diana magnay in crimea, southern ukraine. >>> and it has taken months to get to this point of tension, and so how did we get here? coming up the back story. load a. [ girl ] seriously? that's a lot of music. seriously. that's insane. and it's 15 bucks a month for the family. seriously? that's a lot of gold rope. seriously, that's a signature look. you don't have a signature look, honey. ♪ that's a signature look. [ male announcer ] only at&t brings you beats music. unlimited downloads for up to 5 accounts and 10 devices all for $14.99 a month. ♪ introducing cardioviva: the first probiotic to help maintain healthy cholesterol levels without a prescription. cardioviva. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome back and now each hour brings a new development in the ukraine crisis that is admittedly difficult to keep up. we wanted for sake of the viewers to slow down, pause, dig down on what led to the point, and why russia's ties to the ukraine were so deep, and why the west, and the u.s. is so interest interested in and so connected here. start with the map. ukraine to start with a remi

our diana magnay is live in crimea. diana, we've been looking at the pictures of the standoff between ukrainian and, apparently, russian troops. what's the latest? >> reporter: hi, john. well, we know from the commander of that military air base that the russians have been making an ultimatum to ukrainian forces to surrender and they've given them a deadline of 12:00 noon, which is now, and they haven't surrendered. now, let me add, these deadlines have come and gone before. nothing has happened. we were all expecting something at 5:00 a.m. this morning when we heard via one news report that there would be a military storm if the ukrainian forces in crimea didn't surrender. that didn't happen. i'm at a military base. it's fairly quiet, but it would just take one miscalculation and things could escalate and get pretty bad, john. >> it's avoiding those miscalculations, that is what is so crucial here. all right, diana magnay for us in crimea this morning. again, we are awaiting word from russian president vladimir putin. t

diana magnay, thank you so much. and of course, so much of the issue here is that ukraine is quite literally the pipeline for russia and so much exports of oil and gas to europe. this is right there, the footprint, the chess piece for russia. >> it goes right through ukraine. and of course, "the new york times" reporting this morning that angela merkel spoke to vladimir putin and told president obama that she believes putin has lost touch with reality. so, that's a little unsettling to read as you wake up this morning. >>> all right, four minutes after the hour. in other news, another round of deadly winter weather slicing through the middle of the united states. at this hour, close to 100 million people are waking up to ice, snow and plunging temperatures, severe storms. right now there is a state of emergency in tennessee, alabama and texas. i just got word from someone on fit twitter that texas is a mess this morning. overall across the country, 2,000 flights, mostly in the northeast, have already been canceled to

you know our colleague, diana magnay.a have because where you are, in kiev, the government is in disarray. >> reporter: well, that's exactly right, erin. they are trying to react to -- is russia trying to annex the crimea? the actions that they have are limited. we know that in a fire fight, a full out war, they can not match the fire power of russia. what they are moving is more diplomatic moves. one of these includes going to the u.n. security council. well, russia has a veto in that council and moscow is very concerned about the ethnic russians in the crimea. they have said that they have feared that they could be oppressed or discriminated against. well, here in kiev, the ukrainian government has asked the eu to send observers here to say, listen, you can bring others to here to make sure that nothing happens to ethnic russians in the crimea. also, the ukrainians here keep saying, we have this peace treaty which you guys were talking about that was signed by the uk, united states, russia, and ukraine. they said they'd

diana magnay is on the ground there in kiev. i wonder what you make of the warning shots that were fired today. are tensions rising there? >> reporter: well, it's a very mysterious situation here. tensions seem pretty high and then the next moment you turn around and have ukrainian and russian forces sort of having a chat and exchanging fuel to fuel the russian generators. so it is a very strange situation. effectively what you have, though, is russian troops encircling these places trying to make the ukrainians, you know, give up their allegiance to kiev and, for the most part, whatever the russian president is saying which is that there have been mass defections, we haven't seen any of that. for the most part, the ukrainians are sticking to their odes of allegiance. >> the missile launch today, the intercontinental missile launch, while it was planned, it is not a sign that putin is backing down or at all concerned about the west's thinking. what do you think putin is thinking? >> reporter: well, he's the master of sending mes

but that is what he said. >> that's our diana magnay. >> where are you from?translator: from russia. >> from where in russia? >> translator: it's not important. >> oh, knock. and when did you come here? >> and there you have it just as you saw there -- >> reporter: there you go. >> and i notice we talked about this before. he's got a magazine in his weapon. you can see the bullets there. this is a scary presence, i would imagine, for some people on the streets there. although as you say there are others who are happy to see that presence. they feel that it protects them. >> reporter: well, that was what was surprising today. this is a very ethnically and culturally mixed region. it's not just the ethnic russians who are in the majority. there are also ukraine nationals and then the ethnic tartars. today there was literally no evidence of anyone other than prorussians on the streets. which does make you think that people are very scared who aren't part of that category. and in fact, i was talking to a girl who is an ethnic tartar herself. and when that announce

diana magnay is there for us this morning. diana, you've been to the train station there.w, what are you seeing? how are people dividing here before, three days before this vote? >> reporter: hi, christine. well, it's true that many are choosing to leave, but most are deciding to stay. and really, you get the sense that the majority here do want to join russia. the choice that they'll have on sunday is whether to stay a part of ukraine or whether to join russia. this is a pre.cdominantly ethni russian or a russian majority. when you speak to them on the streets, they will tell you, we are looking forward to going home, back to mother russia. but of course, there are ethnic minorities here, there are ethnic ukrainians, there are tatas and some of them are leaving, not within the tata community, who have been in exile for 20 years and only back in their so-called motherland for 20, so they are very keen to stay, but a lot of worried people three days before this referendum, a referendum the west consider illegitimate. but christine, it looks like it will happen anyway. >> il

