fred pleitgen is live in russia. fred, dramatic scenes you reported on yesterday with russian armor going over the border. tell us what's going on today. >> reporter: similar scenes are going on today. the first thing we saw as we arrived here about half an hour ago, there was russian rocket artillery fire being shot off. at the same time, the russians are saying that they have now entered that town of hearken. there seems to be pretty heavy street fighting going on. whether or not that's going to mean more casualties for the russians or whether or not they're taking more casualties, really impossible for us to say. the only little sign that we might have seen, if you look over my shoulder, you can see that the russians have parked three ambulances at that final checkpoint where it then goes toward ukrainian territory and also towards that the front line in hearken. the entire time we've been there, those ambulances have been stationary. we have to say there weren't that amount of ambulances parked here in the past co

fred pleitgen joins me now from a region of ukraine. fred, let's begin with you. what is going on there where you are? >> there's still a lot of action here. i'll get out of your way and you can see the checkpoint is sort of i would say 2, 300 meters that way. the past couple of days we've actually been able to get closer to that checkpoint. they're saying this morning they meant us to stand further away. there's still a lot of movement of military vehicles. they've been going past us throughout the morning we've been here. we've seen a lot of infantry firing vehicles go to the road, and there's as i said a lot of russian armor going that way. we've also seen a few ambulances race down in that direction. whether or not that means the russians may have been taking casualties at the kharkiv line at that point in time we simply cannot say. we have seen some ambulances go down there, and also quite frankly a lot of soldiers being moved into that area as well. we saw a lot of armored vehicles the last couple of days. now seems a lot of personnel and support vehicles go

fred pleitgen, appreciate it. make peyton walsh, you're there in odessa, which is a very strategic port, a very important port for ukraine economically, but strategically important too. what have you been seeing and hearing there? >> reporter: michael, woken at about 5:00 this morning by three or four explosions, distant ones certainly. and this is the third largest city in ukraine. so a nightmare potentially for any sort of violence in the hours ahead. we don't know where those noises came from, and then subsequently about an hour or so later, there were two more, equally distant as well. the interior minister had suggested earlier that some sort of invasion was occurring here. we've anyone no evidence to that effect from where we're standing close to the port in the center of the city, and there's certainly no reports amongst locals about that at this stage. but the important thing here, michael, is that this clear evidence. we're talking about a countrywide event here. the fact we're hearing explosions in this

let's go to fred pleitgen in moscow first., fred, so we've heard a little bit from the kremlin about this proposed summit. what's your interpretation? >> reporter: well, certainly it doesn't seem as though dmitry peskov we got off the phone with, with reporters, he wasn't pouring cold water on the summit. he said it is something in in concrete planning. he said vladimir putin and macron on the call yesterday decided negotiations were supposed to continue on the ministers level. we're talking about french foreign minister and the foreign minister speaking. on thursday secretary of state blinken speaking to russian foreign minister sergei lavrov. that level is definitely continuing and is going to go on. he said right now there is no concrete plans yet for a summit between president biden and russian president vladimir putin, but he also said that something like that could be initiated very quickly. he said whether or not it's in-person or whether or not it's over the phone or some sort of video conference, that is something tha

i want to go to fred pleitgen now. you're on the russian side of the border near the front line. i heard an analyst yesterday say everything we've seen the past few days is a precursor to what they believe to be a coming surge of russians across the border. what are you seeing to lend evidence to that? >> reporter: well, that certainly could be the case, and certainly what we've seen over the past, i would say, 24 hours, but especially this morning, is that there are more russian forces on the move here. especially one of the things we've seen is more russian rocket artillery fire going toward ukraine. as we got here, there were several salvos that were fired on various occasions and more is heading toward ukraine. if it's heading from here, then most probably it will be going down, raining down somewhere. what we've heard from the russian forces is they've now penetrated that ring of defense that ukrainians had in the city, the russian forces inside the city, and there seem to be fierce street battles as well. whether the russians are taking more casualties than they thought is

our fred pleitgen was there on the russian side of the front.ery shells going from the russian-back separatist area into ukraine. i also want to bring in the deputy mayor of lviv, ukraine, on the opposite side of the country of the pictures you're seeing here. this is going towards kharkiv. he is in lviv on the western side of the country. can you tell us what you are dealing with there? artillery shells, or explosions you have seen in the area. >> well, it is very tough this morning especially as well for our city. at 9:00 this morning, we see everything from ukrainian cities about these explosions. in lviv, we had this morning sirens. and so it was a sign for people to move to underground places. it was a potential threat. hopefully we didn't hear any explosions. it works like usual, the services. we have transport and banks and other institutions at work. we, together with state security, the administration, with police, manage our work to provide services for our residents. . >> our reporter, deputy mayor, in your city heard an explosion out

