busy news cycle this morning. hi, alex. >> busy, you did a great show, and perfectly buttoned that up with jason johnson's final commentary there. he was spot on. i'm glad you gave him the chance to say what he had to say, and you for two hours. see you next saturday. thank you, my friend. >> thanks, alex. a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters. welcome to "alex witt reports," it is noon in washington, 7:00 p.m. in kyiv, and 8:00 p.m. in moscow, and we begin with breaking news on russia's invasion of ukraine. as darkness falls on eastern europe, people in the capital city kyiv are bracing for a fourth night of terror from the russian military. heavy fighting continued overnight and tonight with ukrainian government holding off russian troops and retaining control of kyiv. and while russian officials claim their military is not targeting civilians, apartment

buildings are caught in the cross fire. well, ukrainian officials claimed that missile was launched by russians. >> a complete lie. the lie that kremlin says about them not being targeted civilian people in ukraine because we know about casualties, we know about losses of lives. we know about assets and homes and kindergartens destroyed. >> here's a look at where russian forces have launched attacks up to this point, a british intelligence assessment puts the bulk of, specifically more antitank and air defense

capabilities but as the fighting continues and spills on to kyiv streets, ukraine president volodymyr zelenskyy says ukraine deserves the right to be a member of the european union and is calling on germany and hungary to support the rest of europe in cutting off russia from the global s.w.i.f.t. payment system. meanwhile, displaced ukraine residents turned refugees are crossing friendly borders into romania, hungary, poland and slovakia where u.s. troops have joined nato allies to welcome them. sergey lavrov said it paused the defensive to offer negotiations but recipe resumed when ukraine refused. mercy should not be expected from russia. >> you look at 20,000 people still in syria, 14,000 killed in ukraine, right up until this war, as a result of the annexation of crimea, and destabilization of ukraine. russia will have no mercy in getting what it wants in ukraine, which is its total and

utter sub you gas station. >> -- subjugation. you have seen the video of a tank running over a car. an update on the driver, and it is good news. >> reporter: the bar barty of russia's assault on ukraine may be captured in this single video, though not confirmed by nbc news, witnesses say that's a russia tank veering into a civilian car in kyiv. the woman who filmed it sounds equally frightened and horrified, then even after backing over the car, miraculously, the driver appears to have survived. passers by prying him out. >> just incredible. at this hour, developing story lines both overseas and here at home on the ukraine crisis. we have correspondents in ukraine, brussels, moscow and the white house. i welcome all of you, matt bradley in eastern ukraine. what can you tell us about the russian offensive and how

ukraine is managing to hold them off? >> reporter: yeah, alex, we actually in addition to that british assessment we also heard from our own courtney at the pentagon, and she heard from u.s. officials more or less the same thing, they were now 60 hours into this fight, and it looks as though the ukrainians are putting up a more strenuous, a more robust defense than the lot of international observers had really suspected. one thing that's critical here is that ukrainian air forces and air defenses remain in tact. they remain able to defend themselves against the far superior air force of russia. i wanted to give you this live shot from outdoors. in just about every city throughout ukraine, we can't turn on the lights outdoors. there's a blackout. that's the situation on the ground here. this is a very tense city. we have not heard any bombardment since i have been here. the real fighting, a lot of it is in kyiv, the capital, and

that's where you'll find my colleague, erin mclaughlin. >> the battle for kyiv, a russian missile strikes an apartment building near the airport. service workers evacuated survivors, the third day of putin's war. many are injured or dead in the capital. >> we understand that mr. putin is a crazy man. he want to make hell in kyiv, in the ukraine. we need help from the west world. >> reporter: overnight, explosions near the city's zoo, according to a local journalist, fires still burning and a man rescued after a military vehicle was filmed rolled over a car. witnesses say it was a russian tank. nbc news has not independently confirmed that. ukrainian leader, volodymyr zelenskyy defiant showing he's still in the capital, refusing to leave the country. we won't lay down arms. we will defend our country, he says, in a selfie video recorded outside his office. while in new york on friday,

russia vetoed a united nations security council resolution that condemned the country's invasion of ukraine. drawing a scathing response from the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. >> you can veto this resolution, but you cannot veto our voices. you cannot veto the truth. and you will not veto accountability. >> reporter: back in kyiv, as civilians take up arms, prepared to defend their country, some families are leaving. many by car, and others by train. thousands trying to get out. officers fired warning shots to disburse the crowd. for others, the city's metro has become a shelter. terrified residents hoping for safety. >> this is scary. >> reporter: it is scary. >> everyone should be scared. >> reporter: yeah, alex, i'm

