very busy friday morning. thank you for watching "white house reports" all this week. you can catch me on "weekend today." "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. >> in washington. we were just listening to secretary of state, tony blinken speaking at nato ministerial meeting after a day of discussions with european allies. the fierce resistance in major cities by ukrainian soldiers continues at this hour. but so do the russian attacks and they're under fire from russian troops and russian-backed separatists. they say the fire is out at that nuclear power plant, the largest in all of europe. but the plant is now under russian control after a night of intense fighting. the incident is sparking fears of a potential nuclear incident more than three decades after

the chernobyl disaster. we also expect to hear from the president this hour and we'll bring you any new remarks from the white house on this crisis. but the fear of a full-scale attack on kyiv has residents scrambling to get on trains and out of the country today. following the more than 1 million people who have already fled to other eastern european nations. as the situation grows more desperate, a chaotic scene unfolded at the train station today. chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, was there. sflrks as russian forces are getting closer to the city, people are streaming out of it. parents tethered to their children, taking their pets, grandchildren and everyone is heading west. we're hearing the train announcements and whistles and these long lines of people climbing on to the track. it feels like another era. >> it's most crazy feeling when you hear kids screaming, mothers screaming.

it's so crazy you see how people so afraid. >> reporter: it's been like this all day. there's a lot of confusion about where the trains are departing from. people have been waiting on platform nine. there was an announcement that the train to the west is actually leaving from platform 12. now everyone is rushing there. and nobody wants to miss it. this train is heading towards laviv in the west and now people are trying to cloud on. not everybody is able to get on. this is the push right up at the door. there's been some people dropping backs. we've seen people holding their babies in the air as they're trying to cram as many people as possible on to this train. a lot of families we spoke to

said they decided this morning to pack up their house, come to the station and just head west. it just feels like another time. like we've stepped back to world war ii when people are loading on to trains and you hear the whistles and families with their belongings and people are hugging and saying goodbye. and not sure if they will ever come back to this place. >> just extraordinary images. richard, you said many of these people don't know where they're going. you could see the desperation to just get out. >> reporter: a lot of people said that they are going to start out by going to laviv. others wanted to end up in poland. these are very difficult times for families. they have to make choices about who will stay, who will leave. some elderly relatives in the country side don't want to leave. many families, i think all of

our families have traumatic moments in our past when the trajectories of our lives and generations change. and that is happening right now as people heading out to a uncertain fuch and not sure if they're going to come back and you saw the man waving on the platform there. his wife drawing a heart in the dust. he's staying behind to fight. and i asked him what are it was like the wave goodbye to your wife and he has a small son and they were putting their hands up together on the glass, touching on the window and he said it was -- >> it's heartbreaking to see. what's your sense of how depopulated that city has become? more and more people are leaving every day. who is left in kyiv right now? >> there's still a lot of people. a lot of people determined to fight and you walk down the street here and there are check points on practically every

corner. many just being protected by volunteers. a lot of civilians have left. a lot of them have left in the last several weeks. but it was really only once the bombing began that people decided that they had to get out of town. so, i don't know how many people are gone here but i would say maybe 30/40% but that's just a gut guess. >> richard engel in kyiv, thank you. i want to go to the united where u.s. ambassador is speaking at an emergency session of the security council. let's listen. >> and sacrifice thousand nor russian soldiers lives in the process. russia is destroying critical infrastructure, which is denying people drinking water to stay alive and gas to keep people from freezing to death in the middle of winter. the humanitarian impact of this

destruction will be significant. 141 nations across the world have called loudly and clearly on president putin to stop this brutal, unjustified, unprovoked attack. not only has he not listened, we've just witnessed a dangerous new escalation that represents a dire threat to all of europe and the world. to my russian counterparts, this counsel needs answers. we need hear you say this won't han again. as our u.k. colleague just stated. awe call on you to withdraw troops and weaponry from ukraine. we call on you to respect ukraine's borders,ilities people and the u.n. charter. we call on you to respect your

