right now on "america this morning," creeping closer to kyiv. new satellite images of that massive russian convoy outside ukraine's capital now dispersing. is russia preparing to make a stronger push toward the capital? our experts weigh in. your money. gas prices rising again overnight as president biden blames the war on the soaring prices calling the surge putin's price hike. the new pushback from republicans who say the president's own policies are to blame. courtroom drama at jussie smollett's sentencing. >> i am not suicidal. >> an out burst from the actor after a judge sentenced him for lying to police. his message before being led away in handcuffs. play ball. major league baseball strikes a

deal ending the lockout. what will be different about this upcoming season? high-end heist. how these thieves got away with $1 million worth of luxury vehicles. and the courtside surprise that had one fan in tears, it's friday, march 11th. good friday morning, everyone. we begin with russian forces inching closer to ukraine's capital. >> russia's military is less than ten miles from the center of kyiv. that massive russian convoy outside the capital is now repositioning. new satellite images show troops in that convoy breaking up, moving into towns and into the woods. it comes as congress passes $13.6 billion of humanitarian aid for ukraine and today president biden will ask congress to end normal trade relations between u.s. and russia. >> but we begin on the ground in ukraine where more air strikes are being reported this morning.

this morning, russian troops closing in on ukraine's capital pushing three miles closer to kyiv despite bitter resistance from ukrainian fighters as new video released by the ukrainian military shows russian forces taking heavy fire and that convoy lined up outside the city for days is seemingly making its move. troops taking cover in nearby forests moving weapons into firing position. >> the u.s. believes it could take a week or ten days for the russians to isolate kyiv and a further four to six weeks to control the city but the battle for the city is likely to be the toughest of this war so far. >> reporter: and in the city of mariupol where a russian air strike at a maternity hospital killed three people, president zelenskyy accusing russia of deliberately attacking an evacuation route. the devastation undeniable. entire neighborhoods decimated by russian shelling while this grocery store was reduced to rubble. on thursday mariupol's fire

department was bombed. nearby rescuers worked to help people buried in the rubble of other destroyed buildings. meanwhile, video from authorities show two using their bare hands and a bottle of of water to defuse a bomb on a city street. in poland, vice president kamala harris calling for an investigation into potential war crimes by russia. >> we have been witnessing for weeks and certainly just in the last 24 hours atrocities of unimaginable proportion. >> reporter: now new warnings from top u.s. officials about russia making false claims of biochemical weapons in ukraine as a pretext to use those same weapons. >> this is something as all of you know very well a part of russia's playbook and have used them against their own citizens and encouraged the use in syria and elsewhere.

>> reporter: the white house now facing new questions about what chemical warfare could mean for an american involvement in the war. >> president biden let a chemical weapons attack go unanswered by the united states. >> we have not let anything go unanswered that president putin has done to date. >> and the u.n. security council will convene today at russia's request to discuss moscow's claims of u.s. biological activities in ukraine. those claims were griffin without any evidence. china's premier is describing the situation in ukraine as grave and calling for peace and chinese offered to facilitateipbut avtii refusing to supply russia with airplane oamerica's ggest bas are leaving russ goldman sachs and jpmorgan are among the 330 companies to suspend operations because of the war. mcdonald's is one of them. long lines are forming at some russian locations before they

close. abc's james longman is in moscow. >> reporter: it's so hard to say because here in moscow you just get the sense people have just been trying to get on with their lives so far but more and more you feel a shift. we've been here a month now and i have to say things have started to feel different. there are fewer people in cafes and restaurants. they're just trying not to spend money. there is a creeping realization that 30 years of progress may be about to end. today another move aimed at isolating russia. the u.s. and its allies are expected to revoke russia's favored nation trading status. now to the rising cost of gas and what's to blame. last night president biden addressed the democratic national convention saying he's taking steps to address what he's called putin's price hikes at the pump. it comes amid another record-breaking inflation washingtonthe odorng >>eporter:oomornin mona. you know, from gas tento feeling the crush of rising costs. and now experts warn the worst could be yet to come.

