corruption. >> we will be watching for that. senator elizabeth warren, thank you so much. adrienne elrod, thank you for being on today, and that does it for us this morning. stay with msnbc for the very latest on the russian invasion of ukraine, the world reaction, and the state of the refugees, now some 700,000 fleeing ukraine, most going to poland and other countries. chris jansing picks up the coverage right now. hi there, i'm chris jansing, live from our nation's capitol, washington, d.c. it is wednesday, march 2nd and we begin with president biden's state of the union speech, a speech traditionally used to defend a political and policy agenda but last night, president biden using the opportunity to deliver a powerful defense of democracy itself. delivered in a house chamber, a wash in the ukrainian national colors of blue and gold, the president called the war in ukraine a test and called for americans and free nations

worldwide to draw strength and inspiration from those standing up to russia. >> when the history of this era is written, putin's war in ukraine will have left russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger while it shouldn't -- autocracies, choosing the side, he'll never get in the hearts and souls of the ukrainian people, and he'll never weaken the resolve of the free world. [ applause ]. >> you see these ukrainian flags

waving, and i want to show you this moment near the start of the speech. the entire chamber gave a standing ovation for the ukrainian ambassador to the u.s., the ambassador clearly emotional, the ovation lasting nearly a full minute. now, when it comes to concrete plans to confront russia, president biden laid out steps, announcing american airspace will be close to russian aircraft. a justice department task force will target russian oligarchs and what biden called ill gotten gains, and announced the u.s. will lead dozens of countries in releasing 60 gallons of oil to ease the pain at the gas pump. day seven of the invasion stepping up attacks, trying to put a strangle hold on some of ukraine's largest cities. mariupol is surrounded, so is kharkiv, slammed, nonstop by rocket and air strikes and a russian convoy is closing in on kyiv. the mayor telling residents to stock up while the russian

military is warning them to get out now. in fact, nearly 900,000 ukrainians have left, but many more have decided to stay and fight. others are trapped with no clear idea of when or how to escape. >> we don't know how to sleep and how we will leave tomorrow. please, we don't have enough food for my baby. >> absolutely heartbreaking. along with the fear and sadness, signs of unbelievable courage. these are ukrainians confronting armed russian soldiers, shouting at them to leave their city. and you can see the russian soldier shoots into the air but not into the crowd, and then the ukrainians actually get in front of the russian trucks and try to push them out. i want to bring in nbc's keir simmons in moscow.

nina is professor of international affairs at the new school, and great granddaughter of soviet premiere nikita khrushchev. chief correspondent for news hour. it's so good to have you all of you, especially you folks on set. aniyah, as we were coming into the show, you were looking at your phone, in touch with people on the ground in ukraine some of whom heard the president speak last night. tell me what in realtime is going on there in ukraine as you're hearing it. >> i was surprised a number of people stayed up until 4:00 in the morning, they wanted to hear what the president said live. they were messaging reactions. they were heartened. the scenes we saw in the chamber, the sea of blue and yellow, the flags everyone was waving. they said it made them feel supported. they knew ukraine is in the hearts of the american people, and they were happy to see some of the stuff that president biden announced, closing of the

airspace, and target of the oligarchs they wanted to see more. how can the president at one time say the next few weeks will be very hard for the ukrainian people, and then not do more to support them. not provide more offensive weaponry, not close the airspace, which is what they have been asking for. president zelenskyy has been asking for again and again, and today they are sending me pictures, many of them running between homes and shelters as the air-raid sirens go off. there are more barriers, they are worried for what's coming next. >> and understandably so. i want to bring in our chief foreign correspondent richard engel who is in kyiv, ukraine's capital. what are you seeing on the ground there? >> reporter: this is the main television tower here in kyiv that was targeted by russian forces next to a holocaust memorial, and while russian troops fired at it, it seems that they may have missed because the tower is still standing. it is somewhat damages, and television services are largely still functioning. ukrainian resistance, and

russian logistical issues have slowed down vladimir putin's assault on this country, but clearly not stopped it, and now russia seems to be using more old fashioned siege tactics, the second largest city in this country, kharkiv, has been surrounded by russian troops and from the perimeters of the city, they are firing into the city center. and targeting administrative buildings, targeting the opera house, which was also damaged, and according to health officials, at least 20 civilians have been killed in kharkiv in the last 24 hours. here in kyiv, they are bracing for an assault. there is a massive convoy, about -- about 30 miles from the city, 50 kilometers from the city. the convoy itself stretching 40 miles long. but the convoy has remained more or less in place for the last several days advancing very very slowly. and u.s. officials say that this is because the convoy has been facing massive supply problems.

