kerry is in ukraine's capital of kiev. the secretary also visited independence square, which had been the center of protests and where a huge memorial has now been erected to those killed before president yanukovych was ousted. we'll bring you secretary kerry's remarks live when he starts. again, that's in about 15 minutes from now. meantime, speaking publicly for the first time since the ukraine crisis boiled over, president putin accused the west of encouraging a, quote, unconstitutional coup in ukraine and said russia reserves the right to use military force as a, quote, last resort. however, these images, obviously, are stirring. russian troops, who had taken control of a ukrainian air base in crimea fired warning shots as ukraine soldiers approached. all this as we said with secretary of state john kerry now in ukraine in a show of support. nbc news chief fortunate affairs correspondent andrea mitchell joins us now by phone in kiev. andrea, do we have a preview of what we might hear from secretary kerry? >> well, secr

kerry didn't do that. you kind of get the sense that he doesn't have something to say at this point and they are organizing their thoughts and trying to come to something with a status check. president obama doesn't comment on what's going on in ukraine and doesn't comment on russia at the top of his remarks as he has done before. things are fast moving and he is deferring to secretary kerry at this point. >> i think what the president is trying to do is give the diplomacy room to breathe. one word we heard several times over the last 24 hours, deescalate. he thinks the crisis can be deescalated. the treasury secretary set it up and one thing we should point out, cnn has confirmed that the chancellor did talk with putin about how steps bring something to them. they were talking about the off-ramp. she is acting as an intermediary. >> he didn't say anything today. he is getting criticism from republican who is say that he is weak. we heard republicans say "the washington post" really slammed pop. can he do

we heard john kerry touching on a number of things. he was clearly touched and moved by getting down on the square where the deaths happened and the shootings during the height of the protest. he did visit, and apparently boosting the morale of the government, he also brought a message aside from the money and democratic talk, he brought a message that the united states remains very much in support of ukrain. >> and phil it is roughly now 7:00 in kiev. i know it is late. but has there been any reaction from the people out there concerning this support, the fact that secretary of state has now visited kiev and thrown the u.s. support behind their new and fledgling government? >> reporter: well, del, there hasn't really been support to the press conference yet. of course that just -- just happened, but when he did come out on to the square today, there was a clear atmosphere of appreciation. the people here in the center of kiev are clearly touched by his arrival. but i want to touch on one other thing, del that we touched on briefly on

kerry promised the u.s. would provide $1 billion in loan guarantees, help ukraine get its finances in order, and bring sanctions against russia in the coming days. kerry also had a message for president putin-- back off. >> it is not appropriate to invade a country and at the end of a barrel of a gun, dictate what you are trying to achieve. >> pelley: margaret, it wouldn't seem the administration has a lot of options. what is it going to try next? >> reporter: well, the hope is that russia and ukraine will negotiate directly. the ukrainian foreign minister, who was a protester himself three months ago, flew to paris tonight, on secretary kerry's plane, and he told us that he expects to meet russian foreign minister sergey lavrov tomorrow. now, lavrov is scheduled to meet with kerry, but he has not yet signed on to meet with his ukrainian counter-part. >> pelley: margaret brennan in paris for us tonight. margaret, thank you very much. you heard margaret mention the u.s. is working on unspecified economic sanc

from the way kerry later described it the main weapon the u.s. is using against the russians is shame. >> russia's violation of ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity as actually united the world in support of the ukrainian people. russia can now choose to de-escalate this situation, and we are committed to working with russia. together with our friends and allies in an effort to provide a way for this entire situation to find the road to deescalation. >> kerry said that all signs have agreed that a dialogue is the best way to move forward. the u.s. wants to get russia to the table to talk with ukraine's interim government which russia doesn't recognize. but that did not happen today. russia maintains that ukraine's ousted president is the country's true leader. before meeting with kerry, lavrov repeated the assertion that vladimir putin made yesterday, that the troops in ukraine's crimean peninsula are not actually russians at all but instead members of local self-defense groups. that came as a surprise to many people with eyes and/or e

