captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, march 5: limited cease-fires falter, as the russian invasion of ukraine continues for a tenth day. the number of refugees fleeing ukraine continues to grow. and, the final report in our series on guaranteed basic income-- helping motrs of newborns find their footing. >> i know that money doesn't buy happiness, but it-- it gives stability. >> sreenivasan: next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the anderson family fund. the j.p.b. foundation. the estate of worthington mayo-smi.

leonard and norma klorfine. the rosalind p. walter foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. barbara hope zuckerberg. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group: retirement services and investments. >> 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. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your

pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thank you for joining us. russia continued its invasion of ukraine for tenth day. ukraine's president said again, there must be a no-fly zone declared over his country. plans for cease-fires for humanitarian corridors failed, and the u.s. secretary of state met ukraine's foreign minister near the border with poland. secretary of state antony blinken met ukrainian foreign minister dmytro kuleba not far from a refugee shelter in poland. blinken reaffirmed u.s. support for ukraine, and said military and economic aid will increase. >> we're in it with ukraine, one way or another: the short run, the medium run, the long run. we're in this together. we will succeed together. ukraine is going to prevail. >> sreenivasan: in ukraine today there were many reports of russian attacks. ukrainian defense ministry video showed the aftermath of shelling and attacks in multiple cities and towns. in the city of kherson, a video distributed by ukraine's

defense forces showed people waving ukrainian flags and chanting "kherson is ukraine.” last nightpresident volodymyr zelensky demanded nato enforce a no-fly zone-- something the organization says would trigger war with russia. zelensky said that without it, nato nations will be responsible for more deaths in ukraine. >> ( translated ): all the people who die, from this day forward, will also die because of you-- because of your weakness, because of your lack of unity. >> sreenivasan: in russia today, president vladimir putin-- in his most extended comments since he ordered the invasion-- warned again that a nato-enforced no-fly zone would expand the conflict. >> ( translated ): any move in this direction will be viewed by us as a participation in the armed conflict. we will view them as participants of the military conflict, and it would not matter what members they are. >> sreenivasan: putin also said the economic sanctions imposed by western countries are “akin to a declaration of war,” and said if ukrainian resistance continues, it would threaten the

country's statehood. >> sreenivasan: newshour foreign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrin is on the ground in ukraine, and joined me earlier from the city of lviv. nick, you've been reporting recently about how lviv has become a corridor for all the refugees that are leaving. is the situation getting better or worse? >> reporter: it's getting worse, hari. it's not clear that the city will be able to find enough food for everyone, or enough shelter. we were at a volunteer location today where people all over the country are contributing everything from diapers to food to camouflage netting for soldiers in the st. so far, the city is calm, pretty orderly, but certainly the border crossings have been full of ukrainians fleeing this war. >> sreenivasan: what should we be making of vladimir putin's-- essentially, threat, to say that if any third party tries to do a no-fly zone over ukraine, that he will consider that a threat to his troops? >> reporter: for the u.s., for

nato, to enforce the no-fly zone would really require u.s. or nato jets to shoot down russian jetsver ukraine, and that is the beginning of a war much larger than the one we're witnessing, d one that u.s. and nato's officials, of course, have refused to participate in. >> sreenivasan: we'vseen the leadership in ukraine steadily and regularly make appeals to the west. what is volodymyr zelensky doing now, to try to keep making his case? >> reporter: last night and this morning, his foreign minister, while visiting the polish border with secretary of state tony blinken, they say the exact same thing-- there needs to be a no-fly zone, there needs to be more surface-to-air missiles, and there needs to be more anti-tank weapons. the last two of those are things that the u.s. and nato in the west have been contributing to ukraine, in some cases for months, sometimes for weeks. but again, the u.s. and nato are simply not interested in

enforcing a no-fly zone, because it would require nato and u.s. jets to shoot down russian jets. >> sreenivasan: well, a couple of nights ago, there was a scare when russian forces attacked and took over a nuclear power plant, and we're just starting to see some images from inside there. what did we learn? >> reporter: we now know that officials inside the plant, in russian, were using their loudspeakers to pleawith russian troops-- "stop, stop it. stop it. you are endangering security, not only for ukraine, but all of europe." and the reason that is, is that zaporizhzia has six reactors. the chernobyl nuclear disaster was caused by a single reactor's incident. so, the risk, if something were to happen to any of ukraine's nuclear power plants-- and the country has multiple-- is very great, and would extend far beyond ukraine. >> sreenivasan: nick, given that you are seeing people who are leaving parts of ukraine, fleeing for the safety of their own families, and at the same

time, you are seeing volunteers double down their efforts-- i mean, what do the ukrainian people feel right now, given what they're seeing day in and day out? >> reporter: i think you just said it-- fear and resolve, simultaneously. the fear of millions of people, millions of families, who have spent days in air raid shelters in cities like kharkiv, which is over 1.4 million, to smaller towns near the line of contact between ukrainian soldiers and russian soldiers in the east. they have been having to deal with a war that has frankly been targeted in their living rooms. they live in apartment complexes that are being directly shelled by the russian army, and so they are heading west, and they have horrific stories to tell. there are residents outside kyiv who are walking for hours. there's video of old people in their 80s and 90s walking under a destroyed bridge.

