captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the war intensifies. russian armed forces bombard ukrainian cities with heavy shelling, as ukraine's president warns that russia is trying to erase his country's history. then, taking to the streets. an increasing number of russians protest their country's invasion of ukraine, despite the repercussions they could face from tir own government. >> ( translated ): i don't want this war. almost no one here wants it. i want the whole world to see that we don't want it. we don't want it to weigh on our conscience for decades. >> woodruff: and, the state of the union. on the heels of his address to congress, president biden takes his message on the road in hopes of bolstering support ahead of this year's midterm elections.

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thank you. >> woodruff: the united nations overwhelmingly voted to denounce the russian invasion of ukraine today, as the now week-long war grinds on in the north, east, and the south of ukraine. meantime, the u.n. also reported that as of now, more than 800,000 ukrainians have fled for surrounding nations. after refusing comment for days, the russians today said nearly 500 of its troops have been killed, and 1,500 wounded. those numbers are believed to be actually much higher. meantime, prosecutors at the international criminal court have formally opened an investigation into possible war crimes committed in ukraine. and, after vladimir putin raised russia's nuclear alert level on sunday, the u.s. said today that it would cancel the test of

a nuclear-capable ballistic missile, in the interest of not raising tensions further. nick schifrin is in the city of lviv, in western ukraine, and he begins our coverage. >> schifrin: today, in ukraine's second-largest city, the brutal bombardments of russia's unrestricted warfare. ( explosion ) a russian rocket gut kharkiv's police and intelligence headquarters. also damaged, karazin university, one of the first universities in the russian empire-- destroying a part of russian heritage moscow is claiming to protect. nearby, a cruise missile hit kharkiv's city hall. a volunteer filmed just before impact. ( missile incoming ) ( explosion ) and, despite promises to only target the military, russian strikes demolished residential buildings. residents salvaged what they could carry. after the bombing, another resident filmed the damage inside his apartment. >> ( translated ): my city destroyed too much. people suffered. all the time, we sit in the basement, hiding. >> schifrin: 37-year-old darya

grygoryeva is from kharkiv. yesterday morning, she and her family braved a gauntlet of attacks, and fled the city. >> i cannot feel myself safe now, because my heart still feels like jumped out the chest. >> schifrin: but despite her and her husband's trauma, they are trying to protect-- and shield-- their children. how are your children doing? >> they said that it is very scary. kids that coulhear the sounds for a long time, thestart crying. we tried to keep them safe all the time. we didn't allow them to come close to wdows. >> schifrin: when your children ask you what was going on, what did you tell them? >> i just said that it is not safe to stay in our city anymore. i didn't say that it is a war. i'm not ready to say it. i don't want them to know it. i want them to be safe, and i want them to stay human, you

know? i want them to believe war are exist only in games. but it's not. >> schifrin: in kyiv, there are suburbs that are burning. the targets include homes and playgrounds. and in the city center, women and children shelter inside subway stations. maternity hospitals have moved their operations underground. others tried to flee the city over a bridge the ukrainian military destroyed to halt oncoming russian tanks. according to a british assessment, russia now controls territory-- in red-- in the north, northeast, and southeast, and is advancing toward kyiv in the north, mariupol in the southeast, and mykoliv in the south. russian soldiers also surround five cities, and are expected to further advance, in three separate areas. but the u.s. and ukraine say russia is struggling with basic logistics. soldiers who don't have enough

food ransacked a convenience store for anything to eat. u.s. officials say the giant convoy near kyiv is also struggling to get enough fuel. but ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky warned, today, there are miles to go before they sleep. >> ( translated ): the time will come when we will be able to sleep. but it will be after the war. after the victory. today, you, ukrainians, are a symbol of invincibility. a symbol that people in any country can become the best people on earth at any moment. >> schifrin: this is literally a bomb shelter. >> yeah. >> schifrin: and so you-- you thought this would be the safest place to be? 28-year-old oleg boynoifsky is not hiding beneath this soviet-era factory. he's doing what he can to help fight the war-- volunteering to receive donations from ukrainians and other europeans and ship it to families near the front. why is it important for you-- it seems, for every ukrainian-- to pitch in? >> because it's our land. we are fine here.

