invasion in february. russia is mobilising tens of thousands of new troops, they are trying to illegally annexed new ukrainian lands and we have seen strikes against ukrainian cities and of course we also have heard the failed nuclear threats coming from moscow. all of this makes this the most serious escalation since february. today we will meet with the ukrainian defence minister and the message from the nato allies will be that we are steadfast in our support to ukraine, that we are prepared for the long haul and that we will support them for as long as it takes. there will be a meeting with the minister in the us led a contact group for
putin raising eyebrows with his comments there, forget about his claims that nato expansion was behind his invasion of ukraine. he seems to admit it s an old-fashioned land grab, pure and simple. absolutely the intention here, the very imperial intention of president putin is revealed in those comments. his absolute disregard for modern nation states, for the rules of sovereignty, for the rules of states. he shows an absolute disregard for that and justifies this horrific conflict that has displace millions, killed hundreds, destroyed villages and towns by disregarding ukraine as a nation. and you can see that playing out on the ground, kim. because this land grab, as you described it, this territorial brute force taking of ukrainian lands is being put into action. president putin s forces are creating realities on the ground, facts on the ground by essentially what we saw in 2014 with the annexation of crimea,
population not to panic. we did hear from president zelensky earlier today. he said he still needs to analyze all of the information. he said that essentially there is still no 100% certainty that russia will invade. then you re also seeing a lot of pride about the progress that this country has made in terms of building up its armed forces over the course of the past eight years. eight years ago, in 2014, was when russia waltzed into ukraine and just took over the peninsula of crimea without firing a shot. fred, i want to read you part of this rousing statement that we heard from ukraine s foreign minister earlier today. he said everyone who has looked into the eyes of our soldiers at least once is sure that there will be no repeat of 2014. do not doubt that the armed forces of ukraine are absolutely ready to fight back and will not give up ukrainian lands. in terms of the population, fred, we ve been driving across this country in the center of
looked into the eyes of our soldiers at least once is sure there will be no repeat of 2014. the aggressor will not capture either kyiv, odessa, or any other city. do not doubt that the armed forces of ukraine are absolutely ready to fight back and will not give up ukrainian lands. that is oleksiy reznikov. we ve been hearing frustration with travel advisories from countries saying don t come to ukraine and embassies that are drawing down. the spokesman for president zelensky saying the security situation has not yet risen to that critical level. fred? all right, alex. nic, to you, so putin is willingly having these conversations, whether it be with macron and now with president joe biden. so what does this say that he is willing to have a phone calls, he knows the message is going to be, you know, pro diplomacy?
four days. this speaks for the dynamics and the quality of our relationship and also of the urgency of the current crisis that needs to be handled. we meet at a responsible time for ukraine for the united states and for the world. we all are at a critical juncture for the security of europe as well as international peace and security more broadly. russian aggression has brought the world to the edge of the largest catastrophe since world war ii. putin moved to recognize two pieces of ukrainian lands. ukraine does notice recognize this absurdity. neither will the world recognize it. what putin recognized is not the so-called donetsk and luhansk republic. he recognized his direct