of the sanctions that europe and germany would be willing to even impose on vladimir putin. >> erin burnett for us there in la vive, giving us a picture of the climate and the influence and the carry over, the overlap here in the u.s. erin, stay with us. we have breaking news. the u.s. is closing the embassy in kyiv. and temporarily relocating a small number of remaining diplomatic personnel to where erin is, there in la vive. >> kylie atwood is at the state department with more. >> reporter: antony blinken announcing that they will be closing the embassy in the capital city of ukraine in kyiv. they are going to be, in his words, temporarily relocating the embassy to la vive. that is on the western side of ukraine. it obviously brings those small number of diplomats in a country to a location further away from any russian invasion over the borders into ukraine. now, of course, over the weekend, we are know that state department already sent home most of the diplomats in the country. and blinken said in this statement, about this decision to close the embassy, that it is not a signal of lack

erin burnett outfront starts right now. >>> thousands of u.s. troops deploying the eastern europe and exclusive reaction from top aid. >>> democrat senator rekors from his strong, new concerns about how his long absence could affect bind's agenda in a divided senate. let's go out front.

erin burnett is in lviv, clarissa ward in kyiv and barbara starr is at the pentagon. barbara, i want to start with you because you have a couple of new, very important developments. nato announcing for the first time ever it's activating the response force. explain what that means. >> well, dana, this is a very nuanced development in military events in europe. nato has activated what is essentially 40,000-man response force. these are troops that would be ready to go to their positions on very short notice. no one is thinking that 40,000 are going. it will be something smaller than that as nato makes decisions throughout the next several days. but what it does is put troops on standby essentially. be ready. you may be deployed. you may be going to certain loca locations. this is something the u.s. is already doing. we saw 7,000 troops being announced by the pentagon. it puts in a framework for further deployments on the eastern flank of nato. air, ground, sea, command and control. it makes nato much more ready to respond if it's needed. so look for announcements in th

erin burnett for us. erin, thank you very much. there was also this apparent cyber attack on ukrainian agencies today. the country's defense ministry says its website and two of ukraine's largest banks were hit by cyber attack. sean is a cnn cyber reporter. what do we know about the attack and who would be responsible here? >> victor, we're still learning more about this incident by the hour. it comes, obviously, as tensions are high and the world is waiting to see whether russia will further invade ukraine. i should point out it's a relatively cheap and easy way to disrupt a website, so called distributed denial of service attack where you're blocking access to it. it doesn't take a lot of sophistication. i just spoke or texted with an investigator on the ground and ukrainian official who said it's too early to tell who is behind this. they are blocking access points to the websites that are coming from ip addresses and trying to piece together some of the digital clues to figure out who might be behind this. it's more of a psycho

back to erin burnett in the western part of ukraine in lviv. erin?now you have those ground troops that have been coming in through the day and in the fog of war. we're learning where they are fighting and what they are doing in the south with that heavy fighting, in the north near chernobyl, around so many points of this country. much of the world uniting to condemn russia's predawn attack on ukraine, including here in lviv. russian missiles are being fired across the border at targets in ukraine. on the right, russian tanks, part of the arsenal unleashed. armored vehicles, attack helicopters, jets, russian airborne troops. artillery. it's a full-scale invasion. it is well under way. it is happening now. it has already killed dozens of civilians and military personnel. meantime, russian president putin has called on ukrainian forces to lay down their arms, to avoid widespread bloodshed. there's no indication of any such thing occurring. nic robertson is in moscow for us today. and nic, where you are today, a crucial place to be. a short time ago rus

we go to erin burnett in will vooif. these are strong measures the united states is taking that will hurt the russian economy. but i wonder what people in ukraine will think if it's too little too late. >> reporter: it will be be welcomed be i the government to people here. it will not feel like much. there is great gratefulness and enthusiasm for what the united states has done. i think so much depends on what happens over the next hours and days, jake. as you described them as robust. i think that's fair. obviously, it's a disappointment that europe would not get on board with bans to the s.w.i.f.t. banking system. i suggest four numbers matter here, jake. one is $100. that's where brent and crude oil are trading now. so denying russia whose companies that deal with that the ability to benefit from that, that's pain. to the extent they can still sell it to china, which they can, china is still going to remain, unless there's a big development here, going to pretty much become the primary buyer of a lot of russian thing

