we should all be waiting to hear, exactly what the president and commander in chief says. great to see you, jessica. we ll bring those remarks to you live and follow it throughout the day. president trump has made no secret of his hopes for good relations with russian president vladimir putin. but how do you square trump s words with putin s actions? violating a cease-fire in ukraine last week. just yesterday, vice president mike pence had this to say. we re watching. very troubled by the increased hostilities over the past week in eastern ukraine. i know the president had a conversation with vladimir putin. did he say he was troubled? they spoke at that time about ukraine. and i expect those conversations are going to be ongoing. joining me now to discuss is steven piper, senior fellow at the brookings institute, a former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, served in both
has called on president putin to send russian troops as peacemakers. vice-president joe biden landed in kiev today to meet with ukrainian officials. he is set to talk with the acting prime minister and president in ukraine tomorrow. meantime, those pro russian militants in the east are calling for a referendum to join russia, following the lead of separatists in crimea. let s get to steven piper, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. now the director of the arms control and nonproliferation institute at the brookings institution. thank you. happy to be here. not at all a surprise russia is pulling the strings here. i m surprised they got caught red-handed, to the. i think there s been a lot of evidence over the last two weeks that these takeovers in the ten towns in eastern ukraine were orchestrated by the russian military, by russian special services and some cases looks like there s stunning evidence. now the question is, what
good monday afternoon to you and yours. first from the deck, bullets flew across a federal courtroom today when a man on trial tried to attack a witness. it happened this morning in salt lake city. the defendant charged a witness who was on the stand using a pen or pencil as a weapon, and that is when a u.s. marshal shot him several times in the chest. all the chaos put the courthouse on lockdown. the identify is an accused gang member on trial for racketeers. today was the start of his trial. witnesses say he was breathing when paramedics carried him out of a stretcher. that s all we know. officials say the wilt he attack eddied not get hurt. updates throughout the news hour as we get them. a secret invasion is underway in eastern ukraine, and photos prove the invaders are elite soldiers with russia s military, according to officials in kiev. we have just obtained similar images seen here from the u.s. state department. u.s. officials say the photos show that pro-russian f
ukrainian frigate. they are headed in the direct of the contested crimean peninsula which has been occupied by the russian military. the u.s. navy insists the truxtun is going for previously scheduled naval maneuvers with bulgaria and romania. but clearly any movement by the military is a message between governments that do not see eye to eye on the future of the ukraine. kate, chris? ivan, thank you so much. let s talk about all the latest developments. joining us now is former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, steven piper. mr. ambassador thank you for taking the time this morning. good morning. i want to go back to the latest phone call between president obama and president vladimir putin. they are talking. that s a good thing. do you see any evidence that the pressure that the u.s. is trying to apply to russia is working? well, i think the white house working with europe is trying to
other flag following. today, though, the ukrainians did push back there, and they took back control of the government building, hoisted their own flag again, and the leader of one pro-russian group was arrested. so it s not all going against ukraine today. but huge, huge concern here oveç this latest massive escalation in crimea. back to you guys. ian williams, thanks again. i want to bring in former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, steven piper. he s now a senior fellow at the center on the u.s. and europe at the brookings institute. ambassador, it s always great to have you. you spent years living in the ukraine. help us understand the mind set of the people living in crimea, and how much of that mind set will be impacted with russian troops on the street basically having a gun to their head as they vote? well, this is, i think, one of the puzzling things, for all of the talk of threats to ethnic russians in crimea, there simply