seeing more explosions. we can hear them in the background. steve, please state dave. this is a pivotal time for the west. the east is challenging us. we will keep following all the breaking details. that is it for us tonight. shannon bream and her fabulous team will take it all from here. attune to fox news and foxnews.com for all the breaking details. thanks for joining us. ♪ ♪ >> shannon: hello, and welcome to "fox news at night" special coverage. i'm shannon bream in washington. breaking tonight, russian decline what it is: or putin is calling a special military operation with reports of glass on the ukrainian capital. we have key coverage keeping us up to minute with very latest development in i. trace gallagher reporting on the cyberattacks one day that led up to tonight's military action. on the u.n. security council

emergency meeting happening right now as the russians begin their attack. kevin corke here monitoring u.s. lawmaker reactions and peter doocy is at the white house with a response from the biden administration. but we begin tonight with lucas tomlinson on the ground in lviv. what is the latest from there? >> shannon, as you mentioned, but an hour ago russian president vladimir putin declared a special military action in ukraine but make no mistake, this is a declaration of war. we're getting reports of large explosions and multiple cities throughout this country. including kharkiv, kyiv, odessa, and in fact, and i come use officials tell me they are looking at a large contingent of warships off of you do so which is their largest poor and there could be an amphibious landing. right now there are the pentagon is seen movements of horses from crimea and the east. in his speech, putin said the

forces in the east amounted to which is why he is sending these troops which he called peacekeepers bear that's what started this all in donbas and eastern ukraine. this goes back weeks, months, years. president putin thinks of ukraine and russia as one nation. he wrote that 5,000 word essay over the summer pretty much laying out a blueprint for what he is doing tonight. for weeks we have seen russian forces build up some 150,000 strong. tonight, ukrainian president zelensky said 200,000 troops were currently invading his country. and that is what we have here on the ground and sending it back to you. >> shannon: thank you very much. we will check back with you at the this plays out. tonight's development slowed spring and white house correspondent peter doocy. peter, the white house has been waiting and predicting this for days. what is the response tonight? >> i've been in some of the areas here where there is staff on hand much later than usual as they figure out how exactly they are going to respond to this. we will not see the president

this evening for their telling us we will see him tomorrow early in the afternoon after he gets off of virtual call with the leaders of the g7. this event, though, has been predicted and it kind of unfolded here at the biden white house in slow motion. remember earlier today, jen psaki said that their assessment after putting the first batch of sanctions on putin yesterday was that he was improvising and adapting his strategies. she said they still believe that he was going to invade but that he was improvising and adapting. it does not appear that that happened because right now among one of the most severe actions that they warned about appears to be unfolding across the country. in a statement and i attributed the president, he said president putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and

human suffering. the president says the world will hold russia accountable. he also says tomorrow he will speak to the american people to announce the further consequences the united states and our allies and partners will impose on russia for this needless act of aggression against ukraine and global peace and security. in the president's last on can restatement about this, he said what the consequences going to be. it will be more sanctions. and he said it yesterday, if russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further with sanctions. something the president is not going to do, though, and officials top to bottom want to make absolutely clear, he will not send u.s. troops into ukraine to get in a gunfight with the russians spear the president will offer defensive help the ukrainians but he will not offer american boots on the

ground to go and shoot it out and try to stop the russians from what they are doing tonight. shannon. >> shannon: peter at the white house good thank you very much. jennifer griffin has been covering the build up to tonight's military action by russia from the beginning. she joins us now live on the phone. jennifer, from what we are hearing from our folks all over the ground, seems multifaceted -- does the square up with what we had expected as far as this actually turning into an invasion and it looks like multicity attack? >> shannon, what we're seeing right now is a full-scale invasion. i spoke to a u.s. official tonight when the initial missiles began striking these various cities in ukraine and i was told that we are seeing preassault fires. we can expect us to go on for a few hours. then this will be followed by a land attack. i was told by a senior u.s. official that -- who is monitoring the situation right

now that you can expect all of the four forces of vladimir putin to then enter into ukraine. so this is the beginning of a very serious, full-scale invasion that will be followed a land assault. you are seeing these preassault fires. these are ballistic missiles. they are cruise missiles. it will be followed by artillery. they are taking out command-and-control slides. this is something i would not be surprised to be a wave of aerosols to begin at any time. a little surprising that they are doing this at first light. you would something like this to be done overnight. but it is clear vladimir putin wants the world to see what he is doing. what struck me from his speech tonight was the chilling words that he used when he started talking about the militarizing

anti--fine ukraine. supposedly their admin videos videos all day of on russian state television. the way in which putin is describing ukraine he is describing it as an x essential threat to russia. this is a figment of his imagination. if you look in his eyes to see someone who is gone completely mad. but we are seeing tonight is a moment in history, something we've not seen for generations. war on the continent of europe, a sovereign country being invaded by a nuclear power. one of the reasons that the president of course is not sending u.s. troops or promising any sort of air flights over ukraine to defend ukraine is because you are talking about a nuclear power. the u.s. and nato are not going to go to war with a nuclear power. but they are going to support the ukrainians. there ukrainians are going to fight.