ukrainian police because they say they are ready and they don't think russia realizes that. >> erin burnettr that great reporting. and you can see more from erin as she anchors "outfront" at 7:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. >>> two downward trends in the battle against covid. one is good news. the other is rather concerning. stay with us. [zoom call] ...pivot... work bye. vacation hi! book with priceline. 'cause when you save more, you can “no way!” more. book no wayyyy.line. no wayyy! no way! [phone ringing] hm. no way! way! priceline. every trip is a big de. your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire (music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ it's time to say goodbye to appliance heartbreaks, and hello to new quality finds you'll love on wayfair. you can always get the brands you trust, the support you need, and dependability you can count on. plus, get financing up to 60 months on qualifying purch

good evening, i'm erin burnett, "outfront" tonight on the ground in ukraine. concerns about a possible war here sending the dow down more than 600 points, worst day for the dow this year, and it was the specific details from the u.s. government that rattled the market. secretary of state antony blinken laying out a possible russian invasion saying it could start with a false flag from russia like a chemical weapons attack or terror attack, say putin would use this to justify war to the russian people. and then blinken says, comes the onslaught. >> russia's missiles and bombs will drop across ukraine. communications will be jammed. cyber attacks will shut down ukrainian institutions. after that, russian tanks and colleges will advance on key target that is have already been identified and mapped out in detailed plans. we believe these targets include russia -- ukraine's capital, kiev, a city of 2.8 million people. >> reporter: announcing that dire speech at the last second, after the u.s. ambassador to the united nations linda thomas greenfield asked him to add

but i want to go to erin burnett first.he sanctions that the president announced, are these severe? are these going to be impactful? >> look, versus what we've heard from the uk and europe, yes, absolutely, they are. they're starting way higher than they started before. they took five months to do the first sanctions related to crimea. they are significant, right, cutting off from the financial system, significant. keep in mind, though, some of these, he's giving himself room to ramp up. the senate couldn't reach a sanctions bill. the bank they put on their list veb. you heard the president mentioned thatp he's sanctioned that. it leaves him room to ramp up to a russian bank that russians bank at that would impact day-to-day life in russia. hasn't done that yet. that's important to keep in mind. the sovereign debt, you know, a few years ago would have been significant for russia. it's important, it sends putin a strong message, they do, though, have a huge rainy day fund and surplus, so in that sense it's not going to immed

cnn's erin burnett spent the day with some of them.s now live from ukraine's border with hungary. erin, you began your journey to cross the border in lviv 20 hours ago. tell us what happened when you headed for poland? >> reporter: so the first thing we did, we got up this morning, we'd been down for maybe an hour, awoken by air sirens down in the bomb shelter. that's how it is now. and then we began our journey to the polish border. and first we pass the train station, and it is just hoards of people. just hoards of people. it is indescribable, people rushish to get on buses. and as you said it is primarily women and children. the men, obviously they're not ukrainians trying to get out. and trying to rush on those buses to get over the border. when we went to the border we were stopped dead about 29 miles from the exact border. sorry about that. and at that point it just came to a complete halt. over the next two hours we went about -- 90 minutes about half a mile. so it was about 57 hours to pass the border with poland. it was incred

but we're beginning with erin burnett who is in ukraine. let's start with what we know about the u.s. warning of a full scale russian invasion. >> reporter: what we understand is that this warning came from u.s. officials late monday night and that would be the early hours of the morning here in ukraine that they got this warning. the timing is significant because since then, the ukrainian president declared there would be a state of emergency taking effect tonight. so obviously he took some actions, although as you say, steadfast, the reality fortitude here showing. not evacuating car kooef, not going there and not saying there would be no war at all in that time frame. since that intelligence assessment was delivered, there was an announcement here that they would be doing emergency testing of their systems and we saw that today. they were testing what would happen if the internet was completely down. so they would ordinarily do sirens and you would watch on television to see what to do. if the tv wasn't working, internet, radio, they wou

erin burnett is here with me in lviv, ukraine. jill dougherty is in moscow. let's begin with susan malveaux in washington on who is tracking the latest calls for sanctions against russia if it invades ukraine. >> reporter: it was a sense of urgency, there was a sense of unity, a clarity of purpose. about 40 democrats and republicans in germany coming out of the nato security conference. they are trying to find a way to avoid war here and demonstrate in no uncertain terms the great show of support that the united states has for ukraine, the ukrainian people, its allies, as well as for nato. and also, trying to make it clear here, delivering this message, meeting with key officials, secretary of state blinken, as well as the mayor of kyiv and the chancellor of germany, saying that russia does have an option here, still has a choice. diplomacy could work to get out of this situation. otherwise, it could face crushing sanctions. >> we want to remove all doubt in anyone's mind, including the president of russia, that the u.s. is here, fully committed in a unified

