defensive equipment might be necessary to help ukraine so that not for ukraine to win a war or to escalate this fight but in order to make the separatists think twice about escalating and for mr. putin to think twice to escalate so we can look to a different kind of solution, a political and a peaceful solution rather than a continuation of war. >> all the supporters of this idea have stressed that term defensive weapons. but what is a defensive weapon? as soon as you shoot somebody with it, it's an offensive weapon isn't it? >> clearly, teen most defensive weapons can be used as part of an offensive strategy. but the situation is russia is attacking and invading a country and supplying arms to separatists. so the kinds of capabilities that we are talking about will provide ukraine with a better capacity to defend what it already has. rather than to retake what it has lost. so we're not talking about tanks or long range rockets or artillery or airplanes that are all part of a major offensive operation by the way, the kinds of things that the russians are provided to the separatists. we are

we are dealing with eastern ukraine, and to prove things within eastern ukraine. if putin were to engage in a ground war in ukraine, it would dramatically increase his losses and increase the isolation of russia. so far, he has not pursued this policy. he has been shown talking about the ukrainian region in the 18th and 19th centuries. so far, he has not pursued a policy whereby he takes all of ukraine. obviously, if that is a -- if he does pursue that, that will change the facts on the ground, and will change the response of the united states. >> host: a follow-up, the caller says does the russia of today , long for the reestablishment of the soviet union? >> guest: i think putin has wanted to try to -- how can i put this? re-create some of the economic links within the former soviet union. he used the post-soviet space to play a major role globally. in order to do so, he has pursued the policy of creating a eurasia customs union. this sparked this, because ukraine didn't want to be a part of the customs union. there are various imperial discussions with in russi

i read that i know you address 60% of ukraine, east ukraine is russian. whether that's true, i don't know. two, what kind of economic infrastructure does russia have while they are drive to go eastern ukraine and, three, looking at it from their perspective, you know, if russia or china came in to canada or mexico, which is akin to what the is threatening to do in ukraine, we have driven them toward energy policies. i just think the u.s. is pushing on a string. the eu is broke. japan is broke. you know, it's like what are we doing in this country? host: johnny welt leave it there. about half a minute left t guest: i think what the caller touched upon is part of the -- is the relationship between russia and ukraine and trying to deal with these as long standing economic relationships between these two countries. just because the soviet union collapsed does not mean russia and ukraine did not have substantial trade recess. indeed this crisis began as a trade dispute that ukraine voiced a desire to join the eu and russia opposed that. so, the fundamental nat

to arm ukraine. joe biden gave a speech that was to defend ukraine but didn't specifically say to arm ukraine. john kerry came on "meet the press" and said there are no differences but there are profound differences between the german and the french on the one hand and the u.s. option pushed very hard by senator mccain and others who had been in munich as well this weekend to arm ukraine with defensive weapons. >> that's right, andrea we're really at a critical moment in the relationship. if you look at the history of the u.s. and e.u. on this issue, it's been one of unity under very difficult conditions. the germans went along with the plant plan to ratchet up sanctions, this was difficult for angela merkel to do in germany. now for the first time we see real daylight between them. i think this meeting will be all about how you reconcile these two positions that are very fundamentally different. she wants to continue diplomacy, parts of the administration appear to be leaning very hard towards armin

last week the talk in european capitals ukraine and russia was of a ceasefire in eastern ukraine. one was signed but the ink was barely dry before the shelling and dyeing continues. the ukranian army has been chased out. it has been portrayed in different terms. for the government of kiev the news from the front is not good. we hear about the fighting talk to a ukranian about the pull back and ceasefire, and find out what europe is prepared do now. what is next for ukraine - it's "inside story". "inside story". french president francis hollande and angela merkel engaged in shuttle diplomacy in an effort to keep the war in ukraine from escalating. the sound of shelling could be heard after the ceasefire was supposed to have begun. president petro porashenko here with troops at the airport in kiev denied that debaltseve had been lost. >> this morning ukranian armed forces with the national guard finished a plan and organised operation for units to leave. for now, 80% of troops had least. were waiting for two columns to lead. >> the secretary-general urged russia to be accountable. >