they are running out of fuel. they are running out of food. but u.s. officials are confident that russia will regroup, reorganize, and that the convoy will still make its way and try and lay siege and ultimately attack this city and preparing for that, the mayor here kyiv this morning told residents to use this time to stock up on supplies and get ready to defend their city. >> richard, thank you for that. so general, i mean, you could look at these supply problems that the russian military is having, as part of what was their initial strategy, right, hoping the ukrainians would fold. hoping the president would flee the capital city. that hasn't happened. when we see what's happening on the ground, what do you make of the shift in strategy, and what do the ukrainians need to do to meet it? >> chris, all of that. the russians, i think in the initial night, days, thought they could possibly intimidate the ukrainian government and the

people. president zelenskyy, really in an epic first three days in my mind became the young george washington of whatever transpires. they're galvanized and the russians thought they could crush resistance as much by intimidation. they have hit a swarm, a hive of hornets, hornets nest, and they're seeing it. i think one reason that convoy, that we have all been focus on or remember, this is going on over hundreds of miles of ukrainian periphery. i think the russians are in a bind, and we're hearing anecdotal news that their young russian conscripts, not bad people that are now caught in something that their regime has not told them about. you're talking about fascism. they're not seeing that. fellow slavs, they call them brothers. women, children, getting in

front of them, they're hesitating, and the word is getting back, and it is filtering also into russia. crowds on the street, we've heard about some cracks in the kremlin even. so the russians don't have time but you have this long column here. by the way, we're getting in to the muddy seasons. most of them are trucks. they can't go off road. there are very few capillary roads that go off of that, so they are a bit stuck. clumsy, but they are now amassing, and they have to make a determination, are they going to grind their way, which could be gruesomely bloody on all sides or do they try to spread out and do a classic urban side. time is not on the russian side, and the way the ukrainians, the ukrainians have them in a vice, if they can hold out, the whole world is now screaming at russia, and there's almost an

anaconda of economic sanctions, political, diplomacy, russians have to go or they are in real trouble, finally, and i'll stop here. >> i mean you made a couple of good points. there's a couple of kinds of vices, one is a military vice, the manpower, the equipment, the other is some of the things we're hearing. you saw those ukrainians able to stand up to the russians and have them fire their weapons into the air, not into the crowd. there are reports of moral problems. the pentagon is saying they're getting reports of russians actually putting down their weapons. this is a part of this that's becoming bigger and bigger that i'm not sure most people anticipated. >> i don't think they did and i think the experts would agree the russians probably didn't either. we have seen the early reports, it seems like the advance is stalled, the russian conscripts were up against something they were not expecting.

the other caution from experts and senior officials tracking this, it's only day six, day seven now, and you cannot under estimate the might of the russian war machine, we do not know what's ahead. he's cornered by being stalled . we don't know who he's listening to, and the targeting of the oligarchs is applying enough pressure to make him want to be deterred. one official, the british ambassador to the united states said look, nothing, at this point that the russian president would do would surprise me, and that's very worrying. >> yeah, i think, let's go to keir simmons who is in moscow, you know, the pressure keeps building, he seems to be increasingly isolated, putin, for the average russian, the value of the ruble is now what, worth about a penny or something. so give us a sense of the mood on the ground and what you're hearing there, keir. >> reporter: i think in terms of

what's happening inside the walls of the kremlin, i think there's a siege mentality. we heard from the spokesperson for the kremlin, dmitry pes cove -- he said this hysteria will pass. that gives insight to what the leaders of the russian government are thinking. you know, we have been through tough times before. he described the economic position as a blow, but he said we'll stand on our feet, and i think that siege mentality, they're hoping, will tap into a cultural feeling here in russia. just remember that the famous siege of leningrad, now st. petersburg in the second world war is seared into the collective memories of the russian people and that siege will be something that you can expect the russian leadership will be thinking they can use, if you like. but then again of course there is a siege on ukraine, and we are seeing ukrainian cities

