troops. the president is also considering deploying a and nato allies. in would be a major --. president biden writes he is considering deploying thousands of u.s. troops. an expansion of military involvement amid mounting fears of a russian encouragement in the ukrainian. it will signal a major pivot of the biden administration. it was up until recently talking about a stance on ukraine. but if president vladimir putin has ramped up his threatening actions to ukraine and talks have failed to discourage -- discourage him, the administration is moving away from its provoked strategy. that is the new york times sweet this morning. the associated press, another report this morning. >> nato is sending ships just east as iron -- ireland rejects --. here's the story on that with the headline. the headline from the associated press. nato sends ships, shut sees as ireland rejects russia's drones appeared they are putting extra forces on standby and sending more ships in eastern europe. new russian wargames off its coast are not welcome. intentions whether letterman put in a and tends to attack -- intentions where vladimir putin antennas on to attack --intends on attacking ukraine. >> france stands ready to send troops to romania. this is a tweet this morning, early this morning from the prime minister of estonia. one of those nations. here her tweet. here's what i told the financial times. the west has been united. we must keep this line appeared nato has not created the situation. nato's eastern flight must be strengthened. we do not share but increasing defense spending. at the end this morning, your thoughts. how should the u.s. respond to the conflict between ukraine and russia. 202-748-8200. is the line for democrats. we mentioned on the deborah -- diplomatic front. here is the story on the wall this morning. the state department instructed the families of u.s. diplomats in ukraine to leave the country. that authorized some embassy staff to leave as well. the biden administration considered sending thousands of troops. the state department decision announced sunday. u.s. officials have warned that a russia attack could come at any time. that announcement from the state department, shortly after antony blinken appeared on a number of shows yesterday morning, including cnn state of the union he or he was asked about imposing sanctions on russia. >> to do it proactively, not reactively. today our partners are saying that based on tomorrow, there is a powerful escalation on the russian side and then there'll be powerful sanctions applied. the question is, why are you not introducing sanctions now, whether than waiting until the escalation. [video clip] we are doing a lot right now. >> even beyond together, putting together massive consequences for russia. it takes renewed action. we are providing, last year alone provided more military to ukraine than any year in the past. we have been going against those inside ukraine, trying to stabilize the government. >> you are not imposing the sanctions? >> the purpose of those sanctions is to deter russian aggression. >> if they are triggered now, you lose the effect. all of the things we are including -- all of the things we are doing. if designed to factor in president putin. host: russia's foreign ministry on sunday rejected that british claims that the kremlin and seeking to replace ukraine's government with a moscow administration. formal ukrainian lawmaker is a potential candidate. he was sworn in office on saturday. had links to russian intelligence services. to your calls on how the u.s. should respond to the russia, ukraine conflict. we have paul's in wisconsin. in the line. paul in wisconsin. go ahead. caller: good morning, thank you for having. i would myself go to the middle east to ramp up your oils production. i would have every domestic oil driller. hello? host: you are on. go ahead. caller: putin is interested in oil, he always has been. obama got people to flood the market out the last time. i think that might hurt him and put a little pressure on him to fall back. host: here is run on our democrats line in michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. if we go to war with russia, it will be 13 dead americans a day at the minimum. we are already bragging for what we did to the soviet union. when jenny garner intervene in afghanistan. we are still paying the price for that intervention. now we want to go to war with russia? a nuclear armed country that knows how to fight on their own homeland? are we insane? host: next, caller. peter on the independent line. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. i really like the last caller. my call is the same way. we are going to go to war with russia over this? this is about selling military weapons to nato countries to expand the military budget. this is not about money, not about u.s. security. we still do have health care for everybody. got homeless people. but yet, the biden administration is nash. they think they can start a war with russia over ukraine, it is absolutely insane. if you got to remember, it was obama who did the ukraine if you years back. that is now collapsing. would you please bring some people on appeared to new york times and cen -- cnn with ex cia people annexed generals. making money off promoting war. all right, a couple of calls. caller mentioned the issue of energy. wall street journal writes about that and the predicament germany racist. the headline of their story. germany's dependence on russia's gap have left europe short of options. in itself, vulnerable, should russia stop gas ties. more recent moves to fight cola. it means that germany is more reliant on russia gas than most of its neighbors, not just for eating, also for power generation. on those sanctions, some of those proposed sanctions against russia, joni