russian forces have seized and are using their equipment in an effort to move into ukraine's capital city of kyiv. officials say russians already took over two military vehicles, and changed its ukrainian military uniforms. residents in kyiv are being told tode remain vigilant right now they continue to shelter underground in subways and bomb shelters for their own safety. ukrainian armed forces have not backed down to the russians so far. thean interior ministry of ukraine, of the ukrainian border guards, are reporting that they refused to vender to a russian warse ship that approached whats known as snake island earlier today. the icountry's military has al blown up their own bridges outside of kyiv to block easy

access to the city and beyond. all of this comes as president biden is set to meet with fellow nato heads of state and government later today. in a virtual summit to discuss the very latest security situation in and around ukraine. we have comprehensive coverage all across the region. let's start with nbc's cal perry joining us live in western ukraine, good to see you, my friend. what reporting are you getting in theat western part of the country? where over the past 36 hours or so refugees have increasingly moved towards? >> yes, it was really 24 hours ago when we saw the first barrage on the capital, when the highways started filling up and flooded with folks, heading in this direction, i'm closer to the other way from kyiv, it is about a 24-hour wait, and again this is only going on for a day. yesterday it was sort of a three

five-hour wait and now a 24-hour wait and you can expect it to get worse as you can see the movements now advancing on the capital. on thes ukrainian capital. i spoke to the team a few minutes ago, overnight, at least three loud explosion, the loudest one at 4:30 in the morninges and in addition to th, you have the reports that you've laid out, about really timed rumors where you have the discussions of troops changing uniforms, of troops changing their vehicles, i saw yesterday and i couldn't explain it at the time, a police officer pulled over two members of the ukrainian army and checking their i.d.s, it is that security concern where that has made it to where i am in the west. and we have had a few air-raid sirens and it is tense and we've done this reporting before but never in the place where a european capital is potentially going to fall. there is fierce fighting happening around the capital. yesterday we saw an airfield just 15 miles taken by russian paira troopers retaken by the

ukrainian military, according to the ukrainian government. we have reached an historic place, a short conflict but a quicke, one and it could put questions to rest why vladimir putin will go with the invasion, it is clear to decapitate the government and make it an ungovernable country. >> this seems by calculation the fallback position of the ukrainian government or to some extent the ukrainian forces were to retreat tore to where you were and mount some kind of counter offensive, counter insurgency,te it seems from looking at the backdrop, an active city this morning, talk to us a little bit about the general preparations of what is taking place in the area where you are. are they both in, you know, preparing for the influx of refugees, and at the same time, are we seeing any potential call-up of mass mobilization of civilians to perhaps counter that russian invasion into kyiv?

>> we've heard the ukrainian president call up those reservists and demand that males who are fighting age join up. we saw lines outside reservist centers. we saw that yesterday. we have not seen much military activity today. this is becoming a transitory city. a the preparations happening today are largely for the influx of refugees, there are university dormitories cleared out to make space, so it really is becoming a city that people are transitting to, but as you mentioned people trying to go about their daily lives as best they canil and the last minute when they have to made that fateful decision. cal perry live for us in western ukraine. cal, stay safe, my friend. and from there, wein cross over to moscow, russia, nbc's i apologize, it is a long night for me, joining us live from there. so matt, millions of russians obviously as we are talking about this,of waking up to the news of rocket strikes, across ukraine for a second day, many

of them have friends and family, these are two countries that are inter-connected in many ways, culturally, religiously, ethnically, what is the atmosphere like in russia this morning to what is happening in ukraine? >> good morning, amin. i think it is safe to say it is a very different vibe in moscow right now and a lot of that has to do with the state media. they are not being told about the scale of the operation taking place in ukraine, they're not seeing what are gun fights in kyiv, the bombs in kyiv and snake island that you mentioned in the intro. and i want to point out this is a kind of continuation of something i noticed taking place during the build-up. we spent months now prior to this week reporting on the gradual step by step buildup of

russian forces along ukraine's border, in belarus, before vladimir putin ordered them in yesterday. russians weren't told at any point directly, honestly, what their military was up to. it was always kind of, no, this is not a buildup, this is an exercise. so it's kind of very cynical link. this is the most cynical version of that i think i've ever seen, from this government, and at least in terms of the scale, the number of people that it actually affects. russians are not being told that their military is engaged in what is very obviously a full scale military assault, a war, an invasion, in ukraine. they're being told on the state media that it is simply a special operation to defend the people,n the people's republic just recognized by russia, on monday, signed bilateral defense treaties onnd tuesday, so they just don'tti know. now,o you mentioned, the famil tie, the cultural tie, i think

