♪ yamiche: a week of war in europe. and challenges here at home. >> we are fighting just for our land and our freedom. nobody is going to break us. we are strong. we are ukrainians. yamiche:ussia's assault on ukraine intensifies, becoming more deadly as civilians are targeted and the crisis grows. plus -- pres. biden: freedom will always triumph over tyranny. [applause] yamiche: at the state of the union, president biden enjoys a rare moment of bipartisan support for his handling of ukraine, but pressure is mounting for the president to do more. >> biden went through a litany of acknowledging some of the problems we face in this country, but utterly denying any responsibility for it. yamiche: meanwhile, president

biden's domestic agenda remains installed -- remains stalled. >> this is "washington week." corporate funding is 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. our u.s.-based customer service team can find one that fits he. -- fits you. >> additional funding is provided by, the estate of arnold adams. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. robert and susan rosa bomb. the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> once again, from washington, moderator yamiche alcindor. yamiche: could evening and welcome to "washington week." this week russia's bloodied war with ukraine is escalating. russian forces appear to be making the biggest gains yet. troops are close to capturing ukraine's vital port cities along the black sea, but the capital kyiv and many other largcities still stand. russian forces have been met with unexpected resistance, including from ukrainian civilians. >> this is the task of every ukrainian right now, to defend our country. even women and children are trying to stop tanks with their bare hands. this is my land. whoever comes here will go to help. yamiche: all week president zelinski has been the face of the resistance. he has been pleading for help, more help from the west. in the meantime, almost one million people have fled ukraine.

the situation is becoming a large-scale humanitarian crisis. the u.n. predicts 10 million ukrainians, roughly a quarter of the entire population, could be displaced. on tuesday night in his first state of the union, president biden delivered a strong rebuke of russian president vladimir putin. pres. biden: he thought the west and nato would not respond. he thought he could divide us at home, in this chamber and this nation, but putin was wrong. we are ready. we are united. that is what we did. we stayed united. yamiche: the biden administration and its allies are ramping up sanctions on the russian economy. they are targeting oligarchs, companies, and the country's banking system. joining me tonight to discuss all this and more, nick schifrin , foreign affairs and defense correspondent for pbs newshour, joining us from ukraine, and up late sec. leigh ann caldwell, correspondent for nbc news.

nick schifrin, correspondent for cbs news. and jeff zeleny for cnn. nick, i have to start with you. this week, the world watched in horror as russia captured cities and at one point even seized control of europe's largest nuclear plant. what is the latest on the ground as we have seen civilians and the ukrainian military try to fight back? nick: i think what mostly you are seeing over the last 24 hours is russia expanding its bombardment, expanding its attacks on civilian areas, expanding its indiscriminate shelling frankly against civilian targets, especially in the south. you see examples of russian troops moving from donetsk, from russian separatists or pro-russian separatists have been operating since 2014. you see russian troops moving

west, along the south. the key target is mary a pole. that is where we are seeing syrian like tactics. the line was cement or starve. there has been no food, no water, no sanitation there for three days. there is frankly no way for those residents to get out from a russian cordon around the city. yamiche: as you talk about syrian tactics, you told our producers this situation is the single fastest refugee creation since world war ii, even more than syria. talk about what you have seen on the ground as the humanitarian crisis grows. what sticks to you when you talk to people? nick: there are families up and down this country being uprooted after 10 or 30 minutes, simply families who don't believe it is safe to stay in their homes. they are going through gauntlets

of russian attacks, whether from the southeast or the east in kharkiv. we heard stories of people packing onto trains and hearing explosions as they take attorneys that are supposed to last eight hours that instead -- take journeys that are supposed to take eight hours that instead take 36 hours. there are countless stories of families trying to get out of the country, not being able to. countless stories of children being traumatized by what they are seeing and hearing and of course families who are still in bomb shelters. there are some who have been in bomb shelters, essentially living there for multiple days, especially in kyiv, especially kharkiv, especially these cities being hit by russian bombardment, whether from the air, artillery, and again increasingly indiscriminate. increasingly clear the targets

are civilian. yamiche: talking about the countless stories of families traumatized and that image of th ese families is really leading to mounting pressure on president biden to do more. the white house said it is weighing a range of options, including banning u.s. imports of russian oil. what is the latest you are hearing from the white house? weijia: i think the white house is well aware of this drumbeat from bipartisan members on the hill, asking whether or not they can do that. i think there is more support as these images out of ukraine come out. however, from day one president biden has made clear that his strategy is to do whatever he can to cripple the russian economy without impacting the u.s. economy. just today the white house repeated many times that even though there is now bipartisan support for sanctions on the energy sector, that that comes

