low-level team sent by the russians make it unlikely they're serious about trying to end the fighting. and what we're seeing on the ground supports that. all of it coming as ukrainian forces are holding off russian forces for a fifth day. but heavy fighting has broken out in places like kharkiv and kyiv. russia has been unable to take any of the major cities yet. we had extraordinary video all weekend, this showing artillery fire outside a children's hospital in kyiv. it shows what the ukrainian military here said is a drone strike on a russian tank, although nbc news has not been able to confirm it. this morning, ukraine's president zelenskyy said his country is standing strong. a man who once saw his pop larp ti ratings down in the 30s now an international symbol of resistance of the fight for democracy. but in moscow, the pressure on vladimir putin is growing by the day, us from interest ratesed with the lack of russian progress on the battlefield, putin has dramatically raised

the stakes. sunday he put his nuclear forces on high alert. you can see how it's playing internationally, making the front pages of newspapers all around the world. the u.s. called it an escalatory and unnecessary step. also this morning, new sanctions announced against russia's central bank, now barred from doing business with americans. at the u.n., a rare emergency meeting of the general assembly will be held after 87 countries backed a resolution condemning the russian invasion. massive protests held worldwide in support of the ukrainian people in recent days not just across europe, also in places like jerusalem and japan. in the u.s., people protested and then dumped russian vodka into the streets while thousands of protesters were arrested inside russia for demonstrating against their own government. as i mentioned, the economic pressure is on the verge of getting much worse for putin,

the kremlin, and potentially the russian people. the economic squeeze so tight now the russian stock market won't even open today. i want to bring in matt bodner in southwestern russia about 25 miles from the ukrainian border. also with us, retired four-star general barry mccaffrey and former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, john herbst. general, let me get your assessment of what we're seeing on the ground now. we're seeing civilian targets being hit. we heard today from the ukrainian president how many children are being killed on the streets of ukraine. and yet russian forces aren't making the progress a lot of toke folks thought they would before this started five days ago. where does that leave us right now? >> well, look, at tactical level, it's astonishing how bad di the russians are doing. they're bunched up. they have not employed a combined arm team. they're being stopped by light ukrainian infantry forces and

civilians. they look ill trained and ill commanded. operationally, it's amazing how badly they have done. they look confused and incompetent. that surprises me. finally, look, krigs, i spent half my life dealing with nuclear weapons and a tactical operational and strategic level. i negotiated with the russians on arms control and the ukrainians. it is incomprehensible to me that any lieutenant colonel in any of these militaries that have nuclear weapons would consider using them as a threat in a situation that wasn't the existential survival of the state. there's something going sadly awry with mr. putin. his generals must be petrified

as to what's going on in his head. it makes no sense whatsoever. you cannot conduct a first strike on u.s. nuclear missiles and not still suffer a retaliatory devastating strike. why he's making these charges is beyond belief. >> matt bodner, i don't know if you can give us any insight into that. this clearly is a president who is becoming increasingly isolated. i remember back to 2014 when then german chancellor angela merkel was in close contact with vladimir putin. back then she said he was living in another world. respond to the extent that you can to what we just heard from the general and the idea of why he's saying the things he's saying and allowing the things to happen that he is. >> reporter: thank you, chris. sure, i think it's quite obvious at this point that vladimir putin does have some kind of distance between him and his advisers, literal, physical

distance. we've seen him appear over and over in the past week, and just thinking back to the national security council meeting he held one week ago when we started to be faced with a very real possibility that vladimir putin was preparing to go ahead with a full-scale invasion. obviously, u.s. intelligence had been signaling it for a while. for me, at least, that meeting was the first time it really sunk in. you saw vladimir putin in the kremlin in a giant hall with a vast distance between him and his closest advisers, some of them seeming to kind of want to say no to what was on the table at the time. then there was just the recognition of independent states. those who said it was not the best idea, no one seems to be comfortable telling him no in public. so you have to wonder how much is he actually getting information-wise and then, you know, as the general was

mentioning, you look at the operation -- i've been talking to analysts and looking a lot at kind of the commentary around russia's operation -- it seems based on fundamentally extreme assumptions about how this was all going to go. it's clear, i think, from the way they startled this that they expected the ukrainian military and government to fold. we're now on day five. there's reports of logistical constraints. we're seeing evidence of that here in southern russia. fuel trucks to kharkiv across the border right now. a lot of indications he seems isolated and maybe not getting the best information. >> do you think, ambassador, he just completely misunderstood both the will of the ukrainian people, the ability of the ukrainian president to rally his people, and the will of nato and the international community?

