♪ judy: good evening. i am judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the shifting war. a miles long russia convoy is seeing heading towards eastern ukraine and civilians desperately try to escape. ahead of an expected major military offensive in the region. then, overhaul. u.s. postal service gets a reboot with new laws aimed at fixing long-standing budget shortfalls and shipping delays. and unlevel playing field, 50 years after title nine became law, why girls are still experiencing discrimination in sports. >> we'd never seen an example where girls were kind of treated more equitably.

i guess you could say. it just kind of seemed like that was just the way things are. and as girls, we just had to kind of tough it out. judy: all of that and more on tonight's p newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> it's the little things. the reminders of what's important. it's why fidelity dedicated advisors are here to help you create a wealth plan. a plane with tax sensitive investing strategies, planning focusing on tomorrow while you focus on today. that is the planning effect from fidelity. >> the william and flora hewlett

foundation, for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the russian military is beginning to refocus its assault on eastern ukraine and russia's

president, vitamin putin, has named named an overall military commander for the war, one with a resume notable of killing civilians and wreaking wholesale destruction in syria. we begin by looking at this change in strategy. here's nick schifrin. nick: in southeastern ukraine, russian forces are moving into position. russia says it is targeting newly arrived ukrainian air defense systems. the mayor said 10,000 civilians have been killed, russia is deploying recently recruited conscripts. >> what can i say? they called me up to go to war. nick: satellite images show what a senior u.s. defense official says is an 8-mile long resupport and resupply mission into donetsk and luhansk, where russians have occupied territory since 2014. that convoy is moving through velykyi burluk toward izyum and further south, to reinforce russians fighting in the donbas, and try and connect with territory they occupy as far west as kherson.

>> this next week will be just as tense. russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state. they can use even more missiles against us, but we are preparing for their actions. nick: those actions in the east will be led by general alexander dvornikov, the first commander named to oversee the war in ukraine. he led russia's campaign of scorched earth in syria, using starvation and indiscriminate targeting of residential neighborhoods, to destroy syrians ability to resist. >> we are probably turning another page in the same book. of russian brutality. nick: while russia's focus will be on the east, u.s. officials say there is no evidence that vlimir putin has given up on his goal to overthrow kyiv. to discuss this next phase of the war, we turn as we often do to michael kaufman, research prram director in the russian studies program at the center

for naval analyses. welcome back to the newshour. 30,000 feet is phase one of this war over and we are waiting for ce to to begin? michael: i think the second phase is now beginning. although it is unclear whether russian leaders will wait to build up, reorganize forces, they take big losses around kyiv and other areas. they are trying to resupply, trying to reorganize. are they going to send them in piecemeal and start this campaign from the donbass? or will they wait to build up? you have seen the russian military trying to make adjustments more at that level, including appointing the commander. it is fair to say this is probably the end of the beginning and you are seeing a second chapter in this war. nick: in terms of how the next phase, the next chapter will look like, the foreign minister said it would look like world war ii thousands of tanks, planes and artillery's.

senior defense official said it would be "a knife fight." how will this phase differ from the first phase? michael: i think in the first phase, you saw a very diffuse russian military strategy trying to go after too many objectives. heavy urban fighting where they were checkmated by ukrainian rces. and a spread russian effort. you are going to see a concentration on one front. i think you are looking at a battle where the russian military is probably going to concentrate forces against a sizable amount of ukrainian units defending donss, and they will likely leverage firepower and forward assaults. basically squeezing at the frontal attacks and trying to push them out of donbass. how this pans out is very much in question. the russian military has been unsuccessful thus far. and ukrainian military written date -- retains a lot. nick: as you say, the ukrainian military retains those

advantages. russia has struggled to make this a united front. is there any sign that it has learned from its mistakes, including with the naming of this new commander? michael: absolutely. we see a reorganization of the rough and -- russian effort. and the main russian problem at this stage is manpower. they have a lot of equipment. they don't have the forces. they have taken substantial losses and they don't have manpower reserves because they are not conducting that. on the other side, the ukrainian military has all of the advantages of manpower and preserves, and strong levels of morale, where what they like his equipment and ammunition. the battle for donbass may not be a fast fight. it may be longer with heavy use of artillery and firepower. nick: the u.s. has continued to send antitank weapons, including javelins, and has facilitated sending tanks into ukraine. ukraine says it needs more and it needs faster -- needs more faster.

