captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the war rages on-- ukraine fiercely resists advancing russian forces as the two countries engage in tense diplomatic negotiations and the west levies tough new sanctions. then, the tipping point-- the united nations releases a dire climate report highlighting faster environmental degradation than had been anticipated. >> we do still have a window of opportunity to try to limit global warming, but the changes we're already seeing are showing us that this window is very rapidly getting smaller. >> woodruff: and, political stakes-- tamara keith and amy walter discuss how the war in ukraine could affect the focus of president biden's upcoming state of the union address.

all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial planng and advice for today, and tomorrow.

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thank you. >> woodruff: in less than a week since russia began its attack on ukraine, more than half a million ukrainians have fled their nation, and are now refugees. this comes as the u.s. and europe imposed harsh new sanctions on the russian central bank, sending the ruble crashing and interest rates soaring. elsewhere: the international criminal court in the netherlands said it would open an investigation into possible war crimes in ukraine. and the u.s. says it will expel 12 russian diplomats at the united nations for alleged activities outside their diplomatic roles. back in ukraine, the fighting and the fleeing continues: nick schifrin is now on the ground there, reporting tonight from lviv. and a warning: images in this story may disturb some viewers.

>> schifrin: there is no safe way to flee a war. thousands of ukrainians pressed into the closest train station to poland. their journey, one-way. their future, uncertain. 22-year-old yulia is a computer programmer from kyiv. >> i heard a lot of bangs, and the sounds of war. >> schifrin: and how long will you leave for? >> it depends on how long the war will be. >> schifrin: ukrainian men aren't allowed to escape the war. the border's only open to women and children. children too young to understand, but old enough to share their parents' fear. but fathers saying goodbye don't know when their sons will come back. all they can hope, is this is not farewell. a few miles away, the road to land is a traumatized population escape corridor. 30,000 people fleeing in cars, have created a line, 20 miles long.

many chose to walk, and packed their lives into single itcases. they don't care evacuation can take days. the only reason families make children flee, is because it's too dangerous to stay home. >> ( translated ): i won't leave them here. because you know what russians do when they attack? they bomb everything. they don't care. we can't leave them here. >> schifrin: ivan svystun has been in line for 27 hours. inside his van-his daughter, and her kids. his grandchildren. >> ( translated ): my plan is take them to the border, make sure they cross to poland. and i will go back and fight. i will defend ukraine against putin. >> schifrin: svetlana and her son fled near the belarus border 24 hours ago. >> everyone is scared. because we don't know what will be tomorrow, what will be in two hours, and where we will see russian helicopters. >> schifrin: margarita and her son's home in odessa was bombed. she had to pack in one hour. >> ( translated ): i'm forced to

flee abroad with my kids. it's very painful, i don't have the words. >> schifrin: it's about 35 degrees, so locals from a nearby town provide provisions. this comfort station is set up by the local church. but sometimes the volunteers, are also the displaced. sophia fled her home in kyiv. she worries as much about her country, as her cross-border families and friendships. >> my heart is breaking, and it's awful that our friends in russia support the war. >> schifrin: this is the awful reality of putin's war. a six-year-old girl, rushed to the hospital after she was hit by russian shells. the medical staff was powerless to save her, one of 16 children killed in five days. >> show this to putin. >> schifrin: a senior u.s. defense official said today russian troops' advances are not as rapid as expected.

but the official feared the russians would encircle kyiv in a matter of days. and the assault continues on kharkiv, ukraine's second largest city, where this weekend, russian convoys rolled into the city center and a russian bomb hit an apartment complex. officials say dozens of civilians were killed and more than 40 injured. ukraine said its forces emerged victorious. russian forces also suffered more losses outside of kyiv. but new satellite images show a large convoy headed toward the capital. meanwhile for the first time since the invasion, a ukrainian delegation traveled to meet russian counterparts. both sides said the initial talks, remain inconclusive. as for the country's leaders, today russia's president vladimir putin met his economic advisors, at a distance. one day after he increased the alert level of russia's nuclear forces. while ukrainian president zolodymyr zelensky, rallied his nation. >> ( translated ): when i ran for president, i said each of us is the president-- because we are all responsible for our state. it turns out each of us is a warrior. a warrior in their own way.

