so, where's the trip wire? i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. what would it take for nato and the u.s. to actually be at war with russia? or are we already there? i ask the question, because the hair-splitting that went on this week regarding poland's supply of mig-29 fighter jets. poland surprised american officials by offering to turn over its ageing mig fighters to ukraine. but america balked when poland wanted to transfer them through the u.s. and nato and have their fleet replaced with

american-made fighter jets and the u.s. responded quoting it could be ex ss kaala tori. the back and forth was a reminder that the joint effort to punish and ultimately repel russia has a third rail that no one wants to touch. "the wall street journal" said this, the bigger problem is the message that this fiasco sends to mr. putin about nato by so ostentatiously not sending the fighters and saying that is fear of escalation and telling the russian what he doesn't want to worry about. sand world war ii before the united states was bombed at pearl harbor. british prime minister winston churchill sought to buy fighter planes from the united states. if dr asked england to send an

aircraft carrier to pick them up. but england was short on aircraft carriers and asked them for them to be delivered its ally canada. the u.s. military flying the planes to canada would have broken the neutrality act. here's what happened. the united states flew them to the border, drained them of fuel and horses were used to transport them across the border where they were then refueled. that may then have followed the letter of the law but made it clear which side the u.s. would be supporting. two years later, japan ended the neutrality act by bombing pearl harbor. american support has been more extensive. giving aid in javelin missiles and control boats. and allocate, another $3.6 billion including $10 billion of direct or indirect military aid. on top of the sanctions that

putin has labeled an economic war, account united states really think such moves are themselves notes s escalating. and asked the administration to step up its support in including supplying surface-to-air missile systems. 40 republicans in the senate said pretty much the same thing. president biden on this topic said this yesterday. >> the idea that we're going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with american pilots and american pilots and american crews, just understand, don't kid yourself, no matter what you all say, that's called world war iii. okay? >> still, why can the united states deliver millions and billions to be used for weapons, but still claim it's not directly involved. it all leads me to the survey

question at smerconish.com. should president biden aid the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems to ukraine? joining me is retired navy admiral james stavridis, he's written a work of fiction called 2034, a novel of the next world war. admiral, good morning, you have a ph.d. in international law. you were the dean of a graduate school of international law diplomacy. you're the perfect person for me to ask, what exactly is provocation in this context? >> let's start with ground troops with putin is the one provoking, putin is the uninvading. putin is the one flagrantly invading national law. he's simply invaded.

he's throwing gasoline or a bon fire of war crimes by parading syrian volunteers to the battlefield. now, michael, we got to start by saying the serial violator of international law here is vladimir putin. having said that, okay, let's go over to our side of the coin here with the democracy, what can we do? i think the false discussion here is it's kind of an on and off switch, in other words, we just keep the switch off, and we watch what happens in horror. or, we flip the switch on and we send troops in. and we put our jets os ukraine. neither of those answers are right. it's a rheostat, like in your dining room, you kind of turn up the light. what we're doing in my mind, which is about right. massive assistnesance of milita and supplying defensive weapons.

we're not giving ukraine anything they can use to invade russia. we're giving them the systems they need to attack russians who are invading them. i think we're in the right place. >> okay. so, in my house, if it were the thermostat, not the rheostat, i'd be the one turning it on and my wife would come along and completely shut it off. has vladimir putin completely shut it off? in other words, have you considered that he has, through backchannel communications served notice, if you transfer those mig fighters, that's it, it's game on with nato? >> i doubt it, for a couple of reasons. first of all, he would not want to lay out a bold red line like that. and nor should we, by the way. i think we should stop saying we'll never do this, we'll never do that. we should say things like at this time, we're not going to, et cetera, point two would be here he doesn't want to take on a conventional fight with nato.

