people what they want. one viewer who describes himself as neither black nor white writes in part, it is a terrible imposition to black schoolchildren to be told that they should be grateful to read huck finn and mocking bird. >> a teacher wrote in part, it was always an option in my classes to read some other title, but few ever chose to. it always led to some conversation about race, bigotry, loss of innocence, parental influence, racial injustice, but the significance of the time period always directed understanding from a historical perspective, end quote. there is an important and nuanced debate to be had surrounding this particular banned book and we are going to have it. tune in tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. eastern and continue to email your thoughts on this week's

book to my story at velshi.com. thanks to shows of you who already have, but first, we have another hour of "velshi" starting right now. ♪♪ and good morning to you. it is saturday, february the 19th. it's 9:00 a.m. here in the east. it's 5:00 p.m. in eastern ukraine. i'm ali velshi. quote, there's what russia says and there's what russia does, end quote. those were secretary of state antony blinken's words earlier this week. just days ago russia said it was withdrawing troops from its border with ukraine. officials in western nations quickly realized that was a lie and russia may have actually been sending more troops toward ukraine during that time. now the situation between russia and ukraine is at its most precarious. just a few hours ago, vice president kamala harris spoke at the munich security conference where delegates have gathered

this weekend. in her speech she directly addressed the crisis in ukraine. >> not since the end of the cold war has this forum convened under such dire circumstances today, as we are all well aware, the foundation of european security is under direct threat in ukraine. >> russia continues to claim it is ready for talks while at the same time it narrows the avenues for diplomacy. their actions simply do not match their words. >> upward of 190,000 russian troops are now estimated to be surrounding ukraine along its border with russia and belarus. belarus is a country right north of ukraine that remains closely allied with russia and reports have indicated that nearly half

of the troops allied around ukraine are in attack mode. they are ready to go. meanwhile, there's been a lot of activity in and near the russian controlled donbas region in southeastern ukraine. there's been shelling and exchanges of gun fire in recent days and yesterday president biden revealed that u.s. intelligence knows what russian president vladimir putin is planning. >> do you have any indication whether president putin has made a decision on whether to invade? do you feel confident that he hasn't made that decision already? >> as of this moment i'm convinced he's made the decision. we have reason to believe that. >> now these are the clearest statements yet that president biden and his administration have given regarding just how close eastern europe is from the biggest military action it has seen since world war ii. despite earlier warnings and hesitations about the fragile state of his country, ukrainian

president vladimir zelensky has decided to travel to munich today. he's there right now with other world leaders including vice president kamala harris and secretary of state antony blinken who have also traveled to germany this weekend for that munich security council. for more on the latest from ukraine i am joined by nbc news reporter matt bradley. matt, one defense official has stated that there's a destabilization of ukraine capital, ukraine campaign under way. what does that look like on the ground? >> yeah, ali, if this country looks to be destabilizing it doesn't look like it from the unofficial capital of eastern ukraine. this is ukraine's second largest city and it is only 30 miles from the border with russia. you walk around, the bars, the restaurants are open. public transportation is functioning. no one here is panic despite a

considerable uptick in tensions along the border and i'm not talking about the border with russia and i'm talking about the kyiv-controlled territory and those two separatist enclaves that are basically -- they've been sort of cleaved off the country essentially civilians backed by russia. that's been going on for the last eight years since between the 14 back when russia last invaded this country and occupied the enclave. what we're seeing now is an increase in fire along that border. excuse me, actually just this morning a ukrainian soldier was killed, died of shrapnel wounds in one of those cross-border attacks. we've seen dozens of attacks sort of tit for tat violence that have been going on every day and the number of attacks per day has been increasing. the military, the ukrainian

military is under strict orders not to return fire unless it is absolutely necessary because they don't want to create a pretext for vladimir putin to send his troops over his berm and invade us as he's been threatening to do for weeks and weeks and weeks. that's a critical situation because we heard from the leader of con of those separatist enclaves that all able-bodied men should pick up guns and defend their self-proclaimed republic. that's very threatening. they've called on thousands of people to evacuate, civilians into russia and that's another node in this, another indication that things are getting worse and worse and violence is picking up and there's this threatening ballistic missile tests that were going on just over the border in russia. vladimir putin attended those today in person. so we're seeing a lot of tension

