this is cnn breaking news. hello, everyone, i'm kate bolduan. we begin with major developments on the war in ukraine. russia said it will drastically reduce military operations near kyiv and the city of chernihiv as there are signs in progress and talks between russia and ukraine in turkey today. both sides have even discussed the possibility of meeting, a meeting between putin and zelenskyy, but there are countless reasons to be very skeptical. russia continues its relentless

attacks across ukraine. overnight, more shelling in the capital of kyiv. in mykolaiv, the regional state administration building was bombed. local officials saying at least nine people were killed in that. and in mariupol, officials say 90% of the residential buildings had been either damaged or outright destroyed by russian attacks. all comes as cnn learned that u.s. intelligence says now russia is beginning to withdraw some forces away from kyiv in what's described as a major strategic shift. let's begin our coverage with cnn's arwa damon live in istanbul, turkey, on these high stake talks. arwa, what are you learning? >> reporter: well, both sides, ukraine and russia have been calling these talks constructive with turkey saying they have seen the most progress to date when it comes to any kind of talks happening, but it must be said that the bar is quite low. however, any progress, of course, is much better than no progress at all.

a couple of key points to share. one, the issue of crimea annexed by russia in 2014. that the ukrainians are proposing having bilateral conversations to take place over the next 15 years. so effectively, tabling that contentious issue, moving it further down the timeline. now, as we also know, ukraine had been offering to consider itself take on the status of being a non-nuclear neutral state. regarding that, there are further conversations ukraine needs to have. not necessarily at this stage with russia but with countries from whom it wants to see security guarantees. nations that would be acting as guarantor countries such as the u.s., the uk, france, germany and turkey to name a few. what ukraine wants to see is these guarantor nations that would be very similar, if not

more binding than the agreements that nato nations have amongst each other. basically meaning they would come to ukraine's protection if ukraine were to be attacked. both ukraine and russia floating the idea of at some point in time, the country's leaders coming together meeting, although it may be a bit optimistic to be talking about that at this stage, another key issue, kate, humanitarian corridors. discussed but not yet agreed upon at this point. >> so disappointing to hear that. thank you, arwa. really appreciate it. u.s. officials tell cnn that they have seen, they are seeing a major shift in russia's military strategy with some russian forces moving away from ukraine's capital. let's get over to cnn's phil black live in lviv with more on this. what more are you learning about this, what's now being described as a major shift? >> reporter: well, if you believe russia, kate, they say they are doing this, winding down operations, pulling out units from two areas, as a direct response to the progress

that is being made at those talks in turkey. russia said it is pulling back troops from the capital, kyiv, from the northern city chernihiv in order to deescalate its operations there and in its words, to give an opportunity to provide the atmosphere for the proposals that have been put forward, the progress that has been made to evolve into some sort of more substantive peace agreement that can be signed by both parties. what russia doesn't mention is that these are two areas of operation where its forces have, by all accounts, failed in what was thought to be their mission, to take these cities very quickly. it's where russian forces have come to a halt, have not really advanced very far in recent days and weeks and if anything, around the capital kyiv, have even been driven back by recent ukrainian countercoffensives. in assessing these russian moves, you have to remember, these are very specific areas of russia's operations where it was

already performing very poorly. when it comes to other areas like the east and the southeast, russia is still openly pursuing a maximalist political strategy there to control and conquer, what's known as the donbas region. this includes large areas of territory where the humanitarian is and then the port city of mariupol where we know for some four weeks now, about 170,000 people have been sheltering in the ruins of this city with very little food, water, and no heat. and what we do know from these talks is that efforts by ukraine to negotiate some sort of humanitarian cease-fire have so far come to nothing. >> phil, thank you. so president biden, he just wrapped up a call with european allies on this war. the president insists he was not articulating a policy change when he thinks putin shouldn't stay in power.

jeremy diamond live at the white house joining us for more. are you getting a read yet on what's coming from this call? a critical group of allies. >> reporter: not much information yet but we know president biden spoke with these five, sorry, four european nato countries for nearly an hour, speaking with the leaders of the countries of france, germany, italy, and the united kingdom talking about the russian invasion of ukraine. it comes, of course, at a pivotal time, not only days after president biden returns from a trip where he met with many of these nato allies but also as we see signs of potential progress as you were discussing in istanbul with russian and ukrainian officials and of course, we know these countries have been closely working with the u.s. to impose additional sanctions on russia, so there are a range of topics that could be discussed and also comes, of course, just a day after president biden explains his comments over the weekend when he said that president putin cannot remain in power. the president yesterday saying that he was not walking back those comments, but inzusing

t insisting he was not calling for regime change. listen. >> nobody believes we're going to take down, i was talking about take down putin. nobody believes that. the last thing i want to do is engage in a land war or nuclear war with russia. that's not part of it. i was expressing my outrage at the behavior of this man. it's outrageous. it's outrageous. >> now, one of the leaders on that call that president biden was having just this morning was president macron of france who said he would not have used the same language that president biden did in talking about putin not being, should not remain in power and also, in calling him a butcher but of course, president biden insisting that nato remains united as ever. >> jeremy, thank you. are we seeing the first signs of progress in talks between russia and ukraine? is this a turning point in the five week long war? those are some big questions. we're going to discuss next.

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breaking news. there are big developments and talks between russia and ukraine right now. moscow is vowing to drastically reduce military activity near kyiv and the northern city of chernihiv. as u.s. intelligence is also saying they are seeing a major strategy shift by russia with some forces withdrawing away from kyiv. but putin's unrelenting assault across ukraine continues at this very hour. so joining me now, evelyn farkas, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for eurasia and lieutenant general mark hertling. thank you both for being here. the way it was described out of these talks radically at times, reduced military activity from

russia around kyiv and chernihiv from the russian deputy defense minister. and two senior u.s. officials now say the latest intelligence assessment is that russia is beginning to withdraw forces from the area and then the way they're describing it is that russia's executing a quote unquote major strategy shift to focus on now more on gains in the south and east. i say all of that and i really am curious, why is that a major shift? >> it is not a major shift, i don't believe, from a military perspective, kate. this is a withdrawal from a location where they are not seeing any success. i like the term that they're going, the russians say they're going to drastically reduce military activity. i think that reduction has been actually put on them by the ukrainian forces which are continuing to attack and drive them back. it is a critical defeat of russia in the northwest, north

