president zelensky was critical about this. it i zelensky was critical about this. — our economy is under pressure, but the russian economy is in the worst position. _ the russian economy is in the worst position, because the stock market is decreasing right now, they are losing _ is decreasing right now, they are losing money and i think it is part of a game — losing money and i think it is part of a game between the western world and the _ of a game between the western world and the russian federation. it is a sto to and the russian federation. it is a story to watch- — and the russian federation. it is a story to watch. thank _ and the russian federation. it is a story to watch. thank you - and the russian federation. it is a story to watch. thank you for - story to watch. thank you for joining us here on another snowy morning here in ukraine. all eyes around the world seem to be on this growing crisis with ukraine and no one is really certain what lies ahead, so many scenarios being discussed, whether there will be some kind of an incursion or whether this will

well, the pressure campaign started well before zelensky got into office.campaign started way back when trump won the election in 2016 and started putting pressure on president poroshenko. that's where it originally starts. when president zelensky came into office, he was already under the gun, already under tremendous pressure for trying to with the whole joe biden, hunter biden investigation announcement. so if you remember, even after -- when i had dinner with the president, trump way back in 2018, he didn't have been know where ukraine was on a map at the time. i had to point it out to him. and he asked a very important question that people might have missed, but it's very important. he asked, how long would ukraine sustain without our help if they got into war with russia. that was a question he asked. and the answer was not too long, i answered to him. i said, ukraine would fall very quickly. they would need american support. so i think back then, he understood that ukraine needed america badly and that's why they put that pressure on them to announce

you know zelensky very well. what do you notice when you hear him giving these press conferences and so clearly being frustrated and -- and essentially kind of saying the united states is wrong? >> erin, president zelensky is walking a tightrope. he can fall in either direction. on the one hand, he wants to appear and -- and give his people confidence that he's strong, he's gonna stand up to president putin. that's who he is standing up to. he is standing up to president putin. um, he is indicating that he will lead this country and he is giving them confidence. on the other hand, he needs to have united states and nato and europe supporting him with weapons, with sanctions for deterrence. so the two -- the two presidents are united in their need to, in their determination to deter mr. putin. no matter what they are saying about the statement about the threat, we understand why president zelensky has to demonstrate calm determination. president biden is doing the same thing. again, i believe that they have -- the

>> well, let's hope president zelensky is correct. publicly reported indicates that russia is amassing huge and significant troop numbers, including weapons capability that would give them the ability to invade and to take ukraine. one thing the administration has done correctly is they have made clear that there would be swift and very strong sanctions on putin and upon russia for doing so. the other aspect of this is that the administration has been clear that they're not going to bargain away the sovereignty of ukraine as russia has made demands that were unreasonable. the administration stood up to those and said that they are not going to make statements that would diminish ukraine as a country if russia invades it. they will be facing, i think, a united nato allied front. >> so this senior ukrainian official told cnn's matthew chance that president biden warned zelensky that kyiv itself could be sacked, that the ukrainians need to prepare for impact. the ukrainians obviously want the public in ukraine to stay calm and not panic.

is president zelensky downplaying the crisis. is a meme going around and there was a movie called "don't look up" and the movie is about a comet that is about to strike the world and destroy the planet and the president doesn't want to accept it and doesn't want to look up. there is a meme going around that says don't look up and there is a picture of president zelensky and that is circulating around ukrainians. starting to be a feeling that there might be a real crisis and the president of this country might not be taking it as seriously as he should be. >> critical contact on the ground in ukraine. kelly o'donnell, thank you to you, as well. appreciate it. >>> brand-new polling out of georgia. what it could mean for democrats and perhaps an uphill battle in a key swing state. >>> plus nbc's new scoop pointing to maybe more mid term trouble for them. the party's internal and growing list of house democrats in need of re-election help. s in need s in need of re-election help. we can explore uncharted waters, and not only make new

