hello, and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm john vause, at the cnn center in atlanta. as we head into the midnight hour on the u.s. east coast, almost the entire state of florida is bracing for the impact of hurricane ian, a monster storm stressing 500 miles across. which earlier made landfall on cuba, blocking out the eyelids electricity grid and causing a nationwide blackout. 11 million people right now are in the dark, waiting for morning to assess the damage. as of, now there are no reports of fatalities. since leaving cuba, ian has grown in strength, fueled by the warm waters of the gulf of mexico, as it heads towards florida, now category 3, with sustained winds of 135 miles per hour. along with life-threatening storm surge, florida is facing catastrophic flooding and strong powerful winds. all they, long tuesday, residents across the state

braced for the hurricane to make landfall. now expected the first forecast, and further south. in some parts, ian is already being felt. the situation will deteriorate throughout the night. authorities are warning that some areas will see more than two feet of rain. right now, more than two and a half million people are under some form of evacuation warning. and as of this hour, officials warn that time is fast running out to leave. >> you still have time to do. it you do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles. obviously if you have friends, family, some of, that that's preferable. but as a last resort, the shelters are open. and i would just urge people to take advantage of that. it's, i know it's not easy sometimes to leave your home. and i know that people want to not want to see something bad happened when they get. back but stakes are high. this is a very powerful storm. >> cnn meteorologist pedram javaheri is tracking the storm. with us but let's start with their van dam in clearwater, florida. derek, where and when it will

make landfall, seems like a moving target. so, you're in the path of the hurricane, what you expect right now, when expect worse to? come >> yeah, unfortunately, john, all of the ingredients are coming together for the perfect storm here, really the worst-case scenario for so many locations across the southwestern peninsula of florida. we've got tampa, about 150 kilometers to my north. and also the fort myers region, about 200 kilometers to my south and west. and if it's anything like the national hurricanes, the acting director of the national hurricane center said to my colleague jennifer gray early this morning, that people need to stop looking at the internet and wish that the storm is going away. because it is not. it is on our doorstep, and it's gigantic. it's growing in size as it approaches the peninsula. it's an extremely dangerous category 3, and now a forecast category 4 upon arrival. what's made this storm particularly interesting is

that the wind field continues to expand. and let me tell you why that's important. because what a larger hurricane, that means we have the potential to push up more of the ocean water, right? the gulf of mexico very shallow. and it does not take much wind to start piling that up along the western shoreline. that's exactly what's happening here. the manatee river, directly behind me, gulf of mexico, just over my right. there's a lot of water there. a lot of warm water. that's also going to fuel the development of the storm right up to landfall. the trajectory, the way that the storm is moving in is so crucial as well. because yesterday, 24 hours ago, we had a storm that was projected to basically parallel and crawl along the coastline of florida. that would also maximize the impacts. but would also allow for a slow-moving storm and weakening storm upon arrival. but it's changed now. we have more of a perpendicular approach to the coastline. and why this matters is because

that will allow for an earlier arrival of the strongest winds. and it's going to give last time for major hurricane eta to weaken. so, we are anticipating a powerful, using the words for the national hurricane center, catastrophic wind damage storm. and the potential for incredible amounts of storm surge along the coastline of where we are located, john? >> derek, thank you, we appreciate that update there from bradenton, florida. let's go to pedram javaheri, falling all this at the cnn weather center. ian was expected to make landfall in venice, and then around the bradenton area where derek is. now it's around -- , further to the south. why is it keep changing? and what are we expecting right? now >> john, every time we get an update from the national hurricane center, precisely showing exactly what you. said just avoid it further towards the east or the south. and -- atmosphere certainly changed. you'll notice the storm surge threats remain large. and energy now shifted able further to the south. just to show you how things have played out, we're talking

about a storm that is a strong category 3, forecast to get up to possibly a category 4 here. maybe 12, 14 hours before landfall. 100 miles or so south of naples at. this hour but the concern is that this comes a short far earlier, far stronger than what was initially estimated here. possibly as early as 1 pm on wednesday afternoon, as maybe late as five or 6 pm. as you notice, the guidance on the models shifting for the south as well. john, your talk about seeing these initial models keep this offshore. well, typically, 2 to 3 days out, forecast models have an average air of about 50, maybe 75 miles of spread within those model guidelines. you really cannot fall in love with any one particular guidance. but you kind of follow the trend. and every time we saw it shift south, we got a better idea that the system was probably going to end up farther south. tell you what, right now, port charlotte looks to be the most likely scenario in areas south of this region. but i would not be surprised if further models coming in over the hours shift is further to the south, meaning a stronger

