judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight. pres. biden: we will stand in solidarity against russia's agression, period. judy: the world stage. president biden calls on global leaders to counter russia's invasion of ukraine as vladimir putin drafts 300,000 more soldiers for the war effort. then, fighting inflation. the federal reserve again raises interest rates to combat rising prices, and central banks around the world follow suit. and come about aftermath. in the wake of hurricane fiona, puerto rico begins the long recovery process while much of the island is still left in the dark and without running water.

all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> cfo. caregiver. eclipse chaser. at raymondjames financial

advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> the walton family foundation. working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people in nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound .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: we have two lead stories tonight. the federal reserve has raised

interest rates to their highest level in 14 years, in a move to fight inflation. but we begin with the largest escalation of the war in ukraine since russia invaded. overnight, russia's president vladimir putin announced a -- president biden and the world are responding today at the annual u.n. general assembly. nick schifrin is in new york, and begins our coverage. nick: on the 210th day of russia's war in ukraine as a russian rocket left another ukrainian home a mangled mess -- as ukrainian soldiers maintained their momentum, evicting russian occupiers and capturing equipment as russian troops flee for their lives, president vladimir putin rushed russia -- launched russia's largest mobilization since world war ii. >> only military reservists will be called up. i have already signed up the executive order on partial

mobilization. nick: defense miniter promised to disport -- to deploy the range of thousand veterans, doubling the number of troops committed to ukraine. in na echo after when he 14 in crimea, putin endorsed that the u.s. believes will lead to annexation. >> will do everything necessary to create safe and then -- safe condition so people can express their will. we will support their choice for the future. nick: western weapons have helped ukraine survive and beat russia back. putin said the west "had gone too far." and unleashed with the use called a nuclear threat. >> our country has different types of weapons as well. some of them are more modern than the weapons nato countries have. in the event to the threat of the integra torrey of our country, we will make use of all weapon systems available to us. this is not a bluff. pres. biden: if nations can

pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences, then we put at risk everything at -- this various institution stands for. nick: president biden address the u.n. general assembly that putin annually boycotts, and called his ambitions in ukraine total. pres. biden: this war is about extinguishing ukraine's right to exist as a state. plain and simple. and ukraine's right to exist as a people. wherever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should make your blood run cold. nick: biden called the war a shameless violation of the very principle on which the u.n. was founded. pres. biden: you cannot seize a nation's territory by force. the only countr standing in the way of that is russia. >> greetings to all people of the world. nick: this afternoon, ukraine's president address the world.

>> iwants to prepare pontifications on occupied land and carry out military mobilization at home. we cannot agree to the delayed war, because it will be even more important than the war now, for us. this is a war for life. nick: in moscow, the mobilization sparked theory. a rare demonstration against the war and with independent rights group, more than 1000 arrests. >> men and women chosen to represent the majority of mankind, in this new effort to make life safer the ordinary citizen throughout the globe. nick: the ewing general assembly launched 76 years ago in the aftermath of two world wars. president biden hark back to those 1946 delegates decision, to try to breach a divided world, and ended with a rallying cry of hope. pres. biden: the challenge we face today are great indeed. but our capacity is greater.

our commitment must be greater still. we are not passive witnesses to history. we are the authors of history. we can do this. we have to do it. for ourselves, and for our future. for humankind. nick: but the very structure of the united nations, russia has a crepe -- has a permanent veto on the security council, and prevents the institution from having influence over the war in ukraine. that means the war will be determined by the ukrainian military to fight back against russia and the west's ability to maintain the support ukraine needs. judy: nick, a lot going on. you were telling us there has been talk today in new york about what has happened at these nuclear plants, the largest nuclear plants in europe, that there is discussion about its safety. what can you tell us about that? nick: the director general of

the iaea the human,'s nuclear watchdog is here doing shuttle diplomacy. he met with a foreign minister and after that, with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov, to try to create a safe zone around that point. that would include removing the russian vehicles inside the plant and getting russia to stop doing what the u.s. believes it is doing, and that is deliberately sabotaging the electricity lines going in and out of the nuclear power plant. the electricity concerns have abated in the last week or so. there was a new incident today that a pool where spent nuclear fuel is cooled stopped operating because there was an explosion at a nearby pipeline. a little bit of good news. there has been a prisoner swap between ukraine and russia, moderated by the saudi's. that includes the release of two americans who had been held for three months, and who have been sentenced to death. they are free tonight. judy: interesting timing.

