it's about there'd of the donbas region. with the backing of the kremlin, just behind us there is the other two-thirds of the donbas region. controlled by the ukrainian government. putin, however, is declaring the entire donbas independent. he went to the duma to get permission for russian troops to operate outside the country. do you think biden's sanctions today will stop putin from this very first step in annexing the entire donbas? >> probably not. i think what he's trying to do is a tit for tat here and i think the initial sanctions, i don't know. i don't have a laundry list of what is potentially available. but that first announcement was for the first set of circumstances. and i think they're making the assumption of all of donbas, not just the parts nominally controlled by the rebels. >> so you were the director of national intelligence when russia last annexed part of crimea in 2014. take us inside the white house. what kind of information is biden being present with? that there should be much stricter, much harsher

it may mean that this operation is concentrated on donbas. but again, this is just coming rather unexpectedly from president putin. i should say also, don, that oddly enough he is wearing the very same suit and tie that he wore the other day and the same location at his desk in which he delivered that very long speech earlier this week about ukraine. he also mentioned, and he's been saying this for the last couple days, russia will not allow ukraine to have nuclear weapons. now, no one is talking about ukraine having nuclear weapons. he makes the argument that they have the know-how from the old soviet days and could create nuclear weapons. this is something that ukraine absolutely denies and probably most people in, you know, europe and the united states would say that is not true. in fact, ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons. but in any case, a dramatic moment here as the united nations is talking about and debating this issue of ukraine. president putin on tv saying that he has decided to conduct a special military operation. don? >> stand

it do this military operation in donbas. , , ., , donbas. it is brutal. it is auoin donbas.ng to _ donbas. it is brutal. it is going to be _ donbas. it is brutal. it is going to be a _ donbas. it is brutal. it is going to be a major i donbas. it is brutal. it isj going to be a major war. donbas. it is brutal. it is. going to be a major war. it donbas. it is brutal. it is- going to be a major war. it is going to be a major war. it is going to be much bigger and wider than donbas. if you look at what vladimir putin just said in that speech, it seems to indicate much more ambitious and wider military plans for things like demilitarisation, denazification of ukraine which i take to mean the removal of current ukrainian authorities given put in's slandering of him as a nazi, us puppet regime. and what we have seen and heard on the ground, with explosions happening in multiple ukrainian cities, way outside that region including here in kyiv, where, i mean, we are getting reports so far not yet confirmed, that the airport is being hit, that 0dessa, kyiv and kharkiv, all the cities

even by the rigid lenin directives with regard to donbas.e to have decommunization? we are very happy with that then. but don't stop halfway through. you know, we are ready to show you what true decommunization means for ukraine. so going back to the historical background of the matter. so in 1922, on the space of the former russian empire, soviet union was created. and it was clear it was impossible to keep such a great territory just on the conditions of confederations because they were really torn apart from the historical tradition. obviously, the red terror and the stalin dictatorship and monopoly of the communist party and nationalization of the -- nationalization of the economy, that really didn't work for soviet union. no sovereign rights.republics d. truly did not have it. in practice there was a centralized unitarian state. stalin in reality implemented, not lenin's, but and however, he has not brought any changes into the constitution. le lenin's principles of building the soviet union were revisited or reviewed, it seemed like th

you can see the donbas region in the right corner of ukraine.ons that have been heard and reported. that's all over the country. this no longer looks like he's going to be trying just to seize just the donbas region. again, not that that would be acceptable, but matthew chance was 15, 20 miles outside of the capital of kyiv and he saw russian troops. had an exchange with them. >> well, a lot of people thought that this would be georgia 2.0. just seize two regions, as he did in georgia. and as you describe, jake, the two states of luhansn and donetsk are russian leaning, russian speaking. the opposition's only control one-half of one of those states and one-third of the other. the actual donbas area, to actually encombass geographically is much greater than that. a lot of people, hopefully, thought that he would just seize the donbas region. even that would have set up hostile combat conditions. well, obviously, by the nature of the attack we have explosions all over the country, which i think is done for two purposes. military targets but also t

putin appears to believe the threat of his russian forces on donbas on, the donbas territory, will getrvists. he said for now there is no need for a more general mobilization and he has continued, jake, to downplay the russian threat, saying just today, that he does not believe there will be an all-out war. that there will be no russian escalation. of course, jake, his allies strongly disagree. >> thank you so much. let's talk about this with cnn's counter terrorism expert and officer for the cia and fbi, as well as cnn's analyst beth who se serve. some experts think putin's next move could be fast and heavy. others say it is more likely to be incremental and gradual. what do you think? >> i'm going to lay some money on the table. i would go with the second. incremental and gradual. the reason is simple. putin has already had the opportunity to do this. he's had forces masked for some time. you have to ask yourself the question, why hand he moved? the only answer i can come up with is that he's getting what he wants already. the warning to the west that europeans and american should no

