 It is critical hour. Also we are looking to Brussels, where NATO security general is about to begin his press conference. Eric Sirens blared in Kiev this hour, as reports indicate the city has been hit by rocket barrages and cruise missiles as explosions are also reported across the Ukrainian country. The Ukrainian government says a full-scale Russian invasion has begun. The LaRussian troops are also reportedly joining the Russian assault from the north with their border less than 100 miles from the capital Kiev. Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday announced the military operation in warned other countries that any attempt to interfere will lead to, in his words, consequence they have never seen. Putin argued that the attack is aimed at protecting civilians in eastern Ukraine, as it has in maintains his harsh rhetoric towards the authorities in Kiev itself. Here's more from the Russian leader. I have made the decision of a military operation. Dear comrades, your fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers did not fight defending our motherland for today's neo-Nazis to seize power in Ukraine. You took an oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people, and not to the anti-people junta that robs and harasses its own people. Don't follow its criminal orders. Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats for our country, our people should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences that you have never experienced in your history. That's how it sounds in Moscow, and in Kiev, Ukrainian President Zelensky held a phone call with US President Biden in the last hour as Biden attempted to reassure his Ukrainian allies of the upcoming measures to contain and ostensibly punish Russia with efforts to ramp up the United Nations, but in Kiev, and under fire, President Zelensky again spoke to his embattled nation as they braced themselves under a Russian offensive. Here is the latest from Kiev. We know for sure that we don't need the war, not a cold war, not a hot war, not a hybrid one, but if we'll be attacked by the enemy troops, if they try to take our country away from us, our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. Not attack, but defend ourselves, and when you'll be attacking us, you will see our faces, not our backs, but our faces. The war is a big disaster, and this disaster has a high price. With every meaning of this word, people lose money, reputation, quality of life, they lose freedom, but the main thing is that people lose their loved ones, they lose themselves. They told you that Ukraine is posing a threat to Russia. It was not the case in the past, not in the present. It's not going to be in the future. You are demanding security guarantees from NATO, but we also demand security guarantees. Security for Ukraine from you, from Russia, and other guarantees of the Budapest Memorandum, but our main goal is peace in Ukraine and the safety of our people, Ukrainians. For that, we are ready to have talks with anybody, including you, in any format on any platform. The war will deprive security guarantees from everybody, nobody will have guarantees of security anymore, who will suffer the most from it, the people, who doesn't want it the most, the people, who can stop it, the people. But are those people among you, I am sure? And now I'd like to say hello to Ukrainian journalist Inky, she'll be with us in a minute, so I'll say first hello to my fellows and colleagues here in the studio, former Israeli ambassador Avi Pazner, thank you so much for joining me. How do you look at things going on in Ukraine right now and alongside with you our correspondent international correspondent Owen Alterman, with the latest obviously everything is changing by the minute. So I would like to ask you both on, we'll start with you, what's the latest I heard now that Russia will be disconnected from Swift tonight, other measures by U.S. and the EU to try and tangle the Russians, but it seems like Putin is not impressed. To say the least, not all that impressed, obviously we're expecting the sanctions, given that this scenario was at the extreme end of the spectrum of possible scenarios, I think we can expect the level of sanctions to be imposed to be at the extreme end of this spectrum of scenarios for sanctions that would be imposed on Ukraine. But Owen what is Putin trying to achieve, is Putin trying to frighten Ukraine or to take over Ukraine, because he went all over, all over, he came from sea, he came from land, he came from each and every possible angle. He's eating Kiev, he's eating other cities, so it seems like Russia wants to take over Ukraine. Yeah, eating is absolutely the right verb, you know, I think we're past the frightening stage, right? That's what we've been seeing over the past two months, when there was some question about what the Russian leader's intentions were, if he only wanted to use this as a loaded gun in order to frighten as you rightly put it the Ukrainians, but not bear the costs that Russia will bear from this invasion. And you're right, from Putin's perspective, the benefits outweigh the costs, but that doesn't mean that there aren't costs, but obviously we're past that stage. Putin is there on the ground, again this is at the extreme end of the spectrum of possible scenarios, I think we can say with fair confidence right now that he wants to be in charge of Ukraine