good evening. the work runs on. russia refocuses its attacks on ukraine's east as western nations announce more sanctions in response to the atrocities against ukrainian civilians. and then, pain at the pump. lawmakers grilled oil executives about the sharp rise in gasoline prices that is squeezing american rods and banning books. multiple states across the country advance legislation for having certain literature. highlighting the nation's cultural divide. >> you keep saying i don't want this book in the library, that is what is happening. politicians are spreading the

poor funding if i put a book on the shelf. >> all of that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy or 160 years. the engine that connects us. >> supporting social dinners and their solutions to the world's

most pressing problems. skoll foundation.org. >> committed to improving lives through invention in the u.s. and developi countries. supported by the john d and catherine t macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just and peaceful world. more information here. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and two contributions to your pbs news station from viewers like you. thank you. >> russian military forces have almost completely left the region, surrounding the ukrainian capital, kyiv.

they are now turning toward ukraine's east and a new and brutal fight to come. evidence of possible atrocities committed by russian forces mount throughout newly freed areas of northern ukraine. in brussels, european union leaders met to consider a ban on russian call. our next shipment traveled to brussels with blinken. he begins with a warning. some images in this report are disturbing. >> the apocalyptic aftermath remains unaltered. residents, survivors walked past entire city blocks that no longer exist, clutching water that amount of horror amid precious. today was the first time in four weeks they left their basement shutter. to past discarded russian

uniforms, russian ammunition and ukrainian shoulders. >> this is the first time i have seen something like this. i served in the army but something like this, i can't understand it. why do they need to kill civilians? i don't get it. >> another resident lost her closest friend. and in work, friends try to provide dignity. even if friends and parents will never understand. >> his father came and asked where his son was. he went to his mother's to bring some food and disappeared. what for? whhave these beasts shot him? >> zelenskyy said pressure should bear an appropriate punishment. >> after what the world saw in butcher, sanctions again russia must be commiserate with

the gravity of the war crimes. >> antony blinken met with australian and european counterparts. >> it is good to be back but i feel like we have never been back. as the u.s. announced more economic punishment on russia. a ban on all new investment in russia, additional sanctions on russia's private banks block any transaction with u.s. institutions. and sanctions on president putin's oldest two daughters. with the european polymer today, leaders discussed blocking russian coal imports for the first time, they targeted russia's ended -- russia's energy sector. they predict in more energy sanctions would follow. >> now we have to look into oil and we don't have to look into the revenues that russia gets from the fossil fuels. >> eu leaders have been divided over an embargo on russian oil

and gas. germany is resisting these moves. >> we can't continue feeding the russian war machine we are ready to phase out russian gas by the end of the year. we are also calling on our partners and allies to do the same. unity is absolutely key. unity should not be going down to the lowest common denominator. >> the lowest common denominator meant nato members decided not to send arms to ukraine as an alliance but sent arms as individual countries.

>> nobody is doing anything with this. i think the risks are overstated. >> a senior defense official said russian units had completed their withdrawal from around kyiv. they expect margins to be deployed to the east and will be ady to launch a large offensive within two weeks. the goal, capture mariupol. to prevent that, the u.s. announced $100 million more in military aid for a total of 1.7 billion since the invasion by poland and other eastern flank allies are pushing for more. ukraine will need more advanced weaponry. they have been provided by allies with very effective basic

weapons. course the u.s. and allies are also sending more troops to eastern europe with the numbers are still relatively low. the eastern flank is pushing for a more permanent presence. we need to change this into something people call symbolic posture into something that is meaningful. quick that might be more likely. in the meantime, there is demand for accountability. >> we need to target those who are responsible and this is the leadership. this is something that we just can't do as usual. otherwise we will send a signal

that this is something you can conduct and then just be treated as. there would be what they would do, repeat those actions. >> the u.s. and european officials are helping ukraine collect evidence of russian war crimes, account ability is always difficult. especially when the crime scene remains a battlefield. >> do we know what the nato foreign ministers a expected to talk about tomorrow? quotes one of the many things there was talk about is the foreign minister of ukraine. they will have many meetings with his foreign minister

counterparts. he is expected to call for more. also, a ban on russian trucks. this demand is that president zelenskyy repeated this. he will attend an interesting meeting. he will address n only the 30 murmurs of nato but other non-nato members. finland and sweden. those are two northern european countries that are not in nato but they are having historic conversations about whether they will join nato in the coming months. this means new soldiers, more forces sent to northeast here.