president zelensky seems to by discounting u.s.imir putin could innovate at any time. joining me is cia director in the obama administration. thank you for being with us. what is your reaction to what john finer told me today? that they are ready but they are concerned about belarus? they're concerned about the deployments and options. and while diplomacy is continuing, they are prepared if he is just running out the string of diplomacy. that's a paraphrase. >> andrea, there's no question this is a very pivotal moment with regards to the attempt of conflict. the united states and nato allies have made clear, in writing, that what russia wants with regards to nato is not going to happen. and so, putin is really facing the decision between whether he wants to go to war or whether he wants to try and negotiate. some kind of revisions that relate to russian security. that's a good decision. but there's no question that when we see what's happening in on the ground and the build ups taking place in belarus, as well as other areas along

officials are trying to send is aimed at a different audience than zelensky. so the president and u.s. officials first of all are trying to sound the alarm around the world about the possibility of russian aggression and they're trying to keep nato together, keep their nato allies on their side, on the side of strong punishments for putin if he does invade. zelensky on the other hand as vivian pointed out, he's trying to keep his population calm. and he's trying to show his population that he's in charge. and so naturally u.s. officials tell us his language is going to be very different. he's going to argue that an tark isn't imnebt and -- isn't imminent and he's got everything under control and u.s. officials say they strongly disagree. they're very concerned that putin could invade any day now. he's got even more troops surrounding ukraine than he did a few weeks ago. they are now stationed on the border with belarus in addition to the border with russia. and they're very concerned and they're not going to heed zelensky's pleas to back off of that argument.

what will biden's message to zelensky be when they speak? to be one of reassurance. president biden has promised to keep the ukrainians informed every step of the way so we can expect him to give zelensky a brief on the conversation with president putin that he had on december 30th. he will tell president zelensky that if russia attacks them the united states will support ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. this has been repeated many, many times. i think, you know, zelensky is likely to ask president biden to supply more weapons and ammunition, that's certainly been high on the agenda for ukrainian authorities. president biden will probably tell zelensky, you know, whatever you do, whatever your forces do on the ground, where they're particularly close to russians forces as we go into this very delicate period of talks with the russians beginning january 10th let's try to avoid any escalation, avoid doing anything that could sort of escalate tensions equally reacting to some provocation that the ukrainians might interpret comin

bruce: the two presidents, biden and zelensky, had a long phone call, the second one this month.ouse said that the presidents talked about how the u.s. will be providing more financial aid to ukraine to help its economy. also said biden told zelensky there is what the white house calls a distinct possibility the russians could invade ukraine again next month. that said, ukrainian officials like zelensky have taken more of a calmer approach, if that is the right word, trying to tamp down warnings about the likelihood of attack. meanwhile, there is further action on the diplomatic front. we know the secretary of state antony blinken had a call the other day with the chinese foreign to discuss the crisis. we know that biden will be meeting with german chancellor olaf scholz next month. a lot of things is still going on to avert another invasion. manus: bloomberg markets europe is up next. ♪ as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you

one guy saying, there's tension between biden and zelensky. i'm not sure i'd put a lot of faith in that. >> give me your perspective from your reporting at the white house. what are you hearing that the white house is doing that this is out there or what their position is today? >> look, there's obvious disagreement between this account from the senior ukrainian official and the zelensky spokesman saying, disagreement over the characterization of this call, but one thing that is clear is that there is frustration on both sides. there's frustration here at the white house with zelensky and the ways in which he has been outspoken about the situation and there's also frustration clearly from zelensky. you heard it in his own remarks with how president biden and other world leaders are characterizing the imminent possibility of an invasion here. the white house though is standing by this view that an invasion of ukraine by russia could happen at any moment now. the white house press secretary jen psaki was saying that from the podium and even in t

but i think president zelensky�*s remarks are this the new crisis for him, orfor zelensky�*s remarks2014 —— this isn't. they aren't worried about the next russian invasion because there's already been won in 2014, they dealt with the consequences ever since. perhaps the world has turned at the other way, and you wouldn't be surprised that there may be some bitterness about that, and suddenly, there a laser focus on what's happening on ukraine's border and worries about what comes next what comes next may be more of the same for president zelensky, and he did not dismiss the idea that there could be more conflict with russia, there could be a possible other russian invasion, but he said it's not certain and while you wait, better not to exaggerate what's happening. better not to exaggerate what's ha eninu. . better not to exaggerate what's haueninu. . . better not to exaggerate what's hauuenin, ., . ., �*, happening. thanks so much, that's l se happening. thanks so much, that's lyse doucet- _ the bbc understands the senior civil servant investigating lockdown parties at number ten dow