ambassador to ukraine. thank you for coming this morning. >> to my right two voices who will be speaking about why arming ukraine is not a positive move at this point. jeremy shapiro to my right. he previously served as a member of the secretary's cabinet. thanks for joining us. finally, eugene. he is the director of the russian eurasia program at carnegie. he is a former national intelligence officer for russia and eurasia. thanks for joining us. before we get started, i wanted to see a show of hands in this room if you believe that arming the ukrainian military, making that decision as the united states, is a good idea. raise your hand. a little less than half. >> a lot less. [laughter] >> we've got some work to do. >> good luck. we are going to start with each side talking for about five minutes and making the case. after those 10 minutes, we will open it up to a 20 minute discussion up here. i will ask some questions. i hope you will address each other. after that for 10 minutes, we will open the floor

we begin in ukraine.s fighting continues in ukraine, president obama said the united states has not ruled out sending arms to the ukrainian military to fight russian-backed rebels. obama made the comment during a joint press conference at the white house with german chancellor angela merkel. >> now, it is true that if in fact diplomacy fails, what i have asked my team to do is to look at all options. what other means can we put in place to change mr. putin's calculus? and the possibility of lethal weapons is one of those being optioned. i've not made a decision. i have consulted with not just angela but will be consulting with other allies about this issue. it is not based on the idea that ukraine could defeat a russian army that was determined, it is, rather, to see whether or not there are additional things we can do to help ukraine bolster its defenses in the face of separatist aggression. but i want to emphasize, a decision has not yet been made. >> german chancellor merkel reiterated her opposition t

to the conflict in ukraine. what happened in 2011 and president, the division of two. and the soviet union, it was not like that. actually the whole war game, in crimea, two places and ukraine, the central government they used a red flag. victory day. so the ideal of this sort, every single deal that should have -- and parade red flags so the national flag of ukraine. opposition of the insult and ukrainian independence. and it ruined the whole idea lower. and political swords that did this. and bringing the control of russia and the soviet union, and a symbol of the soviet union and russia -- and the divergence of the ukrainian citizens the don't have any of that. as soon as this -- and so they just told depressions of the people under soviet rule, decided to remain of victory date to the day of grief. paid decided to invite ukraine and -- for children, victory days. and to invite representatives of the ukrainian resurgence. what we see here is legitimate insult which is growing since world war ii. is indicative

there are minorities in ukraine, not only ethnic ukraine's ukrainians. they wish to enjoy equal rights. when the election was held in ukraine, i know that the hungarian wine already asked to draw the borders so that one ethnic community had a chance to get an individual elected to the federal government. so these are real problems that prevent ukraine from pulling itself out of this crisis, that -- but they are being a swept under the carpet in the west asking people about what they feel about the law, and i think it is an awful lot. why should we state that openly? and my partners say that the -- we believe that the re-cleaning government should be supported right now and it should not be criticized so that , is the end of the discussion and i sincerely hope that there was influenced taken yesterday by the french president and the russian president and the german chancellor will present itself and we would be able to diffuse the situation and start a badly needed national dialogue to address the entire economic and social problems. >> thank you, sergey,

where does ukraine fit in? >> well, i think ukraine is a special case. as you noted in that budapest memorandum, it was one of the signatories that in a way promised ukraine it would retain it's sovereignty if this turned over these weapons to russia. there is an obligation on the part of the united states to provide that defense. you know, everybody agrees there is not a military solution to what is going on in ukraine but as senator john mccain, the republican senator on armed services committees argued over at the munich security conference said there is a military dimension to it. how do you blunt the advance of the pro-russian separatists to the point that vladimir putin the russian president, may be willing to negotiate. andre made a good point on the defensive weapons. one of the things that we're talking about as he mentioned the counter battery raiders. these are raiders that can detect in-coming artillery and mortar shells and pinpoint the location that they come from. as he said, if you use them in concert with another weapon to target the pla

and ukraine, expecting that if russia is determined that ukraine can fully rebuff a russian army, has always been unlikely. but what we have said is that the international community working together can ratchet up the costs for the violation of the core principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity, and that's exactly what we've done. and russia has paid a significant cost for its actions, first in cream in crim now in eastern ukraine. it has not yet dissuaded mr. putin from following the course that he is on. but it has created a measurable negative impact on the russian economy. and that will continue. my hope is that through these diplomatic efforts, those costs have become high enough that mr. putin's preferred option is for a diplomatic resolution. and i won't pre-judge whether or not they'll be successful. if they are successful, it will be in part because of the extraordinary patience and effort of chancellor merkel and her team. if they are not, then we will continue to raise those costs. and we will not relent in that. and one of the things i'm very encouraged about is t

