good evening. on the newshour tonight, in an exclusive newshour interview, vice president kamala harris speaks with geoff bennett about the ongoing auto workers strike and the impeachment inquiry into president biden. vp. harris: i think that we are very clear that we are not going to be distracted by political games and we are going to be focused on what we have been doing. amna: congress wrestles over a deal to avoid a shutdown as far right republicans continue to stymie the process.

and, we report from on the ground in ukraine as the grueling counteroffensive tries to recapture territory from russia. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these institutions and institutions -- individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour. >> consumer cellular, this is sam. how may i help you? >> this is pocket dial. >> with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. >> the foundation fostering informed and engaged communities.

more at the website. >> 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. amna: welcome to the newshour. today, warnings from within and outside of government about the potential effects of a government shutdown. that includes concerns from the department of justice that national security could be

affected, a signal from moody's that it would downgrade u.s. credit and red flags from scores of other groups from the military to low-income families. congress has until saturday to figure this out. where do things stand? we go to our congressional correspondent lisa desjardins on capitol hill. great to see you. at this stage, is there any hope on capitol hill that a shutdown could be avoided? lisa: that is always hope of course but i will say it is very faint at this moment. it's hard to see exactly how a shutdown is avoided. part of the reason here is because this all started in the house side with the idea of competing interests. there is one potential solution on the senate side. i want to take a look at the senate floor as i speak to you. the senate is voting on a short-term funding bill. this is a procedural vote but it does at this moment have the support to move forward. descendants version of this is relatively simple. keep government funded. they also would include some funding or ukraine.

that is something that's more controversial on the house side. the sun is hoping to get that through sometime this week but it is not clear -- in fact, i would say it is unlikely that the house is going to simply pass that bill. amna: for many americans watching this unfold, this is a little baffling so help us understand where we are right now by reminding us why we are here right now. amna: far be it -- lisa: far be it from modern congress is to be logical but this is an especially wild and i think confusing situation. part of the problem, as i said earlier, house republicans had competing goals within their own conference. some wanted to have more spending cuts than others, some wanted to use tougher tactics than others. we talked about that before. it is more simple to talk about where we are in terms of the decisions that house speaker kevin mccarthy has to make because the next moves are really up to him. he has a few key options realistically. first, let's talk about option one, the idea of bringing that

past funding bill to the house floor. let's talk about pros and cons. a shutdown likely would be avoided. there would probably be enough republicans to side with democrats to pass the funding bill but on the con side, if we need those democratic votes, that would potentially threaten speaker mccarthys speakership. that is not an option he likes for many reasons so let's talk about his next options speaker mccarthy has would be to pass essentially a republican only funding bill, large funding bill s, complicated funding bills. that would assuage conservatives in his speakership would be saved. that would essentially guarantee a shutdown because passing those large and more complicated year-long funding bills would take weeks to resolve with the senate. they would simply run out of time. i asked speaker mccarthy today if he was concerned about his speakership. he said he's worried about the american people, about issues like border security, but to me,

that left open the question of whether he really would try and get this done this week. there are some longshot options. the house could pass a short-term funding bill. they are trying but so far, they have not been able to figure out amongst themselves what that would look like and then there is a discharge position. we have some of the smartest viewers in the world. you know that. if enough members of the house signed a petition, they could force through a funding bill but that again could put speaker mccarthys speakership in jeopardy so this is why we are where we are now. amna: with the clock ticking and days away. i need to ask you about another major story on the hill. there is increasing pressure on new jersey democratic senator bob menendez to resign. he's facing bribery charges and an arraignment. bring us up to speed on what we should know. lisa: the former chairman of the house foreign relations committee is here today. we were not sure he came up for

a vote. calls for resignation by increasing numbers of democratic senators including cory booker who wrote this today. he said the faith and trust of new jerseyans have been shaken to the core. stepping down is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgment that holding public office demands tremendous sacrifices. senator menendez's seat is out next year and democrats cannot afford to spend money on it. they don't want someone under indictment to be running again. there is a lot of pressure for him to resign. so far, he says no way. amna: lisa desjardins covering all of these. thank you. good to see you. lisa: you are welcome. ♪ amna: in the days other headlines, a state court judge in new york ruled that former president trump and his company -- the "trump organization" -- committed fraud for years. the judge issued a summary judgment that mr. trump hugely overvalued his assets and exaggerated his net worth.