he doesn't want a nuclear fight either. he's got family. he loves his country. he's not going to reach for the apocalypse button. and he doesn't want a conventional fight with nato because we outnumber him. there are some notion that russian forces are comparable with nato forces. we outspend them 15 to 1, 5 to 1 advantage with troops, 5 to 1 in combat, you get the idea. i think putin is rattling that nuclear sabre hoping we will simply back down. we just can't do that. we have to continue our course of action. the one thing you mentioned up front, the mig-29s. i can see both sides of that conversation. but in my view, give them to the ukrainians, figure out the logistics. put ukrainian insignia on it, have ukrainians fly them. i think it's a huge morale boost

and have impact on the battlefield. it's a hard logistics problem but we shouldn't back down and be scared of our shadow in terms of vladimir putin. >> so my survey question is asking the viewers should the president aid the transfer of aircraft in ukraine, admiral stavridis says yes? >> i do. and i'll make a small caveat, which you didn't clarify in the question. i would not put u.s. pilots flying those aircraft that you refer to? >> okay. >> and part of the reason there, michael, not only it's international law, but it's also who's up there in the cockpit. you know, that's not madeleine albright up there, former secretary of state, kind of figuring out the back and forth. that's goose and maverick. same thing on the russian side. so the potential for an incident between nuclear-armed powers is pretty high. >> by the way, admiral, that's implied, that's implied in my

survey question. i do not intend to suggest they would be american pilots. >> gotcha. >> hey, you spoke to the russian military capable. yesterday, put this up, kathryn, "the washington post" said the following, two weeks after russian forces streamed into neighboring ukraine following months of buildup, evidence is mounting that invasion has not gone to plan and that russia's much-vaunted military may not be the formidable force once feared. that doesn't mean that russia will seize kyiv and topple the ukrainian government. and it doesn't mean casualties as it continues to do daily. but the simpling pace since vladimir putin ordered late last month, and russian tanks alike, have reset expectations for how the conflict will unfold. are you surprised by the russian capabilities thus far?

>> i am not shocked at their failures. i think they have improved over the force that i surveysed as te supreme allied commander years ago. they still have three key faults. one isle they have reservists that they're putting into the fight. they're inexperienced they're afraid. almost disoriented. secondly, logistics, this has been a shortfall for russia, logistics are hard. professionals do logistics well. we do that well. russia is falling with that. and third, michael, the general ship here, the admiralship has not been very good. the battle plan isn't good. there's a lot of confusion and all three of those are weaknesses that we've seen in russia, historically. vladimir putin were today, we corrected those, boss, turns out, not so much. >> front page of "the new york times" calls it nevertheless a

long slog strategy. time is on putin's side. do you see that way? >> unfortunately, i do. you know, quantity has a quality all of its own, and that's a russian proverb. but don't underestimate how these ukrainians can slow and stymie and make this very painful for russia. i'll tell you why, michael. it's because behind those ukrainians are their spouses, their children. their parents, their cities. their civilization. on the other side are russians. there are a lot of those russians, but if we arm and equip those ukrainians as you and i have been discussing, they can make this painful for the russians. last off, kyiv, yeah, the russians have circled. it's a city, think chicago, the locals know that city very well, they're well armed. i think taking that city is going to be a significant undertaking of not days, not

weeks, but months. >> admiral, i'm limited on time but i must show this tweet from your twitter account. a king asked at oracle at delphi if he could attack a neighboring kingdom. oracle, if you go to war you will destroy a great kingdom. elated went to war, little expected the kingdom would be his own. putin is a threat to russia, as well as his neighbors. take 30 seconds and address that. >> it's quite simple, vladimir putin is isolating russia. he will crater its economy. people are spurning russians in normal interactions around the world. what nation wants to be a pariah nation? that is the path he is walking for russia. >> as i kid, i played battleship. i think i recognize the game of risk over your left shoulder. i guess you're telling us something there, too? >> we are in risky times, but we

need to apply strategy to what we do, we'll come out okay here. don't bet against us. >> thank you, admiral. appreciate you being here. >> my pleasure. >> what are your thoughts? tweet knee at smerconish. go to my facebook page. this come from the world of that looks like youtube. yes, we are already at war with russia and it does no good to present we aren't. we need to have boots on the ground and help them wherever they need. wow, boots on the ground in ukraine, i assume, paradox destroyer you mean american boots on the ground? i'm not suggesting american pilots in the sky with this week's survey question. go to smerconish.com. tell me what you think about this, here it is, should president biden aid the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems to ukraine? 15 representatives from the house yesterday, bipartisan, wanted him to do that. 40 members of the senate, admiral stavridis says he thinks

it's the right call. i want to know what you think. more than 300 businesses from mcdonald's to goldman sachs have halted dealings with russia but one sector exempt from sanctions have not pulled back their dealings. drugmakers, medical device manufacturers, health care companies. if big pharma join the boycott, height it mighter it by the russians or have the use lose its moral standing?? we'll talk about it. that's certrtified head turn. and it's all backed by our unlimited mileage warranty. that means unlimited peace e of mind. mercedes-benz certified pre-owned. translation: the mercedes of your dreams is closer than you think.

