what would you do if america was invaded by a foreign army? if you weren't among the dead and wounded, would you join the refugees or the resistance? tonight, meet the ukrainians civilians who chose to fight for freedom behind enemy lines.

the army didn't want me because i'm a woman. but i insisted and convinced them i could help. i think growing up here gave me an enormous appreciation for the world. >> this rancher and republican governor unsurprisingly stands by big coal. he surprised us on just about everything else he believes around energy policy. >> so you tell the people of wyoming that climate change is real? >> i do. >> and that it's urgent? it's an urgent crisis? >> i have said that. i have gotten pushback from that as well. >> i bet you have. can you do this? how about this? novak djokovic can, and that's why he's the greatest champion in the history of men's tennis.

he clearly wanted to leave his mark on this interview, too. mental strength, which is your great gift, is harder to articulate. >> i would have to correct you. it's not a gift. it's something that comes with work. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm jon wertheim. >> i'm cecilia vega. >> i'm norah o'donnell. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and more tonight on "60 minutes." my late father-in-law lit up a room, but his vision dimmed with age. he had amd. i didn't know it then, but it can progress to ga, an advanced form of the disease. his struggle with vision loss from amd made me want to help you see warning signs of ga. like straight lines that seem wavy, blurry, or missing visual spots that make it hard to see faces

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tonight, 35 million victims of russian aggression have a new reason to worry. this past wednesday, the u.s. senate defeated billions in aid for ukraine. the bill included relief for israel and the u.s./mexico border, but republicans wanted more on immigration. the senate's likely to try again. the white house says ukraine's support will run out in weeks. ukraine has to ask the west for a lot of money. but not a drop of blood. its people are doing the fighting, even civilians, who chose not to flee, but stay behind russian lines and join the resistance. they include a wedding planner, an office worker, and retirees who pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to defend the free world from tyranny.

in february 2022, nearly 200,000 russians invaded. and ukrainian civilians heard the call to arms. olha hrynchenko went straight to enlist in the army. they didn't want me because i'm a woman, she said. but i insisted, and convinced them i could help. the wedding planner, vitalii, organized his friends. we jammed two cars full of weapons and we went to defend our city. and 62-year-old borys silenko came out of retirement to defend his country. i told myself, no, i won't flee. this is my land. this is my region. their region is kherson, a

southern province with a capital of the same name on the dnipro river. on march 2, 2022, russia's surprise attack overwhelmed the city. the government surrendered, but the people rebelled. armed with flags, civilians confronted russian tear gas and bullets. in secret camps, volunteers organized an underground force to harass the invaders, while others gathered windowsill intelligence to upload to the ukrainian military. to hear the story of how kherson rose up, we had to head down. the russians were one mile from here, firing artillery. so we assembled a studio in a bunker. here we met vitalii, who asked to go by his first name. he recruited ten friends, including a coffee shop owner

and a farmer. most had never loaded a gun. he told us, that was our team. different people, different in age and social status. just like that. ukrainians. his team of civilians improvised this base near the river. they ran hit and run raids, including vitalii says, an attack on a small russian boat. we killed all of them on the boat. a major, a captain, two lieutenants, a senior sergeant and a soldier. help an american audience understand why you feel so strongly about protecting this country and these people. the russians came to our home.

someone at the top decided that they could come to your home, someone at the top tells you how to live your life, rape your wife, kill your child, smash your fields with tanks, and lay mines. you are bloody savages. no more, no less. why defend my people? i was brought up this way. borys silenko was also brought up that way. he is a retired politician and former governor of the province. in my country house, he told us, i had gasoline and oil for my car. and so following a recipe we bottles. he told us those cocktails went down the hatch of a russian amored vehicle like this. this is silenko, who fought with a civilian team and ate food set out by villagers.

