for more on all of this, we turn to nbc news correspondent cal perry live in lviv, ukraine and nbc news correspondent keir simmons live in moscow. we have josh lederman in brussels. so cal, first we'll go to you. what do we know about this russian assault on ukraine right now, on kyiv, and also the developing refugee crisis? >> from what we can tell, the main assault is still taking place around the ukrainian capital of kyiv, the fighting started late yesterday, in the suburbs that surrounded the city, from the north and from the east, and slowly crept forward, but this morning, as the sun rose, over the capital city, it was still in ukrainian hands. there has been a herculean effort to arm citizens in that city, at least 16,000 assault rifles distributed to citizens there, there were even instructions put up on the ukrainian ministry of defense web site, showing civilians how to make molotov cocktails, you

had this call-up of reservists, as part of martial law, all military aged males unable to leave the country, you have flowing out of the city is civilians. 100,000 civilians have crossed into poland. you can expect those numbers will only rise. the u.n. is trying to set up camps, in moldova, a camp of sizable size already and trying to do the same thing in poland and poland 60 miles from where i am, 10 thousand american troops will work alongside their polish counterparts to try to set up camps. the border has become nearly impassable. it is basically a two-day wait now to cross that border on this side. and on the other side, surprisingly enough, there is almost an equally long line to get into this country. it is a mixture of folks who are trying to get in here and get family members out, and folks who are trying to enter the country to move towards the capital and take part in that

defense of the capital. lindsey? >> keir, the u.s. and eu placed new sanctions on putin and russia yesterday. what more do we know about the potential impact here and what do we know about russians themselves who are protesting this invasion? >> the russians are protesting. 576 russians arrested yesterday, bringing the total number to around 2,300. and there are increasing signs of unhappiness and dissent across what you could call the kind of upper echelons of russian society. the kind of things that i have been being told are by people off the record, obviously, pretty frightening to speak out in russia, and russia led by vladimir putin, but for example, one of the leading correspondents on the russian newspaper was thrown off of the foreign ministry pool. now, that's the group of journalists who are allowed to follow around, for example, someone like sergei lavrov, the

foreign minister. she was thrown off, after she organized a petition of russian journalists opposing the war and saying that they wanted peace. so just small indications like that, all across russian society, that there is deep disquiet among many, many, including people who up until now have supported president putin, even people inside the russian government, that there is a big disquiet at what president putin is doing in ukraine. in terms of the sanctions, it is a big deal for the international community, for the u.s., to sanction the leader of a country like russia, particularly a nuclear country like russia, so that will have an impact, of course at the same time, where is president putin's money? that is always a question. he is extremely wealthy. but he doesn't keep his money in open and easily seeable places,

if you like. and then sergei lavrov, the russian foreign minister, we have often seen him on television, explaining and if you like, making excuses, as many say, for russian foreign policy. we've seen him just yesterday, i was able to ask him a question, the foreign ministry news conference, and now, he too is being sanctioned. you know, i asked him yesterday, i asked him whether russia intends to try to bring down the ukrainian government, and what their exit plan is, and his response was just classic sergei lavrov, going back to all of the tropes that russia has been using over the past weeks, and months to, try to justify this war, talking about all the way back to eight years ago, when there was a revolution in ukraine. so those sanctions are being ratcheted up. the question though is whether

president putin will be able to hold his domestic alliance together, and he did in the past few days call oligarchs to the kremlin and the cameras were switched off and a stern warning that they tried for example to not do business with banks and other businesses that have been sanctioned, the kremlin will crack down hard. it's just worth remembering that there is not an oligarch in that country who is not there except that president putin allows them to be there. it is a very, very difficult establishment to crack, to bring dissent to, but that being said, increasingly, people in the streets of russia here are extremely worried about the effect on their economy, about the russian currency collapsing, and i think all of these things have the potential to undermine the support for president putin and the kremlin, and they will be worried about that if they're not saying so. >> we will get much deeper into that with our next guest. thanks for bringing that up,