and that is the principle that john kerry is going to be speaking to during his visit. i'll be making additional calls today to some of our key foreign partners, and i suspect i'll be doing that all week and through the weekend. but as i indicated yesterday, the course of history is for people to want to be free to make their own decisions about their futures, and the international community, i think, is unified in believing that it is not the role of an outside force, where there has been no evidence of serious violence, where there has been no rationale under international law to intervene in people trying to determine their own >> yesterday and the day before, as i indicated sunday in my comments that we would prefer to find an appropriate diplomatic solution to this, and i think everybody is better served through that. but we also made it clear our determination to stand up for the integrity and sovereignty of this nation ar, our disagreemen, and we shar share with east, we, south. we made it clear the decision to go into crimea is not without cost. and now we needi

john kerry arrived here from kiev last night. now these would be importantly the first head to head high-level meetings between the united states and russia sips the late -- since the latest phase of the ukrainian crisis erupted. we can't underestimate the importance of that. there's the chance for europe and the united states, the west broadly, if you like, to coordinate their positions, how much stick, how much carrot they are offering the russians in meetings with lawrence fab use, chuck hagel and so -- and william hague. and there's only so much diplomacy. the headlines of the day that come out of the french capital inevitably will be about ukraine. >> you mentioned at the top there that the foreign ministers from - several foreign ministers meeting, sergei lavrov, and the u.s. secretary of state john kerry. there are other meetings as well on the sidelines of this. you talked about the lebanese officials as well. there'll be time for events in syria to be addressed also, presumably. >> yes, they'll certainly be addressed, an

secretary of state john kerry plans to go. but what we're hearing is that the russians just aren't interested. but at the same time, we hear there are conversations between congressional members of the ukraine and russia. i'm not sure what to make of that. >> reporter: well, vladimir putin today said that while they do not recognize the government of the ukraine, they believe it's illegal, the result of a coup and so forth, they cannot be negotiations or any sort of contact at the highest level. what he is talking about is president to new acting president. but what he said is, because of the situation, russia is trying to be reasonable, and so there are still contacts going on government to government. he wasn't specific. we don't know precisely what that means. but what putin said today, he seize the parliament of ukraine being effectively legitimate, it's just the new acting president he does not recognize. the extent to which he is now prepared to negotiate, well, there has been no obvious sign of that so far. because as w

we are waiting for secretary of state, john kerry. he will hold a news conference there in about 30 minutes. we will get that live. i want to go to christiane amanpour. let's talk about president vladmir putin. he said that the current government in ukraine is illegitimate and russia reserves the right to use more force in ukraine if he wants to. those are strong words. amidst all that, you detected if not conciliation, at least reason to hope that the situation will not deteriorate more today. >> it is unclear which audiences he was addressing. for the western and international audience, he said, russia has no interest in a annexing crimea for the ukraine but he did reserve the right to do so. i did lay into the new ukrainian authorities, basically, distinguishing between the new parliament which he says is legitimate and the new which are not. it is hard to see how he can keep saying that president yanukovich is the legitimate president of the you crain. that is his position. he has a major act of diplomatic high wire to try to achi

and he will meet kerry in paris. actually, the russian foreign minister confirming that he will meet kerry tomorrow. he also has said up to the crimean and ukrainian authorities whether to invite international observers. this is part of a possible diplomatic solution to invite observers into the country to find out what's going on in that region and to make sure that those minorities and majorities, the ethic population in those two countries are protected. >>> china's parliament has set the growth target at 7.5 %, the same as last year. >> development through innovation, seek a new path of industrialization, i.t. application, urbanization and modernization with distinctive chinese features. accelerate transformation of the growth model, structural adjustments and industrial upgrading. strengthen the development of basic public service systems, ensure and improve the people's well being. >>> joining us now is the chief strategist at rio economic. so they're going to manage the debt situation in the respectal governme

, any secretary that succeeds john kerry is going to be actively involved like kerry. >> what about his involvement has been different? >> he surprised everyone, he surprised the pun did pundits ae leaders in the middle east. the chances of making progress was so dim and slim, that shifting u.s. foreign policy to the far east and everyone has been muttering and mumbling that out of sleep, that he's not going to invest efforts, energy, time and u.s.-american capital, i'm sorry u.s. political capital in the middle east yet he did. and he did it in a very forceful very voa vocal way. his involvement is very interesting, in that it is -- he is trying to bridge gaps that have been, by both sides, admissions, almost unbridgeable. which is why i'm saying if he fails, i mean it's our failure in the end, it's not his. but if his mission fails i doubt that a future secretary is going to invest that much time and energy. >> and is ukraine a distraction? and does it really impact these talks? >> it impacts in terms of attention, of world attention, it impacts in terms of john kerry having to fly to

