those are the words of president zelenskyy.we are tonight. the streets deserted, the people scared. we saw it today when we had to go to a bomb shelter when one of several air raid sirens went off here. but in these darkest hours of the night now, president zelenskyy posted a zoo warning

asking if he is worried about zelenskyy because earlier today he spoke to zelenskyy for 40 minutes oro. and zelenskyy keeps asking him for assistance. keep offering help with defensive measures and rallying the world around an anti putin p.r. campaign. but, that's it. for tonight. i did also -- because the president is going it be in delaware unless the plan changes tonight, tomorrow night, and then into sunday. and i had a chance to ask the press secretary earlier today what biden white house plan as this russia crisis has unfolded very slowly has actually worked? and she said that they have had great success in rallying the world around ukraine and in making sure that putin feels the pain, financial pain for his decision to go into ukraine. sanctions are no longer about deterring the invasion. now they are saying they don't think these sanction brs ever going to stop the invasion. it's more just punishment now that he is in there so as for what comes next since the sanctions aren't going to have any bite for putin in about a month and people in ukraine might not have a month, we don

should zelenskyy take that offer? >> that such a tough call right now and the right way would be to be a cease-fire before a meeting took place. but again, i just feel that really is zelenskyy's call. he ironically enough elected in part because he promised to negotiate with russia a few years ago and try to get peace when the war was confined to the eastern enclave. it's got to be zelenskyy's call for he should be really suspicious and i'm sure he is of any of putin's offers. only he can make that call on the ground at this point. >> griff: what do you make of zelenskyy's defiance, his resilience, posting when dawn broke in. he put in a video saying we are here, we will fight. >> i am so impressed with zelenskyy. he's one of the reasons why we've gone to say that may be ukraine was not in our strategic interest but to saying that around the world we stand with ukraine. zelenskyy gets so much of that credit here and i'm so impressed with him. they are really taking care of him and protecting him. i wish he had a seal

>> reporter: a very honest assessment from president zelenskyy there, wolf. and from all the evidence that we have seen and that we are hearing, he is right. there is growing evidence that the russians are really coming at this capital city of 3 million ukrainians from all angles. just moments ago, we heard what we believe to be the closest explosions to the city center yet. that is coming from the west, which is directly in front of me. we know that over the course of the past 24 hours, the fiercest fighting in kyiv has been to the north and northeast of the city. our own matthew chance was up at an airfield yesterday that was taken by the russians. we know that russians are marching on the city from the east, and we've just gotten word that there is some fierce fighting also taking place about 30 kilometers or 20 miles to the south. so, really from every different direction, wolf. so, you had that honest assessment from president zelenskyy, but at the same time he says that the ukrainians are putting up a fierce fight. and there is evidence of that. so far

matt. >> reporter: yeah, we just heard from president volodymyr zelenskyy. he's made a group of increasingly dire videos including one in russian tonight was the decisive night he told his people they had to defend their whole country but particularly kyiv. russian forces are surrounding the capitol and moving in from several different sides. it's been a long day but it will be even more a complicated night. he called on all citizens to rise up, defend their country, defend their lderly, their children, their women and this is a decisive night, this is the night it's going to happen shep >> matt bradley reporting from eastern ukraine. thanks russia continues to wage this war on three different axes. the first from two positions in the north, from belarus into kyiv in the middle that's the chernobyl containment zone where the nuclear disaster happened. that's already been seized by the russians the second part from russia down into kyiv. all of this we're told underway tonight. the second axis from russia down into kharkiv that city is still contested, a city

brian todd looks at how zelenskyy's life imitated art. >> reporter: just three years ago, volodymyr zelenskyy deal with the largest conventional military attack in europe since world war ii. zelenskyy was known to ukrainians then as a comedian, playing the role of a schoolteacher in the series "servant of the people." on that show, zelenskyy's character unexpectedly became president of ukraine after ranting about corruption. then life imitated art. positioning himself as a political outsider, running on a platform of fighting corruption and ending the conflict in eastern ukraine. zelenskyy won a landslide victory over petrol poroshenko. >> his background, he's jewish and was very comfortable in the russia world. he made a great career for himself as a comedian and businessman by appealing to ukrainians and russians. >> reporter: zelenskyy became enmeshed in the scandal that led to then-president donald trump's first impeachment trial. a phone call in which trump leaned on zelenskyy on investigate allegations of corruption against joe biden's family in ukraine. allegations that were never supp

