ah, ah ah, this is d w. news my from burn, then russia face is down world wide condemnation of its escalation of the crisis in ukraine. the white house calls it an invasion in ukraine itself. as growing anger, the russian incursion will bring you the latest from the capitol cap. i'm from washington. i. president bible is due to speak shortly on western answers, a string of punitive sanctions. amongst the toughest of germany, holds the controversial north stream to gas pipeline project. ah,

i'm so gale. welcome to the program that's been widespread. condemnation of russia's escalation of the crisis over ukraine. nato is describing it as the most dangerous moment in a generation. western nations have announced a string of sanctions in response to russians. decision to recognize, to break away readers of east and ukraine as independent states. president putin has defended the presence of russian troops on the ground saying they are peace keepers. the white house, as described as an invasion. u. s. president joe biden is due to speaker about the situation in the next few minutes i had about will joint d, w, a correspondence or all of a solid in washington. welcome oliver. what can we expect to hear from the president? well, the big question of course, is what the response will be from the white house following those troops. those

russian troops that are now in the separatist control areas. and until now the present bite has been fairly vague on the issue that he made clear that if there is an invasion, that would be sanctions. of course, you also said that he would differentiate depending on the scale of the invasion and the national security council of the white house earlier called it an invasion . they also pointed out that they believed that there is more military action to come to the we are just at the beginning of a process here and by and said that if any russian troops would cross the ukrainian border, that would be considered an invasion. therefore, paving the way for severe sanctions, we have seen them 1st, sanctions put in place last night, but those were not the severe economic and financial sanctions that the president biden threatened with. and that is exactly what we're expecting him to announce in the speech. we're going to look at how severe those sanctions will be. will he take down swift? will he try to block russia from the international financial market?

but of course it's also important feel to point out that this is still not considered a full blown invasion. and therefore, also the concern if you have listened to, of letting me put and speech in washington, is that this is exactly his plan. russia breaking with the post world war 2 order. and of course, also with international law. and that the use of this, this term invasion is significant. the white, the white house has described russia's latest move against the ukraine as an invasion. so how significant is that? less certainly significant and the white house also said it's prepared for that situation. that's exactly what we're looking at right now and present bye, and we'll start to speak. why don't this put together a comprehensive package off sanctions. so they're ready to roll those out. now, the question is, how many are we going to see? will he keep some powder for later developments in the situation there on the grounds? because keep in mind that there will be no military action that the u. s. of course,

has ruled that out from the 1st from the start. so we are going to see in sanctions in different severities. and we've seen some already when president biden signed a executive order last night, prohibiting us businesses to invest in the don best region. they also made clear the white house. this is just the start, of course, not part of those financial and economic sanctions that we could hear today, like cutting off russia from the form from the financial system. of course, that's what we're looking at right now. right. so clearly at washington are very concerned about these that latest it moves from president putin and certainly it so we have only heard very concerned voices sierra this morning. of course, the usual condemnation that is clear, the national security council saying that there will be more to come, that is just a beginning of a larger military action that russia will undertake. and really the concern concern

phil is that this is just a watershed moment that russia wants to redefine the post world war order. the, the, per, the post cold water i should say. and therefore from the washington perspective, a russia is about and has already crossed a red line last night there was an urgency meeting at. 3 the national security council ambassador linda thomas greenfield, called this all a pretext for a further invasion. and we had heard more alarming voices like the former u. s. general and leader of the u. s. troops in europe. been hodges pointing out also that the situation in bella ross is alarming that they might enter the russian federation at least in the midterm. we also heard a former director of the national intelligence speaking that there might even be a tax on nato countries, of course, were very far away from such a terrible scenario. but washington is definitely alarmed. all right, thank you for that oliver. sanity washington. well,

our president putin has nav side friendship tree says where the low hands can to netscape regents of their easton ukraine. day after recognizable as independent states. he plans to build military bases and established a joint defense mechanism. russian law makers voted to allow their troops to be stationed in the break republics. if one said, the military presence would maintain stability and independence. the criminal also says its recognition of the 2 regions extensive territory currently held by ukrainian forces. mister potent said, the move is justified. no music but his nellin. we've recognized with a don yet in the hands in people's republics. don't you see? which means we have recognized of all their founding documents granted, including the constitution. no. aramco who then your screen and the constitution defines the borders of the done yet scandal, hands greetings from that the time when they were part of ukraine, i shoot to him. if i shoot a bunch of hours,

we hope totally. when i emphasize this, we'll get that all the contentious issues will be resolved in negotiations between the authorities in key of the 2 and the leaders of the republics. unfortunately, at this stage, we understand that this is not possible because facilities are continuing there and could intensify the bush. there were a ye, me. let's go to nick connelly in clear welcome. nick explained to us that significance of this latest announcement from the russian president while exactly the announcement as we had it last night seemed to just include recognition of those separatists enclaves on the territory where they are now. they currently controlled bigger cities in done yet can hans most the population, but only about a 3rd of the area of the regions respectively of done yet kalonski the 2 thirds that remain are under control of ukrainian government here in care of and basically that frontline hasn't moved since 2015 and at the high point of that conflict. so by saying explicitly that russia recognizes supports the aspiration or the claim to

