and nic robertson as well.hanks to you both. >>> a host and news director at russia's pv one of the country's last independent stations she joins me live from moscow. thanks for doing so. >> thank you, michael. >> we've seen the separatists in the eastern donbas region evacuating women and children to russia. they're blaming ukraine for escalations. what is your read on the tactics there? and what do you think putin's plan is? >> it is not easy to understand what this person actually plans. and what is he doing, and when he actually sends this invasion, if ever invasion will be accomplished. the problem is when putin is trying to get his what you call goals achieved at the moment, we can see that the escalation of the situation is heightened from a week ago, and really several months ago. even in the spring of 2021, there was an estimation that actually finished with the meeting of vladimir putin and president joe biden in geneva in 2021. but now it's happening again. there are goals that he's trying to achieve

hot water has come down, the overall sentiment is one of relief and celebration journalist daniela robertson, they're reporting from sidney airport or snell. and after 2 weeks and hundreds of metals, the beijing winter olympics have ended with the pageantry of the closing ceremony. the games finished and a snowflake theme extravaganza. the birds nest stadium, pandemic restrictions had kept athletes officials, they're in the media and a tight bubble during the games which featured remarkable performances hand controversy. organizers focus next on paris for the 2024 summer games. before that, here's a look back at some of the beijing games highs and lows. oh, fire works lit up the night sky in beijing to mark the start of the 2022 winter olympics. china's government spent billions in the build up and cove. it didn't make it any easier. the host nation's human rights record was put under international scrutiny. their treatment of wicker muslims prompted countries like the u. s. and the u. k. to stage a diplomatic boycott, china responded by having a bigger athlete light the olympic flay. sticki

nic robertson in moscow, alex marquardt in kyiv, ukraine. alex, the ukrainian president said everyone needs to remain calm and everyone outside of this country was panicking ukrainians. >> reporter: that's right, fredricka. what we're hearing from the ukrainian government after that dire assessment from the white house is a strong message of reassurance and of defiance, essentially, please stay calm but if the worse comes to the worst we are ready and we will fight. that is a similar message we've heard in the past few weeks from ukrainian leaders as the u.s. and other nato countries have made increasingly pessimistic predictions. that is the same message we are now hearing from president zelensky on down as the u.s. has issued its most dire warning yet. now, president zelensky in that clip you played, he was down south in the southern part of the country observing ukrainian military exercises that not at all coincidentally are taking place at exactly the same time as russian military exercises are taking place in belarus. president zelensky

>> that leads us to moscow where nic robertson is for pus.f the threat of sanctions are not a deterrent what would be? has the unity of nato that we've seen since all these actions have emerged, has that been a surprise to the kremlin? >> i think the general view is it has ban surprise. putin hasn't outwardly said that. he did offer a way today, an off ramp for everyone. he said everyone in the recently could essentially sleep easier if -- this just isn't going to happen but this is what president putin said earlier today -- if ukraine decides it doesn't want to join nato. then he says all of this is over. we no longer need to worry. that's not ukraine's position. it's not nato's position. and actually, that belies much else that is actually said in terms of the propaganda that is building up here at the moment. this seems to be a situation where president putin, with increasing repeatedty, over the past 24, 36 hours, has been preparing the country for going to war. it's been an accelerated process and revealed several sides of president puti

that report from nic robertson. joining me, former defense secretary leon panetta and serve under president clinton white house chief of staff. great see you. as always. this idea russia already has 70% of military capabilities in place for a full-scale invasion of ukraine and intelligence estimates coming in saying that the capital city of ukraine would fall within 48 hours. that's alarming stuff, yet same time i can't make heads or tails why ukraine isn't more in a state of panic about this? or alarmed about this? how alarmed are you? >> well, i think it's a dangerous moment, and i think whether you're ukrainian or american or for that matter a citizen anywhere in the world, this is a dangerous moment in the 21st century. why? because russia continues to add fuel to the fire, and the more they continue to build up their military forces, the more likely that a spark will set off that fire and create a war. that nobody wants. but that's what makes this a dangerous moment, and i think is lis -- is zelensky understand

our nick robertson is live in moscow. we begin with phil mattingly at the white house. >> let me be clear, i am here today not to start a war but to prevent one. >> reporter: a dramatic appearance at the united -- and it will give way to a russian invasion of ukraine. >> every indication we have, they're prepared to go into ukraine, attack ukraine. >> reporter: this direct and dire warning from the president of the united states. >> my thought is it will happen in a few days. >> reporter: they gave a messaging blitz. >> we see them add to the more than 150,000 troops they already have arrayed on that border even in the last couple of days. >> reporter: shelling in the donbas region sounding alarms across the region. >> we've said for some time the russians might do something like this in order to justify a military conflict so we'll be watching this very closely. >> we have reason to believe they have a false flag investigation. >> a surprise and highest efforts. >> they will advance on key targets that have already been

