bumps and grand promises of u.s. support. on wednesday, secretary of state blinken visits kiev, but earlier this week a congressional delegation was here. i think vladimir putin has made the biggest mistake of his career. reporter: vowing more tough action in washington against russian aggression. we will impose crippling economic sanctions, but more important, we will give the people of ukraine the arms, lethal arms, they need to defend their lives and livelihoods. reporter: it certainly doesn t look deterred. these are the latest images of russia s live-fire military exercises near its border. where the latest ukrainian defense intelligence assessment obtained exclusively by cnn says russia has almost completed its military build up. the assessment says there are now more than 127,000 russian troops poised to invade. including russian infantry units seen here practicing urban warfare. the kind that may play a major role if any potentially messy incursion into ukrain
russia in crisis. the weekend mutiny by russian mercenaries exposes putin s vulnerability, forcing him to cut a deal with the man he had called a traitor just hours before. that man, hot dog vendor turned war lord yevgeny prigozhin was apparently allowed to flee to belarus. we re going to take a deep dive into what happens next for him and his wagner group. and it s becoming increasingly clear that republican voters don t care how corrupt their candidates are. donald trump s lead is actually growing in the crowded republican presidential field. make that make sense. but we begin tonight with a wild weekend in the unprecedented challenge to more than two decades of vladimir putin s grip on russia. the armed rebellion has ended, but the uncertainty it sparked continues. the russian war lord behind that attempted insurrection. wagner group leader yevgeny prigozhin remains out of sight, but he released an audio message today, claiming he wasn t seeking to overthrow putin. h
About it. prigozhin is a warhawk. he is a bloodthirsty warhawk. and that is a threat to putin from his hard right wing. so there are a lot of scenarios here that can still unfold that are not going to be favorable i think to our national security interests. right. the reality is right. number one, two-part question for you. the system in one, can he possibly keep him alive or out of prison? he spoke out against the military operation, or whatever euphemism they used for it, said it was lie. he is also a threat. he has his own army, and it doesn t seem like putin controls it. he controls it. even though he is out of the country, is it possible he could even be left alive? that s number one. the second part is, if let s just say this coup would lead to another coup, who would fill that vacuum? we certainly don t want that guy running russia. see no better. well, prigozhin clearly became a cult-like figure, certainly within the wagner group.
Secretary jen psaki hinted today at the explosive nature of the situation. we believe we re now at a stage where russia could at any point launch an attack on ukraine. i d say that s more stark than we have been. secretary of state antony blinken is en route right now to ukraine as the u.s. weighs its next move to counter russia s aggression. cnn s matthew chance is in kiev, ahead of blinken s arrival. reporter: this is the actual video, complete with soundtrack, put out by the ukrainian military. being fired to the beat, javelin anti-tank missiles supplied by the u.s. as part of its growing military support. it s these kinds of weapons ukraine hopes will help stop another russian invasion. and it wants more. cue a flurry of diplomatic fist
It wasn t a mistake. psaki made that comment twice today. what do you make of that coming from the white house? i just want to say that, you know, i m not a recent critic of vladimir putin. my first article pointing at a danger coming from kgb guy running russia was dated january 4th, 2001. and actually 15 years ago in february 2007, putin himself told what his plans. to return to scales of power to control the former soviet republic. and four u.s. administrations read this message because now he s massing up troops. it s more than serious. what we are discussing now, i heard this, crippling sanctions. it s too little. i hope it s not too late. president biden had three talks with vladimir putin. one in person and two on video, on zoom. and every time we were told that he made an ultimatum. he warned putin.