such as the killing of a mother named valerie, here three month old baby girl, grandmother and others in a cruise missile strike on odesa over the weekend, in a social media post weeks ago before the invasion, valerie wrote she just found a new level of happiness, her death, like that of thousands of ukrainians over the last two months was neither accidental nor incidental to any military objective, it simply was because russians have been targeting residential areas from the beginning of this invasion. it is, more than anything, this war's defining characteristic, targeting civilians, or, in this case, in irpin targeting civilians trying to flee the bombardment, a family here, children in a well-marked bomb shelter in mariupol. countless civilians in the more than 100 hospitals and health facilities hit so far. two months and a day have taught us that about human endurance, in the face of cruelty, also being tested, military bravery. in villages like this one on the eastern front lines the ukrainian army's success in inflicting losses on russian troops has come at the cost of the village itself. local officials saying our troops retreated a little because not much, because there was no longer anything to hold on to. they're still holding on. and if the resistance succeeds here as defense secretary austin today said it could, these scenes will be multiplied many times over, as will stories like these. in this case, women and children stuck in a basement at a giant steel-making complex in mariupol over the last two months. >> translator: my city is completely skroidestroyed, the children here are crying all the time, they want to play, they want to live. we can't even go outside. we have children who haven't been outside, haven't even seen daylight for weeks. children not going outside. we have maximum a weekers 's wo of water, food, too, in a week's time, i don't know what will happen to us. >> they are surrounded by russian forces. she says she has the feeling it's still late february and the world is just watching. it's hard to imagine two months and a day. cnn's clarissa ward in kharkiv for us tonight after a very close encounter with the russian practice of targeting a residential area twice. reportedly, the second time to kill emergency workers who have responded to the first attack, also cnn's kaitlan collins at the white house in brussels, cnn nick roberts, with the position now to not put sanctions on someone close to vladimir putin and reporting on two mysterious explosions in moldova to the south west, cnn phil plblack, first clarissa ward's report. >> reporter: beginning of a 24 hour shift for paramedics, aleksandra and vladimir vensel, they prepare the ambulance for the carnage that kharkiv residents confront everyday. we have two tourniquets vladimir says, aleksandra's mother stops by the dispatch center to give her daughter a hug. this is one of the most dangerous jobs. every moment together is precious. a loud stream of booms signalled the days work is beginning. that's incoming now, this ambulance worker tells us. aleksandra and vladimir answer the call. she says, the code used when someone has been wounded by shelling. their flack jackets on, they're ready to roll out. so they've said they got reports one person at least has been injured in a shelling and they're hearing some rockets as well so we're going to see what's going on. the shells hit a residential apartment building. the paramedics need to act fast. russian forces are increasingly hitting the same target twice. it's called a double tap, a horr horrifying strategy to take out rescue workers as they respond. as we see for ourselves. get in, vladimir shout said, faster, faster, faster, we take cover under the stairwell, aleksandra trying to find the wounded person but there's no signal, at that moment, another barrage goes off. brace for the impact . is everybody okay? aleksandra asks, our team member, maria, has cut up her hands on broken glass. vladimir treats her injuries as aleksandra calls the dispatch again to find where the wounded are. we've got no connection, we're sitting in the entrance, she says. and they're shelling the shit out of us. the connection keeps dropping. finally, she gets through to the person who called for the ambulance. tell me your damn house number, she says. i repeat, 12g, i told you a thousand times he replies, the man is dying. we decide to try to make a run for it. >> let's go, hurry up. co come on, maria. go! go! get in the car . >> reporter: okay, so we were just in an apartment building. they were looking for an injured man, a bunch of rounds came in and hit the next door building so now getting out as fast as we can. while we run out, vladimir and aleksandra run back in. we find them treating the injured man on the side of the road. the back window has been blown out by the blasts. he has shrapnel injuries and head trauma. once they've stabilized him, they rush him to the hospital. vladimir asks about his pain. the man has been deafened by the blast. arriving at the hospital, they have done their part. it's up to others now to save them. i have to say i think you guys are like the bravest people i have ever met. back at base, we ask them why they continue to do this work. with all the danger it entails. it's normal. this is our work. of course it's scary, like for everyone, aleksandra says. today you were with us in the hottest place, in the oven, but we're still alive, thank god. you feel it's your duty or obligation, vladimir tells us, to help the people who are still here. and what do your parents say, your family say? aren't they wanting to you to stop this work? >> no comments. no comment, very difficult. >> reporter: they must be scared. >> yes. yes. >> reporter: proud but scared. >> call us all day, all night. >> reporter: we saw your mother. she's worried to the point of hysteria, aleksandra