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public service, giving your front proceed to democracy. -- you a front row seat to democracy. ning's associated press story on the latest. were fears grow as putin orders troops to eastern ukraine is the headline there, the story noting a long feared russian invasion of ukraine appear imminent monday, if not already underway. the president of russia ordering his forces into the separatist region eastern ukraine and appeared to dash remaining hopes of averting major conflict in europe, a war that could cause economic chaos around the globe. it came hours after he recognized the separatist region and what the ap describes as a rambling discourse upon european history. the move paved the way for

military support and antagonized western leaders, who set off a frenzied scramble by the u.s. and others to respond. the associated press this morning with that statement from russian president vladimir putin yesterday recognizing this breakaway regions. here is a bit of what he had to say. [video clip] >> i deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago, immediately recognizing the independence and sovereignty of the donetsk people's republic and luhansk people's republic. i would like to request a federal assembly to ratify the agreement of friendship and mutual help with both republics. we will draft this document and sign this document in the near future. and those who keep the power, we demand to stop astilbe's --

hostilities immediately. otherwise, all the responsibility for the continuation will be on the consciousness desk conferences of the regime ruling in kia -- kyiv. host: that statement sponsoring a u.n. -- sparking a u.n. security council meeting. the unc gertie councilmembers slam russia's -- security counsel members slam russia. here is part of what she had to say. >> over the past few weeks, the world has heard the other 14 members of the security council speak with one voice, asking russia to pursue diplomacy. other members of this council, even those who often align with russia on other matters, have been clear that the sovereignty,

independence, and territorial integrity of every u.n. member states should be respected and safeguarded, including ukraine. this is a basic norm of international relations and embodies the purpose of the u.n. charter. the sequence of events that secretary blinken spelled out for this council last thursday appears to be proceeding exactly as he predicted. today, president putin has torn the minsk agreement to shreds. we have been clear that we do not believe he will stop at that. in light of president putin's latest actions, we must stand up for the principles upon which this organization was founded. president biden issued an executive order today that will prohibit new investment, trade, and financing in the so-called

dpr and lpr regions. the united states will take further measures to hold russia accountable for this clear violation of international law and ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. we and our partners have been clear that there will be swift and severe response, were russia to further invade ukraine. host: the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. yesterday. we are joined now by brett samuels of the hill newspaper to give us perspective. first on those sanctions and the executive order that was announced yesterday and what could be announced today, can you explain the options on the table now for the biden administration? guest: thanks for having me this morning. all eyes are on the white house

today to see what these additional sanctions will be. yesterday they issued sanctions for having investment in the breakaway regions that russia has recognized as independent. the white house said those were separate from larger sanctions, so i think a lot of the interest will be on whether the additional measures are some kind of measure -- major sanctions package discuss with european allies or additional smaller measures that they prepared in light of russia and i putin's -- vladimir putin's actions monday. there is growing pressure from congress to see the biden administration impose more serious sanctions here. the question will be, does the

biden administration come out with sanctions that they have been talking about for weeks and coronation with allies in europe? host: is it your estimation that this action took the white house by surprise or was this unexpected move, the recognition of these breakaway regions and then the move to order troops in as "peacekeepers"? guest: the white house portrayed it as something they expected. the white house has been trying to stay a step ahead of a putin by publicizing what they expect his next moves to be. when this happened yesterday, white house officials said they were prepared for something like this and had sanctions ready to go over some thing like this. certainly they portrayed it as something they were ready for and they were a little evasive

as far as saying this amounted to an invasion, that russia was sending troops into these regions. they point to the fact that russia has had troops in this part of ukraine for several years now. they have been reluctant to equate this to a full on invasion of ukraine, the fact that russia is sending these troops into these regions now. we will see i think based on the sanctions and measures announced today how serious of a breach they consider it and whether they are waiting to see further action from russia to lay out these severe sanctions they promised. host: why the hesitancy of calling it a full invasion? guest: there are a lot of european countries the u.s. is try to cordon it with and wants to make sure it is on the same page as. so i think part of it has to do