and east of kyiv. that was their main objective and they've been beaten soundly in that area. now, they are trying to get some forces out of there, but from the very beginning of the war, for those of us who have tracked the details, they sent a significant number of forces toward kyiv and they were not able to execute their operations because ukraine put up just a very strong defense. so i see this, they may be attempting to reposition, but ukrainian forces will be able to see that from signals intelligence and tracking satellite intelligence. so they'll be watched if they try and go to other theatres. certainly the russians may be attempting to do something differently in the east or the south, but i just think for the last time, it's 1400 miles from the russian belarusian border where those forces are leaving, down to the south near mariupol. so good luck with getting on some trains and getting down there fast. they're not going to be able to

reinforce very quickly. >> evelyn, the russians made this announcement after another round of talks with the ukrainians today. secretary of state tony blinken is expressing clear skepticism that russia is seriously engaging in these talks. i want to play what he said. >> there is what russia says, and there's what russia does. we're focused on the latter. and what russia is doing is the continued brutalization of ukraine. >> so how can the ukrainians trust what the russians are saying, just to kind of get to what tony blinken was getting at with the understanding that at some point, it doesn't seem like they will be an end to this or they're able to end this war unless they do trust on some level? >> well, kate, it's kind of funny because your producer contacted me and asked me what do i think of this russian, you know, change in, announced change in their military operation and without knowing

what secretary blinken said, i said the same thing. you have to really pay attention to what the russians do, not what they say. from day one, the russians said they weren't going to invade ukraine and then they did. so i would agree with the general. we have to wait and see. they could reinforce and still try to take kyiv, but i think we cannot let up on the humanitarian crisis. i look every day at the news with regard to mariupol. those people are out of water, they're out of food, they're in dark, freezing conditions. no lavatories, no baths in a month, over a month. so we need to make sure that the international community does more, and that's also on the united nations. that's on all the major powers that can influence russia. and certainly, in the south as the general said, there's been no change in the russian military operation. so there are a lot of open questions, but the russians need to do something on the

humanitarian front now. >> so general, let me just ask you about what evelyn is talking about. we heard from reporters coming out of these talks, there's a lot of talks, there's a lot of, we talk about drastically shifting and reducing military capabilities, but one thing that was not agreed upon, i don't know, from the outside looking in, seems like it has to be the most simple and straightforward which is establishing these humanitarian corridors and they cannot, they won't come to an agreement on this. why is that? general? what's your, when you hear that, what do you think? >> you know, first of all, kate, i don't know. i don't know what was in the agreement between the russian and the ukrainians, but if you're withdrawing forces from one area, there might be an attempt at a cease-fire. i haven't heard that term yet, and in conjunction with a cease-fire, you would think it would not just be north of kyiv, it would be everywhere to get the humanitarian relief as evelyn so appropriately said.

here's the point, and i'll put a finer soldier's point on what evelyn said and what secretary blinken said. the russians lie at every opportunity. they do things untrustworthy. trust but verify, it's even hard to do that with the russians. in all of my experiences and i'm sure evelyn would say the same, russia never tells the truth. they say one thing and they do another. so i mean, that's more of an undiplomatic approach to all of this, but i think that's the kind of dialogue that we're seeing in these meetings between russia and ukraine. ukraine can't trust them because they've killed and slaughtered people. so that's the point that it wou humanitarian relief, but we just don't know just yet. >> good point. general, thank you as always. evelyn, thanks. really appreciate it. coming up for us, the fda just made a big announcement about a second covid booster shot. we've got the details right after this.

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this just in. the fda has announced that it is authorizing a second covid

booster shot now for americans over the age of 50. a big step to try and offer extra protection in the event coronavirus rebounds. joining me right now, cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. so sanjay, how significant is this move and how necessary do you think a second booster is now? >> i think this move has been anticipated for some time. i mean, there's been new data that's been coming out of primarily israel trying to figure out how much of a benefit this is, and i think what they sort of landed on was the idea that people who are older and the israel study, it was 60 or 65 and older, seem to get some benefit from getting another booster shot in terms of preventing severe illness and death. three shots was very effective, but four shots seemed to increase that protection specifically among that age group. they didn't find, kate, that there was as much protection in terms of actually reducing the likelihood of infection. so the idea that you could still become infected, whether you've had four shots or three shots, you might get some incremental

benefit from that, but it really was more about preventing severe illness and death, and it was enough data for the fda to now authorize this and i'll show you specifically what they're saying, they're saying for people 50 and older, as you mentioned, but also people who have evidence of immune compromise, who are 12 and older. evidence of immune compromise, they would authorize the shot for them as well. that's sort of where it lands, and the cdc for their part is basically going to say, while we're not formally recommending this, we're saying this is now an option. >> how much of this decision, even though, and it has been anticipated, comes from the concern over the omicron subvariant that we know is hitting western european countries, we know is already now here in the united states. moderna's chief was on with us yesterday and he thinks the subvariant is a real threat. >> i think the way to think about this, it's now the

dominant variant in this country, close to 54 or 55% of new cases, not lethal that it's causing more disease but those who don't have adequate immunity or at risk because of age or being immune compromised, that's the biggest sort of concern is that now, this is so contagious out there that if you've gotten away with things so far, kate, and even despite not having adequate inmnu immunity. and more contagious, less lethal, for those at risk and less vulnerable. >> that's helpful, sanjay, i appreciate the way you putting it the way you do. thank you very much. new developments. new questions now, the investigation into the capital insurrection. "the washington post" is reporting that white house records turned over to congressional investigators show a 7 hour gap in president trump's phone logs from the day

of the deadly siege on the u.s. capital. cnn's whitney wild is live in washington with more details on this. whitney, fill us in. what more are you learning about this? >> reporter: the committee is trying to figure out if they've got everything because these gaps are just so obvious. let's walk through the day. the last call recorded happened at 11:17 a.m. and unidentified person. the next call recorded occurred at 6:54 p.m. to dan scavino. it's widely reported that trump did speak to lawmakers that day and the riot unfolded, tommy, kevin mccarthy among them. another major call missing that's widely reported on is last call with former vice president mike pence in which former president is accused of trying once again to pressure pence to overturn the election results and during which pence said he wouldn't do it, it couldn't be done. according to "the washington post," there's logs of him speaking with top allies like steve bannon, rudy giuliani and