tells us, saying you need to leave, go to some safe place, why are you doing this, i have only one child, stop it. and what do you say? i have to do it, she says, simply. and with that, they go back to cleaning their ambulance. their shift only half-way through. >> and clarissa joins us now along with kaitlan collins at the white house, clarissa, first of all, so glad you and your team are safe. it is remarkable to see what these paramedics are doing every single day. can you just talk more about what you witnessed, i mean you saw the ambulance, the window got blown out. do they have enough equipment, enough resources and also, this was just the beginning of their shift, i mean i can't believe they do this everyday. >> reporter: yeah, it's extraordinary to imagine that they're doing it everyday. i think this was a particularly close-call for them, which they pointed out to us, but still, the risks they take are just off the charts and you mentioned the issue of equipment. it's a really important one. they have one helmet per ambulance and there's a crew of three in each ambulance so you'll notice that aleksandra and vladimir are not actually wearing helmets, the driver was wearing a helmet. we also talked to the head of emergency services here at kharkiv who said that 50 of their 250 ambulances are now out of commission at least temporarily because they've been hit by shrapnel doing this work so the other thing that really stuck out and you can't really see it in the piece because obviously, it was such a sort of intense moment and didn't have a lot of time to film is that there are civilians living in these buildings. as we approach the building, you could see a woman pushing the glass out of her window and another woman, when we first came into the building, answered their door and said who needs the ambulance, then a man actually brought down a cup of water at some point to help the paramedics clean up maria's hands so this myth that there aren't people living in these areas that they're being used by the ukrainian military, well, they're just that, they're myths. there are still people living in these areas either because they choose to, either because they have no choice, but they are there and these are very much civilian targets, anderson. >> that's a really important point you make because russian authorities will say well, you know, either we're not targeting civilian structures, we don't hit residential areas. either ukrainian nationalist forces which is what they call basically all the ukrainian military, was using that to launch attacks and therefore it's a target, or this was done by the ukrainians themselves to make the russians look bad. >> reporter: and this is the playbook they have been using for such a long time, anderson. i mean we saw it in syria, i saw it on the ground myself. you would see them hitting hospitals, fruit markets, schools, and always you would hear the same language coming back. we're targeting terrorists. this is an antiterrorism mission. okay, in this case the language changed slightly, a de-naziification mission but the same idea, dehumanizing the enemy and making ordinary civilians inseparable in a certain level from armed forces which make it is legitimate in their warped vision of the world to hit civilian structures and the message you're sending to people who live in these areas is you cannot have a normal life. you will not have a normal life. you can't go out to get water. you can't, you know, turn on your electricity in most of these buildings until you relent and surrender which make it is all the more powerful, i think, the kind of resilience and carnage and tenacity that we've seen here, particularly in the city of kharkiv. >> kaitlan, secretary of state, secretary of defense, secretary austin, secretary blinken, they were very supportive, obviously of the zelenskyy regime and their comments after they got out of kyiv, and were talking from your, from the polish border, how is the administration framing the war after their visit? >> reporter: they're basically arguing that what is going to happen over the next few weeks is ultimately so critical to what happens here overall. how this invasion comes to an end, what this ultimately looks like, just not for ukraine, but the entire world order so i think that's why we're seeing such a focus in sending heavier duty weaponry and also the rhetoric they're using, the way officials are talking about their assessment of what's happening here and what they ultimately believe the outcome that they want it to be. they're paying a lot more explicit anderson, summed up in what secretary austin said after this visit to ukraine. >> we want to see russia weakened to a degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading ukraine so it already lost a lot of military capability and a lot of its troops, quite frankly, and we wanted to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability. >> reporter: and anderson, hearing secretary austin talk about deliberately weakening russia military we are told was internal, language they're using on purpose not just something he came up with on the spot and when you hear from official and see we talk to them behind the scenes, the logic here is they don't think this is something where putin stops at ukraine and their concern is if he tries to do it in ukraine, will try to do it in other places maybe years down the road so that is why they say they never want him to have the capability to do what is happening in ukraine again, sharp language and hits washington against moscow much more than we saw two months ago initially and the way officials were talking about it. they're being very clear here underlining this message they want to make sure russia is not able to cause a repeat of what is happening in ukraine ever again. >> clarissa, also important to point out for viewers who have