the soaring gas prices across america are now being paired with even higher inflation. >> it was just about a dollar and some change less maybe about a week or two ago and now they just shot back up. it's outrageous. >> reporter: the average cost per gallon in the u.s. now $4.33, up 57 cents from a week ago. on capitol hill politicians are arguing over what's to blame. republicans say it's a result of president biden canceling the keystone pipeline project and a temporary halt on new drilling leases on public lands. >> the president's team wants to pretend this lengthy problem only started two weeks ago, but american families have been paying for democrat bad policies for a lot longer than that. >> reporter: independent senator angus king argues against those claims. >> was it because of the cancellation of the keystone pipeline? no. most of the oil going through the keystone pipeline was scheduled to be exported. >> reporter: last night president biden delivering a speech to the democratic

national committee saying russia's invasion of ukraine is to blame. >> people are already, already feeling putin's price hikes at the pump. we are increasing oil production with a record productivity by the end of the year. we will have produced more oil than any time in the last number of years. >> reporter: the record gas prices coming as the latest inflation report shows the cost of just about everything is still going up. the inflation rate for february reaching 7.9%, and while the white house says the current hike in gas prices should be short-lived, experts say the ripple effect is already in motion. >> everything you buy off the shelf in a store, it got there either by plane, train or automobile, and so those higher costs in time will filter through even to nonpetroleum or energy-related items. >> reporter: the federal reserve is meeting march 16th, which means we could see key interest rates go up. mona. >> thank you. now to the courtroom drama

involving jussie smollett. a judge sentenced the actor to 150 days in jail after he was found guilty of staging a hate crime against himself. and after learning his punishment, the actor once again proclaimed his innocence in a dramatic outburst. here's abc's andrea fujii. >> reporter: this morning, actor jussie smollett is in an illinois jail cell sentenced to 150 days behind bars after being found guilty of lying to authorities. but in a bizarre outburst after receiving his sentence, smollett continued to claim his innocence suggesting he could be killed in jail. >> i'm not suicidal. >> okay. >> i am not suicidal. i am innocent, and i am not suicidal. >> reporter: the 39-year-old was a rising star on the tv show "empire" when in 2019 he claimed two men attacked him as walking back to his chicago home. he said they yelled racial and homophobic slurs and put a noose around his neck. but authorities questioned his story when smollett refused to

fully cooperate. the prosecution arguing it was all a hoax, and smollett hired these two brothers, extras on "empire," to carry out the attack all while smollett denied the accusations. >> i would not be my mother's son if i was capable of one drop of what i have been accused of. >> reporter: after his sentencing thursday, smollett's family continuing to support him while lashing out at the judge. >> he shamed my brother. he spoke about his arrogance. he doesn't know the struggles my brother is encountering. he doesn't know anything that he's dealing with. he doesn't know anything that he's dealing with. he spent all that time shaming him. >> my brother does not deserve this. i watched my brother go from being a complete victim, which he still is. he was attacked. >> reporter: and as smollett headed to jail with fists raised he continued to make his case. >> i am not suicidal. i am not suicidal, and i'm innocent. i could have said that i was guilty a long time ago.

>> reporter: smollett was also sentenced to 30 months of felony probation and ordered to pay back more than $120,000 for police overtime while working his case. andrew, mona. >> andrea, thank you. a house in lubbock, texas, exploded in flames and forced the evacuation of 35 nearby homes. amazingly no one was injured. emergency officials say a gas leak in the home caused that blast. and time now for a look at your friday morning weather. it's been snowing in the kansas city area all night. the snowplows hard at work in topeka. the system is moving east today bringing up to 7 inches of snow to the ohio valley and eastern great lakes. to the south severe conditions from alabama to the carolinas today. those storms will bring new snow to new england by saturday. checking the high temperatures, very cold in the northern plains and mild in the northeast ahead of that storm.

50s in the northwest. 85 in miami. coming up, remembering a beloved actor from "sesame street." also ahead, the lockout in major league baseball is over. now the big change coming to uniforms and helmets. plus, a high-end theft caught on camera. 14 luxury vehicles stolen right from a dealership. how investigators say they pulled it off.

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♪ >> the actor who played luis the handyman on "sesame street" for more than 40 years has died. emilio delgado had been suffering from blood cancer, but

despite that, his family said he worked as recently as this past january. delgado was 81 years old. let's get now to baseball. players will head to spring training in florida and arizona today, after the league and the players agreed to end their 99-day lockout. play ball. major league baseball is back. >> major league baseball's back, and we're going play 162 games. >> commissioner rob manfred announcing the league's owners unanimously approved a five-year labor contract, ending the mlb lockout and salvaging a full 162-game season. >> i do want to start by apologizing to our fans. i know that the last few months have been difficult. there was a lot of uncertainty. >> reporter: opening day set for april 7th with free agency opening last night, and spring training camps opening today. the lockout comes to an abrupt end after nearly 100 days of heated negotiations with some wondering if a compromise would ever come. >> there was acrimony between

