11:00 p.m. in kyiv where like much of ukraine they are putting up a stiff and determined resistance against russian troops. a bid by vladimir putin to up end the post code war order is under way. there are reports of massive explosions like captured here by bbc news notice east. in the west they escalated on kharkiv. that city has been the site of some of the most intense fighting. a senior u.s. defense official says that the ukrainians still hold all major cities and the russians are frustrated by the intensity of the resistance with the troops russia amassed outside of ukraine inside that

country. the fighting continuing even as ukrainian and russian officials met for peace talks in belarus first time since the invasion started. those talks lasted a few hours with agreeing to a second round of talks. diplomacy in the west is still focused on isolating and punishing russia. the u.s. announced that it is expelling 12 russian nationals from that country's mission to the united nations who the u.s. said acted as spies while here. russia reacted to the sanctions by the west intended to triple russia's economy by putting the nuclear weapons on high alert a pentagon calls unnecessary. the latest round of sanctions by the u.s. and the european union cutting often the russian financial bank. something that the west previously done with countries like iran and syria and

venezuela. all resulting in an economic crisis on the streets in russia. the currency the ruble plunged nearly 25% on monday and long lines formed at banks. as they have every day since the invasion started russians on sunday took to the streets in cities all across that country to protect the war started by vladimir putin. a watchdog group reported nearly 6,000 people raert arrests in protests inside russia. at least 2800 of them apprehended by police yesterday and that is where we start today. joining us live from the ukraine is nbc's cal perry and in moscow for us nbc international correspondent khas happening no and then take me through this u >> reporter: so in the east, we

are seeing heavy fighting. kharkiv, yesterday we saw ukrainian soldiers dismount -- russian soldiers moving into urban areas. described to me as a hell hole. the situation is deteriorating in kyiv. my access through the faces of people who are here in lviv. you have soldiers from here in the far western part of the country the front. marching past the front of the hotel. train station to the bus station. moving around trying to boll stefr the forces. many look scared. the refugees that are flowing into this city look terrified through hell to get here and the stories are harrowing because people are coming sometimes 600

miles through kyiv to drive here and then sometimes getting here met with sirens having to run to bunkers here. at the border, a 20-mile long car backup. they get out trying to walk to the border. sometimes they have to sleep there. last night it was snowing. freezing cold. people are in the open sleeping. more on the stories from people talking to them all day here and a little bit of some of what we heard. >> i want my home in kyiv. no home now. i am homeless. i am homeless now. putin who is stop this. this is very bad. this is very -- difficult. >> we are trying to encourage people from this area. now we try to stay calm.

as we can. but it is really difficult mentally. >> we also have a child. and so, for five hours we drove 2 kilometers in 5 hours. standing there. during the shootings, during everything. >> feeling very exposed. >> i said cover my son with your body when it starts. that was all the we could do. but so -- then we left and then we drove for another 24 hours without sleep, without anything. just trying to get somewhere further. >> reporter: so where the numbers stand right now, half a million people according to the u.n. have fled the country. the majority of them crossing into poland.

we are hearing more than 135 nationalities have made that crossings. it is going to be in the millions of those displaced. working for refugee organizations, they tell you on average after ten years of a conflict, after a conflict happened, 1 in 3 return to the homes. you can start to see how no matter what happens from this point on and i think we can all see that this is continuing and the negotiations today didn't stop the fighting and the country is forever changing. we heard president zelenskyy say he was applying for eu membership. it is unlikely to happen in a quick speed at all, the complications of a member are tremendous. there's a negotiating point but making a point. if this country would not a --

you could go to poland or spain or portugal and a fascinating point to make. talking about politics of european feeling like a throwback war and people responding to that. >> i'm so struck by your interviews because they're so different than three days ago when all that people could express is shock that putin did this thing, threatening to do but that despite the reporting and the intelligence that showed that putin could very well decide to invade ukraine people didn't seem to believe it. now they are refugees and fighters. can you tell me about those that they left behind to fight? >> reporter: so, military age males between 18 to 60 can't leave the country. it sounds barbaric. i will drop off the family at

the border. i spoke to a 19-year-old i think on friday and faced with this sudden reality. it was clear on his face that it hit him had not only the war arrived but the war arrived for him and he could not leave at 19 and say good-bye to his mom and he was going to the front and interviewed a doctor today with a pistol and a holster on. i said are you a doctor? a soldier? everyone said everyone in ukraine is a soldier. the doctor had fought in the east before and then other people, the younger generation, those i talked to are faced with the realization not only is the war happening but they will have a role in it. my last thought. president zelenskyy has emerged as a leader i don't think people saw coming. we had a president in the united

states who came off noik television and a president who was on "dancing with the stars" but he addresses the ukrainian people, the russian people in russian. a real moment and tapped into this idea that the ukrainians know what they are fighting for. they have this idea to fight for the homes and the way of life and survival. i'm not sure that that exists. it is a different society and talking about two different countries but there is an inherent i think advantage because of the narrative and that story and the teller, the person telling that story most consistently is president zelenskyy. >> keir, your reporting first i thought brought into sharp relief the divides in that country where as you remind us it is not a democracy. those people who are on the streets protesting are not

protected by a first amendment. tell me what that looks like. >> reporter: it is an autocracy. i was able to listen to a briefing from wirn officials about the view of the russian position which i thought was insightful today. the pentagon is saying that russia is surprised by the amount of resistance. western officials i was listening to today said that the battle plans that russia had in place had baked in this idea that president putin has been sharing including in an essay last year and multiple speeches have this idea that the ukrainians would welcome the russians. that they would simply kind of want them here. want them in ukraine and would have open arms to them.

i think that's insightful telling you the extent to which what is happening on the ground, the way that the russians pursuing this is dictated by president putin. i spoke to a former kremlin official and said the russians underestimated the ukrainian reaction. they also he said underestimated president zelenskyy and the reaction of the west and that gets us to the question of the sanctions. i do think that the kremlin is pretty stunned by the wave of sanctions. switzerland, neutral switzerland, imposed sanctions. if a russian oligarch isn't confident of the money in the swiss bank he is in trouble so this new iron curtain that is being put up between russia and the west i think it's surprising

the kremlin. stunning russians. i spoke to two russians today in a mall. talking about how they couldn't get foreign currency. one studied at mit and she said i'm concerned about whether i can get a visa for europe. here's another interesting aspect. you think back to the cold war and the soviet union. where i'm standing now in moscow was a place alien to people in the west. completely a different place. now, though, we are talking about in russia the 11th biggest economy in the world by gdp. that fabric is being torn, ripped apart. the economic implications of that for people here and the social implications. those russians said facebook is down. we think instagram will be down and can't use apple pay, can't

use the banking. interest rates doubling to 20% and the ruble crashing and the stock market closed at least for today and tomorrow and possibly the week. all of that is going to have an impact. finally we have seen the images of president putin meeting with the central bankers and financial ministers today. you get the wide shot and such a distance and paints a picture of a president isolated, even from his inner circle and takes me back to the beginning of this answer. really the question is, because president putin is in charge who is advising him and making the decisions? >> let me follow up with you. i have about 37 questions. i'll try to narrow it down to

two. hearing apple pay didn't work amy life so disrupted because of the conduct of my country's leader, i want to know who they blame. is it an opportunity to sort of hold the russian people over to the west or do they believe his take and blaming the west? >> reporter: look. i would just say one thing before i answer the question is people say apple pay, google pay, nothing compared to the ukrainians suffering from. but there are so many ties between the russians and the ukrainians that no matter what they are told in the propaganda they are hearing from ukrainians. i was talking to a russian official and she told me i have friends and loved ones in ukraine. president putin himself, an opposition leader, in ukraine.

