my -- my loved ones died so -- >> who died? >> my friends in basements. they were hiding in basements. they use some new kind of -- new kind of forbidden bombs that destroyed everything on a big distance. so it is pretty much done. my whole city is just dust. >> reporter: what was it like leaving? >> it was like giving your -- pretty much giving your soul to god every second because we -- our train stopped in the middle of kyiv and they were -- you know, they were shooting and we heard bombs flying all over and planes, and i thought this particular moment i can die and i just prayed and i said goodbye, everyone, and i understood for four hours in a completely dark train. >> reporter: mentally, how did you survive? >> i don't think i did.

we -- we all are just super -- mentally we are broken. i want people to know that we have been killed by the country that wanted to take over, take ukraine over, and they wanted to kill our people for being patriotic. i want people to know that this is true because i -- i saw it personally. >> reporter: if you need to fight the russians, will you fight the russians? >> i will. >> reporter: are you afraid? >> no. >> reporter: thank you. is there anything else you want to say? >> please do -- please do cherish a clear sky. every time you see sky, cherish every moment of your life.

>> freedom. catarina sharing her story with nbc's cal perry. she fled her home in kharkiv after her house was bombed and is now in the western city of lviv. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is thursday, march 3rd. we will get right to the news. russia stepped up its offensive in ukraine, bombarding and shelling major ukrainian cities while pushing to encircle and cut off the capital of kyiv. the russian troops entered after conflicting reports emerged whether the key southern port city had fallen. russian defense ministry says they've taken control of kherson, but a battle continues. according to the city's mayor russian troops were in the streets and had entered the council buildings. he also said as many as 300 ukrainians were killed in intense fighting. the capture of kherson, a strategic southern provincial capital would be the first major city to fall since the invasion

began. willie. >> meanwhile, mika, russian forces pounded kharkiv, the country's seconds largest city, for the third consecutive days, explosions striking municipal and police headquarters as well as the kharkiv university building killing at least four people and injuring nine others. that's according to ukrainian state emergency services. local residents tell nbc news the city also is low on food as most shops now are closed. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel has more from the ground. >> reporter: russia's offensive is growing more indiscriminate and destructive, raining down on ukrainian towns and cities. this is the aftermath of a missile attack on the police headquarters, a besieged eastern city about the size of philadelphia. the city is surrounded. the mayor says there's been massive destruction. the u.n. says nearly 230

ukrainian civilians have been killed so far. the number could be much higher. just outside the capital, russia attacked a residential neighborhood. rescuers scrambled to search for survivors. russia attacked kyiv's television tower. it is right next to the city's historic holocaust memorial. russia claims its goal now is to overthrow ukraine's government calling it a new nazi regime. ukrainian's jewish president zelenskyy accused russia of distorting history around calls on jews around the world to come to the nation's defense. zelenskyy tweeting, "what is the point of saying never again if the world stays silent when the world drops on the same site." a senior u.s. defense official says while russia has increased missile and military attacks on the capital, a convoy headed towards the city is still

stalled but russian forces add advantaging from the south are making progress. the kremlin insists tough sanctions imposed by president biden and the west isolating the oligarchs while allowing russia to keep selling oil and gas will not deter russia's special so-called military action. every day brave ukrainians, many without weapons, are standing up to russian occupiers. this crowd confronting russian troops. south of kyiv, stopping a convoy of russian vehicles. a russian soldier showing restraint fires into the air. he seems not to know how to respond. russian troops were told they would be greeted as liberators, freeing ukraine from a hated radical government. but that's not the response they're seeing now. >> incredible pictures. richard engel joins us live from kyiv. good morning. tell us about what you are seeing there in the capital city. we have been talking it feels like for days about this convoy

moving slowly or perhaps completely stalled on its way into kyiv. what is the latest on that and what does it look like on the ground there in the city? >> reporter: so here in kyiv people are waiting for this possible ground assault, and they've been watching this convoy, watching it make its way toward this city, but it is not getting much closer. instead, what is getting closer are the air and missile strikes because the convoy does seem to be having some chronic issues, some supply issues of food and fuel, but the airstrikes are getting closer. they are now happening with some frequency on the edge of the city. there was an attack yesterday toward the center of the city, but ukrainian air defenses, according to officials, managed to prevent a much worse attack. so here in the city things are still operating more or less as normal, i can say, that there's still power, there's still

water, there's still fuel at some gas stations, if you can find it. curfews are in place in the evening, but people are bunkering down and doing what they can before the city gets much, much worse. for example, i am in front of a hospital right now. we were just inside talking to some medical staff. they are taking out as many of the cancer patients as they can, anyone who might leave high-level treatment they're trying to get out of the country now with the assumption that tonight, tomorrow, the next several days, nobody knows exactly when, the city could be sealed off and it will be difficult if not impossible to get out some of the most vulnerable people. >> reporter: richard, we have been hearing stories of incredible courage of the ukrainian people. there are pictures on western newspapers of thousands of people huddled in metro stations underground in kyiv. what is the feeling on the ground? how are the people there holding

up? >> reporter: there is a lot of resilience. we do stories about that. you see it, but you could really feel it. it is palpable. people here believe that so far the ukrainian military has done an extraordinary job resisting. they are encouraged by the people power that has come out across this country where crowds will just walk up to occupying russian troops and call them occupiers to their face. in some cases the russians are firing over their heads. there was a famous video where a russian soldier was walking through a crowd of ukrainians and he was holding two grenades in his hand, a message don't shoot me, don't attack me, don't tackle me, otherwise one or both of these grenades is going to explode and he will die and the crowd around him will die. that is the situation some russian troops are finding themselves in where they are suddenly besieged while they are

trying to lay siege to ukrainian towns and cities. >> just an incredible display of courage as the bombs are -- the missiles are falling all around kyiv. nbc's richard engel live in ukraine's capital for us. thank you so much. mika. for the first time russia's defense ministry acknowledged extensive losses, saying that 498 russia troops have been killed and nearly 1,600 injured so far. officials say fierce ukrainian resistance and resupply challenges have slowed down russian troops. a senior u.s. defense official yesterday said moscow has moved 82% of the force that had amassed along the border into ukraine. the u.s. has counted more than 450 russian missile launches since the conflict began. joining us now from moscow is nbc news senior international correspondent keir simmons. keir, we heard more from the russian foreign minister, sergey

lavrov. what did he say? >> reporter: that's right, mika. just to segue for a moment, we actually also heard this morning from the kremlin spokesman, demetree peskov and he was forced effectively they're about to impose martial law here in russia. i think the fact that he was asked that and that he felt that he should answer and say it is not going to happen, according to him anyway, i think that gives you a sense of the level of the febrile atmosphere here honestly, not just here but inside the kremlin. you are right, i had an opportunity in the past few hours to ask some questions of sergey lavrov, the russian foreign minister. i asked him particularly about these claims in the west that president putin is erratic, that he is isolated, and then went on

to ask him about the nuclear threats. take a listen. >> reporter: for decades russia and america have maintained stability despite fearsome nuclear capability. can you reassure the world that russia would not fire a nuclear weapon in anger, would not fire a first strike? >> we've got a military doctrine which describes the parameters and conditions for application or deployment of nuclear weapons. we do not have -- we do not have any escalation in order to deescalate as western powers tried to present it. i would like to point out the statement of your president, biden, when replying to a question whether there was an alternative to these sanctions from hell. he said that the only

alternative is world war iii, and everyone understands that it can only be nuclear war. but i would like to point out that these are statements of the western politicians. they are repeating nuclear war. this has not been the heads of the russians. >> reporter: and we actually, mika, went back over the translation. what he actually said in the beginning of the answer to me was, we don't have insane people, we have a nuclear doctrine. quite extraordinary really that a russian minister would have to say, you know, we don't have insane people. you know, one of his -- part of his answer i think also will get people -- will get people's attention because he appears that russia does not have an escalate to deescalate policy. what that doctrine is said to be is the use of nuclear threats in order to gain the advantage on the battlefield.

in other words in a conventional war, you threaten nuclear power and that gains you an advantage. he appears to be saying in that answer that russia does not have that policy. so i suppose you could say indications of an attempt to reassure people, even while accusing the west of being there. >> it is interesting, keir. another way to read into that is we're not bluffing. we're not threatening the use of nuclear weapons to get a better outcome in ukraine. so that obviously very concerning. you look at lavrov, and i know you have interviewed him and seen him and we have all seen him a good bit before. you have seen him obviously much more than most of us. he did not look any more comfortable in that setting answering those questions than the russian soldiers being confronted by ukrainian -- by ukrainian citizens.

you really do get a sense, whether it is the oligarchs that are fleeing on their yachts or having to sell assets across the west or the military generals who are having to send these young kids into war, you really do get a deep sense of unease, not only from moscow's leaders but also from the middle class who are rushing to atm machines and waiting in line for several days. what is your read on the ground there? >> reporter: you do get a sense of that, joe. we get a sense of it, because you can imagine the team here talk to people quietly, not in public necessarily, people will share their sense of unease. then there are these indications. you know, you mentioned the yachts, reuters reporting that a shipping tracking site can see super yachts, oligarch super yachts in the maldives and the

maldives do not have an extradition treaty with the u.s. so small indications there is a worry. there is a report that was buried a little bit a few days ago that president putin's yacht -- quite extraordinary that president putin allegedly has a yacht, but his super yacht got moved from germany before this conflict started. so certainly western officials tell me that they have been seeing signs of the russian super rich trying to shift their assets, another example i think you can read into the fact that the very wealthy, the most wealthy in this country, some of them have begun to come out and say -- call for peace, saying they're trying to take part in peace negotiations. there's a calibrated message from them, possibly trying to improve their reputations in the west but also maybe trying to send a message to president

putin. again though, you just -- we have talked about it so many times. you see president putin sitting that distance from everyone, from his ministers, from the oligarchs and you wonder really how they would get a message through to him. maybe some of them are thinking that just saying something in public is the only way they can really get a message to him, but, again, there is this very small circle around president putin. i actually asked in that interview, in those questions to sergei lavrov, i asked him whether -- how he responds to the claims in the west take president putin is isolated and erratic. i actually said to him, is he taking your advice and when is the last time you were able to give president putin advice and he didn't answer that part of the question. >> nbc's keir simmons in moscow. thank you very much for your reporting. we want to show you now some

exclusive video from "the washington post," the aftermath of a russian missile strike that appeared to target a tv tower in kyiv tuesday. it struck the vicinity of also the world war ii holocaust memorial. the video shows a chaotic scene as firefighters rushed to extinguish the flames and civilians tried to clear the area. please note this video contains graphic content. the "post" blurred what it reports are smoldering bodies after the missile strikes.

