joining us from perth australia nbc news correspondent ian williams. ian, bring us up to date on the latest details. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. well, today was the largest number of aircraft deployed so far in what is day five of the search out of perth. ten out in the search area, two of them chinese military aircraft. it was one of these chinese aircraft that spotted from 33,000 feet on its way back to base this latest debris. now the description they gave was of two large square shaped objects. they were white. floating in the water. and a large number of smaller white objects spread over an area of several kilometers. now the chinese relayed the details and the coordinates back to the australians who are coordinating this and they let various shipsz know, its own ice breaker which is cruising towards the area expected to arrive tomorrow. then the u.s.p-8 aircraft was asked to go look for themselves. they saw nothing. they couldn't see these objects that the chinese had seen even though they allowed for the potential drift. today, this aftern

joining us from perth, ian williams. so let's talk about this because obviously it's like finding a needle in the hay stack, but they haven't established the actual haystack. >> reporter: that's right, thomas. in fact this morning officials here were trying to play down the chances of any immediate breakthrough. that particular quote came from a top defense official who, yes, said we haven't found the hay stack yet and the defense minister himself said that anything was just speculation up they had actually come across a piece of debris that they could positively identify as being part of the aircraft. as if to underline the difficulties, today operations were suspended because of dreadful weather out in the search area. gail force winds, waves up to 20, 30 feet high. and very, very poor visibility. they concluded it simply wasn't safe to send aircraft or ships into that area. now, they are hoping to resume tomorrow when there will be 12 aircraft deployed. aircraft including those from japan, the u.s., australia and chin

nbc's ian williams is following the latest for us from perth, australia. ian, will this shift make the search any easier? >> reporter: craig, i should tell you first that we just heard from the australian authorities who were overseeing this. the new zealand aircraft, an orion, had spotted what they call objects out in that new search area. it should be landing back here in perth soon, carrying photographs and the amas, the australian authorities say that ships are on their way to examine this further, although those ships which are being diverted from the old search area won't be in the new search area probably until the end of tomorrow. so that's kind of an initial encouraging sign, though that said, oceanic experts are warning in this new search area, that is probably more trash than there was in the old area. but certainly, they say, the new area is closer to mainland australia, 400 miles closer, which means it takes less time for aircraft to reach there. also, the weather generally is a little bit better, though it is still a very big area. but this in

nbc's ian williams joins you from perth. what does this mean for the old search area? >> well, it means, thomas, that for now, they are moving out of that old search area. they had appeared to be honing in on an area in the southern part of the indian ocean, aided by multiple satellite images. it now appears that they were false leads and, in fact, those satellite images might not have been the aircraft at all. the new search is based on an examination, a re-examination of radar data which suggests the aircraft was flying faster and may have crashed sooner. now, that puts it in the water about 1100, 1200 miles off the coast of australia. that's a good 400 miles closer to australia than the previous search area. so planes can get there more speedily? the weather is said to be better. it is still deep, 6,000 to 12,000 feet in depth. on top of that, it is an area the size of new mexico or poland. they are only moving their assets up. there are planes today, ships getting there over the weekend and repositioning satellites. in many respects, they are back to square one. >>

let's get to ian williams live in perth, australia. ian, how hopeful are searchers? >> reporter: good morning, veronica. it was spotted on the first trip out to the search area by the chinese planes. now what we do know is that they say they saw two large white square objects and a large number of smaller white objects, which were spread over several square miles. now, we do now know that they spotted this on their way back to perth from a height of 33,000 feet. now after they've spotted it they radioed in the coordinates to the australian coordinating center here and they also let a number of ships know, including their own ice breaker that is heading to the area. now the australians then asked the american p-8 search plane to go and take a look for itself, but they couldn't see anything even though they allowed for a potential drift of this debris. we have this chinese spotting but not confirmed at this point by any of the other aircraft. so a very big search out there. this does seem to be a very hopeful sighting, but as yet we're still waiting for more informatio

nbc's ian williams with the latest from kiev. >> reporter: anger on kiev's independence square today demanding russia leave crimea. moscow appears to be reinforcing a marked convoys on the move. hours after russian soldiers briefly seize control of a ukrainian base. they're still blocking others. pro-moscow authorities ordering all remaining ukrainian soldiers in crimea to disarm and surrender, but many refuse. a european security monitors are being prevented from entering the peninsula. armed men firing warning shots into the air with automatic weapons. in russian speaking east ukraine, pro-moscow protesters chanted "glory to russia." the fear is that russia is stirring up trouble to justify intervention in this region, too. the mood here is very volatile. there is a deep concern about events in kiev but that doesn't mean everybody would welcome intervention by moscow. on this trolley bus, there was plenty of fear and uncertainty. olga told me that everybody's worried. but she said we should stick together and there should be no bloodshed. alexander was plain angry at what he calls