you| near the border and in donbas? you talked _ near the border and in donbas?over 150,000 troops and — can say, russia has over 150,000 troops and in addition to that there are the _ troops and in addition to that there are the air— troops and in addition to that there are the air force and naval forces also close — are the air force and naval forces also close to ukraine and these forces — also close to ukraine and these forces are — also close to ukraine and these forces are partly inside ukraine alreadv. — forces are partly inside ukraine already. in— forces are partly inside ukraine already, in crimea, and in donbas, and partly— already, in crimea, and in donbas, and partly close to ukraine's borders, _ and partly close to ukraine's borders, both in the east but also in the _ borders, both in the east but also in the south and also in the north, partly— in the south and also in the north, partly in _ in the south and also in the north, partly in russia and partly in belarus _ partly in russia and partly in belarus. these forces are tens of thousands— belaru

that is all of donbas. what putin is saying, he's not just looking at the part controlled by the separatists. he is saying that entire area, those are two separatist states. and the yellow and white shaded area, they're now claiming the entire region and saying, putin, bring in soldiers. we need help. and susan glasser, the question i have is, the head of the defense council said today, our army is ready to respond. the pentagon that, putin now has two dozen war ships, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, special forces, all ready to go. to be completely frank, if ukraine cannot even hold on to that area that is actually controlled by separatists and they haven't been able to hold on to it for the better part of eight years, they can't defend ukraine by themselves. >> that's correct. it is the position that there's no reasonable perspective for ukraine to actually fight and win a multifront war with russia inside their country, given the size of the force that's amassed and it is not just as you point out,

this is donbas region. specifically what was just an ex-ed is this.e of separation in place close to 8 years. russia has had forces in this area for eight years for the separatists trying to separate from kyiv. what's most important now is what happens in the greater donbas. is putin ready to move forward. we have video that shows movement of forces, logistics, self propelled artillery, infantry fighting videos and all these videos take place in this area here. and what you're seeing is movement of capabilities that reinforce the existing presence in the donbas region in these two renegade provinces, if you will. this invasion of forces, this is invasion, let's not beat around the bush, this invasion could be an invasion without a shot being fired because forces already exist there and the separatists are facilitating and the russian forces there are already facilitating that movement. the next step is what's most important. if putin decides to extend beyond this line of separation, we're now talking about engaging forces here, this area is completely

this is called a military operation in donbas. now give the floor to the representative from germany. >> mr. president, we meet at the very moment of a military escalation we have not experienced in europe for over a generation's time. the president to have russian federation announced a military operation on ukrainian territory. we condemn this in the strongest possible terms. we call upon all members of the security council and the united nations to now stand up for you crane and against a shameless breech of international law. two days ago russia's decision to recognize the self-proclaimed people's rep of donetsk was rejected in this council. it had already dealt a devastating blow to the principles and international order that the united nations stands for. russia has not listened and it turns out it was not prepared to listen. it has continued its massive military build-up and we observed and observed cyber attacks directed against ukraine and now russian military is moving into ukrainian territory. by the actions and this un

we're not near donbas here. matthew chance in kyiv is nowhere near donbas.ssian strikes here in kharkiv and across the country. >> all right. thank you very much, clarissa ward. we appreciate it. clarissa, we want you to stand by as well as all of our correspondents throughout the region. cnn's teams are covering all of our breaking news. an adviser to you caukraine's mr to the interior saying that russian troops have landed in odessa, they are crossing the border near kharkiv. president biden spoke to ukraine's president just tonight. and he'll also address the nation and the world at noon on russia's military action in ukraine. there's a lot going on. it's coming in in the moment. the u.s. and allies are planning to trigger the full scale of sanctions that have been discussed for weeks now. that's according to a senior administration official. and discussions about the final package expected to be on the agenda at the virtual g7 meeting scheduled in the morning. and as we have been saying, the worldwide resources of cnn are there. clarissa ward just said w

within that donbas region. it is a gigantic area. you were mentioned in the intro whether or not russian forces have already crossed the border into the donbas region. now, when we were traveling here, today and yesterday, you did see a large concentration of russian forces. but some of the things that local people have been telling us, a lot of the people we have been speaking to, they say the amount of troops we're seeing on the ground is less than they had seen in the days leading up to this. and they believe some of those forces may have already been deployed into donbas. there is no evidence at this point that that is really the case. it certainly seems to be what folks here on the ground are thinking. as you mentioned, some western officials believe that troops could already been in donbas. yesterday night, vladimir putin once again had a press conference. in that press conference he said, look, it's not even clear whether or not forces are going to go into donbas. when they do and if they do, it's not clear how far they will a