>> nic robertson, thank you. let's get some important perspective from the former director of national intelligence. let me start with you, if you hear this context, a full-scale, not a limited assault in the separatist areas is imminent with an emphasis on kharkiv. if you look to the right on the map you see the shaded separatist areas where separatist troops, pro-russian separatists groups have control but kharkiv is to the west of that along the russian border. from a strategic position, the intelligence warning and we've seen commercial satellite images that show a considerable build yum of russian troops up in that area. why kharkiv? what's the significance strategic importance? >> well, obviously the most important thing is it's not part of the separatists, what putin is saying he is willing to go beyond the actions that his duma has authorized which is to take over and essentially take over control of the separatist area but this is going a little bit further. i found his words interesting that the securit

let's go to nic robertson standing by in moscow. nic, what is your read on the supposed troop pull back by russia, small as they are? u.s. and ear nations say nonsense, troop numbers are going up, not down? >> reporter: yeah, british secretary of defense ben wallace has said they want to be out of the area is handling its information campaign here. it's accusing the russians directly of lying. what we heard from the russian embassy in washington yesterday was that this was more self-hypnosis. this was more his steer yeah, more disinformation coming from the united states. what the russian military is saying happened overnight last night, they're claiming more troops from the western region of russia have left the training. they've been undergoing close to the border with ukraine and are now headed back to their bases saying some of them are heading back over 900 kilometers to their bases where they will go back and clean out their equipment and get ready for the next phase of winter training. that's what the ministry of defense is s

nic robertson, appreciate you live for us there in moscow. good to see you. all right. bring in gary lock, the former u.s. ambassador to china and former secretary of commerce and governor of washington state. ambassador, a pleasure to have you on. thanks for joining me. so there was this pre-olympics summit between the russian president putin and xi jing ping. and then on friday they proclaimed this deep strategic partnership to basically work against the u.s. there was no mention of ukraine in the joint document, however. do you think china would support a potential russian invasion into ukraine? >> well, thanks for having me. i think it's very clear that china with its statements over the last several weeks has indicated a big reversal of its previous policies of not getting involved in the internal affairs of other countries. it has always rejected expansion or invasion or military incursions into other countries. and certainly for it to be saying that russia is right about ukraine, that russia has legitimate concerns about ukraine is quite a deep reversal. so every

cnn international editor nic robertson.n moscow, arlette saenz in wilmington, delaware, with president biden. >> yeah, let's start with nic robertson. nic, we've seen russian vehicles moving towards the border. what are you learning of vladimir putin's plans if kyiv falls? and what is he saying about his special military operation? is it going as he planned? >> reporter: yeah. there's a huge source of information here that, as you say, there's been no accounting by the russian government of russian casualties so far. yet, we certainly see images of them, some of their casualties and destroyed russian military hardware inside ukraine. no mention of that here. in fact, the reverse, and the opposite. this effort, as you were saying, the operation by the government to cover up what's going on. ten independent media outlets said they need to stop spreading always information to their sites will be restricted. that sort of false information includes invasion, declaration of war. and includes references to civilian casualties in u

now to moscow, nic robertson is there.ussian officials have said that they are in belarus and they want to talk with ukraine. what is the latest on that? >> reporter: well, this seems to be a continuation of what russia said in the buildup to all of this. essentially back then, threatening an invasion of ukraine while actually saying that they were ready for diplomacy and ready to talk seriously. clearly clearly, things didn't turn out that way. they are attacking ukraine. the kremlin said representatives of the defense ministry and the kremlin to the southern side of belarus to hold talks with ukrainian officials. what president zelenskyy is saying, look, i'm not going to send anyone to a country that's actively being used to attack us. where they are being invited for talks has one of the biggest concentrations of russian armor and is a gateway for the invasion into ukraine. what president zelenskyy is say, choose another european city. budapest, go to instan bbul. russian has or the soviet union has a track record of in

nic robertson in moscow. sam kiley in ukraine, and fred pleitgen in bucharest, romania.e begin our coverage with sam kiley in eastern ukraine. sam, the tension already very high, seems to be intensifying. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, the mayor of the capital kyiv, which you said in the introduction there, kim, according to u.s. analysts could be the target effectively in an attempt to decapitate the government, if not literally, then politically. the mayor there has reassured his population with reissuing instructions that there are plans for evacuation. for the use of soviet era bunkers. for emergency use of electricity generating capability and even communications if they get cut. here, close to the russian border, just 30 miles away from russia, if there is an invasion on a broad front. and there are a significant number of russian troops, amassing on this northeastern edge of the ukrainian border with russia to the east, where you talked about the 30,000 troops being concentrated in belarus, then there are also keep concerns that there could be an attempt to

