Secretary of State Kerry in Ukraine
ROMANS: All right. Happening this morning -- these are live pictures, by the way. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry landing in Ukraine just minutes ago. We are watching that flight. Looks cold and snowy, taxing there. The secretary of state coming there to Kiev to hold talks with the country's president and other top officials as the U.S. considers arming Ukrainian troops with defensive weapons. Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance joins us live from Moscow with the latest. If the United States, Matthew, decides to arm the Ukrainians with defensive weapons or give them any sort of help in this fight against these Russian-backed separatists, that could inject a little bit of uncertainty into the situation, no question, right? I mean, Vladimir Putin, we don't know how we would respond.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, that's the big risk that the White House has to weigh up, as to whether they're going to go ahead with this. I mean, when we talk about defensive weapons, we're talking about lethal aid, lethal military aid. The United States supplies non lethal aid like flak jacket and night vision goggles and things like that. But, yes, I mean, injecting weapons into this very volatile war zone could have a very, very devastating effect. I mean, at the moment, the conflict is limited to a small geographical area in the east of the country. But even so, more than 5,000 people have been killed in the past 12 months. If the war escalates and the Ukrainian government receives new arms that are more effective against the rebels, the war could widen, Vladimir Putin in Russia who denies backing the rebels with military support, of course. But nevertheless, probably does if you believe NATO and other western leaders. He could choose to escalate the support of the rebels, and the whole thing could spiral out of control. So, it is a risky decision that has to be weighed very carefully by the White House. And it's going to be interesting to see what John Kerry has to say when he meets with Ukrainian officials later on today.</s>ROMANS: And, you know, Matthew, a big concern about Americans and NATO and other Europeans has been the high number of civil casualties here who have been killed in this conflict.</s>MATTHEWS: Yes, it's been a lot, as for proportion with the number of sort of military casualties that have been caused and indeed, there's a lot of fighting going on right now as John Kerry arrives in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital in the east of the country, there is fierce fighting under way which is caught many, many civilians in the crossfire. One time, which is where this fighting underway between the government and rebel forces, Amnesty International, the human rights group says there are 7,000 civilians still trapped inside that town as shelling and bombardments continue around them. That's reduced from a population of 25,000 just a few days ago. So, there's been a lot of movement and displaced by the fighting. A lot of people killed in the shell fire and in the gunshots as well.</s>ROMANS: Matthew Chance for us this morning. And as you can see, the secretary of state, any moment now, will deplane and will be in Ukraine for these talks with President Poroshenko and other officials.</s>BERMAN: For very important visit. All right. Happening now: divers searching the wreckage of a deadly plane crash. Investigators trying to figure out what went so wrong. We're live after the break.