since it's been alleged they stole an election there to keep their man -- lukashenko -- in power.to these big-military drills, as they were called, exercises that russian-belarusian forces bury do were doing jointly in the last week. there had been suspicion on the u.s. side those drills were not really drills or exercises but preparation, amassing of forces, to enter ukraine. and if it is, indeed, confirmed that it is both russian and belarusian forces comes kroog from the north, that would seem to indicate ukraine is now under attack by two countries. um, and as we -- we look at that picture if you put it up again there, don, of those tanks coming down across the northern border. the -- note this. you know, there had been a lot of discussion about timing and the shortness timing for russia. it's cold here now. that the frozen ground in the east and to the north was important so that those russian tanks don't get bogged down in the mud. but to see russian tanks, armor just rolling in on the highways, shows you just how massive a force this is and perhaps that entering the country

i have had a telephone conversation with alexander lukashenko.ill tell you frankly as always, i don't really believe in the result of this meeting but let them try. so that later on though ukrainian citizen will have any doubt that i as a president was not trying to stop the war and there was though a little but still a chance. and while our guys are there, the president is here, the head of the presidential offices here, prime minister is here, the army is here, commander—in—chief is here. we all will be defending our state and our borders. we all have to act pragmatically in order to achieve our goal and pragmatically in order to achieve our goaland our pragmatically in order to achieve our goal and our goal is our territorial integrity. you have seen this position of ours 100%, it is unconditional protection for our statehood. now as to our motivation. it is obvious that our military are fighting not for the sake of money but for our today and tomorrow and they are responsible for what happened yesterday but we have to realise that today is th

lukashenko ripping into the u.s.at we would invade ukraine yesterday, we didn't. so your intelligence and billions of dollars you're spending on it are useless, at least admit this. >> reporter: russia says it has no intention of attacking ukraine but today also warned security demands it made to the u.s., if not met, will be an answer, as moscow puts it, military technical measures. and erin, while both russians and belarusians say they will be leaving after the exercises, there is a caveat there, when asked how long it will take, he said could take a couple days, a month, could take longer, essentially saying belarus would be willing to host russian troops as long as vladimir putin wants and that is of course something that makes the situation on the border very dangerous and also the fact the quickest way for russian troops should they invade ukraine to get to kiev would actually be the route via belarus, not far at all, erin. >> for sure, thank you very much, fantastic that you were able to speak to lukashenko, o

president lukashenko has been widely fox of european power. he's been in power since 1994.s managed to shift between east and west, balancing and playing off u.s. and europe against moscow. what happened was finally the opposition challenged him in 2020, and he sort of imposed his power only effectively back on top of belarusian society with the help of russia. so now he's really traded b belarusian sovereignty for russian political support. he has to look to moscow and president putin to stay in power. the cost of that, of course, is russia is now looking to station troops permanently on belarusian territory. >> how much of a wild card is lukashenko in general in the region in terms of european security? or is he effectively now, because there's been a quid pro quo, is he effectively just a putin puppet now? >> well, i think it's increasingly the latter. as i say, he was able to effectively maneuver for decades between russia and the west, even though he had this thing called the union state with russia. but that never really had much substance. now what we're seeing is ru

as you pointed out, putin and lukashenko are meeting.he first thing they were talking about is improving military operation. we saw that with the massive drills, with fears belarus could be used as an area from where they might invade ukraine. now, i was able to speak to lukashenko briefly yesterday in quite a testy exchange. here's what happened. for the first time, we're getting a closedown view of some of the russian forces the u.s. says are threatening ukraine, conducting massive live fire drills with the belarusian military inside belarus. the u.s. says it fears it could be one of the places from which an attack on ukraine could be launched. belarusian strongman and strong putin ally, alexander lukashenko was combative when i confronted him. >> translator: do you still believe we're going to attack ukraine from here or have you already overcome this mental block? >> reporter: it's not about what i believe. it's about what the united states says. the united states has there is a very real threat from an attack from russian territory

