judy: 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 rapidly getting smaller. judy: 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.

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: 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

nick: 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. nick: and how long will you leave for? >> i don't know. it depends on how long the war will be. nick: 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 poland is a traumatized population's 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 suitcases. they don't care if the evacuation can take days. the only reason families with children flee is because it's too dangerous to stay home. >> 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. nick: ivan svystun has been in line for 27 hours. inside his van, his daughter and her kids, his grandchildren. >> my plan is take them to the border, ma sure they cross to poland. and i will go back and fight. i will defend ukraine against putin. nick: svetlana and her son fled near the belarus border 24 hours ago. >> i think 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. nick: margarita and her son's home in odessa was bombed. she had to pack in one hour. >> i'm forced to flee abroad

with my kids. it's very painful. i don't have the words. nick: 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. nick: this is the awful reality of putin's war. a 6-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 5 days. >> show this to tin. the eyes of this child, and crying doctors. nick: 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 vasion, 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 volodymyr zelensky rallied his nation. >> 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. nick: 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. >> 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. nick: yuriy zastavniy is the brewery's owner. he calls himself a veteran of previous ukrainian revolutions. 1991, when ukraine became 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. nick: ukraine is being tested, perhaps asever 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. >> the enemy is attacking us, but we are with god. and if we are with god, who can be against us? nick: and when the choir started, it wasn't a solemn song. they sang a call to arms, a battle hymn for ukraine. and for zelensky, the battle is both military and political. today, he asked the european union to immediately accept ukraine. zelensky was an entertainer, who

was a comedian who spoke in russian. today, he is inspiring the country against russia. two weeks ago, his approval rating was 25%. today, it's 91%. judy: we saw those interviews just now you did with so many ukrainians trying to reach the border. what about when they get to the border? how hard is it to cross in both directions? nick: there are six border crossings across the 1600 mile ukraine-poland border. for 30 years of independence, those crossings were peaceful until today. what we saw were thousands of ukrainians trying to get out and they were essentially, 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, there is no easy way to get into a country at war. there are no flights into ukraine today. because of the long line of cars coming out, there are no buses or taxis or any vehicles that can reach the border to take people into ukraine. that meant those of us trying to get in had to walk or hitchhike. that means difficulties we faced make it incredibly difficult to get humanitarian assistance to ukraine. judy: certainly sounds that way. for more on the dire humanitarian situation, nick spoke earlier today with samantha power, the administrator for the u.s. agency for international development, the u.s. agency tasked with providing disaster relief to other countries. she was on the polish border yesterday, and joined him fr brussels. nick: 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 firsthand. 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 travel corridor 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 boering 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. nick: 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 st, where the prior acts of russian aggression occurred. nick: 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 -- and 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 your asylum claim adjudicated. but if you don't, if you 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. nick: 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 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. nick: and finally, in the small ti 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 forever 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. nick: ambassador samantha power, thank you very much. >> thank you. judy: 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. 's now a partner with gibson, dunn and crutcher, an international law firm. welcome all three of you to the newshour. doug, let me start with you and the military situation. we have been hearing the russians were having a more difficult time than they expected. in the last few hours this afternoon, we are hearing about increased shelling of kyiv. we are seeing evidence the russians are moving closer to kyiv. what is your understanding of the military situation right now? >> i think we should appreate we are in the 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 timetable. they have failed to sustain momentum and any onef the multiple fronts they have opened. either the north, the center, or the south. my read is that they are recovering from some bad assumptions upfront in their military planning. the ukrainians are fighting. the russian forces on the other hand are largely unsynchronized. finally, the west is staying united. there are no fissures in the western political and economic sanctions. so i think there are some assumptions they have to recover from. there are capabilities, however, that russia still has and has not yet employed. mass fires including against civilian targets in the cities. they haven't shut down the internet. they haven't shut down the communications links. they haven't turned the lights

off in kyiv. i expect this to be more brutal in the days ahead. judy: they are killing civilians but this is the early stages. andrew, in connection with this in the western support, we are hearing more countries say they are prepared and are planning to ship weapons to ukrainians. how fast will those weaponset to ukraine? can they get there fast enough to make a difference? >> that is a really good question. yesterday and over the weekend we saw european leaders make dramatic and unprecedented decisions. the german chancellor announced for the first time, germany will send weapons into an active conflict. this is a major come almost seismic change in german foreign policy. equally impressive, the european union will use its capacities, which are financial, towards military aid for ukraine. the question on the ukrainian side is, there is probably

limits on the absorptive capacity of the ukrainian military based on the fact that they are in the fight, getting equipment and other materials and training and deployment doesn't happen overnight. long-term the question is, as the military advance continues, how does the ukrainian force fallback if it needs to? what do we do in the west to support them in a desperate situation if the russians continue to escalate? i think that is the real challenge ahead. vladimir putin is likely to escalate things. he is not likely to walk out of ukraine with his tail between his legs. judy: as we watch this, we are watching this hour-by-hour, expecting to know where things stand but as you are pointing out, this will be drawn out. let me bring you into the conversation, adam. we have seen i guess he would say unprecedented economic sanctions raining down on the