ian williams is in kharkiv. >> reporter: events this weekend have been at times violent and sinister, raising fears that east ukraine could be the next region to face russian intervention. more than 100 people were injuresaturday in clashes betweeo- and supporters of the new government in kiev. one group of hardcore pro-russians then stormed the local government building, raising the russian flag. by morning they'd gone, and the police appeared to be in control. this is the biggest city in ukraine's industrial heartland. a great deal is at stake. the pro russians are camped in the main square around the giant statue of lenin. their barricades covered in flowers and photos of riot police from the east, those killed in clashes with protesters from kiev. the fear is that this will be the next tipping point area in order to justify intervening on behalf of the russian speakers. this evening, we were invited into the pro-russian encampment. encouraged by events in crimea, they vow to defect the city from what they call extremists from the rest of the country. alexi told me that, while they

nbc's ian williams is live in perth, australia, for us. good morning to you. this search has been described as looking for a needle in a haystack. but officials say they haven't even found the haystack as of yet. what's next? >> reporter: that's right. they said they haven't even found that haystack, that quote coming from a senior defense official at a briefing this morning out of the pierce air force base, which is the hub of this operation. he also said everything is speculation until they do actually find something, which is identified as a piece of debris from flight 370. just to underline the difficulty, today it was suspended, no aircraft flew today, that was because of appalling weather conditions out in the search area. gale force winds, 20 foot swells, heavy rain, very, very poor visibility. the authorities here, the maritime authorities are coordinating the search, decided it was too dangerous to send any ships out there. they hope tomorrow they can send 12 aircraft into the search zone. that will be a number we haven't seen before and will include

nbc's ian williams is in perth, australia. he's watching that for us. what is the latest on verifying what this object might be, ian? >> reporter: they are still working on it, richard. it has been an extraordinary day here of two separate sightings of objects floating out there in the ocean, but still no confirmation that either is related to flight 370. now, first was that chinese observation, a chinese flight coming back from the search area towards perth flying at 33,000 feet spotted what it thought were rectangular white objects, large objects, floating in the ocean, surrounded by a large number of white objects over several miles area. now, the american plane, p-8 was sent over to check on that and could see nothing. the chinese did take a lot of photographs, and now they are looking at those photographs to see whether they can draw any more conclusions. then a short while ago, we heard of another sighting, this time from an australian plane of what they described as a circular, large circular object, gray, green in color as well as a rectangular o

nbc's ian williams is in perth, australia, for us this morning. ian, good morning.re not satisfying families of those on the flight. has their anger at malaysia saying all are dead affected the search here at all that you've seen? >> reporter: well, richard, it is not clear at this point whether these latest images have been received by the malaysians. these reports have come out of thailand this afternoon saying that their satellite or one of their satellites spotted at least 300 objects down there in the southern indian ocean, objects of varying sizes. it is not clear whether these images have been passed on to the malaysians and then to the australians down here because neither of those have yet reacted to the new thai images. also, a slight word of caution, in these initial reports it describes this debris as being around 120, 130 miles from where a french satellite saw 120 odd items in the water. but the french satellite spotted it the day before. and it is hard to see how these could be the same items because 120 miles is a long way to travel overnight. but ei

. >> ian williams is joining us from a foggy kiev this morning. kerry is landing there in an hour and entering a diplomatic hornet's net. what do we know on his agenda today? >> reporter: good morning, thomas. the secretary of state will land here into a very foggy and drizzle be kiev about an hour and a half from now. primarily as a show of support for ukraine's interim government. he'll be meeting government leaders. he also will be going to parliament here. at which protesters have already been gathering and urging the government and john kerry to take a tough line against moscow. we are probably going to hear tough words. certainly there will be some pretty combative recognize r ii john contrary. the ukrainians are keen to see what he can put on the table and what support there might be for an economy here which is in free-fall. his visit, of course, coinciding with the visit from the imf looking at ways to rescue the beleaguered economy. certainly they will be looking to see what sort of firm spo support, what measures kerry can put behind th

let's get to ian williams live in perth, australia. what do we know about the new satellite images?d morning. we're still gathering information on precisely what's been seen by this satellite, but the initial reports talk about 300 objects ranging in size by about 6 feet and up to 50 feet. they say that these images were taken on the 24th and they say that it's in an area which is about 200 kilometers, that's maybe 110 miles from the current search area. but what's going to be crucial is comparing this location with those images seen in the french satellite, which was the day before. if it's the same area, then that does tend to reenforce the hopes. but if this isn't a very different area, it's hard to see how they can be the same objects because there's only so far they can travel overnight, if you like. but certainly adding to the frustration here because right now the bad weather means that the planes have been able to get out there to start checking this or any other of the images. >> ian williams with the latest on the search for that plane, thank you very much. >>> let's take

we have three reports, ian williams is in ukraine. we start with ian williams. >> reporter: craig, good day to you from the center of the slightly bizarre spectacle of protesters in the shadow of a statue of lenin. but at same tootimes, yesterday of supporters of the new government in kiev leaving dozen injured. sinister when we saw a militia-type group take over the city hall here. now, they broke in, they stayed there for a day. then equally as mysteriously, they disappeared sunday morning. and today, there were lines of riot police waiting out the front. now, the protesters here in the shadow of lenin have their own barricades. they have their own flowers, pictures. but these are of former riot policemen that died in the clashes in kiev a few days ago. they are clearly very encouraged by events in crimea and hope russia will react here. the big fear, of course, is that russia is trying to kree yacrea situation, stir up chaos and instability in the east to justify intervention here. that is the big fear but also, of course, the hope