>> i think he is stunned. first of all, he has no idea of what's going on in ukraine. so he had no sense that the ukraine military and more importantly the ukrainian people are going to fight hard against even overwhelming military might. then, too, he's been stunned by the massive turnaround in europe, especially in germany. germany, which has advocated a week policy towards russian aggression since this began, is now opposed to sending any american arms to ukraine, has now decided to send a thousand stinger, anti-aircraft, as well as javp lins, tank killers. the fact that germany is going to spend 2% on defense means that they realize that putin's threat is also against germany

as well as ukraine. the swedes, the dutch, the belgians are all sending weapons to ukraine. so putin's got a very serious problem on his hands, and as you pointed out, his generals didn't want this, the elite did not want this, the russian people did not want it. only he wanted it. so he's out on a limb right now. >> i also want to bring in nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel, who is now in place for us in kyiv. we've been discussing, i think you heard a little bit of it, richard, the surprise that people feel about how little russia has been able to move and how strong the ukrainian resistance has been. tell us what you're seeing, what you're hearing on the ground, and what's going on behind you. >> reporter: well, you want to see some of the ukrainian resistance, this is how it is looking right now. on many street corners here in kyiv, there are check points set up like this one. some are manned by professional soldiers but often they're just

volunteers who may or may not have military experience. they have set up sandbag positions like this one. they have moll tovp cocktails here, which are ready to light and throw at russian vehicles should they enter the city. and here you have volunteers with their shotguns, some people have hunting rifles, other people have more military-style weapons, and they are here all the time now. they are stopping cars. they're looking at i.d.s. they're looking to see who's coming and going in the neighborhood. and they're getting a tremendous amount of support. you would think that a presence like this could be intimidating for the community, but these are people from these neighborhoods so their families, their children have been coming out. they've been bringing them they are moses full of tea, coffee, snacks, giving them support because they want to protect the area and make sure that, should russia try to do a full ground assault into the city, and that is the expectation, that they're going to resist it with every

possible means that they have. >> some of the things we've been seeing, general, include turning breweries into places to make those molotov cocktails. all weekend long we saw people continuing to line up, people who have never fired a gun before, lining up to get an ak-47, saying they would take to the streets, they would fight, they would defend their country. given all of that, the question i repeeltdedly got, and i'm sure you did, too, general, over the weekend, is, so where is this going? a lot of that question precipitated by nervousness when putin brought up nukes. so what are you looking for in the next 24 to 48 hours, general? >> well, to be honest, i am extremely concerned. i don't see how putin can back out. i don't see how the russian military can extract their forces. they're in a mess. i doubt they have coherent command and control over the ongoing operation. so far, they've made no serious

attempts to use tank mechanized attack helicopter teams to dive into the middle of kyiv or car kyiv or other major cities. they haven't captured two of the ports in the south. so, what will putin do? it seems to me right now we ought to expect that he orders them to go full scale and try and end the mess he's put them in. if he does, it will get worse for him. these people will fight. they will go into the buildings. they will throw molotov cocktails. and so i think the diplomats now have got to step forward. the hundred lines of influence that the global community has put on putin are absolutely instrumental. and nato now is coming together in a remarkable way. we have 100,000 u.s. troops now in europe with nato. and we have other e.u. nations,

not part of the military alliance, that are also stepping up. so putin's stuck. >> ambassador, we're out of time, but that begs the question when the general says diplomats have to step forward. what more do you see that can and needs to be done? >> well, i agree that when putin decides to end his war of aggression on ukraine, the diplomats will be essential. but really what's required is the decision by the kremlin to stop the aggression. once they make that decision not to impose their dictate on ukraine, there's no formula. but no indication putin is willing to do that yet. we have to wait and see. >> our thanks to richard engel, who is back out reporting, matt bodner, general barry mccaffrey, ambassador john herbst. thanks to all of you. coming up, president biden is set to give his state of the union address tomorrow, but with the crisis in ukraine, the

global economy on edge, the supreme court pick, so much is at stake. we'll dig into that. plus, those new sanctions taking direct aim at russian president vladimir putin's money as the russian economy stalls. the massive impact dissensions are having globally straight ahead. dissensions are having globally straight ahead.