storm gets there a little bit sooner than even expected. we have to keep in mind, as derrick noted, this is a massive storm system. cloud field 700 miles across. these tropical storm force winds 140 miles away from the center. so, even if you are not near the system, 40 miles away from, you are going to feel tropical conditions. and that's the concern. and that's why our friends across orlando, disney world shutting down operations over the next 24 hours because of the system. and the impact will have. back this morning, you're going to see these tropical force winds as we transition into the early morning hours of wednesday, pushing in towards this region. so again, the impacts wide reaching. the storm surge threat a little further to charlotte harbour, john. >> pedram, thank, you appreciate the forecast there, and derek, we appreciate the live report from bradenton, florida, as well. in many parts of florida, police and fire departments, as well as other emergency responders, will soon decide conditions are too dangerous to respond to calls for help. in tampa, which is especially unprepared and vulnerable for the storm, officials are warning residents of the very real risk to property and life. cnn's ryan young has our

report. good, hey, we're coming by and letting everyone know we're in a mandatory evacuation situation. >> the tampa bay area, in its final hours of hurricane preparations. tampa bay police making last-ditch efforts to warn residents to leave flood zones. now >> we're reinforcing the idea that you're in an area that you need to evacuate. >> this is not a drill. >> this is not the time to stay. >> serious warnings to residents here. this vulnerable area expected be the crosshairs of hurricane ian as it barrels towards the west coast of florida. >> we have over 120 miles of coastline just in the city of tampa. >> at least 2.5 million floridians under various evacuation orders. it's a storm that's predicted to cause water damage like none before it. >> we're talk about ten or 15 inches of rain on top of the surge. that is unprecedented. no infrastructure is built for that. >> with this hurricane, a

direct hit is not necessarily going to cause flooding. a slow-moving storm's predicted stall just off the coast of tampa bay starting wednesday evening. >> going to be in our rivers, so to be in our streams, it's gonna be in our canals. it's going to be in our storm water drains and ditches. >> sandbag locations around tampa closed today at 2:00. residents doing what they can before heading out. >> i would say were light. but we are -- we think that if it is a storm surge issue, we will try to seal the openings of the house. >> former florida congressman jim davis and his wife are not taking chances. they're prepping their house and getting out. >> i'm not a very good gambler. and it's a bit of a gamble if you do not take it seriously. >> the word storm surge is something we heard over and over. steady officials are concerned that people will try to drive through water as it starts to rise throughout the city. if you look at hospitals and how they're preparing, you can see those barricades have been put up. that's to stop the water from affecting hospital operations. but again, they are concerned about people who decided not to evacuate and try to ride this out. ryan young, cnn, tampa,

florida. >> let's bring in anna j., jack an extreme storm chaser, who right now is in -- beach florida. erin, thank you for being with us. >> yeah, thank you very much for having. me >> okay, so to make it more extreme in size, possible storm surge, and even. it seems florida has never seen a storm like this before. >> you know, florida, it gets quite a few cat three and above storms. i think one in every three storms is rated cap. three you know, a couple years, ago in 2018 i was in a cat five hurricane michael. so, i certainly, they can get the big storms here in florida. >> in terms of size, i mean it looks like hurricane charlie, which is also a category 3, there's almost 20 threes ago, but was only 50 miles wide, or 20 miles wide. this one is five, hundred 700 miles wide. and moving -- , dropping a lot of water. >> yeah, it's a massive. storm and you know, when you get these big storms like, that like they can, cause they can make the storm surge much worse.