been watching this over the last couple weeks and sort of feel like oh, i know that what the narrative is, it's ukrainian forces have repelled russian forces i mean this is a whole new phase of this war, and it could go against the ukrainian side in a big way. i mean this is a different kind of combat that we are going to be seeing, one that's going to be harder for the ukrainians in many ways. >> yeah, it's completely different, anderson. what you are seeing in and around kyiv and in the north, before, were these sort of ambush guerilla-style tactics where the ukrainians had a certain distinct advantage. this is completely different terrain, these are, especially in the eastern donbas region where we just spent some time sort of the fulcrum of this new offensive, you're talking about wide-open plains, very few areas to tank cover. this is tank country. you're talking long range artillery, why you're hearing the ukrainians saying over and over again, we can win this, but we need a lot of weaponry to do it. and we cannot be caught short in terms of supplies. that's why you're also seeing russians targeting those railway stations so often, because they're trying desperately to cut off the supply lines, obviously it's one thing in kyiv when you're maybe a seven hour drive from the polish border, another thing when you're over in donetsk or around the frontlines near donetsk and it's a sort of 18 hour drive, so their resupply becomes a lot more complex. in addition to that, with the falling of mariupol, all but certain to happen in the coming days, you potentially freeing up a lot more russian troops to make you join the fight in the east and now we're seeing another feoffensive they're talking about in the south coming out of kherson so the ukrainians still have a very stiff fight on their hands, anderson. >> clarissa ward, again, please be careful. kaitlan collins, thank you, coming up next, russia approaching the subject of nuclear war again. the question is, is it saber rattle and get if so, to what end, i'll talk to cia's former chief of russian operations and new sanctions later on reporting on the sanctions that were almost imposed on the woman reputed to be vladimir putin's long-time girlfriend why she was spared of sancnctions, ahead. eng but normal, we fit your schedule, withth our unique tub over tub process, installed in as little as a day. when high quality is the only quality that matters, we fit your standards, with a lifetime guarantee. bath fitter. it just fits. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! flonase all good. finding the perfect developer isn't easy. but, at upwork, we found her. she's in prague between the ideal cup of coffee and a truly impressive synthesizer collection. and you can find her right now (lepsi?) on upwork.com (lepsi.) when the world is your workforce, finding the perfect project manager, designer, developer, or whomever you may need... tends to fall right into place. find top-rated talent who can start today on upwork.com ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person... to come to the table and do more incredible things. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ we need to reduce plastic waste in the environment. that's why at america's beverage companies, our bottles are made to be re-made. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be 100% recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back. u.s. want to quote, see russia weakened, nuclear deterrence while as russia's position, the danger is, quote, real, and cannot be under estimated he said. joining us, steve hull, former chief of operations at the ciap steve, russia says they'll only use nuke lnuclear weapons in a battle like this if it was existential threat to russia itself, is this just saber rattling from russia. >> this is certainly part of t the russians took every opportunity from guys like lavrov to putin himself, others, saying, you know, this is important that the west remember this, they try to pause policy decisions to be made with caution and to a certain extent that's been effective because i think the biden administration and the rest of the western allies have indeed been very cautious because they realize there is a nuclear element here they have to be concerned about. so yeah, i think there is some messaging going on here. and, you know, to the extent it's saber rattling, depends how you define that but the message is definitely getting through, throw. >> is is there anyone besides the kremlin who could realistically push back on the idea of using nuclear weapons on vladimir -- i mean push back against vladimir put onnen that. >> yeah the byzentine nature of the kremlin, there are people who can push back, the question is how do you do it without getting your own head lopped off, certainly an understanding among the senior leadership and i include putin in that, there is a recognition that that's an extremely serious step but it depends how it's implemented. really, on the battlefield now as you all out there have seen, what is left for the russians to do to try to increase her likelihood of success. i think the next step for them if it turns into escalation because of the weapons that the ukrainians are receiving from the west, i think you're looking at possibly chemical attacks, biological attacks and ultimately, perhaps tactical nuclear use in the theater because what's left for the russians than to push harder and escalate. >> can you walk us through the type of nuclear weapons the u.s. might be worried about most in your view? there's strategic weapons and tactical weapons, maybe talk about the difference? >> yeah, i think the tactical weapons are something that we, you know, hopefully won't see at all but if we see a nuclear weapons use would probably be first and probably come after something like a chemical or biological attack, weapons of