it's already 30 years from end of soviet union, and now we are raising as a nation, as a country. >> schifrin: are you afraid? >> no, i'm mad and-- mad, angry, and i want to finish it. but i want to save as many lives as we can. >> schifrin: to save lives, they take medicine, bags of clothes, and replacement prized possessions for traumatized children. they makes the long journey east-- by car, or if the roads are blocked by russian soldiers, by train. rostyslav radysh engineered this effort with his phone: he launched this telegram chat last week-- today, it has more than 22,000 members. digital resistance, where previous ukrainian efforts failed-- in 1932, the soviet union forced a famine on ukraine that killed millions. >> it's not a new war for us because of-- in previous age, russians-- also wanted to kill

everybody in ukraine. but in previous age, we didn't have a big and good communication between ukrainians and it-- it was harder thait is at this moment, now, when we can send messages. and now when we can be united. >> we will win this war. i-- i know it for sure. because we are on our land, and everyone is fighting for our country. not only soldiers. it's 48 million people that want to live on this land and want to be free. >> repter: today, president zeleky referred to an attack yesterday that damaged a memorial to e tens of thousands of jews killed in the single largest nazi massacre of world war ii and said today's russian government wants to "erase our history, erase our

country, erase us all." in the face of existential threats, ukrainians are trying to maintain their rethe siliyens. daria, the woman we spoke to earlier who fled kharkiv, said she wants return to her city to rebuild. she didn't know when or if that would be possible. >> woodruff: so moving, these stories. nick schifrin reporting live from lviv in ukraine. thank you, nick. meantime, russian russian citizens by the thousands are protesting the war in ukraine, at great personal risk to themselves, as the putin government cracks down on all kinds of dissent. special correspondent ryan chilcote reports from moscow. (chanting in russian) >> reporter: from yekaterinburg... (chanting in russian) >> ( translated ): no to war! >> reporter: ...to st. petersburg... (chanting in russian) >> ( translated ): no to war! >> reporter: ...to the capital, moscow, thousands of russians across the country sharing one chant, one voice, spilling into streets and city squares outraged ever since president

vladimir putin last week ordered a full-scale invasion of neighboring ukraine. >> ( translated ): war must be stopped. it must be. it's crazy what's going on right now. we should all shout no to war! >> reporter: many protesters say they don't want to feel as if they have ukrainian blood on their nds. >> ( translated ): i don't want this war. almost no one here wants it. i want the whole world to see that we don't want it. we don't want it to weigh on our conscience for decades. i don't want tfeel guilty for living here through my whole life. >> reporter: russians see ukrainians as brothers and sisters-- plenty have family and friends there. olga mikheeva doesn't want putin's assault to lead to both countries' destruction. >> ( translated ): it is a crime both against ukraine and russia. i think it is killing both ukraine and russia. i am outraged, i haven't slept for three nights, and i think we must now declare very loudly that we don't want to be killed and don't want ukraine to be killed. >> reporter: but as swiftly as

russians began to decry the conflict, so too came the armed police to strangle the dissent. one video on social media showed russian security forces in st. petersburg roughing up a woman holding a peace sign and a baby. speaking out risks not only physical harm, but russian authorities warned protestors could face criminal charges that could ma their records for life. an independent monitoring group reports that more than 6,000 demonstrators to this point have been arrested. the crackdown also extended online to facebook, as russia's state communications regulator announced some restrictions on accessing the platform. but facebook and other tech giants like apple, google, and microsoft are flexing their muscle on moscow, limiting the reach of kremlin-controlled media outlets. and some prominent russians have been callingor restraint in the war their country started. oligarchs like billionaire oleg deripaska and steel baron alexei mordashov have called for

peace. sanctions are beginning to threaten the russian economy. comedian and popular talk-show host ivan urgant posted a black square on instagram captioned with “fear and pain, no to war”" his show was then taken off the air. the russian tv station said removing it had nothing to do with his post. and last week, tennis star andrey rublev, ranked 7th in the world, wrote three words on a camera lens after winning a tournament match...“ no war please.” just the week prior, he had won a doubles title with partner denys molchano, a ukrainian. as the condemnations, protests, and crackdowns continue, the russians, and not to mention ukrainians, are not alone in their outrage. demonstrations erupted around the rld after putin launched his assault. from the ancient city of jerusalem... ...to new york city, home of the largest ukrainian population in