stern ukraine after 16 hours of talks overnight. a cease-fire due to begin this weekend. world leaders call it a glimmer of hope to stop the fighting with pro-russian separatists. u.s. president barack obama says he is ready to send special forces into kiloliters of the islamic state group as he asks -- to kill leaders of the islamic state. an watchdog without borders says a drastic decline with more and more journalists directly targeted. also on the way for you, no new deal on great debt. talks with eurozone's finance ministers fails to reach an agreement as greece reaches closer to bailout limbo. stephen carroll will have more in business without any "50 shades of grey" frenzy continues. we will take a look at the rising effect it has had on sex toys. more on that later this hour but first our top stories. world leaders seem cautiously optimistic after a night of peace talks on eastern ukraine. leaders from russia, ukraine france, and germany reached a deal to end the fighting with pro-russian separatists in the east. more than 350 people have died there in 10 months o

there was a piece in "the new york times" that said surrender, ukraine. -- or arm ukraine. i think that is the way it will go unless diplomacy fails and we say we won't arm ukraine, that is what will happen. and we have already seen the line move beyond minsk, and the question is how far? >> absolutely. the question is, would it be all that different if the weapons of the ukrainian army were somewhat different? i have my doubts. i think one can discuss this but i am much concerned about something quite different, and i mean we will be able to convince each other out of respect of viewpoints in this initial. of time. let me tell you what i am most concerned about during this. period of time. if i look at europe at this period of time, it seems that europe is more advanced militarily, and this issue of hybrid warfare is something we need to take a much, much closer look at and we have to discuss this very intensively. the question is, what our democracies actually capable of? and what sort of more guided let's put it that way, that governments are capable of when it comes to

the secretary is in kiev talking about how to resolve the crisis in ukraine with ukraine's presidenthe prime minister. listen here. >> we don't view this as a zero-sum game. we have never viewed it that way. this is not meant to be nor should it be a divide between east and west. this is about rule of law. it's about the norms by which nation states behave. >> so what will the u.s. do about it? what should the u.s. do about it? let's talk to a man who know it is region well. former ambassador to ukraine stephen peifer. thanks so much for being with us. you, sir, support providing a new round of lethal aid to the ukrainian government to the ukrainian military. what will that do? well eight of us put out a report that argued for substantial military assistance. the bulk of that would be non-lethal assistance. we did say what they would need would be non-portable anti armor weapons. the idea is to not beat the russian army but to impose such costs on the russian army if the russians escalate the conflict that moscow decides that the military option is not there or does not have a cheap

russia and ukraine did agreeing to end fighting in ukraine.uch do you think that will provide a boost to wall street today? >> well from a humanitarian standpoint this is terrific news. any time you stop fighting that's great. but ukraine hasn't been a big driver. the u.s. credit boom has continued no matter what has happened in the ukraine. it can cause slight ups and downs. it's a slight positive for stocks today. >> so you think you mentioned the u.s. credit boom. is that driving u.s. markets or fundamental growth? >> credit investors are buying bonds hand over fist. it took a little break when the drop in oil started to unnerve the credit market but in the last week as oil tried to put in a short-term bottom the credit market has opened up tremendously and february is off to one of its best starts ever. >> wouldn't you say that we are seeing fundamental strength in the economy? particularly in employment numbers we have seen over the last couple of weeks? >> we are seeing good payroll growth and that hasn't translated into economic growth.

army ukraine -- arm ukraine against russian-backed rebels? the debate in washington ahead of president obama meeting with german chancellor angela merkel at the white house. mary republican, what is your take? caller: i think they should arm ukraine, greta. host: ok. why? caller: because he arms isis -- host: we're listening, mary. caller: they are arming isis. who calls to tell them to get out of buildings? we have the greatest military honors and obama is trying to bring the whole country down. he is a national disgrace. arm ukraine. host: tom in west hartford, connecticut, independent caller. caller: civil answer is no. i think we have to realize that this is really a holdover from the end of world war ii. when the ukraine went after russians viciously and slaughtered many. any ethnic group should have the right to self-determination and be able to associate itself with whatever government it wishes. it is clear that there are many russians in eastern ukraine that do not wish to be part of the ethnic nation of ukraine and other parts of th

