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world will hold russia accountable for what it did and countries are already preparing for a refugee crisis in western europe and global markets have

fallen sharply on the news. we are getting your reaction to all of it on phone lines split by political party. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can send us a text this morning. if you do, include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up on social media, on twitter, @cspanwj, on facebook, facebook.com/c-span. one of many headlines this morning from reuters. russia invades ukraine in europe's darkest hours since world war ii. here's what we know about the schedule today. president biden participating in a virtual g7 leaders meeting this morning to discuss the ongoing situation in russia and ukraine.

expecting a statement from prime minister of u.k. boris johnson around noon today, and we will carry that on c-span. president biden expected to address the nation sometime early this afternoon. we don't have an exact time yet. for now, there is expected to be a press briefing around 2:00 p.m. with press secretary jen psaki, and secretary blinken, secretary austin, chief of staff millie and secretary yellen will brief house members on ukraine this evening by phone. we will try to keep you updated throughout the program on the latest developments but we want to hear from you this morning on the wider invasion of ukraine and the conflict between ukraine and russia. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans,s

independents is (202) 748-8002. we mentioned that the statements from russian president vladimir putin on that invasion coming as the un security council was meeting last night to try to find a peaceful resolution in the wake of the actions and statement by russian president vladimir putin. this is u.s. secretary to the u.n. linda thomas-greenfield. [video clip] >> at the exact time we are gathered in the counsel seeking peace, putin delivered a message of war and disdain of this counsel. the council will need to act and we will put a resolution on the table tomorrow. as president biden said tonight, russia alone is responsible for

the death and destruction this attack will bring and the united states and our allies and burners will -- and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. the world will hold russia accountable. host: u.s. ambassador to the u.n., linda thomas-greenfield, last night. about the same time that came out, ukrainian president zelensky with his statement to his nation, this via reuters. [video clip] >> dear ukrainian citizens, president putin announced a spell -- a special military operation in donbass, carrying out strikes against military infrastructure. in many cities, explosions were heard.

we have introduced martial law across all territories. a minute ago, i had a phone call with president biden. the united states has already started to gather international support. today, calm is needed from each of you. if you can, please stay at home. we are working. the army is working. the whole defense sector is working. i will be in constant contact with you and so will the national security and defense counsel of ukraine and cabinet ministers too. i will talk to you soon. do not panic. we are strong, ready for everything. we will win over everyone because we are ukraine. glory to ukraine. host: the ukrainian president last night. from the washington post today, this from russian president vitamin -- vladimir putin, part of his statement on the attacks launched, saying the goal was the defense of the people who for eight years have suffered the scorn and genocide of the k

yiv regime, adding moscow would not occupy ukraine what end -- ukraine and would end a years of conflict in regions of eastern ukraine. we will take you throughout the program today. this topic for the three hours today and your reaction, of course. mark in rockville, marilyn, line for democrats, good morning. caller: it is heartbreaking to hear all this stuff. like, russia. it reminds me of being in middle school and listening to world war ii stories. this and that. but number one, the second question i have is what happens after russia invades you bring?

i don't know much about the situation but what happens afterward? do we actually have to stop russia from invading ukraine? is it that big of a deal? ukraine used to be part of the ussr. they gained their independence but at what point do we say as the united states, a military defense organization, whatever, let eastern europe be eastern europe? do we always have to intervene? i don't get it. what has to happen? maybe you could share some insight. what happens after ukraine gets invaded? will it be like rwanda with the whole genocide thing? or will it be like -- i don't have a good example. host: there's a lot of questions about what happens next. u.s. officials and president biden have been clear about not sending u.s. troops into ukraine, but calling today and

reiterating throughout the week and last night about the harshest possible economic sanctions against russia, and that is what we expected or more about from president biden, what those punishing, harsh sanctions, as he's described them, what they will be. caller: i understand. if i could ask a second question, isn't russia really actually financially supported by china? so what really -- yes, they have a market for u.s. products, import, export, but what can the u.s. really do if it is not willing to deploy troops because that is really our that shiny, yes, we have a firm footing the financial -- really our -- i mean, yes, we have a firm footing in the financial, but what they need is military aid,

you know? especially in times like this, like, i mean -- i just find it very, very hard to believe that with all the smart people at the heads of these tables, they are going to say, ok, russia will invaded we have to deploy a bunch of troops to a bunch of countries, knowing the possible outcome of world war iii or something catastrophic, a new financial thing. we are dealing with covid or we are not dealing with it anymore. i feel like there's too many smart people to understand the consequences of actually having some sort of real worldwide conflict. host: i take your point. lakeland, florida next. vicki, a republican, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: my interest in all this is watching this whole thing unfold -- this and in watching

this whole thing unfold as they have already put these sanctions against putin. it has not deterred him it also i feel like he's actually financing this war for himself because he wants -- i don't think you just wants ukraine. everybody realizes he wants them all. he wants all those countries back and i think he is sweeping through today because no one confronted him, stopped him. host: what should the u.s. have done? caller: i just listened to the gentleman on before me and i believe every country should put forth people and go in and make a point that the whole world is watching and so we will be in trouble if we don't do something and let them know that people like putin cannot just go do this to a country and it is just sanctions. it is not going to stop him. he has an agenda and he has for a long time and he's an evil man and they need to help these

people before they get killed. go in and do what you have to do to stop them. host: vicki in lakeland, florida. a statement from president biden. expecting to hear more from biden today but this is the statement the white house put out last night. president putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. russia alone is responsible for the destruction and death of -- death this will bring. the world will hold russia accountable. today, the president saying he will meet with his g-7 counterparts in the morning, then speak to the american people to announce the further consequences the u.s. and our allies and partners will impose on russia for this needless act of aggression against ukraine. we will also coordinate with our nato allies to ensure a strong, united response that deters any aggression against the alliance. one of the key members of the nato alliance, the u.k.

prime minister johnson with this statement last night. "i am appalled by the horrific events in ukraine. i spoke with president zelensky. president putin has chosen the path of bloodshed and destruction by launching this unprovoked attack on ukraine. the u.k. and our allies will respond decisively." this is diane, st. paul, minnesota, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. first i would like to say i am appalled and also thinking about the people in ukraine and what they are going through now. what i would like to say is that i do give president biden -- hello? host: i am listening to you, diane. you give president biden what? caller: our united nations and all those people we are not together -- people, we are not

together, and one reason was that it is my understanding we were no longer in that, with our allies, so what needs to happen now if you ask me, i'm really dissatisfied that putin took this time because he felt we were weak, but now, if we can show strength to him, but he cannot go into poland -- because this is not going to stop with ukraine. he is setting his record for the next 30 years. he will do just like hitler's did when he went into poland -- like hitler's did when he went into poland in the 1930's and we did not do anything until pearl harbor. i am only 72 years old. we need to show strength now. all these countries have come together. show putin -- put our ships out there. show them that they cannot come into our allies who are part of

this united -- the free world. host: that is diane in minnesota. this is brian in michigan, independent, good morning. caller: hi. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: ok. i have worked with nato since the 1970's. they have never stood up themselves. if you look at the nato charter, you will see the numbers there in the 1950's. what was it, 12 nations? you fast-forward to this time frame where you have now in naito. that was wrong. what did we do? we strategically got nations around the soviet union to be part of nato and what did we do, start slapping missiles in there pointing right at moscow and their military installations for decades.

that is a part of the world -- i do not blame them. we would not tolerate this in our part of the world. can you imagine living up to the munro doctrine after all these years? we did not allow this in cuba. if any u.s. politician really thinks they want to play tough, i want them to get their battle helmet on and i want them to fight. i am sick of wars, sick of the bs. also, i have asked you, you have to bring on this tony bub ilenski. find out all the ties here. there's a lot more going on than people realize. trump had it right. you have to have energy independence. that's your leverage. look out fine things were going. they would have been finer if we stuck with that attitude. host: your nato expansion comments, a map here from the bbc. the dark purple on this map, the

nato members who join before 1997, and then the lighter purple there, the more magenta color there, the nato members that have joined since 1997, speaking to your point. this is terry in blair's town, new jersey, a republican. good morning. caller: the one from florida spoke my mind completely. i agree with everything. and the woman who spoke after her. russia has been planning this for over two years. they have stocked up themselves so they can endure a war for a couple of years. they do not intend it to stop with ukraine. this is just the beginning. and we have to stand up and stand back against them immediately. the president should have said something immediately. putin is threatening nuclear -- he should have got up and kicked ass and told them right back

where we would stand behind him in nuclear. we need a president with strength and we are not getting it. he was going to have a talk this morning, now this afternoon. he should be talking to the world and putting out a strong offense against putin. host: terri, does that strong response to including military response in your mind? caller: whatever it takes to stop food and we have to do. this is not just ukraine. this is the beginning. it is not even just poland and belarus and whatever -- albania, whatever -- people can go on and on. when you see russia, think china. host: this headline from the philadelphia inquirer. will bunch, one of their opinion writers. the question, who killed the post 1945 dream of a world without global conflict? he writes, and this was yesterday, before the latest

actions, "if you grew up on the east coast in the 1960's and went to a public high school, you probably remember your class field trip to the united nations headquarters, built on the east river of manhattan. the show of sharp dressed diplomats was meant to assure my generation of boomers that the people of earth had learned our lesson. indeed, as my cohort starts applying for medicare, there's been no world war since 1945 despite many awful smaller scale conflicts." he goes on to say at the end of the column's concerns about what happened to the global order. today, he said, we watched president biden, surely the last president board during will were to, trying desperately -- during world war ii, trying desperately to rebuild the bilateral is him of what feels like a bygone era.