the u.s. to berlin, where more than 100- thousand protesters made a show of force. as more and more countries rally around ukraine, will vladimir putin bow to the pressure? and inside russia, how long can the dissent last? and how far is moscow willing to go to drown it out? for the pbs newshour, i'm ryan chilcote in moscow. >> woodruff: for more on the russian invasion of ukraine, plus the reaction and resistance to it-- we turn to dmitri alperovitch, a cybersecurity and national security expert and the co-founder of the silverado policy accelerator, a washington-based think tank. dmitri alperovitch, welcome back to the "newshour". give us your sense of the status of the fight right now in ukraine. we learned this afternoon that the russians have apparently taken over their first city, herson, in the south. >> i would say the results are mixed. obviously their initial plan was widely believed to have been ill

conceived based on this notion the ukrainian armed forces would just melt away and they could roll over into kyiv with minimal forces. that backfired badly, but now they're regrouping, doing major assaults particularly supported with long-range fires, artillery, missiles, air strikes touppress ukrainian forces. i have to say they're also making advances on the ground. they've made a 400-kilometer dash towards mariupol toward the south in crimea in about five days. to p compare this in the iraq war in baghdad that was a 550-kilometer dash that took forces two weeks to accomplish. russians in the south have a pace of advance that more than twice excised what the u.s. did in 2003. >> woodruff: interesting. we haven't seen that much reporting from that part of the country. you and others were saying to us and to others just yesterday that the sense had been hat the

russian troops were under supply, that there was low morale. what was going on there in the beginning? >> well, that certainly is still the case. the logistics are a mess and not famous 40-kilometer column moving towards kyiv is stick. it is using roads that are very small, in some cases two-lane roads and, of course, a vehicle breaks down. if it runs out of fuel, the whole column stops, and that's really really challenging to do. the traffic control management is very complicated when you're moving these massive forces around and the russians are encountering the problems. morale is bad in part because they're attacking a country with no pretext. the troops learned apparently minutes before they were supposed to invade that they were going to invade ukraine without being told what to do, and you can looks a lot like russia. the older women look like a grandmother, it's a tough fight for them. >> woodruff: your information

is that's changing. >> reporter: it is in part because they're suffering casualties. when your buddy is dying next to you, you get hardened. what we're seeing now is barbarity on the part of the russian troops. we've seen cases where they killed civilians, targeted civilians, seeing indiscriminate fire on cities and i'm afraid that's only going to continue now. >> woodruff:icle pair what they have to the weaponry on the part of the ukrainians. we know the n.a.t.o., the united states have begun, have been supplying some weapons to them but just how outmatched are the ukrainians? >> reporter: the weapons splice are really these anti-tank weapons, the javelins and some of the weapons the europeans are providing, the stinger missiles to take down helicopters will be helpful and the ukrainians are using them very effectively. they need drones and air

defenses to shoot down the planes, the russian bomber strikes they're now doing. >> woodruff: how much difference is that going to make? >> reporter: it's going to make some difference but if the russians want to take kyiv, they're going to be able to take kyiv. they may do it in the way they took down chechnya back 20 years ago by decimating the city. they did that in aleppo as well supported by syrian forces turning it into complete dust. unfortunately that may be the reality kyiv will be facing in the coming weeks. >> woodruff: and your information from the people you're talking to, is it the russians are prepared to resort to those tactics? >> reporter: that's their doctrine. i think everyone expects them to use absolute brutality to accomplish their objective. the problem with vladimir putin is he's committed. he can't p pull back, he's already suffered the consequences for this war in terms of the very harsh economic sanctions put on russia. you're seeing the descents

across russia to finish this war so he has to try to get something out of it without pulling back and not being able to save face. >> woodruff: how much difference do you think the protests we just saw in the rert from ryan chilcote could make for him? is he likely -- is that likely to have any bearing on his thinking? >> reporter: i don't think it's likely because they're able to suppress them. the security forces are still squarely on his side. what i'm looking for is the cracks in the military apparatus. they're feeling pressure from the sanctions as well. a lot of them are corrupt, they have a lot of resources overseas. if they see their own personal savings and the family savings go down the tubes because of what vladimir putin is saying they may very well say it's time for the old man to go and that's when his regime is really in trouble. >> woodruff: but at this point you don't see that? >> reporter: i think it's unlikely. but the chance is no longer easier. i would have told you a few

weeks ago there's no way this would happen. but now you're starting to see the tracks. even people who supported putin for two decades are coming out against this war. this is not at all popular in russia. >> woodruff: dmitri alperovitch, we thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as nations increase economic pressure on russia, president biden has warned that some of those moves could also end up hurting u.s. consumers-- especially at the gas pump. gas prices are already high, further pinching consumers who are also dealing with high inflation. so, how big a hit might americans take in the weeks and months ahead? william brangham has the story. >> brangham: judy, nearly a week into russia's invasion of ukraine, global oil prices have reached a peak $113 a barrel-- that's the highest price since 2014.