godfather to his daughter. so the connections, the russians impacted and may be about to see an onslaught from russia and ukraine as president putin feels cornered. another as suspect to answer the question is there's a split screen between the people and the older generation. those people who are getting the information from state media. and the more middle class. the urban population. we don't want to exaggerate this president putin has support in russia. a lot. but i think you have to look towards the sociology textbooks and the history books and think about the way that change happens in a country and the urban classes and middle classes are a key part of that. a big question is what do the wealthy think?

we have seen oligarchs calling for peace. and then does president putin hang on because he has so much support amongst the rural population and older population? that's what to look at looking ahead and of course it is the early days. russia might be struggling militarily and dip plo mattically but they can turn this around and there's questions to be answered about how this plays out. >> i guess my question was more along the lines of the weapon being used against the russian people is an economic weapon. punishing sanctions and the only thing to feel from the west is economic but the last question for you is about the -- what happens next. nato secretary-general is saying while the russians suffered more casualties than expected and

probably disclosed to the population both countries potentially the human calamity ahead exceeds that thus far. what is the mood there on that very sort of tragic and sudden reality that vladimir putin has ukrainian blood on his hands and more could be to come as you said more brutal fighting ahead? >> reporter: yeah. could be more because those western officials that i was listening to today were suggesting that, for example, there are sign that is the russians are using artillery and bringing in other weaponry that is less accurate if you want to put it that way. more likely to cause civilian casualties and seen plenty already. so yeah. there is a fearful aspect looking ahead in the coming days and also the potential for russia to respond with cyber. we talked about this.

cutting off gas to europe. richard haas said to remember when it -- things that are a win for the west if you like are a loss for president putin and that that has implications. so i do think the talks despite the fact that -- despite quite a lot of cynicism here in russia amongst people that know the kremlin and officials that i speak to cynicism about the talks but the fact they're talking at all that potentially has a little bit of positivity in it. looking ahead is unknown and one of the biggest unknowns is you and i, kind of talked about what's going on in president putin's head. that's a big unknown. >> sure is. cal perry and keir simmons, two of the finist journalists at

this motor vehicle and covering the story. thank you so much for starting us off again. joining the coverage here msnbc political andist, former senator mccaskill on the set with us and retired vindman, best selling author and board member of renew democracy initiative. and max booth a "the washington post" columnist. colonel vindman, i follow your appearances wherever there are and want your take on what happened today in ukraine and on what keir and cal are reporting that things could be deteriorating. >> they are. it is a precarious situation. day five. they have not gone well at all for russia and they have gone pretty well given the fact that ukraine has taken the brunt of this offensive.

the offensive is stalled and russia committed large portion of the force without achieving and probably the critical objectives to secure the major cities including kyiv. what does russia do now? they had this battle plan that was designed on the false assumption of peacekeepers moving in and welcomed in. the soldiers being captured have no idea why they're being shot at. a lot of them. it's shocking because it's so far -- such a foreign concept or anybody from the u.s. military perspective. and there's a very good chance that putin doesn't end here and does a major escalation and does the kind of things he has done in syria and starts to bomb the population kreptders. the problem is the kinship

between the russian and ukrainian people that don't want the war. told that this is a peacekeeping operation to remove nazis and that's false. and the russian people have not had to bear the cost yet with regards to casualtys. those seem to be pouring in by the thousands by ukrainian accounts. if that is true that is a lot of casualties. during afghanistan 15,000 russian soldiers died. 45,000 -- 5,000 have potentially died here and the sanctions haven't been priced in so putin has a lot of instability to face in the short term that he wasn't counting on. he counted on a swift victory. he has bad options likely to get worse as the campaign grinds on.

>> let me show you reporting from my colleague allison barber of -- as i keep saying the museum calamity unfolding. >> we must go because -- to dangerous. to stay. >> what did he tell you to -- with your little sisters? what did he say to do with the family? >> told me that i must protect them. and that they are the whole family and be strong. >> that was a 15-year-old ukrainian with his sisters told to protect the whole family and be strong. this is vladimir putin's doing. but vladimir putin has leaders at the highest party of once we belonged until thursday and i

think amongst some of them still. what is the stain on the american republican party as this human tragedy comes into focus? >> it is staggering to think that it was a few days ago that former president donald trump described putin's war of aggression against ukraine as an act of genius. a really smart move. that is staggering. most popular political leader in the republican party and tugger carlson within the republican party is just as pro putin. you would think that this could be an opportunity for a reorientation, a gut check, a turning away from the direction that the republican party has been on for several years but i thought the same thick after january 6, the attack on the capitol. i thought finally this might make republicans come to the

senses and break with trump and you would think that now seeing the kind of hell that putin and his criminal regime unleashed on the poor people of ukraine might cause republicans to think why are we following fans of putin? why are we going down this path with a proud heritage as a republican party to resist what was called the evil empire? after ail that we have seen the five, six years i have little faith in the republican party. >> i share the pessimism. mitt romney calling them morons. this is who we are. let me show you what the current president's press secretary jen psaki said on the air earlier

today. this is important to know about a no fly zone. implementation by the u.s. military and shooting down planes russian planes. that is escalatory and puts in a place in a military conflict with russia. the president wants to be direct with the american people about what he will do and not do. he is not sending u.s. forces into ukraine to fight a war with russia. and he thinks it is vitally important to be direct with the public about that. >> from the beginning in the aggressive effort as this conflict has as colonel vindman said goes into the fifth day they have been everywhere.

