>> carley: devastating airstrike pummel two new regions of ukraine. bombs levelling cities far from russia main objective. our reporters on the ground. you're watching "fox and friends first" on friday morning, i'm carley shimkus. >> todd: i'm todd piro. check nothing with our teams on the ground. first, the value of the u.s. dollar erode withing u.s.

inflation, to 7 .9%. live to break down the numbers, hi, ashley. >> ashley: the numbers were taken before russia invaded ukraine. the biden administration still won't take blame for the sky-high gas prices. the left are using it as way to get rid of fossil fuel saying war is not time to allow oil companies to get rich. there will be cost at home, as we will be imposing crippling sanctions on putin's unprovoked war. cost we are imposing on putin are more devastating than the cost we are imposing. a former obama advisor said biden needed to own the mounting

inflation and it was only a small portion of russia invading ukraine. the biden white house is all over the board, listen to this. >> press sect. psaki: expectation continues to be it will moderate by end of the year. >> we are likely to see another year in which 12-month inflation numbers remain uncomfortably high. >> ashley: inflation is costing the average american household extra $296 a month and dpas prices continue to be out of control. right now average price per gallon is $4.33, compared to a year ago, it was $2 cheaper at 281 according to triple a. inflation is stressing people out. 90% of those surveyed say rise in prices of everyday items is top source of stress. other stressors are supply chain disruption and nuclear and cyber attacks. >> carley: gas prices inflation

expected to get worse in the weeks and months. stressful for american families for sure. thank you. fox noose alert, overnight, fight nothing western ukraine. >> todd: multiple casualties being reported. ukraine accusing kremlin of targeting civilians. jonathan hunt joins us live from lviv with more on the assault. jonatha >> john: todd and carley, the russian air force went to work conducting airstrike east and west of ukraine. in the west, 80 miles from where we are, they hit an air base near the town of lustke. home to the migs the air force has been fighting. the pictures here, airstrike in the east in the city of did sheing -- dnipro.

it hit a kindergarten, parm building and shoe factory. forces are hitting back. these are images of array of russian tanks and armored personnel characters in the kyiv region being attacked. clearly able to take out several vehicles. we are getting satellite images of the convoy we've been talking about, the large convoy north of kyiv. according to u.s. officials, it has broken up a little, some units move intoing forested areas, artillery moving into attack formation, it could be sign assault on kyiv is coming. that is one reason why so many people are leaving the capital city, running for their lives quite literally. listen here to one refugee trying to get out of kyiv as quickly as they can. listen. >> well, the time of the

shooting we hear, we are afraid to go to kyiv. my family try to get to europe. there, the -- ukraine, i hope we will be. >> john: meantime, down in the southern city of mariupol, the humanitarian catest catastrophe continues to unfold. you see the picture of the children's hospital that was hit, there are several hundred civilians trapped there in mariupol. humanitarian corridors are supposed to open again today. we have seen time and time again, todd and carley, when they do open frequently, russian forces open fire on or very near humanitarian corridors. it is very hard for the hundreds of thousands of trapped ukrainian civilians to trust they are safe corridors.

>> todd: horrible decisions have to be made by those individuals. jonathan, where you are right now, rightly or wrongly, the conception is that lviv is safe, there is nothing to worry about there. as the shelling and attacks grow closer and closer to lviv, what is the sense on the ground, in terms of people are feeling safe. and jonathan, you, are you feeling safe? >> john: yes is the short answer, we do. if vladamir putin has his way, he appears to want to take control of the entirety of this country. lviv is certainly seen as a safe haven by ukrainians right now. there are hundreds of thousands coming through here. many continue the journey because they don't feel anywhere in ukraine is safe. many continue to journey further west and across the polish border. two million refugees have left ukraine. many are actually staying here,

todd. they are getting services. a lot of ukrainians who live in lviv are opening their homes, saying, come in. it is obviously with the number coming here, putting a strain on the city itself. ukrainians, we are seeing courage right across this country and willingness to help each other. whatever they can do to help the war effort, they are doing, todd and carley. >> carley: this literally just crossed, russian president vladamir putin approved bringing volunteer fighters from around the world to join russia army and russian defense ministry says there have been 16,000 applications from countries in the middle east. you cannot trust anything the russians say regarding that number and 16,000 or not. how concerning is it there could be growing force fighting for russia?