and that's one of the biggest concerns we've got right now. and it's a little bit south of fort myers, and i'm watching this path of the storm. and it looks like it could potentially, worst-case scenario, for the fort myers cape coral area with a massive storm like that being able to push that, that water up into the coast >> emergency officials seem the slow-moving nature of the storm and how long florida will be delimit. listen to fema. >> by the time it reaches the shores of florida, the storm is gonna slow down to approximately five miles per hour. and this is significant, because what this means is that floridians are going to experience the impacts of this storm for a very long time. >> a very long. time how does that translate into actual time on the ground in terms of hours or days? and when will florida actually be clear of ian? >> so, it looks like, once it comes onshore, make a little bit of a turn to the north and actually go right through the

orlando area. and of course, it will weaken as it moves across florida. you know, it could take the better part of -- probably all day tomorrow. there will be bad conditions across florida all day tomorrow, into the evening hours. and even into thursday, the next day, they will probably still be,, as it moves north across florida, still be getting those tropical storm force winds, all the way to midday thursday, maybe late thursday. >> and the fact that the landfall is actually moving further to the south, then it was predicted a little earlier. but that territory that's now aiming, for that is obviously an improvement from an earlier forecast which took a close in tampa, right? >> i mean, it's better obviously for tampa. but it's just putting different people at risk now. and, you know, i've been kind anticipating this southward trend all day. actually, for a couple of days. so, i'm never really thought the models, the solution, that wasn't going to. tampa and that's why i arrived in orlando last night. and my plan was to get down here to the south, towards fort miles, cape canaveral, bonita springs, which is actually little south of fort myers.

and i'm still continue to anticipate further moves to the south there. and that is, that is a worst-case scenario. and going up towards tampa the models before showed stalling out and weakening more as. dry air sheer affected from the west. but now it just looks like it's coming in a little faster, and a little further south. that is going to be able to maintain that strength, it looks like it will maintain that category 4 strength that it should intensify too. possibly tonight, overnight tonight, it t could become category 4. and d that only means that it's going to become e a worse storm now for the area down here. better for tampa, but worse off for people further south down the coats. >> tampa, the third biggest city in florida, that's a key point in all that. but aaron, thank you so much for ing with us. r extreme storm chaser, thank you sir. >>ou're welcome, thank you for having me. >> pleasure, thank you. stl to come, another move by ruia to claim ukrainian territory as its own. why the west is calling votes in partially occupied territories champ referendums. more on that when we come back.

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four partially occupied regions of ukraine say fall referendums have resulted in an overall favoring joining. russia the references have been denounced by western governments as a sham or farce or both. the referendums were held over five days in the regions of donetsk, luhansk, kherson, and zaporizhzhia, which almost makes up 20% of ukraine sovereignty territories. russian state media says early results of 90% of the vote are in favor of joining russia. there are reports of officials going house to house collecting votes, often accompanied by soldiers with guns. the u.s. has introduced a resolution at the un security council calling on member states not to recognize any change to ukraine's borders. here is the u.s. secretary of state. >> we, and many other countries --

we will not, indeed, we will never recognize the annexation of ukrainian territory by russia. and i have also been equally clear that ukraine has the absolute right to defend itself through out its territory, including to take back the territory that has been illegally seized one way or another. by russia. >> the uk commission that any delimited attempt to disrupt the contents energy facilities will result in the -- strongest results possible. this follows monday's discovery of three suspicious and unexplained leaks into nord stream by glides. streams of nothing could be seen rising from the water surface. two russian pipelines run under the senior sweden and denmark. neither is operating right now. they are still filled with natural gas. -- the swedish and danish leaders say this is likely sabotage. >> we have swedish intelligence,

but we have also received information in our contacts with denmark. and based on this, concluded that this is probably a delivered act. it is probably a matter of sabotage. >> david sanger is a cnn political and national security analyst, and white house and political correspondent for the -- times. he joins us this hour from washington. great to see you. >> let's get to the how question because, the swedish national seismic network detected two distinct explosions. one with the force of 1.8 magnitude quake, the second with 2.3 magnitude. here's more from their seismologists. >> the [interpreter] this is not an earthquake. explosions and earthquakes look quite different in the data we've registered. [end of translation] >> adding on to that, the washington post reporting that five european officials with direct knowledge of security discussions said there was widespread assumption that russia was behind the incident. only russia had the motivations,

the submersible equipment, and the capability. so, aside from russia, are there any other actors out there with both capability and? motive the russians would argue that the last thing they would do is blow up their own pipeline. and in fact, the ability to turn that pipeline on and off is one of vladimir putin's biggest sources of leverage. but at the same time, the russians may well want to show that they can completely disrupt europe and europe's energy supplies. they may well want to show that they can do this in a way where they can blame others. it's hard to imagine others with a significant motive. but i imagine, you know, you can make a case that why a number of other countries in the region might want to make sure that russia is deprived of the revenue, and deprived permanently.

