>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. it is monday, march 14th, 5:00 a.m. here in new york. thanks for getting an early start with us. i'm christine romans. >> nice to be back with you, christine. i'm laura jarrett. woll welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. we begin with putin's war right at nato's doorstep. russians hit a large military base close to the polish border. now, despite the escalation, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy's resolve only

stiffened here as he posted another video message to his people. >> translator: we are going through the worst ordeal in our history, in our live. we protect the most precious thing we have. we must hold on, we will fight and we will win. i know that, i believe in that. >> and more proof that russians are targeting civilians. you are looking at russian tanks blasting away at residential buildings, yet another sign president putin is set on destruction. this is the southern city of mariupol where the situation is increasingly dire. a large convoy of humanitarian aid distenneestined for the cit. they posted, quote, this is

horror. >> civilians under attack in nikalaiev. watch the man turn and run as shells rain down around him. local officials say nine people were killed in russian bombardment yesterday. we are learning two people were killed, three others wounded after shelling hit another kyiv residential building. as of now, the united nations says more than 2.7 million ukrainians have fled their home country since russia invaded. 2.7 million people on the move. cnn's salma abdelaziz joins us live from lviv, ukraine. salma, what more do we know about the russian air-strikes, not far from where you are right now? what are the implication for the western alliance? >> reporter: christine, let's start by talking about the strike on that military base yesterday. i was actually just on the perimeter of that base after the strike trying to find out more about what happened. and i'm going to tell you why it's so important. it's called the international

peace keeping and security center, but what it is really is just a sprawling military campus with these huge training grounds. just about ten miles from the polish border. and it's on that base that the ukrainian military opens itself up to its allies. it is on that base that nato has in the past hold training exercises. it's on that base that just a few months ago u.s. troops were training ukrainian troops to prepare for the potential of a russian attack. so hitting that base at the heart of the ukrainian military of presents a huge logistical challenge for this country. that is why you hear president zelenskyy yet again calling for a no-fly zone over this country so that it can continue to operate from spaces like that. and it is a major blow because in the past over the course of the last few weeks, that's been considered a safe forward operating base for ukrainian forces. again, right up on the polish border, right up on nato's doorstep.

of course, the illusion of that security now shattered, 35 killed after more than 30 missiles struck that base. more than 130 wounded as well, and it comes after the u.s. has promised more than $200 million in immediate defense support for ukraine. but russian forces say that any weapons shipments will be considered legitimate targets. so the question is how can ukraine continue to receive the support it needs, the weapons it needs, the aid it needs if it's being hit from the skies? >> all right, sal ma abdelaziz, thank you. so many said they can feel the ground shaking. it tells you how close it was to polish, member of nato. lots of room for error and miscommunication mistakes. let's bring in the u.s. armour forces in europe. so nice to have you bright and early this morning. help us explain where the significance of this attack on

the military base near the poland border. this is the worst attack in this fight so far, this close to nato land. >> well, this is a strike by the russians using a bomber to deliver those 30 cruise missiles or demonstrating they have the reach, that they are aware of the lines of communication from poland into ukraine. so they're indicating and demonstrating that they are prepared to attack those lines of communication. of course, that's not a surprise to anybody. i'm more concerned about their impact on the logistics than on the proximity to the border with poland. but i anticipate that ukraine will figure out a way to have redundancy in these lines of communication so we can continue this essential aid into ukraine. >> still, there is no no-fly zone yet over ukraine. nato has not imposed that.

what can you do to prevent further air-strikes? does there need to be a no-fly zone? >> i have to confess i have personally struggled with this. i signed a letter with several other retired officers and ambassadors advocating for some sort of a no-fly zone. but at the same time, the reality of the situation is if you have a no-fly zone, as most of your viewers know, you have to have nato aircraft in the air to shoot down russian aircraft. you have to have nato aircraft prepared to hit russian air defense systems and be prepared to pickup a pilot if he gets shot down. this is our challenge. and, of course, i think it was a mistake not to let this transaction of migs from poland to ukraine stop that. i think that could have made a difference. in the meanwhile, we have got to find ways to go after the long-range artillery and rockets and cruise missiles that actually cause most of the damage. >> so how do we do that?