>> john: it is concerning, yes. some sympathetic syrians to join the russian forces is a concern. what the ukrainians would answer and president zelenskyy said, he has foreign legion that is tens of thousands strong. people flocking from all over the world, including the united states to fight on behalf of ukraine. carley, we can't trust any information coming from russia right now, no independent journalism allowed in russia. what the russians say, everybody should treat with good deal of skepticism. todd and carley. >> todd: thank and you stay safe. bring in a member of parliament live from kyiv. what do you think the next 48-72 hours will bring to the city of kyiv? >> i think they will try to continue to take the city to the

siege and i don't think it is possible anymore. they are trying to get the city and we are really good enough inside the city and we, all our structures and units and our army is pretty strong in the city and i don't see options for successful for the groups and all this stuff. i don't see the option kyiv can be -- russian army. >> carley: your confidence is reassuring, there is a point of concern, though, white house is saying russia could use chemical weapon necessary ukraine. are there preparations underway in case this happen? how much concern that russia could use chemical or biological weapons on the ukrainian people?

>> of course they can and i think that is mistake in what you are saying, if you can use chemical or biological weapon, you are able to use it and not the point what nationality people are. of course they can use it and i also wait for using of technical nukes. all of us have to be ready for it. dmytro gurin. i am sorry,il not say our plans, how we are preparing, but of course we are preparing. >> todd: with civilians being slaughtered throughout ukraine to carley's point biological or chemical war fare on the horizon, can russian soldiers say, we thought we were here on a training mission? >> that's, you know, they have instructions. they have to say we're on

training missions. we found a lot of documents already on russian soldiers where there are real goals of this operation are written in black and white and they know what they are doing here and they -- on the phone calls with relatives, they know where they are going and -- for war. it is also important, they have allowed to shoot civilians, they have permission to shoot civilians. >> carley: wow. i want to ask about the mig 29 fighter jet situation, the deal to get planes to ukraine appear to have fallen apart. the u.s. is saying ukraine does have planes that are usable and they don't really need to add migs to the fleet, what is your response to that? >> my response to that, in a week, we will have hunger in

mariupol and maybe before even, 350,000 people are entrapped and there is no hitting electricity, water and minus five degrees, below zero in mariupol at night. people -- snow to have water and prepare food on an open fire. we can discuss the planes, but i think the more important is to say that we need your help. week ago we had just ordinary war, army against army. now we have a terrorist war. the russian understood they cannot beat us on the battlefield and decided to destroy our cities, children and parents. my parents are now in mariupol. i can't imagine 69 year-old mother and father preparing

below zero temperature and preparing food in open fire near a building and trees for -- i think that is what we have, what we need now, any kind of air defense, middle defense, anything, any help to create humanitarian corridors from mariupol and from -- several other cities and mariupol because if we wouldn't be able to do it altogether. i don't know what we will answer our children about new -- it is concentration camp without food. we don't have supply or food or water, people will die from hunger. >> carley: so many questions, latest reporting pentagon is reviewing ways to get a soviet era defense system that can shoot planes out of the sky at

higher altitude, hopefully that happens. god bless and you your people, thank you for joining us this morning. >> carley: vice president kamala harris visiting u.s. troop necessary warsaw. >> todd: awkward moment on the world stage yesterday, griff. >> griff: image you were just seeing is kamala harris visiting and she will be going to romania. the trip was intended to underscore commitment to nato allies, she is facing criticism for her demeanor yesterday while standing alongside poland's president. watch. >> is the united states willing to make a specific allocation for ukrainian refugee? for president, i want to know if you think and if you ask the united states to specifically accept more refugees?

>> vice president harris: okay. a friend in need is a friend indeed. >> ukrainian president zelenskyy defense secretary lashing out in now deleted tweet you see here. she said it would be a traj ed fethis woman won the presidency. her predecessor mike pence visiting refugees fleeing to poland. there are growing concerns putin could resort to chemical and biological weaponos ukrainian civilians, many believe constitute red line for nato to act. the white house is not ready to go there. >> press sect. psaki: i'm not going to get into red lines from here, he is not intending to send u.s. troops to fight in ukrainian against russia. what our assessment is based on is how to prevent world war. >> griff: biden rejected sending fighter jets to ukraine, drawing

criticism from senator tom cotton. >> call the commander and tell him to take down the flag and surrender, we will never stand up to russia if every time vladamir putin says boo, we back down. >> griff: senate passed 14 billion in aid for ukraine, heads to the president's desk. today we expect president biden to call for end of normal trade relation with russia asking for most favored nation status to be revoked. >> todd: no laughing matter, i do not understand why we keep laughing. thank you. one million children have fled ukraine in search for safety, jewish orphanage in odesa stepping up to help them, evacuating 2000 peep toll a children's organization in romania. >> carley: children's home ceo joins us now. good morning, sir, this sounds like an incredible undertaking.