>> let's bring in former nato supreme allied commander retired four star navy admiral james stavridis. chief security analyst for nbc news and msnbc. with us also white house bureau chief at "politico" jonathan

lemire and the host of "way too early." >> admiral, let's talk here. help me understand this. you see graphic images like that. vladimir putin, russian leaders have to know there's no coming back from that. there's no coming back from the images that we're seeing across ukraine, him behaving like he is stalin and this is, you know, 1942 or, you know, soviet leader in '56. this is -- and the reaction, what is so deeply concerning, admiral, the reaction from the west was so predictable. if you just heard what people like you or others said on this show before putin went in, if you read what madeleine albright wrote in her op-ed about the isolation that putin would face, if you read how this is not a

winnable war for vladimir putin, the whole world turned on him and any rational human being would have known the whole world was going to turn on him, and yet he did it anyway. with this war not being a winnable war at the end of the day, what's putin doing? how can anyone come to the conclusion that this man who controls the largest nuclear stockpile in the world is anything but a deeply irrational, disturbed, erratic man? >> well, let's start with the warning signs like you do in medicine, joe. let's start with syria. look at these images and kind of play the tape in your own mind of what syria has looked like under the hand of vladimir putin. he has a puppet there, bashar al assad, but it is putin who has been calling the shots quite

literally. you have seen increasing massive levels of war crimes there. by the way, it is time to call this war crimes. >> yes. >> these are civilian targets. there is no question cluster munitions are being used. there is no question they are going after terror against the people. these are war crimes. in that sense vladimir putin has been walking toward the rubicon for a long time. now he has crossed the rubicon. he has demonstrated the proclivity to conduct a criminal attack on a neighbor, a european country, and there is no coming back. all of that assessment is correct. what really strikes me in this moment is, first and foremost, the response not only of the west but of the ukrainian people, which you have highlighted so well here. to think that kharkiv, which is

fundamentally a russian ethnic and speaking city is putting up deep resistance is quite remarkable. at the top of that pyramid of ukrainian resistance you have to put president zelenskyy, who is turning out to be quite remarkable. we have got to keep him alive. we have got to keep him as a symbol of the resistance. on the putin question and nuclear weapons, concerning, ominous. he does appear very isolated. whether his inner circle would rise up if he attempted to use nuclear weapons i think is an unknown, but i will say this. at this moment i think it is highly unlikely he is going to reach for that nuclear weapon. the reason is a military one. he can achieve all of the effects that he would need from a nuclear weapon using conventional forces at this point.

so what i'm looking for, unfortunately for ukraine, is a significant rise in air attacks, missile strikes, more mass being thrown at the problem because that's the russian way of war, overwhelm with mass, do it from the air. it is not working perfectly on the ground. he is going to try to really knock the ukrainians back in the air. last thought, what should we be doing. we need to be doing exactly what the president and his team are doing, which is to say rally the west, push the diplomacy, but also flood the zone with weapons. boy, when i see that convoy, yeah, it is a military threat, it is a target is what i would call it. >> right. >> put the weapons in the hands of the ukrainians to take that thing out. that ought to be job one right now. >> so understanding that, admiral, here is kind of the 20,000-foot question, dilemma.

if all of the support, the aid, the money, the weapons, target on the convoy, if all of that works, that's one thing. but aren't we watching right now the slow-motion murder of a country, of an identity? and if putin succeeds, then what? what does the world community do? what does nato do? but if he -- if he fails, what are the options? i mean there doesn't seem to be a good outcome at the end of this. >> yeah, it is hard to see a kind of epiphany, mika, where vladimir putin wakes up and walks back to the other side of the rubicon. i, unfortunately, don't see that. i think at this point we need to increase the costs on putin. that's the economic piece, the sanctions. we're probably eight out of ten, maybe 8 1/2 out of 10. there's still cards to play

there. i think it is time to take those of ten to ten on sanctions. number two, we just spoke about the weapons, but if it goes badly for the ukrainians it is a resistance, a government in exile. increase those costs. by the way, to the cost point you made earlier, when the russians are admitting 500 are killed and the ukrainians are saying 6,000, 7,000 russians are killed, you can park the real numbers somewhere in the middle. call it 2,000 to 3,000. worth remembering, in afghanistan over 20 years the united states had about 2,000 killed in action. the russians have almost undoubtedly lost that number in a week. increase those costs and hope that over time there will be internal pressure in russia that will create some kind of a move toward negotiation. but, unfortunately, that feels unlikely given where vladimir putin is. i think we are headed toward a

kind of bifurcated ukraine, cold war 2.0, a proxy war in ukraine going on for years. it is pretty hard to see a path out of the thicket that vladimir putin has put us in. >> so, jonathan lemire, on that question of war crimes, the international criminal court, the icc yesterday announced it is opening an investigation into war crimes because of all of the civilian death we have seen, because of the use, as the admiral said, of cluster bombs which are the opposite of precise missiles to attack military targets and the potential use of vacuum bombs which escalates further. as the white house watches it play out, it feels like it has put sanctions on that crippled the russian economy, it feels like it is flooding weapons into the zone. what more do they have in their bag of tricks here? >> there are a few more cards they have left to play.

administration officials that i have talked to are encouraged that they have resists as long as they have. there's questions about the convoy we have been talking about. it seems like broken down equipment, important morale among the soldiers that are not receiving food and water to keep going. u.s. officials think that's why it is moving so slowly. surely it remains a threat, but less of an invasion, maybe to encircle the capital and cut off supplies as they continue to launch missiles. the president was asked how much more could be done. he made clear it was on the table to have sanctions against the russian energy industry and that would have a ripple effect on the rest of the world. the president said he doesn't want to do that but it is being considered here. that is what drives the russian economy. it is the wealth that fuels putin's empire and putin personally comes from that. i believe he has stolen quite a bit from that industry and they feel it could be the next step to ratchet up pressure.

that would be the ten out of ten sanctions that the admiral just spoke about. in the meantime it is be considered, they continue to try to get weapons into the region, having to do so by land. it is a bit of a painstaking process officials i have spoken to said, but they feel they are making good progress. they are worried since russia has captured the first city, a port city in the south strategically important for them even as the go remains slow at kyiv and kharkiv. >> europe has been relukt archt to go that far on the sanction on gas and oil because they are so dependent on the oil. as the situation gets uglier by the moment they may have to take that step. >> the united states, let's say we get 7%, 8% of our oil from russia. >> right. >> after saying yesterday that we should move away from any dependence on russian oil, i was bombarded from several people saying that that was naive, that there's no way we could do that. i think the united states of

america, we can figure out how to get our 7% elsewhere. if we can't, then god help us. i'm sure, admiral, you would agree with me on that front. let me ask you, admiral, about the convoy that americans have been watching night in and night out. very frustrated, understanding what american military force could do with a convoy sitting like that. it remind me of the highway going into baghdad back in 1991. the u.s. could make short order of it, of course, but we can't do that. so you said this should be first priority. how do the ukrainians do it? what weapons do they need? are they get -- do they have those weapons? what have you heard about weapons flowing into ukraine? are they getting there quickly enough? >> all reports are that weapons are flowing relatively well into

ukraine and they are moving across from lviv where most of them are coming in in the far west. big distances here, as we all say all the time. it is like el paso to the louisiana border. it is a big, big country. but, yes, they're flowing. what they need are surface-to-surface hand-held missiles that can go after those individually. a javelin is probably a high-end target for a stationary vehicle. artillery would be very effective, if they could get that into position. what we could be doing to help them is analyzing it, giving them military advice. you don't have to have boots on the ground to do that, to give them the tactical plan to execute something like this. we have people in the pentagon, believe me, who can have the technology to put together a plan to do this. i'm certain they are doing so. final thought, joe, one thing we

haven't mentioned so far that is important in the whole calculus is nato, the alliance. here the good news is the alliance is energized, it is flowing troops, the nato response force, tens of thousands of troops, ships, aircraft, moving toward the borders of russia. that is what vladimir putin hates. by the way, discussions in helsinki, finland, stockholm, sweden, about bringing those two very high-end military, high-end techno democracies into the alliance. it would be a nightmare for vladimir putin. that's the third leg of the "what can we do after economic and resistance to ukraine." the third is pushing that to the border, intelligence, cyber, all

of that can be done without putting boots on the ground. >> finally, admiral, what is your message? briefly, what is your message to president biden? what does he need to focus on now? >> i think he's done a good job thus far. ratchet up the sanctions, flood the zone with more weapons through lviv. continue to energize the nato alliance and watch the -- you brought it up earlier, the oligarch yacht index. i think there are paths through there that community that are worth exploring. i know he has his hands full and he has a good team around him. >> retired admiral james stavridis, thank you very much. quickly before we go to break, joe, isn't it also important that the president messages why this matters to us in america? why this is actually incredibly important to what is going on here? whether it is our economy or our understanding of freedom.

>> it is. i must say though, the united states, americans seem to already understand this. you look at public opinion polls. they've shifted sharply. not just in america, but there was an analysis in "the washington post" this morning about how much history has changed over the past week. several weeks ago german politicians who supported the transfer of helmets to ukraine were accused of being warmongers and war criminals. now here we are several weeks later, the overwhelming majority of germans want that country to be far more aggressive militarily. they're expanding their budget in a way that they haven't done in the post-war world. history is on the march. that starts with the american people and nato allies and all of these people seeing every night what vladimir putin is

doing to an innocent people, to innocent children, to innocent mothers, to innocent grandmothers, grandfathers, parents, families. it is absolutely devastating. he's committing war crimes every single day, and he is letting the whole world watch it. there's no coming back from that. >> and still ahead on "morning joe," the united nations general assembly sends a clear message to russia. the world does not support, as you just pointed out, joe, the war in ukraine. we will have that historic censure vote. plus, a look at the justice department new effort to go after russian billionaire oligarchs who are trying to hide their assets. also ahead, the committee investigating the january 6th capitol attack lays out potential criminal charges against former president trump. we are digging into new court filings on that. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back.