zelenskyy is a stand and fight kind of guy.nd that's something that could serve as a rallying point for the ukrainians, as long as he is able to stay away from the purchase of russian power. as far as the ukrainians replying to that level of resistance, that's certainly a welcome development from the ukrainian perspective. and it shows how tenacious the ukrainians actually are in defending their democracy. they've gotten very tough odds, when you compare the two militaries to each other. but it's very clear that the ukrainians want to keep what they've had. what they've won through very hard-fought battles through their own revolutions. and it's basically for them to stand and fight at this juncture. >> and, david, i want to mention something from the former russian president medvedev, he's showing it as a myth, a threat, a figure of speech. sanctions to this point have not deterred vladimir putin whether in crimea or elsewhere. do you think the solutions on the leader will have some practical impact? >> i think over time they

president zelenskyy has been curaej s. president zelenskyy has not backed down a bit.country. he's stepped up. i mean, don, here is a 43-year-old president who's had two years in office, no previous political experience. he's facing down a kgb operative who's been in office for 22 years. and the ukrainian president is standing tall. he's standing tall. he is defying all that military might, military equipment and those soldiers all around kyiv, all around where he is. now, he has -- he has disregarded some other advice in previous times. so a weekend ago -- last wkd he decided to go to munich. to go to that security conference, and many people told him don't go -- don't go because you might get caught out, the russians may not let you back in. he went, made a good speech, demonstrated strength and went back. that's where he is now in kyiv. so he's demonstrating courage. >> putin is directly speaking to ukrainian armed forces in a televised address asking them to rise up against their own government. listen and then we'll talk about it. >> translator: do not let banderi

vladimir volodymyr zelenskyy saying we're here. zelenskyy held a call with biden today as the u.s. and western allies ramped up their campaign to make russia and specifically vladimir putin an international pariah. the counsel of europe, the foremost human rights organization suspended russia and at an emergency summit, they activated part of the response force for the first time in its history to sure up nato allies in eastern europe. the european union and the u.k. look to freeze the assets of putin and foreign minister sergei lavrov as a part of sanctions. the united states followed suit further isolating the russian dictator. >> in alignment with the decision by our european allies, the united states will join them in sanctioning president putin and foreign minister lavrov and members of the russian national security team. >> does it include a travel ban by chance? >> i believe that would be part of the u.s. component, yes. >> in addition to slapping sanctions on putin and lavrov, the treasury department is taking action against three russian military leaders. it's defense and

president zelenskyy said he talked with the u.n. secretary general about stripping russia of its vote on the u.n. security council. would you support that? >> look, russia is a member of the security council. that's in the u.n. charter. but we are going to hold russia accountable for disrespecting the u.n. charter. and they have been isolated in many different ways. so just to indicate 80 countries joined us in co-sponsoring the resolution. more than 50 countries joined us at the podium to call out russia's aggression. so the fact of their sitting on the security council does not mean they're protected from criticism and protected from isolation and protected from condemnation. >> before we go, nearly 2,700 russians have been detained in anti-war protests in russia since thursday. what is your message to those russian protesters? >> we've noted this information, and what it says is that vladimir putin can't hide what he's doing in ukraine. and those russians who are protesting are extraordinarily brave to be protesting in their coun

think about president zelenskyy, how far they are fighting. if they had half the weapons we left in afghanistan, they would have paid for them, but russia would have been falling even today. think if zelenskyy would have taken president biden's advice of leaving the country. it would have collapsed. he is a modern day winston churchill. we do no need a -- not need a neville chamberlain to appease a dictator. we've watched through history how that was a mistake. this is a moment in time, even america taking the option of supply being ukraine with weapons is correct, but it's harder to supply them today. we should have taken those actions sooner, and we should learn from this moment in time that we should speed up the sales of weapons to taiwan for what the future looks like with china that looking at what's happening today as well. maria: will you be encouraging that this upcoming week? you're right, biden authorized the $350 million defense aid package on pretty only -- friday only after president e zelenskyy say i need ammo, and that pushed t

the point of main effort in this fight for president zelenskyy is key.he russians are attempting to take his capital. he has to show not only personal resolve, but resolve that is reflected in the people of the country. you know, one of the things i'd say, as -- i've watched president zelenskyy over the last couple of years. he's been masterful in attempting to play political sides and gain advantage for a country that he truly loves. i don't care that he used to be a comedian, personally, but he's shown a political savvy. he was elected with a very high percentage. i think his percentage, 70% of the people elected him. he's faltered at times, a couple of times, but truthfully, he has seen the future of ukraine. the democratic and the future of ukraine. jim townsend and i worked on this together when we were both together actively in the department of defense. but the corruption has been hurting ukraine for a very long time. and i think president zelenskyy has done a phenomenal job in gradually eliminating that and making a nation that is certainly going