sam kylie is live from ukraine, and nic robertson is in moscow. we begin our coverage in washington, and president biden's latest attempt to dissuade his russian counterpart from further aggression. here's arlette saenz. >> reporter: the white house says there was no major breakthrough in that one-hour call between president biden and russian president vladimir putin. a senior administration official warns there's still a distinct possibility that russia moves forward with an invasion of ukraine. the president spoke with putin while spending the weekend at the presidential retreat at camp david. and the white house in a statement reading out, the call said that the president warned of severe and swift costs that russia would face if it moves forward with an invasion of ukraine. the white house also said that president biden reiterated that a further russian invasion of ukraine would produce widespread human suffering and diminish russia's standing. president biden was clear with president putin that while the united states remains prepared to enga

nic robertson, cnn, moscow. >>> have a look at this.l lights, floats, dancers parade the streets of southern france. they're loudly celebrating the return of the nice carnival. the carnival canceled last year due to covid, opened friday, roaring the theme "king of the animals." relaxation of some health restrictions in france, organizers of the event hope to see 5,000 people and welcome 7,000 standing spectators. attendees are mandated to wear face masks and carry proof of vaccination according to local news reports. the carnival is open for 15 days, closing february 27th. >>> new scrutiny of federal u.s. covid guidance as more states move forward with lifting mask mandates. new infections are declining across the country as the omicron wave subsides. that crop drop has led to states relaxing measures towards a new normal. this even though the centers for disease control and prevention hasn't changed its guidelines. the agency recommends all americans wear a mask in areas of high or substantial transmission, which is the vast majority o

nic robertson has more from moscow, but first sam kiley in eastern ukraine. >> reporter: this is a city5 million. at least three-quarters are native russian speakers. it's only 30 miles from the russian border. the end of the last month, president zelensky here said he sphered harkyiv could be high on the target list when it came to russian invasion, not only because it's russian-speaking, but it's close to the front line, it's close to the border, it's the center of the industrial heartland of ukraine. but these demonstrators behind me, they're dwindling now. they came out today in a show of unity with the slogans here being east and west. that's east and west ukraine, united. the east of the country or some of the east of the country was illegally captured by force by russian-backed separatists, and indeed russian troops annexed the crimea due south, effectively, of the capital city. so they are deeply concerned that they're trying to demonstrate to fellow ukrainians that harkyiv is in no way going to be a rollover to any potential russian invasion. there have been people here from th

nic robertson. moments ago we heard from vladimir putin. what did we learn? >> we learned that he thinks all this can be solved if ukraine, i quite simply, says it doesn't want to join nato anymore. everyone can go back to sleeping in their beds at night. ukraine is not about to do that. they've been clear. nato has an open-door policy. they can join. they want to join. that's what putin sees at the moment. he understands that. he is and continued today to create a narrative for a contact for a further use of potential use of force against ukraine. he said, and this again, i should caveat, is without substance and foundation. he said that ukraine wants to develop nuclear weapons and that these weapons would be so close to moscow they would be a strategic threat. he is in essence laying out the case for the potential use of further force against ukraine. he denied that russia is putting forces into the separatist areas already. his officials today have been ambig us in about that saying that it hasn't been called for so far. the nato secretary-general says ver

so he's looking to gain leverage, and as nic robertson just reported, watch very carefully two things. number one, the cyberattacks. and any kind of indicators that russian troops or actions in the donbas or in crimea are spiking a little bit. because that will give mr. putin an excuse in his mind to go in to protect quote/unquote russian citizens. nic said, made the statement about the 600,000 passports that have been distributed in the last four months in the donbas. intelligence counts that at about 700,000. he's looking to gain support from the world stage saying he's just protecting russian citizens in this area. but that hasn't bib the case since 2014, and it certainly isn't the case today. >> general hertling, i really appreciate it. i'm sure wul e'll be talking so. >> next, more breaking news. new subpoenas from the january 6th committee. who and what they're targeting now and what it says about the growing scope of their investigation, and later, another boot drops in the russian skating scandal. the olympic star in question who is still competing, by the way, and is just 15,

