this is cnn breaking news. hello, everyone, i'm kate bolduan. we begin with breaking news. officials from russia and ukraine are meeting face-to-face for the first time since the russian assault on ukraine

began. meeting in bel roearus as fight continues for a fifth consecutive day. ukraine demanding immediate cease-fire and complete withdrawal of russian troops. ukraine also calling now to be immediately admitted into the european union. this morning, the state department announced that it is suspending operations at the u.s. embassy in minsk as ukrainian intelligence reveals belarus could be preparing right now to join the fight with russia. ukrainian military says russian forces have slowed their offensive, suffering multiple setbacks including this reporting by matthew chance and his team in the outskirts of the capital of kyiv. demonstrations against the russian invasion are growing most notably in russia where lis h police detained nearly 6,000 demonstrators and they're not alone, people uniting in support of ukraine. alex marquardt live in kyiv. what are you hearing, what's the latest with these talks in

belarus? >> of course, kate, it is encouraging when sides sit down and talk, but there is not a lot of optimism that much is going to come from this. this is happening right along the belarus/ukrainian border. at first, zelenskyy was invited his delegation to minsk, the capital of belarus, declined that because belarus has been supporting the russian side and now concerned that belarusian forces are joined in this invasion. this is not a meeting between the two country's presidents. they each sent a delegation. each sending top aid as well as the defense minister and putin sending a top aide as well and ukrainians said from the outset, they'll go into these talks demanding an immediate withdrawal of russian troops and an immediate cease-fire. these talks have been going on about five hours now, so we will see, hopefully the end, some sort of progress, of course, you could speculate that the kremlin may be doing this to buy some

time or be able to say, hey, we tried, we failed, or they failed and now we're going to keep invading ukraine. now, meanwhile, we are hearing much more from president zelenskyy who says now is the time for ukraine to join the european union. he wants ukraine to be urgently admitted and said the goal is to be with all europeans. take a listen. >> translator: europeans realize that our soldiers are fighting for our country and for all of europe, for peace, for peace for all, for all the countries of the european union. for lives of children, for equality, for democracy and this gives us a full right to do the following. we call on the european union for the succession under a new special procedure. >> now, there has been a positive response from the european union. the president of the european council responding saying they are one of us and that the bloc, meaning the european union does

want ukraine in. it is unclear when that could happen and talked about the fact that ukraine is not in nato. there's no discussion that they would, that they are joining nato anytime soon but the european union is sending a lot of support. we have just heard that they are, for the first time, going to be giving some 500 million euros worth of military aid to ukraine, that is mostly going to be lethal military aid joining many other european countries as well as the united states. so ukraine getting a lot of weaponry support from the outside, but make no mistake, they know they are in this fight alone against one of the biggest militaries in the world. kate? >> alex, thank you so much for that. as russian troops advance on key cities in ukraine, they are facing resistance and a tougher fight than many had expected and anticipated. one example is a highway on the outskirts of kyiv where cnn's matthew chance saw the wreckage of russian military vehicles

stopped by ukrainian troops. >> reporter: right within the past few hours, there has been a ferocious battle here on the outskirts of kyiv. this is one of those russian soviet era vehicles which is completely burned out. this is a bridge, actually, an access point to the northwest of kyiv, the ukrainian capital and the russian column that has come down here has been absolutely hammered. obviously, we're still in a very exposed situation right now, but just bringing you along here, the debris everywhere, the twisted metal of these vehicles is just a truck carrying supplies. we saw the armored vehicle in front there. i mean, looking around, absolutely, i mean, hooklook at this. what kind of munitions does it take to do that to a vehicle? the local commanders here saying they were using western anti-tank missiles to attack

these columns. look. so recent, the battle. this vehicle still smoking. there's still smoke coming out the back of that. ammunitions on the ground. grenades. everywhere, real scene of devastation along this bridge. according to the local ukrainian military that i've been speaking to, there may be as many as 10, 10, let me look. this is a bit of a cliche, but obviously somebody's brought a memento from home and now it's scorched and lying with the debris out there. in this case, failed attack. i mean, you know, all along this bridge which is an access point, there are these vehicles which

have been hammered by the ukrainian forces, a bit of a russian uniform there lying on the floor. i can tell you what, i told this area earlier and there were some terrible things that we can't really show you on camera in terms of dead bodies, russians, still lying here on the ground. this vehicle here is obviously from the russian military. it's got the letter "v." the paint. i think that stands for the russian word for east, which implies that these military equipment, they came from the eastern divisions of the russian military. saying there, look, there's evidence and i don't want to show you too much but there's a body there. that's a russian soldier. just lying there dead on this bridge. lying there dead on this bridge as his column has attempted to drive in and been thwarted.