demonstrating again president luka kh*epbgo's willingness -- lukashenko's willingness to act against the interest of his own people in order to curry favor with moscow and to stay in power. as a result of the regime's indefensible support for and even facilitation of what we are seeing the russians do in ukraine, we are imposing sanctions. we have imposed sanctions on some two dozen belarusian individuals and entities. these actions focus on belarus' defense and related material and finance sectors. two fields that are closely tied to russia. reporter: do you think they'll escalate their participation in the conflict? you say they are already facilitating it. >> it is not for me to try to predict what belarus might do, might seek to do, or more importantly what moscow might impose on belarus to do. we have seen at every turn that president lukashenko has setaside, cast aside the will of his own people. and cast his lot with president putin and his militaristic aims against ukraine. so if that continues, belarus will continue to face measures of profound accountability. reporter: what

putin and alexander lukashenko. �* , , , lukashenko. to net lukashenko. and everybody is trying to get inside — lukashenko. and everybody is trying to get inside vladimir— lukashenko. and everybody is trying to get inside vladimir putin's - lukashenko. and everybody is trying to get inside vladimir putin's mind l to get inside vladimir putin's mind at the moment to see whether or not he wants to invade ukraine or whether or not he has already decided to invade ukraine. there are fears they might be a pretext, an artificial pretext in terms of what's happening in the east of ukraine with russian separatists. we are hearing the kremlin have said now that moscow is alarmed by the situation in eastern ukraine. the kremlin saying the situation looks potentially very dangerous. that is the sort of language that makes people in the west worried that russia is creating a pretext. yes. but we have _ russia is creating a pretext. yes. but we have heard _ russia is creating a pretext. yes. but we have heard this _ russia is creating a pretext. yes

there's no reason for zelenskyy, the president of ukraine, to trust alexander lukashenko, because of course, belarus was used as a staging ground for these invasions that are happening right now. one of the main columns bearing down on kyiv was coming from belarus. and a lot of the military exercises that were so threatening in the days and weeks preceding the invasion were staged in belarus with the participation of alexander lukashenko. and indeed, lukashenko has become with his belarusian state, almost like a subsidiary state to russia. to moscow. they call it the union state. it's almost a part of this idea of putin, of having reconstituting the ussr and a greater russia. but you asked what happened to us today. first, i can show you from you see our surroundings, as you know, you work for msnbc, normally we would come to you with a beautiful vista behind me, but now i'm just in a hotel room. that's because we can't point our cameras out of our balcony at the lovely city because we were told yesterday by armed men who came up to our room, police officers who were polite but heavi

>> reporter: alexander lukashenko equating us with the u.s. government there in that final part of that answer. but certainly he is saying that he's very much in the corner of vladimir putin, in the corner of russia. at the same time, however, the russians are saying that those drills obviously are going to come to an end fairly soon. nevertheless, a lot of russian forces here on the territory of belarus, jake. >> fred, the biden administration is openly concerned that belarusian territory could be used to invade ukraine. did president lukashenko give any assurances the russian troops will definitely leave belarus after the drills are done? >> reporter: yeah, so that was the other really interesting part from what we heard from alexander lukashenko today. both have said the russian forces are going to leave. however, what he said today is they might leave shortly after the exercises leave on sunday but it could also take a month or longer. it wasn't something that he was going to commit a time frame too. that of course in itself is something t

we see him standing next to lukashenko of belarus. there's indication that putin will move military equipment behind the exercises, the so-called exercises that were supposed to end with 30,000 russian troops in belarus, 60 miles from kiev on the border in belarus. we saw that pontoon bridge that was -- that appeared in satellite images on a river that is near the ukraine border. that is the direction that tanks would be moving if they were to cross in to ukraine. these are indicators. what we've seen is disinformation in the donbas region. everyone should be noticing and what is happening in the donbas region. the russian separatest leader for all russians to leave the area. putin will make room for the russians fleeing donbas in to russia, that he will have payments for them, setting up housing for them. this is all part of the disinformation inside russia to make it looks like there's a pretense, a reason to go in to ukraine. you heard president putin talking about genocide, targeting russians in the donbas area. there were some re

but it's unclear precisely what we'll hear from president putin and president lukashenko. today they're expected to talk about the military exercises, the position in europe, economic ties between the two countries as well. it does seem to be a meeting to watch to see if they would watch the joint military exercises to see if as many as 30,000 troops would be coming to an end soon. will that be indicative of the other russian military exercises going on in crimea, in russia to the south and to the east of ukraine. so an important moment to watch. we've just learned from the state news agency quoting the russian foreign minister that president putin will attend military exercises on saturday, tomorrow, and during those military exercises they will involve the launching or testing and training of ballistic and cruise missiles that will involve forces from the aerospace forces, strategic missile forces and the north and black sea fleet. you could look at the military exercises that president putin will oversee tomorrow as a final big flourish of all of these joint military ex

