wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. ♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the "newshour" tonight, the death toll from the devastating maui wildfires rises as search crews comb the disaster area and fire containment efforts continue. the congressional hispanic caucus pressures president biden to investigate the separation of

fathers from migrant families at the southern border. and, we go inside japan's fukushima nuclear complex, 12 years after a catastrophic meltdown, to check on the complicated cleanup. >> this is a multibillion dollar a year effort being spent at fukushima right now. it's going to take some time to complete this work. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- ♪

>> moving our economy for 160 years, the nbnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> the walden family foundation. supported by the john d and catherine t macarthur foundation, committed to building a more peaceful world. more information at macfound. org, and with the ongoing support of these 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.

vanessa: welcome to "the newshour." i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with newshour west. disaster recovery efforts ramp up across maui, so too has the painstaking search operation. the confirmed death toll now stands at 110 people, but with most of the victims still unidentified, families and friends of the missing are left fearing the worst. geoff bennett reports. geoff: it's been one week since the fires first tore through maui, turning vibrant communities like lahaina into scorched ghost towns. days after evacuating, residents are gradually returning to survey the damage, and rebuild their homes, and their lives, from the ground up. >> it's not just me, who lost everything. everybody. everything's gone. geoff: officials say two regions of the island are still ablaze. as of tuesday night, the lahaina fire on maui's western coast is

85% contained, and the upcountry kula fire, only 75% contained. in lahaina, search teams, aided by cadaver dogs, have been recovering human remains from destroyed buildings and burnt cars. so far, crews have scoured some 32% of the search area, and they're racing against the clock. forecasters say a high-wind storm this weekend could hamper their efforts. today, fema administrator deanne criswell spoke from the white house. >> given the conditions and the need for additional resources, we will have at least 40 canine search teams on the island in addition to hundreds of search and rescue personnel with more on the way. geoff: as coroners begin the process of identifying the dead, officials have called on family members to help, urging relatives of the missing to submit dna samples. authorities have started to notify the victims' next of kin. among the deceased, 79-year old

buddy jantoc, 68-year-old franklin trejos, and 60-year-old carole hartley, all longtime residents of lahaina. the wildfires were propelled by high winds from a distant hurricane. what caused them is still under investigation. >> freakin' power line just went down. geoff: as the fires tore through the island, maui resident shane treu recorded smoke billowing outside his house after a utility pole snapped. >> i look. there is a power line right there. shortly after, it was just arching away on the ground, landed right in dry grass, so sparks, and then there was a fire. geoff: the state's primary energy provider, hawaiian electric, now facing multiple lawsuits, alleging the utility company kept power on despite high wind warnings. meantime, president biden says he will travel to maui on monday, to survey the damage firsthand. historic landmarks, art and

artifacts have been destroyed. the cultural loss has been significant, especially for hawaiians who have generational ties to maui. no alaniya has been helping with recovery efforts in lahaina. she's an activist and cofounder of mona medic healers who we thank for being with us. what has the last week been like for you, your friends and your family? >> you know, it is so difficult because we have this incredible devastation. our beloved lahaina town is now a graveyard with over 100 dead that we know of, and and potentially hundreds more. they're still over 1000 people missing. there is this incredible grief and shock and trauma. but at the same time there has been this enormous uprising of community support and community care and grassroots organizing to get supplies and medical care and take care of basic needs of people who have been stuck in lahaina since the fires, so our

team has deployed out there and has been taking care of people. but the entire community is wrapping its arms around each other and loving each other up and taking care of one another. so there's this incredible beauty at the same time as this incredibly deep pain, and it's a - lot to carry right now, to be honest geoff: maui has for decades been a magnet for tourists. but for people who live there, especially native hawaiians, it's been home. it's been a home with a rich history. tell us about that. >> it's such a rich history and it's you know, it's unfortunate that it gets painted as a tourist town because that's sort of the, the bane of our existence in hawaii. in lahaina, such as mukula and bohemia, which was an ancient fishpond that had an island in the middle, our monarchs chose that place to go reside. in fact, our first constitution during the kingdom era in the mid- was written there in that 1800s area, and it's just a very sacred area.