and that zelensky is standing in the way of that. way to do that would be to collapse his government from within, by putting pressure, psychological pressure, organizing some sort of coup, or taking a piece of the country, making it a failed state, and then hoping that there is a change of government that way. we're taking the whole thing. >> richard angle you are in eastern ukraine, there is an argument made mostly by the russian that there are a lot of russian speakers, pro russian people that live in that part of ukraine. they would be most happy to see a russian invasion, or would be happy to live under the russians, or at least a pro russian ukraine. how true is that statement? >> so, this is one of your putin's main argument. he wrote a lengthy paper about this in july. it is about 7000 words, and he goes back to ancient history, talks about the roofs empire. when all of these areas where united, when russia was a great power, he quoted a profit saying let kyiv be the mother of all russian cities, and he talked about how this c

ukraine's president zelensky taking a thinly veiled shot at president biden. he said he knows the situation facing his country better than any other world leader. matthew chance, what else did you hear from president zelensky today about this escalating situation? >> reporter: yeah. a whole range of issues addressed by president zelensky at this news conference for mental of the foreign media. he called on the united states not to create panic amid that build-up of russian forces near his border. and he gave warnings. he said this before. warnings, this idea that the u.s. has been putting out there that the envegas could be imminent is having a real impact on the ukrainian economy. some of the things that he wanted washington to do, when i asked him, what more could be done? in your conversations with president biden, what are you telling him that you need most of all from the united states that it is not doing to help you better confront and deter russia? what are you asking for that he's not giving you? >> translator: we discussed what are sanctions after th

melis, more criticism from president zelensky about the u.s.esponse, not just the chi and how it will be. >> that's right, kim, not only that, but the 38, now they're really out in the open, one conversation with a senior ukrainian official had not gone that well but also much more opening. as you just explained, on one hand, we had that language from president biden doubling down on friday. talking about the fact that it could be in the near future, 8,500 troops moved towards nato's flank. also the pentagon assessment of the threat. on the other, we've heard from president zelensky himself being very clear about the fact that for him, in the context that is ukraine's and much easier to understand, for ukrainians that have lived through the last few years since 2014. conflicts at times have gone low level but other times got escalated. but they understand much better what exactly those putin movements mean. we heard both from president zelensky last night and the prime minister that the ukrainian department who forced movements are not that dif

>> i would say, president zelensky, we need to accept one basic premise. any decision made will be made by ukraine. it won't be made in washington or the european union or belarus. it's their future, their fate and their decision, as far as that's concerned. i have listened closely to what president zelensky has said, and he reminds us time and time again that there could be a way out of this short of military action, and i hope there is. but it's his decision to make. if he decides that the future membership, if there is to be one in nato for ukraine, and the question of occupation in ukraine are two things to put on the table, i think we could move to a solution for this, and i hope we do soon. >> that's interesting, you think he would accept limitations on his relationship with nato? >> i don't want to assume anything. it's his decision entirely. but as i listen to the diplomacy back and forth, it seems to me that the russians want to try to delay any ukraine involvement in nato and ukraine, of course, wants the russians out. i'm not talking just about

respond to go what they said about zelensky not wanting to project weakness.ppeal to the rest of the international community. there's a whole series of independent with other countries. why not call in those as well? >> richard engel and fiona hill, thank you both. good leadup to my next guest press secretary at the pentagon, john kirby. i appreciate you taking a few minutes here. >> you bet. >> let's start with the announcement made from your purview a couple days ago what does it mean in layman's terms? we have troops ready to deploy but not yet deployed. what does that mean? >> this is not uncommon. chuck, you think there's a possibility you might have to send troops for some mission overseas, you want to give them time to get ready, put them on a shorter tether so the logistics, sustainment and equipment and army ammunition and arms that they have it ready to go. some of the units with he talked about, these would be deployed in support of a nato response force, so it would be in a nato mission, some of them are already on what we would call a short tether