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more than 340 companies have withdrawn or scaled back their operations in russia since invasion of ukraine 17 days ago. some correspondent heavyweights, apple, bp, coca-cola, disney, mcdonald's, how is russia reacting to this exodus blowing holes in their economy? dmitry medvedev said the kremlin could respond to western companies leaving the russian market with the seizure of their assets and their possible naturalization.

that drew swift condemnation by jen psaki who tweeted, any lawless decision by russia to seize the assets of these companies would ultimately result in even more economic pain for russia. it would compound that russia is not a safe place to do business. guess who is continuing to do business in russia? that would be big pharma. joining me is kaiser health news sarah warne. and drugmakers and health care companies have decided they aren't cutting ties with russia. thank you for being here. i want to put on the screen a paragraph from your piece. you quote abbott labs vice president who says as a health care company, we have an important purpose, which at this time, we continue to separate and serve people for essential products. this name is scott stopple, and then abbott is identified as

selling drugs for oncology, women's health, pancreatic insufficienty and liver health. >> the russians are dependent on them to help produce drugs inside the country and implication of drugs. about 20 years or so ago, 90% of drugs were imported from outside the country. this is a huge priority for vladimir putin to really build up domestic manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. he formed partnerships with eli lilly, with abbott, with pfizer, they have come in and helped build facilities there and they're crucial for the pharmaceutical industry inside of russia. >> is this a legal issue, a moral issue or some combination of both? >> i think it's a combination of both. it is true that medicines are

considered, you know, they are different than a hamburger, as is he says in the piece, it's different eating a hamburger than a pill she said. and it continues to flow that continued in apartheid era south africa. there were exemptions made for essential medicines. so these pharmaceutical companies essentially say not only do we continue to supply pharmaceuticals to people in ukraine and the region, but also to russia as well. >> i mean, the issue as i look at it, whether the united states in an effort to really turn up the heat on putin is willing to risk its moral high ground. professor jeffrey sonnenfeld who is often a guest on this program gave you a very interesting quote. let's put that on the screen. he's, of course from yale. he said pharmaceutical companies that say they must continue to manufacture drugs in russia for humanity tarn reasons are

misguided. cynical and outright defloorably misleading and deceptive. he said russians are put in the position of unearned suffering to make life palatable for them. and instead of protecting life they're seen as destroying life. the goal here is to show putin is not in control of all sectors of the economy. what reaction do you have to the quote that professor sonnenfeld gave you? >> i think he's making a very strong argument. i think there's plenty of other people who would say, ined youing nell minno who would say it's unmoral to supply to russians just because their president has invaded ukraine but i think sonnenfeld feels very strongly about this issue, obviously. and it is true that, you know, during world war ii, american companies continued to sell into

nazi germany, up until the moment that the u.s. actually declared war against germany. mino and other assets would say until the united states is directly in war with them, that these pharmaceutical are in the right to continue to sell and manufacture pharmaceutical drugs inside the country. >> you have to worry as well, i mean, i -- my heart is with jeffrey sonnenfeld. my head is telling me something different. i worry that we're playing into putin's hand. because he's already trying to project this as, or portray this as an economic war that the west is raging against russia. now, all of a sudden, he can parade citizens who need their insulin, it probably does him a world of good in a propaganda sense? >> it's interesting we've seen how dependent the west particularly europe is on russian oil. clearly, that was a strategy from putin for many years, let

the west, get the west to be dependent on russian oil. in the same way, russia is dependent on america and pharmaceutical companies for drugs, life-sustaining drugs. so in a sense, it's a leverage point for the west, depending how western governments want to use that point is up to them. the same way that putin is really threatening the west with access to energy, the west in a sense could threaten russia with access to drugs. >> sarah, i'm glad you that wrote this, because a paid close attention because i saw it at kaiser health, i had no idea there was a carveout for pharma. thank you for writing it and your willingness to be here. >> my pleasure, thank you. >> more social media reaction now. again from the world of youtube. what do we got? i don't agree with keeping medicines and devices out of russia. this is stooping to putin's level.

