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it is now 10 am on ukraine, on this third day of war provoked by the russian president. they are rallying together right now under vladimir flynn ski who posted this video just a short time ago telling his citizens that he is not going anywhere. you can see that zelenskyy still in the capital city of kyiv as he denied claims that he has called his army to stand down. american british intelligence saying that there are signs that the russian advances slower than planned because there are encountering more resistance from the ukrainian military and ukrainian people. they have taken up arms to defend their country. their homeland from 18 to 60 years of age, people being called to take up arms in their own country and fight. the ukraine minister of defense

reporting that russian losses include 14 aircrafts, 100 tanks, more than 500 combat vehicles and 3000 personnel, these numbers provided by the ukrainian government cannot be verified by nbc news. overnight we had heavy gunfire, explosions were heard in the capital city of kyiv. reporters on the ground saying that they heard increasingly frequent bouts of small arms fire drawn ever closer to the city center. today, officials in the city are warning residents to continue to remain in their shelters. because fighting against russian forces has now broken out in the streets. ukraine is now facing would maybe one of the most pivotal days in its nations history. the sun has been up for just a few hours now, shining light on the damage caused by russians shelling. the presence of russian troops throughout the capital as well. the increased military action has led nato to activate its

app rapid response force for the first time ever. our reporters in brussels, where nato members have been meeting. josh, it's good to see you, thank you for walking us through some of this stuff. we're speaking of nato forces there activating this rapid response force, talk us through that. >> so the nato response force, yasmin, is 40,000 troops contributed by the nations that are part of nation nato including the united states. that are highly trained, battle ready and ready to go on short notice. not all 40,000 will be deployed but many of them will, including troops that represent air, land, sea as well as special operations forces. they will be deployed closer to eastern europe as nato tries to shore up its allies who are on the eastern flank, this is the

first time ever since this forces has been created, two decades ago, that it has been activated for defense and deterrence. it's been used in a couple of times before for humanitarian relief, disaster response, that kind of thing, nothing like this before. nato secretary general saying they are taking this action now because europe is facing the biggest security threat it has faced in decades, alongside these new troops that will be moving to shore up nato members, not fighting in ukraine, but many of these members actually about two dozen of them, along with other western allies now stepping up their military support through arms and other aides, they will be sending to the ukrainians on short order, the brits convening an emergency meeting yesterday to bring that together. all of this as european nations, the west and the united states are really in this all out push, yasmin, to isolate russia diplomatically and on the world stage, really make it a pariah state for what president putin has done in ukraine.

the un security council voting just a few hours ago, on a resolution condemning russia, that failed because as you recall, russia has a veto vote on the security council, but interestingly china, very close ally of the russians, they did not veto alongside russia, the chinese abstained from that vote. a lot of folks looking closely at that as the world tries to make clear that russia is going to stand on its own if it takes an ongoing invasion into ukraine. he has been? >> our reporter in brussels, thank you, we appreciate it. a nation under siege, but not backing down. ukrainian forces fought ferociously through the night and into the morning, civilians taking up arms and launching molotov cocktails at russian soldiers. media zelenskyy is a special correspondent for the australian financial review and he joins me now from kyiv. michelle thank you for joining

us. we appreciate it, talk to me first about what you have been experiencing there overnight as ukrainians are waking up this morning after a another night of heavy shelling? >> it's been a long 48 hours here since activities have intensified, last night there was some heavy fighting, ten miles north of where i am right now i've heard about a big battle that happened ten miles where i am standing here. so this is the central part of kyiv, but the explosions and the noises are getting closer and closer, there were -- no reports of russian tanks in the northern part of the city. ukrainians are fighting hard to protect their capital. >> there are reports, intelligence assessments that the russians would be able to overtake kyiv within 48 hours of invading ukraine. it seems as though the ukrainians have been able to a

certain extent hold them off or slow them down, slow russian troops down, in their movements towards the capital city. talk to me about the feeling inside the city, how people are doing? how ukrainians are doing, does the city seem empty? are people scared? what are they expecting to happen? >> as you can see, i'm in the middle of a square that would ordinarily be buzzing with people. it's that right now. all my ukrainian friends and people have been speaking to in the population are very scared right now. there are certain. they want to defend their city, they want to defend their nation. those that could leave have left, i have reports on absolute chaos at train stations, the roads to leave kyiv, have been jammed. reporters that have left last night were unable to move for hours. they've basically got one or

two miles down the road after six hours. one person said it was 40 hour drive. so it's very difficult to get out of the city. having said that, they've taken up zelenskyy's offer to arm themselves. ukrainians are already an armed population, i was a gun store a couple of days ago, guns were flying out of the door, the gun store owner had to say that every semiautomatic had been sold out. and that also ukrainians learn to shoot as young people in schools, i've been talking to young people's who said i would get a gun, i will learn how to shoot. a young woman who has a business said i will learn very quickly how to shoot from my dad and i am prepared to kill russians. that is a mood across ukraine. they are all rallying together, i met with a freedom fighter just before he jumped on the train heading east towards the rush in front, he told me that he was talking to mechanics teachers, doctors anybody who could hold a gun is prepared to

fight, he said he knew an old mechanic, he said i can't move very well but i will get a machine gun, pointing to the russians and i will shoot them. that's the mood on the ground. when i talk to people, they are scared. i was talking to a person -- i mean, i'm here right now, we're being served by some incredible people here, they are looking up to foreign journalists, they're feeding us, they are keeping us safe warm and fed, but they're also worried. i was talking to young man who said that his passport is an hour from here and he doesn't know what to do. it's a very tense situation, people aren't sure what to do. the russians are advancing from the north, from the south, from the east, it gets more tense as the night titans in. you mentioned the russian advancing pace to be slower, that's the intelligence report that i am receiving as well. they're saying that the fighting is slowing down, there

is a decisive battle, things have slowed the russians substantially. they were able to use that as a staging ground, and take kyiv in 24 hours, that hasn't happened yet. that is surprisingly -- >> misha, how do ukrainians feel about the fact that this is not something that they expected coming from the russians at the end of the day. when you've them remain calm, for quite some time in the lead up to this and now they're being attacked essentially by people they know, people that look like them people that speak the same language as them, former family members to a certain extent, they have family in russia, it's very personal for so many. >> it absolutely is, i've been

here for weeks so when i arrived i was reading the reports talking about 200,000 troops stationed on the northeast and southern borders of ukraine, when i ryan arrived here -- ukraine is an amazing metropolitan capital, it's a truly incredible city, an amazing place, people here were very calm. when i arrived the juxtaposition between the mood on the streets and what you are reading on the news could not have been more different, my friends who are ukrainian i was having lunch with them, they were laughing at me as i was asking questions. they said that there was nothing to worry about. over the last 48, 72 hours that have changed dramatically. they are very angry. there was a big sense of shell shock as russia declared war. online you're seeing an