i want to start with nic robertson, in moscow.e's trying to lay the groundwork for the part of ukraine, ukraine in general, but at least the parts of ukraine that he's going to try to pull back, being rightly russian in the first place. >> reporter: that seems like the direction he's going in. in fact, this may turn out to be a rather maximalist statement, rather than just recognizing the independence of those two tiny parts of ukraine, this seems to be president putin laying out the history, blaming lenin and stalin for creating in his words a ukraine that was part, you know, part a product of the first world war, and parts being shared with germany, and other parts being parcelled out from poland. this seems to be putin laying out his case that ukraine is always part of russia, historically, cultural, ethnic, religious ties that go back in his history. it's naturally part of a bigger russia. the direction of travel at the moment seems to indicate, at the moment, until we hear more, he may even be laying a stake to claim the whol

editor nic robertson joins me live from moscow. nick, what have we been seeing on the streets of moscow and other cities and the impact these new financial restrictions? >> reporter: yeah, there have been slow to bite. i think we should stress that. it is some banks are working. so some things you could do. our producer for example came to work in the morning and went to use apple pay where she buys her morning coffee, and a bite to eat and it didn't work. and we were oust just now trying to cover a protest on the streets which are happening here every day, and the apple pay didn't work for the -- to park. so there are some places that it won't work. but there are other places it would work. there is not a sense of panic on the streets per se, but i think in the kremlin, you have a sense of that today. president putin calling the west an empire of lies when he appeared on the tv with his prime minister to talk about how their fixing the economic situation. he is behind closed doors with the prime minister, with a first deputy prime

robertson in moscow, sophie pedder in paris and richard haass here in the united states.let me ask you how you would describe what macron was trying to do in that trip to moscow, and what he thinks he got from it and where he failed. >> well, i think what he's trying to do is use what he sees as an extremely narrow opportunity to pursue dialogue at a time when he does not underestimate the volatility of the situation, the gravity of the situation or the lead to continue with deterrents and with the threat of sanctions. i think what he's hoping is that he can through what they call the normandy format, that's so a four-way talks with france, germany, ukraine and russia pursue a sort of talks that can find a settlement that avoids war. now, i don't -- nothing suggested to me during the trip i made with macron monday to moscow and then to kyiv on tuesday that he's not naive about this. he talked about the potential for incandescence in europe, he knows that it's extremely tense, he said that his meeting with putin was pual pa blee tense as well. all of that was extremely dif

senior diplomatic editor nic robertson joins us live from the streets of moscow.t meeting president putin had not just with his prime minister there but his first deputy prime minister, head of central bank, heads of other banks as well. putin is really struggling to do what he didn't expect he'd have to do since he last invaded ukraine. he'd begun investing, making preparations for future sanctions. to sanction-proof the country, his rainy day fund. what he didn't anticipate is that $630 billion rainy day fund would essentially be put behind a wall. the united states not allowing him access to the dollar, the european union cutting him off from the euro. not sure how he's going to get access to some of the gold that it invested in as well. putin right now struggling to come up with a formula to keep the economy afloat. tonight, though, protests across the country. many different cities. fewer people out tonight. this has been the scene of one of the protests in recent nights. people have been arrested in some of the small back streets around here. this area quite

let's get to nic robertsons, live in moscow with the latest. mixed messages if you believe anything that comes from the kremlin. >> yes, it is very hard to discern precisely what they mean. often their words need to be taken in reverse. that's been the experience of the past few weeks. what we heard from the kremlin today is that they are saying essentially that ukrainian forces are hiding their military hardware in amongst the civilian population. this is ominous for exactly that reason. they said until now they were just targeting military bases. they weren't targeting civilians. this seems to open up the possibility and certainly is within the russian playbook in the past where they'll say something like this. there are weapons in civilian neighborhoods and then they'll go ahead and target those neighborhood soaps. that's ominous. on the possibility -- the kremlin has said that kyiv agreed that there would be a possibility for talks, that these talks could be held in minsk. minsk, the capital of belarus. belarus, the launching pad for some o

clarissa ward in kyiv, and nic robertson in moscow. kaitlan, 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 some time, 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 from russia that putin made earlier, that they are drawing back some of these t

nic robertson, cnn, moscow. >> all right, nic, thank you very much.ow, you can find the latest episode shortly after it airs. you can find it on our podcast. you can scan the qr code on your screen, there it is right there. on the screen with your phone's camera or find the show at cnn.com/podcast and all major podcast platforms. so just search for don lemon tonight. and you know what? thanks for watching "don lemon tonight." our coverage continues. in a new dodge hellcat... and you don't even have to quit your day job. dodge has created the sweetest gig ever - aka chief donut maker. you'll go from dodge fan to dodge ambassador this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and anyone can apply. you just need to show you have the drive. are you our new chief donut maker? do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet? try nervivenerve relief from the world's #1 selling nerve care company. nervive contains alpha lipoic acid to relieve occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. try nervivenerve relief. >> woman: what's my safelite st

