and good day. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington. as the western world rallies behind president zelensky, after his stirring speech from a bunker, pleading for membership to the eu parliament. he was met with a rousing applause and a standing ovation,

as european leaders unite in condemning russia's invasion. >> believe you me every square of today, no matter what it's called is going to be called freedom square. in every city of our country. nobody's going to break us. we're strong. we're ukrainians. now we're fighting for survival. and this is the highest of our motivation but we are fighting also to be equal members of europe. i believe that today we are showing everybody that's exactly what we are. >> his emotional speech after a brutal night in ukraine's second largest city, kharkiv. deadly explosions decimating neighborhoods and government

buildings, with civilian casualties, including children. the biggest concern is russian military convoy stretching for 40 miles towards kyiv. a line of tanks, heavy artillery, thousands of troops that could shift the dynamics of the ground war in the next few days. and new strikes in the last hour with russian forces targeting a tv tower inside the city. president zelenskyy posting at least five were killed in the latest strike. the war in ukraine will be front and center for president biden when he delivers his first state of the union address before congress. house speaker, nancy pelosi as we preview the speech. and i'll speak to the senator, who's the top republican on the intelligence committee. and joining me now is richard engel in kyiv and senior international correspondent, kier simmons in moscow. you're right there, including

near the tv tower. what can you tell us what's happening? >> reporter: we absolutely heard the explosions. there haven't been that many right in the center of kyiv. so, this one was quite loud. it echoed through the city. not very many people are out now. very few cars on the road. it is pitch black behind me. so, when you have an explosion like this, it is much louder, not sort of toned down by all the background noise of the city. and the television services, sch were -- seemed to be disrupted for a short period of time and according to the mayor, he said there was damage the mechanism of the tower and to the tv transponders. but they have back up systems working. so, it's another sign of resiliency here. but the big headline, i would

say, just came from a u.s. military official speaking to courtney kuby and others at the pentagon. it's about that convoy. the convoy now estimated to be 40 miles long with hundreds of armored vehicles and tanks. according to a senior military official, the convoy has slowed. it has been plagued with logistical problems, fuel shortages, food shortages and appears to have been perhaps a deliberate decision by the russians to regroup, reassess and take a pause before they continue. no indication that it is stopping. no indication it is not continuing to come to this city and carry out an attack but it has slowed and that -- the quote, if i remember correctly is we're not seeing it move very much. so, that, at least, is a temporary repreevl for the people of this city and one more thing before you move on. about the attack on the

television tower, this has been described by russia as am denazification campaign, all designed to get rid of the nazi and fascist overlords and allow the people of ukraine to have a new vote. it television tower is next to a site in the city ethat, in september 1941, was one of the sites of the world's worst acts of genocide against jews in ukraine. it was carried out while the city was occupied by the nazis and working with the local collaborators at the site over a two-day period, they machine gunned down 33,000 people. now, you have russia attacking next to that site, claiming to carry out a denazification campaign, killing people in a country with a jewish president.

so much for the denazification campaign. >> the civilian casualties as well. a little girl was seen -- can you speak to that briefly, richard. >> reporter: so, i believe you're talking about the girl in mare opal. she was six years old. at a supermarket with her parents. a shell. witnesses described it as a russian shell, landed. they managed to take her to an ambulance but her injuries were too serious and she passed away. a photographer from the associated press was there and the doctor, who had been pumping oxygen into her lungs with a hand pump, looks to the camera and says show this to putin. and it expresses the deep frustration and outrage that people here feel at the growing number of civilian casualties.

we just came from a -- the main mother and children's hospital in this city and patient said tlds, mothers and young children have been moved down to an underground bunker and these were a lot of the children who were extremely sick, receiving oxygen, blood transfusions. they still need hospital attention but they're now with crates of potatoes and whatever supplies people are bringing to donate down in the subter in ian levels surrounded by rusty pipes. >> it's just horrific. in moscow. is any of this getting to the people in russia? >> reporter: well, come some of it will get to the people in russia, andrea. the state-sponsored television won't be showing those kinds of things that richard described. but people here, as we've mentioned many times, have their own connections to ukraine. there is still social media