the finding resolves the heart of the state's case ahead of a non-jury trial on remaining claims. meanwhile, in mr. trump's 2020 election subversion case, his lawyers are attacking a proposed gag order, claiming it would violate his free speech rights. in a federal court filing late monday, they called it: "nothing more than an obvious attempt by the biden administration to unlawfully silence its most prominent political opponent." special counsel jack smith says a gag order would target what he calls false and inflammatory statements. the auto strike hit day 12 today, and -- in a first -- president biden joined a picket line against "ford", "stellantis", and "general motors". he shook hands and bumped fists with rows of "united auto workers" members just outside detroit. with megaphone in hand, he urged them to "stick with it". pres. biden: uaw, you saved the automobile industry back in 2008

and before. you made a lot of sacrifices, you gave up a lot and the companies were in trouble. but now, they're doing incredibly well, and guess what, you should be doing incredibly well too. amna: mr. biden also said he backs the union's demands for a 40% pay raise. the u.s. supreme court has cleared the way for a new congressional district map in alabama. without dissent, the justices today refused the state's appeal to keep republican-drawn lines that a lower court had rejected. instead, a court-appointed official has proposed maps with a second majority-black district. black residents make up more than a quarter of alabama's population. the federal government and 17 states are suing amazon, accusing it of stifling competition and forcing inflated prices on other platforms. the action -- filed today in washington state -- said the e-commerce giant "exploits its monopolies in ways that enrich amazon but harm its customers." the company replied that "the lawsuit is wrong on the facts

and the law." the suit is one of the biggest legal challenges in amazon's history. people kept pouring out of the nagorno-karabakh region in azerbaijan today as an overnight explosion claimed new victims. reports said at least 68 people died and scores were hurt outside stepanakert, when a gas station blew up. most of the victims were ethnic armenians fleeing to armenia after azerbaijan's military captured nagorno-karabakh. in armenia, the usaid administrator samantha power appealed to the azeris. >> we know that there are injured civilians in nagorno-karabakh who need to be evacuated and it is absolutely essential that evacuation be facilitated by the government of azerbaijan. lisa: armenian officials say

some 28,000 people have fled nagorno-karabakh, about 16 percent of the region's population. south korea held its first military parade in a decade today, a show of force in the face of aggressive actions by the north. thousands of troops marched through the rainy streets of seoul as tanks and weapons rolled by. president yoon suk yeol vowed to ramp up the south's defenses. >> if north korea provokes, the south korean military will immediately respond based on practical combat capabilities and firm military readiness. if north korea uses nuclear weapons, its regime will be brought to an end by an overwhelming response from the south korean u.s. alliance. amna: meanwhile, north korea defended its spate of missile tests in the last year. its envoy to the united nations blamed washington and seoul for pushing the peninsula to the brink of nuclear war. back in this country: hunter biden is accusing trump ally rudy giuliani of violating his digital privacy. the president's son named giuliani and another lawyer in a

lawsuit filed in california today. he says they wrongly obtained his personal data from a computer repair shop and gave it to others. the suit also alleges the data was altered to discredit the president. california now has a new law that blocks school boards from banning textbooks that teach about race, sexual orientation and gender. democratic governor gavin newsom signed the measure on monday. he said it was "long overdue" amid a nationwide surge in banning and censoring books in schools. and on wall street, the stock market's september swoon extended for another day, over worries about interest rates. the dow jones industrial average lost 388 points to close near 33,619. the nasdaq fell more than 1.5%. the s&p 500 was down nearly 1.5%. still to come on the "newshour", our exclusive interview with vice president kamala harris. the head of the united auto workers discusses ongoing

negotiations and the president's trip to the picket line. maui residents return to their communities more than a month after devastating wildfires and we report from the front lines of ukraine amid the brutal, ongoing counteroffensive. >> 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. amna: there are a number of issues swirling this week with potential economic and political fallout, from the ongoing auto workers strike to a looming shutdown to the first hearing in the impeachment inquiry into president biden. geoff bennett spoke to vice president kamala harris about all of it at morehouse college in atlanta today where she courted young voters as part of a month-long, multi-state college tour. >> modern vice president, thanks so much for your time. we are here in atlanta today.