ukrainian officials and ukrainian soldiers who i've been speaking to over the last couple of hours are absolutely enthused by this victory they that they've said they scored. pushed back against the russians and made them feel they can win this war. but the big question is, what will russia do now? if it has sent in as it seems it has, underpowered invasion, there is a very strong chance, i would say, and i live in russia and covered russia for many years, they could double down and go much harder and that is the big risk now for the ukrainian military. celebrate their victories. the big question is, what will the response of the russian military and the russian political leadership be? >> absolutely. matthew chance there on the outskirts of kyiv for us. so to washington now where the

biden administration is taking more severe actions against vladimir putin. the u.s. now cutting off russia's central bank from u.s. dollar transactions to move design to ensure russia can't invade and get around sanctions already in place. jeremy diamond live at the white house. joining us now. how significant is this move now? >> reporter: this is a hugely significant step being taken by the u.s., kate, essentially going at russia's most powerful he means to try to mitigate the effect of the european union and other western allies. this will essentially stop the russian central bank from transacting in dollars, preventing any u.s. persons from engaging in transactions with the central bank of russia as well as its sovereign direct investment fund and essentially freezing many of its assets held here in the united states. this hits at this rainy day fund that vladimir putin has been building up for years. $630 billion in foreign currency reserves that were expected to be used to prop up what we see

now, a plummeting ruble. senior administration official saying fortress russia will be exposed as a myth and then european union taking similar steps in coordination with the united states and we learned switzerland, famously remained neutral in conflicts throughout history, also adopting many of these eu sanctions and freezing the assets of many of these russian oligarchs held in swiss banks. a hugely significant step. separately at this hour, president biden will be meeting with nato leaders and other western officials to talk about these latest steps and further sanctions on russia, especially as russia is now talking, we've heard vladimir putin talk about putting his nuclear forces on heightened alert. kate? >> jeremy, thank you. so the sanctions on russia are having a major impact on citizens in the country. the russian bank doubled a key interest rate and moscow stock market was closed today after the ruble plunged nearly 30%. worries that sanctions are going

to be triggering cash shortages are leading to this, massive lines at atms across russia right now. cnn's nic robertson in moscow with more on this. >> reporter: kate, 36 different nations now have barred russian aircraft from flying into their airspace. mostly european nations, canada as well on that list. it means russia is becoming increasingly isolated. even russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov due to go on a trip to geneva and switzerland, that has now been cancelled and the sanctions the european and u.s. sanctions are beginning for the prime minister, accusing the west of being an empire of lies as he lashed out about the sanctions. he said he was meeting with the prime minister to discuss the current financial and economic situation. what we know from the kremlin spokesman is that meeting with

the first prime minister, the head of the central bank and the heads of other banks as well. the spokesman of the kremlin said, look, russia was planning for this all along. it's been creating this rainy day fund, $630 million in that fund to deal with sanctions. now he said we're implementing that, but the big shocker here for russia is what the united states is doing, what the european union is doing as well, which is blocking russia's access to that rainy day fund, and they are struggling. the ruble dropped 30% of its value at the beginning of the day. the stock market here was shut. the interest rate by the central bank was put up from 9.5% to 20%. so russia is now reeling under the impact of these sanctions. this is much bigger as promised by president biden and other european leaders. much bigger than russia is experienced in the past. obviously they've seen the ruble tank in 1998.