this is what we're starting to run into the limits of i russia propaganda apparatus, this may have been what they walked inag the past but ukraine is a different story, i think. people are a little more connected. t this he hear things from friends. they are also getting information online. and there isnd still a little b left ofis the russian independe that can also help amplify this. not only do you have celebrities, thought leaders in certain leaders, journalists, all i sounding off on essential saying that our government is committing a horrible crime. you also have the newspaper that you may have heard of quite recently, one of the co-winners ofnt the nobel peace prize, running a giant front page kind of graphic this morning that russia is bombing ukraine. so the word is getting out. and we're starting to see i think a little bit of pushback, or at least a significant number of people questioning angrily even the official narrative, and

you don't know where it'sia goi to go yet but it is definitely something to keep an eye on. >> i'm not going to ask you to predict where it goes from here, but to theed point that you are raising, which is that the information is trickling in, perhaps some in therm oppositio there, speaking up about it, yesterday, we sawup thousands o russians in different cities across the country, by some estimates as many as 50 different tecities, that were protesting the invasion. they wereng met unsurprisingly with a crackdown from police. are more protests expected today? and are we seeing -- i know that russia has a very tight lid on information streams into russia, are we seeing an information stream on social media that the russians are unable to control? >> yes, i think that the social media information is a major part of that, on top of the familiar friend level. they are seeing these things on telegram. they're seeing it on twitter. it's just so much harder to hide

this. but where i think we're seeing a little bit more of an organic way happening, very early days on it, there is no major organized opposition, alexey navalny is in jail, his movement is dismantled, but a few voices calling for protests last night, and before that, there were a lot of kind of single person pickets. that's something you have a right, to under the russian constitution. so you're seeing kind of the organic process right now, and i think there's a possibility where it hits a critical mass, where it continues to kind of snow ball. i just keep hearing from people, just casual conversation, more methodical, this is horrible, we can't do anything, but maybe we can, and i just want to stress how early we are in this process and how much, how influx this is and we just don't know. but you definitely notice there

is something a little different about this one. >> matt, let me ask you quickly and we have about 30 seconds left, thed announcement from t u.s. that there will be strong sanctions imposed on russia, likelyti to cripple the economy there. you live in russia. talk to us a little bit about how that message has been received by ordinary russians and more importantly by the kremlin, what do we anticipate the russian response to be to the announcing of these strong sanctions as president biden described them? >> so let's start with the kremlin, they obviously anticipated this, and i think built this into their planning, they have been building up a war chest, for example, to start burning through, currency reserves, to prop the ruble and help out russian banks that get sanctioned and putin struck a very defiant tune on the issue of sanctions before biden announced them holding a meeting with business leadersno explaing he had to do what he's done, and we've been seeing gestures of support from the government. for people, this is a much more

alarming and shocking thing than the president seems to give credit for. yesterday there was a lot of anxietys about the ruble, and there was, you know, throughout moscow, evidence of a run on foreign currencies. in the banks. at least in the morning yesterday. when the news first broke about the invasion. one of the first things people seemed to instinctively do is to go out as the ruble was crashing, to a low not seen in a very long time, start withdrawing dollars andry euros and so on. so it is definitely something people are anxious about. i saw one russian electronics retailer said it was going to raise its prices on all goods by 30%is because of this. so these are the kinds of things that russians are going to feel. >> matt bodner, live in moscow for>> us, greatly appreciate its always. and let's cross back into ukraine and get a check on what has happened with matt bradley. matt, we have been speaking to throughout your morning time as well as ours. i understand you have just, i can tell by speaking to you, a

change in both your situation there, talk to us what has evolved iner the last hour sinc we last spoke to you? well, i was telling earlier, amin, how there was distant rumbling of bombings to the west and northwest. and in just the last minute, that has changed dramatically and we have started to hear bombings very close, and then so close, that actually we started hearing car alarms going off. so that's a troubling development. we're in central kharkiv. and i was surprised, because we have always heard a low rumbling from outside the city. we did know that there was fighting on thewe outskirts of e city, around the ring road. but nowou again, that has chang. a new development here, moving into the city, we have to go out, well, we might not go out and check, but it looks as though we're starting to see, we're still seeing some traffic circulating, but this was the closestse we've heard so far in the last more than 24 hours of