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we will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute those whose criminal acts enabled the russian government to continue this unjust war. >> you know, people are dying. buildings are being bombed, all because of a senseless act of unprovoked aggression by putin and russia. and while that is happening, you have these oligarchs who have amassed billions in corrupt proceeds, who will seek to -- if they seek to evade new sanctions, unprecedented new sanctions we are putting out together with our international allies, if they seek to do so and we trace those monies to

luxury yachts, jets, luxury apartments, that cannot stand. that's the commitment you are seeing from this task force. >> it is 39 past the hour. we continue to follow the breaking developments as russia continues its strangle of neighboring ukraine and nato, the u.s. and the world considers its options. you just heard deputy attorney general lisa monaco will lead a new department of justice task force, announced yesterday by attorney general merrick garland, with the goal of tracking down and seizing the billions of dollars that russian oligarchs are hiding around the world. nbc's keir simmons has more. >> reporter: yachts, mansions, private planes. russia's super rich are in the crosshairs according to president biden. >> we're coming for you, the ill begotten gains. >> reporter: the justice department announcing task force

kleptocapture, though not announcing targets by name. last week president putin gathering them at the kremlin. when putin became president he was determined to control russia's billionaires. amid his war in ukraine, some are making unprecedented public statements. deripaska worth 4 billion and once called putin's favorite industrialist declared last week, peace is important. another told his london investors the war was a tragedy, but none criticized putin directly. another high-profile businessman, roman abramovic, worth $13 billion, announced he is selling chelsea football

club. he has been called the richest man in europe, has product. his yacht, said to have been moved from germany last month. >> keir simmons reporting there. meanwhile, forbes reports germany has seized the yacht of a russian billionaire sanctioned by the european union on monday. "new york post" is reporting russian billionaires are fleeing in their ships to the maldives and seychelles. for more, let's bring in attorney george conway. george, good morning. good to see you. how do you see the task force doing its business? does it have teeth? the russian oligarchs have moved over the years with relative impunity on their yards, in their $100 million new york city apartments. do things change now? >> it is important that the justice department is doing this because it is a very heavy, lawyer labor intensive activity, an investigative activity.

it is relatively easy to freeze assets when i know that they belong to an oligarch. it is hard to find the assets, first of all, and then hard to then permanently seize the assets. that just requires a lot of work. these assets are hid enin infinite numbers of ways llcs, shell companies owned by other shell companies. they have secret contracts with people to hold property. they're put in the names of relatives, friends, girlfriends. you name it, there are any number of ways these assets can be hidden and the money can be laundered. once you figure out there's a connection toal oligarch you can get a freeze order and freeze the asset and make sure it isn't sold. but at that point then whoever has title to the asset can litigate it to a fare thee well and fight in court and these people have the money to fight in court. it is a lot of work. it is important that this is being done, but it is a lot of work that is going to require a

lot of determined effort and a lot of resources devoted to this task. it is good that the justice department is focusing on it and creating a special task force to do it. >> hey, george. good morning. jonathan lemire. we are seeing some oligarchs already flee with their yachts to countries without extradition treaties. they're certainly trying to keep their toys. let me ask you this, and i know you described how difficult it all would be, but i think the question a lot of people are asking is, well, if they are going after the oligarchs, why not the biggest of all, putin himself, rumored to be perhaps the healthiest man on the planet with so much money stowed away, stolen from the oil and gas industries in russia. is there a sense some of his assets could be up for grabs. >> well, again, yes, but the problem is he doesn't hold this stuff in his own name for obvious reasons. even that mansion in -- i guess it is sochi that you showed, that huge property, i mean he --

it is not titled in his name. you know, there's a giant cloud over who evens it. he's hidden everything, and we don't -- you know, that requires, again, a great deal of investigation by frankly intelligence officials and others. it is going to require a massive international investigation to figure out where all of this stuff is. it is going to take a long time to find all of it because there's so much of it apparently. >> george, let me ask you something i keep hearing from experts on russia, something that people keep calling me about, european diplomats. they say, yes, go after the yachts, go after the jets. we talked about this a couple of days ago and i received another call yesterday from a diplomat that said go after their girlfriends, revoke their passports in london, revoke their passports in manhattan, send them back to moscow. that when you -- if you really understand the oligarchs, yes, the jets are important to them and the yachts are important to

them, but so too are the girl friends. seize any assets they've moved into their names, revoke their passports, send them back. any thoughts on that? >> absolutely. i mean, you know, part of being an oligarch is it is fun to be an oligarch. you can live this incredible lifestyle with these yachts and these women and all of that stuff. crimping that lifestyle is going to make it much more difficult for putin because they tolerated putin because they could live these lifestyles. he bought them off and they bought him off. this cozy little relationship, his cozy relationships are being screwed up by this war. the oligarchs, you know, you can see that they -- this is making them extremely uncomfortable because, you know, the jig is up if this keeps going on. they won't be able to use their assets, they won't be able to fly around the world, they won't be able to do the things, to exercise the power that they have exercised. >> yeah. george, stay with us. on the other side of the break we have some fascinating

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♪♪ it is 51 past the hour. we will get back to the events in ukraine in just a moment, but, first, former president donald trump and members of his campaign were part of a, quote, criminal conspiracy to defraud the united states. that charge from a new court filing from the january 6th select committee. the filing centers around trump ally john eastman, the conservative lawyer, who wrote several memos arguing that then vice president mike pence could overturn the election results. the legal brief signifies the most direct line the committee has in terms of trying to draw the lines between trump, his

allies and potential criminal activity surrounding the 2020 election. the select committee previously subpoenaed eastman for documents, but he claimed attorney/client privilege. the new filing asks for the court to review the disputed materials. the committee chair and vice chair released a statement yesterday that reads in part, quote, the facts we've gathered strongly suggest that dr. eastman's e-mails may show that he helped donald trump advance a corrupt scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college ballots and a conspiracy to impede the transfer of power. neither former president trump or john eastman have been charged with any crime. eastman's attorneys said last night that eastman has a responsibility to protect client confidences and will respond in due course. a spokesperson for trump did not immediately respond to request for comment. george conway is still with us.

what is the significance of this filing, george, and will these documents ever see the light of day? >> well, it is a highly significant filing. what happened here was eastman is making the argument that these documents shouldn't be produced because of attorney/client privilege. for a lot of reasons he wasn't an attorney, a lot of boring reasons i won't get into, but the judge asked another question. the judge asked what about the crime fraud exception to the attorney client prifl willing. the question is even if the guy is an attorney, what he being used to commit a fraud? that was a good question. the january 6th committee says, yes, well, we actually have evidence of that and here is our brief. they laid it out. the possible criminal offenses that donald trump and eastman and others committed. the focus is rightly and justly on 18u.s.c., united states code, 371, which prohibits frauds,

conspiracies to defraud the united states. the language in that statutory provision is very broad. it says defraud the united states in any manner for any purpose. what that means is it doesn't just have to involve money. when you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. if the president of the united states or anybody defrauded the u.s. of a billion dollars they would go to jail, they would be prosecuted. if they did it even for a million dollars they would go to jail and be prosecuted. this is a lot worse than that because, you know, the government probably wouldn't miss a million dollars, probably wouldn't miss a billion dollars, but what donald trump and his people, his minnions tried to steal was our democracy. there was a case by chief justice taft that said all you have to do is conspire by fraud

to obstruct a let mat function of government and that's what they're were trying to do here. >> you were saying it goes out of the window if in the course of talking to your client you are committing a crime and that's what they hope to let the court know. obviously the january 6th committee continues its work. it has no ability to initiate criminal prosecutions, of course, but does this new information tell you at some point along the way this laundry list of witnesses, this laundry list of participants that the january 6th committee is looking at may face criminal charges? >> yes, because what is -- this statute says what it says but the problem for trump and eastman and others, and eastman has had to plead the fifth 146 times at his deposition before the january 6th committee, the problem for them is that the evidence is piling up and mounting and it fittes these statutes like a glove. i mean the real issue is were they intending to deceive anybody. did they know they were deceiving people?

well, the brief goes through all of the different ways that donald trump had to have known, and eastman, had to have known that he was committing a fraud. he was told by the department of homeland security, by the cybersecurity agency that there was no fraud. he was told by the justice department repeatedly, by his own attorney general, bill barr, and repeatedly by the person who succeeded barr as acting attorney general, rosen, and by donahue, the acting deputy attorney general, over and over again, there was no basis to overturn the election. he was told it by the white house council. he was told that by his own campaign aides. there was a campaign memo that said it. jason miller apparently testified before the january 6th committee and said he told president trump that, you know, there was no there there. raffensperger, the secretary of state of georgia, trump had a conversation with him and

raffensperger explained there's no basis for us to find you 11,000 votes. and that doesn't even include all of the -- there will be more evidence. there's already, you know, reporting out there that trump was telling his aides, and i know for a fact this to be true, that he was saying, how could i have lost to this guy? how could i have lost? which means he knew he lost, which means he knew he was engaging in a fraud and knew he was engaging in a deceit, and the fact he was trying to obstruct the lawful function of the united states government puts this squarely, squarely under the scope of 18 u.s.c. section 371. at this point i don't see how the justice department had pass on this. >> all right. george conway, thank you so much for updating that for us. still ahead, we turn back our sights on ukraine, the second round of peace talks is set to get under way at the top of the hour. we will be following any developments with that. plus, we will get a live report from on the ground in ukraine and from across the border in

poland where many of the up to 1 million refugees have fled. also ahead, a vote on the right side of history. that's how ukraine's president describes any action taken by the u.n. we'll have more on the condemnation of russia. and retired four star army general barry mccaffrey is our guest. we are back in two minutes. thanks for coming. now when it comes to a financial plan this broker is your man. let's open your binders to page 188... uh carl, are there different planning options in here? options? plans we can build on our own, or with help from a financial consultant? like schwab does. uhhh... could we adjust our plan... ...yeah, like if we buy a new house? mmmm...

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♪♪ it is the top of the hour. a live look at the capitol as the sun has come up over washington on this thursday, march 3rd. welcome back to "morning joe." . russia stepped up its offensive in ukraine, bombarding and shelling major ukrainian cities while pushing to encircle and cut off the capital of kyiv. russian troops entered kherson yesterday as conflicting reports

emerged whether the key southern port city had fallen. russia's defense ministry claims they've taken control of kherson, but a ukrainian official says the battle continues. according to the city's mayor though, russian troops were in the streets and had entered the council building. he also said that as many as 300 ukrainians were killed in intense fighting. the capture of kherson, a strategic southern provincial city to fall since it began. kharkiv was founded for the third day in a row. explosions struck municipal and police headquarters as well as the kharkiv university building killing at leigh four and injuring nine others according to ukraine state american services. willie. >> as mika said, ukraine's capital city of kyiv coming under intense shelling and

missile attacks as the russian military convoy remains stalled outside of the city. explosions rocked the area this morning what large blast just outside of the city while missile debris damaged a major heating pipeline near the central train station. officials there say the 40-mile-long convoy en route to kyiv is being stalled by the ukrainian military as well as by low morale among russian troops and botched planning, but the pentagon warns they will bounce back from early setbacks. >> we believe the russians are deliberately actually regrouping themselves and reassessing the progress that they have not made and how to make up the lost time. >> the mayor of kyiv says as many as 15,000 people are still sheltering in the city's subway. that metro station across the city, to escape the grim conditions. joining us live from lviv, ukraine, is nbc foreign correspondent matt bradley. matt, good morning.

you have been covering this across the country, looking at this russian advance. it has gone slower than most military experts expected it would but it is moving forward. what is sort of the state of play right now tactically? >>. >> reporter: yeah, i mean what we're seeing, willie, is of course the two major prongs of advance on kyiv, to sort of the central, to the west, and kharkiv where i was when the whole thing started, which is way to the east. those two advances, those two axis of advance have been frustrated. now a full week into this, this is the first time the russians have managed to take any urban territory of appreciable size. a lot of people, including myself i have to admit, thought the ukrainian military would crumble under this superior force, the huge, overwhelming power of the russian military, one of the strongest militaries in the world. i thought it would be a couple of days, a couple of hours.