here in the east, and actually come of the fiercest fighting is north of where i am in the second largest city of kharkiv, that's where i was yesterday morning, and that's where we're seeing another push, another access of defense by the russians against the ukrainians. so, you know, there's a three pronged offensive here from two points from the north, one from the south, and really, it's incredible, alex, that the ukrainian military has not yet been overwhelmed. the fact is, according to these two intelligence assessments, the russians still have not taken any appreciably large part of any urban area. they're still just out in the country side. alex. >> that is pretty extraordinary when you think about it, also the air assault by the russians on ukrainian people, it's remarkable what they have done in 60 hours. thank you so much, matt bradley, now to senior international correspondent keir simmons

joining us from moscow. the message from there, and the kremlin. what's the latest and is it clear that russia plans to keep this military offensive going? is there any prospect of negotiation to put a stop to this? >> reporter: no sign of negotiations at this stage, alex, certainly some -- a notable piece of news from the russian ministry of defense claiming, and i'm just going to quote this, it is highly likely that was american uavs, american drones that directed ukrainian boats on the flat see ships of russia. the russian ministry offense claiming as it says highly likely that american drones were used to help the ukrainian navy battling with the russian navy. now, inevitably while there is a war on the ground there in ukraine, there is a propaganda war and so that same ministry of defense statement once again claiming that russia paused its assault overnight in order to help with negotiations because

it thought there would be negotiations that resumed today. that isn't born out by what we have seen of the fighting overnight and the fighting on the ground. but it does indicate and again, that statement too, once again, calling on ukrainians, not to expose yourself, just quoting again, and your loved ones to unnecessary suffering. i think it does underscore that there is anxiousness inside the kremlin about the appearance because remember that there are so many russians with connections to ukrainians, again, it's a propaganda war. so what we have seen here in moscow is restrictions on facebook, restrictions on twitter, and perhaps that's not surprising because as well as the protests, we do appear to be seeing increasing concern amongst russian society, if you like. so a lawmaker here in russia saying today that while he voted for president putin's campaign earlier in the week, i did not

vote, he says for kyiv to be bombed. meanwhile, 200 journalists, alex, signing a petition, the journalists who organized that being thrown out of the russian foreign ministry's pool, so indications in multiple places that there is real unhappiness and concern about this campaign inside russia, and i think as we look ahead, if there is more resistance from the ukrainians, president putin faces this choice of whether to double down and become, if you like, more violent, and i guess his other choice as you say for negotiations, but there's certainly no sign of that. >> to your point, the fact that there's no evidence they did pull back on the assault is a feeble excuse to try to explain why they have not been more successful against the very courageous ukrainians that are holding off unbelievably so the overwhelmingly more powerful russian military, so thank you

very much, from moscow, let's go to nbc's josh lederman from brussels. nato has activated its response force for the first time in history. what is the justification for this historic move? >> reporter: well, nato secretary general stoltenberg says it's a response, alex, to the greatest threat to european security in decades. so what this means is that some of the 40,000 troops that make up nato's response force will be deployed to eastern europe to shore up nato allies, including battle ready troops who are trained to fight on land, at sea, by airplane, as well as special operations forces. the pentagon has said that up to 12,000 u.s. troops are on high alert, prepared to deploy order, ready to contribute to that mission if needed. but there are also concerns as nato increases its mission within the nato region that there could be a more chance for

a mishap with the russian military, something going awry, and that is why both the u.s. and nato say they are talking to the russians to try to set up what's known as a deconfliction, so the u.s. or nato, they can make sure everyone knows what's happening and nobody gets into a situation that could bring the u.s. and russia into military conflict. here is what the nato secretary general had to say about nato's concerns right now. >> it is important to make sure that we don't have an even bigger crisis in europe where russia challenge or is attacking any nato lied country, and that's why we send a message that we are ready to protect all allies, and every inch of nato