i thought zelensky's speech tonight, the president, was noble. many people doubted the presidet zelensky and wondered if you would flee the way -- this was a noble speech tonight from the former comedian and late-night host who is the president of the nation that is being invaded by a nuclear power. >> shannon: use of a deep passion and commitment from him and the urgency and what he was saying tonight. you also flagged a little bit earlier tonight with some of what putin had to say. a couple of words for those who would be tempted to intervene. russia will respond immediately and you will have consequences that you never have had before in your history. that to the u.s. speak out this is a direct message to the u.s. and nato. one of the reasons you see that putin has put so many of his service warships in the black sea, 11. we have no only have amphibious

landing ships, so it's possible he could use those for marines to come in and take odessa. by it also is to send a signal that those warships, the russian warships in the black sea, have cruise missiles on them. they are there to tell nato don't try to send any warships. don't move closer. remember, we have the u.s. carriers near italy. we have positioned their some submarines carrying out exercises this week. but putin would be misreading nato and the u.s. the u.s. has been very calibrated and making sure that it is bolstering its article five nato allies, poland, lithuania, the all tech well as romania. but not to provoke putin by putting excessive forces that would justify what we are seeing tonight in terms of this invasion turning into a war

against ukraine. >> shannon: while i have you, nato secretary general also putting out a statement tonight condemning what russia has done. saying we are going to stick together prayed with and with the people of ukraine at this terrible time. nate owed will all it takes to protect and defend all allies paired that doesn't include ukraine. that was one of the sticking points of putin who wanted to guarantee that ukraine would never be a part of nato. but while this is confined to a country for now but does not have an article five obligation, how closely now is nato drawn into this potential conflict which we hope does not go any further? >> i think you have to listen. when you have a madmen like putin who is making the kind of statements and reviving history the way he has been in his recent speeches, you have to look at what he is saying. leaders like this, they say what they are going to do. they telegraphed their punches. and so if in the written speech that he wrote last july and sent out to his armed forces

justifying this invasion of ukraine, he also mentioned quite worrisome, and this is something that u.s. intelligence is watching closely, you mentioned poland. he mentioned lithuania. in the history of those countries. that should be of concern to anyone in europe tonight and anyone in nato because poland, there is a very worrisome -- right now, putin has about 30,000 forces inside belarus. nobody is talking about basically belarus has become a vassal state of putin. he is already extended the borders of russia in terms of the way he has positioned his forces in belarus. and that is just across the border from poland. and that is why the u.s. and the 82nd and other forces to reassure the eastern flank of nato.

but once you start a war like putin has started tonight, you start on her next galatian matter and you don't know there are unintended consequences and we don't know is how the sense. >> shannon: jennifer griffin, thank you very much. we will check back with you as this plays out. now we bring in fox news chief political anchor, bret baier. and this is the night that we have been anticipating. not looking forward to, dreading. and yet it is here. we hear from the president. peter doocy had a bit of this. he said he is going to meet with the g7 counterparts tomorrow. speak to the american people. but he said president newton has chosen a permitted war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring and the u.s. and its allies and partners will respond for the world will hold russia accountable. your inbox is filled with all the same senators and lawmakers saying it is time for us to drop the hammer.

there's been a conversation about why we did not do more of that in advance. >> a lot of criticism to go around but let's start with praying for the ukrainian people. a lot of people that are going to start fighting real fight to try to hang on to their homes and try to hang onto their livelihood and that is going to get messy and ugly and is going to be a lot of people who died. we start with that and the big picture. secondly, we can talk about the criticism before where there was sanctions that should have gone were not. one thing you can give the biden administration credit for it is by talking about the intelligence and laying it out as they did, there is no way that vladimir putin can definitively say that he is not the aggressor. in his speech tonight, putin said that we had to eliminate this threat from ukraine and the aggression from ukraine. however, because we had been told everything that they are hearing both publicly and privately, we know that there were a lot of false flags planned.

we know that there were efforts to really trigger the ukrainian forces in the eastern part of that country to be able to open the door for putin. putin finally made a decision to deny announcing military operation, but he is clearly in eyes of the world the aggressor. and that is one credit you have to give the biden diplomacy. i think what is yet to be seen is how this next tranche of sanctions is going to work. because when they start heading energy to start hitting countries like italy and germany and others in europe. that our lives that we don't want to feel too much pain, but we do want to get to putin. and energy is one way to do it. >> shannon: that nord stream two has been such a topic of conversation and conflict. he heard from her president trump talking about it with laura ingraham. president biden said if you move ahead, we are shutting it down. germany seems to be along with a plan but as he said much of europe will be impacted and what is happening.

russian major oil producers and packed us here at home too. >> it does. nord stream two has not gone online yet. there are energy -- there's a lot of oil and gas that goes into europe for much already. more than 50% in some instances. we taken anywhere from 5 million to 12 million barrels of russian oil every month. that is a significant thing. part of the message from president biden tomorrow is going to be hold onto your hats because this is going to get tough. and when you go to the gas pump, it may be a lot more based on what is happening on the ground. again, this is the early stages. i think you are seeing the groundwork for air strikes. but we eventually are going to see a big movement they will try to get to kyiv very quickly with ground forces. and they are to see ukrainians that according to the president, zelensky, are going to fight like nobody's business with u.s.