he says one night he was ambushed and shot. i saw my leg and muscles were torn. but not the bone. when i took the body armor off, my chest was covered in bruises as a result of two bullets that hit the body armor. silenko told us he escaped and treated his leg. i heated my knife and with a stick between my teeth, i cut off all the muscles that were loose on my leg. i stitched the wound up as best i could in the dark with no anesthetic. i knew that if i surrendered, they would torture me to death. torture sets the price of freedom nearly beyond reach. like silenko, this couple was burning armored vehicles and collecting weapons until they

were betrayed by traitors collaborating with russia. after you were arrested, the russians tried to get you to give up the names of other members of the resistance. i wonder what the russians did to you to try to get that information. the pair asked not to be identified. you will understand why. shall we tell you everything, he asked? yes. what they have to tell about russian torture is hard to bear. but it should be heard. they poured vodka down my throat. they said, we will pour a liter of vodka into you, and you will tell us everything. he said, they burned her legs with boiling water. they put a gun to my eyes and said, i'm going to shoot you. i wanted him to shoot me. i wanted it to happen quickly, not to be tortured. i was only thinking about my

children so that the russians don't get ahold of them. i only thought about my children. he told us, they twisted my arms behind my back and started pushing them in opposite directions, almost breaking them. then they let me go. and about 30 minutes later, they took me upstairs again. he told us the russians tortured him with electric shock from an army field telephone like this. it has a crank that generates electricity. when they brought me in again, they took my trousers off. they attached the clips to my

genitals and my lip, and while they were setting up the wires, they were trying to take my tooth out with pliers. they would say to me, let's call biden or zelenskyy. you choose. biden was when they attached the clips to my genitals and lip. and when they clipped to my ear and toe, that's when we called zelenskyy. that's how they joke when they torture people. you did not give up the names. and i wonder why you chose to suffer so much. because they are young guys. they have families, children. and i am ukrainian. i just couldn't. the russians released them after finding no evidence. they had had their phones wiped

clean often to leave no clues and no leads. while many fought in the underground, 34-year-old olha hrynchenko and 66-year-old kostantyn kozak volunteered for the army. they were among the overnight soldiers who threw on uniforms too new for insignia, picked up weapons short of ammunition, and with no training, faced elite russian paratroopers. olha told us, when the russians started shooting from heavy caliber weapons, it turned into a complete nightmare, because there was lots of smoke, fire everywhere around. our interview with olha was one of those that was interrupted by the distant rumble of a russian shell exploding in the city. why were you there the day -- there go the russians again. when you hear explosions like that in the city, what do you think?

nothing. we live one day at a time today. we don't have any plans for the future. we understand that we have to be strong and patient and live in this reality we have now. that's it. kostantyn told us about lilac park in kherson, where the overnight soldiers tried to make a stand. he said, on video, you can see people who died, and you can see them lying there, weapons next to them, a horrible situation, because people were torn apart. the trees were torn apart. 28 volunteers were killed in the lilac park massacre. they never stood a chance. they knew that. but they were all that stood between the russians and their families.

citizens of kherson who gave the last full measure of their devotion, look to their city from a hill. the battle of kherson would ultimately be their victory over the arrogance of the kremlin. vladimir putin said that kherson would be russian forever. he did not know that the ukrainian forces outside the city and the resistance fighting within would never let up. we don't know how many ukrainians were killed, but the fresh graves in this kherson cemetery testify to the russian occupation. it lasted about eight months, until the russians could no longer hang on. a year ago, the russians retreated across the river from kherson city. but still, civilians continue to suffer under the russian roulette of artillery rounds.

and while we were there, a shell hit this building and riddled a city bus. two passengers were wounded, a policeman was killed. today, russia still occupies nearly 20% of ukraine. and so, the resistance continues. of those we spoke to in the bunker, the man who suffered so much has now joined the army. she is back in civilian life, as is olha hrynchenko. borys silenko tried to enlist, but the army told him at 62, he is too old. vitalii is now in the special forces and had one last thing to say. when misfortune came, it was america that offered help to my country. the usa and great britain were the first countries who came and offered their shoulder, giving

us a chance at the very start to take a deep breath in order to regroup. so thank you. to all americans from ukraine. you don't have to wait until retirement to start enjoying your second act. with protected lifetime income from pacific life... ...imagine your future with confidence. for more than 150 years... ...we've kept our promise to financially protect and provide. so, you can look forward to leading a whole different type of team. talk to a financial professional about life insurance and retirement solutions with pacific life.