-- called belarus's lukashenko. ., ., ~ ., lukashenko.ier is reasonable, and certainly not in minsk where that occupier is coming for ukrainians and theirfamilies every occupier is coming for ukrainians and their families every second, every minute of the last two days. so i think it is showing us that there are more cracks in this plan than i think the russians expected. i think they did not expect the strength of feeling from their own citizens. perhaps they missed the fact that surveys have shown that the russian electoral survey from december showed that only 8% of the russian population supported any aggression towards ukraine and only 9% supported even backing and supporting those so—called separatists. putin's people are not with him, they might not all be on the streets but they are certainly not with him. the west is showing quite a great deal of unity and coordination, and in fact there is more and more policy push for swift to be on the table. it looks like that will happen, hopefully that will happen, i think. many of your com

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and so what i think might be happening is putin's up with lukashenko. they're conducting this exercise. they're present where this exercise takes place. putin does not want to be present on the ground -- excuse me -- when he drops the flag to execute the invasion of ukraine regardless of what it looks like. so he's up in belarus with lukashenko, the world is focusing in on him. every camera is snapping, every video -- >> and that's when you do it. >> and oh, by the way, guess what happens? those forces down in the donbas have hopped into their tanks and sp artillery and now they're starting to expand their presence down there. >> john, i met earlier with the u.s. acting ambassador to ukraine. very few american diplomats -- they evacuated obviously the embassy, but i did get to speak to the acting ambassador, and i want to play something she said. >> do you know how many americans are left here in ukraine? >> we don't know the exact number because we don't require that they tell us when they leave. we started out with somewhere between 6 and 7,000. we're

at the kremlin, mr putin held talks with the leader of belarus, alexander lukashenko, the man playingcipate together in an important part of this whole complex of military cooperation. ukrainian soldiers already involved in fighting know that something much bigger could still be looming. russia insists it has no plans to attack. no one here is relaxing their guard. paul adams, bbc news. our correspondent steve rosenberg joins us now from minsk in belarus, where president putin and the belarusian leader alexander lukasheko have met. steve, there are concerns that the military exercises are a cover for military escalation. well, nato has expressed concern about the scale of these exercises. the consensus seems to be that this is the largest russian military deployments to belarus since the end of the cold war. the numbers we range from 10,000 to 30,000 russian soldiers. these exercises are due to end on sunday, so the big question is, once they do end, will be russian soldiers? will they go back to base chemical yesterday, the leader of belarus, alexander lukashenko, suggested that the

the belarusan president lukashenko proposing talks between russia and ukraine the relationship with belarus and russia remains central as well the relationship with putin and lukashenko we will monitor the situation. that is the latest let's bring in oliver black to weigh in on what to make of the market response. oliver, great to have you on the program. we have the massive selloff overnight in asia and in europe and u.s. futures indicating a sharp selloff as well. does this make sense would you selle equities here o is this an overreaction? >> i think first our thoughts with people on the ground in ukraine. this is a potential human tragedy unfolding at the moment. in terms of the market reaction, i think i have to recognize the decisive escalation on the ground overnight you see the conflict move beyond the regions and attacks across the rest of ukraine area you see greater sanctions as a result of that markets, of course, within the last few days, a new status quo. those regions are under former russian influence. now we are seeing something worse than that. that is a result of the chan

at the same time we are strengthening once more our sanctions against the kremlin and the lukashenkotor. we are shutting down essbase for russia, proposing a prohibition on all russian owned, russian registered and russian controlled aircraft. this aircraft will no more be able to land, takeoff or overflight the territory of the european union. this will apply to any plane, own chartered or otherwise controlled by a russian legal or natural person so let me be very clear, our airspace will be close to every russian plane and that includes the private jets of oligarchs, too. just that includes the private 'ets of oligarchs, too.�* that includes the private 'ets of oligarchs, too. just to bring the latest reaction _ oligarchs, too. just to bring the latest reaction from _ oligarchs, too. just to bring the i latest reaction from international leaders. in a conversation with ukraine's president zelensky, he said he will do all he could to ensure further military aid reaches ukrainian forces. that from downing street. and this coming on top of the announcement of 14 million worth of human