under siege. will the russian people see that? will they get that information, and if they do, what impact will that have on them? i have to say about the state of the union address, 6,800 protesters that have been arrested so far, more than a million signed russian language petition, i suspect all of them, chris, would have liked to have seen the president spend the whole speech talking about ukraine. >> that wouldn't surprise me at all. thank you for that, keir. so nina, you are uniquely positioned for the next part. the president talked about this and nbc news is confirming that new sanctions will hit some of the oligarchs in coming days, and we're seeing some of them trying to put distance between themselves and vladimir putin. if the idea is to use them as leverage to put pressure on putin, could that work, nina, or does putin just not care? putin would say and i'm sure is saying that i have been warning

you, the sanctions are coming. the west is going to sanction us anyway, why you still having your yachts in monte carlo, so that would be probably his argument. but the worrying thing about the sanctions and i understand the necessity of them, but now the russians, actually those who are terrified of the war in ukraine, of course in russia you're not supposed to talk about the war. it's just the slavic brothers, against some phantom nazis is that the russians are saying, why are we punished, what did we do, and that is actually now the latest poll shows that putin's approval rating went to 71%. it was in the 60s before, not because the war is popular, but because the west is getting incredibly unpopular and the united states is blamed 60% by the russians by stirring up that issue, and that could be something that would actually

keep putin in power, rather than get him out. ultimately the whole russia would feel that the west is out to get them. >> keir simmons, brigadier general peter zwack, it's been great hearing from all of you. and coming up, we have much more on the domestic message from the president's state of the union address with some key parts of his legislative agenda stalled in congress. did his rhetoric do anything to move the ball forward. and to two doctors battle a pandemic while trying to avoid russian air strikes. don't go anywhere. g to avoid russian air strikes. don't go anywhere. 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. ♪ ♪ ♪a little bit of chicken fried♪ ♪cold beer on a friday night♪ ♪a pair of jeans that fit just right♪ ♪and the radio up well i've seen the sunrise...♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's (vo) right now, the big switch is happening across the country. small businesses are fed up with big bills and 5g maps that are mostly gaps— they're switching to t-mobile for business and getting more 5g bars in more places. save over $1,000 when you switch to our ultimate business plan... ...for the lowest price ever. plus, choose from the latest 5g smartphones— like a free samsung galaxy s22. so switch to the network that helps your business do more for less—join the big switch to t-mobile for business today. when traders tell us how to make thinkorswim® even better, we listen.

because platforms this innovative aren't just made for traders —they're made by them. thinkorswim® by td ameritrade inner voice (furniture maker): i'm rubbing the arms of my chair... ...admiring the craft and detail i've put into it. that way i try to convince myself that i'm in control of the business side of my business. intuit quickbooks makes it easy for you to get a complete view of your business. so you can sit back and... ...relax. >> woman: what's my safelite story? i see inspiration sright through my glass... so when my windshield cracked, i chose safelite. they replaced the glass and recalibrated my safety system. that's service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ (gong rings) - this is joe. (combative yelling) he used to have bad breath. now, he uses a capful of therabreath fresh breath oral rinse

to keep his breath smelling great, all day long. (combative yelling) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores.

back to the crisis in ukraine where hospitals are being pushed to the brink and not because of the pandemic. doctors in ukraine warning they desperately need medical equipment, with oxygen and other supplies running dangerously low. look at this, it's a maternity ward that was moved to a bomb shelter. and in kyiv's main children's hospital, staff are now treating wounded kids. on top of children who are just too sick to flee. >> our children can't leave without hospital, without medical treatment. >> it's especially bad for my next guest, some key oxygen equipment stopped working because of a nearby explosion.

