i want to get back to cnn's kaitlan collins joining us from the white house in washington, d.c. ut the response to this invasion. what do you have for us? >> we'll hear from president biden in person tomorrow around noon, don. that is what we are told by the white house. remember, he's got that call with g7 leaders. it was scheduled in advance. a virtual call. the subject is what is happening in ukraine. and now that things have changed that is certainly going to be at the forefront. we're also told that tonight president biden is expected to speak with ukrainian president zelenskyy. obviously, he is in kyiv. he delivered that heartfelt plea just a few hours ago. speaking in russian for most of it, making this direct appeal and trying to push back on a lot of the lies that have been spread by president putin over the last several weeks. so president biden is expected to speak to president zelenskyy. of course this is coming at a terrible time for the ukrainian leader in the middle of what matthew chance is reporting is happening in kyiv. we should expect a white house readout aft

to the white house and kaitlan collins. secretary of state antony blinken and the claims of a pullback, what does that tell us about the administration's approach? >> reporter: yesterday you saw a healthy amount of skepticism of this partial drawdown that were happening and now we know why. i think the u.s. sending out the secretary of state to telegraph this morning clearly indicates they don't believe this is happening or is close to happening based on what they are seeing. they had antony blinken come out, talk about what they are seeing instead. that's in addition to nato officials saying they are not seeing pullback but russia to only increase forces. we thought it was closer to 130,000 russian forces on the border surrounding ukraine. that has given concern to the white house as they are watching and wait to go see what happens next and making clear the ball is in the russian president's court and it is his decision to make but they have not seen him making the decision to de-escalate. this does come as president bide

i want to get to the white house where kaitlan collins has some breaking news now. the president is responding. what do you have, kaitlan? >> don, this is what the white house had feared and we do just have the first statement from president biden on this tonight. it's important, so i'm going to read it to you in full. president biden says, "the prayers of the entire world are with the people of ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by russian military forces. president putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering." he says, "russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring and the united states and its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. the world will hold russia accountable." don, he sadadds, "i'll be monitoring the situation from the white house this evening and will continue to get regular updates from my national security team." he says, "tomorrow i will meet with my g7 counterparts in the morning. that's going to be vi

kaitlan collins, what do we know?t biden is going to provide a status update, we're told, on this ongoing situation in ukraine this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. eastern. it hasn't been added to the official schedule yet but we're being told by a source familiar that the president will be speaking this afternoon and, of course, that comes at a critical moment as there are big questions here in washington about whether or not russia is actually de-escalating, pulling back some troops as they have claimed. there's been a healthy amount of skepticism for good reason on whether or not that's the case. of course, this will also be a status update coming from president biden after he's had several conversations with world leaders, very closely involved in this. today he spoke with the french president. yesterday it was the british prime minister. of course he had those very lengthy conversations on saturday with president putin of russia and president zelensky of ukraine. there will be big questions about what the president's take

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 readout that we should note is in the words of president biden himself. often we get these readouts from a national security council spokesman when he has a call with another world leader. these are the words of president biden. so i'm going to read them in full. he says, "president zelenskyy just reached out to me tonight and we just finished speaking. i condemned this unprovoked and unjustified attack by russian military forces. i briefed him on the steps that we are taking to rally international condemnation including tonight at the united nations security council." president biden says that "pre

i want to get straight to the white house where cnn's chief white house correspondent kaitlan collinsnow imminent. how is this different? >> reporter: i do think you're seeing officials on higher alert here at the white house today monitoring the latest intelligence they've seen, what the ukrainians are hearing about the likelihood of this full assault happening. that would follow president biden saying he believed the launch of the invasion has begun and we are in that phase. what we have not seen is what secretary blinken and other officials is the worst case scenario where there is a full-scale assault, what that would look like in detail. officials caused they don't know exactly when the attack would happen, what route president putin would take but all possible scenarios. saying that 80% of these russian forces that have been amassed in and around ukraine are in a forward position, that's what puts them on a higher alert and makes this different than the warnings in the past and i think you've seen the language shift from officials where they have said last week the defense secre