in the u.s., the national average for a gallon of gas is now $3.65. and there are questions now about how high those prices could go, as sanctions for russia's invasion continue to ratchet up. for more on this, and what might be done to curtail the economic impacts, i'm joined by bob mcnally, president of rapidan energy group. bob mcnally, great to have you back on the "newshour". broadly speaking, can you help us understand what is driving these prices up? is this principally a response to russia and ukraine? >> you know, it's two things. before the russian attack on ukraine, oil prices had rine sharply up from the $60 to the $90 raining and that was because the glob oil market is tight, demand has been quite strong, supply has been lagging, inventories are low. so that brought us from the '60s to the '90s. it's the invasion of ukraine and

specifically the severe sanctions that were announced over the weekend that startled the market and put another $10 into the price of crude oil so that we're now at about $110 wti. >> reporter: the u.s. and this global coalition seem to have a double-edged sword here. they want to inflict as much pain as possible on russia and vladimir putin but they don't want the pain to boomerang back on to their own societies. can they manage that balance? what are the leavers that the west and this coalition have to protect their own citizens? >> they're certainly trying to do so. the first thing is to say we're going to impose nctions but not on russia's oil and gas exports because the exports are so big our own consumers will see higher plies. they're trying to take sanctions to say we're not touching russian oil prices.

that's number one. the second thing is a withdrawal of strategic stocks from the i.e.a. system, and that will help a little bit, not too much, in taking some of the edge off and dropping another 60 million barrels into the market. but the only good option president biden has really is to call up saudi arabia and u.a.e. and ask them to accelerate their production. he also, if he signs the iran nuclear deal, he'll get another bunch of oil that way as well, iran's oil will go up by about a million barrels a day. so those are his real options. >> reporter: we saw opec resist calls thus far for any further oil supply, the creation of more oil supply. is it your sense that if they did pick up the phone to make those calls and exert that pressure that it would be fruitful? >> i ti think so. i think if the president of the united states called up the crown prince and he's been reluctant to do so for understandable reasons, but if

he were to do so and put it on the line not on for saudi arabia but u.a.e. and say this is a time to choose and to help not the only the united states but your broader consumers from china to western europe, there's a chance they would accelera their increases in production. >> reporter: we've also seen major oil companies b.p. most notably saying they're pulling their investments out of russia. would that contribute to this problem and will that also be an effective lever, do you think, against the russians. >> reporter: no, that's really a longer term issue. exxon pulling out, shell pulling out, they're pulling out of projects already operating and they will do so carefully so they don't disrupt production. for now and for the forthcoming months it's not going to really disrupt supplies. >>eporter: we are still

early days in this and don't really now how th invasion will play out or how much additional sanctions might be levied against the russians. what are you looking toward the future? what concerns you the most? >> well, i do have concerns and i wish i had better news. unfortunately, crude oil prices and, therefore, gasoline prices will keep rising till one of two things happens, either authorities will make it very clear that russia is not going to be blockaded or its oil exports aren't going to be cut off or president putin doesn't do it himself so they will have to remove the risk of supply, or we'll have a recession. one of the two things will happen, otherwise, oil prices will keep rising. that's the brutal math of the global oil market. >> reporter: i know you're not a political analyst per se but we know americans react badly when gas prices go up, we have the midterm elections coming up. do you think the president might be put in a situation where his