zelenskyy and because there was a refusal to talk with mr.enskyy, while they had put a pause on military advancement, they have now put it back into place. tell me how the messaging from the kremlin is in any way impacting you and others in ukraine. >> look, i want to ask all the cnn viewers, all the people of the world, with one very simple request, please don't try -- don't trust putin. don't believe putin. and, two, don't be afraid of putin. when we have the first day of the hybrid war since 2014, we have lots of cases where, for example, in may '17 when they have a version who is responsible for the disastrous terrorist attack on the almost 800 innocent victim, and putin said that was a ukrainian plane, a ukrainian missile, some mistake of the dispatcher, many, many others. but the -- what me as a president do at the time? i just invite the international investigation team from the nation who suffered the most from this terroristic attack and now we have court cases in netherlands, evidence that putin is a liar. the same situation now, ho

zelenskyy appealing to russian soldiers saying save your lives and leave. earlier this morning, he said he is asking the eu for immediate session under new special procedure and there he is as you can see speaking this morning. one of the other major developments over the weekend has been the sentiment that has built around zelenskyy and contrast to what many had expected and believed he has not left ukraine he turned up in kyiv over the weekend and holding storong the key line from zelenskyy is 4,500 russian soldiers have been killed so far. he is speaking in ukraine. we will continue to monitor anything that comes from this. we are also awaiting the meeting between ukraine and russia to happen later this morning. we will have to wait and see what comes of it clearly, the tension is high and zelenskyy is making a push to be seen and speaking and holding strong in ukraine. we will continue to monitor any headlines when they come out one last thing from zelenskyy coming through zelenskyy says ukraine will release prisoners with military experience if willing

ukraine's forces continue to hold all major cities with president zelenskyy saying today his government and his people are standing firm in the face of russia's attacks. with nearly 75% of putin's pre-staged combat power previously amassed around ukraine now into the country. talks in belarus between delegations from ukraine and russia on the border with ukraine, ended in the last hour. putin sending a low level cultural delegation, so there is widespread skepticism of any concrete discussions to end the conflict. global condemnation of russia is spreading with historically neutral switzerland joining europe's anti-russian sanctions and israel not sending weapons to ukraine, but israel at least joining a u.n. resolution, a general assembly resolution condemning ukraine. the u.n. general assembly is voting in a rare emergency session on a resolution condemning russia, despite objections from moscow. russia is suffering severe financial consequences from president putin's actions with their stock market shut down for the rest of the week, the russian ruble crashing to an all time low, int

that is the warning from president zelenskyy.aying in kyiv. the capital tonight under siege. the city, dark. str stre

what can zelenskyy do to remain in power in. >> i met president zelenskyy about three-and-a-half weeks ago in kiev. i was with him for about an hour. i was impressed with his spirit. he's smart. he's a tough guy. i mean tough in terms of he's willing to fight. he's still there. i think it's so important that the leader does what he is doing, to be seen, to be out there, reminding the ukrainians what this is all about. there is no doubt that the russians want to capture him and i would expect he, his family, his closest thing would be executed as soon as possible if he is captured. yet, he is staying there as are members of the rada, others, from is important. this is where i am confident, actually, the russians will not be able to capture kiev. think about, this is a city of 3.5 million people. all those huge apartment buildings, it takes hundreds of soldiers to enter, clear and secure each one of those apartments. so this is going to be a very, very long fight. a lot of casualties. i'm not convinced russia will be able to accomplish their objectives in kiev. i certainly hope not. >> t

also ukraine's president zelenskyy addressing the country.mergency now in effect for his country tonight. right now we want to take you along the front lines. cnn's alex marquardt has that report. >> reporter: dirt roads that connect the ukrainian villages nearest to the front lines are meandderring covered in potholes and puddles. the empty landscape makes it easy to see the russia-backed separatist territory and to hear the deep rumble of artillery in the distance. along the line of contact just over a mile away one of the few remaining in this sparse empty village, which over the past week has been hit with waves of artillery fire, and the biggest spike in fighting in years. a farmhouse destroyed, its metal door cut by shrapnel. out in the field behind gives you a sense of how widespread it was. you can see here the randomness of this shelling, craters all over this field here, here and here. many of them as deep as i am tall. we're told that it was just over the course of only two days last week that 16 shells were fired at this field. de