that's what kerry and others are offering. but to back that up and to show that the patience of the americans and the europeans is limited, they are taking steps now to show their commitment to those nato allies. whenever we put the map up, it's always great to remind people, those countries just west of ukraine, they're nato allies of the u.s. and nervous with this. if russia is willing to go into a sovereign state with its forces, guns drawn, does that set a precedent for them to do the same, to move a little bit to the west? and threaten one of those nato allies. >> i'm really glad you mention that. look at the nato members. i'm not sure if you've got the same map up, a monitor. but pop that map up if we could. so the nato members right up you against russia and ukraine, that's russia's perspective right there, that ever since the demise of the soviet union, while people have been dancing on their grave, effectively, and bolstering a large block, which could be considered an enemy, right up against their border, that's the

rov has said that kerry issued threats, kerry is trying to make the point that the obama administration is .eady to take serious action took voice by saying we know russia has legitimate interests in crimea and we recognize that and we hope the president does not misunderstand and do something we don't understand that. as far as reassurances that we rov that russia is not planning to invade eastern ukraine, letter member that he gave those same reassurances to carry about crimea. -- kerry about crimea. >> it seems they are talking across purposes if you parse mr. lavrov's comments. the u.s. is telling russia that you have violated international law. russia is telling the u.s., mind your business. is that where we are at? >> that would be the translation from diplomatic speak and to regularly which. said,ing that lavrov "crimea as more integral and more important to us than the balkans were to great britain -- were tolands unde great britain." we know the boat is happening in crimea. the russians will respect the outcome of that vote. the u.s. is hoping respecting the outcome does not me

back to kerry who's speaking english. we'll wrap this up in a minute. >> -- having serious conversations which produced creative and appropriate ideas and possibilities for how we can resolve this. i think that we have a number of ideas on the table. i personally feel as if we have something concrete to take back and talk to president obama about, so that i can get his input and thinking and advice on what he's prepared to do. and i believe that foreign minister lavrov is in exactly the same position with respect to president putin. i don't think any of us have an anticipation that we were coming here, at this moment, in this atmosphere of heightened tension and confrontation, that we were suddenly going to resolve that here this afternoon. but i believe we are doing what is appropriate and what offers the best chance of finding a way forward, that the world would welcome, that is without conflict. as we said, we agreed today, both sides and the ukrainians also, that we are all better served if this can be resolved throug

and from secretary of state kerry. she has traditionally been more hawkish when it comes to foreign policy. these are certainly hawkish or harsh remarks. and so you see her in line more with someone like john mccain than with the obama administration in these comments. is that on purpose? that's really the question. does this help her ultimately to be sort of aligned more in that way to create some daylight, to distance herself? but i think the general consensus that i'm hearing is, when you do invoke hitler, when you do invoke nazi germany, you're really letting your message kind of out of your control. if it's somewhat nuanced, which her argument is, you're going to lose the nuance, people just sort of hear that connection to nazi germany and hitler. >> and remember, she is the one who pressed that reset button at the beginning of the -- with sergey lavrov, they were going to reset u.s./russian relations and hasn't exactly worked out. >> no, suspect she will face criticism for that, and certainly has her side conside

john kerry is in london today. he is meeting with the russian foreign minister in a last-ditch attempt over the crimean vote on sunday. they're voting to join russia. this violates ukraine's constitution and international law. >> we are getting the latest out of russia. what do we know? benchmark rate in russia. it is on hold at seven percent. we had a surprise hike last month. are 150 basis points, the highest since 1998. that was to prevent inflation. the ruble is still at a record is. only one analyst forecasting another cut to 6.5%. you can see the ruble pushing just a touch higher. >> thank you so much for that. jon ferro is with the latest on this russian central bank. >> billionaires in russia and the ukraine are bracing for further losses. helping to quantify the losses is robert lafranco. who is being affected? how is this impacting it rushes richest? youf you're in russia and have money, you are being affected. we are talking about the richest of them all in russia. indexre 19 guys on our and they control

