the war in ukraine reaches the 40th day as russia is accused of genocide with horrific images emerging president zelenskyy addresses america in a videotaped message during the grammy awards >> we defend our freedom to live, to love on our land we are fighting russia, which brings horrible silence with its bombs the dead silence fill the silence with your music. fill it today to tell our story. tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on tv. support us in any way you can,

any, but not silence new reports that many ukrainian refugees who fled their country are now returning to ukraine more gun violence across america, from chicago to dallas and the worst in sacramento, where 18 were shot, leaving six dead. the woman in south carolina, the ncaa national champions after knocking off u-conn. grammys, a ton of buzz-worthy moments. could tiger woods return to competition at the masters a busy monday ahead. "early today" starts right now good morning i'm frances rivera. >> i'm steven romo we begin with the latest dark chapter in russia's war on ukraine. ukrainian forces have been able to liberate more towns surrounding the capital of kyiv, but instead of being met with celebrations, they're instead finding unspeakable carnage. a warning, the images coming up may be disturbing to viewers. >> nbc's molly hunter joins us live from lviv ukraine is now accusing russia

of genocide? >> reporter: frances, steven, good morning that's right, strong words from president zelenskyy, really horrific images. as we've been learning in recent days, russian troops have been pushed back, have had to retreat outside of the suburbs of kyiv, including in a commuter town about 25 minutes called bucha. as they retreat, as ukrainian forces have gone in, journalists have gone in, we have gotten horrific pictures. we have seen dead bodies on the streets. we have seen people with their hands tied lots of civilians who were shot and appeared to have been killed as they were fleeing president zelenskyy said last night hundreds of dead people, peaceful tortured and shot dead. dead bodies on the streets mines, even the bodies of those killed were mined, and the consequences of looting. human rights watch says these crimes need to be investigated as war crimes. the mayor of bucha has said at least 280 people were buried in a mass grave, but we have no

idea of the actual death toll. >> gut wrenching to see. russia having retreated from kyiv, the war is not over clearly. where are their forces focused now? >> reporter: frances, the war is definitely not over there. it's no end in sight we want to be really careful when we use the word retreat or withdraw experts really warn that russia may be using this moment as kind of a lull to go back, resupply, reorganize, and start with a second wave. we are seeing attacks continue in mariupol, that southeastern sea on the sea, which is continuing to get pummeled there is a humanitarian corridor that's been agreed on for today. we'll keep you posted if that works. the other thing over the weekend was in odesa, the city in the southwest on the black sea, the strategic port city, a couple of fuel depots were hit one of the more strategic, significant attacks we've seen in that city, which is where i was last week, frances >> russia's invasion of ukraine,

molly -- thanks for that update, we appreciate it. russia's invasion of ukraine has triggered the fastest-growing refugee crisis in europe since world war ii more than 4 million people have fled that country since the war started more than a month ago. but some of those who fled are now reversing course and going back into ukraine. nbc's dasha burns has more on the reasons why. >> reporter: with suitcases behind them and children in tow, the scene at the border crossing in poland feels familiar only these people aren't fleeing the war, they're returning to it "home, we want to go home," she tells me, "we want our homes, we want our soil. at the start of the war, the traffic on this path was one way. by early march, 200,000 people a day were fleeing ukraine saturday, it was just 37,000 as word of russia's military campaign moving east spreads,

more people are deciding it's time to go back home the direction i'm heading is toward poland, toward safety the people walking past me this way are heading back to ukraine. in fact, yesterday in the lviv region, more people returned than left. the ukrainian border guard says more than 30,000 returned saturday wives missing husbands parents missing children children, like 8-year-old veronica, missing mom. "i will hug my mom, i will say, mom, i have been missing you so much, i'm incomplete without you, and i don't want to be apart. veronica's brother olaf is 13. both their mom and dad are in the military "this is scary and tough, that you can be shot and the village can be bombed again, it's so, so scary, i miss them a lot, i miss my parents." that longing is why we found people waiting for trains and lining up at the border by car

tatiana is from kyiv >> my heart is ukraine, that's why we want to go home. >> reporter: are they worried for their safety of course, but their love of both country and family is calling them home. "right now the phone indicated a threat, but we are going anyway. tomorrow we might flee again, but for today we are going home." dasha burns, nbc knees, poland >> as mentioned, russia appears to be focusing power on the east of ukraine let's get the latest on how russia is repositioning its troops, richard lui, good morning. >> good morning, frances there are five major russian troop groupings. these white arrows here, they are how they are moving. but notice the western grouping i have here. they're advancing south with momentum here, going towards

d donesk and luhansk this would close off the ukrainian forces in this area here this is what military planners call a pincer movement, attacks from multiple sides and squishing them in, similar to the pincer hand tool that you have in your garage. cutting the ukrainian troops off from supplies that are coming here from the west the pincer movement would put them on a figurative island, stuck here all those ukrainian troops but the human cost is quite high for russia to accomplish this so far. when you look at the numbers, they are at 15,000, according to nato estimates that's as high as six times the number of u.s. troops lost in afghanistan over 20 years. ukrainian estimates are higher they're at 17,000. russian estimates, much lower at about 500. frances, it's that heavy toll that is making russia re-evaluate its strategy today >> okay, richard, thank you for the breakdown.