lisette, it reminds me of the debate of harsh interrogation measures post 9/11, which in early stages i was on board, dershowitz's debate of ticking time bomb. i know that was debate, they say, no, you can't do it because you're stooping to their level. therein lies the debate are we surrendering the moral high ground if we shut off the russians from medical necessities. i listened to what sarah had to say, it sounds that maybe they have not come to a complete level of independence, but that putin has been beefing up on exactly this score. go to smerconish.com and answer the survey question, while you're there, you might want to register for the daily newsletter, should president biden aid the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems to ukraine?

up ahead, the conflict has americans rallying around the president saying it's okay to pay more at the pump for democracy but what if the economic hardship drags on? jeff greenfield is here. italian authorities seize a $478 million yacht belonging to a russian oligarch, just the latest in impounding. coming up a former cia officer tracking the whereabouts of the super yacht. baths always calmed him. so we e turned bath time into a business. ♪ and building it with my son has been my dream job. ♪ at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com (vo) small businesses are joining the big switch. save over $1,000 when you switch to our ultimate business plan

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as the biden administration has moved to punish russia for its invasion of ukraine, so far,

america has been rallying around the flag. but how long will that last? to be sure, president biden's poll numbers which had been under water got a big boost from his handling of russia. an npr marist poll after the state of the union found 52% of americans approve of how he's handling the situation in ukraine. and his overall job approval rating spiked eight points from 39% to 47%, before he moved to stop russian imports, reuters/ipsos found 63% of americans said they're willing to pay more at the pump to support a fellow diplomatic country. now that biden has made the move, gas prices are rocketing along with other pocketbook items. will political division return before the midterms. joining me now jeff greenfield the five-time winning emmy author. the latest piece on politico titled "polls show the public is willing to sacrifice for ukraine, history suggests biden

should count on it." jeff, i cannot tell you how many times i have said on television, on radio, well, it used to be that politics stop at the water's edge. and here you are, writing this piece today saying, that's never been the case. explain. >> rarely been the case. that famous quote from senator vandenberg, when he was ra rallying -- a republican, rallying support about building of nato, this reads history. korea, streevietnam, iraq were subject to major political disputes until the japanese bombed pearl harbor. the idea of aiding britain, widely drafted passed the house by one vote. it is true that when the united states is attacked as in paearl harbor and 9/11, there is unity.

saying we're engaged with a foreign foe, let's rally around the flag. one historical note, republicans gained 44 house the cities and eight senate seats in part of disaffection with impact on the war in the home front. so, you have to put a big asterisk behind that famous quote. >> is there some sense of transference, when you look at this? in case, ukraine was clearly attacked invaded by russia, might that alter how it's perceived politically? >> i'm not much for predictions. but i think that the indirect nature of the attack on the united states, the united states wasn't attacked, as vice president harris said just yesterday, you know, you rally behind your friends. and there is an impulse to do that. but i think when gas prices

rocket as expected, out in california, where i spend most of my time, we're going to pay $8, or $9 for gas. i just don't think people are going to pull up to the pump and say that blankity blank putin. when opec tightened the screws in 1973 and 1979, the impact was felt politically by richard nixon and then jimmy carter. i think whatever people say, i think i mentioned in the piece, people say they will willingly pay more. but also tell pollsters they want to eat more vegetables and watch more documentaries on television. good intentions are one thing. but when reality hits i think it could be quite another. >> i hear carvelle somewhere in the back of my mind talking about the economy as jeff greenfield makes these observations. frankly, heading into the midterms is it impossible that the border that matters more to voters is the mexican/american border and not the

russia/ukraine border? in the end are all politics local? >> that's another one of those statements that's true but not as true as it sounds. look, i think it is true that the combination of inflation and the feeling about immigration tend to hit closer to home. as i say, if the united states were directly involved, even -- let me go way back, the spurious, nonexistent attack on the battleship "maine" outraged americans with the help to get into the spanish-american war. we also, by the way, i should point out prefer our conflicts to be very quick and decisive. the gulf war in '91, lasted roughly 100 hours. when it becomes a quagmire, a slog, i think a word you used a few minutes ago, that's when discontent really rises.