weapons and a lot of support from nato. >> shannon: you mentioned a little bit more of what putin was saying tonight. he said that our analysis, meaning russia, has concluded that her confrontation with these ukrainian forces is inevitable. and he said to the biden administration's credit, they have mapped out exactly putin was going to do our at least some facsimile of what we thought that we do and some of these false flags and now putin takes of the airways tonight and said we were left with no choice. we had to do this because the ukrainian forces, there was an inevitable conversation on my confrontation i was coming. from the world outside looking in there going to view that it was him that made this inevitable. >> he said it was next foul existential threat they had to take on. but just by how we positioned what is happening on the ground, we kind of know it is his choice. i do think that there are real questions about how this will go down as far as the fight back. jennifer is right. there was a lot of doubt about

president zelensky of ukraine, former comedian, when he got this position people said is he going to be somebody that the country can look up to? the speech tonight, i commended the people to look at it. you have to get it translated but it is passionate, it is talking about nationalism, support for the country, and saying he is calling for peace. he tried to call the kremlin to talk to vladimir putin. that call was not answered and he said i talked to the russian people. we want peace. but we will fight with our faces forward, not with our backs to the enemy. >> shannon: and he did speak and rush into the russian people to say to them please come and try to intervene. convince your leaders and your fellow country maids that this is not something that you want to do. and a statement from the senate intelligence committee chairman says what is happening is not only a tragedy for the people of the ukraine, this is going to be very painful. there will be losses. but he said also the russian

people, they will pay a steep price for putin's reckless ambition in blood and in economic harm. they are going to lose people as well fighting in this, but as the sanctions that we are levying that, that europe is levying kick in, in many ways it will be the russian people who suffer from putin's actions as well. >> it will be. i think this first tranche doesn't hit them as much but just knowing and talking to u.s. officials, there are some release to sanctions that will hit the russian people directly. which eventually you would think become a problem for putin. the problem big mike big picture is he is baked all of the seine. he knew the playbook. he knew the sanctions were coming. in the relationship between russia and china raises all kinds of questions. is there a back door here that enables him finance for some time with he is doing? here is mike wallace, congressman from florida, former special forces commander. he tweets, here's what to expect

from russia's invasion of ukraine. one, attacks in the east to tie down most of the ukraine's army. two, cyber electronic warfare, air strikes to decapitate command and control. three, special ops and kyiv. four, amphibious assault on ports of mariposa and odessa. he heard that from lucas tomlinson that there is a real sense that those amphibious assault landings are in the works. and it is interesting that it is going to be first light pretty soon in ukraine that this has not happened overnight but it may be happening at any moment now. and that movement of russian forces, if he goes as they expect, could happen very quickly. >> shannon: senator kevin kramer, republican of north dakota also on the committee talked about this tonight. saying that putin harbors finished of reuniting the soviet union. we are always trying to be inside his burden and figure out

what he really wants. i think that is a common belief about him, what he is really after. he talks about the fact that we need tougher sanctions weeks ago. he's had a response is greater than russia and ukraine. what we choose to do will also send a message to china on taiwan. so i know there has been this growing concern that this does report far beyond just what putin does they are, that the world is watching. the biden administration, nato, the europeans, they are watching everyone to see how this is responded to and whether they can also push the envelope when it comes to pieces of real estate they would like for themselves. >> one thing that has been impressive is the unity of nato. we have talked about the divides and the concerns about energy, for all of these countries with all of these different interests, we are speaking from the same sheet of music at least in the days leading up to this end we will see if they hold together if sanctions increase in their countries feel the brunt of it. but the biden administration has

had diplomatic success with that. and germany and talking to allies. there is a broader message here, and that is does this leave the door open for a chinese action in taiwan? does it light it open for really tough negotiations with the iranians on the nuclear deal? yes. that was are all questions but here's one thing that is clear. president biden has made clear know it's you troops are going to be on the ground in ukraine and were going to do everything we can to support the ukrainians. >> shannon: there have been all these flashbacks the last few days to senator romney when he was running for president years ago and the mockery from then president obama saying the 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back. but the first response in my inbox from the senator tonight came from and not make them like romney's office. it talks about putin and what he has done what he says this. we have to have the harshest

economic penalties and expel them, meaning russia, from global institutions. we all have to stick together on that. there is been talk about booting them from the ability to use the swift banking system. and selling their debt and engaging with other lenders. do you think the world sticks together on that? they do have some heavy hitting friends like china control a lot of the world's debt and finance. >> i think this might be so egregious that it shocks the world into unity. there is a chance that that happens because remember, this is different world order stuff. this is a country invading another country. no matter the pretense as putin says historically in his mind, this is something we have not seen in decades and decades and i may be so shocking that all the differences that have on the edges, the nuance, may go away because of the shock of this. at the u.n. tonight, the ukraine ambassador ukrainian ambassador