this is the dilemma zelensky will face. once he dispenses those assets and calls on the is only, you can't say the attack might not happen. you got people going at every direction. you will be reluctant to do that until the last minute. therefore they resent targets. the russians have the ability with their long-range vessels and their reconnaissance come they have the same reconnaissance that we do not and the electronic intelligence maybe even better, they know where everything is and boom, in a few minutes, if it is well coordinated, he will have achieved shock and awe. none of us really know what mr. putin thinks, but we know that he has watched as the united states air force has demonstrated shock in all, and general -- and awe, and general breedlove was there. it generates intimidation. we know that there was a period when we went into iraq where the iranian government thought we were going to turn on them and we need to make nice. we did not take advantage of it at the time, but if it comes to this, this will shake t

. ♪ >>> president biden is expected to speak with ukraine president zelensky later today, days aftersian president putin to deescalate when it comes to that ongoing military crisis on ukraine's bordered. >> during a call with putin on thursday, biden threatened moscow with major economic sanctions should it invade crane. let's get straight to white house reporter kevin liptack traveling with president biden in wilmington, delaware. we have cnn diplomatic editor nic robertson live from moscow. kevin, start with you, what do we know about the upcoming call between president biden and president zelensky? what's on the table there? >> yeah. this is really meant to -- for president biden to update president zelensky about that 50-minute phone call he held with president putin last week and to really kind of lay out his strategy going forward as he continues to try to defuse this crisis on the ukraine border. this kind of follows the same pattern the last time the president spoke to putin, he also spoke to zelensky a couple days later. the white house has made clear and white house officia

>> the president is about to get on the phone with president zelensky of ukraine. how do you expect that call to go? >> well, i think that president zelensky will be seeking very particular types of u.s. support. he will want to receive as much military assistance as possible. things like anti-tank weapons. we have already been supplying that. in recent days the united states and other nato partners. but ukraine will want more and more of that type of defensive equipment to fend off any russian invasion as well as they will need basic things like medical supplies, the capacity to deal with potentially large numbers of casualties. so i'm sure that president zelensky has a list of things he would like in terms of support from the united states. i also think president zelensky will want to know specifically what is the state of the sanctions the united states is preparing together with european allies. that's our best deterrent against a russian invasion. that's our most forceful response against a russian invasion since we will not be directly involved in the conflic

zelensky's been trying to reassure his populous. he's been saying don't worried and annoyed with the u.s., frankly, for drawing down of the embassy, telling civilians to get out now. there's no military evacuation,allau afghanistan, per se. >> there's a feeling in the region that the americans and the west have, in some ways, over hyped what's going on and forced this into a bigger crisis than it has to be. that may be something they're saying to keep people calm. one of the things president biden wants to do is reassure president zelensky that he's not going to negotiate away without ukrainians in the room. the conversation hasn't involved the ukrainians in the room. that has a long history in europe and not a good one. that's one of the things that president biden wants to assure him is that the ukrainian interest is what he has at art and it's not going to be traded away in a secret deal. i think he wants to make sure that ukrainians understand what the americans are willing to do and not in terms of sanctions and providing weapo

a senior ukrainian official says the biden/zelensky call did not go well and zelensky does not sharee house view that a russian invasion is imminent. the source also said the american president drew clear red lines. biden, according to the ukrainian perspective, promised no troops, no sophisticated weapons systems and no preemptive sanctions against putin. the white house pushback was immediate. national security council spokesperson saying president biden communicated to zelensky exactly what he's communicated in public for months. let's bring in kaitlan collins. what happened? >> that's a great question, john. it soeems the only thing everyoe agreed on is this call was very long. an hour and 20 minutes between president biden and president zelensky yesterday afternoon. that line from zelensky saying there are no disagreements, i just understand what's happening in ukraine and he understands what's happening in the u.s. seemed to suggest he believes he knows better what's happening in ukraine than maybe some american officials have suggested. and, of course, we know that during this