those for the territories. that opens the doors to potentially russian troops that are now moving to the separate cell. there is supporting their separatists in an attack on ukrainian troops to extend their control the entire to those regions. right, so on that, let's talk about what you've been hearing from those 2 regions to that's can do hands well on the government control side is increasing anxiety. we've seen in the last few days, even before the announcement, more fighting than we have basically, since the high point of this conflict in 2014, 2015000 people left without electricity without water, after destruction, to a critical infrastructure. people basically stuck for days on end in their bomb shelters, not willing to leave their houses, lots of different kinds of munition being used. people are scared not only of a direct hit, but also splinters and other basically risks their lives just by going about their daily lives. and lots people who had stayed on living pretty close the front line,

who had kind of made their peace with the instability and now thinking twice, whether it's probably worth their while leaving and trying to get further away from these front lines. if these attacks intensify, we've heard across the, the day of sanctions being imposed against russia and sanctions being considered. and how is gag kia? they're reacting to these announcements. i think the biggest news, the days that announcement from berlin from chancellor olaf shows that germany is putting not stream tune on ice. it isn't being permanently killed off a isn't permanently off the cards, but certainly does seem very difficult and see a scenario to which it would actually be commissioned this pipeline between russia and germany that has been completed. but as yet to be commissioned. that is a key demand here of the government of ukraine to western european countries. they say this pipeline allows russia basically to bypassed ukraine's pipelines to not rely on ukraine for selling its gas to western europe. and would thus allow moscow to stoke a big a conflict here in ukraine with and without any risk to its exports of gas,

and those critical billions of euros in income that russia gets for that gas. it's not something that ukraine has been against for years in terms of other sanctions, not quite clear how extreme they're going to be. there has been not to worry here that especially western european countries will be worried about hitting the energy sector. anything that could see western european households going without electricity or without heating. so a worry that given that so far, those russian troops aren't on ukrainian government control territory. they've only gone into those separate cell. there is that that could be used by capitals and western europe as an excuse or a basis for not really employ. applying the most severe of sanctions. i thought that mc mc connelly in care. well d, w has been speaking with people are on the streets off the ukrainian capitals get their reactions, focus, latest russian move to. we're really afraid about our democracy, about our country, about our freedom really holds it out. sure. but i actually was stopped by to,

regarding consultation, ah, within that loss of his actions should be done before it's all completed english. try to to show our onward that we are really good county and we deserve to be free. so we're living in a hard time for your grain, and a lot of people are experiencing fear every day. like going to bed and waking up. we don't know where actually we're where exactly. we're going to be like in danger . like when he you will be like in real danger for us. i think you great generally protesting every day just by appreciating our culture and history like everyday is like a fight for us to survive and other day to be in like united country together all the dia, 27 european union member states of unanimously agreed an initial set of sanctions targeting russia are being used for on the 1st chief, joseph barrels,

as the measures will affect members of parliament and other individuals involved in deploying troops. and that the package of measures will hurt the grave. your lation ship rushes, committing will not go financial that you're not going. we're not sure it. we are strongly united in dis, from and we will grace the level of sanction substantially, according with the russian behavior. because many quest to march offending on this critical moment was got more than on these you sanctions from do doubly correspondent christie mud whiten. brussels. welcome, christie. what are the sanctions? what is a look like? i feel so at the european union has identified a $27.00 individuals and entities that it is going to sanctions. these are individuals that are close to the decision that was taken by the criminal to

recognize the independence of lou hands. and don, yet hska, as you were pointing out in the introduction, members of rush as duma, this would be the parliament's lower house at will also receive some sanctions. this is likely to be as it freezes. and as well as travel bands, a more significantly would really be the restriction ad to russia in terms of accessing the european union's capital and financial market. the intent here is to make it more difficult for russia to be able to finance some of its activities for, for example, those activities taking place in, in those territories that we are referring to. as it is said that these sanctions were agreed upon unanimously. and there that really speaks to the unity that we are currently seeing are in the european union right now. and of course the sanctions come in addition to sanctions that were announced early on. and in the united kingdom, the prime minister bridge johnson said they had identified

a number of banks as well as individuals that were also going to be sanctioned. again, the message from the european union is to say, let's make this as difficult as possible, or for russia to be able to finance it's aggression. so still hitting your individuals within the hierarchy rather than tar targeting, but the wider russian economy at this stage. that's right am, and the message from the european union was that this is just the initial package at that they have other sanctions that are ready to be triggered as well. but certainly this is really just about at least at the moment, a targeting the financing of, of, of, of the rushes, aggressive activity in, in ukraine. and yes, you're quite right, it's, it's certain individuals, those are close to, to, to the criminal close to the russian president vladimir putin who were directly involved in this decision that was taking, hence the law makers. but it is very clear from the european union side of things

that more sanctions are at the radian, these could be wider sanctions. i wasn't on the line. the european union's chief has already been talking about the fact that europe needs to reduce his energy dependence are on russia. right. not stream to am has now been halted in germany. but still, i, even without north stream to europe depends on russia for about a 3rd of its gas supply. and you heard was upon the line making the remark that this needs to change so that the european union has to pursue other avenues and, and make investments in renewable energy so as to reduce that dependency on, on russia. so certainly wide conversations opening up and of course the reiteration that this is just an initial package, and that the e you is ready to do more are in the event that that is necessary. ok, thank you for christine woodward in brussels.