six people are dead, 12 wounded, after a mass shooting happened in sacramento, california people fleeing a barrage of gunfire that started around 2:00 in the morning local time. a stolen handgun has been found at the scene police are looking for multiple shooters in a case that has shocked that city. >> the scale of violence that just happened in our city is unprecedented during my 27 years here at the sacramento police department we are shocked and heartbroken by this tragedy, but we are also resolved as an agency to find those responsible and to secure justice for the victims and their families >> police say a large fight happened right before that shooting three of the dead are men and the other are women. president biden issued a statement mourning the victims and urging congress to act on gun reform, and also pass his budget proposal to fund the police and fund the crime

prevention and intervention strategies that can make our cities safer. >> a string of weekend shootings in two major cities has left at least two dead and others injured. one sunday evening in chicago at an apartment complex police say during a barricade situation, they shot and killed a gunman after he allegedly shot two people and fired at officers when they got there. no officers were shot and officials said they tried negotiations and de-escalation techniques with the gunman, but later ended up shooting the man. the victims were identified as 48-year-old woman, 78-year-old man, both listed in critical condition. saturday night, one person was killed and at least 11 hurt after a shooting happened at a concert in south dallas. police say it happened after someone fired a gun into the air, and another person fired gun into the crowd the investigation is ongoing frustrated travelers stranded at airports across the country after airlines canceled more than 3,300 flights. thousands more delayed

southwest airlines is the hardest hit, blaming bad weather, technical maintenance, and scheduling issues. >> it's the luck of the draw in a way. next week it could be american and dallas, or delta in atlanta. all it takes is one or two events airlines are getting better at recovering but they're not there yet. >> it may not be over. disruptions to air travel may persist until wednesday. south carolina and uconn, two of basketball's best, battled it out for the women's national title the huskies were no match for sc henderson led south carolina with 26 points in a dominant team performance >> it is not unfinished business any longer south carolina has captured its second national championship >> south carolina wins the championship 64-49 it is the school's second title, the first since 2017 henderson and coach dawn staley will be on the "today" show

coming up later today. the men's national title gets decided tonight after retiring duke coach mike krzyzewski looks for one more upset taking on kansas. let's check monday weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins good morning, bill. >> good monday, hope you had a wonderful weekend. weather was cooperating in most cases. we're watching a storm in the northeast that brought rain and snow yesterday all eyes on the middle of the country and the potential for more severe weather. early morning rain in missouri, also illinois, toward the chicago area it's to the south, it's going to be late-day severe weather outbreak possible. throughout the evening, maybe around 6:00 to 10:00 p.m., storms will erupt between abilene and watch talk falls, travel through dallas and shreveport overnight when everyone's sleeping, through louisiana, mississippi that's always dangerous, especially with isolated tornados the severe weather threat continues into tomorrow, even wednesday, throughout the south. so these are the same areas that have been hit the last couple of

weeks. we'l in the it's still snowing this morning in northern michigan so it's april, but still feels like winter in some areas. >> wow, yeah it does bill, thank you. one german man landed in hot water after the 60-year-old received up to 90 covid vaccines, all to sell authentic vaccine card german officials have not released the man's identity but say he's under investigation it's not clear how the number and variety of jabs have affected the man's health could tiger return to the masters? and the biggest grammy moments next

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new this morning, will he or won't he tiger woods said he's practicing at augusta national in georgia the golf legend added, it will be a game-time decision whether or not he plays in the masters tournament this week woods suffered serious leg injuries last year in a car crash. the five-times masters champion woods last played with his son charlie at the pnc championship in december. the masters tees off thursday. the 64th annual grammy awards were hosted by trevor noah, after being postponed and moved from los angeles in january due to the omicron variant. the music kicked off with a performance by 777 of "silk sonic. ♪ ♪ let's go ♪

>> the retro soul duo composed of bruno mars and anderson paak won big with all four awards they were nominated for, including record and song of the year for "leave the door open. >> jean batiste, nominated for 11 awards, won won the top prize for album of the year "we are. he took home four other grammys in the pre-telecast event earlier in the day olivia rodrigo performed her hit "driver's license" before being awarded best solo pop performance for the song she also won new artist and best pop vocal album. >> questlove took home a grammy for his documentary "summer of soul." the roots front man who plays on "the tonight show" starring jimmy fallon on nbc won an oscar last week for the film ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy gave a powerful prerecorded video speech urging viewers to help ukraine.

