hard. we probably l are going through a dark and difficult time. but i have the sense, mika, listening to the ukrainian people, they will get out on the other side of it a free people. and the isolation of russia and the world community continues. foreign minister sergey lavrov began speaking via video remote from moscow, speaking to the u.n. human rights council. members got up and walked out, turned their back on him and actually left the chamber at the u.n. that, of course, comes before the general assembly vote on condemning russia. we will see how china, how india, the united arab emirates, and how other country who is think they can stand on the sidelines while this world crisis unfolds across the world, we will see how they respond. >> and the world will be watching. that does it for us this

morning. chris jansing picks up the coverage right now. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters here in new york city. it is tuesday, march 1st. we have so much to cover including an extraordinary speech from the ukrainian president, pleading with european leaders not to let down his country. that speech coming under the dangerous and deadly escalation in the war in ukraine as russia, frustrated by a lack of progress six days after it invasion, is stepping up attacks on civilian areas. this is video from this morning, a shell hitting an apartment building in a southern city where there's been intense fighting for days now. and it appears to be a russian missile hitting a government building in kharkiv's freedom square in the heart of ukraine's second largest city, a city now surrounded. at last count, roughly 660,000 ukrainians have fled their

country, an emotional and painful journey with no clear destination. >> putin, monster. >> putin is a monster? >> yes. >> he just kill. for those staying behind to fight, the toughest days may still be ahead. as we speak, a 40-mile-long convoy of tanks and arp mored vehicles is closing in on kyiv less than 20 miles from the city center, ukraine's capital bracing for the worst. it's vladimir putin's latest attempt to showcase russian power and demoralize ukrainian resistance, something he has not been age to do so far. the exact opposite, in fact, seems to be happening. ukrainians and the world rallying against vladimir putin. just a few minutes from now, secretary of state antony blinken will address the u.n. human rights council. nbc news has exclusively learned that blinken will question whether russia should be kicked

off that council. but i want to show you what happened earlier today. members of the council walking out of the chamber when russian foreign minister sergey lavrov began to speak. look at that. compare it to what we saw at the european parliament when zelenskyy addressed them with a speech so powerfully packed with emotion it left the translator on the verge of tears. >> can you imagine this morning, two cruise missiles hit this freedom square. dozens killed. this is the price of freedom. we are fighting just for our land. and for our freedom. nobody is going to break us. we are strong. we are ukrainians. we have a desire to see our

children alive. i think it's a fair one. yesterday, 16 children were killed. again and again, president putin is going to say that is some kind of operation and we are heeding a military infrastructure. what kind of military factors do they work at? what tanks are they going with? do prove that you are with us. do prove that you will not let us go. and then life will win over death, and light will win over darkness. >> i don't know when we've seen a trance lay or the have to pause to collect himself. when zelenskyy was done, he received a standing ovation. cal perry is in lviv in western ukraine, kirsten is in moscow, michael mcfaul is former

ambassador to russia. a retired admiral was the branch's chief of staff to europe. thank you to all of you. ambassador, i need to get your reaction to that speech, what you make of the impact president zelenskyy is having, shaping the die naum ek around this conflict, and i guess the central question out of that, michael, is in the end, can leadership trump ruthlessness? can leadership trump weapons and manpower? >> reporter: >> well, i, like everybody else, are completely in awe of president zelenskyy. remember, he was an accident accidental president, elected a couple years ago. he'd never been in politics before. lots of critics inside ukraine and washington, let's be honest. there are a lot of people in washington who didn't think he was up to the task before this war. he has proven to be a war leader like no other that i've ever met before. i hosted him at stanford six months ago. he seemed like an engaging man, wanting to do the right thing for his country, but i never

imagined he would rise to this occasion. and i've been in touch with some of his colleagues over the last couple days, asking whether he should move lviv to fight the resistance, and they all say he will never leave kyiv no matter what. i am inspired by him. you asked can leadership triumph over military capacity. in the long run, yes, without question. i want to be crystal clear about this. vladimir putin has no end game in ukraine. there is no way that he will sub you gatd this country after what he's done. what i don't know is can they resist his military attacks on kyiv, unlikely. you know, military people more qualified than i can talk about that. but we should not confuse that with winning the war and forcing the ukrainians to submit. they will never submit whether they are fighting with guns or

