last week, i agreed to meet brush and foreign minister sergey lover off this week on february 24th to discuss our country's respective concerns about european security. but only if russia did not invade ukraine. now that we see the invasions beginning, and russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy. ah, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time. i consulted with our allies and partners all agreed, and today i sent for mister oliver, off a letter informing who this the united states and i personally remain committed to diplomacy of rushes, prepared to take demonstrable steps to provide the international community with any degree of confidence that it's serious about the escalating and finding a diplomatic solution. we will proceed in coordination with allies and partners based on russia's actions and the facts on the ground. but we will not allow russia to claim the pretense of diplomacy at the same time. it accelerates. it's march down the path of conflict and war. there is no question. what has happened here? we've all seen how russia has rel

and so in the european union decided to go ahead and sanction sergey lover of and vladimir putin. the united states decided that they too would be unlocks that this will also include a travel band for both of them, although i suspect neither am, are planning a trip to the us any time soon or so. members of their national security council have also been sanctioned. this comes after joe biden spend 40 minutes on the phone with president zalinski this afternoon. they talked about this cotton situation and the diplomatic efforts that are ongoing. the also talked about how the united states has committed to continue it's humanitarian, military and security assistance at to the ukrainians. what wasn't discussed as far as we can tell from the reader, provided by the white house, was the offer of talks that has come from more schools to ukraine. but that offer has been dismissed by the u. s. state department here. ned price. seeing that he didn't think the ukrainians were going to negotiate at the battle of a gotten. we've also had a from the ukrainian ambassador to the united states in t

thank russia's foreign minister, sergey lover of says his company wants to seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis over ukraine. he also said rushes joined military drills with neighboring bill. a ruse would end as planned on sunday. his comments come as russia published more images that it says show, it's withdrawing some of its forces from board areas. but the u. s. and nato say they've detected no signs of a russian troop withdrawal. you as president joe biden, and german chancellor will of shows are urging russia to take, quote, real steps to the escalate the situation. now let's talk to hoard of the skis of at o is a member of a german, germany's parliament for the opposition christian democrats. he also sits on the parliamentary foreign affairs committee. mister keys with russia has announced that withdrawing some of their troops a couple of days ago. you said that a major russian attack on ukraine was conceivable without before the end of this month. what's your assessment today? yes, hello, mr. alford. well, we see no signs of a troop withdrawal. in the contrary, we see still

europe. moreover, state secretary blinkin has canceled his meeting with his russian counts about sergey lover of saying he sees no points in it after russia recognized the don bus republics. artie correspondent, caleb moore, pin reports we heard from antony blanca and speaking along with the foreign minister of ukraine. from there they made all kinds of drastic statements about pushing russia off of the global economy. they talked of new sanctions and went into detail about new sanctions. that are being imposed on russia in response to russia's recognition of the dawn asked republic and the lugens republic. and they are essentially talking about how this is just the beginning. and if russia proceeds, are they what they referred to as a further invasion of ukraine? there will be harsher consequences, and they made some very harsh allegations against russia saying that russia does not recognize the sovereignty of the ukraine and ukraine's right to exist as a country. this is never been about ukraine and nato. it's about reconstituting the russian empire or shorter that a sphere of influence ukr

and he then called upon his 1st minister that is the foreign minister, sergey lover of to answer questions that he had about where things stand. sir galeb . rob said that he has agreed to meet the u. s. secretary of state anthony, blinking in geneva on thursday, february 24th to discuss what are the americans thinking because the russians have responded to what the americans proposed 1st, after the russians raised security, concerns about nato in december. so right now, the foreign minister said he spoke to his french counterpart earlier today on the phone where he sat asked the, the french, are the americans ready meeting, are they ready to have this conversation about russia's primary security concerns? because survey love has met anthony brewington 3 times already and they keep coming around to the same problem. and that is the americans have said they don't want to talk about nato expansion. that is not off for discussion. the russian president clearly now reiterating again, that is what needs to happen. that is the dialogue that the russians won't have if they keep ignoring russia, gu

have already announced that they would introduce sanctions on le jim of putin and his formula to sergey lover of we've been reporting that over the past couple of hours, but now the prospect of washington doing the same thing. of course, sir, this as we see russians advancing towards the capital key of the rock concerns about further bloodshed. we've heard from people who say they are taking shelter in underground subway systems, seeking a protection from what could happen and we leave you now with the sounds of what's been happening in the ukrainian capital. ah, a a with oh, oh, see. even with the 2 of my a good goal role with a, with want to bring up to date with the latest developments this, our russian forces are closing in on ukraine's capital. give on the 2nd day of an invasion that killed at least 237 ukrainians and driven thousands from their homes . ukrainian military says russian spies and sabotage on the outskirts of if key of the defense ministry has told residents to prepare molotov cocktails and take.