nic robertson is live in moscow. first i want to go to melissa bell in kyiv. in. instead of deescalation, we are seeing unfortunately escalation on land and at sea with those naval exercises in the black sea. is president zelensky still able to keep a cool head as this all unfolds? >> reporter: i think there's been a decided shift in what we're beginning to hear from ukrainian government ministers with regard to what's happening at ukraine's borders. we heard it yesterday from the defense minister who was reacting to the news that as a result the black z will be closed off. he hopes that partners would be coming down, would be taking sides with ukraine. what we've seen is a shift as president macron explained earlier this week. anyone would be nervous with that amount of weaponry and manpower on their borders. they have been remarkably cool headed. president ske len ski in particular he said. now there's a slight shift and that reflects the growingly grim assessment. you heard in joe biden's tone a grim assessment of what lies ahead. 2,000 troops will be estab

arrivals to most states will no longer need to quarantine for weeks in hotels. journalists, danielle robertson was at sydney's international airport to capture some emotional reunions. after enduring some of the strictest private border rules in the world, australia has begun its final plan out of the pandemic tourist. now welcome back into the country after the lead 2 years, a relief for family and friends torn apart by separation. any fully vaccinated, international traveler from all over the globe will now be allowed to enter estrella, meaning migrant with family members can be reunited in temporary visa holders can travel freely. more than 50 international flights will land across the capital cities in the 1st 24 hours and able to be ready, been filled with tears of joy, to speak, with life, to be able and straight into the arms of loved ones with her. and we're thrilled to be back together. hey colace. i say it has to be bad. yeah. it's exciting to be out here. i'm so excited for sure. i'm meeting mom and then headed home, my family and friends and all the babies that have been home that

sam kiley is in ukraine, nic robertson in moscow, and jasmine white at the white house. sam, let me begin with you. reaction in the country about his comments? >> reporter: i think there's widespread support for the president to obtain a security conference where he can lay out the problems his country is facing. he did come under pressure from the united states not to, but it's worth remembering there's a sovereign country, but that's what this standoff effective lid, or at least publicly, is about. it's about ukraine's right to choose for nato membership, something that vladimir putin wants taken off the table permanently and in writing. to drive that home, the rebels backed by russia since they invaded in 2014, season parts of the east of the country, not far from some i am in kramatorsk, they were fighting here in 2014. they have been firing volley after volley of artillery into government territory in the previous 24 hours, over 70 incidents of artillery fire. we were down very close to the front line this morning, which by lunchtime this morning, the ukrainian gove

nic robertson in moscow.st region of ukraine where we find nick patton walsh. more than 1 million ukrainians live there. what are people in odessa telling but the ongoing threat? >> reporter: well, there is a deep sense of concern. there has been a matter of days. we've seen the town barricaded. various key landmarks hear with sandbags. a real sense, i think, of people here not quite knowing what possibly could come next. there is a recognition that if russia wants to control ukraine, they need to have their hands on this vital port city. its economic levers over the rest of the country. it is the maritime access for ships that board to the rest of the world. we've heard sirens tonight. certainly. and fears that the moves happening around this area will ultimately impact the rest of the city. we were sitting far to the east of here along the plaque sea as well. that according to a resident i spoke to tonight now has russian vehicles driving in its streets, which would suggest that the balance of power there a

cnn diplomatic editor nic robertson joins me now from moskow. let's talk about what we heard from jens stoltenberg as well. it seems they are pushing and enforcing unity in the case of what's going on with russia and ukraine. your thoughts? >> yeah, absolutely. jens stoltenberg talked about what moskow is seeing happening because of their actions. he said if the kremlin wants to see nato get further away from its borders its actions are having the reverse effect. if the kremlin wants to see nato divided its actions are having a different effect. i think we were all listening to what precisely stoltenberg would say about the most up-to-date position of russian forces on the ground. and we heard him say that they continue -- they continue, in his words, to gain strength around ukraine, that they're not pulling back. and i think it was also instructive. you know, he was saying very clearly that there was a hope that diplomacy can still find a way ahead out of this situation. unlike president biden who said that he's seen clear that president putin