own troops enough not to send them into an unjust war. or on a suicide mission against a nuclear power plant. we call on russia to abide by its international law obligations. the world demands that russia abide by international humanitarian law, which prohibits intentionally targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure and allow humanitarian agencies full and secure access to people in need of aid. the united states and our partners have called for a briefing this monday on the humanitarian situation in ukraine. we support the urgent work by humanitarian organizations on humanitarian pause to allow for

safe passage and the delivery of humanitarian supplies. president putin must stop this humanitarian catastrophe by ending this war and ceasing these unconscionable attacks against the people of ukraine. mr. putin must stop this madness. and he must stop it now. cooler heads must prevail. russian forces are now 20 miles and closing from ukraine's second largest nuclear facility. so, this imminent danger continues. we narrowly avoided a disaster last night. the international community must be unanimous in demanding russia's forces stop their dangerous assault. and as i've said before, the people of ukraine are counting

on us and we must not let them down. thank you. >> i thank the representative of the united states -- >> we've been listening to u.s. ambassador to the united nations. addressing an emergency meeting of the security council. she began her remarks talking about the fighting last night around the largest nuclear power station in all of europe and joining me now to discuss that issue is andrea kendall taylor, a former deputy national intelligence officer for russia and your asia at the national intelligence counsel and a nuclear expert and distinguished fellow at the quincy institute for responsible state craft. as we were getting into the ambassador's speech, she began by saying by the grace of god, the world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night. how close did we get to the unthinkable last night and what makes you most concerned about the other nuclear power stations

that still exist in that country? >> i think we got very close. i mean, this scared me. i was up late into the night worried about this. and i've heard some experts calm people down and i saw the reassuring comments by the secretary energy but i'm telling you we came very close. we had a tank streaming heavy machine gun fire launching flairs. the one you see on your screen into the nuclear facility. you thing the artillery brigade understood what was at risk here in this nuclear reactor? in the history of nuclear energy, no one has attacked a nuclear power plant before. as bad as the israeli conflict has been, nobody has ever attacked the nuclear reactor. as bad as iran's tengszs have been, no one's attacked the nuclear power plant.

if you breach a containment dome, if you cut off the electricity, if you sever the plumbing that supplies the cooling water to these plants, you are looking at a meltdown. you are looking at a fukushima or god forbid, a chernobyl. this could be a major, major incident of mass destruction here and i agree with the comments that the ambassador made and what the ukrainians are calling this. this was an act of terror. this was a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant. the terrorists happen to be wearing russian army uniforms. >> what's the role if there is one for the international community? can you imagine a situation in which outside forces, be they ours -- i know every american official has largely taken out that possibility. or nato forces can say not here. protect these facilities to prevent a cutrastraphy that would be truly global in scale?

>> i think what wreevler seen so far is the international community trying to hold this regime to account as hard as that may be. it's underscoring the real risk of the situation we see in ukraine. we're just a little over a week into this conflict. and we're starting to see it turn into a darker, more dangerous situation. united states' allies and partners are trying to do everything possible to insure this conflict doesn't expand to include nato member states. but whether it's attacking a plants like this or whether the russians might decide to go after weapons that the united states and nato allies continue to insert in order to strengthen ukraine's ability to defend itself. this is really fraught with risk. and you combine with president putin, who i think is concerned about the direction the conflict is going, is probably sensing

that his grip on power at home is more tenuous, certainly, than it was a week ago. and we find ourselves in a dangerous, perilous moment where we have to do everything possible to keep open lines of communication with the russian government, in particular, to insure incidents like this don't spiral out of control. we'll talk about the fog of war. that's a real thing and again, last night really underscores the real risks that are present in this moment. >> joe, going back to the power station here, what do we make of the fact that the russians are now in charge there as we know they are of chernobyl and could be other sites on the ground in ukraine. >> that is adding to the risks. these people know what they're doing? are they allowing the ukrainian in. >> junears to do their job? could they accidentally cut the electric supply that would cut off the pumps, the water supply,