this was based on my discussions with military analysts and even ukrainian officials themselves. instead, we have seen a week into this, now, finally, the russians have taken one modestly sized city, kherson in the south. this is only a city of almost 300,000 people. it is much smaller than the city i am in right now, but the fact is that it is strategic. it sits right at the junction between mainland ukrainian and crimea, which is the peninsula that russia annexed in 2014 when they invaded the country and it is strategic for other reasons. it houses major naval ports, which are some of the naval bases used to patrol the area around the black sea, and it also is a major ship building center. it is a major city, and it is next to the canal that connects mainland ukraine with crimea. the ukrainians cut off that canal years ago after the russians annexed crimea.

now it seems they've managed to turn it back on. they've destroyed the dam and turned the water back on to the peninsula of crimea. this was a major goal of vladimir putin and he seems to have achieved it. now he is in a very good position to cut off all of ukraine's access to the black sea and create naval superiority in that region. it is an important advance, but still it speaks to how the russias have advanced in the country. >> reporter: you were in lviv so you have a close eye on the refugee crisis. the u.n. announced a short time ago now more than 1 million ukrainians have fled the country, a country of 44 people, have left. many more are out of their homes seeking shelter or on their way out of the country. what can you tell us about the humanitarian crisis unfolding as war breaks out in the country? >> reporter: i have to tell you, when you walk around the city it

doesn't seem that dire, people are going about their day-to-day basis. when we were crossing the country, we made a journey from the east to the west in lviv in the last couple of days. we joined that mass exodus and it was intense. it was hundreds of thousands of people sitting in their cars for hours and hours waiting at check point after check point, trying to get through. it was just an immense effort. you know, for the border guards and for the people who are manning the check points, they were jittery, they were worried about what they were seeing and, of course, all of this is unfolding under the threat of bombs. we were in the central town of uman and there were bombardments as we were leaving in the morning. it is threatening for people. as they're trying to escape they're seeing their country facing this crisis as they're attempting to leave, and some of the scenes at the border are heartbreaking, who men, who are not allowed to cross the border

between the age of 18 and 60, have to leave their families, turn around and go back to join the fight. this is a crisis in the making. i don't think we have seen the worst of the humanitarian crisis. that, guys, is yet to come. >> more than 1 million have left the country according to the u.n. nbc's matt bradley in lviv, ukraine, for us this morning. matt, thank you very much. mika. the united nations general assembly overwhelmingly voted yesterday to reprimand russia over its invasion of ukraine. in a historic rare emergency meeting, 141 countries voted in favor of a resolution condemning russia for its military action in ukraine. five countries including russia voted against the resolution. 35 others abstained including china. as the results of the vote were placed on the screen inside the chamber, a rare standing ovation took place.

ukraine's president praised the outcome of the vote tweeting in part this. i am grateful to everyone and every state that voted in favor. you have chosen the right side of history. joining us now retired four star army general barry mccaffrey. nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports, "andrea mitchell. also julia ioffe joins us and nbc contributor mark barnacle is with us as well. >> general, i would love to get your insights into something president zelenskyy said. he said, we broke the enemy's plans in a week, plans that have been built over the years. there's another strategist that has a similar quote, mike tyson who said, everybody has a plan until you punch them in the face. well, russia has been punched in the face. the question is what's next. if you are the ukrainians, what

should you be expecting and what should you be preparing for? >> is well, look, admiral stavridis gave an excellent assessment of where we are. it is essentially after a week of fighting b russians have put over half their combat power into trying to subdue ukraine. they've ended up in a strategic disaster, both militarily, economically, politically. and on the ukraine side, it turned into a humanitarian disaster that will only get worse by the day. when we focus on the actual russian military operations, it is astonishing the incompetence with which it has been carried out. at an operational level of war they've got a couple hundred thousand troops, but they've been unable to achieve any of their major objectives. i think they probably had bad planning assumptions across the board. they thought this whole thing

would crumble on them. it hasn't. ukrainian courage and u.s. and nato support across the border have caused them to back up in a massive target. the ukrainians, if they fight in kyiv, and i think they will, will have all the advantages. this will be a block-by-block battle that could go on for weeks. it would devour russian infantry trying to seize the city. it also would be devastating to the civilian population. >> i was going to ask you about that. we are looking at the russian's trying to gain control of the cities. it seems to me, general, that's when their problems start. we could go back -- i'm not comparing the two operations in any way. historians can debate what's happening in ukraine with iraq, but in 2003 we swiftly moved across that country, swiftly took over the important cities,

important transportation hubs, important communication hundreds. that's when our problems began. the russians, it seems listening to admiral stavridis earlier, the russians have already lost in a week's time as many people as we lost in combat in afghanistan over 20 years and they're not even taking the cities. how much worse does it get if they do have an occupying force and they do have a populous that's determined to drive them out? >> well, it is already a disaster for them. again, you know, the main invasion for us was only a couple of days march out of belarus. it now looks like a parking lot. they're not camouflaged. they're not spread out in assembly areas. they didn't shoot battalion combat teams down the slot to get them to encircle kyiv. at a tactical level they tried to seize the outskirts of the

city with parachute forces, with grulms and it didn't work. i don't see how they unravel this thing. if you screw up a company's deployment you can get it back under control in a couple of hours by a captain. if you screw up an invasion force of a couple hundred thousand people it is going to take days to unravel us. so, again, time is on the side of the ukrainians. the russians are vulnerable to air attack. i assume that the western support for ukraine will soon include armed drones. they had 20 turkish drones. they must have run out of combat power. but this is a massive, vulnerable military force facing increasing problems. i don't know how they continue to logistically supply it, strung out on a few roads. hard to know where this is going

to go. i don't think he has command control over these forces anymore. so it is a stuck proposition and the junes should be proud of what they've been able to accomplish against this huge russian invasion force. >> julia ioffe, i want to read your tweet. i would love for you to elaborate on it. you say friend after friend fleeing russia, five today alone. the best and the brightest, the journalists who were telling people the truth about their country, gone. emigres like the white russians of a century ago, putin is destroying two countries as once. >> oh, you know, it is really so brutal to watch what is happening in ukraine and it is brutal to watch what is happening in rurks. this morning we found out that the echo of moscow radio station, which was an iconic media organization.

it was founded in 1990. it continued to broadcast all the way through. it stopped only once in august of 1991 during the putsch. it has went off the air the other day because the prosecutor attorney general office accused it of calling the conflict a war, calling it an invasion as opposed to a special military operation. >> we'll get back -- >> -- which is the last tv network, gone. all of my friends from there are leaving. people are fleeing across the border as fast as they can. it is impossible to get a ticket now. it just feels like a massive exodus from russia as well, and these people are often the educated, the people who have the means to leave, and a lot of them are the journalists, the last of the ones who managed to stay and tell returns what was

happening. now there's nobody to tell them what is going on in ukraine. >> you know, andrea, though it may have been symbolic that vote yesterday at if u.n. general assembly where only five nations voted to support russia, russia in a league with north korea, syria and belarus, it was significant in displaying the isolation of vladimir putin in russia. we understand that president macron of france just got off a 90-minute call with president putin. the pressure continues from the west. the question is, is he listening at all, will it have any impact at all, can anybody get to podesta? >> it doesn't seem as though there is. macron has had relations, at least they've been on the phone with each other throughout this. there's talk israel might try to broker its relationship between the ukraine and russia. that vote in the u.n. was

stunning. kudos to our ambassador there and the work she has done on all of this leading up to this. 141 nations. there were 35 abstentions. but the five nations, you don't want to be in that club. the five rogue nations around the world that now, of course, sides with russia. they side with russia but no one else is. there is talk of the international criminal court of justice, the icc, 39 nations led by the uk asked for a war crimes investigation. we asked the secretary of state yesterday about that and he's not talking about war crimes but says they are investigating. the fact is what they've described, what he has described in his own news conference is clearly targeting civilian populations. those are war crimes. so that investigation is going to proceed. so they're going to face some

kind of, you know, receiptry buss in the hague at some point. we saw that happen, of course, with milosevic and others in previous wars, but what now has to happen is someone has to get to putin and most people think it could only be the generals and it is not happening, his own generals because he is not listening to anyone else. >> general mccaffrey, we have all seem the 40 miles of equipment lined up, not moving and moving very slowly. you have spoken to the logistical nightmare of what resupplying. could you speak to the motivation and morale of the russian troops on the ground and the specter of a nation and a military that lives with the idea of stalingrad in their memories and the prospect of house-to-house, block-to-block fighting in kyiv?

>> yeah, well, it is a serious situation for the russians, no question. they just have handled this badly at the operational level of war. now they've got to unravel the thing. but the way you can't capture kyiv fighting on the outskirts. at the end of the day they have to go downtown with forces, they have to bring in light infantry to get into the buildings. everyone will favor the defender, you won't need a javelin missile. they will be using light and a tank weapon. i don't see the prospects of russian armed forces being anything but a disaster. >> president biden has brought in the allies to support the

ukrainians. 100,000 troops now in europe as part of nato or the unilateral force. the germans doubling their defense budget for next year. they essentially disarmed themselves 20 years ago, and things are steadily increasing the pressure on the russians. i personally hear all the time about creating no-fly zones in ukraine. look, there's no question, the u.s. air force, the brits and the french could establish a no-fly zone and drive the russian air power out of the region in a week. but to do so we have to take on the russian air force. we have to attack the s-400 anti-aircraft defenses which is stationed in russia, 400 kilometer range. we will end up in a significant shooting war with the russians. >> yeah.

i think president biden wisely so far has not entertained a valid military option but a political disaster for the united states. >> general mccaffrey, about that convoy, admiral stavridis was talking about that being an obvious strategic target. did the ukrainians not have the means, the weapons coming in, not have the means to take on a target like that? and what would it take to eliminate any inabilities it has? >> the ukrainians started the war with about 125 combat aircraft and some 20 some odd turkish manufactured armed drones. it looks to me as if by and large they probably shot the bolt on that. the russians have conducted an intensive attack on the command and control, the radar, the headquarters. i know they've lost to air-to-air battles, the

ukrainians have, over kyiv. so it doesn't look like they have the tombs. perhaps nato can get it in using intelligence agencies, using commercial trucks. but distributing it to fighting units will be extremely hard. i don't think the ukrainians have the month, the tank force, the attack helicopters to really take this on. they are vulnerable and at the head of the column the ukrainians are fighting bravely. the background is that you can't beat kyiv until you go into the city and put your own government in charge, and that will be a bloody affair that will roll out with huge devastation in the city and probably take weeks. so, again, i don't see a good option for the russian generals nor do i see how putin backs out, which is why we are seeing these nuclear threats. putin knows better. you can't win a nuclear

exchange. if he conducted a first strike on the united states, russia will still be devastated by the strike. this language out of putin and now the foreign minister is extremely unsettling. they're scared and don't know what to do. >> retired four star general barry mccaffrey. thank you very much. in an attempt to embarrass moscow, ukraine's defense ministry is inviting the mothers of captured russians to come and get their sons. we will talk to someone in kyiv who is pushing that message and trying to fight the war on the information front. plus, florida governor ron desantis suggests france would fold if it was invaded by russia. those stunning -- >> these people that actually -- just stupid. he went to yale? like does he not realize that

macron was bitterly critical of donald trump for retreating from syria and abandoning the kurds. >> yeah. >> the french actually have been time and time again have been disappointed by donald trump's retreats when he was president and our retreat from afghanistan. it is not the french who were afraid to go in. but the ignorance. >> the ignorance. desantis also yesterday at a bunch of teens for wearing masks. that's where we are. we'll be right back. 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