. >> nic robertson is live for us from moscow.e talked about sanctions and how effective they would or would not be. this one makes us wonder, you know, as many experts have said, there's some potency to this penalty. what is your assessment? >> reporter: yeah, we've heard some pretty scathing criticism coming from the former president who was the former prime minister as well, dmitry medvedev, he's the number two chair on putin's security council. he was really critical of the sanctions, perhaps unsurprisingly. he said now is the time to put the padlocks on the embassies and continue to gaze at each other through binoculars or rifle scopes. i think that gets you the sense of how they're thinking about it. we heard this months ago from president putin's own press person, dmitry peskov, speaking about the possibility of personal sanctions on president putin which also seems to be something that could happen as well. you know, he said that would be a rupture of relations that this would be taken very, very personally, i think is the

cnn's nic robertson joining me live from moscow now.'s the psychology of why the kremlin said this? >> reporter: yeah, i think we can unpack it a bit here, fred. this is unusual for the kremlin spokesperson to speak over the weekend. typically he'll talk to the media once every day, questions can be answered, he'll give his answers, they're not very forthcoming on many issues. this is a little bit out of the ordinary that there's a short notice announcement that he's going to have a call with the press. we can read into that, that the kremlin wants to, you know, get its voice into the narrative here so we can read into that. it's not happy with the narrative at the moment. we also know that defense officials in both the u.s. and the uk are assessing that russia has taken probably somewhere around 4 to 500 deaths in military forces as part of this invasion so far. none of this has been announced to the russian people. so what we are hearing from the kremlin is an effort, it appears to say, hey, we're trying to be the good guys here. we'r

one of the few women to drive to remote villages risking at all ivory coast on al jazeera ah, tom robertson and doe had the top stories on al jazeera shelling. an eastern ukraine has re ignited fears of an imminent invasion by russia. the u. s. is accusing the kremlin of looking for an excuse to justify going to war. and her simmons reports from care of her infant. at least $500.00 explosions, recorded in less than 24 hours along the front lines of the dumbass region of eastern ukraine. the size of the craters are an indicator of the heavy weaponry being used in breach of a limited ceasefire, meant to be in place.

nic robertson, cnn, moscow. >> all right, nic, thank you very much.er miss our show, you can find the latest episode shortly after it airs. you can find it on our podcast. you can scan the qr code on your screen, there it is right there. on the screen with your phone's camera or find the show at cnn.com/podcast and all major podcast platforms. so just search for don lemon tonight. and you know what? thanks for watching "don lemon tonight." our coverage continues. are you a christian author with a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! >>> hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and around the world. i'm isa soares right here on "cnn newsroom." >>> we were all sitting in our class and we heard a gunshot. >> officers arrived. discovered two students had been shot on the sidewalk outside of the school. >> it was very violent and it was very disturbing. >> shootings across america are seeing a rise in threa

nic robertson, cnn, moscow. >>> meanwhile, russia's media, of course, looks very different from mostworld. cnn contributor jill dougherty with the details from moscow. >> reporter: at the very same time that cnn and other western media were showing the attacks in kyiv, russian tv was not showing live coverage from kyiv. in fact, it was showing pre-taped reports, some of them very dramatic, showing reporters in flak jackets standing in front of tanks, but coming instead from that breakaway region in the eastern part of ukraine, the donbas region, where those two breakaway republics that were recognized officially this week by russia are located. this is all part of the messaging from the russian government on state tv, constantly showing the people in those locations, claiming that they are the victims of genocide, that they are being attacked by the ukrainian government. the ukrainian government, of course, denying that. but it is an attempt to justify the steps that the russians are taking now to remove that government which they argue is illegitimate. and also another piece of real

now to moscow where nic robertson is. nic, i saw your report earlier about the comments coming out of the russian government and sort of what they mean and given your years of experience in covering this region analyzing that, can you talk about what you are hearing from the russian government and what it tells you right now? >> reporter: president putin had a phone call this afternoon with president erdogan of turkey, trying to get himself involved in the current crisis as a mediator. but his takeaway from the phone call was that president putin was disappointed that the west hasn't listened to his security concerns and we heard from president putin himself earlier in the day saying russia's security concerns are nonnegotiable. that seems to be the position that the russian leadership is in. when we heard from the russian ambassador speaking at the u.n. he was talking about the russian forces that president putin has now had authorized to go into the donbas separatist region. they were originally talked about as peacekee

nic robertson, cnn, moscow. >>> new developments in a story we brought you on friday.kraine says all the soldiers defending a tiny island from russia may still be alive. ukraine's state border guard service says they have strong reason to believe their troops are being held by russia as prisoners of war. now, you may remember the service members had refused to surrender what is known at snake island to a russian warship. their recorded exchange helped inspire ukrainian' defiance. [ speaking foreign language ] bleep. [ bleep ]. >> ukraine, initially, said all the soldiers had been kill. russia's military claims the ukrainians voluntarily surrendered. we will certainly keep an eye on this story, and bring you any developments. we will be back in a moment. sleek curly we all want to fight frizz garnier fructis sleek and shine gan oil plus kera-system up to 72 hours frizz contr 97% humidity protection fructis sleek & shine mber one in anti-frizz by garnier, naturally! at intra-cellular therapies, we're inspired by our circle. a circle that includes our researchers, driven

