reporter: but those deeds and steps seem to point to escalation. these are new images showing troops from russia and its ally, belarus, preparing for joint exercises near ukraine s northern border. it may be just a distraction but as russia continues to mass forces, ukrainian intelligence says it now sees this region as a full-fledged russian theater of operation. in other words, another dangerous potential frontline. well, erin, that stark warning from ukrainian intelligence comes as secretary of state bli blinken prepares to visit kyiv tomorrow tomorrow morning. now, offering u.s. support of course, more of it to the ukrainian government. but for the ukrainian point of view, they want more than just words from the united states. they want weapons so that they can fight what they regard as an impending russian threat. all right. matthew, thank you very much.
to your will. it open s a pandora s box that countries well beyond europe will see and act on. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken, you have a lot on your plate. we appreciate your time and look forward to talking to you again soon and obviously hoping that things work out in a way that is on the diplomatic front, as you re talking about. thanks so much. thanks, dana. i want to go straight to republican member of the senate armed services committee, iowa senator joni ernst, a veteran who served in the iraq war. your reaction to secretary bli blinken. after what you heard, are you confident that the u.s. is doing what it needs to do to stop russia from invading ukraine? dana, i believe we need to act now. when it comes to pushing back against russia, we need to show strength and not be in a position of doctrine of
well, based on what he said in his speech, particularly in response to the last set of questions by reporters, he was pretty adamant that he had intelligence to that effect and he was pretty confident that putin had made his mind up to invade, obviously, he was a little bit more cautious on the exact timing, but i think given the fact he was so emphatic, that clearly underscores that he s got information that he firmly believes is pointing in that direction. senior secretary of state bli blinken warned of false flag operations used as a pretext for invasion of ukraine, now you see russian-backed separatists in eastern ukraine, a car bombing, in your opinion is this part of the excuse russia will use to go to war? well it s entirely possible. look, i am i self was in national intelligence council in 2006 to 2009 when russians went into georgia and saw very
probably quite impressive, they will be held on saturday. president putin will be there, and this is not to say that they are going to use nuclear missiles at all. i think president biden referred to that, but it s a symbol that they are, they can change the equation. they are, of course, the other superpower when it comes to nuclear missiles. kaitlan, do you have any reporting on what president biden plans to do for the weekend now? reporter: he ll be here at the white house monitoring this because today when he came out and gave the most direct statement yet, the next question is, is that the step putin takes? and the white house said they hope that is not what he actually does, that they ve been very clear, they know they re very up front with their predictions here and their estimates of what he is going to do and secretary blinken said yesterday he hopes he s wrong, that he doesn t actually go in but seems pretty clear he s going to so we re told president biden is going to be