one way or another, and of course the big question is beyond that, does he want to expand, there's a geographical element here, the importance of Ukraine to Russia geographically, geopolitically, there's a systemic element here of Putin wanting to change the rules of the game in the entire international system, and this is obviously a momentous event of the 21st century. And there is a huge economical issue Ukraine holds in its round, a lot of money, a lot of money, which is important to Russia. Avipaznel, what's in there to look currently, what does Russia want to achieve, and what's the next step, because if I were to be other countries in the area, let's say the Baltic countries, I would say I'm next. You would be right, but there is a big but, those countries are members of NATO, and there is a difference between Ukraine who wanted to enter NATO and couldn't, and these countries like the Baltic you mentioned, like Poland, like Romania, who are already in NATO, and President Biden had said that if Russia attacks even one inch of those countries, there will be an American military response. So the situation is different, but this is for today. This is a situation today. I was not surprised, I must tell you, by the Russian attack after listening to Putin the day before yesterday, when he spoke of Ukraine as not a country. Ukraine doesn't exist. Ukraine is part of Russia. It is an artificial creation which was done by Lenin and afterwards was redone, and he wanted to explain that he's not taking over another country. He takes a country into Mother Russia. He embraces part of Russia into Mother Russia. He does the genuine thing. That's what he wants to show. And now, of course, if the war continues, as I believe it will, and he will take over Ukraine, he will install a government with pro-Russian, and you will have a situation like Belarus and Russia. Yes, but I did add a personal note, and you may add to that. Russia, although it seems to us here in Israel and around the world like a huge tiger, Russia is a vulnerable state. Its economy is very weak. Its economy is weaker, is smaller than Spain, which is smaller than Texas in the US. Sanctions against Russia won't take their toll tomorrow, but within a month, three months, six months, Russians will pay a very high price. But they should have imposed sanctions before. Biden's mistake was to impose very weak sanctions a few days ago on two banks and some oligarch. You should, the United States and Western Europe should have imposed harsher sanctions on Russia before in order to deter Russia. Now it is a bit late. Very late and never, just because we would like to say hello to Ukrainian journalist Inkyev and Natali Grivniak. Thank you so much for joining me, Natali. Share with us the feelings, sounds and sights Inkyev this morning. Hello. Yes, Natali, do you hear me? Yes, yes, I can hear you quite well. Yes, so please share with us what you see and hear, and mainly, what do you feel Inkyev this morning? It's a huge amount of anxiety and understanding that the impossible scenario that we all thought would be, will not happen, is happening. I myself, I woke up around five o'clock in the morning and I heard really loudly three explosions. And then afterwards again, again three, and I'm living Inkyev. Same, my friends and colleagues all around, all across Ukraine, we're hearing same things, explosions in the text, a rocket shelling on key on different cities, Inkyev, Inkyev, on Chernigov and in the East, in Mariupol. So this created shock of disbelief and also it's created a panic. Massively, people started to go and were creating their houses, trying to get as closer to the Western regions as possible, in order to possibly, as many people say that they can become either refugees or going to the West. Unfortunately, the air, the sky is closed. So it's, it's right now, it's very hot. Do you see are people fleeing Inkyev? Do you see people actually taking themselves, taking their children, taking their belongings and going West, driving West? Yes, yes, they, they do take children, they take their families and they either drive to the West or drive to another, at least to another regions closer to the Western part or to the Western northern part of the Ukraine. Right now, there are huge lines in the, in the shops, in supermarkets, the big supermarkets are being closed as a possible target of attack. Sometimes the card system do not work, so people need to have cash on their hands. The martial law has been announced in Ukraine and a lack of the information. People don't know what to do, so right now the official channels are spreading the information on what to do in case of emergency and in the case of attack. Yes, Natalia, what's to expect? We heard President Zelensky speaking to President Biden this morning and talking to you, to the Ukrainian people. But what's the, what, what's to expect? I mean, do you expect the Russian army actually to enter Kiev and to take over? What's the scenario as it seems from Kiev? Well, as a journalist, I'm a part of many groups of international groups done by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, by the Minister of Defense, and I gather a lot of intel from my colleagues and from a network of, of the media that I own. And what we think and what we see is that the tanks that are coming and crossing over the border from Chernihiv region is a sign that there might be a further