brian todd looks at how zelenskyy's life imitated art. >> reporter: just three years ago, volodymyr zelenskyyr ii. zelenskyy was known to ukrainians then as a comedian, playing the role of a schoolteacher in the series "servant of the people." on that show, zelenskyy's character unexpectedly became president of ukraine after ranting about corruption. then life imitated art. positioning himself as a political outsider, running on a platform of fighting corruption and ending the conflict in eastern ukraine. zelenskyy won a landslide victory over petrol poroshenko in 2019. >> he's jewish and was very comfortable in the russia world. he made a great career as a comedian and businessman in part by appealing not just to ukrainians but also to russians. >> reporter: just a few months into his presidency, zelenskyy became enmeshed in the scandal that led to then-president donald trump's first impeachment trial. a phone call in which trump leaned on zelenskyy to investigate allegations of corruption against joe biden's family in ukraine. allegations that were never supported by any evidence. zelenskyy

let's start with president zelenskyy.ised from someone who was a is the rift, the ukranian voice of paddington that has just been revealed, are you surprised that he's risen to beat this moment and he's become a hero-like figure both at home and abroad? >> i mean, i have to confess i am. i mean, this is a guy who was elected with 73% of the vote in 201 but his approval rating up the last few months leading up to the war had sagged below 30%. a lot of ukranians were down on the very establishment that he knocked in the series "servant to the people." have you to understand the poefd modern spectacle of it all. zelenskyy made a tv show that was like a "veep"-style series that goes on line and gets upload and goes viral about inefficiency and bureaucracy and then gets elected overnight as president of ukraine and then zelenskyy himself becomes president of ukraine, and what we're seeing is this kind of extraordinary transition of charlie chaplin into winston churchill. his leadership has blown everybody away. "the washington

president zelenskyy rallied andk hard.o be a long fight and the odds are still stacked against them. russia has overwhelming combat power. they are adapting. they are changing. they are learning. they're fixing their problems. so this is going to be a long haul for sure. >> when you were there in december, what did they ask for, and at this point, how can we get them -- they're asking for more weapons. i know president zelenskyy would like the air space closed. president biden has said we will not do that. but in terms of what they need and what would help, what can you tell us about that? >> well, we're not going to close the air space, and i've seen and heard these calls for enacting a no fly zone and let's be really clear what that means. that means going to war with russia, and that's not what we're going to do. we're not going to have two of the world's biggest nuclear powers in europe going to war. that's not a tenable option. what we can do is do what we have been and that is expediting the movement of weapons, defe

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president zelenskyy said day three is going to be very telling.you believe that and are you surprised that it is so quiet on the streets and in and around it kyiv right now? >> i'm not that surprised. i think again, the anticipation that you can roll into an urban environment with tanks and armor and just kind of walk in is a fallacy. cities are very hard to occupy from an occupying stance. they are very easy to defend. the ratio of killing his one. you need three offensive troops for everyone defend are typically in the standard military play. the troops on the ground, what they did not anticipate getting into and i don't think vladimir putin wants to have a blood lighting on his hands because his intent long term is to control ukraine. to carpet bomb or to have mass civilian casualties does not work to his benefit. >> trace: when when i was a kid, i liked to watch muhammad ali because he was so deadly. you would see and he was just magical, but then as he got later in his career, he didn't have the same magic. on the ropes and a second now he's

the war-time president volodymyr zelenskyy tells his people to stand and fight. his rise from comedian to commander of a nation under siege >>> also just breaking, new york state's mask mandate for school students finally set to end >>> and the new normal our series about this new phase in the covid pandemic tonight our investigation into why americans with long covid are being denied disability coverage. what you need to know. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with kate snow >>> good evening once again. as the skies darken in ukraine, there were air raid sirens, russian forces on the move again this morning at day break we saw evidence of just how brutal the fighting was last night the capital kyiv came under attack, but ukranian forces were able to hold off a russian takeover the biden administration accusing russian president putin of further escalation today after he put his nuclear forces on high alert. and russia continues to face consequences all of the eu and england now closing their airspace to russian commercial flights. we have our nbc news tea

