'Your World' on new sanctions against Russia

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Biden’s sanctions will ‘degrade’ Putin’s ‘fighting capability’: British ambassador to the US

Karen Pierce sounds off on Biden’s sanctions on Russia on ‘Your World.’

This is a rush transcript of "Your World with Neil Cavuto" on February 24, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: The invasion is on. Now what to make of it in the world's reaction, we are on top of it.

The president outlining sanctions that some say don't go far enough. We're going to get reaction for the British ambassador to the United States.

Also updating you on some curious reaction at the corner of Wall and Broad, stocks which were free-falling, the Dow once down more than 800 points, finishing up on the day. Now, some seemed to think there was an improvement in oil prices, which had rocketed over $100 a barrel, finally ending at around $92, $93 a barrel.

Some pounced on that design that maybe we have overdone this reaction, but, again, as we hasten to add here, do not read a market's reaction either intraday or the end of the day to mean anything at all, because the wild swing is an indication about the wild guesses Wall Street, like Main Street, is making about all of this.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto.

And talk about a confusing "Your World," our world, everybody's world. And what in the world is going on inside the head of one Vladimir Putin? We have got you covered in how he is responding to these latest sanctions that, again, some say are severe and might financially cripple him, but not much more so than the talk of others that so far have not.

We're on top of it all, with Trey Yingst getting the very, very latest right now from the Ukraine, Jennifer Griffin at the Pentagon, Gillian Turner at the White House, concerns about cyberattacks that could hit here as well.

Let's start right now with Trey Yingst on what he's seeing.

Hey, Trey.

TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Neil, good afternoon.

Russian forces are inching closer to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. It's important to note, though, there was a victory for the Ukrainian forces this afternoon. Earlier in the day, an attack helicopter brigade of nearly 20 helicopters targeted the Antonov Airport just outside of the Ukrainian capital.

And when this happened, Russian forces were temporarily able to hold this base. Now, it's a critical piece of infrastructure, because it would have given the Russians the ability to land planes just outside of the Ukrainian capital, and then ultimately move forward with bringing in more equipment and personnel.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry says tonight that they have been able to launch a counteroffensive against those forces, and they now have reclaimed the airfield.

Further north, along the border with Belarus in the Chernobyl region, there were Russian troops that crossed the border earlier today and engaged Ukrainian forces in a firefight. We understand that, according to a source close to the president's office, those Ukrainian soldiers were pushed back.

And the Russians now maintain that entire area around Chernobyl. So, that is a significant push forward for the Russians. At this hour, there is an advancement of troops in the Kharkiv area. This is the second largest city in Ukraine. We understand that there are a number of strikes at this hour targeting that area. And Russian forces are trying to advance.

The big concern here is that there could be an attack on the Ukrainian capital. And it could come from multiple different directions. If that does indeed happen, we can expect a heavy resistance from Ukrainian forces and civilians here. Today, we learned from the interior minister that more than 10,000 weapons have been given out to civilians today, so that they can try to repel any sort of urban attack that takes place by those Russian forces -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Trey, thank you very, very much for that.

Let's get to read from the Pentagon right now and exactly how they're gauging reaction from Vladimir Putin and what could come next.

For that, to Jennifer Griffin -- Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Neil, I just came out of another briefing with a senior U.S. defense official, and I can respond to some of what Trey is reporting.

The Pentagon says that it has seen that Russian forces have moved through that Chernobyl area, but they do not have any evidence that Russian forces are holding that Chernobyl plant. We expected the forces, those tanks and troops, to move through Chernobyl on route to the capital, Kyiv.

So it is notable that, tonight, we are not hearing any confirmation that they are, in fact, staying at that Chernobyl plant. Also, in terms of what Trey's reporting about that -- how the Ukrainian forces are fighting back, earlier today, I was reporting that the Russians had taken over that key airfield about 45 minutes outside of Kyiv.

And so, if that is now contested -- and we have heard from a senior defense official that they do not have any evidence that that is in Russian hands - - that is certainly good news tonight.

We can report a bit more on those U.S. forces that President Biden announced would be going to Europe, 7,000 new U.S. troops being sent. They're coming from -- for the most part, from Fort Carson, from the Third Brigade of the Fourth Infantry Division, who are out at Fort Carson in Colorado, also from Fort Bragg.

Some of those 7,000 forces are among those 8,500 that the defense secretary and President Biden put on alert just a few weeks ago. We had reported on that. They will be going to Germany. This is an armor brigade combat team. It's not clear yet what their assignment will be, but they will be taking with them certainly enablers, and they will be under the command of the 18th Airborne Corps under General Kurilla, who was placed out in Germany just a few weeks ago -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, thank you very much for that, Jennifer Griffin.

We are expecting a White House briefing in about 20, 25 minutes. We have already heard from the president of the United States.

The fallout from his sanction response to all of this.

Gillian Turner at the White House with more -- hey, Gillian.

GILLIAN TURNER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil.

So we're learning new information now about the threat of a Russian cyberattack targeting the United States. A Department of Homeland Security official tells us all systems are ago, the threat is still active as of this hour. They also say it's not at all diminished now that Putin has launched this full blown-invasion into Ukraine.