bombardment around kharkiv. as i said, it's never been so close to the center of the ceiling. i don't know if you can hear the sirens wailing in the background, so clearly, there's emergency services heading to the ncscene, and again, we did hear some car alarms going off, which means there must have been a concussion from the blast which is close enough. up untilic now we have never se windows shaking or walls shaking ornd ground shaking, it's alway just been sound, low rumbles again from the distance, and this is the first time we're starting to hear that, and it sounds as though some bombardment piercing closer to the center there. there you go, and you hear the car alarms. that might be anti-aircraft fire. again, we are not hearing as we did in kyiv, i believe that's anti-aircraft fire, we are not hearing the sirens wailing from the city. we're not hearing the broadcasting

system coming on yet. that is next. that's what happened in kyiv. caren alarms there. you can hear that, amin. this is the new development in this city. a relatively peaceful sort of eye of the storm here. we had heard from u.s. was ligence that there fierce fighting on the outskirts of the city but again this is a new development. >> matt, can you put in context for us the significance of kharkiv perhaps to our viewers who are not familiar with the city, does it have any strategic significance, perhaps both from ukrainian defenseif posture or perhaps from a russian maneuver to try and overtake you. what would the significance of capturing kharkiv be for the russians? >> the significance is that it is 25 miles from the russian border. as you can hear, there is a sustained, sustained bombing going on right now. sustained anti-aircraft fire.

this is the city's defenses. so this was, this is about 25 miles from the russian border. and there is a strategic significance and that's the strategic significance. it's the second largest city in ukraine. it's kind of the unofficial capital of the east of the country. and it's a russian speaking city. so like when you talk about the strategic significance, in many way,ra the ideological significance of it, the cultural significance of it,si kind of exceeds the strategic significance, because when we talk, when we heard from vladimir putin time and time again, heir talked about strate, he talked about security, he talkedal about issues east of t country, and the nato expansion that he sees that is threatening russia, but he also unusually, and just theia last couple of he days, really hit upon those ideological historical points, and that seemed toeo be what wa really motivating him, it wasn't,g he only really more recently brought that up in the speech that preceded the attacks where t he said, when he cast doubt on ukraine's right to exist and said that ukraine was

basically invented by vladimir lennon, and the soviet union, and he said that it was part of russia, so for him, this city, as the largest russian minority, russian-speaking minority city in the country, this would be of particular significance to him. vladimir putin might believe that he can roll into this city and that the russian speaking people of this city will support him. but i can tell you that that's not the case from my conversations with people and as you can see, we're surrounded by otherca journalists that are al starting tost suit up here. so for vladimir putin, this would be more of an ideological, historical or a cult ural significance more than strategic. as you know, he's really pushed into kyiv much faster than he pushed into this city but if events over the last five or ten minutes are any indication, he could be planning to move in hereco just as he was in kyiv. >> mattre bradley, live for us

kharkiv, stay safe, we will be checking in with you throughout the early morning hours as the situation there continues to develop. matt bradley, in the eastern part of the country updating of whattr seems to be antiaircraft fire as well as perhaps russian bombardment in andre around kharkiv. up next, we will investigate the russian psyche and speak with an historian who says the west is missing some major points when it comes to understanding the russian/ukrainian relationship. stay with us. e russian/ukrainian relationship russian/ukrainian relationship stay with us she's in command. all-day comfort. all-night shift. head nurse. heart on her sleeve. so, when leaks show up, our protection helps keep them dry. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you.™