attempting to contact david purdue, mitch mcconnell and josh hawley prior to the riot, after the riot. speaking with campaign adviser jason miller and white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany. kate, this comes on the heel of an explosive court ruling yesterday in which a judge in california said it's more likely than not that the former president did commit a crime when he tried to overturn the election, kate. >> a lot of developments here. whitney, thank you for walking us through it. i really appreciate it. joining me for more on this, cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, jeff rogers and gloria borger. whitney lays out the timeline here of what could be the time frame of what this gap includes, right? as a prosecutor, what questions come to your mind, what questions do you have when you have a gaping hole in documentation and potentially evidence in a critical time period of anything you're investigating? >> well, kate, rarely do you have the opportunity to have a phone log from someone you're

investigating. so that would have been a treasure-trove for them had the law been complied with and actually had given notice of the movements and calls like he's supposed to do under the records act but what they're trying to do is piece together what happened here. whether criminally culpable from the big lie all the way with culminating on the events of january 6th. maybe doj looking into this as well, so you're trying to get at what happened there. that's a critical day, obviously. we know he was talking to people, he wasn't ordering troops to come in and all sorts of things they need to get to the bottom of. this now creates more work for them and they'll have to get this information another way which i think they've already been doing and raises another question for prosecutors at doj if they're pursuing this. was there obstruction of justice here and purposely not calling on the white house phone where records would be generated in order to try to hide what was going on, so that may be a focus for them as well. >> gloria, you've been picking up on a possible problem for quite some time. a focus and interest of the committee on this official white

house phone log, any word on what the committee thinks might be missing from these logs? >> well, they think a lot might be missing because of course, it was the day of the insurrection, and they have a call saying jim jordan at 9:24 in the morning and then nothing again until later in the afternoon when he, there were some reported phone calls. well, we reported, jamie gangel and i back in february was that the phones have always been an issue for donald trump. always worried that people were going to listen in on his phone calls. so what he did was he had some aides who always used to sort of hand him a phone to use if he wanted to make an outgoing call or people would call like dan scavino or mark meadows or even ivanka trump. it was paranoia about people listening in and often left his own cell phone up in the private

residence a lot, but didn't, just didn't like to use the official phone because he didn't want people hearing what he had to say. >> and jennifer, i mean, what do you think of that, the great reporting from gloria on this because what if he used, not what if, gloria, we know from reporting he did use other people's phones quite often on the regular, if you will. how much of a challenge, what more of a challenge does this present in trying to piece together the information you want to get? >> a huge challenge. they have to look to the people around him, right, they can look at the people with him, mark meadows, for example, there with him at the time. they can look to the people who spoke with him a lot to see what's on their phones. but it really is a challenge, especially if they're using these burner phones he claimed no knowledge of, that don't even have subscribers. >> we don't know, there's some reporting that there was a possibility of burner phones but we don't really know. is there, i mean, in the legal

framework, is there a difference between a quote unquote, the definition of baha burner phone? >> not that there's a charge, but if you're a white house employee, there's presumably no reason that you would have that kind of a phone. so it's not that you could charge anyone with that, any legal reason, but if you're actually at trial, you could use that sort of thing to show that, again, it was a way to try to hide what they were doing. >> exactly. gloria, one thing we know what happened in that multi-hour long gap is the eventual trump video from the rose garden. remind and play that for everybody. >> this was a fraudulent election but we can't play into the hands of these people. we have to have peace. so go home, we love you, you're very special. >> and there has been a lot of reporting around the story behind this video. including the belief that there

were multiple takes that they did with the president before they got one they wanted to use. what more do you think the committee wants the know about this? >> they want to see them. they'd like to find those videos and what we don't know at this point is whether they're part of the archival information that will be handed over to the january 6th committee. if the president did do multiple takes and people were standing here saying, you know, that's not good enough, you have to be tougher on the people who stormed the capitol and you have to, you know, they were coaching him, it would be very useful, i think, for the committee as a way to try and look at the president's intent and try to figure out what was going on in his head and how he was really feeling about these insurrectionists, and so if that was the final take that they could get, imagine what the ones before looked like. so we don't know what they're going to say. we don't know, we're presuming the archives has them.

i spoke with someone who said, i said, could it have been taken on someone's cell phone like dan scavino, who usually took a lot of photographs and stuff for the president. i was told probably not, that it would, if it were anywhere, it would be in the archival information. i think we have to wait on that. >> another layer of this just yesterday, dan scavino talking about, he's obviously known to be with the president a lot and one of the people his phone. yesterday, the house committee voted to refer him to the justice department on a criminal contempt of congress charge because he's not cooperating. you layer that in and i'm wondering if they're not cooperating, what are the options to getting this information from other avenues, in other ways to get down to the bottom of this? >> that's really been their problem, the people stone walling them are refusing to cooperate. how are you going to find that, if it's a conversation with someone else, you try to find that person but there's some information if he refuses to turn it over and he and the president are the only two people who have that

conversation, there's no recording of it, you're not going to be able to get it. that's why they're trying so hard with these subpoenas, maybe with the contempt charge would cause him to want to come in. that's, they're trying all of their options and then maybe immunity would be the way to get him in if nothing else works. >> gloria, thank you, as always. >> thanks, kate. coming up for us, as russia makes promises to scale back its attacks in some cities, lviv's mayor is warning ukrainians need to be ready for months of war. he's our guest next. se nagging . uncomfortable period pains. and disruptive muscle acaches. you can count on fast, effective relief with motrin.

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for the first time since russia's invasion of ukraine, both sides are now signaling some progress from talks that took place in istanbul today. russia is saying it is going to scale back its military activity near kyiv and the city of chernihiv. a ukrainian negotiator said there have been enough developments to justify a meeting between zelenskyy and putin at some point. and joining me now is the mayor of lviv, andre sutiva. thank you for being here. in a possible first sign of progress with the peace talks, the russians today say they're

radically reducing military activity near kyiv and chernihiv. what's your reaction to that? >> translator: russia cannot be believed. russia lies all the time. i am speaking to you now from a bomb shelter and as you know, russia is sending missiles all the time. yet today, three missiles were intercepted, heading. on saturday, as you know, six missiles were struck and hitting two large enterprises, two large industrial facilities. so when there is a physical withdrawal from our land, then we can say everything is okay. until then, we do not believe. >> if russian forces are moving away from kyiv, moving away from chernihiv, do you think especially after the attacks that you're seeing now in lviv, do you expect this now means lviv will face more direct attacks, more bombardment? >> today, all cities in ukraine

have very similar situations. i don't know the next target for russian missiles. >> translator: you cannot believe russians, they're lying all the time. and by hitting lviv, they're striking near the border between ukraine and europe, between ukraine and nato. once they withdraw the troops, then we can say it's okay. >> mayor, do you consider lviv a safe place right now? >> all cities have similar situations. and lviv, more safe than mariupol, than kyiv, than chernihiv, but i don't know, the target for russian missiles. >> your city has taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees as well. what kind of strain is that putting on your city as you're