keir. josh, i want to talk to you about a couple of things. first of all, the white house working to establish a communications back channel with the russian military. and this is still happening as nato is deploying its response force for the first time in history. what can you tell us about that? >> yeah, lindsey, let's start with that back channel. here's what this is not. it is not an attempt by the white house to have secret or back channel negotiations with russia about ukraine. this is a process called de-confliction. and it is very standard and critical part of a military conflict. in fact we saw the u.s. have an active de-confliction channel with russia starting in 2015, during the syria war, even at a time when the u.s. and russian forces were essentially fighting a proxy battle in syria. this is to ensure that russian forces that are operating in the eastern european theater, and u.s. and nato forces that are operating there, in some of the

same air space, do not unintentionally end up in some type of conflict that could move this from a military confrontation between russia and ukraine into something between russia and the united states, possibly bringing nato into it. some of that could be much larger. that risk, lindsey, is only going to increase in the coming days, as nato activates its response force, for the first time in the history of the alliance, in order to conduct deterrents, and defense of the countries that are in nato. so some of this 40,000 strong force will be deployed to eastern europe, they can move in a matter of two days, including land, sea, air, as well as special operations forces, that are not going to be fighting in ukraine and they're not going to be fighting russia, hopefully, unless russia moves beyond ukraine, into other countries that are part of nato, here is what the secretary general of nato said about it to reporters here in brussels. >> we are sending a very clear message to russia, that we

provide support to our partnered ukraine, and allies provide many different types of support. >> the pentagon said that between 10 and 12,000 u.s. troops have been put on, prepared to deploy status in anticipation of perhaps contributing to that nato response force, lindsey. the u.s. and other countries also stepping up the number and types of weapons and other supplies they're giving to the ukrainian military, including, according to the nato secretary general, air defense. >> josh lederman, keir simmons and cal perry, thank you very much. for more on all of this we will turn to the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, thank you for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> so having worked in ukraine for many years, what do you make of the ukrainians defense of their country so far and what do you predict will happen in kyiv?

>> well, the ukrainian defense of the country is not a surprise. there was a poll taken maybe two or three weeks ago which suggested maybe 45% of the ukrainian population is willing to take up arms if moscow invaded in a large fashion, as it now has. and the russians surprised by the fierce defense they faced. and in fact, they're having problems. you know, they haven't gotten into the city of kyiv yet. they have been repelled. they are having troubles in areas. and ukraine is fighting back. they've lost tanks. they've lost jets. the ukrainians are fierce fighters. they're greatly outgunned. and the biden administration has been very slow to send weapons to ukraine's need, only about a month ago they decided to send additional weapons and still have more to send more in air defense and a mistake on their part. and it is like nato with the united states in the lead is going to address that, and we should definitely address that,

because putin's designs are on ukraine and if we don't want to face putin over the baltics which are nato allies, let's help ukrainians get the weapons it needs to stop putin in ukraine. >> keir mentioned this but russian stocks have crashed, the ruble hit a record low. how will the russian people put up with this? how long do you think they will? >> well, that's a very good question. this is putin's war, it's not the russian people's war. it is not even the russian elite's war. putin has to threaten the oligarchs and the senior officials to get their public support. so all of the problems in russia encounters now is on putin. i think he understands that but he is still risking this operation. i can't tell you how and when this will play out, except to say that if ukraine is still resisting effectively three or six months from now, putin is in trouble. but we need to put more sanctions on putin, and putin

personally by himself, but it is time for the united states and our european partners to not just call russia out of the s.w.i.f.t. system and sanction the russian central bank and perhaps sanction the central wealth fund and deny putin of those dollars to continue its aggression. >> in terms of other commute tive action, the foreign affairs minister has reported war crimes and reported attacks on kindergartens and orphanages and the international court may investigate russia for possible war crimes in ukraine as well, do you think this should be on the table for putin? >> absolutely. we should be using every venue we can to put pressure on him to stop this blatant aggression. it is also very important, i don't know how much we are doing this, to get into russia, by social media, and we have cyber experts who are do this, to give