. >> nbc's ian williams is in kiev. ian, what's the reaction there of the pending vote in crimea?ç >> reporter: hi, abe. the government has reacted with anger. they describe this proposed referendum as illegal and unconstitutional. earlier this evening, i spoke to the u.s. ambassador here who described it as one more step in what he called the creeping annexation of crimea by russia. seen from here, russia does seem to be in a real hurry to grab crimea, perhaps wanting to create facts on the ground, a situation which becomes very difficult then for the international community to roll back. now, the crimean parliament, which is very pro-russian, had originally scheduled a referendum for the end of march, which had a broader question about autonomy. instead, parliament voted today for re -- for joining russia and also for this referendum, which will effectively rubber stamp it in 10 days' time, on the 16th of march. now, other menacing developments today, armed militia stormed the local television station, which was still broadcasting ukrainian programs, and instead put russian prog

now let's turn to nbc's ian williams in perth, australia. ian, what comes next in the search for the missing plane and how much of a factor will weather be? >> reporter: hi, jonathan. well, just a short while ago, the australian marine safety authority, which is coordinating this search, came out with a statement at the end of the day, and it said nothing of significance has been found during today's search. it also said, to address your question, that they've been hampered by quite heavy fog early today, although that had cleared as the day went on. but the crucial part of that statement, delivered just a few minutes ago, is that nothing of significance was spotted today. they do now have those three satellite images to work with. it's our understanding that the french image was passed to the malaysians, who have, in turn, passed it to the australians and that now is part of the information pack, which they're using to decide which areas they will search next. now, today, there were eight airplanes out there, including one from the u.s. mili

joining me now live from perth, australia is nbc news asia correspondent ian williams. ian, what is the latest on the search area this morning? >> reporter: hi, lawrence. well, the search has been suspended today. the weather is just too bad out there. this larger fleet of aircraft waiting to go in has remained on the ground. we're hearing of winds up to 50 miles an hour, swells up to 15 feet, very low cloud. and the australian authorities who are coordinating this search have just concluded it's too dangerous to send the planes out. they can't operate in those conditions. the hmas success, which is an australian navy supply vessel, which had been en route to try and check out the objects, the apparent debris that was spotted yesterday by australian search aircraft, has been withdrawn from the area because the seas are so bad and will wait outside the search area until the seas have subsided and it can return possibly wednesday. that means that that debris, who knows what will happen to it in that 24 hours, in that swell, in those churning oceans. it's going to be doubly

joining me now for the latest from perth is nbc's ian williams. t are you hearing about this latest development and how's the search going? >> reporter: hi, chris. well, this is the fourth piece -- the fourth set of satellite images, the fourth lead, and possibly the most significant. certainly, that's how the malaysian officials see it. a french satellite took these images last sunday, the 23rd, they appeared to show suspect debris spread over a 155-square-mile area out there in the southern part of the indian ocean. now, what we don't know at this point is precisely what they are. the satellite said they appear to be quite solid, range in size from three or four feet, up to 75 feet. the information has been passed on to the australians and will be factored in to future searches out there. now, today, wednesday, there were a record number of assets out in the search area. 12 aircraft, five ships, they did spot what they describe as three significant items of debris, two of which appeared to be rope, the third was just described as something that w

nbc's ian williams is in perth, australia. know there's been bad weather that halted some of the search today, but what is getting done? >> reporter: well, we now have, chris, multiple sightings from satellites of something down there in the southern indian ocean, but no confirmation of what those sightings are of, certainly no wreckage yet records. the later satellite images come from thailand released in bangkok today, and appear to show more than 300 objects ranging in size from four or five feet up to 50 feet, but the thai authorities were cautioning that the resolution is not high. also, they're pointing out that these images were taken about 120, 130 miles away from where the french spotted some objects in the ocean. but the french photographs were the day before the thai photographs. it's difficult to imagine they can be of the same thing, because that's a long way to travel in just 24 hours. but certainly it's another lead, it's another clue. the people behind the search here in perth want every lead they can get their

ian williams joins me from kiev. tell me what the new leaders are saying and what they think putin is up to. >> reporter: hi, andrea, i just got back from the parliament here where a short while ago i sat down with the acting president of ukraine, and he told me how he signed into law this morning a decree declaring that referendum in crimea illegal and unconstitutional and said the absurdity of trying to hold a referendum at the barrel of a gun. it was an interesting conversation which reflected some of the deep concerns of the government here. i actually asked him what he wanted most to see from the west and particularly from the u.s. he said the financial stability -- without that, freedom and democracy would never be entrenched here and he was immensely grateful for what he heard from u.s. and the europe about financial aid. he also said he hoped the imf, who are in town this week, those discussions going well would soon be resolved. interesting though, he also said that if russia continued what he called its bel