sam kiley is in kharkiv ukraine and russian expert jill dougherty is in moscow, kaitlan collins is at white house, and oren liebermann is at the pentagon for us right now. hello to one and all, sam, i'm going to start with you. new video tonight showing explosions in kyiv. let's take a look at it. >> the ukrainian president zelenskyy is saying 137 soldiers have been killed since the russian invasion began. sam, what's the latest? >> well, i think the most sinister development has to be the statement, the video statement, almost like a hostage video, wasn't it, when president zelenskyy said in an address to the nation released on the internet that he felt that he was the target, number one of potential saboteurs and infill traitors from russia that has that had already arrived from the ukrainian capital and his family were target number two. this as you'll recall, it was the united states who had been pressing him prior to this russian invasion to start thinking about relocating from kyiv because they obviously had an inkling that this would be part of the russian playbook, not least b

reporting tonight from key locations cnn's kaitlan collins. kaitlan, i want to start with you. the administration warns there's no sign of deescalation from moskow with sources telling us they're moving into fighting positions. >> reporter: they were skeptical of the russian claims they were partially drawing down troops amassed on ukraine's border. and not are they not drawing down troops, they're adding troops by the thousands, putting that number around 700 above the around 250,000. on those russian claims they're saying every indication we now have is that they mean to only publicly offer to talk and make claims about deescalation while privately mobilizing for war. it's not just these numbers we're seeing tonight. we're also seeing some construction happening if you look at some satellite images coming out today showing bridges being built, roads being built that were not there previously which would make it easier for russia if they did want to invade. if they were to go forward this is something russia would do and officials would talk about. >> just to be clear that bri

let's go first to kaitlan collins at the white house. kaitlan, president biden was forceful, direct, in saying the pipeline would not go forward if the russians were to invade. is the administration with the the way his german counterpart kind of evaded the same question. >> i think some officials were hoping the german choancellor would be more forceful in that question. he was asked if he would call off the pipeline if russian did invade ukraine. and that would be a huge step by germany. this has been billed between germany and russia. it's been a delicate situation, gechb the biden administration waived sanctions on that. he kind of equivocated. he did not answer specifically what he would do. and that's been a frustration among some lawmaker, saying it's not just that he wouldn't say directly he would call off the pipeline. he hasn't outlined the steps. i think you saw president biden and the chancellor making an effort today to say, yes, we are on the same page. but this raises questions about how on the same page. >> the administrat

let's bring in chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins now. brynn, you're in new york where vaccine mask mandates are dropping tomorrow. tell us more about what the governor is saying about this decision. >> reporter: yeah, so, ana, it was going to sort of go away tomorrow unless she decided to extend it. essentially kathy hochul saying we're not going to extend it. we will drop this mask mandate which up to this point businesses, restaurants, grocery stores, they either had to ask for proof of vaccination or require people to wear a mask indoors. that is going away which a lot of people, of course, as you can imagine are very happy about. there is a little bit of a caveat here. if there's a local municipality like new york city, for example, that wants to put the mandates in place, they can. it's not going away everywhere but certainly is a huge step forward for the state. i want you to hear what the governor said and what was behind her decision making. >> begin the declining cases, given declining hospitalizations, that is why we feel comfo

let's get right to cnn's alex marquardt in kyiv, kaitlan collins at the white house, orrin leiberman at the pentagon. explosions heard tonight in kyiv and heavy fighting south of the capital. this comes as ukraine's president says the fate of ukraine is being decided right now. russian forces are advancing. give us the latest there, please, sir. >> don, clear evidence that the russians are encircling the city, there is fighting in every direction. and it's not just it's coming from every direction, but as you noted it is coming closer and closer to the city center. in just the past few hours we have heard explosions to the west near a military base. we don't know the nature of that fighting, but those explosions just within 3 to 4 miles we understand of the city center, that is the closest that we have seen those explosions yet. we've also been told by the ukrainians that there's fierce fighting to the south and to the east of the city. and then over the past few days since this invasion started we've also seen russian forces making their way in from the north. our colleague matthew

let's go to our chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins.en yesterday about imposing new sanctions directly against putin. he waffled yesterday but since then he changed his mind. what happened? >> yeah, and yesterday he said this was still an option on the table. just not one they were taking yet. but today they have decided to do so. after the president spoke with european allies today, of course, european allies were the first ones to take this step by going after putin and one of his top aides, sergey lavrov who now the united states will also add to its sanction list. this is a largely symbolic move, wolf, but it does carry a lot of weight. >> when did president biden make the final decision to sanction president putin? >> it was made -- it's been on the table for some time but through coordination and discuss with our european partners over the last day or so. >> does it include a travel ban, by chance? >> i believe that would be a part of the u.s. component, yes. >> so president putin would be banned from traveling here? >> there's mo