with making sure they are on the same page as far as that language. part of it has to do with keeping sanctions as a deterrent so there is a hesitancy to lay all their cards on the table right away. it is an evolving situation and we will see whether the u.s. and europe are waiting for further action in the coming days. host: the white house announced that president biden would be willing to meet with president putin if an invasion did not happen. is that meeting off the table or still an option? guest: it would seem to be off the table. on a call last night, a national security official iterated their line. they will pursue diplomacy until tanks roll from russia into ukraine. they did not officially say that

it will not happen, but i think at this point they are aware of what this action from yesterday means. it is unclear whether the secretary of state will meet with his russian counterpart thursday, so that is up in the air. i have a hard time seeing president biden and present putin sitting down for a meeting at this point. -- president putin sitting down for a meeting at this point. host: for the key cabinet players today, where are they going to be today? are we expected to hear from them? guest: president biden is in washington, d.c., having an event this afternoon on clean energy supply chain initiatives. that will turn away from this situation in ukraine and russia for a bit at least. we will see him on camera. we will hear from him. whether he takes top -- questions on the topic of russia and ukraine remains to be seen.

there is the matter of the supreme court pick we expect them to announce by next monday. there will be interested in hearing from the president on this topic of russia and ukraine and certainly jen psaki will brief this afternoon. i am sure we will hear from players on this. i am unsure if matters other than the clean energy initiative will dominate president biden's schedule today. host: thanks for taking the time this morning and joining us. our question to our viewers this morning, are you concerned about potential wider war here in ukraine? republicans, (202) 748-8000 -- republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will take this question for our first hour of the washington journal this morning.

first come out of maryland, good morning to you, line for independents. caller: am i on? host: yes. caller: through the years, i have been trying to follow some of the discussions going on in russia. for those of us in the u.s. who think that these actions will have no effect on the u.s., for years there have been voices in russia claiming that alaska, the purchase of alaska was merely a 90 year lease and that is over. so think of the kinds of things that mad men have done through the years and to some of their actions. it did not take long for putin to move his -- the military from

the far east to the borders of ukraine. it will not take him after he captures ukraine -- it will not take him long to bring that military back and why not attack alaska if you think -- attack alaska? if you think it is far-fetched, he can claim there are many russian speakers in alaska. host: is it your view that russia presents the greatest geopolitical threat to the united states and the world? caller: no question. none of his excuses and especially if you look at his -- history, he is not even very original and his tactics. he just does what other mad men have done and the world has suffered as a result. if you think the u.s. will not be directly affected, think

again. read your history. host: this is sandy in tennessee , also line for independents. caller: i have been seeing this for the last three weeks on tv about the two provinces in ukraine and putin. let him have them. let him have them. let him put his army in their and then go in and bite the head off the snake. use a little bit of psychology about what you are doing because our armed services found pablo and they captured el chapo. use some psychology about it but then go in and bite the head off

of the madman. host: in illinois, good morning. caller: this problem is what happens when you have stupidity in the white house. all these people that went out there and embarrass themselves constantly, look at all the problems we have now in this world that we did not have when trump was president. the reason that putin is able to do this is because the price of oil. the first thing biden did was cancel the keystone pipeline. he would out there and he made it harder for american companies to engage in fracking. that has driven up the price of oil. putin needs money to carry out all this stuff. where does he get the money? he gets the money because of high oil prices. they are saying and michael up

to $150 a barrel. think of the billions of dollars that russia is getting. germany gets 32% of their oil from russia. what is putin going to do? i saw on the washer journal today germany is going to cut off the norstrom two pipeline. putin can say, fine. i am going to cut off your oil and it will be a cold winter in germany. he does not have to fire a shot. he needs to flood the market with energy and drive down the price of oil and then we will be in a position where putin will not have the money to be able to do this. he would not be a threat to us. host: that is cory this morning when it comes to president biden convening with his allies we know from the white house yesterday that he had a call with the french president along

the german chancellor and also spoke with the ukrainian president, zelensky, monday after a putin -- vladimir putin delivered that address signing the decree to recognize those regions. president biden remains at the white house today. we are expecting to perhaps hear from him later this afternoon. brian, grand rapids, minnesota, independent. go ahead. caller: thanks for having me. host: are you concerned about a war across ukraine? caller: i wanted to ask a question. does the white house correspondent still there? host: he jumped off the call with us a little while ago.