volodymyr zelenskyy is pleading for help. air raid sirens have been sounding consistently following explosions in the capitol as ukraine and the u.s. say russian forces plan to encircle the city and go after the government. the ukrainian official says this video shows a russian missile being shot out of the sky by an ariel defense system. the defense ministry says ukrainian troops have blown up a key bridge north of kyiv and are resisting russia's advance from the north. one of the fighter jets has been shot down over kyiv but it claims it has inflicted more than 800 casualties on russian forces since the invasion began. other images show an apartment block on fire in kyiv. the mayor says three people were hurt, one seriously when a rocket hit the building. russian forces have been pounding air fields and military bases across ukraine. british intelligence reports at least 80 strikes since the fighting began. a u.s. source says russia has launched more than 160 missiles. reporting at least 137 soldiers have been killed since

we have seen why zelenskyy was so eager for u.s. assistance. now the former actor and comedian has been transformed from the american footnote to the new face of freedom and defiance. trump is gone from office. but the question of whether the u.s. is giving zelenskyy all he needs lingers on president joe biden's watch. it's fair to say the u.s. and nato acquiesced to russia's invasion. on december 8th of last year, after meeting with putin, biden told supporters that sending troops to ukraine to deter russia was not on the table. on february 10th of this year when asked by nbc's lester holt what could prompt to send troops to rescue americans fleeing the country, biden replied. that's not. that's a world war when americans and russians begin starting to shoot at one another. january 20th, jens stoltenberg told the bbc we have no plan to deploy nato troops to ukraine, we're focusing on providing support. just a few days later on february 4th, the nato deputy secretary-general told a french outlet that nato, quote, will not get involved, we suppo

zelenskyy has claimed the u.s. and other western governments were overstating the threat but also quietly preparing for a possible attack. the question now, is he red? >> joining me now, former director for european affairs and key witness in former president trump's. and key witness. there is a u.n. council meeting zelenskyy called for. the united states ambassador said this, quote, putin wants the world to travel back in time. time before the united nations. time where empires ruled the world. the rest of the world has moved forward. it is not 1919. it's 2022. i want to ask you what she said there? that's right. somehow the idea that we'll return to the geopolitics of the rural jungle where the age of empires and the powerful can do whatever they want to do. the kind of world putin thinks he can prosper in. by appending international norms and invading a peaceful area and setting the tone for the world he wants to live in. >> are you surprised by some of the response of the american right wing and some of the rep

zelenskyy asking the people to spread honest information. saying the enemy suffered serious losses we will issue weapons to anyone who wants them this is coming from the ukraine president encouraging goods and businesses to provide services to people. saying we will remove sanctions from all citizens of ukraine who are ready to defend our state with weapons in their hand we broke off diplomatic relations with russia. here is the ukrainian president saying we broke off diplomatic relations with russia. the ukraine president calling on russians to come out and protest against the war. this is interesting. this is not the first time the ukrainian president called on russia speaking directly to russians they need to stand up and protest the war. he is reiterating that call again. let me reiterate what we hear from the ukraine president we broke off diplomatic relations with russia. we are calling people to protest against the war and issue weapons to anyone who wants them this is an escalation with the conflict the president asking people to spr

a phone call in which trump leaned on zelenskyy to investigate, zelenskyy made no promises on the call temp did not pressure him. >> he handled it well, because he understood what he was asked was outrageous. this was the 44-year-old's message to his country on thursday. >> translator: the enemy has marked me as target number one. my family is target number two. they want to destroy ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. >> reporter: according to action i don't. he told leaders, quote, this might be the last time you see me alive. >> it's really tremendous. to a certain extent he is alone. it's clear that the russians have put a target on his hid. i certainly don't envy a position. >> reporter: by friday night, his warning to the nation was dire. >> translator: this night will be very difficult and the enemy will use all available force to say break the resistance of ukrainians. >> reporter: is he in over his head? >> you need a churchill type of leader to excel. i think his's scrambling and trying to find the right tenor and message. >> reporter: even top russian officia

zelenskyy seems to be asking them to come back to fight. >> yes, that's right. both zelenskyy and amer kyivs are taking videos of people fighting for their country, demonstrating they're not going anywhere. and that's because they need every single ukrainian to help in this effort, to help in this fight. this is an existential threat to their country and freedom. we're seeing them encourage people to come back. i have to say driving through the city and countryside, we saw a lot of ordinary civilians carrying ak-47s. as i mentioned we saw civilians learning how to point a javelin. so while there have been ukrainians that are leaving, that are evacuating, that are going to poland, there are plenty of people who are staying and the sense i'm getting, speaking to officials, the city official that i was speaking to this morning, they are preparing for a kind of insurgency. they're going to be taking this fight to the streets. and as soon as the russian troops fully enter the city's center, the capital of kyiv, it appears as though that is how they're going to fight

