us from the associated press. this is a highway out of kyiv. look at the cars down the right side, going into kyiv, very few of them. look at all those cars, leaving heave right now. our reporter on the ground there, erin mclaughlin, has heard shelling s. was on air with us, when she heard that song. this is unusual. because it seemed like a second phase, in something that just began a few hours ago. as you heard so, we ve not heard the ruling over of tanks. or artillery over the eastern border of russia into ukraine. but, there are two regions in eastern ukraine that latin putin has declared independent. and today, he ordered a special military operation to protect those places. he says that he has requests from the leaders of those two republics, that nobody else in the world recognize us as independent, for russian military interference or involvement. and that is why they are sending activity that they have going on there underway.
these shelling s. we have not seen evidence, necessarily, of people leaving those designated places. but certainly, this is unfolding as we speak right now. we have not seen any evidence that civilians have gone on those buses and left mariupol, which is exactly the plan. this isn t the only place, ali, that evacuations are happening. i want to bring you to a town south of kyiv. yesterday, according to the red cross, they evacuated 3000 people, including many elderly residents. they crossed a bridge to get out of that suburb to the safety of the west. but today, i want to show you this video. we have the video showing russian shelling in that area as civilians are trying to evacuate. now of course, everyone, whether it s from mariupol, from the southeast, or from the northeast, they are trying to make their way west, to where i am, ali, to the relative safety of lviv. we have been talking to so many people. there are so many people who want to get out of the country to go to hungary, t
0 official, i asked him if president putin is directing this himself. and he said yes, that is how it is going. that is not surprising. we know that president putin makes all of the decisions. in the end, he will have had advice from that small clique around him, that ultimately he is the decision-maker. and another element of his televised address, which to reiterate, if russians will be stunned by. waking up and seeing now, another man from that televised address, which is chilling frankly. is that president putin requires russian s nuclear capability. and clearly, openly threatens western leaders. even after the collapse of the ussr, losing a significant part of the nuclear potential. today, russia is one of the most nuclear powers. and he says, i think that this is a direct message to the west. in this regard, no one should have any doubt that a direct attack on russia will lead to defeat and dire consequences for a potential aggressor. and so, i just want to say all, just before t