tell us about it, how are you getting the children and elderly peep toll safety? >> so, good morning, carley and good morning, todd. as soon as we have the bombs landing, it landed close to our orphanage, we realized we had to take the kids out to odesa to safety. so much hardship and traum a. we took them to western ukraine and then from there, we took them to romania to the border. it was very, very difficult, two days of harrowing journeys. we had to take the children out to safety after what they have been through. there was bombing. we had to help get the people out of danger. >> todd: we're looking at images of a little girl crying, it is absolutely heartbreaking. you mentioned the journey is difficult, how dangerous was the

journey? >> in the beginning -- stay in odesa and see if we can wait out the war until the bomb landed and we decided it was dangerous, as well, and there were sirens on the way. we saw smoke on the side and stopped every 70 miles to reassess how to get to safety. it was harrowing, you have hundreds of children with you and you are responsible for their lives and you hoping the whole way, you made a good decision taking them on the dangerous roads. one side, russians were bombing, the other side, the ukrainians were trying to stop the russians from progressing. very, very difficult journey and the kids are unbelievably resilient and amazing. it is huge trauma and will take a long time for them to get over what they have been through this

week. >> carley: without a doubt. god bless those babies we're seeing on the screen and you for everything you are doing to get them to safety. the fact your orphan age is in odesa is very scary, odesa is on the black sea, an area russia wanting to take control of. have you spoken to anyone in odesa lately? what is it like there right now? >> so of course i've spoken to people there in odesa, i have 71 people hoping to bring out this weekend and next week i have people -- how we can get them out. lots of moving parts to this. and very tense in odesa, just outside the synagogue there and the huge pieces of metal, tanks on the street. there are -- everywhere, we've given our buildings to locals so

they can sleep and feel safer together. it is tense. you hear bombing and shooting at night. it's very tense, it is as if they are waiting for it to happen. just yesterday, somebody called me up and said if anything happens to me, my daughter is with you, please, i want you to know i'm leaving her everything which i have and it was such a chilling conversation from somebody in odesa fighting for his land and his city. it is terrible. >> todd: horrible. rafael, hope this attention sparks adoption of the kids so they can leave an orphanage and enjoy life with parents. god bless you. >> i would like to thank the ukrainians for allowing us to look after their children and rot mainian government for accepting refugees into their country. >> carley: thank you for joining us issue god bless.

red cross is working around the clock to provide food, hygiene and resources to ukraine and helping families evacuate to safety. here at fox news, fox corporation donated $1 million to support those efforts. we've been asking tou join in the effort by making a donation and thousands have generously helped with contributions, exceeding $2 million. head to redcross.com/foxforward to contribute to the cause. record inflation and energy costs felt nationwide and small businesses are taking a big hit. we're asking the owners of ail family-run trucking business how they plan to get by. >> todd: plus other news on friday, jesse smolett's defiant stand after a judge hands down his sentence. >> i am not -- >> i am not suicidal and i am

innocent . i could have said i was guilty a long time ago.

>> todd: welcome back, disgraced act smollett sentenced for faking that hate crime attack on himself in 2019. the judge calling smollett

narcissistic. the former empire actor maintaining his innocence during an outburst. watch. >> if i did -- fist in the -- black americans and fear of the lgtb community. if anything happens to me, i did not do it to myself. >> i am not suicidal. >> stop -- >> i am not suicidal and i'm innocent . i could have said i was guilty a long time ago. >> todd: smollett was ordered to pay restitution to the city of chicago, fined and must serve 30 minutes of felony probation. tsa extending mask mandate through april 18th. set to expire next friday, travel extension based on the cdc rules.

the cdc relaxed mask guidance and some states dropped mandates. in the nation's capital yesterday, ted cruz, circling the dc beltway demanding end to the covid mandates. in canada many donors to the ottawa is getting a refund. the canadian government criminalized and are trying to seize the funds, funds not transferred to the recipients from the freedom trucker convoy will be refunded. >> carley: todd, feeling pain at the pump, but truck drivers are getting hit hardest. the average price of diesel fuel soars to record highs, one transportation company saw weekly fuel bill skyrocket by $1000. joining me now, owners of the

trucking in phoenix, frank and sharla, good morning to you both. if you look at national average diesel prices, the current price $5.13. a year ago, it was just $3.05. how are prices affecting your business? >> they are really affecting our business, just putting a toll on us and our business and if this continues for the next months, i don't know what we'll do. >> carley: this is such a huge concern, sharla, your weekly average gas bill went from 6300, next week $6900 and jumped $1000 higher than that, i'm sure when you go to bed at night you think what is next week's bill going to look like? >> it is scary, we are a new business, we started three years ago, we just hit our three-year