here, albeit being slowd and restricted. so, people do have access to some information. different generations perhaps getting different influences. i think the big question is what influences are there over president putin? that message "show this to putin" that richard just described, i think the really big question is who is his in urcircle? what's becoming increasingly clear is that the cold tack titian that we thought was president putin may not be the president putin that we are dealing with and of course that is important because he is the general, the godfather, the leader, the man making the decisions. now, the people around him, for example, lavrov, those people are spokes people, even if lavrov is a foreign minister. but i don't think his connections are that close. we saw president putin dress down the equivalent of the cia

leader here in russia just a week ago. and his defense minister was put in place just about ten years ago. something of a yes man. so, who are the people who are giving president putin aadvice and what advice are they giving him? >> kier simmons, thank you so much. let's bring in our panel of experts. jeremy bash, former chief of staff to pentagon and cia. retired four-star general mccaffrey. and former ambassador to russia who's been studying putin since 1991. jason crow, a member of the armed services committee and former army ranger. first, you general mccaffrey. a senior defense official saying the advance on kyiv has temporarily stalled as they regroup, reevaluate their progress. what can you tell us about the military capabilities? it's now 40 miles long and they've got enough tanks,

artillery, thousands of troops according to the analysis we're seeing from the pentagon. >> cert anly the thing that jumps out at you -- now, i've commanded large formations of armor and vehicles. this is the most bizarre and confident looking invasion in the history of war fare. this looks like a parking lot. it's simply astonishing. it indicates bad planning at the operational level. and even when we're watching at the battalion level, they look tactically intaump can't. day frooiv of the invasion and they've made no serious intervention in kyiv, the capitol. ukrainians are still fighting capably. too bad they currently don't have any significant air power, ground attack drone capability left. but i wouldn't think that putin has paused this convoy. i think they're just balled up

beyond belief. look, if the ukrainians elect to fight in the city, 3 million people, this could go on for are a month, all the advantages then go to infantry, fighting out of buildings, tank system, mine warfare, it could go on for months. with catastrophic results. so, the russians would properly understand the global optics of this will be terrible. putin's on the verge of a victory. he doesn't know what to do. again mekzed potential influence of nuclear weapons, which indicates to me his mental status is shaky. >> congressman kroe, i want to draw on your experience as an army ranger. give our viewers your perspective of what this ukrainian resistance now and what seems like a civilian

resistance, what are they facing when they go up against the russian army when it does encircle kyiv as we expect in the next couple days? >> general mccaffrey is right. this has been a poorly executed russian offensive. but time remains on the russian's side. they still have overwhelming combat power. overwhelming advantage on paper. but the odds don't fight and win wars. people do. and ukrainians are far more fierce in fighting and resisting in a way nobody expected and they have the home advantage. that said, i expect vladimir putin will win at all costs, in his mind, regardless of the number of tanks and russian soldiers it costs to do that. we have to look at what we ecan do to sufort the ukrainians in stinger systems and other things to make this as costly as possible now. and looking to the future and how do we start setting up a potential resistance movement as

well? these urban areas just soak up infantry soldiers. i was in iraq in 2003. leading a group of paratroopers. it's amazing how it's hard to communicate, maneuver for the infantry units and theruption army does not have the number of troops to actually do that effectively, given the size of ukraine, the size of these cities. it would take far more than 200,000 troops and let's not forget the final thing. even though they have 200,000 troops, the russians that is, only a fraction are combat troops. so, you take a smaller portion of that and they have to hold an occupied territory. that's going to be hard to do in the weeks and months ahead. >> you've been watching vladimir putin for so long. we're told there is no formal new intelligence assessment about his mental status, despite what seems like irrational

behavior, two nuclear threats, as well as isolation. a lot of this could be the isolations from all but two trusted advisors and his blow up of his intelligence chief on television, on live television. we thought it was live in any case. tell us what you think in terms of what's going to happen if he's in a corner and still sees these setbacks? how bad could the assault on the civilian population be? >> well, andrea, he is very isolated. he has been for years. years. even when i was ambassador in 2014, our assessment was he didn't listen to anybody. he doesn't have two trusted advisors. they're all yes people. they're all afraid of him. it's not like they sit in the white house situation room and the president listens, what do you think, secretary? he doesn't do that. he's been in power for 22 years. he doesn't think lavrov or -- i