. >> cnn is covering the story from all angles, so let's bring in international editor nic robertsonscow. let's start with you. what is russia saying about the accusation of a false operation in the works. >>> th >>>. >> he's saying they point to that. there have been these reports of a full flag operation. this has more detail, sounds more graphic. we heard from the british government that russia plans to install a puppet government after he invades the country and takes control of it. it's becoming obvious to everyone. essentially that it's untrue. also, you know, on rushsia's tv as well when asked to give a conference about the false flag operation as they often decline to do because they don't want to reveal sources and methods, he and the issues have been trolled on russian state media to re-emphasize from the kremlins' point of view, there's no substance in it. so the kremlin quite literally trying to use this against the united states. >> i want to pull you into the conversation. there's been clearly a break between the u.s. and ukraine in the past few weeks when it comes to h

cnn's nic robertson has those details. >> reporter: well, the foreign ministry spokeswoman has describedas a very unsightly picture. that is, she says, the west putting all the attention and focus on what's happening in ukraine, putting pressure on russia, and all of that, she said, detracting while the olympics were going on in beijing. so more criticism coming from officials here in russia. meanwhile, president macron getting ready for his meeting on monday with president putin, where the pair of them will talk about ways to de-escalate and bring about a reduction in current tensions. the french president speaking on saturday with both boris johnson, the british prime minister, and the nato secretary general, en stoltenberg. and interestingly, both of those leaders recommending and advising president macron of france to maintain the unity of nato, to maintain the strength of message when he's talking with president putin, that nato is all aligned. and that's very much the same message that president macron got in his phone call a couple of days ago with president biden and the day befo

nic robertson, cnn, moscow. >> i'm michael holmes live in lviv, ukraine.ll be back at the top of the hour. anna coren, though, picks up on the roast telephone day's news after this quick break. i'll see you in a bit. with unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans, there's so much to take advantage of. like $0 copays on virtual visits... - wow! - uh-huh. ...$0 copays on primarcare visits... ..nd lab tests. - wow. - uh-huh. pl, $0 copays on tier 1 & tier 2 prescription drugs. - wow. - uh-huh. unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans. including the only plans with the aarp name. most plans have a $0 premium. take advantage now. wow! your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire now, two top derm-recommended ingredients in one. roc max hydration cream. our number one retinol now supercharged with plumping hyaluronic acid. 97% saw smoother skin and reduced lines in one week. it's clin

cnn's nic robertson has the latest from moskow. >> reporter: well, president putin's trip to beijingd meeting president xi of china proving to be a huge boost for president putin's position. he got reinforcement on his central message that nato should stop moving eastward, that the united states causing all the disruption at the moment. he got buy in from president xi on that. both of them issuing a joint statement talking about a deeper strategic coordination, that in that there would be a message for the world not just on the security front but on the economic front as well. president putin getting some big economic deals signed, one of them on oil, but also talk between the two leaders on future cooperation on hi-tech, on green tech, of course russia needs a lot of support there, but this is an important piece of messaging for president putin that he can do business with china. it may not cover all the deficit that he might have if there were heavy sanctions as promised by the united states and european nations if russia invades ukraine, but signaling there that he does have anoth

cnn's nic robertson shows us why. >> reporter: for a third day now protests, anti-war protests going on in the heart of moskow. that's the ukrainian embassy over there. the police are lined up on the streets. and over here people have been leaving their floral tributes. police officers just telling us there to leave space for people to walk along the streets. that's what the protesters are facing here. every time they come here the police move them off. and that's all we've been watching. but look at this. somebody has left a child's toy with a note on it, and it says against the war. earlier on we've been talking to people about why they've been coming here. >> translator: i want to tell the ukrainian people they're not alone, that people in moskow are also scared of the war. i want to show them we're like them, we're also afraid of the war. >> translator: we love this country. we've always lived here. we're proud to be russian, but this step, it's a disgrace, simply a disgrace to the world, to all those people who are now dying there. >> translator: even now i can't believe it. i w

nic robertson, thank you so much. >>> cnn business on inflation watch this morning. january's consumer inflation watch set to hit a new high. sticker shock at the supermarket sticking around. goldman sachs says substantial prices for food likely to continue throughout this year. bad weather, poor crop yields, tight inventories and strong demands from consumers raising food commodity prices nearly 40% over the past couple of years. in december alone meat prices spiked 15%. chicken jumped 10%. eggs up 11. brand-new numbers on the consumer debt. 2021 big year for car and home buying. debt sky rocketed by a trillion dollars. that's the biggest annual increase since 2007. a function of a strong economy and consumer demand. interest rates are rising. you have a lot of debt, don't forget you have to finance that debt. remember, interest rates will be rising. >> it won't help the supply chains. >>> up next for you, protesters cutting off a key route from canada to the u.s. are these truckers in it for the long haul. >>> plus, the couple now accused in a cryptocurrency scheme