cajoling the allies. and they have been clear about what the u.s. will and will not do. what do you make of this moment in the biden administration? what's your take of how they're doing so far? >> of everyone who's a republican not so anxious to blame biden for the sun coming up in the morning i think a clear-eyed view of what is going on right now shows that biden and the administration first they got the information out there that ruined the putin plan to have an excuse for this murderous aggression. they did that first. secondly it appears that they united nato that had been -- by the way, can i add an aside here? >> anything. >> trump saying that he strengthened nato is almost as bad as putin saying that the ukrainian government is full of

nazis. these are both liars. big, fat liars and it is so frustrating in a moment when the country should come together and frankly realize that what biden has done has been pretty darn effective. think about this. the ruble crashed. they can't open their stock market. the interest rate went to 20% overnight. the oligarchs' money is frozen and we have effectively figured out how to clamp down on them milking the money put aside to deal with the sanctions. economic and overnight biden in conjunction with the western allies have not only become united but made russia pariah. the athletes can't compete in

the olympics. this is a guy more about that than he is caring about the russian people. >> no doubt. we're just getting started. when we come back, more of the panel. president zelenskyy's former adviser will be a guest and the world coming together with the sanctions. there's more the u.s. can do in the fight to secure global democracies. now with refugees streaming into borders countries the families ripped apart forced to wait for hours and days in freezing temperatures. the challenges awaiting them and how the world can help them. all that and more when we continue after a quick break. ak

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have been prompted to call for an emergency special session as the level of the threat to the global security has been equated to that of the second world war. or even higher following putin's order to put an alert russian nuclear forces. what a madness. if he wants to kill himself, he doesn't need to use nuclear arsenal. he has to do what the guy in berlin did in a bunker in may

1945. >> ukrainian ambassador to the united nations today clearly invoking hitler while commenting on vladimir putin's decision to put russia's nukes on high alert. colonel vindman, you were the first to speak on this program extensively about preparing ourselves for what's happening, exactly what's happening. i wonder if you can take a step back and just talk to me about the players, about what putin underestimated about zelenskyy and about what you think when you hear the analysis ant putin's seeming isolation and everyone seems to edge it instability. >> yeah. so maybe i'll start with a sad note and then a happy note and start with putin. he's actually the same guy he's been for a long time. there's a consistency in his action and the consistency is also on a trend line of

increasingly provocative behavior. coming to power on the impression that he was going to sustain the fledgling russiian democracy. in fact very quickly he cracked down on opposition. he cracked up on oligarch that is had influence in the system. and proceeded to consolidate control. in 2004 he got a candidate to usher him in to office. the rhetoric increased in 2005 and 2007 as a result of reversals and the slipping grip on the former russian periphery and by 2007, in response to nato half measures, the announcement of georgia and ukraine joining nato he attacked, basically established a trap of sorts and

attacked georgia. you can see the trajectory. since then he's poisoned adversaries. nuclear weapon materials. put bounties on american soldiers. interfered in elections. we had wishful thinking about the relationship. he fed on the hones that we could have a good relationship and then the feefrs of a breakdown in relationship with a nuclear power and it is the inaction, the failure to uphold the values and interests with this man that brought us to this point. this is a conflict coming. this is inevitable in many ways and this is due to trump and trumpism with opportunity. zelenskyy is the lion of ukraine, of europe. he is certainly risen to the

occasion as a jewish ukrainian. i take personal pride in calling him amongst our numbers. he is leading the free world in opposing surging authoritarianism. he may break the back of surging authoritarianism because i think his fortitude and that of his people may very well spell the end of vladimir putin and somebody that the european union should welcome in with open arms. this is not just about economic benefits. this is about the future of the european union and getting the blood and new blood, new power of ukraine to empower the european union to be an enable tore the free world.

i think there will be accommodation for ukraine into joining the european union on a trajectory. >> max booth, the colonel arranged the not so perfect call with president trump and president zelenskyy. he talks about trumpism and impact of five years of trump's not just rhetoric but conduct of blaming and taken putin's word over did intelligence agencies and always, always, always boosting putin and denigrating nato. the ex-chiefs of staffs feel the greatest accomplishment is keeping trump from leaving nato. i wonder if you can speak to not just romney's point but the insanity watching the ukrainian

people watching youtube videos how to make the molotov cocktails. >> i'm very grateful at this moment that joe biden is the president and not donald trump. imagine what would have happened to the unity of the west with a u.s. president saying that putin's invasion is an act of genius. it is hard to imagine the countries getting together to impose the painful sanctions on russia or send weapons. it's a huge, huge difference who is in the oval office and staggering to see trump try to claim credit for keeping nato strong or standing up to russia but it was the opposite trying to blackmail ukraine into helping him politically and talked of pulling out of nato. he talked of putin as a friend.

to focus on trump and the administration with fiona hill or alex vindman or secretary mattis or others pursuing a different policy but pretty much all the people purged by the end of the trump term. there's not going to be any adults in the room that's going to be the maga pro putin chorus in charge so it is just frightening to imagine who can happen if trump comes back into power because right now i have never seen the free world more united against russian aggression and that unity will be history with trump. >> i reported this last week a former prosecutor said the

conduct of pompei, carlson, trump, hawley had nothing to do with unfinished business of paul manafort. it had to do about the future and russia so good doing in '16. and the hope and expectation without anything to do -- special counsel that russia migd help them should they represent the republican party. i don't think people appreciate how precarious things are and the allies do. trumpism is alive and kicking as an undercurrent and struck by how many people in that movement liked trump with the anti-war promise. that they saw him as an isolationist and muddled and messy but backing a warmonger like vladimir putin isn't part of what they thought they had

for the $19.99 on qvc. >> max is right. this is when we need to hope. you sense the unity among the american people supporting the ukrainians. we have been here before. right? we know what it feels like when the country unites. we know when people who love freedom and democracy when they unite and that's happening right now and zelenskyy is doing a great job of communicating and leading and meanwhile i think americans need to understand josh hawley needs to understand. tucker carlson needs to understand. they're the stars of russian television right now. trump and carlson are all over russian television because putin wants them to believe that america in thinks like that they do and not representing america

right now and you would think that most republicans would know that. i don't know how they back this up and if he uses cluster munitions and focuses on civilian areas and thousands of civilians are murdered how does that work out for carlson and trump? not very well. so i really think this is a moment where anybody thinking about getting off the trump train now jump off before it heads into russia. >> thank you both so much for starting us off. president biden will give his state of the union address tomorrow night to emphasize the united response by the u.s. and allies leaving vladimir putin alone isolated on the world stage.