know all these people. i used to work with them. doesn't listen to a single one of them. second, covid has made it extremely worse. he's extremely isolated. he doesn't even come into town to the kremlin to work and his flow of information is all through intelligence sources. he's not reading newspapers, the internet, western sources. he's just reading what they feed to him and that, i think, creates this delusional bubble about what he thought was going to happen when he first launched this attack. i see two things happening. you don't threaten nuclear war unless you're frustrated. if you think you're winning, he would have never said that. that's a sign of frustration. second, he's moved to a different strategy. a strategy we've seen before in syria where they attack cities. and i if he happen fear that's going to lead to many, many more casualties. >> and jeremy bash, the

president has announced they do have an agreement with the international energy agency for the release of 60 million barrels of preliminarily from global supply reserves. 30 million from the u.s. but that's not even a day's usage of oil, which is 100 million barrels a day. i mean, the president's trying to soften the blows, the inflationary aspects. but he's facing a steep climb out of this. >> yeah, andrea. there are no doubt going to be second and third-order effects to our sanctions. i've been amazed at how effective our sanctions seem to have been, even in the early days. you look at the rubl collapsing 30%. it's now less valuable than a penny. you look at the fact that stock market trading has been halted for five days. you look at the fact you can't take withdrawals from spur bank,

which will cause a run on the banks. you can't pay employees, rent and the fact that the russian economy is in a free fall with countries like switzerland and other countries joining in the sanctions. a lot of american corporate and multinational corporations joining indiana boycotts of russia and cutting ties, including energy companies. he's experiencing these reversals on the battle field and he can't like the look of his economy right now. >> jeremy bash, michael mcfall. we'll be in the chamber tonight, i expect and our general mccaffrey, our four-star general. thank you all so much. and the end game. how does the war end for vladimir putin? and should the world be concerned about his bursts of anger? marco rubio, vice chair of the. e chair of the. (music)

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>> reporter: yeah, people are -- emotions are running very high here as you can imagine. people are donating a huge amount of supplies, including winter clothes for children. and we speak to one of these volunteers, who's mobilizing. he's a russian citizen and this is what he has to say. >>ium i don't like putin and this is a great sadness for our nations, for russians and i need help for ukraines, for refugees because i'm feeling shame. >> reporter: all of the people who are here tonight are volunteers. they're here to help refugees. the polish prime minister saying 100,000 refugees are coming to

this country alone every day. and the pressure mounting as well on other countries outside the european union to open their arms, doors to ukrainian refugees. >> thank you so much. and joining us now republican senator, marco rubio of florida, who is the vice chairman of the intelligence committee and senior member of the foreign relations committee. i wanted to read something from president zelenskyy and confirmed by the white house. that he and president biden have been on the phone, talking this morning. zelenskyy tweet is just had a conversation with potus, the american leadership on antirussian sanctions and defense assistance to ukraine was discussed. we must stop the aggressor as soon as possible. thank you for your support. so, are we doing enough? what more do we need do? what do you want to see from the u.s.?

>> i think what's happened in the last week is unprecedented. the russian economy is headed towards collapse. the ruble most certainly is. i think he thought he would get hard but not this hard. i think the first is -- and you pointed to it before i came on the air -- the unique aspects of the refugee crisis. that is largely wem sdwhn elderly and young children, whose fathers and husbands are still in ukraine and may make it back, may not. who knows when they'll be reunited. these are people that, a week ago, were living normal lives, going to work, and a week later find themselves in a tent city. that's something we need to keep an eye on and provide all the assistance we can to help them in the short term. look, putin can't win. he's headed to one of two directions. a very costly military victory or a quagmire, which his

military can't achieve victory. evil an costly military victory, he's going to have to stay forever and face an insurgency. he's fighting 40 something million people that don't want his forces there. he'll never be able to install a puppet government because the ukrainians will overthrow them and kill those people. i think we have to start thinking through the permiations of this. there has to be a real legitimate ukrainian state. i don't know why we can't support them even if it's an insurgency. >> what more can we do without putting boots on the ground, which would, as the president has said, and as nato has said, this would be an article five issue and ukraine is not a member of nato and it raises all kinds of problems. i don't know whether you think that's the right policy but that is the policy.