territory. >> reporter: now, those troops will not be fighting in ukraine. they will not be fighting against russia in ukraine. they are to shore up a nato ally, so if the u.s. and nato are not going to put boots on the ground in ukraine, the next best thing, according to the ukrainians is more aid and military equipment that they sorely need against the russian equipped military. two dozen nations offering more support including the u.s., with $350 million that will be going to ukraine. we are learning just now that some of that will include anti-tank and anti-aircraft capabilities that are so badly needed by the ukrainians right now, alex. >> absolutely. that announcement, $350 million worth coming today. thank you so much, josh lederman from brussels, joining me now is retired army general ben hodges iii, during the conflict in bosnia, and former commander of

the u.s. army in europe in 2014, the year russia first invaded ukraine. he is now the pershing chair in strategic study in the center for european policy analysis. general, sir, welcome, so glad to have you here. first question to you, are you surprised by intelligence reports that the russia is meeting with more resistance than it expected? >> this is the best news i've heard in a long time. but i'm not surprised. the ukrainian soldiers have learned and grown so much since 2014. and i think that what we're seeing is our ukrainian armed forces over performing and russian forces under performing. i think matt has done a good job of laying that out. none of the objectives have been met on time, almost every single city and airfield that was targeted is either still in ukrainian hands or was lost after a much tougher fight than

was expected and what we're seeing in kyiv, frankly, at this point, and i'm reluctant to predict how long things last but i don't think it's feasible that kyiv is actually going to fall. this is a huge city. russian forces, i mean, it will take a lot of people just to encircle it, let alone starring clearing these huge buildings. you, i think, earlier made a very good point that because of this, the kremlin is going to be frustrated that they are falling behind. they're going to start looking at their logistics, which i think are going to be really under stress, fuel, ammunition, especially rockets and missiles so they're going to potentially accelerate, and we remember what happened to the city of grosney, where russia basically leveled the city. i think it's going to be a tough fight in there, but i actually believe that ukraine is going to prevail in keeping russia from capturing this very important city. >> let's very much hope you are right, sir. let me ask you about the impact

of nato's unprecedented activation of its response force. what can that have on this conflict? >> two things. first of all, you're right, it is unprecedented but it also shows 30 nations committed to this. the nrf would not be getting activated and deployed if you didn't have all 30 nations. that's critical, and of course that's the last thing that putin wanted was to see all 30 of us sticking together, and i would attribute much of that to the diplomatic effort by the united states over the past several months but this is also important because tomorrow there is going to be a referendum in belarus, and that referendum on its institution is going to remove the word neutrality from the constitution, welcome russian nuclear weapons into belarus, and give lukashenko immunity for life. and the chances of this passing are about 99.9%. what this means is we're now going to have russian troops full-time in belarus with

nuclear weapons, and that's why this nrf deployment is so important, and why our allies, in estonia, latvia, lithuania, poland are anxious to see a stronger nato presence and stronger american presence there. >> you mentioned the 30 nations completely insync, uniform and that that may have come as a surprise to vladimir putin. what about kazakhstan, refusing his request to send troops to help in his attempted takeover of ukraine. how surprising must that be to him? >> well, this is a reflection, of course, the difference between nato where 30 nations are bound together by shared values, a defensive alliance, whereas this coalition that moscow is trying to bring together, they are not bound by shared values but by fear, threat or some sort of leverage amongst the leadership. armenia is also hesitant. belarus is not providing troops,

although belarus is allowing russian air force and helicopters to fly from bases in belarus, and they're providing logistical support, and i think that you made a very good point. kazakhstan was just saved by the kremlin is not willing to show any support because this is not a values-based coalition. >> sir, ukraine's overwhelmingly by comparison, tiny army has managed to slow russia's roll. it no way compares to russias. i want to play some of what retired general petraeus said about the first 24 hours of this fight. take a listen, sir. >> they'll defeat the ukrainian conventional forces, that's, again, not in question. it's how long it takes, how determined can they be as they are taking very tough losses. they lost more on day one, the ukrainians, i believe, very close to the worst month of

american losses during the height of the surge in iraq, which is the bloodest period of our time there. >> which brings into question, how long can the ukrainian military hold off the russian military? for what length of time, what duration do you think they can perform at the level they have? >> well, with all respect to my former commander, i'm going to disagree with him. i'm not going to say that it's basically irrefutable or inevitable that russia will eventually overwhelm. for sure they have a massive advantage in terms of air power and in sea power, but the land forces, what we're seeing, i mean, that's not 850,000 soldiers, like from the 101st airborne or the 82nd airborne, so gross numbers are not always a great indicator. the vulnerability for russia is their logistical tale. they brought up a lot of fuel, all the armored vehicles, a lot