finally, we know that iran's president spoke today at the human tell us what he said -- at the u.n. tell us what he said. nick: he spoke at the u.n. and was defied. he even held up a photo of custom soleimani, the former commander that was killed by a u.s. drone during the trump administration. he said we will "continue down that path. steadfastly. referring to the nuclear advancements his country has made since leaving the iran nuclear deal. what he did not address are those protests that have spread throughout iran over the last five days. over the death of a 22-year-old who died in iranian custody, in those protests. . seven people have been killed. those protests continue today. president biden said of the protests, we stand with the

men of iran who are simply demonstrating further basic rights. judy: nick schifrin reporting on it all for us from the united nations in new york. thank you, nick. ♪ judy: as we said a moment ago, another mage -- another major news story, the federal reserve raising its key interest rate by three quarters of a point in order to beat back inflation. so far, the fed has increased rates by three points this year. the benchmark short-term rate has now reached its highest level since 2008. with fed chair jay powell saying today that "there is still a long way to go," it looks like the fed's key rate will jump one more point before years end. other countries are following suit, posing more risks.

economics correspondent paul solman has the story. >> the fed's unusually aggressive third straight three quarters of a point interest rate hike is part of his ongoing struggle to tame inflation. chairman jay powell today. >> inflation is running too high. if that is the one thing you know, you know this committee is committed to getting to a meaningful restrictive stance of policy and staying there until we feel confident that inflation is coming down. pail: despite previous rate hikes, powell noted -- noted jobs remain unfilled. >> there is only modest evidence the labor market is cooling off. we think we will need to bring our funds rate to a restrictive level and keep it there for some time. pail: former new york fed executive explained the mechanics. >> the federal reserve is trying to increase the cost of borrowing, tighten financial conditions more broadly, in

order to reduce demand in the economy, and bring it into better balance with supply, which continues to be somewhat impaired following the pandemic. the hope is that by doing so, they can help generate a reduction in what is currently very elevated inflation. >> what are the risks? >> raises the risk that at some point, the fed might overshoot and raise rates too much, pushing the economy into a recession that perhaps did not need to happen. pail: today, chair powell acknowledged that risk. >> no one knows whether this process will lead to a recession, or has significant the recession would be. that is going to depend on how quickly wage and price inflation pressures come down, weather expectations remain anchored, and we get more labor supply? pail: it is not just the federal reserve. most central banks in the world are raising rates. >> the effect of a rate hike in

one country slls over into others as well. the whole is more than the sum of its parts of this tightening. that certainly presents risks to growth. at the same time, it is the case, it is very important for central banks to avoid a return to the 1970's where high and variable inflation became entrened, causing great misery for households, difficulties, or poor economic performance. they are doing this for a reason. the problem is that it is going to be hard to thread the needle, restore price stability, while sustaining ongoing global growth and employment. pail: already in the u.s., higher interest rates have hiked mortgage rates above 6% for the first time since 2008, slowing home sales, and of course, the stock market is down. >> the fed raises the interest rate, and particularly, as

today, signals that it expects to raise rates appreciably further from here. that pushes up all borrowing costs, and longer-term borrowing costs, as well as short-term borrowing costs on your mortgage. costs on an auto loan, costs on other consumer credit. it is also the case that when interest rates go up, the value of assets that generate dividends like shares, also tend to go down. pail: what next? today, the fed revised its medium forecasts for unemployment and inflation upward. addicting 4.4% -- predicting four point 4% unemployment next year and a core inflation rate of 4.5% by december. and projected they would raise the fed funds rate by another 1.25 point by the end of the year. we will get to see if those projections are more accurate than the recent fed forecasts

that so under predicted the inflation we now face. for the pbs newshour, pail solman. ♪ judy: in the days other news, new york state sued former president trump, his three eldest children, and his company. alleging business fraud. the civil lawsuit says they inflated mr. trump's net worth by billions of dollars, by exaggerating the value of his key real estate properties. new york state attorney general letitia james announced the lawsuit in manhattan. >> claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal, it is the art of the steal. there cannot be different rules for different people in this country or in this state. former presidents are no different. judy: mr. trump called the suit a witch hunt by a democratic