the donbas issue, we _ european continent. just going back to the donbas issue, we mentioned| to therecognising it formally —— request. that has been going on, it is de facto since 2014, it has been recognised? this upping of conflict within the donbas region, is it likely to be the key factor that tipped it over into conflict? full—blown conflict? 1 think it could be, but as i conflict? full—blown conflict? i think it could be, but as i said, it is notjust the donbas front think it could be, but as i said, it is not just the donbas front we should be watching because we see a build—up both from the south and the north of belarus. but it donbas is here de alreadyjoined up with russia because russia issued quite a lot of russian passports. its economy is being integrated, ukrainian assets of companies were seized. the ruble is in operation. we see local populations, in a way, held in a manipulative way because for them, the only way to go is to save themselves in russia. i think this is one of those areas where russia wants to show implausible to die debility —— plausible deniability,

you saw donbas will be pivotal there. to walk away from it, you know, his bravado, his swagger, his ego doesn't seem to fit. >> yeah, you can still walk away from this saying that he got what he wanted. all along the russians have said near not going to invade. it clear that they wanted to go through a dress rehearsal. they went through this in march of last year. they assembled a lot of force, appeared poised to go into the ukraine and sort of dribbled away. there's always a chance that he wants to take more land on the east side of the river where you have a concentration of russian speaking ukrainians. recognizing them as autonomous states or annexing them to russia is disadvantageous. to keep ukraine out of nato to have a disputed border and disputed regions. putin has what he wants. he showed nato is disunified contrary to what is said. letting rush conduct dollar denominated transactions. >> charles: let me pick up on what colonel mcginnis brought up with this meeting with xi. this relationship is unnerving to a lot

so this is no longer just the donbas. this is something much larger now and i think that is also what's triggered the more robust we would hope economic and other type savgzs against russia. there may have been initial thought it was going to be limit perhaps but now that it is happening all over ukraine, i think it's become more and more clear it is more of a worst-case scenario. he is actually going in from multiple different angles. >> do you think this galvanize -- galvanizes -- um -- nato or u.s., our allies, or people around the country who are opposed to what is happening in ukraine? i am not sure, you know, beyond very heavy sanctions, what can be done. but does this at least help, on that front? that it brings people together in order to try at least limit what's happening? >> i think at least psychologically. you know, there was -- i think, in the best, we had this tendency to be always optimistic and always thinking -- i mean, you hear it from our poll tigdss. we are not closing the door on diplomacy, despite t

russia's target is not only donbas, the target is not only ukraine. the target is the stability in europe and the whole of the international peace order. and we will hold president putin accountable for that. >> it is not only the greatest violation of international law, it's a violation of the basic principles of human co-existence. it's costing many lives with unknown consequences ahead of us. the european union will respond in the strongest possible terms. president of the you know consul has called for a briefing of the european cancel this evening and they will agree and provide political guidance to adopt a stronger package, the harshest package of sanctions we have ever implemented. >> the long feared russian incursion intukraine is under way. do stay with us for our continuing breaking news coverage of this attack on ukraine. we'll be right back. i would've called yesterday. but... i could've called yesterday. but... i should've called yesterday, but... would've, could've, should've. we hear that a lot. hi. i'm jonathan, an insurance professio

and went into the donbas. supporting the separatists and waging war in the donbas. i think what we have seen in the last 24 hours is the further repudiation of budapest by russia. for our part, we have worked very hard over many years and especially over the last year to do everything we can to support ukraine, to support its territorial integrity and sovereignty through security assistance. in the last year alone more than any previous year. humanitarian assistance and financial assistance. just about 10 days ago, we provided an additional loan guarantee to ukraine. and of course, leading the effort internationally to build support for ukraine in this hour of need. so we stand very much behind that support. support expressed in the budapest memorandum and doing everything we can to uphold ukraine's independence, security and well-being. -- uphold ukraine's independence, security, and well-being. >> the budapest memorandum is not a collective defense strategy. the truth is that no one promised us they would fight for us, if we are attacked. this is not the subject m

here they have a shrine not to the fallen of donbas. the last tsar of russia.isited here in 1911, six years before he was overthrown and then executed by the bolsheviks. since the end of communism, the russian orthodox church has functioned notjust as a source of spiritual authority, but as an instrument of russian soft power. the image of ukraine as a chaotic failing state is part of the kremlin�*s playbook. it's a message designed both for domestic russian consumption — don't flirt with the west — but also part of moscow's pr campaign. this propaganda war has been going on for years. the more urgent question is, could that develop into a full scale actual war? the point of highest danger will come in the next few weeks, says ukraine's former deputy defence minister. 20th of february is a very interesting day, this is the last day of the olympic games and this is the last day of the exercises in russia at the end of february, they will be more ready from the point of view of capabilities. they will be ready mentally from the point of view of olympics. they wil