increasing, but you know, vladimir zelensky, just like a lot of population here he's keeping this cavalier line that he doesn't speak that an invasion is imminent and he's mocked some of the western ideas that an invasion is imminent. that rhetoric from the white house with president joe biden's speech. that rhetoric has increased and still vladimir zelensky flies off to munich to attend the security conference. it was remarkable, but he's going to be coming back later on today, but a lot of western officials were worried that vladimir putin would use that exit by the president as sort of an open space, an open moment to invade the country. they haven't yet, it seems, but again, there's a lot of destabilizing forces going on, and the real worry here is that one little spark in one of these separatist enclaves could create that pretext for vladimir putin

to invade under the guise of defending the russian-speaking people of ukraine. >> we are expecting to hear from him within the next half hour at the munich security council and then he said he's going to go back. i would remind people. i think it's 5:00 p.m. now. so he's still in another country and he's still in germany and he has said he's coming back tonight. it's a short flight. matt bradley for us in ukraine. >> i just mentioned that world leaders are in a security conference where russia launching an attack on ukraine is undoubtedly a topic there. it may play a role in the fraught situation in eastern europe having to do with natural gas pipelines that connect russia directly to germany through the ballotec sea. i want to keep this map up for a second. ukraine is in the bottom right of the screen and we haven't highlighted, ukraine.

the pipelines are nowhere near ukraine. the red line is the nord stream 1. it's a pipeline in the baltic sea that has been in operation since 2012. russia is an energy giant. one-third of the natural gas used in the entire continent of europe is provided by russia. nord stream 2 has been built. there it is, the blue line that was put on there and it's not yet operational or online because germany hasn't given russia final approval for it yet, but if it does, it would double the output. just imagine that. that pipeline is always full with oil and gas products going from russia to germany. now they're looking to double that. this could have geopolitical con jenses that involve ukraine. joining me now is nola hain, the 2021 national security and foreign affairs leader for international studies. she's the director of women of

color advancing peace and security. nola, good to see you. thank you for being with us. this pipeline is a list on a list of sanctions, a list of things that the u.s. and nato and european countries can do that could actually hurt russia meaningfully. a lot of the other sanctions might hurt some people, might not, but this one is the big one. >> good morning, ali. thank you for having me again. yes, this is definitely the big one. this is an $11 billion project, and like you mentioned, 36% of russia's national budget is in energy, and this is one of the things that we care about at wcaps is what happens to the real people on the ground and this can affect real jobs. this is a project that would help russia's not so thriving economy inasmuch as putin likes to say that the round of 2014 sanctions did not hurt the economy of russia, there's evidence to dispute that.

chiefly right at the dinner table. that's a really big sign that sanctions, in fact, did hurt the russian economy in more ways than one. >> so when you say this is jobs on the ground and that actually affects people, it's doubly important on both sides of the pipeline because it's energy. it's electricity and home heating. we're in february. europe uses mostly natural gas for home heating. it uses it for factories and things like that. it's partly because of why nato didn't know what to do about russia because they said we actually need our supplies. >> we got the statements from the german foreign minister that they stand by the u.s. and it's a stronger commitment than we've had in the past weeks including nord stream 2. so germany is willing to take the financial risk if russia invades europe and that is a really big commitment and we didn't have that in the weeks

before so this is a really big deal as you said in the beginning of the segment. >> in the event that these very serious sanctions go into effect including the cancellation of nord stream 2 or the failure of opening it up. they will not do that preemptively. they will only do that if russia invades. is that enough of a cost? vladimir putin really wants ukraine and he's given speeches about this. it is probably his single biggest mission. will this cause him, in your opinion, to back off? >> that's a really good question, and i've been thinking a lot about that. >> the way that i like to frame it is wouldn't it be better if you had multiple big clients. so if nord stream 2 does not go ahead you are essentially taking germany and europe off the energy table and then you only have china as an energy partner. so if you think about the current situation where russia is in terms of energy, that is a

huge loss, but in addition to energy, this round of sanctions will also hit the big tech industry in russia and the financial industry in russia. a lot of putin's closest oligarchs will get hit very, very heavy? why is this important? in a communist system you have a state centric system so it is not this sort of egalitarian system where you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps and you can become famous and rich. no, that's not how this works. so sanctioning specific people around putin and specific industries especially big tech will have a huge and lasting impact and it will absolutely affect real russians and what happens at the dinner table. >> nola, thanks again for taking time to join us this morning. nola haynes is a foreign affairs leader at the center of

international staudys. we are waiting for president zelensky to address the conference within the hour. new york's attorney general has ordered the failed former president and some of his children to answer questions under oath. also, we used to have strong federal laws guaranteeing voting rights in this country, but that's not rem really the case, and it's a shell of what it once was and it looks murky, at best. . it's beautiful out here. it sure is. and i earn 5% cash back on travel purchased