fred pleitgen is in the region. fred, let's go to you first. talks between russia and ukraine were to begin moments ago. do we know it's actually started? >> reporter: well, michael, it certainly seems as though it's about to start. you're actually right. they're supposed to start about right now, a couple minutes ago. what we've seen so far is the ukrainian delegation seems to have arrived. we saw video images of the delegation arriving with two helicopters. that delegation is being led by the defense minister, by alexi resnikov, and the foreign ministry as well. as far as the russian side is concerned, also some senior officials from russia's presidential administration, defense administration and foreign ministry as well as those two sides are set for those talks. those, of course, happening on the pripyat river right in the border area between ukraine and belarus. it's interesting to see the run up to this. russia says the talks are happening without any preconditions. the ukrainians in the form of the ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky

you see what fred pleitgen is talking about and seen throughout the day. 's border. what does it mean to you? >> first thing i'd say, kate, is i was on earlier with fred when he was viewing those smirch rockets fired. they are firing from inside of russia into ukraine. and so they are outside the range of any kind of ukrainian counterattack and they usually are preparing the battlefield for the tanks, for the personnel carriers and the mobile artillery that follows behind them. what you're seeing is the prep from long distances and then a rolling in of the forces to go after the cities or the particular objectives that they're going to. it's the russian way of war. they will prep the battlefield with long range artillery and then come in with helicopters as you're showing right now, come in with fast-moving jets, close air support and then they bring in the conventional forces later on. all of that is going on while they're also conducting cyber activities and other kinds of asymmetric warfare attempts. >> here's what we also know from the u.s. defense offi

fred pleitgen is live for us in moscow this hour. we begin -- and melissa bell is in brussels, belgium. let's begin with alex marquardt. what are you expecting? >> reporter: we are expecting to have president zelensky here on this day of national immunity. this is after president zelensky said today was supposed to be the day of the russian invasion and instead he decreed a day of international celebration. mariupol is a strategic location. we have danyesk down the coast where russia has been backing separatists in their fight against the ukrainians and then we have crimea which is not too far away which they occupied and annexed back in 2014. michael, it is really in crimea where we see the confusion over what russian intentions are. the russians putting out video this morning that claims they are pulling back their troops, they are pulling back their weaponry after exercises have taken place in crimea. they loaded up trains with troops, trains, artillery. those are all going back to the mainland in russia. they're crossing the kurt

fred pleitgen in bucharest, romania. it was generally thought moskow wouldn't launch an invasion of ukraine until the winter olympics were over. cnn's m.j. lee has more from the white house. >> we are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time should vladimir putin decide to order it. >> reporter: growing urgency at the white house on the looming threat of a russia invasion of ukraine. >> we continue to see signs of russian escalation including new forces arriving at the ukrainian border. >> reporter: national security advisor jake sullivan confirming that vladimir putin could launch an attack even sooner than previously anticipated. >> there is a credible prospect that a russian military action would take place even before the end of the olympics. >> reporter: this a contrast from prior assessments that russia was unlikely to invade before the conclusion of the olympics. the u.s. now making this chilling prediction about what a russian invasion would look like. >> if a russian attack on ukraine proceeds, it

fred pleitgen there in russia, be yaroslav in kyiv, thank you to both of you. we'll speak to you again. i want to take you to kherson, ukraine, where ukrainian forces seem to have been able to push back russian forces, atempting to cross what is a key bridge. cnn international security editor nick paton walsh is there. and, nick, i've been told by u.s. officials that the ukrainian military is putting up some -- in some places surprising resistance. tell us what you saw there. >> reporter: yeah, i mean you can see it here. it is clear when we moved into the city yesterday evening that the russians have got on this side of the river, cuts the kun interest i in half to the russian border , it will enable the forces to move up from crimea, which we saw them do yesterday. this town had russian forces it seems on its outskirts yesterday evening. we went down to the bridge area after hearing air strikes, small arms fire, jets flying low during the night over this quiet residential town, and saw that the ukrainian forces had sustained a lot of losses in their armor. th

fred pleitgen, cnn, bucharest, romania. >> fred pleitgen, thank so much. >>> police are working to remove protesters in canada right now. demonstrators have blocked an international crossing for six days and protests are starting to spill into the u.s. more on that. >>> plus a legendary olympian says good-bye to the game. sean white's emotional sendoff after his final olympic run. that's straight ahead. ever wonder what everyone's doing on their phones? they're banking, with bank of america. the groom's parents? they just found out they can redeem rewards for a second honeymoon. romance is in the air. like these two. he's realizing he's in love. and that his dating app just went up. must be fate. and phil. he forgot a gift, so he's sending the happy couple some money. digital tools so impressive, you just can't stop banking. what would you like the power to do? >>> right now, police in windsor, canada, are clearing protesters who have been blocking access to a critical u.s. border bridge, what's being called the freedom convoy beginning with truck drivers against vaccine mandates in both

fred pleitgen is in belgrade watching the supply lines. tell us the latest. >> hi there, john.ne of the interesting things from belgrade, which is really the last place before you get to kharkiv, we can see some of the moves that russia is making and then essentially a lot of those do pan out on the battlefield. one thing that happened today, more shelling on the town of kharkiv. the battle there intensifying. and what we were able to see from our vantage point at the last checkpoint, still on the russian side is a lot of multiple rocket launching systems being moved closer to ukrainian territory. those rocket-launching systems are a medium level or medium range rocket launching system. the range is about 65 to 70 miles and we saw that least three of those beef moved into that area. you can see them moving that closer to the battle in kharkiv, as you and clarissa noted, seems to be one of the most entense ones as this conflict continues to unfold and continues to intensify. the other thing that we're also seeing on the russian side, we continue to be seeing over the past couple

