jane pauley. please join us when our trumpet sounds against n morning. ♪ ♪ ♪ good morning and welcome to "face the nation." i'm margaret brennan in washington. you'll hear our exclusive interview with ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy. plus we'll hear the u.s. response to what has been a critical week on the national security front. marked by increasingly desperate moves on the part of russian president vladimir putin, as russia struggles in their war on ukraine. here at home, we've also got a new cbs news poll that reveals some disturbing indications about voters who want to contest the upcoming elections six weeks before election day. and a look at the potential impact of those higher interest rates from the federal reserve. but we begin with ukraine, our debora patta has the latest from

kyiv. >> reporter: staged polls in occupied cities like these, referendums amid the rubble and ruin of war. a grotesque democracy, ballots propped up by bullets. election officials accompanied by armed soldiers go traipsing up flights of stairs, knocking on doors, searching for voters. others pound the streets with loud messages. russian news outlets were keen to show enthusiastic voters in occupied kherson. a day later, that same location was deserted. ivan fedorov, the exiled mayor of mariupol calls it a farce. >> we can call russians terrorists that hold our citizens hostage. russia takes our citizens hostage. >> reporter: the white house regards the referendums as a sign of vladimir putin's weakness following crushing battlefield defeats.

putin is not only a sore loser, he's a dangerous one. threatening nuclear weapons and imposing an immediate callup for military reservists. it sparked widespread anti-war protests at home. and young men fleeing the country to dodge the draft, like sergi caught up in a long line of traffic at the finnish border. >> i just packed my bags and go to finland. >> reporter: many of those called up have never fought in a war, let alone one that already has hardened russian fighters on the run. nobody's waiting with baited breath here in ukraine for the results of those elections. it is clear putin wants to push through a vote to annex the territories quickly and that could happen as early as this week. >> debora patta reporting from

ukraine. when we spoke to president volodymyr zelenskyy saturday, we began with vladimir putin's referendum in russian-occupied regions of ukraine. actions intended to help him justify annexing territory, which is equivalent to the size of the state of maine. it is illegal under international law. the u.s. says they're a sham and intended to take about 15% of your territory away. what happens to ukrainians living in these areas if they respond no when they are asked if they want to be part of russia? >> translator: the referendum can lead to very tragic moments. you started your question with an answer. that is correct. those people who don't come to referendum, you know, russians can turn off their electricity and wouldn't give them an opportunity to live a normal, human life.

they force people, they throw them in prisons, they force them to come to these pseudo-referendum, and they also announced mobilization. they're forcing people to fight. people from the temporarily occupied territories. i see other threats when they complete, if they succeed with this referenda, the ballots had been already prepared. russia -- of the russian government can officially announce that the referendum have been completed and the results will be announced. this would make it impossible in any case to continue any diplomatic negotiations with the president of russian federation. and he knows it very well.

i have spoken about it publicly. i think it's a very dangerous signal from president putin that tells us that putin is not going to finish this war. that is what's going on. >> the biden administration has built its entire policy around avoiding direct conflict with russia. once this annexation happens, does it change that dynamic? is russia using this as an excuse to say that it is being attacked because the west is providing ukraine with weapons? if it is seizing eastern ukraine to annex it. >> yes, that's exactly so. that is correct. look, he knows, he feels it, and his military leadership reports to him. he knows that he's losing the war in the battlefield ukraine

has seized the initiative. he cannot explain to his society why and he's lookingor answers to these questions. it's seven months since russia occupied -- tried to occupy ukraine, but they couldn't. and now he has to justify it. he has to take steps to justify it. he says, see, let's look at it. i am not afraid of ukraine. it was a special operation. but now it's russia, it's our territory. look, we conducted referenda. now it's the west who attacks russia. now the west attacks our territories. we have let the society join russia, the society that wanted to be with russia. he has announced the mobilization. it used to be hidden. now you see that it has been

announced publicly. for several months they've been secretly mobilizing, but now they admitted that the army is not able to fight with ukraine anymore. >> vladimir putin continues to dangle the threat of nuclear weapons use. you've called this nuclear blackmail. do you think he's bluffing right now? >> translator: look, maybe yesterday it was bluff. now it could be a reality. let's look what is contemporary use of nuclear weapons or nuclear blackmail. he targeted and occupied our nuclear power plant. he continues his blackmail related to us exporting electricity to europe. several days ago they started shooting at another nuclear