president biden is in michigan, visiting the united article -- united auto workers pig never before has a president sided so publicly with labor during an active strike. why that approach? why not let the collective bargaining process play out? vp. harris: president biden has been very clear that we are proud, that we will be the most prolabor administration probably in the history of our country. we believe that it is important to support workers and to support the dignity of work so -- this has been a long-standing commitment that president biden has had throughout his career. very much the same for me. it is just the right thing to do what we know is that when we support workers in terms of their need to have wages and benefits that are commensurate with their value and what they are contributing to society and

to our economy overall, everybody benefits. so that is what you are seeing. >> it strikes me that the shift to electric vehicles which is a major point of contention in these contract talks, it's almost as if the two goals are colliding on the one hand, fight climate change. on the other hand, you know, build out the middle class by supporting unions. yet we know that when it comes to actually building electric vehicles, it requires less labor and many of those jobs are nonunion jobs. vp. harris: i would suggest to you that that is -- that perspective that some people have is grounded in a very old false choice. you can do both. and that is our perspective. we can do both and that is about supporting, again, the importance of understanding the value of work and that it should be compensated commensurate with its value and what we must do to invest in our economy, invest in innovation, and take on one of

the biggest crises world has ever known which is the climate crisis. >> time is running out to avoid a government shutdown on saturday as house republicans fight amongst themselves over whether or how to extend government funding. it appears likely that the house speaker, kevin mccarthy, who has already slammed his far right flank, as trying to burn out the house, -- related consequences that come with it? vp. harris: it would be completely rponsible to have a government shutdown. at this point, it's very well known and understood. a government shutdown could mean that the members of our military service -- service men and women are getting paid. people who are doing critical work that is about upholding the structures of our government and all that we rely on in terms of those services could shut down so let's start there. it would be completely irresponsible. second, people are playing

politics, political games. there is a lot of showmanship that you are seeing and if those people put those same levels of effort and talent into something that was productive, i don't think we would be in this place talking about a government shutdown. >> should democrats stepped in and help avoid a shutdown if that is what is required? vp. harris: it is very much in the hands of the republicans in congress to be able to do that. >> on thursday, house impeachment inquiry to president biden with their first impeachment hearing. what is the administration's approach for dealing with that house republican effort? vp. harris: i think that we are very clear that we are not going to be distracted by political games and we are going to stay focused on what we have been doing. i am here at morehouse college, talking with a bunch of young leaders about the challenges that they face and the need for solutions p one of the big topics we talked about here was gun violence so our work has

been to pass the most significant gun legislation that has been passed in 30 years because of our commitment to find solutions and to work on things that actually have a benefit direct -- direct benefit to the people who need it so we will continue doing that. >> you are overseeing the first white house office focused on preventing gun violence. absent congressional action, how will that effort make a significant change? vp. harris: congressional action is very important and the failure to act is to the discredit of the importance of actually taking hold of the solutions that are at hand. we have had one before and we need to reinstate the assault weapons ban. no reason for assault weapons to be on the streets of a civil society. we need background tricks. it's reasonable that you might want to know if someone can buy a lethal weapon if they have been found by a court to be a danger to themselves or others. congress has the power to do that but sadly, a lot of folks don't have the courage to do it

and have been selling this false choice which suggests we want to take everyone's guns away. with the office that we have created, the white house office on gun prevention, gun violence prevention, the work that we are doing is to make sure that we are implementing all of the executive orders that have already been implemented and passed. we are working with state and local officials in addition to the federal agencies to make sure that those things are playing out and then one of the areas that has been of particular focus for us is addressing the mental health issues. you have been seeing this with students today, asking students to raise their hand, college-age students to raise their hand if they come through kindergarten or 12th grade, ever had to have a drill at school around an active shooter and almost every hand goes up. these kids are having a reality that most older adults do not understand. the trauma that they are

experiencing, born out of fear that an active shooter might bust through their classroom door is something very real so through our white house office on gun violence prevention, one of the areas of focus will also be what we need to do to address mental health, both in terms of getting resources to schools as well as just uplifting the issue as a general matter that needs to be a priority. >> looking at all the isss in your portfolio, these are the most, as you well know, fraud issues, difficult for democrats to gain traction in congress. there has been no movement on abortion, no movement on voting rights. how will gun safety be different? vp. harris: i'm going to disagree with you in terms of the premise. you look, for example, at the issue of abortion. i decided after the decision was leaked and then came out that i was going to hit the road, which i did. and i traveled around our country to red states and blue