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unity that we are seeing at the moment is just spectacular. transatlantic unity, european union unity. we have a military support coming in and also if you look at the unity of the sanctions and everything i think you can really during the last few days we can see how much people understand where we are. >> ambassador to estonia to the

u.n. speaking to andrea mitchell on the unprecedented unity as the world strikes back against vladimir putin's aggression in ukraine. more than 35 countrys have announced sanctions against russia and the impact is devastating causing russia's currency to plummet leading to long lines at russian banks. the world defending ukraine's independence in a time when democracies have been threatened by the world's autocracies. president biden highlighting the importance of democracy in his state of the union speech tomorrow. he is reworking that speech to emphasize u.s. support of ukraine. joining us is congressman crow of colorado, a member of the intelligence committee and led a u.s. congressional delegation to kyiv to discuss the build-up in december. we were talking about that scene from "american president" where michael j. fox says i have a new

speech to write. do you think they're having that moment? i don't know if they are or not and if you do please share. what is your sense of what the world wants the hear from the president tomorrow night? >> i think there's a lot of things that have happened that people didn't anticipate like the voracity of the ukrainian independence. their ability to withstand on the onslaught of five days is incredible. president zelenskyy really shown himself to be an incredible combat leader, somebody that not just ukrainians but the world is rally around and made the case both publicly to the world and ukrainians for that resistance and also have as you mentioned a really unprecedented rallying of the transatlantic partnership, europe and the united states coming together to push back on russian aggression but that's

not accidental or incidental. this is deliberate. a work that the biden administration and others laid the groundwork for and starting to bear some fruit. >> you called zelenskyy a combat leader and got a physical feeling to that. his country is now putting down smartphones and their lives that they were living a world ago and building weapons in parking garages that are bomb shelters. what makes someone fight? >> you know, i don't know the answer to that actually. people mite think that i do. i served three combat tours in iraq and afghanistan. i have seen tough personalities, macho type individuals that shrink and cower and can't perform in combat and seen quiet

insular folks show incredible bravery and can't tell what's in the heart of a person until that moment arrives but ukrainians rallied. president zelenskyy rallied andk hard. this is going to be a long fight and the odds are still stacked against them. russia has overwhelming combat power. they are adapting. they are changing. they are learning. they're fixing their problems. so this is going to be a long haul for sure. >> when you were there in december, what did they ask for, and at this point, how can we get them -- they're asking for more weapons. i know president zelenskyy would like the air space closed. president biden has said we will not do that. but in terms of what they need and what would help, what can you tell us about that? >> well, we're not going to close the air space, and i've seen and heard these calls for enacting a no fly zone and let's be really clear what that means. that means going to war with

russia, and that's not what we're going to do. we're not going to have two of the world's biggest nuclear powers in europe going to war. that's not a tenable option. what we can do is do what we have been and that is expediting the movement of weapons, defensive equipment, communications equipment, vehicles as quickly as possible. the european union is doing that. nato is doing that. the united states is doing that. but we have to do it faster, and we have to make sure that we're protecting the land transit routes from poland, largely, into the main cities to get them the weapons that they need to continue to resist. >> congressman jason grove, it's always a pleasure to talk to you. thank you for spending time with us today. quick break for us. claire and i will be right back. y quick break for us claire and i will be right back.

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we block suspicious content... and we prevent fraud with monitoring and alerts. want to be virtually invincible? try for free today. how anybody in this country, which loves freedom, can side with vladimir putin, which is an oppressor, a dictator, he kills people. he imprisons his political opponents. he has been an adversary of america at every chance he's had. it's unthinkable to me. it's almost treasonous. >> it is treasonous, and you're in the camp of -- and i think if i could translate mitt romney, almost treasonous to mitt romney, makes to the rest of us, it is treasonous. you're in the camp that this president and white house should

be ripping up the script and giving a powerful speech. salient political points. the country is very much united, and i think the country may have been lulled into and disinformed along the way about putin. he is what john mccain said he was, a short, murderous thug, and he's now at war with a democracy in europe. talk about the opportunity for president biden. >> this is an opportunity that comes along very rarely in presidential politics, in any political setting, and that is, there is unity. and what did joe biden run on? he ran on unifying the country and getting over the illness that was all about trump busting norms, of telling the truth and respecting the office. so, if he wants unity, i really -- if i were in his office, i would be saying to him, tear up the speech and make this all -- i mean, if he could get a screen in there and have zelenskyy come in and give a

short, thank you for supporting us and this is important, i mean, he could have the first state of the union speech in my adult life where we weren't counting how many times people were standing up or sitting down based on what side of the aisle you sat on. >> or you could bait them and say, stand up, if you think as donald trump does, that vladimir putin's clever. >> or he's a genius. pause, everyone, clap and stand up if you think putin is a genius. this is a moment. he could make it all about ukraine, freedom, and it would be great. >> i hope your phone rings. you'll be here for the hour but she's free at 6:00. the next hour of "deadline white house" starts after a quick break. hour of "deadline white house" starts after a quick break. well, people may think that their contracture has to be severe to be treated, but it doesn't. if you can't lay your hand flat on the table, talk to a hand specialist. but what if i don't want surgery? well, then you should find a hand specialist

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if ukraine does not survive, international peace will not survive. if ukraine does not survive, the united nations will not survive, have no illusions. if ukraine does not survive, we cannot be surprised if democracy fails next. >> hi again, everyone, it's 5:00 in new york, midnight in kyiv, marking the end of the fifth day of war in ukraine. earlier, delegations from russia and ukraine held talks in belarus. after a few hours, both sides agreed to a second round of talks. but as the talks were under way, reports of explosions in kyiv and bombing in the city of kharkiv were, according to ukrainian officials, dozens are dead and hundreds are wounded.

according to a senior u.s. defense official, russia's main objectives seem to be capturing those two cities, the two largest in ukraine. the official says russian troops have advanced about five kilometers closer to kyiv in the last 24 hours and are still about 25 kilometers outside of the city. what we've seen over the past few days has been a massive display of force and resistance by the ukranians, who have slowed down russian forces. whole columns of tanks and armored vehicles have been wiped out, and yesterday, ukrainians in kharkiv were able to stop russians from gaining control of that city. in the face of this ukrainian strength and resistance and increasing economic sanctions, vladimir putin escalated tensions even more yesterday, ordering his nuclear deterrent force to be on high alert. today, the u.s. took an aggressive economic step, announcing it would ban all american businesses from dealing with russia's central banks. meanwhile, other european countries are also taking major

steps, many of them unprecedented, to penalize putin for the invasion of ukraine. switzerland announced a freeze on russian financial assets, a notable departure from its typical neutrality. and germany stated that it would increase the country's defense spending and green light arms deliveries to ukraine. this weekend's stunning sights, all across the world, as people are standing in solidarity with the people of ukraine. despite threats of arrest, many russians are protesting in their country their own leader. in berlin, approximately 100,000 people took to the streets. london and new york city saw thousands standing with the ukrainian people and in opposition to vladimir putin. even in south africa and australia, people are voicing their support for ukraine. that is where we start this hour. joining us now, igor, a former advisor to ukrainian president

zelenskyy. he's currently in ukraine. we're not going to ask you where you are, for your security and that of the people around you, but i just want to start by asking you how you are. >> well, first of all, good evening, and thank you for having me. well, i can tell you, i'm very close to kyiv. a matter of a few miles. i'm fine. my family's fine. obviously, nobody's prepared us for this. you know, it's like basically playing "call of duty" one night and then waking up in it the next morning. but we find we have had two ballistic missiles land in kyiv, literally two hours ago, we heard the explosions. the house was shaking. apart from that, we're getting used to the situation. >> igor, what is your sense of putin's plans for the next days? is it your sense that he wants to target and kill civilians? is it your sense that he wants to take you prisoner? i mean, what do you think you're

