along the border with ukraine
shown in these satellite photos the
number of russian troops and military
equipment grows
the buildup is alarming to us
intelligence agencies that say the force
could grow to more than 175 thousand
troops
and that russia could be planning a
massive military invasion of ukraine
that could come sometime in early 2022.
the stakes couldn't be higher according
to ukraine's foreign minister if
russia resorts to a military operation
against ukraine
that will be the biggest loss the
biggest failure
of euro-atlantic diplomacy
this is why putin and biden had their
video conference
good to see you again
it's why biden is trying to solidify
support among allies
at vladimir putin's request the two men
spoke again at the end of 2021. putin
warning president biden that any new
sanctions would lead to a complete
rupture of relations between moscow and
washington and biden reiterating that
there would be a heavy price to pay if
russia invades ukraine again
the biden putin calls came ahead of
meetings with senior u.s and russian
officials in geneva in early january so
why is president putin rattling his
saber so aggressively one goal of his
might be to actually get security
guarantees from the west in the united
states such as
don't position certain missiles and
munitions in ukraine ukraine also wants
to become a member of nato and putin
wants to stop that from happening there
is also a sense in moscow that kiev has
turned its back on russia
at some deeper level
and i think that includes president
putin former president medvedev and many
others ukraine is part of the russian
world and it's always been part of the
russian world
and will always be part of the russian
world whoever turns ukraine against
russia
is uh an enemy not only of the russian
people but of the ukrainian people
as well
putin sees his task as returning ukraine
to the russian fold
and this idea that russia is saving
ukraine from an anti-russian government
in kiev could be all the justification
putin needs to send in his military
but leaders in moscow are denying an
invasion plan and instead accuse the
west of threatening russia by pushing
weapons and troops ever closer to its
borders
well i think that the international
community has every reason to be worried
about the
entire situation
in 2014 russia annexed crimea while
supporting separatist rebels in eastern
ukraine
since then more than 14 000 people have
been killed
and today sporadic fighting still occurs
along the front lines
these residents of kiev are taking the
troop build-up in stride
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if russia invades ukraine it is highly
unlikely that troops from other
countries would be sent in and putin
knows that will be met by a more capable
and formidable military in ukraine than
he encountered in 2014. president biden
is promising that russia will face
crushing sanctions he'll pay a terrible
price the the most significant thing
that the biden administration could push
to do
would be to kick russia off of a system
known as swift to kick russia off from
that would effectively be to isolate it
from the global financial system
the russians have warned strongly
against doing that they would see that i
think is a very aggressive act
on this day in kiev captured russian
military hardware is a reminder of the
recent fighting in eastern europe
you