threat to the peace in crimea but we ve seen no evidence there are any kind of radicals or ultranationalists who are in any way present in this region and about to disrupt the peace. let s not forget, though, that these troops who are on the ground are not wearing any kind of military insignia, not identifying themselves but it s pretty clear who they are. ukraine s military is on high alert this morning according to u.s. and ukrainian officials, thousands of russian ground and naval forces occupy the crimean peninsula with troops surrounding several bases and demanding ukrainian forces hand over their weapons. the ukrainian military is mobilizing troops and calling on army reservists to report for duty immediately. the ukrainian prime minister fears a wider invasion by russia. this is actually only the declaration of war to my country. reporter: ukrainian s ambassador the u.n. said his country needs military support
the u.s. just one of the countries threatening to skip the g-8 summit. we have the crisis covered around the world for you this morning, starting in ukraine. diana? reporter: hi. well, we hear from the ukrainian naval commander recently appointed because of the defection of the previous head of the navy, that s ten ukrainian or military bases on crimea have now been taken. also, these attacks on border posts along the east. now none of these men have any kind of military insignia on their uniforms but it s pretty clear who they are. ukraine s military is on high alert this morning, according to u.s. and ukrainian officials, thousands of russian ground and naval forces occupy the crimean peninsula will troops surrounding several bases and
careful with this, and not sure that the tanks are russian, and there are unidentifiable gunmen on the streets of the capital hear, and they not wearing a military insignia, and they are in the hundreds here. i don t know if the streets around there are filled with troops also, but it ist not as though you have large vehicle movements containing thousands of troops who are patrolling, and crawling the streets off this this crimean region, no. 15,000 troops to me would seem very, very high. and in fact, an exaggeration. what i will say is that these troops, despite the fact that they are obviously keen not to have themselves identified are well organize and clearly with the military backgrounds and highly efficient, and highly armed and i asked one of them where he was from and he said he was from russia, and probably a mistake, because he was a young guy, but that is what he said. thank you, diana magmay.
u.n. speaking about a figure of 15,000 russian troops now inside ukraine, including crimea. yesterday we saw some pictures of russian helicopters flying over. those were on youtube. we saw some pictures of some tanks, a handful of tanks. have you seen anything, any evidence to support a figure that high, 15,000 russian troops? reporter: no. and i think we have to be very careful with all of this. even those tanks, we re not entirely sure that they are russian. there are significant numbers of unidentifiable gunmen on the streets of the capitals here. they are not wearing any kind of military insignia. but they number in the hundreds as far as i ve seen. of course, i haven t been down to the naval base of sebastapol. i don t know if the streets around there are filled with troops also. but it is not as though you have large vehicle movements containing thousands of troops who are patrolling and crawling the streets of this crimean region, no. so 15,000 troops to me would
of russian troops might have risen as high as 15,000. do you see any evidence, one, of russian forces and of russian forces in numbers like that? reporter: well, there certainly seems to be a very heavy military presence at this capital of crimea. troops in going fatigues, heavily armed and in control of the government facilities, patrolling the streets. they are all over the place. it is difficult to believe that they are anything other than russian, but they do not wear any kind of military insignia. they are trying their best to hide their identities. that said, jim, i did manage to get an answer from one of them, a young guy who i spoke to today. and i said, where are you from? he said, i m from russia. so take that for what you will. the russian president says that there are no russian boots on the ground outside of russia s military bases in sebastapol.