adjacent to that is the cultural center in the cultural center, which burned to the ground, and that was a place of solidarity for our people. it was a place to learn. it was a place that had artifacts, old maps, research materials, genealogy. many of us can trace our genealogy back generations. in fact, i go back 22 generations to one of the families that live in that area, mokuula. geoff: there are maui fire survivors who say they're getting phone calls from real estate developers and real estate investors who are trying to swoop in and buy up land where people's homes were destroyed. how real is the fear that outsiders will try to cash in on this tragedy and and change? -- change maui and the heine as you -- and lahaina as you knew

it? >> well, it's -- it's a very real fear, and it's a founded one because it's already happened. the maui that people know today is not the power the maui of days of old. we already have been displaced by the plantations with land theft and resource extraction, taking our water away and then the whaling industry and then over tourism, hyper development for wealthy outsiders that come in and buy up large swaths of land and develop and bank water for that. so we are very well aware of the threat of outside money influences coming in and further removing us from our ancestral places and continuing a system of settler colonialism. where the design is to destroy the indigenous and replace it in the settler's image, and it's a very real fear that's happening right now, with people getting these phone calls. geoff: in the long term, how should officials focus the repair and rebuilding effort to

meet the needs of native hawaiians? not just trying to clear the way for tourists to return. >> right, well, the administrations, both local, state and federal really need to listen to the people and center our voice. this is an opportunity for us to restore lahaina to what it once was. in fact, i have an elder, who said he woke up the day after he found out his carbon collection was last, and he told me that he dreamt of seeds. he dreamt that we were planting seeds of our indigenous plants that were genealogical connected to of our collar plan of our medicines and of the things that make us hawaiian. that have been stripped from us for so long. so i think that dream, that vision, that prophecy holds a future for us that we can gather around and believe in and work towards. geoff: our hearts go out to you and all those affected by the wildfires in maui. thank you for your time. >> thank you so much for having me. aloha. ♪

vanessa: in the day's other headlines, ukraine resumed operations at ports along the danube river today, after a night of russian drone strikes. the danube flows through the southern edge of the odesa region and borders romania, a nato member. photos showed extensive damage to port infrastructure. the strikes mainly targeted grain silos and warehouses. the attacks come weeks after russia ended its participation in a deal that allowed the export of ukrainian grain. in libya, officials say 55 people were killed during intense militia clashes in tripoli. fighting started monday, when a senior commander was allegedly detained by a rival faction, then released late yesterday. battles between militia members and to the streets -- emptied the streets. it was the deadliest fighting in the capital in years after nearly a decade of civil war. a powerful explosion in the dominican republic has now

claimed the lives of 25 people. some 60 others were injured. the blast went off monday at a bakery in san cristobal. firefighters are still working to extinguish the flames. the country's president vowed to get to the bottom of what happened. >> [speaking spanish] translator: an investigation will be carried out to determine the origin and causes of this terrible accident. in the meantime, it is up to us to save the lives of those who have been affected and we will do so without any limit of resources to save every human life we can. vanessa: local authorities are investigating claims from residents that the building housed a factory that was operating illegally. there's word tonight that u.s. secretary of state tony blinken spoke by phone today with paul whelan. the american citizen has been wrongfully detained in russia for more than four years. cnn was first to report the story and said blinken assured

whelan the u.s. was working hard to bring him home as soon as possible. this is the second time the two have spoken. a u.s. appeals court in new orleans ruled today that access to the abortion pill mifepristone should have some restrictions. the decision would outlaw telemedicine prescriptions and sending the drug by mail. access to the pill won't change for now. the u.s. supreme court issued an order in april to keep it available while litigation continues. the justice department said it "strongly disagrees" with today's decision and will seek the supreme court's review. north carolina's republican-controlled legislature has approved a series of bills that restrict transgender athletes and gender affirming care. it also limits the teaching of lgbtq issues in schools. democratic governor roy cooper had vetoed the legislation but the gop-super majority overrode his decision.

all three laws take effect immediately. a prosecutor in kansas says police should return items seized during a raid on a local newspaper last week. law enforcement stormed the office of the "marion county record" after claims one of its staff members obtained information illegally. the marion county attorney said there isn't enough evidence to link the alleged crime with the seized items or the newsroom. a former fundraiser for republican congressman george santos has been charged with wire fraud and identity theft. sam meeluh is accused of scheming to defraud donors and raise money for santos' campaign by impersonating a high-ranking aide to house speaker kevin mccarthy. meeluh pleaded not guilty to the charges today in a brooklyn federal court. news reports out tonight say vlatko andonovski, the embattled coach of the u.s. women's national soccer team, is stepping down. the move follows the u.s team's

