00:00Ukraine's president says he wants to meet with Putin to resolve the crisis.
00:04He also said sanctions on Russia should be made public before a possible invasion of Ukraine.
00:11We are being told that you have several days and then the war will start.
00:16And I said, OK, then apply the sanctions today.
00:20Yes, they say we apply sanctions when the war will happen.
00:24I'm saying, fine, but you are telling me that it's 100 percent that the war will start in a couple of days.
00:32Then what are you waiting for?
00:33We don't need your sanctions after the bombardment will happen and after a country will be fired at
00:42or after we will have no borders and after we will have no economy or parts of our countries will be occupied.
00:48Why would we need those sanctions then?
00:50CBS News correspondent Christina Ruffini, who's been on the ground in Munich following the security talks, joins us now.
00:57Hi, Christina.
00:58So Ukrainian President Zelenskyy was criticized for making the trip to Munich
01:02but had said he didn't want other countries making decisions without him.
01:07We heard earlier he wants sanctions implemented against Russia immediately.
01:12He wants them to prevent an invasion, not as a reaction to an invasion.
01:16So what else did he address during the weekend's security conference?
01:20Look, Vladimir Zelenskyy was the star of this conference even before he showed up.
01:27He actually walked in right behind me here and I couldn't see him
01:30but I could tell by the level of frenetic energy and people running to try to get the shot that that had to be him
01:35because this conference has been all about what to do about Russia and Ukraine.
01:40President Zelenskyy was very clear today in his speech.
01:42It was a very emotional, passionate and frank speech in which he said, look, the solution is to take action now.
01:49This has been a long simmering argument between the Ukrainian government and the U.S. and some Western allies.
01:54The U.S. has said, look, sanctions are the arrow in our quiver and we want to hold that back until Moscow acts
01:59so that we can use it as a threat, as a deterrence.
02:02But Zelenskyy's argument, which he hasn't laid out quite as succinctly before, is, look, you say you're going to punish them when they do the thing.
02:09This is the thing.
02:10They've surrounded my entire country.
02:12They're doing the thing.
02:14Punish them now.
02:15And if you won't punish them, at least make public the list of people you're going to sanction, things you're going to sanction.
02:21Tell them exactly what you're going to do.
02:23You kind of warn them stronger so it's very clear that there will be punishment, there will be consequences if Russia does indeed take this action.
02:32Now, I spoke to some U.S. officials.
02:33Obviously, President Zelenskyy met with Vice President Kamala Harris.
02:37He met with some other world leaders while he was here.
02:39And I asked around and said, you know, is the U.S. moving any closer to what President Zelenskyy wants him to do, wants the U.S. to do?
02:47And they said, look, we are united, Europeans and the Americans are united on what we want to do.
02:54We want to do sanctions, but we are steadfast in our belief that this is the way to do it,
02:58that the only way to use it as a deterrence is to hold back until Russia actually acts to use it to try to get them to the negotiating table.
03:06Now, obviously, Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Lavrov are scheduled to meet next week.
03:11We're not sure exactly where, but it's going to be on Thursday if it happens,
03:14because the White House has said if Russia invades, if Russia escalates this, that the door to diplomacy will be a slam shut.
03:21Right. All right.
03:22Well, he does have a point in the sense that, you know, a list of names might be useful, right?
03:26It might serve as a deterrent, the kind of deterrent that the Ukrainian president is looking for.
03:32So, Christina, Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke at the Munich Security Conference.
03:37Can you tell us what she said?
03:41Her emphasis was really on unity.
03:43It was on, you know, the world order, on NATO responsibility.
03:47She made a big push for Article 5.
03:49That's that mutual defense pact in the NATO treaty that says, you know, if you hit one of us, we're all going to come to your defense.
03:54She said it was sacrosanct.
03:56It was ironclad.
03:57And the U.S. and the American people stand behind it.
04:00She also voiced her support for Ukraine.
04:02But the really important thing she said, now, keep in mind, she spoke before Zelensky arrived here in Munich.
04:06She said the U.S. and its allies are prepared to enact sweeping, consequential, unprecedented sanctions if Russia escalates the situation.
04:16So that seems to be where the U.S. position is.
04:18And based on sources I've talked to here, it hasn't changed despite this sweeping and very, very meaningful speech that President Zelensky gave here today.
04:26The ballroom was completely packed.
04:28There was an overflow room of people watching it on screens.
04:32And, you know, all weekend here it's been lots of shuttling in and out and people kind of selecting what they want to listen to and what they didn't want to listen to.
04:39Everybody wanted to listen to this speech.
04:40And he had the entire room.
04:42We'll just have to see how effective it was in getting his point across and moving European and American policy to where he thinks it needs to be.
04:49All right, Christina Ruffini, thank you so much.
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