ah, ah ah, this is date, emily news alive from berlin, ukraine's president makes a last ditch appealed for pace. for laudermill, zalesky says moscow has given the orders to attack you crying, but in a video he asks russians to stand up to their leader affords to light the u. s. believes the attack could happen in the coming hours. secretary of state antony blinkin says everything appears implies for russia to launch a major aggression and recent days have already seen a dramatic increase in separate as shelling in east and ukraine sending residence,

playing they w visits a village caught in the crossfire. ah, i am rebecca writ us welcome to the program. ukrainian president va laudermill zalinski has made an emotional play to russians not to support quote, a major war in europe. speaking in russian zalinski said that the russian people are being lied to the late night video appeal came shortly after self proclaimed separatist leaders in easton, ukraine asked russian president vladimir putin for military support. yeah, british crises, congressmen look, i'm addressing you, the russian people as a ukrainian citizen bullying. we are separated by a border stretching more than 2000 kilometers witness. they had right now there are 200000 of your soldiers there. washer or oak of what's your leadership is all rise

them to move into the territory of another country. if a certain this could mark the start of a major war on the european continents. now you repeat, come, continued. on just moments ago, russian president vladimir pohden address the nation as in the early hours of thursday morning. this is a fast developing story. he announced at the start of what he's calling a military operation in the dumbass region of ukraine and to talk talk to us about that date of the date of his child's mc. federal is joining me in the studio. charles, tell us about the address of letting me put and it was a surprise address that caught the world by surprise. rebecca, i have to say in this, in this very moment, we're moving into unprecedented moments in european history. i'm going to quote what blood vladimir putin said in his address, which he said just moments ago on russian television. he said, we will strive to demilitarize and day not so for car d knots fight you crime. he said he had authorized an operation after the defense

packed, he can, he concluded with the self proclaimed separatist. and that the operation would begin in the don. best region of you, crime are the john bass and the which includes the loo hands and the don't. it's great and it remains to be same if this marks the start of a limited engagement. rebecca, or if we're going to say the nearly 200000 russian soldiers on 3 sides of ukraine, go into action. so we'll, we'll have to wait and see what happens in the, in the hours to come. but regardless, this is an unprecedented moment in recent european history. it certainly is, and i mean to tell us a little bit about it, it has come quite as a shock, which is surprising, given how much build up there has been to this. i mean, this is been widely expected and yet this moment is here and, and has come as quite a surprise gives a little bit of a background to, to this issue and where have, what's brought us up to the night. it reflects a military build up that began last spring,

and that was brought to an end apparently by the decision of joe biden. hold a summit with vladimir putin. however, russian troops remained on the borders of ukraine or a substantial force. and then we saw from the autumn those forces start to build up and build up again. we saw more and more warnings from western intelligence, both in the united states and privately, from europeans, who feared that it could come to this. however, months ago, russia said that they had the right to keep the troops within their borders. so we, we had that statement from the kremlin, i in light in the past year, and then the build up continued into the new year. now, in the past week of letting me person has read resonation twice, his points have been the same that, that ukraine's current government is illegitimate. it was democratically elected in 2019 the o. s. c a, or some monitor that vote. so that is is false information,

but he's now embarked on this process, which he's calling. i'll just repeat that the demilitarization and day, not suffocation of you crime. so that appeal that we just heard, and we just played earlier from val laudermill zalinski from the ukranian side. obviously falling on death is there and the security council is convening as we speak. and we will get to that too. in a moment. i'm cross to the us, but is there anything that can, i mean it's happening? is there anything that can stop this, escalating any further in? it's unclear, as i said, in which direction and how wide spread this, this russian offensive it is going to be. i will it be confined to, to the don bass to those regions of one and has can and, and yet we will occur will, will russia attack you cry? and 2nd largest city hockey live our which has been that which was a warnings from the united states last life. could there be as european our

intelligence services have feared, a tax on the capital key of itself using up to ballistic missiles or from bella ros . all these questions are on i, we're unable to answer them at the moment. so what we'll have to wait and see what we were expecting. and we're seeing more and more indications that a very heavy attack is underway and, and will bring you will keep you across that story as the hours develop. rebecca? absolutely, thanks, charles, we will move on because this is developing, sorry, we're going to get you to get back and followed what's happening as it is happening as we speak. thank you so much will be speaking to you very soon. thanks. charles. russia has completed its build upon ukraine's borders and is well poised to attack . that's the message from the united states in a television interview, secretary of state antony blank, and was asked directly whether he thought russia would invade ukraine this very

night. and as we are hearing, as the reports are coming in, that is actually happening. he said he couldn't put an exact time or place on when it would happen, but he feed, it would occur in the coming hours. russia has positioned his forces at the final point of readiness across ukraine's borders to the north, to the east, to the south. everything seems to be in place for russia to engage in a major aggression against ukraine. everything is in place for russia to move forward. i think the reason stephan simmons is standing by for us in washington. steph, and this is developing so fast, that actually this is already old news. we are now getting the reports that are there is some movement movement further on this, but you know, anthony blink, and certainly not mincing. his words there, the saving, the u. s. has been saying all along that this was going to happen. has there been any chain of change of tone or what are you hearing there? let me know the secretary that was right on the money there. i don't let's all forget this. it was said just about 2 and