elimination by sweden in the second round of the women's world cup. it was the american's earliest exit ever from the tournament. an official announcement is expected thursday. still to come on the "newshour," a new study estimates nearly half of u.s. tap water is contaminated with so-called "forever chemicals." a longtime reporter on ukraine gives his perspective on the country's fight against russia. and members of a women's professional football team speak about the opportunities and challenges facing the sport. ♪ this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington, and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. off: reports of inhumane treatment treatment at the

u.s.-mexico border has been spotlighted. laura joins us to explain. eagle pass is a key border community where greg abbott is carrying out a program known as operational start. what are the conditions like there now? >> i spoke to congressman castro, a texas democrat, who recently went to eagle pass to see what the conditions were like there, the new tactics the governor has deployed, and this is what he said he saw. >> they have placed what i consider death traps along the rio grande river. this razor wire that is placed in such a way that hydrants can come up against it and not see it -- that migrants can come up against it and not see it. two weeks ago, there was a dead body found attached to one of those barrels. they have got this saw-like device in the middle, which is

obviously very dangerous. >> the barrels that congressman castro was talking about our floating barriers governor abbott has placed on the rio grande, which a lot of humanitarian and immigration advocates have had concern about because of the fact that migrants have to come across these when they are trying to cross the border. there is also razor wire sharp fencing that has been placed around these areas where migrants are trying to cross. i also spoke to a texas tribune reporter, and he said that he went down recently and saw people getting injured as they tried to bypass specifically the fencing, the razor wire fencing. a former border chief that i spoke to said that that type of fencing has been used by the department of homeland security in the past, but the tactics by added are getting a lot of attention because they have been deployed in recent months.

geoff: yesterday, you were first to report about this letter from hispanic democrats to the biden administration demanding action on operational start. what are they calling for -- operation lone star. what are they calling for? >> congressman castro signed on to the letter, direct to attorney general merrick garland, as well as the homeland security secretary. castro said they want to see serious action from the biden administration. >> many of us were shocked and outraged when donald trump started separating families. well, greg abbott has started to replicate a version of that in texas, and there were reports that at least 26 families had been separated. we are asking the department of homeland security and justice to make sure there are no federal -- make sure no federal funding is going toward family separation or any other activities that may violate human, civil or legal rights of

people. >> we received no response from the justice department or department of homeland security, and they said they think there should be an investigation, but they did not specify if they would be investigating the separation of fathers from their wives and children. geoff: on this issue of democrats calling on the biden administration to take action, the doj has done that, having day? didn't they sue texas over the floating barrier? british that stand? >> the justice department -- where does that stand? >> the justice department has taken legal action against the barriers that float on the rio grande. the justice department is saying they do not have the legal authority to place those barriers on the rio grande. and the binational agency that oversees that territory, this international rio grande territory called the international boundary and water commission just put out a survey today that says 80% of those buoys, which strong altogether reach -- strung altogether reach

900 feet, 80% are located on the mexican side of the rio grande, which would be a violation of mexico's sovereignty of their territory. i spoke to an immigration reporter for the texas tribune, and he said that governor abbott is defending the decision this way. >> what governor abbott has said is that texas has the right to defend its borders. and that is the reasoning for setting up of the wiring, sending troopers, setting of the water barrier. they have not set a specific statute to why they are doing this. but they have said they are equating migrants with drug cartels and see the mass migration is bringing drugs and also is an active invasion. >> invasion is the language governor abbott is using, as though there is an invasion that is attacking texas and that

means he has the right to declare these declarations to place the floating barriers there to block migrants. and what comes next now is there was a court hearing next week, where the court will consider the justice department's lawsuit against texas. geoff: this program has been in effect for two years now. what has been the response on the ground? >> the reporter who went to eagle pass recently said that previously, there were a number of people in that border community that actually supported operation lone star, but since then, they have soured on this program from the governor and in particular, he spoke to a farmer, a female farmer, who has private property right along the border, and she told him that she is not happy with this anymore. >> when she started seeing what the wiring and policy was causing, physical harm and

emotional tolls on the migrants themselves, she started having second thoughts, particularly when she saw a pregnant woman trying to get through the wiring and no one was helping her. keep in mind, this is a republican who voted for added and is having -- for abbott and his having regrets allowing the state on her property to implement these policies. >> she is not the only one in eagle pass who says she has regrets. there are other elected officials who also do not supported anymore because of the prior this is used by governor greg abbott. i also asked congressman castro again if he has been satisfied with the biden administration's response to everything happening on the ground in texas. he said essentially that he is not. >> i am a supporter of the president and would like to see him reelected next year, but i am surprised and disappointed