lukashenko is a puppet. we know that. but he's a puppet with weapons, and that is dangerous.what does brussels do? what i see is the putin rulebook, which is to go bilateral and not multilateral. you are bathed in multilateral in brussels. how powerful or important is brussels this weekend? maria: it is because we know everything is being done in unity up until now. i am surprised to see this level of unity. in the united states, europe, the european union, all of them are working together, so all of this is happening in unity. yesterday, an official told me this is the thing vladimir putin miss calculated. he really believed in divide and conquer, but so far that has not been the case. everything is working together on paper, at least, and the europeans are saying we want to work closer with the united nations and the united states. if there is to be an invasion, vladimir putin will see "the mother of all sanctions." lisa: given the fact that we do have some of the tensions that do seem to be abating, does it make sense to you based on your conversations for oil prices to be

lukashenko will decide with putin on my presidency. that is a stunning headline.lukashenko discussing economic sanctions with vladimir putin, vladimir putin saying he did not pay attention to invasion reports. there is a question how they will message the imminent seat of the invasion with the u.s. pushing that narrative and russia pushing against it. the market reaction is interesting. we saw some concerns about individual citizens, nonmilitary personnel being moved out of some of the rebel territories in ukraine. interfax reports. the interesting thing to me as we saw an immediate response and equities, rolling over, how much people are ready to respond if there is an altercation this something that indicates how much people are not pricing that in. tom: i will go to the ruble which pulled back from the good news of last 12 hours, back to where it was 18 hours ago. i want to look at the curve flatness of the united states, the panella curve, the 210 spread, nowhere new the angst of monday and tuesday, but nevertheless the curve flattening harkens back to where w

and president lukashenko is a close ally of president putin.to this after having a phone call with president lukashenko. neither of them were actually present. ukraine it was represented by its defence minister and a presidential adviser who said this after the talks.— this after the talks. ukrainian and russian delegations _ this after the talks. ukrainian and russian delegations today - this after the talks. ukrainian and russian delegations today held i this after the talks. ukrainian and russian delegations today held a | russian delegations today held a first round of talks to main aim of which was to discuss cease—fire and cessation of hostilities in the territory of ukraine. the parties identified a number of parity topics on which certain decisions were outlined. fin on which certain decisions were outlined. ,, ., on which certain decisions were outlined. , , ., , outlined. on the russian side the head of the _ outlined. on the russian side the head of the delegation _ outlined. on the russian side the head of the delegation told - outli

putin and lukashenko serving the troops.ay are now going to continue indefinitely according to belarus's defense minister. what does that mean? . >> well, again, if you try to get into the head of putin, what he has now is a permanent presence in belarus. these are russian forces that are not routinely deployed there. but in his mind, he sees this as analogous to nato, u.s. forces, other nato partners positioning their forces in poland. we have a u.s. corps forward deploy in poland. we have exercises routinely in romania, hungary. training exercises. putin is conducting operations in belarus. he sees this as his right to do. and i would suggest we may not see permanent bases in belarus, but you will see routine exercises between the belarusian forces and the russian forces going forward. . >> let's listen to something that defense secretary lloyd austin said yesterday. >> would we see tanks rolling into kyiv? >> well, you could see that. that's highly likely. you could see that. you could see a significant amount of combat p

essentially saying, dana, they extracted a sort of guarantee of security from president lukashenko that this ukrainian delegation will be safe when they troofl to go and meet with this russian delegation. meanwhile, though, the situation on the ground has been a continuous barrage from the russian side, but they have definitely been finding themselves encountering much stiffer resistance, as you mentioned, according to u.s. intelligence sources. but just what we're seeing on the grounds, the expectation had been that a city like kyiv would fall in one today fours. we're now on day four. they've thwarted russian tanks in the western part of the city. while we did hear a lot of explosions last night, one that particularly targeted a fuel depot, it is now -- earlier it was pretty noisy. but now it seems to be a bit quieter. that may be because every side is waiting to see what, if anything, transpires from these negotiations, although i should say as of now we don't yet have a timing on when they might began. dana. >> clarissa we're going to talk a lot more about that announcement about ta