Now, over the last couple of days, Ukraine's government systems and banking systems have fallen victim to these sweeping cyberattacks. Lawmakers attribute those attacks directly to Putin's cyber henchmen. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the likelihood of cyberattacks on Ukraine, I mean, it's happening every day. They were attacked yesterday. Just their special security services were hit right before the attack. So, cyber warfare against Ukraine, already deep into it.

As far as the United States, absolutely. We know elements inside of Russia have attacked the United States multiple times before. So, we can expect that to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Now, here at home, we are told that existing intelligence points to the fact that, should the worst-case scenario come to be, should the U.S. power grid come under attack and go down, it could take as long as one to two weeks to come back up at full capacity.

Despite this information we're getting just yesterday, the White House was still insisting that, when it came to cyber, nothing's doing. Take a listen to Jen Psaki.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No current threat as it relates to cyber here. The FBI and all of the agencies in the government always provide regular updates on what businesses and entities should do to prepare for the potential for. There's still no immediate specific threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Well, another major concern among national security officials is attacks on U.S. banks.

Now, should American banks come under similarly styled cyberattacks as those we have seen in Ukraine, Neil, it's pretty safe to say that rising gas prices would no longer be our foremost problem here in the U.S. -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Yes, that would be to put it mildly.

Thank you, Gillian, for that, Gillian Turner.

All right, now, I told you a little while ago about the reaction, particularly the financial community's reaction to the sanctions imposed by President Biden. Now, in a flip sense, keep in mind, these guys are all about the money. They don't think they are onerous as they feared. I say feared because they're also worried about the countries that would impose the sanctions, namely, European countries that, if they really hit hard on Russia, it would boomerang on them and lead to an even bigger slowdown.

Now, I know that's not necessarily a patriotic response. But these guys are largely about the money.

I want to get reaction to all of this with General Jack Keane, kind enough to join us.

General, something happened in that sanction outlined by the president that turned Wall Street around and assume maybe this won't go as badly as we -- as we thought. But what do you think of that?

JACK KEANE, FOX NEWS SENIOR STRATEGIC ANALYST: Well, first of all, I found the president's presentation, on the leadership side, a bit of a shortfall.

I mean, this is an historic event. And I think he should have come forward and said, the United States and the international community will not let this stand. We're going to do everything in our power to turn this around, even though that may take some time.

And, also, the implication, because of Putin's speech himself, that the assumption that NATO nations may indeed be fair game, particularly in the Baltic regions, has got to be unequivocally laid out in terms of our support for those countries. It's good that we're reinforcing them. It's good that NATO is now alerting the NATO Response Force.

As to the sanctions themselves, I'm troubled once again by the fact that it's not clear what sanctions we really are imposing. And it would seem to me, Neil, I mean, if the White House is really interested on informing the American people, informing our business community, informing others in the country that truly matter in terms of these sanctions, then he would follow it up with the Treasury Department and the State Department experts, who are pulling the triggers here, to come forward and lay out what it is we are doing.

And it's still not clear to me what it is we are doing.

CAVUTO: That's interesting, General.

So put yourself inside the head of Vladimir Putin. And you're getting a sense of all of this and these sanctions that didn't go quite as far as some feared, for example, the SWIFT international banking system that allows countries to do commerce with each other. We could have kicked them out of that to make life extremely painful and difficult for them.

We didn't do that. So, if you're Putin, you're relieved, aren't you?

KEANE: Yes, well, I think, Putin's mind-set here is, he's dismissed the sanctions. He's war-gamed that. He believes he can absorb this, and nothing we're going to do here would deter him from the strategic political and military objectives he is pursuing right before our eyes.

There is no amount of deterrence that would stop that, other than U.S. and NATO troops in Ukraine. And that's out of the question.

So it's all about punishment and retribution and imposing costs over time. I'm not minimizing it. I'm saying that we should go all in on all of that, and make tough assumptions in dealing with him. It's not clear that we're actually going to attack him. It's not clear what we're doing about the industry space, particularly oil and gas.

CAVUTO: Yes.

KEANE: It's not clear about the SWIFT system. And, certainly, but we do know, and you know, Neil, that we can impose significant cost if we go after the central banks, shut them down out of the dollar-driven system, take foreign investment off the table, take our technology off the table, as well as European technology.

I mean, we have capacity to truly hurt them. I just want to hear the details. We have been waiting for weeks to hear some details, and we still don't have them, despite the fact there's an invasion. And, oh, by the way, Neil, the Russians aren't 10 feet tall. On four of the axes they are conducting operations in today, they are being slowed by the Ukrainians, on three of those four axes.

The only one they're moving unimpeded is the southern axis coming in from Crimea. And what it means is that their pre-assault fires was inadequate. So there's some of their planning, some of their execution not up to par, underestimating once again the Ukrainians.

These are tough people.

CAVUTO: Yes.

KEANE: And those -- the Ukrainian military out there is fighting, and fighting fiercely, despite the fact they know full well they're overmatched.

Think of that. They know they're overmatched. But they're not running from anybody. They're sticking their ground and fighting. And that is to be admired. And God bless them for that and the support they know they have from their own people.