77 long years since the last world war to build the kind of planet where it could never happen again and it looks like we blew it. for the post war baby boomers of the world, how we let this happen is the questionable lifetime. maryland, independent, good morning. caller: the weakness we showed in afghanistan, basically a bunch of guys on horseback mopping the floor with us, certainly had to help this situation with mr. putin seeing how weak we are, but you have to remember history. ukraine is a warsaw pact country. they are not naito. us interjecting that -- we have been putting offensive weapons into ukraine since last spring, subsidizing them, putting weapons, offensive weapons. if they put -- if the soviet

union put those into mexico or canada, would we not have the same response? we would but nobody wants to say that. we are the aggressor country. that is the way it is. what are we going to do when taiwan goes down? when -- by then failing in afghanistan, they did not even have an army or an air force, and they are smart, going on tv, saying, we will go get russia. russia has cruise missiles that will blow up everything behind you. we are no match for them and they know it. host: that's robert in waldorf, maryland this morning. this from the page of the new york times, david singer writing about food and's embrace of the theory that key have -- about putin's embrace of the theory that kyiv is on the brink of a nuclear pack. "he made a series of bizarre

charges that ukraine intends to create its own nuclear weapons. he built a second case that the u.s. is converting its missile defenses into offensive weapons and plans to put nuclear weapons . ukraine gave up a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons in the 1990's and used the fuel from blended down warheads to drive power plants. today, they do not have the basic infrastructure to produce nuclear fuel, so mr. putin made the dubious claim they could pick that up. officials have said repeatedly they have no plans to place weapons in the country and never have, especially since ukraine is not a member of nato, but that does not stop mr. putin from building a hypothetical case those things could happen someday, theoretically putting moscow at risk." from david sanger in today's new york times.

an independent in illinois, good morning. caller: my first reaction is we need to use the military along with the other european nations and push putin back. tell him, you know, you cannot do this. it is like hitler's. you just try to stop him. i would like to learn more from listening to debates about if we actually did that, what would be some of the different consequences to follow, you know, hypothetically, if we did that? learn a lot more, the pros and cons, if we used our military along with other european nations military to push him back and tell him you cannot do this. host: gerald in greenville, south carolina, democrats, good morning. caller: the thing i don't understand about what these showmen are talking about is this. america does not have to prove ourselves to anybody because we

are the best, strongest, united country in the world. our soldiers they go to war that we lose in more, they -- in war, they are not realizing that. they are talking about we need to do this, go stop them, do everything for every country. we just came out of war. why don't we give our soldiers and country a break? rebuild our own country and rebuild all the homeless people. i mean, it is time to wake up. it really is. host: humboldt, texas next, bob. good morning. caller: president biden has the largest offensive weapon that he's not using and he needs to use it and we need to understand why he's not using it, and at that weapon is he needs to turn on the oil.

he needs to allow drilling again. and he needs to allow pipelines and so forth. once he institutes that and he can do that immediately today, the russian economy -- russia's economy will start to fall, and they will feel it. we don't have any politicians, chuck schumer, nancy pelosi, we don't have any of the opposition party to the republicans to stand up and tell us why president biden will not do that. why won't president biden turn on the oil? host: eve, indiana, republican, good morning. caller: the only thing i have to say, this is what you get when you get rid of trump, when you put a weak knee in there like biden, this is what you get. enjoy weakness. thank you. caller: coming up on 730 --

host: coming up on 7:30 on the east coast. getting your reaction. republicans, (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002. the announcement, the invasion coming as the u.s. security council was meeting in new york last night to try to find a diplomatic resolution. partway through the meeting, here is the ukrainian ambassador to the u.n. addressing the body last night about the attack. [video clip] >> i was intending to asked the russian ambassador to confirm on the record that the russian troops will not start firing on ukrainians today and go ahead with the offensive. it became useless 48 minutes ago. because about 40 minutes ago, your president declare war on you -- on ukraine.

i would like to now ask the ambassador of the russian federation to say on the record that at this very moment your troops do not shell and bomb ukrainian cities, that your troops do not move in to the territory of ukraine. you have a phone. you can call lavrov right now. we can make a pause to let you go out and call him. if you are not in a position to give an affirmative answer, the russian federation ought to relinquish the responsibilities

of the president of the security council, put these to a legitimate member of the security council, a member that is respectful of the charter, and i asked the members of the security council to convene an emergency meeting immediately and considered all necessary decisions to stop the war, because it is too late, my dear colleagues, to speak about the escalation, too -- about de escalation, too late. the president declared war. should i play video? m lassiter -- ambassador, you can play it right now, conferment. do not interrupt me, please. anyway, you declared war. it is the responsibility of this

body to stop the war. so i call on everyone of you to do everything possible to stop the war. or should i play the video, with your president declaring the war? thank you very much. >> i must say that i think the representative of ukraine for his statement and questions, i will be planning to answer them because i have already said all i know at this point. ringing mr. lavrov at this point is not something i plan to do. this is not called a war. it is called a special military operation in the donbass . host: that from the un security council meeting. a few more clips from the meeting i want to show. this is the very end of the meeting yesterday, how the

exchange between those two ambassadors ended the meeting. here's that segment. [video clip] >> call putin, call lavrov to stop aggression. i welcome the decision by some members of this council to meet as soon as possible to consider the necessary decision that would condemn the aggression that you launched on my people. there is no purgatory for war criminals. they go straight to hell, ambassador. >> i wanted to say in conclusion that we are not being aggressive against the ukrainian people but against the junta that is in power in kyiv. there are no more speakers on the list for this meeting. it is adjourned. host: those scenes last night from the un security council meeting in new york.

getting your reaction to the russian invasion of ukraine, this is joe in toledo, ohio, an independent. good morning. caller: good morning to her are you, sir -- good morning. how are you, sir? host: doing well. go ahead. caller: i'm disappointed in the planning that i see. i'm wondering why the army in the ukraine and their small air force or whatever, why they did not have some military knowledge to let them know what the russians would be doing first, you know, in terms of damaging their airfields, knocking out their communications and things like that? i am just shocked they didn't have any planning in that area, and the second point i would like to make, and i will get off, is i think it is unfair for americans or anybody else to put this on the shoulders of

president biden. president biden is president of the united states, not the world. they have the whole united nations organization. they also have nato. and i think what he is trying to do, of course, he cannot take over and be a bully. he is allowing the organizations that were created for this purpose to work. if they do not work, they all share in it, but no one man from this country can handle that. that is all i wanted to say. i am a retired military person so that's the reason why i made those comments. host: in baltimore, maryland, democrat, good morning. you are next. caller: i am so disappointed in the republican party and trump and mike pompeo, who cheered on putin, talked about what a genius he is, how smart he is.

second of all, this is like the 1930's. like, what do we care what hiller is doing to the jews over there? what do we care if putin puts the citizens of ukraine in camps? what do we care about that? it is like, they are blaming biden for afghanistan? the ukrainian people, they are going to fight for their country, not like the afghanistan people, who just ran when the taliban came. for people who think this has to do with oil, this has nothing to do with oil. just like the lady said, the previous caller, vladimir putin has been preparing this for years. he has billions of dollars. the economy of his country doesn't mean anything. also, the economy of russia has less of gdp than the state of texas. it has nothing to do with oil. he's not concerned about the economy. he's not concerned about money.

what he's concerned about of -- about is rebuilding the soviet union, which totally belonged to russia too. they owned russia. i will leave you with these words that were said in the 1950's, because everybody is scared of the missiles, you know? you want putin to treat the united states like he does russian? better off dead than red. host: stephen in baltimore, maryland. responses this morning from the members of congress, republicans and democrats. if you want to follow it, it is c-span's twitter list of members of congress. this is a sampling. rick scott -- freedom is under attack in ukraine. pray for the innocent lives in danger. chris coons of delaware -- today, president putin launched an unprovoked all-out war against an independent

democratic country that poses no threat to russia. as president biden said tonight, the world mustang -- must and will hold them accountable. a democratic congresswoman from ohio -- who'd's invasion is an unconscionable attack -- putin's invasion is an unconscionable attack on democracy. the free world must swiftly deploy full diplomatic, economic and defensive my for ukraine. a congressman saying that the president of russia is going down a path that can only lead for tragedy for russian -- lead to tragedy for russians and ukrainians. an independent in minnesota, good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to say it is -- first, the whole thing is unfortunate.

that is all i have to say. certain parts of the parties saying prudent is a genius for invading -- saying putin is a genius for invading. it is disheartening. i hope that everybody in ukraine

stays safe. thanks. host: james in missouri, a democrat, good morning. caller: i just wanted to say i would put putin in the same category as hitler's. take the boot out because what he is doing is wrong. the way he gets his backing from the republican party, there are some that are not against what he's doing and it is wrong because history has shown this, and that is all i have to say. host: nathan in california, a republican, good morning. caller: good morning, good afternoon and good evening to c-span's listeners around the world. it is a sad day and thank you for c-span. my grandfather was a ukrainian born in kyiv and he traveled to

poland during the world after his uncles and all the men were shot by the nazis and he traveled to canada and married my grandmother and had my father into they moved to the united states, so i am ukrainian. what i have to say is that i wish the president, president putin, if he is lip--- if he is listening, can lift his sword and realize this is the wrong decision, whether it be the g7, whether it be -- you know, let's get him back into talks, because he's surrounded by nato countries -- and i hope you keep me on -- surrounded by nato countries. and it is the former ussr, yes. we can all see the old man, you know -- old map, you know, going

back to gorbachev and everything else. it is kind of mind-boggling line, at this point, he would do this. there was a great american president named john f. kennedy that said "the only thing you have to fear is fear itself" and i think he is really -- he has kind of cringed into a ball, you know? there was a news reporter -- not sure which network, but said putin was, in his early days, very naive, very, you know, coercive, and then he turned, but i think, if i could ask the president, please, president putin, raise your sword, pull back your troops, because these people are former ussr, your countrymen and countrywomen.

host: was your grandfather alive in 1991, the fall of the soviet union, the birth of an independent ukraine? did you ever talk to him about that? caller: yes. thank you for asking. my mother and father actually brought his sister back from the ukraine and it took, like, five years to get him back -- her back, sorry, and she was eight years old and he was 12 when he left, and when they saw each other, they cried because she said "we are sold," and when she went to the grocery market, she cried because there was so much food, and she was from ukraine. that was back in, yeah, 1991, like you said. and, you know, what has happened?