whether they are doing passive acts of civic resistance. they will never submit to vladimir putin. he will be fighting the ukrainians for the rest of his life. and someday, i am confident in predicting that they will win. >> keir, that brings me to you because obviously not just putin but all of russia is under increasing pressure. the u.n. rights council walking out. we saw that a moment ago on lavrov. putin is an international pariah. increasing reports of russian soldiers, they don't understand why they're being told to do what they're doing. then of course the economic pressure. how is all of this being taken in in moscow, keir? >> reporter: as you can imagine, we are working as hard as we can with the sources and contacts we do have here in moscow and with the russian government to try to understand exactly who is influencing president putin, who is his inner circle, if you like. i think it's fair to say that

there is a degree of dysfunction within the russian government. so, for example, where you're showing minister lavrov, the foreign minister with that speech where, for example, he talks about not letting ukraine gain nuclear weapons, well, first of all, of course, that's nonsense that ukraine was trying to gain nuclear weapons. but aside from that, it's a rehearsed talking point, a talk point from before this conflict began. i think there are questions about whether some members of the russian government really have that much contact with president putin. we've seen the distance that he puts between officials, between his bankers, between his military officials, even when he talks to them on camera. i think there are questions about exactly if who is in the know and who isn't within the russian government. and of course that just adds to the concern and the questions about how decisions are being made. conversely, what we have had just in the past few hours is

this message from the russian defense ministry, and it reads as frankly a warning to kyiv. they talk about that they are preparing to launch high-precision strikes. it goes on to say we urge ukrainian citizens who are being used by nationalists to carry out provocations -- a description, a piece of propaganda russia uses -- as well as kyiv residents residing near relay stations to leave their homes. so, clearly, there's a were going on on the ground and also a propaganda war, and that kind of messages is designed to frighten people in kyiv. but we have already seen this increasingly -- allegations of use of cluster bombs, for example, so in other cities, so i think that kind of warning from the russian military defense should worry people, frankly makes your hair stand on end because it does seem to suggest that they are preparing

for a more bloody assault on kyiv. >> so, colonel, i want to get your military take on this, but let's go in country first because we have our folks who are going to tell us exactly what we're seeing. cal, let me start with you and what's going on where you are. >> reporter: so we are at the main train station in lviv, and what we're witnessing is the deteriorating humanitarian situation. this is one of the main points for food. so many of the folks who are fleeing here from the fighting in the east have brought nothing with them. they left so quickly from the fighting that they need food. next to, that you have a medical checkpoint. as you look at this train station, you'll start seeing people flow out of here. these are people who are freshly fleeing the fighting. so many people are here with nowhere to go. mark and i will try and cross the street and show you what's happened in the last two days. they've built an encampment and trying to support this sea of humanity that is fleeing that you hear keir talking about.

it is so many women and children because, of course, military age males between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country. you can see this is a red cross facility that has just come up in the last 24 hours. and, chris, it is cold out here. it is wet. what they've done is they've brought in all of this wood and they have started to create these little encampments -- you can see they're burning it here, you see folks huddled around here. this is a scene that's playing out throughout the night. excuse me. it is cold. as i said, chris, this scene is playing out all across the western part of this country. as folks are trying to make their way to poland, so many folks, because there's a limited amount of trainings here, are getting stuck here for long periods of time. so you have a government that is not just trying to support a fight at the front but is trying to support again a civilian population that is being displaced. more than 660,000 people have already left this country.

but that number does not account for the now millions of people who have been displaced, who don't have anywhere to go. so we are starting to see the beginnings not just of a humanitarian crisis but of humanitarian organizations coming here in large numbers to try to support this situation in ukraine that seems to just ever be deteriorating as the russians continue the widen their offensive, chris. >> cal perry, thanks for that, and please be safe, you and your crew there. colonel, let's talk about where this leads us militarily. obviously you just heard from cal the increase in civilian targets, fears kyiv could be put under siege, kharkiv surrounded. where is all this headed as you see it right now? >> well, unfortunately, it's a continuation of a real mess that the russians have got themselves in. their military forces continue to be road bound as we've seen from the satellite pictures.