lukashenko who's been an ally.ns to be a staging ground, the fastest way to keep his from belarus. so, as we think about sanctions, and what should be done tomorrow, and i said tomorrow, on purpose, by the way. this notion that we need to say something, keep our powder dry, i completely disagree with that analysis, i think we need to put everything on the table that we can, economic chopping off to the best of our abilities. i think needs to include mr. lukashenko in belarus, they are allies on this war, they now need to be sanctioned as well. >> and you believe it should also hit the russian people, which is something this country has been hesitant to do in the past. >> you know, i say that reluctantly. i have always been for targeted sanctions. in 2014, we had to work -- and i still believe we need to message to the russian people. i will be on russian media in the day later or night, whatever it is now. but i have lots of russian friends. my phone has been lighting up saying this is a tragic day but we have to g

russian president vladimir putin overseeing the drill next to belarusian president lukashenko. u.s. officials believe up to 50% of russian forces gathered around ukraine's bordered are now in attack position. they're estimated to be 150,000 russian troops amassed. russia continues to deny plans to attack accusing america and others of hysteria, in eastern ukraine today, more shelling on the front lines between russian-backed rebels and government troops. on saturday, claiming the lives of two ukrainian soldiers. ukrainian lawmakers visiting the area forced to shelter as the world awaits putin's next move, america and nato say russia is poised to invade. >> in the past most military action started at night, but now with social media, with commercial satellites, much of the surprise of maneuver is taken away. so in this case, the russians real advans inhe u of drones. daylight and good weather are much more important than night and surprise. >> reporter: if that's the mood in the east of the country one of tension and people forced to evacuate from the area. people immobilized. the mo

putin and belarusian president alexander lukashenko. now, belarus on ukraine's northern border is a key ally for russia, of course. officials in the u.s. fear it could be a launch site if russia decides to attack ukraine. moscow, of course, denies it has any plans to invade, even as russian forces surround ukraine on three sides. meanwhile, ukraine's president met with the u.s. vice president, kamala harris, at the munich security conference on saturday. miss harris telling him, the u.s. stands with ukraine. >> the united states takes seriously the importance of the integrity and the territorial integrity of the ukraine and your sovereignty and the united states stands with ukraine. >> we do clearly understand what is going on. this is our land and the only thing we want is to have peace, bring the peace back to our country. >> cnn has reporters fanned out across the globe covering the latest developments. cnn's chief international anchor, christiane amanpour, is at the munich security conference. susan malveaux is at the u.s. capitol.

joins russia into one large union state, president putin becoming the head of the union state, lukashenkorus goes into retirement this summer and now you've got, of course, nobody in europe will shed a tear for lukashenko. there won't be a lot of pushback about this creation of the union state, except you're going to end up with thousands of russian troops based in belarus and our allies in estonia, latvia, lithuania, poland, this is not a good situation there, particularly around what we call the corridor. this is happening at the same time while we're all looking at ukraine. >> it does appear to be a situation where vladimir putin seems to be more emboldened by the moment. lieutenant general ben hodges, thank you as always. >> thank you for the privilege. >>> in the next hour, closing arguments are set to begin in the trial for three former police officers accused of violating george floyd's civil rights. we're live in minnesota. >>> plus, the opening bell on wall street is just moments away. the first day of trading this week after the president's day holiday. u.s. stock futures are do

i mean, lukashenko is essentially a lapdog of putin on a very short leash. lukashenko and the belarusians won't do anything and that's useful. you have to remember there's a price that the belarusians pay. by taking this course of action by going to war and invading a neighboring country and then having the sanction that is will come down on russia, putin has essentially condemned russia to be essentially a third world country with nuclear weapons, sort of like maybe pakistan or something like that. because of the unity in the west russia will not have a lot of options beyond the military ones. >> it's interesting to see where it goes. it does completely diminish a country from greatness. thank you both so very much. i appreciate it. steve hall and ambassador ivo daalder. back to you. >> thank you for that context. president biden just announced thousands of additional u.s. troops will head to europe to defend nato territory, but he doubled down on his promise to not send troops into ukraine. new details ahead. retinol24 collagen peptide new vitamin c and th

lukashenko.f your children, and now you're separated for what could be decades. do you think they will ever be released? >> for sure. it will be the real years of prison, and we fight for people to be released because they want to give us an opportunity to continue. we can't betray those people, and every child, his father or mother, and we are fighting mostly for those people. and i have never imagined that 18 years of so-called imprisonment of my husband will be years. my children are waiting for their daddy every day. >> as the opposition leader, you yourself face great risk every single day. you know, everyone, of course, around the world is familiar with the opposition russian leader and what happened. he's in a pe nal colony there, after being poisoned, and he got a kgb agent to admit what happened and say they put poison on his underwear. that kgb agent is also gone. do you fear every day for your life? >> i hope that in the country where we are we are more or less in safety, and it depend