outpouring of russian hostility from ukrainians, but ukrainian solidarity as well. ukrainians don't feel like they are rushing, they don't believe in vladimir putin's ancient empire that he wants to reestablish. they think he has dominion over every wash and speak in person whether or not they are in russian borders, ukrainians don't feel like that, they have their own history, their own language, their own history they're very proud of that. they are determined to fight. they are very upset, obviously, their country has been invaded but they are prepared to fight for it. they are asking for help. the messages online and when i talk to freedom fighters they say send those weapons, send us communications, help us, give us the tools that we need to fight for a country. young people -- the best messages that were shared online other than messages of solidarity and passion, they are asking for, they're asking for support around the swift payments, they

want to see russia kicked out of that and they are saying in their words give us safe skies, they are asking for air support and no flight zones, it's unlikely to happen, but they're asking for it. >> misha zelenskyy, thank you, please stay safe. i want to go now from ukraine over to moscow where nbc's ralph centers are standing by, ralph i just spoke with misha about this, about the discussions happening in the moscow, the way that russians are seeing their leaders, we heard from him that the ukrainians are seeing russia, the anger towards them, now you're in kazakhstan, and they have denied the request to join as well. one of russia's closest ally, historically, seeming like another indication of just how russia's reputation is on the world stage along with putin's reputation.

yeah, i think vladimir putin is looking more and more isolated internationally. as you said, kazakh stand one, refusing to send troops to ukraine. and refusing even to given him the diplomatic courtesy of following him. his two circle breakaway republic it's in the eastern ukraine is a -- and the answer, yasmin, is belarus. and the acid regime in syria. both of whom are international pariah themselves. the dictator of syria, now shares it with president putin, the dubious honor of being one of the very few heads of state who has been personally sanctioned by the united states. another major diplomatic blow to the vladimir putin yesterday, at a security council in new york. when the u.s. and its allies

put forward this resolution condemning russia's invasion of ukraine. but to nobody surprise, russia used its veto power as one of the garnet members of the security council. but what was a surprise, was that china did not use its veto. did not even vote to reject that resolution. instead, it abstained. what is striking about that is that putin has put a lot of time and effort, into the courting the chinese president over the last few weeks. they've spoken regularly. they put out a joint statement where they agreed they were mutually opposed to nato. so russia right now, is really failing to muster the kind of numbers in the international and diplomatic arena that they might be hoping for. yasmin? >> what a fascinating ruffle circle moment. the comparison between putin and bashar, one time being a

broker between bashar and the united states as well. as -- was taking place inside syria. but certainly a circle moment for those leaders there. talk to me, ralph, about this idea that i heard from a former member of the ukrainian parliament. telling me that russia's need to be squeezed financially. and i'm talking about basic russians. grandmothers, mothers, fathers, inside moscow, inside russia. to understand and feel how ukrainians are feeling and to get on their side. is this something that you feel would affect or change, or encourage russians to stand up against vladimir putin? because of his invasion into ukraine? >> this is one of the perpetual difficulties about sanctions, right? we in the west can say, these sanctions are aimed at the leadership, they are not targeted at the people of russia. but very often, it is ordinary

people, glad mothers as you say, who are gonna be most affected when the companies they work for our squeezed. when the kind of consumer goods that they are looking to acquire do not come through. is this a country where the leadership is massively responsive to the mood of the public? that is actually a question that is being severely tested right now. we spoke last hour about the fact that it has been tonight since the spontaneous -- on the streets of russian cities against this war. russian people have been trying to make it very clear that this is putin's war. this is not a war in their name. yasmin? >> rob sanchez, for now, thank you ralph. still ahead everybody, the challenge of collecting -- we are gonna speak to former fbi intelligence agent. stay with us. former

fbi intelligence agent stay with us

welcome back everybody. so as the pentagon is working to find ways to deter russia's ongoing invasion in ukraine. the top spoken for the u.s. military -- will provide additional leave for the ukraine, but here in fact working for the logistics to get it into the air force base over the country this moment. joining me is the global -- for the investigative unit. thank you for joining us. i think the question here is, talk to us more about the possible ways in which more aid can be given to the ukraine.

? >> well, certainly it is now more complicated. obviously. you have an invading force there on the ground. from russia. but to put it simply, there is of there is a well there is a way. i think it is doable. what we will probably see is weapons being moved overland by truck, maybe by private purcell trucks, maybe ukrainians will receive them at the border in poland's at the west. drive them in themselves. maybe even some of it could be moved in a more clandestine way that would not be spoken about. that would not be announced by the pentagon, but handled by the intelligence community. there is a history of that in other conflicts. that is an option. i think,, though they do have to be careful about one thing. the u.s. government is very mindful of not getting into a

delicate confrontation with russia. that somehow russia catches them on the act, on the ground in ukraine. handing weapons already ukrainians. so they have to do it in a way to not be party to the conflict. i think that is something that is on the mind of the white house. and there've been legal considerations about what that means. if the u.s. is providing weapons. and for example the zelenskyy government is toppled. how does that work legally? i think that more than anything, if the u.s. and nato allies want to help ukraine, this is the way to do it. i watch congressman sherman earlier on the show, that said they need stickers. that's the thing that they want. shoulder launched, relatively simple weapon. not sophisticated. but it can shoot down and have a cop or if it's low enough. there's also another question

here looking backward, which is why maybe, were -- more weapons would be given to the ukrainians earlier, before we got to the stage. there has been criticisms earlier, dated back to obama. they were not giving ukraine what they were asking for. and not fasten of. so it is too late for some sophisticated air -- and radar. and more sophisticated radar -- -- because that takes a lot of time to learn, and maintain, and be trained on. so there is that aspect of it. to that we are where we are, and now, the question is, how much will the west help the ukrainians. because there is two fights now. there is the immediate conventional one we are seeing right now, but if russia's military is fully brought to bear, then it could be more of a resistance scenario. more of a gorilla fide. and these kinds of simple

portable weapons will be crucial. but there is a pretty long border there, on the west. with these nato members. and again, if nato countries want to help ukraine, it should be possible. the logistics should not be insurmountable. >> you talk interestingly about the clandestine transfer of weapons and i'm thinking specifically, of course, during the obama administration with the transfer of weapons. i believe it was through qatar, to the syrian rebels at the time as a proxy war was taking place on the ground. there's a lot of different ways in order to get ukrainians the weathers, the resources and weapons they need to fight and hold off russians as long as they can. we appreciate. it thank you so much for talking for us. >> let's also hear about the challenges right now, specifically on the ground. i want to bring in peter, and agents of --

