cnn european editor nina dos santos with us. >> the hallowed halls of the house of commons, a sort ofment where technology doesn't always cut through but this time, what they've decided to do is put big screens. it's the first time that the president of a foreign nation will be direct to the house of commons to speak to british lawmakers. we're also expecting members of the upper house of paurliament, house of lords to watch from the side galleries too. it's going to be extremely full and already in preparation of all of this, we see the foreign affairs select committee have various meetings on ukraine to prepare the ground for some of the arguments that he's likely to be making. what will zelenskyy say? we're expecting him to yet again call for things like a no-fly zone over ukraine, something that nato officials and defense secretaries including the one of the united kingdom have staunchly rebuffed saying they have to be very careful here in the balancing act they're trying to strike not to drag the ukraine situation into a fully blown third world war that could bring all of the mem

nina dos santos, cnn, london. >>> well, to warfare now on a digital front. u.n.an rights experts say they are alarmed by the severe clampdown on information within russia. moscow radio network was one of the few independent media outlets left in russia until taken off the air last week. carina was one of its correspondents and she joins me now, live, from washington. carina, thanks for being with us. so, what are ordinary russians exposed to on their tvs, as they listen to their radios? people have the internet now. so presumably, they are able to access independent news platforms. but by and large, ordinary russians, what kind of info are they getting? >> hi. thanks for having me. so, unfortunately, they -- um -- um hear only the propaganda. it's everything was shut down that could be shut down. some western media, like bbc, russian service, and others. they had to stop their operations in russia in fear for persecution of their journalists because now you can be imprisoned up to 15 years for spreading so-called fakes about the war, which you can not even call a

nina dos santos joins me from london with more on the morale, and also on some high level departures russian circles of power. >> that's right. there has been some high level departures overseas. there was anatoly chubais. he was responsible for an environmental brief. but there has also been question marks over the future of many members of the military as well, with the reports one of them might be under house arrest. there is lots of speculation about the whereabouts of sergei shoibu who hasn't been seen in about 12 days now. as of course this rising number of casualties appears to grow by the day for russia and just going into the numbers here, nato has been saying they estimate the number of 40,000 russian troops are either dead, wounded or missing in action or have been captured in ukraine. ukraine itself estimates the casualties among russian soldiers could be as high as over 15,000. and russia itself just interesting enough, hala, last week i'm sure you remember may have accidentally revealed casualty numbers themselves when one of the state news companies accidentally put ou

nina dos santos joins us.he russian officials refusing to engage with the united states. >> the backdrop is a very interesting report, exclusive report obtained by our colleague, barbara starr who covers the pentagon in washington, d.c., which appears to show a readout of the meeting between the two u.s. defense attaches who remain anonymous and their russian counterparts not that long ago during which obviously one of the u.s. military attaches referred to one of their intermediaries as family in ukraine and they appeared to show exasperation and saying they were very depressed about the situation in ukraine and went off script. it appears there are various indications that morale is quite low with the russian military. we have the diplomatic tensions between the diplomacy channels between the united states and with russia with russia saying they're going to be expelling u.s. diplomats. all the while it appears as though russian military casualties are mounting by the day although getting a firm picture on ex

nina dos santos, cnn, in london. >>> we want to bring you up to date on some other stories making newsnt bashar al assad, visited the united arab emirates friday. it is his first trip to an arab nation since the start of a syrian uprising more than a decade ago. he met with the crown prince of abu dhabi. the u.s. says the uae was attempting to, in its words, legitimize mr. assad, and said he remains responsible for the death and suffering of countless syrians. >>> covid cases meantime in western europe are ticking up again. this week the uk and netherlands saw cases jump nearly 50% over the week before. on sunday, germany will begin lifting most covid measures in spite of new cases hitting a record seven-day high. more than 1,700 in that country. health experts are keeping an eye on europe to see if covid statistics offer a preview of what could be ahead here in the united states. >>> so space buffs got a good look at the next frontier of u.s. space flight when nasa's next generation moon rocket recently rolled out its launchpad. the mega rocket stands taller than the statue of liberty

nina dos santos, cnn, london. >> so, there is a physical war. then, there is an information war and there are growing concerns, globally, over misinformation that's coming from russia about the war in ukraine. this week's russia's foreign ministry even claimed the country, quote, did not attack ukraine. this is sergey lavrov. sergey lavrov said we did not attack ukraine. one refugee from the ukrainian city of sumy painted a remarkable picture about one relative in russia is actually hearing. >> in russia, like, started the war i called her and was like she is like no, like it's not true. she is like same thing you know, look this is your army making war, not ours. i said, mom, they are bombed. like it's crazy we cannot live here. it's -- what is happening, it's like huge. it's war and she is like until today, she don't believe me. like, she is my mother. i am telling her what is happening. like, that we are going to shelters, you know, we hear bombs. there is like attacks. and she said she is -- she is not believing me. so, i stopped talking to