at a price. clearly they want to do everything they can before doing that because that is where americans will really feel the pain, which they are already feeling at the gas pumps because of the instability. even though there is this mounting pressure, i think it will be a hard sell for the administration, even though they have said they are looking at options. it is very basic math. you cut off supply and demand remains the same, it will cost more. i think they are weighing how long they can go without doing that in addition to weighing how much it will have an impact on russia's economy. is it worth it? at this point the answer is no. yamiche: that same question, is it worth it, is why president biden has continued to be adamant that the u.s. military is not going to engage militarily with russia. i wonder if i could get a quick

follow-up. is there anyway go room as we hear the president of ukraine pleading for a no-fly zone and russian forces continuing to take these escalating steps? weijia: that is another point that top officials have not swayed from. the answer in short is no. there is not an on/off switch you can turn to create this no-fly zone. that requires involvement, that requires shooting down these russian aircraft that are currently in the airspace. it is not like the russians are just going to see some bright sign that says "you can't fly here" and stop. that means military involvement. president biden is not willing to do it at this point, and may be at any point. he has been so far, saying i will not put u.s. troops on the ground, in the air, because this is not our fight we are going to

get involved in. the u.s. will not unilaterally defend ukraine, however it will uphold its commitment to nato. what we have to watch next is how unhinged putin becomes. last night was a frightening example of his escalation. if he were to go beyond ukraine and start attacking americans, that is a different story. yamiche: it is a very different story. leigh ann, even with all this going on, there is a bipartisan call for president biden. what is the latest on capitol hill? leigh ann: there is a moment of unity on capitol hill that is rare these days. there is a lot of support for president biden the and banningm and oil products from russian. that is getting a lot of bipartisan support, trying to

put pressure on the white house to act. now even though a lot of this could be symbolic, the only gets about 10% or less of its oil from russia. the global oil markets are global. if the u.s. does not import oil from russia, perha china or other places will do the same they will be able to sell that elsewhere perhaps. congress thinks they have a moral objective and responsibility to ban this oil from russia, even if it is symbolic. senator joe mansion talking about gas prices -- manchin talking about gas prices, he acknowledged americans might have to sacrifice on behalf of the ukrainian people by paying more at the pump, and that will be worth it. that is where the discussion is around capitol hill. president zelinski of ukraine is ging a briefing for house and

senate members tomorrow morning. he has been talking to nato, to president biden, and he's talking to congress tomorrow. yamiche: jeff, when we think about this, the former president donald trump called the president of russia a genius. republicans have followed him down all sorts of lines and defended him. in this case you don't hear that. what is going on? jeff: that was one of the most extraordinary things. we saw the bipartisan burst of approval at the state of union address tuesday, where republicans and democrats leapt to their feet and applauded the president's words in support of ukraine and the tough words and sanctions against president putin. this is one of the biggest examples i can think of in the last year where republicans have gone against, and in pretty quick fashion, the former president.

it was just a week ago when there was a republican gathering in florida, the seatback gathering -- the cpac gathering, where there was an open question how much republicans would speak out against putin. the world has rallied to ukraine's side. the republican party has as well. in fact, as i was talking to senators on capitol hill the last few days, they want to see president biden do more. they want to see this administration punish russia even more. that was an extraordinary step. we have seen the former president not repeat that genius word, but this was a pretty big departure from that. this republican party at the end of this week sounds more like the party of reagan than it did a week ago. yamiche: nick, i want to ask you, we have a bit more time --

you've been talking to folks on the ground about these accusations that african students and people of african distant were being discriminated against by poland as they were trying to flee ukraine. what more can you tell us? nick: poland has been criticized in the past for being xenophobic, in the words of immigrant advocates, when it comes especially to afghan and syrian immigrants. it has been remarkable to see poland shift gears in the last few weeks, not only with people coming out of ukraine, but out of belarus, to take a united front with the eu and be much more welcoming. what we saw with ukrainians leaving trains inside poland was exactly that, a welcome wagon. there were polish volunteers handing out soup, handing out blankets, things to eat, polish

families welcoming ukrainians. but that is not quite what we saw with africans and arabs leaving ukraine. on multiple occasions at the border we saw mostly students and arabs leave trains with police officers on either side of them. so what it seems is there is a double standard. what happens when you ask polish officials, they point out many ofhose students don't have documents or overstayed visas, or there's other problems with papers. what polis officials -- polish officials say, there are people entering poland without passports and so there are police officers. we asked this to multiple officials in ukraine and poland and the u.s. i will highlight the administrator of usaid. she told me she was aware

