>> more tweets from members of congress of the invasion of ukraine. democrat of michigan says dmu, damian and all of your boss justifications for what we all know to be a war of choice. your serial pretensions and fantasies will be a historical mistake, but tragically today, it is the ukrainian people who will suffer. >> american is afraid of a war, putin knows it. host: you can go ahead and start calling in now. just one of the many headlines this morning.

here is what we know about the schedule today. president biden participating in a virtual g7 leaders meeting this morning. to discuss the ongoing situation of russia in ukraine. we are expecting a statement from prime minister of u.k., boris johnson around noon today. we will carry that on the c-span network. president biden expected to address the nation sometime early this afternoon. we do not have an exact time. we are at now at least expected to be a press briefing around 2 p.m. today with press secretary. then this tweet from secretary blinken, the chief of staff and secretary yellen will bring all house members on ukraine this evening. a similar briefing is expected to happen for all senators in the late afternoon today. we will try to keep you updated throughout the program on the latest developments.

we just want to hear from you this morning. on the invasion of ukraine and the conflict between ukraine and russia. (202) 748-8000, for democrats. (202) 748-8001, for republicans. we mention that the statements from russian vitamin put in on the invasion coming as the human security council was meeting to find a peaceful solution in the wake of the actions and the statement by russian president putin. this is u.s. secretary with her reaction. >> at the exact time, as we are gathered in the council, seeking peace. putin delivered a message of war in total disdain for the responsibility of this counsel.

[video clip] this is a grave emergency. the council will need to act and we will put a resolution at the time tomorrow. as president biden said tonight, russia alone is responsible on the destruction this account will bring. and the united states and our allies, partners will respond in a united and decisive way. the world will hold russia accountable. >> this morning president put in

announced a special literary operation. russia carried out strikes. 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 -- >> picture tweeted out of the white house a president biden at a meeting at the nationals or -- national security council

meeting, they were in the white house discussion room to discuss the unprovoked and unjust attacks on ukraine. president biden will give an update on the invasion of ukraine live at 12:30 eastern and we will have that for you on c-span. congress returns from its presidents' day holiday break monday. the house is expected to vote in the week to expand health care benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances since the 9/11 terrorist attack. on the others look cap it though, the son is back at 3:00 p.m. eastern, voting later that day to -- voting on legislation to restrict things like abortions and the u.s. postal service. watch coverage on c-span, the senate on c-span to come online at c-span.org, or without free c-span radio app. ♪ >> ceci -- c-span is your unfiltered view of government. funded