reporter: we re learning some of the forces that first withdrew after their failed offensive to take the country s capital, some of the first russian forces that left, they actually managed to shift east at this point and go into that area of donbas where we re expecting a renewed russian offensive to begin if not in weeks then in days from now. now, what we re hearing from u.s. defense officials is that the troops they ve seen start to amass there and get move actually into that region, we re not talking about tons of troops. it s mainly more support troops, the kind of troops maybe artillery units, command and control units, units that could potentially support a more aggressive troop buildup we re expecting very soon that would then launch a more aggressive offensive campaign. but the fact the troops are moving into that area yet another sign as we re moving into the next phase of this campaign it s going to be centered on what s happening in the eastern part of the country. m
delegation of meetings between nato and russia on wednesday. cnn s nic robertson is in geneva with a look at what led to these talks. russia s troop buildup on ukraine s border triggered t tensions. by mid november, close to 100,000 troops, u.s. nato fearing an invasion of ukraine, and russia claimed they were doing exercises and training on their own soil and wanted to have talks. president vladimir putin got joe biden s attention and a video call. biden warned putin an invasion would prove sanctions. the uk backed him up.
implications for the future of the pandemic and we have to wait and see and understand what omicron, previously infections protect us from. doctor, thank you so much for walking us through all of the uncertainty for all these months. we appreciate you. thank you, christi. so the biden administration is preparing for talks tomorrow over russia s troop buildup along the border with ukraine and the stakes are high. the u.s. has warned of, quote, severe and overwhelming costs to russia s economy if vladimir putin invades ukraine. the talks in geneva, switzerland r aimed at deescalating the situation and halting russia s aggression in the region. u.s. officials have outlined possible areas of common ground if russia reciprocates. our reporters are tracking the latest developments ahead of tomorrow s meeting. jasmine wright is live at the white house and cnn europe editor nina dough santos is live from london. jasmine, the white house is
that s a path to negotiation, and he said, if we can negotiate, then i feel president biden, these are his words, that there can be progress. but in essence, by saying that, what president biden is saying, by russia building up its troops on the border with ukraine, creating these tensions, as seen in the west, russia, of course, says that these are just normal military winter training exercises on their own territory, sovereign territory, so they re free to do what they want. but what president biden is essentially saying here, it appears, is that russia s troop buildup, if that de-escalates, then russia can get some of what it wants at the negotiating table. but what russia is asking for, these legally binding guarantees, that ukraine will not become a member of nato and that nato will roll back its presence in europeaastern europ these are things that if president biden moves forward on, potentially create tensions within nato, and create fissures
hearing, nic? reporter: the kremlin isn t laying out a reason why putin asked for the phone call. what we heard from the white house is they remain concerned about russia s continued troop buildup on the border of ukraine. and the message is that if russia really wants to have a constructive and productive dialogue in these talks that are coming up on january the 10th, then this needs to happen in an atmosphere of de-escalation, and the united states says it s not seeing any de-escalation at the moment in terms of the russian troop buildup. and in the past few days, the united states flew a spy plane over ukraine with the ability to look at what russian troops were doing, how they were deployed. russia, of course, said it had withdrawn 10,000 troops. the united states seems to have the view that at the moment russian posturing for productive talks is not there, but we