right now this morning." breaking news. a high stakes high level visit to the war zone. the u.s. secretary of state and defense secretary with a major announcement this morning after meeting with ukrainan president zelenskyy. what the u.s. is now doing to help the fight against putin and defense secretary austin answering the question, can ukraine win this war? his answer this morning. >> church and state showdown at the supreme court today involving a high school football coach who was fired for praying with his players on the field. his case and why some clergy members from his own city are opposing him. twitter takeover. why billionaire elon musk could be one step closer to taking

over the social media giant. >> a daring stun on live tv. two cowses trying to swap planes mid air. how it ended. plus an unusual job opening at the bottom. world. and later, a shortage of something important and expensive at the white house. from abc news in new york, this is "america this morning." >> good monday morning. a high level visit to the war zone. >> the u.s. secretary of state and u.s. defense secretary just spoke after the visit to ukraine. they made a sires of announcements after meeting with president zelenskyy for three hours. they're promising more aid in the fight against the russians in addition to the $1.3 billion president biden announced last week. >> abc is here now with the very latest. faith, good morning. >> good morning. it was a highly secretive meeting by the secretaries.

they provided new security guarantees for ukraine and announced more military aid. this morning a war time visit by secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin traveling to keep sunday to meet president zelenskyy. the highest ranking delegation to visit the country since the russian invasion. >> i would say without putting words in his mouth, president zelenskyy expressed deep appreciation for president biden's leadership and for the incredible generosity and support of the american people. >> reporter: the secretaries invorming zelenskyy the new military aid is heading to the region. an additional 713 million. 322 million is earmarked for ukraine. the remainder will be split among nato members and other nations that have provided military supplies to ukraine. meanwhile weapons from a separate $800 million package are now arriving on the battlefield, including 72 long range military support vehicles.

144,000 artillery rounds and tactical drones. >> the first step in winning is believing you can win. so they believe we can win. we believe they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support. >> reporter: before his meeting with blinken and austin, zelenskyy said leaders who plan to visit his country should not come empty handed adding, he's not expecting some kind offer cakes. we are expecting specific things and specific weapons. it comes as russia intensifies attacks in the south and east after failing to take kyiv. new video circulating online shows a russian missile slamming into a residential building if odesa, killing eight people, including a baby. experts say the new military aid from the u.s. can make a difference as russia tries to gain control over ukraine's eastern industrial heartland. >> this begins to close the quantitative gap between the ukrainians and the russians. some estimates are now the

ukrainians have as many tanks on the battlefield as the russians. >> reporter: if not more, right? >> right. >> reporter: the u.s. announced it will begin returning diplomats to ukraine and a career diplomat will be serving as ambassador to ukraine. as for why president biden did not make the trim to ukraine, a state department official blamed the security challenges of a presidential visit. mona? >> all right. faith aubey, thank you. emmanuel macron has won the election in france. she's known for anti-nato and anti-immigration policies. macron won 59% to 41%. but analysts say the election results show the far right is now main stream in france. turning to the pandemic, china is installing what is being described as covid cages around some buildings and neighborhoods in shanghai. the barriers are part of china's

increasingly strict zero covid policy. shanghai has been locked down for weeks amid china's worst covid outbreak so far. meanwhile in beijing, people in some areas are required to get tested three times per week. here in the u.s., hospitalizations nationwide are up nearly 11% in reason days, and most states are reporting an uptick in new cases. on college campuses, they are seeing cases spike. some are now imposing new precautions including mask mandates. a high school football coach is in the national spotlight this morning. taking his legal fight all the way to the supreme court. at issue, whether praying with his players on the field after games was unconstitutional. today the supreme court is set to hear the case of joseph kennedy, a former stand football coach and a high school in bremerton, washington, whose legal battle focuses on the boundaries of the separation of church and state. he was fired after refusing to stop praying on the field with

students after games. initially his postgame prayer at the 50 yard line was a quiet, solo moment. over time, the private act became larger. often with dozens of students involved. in 2015, the school district told kennedy he had gone too far. >> they just said, if anybody can see you anywhere here, it was over. >> reporter: kennedy sued, claiming the school violated his first amendment rights in disciplining him for his private religious expression. >> nobody should have to be fired or worried about their job if they show any signs of faithful. >> reporter: but some say the prayer was far from private. >> if he goes to the 50 yard line, he has a message he wants to deliver. and so the players would follow him. the harm is to those who are the minority of the students. the minority faiths, the students of no faithful that's where the harm comes. that they are being pressured into doing something they don't fundamentally agree with. >> reporter: some local clergy members are traveling to washington for today's arguments