are ukraine's partners sending enough weapons in quickly enough to make a difference in the next phase? michael: it looks like european countries have started to shift the equipment they are likely to send to ukraine. ukraine needs armor. it needs infantry fighting vehicles. in needs artillery. it needs a conventional kit, larger types of capabilities. kind that can equip their reserves. they have a lot of manpower. if they are going to go on the offensive, they will not be able to do it with antitank guided missiles or other types of personnel weapons. you see increasing willingness by european countries to se that weaponry. it is unclear if the volumes will be sufficient, or if it is going to make a difference in this current part of the world. nick: in the time we have left, it seems like there is two variables in the next phase. will russia wait to capture mario bl before expanding its operation in the southeast? does russia have a deadline, may

9, when it celebrates the anniversary of victory of world war ii? do we know the answers to those questions yet? michael: i'm not sure we do on the second. i'm sure politically, they would like to declare victory if they can. if they don't make that date, it does not mean the war is going to stop or the battle of donbass will be suspended. on the first one, it is clear they are going to push from the north. and likely the southern part of the campaign may wait until they are able to achieve that. they would like it to be the southern axis of advance. it does look like they have several operational directives, trying to attack ukrainian forces in the northern part of donbass, without waiting for the southern fights to finish. nick: michael kaufman, as always, thank you very much. michael: thank you. judy: widespread destruction wrought by russia across ukraine is astonishing.

whole towns flattened, large swaths of cities sacked. special correspondent simon ostrovsky, and videographer yegor troyanovsky found twin towns where the visible damage was more limited, but the heartache and anger is still palpable. simon: in this village, two hours east of kyiv, a woman and man work to fix a fence. i asked her, what happened here? you live your life, do everything to have a comfortable retirement, and then, the russian world comes to liberate you, she smirks. tetyana plysko tells me russian soldiers occupied and ransacked their cottage after she and her husband fled the village when fighting began as russian columns advanced on the ukrainian capital in february. they shot out the locks with a machine gun, they took everything, she tells me, down

to the sheets from the bed and the tools from the garage. the clothes on her husband's back are now the only garments he has left. what kind of mothers bore them to raise such scumbags? at least, she says, she got away with her life. six village men were not so lucky. their bodies were found where they were executed by an abandoned building across the street. simon: here in the village of staryi bykiv it almost looks like the war never touched this place. most of the houses are actually in pretty good condition and were not had by shelling. but when you start talking to the local residents, that's when you find out what the russian soldiers were up to while they were occupying this area and it paints a completely different picture. we go to search for the family of some of the men who were killed to find out what happened. a few streets over we are greeted by lesya nyzhnyk.

all i have left are memories, she tells me. her husband and his uncle were taken by a group orussian soldiers and executed just as the force swept through the town . they were cut. bohdan was stabbed in the heart and his ribs were broken. my husband's throat was slit. i would give anything for them to be alive. lesya tells me she blames herself because she didn't beg hard enough for their lives while the men were still alive. no one knows why they were killed. they had no links to the military and had left the city to weather the war in theihome village. it would prove to be a catastrophic miscalculation. bohdan's hands were so white and

his nails were just a little bit blue. his t-shirt was clean, as if he had just put it on. his pants were clean. after the examination, that's when they told us they had been knifed. across a blown out bridge in novyi bykiv, staryi bykiv's sister city, we arrive at the local community center. russian anti-aircraft units used it as their base and their prison. lyudmyla kiriyenko shows us the cellar in an adjacent boiler room that was used to hold ukrainian detainees. as many as 20 people were packed into this crawlspace at after one point. the russians left, three of their bodies were found sprawled in the cemetery next door. a total of 13 people were killed in staryi and novyi bykiv. another is missing. the community center itself is ransacked. the soldiers spray painted the

words "glory to pressur on a wall panel. below ot a cross assoiated with the white power movement. another inscription decorates the stairwell. "we will feed our children with the bones of your people." lyudmyla's daughter yulia takes us into her nail salon on the second floor. this was my business, she tells me, i built it with my own sweat and blood. now look at it. the cutters, the nozzles are gone, most of the nail polish. nail clippers, gone. the lamp, gone. this was a pogrom, simply a po gram. this is what we managed to solve -- salvage. what do all these men from the russian army want with a bunch of nail salon equipment? there is a tapped phone conversation that was put online where a guy says, there are