and i am confident that each of us will win. >> schifrin: which has led to a national, grassroots mobilization. in downtown lviv, they're making the most basic of weapons. pour gas and machine oil in a bottle, mixed with styrofoam to make it sticky. then, stuff a rag inside, which will later be lit. nazar used to be a brewer at this brewery, named truth. he's now mixing molotov cocktails-named after a russian foreign minister known for disinformation. >> ( translated ): i highly doubt that something will happen in downtown lviv. but we should have something to defend ourselves. and this is the only way to defend ourselves. because this is something that every ukrainian can create. >> schifrin: yuriy zastavniy is the brewery's owner. he calls himself a veteran of previous ukrainian revolutions, 1991, when ukraine bame independent. 2014, when they also threw molotov cocktails and evicted a pro-russian government. and now, they'll send their craft weapons to kyiv. >> i think everyone understands this has nothing to do with

business. this is something to do with securing your free future. if you don't do this, if we as a country don't do this, there is no future. >> schifrin: ukraine is being tested, perhaps as never before. but this is a country of faith. and inside this greek catholic church, despite national anxiety, the priest said their faith was their armor. >> ( translated ): the enemy is attackg us, but we are with god. and if we are with god, who can be against us? >> schifrin: and when the choir started, it wasn't a solemn song. they sang a call to arms, a battle hymn for ukraine. for zelensky, the billion battls both military and

politically. zelensky was an entertainer, who was a comedian who spoke in russian. today he is inspiring the country against russia. two weeks ago, judy, his approval waiting was 25%. toy it is 91%. >> woodruff: wow. nick, we saw the interviews you did with so many ukrainians trying to reach the border. what about when they get to the border, how hard it is to cross in both directions? >> schifrin: there are six border crossings across the 1600 mile ukraine-poland border, and for 30 years of independence, those crossings were quiet and peaceful toll today. what we saw was thousands of ukrainians trying to get out. it looked like they were in cages because they were behind high fences. they were setting fires to try to stay warm because they had to sleep there overnight. there were dozens and dozens of children and no

bathrooms. for the few going in the other direction, from poland into ukraine, well there is no easy way to get into a country at war. there are no flights into ukraine today. and because of that long line of cars coming out, there are no buses, vans, or taxis or any vehicles that can actually reach the border to take people into ukraine. that meant those of us trying to get in had to walk or even hitch hike. that means that the difficulties wth face make it incredibly diffult to get humanitarian assistance into ukraine. >> woodruff: it certainly sounds that way. and for more on the dire humanitarian and for more on the dire humanitarian situation, nick spoke earlier today with samantha power, the administrator for the u.s. agency for international development. she was on the polish border sterday, and joined us from brussels. >> schifrin: ambassador samantha power, welcome back to the newshour. how large is this humanitarian crisis and how dire are the conditions facing many of these

ukrainians who are trying to flee? >> well, i think you've seen it we now have more than half a million who've crossed just in a matter of a few days, and the numbers that are trying to cross every day are growing and are likely to continue to grow as now a humanitarian corridor and travelorridor out of the capital has been created, so there'll be an even greater surge to the border in terms of conditions. i think the frontline states, those countries bordering ukraine, including poland, where i've just come from, are doing everything in their power to position everything from diapers and strollers to hot meals to water to warm blankets. but the real challenge is on the ukrainian side of the border, where people are just backing up. >> schifrin: even before ukrainians get to the border, as you were saying before, and as we certainly have seen firsthand, it is incredibly difficult, whether in line right

near the polish border or even finding trains and cars to leave kyiv and head to the west or to other borders. what more can the u.s. help ukraine to try and ease some of the crunch of all of these ukrainians trying to get out of the country? >> well, let me just say that we are in very close touch with the ukrainian government. i will say as we talk to ukrainian officials, they're often running into and out of bomb shelters as they gather needs from across the country. so, you know, you have each of the towns have their own very specific needs, but they are trying to centralize the lists of needs and to channel them again through the ukrainian authorities. and so that system has been set up. we are getting those lists and we're aiming to respond to those needs. part of the challenge that we're dealing with is many humanitarian workers, ukrainians, are themselves sheltering in place and unable to be as mobile as they would

