been doing that. >> reporter: it was an alarming scene, russian helicopters flying low over a few kilometers over kyiv with large dark plumes of smoke rising. the man filming said 20 of them were flying over. when this started on february 24th, it was not yet confirmed the russians were anywhere near kyiv. our investigative team began looking to verify it. >> the most important thing is to establish this footage is recent. we checked to ensure it had not been circulating. with that confirmed, we needed to establish the location.

we started 25 miles outside of that area. we zoomed in on the airport and began looking for possible locations. what we then wanted to do was to geo locate it. to geo locate it, we did what's called, geo locate it. we had key identifiable structures. the main most notable one was the yellow building here and a small rooftop structure. you can tell there were white houses. using the screen grabs we went back to google earth to find any situation, any location near the airport that matched that description and luckily we found this. here's the yellow structure and there's multiple white houses and there's also a gray structure nearby as well. because of that arrangement, because of the way they're situated, that had to be the location near the airport where

this footage was filmed. we know the date and we know the location of that footage. with that verified, we were able to put that footage to use. so we sent this footage to cnn's matthew chance and shortly after traveled to where we geo located on the map and he was there live creating an iconic moment when he was at the airport with russian soldiers interacting with him and identifying that they were already so close to the capitol. >> extraordinary, isn't it. the lengths that we go to to make sure it's right before you see it. i'm michael holmes in lviv, ukraine. there will be much more ahead on the russian invasion of ukraine. let's go to my friend isa soares in london. still to come on cnn, as mr. putin pushes into kyiv, the west rages economic war. the economic fallout next with

anna stetewart.

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uncertainty on the ground sending oil prices surging. brent crude surged. in the coming weeks gasoline is expected to hit $4 in the u.s. the price of diesel already hit that mark for the first time in nearly eight years. shell says it plans to exit with gazprom. it's going to stop its partnership with russia. as they cut business ties with russia, crushing western sanctions slamming the country. vladimir putin lashed out at the sanctions calling the west, quote, an empire of lies. meanwhile, the entertainment industry is also taking action following russia's invasion. cnn's sister company warner

brothers says it will halt the film release of batman in russia. disney is pausing the release of the theatrical film in russia. it is cited to, quote, unprovoked invasion of ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis. anna stewart is joining us from russia. this is very widespread. it's from airlines to banks to financials. give us a sense of what you're seeing, how quickly this is escalating for russia economically. >> you can actually see it on the streets. you're seeing huge outside banks. people want to withdraw their savings. yesterday the ruble crashed by more than 30% against the dollar. the value has practically halved. life for russians has gotten more expensive. airlines, particularly in

europe, have canceled all flights to moscow and russia in retaliation has closed their air space. it's not just the people, everyday people, it's also the oligarchs feeling the pinch here. loads of them sanctioned by the e.u., by the u.s., u.k. and other western allies. more were added to the e.u.'s list yesterday. dmitry peskov. mikel freedman and added to the list yesterday he publicly called for an end to the bloodshed. he was born in ukraine, his family is in ukraine. the pressure on president putd continue now looking at people feeling the economic pinch. >> it is about isolating russia, isolating putin making russia an international outcast. talk to us a bit more about the corporate side of things because interesting how quickly

companies now stepping up here. >> they really are. you mentioned the energy giants decided to shed assets, cut ties and so on. some companies are being forced by sanctions to do this. some are choosing to do it on themselves or it's a combination between the government and their boards. very interesting when we're looking at russian state media and what social media giants are doing to restrict what can be seen in terms of misinformation. this battle is being fought in ukraine but also in the spaces of the economy and misinformation. so restricting some of that is really critical. >> the down side, of course, is russians at home won't be able to see what is happening on the ground in ukraine and that is the reality. anna stewart, appreciate t. thank you very much, anna. the sports world is also cracking down on russia. we've just learned the country has been stripped of hosting the men's volleyball world championship scheduled for august as well as september. world tech bondo has stripped the president of a world black

belt given to him in 2013. the international olympic committee said russian and belorussian athletes are banned from all sports. some organizations are doing that. fifa and uefa have suspended the russian national football team saying they stand in full solidarity with ukraine. russian and belorussian athletes have also been suspended from competing with international ice hockey federation, world rugby and the international skating union. all of those groups condemning the violence in ukraine brought on, of course, by russia. a shipment of starling terminals has arrived in ukraine allowing customers to access space internet service providing a backstop for ukrainians who are seeing their service disturbed by the ongoing russian invasion. the country had the vice prime

minister after he tweeted to elon musk. it took less than a tai to reply and confirmed the service was up and running. he said your terminals are on their way. thank you very much for joining us here on cnn. i'm isa soares in london. our breaking news coverage of the russian invasion continues on "new day" with brianna keilar and john berman. you are watching cnn. do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep?

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this is cnn breaking news. good morning to our viewers here in the united states and

all around the world. it is tuesday, march 1st. i'm john berman with brianna keilar and breaking news. russian forces are closing in on ukrainian capitol of kyiv and the second largest city kharkiv suffering a devastating ariel attack. this video came in a short time ago. a russian strike, apparently a missile strike on kharkiv's freedom square. the apparent target that was a government building there. at least six people have been injured including one child though the number of casualties have been yet to be confirmed. this was a daylight attack. you can see people out on the streets there and officials in ukraine decry this as a clear attack on civilian population. the russian invasion is now in its sixth day as ukraine's capitol now braces for what could be the biggest russian offensive. new satellite images show a military convoy more than 40 miles long reaching th