is also planning to impose direct sanctions on vladimir putin and it's sergey lover of here is white house press. secretary gen saki, falling a television, a telephone conversation. a president biden held with a european commission president are still of underline. and an alignment with the decision by our european allies, united states will join them in sanctioning president putin and foreign minister leverage and members of the russian national security team. or alan fisher joins us live now from washington. and dan allen will catch up in a bit to discuss those us sanctions on vladimir putin, but actually fuss. let's go to united nations. we've been waiting for this meeting . let us never forget that this is a war of choice rushes choice. russia chose to invade its neighbor. russia chose to inflict untold suffering on the ukrainian people and on its own citizens. bruship chose to violate ukraine's sovereignty to violate international law to violate. busy the you in charter now all across ukraine, people are fleeing for their lives, residence of keys and car kids have left their hom

next week at lincoln was going to meet sergey lover. he said that was only supposed to happen in the event that situations that have stayed frozen, that recent action by the russian suggest it has been an invasion of ukraine is, is he called it and that now there is no point in meeting. does it feel as though at the, you end sort of one step behind, i mean, the, on the, the sort of statements we've been hearing those into a b at very involved in initiatives around this crisis. well, it's important to remember that the united nations is a voluntary assemblage of organ of countries. i've certainly there, you know, nearly a 200 member states. certainly this organization has existed since after world war 2, after on 1945. but that does not mean that the united nations has the ultimate veto power over any single member state. now this is a and so that, of course, limits what antonio good downers can suggest in the way of trying to resolve the crisis. it's not his place, for example, to say that there needs to be some sort of negotiation abou

external aggression. ukraine has also started 10 days of war games. russians, foreign minister, sergey lover of held talks with the u. k. foreign secretary in moscow, loughborough says british and nato truitt build up in eastern europe, threatens russia. moore. what lee? she would sheeny, unlike maneuvers that russia holds in its own territory when their troops go back to their bases. the western troops far from their own territory, lou kay, the us and canada, their troops go to the baltics in the black sea, and they never go back to their bases or go home. you still with eulu, have we done something that is not part of our sovereign, rightly something we're entitled to do in our own country. you know, if russia is serious about to play missy, they need to move these trips and desist from the threats. now if we are able to follow a path of diplomacy and nato has put offer on the table for talks to improve transparency, to improve confidence between the parties. then there are hopes of a better future. and britain's prime minister, as urged europe to hold firm on ukraine's right to join nato.

it measures rushes foreign minister, sergey lover of says his country wants to seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis over ukraine. he also said russia's joint military drills with neighboring bella roost would end as planned on sunday. his comments come, as russia published more images that it says show, it's withdrawing some of its forces from border areas. but the u. s. and natal say they've detected no sides of a russian troop withdrawal. you as president joe biden, and german chancellor, all of shots are urging russia to state to take quote, real steps to de escalate the situation. more on this, let's bring in the w correspondent, economy and the northern ukrainian city of hark, if near the russian border and make reports or we're hearing here about mortar attacks in the eastern part of the ukraine near the border to russia. what, what do you know? well, this is a place called faith lou hunsicker, which is literally the, in the far, far east of ukraine on the border with russia as you say. but also very close to that separate to tell territory. we know that this shelling affected a

the reality says sergey lover of is that there was a time table that the russians have said, from the onset that these units that are now being withdrawn from the field, from where they were conducting exercises, withdrawn to their base is permanent basis that this, this was plaid, they had said all along that they would have that they would return that over the less that there are some ideas that the to exchange the foreign ministers of russia and poland. the ideas that they said were both but good and given into the future. something to talk about, but a di escalation is not the way nato secretary general sees things right now. the n stilton berg has been holding a news conference on the upcoming meeting of the alliances defense ministers. he claims moscow is still ready to carry out an attack. stilson berg has stated that nato needs to see the withdrawal of russian forces, including heavy equipment. the kremlin says, that's exactly what's happening. russia has said it is returning some troops to that, to, to bases after military exercises, who completed are you saying, then this is

