so i think there is nervousness here but also defiance and anger at what's happening. >> oren liebermannthe pentagon, new satellite images show dozens of vehicles that have moved across a pontoon bridge near ukraine/belarus border. what does this tell us about russia's plan of attack? >> reporter: well this is a pontoon bridge cnn has been watching over the course of the last ten days or so, on the belarusian border or near that border and taken down and put back up. now we see forces and now we see essentially i believe it's tanks that we see in that imagery or some sort of vehicles on the southern side. it means skpshand it's a strong indicator that the concern of the u.s. that's been stated, that russia will move on kyiv is playing out. a senior defense official said earlier today that russia was drawing closer to kyiv. that official wouldn't be specific on what that distance was, but this is already pretty much the closest point from the belarusian border to kyiv, some 50 miles or so give or take. it goes through the chernobyl exclusion zone which was reportedly taken over earlier in

lee, at the white house, oren liebermann at the pentagon, jill dougherty in moscow, and cnn remilitary analyst, retired air force colonel cedric leighton joins us. hello, one and all. m.j., president biden is making it clear that russia is the aggressor. are sanctions just the first step in punishing moscow? . that is at least what the white house is saying right i know, that this is just the beginning. when president biden announced the the sanctions today, he called them really the first tranche of sanctions. they included sanctioning and targeting the two russian financial institutions. they also target u.s. investment and russian foreign debt. they also take aim at russians elite and families. also as we know and we have talked about so much, the u.s. is consistently opposed to the nord stream 2 pipeline, this gas line that runs between germany and russia. so the line from the white house now is that these sanctions will continue to work on sort of a rolling basis. as russia invades more, if they invade more, more sanctions are going to be headed their way. but a question that the

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

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 casualties and destroying more than 30 tanks, seven aircraft, and six helicopters while russia denies losing any aircraft to the ukrainians. but the russian advance isn't stopping, pushing into ukraine from three sides. ukraine says russian forces ar

let's bring in major general spider marks, also cnn military analyst kim doetschyer oren liebermann and nic robertson editor in moscow for us and kylie atwood joins us from the state department. there is so much to go over. spider, let me start with you. what did you hear there? >> what i heard was frankly what we have been talking about for the past couple of days. which is russia is poised, with its milt forces to conduct an invasion at any time. it could be imminent. what we heard in greater detail was jake sullivan laid out the possibility that kyiv could come under assault, but he did -- he did indicate that an invasion of some sort would take place. again, what we have discussed, that is probably more likely in the donbass region because if putin wanted to occupy and absorb ukraine, he does not have sufficient force deployed to do that. he has about 130,000 to 150,000, to occupy that would take close to about 600 to 800,000 forces when you do your counter insurgency calculus. it doesn't happen. >> hmm. nick, one of the things that jake sullivan just said is that there will be seve

first, cnn's oren liebermann on how the operation unfolded. >> reporter: a u.s. raid shattering the overnight hours in northwest syria. special forces going after the leader of isis,. >> last night's operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield. and it sent a strong message to terrorists around the world -- we will come after you and fwiend find you. >> president joe biden watched from the white house as special forces closed in on their target. the helicopters approached the three-story compound in the middle of the night according to senior administration officials. once on the ground, special forces warned civilians to clear out, evacuating ten civilians, including eight children. officials say he then blew himself up, killing his wife and children, and tearing the top of the building apart. his lieutenant one floor below was killed in an exchange of fire with u.s. forces. the pentagon said a child was also killed on this floor but wouldn't say how or by whom. toward the end of the two-hour operation, officials say two members of an al qaeda aff

first, cnn's oren liebermann

oren liebermann at the presenting. good evening to both of you. this is really really serious fingerprint. emjay i start with you, the shift in tone from the white house in the last 24 hours making it clear that russia could invade at any moment and president biden set to talk to russian president vladimir putin tomorrow. what do we know about the high stakes call. >> don, this is a phone call set to take place tomorrow morning. president biden will make the phone call from camp david which is where he is going to be spending the weekend. and interestingly, a white house official told us earlier tonight that initially the kremlin had suggested that monday is when the phone call should take place. bup that the white house had countered with saturday. so that's why now the phone call is happening tomorrow instead that back and forth clearly does seem to suggest that from the white house's perspective they would rather have this dialogue happen sooner rather than later. and in the big picture it of course shows the u.s. still trying to engage vladimi

dougherty is joining us from moscow, chief white house can't kaitlan collins at the white house, and oren liebermannuse, of course. jim, how stunning is it to hear the deputy secretary of state wendy sherman tell me that putin is poised to launch a, quote, war of carnage that could leave thousands on both sides dead? >> reporter: it's the culmination of warnings we've been hearing from the pentagon going back to november. that's the first time i heard descriptions of what u.s. intel was picking up about russia's buildup, the forces headed this way to surround ukraine, but also the plans in place for a full-scale invasion involve ing every level of military power you can imagine. that's ground power, missiles, electronic warfare. and the fsb, the successor to the kgb with the plan to take over this country. at the 11th hour and a half, if you want to call it that, the u.s. sees this all coming together in the coming hours or days. i know, wolf, that we've heard those warnings before. what has changed in the last several days is those forces have gotten closer to the border. the u.s. has observed via

oren liebermann joins us now. what more are u.s.g about the investigation. >> investigators have been interviewing scores of u.s. witnesses and coalition forces to get a better sense of exactly what happened during, before and after the attack. in the conclusion of that investigation, they say that the attack itself could not have been prevented. they say the bomber likely used alternate routes to get to the ab gate of hid karzai international airport to avoid taliban checkpoints and it was not as initially described, multiple bombers and multiple gunman, instead it was one single suicide bomber. a 20 pound bomb filled with five millimeter ball bearings that tore through the area around the abby gate leading to 13 kills u.s. service members and 170 afghans. here cents commander of u.s. central command. >> at the time, the best information that we had in the immediate aftermath of the attack indicated that it was a complex attack by both a suicide bomber and isis-k gunman. we now know that the explosively fired ball bearings caused w