official. we'll take a closer look, later in the program. the u.s. house of representatives today approved a bill to block future attempts at subverting presidential elections. it's a direct response to the january 6th riot at the u.s. capitol, and closes loopholes in a centuries-old law. the trump camp tried to exploit those loopholes to overturn the 2020 election results. a similar bill is pending in the senate. hurricane "fiona" has grown into a category 4 storm with winds of 130 miles an hour. the storm slowly swirled north toward bermuda late today. it is forecast to arrive there by thursday night or early friday. in its wake, roughly 1 million homes and businesses in puerto rico still have no power, and 1.3 million people have no running water. in pakistan, medical workers struggled today to contain malaria outbreaks as swarms of

mosquitoes breed in the wake of catastrophic flooding. the disease is spreading in refugee camps where hundreds of thousands of people face desperate conditions. in addition to sickness, many are going hungry. >> our problem is food. they give us a one kilogram packet of cooked rice every i have a huge family. how is this going to feed all the men, women and children in our family? judypakistani officials say the floodwaters spanning hundreds of square miles won't entirely recede for up to 6 months. back in this country, robert sarver, the owner of the phoenix suns and phoenix mercury pro basketball teams, announced he's selling both franchises. it comes a week after he was suspended by the nba over allegations of racist and anti-female speech. sarver bought the teams in 2004. and on wall street, the latest

interest rate hike pushed stocks lower. major indexes fell 1.7% or more. the dow jones industrial average lost 522 points to cse at 30,183. the nasdaq fell nearly 205 points. the s&p 500 shed 66. and a new monument in missouri now officially marks the center of the country. it was unveiled today in the small town of hartville, east of springfield. it signifies the geographic center of how the u.s. population is distributed. the population center is calculated every 10 years after the latest census. we will have to dip -- have to go take a look. still to come on the "nehour", the details of the new york attorney general's lawsuit against former president trump and his children. we speak with the president of poland about vladimir putin's moves to escalate the war in ukraine. a sheriff opens an investigation into florida's decision to fly migrants to martha's vineyard.

plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: as we reported, the attorney general of new york is suing former president donald trump and his private company for financial fraud. john yang has more on the development in the -- in mr. trump's legal battles. john: judy, new york attorney general letitia james civil suit alleges that the former president and executives of the trump organization including his oldest three adult children, lied to bankers and insurers for years by inflating the value of their real estate holdings in violation of new york state law. james caan -- james can't bring criminal charges in this case, but suggests that federal laws were broken as well, and she has

referred the case to the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan and the irs. we look at two aspects of this with andrea burnstine, who covers the former president's legal issues for npr, and jessica roth, a former federal prosecutor who is now a professor at the cardozo school law. andrea, let me begin with you. you have watched these investigations of the former president closely for a while. what is the significance of what happened today? andrea: i think what was striking was to hear the new york attorney general say aloud that this had been a pattern and practice the trump organization for at least a decade. that is, take trump's apartment in trump tower. according to the complaint, the apartment was valued for an apartment three times its size, a $200 million difference, making it valued at the time for as most expensive apartment in new york city. .

according to the attorney general, what the president did was take this to bankers and say, i have all of this money, and get more favorable rates. this happened according to the complaint, over 200 times. it was central to trump's business model. it was a pattern of fraud that went on and on and on. john: jessica roth, is there a referral to the -- is a referral to the u.s. attorney's office. you worked in that office. what happens when a referral comes over like this? jessica: the u.s. attorney's office will make an independent assessment of the evidence. it would conduct its own investigation. and with mega determination about whether there is enough evidence -- make a determination about whether there is enough evidence to pursue charges. criminal case is higher than a burden in a civil case. the burden in a criminal case is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. even if all the allegations in this complaint are accepted as true, the u.s. attorney would be

satisfied that he would persuade a jury unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt of criminal intent by each of the individuals alleged here, not just the corporation. john: andrea, we have set the trump reaction to this is that this is a political witchhunt. the former president did respond on the truth social media site in a political way. he said attorney general leticia peekaboo james, a total crime-fighting disaster in new rk, is spending all her time fighting for very powerful and well represented banks and insurance companies who were fully paid made a lot of money, and nevehad a complaint about me, instead of fighting murder and violent crime, which is killing new york state. the attorney general has emerged as one of the leading antagonists of the former president. she is a democrat, she was talking about running for governor for a while. what role does politics play in all of this?