for more now on where things stand, i'm joined by nbc's ian williams who has more from kiev. ian? >> reporter: good morning, kristen. today's diplomacy certainly to be overshadowed by the latest news from crimea, that recently installed pro-russian leadership down there is to hold a referendum on the 16th of may with a simple question -- do they want to be part of crimea or part of the russian federation? now, that's certain to be seen in the west as yet the next step towards a formal annexation of that peninsula by moscow. that's certain to inflame passions here in kiev. whether sergey lavrov can give any room on that is far from clear, because he's already said that the troops who are in control down there, who have taken control in crimea, are not russians. he describes them as a self-defense force over which russia has no control. focus also today on the big e.u. meeting. european leaders in brussels, to see if they'll come forward with package, any threat of sanctions, which they've been reluctant to do so far but, of course, this development in crimea could concentrate their

. >> we start north of crimea with nbc's ian williams. ian, there's been a lot of claims and counter claims today. what's the latest there on the ground? >> reporter: it's a confusing picture, toure. we've seen a lot of so-called deadlines come and go, which we've heard from russian news agencies, from the ukrainian government. but it does seem that russia is pretty well in control of crimea. and the question now, and it's something which john kerry is going to be looking at closely tomorrow, on how he can under it, is what russia does next. and the focus will be on this region here, where i am today, in east ukraine. this is the second biggest city in the country, the industrial heartland, kharkov. many people here have been encouraged with what's happening in ukraine and would ideally like the russians to come in here, too. behind me, you probably can't make it out now, but there is a huge statue of lenin under which there is a group of pro-russian protesters. they occupied this and hoisted the russian flag, and in violence between them

>> eunice yoon in china, thank you so much. >>> nbc's ian williams joins us live from perth, the base of the international search operation. ian, we know there's going to be a search going out today. the weather has played a role on how quickly this can go forward. >> reporter: the weather has been horrendous, luke. that's how it was described by the australians today. they concluded it just simply wasn't safe to send aircraft out, or ships into that area. the latest we're hearing is that the search will recommence tomorrow, weather permitting. if it does, there will be a record number of assets out there. we'll see the largest deployment so far. there will be 12 aircraft from australia and new zealand, the u.s., china and japan as one of the small fleet of ships. they'll be going to a more -- what is described as a smaller area. apparently, the satellite technology that enabled them to conclude the aircraft went down in the southern part of the indian ocean has enabled them to narrow the search area, but -- this is the but. that search area is still the size of alaska. and the bad we

i'm going to take you quickly back to ian williams in perth, australia. ian, as we understand, the 167 has been suspended as to weather. any idea when that might resume? >> they're saying they want to get back out there, betty, just as soon as possible. but i don't think that's going to be today, tuesday. they expect the weather to start to clear today. but it's unlikely they'll be out before wednesday. as was mentioned there, trying to predict the weather patterns is very, very difficult. we were seeing forecasts and the day comes and the conditions are just so much worse than they expected. it's proving very difficult out there to say precisely how the weather is going to go. but they are hoping for a few clear days following this bad weather. and just to follow up on the difficulty of trying to track where these objects were any debris is going, a specialist from a university here in sydney was quoted in this morning's papers as describing following debris as a game of pinball. he said the currents down there are so unpredictable that you never quite kn

nbc's ian williams has more from kiev. ian? >> reporter: good morning, kristen.ell, following john kerry's offer tuesday of a billion u.s. dollars of aid for the ukrainian economy, today the european union weighed in, saying that they would come up with $15 billion worth of help, mainly in the form of grants and aid. it's not clear what the conditions will be that will go with that, but what we do know now is the international community is moving very fast to shore up the battered ukrainian economy, an economy which is already in a bad way, even without russia turning the economic screws, as we are now seeing. now, crimea's been quieter today, the russians tightening control down there. but the ukrainian prime minister described the russian action there as not only a threat to ukraine, but a threat to world peace. at the same time, though, the ukrainian government has confirmed they are in touch with the russian government. so there is some discussion going on, some diplomacy, kristen. >> all right, ian williams, thank you for that report. >>> let's turn now to r

ian williams for us in perth, ian, thank you. >>> both united states and russia are voicing concerns this morning about an escalation of tensions between north and south korea. both koreas traded artillery fire today. south korea says the north fired more than 500 artillery rounds, and it comes as the u.s. and south korea conduct joint military exercises in that region. according to reports, the south responded by firing more than 300 artillery rounds of their own. a white house official called north korea's actions, including a declaration it may conduct more nuclear tests, quote, dangerous and provocative. russia says it's also worried about the, quote, knew trul toughening of rhetoric. >>> coming up, a dramatic look at the moment a quake hit california friday. it's the strongest quake to hit the state in years and since that moment, there have been more than 150 aftershocks. it's something even bigger to come. i'm going to talk to a seismologist professor coming up next. >>> also, chris christie apologizing to the billionaire who could help finance any run that chris dee might mak