compromised, the counter intelligence in the threat of donald j trump. it's nice to talk to you. thank you for joining us on this. there is a couple of things i want to picture on this when we're talking about is halogen's first, i want to talk specifically about intelligence that we can gather first and foremost, when it comes to putin's motives here. wet he, his endgame is. how the united states can learn about nato allies. we know we have major human intelligence on the ground in moscow, and throughout russia. the question is how close can we get? how much information can we get when it comes to figure out putin's motives an endgame? >> absolutely. look. intelligence is difficult in the best of times. and in wartime, when you have the violence in the chaos. it becomes all the more complex information. the u.s. is better than any other nation in the world when it comes to collecting battle intelligence. everything from in sensors and satellites, two helicopters flying around ukraine picking up things like vehicle

movements, radio transitions, aircraft flying through the air. there's also things like intercepting email, phone calls. to actual human essence on the ground. the last point is particularly interesting because yes, well it is challenging every time you go somewhere like russia or china, and talking about resources. you have what it appears to be, not necessarily popular in russia, of opportunity for collectors on the ground. so if we are seeing this for allied nations that are working, people will question what they are doing. people see death with russian deaths mounting. there's an opportunity there to go and get more information. no doubt it's challenging. i think we saw the information coming out of the intelligence communicate -- leading up to the facilities. the very robust collection posture that we have. that i think would continue. and to the last point, we think about physical assistance. or a tangible assistance to

ukraine whether it's javelins or other items. we can provide's assistance that way. it wouldn't surprise me that some of this intelligence that the u.s. is collecting, might be being shared with the ukrainian allies in the prosecution of their fight against war backed russia. >> i find it interesting, as you speak with penetrating that circle, especially when you are people unhappy with p putin's moves inside moscow. i have to think about crimea. so many reports on vladimir's small circle. there is no one better who knows about pandered trading circles to get intelligence. and he knows with these offers are trying to do. right? he knows that he has to keep this close circle. so how do you combat? that how do you penetrate? that >> good question. absolutely, no question it is not easy. if you look back at russia

before the soviet union, it has leadership that has connection to them. i have no doubt that the circle, part of the design of putin's power is to maintain the loyalty of the people around him. i think increasingly, he is needing to look over his shoulder, there are some indication that he has a paranoia for a long time. but particularly amongst the senior leadership of the russian state, as they look around, as they see something that is increasingly potentially in popular, while they are loyal to putin, they are more loyal to themselves at the end of the day. but they may see in terms of their own survival, what they may ultimately see as the path of survival for the russian state which may not align with putin. i think that will present friction. again, it's not an easy environment. i don't think by any stretch of the imagination we should expect that something from putin circle will present themselves to the cia officer in volunteer, but going down

that chain, people who are involved, whether they are in the administrative staff, diplomats, military leaders who have sons and daughters and brothers who are on the frontlines who are being pulled into this conflict, there are opportunities there for collections. again, those sources during conflict inevitably come forward and that is something that our intelligence services are trying to look for and trying to collect. >> really important and crucial information there, really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us peter strzok, thank you. coming up, we will go back to ukrainian live report from on the ground there. stay with us. stay with us edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 48 months on all smart beds. ends monday.

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we will help get you the best result possible. >> welcome back everybody, here ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ with the latest news coming out of ukraine if you're just joining us, russian troops are moving on kyiv, explosions sounded throughout the night and have not stopped as the sun came, up ukrainian president dylan's case predicting an all-out attack. he says this is the day ukraine's fate will be decided in this video here, he urged all capable ukrainians to fight. saying this, we cannot afford to lose the capital. russia faces more opposition from europe in the united states, president biden imposing sanctions, not just on russia by the way, but on president putin himself. biden also authorize an additional 300 and $50 million in security assistance for ukraine as well. with that i want to bring in

turmoil jermaine starr, senior fellow at -- who has been reporting from the ground in kyiv. terrell, thank you so much for joining us, glad to see you and see that you are safe, i know that you spoke with my colleague last night and as you spoke to him he were kind of out and about industry. now we find you in your apartment this morning. how are things going there? >> i'm doing fine, thank you. yes, i spent a lot of time in the street, but yes, one of the main things that i have seen throughout the day, are men going to volunteer to join, volunteer units to fight the russians, there have been overwhelming amount of people doing that. walking down the street, you see men with automatic rifles dressed in jeans and tennis shoes and jump suits going -- walking about industry in a regular way. this is a very sharp contrast

to how the culture of the city was operating just a few days ago. >> you actually said this in a tweet and i want to read it for folks, because it speaks to what people are doing their in ukraine, how they are in abandoning whatever responsibilities that they had because they are fighting for their countries, they are nationalists and they want to defend our country against russians you wrote, everybody give a salute to my dear loved one and ukrainian patriot and i'm hoping i'm seeing his name right he is an linguist and now a volunteer fighter who is going to fight the russians, he said i will be back, i know he will, what was that decision like for him as he left to fight on behalf of his country? >> like many men and women in ukraine, it wasn't a very difficult one, it was something that he was contemplating leading up to this day in fact when we were driving around to support him to sign up, there

were several places that for whatever reason weren't except in him, so he kept going to one volunteer station to the next until he was able to find one that will accept him, he got his weapons and now he is out with another colleague, another person of my, another andré and he found a unit, both of these people taught me russian out one point or another so it's just -- i wrote that tweets we could bring home the human element to what is going on here, these are people who are going to risk their lives over putin's war. putin's ridiculous war for absolutely nothing, and russian troops have come here to die for absolutely nothing. it's very tragic case and all the kremlin doesn't care about human life. >> tell me what's the last 12 hours have been overnight, terrell, what were you hearing and seeing as you try it of course to get some rest? >> yeah, so, constantly i have

been hearing explosions throughout the night, sometimes you had three, four times in a row, sometimes you may have about four or five minutes of silence then you will hear the explosions again. and then the one explosion is louder than the next, you also hear gunfire. sirens going off oh for the time i have learned how to sleep with it and adjust to what is a safe distance for those explosions and what aren't, what isn't. but just yesterday i went to a building, a 15 minute walk from where i am where debris had fallen down and hit a building and i'm not sure about the casualty cost but the point i'm bringing up is that that building could've easily could have been my building and so this war is not just hitting the military, it's hitting civilians, residencies, and it's close to all of us,