you heard john kerry more warnings. i've talked to some folks. there are some moves they could make and could make right now. they're not act of war moves. they are immediate economic sanctions. russia's largest banks are state owned banks. you could choke them economically in a hurry. the largest energy company is a pal of putin. just do it. just suspend it, be move, start the meeting. that was the sense that you're wondering why isn't the president out there saying okay, we have made these moves. he's done this. you know, it was before it was trying to play some diplomacy. but they've got this 24 hours and you hear john kerry with more warnings. they know he's got to act no more just issuing is harshly worded statements. >> tina brown, look, part of the bush era a lot of people recoiled against was the idea of talking tough and projecting american power as if somehow feeling better about that makes the world better. >> absolutely. there's no need to go off and be bellicose. now it's now what. marco rubio actually said haggle and kerry should go

i'm now joined by secretary of state john kerry. mr. secretary, welcome back to "meet the press." >> glad to be with you. thank you. >> for the past ten days, the administration officials and the president himself have basically said to russia don't do this or else. here just friday, the president laying it out when he spoke to vladimir putin. >> the united states will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in ukraine. >> now, you've called this an invasion. so what are the costs? >> well, we're now discussing all of the options. this is an act of aggression that is completely trumped up in terms of its pretext. it's really 19th century behavior in the 21st century and there's no way to start with that if russia persists in this that the g-8 countries are going to assemble in sochi. that's a starter. but there's much more than that. russia has major investment and trade needs and desires. i think there's a unified view by all of the foreign ministers i talked with yeste

he also went so far as to say john kerry didn't threaten me, there were no threats. so he was very much sort of in command. while kerry, at his separate press conference, was saying, we know russia has legitimate interests. we don't want a misunderstanding here. we don't want them to think we don't see their interests in crimea, but there's a more peaceful way to do this and they shouldn't be annexing parts of another country. >> amy: there's going to be a vote on sunday, which putin has said i'm going to wait to make any decisions until after this vote. everyone expects that this referendum is going to pass, which says crime yaes going to be part of russia. but what actually physically happens next? they take this vote, and then does putin bring in troops? do they start raising the russian flag? what goes on? >> it's an excellent question. even in crimea, people don't know. there are those in the crimean parliament that says as soon as the vote goes we'll be joining russia as soon as next week. others are saying our re-entry into russia would take up to a year. so i

kerry sanders. again who has been getting us the best real-time information in touch with the uss kidd. we'll take a break and be back with more as we follow our breaking news. possible debris of malaysia air flight 370. we'll keep you posted in real-time. we are in touch with that p-8 plane. >>> we've been looking at these two objects in the ocean. they don't know, it is very important to say, they're advising caution but they believe it is possible it is debris from the missing malaysian airplane. here's what officials said just minutes ago. >> i don't want to draw too much it from. it is a lead. probably the best lead we have right now. we need to get there. see them, assess them to know whether it is really meaningful or not. >> so there are a couple of things i wanted to point out as the clock is ticking to find out whether or not this may indeed be part of the plane. >> if they keep to their schedule, and the last we heard was they were planning to. in about 90 minutes, 98 minutes to be exact.

i asked him how much they talk to kerry. they consoled almost every week but they get a status report at lunch or something. he said this line, and if you followed obama it you know he is a wry guy and he says we consult often and he occasionally takes direction. and i took it as a little bit of a -- little bit of a, "there." a little deadpan. >> one of the things that seems to plague obama is the charges that he is weak. syria is the prime example. does that bug him? >> yes, because he will come back to the i took out bin laden and upped the troops in afghanistan and invaded libya, so he does not like that line. i asked him the sort of question, the obvious question, syria. if you could roll the clock back three years, would you -- if you could do it over again, would you provide more support to the rebels and he gave an example -- a very elaborate answer of why not. he said, i know things that people do not about the quality and status of the rebellion at the time and i'm not going to get america sucked into another war. >

stuart: secretary of state john kerry is about to speak. he is in kiev, the capital of ukraine, about to speak. we will bring you what he has to say when he says it. i have the dow jones industrial average up 205 points. that is a rally and a half. i wonder if john kerry will say anything that moved the market up or down. obviously that is why we are watching. it is a crucial moment in the ukraine crisis and it will be added to by john kerry moments from now. where is the price of gold? it is down $13 this morning. we follow tesla very closely. yesterday one of our market watchers on this program said now is the time to shore tesla, bet that the thing is going to go -- go down for a couple weeks. stock is up today after jpmorgan raised its target price to $1.64. raised its target price to $1.64. is now $2.55. what am i missing? charles: wall street analysts, it is almost a joke. stuart: wait a minute. does he mean to as low will come all the way from $2.65 to $1.64? charles: it was a $65 target still, i think. stuart: maybe i missed worded.