we go to ian williams in crimea's capital with the latest.hanks for joining us. >> reporter: that meeting today in london between lavrov of secretary of state john kerr y went on for six hours. there was no break through and it looks as if russia is moving rapidly towards the annexation of crimea, something they'll formalize soon of sunday's referendum of the we could see sanctions from europe and the u.s. as early as next week. now, as you mentioned, there has been a buildup of russian troops on the ukrainian border. president putin said that they had no intention of invading ukraine but don't forget also he did say he had no intention of annexing crimea a week or two back. that is creating a lot of concern in europe and washington and of course here in ukraine. so very tense weekend as we get close to that referendum, ronan. >> thank you so much. nbc news correspondent ian williams, we'll come back and this story is developing fast. >>> coming up later in this hour, a guest i'm very excited about, also on the international front, former bri

ian williams joins us live from perth, australia about 1,400 miles from the search zone. crews are just about to give it another go. what's the latest there? >> reporter: hello, karen. they'll be heading out about two hours from now, a massively enhanced search. saturday we had six aircraft heading to that area. today we'll have chinese and japanese military aircraft joining them. also, a small flotilla of ships, including chinese ships and an australian military vessel capable of lifting the debris out of the water. the big problem at the moment is they haven't actually found any. of course hopes have been raised by that latest satellite picture from china taken four days ago, although the australians are cautioning that that photograph was taken in an area where they have been combing quite extensively over the last two days. nevertheless that will be the focus of the search tomorrow -- today rather, it's already sunday here. the weather could be another big factor. friday and saturday were good days. the water was flat, the visibility was good, the winds were low, but

nbc ian williams joins us from effort the latest. ian? >> reporter: good day to you, luke. important new leads potentially within hours of a search beginning in this new area. no less than five aircraft reported seeing objects floating in the ocean. a new zealand air force plane said there were several in light or white color. an australian air force plane that went into verify that said it saw rectangular items, large blue or gray in color. photographs were taken and they're being examined overnight. the search authorities here are being cautious because we seem to have had so many false leads in this search, but a chinese ship has been tasked with going in there tomorrow and seeing what it can fish from the water to try and verify precisely what it is that was seen. now the conditions in this new search area are better. the weather is generally kinder than further south. it's also closer to the australian mainland so it's easier to get out there by aircraft and they can spend more time looking and searching and seeing what is in what is still a very vast area, 123,000 squ

ian williams is in kiev for us. ian, i understand you spoke to the acting president of ukraine. talk about how he's handling the tension in his country. >> reporter: that's right, alex. i spoke to him yesterday. he's clearly rattled by these events down in crimea and hopes, believes that international sanctions, international pressure can still restrain moscow. he said to me he believed that international help, that ukraine would not be desserted by the international community. i spoke to him just before that tense stand off last night in crimea. he had signed a decree friday, in which he outlaws the referendum that is due in a few days time. he says that's illegal and unconstitutional. he also told me ukraine was trying to show maximum restraint in crimea because it didn't want to further provoke russia. he hopes the international community can bring pressure to bear. crucially, he said economic help is very, very important. the coughers are empty. ukraine is bankrupt. the money has been stolen. he believes it's not just important in itself, but to entrench freedom and knock si

ian williams, thank you from crimea.mergency workers are expected to reach the basement levels of two apartment buildings. eight people were killed in the blast. crews are searching to see what caused the blast. >>> ice beginning to melt from the endless winter. a slap or ice slid off a roof. her car, it's totalled. it could have been worse. >> this could have been my child. this could have been my handicapped sister. this could have been the two children upstairs. this could have not been just my car. >> here is the irony, she just finished paying off the car. there's another storm on the way. dylan dreier is here with the forecast. good morning, dylan? >> good morning. it's going to be a nice day in the northeast. before the next storm gets going, there are a lot of question marks surrounding. i'll iron it out for you. 61 in dallas. 49 in new york city. 52 in washington, d.c. it is much colder across minneapolis, 22 degrees and colder still as you head further north. it's unsettled across the northern half of the count

ian williams reporting from kiev. thank you again. >>> in this tug of war you just heard about between america and russia, the question remains is anything strong enough to over -- on why russia is so invested in this fight? is there military might rests on it. the large navy that russia has stationed in crimea's warm water port, a few numbers you should know. 6,000, the estimated number of russian troops that arrived in crimea in the past few days. also 15,000, that's how many members of russia's navy were already stationed there. and finally, a big one, 845,000, that is the total number of armed forces in russia. here to dig deeper in the russian perspective is former u.s. ambassador to russia and former colleague of mine, michael mcfall. thank you for joining us. what stood out most to you about putin's comments today? >> the dual messages. there were two major messages in con tradition contradiction to each other. he tried to justify the legalities of having soldiers in crimea, and know he denied they were ordered