manicure sets here, should i bring them -- should i take them? i will bring them. when i was listening to it i thought to myself, he was in my place. called his wife, and told her he would take it. and he probably did. maybe he didn't make it. maybe he's out there somewhere. no one knows. i hope he is lying out there somewhere. for the pbs newshour, i am simon ostrovsky. judy: this unbelievable. the newshr's coverage of the war in ukraine is supported in partnership with the pulitzer center. the war has driven millions of people from their homes in ukraine, more than 4.5 million have left their nation for eastern europe and beyond, and a further seven plus million are displaced within ukraine. helping manage this crisis is the united nations high commissioner for refugees, filippo grandi. we spoke just a short time ago after he met with top officials today at the white house. thank you very much for joining

us. before i ask you about your meetings at the white house, let me ask you to give us an overall sense of the refue crisis right now as a result of russia's invasion of ukraine? filippo: you know this has been the fastest growing refugee crisis in european history. since the second world war. we are at 4.5 million refugees, without mentioning of course, the mor than 7 million that are refugees inside ukraine. judy: what do you expect is next? ? based on the people you are talking to? filippo: this is not exactly what i have been to -- this is exactly what i have been discussing today. i am meeting the secretary of state tomorrow. i think the prevalent analysis of the experts is that the war has moved eastwards. but what i fear as a humanitarian is it -- is protracted conflict.

it may be lower intensity and more localized, but will continue to cause untold suffering to millions of people. and may cause further displacement. judy: what is needed to take care of these refugees? how many of them do you think, can homes be found for them, permanent or temporary, and how many -- i know you are worried about all of them, but give us a sense of how many of them do you believe can be taken care of? filippo: europe has done a remarkable job, has established what is called technically temporary protection. this is a quick protection regime for all of them. this has allowed ukrainians in europe topread across the continent. and they usually go where they have communities that can take care of them, their own communities. ukrainian communities. clearly, if this wave continues, if more people come out of

ukraine, it would be more and more difficult. so we will have to step up, regular assistance program, and may be more organized burden sharing mechanism. but we are not yet they are. if i may say one more thing. what i am really worried about and where i think we must put a lot the emphasis right now is inside ukraine. for the displaced people. for all of those miions in need, to stabilize the situation there, and ensure, when they can, that they can go back to where they came from. that is the priority right now. judy: what does that mean in terms of what is needed? is it money that is needed to go to the ukrainian authorities? is it assistance of some other kind? filippo: we work very closely with the ukrainian authorities. when they say we, not just we, but all the humanitarian organizations. because they lead the response, early, in their own country. money is very important. because one of the most

effective ways to assist people, and this is refugees, displaced people, everybody, which is to give cash hands out -- handouts. certainly the eu countries, but also in the ukraine, you can buy goods in the market. that is the most effective and dignified way to help them. the other big, big area of need is from our perspective, what we would call accommodation or shelter. both for people that are outside their homes and need to have some form of accommodation, so we are helping, for example, the ukrainian government fix big. . empty buildings. but also for people that may wish to return to their homes in areas that have been liberated and areas where reconstruction will eventually happen. judy: is the united states right now, the biden administration, doing all that you believe that it can do to support these refugees? filippo: i think so. and the response of the

administration, but may i add, the response of society has been amazing. you know that unhcr, and we are one of the many players, but a big one in terms of refugee response, we have mobilized more than $800 million. there has been an unprecedented outpouring of solidarity which has been very tangible and important. judy: let me ask you about one other area of the world where we are concerned about humanitarian crisis, and that is i afghanistan. we know that since the u.s. pullout last summer, there has been -- the crisis has only grown worse. can you give us an update of where things stand right now? filippo: in afghanistan, because of the difficult political situation, and the impossibility, for now, for any donor to support the taliban

regime directly, everything has been channeled through humanitarian activities. and there has been a very considerable effort, especiay before the winter, and i visited afghanistan twice after the taliban took over in september. and just recently. and i observed that although the crisis is still looming and very acute, the indicators of hunger arvery bad, we have avoided, through this massive humanitarian effort, the worst. we need to continue this massive humanitarian response to keep the country stable. it works, but it requires a big sustained effort. judy: if you see that continuing? filippo: i hope so. and i think your question, somehow, implies that. and thank you for ging me the opportunity. it is important not to forget all of the other crises, even as