kaitlan collins is at the white house and oren liebermann is at the white house. we'll begin with alex. russian forces are trying to encircle kyiv. alex, what is the very latest now? >> reporter: don, this was a night that president zelenskyy predicted would be very difficult. as you noted, he says the fate of ukraine is being decided right now. over the course of the evening we have seen all kinds of gunfire and explosions coming from all different directions. just in the past few moments, as you and i were on the air, we did hear significant, heavy, sustained gunfire coming from the south of the city. i can see it going up into the air. you saw red tracer rounds. this was some kind of heavy machine gun. don, we have also tonight seen the closest explosions yet to the city center, within the city limits. that is coming from the western part of the city, near, we understand, a military base. for now, it does appear that the russians are targeting ukrainian military targets, military installations. of course that could change very quickly, the longer that this drag

kaitlan collins is at the white house. just across the border from ukraine, scott mcclain, a live report from a city in the black sea region, the battle for a strategic river crossing. first, i want to give you a look at the overall state of play from correspondent oren liebermann. >> reporter: ukraine's capital city of kyiv is under siege. attacks could be heard close to the city center with russian military vehicles seen on the city streets. the sound of gunfire echoed in residential areas. ukrainian volunteers taking up arms to protect their home. [ siren ] as air raid sirens sound across kyiv again tonight. the u.s. is concerned that kyiv could fall under russian control within days. according to sources familiar with the latest intelligence. and the civilians of ukraine are paying the horrible price of war. citizens who fled to the safer western part of the country still finding themselves under threat. the ukrainian military doing their best to halt the russian advance, claiming to have inflicted some 800 russian cas

want to go live to cnn's chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins at the white house for us. do we know what sullivan is telling lawmakers? >> well, adam smith, the chair of the armed services committee, part of that briefing this morning said the main focus of it was really on their efforts to deter russia. the steps they're taking to try to tamp this down to pursue that off ramp that you heard officials talk about so much. but, of course, this briefing is coming and jake sullivan visiting the hill and you're seeing the defense secretary and secretary of state here briefing president biden. it is coming as you heard from the pentagon spokesperson earlier saying that russia only continue to add forces throughout the weekend. and not only are they adding forces, he was saying don't just look at the scope of these 130,000 troops that they've amassed on the border but also the capablilities they have because that's the main concern here for the white house who is continuing to offer these warnings saying that it could happen really at any day now. it's pretty difficult to pinpoi

kaitlan collins at the white house, cnn contributor jill doherty in moscow, and a strategic city in eastern krun. i want to start with clarissa ward where president zelenskyy has just made an early morning address to the country. what did he say? >> reporter: that's right, john. he spoke at about 2:00 in the morning, just under an hour ago. and essentially, he accused russia of violating ukraine's territorial integrity and its sovereignty, though he did not use the invasion word. he also said that he demands, quote, clear support from the west in terms of those sanctions. that's something we have also seen echoed by his foreign minister who has taken to twitter this evening, basically saying that he is in lock-step. ukraine is in lock-step with its allies and he expects a raft of blistering sanctions to be announced tomorrow. not clear what those would look like yet. zelenskyy also that, we do not fear anything and we will not cede anything. what we're seeing on the ground already, john, according to social media posts, according to reuters who are there, some form of military convoys movin

kaitlan collins is in new york where the president will be later this morning. barbara starr at the pentagon. and colonel layton and peter bergen in dc. let's begin with you, kaitlan. yesterday, all the focus on the military announcing there would be some 2,000 troops sent to eastern europe. obviously, while that was unfolding, this operation was just hours from happening. talk about what happened and what went down at the white house. >> yeah, there have been clearly a lot of sensitive discussions at the white house that we've noticed, not just the 3,000 troops that president biden now decided to send, but also, of course, this decision here that they have made to conduct this raid last night and we did see earlier this week, the defense secretary lloyd austin spent about three hours at the white house. we believe that was in relation to the decision to deploy the 3,000 troops to eastern europe and of course, there are questions about whether this was also a matter of discussion because given that we saw several white house aides at the white house late last nig