nina dos santos with the story. >> reporter: as russia's tanks rolled into ukraine, vladimir putin madeorld war. >> translator: russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences never experienced in your history. >> reporter: then, days later, he raised the alert level of the world's largest nuclear arsenal. >> translator: everyone knows that a third world war can only be nuclear. >> reporter: only nine countries have nuclear weapons. hopefully never to be needed in battle. according to the armed control association, russia has the largest number of war heads at just over 6,000. while the u.s. isn't far behind, no other country, not even israel or north korea, has anywhere near this type of capability. now, most of russia's war heads are not currently on missile bases. just over 1,400 are deployable at the moment. these are intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and bombers. but what russia's president would really use them? he thinks putin is bluffing. >> he reminded everyone he's got nuclear weapons, which starts people off being worried. >> reporter:

nina dos santos, cnn, in london. >>> and just in the last few minutes, we have heard from the ukrainian president's office reporting explosions in the western city of lutsk shutting down two boiler houses, apparently, according to the president's office and the adviser there said three powerful blasts hit the southwestern part of the country. literally, just getting that information in the last few minutes. we will keep you updated on developments there. >>> meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people are making the arduous journey across ukrainian borders in hopes of reaching safety. just ahead, how one country is coping with the crisis and the overwhelming number of sudden refugees. >>> also, hundreds of international students were caught in ukraine's sumy region amid russia's invasion. some of them spoke with cnn after moving safely through a humanitarian corridor. we will have that and more after the break. hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ go with simparica trio it's triple protection ma simple! simparica trio is the first and only monthly chewable that covers heartworm disease, ticks and fle

cnn's nina dos santos, she's an employee? >> reporter: that's right.potentially a mother of two children. so the risks here are enormous for a journalist to take this type of move. during the main evening bulletin of a state-controlled television network. remember that the kremlin has very tightly tried to control the message that this is not a war. that word is being banned, it is just a special military operations. she turned out and wrote to human rights agencies. this is part of why she took this drastic action. >> translator: it's happening now in ukraine, it's a crime and russia is the aggressor country. the responsibility for this aggression lies on p the conscience of one man, this man is vladimir putin. go and do not be afraid. >> she's half ukrainian, half russian. she said what's going on is genocide. if a lot of people stand up in big protests or even on the streets, essentially the critical mass will get this invasion thwarted in its tracks. that may be hopeful thinking because this is an extremely facing jail time. >> do we know where she

nina dos santos has the latest. this could happen as early as today.ce period on the bill. will russia send scarce hard currency abroad? >> reporter: well, they're making it very clear to countries they deem unfriendly, christine, the answer is no. they're intimating they would repay these interest payments that have to be paid in dollars, otherwise as you said, russia would be deemed in default for the first time in a century, repay them to countries like, for instance, the united states in rubles. if the ruble is devalued well into the double digits, that will be painful for many foreign investors holding russian debt. jpmorgan estimates there are $40 million of these types of bonds in foreign denominations. 20 billion of that is held by foreign investors who could be impacted by this. what you can expect in the short term is if russia decides to pay that debt back in rubles while their interest payments on other types of debt will skyrocket, it will have a massive ribl effect in the short term. i should caution russia did default on the domestic deb

nina dos santos, cnn in london. >> and i will have much more from ukraine a little later this hour.hn vause in atlanta. john? >> michael, as always, thank you. we'll take a short break here on cnn. when we come back, mcdonald's has announced a temporary closure of all its restaurants in russia, a move that comes with added symbolism, given the role it played decades ago of warming relations between moscow and the west. to be a thriver with metastatic breast cancer means asking for what we want. and need. and we need more time. so, we want kiali. women are living longer than ever before witkisqali when taken wh an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant in postmenopausal women wi hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali is a pill that's significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant alone. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. tell your doctor right away if you

nina dos santos has more. >> reporter: first, russia seized chernobyl, site of the world's worst nuclear meltdown. a week later, europe's largest nuclear plant. now, with power cut from chernobyl and more than 200 plant workers held hostage, alarm bells are ringing. >> this was terror at a new level. ukraine has 15 nuclear plants and the russian military has forgotten chernobyl and the world's tragedy. >> we cannot go on like this. there has to be clear understandings or clear -- clear commitments not to -- um -- go anywhere near a nuclear facility when it comes to nuclear -- to military operations. >> reporter: some have called the targeting of such sensitive infrastructure a war crime. do you think these nuclear plants are going to be targeted, specifically? >> they are extremely callous. they don't give a damn about civilian casualties but i would be surprised if they were going to deliberately target with missiles or artillery, nuclear power plants. although, you know, with a sociopathic president putin, anything is possible. >> it's energy extortion, nuclear energy extortion in this

