is a partial mobilization. putin also made an ominous pledge to use all means to, in his words, defend his country. translator: this is not a bluff. the citizens of russia can be sure that the territorial integrity of our homeland, independence and freedom will be ensured and those that try to black mail us with nuclear weapons should know that the prevailing winds can turn in their direction. reporter: putin s rare national address comes amid a fierce counter offensive from ukraine s forces and the kremlin-backed push for referendums that could lead to moscow annexing occupied parts of ukraine. let s go to cnn s international security editor nick peyton walsh. nick, a partial mobilization. i mean, this sounds pretty drastic but could putin have gone even further? reporter: yes, certainly could have. this is not the mass mobilization which many during the 12-hour delay before the speech came out this morning were thinking might have been on the cards. he is, it seems,
country. translator: this is not a bluff. the citizens of russia can be sure that the territorial integrity of our homeland, independence and freedom will be ensured. and those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the prevailing winds can turn in their direction. of course these comments come against the backdrop of the u.n. general assembly here in new york. the war on ukraine dominating those conversations. president biden is set to speak in a few hours from now. ukraine s president zelenskyy set to address world leaders remotely later today. all of this as russia occupied regions in ukraine announced referendums on joining russia this week. ukraine and its allies dismissing that move as a sham driven by fear of defeat. we re covering all the elements. let s begin with barbara starr at the pentagon. frederick layton is in washington d.c. and matthew chance in london. matthew, what do we know this morning? reporter: this speech taking place at
this. president biden is set to speak in a few hours and all of this is occupied and announced a referendum this week. . and it s important to put some degree of qualification as to what russia says it s going to do. 300,000 is a lot. it is as people with military experience and those and the manpower has been pretty bad and it s likely the groups russia has called on have already been tapped to join the war. with it right equipment to actually be impactful because they ve really been struggling to keep their armed forces together over the past six months. this is an enormous task for russia while it s already on its back foot. but it will lead to some dramatic days ahead. these have these four referendum happening in freshly occupied areas. no doubt about it, these are just a number that we re going to hear on monday and tuesday that they allegedly claim that people in those areas want to be part of russia. russia will say, okay, we consider you part of our territory. what
i m poppy harlow. and i m jim scuitto, live from the united nations, where minutes from now president biden will deliver his global address. hanging over this assembly are new and alarming threa from russia. a major public escalation in the war in ukraine, as world leaders meet here at the u.n. this is a harrowing time for ukraine, for europe and the wo world. president putin announced he s calling up 300,000 reservists. he also said he s not bluffing. let s begin on the ground in ukraine. nick paton walsh is in the eastern ukraine. this is not the first time the russian president has threatened nuclear weapons. ukraine would be the center of this, what s the reaction. reporter: there always have deep concerns, but also a reality is setting in, possibly a leader in defeat and possibly using rhetoric where he doesn t have capacity, but it doesn t reduce the fear this was essentially response there have been none, but also key one of the words he said was using the
it s the top of the hour on cnn newsroom. i m alisyn camerota. i m victor blackwell. today the attorney general accused donald trump, his family and organization of a pattern of fraud and deception that was, her word, astounding. letitia james is suing the former president for $250 million, alleging fraud that spanned years before he entered the white house. also named in the suit, three of trump s adult children and two executives of the trump organization. they re all accused of inflating or deflating assets for their gain. over the course of our investigation we found that mr. trump, his children, the trump organization, created and used more than 200 false and misleading asset valuations on a statement of financial condition over that ten-year period. here s just one case cited in the 200 plus page lawsuit. ag james said trump claimed his florida estate was worth $739 million, when it was only worth $75 million. now she is not only demanding a quarter billion doll