efforts against russia are starting to hurt him domestically, politically? that's entirely possible. i worked for president bush and am familiar with the precious the president is under over energy. gas prices are up 10% since january, 60 to 70. the white house is taking pains to try to avoid restricting russia's oil exports so they minimize the hike in oil pres and the pain on consumers, but he can't control the global oil market and may be the price of punishing putin is paying for itself maybe into the midterms, certainly. >> reporter: bob mcnally, president of the rapid, an energy group. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, president biden hit the road, seeking momentum after his state of the union address. he traveled to the wisconsin/ minnesota border-- and the site of an aging bridge-- to tout his billion-dollar infrastructure program. it is part of his effort to rebuild his political support ahead of the mid-term elections. we'll get details, after the news summary. the head of the federal reserve has confirmed that he expects to start raising interest rates this month. jerome powell said today that he supports a traditional quarter-point increase. he d not rule out bigger hikes if inflation keeps accelerating. at a congressional hearing, powell also acknowledged that the russian invasion of ukraine could make conditions more volatile. >> given the current situation, we need to move carefully, and we will. and we will be nimble. we'll be looking at the situation as it evolves, and

again, we will use our tools to add to fancial stability, not to create uncertainty. >> woodruff: the fed is widely expected to raise interest rates at least five times this year. this month's increase would be the first since 2018. the biden white house has rolled out a new, 90-page covid preparedness plan. officials say the goal is to stop letting the virus dictate how americans live. the plan would provide free antiviral pills at pharmacies to those who test positive. it also envisions vaccines that work against multiple strains of a virus. >> we've reached a new moment in the fight with covid-19. today, we are in a position to move forward safely, and to get back to our more normal routines. funding from congress will be critical for these efforts, so we will be working very closely with capital hill going forward. >> woodruff: officials did not say how much funding they'll ask for. meanwhile, the defense department lifted the indoor masking mandate at the pentagon, in keeping with new

c.d.c. guidance. police in new zealand today broke up a camp for protesters targeting pandemic restrictions. officers moved in on the site set up three weeks ago, outside parliament. some protesters fought back, throwing things and burning tents and mattresses. the prime minister condemned their actions. >> we have a difficult journey in front of us, to address the underlying cause of what we have seen here today. but in doing so, we will never, ever excuse it. it was an attack on our frontline police, it was an attack on our parliament, it was an attack on our values, and it was wrong. >> woodruff: police also towed cars and arrested at least 65 people. it came as new zealand is facing its biggest outbreak yet, with the spread of omicron. in neighboring australia, thousands of people were ordered to evacuate near sydney, and the death toll reached 14 from record flooding.

a powerful storm cell dumped as much as 8 inches of rain after rolling south from brisbane. rivers along sydney's western edge reached historic levels, and offials warned the flooding could be the worst in more than 60 years. the united nations will begin drafting a global treaty on plastic pollution. a total of 175 natio agreed unanimously today to come up with a proposed document by 2024. it is meant to be legally binding, and to cover the life-cycle of plastics, from production to design to disposal. back in this country, back in this country, texas republican congressman vantaylor dropped out of his reelection race after admitting to an extra marital affair. he had been forced into a runoff in tuesday's primary. in other results, republican governor greg abbott and democratic governor greg abbott and democratic challenger beto o'rourke will face off in november. the trump-endorsed republican attorney general ken paxton

will meet george p. bush in a may runoff. and, democratic congressman henry cuellar also faces a may runoff with jessica cisneros, his progressive opponent. and on wall street, stocks bounced back, on hopes that any interest rate hikes by the federal reserve will be modest. major indexes were up well over 1.5%. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 600 points to close at 33,891. the nasdaq rose 219 points. the s&p 500 added 80. still to come on the newshour: republican senator rob portman offers his take on ukraine and the state of the union address. we hear from two ukrainian parents facing a dangerous future for their families. plus, much more.

>> woodruff: more than 30 million americans watched as president biden delivered his first state of the union address last night. and today, he hit the campaign trail to promote his domestic agenda in a key midwest state. geoff bennett has our report. >> reporter: president joe biden is back in the battleground state of wisconsin today... >> hello, wisconsin. >> reporter: ...to tout the roads and bridges being built as part of his bipartisan infrastructure law. >> now, after years of talking about infrastructure, we're finally getting it done. >> reporter: wisconsin helped secure biden's 2020 victory, and his stop in the battleground state builds on a key theme of his state of the union address. arguing, his economic agenda, with a focus on infrastructure investments and american manufacturing, creates jobs and makes the u.s. more competitive. the president also touting individual policies to reduce prescription drug costs, and

