the conflict in ukraine has also put the spotlight on transnitria its home to nearly half a million russian speakers who ve been attempting to break away from moldova. 1,500 russian troops are stationed there. and moldovan reliance on russian gas means the russia still have influence and power. translation: we understand most of us concern about translation: we understand most of us concern about russia s us concern about russia s significant threat in the black sea region. by using all sorts of meets russia seeks to exert its influence on this region. as you know, russia is strengthening its capacity in our region as well. i believe that together we need to demonstrate
fighting vehicles, and also heavy artillery that s highly mobile. they also need air power. now, there s only so much that the west can do in that regard. but really the ability for ukraine to maneuver quickly to deliver decisive firepower and to hold any russian capture offensive in place is what is critical now. and the americans do need to come to the table offering those sorts of capabilities. and while, like you pointed out, russia hasn t made any kind of significant gains, one of russia s commanders we have heard in the last week or so said that putin s goal and russia s goal is to take full control of southern ukraine, kind of creating i aland corridor to transnitria. how do you interpret this new goal post-set by putin? how realistic is it here? look, at the moment it s completely unrealistic. the russians don t have the means to do that.
transnitria. kristen welker joins me live now. two very different accounts of what these two presidents talked about. are we seeing steps toward a diplomatic solution or is there more potential for more russian aggression? reporter: i think at this point, craig, senior administration officials just don t know what to make of the developments over the past 24 hours. here you have president obama, president putin speaking for about an hour, talking about a possible diplomatic resolution. and then, of course, the phone call today between secretary kerry and his counterpart, sergey lavrov, now those two are going to meet tomorrow night in paris, i am told. asking a senior administration official what this diplomatic resolution might entail, officials being tight-lipped. but they do point me back to past discussions about a possible off-ramp that they have offered to vladimir putin, which would entail allowing international monitors into