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>> voting rights in america are in bad shape and congress is at an impasse when it comes to fixing them. once upon a time in america, however, we did have laws ments to guarantee that every american who had a right to vote was able to vote, a law that was actually quite effective at stopping state and local governments from passing laws that were meant to deny voting rights, the landmark voting rights act of 1965 made huge strides in creating fair

access to the ballot at a time when voting rights were flagrantly denied through much of the south. it banned the so-called literacy tests which were disproportionately forced by black voters by election officials. if they failed they didn't get to vote. it allowed for federal oversight of the electoral process meaning federal officials would go register black voters if local municipalities did not comply. there was evidence of a term. s to intimidate minority voters at the polls and crucially, this one's really person, the bottom one. let's push into that because you need to really understand this one. any state or local government with a history of discrimination had to submit any new election rules or laws to the justice department or district court for preclearance to make sure that the changes were not designed to disenfranchise minority voters.

that was an important piece of the law, and by the way, it worked for a long time. nearly 50 years. then came 2013 when a case known as shelby county versus holder came before the supreme court. shelby county, alabama, did not like to get permission to change its election laws so the county sued and in 2013 in a 5 to 4 decision the supreme court gutted the voting rights act. it did so by ruling that the formula for deciding which states and localities should be required to get pre-clearance when they wanted to change voting rules was unconstitutional. the irony is that the chief justice of the court, john roberts wrote the majority opinion in shelby versus holder essentially arguing that nearly 50 years after that legislation came into place, voter discrimination was not really a major issue anymore. he even cited an increase in black voter turnout, in his

opinion. he called pre-clearance, quote, a drastic departure from basic principles of federalism, end quote. justice ruth bader ginsburg disagreed dissenting saying, throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you're not getting wet. thanks to that supreme court decision, the voting rights act of 1965 is now a ghost of its former self because with no formula for deciding which states need to get preclearance, no state has to get preclearance. instead, people who like democracy have to wait around and sue the state and local governments that pass discriminatory voting laws which as you might imagine is a lot less effective for when they stopped discriminatory voting laws. the court left it up to congress to fix it, to come up with a new formula for preclearance. spoiler alert. congress didn't do that and the

supreme court in the meantime has been so stacked by ultra conservative justices appointed by the twice-impeached grifter known as donald j. trump that this is where we find ourselves in 2022. the supreme court drew up a map in alabama that it would did i butte the black vote. it was a 5-4 decision to let this gerrymandered map to take effect for this year's elections and the very person wo wrote the 2013 decision that gutted the voting rights act, this man, the chief justice, john roberts sided with the liberals on the court in dissenting. i would suggest as others have before me that this is evidence that justice -- chief justice john roberts has lost control of his own court and with everything from voting rights to gun control and abortion access on the line the stakes could not be higher. joining me now, kimberly atkins, boston globe columnist and

co-host of the sisters podcast, and melissa murray, a former law clerk to judge sonia sotomayor when she was on the federal bench and an msnbc legal analyst. good morning to both of you. i apologize for taking up your air time with that explanation, but professor murray, i sort of -- i just wanted to lay out for people who probably already know this, what that time line was like. how we actually once had laws that protected these -- these voting rights that we undid. >> i appreciated the explanation, ali. my students will be learning shelby county versus holder next week so i hope they were listening, as well. the one thing that was left out is not just the trajectory with dealing with the ballot box, and redistricting. one of the most important cases was 2019's russo versus common cause where the court said it could not intervene.