erin burnett "outfront" starts right now live from ukraine. >>> "outfront" next, we are live in ukraine, a country tonight with more than 150,000 russian troops now surrounding it as president biden warns putin, the united states is now ready no matter what happens. >>> plus, meet the men ready to fight the russians on the streets of ukraine. i went to their shooting practice today. >>> and more drugs found in the drug test sample of that top russian ice skater. the news coming as she leads the pack after competing today. let's go out front. good evening, i'm erin burnett, "outfront" tonight, breaking news on the ground here in ukraine as the world waits to see what russian president vladimir putin will do next. after a day of confusing mixed signals from putin, it's possible that putin, as of tonight may have already fired the first shot in a conflict. the ukrainian government reporting an apparent cyber attack on the web sites of the ukrainian ministry of defense and the armed forces of ukraine as well as on two major banks. president biden warning there could be more to come. >> the

cnn's erin burnett joins us live from lviv, ukraine. erin, u.s. officials say that this assessment is bleak, as it related to the likelihood of a russian invasion. how are ukrainian officials reacting to this latest intelligence? >> reporter: well, obviously they've been in close contact. i'll tell you one thing you haven't been hearing is what you obviously know, we've been hearing for the past month, which is when the u.s. said imminent, ukraine said not so fast. we're not hearing that same pushback from the ukrainian government tonight. we do understand that there is a security briefing going on from ukrainian security officials which we are monitoring but ukrainian officials deny any plans for any military action and this comes in spite of what they say, vickor, referring to what you just said in terms of cease-fire violations in those separatist areas of eastern ukraine, they say there were 52 such violations of the cease-fire today. that is the ukrainian count. but obviously you see that happening there, still, though, and this is important,

and erin burnett joins us from lviv. erin, vladimir putin started with this long history as putin sees it about why he will likely do what we've been told is coming. acknowledging this region as separatist republics. what are your big takeaways from the remarks? >> reporter: you watch him, he was animated, and he goes back to history, and he did what many had expected him to do, in some spe senses, maybe not in this format. he had had eight years to recognize the breakaway republics. choosing to do it at this moment. the big question is, what will the reaction be? right before this big announcement, he called the french president and the german chancellor. the french president is still in a national security meeting that he urgently called. we don't know what the response was, but they were quote-unquote disappointed. so the question is, what will the response be? this is not a technical invasion. he's not sending tanks across the borders. but it is a recognition that the breakaway republics are sovereign territories, and

erin burnett, cnn, ukraine. >>> all right that will do it from here in lyviv in western ukraine. back to kim bruin huber in atlanta. >> all right, thanks so much, michael. >>> the final whistle has blown on the beijing winter olympics. and we're just hours away from the closing ceremony. we'll find out who won the medal count and some of the historic moments coming up in a live report next. plus how hong kong is coping with the rise in covid cases that's pushing its health system to the brink. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. kim is now demonstrating her congestion

erin burnett "out front" live from ukraine starts right now. >>> "out front" next, breaking news from ukraine. russian troops could start moving into ukraine as soon as tonight. this is as putin claims two new territories in eastern ukraine. >>> it is said that putin's new speech was used to incite war. >>> president trump wants to invite the saudis to his golf resorts. >>> good evening, i'm erin burnett. welcome to a special edition of "out front" in ukraine tonight. we begin with breaking news, troops being ordered into ukraine, and that could happen as soon as tonight. putin is sending what he calls peacekeeping forces into two regions of this country, regions controlled by russian-backed separatists. putin today recognized those regions as independent states, putin tonight making it clear that this is much bigger, though, than even two ukranian regions. >> translator: ukraine has never had consistent tradition of being a true nation. >> now the world is scrambling to respond. putin's meeting triggering security meetings from ukraine to france. president biden tonight speaking to u

cnn's erin burnett is in the western part of that money. ing on and ukraine is taking some big hits. >> reporter: yeah, you know, jake, look, as part of this, their whole push and quest to join nato, they had to do serious financial forms, which very haven't completed. they wouldn't be even ready to join nato for a whole host of reasons but that's the push for reform for a country that was reliant on a few oligarchs that controlled all of the natural resources to a totally different sort of economy and that is what's being crushed. jake, just imagine if i told you that a year ago, you know, it would cost you 10% to borrow money for a year and now you come to me and ask for a loan and i tell you it's going to cost you more than 20% to get that loan. that's what's happened to ukraine, to the government of ukraine for all of their borrowing. bloomberg estimates they need $5 billion to even stabilize the country. president biden has said the u.s. is considering about a billion dollars in loan guarantees, but it's bad, okay. when you start seeing