russians. what are you seeing that, and how do you see it making a difference in moscow? >> it is not just unprecedented in name, it is unprecedented in type and style. this has never been done. the entire g7 deciding to sanction the central bank of a major economy, never been done at all. whether or not the impact will lead to the outcome we all want, i think time will tell. there will be two levels of the impact. the first we already see, the shock and panic. the ruble falling by 40%, the moscow sock -- stock exchange seizing up, that will continue. that will subside to a degree and over time, in the space of weeks and certainly months, the broader economic sanctions, both with respect to the central bank which are very impactful, the sanctions with respect to 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 russian, let alone putin , will start to wane significantly. judy: dear -- do i hear you saying people in russia aren't going to feel this in the immediate, in the days ahead? >> they are feeling panic right now. the panic, that is the reduction in the price of the value of the ruble, increased interest rates that will lead to inflation, that will haul happen. that is a panic response. the more impactful issue and sanctions will turn to bite in the weeks and months to come, when the central bank runs out of money, when the ability for russians to import things will cease or seize up significantly. there is a panic approach right now that will certainly be impactful, but the real impact squeezing mr. putin, i think that will take a few weeks if not longer. judy: adam, how do you see putin

feeling all of this? do you agree it could take weeks or longer for him to feel any real pain from this? >> there is one important issue that president biden has highlighted upfront. the western governments are carving out exceptions for purchases of russian oil and gas amid all these unprecedented financial sanctions. if you look at every rough numbers, in 2021 russia exported 4.3 million barrels of oil per day. today, russia can maybe expect interruptions on the order of, unprecedented order adam was describing, but that means every day, russia is potentially poised to import, i'm sorry, to export hundreds of millions of dollars in oil. the question will be, do western governments eventually realize that just as we are causing disruption, we are allowing the russians to refill their coffers ? does something need to be done to basically rash up the

pressure? the danger in thinking about that is the potential knock that could cause to our own economies . given the importance of things like the price at the pump, that is something western leaders have beeunwilling to entertain in past years. given what we are watching on television, i think there will be pressure on them to do something in the weeks ahead as the war gets worse. judy: as i hear all of you talking about weeks and even months, i'm going to come back to you, doug. is the ukrainian military prepared to hold on? the ukrainian people, are they prepared to hold on for the weeks and even months that 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 ukraine, to take effect? >> look. as this extends into weeks and months, the key question, the key variable 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, but also in western ukraine itself. the logistics of the military fight, the ukrainian military will not be able to sustain itself. we have to resupply armor, weapons systems, antiair weapons systems, rations, medical supplies and so forth. that resupply effort will be launched largely on the same roots nick schifrin described, the routes going out of poland in particular, slovakia, romania as well, back through western ukraine and into the heartland. the logistics will be key. judy: staying with you, doug, is the west prepared to do that down the road? >> i think the west is beginning to marshal that kind of major logistics effort. again, these are the early days in that effort.

all of the security assistance, the different weaponry, the supplies and so forth that have been offered by national governments across the nato alliance and beyond have to be assembled, they have to be transported, and they have to get into the hands of the right people in ukraine. that is a major logistical problem. judy: so much to think about here. we thank the three of you for helping us understand where we are. doug, andrew, adam, thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines. updating our top story, russian forces shelled ukraine's second largest city, kharkiv. they are closing in on kyiv. newly released satellite photos

show a russian military nvoy has more than doubled, no stretching 40 miles north of kyiv. a united nations science report warned that the effects of climate change are growing worse, and 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 epa's reach. in australia, record flooding submerged some eastern coastal regions today, killing at least 8 people. around brisbane, heavy rainfall and flash 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. stephanie: the world's largest automaker, toyota, is shutting down its 14 plants in japan after a suspected cyberattack. that's after a large parts supplier reported a malfunction in its computer server system. there's no word on the source of the apparent 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 cdc 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 have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the january 6th riot,

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 opening 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. 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. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: 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. william: the evidence is everywhere. burning forests in argentina, massive floods in bangladesh, drought in spain. the impacts of climate change are here, anthey'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 ipcc 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. william: the report, conducted by a u.npanel of more than 200 scientists from over 60 countries, emphasized that our warming of the planet is unleashing damages at a pace and intensity 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. william: 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 ipcc report. william: 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 destroy any chance of keeping 1.5 alive. william: 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.

>> species have already gone extinct because of climate change. islands have already become uninhabitable because of sea level rise. william: 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. william: 195 governments approved this report. but the head of the un 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. william: for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. ♪ judy: 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. geoff: in his speech, the president will lay out his domestic agenda not just to congress, but to a nation eager to move on from the deadly covid pandemic, and facing new worries over inflation and russia's invasion of ukraine. 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.

president biden, with the speech tomorrow, is set to deliver what might be the most important let -- presidential foreign policy speech of the post-cold war era given the situation in ukraine and putin's desire to redraw the map of europe. 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? >> 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, not philosophical, that is with the state of the union addresses are for is to speak directly to the american people and lay out his vision. you can expect on covid, most of his speeches on covid recently have, as many as there have been, which is in many, have been tactical. this comes as the mask mandate, or the mask recommendations from the cdc, has been lifted.