we are rightly focusing massively on ukraine. i was in new york last week. i met all the african ambassadors to the united nations. they are very worried that this big effort to respond to the crisis in ukraine distracts the international community from solidarity with afghan countries that also are hit by very, very severe humanitarian crisis. let's adopt that solidarity for everyone in need. judy: so good to be reminded of that. the united nations high commission for refugees, thank you very much. filippo: thanks for inviting me here. much appreciated. judy: in the days other news, philadelphia reinstated an indoor mask mandate for

covid-19. the first major u.s. city to do so. cases had risen 50% in 10 days. and in china, the manufacturing hub of guangzhou closed itself to most travelers. meanwhile, shanghai began easing its lockdown in places amid rising criticism from residents. that's despite a new daily record of more than 25,000 infections. campaigning began in france for a two week race to a presidential election runoff. president emmanuel macron was out and about after leading sunday's first round. far right populace -- populist marine le pen surged late and finished second. macron easily beat le pen five years ago. polls show it's much closer this time. in pakistan, lawmakers chose opposition leader shabazz sharif as interim prime minister today after a political crisis in the nuclear arm nation. imran khan had been ousted sunday in a no-confidence vote.

more than 100 lawmakers loyal to khan walked out and resigned today. sharif denounced khan over political divisions and economic mismanagement. >> today is a great day for the whole pakistani nation. because this parliament has thrown out a selected and fake prime minister from this honorable house. judy: he will serve until election that could come by the end of this year. israeli forces have killed a fourth palestinian in 24 hours. it happened last night near bethlehem in the west bank. troops said they fired on a man who threw a firebomb. hundreds of people marched in the funeral today. it followed a spate of palestinian attacks that killed 14 israelis in recent weeks. a jury in london today convicted an islamic state supporter of murdering sir david ay'mess, a member of parliament. ali harbi ali had denied he stabbed the lawmaker to death

during a meeting with voters last year. the jury took just 18 minutes to find him guilty. back in this country, president biden has nominated former federal prosecutor steve dettle-back to run the "bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives." an earlier nominee stalled in the senate. in a rose garden event, the president also rolled out a finalized rule to regulate so-called ghost guns that are privately made. pres. biden: a felon, a terrorist, a domestic abuser can go from a gun kit to a gun in as little as 30 minutes. buyers aren't required to pass background checks because guns have no serial numbers, these guns. when they show up at a crime scene, they can't be traced. judy: both the ghost gun rule and the nomination face opposition from gun owners groups. a federal jury in washington has

convicted a former virginia police officer of storming the u.s. capitol on january 6 last year. thomas robertson was found guilty today of interfering with police and carrying a weapon in a restricted area. he is only the second january 6 defendant to have a jury trial. a district attorney in south texas moved today to dismiss a murder case against a woman over a self induced abortion. the prosutor said a review showed state law exempts pregnant women from homicide charges involving abortions. the woman was arrested last week. pacific gas & electric will pay $55 million to avoid criminal prosecution in two magic -- major california wildfires. the fires destroyed thousands of homes and buildings, and were blamed on aging power lines. pg&e already settled with wildfire victims for more than $25 billion dollars. on wall street, tack and energy

star -- stocks drive to major indices down 1% to 2%. the dow jones industrial average lost 413 points to close at 34,000 3:08 -- the nasdaq fell 34,308. nearly 300 points. still to come, how girls are facing tough battles on and off the sports field. amy walter and lauren vallow lopez analyzed the latest political news. a ukrainian novelist discusses preserving his country's culture during war. and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and from the walter concrete school of journalism from arizona state university. judy: between shrinking budgets and the covid-19 pandemic, the united states postal office has endured a turbulent few years. now, lawmakers are rushing to

salvage the essential agency. geoff bennett has more. reporter: the u.s. postal service has secured a major victory which will keep it afloat in -- and address service delays that have plagued the agency in recent years. president biden signed a bill into law that will overhaul the postal service's finances and allow the agency to modernize its service. there are questions about the future of postal service operations and the leadership of an agency that millions of americans rely on each day for everything from prescriptions to paychecks. jaco bogota covers the u.s. postal service for the washington post. as you know, this new law comes after years of increasing warnings about the state of the agency's finances. president biden said when he signed this bill into law that the postal service will be unsustainable and stable financial moving -- footing moving forward. explain to us how that will work. jacob: so what this bill does is it frees the postal service from