also now facing these attacks? >> you must understand. population of 1 million citizens, but lviv hosts 200,000 refugees. and it is huge pressure to my city, but we would have management in lviv, okay -- >> translator: it's a big train on , strain on our city but we're ready to receive them because they're ukrainians and we're here to help them. >> how long do you expect this war to last, mayor? >> translator: well, i think we need to preserve our energy and keep our forces prepared, at least until the end of summer,

because you can expect anything from russia. look what they've done to our cities and thousands of buildings destroyed. hundreds of hospitals, thousands of people killed and russia today is a nasty country. you can expect anything from them. >> mayor, you said russians, putin cannot be trusted. what is your reaction to hearing president biden say that putin cannot remain in power and then also saying he is not pushing for regime change? >> translator: russia is, russia must end this war and putin must leave office. the whole world must isolate russia because this is the country that is destroying ukrainians and this is a country that's killing us, and it isn't

just one putin. there are 200,000 russian soldiers in our country. they are killing us. they are raping our women and this is what the nazis did in the second world war, and so the whole world, whoever is cooperating with russia now, they must realize that they're cooperating with the nazi. >> mayor, thank you for your time. really appreciate it. mayor of lviv, ukraine. for more information on how you can help the people of ukraine, go to cnn.com/impact. coming up for us, will smith with a second apology saying sorry directly to chris rock but the academy is investigating the shocking incident on live tv. what could happen now? that's next. u? limu? sorrrry, one sec. doug blows a whistle. [a vulture sququawks.] oh boy. ononly pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪

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at this hour, will smith is apologizing directly to chris rock after the actor slapped the comedian in a shocking on-stage incident that played out on live tv during the oscars. in a statement, smith now says that he reacted emotionally after chris rock made a joke about his wife, saying, quote, i was out of line and also saying that his actions were not indicative of the man i want to be, will smith says. on monday the academy announced it's launching a formal review of the incident. joining me is solomon jones, radio host and columnist for "the philadelphia enquirer." the headline of your column grabbed me and a lot of people i was talking to. your headline was, will smith and chris rock should have both known better. you also write this. you write that hitting another black man on the world stage is

an error and our community can't afford it. tell us why. >> well, we are currently undergoing a crisis of gun violence in philadelphia, will smith's hometown, and mine, where we had over 500 murders last year. murders are up 3% this year, at this time, at about 120. and many of those murders we now know start with arguments. they start with disagreements. they start with the inability to solve conflict without violence. and so to see someone of will smith's stature, someone who many of our young people look up to and aspire to be, do something like that on national television sets a terrible example for these young men whose lives we're trying to save. >> you said they both should know better. so chris rock should know better, too? >> absolutely, chris rock should know better. he insulted jada pinkett smith. again, it was a joke in 2016, talking about her decision to boycott the oscars because she

was a tv personality and not someone who was currently in movies at that time. he said she hadn't been invited anyway. and then went back this year and insulted her again. i think that this year, the thing that was different is that jada pinkett smith is experiencing a medical condition called alopecia, and the reason i say chris rock should know better, is that he was the writer and star of a documentary called "good hair" in 2009 that looked at the black hair industry, looked at the disrespect and the disdain around black hair, but looked at also the triumph of black hair. the irony for me is that he interviewed a sister with alopecia and talked about how hurtful it was to go through that and deal with that condition. and so for many reasons, he should have known better, and that's among the chief reasons he should have. >> jada pinkett smith just made her first comment about all of this, posting on instagram just

a little while ago, just the words in here that she posted. this is the season for healing, and i'm here for it. and that is one thing i have to say, solomon, that's been missing in this -- the two days that we've been talking about it is, what does jada -- how does jada feel about it? what do you think of that statement? >> i think it's a powerful statement. i think also that jada pinkett smith is somebody who understands media, understands hollywood. understands the power of a moment and has really benefited from, i think, being very open about what's going on in her family and in her marriage and i think in some ways, maybe that hasn't been helpful for everyone. i look at will smith and wonder if he is dealing with the fallout of having his life and his family's life and his marriage be so public. she talked about an entanglement that she had with another man.

and i just wonder if that creates some stress. i know it would for me, or for most men. and so, you know, i think if it's a season of healing, then i would love to see the two of them kind of heal together and privately and not on this public stage. >> solomon, the academy is now saying it's going to explore further action and consequences for will smith. in the age of cancel culture and the backlash to it, what do you think is appropriate? >> oh, gosh, i think that there has to be a consequence. i would hope that it wouldn't be the ultimate consequence of taking away his academy award. will smith is from my hometown. i have had some interaction with him here when we were much younger, but i think he's always been a good guy. and i think he still is. i think he made a mistake. i think it was a terrible mistake. i think there should be some consequence, but i think he should be allowed to keep his academy award and move forward

from here. >> solomon jones, thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. thanks for being here. before we go, get up to date on the five stories you need to know to start your day. join me each morning on my new cnn+ show, "5 things" at 7:00 eastern and always available on demand. a big first day for us today. sign up at cnnplus.com. cnn's coverage of russia's war on ukraine continues on "inside politics" after this. lisa here, has had many jobs. and all that experience has led her to a job that feels like home. with home instead, yoyou too can become a caregiver to older adults. apply todaday. if you have this... and you get this... you could end up with this..

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watching basketball. not us. i wouldn't do that. this is cnn breaking news. >> hello, everybody. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king in washington. thank you for sharing your day with us. some major developments today in the ukraine war. there is perhaps a glimmer of diplomatic progress. plus, plans we are told for a major shift in russian military movements. ukrainian and russian negotiators, you see them there, meeting for several hours in istanbul today. both side reported some progress. the diplomats went as far as saying the talks might -- emphasis on might -- clear the way for a meeting between president zelenskyy and putin. just as the talks concluded, the kremlin announcing it will drastically reduce military activity around the capital kyiv

and in the chernihiv area in northern ukraine, up near the russian border. senior u.s. officials tell cnn they see this as part of a significant shift in strategy, and they believe russia plans to pull back forces in the north and focus on areas where it has made gains in the south and in the east. russia, though, has said one thing and done another throughout this past month-plus. so we watch with considerable skepticism. but the white house did see enough to juggle the president's schedule today. president biden leading a call with key european allies to discuss the istanbul meeting and next steps. that discussion ran just shy of an hour and came just before one of those allies, president macron of france, had a separate call with russia's putin. fresh images from across ukraine remind us, sadly, that actions do speak more loudly than words. this morning, before the talks, at least nine people were killed by a russian strike on a government building in mykolaiv. and also a new look at the devastation and destruction in the southern port city of