>> well, intelligence, number one. we can tell where these things are coming from. sharing that with the ukrainians, giving them more counter fire radar so they can identify the point of origin. more longer range systems that help them reach where those things are coming from. and especially anti-ship missiles because russian navy black fleet ships that are launching missiles into mariupol. we have to text them. >> with doing that well enough? >> no. we are not yet at the speed and the quantity that is needed. now, u.s. logistics is the best in the world once we get going. and i would anticipate within a week or so it's going to get better. but in the meanwhile, we started too late frankly. >> so we also have new satellite images this morning. one showing a bridge built across the irpin river, and another image shows that bridge

destroyed. what do you make of this in terms of the additional threat to kyiv? of course, that's the worry here, is they're circling in on kyiv. >> look, i think it's important as you guys help educate your listeners and viewers about the geography and what's going on. i'm going to tell you i believe we are probably ten days away from russia culminating. in other words, running out of time, running out of people, and running out of ammunition. kyiv is a huge city. i was there five weeks ago. met president zelenskyy there. it is a very large city, very complex urban terrain separated by one of the biggest rivers in europe. i do not believe the russians have the numbers actually to encircle it, let alone capture it or eastern ven clear it. they're having ammunition

shortages. they have man shortages, that's why they're recruiting someone to come in and fight. desertion, low morale. now is the time for us to pour on the gas to make it clear that we are in this for the long haul. president zelenskyy is right. ukraine is going to win this thing, but the next ten days are going to be decisive. >> all right. the next ten days. >> a lot can happen in ten days. >> sure can. lieutenant general ben hodges, thank you for your time this morning. >> thanks. all right, tributes pouring in for the american journalist brent renault shot and killed by russian forces in the city of irpin this weekend. he was an award-winning journalist and producer who worked in new york. he and his brother craig spent years telling human interest stories from middle east, haiti, libya. friends say his work affected many people deeply. >> he could get into any location. he had this ability just to blend in wherever he was.

the career that he had, his ability to reach people, his ability to capture the humanity behind people's suffering is something i've never seen before and i was just honored to work with him as long as i did. >> his colleagues say he was so talented. another american journalist, wan arredondo was wounded. working on a documentary about kyiv refugees when he was killed. in a couple of hours, a new round of talks between ukraine and russia to establish a cease-fire and more humanitarian corridors. ukraine's president zelenskyy will address the council of europe, cnn's natasha bertrand is live in brussels, belgium with more on this. natasha, good morning. are russian and ukrainian negotiators anywhere close to setting up a meeting between zelenskyy and putin? and at this point are more talks really going to help? we see where they've gone so far. >> reporter: well, with regard to a potential meeting between zelenskyy and putin, that is still very unclear.

zelenskyy has indicated he is willing to meet directly with vladimir putin to discuss ending the war, or at least to discuss more concrete measures like a cease-fire or keeping open those humanitarian corridors. but so far the negotiations have only been taking place between the two delegations. we saw last week there was a meeting between the russian foreign ministers and the ukrainian foreign ministers in turkey. that yielded 2340 major breakthroughs. the reason for that, of course, is the decision making here is vladimir putin. that was something that an aid to zelenskyy told cnn last week. these negotiations are going to be very difficult moving forward because really the person that is dictating all of this is putin himself. so unless there is that direct communication, it is unlikely there will be any major breakthroughs here. the united states has been watching essentially as these european leaders france and germany in particular, have been engaging with putin directly. they have been having these conversations with putin. and again, it's yielded no major breakthroughs here. they have been saying that they are pushing him to implement

these cease-fires, to implement these humanitarian corridors. putin now seems intent on destroying ukraine and maintaining this war. >> no respect for that so far. natasha, thank you for your reporting as usual. still ahead for you, russia turning to china for help on the battle field in ukraine. what it could mean as the shelling intensifies. i may have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. or psoriatic arthritis. but we are so much more. we're team players and artist designerand do-it-yourselfers. if joint pain is getting in the way of who you are, parents and friends. it's time to talk to your doctor about enbrel. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop permanent joint damage. plus enbrel helps skin get clearer in psoriatic arthritis. ask your doctor about enbrel, so you can get back to your true self.