$5 billion annual payments. and a lot of those payments it hasn't been able to make for more than a decade. the postal service is required to pay its retirees health care costs and -- in advance. that is because it is a physical job. you are sorting and moving mail. it is a lot of driving. you're getting in and out of a car or a truck every day you're walking around city blocks. it's a difficult job. and so they make $5 billion payments annually that they just don't have the money to pay for because we as a country don't send enough mail anymore to to -- to keep the postal service afloat that way. so this bill wipes clean a lot of those payments and gives the postal service the financial flexibility to make investments and modernize for the years to come. geoff: and yet, on the same day, the president signed this bill into law, giving the postal service to use your phrase financial flexibility, the agency announced another series of price hikes. why? what accounts for that?

jacob: the postal service, generally speaking, does not get funding from congress. it has to subsist on the sale of postage products. if we as a country don't send as much mail, it has got to find ways to make up that revenue in the way that choosing to do that, postmaster general louis dejoy is choosing to do that is to raise the price of stamp come july and will go from $.58 to $.60 for a first-class stamp. and then for a postcard from 40 -- $.40 to so these are large, $.44. relatively speaking, large jumps. geoff: you mentioned the postmaster general who you actually recently interviewed. what did he tell you about his rategic plan and how he plans to implement it? jacob: sure, i think the important takeaway from that conversation is regardless of what your opinions are about delivery, speed or delivery price, the postal services network has to compete with private sectors logistics

companies. and in theonsumer space that's fedex and ups and amazon. its network is simply not set up to do this right now. it is the stuff that consumers don't see. it's the stuff that folks on capitol hill don't see and don't want to talk about. and it is uncomfortable. it is consolidating processing plants. it is monetizing or making more efficient mail delivery routes, things that are really going to create some turmoil in the organization. but whether louis dejoy was the guy to do it or not, this is something that needed to be done for thpostal service's worthiness of the 21st century. geoff: what is dejoy's future? as you mentioned, he's a controversial figure. he is a major republican donor. democrats accused him of deliberately trying to slow the mail in the run up to the 2020 election, when tre was an overreliance on mail in ballots. yet president biden doesn't have the authority to remove him directly, that that authority rests with the board of governors. give us a sense of the current

makeup of the board of governors and what that suggests about dejoy future. jacob: this is, as you alluded to, a more complicated question than a lot of folks realize. so louis dejoy serves at the pleasure of the board of governors. it is a nine-member board. it's bipartisan, it's appointed by the president to members. they're now appointed by both president biden and president trump, confirmed by the senate. but even as democrats take control of the board, louis dejoy is not going anywhere. he still enjoys enough support to remain in office. and i should say, even as the white house has continually expressed a lack of confidence in the postmaster general, they are leaning more and more heavily on the postal service for different parts of the administration's goals. and i think the best example of that is the covid test kit program. they've sent 320 million covid test kits to americans all over the country. i've gotten four test kits myself. that is noteworthy that even though they said they don't have confidence in louis dejoy as the

postmaster general, they are enthusiastically using his agency in the pandemic response. geoff: yeah, such a great jacob point. baggage covers the us postal service for the washington post. jacob, a pleasure to speak with you as always, friend. jacob: thanks, geoff. judy: it has been nearly 50 years since the passage of title ix. landmark civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at federally funded schools. including in athletic programs. violations still exist. schools often provide better opportunities and benefits for boys sport i'm no deposit takes a look at one san diego variation high school team that fought to settle the score. the story is a partnership with the shirley povich center for sports journalism and the howard

center for investigative journalism, both at the university of maryland, merrill college of journalism. reporter: outside san diego, at rancho buena vista high school, it is almost gametime. fresh chalk lines the infield. team gear hangs in the dugout. and fans await the action in shaded bleachers. the varsity softball longhorns are looking sharp. but this facility, with its scoreboard and fencing and manicured outfield, is a world away from the team's oldfield, an off-campus city park with patchy grass, a partial fence, and no locker rooms. former players dani ellis and sydney prenatt remember it wella -- remember it well. >> we'd have to carry our equipment to all of our classes that day. and both of us, we were catchers, so the bags are huge. they probably wei like 30 pounds. >> changing in the parking lot sometimes and the bathrooms, it definitely wasn't convenient.

reporter: not every team had to use it. the boys baseball team had their own field. just steps from the school. what are you thinking when you're seeing everything the baseball team has right there and the way they're able to practice and play and everything you have to go through every day just to get to practice? >> we'd never seen an example where girls were kind of treated more equitably. it just it just kind of seemed like that was just the way things are. and as girls, we just had to nd of tough it out. reporter: fed up in 2017, ellis d prenatt, then high school seniors, decided to level the playing field. the players realized their high school was violating federal civil rights law title ix, providing a girls softball field in worse condition, with fewer facilities, and farther away than the boys field. >> we knew that we had a really blatant case of title nine obstruction. and so we were very confident and we kind of knew that we're going to make some people mad. but this is what we deserve, and we don't expect anything less.