ernst, a member of the iowa forces committee says that those sanctions -- sanctions should be imposed now. here's what she had to say on the state of the union. [video clip] i want your reaction to secretary blinken. >> the u.s. doing what it needs to stop russia from invading ukraine. >> anna, i believe that we need to act now when it comes to pushing back against russia. we need to show strength and not be in a position doctoring up a placement which claims to be how president biden has his administration. we need to go ahead and impose sanction on russia. we need to show them that we mean business and we will be there for ukraine, should they invade. once an invasion happens, lives are lost you can't go back from that those sanctions need to be put in place now. they can be expelled from the banking system. we need to make sure that any domestic aid is in the hands of ukrainians as well as much legal aid as we could provide at the time. then we need to ensure that safety and security of americans that are in the region. they need to be moved out for know to evacuate safely, should russia evade. again, i hope we can prevent that through diplomacy. host: back to your calls on how the u.s. should respond to the conflict between russia and ukraine. this is a camera on the republican line in washington state. good morning. caller: i wanted to comment on ukraine. i have an opinion i believe of this. i wanted to call on c-span. about two months ago, when you are monitoring the program, a republican called up and said i think joe biden should be impeached, you turned over your hand at about a half second and disconnect. about five minutes later, another republican caller called in and said hey, why did you hang up she is entitled to her opinion. and said that --. i do not see why you are a moderator. host: cameron, i appreciate your opinion. i do not recall that from two months ago. but if you can stick to the topic this morning, go ahead and make your comment. caller: ukraine is a situation in my opinion where they have been in the civil war for over two years. we have ukrainian volunteers that have been fighting in trench warfare with the eastern side of the country who has always cited. it wants to be part of sia. they have this internal conflict. i think if americans get involved it should be supplying arms to the western side of the ukraine. if they end up splitting as a country, i think that is probably healthier think that will up and all out war. i really think the sanctions are really windowdressing. they are going to get their resources from china. like the earlier caller said, it is not about selling oil, it is about money, that is true. i think the biden administration has dropped the ball in eliminating oil in the u.s. because that gives sia a strong nashville or acting all think should be considered. i do not want to see american boots on the ground. in eastern ukraine. when and if putin decides to move to western ukraine. host: jimmy on the democratic line. good morning. caller: before people make a decision on what we should do, they have to look at the situation. putin is kgb. he is carrying out a long-range soviet strategy. russia and china are communist parties. this is not a conflict between the country of ukraine and russia, because if he had a shooting war with russia, russia could have riots in every city because they work with groups like antifa. this is a world event. you can have terrorism. iranian terrorism because putin has been rearming by far in columbia. he is open iran to build up weapons. russia has a lot of political party in this country on both sides. i think putin is good. then there is other people that act like pollution is bad. putin is bad -- that act like putin is bad. he is bad. i read so many publications. many countries around the world. not that the enemy sees being the enemy took away the image of the enemy. then we have a new enemy according to the mediator, it is the trump supporting your it is absolutely brilliant enemy strategy. our site is so confused. our side meaning america. this is not an easy situation. russia, may back away to get biden a when to strengthen -- a win to strengthen america. they got trump out for a reason. trump is still in the way for all of our enemies. perhaps, this could be where the whole world gets in an uproar. why is it that we have to fear the russian weapons, and we do not think that the russians should fear our weapons? host: thanks for your call. his piece is titled why are we rushing to defend ukraine. he writes that there is a handful of border disputes underway at this line it any given moment. there is a 100 year border dispute in ireland, japan. there is a border dispute on our southern border. there is an increasingly ominous border dispute between the republican of taiwan and congress of china. michael mckinney writing that it is not clear that there's border -- we're at the great german prime minister, once noted the entire is not worth --. nor are they worth the bond of a single united states soldier or marine. he says that russia is not a material threat to the united states. with a gop -- gdp up to trillion russian economist, the s smaller than canada. by extension, ukraine. in ohio, republican line. cheryl. go ahead. caller: good morning. in 2014, i believe one president obama was in office, the united states ousted a democratic elected government in ukraine, we are the ones that start a public government. evidence by comments that victoria newman made on the hot mike. i believe that russia is presenting its own own borders. i do not blame them for doing it. i do not see them as a threat to us. there is nothing wrong with them lining their folders in their own countries. some people protect their own borders, like the united states. i do not see any reason