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adviser jake sullivan told our dana bash on "state of the union." >> it is a concern of ours, and we have communicated to beijing we will not stand by and allow any country to compensate russia for its losses from the economic sanctions. we are communicating directly privately to beijing that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions, evasion efforts or support to russia to backfill them. we will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to russia from these economic sanctions from any country anywhere in the world. >> cnn's steven jiang live in beijing for us. sullivan due to meet with his chinese counterpart face to face in rome today. what else do you think they're hoping to make clear to china? the party to come in and blunt the force of the world isolating russia would be china. >> reporter: that's right, christine. that's why sullivan is likely to

tell his counterpart china should do more to pressure russia to end this war given their close bilateral ties. the timing of that leak and sullivan's remarks is interesting. it is putting china under the intense global spotlight just as he is about to meet his china counterpart in rome in hours. that is why china has been pushing back with the foreign official dismissing seeking economic support. this is u.s. officials peddling false information with sinister intentions. ever since the war broke out, china has been trying to strike this impossible balance, standing by russia especially p parroting a lot of the propaganda from the kremlin. they are trying to say the right things on the global stage in terms of respecting all countries' sovereignty and calling for peace talks. then again, they are trying to minimize chinese companies' exposure to increasingly severe western sanctions. that's why at the end of day,

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welcome back. the u.n. says 2.7 million people have now fled the violence in ukraine to neighboring countries. most of those are refugees. women and children. as of sunday, romania has taken in more than 85,000 of them. cnn's miguel joins us from romania. miguel, you're doing remarkable work. you've heard so many incredible stories. tell us what you're seeing and how romanian officials are preparing for this influx of refugees. >> reporter: interestingly, the numbers have moderated just a little bit in the last few days, but the romanians are now concerned there are so many ukrainians just on the other side of the border trinternally displaced, they are afraid they are going to get a massive influx in the days or possibly

weeks ahead. so they are now preparing for that. where we are headed today, that is one of many border crossings between ukraine and romania. it has been at times thousands and thousands of people coming across daily. sometimes hundreds. it's very difficult for them to sort of plan, which is also part of the problem here. they are getting much better at moving ukrainians from point a from the borders through romania to other places. 400,000, 412,000 ukrainians have now come into romania. about 80,000 remain here. most are moving on to other countries. but the story you hear of these people, it is people with cancer, with tons of children, their entire lives upset, many of them are trying to get from here to third countries to relatives in other places. it has just created a level of uncertainty and stress for so many people across this area. and at the same time, romanians

are stepping up. as horrible as what is happening in ukraine is, it is heartening to see how people step up and are housing ukrainians by the dozens, in some cases in homes, in the cities, the country. they have all opened up refugee centers to try to help out. they are also collecting humanitarian aid from across europe that is being gathered in romania, sort of an amazon warehouse basically in romania to move adid en masse. all the effort is there, but the greatest uncertainty is there, how much russia will push and how much migration will that push into places like romania. back to you guys. >> it is incredible to watch open arms placed like romania have done for these refugees. miguel, thank you for your reporting. appreciate it. two mayors now kidnapped from ukrainian cities. one of russia's puppet replacements has been telling residents to do. that's next. for adults with moderate to severe crohn's

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federov was kidnapped by armed russian men. the surveillance video claims to show him being marched away. cnn's salma abdelaziz back with us now. ukrainian officials say there has been a second mayor kidnapped by russian troops. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: christine, this is a very worrying capture. because the ukrainian government says that russian troops are trying to overthrow the democracy of ukraine, remove by force democratically elected officials, install puppet governments. as you mentioned, in mariupol, a mayor was abducted, the ukrainian president says, in broad daylight. now a russian-backed prosecutor in the eastern region says that that mayor has criminal charges, but the ukrainian says that is not true. this is a war crime. this is an attack on the very democracy of ukraine. now a second mayor as you