states, convened state legislators and talked with them and local folks and local community leaders about the need to organize around local elections and state elections that were happening and what you probably remember is that the pundits were saying there was going to be a red wave. it never happened. and wherever the issue of abortion access was on the ballot, wherever the issue of a freedom to make a decision about one's own body was on the ballot , from kansas to california, the voters voted in favor of freedom and liberty. so we are seeing progress and it comes from doing the kind of thing that i am doing right now which is to be here, where people are, where they live, and let them know we see them, that we are listening to them, and that we are responding to their needs, whether it be with the students and what we have done with $1 trillion to address the climate crisis, whether it be the work i have been doing the

last 2.5 years and even before, to get more access to capital for small businesses, that work is making a difference in the lives of people. >> we are on the campus of morehouse college, a legendary hbcu. we should know you were the first vice president to graduate from an sbc you, first sorority member who served as vice president. hbcus comprise less than 5% of all institutions of higher education and yet they produce half of all doctors and lawyers in this country, 80% of judges, half of all public school teachers in this country. secretary cardona said 100% of the vice president's in this country. when you think about the value proposition of hbcus today, what do you tell people? especially in light of the supreme court ruling overturning the use of race conscious college admissions practices? vp. harris: as a proud hbcu graduate, i know what these educational institutions do. they are exceptional.

-- exceptional institutions of higher learning with a history that has been about nurturing and educating young people to go on to be national and global leaders. the experience that a student receives at an hbcu is that from every direction, they are told they can be and do anything. they are told that they should never be burdened by the fact that someone like them may not have done the work before. they are told that they are expected to think about the future of our country and contribute to its strength and productivity. all of that in an environment that gives them a sense of understanding that they are important and valued. and that we expect them to exercise self-determination. these institutions, like you said, have an outsized impact on who populates the stream of

these very important professions. i met earlier with some of the stem students who are focused on space and partnerships with nasa. these are future leaders of not only the country but the world and beyond and so, we are proud that we have put $7 billion so far into hbcus. president biden and i feel very strongly about that. we will continue to do it. thank you. ♪ amna: in a first for a sitting president, president biden joined a picket line in michigan to show support to striking members of the united auto workers union. it's the second week of strikes against detroit'big 3 automakers, gm, ford, and stellantis. joining me now is uaw president shawn fain. welcome to the newshour. it was a remarkable scene to see

president biden out there on the picket line today. you previously said this is not about any president, current or former. you seem to want to keep politics out of it so why host president aydin at the picket line today? shawn: i think the workers encouraged this. this is the workers fight and it is a just fight. i believe this is a working class thing, not just about the uaw. it's about workers all over this country. we put an invitation out there for people to join us and the white house responded right away. it was great to see that. we have never seen it before in the history of this nation so it's obviously -- it shows that for a sitting president, for the first time in our history to visit a picket line, i think that goes a long way in showing where he stands with working-class people. amna: did the president offer any additional help in your negotiations? did you ask him for any? >> the negotiations are up to

our national negotiating committees, vice presidents, and our team. we have got that handled. you know, naturally, the president is just asking how things are going and keeping updates and you know, just checking in to see, you know, how things are progressing. amna: former president trump will be visiting michigan tomorrow. he has been attacking you. he is saying the uaw leadership is not protecting its members. he has been saying the push to electric vehicles means fewer union jobs ahead, that you are not protecting. do you share this concern that he is articulating that we know some of your members have about the future of electric vehicles meaning fewer union jobs ahead? shawn: it depends on where we go as a nation. we support a green economy. we have to have an earth we can live on that is sustainable for life but it has to be a just transition. that is part of what this fight is about. our tax dollars are helping finance this transition and

these companies are taking e billions of dollars that are our tax dollars but they are trying to drive a race to the bottom by paying substandard wages and benefits. we don't stand for that so we are pushing very hard for these jobs to have our standards in them so people can live off of it and so, you know, that is what this fight is about and that is what a just transition is to us. as it stands right now, it has to change because as it stands, we don't have a piece of a lot of that work so we are fighting to get it. amna: let me ask you about some of the things you are asking for. i want to put to you what stephen ratner wrote. he served as president obama's auto czar to negotiate that 2008 deal amid the financial crisis and he says, absolutely, autoworkers deserve a pay raise but they are not going to get it. they will not meet your demands. he says because they can't. or if they do, the workers are likely to pay the ultimate