power plant, the nuclear plant lost all the windows and doors, et cetera. so, he wants to scare the whole world. these are the first steps of his nuclear blackmail. i don't think he's bluffing. i think the world is deterring it and containing this threat. we need to keep putting pressure on him and not allow him to continue. president biden has said more sanctions are coming. >> translator: i think that there are sanctions that must be implemented towards the very end completely. if we cut russian banks from s.w.i.f.t., we need to cut all russian banks from s.w.i.f.t. if we talk about embargo for -- for energy, we need not to look for compromises or -- we need to

make sure that this embargo will be working and all the prices would be implemented according to the embargo because the profits from these imports support the russian army and fund the war. the united states could show its leadership position and recognize russia as a sponsor of terrorism. ust thereilleatio eillake diplomatic negotiations impossible. however, they are terrorists. and we cannot let them do it out of fear. they will not surrender. we need to keep applying pressure. they are terrorists. they don't have honor. they cannot keep their word. they do not kill military

personnel. they rape, torture and kill civilians. we found a big mass grave of half a thousand people. today i received more information. the journalists are on their way. they found two more mass graves, big graves, with hundreds of people, and we're talking about a little town of izium. do you know, there are two more mass graves in a small town. this is what's going on. the sanctions need to continue. these sanctions will haveimliti financial impact. >> the u.s. hasreleased intell arussia's filtration centers, that it is putting ukrainians into. and estimate that hundreds of thousands of ukrainian children

are being taken to russia. does forcibly separating kids from their families constitute genocide? >> translator: we have all the information about filtration camps, isolation camps. people are being tortured with various means. they apply pressure. they torture with electric current and so on. and apart from that, there's deprivation. i can't say exact numbers. i don't want to lie. i want you to know all the truth. i can't say or confirm hundreds of thousands of children have been deported because families have been separated. but it's absolute true that there are thousands of these children, we have confirmed that. >> offensive operations are more expensive than defensive operations.

the white house is asking congress for $12 billion more to provide to ukraine. what do youd for? i essential ro an peopaveen kill rtur. that's why we need this help to deoccupy our territories, to make sure that more people survive. i don't think that this is the highest price in the world to save thousands of lives. we're very thankful for himars and other mrlss that give us an ability to conduct our offensive. our army sees the initiative cuts, the technical capabilities of russia. second, artillery. artillery helps us to save the lives of our warriors, our fighters. they need an opportunity to get supplies of tanks from the united states as well as europe.

if the u.s. will be able to show its leadership and will be able to get the tanks, then the germany -- then germany and other european countries will follow. i think if we get tanks from the u.s., european allies will also citi with defense systems. we absolutely need the united states to show leadership and give ukraine the air defense systems. i want to thank president biden for a positive decision that has been already made, and to the u.s. congress. we received -- the air defense systems, but, believe me, it's not even nearly enough to cover the civilian infrastructure,

schools, hospitals, universities, homes of ukrainians. >> can there be stability in europe if vladimir putin remains in power? >> translator: no. >> no? >> translator: i don't have anything to add. my opinion is no. we have observed this over the years. we don't see stability. >> mr. president, thank you for your time today. i do want to ask befe i let you goou have kept ukraine united during this war. have you seen evidence that vladimir putin will now come and target you in this moment of desperation? >> translator: you are very right in saying that we are united. we have become even more united now than ever. i'm one of the targets. of course, it goes without saying. it's not because of my

personality, just because i'm -- because the president is a leader of their country. >> mr. president, thank you for your time. and good luck to you, sir. >> translator: thank you very much. we will need it. we wish you peace and everything. thank you very much for your support, the united states. and "face the nation" will be back in one minute. stay with us. nt to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider about ways to lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. learn more at getrealaboutdiabetes.com good checkup? no, great checkup. aw thank you, doc. for great checkups, crest has you covered because crest pro-health

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billion in weapons. and that's included air defense systems, hundreds of artillery pieces, hundreds of thousands if not millions of rounds of artillery, and we facilitated the transfer of tanks from nato allies who have the soviet era tanks that the ukrainians have trained on. we will continue to do all of that. and what putin has done is not exactly a sign of strength or confidence. frankly, it's a sign that they are struggling badly on the russian side. and we are going to help the ukrainians be able to take advantage of the gains they've made and to continue to push back against the russian forces that are brutally occupying portions of their country. >> yesterday putin replaced one of the top logistics general with a man known as the butcher of mariupol. are we seeing the beginning of the collapse of the russian army? >> i think it's too soon to make comprehensive predictions like that. i think what we are seeing are signs of unbelievable struggle among the russians.