>> based on your reporting, what are these officials expected to be thinking about, talkingbout with regards to determining russia in the long term? ? are more forces being called for in eastern europe. more than just a series of western forces that can call the cavalry. questions of increased rate readiness. how quickly with a be able to resupply with more forces from the west? a lot of need in eastern europe that does not exist right now to deter russian missiles.

it is one thing for the alliance to have unity over the first five weeks or so but as officials fear this will last for months, that unity may become increasingly a challenge. >> thank you, nick. and our coverage of the russian invasion of ukraine is supported in partnership with the putter center. and now for an official view from the european union, this is the height forever saturday for the foreign policy the block. he was also in brussels when i spoke with him earlier today. thank you for talking with us after seeing evidence of what the russian military has done to ukrainian civilians, is the eu going to agree to ban buying

russian coal? >> russian coal, yes. they would approve on monday and now the technical groups are working on that. certainly it will be the first step. in fact, it is part of our fifth package of sanctions. we have already taken a lot of them from the financial side, economic sectors. >> how much difference is this going to make in terms of decision-making by mr. pruden and the people around him prosecuting this work? >> it is mainly gas and oil but you know we have frozen the reserves of the central bank of russia. in the bac of the g-7 countries. that is why they have to start

paying back their debts, nominated in dollars or in euros. i am sure the investors will not be very happy with that. >> i want to ask you about that. i wonder how much the russian leadership is going to change its thinking as a result of what the ee was doing. you were pointing out that that you is subsidizing the russians. all of this since the war began. that is contrasted with the sanctions you are trying to impose which are much less. >> we are not subsidizing, we are paying. paying for the gas. we are thinking about how to get riof that but certainly we cannot cut yes overnight.

they rely on russian gas for more than 50% of the concentric -- there come sentient. -- their consumption. >> how quickly can it happen? this war has been going on for all of these weeks. it looks like you had the forecast just this week that he could koan for years. -- it could go on for years. how quickly can europe send a signal that it is not going to tolerate this? we are doing everything we can. we hope that the consumption will almost be vanishing but it will depend on how quickly the

u.s. will bring us gas. >> in a year, that is enough time for the russians to inflict unimaginab -- not just death, destruction, even more than what we have already seen on ukraine. >> the capacity of the russian army does not depend on the gas. they have enough resources, enough capacity to continue this for a while. we are providing all of the member states -- a lot of arms. my think that thanks to these arms, the uaine are resisting. >> user president zelenskyy is not getting enough in the way of weapons. you will be in kyiv in the

coming days to ta to him. what do you say when he continues to make this argument? >> nothing is enough. when you are fighting in a war and you see what is happening to your country, your request for more but we are doing everything we can to help ukraine. you also have limitations. you have some materials tt are very difficult to provide. planes for example. we thought the resistance of the ukrainian army would have all most reached the end.

>> meanwhile, it is as we say, inflicting unimaginable things. hungary is saying that victor or bond is saying they will pay russia for energy in rubles as vladimir putin has demanded. they are going to break away from the eu. should hungary continue to be in that you? >> the member of the european unn, it is not the same thing as the united states. they have a much bigger degree of autonomy.

i regret that hungary will do that but they have the possibility of doing it. >> when you see president zelenskyy this week, if he were to ask you if the european union is doing everything it can to help ukraine, what would your answer be question mark >> we are doing everything we can but we are ready to do more. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> the united states charged a russian media baron with spreading propaganda on ukraine in violation of u.s. sanctions. constantine allowed to be -- is believed it -- is believed to

be in russia. >> we have our eyes on every yacht and jet. we have our eyes on every piece of art and real estate. purchased with dirty money. and on every bitcoin while it, filled with proces of other crimes. this is a network of thousands of things. this is a prudent ally and a fiercely national islamic. lawmakers stood for a moment of silence today to mark his passing. he had been hospitalized with covid in february.