president lukashenko says that he has taken all responsibility for ensuring that "planes, helicoptersapital, kiv. , kyiv. in terms of the last phrase ou kyiv. in terms of the last phrase you used. _ kyiv. in terms of the last phrase you used. that _ kyiv. in terms of the last phrase you used, that was _ kyiv. in terms of the last phrase you used, that was significant, i kyiv. in terms of the last phrase i you used, that was significant, what you used, that was significant, what you told us about the information about where it might happen, these talks, and who might lead the delegation, so we wait to get answers on that but in terms of how close the russian forces are to where you are, what is the best guess? where you are, what is the best cuess? , ., , where you are, what is the best ruess? , ., , ., where you are, what is the best cuess? , ., , ., i, guess? there were explosions on a reuular guess? there were explosions on a regular basis _ guess? there were explosions on a regular basis today, _ guess? there were explosions on a regular basis today, matthew, i guess? there were ex

his only ally is a dictator from belarus, lukashenko.e to be, and i think he wants to achieve a particular goal with respect to ukraine and is willing to take his chances on what the consequences might be. that's a pretty reckless position. it may be calculated, but i think it is very reckless, and is going to yield real ramifications for russia going forward for many years. >> do you have any sense of how far, to what extent russia might go to get what it wants and beyond the sanctions what else could be the punishment for putin if he invades? >> well right now, candidly, it looks like a massive invasion from at least three sides, you know, north, east and south of ukraine through belarus, through crimea, and from russia proper. and it looks like they could have a straight shot at the capital of ukraine, kyiv itself, i hope not. kyiv is a capital city of 2.8 million people. the horror and slaughter that could ensue at such a military action is hard to even imagine. and it's certainly something that ought to be avoided at all costs. agai

their security guaranteed by belarusian strong man and putin ally alexandr lukashenko. ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy doubting the outcome, but hoping for peace for now, ukrainian soldiers managing to stop russian advances on kyiv. but new images appear to show growing russian ground forces pushing towards the capital. russia still targeting ukraine's infrastructure a missile strike at an oil depot near kyiv lit up the night sky and in kharkiv, an explosion at a gas pipeline as more heavy fighting broke out in the streets. tanks burning alongside the roads. fighters surrounded by destruction. the path of war marked by bombed out vehicles, charred roads and buildings blown out. this resident saying my friend lives here, so i came to check it is very bad innocent civilians caught in the crosshairs this nine-story apartment building shelled. civilians helping civilians any way they can. their homes destroyed. one woman died 20 people were rescued from the rubble as dozens more hid out in safety the death toll is rising at least 350 people have been killed more tha

negotiations on the border of belarus their security guaranteed by belarusian strong man alexander lukashenkoukraine's president zelensky doubting the outcome but hoping for peace. for now, ukrainian soldiers managing to stop russian advances on kyiv, but new images appear to show growing russian ground forces pushing toward the capital. russia still targeting ukraine's infrastructure, a missile strike at an oil depo near kyiv lit up the night sky. and in kharkiv, an explosion at a gas pipeline as more heavy fighting broke out tanks burning alongside the roads, fighters surrounded by destruction, the path of war marked by bombed out vehicles, charred roads and billings blown out. this resident saying my friend lives here so i came to check. it is very bad innocent civilians caught in the cross hairs. this nine story apartment building shelled, civilians helping civilians anyway they can, their homes destroyed one woman died 20 people rescued from the rubble as dozens more hid out in safety the death toll is rising at least 350 people have been killed, more than 1500 injured still, the citizen

into essentially a sort of dissident base for belarussian politicians who have had to flee from lukashenkod of course, you are a very strong, loud advocate of regime change now in belarus, and you also have offered safe haven to one of alexei navalny�*s biggest sort of allies in his political movement, which of course, is profoundly anti—putin. how far are you going to take your determination to do what you can against putin? when there's the choice between the oligarchs and dissidents, we choose dissidents, so that's that. right, but you're a country of 2.8 million people and right now, you've taken on one heck of a diplomatic commitment, fight, cos not only are you involved in these sort of wars of words and hostilities with russia in diplomatic terms, but you've taken on a feud with china at the very same time and you personally have been at the forefront of that with your decision to allow the taiwan government to open up a representative office, which they're calling the office of taiwan rather than taipei, which is the usual diplomatic formulation. why did you choose to confront beij

