tonight, still standing. videos online showing ukraine's people staring down one of the most powerful armies on earth. >> we're here to stay. putin's here to fail. >> their grit and determination. >> he's going to war, i'm going too. >> plus life under siege. >> the loudest explosion i have ever heard. >> families facing the unthinkable as their strength resonates around the world. >> this is in fact the quintessential david and goliath story. >> but how long can they hold on? and what is putin's neck move? this special edition of "nightline," "crisis in ukraine" will be right back.

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thanks for joining us. tonight ukrainians facing down another night of uncertainty and fear as a convoy of russian armored vehicles nears their capital city, kyiv. putin says he is not targeting civilians, but ukraine claims hundreds of people have died, including children, calling it a war crime. despite their losses, the people

of ukraine remain determined. >> reporter: some things need no translation. the tears of a child. >> there is no ticket. >> reporter: the heartbreak of goodbye. bravery in the face of fear. >> i was helping my husband to pack for a war. and then i thought okay, he's going to war. i'm going too. >> reporter: tonight ukrainians putting up a death-defying fight. holding out against the onslaught of russian troops as delegations from both countries meet. the world watching in awe as ordinary citizens band together to fight off a military superpower. >> this is in fact the quintessential david and goliath

story. the underdogs are -- nobody would take those odds in vegas. and they've held their own. >> reporter: for little peter steppanovic, this probably feels like a family fort, sleeping on a mattress on the floor out in the hallway. >> so we're not leaving anywhere, because they said martial law and the curfew until monday. >> reporter: for roman and his wife katia, this is not a game. it's life and death. >> i miss my ordinary life. >> reporter: the young family has been holed up inside their kyiv high-rise, venturing out only for supplies. >> so there is no milk, no cheese. a lot of ice cream. there is a water shortage. and there is no bread. >> reporter: but even that is becoming a struggle. >> it's a flavored milk, peter's

favorite. it's probably the last one in our fridge. and i haven't seen any in the store. our life has changed bigly. a lot. since yesterday we sleep here in a corridor. >> reporter: when roman and katya moved to kyiv, they hope they escaped the violence inflicted on ukraine by russia. he grew up in what would become the eastern conflict zone. she came from crimea which russia invaded back in 2014. they didn't plan for their children to experience this kind of chaos. >> so we try to leave today. we've packed a lot of things. they have closed bridges from red bank to red bank. >> reporter: now they're figuring out how to keep their son safe. >> putin is here to fail. >> hopefully. >> hopefully. and [ bleep ] russia.

>> it's safe now. >> reporter: just blocks away, alexander pak is dealing with the same uncertainty. >> you're feeling anxiety all the time. you're feeling tired all the time because we're not sleeping. we just don't want to die in the sleep. >> reporter: alexander and his wife vowing to stay. >> we woke up the loudest explosion i have ever heard. >> reporter: late monday a missile strike ignited this ragingoutskirts of the city. >> if you don't know what ballistic rockets are, i wish you don't. very loud. and very scary. >> reporter: the battle for kyiv has been days long. air raid sirens a nearly constant soundtrack. these satellite images show a huge russian military convoy advancing toward the capital. experts initially thought kyiv would fall into russian control over the weekend. >> the ukrainians are demonstrating a deep desire to remain free and independent. that's something that vladimir

putin completely miscalculated. >> reporter: retired lieutenant colonel alexander vindman helped spearhead relations with ukraine and iing zelenskyy for years. do you see the possibility of prolonged street warfare? could this turn into a guerrilla war? thinking could turn into a campaign that lasts easily weeks and months. does russia use its air power to beat off ukrainian power attacks or does russia negotiate what it couldn't achieve by force. >> reporter: in 2019, vindman memorably testified at trump's first impeachment try, saying he overheard the former president pushing zelenskyy to dig up dirt on the biden family by threatening to withhold military aid. in what way did it leave ukraine vulnerable? >> after the ukrainian scandal, ukraine became radioactive for

the remainder of the trump administration that continued on frankly in my opinion through the biden administration. >> reporter: for the first time delegations from ukraine and russia met at the border with belarus, talking for six hours. so far no ceasefire. both sides agreeing to a second round in the future. the meeting comes as russia begins feeling the economic impact of sanctions. the russian stock market closed. people lined up at banks as the ruble took a pounding. and that's not all. soccer's governing bodies banning russia from the world cup and all competition. shell oil announced it will quit all its russian operations. that follows bp, which divested its stake in russia's key oil company. fed ex and ups also halting all shipments into the country. and google and facebook's parent company meta also blocking russian state media from receiving money for ads. in a meeting today, vladimir putin calling countries of the west an empire of lies. over the weekend, he shocked many by raising the alert level

of russia's nuclear forces. today ukrainian president zelenskyy further defying putin by signing an application to join the european union. >> he is the tiger of kyiv rallying the troops to defend his country. that is a very powerful example to the world. >> reporter: how unexpected was this stand that zelenskyy took and his ability to rally this coalition? >> he's a ukrainian jewish kid like me. it doesn't surprise me in the least. he has been underestimated. >> reporter: zelenskyy's remained visible throughout the invasion, often appearing on social media, calling on ukrainian citizens to take up arms. and his people have answered, lining up to receive their government-issued guns and ammo. >> get into action now. >> reporter: the mayor of kyiv, a former heavyweight boxing champion taking up arms, ready to fight. >> i am ukrainian, and i am a fighter.