one of the big hints will be in the forensics of how this happened. if it was a mine dropped or an explosive drop down onto the pipeline from the air, that would tell you something, and may give you a chance to track back a plane. if it was done from of submersible, while, some countries have those, including russia. and we've got a lot to learn from the investigation. >> what we've seen in the new york times, from your reporting, that was a warning from the europeans given to the cia this year. but again, as far as we know at this point, there's no indication that they gave evidence that the russians were behind. it was just warning of a possible attack, right? >> that's right. and it was all but vague. it was what they called strategic warning, saying this is a big target, and we think someone is going to go after it. that's a different thing from saying in tactical warning, they will go after it on such a such a date at such and such a

manner. so, there's some question on how useful that warning was. but it was issued in june. as dru spiegel has reported, and as we have reported in the new york times. >> it's a little bit like say the inner cables, which lie on the bottom of the ocean, are also vulnerable to attack, but we don't know by who? >> they are vulnerable. they are probably just as vulnerable, if not more. then pipeline. the russians for a long time have had specialized submarines that have cutting gear on the, that could try and cut the cables and a fairly deep level. this pipeline was not all that deep. the baltic is not that deep. so, it was an easier job. the cables, of course, go across the atlanta and would be a way of cutting off access, electronic access, internet access, to the united states and elsewhere if things got ugly. and that's long been a fear of

the pentagon. >> and much like the national security adviser at the white house, sweden's foreign minister tweeted the explosions were probably caused by sabotage. going on to say we continue to collect information and will not rule out any cause or motive. during a news conference, she wore there could be more to come from vladimir putin. listen to this. >> [speaking non-english] [interpreter] we need to be prepared for it. putin has shown that he's desperate right now, because ukraine has shown the support of the west and credible ability of insurance. and has shown it is not as easy as putin thinks. and therefore, we need to be prepared that he will act rationally and cooley. >> in the wake of these two explosions, other european leaders have said similar things. if they write, what comes next for? moscow and what is the u.s. and nato response? >> well, the first thing to know is that vladimir putin has lost confidence, of course, it is ground troops. he thought this was going to be a three day war. it's just passed, you know,

well more than 200. the second is it leaves them with technological options that range from cyber to these kinds of sabotage operations to chemical, biological, and ultimately nuclear weapons. we do not think he's going to move very rapidly up that scale, but we've been wrong before. and of course, his threats last week suggested that he is going to seek other means. the big question, john, is does he do this beyond ukraine's borders? so far, he's been very careful not to attack nato countries, supply lines comining in from nato, evenen weapons. but he may be losing his patients with ththem. but >> yeah, absolutely, the situation inside russia and inside ukraine is not just -- right now. >> certainly, and it puts a lot of pressure on him to show that he has a way of striking us. >> and we'll see what happens,

i guess, as always. thank you again for being with us. >> great to be with you, john. >> coming up here on cnn, the very latest on hurricane e and. we return to the cnn weather center for a live report and the very latest when we come back. a plan investing strategies designed to help you keep . this is the planning effect. at booking.com, finding perfect isn't rocket science. kitchen? sorted. hot tub, why not? and of course, puppy-friendly. we don't like to say perfect,

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welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm john vause at the cnn center in atlanta. it just coming up to 30 minutes past the hour. and calls for evacuation are growing more urgent in parts of florida as hurricane ian closes in. this category 3 storm has already slammed into cuba, leaving a path of destruction. and causing the as entire electricity grid to collapse, leading to a nationwide blackout. cuban officials hope to restore power in the days ahead. but at this hour, more than 11 people people are in the.