he said at special military operation in donbas. . yes.nd, i mean, it is a declaration of war. ., mean, it is a declaration of war. . , mean, it is a declaration of war. . ., , ., war. year saying he does not ian to war. year saying he does not plan to oompy _ war. year saying he does not plan to occupy ukrainian - plan to occupy ukrainian territory. he said that any foreign interference will be met with likewise by russia and he is doing this during a special meeting.- he is doing this during a special meeting. he is doing this during a secial meetinu. ,, . :: :: j~ special meeting. since 2008 in the invasion _ special meeting. since 2008 in the invasion of _ special meeting. since 2008 in the invasion of georgia - special meeting. since 2008 in the invasion of georgia he - special meeting. since 2008 in the invasion of georgia he has| the invasion of georgia he has been crossing red line after red line after red line with very little response from the west whether it is the invasion of georgia, the first invasion of georgia, the first in

he said "the situation and donbas is critical.ssia and russia historically." then he goes through a litany -- a list of all of the russian leaders going back to lenin and the mistakes they made in making ukraine a separate part of russia even within the soviet union. giving into nikita khrushchev, giving into nationalists. he said that for some reason khrushchev gave them separate status. he saw a stall and then gave lots of rights. why did we have to be so generous? this is putin speaking just now. and then give these republics the right to leave here and madness. that is exactly what putin said moments ago. he then said that the bolsheviks try to stay in power at any cost. he goes on to talk about the breakup of the soviet union, which he believes there is the greatest test or a catastrophe for russia of all time. he lays out, with very cold and calculating language, "we are ready to show you what real dcom unitization looks like." ukraine, after the break up, they took down lenin statues, and we are ready to show you what real

>> i think for orientation, the donbas really is that.en there for eight years, and ukrainian forces are already in the donbas. so if there is fighting, it's going to be in this area. so first step is putin has ordered forces in and it's been reported that they have begun to reinforce. bear in mind, forces are already here. rail heads are there, road networks there, et cetera. they're moving forces into this area. donetsk, luhanz and an area that's initially not going to see much fighting. if putin says push it out, this is where the conflict will start. >> that's what i wanted to ask. as you mentioned, forces have been there since 2014, right? they've been in there. ukrainian forces are also in this region. there has been fire back and forth, shelling back and forth. this has been going on. but what happens next? how much do you, would you think that russia, how much of a bite can russia take out and how much can russia hold? what do you think? >> they certainly could chunk off all of this. it would be rather bloody right now. and then t

is ig dror eastern conflicts in the donbas region of eastern ukraine.ked separatists have started evacuating residents claiming a ukrainian invasion is imminent. and the russian leader of donetsk called for a general military mobilization. a potential russian invasion weighs heavily on the ukrainian city of mariupol near the front lines with the russian separatists. fighting has ramped up in ukraine for recent days, but, of course, it's been going on for years, eight years, and the city has suffered major losses. cnn's alex marquardt reports on the toll this has all of this has taken on the people of mariupol. >> reporter: the old crimea cemetery stretches outside of the hills of mariupol in eastern ukraine. in section 21, the ukrainian flags whipping in the wind mark the graves of ukrainian troops, mostly young men who have died fighting russian-backed forces in the past year that stilled 14,000, including 3,000 civilians. he was a soldier, but now he fights with a right wing nationalist group called right sector. >> translator: putin is a pathetic sma

vladimir putin ordered what he calls peacekeeping troops to go into the donbas region.efforts to end a housing market slowdown or spreading to some of the country's biggest cities, real estate accounts for one fourth of china's economic output. and in los angeles, a narrow window between now and the new year of container backlogs. number has fallen by one third and omicron cases among dockworkers are fading, but another surge of imports could solve progress in moving record volumes of cargo. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm john hyland, this is bloomberg. tom? tom: john, thank you. the western response to russia's latest escalation over ukraine is clear, or becoming clearer. germany halting the certification process for the nord stream 2 pipeline following president putin's decision to send troops to two self-proclaimed separatist republics. german chancellor olaf scholz announced the move earlier today. >> it sounds technical, but this is the necessary, legal, a