price. his argument essentially that manufacturing, unlike services, can basically offset higher labor costs by shifting their work elsewhere so can the big three compete if they have to pay labor costs at two or three times what toyota, honda, ntr paying? amna: is -- shawn: this comes down to two words, corporate greed feud i don't know where he has been living but in the last 20 years, we made massive concessions. everything has been done on the backs of our workers and these companies in the big three have still shut down 65 plants. so that math does not add up. in the last decade, these companies have made a quarter of a trillion dollars. the last six months, they made $21 billion and that's on the backs of our workers. the price of vehicles went up 35% in the last four years. ceo pay went up 40% and our wages went backwards but no one cried a river when the ceo's were giving themselves 40% increases and the companies were

making record profits. that is the problem. we have to stop the fear tactics and putting this fear out there that if workers ever demand anything or get their fair share, it will be the end of the world. it is just not true. amna: is there any long-term concern you have if labor costs go up? mentos mean they are paying higher labor costs and nonunionized shops that are largely operating across the south. do you have a long-term concern about the ability for them to continue competing and then employing more union workers? shawn: we have a long-term concern for the working class in general. workers at nonunion shops are making a lot less than we do so i know they are scraping to get by. this is not just our fight. this is a fight for the working class no matter what work some people do. we set the new standard and we organize those places. that is how the uaw was built. it was born out of a depression in the worst of times. workers saw a better way of life, they joined unions, the

uaw, and they won economic and social justice. it was life-changing. that is what created the american dream and the american dream has been dead in this country for years at the expense of the corporate class and the corporate greed taking everything so that is what we had to change in this country. amna: you have 150,000 workers. given where things are today in negotiations, how much wider do you see the strike going shawn: and when do shawn: you plan to make the next decision? it's going to be up to the -- strike going and when do you plan to make the next decision? shawn: it's going to be up to the workers. amna: do you have a date set for when you plan to make a decision about how much wider it may go? shawn: it will depend on how bargaining progresses in the next few days. as things progress or don't, we will make those decisions. amna: the strike is now in day 12. is this the kind of thing you are prepared to see go for

weeks or months if necessary? shawn: we are prepared to do whatever we have to do to win economic or social justice. there is not a timetable. we don't want to be out here. the company wasted seven weeks of bargaining. they waited until the last week to get serious about talking. we told them at the outset, we have been there every day and we expect them to get the agreements done by the deadline. they chose not to do that. they chose to drag it out so they chose to put our workers in the street so we will see how things play out. amna: if there is an extended strike, there are some economists warning it could have brought a ripple effects in the communities where many of your workers live but also across the broader economy. small impact but meaningful. are you worried about that? shawn: i'm worried about how the economy is impacted by people scraping to get by paycheck-to-paycheck. when workers get pay increases and have more money, more job security, it is great for the economy.

that is what drives the economy. a billionaire or ceo getting another $10 million on their already bloated salaries does not move the economy when they buy a third million-dollar home somewhere else, that does not move the economy. move the economy is the majority of the working class people having more money in their pockets so they have purchasing power. that is what drives the economy. amna: that is the president of the united auto workers union joining us tonight. thank you for joining us. please come back soon. shawn: thank you. ♪ amna: it's been seven weeks since the deadliest american wildfires in more than a century swept through the hawaiian island of maui. and some residents in the hardest hit neighborhoods of lahaina are just now finally getting a chance to return home. william brangham and our team report from maui on what life is like for those who survived.

>> what goes through your mind when you see fire that close to your home? >> oh my god. am i going to die? this house is gone. like our life for 50 years here at this home is going to be gone. shawn: -- >> edith jacinto thought she'd always live in her family's home in lahaina, on the west coast of maui. but now, more than a month and a half after wildfires destroyed their house, along with most of her beloved community, she's still trying to process all that's been lost. >> every time i would drive past it was like, i'll either cry or i get goosebumps or just say like, this is not real right now. this is not real, but it is. william: edith cares full time for her parents, her 101 year-old dad, arsenio, and her 83 year-old mom,

victoria, who needs oxygen 24/7. on that terrible day, the jacintos were all together at home when edith's nephew sent a startling message, a fire was fast approaching. >> he tried to get a hold of all of us texting, calling, saying, you guys got to get out, like. "aunty, it jumped, the fire, jumped across the street. it's by the park, go. now." adjuster happened to open the back door, and then smoke just filled the home. william: the family narrowly escaped but they lost everything. their once proud, family home now nothing more than these columns. jacintos are one of more than 7000 maui residents who have been forced into temporary housing. they now live in a hotel provided by the red cross. >> my dad couldn't quite understand, and he kept asking, when are we going home? my mom, she's always had bouts of insomnia, but it's more so now.