dark parts of florida already feeling the impact of the storm, many residents bracing for the full impact of ian, filling up well gas stations are still open. ian is expected to make landfall as a category three or four hurricane. earlier in forecast, possibly wednesday afternoon between sarasota and port charlotte. officials are warning residents in the hurricane's pass the time to leave and get to safety is now. >> i urge everyone that is in an evacuation zone, that has been asked to evacuate, the time is now. you must evacuate now. there will be a point in time where you will not be safe to travel the roads. the time to evacuate is now. get on the road. >> right now to cnn meteorologist pedram javaheri on more on these storms pass. the question is, how bad will it get in those areas, you know, in the evacuation zone once the storm arrives? how dangerous will it be? >> the national hurricane

center, john, is saying this will be a category 4 on landfall. and recall, about 48 hours ago, the storm system had a potential to be maybe a category one or category two at landfall. because the forecast stalling right off shore. the models have chains. remember, these storms do not work their way in a straight path. they wobble back and forth with every single motion here. so, the system sits 100 miles south of naples right. now it is a strong category 3, just ten miles per hour shy of a category 4. the forecast is to take this up to category 4. you will notice, the northern eyewall here beginning to break apart. what we called an eyewall replacement cycle. essentially, i use the analogy of taking a shot, spinning it on a table, you can only spin it off so fast now for a while starts to wobble. that's what's happening with this system which has maintained its intensity for quite awhile. so it's becoming a little more disorganized. and essentially, a reorganizes back into a stronger feature, which is why we think will bump up to category 4. the forecast does take it to this landfall sometime within the next 12, maybe 16 hours.

so i think early wednesday afternoon, between 1 pm and maybe five or 6 pm, across portions is south of tampa bay now. areas of port charlotte, putin gorda, maybe areas around siesta key, clearwater beach, these are areas we are watching for a major hurricane to make landfall, and then continue on a tropical storm into the central portion of florida, including areas around orlando, and then reemerge around the eastern portion of florida. you'll notice model guidance, a lot better agreement on why the system is going to end up. a few outliers still want to take it towards tampa. the vast majority of models want to take it south of tampa. within 24 hours, typically the average spread of air is say about 35 to 40 miles. tampa sits about 175 miles to the north. so i do not think it will end up back in the tampa zone. but it is certainly lolooking more likely that will take a a southern trajectory,y, which means it makes landfdfall soone, anand makes landfall as a stroronger system. and notice, tropical storm force wiwinds, john, will be fet some 140 miles away from the centerer. so even if it is not make landfall where you are, we are going to have dangerous

conditions almost across the entire state of florida. so, certainla big story over the next 24 hours. >> and then some, i guess, pedram, thank you, we appreciate. it still ahead here on cnn, another phoon making landfall. noru bring the threat of major flooding to vietnam, we'll be on the coastal areas. we'll have the very latest, up next.

typhoon noru has made landfall in vietnam, bringing heavy rains and winds to the tourist city of da nang. noru is expected to weaken as it moves inland, but central parts of vietnam, laos, and thailand are at risk of flooding or the next 48 hours. paula hancock is live in seoul with the very latest. this was a super typhoon when it hit the philippines. its weakened to a typhoon, but still hundreds of thousands are forced to evacuate. what's the situation right now? >> that's, right john. yeah, right before it made landfall it was the equivalent of a high end category two. so it had weakened significantly from when it hit the philippines. but still, there is concern about how damage that may have done.

but we know that lisa hundred thousand were evacuated from the coastal areas of da nang, -- , just before landfall, the vulnerable in particular were taken to shelters. we also know it's a fairly heavy fishing area so there's more than 11,000 fishermen in the area. officials banned all of them from going out to. see others concern about whether livelihoods will have been destroyed along there as well. now, we're waiting for official results as to whether there has been significant damage. at this point, what we're seeing on social media is that trees, power lines are down. we're also seeing some flooding, roads blocked. but we'll have to wait for a better assessment. it is expected to further weekend as it crosses vietnam and further into southeast asia as well. but this is, as you mentioned, the same typhoon, the super typhoon at that point that hit the philippines. now we saw a rapid intensification of that particular typhoon saturday

into sunday when it made landfall. and we just heard this wednesday morning as well an update from officials there saying that they believe eight deaths so far, five are still missing. but we're waiting to see what kind of impact this will have on vietnam. >> paula, thank you. paula hancocks there live with the very latest in seoul. another day of anti government protests in iran over the death of 22-year-old mahsa amini. and what started as the death of one woman detained by the morality please has led to the death of dozens more in a brutal crackdown by security forces. all of this because the islamic republic's morality please do not like women showing too much hair. america's top diplomat slammed iran's government on tuesday. >> mahsa should be alive today. the only reason she is not is because a brutal regime took her life and took her life because of decisions she should