i think kerry is looking good. >> yeah, i mean, kerry is really -- i think history will judge him as a strong and effective secretary of state. the man is indefatigable. in the middle of all this, he's also trying to make peace in the middle east and handle a bunch of other krecrises. >> by the way, have you noticed a very observant jewish guy with a beard and a black hat who always seems to be ten feet from kerry? i'm dead serious point, i get a feeling the kiev government wants to think they're anti-sumettic and not fashionest. he's been within ten feet of him. >> there's a history there. they have to make sure that people have that impression. >> there he is on the right. i don't want to -- there's nothing more serious in the last century than that issue of the holocaust, but it is interesting, they don't want to be nailed. >> no, they don't. so smart of kerry, though, to take that walk through -- >> there he is again. >> -- through kiev and demonstrate the lie that putin is telling about how this chaos in the streets of kiev. there is not, in fact. >> peggy nunen gave a great tri

secretary of state john kerry. he is expected to announce $1 billion in u.s. aid for the new government of ukraine. including technical assistance and economic advice. for the latest events coming out of ukraine and the rest of today's headlines you are follow us on twitter. >>> benjamin netenyahu giving the keynote address at a gathering this morning of aipac. benjamin netenyahu saying he will do whatever it takes to defend israel. >> did you ever hear about iran sending a humanitarian delegation overseas? no? you missed that memo? [ laughter ] >> you know why? you know why you haven't heard anything about that? because the only thing that iran sends abroad are rockets, terrorists and missiles to murder, maim and menace the innocent. [ applause ] >> on monday netenyahu met with president obama pushing back against white house pressure to cut a deal with the palestinians. president obama warning the time for peace is running out. and later today the president submits his $4 trillion budget to congress. the president saying he wants to cut taxes to workers who

i think john kerry's been very strong. he's been over there, we saw him yesterday in kiev with the people of ukraine. he's brought it back to what it is. he's saying they want consent of the people. they want an economy that will louse people to live. i think he's bringing it back to -- that allows people to live. i think he's bringing it back to what they want. >> our interests in this area are so much more minimal than russia's. >> less -- more minimal than europe. europe has more at stake here, as well. >> absolutely. what we're willing to do given what putin's willing to do is far different. that handcuffs us a little bit. i think the idea that we have to be strong to prevent another one somewhere else is not realistic in terms of the way that geopolitical situations work. i think economic measures dealing with sanctions, dealing with business entanglement will be much more effective than any military possibility. and also one note -- a poll came out recently, this week, from the kremlin. this is extraordiflare. 73% of

the latest development comes as secretary of state john kerry meets with russia's foreign minister in paris. up until this point, hasn't appeared much headway was being made in kerry's mission to get russia to stay out of the ukraine conflict. earlier this morning, kerry and the british foreign secretary tried to get the ukrainians and russians at the same table, but russia didn't show. >> we are missing one member, and hopefully we'll be meeting this afternoon. and in the meeting happening now, kerry is expected to push his counterpart to withdraw troops from the crimea region, an act the president calls an invasion. meantime, vladimir putin continues to deny an intention to take over that part of the country. back here in washington, we have just learned that the house could vote as soon as tomorrow on a $1 billion aid package for ukraine's new government. back to you, barbara. >> thank you. >>> now, target is making more changes after the security breach that affected millions of people. coming up, the announcement made just a few hours ago. >>> and on this ash wednesday, the pope

we'll have a live report from nbc's bill neely in crimea and mike mcfall, as secretary of state john kerry heads to kiev tonight. >> the fact is he's going to lose on the international stage. russia is going to lose and russian people are going to lose, he's going to lose all of the glow that came out of the olympics, his $60 billion extravaganza. not going to have a sochi g8 and may not remain in the g-8 if this continues. >> snow more. 17 days until spring as another winter storm slams the east coast after icing over the midwest and south. we'll have the latest as we dig ourselves out right here in d.c. >> the problems will linger on the roads but should we taper off in the early afternoon in terms of the snow, that will give road crews a big head start on what is going to be a deep freeze tonight. near record setting lows here in washington, d.c. >> and the oscar goes to -- between the all-star selfies and pizza break, it belonged on lifetime performances on films that captured the human spirit. >> when i look down at the golden statue, may it remind me and every little child, no matter