invasion of ukraine is imminent, but today, putin and embattled belarussian president alexander lukashenko presided over a test of russian ballistic and cruise missiles. russia's defense ministry said the exercise had been scheduled long ago, but it was a reminder of the country's nuclear capabilities. military drills were also held in the black sea region near crimea, which russia annexed by force in 2014. about 70 miles north of the border with ukraine in belarus, russian paratroopers continued exercises with belarussian military forces. in a pitch to keep diplomatic channels open, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken agreed to meet with his russian counterpart next week-- provided there is not an invasion first. >> sreenivasan: for continuing coverage of the situation in ukraine, and more international and national news, go to www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: last weekend in mobile, alabama, there was a family reunion, of sorts. many of the people there were descendents of west africans who were sold into slavery a forced to come to the u.s. on the very last slave ship in 1860. w

they went on to stage the biggest protest against lukashenko.helmingly took her side against the regime. but shortly after the election, lukashenko declared himself the winner and detained svetlana, which sparked mass protests in the streets of belarus. ultimately, she was forced to leave her homeland while last year her husband was sentenced to 18 years in prison after a closed door trial. she continues to fight for its homeland, outside its borders, and it mirrors the deteriorating events in ukraine. she said the only difference in ukraine, the state is opposing the occupation. in belarus, it embraces it. and the belarusian opposition leader joins us now. it's great to have you on the show. i would like to ask you right out of the box here, first of all, what your thoughts are continuing to what i already said, what your thoughts are on what happens right now in uk and what you hope the world community will do in response. >> first of all, i'm here to say that some people don't want to oppose ukraine. they have always lived in peace and our pe

president putin overseeing the drills with belarusian president lukashenko. james longman is on the ground in belarus where more exercises are happening just north of the ukrainian border. >> this is the massive display of military might that moscow is keen for the world to see. all this is happening very close to ukraine. so far this has been a crisis about demonstrating, threatening strength. the question is whether vladimir putin uses it. >> reporter: the drills billed as the finale of major russian military exercises. the kremlin's troops were due to head home afterwards, but a belarus defense official telling abc news they might not amid fears they could be used to instead invade ukraine. tonight, u.s. officials say up to 50% of the estimated 150,000 russian troops amassed near the border with ukraine are now in attack positions. president biden saying putin has made his decision to invade, and his top u.s. military officials agreeing, russia is poised to strike. >> those forces are now beginning to uncoil and move closer to the border. >> reporter: toda

involving advanced hypersonic missiles with its neighbor belarus with president's putin and alexander lukashenko watching from moscow in russian-led breakaway parts of eastern, ukraine separatus called for civilians to evacuate and accused ukraine without evidence of preparing to launch its own attack the us sees this as part of russia's attempt to cast ukraine as the aggressor and invade under the pretext of protecting russian. king citizens abc's in panelists and kiev. the west is warning that this could be the pretext for a russian invasion because vladimir putin is claiming that the russian speakers in the east of the country are under attack in germany ukrainian president zelensky the us national security team in nato allies gathered to talk about a diplomatic solution. vice president. kamala. harris said one is still possible, but she issued this warning if russia further invades, ukraine. the united states together with our allies and partners will impose significant and unprecedented economic cost aaron kitursky abc news levy, ukraine in the east bay the search is on for a woman 29 year

alexander lu kashenko asked alexander lukashenko asked —— alexander lukashenko asked me for ukrainian there, the president is here, the head of the presidential offices here, prime minister is here, the army is here, commander—in—chief is here. we all will be defending our state and our borders. chris york and his girlfriend yarina 0dynak made it across the polish border last night after a journey consisting of a long walk to the border, a packed train and a night of queueing in freezing temperatures. good to speak to you, thank you very much for talking to us on bbc news. tell us about that journey. much for talking to us on bbc news. tell us about thatjourney. where were you coming from and how long and how difficult a journey was it for you? we and how difficult a “ourney was it for ou? ~ ,., ., for you? we were both in lviv and we decided we — for you? we were both in lviv and we decided we had _ for you? we were both in lviv and we decided we had to _ for you? we were both in lviv and we decided we had to get _ for you? we were both in lviv and we decided we had to get out _ for