facing from putin? >> well, look, first and foremost, i have no doubt of what's going on. i mean, people think it's some sort of way to kind of build back the ussr or something like that, but for president putin, undoubtedly, this is a war of genocide against the ukrainian people, the people who are the foreign side, the people who are living proof to the russian people and to the people around the world that, you know, there's liberty, there's freedom and there's human rights beyond the kremlin walls. so what we're seeing now, obviously indiscriminate bombardment of civilians, especially in kharkiv, because in that area that was she would today, there's nothing of military importance in the vicinity, so that's issue number one, but also the problem with this genocide goes even further because we're seeing pictures of explosions and tanks destroy

residential buildings but there are maternity wards that are being attacked. babies are being born in the subway. there are people with diabetes with no access to insulin. the situation is horrible, and it's deliberately horrible, so russia, at the moment, is not acting like it's yugoslavia back in the '90s. russia is acting as if it were nazi germany back in 1940s, basically, last century. so, it's terrible, and people need to pay close attention to this. at the same time, i mean, i want to give you some cause for optimism. what ukrainian people and what ukrainian president have shown over the last five days is deep resolve. we're united. we are not going to give up. we're going to fight to the very last breath that we have. not only for us but for freedom, for liberty, for human rights, and for the right to live in the

21st century rather than the medieval times, and this is our objective, and what's even more amazing is that lots of people who should have left stayed. for example, my family, i mean, i tried to convince them to get out, because we have two small kids, and my wife just said, look, no. until our home. we're not going anywhere. you're the father of the family. you're the husband. defend. but we're not going anywhere. >> are you scared? >> no, no. this is not adrenaline. this is just an understanding. look, i was born in donetsk so i've seen this happen eight years ago to my city and i'm seeing a repetition of this in kyiv, the city i love. if kyiv falls, next will be lviv, and after that will be warsaw in a few years or sofia in bulgaria or berlin or washington, d.c. you're dealing with a person who has no respect for any --

anything that makes our world civilized, so he's not going to stop. the only way to stop him is to push back, and you have to kind of have that courage to say, this is where i make my stand and hopefully it's not going to be my last stand, and that's what people around the world need to realize. >> igor, what are the ukrainian military and the civilian fighters up against with the russians? are the russians -- have you heard anecdotally, you know, are they enthusiastic? are they aggressive? are they demoralized? i mean, do you have any sort of anecdotal evidence of what the fighting looks like? >> well, it's very different, depends on where you are. i mean, in some areas, we've seen russian soldiers just kind of drive around the village until the petrol runs out and

then kind of leave their equipment and run towards russian border. so, on the other hand, we've seen chech chechen fighters shooting indiscriminately. we've seen unlawful executions of civilians. i'll give you one example, the reason i'm slightly shaken up because i have a 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter and a nanny who's living with us in the house, and her cousin and her sister's husband have been killed today in northern ukraine. by russian shelling. and that's daily occurrence, unfortunately. i mean, literally, you wake up, you call your loved ones, and you don't know if they're still alive. and we're talking about one of the largest countries in europe, and the country that literally a week ago was sipping espressos in coffee shops, and music was playing, people were falling in love. i mean, it was pretty much like

new york or l.a. or any other place in the world, right? but literally overnight, we woke up in the worst kind of reminiscent situation of the second world war. >> igor, please tell her that we are so sorry for her loss. i wonder if you can tell me what your understanding is of what's on the table in the peace talks that started today in belarus. >> well, first and foremost for president zelenskyy, it's important to stop the loss of life. i mean, i keep saying that both president zelenskyy and his chief of staff, they have displayed what i would call a very rare quality for politicians, respect for human life and that humility, so basically, if there's any way to stop this war without surrendering, we want to do that. but unfortunately, at the same time, on the same plate lies

homeland, our security, our future, our right to choose our future, and i'm afraid we'd rather die than give up on that. and like last but not least, i keep praising our president today, but he deserves that praise because for the first time in ukrainian history, we have a truly ukrainian president. we have the president who, you know, there are two types of people. there are politicians and people. and he's not a politician. let's put it this way. neither is his chief of staff. and we're blessed with that, and that gives us cause for optimism that we're going to make it through. >> what is his message to all of you every day? i know that he's spoken to the country every day since this started. >> he just released his latest statement just now. it was a very solemn one because he was paying tribute to the

fallen heroes and awarding medals to fallen soldiers. but look, with president zelenskyy, one nuance needs to be explained to the western audience. the reason he's so much adored by ukrainian people at the moment is because he's got that real interesting symbiotic relationship with his people. so basically, he's not making decisions. he's literally organically channeling the consensus on the ground, so basically, he's a portrait for the ukrainian nation, and that's important. we look forward to those messages daily because it gives us hope. if he's still there, it means we're still there as well. and i think that's one of the reasons why one of the main objectives for russia is and was to physically eliminate him and those close to him. >> you advised him. do you have any window into -- i

mean, i'm so struck by what you just said, that a week ago, being in kyiv was like being in new york or chicago, having coffee, scrolling through whatever you look at on your phone, and you can tell the people that ran to the subways for shelter and you talked about the babies in the neonatal unit that were down there. there was a real sense that this wasn't going to happen. here, we were describing putin's plans to invade your country as imminent for days and days and days. can you help us understand whether putin is just such a menace that that's always what he says and maybe people didn't think it was real, or why that disconnect? >> well, first of all, look, i think what's happening on the ground in ukraine now is probably the best proof that

ukraine was prepared. everyone is shocked at how good our response to this aggression was. with war, you have to understand one thing. there's no way to prepare for brutal war of extermination in the 21st century, so you kind of make yourself comfortable with that idea, but there's always a glimmer of hope that is just crazy rumors that are not going to come true. secondly, and more importantly, i think, look, president zelenskyy, within the last month, running up to the invasion, was trying to break through that wall of bureaucracy. so the west knew what was going to happen. the west had high probability understanding of what's happening. and yet the sanctions only rolling out now. did thousands of ukrainian people really have to die for the west to understand that there is no alternative to severe, suffocating sanctions on russia? the west is learning that lesson now with weapons shipments.

we'll fight them with our bare hands if we have to, but do we really have to? ukrainians are, at the moment, portrait children of the free world, so there's this saying that kyiv is the capital of freedom now, and president zelenskyy is a temporary global president of freedom. so, do we really have to protect it with our bare hands with the world standing by and just watching? that's the real tragedy here. but look, i'll leave you probably on the brighter note. some people, and i have been told in a number of interviews that i resemble jimmy fallon somewhat. >> yes. >> yes. but eventually, look, first of all, now i look what jimmy fallon would look like if putin ever attacks the u.s., so kind of watch and learn. and secondly, look, i've literally lost five kilos. i used to be the chubby version of jimmy fallon but i think by the end of this conflict, i'm ready to face him.