and with oxygen running low, he had to connect these machines to help someone waiting for a lung transplant. joining me now, the doctor behind that video, dr. volodymyr shufsky, and physician dr. andre sroken, and i understand that you both had to move to a bomb shelter, what's going on where you are, doctor? >> now we are in the bomb shelter because we hear the alarm, so we have to go there. every hour, every two hours we hear explosion or something else, so we are here. >> i can't even -- i can't even imagine, doctor, what this is like, you're in the middle of a pandemic, you work at a hospital, and now you're having to literally run for your lives

into bomb shelters when you hear alarms go off. give us a sense of what it's like trying to work under these conditions? >> we stayed in this hospital for six days maybe, seven days, we don't know because we don't know what is the day today and what is the time today because every minutes we have very difficult situation. all of the hospitals in ukraine work for principles, we work for trauma patients and we work for another category of patients. i'm sorry, it's very traffic in this room. >> that's okay. >> in the bomb shelter. >> so dr. susiky, obviously

you're trying to keep things going under circumstances where your city is under siege, what is the biggest challenge you have right now besides the obvious, which is that you're working under these extraordinary wartime conditions? >> it's hard to say because you know that time is terrible right now. we should do more, we should stay calm, we should help -- you know, if we want to live in safety, we should do our best at saving people, so we try to do our best, and challenges. i don't know because we do our work. it does not challenge, it is our work. >> and especially now, it's very dangerous for patients and for

our employees who work in these hospitals because you can hear our voices around here, and you can hear the hospitals, it's targeted point to now in ukraine for russian army. it's a huge problem for medical employees. well, i think i speak for everybody who's watching that we are in awe and in admiration of what you are doing under the worst possible circumstances. our thoughts are with you. the international community, i hope you know, stands behind the ukrainian people, and we wish you safety and luck. thank you again for being with us, both of you. >> sorry, if you don't mind, i want to mention two organizations volunteer for ukraine, and everyone can say

help ukraine with supplies, with meds, and with all this stuff, so if everyone want to help ukraine, so you can do it, help ukraine. >> help from organizations very important for us, especially for ukraine and native people from uk, from another part of europe, from another doctors, from all around the world. for us, it's very important for us. very important for helping our patients from europe to ukraine, especially in the most damaged city, kharkiv and kherson and other cities, the situation is,

some ukrainian citizens, especially kharkiv, it's a huge problem now. >> we are going to get that information. we are going to make it so that people here in the united states can see it and if people are moved to help, they will have a chance to do that. dr. volodymyr susiky, dr. andra surken, thank you very much to both of you. stay safe. a crisis overseas, and serious economic challenges at home, the president had a big opportunity to rally americans last night. was he successful? we'll dig into that and the president's path forward next. h presid

♪ ♪ ♪a little bit of chicken fried♪ ♪cold beer on a friday night♪ ♪a pair of jeans that fit just right♪ ♪and the radio up well i've seen the sunrise...♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's

we need to reduce plastic waste in the environment. that's why at america's beverage companies, our bottles are made to be re-made. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be 100% recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back.

frank is a fan of fast. he's a fast talker. a fast walker. thanks, gary. and for unexpected heartburn... frank is a fan of pepcid. it works in minutes. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc

can take one to four days to fully work. pepcid. strong relief for fans of fast. every business is on a journey. and along the ride, you'll find many challenges. ♪ your dell technologies advisor can help you find the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers. developing now, president biden issuing a rallying cry during his state of the union address to unite the country and the world to stand up for democracy amid russia's invasion of ukraine. >> i know news about what's happening can seem alarming to all americans. but i want you to know we're going to be okay. we are stronger today than we were a year ago. and we'll be stronger a year from now than we are today. this is our moment to meet and overcome the challenges of our

time. >> the address bringing a brief moment of unity to the capital with bipartisan cheers as the president reiterated his support for war torn ukraine while excoriating vladimir putin. president biden tackling multiple issues at home from the covid pandemic to surging inflation. not a new list of priorities but a few new programs, and a call. ticking through key issues, he's seeking congressional action on, build back better, gun control, immigration, and voting rights. >> one way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make americans poorer, i think i have a better idea to fight inflation. lower your costs, not your wages. >> if i call on the senate to pass the freedom to vote act. pass the john lewis voting rights act. and while you're at it, pass the act so americans know who