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new and existing customers get amazing value with our everyday pricing. switch today. president putin may have assumed that the united states and our allies were bluffing when we warned of massive, unprecedented consequences, but as president biden likes to say, big nations can't bluff.

the united states doesn't bluff and president putin has gravely miscalculated. my message to the people of russia, if they're even able to hear it as the kremlin cracks down even harder on media outlets reporting the truth, my message is that we know many of you want no part of this war. the economic costs we've been forced to impose on russia are not aimed at you. they are aimed at compelling your government to stop its actions, to stop its aggression. >> 28 past the hour. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken with that message to the russian people. blinken is set to travel to eastern europe today to visit belgium, poland, moldova, lithuania, latvia and ee stone y'all. joining us from kyiv, the executive director of european prism, a foreign policy and security think tank. one of the thing you trying

to work on is to sort of get in front of the information wars in terms of making sure that ukraine is characterized correctly and strongly. you are trying to spread the word about russian mothers who can come collect their sons in ukraine? can you explain how you are putting out that information and how it would work? >> good morning. yes, this is one of our directions we are trying to follow the situation. we have more casualties, wounded soldiers and those captured, we want them to get back to their mothers. we know all of the soldiers, retrieved their cellphones while the invasion cellphone and they had no connection. basically many relatives do not know where they are at the moment. so all of this social mechanism like channel or other social media channels were used to give information for mothers about their beloved, about their

husbands as well. so basically we are trying to reach, and this is very important information. at this moment this general has about 600,000 subscriptions basically from russia where they're trying to find their sons, which are out of contact for quite a while. >> you've decided to stay in kyiv to fight on the information front. your group has created a website, sort of database about the russians taken in ukraine, as you just said. have any russian mothers taken you up on the offer? >> basically this website, which was created by ukraine authorities but we cooperate closely because it is our commitment to get this information to spread the word. because, you know, this website was banned officially by kremlin in russia, but still we want to raise through social media contact by contact with the

document and identification we have, just reach those relatives and say, okay, your children are here, but they are just captured or they're wounded and you need to take care of them and maybe to take care of your country and your community, to say to the troops. because basically it is very difficult to persuade them and recent polls in russia say around 70% of support for this russian invasion, so basically we are trying to distribute to outreach on people's contacts. this is one of federations we do on russian. >> as you continue the work, i'm curious if you could describe for the american audience what day-to-day live is like in kyiv? what is it like to be under bombardment? do you see russian troops? do you hear of them getting closer? what is it like not just day by day but what is it like living

minute-to-minute in the city right now? >> right now it is still stable. we don't have the tanks on the outskirts but we know they are close. we do all we can for total defense, engage in volunteering be it to providing food and medicine to those on the outside, to wield some check points, to organize to supply necessary equipment and facilities for our soldiers. basically we're trying to do that and to enroll ourselves, not to fear but to feel more optimism. we see that it works. at the same time we say just reading news about the situation, i hear some bombardments, i hear some strikes, it is audible, it is not close to us but i think kyiv has also shown. at night we hear some shooting, gun shooting in the residential area, so basically i think that

some groups are here and responding with fight with them. >> all right. thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. andrea mitchell, earlier i mentioned that secretary of state antony blinken is going to eastern europe. what is the significance of this trip? what does he hope to accomplish? >> it is significant. they're showing the flag. there are no major speeches but he can going to nato, of course, and nato has been so critical in all of this. they need to talk about how much more they with get to the ukrainians before some of the supply lines across ukraine are really shut down. they need to get more in. they need to get weapons in. zelenskyy has been pleading. them to poland, of course, to thanks the polish people. so importantly, obviously to consult with the diplomats there and the diplomats from kyiv who have been in poland now because they're no longer in lviv, and they're based in poland now. so to reassure all of our

embassy personnel, which you understand so well, mika, and look at the refugee situation. it is such a crisis. >> all right. andrea mitchell. thank you. a little bit of breaking news we have to get to. this just in. french custom officials have taken control of a giant yacht owned by the head of russian oil giant rusneft as part of the european union's sanctions against russia. that's according to the frens finance minister as reported by bloomberg. french officials say the ship was confiscated overnight in the mediterranean as it was preparing an urgent departure. forbes reporting germany seized the yacht of a russian billionaire yesterday. julia ioffe, again, what is the symbolism of this? this is very inconvenient, to say the least, for these oligarchs but it means something in the big picture. can you explain? >> yeah. you know, as the west is rolling

out these extremely punishing sanctions against russia, i mean these are the nuclear options of sanctions, they're hitting russians, everyday russians really hard. there's already talk there might be food shortages soon, fuel shortages, et cetera. to see it is not just the russian people being hit but the actual people who are close to putin who have benefited from his rule including the chairman of rosneft who is a former kgb agent, who is close to putin. excuse me. >> bless you. >> who is seen as the kind of -- >> excuse me. who is seen as the kind of darth vader of russiaes that's kind of his nickname. that's the one that the french seized, alisher usmanov. he is a pretty scary guy. he did time in the soviet union

for rape. these are big guys, big fish, and to seize their yachts has to hurt. it is symbolic because it is showing the russian people that's who they are going after. >> right. >> if the russian people see it. secretary blinken is right. there's not many places for the russian people to see what is happening. that said, it is not just a propaganda coup. i think if the u.s. and the west are trying to peel off the oligarchs from putin to get some kind of palace coup going, this might not be a bad start. >> yeah, it is a good direct insult. julia ioffe, thank you very, very much for coming on this morning. coming up, we will have an update on the military and humanitarian aid going into ukraine. plus, the latest on a potential major aid package for ukrainians. that's being negotiated in congress right now. we have chairman of the house armed services committee, congressman adam smith, joining us nix on "morning joe."

while we assess that the vast -- the majority of that combat power is now in ukraine, that doesn't mean that he doesn't have stuff that's not committed and it doesn't mean that what he has in ukraine has been diminished. they have -- they have lost a sense of momentum here, but that doesn't mean that they still don't have the power at their disposal. >> that is pentagon press secretary john kirby yesterday talking about the 40-mile-long russian military convoy we've been discussing this morning that has been stalled for several days outside kyiv. joining us now chairman of the house armed services committee, democratic congressman adam smith of washington state. mr. chairman, it is great to have you with us this morning. what is the assessment you can make, at least publicly here, of the russian military's

performance? this clearly has taken longer and has been more arduous and met more resistance than vladimir putin expected. but as admiral kirby pointed out it doesn't mean that the march into ukraine does not continue, even if a bit slower than they thought it might. >> yeah, i think that's pretty accurate. our committee has been briefed. i have been personally briefed by chairman milley on this. the assessment, this has not gone as well as the russian military had hoped. part of that is because of their unrealistic expectations of how the ukrainian people would react and part because of flaws within the russian military. there's been a lot of reporting how many of their munitions did not fire properly, whether it is because they didn't work or operator error nobody knows. they've definitely struggled because their military is not as well organized as it should be. but their overwhelming numbers, their overwhelming mass gave them a lot of room for error in that regard. the other thing we are sadly starting to see, just like what happened in chechnya, what happened in syria, if the

russians get bogged down a little bit they just get more brutal and start using their force indiscriminately. they're bog itbogged down but s have the overwhelming advantage is the bottom line. >> what can you tell us about the supply line, getting armament and supplies into kyiv right down from poland or wherever? and once the equipment arrives, you mentioned the 40-mile-long convoy outside of kyiv, can we provide targeting information to the ukrainians? >> yes, there's a bunch contained in that question. we on the committee have drilled down a lot on the specifics of the supply line. we can't get into that for obvious reasons, but i mean the thing we need to accomplish right now is while that, you know, russian convoy is bogged down it is a crucial moment to get supplies in to the ukrainians, particularly into kyiv, to get humanitarian, food,

water, weapons, stingers, anti-tank munitions. that supply line is difficult but it is important to get those supplies in to support them. the other thing we wonder about on the convoy, if they have weapons how come they're not hitting it more regularly. we want to try to get the weapons in. the last question on the intel, it is a difficult line. this is the line we're trying to walk and chairman milley said it best. we want to support the ukrainians in every way we possibly can without going to war with russia. when it comes to intel sharing and targeting that's a fine line. we are providing some intelligence. you know, we are not providing the type of real-time targeting that you see our military having gotten in conflicts like in iraq where instant-to-instant we have uav, the unblinking eye as they say, watching the situation and

giving that targeting data. we're not doing that because that steps over the line to making us participate in the war. the pentagon is struggling in walking that very fine line. >> congressman, it is a fine line, and as weapons make their way into kyiv two questions. how long does it take for the weaponry and the aid to get into the hands of people who can use it and, you know, how large an amount is headed in right now to give them what they need? but then the second question is what if ukrainians are successful? what stops putin? what stops a world war? >> well, that's what makes the situation so complex. in the first question, you know, we've drilled down in the committee again to try to get the specifics. how many javelins are going in. you know, how many stingers are going in. how quickly does it get there?

first of all, you know, we can't share a lot of that data because it is highly classified. we don't want the supply line to be disrupted. we don't want the russians to know any more about how it is working. seconds of all, it is really complicated. but, yeah, i mean it is a very frustrating situation when you see that convoy line there and you know the fire power that the u.s. and nato has. you know, the ability that we would have to simply destroy that, but the larger war is something to really worry about. what's the off ramp? i will tell you i have asked that question of a lot of leaders. right now the answer comes down to there is simply no off ramp. we are trying to blunt putin's invasion, but then what does he do? nobody can picture putin giving up so we have to work on the diplomatic option on how to bring it to a con lugs. >> chairman of the house armed services committee, congressman

adam smith. still ahead, we will go live to brussels with the latest on the investigation into possible war crimes over the russian invasion. plus, new reporting that u.s. officials are concerned putin's government may retaliate against u.s. sanctions by arresting americans in russia. former u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul will be our guest. "morning joe" is coming right back. coming right back new poligrip power hold and seal. clinically proven to give strongest hold, plus seals out 5x more food particles. fear no food. new poligrip power hold and seal. i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months,

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. one million ukrainians have fled their country since russia's invasion according to u.n. the refugees leave behind their homes and their lives not knowing when or even if they will ever return. sky news correspondent jay sparks made the journey with them and has their stories. >> reporter: no one knows if or when the train will come. but in the city there are

thousands of people keeping watch. their past and their present has been packed into bags, while their future lies on platform 1. the trains head west, to the city of lviv, which stands as some sort of beacon. but nobody wants to leave their home. how do you feel? >> good and bad, very, very bad. >> reporter: why? >> i am very angry. >> reporter: why? >> because putin -- >> reporter: waiting decisions are made in a moment by those who have no time to think. how do you feel in your heart? >> so bad. d.