mariupol. heavily bombed city you see there, now largely in rins. we'll get the latest from istanbul and the white house. first to ukraine. phil black joins us live from lviv. what's the latest? >> well, john, by the russian telling, these moves to remove some of its units from around the capital kyiv, from around the northern city of chernihiv, these are a response to progress being made at the talks in turkey. russia's minister of defense says this is all about helping to create an atmosphere where the proposals and the progress that have been acknowledged so far can evolve further, perhaps into a peace deal that can be acceptable to all parties. what the russians don't mention is that in these particular areas, russian forces had effectively come to a standstill. they had failed, really, in what was thought to be their primary mission of swiftly taking the cities. in kyiv, they've been beaten back as ukrainian forces mount

counteroffensive operations. meanwhile, they do not even mention in the east and southeast of the country where they are still pursuing maximal military strategies in the hope of taking and controlling all of the eastern donbas region, including the port city of mariupol and indeed much of the south of ukraine as well. and the point to remember is that whatever reduction in force russia is pointing to or claiming to make at the moment, it is not even remotely close to being a cease-fire. ukr ukraine's efforts to try and negotiate that have gone nowhere, even for humanitarian reasons. and we saw that russia is still very willing to use its firepower to apply pressure on ukrainian forces and indeed civilians when it struck that government building in the southern city of mykolaiv this morning, punching a hole, causing immense damage to that structure and killing at least nine people, john. >> when we stop seeing pictures

like that, we'll then consider progress. important reporting from lviv. let's get to istanbul now. the russian and ukrainian delegations did report a better tone and some progress. but let's put it to the test. arwa damon joins us live. what did we learn? >> well, john, let's put it this way. better tone and constructive talks. the bar is pretty low. sadly. but some sort of progress is most certainly better than nothing at all. that being said, you know, both sides did talk about the need for a humanitarian cease-fire, but they were unable to even agree on that. so what is everyone referring to at this stage? what we do know is that the ukrainian side has put forward what's being described as a series of concrete proposals to the russians. they are now going to be taking that back, discussing it even further. among them are things like, and this could be significant if it's accepted by the russians, the fate of crimea.

annexed by russia in 2014. ukraine proposing that there be bilateral talks for the next 15 years. effectively pushing that issue out of this current set of negotiated points down to another time in the future. when it comes to what needs to happen right now, well, as we have been reporting, ukraine is saying that it is willing to consider, take on being the -- having the status of a non-nuclear neutral state. this would mean that ukraine would basically no longer be able to, in the foreseeable future, become a member of nato because in being a nuclear state, that would mean that it would not be able to be party -- the third party to any sort of conflict. but, john, for ukraine to be able to accept this, it wants security guarantees. and those security guarantees, not just from the russian side. it wants them from a number of western nations, including the

united states as well. >> even if you made progress on those fronts, that sounds like a process that takes a very, very long time and the bombing continues. let's get to the white house. this morning president biden did speak with key european allies. mj lee is there for us. what is the white house saying? >> we are seeing, john, on a daily basis the u.s. continuing to coordinate with its allies. the president just wrapped up a call with eu leaders, including the leaders of the uk, france, germany and italy. this was a call that lasted almost an hour. so we'll wait to see what the official read out from the white house says. this call, of course, coming on the heels of president biden yesterday standing by his controversial comments from over the weekend where he said vladimir putin cannot remain in power and not only that, he really downplayed some of the concerns raised by those comments. but they could escalate the conflict, that they could be used by russia propaganda. he said that he is not concerned about any of those things. we'll soon see if the eu leaders that he spoke with this morning

agree with his assessment of those comments. john? >> mj lee, live at the white house. let's get some important insights from angela, the senior fellow at the brookings institution and author of "putin's world." let's just start with russia says it's going to stop or at least drastically reduce military operations around kyiv and more to the north along the russian border in the chernihiv region. it says it's doing that because there's been modest progress and diplomacy. you believe that for a second or do you think putin is reassessing and cutting his losses? >> i think the russian army has not been doing nearly as well as it thought it would. it hasn't been able to capture kyiv. so they're going to focus, as they said last week, on this donbas region. on the extended donbas region. and consolidating, unfortunately that control over that devastated city of mariupol. what that means is you could see a partition of ukraine going forward, if the russians control that southeastern part of ukraine. >> you can see an attempt at a partition.

the question is would the west go along which is why, at this moment, it's good to have diplomats at the table talking. it's frustrating when they keep talking and people keep dying because of the bombs falling from the sky. this is antony blinken saying, sure, we'll listen to what russia says, but what russia says is not most important. >> there is what russia says, and there's what russia does. we're focused on the latter. i can't tell you whether these statements reflect some reorientation of the aggression to focus only on eastern and southern ukraine or whether this is a means by which russia once again is trying to deflect and deceive people into -- it's not doing what it is doing. >> you mentioned perhaps putin's plan b or plan c would be to just take a slice. take a bigger slice. you already have crimea. take the donbas region and try to create that land bridge along the southern ports. would he be open to negotiating

that if zelenskyy says we can talk about crimea, but it's going to take 15 years? if you want to talk about the donbas, we have to meet face-to-face. is that something putin would be open to doing or is this putin is going to show force period? >> i doubt it because from the very beginning, before the war started, putin said we're really only focused on this donbas region and the genocide against russians by ukrainians. he can't really step back from that. so i think what we have to look for, i mean, we'll see if the russians are serious about negotiations. first of all, if they start off with a cease-fire and allowing the ukrainians to have a humanitarian corridor. they haven't been willing to do that yet. >> that's a key point. we were talking before we came on the air. again, good to have diplomats at the table. good there's at least an avenue for communications, but you would want to see first a cease-fire and expanded humanitarian effort. then you'd at least no know both sides are serious. >> i think without that, the russians may be using this as a delaying tactic. let's sit down and talk. the people who are negotiating on the russian side are not very

senior officials. we don't know really what their mandate is. so i think we really have to -- i would wait for, can there be a cease-fire, even if it's for 24 or 48 hours and do the russians honor that? because the previous one that they announced, they then started shelling civilians. so that's the kind of thing we have to look for. >> secretary blinken shares your skepticism. >> yeah. >> he's saying let's watch it play out. so the president decides to add this phone call with the european allies knowing that president macron is going to speak to putin later this morning. what's the challenge for the united states? as russia starts to say publicly, we are de-escalating. we are stepping back. we are open to diplomacy. assuming it's putin just reassessing and moving on or just plain bluffing. what's the challenge for the president of the united states? >> the challenge is to keep the western alliance together. the u.s. has done very well so far having unity with its a allies, but you already see them looking for any sign that putin is willing to make compromises.