reporter: on june 23, 1972, president richard nixon signed title ix into law. it required gender equity in education, including in athletics. that year, only 7% of high school varsity athletes in the u.s. were women. the law is meant to guarantee all institutions receiving federal funding provide equal opportunities, supplies and facilities to students, regardless of their gender. it was in this classroom, led by social studies teacher team leary, -- tim leary, that ellis and prenatt learned about the law. >> i remember it actually before they even came to me, um just them looking at each other and the looks on their faces, and they made eye contact with like, you know, something's up. reporter: in april 2018, backed by their entire softball team, ellis and prenatt took their fight straight to the school board. >> we are asking you to all stand with us so that future girls don't have to grow up thinking equality has to be

earned. they grow up believing that equality is expected.a reporter: the team made their case, thanked the board, and walked out. a few weeks later, ellis and prenatt received a letter from their school district. they learned the school board had approved the new softball field. >> a brand-new field. reporter: and shared the news with their whole team. >> they're calling it the best softball field in north county. county//sydney and i never could have dreamed up anything like that. it's absolutely unbelievable. reporter: since title ix passed fifty years ago girls participation in sports has skyrocketed. millions now playing in high school programs across the country. but experts say to this day boys programs still get better uniforms, better facilits, and more support. all potential title ix violations. those kinds of examples are not hard to find. in ewa beach, hawaii, girls on the water polo team could not get funding for a pool and had to practice on dry land or in the open ocean. in union city, new jersey, the boys football team played in a multi million dollar rooftop stadium for ten years, before

the girls teams were even allowed to use it. and in stillwater, oklahoma - softball team parents had to sue the school district, to get their daughters equal training, equipment and facilities to the boys. >> title ix is not hard. this is not rocket science, to make sure -- reporter: nancy hogshead-makar is an olympic gold medalist swimmer and civil rights attorney. her organization champion women advocates for gender equality in sports for women and girls, including her own daughters. >> they came up to me and they said, hey, mom, how come the boys have a scoreboard and we don't have a scoreboard? at their third practice, they already knew that they were not getting treated the same way. that's a terrible lesson. reporter: she says one of the biggest barriers is that most high school students and their parents either don't know that title ix exists or don't understand what it protects. >> they sort of unrstand yes, i'm entitled to equality, but they don't really know what that means. and i've never talked to a female athlete that was not

acutely aware of how they were getting second class treatment as compared to some of the other male athletes. but they think that there must be a reason. there's no defense to giving men more. reporter: reporting title ix violations often means filing a lawsuit or federal complaint with the department of education that can sometimes take years to resolve. it can also mean standing up to school officials. coach theresa murillo has led rancho buena vista's softball program for 17 years. those to them on not oldfield. >> we had a lot of issues. we had some injuries, ankles, you know, being broken. reporter: but murillo worried about speaking out. >> i heard horror stories about other people trying to push for it, and they were let go as coaches. i reallyike my job. i really like what i'm doing right now. reporter: but you thought if you advocated for the girls, that would be held against you? >> i was worried about that, yeah. because i heard it from other coaches. reporter: 50 years on, we live

the same challenge that we've always lived, right? that we have a promise that we have to struggle to achieve. reporter: catherine lhamon is assistant secretary for civil rights at the department of education. she says parents and students shouldn't have to be the first ones flagging title ix violatns. >> in instances when the responsibility does lie with the students or the parents themselves, what would you say to that? is that fair? >> i regret that this country puts people in that position beuse i believe at all of us should be able to, in advance, have our rights respected and not have to keep pushing for more and more. we really try to use our voice to share information about what the law is. and we are not shyver about saying if the laws have been violated, we will be there to vindicate them for students. reporter: the new field at rancho buena vista opened last february, after prenatt and ellis graduated. but they say the fight for the field was about the generation of players coming after them. >> this project is not about us. we knew the entire way through like, we're never going to get to play on this field or

