he calls them peace keepers. this is nonsense we know what they really are >> breaking overnight a late night security session on the heels of russia cognizing two break away regions opening the flood feats on new russian soldiers entering the region we are live in that region >> our keir simmons reports from moskow unt how this is all playing out among russian propaganda media americans getting pinched at

the pump, paying the highest gas prices in almost a decade with no end in sight. we'll introduce you to a civil rights trailblazer and saying good-bye to the history animated series beloved by millions. "arthur" is saying farewell after 25 years a busy tuesday ahead "early today" starts right now good morning on this tuesday a lot to get to starting with moskow appearing to move closer to a war in the west has spent weeks now trying to prevent. tensions are sky high as putin orders troops into a pro-russian ozseparatist region in eastern ukraine. now putin is sending in forces that he calls peace keepers. nbc's matt bradley is live in ukraine, and what's the significance of these latest moves by russa >> reporter: yeah, i mean, these latest moves are shocking to the

world and setoff a flurry of phone calls amongst european leaders including president biden. what they are not is particularly surprising. that's because washington, london, have been telegraphicing this for weeks and weeks now saying over and over again that putin was planning on invading ukraine. those warnings reached a fever pitch in just the last couple of days but that method of dispersing intelligence in a scatter shot almost throw it against the wall kind of method didn't actually work in terms of dissuading vladimir putin from doing what he always seemed planning on building we saw that really chilling bizarre meeting of his national security yesterday when all his top lieutenants came one after another and essentially affirmed to vladimir putin in a sort of chilling but hesitating way he should go ahead and invade ukraine. and we heard that speech, and that was the really interesting thing. that speech that didn't focus on a lot 06 the grievances vladimir

putin has had over the last couple of years. he didn't spend a lot of time talking about nato enlargement, eastern ukraine and the donbas he did discuss this throwback to history in a rambling and unfocused way discussing the nature of the ukrainian state and the folly that went into its founding back in the soviet union. that is what he was focused on it's almost deranged in its focus. a lot of ukrainians have been saying that. instead of just discussing the donbas region, instead of just discussing recent security events, he was discussing how kyiv and the rest of ukraine should be part of russia, which is very threatening here for this country that's been at war for eight years against separatists in the east. it really does make it sound as though vladimir putin intends to invade all the way to the

capital and take this entire country, and that will require probably a shocking amount of violence guys >> a lot to come through with putin's speeches >> soon after that aggressive move by russia president biden signed a new executive order imposing limited -- on those two separatists regions. it is likely one of many economic punishments russia will see in the coming hours. brie, what are we seeing from the u.s. and its allies? >> reporter: good morning, cori. an emergency meeting of the united nations was held overnight where members strongly condemned russia's escalation of this conflict, but russia pushed back and again accused the west of creating a panic and cramming weapons into the region. the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., linden thomas greenfield called russia's claimites sending peace keepers into ukraine nonsense and shared this after the meeting ended.

>> just now my russian counterpart made assertions without evidence that demonstrate their efforts to create a pretext for conflict, and it is alarming it's revealing and it's shameful every u.n. member state has a stake in what comes next >> reporter: the ambassador also said that the united states would impose new sanctions on russia today, an announcement from the u.k. about significant sanctions is also expected this morning. overnight secretary of state antony blinken spoke with ukraine's foreign minister a spokesperson says blinken reaffirms support for ukraine and discussed the measures the united states is taking. the secretary also announced that he looks forward to meeting with the ukrainian foreign minister in person today here in washington, d.c. cori, back to you. >> brie, thank you >> well, this conflict is playing out very differently inside russia with state media there providing a steady stream of propaganda and president putin making his case during

multiple lengthy appearances on national television. nbc's keir simmons is in moskow with more. >> reporter: with russian troops surrounding ukraine, president putin speaking without notes for almost an hour on national television uncompromising, capping a day he clearly choreographed. holding court as advisers on his security council dismissed u.s. allegations that russia will attack ukraine as war propaganda, urging him to recognize pro-russia break away regions as independent territory, which he did. the stage management even extending to a fireworks display minutes later. those break away regions inside ukraine are seen as a powder keg. located along the russian border over 3 million people live there. they speak russian, and hundreds of thousands already hold russian passports. russian state television airing

a tsunami of propaganda at times sounding like conflict has already begun. but on the streets of moskow russian people we spoke to still hoping to avoid war. do you think there'll be a war in ukraine >> i love russia i love ukraine peace of peace >> you want peace? >> yes >> i think it's not in the interest of russia and it's not in interest of usa >> and it's emerging now those treaties signed by president putin even include plans for russian military bases inside eastern ukraine. that's even as western officials say they believe some elements of the russian military and security services harbor very serious doubts about any potential invasion of ukraine. >> keir simmons, thank you for that report. just a day after the news broke britain's queen elizabeth 2 r&d contracted covid-19, england announced it will drop

all remaining restrictions but the decision doesn't come without some criticism from some health experts >> reporter: even as the queen is self-isolating with covid -- >> we have now past the peak >> reporter: -- prime minister boris johnson is pushing ahead starting thursday people in england no longer legally required to stay home if they test positive, and free mass testing, a hallmark of britain's covid response will be scaled back at the end of next month. johnson arguing england's high vaccination rate means it's safe to go ahead. >> let us learn to live with this virus and continue protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms >> reporter: people here eager to get past covid and back to their lives. but the queen's illness is a sharp reminder at the virus is still out there.

outside buckingham palace, mixed reaction to lifting restrictions >> for me personally it's a bit quick for me >> i think we should get back to normal >> reporter: the palace says the queen is experiencing mild cold-like symptoms but will continue light duties from windsor castle this week meanwhile heir to the throne prince charles recently recovered from his own bout of covid expected to continue appointments and the duchess expected to make a solo trip, the nation trying to look past a pandemic even as the queen faces the virus up close. >> thanks. well, an infant in washington has tested positive for measles, and back in 2019 that state was the epicenter of two measles outbreaks. health officials believe the baby was infected during a family trip to south asia. others may have been exposed a the sea tac airport and at the children's hospital february 20th

local health officials say the risk to the general public is low. a man is recovering this morning after he was bitten by a shark while fishing in the bahamas. the coast guard took over from there. they hoisted the 51-year-old aboard a helicopter and flew him to a miami hospital. back-to-back winter storms are threatening much of the country. 25 million are on alert from the west coast to the midwest as the first system brings more than a foot of snow to some areas more than 100 vehicles were involved in crashes, and oregon closing parts of the interstate. the crashes continued even as emergency responders were arriving on the scene. as that double dose of winter is moving across the country nbc meteorologist janessa grossman in for michelle this morning >> really active this morning. we're going to have a busy weather today. also tomorrow with another storm moving in. many alerts out there starting

first with your winter weather alerts you can see many of them from the west to the northern tier of the nation, the great lakes, also, 27 million americans under some ort of winter weather alert. we're looking at flooding rains as we go into today and into tomorrow, and also strong storms this morning that will continue into tonight. so 11 million at risk for sever per hour and also a few tornados are possible the bull's-eye would be little rock, memphis, nashville and jackson, mississippi storm radar showing we're seeing those storms this morning. in fact, we have a tornado watch until 5:00 central time. that's where you see that pink watch box there. we're seeing some lightening thrpg, hearing some thunder and hearing that heavy rain falling where you see the darker colors. we could see some flash flooding as well. we widen out the view here and see that snow falling north of it so we have a cold side and warm

side frigid on the cold side with that snow falling extending into a great lakes. anywhere from 2 to 6 inches, could see higher amounts, even up t, and on the cold side of the storm so frigid 3 below 0 in bismarck. we're going to talk about that one-two punch. the storm today, temperature differences and then the storm tomorrow back to you. >> all right, a lot going on michelle, thanks for that. meanwhile, up next the father accused of ordering his 4-year-old to shoot at police. and columbia's roe v. wade the latin-american country moves to decriminalize abortion. swiffer.

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4-year-old boy fired a gun at cops outside a mcdonald's restaurant in utah the greater salt lake police believe it was the boy's father who told him to shoot. officers were responding to a call about an armed man at a mcconlds drive-thru. before surrendering the man apparently gave the gun to his son. as an officer tried to seize the firearm it went off, but the officer only thankfully suffered a minor burn according to the salt lake tribune. in columbia abortion is now legal. hundreds of women cheering in the streets after that decision was announced. the ruling decriminalized abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy it's a landmark decision especially considering the country's conservative history a majority of the population there identify as roman catholic the defense has rested in the federal trial of three fired minneapolis cops who were at the

scene of george floyd's fatal arrest prosecutors say the three violated george floyd's fatal rights when they failed to stop their colleague, derek chauvin, who was kneeling on floyd's neck during the arrest. and the jury heard from one defendant swear he could only see floyd breathe. still to come this morning russia and ukraine tensions send shock waves down wall street nbc's karen cho is mitinonorg markets for us pbs says good-bye to the children's classic "arthur" after 25 seasons simply shake and spray to unlock the breakthrough power of touch-activated scent technology. that lasts, even hours later! that's because febreze touch stores scent in your fabrics so you get bursts of freshness with every touch. your whole world will come alive. welcome home to fresh with febreze touch.

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♪ i'm going to be singing that all day. after 25 seasons the iconic children's show "arthur" aired its final episodes monday.

the show which first aired in 1996 became the longest children's running animated series in history and was known for tackling topics like bullying, inclusion and kindness for its young audience anyone feeling nostalgic can watch on pbs kids. let's turn to wall street where am vestors are walking on egg shells over russian fueled unrest good morning, karen. >> cori, good morning. we are bracing for reaction on wall street. the market has been shut since friday for president's day we've been on a roller coaster ride for futures since then. monday hopes a diplomatic solution brokered saw futures push higher, but since then the latest aggression by russia has codsed those futures to plunge we road more than 500 points on

the dow jones futures. morning session we have trimmed some of that selling off about 300 points roughly worth noting the european markets opened a move toward the lows but quickly started to recapture some of that territory so bouncing off the lows worth noting, too, invelsers have pin increasingly concerned about geopolitics, so do expect a bit of selling today the flip side of this, though, is that the oil price, we've seen that trade up to $99 a barrel this morning on brent, just a whisker off the $100 mark this is fresh seven-year high on the price. wti also marking high at # $6. gold has been climbing shows some appeal in recent sessions but just morning session has drift off a little bit, and this remains concerns about the interest rate story. this is nonyield, don't forget, so if we continue to see rate hikes priced nou the united

states that's a question wheat and corn have both escalated self-commodities in the picture again on concerns around russia, ukraine this could impact the inflation story there. >> first the pandemic impacting inflation and now this karen, we appreciate the update. up next, will we see another drop in temperatures spoiler alert, yes we will michelle grossman is timing it out for us and still ahead on "early today. we've got more to tell you how a civil gh iritscon used the power of persuasion to create change you do not want to miss it let's kick ken's ache and burn into gear! over the counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. those drops will probably pass right by me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. what's that?

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king c. gillette ♪ well, if you're a fan of the grammy winning musician the weekend's latest album dawn fm, well, amazon prime has a treat for you. this saturday the streaming platform will premier an immersive music special called the weekend and the dawn fm experience it'll also stream as an eight track live ep. that available exclusively on prime this black history month we are celebrating a civil rights

trailblazer who broke barriers and inspired generations of activists. blayne alexander caught up with her. >> this is like a museum >> and i treat it like that, too. >> reporter: you would be hard-pressed to find a room big enough to tell the story of zernona clayton, a close confidant of dr. king. she was there as he drafted his famous march on washington speech >> i loved that man because he was ordinary as famous as he was. >> reporter: she broke barriers as a trailblazing journalist, the first black person in the south to have her own prime time show but perhaps her greatest power, persuasion like when she wrote to president johnson in the '60s asking for his help to allow black doctors to practice in georgia's segregated hospitals >> he didn't answer, and i said, you know, what let's go to washington not getting any response makes you mad. >> reporter: they met and soon

after hospitals nationwide began to desegregate what do you think you said to him that convinced him to get involved >> guts. here's a gutsy woman and i had a real story to tell and i had my facts. >> reporter:ilater clayton used that same persuasive power to change a heart of hate, a local dragnet of the ku klux klan. at first she says he would barely shake her head. i said you know what, you do you feel you're standing there with all this bigotry in your heart and calling yourself a christian. >> reporter: she kept talking to him almost daily within a few months he publicly denounced the klan she says what made a difference then is something we could all use now. >> i kind of wish that i could give everybody a little shot of patience and add a little love with that.

we could make everybody whole again. >> reporter: a recipe of change that's with stood the test of time >> and is a great recipe thank you for starting your morning with "early today. >> go out there and have a great tuesday.

sanctions on russia. the move by russia president vladimir putin that's escalating tensions with ukraine. also, how other world leaders are responding this morning. >> rain and snow. a live look outside at storm ranger in the bay area, seeing light showers overnight ase fre. meteorologist kari hall is tracking it all. >> and hank the tank back at it. the big bear strikes again. a closer look at the damages he's now being blamed for. this is "today in the bay."