what is your question? caller: i was wondering, does anybody therefrom c-span -- i noticed the republic south of the ukraine, georgia. the republic of georgia. host: what is your question? caller: quite a few decades ago, i met the vice president of the republic of georgia in minnesota. he was a real nice guy. he did not speak english. i do not know where the president or vice president of the republic of georgia is now, but i was wondering, what is georgia's stance on what is going on? host: how did you happen to run into the the president of georgia and minnesota?

caller: the vice president. he was invited by the governor. host: what were you doing there? caller: i used to have a newspaper in minnesota. host: that is brian in grand rapids. in new york, democrat, good morning. caller: i would like to say this. during world war i, we were warned by the blessed mother on august 13, 1917. she wonders about russia, not to learn, not world war ii. she said specifically that god would bring russia to her immaculate heart if you pray the rosary and there will be peace in the world. if not, then russia would spread

across the world. nations will be annihilated. my point is we were warned about russia before world war two. if we could get our latin nations together and realize we need to pray the rosary to god -- a lot of people do not want to be spiritual, but it is ironic that the blessed mother warned us about not hit but russia. 1917. host: there was a senator on the floor last week saying pray for ukraine. do you think it is time to pray for ukraine? caller: we need to pray for ukraine, absolutely. this is another domino theory. we need to bring peace to ukraine. if putin were smart -- he is like this boss who only knows oil. you know ukraine is the only

country that invented being able to create human beings with the dna of three people? putin does not know that. he only knows gas. he only knows oil. host: that is rosen staten island. in terms of members of congress, some of their thoughts in recent days. here is one from pennsylvania, saying there are more ukrainian americans in my district than any other in the country. many are personal friends. my heart is with them at this moment. this is mike in north carolina. caller: regarding the question, are you concerned about war in ukraine, i have three things i want to say. first, it is absurd to even speculate the idea that the russian federation would invade alaska as someone alluded to. with all due respect and all that, i do not know what world those people are living in but

that is not this one. we have backed russia into a corner here. you know what they say about poking the bear. ukraine was part of russia for a portion of its history, before it became the soviet union. before he became the russian federation. i do not think that president putin has any other option here. if russia backs down from this, they will seem weak. if we were in their position, we would do the same thing. number three, this idea that either former president trump could have prevented this or that the current president, joe biden, ought to have prevented this is also unfair to both presidents. you are assuming that russia would have changed his mind

depending on what united states would have answered here. am i worried about it for ukraine? now. -- no. i do not think the united states should have gotten involved. the ball is in our court. host: this is jim in florida current line for republicans. caller: every time i think the u.s. press has been so shameful that they have sunk as low as they possibly can they sink even lower. people want to quote song and verse about the history and ukraine -- of ukraine and carefully, especially the press, avoided talking about the genocide that russia put on the ukraine people. at least 5 million people were

killed by famine and by execution by russia on the ukrainian people. and not a. they allow putin and your callers, quote song in verse about how ukraine was supposed to be such a wonderful part of russia. russia killed 5 million ukrainians. nobody says a word about it. i do not want war with ukraine anymore than anybody else, but when you talk about trump and biden, trump would not have allowed the financing of this invasion by keeping oil prices low in the first place. so the sanctions are not going to work. what would work is on sanctioning ourselves and reauthorizing the canadian pipeline and opening up drilling for oil. that would solve two problems.

ukraine and inflation in the united states. the democrats are just too ideologically stupid to consider doing that. host: that is jim in florida. lance is a neighbor of jim in fort lauderdale, florida, not sure how close. caller: i am concerned. george santana must be spinning in his grave. i am watching mr. putin make the same arguments hitler's did in 1937 and 1938 and 1939. he took crimea because it was russian speaking people. he starts talking about the same argument in ukraine and this is trickles of ocular and now he is talking just like hitler's did

about how they are being attacked and that was his excuse for invading poland. we have our own chain berlin -- neville chamberlain in joe biden. germany is going to stand on because otherwise they are going to freeze this winter. most of europe is going to say what they did in 1938. if we let him have ukraine, he will stop. there we go all over again. this started with president obama letting him take crimea without a word and then joe biden making it easy, as other people have said, by raising the price of oil and showing him we were not going to negotiate the north stream pipeline. we will not negotiate the treaty. this madman goes, these people are weak. they will not stop me. the scary thing is he is probably right. host: that is lance in fort lauderdale, florida.