told his russian counterpart and this is a quote, pointing at him, "call putin. call the roll. stop aggression. there is no purgatory for war criminals. they go straight to, ambassador." so you think about moments in the u.n. that we think about in history, back to the cuban missile crisis and other big moments. i bet you that is a big moment on the floor of the united nations paired >> shannon: sometimes it gets real on the floor of the u.n. when you have a u.n. security council meeting and it is being chaired by russia, it does not leave the other country and nations much of a place to make their arguments. so he took a shot for sure. >> russia and china both at the u.n. security council so they can block -- >> shannon: exactly. anything that is coming. democrat senator chris murphy. he says this. tonight the entire post-world war ii international order sits on a knife's edge appeared this is one of his tweets. if putin does not pay

devastating price, our own security will be at risk. he heard the threat that putin little tonight. if you try to get involved you're going to have blowback like you've never seen before. we think of cyber. traditionally we think of the weight that is the way he would come after the u.s. do you think he is overstating that, that her own security could be at risk? >> no, i think we've heard that in part from the administration. a warning of what could be coming. you've heard, inc. had briefings top u.s. officials to top private companies saying this is the time. we need to help shore up cybersecurity. banks have gone the extra mile in the last couple of weeks. neil could be talk to the ceo of bank of america today. all of the extra extra things they have been doing. this is relevant we've seen russian cyberattacks before. ukraine just saw them today. in the foreign ministry. in a number of big banks and kyiv. and that kind of laid the

groundwork for what we believed was going to happen. a key policy question for president biden is does the u.s. provide legal aid to the ukrainian resistance? and do we turn ukraine -- if this is in fact going all the way to the capital, into afghanistan in the 1980s, does this become russia's 1980s afghanistan if there is an insurgency in the ukraine. this is getting ahead of ourselves because there will be a lot of fighting from ukrainians who are saying they're going to fight for their country. but what happens if, as we expect, that overwhelming -- you see the red dots there. 180,000 troops both on the sea and on the border. start moving into the capital. >> shannon: a bit of a political question here and it's impossible to know but obviously the crimea situation happened under the obama administration. putin did not try these things

during the trump administration and president trump was constantly being criticized by being too cozy and nice to putin but now here we are in the biden administration and he is flexing his muscles in a very real, ugly, potentially bloody deadly way again. do you think there's something about the relationship between putin and trump there was a warning to putin? maybe he was afraid of enough of the unpredictability of president trump. did they have a special understanding? do you make anything of the political changes in the administrations of putin. >> it is tough to read back. i think president trump was very unpredictable. and on a foreign policy front, that somehow was very real politics. they didn't know where he was going to go and in that sense she had some political leverage. why it happens now, i think it is fair that critics talk about the perceived weakness, but i do

think afghanistan had something to do with laying the groundwork for this action. but that is all speculation. what this is now is a decision that no matter who the president is, democrat, republican, or whomever, this is an action that stands in the face of the u.s., in the face of nato, and you really in face of world ordered to change the dynamic. and what happens in the next few hours and in the next few days i think will be written in history books for a long, long time to come. and how the world reacts to it is going to be the difference between whether we can hold world order together or not. >> shannon: you touched on this and we talked about the fact that ukrainian people are very much committed very publicly saying we will fight at the death. this is our livelihood, these are our families, this is our country. and there's been lot of conversation about what kind of aid has been sent in, which countries are willing to send what type of equipment, whether

that will be able to continue now that this incursion appeared to be fully underway, these attacks by russia. is there a sense that you have that the world has done what it could to get ukraine ready? relate to the game? will we still be able to get aid to them? >> i think that's the real question because you have countries that have some ties or at least the previous tie to russia. poland, romania, others that are they going to be the countries that let lethal weapons go across their territory and transition to ukraine if push comes to shove. because russia has a lot of influence in that region. a lot of leverage not only energy but other things. and that is the test. that is really the test. >> shannon: there is definitely some consternation with germany. and they have always had a policy of limiting some of the aid that can go through them and that they would be involved with. it is interesting to see some of

the other smaller countries like estonia and other stepping up. so we'll see. if you can stick around. we want to check in on the ground there. let's go back live to ukraine now. correspondent steve harrigan is on the grain and kiev. what is your situation there as morning is coming? >> hey, shannon. i am looking up to my right here as don is just about to break on this capital city of 3 million and over the last five to 10 minutes we've heard maybe six to eight explosions in rapid succession optima right. a slight orange glow coming up from those explosions. we think they are likely grad missile attacks and the targets here in the capital city are command and control. they're trying to hit key communication centers as well as headquarters, military bases, and airports. the important thing, the question at this point but with the sun comes up here in the church bells going up on me is what are we seeing? in the real answer we don't know yet. putin has said one thing and another thing has happened on

the ground since the start of this crisis weeks ago. he said he was going to pull out his troops from belarus. he did not. he said he was not going to attack ukraine. he did. sunglasses not an attack in donbas. he is not even going to war. we have seen troops go into donbas but it's obviously not stopping there. this is bigger than eastern ukraine because we are hearing explosions here in the capital. the question mark is what follows these explosions. is there going to be another explosion off behind me -- that is due south. is this going to be an attempt at regime change? the simple question is is putin going big? in the fact we are seeing explosions here means that the capital is a target and likely the political leadership here will be a target as well. this is the opening salvo. earlier today, we saw cyberattacks, websites had come and then we saw troops going to the east and now we are hearing