he was 75. the dispute involves religious observances in public hospitals dung passover. if it cannot be resolved, israel could face new elections with first time in just three years. this is for the second time in two weeks. three people were killed in texas, louisiana and georgia. gusting winds and heavy rain hit central georgia hard and a twist or the top of the pantry fell in. this can be fixed.

everybody is safe, nobody got hurt. so tornado warning forced the statehouse in south carolina to be evacuated. thousands of customers lost power across several states. peter navarro and dance giving a have refused to testify even though president biden has denied them the shield of executive privilege. prosecutors in minneapolis have decided not to charge a police officer who fatally shot this 22-year-old like man during a no-knock search in february. prosecutors said they could not justify charges because locke pointed a gun. his mother warned the officer that she will not give up. they spoke at separate

briefings. we know that we will not be able to prevail because the law does not support the charges. >> the spirit of my baby will haunt you for the rest of your life. i am not disappointed. i am disgusted with the city of neapolis. police need to knock and wait before entering a home. president biden extended applause on student loan repayments. the freeze has been extended six times during the pandemic. it affects more than 43 million americans who have student debt. on wall stree stocks were treated on news that the federal reserve leaders expect they may need to raise interest rates have a point instead of a quarter point.

the dow jones industrial average lost 134 points. the nasdaq fell 315 points. the s&p 500 slid 34. the early 1960's singer and teen idol, bobby riddell has -- he started in the 1963 movie musical bye-bye birdie and made numerous tv appearances. he was 79. still to come on the newshour, oklahoma passes a near total ban on abortion. the increasing partisan divide raises questions about ethics. multiple states across the country advanced legislation

banning certain books from schools. plus much more. >> with gas prices above four dollars per gallon, democrats grilled some top oil executives on capitol hill today and they in turn denied allegation of -- allegations of price gouging. >> we are here to get answers. >> lawmakers on capitol hill laying blame for rising gas prices. the american people providers an much meat -- much-needed relief at the gas pump. >> since russia's invasion, feel prices have --

they have since slipped slightly . the price of crude oil has fallen from a peak of this to around $101 today. even before the invasion, oil complete profits reached record highs. this is the most profitable year since 2014. >> the american people who w represent provide the industry with more than $30 billion a year in subsidies. while the oil and gas companies report record high profits and while american families are forced to pay record high prices at the pump. >> oil executives pushed back on the democratic claims, saying it

is all about basic economics. >> the market establishes the price based on available supply and demand for that supply. >> while chevron ceo's suggested producers don't have as much say in getting gas prices act down. >> we don't control the market price of crude oil or natural gas. the hearing came as democrats tried to show voters they are working to bring down fuel prices amid fierce inflation could mean heavy losses at the midterm elections. >> our prices are rising because of police action. there isn't enough supply. the bottom line is if you want lower gas prices, you need to have more oil supplier -- oil

supply right now. this is not the time to sit on record profits. >> republicans argued that president biden's clement policies are making things worse. >> it is impossible to generate competence when future production is being blocked by this administration. >> in a recent poll, respondents listed gas prices as their top concern with 60% saying they were very concerned. quickly oh, -- >> the okemos state ledge ledger has marked a

new bill on abortion. stephanie has more. correct the oklahoma bill passed with an overwhelming majority yesterday and with little debate. it makes providing abortions illegal and punishable with up to 10 years of prison time and a fine of 100 thousand dollars. the only exception is to save the life of the mother and with the law because of physical medical emergency. i am joined by adam kent. the community correspondent in oklahoma city. you have been covering the wave of antiabortion legislation. what is the impact. that is right. they have actually said any antiabortion legislation that will reach his desk, he will sign it. this bill is pretty interesting as it passed ogle home city last year and was taken up by the oklahoma house yesterday while a

big protest of advocates were outside protesting other legislation. the impact could be very severe because oklahoma is a critical access point. it bent abortions at six weeks of pregnancy. those texans have flooded over the borders of the states including more than half of them coming to obama to seek out and abortion. advocates say this kind of ledge/and should -- could really cripple the state in terms of providing that care for people. there could be a trigger effect that would eliminate abortions entirely in the state if roe v. wade were to be rolled back at all. >> assuming there will be court challenges to this law, what are