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we've been warning about this for a long time. we've been planning on this for a long time. we've gotten allies and partners together for a long time. we've made it clear that on the one hand if president putin decided to pursue the path of diplomacy, we were ready for that, prepared to engage on that, but if he pursued the path of aggression, which tragically is exactly what he's done, we prepared on that, too, and as a result, we have responded in a united way, swiftly, and with real consequence to impose very severe costs on russia for the aggression it is committing against ukraine. >> if russia begins to feel cornered and desperate, do you worry they could become more dangerous and perhaps directly threaten nato countries? >> first, when it comes to threatening nato countries, we have something very powerful called article 5, an attack on one is an attack on all. russia knows that. and that's exactly why among other things one of our responses has been to shore up nato's defenses. to put more forces, to put more

equipment on the eastern flank, the countries closest to russia, to deter any aggression that russia might be contemplating against nato countries but in terms of, look, i think you have to listen to president putin's own word, this is something he was planning all along, he made every possible effort to deter him, to dissuade him from taking this case but clearly this is something he planned for a long time and much bigger than nato, this is all about trying to get ukraine back into his orbit, to reconstitute, if he could, something approximating the soviet empire, short of that, reasserting his sphere of influence to subjugate countries on his borders to his will. that's what's going on. >> and very quickly, any signs that he is losing support at home? >> look, much too early to say. we've seen protests. we've seen reports of more than a thousand people being arrested for protesting against the war. but much to toon -- to soon to

say. as the impact is felt of what president putin has done including in russia that will have an impact. >> secretary of state blinken speaking to my colleague lester holt a few hours ago, as russian forces resume bombing ukraine this morning, rocking central kyiv with explosions following an order from vladimir putin aimed at toppling the government and as leaders in the west continue to pledge further action, my next guest says lethal aid and humanitarian aid is what is needed. adding western government tweets about concerns and disappointments don't do a damn thing for ukraine. joining me now is kimberly st. julian varnen, a ph.d. student of history at the university of pennsylvania. great to have you with us. walk us through the assessment here. what do you think the west in particular perhaps in the middle of this crisis does not understand about something you've written about, the russian psyche? >> thank you for having me, i think a clear and disconcerting

misunderstanding is this is ex ition tense for ukraine, we're seeing the russian bombing of historical cities, kyiv, kharkiv, the same cities that nazis bombed in world war ii, this is existential, ukraine is fighting for its continued existence and we have to understand that in our rhetoric and in our age for ukraine. and as we said in the tweet, ukraine needs humanitarian aid to deal with the humanitarian crisis, civilians have been hurt, russian forces have been reportedly bombing hospitals, they need our help in that way, but they also need our lethal aid, to have the missiles that united states and others have been sending for the past couple of month are doing their job, helping ukraine protect its cities but they need more. they're fighting the war against one of the biggest militaries in the world. by themselves right now. >> there is obviously a concern with sending more lethal weapons into ukraine that it may implicate the united states in a

direct confrontation with russia. certainly perhaps even in the case of getting, you know, supplies into that country, during this war. how much of a concern should that be, that by virtue of the united states coming into contact with the russian military, it may at some point spill over and become more than just about a russian confrontation or invasion of ukraine, but a direct confrontation between russia and nato and the united states, or have we already crossed that point? >> i can understand the concern, but i think the fear of a direct russian/united states military conflict, conflagration is not realistic. we have to give putin more credit than that and there is a reason that putin is attacking ukraine. it is not part of nato. putin understands the power of nato. it is a particularly local war

effort, an imperial idea of reclaiming ukraine, particularly eastern ukraine and a key part of the military exercise we've seen in eastern ukraine, but i also think, if we were sending lethal aid up to two weeks ago, what difference is it now besides the fact that ukraine really needs it as it continues to try to protect itself, against these russian forces. >> all right, kimberly st. julian varnen, thanks for joining us. greatly appreciate your insights this morning. coming up, thousands of u.s. troops are spread across europe as the russian military advances west. 7,000 additional soldiers now being deployed to germany, and what more if anything should we be doing to help our nato allies? retired u.s. marine colonel joins me next. marine colonel joins me next.

good morning, everyone. i'm -- russian troops enter the city, ukrainian president zelenskyy vowed not to leave the city, and explosions sounding today, before down, in the capital city, following an intense day of fighting, that left more than 100 ukrainians dead. the blasts injured at least three people, after a rocket fragment hit a residential building in the city.

