0 vladimir putin and the russians while the ukrainians are being killed before our eyes right now today, here and now. >> trace: here and now. yeah. congresswoman tenney, thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. continuing coverage of the breaking news you see life pictures right there, kyiv, ukraine. the war is on. now to a fox news alert. air raid sirens heard across ukraine from the capital of kyiv. ukraine is under martial law. explosions rocking ukraine as russia on launches an attack. it's only the beginning. a full-scale invasion. a defiant ukrainian president says he's not going anywhere. he vows his people will stand and they will fight. hello, everyone. i am trace gallagher with continuing live team coverage of the crisis in eastern europe. it's 11:00 p.m. here in los angeles, 9:00 in the morning now and kyiv, a dark morning for the people there. and around the world. for months we've been watching the buildup of russian forces along ukraine's sovereign border. just a few hours ago, despite the kremlin's repeated insistence that it was all just a military exercise, those forces lashed out. it began wednesday with cyberattacks and then came reports of explosions. russia targeted ukraine's military bases in border guards. at the white house, president biden vowed the u.s. and its allies will hold moscow accountable for what he calls an unprovoked and unjustified attack. he is expected to unveil new sanctions he calls severe sanctions against russia in the coming hours but it's unlikely threats and deeds can deter vladimir putin from completing his violent mission to proclaim ukraine russian territory. an ever escalating -- failed in a huge way to resolve. we will be joined by our team of fox news correspondence. we have lucas tomlinson and trey yingst on the ground for us. kevin corke is standing by in washington with reaction from our nation's political leaders and amy kellogg will join us from moscow as the european union prepares to face one of its biggest crises in decades. first, let's bring in fox news correspondent lucas tomlinson standing by. lucas. >> for the fifth time this morning you can hear air raid sirens. not seeing any russian jets or bombers but clearly this is more than a test. it might even be a warning to the people here. as you mention, the russians are claiming they've taken out all of ukraine's air defenses. certainly some air defenses in the western part of country. right now these air raid sirens are on. one of the things i think it's important that we go back to was the russian response to the u.s. the letters that went back and forth between ambassador sullivan and the state department in russia. i was thinking just before we went on, something that was in that letter, an 11 page letter delivered to the u.s. ambassador in moscow that said if putin does not get his way on nato and the security guarantees, he will be forced to take action. he called them military technical actions. even though they rejected any kind of invasion which clearly was a lie, it was our first hint that something like this was going to happen. it's also very clear that this attack, this full-scale invasion is coming in phases. phase one the began early this morning was a missile attack. all the damage done in this country, the strikes against ukrainian bases, ukrainian military fortifications, all from a standard short range ballistic missile, caliber cruise missiles. where did russia perfect this technique? in syria. their interaction in syria began in 2015. a lot of people look back at the russian experience in syria and say this was their proving ground, their testing ground. most of russian fighter pilots had combat experience thanks to deployments to syria. i interviewed a retired lieutenant general who used to be the head of u.s. forces, u.s. army europe. he said he didn't even know russia had this capability to launch cruise missiles from warships that we saw in syria. tonight they are seeing all of that practice come through. when russia invaded georgia in 2008, they used about half the forces they use to invade ukraine. it really was a mess. there was a lot of friendly fire. trouble with communications. vladimir putin set a goal to modernize his military nursing the fruits of that. launching these short range ballistic missiles. it appears actions are going into the invasion phase. seeing armored personnel carriers from the north from belarus. we have these russian warships offshore. we are still waiting to see what that invasion looks like. >> trace: i want to read this to you because this pertains to where you are. it's an alert saying if you hear a loud explosion or sirens, we just heard sirens moments ago in the background, immediately seek cover. if you are in a home or building go to the lowest level of the structure with the fewest exterior walls, windows and openings. close any doors, sit near an interior wall away from any windows or openings. kind of like a tornado warning that we've seen so many times. my question to you is because we have talked about what's happening in the streets behind you, the siren was going off. are people adhering to these alerts? or is it just kind of -- they are going about their day? >> trace, looking down on people, they look like they are just living their day. seeing people walking dogs. some kids are still going to school. people are walking around. the streets are little quieter, no question the people know what's going on. people do feel like they are getting a little bit more nervous and jittery. but for the most part here in western ukraine, a city the size of boston, it's a university town, home to one of the oldest universities in ukraine. people appear to be going about their lives but no question they are very tense. some targets the russians hit were close to lviv, some military bases to the north and south. >> trace: lucas tomlinson live on the ground. back to u.s. news breaks. nice job. let's bring in senior foreign affairs correspondent -- maybe not. marsha blackburn "we pray for the people of ukraine as they defend against putin's attempts to rebuild the old soviet union. biden must stand up to putin and immediately levy severe sanctions against russia starting with removal from the swift banking system. the usa stands with ukraine." that's a big question. is it enough to do these major sanctions against these banks? is it enough to have the international community condemn russia so that these banks will actually help shut down the russian economy? as we have seen in country after country where the sanctions have been severe, the leaders always end up staying the leaders. the