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 simply trying to flee the bombardment. a family here, evacuees at a train station. 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 said today it could, these scenes will be multiplied many times over, as will stories like these. in this case, women and children who had been stuck in a basement at a giant steel-making complex in mariupol for the last two months. >> translator: my city is completely destroyed, 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 week's worth 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's nic robertson with the position now to not put sanctions on someone close to vladimir putin and reporting on two mysterious explosions in moldova to the southwest, cnn's phil black. 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 signals the day's 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 the 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 horrifying strategy to take out rescue workers as they respond. as we see for ourselves. "get in," vladimir shouts, "faster, faster, faster." we take cover under the starwell. aleksandra is trying to find the wounded person but there's no signal. at that moment, another barrage goes off. we brace for the impact. "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," he says. "i repeat, 12-g. i told you a thousands times," he replies. "the man is dying." we decide to try to make a run for it. >> let's go, hurry up. come on, maria. come on, maria. come on. let's go. go, go. get in the car. in the car. slide over, slide over. ambulance was hit, yeah? >> yeah. >> 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 we're 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. their 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 him. i have to say, i think you guys are the bravest people i've 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 does your family say? aren't they wanting 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 wore i 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 halfway through. >> and clarissa joins us now along with kaitlan collins at the white house. clarissa, first of all, i'm 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 every day. >> reporter: yeah, it's extraordinary to imagine that they're doing it every day. 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 we 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 anti-terrorism mission. okay, in this case, the language has changed slightly, it's a de-naziification mission, but the same idea, dehumanizing the enemy and making ordinary civilians inseparable, on a certain level, from armed forces, which therefore makings it legitimate in their warped vision of the world to hit civilian structures. and of course, the effect of that, the message that you're sending to people who live in these areas is that you cannot have a normal life. you will not have a normal life. you can't go out to get water. you can't get, you know, turn on your electricity in most of these buildings. until you relent and surrender. which makings it all the more powerful, i think, the kind of resilience and courage 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. 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 that 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 being 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 has 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's military that is something we were told was intentional, it's language they're using on purpose, not just something he came up with on the spot. and when you hear from officials and talk to them behind the scenes, the logic here is they don't think this is something that putin stops at ukraine. and their concern is if he tries to do it in ukraine, he'll try to do it in other places, maybe years down the road. they say they never want him to have the capability to do what is happening in ukraine again. it's really sharp language, and it 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, it's also important to point out for our viewers who have been watching this over the last couple of weeks and sort of feel like, oh, i know what the narrative is, the 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. >> reporter: 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, the sort of fulcrum of this new offensive, you're talking about wide open plains, very few areas to take cover. this is tank country. you're talking long range abrkansas tartillery. that's 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, it's another thing when you're around the front lines 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 be certain to happen in the coming days, you potentially free up a lot more russian troops to go and join the fight in the east and now we're seeing another offensive that they're talking about in the south coming out of kerr he kherson, so, the ukrainians still have a very stiff fight on theirhands, 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 rattling, and 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-term girlfriend. why she was spared of sanctions ahead. and an 8:15 call with san francisco. and you can find him, and millions of other talented pros, right now on upwork.com do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep? qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol. time. it's life's most precious commodity, especially when you have metastatic breast cancer. when your time is threatened, it's hard to invest in your future. until now. kisqali is helping women live longer than ever before when taken with an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant... in hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali is a pill that's proven to delay disease progression. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain... a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. avoid grapefruit during treatment. your future is ahead of you, so it's time to make the most of it with kisqali. because when you invest in yourself, everyone gets the best of you. wealth is breaking ground on your biggest project yet. worth is giving the people who build it a solid foundation. wealth is shutting down the office for mike's retirement party. worth is giving the employee who spent half his life with you, the party of a lifetime. ♪ ♪ wealth is watching your business grow. worth is watching your employees grow with it. ♪ ♪ my patients, i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? 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>> that's certainly part of it. 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're trying to cause 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, 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, though. >> is there anyone inside the kremlin who could realistically push back on the idea of using nuclear weapons on -- i mean push back against vladimir putin on that? >> yeah, the busiyzentine naturf the kremlin, anderson, 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 the possibility of chemical attacks, biological attacks, and then ultimately, perhaps tactical nuclear use, as well, in the theater. because really, what's left for the russians but to push harder and then 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, i think that would probably be first, and that would 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 battlefield use. the blast is important, but also the, you know, the fear and radiation is an issue with 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 it is something that the western policymakers 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 railways, 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. we got really significant in infrastructure damage. and it took us about one hour to two hours to let passenger trains go, but total reconstruction will take not less than three months. >> it will take, what, 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 from the united states and the secretary of defense from the united states said that 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 the visit of european or u.s. leaders by train. why does 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, like the businesses uses the trains. so finally, they shout stations, schools, all 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-month. >> what does your company need in terms of machine parts, aid workers, in order to keep the machines running? >> everything's fine. we're doing our job and we'll 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? >> anderson, i do strongly believe that there are still honest people