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representatives from nearly every nation have met this week at an annual climate summit searching for agreements on how to curb the rise of global temperatures. the summit is being held in the oil-rich united arab emirates. that has dismayed activists who believe that the only way to really address the climate crisis is to walk away from fossil fuels. for the moment at least, the world and the united states need both fossil fuels and renewable energy. and the best proof of that may be found in the state of

wyoming. it is the country's leading coal producing state and very conservative politically. yet, its republican governor, mark gordon, is emerging as a leading voice promoting climate friendly energy projects and action to address the climate crisis. essentially, mark gordon is trying to prove it's possible to be both red and green. >> we needed to be aggressive and we needed to address this issue. >> you tell the people of wyoming that climate change is real? >> i do. >> and it's urgent? it's an urgent crisis. >> i have said that. i have gotten pushback from that as well. >> i bet you have. in september, we met mark gordon in the middle of his second term at wyoming's governor on a cattle ranch where he grew up. >> this is my dad's old saddle.

>> his family owns this ranch. he and his wife operate another about 40 miles away. how did growing up here affect your worldview? >> i think growing up here gave me an enormous appreciation for the world around us and the ecological processes and the weather. you just are exposed to it on a regular basis. >> mark gordon is a mountain climber who has seen glaciers receding. due to a warming climate. he says that helped convince him to set a goal of making wyoming not just carbon neutral when it comes to co2 emissions, but eventually carbon negative. you first made this pledge of net negative co2 emissions at a 2021 state of the state speech. how did that go over? >> i think some people probably resented it. i think generally, it's been well respected.

it was to some degree a bold move and one that was intended to make a difference in that discussion about energy in the future. >> after gordon repeated his net negative emissions goal at an appearance at harvard in october, wyoming's republican party passed a vote of no confidence in him. but he says heat from the right won't deter him from pursuing what he calls an all of the above energy policy. >> whatever you are going to do in energy, probably you are going to have something to do with wyoming. we have wind resources. we have the largest reserves of uranium, important for nuclear energy. largest coal producer, number eight in oil, nine in natural gas, 83% of our energy is exported. >> that will soon include nuclear power, from a next generation reactor to be built in wyoming with a $500 million investment from bill gates.

huge wind farms already dot wyoming's landscape, with the biggest one yet on the way. >> the wind blows basically 24/7, 365 days a year. >> bill miller is president of the power company of wyoming, which is beginning to build what will be the largest wind farm in the continental united states. in the middle of a geographic break in the continental divide. >> all the winds which blow from west to east pretty much are funneled through this part of the country. >> miller drove to the top of a place called chokecherry knob. to give us a taste of the wind. when this is up and running, how many turbines will be out here? >> current plan calls for 600 turbines. >> how much energy will that generate? >> it will generate around 12 million megawatt hours of power a year. >> that's enough to power how many homes? >> a million, a million two.

>> wyoming doesn't have anything close to that many homes. it has the smallest population of any of the 50 states. so the plan is to build a new 800-mile long transition line to send that power to california, which needs and wants it. what's this going to cost? >> the wind farm will be something north of $5 billion. transmission line will be something north of $3 billion capital investment. >> that's a big investment. >> yes. >> the project is bankrolled by billionaire philip anschutz who owns the company bill miller runs and who first made his fortune in oil. >> society has spoken. that's what this country is going to go to is renewable energy. more importantly, it's a project that contributes to the zero carbon initiatives that we strongly believe in. it's going to happen. this is the best place for it to happen. >> at this past summer's windy

groundbreaking ceremony for the transmission line, bill miller was joined not just by mark gordon but also by two members of president biden's cabinet. >> the way we try to navigate this is to find something for everyone. i think that's -- >> is that possible? >> yeah. i think it is. if people are going to embrace how we get to carbon negative it's by saying we will be better by embracing innovation. >> if a single picture can capture wyoming's energy past, present, and future, this may be it. a fully loaded coal train passing in front of a huge wind farm. remember, this state still produces more coal than any

other by far. >> the likelihood that we will truly as a world move away from fossil fuels is very low. >> holly krutka runs the school of energy resources at the university of wyoming. before shifting to academia, she worked for peabody, the largest coal company in america. >> 82% of our global energy consumption is fossil fuels. >> 82%? >> 82%. it has not changed. >> because of that stark fact, krutka and her colleagues are focused on taking the co2 out of fossil fuels like coal before it reaches the atmosphere, with a technology called carbon capture and storage. >> there are carbon capture and storage projects in america working right now. there's just not enough. the capture side, we're there today. >> you can do it now? >> right now. yes. >> the technology is there. but is it economically feasible? >> it will always be cheaper to do nothing than to add carbon