at the court. they say they're not supporting kennedy's case. >> as a person of faith and as a clergy leader in the town of bremerton, i would like to make it known that i support the semirags of church and state. >> reporter: after hearing arguments today, court is expected this summer. new york city is mourning the loss of a firefighters killed in the line of duty. officials say 31-year-old timothy cleenl died in a house fire in brooklyn after a floor collapse. klein was on the job for six years and came from a family of firefighters. one other person died in that fire. >> fire crews are battling more than a dozen large wildfires from texas to arizona. most of them in new mexico where two separate fires have each burned more than 80 square miles. hundreds of buildings have been lost. meanwhile the fire in nebraska is blamed for the death of a retired fire chief. officials in neighboring colorado say the current conditions are right for catastrophic wildfires. >> i think we should be concerned. our drought conditions are such that it is a high fire danger.

they have gotten progressively bigger and worse and more just in the laugh several years. >> wildfires have burned nearly 1 million acres in the u.s. already this year. that's nearly twice as many as last year at this time. new details in the search for a national guardsman in texas since he tried to rescue two migrants from the rio grande. he's been identified as bishop evans. he was last seen friday near the river and he is believed to have drowned. he was apparently trying to rescue two migrants thought to be drowning near the river. elon musk is reportedly close to a deal to buy twitter. the "wall street journal" says an agreement could come as early as this week after the two sides met yesterday. twitter was expected to reject a $43 billion offer from musk. but the journal says the turn-around came after musk met privately with several shareholders. time for a look at your monday weather.

crews have been working to clear the snow after yet another april blizzard hit north dakota. strong winds brought down power lines, leaving thousands in the dark. on the radar this morning, a storm front brings thunderstorms and rain from the southeast to the eastern great lakes today. there's also light rain and mountain snow in the pacific northwest. checking today's high temperatures, 50s in seattle and portland. 80 across the southeast and only in the 30s in the upper midwest today. 84 in new orleans. coming up, why youth sports leagues are having trouble finding referees. >> but first, a space crew unlike any other in history heads home from the space station. the impact their trip could have on all of us. and time is running out for a texas mother on death row for killing her 2-year-old daughter. the possible new evidence in the case.

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children in ukraine urgently need our help. conflict is putting millions of children and their families in immediate danger. unicef is working around the clock to keep children safe, and we'll keep doing that as long as they need us. but we need your help to ramp up our effort. unicef is there for the children of ukraine, providing clean water, emergency supplies, and a safe place to rest and play. learn more at unicefusa.org/ukrainehelp and help show families in ukraine they are not alone.

the second space voyage to include tourists returns to earth later today. the ax 1 mission is set to land off the coast of florida. they left the international space station yesterday after a long weather delay. it is the first all private mission to the space station. the company behind the trip hopes it will be the first of many flights for people who can afford a visit to space. a texas mother is set to be executed this week for the murder of her daughter. protesters are trying to get her a new trial. they say the evidence shows her daughter died after an accidental fall. >> reprter: this morning, new calls to halt the execution of a texas mother of 14. at rallies across the country this weekend, her family members and supporters pleading for

justice. >> there's a lot of wrong that happened in the case. the clemmency, being able to stop this. they should stop everything. it would help tremendously. >> reporter: this wednesday, 53-year-old melissa lucio is set to become the first latina to be executed in texas history after being convicted of killing her 2-year-old daughter mariah in 2007. lucio claims she accidentally fell down the stairs. now a forensic expert in the clemency petition is boosting her case, claiming mariah's bruising was consistent with head trauma after an accidental fall. the state board of pardons and paroles is expected to release its report on the case today. politicians from both sides of the aisle are speaking out, claiming lucio didn't get a fair trial, saying her initial defense was inadequate. >> we're not saying that miss lucio was innocent, that she's