mark and we're scared. there is -- we don't have any investors, it is just us two that started a business and because of contracts you have, money unfortunately, it is in the contract and so we don't know. it is scary to think with all our hard work we had to close business because of gas prices. doing everything, we do haul freight, which is obviously shortage of drivers everywhere and it is sad that this is what drivers are facing. >> carley: frank, when it comes to the trucking industry, not just gas prices, you are dealing with worker and equipment shortages and supply chain issues, add gas prices on top of that and if they keep ongoing sxup they are, how long can you hold out? >> i'm guessing probably three

or four months, six months at the moment. >> carley: you really need prices to go down, huh? >> definitely, yes. i mean, all our monseinvested in this company, if we were to lose it, yeah, it would be really sad. >> carley: we know you have seven kids, you have a whole lot of mouths to feed. you are good, hard-working people, we need our truckers, you folks make this country run. thank you for joining us, we're rooting for you. >> thank you for having us. >> carley: todd. >> todd: perfect example of why just get a tesla is not a solution. army veteran from michigan wrapping up a trip to ukraine after delivering supplys and training volunteers on the ground, he shares his story live from the polish border, along with one of the refugees he

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>> todd: we are back with a fox news alert. cities across ukraine getting slammed by russian strikes including an air field 80 miles from the western city of lviv. multiple casualties reported as ukraine says the kremlin is targeting civilians. vladamir putin approving fighters from the middle east and elsewhere to join the offensive against ukraine. >> carley: the president of belarus today, russian forces are within nine miles of kyiv as ukrainian defenders turn the capital and other cities into fortresss, the combat is taking a toll on civilians. the red cross says ukrainian are attacking each other for food in the besieged mariupol. russian invasion taking toll on ukrainian infrastructure. chief economic advisor says 100

billion dollars worth of damage has been done, he's reporting half of ukrainian businesses have closed, the other half of businesses are operating well below capacity. president zelenskyy vows to rebuild the town with the best architects, companies and best projects for every city. >> todd: we can certainly hope. army veteran from michigan traveling 5000 miles with 11 suitcases filled with essentials and body armor for the people of ukraine and using his military and medical background to help. joining me from the polish-ukrainian border. anthony, i'll begin with you. we all want to help the ukrainians, why, why did you take this next level with your plan to help? >> well, i had the ability to do

it, i had a lot of friends and relatives that are passionate about it. we have friends and relatives in ukraine. the opportunity, we thought we would start as a small collection point for donations and it grew. the request came in directly from family and friends near to the front lines and all over ukraine, there was no good logistic way of getting items to those people other than take them myself, so i took the challenge and did it and now it is just the entire operation is growing expothentially everyday. >> todd: can you describe what you saw on the ground? >> crossing the border, yeah, crossing the border was a big thing. it was very moving.

thousands and thousands of people, miles and miles of convoy of buses, mothers and children were on the buses. there were no men on the buses that i could see, that was very touching moment. once i got across the border and got into lviv, clearly the city is prepared for what may be coming their way with the roadblocks and the just mobilization of all the men. it is absolutely amazing. i dropped off medical supplies at the children's hospital in lviv two days before my departure, i got a rapid request from the chief doctor at the hospital that they needed catheters, they had been reusing the ones they had. i put a blast out on facebook and it grew everywhere, so fast

that the next morning in two hours, we got over 5000. >> todd: unbelievable and obviously we can hear the emotion in your voice, what you did is absolutely unbelievable. wow. inna, tell us your story. >> i am -- 12 days, i live in underground and two days ago, gi in lviv. now i am in poland and i'm very happy because i leave because i see sky, see trees, and i am very happy. >> todd: my gosh, think about that. living underground. anthony, please continue. >> enna's english is limited, we practiced a bit so she could say

it in english very good. we've been driving for a few hours now and just crossed the border back into poland and we've used phone translators to communicate. i just met her last night around midnight and we were fortunate enough i was in the right place at the right time to link sxup take her to poland, she has friends and family until she can go to america. she's going to st. louis where her mother and grandmother live. >> todd: can't wait to have you on american soil, enna. you're training ukrainians how to fight. how long does it take a ukrainian civilian, who in many instances, has never picked up a weapon in their lives, how quickly do they get caught up to speed? >> i'm by no means an absolute military expert. the united states military