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union address, a high-stakes address in times of political and economic uncertainty at home and globally. democracies around the world looking to the u.s. for leadership as the danger escalates in ukraine. the war adding to the economic uncertainty here at home, already hit by the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic. and all of it coming as new poll numbers show the president's approval rating down at 37%. biden will also undoubtedly highlight the historic supreme court nomination of judge ketanji brown jackson. democrats are aiming for an early april confirmation with judge jackson set to begin meeting with senators on capitol hill this week, including majority leader chuck schumer on wednesday. joining us, mike memoli, covering the white house. gary is live on capitol hill, and jake sherman is co-founder of bunch bowl news. good to see you, guys. not every state of the union, frankly, has this kind of stakes. but this is a critical speech. the president's got a lot of ground to cover. what are you hearing from inside

the white house about what biden wants to accomplish and what he's going to focus on? >> reporter: our reporting just a few weeks ago was that the president wanted to use this state of the union address to help send democrats off into this midterm election year with some new momentum. obviously, the party has been sumping from the weight of expectations, the failure to advance the build back better agenda, but the president wants to tout what they have done, the infrastructure law, the ability to help deal with the country's pandemic of covid-19. but now obviously there's a lot of rethinking about exactly what the balance of this speech will be. i was told just last week, for instance, after the president had a meeting with his national security team about the situation in ukraine, then had a meeting with his supreme court team to talk about the plans to roll out his eventual nominee, ketanji brown jackson. then he had a meeting with his top political strategist to essentially rewrite significant portions of the state of the union address to deal with the situation in ukraine.

inflation has been a really important issue for this white house as well. they've come around from saying it was transitory to something they now acknowledge is a real factor, a real pain point for so many americans. that was already part of the calculation in terms of what the president needed to use the speech for. now the situation in ukraine presents the president with an opportunity to step back, have a presidential moment, and reframe the larger debate to talk about what he's been talking about throughout his time in office, that the 21st century will be a contest between showing democracies can work or whether autocracies will ultimately prevail. this situation in ukraine is a perfect cristlization of that framing allowing the president to kick off what is a midterm election year for democrats. >> jake, of course we know this is coming with congress very publicly disagreeing in ways, frankly, we haven't seen before. they've been disagrees far long time. but the war has taken it in some cases to a new level. this morning you folks at punch bowl news report -- "republicans will want to bash him over covid

mandates, inflation, and government spending but he's also a u.s. president in the midst of a global crisis that's taken on a nuclear angle. is there any chance that the two parties can move past the current hyperpartisanship to show some unity over ukraine at least for one night?" jake, any chance of that? >> no, and punch bowl news, we're hopeful and positive. i think that biden and the white house would like some unity, obviously, especially over the situation in ukraine. and because putin and his allies are looking for division, obviously, in the u.s. political system, but there's going to be a lot to disagree on or agree on in the coming weeks here when it comes to ukraine. i think the administration is going to ask for $10 billion or several billion dollars in aid for ukraine both in military aid and in humanitarian aid, so that's something they'll have to contend with.

but, again, it would be nice to have the congress rally around the president in this time of high tensions on the global stage, but unlikely that's going to happen. >> and big part of the state of the union is logistics. first and foremost safety. we've been seeing the fence going up around the capitol building once again. what can you tell us about security preparations? >> reporter: hey, chris. yeah, for the third time in 13 months we are seeing the united states capitol surrounded by nine-foot nonscale fencing. you're seeing the entirety of the capitol surrounded by fencing and military grade cameras straight from afghanistan. they were brought to the u.s. capitol and they're there as well. you're also seeing the physical law enforcement presence as well here. this is not as extensive in term es of the fencing as we've seen in the past year at other events, but there is a square

around the entire u.s. capitol building going from constitution to independence avenue. u.s. capitol police chief announced a statement about this plan, saying, "we have been working closely with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners on a security plan to prevent any disruption to the important work of congress." the state of the union is always classified as a national special security event. think of this as the super bowl for washington, d.c. anybody that's anybody is going to be inside this building behind me tomorrow night, and that's part of the challenge for law enforcement. but capitol police is not doing this alone. they have a lot of help. they have the national guard, the department of homeland security, the fbi, the metropolitan police department, and the new york police department all on hand here to make this a safe and secure state of the union. chris? >> jake, in addition to the state of the union, obviously we have the nomination of judge ketanji brown jackson to the supreme court. that happened on friday. we're seeing that the interviews are going to get under way.