there no -- there is no reason. he should get back into the g7 and there should be some leeway here. there should be some leeway just, you know, because they are russia, they have not been, you know, like syria, we had some problems. everybody has calmed down. this doesn't make sense. host: that is tyson out of california this morning. the associated press with their wire service, a special section on the russian and ukraine conflict, putting out various reports this morning. here's a couple. world markets falling. world stock markets have plunged. oil prices surged nearly six dollars per barrel after russia launched the military action in ukraine, benchmarks dropping in several continents, bring crude over $100 a barrel thursday, the ruble sank 7.5 percent, to more

than $87 to the u.s. dollar -- more than $.87 to the u.s. dollar, the s&p at an eight month low after the kremlin said rebels in eastern ukraine asked for military assistance. and china's customs agency thursday approved imports of wheat from all regions of russia, which could help reduce the impact of possible western sanctions on russia. the governments announced an agreement on february 8 to import russian wheat and barley after putin became the highest profile foreign guests to attend the beijing winter lipids. the story noting that china's populace market is a growth area for other farm goods suppliers but beijing had barred imports until now from russia's main wheat growing areas due to concern about possible fungus and other contaminations.

some of the associated press reporting this morning. we will keep you updated on the latest. this is mark, hempstead, maryland, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i think we are about to get into the biggest mess of our lifetime right now. as to our involvement in ukraine, i have to say, at age 53, for the first time in my life, i don't trust our own government and the information we are getting from them. even in previous years, 20 years ago, whether we had a republican or democrat in the white house, we -- we seem to have a certain level of trust in the administration. the problem right now is, as much as democrats talk about trump being a putin puppet, notice that putin was not doing any of this when trump was in office. he knows we have a very weak man

in the white house right now. the bike administration has been gas lighting -- the fighting administration has been gaslighting us since the day biden took office. we shut up our own oil drilling, we shut down our own pipelines, making us dependent on these countries that do not like us. that is who we are now getting our oil from. we are in a weakened position. for the first time in my lifetime, i don't trust our own military. host: that is mark in hamps tead, maryland. congressman scott perry saying as we pray for the ukrainian people, make no mistake that this is what happens when america's enemy perceive a weak and incompetent president. paul gosar saying biden did the impossible and brought war to europe. debbie dingell of michigan --

russia's unprovoked declaration of war against the sovereign nation of ukraine calls for an immediate, strong and coordinated response from the u.s. and allies. susan wild, democrat from pennsylvania, saying my thoughts are with the people of ukraine, including the ukrainian american community watching this unconscionable attack on their families and home unfold. america stands with you and for democracy. james, lincoln, illinois, republican, you are next. caller: yes. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: i think the republican party has led the american people down. you hear these people talk and side with food and -- to here ar these people talk and side with putin is very discouraging. i believe putin had a puppet in america, which was president trump. and anybody that would allow

bounties on american soldiers, to let that stand is just unconscionable. that is all i have to say. host: ray, rockwood, tennessee, democrat, good morning. caller: i would like to know why we are worried about people in ukraine when we wasn't worried about the people in afghanistan, iraq, libya or syria. they cut me off. host: we did not, ray. anything else? caller: thank you. host: palm beach, florida, independent, good morning. caller: pompeo went to west point. the cadet honor code is simple. the cadet will not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do. obviously he does.

his graduation certificate should be revoked. host: did you go to west point, mark? caller: no. i am a great admirer of those who were fortunate enough to do it, except for vermin like him. host: lamont, mansfield, ohio, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i have a little thing to say and it is, a problem i have, why do republicans have this glitch in the matrix when it comes -- any aggressor who looks like them? if it was an african country or arab country, fox news commentators would not be sitting there talking about --

they would condemn them all and be on ukraine's side. when they put the bounties out, if that had been an african country putting bounties out on american soldiers, we already know what trump would have done, but when it comes to a european face that looks like them, it is so confusing to find out what to do against an aggressor who looks like them. that is all i have to say. the conversation is weird to me because everything they are saying, it is like they don't know what to do, but if it was a country of color, trust and believe it would be -- no question on how to attack or deal with the problem. host: democrat, good morning. caller: hi. am i on? host: yes, sir. caller: yeah, i am retired military. i think we should listen to the generals and do what they say.

in my own opinion -- i'm retired military -- but i think that putin is a terrorist and i would put a price on his head and let the chips fall where they may. take that for what it is worth. thank you. host: melvin, mount pleasant, south carolina, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span world. i think it starts right here for with our parties. for example, the trader joe manchin in west virginia. one thing i admire about republicans, they stick together. he is not the president, but now everyone has so much to say. how could somebody like -- how could we go try and help somebody else? they would say, americans, they don't like their own selves.

i'm a military man. my son, his kids and his kids kids, so we are all in the military, but is that is where it starts, trader -- traitor joe manchin. for example, we get too much information. they literally gave putin right-of-way to attack ukraine, you know? they are going to be over here, here, the missiles are here. geewhiz, you helped him plan the strategy. host: that is melvin in south carolina. about 10 minutes left in this segment of washington journal. we will be talking about the invasion of ukraine for all three hours of the program. this from the wall street journal today speaking to a question a viewer brought up yesterday about promises made to ukraine back in the early 1990's

in exchange for giving up their nuclear weapons. ukraine one of the few countries in history to voluntarily give up nuclear weapons. the caller was asking what was honest ukraine -- was promised to ukraine back then. the wall street journal editorial board speaks to that question this morning, talking about the budapest memorandum of 1994, in which the u.s., great britain and russia offered security assurances to ukraine, and nation that had won independence from the soviet union, and it was resolved that they confirmed six commitments to ukraine and i memorandum, among them -- ukraine in that memorandum, among them to refrain against use of force in violation of the political independence or territorial integrity of the ukraine. provide assistance to ukraine in the event of an act of an aggression against the country.

ukraine had returned all its nuclear weapons to russia by 1996. vladimir putin the budapest manner and -- budapest memo a dead letter with his invasion in 2014, but the betrayal of budapest is not forgotten in kyiv, as the ukrainian president noted bitterly in weekend remarks in munich, saying again it shows again the folly of trusting parchment promises in a world where auto rats think might -- where autocrats think might makes right. countries give up their nuclear arsenal at their own peril. that is the lesson north korea has learned, and iran is following the same playbook as a connive's to build -- as a connive to build the bomb even as it says it is not. debbie, independent, good morning. caller: am i on?

host: yes. caller: nobody is talking about the real problem. it is about the water. nobody is seeing this and i am shocked nobody has mentioned this. they cut off the water to crimea. crimea is almost all arid now. they have no water there at all. this is the same reason yemen started and syria. it is about the water. everybody is saying the oil, the oil. it is not the oil. it is the water and this is just the beginning. host: ok. capital heights, maryland, independent, good morning could caller: good morning. i think it is about the nazis that are in the u.s. trying to provide protection to the nazis in the ukraine. you had many nazis that came to the u.s. under operation paperclip and they fully infiltrated the u.s. government. the bush family is from nazi germany.

joe biden's wife is part of operation paperclip. host: the bbc spoke to some of that question, the nazifica tion, what vladimir putin put -- brought up in discharges. the president address that, saying, how could ukraine, who lost 8 million citizens to nazis, support nazism? how could i be a nazi, mr. zelensky said, when i am jewish? steve in anaheim, california, a republican, good morning. caller: people onto retreat back to their corners and knock off the political agenda they have. i mean, the thing i am old enough to remember is when jimmy

carter put sanctions on russia and russian-made -- and russia made tons of money going around the sanctions we had. this is before the computer era the. we should talk to iran to see if we can get them on board and squeeze russia for what they have done, because you either believe in democracy or you do not. we have already missed the military option so now we only have one left, and if we do not use the playbook correctly, he will just skirt around whatever we do. he has already made a deal with china, like you said, with the wheat and everything else with the banks. he will probably go to south korea. and somewhere in the middle

east, like he has been doing in the past. it is time we took our head out of the sand and started to get serious about stopping the totalitarianism around the world. thank you, jonathan. host: that's steve in california. your comments from social media and our text messaging service. robert on twitter saying it is time provide to step up and restore our energy independence. derek saying i think the gop position on russia is to let them do what they want so long as they allow us to keep our cushy lives. another person saying i was not expecting an actual declaration of war. the situation at this point is more serious than a look. they have been at war for years in these provinces. finally, russ, biden is putting us in harm's way. a few of your comments. we have about five minutes left.

richard, louisville, kentucky, a republican, go ahead. caller: 77 years ago was the end of world war ii. we defeated japan and adolf hitler. in defeating hitler, we had the allies of russia, the united states and great britain. we stuck together and took the tyrant out. now we have a situation to where russia feels like they have been not treated fairly with nato and the european nations. now, my question is, 77 years ago, united states went into europe and we built those countries. we gave them millions and billions and billions of dollars. and we are doing it again 77 years later. it just doesn't make sense. now, to the democrats who have called in, you are mad at and the republican party, they are

not behind putin. they are saying, when it comes to joe biden, there is no match when it comes to strategy and who -- who has got the better brain about it. now, i -- that's all i have. thanks. host: bill, westwood, massachusetts, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. this is obviously a terrible situation. i guess the one thing that is not coming up is what are the other european nations doing about the threat in their backyard? it seems they have made some strategic errors when it comes to taking sanctions off the nord stream pipeline. it seems that putin just felt that the u.s. and european nations were weak, and doing what he's doing, it is unfortunate, pointing out that

our country and our position has been weak. i don't think it is a negative, but i would like to see the government reform a position of strength as much as possible. host: the european countries, did you see them doing that earlier this week? it was tuesday that germany announces that the certification of the nord stream to pipeline has been stopped, the beginning of sanctions rolling out monday evening from not just the u.s. but several allies as well, the idea, at least as it was explained, to hold back the harshest sanctions for a full invasion so as to have a stick, or perhaps a carrot of

not doing the sanctions, to keep putin from a wider invasion. it seems at that point we are at that wider invasion. caller: seems like a day late, dollar short. we will see what happens. host: this statement by the north atlantic council, by nato, yesterday, their official statement on the actions that vladimir putin has taken. "we condemn in the strongest possible terms russia's horrifying attack on ukraine, which is entirely unjustified and unprovoked. our thoughts are with the people of ukraine. we also condemn belarus for enabling this attack. this renewed attack is a grave violation of international law, including the u.n. charter, and a wholly contradictory to russia's commitments in the helsinki act, charter of paris, budapest memorandum, and constitutes an active and aggression against an

independent and peaceful country. we stand with ukraine and its democratic government. we have full support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, including its territorial waters." it goes on from there caller: i am more surprised about the varying opinions -- this is such a psychological war. -- that wouldn't have happened pre-internet or anything -- that

amazingly that -- amazing is me. -- it is so fascinating. something else is going on. host: ava, democrat. --abe, democrat. caller: i wanted to respond to one of your calls that said it didn't happen under trump i have been -- trump. i've been following this for a long time and trump has said the snake poll where who --poem where putin is at stake to -- a snake to. the republican party and some of the democrats need to wake up.