trains very, very well. i was absolutely amazed at how much information came back, some of the terms i use in my training courses that i was giving are definitely not, i can't remember some terms we would use and how to say them, it doesn't matter. the ukrainians were translating to their own language anyway. last night i did a class in lviv with regional guard unit and there were two or three prior service ukraine military people there. we had quite a few of them spoke decent english, so we had everything from truck drivers to a ball room dance instructor and everybody understands the urgency of it, atentativeness and professionalism and just the drive and strength of these guys is amazing. ukraine is far from a band of

pitch fork wielding farmers that think they are going to defend their farm. the installations i saw from village to village as i drove across most of the country were absolutely first class military installations. looks like we lost anthony's signal. if you watch that segment, you understand what that individual -- he is back, please continue your answer, we lost you for a second. >> okay, i traveled all across ukraine very close to kyiv and i was absolutely fascinated at the quality of the military structures they've scomblt they are prepared. if putin thinks he's coming west, he's got a major uphill battle for him. >> todd: understood, anthony, you are an amazing individual.

enna, welcome to the united states, when you get here, can't wait to welcome you both here when you get here. good luck to both of you. carley. >> carley: russia ramps up aggression in ukraine, what north korea and iran are up to.

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>> i'm ashley strohmier. u.s. intelligence says north korea is secretly testing new ballistic missile system. senior biden administration official calling it "a serious escalation," and press secretary john kirby saying analysis of the last two missile attacks likely to evaluate the new system before conducting a test at full range potentially disguised as a space launch. and nuclear deal, tehran seem to be -- request from moscow, guarantees not impacted by war sanctions, something the u.s. calls unacceptable. bipartisan group of lawmakers concerned about the potential iran deal and want answers. 21 house members, including 11

democrats, worry an agreement will not be tough enough. back to you. >> todd: thank you. white house press secretary jen psaki refusing to answer if president biden owns an electric vehicle when pressed by our own peter doocy. watch. >> you are pushing electric vehicles today, the president talks about the power of our example, does he own an electric vehicle? >> press sect. psaki: presidents of the united states don't do a lot of driving. >> he posts videos revving his engine in his corvette. does he own one? >> press sect. psaki: the president's record is clear, peter, presidents of the united states current and when they are no longer, typically are not doing a lot of driving. >> todd: the answer is clear, he does not own an electric vehicle, he did drive an electric hummer, jen psaki refusing to answer if he owns one, refusal is clear in silence

and what it is missing. less than 3% of americans, according to many statistics, say they own an electric vehicle. by the end of this decade, by 2030, there are reports less than 20% of americans will drive an electric vehicle, that is not a solution to the current gas inflation problem we are seeing. >> carley: expect president biden to be photographed with his new electric car courtesy of that question. maybe send peter doocy the bill. this is what we've been talking about, elizabeth warren and nancy pelosi, they said, cut off russian gas, because they want no gas in this country. biden is saying his policy are affecting the oil and gas industry. a video is going viral, it is the president talking to -- have you seen it, talking to environmental activist, young

girl. takes the girl by his hand and looks her in the eye and calls her kiddo and says something like, i want to tell you, look me in the eye, i guarantee you we're going to end fossil fuels and over the course of his presidency, we went from energy independent to depending on other countries. there is no defense when they say they are not hurting the oil and gas industry. >> todd: unclear if that girl is the infamous corn pop. this is no laughing matter. i got to get gas today. everybody focusing on cars, i use oil to heat my house. if you didn't get it locked in beginning of the season, it is up over $5 a gallon and 300 gallon tank, how will people afford that on a fixed income?

people say, i can't get heat. >> carley: i just interviewed people who own the trucking company in arizona and they were saying they can only hold on for three or four months because their gas bill went up by $1000 in a week. inflation, 7 ninety prs /* /* -- 7.9 gas is now at $4.33. people are hurting and the scary thing, it is expected to get worse. >> todd: good luck fed, trying to get that under control. russian forces carry out strikes in western ukraine 80 miles from lviv. our reporters are standing by with the latest update on fighting. >> carley: and talking about president biden's attempt to rewrite the narrative on

inflation before the midterm and dr. janette nesheiwat on her relief mission. don't go anywhere. mahindra is the official tractor of tough. right, chase? yep. that's right, tony. this baby's got four thousand pounds of front-end lift capacity, right? it sure does. so who's tougher, kid? me or you? you are, tony. can you put me down, now? what? you want to go higher? okay.

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>> todd: you are watching "fox and friends first" on friday morning, i'm todd piro. >> carley: i'm carley shimkus, our reporter necessary lviv, roughly 80 miles away from one of the attacks. that is where we find jonathan hunt, jonathan, what is the