guilty. we're saying for the board to provide her some clemency. >> reporter: more than 300,000 people including reality star kim kardashian have now signed petitions claiming lucio is not a killer. asking the governor to step in. a reason documentary on hulu raised awareness of the case. >> the interrogation continued for maybe six, seven hours. until 3:00 in the morning. >> this is your chance to set it straight. right now it looks like you're a cold-blooded killer. >> reporter: her family says lucio's faith will get her through whatever happens. >> she's hopeful. she prays all the time. whatever happens, she has put in it god's hands. >> reporter: the texas governor says he'll look at the texas board's report that will be released today and take whatever action he thinks is appropriate. >> thank you. authorities in new hampshire are searching for clues in the murder of a couple who vanished

while out for a hike. steven and wendy reid left their home in concord last monday. a report of them missing wednesday. they were found shot to death in a wooded area near a hiking trail thursday. police have not named any suspects and no word on a potential motive. coming up interesting big tal on the court during the nba playoffs. first, two cousins tried to swam planes in mid air but look ma, no cavities!

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>> it's business time, i guess. >> reporter: forget jaw dropping. this stunt is plane dropping. >> let's do this. let me know when you're ready. >> oh, yeah. >> here we go. coming down. in 3, 2, 1. >> reporter: two pilots, cousins luke aikins and andy farrington doing a death defying stunt years in the making. called plane swap. changing planes mid free fall. within moments of both men jumping out of their planes, disaster. >> out of control! the blue plane is out of control! >> reporter: both propellor planes situated with a brake to slow the free fall from 12,000 feet in the air. but that brake apparently causing the blue plane to overrotate. sending it into a spiral. luke safely making it into the silver plane. but what about andy?

>> i'm good. >> reporter: with no plane, andy parachuting to the arizona sand beneath him. luke checking on his cousin's safety throughout the terrifying ordeal. >> are you okay? >> reporter: several minutes away, luke landing in the silver plane and 12 minutes after they jumped. both men reuniting with their families. luke and andy back on the ground trying to figure out where they went wrong. >> it just went. instead of stopping. in 90-degree dive, it just went back. like an inverted flat spin. >> reporter: this showing that practice, even years of it, doesn't always make perfect. >> i thought i left andy a good plane. i'm trying to think of what else i could have done when i left. >> reporter: andy, visibly upset with the sun setting behind them. somehow still managing to keep a se sense of humor. >> i love parachutes.

i didn't want to use it today. >> in case you're wondering, no, we never got to see what the blue plane looked like at the end of the stunt. thankfully, andy made it out all right with just a brsed ego. no word on whether they'll try it again. we'll have to see how it turns out. >> maybe it was the gravity of the situation. thank you. let's turn to sports. the pelicans easily beat the suns last night, 118-103 to even out the series. earlier, the nuggets avoid ed regulation. a big tackle at the timberwolves game this weekend. security stopped this animal rights protester from storming in the third quarter. you see the latest protest against the team owner. >>. coming up, a shortage something important and expensive at the white house. >> also ahead, a very unusual job opening at the bottom. who do you think you are?

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time to check the pulse. we begin with the white house run go low on its fancy stem ware. they are facing a crystal shortage. the last time crystal was bought was during the nixon administration. some first ladies reportedly had to rent crystal for special occasions. >> the first lady jill biden decides to order it, it could take a while. supply issues have made it hard to come by. not renting crystal. that's the bad behavior for referees. >> sports leagues are having a hard time finding people to referee games. it is the disrespect from parent

and coaches. 87% have suffered verbal abuse and 47% have felt unsafe because of the behavior of people in the crowd. all right. next, the latest on a cool job offer. you'll have to head south. so far south you might be north. >> yes. and we're not talking about louisiana. today is the application deadline for a position as a so-called penguin post office in anti-arctica. it runs from november to march when the temperatures are in the mid 30s. but there's no running water, toilets that flush or cell service. >> just the essentials. you may have to count penguins. and tonight's life changing powerball jackpot. it will be wore at least 421 million. no one has won the top prize since valentine's day. a one-time payout would still be a quarter billion dollars. and finally, things went bananas in new orleans. >> an alligator stopped play at

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jobina: cobit cases on the rise. -- covid cases on the rise. >> a disappointing loss but fans do not seem concerned. jobina: good morning, everybody. it is april. look at this. hey, ladies.

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