like she would scream in the middle of the night. william: their nightmare began just after midnight on august 8 when the first fires were reported in the central part of the island. the flames soon grew, devouring homes, business, and priceless native hawaiian treasures. in the weeks since, rescue teams have delicately combed through ash and rubble, searching for human remains. officials say 97 people died, but another 20 or more are still missing. in all, more than 2000 structures were destroyed. yesterday, the first group of residents was allowed back into their neighborhood to see what's left of their homes. >> some have lost everything. some have lost loved ones. somehow no one was spared. everyone has some loss. william: richard bissen is the mayor of maui county. >> amazingly, this event has

brought us closer, closer together. this community is a resilient community. no one was prepared for something like this to happen. but we're learning and we're sticking together. william: but the mayor, who has been in office less than a year has also faced criticism for how the county initially responded to the fires, and for a lack of transparency in the weeks since. people trusting you and believing what you say and how you are leading is critical. do you feel that you have regained the public's trust? >> i, first of all, accept all the criticism. you know, i wish i knew how to do all this stuff before i came mayor. there's no shortage of investigations of what happened here. we never want this to happen again. we want to do everything we can to not just restore trust but to prevent something like this from happening. william: there are many factors

that contributed to the extent of this tragedy. the local utility acknowledged downed power lines triggered an initial blaze and since parts of maui were experiencing a severe drought, the hillsides around lahaina were thick with dry grasses. high winds from a nearby hurricane then blew this into a violent, fast moving fire. the one paved road out of town was clogged with traffic. and there was no clear, early warning to evacuate. >> i'm listening to the news and still nothing. i don't see no cops. i hear no sirens. william: aaron kamaunu lived on maui for over 50 years. he says he had no idea just how dangerous the situation had become, that is, until the flames were less than a mile away from where he was living with his wife and a 99-year-old man he was caring for. >> the neighbors, they are coming back and reporting to us, saying the fire is getting close. i said, no way. i just left the area. cannot be that fast. guess what? that puppy was a

block away. >> it had gone from a mile to a block away in minutes. in minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes. it was like, unreal. unbelievable. william: aaron said the winds that day were the strongest he'd ever seen. he captured this footage on his cell phone. his home was destroyed but he escaped and now lives on hawaii's big island with the family of the men he cares for, but aaron's good friend and former neighbor, 80-year-old freeman, a man he affectionately called "uncle freeman," did not make it out of lahaina. >> i give him a call. how are you? he starts laughing and then all of a sudden, click. the phone is dead. that was it. the last thing i heard, him laughing. william: those who survive are trying to figure out the future and how to rebuild their lives. many are relying on help from their fellow hawaiians. donations have poured into

centers like this one in nearby napili. >> we knew what people would be experiencing. we had no idea of the magnitude of it. william: kaipo kekona has helped run this center since the fires were extinguished. they serve hundreds of families a day, with free groceries, clothes, household supplies, and a sense of community. >> we tried to develop our site to be a reflection of our island values. so it incorporates mainly our -- we try to orientate all our operations to keep families involved so it keeps our community really tight and in good mindset so that we can stick together moving forward. william: the jacinto family says they hope to one day rebuild their home in lahaina. 83 year-old victoria says she can still vividly remember what it was like. >> i close my eyes, and i'm there cooking. cleaning. but no more.

amna: -- william: what you see behind me is what is remaining of lahaina. all the concrete foundations are all that is left. that's thousands of people in this community that are dealing with the loss of their neighborhoods as well as a very uncertain future. amna: it is remarkable to see seven weeks later but let me ask you about something we have heard from the mayor which is that there is no shortage of investigations into the start of the fires come into why they were so bad. what do we know about the status of those investigations? william: the hawaii attorney general has deputized an organization to get to the bottom of some of those questions so they will be looking at how this fire started , why it got so bad, building a whole timeline of what each of the local officials and how they responded, so that is police, fire, emt's, and emergency managers. we will get from that

