let's go to nbc josh lederman joining us from delaware. where do things stand right now? >> reporter: well, the temperature is only getting hotter. there is no doubt about it, alex. a series of extraordinary meetings between the u.s. and russia this week that also involved nato officials ended without any apparent signs of progress, and with the u.s. saying they don't think there's been an any lessen lg of the possibility that vladimir putin may mount an invasion of ukraine. we're in a position where the u.s. is taking the remarkable step of trying to publicly thwart what they say is a planned false flag operation by russia, a u.s. official telling me yesterday that the u.s. now has intelligence showing that russia has prepositioned operat