andrea: according to the judge in this investigation, it does not matter. this has been a running argument that has been going on since january, whether the attorney general was titled to get information from the former president, his company, or whether she is trying to get it to embarrass the former president and his company. what the judge in the case has ruled is it does not matter the new york attorney general is a democrat. it does not matter she talked when she was running for office about investigating trump. what matters are the facts and law. this case has survived several hurdle in a civil case like this, cases are quite advanced. the attorney general has gotten millions of pages of documents. we all remember, she interviewed the former president. he took the fifth amendment 500 times. she talked about that in her press conference today. the case is far along. the evidence is out there. a judge has said, politics does

not matter. it is going to be tested in courts. john: new estate valuations are often subjective. how is what is being alleged in this civil suit, how out of the ordinary is this for real estate? andrea: have covered it trump's business for a long time. i have covered real estate in new york for aong time. there is a lot of puffery about what the value of a property may be. but what the attorney general was saying is that this was so far out of bounds, hundreds of millions of dollars in individual cases, adding up to more than $1 billion, that there were actual victims, the taxpayers of new york, who did not get the taxes they were entitled to. that is something that if you were an average person, you lied on a bank application, you could be liable for that. she was saying it was not matter -- it did not matter if you were the former president, you should be too. john: andrea talks about the

puffery in real estate. you talked about these allegations and claims being objectively verifiable. you talked about the importance of that. explain what y meant by that? jessica: because i think the attorney general anticipated the defense was likely to be that these are the kinds of practices that are routinely engaged in the real estate industry, i think she was wise to make her allegations as concrete as possible and grounded in representations that were made that could be shown to be objectively false. for example, the square footage andrea talked about, of the former president's apartment. that was grossly inflated in some of the statements. that is an objective fact. what is the square footage of the apartment? things like that. whether or not statements were prepared with the input of outside professionals. that can be verified, whether outside professionals gave their sanction to the statements.

and according to the allegations and the complaints, some of those professionals were interviewed by the attorney general, and they did not provide input of the kind described in the statements or sanctioned them in anyway. that is what i mean. it is smart as a litigation strategy to stick to facts that can be verified and proven to be false. john: based on the allegations in this suit, what potential federal charges do you see possible here? andrea: they include the charges mentioned in a footnote in this complaint, including wire fraud and fraud. this would involve frauds committed upon financial institutions, banks, and use of the wires in furtherance of any other kind of fraud. it can include bank fraud, insurance fraud. any interstate wires are used to further a scheme to defraud, that can count as wire fraud

under the federal statutes. that is what the u.s. attorney is going to be looking at, in addition to the evidence. what are the federal statutes that may have been violated here? john: jessica roff and andrea bernstein of npr, thank you very much. andrea: thank you. jessica: thank you. judy: ukraine's largest neighbor on its western border is poland, a nato and european union member that has its own long and violent history with russia. as vladimir putin looks to accelerate the war, i sat down in new york early this afternoon with poland's president, andrzej duda. president duda, thank you very much for talking with us. let's start with ukraine. you've just listened to president biden's remarks at the united nations, where he said

what president putin has done in taking over territory that doesn't belong to him. and now with this overt threat of nuclear weaponry, that it should make our blood run cold. is that how you take what's going on? pres. duda: russia is in a difficult situation. russia has demonstrated its weakness. what russia has been doing so far in ukraine, the aggression d all the outrageous dimensions of the war which russia demonstrated in ukraine, as a matter of fact, have turned out to be a failure of russia. russia tries to change its tactics at the same time it tries to threaten the world with nuclear weapons. judy: how does the statement from president putin that he is going to mobilize up to hundreds of thousands more troops to fight this war, that he's in this for the long haul? how does that change the war right now? pres. duda: please bear in mind that at the beginning, before the war happened, the experts