putin is sending fighters in ukraine, he is sending arms in ukraine.he rebels in ukraine right now are under russian leadership. and in august he introduced regular russian troops to beat back the ukrainian army. so all the united states would be doing is helping ukraine defend itself by providing arm. not sending american soldiers, just arms. host: another comment. is this an ethnic war? guest: this is not an ethnic war because the russian people are not interested in ethnic war. that's why the russian people don't want soldiers fighting in ukraine. even if they believe the lies about what's happening in kiev. host: ron from pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i think we definitely should help the people of ukraine. we should provide them with weapons. they're a wonderful country. they're also part of europe. and europe needs to defend one of its own. i also think germany and france need to step up as well. sanctions are not nearly enough. we need to protect these people. and it will also help to prevent other aggressions by other countries that would

aggressor but the united dates. >> this war is not between ukraine and the rebels or even between ukraine and russia as a whole. it is a war between russia and the west, and eastern ukraine is just the current front line. >> that's exactly what president pugin -- putin now claims, that ukraine's crisis is part of a bigger western campaign to undermine and weaken russia. if he really believes that, then peace may be hard to find. >> on the ground in ukraine, the conflict has claimed the lives of nearly 5500 people since april. it's estimated that around 1.5 million have fled their homes to escape the fighting. the rebels now control much of the luhansk region and donetsk. our correspondent sent this report. >> the rebels of donetsk have created their own police force. this afternoon, they invited us on patrol. these officers used to work for the ukrainian police. they have now swapped sides and uniforms. rebels here have been building up the traveled -- trappings of a state. they've got their own flag, their own border crossings, and the police here are at work, and they will not want to g

or ukraine. we were in debaltseve a couple of days ago without a humanitarian ceasefire and the situation there was drastic and continuous shelling, very pew people on the streets people hungered down in basements desperate and terrifying situation for them. just how many people have been pulled from the city remains to be seen. >> thank you for that, charles stratford. >> much more to come in this news hour. renewed concern over west africa's ebola outbreak. >> to the indian capitol where a state election in the new delhi region could have national implications. >> africa's cust of nations host equatorial guinea and crowd violence mar add semifinal match. >> thousands of jordanians rallied to show support for the family of muath al-kaseasbeh and the government. isil burned jordanian air force pilot muath al-kaseasbeh to death earlier this week. they took him hostage in december. demonstrators support king abdullah's military campaign against the armed group. we have more from amman. >> thousands

given the length of the border with ukraine and the history between russia and ukraine expecting that if russia is determined that ukraine can rebuff the russian army, that has always been unlikely. what we have said is the international community working together can ratchet up the costs for the violation of the core principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity. that is exactly what we have done and russia has played -- paid a significant cost. it has not yet dissuaded vladimir putin from following the course he is on. it has created a measurable negative impact on the russian economy. that will continue. my hope is through these diplomatic efforts, those costs have become high enough that his referred option is for a diplomatic resolution. i won't prejudge if that will be successful. if they are successful, it will be in part because of the extraordinary patience and effort of chancellor merkel and her team. if they are not, we will continue to raise those costs. we will not relent in that. one of the things i am encouraged about is the degree to which we have been able to mai

>>> war tears apart ukraine. how deep will the u.s. get in? president obama in a key meeting at the white house right now. in a few minutes he could announce new plans. we have it live. >>> isis targets being bombarded in iraq as coalition forces try to stop the group's march into iraq and syria. now others are joining the fight. >>> it's really happening. a huge snowstorm smacks the northeast. nearly two feet on top of almost five feet in some places. it might never stop. ever. >>> hello, everyone. happy monday. i'm john berman. >> i'm kate bolduan. thanks for joining us. a lot to get to. the most intense and destructive fighting that europe has seen in years is happening right now in ukraine. the urgent question for the obama administration is how deeply involved should the u.s. get? >> at this moment president obama and german chancellor angela merkel are meeting in the white house before a crucial news conference which will be in a few more minutes when we could learn if the u.s. will give the ukrainian government what it desperately wants

