history, and from ukrainian realities. political and state institutions were constantly reshaped to suit the rapidly-formed plans with their selfish interests that had nothing to do with the interests of the ukrainian people. reporter: western leaders were quick to condemn the russian leader s actions. u.s. president joe biden all hollywooding a call with ukraine s president to discuss all of this, and volodymyr zelenskyy he appears unwilling to bend to moscow s move. translator: we are on our land. we are not afraid of anything or anyone. we do not owe anything to anyone. we are confident of this. meantime, mr. biden has sign and executive order restricting american business in ukraine s breakaway regions. the united kingdom, also, announcing it will impose sanctions, and in the coming hours, european union officials
jill dougherty, what is putin s likely response to the announcements that were made today with the sanctions? well, you know, interestingly, john, the kremlin said they were a little too busy to be listening to president biden. they had a meeting, the president had a meeting. so that s kind of the mood here. you know, it s really kind of a sense of inevitability that there s a plan unfolding. you had president putin recognizing those breakaway regions. then today on tv, there was a big vote, several votes on giving the president the green light to deploy troops outside of the border of russia because of donbas, and then you had president putin in a quick news conference saying, you know, ukraine really shouldn t even think any more of trying to become a member of nato. and i think one significant thing, too, pushback on the sanctions, the former president of russia, dmitry medvedev, i
discussing eastern ukraine and then called on one by one to tell the russian leader what he wanted to hear. the situation there is tense, the russian defense minister says. serious provocations are being prepared, he alleges, to impose a forcible solution on the region. the implication is that russia should act. basically, ukraine doesn t even need these territories now, sid dmitry med ved ov, a former russian president and prime minister. the residents have not been receiving any support from ukraine in years, he added. on the contrary, they re subjected to mass repression. on russian state media, these were the jubilant scenes in donetsk, the main city in one of the breakaway regions, when news filtered back that moscow had recognized the territory as an independent state. russian flags and fireworks set
open to diplomacy. but today the president reimposed sanctions on the officials behind the nord stream 2 pipeline, which would deliver natural gas from russia to germany. the pipeline is operated by a company that is intern owned entirely by russia stateowned energy company. meanwhile, russian state media reports that the kremlin is claiming that rebel leaders in eastern ukraine asked for military assistance on wednesday to help fend off so-called ukrainian aggression. the white house call this stunt on example of a false flag operation to manufacture an excuse for further force. and as msnbc news chief correspondent richard engel found, in a village in the breakaway regions, shelling from the separatists is surging along the border. sometimes rounds are closer than others. it is not a good sign when you can hear that whistle coming down.
doesn t work, is to fight for every inch of our land, john. so let s go to moscow. jill dougherty, what is putin s likely response to the announcements that were made today with the sanctions? well, you know, interestingly, john, the kremlin said they were a little too busy to be listening to president biden. they had a meeting, the president had a meeting. so that s kind of the mood here. you know, it s really kind of a sense of inevitability that there s a plan unfolding. you had president putin recognizing those breakaway regions. then today on tv, there was a big vote, several votes on giving the president the green light to deploy troops outside of the border of russia because of donbas, and then you had president putin in a quick news conference saying, you know, ukraine really shouldn t even think any more of trying to become a member of nato.