host: that is abe in north carolina. we weren't -- were expecting to have an about leaving -- looks like he will not join us. we will look to reschedule that. we will reschedule that but plenty of talk to -- to talk about and to get your reaction this morning on the russian invasion are -- loving -- of ukraine. call in. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8003.

we want to get your thoughts and reaction. democrat, good morning. caller: you can take anybody in the republican party and send them to russia. -- [indiscernible] host: i think we are losing you but we will go to frank. good morning. caller: i want to say that this is the most serious event in my lifetime. i am 79 years old and i grew up in cold war -- a cold war in this russian president -- and

this russian president is the most people individual that i have ever seen and i have to say my prayer tonight before this, before the election, the last election, republicans. however, trump turned my stomach and the way he cozied up to putin and try to -- tried to undermine nato for all the years he was in office. i think trump should be in prison. i think he is a traitor to our country and that is all i have to say. host: do i mind -- do you mind if i ask you a question? we shared that column from the

philadelphia inquirer and he is about your age. you mentioned you're a -- your age and he was talking about how he was growing up, there was the expectation after world war ii that there will be a world without wider global conflict, wondering what happened to that dream without a -- with a world without conflict and how it was fumbled after a world after world war ii and after the soviet union. what are your thoughts? caller: you got the iron curtain coming down in europe and the countries that were taken over by russia and including east germany militarizing and controlling check was about the

-- czechoslovakia. they took large parts of eastern europe and the neighbors to the south, i am not sure about what happened with ukraine except that i know that it was under control of the ussr during those years. anyway, the cold war began as the russians began to challenge us and you had the missile crisis and you had president kennedy having to stand to chris and get there god dam --that was the greatest domestic event in

my lifetime but i wanted to put in a comment for biden and i glad -- i am glad i voted for him because he has invigorated nato and whatever he says today will be good and i -- what germany did took a lot of balls. they stopped the pipeline that came from russia and that will hit the russians where they live because that is their main export. oil and gas. without them being able to sell that, how will they keep their country going? i am not sure. it looks like they will have to turn to saudi arabia for support and for loans and saudi arabia

is no friend of the united states. they come over with all their money and gamble in vegas all the time and that is pretty much all i have to say. i think president biden is doing all he can. i wish ukraine was a member of nato. host: frank in california. just a little more from the column in the philadelphia inquire -- inquirer. he says the generation after the collapse of mussolini -- marked a push for democracy that managed to be real and hypocritical. the rise of the united nations and the end of colloquialism --

shared prosperity for a mike -- white middle-class. --wide middle-class. this is barbara out in texas.

republican. good morning. caller: my whole thing is the world is in chaos because we have such a weak president. if we had a stronger president, things like this when not happen. putin did this because he knew he would get rights in with biden. people can trot -- talk about trump but if trump was in office, putin not invade ukraine. who's in invaded ukraine because he sees we are weak. we are weak because we have a weak president. we will continue to have this go on as long as we have that week man --weak man in the white house. host: as far as what putin is doing today. this tweet from the office of the prime mr. of pakistan from a

little bit ago, noting a meeting between -- the video fair of the two meeting. apparently, right now. speaking of the schedule today, here is what is going on in the united states. we are expecting that president biden participate in a virtual g7 leaders summit today to discuss the ongoing situation in russia and afghanistan. we are expecting statements from boars johnson -- boris johnson. we will carry that on the c-span networks. president biden sometime this

afternoon and i do not believe we have time just yet -- expected to address the nation on the invasion of the ukraine. a press briefing for now with jen psaki is scheduled. finally, we are expecting members briefings to take place tonight or early this evening. some news on that via political's huddle. -- calls that were planned before the overnight escalation as politico puts it. anthony blinken -- janet yellen, are set to brief the senators at 7:00 p.m. and all house members at 6:30 p.m. information will be limited but expect more briefings to be on the hill and congress likely to

talk more -- about this when they return. there is a session in the senate this week but the house and senate expected to return for the president's day district work. it's an estate work. it's at the beginning of next week. bill. democrat. good morning. caller: please allow me to get this off my chest. i am disgusted with both parties, and with the republican party especially. they encourage putin to do this. the fox news channel are in love with putin and it is all about power. the republican party would do anything to get back into power. it is a and salt when they say are commander in chief is weak.

that is playing into putin's hand. we as americans need to come together because the american people forgot the history of world war ii. i was over there -- not in world war ii but -- they informed me about all the horror stories. russia is a people country. back in 1945, in warsaw, poland people rose up and took warsaw back but they couldn't hold it. the soviet union assisted them until the germans took it back -- 200,000 civilians was killed in 1945. i would like for all americans to come together -- i didn't vote for the president but i will not trash him.

let's unite and figure this out. host: when do you think the last time was that americans came together? caller: under the reagan administration and also under george bush, 9/11. it was all united. it was a good feeling to be united. why cannot we do this? the fact that the republican party wants so much is -- the lapdog for putin is donald trump. host: bill in texas. this is jack -- jeff. good morning. caller: i want to start with some history. 2016, 2015, hillary clinton

wanted to have a reset with russia and putin. found out that it was not going to work out, found out that donald trump was cleaning her clock in the elections. all of a sudden, we had the russian delusion collusion and for years, russia has been a scapegoat for everything. putin does not need trump to tell him how weak biden is. everyone in the international world that -- knows that the bidens are compromised with their legal activities and their selling out of the country to china, russia, ukraine and everywhere. they knew when they rose up that biden was going to sit on his hands because biden and his family do not care as long as they get their check. host: this is john in chicago.

independent. caller: thanks for having me on. several comments. i wonder with putin, the extent to which he is -- observe the difference between policies -- second, many of the civilian leaders which are -- have been overseeing foreign now since the clinton administration and as an independent, i have low confidence that we have the civilian leadership cable to navigate safely the current issue and the ones that will emerge from this. the european policy in the pacific which brings me to my third point. what is our strategic pauses -- posture with our pacific fleet and are european --our european

allies. i want to points -- .2 resources. the modern warfare all caps in the regular warfare podcast, both of those, military forces have been commenting about this and i called to discuss the baltic position and i am astonished by the stunning lack of information and clarity coming from civilian leaders and a absence of communication coming from our peers in europe to the american people. we are hearing filtered news and this is one of the reasons i hear c-span -- love c-span because i get to hear citizens weak their opinion and i find it far more in furnaces -- informative to hear people

around the country been from mainstream media. my wife is a first grade teacher. she is so stressed and i suspect that many people around the country are upset this morning. host: before you go, you started with comments about nato. what do you think this does to nato going forward? does this make the nato all -- alliant stronger or could this fracture the and in its -- alliance? what is your guest for what happens -- guess for what happens going forward? caller: there are other things in play. boris johnson needs to stay in office and macron needs to strengthen the election. there's not -- there is a lot

going on in europe needs to be accounted for. -- common policy that is progressive in nature. right now, the damage is minimal. things can be worse. those of us that come from military families are seeing conflict and note that we don't want to get it -- it to get worse. you hear a set of common policies that will sanction her strongly enough to delay them -- and then posture the military forces that it communicates to putin that if you go further in ukraine, you may just have to make do at the western border of ukraine and that is not something that anyone wants. host: thank you for this call this morning. taking your phone calls.

republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8003. ukraine -- putin declares war. showing you some of the mehdi -- many headlines. it began last night with that statement by vladimir putin, a statement that came as the u.s. security council was meeting in session in new york to find a way to resolve the conflict that have -- has been escalating in eastern ukraine. these are the comments from u.s. representatives in the u.n.

linda thomas after the invasion began. she is talking to the russian representative to the security council that was sharing -- charing that meeting. >> at the exact time we are gathered in the cancel, seeking peace. putin delivered a message of war in total disdain of the responsibility of this council. this is a grave emergency. the council will need to act and we will put a resolution for -- on the table tomorrow. as president biden said tonight, russia alone is responsible for this -- the deaths and destructions the attack will bring and our allies and partners will respond in united and decisive -- a united and

decisive way. the world will hold russia counsel -- accountable. host: we are expected to hear more from president biden in the early afternoon on how the united states and the allies will hold putin accountable. or sanctions expected to be coming in that address. we will watch that together and carry that on the c-span networks. michael in new york. democrat. caller: good morning, c-span. it is time for all banana republic cans to chill out. -- banana republic into chill out. lastly, i say assassinate putin -- host: ok -- this is --

caller: -- because biden is so weak and how trump, it is never what happened, if trump -- if you real -- read the on a hill's --fiona hill's book on putin. putin has been very straightforward on buying anyone. he bought trump and placed him in the presidency. it is clear that putin helps trump to be elected and he weekend are -- weekend --we --weakened our position in

the world. host: what you think about president biden's response? caller: i think he is doing all he can do and we should 100% support the president. this is serious business. these people are looking to the next election and they are trying to undermine the resident. this goes in line -- if you look at january the sixth, trying to over throw the government and a you look at trump broadcasting for mar-a-lago saying that he thinks putin is smart. he is encouraging his people, who are obviously deranged, to support the idea of russia invading a sovereign nation. host: bonnie, nashville, tennessee. republican. caller: i agree with chris. host: as a republican?

caller: yes. i family has been rep -- my family has been republican but it is not about being republican or democrat. trump is neither or. host: who is a good republican? caller: it is hard to pick one. my father was a naval pilot and i remember my dad saying, "bon, the united states can never trust russia. they had the agenda forever that they wanted to control the world. " we are bickering over trump. trump has weekend the fabric of our country and ultimately, the world and its elections. biden -- is doing what he can to

get some space in our country. we are in a terrible -- terribly dangerous place that was somewhat tempered. even under obama, the country was fairly stable. now biden is after four years of trump, -- such extremes between the political parties. defending putin, it is all about power. oil and money are power. i believe with bill -- agree with bill about the border. that is a way to undermine countries that they want to take control of your -- control of. host: bonnie in tennessee.