inside belarus and i do believe they do whatever they need to do to stop belarusian army coming into 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 from one area to another, is it safe? >> well, 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 would be glad to arrange that transportation properly. >> alexander, appreciate what you do. thank you. >> thanks, anderson. well, just ahead, explosions reported in a breakaway region of a third country, moldova, suggesting the footprint of this war might expand. details ahead. when you see things differently, you can be the difference. -how are you? -good. capella university sees education differently. our flexpath learning format lets you set deadlines and earn your nursing degree on your schedule. before i got aura, twenty-four of my online accounts were hacked! he uses the same password for everything. i didn't want to deal with it. but aura digital security just dealt with it. what were we worried about again? shopping on public wifi is sketchy. but 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 aura.com what was that password anyway? ew. “few of us will ever dive so deep into our cars, but those who do venture down into the nuts and bolts...” “you have to give all of yourself when you do something, and that's when you do your best.” for the best audio entertainment and storytelling. audible. do your eyes bother you? because after all these emails my eyes feel like a combo of stressed, dry and sandpaper. luckily, there's biotrue hydration boost eye drops for instant moisture. biotrue uses naturally inspired ingredients. and no preservatives. try biotrue (announcer) enough with the calorie counting, carb cutting, diet fatigue, and stress. just taking one golo release capsule with three balanced meals a day has been clinically proven to repair metabolism, optimize insulin levels, and balance the hormones that make weight loss easy. release works with your body, not against it, so you can put dieting behind you and go live your life. head to golo.com now to join the over 2 million people who have found the right way to lose weight and get healthier with golo. 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 necessary trea in moldova, bordering the southwest. russia's general says military aims to establish full control from that region to the east of ukraine. now today, ukraine and russia are blaming each other for those explosions. phil black is here. 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 an anti-tank rockets in what they describe as a preplanned provocation. they're talking about a false plague 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 transnice trea to try to bring this territory into the war in some way. >> which is exactly the playbook that the u.s. was concerned about happening in the 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 sort of 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 that 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 is a thin little slip of land along the moldovan border, strange it even exists in this stage. >> it goes back to the breakup 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, 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. 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 being opened up, is that at all likely? >> it is a -- 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 we've seen -- we saw the russian sin tral military district commander mention last week about, you know, aspirational thoughts about getting russians back toward trance nice trea, 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 "new russia." and if you go into their maps, if you go google new russia in a map, and you'll see a swath of red sort of of what that was, going all the way back to catherine the great, so, there's the aspirational goal from a military attack, come by, it's 260 miles. from crimea to the capital, if you will, of the breakaway 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, you got to justify it to the russian population. there's a lot of the world that isn't the west and focused, if you will, and not necessarily totally against what is going on there. so i think a lot of it is disinformation, head fakes, but there is also an elemental aspect of -- transinistria used to be the old west arabia, if you will, of 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 back at home. cnn has obtained thousands of new text messages sent by president trump's inner circle before, during, 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. 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>> we're going to prompt marjorie taylor greene's memory. we now have all the text messages meadows voluntarily handed over to the committee. the texts, as you said, reveal the most revealing picture to date of what the inner circle is saying. supporters for republican lawmakers, text messages with more than 40 members of congress, including senator ted cruz, republicans like jim jordan, mo brooks, marjorie taylor greene, so let's get to marjorie taylor greene, the first message might actually surprise you. she sends this to mark meadows on the 6th. quote, mark, i was just told there's an active shooter on the first floor of the capitol. please tell the president to calm people this isn't the way to solve anything. so on january 6th, after all of this planning, and let's have this rally, all of a sudden, she's scared. the next day, not so scared and the tone turns to apologetic. and she texts meadows again, quote, i'm sorry nothing worked. in other words, they weren't able to stop the certification. then, on january 17th, a third text. and now, she's three days before joe biden's inauguration, still looking for a way to keep trump in power, and she texts this, quote, in our private chat with only members, several are saying the only way to save our republic is for trump to call for marshall law. she doesn't know how to spell marshall. i don't know on these things, i just wanted you to tell them they stole this election, we all know, they will destroy our country next. please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after biden and anyone else. anderson, they knew the truth, but they were pushing these conspiracy theories and fraudulent election claims. >> besides lawmakers, who else was texting meadows trying to get in the former president's ear? >> so what you see are people from all over the country, hundreds of texts from gop activists, pushing for trump to keep fighting but the most famous, no doubt, is someone you will remember, my pillow guy, mike lendel. even after the courts dismissed dozens of trump's legal challenges, he's 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 lindell 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 rioters on january 6th weren't actually trump supporters but antifa supporters that infiltrated the peaceful protest, the line they were pushing. anything in the texts 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 crazy, but ideas for two tweets from potus. one, bad apples, likely 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. and 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 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. (music throughout) 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 on a woman named 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. downing me now in brussels is cnn's nic robertson. so "the wall street journal" is saying the u.s. prepared sanctions against her, but at the 11th hour decided not to include her name on the list. why was that? >> reporter: yeah, she is really important to vladimir putin. you've only 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. i mean, you can look at this and say, in a diplomatic situation like this, you could leave the threat of something that for putin would be really ugly and touch a raw nerve with him, leave on the table the threat of sanctions on the one person you cherish the most. and remember, when you talk to most russians, they'll tell you that 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 putin to get 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? because, i mean, you said that he very much cares about her. he also, it seems like, has shield ed 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, potentially safe route, one that he trusts, to squirrel away money so that no one else can reach it. >> fascinating. nic robertson, appreciate it. the residents of mariupol have endured some of the most devastating moments of the russian invasion. we'll have their stories next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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