explosions in the capital. how far is he going to go? we know that ukraine has weapons from the u.s. we know they have done hundreds of millions of dollars of weapons and things like javelin antitank missiles, and about $175,000 apiece, by the dozen. we know they are determined to fight. they have a million man army. but when it comes to airpower, air defenses, they are clearly outnumbered. so their only chance really is gorilla fighting in the cities. and this could go very bad, very, very bad, if that does happen. the focus of the fighting that will be in the east, will be in donbas. there is two breakaway regions there which putin has recognized as independent. the quest problem is he is not just recognize area where separatist control. he basically did come as joe biden said, take a huge chunk out of ukraine. that is what he is trying to do.

the boundaries are much bigger than where the russian separatist control. two and a half million people live there. so even if it is just a fight in eastern ukraine, it could be massive. ukraine will fight to hold the territory, russia will fight to take it, and the west is going to flood ukraine with weapons to help him fight. notice you troops on the no u.s. troops on the ground, but there will be a weapons flow and it is hard to see how that fight stays there and eastern ukraine. is it coming to the capital? i am standing here as the sun starts to come up and i am wondering, the 30 to 40 explosions we have heard, is that the end? are they just knocking out command and control or is it just setting the table? setting the table for a ground invasion? and if russian troops come here on the ground to the capital, how will ukrainian citizens react? certainly many have left. certainly many will be in their basements, but many soldiers and civilians will come out to

fight. so this is an incredibly dangerous situation. we're just going thave to keep an eye on it over the next 48 hours. shannon, back to you. >> shannon: steve, you have been in difficult situations, worsens around the world. it is eerie to hear those church bells there. as they are mingled in with explosions. you talk about these people and their determination to fight. is it your sense that we know they have the determination. do they have the ability, they have what they need to mount any real kind of defense in the cities of the comes to that? >> you know, i think in the short term, ukraine has no chance at all. but in the long term, i think they have every chance the world. it really depends how this war goes. but i remember a war nobody heard of 25 years ago in a place called chechnya and the russians posted. they said we are going to take chechnya, population 1 million, and hours. ten years later, the russians will still fighting in chechnya. it is easy to take a city.

it is hard to hold the city. the russians can come in and take kiev. they can carry out regime change paid they can decapitate the leadership here and whatever reform they choose. they can do that. but they can't hold on. i think if you ask me my opinion, which i'm glad to give, if this is a major war, this is the downfall of vladimir putin. this is the downfall of his russia, this is the down fill of an autocracy because they can win in the short-term but but they cannot win in the long term. ukraine, europe is not going to stand for. >> shannon: excellent point. steve harrigan. we will check back with you. thank you very much. credible door on team reporting and knowing what is going on there. we also want to go back to the white house and check in with peter doocy as there is more coming in on that end. good morning, peter. >> good evening, shannon. here on the north lawn of the white house where we don't believe the president is in the oval office because when he is in the oval office they station a marine sentry outside the west wing.

we have not seen that late this evening. but 2 minutes ago, the press secretary told us online the president was briefed on a secure call this evening by secretary blinken, secretary austin, chairman millie, and national security advisor sullivan about the ongoing attacks on ukraine by russian military forces. we are told to expect to see him on camera tomorrow early in the afternoon here that is when he is going to announce the way that he and the partners of the g7, that he is going to have a virtual call with in the morning, are going to respond in a united and decisive way. tease yesterday and is last on camera appearance about this, that would include additional sanctions. one of the questions for the press secretary here at the white house the last two days has been why not do more? the first round of sanctions that they put out yesterday were criticized by some republicans

and democrats as being too narrow and even though the prosecutor is that it was going to take some time for those sanctions to have some bite, for putin to feel the bite of those for sanctions, she was asked today why not just sanctions before directly? essentially if you're going to go the route of financial punishment for invading a country, trying to take over your next-door neighbor, why not just go all in at once? she said they were leaving that option on the table. another option that is been on the table is kicking russia out or preventing russia from using swift banking system. so they're going to try -- if they go all the way, and i just heard from an official with the national security council they are not ready to announce cicely with the new sanctions are going to be, but if they go all the way, based on what we have been told, that could include sanctions on putin himself which are on the table and it could

also include basically cutting russia off from the global economy, which is essentially what foul eliminating them or kicking them out of the swift banking system would do. so expect to hear about more sanctions tomorrow. but the president does not want to go out and talk about what he wants to do on his own. everything, every step of the way the last few days even though this has been unfolding in slow motion and they have been watching it from thousands of miles away has been in consultation with european partners. putin it would make an announcement, something was happening, troops are moving, foul into places where they had not been, we would get an alert the president was on the phone with the leader of the u.k., the french president, the german chancellor. and so they are trying to do everything together and we are going see what that looks like probably a little more than 12 hours from right now. shannon. >> shannon: peter doocy from the white house peer thank you. and for a first-hand account of

the ukrainian point of view on tonight's of elements, let's bring in a member of ukraine's parliament, alexi gunter and cho. he has life in kiev or it is thursday morning. can you tell us how you're doing tonight and what is the mood there in the city? >> hello. cannot say good morning. there are explosions in the city. our military infrastructure, reports are bound. and it is not only about kiev, it is odessa, the big cities of the country and in smaller too. there is a false grant ohmic scale attack on ukraine using heavy artillery and rockets. that is the situation. can address the american society now. i want to to push your government to the top as possible sanctions against putin now. i'm speaking about please, richard push them out of the global economy. ban on russian oil and gas.