. >> diana magnay thank you so much for the explanation. >>> while we monitor the crisis in ukrainian, we want to give you a heads up on extreme weather moving across the u.s. >> this is severe, as well. one out of three americans could soon get slammed. heavy snow, ice, tornadoes, even. we'll have details next. but after a day spent in the caribbean exploring mayan ruins and playing pirates with you in secret coves, she won't exactly be short on memories. princess cruises. come back new. [ female announcer ] plan your seven-day cruise from just $549. call your travel agent or 1-800-princess. i prefer today. [ female announcer ] new clairol age defy color collection. with our best breakthrough gray coverage. lustrous, radiant color that looks 10 years younger. today. [ female announcer ] new age defy color from clairol. marge: you know, there's a more enjoyable today. way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and a good source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips. ♪ aflac

diana magnay, thank you so much. we appreciate it. >>> now, you know, the bottom line here, too, for us is washington doesn't have a lot of options when it comes to the crisis in crimea. >> we're going to take a look at what the white house can do and what it might not be enough. support heart health. and your immune system. now there's new glucerna advance with three benefits in one. [ male announcer ] new glucerna advance. from the brand doctors recommend most. what does an apron have to do with car insurance? an apron is hard work. an apron is pride in what you do. an apron is not quitting until you've made something a little better. what does an apron have to do with car insurance? for us, everything. so, if you're what ysleeping in your is youcontact lenses, ask about the air optix® contacts so breathable they're approved for up to 30 nights of continuous wear. ask your doctor about safety information as serious eye problems may occur. visit airoptix.com for a free one-month trial. ♪ every now and then i get a l

thanks very much to diana magnay.ent obama's response to all this in ukraine, including the russian parliament voting to allow russian president vladimir putin to send troops, boots on the ground inside ukraine. we're going to go now to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, is there any sign, signal that the president is going to make a statement today in response to that vote in the russian parliament? >> reporter: jim, we're waiting just as you're waiting to see if the president will respond to today's developments. we can tell you that a national security meeting was held here at the white house earlier today as you know, jim, and as we've been showing our viewers all day long. we do have video of some of those top national security officials leaving the white house, defense secretary chuck hagel, the director of national intelligence james clapper, martin dempsey chairman of the joint chiefs and john brennan, director of of the cia. according to a senior administration official the president did no

. >> diana magnay has been covering the crisis. russia giving an ultimatum to the ukrainian troops. what can you tell us? >> reporter: hi, john. we do have a little more clarification on that. this alert came from interfaction, ukraine, that the ukrainian military had been given this ultimatum by the head of the black sea fleet here in crimea. we have now spoken to someone from the ministry of defense. they say let's not put too much weight on this. frankly, every time that the russian troops have encircled military bases and they have now around ten, they have given some kind of an ultimatum. he said this is just another one of those. frankly, these ultimatums have passed and nothing has really happened. so i think it is important not to put too much weight on this deadli deadline. it is not necessarily an official deadline. from what we have seen, they have been very calm. it has been a very low key kind of invasion. ben wedeman our own ben wedeman was just at one of the border post bases. he said that the soldiers there, one commander told him he got his orders to leave his base

. >> diana magnay reporting for us from crimea.nks very, very much. >>> and happening now, breaking news in the mystery of flight 370, after a week of searching, new fuel for the theory that the missing jet crashed in the ocean. stand by. we have new details of a classified analysis by u.s. and malaysian investigators. we're also learning about potentially dangerous cargo inside the jet. did it play a role in this disaster? and messages of hope for the 239 missing passengers and crew members. is there any plausible way they could have survived? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. you're wolf -- i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> the breaking news this hour. cnn has learned detail s of a classified analysis of electronic and satellite data conducted by u.s. officials along with the malaysian government that calculates that flight 370 likely, likely crashed in the indian ocean, two flight paths, one to the northwest, the other to the southeast. we've also learned investigators a

>> diana magnay with some news. thank you so much. >>> the former prime minister of cry crimea.nal tv interview since her release. what did she have to say? >> well, jake, she further added a lot of uncertainty into what's going on. you just heard what diana is saying, conflicting reports from the russians and ukrainians. according to press reports and what was told to me, the russian parliament is delivering a bill that would call for the annexation. she is begging to step in and stop the connection of ukraine. she said the time is absolutely running out. >>. >> translator: in hard times, ukraine is left on its own and given to russia. when russia is allowed to take away crimea, the world will change and not only politics and life in ukraine but politics and life will change practically everywhere in the world. then, we have to accept to state that in 21st century, one country, an aggressor, can violate all the international agreements, take away territories, whenever she likes. we can't afford this in the world. that's why if the instruments of diplomacy won't work, if all the