be making about what she should wear or not wear. women in iran have the right to wear what they want. they have the right to be free from violence. they have the right to be free from harassment. that's true in iran. that should be true everywhere.. >> officials say thehey will try to make technology available for iranians they can avoid a blackout of the internet. un secretary antonio guterres has sent his increasingly concerned of iran's treatment of proteers, the fatalitie arising from protesters, including women, and children. i'm john vause, world sport is up next for ouinternational viewers. anfor those of us watching in the unit states, coming up next, cnet visits a town limited by the ukrainian military. and we'll show you what russian forces left behind. afc champion bengals. thursday night football. only on prime video.

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calls for evacuation growing louder and more urgent as hurricane ian bows down on. florida the category 3 storm has already slammed into cuba, leaving a path of destruction on the western side of the island. also causing a nationwide blackout. more than 11 million people right now in the dark until morning. officials say electricity will be stored in the day ahead. ian is expected to make landfall in florida in the coming hours, between sarasota and port charlotte as a category 3 or category 4 hurricane. u.s. president joe biden has promised federal support for areas impacted by ian. >> i just spoke this morning with areas likely to be hit. the mayors of tampa, st. pete's, and clearwater. all of them, all of them are in the storm's path. and they are focused on the safety of their communities, and they are doing everything they can to get people out of harm's way. i told each of them in conversation separately,

whatever they need, i mean it sincerely, whatever they need, contact me directly. >> evens outer bands are already being felt in the florida keys. this has been a slow start to the hurricane season, and right now on the gulf coast, residents are being warned to take this storm very seriously. cnn's randi kaye has a. report this is a type of storm surge that is life-threatening. >> with hurricane ian barreling towards florida, many here are not taking any chances. guadeloupe gomez has been boarding up his home for days. >> they say to prepare for it. >> he says at least 12 as family members will take shelter here. the concern with hurricane ian is not just the wind, it's also the rain and storm surge. nearly 7 million people along florida's west coast between fort myers and clearwater, including all of the tampa bay area, are under a storm surge warning. >> storm surge is always one of our largest concerns here in southwest florida. you , 90% of fatalities

occurred due to water. >> charlotte harbour, and the cities of port charlotte and putin gorda, are expecting the highest storm surge, with 8 to 12 feet possible. around tampa, erekat storm surges expected. >> a storm that slows down for 24 to 48 hours, and just continuously dumps rain into the tampa bay area is devastating. >> hurricane ian is expected to dump at least 2 to 3 months of rainfall by friday. possibly as much as 24 inches of rain in tampa and west central florida. >> it only takes 18 inches of water to be a life-threatening situation. >> tampa's airport taking no chances. >> at 5 pm today, no more commercial flights. >> evacuation orders expanding since monday, with shelters open for those without other options to wait out the storm. >> i've never been in a hurricane. this is my first time. my first time at a shelter. but i feel better here than if

i would be alone at home. >> those riding out the storm racing to get sandbags, facing lines for gas. and the familiar scramble to stock up on food and water. then, hurry up and wait. cnn, the gorda, florida. >> the house select committee invested the january six hearing has postponed its investigation because a hurricane ian. never say they're paying for the safety of everyone in florida. we are way for the hearing announced soon. it's expect to be the final one for the committee, focus on how allies of former president donald trump sought to declare victory in the 2020 election, regardless of the outcome. meantime, jury selection now underway in a federal trial that could pose an amazing test to the justice department's prosecution of january 6th rioters. five leaders of the oath keepers, a far-right group charged seditious conspiracy in the capitol attack. in the first time in decades,

the justice department will argue that -- americans who finally oppose the u.s. government. cnn's sara sidner is following the trial from washington. jury selection is underway, in the first trial for seditious conspiracy in regards to the january 6th attack on the capitol. there are five people that are facing the most serious charge that the government has levied against those who took part in the riot, or are accused of taking part and planning this seditious conspiracy, if you will. now, what does seditious conspiracy mean? it is fairly simple. and is fairly serious. up to 20 years prison sentence, if they are convicted. but what it means, essentially is that they conspired to stop by force the peaceful transfer of power. in other words, they tried to take over the government by force. so, that charge is the most