the ukrainians are defending with a vigor that has placed them in the admiration of the entire world. the russians have got a problem. those units, those mostly mechanized units, are road bound. the thaw that is slowly starting to take place over there is really going to impact their ability to maneuver those mechanized units in those open fields that we also get pictures of. we used to call it general mud or marshall mud. it's real. and what you have is a beautiful modern tank that's going to go nowhere if it gets off the road. and all that makes for ukrainians is a much easier targeting situation. so, this is going to continue with the -- if the russians are going to try to invest or lay kyiv or any of the other major

cities into siege, what they're going to have to do is dramatically increase the number of their forces in country, because when you have a siege, you not only look inbound towards your target city, but you have to look behind you. you have to have forces prepared that are looking behind you, and that's where the ukrainians are going to be coming in and launching that guerrilla warfare. so, it's quite a fi the russians have got themselves into. and hats off to the ukrainians. their defense has been absolutely extraordinary and you have to give them credit. >> so i guess, ambassador, then, the question becomes how does putin think he can get out of this fix. everyone day brings more sanctions, more international and economic pressure. nbc is reporting new intel suggesting that while there's nothing to say that vladimir putin is unstable, it suggests he's frustrated and isolated. we see where he's seated 20 feet

away from the folks who are supposed to be his closest advisers. if he feels he's running out of time, peoples the walls closing in, what could that mean? >> two things. building on what keir said, i used to be the ambassador in russia. i've known putin for 20, 30 years. i've listened to probably more putin speeches than any american. i don't have to read the intel to know he's becoming increasingly unhinged. you can hear it in the way he speaks. when he's threatening nuclear war, you know he's becoming erratic. he is completely isolated. i want to underscore that. he has been for years. it was christmaser bapted under covid, but he thinks he knows everything. he doesn't listen to anybody. he doesn't listen to anybody. he thinks he knows everything. he sits out at his compound. he rarely talks to people. and internationally, he feels like he has no peers except xi

jinping. that is dangerous. an isolated megalomaniac. the change in tactics is happening right now. he had one kind of shock and awe hope that he could bomb a little bit and they would flee and zelenskyy would go to poland. that didn't work. now he's moving back to more traditional horrific russian tactics, the tactics of chechnya, the tactics of syria, where civilian targets become part of what they do. study what they've gone before. chechnya. groezny. i fear he shifted in that direction because he's so frustrated with what has happened so far. he's underestimated a lot of people, i want to be clear, not just the ukrainians. he underestimated them. he overestimated the will of his army to fight. they have all the capability. i listened to four dozen videos of captured soldiers last night and you listen to them, they

have no idea why they're there, why they're fighting. he's underestimated the support of his people and underestimated the support of the west, the unity of the west, and that makes him a very frustrated, isolated, angry leader right now. >> ambassador michael mcfaul, colonel brendan kearney, cal perry, keir simmons, thank you automatic. coming up, with sanctions squeezing the russian economy, big businesses here, gas companies, sports organizations, even film studios are putting their own pressure on moscow. we'll dig into the impact that could have as this conflict continues. but first, a powerful moment posted by ukraine's ministry of foreign affairs. you can hear and see children in kyiv playing uno and singing the anthem while hiding in a bomb shelter during rocket fire. ♪♪

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russian-based companies. bp and shell dumped their stakes in two russian gas giants. in the sports world, the nhl and fifa took steps to punish russia. and in hollywood, multiple studios are pausing russian releases, and that's not even close to the full list. let me bring in cnbc's andrew ross sorkin, co-author of "squawk box" and founder of "the new york times" deal book. >> great to see you. >> i know different companies are different. gives us a reality check. how much of this is intended to hurt russia? how much of it is simply concern about instability in russia and ukraine? how much of this is pr? >> i think more of this is symbolic than anything else. it's not going to have a huge impact, but hopefully will send some kind of signal to putin about the way the west and the rest of the world is going to think about doing business with them in the future, especially if things continue to spiral in this way. right now, when i say it won't

have a huge impact, the truth is, this is not going to have an economic impact in russia. oil and gas is the business of russia. commodities are the business of russia. and so, until and unless europe effectively says we're not buying oil and gatherings at all from russia, you're not going to be able to say it's anything frankly more than sort of symbolism here. having said that, i will say that you see companies like bp and shell as you said selling their -- selling pieces of their business that were connected to russia. exxon has a relationship with a russian energy company as well. so, that is a little bit of a different situation. having said that, as symbolic or not as that may be, in some ways they're selling those businesses now on the cheap, and guess who the beneficiary is? it will be sold back to russia. they'll be the beneficiaries because they'll be selling it at the lowest price point, and the