speaking by phone to ukraine's president zelensky, biden reaffirmed his support.sed more than 100,000 troops and heavy equipment along its border with ukraine. during a 15-minute phone call thursday between president biden and russia's vladimir putin, biden warned that the u.s. would impose drastic new sanctions. joining me now, ben rhodes, deputy national security adviser in the obama administration. kelly o., happy new year. you're out there on a very snowy white house lawn. talk to me about yesterday's phone call with president zelensky and president biden trying to reassure. allies of the commitment that they are not going -- that the u.s. will not do anything on its own against vladimir putin. >> reporter: reassurance is really the keyword here andrea, speaking with president zelensky, president biden wants to give that message that the u.s. and its allies -- and i think very notably that phrase that you used, that there would be very swift action from the u.s. and allies if russia were to invade again. of course, referring to the 2014 invasion of ukraine tak

but i think zelensky has surrounded himself with people that are not very bright.he administration is not a war time administration but he does have a foreign minister who is very experienced. so he needed to get his act together very quick lip because this could cause ill will with allies who have given so much weaponry and so much resources, money to ukraine. and president zelensky has shown that he could be played by putin, that only happened a few months into his decision. so people in ukraine, in the ukrainian diaspora are very worried about his capabilities right now. >> always interesting to talk to you. thank you very much for the perspective. >> any time, thank you. >>> they told president biden that the country needs to move away from the pandemic and ask for guidelines to return to a greater state of normalcy. when could we expect? some covid restrictions to be loosened? we'll get into that next. >> there is a lot going on today. here is what else to watch. as a professional bull-rider i'm used to taking chances. but when it comes to my insurance i don't

with zelensky he'll have another call this afternoon with the leaders from the bucharest nine.nine nato countries in eastern europe who also have a lot at stake here if russia were to invade ukraine. nato is really an important player throughout this process as we heard this morning from house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff when he was discussing the situation in ukraine. let's take a listen to his comments. >> i also think that a powerful deterrent is the understanding that if they do invade, it is going to bring nato closer to russia, not push it farther away. that we will move more nato assets closer to russia that will have the opposite impact of what putin is trying to achieve. so the combination of very strong sanctions and i certainly have no problems going after putin personally, but i think more the sector sized sanctions will be the most important. >> alex, what makes this situation so complex is that nato is in some ways both one of the deterrents in this situation but also from the russian perspective, one of the cause of this standoff. vladimir putin d

sort it out for us. >> well, president zelensky is in a tight spot. on the one hand they want the world to know about the threat as you just pointed out the united nations in phone calls, and getting more assistance, military assistance, which zelensky has been frustrated about for months, he has been seeking this assistance for a long time. you may remember even from president trump and on the other hand, he wants his society to stay calm. he doesn't want the economy to collapse. he doesn't want thousands of people rushing banks to get their money out, buying apartments, renting apartments in other countries to leave. so to me it's very rational that publicly he's trying to keep people calm and he sees the comments from western leaders and president biden as undermining his plea for calm within the country. >> ben rhodes, with so much now surrounding so many russian troops, missiles in belarus, warnings from linda thoms a -- linda thomas-greenfield, there will be 30,000 russian troops in belarus this week, what is the way out here? we know lavrov and

so zelensky has to show leadership in terms of preparing a defense of the country.also has to try to convince the and europe to do more to support him. secretary lloyd austin mentioned the article v protection that nay the toe gives tomato members, but because ukraine is not a member of nato, that's not going to benefit ukraine. and that's why it's going to take real leadership from zelensky to get that type of support he needs. arthel: not a nato member, but it seems very clear that the u.s. is very much behind ukraine. meanwhile, all of this and china's watching to see what happens, their next move with taiwan. oh, boy. david, thank you very much for joining us. i have a feeling we'll see you again. thank, david, take care. >> thanks, arthel. eric: the widow of new york city police officer jason rivera who was killed in the line of duty had harsh and unsparing words for the new district attorney of manhattan over his progressive crime policies. that is next. i always dreamed of having kids of my own. ♪ ♪ now i'm ready for someone to call me mom. at northwestern mu