the new york times and their wrap up this morning describes part of a putin -- vladimir putin's speech yesterday. easter putin -- mr. putin's speech was filled with accusations that ukraine was seeking a nuclear arsenal and eta was planning to place missiles on ukrainian territory. american officials have said for months there are no such plans. mr. biden said ukraine was years away from qualifying for nato membership but has been unwilling to bend to the demand that nato stop accepting new members and that he provide a guarantee that ukraine would never be part of the western alliance. mr. putin made clear his wider ambition yesterday was to reclaim ukraine and continue rebuilding the empire that collapsed with the end of the soviet union. at one point, he said it outright.

modern-day ukraine was created by russia, bolshevik, communist russia. a quote from vladimir putin yesterday. after the speech, a u.n. security council meeting in new york. the u.s. representative speaking there. here's an extended part of her remarks. this is about three minutes long , her thoughts and comments on putin's >> actions yesterday. >>earlier today, russia's president announced that russia will recognize as independent states the so-called dpr and lpr regions. he has since announced that he will place russian troops in these regions. he calls them peacekeepers.

this is nonsense. we know what they really are. in doing so, he has put before the world a choice. we must meet the moment and not look away. history tells us the looking the other way -- that looking the other way in the face of such hostility will be a more costly path. russia's clear attack on ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity is unprovoked. it is an attack on ukraine's status as a u.n. member states. -- member state. it defies our charter. this move is clearly the basis for russia's attempt to create a pretext for further invasion of ukraine. the consequences of this action will be felt beyond ukraine's borders. we do not have to guess at

president putin's mood -- motives. president putin made a series of false claims about ukraine aim decorating a pretext for war and immediately announced russian troops are entering the donbas. he claims that ukraine is seeking nuclear weapons from the west. this is not true. ukraine is one of only a few countries to a voluntarily surrendered nuclear weapons. the united states and our allies have no intention of supplying nuclear weapons to ukraine, and ukraine does not want them. then president putin asserted that russia today has a rightful claim to all territories from the russian empire, the same russian empire from before the soviet union, from over a hundred years ago.

that includes all of ukraine. it includes finland. it includes belarus and georgia and moldova. because extend -- kaz extend -- is pakistan -- uzbekistan and lithuania. it includes parts of poland and turkey. in essence, putin wants the world to travel back in time to a time before the united nations, a time when empires ruled the world. the rest of the world has moved forward. it is not 1919. it is 2022. united nations was founded on the principle of decolonization cannot recolonization -- decolonization, not recolonization. we believe the majority of the united nations security council are committed to moving forward, not going back in time.

host: linda thomas-greenfield yesterday at that meeting. we have about a half hour left in this segment of the washington journal. we will also talk about ukraine and russia more throughout parts of our segments this morning. phone lines in this segment, republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. george, new jersey, independent. caller: thanks for taking my call. i need your opinion. how are we going to get to mars and be the champions and be number one and be america first? god bless president trump because i think he is going to help us get there. that is why i will be voting for him in 2024. host: do you want to go to ukraine? caller: i do.

look at the dictionary. wasn't that area a part of russia in the ninth century? i am not for people taking over other people, but i am concerned that america is being played by china and russia. spin our wheels and we will not have the capacity to get into space and be number one. does that make sense? host: how long does a country have to be around before it should be considered independent? you say go back to the eighth century in russia. there is a lot that has changed since then and the geopolitical order of the world. caller: yes. is it 1000 years? poland has been there for 1000 years. i did not graduate from the fletcher school diplomacy.