in the eastern ukraine when in western ukraine there is a celebration of the second world war? so there is a need for political agreements. we know that mobilization is in progress in ukraine. it is experiencing difficulty. the hungarian minorities feel that many more people are recruited, and i think that this is what we should discuss. there are minorities in ukraine, not just ethnic ukrainians, and we believe they must enjoy equal rights. when the election was held in ukraine, i know that the hungarian minority already asked to draw the borders so that one ethnic community had a chance to get an individual elected to the federal government. so these are real problems that prevent ukraine a from pulling itself out of this crisis, that they are being a swept under the carpet in the west, asking people about what they feel about the law, and i think it is an awful lot. but the question that we stay quite openly, and my partners say that the ukrainian government is not supported right now and it could not be criticized, so that is the end of the discussion, and i sincerely hope

ukraine is not one country.s not one, it is a great country, listen to the people in your footage. they are not russians, but they want autonomy. >> we have those populations in latvia estonia and bulgaria. >> there are people who wrote a book, sale of the century. >> the annexation of russia was a violation. there has been an existential threat, false narrative that crimea and then russia is going to take all these other lawyers. >> latvia, lithuania all were part of russia. >> history. the core problem is n.a.t.o. expansion, that george ca said was a fate -- george ca said what is a fateful area. it was perceived as not a sorority or fraternity, but a military organization. the parameters negotiated settlement, in minsk, and have been on the table for months. it includes no nato expansions. >> do you believe they'll get a deal in minsk? >> it will be tough, but the alternative is disaster. if you go back to the soviet union, so were the countries, the russian foreign ministry wants to extend the umbrella. ukra

sends weapons to ukraine - how will it go? >> because american military supply specially weapons, will escalate the conflict because kiev would think that they are back with the u.s. they can go further in attempt to destroy this self-defense forces. >> they will never go beyond the borders of russia. >> no no no that is not the problem. russia as vladimir putin said will not let them to destroy these people in logan's debaltseve. russia will supply arms and send volunteers meaning that the conflict will escalate and the scale of conflict will be bigger meaning it is very i think, short-sited approach to the problem. why i am telling that that washington can stop all this problem. call petro porashenko and say negotiate with these people and solve the problem on the basis of ministerial agreement about the language about the federalization and about the status of the ukraine as a non-global country, which is the simplest thing that one would like to know. >> let me ask you this. you made a point in some columns that a bigger p

arming ukraine?your trotting out every person who has behaved unwisely in world leadership and asked me what i think of them. what i think of them, we need some leaders. i thought when i first visited you in february or january, the solution with the chancellor merkel what because -- why? because merkel speaks russian and german and putin speaks russian and german. they can talk like you and i talked. they understand once is. angela merkel has said all along, this cannot be resolved i military means. there must be negotiations. and yet politically, she supported every escalation of the crisis. why has she done that? because she was, and maybe she still could be, the key figure here. >> and she's coming to the white house monday. >> yeah, but she is been in ukraine -- she's been everywhere. she moves. there's distance between the white house and berlin, no question. angela merkel could end of this or she could go along way and put her foot down come in no more sanctions, no more nato involvement. stop

ukraine germany france and russia. both sides must start withdrawing heavy weapons rocket systems soon afterwards. that process should be complete within two weeks. ukraine will again take control of its entire border of russia, part of which is on the hands of separatists. unlawful prisoners and hostages must be released. rory challenge reports from minsk. >> we drove across the fields to the front line. only hours ago ukrainian military shot grad rockets. we should switch off our mobile phones and drive fast. there are a few fighters at this former ukrainian military base. they say their primary role here is to try and monitor ukrainian army movements. we are in a separatist defensive position they tell us we can't go in front of this building because of dangerous snipers. the fighters here are unsure what the minsk agreement will mean for them. >> translator: we will stay here unless we get an order from our commanders to retreat or advance. we are holding this defense position to help protect the town. >> reporter:

interest in ukraine. so i don't see president obama stepping up to do anything. >> if he's not going to do anything about isis is he doing anything about this? >> red line is what they were alluding to with this question and we've seen the president get in trouble with that lingo so we didn't think he would double down. >> the answer that was given suggests they will continue talking and consider sanctions. >> good to have you here today. >> awesome hour. it's been fascinating. >> easiest paycheck you've ever made. >> more from the couch online. "outnumbered" overtime on the web. click on the overtime tab. we'll be back for the tv version at noon eastern. >> fox news alert. boston setting the record for the most snowfall in the 30 day period. >> already passing the 60 inch mark and more is coming down. massachusetts governor charlie baker said in two weeks crews took off enough now to fill gillet stadium. >> and hillary clinton's trouble on the white house bid. and more democrats demand action on income i