that would then lead to a nuclear meltdown? you just don't know. and as you pointed out, this is just the first nuclear reactor. ukraine has, i think, 15. so, there's 14 more of these incidents we might witness. this horror show is just beginning. >> thank you both. and i want to turn now to belgium and nbc's josh letterman, who's covering secretary blinken, who commended europe a few moments ago for standing up to russia but said tragically this may not be over anytime soon. take us through what else he had to say and his mission on the trip. >> reporter: well, obviously there's a tremendous amount of concern about this nuclear power plant incident in ukraine. the secretary general of nato saying this morning it was reckless by putin. it shows the dire need for this

conflict to be deescalated. i got to tell you we're not seeing any signs here at nato that this incident is leading to anymore appetite among the nato allies or the u.s. for getting involved directly in this conflict. in fact, it's exactly the opposite. the incident seems to have really hit home for people the dire stakes here and the risks of this conflict escalating even further. with the secretary general saying after he met with blinken and other nato ministers, that there's a consensus they should not intervene, not only with u.s. or nato troops on the ground in ukraine and with a no-fly zone. outside the building right now there are profest tetss going on, urging nato to protect the skies over ukraine. the concern seems to be bringing any of these nato countries into this could really lead this to escalate in a way that would be dangerous.

they're drawing a fine line. blinken saying the u.s. does not want conflict but if conflict comes, it will not be afraid to stand up and will be ready to defend its nato allies. if you want one more indication, earlier today, the u.s. embassy in kyiv, tweeted this attack was a war crime. our colleague is reporting the state department sent an internal memo to embassies across europe telling them do not retweet. if you retweeted that, unretweet it so you can see how carefully the administration is trying to take it, even as it's surging in the wake of this latest incident. >> that's fascinating. josh, thank you. i want to go to a former fbi special agent and former infantry officer. he's at our big board with a breakdown of what we're seeing right now. the situation across you skran and what played out at the power

plant last night. >> let's start with the nuclear power plant. first, we saw the shootouts around the power plant that were alarming. one, it's about control. if the russians can get control of all of these power systems around the country, it adds to their ability to do siege warfare in population centers like mariupol. we're talking about it today because putin has taken this very unprecedented step of putting plants in danger. he can use that to message at the west or home to try to bring fear to his side. the third part is the one not talked about enough is logistics. we're seeing the russian expansion of combat power, using things like rail in the future. nearly every nuclear power plant has a major rail head where, if they were to take that over, they could move it around the country and other supplies.

that takes us to the bigger part. we talked a lot, a whole lot, about all of the fighting in the first week and it was mostly bad news for russia. but where we're starting to see them have success is shoring up logistics. this war will be won on food, fuel and ammunition. and that's where you're starting to see things change in the south. yesterday we saw the forces really break out of crimea. they establish a land bridge to mariupol. infrastructure being destroyed. this town is a forecast of what we might see in kyiv in the future. and you're seeing them move towards a bridge near river. and interestingly enough, they were able to resource supplies of water from a canal that runs between ukraine and crimea,

essentially providing fresh waterer. that was caught off after 2014. they've moved to the next river in this town, which you're starting to see they're laying siege to the next bridge. and if they can get over the last bridge, they can cross over and move towards maldovau. there is a small break away republic controlled by the russians. there is russian units and it's only 50 miles from odesa. what you may be seeing in the next few days is a complete encirclement from the south, cutting off the black sea, essentially sealing off the south from ukraine, leaving own lee land resupply from there on out. >> so helpful to break it down that way. thank you. and with russia looking to capture ukraine's capitol, they're escalating the crackdown on social media.