that is according to ukrainian news outlet. zelenskyy has warned russia is not only striking military targets but also civilian sites. the renewed violence comes just as a few hours before president biden is set to meet with fellow leaders of the nato governments and the white house is describing as an extraordinary virtual summit to discuss the ongoing dire security situation in ukraine and eastern europe. russian forces are also pushing further into the country, inching closer to the nation's capital, as we speak. but amid their brutal assault, they continue to meet fierce resistance, from ukraine. where president zelenskyy has urged civilians to take up arms and using molotov cocktails to defend their nation. with me is colonel mark cancian, senior adviser of the security program at the center for strategic and international stz. colonel, great to have you with

us. thanks for joining us at this hour. first let me get your assessment from a military mind. how you have seen this information play out over the 24 hours that it has been ongoing or so, from both a russian perspective, and the advances that they are making, and the strategy deployed by the ukrainians in trying to fight off that invasion? >> the conflict began with a pretty standard air campaign, the russians tried to take out the ukrainian air defenses, their air force, and certain command and control facilities like their intelligence headquarters, and they claim great success and that's quite possible, it's a little hard to take out all of the air defense, because they're mobile, but that was the cause of the strikes all across ukraine. and then they attacked on several axes, from the south out of crimea and the east heading toward kyiv, or rather kharkiv

and in the north particularly coming out of belarus towards kyiv and that's probably the most dangerous thrust that we've seen. it was also interestingly a hell born attack on an airfield outside of kyiv, that seems to have been defeated but that would have been a very dangerous operation if it had succeeded because it would have given the russians some troops right outside the city that could have linked up with troops coming from the north. for the russians, it seems to be a very risky approach, i mean they're attacking on multiple axes, clearly their aim is to overflow the ukrainian, overthrow the ukrainian government, and they're approaching kyiv, we'll see how the city does, the ukrainians have been fighting back, it's a little unclear exactly how the fighting is going, you see little snippets, they've called

for a national mobilization, which is a sensible thing to do, although really they should have done that several weeks ago to have these militias prepared. >> let me ask you about that point that you just brought up here for a moment and the u.s. intelligence assessment and others have made the point that the strategy by the russians seems to be a push on to kyiv, with the aim of decapitating the ukrainian government, the democratically elected ukrainian government. if that intelligence is correct, and we have no doubt so far to, no reason to doubt it so far, given how things have played out based on the u.s. intelligence so far, how critical will the next 24 to 36 hours be? are we in that window, where we're likely to see the russian military enter kyiv and possibly decapitate that government? >> well, we are, because it seems that the russian columns

are approaching kyiv, you know, the reports that they are on the outskirts of the city, although it is a little hard to say if that's true, then the next 24-48 hours will be critical. if the ukrainians can stop the russians on the outskirts, and make them fight for the city, that would perhaps produce a stalemate, and cities are extremely difficult to take if they're well defended. the russians are probably either going to try a quick strike in the city of the center or bypass it and try to surround it. mark cancian, thank you for your insights this morning. greatly appreciate it. coming up what exactly the new round of sanctions means for russia, president biden announced them yesterday saying they will prevent the country from taking part in the global economy. the russian president says that is not the case. we'll break them down next. iden

is not the case. we'll break them down next

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president biden announcing that what he calls quote profound sanctions on russia over their full scale invasion of ukraine. my colleague nbc's peter alexander has this report. >> reporter: condemning a brutal assault without provocation, president biden blamed russian president vladimir putin for what he called a pre-meditated attack. >> putin is the aggressor. putin chose this war. and now, he and his country will bear the consequences. >> reporter: the president imposing harsh new sanctions cutting off russia's largest banks and companies to western financial marks. restricting exports of technology. and freezing trillions of dollars of assets including those controlled by russian elites close to putin. and their families. we will limit russia's ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen. >> reporter: the president

promising to make president putin an international pariah and nont, announcing what ukraine's president would say is the strongest financial punishment available to allies, barring russia from s.w.i.f.t. the secure system that connects banks in more than 200 countries. >> given the full scale invasion, given that you're not pursuing disconnecting rusha from what is called s.w.i.f.t., respect fly for what more are you waiting for? >> the sanctions we have imposed exceed s.w.i.f.t., it exceeds everything that they have done, and let's see a conversation in a month or so to see if it is working. >> and allies are not willing to take that step. and sanctions are to deter from invading. >> it continues to be a deterrent. >> no one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from

happening. >> president biden is reiterating that american troops will not fight in ukraine but bolster nato allies authorizing another 7,000 troops to germany. >> the united states will defend every inch of nato territory with the full force of american power. >> the president warning americans will feel an impact with already high gas prices, expected to rise even more. >> i will do everything in my power to limit the pain the american people are feeling at the gas pump. but this aggression cannot go unanswered. >> our thanks to peter alexander for that reporting. and coming up, signs of support for ukraine are spreading across the globe. with protests breaking out in landmarks, and landmarks being lit in the country's colors, how the world is rallying together, against the russian invasion, when we return with our special coverage right after the break. don't go anywhere. break don't go anywhere.