mentioned has been kidnapped. there many people are concerned that yet another mayor will be installed forcing his will, the russian government's will, on the people whether they like it or not. it really demonstrates this is no longer just about bombs and bullets. if you ask ukrainian officials, they'll tell you when russian troops can advance, can't take control of a city or town, they resort to tactics like this. they resort to tactics that overthrow the will of the people that remove democratically elected officials. and it's these types of tactics president zelenskyy says are war crimes. he's calling for the immediate release of these mayors. of course, the ukrainian side putting charges against that mayor that was installed. what this really proves is it's not just about the fighting any more. this is really about how ukraine can continue to support, maintain its democracy in the face of a russian invasion, in the face of some cities like mariupol where you are besieged, cut off from food, water and could potentially lose the very

people you elected to rule you. >> salma abdelaziz, thank you. mentioning mariupol, we have video. >> this into cnn, new drone footage showing damage in mariupol, video captured just this morning. you can see a line of buildings, smoke filling the air. let's bring in senior fellow at the atlantic council and former spokesman for the organization for security and cooperation in europe. he joins us live from lviv this morning. michael, so nice to have you bright and early on early start. you have your own footage where people in church services yesterday while air raids went off right outside. what was it like to be there? tell us what you saw. >> good to be with you. yeah, it was extraordinary. while those air raid sirens were going off yesterday morning, don't forget it was a very scary morning for most people in lviv because sirens started in the pre-dawn hours and went on throughout the morning. it was the first sunday of lent

in the old calendar, julian calendar here. people were in the church. i've got to say, i've been to a lot of places of worship in conflict zones and watched people carefully. they were very focused on listening to the priest who, by the way, keep those icons really close, keep them on your walls, keep holy water ready. you are going to be protected. so it was a packed church t. goes to show you in these times people are searching for protection and faith and reassurance, of course. >> let's talk about the latest u.n. statement condemning the violence despite russia's clear nationwide invasion of ukraine. despite strikes hitting civilians. united nations has not named russia the aggressor. what do you make of that and what do we need to see this invasion as a war? >> that's a great question. well, i'm answering this question as a former global spokesperson of unicef and a spokesperson for the unicef in

many places around the world. and you know, in my day when we saw the myanmar general, for instance, committing war crimes and warring sides in the middle east committing certain violations, we would call them out by name. and why the united nations of today cannot bring itself to call out the aggressor russia, or even to call this a war or an invasion, according to internal unicef memos i've seen, and i wouldn't be saying this if i wasn't sure about it, they have been instructed to call this an escalating conflict, not a war or invasion. the statement you referred to was i'm told a lot harder. it did mention russia. but was removed at the last minute. so i think it shows the lack of spine for this day of the team at the united nations. it doesn't bode well in terms of staff, how they are going to feel working for the organization, former staff like myself. and it is going to do nothing to

get russia to account for what they're doing. >> hard to see what more they would need to sort of take it to the next level at this point. also want to ask you about this. u.s. officials say russia has asked china for military assistance. what does that tell you? does that tell you anything about a position of weakness that russia might be in? >> i was wondering, too. >> yeah, absolutely. it's a position i think reflects desperation that russia would do this. but i also think the russians are telling themselves, well, we've had this ongoing bromance with china for the past years, a tighter economic union. you saw president putin at the beijing games recently. it was his first trip in a long time there. so i think they're banking on china supporting russia, but i don't think actually it will happen. i think china, they like to play the long game. there is this saying that they say in china. you may have the watches, but we have the time. so they always play the long game. they're not going to do anything irrational or short-sighted. so i think they're going to play this very carefully, especially

again after the u.s. warning that not to go onto the russian side and back them. >> in lviv, thank you so much for joining us. talk to you soon. thanks for your insight. a brand-new picture just into cnn. we're getting a satellite image of snake island. that's where ukrainian infamously told troops to f yourself. you can see infrastructure, lighthouses and towers destroyed. the ship seen offshore has been identified as a russian naval ship. last month deef fiant soldiers rejected demands are believed to be prisoners of war. watch dogs raising concerns about the staff and safety at the chernobyl plant in ukraine. the staff is so tired, they have stopped carrying out repair and maintenance on safety-related equipment there. more than 200 technical personnel and guards have not been able to rotate from that facility since being held

capture shortly after the invasion began weeks ago. ukraine's national energy company says it recently restored power at the chernobyl plant which had been running on backup generators. family, friends and fans mourning the loss of actor william hurt. >> for a second. >> the latest message seems to indicate that the libyan pilot was acting on his own without authority from anyone else. >> stand by camera 2. >> in other words, i think we're all okay. >> hurt starred in a variety of classic '80s films. body heat. children of a lesser god, chill. he was a four-time oscar nominee and won in 1985 for his portrayal of a gay prisoner, kiss of spider woman. he died of natural causes. william hurt was 71. we'll be right back. i answered questions about my goals and the foods i love.