anyone discrediting russian forces with jail time. as the u.s. is stepping up sanctions on russian oligarch and their families including the kremlin spokesman and the man known as putin's chef, who was connected to russia's interference in our 2016 election. joining me from moscow, senior international correspondent kier simmons and putin claiming he wants normal relations with his neighbors. what else did he say and what more can you tell us about the censorship law passed by russia's parliament? >> reporter: that new law has gone to the lower house of the parliament and has been paused. it has to be passed by the upper house and agreed by president putin himself. i think it's unlikely that won't happen. so, i suspect we will see that law coming to force from tomorrow. that law restricts what can be said and gives -- and the

sanction is 15 years in prison if you report something that russia views as fake news. so, if you report on the conflict in ukraine and say something the russians don't agree with, potentially you can fall foul of that law. in terms of president putin's statements, i think he was trying to send a message to nato. he said there were no bad intention its towards our neighbors and i would advise them not to escalate the situation. we do not see any need to aggravate or worsen our relations and all our actions are always exclusively in response to some unfriendly actions against the russian federation. so, you can see there him reepeating the same messaging that he has repeated multiple times, which is that, as he sees it, this operation by russia is a response to the actions of

ukraine and to the actions of the west. i think also there was a message in there for what russia calls its partners. countries in places like central asia, like kazakhstan, saying in my opinion everyone should think about normalizing these relations and cooperating and developing relations. trying to send a message to russia's partners, countries seen as closure to russia, a message i think, directed at opposing sanctions and trying to insure he protects the russian economy from the very tough sanctions. >> keir simmons in moscow for us. be safe, be careful. and joining me former u.s. ambassador to russia. your reaction to russia's strike on the nuclear power plant. obviously disaster averted. but ukraine's foreign minister said this could have been 10 times worse than chernobyl. >> i agree with the caller you had on earlier today.

this is outrageous, reckless. super scary. and the fact that putin is willing to do this, i think, should sober up everybody. we've been debating what his intentions are and what he's going to do for many weeks and every time we hope he's going to do something more cautious -- remember the debate we had before he invaded. lots of people were hoping for small strikes. remember the land bridge we talked about. he's just going to do that. that's all he wanted, the independent republics. every time we have these debates, he surprises us by doing more reckless, radical things and he's increasingly feeling pressure at home because of the sanctions we're putting on him and he's sighing the war is noting the way he wanted to. we should expect more of the erratic behavior. >> i feel like the diplomatic cliches have become out dated.

is there any path to deescalate this without making it 10 times worse? >> well, of course, the biden administration, from what i understand -- i interact with them frequently. are doing anything they can to create those conditions. the goal hear is peace. the goal is the end of the war. the goal is to have those russian soldiers go home. so, if mr. putin is willing to neegaucheiate that, i think the biden administration and other leaders would lift sanctions and that kind of trade would be available. i just don't see anything that putin has said in the last several weeks and most certainly in the last eight or nine days, that suggest he wants those kinds of off ramps. he just doubles down on what he said at the beginning of the war. i'm going to destroy the ukrainian military and carry out denazification. that is regime change.

that is what he's stated his goal is and so far there's no evidence that suggests he's rethought those objectives. >> and speaking of regime change, in this country, we've had senator lindsey graham appeared to suggest putin ought to be assassinated or over thrown. suggested if there's a brutus-like figure in russia that could end this. i wubd wonder what you think of word like that and what will they do with an american pop politician using that language? >> off the record, we can talk about different scenarios. about how these things happen. in fact, i'm about to go teach my class on democratic breakthroughs right after we're done talking, right. but it is not approp reed to talk about those things in public for a very simple reason. that quote will be quoted on

russian national television at nauseum and will reinforce what putin tells his people is that he's fighting us in ukraine. i think people really need understand this is a proxy war for his fight against us. that's the way he frames this. the regime is a puppet, american regime put in place by us. so, those kind of quips help with him explaining the war at home and doing that at the same time, as you just reported, that the information space in russia is increasingly closing. he just cut -- putin just shut down deutsche tv, the number one independent television station in russia. he just shutdown echo of moscow, this iconic radio station been around a couple of decades. number one source of independent news in russia. he's doing that for a purpose. the war were going better, he

wouldn't be doing that. but those are places that used to host me speak in russian to russians. that's now shutdown. it means the russian-state controlled media has more control over the narrative and they'll be broadcasting quips like that to see, see we told you so. the americans did regime change in ukraine back in 2014 and now they want to do regime change in russia today. >> and add bbc to that list. they announced they're suspending operations. ukrainian president zelenskyy is speaking right now. we're going to try to turn that video around with translation, get to you as soon as we can. but for now, we're going to take a quick break. $5 a gallon. it could be coming to a gas pump near you amid a push to ban russian imports.

and up next, military and intelligence experts weigh in. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. a mitchel reports" only on msnbc there's . ♪ things are getting clearer, i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ ♪ yeah, that's all me ♪ ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin, that's my new plan ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ achieve clearer with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way ♪ ♪ it's my moment so i just gotta say ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs, or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine.