kaitlan collins at the white house, thanks so much. so for more on what this all means as we wake up to war in europe, we're joined by former cia director and u.s. commander of central command general david pet petraeus. thank you for joining us this morning. >> good to be with you, jim, thanks. >> you have years of experience as a military commander and observer. the nato secretary general jens stoltenberg said this is a new normal for nato and no longer can take security for granted. i wonder for people at home who think ukraine is far away, not too important to them, can you explain, have we entered a new cold war? >> well, it appears that we have, jim. we're still not sure how far putin wants this to go, but as your reporters, i think, have corrected noted, he clearly wants to take control of kyiv, to topple the current government of president zelenskyy to put a pro russian government in place, to take control of the bulk of the eastern part of the country, it would appear at least that east of the upper river and i think also prob

kaitlan collins at the white house. how is the white house viewing all of this tonight?cerned, and they can tell, you can hear in their language the way they are talking about the potential of an attack, that level of concern, that came especially from the pentagon today when john kirby was talking about the potential for an attack here and the way they are intentionally using the language that they are, and we are told by a source familiar that they do believe a russian attack is more likely than not. if one does happen, it's likely to be more significant than it is to be insignificant. that is a lot of nuance there, and remains to be seen what putin would ultimately do, and officials have cautioned they don't believe he's made a decision. but it does speak to the level of concern that they have here of whether or not this is actually going to happen, and they do have a sense here at the white house that very much an attack could happen as soon as this week. >> so what's the latest you've learned about the closing of the embassy in kyiv? >> reporter: this is notable, it

we have live coverage tonight as only cnn can, from kaitlan collins at the white house, clarissa ward in kyiv, and nic robertson in moscow. caitlyn, i want to start with you. president biden said the u.s. has not yet been able to verify that russian troops are leaving positions near the ukraine border. what is the white house hoping to see that would indicate clear de-escalation, and how like do they believe at this point that an invasion is likely? >> well, when we talked to officials about what this would look like if they thought an invasion was going to happen or if they thought russia was de-escalating, they said it would take either direction that putin took to figure out what was happening, to make sure they could verify what was heard on the ground, to make sure the intelligence was correct, and make sure what they heard was right. they are proceeding with caution here, given the level of concern about what they have said about a pretext for invasion, concerns here. so when it comes to this, the president said today they haven't been able to verify this claim that putin made e

kaitlan collins is here in washington at the white house. nic robertson is in moscow. and i want to start with you, nic. what do we expect to hear from vladimir putin when he speaks shortly? >> yeah, he spent the afternoon on television having a big national security gathering of all his top officials, his security officials. and the briefing was trying to decide whether or not to recognize the independence of luhansk and donetsk, the two pro-russian separatist regions in the donbas area of ukraine. at the end of that meeting, president putin said i'll have an answer today. so i think there's a huge expectation that he's going to announce his answer. it's not clear what it will be, but it's been teed up by all his officials towards the point of recognizing them. there's already been a vote in parliament about a week ago. it is president putin's decision to take right now. his officials were telling him that ukraine no longer has an interest in donbas. the former prime minister and former president dmitry medvedev said they don't want the donbas region anymore. he was t

again tonight, we have reporting from the key locations at the white house, cnn's kaitlan collins in kyiv. cnn's cnn cla race a ward. kaitlan, the administration warns there is no sign of deescalation from moscow, with forces moving into fighting positions. what more can i tell us about these new troop numbers and this new bridge construction? >> well, john, yesterday, officials including president biden himself were skeptical of the russian claims that they were partially drawing down some of those troops they have amassed on ukraine's border. and now, today, they are outright saying it's not true. and not only are they not drawing down troops, they are adding troops by the thousands, putting that number -- about 7,000 above the 150,000 figure that president biden cited yesterday, which was already an increase in what u.s. officials had been saying. and so, they said they are adding these to the -- to the ukrainian border in recent days -- as recently as today, they saw some of these troops moving and so on those russian' claims, they are saying every indication we now have is that t

kaitlan collins at the white house. thank you so much.scholz just met with president biden, the ukrainian president canceled a meeting with the german foreign minister while scheduling difficulties were given as the official reason, we were told he cancel in the part because the german foreign minister refused to say explicitly that germany will abandon the nord stream two natural gas pipeline from russia, even if russia invades ukraine. the other reason interesting source says, is because of germ nil's refusal to send aid to ukraine, directly or indirectly. to address all this, chancellor scholz, thank you so much for being here. we really appreciate it and we appreciate your time to talk to the united states and our viewers worldwide. that source close to the ukrainian government tells me, germany is increasingly viewed as more of a russian ally than a western ally by many in eastern europe and kyiv. what is your response? >> absolutely nonsense and all know about it. we are the biggest donator, together with the united states, to ukrai