CAVUTO: You know, General, it's interesting your insight into this, because it's extremely valuable, that they -- the Russians might be concerned about a bumpy start to this then?

KEANE: Yes, I mean, I think Putin has overreached, to be frank, here.

And I think he's always had a blind side when it comes to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. I mean, these are the same people, Neil, that drove out his stooge. They didn't fire a weapon at him. They were hundreds of thousands of them demonstrating against him, and he fled the country.

That's what started everything in 2014. That's why he annexed Crimea and moved into Eastern Ukraine. These are the same people. And over this -- the last eight years, all Putin has managed to do with these people is stiffen their resolve even more that they want to look away from Russia and look towards the West.

And that has infuriated him. I believe it's blinded him to a certain degree, in having this, what I consider to be an overreach. And I think there's going to be not only pushback from the Ukrainian people eventually, but pushback from his own people, and certainly significant pushback from the international community.

I mean, he absolutely deserves to be isolated, as the international pariah he truly has become as a result of this. And the international community's got to come together and get tough with him, and certainly make certain that the NATO states in Eastern Europe are truly protected.

CAVUTO: General, thank you very much, General Jack Keane on all of the.

In the meantime, we know the State Department has already suspended consular operations in Lviv, Ukraine. And that could be just for starters.

Let's go to Lucas Tomlinson following all of that in Lviv -- Lucas.

LUCAS TOMLINSON, FOX NEWS PENTAGON PRODUCER: Well, Neil, we have the iris turned up because the police just came by into this room and demanded to see our passports, saying that we cannot show any bright lights, because they're afraid of Russian helicopter gunships and fighter jets orbiting overhead potentially.

And so that's why this shot is a little dark. So far here in Western Ukraine, the cultural capital, home to one of the oldest universities here in Ukraine, we have seen some refugees flooding in from the capital. We have also seen a number of nervous residents. We have seen long ATM lines, long queues at the grocery store and marketplaces, really just a lot of nervous people who were not expecting this full-scale invasion that the Pentagon and White House have been warning about for the past two weeks.

Many of the people here, palpable, the fear in their eyes. While we're not under any kind of blackout conditions here, as you can see behind me, it certainly is darker. The police do not want any bright lights. Certainly, it's a much quieter city.

As you can imagine, Neil, in fact, the last few hits we have done, you have probably heard more people in the background, heard me talking about restaurants being full, and maybe more of an indifference among the local populace about what was coming, what was potentially coming, but certainly a different story today with this full-scale invasion, U.S. officials saying the Russians launched over 160 short-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Certainly, that capability, most people had not seen before. But when you look back at the Russian intervention in Syria in 2015, we can certainly look back at a training ground. Recall, when the Russians invaded Georgia back in 2008, they did it with about half the troops that they used to invade Ukraine. In fact, they had a lot of problems with communication, a lot of problems with friendly fire.

And so it's very obvious now that this Russian military has modernized. And while they might be a third-rate economy, about the size of Italy in terms of GDP, certainly, when it comes to a military, they're not only a nuclear power and have more nuclear warheads than the world, they are a first-rate military.

And we saw that with a lot of precision strikes. The Russian Defense Ministry claims that these were military charges that were taken out all across the country. And even though this is considered a safer zone, certainly, we didn't see any airstrikes here in the city, the mayor of this town, Neil, said there were some airstrikes at military bases on the outskirts of the town -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Lucas, thank you very much. Please be safe, Lucas Tomlinson in the middle of that in Kyiv, where they're concerned about bright lights, of course, Russian attacks, as they rightly should be.

In the meantime, I did want to take you to New York City, though, where protests are going on against what Russia committed today in Ukraine. Now, these have popped up sporadically across the country and across Europe.

But, again, this is something we're following live in New York, where the international reaction is pretty much aghast to all of this. We're following it very closely.

In the meantime, I want to go to someone who has obviously a vested interest in all of this.

Alexey Goncharenko is the Ukrainian member of Parliament, and was very kind enough to join us. Very good to have you, sir.

It was interesting, because we were talking to General Jack Keane here, who wonders if the Russians might have stumbled in a couple of key points in this multipronged attack and that maybe some of the Ukrainian opposition is proving more potent than thought.

What can you tell us, sir?

ALEXEY GONCHARENKO, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Hello. Thank you very much for your support.

And I can tell you that, really, the plan of Putin of blitzkrieg of Ukraine, the quick attack and quick devastation and capitulation of Ukraine, it failed. We already can say this. Certainly, the war is very tough. Certainly, Russians are moving in some directions, especially really from the south, from Crimea. But there is no blitzkrieg.

The state is not decapitated. There is no panic in the cities. There is no panic between the people. I am in Kyiv. The authorities are in Kyiv. Parliament is working. So that is our answer.

And the main thing, that our army is fighting. And, also, thousands of people are receiving weapons now to fight for their own houses, homes, especially in the capital, in Kyiv, because we see that Kyiv is primary aim of Putin.

CAVUTO: Do you know, Alexey, whether President Zelensky is still in the country, safe in the country, and that other Parliament members such as yourself are as well?

