concern. over the past several weeks we have seen russian officials and russian media plant numerous stories in the press. any one of which could be served to elevate as a pretext for an invasion. ukraine announcing a day of unity. russia does not have enough troops near its border for an effective full scale invasion. what more is ukrainian intelligence saying about the russian troop levels? they are saying that the russians are not pulling back at all. they concur with what you heard ned price say.
barrels of crude per day from russia. and they just hiked the price on us. i m harris faulkner and you are in the faulkner focus . for months we have witnessed the russian president vladimir putin massing tens of thousands of military forces surrounding ukraine on three sides from the east, north and south. in recent weeks he built up his troop levels for a big move. this morning before the sun came up russia invaded ukraine with 200,000 fighters calling it a special military operation. those troops going to war under the guise of protecting people in two breakaway regions inside ukraine. of course, we know there are a number of russians who have been living in those eastern ukraine regions. but now russia is assaulting the entire country. the ukrainian government
out their olympians and stuff. turns out their backyard is a ski slopes and they have amazing genes and the socialization of all the skiing. that is amazing to talk to them. so amazing to be part of the moments. amazing genes, you re pressuring him to pass on quickly, apparently. he s got to spread the wealth. there you go. new day continues right now. good morning to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. it is friday, february 18th. i m john berman with brianna keilar. we have breaking news, a brand-new assessment of russia troop levels at the ukrainian border. even higher than they were before. u.s. officials now say somewhere between 169,000 and 190,000
an incursion being imminent. information war, if you will, at the moment right now. nic, thank you so much for that. so with the threat of a russian invasion looming, the u.s. military and nato are ramping up their presence along the border between ukraine and poland which is where we find cnn s nick peyton walsh. they have stressed the u.s. will not fight in ukraine if russia invades so what s the purpose of increasing the troop levels there? reporter: in short, they are here just in case. just in case there is a war inside ukraine. remember, i am standing on the border furthest away the western end of ukraine. very quiet here. no refugees. what i have to tell you we saw yesterday they are here in quite significant numbers.
security and cooperation in europe. sir, thank you so much for being with us. i just wonder, you saw this report from our clarissa ward about this shelling of this kindergarten, what are your thoughts on that? well, brianna, it is an extremely dangerous situation. we now see the provocations being instituted by russia, we know the troop levels that are on the border that could easily incur into ukraine at any time, we know mr. putin s desires, we have u.s. intelligence and global intelligence to show he is determined to do something in regards to the independence of ukraine. it is an extremely dangerous situation. we have seen this play out before in georgia, where russia s provocation was used as justification for taking over territory in georgia. this playbook we have seen before is an extremely dangerous situation. do you think we could see an invasion this weekend? i think you could see an invasion at any time.