told syria most of the chicken reports what we have hard at it you laugh as secretary of state john kerry basically saying that like you mentioned a series of very serious that would follow if the referendum and cranial were to go ahead. this sunday there will be a response of some gun into the referendum itself. and in addition if there is no sign of any capacity to feel them move forward and resolve this issue. there will be a very serious serious areas of steps on monday in europe and here. with respect to the options that are available to us. he has also said that contingencies have been put in place. i'm just in case russia decides to proceed further into ukraine i very odd controversial statement there because obviously russia's position i had has never been to do something like that and he also curiously i john kerry didn't see that sam tension between moscow and washington that are ongoing over ukraine could meet idea of cooperation on. the crises like syria more complicated a cometely different race if that's not the west and russia seem to have been kind of walking hand in hand

more provocations may follow. >> kerry is going to kiev. >> kerry is going to kiev. don't be surprised if put tin doesn't use it to make air strikes on the airport. there are no red lines to the administration. he draws with a pink crayon. >> here's the concern if it comes to that. ukraine's military has out down 200,000 military soldiers compared to a million russians. russia can swamp ukraine with tanks and aircraft. they hope boebl outrage will convince the russians to back down. >> i think the strong condemnation it has received around the world indicates russia is on the wrong side of history on this. >> he is talking about stiff economic angstsanctions. russia has promised to retaliate if we follow through on sanctions. >> heather and answer lee. >> thank you, doug. >> former defense secretary donald rumsfeld is talking. he blames america's lack of leadership for inability around the globe. >> yesterday it was syria today it is the ukraine tomorrow it coul republican of georgia, skd be central asia, iran, north korea. at this stage the near term options are few

secretary kerry is carrying that out. i think that economic sanctions would obviously be more effective if they're multi lateral with the yup peens. and president obama said this yesterday, president putin can be a part of a international system in which we all cooperate, in which we understand that de stabilizing a country is not useful or he can be isolated. and the economic sanctions are the way to do that. you have already -- it's been reported all morning -- is that russians are having trouble with their currency, with a variety of aspects with their own economy. and they can be isolated. it obviously would be better if this were multi-lateral sanctions with the yup peens, but that is one tool. and we also have to think about what nato can be doing. the polls have asked for help in terms of some of the countries that are nato members around the ukraine. i think the economic sanctions done properly are a way to isolate president putin. >> madame secretary, as you look at this from the 30,000-foot view and you say vlad

john kerry meeting with sergei lavrov in london. lavrov saying putin won't make any decisions before sunday's vote in crimea. violence breaking out in eastern ukraine, one person is dead and 20 others injured. all of this ahead of the referendum in crimea. >>> and u.s. ships are heading to the indian ocean to search for the malaysian flight. a battle over animal rights could end at a new york city hall and a mainstay. the major vowing to make those horse-dra horse-drawn carriages history. >> officer! we just got married. >> reporter: it's a an iconic new york scene played out again and again. >> very corny. >> nope. >> reporter: manhattan's horse-drawn carriages attract tourists by the thousand each year. this man has driven his fair share of them. >> he is responsible for putting food on the table for my kids, and responsible for feeding the other horse i have as well. so we all earn our keep. >> reporter: there are 68 licensed carriages in new york city and more than 160 active drivers, but because they are individually owned driv

what has the reaction been there to secretary kerry's remarks? >> certainly a lot of people i talked to today very much appreciate the fact that secretary kerry flew here, came here. in fact, the first place he came was right here to independent square. he parked here and walked back down. this is really, in many ways kind of sacred ground for people here in kiev and in many parts of western ukraine and even the eastern ukraine. there are thousands of flowers here behind me. this is just one of the makeshift shrines. there are dozens of them, if not hundreds of them all throughout the square where the protesters still remain. there's certainly a lot of information for secretary kerry visiting and meeting with the new interim president, the new prime minister and also announcing that the united states is going to be giving $1 billion in loan guarantees to ukraine. there is concern, on the other hand, that the united states and european union has not acted fast enough in trying to isolate vladimir putin economically and has not acted fast enough in