GONCHARENKO: Yes, we voted morning, 300 votes, constitutional majority, for martial law in the whole territory of Ukraine.

And the president is in Kyiv, not just in the country, but in Kyiv, in the capital. And we are here, and we are ready to fight. And I also -- I am not a professional soldier, but I also received this. And I'm also ready to fight.

CAVUTO: Russian soldiers would probably call you a target. How do you feel about that?

GONCHARENKO: I have no doubts in this.

CAVUTO: So, when you hear of their advance in other areas, not so yet it where you are, but close, does that concern you? What's your plan?

GONCHARENKO: My plan is to fight for my country. That's a big concern for the whole country.

And my risks are much lower than the risks of our men and women who are fighting now against Russian occupants. We know that they have lists of those who should be killed, who should be tortured. And I know that I have my place in this list. But that's my country, I don't have any other. I was born here. And I'm ready to fight for it.

And I'm sure that Putin will lose. I don't know how much time will it take, but he will lose. But, definitely, we need the support of the West, because we are not fighting just for ourselves. We are fighting for the whole world, and for the whole civilized world.

And I think that it's very important for free world to show its strength, not to show, like after sort of Afghanistan, the weakness of free world, but the strength of free world. And if Putin and other dictators will see that the free world is weak, then Ukraine will be just the beginning. Then there will be much, much more -- many more crises in Europe and in Asia and in Taiwan and wherever you can call.

So I think that's a crucial moment for the free world in general to support Ukraine, to support Ukraine to keep our existence.

CAVUTO: Alexey, you're an incredibly brave man.

I do want to get your reaction to what Vladimir Putin had said to make this whole go away. I'm paraphrasing here, sir. But that if Ukraine gave up on its pro-Western alliances and affinity for the West, and just dispensed with this notion of ever joining NATO, all this would stop, all of it would stop, what do you say to that?

GONCHARENKO: No, you mean that Putin is saying that if we will not join NATO?

CAVUTO: Right.

GONCHARENKO: Does -- just don't believe Putin.

Today, he does -- he wants and asks not to be part of NATO. But when he started war against Ukraine in 2014, we were not the member of NATO. And they were -- even we didn't have aspirations to NATO for majority of people. So he started the war for neutral country, absolutely neutral.

So, that's Putin who made us want -- wanting to go to NATO. So that's not about NATO. It's about that Putin wants to rebuild Soviet empire, the empire of evil, like President Reagan told. And he wants Ukraine, he wants Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Baltic countries. He wants Poland. He wants the wall in Berlin, I assume you.

So the question is, where will he be stopped? That's the question, and not the question where he will stop voluntarily. He will never stop voluntarily.

CAVUTO: So, Alexey, you don't believe him, when he says that be loyal to Russia, give up your pro-Western views, just drop the talk of eventually trying to join NATO?

Those seem to be some of the broad conditions he laid out to stop doing what he is doing.

GONCHARENKO: No. Don't believe...

CAVUTO: What do you think of that?

GONCHARENKO: Don't believe him. We don't believe him.

We know him. And you don't believe him. That's not about NATO aspirations of Ukraine. Once again, he started war against Ukraine...

CAVUTO: So, one way or the other, you think he wants to take over your country; you have no doubt about that; all of these are excuses on his part; he doesn't mean any one of them?

GONCHARENKO: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.

He just wants to take our country, and not only ours.

CAVUTO: So, you talked about Poland. You talked about some of the former Soviet breakaway countries. Maybe, by extension, that could be Lithuania, some others.

So, you're convinced, no matter what happens in Ukraine, that it doesn't end in Ukraine?

GONCHARENKO: Absolutely. That will end in Ukraine only if Putin will lose here.

If he will be stopped, either by sanctions or by Ukrainian army and people all together, only after this, everything will finish, because, if he will succeed in Ukraine, he will go further, like he did after Georgia in 2008, like he did after first part in Ukraine, when he took Crimea in 2014. He is not going to stop himself.

CAVUTO: I know it's very hard from where you are to get all the news and the information you need, Alexey, but some of the sanctions that President Biden outlined, tough financial sanctions, some say don't go far enough.

What you know of them, what do you think?

GONCHARENKO: I was listening to President Biden.

First of all, we are thankful for all sanctions. But if we want to -- really to stop Putin, we need some really tough sanctions. And I can tell you, too, tough sanctions which can be so painful for Putin that he will stop, first is kickoff from SWIFT, from financial system, world financial transaction system.

And second is embargo and ban on Russian oil and gas, because each barrel of Russian oil, each cubic meter of Russian gas now is full of Ukrainian blood, is bloody oil, bloody gas, and it should be banned.

These two things will stop Putin, because oil and gas makes -- make two- thirds of Russian exports and 50 percent of state budget revenues. So, he could not afford...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: But, Alexey, they didn't do that. But the president didn't do those two things, nor did the other G7 countries.

GONCHARENKO: I know this. That's why -- that's why...

CAVUTO: They didn't do those two things. So, you think that this doesn't go far enough, and Putin is emboldened to keep doing what he's doing?

GONCHARENKO: We have heard that some European countries were against all this.