president zelenskyy and president biden, they have spoken already, and president zelenskyy has made some decisions tonight. president zelenskyy, issued a video statement, looked like a selfie that he took at his desk. in which he said that martial law is being imposed all across ukraine. did not describe exactly with that martial law would entail. but told people to stay calm, to stay in their homes and that military installations and border posts had been attacked. after announcing the star of military operations. but went on to assure people that the government is still with them. that the government will stay in contact and that the security services are on top of the situation. does seem that there is a psychological component of all of us. and that these early phases have been designed to leave the city, to create the panic, create the long lines of traffic that you are seeing out of kyiv. because there were reports of beach landings here mariupol. we are not seeing them. reports of beach landings in odessa. not being reported by witnesses. like the russian state news agencies are r

>> we know that putin wants zelenskyy out because zelenskyy has tilted toward the west end nato and now he's become a world hero. on this policy, i think it's up to the zelenskyy and the rest of the world should follow his lead. zelenskyy said he's always willing to talk with russia. i don't know if you should today but i believe in my heart that it is zelenskyy's call to make about when and if to talk to russia or not. >> flipping that on its head for a moment assuming the opposite is true, do you think the follow-up on carly's question, the ukrainian resistance, always seen with people of all do you think that's enough to ultimately drive putin to the negotiating table? >> we just can't guess. i'll tell you this, putin was planning on a really quick lightning strike. i think he may have overreached. so at some point if putin or someone around him may say, hey, it's time to talk. on ukrainian resistance, i'm surprised top to bottom of the folks on the street and the folks who are really the military forces using their javelins and stinger missiles keeping the air defense together, they

in all likelihood, their plan was to kill zelenskyy.g to russia is really what's called for at this point. he has kept his options open. he wants to talk to the russians today in belarus. but the reality is why he is striking a nerve is that he's human. he is ukrainian. he is showing courage. he is being the person he wants the people to be. in other words, he's a leader. and that just leaps out at you. a lot of people who want to be leaders, right now, in the worst circumstances is leading. >> and, as a writer, as a comedian, he is used to creating narratives. and it would appear that he's controlling the narrative right now. and how does that input to the coming days of what vladimir putin might do? given that he cannot control the narrative on what is happening. and people are believing in with such for the country of ukraine. >> well, i think this tiktok or may not sound very serious. but if russia gets into the kind of protracted fight against the insurgency that the progress was talking about, if russia gets into a battle with 150

those are the words of its president, volodymyr zelenskyy, tonight. russian forces gathering for what is now expected to be an assault on the capital and a decapitation of that country's leadership. throughout ukraine there is fear and there is shock as well as anger and defiance. ukraine's 44-year-old president who last night said he was target number one of the invasion stood on a street in kyiv earlier and said this. >> translator: good evening, everyone. the leader of the fraction is here. the head of the president's administration is here. prime minister is here. the president is here. we are all here. our military are here. citizens and society are here. we are all here defending our independence, our state, and it will remain so, glory to our defenders. glory to our women defenders. glory to ukraine. >> just within the hour multiple explosions have been heard on the outskirts of the capital with russian forces also advancing on kyiv from the north according to the ukrainian military and heavy fighting now reported south of the city. expect more

before taking office, zelenskyy, who is jewish, was a comedian and actor, hosting a highly rated talentlaying a civilian turned unexpected president on tv. in 2019, turning that role into reality, riding his outsider status and mainstream appeal to a landslide victory. >> i give president zelenskyy high marks as a wartime president. i think he's been quite inspirational. but we should be very clear here that zelenskyy's leadership, the ukrainian armed forces, even the resistance of the ukrainian people won't be enough to prevent president putin's military forces, which are overwhelming both in quality and quantity. >> reporter: for years the kremlin has been concerned this former soviet republic and other neighboring countries have been too closely allied with the west. in fact, more than a dozen former soviet republics or communist countries have become members of nato. in 2008, those worries multiplied. >> united states and its allies took a decision at the bucharest nato summit to state that georgia and ukraine will be, one day, members of nato. >> reporter: now, over a decade later,