the chances it will actually go into effect and are abortion providers in that state and there are a limited number preparing for this band. >> that is interesting. it is kind of unkwn at this point. the law is expected to be signed by governor stitt. all of those laws were overturned by the oklahoma supreme court. they did not even make it out of the state. we were talking about the possibility of roe v. wade being challenged in supreme court. advocates are wondering where the pieces will fall. >> adam kemp, thank you. >> nasser take a look at how oklahoma's law fits into a national trend. i am joined by mary zigler.

thank you so much for joining the newshour. tell us how oklahoma's bill comparescross the country. >> ethic sba were really written for an euro when states -- red states had to circumvent this. i think that we would inspect to see a lot of red states introducing similar criminal prohibitions to this one. initially targeting doctors. >> this law does seem lately unconstitutionally. -- unconstitutional. is it to be ready in the hope that roe v. wade will be overturned? >> it is.

it is a vote of confidence that this report will not only reverse roe v. wade but will do so in short order. they have some reason to believe that is correct and that while this law will most certainly be locked in the short term because of the unconstitutional nature, the supreme court is likely to change its interpretation of the constitution and open the door to criminal laws like the one we saw in oklahoma. >> oklahoma is not alone. according to this, 12 states have drafted trigger bills. that is what they are called indicates that the high court overturns or weakens the constitutional rights. what are the potential outcomes for this battle at the state level? >> i think one of the interesting questions will be whether or not we see through americans when it comes to abortion.

we don't know if that will happen yet. it had not yet gone so. there are likely to be intense battles about whether we will follow close path or whethere will see some states landing in the middle. it is too early to say. >> i want to talk about medication. or than half of women who decide to have an abortion are doing so by taking a pill. that can be put in the mail. including half of the women in oklahoma seeking abortions. how does that fact to change the legal landscape and the strategy for those advocates trying to stop all abortions? >> it, kate it. we want to ban all abortions

except in certain medical emergencies. that is going to mean that someone in oklahoma will continue -- some women in oklama will continue to get invoices. -- abortions. for states like obama, it will be whether -- oh,, it will be whether they punish women or if they create a loophole in the law. i think there will be an arms race of sorts between people seeking abortions and stays trying to force the criminal once they have in place. >> thank you for joining the newshour. >> thank you for having me.

>> the congressional committee investigating january 6 has been pouring through thousands of communications around the attack. it is messages between president trump chief of staff -- president trump's chief of staff and ginni thomas that have raised questions. >> the text messages between them and ginni thomas's outspokenness about overturning the election have led to people calling ford judge thomas to recuse himself from anything regarding the election. to discuss all of this, gabe roth. he is the executive director of fix the court.

gentlemen, thank you to you both and welcome to the newshour. in january, before these text messages were publicly known, the supreme court blocked donald trump's bid to keep the january 6 investigative commission from getting documents from the national archives. justic thomas was the only dissenter in this case. do you think he should have recused himself? >> related to the 2020 election and the efforts to overturn it, he should recuse from those future cases and he should have recused from the case that went to the supreme court back in

january. it says a justice shall recuse when his impartiality may be reasonably questioned and a reasonable person may believe that clarence and jenny spoke about what her efforts were in terms of trying to overturn the election but they also say that justices should recuse. the term interest is kind of broad. i think for those reasons and the fact that this is a reasonable person standard, i think he should step aside and that would stop impugning the integrity of the supreme court. >> i can put the disagree with that. ginni thomas is not a lawyer, a litigant, she does not work with

any organization that does this. while her messages may have been unwise and hyperbolic, there was no reason to question the impartiality of justice thomas or any other member of the court. this is part of an ongoing effort to try to intimidate conservative judges and a long time ever to denigrate justice thomas. she has no personal interest at all that could be affected by the outcome of any litigation related to the election or january 6. she may have wanted donald trump to win the election or for a legal challenge to succeed but she is not involved in any of that. >> a little more than half of those questioned said they

believe justice thomas should not participate in election related cases. >> if john malcolm does decide to participate in these sorts of cases, do you think he should explain why? >> if he does recuse, it will be obvious why. he usually is. it is because they have a family member who has a personal or financial stake in the case. justices don't typically state why they don't recuse. it is obviously because they believe that their impartiality can't be questioned. if she does not get her constitutional rights from her husband and certainly she does not dictate how he should decide legal questions or what legal theories should employ.