all right, nic robertson in moscow, isabel rosales, thanks so much. let's talk more about this with kim dozier, a cnn global affairs analyst, a contributor to "time" magazine, and she spent many years as a foreign correspondent. what is your assessment, especially with positioning of russian troops around ukraine? you heard the question, it's unclear even with the talks that are supposed to start on monday, is putin ready for a conversation? >> reporter: well, putin's goal all along since he became leader of his country has been to restore it to the superpower status it once enjoyed when he was a russian intelligence agent. so by moving these troops, like chess pieces on a board, that, as nic laid out, gotten him the attention of every major world leader, he doesn't need to invade right now in a sense. he's made his point. now, he hasn't gotten the win and is not likely to get the wins he'd been pushing for that nato will agree not to expand, but what he did get was that meeting with xi jinping, where they're standing shoulder to shoulder, and china,

nic robertson, cnn, moscow. >> that's the picture from russia.ting around the world, condemning russia's aggressive invasion of ukraine. from demonstrations on the streets to landmarks lit up in yellow and blue, people showing their support for ukraine and venting their anger at russia. cnn's kim brunhuber with more on that. >> reporter: thousands of swiss protesters in bern chant with a mixture of sadness, outrage, and disbelief. they carry signs and a clear message, they stand with the ukrainian people. >> stand with ukraine! >> reporter: from munich to milan, london to ankara, similar outpourings of support ringing from the streets and city squares in many languages. crowds of protesters gathering in munich, many carrying or wearing blue and yellow flags. for some, war seemed a thing the past. now they stand in disbelief. one demonstrator says, we are worried about our brothers, sisters, relatives. we have peace for 80 years, and all of a sudden war is back in europe. in milan, protesters wave a giant rainbow flag, signifying peace across the

we have daniella diaz and nic robertson. the russians say they are worried by u.s. deployment. hard to take that at face value. what does it really mean? >> they're saying they've been saying for some issues, the addition of u.s. troops. they say this is destabilizing. the kremlin spokesman is putting more meat on the bones. this is something that should be available for everyone to see and everyone should be able to understand it. inside closer to the border of ukraine. they've called this the biggest deployment of russian forces to belarus since the cold war. diplomacy, some of that in the air later today. president putin will be taking off for the winter olympics, beijing, where he'll meet with president xi. they'll share a lunch together but also security concerns in the region. one of the last things president putin will do is have a phone call and they have pointed out they z president macron as an interlocutor. macron having an importance about sticking together. >> nic robertson, thank you. >>> in just a few hours lawmakers on capitol hill will receive a briefing on rus

the russian government still figuring out what to do about it, kate. >> nic robertson in moscow, thank you so much. so this morning, we get a clearer picture of the growing refugee crisis that russia's invasion is creating. the united nations reporting half a million people have been forced to flee the country in the last five days. cnn's scott mclean is in lviv, ukraine, with much more on this angle of the story. >> reporter: russia now says they have opened a corridor for residents of kyiv to get out of the city safely. there have already been more than half a million ukrainians flee abroad to other countries and surely now, there will be even more. they will end up at transit points like this one. this is lviv train station and everyone on this platform is waiting, hoping for a train to take them to poland. you'll notice it is almost exclusively women and children, police have almost only exclusively allowing that group on to the platform and that led to scenes earlier today where children were literally being grabbed out of the stairwell and on to the platform in a desperate attemp

melissa bell is in kyiv, but first let's turn to nic robertson who joins us live from moscow, so, nichese diplomatic efforts move into overdrive, the french president is poised to meet with president putin in moscow next hour in an effort to find an off-ramp. what is achievable during these talks? >> reporter: not a lot. the officer-involved shooting of president macron says the kremlin describes him as a quality inter-locutor. there is so much heavy diplomatic lifting to be done here it is unlikely to be done in a day in a single meeting. president macron has had three phone calls quite recently with president putin. one of them was quite lengthy, for a couple of hours. it does seem that there is some traction in their conversation. president macron has spoken over the past few days with president biden twice, the second time yesterday. he's spoken with the polish president, boris johnson, the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau. nato secretary-general stolenberg. he promises to keep his nato allies informed and up to date. that's been the thrust of the conversations about the im