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spoke with french president emanuel macron about russia's invasion of ukraine. the two leaders agreed to strengthen sanctions already in place against russia. cnn's jasmine wright is in washington with more on this. jasmine, good morning. how do they plan to further punish russia here? >> reporter: well, more sanctions on oligarchs as well as other creative ways u.s. and the partners deem to basically squeeze the russian economy. those are all things on the table according to national security adviser jake sullivan. he said that on the sunday morning programs. those are some things that could have been in the conversation with president macron and president biden that they had on sunday. that was read out to reporters. afterwards,s but we don't know exactly for sure. but we do know both sides want to continue to punish russia for really implementing consequences

on them for their further aggression. now, also on that call between president biden and president macron, we know macron expressed his condolences for the american journalist killed in ukraine on sunday as well, laura, as he read out his latest diplomatic efforts. we know, of course, that macron spoke to russia's president putin, slatvladimir, excuse me, sunday, along with german chancellor scholes. that was likely also something that was on that phone call. again, we don't know exactly for sure. of course, we know this is the first foreign leader phone call president biden has had since he spoke to president zelenskyy on friday. they talked about a bevy of things. of course, that phone call preceded $200 million that president biden ordered in security assistance for ukraine on saturday, really trying to once again shore up their sovereignty. two things we're expecting later on today is we are expecting president biden to speak to the

national league of cities where we could likely hear about his path forward on ukraine and we are looking forward to the meeting with jake sullivan and his chinese counterpart as the u.s. continues to warn china not to get involved and not give russia a leg up in their offensive. laura? >> jasmine wright, appreciate it. let's bring in john harwood. nice to see you today. we are looking for off ramps, right, humanitarian corridors, anything to stop the onslaught in ukraine that only appears to be escalating. what do you think can make russia reach a cease-fire, turn this thing in the other direction? >> reporter: well, christine, at some point russia will find the punishment that it is receiving as well as dishing out too much to take. we don't know what that point is. to take kyiv, for example, that's going to be a very protracted bloody fight.

russia's lost thousands of troops so far. the economy has paid a punishing price as you were just discussing with jasmine. the ruble has crashed. the stock market's been closed. oligarchs are getting squeezed. so there is punishment being inflicted on russia as well as on ukraine. both sides are going to have a limit. we don't know what that limit is. that's why you keep having these efforts at talks both directly between ukrainians and russians, but also with people like israel and france as intraoperatives trying to figure out if there is an off ramp. don't see one at the moment. eventually we'll get there. we just don't know when. >> john, let me ask you about gas prices. we heard the white house and the president of the united states talk about putin's premium in the oil market. putin to blame for the hike in gas prices. the u.s. barely uses russian oil, but it is a global market. if there's a problem in russia there is a problem for everyone with gas prices. how should the president be framing this issue and is it

working, this putin gas price hike? >> reporter: well, let's put it this way. democratic political strategists are glad that he did that. obviously gas prices have been high and rising long before the russian invasion. by calling it putin's price hike, the white house has a villain to confront. of course, putin has, and the invasion has played a role, but that's not the entire cause. the reason the democrats want to have a way to divert attention from this or divert blame for this is that gas prices are the thing that voters see so directly. they go to the gas pump. they see the dollars ticking up as they fill their tanks. it's just historically been a very good indicator of economic discontent when gas prices rise. that is something that president biden is saddled with, and he's done it willingly. he imposed sanctions, punishing