escalation and a possibility to attack Kiev as the main target and the main, you know, as a capital of Kiev and as a dream for Putin, because he claimed that, you know, Kiev is the country for them. Also, Kiev is a capital for, of all the Russian lands. So unfortunately, there is an information that the escalation on Kiev might happen, as well as escalation on, on the eastern side of the Ukraine, where predominantly the Russian forces are being placed. But also it's very sad to understand that Belarus is also joining Russia in this, in this particular war. Yes, Natalie, thank you so much for talking to us. Please, please take care personally. And I hope this nightmare of yours will be over as soon as possible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks. Bye. Avipasnev, you heard the sound insights from Kiev. It doesn't sound good. No, no, it doesn't sound good. And it looks as those people are going to face Russian invasion, I think also of their capital, it seems to me. I am especially concerned about the fate of the Jewish community in Ukraine. There are about 200,000 Jews eligible for aliyah in Ukraine, and they might be in a very difficult situation after a Russian occupation. And I would hope that Israel has made all the contingencies in order to bring them here. But it is complicated. It's complicated to get them out from some places. Of course. Oh, and near to the Russian border in Far East, drive them over to the west, and then fly them over. You're talking about about 200,000 Jewish people, about 10,000 Israelis leaving their eligible Israelis. So we're talking about huge numbers under war, under fire. Absolutely. And it has to be emphasized, you have, Israel is differently situated on this than other countries are. Look at Britain, for example. Britain, a country of 67 million people, seven times the size of Israel, according to reports in the British media, 5,000 British citizens in Ukraine on the eve of the war. Israel, a country one seventh the size of Britain. On the eve of the war, 10 to 15,000 Israelis were told by the foreign ministry this morning, by the way, 8,000 Israelis left in the country. And as we heard from Avi Pazaner, up to 200,000 Jews for which the Israeli government feels responsible. So per capita, the Israeli government has more people in Ukraine for whom it feels a sense of responsibility than the vast majority of other countries, other Western countries. And as you know, it's a supreme value for Jews going back millennia of helping Jews in distress. This is going to continue to be a major, major focus for Israeli policy. Israeli Jewish story. You're watching a special live edition of Israel's Strategic Security. Thank you for staying with us. On the one side, it's a great ally. On the other, a paramount strategic partner in between Israeli and Jewish communities, as Owen just mentioned. Jerusalem is trapped when it comes to the crisis in Ukraine and what to do about it. Unable to be disloyal, totally to Washington, and unwilling to compromise Moscow's support. But as Eliochenberg reports, Israel's foreign minister might have made one comment too many on this delicate issue. Let's see. Stuck in the middle, but not with you, as the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine persists. Israel finds itself walking a very fine line, a line that was perhaps crossed. What we have on our border with Syria is a Russian war. Because Russia is the important force inside Syria. So we have to take this into account. But this explanation of the Israeli foreign minister on the strategic importance of relations with Russia did not prevent him from suggesting that if Washington decides to impose sanctions on Moscow, it can count on Jerusalem's support. Here is where the special relationship come to work. They understand this, and therefore yes, we can discuss this with them and they understand. Lapid's controversial remark was criticized by government members saying restraint is often the best policy, and Moscow seems to be in agreement with that assertion. This is what the Russian ambassador to Israel told I-24 News just a short time ago. Difficult to comment Israel's reaction because they explained to us that all they are doing is not aimed against the Russian policy, it's not an assessment of the Russian foreign and military activities. But at the same time of course we expect that this situation is not misused and this is not the fact for the time being. But it's not just diplomatic commitments or security considerations that are underlying here. Israel continues to act to ensure the safety of Israeli and Jewish citizens in Ukraine. As part of this effort, the Israeli ambassador to Kiev announced to its counterparts in Russia asking for assistance in evacuating Israelis in case of an invasion. The Ukrainian foreign ministry did not appreciate that summoning the Israeli ambassador to Kiev. This is what the ambassador told the I-24 News team on the ground in Ukraine. I think this is a misinterpretation. I had a conversation here at the Foreign Office, a very polite and clear conversation. Between a rock and a hard place might be an understatement when seeking to describe Israel's dilemma between the two superpowers and until the storm fades out, Jerusalem is likely to continue tiptoeing between the drops with the utmost caution. Yes, and as I understand within two hours Israeli secretary Yair Lapid, secretary for