>> there is no effort to intimidate conservative justices. there are basic methods standards that all federal judges and even the supreme court should be following. in this case, justice thomas is not following those standards. i would argue that justice kagan did not follow those standards when she did not refuse from the obamacare cases a decade ago and i would argue that justice breyer, justice alito and justice roberts should have done that and they are not following those ethics -- those ethics standards. there is no effort to try to intimidate anyone. it is just groups like mine are trying to say there are basic ethics standards that every judge in the country should follow and the supreme court which has exempted itself from

even having a basic ethics code -- no justice is above the law. this is not the first time that ginni thomas possible political activism has raised these questions. earlier this week, dusters amy coney barrett was asked about spells activity at the reagan library. >> we are living at a time we have a lot of couples where both are working. i think that the court and society has to adjust to respect that. >> do you think there should be urt guidelines on what spouses should and should not do? >> i don't think most of the spouses would be very happy about those guidelines. when i try to give my husband guidelines about what to do and what not to do in the house, that does not go over very well. >> should code of conduct be

more explicit? >> when a spouse has an interest that could be impacted by the outcome of a case, the judge is supposed to recuse. she sent messages saying that she was lobbying her husband or at her husband speak to litigants, this would be a totally different story. but that is not the case. correct the question -- i know your group has proposed a code of ethics. >> with ginni thomas, it has been part of practice. i think a lot of people are tired of that activism and are concerned it could be bleeding into the conversation that she

has with her husband. i think overall, the issue here is if you are a member of the public and the supreme court is going to have this power, congress can't do anything, congress and the executive are always fighting. the supreme court has become the least countable part of our government, we want basic guidelines that every justice follows so that we have expectations and this is something that was introduced today in congress and the house and the senate, saying this is what a code of conduct should be. this is what refusal loss should be in the 21st century. we should not have this we are judges, we are philosopher kings of our age and you should just trust us, we are above the law and above suspicion, that is not the case as a healthy and modern democracy, you want judges and justices to follow modern and very basic rules of the road

when it comes to ethics and recusal. quick thank you both very much. -- >> thank you both very much. >> thank you for having me on. >> thank you. >> a new report from the american library association shows attempts to ban books in the u.s. surged last year to the highest level since the group began tracking book challenges 20 years ago. according to the study, most of the top targeted books were by or about black or lgbq people. it is an issue now tied up in local, state and national politics. jeffrey brown recently went to one epicenter in texas to report for our arts and culture series candace. >> it is almost like she is betrayed by her own mind by creating that fantasy and also

betrayed by this person that she idolized for so long. >> a book club discussion in the library at vandergriff high school. the independent school district northwest of austin. this is the band book club. where the reading list is made up of books removed from classrooms. it was started by sophomores alyssa hi and ella scott. >> i think it was unexpected they would have taken these out of the classroom. i think these are crically acclaimed books and they are loved by so many people. they tell very powerful and engaging stories that should be told. have you noticed he was in the books that are being questioned? >> most of the books we read have women or women of color were people who don't have heterosexual relations or are just not white straight people as the main characters.

>> we noticed that is a really common theme. >> members were reading in the dream house. " widely praised and on many best of the year's list for 2013 but some paris -- parents focused concern on a few brief but graphic scenes. students choose from lists of about 15 books to read and discuss. nine of the 11 remain available in school libraries but are under review for possible removal there as well. the band book club members are reading in order to add their voices to the debate. >> what did you take from in the dream house? >> i learned about abusive relationships. it taught me how it affects a

person. it gives you insight into how it really damages a person. >> not so far away, the director of austin public libraries also makes it personal. >> it is still up to that parent to say i don't want my child to read that. it is apparent possible spots ability of that child. i don't want a group of people to tell my son or daughter what to read. >> elsewhere, the issue is deeply politicized. last october, the republican state rep presented of was running for the texas attorney general since schools statewide demanding a letter to let them know whether they had any books on a list of about 850 titles. he said he was concerned about materials that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex. the national free-speech group denounced the move as targeting