the start of the republican party are gathering in orlando, florida for the cpac conference. the headlines for the washington times says it sets up a popularity contest between robert dissenters and president trump. expected to headline beat saturday evening -- the saturday evening stage. governor ron desantis will be speaking today at 1:20 p.m.. we plan to air that on c-span.org and on the free c-span video app. michelle out of brooklyn. independent. caller: i would like to say the division in our country at the moment is so sad and it is

really so bad. i don't dare to take what is going -- going on in this madman's mine. i think he realized how divided we are and he is willing to take advantage of that but we are the leaders of the free world. we are defenders of democracy. i wish that instead -- that germany took a stance and nato -- i wish we could be better leaders and take further action, whether -- whatever is necessary to end this. host: when were we a better leader of the free world? when was the last time we did that? caller: the last time we did that. i would say, i have to honestly

say at the moment i don't know. it was a long time ago. it was probably during vietnam -- no one like that world -- war but we were you -- united with the people bear and we got things done and it was horrible and the country was divided over whether or not it was right are long but we were there and we let -- led vietnam as a free country today and -- i don't know. this is so sad and it is such a sad commentary on our society that this is happening. it is really scary and i don't scare easily. host: what do you say to the callers who called in today and

said this isn't our problem? caller: we are all members of the humor -- human race. putin is a madman. this will affect us on so many of us. people are talking about the economics of this. it goes far beyond the economics. beyond the prices at the gas station, take the subway or the bus. i am very hopeful and i am praying a lot -- going to daily mass and hoping that this gets resolved for our allies and the other nations who are defenders of democracy. host: on that question -- and the comet that we heard -- comment that we heard from other college that is is in our problem, this is -- matters to

americans. the editorial board taking up the question, saying any americans may wish instinctively and understandably not to get involved with a european war -- even directly, by levying sanctions on the aggressor, russia. --

the editorial going on to write that -- we will hear more from president

biden what those sanctions and the president has problem is the harshest sanctions if russia were to undertake a full under scale -- full invasion. we will hear from the president today. democrat. the -- good morning. caller: i was caught offguard listening to some of the reporters to hear that the oligarchs have taken root in the great -- united kingdom. they were sort of given quite a welcome and taken root there. -- have brought up a lot of real estate and also, bought a lot of

the sports teams. particularly soccer. where there is a major team playing in saint petersburg. i thought it was a interesting story to follow because we know brexit was given credence by the russians and we know that the republican convention was fostered by the russians, our own political fiasco. i think the stories of the look parks and the democracies around the world have been fed by the russians and i think it will be an interesting story to follow and i know c-span will follow that. given your question about why the ukraine should matter to us,

i urge your viewers and listeners to please pick up a copy of blood -- written by professor timothy snyder. we know him for his book on tyranny but if you read one chapter of your -- his book, you will never think about the ukraine the same again. from hitler's using rate as a weapon --rape as a weapon of war against ukraine -- forced famine, nearly 20 million people have died. these people have suffered so forensically. -- horrendously. if you believe in prayer, you will pray. please say whatever you think of these poor people. host: it is about a block and a

half from office here on capitol hill on the memorial to victims to the ukraine payment genocide of 1932. it is just around the corner here in washington dc. it is open to the public and it is a place that it -- is getting a lot more attention in the past couple weeks but if you have ever been to washington dc, it is near our office. caller: i urge people to read this book and if you could have the honor of having professor snyder and his story on how he studied the region. he speaks all those balkan languages and he studies them and he knows all about the archives and -- but if you ever get a chance to read that book or go through the book, you will never feel the same way about those wonderful people.

there is quite a large ukrainian population -- i am not ukrainian myself i am -- know the history of belarus and up -- the polish people. it is hard wrenching -- heart wrenching to know the struggles of the people and what they have to go through again. give what you can and support their cause. you know it will not end well and putin and to think that we have politicians like ted cruz and these people who are just wrapped up in this fallacy that putin is a wonderful genius as pompeo calls him, it is madness. it is terror to be brought on these poor people once again. her heart goes out to them. buy whatever you can and i hope you can support them.

host: helen out of maine. a little more on the memorial that was dedicated back in 2015. the memorial to those died -- who died in the famine of starvation in 1923. it was getting a lot of attention back there for the military incursions in ukraine. it was a theme during the -- memorial to remember the millions who died in that -- in 1923.

it is just a couple blocks from where we are in washington dc. greg, huntsville, alabama. the morning. -- good morning. caller: it appears that the suffrage of ukraine continues. as we entered the agreement there and we -- there are a couple words there. if you are buying a used car, you will be taped --ticked because your insurance was not in place. you are talking about the third largest nuclear power at the time. host: 1000 -- 1800 nuclear

weapons on ukraine territory after the breakup of the soviet union. that was the focus of the budapest memorandum in 1924. caller: ukraine was the third largest nuclear -- power. we gave insert -- a searches -- assurances. -- we are giving you security assurances. what do we do? what does our word mean globally? we get trump and biden. two jokes. forget them but. -- both. what does assurance mean? nothing. it means you are now invested. you do what we want. take a look. the leading 90% of all technical

high-tech semi could -- semiconductors are made in taiwan. host: this is how the wall street journal ends there column about the budapest memorandum. i want to bounce it off the you. they say -- caller: mr. wall street journal? host: -- caller: that was the wall street journal? they finally got something right.

we gave them assurance. when you start putting hairs on people have suffered greatly, we made a lot of mistakes leading up to this with the gas station headed to -- pipeline headed to germany. i am not sure why we would ever trust russia. why will we ever trust them? do not be unified -- to not be unified to protect the people, we gave a searches -- assurances. if you split hair between the word assurances and the work guarantee, that agreement was alive. host: the work that they use -- word that they use, they confirmed a half-dozen commitments to ukraine, and the most important was quote confirming the obligation to --

they pledged to quotes, "read frank -- --"act of aggression against the -- country." caller: i don't feel that we are fulfilling our promise. we took away their weapons and we are letting them just walk in and take it over. it is embarrassing and terrible and our word means nothing. host: greg in alabama. it is 8:45 in the east coast and we are taking your calls on the russian invasion of ukraine. spending three hours getting your reaction. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000.

independence, (202) 748-8002. a few more for you in wegner. " russia's invasion of ukraine is a barbaric attack that must be punished." congressman jim jordan says -- the democratic senator from michigan says -- david chon, the democratic

conner smith from -- congressman from maryland says -- bob, in michigan. independent. good morning. caller: the previous caller headed right. -- had it right. -- the cuban missile crisis -- this acquittal -- the that. -- eclipses that. -- should they do that, i see the fact that biden or pruden will stop at nothing to retake the former soviet union and that includes nuclear weapons. there is no good answer. this is why far the worst

potential -- by far the worst potential incident in my lifetime at least. if i was taiwan and japan and south korea right now, and there is no doubt that they have nuclear weapons. i think we can be assured of that but this is the problem. if the russians get stopped and balked down, --bogged down, i think putin will use tactical nukes and all that are off. this is the worst human crisis that i have seen in my lifetime and i am old. i want everyone to recognize that what happens in ukraine and i don't know if there is a good answer at this point. for anyone involved. let's hope that something will

happen. i don't know the answer to it now. what started has started. that is all i have to say about that. host: brian in washington dc. independent. good morning. caller: hey, this is washington from -- brian from washington state. i have been enjoying the calls. i had the opportunity to work with lithuania after the berlin wall came down. he was the sergeant -- leader of three sergeants. i asked my coworker what they did. he said the afghanistan situation and they say they

traveled around russia squashing protests in prisons and it baffled me. how could you part of the -- be part of the military and go around the country and suppressed rights in --riots in prisons? i can see that he was being factual. the workings of the russians are interest take -- interest -- intricate and if you look at the olympics, we watched the ceremony when things went gunnysack and russia had their local citizens think that the opening of the ceremony went perfect because the russians watch a rehearsal. the rest of the world knew that there was a goof up but that is how entry quickly -- intricately

controlled the russian society is. they had nbc hosting the so she --sochi olympics -- one at that was 60 minutes. -- one of them was 60 minutes and that coverage by nbc, that so few russian olympics --sochi brushy -- russian olympics, at the end of the problem -- program, was russians talking about turning the united states into smoldering ash. host: -- new start tech --new sguardtech.com

we focus on this information and though -- he -- the world's media place. fighting information -- you can watch the segment at c-span.org. how the attack is playing in the united states across the morning. here are the few of the headlines. from the errors on -- arizona republic. the dallas morning news come up with the same headline, star tribune -- the pictures of the tanks there. the boston globe this morning with the headline -- and the san diego union tribune.

all of the same headlines. that is what americans are waking up to and we are opening the phone see you all morning long to get your reactions of the russian invasion of ukraine and we will we get -- doing that for the and -- until the end of the program. for republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we were talking about president bynum's address to the nation. cnn and others reporting that that speech for president biden will likely take place around noon eastern time today. we know that president biden is meeting virtually with the g7 leaders and we are expecting around the noon hour, an address

from the united kingdom prime minister. a lot of pieces going on today. i appreciate you staying with the c-span networks throughout the day to watch it all, unfiltered. we will continue to hear from you. kathy. democrat. caller: i think the house of representatives and the senate should get into a special session and do what they need to do to stop putin from doing this and -- pressure on pruden -- putin as fast as they can. and the sessions are not doing

any good. they should really do more powerful sessions -- sanctions on russia than they ever can. host: kathy in texas. this is roland in washington dc. republican. caller: thank you, c-span. i would like to let you know that there is no difference between a republican and a democrat. it is the only -- only the ideology that they proselytize. you can have conservative democrats likes -- like cinema and mansion, they are down in a -- they are there to stop any progress in the policy. the boston -- got goes out to the mediterranean sea. you can position some marines

and -- submarines in order to bomb central europe. i worked in service but i have seen things that would make people's hairs stand on and -- end. you had the olympics. while she seeping and putting -- xi xiping and couldn't work discussing -- putin were discussing -- we have to take into ukraine has resources. it is conducive to cultivating crops. that is why putin wants that area along -- along with upper -- region.

people are not privy to other things because they do not read. the american public tends to be narcissistic. we are intimate see -- intimately linked because of social media and policy. all putin has to do is get someone to hack the systems. this happen before. all he has to do is mess up the infrastructure and the grid. we will lose power. we will not be able to communicate with one another. our hospitals will be a mess and your refrigerator will not work because you don't have electricity. host: that is roland. you bring up a couple different topics on the topic of china and russia. this is reporting from the associated press, their ongoing ticker with stowe sheet -- stories related with ukraine. they know that china's customs

-- approved wheat with russia, a move that could remove the impact of sanctions. beijing had barred inputs -- imports until now from russia's wheat imports due to possible fungus and other contamination. -- that was the reporting from the associated press and one other story from the associated press. ukraine's websites seeing multiple attacks.