that president biden has not spoken out about these human tragedies. i think he should say something. >> so far, we have not heard directly from the white house about this call for more investigations and for the department of homeland security to take or aggressive action -- more aggressive action. geoff: thank you. >> thank you. ♪ japan will soon begin the process of releasing radioactive water from the fukushima power plant. miles o'brien got an exclusive look inside the facility. >> 12 years after the historic meltdowns, what was the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant remains a complex, highly hazardous toxic waste site.

upwards of workers are here 5000 every day innovating and orchestrating the most complicated, expensive nuclear cleanup in history. it is interesting to see it after seven years. it's changed quite a bit. >> a lot has happened. >> yet, to say the least. my guide for my seventh visit to fukushima is nuclear engineer lake barrett. he led the cleanup for the nuclear regulatory commission after the three mile island meltdown in pennsylvania in 1979. he is now a paid consultant to the tokyo electric power company , tepco, which owns fukushima and manages the decommissioning. >> so this is very similar, in my opinion, to sort of like putting a man on the moon. >> are there moonshot resources being applied to this? >> this is a multibillion dollar a year effort being spent at fukushima right now. it's going to take some time to

complete this work. >> you're going to live to see it? >> probably not. >> we began our tour as close to the meltdowns as humans can dare. so the rusty steel frames of the structure -- >> that is the original structure where it was blown off by the hydrogen explosion. they have to build steel structure all the way around. there will be hundreds of tons of steel because it has to hold up 100 ton cranes to be able to dig down inside the building eventually. >> the ultimate goal is to develop robotic technology to safely remove, contain and store the wreckage of three nuclear reactors, piles of degraded concrete, melted steel and uranium, with all of its radioactive isotopes. the lava-like piles are called corium. not too far from us humans can't be, and we are ok? >> right. you cannot go in there because the radiation levels are too high. >> catching even a fleeting glimpse of the corium with robots is an extraordinary

challenge. intense radiation bombards the electronics with gammaray's, often rendering them useless. and the path to robot ruin is a treacherous labyrinth. we donned some protective gear on a mission to better grasp the embedded obstacles. >> we're inside the primary containment vessel. >> we were inside fukushima daiichi unit number five. unscathed by the disaster, the reactor is a near replica of the three that melted down. >> this is unit we're standing five. outside the pedestal that holds up the 400 ton reactor vessel. >> it was like being a mouse inside an engine. a three dimensional maze better suited for a contortionist. >> so where are we, lake? >> we are underneath the unit five reactor vessel. these are the control rod drive mechanisms above us. >> that is where the reactor is. in its sister units, this location is where the meltdowns got real.

>> the reactor vessel with eight inches thick of steel. ok. it melted through the steel under high pressure, it ejected down here, almost like an explosive, a volcano. very high temperature gasses around 3000 degrees fahrenheit. >> feet below is a concrete 20 floor between 10 feet and 14 feet thick. a good thing, because that's where the corium piles now sit, underwater. >> water is injected at the top of the reactor vessel, you know, 40, 50 feet above us. and it trickles down through this fuel debris under the floor. >> this steady stream of contaminated water has created a sorcerer's apprentice style problem here. at first, they were generating between 130,000 and gallons of 160,000 radioactive water each and every day. in 2016, they completed a so-called ice wall subterranean , a $300 million perimeter of

pipes cold enough to freeze the soil and keep much, but not all, of the groundwater at bay. the site now generates tainted water at a daily rate of about 25,000 gallons. akira ono leads the decontamination & decommissioning effort. >> if you ask me if we can make it zero, i think it's not easy. although the amount is less, water will continue to be contaminated. >> all that water, now 340 million gallons of it and growing, since cheek to jowl in -- sits cheek to jowl in a tank farm. lake barrett and i walked through it. >> there's about almost 1100 tanks here today. >> so if you left these tanks as they were, how long would it take before they would be not radioactive at all? >> now it depends on how low is low. to be drinkable, it is going to be many, many decades. it's 100 years or so, but that's

not really possible. >> you can't keep building tanks here. >> there's no room. >> tepco says it needs to make room to build structures designed to safely contain debris that will be radioactive for centuries. >> we have to build a variety of facilities for smooth decommissioning going forward. it is essential to start emptying and disposing of the tanks at the stage where we are now to secure vacant lots. >> before the water is tanked, it flows through a series of sophisticated treatment facilities designed to remove about a hundred radioactive isotopes. to visit the largest treatment facility, we had to add even more protective clothing. if one of these pressurized pipes sprung a leak, our radioactive contamination risk would be very high. >> this is called the advanced liquid processing plant. >> these facilities can collectively process about 300 ,000 gallons of water each day.