♪ nothing is everything ♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. >> this is ukrainian president vladimir zelenskyy. he's beginning with a moment of silence. we're going to listen in here.

[ speaking foreign language] >> my second minute i would like the dedicate to the commemoration of our citizens, our civil population. those people, adults and children, dozens and hundreds of them who have died without knowing so. sacrificing their lives for the independence of our country. let us commemorate them with silence.

>> thank you.

[ speaking foreign language] >> translator: this third minute i would like to dedicate to you, to the people of europe. i would like to call upon you, thought to be silent. i would like you to come out on the streets and support ukraine, support our efforts and support our fight. because if ukraine will not stand, europe will not stand. silence. do not turn a blind eye on this. come out and support ukraine as much as you can. [ speaking foreign language]

>> translator: and if we win and i'm sure we'll win, this will be the victory for the whole democratic world. this will be the victory of our freedom. this will be the victory of light over darkness, of freedom over slavery and if we will, we will become as blossoming as europe and europe will be flourishing more than ever after this magnificent victory. glory to ukraine. slavo ukraine. [ speaking foreign language] >> translator: frankfort,

prague, paris, all of you today are are ukrainians and thank you for this. >> i don't think the translation took anything away there from what was a rousing speech by ukrainian president vladimir zelenskyy, calling on the people of europe to not be silent. he ebegan with a moment of silence for ukrainians who have already lost their lives and urged people across europe to come out into the streets, he said. support efforts and do not be silent. ukrainian president zelenskyy speaking from an undisclosed location in kyiv. joining me is a member of the armed services committee and congresswoman, a former cia case officer, who served on the foreign affairs committee. congress has before them a request for billions of dollars in emergency assistance for ukraine on the humanitarian

front, on the military front. are you confident that congress can pass that in time to get it to the ukrainians while they still have a government that can use it? >> yeah, thanks. i appreciate this opportunity and good to appear with my colleague. definitely. i think washington's voice needs to be part of what he was calling for and i think the way we can be included in that is by passing these two bills we're going to have next week coming up here. obviously we're going to have $10 billion to decide on. 5 billion to armament assistance and nato assistance and $5 billion going to humanitarian assistance. i believe that's something we'll be able to get behind, democrats and republicans, in addition to the ban russian energy imports act we're going to discuss next week as well. which literally is going to cut off russian oil coming into the united states. i was worried about hawaii and

acaic. alaska. however, both senators from both states on this bill already in the senate version. look forward to pushing those two bills forward. >> i had a long conversation with brian shots about that bill but first congresswoman, nato allies are being pressured, including by president zelenskyy, to consider a no fly zone over ukraine. secretary of state blinken said today it's not a possibility really. where do you stand on this? is that something that should be meriting further discussion or is that just a fast track to the u.s. being fully involved in this war? >> i think when we're talking about what does it mean for the u.s. to be fully involved? we're talking about would we take action that would trigger article 5 and lead us directly towards a war involving nato allies? it isn't specifically just whether or thought the united states thinks there needs to be

a no-fly zone, whether the united states might render that type of aid, but would the united states be pulling our nato allies straight into an arms conflict that would take on the whole of europe. for i think what we heard in president zelenskyy's comments were a call for help, a call for aid, a call for all eyes to continue to be on ukraine rendering the aid that we can, humanitarian aid, support with lethal aid. because the ukrainians have demonstrated an unbelievable will to fight, to protect their freedom, to stand up for their country and certainly everyone across the world should be inclined to support them to that end. so, i'm with jimmy, my colleague from california, in saying i do believe we will quickly get this through congress to provide the support and lethal aid to ukraine that they need. we also need heed the call of president zelenskyy and insure