cnn's nina dos santos is standing by with more impacts on sanctions on russia.rst steven jiang on the call for assistance from china. steven, i know the thought of china weighing in this very carefully because little is gained here. tell us about the beijing response this morning. >> reporter: well, isa, the chinese foreign ministry just responded to this issue with the spokesman basically dismissing this report saying this is, again, u.s. officials peddling false information with, quote, unquote, sinister intentions. now, the timing of this leak from washington, of course, is very interesting because this is definitely putting china under an intense spotlight for its role in the war just as jake sullivan as you mentioned is about to meet his chinese counterpart who is a key adviser to president xi jinping in rome in the coming hours. the chinese are framing this meeting a longs planned, not hastily arranged because ukraine is on top of their agenda. perhaps in anticipation of washington exerting even more pressure over beijing, chinese state media outlets have

cnn's nina dos santos is here with more on the impact. what can't the football club do? yeah, this is a big shock for 117-year-old club that just had its birthday, anderson. for the moment, they can carry on with their fixtures, so the game against norwich kicked off and that will go ahead, but in the future, they can't sell tickets for the next football season. they also can't participate in the transfer window to buy and sell future players. for the moment, the merchandise shops have already stopped selling goods as well at the stamford bridge base, their stadium. the club is also up for sale. roman abramovich, amid intense scrutiny over whether or not he would actually get sanctioned, which eventually as we now know he has, put the club up for sale about a week or so ago. first, he tried to distance himself from it by stepping down from the board, putting it in trust, but then he put it up for sale. there were 20 interested parties, but that asset sale has been frozen because the government says they need to be sure that he won't personally benefit. of course, this is

nina dos santos, cnn, london. >>> joining us now is petro poroshenko, the former president of ukraine. we heard the concerns of chemicals in ukraine. do you think such an attack by russia is likely or possible? >> in my experience of five years communication with putin, we have one very important message, please don't trust putin, please don't trust russia. i think this is -- putin is a war criminal. he's absolutely inadequate. he's a mad person. and me as a president of ukraine can guarantee, no chemical, no biological weapons, ukraine don't have it before and not planning to have it in the future. this is definitely confirmed. this is classical, very important example of the russian propaganda. we have many, many times of that because russia said this is ukraine who was an aggressor who is making danger for russian people and russia just doing exactly like in the year 1939, the hitler and nazis before the world war ii. we think that -- the other thing ukraine have is we want to be free. we want to be democratic. and putin just hate ukraine. he refuse us with a european future. putin

nina dos santos, thank you. >>> let's get to washington. president biden will speak to xi jinping for the first time since russian invasion began. it comes days after u.s. diplomatic cable revealed beijing may be open to providing russia with military and financial aid. cnn's jeremy diamond is live at the white house. what do we expect the president to say to xi? >> reporter: this is going to be a really critical conversation between two of the world's most powerful leaders. president biden speaking with president xi jinping of china tomorrow, in part to focus on russia's invasion of ukraine. this comes just several days after the national security adviser jake sullivan met with his chinese counterpart in rome on monday. where they also discussed this invasion of ukraine. and it comes as we've learned that russia has actually requested, not only economic support from china but also military support from china. and a recent cable from the united states suggests that china has expressed some openness to helping russia on the military and econ

cnn's nina dos santos has details on that story from london. >> reporter: anatoly chubais, a veteranr in russia over the last two decades, became the most senior member of government to step down and leave the country in protest at vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine. according to the tass news agency and other western media outlets as well, chubais has left russia and also stepped down from his position where he was overseeing the sustainable development goals for russia. he's a huge political figure who has been active since the end of the 1990s when he worked for boris yeltsin, the previous president of russia before vladimir putin, and also ran the main state energy monopoly during the early days of putin's a asce ascendancy. an oligarch class that was once quite close to vladimir putin, but is being pressured increasingly by the international community with sanctions to try and thereby put pressure on the russian president to change his course of action in ukraine. chubais is among one of a number of technocrats and former members of the russian government who started to speak