a special erin burnett out front. that's coming up. >>> the threat of a russian cyber attack on the united states. what kind of response would president biden consider? i'll ask a key member as our special coverage here in "the situation room" continues. my family's been devastated by covid-19. and we're not alone. we've all had to find new wa to keep going. and cue has made that easier. with cue, yoget lab-quality covid-19 test results in just 20 minutes. speed and accuracy. it's just for the nba; it's for you too. cue health. the official covid-19 home test of the nba. go cue. go you. every business is on a journey. and along the ride, you'll find many challenges. ♪ your dell technologies advisor can help you find the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers. long day huh? thank you! (beer can opening) hey buddy! you want a sam adams? all right. (slurping, burps, beer can dropping) hello! your cousin. from boston. wickeds all around! cheers! get it girl. robots! robots! (cheering) he wasn'

good evening, i'm erin burnett live from ukraine tonight. "out front" tonight the

cnn anchor erin burnett is live in lviv for us.ainian military released new footage of their own drills. they say they're also getting ready in case russia invades. >> reporter: they're putting out their own video that they're getting ready. as you know, yesterday, we spoke to a bunch of men who are very adept with guns, who are training to be guerrillas. today we went to a recruitment center. it was a day of unity to see what was happening at the recruiting center. so we saw a couple men signing up. what is interesting is a new law here passed on january 1st for national resistance. so just since january 1st, trying on create 25 additional brigades to basically protect local cities and towns in the event of street warfare, essentially. and they're just starting now. these people are just joining. they're certainly not trained. it gives you a sense of the upward slope there is to go. i spoke to one man who joined in november and is now taking on the 103rd brigt in the lviv region. i want to tell you more so you can see the passion

good evening, i'm erin burnett.out front" tonight, putin breaks his silence, speaking for the first time publicly since december. putin taking questions during a meeting with ironically a nato country, claiming the united states has broken its word and is forcing his hand in ukraine. >> there are mk-41 launchers on which tomahawks can be installed. that is, these are not anti-missile but strike systems that will cover our territory for thousands of kilometers. isn't that a threat to us? let us imagine ukraine is a nato member and stuffed with weapons and there are state of the art missile systems like in poland and romania, who will stop nit crimea, let alone dumbas, a russian sovereign territory. let us imagine ukraine is a nato member and venture such as combat operations. are we supposed to be at war with nato? >> his demands have not changed, trickling down, crimea was originally annexed by russia. no one has done much about it. which remains the reason why putin believes he can control more of ukraine. here is

i'm erin burnett live from ukraine. the breaking news. we do have big developments at this hour in the very early hours of the morning here in ukraine. ukraine just shutting down airports in the eastern part of this country. the country is in a state of emergency. it did not include the closing of the airports. that's a separate and new development. it is well past midnight here. 2:00 in the morning and the president of ukraine calling vladmir putin very late tonight. putin did not take his call. this is what we know has happened in just the past few moments tonight as the u.s. issues its most dire assessment yet warning a full scale russian invasion of this country is imminent. these russian troops and tanks earlier today approaching the ukraine border near the city. tonight pentagon press secretary telling reporters troops are already on the move. >> believe that russian, additional russian military forces are moving into that region not beyond that region that we have seen. >> those forces have absolutely everything they need for any k

i'm erin burnett live in ukraine. outfront tonight, the breaking news. they will assault tonight.s country are under curfew, including where we are tonight. the streets deserted, the people scared. we saw it today when we had to go to a bomb shelter when one of several air raid sirens went off here. but in these darkest hours of the night now, president zelenskyy posted a zoo warning

i'm erin burnett. breaking news on the ground here in ukraine. new russian troops on the border. the united states says russia has added 7,000 new troops in recent days. this is according to a senior u.s. official tonight. this new estimate puts the number of russian forces close to 160,000 at about 150,000 more than president biden mentioned only yesterday. they are saying some of those troops, the 7,000 did come in today. this comes despite claims from moscow they were pulling back some troops. u.s. intelligence official vs been raising the alarm and showing us this bridge less than four miles from the ukrainian border. it was not there on monday. the one on the left, there was no bridge. there is now a bridge. at least one russian convoy was seen on a road leadi ing to the bridge area. that's one reason why the u.s. and its allies are saying tonight that putin is escalating his military build up in clear sight despite any claims of troop draw down. >> they are moving, concerningingly, into fighting positions. >> we're seeing no meaningful pull back. >> it continues russia cont