But, in any case, I hope that the leadership of the United States can move it forward, and we will see really tough sanctions like those two like I told you.

CAVUTO: All right, Alexey, thank you very, very much, Alexey Goncharenko, the Ukrainian member of Parliament.

GONCHARENKO: Thank you.

CAVUTO: Please be safe, and your family as well.

All the Ukrainian Parliament members are of the same, the same view here. I don't know how many are armed like Alexey. But they are not going down without a fight.

Reaction right now from the British prime minister, who has said that he admired the will of the people in the Ukraine and thought that some of these sanctions would go very, very far, that more would be coming.

But, as Alexey pointed out, they don't go far enough.

Karen Pierce is the British ambassador to the United States, kind enough to join us.

Ambassador, you have heard from this Parliament member, who is holed up in his home with a gun, ready for the worst, but fighting to the end, but disappointed that these sanctions, what we know of them, didn't and don't go far enough.

What do you think?

KAREN PIERCE, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Well, first of all, I want to say, Neil, that that really exemplifies the spirit of the Ukrainian people.

President Putin has this narrative that he's going to be welcomed by Ukrainians as some sort of savior. And I think your previous correspondent just shows that's absolutely not the case, and they will resist. And we stand with them in that.

On the sanctions, we do believe these will be very sweeping packages. They're coordinated across the G7, so between the U.S., the U.K. and the E.U. They will deny Russian companies and individuals access to capital markets. They will asset-freeze. They will cut dual-use technology, and they will degrade the ability of the Russian war machine.

So they may not deter President Putin. I think we have seen in the last 24, 48 hours quite how determined he is to overrun another country. But what these sanctions will do is come to really degrade his fighting capability.

CAVUTO: We're told, Ambassador, that the U.S. was ready to pull the SWIFT trigger, the financial system through which countries conduct commerce, and even do the oil and gas thing that Alexey Goncharenko had just mentioned, but that European leaders were concerned that it would indirectly and down the road directly hit them, that imposition of this would come back to bite them and cost them a great deal.

So they nixed that for now. Do you know if that is true, that it was European leaders, maybe Boris Johnson himself, who said, not yet?

PIERCE: That's not my understanding, Neil, to be absolutely honest.

I think there's widespread understanding in Europe and certainly on the part of Boris Johnson that one of the things that needs to come out of all of this is a big reduction in Europe's dependency on Russian energy, and that's what we're working for.

On the contrary, I think the G7, which of course, includes a number of European countries, including us -- it also includes the E.U. itself -- the G7 are united in bringing forward these sweeping sanctions packages. So, no, I don't recognize that.

We are determined to degrade President Putin's ability to wage a war.

CAVUTO: So, Ambassador, when I look at your exposure to Russia and your exposure to this whole energy mess, it's a lot more than our own here in the United States.

For example, our natural gas prices ran up about 3 or 4 percent in this country. In your country, they ran up north of 30 percent. The exposure to Russia in all of this is much more of an impact for you than it is for us, for the time being. That could change. There are world markets, and they all get whipsawed by this.

But is there concern that you have, Ambassador, that the prime minister has, that other leaders have that these sanctions, even what they are, without these two more extreme measures, are going to hurt you, and that your citizens don't realize how much they're going to hurt them?

PIERCE: I think there is, Neil, widespread understanding among governments that if we want to introduce really crushing sanctions, to coin a phrase, that this is going to involve some pain for Western countries.

And we have gone into this with our eyes open. As far as the U.K. goes, we ourselves are not dependent on Russian energy. But, as you say, some other European countries are. We very much support what Chancellor Scholz has said about halting Nord Stream 2.

But we now need to work together to find alternative sources of supply. The United States has been very helpful in that regard. We need to reduce the long-term dependency. And you're absolutely right. In the short term, we need to take measures that will smooth the shock to individual households of these energy increases.

And we're doing all of that.

CAVUTO: Ambassador, what is Britain going to do if -- if Vladimir Putin doesn't end here, that this notion that he's kind of advanced, one and done, it's just Ukraine, that's all I'm really looking at, but he advances elsewhere?

He's already got 30,000 troops in Belarus. He could be looking at some of these other former Soviet Union members, now breakaway republics, and piece together the old Soviet Union that he misses, and made clear this week was one of the greatest tragedies of the modern era. What do you think?

PIERCE: I think that you're right to point to that.

I think it's 15 years ago this year that President Putin first said that the demise of the Soviet Union was one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. I think most other people, including most Russians, actually think of it the other way around. The demise of the Soviet Union freed Europeans. It enabled a Europe whole and free.

And now President Putin is taking a huge step backwards by bringing war and conflict back onto the streets of Europe. And I just wonder what the 13 million Russians who died in World War II would have to say about that outcome. A Europe whole and free was what the whole continent desired. The U.S. and Canada supported that. Russia supported that.

And now it's President Putin who is pulling that apart. I don't think his ambitions do stop at Ukraine, to be honest. Whether they extend to the former Soviet Union republics or whether they take a different turn and go to the Balkans, where there's already extensive Russian meddling, we will have to see.

But we are on the lookout for that. We are working with NATO and the E.U. to try and support the forces of democracy and open societies in our Balkan friends.