i am just a citizen of america and i would also like to say, to your previous caller who referenced the virgin mary, she really wants to read something spectacular, read the diary where she has a vision of the mother of god. host: that is georgia new jersey. this is mike. caller: i was calling because i was going to say that ukraine is not even a nato country. i am confused as to why we are even over there when we are not even worried about the sovereignty of our own borders. if you look at nato, nato is made of countries that border ukraine and russia for defense. russia is basically selecting the same portions of ukraine.

one of the more important things is you mentioned in one of his speeches if ukraine were to take over that he would go to a nuclear arsenal. he has that potential. remember that position he had? host: i'm not sure what you are referencing, but go ahead. caller: the last nuclear test that was banned was in 1961, when he actually detonated a 15 megaton bond -- bomb, 10,000 times more powerful than all the weapons use in world war two. he had a 100 megatons weapon which would have killed people just testing it, not to mention the dome that protects the nuclear power plant from the radiation produces enough radiation to kill 65 million people if they just broke the dome.

host: this is steve in indiana. you are next. caller: i want to discuss what i have seen. when you look at sanctions, why are we sanctioning ukraine -- russia? i understand -- i am not concerned about russia invading ukraine. that is not where i'm coming from. the way i see it is, if we are so poised to stop russia from invading ukraine, sanctions is the best path forward especially it would hurt their economy and make their people mad at their government. i do not understand why we are not sanctioning harder and not trying to sanction russia. host: we are expecting more

sanctions to be announced today. the question right now that is been decided is whether president biden and european allies move forward with that full, what they are calling a severe package of sanctions targeting a wide array of the russian economy, whether they do that now or hold that back as a stick in case russian tanks start rolling through ukraine toward kyiv. caller: president zelensky has said, if we are so sure that they have a kill list, a hit list, that they are ready to do some world war two stuff of putting people in camps, why are we waiting? it does not make sense to me. host: that is steven in indiana. this is alex in california,

independent. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. the ukrainian people can adequately defend themselves in a war against russia if they bring the war itself directly to the russian people. they can do that by working with isis to establish an islamic caliphate on russian territory. that process will kill enough russians that they will never again mess with ukraine. host: this is lisa in kentucky. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. russia said they were concerned about ukraine being a nato country and did not want them to move that close to their area. if they take ukraine, won't they be on the nato borders? we need to stop messing around and get some nuclear weapons

into poland, whether he likes it or not. what has happened to everybody? don't we remember missiles in cuba? you cannot trust russia. we need to strike now. host: that is lisa in kentucky. about 20 minutes left in this first hour of the washington journal. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. show you some headlines from around the world and reaction to putin's speech yesterday, his moves to recognize those breakaway parts of ukraine. this is the irish times editorial. putin moves a step closer to war. from the bangkok times -- bangkok post, defying the west, putin orders troops to ukraine rebel region. more this morning from the planus areas -- buenos aires

times. russia sets the world on edge as the ukraine conflict pushes into a new phase. we are asking whether you are concerned about war and ukraine and what that could mean. sam in wisconsin, go ahead. caller: good morning. we have some concerns about russia and all these other countries always warring. it saddens my soul that they come here -- i am native american. they come to our country and put war on my people. war has been going on for years and years. when is it going to stop? when are we going to have peace in the world? when are we going to get along with their neighbors? when are we going to pray as

one? did anybody ever ask them? come over here and pray with us. always pray for your haters and neighbors and everything. always be kind. host: that is sam in wisconsin. in nevada, good morning. caller: good morning. it is nice to be on your show. i like the thought that man before me just said in wisconsin, but it is a scary time. we are all americans and in this together, but this crisis is divisive. if you look at russia, the russian empire, they have been fighting the western empires around the black sea since the crime area more -- crimean war.

there is a historical claim for russia on ukraine. what would happen if the warsaw pact wanted to put a bunch of nuclear missiles a few hundred miles from our capital? we practically went to nuclear war and said get out of our backyard. we have to be tactful. it is sad that we are going to war, but we do not have a right to impose. we do not have any real ability to do something except say we are shaking our finger. we have to try to get away from this or we are at war with this group, without group. orwell had a good vision of the future. it just took a little longer. it is a scary time right now. god bless the world and let's try to get along. host: a few of your comments from social media and our text >>