of fuel, and of course they're expending massive amounts of ammunition, unlike anything we did in iraq or afghanistan, so i just don't believe that they have the capability, especially the further they go from russia sovereign territory, and from beal reduce, that they will be able to maintain this. and i think these convoys, big fuel trucks, for example, that have to follow the tanks, these things, they are very vulnerable, and i think we're going to see more and more reports of these convoys being hit! retired u.s. army lieutenant general ben hodges iii, thank you so much for your sage insight, i welcome you back anytime during this conflict. look forward to seeing you. thank you. as the attack on ukraine unfolds, the unthinkable becomes more real every day, not just the prospect of the u.s. being dragged further into the conflict but the one outstanding question and fear that looms over the whole drama. we're going to try to find an answer, next. drama we're going to try to find an answer, next

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we are back with the breaking news coverage of the ukraine invasion, and today president biden is meeting with his national security team. it comes as we get new information, a senior defense official says the u.s. has indications russians are frustrated by their lack of progress. nbc white house continue keira lee is joining us from washington, d.c. welcome to you, what more can you tell us about this reported russian frustration. >> the u.s. is seeing indications that there continues to be more resistance from the ukrainians than the russians had initially expected, particularly from the north down towards kyiv. now, the official said that that is something that is frustrating the russians. they did not say how the u.s. knows the russians are frustrated by this. the official also said they're seeing signs of internet outages and an increase in the number of people who are trying to leave ukraine. and logistically, they're saying

that the russians appear to be running lower on things like fuel faster than they had initially anticipated. as for some numbers, i can give you the official said that russia has launched more than 250 missiles since this invasion began and that more than half of the forces that russia had mobilized around ukraine before the invasion have actually moved into the country. so that's around 75,000 to 100,000 troops. and it also means, alex, that there are still tens of thousands of russian troops surrounding ukraine that have yet to go into the country. now, this all comes as the president, as you noted, is meeting with his national security team this morning. we are waiting to hear what took place in that meeting, for a readout, and we're also expect to go get a photograph of that. and i don't know alex, if you can hear behind me, there's a protest, a pro-ukraine protest, several hundred people are outside in front of the white

house. >> it's a saturday very typically there between lafayette park and the white house. very timely, that protest by the ukrainians. probably looking for what they want, which is even more help by the united states. though the united states is definitely in this. thank you so much, carol, for that. joining me is coloradowoman jackie spear. i'm curious your reaction to what we're seeing in ukraine, and can you give us anymore insight from the briefings you've had? >> alex, thank you for the opportunity. i feel very strongly that more has to be done. i think we can't spend much time rejoicing at the fact that kyiv wasn't taken overnight, but the people are extraordinary, and the fight is extraordinary, and we have got to redouble our efforts to provide additional military assistance so i presume that on tuesday president biden in his state of the union address is going to call on

congress to act swiftly to pass a package of about $6 billion, about $3 billion will be for humanitarian aid. 2.9, i think, for military aid. and we've just got to make sure they have the resources they need. they're pleading for it. and we have to recognize, this is not just ukraine anymore. this is the whole of europe that is at risk. it's every one of those satellite countries around russia that are democracies that are at risk, and i think it's pretty remarkable that with the chart you showed of the military might of both countries how ukraine has been able to withstand what it has. >> i think ukrainians right now are the definition of courage, but let me ask you, is there uniformity in support both those things that the president has articulated which we know we'll learn more about in the state of

union speech. is there uniformity on both sides of the ail, are republicans and democrats coming to go in their support for ukraine, and if not, where is their diversion? >> actually, i think this is an example of how we are pretty united. there will probably be some members that vote against it but i think you're going to see a strong bipartisan commitment in congress to provide additional aid to ukraine. >> give me your sense of the veracity of sanctions so far, how crippling are they, how effective can they be, can they deter putin from forward, and in not, what remains until the u.s. nato arsenal to get them to stop? >> these sanctions are very important, and they're historic in that we have not imposed some of these sanctions ever. the export sanctions will cripple russia over the next few months. about 70% of their high-tech micro chips that they need