capture and storage. if you want to reduce emissions, this is part of the solution. we have to decide, is it worth the cost? >> at the huge dry fork coal fired power plant near gillette, the university of wyoming is operating the integrated test center. some of the flue gas that would go up the smokestack is siphoned off into labs like this where the japanese company kawasaki is testing methods for making carbon capture more economical. wells 10,000 feet deep have been drilled to show that captured co2 can be stored underground forever. how big a deal would it be to find an affordable way to capture carbon at the point of emission, in power plants around the world? >> it would be a game changer for certain. >> there are a lot of naysayers

who say this is a pipe dream. it will never happen. what do you say to them? how do you convince them? >> we're trying it. people will say, you are just trying to extend the life of the coal mines. i am. but i'm also trying to do that in a way that is going to do more for climate solutions than simply standing up a wind farms or sending up a bunch of solar. >> with his all of the above approach, mark gordon is trying to put every kind of energy project on a fast track. including bill miller's huge wind farm. how long did you think it was going to take when you started? >> when i originally thought, i thought we could get this under construction within five years. >> it has been 17? >> 17. >> why so long? >> primarily the permitting process, the bureaucracy of the federal government. >> the told me coming up here the process was like a

nightmare. >> it was difficult. maybe nightmare is too strong. it was very difficult. >> how important is it to reduce regulatory and permitting barriers? >> i think it's massive. permitting reform, i think, is one of our biggest challenges at a federal level. it is something that's being embraced by both sides. >> both the biden administration and congressional republicans have endorsed the idea of streamlining permitting for energy projects. actually doing it is another story. in wyoming, governor gordon has done what he can. >> one thing i can share is it's a state that's welcoming to innovators in the energy space. >> cully cavness is co-founder of crusoe energy systems. about five years ago, it decided to tackle the problem of flaring, when gas produced at oil well is burned into the atmosphere. >> if you could capture it, it

would power two-thirds of europe's electricity. it's a large amount of waste. we burn it off because there's no pipeline there. >> they came up with the unconventional idea of putting a small electricity generating power plant right where that gas was being flared and wasted. >> we tap into that gas line. we bring the gas over to a power generation system. then that generates electricity. we take that electricity directly into our on-site data center to power computers. then we network the computers to the outside world with fiber or satellite internet to get it off site. >> you take a data center and just basically put it on top of the wellhead? >> exactly. it's a modern data center in every way when you stand inside of it. then you step out the door, and you are in an oil field. >> crusoe energy first used those electricity gobbling data centers to mine bitcoin. now most of that computer power

is being used by artificial intelligence companies. the first place to let them try this in 2018 was wyoming. >> that's not necessarily an idea that everyone is going to embrace automatically right off the bat before it was done before. wyoming was. they invited us to do it for the first time here. we did it at a small scale. we proved it could work. that helped attract funding to scale to where we are today. >> how many centers do you have up and running? >> we are approaching 200 by the end of the year we will have 200 of our modular data centers deployed throughout the united states and internationally. >> how do you assess your environmental impact? >> today, we are operating at a scale of more than 20 million cubic feet of gas per day that would have been flared and wasted. we prevent that. it's on the order of several hundred thousand cars per year being taken off the road. in terms of the avoided emissions impact. >> are you trying to send out a

message to the rest of the country and the rest of the world, if you have a renewable or a climate friendly idea, bring it here? bring it to wyoming? >> love to. we want to be part of the solution. there are some really remarkable things that if we stop talking about what we shouldn't do and start talking about what we can do and how we can embrace that future, that's what we're dedicated to here in wyoming. cbs sports hq is presented by progressive insurance. the jags get jacked up by not so average joe. the bengals roll the colts. walk off wallace works wonders to will the ravens to a wild win. the falcons get checked.