moscow will be seeking constitutional changes in ukraine that will ensure that ukraine really never goes nato or west and so that's what moscow wants wants political negotiations on the future ukrainian constitution between the present government and kiev and the rebels backed by moscow. >> thank you for talking to al jazeera. >> thank you. >> in northern iraq, kurdish peshmerga forces are in the forefront of fighting against isil. some have lost their lives some beheaded. >> he is too young to understand what happened to his father. he was beheaded by the islamic state of iraq and the levant. he was a kurdish peshmerga fighter captured in june. his wife can't speak. she's in shock. so are her children. they are also proud of their father because he died defending their land. >> they kidnapped my father, killed him in a brutal way. we ask our leaders to help us bring back his body. >> he belonged to the tribe his village just a few kilometers from the village of the man who beheaded him on video. the killer was identified as a occurred from the zabari tribe. iraq's kurds are at war with

, more territory from ukraine. they've already taken crimea. >> let me go to jim acosta. i take it the delegations, they're already there, the german delegation, the u.s. delegation. we're waiting for the president and the germ man chancellor to walk in. >> we're getting close. the u.s. delegation has made its way in. just i think to jump off of what jake was saying a few moments ago, you know, the president has tried something different with respect to russia than he has with isis and other hot spots around the world. we'll getting the two-minute warning now. and that is sanctions. they believe -- economy, that it has inflected a lot of pain on russians and but they don't feel like it's changed vladimir putin's calculous. it's not changed his decision-making when it comes to dealing with ukraine. it's interesting because of the decision he has to make on arming the ukrainians. it is a departure for him and that's why you seeing so much caution on the part of the europeans. the united states would have to go with t

to send arms to ukraine.y concede ukraine could not win a war against russia, they do argue that the country should have the right to defend themselves to counter continued russian aggression. as a matter of fact that happens to be almost the position of the white house at this point. although they have not officially taken a position on sending arms to ukraine, they are drifting in that direction. our next guest disagrees with that position. john meershimer political science professor and author of an op ed piece in the "new york times." you argue it is a mistake to arm ukraine. if they're not armed they continue to be over a barrel when it comes to this russian aggression. why do you have this position sir? >> first of all, there's no question that they're over a barrel. the question is whether or not we can create a situation where we can drive the costs up for the russians so that putin throws his hands up in the air and he basically surrenders to our demands. i just don't think that that's going to happe

and world leaders mapping out a peace plan for ukraine. the violence escalating with the country's military and pro-russian rebels. this morning, how president obama plans to get involved and the price that russia may have to play for the role in the fight. we have team coverage breaking down the story ahead. >>> bracing for an impact. the northeast facing a new monster snowstorm. flights canceled. schools closed. there is nowhere to put the snow. we are live in boston tracking out bad this will all get. >>> sam smith conquers the grammys. big wins on music's biggest night. we will break down the surprising moments all ahead. >>> good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. 5:00 a.m. in the east. christine romans is off this morning. up first, angela merkel meets face-to-face with president obama this morning. the chancellor wants sanctions against russia in they do not agree to end the fighting by wednesday. president obama is facing pressure to arm ukraine. something the chancellor opposes. we have frederik pleitgen with more

>> well, it's an eerie silence here in eastern ukraine.s the first time we have had anything like this in recent weeks. i say that. as we say that now i can hear a little bit of small arms fire in the distance but this certainly, the big shelling the large scale shelling that we have seen in recent weeks seems to have stopped. we have spoken to local reporters around the region as well. it seems to be holding not just here in donetsk but reports that there is a quiet in places like debulseve, in mauriopl and lundqvist as well. but it hasn't been like that throughout the day. this is our report. lin lin. >>> we were waiting for a news conference to start when the first dull thud of a shell exploding was heard. as we left the building there was another bang. and much closer this time. one of the shells hit a residential area near a children's playground. >> we heard several explosions all of the glass broke. we ran into the basement. we were sitting at home celebrating my daughter's birthday and this happened. there are old people who live h