they've undergone sanctions in 2014 for russia's first invasion of ukraine, but this seeming to be much bigger. putin seems to be incredibly angry about the situation. the russian government still figuring out what to do about it, kate. >> nic robertson in moscow, thank you so much. so this morning, we get a clearer picture of the growing refugee crisis that russia's invasion is creating. the united nations reporting half a million people have been forced to flee the country in the last five days. cnn's scott mclean is in lviv, ukraine, with much more on this angle of the story. >> reporter: russia now says they have opened a corridor for residents of kyiv to get out of the city safely. there have already been more than half a million ukrainians flee abroad to other countries and surely now, there will be even more. they will end up at transit points like this one. this is lviv train station and everyone on this platform is

waiting, hoping for a train to take them to poland. you'll notice it is almost exclusively women and children, police have almost only exclusively allowing that group on to the platform and that led to scenes earlier today where children were literally being grabbed out of the stairwell and on to the platform in a desperate attempt to get them on to the train. there was one mother in particular who managed to get her 2-year-old child and herself on to the platform and she was absolutely wiped, absolutely exhausted when she finally got on the platform and realized she was going to get on this train. now the preference for women and children has meant that there's been frustration amongst the single men who would like to leave. many of them are foreigners who are simply trying to go back to their home countries any way that they can. >> scott, thank you so much for that. joining me for more on this,

former u.s. ambassador to the united nations, samantha powers, now administrator for u.s. international governments, thank you for being here, ambassador. you've fought to protect refugees and covered too many refugee crises. what did you hear when you were at the border crossing? what struck you? >> first, kate, and you've covered many of these crises yourself, there's just no men so it's a reminder of the extent to which basically all men in this society have shown up to be part of the territorial defense or to perform some role in this war effort in the self-defense effort but seeing those women and children, of course, the challenges they face, the heartbreak they're carrying of saying good-bye to husbands, sons, fathers, you could just see it in the faces of the people who were there. it's very chaotic at a lot of the most populated border

crossings. you've seen reports of people having to wait now days to be able to cross. it's not because of any unwillingness on the part of the front line states. i just met here in brussels with european ambassadors from m moldova, slovakia, they're being welcoming and open as they can but in the course of processing people, getting them registered, it's causing some back-up and most of the back-up is on the ukrainian side because the numbers are just the likes of which no one really had contemplated inside ukraine. it's just very hard for people to believe that their russian neighbor would turn on them in this way, so it's going to take a little bit of time to get that flow going and hopefully then people have to wait less time because the conditions out in the freezing cold, really, really tough on these families. >> absolutely. i mean, the u.n. now saying, this is more than 500,000 people

have left ukraine. how much worse do you think it is going to get? >> well, i mean, all of us have to be working and praying for a diplomatic solution because the escalatory path that president putin is on is an incredibly dangerous one, just sending more troops in more directions, all that's going to mean is more heartache and more loss and more refugee flight. so there's that. in terms of the humanitarian response, i do think that opening up a corridor for the people of kyiv, you will start to see some flow out and our planning assumptions range. there's a very wide range, but i think it would not be crazy if the war were to continue, to see as many as 3 to 5 million people flow into these neighboring countries. getting this flow going and ensuring that the welcome mat, that the arrivals are receiving in each of the front line

countries, that that continues and i want to stress, it's not just governments responding, which they are along the ukrainian border, they are universally. it is the citizens in those countries who are showing up, becoming many uber drivers on the fly, just deciding i'm going to go to the border and meet with the family and going to ask them where do they want to go and take them to my home if they have no place to go, that is happening across these borders, but again, the logistics of getting people across, and i should say, kate, getting the flow of humanitarian assistance also into ukraine as the stockpiles of food in places like kyiv run low, that is also acutely urgent and with the population on one side of the border, you have to move people and goods in both directions. so getting all of that organized in, really, a matter of hours, not days, is essential. >> i have to say, i always remember one of your final speeches at the u.n. back in 2016 when you called out russia along with syria and iran over

the atrocities in syria. back then, you simply looked up to say, are you truly incapable of shame? is there no act of barbarism against civilians and no execution of a child that gets under your skin and i've been thinking about that, there's little proof that anything has changed. what is it going to take to stop putin now? >> well, what democracies, what europe and the united states and also japan and new zealand and australia and countries all around the world have mustered is far more formidable than what happened in the face of the atrocities in syria and russia's involvement in places like aleppo, which you remember well. i do think that these sanctions, that the security assistance, the humanitarian assistance, the show of solidarity, the practical manifestations of that solidarity are materially different. so this unity is a prerequisite,