we mentioned chuck schumer. who else might she will meeting with in the days ahead? and what's been her reaction to the nomination on the hill? >> positive among democrats, obviously. ip think she'll meet with anybody and everybody who will take a meeting with her. she has to leave no stone unturned. mitt romney on cnn yesterday suggested he would be open to voting for her, so that would be helpful. we imagine susan collins, republican of maine, will probably vote for her as well. but neither of those are done deals and she'll have to work for every vote as every supreme court nominee has to. i think you'll see a lot of meetings in the coming days. remember, democrats want to do this in 40 days. that would mean this nomination is going to, in their estimation, come to a vote in early april before that april recess that brings on april 11th. she'll have a lot of work to do in lot v not a lot of time because 40 days is out of step with the norm. that's how quickly republicans confirmed amy coney barrett, but

it's not as deliberative perhaps of a process as it once was. >> jake, mike, thanks to all of you. 500,000 ukrainians have fled their countries and neighboring countries are preparing to take in millions more. we'll take you to poland. plus, look at this video, russians lining up around the block to withdraw cash, already feeling the pain from the latest economic sanctions as the ruble hits an all-time low. stephanie ruhle will break it all down. don't go anywhere. don't go anywhere. they're switching to t-mobile for business and getting more 5g bars in more places. save over $1,000 when you switch to our ultimate business plan... ...for the lowest price ever. plus, choose from the latest 5g smartphones— like a free samsung galaxy s22. so switch to the network that helps your business do more for less—join the big switch to t-mobile for business today.

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this morning, devastating new members from the u.n. showing half a million refugees have already fled the war in ukraine, driven into neighboring countries. take a look at this video from western ukraine. five days in, still miles-long lines of cars, people waiting hours to get across clogged borders. many of the countries opening their doors had previously rejected refugee, trying to manage the kind of mass exodus that hasn't been seen in years. >> a lot of people are still waiting without food. >> as the time passes, it's more

and more difficult for people to stay and keep quiet and calm. >> kelly cobiella joins me from poland. stephanie ruhle joins me to discuss the new sanctions hitting russia and its economy. kelly, what is happening to folks once they get to poland? is the polish government saying they're open to everyone trying to get in? >> that are that's what they're saying and what we're seeing play out. we're at a train station at a small border town in poland. the latest train was carrying not just ukrainians but foreign nationals. we spoke to a couple of nigerian students a few minutes ago. they were studying in kharkiv. they told me it took four days to get here traveling from kharkiv, then to kyiv, then lviv and then on the train here. they said they were stamped in, no problem, no questions asked by the polish border guards

here. the polish politicians are saying, look, if you're coming in from ukraine, you can come into this country no matter what passport you hold. we are seeing that bear out. europeans over the weekend agreeing and still have to vote this through, but agreeing in principle to offer asylum status for anyone coming into ukraine for the next three years. but it is getting much more difficult, chris. we're talking to people today who are trying to get their relatives out, but they're just struggling to find their root of people in the kyiv region, can't figure out how to get their loved ones either on the road or train to lviv and across the border. once they get to the western part of the country, it becomes a little easier, but then you have the bottlenecks of tens of thousands of people trying to get out of the country. one quick note, the people you see lined up behind me here,

they're not waiting for services or anything like that. they're actually waiting for a train to go back to ukraine. some of them going back to fight. chris? >> thank you so much, kelly. heartbreaking scenes of people being torn out of their homes, feeling compelled to go back to where the fighting is to take up arms themselves, even though they're not obviously part of the military. the west continuing to amp up the pressure. we saw new sanctions on russia this morning. one, how much impact is it having on the russian economy? and what are we going to see -- or we are seeing now, 9:31 on the east coast, on our stock market, our economy? >> let's start with russia. according to president biden these are the biggest sanctions we have ever imposed. it's not just the united states. we're seeing other western counties do it. when switzerland gets involved, you know that's something and it is hitting russia hard. we saw the ruble drop 30% overnight compared to the u.s. dollar. it was already in a bad place.