good evening, i'm erin burnett live from ukraine tonight.out front" tonight the breaking news, the summit is off and biden's strike with sanctions. the u.s. cancels a summit between secretary of state blinken and the russian foreign minister as president biden lashes out at putin in what he calls the beginning the of putin's invasion of ukraine. >> this is the beginning of a russian invasion of ukraine. who in the lord's name does putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belong to his neighbors? this is a flagrant vials of intern violation of international law. >> the head of nato says additional russian troops crossed into the border in the eastern region of the donbas region. an ambassador told us today that there are now officials russian troops there. she said whether they crossed over or were already there and put on a uniform. putin again addressing the camera, saying russia recognized the self-described republic than they opportunity u currently are. the yellow and red area is controlled by

and cnn's erin burnett spent the day with some of them. joined me earlier tonight from ukraine's border with hungary. you began your journey to cross the border in lviv 20 hours ago. tell us what happened when you headed for poland? >> reporter: so the first thing we did we got up this morning, we had been down for maybe about an hour, awoken by air sirens, down in the bomb shelter. that's how it is now. and then we began our journey to the polish border. and first we pass the train station, and it is just hoards of people, just hoards of people. it is indescribable, people rushing to get on buses. and as you said it is primarily women and children. the men, obviously many of them are not ukrainians who are trying to get out. and trying to rush onto those buses to try to get over the border. when we went to the border we were stopped dead about 29 miles from the exact border. sorry about that. and at that point it just came to a complete halt. over the next two hours or 90 minutes we went about half a mile. so it was running about 57 hours

erin burnett "out front" starts right now. >> outside the u.s. ambassador warns russia has its weapons locked and load and ukraine is in the crosshairs when it comes to the entire region is now bracing for potential war. plus senate minority leader calls january 6th, a violent insurrection. other top republicans still today cannot bring themselves to agree. why? and an american born skier wins gold for china and tonight takes on those criticizing her for switching her patriotic allegiance. good evening, i'm erin burnett "out front" tonight, locked and load, the u.s. ambassador michael carpenter says russia is locked and loaded and they are pointed at ukraine. >> russia has locked and loaded its guns, and it's pointing them at ukraine. >> his exact word. this comes as putin says he did not reach a deal with the french president emanuel macron after their meeting in moss cow. he engages in the back and forth. macron saying he made progress and putin had agreed to de-eescalate, putin saying he did not agree to mill ter de-escalation. so what does th

our erin burnett is live. tell us what is happening live this hour. >> reporter: all right, on the ground you have fighting across the country. you have a country on alert here in lviv. you will see all the lights for the city, street lights, buildings will go out in about an hour's time as they prepare for night. there is a lot of fear. i was talking to someone i have spoken to over the past couple weeks here. he said, look, he, the reservists, are gathered waiting for their orders, they are ready to fight for their country. at this point, though, they're not sure what that will mean, what they will be called to do, and that is like it is for so many here as president biden details what he calls devastating sanctions against vladimir putin for launching war in europe and invading ukraine. russian troops assaulted the nation. it was by land, by air, by sea. short range, medium range, long range, cruise missiles starting in the early morning hours of this morning. and a senior defense official says this is just

good evening, i'm erin burnett

. >> erin burnett joins us live. is there any response yet from the ukrainian government? >> reporter: we have a response now via twitter coming across a moment ago. i'll read it to you from president zelensky. discussed the vevent of the las hour with president biden. a conversation with boris johnson is also planned. the president of ukraine is beginning a meeting with his national security and defense council. we know the french president is in a meeting with his council. the german chancellor has condemned this. waiting on the united states and even though all of them are now saying they will do things, jointly, and in coordination with each other, it's unclear what that means. no one has ever said what a recognition of these republics by russia would entail in terms of sanctions because, obviously from a technical perspective it's not tanks crossing the border at this point. >> president putin also said during this hour long, hour plus speech that he delivered that all responsibility for continued bloodshed will be blamed on ukraine. we have seen, at least, accord to