particularly me because that building could've been mine. >> so, let me ask you, as you walk around the city, now you're spending more times indoors because that's where it is safe, but as you've walked around the city and gotten a sense of how things have gone down are their pockets that still seem, quote unquote, normal or are there areas, you know, other areas that have been destroyed, bombed, hit, what is the landscape like? >> yeah, right outside of my window is one of those pockets where you have a certain degree of normalcy, you have people walking with their children, walking their dogs. at the same time you have little kiosks opening up where people can get smokes, you also see people moseying around walking with their friends. and then you see again some men, mostly men walking around with some automatic weapons ready to defend their country. so when i step outside today

i'm not sure what i'm going to walk into, another thing i saw were long cues to grocery stores, long cues to atm machines. much of the city is shut down, we are under martial law. so, again, just at the beginning of this week the city was nothing like this. but before i had gone to a ballet, swan lake, so it just shows you just in a matter of days how quickly o'rourke and transform the culture of the city. but things are relatively normal here in the sense that there is no chaos. there is definitely panic, people are looking for ways to get out, you see roller luggage, people have roller luggage trying to find a way out. you see people on the road hitchhiking, there is no chaos here in that you don't see any chaos here, it's a bit of a miracle. >> terrell jermaine starr, please stay safe and we thank you for taking the time.

>> thank you. >> all right, coming up everybody, praising putin. former president donald trump and some other republicans are complementing the russian leader as he continues his invasion of ukraine. the party isn't all on the same page, our live coverage continues after this break. continues after this break

welcome back everybody. some prominent voices in the gop, facing president putin even in his full scale vision of ukraine. we were for. it's >> -- on russian state tv. here's a guy who >> former president donald trump calling vladimir putin, talented, savvy, a genius. >> his secretary of state mike pompeo, praising putin as a statesman. and tucker carlson from fox

news. >> what is putin all about? why don't they put in so? is he a racist? >> hillary clinton accusing him of aiding and a barreling their enemies. >> we have to make sure even our own country we are calling out those people who are giving aid and comfort to vladimir putin. who are talking about what a genius he is. what a smart move it is. who are, unfortunately, being broadcast by russian media. >> nbc's, von hill, called up with pompeo today. >> do you regret your words? >> i've been fighting communism since i was a teenager, i'll keep fighting it. >> why does -- for vladimir putin? >> yuri action to former secretary of state, pompeo, and former president trump, praising putin's cleverness? strength? and smart-ness? >> i have no response. in fact i'm no words. >> former president bush made

it clear where he stands. saying, we cannot tolerate the authoritarian pulling a danger that putin poses. some current gop officers agree. >> putin is our enemy. >> i don't think that anybody on a golf course on mar-a-lago has any connection to the current crisis. >> and our thanks to andrea mitchell for that report. >> all right, so if putin was really on a mission to de-nazify ukraine. you think he would be supported by the auschwitz memorial and museum. they called the invasion barbaric. we will look into putin's nazi lies next. ill look into putin's nazi lies next.

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impossible to remain silent, while once again innocent people are being killed purely because of an insane pseudo-imperial megalomania. joining me, john it reporting on this. thanks for joining john, we appreciate it. let's talk about the auschwitz reporting first. the museum warning that any symptom of indifference is a sign of complicity. how important is the pushback from this organization? >> i think it is very significant. it shows how bogus these allegations are from russian president vladimir putin. for him to claim that ukraine is a neo-nazi country on the face of it is absurd. we need to remember that ukraine's president, sullen ski, is jewish. we see in these types of justifications from putin for -- as a rationale for military actions in the pass. in 2008, he claimed without evidence that there was genocide in -- .

russia invaded -- in 2008. in 2013 he claims that russian speakers in ukraine were under threat. of course there was none of this. he annexed crimea in 2013, and started a war that has killed over 13,000 people. so this pushback from the auschwitz we see i'm really underscores how erroneous these are from putin. >> you also have another piece for insider, that i found fascinating. how russia's warned ukraine to crumble the post-world war ii system. and it shines uncomfortable night in gaps in the system. given it failed to prevent this war. can you walk us through some of these gaps? john as you see it. >> sure. so to really shine a light on what i mean by that. while russian president vladimir putin was declaring war on ukraine, or announcing

this very special military operation, russia is at the moment, the rotating president of the united states emergency meeting council. so is overseeing a mission that russia provoked while overseeing a war. so is an amazing situation that highlights the dysfunction of the un, in many ways. and the inability of the body to prevent these types of actions. for russia to be overseen an emergency meeting on its own actions is just astounding. and this really does pose a major test for the west, and these institutions like the un, that were founded in the wake of world war ii to prevent further conflict. so far, we've seen that major powers, whether be the u.s. invading iraq in 2003, or russia invading ukraine in 2022. it is largely quite perilous to stop these nations. >> so you also spoke with

former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, stephen piper, telling him this. the fate of the system, that we're talking about john, will be dependent upon how the rest and the world response to russia's aggression. what war does the phone or ambassador think needs to be done? >> i think that he and our ambassadors, other diplomats encourage us stronger sports to this. in support for ukraine. perhaps in supports for anti aircraft defenses thumbs. more military assistance. we have seen biden ramp up that military assistance. it will be interesting to see how that can be delivered. russia, basically has ukraine in a chokehold right now. in terms of the practical realities of this, in terms of

trying to deliver equipment and whatnot. it could be quite difficult moving forward. >> all right. john, we appreciate you joining us this hour. thank you so much. some really good pieces there. talking about what's actually happening on the ground in the ukraine. it has an effect on the greater in -- throughout nato in the eu. at the top of the hour, we will be live on the ground there. as well as ukraine. in russia's invasion. don't go anywhere. we're going into the third hour here, you are watching msnbc. , you are watching msnbc

despite this russian onslaught on at least three separate fronts. ukranians are defiant, they are staying. they are picking up arms to fight for their country, to fight for their country's freedom to stay out of the hands of russian president vladimir putin.an president volodymyr zelenskyy posting a video saying in part this, i'm here. we won't put down our weapons. we'll protect our country because our weapon is our truthi he also added on twitter, just in the last hour, that it was a crucial moment to decide on ukraine's memberment of the european union. officials are currently warning

residents toar remain in their shelters because fighting russian forces has broken out in the streets. it has been a rough night for so many ukranians not only in kyiv but across the country. countless residents trying still to get out. with tothat, we want to go to c perry. we spoke at the 2:00 a.m. hour here. just twoe hours later now, tal me through how things are looking there on the ground right now, how residents there are responding especially in a city like lviv which is supposed to be the safe harbor city just 30 miles or so from the border with poland. >> reporter: that's right. this was the city that people were planning to flee to if the worst happened and the worst seems to be unfolding in the ukranian capital as a city really emerges from 48 hours of what has been, you know, described as hell on the gro