for -- to run their systems, to put in their military equipment come from europe and the united states or have some source from the united states. most software of micro chips is from the united states, so most of that will be stopped. but that's not today. and that's my concern. the sanctions over time are going to have a huge effect. but not today. >> well, exactly, and i was going to pick up on that because the time line, ukraine may not exist in its current democratic form a couple of months from now. so, again, the arsenal, is there more that the u.s., that nato can do than they are doing short of sending boots on the ground? the fact is the airspace over ukraine is controlled right now by russia, which makes it very difficult to get the kind of supplies that the americans and nato allies would like to get into ukraine for help. so you're sort of at a quandary,

what else can be done? >> i think that's a lot of soul searching that's going to be required by all of us that are part of nato right now. nato has spent 40,000 of their troops, first time ever, into these neighbors countries, nato countries, and in the end, i think we've got to make a calculation, does this mean that we are going to let ukraine be taken and then just fight for our nato countries or are we going to sustain some kind of an effort within the country, and i know that the president has indicated he doesn't want any boots on the ground. but we've got to make sure that they have the resources they need. >> so vladimir putin implied that he could launch nuclear weapons against any country that interferes with the invasion. the u.s. and russia, of course have the biggest nuclear arsenal. how seriously is this being perceived on capitol hill? >> well, we haven't had the opportunity to spend a lot of time on that specifically point,

but, you know, that basically suggests mutually agreed to destruction, and i think he knows that. i think he loves to rattle his saber, and you know, he loves to talk tough. he said that kyiv was going to be shut down in three days. that clearly hasn't happened, but i think he has really overestimated his prowess and underestimated the ukrainian's resolve. i think he was thinking that somehow this was going to fall like afghanistan fell. but there's a huge difference as we know. >> yeah, we've been witnessing that. president biden has warned americans that the u.s. economy could be impacted by the invasion. we know gas prices are already on the rise. inflation is the highest in 40 years. what happens next? what kind of concerns are you hearing about from your constituents? >> i think that's why the president has been loathe to, you know, move forward with sanctioning the, you know,

actual movement of gas into europe because of course that would affect us as well. you know, it's going to be some pain felt by all of us. do we really value democracy? i think we've got to do some personal soul searching here that we are uncomfortable with potentially, but i think as you look at ukrainians, this mother holding her baby in her arms pleading with the americans to give us more support, i think we have to listen. >> something we are listening to, you probably heard carol lee from the white house, there she was atop the hay adams, a demonstration there in front of the white house, a demonstration in new york city, times square, new york city home to about 150,000 ukrainians. they have been quite vocal over the last week or so about wanting to get the support that america can send to nato, via nato, to their fellow countrymen there in ukraine.

have you had -- do you have a large preponderance of ukrainians in your district in california? >> in the bay area, there's about 13,000, so it's a small number in the region, but there are many ukrainian groups throughout the country, large enclaves of them, and they must be heard, and we will certainly in the next week be spending a lot of time identifying how much more we can provide, but i do think we have to appreciate that the ukrainians cannot do this alone. >> well, i think what's extraordinary as well is the signs that we're seeing, ma'am, we're seeing those signs in times square if we can have our director put back up, those are exactly the signs we're seeing in english and other languages around ukraine, around moscow as well. there are people who are defying the prospect of arrest and whatever else might come after that, and they're speaking their

minds, and it shows the stamina, the courage of both russians who are against what their leader, vladimir putin is doing, and also the ukrainian people who are sending a message to the world with signs like that. note of war, stop putin, it's a uniform message that we're seeing, which is certainly encouraging. we want to get that message out as much as we can here as well, here at msnbc. with that, i will say thank you for your time, california congresswoman, jackie spier, i appreciate you as always and look forward to seeing you. chronicling a nightmare, what he's seen in a city frozen by war and fear. i'm going to talk with him next. . i'm going to talk with him next.

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. in a new article, my next guest details the harrowing experience writing absolutely terrifying kharkiv waits as war closes in, with the russian army looming and explosions echoing through the streets, residents take shelter where they can, and joining me now is msnbc contributor, jack crosby a correspondent for rolling stone. welcome to you. i was told by my control booth that apparently you are concerned right now. there's an element of danger in the area. tell me why you're saying that. what have you heard?

