This is a rush transcript of "Special Report with Bret Baier" on February 24, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power. And the good news is NATO is more united and more determined than ever. There is no doubt, no doubt that the United States and every NATO ally will meet our Article Five commitments.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, (R-TX) HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Like Teddy Roosevelt said, it's time to carry the big stick. It's time for the big stick now. We didn't provide the sanctions that I thought would be helpful prior to the invasion. This is the most massive invasion in Europe since World War II, since Hitler invaded Poland.

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BAIER: In reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the president announcing that second tier of sanctions. "Wall Street Journal" saying there is problems here, too. "Another significant challenge for western nations, enforcing the export controls, especially if China chooses to help Russia circumvent the restrictions by filling in the gaps and ban technology trade, analysts and industry executives have said." And there was a question about China today.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you urging China to help isolate Russia?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not prepared to comment on that at the moment.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY) SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I think President Xi is watching this. He covets Taiwan, obviously. The decision to precipitously live Afghanistan was not a great idea when you're confronting a couple of authoritarians who are anxious to get on offense.

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BAIER: What about where we are right now? Let's bring in our panel, FOX News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin at the Pentagon, Harold Ford Jr., former Tennessee Congressman, CEO of Empowerment and Inclusion Capital, and Gillian Turner of FOX News, former national security council staffer under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Gillian, let me start with you. A lot of talk about the sanctions, should they have been pulled off swift, the financial system. It all comes down to what the European nations could agree to.

GILLIAN TURNER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And how long it would take them to get there. The common theme among pretty much everyone on both sides of the Atlantic today, except if you work at the White House, is that this tranche of sanctions, yesterday's tranche of sanctions would have been a lot more effective had they arrived weeks ago so that they could have served as a deterrent. Ukraine's foreign minister sat here two nights ago, told you, Bret, that very same thing. Democrat Adam Schiff said today that the president needs to go further.

Remember, at this hour, Putin is still insisting this is not an invasion, insisting he sent in peacekeeping troops, insisting he is not planning to occupy Ukraine, and really all can you say to that, if you believe him, then I guess I'm Santa Claus.

BAIER: There is also a communication issue here, on talking about sanctions and what they are meant to do and how they have been talked about, some confusion. Take a listen.

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JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We've said all along that these are going to be crippling sanctions. If you pull the trigger on that deterrent, well, then, it doesn't exist anymore as a deterrent.

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening.

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BAIER: Which is the definition of a deterrent, Harold Ford.

HAROLD FORD JR., FORMER TENNESSEE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, first, thanks for having me on. I think a couple of things. One, I don't know what the president knows, but I trust that he knows a lot more than me and probably all of us. Him staging and timing these sanctions, I think we have to give him some credit up to this point. I, for one, was looking for a swift expulsion today and perhaps even more with regard to the oligarchs and their children and removing some of their assets or making it more difficult for them to enjoy them.

I was most encouraged, Bret, by your interview with the Ukrainian foreign minister whose resistance, I think, speaking on behalf of the people of Ukraine, his resistance and pride in ownership of their land and, more importantly, their future, they seem to be more invested. In I'm 51 years old. I was in Congress when we decided to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq and supported it. We can talk about that later. But we have never seen in the country the kind of evidence that you and others are laying out as to what President Putin is doing, why he shouldn't be doing it. And I think the world even rallying around where we are.

Again, Ukrainian people and what this president still has in his arsenal, I hope and believe, I know they know more than I know, and I hope and believe they are right, because if it were up to me, based on what I know -- I was encouraged also by Senator Warner's words tonight in many ways -- I would have gone a little bit further. But they have been right up to this pointed, and we have to trust them, I think, as we go through this process.

BAIER: Yes, the resilience of the Ukrainian foreign minister and Ukrainian president and the Ukrainian people has been pretty amazing, Jennifer. And you look at some of these battles that they have been fighting, we haven't had a lot of ground visuals of that, but we've had anecdotal evidence. Here is the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S.

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OKSANA MARKAROVA, UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: We got information from our chief commander that one of the platoons of the 74th motorized brigade surrendered. Also noting that they didn't know that they were brought to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians, that they thought they were doing something else there.

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BAIER: And these are stories, and the Ukrainians are puffing up their chest for some of the fights that they have had success on the ground, Jen. But when you talk to people behind the scenes, how long can the Ukrainians with their force and the size and the equipment repel an overwhelming Russian force?

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the initial intelligence assessments was that the Russians could take Kyiv, the capital, in 48 hours, and that most likely half of the Ukrainian military would be lost in the next 10 days. But I would like to point you to an audiotape that we just got our hands on from Snake Island. It's a group of Ukrainian sailors who are told by a Russian ship in the Black Sea, this is a Russian military ship, I suggest you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and unnecessary victims. Otherwise, we will open fire on you.

The Russian -- the Ukrainians cursed out the Russian ship, they were fired upon, they were killed. President Zelenskyy said they will be given the Medal of Freedom. But this is the kind of bravery that we're hearing stories of tonight. So they are standing up. They're fighting. It's a real contrast to the Afghan government, President Ghani and others, who fled the country rather than stand up and fight for what -- for their country.

BAIER: In fact, Gillian, when we talked to the foreign minister, he was heading back in. He couldn't fly in because they closed the airspace, but he is driving in to the capital of Kyiv.

"Commentary" magazine says this, "We are witnessing something that just should not be. In Europe a nationalist autocrat has launched a war of naked aggression. Putin is waging a war of conquest and territorial expansion to satisfy national ambition and prestige. This just isn't supposed to happen anymore, but it is." And just that thought of the big grand scope of where we are tonight?

TURNER: Jennifer just very eloquently laid out the good side of the equation. On the other side here. We have the hidden unseen hand in all of this, which is Xi Jinping and China. China and Russia are working hand in glove to create this new access of authoritarianism. They are supportive of Russia's move to invade Ukraine. They have not publicly condemned it ever. Today, in fact, Bret, the Chinese foreign minister tried to blame the U.S., saying Biden had been fanning the flames.

BAIER: We're going to watch all of that. Panel, thank you so much. A lot to follow tonight. We will have complete coverage on FOX.

Back in 2014 when Vladimir Putin had pushed his forces into Crimea and took it over, our late colleague and panelist here at SPECIAL REPORT, Dr. Charles Krauthammer, saw what could be coming next, and he had suggestions.

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CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: We have no way of getting Putin out of Crimea. He is not going to leave. I think it's likely that within a week or two it will be part of Russia.

So what do we do? Two things. We have to reassure NATO that it's going to stop with Ukraine. That means joint maneuvers with the Baltic states. We should offer large scale maneuvers with the states that of the frontier of Ukraine, the NATO states, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. And what we should do is to announce that any further step of Putin into the rest of Ukraine, we will immediately favorably consider request for weapons and trainers on the ground.

We're not going to get economic sanctions that will mean anything because the Europeans aren't helping. Number one order, the EPA to consider the 24 pending applications for liquid natural gas exports and expedite and have a verdict within six weeks, and second, call an emergency meeting with Republicans in Congress to redo the defense budget as a way to increase it rather than cutting it back. That will be a lesson for the long run, and the Russians will be hurt by it.

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BAIER: He was a smart, smart man. We miss his voice every day.

Tomorrow on SPECIAL REPORT, the latest on, obviously, the invasion, how the world is reacting. Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. We have got you covered. That's it for this SPECIAL REPORT, fair, balanced and still unafraid. "JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME" is starting now. Jesse?

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