have been a week ago or as they have been now for many years in the east, where the prior acts of russian aggression occurred. >> schifrin: poland already has 1.5 million ukrainian refugees, and the polish government has been criticized in the past for how it has treated refugees from what you saw is poland welcoming ukrainian refugees? >> they have basically said you are welcome here if you want to apply for refugee status. here's the path to do that. here are the benefits you will receive while you wait to have your asylum claim adjudicated. but if you don't, if you're want to stay here for a little while and then move on to germany or join up with family somewhere beyond, that's fine too. they're scrambling at the highest levels of the polish government to try to think about how to get more humanitarian assistance into people on the ukrainian side who are waiting and beyond. of course, our broader ukraine

wide humanitarian effort, and they're scrambling to open up more crossing points, and they're mobilizing polish citizens who haven't needed much of a nudge to be mobilized. >> schifrin: we personally witnessed polish authorities and police welcoming those ukrainians, but we did see a couple of examples of africans and arabs who left ukraine being surrounded by polish police. we were told that some of those africans didn't have documents, but have you heard anything or are you worried about any kind of double standard? >> well, i think it's absolutely essential that anybody fleeing ukraine and the violence is treated with dignity and respect and according to their basic human rights, and we've seen those reports as well. i will say the polish authorities that we spoke with, including from the ministry of the interior and the border police, are very alert to these allegations and are getting the message out that everybody who's

coming is fleeing russian aggression and violence. and we need to find a way either to get them back to their country of origin or in the case of some of the afghans who have been living in ukraine since kabul fell and since afghanistan fell to the taliban. you know, we need to find a place in europe to make sure that they have a safe place to live so that they're not forced into exile yet again. >> schifrin: and finally, in the small time i have left, you have, of course, written about european security and europe's response to humanitarian crises in the past. do you believe looking at europe's response to russia's invasion of ukraine, that european security and how it responds to russian aggression is frankly fever changed? >> well, in some ways when you think about the war itself that putin has waged, you could say in the worst sense, it has been for so many in europe and in

ukraine, the unthinkable becoming not only thinkable but done. but on the other side, if a week ago you had said that the european union, for the first time in its history, would be providing security assistance at this scale or any security assistance, people would have said no, that's unthinkable. and here we see that happen. so i think the recognition that there are threats out there and that is extremely important to invest in european security and national security and in collective security has really hit home. and we're seeing these incredibly important concrete steps commensurate with that. >> schifrin: ambassador samantha power, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: for more on russia's invasion and the global response, we're joined by retired lieutenant general doug lute. he served on the national security council staff during both the george w. bush and obama administrations. he was also u,s, ambassador to nato during the obama

administration. andrew weiss served in the george h.w. bush and clinton administrations on the national security council staff and in the state department. he's now with the carnegie endowment for international peace. and adam smith is a former u.s. treasury official and served on the national security council staff during the obama administration. he's now a partner with gibson, dunn and crutcher, an international law firm. >> woodruff: welcome a three of you to the newshour. doug lute, lt me start with you and the military situation. we had been hearing that the russians were having a more difficult time than they expected. but just in the last few hours this afternoon, we're hearing about increased shelling of kharkiv. we're hearing and seeing evidence the russians are moving closer to kyiv. what is your understanding of what the military situation is right now? >> well, judy, i think we should appreciate that we're in the very early

days of what we should expect to be a long, protracted military campaign. clearly, even in these early days, russia, however, is off its timetables. it has failed, in my view, to sustain momentum in any one of the multiple fronts tha they've opened. neither the north, the center, nor the south. my read is that they're recovering from some bad assumptions up front in their military planning. so, for example, the ukrainians are fighting. the russian forces, in other words, are largely unsynchronized. and, finally, the west is staying united. there are no fissures in the western political and economic sanctions regime. so i think that there is some assumptions that they have to recover from. there are capabilities, however, that russia still has, and has not yet employed. mass fires, including civilian targets in the city. they have not shut down the internet. they have not shut down

the communications links. they have not turned the lights off in kyiv. and i expected this to be much more brutal in the days ahead. >> woodruff: they are managing to kill some civilians, but i hear you saying this is the very early stages. andrew weiss, in connection with all of this, with the western support, we're hearing more countries saying they're prepared and are now planning to ship weapons to the ukrainians. how fast will those weapons get to ukraine. can they get there fast enough to make a difference? >> that's a really good question. yesterday and over the weekend, we saw european leaders make dramatic and unprecedented decisions. the germany chancellor announced for the first time germany will send weapons into an act of conflict. this is a major almost seismic change in german foreign policy. equally impressive, the european union is going to use its capacities, which are substantial, towards military aid for ukraine.