nina dos santos joins us from london. nina, some of these claims are so baseless and they go back a few years now. it's been circulating for quite a while. how is the u.s. and ukrainians, how are they countering this narrative from russia. >> it's not just ukraine, i reported in the baltic states and there were various fake news articles linked to russian websites. it talked about mustard gas. this is something that you often see as a narrative. most alarmingly we started it here, u.k. parlamentarians started warning about this before the united kingdom and united states saying they were very, very concerned about false flag operations that could essentially use this pretexts, this talk of having chemical weapons engaging in a chemical weapons attack. where we've seen this before, russia played a big hand backing bashar assad. this is why the west is extremely concerned. russia has asked for a u.n. security council meeting talking about what they believe is evidence that there are biological weapons facilities supported t

for more i'm joined by nina dos santos. let's start off with maria. what a brave and bold act. do we know where she is? have we heard from her? >> it seems as though she's under arrest. she is an editor at that state-run channel, channel 1. as you saw there, her protest. the first time we've really seen this since the invasion of ukraine, somebody standing behind the television camera during the main evening news broadcast with that sign. she had obviously taken great care to prepare including the message that is illegal now talking about a war in ukraine as per the last couple of weeks since russia changed the law and cracked down on freedom of speech. this is an extraordinarily courageous act by a journalist which could cost her 15 years of her life. >> for russians, the pressure is piling on. markets -- stock markets still haven't opened and there's a fear of course the country could default. put in perspective the status of the economy right now and how much that putting pressure perhaps on putin or is it? >> and the ruble has devalued into double digits. >> of course. >> ru

nina dos santos has been following this. ere is russian state media weighing in trying to alleviate this. what do we know of the defense minister? >> reporter: he hasn't been seen for 12 days up until yesterday when he briefly appeared in a teleconference with vladimir putin on the far right-hand corner of the screen, only for a fleeting few seconds, to update the president on how that so-called special military operation as they describe the invasion of ukraine is going. it was only for a couple of seconds. if it weren't for his arm moving about to gesticulate, you would have thought it was a static image on that televised conf conference. now what a lot of people have been speculating given that they're talking about how the ukraine invasion is going, you might have expected his relat relationship with sergei shoiu might have been difficult. dmitry peskov, the kremlin spokesperson said he's just busy with what is happening in ukraine. the other thing is, we haven't seen the russian chief, general staff of the armed forces p

nina dos-santos live from london. do we know the back story on this, nina?> reporter: hi, brianna. she was an editor at that state-run news channel, channel 1. hence the reason she was able to gain access to the main set during the main evening broadcast this hugely risky and very eye-watching protest. essentially her message here is one that is banned because the kremlin in russia is still trying to push the narrative this isn't a war. it's a mere special operation that russian forces are undertaking in ukraine. well, after you could see her waving that banner that she preprepared and shouting no to war, stop the war, they're lying to you. the director cut to a pre-recorded segment and we believe that she was arrested. but it turns out she had already prerecorded her own statement, which had been released to human rights organizations. and this is a snipet of why she took this perilous risk. >> translator: this happening now in ukraine is a crime. and russia is the aggressor country. and the responsibility for this aggression lies in the conscious of only o

cnn's nina dos santos joins me. the sanctions piling up on russia, are they having the desired effect? >> reporter: well, they're certainly having an affect on the very rich russians. we've seen these trophy assets like yachts being seized in the south of france and italy. that doesn't look good for the elite in russia, but the real emphasis that people are trying to have here is on the average way of life. average russian citizen as well to pile on the pressure there so that your average person understands how economically isolated russia is becoming as a result of its invasion of ukraine. that's where you're seeing many different countries tighten the screws on these sanctions. there can be no place for russian money to hide, these countries are saying. the only outlier in all of this is china because a lot of people are assuming that economically speaking the big one to win from all of this will eventually be china that can mop up various businesses and assets if a lot of these assets are frozen. the russian cent

cnn's nina dos santos will be joining us in a little bit unless she's with us now. i know she will be in a little bit. first lets of go to steven jiang in beijing. steven, hi again. any response from china for this call for assistance from russia? >> reporter: well, hala, the chinese foreign ministry is going to start its daily press briefing in just a few minutes. let's see what their spokesman will say. i expect officials to very much stick to their long-standing talking points to stress china's imposed partiality in this conflict and probably denouncing the u.s. effort to smear china and, again, blaming the u.s. and nato's eastward expansion for causing this war which, of course, is very much parroting a kremlin talking point. but this leak from washington, the timing of this is interesting as you mention because this is putting china under a spotlight for its role in this war just as jake sullivan is about to meet the key adviser to president xi jinping in rome in the coming hours. perhaps in anticipation of washington exerting more pressure over beijing, chines