that all eyes are on russia. accounting for the fact that they are attacking civilians. they are bombing schools, hospitals. they are recklessly and lethally just decimating cities. and we have to be atune to what this means. not just for the ukrainian people but for the rest of the world. and democracies everywhere. >> and the world is watching it. i want to go back to the discussion about essentially banning russian oil imports. as you well know, the global energy market is in fact global. if we don't buy russian oil, someone else is likely to. we know the white house is opposed to cutting off shipments here to the u.s. is this, for lack better way of saying it, a way for congress to oo feel like they're doing something or could that make a difference here? >> i wish it was that easy. are it's not.

it's leadership by example. you had the 11th largest economy in the world. i think by putting forward this bill which bans imports, we're leading by example. hopefully europe will follow suit. we're starting to see the will from our european partners to step up in a number of ways we couldn't imagine but they're already doing that. well, china will started to buy their stuff. i think china is recalculating based on what's going on in the underestimation of what happens when you attack a democracy, when the over estimation on the russian military and the underestimation of the international resolve against this type of unjustified and unprovoked attack. i think it's recalculating what it's going to do in association with russia and looking at taiwan as well. realizing the economic consequences of what can happen when you invade a democracy.

>> i'm going to give you the last 40 seconds or so that i have here. for the efforts to work, this has to be ea continued effort with all the allies. how do you view the way the government has managed allies this far? >> i think we've seen the most extraordinary coordination ever among our allies, our nato partners throughout the world in our coordination on sanctions. in our coordination and denunsiation of russia's attack on ukraine and we need to keep up the pressure. there's a variety of pieces of legislation we're working on in congress to say not only are we sanctioning but we're seizing and then forfeiting the assets of oligarchs. we have to make sure every person, any individual who gives

power to vladimir putin, who enables his actions and his war efforts against the ukrainian people, civilians throughout the country, that those people need to feel lasting impact of their choices to enable the sort of brutality. >> mr. panetta, ms. spamberger from both sides of the aisle, thank you for coming on. are and mas exodus. so many forced to leave their loved ones behind. some of their brave stories are next. f their brave stories are next here. aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. i'm still drawn to what's next. even with higher stroke risk due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin that's a trail i want to take.

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>> reporter: well, this is really part of what we're seeing as a full-court press from the administration to maintain this unity between the u.s. and allies and partners. two sources familiar with the discussion say this is in the discussion phase. the vice president, if this goes forward, would travel next week to poland and romania, who are key allies in all of this and it comes after we've seen, just in the last 24 hours, president biden speak with president zelenskyy of ukraine. we saw president biden this morning. he spoke with the president of poland. he's going to meet with the leader of finland and so, it's really this effort. and when the president talks about this, he emphasizes the importance of unity in the alliance. they see this as the strongest asset as they confront russia in this.

they're having discussions on what to do with russia's oil industry. it would hurt the u.s. potentially but really for the european economy. so, this is a part of the effort by the administration to make sure everyone is still on the same page because they see that as what something that's been their biggest asset in all of this. >> carol lee for us outside the white house, where we are still awaiting potential remarks from president biden. hopefully in this hour. meantime, the department of homeland security announced thursday the u.s. is joining the european union to block temporary protected states to ukrainians fleeing their country. they've packed up their lives since the start of the russian invasion. many knowing whether or if they'll see their homes again. british partner, sky news, spoke to some of the refugees across the romainian border.