the question on the ukrainian side is there are probably limits on the absorbtive capacity of the ukrainian military, based on the fact they're getting equipment and getting trained and it is something that doesn't happen overnight. longer term, the question is as the military advance continues to general lute was describing, how does the ukrainian force fall back if it needs to, and what do we do in the west to support that in a desperate situation if the russians continue to escalate. because putin is very likely to escalate things. he is not likely to walk out of ukraine with his tail between his legs. >> woodruff: a reminder as we're watching this, we're all watching this hour by hour, and as both of you are appointing out, this will be drawn out. let me bring you into the conversation, adam smith. we have seen, i guess you could say unprecedented

economic sanctions reining down on the russians. what are you seeing -- how do you see it making a difference in moscow? >> it is not just unprecedented in name. it is unprecedented in type, in style. this has never been done. the entire g-7 deciding to sanction the central bank of a major economy has never been done at all. whether orwhether or not the imt will lead to what we want, that remains to be seen. the first is the "shock and awe", and that is the ruble. that is going to continue, but that will subside to a degree, and then over time, in the space of weeks, and certainly months, the broader economic sanctions, both with respect to the central bank, weapt to the sanctions of export

controls, will start to hit. over time, in the space of weeks and certainly months, the impact on the economic fortunes of the average russians, let alone putin, will start to weigh. it is unprecedented for the world community in this context. >> woodruff: do you hear you saying, adam smith, that the people in russia are not going to feel this in the days ahead? >> no, no, the panic they're feeling right now. that is the reduction in the price of the -- in the value of the ruble. the interest rates that lead to inflation, that will all happen. but that is more a panic response. the more impact, where sanctions will turn to bite, that will be in the weeks and months to come, come when the central bank runs of money it can use, and the ability for russians to import things will seize or seize up. the real impact of squeezing mr. putin, i think that is going to take a few weeks, unfortunately, if not longer.

>> woodruff: adam weiss, how do you see vladimir putin feeling with all of this? do you agree it will take weeks, if not longer, for him to feel any real pain from this? >> there is one important issue that president biden has highlighted up front: the western governments are carving out exceptions for purchases of russian oil and gas, amid all of these unprecedented financial sanctions. if you look at just very rough numbers, in 2021, russia exported 4.3 million barrels of oil a day. and today russia can expect interruptions on the unprecedented order that adam smith was just describing. that means every day russia is potentially poised to export hundreds of millions of dollars in oil. and the question will be: do western governments eventually realize that just as we're causing disruption, we allowing the russians to refill their coffers?

and so does something need to be done to basically ratchet up the pressure? the danger in thinking about that is the potential knock on arms that that would cause to our own economies. and given the importance of things like price at the pumps, that is something that western leaders have been unwilling to entertain in past years. but given what we're watching on television, i think there will be pressure on them to do something in the weeks ahead as this war gets worse. >> woodruff: as i hear all of you talking about weeks, and even months, i'm going to come back to you, doug lute. is the ukrainian military prepared to hold on, or the ukrainian people, are they prepared to hold on for the weeks, even months, i hear the three of you saying it is going to take for some of these heavy sanctions and other supportive moves by the west towards ukra ukraine to

>> the key will be logistics. first of all, we heard from samantha power. the logistics of the humanitarian relief effort, both in poland and other neighboring states and in western ukraine itself. and the logistics in the military fight. the ukrainian military will not be able to sustain itself. we have to resupply, with anti-armor systems, anti-air system, rations, and medical supplies, and so forth. that resupply effort will be launched on the routes that nick schifrin described. out of poland and slovenia and romania and into the heartland. so logistics will be key here, judy. >> woodruff: staying with you, doug lute, is the west prepared to do that down the road? what is your sense? >> i think the west is beginning to marshal that kind of major logistic

effort. but these are, again, the very early days in that effort. and all of the security assistance, the different weaponry and supplies that have been offered across acrossthe nato alliance and beyond have to be transported and into the hands of the right people in ukraine. that is a major logiscs problem. >> woodruff: so much to think about here. we thank the three of you for helping us understand where we are. doug lute, andrew weiss, adam smith, thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪♪ >> woodruff: in the day's other news, a united nations science report warned that the effects of climate change are growing worse than expected, faster than expected. it cited hunger, disease, poverty and other ills, all made worse by a warming planet, and it said they will soon outstrip