remember antony blank and the secretary of state is due to meet sergey lover of the foreign minister in geneva on thursday. we haven't had from the american side of the still intend to go ahead with that meeting. they were meant to prepare the ground for a possible summit between the 2 presidents that very much in the balance in the past hours. thank you. alan fisher at the white house. and we will have more on ukraine. nick coming up and the rest of the day's news, the press against the president. the rift in mexico is the number of journalists killed just keeps growing. ah look forward to brighter skies the winter sponsored my cattle airways. hello, there will have a look at central and south asia and from the satellite image, you can see the unsettled weather that's blown across. i've got to son into northern pakistan and india and that brought heavy snow to northern areas of off kind of stuff. but that snow also fell on the streets of cobble. this was the scene there. those conditions, edging further east as we go into the middle of the week, the snow for the high areas in northe

huge question mark over the proposed meeting between antony blinking and his russian counterpart, sergey lover of at do to take place in geneva on thursday. it could well still go ahead, but you remember the, the bible administration said that if vladimir putin's tanks were to cross the border, then that meeting would be off. so the question is, does biden and his team no, consider this to be essentially seeing that there's no point in discussions. this is what we're going to do. and as i pointed out, are ready and to be blank and says there will be repercussions to russia for this. and so, is there likely then to be if that meeting doesn't take place? could it, could it be concluded then that the diplomacy has completely failed? well, the, what i would suggest is that they are missing the off ramp to, to, to reach a diplomatic solution. certainly, joe biden has been very careful. he's built up an international alliance saying that they want. there is no invasion of ukraine at his promised sanctions. he's got the e, you on board, he's got near to allies on board. they have sent troops to neigh

he isn't about to pull antony blinking away from his meeting in geneva, which is scheduled with sergei lover of the russian foreign minister that he's going to let that take place and see if there is the possibility that the can be talks. although he did add the caveat that there would be talks if he thought they could get something out of it. if, as the russians were serious, if he perceives that they are not going to talk in good faith with the idea of coming to some sort of diplomatic solution that could well change in the next 72 hours. but it seems that joe biden is cranking up the pressure on vladimir putin. the problem they've got, of course, is that the russians thing to hold all the cards that their economy is insulated from. anything that the west can do, that there are, have got a local support in russia and beyond for what they are doing. the vladimir putin portrays this is just trying to enforce international agreements that were signed, notably at the minsk agreement. where is joe biden believes that he holds all the cards and that he could essentially cripple the russian econo

but we know the antony blanket, who is the secretary of state issue to meet sergey lover of later this week in geneva at the white house is already said that if there is any aggression by the russians, then these simply will not be going to that meeting at nor will there be a meeting between vladimir putin and joe biden at some future date. but there may still be the possibility that even if the russians recognize these people's republics, as long as the tanks don't cross the border, antony blank and joe biden, and others me see the possibility that there is still a diplomatic out to this crisis. and as the to foreign ministers, i guess mr. blinking from the i to say, the secretary of state and mr. lab or off, go into that discussion. perhaps if it happens, assuming that happens in geneva on thursday, we will again get an, a different iteration of what's happened in the past 4 weeks. because just listening to the various speakers at that security meeting going on right now in moscow. their interpretation of events in that crucially important border area, diametrically opposed to what e

we knew it from sergey lover of the russian foreign minister that and his 10 page response was ready. and vladimir putin had to just give his final approval and is now been officially delivered to the u. s. embassy here in moscow. and at this statements, the response from the russians have been also released to the media. and there's a few points i want to just highlight. the russians have said that the american proposals unsecure to guarantees came as a package and only chose to discuss specific issues. and that's the demand that the americans are making, the russians withdrawing their troops from certain areas within russian territory. these territory is absolutely unacceptable and that russia is now insisting that the united states has so remove all its forces and weapons in central eastern europe as well. as baltic countries, and i think the most significant point here is that russia is saying debts if at the united states doesn't abide by what the russians are asking, then there could have certainly military consequences that russia will respond accordingly. i think this is the s