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men's tennis debate over the g.o.a.t., the greatest of all time. djokovic has 24 major singles titles now. two more than his rival nadal, four more than federer. next month, djokovic heads to the australian open, an event he has already won ten times. last month, he invited us to his hometown and took us inside the catacombs of his mind, sharing insight on how to ascend to the top level of sports and stay there. it was a late morning workout in belgrade, serbia. novak djokovic let us in on a key to his staggering success. forget speed or strength. flexibility enables him to perform feats like this. it is also enabled him to contort and twist the laws of time.

you are beating players right now, good players who are closer in age to your kids than they are to you. how much satisfaction does that give you? you like that? >> i don't know if that sounds good to be honest. yeah, i think the young guys were very hungry and very inspired to play their best tennis against me is an additional motivation. i think they awakened the beast in me. >> djokovic is no longer chasing records. he is creating them. his stubborn habit of winning major titled started in 2008 and half of his 24 coming after he turned 30. most recently, last september's u.s. open. he says that he may not be as fast as he once was, but he is wiser and more accurate. give us a sense of the size of the target you are aiming for.

>> like this. a little coin. at times, yes. >> you are being serious? >> i'm serious. at times i'm aiming for this size. sometimes i'm aiming for this size. it depends on in the moment of the match who am i playing against, what the tactic is. >> another part of his tactics, looking for any hint of weakness across the net. >> even though there is no physical contact in tennis, there is still a lot of eye contact when we're changing ends, when we're sitting on the bench. and the big screen shows him, how he drinks his water. i look at him, how is he drinking water? is he sweating more than usual? is he breathing -- >> you are taking all this in? >> exactly. is he breathing deeply or not? i look how he is communicating with his team. you have all these different elements that are in play that really affect the performance and the game itself. >> can i tell you what one of the hardest things about covering you is?

people understand big muscles and speed and grace. mental strength, your great gift, is harder to articulate. >> i have to correct you. it's not a gift. it's something that comes with work. >> you train for the mental side the way you would your serve or your forehand? >> absolutely. >> how? >> there are different techniques. conscious breathing is a big part, especially in the moments when you are under tension. >> i think a lot of people think, in the moment, novak is so locked in. you are saying this is part of a process? >> i might appear maybe locked in. trust me, there's a storm inside. the biggest always battle is within. >> take us in there. >> you have your doubts and fears. i feel it every single match. i don't like this kind of a mindset that i see a lot in sports. just think positive thoughts, be optimistic. there's no room for failure. there's no room for, you know, doubts and stuff like this. it's impossible.

>> you don't buy that? >> you are a human being. the difference, i guess, between the guys who are able to be biggest champions and the ones that are struggling to get to the highest level is the ability to not stay in those emotions for too long. for me, it's really relatively short. as soon as i experience it, i acknowledge it, i maybe burst, i scream on the court, whatever happens. but then i'm able to bounce back and reset. >> some days you win and you are the better player, more precise. other times you are just better mentally. >> that happened in 2019 when i played finals of wimbledon, that marathon match, epic match with roger. >> he had two match points on his serve. >> i remember that very well. >> the decisive set, wimbledon centre court, historically pivotal match, crowd with roger federer who stood one point from victory.

djokovic stayed alive with cold-blooded shots like this. >> i beat him 13-12 in the fifth set. the sets that i won were all won in tiebreak, 7-6, 7-6, 13-12. overall, if you see stats, he was far better player in every aspect, but i won the match. that actually tells you that you can still win if you pick and choose in which moments of the match you are peaking and you are playing your best when it matters. >> at the outset of his career, djokovic couldn't break through against federer and nadal. he was the third wheel, and he now admits, he felt intimidated by them before big matches. >> i'm playing nadal. i have his locker next to my locker. we are so close. we are trying to give each other space. but then the locker room is not that big.

the way you jump around like nadal does before we go out on the court, i can even hear the music he's listening to in his headphones. it's pissing me off. >> before you hit the first ball, the competition started? >> absolutely. early, i didn't realize how that is part of the scenario. i was getting intimidated by that. it's motivating me to do stuff myself and show that i'm ready. i'm ready for a battle, for a war. >> if djokovic surpassed his rivals on scoreboards and in record books, he's aware he's never quite matched their soaring popularity. >> pressure and stress is higher if you have the crowd against you. >> home game versus road game. >> absolutely. but most of my career, it was mostly hostile environments for me. i kind of learned how to thrive in that environment. people think that it's actually better if they don't like me so that it gets the best out of me in terms of tennis.