-- that all coming amid the invasion, the explosions heard across ukraine and we are talking about the russian invasion of ukraine all morning long on the washington journal. this is keith, a democrat. caller: to all the republicans and fox news causing -- calling biden week, the senate could even pass a set of sanctions against russia, which was similar to russia -- biden had. when called putin a genius, --

up is a narcissistic -- trump is a narcissistic psychopath. host: caller: thank you for taking my call. i am 86, and in 1946 or 1947, i got an opportunity to meet some ukrainians. michael had a dairy and brought over a misplaced person -- my uncle had a dairy and brought over a misplaced person from europe. gave them food and shelter and let them work for a year. they had two sons. we were swimming in the stock tank together, and these young boys, they said, we white russians. we white russians. i did not know what he was

talking about until i found out there were communists and non-communists in ukrainia. after they finished their service, they had moved away. years later, they came back and thanked my aunt for bringing them over. ukrainians have been like ours -- they've hated the germans, the russians, some were killed in one year than hiller killed in 12 -- hitler killed in 12. people don't forget when things like that happen. host: this is david, st. james, new york. republican. good morning. david, are you with us? go ahead. caller: sorry, good morning. i definitely feel that the russians are making a big mistake, but i really believe

that our administration is making a bigger mistake, because they could have stopped all of this when they saw the buildup of the troops. i really believe there are a lot of efforts being put forward to allow this to happen because if biden did not want this to happen and congress did not want this to happen, they could have seen this a long time ago, and they claimed they did, and they are not doing anything about it. it's not trump's fault, whether he said pruden was a genius or not a genius. the whole point was, pruden was going forward with an attack on the ukraine. it's a big mess and the mess has to be fixed. i don't see our administration trying to fix this mess. i see them allowing this to happen and i am not really sure why. if russia takes the ukraine, what does it mean for the united states. what we want to have his

independence, our own energy supply and we should have protections on hacking into our computers. and against china as well. i think that china is going to hack in with the russians and attack us. they have to attack us from both sides of this country, and i think they need a lot of troops to do that. i think with china and russia together, with iran and north korea, i believe that could happen. host: david in new york. this is doyle out of chattanooga, tennessee. democrat. good morning. caller: i am a veteran, and i was a navy veteran in 1964. we know a lot of things about what [inaudible] if you think the united states don't have a powerful military

and can't fight, you've got to be crazy. we have a thing called deterrence. if russia hit us, they could destroy u.s. trade within 15 minutes. russia would be destroyed. [inaudible] they could destroy russia. host: that's doyle, chattanooga, tennessee. we will take a break here for just a minute, because up next, we will be joined by william pomerantz, bringing him in this morning to talk to you about the russian invasion of ukraine. stick around on the phone lines if you are on it right now. we will get to your calls right after this break. ♪

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center russia expert william pomeranz, as we continue to discuss the invasion of ukraine. let's start with your biggest concerns right now and what you are expecting from president biden when he addresses the nation. we are expecting that to happen around noon eastern today. guest: what i am expecting from president biden is a condemnation of what the russian federation has done in ukraine, and the implementation of massive sanctions in coordination with our european allies. host: massive sanctions -- what does that mean? we have heard about harsh and crippling sanctions. the sanctions have to hit to be harsh and crippling and massive? guest: i think the united states has already envisioned what level of sanctions we want to implement, but they are severe

in terms of the limitations on the export of technology and software. there is still a question as to whether we will implement a section on the swiss system, the banks messaging system, but i think everything is now on the table and it will be very important to have a united front with our european allies in any sort of sanctions program. host: in terms of your biggest concerns right now, we had callers, right before you came on, with several concerns about escalation to the point of nuclear escalation. a lot of folks pointing out that it wasn't expected that we would get this far, and how far could this go? what would you say to those callers? guest: obviously, that would depend on vladimir putin and whether he would want to escalate it with nuclear confrontation. based on the initial assault on

ukraine, it is still a military operation, an invasion. but with several flanks and with the likely possibility that the russians will try to occupy kyiv, the donbass, and several other ukrainian cities. in terms of a military operation, i'd still think it is a conventional operation, but one in clear violation of international law and a host of other international policy. host: we are hearing talk of refugees already fleeing the country, when it comes to an occupation, what could that mean for ukraine? explain what you think might happen here in the days and weeks to come? guest: i think the indications are that putin and the russians will try to go after kyiv, a

siege of kyiv. this will result in tens of thousands of refugees, but the key variable for such an assault would be whether the russians have enough troops to occupy kyiv and the other major cities. as military experts have pointed out, for an occupation, russia needs boots on the ground, and we still do not know what hundred 50,000, or 200,000 troops is enough to occupy ukraine, a country of 40 plus million people. host: william pomeranz with us this morning, from the wilson center. we want to get as many phone calls as we can. as usual, republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000.

independents and all others, (202) 748-8002. go ahead and start calling in, we will get to as many of your calls as we can. as folks are calling in, this tweet from not too long ago, from the ukrainian president. russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as nazi germany did in the second world war. we are on different sides of world history. russia has embarked on a path of people, but ukraine is defending itself and won't give up its freedom, no matter what moscow thinks. william pomeraz could, this have been avoided? or was this always a likely outcome? guest: judging from the speech that putin gave two days ago, when he described the rationale for this invasion, this is something that vladimir putin has been thinking about for 30 years.

he believes, he doesn't believe in the independence of ukraine. he doesn't even believe that ukraine is a country or a nation , and he has thought this evidently from the beginning. we can argue about whether some sort of concessions were possible, whether the minsk agreement is viable or not, but with vladimir putin's recognition of the two breakaway republics, the minsk agreement is over. it's white clear that he never really wanted to negotiate over minsk either. i think we have to say this is vladimir putin's invasion and it is all because of vladimir putin's worldview points. host: and what the minsk agreement is -- or i guess i should say was, at this point. guest: the minsk agreement

enabled able to cease fire in 2014 and required negotiations between kyiv and the breakaway republic. conditions under the minsk agreement were very onerous, especially for kyiv. it would essentially have to allow a veto power to the two breakaway republics and if -- kyiv has acknowledged that and agreed to that, it would end the independence and unity of the ukrainian state. host: let's get some calls, chuck from jefferson, georgia. go ahead, chuck. caller: i have two questions. was genghis khan a genius? host: what's your other question? you're talking about russia and ukraine right now. caller: well, he came out of russia, which is what putin is doing. and the nord stream thing, is it a penalty for russia? host: mr. pomeranz, the nord

stream 1 and nord stream 2 pipeline? guest: the germans have issued the most severe sanctions, as it were, on russia, because they have stopped the flow of natural gas from russia to the european country. host: what was nord stream 1? guest: that was a smaller pipeline. host: is there a chance that nord stream 2 could come back? is this a temporary block? guest: it's clear that nord stream 2 and 1 will not come back in the near term, and that is the agreement to license this massive pipeline, it's not on the cards. host: monty, democrat, good morning. you are next.

caller: thanks for taking my call. quick observation, it seems to me that russia is at war with ukraine, finally. it seems to me as for the world, on a larger scale, the war between democracy and authoritarianism has begun. guest: yes, russia represents a different worldview. it has a long autocratic mission and russia now has used its history, or putin has used its history to justify what is a violation of international law. yes, the idea that somehow we would cohabitate in the 1970's and 1980's, and the idea that somehow we could make russia a democratic country in the 1990's and 2000s, i think that is off the agenda for the time being and it won't return for a long

time. host: nashville, tennessee. corey, independence. good morning. caller: yeah, thank you for taking my call. i have two things, but i want to make a shout out to yuri bensman ov, who wrote a love letter to america in 1984. he pretty much addicted all of this. second, i think the federal government should make an alliance with india, as putin has met with china, -- and pakistan. that's all i wanted to say. host: for prudent design -- for putin's designs outside of ukraine, what could this teach us about what he is seeking? guest: at the present time, i think he is seeking the conquest

of ukraine. whether that will go into the post warsaw pact nations, poland and so forth, the baltic nations, we will have to see. unfortunately, everything is on the table in terms of reacting to putin. i don't think that his aspirations will just be limited to ukraine. host: what can congress consider when they come back next week? this is a tweet from congressman darren soto, saying we have already authorized aid to ukraine. further aid should be authorized by congress without delay. what are the next steps that you see? guest: i think congress will return to the questions of sanctions, and congress will actually demand that biden introduced sanctions to their sanctions on russia. you might remember that six months ago, biden decided not to

introduce sanctions on the companies that had built the nord stream 2 pipeline because he wanted to reestablish good relations with europe and with germany. i think that is now established good relationship with germany and the new leadership in germany, but congress will step up and demand that the president have the sanctions on ukraine -- on russia. host: mesa, arizona. jan, republican, good morning. caller: yes, i just want to say, my heart bleeds for the ukrainian people. you watch them, and they were living a life like we were living there america. they were trying to be good. i mean, russia is bad. their leaders have been absolute croaks. this is so sad to watch.