but it is also going to take putin making the judgment that it is in his interest to cease and desist from this brutality and, you know, putin's calculus is something that has been hard to effect but if we are going to effect it, it is going to be this way with this kind of unity and this kind of severe and proportionate response to his actions. >> ambassador, administrator, thank you for coming on, thank you for being there in brussels. really appreciate it. coming up for us, ukrainian officials are calling now for a no-fly zone over their country. but the biden administration says that it will not be deploying american troops to create an enforce, i'll speak to members of the ukrainian parliament about this, next.

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welcome back. russian forces are facing fierce resistance now as they continue their push into ukraine. cnn's matthew chance and his team, they captured the aftermath of a battle on the outskirts of kyiv. you can see just twisted metal that was russian tanks. some still smoking as matthew finds out and unexploded grenades and russian casualties laying there on that bridge amongst the wreckage. this as the first talks since this fighting began with ukraine and russia at belarus. at ukrainian parliament and democratic congressman eric swalwell. thank you for being here. i hope you had a chance to see the reporting from matthew

chance with the russian vehicles and the satellite images of a three mile long russian military column 40 miles from kyiv where you are. so day five of this war, what is it like for you? >> well, i've been living in this horror for five days already, and i actually left a few days ago after i spent two completely sleepless nights in the central kyiv with the sound of explosions in the shelter but it would not be possible to even speak to you if i stayed there because all the people right now are in shelters, in underground. no matter where you are, actually, even in the rest of ukraine, it's still very dangerous and not safe situation. putin definitely killing civilians. we heard very bad news from kharkiv, there are dozens of civilians who are killed.

it looks like a real genocide. my heart is screaming. we are all exhausted but at the same time, very determined because we know that we just cannot stand this evil and we need to protect ourselves. we need to protect humanity. >> all reports like that, cnn's on the ground looking to confirm and verify all of the things that you're talking about here. you know, what is your view of the talks under way with russia today? ukrainian officials, russian officials meeting in belarus. do you have, i don't know, any level of confidence or hope that it could lead to progress? >> first, there is a hope and it's happy that it's happening because it's already the fifth day, so many streets, cities, infrastructures with the ports, but we don't have illusions

because we understand that russia wants us to get to ukraine. but it's not going to happen. we also are very much worried about the position of belarus and we hear different information about belarus, the things with ukraine but let's see, hopefully there would be some progress but i don't think it's going to end today, unfortunately. >> the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. was asked specifically about this yesterday by my colleague dana bash and she made clear no u.s. troops on the ground and that means no u.s. troops in the air. what's your response to that? >> well, we are calling on as many as possible. no fly zone is important and cull

cutting all financial ties with russia, i'm sure this is going to help but russian citizens are not necessarily representing the opinion of putin. they want also peace, many of them and want to be connected with the world but isolation will bring so that hopefully putin changes his mind. i don't think that will happen but there is a chance to change the system there so it's not such a crazy dictator. very sick unhealthy thinking. countries with the blood. >> congressman, an important question for you because when you were on with me on friday, we had a conversation that said it's time for the u.s. to start punching back on russia. more significantly and some suggested that can mean at minimum, sending in convoys to deliver more military hardware to ukraine. would you support the u.s. military heading in to do that? >> yes, absolutely. i think we need to make sure they continue to have a supply of weapons, intelligence, right,

so information as to where are the russians so that the ukrainians know where to put the x to hit back against them and then also to continue to tell americans why we have to care about this. i met at the munich security conference with reuben giego. so touched by their own culture, language, democracy and we have to understand in america that history shows that evil like this that vladimir putin is carrying out will come to us eventually so we have to stand with ukraine and i'm a big believer with someone evil as putin, you don't take options off the table. it doesn't mean we have a no fly zone yet but understand we don't take options off the table. >> significant statement from you, thank you and we appreciate it, definitely stay in touch. thank you both so much. coming up for us, the supreme court, we'll turn there