mass destruction attack, but these are smaller, much smaller weapons of course than like intercontinental ballistic missiles, we're not talking about the size of weapon that is can fly across an ocean and devastate an entire country or an entire capital city, these are smaller weapons that are meant for battle field use. the blast is important, but also the, you know, the fear and radiation is an issue not only taking out troops but causing fear and chaos so there's a big difference between a tactical nuclear weapon and a larger nuclear exchange and i would be very surprised, frankly if russia decided we'll do a launch on united states or western allies, i don't think we're there yet but something the western policy makers have to take into consideration, anderson. >> not a very pleasant conversation to have when you're figuring out the difference between different kinds of nuclear attacks but it's an important one to have, steve, appreciate it. russian forces continuing to attack ukraine's rail system, perspective now from ceo of ukrainian rail ways, we spoke just before air time. thank you so much for joining us, as you know, five railway stations or substations were struck by the russians over the course of one hour this morning. could you just tell us about what the impact of that was? >> indeed. the morning, they shot five stations, got really significant infrastructure damage, took about one hour to two hours to let passenger trains go but construction will not not less than three months. >> three months to rebuild what was destroyed? >> definitely. not less. >> what are you able to do to protect key infrastructure like railway hubs? >> well, you know, we do our job on the ground pretty well but we can't protect ourselves from air strikes and from rocket strikes. that's why we're asked the west to help us to close the sky. >> why do you think these particular spots were hit today? does it have anything to do with the fact that the secretary of state for the united states and the secretary of defense from the united states said they had used trains to come to kyiv? >> well, millions of people use trains as well. and i don't see any other reason, but just russians try to kill all the ukrainians they find around the country, you know, there is no reason to try to explain it by is it european or u.s. leaders, by train, why these people use train, because that's the safest way to travel across ukraine now. and again, millions of people travel across the country. when runs the trains and all the rest, the business uses the trains so finally, they shout stations, schools, cross the rest. you know. >> how -- i mean what you have done is really extraordinary over the course of this invasion to keep these trains running. i mean especially in the early part of the attack by russia, just the sheer volume of people using trains to move further west to try to escape areas of heavy fighting, how have you been able to do this? >> well again, just doing our job, you know, day-to-day, hour to hour, month to see months. >> what does your company need in terms of machine parts, aide workers in order to keep the machines running? >> everything's fine, we're doing our job and will do it properly on the ground, but again, we are not protected from the air. >> there have also been some reports that railway workers in belarus helped to disable or disrupt railway lines connecting russia to ukraine through belarus. is that true to your knowledge, and if so, what effect did it have? >> an anderson, i do strongly believe there are elements inside russia and i do believe do whatever they need to do to stop belarusian army happening to ukraine and they try to hinder russian army traveling across russia, you know, so that's why i'm grateful for those honest people inside of russia and i do believe they will to their job. >> what's your message to ukrainians who want to take a train, maybe wanted to get up from one area to another, is it safe? >> meanwhile, railway stations and trains remain the safest place, the safest way of transportation across the country. i'm sure once president biden will decide to travel, he will also opt train as number one transportation vehicle, and we'll be grateful for that choice and will be led to arrange the transportation properly. >> alexander, appreciate what you do. thank you. >> thanks, anderson. just ahead, explosions reported in a break-away region of a third country, moldova, suggesting the footprint of this war might expand. details ahead. so, people can get a free samsung galaxy s22 when they trade in a galaxy, any year any condition. oh i get it. so you can take your old phone, that you've had for 12 years and loved every minute of, and trade it in for something new that suits your life now? that's right, yeah. and then enjoy immediate success, even though you'll never forget your old phone. ever. it's a great trade. life-changing. get a free samsung galaxy s22 with any galaxy trade-in. any year. any condition. only at at&t. i'm clarissa ward in kharkiv and this is cnn. new concerns tonight that russia may be looking for a way to expand the war into a breakaway region of a third country, this in the region of tran transestria in moldova bordered the south west, russia's general says ma says military aims to establish control from there east of ukraine, now explosions in transistria, what more do we know of what happened. >> so as we understand, ministry for state security building, ukrainian defense intelligence says this building is also the local branch of russia's federal security service, fsb, their take is this thing was blasted by shoulder-mounted antitank rockets in what they describe as a preplanned provocation, they're talking about a false flag operation so ukraine's theory is that this was a deliberately planned operation either by russia or someone in league with russia to raise tensions