>> reporter: it's beginning to slow down now and there is going to be one almighty crush as people try to get on. this man's not in a good way. they're going to get him on, propelled by fear, they battle to board. as the train attendants beg them to step back. backs are hoisted from passenger-to-passenger and within a few minutes, the train is full. "careful, don't fall, don't come in," he begs. the majority on this train are women and children. many between 18 and 60 are expected to stay and fight. so those on board made their solitary farewells. natalia is taking her son to safety.

her husband has stayed behind. r. >> reporter: i asked her where she was planning to go. her whee she was planning to go some feel shamed for leaving their loved ones. others struggle to make sense of it as the train speeds them away from the front lines. oleg is from the city. is from . and his daughter sonia is terribly confused. the train stops in towns and vigils as we travel through the night and on every platform there are people trying to get

in. what are they doing? they can't get on, says one. the conductor refuses to open the doors irena and her son have been traveling for days after her hometown was attacked by the russians. she says, she'll never be the same. never be the same >> reporter: they arrived in lviv to the sound of air ride sirens, a reminder of everything they left behind. so the majority will continue this journey moving west into the arms of the european union. a great exodus of reluctant travelers, wondering if they will ever make it home. >> sky news correspondent jay

sparks with that compelling report for us. just tragic. up next, we will bring you the latest developments from overnight, round two of peace talks between russia and ukraine now under way as the fighting intensifies. we'll have president zelenskyy's new message to his people. plus, new reporting on how global sanctions have tanked the russian economy. "morning joe" is back in a moment.

. it's the top of the hour. 8:00 on the east coast. a live look at the white house on this thursday march 3rd. welcome back to "morning joe." here's what we have learned this morning as the war in ukraine spirals into a second week. a southern port city is effectively controlled by russia after tanks rolled through the streets earlier today. the kremlin's war machine is

also wreaking havoc from the skies, flattening buildings. taking innocent lives in the process. still, moscow faces serious obstacles along the way, last morning, retired general barry mccaffrey sized up that stalled military convoy outside kiev, which moscow is struggling to resupply, he said it's a sitting target for ukrainian forces if they can get the arsenals needed to hit back. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is pleading for russian soldiers to turn over their weapons. in his latest video posted last night, he urged the fighters to quote, tell your officers that you want to live. speaking to his own people about the russian soldiers, he said, quote, these are not warriors of a super power. these are confused children who have been used. take them home.

a second hour of peace talks just got under way. they are being held in the belarusan city on the order of poland in the same national park with the accords were signed that dissolved the soviet union. there is concern over whether russia is serious about the talks after vladimir putin sent a low-level delegation to the first round of negotiations. all this is triggering a massive humanitarian crisis. the desperate rush to escape gripping ukraine has become more difficult as russian forces continue to advance, nbc news national correspondent to him yam is tommy yamis has the latest. >> reporter: they can exchange one last hot meal and exchange

stories of what they witnessed. >> today they have moved my city and many houses. they didn't like strike it. they dropped bombs. >> reporter: like many mothers, tawnya is from the east. where russian airstrikes destroyed school buildings in downtown kharkiv, neighborhoods reduced to rubble. in the capital kiev, the bombing has driven some 15,000 to shelter, including children and the elderly. >> i am there. we won't leave our independent country. >> every day, more people leave this dal pontist seminary is housing dozens of families. the kindness of strangers is keeping these families fed and clothed. at this shelter, most of the

donations have poured in from the u.s. you don't know anybody here? >> we don't know one. >> reporter: these are strangers to you, they took you in? >> yes. >> reporter: this family of four is headed to poland. they can't stop to think about to be relatives they left behind in the rush to get out. >> it's a lot of hate and dangerous so much. they hate everything. >> reporter: before leaving this shelter, we met tanya and her five-month-old son, the youngest refugee we have encountered so far. when she looks down at her child, she says she is reminded of how far they've come and also how much further they need to go. you think about this war, what goes on in your head? she says she worries about the psychological effects this war will have on ukraine's little ones. she also told me this war has revealed who the strongest creatures are in this battle. it's the mothers fighting to

save their children. . >> nbc's tom yamas joining us from ukraine. nbc news correspondent allison barber. you have been talking to ukrainians who have been able to get out of the country. the u.n. says a million people have fled ukraine since the fighting began with many more to come. what does it look like there? >> reporter: yeah, a million people in seven days, which is staggering. this group of people right here just got off a bus making their way into poland. they tell us they are from kiev. we have been to four different border crossings in the last few days. every single one we see and meet people like this family here. most of the people fleeing ukraine. it is women and children, men you are considered fighting age between the ages of 18 and 60. they cannot leave. when people arrive, they see this to begin with. these are sort of make-shift efforts, volunteers.

many just regular polish people who live in the area and set up tents, built fires, brought food to offer them to the people fleeing the war. that number 1 million people you see it here every single day the numbers that come by gives you the sense that the official estimates we have are much lower than the reality and that the official numbers are taking a while to catch up to what is actually happening here on the ground. i want to show you this under this billboard area, you see there were a bunch of fires and stacks of wood. the people here chopping wood yesterday, they were from georgia. they come here because they said they know what this feels like. russia invaded their country in 2008 so they came here because they wanted to help. the thousands and thousands of people we have met seen fleeing ukraine, all of them survivors of war, all of them with stories to tell. i met one woman this morning. she is 83-years-old.

she told me she loves ukraine. she has lived there for over 30 years. originally, she was born in russia. she was devastated to leave it. she says she knows she probably because of her age will never be able to go back. listen to what she told us. >> i want people to know more truth about what's going on. even speaking, the landscape has given up, leading you cane and this is a total fake. they are telling this to us and they're telling us zelenskyy will not give up. he will never give up. in my heart, it's painful. i miss ukraine already. i want, i just want to cry. i don't even know what to say.

i can't. i just can't. bless me god, please. thank you, thank you so much but it's so painful in my heart. >> the ukrainian people we have met, they are so very strong. they will calmly talk to us about what they heard. the missiles they've seen. the bombs, everything traumatic that they went through. how difficult it was to get here. they will not cry, where they tend to break down is when we ask them who they had to leave behind. in that woman's case, there are family members that still live in ukraine. again because of her age, she's going to stay with her daughter who lives in spain. she doesn't know if she will ever come back to the place she loves. the people they love there. so many people they left behind, their fathers, brothers, sons to

fight. they are terrified that they might not see them again, but everyone here, none of them want to be here. they all want to be pack in ukraine. the majority of those 1 million people who have fled so far, they've come here to poland. the polish government, holes are volunteering. numbers are high. when you look at warsaw, the official numbers from last night. they said 3500 refugees came to that estimate they had official 600 designated beds for the people. they are keeping up with the people that need help here. they are starting to struggle. >> incredibly human reporting, you see the anxiety on the family and a woman who wants to go home as you say, nbc news' allison barber inside poland at the border of ukraine where 1 million ukrainians have left the country just in the last week.

thank you so much. mika. >> joining us now former u.s. ambassador to russia now director of the institute for international studies at stanford and international affairs analyst, michael mcfall, u.s. financial times ed luce joins us and former aid to the george w. bush state departments alise jordan. michael barnacle is still with us. >> mr. ambassador, sanctions undermining the russian economy, the war plans not going anywhere near planned. you now have putin as you pointed out committing war crimes against russians and russian-speaking ukrainians with these attacks, indiscriminate attacks. lavrov saying earlier russia is going to fight to the end. what in the world is vladimir

putin's end game? it only gets harder here for his troops, for the ukrainians, of course, but also for the russian people. >> i don't know, joe. we have been asking this question, what is his end game for a long time? even with my consultations with the biden administration weeks ago, everybody was wondering, what will be the end game? the tactics have changed as you pointed out. the shock and awe, everybody will run away. zelenskyy will go to warsaw that plan didn't work. so now he's doubled down on old familiar russian tactics the of terrorizing civilians, like he did in chechnya and syria to try to get people to submit. it's clear to me that mr. zelenskyy is not leaving kiev. people are going to fight and it's going to be horrible. i just think we need to brace ourselves, there is more war to come. even if he makes it to kiev and

seizes the buildings there and in kharkiv, the second-largest city in ukraine. then what? what is he going to do later? he does not have the forces to occupy this giant european country forever. and i don't understand what his end game is. i don't think anybody understands what his end game is. >> but mr. ambassador, let me, so, yes, i mean, the question was asked because it was really more of a rhetorical question. because he doesn't seem to have an end game. you can go back and see what was said on this program, what was said on other programs with people like madeleine all bright, you were saying before he first went in, it's not like anything we are seeing is surprising, any rational human being couldn't have known he was stepping into quick zandt, any rational human being would have

known his economy was going to melt down. we said it would. nato said it would. the ukrainians, yes, they're fighting harder than we expected. we expected them to fight this way. so again what are we the world community to make of the dangers that lay ahead with one single man having more power than anybody perhaps than stalin on the european continent. one single man sitting on top of a pile of nuclear weapons threatening to use it and acting so irrationally he's literally taking his country as well as ukraine over the cliff with him? >> john, glad you used that word rationality. because we've had lots of deba its in my world about putin actually going back 20 years. man, i wrote my first anti-putin piece that he's an autocrat in

march of 20, 2000. for two decades i have been told, meek, you are over reacting. he is a rarnl actor. he's a realist, a real policy thinking and that kind of thinking, that kind of argument has been dangerous for a long time. had we taken more measures against him two decades ago and russian had taken more measures to constrain his power two decades ago, we'd all be better off. my russian friends, that's what they say, joe, you shouldn't have been so passive about putin in the early 2000s. that all said, that's history. the way i see forward, there are three factors that matter here now. how do you finance a fight and, therefore, is there anything and everything the west can do to help them fight better? we need to do now. if we're all going to be united on the side lines, we need to help them in this fight in every

way, shape and form. number two, sanctions, not just sanction, by the way. sanctions have been impressive. i would not have predicted a week ago that we'd be where we are at in terms of government response. now i am encouraged by private actors' response. right. they're dock their own things. that needs to continue as fast as possible. because there is genuine panic inside russia from the billionaires to my friends of 30 years, nobody expected this. we want that panic and then third does that panic finally lead to defections among the elites and popular mobilization within society? you are seeing signs of it. some only gashings have left, split with putin. some foreign policy establishment people have. the world bank representative. you are seeing elements of it, charting to say, i'm getting off this crazy train and you are seeing these incredibly brave

russians demonstrate, being arrested now in the thousands. but the next thing we need to see is what alex navalny said from his prison cell. he said we need tens of thousands to overwhelm the police that they can't arrest us all as a way to stop this war. those are the three things i am looking for, more military sanctions and more political will and more will from russians in this war. >> next putin and the russian military moving into ukraine and the horrors that likely would following slow sort of has become the consensus view of military analysts. it may be happening smaller than they thought. it is happening, there have been attempts, president macron of france speaking for 90 minutes today to vladimir putin. there are symbolic second round of peace talks between ukraine and russia today. they haven't meant much. they may not mean much today. what more can be done from the

united states' poive? the west's point of view. there is a few tilt of watching this from the side lines. >> what i want to ask the ambassador, specifically, what sanctions are left? do we have to no after the energy sector? that's where the west called, it will bring more political hurt to america. but is that hurt worth it to save ukrainian children potentially to save the massive slaughter that could be on the brink in kiev. i think it's something that this is a question the biden administration is weighing strongly, what the potential ramifications here at home, also what to do, what is the moral choice there? we're at a point, what are the measures short of war? really that's the only one i see left in the toolbox. i hope we ve a good back channel with putin's inner circle. that's what we can pray for, that there are discussions going, that putin is not long for his position.