fred pleitgen is there and joins us live. at about right now? >> yeah, absolutely right. some really interesting things. what we have right now is we're sti still hearing rocket artillery going off at various times throughout the day. it was a little less today. part of that was the fact there was a massive snowstorm in this region throughout the entire day, which of course, makes it more difficult to operate those rockets or have them be accurate. we still had russian war planes flying into the air. one crew member who went past a russian airfield saw two fighter jets taking off. and the other thing, john, we're also seeing is the russians still are moving a lot of armor into ukrainian territory. one of the things that we had seen throughout the course of justice is the russians continuously bringing armor into the final checkpoint that leads to kharkiv. what we were surprised to see is a have a lot of armor and soldiers in the rear echelon. if you go into some of the little villages, you'll go down the little village street

cnn's fred pleitgen right across the ukrainian town of kharkiv.re you picking up on any of that yourself? >> reporter: certainly, from our vantage point, the russians are moving into their military tanks. just down the road you get into ukrainian territory and harkin is not far beyond that. we did see a lot of russian military equipment moving that direction a couple of hours ago. you mentioned as we were on air. main battle tanks moved in that direction. very heavy armor vehicles. we have seen similar scenes like that throughout the day really w, the russians also fired before we went to air, artillery rockets close to where we are right now, firing those in the direction of the ukrainian territory and toward that is battlefield around harkiv, some intense fighting going on there. it is different to tell what's exact ligly going on. we have seen some balance raced out of that area as well. russians are taking casualties from here and our vantage point, we can't say. the russians also bringing in some serious weapons from what we can see. there is

because as we've seen, talking to my colleague fred pleitgen as we've seen from those satellite images, there is a massive build-up of weaponry, troops, armor, personnel just beyond that border. that border is just over 20 miles from here. satellite images showing troops 10 miles beyond that. so there's a very real fear here that there could be even more coming along for these people. and i think that's why you're seeing those people just behind me getting to their knees and praying as they wait to see what today will bring, don. >> yeah, let's hope they don't have to use those shelters as you've said, clarissa. i want you to stand by. i want to get to the white house now and cnn's kaitlan collins. kaitlan, earlier the president releasing a statement calling it an unprovoked and unjustified attack, that it was premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of human suffering. he spoke moments ago to the president of ukraine, volodymyr zelenskyy. i understand that call is over and you have a readout on it. what do you have? >> yeah, don, they just got off the phone. and this is a

pleitgen who is in belgorod, in russia. i can show people on the map here just exactly where fred is. fred's right here in belgorod, just over the border inside russia. you see the ukrainian city of kharkiv. you had a remarkable morning and witnessed, frankly, an invasion before your eyes. >> reporter: yeah, that's absolutely right. we were quite surprised that was happening. i want to show our viewers where exactly we are. i'll step out of your way for a second here. a little more quiet, this is the last checkpoint before we go into the area where essentially that invasion is taking place. so if we go further down into that direction, that's where we see a lot of the tanks go into -- or towards ukrainian territory, but really the only place they can go is into ukraine around the area where kharkiv is. you're right, john, it has been a remarkable day that we have seen here in the past hour, hour and a half or so, where we witnessed those rocket artillery fire that, of course, general mark hirtling was the smerch system, one that can wreak a lot of havoc as well and also seeing russian

also our fred pleitgen was reporting earlier that he was hearing a lot of outgoing artillery.round the city of kharkiv. a city of 1.4 million people. i'm just getting a little bit more information here. this is coming from the mayor of kharkiv. it says "dear citizens, please do not leave your homes today. due to the complicated situation, schools, kindergartens, other institutions will not be operational today until the situation becomes clearer. public transport will work as usual and i will keep you informed of what is happening and the actions of city authorities throughout the day." this was published on his facebook page about ten minutes there. but you see a pretty sternly worded message there for the 1.4 million residents of kharkiv. this is the second largest city in ukraine. the mayor coming out and telling people don't leave your homes, don't go to work, don't send your children to school. it's been a very busy few hours since this all started, don, and there is no sign at this stage that it is letting up. and while it's one thing to be hearing strikes like that, mis

fred pleitgen is there. he saw those images.iden's sanctions are meaningful, mostly to be honest, he shows he will willing to go where no u.s. president before, he is willing to go further, halting government delaware russia is prepared for those sanctions and biden can go a lot further. a senior administration official telling cnn tonight this is only the sharp edge of the pain we can inflict, suggesting giving himself more room to go farther should the invasion escalate. tonight sax antony blinken can selling his meeting with a russian foreign minister scheduled for thursday, saying the invasion means russia has ended diplomacy, but, he also said this. >> to the extent there is anything we can do to avert an even worst case scenario, an all-out assault on all of ukraine, including its capital, that would inflict horrific costs on the ukrainian people, we will always pursue that. >>. >> reporter: we will always pursue that. amidst all this, we were seeing something, something off. is it communication gaps, disagreements between

