0 ukrainians are prideful, passionate, strong people. the russians do not have that will to fight but you cannot imagine the conflict people are going to having to kill their fellow native russians in ukraine. >> trace: we have to go. thank you all for coming on. >> thank you. >> trace: continuing coverage right now. the sovereign nation of ukraine this morning under fire as russian forces unleashed a violent and massive military attack. at this very hour, explosions can be heard rattling in at least three ukrainian cities be air raid sirens blast across the capital city of kyiv paid moscow claims it's already knocked out ukraine's air defenses. the country now under martial law and its only beginning a war we've been fearing for months. good morning, everyone. it's trace gallagher continuing live team coverage of the crisis in eastern europe. it's now midnight here in los angeles, 10:00 in the morning in kyiv. dark morning for people there and around the world. for months we were told that what was yet to come as nearly 200,000 russian forces massed along ukraine's southern border. u.s. intelligence provided a virtual play-by-play of how russia would advance. today, that intelligence proved to be spot on. it began last week with preliminary operations in separatist regions of ukraine. yesterday came the predicted cyber attack. then explosions as russia targeted ukraine's militaries and airfields from all sides. successful defense hits on russian military vehicles and warplanes. president biden is expected to unveil what the white house describes as "severe new sanctions against russia. but so far, threats indeed have failed to deter vladimir putin from launching a bloody campaign to seize ukraine on his own. it's an ever escalating conflict and efforts of diplomacy by the international community has failed so far to resolve. the coming hour, will be joined by our team of fox news correspondence. we have lucas tomlinson and steve harrigan on the ground in ukraine. kevin corke is standing by in washington with reaction from our nation's political leaders. we will get all of them. in the meantime, president zelenskyy and the ukrainian parliament, well... let's go back to steve harrigan whose life for us on the ground in kyiv. >> this is a city now declared by the government to be under martial law. they are telling people to stay in their homes. if you take a look at what's going on, not everyone is listening to that. some people are out and driving. other people are huddled in the subway. there were bombings in the predawn hours and there were more attacks in the past hour. we could hear a sort of rumbling in the distance. it's a foggy cloudy day here so you can hear just sort of muffled thunder in the distance. there have been no reports of mass casualties from any of those attacks. russia is saying it's using precision weapons and they are not targeting civilians. it's likely they are targeting air defense systems. russia is saying it has knocked out the entire air defense system of ukraine. we can't verify that. we can say we've seen jets and helicopters fly overhead. it's not clear whether they are ukrainian or russian. there is a real fear in the city now, of fear which had not existed up until today for a lot of people. people are fleeing, especially west and towards poland, it's bumper-to-bumper. there are lines for gas hours long. people buying groceries, people trying to get money out of the bank. they are fleeing. other people are in their basements. they are in the subway system here. it's 37 degrees. it's cold and wet out there. people are scared about what could happen. so they are taking shelter where they can. the russian president vladimir putin has announced an operation in eastern ukraine. but it's clear the facts in the ground go far beyond that. the nation of ukraine is being attacked on all fronts. from the north, to the east, and to the south. the most worrisome prospect at this time is russian forces from the north, belarus across the border. more than 30,000 russian forces there on the move. they've been battling ukrainian border guards, heading this way towards the capital city. what happens next is not clear. will those tanks, the armored vehicle stopped outside the city? will there be a siege operation? it seems likely there is the extent and widespread nature of this attack that this is about regime change. it's a change regime, the decapitate this regime. the russian forces are going to have to come here to kyiv. that's what we are waiting for, that's what we expect. >> trace: as you look at the screen, live pictures, 10:04 a.m., coming west out of kyiv, it's bumper-to-bumper. looks like it'll come take a really long time to get these people to where they are going. we aren't saying all of them are fleeing but certainly some of them are and i wonder if you know, i don't know, i don't want to pin you in on this. if you know there are any policies in places like poland on what they would do, they would allow these people to come in, are they allowing refugees to come across the border, do we know any of that and has that been talked about? >> it has been talked about in multiple bordering nations be preparations underway to receive refugees and of course estimates of the amount of refugees if there is a full-scale russian invasion and that's certainly what we are looking at this morning is up to 5 million refugees. this will be a test of that. i think the question can be asked, why did people wait so long? why are they flooding the highway now? i think that speaks to the fact that for many people here in ukraine, what is happening today is the unthinkable. to be attacked with rockets, with missiles, with bombs from russia in their capital city was for many people here unthinkable. so they haven't left until this morning when they could hear for themselves the explosions. trace? >> trace: i know you are busy and let you go, but it seems to me that when people are leaving and you say that today is the unthinkable, was there a belief here from the days that you have been here that these people believed that vladimir putin was just not going to go forward with this campaign, or that diplomacy really stood a very good chance of succeeding? >> i think there was a bully from top to bottom, from people on the street to journalists who have covered the story for years, the analysts that a full-scale attack was so illogio reckless that it simply couldn't happen. it is happening, even the worst expectations. not just eastern ukraine, not just the capital, cities in the west under attack as well. full-scale major invasion, regime change likely goal. >> trace: steve harrigan, back to you as a news brakes. we've seen in kyiv people coming west out of kyiv, likely going to or near the polish border. many of them could be refugees. 