anything like that. so what we hope of what comes from this, is that people everywhere, younger generations that they know like it is possible and like, we're a testament to that. reporter: for young women across the united states, title ix violations still run rampant - and a chance at a fair ball often means going up against power. but for now, this team has a game to win. for the pbs newshour, i am amna nawaz in san diego. judy: congress may be out on spring recess this week, but political fights are brewing in d.c. over hot button issues like guns, abortion, and the president's's social spending package. our correspondent brings us up to speed on all the news in politics. porter: the announcement of a nominee to run the agency that

regulates guns has reached intense political debate in washington and the primary election season is getting into high gear as the former president weighs in on key races. here to break down all of this are our politics monday crew. amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter. and laura barron-lopez of politico. tamara keith is away. laura, let's start with you. you wrote the stories of the announcements on guns today from the white house, including the announcement of the new nominee for the atf. steve devil back is someone who comes from a prosecutor's background. a little different than the previous nominee who did have experience with gun-control advocacy groups. what does that tell you, what do all of the announcements tell you about where we are on the politics of guns, especially for democrats right now? >> this is a big second attempt by the white house to try to get an atf nominee director confirmed. there has not been a director of

the atf, which is responsible for cracking down on illegal or traffic guns, there has not been a director of that agency since 2015. if biden is able to get him confirmed, that is a big deal. sources have told me they think he has a better chance than the prior nominee, david chipman, who as you noted, used to advise gun advocacy groups, mainly the giffords group. they are thinking that he could potentially have a better shot at getting confirmed, particularly among those democratic senators or senators that caucus with the democrats supporting him. last time, it was the fact that they could not get enough of those democratic senators to support the prior nominee, which is why that nomination fell apart. but this could be a big potential boost for the democratic base in terms of if biden is able to get the atf nominee director confirmed, as

well as seeing this ghost gun rule finalized. which is a major regulation that tracks down on untraceable guns. and a lot of gun-control advocates i've spoken to today say they hope the white house continues to hammer home there again safety agenda, because they think that it could turn out younger voters. >> amy, another divide in this country is abortion. as you heard judy report, a young woman in texas was arrested for murder last week. those charges were dropped for illegally obtained abortion. we talk so much about the politics of abortion. but i want to ask you about the policy. the politics have been inflamed for so long. do we now see policy becoming inflamed, people being arrested for things that are legal policy because of political debate? amy: we have seen a number of states actually follow the lead

of states that, like mississippi, whose cases being heard in front of the supreme court at this time, or the decision will come out this summer, that shrinks the window of viability. it says that a woman is allowed to have an abortion, but only in this certain window of time. some states, like texas, it is short of six weeks. while these states, mostly red states have been passing these laws, we have not seen this issue really rise to the top of either democratic or republican voters agendas. i was just looking at polling that came out in march, and for democrats, this issue of abortion ranks sixth -- as the sixth most important, and it is most important to republicans as democrats. just to say they both are invested in this issue, but they are not as invested in it as, say, the economy or climate

change or immigration. the other thing we are waiting for as i alluded to, the roe v. wade decision later this summer. we don't know exactly what that is going to look like and what it looks like is going to be important to understanding the reaction to it. you can assume that if the court decides to completely overturn the 50-year-old decision, that would probably have a very intense reaction. if they decide to keep the law, that again, allows states, like we are seeing in a place like mississippi, to keep that window shorter, that may not elicit the same kind of intense response that we would see otherwise. lisa: and a question for both of you. i am excited we are getting close to primary season here. i call it super month of may, beginning with ohio,

pennsylvania, georgia, big primaries. and of course we have seen some endorsements from former president trump, much sought after endorsements. amy, i want to ask you about that. what does president trump want out of giving those endorsements, and what is the effect on his party? amy: by the end of these primaries, there will be a win-loss record for donald trump and his endorsed candidates. we can use that as a metric to say whether he has been successful in his political acumen, how smartly he picked candidates. but i think the more important thing to appreciate is almost every single candidate running in a republican primary is running as a trump republican. this is not the trump endorsed candidate, or the trump wing of the party versus the anti-trump wing. all of them are running in that same mode. almost all of them talk about things that -- that then president trump put forward, like building a wall along the border.