>> tell the truth about war on your social networks on tv support us in any way you can, any, but not silence and then peace will come to all our cities the war is destroying chernihiv, kharkiv, mariupol and others they are legends already but i have a dream of them living and free. free like you on the grammy stage. >> that was followed by performance of "free" by john legend, accompanied by three ukrainian artists. the late foo fighters drummer taylor hawkins was honored by billie eilish who wore a shirt with his face, then during a video tribute the band was not in attendance due to the tragic loss of hawkins, won best rock album, best rock song, and best rock performance. still to on "early today" after ditching his fans, eric church has big plans to make up for his canceled show. atdanit veng back. "sury ghli" piles on the will smith jokes after that

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chris rock has been very public about his nonverbal learning disorder, which means it's hard for him to understand nonverbal signals. sort of like how when he saw an angry will smith trudging towards him, instead of moving out of the way, he put both his hands behind his back, smiled and said, oh-oh! >> "saturday night live" finding comedy gold in the oscars slapgate they piled on all night, from the cold open through "weekend update." country artist eric church recently canceled one of his tour dates just so he could watch a final four match in the men's ncaa tournament. church says he's making it up to fans by hosting a free rescheduled show he announced he'll be heading back to texas in early september to put on a show for those who bought tickets to the canceled event in san antonio the musician wrote, quote, thank you to san antonio for letting me take my family to this game,

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feel unstoppable. ask your doctor how lasting remission can start with stelara®. janssen can help you explore cost support options. welcome back to "early today. take a look at the week ahead forecast today all eyes on the severe weather outbreak late today into texas and the south overnight. a little snow in michigan, apologies for that not pretty in the northwest either with rain and snow depending on your elevation. as we head through the middle of the week, we track that storm to the east coast a rainy day wednesday in the northeast. additional strong storms are possible in the south as we go into wednesday afternoon finally by the time we get to friday, we kick all of this mess mostly off the east coast. still showers left over in the northeast. the great lakes, unfortunately more rain and snow showers so it's still early april, it's still a little rough. >> all right, bill, thank you. april 4th, a day that will

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try nervivenerve relief. dr. martin luther king came to memphis to prove that he could lead a peaceful, nonviolent march here. and here he died, violently, shortly before he was to speak again before a mass rally of his followers. >> on this day in 1968, reverend dr. martin luther king jr. was shot and killed while standing on the balcony of his memphis total. the civil rights leader was 39 years old. james earl ray pleaded guilty to the assassination and spent the rest of his life claiming to the victim of a setup.

a historic vote in the senate judiciary committee could set the stage for the nation's first black woman supreme court justice. they'll decide this morning whether to send judge brown jackson's nomination to the full senate democrats are hoping for a final confirmation vote by the end of the week so far only one republican, senator susan collins, has announced her support for judge brown jackson. former president donald trump endorsed sarah palin in her bid for congress on sunday she announced friday she is seeking alaska's sole congressional seat just 45 minutes before the filing deadline for the race. trump said in an official statement, sarah palin is tough and smart, i am proud to give her my complete and total endorsement. one of the nation's most-decorated soccer players was arrested for dwi charges police say they apprehended former u.s. national goalkeeper hope solo in a north carolina walmart parking lot on thursday. authorities say they booked her

on suspicion of impaired driving, resisting arrest, and misdemeanor child abuse. no word on what exactly led up to her arrest. solo was booked into a local jail and then released in an instagram post solo wrote will be able to share the facts in due time, adding, life can be tough but these are truly the moments that matter. the television world continues to mourn the loss of actress estelle harris >> frank, i'm cold >> order a hot dish. >> why can't we sit over there >> that's not a booth! >> who says we have to sit in a booth? >> i didn't take the subway all the way to new york to sit at a table like that! >> i didn't take the subway to be in a drafty restaurant! >> harris died saturday in california she played george costanza's mother estelle on seinfeld and voiced mrs. potatohead in the "toy story" movies jason alexander called it a treat to hear her laughter, adding, serenity now and always.

estelle harris was 93 years old. makes me want to watch all those "seinfeld" episodes with her again and laugh. >> cannot forget her, i love that so much. >> thank you for waking up with >> thank you for waking up with "early [bushes rustling] [door opening] ♪dramatic music♪ yes! hon! the weathertech's here. ♪ weathertech is the ultimate protection for your vehicle. laser-measured floorliners... no drill mudflaps... cargoliner... bumpstep... seat protector... and cupfone. ♪ what about my car? weathertech.