meanwhile, let me bring in nbc's ian williams, also in the ukrainian capital of kiev and what's happening on the ground there, in particular the crimea region. ian, what is the latest you are seeing? >> reporter: hi, tamron. well, just to pick up from what andrea was saying, it's going to be interesting to see what kerry has to say, how he reacts to that putin press conference. it was a bit of a rambling press conference, to be honest, and pretty combative, as well, talking about a illegitimate government here, a coup, and the right to intervene, as he said that was a last resort. he also said in that press conference there have not been a bullet fired, well, that's no longer the case, because we had that extraordinary standoff today in crimea at an air base near where ukrainian members of the ukrainian armed forces who worked at that air base walked unarmed towards the base to be confronted by russian soldiers who were blockading the base. the russians said they wanted their jobs back, wanted to go to work in the base and the russians fired shots over their heads. it was very tense for a

we start with nbc's ian williams in kiev to unpack all of this. ian, what can you tell us? >> reporter: hello. like you, we're waiting to hear from paris. waiting to hear what's been achieved if anything today. i guess the best we can hope for is that at least they've spoken. at least the meeting went on far longer than we thought. now there wasn't a lot of hope here in kiev when the making started. when it became clear that the russians wouldn't sit down with ukraine's own foreign minister who was there. also, just ahead of this meeting, sergei lavrov, the russian foreign minister, had flatly denied again that there are any russians troops in crimea. he said, "how can we pull them back? how can we stop an occupation when these are self-defense forces? these are not russian." that really dampened hopes of any meaningful progress. at least they've talked, and at least it has gone on longer than we thought. the other big news, of course, is the e.u. weighing in with a big financial package, offering $15 billion worth of aid. that comes after yesterday's announcement of a bill

many thanks to ian williams. appreciate it. now also, folks, late-breaking news. secretary state john kerry told the senate appropriations subcommittee that the u.s. and eu will not recognize the sunday crimea referendum and that on monday they will unite to impose sanctions on russia and i quote, there will be a very serious, series of steps, end quote. all right. let's break it down and look at the selloff and what may lay ahead. capital growth management, chief investment officer of index financial partners, cnbc's own dominic chu will give us his important guidance. le referendum and militaryim troops is bad enough. monday they may start the sanctions. >> i think the growth is going to sell rate. recentl results have been held back by the most bitter weather in 20 years. clearly you can't forecast what is going to happen in europe and there are scenarios that there would cause the market to go lower before it goes higher. no matter what happens, our economy sixen months from now wl look a lot better than it does today and the stock market will reflect that. th

ian williams with us now with all the latest developments. good evening, ian. >> reporter: the ukranian prime minister is preparing to leave ukraine and travel to the u.s.. he'll be meeting president obama in washington and also addressing the u.n. security council in new york. his message is likely to be the same one that he took to independence square in kiev sunday telling thousands of protesters there that ukraine would not cede as he put it a september meter of soil to russia. brave words, hard words, but here in crimea, it looks like russia is really consolidating its control. already they surround, they block aided most of ukranian army bases. today they took control of a military hospital here and there are also reports of fresh reinforcements coming just days before a referendum on the 16th of march of which ukraine will be asked whether to leave you ukraine and join russia. russia seemingly in a real hurry to annex this peninsula. now at the weekend, we saw rallies, pro ukraine and pro moscow, two here and two in the home of the blac

ian williams in crimea with the latest. what is happening on the ground there now?> reporter: we're still trying to piece together reports of a russian troop incursion across the crimean frontier and into ukraine proper. according to the ukrainian government, six russian helicopters flew to a spit of land that separates this peninsula from ukraine and tried to take control of a gas facility. the ukrainian governments say they were confronted by ukrainian troops and then withdrew. it is the case that crimea depends upon mainland ukraine for its gas, power and oil supplies. so it is in that case very vulnerable. so this would seem a logical extension of the russian operation. the russian occupation here. at the same time, of course, we've got this build-up, 10,000 russian troops close to the east ukraine border at a time when there have been flare-ups, violence in big cities in the east. so it is a very menacing backdrop to this referendum which is now just a few hours away, t.j. >> tell us about the mood and any preparations taking place getting set for this referend

i want to go to nbc's ian williams with the latest. absolutely horrific news that they believe that, in fact, the flight is beyond a reasonable doubt lost. >> reporter: this will come as a devastating blow to those families who have hoped and hung on to a desperate hope that perhaps their loved ones are still alive, that perhaps this aircraft would turn up somewhere, perhaps hijacked, but it does now seem that the news that's going to be delivered to these families will confirm their absolute worst fears. what we don't know is precisely what the prime minister of malaysia is going to say in just a few minutes from now. we have seen today some pretty significant developments out at see with two sightings of debris, of objects in the ocean, but no confirmation yet as to whether they are related to flight 370. two objects were seen by a chinese aircraft, the first time it had been out there, they were described as two square-shaped objects, white, and also a large number of smaller white objects scattered over several square miles. an ame