provide affordable child care; elder care; and universal pre-k; without mentioning the words "build back better," the name of his stalled legislative package. >> i call it "building a better america." my plan to fight inflation will lower your costs and lower the deficit. 17 nobel laureates in economics say my plan will ease long-term inflationary pressures. >> reporter: with national polls showing his job approval ratings plummeting, the president is attempting to reset his priorities, while giving his party a roadmap for the midterm elections in november. that means easing americans' concerns over the pandemic and surging inflation, all while confronting russia's invasion of ukraine. in his tuesday night address, biden condemned russia for what he called an unprovoked and unjustified invasion. >> putin has unleashed violence and chaos. russia's vladimir putin sought

to shake the foundations of the free world, thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. but he badly miscalculated. >> reporter: this morning, speaking to reporters, the president said "it's clear" that russia is targeting ukrainian civilians, but stopped short of saying whether the country has committed war crimes. >> do you believe russia is committing war crimes in ukraine? >> we are following it very closely. it's early to say that. >> reporter: with the ukraine crisis looming over his domestic agenda, democrats pushing another of the president's key priorities, with the supreme court confirmation process officially kicking off today. the president's nominee, judge ketanji brown jackson, beginning the customary series of meet and greets with key senators-- sit-downs today with senate majority leader chuck schumer, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, and the democratic and republican leaders of the senate judiciary committee. >> i want this to be fair, timely, and professional. >> reporter: the committee announcing today that hearings

on jackson's nomination will start on march 21. two days have been put aside for questioning jackson, then another day for additional witnesses to testify. senator schumer says he wants the confirmation process finished by april 8. if confirmed, jackson would be the first black woman to serve on the nation's high court. all of it coming at a pivotal moment for president biden, at home and abroad. for thpbs newshour, i'm geoff bennett. >> woodruff: for reaction to president biden's state of the union address, and especially to what the administration is doing with regards to ukraine, we turn to a republican on the foreign relations committee, the co-chair of the senate's ukraine caucus, senator rob portman of ohio. i spoke with him moments ago.

senator portman, thank you very much for joining us. what is your reaction to what president biden had to say last night about ukraine and your reaction to the overall response of this administration to that crisis? >> i thought the ukrainian comments were the strongest part of the speech, and so did others, as you saw, got a standi ovation from both sides to have aisle. it's important we stay unified not just with americans but freedom-loving countries around the globe because it's the only chance we have to be successful here, and to stand with ukraine is the right place to stand for everyone, including countries who have yet to step foard, like china. you're either for tyranny or the people of ukraine. i was encouraged to see that part of the speech be so well received. i advocated for more sanctions earlier on, pre-invasion advantages. we weren't successful in getting that done, but the sanctions came and extensively and they're

tough sanctions once the invasion happened. i had hoped we could have done it before the invasion because i thought it might have an effect of changing vladimir putin's mind. i don't know that but now we're where we are so we need to continue to tighten the noose on the putin economy and, of course, cut off the oil from russia. that just makes noense to me. we'll have to make adjustments in terms of our refinery capacity, it's only 4% of our oil but we certainly shouldn't be sending millions of dollars every day to the putin regime to help finance this war. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about several of those things, senator, but i want to ask you about your comment that the united states needs to be speeding more lethal assistance to ukraine. today the secretary of state antony blinken said the administration -- i'm quoting -- he said it's very actively working every day, every hour to provide assistance, make sure it gets to where it needs to go. i think you have a good idea of what the administration is sending, but you're saying

that's not enough? >> first of all, i appreciate the fact that the american people are funding so much support for the ukrainian people, allowing them to protect themselves. ukrainians have not asked for us to be on the ground over years, but they have said they need more help. i have been a strong advocate for that. we're finally doing it in larger numbers, i think that's great. two areas we can help more, one is aircraft which they desperately know. europeans talked ant providing mig fighters which the ukrainians can operate as compared to our fighters and bombers, and today there was news some of that is being pulled back. i think it's in the united states interest to be involved and compensate the european companies for the kind of fighters the ukrainians can fly and be effective using. second is with regard to drones. again, our drones are probably not appropriate because it requires months if not years of training, but there are other

drones that are on the market where the united states could help with regard to, again, purchasing those for compensating countries like turkey to provide that capability. we've all seen this horrible image of miles and miles of russian tanks and armored vehicles moving towards kyiv and no resistance and part of it is the air power superiority the russians havare making it difficult. i think there are things that are more creative to do something in addition to the small arms we were sendingwhich is needed for the javelin plies also to knock down the tanks and the stinger missiles to knock down the airspace, so i think there's more on that we can do. >> woodruff: you don't have any concerns sending some of these splice assuming they could get there quickly enough could be intercepted by the russians at some point? >> their presence isn't in western ukraine so we still have the ability to send in things from poland, romania, hungary.