says is right now one of the main battlefields. >> our thanks to fred pleitgen. and just imagine standing there and russian tanks going right by you. he was the u.s. ambassador under president obama. thank you for coming on, ambassador. do you believe nato should have greater involvement in this conflict? >> well, i think nato has decided, the united states has decided not to be directly involved. i think history will tell whether that was the right decision. clearly politics at home and politics abroad suggest that the concentration of nato is on defending nato territory and not ukraine. that doesn't mean we can't do much more to help the ukrainians and indeed the u.s. is sending much more equipment, and now we even the german government sending stinger missiles and anti-tank weapons in order to help the ukrainians defend themselves. they certainly have a right to defend themselves, and we ought to help them as best we can. >> how significant is it that germany will send weapons to ukraine? >> i think it's very significant. germany under its own laws doesn't all

fred pleitgen appreciate that. our thanks to you and sam kiley. >>> and we're going to have much more on this sort of bubbling conflict, if you like, a little later in the program. meanwhile, let's send it back to you, isa. >> michael holmes will return in about 20 minutes or so live from western ukraine. thank you, michael. >>> russian invasion could have major economic implications who are dealing with inflation. russia is one of the top oil and gas producers. as it is, americans are already paying nearly $1 more a gallon for gasoline than they did a year ago. and worries about disruptions have sent oil prices to nearly $96 a barrel for the first time since 2014. jpmorgan global equity research predicts short falls in opec plus production as well as capacity could send prices to $125 per barrel as early as the second quarter of this year. and we have a quick look at u.s. stocks today. this is on monday. the nasdaq there pretty flad. word the u.s. was closing the embassy in kyiv underscored that fear and if we hav

fred pleitgen, i want to begin with you. remarkable vantage point.can watch all the hardware coming into this country from the northeast. what kinds of weapons and how many are you seeing come in? >> reporter: yeah, certainly, jim. and some of the things that we're seeing come in, sort of a prelude of what happens on the battlefield especially kharkiv area and especially residential areas now been shelled with rocket artillery and that was one of the things we were able to see here as far as the gear is concerned, over the past couple of hours, on several occasions, we saw heavy russian, multiple rocket launchers called urugon moving closer to the front line. we're at the last checkpoint before you get to the kharkiv area, the ukrainian border, we saw at least three of the launchers move that way into the direction of ukraine, also a loading system that actually did have the missiles on it as well. the russians moving that here closer towards kharkiv and that certainly is a sign that possibly the attack on the city is going to intensify, as of course

we want to bring in fred pleitgen now. belarusian leader is also overseeing the drills. be a message with putin and luka schencko could have -- >> reporter: i'm sure that's the message they're trying to send, don't mess with russia, as this current crisis unfolds. i was at some drills today in belarus, and they unleashed some massive firepower at those drills, from air force, and also ground forces, too. you have the nuclear drills, which i think was the clear message that both vladimir putin and alexander lthey showcased some of their most powerful and most sophisticated weapons in that. you not only had intercontinental missiles, but they also used their new hypersonic missiles. that's the big weapon the russians have been showcasing the past two, three years. they launched one called "dagger" in english, and they launched another one from a ship as well. they have in the kremlin in the situation room, overseeing the drills with his top generals. they are clear lid trying to send they have a massive, powerful arsenals at their dis3068, nous injure conventional war fare

. >>> fred pleitgen is in the belgorod region. mat tell us what kind of weapons systems you've seen going. >> exactly, what capabilities they have and what may happen next on the battlefield. the area where we are right here, jim. one of the things you said in the lead-up to this, apparently there were rocket strikes on residential areas inside kharkiv. i have to say from our vantage point, impossible to tell exactly what's going on. however, what we have seen here today, jim, is multiple rocket launchers going past that checkpoint right there and driving towards the battlefield in kharkiv. as mathew was still speaking on the air, another multiple rocket launcher also went past this position. we saw first the rocket launcher and the loading vehicle with police sills on the back. that has a range of about 65 miles and could easily hit kharkiv from the area where we are. now that it's moving closer, especially then as well. that's certainly something that seems to be troubling from our vantage point. throughout the day, we've seen r

sam kiley in ukraine, and fred pleitgen in bucharest, romania.e begin our coverage with sam kiley in eastern ukraine. sam, the tension already very high, seems to be intensifying. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, the mayor of the capital kyiv, which you said in the introduction there, kim, according to u.s. analysts could be the target effectively in an attempt to decapitate the government, if not literally, then politically. the mayor there has reassured his population with reissuing instructions that there are plans for evacuation. for the use of soviet era bunkers. for emergency use of electricity generating capability and even communications if they get cut. here, close to the russian border, just 30 miles away from russia, if there is an invasion on a broad front. and there are a significant number of russian troops, amassing on this northeastern edge of the ukrainian border with russia to the east, where you talked about the 30,000 troops being concentrated in belarus, then there are also keep concerns that there could be an attempt to

fred pleitgen, thank you for that. we go to neek ic robertson in moscow. this russian misinformation campaign continues, and so they won't say they have sustained casualties, and what are you knowing about what is going on, and what are you seeing and hearing? >> well, the lady who walked behind me, and if my russian notes are good, she said "free ukraine" and i'm not 100% sure of that, but people are well aware of what going on, and that is the ukrainian embassy, and there is a cat and mouse with the police here. let me show you here. when we arrived here a few hours ago, there were people here and flowers along the fence, and the flowers have been cleared away by the municipal workers and few left up here, and the police, and the people who are here who have been here have also been cleared away by the police. check out some of the flowers here. this child's toy with a band-aid on his head between the flowers of yellow and blue of course representing the ukrainian flag. our team was down here earlier today and talking to people playing the flowers and on