44 million people in the country of ukraine who had steve harrigan just telling us moments ago that up to 5 million of them could become refugees. that would be a crisis for ukraine as well as poland, and some other countries that are nearby. of course, that's one of the key things will be looking at in days to come. i want to read this, from the ap. the european union is planning, quoting, the strongest harshest package of sanctions it has ever considered and an emergency meeting thursday as the russian military attack ukraine. the european union president said, quoting here, "the target is the stability in europe and the whole of the international peace order and we will hold president vladimir putin accountable for that. we will present a package of massive and targeted sanctions to european leaders for approval." strongest in harkness package. the question is will it be enough and will it give the people of ukraine breathing room to be able to mount their fight. let's turn to fox news correspondent lucas tomlinson, live with more. >> i'm located in with the western ukrainian city about six hours west of where steve harrington reporter from the capital where he talks about, they are likely coming this way. the mayor of the city a few days ago said he is prepared to take hundreds of thousands potentially of refugees and this is a university town about the size of boston, home to one of the oldest universities in the country and the mayor told me he's actually prepared to dismiss the students, use the dormitories to host some of these refugees. speaking of the russian launching this invasion, there's video on social media of russian forces five hours north of the city, where i am right now in belarus heading south, heading this way. we'll continue to look at that. as far as conditions on the ground, after joining the last time, i took a walk around the city, i saw signs of panic, walked in a small morning, much longer line then i saw, people buying a large amount of food, a lot of potatoes, coffee. this happens to be the copy capital of the country. people loading up on supplies. the queue at the atm machine come along lines of people getting cash. and a police station a few blocks away, one of the largest police stations in this country, the first time we've been here, saw a number of police officers surrounding the building with small machine guns and certainly obviously taking precautions. in terms of the air raid sirens we heard, we heard five different blast of the air raid sirens. we spoke to a number of residents here saying they've never heard that in nearly 50 years. >> trace: it's amazing. as you look at the traffic again. we are looking at, lucas, coming out of kyiv, and that the mayor is willing to hold some of these people and yet there are troops marching from belarus down to where you are. you are about five or six hours away from where steve harrigan is. how far would that make you from where the troops are coming down? >> if they just go south, the russian troops from belarus will be here in five hours. straight shot from the highway. we are located 40 miles east of the polish border and six hours west of the capital of ukraine. this is coming. like steve said, a lot of people in the streets here for weeks here in the ground about three weeks, in the capital of two weeks, here for about a week, nobody saw this coming on the ground. getting warnings from the pentagon and the white house, when we spoke with people on the street they shrug. they say they been in war, a largely dirty route war with artillery but nothing what we saw this morning. the first phase has ended. now its missile strikes, caliber cruise missiles, short range ballistic missiles that took out from what the russians claim our airfields, military targets, ukraine's air defense system. you would expect that the air defenses have been neutralized, you'll see helicopter gun ships. we've seen these civilians, satellite images showing thousands of russian helicopters in belarus and crimea. you expect those will be launching later today. >> i'm curious. why leave kyiv and go to lviv? is there a sense you get to one of these outlying areas even though it's a large city that there is no appetite by the russians to take these over and what they really want is the grand prize which is the capital of ukraine? >> you'll need a few people in the ground asked that question, trace but some people refer to this area as a safe zone. people left the capital in the last few days leading up to this. some of them where staying in hotels around here. some have moved in some plants. they are here because i thought they'd escape, you know, potential carnage elsewhere in the country. they think this is a safe zone but what these unconfirmed reports of troops going south from belarus, there might be no city safe in the country. >> trace: very good point. no city safe. lucas, we'll get back to you as a news warrants. it should be noted that earlier amy kellogg told us if you look at kyiv which is a bustling city, they are about to get hit with the harshest most severe sanctions they've ever endured there, at the very least maybe it won't go after vladimir putin personally with him and his oligarch friends. but the question is how severe will it hit cities like moscow where they are are young bustling populations, and many people saying they didn't want this. they wanted the life they are living where they are successful and now their lives are going to be changed in ways that are dramatic beer with us now retired u.s. army colonel great to see you again. i look at lucas tomlinson and he is saying, well, they think of lviv is a safe haven, 4-5 hours outside of kyiv. they think it's a safe haven and you wonder is any place right now in your estimation safe inside ukraine? >> here is one of the things, the physical limitations here. all the things we said that president biden told us, and this department, approximately 200,000 russian troops that were surrounding the area. that's not enough troops to even closely to take over the whole of ukraine. so they can't be going on to all these cities, just to give you an idea. they sent 60,000 into grozny a in 1995 which is only 27,000. it would take almost all the troops they've had just for the one city and they aren't going to do that. if you are going to knock out some of the communications and radar systems, which apparently they've already