the sides. it had gotten ugly enough to the point where players talked about possibly missing the entire season. >> reporter: and the new deal comes with some big changes. the play-offs will expand from 10 to 12 teams. the national league will now use designated hitters. and there is now a limit on the number of times players can be optioned to the minor leagues. the agreement will increase pay for young players and better incentivize teams to compete. it's not just the players back in business. for tyrone robinson who owns a bar across from yankee stadium, relief. >> i literally cried. very good day. jumping for joy. i'm excited to welcome the fans back. i'm excited to have my doors open. >> i'll be one of those fans back. the new agreement allows for advertising to appear on jerseys and batting helmets. that's a very first for major league baseball. coming up, the lawmakers voting on whether to secede from the u.s. >> and the dramatic crash caught on camera after police say a man stole a yacht. ever wonder what everyone's doing on their phones?

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of defense. i want to get to new images that show that long russi convoy is broken up with vehicles fanning out. what do you make of that? >> so we understand somewhat perplexing the entirety of this with this type of operation and this convoy that's been essentially next to one another the entire time. any military formation should be much more dispersed. my is assumption is they decided finally this is not the way to conduct and tried to disperse to make them less of a target to the ukrainian military. >> there are new estimates for when russia could encircle kyiv, a week to ten days. what do you think of that time line? and if they enter kyiv, what would that battle look like? >> i think it's going to take longer, quite frankly, and i'm not sure they have enough troops but perhaps their intent is to overcome that with the use of indiscriminate fire

against the civilian population in trying to level the city. this will likely be long and brutal. >> and senior officials say the u.s. has seen indications of another russia so-called false flag operation, in this case making claims of biochemical weapons and their development in ukraine as sort of a protect then use those same weapons. what are your thoughts here? >> the russians have a really odd way of telegraphing of what they'll do. they accuse of you doing it first so every time the russians accuse us of something that we quite frankly would never do, that's when we start getting concerned they'll do it. they've proven a willingness to do this so there is a history and obviously in this engagement a willingness to attack and kill civilians indiscriminately. >> our thanks there to mick mulroy. police near chicago are looking for thieves who broke into a dealership and drove off with 14 vehicles worth $1 million in total. they stole porsches,

mercedeses and audis, some of the stolen cars have tracking devices. so far no sign of them. this out of newport beach. police say a man stole a 65-foot yacht that he apparently didn't know how to pilot. he ricocheted off several boats. deputies arrested the man. two people were hurt. and coming up, the sweet treat that mixes ice cream with mac and cheese. also ahead, the emotional moment on the basketball court for a steph curry super fan. migraine attacks? qulipta™ can help prevent migraine attacks. it can't prevent triggers, like stress or changes in weather. you can't prevent what's going on outside, that's why qulipta™ helps what's going on inside. qulipta™ is a pill. gets right to work to prevent migraine attacks and keeps them away over time. qulipta™ blocks cgrp a protein believed to be a cause of migraine attacks. qulipta is a preventive treatment for episodic migraine. most common side effects are nausea, constipation, and tiredness. learn how abbvie can help you save on qulipta. i recommend nature made vitamins,

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323-313. >> it's believed to have been the first legislative succession vote in the u.s. since before the civil war. next, steph curry's biggest fan. >> on monday, 10-year-old pj was crying in denver because curry wasn't playing against the nuggets. >> curry and the warriors found out, so they got pj front row seats last night because they were playing in denver again. curry even said hello in person, once again bringing her to tears. >> love this. to a rescue operation for the birds. an animal control in new jersey rushed into the woods to save an injured parrot after it was spotted by a concerned citizen. the officer was ready with a cage and the net, only to realize the parrot wasn't breathing. but it wasn't dead. it just wasn't real. it was actually ceramic. >> i feel ike i would have been fooled too. >> me too. finally, the return of a sweet and salty treat. >> after selling out in less

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>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. reggie: now at

shaken after a caltrain crash that injured more than a dozen people. we are live where more federal investigators will be arriving. kumasi: a local family reunited with relatives who escaped kyiv. the emotional moments as they welcomed them. reggie: the cost of gas reaching a record high, arguing over what is to print -- what is to blame. kumasi: one of the falcons fly the coop yet again. this is where we ask is anne okay? is she ok? reggie: i think it is anne that is ok. i think the rest of us are not. kumasi: she might be on something. it is march 11. reggie: what is the weather going to be like? drew: we did a lot better than yesterday, warming up with less wind. a frost advisory in effect, so we h