information about the war about, the casualties russian soldiers are facing, about russian attacks on civilians, and the russian people don't want this, let's put this out there for them to see. and it will also add pressure to get putin on stop this war. >> and when announcing that russia would engage ukraine, president putin threatened the use of nuclear weapons. should anyone stop him or at least implied the threat. and the kgb officers warned of quote consequences you never faced in your history for anyone who tries to -- and russia remains quote one of the most popular nuclear states. so how concerning do you find this language? >> well, it obviously is concerning. but keep in mind, putin is not, he doesn't want to commit suicide. he understands that threatening nuclear weapons costs him nothing. using them costs him everything. the united states is far stronger than russia in every aspect of national power, except

for nuclear, we are peers and he is doing this because he is weak in all of the areas of national power. and we can allow him to use his bluff threat to ignore our interests. so we need to stand up strong helping ukraine. we need to stand up strong making sure that russia does not attack any of our allies. if we do that, putin will not use his nuclear weapons to commit suicide. >> ambassador john herbst, thank you very much for your time this morning. >> thank you. when we come back, the russian assault on ukraine that was near silence at cpac. inside the republican response to putin's aggression. >> i look at russia, can we give a round of applause for russia. yes. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> this is a white nationalist event in florida.

with not one, you see there, but two sitting lawmakers in attendance. that story next. g lawmakers in attendance that story next. (swords clashing) -had enough? -no... arthritis. here. aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme.

welcome back. the ukrainian crisis is dividing many republican, while some gop lawmakers are calling for stronger sanctions against russia, others are seemingly praising putin, including donald trump. and then there's this, just last night, two sitting members of congress, representatives marjorie taylor greene and paul gosar appeared at a white nationalist event in florida where the conference organizer led the crowd in a clant for putin. >> you know, what they say about america, they say diversity is our strength. and i look at china, and i look at russia, can we give a round of applause for russia? yes. >> putin, putin.

>> absolutely. absolutely. >> cpac is also under way this week, with the crisis in ukraine has taken a backseat to the culture wars republicans have been using to rally their base. joining me right now is democratic congresswoman susan wild of pennsylvania. she sits on the house foreign affairs committee. congresswoman, thank you for being with us. >> good morning, thank you. i must say it's a little early in the morning to watch that nauseating spectacle we saw at afpac. >> it is nauseating for a lot of the news we're covering today, i can imagine the reaction, but the fact that two sitting members of congress, colleagues that walk the halls with you, are at an events like this, where these speakers are outwardly cheering putin on. >> well, as i said, it's nauseating, i can't say i'm surprised, those two members never failed to surprise me, with their complete lack of

dignity and respect for other people, and in this case, the ukrainian people. but it's really just appalling that they would show up at a white nationalist conference, and in front of a crowd that is cheering on putin, so there's not much more to be said about that, but i can't say i'm surprised. >> i want to play what people like mike pompeo and others including trump have said about putin in the lead-up to the attack on ukraine. some of which has been used by russian state media. let's listen. >> putin is now saying it's independent, a large section of ukraine. i said how smart is that? and he's gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. >> democrats in washington have told you, you have a patriotic duty to hate vladimir putin. it's not a suggestion. it's a mandate. it may be worth asking yourself, this is getting pretty serious, why what is this really about? why do i hate putin so much?

has putin ever called me a racist. >> very capable. i have enormous respect for him. i have been criticized for saying that. i have enormous respect for him. >> senator lindsey graham met with trump in mar-a-lago wednesday and urged trump to be more cautious with his remarks but do you think trump is creating a pro-putin wing of the republican party? >> well, i think it's pretty clear from that afpac segment that you just showed that there is a pro-putin wing. the good news, i hope, is that i don't think that the entirety of the gop in washington is going to fall in line behind putin in this case. they typically fall in line behind trump but hopefully they're going to be a little more sane about this. it is absolutely imperative that we approach this situation in ukraine on a bipartisan basis, that we come together, that we show our unity, and division at home is the worst thing we can do right now. we absolutely must show unity,