. >> cnn has correspondents covering the war against continent, fred pleitgen is in belgorod, russia,ear ukraine's border. and cnn's arlette saenz is traveling with the president, president joe biden in wilmington, delaware. >> fred, i want to start with you, watching troops across ukraine. what are you learning about the russian plans for kyiv and what's happen right now. >> reporter: hi there, christi, well, certainly, it seems like the russians want to definitely take kyiv. what we've been hearing, there has been fighting on the outskirts of the ukrainian capital in several areas, however, the most recent information we've got friend official inside ukraine, they say so far russian forces have not been able to penetrate into the ukrainian capital. and so far, a large portion of the ukrainian capital still remains under control of ukraine cran forces. as we saw there, volodymyr zelenskyy, the ukrainian president he's obviously still there on the ground as well. however what we can say from our vantage point right here. this is one of the main areas that the russian military is stagi

fred pleitgen, cnn, belarus. >> that'll do it from us here in lviv in western ukraine for now. toss it back to kim brunhuber in atlanta. kim? >> thanks so much, michael. >>> a second covid booster shot might be on the horizon for americans, but while we're still dealing with the pandemic, the u.s. is also experiencing another public health crisis driven by synthetic opioids that's even killing kids in middle school. that's ahead. >>> plus, our live coverage of the standoff in ukraine continues as peer fears of a ru invasion reach a fever pitch. that's just ahahead in our next hour. stay with us. detergent alone, can't. baa to be clear, we have never been accused of being flashy, sexy or lit. may i? we're definitely not lit. i mean seriously, we named ourselves booking.com which is kind of lit if we are talking... literal... ha ha. it's why we're planet earth's number one site for booking accommodation. we love booking stuff! and we're just here to help you make the best of your vacation. ow... hi... booking.com booking.yeah i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual

our fred pleitgen is standing by in moscow with the latest there. start with cnn's sam kiley in ukraine near the russian border. good to see you, sam. so, 24 hours after speaking with president putin, mr. biden also talked with ukraine's leader, president zelensky. what more are you learning about that call and why zelensky asked mr. biden to visit his country when he knew that would not happen at this time? >> reporter: no, he knew it wouldn't happen, but he does like to have foreign visitors come down and see for themselves just how divided his country is in terms of the invasion that was conducted by russian-backed rebels east of the country, carving off the donbas and crimea. that is something he likes to remind people and why the ukrainians are fairly sanguine at the moment, rosemary, about the prospect of a russian invasion. i am 50 miles, just 50 miles from inside russia where more than a division reportedly, according to the russian military defense and other analysis of russian troops, including huge amounts of armour, are building up. amon

fred pleitgen, thank you so much. >>> today, u.s. secretary of state tony blinken authorized $350 million in new u.s. military assistance to ukraine following instructions from president biden. congresswoman jackie speier is a democrat from california and a member of the armed services and permanent select committee on intelligence. congresswoman, good to see you. >> thank you, fredricka. >> how worried are you for the ukrainian people? >> i'm deeply concerned. and i fear that lest we step up additional military aid swiftly, that they're going to be overwhelmed. i mean, if you look at how much more military the russians have on the ground versus the ukrainians, they're dwarfed by it. they're dwarfed by the weapon systems that russia has. this is an onslaught that we have to appreciate is going to be effective if we don't take more significant steps. >> when you say more significant steps, getting more arsenal in country is among them, right. i mean, how quickly and of what capacity could you get more arsenal in? because, remember, th

bringing in cnn's fred pleitgen from moscow, when we talk about this presidential summit, it seems last ditch but it is a glimmer, when might we know what the kremlin thinks about the idea. >> yeah, i think through the course of this morning we'll hear what the kremlin thinks about all of this, whether something like this could be possible, and so far, what we've heard from the kremlin in recent weeks, they're always willing to talk and certainly would like to talk, putin would certainly like to talk face to face with president joe biden, that is certainly something where i think he wouldn't only obviously want to talk about the situation there in donbas, but generally about the wider security structure in europe and some of those security demands that the russians have been making over the past couple of weeks, the past couple of months a lot of which the u.s. rejected but certainly told me in the past couple weeks they're always open to diplomacy and certainly want to keep talking. as far as the situation on the ground is concerned, michael, it's quite interesting, something of the th