humanity's ability to adapt. we'll get the details, after the news summary. the u.s. supreme court has heard a case that could restrict the federal government's ability to fight climate change. at issue today was the environmental protection agency's authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. 19 states and coal companies are suing to limit the e.p.a.'s reach. in australia, record flooding submerged some eastern coastal regions today, killing at least eight people. around briane, heavy rainfall and flh floods left some towns under water and turned roads into rivers. many had to be rescued by boat. >> we are totally and utterly exhausted. we have been standing in water up to my armpits for hours. my house got flooded. i walked over to my daughter because we are on the same property. her house then got flooded. >> woodruff: brisbane faced

similar flooding in 2011. dozens died that year in what was described as a "once-in-a- century" event. the world's largest auto-maker, toyota, is shutting down its 14 plants in japan after a suspected cyber attack. that's after a large parts supplier reported a malfunction in its compur server system. there's no word on the source of the aprent attack, or how long the shutdown might last. back in this country, california, oregon and washington announced they will end school mask mandates as of march 12th. the c.d.c. eased its own covid guidance last friday to say most americans no longer need to wear masks in indoor public places, including schools. jury selection opened in washington, d.c. today for a texas man accused in the attack on the u.s. capitol. more than 200 people hav pleaded guty to criminal charges in the january 6th rio but guy wesley reffit is the

first to go to trial. he allegedly brought a gun onto the capitol grounds and interfered with police. major league baseball and its players union kept negotiating today, against a midnight deadline for a new contract agreement. otherwise, owners say openin day will have to be pushed back from march 31st. they locked out the players 89 days ago, and there's been little progress in negotiations. and, on wall street today, stocks confronted new worries about economic fallout from russia's invasion of ukraine. the dow jones industrial average lost 166 points to close at 33,892. the nasdaq rose 56 points. the s&p 500 slipped 10 for the month, the indexes were down 3 to 3.5%. still to come on the newshour: tamara keith and amy walter break down the politics of the u.s. response to russian aggression. how people around the world are showing solidarity for ukraine.

plus much more. >> woodruff: now, let's take a deeper look at the new climate change report the u.n. released today. as william brangham tells us, it provided the starkest warnings yet; not only about what could happen, but what's already been set into motion. >> brangham: the evidence is everywhere: burning forests in argentina. massive floods in bangladesh. drought in spain: the impacts of climate change are here, and they're getting worse. and, according to a landmark united nations report, not only are some of these impacts worse than previously known, some may already be irreversible. >> today's i.p.c.c. report is an atlas of human suffering and a

damning indictment of failed climate leadership. with fact upon fact, this report reveals how people and the planet are getting clobbered by climate change. >> brangham: the report, conducted by a u.n. panel of more than 200 scientists from over 60 countries, emphasized that our warming of the planet is unleashing damages at a pace and inteity that many nations won't be able to handle. and that reducing the pollution that's driving climate change isn't happening nearly fast enough. >> the longer you wait, and the longer you follow the illusion that you have the option to make choices with respect of not doing something, the more you will pay later. >> brangham: the report noted that each additional fraction of warming has serious implications for life on earth. the report laid out 127 of these threats, including the growing loss of useable farmland and increasing drought, which will threaten the global food supply; rising sea-levels and floods,

which are already driving tens of thousand of people from their homes; growing numbers of punishing, deadly heatwaves, and increasing extinction of plant and animal species. ecologist camille parmesan was a coordinating lead author for part of the u.n. report. >> some impacts are already irreversible, even at the 1.09 in warming that we've had. we're already seeing species go extinct, and that is new for the since the last i.p.c.c. report. >> brangham: world leaders, including president biden, have pledged to try and limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees celsius, or 2.7 degrees fahrenheit. but with the world's top economies spitting out near record carbon emissions, achieving that goal is getting further out of reach every day. at the current pace, the planet is on track to warm between two and three degrees celsius this century. >> global emissions are set to

increase almost 14% over the current decade. that spells catastrophe. it will stroy any chance of keeping the goal of 1.5 alive. >> brangham: and if the planet overshoots that 1.5 degree target, as it's expected to, this report warns that some of these damages likely can't be undone. >> we've pulled together species have already gone extinct because of climate change. islands have already become uninhabitable because of sea level rise. >> brangham: the u.n. report notes that poorer, less- developed nations are, and will continue to be, the hardest hit by the ravages of climate change. in 2019, its estimated that over 13 million people in parts of asia and africa were driven from their homes by extreme weather events. the report found that between 2010 and 2020, droughts, floods and storms killed 15 times as many people in these highly vulnerable countries.

