Page 152 - Nic News Today

Rhetorical preparation from vladimir putin himself. >> reporter: a clear nostalgia for the soviet union, for when these nations were part of a unified russian empire. he used that term as well. just remarkable, right? remember, putin sees the breakup of the soviet union, we see it as the winning, the victory in the cold war. freedom for eastern europe and these former soviet republics and so on. he sees that as a tragedy. and part of his efforts in recent years has been to gain back pieces of th...

Ukraine right now and he just saw tanks roll in. where exactly are you, mark? >> hey, jesse. its great to be here. thanks of r. for the invite. yes, in the city of nic live. those who probably memorized ukrainian map you go through ker somplet on and nic live and odessa. we had heard all day. woke up this morning with the sound of explosions and they blew up the runways at the airport. and throughout the day we kept hearing from neighbors and friends calling and saying here they are. we saw evid...

Outside of russia. tho now of course, that means when he gets that permission, he can use them in the separatist areas and in ukraine as well but this is whats happening behind the scenes. the sense of ambiguity but the british prime minister today boris johnson reading the ambiguity and saying what is happening is very clearly russia moving forward towards a fuller invasion. this is boris johnson speaking. >> by denying ukraines legitimacy as a state and presenting its very existence as a morta...

Different contingencies that u.s. and allies have to plan for with regards to refugee flows and displaced persons, protection of critical flux in ukraine with regards to cyber -- defensive cyber assistance. thats really the idea. you kind of take it from cradle to grave, how russia would conduct this operation, and illuminate the different features like this. you could plan for it. and the u.s. could start to plan assets to bear. >> nic, lieutenant colonel vindman, thank you. i appreciate it. >>...

President and munich. the president this weekend spends his time in d.c. he ditched a plan go his home in delaware, officials say, so he can stay here and monitor things, talk to his officials abroad, but also talk to world leaders. there are no current calls scheduled, but well keep you up to date as the president has been known to pick up the phone at any moment to try to get an update. boris? >> keep us posted. thank you so much. lets dig in deeper with retired colonel edward layton and nic...

Not only recognized the two breakaway territories but the provinces that they are in, which i am in one of them right now, so president putin recognizing this area where i am much of the donbas, as its known, should be independent. the fear is now soon we could see russian troops not just in those separatist held areas but where i am and for what is now still held by ukraine. dana? >> absolutely. thank you for showing us those pictures. its important, even though, as you say, it seems to be rand...

Ukraine as a territorial state. even though yes, they speak russian and have those ties that you spoke of. >> nic, the president also said that nato countries are unified in what will be the response if putin invades. erin, of course, mentioned, as she calls it, equivocation on nord stream 2. but nato leaders have been speaking in unison. have been speaking with one voice. does that surprise the kremlin? and has putin galvanized nato members? he is the reason that were hearing this unity. >> rep...

Border with russia. now theyre closer to about 250,000 troops with another 250,000 in reserves. they have -- theyre much better trained. their equipment is certainly better. but unfortunately, theyre just -- the military capabilities, there is an enormous mismatch with regard to russias air power. it will have air dominance almost instantly, as soon as the first shots are fired. it has very powerful cyber capabilities, electronic warfare capabilities, long-range fires. and these can be very diff...

Right now. youre putting american and nato troops in the region on alert. as you analyze the images and the words coming from russian government officials about what they call peacekeeping troops and they are invasion forces, lets be clear about that, crossing into ukraine and they will not go quietly, will not go softly, as nic robertson reported, what is your assessment of the situation right now? >> dire, i would say. i dont -- i just cannot put together any alternative to an invasion at this...

Because that will give mr. putin an excuse in his mind to go in to protect quote/unquote russian citizens. nic said, made the statement about the 600,000 passports that have been distributed in the last four months in the donbas. intelligence counts that at about 700,000. hes looking to gain support from the world stage saying hes just protecting russian citizens in this area. but that hasnt bib the case since 2014, and it certainly isnt the case today. >> general hertling, i really appreciate i...