>> looking with an armed engagement between the united states and any nato country and russia is world war iii. and frankly, the ukrainians are not asking for american troops. they're asking that we continue to supply and equip them. and i'm not saying that this fight is over. i think the will to fight, which is one of the hardest things to measure, is extraordinary on the ukrainian side. there are real and growing questions about the morale and the technical capability of the russian forces. that said, if in fact putin is able to achieve, for example, a military victory, that doesn't mean he's won. because he'll face ukrainians that will fight him and carry that out. there will be a legitimate ukrainian government no matter what happens militarily on the ground. i still think there's open questions about how long and costly this is going to be from a military standpoint in ukraine. i think the costly war situation is probably his best case

scenario and that's not a good one. >> president putin has been isolated. obviously he's not travelled, other than beijing, under covid. we've seen the long tables. how he's only talking to a couple of people, very few if that. not taking advice. how concerned are you about his mental health, state of mind? one of your tweets was i wish i could say more for now. i can say it's obvious to many that something is off with putin. >> i'll tell you what's off with him is he's almost 70 in a country where the average man makes it to 72. he sees his legacy as being the man who brought russia out of the 90s and to great global power status, restored greater russia. ukraine is a big part of it. i thought he viewed this as his last opportunity to do it. i think this is a person who calculated differently than he did five or ten years ago.

this a man who's prided himself on emotional control and showed strong flashes of anger parent for everyone to see. the isolation piece is important. not just physical isolation. this is not a man whose underlings bring him the truth or bad news. it's nigh sense that he thought he would be greeted in parts of ukraine as a liberator. and the ukrainian resistance would collapse and zelenskyy would flee and he would be in control of kyiv. i don't think we should fall into the trap of assuming that putin today would make the same decision he would have made five or ten or fifteen years ago. a lot of the people thinking that way were the ones saying there's no way he's going to invade. it doesn't make any sense if he thought like an american. but he doesn't. he wants to be a great historic figure like catherine the great in russian lore.

and that poses dangers of escalation. >> are you concerned when he twice raised the nuclear threat? >> first of all, that's the military doctrine of russia that basically says in any conflict of nato, if they begin to lose, they would use battle field nuclear weapons to force everyone to the negotiating table. i am concerned about the fact that his country's deeply isolated now. their economy's in free fall, suffering humiliations on the baddal field. instead of looking like a great power, they look incompetent in many ways. what are his tools available to give himself bargaining leverage? he can either escalate military into something horrifying, threaten or carry out cyber attacks and he can threaten to use battle field nuclear weapons. i think that's the least likely option of the three.

but that's their doctrine. and i think he was reminding us of that. >> do you actually think he would use battle field nuclear weapons? >> i think no matter what his state of mind is, i think he understands if he were to use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield, that would trigger the third world war and he wouldn't go down as a historic figure because there wouldn't be anyone else to talk about it. but you worry when someone begins to run out of escalation options and left with things like attack space and cyber, that these things begin to escalate. that's the point. escalation at any kind -- what if the russian navy decides to ignore that order and proceed through and they're confronted by nato ships? now you have a nato conflict. there's a real danger in this. that just means we need to be aware there are dangers of escalation being underappreciated by some.

>> senator rubio, thank you so much. it's really important to have your views. we really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> the state of the union coming up. president biden preparing to address a divided america facing war overseas, declining polls, rising inflation. we'll talk about that and more with speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, when she joins us live. pelosi, when she joins us live riders! let your queries be known. yeah, hi. instead of letting passengers wrap their arms around us, could we put little handles on our jackets? -denied. -can you imagine? i want a new nickname. can you guys start calling me snake? no, bryan. -denied. -how about we all get quotes to see if we can save with america's number one motorcycle insurer? approved. cool! hey, if bryan's not gonna be snake, can i be snake? -all: no. this isn't just a story about science... but also good old-fashioned will and grit.