i'll be his complete doppelganger. >> igor -- >> you have to find positivity in everything. >> i have to ask you this. i mean, we have military analysts on who just sort of look at the tanks versus the tanks and the troops versus the troops and the weapons versus the weapons, and they say, you are so outmatched. david vs. goliath. but here you are, hunkered down with your very young family. your nanny has lost some of her family members and you have this ability to try to make me laugh, to end your interview with us with some optimism. what is that? where does that come from? >> i would say that's ukraine. that's what ukrainians are like. i'm probably not an exception, but look, two kind of main things i want to stress here. first of all, the serious note. look, ukraine, during the revolution of dignity, eight years ago, you had hundreds of

people storm this hill in central kyiv with wooden shields, with light fire snipers shooting to kill, and people didn't stop. they didn't stop, and they made the snipers run away simply because they wouldn't give up, and to anyone who's a genocidal maniac, when you shoot at people, they fall, but the rest of the people keep moving, that creates cognitive dissonance, and it scares you beyond belief. so, that's trait number one. trait number two, why are we like that? we're the most creative freedom-loving nation in the world. we live to live. we don't live to exist. and that's incredibly important. it's all about being positive, even when faced with the gravest of dangers. we have more anecdotes about what's happening on the ground than the solemn kind of factual notices so that's very telling. people, please pay close attention to ukraine. we deserve it. >> igor, i'm going to ask you

one more question. what are you bracing for tonight? what do you think the last 12 to 24 hours hold? >> you can never tell. some nights, when we thought it was going to be quiet, it was hellish. as a father of two small daughters, i can tell you, definitely not my first choice to have my children wake up to the sound of ballistic missiles landing like ten kilometers away. so at the same time, some nights, like last night, for example, we expected heavy bombardment because we know what putin is like. we had to live with him for years now, so we know he's spiteful. he hates ukrainian people, and he's here to destroy and exterminate. so we expected heavy bombardments yesterday but it was relatively quiet compared to other nights so tonight is unpredictable. at the moment, we've had two ballistic missiles land in kyiv,

pretty big ones. i think two and a half hours ago, we had an air raid alert, literally 30 minutes ago, but it just got canceled so i don't want to forecast it because every missile landing is somebody's life, and you don't play around with stuff like that. >> igor, we'd love to have you back tomorrow to find out how the night goes and the day. we're so grateful to you for spending some time with us, really. >> thank you. >> thank you. please stay safe. i hope your family stays safe and all your neighbors. thank you so much. >> thanks. when we come back, we'll bring in the whole panel on what we just heard plus the overwhelmingly tragic refugee crisis now unfolding all across eastern europe. half a million people, many of them make a different choice than igor. many women and children forced to flee their homes. where they're going and who's helping and what you can do. later in the program, then, back here at home, a day with real importance in the effort to hold responsible those involved in the deadly capitol

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joining our coverage, julia ioffe, founding partner and washington correspondent for puck news. also with us, nbc political analyst ashley parker, "washington post" white house bureau chief and with us onset for a second hour today, senator claire mccaskill. claire, you had to hear me sort of gasping when i wasn't on the air. i mean, i find it breathtaking

that in a moment when so many people make the sane choice to leave the country and keep their families safe, here is a former advisor to president zelenskyy, close to kyiv with his young family, fighting. >> let's remember there's 44 people in ukraine, and the estimates are a half a million have left. >> so far. >> so far. and that means, at the moment when it got really scary, the vast majority of ukrainians said, we're not going anywhere. and it's that fight for freedom that they are representing so well now, and you know, i was struck by the images of zelenskyy, how macho and strong he looks in his combat gear and out among the troops, and the irony is, that's what putin's schtick has been. here he is in some isolation booth at the end of a long table, looking weak and irrational and what worries me is the more zelenskyy looks

strong and proud and brave, the more irrational putin is going to get. and then i'm really worried for igor's family. >> julia, it was stunning to hear him call it a genocide, that they're being targeted because they are a democracy. by vladimir putin. your reaction? >> i'm a little bit -- as much as i support ukraine in this, i'm a little bit uncomfortable with people throwing around the term "genocide," which has a very particular meaning, and while this is an unprovoked war of aggression, i don't know that it meets the definition of genocide. that said, it's amazing to watch, in realtime, how the west is discovering ukrainians for themselves and falling in love with them. people like me who have studied the region for a long time, this is what -- this is why we're

addicted to the place. and i have to say, it's not just that ukrainians are fighting for democracy. they certainly are. but i think the reason you're seeing the zest with which they're going into battle is because they're fighting for their land, they're fighting for their homes, and what's been striking to me is that these are a lot of the images, if you make them black and white, they look just like the images from june/july 1941, and russians fought like that too, and they would -- if they were invaded, they would fight like this too. they'd also be doing drive-by molotov cocktail bombings of occupiers' tanks. the difference is they're not. and you can see that in how russian soldiers are fighting and how unmotivated they are, how most of them didn't know where they were going, probably on purpose, because i doubt the vast majority of russian soldiers want to fight ukrainians. putin's not wrong when he says these are brother nations, which is what makes this war so

horrible. there's an aspect of civil war to this. but what you're seeing in ukraine is people fighting for their land and their homes. there's nowhere to retreat, and that's why they're fighting so heroically and bravely. >> julia, i was struck by igor's comment when i said, you know, what do they do? what does it look like? and he said, the russians will drive around the perimeter until they run out of gas and then, i think he said, sort of scamper up to the russian border. what is your sense of, you know -- and i put it to him. every analyst comes on that's looked at the russian military and the ukrainian military and says, ukraine's totally outmatched, but here we are on day five, and everyone's sort of bracing for russia to snap back or make that sort of uneven mismatch dynamic more felt. what is your sense of what's going on, militarily? >> well, i think things are not

going according to plan. this is not what russia had in mind. they thought that they would be in control of the country by now, and they aren't. they're getting bogged down. they haven't seized a lot of territory. they haven't taken any major cities or towns. this is not how they thought this would go. they've lost a lot of soldiers. they've lost a lot of hardware. again, not what they planned for. i think what you're seeing now, though, is -- yes, go ahead. >> i was going to ask you, do you have -- i haven't asked because i don't know if there is a reliable set of numbers of lives. do you have a number of lives lost on either side or of humans injured on either side? >> i think a lot of those figures are coming from the governments themselves and are not always reliable. i think the russians, for a long time, were saying that there were zero casualties while the ukrainian government was saying, as of a couple days ago, that the russians had lost something

like 3,500 men already. the russians said zero, but now they're saying some are missing in action. so i think we're going to have to wait a while until something more reliable comes out. but it seems that it's becoming bloody. what i was going to say in response to your question is, what i'm worried about, watching twitter and watching american tv, is americans love an underdog story. the ukrainians are so lovable and brave, and they're totally winning the informational war with these incredible videos and memes, and cursing out russian warships even at risk of certain death. but it's only been five days, and the fight ahead is a long one, and as you saw in kharkiv today, there's a reason that so many of us got worried when we saw that. that's what we've been expecting, and we expect to see a lot more of that because -- and i personally do, because i just don't see how putin backs down on this. he doesn't like to lose. he doesn't like to back off. and he certainly is not going to be humiliated militarily by what