cnn's nic robertson and fred pleitgen joining me now from russia. fred, let me begin with you. you're in belgrade and tweeted earlier that a lot of russian military gear seems to be breaking down and in need of towing. what's going on? >> that's certainly something we saw around the front line today. we are at the front line in belgrade. that's very close to kharkiv. this is sort of the area from where the russian military supplies its forces in kharkiv and indeed moves additional forces into kharkiv. and one of the things we saw today as the russians earlier this morning said that they had breached the defenses of kharkiv and were moving their forces in, which, obviously, leads to some urban combat there. we did see a lot of military activity or on the russian part. a lot of rocket artillery fire going out from russian positions. also military hardware moving in. we did also see a couple of russian vehicles, quite a few actually, that seemed to be in need of towing that seemed to be broken down. now it's unclear whether or not that's sort of the kind of normal attrition that y

fred pleitgen is in belarus and has details. >> reporter: russia's army on the offensive in major live-fireh belarusian forces inside belarus but close to the board we are ukraine, practicing for a massive onslaught, the commander explaining their objective. today at the live fire demonstration, a defensive battle was shown, and then a counterstrike to restore the force's position along the front line, he says. these troops are part of the more than 150,000 soldiers russia has amass around ukraine, the u.s. believes, launching fears belarus could be one of the launching pads for an attack on ukraine, even though moscow claims it has no such plans. at these very tense times, russia is really flexing its military muscle, not just with these massive drills in belarus, with exercises elsewhere as well, emboldening some of russia's elite combat units. vladimir putin himself oversaw nuclear drills near nato's borders involving some of russia's most dangerous weapons, like the hypersonic air to ground missile or the intercontinental ballistic missile, jars, fired from a mobile launcher. russia fir

fred pleitgen, cnn, aboard the "uss harry s.n" in the adriatic sea. >>> britain's queen elizabeth is celebrating her platinum jubilee. we'll take a look back at her historic 70 years on the throne after this break. we'll take a look back at her when a truck hit my car, the insurance company wasn't fair. i didn't know what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. i was hit by a car and needed help. i called the barnes firm, that was the best call i could've made. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to know how much their accident case is worth. let our injury attorneys help you get the best result possible. ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ ♪ >>> it's a historic weekend for britain's queen elizabeth as she marks a major royal announcement, while celebrating her platinum jubilee. the 95-year-old monarch chose the landmark milestone to say it's her wish the duchess of cornwall be known as queen camilla when prince charles becomes king. the couple married in 2005, they announced

fred pleitgen is live in minsk.ou have done remarkable reporting the likes i have never seen inside belarus with the leader there. >> reporter: yeah. you're absolutely right. we get pretty good access to major military drills in belarus. as you pointed out, putin and lukashenko are meeting. the first thing they were talking about is improving military operation. we saw that with the massive drills, with fears belarus could be used as an area from where they might invade ukraine. now, i was able to speak to lukashenko briefly yesterday in quite a testy exchange. here's what happened. for the first time, we're getting a closedown view of some of the russian forces the u.s. says are threatening ukraine, conducting massive live fire drills with the belarusian military inside belarus. the u.s. says it fears it could be one of the places from which an attack on ukraine could be launched. belarusian strongman and strong putin ally, alexander lukashenko was combative when i confronted him. >> translator: do you still believ

fred pleitgen is in moscow. we know the russian president is set to hold a security council meeting today, go to the parliament tomorrow. how significant are these meetings? how unusual? are they connected? what do we expect to hear? >> reporter: i think they're extremely significant and possibly also connected as well. in fact, russian tv right mao is broadcasting video of vladimir putin and his security council meeting. there are significant things he's said already. first of all, he ripped into the ukrainian leadership. he said there was the minsk agreement around the areas of donbas and luhansk as well. he said the populations of those areas had been subjected to shelling by the ukrainian side. we've not been able to verify any of that. the ukrainians saying none of that is true and the separatist forces have been shelling their own positions to try and create a pretext. one of the interesting things, jim, that vladimir putin did just say a couple minutes ago. he said the security council -- russian national

sam kiley, fred pleitgen, keep your heads down. literally. we just learned president biden will speak at 12:30 p.m. eastern time on russia's attack on ukraine. we will, of course, bring you those comments as they come. in the last hour, russian troops told cnn's matthew chance who was just outside the capital kyiv that they are now in control of antonov air base on the outskirts of the city as ukrainian troops were attempting a counteroffensive. take a listen, have a watch at the tense moments he witnessed there. >> we are here at the antonov airport, 50 miles or so. these troops you can see over here. over here, they are russian airborne forces. they have taken this airport. they've allowed us to come in and be with them as they defend the perimeter of this air base here where helicopter borne troops, these troops were landed in the early hours of this morning to take and to form an air bridge to allow for more troops to come in. these are russian forces. i've spoken to them already. you can tell they've got that orange and black, identified

fred pleitgen spoke to the belarusen strong president today and he's out front. >> reporter: for theme of the russian forces the u.s. says are threatening ukraine, conducting massive live fire drills with the belarus military inside belarus. the u.s. says it fears this could be one of the places where an attack on ukraine could be launched. belarusian strong man and staunch putin ally, shenko responds to the actions. >> translator: have you overcome this mental plauk. >> it's not about what i believe, it's about what the united states says, the united states says there's a very real threat of an attack from russian territory or belarusian territory from ukraine. >> translator: we have an agreement here, we formed a united belarus group, a united army, and this is our official position, please take it into account as we are taking into account your position. >> the drills are called ally resolve 2022 and officially have the russian and belarusian military fend off enemies attacking them, includes russia's dangerous missile system that could easily hit ukraine's capitol kiev about 400