no federal court could intervene in cases dealing with partisan gerrymandering and that basically left the question whether they're drawn to give political power to a particular power to the state courts to deal with, and then we had this alabama case as we mentioned a few weeks ago that in the case of a clear, racial gerrymander, was there nothing that it could do because the map was drawn too close to the election. so this has been a quite systematic program to keep the voting rights of individuals in many of these jurisdictions locked down and to draw these districts in such a way that they can't be changed through representative government and that affects the court, too. the court will be deciding a number of hot-button issues this term, and if they decide them in ways that are out of step with americans, those americans will not have an opportunity to vote with their feet at the ballot box to change it. the court has insulated itself from public backlash over its

decisions. >> kimberly, what happens now? democrats have not been as enthusiastic about the process of getting supreme court justices appointed as republicans have certainly in the last few decades, but at this point joe biden says there will be a black woman appointed to the court. we have -- we're looking at three candidates and at the moment they all look very, very solid, but it will not change the math on the supreme court. so how does that -- how does one fix this issue of our time? the erosion of voting right which is is leading to a degradation of democracy? >> yes, so even though pesident biden will leave his mark on the supreme court with this appointment it will not change the ideology of the court. it will make the court look more like america by having a black woman, but she will more than definitely on this issue and many more be speaking in dissent, speaking for the future instead of speaking to change

what is happening right now. the only way to protect the voting rights act is to protect the voting rights act and to fortify it. that stands in congress for congress to do, but as we've seen, not even democrats can agree on exactly how to do that. so at this point, the supreme court is the body that is in control, and it has shown, as we've been talking about consistently, its antipathy toward the voting rights act and the ability to use the voting rights act and in this case, you have something that has been done since the voting rights act has been in place which is allowing individuals to sue after the fact, as you said which isn't as good as stopping it before the fact and the supreme court seems to be inching toward a ruling as well as lower courts, with the help of lower courts that said that individuals can't even sue when the voting rights act are being violated with other racially

discriminatory practices and i can only imagine during republican administrations how willing the justice department is willing to come in and file the lawsuits. it is a terrible chapter that we're coming into when it comes to voting rights. >> i'll ask you both to stand by. kimberly atkins and melissa murray. we'll continue this after a quick break. murray we'll ntcoinue this after a quick break.

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hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ back with me now to continue the conversation, kimberly atkins, and melissa murray professor of law at nyu and former law clerk to justice sonia sotomayor when she was on the bench and an america s nbc legal analyst. i want to pick up the conversation, melissa, right where we left off. if it is up to congress to fix

the voting rights act which is really the way it should work. is there a way to write it, to proof it from the supreme court that tries to undermine voting rights? what would you do differently. you had to re-write the voting rights act so that the supreme court can't wreck it? >> it's hard to say. a number of people have floated particular possibilities, for example, my colleague berqassen of the california university irvine suggested to overrule certain cases where protection of voting rights, and that may be one way. i think you nailed the program. it's not just that the congress issy is polarized that we can't protect the right to vote. it's that if we do, we have this conservative supreme court with the 63 conservative super majority that has deep, deep antipathy for the prospect of voting rights and it is unlikely to find a hospitable reception

at the supreme court. the bigger question is more of a structural one about the nature of the court and the interactions that legislation that congress passes. >> kimberly, to the extent that this won't change the math, joe biden's nominee, if that nominee is successful does not change the math on the supreme court, how then, do you -- how do we, how does the public think about these three candidates who we've got right now and evaluate who we think would be the best? >> yeah. i mean, if these are the three front-runners as has been reported, i think the public can rest assure that each of these candidates are beyond qualified to be a member of the u.s. supreme court. how each of them might approach it is difficult to say at this point just because they have such different backgrounds. you have leandra krueger, and

you have michelle childs who comes from the south and has a different upbringing and may approach these things differently, i don't think that would be evidenced in their votes on issues like this, but there might be subtle differences in the way that they interact with the other justices in the conference, in the way that they write their dissents and whether there will be a fiery dissenter like the late ruth bader ginsburg was or will try to work in a way to build more consensus behind the scenes. those may be the differences and when it comes out to the vote it will not be that much of a difference and the public can know that the next supreme court justice will be qualified, but the public should be concerned about the super majority that seems increasingly bent on rolling back voting rights and all of the other cases that are coming before the court from gun