>> it's a chemical process, not a nuclear process. so it's like an ion exchange resin in a home, water softener. >> i like that analogy. a giant home water soft. >> in chemistry terms, that's what it is for specifinormally'e want to take out. this is taking out other isotopes as well. >> he says it removes 99.9999% of the radionuclides. trace levels. with one exception. an isotope called tritium. >> so chemically, it's water, so it does not remove it at all. so it doesn't change the tritium at all in the system. >> tritium is a mildly radioactive form of hydrogen that occurs naturally. it is innocent, used -- it is luminescent, used to light watch dials, aircraft gauges and exit signs. it reacts with oxygen just like regular hydrogen, creating water

that is radioactive. so called "tritiated" water. >> removing tritium itself is very expensive and very hard to do on this scale. it's never been done before. >> marine radio chemist ken buesseler is a senior scientist at the woods hole oceanographic institution. >> ultimately you can't just keep collecting more and more water. what's being considered also is releasing some of this water back to the ocean. >> every nuclear power plant in the world routinely discharges tritiated water, and now tepco and the japanese government are planning to do the same here. this has triggered a chain reaction of anger and concern from fishermen nearby -- fishermen nearby and other countries throughout the region. more on that when we continue our series. for the pbs "newshour," i'm miles o'brien in futaba, japan. ♪

geoff: a recent government study estimates nearly half of america's tap water could contain toxic "forever chemicals" known as pfas. as stephanie sy reports, there are thousands of these chemicals and exposure to them can lead to serious health outcomes. stephanie: last month, the u.s. geological survey tested the nation's drinking water and found at least 45% of samples had one or more forever chemicals. the study also found contamination centered in urban areas and near industrial sites. have been used in many everyday -- these chemicals have been used in many everyday items since the 1940's, from nonstick cookware to cosmetics to rain jackets. pfas are also widely used as a firefighting chemical. 3m, a pfas manufacturer, recently proposed a more than $10 billion settlement to address claims by hundreds of cities that claim the company is liable for pfas in public drinking water, but litigation is ongoing and 3m will continue to make the chemicals until 2025.

for more on the possible health harms and what can be done, i'm joined by jamie dewitt, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at east carolina university. thank you for joining "the newshour." there have been studies showing that all of us have some level of fifa's in our bodies. how much should we worry about this? >> pfa's are a very large group of chemicals. there's about 14,000 individual chemicals and their associated -- they are associated with many of the chronic diseases that take people's lives today, so people should be concerned but they should also be concerned about all of the different chemicals that are in the environment that are leading to chronic diseases that we experience in our lives today. stephanie: well, that's just it. there are so many different chemicals. we sort of all assume in the air in the water. what makes pfa's particularly insidious and toxic, and you said that pfa's have been linked

to certain cancers and disease . at what levels of exposure? do we know that? >> so we know that exposure to pfa's are particularly problematic because they're very persistent. that means that they last for a very long time in the environment, maybe longer than any other chemical synthesized to date. they also tend to last for a long time inside of our bodies, giving them the opportunity to interact with different parts of our bodies to lead to those diseases, and they have been linked to diseases such as kidney cancer and testicular cancer and a host of other diseases. in the world of toxicology. -- in the world of toxicology, we call them multi-system toxicants because they can affect many different parts of the body. stephanie: and from what i understand, at least so far, the research is, it has to be a pretty high concentration of pfa's for there to be this linkage. do we know what communities and areas of the country are at

higher risk of exposure to pfa's? >> we do know that people who live in areas where there is known contamination to their drinking water, and people who work around the have concentrations of them in their bodies. in 2022, the national academies came out with a report for clinicians healthcare providers who might be treating people who are exposed to them. they had some specific recommendations for elevated standards of care that healthcare providers could give to patients who had concentrations greater than 20 nanograms per mil of seven different pfa's in their blood. 20 nanograms per milliliter is a very small amount. stephanie: the biden administration's epa, as you know, has taken several actions to highlight the dangers of pfa's. in fact, they've just announced $5 billion in grant funding to states that want to address pfas in the environment. how much can that help and should some of these chemicals be banned outright?