truth is that the value of those assets are still going to have real value unless and until the rest of europe and the rest of the world doesn't want to import the oil and gs from russia. >> to a lot of people who don't understand the way the global economy works, which is most of us, it sounds insane, almost like putin has us in a box, american people sitting at home and thinking, well, i'm already seeing it in my gas prices, i live in california, they're telling me i might see $6 a gallon, and there are potentially other economic repercussions. what are americans looking at right now? it's something the president will have to address tonight in the state of the union. >> absolutely. this is part of the larger inflation story we're seeing in the united states and is being exacerbated by the situation in russia, in part because to the extent we'll be exporting oil and the like and others are, as well, to make up for some of the sales that hopefully will not be sold from russia, that's going to push up the cost across the board.

the question, of course, is what can be done about it. and the answer unfortunately is very little. the federal reserve, we expect to be hearing from this week, planning to raise interest rates. maybe that tamps down some demand a little bit, but this is, as we've talked about, a supply story more than anything else. >> andrew ross sorkin, always great to see you, my friend. thank you. >> thanks. up next, back to ukraine and talk to a musician and former member of ukraine's parliament who's now traveling from city to city doing everything he can to help and inspire his fellow citizens. most people believe that america recovers when our middle class recovers. so senate democrats are fighting for them, speeding up vaccines, getting people back to work, rebuilding the roads and ports our industries need to grow, lowering costs and cutting taxes. but mitch mcconnell is fighting too, for the same wealthy insiders who get rich by keeping prices high.

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taking the time to be with us. you're originally from kyiv but i know you've been traveling around the country, going city to city, trying to help people, inspire people. tell us a little bit more about what you're doing and what strikes you about the people you're meeting. >> first of all, let me give you -- express gratitude for all american people and americans rooting for us. it's very important that you help us by all means that you can because i just listened to the conversation before you were discussing economic impacts of the sanctions u.n. imposing on russia for americans. you suddenly care about it, but i need to remind you, this guy, putin, sitting in the kremlin resembles us hitler a lot. and we all remember history, and like other nations we're hesitating to stop hitler before 1939, before 1940, 1941, because

they didn't want to pay economic price. and then one day they pay 100 bigger price. so i'm not saying that the big war is coming, i mean, bigger war than just ukraine, but we couldn't imagine one month ago that putin would shell ukrainian cities and kill ukrainian children and women, so this is a crime that will never -- it will be punished anyway. so it's very responsibility to know that the more you help us now, by all means you have -- money, military equipment, military aid, the harsh sanctions on russia -- the closer to victory not only for ukraine but the whole democratic world. this is very important that everybody understand. and i know that america is on the first line of that because you do understand that. just be -- don't hesitate to do more. it's very important. the more you do now, the quicker

we end this horrible, unbelievably unhuman situation which is going on now at the center of europe. this is my message. >> it's clear, slava, that americans are in awe of what they're seeing by your president, by the ukrainian people, and so you're on the ground there not just in one place but you've been going around the country, traveling from city to city. talk a little bit about where that comes from, what you're seeing. >> so -- so, look, everybody needs to do -- people doing their best. some of the people go, defending the country, military on the front line. there is a territorial defense, guys defending their checkpoints and their cities. there are people who just do, you know, this molotov cocktails and barricades, so everybody does what he or she wants -- she

can. i'm helping the way i can because everybody in hospitals and in regiments, in the units, military units, they want me to come and to say something to them because i assume that my voice is important for them. we go to hospitals and military units and other places, so i talk to people and explain why is it important to stand. i say to them that the more we resist, the more time ukraine resists, that better results will be not only for us but for the whole world. so i'm doing whatever i need, whatever they need me to do. i'm traveling the whole country. i'm going to kyiv and back and forth. unfortunately, i can't tell you where i am now, but next day after i'm posting, you know, all this on the media so people understand that the whole country is working, fighting, and resisting. and believe me, money and

military equipment works, and it's very important. but also spiritual and emotional support is very important for us. that's why my next message is not only for american citizens but for all american and world celebrities. we appreciate for your support, but the more you come, the more you talk, the more vocal you are, the more people inside the country are inspired. when they see world stars they adore supporting them every day minute to minute, people get wings, and with wings, we will win. david force, david fighting against goliath. and we really are david against goliath. as the bible says, we will win. >> that is an inspirational message to all of us. we ask you to stay safe and thank you for the work we're doing. >> thank you very much. and god bless america.