ground there in kyiv. here we have a developing security situation. at 9:30 this morning, there were vehicle checkpoints put into place for the first time around this city. city officials saying that they will check the vehicles come in and out of the city. there was a cryptic message from officials saying any strange markings thatsa people see on t streets, they should cover up. it is paranoia about reports of russian rooms putting on ukrainian army uniforms and trying to penetrate deeper into the country. so we're seeing double the amount of police and for the first time we've sort of seen the ukrainian army here on the streets of lviv, though not in any kind of large numbers. the other thing where i am is this continuing refugee crisis. people are trying to move into the city. if they find space, they stay but otherwise they make a run. but the backup is now 7, 8

kilometers long full of cars. so i had a chance to speak to some people c at the central trn station in lviv where you have soldiers going toward the front and civilians fleeing the other direction. here is a little bit of that sound from yesterday. >> we have to live by it because b -- i'm not sure how i can be possible not to fight for this country. we need help. military help and other help. every help possible because if we are not defeating russia, probably -- >> you will be the next. >> reporter: one of the other things that hasep developed her on the ground is a restriction, males who are of a fighting age are no longer allowed to leave the country.ve so we're talking to folks who are dropping their family to thg border and then returning to fight. andto 16,000 assault rifles hand out in the city and you look at

sort of the restrictions placed if you want to fight for the ukranian army, all you have to do is go to a recruiting station with an i.d. and you will be issued a a weapon. >> it is incredible to hear kind of the national sentiment that we'rehe hearing from so much people inside ukraine.op they will fight for their country no matter what, despite no qualifications, they will stay and fighte for their own independence to maintain that independence. and with that, the president as well really t,emerging here amit all of that saying he too will fight. he will not leave.he he will not seek safe harbor. encouraging the citizens of that country to pick up arms and fight for their country, cal. >> reporter: yeah, there is an english saying making the rounds here, cometh the hour cometh the man. and he is rallying the country to this cry. c and you hit on a central point, and nothingon new in warfare,

ukranians are fighting for their country, they ares fighting fo independence, they are fighting to keep russians out of their capital city. it is not clear to me what the russian army is fighting for or if they know what they are fighting knfor. and that difference is a somethg that he has tapped into. he has nailed that sentiment and he is posting these videos in the morning aboveth ground in kv where he is letting people know almost proof of life. he said on a recent call this may beon the last time you hear from me because i could be called. he told the americans when they offered to air lift him out, i don't need a right, i need more ammunition. this is the kind of thing that theni ukranian people are startl to rally around. and they are fighting for their lives. people are dying on the streets of the capital city right now and they are looking for leadership and they are finding it. >> if your leader abandons you, how is it that you can continue on fighting with no one at the front and center there.

such a good point about the russian military. if they even know what they are fighting for. i keep wondering that myself. these are family members, these are people that look like them, speak the same language as them. and they are coming into this country invading ukraine and not even necessarily sure what their end game is, what their motive is. and wondering if they are questioning that as they are bearing these arms against the ukranians. >> reporter: and this is not something that i'm high both siding. the ukranian ambassador in the u.s. says, and we haven't verified this, but she says that group of russian platoon surrendered because they say we didn't know what we were doing here, we didn't have to expect to kill ukranians, we didn't know why we were sent here. and if these stories turn out to be true, it gives you real questions about putin's command and control structure and who is actually invading the country. >> cal perry, thank you for

that. we'll go to moscow now.o and stay safe you and your team. let's go to moscow. and let's pick up where i left off there, the motive, the end game for vladimir putin. and how these russian troops are feeling. we know that there are protests happening inside the country. we know that it seems as if the russian president is losing some footing here when ites comes to his ultimate motive for invading ukraine. and then you have these russian troops invading ukraine, fighting against former neighbors, former family members, people that speak the same language asme them. wondering what their end game is. is there more to this that you are hearing? >> reporter: i think a lot of peopleg? in russia are asking t exact same question, what has

vladimir putin committed their country to, what does success look like here. he has sketched it out only really as kind of the vaguest terms saying that he is looking for the -- he says that he is not looking to occupy that country, but it is not really clear if he is going to march into the h cities, it seems lik that there will have to be some kind of occupation. vladimir putin's goals are not at all apparent to ordinary russians on the street, nor to kind of the moscow beltway if you will. a lot of analysts, a lot of people in theof know, a lot of people who follow vladimir putin's movements for a living in russia predicted that if he did invade ukraine, it would be a very minimal incursion into the donbas region.do

very few expected to wake up thursday morning to seexp colum of t russian troops advancing dp into ukraine in all directions. it does seem clear that vladimir putin is determined to topple the government of president o zelenskyy, but quite what comes afterky that, nobody really kno. >> that is what i keep wondering, raf, what is vladimir putin going to do with a countri that hates him, that has fought against him, this entire time he is able to topple that government. you couple that of course then withup juxtapose that to this cl yesterday from the russian president for peace talks in minsk. where does thatta offer stand?fe >> reporter: so it is midday now on saturday here in moscow, it is not at all clear where that offer stands. to be really frank with you, it is not totally clear if that offer was ever really made in good faith in the first place. vladimir putin's press sent,

dimitry peskov, said that the russian government issa prepare to send a delegation to minsk to meet with the ukranian government, but at pretty of the same time vladimir putin was on tv calling on the ukranian military to rise up and overthrow the ukranian government. and also at the same time, ukranian forces -- russian forces rather were closing in oo kyiv. so it is not at all apparent whether there is any real momentum behind these peace talks. i think what zelenskyy's calculation is, he and his soldiers and his resistance fighters can hold out for long enough, are they going to be able to drive russians out of ukranian territory? no. but might they be able to force vladimir putin to the negotiating table, that is a possibility. zelenskyy has said that he wants to meet face-to-face with putin. i think that is extremely unlikely. putin has denounced him as a

truck addict, as a neo-nazi. to meet with him face-to-face would be to bestow on zelenskyy a level of respect that vladimir putin clearly doesn't feel. but i think what happens on the battlefield will determineap wh feels that they need to go to the negotiating table and when they feel they need to do it. >> raf sanchez, thank you as always for your excellent coverage. the president here ramping up his response to russia's military incursion into ukraine, a new i memo that authorizes upo $600 million to ukraine. and that is byon the way on topf the new sanctions with the eu on president putin himself. and lauren egan is following this for us. how significant is the $600 million from the white house and what other actions are being considered right now? >> reporter: the white house will continue to look for ways