>> reporter: others repurposing old beer bottles to create a makeshift arsenal of molotov cocktails. in some cases, married couples fighting side by side. >> so we are here together, and my kids are two kilometers from here in a bomb shelter. they're alone there. so i'm very confident that we would survive. this is our only chance, you know, and we would do that. >> reporter: images from social media showing ukrainian soldiers fighting on the streets of ukraine's second largest city, kharkiv. still, this video showing bombs hitting residential neighborhoods there. ukraine calling these acts war crimes. so far hundreds of thousands of parents are trying to save their children by escaping. the u.n. reporting that nearly half a million ukrainians have fled, mostly to poland. the backup on the road to the border goes on for miles.

this boy tearing up, describing the uncertainty ahead. >> so many families forced to separate. this man kissing his wife and children goodbye since he'll stay behind and fight. and he'll be joined by these men walking from poland into ukraine to join the war effort. >> so we're heading west until we've -- if we have luck. >> reporter: homan and his family could soon be saying their goodbyes. the young dad, his wife and two sons boarding a train out of kyiv this morning.

>> all doors have closed. we're just waiting for them to be opened. >> we have made it lviv. the whole place is a mess in a place that has counted for six people, we had 15, i guess. it was like air and it was very hot and there was no water. >> reporter: roman keeping up brave front, trying to reassure everyone that their separation will only be temporary. >> wish us luck and hopefully katya and children will get to europe next couple of days. i'm -- i'm staying here. >> and up next, with most of the world allied against him, what is putin's strategy now? and can ukraine citizen soldiers defeat his mighty army?

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ukrainians are standing firm against an overwhelming military force launched from a country with more nuclear weapons than any other on earth. what are their chances? and how does their mounting resistance impact putin's military tactic? earlier i spoke to abc news military analyst and retired colonel steve ganyard, and doug lawsuit, former ambassador to nato, himself a retired three-star general. thank you both for joining us. and steve, let me begin with you. today president biden said americans need not fear nuclear

weapons, even though putin put russian nuclear forces on high alert. that a legitimate threat on his part or a bluff? >> well, juju, i think he called our bluff once before when we didn't think he was going to invade. so i do think we need to respect it. any time anybody rattles the nuclear saber, we need to respect it. but the way the language came out, it was very ambiguous. it didn't apply to something we've ever seen out of russian nuclear doctrine. that act ambiguity was probably designed to strike fear into people's hearts, into the general public. let's keep an eye on it, but i agree with president biden. let's not get too worried about it. >> and you have been tracking the fierce resistance from ukrainians on the ground all weekend. how effective can this guerrilla type of warfare be in helping turn the tide? >> surprisingly effective. there are two things that are really amazing here. one is how well the ukrainians are doing. a the other is how poorly the russians are doing. everything they're doing is

inexplicable, frankly. the way they're conducting themselves, the way they're conducting the tactical and the operational levels of war. >> and ambassador lawsuute, vlar putin is facing severe sanctions, the ruble crashing today and protests around the world and in his own country. will all of this pressure impact putin and his decisions? >> well, it will impact him, but not sufficiently for him to turn around the campaign in ukraine. he is committed at this point. and for his campaign, i think it's very clear-cut he wants to seize kyiv. he wants to topple the government, and he wants to replace it. we should expect putin to double down, not back down. >> and the u.s. and the european union meanwhile are sending more military support to ukraine. and president zelenskyy is now calling for ukraine to be given eu membership immediately. he signed that today. is that likely to happen, ambassador? >> well, it would be highly unusual. eu membership, like nato

membership, typically is a question of months or even several years. and there are strict standards involved in both cases. so it would be highly unusual. but i think what is clear is that all the members of the european already are supporting president zelenskyy and the struggle of the ukrainian people. and that's going to play out a number of different ways. you mentioned sanctions, but humanitarian assistance. for now half a million ukrainians have made their way into refugee status, as well as continued security assistance so that we resupply the ukrainians with the weapons they need. >> steve, we've seen russian forces encircling kyiv. general lute says that's a putin goal, and we're seeing escalating attacks to the east in kharkiv as well. what does this say about russia's strategy? >> as general lute said, they want to bring down the government. and how they're doing that is to take most of eastern ukraine and try to encircle and lay siege to kyiv. whether they can do that or not is a real question. just because the numbers of

troops that traditionally it would take. usually the attacker needs about a three-to-one advantage and the russians only have about parity. what i do they do have is far better equipment, and hopefully we won't see that being put to use against civilians as they try to barrel their way into kyiv. >> and ambassador lute, russian and ukraine officials today held diplomatic talks in belarus, at least along the border. how likely is it that we will see a diplomatic end game here? >> well, it's always good that the two sides are talking. but i'm pretty skeptical. at what point would we once again hold putin trustworthy and reliable? it's almost unimaginable at this point that he could promise anything in the diplomatic arena that we would judge is worthwhile. >> and steve so, what in your mind is the most likely ending scenario here? >> hard to say, juju. i want to be positive. they talked for six hours today. was that mr. putin trying to

slow things down and to say that the discussion here needs to go on as a way for him to rearm and reequip? or are they truly making a difference here? i think the important point here is time. time is very important to both sides, but in a different way. the ukrainians need time. they need time to slow down. they need time for the sanctions to work. they need time for the reinforcements to come in. the russians need time to speed up. they need time to encircle kyiv. they need time at least to get more bargaining chips to go to the table and negotiate. >> and as former ambassador to nato, what is the role of the west in helping to bring this to some sort of an end? >> it's really pretty clean cut. it is to stay together. it's to stay coherent, stay solid. at nato at 30, the eu at 27, the eu synchronized with the u.s. in terms of the politics and the sanctions of this campaign. and so far i give the biden administration high marks in doing just that.

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an incredible moment of bravery and resilience from the small town of berdyansk, captured by russians sunday night. but in this video shared online, its residents stand defiant with a russian tank nearby, proudly singing the ukrainian national anthem. ♪ ukraine's glory hasn't perished, they sing. it's a song that's become a rallying cry. tonight we leave you with images of protesters from around the globe. ♪

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