CAVUTO: Ambassador, very good catching up with you, again, I'm sorry under these circumstances.

The British ambassador to the United States, Karen Pierce.

Ambassador, thank you very much again.

All right, a couple of other issues we are looking at right now, exactly what the Russians are doing now. It's a multipronged attack. And you really need a big old view of the entire country to get a sense of that.

No one does it better than my buddy Bill Hemmer, who joins us right now.

Bill, what can you tell us?

BILL HEMMER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Yes. Hey, Neil. Good afternoon.

I just listened to your conversation there, Neil. Just so you know, this is the western border of Ukraine, and look where you are, knocking on the door of Poland, just to go to the scenario that you were painting with the ambassador there a moment ago.

Neil, I want to go through a couple of things here with you. This is the -- as of 1:30 Eastern time. You can see -- and there's been more hits since then, by the way, north, south, east and west, different parts of Ukraine.

But keep an eye on Kyiv here. We're getting reports to this airstrip 24 miles to the north. It used to be an air base for the military, now is used as a cargo airport. And, Neil, there was fierce battle between the Russian force and Ukrainian military. It appears the Ukrainian military has won that battle so far.

But if the Russian military is able to win that cargo strip there, you have got the ability on behalf of Putin to fly men and machinery into that airport. That's only 24 miles north of the Ukrainian capital.

Let me go to another map here. And I wanted to show you, Neil -- come over here. See Belgorod here? That's on the Russian side of the border, a lot of military installations on the northeastern side of here -- of Ukraine. We were looking at the satellite images back from the 4th of February. You know it was cold, right, all that snow on the ground.

But this is an empty field. And then, on the 22nd of February, just a few days ago, all the snow is gone. You see all the military trucks and all the personnel that have lined up.

I will give you another one here, further down the map here in Soloti, again, Russian side of the border. This is February 13. Snow on the ground just about everywhere. All these military areas set up here, personnel, tanks, tents, trucks, and on the 20th of February, they were gone. So now bigger picture here.

What's happening with the battle right now? We're in phase one, we believe. That's the military operation. How long does it go? We do not know. A senior defense official said earlier today, pretty much admitted that we don't know how much longer this could last.

But, clearly, the Russians have the advantage, especially at night. We rule the night in the U.S. military when we go to Iraq and Afghanistan. This isn't an apples to apples here, but the Russian military far superior to the Ukrainians. They have night-vision goggles. They can see as they go, all right?

As at 1:30, OK, here's the border with Belarus. Why am I bringing this up? Well, we had -- OK, sorry. Sorry about that. We had talked about this border here with Belarus. This is Russia right here off to the east. Belarus allowed the Russian military to establish numerous military outposts over the past 60 days.

There was a lot of talk that they could come down through Belarus. But, really, I don't think -- Neil, I don't think anybody was much convinced of that. But it's happened. And so, based on the reporting we know now, there's a front coming down to the northwest of Kyiv, and a front coming down to the northeast of Kyiv.

There's this here in the northeast that has already crossed that border, a fierce battle on behalf of Ukrainian military. They're holding out right now. But, again, it's only still within really that 24-hour window.

The other area is down here in Crimea. That's an area that the Russians took in 2014. They have been able to come from the south up to the north. And based on the reports we're getting -- and maybe we can clear this out throughout the evening hours here -- very little resistance in the south. Why is that? Can't say, but that's the report we're getting at the moment.

So it's a three-pronged attack here on behalf of the Russians. And Donetsk is a town of a million people. This is in that Donbass region that they took eight years ago, in 2014. And you have -- you have got the Ukrainian military dug in on one side of the line. And you have got the Russian military now on the other side.

And, Neil, whenever Putin decides to have this battle in this part of the country, it's going to be massive loss of life. There are going to be numerous casualties. You had 14,000 people killed in this area over the past eight years. So we're in phase one.

It'll -- well, it's 11:00 at night already. So night has fallen in Kyiv, and we will see what we get in the coming hours on day two.

CAVUTO: So I don't want to put you on the spot, Bill.

HEMMER: Sure.

CAVUTO: We had General Jack Keane here a little while ago. He seemed intimate there are going to be bumps along the way, already have been at the north.

And he seemed to be saying that this idea of a 48-hour blitz, and it's all wrapped up, that might be a bit premature.

HEMMER: I have heard that analysis from General Keane and many others. And they might be right about that, Neil.

We will have to see how this progresses in the days to come.

CAVUTO: Right.

HEMMER: But there's one thing for sure. The Ukrainian military is much more fortified today than they were in 2014. They have tank killers now. And they have got Stinger missiles.

And if you're going to fly a Russian helicopter into their airspace, and you're going to go after the air base, to have a Stinger missile on the ground, you saw how effective they were in the 1980s.

CAVUTO: That's right.

HEMMER: Well, imagine how that technology has improved itself four decades later.

So we will see. We will see how it goes. And we will see what sort of resistance comes along the way.

CAVUTO: Thank you very much, Bill.

HEMMER: Sure.

CAVUTO: That was terrific, putting it all in perspective.