>> so we've been taking intermittent shelling for most of afternoon. i think i was on a reporting trip outside of the hotel for most of the morning, arrived back here at 2:00 p.m., basically into straight the hotel i'm staying at is sort of their air-raid protocol, which is just sort of a general evacuation of the common areas of the hotel, and especially all the rooms on the upper floors into our underground car park, which is reasonably safe. if things get a little bit too close, we might go deeper into a nearby metro station, but for the time being, the car park has been pretty safe, and that's been kind of off and on for most of the evening. so far in this city, the shelling hasn't really come too close to the city center where i am. i'd estimate that the impacts that we just heard a moment ago are still definitely a kilometer away or more.

so, you know, i don't think we're in any kind of direct risk at the moment, but in these situations you just take the precautions as you -- as best you can. >> yeah, of course, and things can change in a moment's notice. when you say things are about a kilometer away, and you are hearing them, that means they must be pretty significant? >> yeah, so what i believe we just heard is sort of a rolling rumble that you hear of multiple impacts at once is something the russian term for it is a smerch, which is a multiple launch rocket device that fires out a lot of different sort of impact warheads at once, that kind of land in a volley, not one specific impact like artillery or not. you can tell the difference between those. that's not uncommon. we've heard sporadic firing from those on the front lines and in some or the outskirts of the city. i was driving through some of those areas today.

you can see on the screen there now, i think, some of those rockets would be from the equipment that i'm describing. driving through some of those parts of the city today, and the damage isn't too apparent. there have been civilian areas and civilian buildings that have been hit on the outside of kharkiv but for the most part the violence has still been confined to sort of military installations and in between the two armed forces outside the city. >> so the silver lining to the terrible news that you are reporting about is that kharkiv has yet to be taken by the russians. do you have any estimate as to how long, based on what you've witnessed ukrainians will be able to hold them off? >> so the situation in kharkiv is sort of interesting. i obviously do not have the same intelligence capabilities as the u.s. government or ukrainian government, but from what we have seen so far, it has seemed that the fighting has been largely consolidated in the northern and northeastern

suburbs of the city, just outside of it, we were up there today sort of looking to speak to some civilians that had been under contact like that. and ran into sort of some soldiers in what was an advanced position, but is now kind of behind the lines. they told us they had repelled a russian attack there earlier, and i think what's generally happen in kharkiv is the russian forces a raid to the north of the city that have come over the border from russia, from russia's region have been sort of waiting for the past two days to see how events in kyiv pan out, and then based on the status of kyiv whether or not that city has fallen and the state of the ukrainian government. i think that determines their next move. as you noted earlier on the broadcast, there does seem to be some frustration among the russian upper echelon in how the war is progressing so i think the concern here is that they will continue to escalate their

tactics in kyiv and in cities like kharkiv across the country. >> i want to go back to that terrible first night of the invasion, and you wrote about that in another article. here was the quote from that, the morning was a nightmare for every person living in ukraine. jack, describe what you witnessed, what you lived through that night, and has the initial shock, has that translated into a furious courage of ukrainians to defend their homes and their livelihoods? >> yeah, i think that's definitely one thing that many people in this country are feeling right now. you know, i've heard it from a lot of people on the street that it's the classic fight or flight response, right, and there's, you know, there's no right answer to that question. every person in ukraine right now is making some of the most difficult decisions that a human being can ever make whether or not to flee their home, to try to ensure the safety of their family or whether or not to take

up arms to fight the defendant, and almost everyone i've talked to in the city has been having some kind of conversation, some form of that conversation with themselves and with their loved ones, and i think that that first day was really sort of the adjustment period as this set in in the days since, and yesterday and today i think people have sort of been solidifying their decisions. we know that there is similar to what we've seen in kyiv, i haven't personally witnessed it yet, access has been a little bit limited but there is a civilian defense faction that is forming in the city and has been taking up arms. i don't think that they have been as intimately involved in the violence as the similar faction in kyiv has yet, because, as i said, this violence has mostly been confined to the outskirts of the city between the ukrainian armed forces and the russians. >> so jack, what happens for those people who have sought shelter perhaps in one of those subway tunnels you mentioned.

they may not have a home to return to now. is there any type of practical government support for them? or do you see neighbors helping neighbors? >> you know, you do. from what i've heard, these people, for the most part, damage to the civilian areas of the city has not been overwhelming this far, so people are largely still returning home and in fact, the streets in the city are usually very quiet during the day and especially at night, we're actually under a military curfew at the moment from i believe today it's from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. where people are not supposed to be on the streets. for similar reasons, those curfews have been enacted in kyiv because i think military forces in the city are concerned of russian saboteurs and other sort of infiltrator to the city and they want to limit movement