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there are two major stories coming from the u.s. supreme court today. president biden's supreme court nominee judge ketanji brown jackson will begin meeting with lawmakers this week. the meetings are the first step in her confirmation process that will play out very soon before a divided senate. cnn's jeff zeleny with more on this. the white house hopes this will be a quick confirmation process. what are they planning for? >> reporter: good morning, kate. the white house hopes the confirmation vote happens by mid april, accelerated and the meetings are going to begin on wednesday. we learned judge ketanji brown jackson will be on capitol hill for first meetings with chuck schumer and mitchell mcconnell as well as the top leaders of the senate judiciary committee which will, of course, conduct the confirmation hearings. she'll be meeting with senator

dick dur bin and chuck grassley republican of iowa. i'm told those meetings happen individually on wednesday and then other meetings with senators continue as the week goes on and into next week but again, the hope here is to have the confirmation hearings later this month and a full vote in april. that is why judge jackson was at work at the white house on saturday beginning this preparation phase and the white house said she'll meet with any senator who hopes office doors to her. certainly a busy time for her as she comes to the hill for those first meetings the morning after the president's state of the union address tomorrow night. kate? >> great to see you, jeff. thank you so much. there's also this, the supreme court hearing oral arguments on landmark case on the climate crisis, the ability to regulate power plant emissions and the outcome has the potential to really cripple the biden administration's plans to fight climate change. cnn's rene marsh is live in

washington with much more of a closer look at this issue. rene, tell us more. >> reporter: kate, this is one of the most important climate change cases before the supreme court since 2007. that's when the court ruled that the epa actually has the power to regulate carbon dioxide under the clean air act but today's case is being argued by a group of republican attorneys general led by the state of west virginia and they're arguing that congress should have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants, not the epa. the power sector, as you know, is the country's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, so if the court does not rule in the epa's favor, it would profoundly undercut the agency and really, the federal government's ability as a whole to address this climate crisis. and that includes the biden administration's climate agenda. i mean, you need only look at the legislative action on climate change in congress to understand why scientists

tracking the climate crisis are alarmed by this possibility of moving the authority from the epa to congress to regulate these emissions, and i want to, this is from cnn's ella nielson who is monitoring oral arguments as of half an hour ago but right now the liberal justices highly skeptical of west virginia's s solicitor general's arguments how practically this would work. those oral arguments are continuing today but a lot as it relates to the climate crisis. >> great to see you, rene, thank you for so much that. putin puts nuclear on high alert. some questioning the mental state. what does it mean to the world order as we have long known it? cnn's christiane amanpour joins me next.

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are you a christian author with a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! russian president vladimir putin putting his nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, a serious escalation as his invasion into ukraine grows bloodier by the day. the move reportedly raising alarm for another reason among long time putin watchers. david sanger reporting this in the "new york times." his outburst highlighted anew

the question coursing through the american intelligence community about the state of mind of the russian leader, a man previously described as pragmatic, calculating and cunning. and here's former director of national intelligence, james clapper. >> i personally think he's unhinged. i really worry about his acuity and balance right now. he's a guy who really has his finger on the potential nuclear button, so that bears worth watc watching. >> for more, christiane amanpour. i heard some suggesting that this all could be part of a putin chess match, trying to give the impression he's unhinged to make the west nervous. what do you think of this? >> reporter: well, honestly, kate, i think that's really wishful thinking right now. i'm not saying what he's going to do but the idea that somehow putin is still rational or

pragmatic, playing games simply has to be put aside given the fact he lied to the world about all his aims during the last several weeks and months of negotiations by telling them he had no intention of going into ukraine. so most people believe and certainly here in europe, you can imagine that the level of fear and anxiety and alarm is incredibly high, given how close one is to the situation, and to it is something that's causing a huge amount of anxiety. neither the french government nor other nato leaders will talk about what they will do in response to this, if anything, it is considered something that is not ever discussed in public, that they are, you know, watching this situation very, very closely, but they don't immediately come out and say, oh, we're going to match this for that. that is not what's happening right now. in fact, president macron of france has had today a one hour and 30 minute call with vladimir putin where you can absolutely imagine that he brought this up