kaitlan collins is at the white house for us tonight.cret service can't say much with someone as high profile as this, but what details are you learning and what happened? >> yeah, we're getting a fuller picture from officials who were there at the school in northwest washington. a local high school here, where the second gentleman had only been there for a few moments before he was called out, ushered out by secret service after a bomb threat the been called in at the school. you are right, the secret service is very hesitant to offer a lot of details because they don't want to reveal how they get a lot of information, but they did say right now at this time, there's no information to indicate the threat was directed toward our protectee, referencing the second gentleman. just to give you a sense of how quickly they moved, he was at that school in washington, the bomb threat was called in about 2:15 p.m. he was out of there by 2:18 p.m. they also evacuated the students and staff as a sipe of precaution. it speaks to the level of concern

let's go to the white house and kaitlan collins. a very important first meeting today.or president biden, it's trying to get to know this new chancellor. for 16 years it was angela merkel. now it is the new chancellor and some questions for president biden. >> yeah, and in her absence in europe has left a void when it comes to the leadership for a diplomatic crisis in a situation like what we're seeing happening right now with these questions about what exactly russia is going to do. and i think what you'll see from president biden in the new german chancellor today is they are trying to put on a united front to show that they are united when it comes to what the response is going to be if russia does move forward with that step now that u.s. officials have assessed they've got about 70% of the capability needed to mount a full-scale invasion. but there are still big questions about just how united these two leaders are on what that response is going to look like. and a big question has been what germany's response would february russia did invade? they have not been as

first, let's go to our chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins. the president said the threat of a russian invasion is very high right now. >> reporter: you are right. it is the most blunt warning from president biden and what you're seeing are two very different versions of reality right now. with russia claiming that they are moving forces back from ukraine border, but officials here in washington say that they are very much on the path to an invasion. and officials coming out today one by one including president biden himself warning they may be manufacturing a reason to invade. tonight president biden is delivering a blunt warning about an impending russian invasion of ukraine. >> every indication we have is they're prepared to go into ukraine, attack ukraine. >> reporter: as the kremlin insists it withdrawing troops, the white house is disputing that and said russia is adding forces and could attack at any moment. >> is your sense that this is going to happen now? >> yes. not -- my sense is this will happen in the next several days. >> report

let's get straight to the white house and kaitlan collins. looking for a diplomatic off ramp that does not leave you optimistic. >> no indications the russian president is ready to back down and he seemed to be making a forceful argument for why he's amassed those over 100,000 russian forces on the ukraine border, something that's been the number one concern for the top aides here at the white house. what you heard from the russian leader is, a, significant given this is the first time we're hearing from him on this as you noted since late december. we've not had him say anything publicly this year on this as there's been a lot of dialogue back and forth. putin stayed totally silent. that's not helped people who are trying to read the tea leaves, trying to guess where his head is at on the invasion. there he was saying, yes, russia got this u.s. response last week on their security demands. we weren't expecting there to be a major breakthrough on that but all of their security concerns were basically ignored were the words he used by the unit

let's begin at the white house with chief correspondent kaitlan collins. we'll hear from the president in an hour. what do we expect? >> the white house is going to lay out the sanctions they are imposing on russia in response to this which they have said will be aggressive. though it's still not clear exactly what we are going to see today. so president biden is expected to announce that when he speaks in ban hour from now. the first time we have heard from president biden since president putin took these brazen steps yesterday which the white house and secretary of state and other leaders have said is a blatant violation of international law and those agreements that they had in place since 2014. and so what you'll hear from president biden today is talking about these sanctions which we are told will be on russia, but the big question that remains is how extensive they are because you're right. the white house has been in this position since yesterday of not going as far to call this an invasion last night when they were briefing reporters on their resp

