us, and even more so, to create threats to our country, our people should know that russia s response will be immediate, and will lead to such consequences that you have never experienced in your history [end of translation] . the kremlin s immediate goal, to surround kyiv and liquidate the ukrainian leadership. later that same day, russian special forces took a airbase just outside the capital. cnn was there as it all unfold. it within the past few seconds, they were engaged in a firefight, presumably with the ukrainian military, which says it is staging a counter offensive. the projections of some western analysts that would be all over in three days seemed on target. they were not. within 48 hours, ukrainians special forces rendered the air bases in operable, the first in a series of setbacks. russia s shock and all was suddenly surprisingly muted by ukrainian resistance. symbolized by a defiant
president vladimir putin called a special military operation to demilitarized and for ukraine. [ speaking non-english ] translator: whoever tries to interfere with us, creating threats for our country, how people should note that the present response will be immediate, leading to such consequences that you have never experienced in your history. reporter: the kremlin s immediate goal, to surround kyiv and liquidate the ukrainian leadership . later that same day, russian special forces took an air base just outside of the capital. cnn was there, as it all unfolded within the few seconds where you came from, they were engaged in a firefight, presumably with the ukrainian military, which says, it is staging a counteroffensive. reporter: the predictions of some western analysts that it would be all over in three days seemed on target. they weren t. within 48 hours, ukrainian
that it destabilizes the country. and the alliances and political entities, what he tries to do, if you cannot convince a country on its own to politically align with them, in term, he can destabilize it, destroy the economy, and disrupt investor confidence in the regions to make it too much trouble to be worth it in the west. people here, no one was surprised by this. this was a very predictable action by the russian president putin. but the real question is, is he going to really lose his mindto a new level? people i speak to say, he s lost his mind. what could happen, he can surround kyiv in a matter of a few days. but he will not take the city. there s not enough manpower to take over the country.
ukraine. british intelligence as the bulk of the fighting forces still about 18 miles north of the capital city of kyiv. they been slowed by resistance particularly with a fight they put up at the airport. that would ve been a key point for russians where they could insert troops and resupply, but at the moment the ukrainian still hold onto that airport. we have overhead video of a strike on a russian armored column. it appears to be a drone strike. there was a lot of talk before the invasion about the ukrainian use of the turkish made drone that can carry some for smart antitank missiles in this strike appears to be the use of that turkish made drone. any ukrainian man who can has been urged to pick up a weapon. children can t are being sent west. children are broken up with
kharkive, the ukrainians are they are doing everything they can. also a lot of these fighting age men are not tonguing out in these cities waiting for the fight come to them. they are going to the fight. you do have a lot of numbers being added to the fight and we will see how that dynamic changes if, as anticipated the russians ramp up their response to the ukrainian resistance. thank you. great insight. stay safe. we will check back with you as things develop. ukraine is still holding control of kyiv in the second largest city of kharkive despite relentless fighting from ukrainian forces. joining me now at the heritage foundation, brent sadler for his analysis of ukraine s successes on the battlefield. thank you so much for being here. i don t know if you re able to hear what mike tobin was reporting, but he was showing us video of the citizens