in transestria to bring this into the war in some way. >> which is the playbook the u.s. was concerned about happening in the donetsk or luhansk region to get russia involved in ukraine. >> indeed, and there's been talk of that in belarus as well. belarusian troops becoming involved perhaps as a result of some similar operation. that hasn't happened but ukraine has been warning about this for some time, this is a territory where there are russian soldiers a small group we believe and ukraine has also put forward this theory it could also be used, this territory, as a place to mobilize more reenforcements, lots of russian passport holders, call them up, send them to join the fight in some way, essentially send them over the border to start attacking ukraine on another front. there are questions there i think about how many people could be raised, the quality of those troops and so forth but it is worth keeping an eye on because we potentially have a false flag operation just days after this russian general said very publicly russia's military goal is to take a huge stretch of southern ukraine all the way from the russian border all the way to transestria. >> this tiny strip of land along the moldova border, strange it even exists in this stage. >> it s goes back to the break-up of the soviet union why this stretch of territory exists in this way, war fought there in the early 90s, a peace deal struck which means it's in and out autonomous, though still part of moldova, not recognized internationally as independent state but there are russian soldiers there and soviet weapons too and has been this concern from the outset expressed by ukraine it could be brought into the war, and what they worry about is a new front. particularly, if russia is trying to carve out this stretch all the way across, will do it from the east and potentially these forces can do it from the west. >> phil black, appreciate it, thank you very much. joined now by retired military general peter zwack, you heard phil talking about transistria, what is the possibility of a second front opening up, is that at all likely? >> i -- it is a possibility. likely, i would hesitate to use that word. clearly, the russians would like to create some chaos back into the east, to the west of ukraine, and also with moldova. there is a garrison of about 1,500, what the russians call peacekeepers, probably not elite troops but they're there and we have seen general, the russian central military district commander mention last week about, you know, aspirational thoughts about getting russians back toward transnistria, so it's important, it's potentially dangerous. people need to pay attention. what happened could be, could be a false flag. the fact that it was just mentioned. also, this part goes all the way back, this whole southern coast, of the black sea is what you would call the russians would call novai rosia, new russia, and if you go to their maps, go google new russia in a map, you see a swath of red sort of, of what that was going all the way back to katherine the great, so there's the aspirational goal from a military attack, occupy, it's 260 miles from crimea to tiras pole, the capitol if you will of the break-away region. that's a long distance for russian forces already stretched to go, but again, that is aspirational and needs to be watched and potentially very dangerous. >> i mean, if the russians are being relatively open about their plans, i mean you have this kind of obscure russian general saying, talking about building, you know, a corridor all the way to transnistria, why would they still need a pretext to invade? why would they need a false flag operation or is that just their motus operandi. >> i think it all goes into the narrative, the false flag, got to justify it to the russian population. a lot of the world that isn't the west and focused if you will on not necessarily totally against what is going on there. so i think a lot of it is disinformation, but there is also a elemental aspect of transinistria used to be the old west arabia if you will and the old soviet union so there's a lot of it, it's potential, they're trying to sell it, if you will to their own people and the world. >> fascinating. general peter zwack, appreciate it, coming up, exclusive reporting at home, cnn obtained thousands of new text messages sent within trump's inner circle before and after the january 6th insurrection, could be the clearest picture yet what was going on behind the scenes in that dark time in our history. that's next. what were we worried about again? shopping o on public wifi is sketchy. but t with aura digital security, my devices are protected in like 3 minutes. it's time to protect your life online with aura's all-in-one digital security. try for free today at 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>> so what you see are people from all over the country, hundreds of texts from g.o.p. activists, pushing for trump to keep fighting but the most famous, no doubt, is someone you will remember, mike lendel, even after the courts dismissed dozens of trumps legal challenged, lindel is texting, still pressing the white house, here is one of his texts from december 20th. this is the biggest cover-up of one of the worst crimes in history. i've spent over $1 million to help uncover this fraud and use my platform so people can get the word not to give up. mark meadows replies, thanks, brother, pray for a miracle. i actually spoke to mike lindel last night, he confirmed the text was his, he still has it. he says he has not spoken to meadows since january 20th, 2021, and that he was just trying to get an appointment with the president but he stands by everything he says. >> one of the talking points we've heard a lot of the former president's supporters trot out over the past year is the write rioters on january 6th weren't actually trump