so that we can support ukraine, and the people of ukraine, our nato ally, to the fullest extent possible. so while i'm dismayed at the behavior of a couple of outliers i'm hopeful that the general gop mentality is not going to be to follow putin as they have followed trump in the past. having said that, i also would like to see much more constructive dialogue about what we do going forward, what our administration, i think president biden has been handling this masterfully, i think he has done an excellent job of both leading and unifying our allies, and i'm proud of that. there are a number of mistakes that have been made over the last decade, we should have provided more to ukraine, and that's not president biden's fault, that's the fault of prior administrations, and so here we are, and here the ukrainian people are. and we've got to do everything

that we possibly can to support them. and that means in washington, we have to act on a very bipartisan basis, which by the way on the house foreign affairs committee, which i'm a part of. we have been able to do in the past i would call upon all of us to continue to act in that way. >> congresswoman, lawmakers were briefed thursday on the situation in ukraine. what is your top concern right now? >> my top concern is for the people of ukraine, and for their president, the united states does need to stand by and be ready at any moment to help with the evacuation efforts. i am not suggesting troops on the ground, but i am suggesting that we need to be nearby, as we are. and ready to help. and then of course, as the ukrainian people, and president zelenskyy in particular have shown remarkable strength. i compare president zelenskyy who has refused to leave the

country, to president ghani of afghanistan who fled with millions of dollars. at the earliest opportunity. so we have to be prepared. not just the united states. but all of our allies. we have to be prepared to provide ukraine with everything they need to rebuild their country. it's going to be a very long tough slug for the ukrainian people. i am optimistic about the fact that the russian military has not been quite as successful as i think putin expected they would be in the first days of this onslaught. and so from afar, and not very far, from our eastern european allies, where we are locating troops, every day, we have got to make sure that we are providing every bit of aid that we possibly can. and that we are imposing the most severe of sanctions. i would call upon our european allies to reconsider their opposition to the s.w.i.f.t. sanctions, the banking and financial sanctions that have thus far not been imposed.

>> all right, congressman, we'll have to leave it there. thank you very much for your time. still to come, plenty of reaction on both sides of the aisle, as president biden nominates the first black woman to the supreme court. we're live with a full report next. live with a full report next ♪ ♪ before you go there, or fist bump there, or...oh! i can't wait to go there! or reunite there, ♪ ♪ start here. walgreens makes it easy to stay protected wherever you go. schedule your free covid-19 booster today. looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone?

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we will get back to the breaking news in ukraine in a moment. but first, if president biden's supreme court nominee is confirmed, justice breyer's seat will be filled by someone who once clerked for him. president biden announced his choice yesterday, the federal appeals court judge ketanji brown jackson, the first black woman to sit on the supreme court and at the white house she reflected on what that would mean to her. >> i can only hope that my life and career, my love of this country and the constitution, and my commitment to upholding the rule of law and the sacred principles upon which this great nation was founded willing

inspire future generations of americans. >> white house correspondent joins us live now from washington. we are already seeing a lot of reaction on both sides of the aisle. >> we are, lindsey, and a lot of the republican reaction is critical of judge jackson's record, saying she doesn't have a lot of opinions, while she was serving on the dc circuit court of appeals but educational background, she's from an ivy league institution, and just generally that she's too far left. we heard from senator lindsey graham, republican of south carolina, who wanted president biden to pick a different candidate, michelle childs, who is from his home state, and he was saying that this pick shows, quote, that the radical left has won president biden over yet again. also criticized her educational background, we heard from senator lisa murkowski who did vote for judge jackson, for dc

circuit court of appeals, who said that just because she's voted for a lower court position doesn't mean that she would support that same person for a supreme court position. so there's a little mixed reaction from republicans. democrats however are really onboard with this pick. a lot of support pouring out for judge jackson. including from congressman clyburn who really wanted president biden to go with the same judge, judge childs, from his home state of south carolina. take a listen to congressman clyburn. >> i thought he had chosen well. that it was figured that i was personally involved with another candidate, from my home state, but i can, i think he does well with judge brown jackson. she is an outstanding judge and i think will make an outstanding