bringing to donbas, to ukraine two— federation is bringing to donbas, to ukraine.ater, if we continue _ ukraine. two other nations. sooner or later, if we continue to _ ukraine. two other nations. sooner or later, if we continue to allow- or later, if we continue to allow russia — or later, if we continue to allow russia to — or later, if we continue to allow russia to go ahead _ or later, if we continue to allow russia to go ahead with - or later, if we continue to allow russia to go ahead with its - russia to go ahead with its diabolical— russia to go ahead with its diabolical plan. _ russia to go ahead with its diabolical plan. and - russia to go ahead with its diabolical plan. and rest. russia to go ahead with its - diabolical plan. and rest assured, ambassador, _ diabolical plan. and rest assured, ambassador, they— diabolical plan. and rest assured, ambassador, they will— diabolical plan. and rest assured, ambassador, they will be - diabolical plan. and rest assured, ambassador, they will be no - ambassador, they will be no hospitality— ambassador, they will b

that's the rest of the donbas. that's the rest of the provinces. we can expect with an increase in that russian presence that in very short order i think one of two things will happen. one is i think there will be a quick election that validates putin's decision to go in. and then he's going to say see, these people want to be a part of russia and we're here to help them do that. and then in very quick order he'll move and start to engage ukrainian forces in the rest of the donbas. i think that's the next move. >> so you think he'll meet resistance in the wider donetsk and luhansk area? >> yes. once he gets beyond the initial area that has had russian forces occupy it and supporting the separatists for the last eight years i think he'll go across and expand into that. >> the ukrainian foreign minister said tonight that ukrainians will fight for every inch of their country. how will this go down? >> not well. not well. there will be dead bodies. the ukrainian forces are motivated. they're confident. they're nationalists. they're independent. and the

there are about 30,000 troops in the front lines in donbas for the ukrainians.0 come up there, show they can cut them off when they come from the north or the south. so there may be a three or four-day pause here. in the meantime, of course, putin is still, lavrov, still working diplomacy. that will not stop during this period because they're fishing for what they can get. they're hoping this will be seen as a modest incursion. they're hoping that nato won't be able to agree. i think the white house is probably on the phone tonight with its nato allies saying, what can we do? let's get something in here. but you don't want to get out in front of the nato allies. in this crisis, nato unity is all important. we have to put the response together bit by bit. putin is testing us as he goes. his troops are poised and ready to go. he wants to do a flash and bang big operation. as it is unfolding, it seems to me they want to draw the ukrainians out of position and come in behind, cut them off and seize kyiv. or come in from the south at the same time. >> the u.s. is sti

have begun moving into the donbas..s. officials are waiting and watching to see if those troops go beyond the donbas. officials repeated tonight the president will not send u.s. troops to fight in ukraine. everything that has occurred in the past few hours indicates that vladimir putin has no intention of backing down and that all of ukraine is in his sights. >> i don't believe this is a bluff. he has assembled the kinds of things that you would need to conduct a successful invasion. >> every indication is that he is preparing for a large scale invasion. >> defense secretary lloyd austin and general mark milley were at the white house today for meetings. now putin says he sending russian troops to serve as, quote: peace keepers in the donbas areas that he just recognized as independent. this is putin's opening gambit and he will want to see the response from the u.s. and its allies. putin has options tonight militarily, but if putin ops for a full invasion the justification of which he laid out in his speech today, her

we had from the russian ambassador saying there was no intention for a new bloodbath in donbas either in england who test positive for covid—19 were no longer be legally required to isolate from thursday. mr johnson said the change is part of attempts to live with the virus and the laws will be replaced with guidance to stay at home for five days.- replaced with guidance to stay at home for five days. today is not the day — at home for five days. today is not the day we _ at home for five days. today is not the day we declare - at home for five days. today is not the day we declare victoryl not the day we declare victory over covid because this virus is not going away. but it is the day when all the efforts of the day when all the efforts of the last two years finally enabled us to protect ourselves whilst restoring our liberties in full. and after two of the darkest, grimmest years in our peacetime history, i do believe this is a moment of pride for our nation. and a source of hope for all that we can achieve in the years to come. t achieve in the years to come. i did promise you a b

we've seen today cnn teams have seen today russian forces headed towards that -- that donbas area.o what does that mean? it means that the military gap in donbas in the east is growing wider and, therefore, the diplomatic gap for that one thing president putin is insisting must happen, that president zelensky must talk to the rebel leaders, that diplomatic gap is bigger. so despite these flurries of diplomacy that we're hearing from president macron, the elysee palace saying that there would be lots more of this diplomacy in the coming days. despite that it appears that the diplomatic gap is growing larger with the military gap. >> clarissa, what does it look like in kyiv? is it a city that appears to be readying itself for an assault? joe biden says that that is likely. and zelensky seems very confident not -- not the man who appears about to make major concessions judging by the speech nic was referring to. >> reporter: it's surreal, fareed, because here in kyiv the streets are very quiet but they are also calm. we do not see any evidence that people are preparing for any kind of