let's think about lifting some of these sanctions. and president macron has this role now. he wants to be the chief european negotiator. he's on the phone all the time with putin. he's trying to carve out this role. he's up for re-election soon. so, of course, as you know, he criticized essentially president biden for what he said about putin. >> we'll see if macron can get anything out of him. angla, thanks for your time. coming in, cnn is on the ground in kyiv. a member of ukraine's parliament gives us her firsthand account of the devastation, next. no wayyyy. no waaayyy! no way! [phone ringing] hm. no way! no w way! priceline. every trip is a big dedeal. i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance

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robert costa obtained white house logs detailing then-president trump's many phone calls that morning and evening. and the post reporting puts a stunning new time stamp on something cnn was first to report last month. that there's a gap in the white house logs. the post reporting that gap in the records turned over to the national archives and now to the january 6th committee is, get this, 7 hours and 37 minutes long. bob woodward is with us. author of many books including the book "peril." it's great to have you in. >> thank you. >> one of the frustrating things of being a great reporter as you are and your colleague bob costa, you uncover this great information and it raises more questions. you have this seven-hour-plus gap. the question is, do these records exist? were they not taken that day? are they hidden somewhere? were they destroyed? >> what's so important what the january 6th committee is doing is very aggressive effort to

talk to everyone, get every piece of paper, chase it down like a reporter who has time. and i got to know from very well during the 2020 campaign when he would -- i was talking to him and we did 17 interviews, he would call any time. and he is a telephone addict, and the idea that nothing happened in the afternoon on the phone january 6th is as unlikely as the sun not rising, quite frankly. >> it's a critical point. we have great report about trump's phone behaviors. we have cnn reporting that we know chris christie, the former governor called him that day. went through the assistant. not in the records we have here. so the question is, do these records exist. we also know if you do look at these logs that you have, we've printed them out.

you see the name dan scavino, nick luna in some of these. we know from our own reporting that at times the president would ask people to give him a phone. so there were phones around. he'd either use someone else's phone or ask for a cell phone. that's the part the committee is trying to put together because this gap, seven hours-plus is the critical moments just before, during the incursion, while the vice president, speaker pelosi, all the lawmakers' lives are at risk, just after. that's the part we don't know. >> yes, but they'll figure it out or they'll get parts of it. and it is -- i remember talking to trump one afternoon. i called him. i had some questions. this is in 2020 before the election. and he said, oh, i can't talk. i have 20 generals waiting downstairs. and then he talked for 25 minutes. you almost couldn't get him off the phone, and it would appear any time.

so to have seven hours and 37 minutes' void, where in the morning he's talking to ten people, in the evening he's talking to 12 people and then there are calls that we don't know about that didn't go through. so there is work to be done, but it's the context of making this assessment of how he did his job, what he was up to on this day, in many ways, the most important day of his presidency, an assault on the capital, unprecedented, and i -- i have a lot -- i think you and i talked about this. very skeptical about what the january 6th committee was able to do, and they are delivering in a way i did not expect. >> and so they are delivering in a way. let's put up some of who he did

talk to in the morning. one of the challenges is you see he spoke to one of the attorneys helping him with the election was stolen idea. rudy giuliani, jim jordan, all people trying to help him ignore the will of the people. you know they spoke to them in the morning. bill bennett. steven miller, senator david perdue. the challenge is the committee can go back to all of these people and say, is that the only time you spoke to him? did you call him again? did you call him in this period where we have the gap? that's what they've been doing, bringing people in. what was happening in those hours from general kellogg, mike pence's national security adviser. they learned ivanka trump came in trying to get her father to do more to stop it. how much progress are they making in trying to fill in what's not in the records with testimony? >> i think it's significant. and because the question is, okay, you talked to the president on this day or during

this gap and what was his posture? well, we know publicly and from the calls that are there, he was the -- the election was stolen, at this moment, after the election being held. it's the day -- most important day for the constitution to say, who is going to be president? there is a certification process that's laid out in the constitution and the law, and this is a subversion of that by trump consistently, permanently as we know the january 6th committee has said. they make a good-faith conclusion that this was a criminal conspiracy by trump and some of his aides. so can you -- the question here is, can you subvert the constitution and the law?

that is the test for the january 6th committee. people in our business and for the country. and if you can, what do we have? >> that's a great question. one last question. there are two parties to every phone call. if you don't have the records from the white house detailing in that gap period who the president was on the phone with, do we know how successful the committee has been getting records of the other parties, people who they think -- suspect might have talked to the president or know, said they talked to the president. so you can piece it together and say, the white house may not have these records for whatever reason, but we have proven it from the other end? >> one of the lawmakers has told bob costa and i that they have -- i mean, take this. call data records that may be 2 million pages. and so these are all avenues of

inquiry that can be pursued. so they're hot on the trail. but everyone said, well, this is kind of a partisan battle. this isn't hot on the trail for the democratic party or the republican party. it is hot on the trail for, are we going to follow the law and take it seriously? we had a president who was not only not taking it seriously he was actively working to thwart the grandest thing. it's the people who believe in the constitution, the originalists who -- and it makes it very clear what's at stake here. so work to be done. >> work to be done but a dark day in history that must be recorded. bob, appreciate you coming in. appreciate the work of your colleague bob costa as well. as russia makes promises to

scale back attacks in some cities, you see it there, brand-new video on the ground. this is irpin just northwest of kyiv, next. . line? need. liberty biberty— cut. liberty.y... arare we married to mutual? only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. libeberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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reclaimed that city from russian forces. cnn cannot independently verify that claim. russia today says it will drastically reduce military activity in that area around the capital city of kyiv. they believe this is part of a major strategy shift with russia now pulling back from areas where it has met fierce resistance and suffered casualties. a member of the ukrainian parliament joins us live from kyiv. grateful for your time. i know and i understand why you don't trust anything putin says or russia says. but when the russians say they're going to pull back from the attacks on the capital area, are you seeing or hearing any change? is today any different from yesterday? >> yesterday is different in a way that we are hearing more explosions from the northwest of the city. and that is the only way that i'm seeing the difference. i'm hearing the difference as we speak right now. like not literally right now, but about 15 minutes ago, i was hearing the blasts coming from