jurist. >> we know that president biden wants to get bipartisan support for his supreme court pick. it's an historical pick. the first black woman who would serve potentially on the supreme court. senator chuck schumer, the majority leader, said that he also is hopeful that there will be bipartisan support for judge jackson. as for judge jackson, her next steps are going to be, we're told, meeting with some senators next week on the hill, including in person. >> thanks so much. up next, we will go live to poland, where thousands of ukraine wran refugees are arriving. after fleeing for safety from the russian invasion. ving after fleeing for safety from the russian invasion (naj) at fisher investment s, our clients know we

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we continue to follow breaking developments out of ukraine as tens of thousands of people flee their homes seeking refuge in neighbors countries a majority going to poland and moldova, and the numbers could reach the millions if the situation continues to es slate. kelly cobiella is in poland at the border with ukraine and i know i have been watching as you talk to people, talking to ukrainians crossing into poland. many with a suitcase and children in tow. what are they telling you? >> reporter: yes, they're absolutely exhausted. they're telling me that they're waiting more than 24 hours on the other side of the border, just to get through, and i'm not talking about the travel to the border, that takes even longer,

that's just the processing time, waiting in these incredibly long lines, i was told that the pedestrian line, once you're waiting to be processed, goes back more than a mile. the traffic itself, just the row of cars to get through the border, it is going back more than 20 miles. and that gives you an idea of the volume of people, and also just what they're having to go through, as they try to escape ukraine. they're coming from all different parts of the country, and some of them leaving friends and family behind, leaving husbands, and older brothers behind, and uncles, and so on, but once they get here, the operation here has actually improved quite a bit from yesterday. i'm just going to show you, off to my shoulder here, you can see alongside this fence, people kind of going through these boxes of supplies, these are volunteers who brought all of these supplies, it was food and necessities like toilet paper, kid's clothing, diapers, and

that sort of thing, food for these people who have arrived with nothing, they have arrived with suitcases, whatever they could carry, to the border. and then you also have behind me, people holding signs and volunteers who are coming here, to offer free rides to different parts of poland, and offering free sim cards for people, so they can communicate with their family and friends. and there are these big red buses that you see every once in a while and they're taking people to different processing centers, close to the border, so that people can get some rest, they can get some shelter, and they can figure out what's next for them. and again, just to harken back to the numbers, the incredible numbers we're seeing, the united states high commission for refugees says that in the first 24 hours of this conflict, 29,000 people crossed the border from ukraine, most of them here in bold.

-- poland. on the second day that number went up to 47,000. and we're still seeing them crossing today. >> such a dire situation there that you're painting for us there, kelly and i know just really within the last hour, ukrainian president zelensky imploring those who have left the country of fighting age to return. do you believe those who have gone into neighboring countries will heed that call? >> absolutely. and we've seen it. we spoke to several men yesterday who were heading back, one who was a 35-year-old veteran who fought in 2014, but was working in europe, to provide for his family, working in austria, and another group of men in their 50s who were working in finland heading back to fight and we saw this morning, as well, in fact, every once in a while, due see anything right now, but every once in a while, you will see a stream of men heading toward the border crossing in the other

direction, clearly going back to fight. >> kelly, our thanks to you and your crew for bringing us these stories. we appreciate it. and right now, people all around the world with ukrainian roots can only watch as their homeland is negated and that includes working journalists. watch this moment when bbc reporter from ukraine recognizes her home in the video of a bombed out building. >> coming here in the morning, i could not imagine that actually at 3:00 a.m. london time, it was actually my home was bombed. and those pictures, the footage that everybody saw, is actually literally my home. >> we appreciate what it must be like for you to talk about this. >> what i'm seeing is actually somewhere where i used to live.