serious charge that and he is those involved in the january 6th riot have faced. this is the first time we've seen people go on trial. who is on trial? the government says these are oath keepers, all five of. them we know that four of them are former military. and that two of them never went inside the capitol. but the government contends that they helped plan this conspiracy. they were behind the seditious conspiracy. among several other charges. what does this means? it means that they are going to face some serious questions about hundreds of hours a video in which some of the defendants can easily be seen. they are also going to be -- all their communication between each other, tens of thousands of text messages, and tons of documents are going to be splayed out to try and prove from the prosecution standpoint, that they are involved in this larger conspiracy, not only in the lead up to january 6th,

including the government says, bringing weapons into virginia that they are planning to send into washington d.c., to conclude, to overtake the government. but also, after january 6th and up until joe biden was sworn into office, they say there is talk from the leader of this group, the oath keepers, stewart rhodes, that he was going to continue to see try and stop that from happening with this group. that is what the prosecution's case looks like. the defense is saying that they thought that then president trump was going to instate an insurrection act. and that they were just planning for that to be peacekeepers. at this particular event. so, they thought that donald trump was going to go ahead and enact the insurrection act. and then they would then be basically his soldiers to try to put that in place. that, of course, did not have. but we are watching this play out with three tables full of

attorneys. because there are five defendants. and this is going to be a long process. this trial could last up to six weeks. sara sidner, cnn, washington. >> u.s. has introduced a resolution at the u.s. security council condemning russia of false referendum is held in occupied's part of ukraine. the resolution, which was jointly introduced with albania, is to obligate russia to remove its troops from ukraine. it's largely symbolic because the ukrainians will almost certainly will vote for. that the ambassador says what will happen next. >> and let me be clear, if russia uses its veto to shield itself from accountability, we will not look to the un general assembly to send an unmistakable message to moscow. >> this comes after president zelenskyy called in the security council to remove

russia's veto right. the biden astray shun, if russia goes ahead, annexing the for areas of ukraine currently occupied. ukraine is making progress in a counter offensive in the. east cnn visited a newly-liberated town. and a cnn's ben wedeman reports, retreating russians are leaving behind far more than just military equipment. a warning though, this report contains some disturbing images. >> the bodies of dead russian soldiers are scattered around this town, killed far from home in what the kremlin chooses to call a special military operation. but it is a war by any other name. a war to which many more russians will be thrown now and then the so-called partial mobilization has begun. and who may well meet a similar and. this is a bank document found on one of the soldiers. the soldier is from st. petersburg, and he was born on the 30th of september, 2001. he died in three days before

his birthday. the charred remnants of russian armor scattered around town. outgoing artillery pursues an army once considered one of the most powerful on earth. [sound of gunfire] an army that abandon takes aplenty, many in working order. the money tree and its crew are tinkering with one such tank fresh from the battlefield. >> [speaking non-english] >> it has minimal breakage, he says. i could turn it on now with no problems. sure enough, it's motor roars to life. >> [speaking non-english] >> when they run away, they lose not only the tanks, says the sergeant, but also the ammunition. and the next day, it's all used against them. this tank, almost ready to go back into action. the town lives just north of

the donbas region, which after sham referendum, vladimir putin plans to annex to russia. yet few here have fond memories of life under russia's sway. stanislaus is cutting sheet metal to put over the shattered windows of his sister's home. >> [speaking non-english] >> there was looting in spring, he recalls. they were taking everything. down the road, these two are back to what they did throughout the russian occupation. just sitting here, says this woman. they did not bother us. >> [speaking non-english] >> but the other woman found them annoying. >> [speaking non-english] >> not, sees not sees, they always ask, where are the not sees? >> the rusussians have left, orr lie dead in the dirt. lives wasted, or nothing. ben wedeman, cnn, eastern

ukraine. adadjust adadjust s for you. newsroom. i'm john vause. please stay with us, we'll be back with a lot more news after very short break. you're watching cnn? he citi cust card.h℠ i love it... [voice vibrating]

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