And, to Bill's point, talking to that Parliament member, Alexey Goncharenko, who says all of his colleagues are staying in the country and not going anywhere, as President Zelensky has indicated he won't either, they're sticking around for a fight. They're not giving up. And they're ready for battle.

And a bit premature for them to hear talk of it's all over for them. It is far from that.

Meanwhile, we are about maybe 20 minutes away from the Senate getting briefed on all of this. Key members will. We're told, meanwhile, the White House briefing has been pushed back a bit.

But we're going to have a Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen here on what he wants to hear from that briefing. He's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right to the White House right now. We're waiting for a White House briefing a little later on.

Kind of mixed reaction to the president's sanctions announced today.

Let's go to Peter Doocy with the very latest.

Hey, Peter.

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A couple months ago, Biden and Putin met in Switzerland, and they sat down privately to try to hash out rules of the road, new rules of the road for the U.S.-Russian relationship.

And at the time, the president said that his belief was that Putin really just wanted to improve the way that the rest of the world sees him. So that is part of the way that the president understood, at least publicly, what motivated Putin.

So, earlier today, I had a chance to ask the president if that's changed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: Did you underestimate Putin? And would you still describe him the way that you did in the summer, as a worthy adversary?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At the time, he was -- I made it clear he was an adversary. And I said he was worthy. I didn't underestimate him.

And I have read most of everything he's written. Did you read the -- I shouldn't say -- I'm not being a wise guy. The -- you heard the speech he made, almost an hour's worth of speech, as to why he was going into Ukraine.

He has much larger ambitions than Ukraine. He wants to, in fact, reestablish the former Soviet Union. That's what this is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: And that's a big headline, because, as Putin comes forward with information, the White House has assured us and Western partners have assured us are false, like false flag information and false pretexts, the president says it was never about trying to get rid of dangers that existed for Russia in their next-door neighbor.

It is instead about a land grab and trying to make things look the way that they did pre-Cold War -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Peter, I don't want to wonk you out here, but I look at how the markets are responding tick by tick to the day's developments.

And during the president's remarks and these additional sanctions, something remarkable happened. We went from a Dow that was tumbling to a Dow that stopped tumbling and started reversing and ultimately finished the day up. All the major markets did that.

And one interpretation was, well, thank God these sanctions weren't more onerous than we thought, because that could have slowed the whole world down, Europe included. It's a selfish money interest. And that's how these guys are. But that was one interpretation. What do you make of that? And what does the White House, you think, that I think looks at markets now and then...

(CROSSTALK)

DOOCY: Oh, yes.

They're very sensitive to the potential impact on Americans, because Americans are not being sent to fight in Ukraine. And they're very clear about that. But Americans may soon be paying more for fuel. And if gas costs more, energy costs more, then that means everything costs more. And since inflation is already so high, the president -- I asked the president another question about this.

And he was quick to say he does not think that the financial burden in the United States is going to last for a long time. But he also said -- and this is something that's going to be very easy to see in a matter of days. I asked him if he thinks that these sanctions are going to have the same impact in Ukraine as Russian tanks and missiles and bullets, and he said, in Ukraine, he thinks that it will -- Neil.

CAVUTO: OK, Peter, thank you very much.

Now to Senator Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland Democrat, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, crucial player in all of this in how the Senate will respond and digest this. All senators are going to get a briefing in about 13 minutes, so the senator kind enough to join us.

Senator, always good seeing you.

What do you want to hear at this briefing, or at least what's your biggest concern?

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Well, Neil, first of all, welcome back. Good to have you back.

CAVUTO: Thank you very much.

VAN HOLLEN: A couple questions I have got.

The first is, how is the Ukrainian military faring up against the Russian attack? Second, what are our plans to arm the Ukrainian resistance? This is going to be a long fight, potentially, against Putin's occupation of Ukraine.

I don't think 40 million Ukrainians are going to allow him to dominate over the long term, but we need to make sure that we're supplying them with what they need. And, also, what impact we expect from the sanctions announced so far, and over what time period, so lots of big questions that we need to answer, as we develop our strategy, along with our allies.

CAVUTO: Senator, as you know, in the meantime, gas and oil prices have been rocketing in this country. There has been talk about maybe temporarily suspending the federal gasoline tax. Are you open to that?

VAN HOLLEN: I'm open to looking at different things, Neil, to do everything we can to try to reduce gas prices.

As you know, there are a whole mix of factors. I mean, there was growing worldwide demand as we beat this pandemic. Obviously, what's happening in Ukraine right now leads to upward prices in the market.

Look, we are going to have to face some short-term gain in order to send a message that Putin cannot invade Ukraine with impunity. We have to impose maximum economic sanctions and pain on Putin and his cronies. And we also need to be arming the Ukrainian resistance.

The bottom line is, we have got to make sure that, when people look back on this decision by Putin, they see it as an epic miscalculation. That's what we have got to make sure happens.

CAVUTO: Senator, I am curious, though. There's going to be a lot of Russian oil that will be off the market. Prices will climb still higher.

Would you be open, do you think the president should be open with revisiting more domestic production, maybe real opening the Keystone pipeline that he shut down when he became president, that call it a national emergency right now and we're going to look at any and all options?