you've got low morale, where the soldiers don't want to fight. who can blame them? they want no part of putin's war of conquest in their neighboring country. you have russia having depleted stores of munitions guided. you have russia losing territory to a capable ukrainian force. and you've got a huge amount of in-fighting among the russian military leadership and now the blame game has started to include these replacements. so, russia is struggling. but russia still remains a dangerous faux and capable of great brutality, as we've seen with the mass graves outside of izium. we continue to take that threat seriously, and we continue to see our obligation being providing ukraine all that it needs to be able to effectively defend itself, defend its country and defend its freedom. that's what we're intent on doing and we are not taking our eye off the ball. >> vladimir putin will carry out this annexation of eastern ukraine within the next few

days. if russia is expanding its nuclear umbrella over this part of the country, does that put the u.s. in more direct conflict with russia? and does a nuclear weapon being used there put russia in conflict directly with the u.s. and nato? >> we have been crystal clear, up to and including president biden, that we will not recognize the sham referenda. we will treat this territory for what it is, ukrainian territory, t rritory. we will continue to support the ukrainians as they seek to deoccupy this territory. so, we've been clear. we're not going to stop or slow down our support to the ukrainians no matter what putin tries to do with these fake elections and fake refernda and annexation. when it comes to the question of

nuclear use. president putin has been waving around the nuclear card. the last few days is not the first time. >> but he hasn't been as cornered. >> it's true. it is a matter we have to take deadly seriously because it is a matter of paramount seriousness, the use of nuclear weapons for the first time since the second world war. we have communicated directly, privately, at very high levels to the kremlin, that any use of nuclear weapons will be met with catastrophic consequences for russia, that the united states and is our allies will respond decisively, and we have been clear and specific about what that will entail. we have in public been equally clear as a matter of principle that the united states will respond decisively if russia uses nuclear weapons, and that we will continue to support ukraine in its efforts to defend its country and defend its democracy. >> russia has been talking about this nuclear power plantwe

th pas 2 fall? >> forouviewers, there is a nuclear power plant that is in russian-occupied portions of ukraine. it has been put into cold shutdown to make it less likely that there's some kind of catastrophic incident at the plant. it is actually still being operated by the ukrainian operators, who are essentially at gunpoint from the russian occupying forces. and the russians have been consistently implying that there may be some kind of accident at this plant. we've been working with the international atomic energy agency and with the ukrainian energy regulators to try to make sure there is no threat posed by a meltdown or something else from the plant. >> jake, you're a busy man watching the world right now. there's a lot i want to ask you, but i have to ask you about iran and these protests. led by women after the death of

this 22-year-old woman who didn't have her hair covered properly in the view of the morality police. she died. how significant is this? totran in nuclear program?ab >> well, first, margaret, the fact that we are in negotiations with iran on its nuclear program is in no way impacting our willingness and our vehement about what is happening on the streets of iran. we have, in fact, taken tangible steps to sanction those morality police who caused the death of massa amini. we've taken steps to make it easier for iranians to get access to the internet and access to communications technologies that will allow them to talk to one another and talk to the world. so, from our perspective, we will do all that we can to support the brave people, the

brave women of iran -- >> i was asking you, though, about the offer to lift sanctions off iran in regards to its nuclear program because that would allow the regime to have a financial life line. >> i think it's important for everyone to understand that at the height of the cold war, as ronald reagan was calling the soviet union the evil empire -- >> arms control. >> arms control with russia. >> absolutely. >> that is what we're talking about here. we're talking about diplomacy to prevent iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon. if we can succeed in that effort, and we are determined to succeed in that effort, the world america and our allies will be safer. pushing back and out on iran's brutal oppression of its citizens and women. we can and will do both. >> i understand the offer is still on the table. the strategy hasn't changed. jake, thank you for your time. we'll be back with a lot more "face the nation." stay with us. phones? they're investing with merrill. think miss allen is texting for backup?

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[captioning funded by cbs sports division] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org. james: it's week three in the league. phil: josh allen scored 72 points up there in buffalo and completing 72. bill: tua tag face