were saying it would be enough for russia to conquer the whole of ukraine within 72 hours. however, they failed to seize the whole of ukraine, you can see an attempt to save face. and this mobilization, this partial mobilization, which was announced in russia. well, it causes a horror among his society because thousands of russian soldiers have already died in ukraine. there will be further thousands following. this is going to be the policy of the russian authorities right now so we can see a weakness of russia in this respect . judy: so are you saying you keep referring to russian weakness. are you saying that the rest of the world should not take his threat seriously when he says we are prepared to use all means necessary and clearly they have an enormous nuclear arsenal? pres. duda: first of all, nobody attacked russia. nobody attacked russia. the russian aggression in ukraine is a totally unprovoked aggression. number two, they have committed murders there and they know that

today they are threatened by criminal accountability. therefore, the russian authorities and vladimir putin started to threaten. what can they threaten with? the only thing they can threaten with is nuclear weapons. if this ukraine, which is defending itself, which has no nuclear weapons, if this ukraine is attacked by nuclear weapons, even to smallest degree, even if they were the so-called tactical nuclear weapons used, the most modern ones, the smallest ones that would break the world taboo. and russia would find itself on the margins of any sensible political debate whatsoever. the whole world will turn its back on russia. even those countries which today support russia silently or openly. even those countries will find themselves in a dramatic position and they will have to say that russia will have violated all the principles. judy: so what should ukraine and the west do right now? you are describing rusa as backed into a corner, making threats out of weakness. what should ukraine and the west

do? provide more weapons to ukraine? what needs to happen now? where do you see this going? pres. duda: one should support ukraine in a consistent and as -- and stable way, also by providing military equipment to ukraine. why? because in order to be able to speak about an orderly world, about a world in which peace is going to be guarded and protected, than ukraine has to regain control over its internationally recognized borders. one has to support ukraine to make sure that it defends itself so that russians are forced to withdraw from ukraine to give back the occupied lands to ukraine. and then we have to help ukraine rebuild itself. this is the most important task facing us today. ukraine has to regain its territory. russia has to withdraw. the primacy of international law has to be restored. judy: are you absolutely confident russia will not use

nuclear weapons? pres. duda: well, this is a question which you cannot give an answer to, of course. nobody can be sure of that 100%. russia, which has never used nuclear weapons so far, and i want to stress this point, never, ever, even in the times of the most acute cold war, even in the times when the tensions were running high, russia has never applied nuclear weapons, and in particular it has never used nuclear weapons against a state which is not equipped with nuclear weapons itself. that would break all the taboos. and i believe that the russian authorities know that perfectly well. it is not only vladimir putin, also the inner circle of vladimir putin, also those who -- also the strategic military decisions. judy: the west has been largely united against russia up until now. but if this war drags on for a very long time, with the economy being what it is with winter coming. are you concerned at all that that unity could could come

apart? pres. duda: of course, this situation is very challenging. there are two overarching topics. first of all, the energy crisis, and secondly, inflation. of course, on top of that, there is a third extremely important topic, namely the food crisis, -- graces. but, the question that arises is as follows, if we want to have an easier life, if we want to pay lower prices, are we going to agree for the sake of that to one of the nations' independence, sovereignty and freedom? can we agree to one european country, which wants to be a democratic state, which wants to belong to the western community, and be a free, independent state. if we agree to that, then russia will not stop. it will want to bite off other pieces of territory. it will want to seize the baltic states, perhaps my country, poland, perhaps it will also want to seize bulgaria, the czech republic, slovakia, this is the former soviet sphere of

influence. we have to say no to this and we are saying no. judy: last question is about your country, about poland. you are clearly siding with the west in opposing what putin and the russians are doing in ukraine. at the same time, your country has taken what is seen in the united states by the u.s. biden administration as some extreme positions. there was a challenge to independent television network. there are questions about the independence of your judiciary. your country's policy toward abortion is very extreme with, there are extreme limits on abortion in poland. so my question is, as the united states looks at your government and the positions you've taken, the question is raised, is this a country that's moving in an authoritarian direction or in the direction of democracy? what's your answer? pres. duda: first, let's start with the following. poland is a sovereig independent and free state.

the program which is being implemented in poland, including the political program, is the program which votersanted to have. these are purely democratic principles. this is how it functions in poland today. i'm listening to my voters and hence i'm making decisions which i believe meet their expectations, they are just decisions and correct ones in their perspectives. i believe the president of the republic of poland has got this authority in our country, and has constitutional powers. the president has instruments to stop any given amendment. everybody knew who i am and what my convictions are when i was running for president, i was not hiding anything. my mandate is the mandate which i won democratically, and there haven't ever been any doubts about that in poland. and i'm implementing the mandate today with full responsibility. judy: we are going to leave it there. president duda, we thank you very much for talking with us. pres. duda: thank you very much.