the northwest of the city. and that means that there are battles taking place over there. and we hope that this is the ukrainian army pushing the russians further because it did push them further from the city of irpin, and regain control over the city. but frankly speaking, i do not see any signs that the russians are taking their troops away from kyiv. and also about four to five air raid alerts during the day today. that means that they are targeting the city. and they are trying to, you know, hit yet another target here in the city with the missiles that they are sending towards kyiv. that's what you see from the ground here. >> that in and of itself that we're 34 days into this is a significant failure for the russians who thought they could march on kyiv in a number of days. they've failed to do that and have met fierce resistance. what's the situation on the ground in terms of your daily life and ability to get food, water and medicine, if necessary? have russians been successful at

choking off supplies, or has that failed as well? >> well, if you go to the supermarket, of course, the selection of food is smaller than it used to be. six, eight weeks ago. but you get basic supplies, yes. you can easily get that. there are no problems with that. so we are seeing some shortages of specific medicines which are not being delivered. we are seeing many shops actually close down. but you can clearly -- there are no problems with that. >> both sides saying the tone was better and they're talking about some progress. you tweeted last hour about the peace talks. in order to make a deal, you need to trust the person you're making a deal with. can anyone say they can be absolutely sure that putin will keep his word? i will remind you a week before the war he was saying he wasn't going to attack ukraine. everything you say there is true. and yet, and yet, do you see any path out of this, other than

negotiations? >> well, i will be the pessimistic voice in that, frankly speaking, because, unfortunately, i do not. i believe the russians are using the negotiations and talks in order to regroup their forces. they are saying that they will take the troops away from the city of kyiv. they have corrected that statement a bit later they said that, we quote here, the escalation in the kyiv and chernihiv regions does not mean a cease-fire and that is what we are seeing here right now is there is no cease-fire. but we believe here that they will move the troops to donbas region and that that is not, you know, how you build trust. if you just move the same troops just to a different area where they have made bigger progress than around kyiv. that's not the basis for trust in those negotiations yet again. so i am afraid and i'm saying that with very heavy heart that the way to resolve this issue is militarily. unfortunately. i wish there were diplomatic

solution. but the diplomatic solutions that have been proposed, the cease-fire that will lead to yet another war in a month, a year or eight years from the day that those signed. >> inna, member of parliament, grateful for your perspective and admirer of your courage as you stay in kyiv throughout this. appreciate your time. we'll stay in touch. >> thank you. ahead for us, the latest from the ukrainian battlefield and what to watch for as russia says it will reduce military activities in kyiv and to the north in chernihiv. i didn't know my genetic report could tell me i was prone to harmful blood clots. i travel a ton, so this info was kind of life changing. maybe even lifesavg. ♪do you know what the future holds? wayfair has everything i need to make my home totally me.

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russia says it's pulling forces back from the kyiv area and senior u.s. officials say they do believe there could be a major strategy shift afoot. not just an effort to regroup. the pentagon today says it sees more of a russian focus to the south and to the east. >> certainly they've got a repritiesation in the east and they've stalled in the south. in the early days, that's where they were making the most progress. now the ukrainians are clawing back territory in the south as well. >> wesley clark joins us now to share his expertise and perspective. russia says -- russia says, emphasis on russia says because we need to put proof fo it, that it's going to pull back here in this part of the country where it was trying to get to kyiv and

has suffered heavy casualties and fierce resistance. it says it's going to pull back and the pentagon believes it will focus on other parts of the country. do you believe it? from your perspective and your experience, what do you watch for? where's the proof? >> yeah, well, i think the first point is that the russians tried to eat the elephant in one bite. and they couldn't do it. the ukrainians always told us they didn't have enough force to conquer the country at once. the ukrainians were right. so the russians are engaged in too many places. they're going to pull the forces, some of the forces out of the north. not all those forces are going to move into belarus and reorganize. in the meantime, what they're going to try to do is shift the main effort to isolating and encircling the group of ukrainian forces that are holding the eastern don boss, try to encircle those forces and destroy them. when mariupol falls, if it does, those mariupol forces will join that encirclement.

and then when that's completed, they've got a choice of either going after odesa or going north and trying to finish the encirclement of kyiv. so these are operational decisions that the russians will make based on the circumstances at the time. but what's important to note for our viewers is that there's no change in putin's desire to eat the whole elephant. and you hear the diplomacy, the talks about maybe there's going to be a peace talk, blah, blah, blah. this is part of the russian strategy. they want to forestall the assistance that the ukrainians need. the ukrainians produce no ammunition. they can't manufacture anything in that country with russian air strikes. the russians are building up their forces and if the ukrainians don't get the support they need from the west, then the end is a foregone conclusion. and it is not in the interest of nato to allow this to happen. >> to that point, not in the interest of nato to allow this to happen. we learn just today there's some

ukrainian forces across the border in poland getting training from u.s. and other nato assets. one of the weapons being provided on the javelin, an anti-tank guided missile that can be fired from the shoulder. also stinger missiles which can be used as anti-aircraft air defense system. just from your perspective as the former nato supreme allied commander, how quickly can you train up a ukrainian service member who is used to using russian-made equipment, to use this? >> a few days. three days, five days of training. these guys are going to be ready to go. and but, john, these are essentially defensive weapons. we started giving these to the ukrainians when we thought they might only last for three or four days against the russian forces. in order to stand against the russian assault, they need armored forces. they need long-range artillery. more ammunition. armored vehicles. they need air support. and that's the stuff that we can't provide.

we don't have the right armored vehicles, right artillery, the right ammunition for them. that has to come from our east european allies. and we've got to get them to belly up to the bar and start providing it because a ukrainian success on the battlefield is certainly in the interest of romania, bulgaria, poland, slovakia, hungary and the rest of these countries and they've got to start giving that support much more generously. >> general clark, as always, appreciate your insights. we'll watch to see if that happens in the important days ahead and continue the conversation. up next for us, president biden's morning strategy call with top european allies and what he calls now his moral outrage at vladimir putin. for strength and energy. woo hoo! ensure, complete balanced nutrition with 27 vitamins and minerals. and ensusure complete with 30 grams s of protein. ♪ ♪