investigation soon. there is a question that we heard which is why didn't they signal to evacuate? there are emergency beacons all over this area and they did not go after and the fire and i talked with the head of the county's emergency operations here and he said those are tsunami beacons and people are conditioned that if those go off, they are supposed to head up hill, which is exactly what they didn't want people doing in this fire so that's why they did not go off touring the fire. amna: what about the role of the electrical utility? i know you have reported that they did acknowledge that their lines were responsible for one initial blaze. what else do we know about whether they played a larger role? william: there's about a dozen different lawsuits against hawaii electric company including the county of maui as one of the people suing them and all of those lawsuits are alleging one way or another that the utility did a poor job over the years of strengthening their utility poles, trying to make them resistant enough so that when winds swept through here,

that those poles did not come down and those lines did not come down. so we don't know what is going to happen with those lawsuits. we do know that the ceo of that utility will be testifying before congress that are this week. in a statement that they sent to the newshour on this front, they argue that over the years, they have spent millions of dollars doing doing those exact things that people allege they should have been doing more of and that this is in essence trying to find blame where it does not exist. amna: we heard from some of the many folks you have been talking to on the ground who have been through the unimaginable, but what else are you hearing from people about how they are coping? william: we have seen an incredible resilient spirit coming up here as it happens with every disaster. aid comes in from all over the country and all over the world but one of the other things we have seen here that has been very powerful is local people stepping up to help each other. hawaiians helping hawaiians. several people that we talked to

said that process of people who are themselves going through a traumatic experience, reaching out, stepping up to help others, has in and of itself been therapeutic for them so it has been a very beautiful and powerful thing for us to witness that. amna: recovery still a long way from over. william reporting for us from maui. william, thank you. william: thanks. ♪ amna: tonight, we go inside ukraine's counteroffensive. the u.s. has sent ukraine tens of billions of dollars of weapons, and senior u.s. military officials predict ukraine has only about a month to make progress before rainy weather makes movement difficult. the counteroffensive's primary goal is in the south, toward the city of melitopol, to cut into russian occupied territory north of crimea.

with the help of the pulitzer center, nick schifrin, videographer eric o'connor, and their team spent a week on the frontline, and report from south of the town of orikhiv. nick: at the epicenter of an existential war, ukrainians try to move forward. by any means necessary. they fire and antitank rocket propelled grenade unconventionally and russian troops a mile and a half away. this is a rare look at ukraine's special forces unit. the callsign is -- he is named for a ukrainian warrior. >> what is your message to america? >> if you want to be free, help us. with shells.

shells and weapons. the rest, we will do ourselves. nick: they are the counteroffensive's tip of the spear. a drone flies over russian lines and provides real-time feedback to adjust their fire. down the road just after daybreak, that drone unit brings us to their hidden position. it is an active morning. this is the epicenter of the counteroffensive where ukrainians have pushed the russians back little, trying to expand their territory. the russian lion is half a mile both that way and that way and you could hear all the firing. cracks this is the meaning of past and present that helps define the war. soldiers walk through the kind of trenches that troops have use for two millennia to be able to launch the most modern warfare ukraine is helping to invent. they are from the 15th

operational brigade in the mock no unit. it was named for a revolutionary born more than a century ago but it's not just reconnaissance. explosives on top, a charge on the bottom, and a drone in the middle that will be flown as a kamikaze. their first up is a surveillance drone that will guide the pilot. the chinese made surveillance drone flies towards the russian position. but, because the drones are called first-person view for video goggles. the pilot races the drone towards russian positions. the surveillance drone helping guide him in and then they see their target. he flies the kamikaze across no man's land until it loses connection. the moment it explodes in a russian trench. >> i -- them up in the trench.

i was trying to hit behind him. i flew like that and the fragments flew all over the trench. nick: after the hundreds become the hunted, they take cover from russian drones. another surveillance team searches for russian positions. those craters are from artillery shells. they explain how a network of drones feeds intelligence into an interactive map. >> you can indicate what you see . artillery, infantry, and equipment, and everyone will have access to the map. nick: they say a platoon life can hinge on a single drone. the units connection depends on this startling satellite. they could not fly for more than an hour because nearby russian troops jammed the signal. >> if they are two to three kilometers away, i can see how our artillery is working, same with intelligence p or i can take a photo and we can sit and plan in the group already know

where there is a foxhole, where there is a dugout. they will not go in darkness but this advantage is not only for us. it is also for them. nick: since june, ukraine has pushed russians back a few miles deep and wide and in recent days, near there. the short term goal is to push further and sever the russian land bridge towards crimea. the job of protecting ukrainian flanks falls on this unit here at forward base taxi driver. there's a lot of waiting in war but also contests of strategy, challenges of strength, and even hand-to-hand combat. >> you are holding your phone and you have the messaging application signal open. why? >> there is an artillery group where we get targets and at any moment, we will need to hit it immediately. that is it. there is no other way.