race, sexuality and gender. a month later, governor greg abbott called on state education officials to develop standards to prevent the negra fee and other obscene content. and local school board meetings have become contentious. >> part of the problem is parents don't realize i never in a million years would have thought some of this material would be in a classroom with minors. >> we are a community divided. >> this parent sites explicit and in some cases violent passages from several books we can show on television. >> i am not sure how any kid could be exposed tohat kind of graphic material in a classroom could be helpful. i don't fault the author. i'm not saying this book is bad for adults or for older people. read what you want. you have the freedom to do that.

it is running freely in the school and bought and paid for by taxpayer dollars to feed from teacher to student. aaron johnson believes the turmoil of her books stems from changes in a culture of public education and that it is moving too fast for many inuding his family. >> i think they are domains that parents should address at home with their children. because of the sensitivity and the differing values and different homes in our community, it is difficult to do this well across an entire spectrum of public education in the classroom. >> with two other board members last fall, recommending updates to the district policy for adding and reming books to curriculum. while acknowledging that books in the classroom book clubs are not required, he says the overall list shows what he calls a leftward bias.

>> when we approach those themes , with similarly situated materials or materials with similar points of view, we are not really getting much balance. we are creating bias in materials that should be neutral. >>he argument is always that there is no neutral. what you call the pre-ideological days had its own ideology that left out these voices. >> i don't know that i subscribe to that. if we are talking about stoes from new and different voices, that is great. i am ok with that but the question i will ask is if they are going to fundamentally allenge what i am trying to do from a moral perspective at home and if they do, we are violating trust with our community. >> this is about choosing, not banning books. >> you start saying that you can't read thisook, i don't want this book in the library,

that book is being banned. that is what is happening. they are asking them to police books from the shelves and that is what is happening. that is real. a politician threatening to pull funding if i put a book on the shf. that is banning. >> this is a member of the texas library association which represent public and school librarians. the group recently unveiled a campaign called texans for the right to read. in the face of what it sees as a tax that could hold librarians themselves legally liable for supplying books others deem inappropriate. >> libraries i believe are one of the last bastions of democracy. that is being attacked. you are trying to tell me what i should or shouldn't read. that is being attacked. when i can't critically think for myself, that is where we are and that is what is causing a lot of issues in this country. >> there is a war being waged on youth in texas right now and

education is the battlefront. >> your libraries, teachers and school boards are being attacked in this current culture war. >> one of them, of retired school librarian and cofounder of freedom fighters. miss bell to emphasize read. -- misspelled to emphasize "read." with librarians caught in the middle. some even leaving the profession. >> they have pressure from the parents. they have pressure from within their administration to do things they don't think meet with their professional things.

this is the pressure cooker situation that is difficult. >> there is the story about stories and books themselves -- i am jeffrey brown in austin, texas. >> on the news are online, climate watches are sounding the alarm about disappearing coastlines in indiana but on by rising sea levels and exacerbated by intensifying hurricanes. you can read about how the changing conditions could force thousands of residents from their home. that is the news are fortunate. i am judy woodruff. join us online and here again tomorrow evening. for l of us at the pbs newshour, stay safe and we will

see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- consumer cellular gold is providing wireless services that is helping people connect. to learn more, visit consumer cellular.tv. by embrang innovation, looking not only at current opportunities. the ford foundation, working on social change will live. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

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united nations security council. security council. ukrainian hospital. hello and welcome to "amanpour & company" from kyiv, ukraine. here is what's coming up. as president zelenskyy makes a desperate call for action at the united nations security council, we see the physical toll of war with a special report inside a ukrainian hospital. then as lithuania becomes the first eu country to quit russian gas, their prime minister will join me. and some of ukraine's prisoners pof war return home n and the international committee of the red cross on the desperate efforts to getid in d civilians out. also ahead, former u.s. treasury secretary larry summers tells walter isaacson that russia's war is taking a heavy toll on the global economy.