he sees as a small, weak, and failed state. so, i worry that this is going to be something like a chechnya or syria scenario where he levels cities or carpet bombs civilian areas. we started to see that in kharkiv today. and also, i think, even if they do seize the country, i don't know that that means they win, because clearly, the 40 million-plus ukrainians are not going to take that sitting down. we're going to see a lot of -- we're going to see a long, bloody, grinding insurgency. >> i mean, ashley parker, just pick up on what julia's talking about. what is the aim of the peace talks? >> well, the ukrainians went into them being pretty clear that they were not expecting a particularly great or immediate outcome, but obviously, from the biden administration to president zelenskyy's comments,

even as the biden administration, it's worth noting, sort of from the very beginning, operated on two tracks, one saying, you know, we want diplomacy to work. we want deterrence to work. and the second track, which was both public and private was saying, we believe that this is going to happen, and that putin is going to invade almost regardless of what we do, sort of a scramble to stop the inevitable. that that top option, of course, was not russian aggression, was not an invasion, was not what we're seeing now, so that is the goal of these talks. but nobody is particularly optimistic right now. >> ashley, you have an incredible piece of reporting, 13 days inside biden's last-ditch attempts to stop putin in ukraine. i wonder if you can tell us sort of based on that body of reporting and how this has gone what we should expect tomorrow night from president biden in his state of the union address on this. >> a couple things. one thing that was striking in reporting this is that piece,

just watching this unfold and reporting it in general, is how accurate, actually, american intelligence has been. there have been some things here and there, but contrasted to the run-up to the iraq war, the administration has found information, it has been quite spot on, and again as we and others have reported, they have strategically declassified it and shared it with allies and with the public to try to get the world on board, so the administration in certain ways would hope that their intelligence was less accurate, because what it basically pointed to was this, but what you are going to see in the state of the union will be president biden giving, in some sense, the most up-to-date assessment of where this stands. that is what he's basically done since he came out and a couple times now has spoken about the ongoing crisis, but one thing that will be interesting to watch for and i think is an area where he has struggled, according to some people i've talked to, though certainly not

in his inner circle, is he often casts this in terms of autocracy versus democracy and those values, and he has a good story to tell about how the u.s. has really led with holding the western alliance and nato allies together, but we have not seen him give that sort of uplifting rhetoric specifically about the ukrainian people. i think as julia said, america has been incredibly moved by their stories, but that is very much from the images that the public has seen on twitter, on social media, from the ukrainian president in his daily videos. he's putting out. it's not been from the words of the american president. that would be a key area to watch if this is the high-profile address he is able to sort of lift up some of their stories to the broader macroprinciples of, again, democracy versus autocracy. >> just back to the opportunity. i mean, you know, max boot said thank god joe biden is

president. the opportunity he has to tell a story about america, again, standing for the stuff president joe biden thinks it should stand for is there for the taking. >> yeah, and remember the disrespect that trump showed the american intelligence community. >> day after day. >> and as i said at the time, on a seat, on the armed services committee, as i pointed out, to witnesses in front of that committee, the vast majority of the intelligence community are, in fact, america's military, retired and active, so when you really dis america's intelligence, and i think this is a good time for joe biden to remind the country that we are fortunate -- those people labor in secret and silence. they never get parades. they don't -- we don't have a day for the ic community. they did good work here, and they are part of the reason that putin is on his heels right now and i hope he gives them some recognition tomorrow night. >> i want to thank all of you

for being here longer than we'd anticipated. and i want to give you a quick last word, julia. >> i totally agree with senator mccaskill. i think the biden administration in releasing, in great detail, intelligence that turned out to be incredibly accurate paved the way for the russian military not only to get bogged down but also for this unified response from the west. i mean, to see germany rip up 30 years of post-cold war military and geopolitical doctrine is incredible, and there was no -- like in 2014, there was no fog of war. there were no little green men, and we don't really know who they are and what's true or what isn't. this is the result, this clarity of what's happening and this agreement on what's happening is the result, i think, of the biden administration and its allies in europe releasing intelligence and preparing the groundwork for the two months leading up to this. >> julia ioffe, ashley parker,

thank you so much for spending some time with us today. after the break, for us, a tragic consequence of vladimir putin's war of choice, hundreds of thousands of innocent people literally running in some cases walking for their lives, fleeing westward. what has become a humanitarian crisis. we'll talk to someone with firsthand experience helping displaced humans next. e with firsthand experience helping displaced humans next.

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me and my kids and my mom, we are going to tralona bartkowiak travel to poland first. i don't know which way now. i'm going to try to guess. it's really hard to do now. >> we are a ten-people group. lot of people are still waiting there without food, without a lot of things. >> as the time passes, it's more and more difficult for people to stay and keep quiet and calm. >> train by train, i'm waiting. when that will be. and i hope they are here. i don't know. i'm not sure. because we cannot call because she does not have room. >> oh my gosh, so you can't even communicate? >> no, because since they pass the port, they don't have roaming, so we have no contact. >> so you just stand and wait and look. >> yes. >> and hope. >> and hope. yeah. >> this time last week, none of those people were there. they were at home. they had heat. they had food. they knew where their families were. now, through absolutely no fault of their own, they have been

forced to flee, most of them heading west, bringing with them whatever they can carry. the part of a slow-rolling, incredibly tragic refugee crisis. we're talking more than half a million people, most of them women, children. many of them elderly. about 300,000 of them have so far crossed the border into poland. there are still days. >> long waits for trains and buses with lines of cars stretching up wards of 20 miles. joining me now, let's bring in retired lieutenant general russell honore, former commander of the joint task force during hurricane katrina. we led the security review in the aftermath of the january 6th insurrection. general honore, what are your thoughts as you watch this unfold? >> well, i'm encouraged by the courage and tenacity of ukrainian people. the solidarity of the soldiers to stay focused to protect their

country. but i'm in awe that the industrialized world, nato and the u.n., haven't been more active in helping with the intake of the people. in a disaster, you have to evacuate people. the mission changes the life saving. right now, the people at the border have a culture of wanting to check your papers, and we have a protocol because on the ukrainian side, they're vetting people on whether they are allowed to leave, and on the polish side, they want to see passports or some type of documentation. you know, i get frustrated going through customs in the miami airport coming from south america. because of the culture, everybody thinks you have to prove yourself. this is a war. this is a humanitarian evacuation.