>> efforts to limit some of the pfa's that are being proposed by the biden administration are a really good step forward, even though only pfa's are being six recommended for regulatory action. if the technologies in place to filter out those six are implemented, then those technologies also will work to filter out a huge number of others. so it is a good step forward. there are some efforts at levels of individual states and in different countries in the european union, for example, to ban or phase out what are considered to be non essential uses of pfa's. stephanie: um, is there any at home technology that the average person can use if they want to reduce their pfa's exposure, especially in their drinking water? i mean, can you use water filters and things like that? >> yeah, that's a really good question. and that's a question that a lot of different scientists studying the vast removal and remediation

get asked. there are some filters that you could buy a grocery store, for example, that have carbon filters in them. those do a decent job of filtering out some people fast, -- filtering out pfa's, but you have to be very good about changing how your filter and for those who can afford it, reverse osmosis, such as under the sink or whole home reverse osmosis can also be very good at filtering them out. but those are often out of reach for many individual homeowners because of their price. stephanie: jamie dewitt, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at east carolina university, thank you for joining us with your expertise. >> thank you. ♪ geoff: it's now nearly 18 months since russia launched its full-scale invasion of ukraine. tens of thousands of people have died, as the brutal war grinds on. but even before the total

invasion, this war has been going on for nearly a decade and nick schifrin speaks now with a journalist who's lived in ukraine for many years. >> in the last decade, it's become clear that ukraine's fate may very well help determine how the future is written. beginning in the 2013-2014 uprising that evicted a pro-russian leader and became known as the revolution of dignity, the subsequent russian land grab of crimea and annexation by moscow. then the kremlin provoked war in eastern ukraine and of course, more recently, the russian full scale invasion of ukraine. at stake throughout the modern idea that borders cannot be redrawn by force. the survival of democracy in the post-soviet space. and in ukraine's resistance, the changing face of warfare. few americans have had more of a front row seat to that first draft of history than christopher miller, currently the ukraine correspondent for the financial times, who's been reporting from the country for 13 years and has just released a book, "the war came to us: life

and death in ukraine." christopher miller, thanks very much. the book begins and ends in the city that the world knows as bakhmut. but you knew it as artemysk, its name when you arrived in 2010 as a peace corps volunteer in 2022, -- volunteer. in 2022, it became the epicenter of the longest battle since the full scale invasion. you visited your old apartment on the front line at some point in the last few months, and then you told friends who'd fled the city, the place we knew is gone forever. how has the war that began in ukraine's east in 2014 and of course continues in the full scale invasion, changed the country forever? >> well, that's a big question. and in just about every way imaginable, it is now a country of millions of people that are essentially all at war. it's an existential fight that they are waging against a russian invading force.

this is a country filled with friends and people i know who have, you know, become fighters, soldiers, essentially. they have you know, they were once teachers. they worked for the government. they worked for ngos. they were cab drivers. and now they have taken up arms to defend their country. it's a country that went from peace and not a perfect peace to war and been completely upended. >>t more proud in its national identity than ever. >> you know, many ukrainians have always been very prideful of their country, proud to be ukrainians, but no more so than than right now when they are a country more united than ever against a common foe. and i believe, you know, doing a very good job of of defending their country on the front lines. >> for sure. when you arrived in the donbass as a peace corps volunteer so many years ago, you write that people there didn't think kyiv cared very much about them or even consider them true ukrainians. do you think, as you would later write in the book, that that provided an opening for putin to

launch the russian invasion in eastern ukraine in 2014? >> it did. i think, you know, putin found some fertile ground to exploit in 2014, which is why we saw , t,

the battle so the city is less time, what they look like? >> i visited mild apartment building digging, they are

taking the moment. belief that it could happen in world war ii style warfare. >> you quote a poem. "i won't forgive anyone, we will overcome everything and endure." does that mean the only justice ukrainian city's victory? >> is difficult to think about any justice that does not see vladimir on trial, facing justice. they have lost soldiers, homes.

it's too much to consider anything less than a victory. that's what they have said and shown. >> life in ukraine. thank you very much. geoff: we will be back shortly with a look at successes and challenges facing a woman's football team. first, take a moment to hear from pbs. for those of you staying with

us, we reprise a story from earlier this summer that continues to resonate as india takes on questions that loom is how to feed 1.4 lien people. families say crops are withering , cycles of drought and pest infestations. >> the consultation is usually brief. when they get big, it's a new prescription for insecticide. >> this is one of so-called knowledge centers set up by a research foundation to help with a married challenges brought on by the changing climate.