fred pleitgen explains some of the reasons why germany has been on the side lines. >> reporter: as russiaine's borders, the u.s. and its allies have stepped up deliveries of defensive weapons to key i have including armour piercing anti-tank missiles. notably missing nato partner germany. only offering 5,000 helmets for the ukrainians facing russian tanks. >> translator: the german government has said very clearly that we will not send any lethal weapons or arms deliveries to conflict areas because we do not want to fuel these conflicts further. >> reporter: but germany is coming off a record year for arms exports. the top client, egypt despite its difficult human rights track record. ukraine's ambassador to berlin says he's not happy. >> they need to reconsider and really start helping us with the weapons of a defensive type which we need right now. >> reporter: some nato countries are questioning just how reliable an ally berlin is when it comes to confronting russian aggression, especially after the head of the german navy recently had to resign after saying vladimir putin deserves res

fred pleitgen is as cross border from ukraine. in belgorod, a few miles from where clarissa is. fred, you've been watching russian forces literally drive along the highway from russia towards kharkiv. tell us what you're seeing and in what numbers. >> reporter: yeah, you're seeing them right here. you're seeing them drive past us right here. these appear to be transport trucks. you see in all the trucks, jim, i want to point out, a z painted on the side, apparently what the russian forces have done in order to be able to distinguish their vehicles. you can see them make a right turn right there right now past that checkpoint. that is the straight way into ukraine. that is the straight way to kharkiv. these forces seem to be heading straight into ukrainian territory. that's what we have been seeing, essentially what this invasion has been looking like from our vantage point. we're at the last checkpoint before you go into ukrainian territory. we have seen that steady stream of russian vehicles here move that way. what we also have seen, jim, this is something kuquite troubling to

fred pleitgen is on the other side of the country on the russian side of the border. ed, when we heard the defense department say 100 russian-launched missiles, you hear them here saying two missiles landing on one base of obviously many struck. you saw literally tanks rolling in. tell me what you saw? and one thing that's stood out to me from your reporting is those tanks had dirt on the treads. they were prepared to go in the hard way. they could just get on the road and go right in. tell us what you're seeing. >> yeah, absolutely, erin. we saw those tanks roll in. we saw a lot of other mechanized infantry vehicles roll in as well. it's really something that's been an ongoing thing as we've been standing here at the final checkpoint before you get into ukraine. i'm going to get out of your way and show you, that's the checkpoint right there. once you pass that checkpoint, what happens is that you are on -- you are essentially right moving towards the town of harky, the second largest town in ukraine but also is one town where there's a lot of fighting going on. i can

we don't know exactly what those strikes are targeting, but our colleague fred pleitgen who is on the russian side of the border just about 30 miles away has said that he has been hearing helicopters in the skies near belogrod not far from here. that's where we've seen a large russian build-up near the border. and now people here are going to be waking up to a very different country than the one they went to sleep in. president putin showing no signs of backing down at all. and as i said, we've been hearing -- of course once you finally come to us for the live it's actually quiet for a moment. we have been hearing a steady stream of thuds all around the city. we're in the city of kharkiv. it's a city of 1.4 million up in the northeast of the country. it is not a city that is accustomed to war. it has been hit heavily in the second world war. but this is a city full of young professionals. and up until a few days ago nobody would have believed that this was actually going to happen. and yet here we are after 5:00 in the morning witnessing the beginnings of what promises to be a very ug

morning of this crisis from ukraine, brussels, washington and from moscow where we begin with cnn's fred pleitgened, good morning. the president addressed the russian people directly but did they hear him? >> reporter: it's -- it looks like they did. actually, president biden's speech or excerpts of it were actually on russian tv as well. a couple of minutes ago we got off a call with the kremlin with a spokesman for vladimir putin, dmitry peskov. he said the remarks that the russian people are not the enemy of the united states, that those were welcome by the russian government, by the kremlin. he did say, however, he believed there were some threats in president biden's speech russians didn't really take kindly to or didn't want to hear. so certainly the russians are saying there were some things in president biden's speech that do give grounds for optimism but at the same time you have the military situation with the u.s. president saying the situation on the ground is still very dangerous. we do have those video on our screen right now of that train allegedly departing crimea with russian mil

fred frederik pleitgen joins us now. you were able to witness drills but obviously we want to underline this point, russia wants the world to see this. >> reporter: yeah. the russians certainly do want the world to see this, but it was still quite important to be there, just for the fact that you could for the first time see these russian forces up close. of course the u.s. is threatening to see the military hardware that they have and how they work together with the bel belarusian forces. the exercises going on are dangerous because there's tens of thousands of russian forces here and of course belarus is very much in the corner of the russians. some of the weapons systems that we saw, jake, were very sophisticated. fighter jets, strike aircraft but the esconder missile system which could easily hit the capital of ukraine, kyiv, and we also have to keep in mind as well, jake, the fastest way to get to kyiv would be via belarus. so a dangerous situation as far as the u.s. is concerned. i put those concerns to lukashenko