i want to take you now to ian williams in australia. he's been covering the search for many, many days now. ian, what is your reaction and what are you hearing from officials there? >> reporter: betty, i suspect that many of those families simply won't believe or will refuse to believe this news until they come up with a part, any part of that airplane, until they find something here in the ocean. it is intriguing the timing of this announcement by prime minister razak. he's clearly basing it, it appears, on radar and other analysis, rather than on anything that's been found in the ocean here. if he does have more information, then it's curious he didn't share that with relatives, because that, perhaps, would be a way of reducing the pain, if he had said we now believe we do have some debris, some parts of the aircraft, and it is curious timing that he's chosen to make this announcement without yet having found any parts of the airplane. however compelling the other evidence is, that will make it much, much more difficult, i think, for t

joining me now is ian williams. the situation seems to be dialed up, not dialed down. we talked to the ambassador there and we'll have that interview coming up. it seems as if russia is ignoring all threats and sanctions and like and taking its own course as crimea moves to break away from ukraine. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. the only conclusion from this is that vladimir putin seems in a real hurry to annex crimea formally, maybe thinking if he can establish that fact on the ground it becomes more difficult to unravel later on. as you say, this referendum was supposed to have been held at the end of march. and the question was one of great autonomy, we saw the crimean parliament pass a vote today for joining up with russia and also for this referendum in just ten days' time which will have a clear choice between being part of ukraine or russian federation. sinister also, we saw the storming of armed men in crimea of the ukrainian television stations replacing those with russian broadcasts and also the deputy leader down there recently installed pro-russian, say

back to you guys. >> ian williams. thank you. we return to tony schaefer who ran black ops for the military and is a senior fellow with the london research and harold fineman from the "huffington post." what do we know about what's going on inside the country and from a u.s. perspective what do you think would be necessary on black ops, something you know a lot about? >> well, the first thing i would do is try to get folks close to get situational awareness. no offense to the press, you can't always tell what's on the ground so you got to be careful of that. secondly -- not us, them. i think the idea is we have to ideas who's saying what and why they're trying to say it. i think talked about this last time i was on. vladimir putin is all about posturing. there are troops there, of course they are. he has the right to be there. the bases they have, for the naval bases the treaty they have, he has that right. he's going to take it up to the edge as far as he can legally to make the point that if he wants these military forces but i

>> ian williams for us from perth, australia, ian, thank you. pivot here and switch gears back home and argument on twitter. about a new black conservative magazine that argument turned into much more. the controversy start when the senior editor at "ebony" magazine dismissed the launch with a tweet that read in part, i have already have drinking games in mind. when williams with the republican national committee tweeted he hoped that the senior editor could encourage diversity of thought, he said, oh great, here's a white dude telling me how to do the black thing. the part of the issue is williams to whom the tweet was addressed is black. the gop in a letter called for an apology and "ebony" said, quote, nearly 70 years ago this magazine began on the principle that as black people we are all somebody, we all count. thursday the spirit of this mission was disregarded by ebony.com senior editor lemieux in a personal exchange between herself and rnc press secretary williams. he joins me now. let's start there, sir. are you satisfied with "ebony" a

ian williams is in perth, australia, for us, looking at the issue of debris, but not only that, the chinese families receiving text messages from malaysia airlines. i want to read a part of it, "we deeply regret we have to assume beyond a reasonable doubt none on board have survived. as you will hear, we must accept all evidence the plane went down in the southern indian ocean. i'm going to underline that text message, saying none on board have survived. first to you, ian, any reaction in australia from that developing news? >> reporter: well, it's late here now, richard, so i think we'll see the first reaction to this in the early morning, when the search resumes, but that was a pretty devastating way of putting that news across to the relatives, and i suspect that many of those devastated relatives simply won't accept it, won't believe it, until they see physical evidence and see part of the plane fished out of the indian ocean. now the search will continue tomorrow, but it's significant that the prime minister of malaysia didn't refer to the search for debris, if he did have any special

ian williams in kiev. thank you so much for that reporting. >>> coming up, how's putin's land grab playing stateside. defense secretary chuck hagel got an earful on capitol hill earlier today. >> mr. putin denies there are troops in russia. when mr. lavrov says today that they can't withdraw russian troops because there are no -- no russian troops in crimea, does that have some echoes to you of cold war? >> well, i think secretary kerry addressed this pretty clearly. in his comments. specifically about your point. about no evidence -- >> i was asking for your view, sir. >> i agree with secretary kerry. >> which is? >> he laid it all out about we don't accept anything that president putin said as fact about why they had to protect the so-called ethnic minority in crimea. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart health

nbc ian williams joins us. good morning to you. what do we know about the objects spotted in the search zone? >> reporter: two new developments. first from malaysia. officials have received new satellite images from france that appear to show 120 objects floating in the southern indian ocean, the biggest 75 feet long. those images have been passed to australians managing the search and will be factored into the search plans. this is the fourth image, fourth set of images from satellites. another lead. now out at sea today, we had the biggest deployment we've yet seen. 12 ships from multiple countries. the latest information we have is is that they did not three objects out there, two appeared to look like rope. a third was described as something blue. the authorities are saying they don't believe this was related to the flight. they're continuing searching. all planes aren't back yet. we should have more information to pass on to you later on this evening our time. >> we'll be looking forward to that ian joining us live from perth