rights to affirmative action. >> some of these justicis including justice sotomayor at this point may be working toward the future as opposed to the past. what's the way in which these women whomever is appointed makes their mark, changes the court even if the math doesn't change for another several years? >> i think we have to think about service on the supreme court as a long horizon. these justices are being appointed on younger ages on both the democrat and the republican side. all of the nominees here are at shooting range between 40 to 55. they can expect to have a 30-year career in their 80s. so a lot can change in that timeframe. so for now, they are definitely going to be in the minority and likely to be writing dissents, dissents that may have to lay out a path in the future for a different majority to come together and something to see

the super majority doing now and maybe in the future they will have to be more conciliatory and more consensus driven in terms of making peace with the other side. so this has to be a nominee who can be all things at all moments for all time. >> no small tank. task. >> columnist of the co-host of the sisters in law podcast and kimberly murray and co-host of the strict scrutiny podcast. you are taking a live look at the munich conference where president zelensky is set to speak at any moment. we will bring that to you on the other side. l bring that to you e other side we got the house! you did! pods handles the driving. pack at your pace. store your things until you're ready. then we deliver to your new home -

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president vladimir zelensky has just started speaking at the conference. let's listen in. >> thanks so much. >> we have to prepare technically, and i don't want to speak in my native language, if it's possible. thanks so much. i want to delay ten seconds because i want to be understandable from the very beginning. >> he's waiting for his traps

translation. it does appear he will speak in ukrainian. let's listen in.it does appear ukrainian. let's listen in. [ speaking foreign language ] all right. for any of you who speak ukrainian you are welcome to tweet me and let me know what he's saying. we do have people who can translate that and we'll monitor that with you and his conversation with christiane amanpour after ward will be in english and we'll keep a close eye on that in a moment. if we get translation. nbc is not providing the translation at the conference, so if we are able to get some english translation on to that it will not be ours, but it is a

journalistic organization so we can assume that it is fairly accurate. president zelensky does speak english, as you heard in the beginning of this, but because he is reading prepared remarks he probably wants to be extremely cautious because this is a very, very dangerous and important day for ukraine. so he's going to be speaking -- he is speaking right now in ukrainian and it is being simultaneously translated to the audience which is an annual conference and the kind of thing like davos that people otherwise attend and it is taking on unique importance right now because of what's going on in eastern europe. the heads of european countries and nato countries and eu countries are all in arc tendance and our andrea mitchell is there, as well so that's the situation right now. vladimir zelensky has been criticized by some for leaving ukraine on this day and that's largely because when countries are possibly about to be invaded or going to war, the symbolism of leadership in those countries

is important. he did decide he would go to this conference -- kamala harris was there and other leaders are there. he wanted to make his pitch in person and we saw video of him sitting around a conference table sort of asking, that cajoling and requesting assistance in the event of a russian invasion into ukraine. where we stand right now is russia appears to have amassed as many as 190,000 troops along ukraine's borders and some of those troops appear to be in belarus which is an independent country north of ukraine, but is also aligned with russia. 190,000 troops. these are sailors. these are soldiers, and these are airmen. let's go back. we believe we've got some translation here to the ukrainian president, vladimir zelensky. >> it is obsolete. the rules that have been agreed

upon by the world dozens of years ago are no longer working. they are neither catching up with the new and overcoming them just like cough syrup instead of a good, covid vaccine ask this security system is slow and failing us time and time again because of those different things and arrogance and irresponsibility of countries on the global level. as a result, some countries are committing crimes while others resort to indifference. the indifference that turn them into accomplices. it is symbolic that i am saying this here. 15 years ago it was the russian federation who made the statement and the -- for the world response. appeasement. what do we have as the result, the crimean aggression against my country at the very least. the u.n. which was initially

called to save that piece of security could not protect itself when it is being violated of another founding member while the u.n. itself is ignoring the crimean platform established to de-occupy the crimea and advocate for the eyes of the crimean tatters. it was here three years ago when angela merkel said who can pick up the pieces of the world's puzzle? only all of us together, she said. to a rush of audible excitement in the room which stood up to applaud. unfortunately it failed to form into collective action so now the world is talking about the threat of a big war. it begs the question, is there anything left to pick up? the security architecture of europe and beyond is almost destroyed and too late now to talk about fixing it and it's high time for a new one. the mankind did say on two

occasions having paid an extensively high price with the two world wars. we do have a chance to break that trend before it became a trend, and build a new system before we pay millions of casualties with two world wars without the two one to come in. here in the u.n. already mentioned, there is no such thing and it is not my war that the annexation of the creamia and it was' a blow to the whole world that this is not about war in the u crepe. this is about war in europe and i mentioned this in 2019, 2020 and 2021, will they be able to hear me in 2022. this is no longer hyping on sis and no longer an action, why not? it requires proof and it requires something more than statements and mass media. action is needed.