cnn's kaitlan collins is at the white house so what's the plan?> reporter: this is really the first formal meeting that we have seen since justice breyer did confirm and make it official last week that he will be stepping down from the supreme court if his successor is confirmed by that point at the end of this term. that would be to put it around june or july. so of course the topic at this meeting today with president biden and vice president harris in the oval office is who is going to replace him? that is going to be the next big question for this white house, and president biden has said he will pick someone by the end of the month, he believes, and so today, this is the first formal meeting that we're seeing where they are discussing this vacancy here at the white house though we know the preparations with well under way to figure out who the next nominee is going to be. we've talked about the short list and those candidates and what they look like and senator dick durbin and chuck grassley are going to play a key role in this process going

cnn kaitlan collins at the white house for us. what more are officials saying about the latest? >> well right now, they are monitoring things. of course, watching to sew what is happening and there have been pretty blunt, anderson, about what that think think is going to happen next is what is next on president putin's agenda and that is taking the capital city of kyiv. and they have looked at the ways he has tried to do that. of course we know earlier, his top-defense officials were briefing lei makers telling them some of those forces were approaching kyiv, getting closer and closer. that was about 6:30 p.m. eastern time. so imagine obviously now that it is past midnight here in washington, d.c., they are a lot closer in that sense. and of course, their concern is once they do get there, that putin's plan is try to overthough the government, overthrow president zelenskyy and that is something president zelenskyy himself as noted. saying he believes he is target number one and his family is target number two and i think when you

talk to our reporters in the key locations as only cnn can, our chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins, chief international correspondent clarissa ward in the ukrainian capitol of kyiv and jill doherty in moscow now, cnn contributor and expert on russia at the wilson center in washington. kaitlan, first to you, obviously the remarks from president biden are hugely significant, most definitive characterization to date of russia's intentions, what makes the president so sure in what sort of diplomat, efforts remain on going? >> reporter: i think what makes them so sure, john is the intelligence, and the president citing the capability they have earlier there when he was speaking with reporters just briefly on this but what we're hearing from source as really what the president says today matches and lines up with what they have been seeing and reading in the intelligence they've been looking at and pouring over for the last several days but what's notable from the shift in the president, no one has said this publicly yet, even biden himself has said that he guessed that president putin w

want to do, which they've said would be decisive, for what president putin did last night. >> kaitlan collinsthank you. >>> let's go to matthew chance in the capital of ukraine, a city the russians call kiev and the ukrainians call kyiv. tell us about your encounter earlier today with russian soldiers. >> yeah, frankly, jake, absolutely extraordinary. we got up this morning. after getting just a few hours sleep after that heavy night of russian air strikes on this city. and we got together and decided to move out to one of the places where we knew that some of the air strikes had taken place and that we heard russian forces had been deployed in helicopters, in the few hours before. and where there is supposed to have been a big battle between russian forces that were sent there in helicopters, an air base just outside of kyiv, and meant to be a battle under way. we headed toward there in a paced way to see how close we'd get to get some witnesses. as we got there, we saw -- got to the gates of the actual airport and, you know, a soldier stopped our car and said what are you doing? i was speak

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so, let's bring in cnn's kaitlan collins at the white house for us. we also have cnn's nic robertson in moscow. so, kaeitlan, what do we think the president plans to say? >> reporter: no new policy change but basically a status update from the president on where he sees thing and where he thinks that he stand. as erin was noting, there's been confusion today and a healthy amount of skepticism over whether or not russia is being accurate and telling the truth here when they talk about pulling back these troops and sending them back to where they came from. the press secretary did confirm president biden is going to speak this afternoon. she says it will just be an update on events related to ukraine, not new policy. he says he will speak about the actions on the ground, the steps we have taken t actions we are prepared to take and what's at same not just for the globe but also here at home. this is one of the first times we've heard from president biden in a few days since a lot has happened. the pentagon said russia had only continued to build up thei

first, kaitlan collins. so, what more are you learning about today's white house decision? >> anderson, really the way the white house is framing it is an effort to reassure nato allies, who are obviously very concerned by the fact that vladimir putin has put over 100,000 russian forces on ukraine's border. he is also moving forces around in belarus, and the pentagon said today he is not showing any signs of deescalating. we heard him yesterday talking about diplomacy but they say he is only continuing to escalate things here. he is only continuing to act aggressively and so when i saw president biden today, and i asked him about this decision, this calculus he has made to send these 3,000 troops to eastern europe, he said that it's consistent with what he has been telling putin all along, which is that he continues to act aggressively here when it comes to ukraine, and what's happening in eastern europe, he said he is going to respond in kind with these forces. and one thing the white house and the pentagon have said is there a chance more forces could be deployed here to