we saw it in iraq, we saw it in vietnam. we saw it in korea. the republicans made korea a number one issue, it wasn't being won enough. we were holding back our forces. these crisis, when directly felt in world war ii i think there were 16 million american men under arms, everybody had a stake in that. so planting victory gardens and accepting rationing was much more likely because it was clear that the stakes still were enormous. and that everybody had a piece of the action. i just think -- it's different today. >> jeff, it's good to have you around you're robbing me of all my sound bites with all of your historic lessons. i took this politics ending at the water's edge so far that i double it up and make an analogy. it's like cops, they don't want to respond to a domestic dispute

because you've got two partners who now turn their attention on law enforcement, instead of on each other. so, i think it's really important that which you have said. you get the final word on how this might all impact domestic politics. >> actually, and this may seem like a curveball to you, and i'll apologize in advance, i think as much as anything else, if you're looking to november, the absence of covid, and the return to normal life is going to be a major factor. because part of what is dragging joe biden down in the polls is this general sense of myasma, we're in this mist of schools, where we live. i have no idea how ukraine is going to play out, i don't think, frankly, anybody else does either. i think if you're looking at the political part, you're looking much more at covid and some way to get inflation under control. that's what i'll be looking for.

and i do it with a strong sense of humility. because i used to try to do predictions and reality hit me over the head many times. and i hold my tongue these days. >> thank you, jeff. the piece is in politico today. i put it on my social media. it's my newsletter as well. appreciate you being here. >> okay, thank you. more social media from the world of twitter, facebook and youtube. this from twitter, i think. biden keeps talking about how he won't engage russian forces. it feels like he's signals to putin that he won't interfere. biden is making himself look weak. look, admiral stavridis here at the outset of the program, former command leader of the nato that he is of the opinion that the white house, i'm paraphrasing now, telegraph, its limitations where it might go. i think that makes intuitive sense. are you responding to question at smerconish.com? i hope you are.

here's what it is. should the president aid the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems to ukraine? i'm not talking about putting american pilots in those planes. go vote. i'll give you the results. still to come, considering the oligarchs ill-gotten gain, europeans are seizing a superyacht in the hundreds of millions. i'll ask a former cia agent tweeting locations names of the boats. what this all memeans for their fortunes. (laughs) anything else you wanna know? is t the hype too much? am i ready? i can't tell you everything. but if you want to make history, you gotta call your own shots. we going to the league! for people who could use a lift new neutrogena® rapid firming. a triple-lift serum with pure collagen.

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president biden warned russian oligarch, his administration plans to seize their ill-gotten gains. now seizing the yachts. friday titalian authorities seie the yacht of sa, owned by andre melnichenko, he owned a fertilizer. this followed the impounding of lady m owned by alexi mordashov. and lena belonging to gennady timchenko. the french officials seized the amore zero claiming it's owned by igor sechin owned by the company rosneft. preventing it from. happening after it left port the

supernova owned by the mogul turned off automatic tracking systems against the law for a ship of its size. after britain sanctioned roman abramovich, the billionaire selling his stake in the football club chelsea, his superyachts began moving without extr extradition agreements. his ship, eclipse, its own missile defense system, a submarine as one. estimated value of $1 billion. and the secret other than of a 459-foot $700 million superyacht currently anchored in a town of tuscany may be owned by vladimir putin himself. and it boasts two helicopter decks, a swimming pool that converts to a dance floor and gold-plated fixtures. the ship's capital said that

putin did not own the yacht to "the new york times." and saying that the mystery owner was not on the sanctions list but prevented him from revealing more. putin owns very little in his own name. joining me is alex findlay, a former cia officer in barcelona. he's been maintaining a yacht watch on twitter and extending it as part of research for a fourth coming novel. alex, thank you for being here, i remember a story in "the new york times" that talked about just how difficult it is to figure out the ownership of real estate in midtown manhattan because in part of oligarchs going to great lengths to hide their identity. this is just like that, right, it's tough to figure out who owns them? >> you're exactly right. most of these ships are actually owned by front companies and they have property managers who sort of run them. most of them are flagged in

places like you noted the marshall islands, cayman islands, isle of wight, and it's difficult to untangle who the beneficial owner it is. there's shell company after shell company. trying to follow that back and figure out who the owner is very difficult and done that way on purpose. >> what are you noting as you're tracking them? is there any concerted effort that comes to light or are they all going in separate directions? what are the patterns? >> so far, we've seen a number of them that have left europe. they seem to be heading south. there's questions if they would try to go through to the black sea, but with turkey, it's not clear if that would be a good move for them. so some seem to be moving through the suez canal and indian ocean, we've seen a number of them cluster around