they say russia is treating diplomacy as a potemkin process. >> erin burnett live in lviv, giving us ucial reporting from ukraine. erin, see you in just a few. >>> let's now get a closer look at donbas, the region in eastern ukraine where both russian separatists and ukrainian forces say that the shelling happened. >> cnn's clarissa ward has been embedded with the ukrainian military and has more details from the scene of the incident. >> so, we are here at a kindergarten, less than 3 miles away from the front line where ukrainian authorities are telling us that pro-russian separatists fired two shells on this kindergarten. there were 20 kids, roughly, here at the time. it happened this morning between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. fortunately, they were in a different part of the building. you can see, just behind me, i'm trying not to move too much because our signal isn't great here but you can see behind me the aftermath from where that shell hit, and three people who worked at the school, according to local authorities, were treated for concussion. they have subsequently been released from t

government is communicating on this crisis. >> all right, erin burnett for us in lviv. erin, thank you for that context. let's go to belarus which borders ukraine and russia. cnn senior international correspondent fred pleitgen in mi minsk. >> reporter: he says belarus under his leadership is fully in the corner of the russian federation. i was able to see victor today and for the first time actually some of the russian forces the u.s. says are threatening ukraine. of course a lot of those forces are around the borders on russian territory, but tens of thousands of russian troops are right now here in belarus conducting large-scale exercises. the u.s. says it's not clear whether the forces are going to be leaving belarus after those exercises are over and the u.s. really does fear that russian forces could try to invade ukraine from right here in belarus. i put that to the belarusian leader and he tried to laugh that off saying it was absolutely not true. he did, however, say there was an agreement in russia and belarus and the two sides would support each other. i want

erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> good evening, i'm erin burnett live in ukrainian tonight and "outfront" tonight, we have breaking news. sabotage groups have entered ukraine's capital. that is the warning from president zelenskyy. in a statement, he said putin has marked him enemy number one, his family, enemy number two, but he says he's staying in kyiv. the capital tonight under siege. the city, dark. str streets deserted. comes as all men between the ages of 18 and 60 are forbidden from leaving this country. ukraine bombarded with missiles today. more than 160 coming down on many military sites. it was roughly 7:00 this morning when we heard the booms here, then over the next hour or so, at least six rounds of sirens rang out over the city. earlier, we traveled to an attacked air base. a muddy road to a wooded area where we saw very young, ukrainian troops. an officer told me two rockets hit that base just hours before we were there. just moments ago, the secretary of state blinken warning that putin is not backing down. >> part of the russian plan has been to put kyiv

erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> good evening, i'm erin burnett live in ukrainian tonightng from president zelenskyy. in a statement, he said putin has marked him enemy number one, his family, enemy number two, but he says he's staying in kyiv. the capital tonight under siege. the city, dark. str stre

let's go out front. >>> and good evening, i'm erin burnett. out front tonight breaking news on the ground here in ukraine tonight. president biden saying he's convinced based on the intelligence he's received, putin has made up his mind and will invade this country in the coming days. >> as of this moment i'm convinced he's made the decision. we have reason to believe that. >> to be clear you are convinced that -- you are kwconvinced tha president putin is going to invade ukraine? >> yes, i did. >> what reason do you have to believe he's considering that option at all? >> we have significant intelligence capability. >> this is the first time that president biden or anyone in the united states government has said definitively that they are convinced that putin has made his decision. it was always imminent but we don't know if he'll do it. this is first time they've said they're convinced he has made his decision. as for that intelligence the president referred to both frightening and sobering because biden said putin is going for a massive atta

erin burnett, thank you. >>> let's get the perspective from moscow. cnn international diplomatic editor nic robertson is there. what is the kremlin saying about all of the latest developments that we've been reporting on today? >> yeah, there's some very interesting sort of choreography going on here today. president putin met on television very sort of carefully choreographed along a long table with his foreign minister sergey lavrov. and lavrov gave a complete read out of all the sort of diplomatic comings and goings, the phone calls, the heads of state, you know, the foreign ministers that have come. and at the end of it, president putin said, and is there a chance for diplomacy? and at that moment, lavrov sort of, you know, doesn't miss a beat. says, you know, we've had these leaders. you saw macron. you had a phone call with him and president biden and, yes, i think there is. these were his exact words. >> translator: if we're ready to listen to counterproposals, it seems to me that our possibilities are far from being exhausted. of course, they