♪ judy: as we have reported, russia's president vladimir putin doubled down on his were in ukraine, ordering russia's rst mobilization since world war ii, calling up hundreds of thousands reserves and retired fighters. he said more manpower is needed to win a war not just against ukraine but against its western backers. amna nawaz has more. amna: that's right. the call-up of russia's 300,000 reservists, a referendum in russian-occupied regions of ukraine on joining russia, and a stark warning from vladimir putin to the west that he is not bluffing when he talks about being ready to use nuclear weapons, it has been an eventful, foreboding day. so, to understand what all of this means at this juncture in the war both on the battlefield and in russia, we turn to nataliya bugayova, russia

fellow at the institute for the study of war and the author of "how we got here with russia: the kremlin's worldview." people are looking at this decision, the order of partial mobilization and calling it an act of desperation. do you see if that weight question mark -- that weight? nataliya: the reason vladimir putin made that decision is because russian forces are not accomplishing their objective. he had insufficient force which he had exhausted at the support of limited gains. his efforts to replenish that force through other means short of mobilizations have not produced the outcome he has expected. this is his way to reconcile the gap between his unchanged attempt to control ukraine, and russia's rapidly decaying capability. amna: who are these reservists?

what kind of a difference could they make in the war? nataliya: i think the impact of this decision will not reconcile, will not help to reconcile the gap between the intent and capability. we will know the full impact of this decision in months to come. i think russia will face a number of challenges. in integrating these forces are the first one is quantity. i think desertion will be an issue. . we know many russians support the war rhetoric will, but they are not willing to fight in it. think russians will face challenges in equipping, integrating the forces, training them and capacity to deploy them which requires officer cadre and a diminishing resource in the russian military. i think equipment is going to be a challenge. russia has used some of its best forces and equipment in this fight. and the short comments of russia's space, increasingly a

problem. as the west expands the control of electronics, including russian forces and reproducing advanced capabilities militarily would be an increasing challenge. amna: we are seeing the impact of the sanctions. at about the impact back home? you mentioned russia -- russians may support it invoice only, not necessarily being willing to fight in the war. could this decision further erode support for the war back home? nataliya: i think vladimir putin's valued his proposition has been a promise of great russia. this value proposition has been fundamentally challenged. in large part by setbacks of russia's military in ukraine. i think he is increasingly facing a challenge and a need to reconcile un-reconcilable justice. on one side, keeping up this promise of great russia, eroding capability to deliver on it, but also unwillingness of russian people to fight for this vision. amna: do you think there is

concern among russian people that this could lead to a full globalization? nataliya: i think so. we have seen russians trying to flee the country. some of the largest search on the internet for how to escape mobilization. i think it is an increasing concern. amna: there was a not so veiled nuclear threat as well. you heard president duda say no one knows what president putin will do. they have never used a nuclear weapon before. at this point in a war, a war that has dragged on longer than anyone thought, explaining as you have where the landscape is, are we closer to putin making that kind of decision? either on a nuclear strike on the nato nation or a tactical strike on ukraine? nataliya: i think the strike on nato nation is highly unlikely. i think we cannot rely putin's use of ukraine. there are two important points. ukraine has been taking that

risk, since the day it chose to push back on russia and this war. it is ukraine's decision only whether to continue running that risk. so far, they have. the alternative for many is war. we have seen what it looks like. secondly, there is a question of what this strike would accomplish. my assessment is it is unlikely to break ukraine's will to fight. amna: what does all of this mean for vladimir putin.com? does this make -- calling up 300,000 reservists? nataliya: think he is more vulnerable than he haseen in years because his value proposition is being challenged. however, we will see how he will react. he has been proven to be able -- one more constraint he faces now

