invasion of ukraine. a spokesman for the u.s. air force called the actions reckless, unsound and unprofessional. let s bring in natasha bertrand and melissa bell live in kyiv, ukraine. melissa, what are we hearing today from ukrainian and russian officials ans about this inciden the black sea? reporter: what we are getting from the russian ministry of defense is a direct contradiction to what the united states has said so far. what the russians are saying is that there was no contact at all, and that drone went down into the black sea as a result of sharp maneuvering, moscow accusing that drone of flying without transponders that allow a drone to be tracked, a violation of the temporary measures that were put in place for the special military operation in that area. the euphemism that russia uses for its invasion of ukraine. what seems to have happened is that drone was destected off th coast of the crimean peninsula. russian jets scrambled to get up there, and we have seen
ukraine. this is one of the things that he s referring to, because back in 2014, when then congressman ron desantis was reacting to russia seizing crimea, here is part of what he had to say. we in the congress have been you remembering the president, i have been, to provide arms to ukraine. they want to fight their good fight. they re not asking us to fight it for them, and the president has staedeadfastly refused and think that s a mistake. he also criticized what he called obama s weak policy versus reagan s peace through strength. trump saying it s a flip-flop. what do you say? trump s right. desantis has a much more hawkish record. he realized yesterday to win the republican party nomination, you have to not care about ukraine. he called it a territorial
children for human rights violators. the human rights council has been a problematic body in recent years because the very countries you would think it would be examining are the ones running or at least participating in the council. it s always been problematic. the united states has always viewed it with a great deal of skepticism. it s one more step in isolating russia from the rest of the world. we ve seen that hasn t changed their calculus. back in 2014 when they started this, by seizing crimea and starting the separatist uprising in eastern ukraine, they were thrown out of the g8. that had been something that vladimir putin had taken as a source of pride, being part of that organization, and yet being expelled from it didn t seem to deter him from going in obviously early this year with a full-scale invasion. they ve been cut off from financial, political, other international organizations as a result of this aggression, hasn t changed their calculus yet.
continues to do so. 100,000 troops, most recently, including forces deployed to belarus. that would give russia the c capacity, some president putin so chooses, to attack ukraine from the south, from the east, from the north. and we ve seen plans to un undertake a variety of des destabilizing action, some of them short of the overuse of force, to destabilize ukraine, to topple the government, a variety of things. so as i said, this is not on the basis of a motion. it s on the basis of fact and also history. russia invaded ukraine in 2014, seizing crimea, provoking an ongoing conflict in eastern ukraine, changing ukraine s boarder by force. that s what we re looking at. we ve heard russian officials
atms. three friends, all from donbas in eastern ukraine, in maidan square, where ukraine turned its back on russia in its 2014 revolution, showing support for their country. we are not afraid. we are ready to defend our country. reporter: marichka padulko is a morning news anchor in ukraine. tonight, her husband s at war, and her children hiding in safety in the west. i think it s the worst scenario that we could have expected. i never expected it to be so bad, but i never expected ukraine to be so calm and strong. reporter: ukraine s president zelenskyy trying to rally his country tonight, but acknowledging their losses. officials say at least 40 ukrainian service members have been killed, as well as dozens of civilians. zelenskyy saying the fiercest fighting is in the south, where russians are and vancing from crimea, adding that some russian soldiers have been captured. around the world, the russian