remember, russia is a country that needs to import a lot. a few commodities, oil and gags, that's it. thinks have become prohibitively expensive for the russian people. people are lined up frp hour at atm machines to get whatever they can. this is why the sanctions are occurring. if vladimir putin's only people will not support the action they're taking, it will make it harder to execute this. unfortunately back at home we'll feel the pain too. the markets are opening now -- when you have unrest like this, no surprise, wow, down 4 nushgs 00 in the last minute. that's not a surprise. whether you're nevesed in the markets or not, chances are you have a car and that's where that is hitting. already in the last week, gas prices are up 10 cents. they're most likely going to go up more. it was about $100 a barrel. goldman sachs says it could get to $115. it is going to be really difficult. three things to look at this week, there's an opec meeting

coming up, obviously the state of the union, and that meeting happening today between ukraine and russian delegates. we'll see if we see progress. this economic pain hurts here but it's devastating in russia. >> stephanie, kelly, thank you very much. a programming note, stephanie will anchor a special report tonight, "beyond ukraine's border." 11:00 p.m. eastern time on msnbc. let another continue this conversation. let me bring in new jersey democratic congressman tom mall -- malinowski, and former assistant secretary of state for human rights and labor. so good to see you, congressman. we learned the house will get a classifying from the president's national security team later this afternoon. what are your big questions right now? >> look, i think the administration is doing everything that any of us could

have asked for and it's quite inspiring. the ukrainians are fighting with the weapons we have been able to give them. they are being supported by a nato alliance that the united states rallied to their side far beyond anything i might have expected with switzerland joining in, even the most recalcitrant members of the european union supporting the harshest possible sanctions. we're going to want to know about the flow of weapons to the ukrainians, how that is proceeding. obviously, we can't fly them into kyiv in the way we might have before. >> what are you hearing right now? how much is that being hampberred, and how concerned are you about that? >> well, you know, the evidence of what's happening on the ground suggests to me that we are getting to the ukrainians what they need, and not just the united states but our european allies. it's extraordinary that europeans are willing to give them fighter jets right now. no one would have imagined that a week ago. and that is a product, number

one, of the evil of this invasion but also really good american diplomacy over the last several weeks to build this coalition. >> i'm very curious what you think when we hear, and i'm sure you saw coverage over the weekend where you saw people huddled in bunkers, people in underground train stations, folks who are trying, as we saw with kelly cobiella, desperately trying to get on trains, people trying to get out of the country and begging the united states, begging the west for more help. to you, what more can the u.s. do? what more can the international community do when they ask for more hem? what does that teri leiker? >> right now, you know, there are some people who talk about no-fly zone. i'm not sure if they understand that that would mean direct military conflict between the united states and russia, which i don't think would be in our interest or even in ukraine's interest in the long run.

the sanctions move more slowly than tanks. but these are the harshest sanctions that have ever been impoised on any other country by the united states and our allies. if the ukrainians can continue to hold out, that gives the sanctions time not just to change public opinion in russia but just as important to practically, materially diminish the putin regime's capacity to hold on and to keep fighting. and right now, the ukrainians are doing their part. they are giving us time to allow these sanctions to take effect. and we can help them by continuing to give them the types of weapons they could actually use, the anti-tank weapons that a single infantry soldier in the forest can use to take out a tank. the stinger missiles, a single soldier can use that to take out a helicopter or plane. that stuff is making a difference. so, we have to stay the course but also be ready for this to

continue to be or get worse for the ukrainian people. that is the part that worries me, that when putin is frustrated on the battlefield as he is right now, he may resort to increasingly ruthless measures, targeting civilians, targeting the cities he is unable to take by force. so we have to steel ourselves for that as well. >> congressman tom malinowski, thanks for your time, sir. appreciate it. >> thank you. still ahead, one day out from the texas primary, the first election day where voters will feel the effects of the state's very restrictive new voting law. we'll hear from voters on the ground in houston, next. ground in houston, next.or can help you find the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers. when traders tell us how t ma, we listen. like jack. he wanted a streamlined version he could access anywhere, no download necessary.