funding our elections. >> for more than two years covid has impacted every decision in our lives and the life of this nation. because of the progress we've made, because of your resilience and the tools that we have been provided by this congress, tonight i can say we're moving forward safely back to a more normal routine. >> i've got a great panel to talk about this, here in d.c., nbc's yamiche alcindor, and garrett haake, matthew dowd founder of country over party, and robert gibs served as white house press secretary in the obama administration. great to have all of you. yamiche, i think this is a key part of his reset, we have been talking about for weeks and weeks and weeks, thematically, unity amid crisis, it's tough to turn a state of the union into something. does the white house feel like they moved the needle at all. >> when i was talking to democrats ahead of this speech, what they wanted was president biden to give a speech that

would hit heads and hearts. they wanted him to talk about the situation and the challenges but also leave people feeling confident. the president projected confidence on whether it was the fight between democracy and autocracy or when he was being em thetic and saying we're going to try to do our best to get our hands around covid, and we understand there may be other variants. the white house is feeling good as the president heads to wisconsin, the vice president heads to north carolina. that said, there are critics, including democrats, some really wanted him to tie the fight for democracy in ukraine to the voting rights struggles and the challenges with american democracy here at home. he did not do that. the other thing that i heard from critics, especially cori bush on twitter was that he didn't talk about sort of african-americans being killed at two to three times the rate of white americans, he talked about funding the police and supporting them there but there are a lot of people who i'm talking to this morning said he could have done more to talk about the struggle going

forward. >> you can make an argument the speech will rise and fall. one of the simplest things he said, we are going to be okay. do you think he convinced the american people of that? >> well, you know, the thing about state of the union address, but we put such importance on them and there are obviously historical moments, the power of them is in the after math. usually state of the unions don't move numbers and don't fundamentally change things by virtue of only a speech. it's how they take this and move forward, and if i were the white house, i would really emphasize the we part of this speech, about we can -- if we work together, we can defeat, you know, an aggressive russia. if we work together, we can defeat inflation. if we work together, we can preserve voting rights. i thought the speech was good. it seems like the instant polls that came after, the american public feels the same about it. they responded very well toit, but this speech does not last in

people's mouths and minds unless he follows it up day after day after day with a consistent thematic about the things he laid out, so the american public, it sinks in with the american peek. if this is the only speech he gives, and moves on, it won't last. >> the more traditional part of the speech was build back part. no mention of how he's expecting to get support this year when he couldn't get it last year, so, you know, to matthew's point again, is there a plan, what does he have to do, does it start today in wisconsin. >> yeah, i think rhetorically and politically, it starts in wisconsin, and i think what will probably be interesting for people that heard this at home or heard clips of it. they have probably heard the shorthand banner, the bumper sticker of build back better.

last night, what joe biden was able to do is to give lift to some of the individual portions of it, right, introducing the young boy that's struggling with the high cost of insulin, and what do we do about high prescription drug costs, high child care costs, i think a lot of those things are very popular and people will find them popular. i don't think they heard much about them last year because they just heard this shorthand of build back better. to matthew's point, i think there has to be a political and communication strategy, clearly on the domestic side, there has to be a legislative strategy that goes along with it. i was also struck. i thought that joe biden spent some valuable time last night working to reposition the democratic party. yamiche mentioned, you know, not just not defunding the police, but funding the police. to mention securing borders before, even just a few words, before immigration reform. i think, again, this was a

president trying to move and drag a big portion of his party back into the middle where most americans are. >> garrett, i with fascination followed your insider twitter feed because you were actually there. tell me some of the things that we would not necessarily have seen and heard? what was your sense being there? >> wel i definitely got the sense that the chamber of both bodies were unified by having everybody in the chamber. that was the most people i've seen in the house chamber since january 6th. my attention was drawn to two pairs of lawmakers on the republican side. >> i wonder who they were. >> marjorie taylor greene and lauren boebert ran a waldorf and show heckling of the speech the whole time. boebert's comments about the 13 killed when the president was trying to get into his comments about beau biden got the most attention but the two of them kind of had a running commentary the whole time, how kevin mccarthy, should he become speaker mccarthy chooses to

manage that wing of his conference is going to be fascinating to watch. the other two lawmakers i was watching, mitt romney, and joe manchin. joe manchin was sitting on the republican side. he and romney have become close. those are votes, 50/51, one way or the other on so many different issues on the senate. i was watching them talk to each other off and on throughout the course of the speech. wishing i could overhear that conversation. where they line up could tell us about priorities of what's left of the build back better, and anything that's going to get to 50 or beyond of the president's domestic agenda. >> which garrett talked about, and some of us saw and felt watching the speech last night. there was this moment of unity, something we have gotten used to not seeing in american public life right now, is it something that can be built on or is this really just about saying we stand with democracy, we stand with the ukrainian people, and when it comes to the president going out and trying to build some sort of coalition for his domestic agenda, it probably won't translate.

