such great music. good morning to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. it is friday, january 21st. i m john berman. brianna is on tonight. kasie is here with me. nice to see you. nice to see you, too, john. what an icon. we begin with sad, breaking news. the death of rock star and actor meat loaf, the grammy award-winning singer was tagged with the name meat loaf when he was had he 8 years old. it stuck. his bat out of hell album is one of the all-time best sellers in film. you saw it right there. my favorite role of his was eddie in the rocky horror picture show. the cause of death has not been released. in a statement on his facebook page said he died with his wife deborah by his side. an aspiring artist and beautiful man. from his heart to your souls, don t ever stop rocking. meat loaf was 74. john, it s amazing how much his music is just part of the landscape of our lives over the last so many decades. . well, you know, in the thousands
price. talks between u.s. and russia begin in the coming hours. the latest to resolve the standoff with ukraine over diplomacy. we are live in geneva and moscow this hour. plus, the damage is extensive and the country s needs are dire. we ll have a live report on the aid that s timely arriving in tonga after a devastating volcanic eruption. and grammy award-winning singer meat loaf has died. we ll take a look back at his legendary music career. announcer: live from london, this is cnn newsroom with isa soares. welcome to the show, everyone. it is friday, january 21st. we ll begin with a flurry of diplomatic activity scheduled to get underway this hour angrily prev preventing an all-out war between russia and ukraine. u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken and sergei lavrov will meet in geneva, switzerland. negotiations have done little to ease tensions so far. and ukrainian leaders say the u.s. and president joe biden must do more to deter a russian invasion.
ukraine s border. president biden has warned of serious consequences should russia s vladimir putin move ahead with invasion. the kremlin sees nato support for ukraine as a growing threat on russia s western flank. that s right. blinken and lavrov s meeting, it s an effort to avoid having this clash of wills end in blood shed in ukraine, damage u.s. credibility, and, you know, unpredictable side effects like a potentially huge spike in energy prices. a lot at stake. covering the talks as only cnn can, cnn s fred lick plotkin is in geneva. nic robertson is in moscow for us. let s start with you, fretd. w fred. what message is the secretary of state bringing to the counterpart? reporter: they rolled past where i am a couple minutes ago. the secretary of state is going to have a strong message if russia decides to further invade ukraine, if there is an armed incursion into ukrainian territory, there will be a severe response not just from the united states, but from the u.s.
now become evidence before a grand jury? plus, another investigation hitting close to home for the trump family as the january 6th committee seeks testimony from ivanka trump. the question is what do lawmakers want to know? and the biden administration will get another chance to warn russia against invading ukraine when secretary of state tony blinken meets with his russian counterpart at any moment now. the question is will the face-to-face ease rising tensions in europe? it s way too early for this. good morning and welcome to way too early, the show that would never think about coasting into the weekend. i m jonathan lemire on this friday, january 21st. we ll start with some breaking news. we re going to be following live pictures from geneva where any moment now secretary of state blinken is set to meet with his russian counterpart, foreign minister, sergey lavrov. we can see the setup in geneva with the flags. this comes as there s a continuing military bu
territorial integrity. today s meeting also comes a day after president biden clarified his comments about a minor incursion, insisting that any russian troop movement inside ukraine would be considered an invasion. i ve been absolutely clear with president putin, he has no misunderstanding. if any any assembled russian units move across the ukrainian border that is an invasion and it will be met with severe and coordinated economic response. let there be no doubt at all that if putin makes this choice russia will pay a heavy price. let s go right to richard engel in ukraine. good to see you. what more can you tell us about what went on during this meeting between secretary blinken and the russian foreign minister and is there any early reaction there in ukraine? reporter: well, this negotiation suddenly became much more complicated for the u.s. side. sergey lavrov, the russian foreign minister is a skilled diplomate, he s been doing this for many years, he is a ver