the seychelles and maldives. there are few places that can service and maintain these yachts. you were running statistics about these. these are enormous, very sophisticated machines. they're worth a lot of money. they're highly technology heavy. they have, like you said, missile defense systems and the rest. and high-tech radar. so, even if in the end there are some rumors that all of these boats are trying to make their way to where russian has its pacific command, there are still questions once they're there, can they be maintained? because that knowledge, that infrastructure is all here in europe and the united states. >> do you think that putin owns the yacht that i referenced that right now is docked in tuscany? >> i don't know. i'm watching that one as closely as everybody else. >> when the oligarchs board their yachts, i've been arresting and learning that it seems like they shift from a

crew that may be multinational to, all of a sudden, an all-russian crew. can you speak to that? >> yeah. we have heard some cases where that's what happens. an international crew will move the yacht from one place to another. but once certain guests come on board, one crew is dismissed. and an all-russian crew will come on. and as you referenced before, anybody working on these boats, they have ndas, you know, it's all very hush-hush. >> what flags do they fly under? or is it a variety of them? >> you mentioned the marshall islands before, the cayman islands, some malta, the isle of mann, any sort of offshore tech haven that you can imagine. >> and finally, where are they safest? so, if you could sort of switch hats and you were trying to place them in a location where they wouldn't be seized, where

would that be? where do you think they'd most want to get to? >> well, like i said, outside of the sanctioned areas, anywhere outside of the eu or uk or the u.s. and some of them are not sanctioned by all three of those. you mentioned abramovich's yacht. he's only sanctioned at this point by the uk. even if he's in eu waters, i don't think anybody is going to do anything. once they reach the indian ocean, that's it. unless these governments can get, you know, coordination. and help from other governments who want to help but we're not seeing any indication of that so far. we've even seen some indications that some are ready to work with the russians. and it means more money for them. the uae is happy to have the russians come and make the uae their new playground.

year not sure how this plays out but a number of different players. >> great fodder for you, and your next novel. thanks, alex. >> thank you. still to come, some of your best and worst tweets and facebook questions. you can go vote at smerconish.com, should president biden aid the transfer of aircraft and air defenense systs to ukraine? you get free nights fast! book now at bestwestern.com. this is vuity™, the first and only fda approved eye-drop that improves age-related blurry near vision. wait, what? it sounded lik you just said an eye drop that may help you see up close. i did. it's an innovative way to... sowait. i don't always have to wear reading glasses? yeah! vuity™ helps you see up close. so, i can see up close with just my eyes? uh-huh. with one drop in each eye, once daily. in focus? yep. [laughs] like, really?

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time to see how you responded to the survey question at smerconish.com this week. should president biden aid the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems to ukraine? here's the result. a lot of voting. 32,000 and change. the yeses, 90-10. it fits with a pattern. for the last three weeks, we've been all about ukraine and the questions have been one of the degree of involvement, what level of militaristic support. and the results are the same. heavy voting and a lot of support for doing more. from the world of social media, what do we have? smerconish, don't give me the stoop to his level argument. you will never beat a bully turning the other cheek. the issue there is should big pharma say, guess what, we're not going to deliver medications or medical devices so long as this invasion of ukraine continues because there's been a

carveout of all this corporate support for ukraine for pharma not toeing that line. there's going to be much more written on that story. also from social media, what do we have? this isn't america's war. we won't send our sons to fight in a war that isn't against us. we need energy independence now. steph, no doubt about that. that's one of the reasons why russia has germany over a barrel more so than they do the united states. we need to do both. we need to fight climate change and fight for democracy. i think we can get both done. one more, if i have time. what do we got? ukrainian people aren't being allowed medications, neither should russians. okay, jeffrey sees the flipside of it and says, deny them their meds. keep voting, register for the newsletter while you're there. see you next week. set a pickup time, and jump the line! oh, , here she goes! ugh, i thought she was actuallyly gonna jump. subway keeps refreshing and refre-

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. good morning, everyone. thank you so much for joining us on this special cnn breaking news coverage. and we begin in ukraine where russian forces are tightening their grip on kyiv, advancing closer and closer to the capital at this hour