is a lot of his suppression apparatus is being deployed in ukraine. such as the national guard. he is facing an increase in limitation in that regard as well. amna: what are you watching in these next few days to see how those remarks play out on the ground? nataliya: we are watching the reaction of russian people to the mobilization. the most important thing to watch will come in the coming months, not days. how russia will integrate this force. how it will train it. and what effect it will eventually produce on the battlefield, which i do not think we will see until 2023. amna: nataliya bugayova, russia research fellow from the institute for the study of war, thank you so much for being here. nataliya: thank you for having me. judy: hurricane fiona is expected to hit bermuda hard as a category 4 storm. but when it saturated puerto

rico earlier this week, it did extensive damage as a category 1 storm and set back the modest progress made since the island was hit by hurricane maria five years ago. william brangham reports on the -- on how the storm has had an effect on the communities across the island. william: just days ago, these lakes between houses were in fact roads. since then, hurricane fiona has moved on from puerto rico, leaving the island and its residents to reckon with the dama left behind. for zulma vazquez, the memories and fear she felt 5 years ago with hurricane maria came rushing back. >> when maria happened it was nighttime and only my mom and i remained. she was 93 years old, bed ridden, disabled and we almost drowned. i couldn't leave her. i thought this was going to be the same or worse.

william: she had finally rebuilt her roof before fiona hit. and this time, it withstood the storm. she was one of the lucky ones, many homes across the island were badly damaged. vazquez lives in the fishing town of los naranjos in vega baja. it is located in the wetlands between the cibuco river and a natural reserve. founded by freed slaves over 100 years ago, it is a tight-knit and family-oriented community. carla medina, one of vazquez's neighbors and mother of two, has to sweep up the fiona's mess. the storm dumped an estimated 20 to 30 inches of rain across the island. the cibuco overflowed its banks, and sent two feet of water into her home. to save what she could, medina stacked furniture on top of her bed. during the storm, she fled to her mom's house because it is on higher ground.

ricardo laureano works on flood control and other projects here. these kinds of disasters will only become more common. >> people need to start being more aware of how we need to manage climate change. we can extend our lives if we do a good job restoring the ecosystem. that's what we need here. william: marisa rojas, a local community leader, says the aftermath of these storms is always the real challenge. >> one of the biggest impacts are the floods, many times people don't even know where it is going to come from. during maria, the effect was the next day, not during the hurricane. william: for many, it will be a long and bumpy road to recovery. as the sun goes down in los naranjos, volunteers distribute food and drinking water for those who need it. about 40% of the island still doesna™t have -- doesn't have potable water.

but this aid isn't enough to calm the greater feeling of gloom here. >> we have no water, no electricity, we are in the ends of time. william: it is even worse on the other side of the island where the storm has left its mark on yauco. located in the southwest, it was one of the hardest hit towns. cesar ramos just bought a house here, about a month before fiona badly damaged it . >> we were told that this area was flood prone but not to this magnitude. and what we are dealing with now, that surprised me. we were not prepared. william: now, having strengthened into a category 4 storm, fiona is making its way north. heavy winds have damaged turks and caicos, after dumping heaps of rain on the dominican republic. it is set to hit bermuda next. but the communities its torn apart along the way, are now left to pick up the pieces.

for the pbs newshour, i am william brangham. ♪ judy: outrage over florida governor ron desantis' decision to fly dozens of migrants to martha's vineyard in massachusetts last week has led -- is facing legal challenges. yesterday,ome of the migrants filed a class action case against desantis and other florida officials, accusing em of discrimination and of violating the migrants due process rights. and an investigation is underway in texas where the flights originated. stephanie sy has more on that. stephanie: advocates for the migrants say they were "tricked" into boarding charter planes that left from san antonio and eventually arrived in martha's vineyard, massacssetts, last wednesday. now sheriff javier salazar, a democrat serving in bexar county, says he's launched an inveigation into possible crimes.