the world needs this action, not ukraine. we are going to protect our country with or without support of their partners. the hundreds of pieces of contemporary armament of 5,000 helmets. we equally appreciate the support, but everyone needs to understand that this is not some kind of donation ukraine should be reminded of begging for. this is not just a broad gesture that ukraine should be bowing down for. this is your contribution into the european and international security for which ukraine has been serving as a shield for eight years now, a reliable shield holding back one of the largest armies in the world, that same army that is poised on the ukrainian and not eu member states' borders and the missiles were flying into the european cities. after the fights and the

destroyed airport in donetsk and not in frankfurt and it is always blazing in the industrial zone which is being shelled. there it was very hot and none of the countries of europe know what the military funerals are around the country in all regions and none of the european leaders know what is it with the families of the dead soldiers. no matter what, we are going protect our beautiful land on our borders, either we have 150,000 or 1 million soldiers of any army, in order to help ukraine, indeed we don't need to hear how many of them are there and how many armament they have. we need to hear how many are there of us together. to help ukraine, we don't feed to be reminded of the day of the plausible intervention.

we're going to protect our land on the 16th of february, on the 1st of march and the 31st of december and we need those much more than these dates and everyone understands what kind of dates. tomorrow is the date of the commemoration of the eight years ago, ukrainians have made their choice and many of them have sacrificed their lives for that. do they think that eight years later ukraine shouldn't keep calling for acknowledgement of our european perspective. since 2014, russia is convincing everyone that this was an erroneous part for ukraine, that no one is waiting for us in europe. isn't it europe that should be saying and proving them wrong? isn't it europe who should be saying today that our citizens have a positive attitude towards ukraine joining the union? why are we avoiding this

question? doesn't ukraine deserve to have direct and frank answers? the same is true about nato? we are told the doors are open, but so far they're want allowed. if not all of the members are willing to see us there or all members don't want to see us there, be honest about it. open doors are good, but we need open answers, but not the years and years of closed questions. isn't the right for truth part of our opportunities and the sooner the better? the soonest summit in madrid. the russian federation is saying that ukraine wants to join nato to bring the crimean back by force. it's good to hear that bring back the crimean is something that they mentioned -- the collective actions are for

protection and not for attack. the crimean occupied will come back to ukraine, but only through peaceful process. ukraine is consistent about the normandie territorialtegrity an our state. we want diplomatic resolution. i'd like to emphasize based on their international law. so what is happening now in minsk in peaceful process? two years ago with the presidents of france and russian federation and germany, we agreed to observing them. we could that not responding to the provocations. we are submitting proposals to the normandy groups, but instead shelling and bullets, our

soldiers are dying, our peaceful population is dying. several infrastructures being destroyed. the last two days have become very symbolic. massive shelling from the armament prohibited by the minsk agreement. it is important to allow for the observers for the oic to visit. they arebeing scared. all humanitarian questions will be blocked. two years ago i signed into law the unconditional access of humanitarian organizations to the detainees. but they are simply not allowed. after two exchange of prisoners, the process has been stalled an blocked. although ukraine has been sharing the approved lists to

the isolation prison. and now donetsk is the symbol of huge rights violation. and in november the two new crossing points that we opened have not been put into operation. and we see this and there is an obstruction under false pretext that ukraine is doing its best to push this discussion for political questions as well. and the tcg and minsk process, we have submitted the proposals and drafts of law, but everything is blocked and no one is talking about them. ukraine demands urgentry to unblock the negotiation process. at the same time, this does not mean that looking for peace is limited and restricted only by that. we are prepared to look for the keys to end the war in all possible formats and pratt

forms. minsk, beijing, it doesn't matter where in the world we will agree about the peace in ukraine. four countries will be there, seven countries will -- 100 countries, it doesn't matter. most important russia and ukraine to be there. what is important is the understanding that we need not only us who need peace. the world needs peace. we need to restore peace and integrity at the internationally acknowledged borders. i know no one is thinking about ukraine as the permanent barter between russia and the west. no one will allow this to happen. otherwise there will be a question, who is next. nato countries will have to protect each other. i want to believe that north atlantic treaty and article v will be more effective than the budapest memorandum.