whatsoever, for us to be going over there and getting involved in this. especially, after all of the rhetoric we heard about how we need to and this were in afghanistan. i think there is a lot of secrets in ukraine that some people do not want to come out. so, they need to control ukraine. we were told that, oh, russia overtook. no, 95% of crimean voted to be a part of the russia. because they saw what was happening in these other governments being installed around them. i am heavily against this. i think it is a lot of political rhetoric. i think there's a lot of -- a larger agenda that is not being talked about. i do not trust this current administration as far as i could throw them. that is my take on it. host: independent line. lancaster, south carolina. caller: thank you. that article that you just read was awesome. the last republican caller, nothing but the truth. the mainstream media went show those key points. let me go back to trying to protect ukraine war. we do not even protect our war. the united states inflation is so high. why would we want to put our energy in ukraine? ukraine is one of the races countries in the world. -- one of the most racist countries in the world. and you got president obama, president joe biden on the microphone saying we hold the money. we are in debt, american people are struggling. they want to put their energy on ukraine. it would be a disaster. we just got out of afghanistan. what is the big push to go to ukraine. the mainstream media, abc, nbc, it is nothing but a propaganda. that is what most americans get their news from. host: opening question for you this morning. how should the u.s. respond to the russian ukraine conflict. 202-748-8200. the line for democrats. republicans, 202-748-8201. and others. ukraine, u.k. is withdrawing some embassies. we will play the comments of secretary blinken earlier on sanctions. he also talked earlier yesterday on cbs facing the nation about how plato would respond. here is what he said. [video clip] >> when it comes to anything short of invasion. it seems like putin's easiest strategy is to hate on that weakness. that is how you divide nato allies. just yesterday a nato had to resign. it does not look like the alliance is together here. >> we have been very clear. if there is any further russian aggression, in terms of sending russian forces into ukraine, there would be a severe, united response from the united states and europe. second, we have been clear that russia engages in other tactics sending forces into ukraine and other countries. cyber attacks, efforts to bring a government down. i am pretty confident on the many consultations that i have had with partners that there will be a swift, calibrated and united response. host: nato military units are on the move. the headline from associated press this morning. nato sent ships, jets out east. comments on twitter were at c-span wj. larry says, chiron, afghanistan -- iran, afghanistan are all over again. biden has specifically said we are not getting involved in military. we should support this -- support him on this, right? then amass his on ukraine border. anyone else see where this is going? jim says this is obama's problem. he is the one that must ukraine that we would have their back if they force their nukes. it is a stress problem. he did nothing. another thing president biden will have to clean up. on the republican line. this is jerry. caller: good morning. first off, i am united states navy. was part of the vietnamese. we will get back to that later. did you watch a of thrones? the russians are -- did you watch game of thrones? road by a old man who has zero power. europe, not stand in my way. china, big move to taiwan. they see what we are now. we are weak and they see it. that is what a veteran season. the last two colors were right on. -- the last two callers were right on. he seized what biden -- he sees what biden is here a confused old man who is being led, not in charge. putin will loose on ukraine by the end of february. when he does, china will observe and they will see what we can do. they will see that we do nothing. we yield a sanction against them, they laugh. you think putin cares? host: have we been able to effectively check anything that letterman putin has -- vladimir putin has wanted to do since he became president in 1999? caller: generally speaking, no. he has moved at will. he has moved at will. what have we done to stop him? nothing. i had an old jewish friend who told me one thing. he said people such as this only understands one thing. i love speaking with him. he told me they said, they only understand the stick. what he meant by that, they only understand force. these people only understand force. that is what americans do not understand. we think we can diplomat our way of things. the world is not like that. the world does not like us. the world is different from us. why isn't there ice in the drink? why? we are arrogant america. we do not understand for foreign affairs, we do not. they do not care. they simply do not. host: do not matter what the line is. there is not a lot of support for any u.s. support like terms of military force. from the people who called so far. caller: sir, i am a veteran. i have been called to fight. it is easy to stand by and say we need to go there. the only people who cried war people have never been there. you do not want to go. you do not want to be there when your best friend as sprayed all over you. you do not want to be there. you do not know what it is like. host: thanks for your call. thank you for your service. to virginia. oliver on our democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning, can you hear me? ok, listen. this morning i am so glad that i got a chance to get through to c-span. i am appalled at the republicans that call in. donald