something which can stop russia because more than half of russia's budget is oil and gas. that is all. that is just a very -- and it should be stopped now because they are killing innocent people just in this minute. and also want to ask american government to help us to provide no-fly zone over ukraine. i understand that nobody will fight your crane on the ground. we are ready to fight for ourselves. for our nation, but we need help in the skies because russia as we understand it is much more powerful in the skies. so we need a no-fly zone just to give us a an opportunity to fight on the land. that is what it is very important for the moment. >> shannon: let me ask you, there have been a lot of conversation about what aid has been provided to the ukrainian people seek a disk with the mic and equip yourself will be ready. are you ready on that front? what else could use if that aid can get to you now? >> it is hard to be ready for

things like this paired by the way, it is not about only ukraine. i think we are moving -- they can finish with a third world war. that is absolutely clear. so the danger is for the whole world and putin is not going to stop. we are ready to fight. we have received a lot of military equipment last time, but this equipment, everything is about fighting on the land. sorry for repeating, but what is very important is the skies. we need assistance now. i also want to address ukrainian in the united states. please, go to russia representatives, please contact your senators, congressmen, the governors, we need your support now. >> shannon: very difficult to watch as we have one of our reporters they're just moments ago we heard the church bells ringing mingled in with explosions they are. did you anticipate that this

first wave for marsha would be so comprehensive not just in one spot were in the fringes or the corner but much more widespread? >> certainly nobody knew it, but american intelligence telling this to the world and we appreciate this. unfortunately it happens this way. i don't know what to add. putin is mad. he is hitler of 21st century. he should be stopped now or he will go forward. he will not stop on ukraine. sorry, but he will not stop. >> shannon: you mentions the very top sanctions possible excluding russia from places like the swift banking, from oil and gas, things that are critical of the russian economy. just last week, a russian official said they don't give a blank about sanctions where they will make a difference. are you convinced there are sanctions that can be levied that will get their attention at this point? >> yes, i am sure that a ban on

russian oil and gas is something that will stop them. they could not afford the economy, they could not afford their living without the selling of oil and gas. and every barrel of oil and every cubic meter of gas which is now bought from russia is something which is paid by our ukrainian blood. you should understand this. it is our ukrainian blood. tomorrow it will be blood of other nations. so the toughest possible sanctions now. not like these oh, maybe tomorrow, one more package with the day after tomorrow. the most possible toughest sanctions now. >> shannon: what is the reality for you there now? your loved ones, your family, your neighbors, what is your plan in kiev? >> i am here. i will fight for my country. we will have an extraordinary gathering of the parliament. we will provide the military space in the country. that is my plan. that is what i should do as an

mp. i have family, i have white, children i certainly worry about them. but i'm not alone. millions of ukrainians families now. we were all on the same position. that is very worrying. but we are ready to fight. >> shannon: your president spoke tonight not just at the ukrainian people but also in russian addressing the russian people. making an appeal to them. what would be your message to the russian people this morning? >> russian people should stop this killer. putin is killing them too. and they should go to the streets paired they should not be afraid -- it is like a hitler. one was afraid and then second and third. you know the story. when they came for one, i was in silence. then when they came for a second, i was in silence. that is the situation. and russian soldiers will die in

ukraine. and i don't believe that russian mothers want this to happen. so i dress the russian people to stop there mad dictator now. they can do it. they can go in the streets. they can show that they are against this war. one more very important point. ukraine is not -- only nation which gave up their nuclear arsenal. the third biggest in 1994 with guarantees of the united states, united kingdom, and russia. where are these guarantees? and we are bombed and killed and we don't have any more nuclear weapons. what is the message to the world now? never believe in the guarantees. just have nuclear power or whatever weapons you can have. that is an awful message to the world. something which everybody on the planet will pay for. so that is a really crucial moment. >> shannon: you mentioned the

possibility of a parliamentary meeting. would that be physically possible? what is the plan for holding together ukrainian government of which you will remember this point? >> i am ending the interview and moving to the parliament and i believe that we can do it if we would not have a possibility to do it in the building of the parliament we will gather in another place. because i think the parliament should make several decisions. about first of all about military state in the country, addressed to the world, and to show ukrainian society that you have authorities in ukraine that we are not running, that we are not capitulating, that we are in the place. i think for millions of people in the ukraine and out of ukraine, that is important. >> shannon: there are some reports that president zelensky may be instituted martial law there in ukraine. can you speak to that at all, whether that is accurate or would have made you to impact