senators, president zelensky -- >> really a twitter battle between president zelensky and president ofust saying zelensky shouldn't have spoken out like that. >> yeah, probably was not helpful. i mean there's no doubt about that. but the bottom line is this -- russians are preparing for an invasion. they are massing substantial combat power along the border. i think the situation is dire, i think it's very likely there will be an invasion, although i don't think that's certain yet, the only person who knows that for sure is vladimir putin himself, and there are many, many things that have to be done that do not involve twitter that can help prevent it and if it does happen will make it extremely costly for vladimir putin, that involves sanctions packages, requires arms transfers and many other things that can be done. >> we got to go, but very quickly, i know you're on the intelligence committee, will russia invade? >> i think it is increasingly likely that russia will invade. i don't think it's a certain thing until russian btgs start rolling across the border we won't know for certai

and this is the dilemma that president zelensky will face.nd then on the assembly, you can't say the attack might not happen and then you've got people going in every direction. and so, he'll be reluctant to do that until the last minute. and so therefore, they present targets. the russians have the ability with their long range missiles and reconnaissance and the same space reconnaissance and intelligence maybe better than we know. and boom, boom, boom, in a few minutes if it's well coordinated he will have achieved shock and awe. and i've always felt, as we were saying, none of us really know what mr. putin thinks, but we do know that he's watched for over 20 years as the united states air force has demonstrated shock and awe and general breedlove was part of that in many different iterations, so it generates a wave of intimidation. we know after we went into iraq in 2003 a period for several months, the iranian government said, they're going to turn on us and we need to make nice to the americans and unfortunately we didn't take advantage

president zelensky was sidelined. the attention turns to ukraine itself and meeting directly with the president. cnn congressional correspondent lauren fox on capitol hill, officials say they expect strong recommendations to congress now after a bipartisan group of senators met with the president. what more do we know? >> reporter: well, it was a significant show of force. this bipartisan group of seven lawmakers went to ukraine to meet directly with president zelensky, and i was just talking with one of those members, kevin cramer, a republican from north dakota, who told me the message they received was they did need more military support from the u.s., but this was an opportunity to show the fact that despite the fact the republicans and democrats have had differences over timing of sanctions on the nord stream pipeline, that there is a united front when it comes to defending ukraine against russia and that the u.s. is expected and ready to take significant steps, if necessary, if russia invades ukraine's borders.

good morning. >> good morning. >> br >> brennan: artillery, ground air forces -- but president zelenskyd russia may simply be supplying ps psychological pressure. why is your president downplaying the situation? >> he is not downplaying the situation. we also know what russia is capable of because they have attacked us already. for 18 years we are at war and we're defending our country. at the same time, in order to defend owb country, we cannot afford to panic. we have to get ready, all of us, not only aur military, our very capable military and veterans, but also all citizens. we know and see what is going on. this is a reality of which we lived for eight years. this is the reality of the recent escalation since april. so we monitor it, we assess it, we share the information with our friends and allies. we're very grateful for the united states, for the strong relations -- >> brennan: but your president said ukraine is grateful for support, but i can't be like other politicians who are grateful to the united states just for being the united states. what does he mean by that? it sounds

president biden was scheduled to speak with ukrainian president zelensky last hour as tensions along the border persist. a source has told cnn zelensky is expected to tell president biden he's concerned about the rhetoric from the u.s. and other allies about the situation in his country. >> the united states reportedly made no concessions to russia in its written responses to the kremlin's security demands, and the russian foreign minister said there is, quote, no positive reaction, end quote, because it fails to address his government's main concern. sam kiley is in kyiv for us. do we know any more about this call from the ukrainians? >> reporter: well, no, we don't know any detail yet. we haven't had a readout from that call. there are indications of what the substance of it it would be, as victor was saying about some of the rhetoric. now we unpick how president zelensky has been reacting to some of the statements made by the united states and others, particularly the united kingdom over the last couple of weeks. obviously he was rattled by the remark made by president biden when