>> breaking video coming in just hours ago, another apartment building in kyiv heavily damaged. a ukrainian official saying it was hit by a russian missile. nbc news hasn't been able to confirm it yet. and you can also see the aftermath of that blast in these photos. this is what many people are facing right now. they're evacuating, being forced to leave everything behind. joining us is a visiting fellow at the german marshal fund and a co-founder of the trans-atlantic task force on ukraine. thanks for being with us. i believe you live in kyiv, correct me if i'm wrong, but how are you doing? what are you doing? what's your reaction to everything happening there? >> hello and thank you for having me. also thank you for keeping us apprised of the happenings in ukraine. my family and i have spent the

last two days in bomb shelters in the subways of ukraine. we have decided to leave for a small town in the suburbs, in the kyiv suburbs, so we hope staying there will be safer for us in the next 24 hours, but honestly no place in ukraine is safe right now. it is truly heart-breaking and terrifying. although i should say that ukrainians have demonstrated a great composure, despite all of these terrible challenges, and although many people are trying to flee for places that they perceive as safer, they are still very united, and very ready to defend their country. people are lining up at points where they can donate blood to the people affected by the

soldiers and they are being urged to join the defense, and other organized groups that can help bring forces to defend the country. >> while it is heartening to hear, everybody, analyst, people on the ground, talking about the resolve of the ukrainians in defending their country, do you feel like the world has left you guys alone to fight this on your own? >> well, we do appreciate all of the support that has been given to us so far. however, i must admit that the support is insufficient and inadequate and feel very much alone in this. and although the ukrainian army that has been significantly

diminished when russia invaded the eastern part of ukraine and crimea has been annexed, it has been significantly improved in terms of the combat capabilities and nato countries and many other partners helped us a lot to send to our forces. however, we are up against one of the strongest armies in the world. and it is significantly more, where we need more support at a bureaucratic level. we need a no-fly zone. we need russia to be disconnected from the s.w.i.f.t. system. we need russian oligarchs and political leadership to be personally sanctioned. we need russian banks to be sanctioned. and state-owned enterprises who have supported this war financially, and many other levels. it be excluded from all

international organizations. western allies of ukraine, to immediately cut off any diplomatic ties with russia. because it's a terrorist state. and it should not be recognized in any other ways. and we of course, just support our army financially, with modern weapons, because this is what is most important right now. >> we hope that you and your family stay safe and thanks for joining us for telling us the situation on the ground. >> thank you. still to come, china walking a diplomatic tight rope with russia. beijing's reaction to rising pressure from the west to condemn the invasion of ukraine. condemn the invasion of ukraine.

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so far, ukrainian officials say they have been able to hold on to the city of kyiv. that's despite very aggressive attacks by the russians. right now, it's almost 2:00 in the afternoon there. one question, both in the run-up to this invasion and since it started, has been china's position on all of this. china's president xi reportedly spoke with russian president putin on the phone yesterday. xi urged putin to negotiate with ukraine. yesterday the chinese ambassador spoke at the u.n. saying ukraine should be a bridge between the east and west, not an outpost of confrontation. and interestingly, china

abstained from voting on a u.n. security council resolution condemning russia's invasion. russia used its veto on that resolution. let's bring in michael, contributor to the atlantic, whose work has been heavily focused on china. . >> i think president xi is figuring out it's really difficult to be good friends with vladimir putin. the chinese kind of want to play all sides on this. on the one hand they have a closer and closer relationship with russia. the two countries do have a lot of common interests, most of all in pushing back on u.s. global influence. but at the same time china is in a very different position in the world than russia is. china is very, very heavily integrated into the global economy at every level. they don't necessarily want to see the global economy

destabilized in a way maybe putin would be fine with and want to maintain relations with europe especially. so they've been trying to walk a line, show security concerns but not necessarily the invasion. and that's why they're doing things like abstaining at the u.n. i'm not quite sure all of this is working. i think this is going to be yet another factor playing into a sort of rocky relationship between china and the united states. >> question for you, won't this balancing act china is trying to achieve get tougher and tougher as this invasion goes on? and also is somebody like president xi telling putin you should try to reengage in diplomatic talks? does something like that sway someone like putin? >> hopefully, the chinese can