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any minute we're expecting to hear from president biden at the white house. he's meeting right now and will speak soon with singapore's prime minister. last hour biden said russia is testing the world order. >> rule-based order is facing unprecedented challenges. russia's unprovoked and unjustifiable war against ukraine is an urgent threat to both europe, and i believe the indo-pacific as well. >> the president spoke with the leaders of france, germany, the united kingdom and italy to discuss the next steps on this, now day 34, of the russian invasion of ukraine. with me, laura barron-lopez of politico, olivia knox of the "washington post" and sabrina siddiqui of "the wall street journal."

we just got the read out from the uk, 10 downing street, of this call. and the language suggests they -- the leaders understand we're in this for the long haul. not only does it condemn russian barbarism. but it talks about we must judge putin's regime by their actions, not their words. putin is twisting the knife in the open wound of ukraine. that seems to be an effort by the uk prime minister to say, i don't believe this optimistic tone coming out of the istanbul talks. prove it. >> that's right. a trust, but verify, readout from the british saying they're not going to take the bait on the russians announcing a recalibration of their military operation away from the ukrainian capital of kyiv. they're not going to take the bait on those comments about the negotiations. it is very much a, we're still on this, we're full speed ahead. by the way, we may be in this for a very long haul. a lot of the steps the united states and allies are announcing are actually hard to unravel down the road. >> steps like kicking russia

completely out of the world trade organization, out of the g8, any international architecture. >> especially the world trade organization. so it's taking acts of congress, legislatures around the world, to do this. to suspend them or expel them. when and how do you generate the political will to let them back in after everything you've seen in eastern europe over the past year or eight years? >> and the challenge for the president has been, if putin, as he does, says, oh, i'm going to pull brack from kyiv, oh, democracy is making progress. it's keeping everyone together. i found the energy line so important because putin's guess as been at some point they'll feel too much pain and pull out which is why the president says this phone call is to keep everyone on the same page. >> keep them moving towards a direction where they're less reliant on russia period. this comes off the trip where biden was over there talking to eu, talking to nato trying to move them in a direction where they were less dependent on russian oil and starting to move

them towards natural gas and u.s. providing more exports. so that is something that biden is going to have to be focused on and making sure that all of the steps they've taken along the way, including the u.s. steps that they don't just roll them back right away to olivier's point, because of the fact they aren't sure how -- no one thinks that putin is trustworthy and these comments should be taken, you know, as such. >> certainly biden administration officials i've spoken to see no evidence that russia is earnestly engaging in peace talks. we heard secretary of state antony blinken say there's what russia says and what russia does. there's questions around whether this recalibration is an effort to conceal some other potential military action by moscow is it simply because of the unexpected military losses that the russians have suffered from and so i think they're very clear questions that the biden administration has about whether they oar we are actually on any kind of path toward a resolution to this conflict. and also we've heard the biden

administration take a tough line. the president calling putin a war criminal. saying putin cannot remain in power, even if they say they're not advocating for regime change. that creates a landscape where it's hard to see the u.s. easing any sanctions against russia any time soon. if anything it really just escalates the rhetoric and furthers their efforts to make put be a pariah on the world stage. >> to that point, today's phone call serves the purpose of the president of the united states saying no harm done from those remarks. where there was a lot of anxiety around the world. what did he mean? was the united states going on the record in favor of regime change when he said, my god, this man cannot remain in power. he has a phone call with the key allies. we're still together, even if they may not like the words i chose. yesterday he explained himself and said he was not backtracking, he did not make a mistake. he said this. >> i'm not walking anything back. i was expressing the moral outrage i felt toward the way putin is dealing and the actions of this man. just brutality.

i want to make it clear. i wasn't then, nor am i now articulating a policy change. i was expressing the moral outrage that i feel and i make no apologies for it. >> you can understand the moral outrage. he had just been in poland and saw the refugee crisis. he has access to information none of us have. he says he's not walking it back. he was cleaning it up. >> a couple of audiences for this statement. i don't think putin is one of them. he's called him a killer, criminal, butcher, leader of a paranoid regime and said on two occasions that vladimir putin doesn't have a soul. there were two audiences. one is the american people who toll pollsters they're worried about a widening of the u.s. military role in the war in ukr ukraine. the other is all the third parties on the world stage. the indias, chinas, south africas, maybe even the israelis. a lot of people who are watching this who have not openly condemned russia for its invasion and who, by the way, remember how frequently america turns to regime change as its

policies whether it's in panama or iraq or afghanistan or the really big one, libya, where barack obama used nato air power to ultimately help the rebels there take out moammar gadhafi. >> you can see how important this was to the white house. the president who throughout his career, sometimes it's charming, sometimes gets him into trouble. he speaks off the cuff quite a bit. sometimes his tongue happens to be on live television, gets out ahead of your brain. it's called being human. the president had these notes yesterday when he went out there. the white house putting for him, you know, they're going to get aske question. if you weren't advocating for regime change, what did you mean? can you clarify? the president has his answer on his notecard. this was important to him. let's set the record straight. >> and also not on the notecards but he mentioned this yesterday to your point was that he had just come from the refugee camp where he was holding children, talking to mothers who were crying about the devastation that was in ukraine and his emotion got the best of him

because it was not in his prepared statement, the line that he made. and that's why the white house in the days right after and then in his comments yesterday, felt the need to really clarify that this is not a policy change. >> and you see these numbers. concerns of americans. cost of goods of gasoline will increase. world involved nuclear weapons. but the last one, the u.s. will send american troops to ukraine. 74%. the president trying to say i've got this. it's hard but it's not going to involve u.s. boots. >> the president has been clear there's no intention to send u.s. troops into ukraine. they've obviously continued to rule out a no-fly zone and reiterating that there is no change in u.s. policy when it comes to regime change. certainly no attempt here to broaden the conflict. but that's still a concern given the escalatory rhetoric from the president of the united states himself. >> appreciate everybody. coming up next, oil markets respond sharply to russia's word that it would drastically reduce its military involvement in two ukrainian cities. that's possibly, possibly, going to change gas prices.

that's next.

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eligible to get another shot of either pfizer or moderna vaccines as soon as four months after their first booster. cdc is expected to approve the authorization but is not expected to officially recommend those shots. big day here in the cnn family. cnn+ is here. live news, supreme exclusive films and original series and participate in interactive interviews. learn more today at cnnplus.com. we'll see you back here again tomorrow. ana cabrera and don lemon pick up our coverage right now. this is cnn breaking news. >> hello. thanks for joining us. i'm ana cabrera in new york. don lemon is with us in lviv, ukraine. today a major shift in strategies. senior u.s. officials tell cnn the russians are withdrawing some forces from the kyiv area. that yellow on the map are areas around the capital where ukraine says they've pushed th