the international red cross and the u.n. need to get it moving. if they want, i'll come help. i'll show them how the hell to do it, and put some exclusion zones inside of ukraine where people can assemble in tentage, where they can get gas for their cars inside ukraine and make this a human experience, because people are traumatized. i've watched on tv with dismay, women with little babies walking six miles, waiting eight hours to get to a border guard to show them their passport. they need -- they have to have a need for speed to save lives, nicole, and the u.n. authority on refugee and the international red cross should go in and put in tents, put in some intake, and you've got to be proud of the volunteers on the poles' side and the people from europe, but this should be an organized operation. hell, we put the 82nd airborne over there. they were with me in new

orleans. they know how to do this. we need to change some of the rules. i've always said, in a crisis, the first thing you do is figure out what damn rules you're going to break, and they need to open those borders up so people can get out. i suspect we'll end up with 10 to 15 million people evacuating and at this pace, it's not going to happen. >> general honore, what is the longer term? there is a crisis unfolding before our eyes and you're absolutely right but these are people who have left their country, left their home, and most experts suggest that they're not going to be able to go home for the foreseeable future. how do we help them beyond getting them out of there in a more humane, safe way? >> we got to have an onward move to a safe place. the hope and aspirations are, is that putin's generals will take care of him. at the pace he's going, there's no way he can continue to accelerate this slaughter and degradation of kyiv. if he destroys kyiv, there will

be more millions of people that's going to have to evacuate, because the infrastructure -- he has not, thank god, taken out the infrastructure. these 30-degree temperatures, if he takes down the grid, it's no way in hell those 40 million people can stay there. and thank god the grid is still up. but that being said, supplies. there would be no distribution of food. it would be in warehouses. so, it's no way to continue normal life once he turned that artillery loose and put siege, what i'm calling a siege in ancient war, in destroying that city. and if he does that, nato needs to get its big boy pants on and say, hey, if you do this, we are going to create a no fly zone. we're going to take your capacity from you. we're going to put some iron domes in there. we're going to put some damn patriots to give patriots to ukraine. we'll give them patriots and

iron dome and we're going to put a no fly zone. if you go to destroy the city of kyiv or destroy any other city. nato is acting like they're scared of russia. that's why they were created. they need to stop talking about what we're not going to fight the russians. you better put some damn conditions in there. the world is watching. that's how far you're going to allow him to go. >> general, i'm curious, there's been so much anti-immigrant sentiment. we've had a lot in america, but there's a lot of it in europe right now. can you talk about what impact these refugees could have on people who thought they wanted to close the doors of their countries to people that are in desperate need like this? will this be an opportunity that we could change, maybe, the political climate around refugees, at least in europe? >> at some point in time, all of our ancestors have been part of a refugee, throughout history.

you would think in the 21st century, this would not be the case. when we look at the last hundred years or the last ten years, much of those refugees were created in the middle east and africa, and now in central america and the caribbean, trying to come to north america. we have to be accepting and show the humanity and then solve the problems in those countries on where people are evacuating. look how many people had to evacuate from syria because of the russians and the assad regime and how they destroyed that country with a civil war. we've got to work on being more accepting. those people bring value, because they really want to be in their homes. none of them want to leave their home. but because of tyrants and thugs like russia, who because he has nukes think everybody's scared of them. nato needs to stop apologizing

about they're not going to fight. they better get damn ready to fight, because if he does certain things, nicole, the world is watching. >> we are indeed. lieutenant general russell honore, thank you so much for spending time with us, and being part of our coverage. we're grateful. claire mccaskill, thank you for spending the two hours with me. >> it's been great to see you. >> i'll see you. and we'll be spending many, many long shifts together tomorrow night. >> yes, we will. >> i look forward to it. after the break for us, he stands accused of entering the u.s. capitol with a pistol strapped to his hip. today, the first case having to do with the january 6th insurrection goes to trial. what the future holds for an anti-government militia member and the rest of the 1/6 defendants. militia member d anthe rest of the 1/6 defendants

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gsz . the first january 6th case go to trial began today with opening statements expected tomorrow. doj prosecutors charged an anti-government militia member with five felony counts including obstruction and entering the capitol with a pistol attached to his hip. his trial will be closely watched and set a benchmark for how the other prosecutions might proceed. let's bring in former deputy assistant harry litman and nbc news justice report ryan riley who is watching today's proceedings for us. bryan, fill us in. >> yeah, such a really

interesting look at the cross section that is d.c. you had everyone who is going through this jury selection process from, you know, a costco employee to a walgreens associate to a d.c. public school janitor. all the way up to the stepson of someone who actually served as former president trump's ambassador to canada and the united nations. so you really got this huge scope of d.c. some people were following it pretty religiously, you had a bunch of people in the middle who, you know, casually viewed this in the normal news consumption and then people just really didn't know much about january 6th at all other than it happened and that's about it. they didn't know what happened to the cases afterwards. they, you know, just watched obviously on the news the capitol attack unfold. it that's what diverse view from

these, you know, the huge cross section of d.c. today. >> harry, what are you watching for as this first case gets ready to be presented to whom ever is selected on this jury? >> the stakes are high. look this guy is a 49-year-old man from texas, comes with a rifle shotgun. goes to the riot and stopped with rubber bullets and doesn't get in. that is the narrow slice. prosecutors are entitled to show and they are going to show the whole panoramic view and story of what happened here. it's going to be the first time just as say the january 6 committee is trying to construct a broad panoramic narrative, that's what doj is going to do. they're going to -- the charges permit them to say here is everything that happened. . there is going to be video of mike pence and different

surveillance videos to tell the whole story. that matters at a minimum for the 375 other defendants in the wings if they tell it crisply, compellingly well, legally adequately, then those 375 are not going to want to fight. if on the other hand, the defense version will present something like this is really mainly political speech and if if it is a sort of muddled presentation by doj, that will change things, not just for the 3075 but there is really an ultimate audience here of the american people. it's the first chance to see the whole thing set out as a story, as a narrative, as a historical account that will will hopefully for the department hopes get purchase and really be the narrative that history begins to provide. >> do we know at all how long

the trials are expected to take? >> i think they'll take the presentation of the evidence to take a week brit goes to the jury. in the next week we'll see a lot of family drama, frankly. this is a situation where this guy's own son turned him into the fbi and provided more information. and alleged that his father threatened him about talking to the fbi. this is going to be a dramatic case in terms of the gun he carried and testimony from capitol police officers that protected the capitol that day and squared off with guy. the i think they have to focus one argument is going to have to focus on whether or not he is carrying the gun. there are photos that appear to be his belt. this he have to look at whether or not he was actually carrying a gun that day when is a critical part of this charge. >> with your help, we'll be

watching. thank you for joining us. a quick break for us. we'll be right back. a quick break for us we'll be right back. living with diabetes? glucerna protein smart has your number with 30 grams of protein. scientifically designed with carbsteady to help you manage your blood sugar. and more protein to keep you moving with diabetes. glucerna live every moment

thank you so much for letting us into your homes during what remains truly extraordinary times. we're grateful. "the beat" starts right now. happy monday. >> happy monday, nicole. thank you. welcome to "the beat." we begin with russian rockets slamming major cities in it ukraine today. more putin's military nearing the capital city of kyiv. the citizens are defiant. and they maintain they will will continue to put up their defense, their fight.