let's bring in cnn's erin burnett, live for us in lviv, ukraine, west of the capital. let's start with this apparent cyberattack that hit the defense ministry and one of the largest commercial banks. do we have any idea who's behind it? >> reporter: we know it appears to be there was an attack and it came back online, went back offline now as victor said, appearing to come back online, but for two of the banks in this country, including the largest bank as well as the ministry of defense and the website of the armed forces, so minister of defense armed forces, you can read into that what you will. ukrainian government is not yet technically pointing the finger, although there were attacks of a similar style in january that the ukrainian government did say came from both belarus and from russia. basically, these attacks are just a powerful denial of service, right, where someone just floods the websites with so many requests that they crash. they're not incredibly sophisticated attacks, but they do say that it was a powerful attack of that style, and as you both know, e

cnn's erin burnett is joining us live from ukraine right now. the u.s.e in lviv. what are you learning? >> reporter: so basically, wolf, they started to pull staff out of the embassy and now they're basically retreating to a essential services, emergency services with the fee remaining staff here. they have told all american citizens to leave this country. and have been very clear that they should do so along with many other countries that have also made the same request. so that is the situation here and it just shows the urgency on the ground. it continues to be as you know a juxtaposition of a calm and waiting for a storm that you don't know if it is going to come. sort of hovering on every border here. and yet there is a sense of calm. today, valentine's day, people were out to dinner, people were out, people are continuing some sort of normalcy despite a very real sense of, you know, foreboding and concern for many. >> give us more on the mood, on the ground there. civilians are preparing, they see all of the international reports that some sort of

i'm erin burnett live in ukraine. outfront tonight, the breaking news. they will assault tonight. those are the words of president zelenskyy. cities across this country are under curfew, including where we are tonight. the streets deserted, the people scared. we saw it today when we had to go to a bomb shelter when one of several air raid sirens went off here. but in these darkest hours of the night now, president zelenskyy posted a zoo warning ukrainians the fate of their country is being decided in these next few hours. that message was echoed by the mayor of kyiv where tonight air raid sirens can be heard echoing through the night sky in a city that is under assault. >> people trying to board trains to get out. kyiv seems about to fall. the dire situation causing nato for the first time in to activate its response force. the unit of roughly 40,000 troops who are ready to go to protect a nato ally. and tonight, putin plows ahead. russia claiming that it has taken out 211 military infrastructure facilities across this entire country. i just want to make that number clear. 211. ac

let's go out front. >>> good evening, i am erin burnett. out front tonight, a false pretext for war. the pentagon says it has evidence russia is plotting to produce a video that would fake an attack on russian troops. propaganda that would create a pretext for russia to invade ukraine. >> um, fake attack we believe that russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video, um, which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations and as well as military equipment at the hands of ukraine or the west. >> i mean, that's incredible, right? video that would include corpses, actors depicting mourners. that is a production, and it is all, of course, out of the mind of putin. and nothing has stopped right now the intelligence u.s. officials, they want it out there. they want people to know about this video because they hope that putting out that they figured it out would deter the russian president from doing it. >> we are publicizing it now, however, in order to lay bear the extent of russia's de

. >> cnn anchor erin burnett joins us from lviv, ukraine. it is a military assets but we're learning that u.s. intelligence believes ukrainians are putting up a tougher fight than russia expected? >> reporter: that is what intelligence is suggesting and certainly what we're seeing in kyiv where they're saying there is a stiffer resistance than might have been anticipated against the russian onslaught. part of it is that you can't really measure the strength of belief and passion and patriotism and fortitude that we just see from person after person and certainly after the young men who are now not allowed to leave the country because they have to stay and fight. and that is -- that is the reality on the ground here. i should say that, you know, when i highlight the young men twin 18 and 60, obviously other end there, not young, but that is the age group no longer allowed to leaf the country because it is under martial law. they are staying and that is what you see. do you see plenty of women around, but when you go to the border, where there

"erin burnett outfront" starts right now. >>> out front next. an urgent situation. the white house tonight warning that russia could invade ukraine in days. millions of people now in russia's crosshairs, as biden prepares for a high-stakes call with putin. >>> plus, cnn learning trump has still not turned over every document that the national archives wants. what could he possibly have? and new confusion and frustration for parents. fda just announcing it is postponing a meeting on the pfizer vaccine for children under 5. why? let's go out front. and good evening. i am erin burnett. out front tonight, the defense department announcing 3,000 more u.s. troops are now heading to eastern europe, as there is growing intelligence that putin is ready to go to war now. >> it is an urgent message because we are in an urgent situation. we are in a window when an invasion could begin at any time. >> the national security adviser, jake sullivan, saying putin, who currently has ukraine surrounded on three sides with ground troops, may even give the go order before the olympics a