of these reports and concerned about them and seemed to suggest it was happening. yamiche: there are reports that had people concerned. in the 30 seconds before we turn to domestic issues, nick, how is the u.s., allies, but also russia and ukraine preparing for what could be months of war, given things have gone on longer than folks expected? nick: there was an expectation by senior u.s. officials that this war would be fast and over in four or five days, to quote mltiple of them that talked to me. that is not what is happening. we are seeing the siege of mariupol, the siege of kyiv that is coming. so certainly ukrainian officials are digging in. u.s. officials are preparing for something much longer, but we don't know what russia has in mind. everything we have seen over the last few days means more attacks

on civilians. yamiche: thank you so much, nick, for sharing your reporting. please keep safe as you continue to report there. during tuesday's state of the union speech, the president addressed domestic challenges and divisions. during parts of the speech, republican lawmakers heckled and booed him. in the official gop response, governor kim reynolds accused him and democrats of trying to dictate to americans what they can and cannot say. weia, there was a lot the president said, but a lot of it was about inflation and the ices people are seeing at stores and gas prices. what is the latest on the president's plans to give americans some relief? weijia: this was important for the president on his to do list for the state of the union. he wanted to connect with people, i understand your pain and here is what we are going to do to get out of it.

he also had to reset the page when it came to his domestic agenda and of course turning the page toward a new chapter of covid, all of which he did successfully as reflected in the approval numbers we saw after. the problem is that the economic plans he laid out take time, and time is something he does not have when you are talking about americans who are looking for more immediate relief to pay their bills, to deal with these rising costs. the administration says we did not get into this situation overnight. he has promised, as an example, to launch a program to make a lot more products in the u.s.. he continues to talk about the measures that he tried to pass before in build back better that would make it easier for families to make ends meet. for example, a paid parental leave or expanded childcare, but

that will take congress to come together, which will take time. right now he is basking in this glow of after the speech, but we will have to see if americans are willing to give him that time for those policies to have an impact. yamiche: the president saying he will travel around the country and talk with different americans. how much does the gop and the white house see traveling and getting out in front of people as critical to helping president biden out? jeff: it is always important when the president travels around the country. less than 12 hours after he left the house chamber, he was in duluth, minnesota looking at a bridge that spanned to superior, wisconsin. his cabinet secretaries were fanned out across the country. we will see the president traveling to tex tuesday, to

philadelphia on friday next week. it is important when the president travels. it echoes a sense of confidence, that the economic numbers on friday were going good in terms of jobs created february, unemployment rate going down, but the reality is even though ukraine portion was only 12 minutes of the speech and the domestic was the rest, ukraine is overshadowing everything this president does. that could be the case for the rest of this midterm election year. that is what white house officials are planning for. yes, he will be out traveling, trying to make the case that they are turning the page from the cod restrictions, but a lot of this is out of his control. this is something all presidents ve to deal with, something not written into the plan. they were not necessarily prepared for this big foreign policy crisis. it could help his presidency, it could hurt his presidency.

yamiche: a lot that we don't know. leigh ann, talk about how the gop see this. you saw lawmakers heckling and interrupting his speech at times. i have one other question for you, so if you could give me 30 seconds. leigh ann: republican, the domestic agenda is easy for them to oppose. they have been talking about inflation for months. everyone knows it is not transitory. this will continue -- this is something they will continue to hit. they are also continuing to talk about social issues as well. and law enforcement, that is part of the reason why president biden said democrats and he do not support defunding the police, but in fact funding the police. he mentioned securing the border on immigration.

it is as if the president went through all the places where he struggling in the polls and made sure to ret and pivot to a different message. yamiche: if i could say, in 10 seconds, because we will have to wrap it in 10 seconds. we know judge jackson was on capitol hill. do we think she is going to get some republican votes there? leigh ann: i think she will. the politics are very good for republicans as well to vote for her. we will see. i don't see her getting mcconnell's votes, but i think she gets a handful of republicans. yamiche: we have to leave it there tonight. thank you for sharing your reporting. we will continue our conversation on the washingtonweek extra. this week's topic, the 10 year anniversary of the fatal shooting of trave on martin and police reform. find it on our website and youtube. two in monday to the pbs newshour for the latest on russia's war on ukraine. finally, we want to share this

moving video of a man playing the piano to welcome ukraini refugees to poland. ♪ thank you so much for joining us. good night from washington. >> corporate funding for washingtonweek is provided by -- consumer cellular. additional funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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