done, they are going to bypass the cities to knock out the actual field armies, and then if they want to turn back to the cities, they have a chance to do that with almost nobody to defend them. >> trace: what i hear you saying, you think that this might be a fair fight then a lot of people give the ukrainians credit for? >> i don't think it's a fair fight. i don't think they have the capacity to defend. that's why even after this war is started, i'm still a strong advocate that they need to make a negotiated settlement to end this as quickly as possible. the authorities in kyiv, because they cannot win. they don't have the military capacity. they have big heart, they can fight hard, but if they fight hard they'll die fast. >> trace: other military experts came on and said, listen, they don't have to win to they have to stand their ground long enough to turn russian sentiment against this campaign. >> that's going to take a long time. because the big strength of the russian military is their fast ability to have mobile armored firepower. they could kill large numbers of troops fast. they won't stay alive long enough, not enough of them to even get to that point, i don't think. i think that's a bad strategy. >> trace: i read a little earlier talking to lucas tomlinson about the sanctions. the european union, they are coming out just like president biden is saying, hey, these are going to be the strongest, harshest sanctions the world has ever seen and they are calling an emergency and it's time to act. is it enough in your estimation or should have this been done a long time ago? >> there's really no alternative. you can't just let biden get away putinget away with this. but here's the real problem. the sanctions are not a tool, it's a double-edged sword. if, for example, we take them out of swift, that sounds good on the surface of it. but lots of european countries depend on that to receive payments from russia and that will also be cut off and that will affect their economy. we have to be very careful not just of the energy but even of the financial markets, or it's going to cause problems for us. if that drags on, that's going to cause problems for the entire western world and that's something we have to be careful with. >> trace: is anybody, colonel, watching is closer than president xi with taiwan? >> the circumstances are very similar between both of them. because the fact is one of the reasons, there is many, one of the reasons why the u.s. is not even thinking about fighting for the ukraine is because we can't. we don't have the force capacity and certainly without many months of build up to have a chance in a conventional fight much less potential for nuclear. the same is true in the east with china and taiwan. because we say a lot of we want to defend them and we want to help them out to make them independent country, but we don't have the force structure to even come close to competing tactically with china who is 10. and if xi wants to come he could probably move at the same time. we can't handle one of these can really pay we certainly couldn't handle both at the same time. that's a concern i do have. >> trace: watching the u.n. security council go through their emergency meeting and we look at the whole thing like, well met, russia is like, okay, we've all come to the understanding that the u.n. security council is feckless and useless in cases like this. what about nato, what's your assessment of nato in this situation? >> look, i'm kind of a critic of it, because this could've been prevented. we did not need -- the nato alliance did not need to go incorporate both the ukraine and georgia. it wouldn't help the alliance. it wouldn't make it stronger. it was clearly going to be a point of contention with the only power on the continent that could bring problems for the whole western alliance. so i think that they made some really bad technical decisions and strategic decisions. they should've stopped at 2004 and say, let's consolidate what we have, and let's cooperate with russia the best we can. that would've been a winning scenario and it wouldn't have it would have completely avoided this. putin has called our bluff with these sections, i'm not going allow you to come onto my border here and there is a crisis at nato, no doubt about it. >> trace: a surprise as you look at these pictures of kyiv, it could take hours to get outside the city. are you surprised there has not been another explosion in the kyiv, the capital city, for the better part by our count of an hour, an hour i have? what's the pause? what's next? >> i would have expected that, that's happy after what i expected. what putin wants to do is take out the military aspect. that's why they talk about cervical strikes, because they don't have any... they truly are related with the slavic heritage and all that. nobody wants to kill innocent people by any stretch. he just wants to preserve the security and take out the military capacity so he can then make his own guarantees on his border. >> trace: there doesn't seem to be any concern by the people waiting in that line who are outside walking around town. there doesn't seem to be a concern on behalf of the ukrainian people that they are going to be targeted in the minutes ahead. >> yeah. i truly don't think that would be the case because that would be just a catastrophic failure of on biden's apartment a military blunder on the highest order putin's part. a military blunder of the highest order. he may be cold, cackling, but he's not stupid. he's going to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible. >> trace: let's check in with our fox news senior correspondent amy kellogg. good morning to you. >> hi, trace. well, lost in the news cycle has been the fact that opposition leader has been on trial again for yet another charge. i've lost track to what he's being tried for at this point because the other news has been this buildup to war. he in court today has just said, an opportunity in being in a room with a lot of witnesses saying that he is against this war being carried out "by thieves and bandits," and he says that fratricidal war is impermissible anywhere in the world. add to that, trace, the fact that many people are posting on social media there a sense of shame about all of this. russians are scared for the ukrainian friends and relatives and human beings, they are scared for changes to their quality of life, but many of them comment on how guilty, ashamed what's going on, much like the ukrainians who didn't believe this war was coming until it came. i think russians feel the same way. trace, i'm quite c