the situation? >> martial law? oh, i'm not native english speaker. martial law as a military state? >> shannon: essentially appeared on the streets there. >> yeah, yes, yesterday we opted for an extraordinary state in the whole country. that gives the authorities special possibilities. now we need to go further because the situation, that is a big word now. yesterday was not, but today it is. >> shannon: we have been speaking with ukrainian member of parliament alexi. we thank you for your time. the world across the board is condemning what has happened they are in ukraine and we are watching moment by moment, praying for the innocent people who are involved. thank you, sir. speak i think you. >> shannon: want to go to continue in ukraine. steve is on the ground and his crew's hearing explosions just within the last few minutes. day break coming. they are now -- steve, are you there for us to check in

question mike >> yes, shannon. i can hear. i am here with peter it was a real question and we can show you what we see often the distance. i'm guessing about 4 miles away there is heavy cloud cover so it is hard to see that smoke. there is just a loud explosion there. we don't know the cause of it. the city, kiev, seen probably 30 to 40 explosions in the last three hours. we have also heard jets fly overhead. as dawn is breaking here. going to give you the latest up-to-date. 40 explosions probably in the last three hours. an explosion in kiev about 4 miles from where i'm standing. smoke rising. we assume what it is being targeted our command and control centers. military headquarters, police stations, military bases. the city is being targeted. it is clear this operation by russian presidents before is not limited to eastern ukraine. it is come here to the capital and we will keep an eye on it. shannon, back to you. >> shannon: thank you very much. we will continue to check in with you. i think peter doocy at the white house is a little tidbit of information on what is happening with our president at

this hour. >> good evening again. i spoke to a senior administration official who is working in the west wing much later than usual who confirms the president biden just got off a call with the ukrainian president zelensky here the contents of the call are unknown for a little while. we will get a readout where basically they just send us a couple of paragraphs about what the two went over. something else we can now report about the president's speech tomorrow. the next on camera event where he will talk about the next steps in russia. next steps in punishing rush of what they are doing tonight. i am told that the way they look at sanctions is not like they are going to announce tomorrow every single thing that they could possibly do because there are endless opportunities to sanction a huge country and a government like russia but that there are going to be some significant ones in there.

so we are on the lookout for some significant sanctions against the russians. but first things first tonight, the president is on the phone with the ukrainian leader whose country is being invaded right now. shannon. >> shannon: peter doocy global continue to circle back with you. thank you very much. bringing back our chief political anchor, bret baier. you are the conversation i had with a member of parliament over there. clearly very passionate. his country is under attack and several things he talked about it sounded like from what peter said the president will address tomorrow as well as the potential banking sanctions and oil and gas. but he was really passionate about asking for a no-fly zone and the u.s. help in that. what are the odds? >> pretty much zero. at least at this point. i thought it was interesting hearing him as he gets ready to go to the parliament building saying they want to continue even if they can't get into that building. understood the martial law eventually ends the military

taking control of the streets of ukraine. this is a moment where they are going to fight. the mic for their country. the foreign minister we had on special reports just the other night, he has tweeted out putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of ukraine. peaceful ukrainian cities are under strikes for this is a war of aggression. ukraine will defend itself and win. the world can and must stop people max before peer the time to act is now. you know, we are getting statements from all kinds of people around the world, leaders, lawmakers, here's former secretary of state former national security advisor advisr condoleezza rice perigee tweets, "russian aggression cannot stand. pray for the people of ukraine." she has intimate knowledge and specifically vladimir putin has spoken out about that extensively. and she knew for many years that he had this vision of a

presoviet union collapse map that he wanted to reinstate, re-envision as a country. and he is in the process of trying to do one piece of that. how the world comes together to fight the is really the challenge we are at now. president biden addressing the american people but as peter said, also addressing world leaders on the same sheet of music. >> shannon: as we wait for that, it is interesting that this is one of those things that bipartisan agreement seems to be the case at least on the hill tonight, everything we are getting is condemning this, calling for another round of sanctions. republicans are calling for that and then we have this controversy will tweet that is coming to us from former member of congress tulsi gabbard. she says this war and suffering could have easily been avoided if the biden administration and nato had simply acknowledged russia's legitimate security concerns regarding ukraine becoming a member of nato which

would mean u.s. and nato forces right on russia's border. we know she has been an outlier with how people feel on a hill with a number of these very difficult areas like russia. that is the argument that putin has been making. we feel printed because nato has a much contact close to our borders and that leaves us feeling unsafe, especially if you admit ukraine at some point. that is argument he is making. >> tulsi gabbard is not alone for there are other big thinkers, tom freeman and others that said when russia was down years ago there should not have been this push to get this former soviet states like estonia, latvia, and lithuania quickly into nato. and that there should have been time. and you can look back out through the lens and say what we should have done or not done or those countries desperately wanted to be in nato and they wanted to be a part of the new europe as defense secretary rumsfeld talked about back in the day. but here we are. and no matter what you think about what happened up to this