>> thank you. still ahead, house speaker speaker pelosi says congress will provide any help ukrainian needs. what does that look like? and what about more weapons and ammunition? you heard the call the ukrainian are asking for. i'll ask congressman gregory meeks next. hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this. your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, like asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee. yeah i should've just led with that. with at&t business. you can pick the best plan for each employee and get the best deals on every smart phone. ♪ ♪

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these are pictures from kyiv where russian missiles took out a government building and new reports a missile striking there, this one hitting a hospital just hours after lawmakers in d.c. got a classified briefing in which administration officials underscored just how badly ukraine is outgunned against russia. new york democratic congressman gregory meeks is chairman of the house foreign affairs committee and he joins me now. thank you so much, congressman. one of your colleagues, elissa slotkin, says she feels whatever ukraine needs the u.s. needs to give it to them. do you agree with that? and if so, logistically can it be done? and how quickly? >> i think it can be done and it will be done quickly. i've talked to most members of the bipartisan foreign affairs committee, and we are looking very quickly as the request comes in to make sure that the ukrainians gets what they need. you know, it's critical that we continue to support the three-track approach that the biden administration has pursued, and number one is providing the equipment that is

necessary to help them defend themselves. that is clear. also we have to provide humanitarian assistance to ukraine, and the european nations which are dealing with the influx of refugees right now. so that's what we have to do as well as using the economic and other tools to hold russia accountable for its treasonness actions. >> there's the military side of this, and of course congressman, the humanitarian side. there's a growing movement for the biden administration to offer ukrainians protected status so they don't have to worry about being deported back home in the middle of the war. half of your district was born in another country and you know the challenges. should ukrainians get temporary protected status? >> yeah. i would lean towards saying absolutely at this stage of the game. i am planning at some point to try to go to the borders myself and see what's taking place there.

usaid is there now. there are additional dollars that they are putting forward to help on the humanitarian crisis. but i think everything's on the table and we getter look at everything because of the camera of history is rolling and seeing what we're doing in this crisis with someone as evil as putin has turned out to be, destroying democracies and killing innocent men, women, and children. it is clear that i think that he's going to end up in the hague when this is all said and done. but, yes, i think on the house foreign affairs committee, i would hope and think the same thing would take place in the senate foreign relations committee, that we'll unite as one. that's one of the things that i think president biden has done a tremendous job of is uniting everyone. we wouldn't be where we are now, strangling their economy, if president biden hadn't brought along all of our european allies. now you see a number of asian allies, everybody in lock step -- turkey, even hungary,

poland. everybody is working together against this evil actions taking place by mr. putin and working together to make sure that the country, an independent country known as ukraine, stands and continues to fight for its democracy. >> even -- >> it's absolutely -- >> go ahead. sorry. >> the young lady is absolutely right. i was in ukraine three weeks ago and i walked away from there absolutely convinced that the ukrainian people will fight for itself and fight for its freedom and its independence. all they ask of us is to give them the equipment that they need. that's exactly what you're seeing happening, and that's why i know we will deliver to them what they need to fight to keep their country. >> so even given that, given the evil that we're seeing, there are limits to u.s. involvement. for example, i want to play what press secretary jen psaki had to say about a no-fly zone.

>> here's what's important for everybody to know about a no-fly zone. what that would require is implementation by the u.s. military. it would essentially mean the u.s. military would be shooting down planes, russian planes. that is definitely escalatory. that would potentially put us into a place where we're in a military conflict with russia. that is not something the president wants to do. >> so, that's a no on that. >> those are all the reasons why that's not a good idea. >> understanding that president biden has been perfectly clear there will be no direct engagement, can you give us specifics of what more we can do and should be doing and what you need to hear from the president in the state of the union tonight? because the american people want to know exactly what we're going to do here. >> i think you can see what the president is doing. >> is it enough? >> yes. i think what you will see that's taken place is russia is isolating itself. they counted on division. they counted on the nato allies

not staying together. they counted -- the germans to be divided from the americans to be divided from the french. that has not occurred. that's why president biden has moved the way he has so that we can keep everybody on board. you also are starting to hear the crushing choke hold of the economy in russia and the number of people that are starting to demonstrate in russia itself. he's arresting a number of them. so, that is working. you see the strength of the ukrainian people moving forward right now. and i think in the future. and the other thing that president biden is doing is sending a number of our nato allies around the baltic region, strengthening those areas also, reassuring those allies that we're there, and should putin violate article v of the nato treaty, the eyes and our nato allies will work collectively to make sure we uphold democracy.