>> buses with all the stuff going to the border. it was hard because i knew there plenty of people seeking shelter and still plenty waiting on the border and still in the ukraine. >> almost everyone has left someone behind. decisions they'll never forget. >> i was crying and telling me that she's enever see me again. it was hard in my life. i'm still -- i'm still scared. i'm still afraid that i can't see her anymore. >> on one side of the border, there are humans killing humans. just the other side, humans helping humans.

there's something quite life affirming in the way eastern europeans are doing everything they can to look after their neighbors. >> somebody in the back room bumped their elbow in the wrong vcr. foreign correspondent is about 250 miles away from that scene in southeastern poland. rrs and kelly, poland's been receiving the majority of the refugees from ukraine. talk about what you're seeing on the ground there. >> reporter: people still arriving by the 10s of thousands every day in poland. either over the pudest rearen crossing or trains from laviv and kyiv. that hasn't changed. if anything, yesterday was an incredibly busy day at the border and today as well with 25,000 people arriving in poland just by 7:00 this morning. and we spoke to volunteers because when these people, these absolutely terrified,

traumatized mothers and children arrive here in poland, they're being greeted with such warmth. kids are given toys, mothers are given information about where to go. warm clothes, food, a place to sleep for the night before they're welcomed, a lot of times, into the homes of strangers if they don't have family or friends here and we visited a business today that have a huge office space and they basically said look, a lot of our people are working from home. let's open this up and turn it into a place for people to sleep. 25 women and children staying there now. and they said they were about to receive another 16 to 18 women and children. it's just so heartwarming really. in the midst of all of this sadness and destruction to see these people really opening their hearts and arms to so many refugees.

finally on the numbers. 99,200 people. most women and children came across the border in one day yesterday into poland. >> unbelievable. thank you so much for that reporting in poland. thank you t reporting. and coming up, athletes taking action, whether it's players, sports leagues and even apparel brands sounding off against russia. how the world of sports is leading russian boycotts next. n.

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every business is on a journey. and along the ride, you'll find many challenges. ♪ your dell technologies advisor can help you find the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers. the biden administration is vowing to turn russia into an international pariah over its invasion of ukraine. but in the sports world that's already well under way. russian teams and athletes barred from taking part in a wide range of international competitions, including the paralympics in beijing, banning athletes from russia and belarus, right before the games

kicked off today. and the russian oligarch behind chelsea's football team is selling the club as sanctions loom. more on how the sports world is reacting. the international sports arena sounding off responding firmly to the war in ukraine. >> that sport is a platform which can help to spread good word, to change the word in some ways. >> athletes and sports organizations taking action. >> it was a clear and unequivocal decision from the players that we have to boycott these games. >> fifa, uefa and the international ice hockey association banning all international teams from participation. >> the sports have to react and

we have to show the world that we don't agree with that. >> reporter: sports like formula i, rowing, skiing and volleyball responded swiftly, cancelling event and banning hosting opportunities until, quote, further notice. the world athletic conference also sanctioning russian and belarusian athletes. >> i understand russian athletes aren't directly involved in that war, but it's also important from their side to talk about it and tell them that they don't agree with the war because war is never a solution. >> reporter: international swimming organize fina didn't ban russian and belarusian athletes but is requiring them to complete neutrally with no symbols or flags. and several members of of the british parliament called on the

owner of english football club chelsea, a russian billionaire to hand over control of the team after almost 20 years at the helm. he confirmed in a statement wednesday he is trying to sell the team. sports marketing teams also be affected. adidas halted its 14-year partnership. >> other free countries shouldn't be allowed to participate in peaceful competitions. >> reporter: some russian athletes think the bans are a, quote, unfair solution. daniel kiviat sharing a post saying sports should remain outside politics and it goes against unity and peace. >> they always say we shouldn't

combine politics with sports. obviously i agree up to a point but tell it to the people who live there and their league stopped, their sport. this is not a thing they can think about as they fight for their lives. >> please, no more war. it doesn't matter who's in the war, russia, ukraine, different countries. i think we have to live in peace. >> that was morgan chesky reporting. you can follow me at garrett haake. chuck todd and "mpt daily" starts right after this. k todd " starts right after this.

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if it's friday, just how far will putin go? zelenskyy tries to rally the people of europe as russian forces attack and seize a major power plant in ukraine and are dropping cluster bombs on the country, so the u.n. is alleging. we'll get more after this. plus, the latest in the u.s. response as secretary of state antony blinken will speak amid a flurry of emergency meetings at nato and the u.n. we'll take you to his press conference when it begins.