during a stop on his asia tour friday, president obama again throwing down the gauntlet to russi russisi russian leader vladimir putin. >> he has to make a decision is he willing to see the russian economy that was already weakened, weakened further >> that followed a call with counterparts of allies nations. standard & poor's downgrading russia's credit rating to bbbb, to bbbb-minus. >> if sanctions increase, then further deterioration of the external profile might also be evidenced in the next 24 months. >> u.s. leaders have underscored diplomacy first, some sanctions, but steered away from suggestionsover any lethal military force. as clashes grow, could that now be in the offering? the senior national security fellow at the new america foundation joins us again this evening. doug talk to us a little bit about what the indications are from the u.s. military? what sort of presence is already in place? >> what has been sent over so far is a squad rant of fighters to poland. that's a good signal. but on the ground side all we have sent are a few companies of paratroopers, about 80 to 1

. >> some russi have seized russi citizens as many as 40 that have been acting out?ughts on that? >> reporter: there have been reports the ukrainians have taken those who had provocation and causing unrest here. it's hard to verify that because there's so much happening from both sides and hurting credibility in many ways. certainly, most people you speak to in this crowd think there is a broader russian strategy at work here. you have to say, when you hang out with these pro russian protesters when they let you, it's always staggering the that they're well disciplined, well armed, top notch firepower strapped around their shoulders and has to come from somewhere other than local activists for a few weeks. >> certainly seem to be dictating the pace of actions in that part of the country and in geneva trying to find a peaceful way out, no progress at this time. nick walsh, great to have him there. >>> some viewers asking if officials can rule out the possibility that flight 370 actually landed somewhere. this is a question that keeps coming up. our experts respond nex

but at the very least want russi weapons from the russians. there seemed to be very different interpretations about what the peace deal means. the u.s. and ukraine say it means the separatists need to lay down their arms. and the russians say they believe the right wing groups have to lay down their arms, as well. the separatists say the government in kiev should step down. there's varying interpretations about what this deal means and here inside the country it seems at least the pro-russian protesters are not heeding that deal any way. so it's difficult. however, all sides are saying they don't believe it's dead yet and it is still the best chance this country has for any deescalation. >> the u.s. vice president joe biden is on his way to kiev. he'll arrive later today, meeting with ukrainian leaders on tuesday. the ukraine prime minister wants economic and military support. is he likely to get anything close to that from the u.s. vice president? >> i think the ukrainian prime minister wants as much support as he can get, but he's realistic

. >> and talking about what the russians are saying and doing, russi rush foreign minister said . . .hat's the russian narrative, that what they are trying to do is a peace keeping mission, because russians and pro-russian people are suffering at the hands of this new ukrainian government. how concerned are you that this could turn into open conflict? >> of course nobody wants conflict, but what the russian foreign minister, and foreign ministry accuse others of their own sins. the united states and our european partners have been very clear about what we want out of this. we want to support the ukrainian people in choosing their own destiny. that is what our goal is. the russian federation is fomenting the unrest, trying to cause problems, they are using their agents to foe meant this unrest, and they need to stop it. >> the acting president was beating the war drums on friday in response to claims that russian's military might being sent across the border. he said . . . now i understand that ukraine is a sovereign state, but with statements like that it sure sounds like they are pre

vice president visiting the country, awith accusations against russi. it is not a situation that fosters people making good gestures and at the moment everyone is stubbornly sticking to their situation and accusing the other side of bad faith. >> jackie, thank you. >>> staying with ukraine whereas jackie was saying the u.s. vice president joe biden is currently visiting, biden met with prime minister yatsenyuk. >> reporter: vice president joe biden was warmly received in kiev. any government in a desperate situation in ukraine would be happy for u.s. backing, and they had tough words for russia. >> no nation, no nation has the right to simply grab land from another nation. no nation has that right. and we will never recognize russia's illegal occupation of crimea, and neither will the world. >> russia should stick to its international commitment and obligations. we demand that russia fulfill its international obligation and not behave like gangsters in a modern century. >> reporter: the americans are promising more support from the ukrainian economy. fo

after more institutions and individuals and then step them up to the sector-based sanctions if the russilso, we can help ukraine with the intelligence, and help to guide them in terms of what the russians are doing in their country, and what the troop mobilizations look like outside of their country, and these are the thing nas we d can do without disclosing sources and methods that is of great importance to ukraine. >> and congressman, you heard what senator corker said, could we lose ukraine, and as the prime minister is saying that russian is trying to recreate the days fof old soviet union, and how do you respond to that? >> well, i do believe that russia is trying to recreate the imperial greetness. and pew teb does talk about the new russia, and it does harken to the throwback time of when we were in the cold war. we have to respond it to it. we need to respond quickly, which means that right now, we have to work with europe to line them up behind the broader sanctions, because was they are necessary. they are going to be hurtful to europe, but more to russia sha and make them acco

he also called russia's a russis annexation of crimea illegal. >> no nation has right to grab land from another right. and we'll never recognize russia's illegal annexation of crimea and neither will the world. bill: senator john mccain was in ukraine a week ago. we'll never recognize a russian crimea, neither will the world. >> what he said, it's time to act and not have rhetoric. why don't we act? why don't we sanction some more people. why don't we say we have a plan to give them energy independence. why don't we give them defensive weapons. we agreed to give them to mres, some meals ready to eat, and this administration would not fly them in on' u.s. had to be driven in civilian trucks because they didn't want to and tag nice -- it's bizarre. bill: it would seem protectionist on our side. we pledged $50 million to ukraine which goes on top of the other thing we have given them? en that a sign they are moving closer to a partnership? >> they have had their country dismembered. we have trooped all or the eastern part of ukraine. we have troops, 40 newark massed on the russian side of