trump did this to his country, donald trump is the problem with misinformation, lies. these republicans are calling this morning to defend because they got that line from donald trump. a member he said he is not a bad guy, he is a great leader. that is the communist that is in this country. donald trump and his followers, those trump supporters attacked at the capitol. now they want us to look away the -- look the other way while they take this country down with white supremacy and all of the misinformation that is going on. it is amazing that the republican party has fallen on the side of economists. not us. host: let's go to jackson in missouri. democrats line. caller: i am a formal veteran. retired. i happen asked to fight in iran but then i got injured. my point is, why can't we all just get along? i do not see why we have to go to war. like that one gentleman said, if you ever been there, you never understand what really goes on in war. thank you for your time, sir. host: this is the foreign policy. publications to foreign policy. what a minor russian encouragement into ukraine may look like. they write it is no secret that the russian army is designed to be an offense of machine. most of it versus our armored or mechanized, potentially leaving convoys runnable to the insurgent like ambush tactics ukraine is preparing to use. while joe biden raises high-rises -- eyebrows this week --. the white house clarified his remarks. experts believe that the kremlin does not conduct large-scale training to hold ground. they have little appetite to run right into the defense team and take and hold territory across ukraine. "i do not anticipate a big red arrow that goes across ukraine. the formal demand of forces in europe, that would be so many casualties and no guarantee of the beings was full. you can read all of that article on foreign policy.com. janet in maryland. on the republican line. caller: sometimes i feel like we are about to be in the twilight zone. i am tired of hearing about president trump. i think we ought to worry about what should be our own. i also believe that europe should handle the ukraine and russia deal. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: nick, also on the republican line. this time in florida. go ahead. caller: good morning. question, when did the ukraine become the united states this problem? i was a political science history major. all of those history classes, political science classes, i do not remember anybody mentioning ukraine as a strategic ally of the united states. i find it comical that you have these dummy crats calling into this show and telling us that this is donald trump's fault. when russia first went into ukraine, they went into the crimea, they did it when barack obama was president. barack obama said, i quote "that is russia's sphere of influence ". basically giving them the ok. obama did not ensure the ukraine's. he did not send them any military hardware. anything that they actually needed to stop russian tanks from rolling into the crimea. putin does nothing when donald trump is president. trump makes american independent drive down energy prices across the globe. hurts russia's economy. putin could not do anything. joe biden comes in, what is the first thing he does? shuts down american energy. by shutting down the x on the pipeline. and he approves the north stream pipeline, which is a lifeline of money. that is how russia is finding this. and you have any democrats calling in whining still about donald trump and the fbi on the insurrection on january 6. this is why putin is doing what he is doing. he knows that about 55% of the american people are complete more on. ons. if anybody think that joe biden is going to do and think about this, you people are crazy. remember all of that garbage about the russian and the video that they supposedly had, that they never came up with later? i got news for you. that video exists. the only problem is, donald trump is not in it. one of the bidens is, either hunter or joe. they have the bidens over a barrel. host: the lines for the democrats. independent others (202) 748-8002. how should the u.s. response between russia and ukraine. the republican on house of foreign affairs committee. he was on yesterday on face the nation on cbs about how the nation should respond. congress should get busy working on sanctions against russia. [video clip] let's pick back up on the issue of russia. >> we are talking about immediate action potentially. congress has been away for the week. i know you're working on one you the house. do you have that kind of time to play it with legislation? or do you need sermons -- something in terms of a toolset? >> i am working on a bill i introduced appeared t get key . that is important. what is also porton is deterrence. -- what is also important is deterrence. right now putin does not think we are serious. that is why it is taken place. i think this all started in afghanistan and the taliban when he saw weakness. we saw that with hendler. -- hitler's. is not just about ukraine. it is about china, about president xi in taiwan, the ayatollah, about north korea who just fired off two missiles, these hypersonic weapons. i think this has broader global ramifications. we are seen as weak right now because of president biden, his comments about a limited invasion as being acceptable and that nato was divided, i think one thing he said was true, that nato is divided. putin's goal is to divide and weaken nato. he has accomplished some of that. [video clip] a story from -- guest: a story from reuters this money, e.u. ready for never before seen sanctions, ready to impose never seen before economic sanctions on russia if it attacks ukraine. the eu foreign minister says it would send a unified warning to moscow. east and west tensions have risen since