they are fleeing for their lives with only what they could carry. and yet, at the same time, you have a country that, over the last few years, has developed a pride, a faith, a national identity, much stronger than ever before. and they are using that, with a muchtronger military, to confront an existential threat to their country. and from young women here in lviv to older men we've talked to in the east, they are absolutely determined to take on a much, much larger russian military, and so far, they have inflicted heavy damage. >> sreenivasan: newshour's nick schifrin, joining us from lviv tonight. thanks so much, nick. >> reporter: thanks, hari. >> sreenivasan: the united nations high commissioner for refugees, or u.n.h.c.r.,aid today that, by this weekend, an estimated 1.5 million ukrainians will have fled their country. it's one of the largest refugee crises in europe in recent history.

newshour weekend special correspondent simon ostrovsky is in poland, and he spoke with recent refugees as they arrived from ukraine. >> reporter: this usually quiet corner of rural southeastern poland has been turned into a bustling hub for refugees from ukraine looking for shelter and safety. thousands of people continue to stream into this train station on the polish side of the border as the ukrainian capital kyiv continues to be bombarded by russian forces. we've heard horror stories from passengers who are arriving here of overcrowded trains, with standing room only, sometimes standing for ten, 15, even 24 hours, just to get out of thcountry. they come with what little they can carry: warm clothing, a few basic belongings, heirlooms. some are even carrying pets. they are met by dozens of polish volunteers, who have mobilized to help with food, shelter and transport onwards to cities

across europe, in what the u.n. high commissioner for refugees called "one of the most rapid exoduses ever seen." maryna kaftan and her daughter daryna managed to squeeze onto a train on the seventh day of the russian invasion, as air raid sirens blared, sending passengers into a panic on the railway platform in kyiv. .

>> reporter: the sca of this crisis is unprecedented. when the war in syria was at its worst, it was three months before the number of refugees reached the number this war in ukraine has produced in a week, according to the u.n.h.c.r. half of them are children, per unicef, all fleeing the seemingly indiscriminate bombardment of civilian areas by russian forces. >> you can really see that they need help. >> reporter: zuza kraus is a volunteer from a local scout troop. poles have set up assistance points like this one in cities across the country. >> sometimes they just say that they're super hungry. sometimes you can see that

they're rubbing their hands because it's cold for them. you can see crying babies that don't have blankets. sometimes they are, like, shy to ask for help, so we go around, we say, like, it'skay, we do it for free, we do it for you, and everything. >> reporter: valeriya litvin has just come across the border by foot with her mother and sister. >> in my neighborhood, it was, like, being more and more loud. and the last, latest four day, actually, four days, i spent in the bomb shelter. i keep telling myself that i should believe that this conflict, this war, will end in the nearest future. >> reporter: in the meantime, they plan to head to warsaw, to stay temporarily with friends. >> we are going to see whether we can somehow earn our money

here, or what should we do next? because we are now at a loss, actually, with this situation and with our being abroad. >> reporter: no one knows when itill be safe to return. i asked litvin if she thought going back would even be possible, in the event of a russian takeover of the ukrainian capital. >> no. i will rather-- i would rather struggle from someplace else with them, because the regime, they are completely-- well, they-- they stand apart from all the democracy values that you know and i know. it's the regime that suffocates its citizens. it's like going back into the u.s.s.r. and the u.s.s.r. is in its worst form, with the total deficit, total propaganda, total brainwash. >> reporter: not every ukrainian at the train station is seeking to flee ukraine.

there's an extraordinarily long line of people waiting to get on a train that's actually going back into ukraine, and a lot of them are men of military age. they know that if they go back inside, they won't be able to get out, because the ukrainian authorities are stopping men from the ages of 18 to 60 from exiting the country. yaroslav filimonov is an h.r. manager who was traveling abroad when fighting broke out in his home city. >> i left my family in ukraine. i was on a business trip in dubai, so i should come back. first, it's my family. and the second, it's my country. my country is on fire now. so i should be there. no one except us. that's the reason. >> reporter: so you are ready to fight? >> of course. everyone in ukraine ready to fight. there are no any flowers for occupants. there are just cocktails, like cocktails molotov. just fire.

nothing else. >> reporter: so many people are leaving ukraine right now. why don't you want your wife and daughters to leave, too? >> ukraine is our country. it's our homeland. we should be there, and we should fight. we should fight against russia. we should then-- we should rebuild our couny, our city, and-- and there no any choices. >> sreenivasan: for continuing updates on ukraine, and more national and international news, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: according to new data from columbia university's center on poverty ansocial policy, the number of children livingn poverty increased by 3.7 million in 2021. the child tax credit, which provided households up to $300 a month per child during the pandemic, expired at the end of december. but a new program in new york city is easing some the financial burden, by providing between $500 and $1,000 a month to new mothers. newshour wkend's zachary green

has more, in the final installmenin reporting on guaranteed income. this story is part of our ongoing series, “chasing the dream: poverty, opportunity, and justice in america.” >> reporter: in late 2020, 28-year-old daniela gutierrez was struggling. the covid-19 pandemic cost her two jobs: one as a tutor at the new york public library, and one as a fast-food worke she also became pregnant in october of that year. she still had one remaining job: working part-time as an academic advisor at the city university of new york. but she worried that her wage there, $15 an hour, wouldn't be enough to support her and her baby in new york city. >> thas the one thing i was really scared of, is how to pay my rent. like, how i was going to afford to stay here in this apartment. because i didn't want to go into a shelter. >> reporter: not long after gutierrez became pregnant, a social worker that she worked with texted her a photo of a flyer for a new guaranteed income program called “the bridge project.”