zelenskyy -- as you showed, he stood up.talk to nato, when everybody told him he should not do that. he didn't say there, he came back. when everyone told him she said stay away. former government exile, and so long. he came to the conclusion he was not gonna do that. he was gonna stay in ukraine and rallies forces. one of the tactical things that the ukrainians did to make it more difficult for the russians, is that instead of being in primary positions on the border, they had a -- they had detachments left and contact in the east, in the russian-speaking areas, in the north, near belarus, and in the south, crimea, and odessa. had the majority of their forces in secondary positions to the rear. this meant that the initial artillery barrages, which were meant to soften up the ukrainians, had far less affects than the other wise word. and, then when the rushes came across the border, and they ran into stiff resistance. the russian plan is clear. they came in on the, east into the russian-speaking areas of donetsk and -- . est

and that is something president zelenskyy himself as noted.elieves he is target number one and his family is target number two and i think when you listen to the president and talks about the likelihood of this happening or what putin is going do, they seem to think that this is -- he is well on his way to doing this when this comes to efforts to try and overthrow the government there. questions raised, of course, about what happens next, how long they can sustain that, what an inusurgency would look like. we should note as it comes to zelenskyy himself, as he has been posting videos on pretty regular update, he himself has made clear he wants to stay in ukraine. we know there have been some conversations with white house officials, earlier, before russia dually invaded ukraine. about maybe, a contingency plan. maybe moving him closer to the poe hish border if russia was going take kyiv. that doesn't mean zelenskyy had also subscribed to that but it was that premeditated and that far considered in the minds of officials here in the u.s. govern

ukrainian president zelenskyy is calling on the west to help and asking russia to negotiate. >> translator: when bombs fall in kyiv, it's also happening in europe, not just in ukraine. when missiles kill our people, this is the death of all europeans. demand better protection for europe. better defense for ukraine. as part of the democratic world. and now i would like to address the president of the russian federation once again. there is fighting all over ukraine now. let's sit down at the negotiating table to stop the death of people. >> cnn has reporters around the globe to bring you events as they happen. erin burnett is in lviv, clarissa ward in kyiv and barbara starr is at the pentagon. barbara, i want to start with you because you have a couple of new, very important developments. nato announcing for the first time ever it's activating the response force. explain what that means. >> well, dana, this is a very nuanced development in military events in europe. nato has activated what is essentially 40,000-man response force. these are troops that would be ready to go to their position

what can you tell us about zelenskyy's thinking right now?> i think zelenskyy is in a tremendously difficult position right now. he's been appealing endlessly, not just to president biden but to all the european leaders. he said he called all leaders of 27 nations begging them to let ukraine join nato. the idea being that that might then enable them to invoke article 5 and come to the rescue here with some kind of military support. despite the strength of these sanctions, let's be very clear. it does not appear they are having an effect in the moment in terms of sort of softening the ferocity of russia's advances. particularly on the city here in kyiv. we heard also from zelenskyy last night saying he is target number one for the russians, and his family is target number two. yet he still came out tonight on his facebook account with, surrounded by some of his cabinet members, and made a selfie video where he said, we are here. we are in kyiv. we will defend you. we will not leave you. which is, you know, pretty exceptional courage when you t

president zelenskyy says he's target number one. his family is target number two.o believe that's his end game now that he's started this. that would require his taking kyiv, installing his own government, a government that was supportive of russia, a puppet government. that means there's going to be an awful lot of bloodshed for the ukrainians. but there will be bloodshed for the russians. and there are going to be a lot of dead russians sent back home. and mr. putin's going to have to deal with that as well as all the other economic consequences. and the fact that he will be and is a pariah, international pariah, this is -- as all of your correspondents have said and you've said, wolf -- this is the first time since world war ii that one independent nation has invaded another independent nation. we are at a very defining time in history. i think that's going to come home to more and more people in understanding why we're involved, what's the big problem, what's the big deal. i was born in 1946, the year after my dad came home from overseas world war ii. everybody

as far as ukraine's president go, zelenskyy said he is staying here. he gave an impassioned address to his people. here is zelenskyy. >> according to our information, the enemy marked me as the number one target, my family is the number two target. they want to destroy ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. >> here in kyiv, he fully expects the russians to try to destroy him. his family also remains inside ukraine. first days fighting in ukraine admitted to losing more than 130 soldiers. more than 160 missile attacks carried out by russian forces here inside the capital. though seem to be targeted at the military targets and military headquarters command and control centers, new reports of mass casualties from those strikes in the capital. back to you, trace. >> trace: steve harrigan live for us on the ground, thank you. president biden announcing 7,000 more service members will now head to germany. 14,000 american soldiers have been repositioned since the beginning of the ukraine warrant, and while there is nearly 100,000 american soldie

