axelrod: good evening. i m jim axelrod, and this is a western edition of the broadcast. russia has sent thousands of troops into crimea where many ethnic russians live. the troops were deployed after the russian parliament gave vladimir putin the go-ahead to use military force to protect russian interests in crimea. the new government in ukraine, which had a revolution last weekend, has respond by moving their military to i state they call combat alert. u.n. secretary general ban ki- moon said he is gravely concerned, and n.a.t.o. said there s, an urgent need for deescalation. elizabeth palmer joins us from southern ukraine. liz, what are you seeing? reporter: jim, it s been a day of real escalation here in southern ukraine. some of the soldiers you mentioned were specifically sent from a russian military base across the border, into the ukraine. and they re taking control of roads, crimean airspace is closed to civilian flights, and the acting ukrainian prime ministe