it did happen, but at the same time, i actually enjoy more being in an environment where i have nice support. >> djokovic is open about this, too. he sometimes struggles with -- how to put it -- impulse control. your tennis is so precise and crisp. how do you handle it when you make these sort of errors and lapses when you break a racket or when your emotions get the better of you? >> look, i have broken rackets in my life. no doubt about it. i'm not proud of that. i'm ashamed of myself. at the same time, i accept myself as a flawed human being. >> he found controversy of a larger scale in early 2022. unvaccinated, he got an exemption to play the australian open, when the country was coming out of a long covid lockdown.

after public outcry, djokovic was deported. making for a global news event. how much of a toll did that whole controversy take on you? >> it did. i was basically declared as a villain of the world. >> you sensed that? >> of course. i had basically most of the world against me. i had that kind of experience on the tennis court with crowds that were not maybe cheering me on. but i never had this particular experience before in my life. >> did you misread the australian public in what the reaction would be? >> in which way? >> they don't like exceptionalism. this was a culture that felt strongly about vaccination. >> the point is, it was not up to me to read anybody. i got the exemption, i got permission to come into the country. of course, it escalated to the highest of the highest levels globally. >> correct me if i'm wrong. you are not against vaccination. you just didn't want it for yourself? >> exactly. people tried to declare me as an anti-vax.

i'm not. nor am i pro-vax. i'm pro-freedom to choose. >> there are so many dimensions to djokovic. he may polarize, but he's remarkably accessible. he may be tennis' apex predator, but is exceedingly popular with his prey, that is with other players. he won more money than any tennis player in history. yet co-founded an association to ease the financial burden of pro tennis' rank and file. you understand how extraordinary this is, that we talk about in tennis, eat what you kill. you are helping the others eat who are the same folks that want to take food off your table. >> because i have plenty. i have more than what i need. women and men who are around 200 and lower ranked in the world, they are struggling a lot. they can't afford a coach, travel. they skip tournaments. many leave tennis who are

talented and maybe capable of reaching great heights and successes, but they can't make it. >> coming from a small country and meager means himself, djokovic knows this better than anyone. when he returned to serbia in september after winning the u.s. open, 20,000 fans greeted him. he was overcome by it all. during our visit to belgrade last month, we noticed the prominence of the conquering hero and the speculation about where his popularity might take him next. it's obvious, you are going to be the leader of this country one day. what kind of a leader are you going to be? >> how do you know? you are making some kind of claims here that i'm not even aware of. >> i've seen your popularity here. you will have an easy time at the ballot box here than winning in australia. you have done that ten times. >> i love how you are phrasing and formulating this question.

the way you do it is so -- i do not have any political inspirations at the moment. i don't feel that this is a world or an environment where i would thrive. i do think that my popularity in the country and in the region can be used for some other things where i can help contribute to life and society. >> specifically, he and his wife jelena have a foundation. this goes beyond the average athlete philanthropy. it's built or renovated more than 50 serbian preschools and counting. as for their own children, stefan, age 9, and tara, age 6, they play a role in their father's tennis longevity. is the fact your kids are old enough not just to watch you play but to appreciate what dad's doing out there, is that a reason to keep playing? >> yes. it is. actually, years ago i had a dream that my daughter and my son will be able to watch me win

wimbledon trophy. that happened several times. i was fortunate to experience that. >> maybe the ultimate career extender, a new rival to continue stoking his fire. spain's carlos alcaraz, the only player to beat djokovic at a major this year. >> he is as complete of a player as i have seen in ages. >> it was a disappointing day for you? but in a way, this was energizing that you had this young challenger? >> yes. absolutely it was. you are right, because that pissed me off so much that i needed to win everything on american soil, which i did. it's a great opportunity for me to reinvent myself and really push harder than i ever did. >>covering djokovic's rise to

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the last minute of "60 minutes" is sponsored by united healthcare. there for what matters. >> tonight, as the northern hemisphere slips deeper into the darkest days of the year, christians observe the second sunday of the advent season. jews celebrate the fourth evening of hanukkah. both are marked by lighting candles against the oncoming dark. a time of watchful waiting and anticipation and overcoming oppression. this year in particular, the darkness seems deeper.

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