as much will be made about whether his specific candidates made it through, that again, it is important to appreciate how many of these candidates are running in the mold that was made by donald trump. lisa: laura? laura: i agree with amy. also specifically, when you look at all of these candidates, a lot of them, in the instance of pennsylvania, where we are seeing trump indoors dr. oz, but -- endorse dr. oz, but mccormick has not distanced himself from trump on the issue of whether or not the 2020 election was fraudulent, which it wasn't. mccormick has continued to repeat baseless claims that the election -- that there was broad irregularities across the 2020

election, which we know is not the case. so he, like all, are very much trying to stay in line with trump. and we see that increasingly across these races wherehese candidates are deciding very much to repeat the same efforts to undermine democracy, and other sentiments like amy pointed out, in terms of immigration, in terms of increased and brace of white nationalists sentiments. they are eating all those points. and that has been growing within the republican party. lisa: i have to say, it was a pleasure being back with you. there is a lot you are observing that we are watching too. . as we can all say, this year keeps changing. we are distancing again but i'm sure we will be back together in person, hopefully instant -- hopefully in coming weeks. thank you so much to both of you. amy: thank you. laura: thank you.

judy: we turn back to ukraine now through a different lens with a conversation with one of that country's best-known novelists. jeffrey brown talks with andre kirchhoff about his new book, addressing ukraine's past struggles with russia, translated into english at a moment of existential crisis for his country. it is part of our arts and cultures series. reporter: he is author of more than 20 books including translated to english the novel's death in the penguin, and the bedford fuse. a new novel is set of several years ago in the donbass region of eastern ukraine amid what was then a simmering conflict, one little noted by the outside world. a resident of kyiv, he spoke t us from earlier this week from western ukraine. . in the forward to your new novel, the right he wanted to

give voice to the forgotten people in the east. i was a few years ago, now the country has been invaded. you ever imagine this could happen? >> no. i could never have thought about this. this is the war of the 20th centy, something like second world war. the methods of german nazis are very obvious to me. i have never could have imagined such destruction and the killing of civilians, just don't care about the country, the people i'm of the infrastructure. jeffrey: the world is watching the human suffering now. but you have also been speaking about the impact on history, on identity, on language itself. andrey: now the stakes are very high, the independence of ukraine. the statehood of ukraine. ukraine has its own history. but russia wants ukraine to accept the russian version of ukraine, according to issue,

ukrainians are actually russians. ukrainian language is different. 40% of russian speakers in ukraine, many of them are bilingual, like me. and ukrainian language actually is the only guarantee now that ukraine will stay independent from russia. ukrainians will not accept any more russian culture or anything russian because of the atrocities imposed on us by the russian army. jeffrey: you yourself write your novels in russian. many americans may still not understand the interaction between those two languages and how much that has been part of ukrainian culture. andrey: in ukraine, there were people speaking russian and ukrainian. the official language is ukrainian, but many russian speakers do speak and understand ukrainian. i am a russian speaker, i am an ethnic russian, russian is my another -- my mother tongue.

i never had a problem of writing russian in ukraine. now because of the russian aggression and putin said this war is against ukrainian nationalists who areuppressing russian speakers, i feel ashamed, and i am prepared to give up publishing my books in russian, just as a political gesture. jeffrey: so you see is this as having that kind of impact on you as a writer? andrey: yes. russian speakers in the east, they are killed in the name of defending russian language by the russian army. jeffrey: i can see you use humor in your writing, but you bring out the humanity in difficult situations. what about now? what do you see as your role as a writer? andrey: it is impossible to write fiction now. i started a novel before the war, and i put it aside. i am writing on the diary, articles of what is happening in ukraine, essays, and trying to

inform international audiences about the true events happening in ukraine. i think many writers are doing like me. they are not writing fiction or poetry. the time of arts is not now, really. jeffrey: and what is it you most want the world to know right now? andrey: first of all, that all the pretext of putin, for this war, are false. we are a european free country, with a lot of anarchy, over 400 political parties registered in the ministry of justice. but we are not anything that putin says. jeffrey: andre cora cobb is off -- is the author of the new novel "gray beast." thank you very much. judy: and thank you, jeffrey brown. on the pbs newshour online, the irs is working through a backlog of millions of tax returns from last year. on top of that, the pandemic has

created complications for this tax season. we talk with tax experts about what you should keep in mind this year. you can read more at pbs.org/newshour. that is the newshour for tonight. i am judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank. please stay safe. . and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & co." from iv. here's what's coming up. a brutal russian missile strike kills dozensf mostly women and children waiting to evacuate at a train station. we get an eyewitness report. and with eurean commission president ursula von der leyen meeting with present zelenskyy, i asked her, what more is europe prepared to do as these atrocities mount up? then ukraine's defense intelligence chief, general abaaoud noef, calls it an act of terror. and he calls on allies to beef up their defenses against russia's second phas

also, a