to assist ukraine as this crisis unfolds. in addition to that $600 million, he asked congressuk fo an additional amount of money for aid to ukraine. and that could pass within the coming day. the financial assistance is just one part. we've seen the president unveil round after round of sanctions, each time the punishment got more and more severe in hopes that it would deter president putin from advancing further into ukraine. that really came to a head yesterday when we saw president biden on fridayer announce thate wasde sanctioning putin directl. that was a big moment, but it was largely symbolic. putin has hidden most of his assets, they m are hard to dete. and the white house has declined to say whether or not they know where putin's money is, making it very difficult to actually freeze those assets. and the president right now is at his private home in

wilmington, delaware. we expect him to stay there throughout the weekend. the white house has said that he is in a position to receive secure calls from his home. we do know that saturday morning he is going to meet with his national security t team. asna for whether he will make additional calls to nato allies or the ukranian president, we do not know yet. but the white house has said that the president plans to stay in close contact with these leaders in the coming days. >> lauren, while i have you, i want to touch on the historic news from today -- or yesterday atro this point. he isat nominating ketanji brow jackson to the supreme court. how soon could her confirmation process begin? >> reporter: that's right. on average once someone is nominated, it usually takes about 70 days for them to get confirmed. so we're looking somewhere later this spring for her to potentially be confirmed. in the meantime, she is going to start meeting with senators, she

will beme required to fill out very lengthy questionnaire and provide to the senate with some background information about her past work experience. but what is interesting about jackson is that she just went through a confirmation process about eight months ago and she was nominated to the federal court. and when she went through that process, she did receive three votes from republicans, that woulds be senator lindsey grah, lisa murkowski and susan collins. what will be really interesting this time around is to see whether or not those three republicans vote for her again. already we've seen lindsey graham come out and criticize her and lisa murkowski said that she would not base her vote for the supreme court nominee off of how she voted for her in the lower court. so definitely a long few weeks ahead for judge jackson. >> certainly will be. lauren egan, thank you. our breaking live coverage continuing after a very quick

break. we'll take a deep dive into the mind of russian president vladimir putin. and try to understand his motives here, the best that we can. motives here, the best that we motives here, the best that we can. so, when leaks show up, our protection helps keep them dry. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you.™ it's time fo the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. what if i sleep hot? ...or cold? depend. no problem, the sleep number 360 smart bed is temperature balancing so you both sleep just right. and it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. so, you can really promise better sleep? yes! you'll know exactly how well you slept, night after night. we take care of the science. all you have to do is sleep. don't miss the final days to save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 48 months on all smart beds. ends monday.

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welcome back. president biden promised that vladimir putin will now be a global pariah following his violent invasion of ukraine. our next guest is very familiar with this aggression. with me is molly mchugh. thank you for joining us. you and i spoke last weekend and the conversation was more will

he, why will he, how will he do it. and how will they end it. and here we are now day three into the russian invasion into ukraine and i can't help but think back of course to the invasion into georgia a year before you became adviser to their then president. how does this compare? >> i think that there are a lot of similarities in chilling ways. obviously the attempted pretexts were the same i think in the case of ukraine honestly the attempt to create a reason this war is happening has been hollow. i don't think that anybody is buying it. you were talking in your earlier statement about the fact that russians don't really seem to understand why they are there, why they are fighting. so i feel like some of this is unraveling a bit. but the attempt is clearly -- there is this pattern of they are just trying to remove --

early stages they were going after zelenskyy, trying to decapitate the government of ukraine. and failing tohave done that, which they already failed to win the quick war where ukraine immediately goes away, which is what they were trying for in georgia and also didn't get, theyare now going to have to do this the harder bloodier way. and i think that it is not clear that they are going to be able to do that. first few days have been interesting case study in what the russian military writes about as the spiritual resources of a people. you see the ukrainians fighting for their land, fighting for their country, they are prepared for this, they are calm. and they are angry. and i think that all of that will be a resource to them in the coming days. >> a couple questions that i'll be asking you that i'll need you to answer because it is what we're trying to drill down on,

so hopefully you'll have the answers for us. i think kind of one of the big overarching questions is what you spoke about there, which is this, does the russian population -- can russians build enough defiance against the decisions that putin has made so far in order to get him to back off? >> it is a really good question. i think it is the right question to be focusing on right now. i think we've seen already even the smaller numbers of russians in the streets, you know, it is not tens of thousands of people already. but understanding the risk that russians take doing any kind of protest, i think the reaction you've seen already is quite notable. also from former russian officials and elites, many of them now living outside the country where they probably feel safer to comment, have been saying that this is a bridge too far, that russians won't stand

for this. i think you feel that there is energy in the country just really questioning why we are doing this when we could be doing other things. putin has been telling them they are one with the ukrainian people, then why on earth are we here trying to kill the ukrainian people. so i feel like some of this is not sticking in the way that putin usually tries to construct the propaganda that he keeps people captive with. and it will be -- i think that it will be a difficult period for him domestically as well. >> and it seems as if he is not really able to keep the russians from what is actually going on in ukraine instead of just creating the narrative that he wants his people to believe, right, the lies that he wants his people to believe. and so i think the followup question, what is the end game here from your estimation? you have vladimir putin who doesn't want to stop, who wants to capture the capital of kyiv. and then what? does he eventually want a country that hates him? millions of people in a country

that have been fighting against him for so long, what is he to do with that? >> i think that he doesn't see it that way. and that is the part where i think that there has been so much questioning this week, you know, does he understand that ukrainians are against him, does he understand that he has turned this population totally against russia at this point because of this war, because of the way that he's treated them in the last eight years. and i think you've seen this in some of the remarkable footage from the russian p.o.w.s, some of the russian soldiers captured by ukrainian forces, where they are there, clearly not the liberators people was telling them that they would be, they are not being welcomed, they are not overthrowing nazis. and there is this sort of absolute shock that this is what is happening. so i think that this is an important thing to watch in the coming weeks, just the play between the ukrainian will to resist and fight, the russian

inability to carry momentum forward in this war with will, with resolve, and how much that can create pressure on putin to understand -- i think now everybody understands this is putin's war, it is not russia's war. and if that can change momentum. >> i find the progression of volodymyr zelenskyy fascinating. as he stood up in front of the international community and he said essentially we have been asking for this, we have done everything that you have asked for and you haven't let us in, and here we are now in this position, you are saying you can now help. well, where were you, right? kind of pointing the finger at the international community. and now here he is in this country, aid and arms being given to his country, also being told that they can get him out if he wants to seek safety. and instead staying there, staying with his people, leading his people.

we have seen so many people in history abandon their people when they see their own lives at risk. but he is not doing that and it seems like that he will stay if he has to until the end, whatever that he said -- end may be. >> he has really come into himself in this moment. if you had asked me four months ago is this the guy that you want as a wartime president, i would have been sort of ehh. but seeing the resolve, he understands what his role is here, it is to stay in ukraine, to stand with the people that he needs to be strong, to be resolved, you know, the clips you were showing earlier of average everyday hipster ukrainians out in the street saying no, we'll fight if we need to fight, that comes from what you see from the ukrainian president, that he is there, that he is with them, that he is not hiding in a bunker somewhere or in the west of the country or outside the country somewhere trying to run this war.

zelenskyy has gotten a lot of cautious far away advice of flee, go to the west, leave the country, go somewhere else. and he hasn't taken any of it. and i think that shows that he understands what his role is, which is to be there, to be doing this. and in the first 48 hours of this new phase of this war, has changed the momentum of how the west is looking at ukraine. where they now understand, oh, ukrainians can fight, they will fight, we can provide resources to them to survive, to resist, to fight on. and if they want to fight this war with russia against an aggressive country that has invaded their country, then we need to help help do that. i think that he has really personally with his own vision for how to defend his country changed the way that we are now engaging with what needs to come next. and he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for doing that with his own force of will.