nick: eugene is from this region. his hometown is occupied. his grandmother and brother still live there. >> they are being terrorized. the russian intelligence services take them to the basement and ask about me, where am i? i asked them to keep a low profile and just to wait. we will be there really soon. nick: the 128th brigade is one of ukraine's most experienced units and last month liberated and occupied village. despite that success, despite fighting with 21st-century tools , his unit's munitions feed a weapon twice his age. the d 20 howitzer. ukraine fires more than 90,000 shells a month. this is a soviet era workhorse that soldiers rely on an arm with help from foreign supporters.

>> pakistan, estonia. nick: this melting pot of munitions is not enough. now, they have a fraction of that. >> we are ready to work almost around the clock just changing ships but we don't have ammunition. amna: the lieutenant -- nick: the lieutenant colonel is the commander of the division. >> you have had to ration your firing. have you seen the same thing on the russian side? >> yes. not like we have, but yes. there is a decrease in the use of an intensity of their artillery. it is the same for them as it is for us. >> the shortage exacerbates the challenge of russian defenses. hundreds of miles of antitank ditches. extensive trench network in the largest minefields in the world. they demonstrate how they dig up minds by hand or use specialized vehicles to clear a path to

drive-thru. this is the view from a drone infrared camera. each white spot is a mind you in on average, one mine every two square feet for hundreds of miles. it has led to losses of western weapons systems and ukrainian soldiers. ukraine does not disclose casualties. u.s. officials say the number of wounded and dead since the beginning of the war is more than 150,000. on the southern front-line, medics have never been busier. all of these videos are found by the medics of the brigade. solomon is one of them. >> it is hard to say how many there have been because one dead or one wounded is already too much. >> what was the city like before the war? >> the largest city near the front where silence is suspended by sounds of war. nick: it is a nearly empty shell

. apartment complexes cut in half and what used to be a school, the sole pillar standing still holds children's backpacks. all that remains of a hospital. >> this is also a hospital building and civilians were living in the basement. the missile hit here. we see now the result. there was no military equipment. for the russians, there are no rules. civilians, soldiers, medics, there is no difference, and we know they are intentionally targeting and want to destroy an armored medical vehicle during evacuation. amna: the 15 -- nick: the 15th fights on this front every day but neither their soldiers nor medics have as modern equipment as regular army brigades. >> has that increased because of the minefields? >> of course.

over the last year, very much. they had time. >> there are so many minds here and we don't know about most of them. this 30-year-old is also with the 15th. the civilian medical infrastructure is obliterated. military medics are the only source of medical care. >> civilian ambulances are not coming here so we hope the civilian population and it is more difficult because there is only one road which is being shelled and each trip, there is a lottery whether we will return safely. nick: that risk applies to even the most elite units. pthat is the commander of the at on special forces unit at the funeral of his former commander. >> our commander died. we were working with a rocket propelled grenade, there was incoming, and he was instantly

killed. >> how will ukraine win this war? >> only victory at only after we return all of our land. without all of our land, my belief is that the war will not end. nick: there is no plan b. ukraine will keep fighting for every inch, every yard, no matter how long, no matter how hard. for the pbs newshour, i am nick schifrin, ukraine. ♪ amna: and there is a lot in the upcoming supreme court term after the justices met behind closed doors today to consider which cases they will take up. that is that pbs.org/newshour, and that is the newshour for

tonight. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer, topiary artist. a raymondjames financial advisor team's advice to help you live your life. life well planned. >> it was like an ah-ha moment. this is what i love doing. >> early-stage companies have this energy that energizes me. these are people who are trying to change the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. i'm helping people reach their dreams. >> i'm thriving by helping others every day. people who know know bdo. >> >> carnegie corporation of

new york, supporting innovations in the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.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. ♪

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♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. we have to stand with ukraine because ukraine is also defending our peace, our liberty. >> russia pounds the black seaport of odesa yet again. i ask german foreign minister annalena baerbock if ukraine can still count on support from the west. also ahead, how not to be a politician. former tory minister and mp rory stewart on what's wrong with today's elected officials.

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