>> i'd never heard of the bridge project. but i-- i was desperate. so i was, like, you know what? whatever happens, i have nothing to lose at all. >> reporter: gutierrez applied online, and in december, she got an email saying that she had been randomly selected as one of the first recipients in the bridge project, and that she would be receiving an additional $1,000 a month for the next three years. she received her first payment in july 2021. >> i was doing maternity leave. but since i work part-time, it was, like, $150 every two weeks. that's all i got for my maternity leave. ( laughs ) and then, i was also thinking, like, "am i really in the condition to go back to work, or look r another job?" so when i found out that i got that, i was like-- i don't know. i wareally excited. >> reporter:he bridge project is new york city's first guaranteed income program. it was created by the monarch foundation, a charitable private family foundation, through which it receives all its funding.

the program distributes payments of either $500 or $1,000 a month to 100 low-income mothers with newborns in manhattan. megha agarwal is the executive director of both the foundation and the project. she says the thinking behind creating two separate income groups was to see how each amount of money helped families. >> in a city like new york, where you have such a high cost of living, what does it actually mean to receive $500 a month or $1,000 a month? and what does that actually mean in terms of your financial stability? not just your ability to take in income and use that kind of in your day-to-day expenses, but how does that allow you to potentially save, potentially generate wealth? and does it? >> reporter: a recent study published in the proceedings of the national academy of sciences shows how important cash is to newborns in low-income households. it looked at 1,000 low-income mothers of infants. 400 of them were given unconditional cash payments of $333 a month. the other 600 were given

payments of $20 a month. the study measured the infants' brain waves over different frequencies and found that, of the babies who were tested after one year, those in the higher cash group showed more fast-paced brain activity than those in the lower one. >> there is decades of research out there that kind of points to the prenatal, postnatal, and earliest days of a child's life, all as periods that are crucially important to-- to child development. what you see is, kind of, in the first three years of life, there's 80% of brain development that actually occurs. and even in the first year, there's 50% of your brain development that occurs. and so, what you don't realize is, your earliest experiences, whether that's eeriences of toxic stress, experiences of economic instability, if that's experiences of kind of living in places where you're just not-- you're not served in the same way that other families are, it has emotional, it has physical, it has developmental

implications for how you kind of live the rest of your life. >> reporter: researchers says that the mothers in thp.n.a.s. study spent their money in different ways, from buying more toys and books, to taking time off to spend with their kids. agarwal says that's a kind of flexibility that's meant to augment ordinary government benefits like food stamps or housing assistance. >> when we come in with kind of guaranteed income as a concept, it's never to replace what currently exists as government support. those relief checks that came out in 2020, that-- that quite literally saved lives. and i would say the same about the child tax credit, even the more traditional ones like snap benefits, wic benefits, section 8 housing vouchers, those are the type of things that our families do rely on. you definitely are able to then ply it on housing. you're definitely then able to apply it on formula for your child, or kind of, in order to get food on the table. but if your car brea down in the middle of the month, you're out of luck, honestly. >> reporter: daniela gutierrez says that she's putting away half of the money she receives from the bridge project for rent.

she spends the other half on necessities like food and transportation. that's especially important because her son, jeremiah, w diagnosed with a motor disorder and goes to both physical and occupational therapy three days a week. she's also using her time in the program to apply to graduate programs at brooklyn college and the city college of new york, where she hopes to earn a master's degree in sociology or urban planning. what does it mean to you tbe able to spend this money however you see fit? >> like freedom. it feels like i'm free. the fact that i'm receiving this money, no questions asked, is such a relief, because , like, "whew, good. you're set. you have to focus on two other important things right now, which is your housing and your child." i was really depressed before. i know that money doesn't buy happiness, but it-- it gives stability. and having this income has relieved that of me, and it's made me a better mom. because instd of holding him and, like, kind of being there

and then thinking about things in the background, i am able to be there and not worry about that, you know. i'm not worrying about"oh, my god, i have-- i have to get a job right now. i have to, like-- how are we gonna afford this?" that stress is, like, no longer there. you got it! >> sreenivasan: we will have that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. for the latest news updates, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy, and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made y: sue and edgar wachenheim b iiis bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family.

the anderson family fund. the j.p.b. foundation. the estate of worthington mayo-smith. leonard and norma klorfine. the rosalind p. walter foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. barbara hope zuckerberg. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. atutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group: retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: consumer cellular. and by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your

pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

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