a half hours ago. but you're absolutely right. the tone has changed here and it got more dire, and the warnings got more dire. and the whole feel he in washington is, has, of course, has of course changed. there was a tremendous amount of helicopter traffic from and to the white house this evening in the last 2 hours. and now we have the un security council and 15 states. they're 50 members at the moment. 10 of course, on permanent 5 permanent discussing this issue. so, and let's not forget the united states as well as other western countries were basically is saying and predicting this or i spoke to sources and intelligent circles who said the 1st day is the day and the way it's getting really serious. and they had said before that on tuesday, or that will be an opening salvo and exactly that has transpired here. so yeah, a u. s. and other western countries are keenly aware of what is going on and they predict that this pretty accurately. so it's not really for those folks, at least

a real surprise. still a shock, but not a sas. yeah, now you mentioned the un security council. they are complaining for an emergency meeting as we spank, stephane, and just a short moment ago, security and secretary general antonio terrace addressed president putin directly. let's have a listen to what he had to say. though. if indeed, an operation is being prepared. i have only one sink to say from the bottom of my heart, but it didn't put to stop your troops from attacking do crane give peace. a chance to many people if already died, said to many people have already tied. unfortunately, that warning may not may not have been hated stefan what if anything can come of this? they say even security council meeting or indeed at the wider

u. s. u. s. and international response. is it now to light? yeah, from the un security council you will hear a probably a lot of condemnation island, just spoke albania, opened the solver against russian aggression after the un secretary general, as we just heard, answer one, there will be. all of those countries seemingly will come out and condemn rushes action. they are those investors to you and will be briefed by their staff right now as we go in real time. that then operation is underway and that mr. putnam decided and announced a special military operation is to rescue the don bus as he said, but they will. the un security council doesn't yield any real power. this is to the member say, this is to france, germany, england, the united kingdom, the united states, and all the western world now to actually get serious with and escalate as russia

escalades and s u. s. and others have said, as russia and prudent escalates, we will escalate. what are we escalating sanctions? nobody, no, nate or country, not the united states will send troops into the ukraine. we all know that that's discussed, but sanctions will be wrapped up for tonight. tomorrow morning by the president, i'm 100 percent sure. and maybe possibly also in europe, of course. what effect can they sanctions really have those deaf and we've seen them come out in the last days and punitive sanction that has already what that putin is. clearly ignoring that threat, what can come out of that? diana, right. well, i don't know if you see this. there's actually just 2 areas of sanctions, which are america and its allies and partners actually have at the disposal. and this is a traits export slash import restrictions, and her sanctions upon the financial status and ability of russia to get

access to financial markets were white. those will be shut down very quickly and intensively and more intense and more broader a manner. but that is it, and you know, yes, this will. russia was busy shuffling. $5000000000.00 us dollars into their own coffers before this operation started. so the russians are prepared somewhat for financial crisis for sanctions. yeah. but the russian people will be badly affected on the ground. then i should have incentives. speaking to us from washington, thanks very much. as i just mentioned, the un security council is holding another emergency meeting in new york, but it's unlikely to bring much apart from combed condemnation for moscow. ukraine has called up reservists and declared a state of emergency as a braces for a worst case scenario in east and ukraine fighting has already intensified over

recent days. dw correspondent, mathias billing and file this report from a village close to the line between ukrainian and separatist held territory. it is quiet at the moment a good time to leave for days now the people in the village of rubica have been under fire. the villages in ukrainian government control territory and is being shared by separatists from the other side. notch, severely, additional deliberately have been up the whole night. is that some people are still in the cellar, too scared to come out. did the kids spent the whole day yesterday downstairs, but at night we went upstairs but not because it was just too cold. downstairs a seller is the seller, put lowest, bottle, half of the village has already left. the others are terrified shows of come down, right in the center of the village. one shall hit the schoolyard. woe, children were in clos. others have damaged people's homes.

luckily no one has been hurt so far, but the constant trust has taken its toll. electricity and gas have been cut off. now gas workers have come to patch up some of the damage audrey, when we fix the pipe twice already. we came last week yesterday and today we're here again because quite far away from the artillery positions of the other side. there are 15 kilometers between here and the front line, which is just the range of this artillery that they are using. people who have not experienced this kind of fighting, even during the worst times a few years ago, lena mccord encore and her neighbors have tried to make the most out of the cold and dubbed cellar. but the effect of the electric heater is limited and we're

watching daily news and his a recap of the breaking news just coming in. in the last 15 minutes. russian president vladimir putin has delivered a surprise over not address on russian television and said that russia is conducting a special military operation in ukraine. we'll have more for you coming up in the next hour. what secrets lie behind these walls? discover new adventures in 360 degrees and explore fascinating world heritage sites. d w world heritage 360 getty out. now sometimes a seed is all you need to allow big ideas to grow. we're bringing environmental conservation to life.