supporters by the antifa supporters that infiltrated the peaceful protest, the line they were pushing, anything in the text that shed light on that false narrative? >> absolutely, it turns out that was a rapid response by the trump campaign. the texts show that trump allies immediately wanted to deflect responsibility for the january 6th attack. so shortly after the riot is happening in the, at the capitol, one of his top aides, jason miller, his campaign spokesman texts this to mark meadows and dan scavino, quote, call me craze, but ideas for two tweets from potus. one, bad apples like the antifa or other crazed leftists infiltrated today's peaceful protest over the fraudulent vote count. violence is never acceptable, maga supporters embrace our police and the rule of law and should leave the capitol now. then, there is another text from jason miller to meadows and kushner on january 13th in which you really see that these aides can't -- they're scared to tell donald trump the truth. he says, i tried to says, i tried to walk the president through this earlier, but he won't have any of it. two-thirds of the maga base wants us to move on. so, anderson, what you're seeing here is the inner circle knew exactly what was going on, including that their own base was ready to move on. but donald trump wasn't, so they weren't. >> that's really incredible. thank you. appreciate it. the west has been steadily imposing wider sanctions on russia in retaliation for their invasion of ukraine. calls are growing for the u.s. to impose sanctions on one of vladimir putin's closest allies, his girlfriend. details next. between ththe perfect cup of coffee and d her museum of personal computers. and you can find her, and millions o of other talented pros, right nowow on upwork.com this is vuity™, the first and only fda approved eye-drop that improves age-related blurry near vision. wait, what? 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[laughs] like, really? really. vuity™ is a prescription eye drop to help you see up close. ow! wait, what? wait. wait? wait, what? see for yourself. use vuity™ with caution in night driving and hazardous activities in poor light. also, if your vision is not clear, do not drive or use machinery. contact your doctor immediately if you have sudden vision loss. most common side-effects are headache and eye redness. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ weeks after the u.s. first imposed sanctions on some of russia's biggest companies, political leaders, even vladimir putin himself, "the wall street journal" is reporting the u.s. is withholding sanctions of alina kabaeva. kabaeva has stayed in switzerland for long stretches of time. according to the report, u.s. officials say she's suspected of playing a role in hiding vladimir putin's personal wealth overseas. joining me in brussels is nic robertson. the washington journal is saying the u.s. prepared sanctions against her but at the is 1st hour decided to not include her name on the list. why was that? >> yeah plus she is really important to vladimir putin. you've really got to look at those pictures to see how smitten he is with her. we know from putin's spokesman, dmitry peskov, that he really does not believe sanctions should be put on leaders. peskov has said before that's not right, it's not suitable. he's also said that this would poison the relationship between -- the political relationship between president putin and president biden. but this is something different. you can look at this and say, you know, in a diplomatic situation like this, you can leave the threat for something sma for putin would be ugly and untouchable for him, leave on the table the sanctions on the one person you cherish the most. remember when you talk to most russians, they'll tell you putin just does not care about people. we've seen him let thousands of soldiers go to die, but he cares about her. that seems to be clear. so, is this sort of a way of connecting with him and saying, we can do more, and this can really affect you? or is it caution that you don't want to tip him too far and aggravate him into some irrational behavior. and it's hard for the united states and any other government to analyze because no one really is in the room with puetin to gt a sense of him. >> i mean, obviously he's very notorious for being very private about his life. what more do we know about his relationship with this person. you said that he very much cares about her. he also, it seems like, has shielded a lot of his money through her. it's possible he mainly cares about that. >> it's -- it's very true. what we do know is that members of her family have now, said over the past decade, that president putin has been linked with her, they have become wealthy. they all live in expensive houses and fancy parts of town. they have properties that they could never have imagined affording in the past. so, clearly money is going to her from somewhere. logical to think from president putin. some of it, she's given to her family. but it would be reasonable to understand that other moneys that have gone to her, she is controlling for president putin. the property in switzerland could be an example of that. how much money she has probably depends ultimately on president putin. it's a relationship, he can give the money. but it's his use of that money that the u.s. and other countries are trying to control. so, if you were going to lock him down lock, stock, and barrel, then you would clearly want to move in on her as well because that is a route for him, a potentially safe route, one that he trusts to squirrel away money so that no one else can reach it. >> fascinating. rick robertson, appreciate it. the residents of mariupol have endured some of the most devastating moments. we'll haveve their stories next. , when nature is so kind to me. find more ways to grow withth miracle-gro.