>> well, i think the american public hungers for it, and wants it, and so whether or not it can be expressed in something that happens in washington, d.c. is a whole other question because that's gotten so disconnected from the american public. i think the american public is united on this. i think the american public is united on most things and they want politicians and leaders that express that, that express that it's all about us and not about just what's in the best interest of me, and so i think if joe biden goes out and says, listen, i'm doing all i can, we're in this together. i don't care who you are, republican, independent, democrat, unless we can do this, i think ukraine gives him a unique moment to express that because i think the public is there, and you can see it across all voting groups. the public is there. and i think he should not -- he should worry less about uniting washington, d.c. and worry more about expressing the desire of the american public. >> matt dowd, robert gibs,

yamiche alcindor, garrett haake, great to have you all here today. nobody slept last night, but you would never know it. several countries are taking a stand against russia for invading ukraine. a few notably staying out of the conflict. which ones and why? that's on the other side of the break. why that's on the other side of the break. to what's possible... with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems.

wake up to the possibility of lower a1c with rybelsus®. you may pay as little as $10 for up to a 3-month prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today.

as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ (gong rings) - this is joe.

(combative yelling) he used to have bad breath. now, he uses a capful of therabreath fresh breath oral rinse to keep his breath smelling great, all day long. (combative yelling) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores. new this morning, as the european union, united kingdom, nato allies all rallying behind ukraine, india abstaining from a united nations vote condemning the invasion. the chinese partner urging a deescalation in ukraine but refuse to go call russia's invasion an invasion and fail to go condemn it. "the new york times" reporting the chinese regulated internet has been pro-russia and pro putin, and in the middle east, a senior united arab emirates official says the country will

not take sides. let me bring in ian bremmer, president of the eurasia institute. we're talking about the two most populous countries in the world, one of the richest who essentially won't come out and say this is wrong. give us your take on what we're seeing in terms of those countries. >> china is the more interesting here. yes, india is a member of the quad, but frankly on just about any issue out there that isn't core to india's national interest, they want to be nonaligned that's true for generations. people would be shocked if india voted to condemn russia and the united nations security council resolution, especially given the level of trade with russia, and the level of military equipment that goes to india, i would have been surprised. on the china front, let's keep in mind that before this invasion, we had this extraordinary statement of friendship, and it was on the strategic and military side. it was on the investment side. and it was on the diplomatic side when president putin went to beijing for the opening

ceremony of the beijing olympics. since then the chinese have come out publicly and said that they recognize ukraine's territorial integrity, and are interested in potentially negotiating a cease fire between russia and ukraine, and they want to see fair coverage, and not supporting russia and ukraine. given where they were two weeks ago, i'm not saying they're with the united states, they're not, but it's a significant disappointment for the country that putin considered to be their most important friend on the global stage. >> so obviously you have this incredible, and this is an understatement, high stakes gamble for putin who clearly under estimated the ukrainian and world response. does china have influence, there's obviously a big train of thought that says nobody has influence over putin. >> i don't think putin would be talking about a second round of

negotiations. some is international. some is domestic. it's not like leveling aleppo. it's not like leveling grozny, these are people seen as part of the great russian nation by putin's own advisers. they have relatives there. some of them grew up there. they have friends there, and now they're ordering their soldiers to fire on innocent civilians. i do think that level of pressure is having an impact on putin, and i think the fact a number of countries he can rely on, you mentioned china and india, i'd mention hungary. there's been no stronger friend to putin in the european union than viktor orban, the hungarian prime minister, he traveled to russia to make sure his energy relations, nuclear investments were fine. three, four days ago, he condemned the russian invasions, something the chinese and indians won't do, and also said he would support russia's decoupling from s.w.i.f.t. that's a big deal for a country like hungary.