>> what you find is that the most vulnerable are the most affected, whether it's the most vulnerable within a country, the poorest, the ones in the most marginalized settlements or the most vulnerable countries. it works at all scales. >> brangham: 195 governments approved this report. but the head of the u.n. argues that, if past action is any guide, these warnings continue to fall on deaf ears. >> the facts are undeniable. this abdication of leadership is criminal. >> brangham: for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: the war in ukraine comes at a critical point for president biden, as he prepares to deliver his first state of the union address tomorrow night. geoff bennett has more. >> bennett: in his speech the

president will lay out his domestic agenda not just to congress but to millions of americans watching at home. he'll also have to address the crisis in ukraine and it's impact at home. here to assess what's at stake are amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter. and tamara keith of npr. >> welcome to you both. tam, i'm start with you because president biden with his speech tomorrow is set to deliver what might be the most important presintial foreign policy peach of the post-cold war era, given the situation in ukraine, and putin's desire to redraw the security map of europe. and president biden has to speak directly to the issues that americans are facing, covid, record-high inflation. how does the white house say he intends to do that? >> tamara: he is going to address all of those things. and he is going to do it, i think, in a way that is

more big picture, more philosophical. that's what the state of the union addresses are for, to sort of speak directly to the american people and lay out his vision. you can expect tht on covid. most of his speeches on covid, as many as there have been, which isn't very many, have been very tactical. this com as the mask recommendations from the c.d.c. has been lifted, as you can expect to see a lot of people in that house chamber not wearing masks tomorrow night, which will be a stark change. he will talk about the path forward, on ukraine, the white house indicates he is going to emphasize the work that he has done to unite america's allies against vladimir putin and against russia. uniting the nato allies european union, that was not a given going into this, and that is the case that the white house and the president will make.

>> and, amy, on that ppoint, the speech does present an opportunity for the president, given poll after poll showing record low approval ratings, it gives him a chance to point out he brought together an enduring coalition to stand up in the face of russian aggression. >> amy: it is interesting, he is coming into this state of the union, with his polling the lowest. in the early polling we're seeing that is coming out this week, at the beginning of the war in ukraine, americans are actually unified. they're unified in their support for the sanctions that have already taken place on russia. more americans now, than even earlier in february, saying they support the decision of president biden to send troops to --

u.s. troops to nato countries. we're seeing 80 plus percent of americans saying vladimir putin is a bad guy, and we don't think he has any -- his decision to go into ukraine has no basis in fact or reality. there is no claim that is truthful that putin has put forward. so americans are pretty much united. in fact, what they would like to see, again, these are the early polls that have come out thus far, they would like to see more sanctions, they would like to see more aid going to ukraine. the challenge for the president isn't unifying around support for ukraine or opposition to russia's actions. the challenge right now is for americans to see the president himself as a leader, and not just leading on this issue. again, his polls have been down across all areas, including foreign policy, but especially on the economy. and the n.p.r. pbs poll

that was out last week showing the number one concern for americans: inflation. that is something he is going to have to talk a lot about because that is the top anxiety right now for the majority of americans. >> amy, a quick question about the polling. because when you look at this data, when you look at the numbers, when you look at the way the questions in these polls are actually framed: are americans by and large, the folks who were polled, are they dissatisfied with president biden's leadership? or are americans just in a pandemic mood, given inflation, and they're sort of projecting that mood on to to the guy in charge? >> that is a big piece of it. we saw the president make his first joint address to congress in april, and americans were feeling much more optimistic. and the president spent a whole lot of time talking about the success of the vaccines. but now he comes in with vaccines that have been

successful but a public very much divided over mandates, over masking, still frustrated about covid. but mostly it is new worries, geoff. this issue of inflation wasn't even mentioned in april of 2021. it is now the top concern, rising costs for groceries, for filling up ur car, for rent. and the challenge i think we will soon find out is whether the president can come back from many americans who once thought he was handling the problems that america was facing quite well, and now, even on covid, opinions of his handling of that have dropped. >> and, tam, in the couple of minutes we have left, let's return to the issue we started with, and that was, namely, ukraine. i want to talk about how republicans are handling this. because republicans have been generally united for

blaming president biden for his handling of this crisis in eastern europe. but former president trump's comments have composed a decision in the g.o.p. he has repeatedly defended putin, just a couple of days ago calling him smart. take a look at this. >> predent trump: the problem is not that putin is smart, which, of course, he is smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb, dumb. [applause and cheering] >> so dumb. >> and then you have republican senator mitt romney saying that americans who defend putin are almost treasonist. what do you make of this? >> you could go back, and i did, and you can find donald trump saying essentially that very same thing in 2016 and in 2020. he has called vladimir putin smart and he has called the u.s. leadership, nato, dumb, repeatedly. so he is pretty much

consistent with what he has always been. he has, however, up-ended -- his very presence has up-ended republican orthodoxy. now you have some republicans tying themselves in knots, trying to say, well, i can't condemn what trump said, but putin is a bad guy. you have sort of this mess of not knowing what their message is. where in the past, it was very clear, republicans and democrats alike opposed putin. >> tamara keith and amy walter, thank you, as always, for your great insights. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: and thanks to all three of you. and, and please join us here tomorrow evening for live coverage of president biden's state of the union address as well as the republican response ahead of the speech, we'll have full analysis of the latest developments in ukraine plus an in-depth look at the president's domestic achievements and setbacks during his first year in office. that begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on pbs.

and we'll be back shortly with a look at the outpouring of support for ukraine from artists around the world. first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> woodruff: for those stations staying with us, miles o'brien gives us a personal look at how new technology is changing the way we think about the human brain and transforming the lives of people with amputated limbs. >> reporter: hey, hi, guys. >> welcome. >> reporter: 52 years after a landmine took his leg on patrol in vietnam, dan warner is on point once again. his mission: help make his fellow leg amputees more sure-footed. >> oh, man, this is pretty wild.

>> reporter: he is testing a limb that can feel what his prosthetic foot is touching. you can feel your foot, essentially? >> yes. yeah. it is great. i knew the first time i could actually feel my foot on the ground, it was like a mind-blowing experience. >> reporter: he is a participant in a study at the cleveland v.a. medical center, aimed at directly connecting prosthetics to the nerves, and ones that receive sensations of touch. in other words, wired into the brain like the real thing. >> i don't want people to think about all of that gear. they should forget it. i think we're getting close to that point. >> reporter: dustin tyler is a professor of biomedical engineering at case western reserve university. he and his team have been working with amputees for 15 years. dan warner can feel thanks to a pressure sensor attached to the bottom of his prosthetic foot and

some re-wiring of the nerves. surgeons identified the ones that controlled the muscles and provided sensory proception from his missing leg and attached wires on them. the wires transmit current to the nerves when the sensor is depressed. how similar is it to the real thing? >> it is pretty darn close, pretty darn close. it is not -- i mean it is not like 100%, like i can do a lot of things with this foot, with ankle movement and stuff. but as far as feeling, when you're standing on it or walking, that's the big thing. >> i feel you, dan, but for arm amputees like me, this is even a bigger deal. after all, a sense of touch is one of the primary missions of our hands and fingers. and my body power pro thetic is little more than a pair of pliers at the end of a stick. there is really no way for

me to feel how much i'm grasping. >> basically we're trying to get the deep nerve instead of the surface nervous. >> reporter: our sense of touch is crucial because it is faster than our vision by several hundred milliseconds. and every millisecond counts. dustin tyler and his team gave me a demonstration of that. >> he's got a big head. >> a lot of people have known that for years. >> reporter: with a headset on, i played a game of popping bubbles with just the right amount of force. simple, right? with the sensory turned off, i consistently overdid it. but once they had the sensors on my hand, i could feel the outer edges of the bubbles. i'm feeling something. oh, wow! oh, wow, that is so amazing. dustin tyler says this technology might enable another big leap, a future where humans are no longer limited by their skin.