>> and you actually bring up a great point because this is something that americans can sympathize with. they are also incredibly nationalist people. you'd think if americans were in the same situation, they would do the same thing, standing up for the stars and stripes and for the leadership of this country. so in a way i think it has also become very personal to so many that are watching this play out. >> and we see those stories, these amazing stories. >> molly, thank you solve. i hope that you will come back and speak with us throughout this. you are a brilliant voice on this. right now, ukrainians are fleeing their homes, heading west with russian troops not far behind. millions are expected to be displaced, which begs the question, where do they go? stay with us. e do they go stay with us

let's get you caught up on all the developments out of ukraine. after a brutal night of shelling and fighting to maintain control of kyiv, president zelenskyy saying he is here, and that

ukrainians will not put down their weapons and will protect their country. [ sirens ] but for the third morning in a row, ukrainians woke up to see you ren s row, ukrainians woke up to see youirens warning them to take cover. moments ago the minister of health releasing a statement that shows the toll the fighting that already taken. he said 198 ukrainians have died in the fighting. and more than a thousand are injured. and nbc has not been able to confirm those numbers as of yet. and i want to show you a live shot right now of an area on the romania/ukraine border where people are donating goods to refugees that have been arriving there in just the last few hours from ukraine. and as russia presses ahead with the invasion, the u.s. is weighing a hotline with russian military to avoid an accidental

clash. joining me now is reporter for the nbc news investigative unit. dan, good to see you. so this was the question, what happens if there is an accidental clash between russian troops and u.s. troops, what then. and as i mentioned, it seems as if the u.s. is trying to head this off. are the russians open to it? >> this is a really difficult scenario. at the moment there is not an established sort of communications channel with the russian military, with russian commanders so that that kind of thing doesn't happen and if it does, they can diffuse it quickly. of course you have a lot of u.s. and russian forces now this close proximity. there are tens of thousands of russian troops moving through ukraine, they're ukraine on the border, missiles coming down. and then just over the border in

poland and in romania, there are u.s. and nato forces, there are u.s. aircraft, surveillance aircraft in the region, not over ukraine but very nearby. and at the moment it remains unclear if russia is ready to agree to this kind of communications channel. there is a precedent for this. they did this in syria when there were u.s. and russian forces also in close proximity. there was a whole kind of protocol that was developed. it worked reasonably well. there were some incidents. but at least that kind of mechanism prevented some kind of wider misunderstanding and crisis. and so i think that this is really a delicate matter and u.s. officials don't want to speak too much about it publicly because they don't want to jeopardize the possibility of agreeing to something with the russian counterparts. >> but there are it seems some

u.s. officials who have reservations about this. is that true and why is that? >> there were reservations about it before the invasion started. so they obviously knew -- they very much expected the invasion was coming but they thought that we can't agree to some kind of hotline now in advance. it would send the kind of message that we're tacitly accepting or blessing the invasion somehow. so that was the concern there. i think the biggest question now is whether russia is ready to agree to this, whether they just want to push ahead, grab territory, try to seize control, and not even engage in this kind of protocol. and keep in mind just earlier this month, just days ago, there was an incident in the mediterranean where russian military aircraft approached in a very dangerous way, intercepted u.s. navy

surveillance planes, three of them, and the pentagon issued a statement. there has been a lot of these kind of in-your-face tactics. so a lot to be concerned about here. >> dan deluse, as always thank you. and near the polish border, we are hearing stories of december per race. a number fleeing could reach into the millions. kelly cobiella has more. >> reporter: a car packed with a lifetime of memories, a mother pushing her baby while pulling her belongings. the heartbreak and hard reality of war. tonight the u.n. says 100,000 ukrainians have fled their homes, several thousand walking and waiting for hours at border crossings here in poland. >> it was very chaotic, it was -- many people walking on

the road. and some were turned away. >> reporter: kathy gould lived in ukraine for 29 years. her life now in two suitcases. and this woman feared for her children walking six miles with her young twins and 10-year-old son to get here. do you feel safe now? >> yes. >> reporter: and jill and alex from raleigh, north carolina were due to fly out with their little girl just days old on thursday when they heard the airport had been bombed. >> definitely the scariest day of my life. absolutely. just trying to make sure that she got to safety and that we got to safety. >> reporter: fighting aged men told they can't leave. but some are rushing to get back into ukraine like these brothers in their 50s. going back to fight along with this former corporal in the

ukrainian army. do you think ukraine can win this fight? >> i think so. i am dying for my country. >> reporter: but so many more tonight are trying to leave ukraine. the united nations estimating there could be 5 million refugees. >> thank you to kelly cobiella for that. we'll be right back with more breaking news coverage. right b breaking news coverage

although russia's army is far bigger than ukraine's, citizens are taking up arms to save their country's independence. even the ukrainian parliament has armed themselves. earlier i spoke to a former parliament member about the resilience of the ukrainian people. >> first of all, i want to say that ukraine doesn't give up and ukrainian president doesn't

surrender. and this is what keeps our army's spirit high and our people's confidence that ukraine will remain our home. at the same time, it doesn't make this blow less devastating of course. and to be honest, i left kyiv, i didn't feel safe with my family. i'm blacklisted in russia, so we decided to move to the west. however i'm in ukraine. but at the same time, you know, by saying that that i'm safe now, i feel also very guilty. i feel guilty because so many people are not safe in kyiv, in many other cities. but at the same time, i just want to say that we are not going to give our country to putin. >> i can only understand the situation that you are in obviously considering that you are with your family as well,

wanting for seek safe harbor. i know that nobody can hold you -- could imagine being in the situation that you are in. so we understand. at what point did you decide to leave kyiv? >> so we woke up, you know, with the explosions in kyiv. 5:00 in the morning the day before yesterday. and we decided first to stay and to help journalists report in english language so the world can see what is really going on the ground. but then later on, we got different kind of information from intelligence that kyiv may be encircled. and i also got some american friends who told me that, hey, you were one of the most articulate person when it comes to russian aggression, you were legislator, so you probably have to leave. so this is what we've done.