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a massive show of support

for ukraine from across europe, to australia and north america, cities projecting the ukrainian flag on iconic sites such as 10 downing street and the brandonberg gate, others held protests against vladimir putin rallies for the ukrainian people, and we spoke with a senior reporter, who gave us a stunning report from kyiv, in front of a building destroyed by a russian attack. watch. >> the atlantic council, a senior reporter, terrell jermaine starr, describe what you're seeing, describe what is behind you. >> right now, i just want people to see the effects of this war, so this is about a few minutes from where i live, we don't, we're not clear about exactly what happened, but this building was hit. we don't know if it was a

missile or if it was debris and trying to figure out from other journalists but right now we can definitely show you that this building was definitely hit. you can see the debris here. you can see the burn. and look up, let's see if i can get up here, these are, you have people here who are cleaning out their apartment, and so we don't know the number of fatalities, we don't know the number of people injured, but this building was definitely hit hard. >> i want to draw in a little bit about your experience, and living in kyiv, right now, and from your vantage point, both as a scholar and as a reporter on this, there has been an interesting dynamic, and you tweeted out about this, in part, you write, the shear racism in putin's language toward ukraine, the way putin talks about ukraine is very similar to white racist language toward black folks, talk to us a little bit about that, explain that to us for people who may not be

familiar with the dynamics of what russia is doing in ukraine and how that might be a motivating factor in what is playing out. >> yes, so first of all, if you look at right here, at what is happening, this has nothing to do with nato, this is a civilian building, this is a residential area. there are no military here. and when i was speaking about that, putin's racist language, he looks at ukraine as people who are a subject of russia, he in his speech recognized that the donbas region, essentially that ukraine does not exist, that the country has an illegitimate government, and so he has never acknowledged the agency of ukraine, the way he speaks about crimea, for example, he referred to them, if we had politicians in america who described a group of people that way, we would consider them to be phobic, charge them with

racism and this is the way, the people can't understand the connection, quite frankly my theory, they fear that ukrainian are white washed on racism and discrimination but that's not the way we think about it, we think about it in racial terms and we call it putin's critical race theory, putin's critical ukraine theory, manufacturing history, and creating problems that don't exist and in places like chicago, you know, people stereotype chicago, putin, you know, i'm sorry, ukraine is essentially putin's chicago. and look at what is happening here and i can show you what is going on here, these are not soldiers here, these are not soldiers, these are civilian residents. >> let me pick up on something that you said that is pretty interesting about the disinformation, and the lies that come out of moscow, and vladimir putin, because obviously, we know what happens when an authoritarian leader can

manufacture a narrative, and then use that narrative as a pretext for an invasion or certainly for confrontation, how do you confront that? how does a society and a country combat disinformation, because they seem to have perfected the science of disseminating lies and spreading propaganda, with their use of social media, with their use of state-controlled media, with their allies both in ukraine and neighboring countries that are also authoritarian. >> drastic measures require drastic response. here in ukraine, for example, several broadcasts, television stations, have been banned, they were spreading russian propaganda, and so ukraine is a country that is really evolving into freedom of the press, and

when you deal with a country like russia that uses disinformation as a military tool, that is unfortunately what you have to do. and as far as the united states and russia, keep in mind that russia has been not just, not during the putin time, but over, but over decades, creating disinformation, about russia, about ukrainians. and so russia always has millions of dollars that it spends on russia's -- it spends millions of dollars and countries like ukraine doesn't have a counter, america doesn't have a counter, to help deal with this, and it argues and they are banned. they are banned. that's the only way that you can continue, because freedom of press does not, freedom of press does not equal lies and spreading lies. >> let me ask you quickly, while i have you in front of that scene, can you tell us a little bit about the security situation?