putin doesn't want to see that. he doesn't want to see a country that is happy it has democracy. that would mess it up for his own country. but this oil thing, this food thing and this inflation thing, this is all by biden. they can put all these little tricks that they want, but it isn't. this is biden's stuff, the oil. biden has done this to our food. he says it's inflation -- we can't buy a car. we have always been able to buy a car. we can't afford a car. host: the focus is on ukraine and russia right now. mr. pomeranz, in terms of where the russian economy is weakest and where sanctions would hurt most, for folks who are not mill your right now with what's going on with the russian economy, can you give a bit of an overview? guest: well, the russian economy is under pressure right now. there has been rising inflation. russia is not a global economic

power, so what the united states can do is impose sanctions on the financial system. we can impose sanctions on putin's cronies, and we can impose strict export controls on the technology that russia needs. i think that is the basic element of the so-called massive sanctions that biden will use. it will be very interesting to see if biden can explain, can convince the europeans to go along with the expulsion of russia from the swiss system, but i think what i outlined above are the basic elements of the sanctions program. host: who are the oligarchs? are we talking dozens, hundreds? guest: oligarchs, you can put various things to them, but they are the economic elite of russia . one could also call them the

robber barons of russia. but these are the people who have accumulated vast fortunes after the collapse of the soviet union. for the most part, basically all of them have sworn loyalty to putin and to the russian state. so going after the oligarchs will be a major consequence of this action. i don't think, at least at the beginning, they will rebel against putin. i think they will take it on the chin. but going after the economic elite of russia is basically behind the program of going after oligarchs. host: is vladimir putin more dependence on the oligarchs or are the oligarchs more dependent on vladimir putin? who is in charge? guest: the oligarchs are more dependent on vladimir putin. they do not challenge him

politically and their wealth is largely dependent on their loyalty to vladimir putin. as you recall, there have been various attempts to go after oligarchs who are deemed disloyal to putin, the trial and conviction of for -- poro kofsky is the best example. host: this putin care if they lose a megayacht? guest: no. host: so what is the point? guest: to go after the bank accounts and their exclusive lives that they have led in the west, or making sure that the oligarchs who are still in russia, and there are several oligarchs who are still in russia, can't travel and roam around the world and visit their various bank accounts in the cayman islands and so forth. host: spring, texas.

mike, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is, given the current administration, do you think if, under the former one, we would be in this? guest: honestly, former president trump has made various statements, calling vladimir putin a genius. it is quite clear, i think, that he would not challenge putin during this type of operation. i don't think the previous administration would have challenged him. indeed, i think there is more of a likelihood that they would have given him the green light to engage in these activities. host: olga, miami, florida, democrat. good morning. guest: hi, i was wondering if you could explain what to expect

from the united nations regarding this violation of sovereignty? thank you? guest: obviously, russia is on the security council and will veto any sort of condemnation that the united nations wants to put out. host: can you explain why the russian ambassador is in the chairman seat of this council, when we have been watching the meetings this week? why does he hold the gavel while they are speaking? guest: i assume the speaker is appointed via rotation, so i would assume, and i don't know the exact answer, that it is simply russia's time to be in the speaker seat. host: mystic, connecticut. david, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i was always taught that the best defense is offense.

why aren't we opening up our wells, drilling in the gulf, myanmar, and our pipelines? the other question, i don't see where ukraine is doing any offense. guest: well, ukraine is outmanned at the present time. it will be on the defense for a while because of the massive assault led by the russian troops. whether this changes u.s. policy in terms of oil exploration, that is speculation, but i think ukraine has to be on the defensive at least in the beginning. i think if russia wants to occupy ukraine, it will face significant challenges and resistance from the ukrainian people. host: in terms of an outmanned military, this from the bbc --

their map. again, these could be a little outdated numbers by this point, but showing the numbers here, active duty military in ukraine, around 200,000. russia, close to one million. a reserve corps of 2 million in russia, around 900,000 in ukraine. the attack aircraft disparity, some 1500 to 98 attack helicopters, over 534 tanks. 12,000 to maybe 2500 and so on down the line. that estimation by the bbc and the global firepower accounting. this is grant in washington, d.c., independent. good morning. caller: good morning. some of the questions are very uncomfortable questions. one of my questions for next friday is, why are we paying for

morocco to be supported in its occupation and annexation of western zahara under the abraham accords plans under trump and supported by biden. and why is israel's annexation and x way tatian of the golan heights, which it captured in a war of aggression in march, ok, and russia's occupation and invasion of ukraine is not ok. can you answer why some annexations and occupations r.o.k. from the u.s. standpoint and others are absolutely not? guest: i will not go through the reasons for all these various occupations, but in ukraine, we need to emphasize, and you need to consider, that russia recognized the sovereignty of ukraine in something called the

budapest memorandum. in terms of ukraine, they actually went through a denuclearization process and returned all their nukes in light of the security guarantee. so russia recognized the sovereignty of ukraine. it has now violated that sovereignty and occupied, is attempting to occupy ukraine. in this instance, the whole european security architecture and postwar settlement is under threat. i think that is why the occupation of ukraine has risen to such importance in the past 24 hours. host: you mentioned the russian commitment in the budapest memorandum. what about the u.s. commitment? what did we say we would do? guest: we said we would not aggression eyes ukraine sovereignty, but come to the

defense of ukraine. obviously, ukraine is not a member of nato, so it does not have the section five guarantee of a response, but we are also responsible for guaranteeing the independence of ukraine. biden has basically said that we are not going to intervene militarily, but we do have a moral and, i would argue, a legal responsibility to defend ukraine, especially in light of this incredible violation of international law. host: two more calls for you before we have you -- while we have you. robert in virginia, republican. go ahead. caller: i am not a republican, i am an independent. that was a mistake in the dialing. my question is one, i was in moscow earlier this year, and sanctions don't seem to do much. every time there are sanctions

put in the placed, they build up the infrastructure internally. they put embargoes on cheeses from countries like italy and france and ham from germany, they started manufacturing their own parmesan in-house and grilling turkey, so they just became stronger, and substituted one for the other . second, i have family over there in moscow, and i wonder what this is going to do for our diplomatic relations and the ability to travel back and forth. those are the two questions i have for you, sir. host: mr. pomeranz? guest: i think travel will become much more difficult. we have already experienced difficulties getting visas from the russian embassy and experienced issues with the u.s. embassy in moscow, so i think travel will become more complicated in light of this action. the caller raises an important issue about sanctions. russia has introduced a policy

of import substitution, and indeed, one of the consequences of sanctions is that russia may try to increase their investment in the technology that is embargoed through sanctions. that obviously is a risk in any introduction of a sanctions program. host: last call, mike out of las vegas, democrat. good morning. caller: i have a question. for several weeks, this has been building up and building up. i am wondering why the u.n. did not put a force in the ukraine? guest: the osce has engaged in peacekeeping operations and monitoring situations in the donbass, but there was not an

incident such as one that occurred over the last 24 hours that demanded a human presence in ukraine. i think that's why the u.n. has discussed ukraine, but has not engaged in putting troops on the ground. host: i know it's a busy day and we appreciate you joining us for the beginning of it. thank you for joining us. the wilson center's acting director there. we will talk to you down the line. a half-hour left in our program. after the break, we will return to your phone calls, your reaction to the russian invasion of ukraine. phone numbers are on your screen for democrats, republicans, and independence. start calling in. we will get to your calls after the break. ♪ >> follow president biden's historic pick for the next supreme court justice.

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a full schedule on your program guide or watch any time on c-span.org/history. >> at least six presidents recorded conversations while in office. here many of those conversations on c-span's new podcast, presidential recordings. >> season one focuses on the presidency of lyndon johnson. you will hear about the 1964 presidential campaign, the gulf of tonkin incident, the march on selma and the war in vietnam. not everyone knew they were being recorded. >> certainly johnson's secretaries knew, because they were tasked with transcribing many of those conversations. in fact, they were the ones who made sure that the conversations were taped as johnson would signal to them through an open door between his office and theirs. >> you will also hear some blunt talk. >> the number of people who

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take your calls on the russian invasion of ukraine. phone lines, republicans, (202) 748-8000. -- republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents and all others, (202) 748-8002. president biden, as of 9:00, participated in a virtual g7 meeting. around noon is when he will address the country on the crisis in the ukraine-russia attack. we are also expected to hear from boris johnson as to that same topic. that's also expected to happen around noon today. members of congress, according to politico, are set to receive briefings from cabinet members, secretary of state antony

blinken, treasury secretary janet yellen, the senator briefing expected to happen at 5:00 p.m. eastern. house members expected to be briefed by the cabinet secretary and the joint chiefs chairman at 6:30 p.m. eastern, and one other programming note we mentioned earlier, the start of the conservative political action conference, and our coverage of governor ron desantis and his speech. we had said it will be on c-span. that has been moved to c-span two at 1:20 p.m. eastern today. you can also watch it on c-span.org and our free c-span video app, c-span now, making room on this network for what we are expecting in the early afternoon. stay with us throughout the day for all of that coverage. you can watch all these lead -- all of these events live and unfiltered in their entirety. your phone calls now on the

russian invasion of ukraine, the topic we have been talking about all morning long. philip, eastern massachusetts, republican. good morning. caller: good morning, i appreciate being on with you. i did attempt to get on while mr. pomerantz was, but unfortunately i was not able to do that. during his commentary, he indicated this was something that putin had been contemplating for 30 years, and he referred to the rambling speech that putin made with regard to the whole history of russia. but the facts are, in the course of those 30 years, it's only twice that putin has made incursions. once when obama and biden were holding office and now when biden is holding office. i think that would have been an interesting question for mr. pomerantz. in those 30 years of this intense perspective that mr.

putin have, he only backed it when he spotted, i would say, weak presidents in office who would not take resolute action in terms of what his actions were. we know yesterday, in the new york times, peter baker talked about putin not wanting to take action during the four years of the trump presidency because of the uncertainty of what that response might be. we know putin did not take action of the presidency of -- during the presidency of george w. bush. the only two times he has done this is with democratic -- host: the russian courage and into george -- incursion into georgia was during the presidency of george w. bush. 2008, that was when that

occurred. caller: the beginning of the bush presidency? host:host: the end. caller: and what happened in georgia? host: vladimir putin essentially took regions of georgia. caller: well, that's a good point. nonetheless, in the 30 years with regard to ukraine, what pomerantz is talking about is physically ukraine, right? he was not talking about anything else. he was talking about ukraine. the two times putin has moved on ukraine, which were factual, are during the times of obama and biden. host: john in north hollywood, california. good morning. caller: the united states, the ukraine and russia are not stable countries.