but he seems to had a more realistic discussion with sergei sugars and his trusts had with mister. ready lover of the day before his more experienced person in international affairs and his trustor has very little knowledge and made these 2 extremely stupid blunders in her remarks in moscow. so i think ben wallace is most insensible, more serious than it is, of course, very dangerous to stop talking about sending british troops to ukraine. i mean, it's, it's leading up to a potential full scale war between the western russia. interesting, nobody's interest and could get nuclear. so it's, it's crazy to talk about sending troops at this stage release to the americans. having said that, but instead continued us troops, not going to fight to the russians if they weren't been invasion. given the intensity of these high level talks over the last few days would be a defense minister of foreign ministers. indeed, the phone conversation between borrows johnson about putin. is it surprising that no concrete breakthrough has been reached on, on any certain compromised points? well, i think the germans an

that we saw take place between sergey la prov and vladimir putin broadcast on state tv, showed a very direct exchange between the 2 men vladimir putin asked survey lover of what are your proposals in response to the united states government and their rebuttal about the security guarantees this country is looking for. and serbia lover of said that although the united states and nato have responded negatively to the as security guarantees. the russians are looking for. there is still some merit to what they propose. the lab rav said that there has been some a ideas put forth by the americans that warrants further dialogue. i think this is the 1st time we're hearing of any concrete and answers from the russians about how they see the upcoming weeks unfolding. the russian foreign minister saying that they do have some proposals that are worth looking at. and vladimir putin asked a survey. laugh, rob, do you think there's a chance to have an agreement about our security and concerns and survey lover of respond that by saying there's always a chance. i think this is love. rob's a moment to really as signal to the world that there is still very much a window

against vladimir putin and sergey level of european union is sanctioning all the members of the duma, the parliament who back to the invasion of ukraine along with putin and lover of while the u. s says, is going to freeze their assets and impose a travel bag. nato is sending thousands of troops by land, air, and sea to protect allies near russia and ukraine. secretary general gen stuart and bert has called the crisis a new normal in european security. it has pledge of support came hours after ukrainian president vladimir zalinski, criticized both the western nations and the alliance for not coming to his country's aid. those are the headlines. the news continues here on al jazeera, after inside story. good bye. ah. russian tanks roll into ukraine. the target, the capital keep ukraine's president says the response from the west is not good enough. so what are the options? can ukraine defend itself? this is inside story. ah hello and welcome to the program. i'm hammer, jim's room. russia's invasion of ukraine is intensifying with air and ground assaults. russian troops have taken several towns and cities, and also the chernobyl nuclear disaster site. now they're

minister survey lover of saying that the british foreign secretary set the agenda for the start of this meeting list trust, wanted to discuss ukraine china bell roofs and iran with sergei. love rob, and that's what they've discussed so far. the, a russian foreign minister said that really they are, these are the priorities for the foreign secretary and a certain lover of also said that, that we don't understand a, the kind of anxiety about stationing of our troops. and that's it. that action has caused, there seems to be serious disconnect between what the russians are saying and what they a british foreign secretary is hearing because they're very much staying to the same mind that they had be going into this meeting, reiterating their own positions. it's, it's clear that very little little has been achieved. i think the foreign at the russian foreign minister as said that this was an opportunity to really explain the russian position. and we heard from the british foreign secretary, and it was clear that she may have heard him and heard the russian position, but doesn't understand it. she said that there is still time for russia to choose the path of diplomacy. and t

foreign minister, sergei love rob will be meeting possibly his french counterpart in the coming days . now it's not clear whether or not that will take place on the side lines of lover of meeting with the u. s. secretary of state anthony blinking on thursday. i or it would be prior a post that meeting. but i think this is really significant because this seems to be a very important week on the diplomatic front. of course, the russian president vladimir putin spoke for nearly 3 hours to his french counterpart, emmanuel macross, on a sunday evening early monday morning. moscow time where there to discuss the ongoing tensions and then following that phone conversation, of course, emanuel microns spoke to president u. s. president joe biden. it seems to be more clear now that the french president and it is really a doing all that he can to try and avert a allowed crisis at. but for the time being, the russians have said that they are still very much open to a dialogue and diplomacy. and that is clear, as we've heard, that the russian president is open to the idea of possibly meeting his american counterpart. but i think it's also important to point out as sunday evening