kerry, i know you're going to be standing by. you're going to be in touch with your sources in the military. i want to bring in investigatorer anthony brick house, associate director of occupational safety at the day tony nap beach college of aviation. from your perspective, assuming that nothing is found there, assuming that they can't find anything on the p 3s or the p 8s that could give them an indication of what was seen to on that satellite, where do they take it from there? >> if you go back to the beginning of this event, we've been trying to get the search area. last week it was basically a 360 dooeg type. over the weekend, it kind i have allowed us to narrow the search area a tribute. if this light isn't anything connected, i'm sure the engineers at the national safety board basically go back to look at more evidence and come up with another search area that might turn up more evidence. >> and in a very real sense, the clock is ticking because some of the evidence may be again available in those black boxes in the cockpi

let's get right to nbc's kerry sanders live at our washington bureau. greg fife is a former senior investigator with the ntsb. he's on the phone. let me start with you, kerry. one of the things we heard is they were sending air assets. as we've been reporting throughout these early morning hours, one of the key assets, a p 8 has already gone and is on its way back to perth, australia. you confirmed that they were able to find nothing. >> exactly. that's the real headline. the australian authorities believe there was some sort of suspect debris in the area. the p8 with the most advanced technology on earth, to look down and cover 10,000 square miles, they did not find anything that confirmed debris, much less debris that is suggestive of something from the missing boeing 777. so that aircraft was on station which is the military term for in the area for almost four hours, and now it's making its way back to perth with no sort of suggestion that there is really any debris in the area that the australians said to take a look. there are p3 aircraft, propell

that's what john kerry emphasised. speaking from paris, john kerry called for a withdrawal of troops from the border. they have no intention of invading ukraine. ukrainians should be the ones to decide their own future. >> president obama and the united states believe firmly that diplomacy has a critical role to play in helping the people of ukraine achieve their goal in living in dignity and a stable, peaceful unified democracy. the united states and international community stands in support of ukraine's sovereignty and ukraine's territorial integrity. we'll continue to support the people of ukraine's right to choose their own future. it's not up to us to make any decision or any agreement regarding federalisation. we talked about it. it's up to ukrainians. >> any real progress in ukraine must include a pull-back of the very large russian force that is currently massing along the borders. tonight i raised with the foreign minister our strong concern about the forces. we blef the forces are -- believe the forces are cr

secretary of state, john kerry, here, and cameron and hague, and he went into the meetings with love rov to understand two things, are the russians prepared in any way at this point to step back from the brink in ukraine, and also to lay out what happens if they don't in terms of economic sanctions, travel bans, and freezing foreign accounts, and there are interesting reports now on the specificity, 120 to 130 individuals that are around president putin, close to the kremlin, maybe involved in some of the decision making on the crimea. and we understand two names have already served now. he's a very close adviser to president putin, and another name, alexei miller, chairman of gazprom, one of the biggest in the world. and that's the company that carries gas to europe across the pipelines in ukraine, so those two names on the possible list that we'll be hearing more about, if the russians don't back away from supporting this referendum in crimea on sunday. these meetings will be taking place and be probably breaking soon and then both leaders, serg day lavrov and secretary john kerry

kerry is offering to suspend those sanctions if russia stops troop advances in crimea, returns russian troops to bases, and allows in international observers. ukraine's new government says it is willing to give crimea more aton my -- autonomy. that could help the united states and russias remain friendly rivals and not return to being cold war era enemies. >>> the death toll from that epic building collapse in east harlem is now up to eight. a ghast leak is blamed for the blast that leveled two buildings. con edison says the gas main that leads to the destroyed buildings is made of cast iron more than 125 years old but it passed a routine inspection just two weeks ago and it also was not on the list of pipes that needed to be replaced. >>> it's time to find out, topper, about our glorious weather today. >> i think it's a nice finish to the week. we earned this after yesterday's temps in the 30s. we're getting pollen readings. lard to believe because the trees haven't budded much. moderate range for pollen and the mold stores are in the low range. we'll come back and talk about how cold

kerry is in ukraine's capital of kiev. the secretary also visited independence square, which had been the center of protests and where a huge memorial has now been erected to those killed before president yanukovych was ousted. we'll bring you secretary kerry's remarks live when he starts.