point, you have essentially a dictator of the country that is moving in on another country that the world has recognized. and now the world is shocked, but here we are. >> shannon: he is been telegraphing this. sometimes you hear it in your own neighborhood makes more sense it hits more clearly. i heard someone on the radio compared to justin trudeau saying i like north dakota. and i think that gives us a sense for just how devastated and angry passionate the ukrainian people must feel about protecting their sovereign territory. those are the words around the world from -- that this is a sovereign territory that is in s being invaded by someone who has no right to. >> and this is not a border dispute. this is not just a place where russians are and russia should just take it over. this is a country taking over or

trying to another country. ukraine made a deal in 2018. they gave up nuclear weapons in exchange for a deal with the u.s. to provide a security blanket, if you will. i thought we were going to put troops on the ground, but that we were going to help them with time of need. they never got into nato pier they wanted to be, but now they feel and the foreign minister said onset, was it a good idea to give up the nukes back then? they had them, it would be a different action probably from peyton today. >> shannon: and it is not he was just going after separatist some people argue about they want to classify -- russia does -- those independent regions that want to potentially to come with russia. that is different conversation that ukraine would say is not true but it is far beyond that. not just the target regions were areas with kiev and the codes and all these other places engaged tonight. it is clear that putin felt like he had a much broader land grab to make. or attempt.

>> and that is what he is doing purity should say that ukraine has been a messy place for years. it has been filled with corruption. one of the reasons they did not get into nato as we look at some of the explosions, i think that is on tape on the left side of the screen, one of the reasons they did not get into nato is because they did not to mike that a lot of corruption problems in the u.s. said you need to clean up your act. but a lot of politicians made a lot of money off of that corruption. >> shannon: we've been pointing the last couple of days. this poll, how big a role should u.s. have in the situation? a major role 26%, monroe 52%, 20% say no role at all. that is been an ongoing debate as well. this is not a country that we have a nato order five obligation to but there are the broad or ripple effects in the wider concerns about the

telegraphing to russia. north korea, iran, about how the u.s. will behave in these situations. 26% of americans do say they think we should have a major role in this. >> i think there's a lot that has not been fully explained to the american people. about why it matters. by standing up for principles in the world, why standing up for what we promised before, why standing against a dictator taking over another country is important. in the broader picture. and what does it mean down the road for foreign policy and interactions with other countries? other potential threats? i am not sure that that speech has been delivered, in part because we wanted to tiptoe around not stepping on any allies that may be feeling the brunt of early sanctions. but that is the conversation that is going to have to be made if this continues into a full-scale war as it looks like it is heading towards. >> shannon: a little bit more

information from peter doocy over the warehouse about with the president may say tomorrow. senior administration official says that sanctions will be a centerpiece and, "there will be some significant ones in there." and reporting that this official -- that this would be -- basically endless opportunities for something like economic sanctions. i think the big ones are going to be the ones that we've been discussing tonight. i was a member of parliament the joint is for me. talked about the swift system, the banking system, oil and gas. but that goes back to the complication we discussed earlier about that there are so many different countries and regions around the world who are dependent on the oil and gas that is prepared in that region and produce in that region. that is something that we have to calculate. and that the president is going to have to reiterate as he has, as jen psaki over at the white house has had paired some of this may result in pain for americans here at home. >> that is right. we are just getting word that ukrainian president zelensky has

released a one minute video on instagram and some of that translation is just starting to come out. among the lines coming out, "i spoke to president biden. they are preparing international support." translating as we are speaking. saying -- telling ukrainians to stay home. the army works, president zelensky works. it will be with you all the time. stay strong. we will won because we are ukraine. glory to ukraine. i think it is a short video but we are getting pieces of the translation coming out. war is a terrible misfortune and they were trying to take away our freedom. our lives. our children's lives. we will defend ourselves. when you attack, you will see -- this is from before, you will see her face is not a response. our faces. having said that, he talked to president biden and there was a

pledge of international support. maybe that is more detailed than what we are getting the translation from. >> shannon: and will get more peer the ap reporting that russian military said that it is targeting ukrainian airbases and other military assets. it is not targeting populated areas. we've heard and seen the explosions that are going on around kiev. this comes from russian military. i think everything we are getting from the russian source we are going to take with a heavy dose of salt at this point. but the ap says russian military -- first of all, they are acknowledging they are targeting airbases and military assets so there is no pretending anymore that this is not happening in a full-scale and large and real way. but they claim that they are not targeting populated areas. so as the sun rises and the sun comes up, we will get more an assessment of exactly where it is being that, what is happening. but as jennifer reported early in the hour, this is happening in daylight and as it comes in her assessment was putin once

>> bret: 100%, you're doing this in daylight, this is not an overnight operation and he announced it was going to start, saying it was a special operation in east. it's much larger than that as we heard from steve harrington tonight. >> shannon: there's been concern about not only cyberattacks that could cripple utilities, important every day able to live life in situations in ukrainian cities but the threat to the homeland as well. we talked earlier about u.s. private corporations beefing up, the real acknowledgment and warning that it sounds like it came from putin earlier tonight, it looks like now the report that speech had been to the couple of days ago. warning anybody who would intervene there would be basically hell