>> congressman gregory meeks, thank you. we appreciate your time today. obviously, there are a lot of moving parts and we are keeping an eye on all of them, including a speech by antony blinken, just wrapped up, prerecord remarks. we'll keep looking at the united nations human rights commission meeting and we'll keep you updated on that. coming up, president biden set to give his first state of the union address tonight, but with a ground war in ukraine and the pandemic, plus a global economy on edge, how will he sell an optimistic message to the american people? i'll ask dnc chair jaime harrison, next. every business is on a journey. and along the ride, you'll find many challenges. ♪

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even in a little seedling. which, when turned into fuel, can help power a plane. at chevron's el segundo refinery, we're looking to turn plant-based oil into renewable gasoline, jet and diesel fuels. our planet offers countless sources of energy. but it's only human to find the ones that could power a better future. just about 12 hours from now, president biden will go into a state of the union address against a landscape that has changed dramatically to say the least in just the past week. senior advisers say the president will still present an optimistic view of the future, but of course following the ukraine invasion there have been some notable rewrites to that speech, adjustments that could well continue today. nbc news is asking voters in one key county in nevada what they want to hear. >> i'm really hoping that biden

can, you know, help the nation come together, a sense of unity between everybody. i know there's a lot going on with politics right now, and everybody is pretty more done. i think there should be more -- you know, there's like a lot of promises that were promised. and that have not been fulfilled yet. student loans have not been forgiven. that was something that was -- he raced on. you know, he ran on that. you know, climate change is still an issue. >> i want to bring in the chair of the democratic national committee, jamie harrison. good to see you. look, we know the president wants to present this positive vision, but how does he address this -- and i think we heard it there, an overarching feeling of discontent, that we see reflected in the polls. how does he reset the idea of what the future looks like in the minds of americans who overwhelmingly say that things are getting worse.

>> i think he's going to remind america about where we were when he became president. he was a country gripped by covid. a country where our economy was beginning to crater. and this president, along with democrats in the house and the senate, stepped up and they made sure that we put money in pockets, that we put our people back in the jobs, that we had vaccines in arms. and we made tremendous progress. there's still a lot more that we want to get done. and he's going to lay out in his plan how we go about doing that. and he has a plan to lower costs. he has a plan to make sure that we increase businesses in this country. think about what has happened in the last year under this president. we have seen the fastest job growth in the history of this nation. we have seen the fastest economic recovery in the last 40 years. we've seen the fastest recovery of our economy, when we look at the other g-7 nations. >> and that's true, jamie. that's true. and the president has been saying that.

that will be nothing new for the american people to hear. but they're unnerved. they remain concerned about the price of gas, they remain concerned about the price of grocery. and while they've been moved by what they're seeing in ukraine, it is unsettling. can he rally americans, in the midst of their own domestic, economic challenges, first of all, around a war on foreign soil and around the idea that given the pair they're already feeling, that they should be willing to absorb some economic pain. that it's worth it to defend democracy. >> it is worth it to defend democracy. and i think president biden is going to lay this out. this is going to be a big speech. not only for americans hear at home, but it's going to be a big speech for the world as well. when you think about what this president has done and he is doing right now, he has united nato in a way that we have not seen in a very, very long time. where we got the former president who's out there talking about putin being smart and savvy, you've got this

president, who is fighting against putin with everything that we have as a nation and uniting nato behind the ukrainians. that's really, really important. but what you are also going to hear is president biden's plan for how we bring down costs for the american people, because democrats actually have a plan. our plan includes how we're going to make more -- make more in america in order to reduce the tensions on the supply chain. how we're going to reduce the cost of everyday expenses for many americans. we have defined plans to do just that. and the republicans, on the other hand, don't have any plans, other than increasing taxes on half of america in rick scott's plan, or standing or not even -- >> but i'm literally out of time, but is that argument exactly what that young woman didn't -- from nevada didn't want to hear. she's tired of setting up a scenario where it's us against them. and that sounds like what you're