secretary of state john kerry will soon be on his way to the region. we're covering developments from washington to crimea, which is where nbc's bill neely starts us off tonight. bill? >> reporter: yes, russia's takeover of crimea, lester, is almost complete. they've done it without tanks, without firing a single shot. ukraine's navy is either under russian guard or gone. its army now surrounded by moscow's men. russian soldiers on the march in ukraine. this unit is taking up positions outside a ukrainian army base. the objective? to take it from troops who were once their comrades in the soviet army. but times and loyalties have changed. the russians have come prepared for a fight. behind the gate, the ukrainian troops are dressed for combat but look bewildered. and no wonder. their country has been invaded, their homeland, crimea, taken over. two armys in a tense standoff. it's been decades since we've seen as clear a russian takeover in eastern europe as this one. and so far there is no sign whatsoever that the ukrainian soldiers behind that gate ar

tomorrow, secretary kerry will be meeting with the russian foreign minister here in paris. secretary kerry wants to get this settled as soon as possible. >> at the end of the day, can the united states let russia keep crimea this way? >> reporter: a simple answer to that is, is europe going to go to war over crimea? the united states certainly won't. so, that may well happen. >> all right. martha raddatz, as we said, traveling with the secretary of state. thank you so much for joining us right now. >>> and we have a note, now, about the uncertainty in ukraine, causing a trampoline effect on the markets here at home. last night, stocks were in a freefall. tonight, a giant rally. the dow up 227 points. the single-best day on wall street all year, reportedly based on a sense that the crisis is, for the moment, not moving closer to war in ukraine. >>> and we move, next, to the brutal cold covering the eastern half of this country. and tonight, the map showing arctic air, pushing its way into the south. march is setting new records with the lowest temperatures in 100 years. and

secretary of state john kerry promised that the u.s. will help the struggling eastern european nation in its bid to break free of kremlin influence and align itself with the west. later in meetings with interim government leaders and lawmakers in ukraine's parliament, kerry promised a billion dollar loan guarantee designed to ease the sting of energy costs. officials traveling with kerry had voiced concern that russian president vladimir putin who last week sent tens of thousands of forces may be preparing for a larger invasion of eastern ukraine. putin himself looking relaxed at a state res dnls outside moscow held a rare news conference in which he suggested any such broader invasion would be a last resort but well within russia's right because they have received approval by yanukovych. >> even if i take a decision to use armed force, it would be legitimate, in the norms of international law, and in this case, it would also correspondent to our interest in protecting the people who are closely tied to us historically, culturally, econ

i'm a big fan of kerry's efforts -- >> he doesn't have kind words for obama, but he really praised kerry today. he's carrying this ball up a very steep hill. the chances are slim. that's the safe thing to say. it's probably also the accurate thing to say. but kerry is probably going to get his framework agreement and that means all of the issues then -- >> pretend you're perez, you're going to believe, right? >> he's an optimist. >> just to get to the politics, a lot of people in this country are thinking why is there a problem here? the territories will be roughly figured out. >> everybody knows what it looks like. >> figure out something about east jerusalem somehow -- i said east germany. >> that's been solved. >> but try to figure it out somehow. is there a dream in the hearts of the moderate that some day there -- somehow the demographics will change and at some point it won't be a jewish state? >> that's what a lot of people keep in their minds. president obama's credit, he says the demographics aren't for you. if you want a haven for jewish people after 2,000 years of unhappiness

kerry said now is the time for diplomacy. russia has many options available to it other than what it has been doing. if this continues, there will be serious diplomatic repercussions, deb. >> michelle, you hear him say this the time for diplomacy. yet the impact on the u.s., because of its allies, european union, which gets a lot of its natural gas from russia and travels through the ukraine, the conversation the president is having, is he trying to build a coalition? is he simply trying to get everybody on the same page about what this diplomacy might look like? are they going to shut russia out? >> the isolation of russia is really the main repercussion that everyone has been talking about now. nations will choose -- already as we said, not to participate in preliminary meetings with the g-8. just picture it, if russia holds the g-8 in sochi, that's a big deal for it on the world stage, if countries like the u.s. do not show up to that, that would be impactful, considered harmful to russia. of course all of this is harming