ian williams is in crimea for us this evening. good evening, ian. >> reporter: good day to you, larry. russia continuing to tighten its grip on this peninsula. just days ahead of a referendum which will determine whether crimea becomes part of russia. today, we travel to a small ukrainian naval base, which is being blockaded by the russians. now, the ukrainians there, the morale was good. they have four ships and a submarine, but those vessels aren't going anywhere because the russians have put an underwater fence across the mouth of the bay. they also have a couple of tug style boats to block any exit from the bay, and a rather menacing looking corvette was cruising back and forth a little bit further out at sea. the guys there said they were still loyal to kiev, but they still had enough supplies, but they were very nervous. that does follow a certain pattern of the blockading of ukrainian bases right across crimea and the beefing of up of check points. former president yanukovych said he was still the rightful ruler of ukraine a

ian williams is joining us from ukraine to talk about the referendum. with a hello to you ian, if the crimeans vote for secession, what happens next? they've got about 45 minutes to finish up that vote right? >> reporter: that's right, alex. a little bit longer here where the poll stations will open until 10:00. what happens next will very much i think be up to vladimir putin. it's pretty clear tlahat the vote here will go in favor of joining russia whether he quickly moves to formally annex this peninsula or leaves it in limbo, it's hard to say. what does seem clear is there will be a pretty big majority in favor of joining russia. we traveled out of the capital to see for ourselves really what was happening in outlining areas. we went to a town which is about an hour out of here. the polling station there in this largely russian speaking town was packed. there were big lines. the guy running the place said he'd never seen such enthusiasm. was predicting a 70% or 80% vote, if not more. we then went further back down the coast to another village, which w

nbc's ian williams joins us from perth, australia, which has become the international base for the search. so what's the very latest there, ian? >> reporter: well, good morning, kristen. as you can imagine, there's a lot of frustration here out at the air force base, which is the hub of the search operation. after it was grounded for the second time this week by bad weather. aircraft did take off this morning, but had to turn around almost as soon as they reached the search area, because of that weather. the commander of the u.s. flying team here described visibility so bad, he could hardly see the ends of his wings. now, they were to have checked out objects identified by a french satellite last sunday, but that simply wasn't possible. one bit of encouraging news today, as you point out, was that thai satellite image appearing to show 300 objects down there in the indian ocean, in the southern sector, objects ranging in size from three to four feet up to 50 feet. but the thais did caution the resolution is not good. also, we haven't yet heard from either the malaysians or the australians

i want to quickly go to ian williams in perth, australia.ook at this new shift in the search area, because it's closer to perth, is that going to make this easier for those out there in those planes trying to make it through the weather and the distance to look for possible debris? >> well, it's closer to perth, which means it will take less time to get out there. that area is also a little calmer than where they have been searching previously. but it's a huge area. it's still 155,000 square miles, which is vast. in many respects, it's reading between the lines of that press conference what they were saying. we are back to square one. this is the most credible information that we now have, then it means that everything we have seen so far, those satellite images, the sightings apparent from planes, is somewhat less credible than what we thought. the australians in charge of the search say they would look and examine the satellite photographs, followed up those images and have drawn a blank. they simply haven't found anything. it's inconceiva

. >> okay, let's go to perth, australia, and nbc's ian williams. with a good evening to you, what are officials saying about today's search efforts? >> well, it's not encouraging, alex. all the planes came back just a few hours ago and the marine authority that's overseeing this search in australia said they saw nothing of significance out there today. there were eight aircraft in total as well as a number of ships on location. scouring an area of about 30,000 square miles. interesting, they had onboard teams of spotters for all the advanced technology, these aircraft are carrying, they relying today on people looking through the window, eyeballs. because this is perhaps the best way of spotting some of these bigger pieces of potential debris. also today's search hampered by the weather again. cloud and fog first thing. although it did improve later. of course, tony abbott, the australian prime minister sounding reasonably up beat. he also said there was almost a moral imperative behind this search. this is what he had to say. >> we owe it to the a

let's go to ian williams who is in kiev. >> good evening, larry. we saw the first shots fired in this crises during a tense standout outside a military base in crimea that had been sealed off by russian soldiers. about 300 ukrainian soldiers unarmed who work inside that base marched to the front gate, the russians edgy fired shots above their heads and indeed threatened to shoot them in the legs. thankfully it was diffused before anybody got suhurt. earlier in the day president putin in a combative press conference denied there are any russian troops occupying crimea. that press conference, those comments, were derided by john kerry, the secretary of state visiting kiev today. he had come to lend support to the interim government here and also with an aide package, offering $1 billion of loan guarantees as well as american expertise with the central bank, with organizing the elections. he visited the barricades on the edge of the square here which have become a shrine to those who died, many of them shot by snipers. although this american aid seems