try to intimidate president zelensky.robably intended to intimidate president biden and nato. so far president zelensky, president biden, nato, the west has not been intimidated. they have not blinked. they have stared him down. and yet there is this real threat of an invasion. mr. putin might actually invade. he has invaded before. we know he is capable of doing this. he invaded ukraine in 2014. so he has done this before. he surprised us. he could do this again. they need to be prepared. the ukrainians need to be prepared. so he has, president zelensky has this balancing act, avoid panic, maintain determination, and have the preparations, have his military be very prepared for every contingency. >> bill taylor, thank you so much, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. >> thank you, brianna. >>> and coming up, a showdown in the courtroom between michael avenatti and stormy daniels. he is representing himself. she is likely to take the witness stand. what should we expect there? >>> a giant blinking sign of what might happen

president zelensky says he doesn't see russia invading.y different than it was in 2021 when there was another russian military buildup and exercises along the border or when there was one the year before that. he says it's risky, there are more troops now and he thinks there's a risk just because of the inherent number of troops there, that there could be some sort of accidental conflict, but he said that ukraine is not the titanic, it is not sinking, it will move forward and that ukraine, in his words, will emerge from this in flying colors. that's the official impression. he was pressed hard on that point, why does he think that, what gives him the confidence to believe that this is just political posturing, which he says that russia does every time it wants to put pressure on ukraine, every time it wants an upper hand in diplomatic negotiations or tries to extract concessions. he says he believes this because his country has been dealing with this conflict for so long, ukraine has been in a low-level war with russia over separatist area

zelensky knows it and president biden knows it. can count on is the unity that united states has tried to create with the allies to support ukraine, to say that, as you just heard, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity are sacrosanct and that united states is going to, you know, try to support as much as they can and that if there were an invasion, there would be more weapons going into ukraine, more troops conceivably going into nato -- more nato troops going into the region, new members of nato, and a strong position against russia. the main thing would be sanctions, serious sanctions. >> when president biden, you know, spoke with vladimir putin last week, it did seem to i guess convey or the president did convey that he talked about sanctions, but does anyone believe that that in any way i guess rattles the cage of putin if. >> well, if it does, he's not going to talk about it. in fact, the way he answered that from president biden was essentially to say look, if you do that, it's a colossal mistake and that's basically

the white house says biden also told zelensky there is a distinct possibility russia could invade in february. >> history will not be kind to president putin if he invades. >> reporter: the u.s. has written a response and is now in the hands of vladimir putin. biden still rejecting his demand that ukraine be blocked from joining nato. the kremlin says putin's response will be swift labeling the military activity as just exercises, but a senior u.s. diplomat making it clear that they are waiting on putin, still eager for diplomacy. >> there's only one decider in moscow, and that is president putin. we hope he will see here a real opportunity for a legacy of security in arms control rather than a legacy of war. >> reporter: now the u.s. announced that the u.n. security council will hold an open meeting monday on what the biden administration calls russia's threatening behavior. rhiannon. >> ike, thank you for that. >>> president biden has reaffirmed his commitment to nominating a black woman to the supreme court after justice stephen breyer retires at the end of this term. breyer used

what can we expect from today's phone call between biden and zelensky? >> happy new year.ect biden to give zelensky assurances that the united states, that nato, that european countries have ukraine's back and they're not going to let russia call the shots in an independent country. he's also going to brief him on the telephone call he had with president putin. he's going to tell him that he presented putin with two choices. two paths. and that is the first one is that if you invade ukraine, there will be serious consequences. there will be very harsh economic sanctions on russia, targeting a broad sector of russia's economy. much harsher sanctions than the ones that were imposed in 2014 after the first invasion. he'll tell him that he will give ukraine weapons, aid, intelligence. anything they need to defend themselves, should russia attack them and he will tell him that he warned putin that nato will expand eastward and strengthen to create a buffer against russian intelligence. but he will also have told him that he presented putin with a second choice. that is, de-esca

president zelensky says he wants the sanctions now.anctions is it deters putin's bad behavior. but if you continue to award that, it will continue. there are so many things we can do to provide deterrents, and if we don't do this, there is very specific, very aggressive, and the timetable -- if we don't do something strong right now, i'm afraid he is going to invade ukraine, which will have, as the secretary talked about -- he is right -- and i think you and i did -- it will have global ramifications here. >> brennan: when i pressed the secretary on that, he twice said that the u.s. is going after russian agents in ukraine. is the u.s. doing something now that the rest of us just don't know about? or is he just talking about sanctions? >> we know that the brits released intelligence report that the russians are trying to depose zelensky, and they're right on the border with belarus, and they're going to do joint exercises with precision weapons and aircraft. we know ki kyiv is right there. there is other one on the black sea, crimea. t

zelensky sense of anxiety is weighing heavily on the ukrainian economy.cowas has suspended burkina faso after the military takeover on monday but stopped short of imposing further sections. after a year of talks, argentina has reached a deal with the imf to restructure more than $40 billion of debt. pressure on the government to suspend repayments. what more can you tell us about this new deal? >> for the government, it is a relief. it gives it some space to breathe. the presidents, this whole issue has been looming over him since he took office. this was a loan that his predecessor took from the imf, the greatest in imf history. argentina had no way of paying this back. not only was it facing recession , but eight-month after the president took office, the pandemic started. there was no way he could negotiate a deal with the imf. will this deal change much? not really. the imf is not asking for major changes like privatizing state- owned companies or making major spending cuts, as it might have in other times. argentina is still facing the same problems

biden speaking with zelensky about what they talked about a few days ago and hear from zelensky and there and the situation on the ground. a big concern looking ahead to the next round of discussions starting next sunday in geneva is a question of we know the threats that the u.s. put on the table and they said it's triggered by an invasion of ukraine and there's concern russia could destabilize ukraine short of an invasion and we heard that concern in the last hour. >> we keep thinking invasion or not. actually, putin has a lot of options between a full-scale military invasion and doing nothing. cyber attacks bombing some sites and if he does something in between that may make it harder for president biden and nato to respond in a commiserate way. look on the lookout for that and something i think is one of the options that putin is thinking seriously about. >> reporter: biden likely to hear similar concerns today from zelensky and not just that call today and then speaking with the leaders of the bucharest nine in eastern europe will have a lot at stake if russia escalates the situati

as we heard today through zelensky's official interpreter. pres. zelensky: they should be here.he captains. i'm sorry but these are the captains of the diplomatic corps, the representatives of their respective countries. the captains of the last shouldn't be leaving the ship. i don't think we have a titanic here. ukraine is not moving forward. sometimes they are not using diplomatic language. they are saying tomorrow is a war. this is panicking the market in the financial sector. nick: officials tell menick: they believe the u.s. is hiking the threat, leading international investors to refuse to lend to ukraine, reducing its economic growth. they are frustrated their request for more weapons like anti-ship and patriot missiles, being denied via the administration. u.s. officials say they are sending weapons to ukraine and just calling it as they see it on the border with russia. that frank talk continued in the conversation between president biden and president zelensky last night. biden told zelensky russia has the capacity to seize and hold territory and overthrow the governme

we're expecting to hear more from zelensky when he holds a press conference later in this hour. let's discuss and bring in nbc chief foreign correspondent, richard engle, inside ukraine, and diplomatic correspondent michael crowley. michael, the phone call with biden, we kept hearing this invasion may be imminent but zelensky's comment, people seem to be going about their lives business as usual. >> yes, stephanie. there are two parts to this. one is i think regular ukrainians, and richard can speak better to this because he's there, but my sense is they have lived under the shadow of these constant russian intimidations and threats for years and there's a kind of fatalism that's set in, a sense they can't run around in a panic every time things look bleak, although i will say this looks much worse than anything we've seen in many years, so it does seem to be different in kind. then there's the political leadership, and i think this has become a great frustration to the biden administration and democrats on capitol hill, trying to figure out why zelensky seems to be preaching a