there's sort of a threat over the whole area, whatever they're trying to do in donbas doesn't work. >> john harwood, back to you about president biden's response here. we've learned that he had intelligence months ago and has been preparing for this on some level, knowing that vladimir putin might be interested in an invasion, might be taking steps towards an invasion, and is capitol hill responding the same way? is there unity for what u.s. response should be here? >> for washington, yes, unity. supportive words from senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. it is true that republicans and democrats have been arguing about potential sanctions, some of which republicans wanted to impose on vladimir putin before he made a move to reinvade ukraine. the biden administration did not want to do that because their view, which is the correct one according to fiona hill, the russia expert i talked to a couple days ago, that you hold them back because if you impose them you lose the deterrent effect. that was a back and forth and they reached a stalemate. they ended up doing a resolution of co

he has been in donbas for eight years.ere either. he, indeed, has lost a couple of soldiers, russian soldiers, during the eight years of battle. but he suppressed that. he has -- he has tried to hide that. president putin is worried about russian soldiers dying, and they will die in large numbers if they go in and attack the ukrainian military. he's got to worry about that. and he could have a change of heart. >> we can only hope. what do you believe, ambassador, is putin's ultimate goal right now? does he want, for example, to topple president zelenskyy? does he want to occupy the whole of ukraine? and then what? >> wolf, i don't think he wants to occupy the whole of ukraine if he doesn't have to. indeed, that's probably -- that's probably an impossible task for the forces that he's got. he needs many more forces to occupy the entire country, a country the size of texas. he can't do that with 200,000 soldiers. he can't do that. what he wants, though -- you got the right question. what he wants is control of ukraine one wa

i mean, the donbas is an open interpretation. how big you choose to -- to define that. importantly, when the separatist republics asked for recognition, vladimir putin clarified that he regarded that to be, both, the donetsk and luhansk regions, which is pretty much three times the size of the area they currently control. so that, in itself, was a massive increase of what we thought may be moscow in the separatists' ambition was but the idea you might be seeing troops come from the north and east and even indications from crimea, too, would speak to this -- what sounded like a mad idea of russian troops trying to move through the count are i, cut off the bulk of ukraine's military which is in the east focused around those separate int areas. and then possibly with that ukrainian military disabled to the east, have an easier time threatening the capital city of kyiv. but these -- when they come out of my mouth sound like completely absurd ideas that the russian military has a scope on trying to move into a capital city of nearly 3 million peechlt people. so we have to se

. >> reporter: tonight, a barrage of artillery fire increasing in war-ravaged donbas. with more than 1,500 explosions in just the past day. the region is part of ukraine, but controlled by pro-russian separatists. across the border in belarus, just hours from kyiv, an ominous sign the russian forces could be there to stay indefinitely. this morning, the belarusian defense minister extended his country's joint military exercises with russia which were scheduled to end today, citing the increasing violence in donbas. violence, u.s. officials allege, the russians have stoked to create the pretext for war. >> we're talking about the potential for war in europe. i mean let's really take a moment to understand the significance of what we're talking about. >> reporter: president biden holding an emergency meeting with his national security council today. >> there is still an option for him to pull back. that's what we're trying to do. we're trying to prevent a war. >> reporter: at french president emmanuel macron made a last-ditch effort with a phone call to vladimir putin. p

we consider donbas part of ukraine.o, certainly the russian troops entered into donbas ukrainian, wouldn't say that's a fully fledged invasion, but russian troops are on ukrainian soil. >> reporter: now the issue of a fully fledged, you can't have a little bit of an invasion. that was the problem back in 2014. and as a consequence of that, ukraine lost the whole of the crimean peninsula and russia annexed that territory to its own mother lland. the other two are being recognized by russia who used that recognition as an opportunity to push their troops into ukrainian territory. we already heard that the germ germans are saying the nord stream 2 pipeline is effectively dead. we haven't seen out of the united states and the european union there will be for russia over what they may say is by definition an invasion in terps of whether or not they will trigger those sanctions that they've been threatening hitherto. john and br brianna? >> the nord stream 2, that's a big deal. how far does that go in terms of the types of pe

we just saw sam kiley who is in the donbas region right now. and just so people can have a sense of what this looks like on the map, we saw the house riddled with shrapnel where he is. this is the border between russia and ukraine. no matter what russia says right now, everything over here is ukraine. right. this part of it is -- has been controlled by russian separatists for some time. this, all this area here, is what they claim. and the concern right now is they'll move from here to here, is that what you're watching? >> absolutely. because putin has -- well, of course, putin started by saying ukraine really doesn't exist as a country. in one sense we're arguing about how many angels are on the head of a pin. this is already fully under the control of these proxies, these russians that have already been sent in years ago and, of course, they're talking about going out further and putin has said, yes, those -- the full regions of both luhansk and donetsk are indeed now independent countries. so the question now is the next step going to be th