how you are able to get to that building? is it dangerous for you to move around in kyiv? was it hard for you to get to that location where you are rit now? and do you know if there is, if their there are rescue attempts ongoing or is it right now simply trying to recover whatever personal items are left in the building of those that were hit? >> yes, i'll tell you what is happening right now. first of all, it wasn't difficult to get to this place at all because it's about a ten minute walk from where i live, so this building, so this right here, this could have hit me, to be quite frank with you, so no, it's in the neighborhood, you can walk here. and in regards to recovery efforts, i'm still not sure about that, you know, other journalists out here trying to figure out what is happening because we're not clear, this could have been debris, this could have been a missile, we are not exactly sure right now but what i'm trying to see if i can get to this hole right here, if they'll allow me, so right

here, you can see how deep this hole is, this hole, whatever it is, you know, it could have been a missile, but i'm not going to confirm that until we figure out what's going on. but yes, but as far as getting around kyiv, you know, there's martial law, but it's not difficult to get around here to get pretty much where we need to go. >> all right, terrell germaine starr, be safe and watch out for that falling debris behind you. best of luck to reporters out there. >> really quickly, do you see this lady right here, people are still inside the building, trying to get what they have, and so this is a human toll of putin's war. >> thank you so much for that incredible reporting. stay safe. >> thank you. let's go now, once again to nbc's cal perry in the western part of the country.

and we know sirens have been ringing out but how has the city been impacted overall today, are they bracing for possible attacks? are they at this point focusing more on an influx of refugees? >> the focus here is certainly i think on that influx of refugees. people are watching the pictures coming out of kyiv, looking at the russians advancing from the north and east, watching pictures of the people huddled inside subways and people headed to bus stations and train stations, we have seen an influx, just from where we're standing, we see an influx of people with their bags trying to get on trams, trying to head to poland really is the best place to cross but cars as far as the eye can see, reports from there, we have a few people on that border, rumors of cars 20, 25 kilometers, a 24-hour wait to get into poland and disintegrating and the u.n. estimating between two and five million refugees could be on the

move in the coming weeks. >> cal, what is the major security concern for the folks out there right now? >> i think the security concern has shifted, in the last 24 hours, as reports are coming out of kyiv of russian soldiers either putting on ukrainian uniforms or using ukrainian vehicle, and this is the way it is, in the first three, four days of any conflict, you know, rumors and reporting starts to swirl, and there is a concern here, i think that there could be some kind of attack, or penetration from internally. and look, we've heard the ukrainian government talk about this in the past. they have said that one of the big concerns they have -- we'll let that ambulance go past, that one of the big concerns that they have a security threat from within that vladimir putin is trying to destabilize the country and it could come in many forms and not just including an invasion of the capital but a destabilizing attack from within and a concern among officials and we have seen

an uptick in the security here in the last 24 hours, double the police presence here on the streets this morning. >>le ka, i know you've been there for a couple of days and obviously the economic situation is the forefront on everyone's minds, are you seeing the same sense of panic as in other parts of the country when you're talking about long lines at the supermarket, pharmacies, a run on atms, and banks, or has that not yet trickled to that part of the country? >> yeah, we saw that starting yesterday, and i would say that we've seen the situation worsen from yesterday, where we've gone from some long lines at atms to now at certain bank, signs saying no cash available at this atm, and then people going to another atm, and the grocery stores, yesterday we started seeing the shelves be cleared and today those shelves are empty. so certainly people were preparing. they were downplaying the threat, as russians formed along

the border, it was washington -- >> did you lose me? >> we're still with you, cal. >> it was washington that was, for that reason, they waited, they waited until we had the state of emergency here, they waited until the ukrainian president declared martial law, and called up the reserves, it was at that moment and it was only 24 hours ago, when people made that dash for cash, and they made that run for the grocery store, and again, for gasoline, and the lines at gas stations, incredibly long this morning. >> nbc's cal perry, in ukraine, cal, stay safe, my friend. thank you for your reporting. that wraps up for me and this special hour of breaking news coverage right here on msnbc. i'm ayman mohyeldin ayman mohyeldin. my colleague hallie jackson picks things up after a quick break. don't go anywhere. up after a q break. don't go anywhere.

we are coming on the air with breaking news right now on msnbc, we've had a lot of developments overnight, including russian troops closing in on the capital of kyiv, it is now noon local time there, it is 5:00 eastern time here in washington. here's what we know at this hour. pentagon sources are telling nbc news the russian military is now within about 20 miles of the ukrainian capital. overnight, we heard explosions, we saw and heard them, throughout ukraine, including in kyiv, air-raid sirens have been going off for what is now a second morning in that country, ande