but that's you know really a pie in the sky dream at this stage in the game. >> ambassador europe, some americans have stopped short of the sanction on oil and gas companies, what is your view about that? >> well, i can report what i know about the debate. there are definitely, at least the biden administration are considering new measures. rightly so. you are absolutely right. we have fought done all we can with respect to oil and gas. there are lots of things to do besides cutting off oil and gas. that's not going to happen with so much depending on gas. we raised the costs and lowered the profits that russians get. you create more incentives for other buyers for their product to be purchased. we can go into the details, but there is lots more options that

can be done between doing nothing and cutting off oil and gas. on the moral issue, my view is, more now. i'm sorry, but americans and europeans, we can pay a little bit more for our gasoline to stand the insolidarity with people literally dying right now for freedom in europe. but i wish the president would make that argument a little more forcefully yesterday. i find it absurd to say, we can't do that because of inflation. give me a break. this is a fight for freedom in a way we have not seen since world war ii. i think if you explain that to americans, americans will pay a little more for their gas. >> ed luce, the way ambassador mcfaul described this way forward, united, but on the sidelines, not to prevent a world war iii. are you concerned about end game? i don't understand where it

goes. is there a blueprint? is there a precident for our position in ukraine? how does this turn into a more positive direction not getting in, being on the side lines and being united for ukraine but not in there? >> there isn't an exact pressing dent. -- precedents. some of the things that occurred in bosnia, we did stand by watch until we acted. then when we acted, it was decisive, but, of course, russia wasn't involved in bosnia. there wasn't a nuclear arms potential conflict. the spansh-civil war is also an analogy that springs to mind as zelenskyy calls foreign fighters join the ukrainians. that's quite -- the international brigades that joined in spain fating against

fascists there. i don't think there is a precedent there. the worst forecast but probably the most realistic forecast suggests, we're going to see a growth in the cities, mainly what putin did in the 1890 did to grazney. if we're going to see that i think the moral pressure on nato to act more directly is going to become in support of which would be a really, really frightening situation. so, all suggestions to tighten sanctions now in the most extreme form up to and including a full trade boycott of russia, forced russia to become a giant north korea. a giant hermit kingdom, to depend on china for everything, which in turn puts pressure on

china as secondary sanctions as chinese companies start to bite for bracking that core done. and leaving short of direct nato intervention should be done now to its maximum extent. the pressure needs to be as acute as possible now. >> well, there is, of course, as you said, there are precedents for the united states on the side line, world war i, 1914 to 1917. but we got involved, made the difference. world war ii, '39, '40, most of '41 got involved. worked for the allies there. the problem is that in the united states, night after night after night, we are seeing ukrainians being savaged. we are seeing war crimes being committed and as you say, it is only going to get worse there. and as it gets worse, you are

going to hear more policy makers talk about a no-fly zone or talk about nato boots on the ground and that is just, as joe biden said from the beginning. even biden critics have head, that is not a possibility unless you are ready to trigger world war iii against a nuclear power that is already threatened to use it repeatedly, use those weapons repeatedly over the past month. i wonder for joe biden and other western leaders, how much pressure they are going to be facing in the coming months to make the unmovable move. >> i think it's going to get really, really acute. not just in the coming months, probably in the coming days and weeks. this situation is going to intensify. i am encouraged by news that

some more -- missiles are getting in. stnger missiles, mika you remember the role stinger missiles played with resistance to probably an occupation of afghanistan in the '80s. stinger missiles are relatively easy to use and they are devastating. one of the aims here is to prevent russian aerial dominance of ukraine. weapons like that should be disseminated much more quickly. i do understand the dynamic president biden is facing. whilst appreciating ambassador mcfaul's inflation. i am not sure most americans or europeans would necessarily understand that. that sort of balancing act that biden has to perform now is to keep public consensus behind tough action on russia.

if inflation goes through the roof, or continues to rise, and democratic prospects of holding on to congress receive even further for the mid-terms in i don't have, then you are going to see putin's glimpse and a glimpse in putin's eyes, which is what his end game here? well, i think a trump victory in 2024 would be a pretty good ends game for putin. that would result most probably in if not trapped certainly a dramatic weakening of nato. which is his long-term goal. >> ambassador mcfaul, to the point that you have raised a few moments ago about american's reaction to higher gas prices and inflation, we are witnessing all day long here in america scenes from ukraine that are mind-boggling in terms of their misery and their effect on people. now, the relic of war, the

memories of war, the casualties of war will be with the ukrainian people for years to come. no matter their age, young and old. they are going to remember the noise, the violence, the confusion, certainly the deaths. so my question to you is we live in a country where if the apple store in palo alto was closed, there would be hysteria. could you please talk to the american people right now about your knowledge of the ukrainians and their sense of liberty and freedom and their willingness to die on the street in front of their homes to save their country and to save the liberty for their own children? >> well, that's a tall order. but let me speak as a political scientist professor first. there is a lot of data really good research that shows that on foreign policy issues, the public follows their leaders. it's very clear. you can move numbers if you

explain to the american people on foreign policy so that's what we need to do. i am convinced. i have been to that apple store many, many times. i am convinced had i had a half hour in palo alto about the state, there wouldn't be hysteria, that's not right. that underestimates the people where i live. what you just said, this is a fight for freedom, not just in ukraine but for the future of freedom in the world that putin's wince and he defies the world, all of our unity on the side lines, he just proves might mix right and there are no rules and the international system could not constrain him, that has negative consequence way beyond this fight. way, in asia, in the middle east, and we need to learn from our past mistakes. joe, it's great. i think i would add into my lecture, by the way, something

about our mistakes in world war i and world war ii. those are really important lessons, especially world war ii, all the american firsters that says this doesn't matter, annexation in an eastern european country. oh, the invasion september 1st, 1939. that's not our problem. man, were those kind of arguments strategic miscalculations and when we hear them today, on other television networks, we need to remind people that those were mistakes. the other thing, by the way, one last thing, ed made a very important point about china remember i don't think we are doing enough to use and change our relationship with china in the short term to get mr. xi jinping to help in this world. he's the only guy in in world that putin respects and because we're locked down, we haven't changed hardly anything from the trump administration policy, my advice is, worry about the long run competition with china over

the long run and in the short run, do anything we can to get mr. xi jinping to put pressure on putin. i don't think we've done enough on that front just yet. >> pled me ask you, give you a quick idea from a diplomat i spoke to yesterday who said we're always talking about the shortfalls. we are always talking higher gas prices if we take action against russia on energy. this diplomat, a democrat, a life-long democrats, said why don't we have joe biden say he's going to fast-track two, three, lng facilities and by fast tracking it, immediately, immediately have an impact on the market so the market understands that even war natural gas is going to come

online to the united states and it's going to be fast tracked in a way that we don't usually do in the united states. is that a possibility? >> absolutely. we should be doing that and i think there are discussions about that. and he should be moving forward proactively on that front. and, joe, i'm not a political expert. you have a lot of expertise there. but let me just tell you, i just testified in front of the u.s. congress a few days ago. when rick rennell, you may remember him. we heard the republican line in that testimony. every single member of congress from the republican party that participated, they just asked mr. greenel a gentleman question. they didn't have the intelligence officer former ambassador me on there. every fund coordinated was the message, biden is weak, biden is

weak. biden is weak. so politically i think mr. biden has a being interest in defeating and ending this war to show that biden is strong. i think that's the only way he can show that he is you know getting out of this. weak in afghanistan, weak in china. now weak in russia. so i think he has high political incentives to do everything to end this war. >> it shows, mika, what a clown show those republicans in that hearing were running, if that was the best witness they could call, how sad, how pathetic for those house republicans. >> and the issues they're fighting right now here in america are just really kind of pale in comparison to what ukrainians are facing day-by-day. it seems like they need to get with the program. very grim and important conversation, ambassador michael

mcfaul and ed luce of the financial times. thank you both for your insights. still ahead on morning joe, the justice department launches a new effort to go after russian oligarchs. we will look at how it will work. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. you are watching "morning joe. we'll be right back. my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪ ♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala reduces asthma attacks it's a once-monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occured. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala.