in ukraine. we take a deeper looking at how world leaders are seeking out a peaceful resolution to the violence. as cars become compute rived and connected to the internet. a senator is sounding an alarm about hacking attempts. details about personal security and safety on the road straight ahead. >>>welcome back it's time to take a deeper look at the search for peace in ukraine. we are 3.5 hours into a fragile ceasefire in ukraine. there's hope that fighting will stop. before the midnight deadline gun fire and shelling was east of donetsk, a strong hold for the separatist vowing never to give up the strategic location. it could be the last chance for peace. >> translation: we are at the session of cabinet of ministers, i warned before if there was no peace, we may have to take the decision to impose martial law, a difficult but necessary decision. we have to underline this again. and this event. martial law will be imposed in donetsk and luhansk. but across the country. guns and rockets are slep

tylenol®. >>> ending the crisis in ukraine.sident obama and other world leaders trying to stop the violence. the united states considering arming ukrainian military against pro-russian rebels. how will russia respond? we are breaking down the latest. >>> a new huge storm splamlamming the northeast. records could be broken. flights are grounded. schools are canceled. people warned to stay off the roads. the morning commute could be treacherous. we will tell you what you need to know ahead. >>> a big night at grammys. big wins and big surprises. we break it all down. it is coming up. >>> welcome back to "early start." i'm john berman. christine romans is off today. we begin with the west struggling to stop the carnage in ukraine. angela merkel meeting face-to-face with president obama this morning. merkel favors sanctions against russia if vladimir putin does not agree to end the fighting by wednesday. president obama facing pressure to arm ukraine. something merkel opposes. our frederik pleitgen is live in kiev this morning. goo

acceptable to ukraine? >> ukraine, the two things are quite important.ire, stop the fighting, and second territorial integrity. here the diplomacy will be playing the biggest role because what ukraine and the united states, as john kerry emphasized, one is to close the border with russia between russia and ukraine so that the separatist movement the separatists in eastern regions of russia and ukraine don't have that link with equipment and volunteers coming in all the time. >> how could that be monitored? >> well the -- there are suggestions to have u.n. peacekeeping forces in there or observers on some of definitely two points observers present, but the whole border is not marked. >> it's porousurrousporous. >> it goes through all natural forests and rivers, you can pass at any point. >> if an agreement is made and ignored what recourse does ukraine, does washington have? >> well the important bit is we could see that russia speaks at the moment to germany and france and we can see that the u.s. and britain as well have been somewhat separated from tha

but ukraine is more hoping on russia than russia is dependent on ukraine. >> that is our show for today, the hopes of a peace deal for ukraine butt country's president petro poroshenko is reportedly objecting to russian conditions. ♪ ♪ >>> good to have you with us her on al jazerra, i am david foster. also coming up in the next 30 minutes. >> our coalition is on the offensive. isil is on the defensive. and isil is going to lose. >> u.s. president looking for congressional backing to step up military operations against isil isil. >>> the retrial of two al jazerra journalists accused of colluding with the

ukraine gets a vote.n, ukraine very much has a say or should have a say in how it's going to develop as a country. >> ifill: professor mearsheimer, assuming you disgee with a lot of that, which i'm assuming you do i want to move you forward to the other solution diplomacy? is it standing in place? >> just before i answer that question, gwen, let me say i don't think that putin and the russians more generally are responsible for this crisis. i think the west is, especially the united states, and its nato expansion that's the tap root of this problem. the fact that we have been pushing nato and the eu eastward and trying to pull ukraine out of russia's orbit and make ukraine a bulwark of the west right on russia's border is what has precipitated this crisis. >> ifill: and what... >> what we're doing is it exacerbating it by arming the ukrainians. >> nobody has been armed yet, at least not lethal aid. what would diplomacy look like? what would hollande-merkel solution look like? >> i think there is a very si

sending loathal arms to ukraine -- lethal arms to ukraine. politically speaking a lot of momentum for americans to do this. might that make this meeting a big awkward? >> reporter: i don't know about awkward, but it is going to be for a robust discussion. when we have the security conference over the weekend, angela merkel was clear when she was questioned several times why don't you see the idea of arming the ukrainian side as at least a political pressure on vladimir putin. she said i don't see how more arms going into ukraine could actually bring peace. she did not waiver at all -- did not waver at all. we heard from john kerry and his team saying they haven't made a final decision on whether they would arm the ukrainian side with defensive weapons, but it's very much on the table. i think while you're seeing so much diplomatic effort led by chancellor merkel is because the u.s. might arm and send defensive weapons to ukraine. that's why she's flown to moscow on friday. met with leaders from russia and the u.s., and now in washington tryin