we just packed our small suitcase and our dog and we left. and we were on the road for around 20 hours because the roads are completely blocked and hundreds of thousands of people are trying to find some safety, with children, with their grandparents. many people thought that it would be kyiv or maybe southern or eastern cities, but now we understand that air strikes are occurring around many, many cities, in central part, western part. sirens i heard in the western ukraine. so it looks like nowhere is safe at the moment because we know that putin's aim is not just kyiv or donbas, putin's aim is to have ukraine, the whole country. and i just want to say that this is like a historic moment. it is the biggest war of

century, biggest war of our generation. his blow is not a blow on ukraine, it is a blow on the humanity, on dignity, on human dignity, on human rights, on human lives. so i'd like to say that we expect the international community to stand up with ukraine and i think that the response should be based not on the principle of nato membership, it should be based on moral responsibility to stop this hell that is happening in the heart of europe. it is not an attack on ukraine, it is an attack on the whole democratic world. >> what do you want from the international community, do you want boots on the ground in your country? >> well, you know, we wanted to become a nato member. we haven't been given nato membership. in 2008 during the bucharest

summit, we were refused with georgia, refused membership action plan. and at that point, it was motivated, refusal was motivated by the fact that it may escalate the situation with russia. instead of escalation, we received two full-fledged wars. first russia invaded georgia in 2008 and then russia invaded ukraine in 2015 and annexed crimea and now full fledge invasion on the capital with air strikes in civilian areas, on the houses, on people, children are dying. people are dying. and so i wanted to say that it is hypocritical because first we were told sorry, we won't take you to nato because russia may escalate, may attack you. and now you are saying we're not going to come to ukraine because we'll fight with russia. so, yes, we wanted to become a

member of nato, however now of course we are talking about different help. at the moment we need very painful devastating sanctions against russia, which is happening at the moment. at the same time, i can see that for example having been stripped of russia, having been banned. and i've seen also german minister for foreign affairs justified it that for example some russian grandmother wouldn't be able to receive some money transfer from germany from her granddaughter. i wanted to say this to the minister of foreign affairs of germany, that by not banning s.w.i.f.t. to russia, you are denying ukrainian grandchildren lives. some children that are dying now won't have their lives, you know, not talking about a transfer to their grandmothers. and so i'm talking about this

s.w.i.f.t. that russian population has to feel the pain. why? because then they will be our allies in this war. because then they will feel putin -- they will make putin feeling that, okay, it has went too far, i have to stop because i will be ousted of the country, that he will be defeated in kremlin by his own population. i think that we have to make sure that russian population is our ally in their protests and in order to make that we need to make it really painful sanctions against russia. after the break, we'll check in with cal perry once again who has new information live on the ground in lviv, ukraine. e e ground in lviv, ukraine. so, when leaks show up, our protection helps keep them dry. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you.™

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welcome back. we're approaching the top of the hour. with that i want to go to cal perry who has been reporting all

night from lviv on the far west side of ukraine. you're supposed to be in a safe place, right? close to the border with poland but it seems thefighting has gotten closer to where you are. what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah, and look, people have been surprised by what is happening in the capital of course. nobody expected fighting to happen anywhere near the city that i am in. these are police officers making their way through the city. that is probably pretty normal stuff. there has been an airborne assault according to the maisch mayor of lviv about 60 miles to the west of here in a town called brody. according to the mayor, the russian forces landed 60 troops on the ground, they were brought in by helicopters. i'm not clear on what the target is. according to the mayor those forces were immediately repelled, russian troops took off running into the nearby woods and are now being pursued by ukrainian forces.

but it does indicate that there really is no limit to what putin is willing to do inside the country. i'm about 350 miles from the capital, and so this city or town that i'm talking about is about 300 miles from the capital of kyiv. that is an incredible long distance to carry paratroopers, but they were willing to do it, there was some target of opportunity or interest that they had there. according to the mayor they have been repelled. but as you said, this is supposed to be a safe place where people are trying to get to the polish border, but the situation there is ever deterioraing as well. the line of cars stretches 7 or 8 miles, people are spending 36 hours waiting and not everybody is getting out. here in lviv, i was at a train station where soldiers were headed in one direction, civilians in the other. and one thing to keep in mind, if you are a male of fighting age, you are not allowed to leave. you are expected to go to the front.

i had a chance to speak to a 19-year-old about what he expects to face. take a listen. how old are you? >> i'm 19. >> reporter: what will you doing are you going to poland? >> no, because all men from 18 to 60 can't leave. >> reporter: so will you go and fight? >> if i need to. >> reporter: are you afraid? >> just a little. >> reporter: just a little. i cannot stress enough, these are kids. these are 18, 19-year-old kids, some have no military experience at all. there has been an eight year war being fought in the eastern part of the country, but some of these kids have never held a gun in their lives and for the first time they will do it and go fight for their country. >> i'm astounded by your question saying are you afraid and he said just a little. he is a kid, he should be going

off to school not to pick up a gun and fight. i'm taking a look at a man here to see how far brody is, you said 60 miles or so from where you are, but it is so astoundingly lowe close to where you are standing right now. and i'm wondering what the security forces are in place in lviv if in fact russian forces do advance. >> reporter: as of 9:30 a.m. this morning, they have put vehicle checkpoints in and around the city saying that they will search every vehicle. i didn't think of it until just now, but it is quite possible that that attack 60 miles from here prompted those security checkpoints. that would make sense if that took place and then they put in the security check points. i think that there is a growing concern not just of russian forces, we've been hearing about this threat of insider attacks. earlier today the mayor releasing information that there could be strange symbols on the street. it sounds like paranoia, but the reporting from the other side of the country is that russian troops are taking off their

uniforms and putting on ukraine ian uniforms to penetrate deeper into the country. so you can understand how that level of paranoia becomes very clear to people very fast. >> cal perry, incredible reporting there. please keep yourself and your amazing team safe as well. and my love to your provider kai who is an incredible producer. that wraps up the hour for me. our special coverage continues after a very quick break. es after a very quick break

breaking right now on msnbc, violent hours in the capital of ukraine. brand-new video shows the moment an apartment building is hit, according to ukrainians by a russian missile. more people forced to leave everything they know behind as the shelling for kiev ramps up. plus, the fight against the russians is now spilling into the streets. ukraine's leader vowing not to surrender and fight the rising tide of russia disinformation. and the world watches the