i want to go to fred pleitgen, on the russian side of the border. i understand you're seeing russia sending in heavy arms into ukraine. the u.s. has said that's probably the most fierce battle going on in ukraine. and today we could see the russians move in additional forces throughout the entire day. i was at the final check.point and we had see columns of battle tanks being mover toward the checkpoint. we could see heavy howitzers moving in as well. one of the things that people find extremely troubling we saw a flame flower a t.u.s.-1. it lunchs thermobaric weapon, unclear if that's been used in the battle there, but certainly is there and can be deployed at any time, wolf. >>> fret pleitgen reporting. >>> the breaking news in our special edition of "the situation room." we continue next. some weapons threaten to take the war to a terrifying new level l of human suffering. biotrue uses naturally inspired ingredients. and no preservatives. try biotrue! (johnny cash) ♪ i've traveled every road in this here land! ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i

fred pleitgen has the story. is putin pulling back or what do you make of this? >> reporter: i think it's too early to see whether or not it's any sign of pull back but the messaging we've been getting from the kremlin over the past 24 hours or so has been one where the russians are saying they do want more diplomacy. as we're going to air you saw me looking down before i looked back up. the reason for that is i was just taking a look at the conference call that we had with the spokesman of the kremlin. i want to bring you that. dmitry peskov is calling this hysteria. he says the russians want to speak about broader security concerns. i was in contact with a vladimir putin spokesman. he told me if the russian president wanted diplomacy and also the russians believe ukraine is only one of a broader range of issues they have. it's a sort of security setting right now in europe and they wanted broader discussions like, for instance, the one that took place between vladimir putin and the u.s. president joe biden over the past weekend. the russians possibly signaling

frederik pleitgen is there for us. freda diplomatic solution at this point? >> reporter: the kremlin says it is interested in a diplomatic solution. the chem lynn says the-- kremli says they are working with the united states to achieve a diplomatic solution. they feel the u.s. is not taking into consideration the demands the kremlin has made. the big thing that happened over the weekend, christine, was the talk with president biden and russian president vladimir putin and the conversation they had, described as being businesslike. president biden saying the u.s. will move swiftly and decisively if there is a further invasion of ukraine. the russians for their part, and this came from a senior aide to vladimir putin after the call. his name is yuri ushikov, an air of hysteria, as he put it. that's what the russians keep saying. he said the russians obviously have put forward those demands to the united states, security demands as they call them, which include pulling out nato forces from eastern european countries. but espe

however, in an interview with cnn's fred pleitgen yesterday lukashenko indicated that these joint military exercises would continue as long as they were needed to continue before the troops would go back to base. then he said they would go back to base. but it's unclear precisely what we'll hear from president putin and president lukashenko. today they're expected to talk about the military exercises, the position in europe, economic ties between the two countries as well. it does seem to be a meeting to watch to see if they would watch the joint military exercises to see if as many as 30,000 troops would be coming to an end soon. will that be indicative of the other russian military exercises going on in crimea, in russia to the south and to the east of ukraine. so an important moment to watch. we've just learned from the state news agency quoting the russian foreign minister that president putin will attend military exercises on saturday, tomorrow, and during those military exercises they will involve the launching or testing and training of ballistic and cruise missiles that will involv

fred pleitgen is live near belgorod, russia. let's start with you, alex. what can you tell us about the loud explosions just outside the capital? >> after an unusually quiet day, we heard those explosions just as we got word that those talks were coming to an end. i'm not saying those are connected but it was certainly notable. we heard from here three loud explosions. we've been able to pinpoint at least one of them coming from the northeastern part of kyiv, about 11 miles away. 18 kilometers. that's pretty close in an area of town called brovary. we've been told, thankfully, no one was killed but there were six wounded. at the same time we've been able to verify new video from ukraine's second biggest city kharkiv where there has been heavy russian shelling there today. that city just 20 miles from the russian border up in the northeastern part of the country, and this was a residential neighborhood that was hit with multiple rockets. we're told they landed near a supermarket in an area called saltivka. so russia clearly not letting up in their offense,

. >>> let's get straight to cnn's fred pleitgen. what does vladimir putin want here? we know for some 15 years he has been laying the groundwork questioning the sovereignty of ukraine, the identity of ukraine. >> reporter: yeah, i am indeed near the border of ukraine and russia. i want to give you a quick feel of what we're seeing here. i'm going to step to the side. you can see behind me there is russian military in the field now. we are say maybe 25, 30 miles away from the border between russia and ukraine to that donbatsk area. you are seeing several pieces of self-propelled artillery. those are not on trucks, those are in the field. it's something you see quite common here. we saw several columns of armored vehicles, military trucks. as i'm speaking to you now, you can see another military truck passing us at this point in time. you do see the area really teaming with russian military as of course the u.s. is concerned that more of it could move into donbastk. the way president putin is framing this, has been framing it, he says russians are under threat in those