and we have a way to do it and take advantage of that. >> woodruff: you mentioned the oil a moment ago, senator, saying the u.s. should stop bying oil. you've advocated for more energy independence in this country. there is, as you know, pushback from those who say, yes, we need to do all we can to hurt the russians, but we also need to think in the future about climate change, and this country, rather than going all in, again, on oil, needs to think long range. >> well, there are two obvious answers to that, judy. one is, you know, the russian oil is a lot dirtier than our oil including how they produce it. you look at the methane map to ha the world and you see the players to russian and their natural gas production. it's not a good bargain to bring oil from russian to the united states and all the energy costs associated with that in addition to how they produce it. two, substituting it with

north americans would make sense in an environmental point of view. two, we should do all we can in our country to keep gas prices down. >> woodruff: i have time for one more. i want to come back t president biden's state of the union, several calls me made for cooperationworking with republicans and one of those areas is beefing up american manufacturing, including your home state of ohio. he mentioned intel, talked about g.m. do you see these as ventures that are good for the economy, the country and ohio? >> i do, and i think the competes act which is something that passed the senate, different version passed the house, is very important to be enacted. that's what he talked about in providing help for the semiconductor industry, the so-called chips act. i'm all for that partly because ohio will benefit and because of intel, but more importantly because our country needs to be able to compete in this area. we only make 12% of the world's

super semiconductors now and you've seen this with regard to our supply chain problems, you know, whether automobiles or electronics or washing machines, they all use the chips. so it's important we have the ability to rely more on u.s. sources. so i think this is an opportunity for us to do on a bipartisan basis. >> woodruff: senator rob portman of ohio, we thank you very much. >> thanks, judy, we appreciate it. >> woodruff: and, we'll be back shortly to get the perspectives of ukrainian parents trying to protect their families in the midst of war. 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. >> woodruff: for those stations

staying with us, we take an encore look at a prominent poet confronting her own private pain and society's broader collective struggles. jeffrey brown has the story for our arts and culture series, "canvas." ♪ ♪ ♪ >> brown: more than 20 years ago, the poet rita dove and her husband fred viebahn took up ballroom dancing. it was originally an escape, a bit of joy, after a fire had damaged their charlottesville, virginia home. soon, though, it gained new importance, after dove was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1997. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i, so, basically had to learn to regain my balance. i lost feeling in my fingers and my toes. luckily, my husband and i do ballroom dancing. and that helped me, because i learned a different way of feeling pressure on the floor. it's trite to say, you know, when life hands you a lemon, you'll make lemonade. but basically, that's what i was doing, making a lot of lemonade.

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome rita dove. >> brown: dove is one of the nation's best-known poets: former poet laureate, winner of the pulitzer prize, professor at the university of virginia, editor of an anthology of american poetry. but she'd kept her condition private-- until now, in a new volume that explores both her personal health and our collective well-being. it's called "playlist for the apocalypse." >> it's an idea of how to live with a group of poems, have them accompany you through life. so, when i was putting together this book, i thought, you know, what are we all doing in this pandemic? we are trying to find ways to live through it. and so these poems were meant in a way that's a kind of an accompaniment. >> brown: i get the idea of the "playlist." but "for the apocalypse?" so you mean, the pandemic? you mean our political situation? what do you mean? >> all of the above. but also, i would say that the

word "apocalypse" can mean the end of the days, but it also can mean a revelation or, you know, a resurrection. so there's a little bit of hope in there, too. >> brown: the pandemic helped slow her down, she says, to "hear" this playlist of the everyday, and of the nation's history. ("beside the golden door") >> "surely there must be something beautiful to smile upon-- the umbered blue edge of sky as it fades into evening, the brusque green heave of the sea." >> brown: the poem, "beside the golden door," begins a section titled "a standing witness," of verses on key figures and moments from the last decades of american history, up to the present. it ends this way: >> "truth would say these are arrogant times. believers slaughter their doubters while the greedy oil their lips with excuses and the righteous turn merciless; the merciful, mad."