does he want, for example, to topple president zelenskyy? the whole of ukraine if he doesn't have to. indeed, that's probably -- that's probably an impossible task for the forces that he's got. he needs many more forces to occupy the entire country, a country the size of texas. he can't do that with 200,000 soldiers. he can't do that. what he wants, though -- you got the right question. what he wants is control of ukraine one way or the other. he thought he had control of ukraine through the minsk process. in the body ukraine. and from those puppets, controlling the body of ukraine, he can control ukraine's foreign policy. that's not working. that didn't work for him. now he has to look for another way to get that control. his ultimate goal is control in ukraine. >> the 8,900 -- >> president biden, as you know has responded with sanctions in step with other western allies. but what more needs to be done, ambassador, if we see a full-scale russian invasion? >> every sanction in the book to include sanctioning the central bank of russia. the s

it's all based on president zelenskyy. when president zelenskyy set i don't need it in air ride, i need ammunition. a kind of set the tone. that tone is critical. there's an old aphorism that says -- what that means is the heart of an army sometimes means more than the physical part of the army, the physical equipment you have. if you are willing to fight to the bitter end you can destroy a lot of forces much greater than you are. we've proven that in american history as well and some of our battles. so i think when you look at what zelenskyy is done and you look at what he's pushed back on, that's the reason i think that if i was russia i'd be very concerned right now. in my opinion, today, rush is losing this fight. there's a lot of reasons for losing it, but they are showing the whole world that they can be beat. he's proven it today. >> last hour you are with me, general kellogg, and we were talking about the southern border. one of the things bill hemmer pointed out is that if the russians could take one part of that

he said zelenskyy remains in the country, and reiterated the u.s. will continue to support ukraine and its allies throughout europe. >>> across the united states, people are showing their support for ukraine. [ chants ] supporters chanted and sang songs outside the white house yesterday. they rallied just hours after president biden accused russia of a brutal assault. in san francisco, there was a protest outside city hall. organizers said they wanted the most severe sanctions against russia and an increase in military and humanitarian aid to ukraine. >>> on the cbs "money watch," wall street reacts to the russian invasion, and how moscow's possible retaliation to crippling sanctions could impact the world's economy. diane king hall is in new york with those stories and more. good morning, diane. >> reporter: good morning. whiplash on wall street. stock futures are pointing to a lower open this morning after wall street's huge turnaround yesterday. the market fell sharply at first following russia's invasion of ukraine. but it rebounded after presid

speaking late tonight ukraine's president zelenskyy said russian saboteurs were already there targeting him. >> translator: according to our information the enemy has marked me as target number one. my family is target number two. they want to destroy ukraine mittically by destroying the head of state. we have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered kyiv. >> secretary state blinken spoke to that threat as well tonight on abc news. >> i'm not in a position to comment on exactly what's going on the ground at this moment, but what we do know and part of the russian plan has been to put -- put kyiv in danger, to assault the capital. we're seeing forces come in from the north, from the east, from the south. and that's all part of the plan we've laid out for the world in recent weeks. >> you're convinced putin's going to overthrow this government? >> i'm convinced he's going to try to do that. >> if true would be chilling certainly, but not exactly unknown or unthinkable in the russian or soviet way of waging war. already 137 ukrainian troops have been killed according to presiden

zelenskyy can still be alive.ut they can put their new guy in, this is our guy, everybody watch out, that's the intent right now. everything else in the country, frankly, is a holding action which means it's an economy of force, as we say in military terms. most of their power is not going there. it's going toward kyiv now. >> so then -- i hear you when you are talking in layers then and it doesn't seem as though from what you're describing that russia really has the firepower, the manpower in order to take a city like kyiv. so what do you envision will potentially happen? this is something, it sounds like, the strategy that you're describing, it has to happen quickly and it doesn't sound as though russia has the capacity to do this on a long-term over days and weeks, but this was a strategy that was supposed to happen in a matter of days, and so far it's not? >> correct, fred. they were trying to achieve this very, very quick. day two they thought it was be index, we got a new guy here, zelenskyy is running away,