in the city during those times. when there is shelling in the areas, the residents are going down to bomb shelters, and they are sleeping in metro stations because at night when the fighting escalates they need to seek that shelter and a good time, they're able to return home during the daytime. they're able to stand in line to get groceries, there is still some functions of a normal city life that are taking place, but it's, you know, very much an extraordinary circumstance for all of these people. >> absolutely. rolling stone and msnbc contributor, jack crosbie, thank you very much, your writing is compelling, as was this interview. come see us again and stay safe. thank you so much. in the midst of war, the conservative political action committee is happening this weekend and draws all the top republicans including mike pompeo, here being questioned by our own vaughn hillyard, you're about to see it as he's rushing by. there it is, what the former secretary of state said as he

passed. that's next. former secretary of state said as he passed that's next. 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.

right now, conservatives are waiting to hear donald trump speak at c pac tonight where there has been little mention of vladimir putin. the ukraine/russia conflict is taking a backseat to domestic culture wars. vaughn hillyard is joining us. welcome to you. how are republicans addressing the invasion if at all, and be

sure to include your former, rather your encounter with the former secretary of state mike pompeo. that was absolutely worth the price of admission to watch. >> reporter: appreciate it. i mean, this week, talk about an evolution here. i think we have to just stick it at that point because when we're talking about mike pompeo, and we're talking about donald trump, both two individuals just earlier this week referred to vladimir putin as savvy, and i want to let everybody as you just prefaced here, listen to that exchange because after the invasion of ukraine by russia, the tone and the temperature here has definitely changed. take a listen. >> russian state media, has played your own words from this week, which you called russian president vladimir putin, shrewd, capable, you said you have enormous respect. do you regret your words? >> i have been fighting come

communism as a teenager, i'm going to continue to fight communism. >> reporter: what we ended seeing here is what every american saw on the television screen, russia actively invading ukraine here, and you heard from marco rubio, josh hawley come in with a much more strong emphatic anti-russia message, anti-vladimir putin message, that's where the big question, what do we hear later tonight when former president donald trump, who is quite, you could say, sympathetic or more open to cordial relations with putin ahead of his administration and during his four years in the white house, what does he ultimately say just days after suggesting that they were quote peace keepers that were entering ukraine. that is the big question mark here tonight, alex. >> absolutely. you got to wonder if donald trump dares describe putin as savvy and a genius again tonight. we'll be waiting for that. thank you very much. russia may pay a high economic cost for invading ukraine, but americans will also pay a price, the ripple effects

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the crisis in ukraine is salt laking the global markets and is expected, rather, to exacerbate rising prices a key inflation indicator hit a 40-year high in january. the congress department announced yesterday that the index tracking consumer spending, including food and energy rose 6.1% over the past year, and experts are warning the conflict could punish energy and food prices even higher. let's go to scott cohn joining us from san jose, california. i got to tell you this headline does not sound good for consumers. >> not at all. president biden warned that the u.s. strategy would not be without pain at home. this is a visible example of this. here in california, $5 a gallon gas is common. and nationwide we're looking at

an average price of $3.59 a gallon, according to triple a, roughly a dollar above where it was a year ago. several western states, including california now above $4 a gallon. illinois at 3.82. this is happening before there has been any real disruption in oil supplies, and of course it extends to other areas as well. both russia and ukraine, big suppliers of wheat, we're seeing food prices go up. we're no strangers, anymore, to inflation, clearly, but the worry now, according to economist diane swang is this drags down economic growth and job growth as well, and that could lead to something many people have not experienced in their lifetimes, the 1970s phenomenon known as stag-flation. >> stag flation is when the economy continues to generate

heat and you have unemployment start to rise. that's what we saw in 1973 in response to the opec oil embargo, and that really triggered a bad recession in the mid-1970s, yet an inflationary spiral that we couldn't get out of, so you lose both your jobs and lose living standards because you're paying higher prices at the same time. >> reporter: how to position yourself for that, swunk offers a potential strategies. if you can do it, pay down debt, especially credit card debt. put off high ticket purchases, if you can, and also resist the temptation to hoard, remember the toilet paper crisis of a couple of years ago, that can potentially make matters and price increases even worse. alex. >> thank you so much, sobering, but appreciate it. the president of ukraine refuses to leave the capital city even as the u.s. says it

can help get him out of harm's way. he remains defiant, i'll talk to someone who knows volodymyr zelenskyy, and the u.s. says it can help him. we'll get all of those details next. t can help him we'll get all of those details next

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