the poem itself is a lament, in a way, but it's also a kind of plea. it's plea for, come, let's come together. i still believe that we listen more closely to a whisper than to a shout. but in the middle of everything that's happened in the past five, six, seven years and the pandemic, this kind of rage was bubbling up in me. at such a point, i decided, you know, it was unhealthy to hold it in. i'd better let it out. >> brown: tell me how you think of history, as a poet, and how you speak to it. >> i believe that poets, as i think all artists, you are really connected to the world and to life. and as a black woman, from a very early age, i understood that there was a history and there was history.

in fact, that mainstream history did not include me or did not look at me as i thought of myself. >> brown: also there now, the effects of an illness that has prevented dove from playing her viola da gamba and cello. she's a great lover of classical music. it also forced her to relearn to write by hand. that's how she'd always written her poems. now, she uses a computer much of the time. ("blues, straight") >> "...no reason for it: i just find myself on pause-- paused for longer than is proper. if i were more seasoned, i'd ignore it." >> brown: in the poem "blues, straight," dove addresses head-on some of the pains of everyday life. >> "the cup of plenty runneth over, ruins my hands-- i've scrubbed them, but they won't come clean. strange, i know, to wish for nothing. a day

to live through. a scream." >> brown: dove says she's learned to manage her illness, and feels incredibly lucky. she writes in one poem of" loving every minute spent jostling syllables," and then" each word caught right." >> i wish i could explain the mystery of that moment where everything sparks and starts to come together. but what i love to do is to wrestle with the language, because language is what a writer has. it's our tool, it's our clay. and it sounds terrifically nerdy... but,ou know, i'll sit there and debate-- comma or dash? and, but it has something to do with the music of the words, too. >> brown: you've spent a life as a very public poet, really making a case for poetry out in the world. i wonder what you're thinking about for the future. how important is it for you

still to be out there in the public talking to people about poetry, reading poetry for them? >> it's really important for me. because what we still don't have in this world, at least in this country particularly, is a sense of true communication. when you sit down and read a poem to yourself or even in a room with other people, what you feel inside is all yours. ( laughs ) and yet you can feel that everyone around you is also feeling it. what an incredible feeli! so yes, i'm committed to it. i'm ready to come out again. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> brown: a feeling we all share. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: the number of ukrainians who have fled the country because of russia's invasion could exceed one million within days. many more are still in ukraine, unsure of what the next day will bring.

two ukrainian parents, in different parts of the country, shared their experience with us, as they desperately try to keep themselves and their families safe. >> i'm inna kozub. i'm living in kharkiv. people are very frightened who is in apartment, because they hear constant bombing.

( crying )

>> i'm vladislav stadnyk, and i'm from kiev myself. the big war has caught us while we were on a family retreat, skiing in the motains, in the western part of ukraine, and we planned this vacation since the summer, like most normal families do, and we hope that nothing like that would ever happen to ukraine. so, what i've been doing for the past several days is collecting money from everywhere, everywhere in ukraine-- from the diaspora, from just, you know, people, just from all across the world, and trying to purchase everything we can in the neighboring countries. vests, you know, bulletproof

vests, helmets, and just simple stuff like that. what is absolutely incredible is how quickly all of us just simply, you know, changed. their normal way of being. i have, you know, i have a regular job, like everyone else, which i go to 9:00 to 5:00. i travel a lot. i do a blog about heavy metal music for myself. yet all of these things have just suddenly became absolutely unimpoant. and you understand that the only thing which is important to you is the safety of your family first, and then the safety of your country. the scariest thing is-- is to hear your daughter, who is, you know, i have two daughters, one of them is four, and the other one is one. just asking you, "hey, why can't we go home?" and "when will the russians go away from our land, and why did they come?"

and just having the struggle of, you know, how do we explain a thing like that to a four-year- old? and how do you make it so it doesn't scar her for life, so it doesn't take away, you know, her childhood? >> woodruff: how do you explain it to a four-year-old and how do you believe it's the 21st century. these are ukrainian parents. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv.

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♪ hello, everyone, welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> i am happy that we are unified today, all of you, all of the countries of the european union. but i did not know this is the price we have to pay. >> president zelenskyyleads with the eu for more help as 40 mile russian convoy heads toward him in kyiv. the ukrainian foreign minister joins us. then -- >> we want to inflict serious damages to the russian economy and financial system. >> my interview with french finance minister bruno le maire or sanctions to stop putin's war machine. and