past eight years, illegally annexing crimea and inserting troops and military equipment into the donbas region in the east. they have also targeted cyberattacks against private and public entities in ukraine and continue to use information to try to destabilize the democratically elected government of ukraine. by the way, the ukrainians have lost about 14,000 citizens in the last five years at the hands of the russians, 14,000. fathers, brothers. that would be as a percentage of our population like the united states losing about 115,000 people. that's more than we lost in vietnam and korea combined. actually, vietnam, korea, iraq, and afghanistan combined. think how we would feel. and let's not forget that russia continues day by day to conduct this low-grade but serious war against ukraine. we all hope that instead of an invasion russia chooses a diplomatic end to this current crisis. but we've got to treat this threat of an invasion as a very real and serious possibility. doing anything else would be irresponsible, given the massive mobilization and the past maligned behavior. and all

so right now the reality is russian forces already occupy part of the donbas. the question is are they going to try to now control the entire donbas, which is well beyond what they control now, which would mean fairly bloody combat with ukrainian government forces. so you're trying to deter them from doing that. so you want to reserve some of the most extreme sanctions before they actually do that. it's a difficult balance. but i think the biden administration is playing this as i say in a careful, deliberate manner. >> fareed, i want you to listen to what the president said about the justification putin is giving for this action. here it is. >> yesterday the world heard clearly the full extent of vladimir putin's twisted rewrite of history. going back more than a century, he directly attacked ukraine's right to exist. he indirectly threatened territory formerly held by russia including nations that today are thriving democracies and members of nato. he explicitly threatened war unless his extreme demands were met. >> fareed, a lot of people found putin's speec

i would like to confirm donbas is a part of ukraine. >> reporter: a part of ukraine.ell, then the next day it wasn't, according to putin. then there was this. putin's spy chiefs seemingly uncomfortable, closing the door with negotiations to the west. putin respond on camera by belittling him. he asked if he supported the republic. let me play the exchange for you. >> i would agree that our western partners can be given one last chance to offer them to force kyiv to make peace and fulfill the minsk agreements as soon as possible. otherwise, we must make a decision we are talking about to today. >> what do you mean otherwise? do you propose to start the negotiation process? >> no i will recognize the sovereignty of the are republic. i -- i -- >> what are you saying? >> i -- i'll support the proposal on the commission. >> you will support or you support speak directly. >> i support the proposal to -- >> just say it, yes or no. >> so i am saying i support the proposal to admit donetsk and people's republics into the russian federation. >> we are not talking about it. we a

and the best— invasion —— in the donbas. and the best way— invasion —— in the donbas.raine's border, to restore its sovereignty, as well_ border, to restore its sovereignty, as well as — border, to restore its sovereignty, as well as to uphold the rights of ukrainian — as well as to uphold the rights of ukrainian citizens, including those living _ ukrainian citizens, including those living in— ukrainian citizens, including those living in the donbas, ukraine has sought— living in the donbas, ukraine has sought to — living in the donbas, ukraine has sought to move forward with the limitation of the normandy format, as it is _ limitation of the normandy format, as it is called, with france, germany, _ as it is called, with france, germany, ukraine and russia, the principal— germany, ukraine and russia, the principal vehicle to advance that. i think— principal vehicle to advance that. i think if_ principal vehicle to advance that. i think if you — principal vehicle to advance that. i think if you look back over the requirements established in the minsk— requirements estab

that's why i think going into the donbas will help contribute to that squeezing of ukraine's economy.y as opposed to a blitzkrieg-like assault that u.s. officials have been warning for some time, do you believe the response so far, the sanctions today we should be hearing some more in the coming hours as well as the movement of some nato forces further to the east, not inside ukraine, we should note, but nato allies in the east, do you believe that mix of steps has been sufficient? >> not yet. look, the white house and the pentagon obviously have access to intelligence that i would not have. and i do believe that what they have reported or predicted was absolutely on one of the list of options for the kremlin. the russian general staff has done a good job of providing options for putin to use depending on how they saw the reaction and so on. i just don't believe that the largest assault like that is feasible or they would be willing to accept the casualties they would incur against ukrainian forces. having said that, i wish that our first response last night coming out of the blocks h