brandon prestwood lost his arm in a workplace accident in 2012, and is also a participant in tyler's study. he too had surgery connecting his nerves to sensors in the fingertips of a sophisticated prosthetic limb. >> basically they've mapped where if they put this electrical signal to this contact on the nerve cuff, then that makes me feel a pin prick in my index finger. >> reporter: but he doesn't even have to wear it to get that feeling. >> the fact is attached to his arm is actually kind of arbitrary, we can put the prosthesis anywhere in the world and it would still feel like his hand. >> reporter: prestwood is trying out the idea with his prosthetic arm mounted across tyler's lab. >> so now we can extend his capability. we can essentially amplify the person by taking that sense of connection, the sense of touch and putting it on any machine in any part of the world and bring it back to your nervous system. and then i can connect it to devices that can do far more

than my weak biologic system >> reporter: talk like that is generating commercial interest. >> what we're recognizing, is that the human body is incredibly important to tap into as a data source, to be used to make people's lives easier. >> so we have our sensor here. >> reporter: dexter ang is co- founder of a small startup called pison. the company is developing a wrist worn sensor that detects the faint electrical signals controlling simple hand gestures. >> so we are actually going to take a selfie together. >> reporter: simply lifting a finger creates a distinct signal. >> so i can zoom in, and i can navigate around. >> reporter: the device is connected to a smartphone - allowing control of it - or other devices -conveyor belts in factories, drones, even pinball machines to name a few. ang's inspiration came from his late mother - who contracted a.l.s. in 2015.

an m.i.t. trained engineer, he wanted to make her life easier. >> and when we started doing testing on people affected by a.l.s. and others, we saw this larger idea that was completely uncovered in the market, which is how do we apply neural interfaces at the wrist in the simplest manner possible. and that's where we saw the best pathway to have accessibility to reach hundreds of millions of users long term for the company. and that's our ambition. >> reporter: this will likely be good news for people with disabilities who stand to benefit from all the added investment in trying to read our minds en masse. dustin tyler welcomes the newfound interest in work he's pioneered for the disabled. >> and in fact, i think that limb loss, i think that spinal cord injury will actually move farther ahead if we can find a larger market to to develop this, that we can use that technology back. that's exactly the point. >> reporter: if he's right, maybe it won't be too long before i can give this old

fashioned, out of touch arm - the hook. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien. >> woodruff: artists and others around the world are finding ways to show their solidarity with ukrainians during this time of crisis. the efforts range from singing to light displays to prayers. jeffrey brown has a look for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> ladies and gentlemen, the ukrainian chorus of new york. >> reporter: instead of laughter as s s.n.l. members stood at the center of the silent studio, introducing ukrainian chorus dumka of new york who sang in front of candles and sunflowers, the ukrainian national flower.

♪ ♪ ♪ song broke out in other places too-- here a ukrainian baritone yuri yurchuk, a native of kviv, sings his national anthem in a >> reporter: around the world, the. >> the london street performance of the national anthem by uri. ukraine's blue and yellow colors were everywhere, new york and dallas, paris and rome. even the crashing waters of niagara falls. there were also punishments against russia and russians. in new york, carnegie hall canceled an appearance by reknowned russian contact, valeri, a supporter of putin. and the metropolitan opera took a step to quote ring the alarm. the general manager. >> we can no longer enge with artists or institutions that support

putin or are supported by him,ot until the invasion and killing has been stopped, order has been restored, and resttuitions have in the pop culture space, the european broadcasting union says russia will not be allowed an entry in this year's eurovision song contest. the union said the inclusion of a russian competitor would“ bring the competition into disrepute." other such moves came fast and furious in the world of sports. the soccer fans from liverpool and chelsea came together to sing "you'll never walk alone," in support of ukraine. and european soccer's governing body announced it would move the championship match from saint petersburg to paris. paris tennis, auto racing and other sports have taken their own actions. meanwhile, in the ukraine,

artist pablo, expected to represent his country at the prestigious venice this spring is instead of sheltering with his family and practicing his shooting. ♪♪ >> reporter: and in odessa's historic synagogue, a singing of an ancient jewish hymn, now a prayer for an end to the invasion. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and the international free expression group pen america will hold a vigil tonight in new york city. on the newshour online right now, and on the newshour online right now,housands of ukrainians living in the united states are on edge, as they watch the russian invasion from afar. read how ukrainian americans are coping on pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening for our regularly scheduled program and special live coverage of president biden's state of the

union address beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans, designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv.

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hello, welcome to " "amanpour & company." here is what's coming up. the state of ukraine. i discussed with president zel zelensky, and putin's attack. then -- >> russia can only exist. from policy experts about the global ambition of lieutenant. vladimir