doing. and i know you have to make that argument in a campaign, which is what a lot of folks are facing in november, but it's a fine line, isn't it? and i've only got 30 seconds, i'm sorry. >> listen, you know, this is always about contrasts. people need to know what we have done, as democrats, what we will continue to do, to work for them and their families and their communities. but they also need to know the things that people have done, the republican party, to stand in the way of the help that she's talking about. climate change, student loans, the reason why we can't get those things done, mitch mcconnell and the folks in the united states senate. she needs to understand that as well. but joe biden ain't giving up. he never gives up and he'll continue to fight for it zplp jamie harrison, it's good to have you on the program. thank you so much. we appreciate your time. >> thank you for having me. still ahead, we'll dig into the war that's being fought in cyberspace on twitter and facebook. and do these companies -- and what these companies are doing now about it. that's next. t it that's next.

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to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. developing this morning, another weapon in the war facing ukrainians. new and increasingly loud disinformation campaigns. major megaphone for propaganda. here's a case in point. look at these faces of one russian effort, irina and vladimir. they're supposedly journalists based in kyiv, but they're not real people. they're computer-generated images created for fake social media accounts targeting ukrainians on facebook, instagram, twitter. twitter and facebook telling nbc

news, they're actively removing accounts now and the pages of pro-russian networks. joining us, nbc news senior reporter, ben collins and katarina sadova is a research fellow and has family in ukraine. so ben, facebook, tiktok say they're also taking action. talk about the breadth of what's going on and what do we know about the impact that these trolls are having. >> sure, so, you know, russian propaganda has targeted ukraine for a long time. specifically in this case, with those fake faces that you just saw, the entire point is to make it look like ukraine is a failed state. and that they would be welcomed -- russia would be welcomed as liberators in ukraine. that's obviously not what's happening. as you can tell by the reality on the ground. russia is sort of losing the threat with its propaganda right now. both internally in russia. they're not getting the sort of widespread support that they

thought they would get. obviously in ukraine, obviously, it has completely backfired. any sort of idea that ukraine is not going to fight back against this is sort of off the table at this point. so you can, make as many fake faces as you want to make, and put them on facebook, but it will not change the reality on the ground. >> the fact is, this is another one of these surprising developments, because we saw disinformation in the 2020 presidential campaign. we saw it throughout the covid pandemic. and we saw that it had some impact. so, do you agree with ben that this is failing and if so, what does that mean. >> i do agree with ben. and thanks so his excellent reporting, we know a lot about this particular outfit. and its origins and the same troll farm that has tried influence the u.s. election. it is failing because it is tone deaf. it is failing because in order to succeed or to have any impact, campaigns have to

connect to a grievance to have a colonel of truth or any connection, however small, to objective reality. and these outfits are pushing a narrative that is completely foreign to ukrainians, who see troops on the ground in ukraine, who see how well their president is performing. so trying to push a narrative that is distinctly pro-russian and distinctly anti-ukrainian is absurd, including the fact that the narrative that they've been trying to push, that a democratically elected, jewish ukrainian president is a neo-nazi. that is completely absurd and that's why these outfits are failing. >> in our final minute, i have to ask how your family is doing and are you able to be in communication with them? >> i am in communication with them for now and i do appreciate you asking. they are hunkered down in kyiv. they are not very close to the subway system, so they are trying to do the best they can to stay out of shelling. they are ill at the moment, running fevers. but i hope they get better and

i -- i -- i, i -- i ask for everyone's support of ukraine at this difficult moment. >> we are seeing an extraordinary rallying around of ukrainians. and our thoughts are with your family. thank you so much, in the midst of all of this, of taking the time to talk to us. ben, thank you to you as well, for your great reporting. that's going to wrap up this hour. i'm chris jansing. jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. and good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart, reporting from our nation's capitol. we begin this very busy tuesday, the first of march, with the latest on the russian invasion of ukraine. while russian forces hit ukrainian cities with heavy shelling, new u.s. intelligence describes putin as increasingly frustrated by his military struggles in the region. today, ukrainian president zelenskyy accused russia of undisguised terror and renewed his pledge to defend kyiv. we have