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we're putting out, putting together with our interfarm allies. they seek to do so we trace those monies to luxury yachts, jets, luxury apartments. that cannot stand. that is the commitment you are seeing from this task force. >> we continue to follow the breaking developments as russia continues its strangling of neighboring ukraine and na that, the u.s. and the world considers its options. you heard tomorrow lisa monaco announced yesterday for the task force announced by merrick garland with the role of seizing the billions of dollars russian oligarchs are hiding around the world. nbc news' keir simmons has more. >> reporter: yachts, mappingss, private planes, russia's super rich are in the cross-hairs according to president biden. >> we're coming for your

ill-begotten gain. >> reporter: announcing task force kleptocapture, not announcing targets by fame. just last week, president putin gathering thrown oligarchs at the kremlin. the message, don't stop supporting me. the loyalty of the rich is being tested like never before. when putin became president, he was determined to control russia's billionaires. now amid the war in ukraine, some are making unprecedented public statements. worth $4 billion and once called the favorite industrialists declared peace is very important. owner of one of russia's biggest banks told his london investors the war was a tragedy. none criticized putin directly. and another high profile russian businessman worth an estimated $13 billion announcing she

selling chelsea futbol club and advocating for peace. president putin his yacht said to have been moved from germany last month. >> keir simmons, reporting there. forbes reports germany seized the yacht of a russian billionaire sanctioned on monday, the russian billionaires are leaving around headed to the seychelles or maldives. let's bring in george conway, an attorney, these russian oligarchs have moved in their yachts and $100 million apartments. is it important? >> it's important.

this is a very heavy lawyer-labor intensive activity and investigative activity. it's relatively easy to freeze assets when you know who they are, that they long to an oligarch. it's hard defining assets, first of all and hard to then permanently seize the assets. that requires a lot of work. these assets are hidden in infinite numbers of ways. llcs, shell companies owned by other shell companies. they are secret contracts with people to hold property. they are put in the names of relatives, friends, girl friend, you name it. there are any number of ways assets can be hidden. the money laundered. once you figure out there is a connection to an oligarch, you can get a freeze order and freeze the asset. make sure it isn't sold. at that point whoever has title can litigate it to fairly well and fight it in court.

so it's a lot of work. it's important this is being done. but it's a lot of work. it will require a lot of determined effort and resources devoted to this task and it's good that the justice department is focusing on it and creating a special task force to do it. >> george conway, thank you. up next, we go live to brussel itself as europe unites against russia's aggression. the latest from nato headquarters. plus, how wall street is dealing with all of this. a live report straight ahead on "morning joe." t staraight ahead "morning joe." >> woman: what's my safelite story? i see inspiration right through my glass. so when my windshield cracked, i chose safelite. they replaced the glass and recalibrated my safety system.

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. >> you do not have to wear those masks. honestly, it's not doing anything. if you want to wear it, type. this is ridiculous. all right. >> wow. >> good lord, where was that guy raised, in a barn? serious, was he raised in a barn? that's what we say in the south, when somebody is rude. i really do, a guy, willie, being rude to kids seriously, this is a question i ask. who raised him? like who would want their child to behave that way toward other children? it's like, you know, we see this, you know, you and i, our kids are involved in sports. our parents saw us when we were involved in sports remember you know, whenever we see coaches going after kids, whenever you see parents going after, it's

just so offensive. they wonder, what is it about this party now, this donald trump party where rudeness becomes a defining characteristic that the base actually looks for. >> reporter: yeah, it is a strange phenomenon that's happened in the age of trump, displays like that are somehow view by some people as strength or at least by the people who act that way. in this case, governor desantis as owning the limbs in some way. we have to get rid of embarking a bunch of teenagers. >> embarrass them. >> in tampa, berating these kids for wearing masks. they took them off because governor told them they could. he went further, at that same event after barking at the teenagers, telling reporters, unlike ukraine, france would not have put up a fight if russia

had invaded listen. >> it's great to see these people going out civilians fighting to ward off a russian army. a lot of other places around world, they fold the minute there is any type of adversity. can you image finance he went into france, would they do anything to put up a fight? probably not. >> again, so i just, this is what i don't get. okay. this guy when to the yale. i'm not asking him to know history. because he when to the yale. >> maybe. >> maybe, i don't know, maybe he studied bask weaving at yale? >> okay. >> i'm not sure. they didn't let me walk on the campus. i am not allowed on ivy league campuses. anyway, they're afraid i might try to apply again for a him 62. i'm just not sure where that attack against the french came franchise because those flip comments brought feedback to what french president emanuel

macron said in 2018 when donald trump retreated at an abruptly announced that he was going to force troops that wanted to stay in syria to help their kurdish allies when those troops in syria were stopping the iranians from going in places we didn't want them to go. they were holding russians in check. when the russians attacked us, we killed 300 of them in about five minutes. that kept assad in check. it was donald trump who cut and run. what did the freaks say? maion said i deeply, i very deeply regret the decision trump made on syria. to be allies is to fight shoulder to shoulder. at this time most important thing for a head of state and a head of the military. an ally should be dependable. willie, again, it was the french

that wanted us to stay in syria with them and help other allies. you could say same thing about afghanistan. when we left afghanistan, it was the french that set, what are you doing? we need to stay here. we need to honorably. we have to honor our commitment. so, again, you know, desantis, he doesn't need to learn about the french resistance from 1940 to 1945. just -- i don't know. read newspapers. it happened a few years ago. not that hard to forget. but, again, willie, just pure ignorance after being extraordinarily rude to kids. >> here's the worst of it. he does know that. he does know better. he just thinks the people that he's talking to, the people he's trying to appeal to don't, so he makes that whatever you want to call it, virtue signaling argument.

you don't have to go back to world war ii. french troops died alongside us in afghanistan. so when the united states was attacked, nato troops went to afghanistan, many of them french, and died in the defense of the united states. so ignorance, whatever it is, it was really an appalling display yesterday but perhaps not surprising, from governor desantis. >> i guess he just wasn't busy with the old history classes. maybe he was more busy at the frat house, you know? there's a certain nastiness to those comments and contempt even for the students. it makes me sad. almost a bit of a sadistic edge. it will be interesting to see how his character unfolds op the can payment trail. >> owe, i think we all better strap ourselves in because we'll see more of this in the next couple years. it's play acting. i mean, people like the governor of florida think that part of donald trump's calling card in

the sense it was too many americans, oh, he's a tougher guy, looks at the way he talks. they try to mimic him now. it will get worse. >> and just playing to the lowest common denominator, as willie said, assuming the people listening to him are too stupid to know history, too stupid to know recent history. current events. and for desantis, though, think about it, mike, for desantis, to actually accuse anybody of theater after putting on that display, i mean, that's like sally fields accusing somebody of being overdramatic when accepting an academy award, for god's sake. it's just a joke. all he engages in is stupid theater, trying to humiliate kids, stupid theater when he's running for office with 30-second commercials telling bedtime stories about donald trump to his children. it's all theater. it's all virtue signaling.

that's what at least -- let me say the trump wing of the republican party has become because, you know, there are a hell of a lot of senators right now, republican senators, who are doing the right thing on ukraine, who are moving in the right direction on ukraine, and on other defense issues. but in this trump wing of the republican party, it's nothing but virtue signaling and theater. >> well, you know, he's a fake tough guy, but there are republicans as you said who are real tough guys. try mitt romney for one. >> yeah. no, and he's came to play on the air this week. secretary of state antony blinken leaves for europe this morning to discuss ongoing support for ukraine. let's bring in josh lederman live for us from nato headquarters in brussels. what new steps, josh, is your thinking of taking to isolate russia? >> reporter: well, mika, here in

europe the international criminal court, about 80 miles from where i am in the hague, is ramping up an investigation into potential war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity by russia in this war. the prosecutor for the icc saying he is expediting that probe after 39 different countries referred russia to the international criminal court. this as the united nations general assembly held an extraordinary vote last night to condemn russia in which russia was joined in its veto by just four countries -- syria, north korea, eritrea, and belarus, which shows you the kinds of information company that russia is in right now. you mentioned secretary blinken, he is heading here today to brussels where he is expected to meet with nato allies xels with e.u. allies before he heads to moldova and to poland, two countries that are facing an influx of ukrainian refugees at this moment and struggling to

figure out how to accept them. and if you want to understand what blink season trying to do on his trip, you just need to look at where he's going after that, to the baltics, estonia, lithuania, and lalt via, three nato a allies that are rr concerned that they could be next. here's what blinken said his message is to the russian people as he starts on this trip. >> my message to the people of russia, if they're even able to hear it, as the kremlin cracks down even harder on media outlets reporting the truth, my message is that we know many of you want no part of this war. you, like ukrainians, like americans, like people everywhere, want the same basic things -- good jobs, clean air and water, the chance to raise your kids in safe neighborhoods, to send them to good schools, to give them better lives than you had. how in the world is president putin's unprovoked aggression against ukraine helping you

achieve any of these things? >> reporter: and this morning in russia, mika, there are reports lighting up twitter and social media that president putin could potentially impose martial law in russia as nbc news is now reporting that half a dozen u.s. officials, current and former, say that president putin, if he's backed in a corner, could take american citizens in russia hostage. we are reporting that among the potential targets for putin could be u.s. citizens and business people in russia who comply with those new u.s. sanctions, which are obviously making it much more difficult for the russian economy, the lamtest sign of how this war in ukraine certainly has threats and risks to americans that are extending far beyond ukraine, mika. >> nbc's josh lederman live from nato headquarters, thank you for the very latest from there. stock futures are holding steady this morning after all three major indexes shot up more

than 1.6% yesterday. this follows news that the fed is likely to raise interest rates in two weeks to fight inflation despite the war in ukraine. meanwhile, oil prices are once again surging with crude oil trading as high as $115 a barrel, the highest since september of 2008. let's bring in cnbc's dominic chu. some companies are taking matters into their own hands in pushing back against russia. do we have you? >> -- mercedes-benz was halting production at its russian manufacturing facilities and halting eximportants of vehicles to russia. they're the latest to take steps to sever business ties with russia in the wake of putin's decision to go to war in ukraine. on the auto side, it's general motors and volvo, media companies from disney to sony

picture, social media companies removing russian media content from their platforms, airline companies stopping service to russia and cutting ties with russia's state-run airline, even apple, the most valuable company in the world, a tech juggernaut, has stopped selling smartphones to the russian market. other consumer companies are following suit. and even some of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world with possibly the most to gain from partnerships with russian companies, companies like exxonmobil, also shell, bridge petroleum, bp, doing everything from suspending operations in russia to outright sales of their business interests there. what started off as laundry list of sanctions called the harshest ever levied against the country has sprawled into a global business and economic boycott, if you will, of the country. this is basically threatening a country heavily dependent on trade with the rest of the world with possible economic ruin. and even french finance minister bruno lemaire told a french

radio station that the aim of the latest round of sanctions was to quote, unquote cause the collapse of the russian economy. that doesn't just affect the oligarchs and billionaires, but it's causing angst for russian people, making runs on banks and companies getting involved as well. >> all happening because of one man, vladimir putin. what a tragedy. dominic chu, thank you so much. before we go, i want to underline how remarkable that u.n. vote was yesterday. you used to work in the state department. it doesn't happen often that off general assembly coming out and casting that sort of vote. put it in perspective for us. >> i'm just glad the u.n. did something to make themselves a little bit more relevant and try to regain some moral high ground given that you have russia and the security council, it was remarkable and said that it was actually notable for the u.n. to step up and condemn, but, hey,

this is what vladimir putin has done has united the world in this battle good versus evil. >> it really is remark thashl one man, vladimir putin, has caused all of this misery. he also has made all of the postworld war ii institutions, international institutions, more relevant than they've ever been. thank you so much for watching today. please keep in mind, as you're watching the coverage, you watch this unfolding tragedy that we, the united states, there are some things we can do and some things we can't. a no-fly zone. putting boots on the ground in ukraine. equals world war iii and a possible nuclear holocaust. that does its for thus morning. chris jansing picks up the coverage right now. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters here in new york city. it is thursday, march 3rd, and as we speak, the violence again in ukraine escalating, and so are the