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 that he is going to emphasize the work that he has done to unite america's allies against vladimir putin and against russia. uniting nato and the eu, that was not a given going into this and that is the case that the white house says the president will make. geoff: amy, on that point, the speech does present an opportunity for the president, given polls showing him with record global portable ratings. this is a chance for him to point to his leadership, to point to the fact that he has brought together a coalition, an enduring coalition so far, to stand up in the face of russian aggression. >> it is interesting, he is

coming into this state of the union address with, you are right, the public opinion polling the lowest it has been in the course of his presidency. at the same time, at least in the early polling we are seeing coming out this week, at the beginning of the war in ukraine, americans are unified. they are unified in their support fothe 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, u.s. troops to nato countries. we are seeing 80% plus 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. americans are united. what they would like to see, these are the early polls that have come out thus far, they

would like to see actually more sanctions. they would like to see more aid going to ukraine. the challenge for the president now 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. the npr pbs marist poll that was out last week showed the number one for -- concern for americans is inflation, something he will have to talk a lot about. that is the top anxiety right now for the majority of americans. geoff: a quick question about the polling. when you look at the data, you look at the numbers on the way the questions in the polls are actually framed, our americans by and large, the folks who are polled, are they dissatisfied

with president biden's leadership? or are they, americans generally just in a dour mood going into year three of the pandemic, given the inflation and they are projecting the mood onto the guy in charge? >> that is a big piece of it. the president made his first joint address toongress about 10 months ago in april, and americans were feeling much more optimistic than. the president spent a lot of time talking about the success of the vaccines. now, he comes in with, vaccines that have been successful but the public is very much divided over mandates, over masking, frustrated about covid but mostly, it is new worries. the issue of inflation wasn't even mentioned in april of 2021. it is now the top concern, rising costs for groceries, for filling up your 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, now even on covid, opinions of his handling of that has dropped. geoff: in a couple minutes we have left, let's return to the issue we started with, and that is namely ukraine. i want to talk about how republicans are handling this. republicans generally have been united in blaming president ayden for his handling of this crisis in eastern europe. former president trump's comments i think have exposed a division within the gop. he repeatedly defended putin. a couple days ago he called him smart. take a look. >> the problem is not that putin is smart, which -- of course he's smart. but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. dumb.

so dumb. >> so -- geoff: mitt romney saying, americans who defend putin are almost treasonous. what do you make of this? >> so you could go back, and i did, and you could 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. he is pretty much consistent with what he has always been. he has, however, appended -- his very presence has upended republican orthodoxy. some republicans are trying to say, well, i can't condemn what trump said but putin is a bad guy. you had them in sort of not knowing what their message is,

where in the past, it was very clear. republicans and democrats alike opposed putin. geoff: camera and amy, thanks as always for your great insights. >> you are welcome. judy: thanks to all three of you. 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 ukine from artists around the world. but 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. jd

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 ukrainian chorus dumka of new york. >> instead of laughter as "saturday night live" opened, a prayer for ukraine, sung by the ukrainian chorus dumka of new york, whose members stood in front of candles and sunflowers, the ukrainian national flower. ♪ around the world, the response to the russian invasion has taken many forms. some of it, honoring ukraine and its struggle, as in this london street performance of the national anthem by ukrainian baritone yuriy yurchuk. 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 renowned russian conductor valery gergiev, a supporter of president putin. and the metropolitan opera took a step to ring the alarm. general manager peter gelb. >> we can no longer engage with artists or institutions that support putin or are supported by him. not until the invasion has been stopped, order has been restored, and restitutions have been made. >> in the pop culture space, the european broadcasting union announced russia will not be allowed an entry into this year's eurovision song contest, saying the inclusion of a russian competitor would "bring the competition into disrepute." other such moves came fast and

furious in the world of sports. british soccer fans from liverpool and chelsea sang together "you'll never walk alone" in support of ukraine. and european soccer's governing body announced it would move its championship match from st. petersburg to paris. authorities in tennis, gymnastics, diving, skiing and auto racing among others sports have taken their own actions. the international judo federation suspended putin, a black belt in the martial art, as its honorary chairman. in the ukraine, artist pavlo makov expected to represent his country at the prestigious venice biennale this spring, is instead sheltering with his family and practicing his shooting. and in odessa's historic brodsky synagogue a singing of a 19th century version of the ancient jewish hymn, "adon olam" now a prayer for an end to the invasion.

for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. judy: in addition, the international free expression group can america will hold a vigil tonight in new york city. on the newshour online right now, thousands of ukrainians ving 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 on-line and again here tomorrow evening for our regularly scheduled program and special live coverage of president biden's state of the union address. it all begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal is to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect.

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org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is pbs newshour west, from w eta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," bridget makes julia the perfect turkey-thigh confit with citrus mustard sauce. jack challenges julia and bridget to a head-to-head tasting of cranberry sauce. and becky makes bridget updated skillet turkey burgers. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen."