u.s. officials estimate that russia's military soldiers are in disarray with thousands of them killed and large advances stalled. this as ukrainian civilian targets continue to be bombarded and the humanitarian conditions getting worse by the day a game changer a phone call from president biden to china's president alter the direction of russia's war in ukraine? concern rising this morning around the globe due to a surge of covid cases in certain areas. it's giving scientists pause as new infections are detected.

and after almost two years american airlines is resuming sales of alcohol aboard its flight and the nc men'ssketball to a start with a whole bunch of bracket busting games, and we're just getting started it is friday "early today" starts right now good morning and thanks for waking with us >> a lot going on this morning we begin with breaking news out of lviv, ukraine the city's mayor there saying russian missiles struck an aircraft maintenance plant right now there are no known casualties, but the concern is growing. u.s. officials have said russia's military facing fierce resistance from ukrainians and many troops as they are in disarray this isn't stopping, though, the invading forces from launching vicious attacks on ukrainian civilians themselves in the capital more apartments have been hit and more food storage facilities are also

being targeted our richard engel was in kyiv where one location was bombed. >> reporter: this was one of the biggest food storage facilities in the entire country. 50,000 tons of food were here, all burned, and it's impossible this was an accident because it was bombed twice, and then another food storage facility just about a mile from here was also attacked. >> and an american was among the civilians killed, according to his sister's facebook post jim hill of idaho was waiting ins k. now to molly hunter who's live in lviv. what is the latest on the plant struck there >> reporter: this is causing a lot of -- there are a lot fewer people actually out here we are in the city center. we've been overlooking the city

park for the last several weeks and families and people were walking then morning there's a lot fewer people out here as nervousness grows. we heard an air-raid siren around 6:28 and 6:25 the mayor says several missiles hit the aircraft repair plant. it says active work at the plant was stopped in advance so there were no casualties now and rescuers and utilities are now working on the site. it was on the outskirts of lviv. it was not 20 miles away on the military training facility hit last week. it's very much close to the city it's thought to be a safe haven. >> tell us what's happg in upol right now where humanian aid continues to be blocked. the sts of suffering you've been reporting are really hard to hear. how is the evacuation looking there right now? >> reporter: yeah, that's right.

we've been here about 2 1/2 weeks in this city and we met very many refugeeso evacuees frommariupol until two days ago. and the humanitarian corridors have failed every single day so the way people are getting out was private cars there was a convoy of 4,000 cars that decided to group for safety and get out. there are nine humanitarian corridors that have been agreed at this hour again, it's 10:00 a.m. local time including out of mariupol there are buses waiting to take people out if those buses are allowed in there's also a lot of humanitarian aid waiting just on the outskirts that's not been able to reach people >> it's sad to hear it's waiting there for them and they're not able to access it. we're seeing the fas

growing refugecrisisced war ii millions of people are still scling to geout of untry as putin continues t relentless attack.nbc's jay grna border crossing in poland. are there still large numbers trying to cross right there? >> reporter: it is popular the busiest border crossing and it is expanding right now, an expansion that sounds like will be needed. i can tell you, though, the bombing this morning was about 50 miles from where we stand right now the road to get into this area is getting much more difficult. kharkiv, mariupol, kyiv. ukraine is a country under constant attack. russian missiles gutting cities, towns, villages. food, water scarce if available at all

>> people are scared they lost homes. they lost everything they had. they lost relatives. they became refugees >> reporter: refugees struggling to escape and for those who do make it to the border the effects of the journey and harsh evidence of war is more evident than ever before >> the arefugees we've been coming across more vulnerable and more traumatic state than the ones who came maybe in the first days and first week. >> reporter: it's been more than three weeks now. the conflict seemingly growing more and more intense and deadly every day as the way out gets more difficult and more critical for those caught in the cross fire yeah, and look, it's getting more difficult once they cross the border as well because here in poland with the majority of the refugees arriving here, there are just fewer places tosy steven>> jay givin an at the border. the situation thanyou.

ondar callin vladin aar criminal, ident agaid not ld back when describing th ian leader>> a murderous dictat thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of ukraine. >> those harsh words come as concern grows that russia could turn to china for a lifeline to continue its assaulton ukraine nbc's brie jackson joins us live from washington, d.c. president biden is expected to have a tough call today with china's president. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. today's call comes after a tense seven hour talk between u.s. officials now secretary of state blinken is concerned china is considering directly assisting russia with military equipment >> we believe china in particular has a responsibility

to yoouse the influence of president putin and defend the rules and principles it professes to support instead it appears china is moving in the opposite direction, by refusing to condemn this aggression while seeking to portray itself as a neutral arbiter. and we're concerned they're considering directly assisting russia with military equipment to use in beijing. >> reporter: and beijing and the kremlin have denied reports they've asked for military equipment or military aid. the chinese have suggested they could play a mediating role, possibly a cease-fire. they've avoided condemning russia or even using the word invasion chine haw has become increasingly reliant on russian energy and food imports. secretary blinken said president biden will make it clear to the chinese president that today the u.s. will not hesitate to impose costs if china does in fact support russia's aggression.

>> hopefully we get a bit more clarity on china's intensions today after that call then tragic details this morning about that deadly crash in texas. that killed nine people including mexico college golfers. federal agents have revealed a 13-year-old was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that collided with that van. stigators aleported that the up had spaer wheel in place of its left front ti, anda failedsing therucko swerve in front of the man six of the studenttes were killed in the crash along with a coach and the 13-year-old pickup driver and 38-year-oldnger were also killed two injustudents are rering and remain in the hospital the fbi is shining light again on the case of jelani day. reported missing in august the 25-year-old's car was found a day later.

his body later found in the illinois river his case made national headlines following coverage of gabby petito investigators say it's unknown how his car ended up in the river while his family suspects foul play. the biden administration is showing support for florida's lgbtq students in the way of the state's controversial so-called don't say gay bill education secretary miguel car dona and assistant secretary of health and human services, dr. rachel levine, met with students and families to talk about that legislation. dr. levine was the first openly confirmed lgbtq official proponents of the meggers dismiss those concerns and say the bill is needed to give parents more discretion over what their kids learn at school. >> it is time now for your

friday weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> good morning. it hasn't been a fun night sleeping in indiana and mississippi. hundreds of lightening and thunder strikes. this line of storms continues to push through the east this morning. just torrential rain from jackson, mississippi a tornado watch going through 7:00 a.m. central time we watch these storms pushing to the south all the way from nashville, southward through all of alabama has a chance of severe storms. if we get any tornados that's likely where they could occur and this line of storms. first half of your saturday strong thunderstorms wit way

through washington, d.c. into new york city. the cold side of the storm, though, a chilly, cold rain in iowa yeah, we didn't have a lot of snow with this storm, thankfully, and no complaints. >> i couldn't agree with you more in fact bill, thank you. well, "snl" start pete davidson will have to remain grounded on planet earth for now. we'll explain because the comedian was set to blast off next week. the company announced it was pushing back that flight and scrapped davidson from the flight crew altogether no details were released about davidson's departure from that flight >> straight ahead wave got your must see save of the day caught on camera. and the never disappointing and bracket pain inducing upsets and biggest moments from the first full day of men's ncaa hoops we're back in a moment

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guarded by riley, into the hoop how about it >> the bruins had their claws full trying to quickly come back in the second half against the zips ucla pulled ahead and a last chance for akron, stuffed at the win. and on the hardwood it was a day of major upsets and close games in the tournament. two seed kentucky had the lead over st. peters late, but doug eter put the peacock on his back coming off the bench, forced overtime and came up clutch in the extra period finished with 23 points. and 85-79. >> another nail biting match up. vermont played arkansas close from wire to wire. led with less than ten minutes remaining only for arkansas to storm ahead late the razorbacks take it 75-71

shifting to women and a close matchup between florida state and missouri state the bears pounced out to a big lead in the third quarter and rolled out to victory. missouri state wins 61-50. >> and earlier in the night it was the lancers who pierced through to the round of 6-4 and would survive the late come back attempt by saint mary's to take it 74-70 >> the cheerleaders they're used to going up high, yes, get the cheerleader up get her up there this is how you do it. now, she's got it! oh, what a play. >> she got it. the indiana cheer squad banded together to retrieve that ball that was stuck their heroics weren't enough, though st. mary's won 82-53

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wall street continues to cheer the fed's decision to raise interest rates to fight inflation. the dow rose another 400 points while the s&p and nasdaq was both up more than 1% but the rally could come to an end today. futures arepointing to a sligh dip at the open. from wall street to where the rubber hits the road we're talking about high gas prices and the impact those inflated costs are having on uber and lyft drivers plus american airlines is setting a date to open in flight cocktail service again here with more on all that is cnbc's juliana tatel baum.

>> let's kick off with that story of uber and lyft my gas prices are impacting the economy, and uber and lyft drivers found it difficult to justify providing rides with the price of gas where it is so uber and lyft have both announced a fuel surcharge fees to try to help drivers mitigate the impact of higher fuel kaus so uber riders will now be charged a fee between 24 cents and 55 cents a trip. and lyft is going to be charging riders 55 cents per ride the surcharges will last at least two months and in the airline space this may affect you if you are going to be taking a ride on american airlines after april 18th. that's the date american airlines will resume alcohol flights.

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welcome back after a two. year pandemic induced hiatus st. patrick's day celebrations returned with a vengeance across the country. tens of thousands of people flocked to manhattan's fifth avenue as the world's largest parade returns in new york in england kate middleton and prince williams joined the irish guards as they attended their first st. patrick's celebration since the start of the pandemic. and celebrated in dublin, ireland, it was the city's first parade since 2019. >> the white house was forced to makelash minute change said to

theirs sell breaks after the irish prime minister tested positive for covid he then had to virtually attend. he also called for the u.s. and ireland to work together in battling covid-19. the ceremony was capped off with traditional irish music and you can see there some dancing and they call her the luckiest woman in western, wisconsin. she celebrated sain patrick's day by trying the set the guinness book of world record for most four leaf clovers >> reporter: hard to find but lucky to have. >> as soon as you see it you'll know >> reporter: she's been finding four leaf clovers since she was 10 >> and thought it was weird looking because it wasn't a three leaf clover and i plucked it and my friend was like that's a four leaf clover, you're so lucky. >> reporter: and today she continues to find them but it wasn't until covid hit that she found the extra time to

hone her skills. >> every day go out, go for walks, keep busy and active. >> reporter: it started small by trying to find one four leaf for ten consecutive days >> and then those ten went to 20 and 50 and 112 >> reporter: finding the rare clovers 112 days in a row in 2020 but it didn't stop there she knew she can press her luck. >> this is all the clovers i've found from march 22nd, 2021, to december 4th >> reporter: before she knew she'd spent 258 days plucking and documenting her finds every step of the way on social media. now she's applied to put her collections in the hands of guinness, guinness world records that is. >> i was always one of those kids who would hurry and get to the library to check out the newsest guinness book and the thought of my kids checking it and leaving it in there makes me

happy. >> reporter: and before you ask, yes she's irish but only 1% she says >> this is the 1%. >> wow only 1%. our thanks to phoebe murray for that story >> i did know how long it takes her to find each one good yeah, they left that detail i't.