during the drills, which were observed by president putin and his ally, belarusian leader, alexander lukashenkosaid that were russia to invade ukraine it would be strategically impossible for russian troops. what is going on in eastern ukraine? we have had reports of missiles, false narratives, evacuations. has it begun, do you think, and has vladimir putin decided to invade? i think only one person really knows the answer to that question and that is vladimir putin. i think there's still time for wiser counsel, still time for common sense to win. we hope that president putin will think better of what i think would be an absolutely crazy and disastrous venture in ukraine. i think what is happening at the moment in donbas is what we would expect to happen, the kind of provocations that the russians engage in generally, and i'm afraid this could well be the prelude to bigger action. the americans seem to think he has decided. is our intelligence different to theirs? i think certainly things are in motion, but the question is whether it can all be pulled back and whether the president of russia is

they were invited by lukashenko. there are other obvious suspects like north korea and iran. syria, countries that russia has been helping that are also autocratic regimes. but more and more russia appears to be isolated. putin was prepared for this. he built up the reserves because he understood that he may be cut off from the financial system. but some of the u.s. sanctions are focused on the russian central bank. and as the u.s. seems to be ratcheting up sanctions each day, it's tightening the noose on moscow. >> thank you so much for this middle of the night conversation. we really appreciate it. >> thank you. mike: we know putin's forces have met stronger resistance than expected. one general is telling fox news that russia has lost the war. that story ahead. alicia: u.s. defense officials are recording a growing frustration coming out of the kremlin for the slow incursion campaign. telling fox news russia is losing this war. >> i think he lost this war and it's stunning to me. i don't think anybody thought that. when i looked at the forces he had. all of his air, throwi

some of our listeners may recall steve rosenberg talking about his interview with alexander lukashenkoss formal address for steve. and steve took this as almost belittlement in an attempt to insult him. i think what putin was doing with macron is slightly different here. he was trying to say that i am part of the club of nations, among the high table of global politics was up and this of course is a really big statement from bruton because russia has been kicked out of organisations like the g8 which is now the g7. and he wants to show that russia is there in the club ultimately. let me bring in benjamin strick. i wanted to look at the role open—source investigators are playing for the year the investigations director at the centre for investigation resistance which is not for profit dedicated to exposing governments with to be an expert in sifting through satellite imagery, social media, anything digital that's out there, hence the term open—source. what are your team finding in respect of and ukraine? our team, we're not really establishing any findings. what we're really trying to d

another crazy self--proclaimed leader of belarusian lukashenko.he missile killing ukrainian here and this is a disaster. all of them together we stop when w e can. both military building and hospital, kinder garden and schools. >> president poroshenko, do you think this pause for discussion is a ploy? >> i think health factor without any precondition. the only precondition should be please withdraw your troop from the ukrainian territory. this is very simple. hundreds of ukrainian. military civilians have already lost their life. thousands have also given their life in ukraine. the military disaster was avoid when it was hit at the facility of the station. >> let me ask you mr. president. you were instrumental in helping to build this army ukraine has. quite a formidable army whachlt do they need now? is it the javlins? the stingers? what is it ukraine wants? >> thank you. i'm really proud me and my team build up one of the strongest army in europe and today, ukrainian soldiers and ukraine demonstrated how strong we are. our society do our best bu

we have asked people to mobilise and continue protesting against lukashenko and the regime in belarusthdraw money from banks and can protest openly on the streets and they can organise some strikes at work, and in many ways, but she also asked them to stop russian troops from moving. flit also asked them to stop russian troops from moving.— troops from moving. of course, belarus is _ troops from moving. of course, belarus is playing _ troops from moving. of course, belarus is playing an _ troops from moving. of course, belarus is playing an important| troops from moving. of course, - belarus is playing an important part in all of this. in fact the talks are taking place on the border there. ~ ., ., are taking place on the border there. ~ . ., ., ., ., there. the ukrainian delegation and russian delegations _ there. the ukrainian delegation and russian delegations have _ there. the ukrainian delegation and russian delegations have mapped l there. the ukrainian delegation and| russian delegations have mapped on the board and that is something lukashenko has been struggling with and wante