VAN HOLLEN: So, Neil, a couple things.

I have heard people say that the Keystone decision had some impact on current prices. I also saw PolitiFact look at that, looked at that claim, and said it was false.

The reality is that oil and gas production is continuing in the United States, as it should. But we also need to do what President Biden wants to do, which is, over time, reduce our reliance on oil and gas, because, obviously, it's a world market. And, as you point out, Russia has an important share of that.

I was really pleased that the Germans decided to announce that they're not going forward with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. That was another very important decision by our allies. So, bottom line is, when you have a conflict like this, gas prices will go up. And we need to recognize that there will be some price to pay for standing up against Putin's bullying.

CAVUTO: But there'd be less of a price to pay if we dramatically opened up production, right?

You're quite right to say, sir, that the Keystone pipeline news, it was -- really just represented a fraction of our overall oil and our future oil needs. But, as you know, oil trades in the open world markets, and it was read at the time that U.S. production is not going to be as big as we thought it would be or as much of an important issue for this administration.

And almost ever since, we have been behind the eight ball here. Do you regret that unilateral decision at the time?

VAN HOLLEN: No. No, I don't.

And, Neil, I think you know that oil production and gas production in the United States is obviously moved by world prices. As prices are going up. What you're going to see in the United States is increased oil and gas production.

The slower oil and gas production here had nothing to do with President Biden's policies. The reality is that gas -- as you know, those related to future decisions. I mean, the Keystone pipeline wasn't completed for a very long tie.

CAVUTO: Well, I know that, Senator. I don't want to get wonky about it, but I was there at the time covering that. And almost, to that day, prices did start ticking up.

Now, it might be in view of the economy picking up steam and all that. But, in the markets, it was an inflection moment.

VAN HOLLEN: But, Neil, you know markets.

You know that, when the economy was down, when the pandemic was at its peak, oil prices went down. Gas prices went down. A lot of people stopped drilling.

CAVUTO: So, you're not for dramatically -- I just want to be clear, Senator, and I don't want to be obnoxious here.

But you're not for dramatically beefing up domestic production to make up for the oil that will be off the market soon from Russia?

VAN HOLLEN: I think domestic production will go up as price -- as the prices go up.

And we're already beginning to see that, as you know, because domestic production, like production in the rest of the world, follows supply and demand. And that's what will happen here.

CAVUTO: All right, we will watch it very closely.

Sir, thank you very much. And good luck at this meeting. I guess I'm going to -- because of this, I'm forcing you to sprint to that, Senator Chris Van Hollen, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senators are going to be briefed on the Russian invasion in just a couple of minutes.

We're going to get the latest right now on how things are looking in Ukraine -- right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, let's get a read on -- from Ukraine right now on where things stand.

Let's go to Mike Tobin. He's in Lviv, Ukraine.

Mike, how do things look there?

MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, at the moment, Neil, things are pretty calm. The most chilling development of the day seems to be the fact that the Ukrainians lost control of the area around the Chernobyl nuclear facility, as you know very well was the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster.

And Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the president, says the problem with that now is you have no idea what the status is of the area around Chernobyl, the nuclear facility itself, or any of the nuclear waste.

Now, the fighting has been intense, particularly in the eastern part of the country, near the town of Kharkiv. And that is an area from which we are getting some video of an apartment building out there. And the reason I want to highlight that particular video, it's the first example we have of any collateral damage.

We don't have a lot of information coming out of that particular video and that particular area. But we do know from the Health Ministry, overall, right now, they have a record of some 57 people who have been killed, 169 who have been injured.

The aerial strikes seem to be strategic in nature. They are spread out all over Ukraine. The targets have been everything from airstrips to air defenses to military barracks. The military intelligence headquarters in Kyiv was hit.

What remains to be seen is if the Russians have been able to disable the ability of the Ukrainians to fight back, which really was their goal in the short term. The Ukrainians claimed they have not. The Ukrainian say they have taken some seven Russian aircraft out of the sky, four helicopters, two tanks and 10 armored personnel carriers.

Here in the town of Lviv, we talked with a number of people coming and going. We talked with retired soldiers, who say they want to go volunteer to pick up a weapon, people on the street who vow that this is their home, it's not like 2014, they will fight.

CAVUTO: Mike, I'm sorry. I thought you were throwing to a bite. My apologies.

(CROSSTALK)

TOBIN: Yes.

CAVUTO: Very, very quickly, what is the mood of the people there?

I mean, obviously, they know that the invasion is on, but very few are leaving. And I talked to a Parliament member. He's not leaving. He is holed up in his home with a gun and everything else. So how are they handling this?

TOBIN: I think their mood is one of resolve, Neil.

It's interesting how much it changed over the past few days. Last week, you talked to people, and they were still optimistic that it was never really going to manifest. After they heard Putin's speech, things changed. Now they're ready to fight.

CAVUTO: All right.

All right, Mike, great reporting. Be safe.

TOBIN: Thank you.

CAVUTO: As I tell all you guys out there in harm's way, stay out of harm's way.

Mike Tobin in the middle of all of that.

That will do it. Here comes "The Five."

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