sanctions on russia on various sectors, but now specifically on oil and gas, knowing that it was going to cause price hikes, but for the sake of leading the alliance and trying to deter russia, he decided to do it anyway. that's what leaders have to do sometimes. >> speaking of issues that might not help democrats here, you say that biden's leadership might not actually help democrats at the ballot box. explain some of where you think the weaknesses have been, john. >> reporter: well, historically, we know that new presidents always become the focus of public discontent when they take office. that's why almost without exception, there have been a couple in the last hundred years, but not many. you see president's parties lose ground in congress in the midterm elections. bill clinton lost democratic control of congress in 1994, barack obama lost the house in 2010. that's sort of irrespective of

what their policies are at the time. it's just the tides of history. joe biden was facing that to begin with, and then we've had these complications of the emergence from the pandemic where you both have a strong economy, but you also have high inflation. those are cross-pressures, and biden took office believing he was going to surf the back of a recovering economy with the pandemic. it hasn't turned out that way and that's why it's going to be a difficult election for democrats. the war in ukraine changes the frame for looking at joe biden. all of a sudden he's a war president. he's handled that pretty effectively in the eyes of analysts in both parties. just don't know how much politically he's going to benefit. his approval rating has ticked up a couple points since this started. don't know if that's going to continue or not. >> john harwood, thank you so much. we'll talk to you again i'm sure this week. fed week. thanks. let's get a check on cnn business this morning. looking at markets around the world, you can see asian shares have closed mixed. europe opened higher.

pop there, frankfurt. stock index futures moving higher here. it was a down day on friday. another down week for stocks. down day last week five straight weekends of losses. they lost 3% for the week. russia's invasion of ukraine only worsening the global inflation story. to cool that inflation the fed reserve expected to raise interest rates for the first time since 2018. and putin's war complicates things. it's sending already high energy prices soaring. the fed chair jerome powell has warned the war could stoke inflation and cause households to cut back spending. russia pulling the plug on instagram over the weekend. instagram's parent company meta says its 80 million users had a 48-hour grace period to grab their needed video and pictures, steer their followers to other platforms. the crackdown follows russia's outrage over meta allowing ukrainians to vent about the russian invasion. the kremlin is opening a criminal investigation and asked a court to consider meta, that's right, the facebook parent, the

instagram parent an extremist organization. ukrainian soccer player moved to tears after scoring a goal in the englunish premier league. coy wire has that story. >> what a powerful story. this day was so much more than about soccer, laura. he hadn't played since the start of russia invasion of ukraine taking a compassionate leave of absence from his team west ham. the 32-year-old returned to the field yesterday and received a standing ovation from fans of both teams as he comes onto the game early in the second half. then with 20 minutes remaining, yarma lenko, a superb finish with the game's goal, he drops to his knees and breaks down in tears. surrounded by his teammates, you can hear the crowd. he got emotional when he talked about this moment afterwards. >> it's so difficult for me right now at this moment.

still thinking about football because every day in my country russia, russians are killed ukrainian people. it was so emotional. >> now, also breaking last night, tom brady has announced that his 40-day retirement is over. the 44-year-old coming back to the bucs for a 23rd season in the nfl. he said on twitter that he has unfinished business and his place is still on the field, not in the stands. some of the happiest people in the world right now, laura, are bucs fans. perhaps the most disgruntled sports fan in the world would be the guy who had just paid over half a million dollars the day before for his final touchdown ball. wow, it's still trending on twitter number one. >> he couldn't even stay away for two months. he could not stay away for two months. i'll tell you, laura, breaking news. >> it's her favorite basketball player, tom brady.

>> i may be bad, but not that bad, okay. >> thanks. i guess john berman is happy. >> that's a good thing. thank you, coy. >> nice to see you. >> thanks. >> some emotional scenes where separated families fleeing russia's invasion are reunited thankfully. family members holding each other in long tearful hugs as they face the uncertainty of a new life in a new country now beginning this next chapter together. you can just feel some of the relief there, but so many men separated from their children, separated from their wives, left there to fight. >> and we seguin a new chapter. f -- we say begin a new chapter. it's waiting to find out where you're going to land. how are you going to support yourself. your family is still back in ukraine. just a tragic avoidable, tragic situation for so many. >> thanks so much for joining us. i'm laura jarrett. >> i'm christine romans. "new day" is next.

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this is cnn breaking news. good morning to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. it is monday, march 14th. i'm john berman with brianna keilar. dangerous moments unfolding this morning as the russians bring their deadly war to nato's