to russia that russia uses for its military. biden added that sanctioning putin himself remains on the table, though he did not answer as to why he is not sanctioning putin now. as president biden was laying out that u.s. response, cnn s teams in the northeastern city reported hearing a loud series of booms. explosions have been reported in at least 15 cities across ukraine since war began overnight, all over the country not just confined to the southeastern donbas region where russian-backed separatists have been waging war against the ukrainian government for eight years. the world appears to have little appetite for taking any serious military measures to stop the russian invasion beyond sending weapons to the ukrainians themselves. president biden confirming in his afternoon remarks u.s. forces are not and will not be engaged in a conflict with russia on the ground in ukraine. the question then becomes, of course, whether and for how long this conflict will be confined to ukraine.
when putin says he s launching an operation in the donbas region, that s where you are. what is it like there? is there a sense of panic in mariupol, the second biggest city in the donesk region? that s absolutely right, jake. president biden recognized the independence of those two breakaway rep ublics but also te land around them. that is where we are. we are seeing russian troops push into those areas. the leaders of those areas calling on the kremlin to help them. the kremlin saying they re sending in peacekeepers. so the question is now when do those russian troops cross over into what is for now ukrainian-held territory. president zelenskyy saying some of the toughest fighting that ukrainian forces are facing is around crimea, just southwest of here. he says those russian forces want to push up this way. so this city very much caught
why won t they sanction the man responsible for this war? he didn t tell us why today, we asked. this is something that president biden himself has affirmed is on the list of considerations. he said today it is still something that remains on the table but didn t explain why they didn t feel the need to take that step today following this full-scale attack that you ve seen russia conduct overnight, the attack that u.s. officials had been warning about. some people have called to go after putin, saying it would be one of the most aggressive forms of sanctions. you see president biden going after these russian oligarchs and russian elites. what his argument is today, if they get to enjoy in the wealth by being in putin s inner circle, then they should have to suffer when he takes steps like this one. oftentimes you ve heard russia experts saying putin doesn t hold all of his wealth, he places it with some of those people in his inner circle which is why you see some of those names on t
between those two fronts. so the reality here is setting in, jake. we spent all day walking around town. you could hear those booms in the distance that clarissa was just referencing, sporadic artillery fire that sounded like it was coming from the eastern front. we saw long lines at atms, long lines at gas stations. we saw people streaming out of the city. and, jake, tonight i spoke with a ukrainian orthodox priest who we ve gotten to know. he said that this is now all-out war. he said that we are acquainted with the fighting. we expect this fighting to be much worse because of the weapons involved. he said he s ready to leave, jake, and he said we need a miracle. kaitlin collins at the white house, the sanctions today include oligarchs close to putin, about ten individuals total from russia. but not putin himself. you ve been asking president biden about this for a while.
that the leaders of ukraine, president zelenskyy on town, trying not to have panic, tried to reassure the public that russia was not actually going to invade and attack, and ultimately they were wrong. scott mcclain reporting from the polish side of the ukrainian border. scott, thank you so much. president biden announcing what he calls significant sanctions on russia, but how much of a difference will they make when the russians are already bombing ukrainian cities? we ll go live on the ground to russia and to ukraine, that s next. stay with us. liz, you nerd, cough if you re in here! shh! i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. what about rob s dry cough? works on thatoo, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs.