somewhere like ukraine like he s doing now. we ve seen other world leaders they they do believe he s already committed war crimes, including boris johnson, who said, yes, this constitutes a war crime. and ukrainian president zelenskyy has said so as well. as this goes on, as people fear putin could get more brutal in the tactics, i think this is going to be a big conversation for world leaders not just here in the united states but everywhere. kaitlan collins, appreciate it. perspective now from retired army lieutenant general mark hertling, also peter zwak, global fellow at the welter center. general hertling, let s start with you. you ve been watching this convoy north of kyiv several days now, still not making a lot of progress. american intelligence says it has stalled. how significant is this convoy in the grand scheme of russian troop movement? it s important because it is
and beaches and pushkin, and a long and storied history, is now coming under attack. people are asking, would president putin order his forces to establish a city like kyiv so full of risk because the ukrainians will put up a defense, both soldiers and civilians so full of history, precious history to both russians and ukrainians with every day which goes by, this war becomes more and more terrifying. this is one expert s assessment on russia s military strategy. what we see is 12 days of initial war where russia does not seem to have accomplished their initial gains or the assumption that they have that they could push for the very easily into ukrainian territory, capture or seize lands very quickly and then create a form of fait accompli after the first few days. this has not happened. recent days have seen intense shelling in areas to the north west of kyiv. tx this is from one of the affected cities irpin. 2,000 civilians have reportedly been evacuated from there. some residents
certain point there is a moment of reckoning coming sooner or later. and the intelligence assessment suggests that the putin buildup on the border is reaching maximum capacity, more than 130,000 troops. there s reporting to suggest that many of those have actually left their bases and moved to forward attack positions. along the border of ukraine, there are three sides on which it s vulnerable to russian attack. that would be only a few hours away from kyiv and the capital. so, i think the military threat is real. i think ukrainian officials do not dispute that. you know, senior administration officials here in washington assured me today that we are, in fact, on the same page with ukraine, that this is mostly about president zelenski not wanting to induce panic, for understandable reasons, among his population. he s now declared wednesday a day of national unity in
and that s what s been released. so we have to understand it s a humanitarian crisis that s looming. but it s a huge strategic problem. and i m sure right now people in the white house, the national security council, are wrestling with this, and we re hoping the sanctions work, and we re going to tighten those sanctions as tight as we can, but i think putin is intent on doing what he s doing. the way to stop him is to get the reinforcements, the replenishment in to kyiv and help kyiv hold. general clark, appreciate your time tonight. thank you, coming up next we ll check in the with the citizens of ukraine s capital, kyiv, clarissa ward is there ready to talk with the residents taking on the russian army. and new hope about the ukrainians on snake island who famously stood up to the russian navy. more on that ahead. strypaper? luluckily, there s biotrue hydration boost eye drops.
would give the buses for their families to get safe passage. i think we can see a combination of encirclement, bombardment, probing attacks from the ground but also efforts to reach out and negotiate with the civilian and military leaders inside a city like kyiv. that is really interesting insight, brigadier ben barry, thank you for joining us. this is bbc news. let s have a reminder of the latest on our top story. russia steps up its bombardment of large parts of ukraine, as nato warns the conflict is about to get worse. europe s largest nuclear plant is shelled by russian forces overnight. the fires are under under control. ukraine says moscow is resorting to nuclear terror . and at ukraine s borders, the refugee queues grow longer, more and more people are trying to flee. sport now with