putin clearly misestimated the international response to all of this. he thought it would be divided in terms of nato, and he thought it would be much more amenable in terms of his buddies and the longer the war goes on and the humanitarian catastrophe continues, a million refugees from ukraine, the pressure is going to increase. >> fascinating stuff. we thank you for your insights. good to see you. the results are in for the texas primary, setting up serious show downs for the fall. steve kornacki will break down what it means for texas and the rest of the country. down what it means for texas and the rest of the country. and 5g maps that are mostly gaps— they're switching to t-mobile for business and getting more 5g bars in more places. save over $1,000 when you switch to our ultimate business plan... ...for the lowest price ever. plus, choose from the latest 5g smartphones— like a free samsung galaxy s22. so switch to the network that helps your business do more for less—join the big switch to t-mobile for business today.

are you frustrated with your weight and health? it's time for aerotrainer, so switch to the network that helps your business do more a more effective total body fitness solution. (announcer) aerotrainer's ergodynamic design and four patented air chambers create maximum muscle activation for better results in less time, we thank you for your insights. we thank you for your insights do the aerotrainer super crunch. the pre-stretch works your abs even harder, engaging the entire core. then it's the back extension, super rock, and lower back traction stretch to take the pressure off your spine and stretch muscles. planks are the ultimate total body exercise. build your upper body with pushups. work your lower body with the aerosquat. the aerotrainer is tested to support over 500 pounds. it inflates and deflates in less than 30 seconds using the electric pump. head to aerotrainer.com now. now it's your turn to lose weight, look great, and be healthy. get off the floor and get on the aerotrainer.

go to aerotrainer.com, that's a-e-r-o-trainer.com. ♪ everybody dance now ♪ ♪♪ ♪ everybody dance now ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1. with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's ok, let's talk about those changes to your financial plan. bill, mary? hey... it's our former broker carl. carl, say hi to nina, our schwab financial consultant. hm... i know how difficult these calls can be. not with schwab. nina made it easier to set up our financial plan. we can check in on it anytime. it changes when our goals change. planning can't be that easy. actually, it can be, carl. look forward to planning with schwab. schwab! ♪♪

one week into the war in ukraine, the united nations estimates nearly 900,000 refugees have already fled, and that number could soon top 1 million. the pictures are stunning. more than 100,000 people crossing the border into hungary. nearly 50,000 have flooded into romania. poland has seen the biggest numbers by far. nearly half a million refugees are already there, with roughly 100,000 people arriving every single day. this morning, vice president harris said she spoke to the polish prime minister and pledged u.s. support. >> in fact, american troops are

there to help poland in terms of processing folks as they are crossing the border to ensure that people are able to safely flee harm. >> nbc's tom llamas is in lviv, ukraine, with a closer look. good morning, tom. >> chris, good morning. we're at the train station in lviv. this is in western ukraine. this is the major hub to try get out, right before you reach those bordering countries. people are waiting for trains all day. some of them are waiting for trains for several days. the sad reality is that not all the trains go to those countries. a lot of them are just dropping people off at the border. but there's so many refugees here and they'll take that risk, just to get out. this morning, a look inside the mass exodus from ukraine. windows from departing trains telling the story. two little boys staring into the unknown. a brother and sister finding a moment to smile. and this child, exchanging a peace sign with us. >> we left so many friends of ours, my family, my mom, my sisters are back there.

>> reporter: ukrainian balma is trying to get to greece. she's traveling with her 4-year-old daughter and a convoy of friends and family. they had to fight to get onboard. >> when we were boarding the train, people were pushing, pushing the babies. the babies were in shock. it actually was a very bad experience. if families do make it out, this is where some of them come. a makeshift refugee camp across the border in poland. many here unsure of what to do or where to go to next. just days ago, 19-year-old vitali was at the university in kyiv. >> so are you scared of the russians? >> no, i'm not scared, because we know what we fight for. we ukrainians, we fight for justice and for freedom and for liberty and russians, they do not know what they fight for. >> reporter: 30-year-old victoria zamborina had just left her home in the country's capital. why did you come out here? why are you in lviv? >> it was so horrible to stay in

kyiv. it was really scary. they were bombing us, and i was -- i didn't belong to myself. i was going crazy. >> reporter: and every hour, more tearful scenes like this. families being separated, facing uncertain futures. >> it's terrible, because, because it's so unexpected. and nobody was prepared to do -- this situation. and we believe that we will see them soon. >> reporter: the u.n. is out with a new estimate, they say, of the amount of refugees they expect to leave ukraine. they're saying it's going to be somewhere around 4 million. having covered this already for nearly a week, i would not be surprised if that number is even higher. reporting from lviv in western ukraine, chris, back you. >> tom llamas, thank you for that and for all you've been doing there. coming up, the results are in for the texas primary. steve kornacki will be here to break it all down. e kornacki wio break it all down.

♪ ♪ ♪a little bit of chicken fried♪ ♪cold beer on a friday night♪ ♪a pair of jeans that fit just right♪ ♪and the radio up well i've seen the sunrise...♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's

ever wonder what everyone's doing on their phones? get they're banking, for $1 witwith bank of america.ger. the groom's parents? they just found out they can redeem rewards for a second honeymoon.

romance is in the air. like these two. he's realizing he's in love. and that his dating app just went up. must be fate. and phil. he forgot a gift, so he's sending the happy couple some money. digital tools so impressive, you just can't stop banking. what would you like the power to do? this morning, the stage is set in texas for some all-out political warfare, following the overnight results of key primary races. races that are being looked at by both parties for clues to what we might see in the fall. first and foremost in texas, huge battle for governor, and election season against the backdrop of this major headline. the enthusiasm on the ground is still with republicans, despite democrats' efforts to turn the state blue, republican turnout far stronger than among democrats, much bigger, as well,

than it was four years ago. nbc news national political correspondent, steve kornacki is here to break it all down for us. steve, who were the bigger winners and losers last night? >> here's one where we don't have a winner or loser. the big cliff-hanger, the 28th district of texas. a congressional seat in the deep of texas. fascinating territory, this swung hard away from the democrats and in trump and in the republicans' directions in 2020. so here's a fascinating dynamic. a progressive challenger endorsed by aoc, endorsed by national progressive groups against one of the most conservative democrats in the house, henry cuellar. he's a hawk on the border, anti-abortion. you can see, it's very close right now, and the key is, you've got to get 50% to avoid the runoff. now, we think that there are still potentially some outstanding votes in some of these counties that are pro-cuellar, but it may be tough to see him get into 50% here. i think at this point, a runoff between these two candidates.

cuellar and cisneros, two very different candidates looms as the most likely scenario here. and this district, we used to think of south texas, it's going to be the democrats no matter what in the fall. this is a district that republicans suddenly have their eyes on. they think if cisneros is the nominee, she might be too progressive for what this district has become. they could compete against her. and cuellar, his office and his home were raided by the fbi in january. there's a cloud over him that could affect him in the general election, as well. so again, this could be going to a runoff in may. this could also be one we talk about a lot in the fall. one other heading to a runoff. keep this in mind, van taylor, republican incumbent in north texas, falls short of 50%. van taylor, up with of the only republicans who voted for an independent january 6th investigation committee. he's earned the ire of a lot of the pro-trump side. he's going to a runoff. raises some uncomfortable questions for him about, do national pro-trump folks suddenly make him a target in the next couple of months and does this get interesting in a

runoff, chris? >> oh, boy, steve kornacki, never boring. thank you so much. and before we go, a really important note, because as the situation remains dire for so many ukraiukrainians, you might heard earlier two doctors mentioning a specific organization that you can donate to to help. razom is providing critical medical supplies to doctors in ukraine. you can go to razomforukraine.org. that's it for this hour. i'm chris jansing. jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. and good morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific, 5:00 p.m. in kyiv. i'm jose diaz-balart. right now in ukraine, russian forces are ramping up their assault on major cities and landmarks with intense shelling, including near a holocaust memorial site, as a russian convoy tries to enter the capital. the outbreak in violence in kyiv has forced children with cancer to receive treatment in the payment of a hospital. we'll talk to a doctor at ukraine's largest children's hospital about the challen