>> as refugees desperately make their way out of ukraine and into neighboring countries, cnn's erin burnett crew joined a group on their long, grueling journey. listen to what erin told cnn's pamela brown. >> reporter: we got up this morning, we had been down maybe an hour. awakened by air sirens down in the bomb shelter. that's how it is now. and then we began our journey to the polish border. and first we passed the train station and it is hordes of people, hofrds of people. it is indescribable. people rushing to get on buses. as you said, it is primarily women and children. the men, obviously many of them are not ukrainians who are trying to get out. and trying to rush onto bosses to get over the border. when we went to the border, we were stopped dead about 29 miles from the exact border. and at that point it just came to a complete halt. over the next two hours we went, 90 minutes, we went half a mile. it was running about 57 hours to cross the border with poland. pamela, it was incredible. there were people, they would get there, stop, some of them take volts, which is their uber, and

erin burnett outfront starts right now. >>> thousands of u.s.id. >>> democrat senator rekors from his strong, new concerns about how his long absence could affect bind's agenda in a divided senate. let's go out

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our erin burnett was with some of them, and wait until you hear what she witnessed.re, you're more than just a landowner. you're a gardener. landscaper. you a hunter.ener. because you didn't settle for ordinary. same goes for your equipment. versatile, powerful, durable kubota equipment. more goes into it. so you get more out of it. check out this vrbo. oh man. ♪ come on. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ adopting you was the best decision in our life. and i am so proud to call you my son. >>> i'm pamela brown in washington. you are live in the "cnn newsroom" on this saturday evening. it is now just after 5:00 a.m. in kyiv. the sun will rise next hour, but it is already a dark day in ukraine. we have just learned a 6-year-old little boy died in heavy gunfire in a western district of kyiv saturday night. two teenagers are among the wounded. and the night sky filled with this terrifying glow, tw

erin burnett shows us our ukrainians are planning to fight in case warfare erupts. >> phil, people we've days now say they feel more unsettled. after biden's comments that putin has decided to invade and also because of what they're seeing right now. one young man told me putin's not a balanced person. another woman says she's now scared. she and her friends are still going to work. they are going about their normal lives. even in the face of that fear. and some people here are actually training to fight. this weekend, a few hundred civilians gathering to prepare to defense training session. people of all ages, but most of them young. the youngest, for us, the most jarring to see. natalya was here with our daughters. she tells me she talks to them all the time about possible war with russia. >> yes, we always talk about this. about war and we have a plan. that's why we are here. >> the training organized by a far right political party and overseen by the ukrainian governme government's territorial defense forces. people here learning hand to hand knife fighting with sticks, using wooden

. >> erin burnett is in ukraine. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: right now we have just had the beginning of the cur curfew. it's 10:00 local time. to be honest with you, even the afternoon hours when it was still daylight, very few people were out. everything has notably and significantly changed here in terms of people's attitudes and their willingness to be outside. we do have the curfew just beginning here. sources say president biden could sanction putin directly as soon as today for his decision to attack this country. the capital of ukraine is under siege. russian forces are advancing towards it. there's fighting, constant fightingfight ing around that city. the skies have been lighting up with missile strikes. u.s. intelligence believe kyiv could fall within the next days. they said up to four days from the invasion and now we are days past that. it could be at any moment. intelligence predicts that putin h putin's plan is to install his own puppet government if kyiv topples. he asked the united states for more defense assistan

erin burnett outfront starts right now. >>> thousands of u.s. troops deploying the eastern europe and exclusive reaction from top aid. >>> democrat senator rekors from his strong, new concerns about how his long absence could affect bind's agenda in a divided senate. let's go out front. >>> exclusive reaction from putin's right hand man tonight. russia responding to biden's decision to deploy 3,000 u.s. troops to eastern europe. we're going to go to the ground for that in a moment because it's the latest is kalation in the u.s. russian stand off. the u.s. forces will be headed to romania, poland and germany. here is prepondsident biden. >> totally consistent with what i told putin in the beginning. as long as he's acting aggressively, we will make sure we reassure our nato allies in eastern europe we're there. >> these are in addition to the troops biden sent there to put on high alert. >> mr. putin continues to add forces. they show no signs of being interested or willing to deescalate the tensions. it's not just the united states. our nato all