his jurisdiction includes san antonio. and he joins me now. thank you so much for joining the newshour. i'm going to jump right in. why have you decided to launch a criminal investigation? what loss do you think may have beenroken? sheriff salazar: just the way we have the obligation to do whenever a criminal allegation comes to us, as we have two investigated. some of them and in criminal charges. some of them are unfounded. it is too early to tell which way this will go. being that our alleged victims or witnesses are on the east coast of the country. so what is at stake right now is we have to determine, did someone with boots on the ground in dare county break the law? if they did, we've to take in what it is that the victims and witnesses are telling us, and make the determination was a law broken while they were here in our county? stephanie: as you may know, florida governor desantis is now named in a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of these

migrants. the clump -- the complaint alleges this, that he and other officials "designed anexecuted a premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal scheme for the sole purpose of advancing their own personal, financial and political interests." is tt the kind of thing you are looking into and is governor desantis a suspect? sheriff salazar: no, i think to say that governor desantis is a suspect is a long stretch. what my concern is and what i have authority of is my corner of the world the witches bear county. -- which is bear county. my concern is did someone with feet on the ground at dare county break the law or not? we are told that is a complete -- a distinct possibility. very soon, we will have the opportunity to talk directly to them, find out what they were told, and what was done with them and to them while they were here in dare county. then we make that determination. anything that may have occurred

with them in florida, anything that may have occurred with them in martha's vineyard, may be heartbreaking for us to hear. but i cannot necessarily say i have purview, or it was illegal in dare county our concern is what occurred in this jurisdiction. stephanie: i have heard you say in a press conference earlier this week that you have heard the obligation that these migrants were lured. that they were lured under false pretenses into, and then onto a flight -- into a hotel and then onto a flight. is there any evidence? sheriff salazar: the allegations are coming to us from attorneys that represent these folks. i have preliminarily seen some written, partial written affidavits that would indicate the same thing. until we physically hear it from the victims and alleged victims and witnesses themselves, all we have to go off is secondhand information through an attorney.

while i have no reason to doubt what these attorneys are telling us, for our purposes, we need to hear it directly from the person affected. stephanie: i do recall you describing the action of sending them to martha's vineyard on this flight as disgusting. given your opinion on the. -- you have given your opinion on that. they have been bussing migrants out of their state to cities like washington, d.c., new york, and chicago for months. and some republicans have pointed out that the biden administration itself relocates migrants at times. why is this flight to massachussetts different? sheriff salazar: if you are telling somebody you are going to this place on the map, and you are going to be treated this way once you get there, here is what we are going to give you once you get there, and they go with you willingly, that is one thing. whether i agree with the politics behind that or not is immaterial. when you do them to get them to

that point on the map, and then what was promised to them does not come to fruition, that could be problematic and as i mentioned, it could be criminal. stephanie: authorities have stopped more than 2 million migrants at the southern border this fiscal year. it may be political thter, but this whole martha's vineyard flight has drawn attention to what many would say is a broken immigration system. is there good that could come out of that? sheriff salazar: to make a point, you put together a presentation or a powerpoint or you produce a video, you don't use real people to illustrate a point. you don't use real people, and then as i mentioned, this is what the allegations are, you don't take real people in a country that they are unfamiliar with, to part of the country

they have never heard of. and drop them on an island that they know they have no idea about. that is not what you do to make a point. these are human beings there someone agrees or disagrees with the fact that ey have certain rights because of where they happen to be born on a globe, is immaterial. they are human beings. in my opinion, they should not be treated in such a manner. especially in light of the fact that the allegations we are hearing is they were lied to. stephanie: sheriff javier salazar of bear county, texas, thanks for joining the newshour. sheriff salazar: thank you for having me. i appreciate it. judy: and thank you to stephanie sy. and on our website, a year after hurricane ida hit louisiana, many are still trying to recover . especially those who work in the fishing industry, which saw more than half $1 billion in damages. you can read more about what that's meant for fishermen's livelihoods and the future of the industry on our website,

that is at pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service to help people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> and with the ongog support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including jim and nancy bildner, and kathy and paul anderson. the ford foundation, working with the visionaries on the frontlines lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of

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hello, everyone, welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. >> our world is in big trouble. >> the u.n.'s general assembly gets underway in the shadow of war. with the focus on ukraine, worries too about china and taijuan. i'm joined by michael beckly, co-author of "danger zone" i liberated ukrainians feel the rav v ravageds of the russian ok plah occupation. the devastation left behind. >> i think we're safe but this doesn't mean we shouldn't worry. >> asking