>> before, the quantity is much higher. most farmers, and he does not have irrigation system to rely on rainfall and must deal with weather conditions. >> 10 years ago,, rain has become very erratic. this too much rain. sometimes it rains during the harvest. >> it's been unseasonably hot but to protect, to repel bugs. veteran scientists.

it's a two-way process. understand where the issues are. >> the foundation was focused on resilience and therefore there has to be adaptation. quotes a pediatrician was recently the world health organization chief scientist. she now chairs a foundation. >> nearly 60 years ago, they use science to launch the green revolution, transformed india. however, the widespread use of synthetic pesticides has degraded soil quality forcing

more disease. towns now is to bring a balanced approach food production. >> the changes cannot be done in a way that compromises food reduction and self-sufficiency. quotes help inform the best time to plant and how to diversify crops for income and improve nutrition, adding protein and vegetables. >> today, everyone has a mobile phone, we have artificial intelligence, how do we see those benefit the most small

farmers? bugs he has benefited, he grows okra and for years tried to control paths with chemical products. today, he has an organic coach. and, he has his own pis. >> we use more pesticides. >> experts say the key challenge is to adapt and varying landscapes. >> areas which were flood prone

to becoming -- >> exasperating the challenges for lack of workers. >> to create employment, the government has emphasized manufacturing, trying lower multinational companies. it's likely to accelerate the urbanization with profound impact on agricultural communities. >> we used plenty of people who work.

rural prosperity will be critical. turning the traditional reverence for farmworker. if you don't have mud on your feet you will have food on your plate. geoff: his reporting is in partnership of a project at the university of st. he cites a tamil proverb, "if you don't have mud on your feet, you won't see food on your plate." for the "newshour," i'm fred de sam lazaro in pudicherry, india. geoff: fred's reporting is in partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. ♪ boston is known as a sports-loving city, but there's one team many might not know

about. the boston renegades are a pro-women's tackle football team that has come to dominate their league. earlier this summer, they won their fifth straight title. from the newshour's student reporting labs journalism training program, sarah youssef has their story. >> i'm just like, ready, ready, let's go! >> fans love watching the boston renegades, a women's tackle football team that has won multiple championships. >> when you say or meet a woman who plays football, you can't quite picture it, you really don't know what that's going to look like. are you going to feel the same watching women play as you are when you're watching a man play? >> it's like boiling water, it's just like waiting to be kind of unleashed. and knowing that every single person on the team is going all in on their role together excites me. and there's an energy around that, that is really beautiful. >> i know that playing sports as a woman comes with some challenges.

so can you name some of those challenges that you face day-to-day? >> i would say like unintentional sexism, in a way, right? anytime i try to tell anybody about the sport i play, the team i play for, the league i play in, they always think first, especially the men, "is it that lingerie league?" >> i think one of the biggest challenges is feeling validated. >> while nfl salaries range from $700,000 to many millions, the renegades actually don't get paid a salary. >> everybody here has another job and everybody here is really committed to this and makes sacrifices and changes in their own life so they can play this sport. >> they have to pay over seven hundred dollars a year, and that doesn't even cover travel expenses and equipment. >> well, man, i'd like to be getting paid! there's not as many resources, even from the time we were really little, so to overcome that and to continue to play and to prioritize being an athlete, even when it's maybe not the easiest path.

>> womens sports in general has a lot of great momentum behind it. >> and i think it's going to take people continuing to show up, have fun, and love and embrace their love and passion for the game. and so, just do that and enjoy it and enjoy the journey. >> all right. yeah, let's go hit some people today. nicely! because they're our teammates and we don't want to hurt each other but let's go hit somebody. >> for pbs newshour student reporting labs, i'm sarah yousseff in boston. geoff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including jim and nancy, and kathy and paul anderson. >> consumer cellular, how can i help you? >> this is a pocket dial. >> thought i would let you know,

you get nationwide coverage with no contract with consumer cellular. have a nice day. ♪ >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines lines of social change worldwide. 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. ♪

>> this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington, and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

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