for the refrefusal -- the fact t we refuse from the third biggest nuclear power, security guarantees, we no longer have that weapon, neither do we have the security. we have lost parts of our territory which is bigger in territory than switzerland, netherland to belgium. mill i don't thinions of citize lost. and all of this has been lost. but we still have something. we have the right to demand to move from the peace policy to -- three times ukraine has tried to call for consultations for the guarantors of the countries who guaranteed the budapest agreement. three times no success. this will be the fourth time today that we are going to do

this. as president for the first time but both ukraine and me is going to -- will do this the last time. we are initiating under bud test budapest memorandum and call for -- and ask the foreign minister to have this meeting. and if as a result we will not guarantee defense after this summit, we will think that the budapest memorandum double is not working and all the package decisions of 1994 have been put in question and compromised. in the nearest weeks, i propose to calm the summit of the countries of the security council with the participation of europe, germany and turkey to resolve security challenges in europe. and came up with new effective guarantees, security guarantees, for ukraine. the guarantees that we need before we become the members of the defense council being in

this gray zone in a security vacuum so to speak. what else can we do now? we can continue the effective support of ukraine and its defense capabilities providing european perspective, providing the support to the candidate countries and specific time lines for ukraine possible membership in the alliance. we need support for the transformation in our country to create stability and restoration from the land lease program, supplying new armament and equipment to the army which is protecting the whole europe. and preventive sanctions packages what we need to restrain the aggression and integration of the ukraine into european union in the times when it has been used as a weapon.

all these questions require answers. instead there is silence. and while this silence persists, there will be no silence in the east of ukraine. in the east of europe. and in the whole world. i do hope finally the whole world will understand this and europe will understand this. ladies and gentlemen, i'm very grateful to the countries who have supported ukraine with their words, with their declaration, and specific support. those who are on our side, on the side of truth, on the side of international law. i'm not calling my friends out by names. i don't want some countries to be ashamed. but this is their business. this is their matter. these are their countries, their karma, and this is their consciousness that they have to look into. although i don't know how they will be able to sprain these actions to the two people who were killed and three wounded, ukranian soldiers today, and

three girls from kyiv, 10, 6 and 1 years old who don't have a father any longer. at 6:00 in the morning eastern european time when ukranian scout officer was killed from the shell prohibited by minsk. i don't know what he thought about at the last second of his life. he didn't really for sure understand what kind of agenda we need for the meeting to stop the war in the east. but what he knew is the answer to the question that i asked at the very beginning. he very well knows who is lying here. rest in peace to him and to all those who have died during these years of war in the east of our country. thank you.

>> all right. that was president volodymyr zelensky who left ukraine today to go to this important security summit in munich where vice president kamala harris was. he said some interesting things there. it was a strong speech in which he said ukraine shouldn't be begging for europe's help. europe should be looking at ukraine and realizing that it needs protection. he said we are doing what we are doing, but that ukraine cannot remain a permanent buffer between russia and nato. he also said that -- and this is true -- that ukraine got security assurances in exchange for giving up its nuclear arsenal after the collapse of the soviet union and one of those was territorial integrity, and he said that we know longer have nuclear weapons authorize do we have the territorial guarantees. volodymyr zelensky is making a desperate plea to nato, to his european neighbors, to everyone right how to say can you please come to our aid, this is

imminent, after some weeks of suggesting that the invasion was not merely imminent or as serious as the united states was warning, zelensky now saying it is a desperate situation for ukranians. that does it for me. thank you for watching. i'll be back same time tomorrow. tiffany cross and "the cross connection" picks up our coverage of the ukranian crisis right now. >> you just described thats from conference very well. the most stark sentence he said there was this is not a did he nation, ukraine should be asking for. a lot to get to and i'll pick it up from here. good morning to you at home and welcome to "the cross connection." we start with the last ditch diplomatic efforts to avoid war in ukraine even as president biden says putin has already decided to invade. this is where we are. this morning vice president harris met with ukranian president zelensky ahead of his speech at the munich security conference where he scolded the u.n. seemingly for doing nothing to defend its own charter. zelensky appeared in hugh nick despite warnings fro