people always end up getting hurt in the sanctions. it appears the -- because vladimir putin is very wealthy the sanctions will not directly impact him. a lot of calls to sanction directly the president of russia, vladimir putin, the man who calls the shots and called for this war to begin. air raid sirens and reports of blasts can be heard in the capital city of kyiv this morning. president zelenskyy of the ukraine has issued martial law for ukraine but as you see on the ground there many people are out and about. there are also reports of attacks on defense facilities and border units. for the very latest from ukraine, let's go back to steve harrigan standing by live for us and kyiv with more. anything in the past 30 or 40 minutes that's changing that we should know about? >> trace, it's a city under martial law. the military is in charge and they are telling people to stay in their homes. not everybody is listening to that. we are still seeing cars on the road and some people out walking. but before dawn we heard about 20 explosions and that really scared a lot of people. many people now are taking shelter either in basements or in the city subway system. it's a deep underground system. that's where the mayor has told people to go in case of bombing. it's 37 degrees this morning, cold, wet morning. a lot of people who live in the city of kyiv are huddled in subway systems below the ground because they are scared of being blown up by russian bombs. as far as the situation goes, wanting to keep in mind is putin's words. some frightening words from the russian president. the man who is in charge of this operation. he said, he gave a warning not just ukrainians but really to the world. he said don't interfere. if any nation interferes with this operation, the consequences that will be seen have never been seen before in history. an attack not just against ukraine but a warning to the entire world. a menacing warning. consequences never before seen in history. this as ukrainians are huddled in metro stations underground this morning. trace, back to you. >> trace: i wonder if your senses he means something else. the warning as he said again he said russia will respond immediately and there will be consequences we've never had before in your history. i'm wondering, we talk to an expert about it, if it includes cyberattacks? if it includes things russia believes it has an edge over the rest of the world on? that is something that we've never seen. you wonder what vladimir putin thinks he has in his quiver that the world hasn't seen that can give him a step up in this entire battle. >> you're right, a range of options from perhaps cyberattacks that have not been seen but keep in mind more traditional assaults. he has the potential to carry out as well. he had a major show of force before this operation took place. he and the president of belarus were in the kremlin situation room basically watching live fire exercises of ballistic missiles. this was to show once again to the world that russia when it comes to nuclear warheads, the largest power in the world. dramatic show of force on a warning to other nations to stay out of ukraine until russia settles what it thinks is its business here. the words from putin are extraordinary. he's talking about genocide against russian people and those separatist areas and he's talking about fighting against denazification. he's talking about nazis and genocide, that's the language being used. when you are talking about nazis and genocide, you're not talking about a minor incursion. this is a major battle with cities now all over the nation of ukraine being hit by russian forces. >> trace: he also is the same one in his speech a couple days ago who talked about one, ukraine and russia are one and these are his brothers and sisters. and yet he is bombing his brothers and sisters. the rationale and the reasoning doesn't appear to be there. >> it was fun settling speech, a tour through his own personal version of soviet history. it's important to keep in mind that this 69-year-old has been in power since the year 2000. i don't think anyone has said no to him in the past 21 years. certainly in this attack, no one stopped him. so we'll see where it goes. the other thing to keep keep an eye on ion, forces from belarus. ukrainian border guards have reported fighting with those forces. more than 30,000 russian forces in the north from belarus and they are moving south. that's the quickest way to the capital. that's the convoy to keep an eye on. where will those armored personnel carrier stopped? >> trace: great question. steve harrigan, back to you is the news breaks. thank you. joining us now his former chief of staff from the national security council. you're the man to talk to about all of this. steve harrigan kind of was close to ending on the fact that russia has more nuclear weapons than anybody in the world. ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons in 2018, struck a deal saying we'll get rid of them in return for some sort of security blanket that was never really laid out. certainly it doesn't mean nato has to go and defend ukraine but i wonder if ukraine still has -- if they had the nuclear weapons if we would be in this position. what do you think? >> it's an excellent point. it's going to have an effect with various efforts to stop nuclear weapons programs. it's going to make it harder to convince the north koreans to give up their nuclear weapons. it's going to convince the iranians to continue their sprint to get nuclear weapons. we made kind of -- some kind of promise to the ukrainians. i don't think it was spelled out as you said. now we are where we are. i think ukrainians which they haven't given up those weapons. >> trace: you look at what is happening. russia says it's taking out all of ukraine's air forces which is a huge strategic blow to ukraine. they have said they are going to stand and fight and they've got weapons from the united states, they have weapons from nato. these are valuable and clearly lethal weapons. the question is, this is a mismatch. this is a huge mismatch. are we, by arming these people, are we giving them a confidence that might be overstated? >> we have nationwide attacks. the russians are saying that they're only taking out military targets. they are not going to attack cities. you can believe anything the russian say. there has been video on tv and on the internet today of troops coming across the border. tanks coming across the border from belarus into russia. if that is true, those tanks are on the way to kyiv. i think this is a good point. the ukrainian people, ukrainian