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law sb-1 was enacted targeting early and mail-in voting. antonio hill has been speaking with people in texas. what are you hearing? >> reporter: good morning, chris. well, there's really been a range of reactions for younger and more able-bodied voters. some are too concerned. they plan to come out in person on primary day. they are okay waiting in long lines if they need to. but it's for older voters or disabled folks who have been expressing a lot of fear and concern, particularly around some of the changes sb-1 has made toearly and mail-in voting. 24-hour voting and drive-through voting were popular in houston during the pandemic, people who work long or odd-hour jobs. it's changed mail-in rules in a way that has been challenging for elderly voters who have been asked to provide the exact identification number they first

provided when they first registered to vote here. for folks who registered decades ago, they don't remember the numbers or numbers have changed and it's led to a 40% rejection rate of mail-in ballot, which has voters worried if they can't make it out in person to vote, perhaps their mail-in ballot won't be counted and they won't have a voice in this primary election, chris. >> tick through a few of the changes specifically and how they're playing out in real time. >> reporter: so, in addition to toez changes around 24-hour voting and drive-through voting that changed sort of the landscape around the way people were taking advantage of pandemic changes, there's also been new freedoms and movements for partisan poll watchers. so, that's worried some election workers and some voters here who are nervous that on election day there could be some tense confrontations at some polling stations. so there's been concern around that. then for the voters who try to

vote by mail but aren't sure that their votes actually counted, there's been confusion. here in houston, election workers have the resources to call voters and alert them that their mail-in ballot didn't go through, because this is the largest county, a populous community where they have a lot of election administrators and workers who are able to reach out to voters. but in many smaller communities outside of houston, they don't have the same resources and haven't necessarily been able to reach out to voters and flag them if something was wrong. elderly, disabled folks will have to find a way to come out tomorrow to make sure their voice is heard. >> antonio hilton, thank you so much. coming up, how will nato continue to respond? that's next. continue to respond? continue to respond? that's next.ead of taking pills every 4-6 hours, aleve works up to 12-hours

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now to an nbc news exclusive, new reaction this morning from nato's secretary-general on day five of russia's invasion of ukraine. joining us now, josh lederman in brussels. and an independent journalist and researcher who is based in

kyiv. josh, you just wrapped up this exclusive interview with nato's secretary-general. what does he tell you? >> reporter: i spoke to the secretary-general right after he had gotten off the phone with president zelenskyy of ukraine, and as he was preparing for a phone call today with president biden, and he gave us his latest assessment of the situation on the ground in ukraine, chris, saying it is unpredictable but that he believes russia underestimated the ability of ukraine to mount a resistance, and that's one of the reasons he says russia is facing many more casualties among its troops than it had expected. but there have also been growing calls for nato to do more, even though nato and the u.s. very firm, they do not want to get themselves into a war with russia, but there have been calls here in brussels for nato to enforce a no-fly zone over the skies of ukraine, which would obviously make it much more difficult for russia to operate there.

here's what secretary-general stoltenberg had to tell me about that idea. >> we have no intentions of moving into ukraine, neither on the ground or in the air space. i think you have to understand that brutal conflict that is taking place in ukraine now. at the same time, we have a responsibility to make sure that this isn't spiral out of control and escalate even further and becomes a full-fledged war in europe, involving nato allies. >> so you can hear there, chris, how much concern there is about the possibility of this situation escalating, becoming the kind of thing where nato could actually end up in a direct conflict with a nuclear-armed russia. so what these countries are doing, short of putting troops on the ground there, they are stepping up their support of arms to ukraine. the secretary general praising the decision by germany to start sending weapons to a country that's currently under attack. the first time germany has ever

done that. the u.s. also stepping up with more anti-aircraft missiles, as well as thousands of anti-tank weapons that they hope will make it easier and more powerful for ukraine to be able to stand up to the russian military, chris. >> olga, you're in ukraine. give us a little sense of what you're seeing and hearing right now, and what these last five days have been like. >> yes, well, i'm not in kyiv at the moment. i'm in western ukraine, in a location i don't want to disclose due to security concerns. and what we're seeing here in western ukraine is a massive influx of displaced people who are leaving the area where military action is currently taking place. in my house, we are also hosting six internally displaced people, some more have arrived today. so massive effort, you know, to help civilians and help them when they evacuate and refugees on the border.