and talked, tried to talk him down but again, that is not in the readout. instead we're told he got president putin to agree, whether he follows through or not, we don't know, to stop hitting civilian targets, to maintain civilian infrastructure and to create safe passage zones, certainly around kyiv, for refugees and those under this terrible war to be able to leave safely. he's asked for an immediate and lasting cease-fire, particularly since putin and the ukrainian delegation, putin's delegation along with the ukrainian delegation have been meeting up near the belarus border. at the very least, there should have been a cease-fire in place while this was going on. instead, there's a sort of with a nuclear deterrent on high alert, the world reckoning with for the last 24 hours, kate. >> also, christiane, a big shift

since friday. nord stream 2 and also on its own defense spending to today, we've got switzerland putting aside the swiss neutrality saying that it will also be imposing sanctions in line with what the eu is doing. what do you think the impact of this is? >> reporter: well, it's huge. and the head of the eu is here talking with president macron as they keep trying to bolster and sharpen the pain from these sanctions. as you know, both terks u and the united states have cut off russia's central bank from the so-called sanction-proof wind fall he's been accumulating some $650 billion over the last several years. and now he will have no access to the dollar version of that, at the very least and that will hurt a lot. in fact, he called his own government to talk, again, across that very long table again, and said, you know, i'm calling you to talk about the state of our economy and how

these, i think he said based on an empire of lies, the governments are trying to hurt my country, by the way, talking to his own people about my country, which, again, gives you something of a state of mind. what is happening, given the fact that the germans have completely now done a 180 in their military posture since the end of the second world war. they never used to send lethal weaponry precisely because of their terrible history during the second world war. this has changed completely and who do they describe that to? not russia but vladimir putin. switzerland, sweden, again, because of one person, vladimir putin, not russia, have they changed their posture and they are sending lethal weaponry as well. as is the eu, as a group for the first time in its history is paying and sending lethal weaponry to defend, for the ukrainians to defend themselves against this war of choice, unprovoked war by vladimir

putin. so all of this is happening and that is assumed because of his reaction is he never expected to face a consistently united europe and nato alliance. he just never did. his whole modus has been to try to divide them at every single turn. it has not worked this time. even the most unlikely of countries have come together. we expected to be, you know, welcomed by -- with rose petals in ukraine. he, obviously, hasn't been. so this is what's under way right now in this now five-day invasion of the country. >> exactly. great to see you, christiane. thanks for jumping on. i appreciate it. coming up for us, the world is united in its support of ukraine. and against vladimir putin and his invasion. what you can do to help, next.

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stop this war! stop this war! stop this war! >> over the weekend, hundreds of people lining the streets in houston to protest the russian invasion of ukraine. the rally, that rally is just one of so many around the world in support of the ukrainian people. illinois governor ja.b. prit ze is one of them, offering his support and a blunt message at a rally in chicago. >> and screw vladimir putin. time and again throughout history, we have seen tyrants like putin use false propaganda to claim some righteous cause in

furtherance of their vicious agendas. instead, righteousness is in the cause of freedom and sovereignty and peace and righteousness is with the people of ukraine. >> for more information on how you can help the humanitarian efforts in ukraine go to cnn.com/impact. thanks for being here. "inside politics" with john king starts after the break. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. deed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire wayfair has everything i need to make my home totally me. sometimes, i'm a homebody. so cozy.

sometimes, i'm all business. and yeah, i'm not a chef- perfect. but thanks to wayfair, i do love my kitchen. yes! alright, so...cordless headphones, you can watch movies through your phone? and y'all got electric cars? yeah. the future is crunk! (laughs) anything else you wanna know? is the hype too much? am i ready? i can't tell you everything. but if you want to make history, you gotta call your own shots. we going to the league!

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how not to be a hero: because that's the last thing they need you to be.

you don't have to save the day. you just have to navigate the world so that a foster child isn't doing it solo. you just have to stand up for a kid who isn't fluent in bureaucracy, or maybe not in their own emotions. so show up, however you can, for the foster kids who need it most— at helpfosterchildren.com hello. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king in washington. thank you for sharing this very busy, very sober news day. talks in belarus ending. heading into those talks a ukrainian demand for immediate cease-fire. that clashing against, you hear it right there, a brand-new russian barrage. russian rockets sowing fresh round of fear and death in kharkiv, ukraine's secon