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you happen to be a dog. as the president prepares to address conress and the nation, the crisis in ukraine is growing more dire by the hour, as americans at home are increasingly worried about the economy. only 37% approve of the job he is doing. joining us the speak of the house will be sitting behind the president as he speaks to congress. i want to talk about our domestic issues and of course, overwhelming everybody right now is watching the horror unwinding in ukraine, the valor of these courageous people. we understand that president

zelenskyy, the white house is confirming spoke to president biden today for 30 minutes and president zelenskyy has said he wants a strong speech on ukraine tonight. what do you want to hear the president say to vladimir putin and the world tonight? >> well, thank you. andrea, it's wonderful, always, to be with you. a little over a week ago, a bipartisan group of members of congress, house and senate, were at the munich security conference. at that time, we were again united as we are now in our support. for nato. for the european union and their efforts to secure europe. and to support the people of ukraine. this is -- this is remarkable. the attack on ukraine is an attack on democracy. we all know that. the bullying efforts of president putin are efforts because he is afraid of the

democracy at his doorstep, which ukraine proposes to the russian people. so, for him to use this overwhelming strength of the russian military to go into a country because they are democratic, expecting them to welcome him, is just something that doesn't make any sense. we all salute and pray for the people of ukraine and again, we are are united in our respect and work and cooperation with the european union and nato as well as the g 7. tonight, i hope the president will give a message of confidence to the people of ukraine that we are there for them. we are there with military assistance. we are there with humanitarian assistance. there with loan guarantees for their economy. we are there with very severe

sanctions to punish putin and his economy and his -- i don't know what you would call them. his compatriots in his conspiracy against democracy in the world. we expect the president also to be talking about something significant in our further support for ukraine. >> and speaker, i see you're wearing the american and ukraine flags on your lapel. and when you were in munich, watched his speech, the courage of this man in rallying his country against overwhelming odds, including the fact that it has now been reported and we've not confirmed yet, but if you've heard anything to confirm they've actually used a vacuum or thermo barrack bomb against civilian populations, which

would be a war crime? >> again, when we were in munich, and a bipartisan way, we heard president zelenskyy. he came there and made his appeal. for help. he challenged the western security infrastructure, whether it's eu, nato, or the united nations, to say we're all here for peace but that's not what's happening in our country. to see his courage now. to stay there with the threat of russia coming in and attacking civilian sites, it's just -- it is a war crime. unfortunately for us, i mean not for us. for the situation, we cannot go in militarily. we can help in every possible way that we can with assistance, whether it's lethal, nonlethal,

humanitarian, economic and in every way. but to be drawn in to a conflict with president biden being such a unifier in all of this and president putin being a taunter for world war iii, it just can't happen. but to see the courage of zelenskyy. and not only that, to see the former president. they're not of the same president. but to see the former president on the ground there helping to lead the people of ukraine is a remarkable thing to see. and just determination of the people. so, we are at a situation in our lives, all of us who have observed war and peace over time, and know history, to see that this is highly unacceptable to civilized human behavior. forputen to go in there and attack civilian sites, to

make up stories about them. something must be wrong there and you would hope there would be some in russia who would be a check on him. fortunately, some of the news is getting through to russian people and you see protesters and demonstrations in russia against the use of force. but again, they have a closed system. so, not everybody knows just yet. >> i want to move on to the state of inunion. you said something is off there. something's wrong there. >> yeah. >> something wrong with vladimir putin? he's been so isolated. he doesn't get advice or take advice from anyone. what do you thing is going on there? >> i don't know what is the matter there. i've talked to heads of state who have met with him and they just take it face value the evil he is putting forth is something we have to deal with. they're not making a diagnoses of his pegt health.

some say he's got cancer and some say brain fog from covid. other people just think he's a complete raging bully. but whatever it is, the people of ukraine are paying the price for it. and unfortunately, the people of russia are going to pay a price if it in economic terms with the very strictest of sanctions. i want to commend president biden for the sequencing of events that he has put forth for how he has worked in a unified way with our allies on all of this. because no matter what happens, whatever putin may define as a success for him, it is a victory because in the long term, russia will suffer and putin will fail. >> now, the polls show americans deeply pessimistic about the economy. inflation is only going to rise with what's happening on the energy front with this war.

what do you attribute to that? the decline in the president's polls, even on covid, on how he's handled it, what can he do to turn this around? >> well, i think tonight's going to be very important. because for people to appreciate what the president has done and working together with the congress, they have to know what it is. president lincoln said public sentiment is everything. with it you can accomplish almost everything. without it, practically nothing. but people have to know for public sentiment. and so, of course, we're proud that the president has, under his terms, 6.6 million new jobs were created. of course, the private sector has a role in that. the unemployment rate has come down from 6.9 to just under 4%. the issues that relate to well being of the american people are being well served. but people still are suffering. they have kitchen table concerns. and that's where their reaction

springs from. i hope tonight that in ord -- in addition to spreading the word about what good things and why we should be hopeful, you'll hear an empathetic speech about why we're concerned this has not all reached all of america's families. the kitchen table concerns about paying the bills, whether it's food, rent, credit card bills, education of their children, retirement, whatever it is. the same kinds of issues that keep people up at night and effect their opinion as to what the state of the nation is. but there's no one more empthattic than joe biden, no one who cares more. we are so blessed that he's president at this time. because we do have to build america better and that's what he is doing. and doing so in a way that again, rose the prosperity in our country with many more participating in it.

building the infrastructure of our country with equity and fairness in our system and he has a vision for america that is a big one. it's not all complete and the message that people have to hear is that he is here for them. here's what he's done. here's what he intends to do and we're not finished until the american people feel the comfort level they need to feel in our economy. so, i'm really very, very proud of him. again, on the global scene from security, global security standpoint at home, economic security for our families. our values. are well served. tonight will be a great speech. i'm really looking forward to it and i think it will be pivotal in terms of covid as well, which has had a direct impact on the attitudes and rates that people give to governance because covid

still has its remnants. but i think tonight will be pivotal in terms of our values. his vision, his plan, his knowledge, and his connection to the american people. >> now, i know you've got to run but let me quickly ask you about that because the cdc mask guidance changed. are you going to be wearing a mask tonight? >> no, i'm not going to be wearing a mask tonight. if i had little children or were around little grandchildren, i would because some of them would not be vaccinated. or if i were around a person or a person with a pre -- some kind of a condition that would make me susceptible to it. i think people have to use their judgment about it. but i do think that if people make their own judgment, i'm making my own judgment, that i won't be wearing a mask tonight. >> well, we'll all be watching

and thank you so much for your patience today. >> thank you and thank you for your focus on ukraine, on democracy and on the well being of the american people. always wonderful to be with you. thank you. >> thank you. the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. and on the world stage, how president biden tries to meet the moment in that speech tonight. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. s "andrea mitl reports" on msnbc. this is the planning effect. nina's got a lot of ideas for the future... a lot of ideas. so when she wants a plan based on what matters most, she turns to fidelity. at fidelity, anyone can create a free plan. a plan that can change as your priorities do. and nina's free plan? it leaves her free to focus on what's important right now. that's the planning effect. from fidelity. (music) that's the planning effect. who said you have to starve yourself to lose weight? who said you can't do dinner?

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tonight's big speech will give the president his biggest chance to reshape his image before the midterms. that challenge is inskreesed given the escalating war in ukraine which only makes it harder to beat back inflation. joining us is presidential historian, former obama campaign manager and stephanie cutter, former deputy campaign manager to the obama 2012 campaign. can the president tackle all of this in one single speech? >> i think he can. this is a moment where joe biden really shines. the more people hear and see him, i think the better it is for him. it was his message of unity and hope and optimism through the campaign that really got him through and i think we'll hear some of that tonight. >> and what about michael, the low approve ratings? the top issue for voters, the economy, inflation.

it's only going to get worse with the sanctions. he's trying to deal with it tonight. he's already announced taking 30 million barrels from the strategic petroleum reserve but that's a drop in the bucket. they can do more. it's the highest rate of inflation in 40 years. rate of inflation in 40 years. it reminds me of president clinton's 1996 address when he was facing a tough situation at home and said the era of big government is over. >> he did. and that helped him. 1996 was v was not 2022. we were facing danger to our democracy inside the united states, a lot of people perfectly to have an authoritarian government in this country, and it's moving in some places in that direction, and more overwhelmingly abroad, this war in ukraine, where ukraine, which had no reason to expect anything like this is a democracy endangered in a way that we haven't seen in europe really since world war ii. so, he comes in at an historic

moment. i think if he gives a laundry like a lot of these other presidents, it will be a missed opportunity. he's got to talk about that we are all in existential danger of having our democracy, democrats around the world destroyed, and that there's nothing that illustrates that better than the valid fight of the ukrainians that we've been seeing the last two days. >> david, this address, there's never been a time when a laundry list of future domestic programs would be less important, correct? >> yeah. i think this is very much about the context of where we are. he's going to have to have ideas around inflation, around energy, some things still left to do to help the american people. but, you know, i've been giving people confidence that we're moving to an endemic stage of covid. that will be very important. he can speak to the help on the way for the economy through the

infrastructure package. i agree with michael, he leads to lean into the fight for democracy and the role the united states needs to play not just in europe but here at home. yes, i think here's the 75 things i want to do and congress should do, and i doubt what they'll do. the world is different today. it's not just people who plop in front of the tv but who sees clips of this. given ukraine, biden can speak directly to the american people about these challenges we're facing but with a sense of optimism. to the unity point, it's unity despite huge opposition on covid. most americans were committed to doing the right thing. we see most of the world united vis-a-vis ukraine. the world is coming together to deal with energy prices. i think there can be optimism here that that kind of approach, which is we're going to bring people together within and outside our borders, is the way forward and can be helpful for him. >> at the same time, stephanie,

you've got the democratic party, not just the 50/50 senate and so many divisions politically here at home, you've got the democratic party pitching a progressive, you know, opposition viewing the speech tonight. >> yeah. well, you know, andrea, we're a big tent. you know, it is a little unusual for a faction of the party to be giving a state of the union on the same night that their president is delivering one. but from what we can tell, it's touting the same policies that, you know, it's not necessarily a progressive policy to want to reduce the cost of child care. it's what you need to do to strengthen the middle class and help working americans. it's not necessarily a progressive policy to want to reduce the price of health care. that is something that we need if we want to continue building the economy from the middle, from the ground up, middle out, not the top down. so from what i can tell so far, these messages are very much in

line where most of america is. so, but, i think most americans are going to be focused on what the president says, and agree with david that there is a critical importance in this speech and giving that sense of hope and optimism but also leveling with the american people. we've made great progress since the president took office, strongest economy in 40 years, record job growth, millions of americans have been vaccinated, we're finally opening up. you know, i'm in my office for the first time in two years today. but we still have a lot more work to do. we have to tackle inflation. we have to lower costs for the middle class and working families. and he's going to have some ideas to do that. and on ukraine, he's going to make it clear with some very strong language that america stands up to bullies, and that's what putin is. he's a bully. and thanks to president biden's

leadership we were able to bring the world with us. this is a unified effort against a bully. >> and, michael, this is an historic moment. there are a lot of comparisons to zelenskyy, and he just talked to the president. but this is a big speech on the world stage tonight. >> sure is. >> and one has to hope that vladimir putin doesn't try to preempt it in a split-screen moment in some hideous attack. >> he might try, and it certainly would be within his lack of character. but go back to 1940, january, franklin roosevelt was giving his state of the union, the nazis were rolling through europe, the imperial japanese were threatening the word. many americans said we shouldn't stand up to hitler, we shouldn't get involved in the european war. there were fascists in this country who wanted this to be a fascist authoritarian system because they said only a fascist system could compete with people like mussolini and hitler. roosevelt gave a speech, said we may have to fight and these are

the things we're going to be fighting for. >> thanks to all of you. we'll all be watching. before we go, be sure that all of you tune in tonight for our state of the union coverage. my colleagues, rachel maddow, joy reid, steven kornacki will break it down with highlights starting at 8:00 eastern on nbc. tune in for the analysis after. i'll be over on nbc with lester holt and savannah guthrie. that's starting at 9:00. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us online, on facebook and twitter, @mitchellreports. chuck todd with "meet the press daily" starts after this. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer ♪ ♪ yeah, i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ ♪ yeah, that's all me ♪ ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin, that's my new plan ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ keep your skin clearer with skyrizi.

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sorry, one sec. doug blows a whistle. [a vulture squawks.] oh boy. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪ if it's tuesday, president biden prepares to deliver his first state of the union address, this perhaps as a wartime president amid an intensifying crisis abroad and a stalled domestic agenda and falling poll numbers here at home. in a single speech, can he meet this complicated moment? plus, we are live in ukraine where the death toll continues to rise, the fighting continues to escalate, and a massive 40-mile-long russia convey heads towards kyiv as putin decides how brutal he will get. if it's tuesday and a midterm year, we'll meet the midterms. opening day of the 2022 primary season.