let's head to the white house a and kaitlan collins. the administration has been exceedingly blunt in its accusations of russia today. are we seeing hopes for diplomacy fade here? >> what we're seeing is they are casting doubt on the idea that russia is actively seeking diplomacy here. you've heard russian officials talk about that. and secretary blinken and president biden have said that it's still a welcome path, obviously, that they would like to see them take. but they're casting doubt on the idea that is something russia is even considering. because you saw president biden coming out earlier saying that he does believe the attack, the threat of an invasion is still high and an attack could happen in the next several days. he has no plans to speak with president putin after speaking to him for about an hour on saturday. clearly a conversation where the differences of the two sides remain. it's a very different reality that both sides are putting out there. and the u.s. is trying to be very forceful and laying out what they are seein

kaitlan collins, thank you. on the jobs numbers and the economy with cnn's matt egan. do you expect this economic momentum to continue? what does this mean for the americans people who obviously, as was just noted, are still dealing with inflation? >> well, wolf, we know omicron delivered a shock to the united states. but we now know that it did not derail the jobs market. if anything, the u.s. economis in stronger shape than we thought it was, just 24 hours ago. not only did hiring continue unabated in january, but there were these sharp revisions from the end of last year. plus, more workers came off the sidelines to look for jobs despite covid. i think if you zoom out, there's a lot of signs that this is a strong recovery. gdp in 2021 grew at the fastest pace since 1984. unemployment down to 4%. a near record 4.3 million americans quit their jobs in december. many of them to get better jobs and wages up nearly 6% in january. of course, the problem is that although wages are hot, inflation is even hotter. cons

also with us, kaitlan collins, want to start with kaitlan on the breaking news.e white house on these negotiations? >> well, russia has responded to the written response that the u.s. sent to russia last week. we know that they received this, they delivered this. it is also handwritten but we don't really know, anderson, what it has said. the state department confirmed they did receive this but they are saying they are going to leave it up to russia if they want to lay out what was said. now, we know when the u.s. responded to these security demands by russia last week, we didn't really expect any breakthroughs because we were told by sources that the united states was basically going to say in this, what they had said publicly. that they were not going to comply with some of these demands from russia, including ones hike ukraine should never join nato, which we have told they are on the path to do so. but it is going to be a long path to actually get there. and so, we are not expecting any big breakthrough on this and of course as you saw today with the russian

cnn's chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins is with us and it's taking place here in new yorkw york? why now? >> the white house said new york city is a good example of a place that's seen an uptick in crime because of the pandemic. since the pandemic has happened. but as we know well, it's not just new york city. it's something that's happening nationwide. it's one of the efforts the president was talking about there. he said there's some steps being taken here in new york that he wants to see other cities nationwide mirroring. he was complimenting the new lie minted new york city mayor eric adams, someone who has similar views as the president. he wants to see this happening on a nationwide scale. they talked about having u.s. attorneys across the united states crack down more on violent crime that you're seeing at the local level. he also talked about ghost guns where you can buy a kit online and build guns at home. there's no serial number. it's a lot harder for them to trace. while some gun experts have downplayed how prevalent they are, the president said they want to pr

cnn chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins is with us now.o, the president said that he could, quote, bring an end to the pipeline if russia invades. how can he? and he didn't offer many details, at least yesterday, guarantee that? >> reporter: that was the big question. how specifically can you do that if germany in and of itself given the chancellor would not commit to it yesterday is not also in agreement with that statement? and supportive of the u.s. position that if russia does invade ukraine, that nordstream ii would not go forward. right now it's under review, not operational but it could easily become operational pretty quickly so that has been the big question for the president because he did say yesterday that he is quite clear he believes it would not become operable if that would happen but he's not saying how and that's been a big question here. they could impose heavy financial sanctions on people associated with the pipeline. whether that happens remiains t be seen because that has been a path you've seen lawmakers pursue for