but at the same time, heavy fighting is going on in the central and in southern and in eastern ukraine, around kyiv, and civilian houses were targeted on such a massive scale, there are at least dozens of casualties. we don't know the exactly number now. and military specialists say that cluster ammunitions were used by russia to cause a massive, you know, civilian loss of life. and that was happening as ukrainian and russian delegation were meeting somewhere at ukraine/belarus border. so russia is escalating, is clearly escalating the stakes. it's showing that it's ready to go, you know, after civilian population to indiscriminately shell and kill civilian population. the situation is very dire. it's very dire for civilians that are not able to leave the

cities that are currently under shelling. there are limited options of them to move on the road. there is a traffic -- the roads are clogged. there are not enough trains. so the situation is pretty dire on the ground. >> understanding that, is there anything that you see additionally that can be done by nato, that can be done by western countries, that can be done by the united states to help what we've known all along was likely going to be a refugee situation that could approach well into the millions? >> well, you know, assistance -- additional assistance should be provided to ukraine. we are already facing food shortages in some area. in karkiv and in the capitol, millions of people could be impacted by this. there are fuel shortages. i don't know how it could be implemented, but some kind of corridor should be established to provide, you know, food and fuel and necessary, also, medicines to those areas affected. the ukraine hospitals are struggling with an influx of

injured people, and there is a massive effort inside ukraine. people from different parts of the country, not affected by the war action, to send medicines to those parts that are affected. but it is not enough. we also need supplies from abroad. we need an international humanitarian effort. and at the same time, more, you know, pressure should be put on russia to stop this indiscriminate killing of the civilian populations. the sanctions that are great, you know, what has been applied so far is really very impressive. we appreciate that, but there are still other options to explore, such as, you know, sanctioning the russian and the gas sector in order to stop -- you know, in order to cut access to funds to continue this war. >> olga tolaruk and josh lederman, thanks to both of you. right now, still ahead, for the first time, a criminal trial is underway in the january 6th insurrection. what we know about this case and what it could mean for the hundreds of other people charged in the investigation. next. reds of other people chargd

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long-lasting relief with a revolutionary, rollerball design. because with the right pain reliever... life opens up. aleve it... and see what's possible. right now, jury selection is underway in the first trial stemming from the deadly january 6th riots. the defendant, guy wesley reffit, an oil worker from texas, pled not guilty to five felony charges. and while you may not know his name, this will be our first look at how the justice department will approach some of the dozens of other cases scheduled to go to trial this year. nbc news chief justice correspondent pete williams

joins me now. pete, what are you watching out for today? >> well, you know, more than 220 people charged in the riot have chosen to plead guilty, but guy reffit wants a trial, and unlike many of those who have pleaded, he expressed no remorse, in fact, he wrote a letter praising those who came to the capitol. he's not accused of entering the building, but the charges say he did tussle with the police outside. the government says he's a member of the far-right three percenters and the trial will feature some interesting witnesses, including 19-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. they say that when he returned home from texas, he threatened to kill them if they told the fbi what he did at the capitol. jury selection may take longer than usual, because one of the things that reffitt's lawyers have argued, is that they can't get a fair trial here in washington, because the capitol

riot affected so many people, so the task for these new few days will be finding jurors who can set aside what they know happened. >> you may not know his name, but fascinating stuff. thank you, pete. appreciate it. that's going to wrap up this hour. i'm chris jansing. jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart, and we begin this busy monday morning with the violent and intense battle for the future of ukraine. happening right now, talks between russia and ukraine, as ukrainian president zelenskyy pushes for an immediate cease-fire and as russia faces setback after setback, after encountering fierce ukrainian resistance. this as more women and children are waiting for hours, even days at train stations and at border crossings, desperate to flee to safety. the u.n. estimates over 500,000 refugees have already l