they are too small of importance in every aspect in the world to interfere in russia in an invasion case. [inaudible] host: ok. floyd, jonesville, virginia, republican. caller: yes, thank you for taking my call. i want to say that i have to say , what it is, a lot of people don't think about it, but russia took -- we bought alaska from russia and they have been wanting to take it back for years. we saw thing on cbs, where they are putting their ships around now and trying to start something with us up near alaska. they will come and try to take

it back. google shepherds chapel, horses of the bible, and three world ages. host: floyd, i think you give that website every time you call in. we appreciate you offering your thoughts. brian in overland park, kansas. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. 50 years ago, i was a young army officer working in berlin for nato. 30 years ago, i was a young person working for the government, assigned to russia. i worked for mayors up and down the river. three large cities in russia, met a russian lady, married her, and we currently live here in the midwest. i know something about nato, obviously, i spent three years there. i know something about russia, i worked there two years and their

government, and i would just like to make one comment that i don't think a lot of the talking heads who seem to be self appointed experts are making this morning. 60 years ago, we almost went to nuclear war when khrushchev put missiles in cuba. and when the berlin wall fell and gorbachev went down, yeltsin replaced him, nato expanded from 14 nations to 30. and we put troops on russia's borders. with the armaments that go with having soldiers there. i just ask you and whoever else is listening, what we would do if putin put missiles in canada or mexico? i think we back -- i am not a friend of mr. putin. he tried to have me arrested

once when i was living in russia. i am not a backer of mr. putin. but when you backed someone into the corner, they are going to react accordingly. last point, bill clinton said it best. we have one president at a time. i did not vote for mr. biden, but mr. biden is my president, and i pray to god for him every day, that he handles this appropriately. make you for taking my call. host: a map from the bbc on nato expansion since the year 1997. the dark purple on this map, those nations that joined nato before 1997. the lighter magenta color, the 14 different countries that have joined since 1997. stephen michigan, democrat. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. thank you for allowing me on here to speak my mind.

i noticed they had meetings last night at the cnn or something like that, where every country came together -- host: the united nations security council. caller: yeah, trying to get this rationed out. i love the way the ukrainian ambassador spoke up about his country and how firm he was about it, but also noticed that russian ambassador acted like he didn't really care. his attitude was very disrespectful. i want to get to the point of this. we have ukraine that is in dire need. these people are human. they deserve to live the life that they want to live. they deserve to be happy and not without all the stress of what's going on with them, because somebody has a big ego and he wants to take over whatever he feels like he can do, like he is a diplomat or whatever. i think the united states should

move swiftly, as well as other countries, slide some troops in there and get this squashed asap. he has already crossed a line. he has done a war crime because he broke the rules. all he was doing in my opinion, he was setting things up like a chess game. he brought all of his forces upfront so everybody could see. therefore, this whole idea was to go in the background. host: keith in michigan this morning. the scene at the united nations security council meeting in new york, as the caller was referring to. here is some of what happened. this is the ukrainian ambassador to the u.n. addressing the body last night, shortly after russian president vladimir putin announced the invasion. >> i was intending to ask the russian ambassador to confirm on the record, that the russian

troops will not start firing at ukrainians today and go ahead with the offensive. it became useless. 48 minutes ago. because about 48 minutes ago, your president went to war with ukraine. so now i would like to ask the ambassador of the russian federation to state for the record that at this very moment, your troops do not shell and bomb ukrainian cities. that your troops do not move in the territory of ukraine. you have a smart form. -- smart phone. you can call lavrov right now. we can let you go out and call him. if you are not in a position to

give an affirmative answer, the russian federation is forced to relinquish responsibilities of the president of the security council. pasties response abilities onto a legitimate member of the security council, a member that is respectable of the charter, and i asked the members of the security council to convene an emergency meeting immediately and consider all necessary decisions to stop the war. it is too late, my dear colleagues, to speak about de-escalation. too late. the russian president declared war. i have video of your president. ambassador, should i do that,

right now? you can confirm it. do not interrupt me, please. thank you. >> [inaudible] >> anyway, you declared the war. it is a responsibility of these parties to stop the war. so i call on everyone of you to do everything possible to stop the war. or shall i play the video with your president declaring the war? thank you very much. >> first, i must say that i think the representative of ukraine for his statement. the questions, i am planning to answer them, but i have said all i know at this point. speaking to lavrov at this time is not something i plan to do. he said the information that we have will be something we provide, and this is not called

a war. this is a special military operation in the donbass. host: the scene last night from the un security council meeting. according to the very end of that meeting, here's how that meeting ended. [video clip] >> called putin. call lavrov. stop aggression. i welcome the decision of some members of this council to meet as soon as possible to consider the necessary decisions that would condemn the aggression that you launch on my people. there is no purgatory for war criminals. they go straight to hell, ambassador. >> i wanted to have a conclusion that we are not being aggressive against the ukrainian people, but against the

power in kyiv. there are no more speakers on the list. this meeting is adjourned. host: if you want to watch the security council meeting in its entirety, you can do so on c-span.org. one tweet to show you from the u.s. embassy in kyiv, there are alert to u.s. citizens saying there is ongoing reports of military and fighting throughout ukraine. u.s. citizens being advised to shelter-in-place and seek cover immediately if you hear a loud explosion or if sirens are activated. this is mary lee, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i am just very upset, why our president biden has been dragging his feet on every issue in this past year.

ukrainian people, i feel very, very sorry for. i don't understand why this president will not do what a leader has to do for the people. as far as nato, i think they should react the same way. they should help -- they've never had done before. host: what does that include, mary lee? military aid, active-duty troops? caller: yes, yes. definitely. most definitely. we need people to step up what our country. has become in this past year it is so upsetting.

like the news, everyone knows all these corrupt leaders in these other countries are looking at this country and god only knows what is coming. host: mary lee in lakeland, florida. this is richard out of virginia, independent. good morning. caller: yes, my heart goes out to the ukrainian people. it's a travesty, what is happening. two things i want to highlight. one, i wonder how much of the box afghanistan withdrawal contributed to emboldening prudent to take these measures. i think he was waiting for the right timing. i think he has been watching the united states for a while, seeing how we would react in terms of form and policy. i think he does seem like a weak administration, a weak president. second, i have been watching different news outlets and people who have been acquainted

with putin. a lot of people say the demeanor of prudent has changed recently. not entirely sure what that means, but it just seems like he wants to leave a legacy behind. i believe he is 73 years old, right? in power for about 20 years. i think a part of him wants to craft his own legacy, kind of return russia back to the ussr glory days, and it's just a travesty. i do think the administration needs to step up. in terms of military aid, providing military aid to nato countries, that can provide support for ukraine. i don't think sanctions are going to do much. i think the whole point of implementing the sanctions is for a long-term strategic gain. i don't think it's going to do anything short-term. host: we are exciting president biden to announce more sanctions, having threatened the quote unquote harshest of

sanctions in recent days. the statement from president biden last night, released by the white house, president putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction that this attack will bring. the united states, its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. the world will hold russia accountable. today, he said he will meet with his g-7 counterparts in the morning and speak to the american people to announce the further consequences the united states and our allies/partners will impose on russia for this needless act of aggression against ukraine in global peace and security. we will also coordinate with our nato allies to ensure a strong response to any aggression against the nato alliance. again, we are expecting to hear from them today around noon eastern time. john in california, republican. good morning. caller: hello, john.

i am not going to say it is a good morning, because it is not. i would like to make a comment that, i wish biden in his speech today would come up with a hardening of america. we need to open up the oil spigots and introduce a lot of oil and open up the keystone pipeline, and drive oil down to $30 a barrel again, because right now, we are financing russia's aggression. i would like to see him aggressively open up the oil. i would also like to see him close the southern border and make sure no russian spies are coming in. this hardening of america is really what we should be doing instead of sanctions, because we all know that sanctions will

hurt the american people. right now, i would like to see biden helping the american people, focusing only on america, and he had his chance. biden had his chance last summer , when there were 50,000 troops and putin was saying no nato. he could have said ok, we will go nato in ukraine if you didn't remove your troops. putin did not remove his troops, say ok, we are putting nato back in. he had an opportunity when there was no build up and he did nothing. he waited month after month after month as russia built up their troops, and this is what caused the mess. it was biden's in action. if we get the country back to a hard state with our military, our oil, and the border the way president trump: it, we would be in better shape

than we are today. host: ronnie in new york, -- tommy in new york. stick by your phone, tommy. this is mike in bessemer city, republican. caller: yes, good morning. the gentleman before me had a good point. like i said, this russian invasion of ukraine is a godsend to the biden administration. because it takes all of the conflict of the inflation in our country, the invasion we are having at the southern border, and it is making these global warming fanatics happy because they want oil and gas prices go so high. it fits right into their global warming agenda. we imported a quarter billion barrels of oil from russia last

year, and this administration is financing russia's military and aggression. they need to concentrate on our country and quit trying to bait opec and russia for more oil, open up hours and put these global warming fanatics, starting with john kerry, put them on notice. get them out of office. host: that your point, ok. this is daniel, last call, east providence, rhode island. independent. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. what people don't realize, russia is absolutely surrounded with nato missiles. what they are doing right now, this is the cuban missile crisis, but russia. now, putin has said he does not want the u.n. in ukraine. more missiles over there. now, all of this has to do with the nord stream 2 pipeline and

everything else. the wars are about money, bankers, and it is all about money. now, putin, he has told him before, he does not want ukraine as part of nato. but people don't understand that. host: daniel, our last caller in today's washington journal. we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific time. in the meantime, have a good thursday. ♪\ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> i can report to the nation, america is on the move again. >> live tuesday, the state of

the union. president biden addresses the joint session in progress -- congress. live coverage begins at 8 p.m. eastern. the president speaks at nine. followed by the republican response. the state of the union address come alive tuesday at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org or the c-span radio app. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of the government funded by these television companies and more, including charter television -- communication. >> charter communications supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television dividers --

providers. >> the conservative political action conference begins today in orlando florida. speakers include ron desantis and our live coverage will begin at 120 time eastern on c-span two online at c-span.org. you can watch free coverage on our video app. members of congress responded to events unfolding in ukraine. here are a few tweets from republicans. representative of georgia says you have to give it to the ukrainians, they are not just voting under the russian invasion, they are fighting to take back the airport and the national diversity is closed as students are taking up funding for their freeman -- freedom. >> america and all of our freedom countries around the world hold bulletin accountable for his unjust actions. chris jacobs up youla