army, they may feel a little overconfident. on the other hand i think in trying to take kyiv, the russians will suffer some pretty significant casualties. it is hard to take cities. there will be many well armed troops in that region. so a half to think about what is the objective of this operation. does russia have enough troops to take these cities, or is russia hoping it's going to get capitulation by the ukrainian government before it tries to do that. >> trace: that's my next question. what if president zelenskyy says okay, we are going to take nate off the table. we don't want -- we want you to pull your troops out tomorrow. would it be enough? you look at what's happening here on i think the last thing as we talked about with some other people, the last thing vladimir putin wants is to get bogged down in another afghanistan like in '88. doesn't want to get bogged down in iraq like we have seen where these guerrilla warfare scenarios go on for months and months. sometimes years and years. i think that's the last thing they want here. is there possibility here that may be both sides are looking for an off-ramp? >> i don't think so. the nato membership was always a ruse. ukraine can't be admitted to nato unless all 30 members vote for it and there was nowhere near unanimity to permitting it. russia wants ukraine to be -- putin wants ukraine to be a russian client state. he was threatened by democracy in ukraine. he sees it in his sphere of influence. he wants more than just a silly promise that ukraine will never join nato. >> trace: when you say that he wants them as a -- he doesn't want to go in there and run, he doesn't want to run ukraine. he wants them to keep running themselves but he wants a kind of give the direction. he wants to say here's what we're going to do today. >> i think that's right but remember that putin had stalled -- installed a puppet government which was overthrown because of popular protests in 2014. he puts another puppet government in, there's a chance it will happen again. sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for. putin may be able to seize control of ukraine, the capital, overthrow the government. what happens then? the ukrainian people are not going to stand for being occupied by this russian army which is probably not large enough to resist will be a rather aggressive insurgency. >> trace: if we were, for the sake of argument, might be a bridge too far, if we were to take russia at its word and that they were only doing strategic strikes to go after the command centers on the military installations and so forth and that's really what their goal was, would that change your opinion on the way this should be, this should proceed or does ukraine absolutely not trust them and they go to war? >> i thought at the beginning of the evening that putin just wanted donetsk. this was an effort to knock out any troops that would stop the russians from taking full control of these provinces. i assumed that after putin did that, sometime in the future there would be wider invasions. i didn't think there would be a wide invasion of the entire country like this. i think this is something that putin had planned all along and i don't think putin's in the mood for negotiating. he has shown that over the last couple weeks, he has refused to talk to zelenskyy. unless there is complete capitulation and agreeing to be a russian puppet i don't think there is going to be a deal. >> trace: is that with the total capitulation means in your terms? being a puppet? that means that zelenskyy has to give whatever putin wants? >> i think it would be unconditional surrender of the russians make the term so that would be the capitulation. >> trace: and you think the national, the international community would support that or say it's not going to happen? >> the international community would never accept that. it's really a disaster for the international system but it's worth noting as we talk, how can we stop this? this is a result of the year of incompetent u.s. national security policy by the weakest president in the history, the catastrophe that happen with u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan, foreign policy that focuses on climate change. over the last couple weeks, positive press that joe biden cocked for revealing intelligence that putin is going to launch a false flag operatio. this was a ridiculous response and i think it emboldened putin to go ahead with this invasion. we need to have a reset of american national security policy after this disaster. >> trace: what next? if your president biden. or if you're giving him guidance, what next for him? does he go forward with the sanctions? is there something else he needs to have up his sleeve? >> i have to sanction. u.s. troops are not going into ukraine. it's not a strategic interest of the united states. we do not want unnecessary war. should have been maximum sanctions a year ago. we should never have dropped sanctions on the nord stream 2 pipeline. biden has been appeasing putin for the last year. he has let putin know there's opportunities now. he would never have had under a strong and decisive american president. biden needs to clean house. he needs to fill his national security positions with men and women of gravitas and sense, people like jim baker. someone who would be like jim baker. i would bring in jane harman. maybe bob gates, may be leon panetta. senior statesmen who can help reset our national security policy. give biden good advice to stop him from making bad decisions and stand up to these dictators who are really going to be on the rampage i'm afraid after this catastrophe. >> trace: so many bad decisions made in afghanistan and you wonder if those are going to kind of overlap. great conversation. thank you for coming on. we appreciate it. >> trace: fox news senior foreign affairs correspondent amy kellogg is life in moscow. amy. >> that's right, trace. things feel normal coming into the office this morning. traffic on the streets. people going to work probably in something of a stupor. i don't think many people expected this at all to happen. they certainly don't know what it means for their day-to-day life. my phone is lighting up with stories of the fall of the ruble. also the central-bank is announcing it's going to release some of its hard currency reserves to try to stabilize the markets. airports are closing. people are nervous about how they're going to get out of here when they eventually do have plans to go abroad. many people simply didn't recognize their president last night or early this morning i should say or whenever that message was re