seems to be talking about donbas-specific sanctions.hey -- they -- they were talking about, you know, hitting hard with sanctions with a single russian boot acrossed the border. now, russians have been on the ground in the donbas for a long time but this is something more formal. there are russian boots crossing the border. do you think these limited sanctions are enough? or is this time to send a big message? >> no i think it is a mistake for the administration to -- to do these limited sanctions right now. um, we need to go all in on this. the daefeat mechanism for putin against putin, is his public. and there are really only two ways to do that. one is to -- to cause pain in russia economically to the oligarchic class. and the second is to show the rest of the country what the human cost of this war is. that is, when and if the shooting starts, to -- pardon me here -- but to stack up the body bags in front of the kremlin so that everybody can see what is really going on and his information machine can't hide that from his own scitize

reactive sanctions to the idea of him going into donbas, that didn't work.bviously he knew that heavier sanctions would come and he's baked that into his calculus. what more can the west do here? >> i'm afraid you're right. we the west did not respond forcefully enough with sanctions. putin is not deterred. the only thing that scares him is defensive material sent to ukraine. we need to get that sent to ukraine if and when it's possible and send more nato troops to eastern european countries nearby. i think the u.s. also should be considering some other options. president biden has ruled outputting u.s. forces on the ground in ukraine. he's been very clear about that, but he has not ruled out using u.s. air force and u.s. ships so those should be considerations and that will get vladimir putin's attention for sure. >> yeah. i would say, he has threatened fierce recrimination if anyone else gets involved in this. how fiercely do you think ukrainians are going to resist and, you know, how capable are they to do so? i know you've written putin knows a determine

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the risk is that putin leaves saying i got donbas for virtually nothing.exactly right, john. this is a really hard choice for the president. he's got a couple of factors. the first is if, in fact, putin does not pay a significant price, then he's repeated what happened when he annexed crimea in 2014. second, the president can only go as far and as fast as his allies do. if the united states announces major sanctions, and the allies are not willing to go along with those sanctions, then it is going to be relatively easy for putin to evade them. and the third problem is let's say they do everything now and then he does go in with the much bigger force and he does, you know, end up killing thousands of people as he tries to surround or take kyiv, the worst case scenario that we have discussed before, what does the president do then if he has basically unleashed all of the economic sanctions he has? he's left with not much except helping arm an insurgency. >> but, what if the staggered of severity sanctions happen and putin still goes in? then what? then he fa

told the russian news service that currently, there are no plans to send any russian troops into donbas but simply put, no one here expects that to necessarily be the case. we also heard from president putin's spokesperson, dmitriy petsov today refuse to say whether there's russian troops inside donbas or whether they're as they purport to be and that will be a crucial area going forward because it could ostensibly give russia a fig leaf or some kind of legal claim in their eyes to try to push forward further into ukrainian territory. zelenskyy, of course, going on to really urge a robust response from the west, acting in unity. we've seen, as you mentioned, olaf scholz talking about an end to nord stream 2 which is huge and has been greeted very positively here. we've seen those uk sanctions announced but now the question is, what is in store for the u.s. today? what will they announce, jim? >> all those areas in the east as well as crimea, they're inside ukraine's sovereign borders, whatever russia claims about them. senior international correspondent fred pleitgen, he is on, near the

tonight, we are seeing the russians close airspace, moved troops into donbas, and move forces into donbas to ask russia to stop, return to your borders, send your troops and tanks and planes back to their barracks and hangers. and send your diplomats to the negotiating table. back away from the brink, therefore it is too late. last week the united states and formed this council and the world about what it expected to see unfold. we said that russia would manufacturer a pretext for an attack. we have since seen numerous false flag events staged along the line of contact in donbas. we have said russia would theatrically convene an emergency meeting is at the highest levels of the russian government. we all saw this on monday, at the televised security council meeting held by president putin, a moment in which the russian government decided to recognise and i quote, independent states, sovereign territory controlled by russia's proxies since 2014. they are literally violated ukraine's solitary and territorial integrity on live television before the world. we said that false proclamations wou

just going back to the donbas issue. we mentioned the duma request about recognising it formally.ng on... that is de facto, isn't it? since 2014 that has been recognised. this upping of conflict within the donbas region, is that likely to be the key factor that tips it over into conflict, full—blown conflict? i mean, i think it could be, but as i said, it's not just the donbas front that we should be watching because we see a buildup both from the south and the north of belarus. but donbas is here de facto already joined up with russia because russia issued quite a lot of russian passports. its economy is being integrated. ukrainian assets of companies were seized. the ruble is in operation and we see local populations, you know, in a way held in a manipulative way because for them, the only way to go is to save themselves in russia. that was 0rysia lutsevych. staying with events in munich — the bbc�*s chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, spoke to us senator and republican, lindsey graham who was at the conference. lindsey graham, you heard president biden last night sa