have some positive influence here. diplomatically this is putting beijing in an extremely difficult position. one of the key principles of chinese foreign policy, or at least what they say one of their key principles is, is the idea of noninterference in the affairs of other sovereign states. and this is why you constantly hear the chinese say the u.s. has no business meddling in business like hong kong that are important to china. the fact that putin invaded another sov earnsy basically puts them in another awkward place. i think that they're actually sincere here in hoping that this resolves itself differently than in asia. this is why they've been reluctant to even call what's going on an invasion.

because it breaks a very important principle for them. >> i want to be clear on this but one of your colleagues wrote an article called "dictators aren't pretending anymore." what does that mean for the rest of the world? >> my view on this is what you see happening in the ukraine is unfortunately i think part of a larger friends where you're seeing authoritarian government push back against the united states and its allies and democracy more broadly, all over the world. and this invasion of ukraine is just kind of the most obvious sign of that. and i think this trend is going to continue. you see this happening, for example, in china where china is aggressive trying to push its own authoritarian ideas and its own power. this is going to be the challenge for the united states

and its allies going forward. >> michael shuman, we'll have to leave it there. thank you for your time. after the break, the cdc's new guidance on masking. what you need to know, especially for kids in school. d, especially for kids in school. or...oh! i can't wait to go there! or reunite there, ♪ ♪ start here. walgreens makes it easy to stay protected wherever you go. schedule your free covid-19 booster today. once upon a time, at the magical everly estate, landscaper larry and his trusty crew...

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new investments on the covid front. the cdc announced a change in the mask guidelines, clearing most americans from wearing them indoors. here's more from miguel almagueria. >> reporter: as the cdc breathes a sigh for masks, it means there's a relief in sight for

americans. citing a drop in cases, the cdc is no longer recommending face masks indoors, signed schools, whether you're vaccinated or not, affecting 70% of the population. >> we want to give people a break from things like mask wearing when our levels are loan have the ability to reach for them again should things get worse in the future. >> reporter: based on transmission risk, 95% of the country shown in read needed to mask indoors but now they're only suggested in regions where cases and hospitalizations were high, seen in orange. despite the new guidance, states like new york and california still require masks in the classroom for now. the same is true for transportation. the tsa saying, the mask requirement remains in place and we will continue to assess the duration of the requirement in consultation with the cdc. >> we're entering a new phase of the pandemic where we are now, i think, away from this kind of

emergency phase. we really need to enter a period of time where we know how to live with this virus. >> reporter: seven months after recommending masks again during the delta surge, tonight a clear sign of change seen on the faces of americans. miguel almaguer, nbc news. thank you for watching msnbc reports. i'm lindsey reiser. i will be back tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. eastern. "velshi" starts right now. good morning, it's saturday, february 26th, 7:00 a.m. here in new york. 2:00 p.m. in kyiv. fighting between the russian army and ukrainian people is continuing for a third day. i'm ali velshi. we're keeping a close eye on the capital city of kyiv right now. moments ago, kyiv's mayor extended the city's curfew until monday morning after city officials earlier warned residents to seek shelter as

reports came in that russian forces were closing in on the city. earlier surveillance video captured the moment a missile, which ukrainians say was launched by russians, hit an apartment building in kyiv. a residential building. the attack left a big hole in the building, one of the latest images we've seen of the war advanced to the capital. despite this, the ukrainian president, this man, volodymyr zelenskyy, said he's staying put in kyiv. he took to twitter this morning to post this video, doing this daily, sometimes more than once a day. this is filmed here his presidential office to demonstrate he's actually in kyiv, in which he says in ukrainian, quote, we won't put down our weapons. we'll protect our country. a couple hours later he posted another video on the messaging platform telegram to make a plea to his citizens, quote, all of those who can return to ukraine, come back to defend ukraine. this will be interesting in a moment when i talk about the border with