kaitlan collins at the white house, clarissa ward in kyiv, and jill in moscow, first i want to show you this from clarissa back from what could be a flashpoint from a wider conflict. >> reporter: the ukrainian military brought us nearly 400 miles toward the front lines in the east of the country. it's already dark by the time we land, and will only have a short time on the ground, but they are determined to show us the aftermath of heavy shelling earlier in the day. >> this kindergarten is less than three miles from the so-called line of contact, the front line, and witnesses in this area said that around 8 or 9:00 this morning started to hear shelling, loud enough that they could hear the whistle of the shells going by and two of them landed here at this kindergarten. let's take a look. >> at the end of the hallway, this is what remains of the playroom, the military says the first shell hit at 8:45 a.m., the children were eating breakfast in another part of the building. teacher tells me she immediately rushed them into the hallway, away from the windows. so she's saying in that moment

kaitlan collins to you first. the president and his team had hoped the economic numbers like inflation would get better early in the election year. they hoped that would bring his numbers up. not yet. >> president biden told me in december that he thought that was the peak of the crisis when it came to inflation. yes, it was a bump in the road, it was painful. he was hoping they were moving on from it. these numbers today are worse than economists expected. this is a very unpleasant surprise for the white house. i think the challenge for president biden is they often want to talk about the strong labor market. they want to talk about wage growth. this completely nullifies it in voters' minds. that's what the polls are showing of their confidence levels. that's the struggle for the white house because these are things you can't ignore. your prices of food is going up. rent, electricity, gas, those are things that people live with and function with every single day. >> it's striking when you look at the 56% say noth

>> well we heard president biden tell kaitlan collins that it was something that was on the table. idea of sanctioning the russian president directly. over the course of the last several days we've seen as rt the u.s. has targeted a lot of members of putin's inner circle and family members and now they will escalate things. as soon as today, according to two sources familiar with the proposal, that the u.s. will apply sanctions to president putin directly. now this is a complicated issue. president putin doesn't have a regular bank account and investment broker. so the actual strategy of getting to his finances, trying to find where they are and impose sanctions upon them has been a complicated one for years so how the u.s. treasury department deploys these sanctions will go a long way to telling how much of an effect they have. but there is no question it will have a major symbolic effect and it comes just a few hours after the european union agreed to sanction president putin and sergey lavrov, freeze their assets and throughout the course of the sanctions over the last several d

first, let's go to our chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins. kaitlan, as this crisis clearly escalates, what is happening behind closed doors where you are at the white house? >> reporter: well there is say real level of concern here. one that we've seen only increase after they talk about the potential likelihood of the attack and that is the reason behind closing this embassy in the process of removing those staffers as we speak which the secretary of state said because there has been a dramatic acceleration on russia's behalf, as there is criticism from the ukrainian president who has been critical of nations moving staff away from the capital city, closer to the border with poland saying he doesn't believe that is necessary. but president biden for his part has spent his day on the phone with british prime minister boris johnson talking about this, following the calls with russia and ukraine over the weekend as the pentagon is saying that this attack could very much happen this week. >> i won't get into a specific date. i don't think that wo

let's go to kaitlan collins. what more are you learning about this white house decision to deploy u.s. troops in europe? >> reporter: the way the white house is dezrscribing it, it's part of the effort to reassure nato allies. as the pentagon says, putin is only escalating it further. they're not ruling out deploying more troops to europe. president biden says it's consistent with the message he's been sending to the russian leader all along. >> totally consistent with what i told putin at the beginning. as long as he's acting aggressively, we'll make sure to reassure our nato allies that we're there. >> reporter: the president says he's been sending the same m message to putin all along. one part of the messaging that has changed is how they're describing the potential of a russian invasion of ukraine. we were hearing it described as immi imminent, but jen psaki said that's no longer how they're describing it. >> we're no longer using it, because it sends the message that president putin had made the decision to

clarissa ward in kyiv, kaitlan collins at the white house.? >> reporter: they're definitely concerned. you can hear it in their language the way they're talking about the potential attack. that came from the pentagon today when john kirby today was talking about the potential for an attack today. we are told by a source familiar they do believe a russian attack is more likely than not. and if one does happen, it's likely to be more significant than insignificant. that is a lot of nuance and it remains to be seen what putin would ultimately do. officials caution they don't believe he's made a decision yet. it does speak to the level of concern they have here. they do have a sense here at the white house that very much an attack could happen as soon as this week. >> what's the latest about the closing of the embassy in kyiv? >> reporter: this is notable. they had removed all non-essential staff, told family members to go home several weeks ago. now that they've officially closed it, they were in the process of drawing it down, it does show the