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. one million and counting, that's

how many refugees have already fled ukraine since the beginning of this war just eight days ago and the massive humanitarian crisis ahead. welcome to "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd on a day in which we're following a number of developments in the war in ukraine. russia appears to be ramping up the size and scope and brutality of its attacks. and president biden will talk about his made in america commitments and the united nations is holding an emergency meeting to suggestion russia's taking of the nuclear power plant yesterday. officials begged for help to avoid a disaster. here's the ambassador to the

u.n. just moments ago. >> by the grace of god the world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night. russia's attack put russia's largest nuclear power at risk. it was incredibly dangerous and threatened people across russia, ukraine and europe. >> and officials assured us there's been no radioactive leakage from the plant and the damage has been fairly limited. president zelenskyy said it could have created a disaster six time larger than chernobyl in '96 as he pleaded with european leaders for more assistance in his fight against the russians. minutes ago we saw him speak again, urging the european union to admit his country immediately and he called on europeans to

take to the streets in a show of support for ukraine. the white house said president biden also spoke with zelenskyy last night, that was basically over the nuclear plant situation he also spoke a short time ago with poland's president. and this morning the head of nato condemned the attack on the nuclear power plant calling it reckless and he condemned russia's increasingly brutal tactics. listen to what he's alleging. >> the russian invasion of ukraine is a blatant violation of international law, and we have seen the use of cluster bombs, we have seen reports of use of other types of weapons, which will be in violation of international law. this is brutality. this is inhumane. >> later this hour we expect to hear from the secretary of state, tony blinken, who has

been meeting with nato and g-7 counterparts in brussels. >> unfortunately, tragically, horrifically, this may not be over soon. so many other countries from around the world who are united in an abhorrence of what president putin has unleashed, we have to sustain this until it stops, until the war is over, the russian forces leave, the ukrainian people regain their independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. >> we have richard engel in kyiv. i want to start with richard engel. i know you've been doing a ton of reporting today. what is the status. kyiv does seem to be that the russians seem to be only literally inching closer,

seeming that their only moving inch by inch. i am curious, what is the status of that convoy and when do we expect russia to truly engage in the city of kyiv. >> so there are been more air strikes around kyiv throughout the day. they are not, however, the full-borne assault. this city remains more or less in the eye of the storm, but we are all watching that russian convoy. the russian convoy, according to a u.s. military official, has been where it has been, which is about 15 miles outside of this city for the last several days and does not appear to be moving any closer, but u.s. military officials do believe that russia is in a phase of regrouping and that it will soon start to assault the city in the same way it has been assaulting other cities. but in preparation of that and in preparation for an urban campaign, which russia has already begun to unleash on

other cities, including kharkiv and kherson in the south. people are starting to leave in large numbers. earlier at the train state official we witnessed a large number of people, crowds, entire families rush there in an effort to get out of the city, before the convoy comes and the full russian invasion hits the city. as russian forces are getting closer to the city, people are streaming out of it. people are tethered to their children, to their pets and everyone is heading west. you're hearing the train announcements and the train whistles and the long line of people climbing on to the track. it feels like another era. >> you hear kids screaming, mothers screaming, it's so crazy, you see how people are so

afraid. >> it's been like this all day. there's a lot of confusion about where these trains are departing from. people have been waiting here on platform 9. there was just an announcement a few moments ago that the train to the west is actually leaving from platform 12. now. >> everyone is rushing there. nobody wants to miss it. this train is heading toward lviv in the west and people are trying to crowd on. not everybody is able to get on. this is the push right up at the door. there's been some people dropping bags. we've seen people holding their babies up in the air as they are trying to cram as many people possible on to this train. a lot of families we spoke to said they decided this morning to pack up their house, come here to the station and just

head west. >> it just feels like another time here. it feels like we've stepped back in world war ii where people are loading on to trains and you hear the whistles and the families that come with all of their belongings and people are hugging and saying good-bye and not sure if they will ever come back to this place. >> and that man you see waving good-bye to his family, he, like many young men in this country have decided to stay. he said he's staying to fight against the russians. >> i imagine. i know we've seen a lot of families split up so that the younger men can stay back. richard engel in kyiv for us. thank you. carol lee at the white house. carol, there is a growing group of bipartisan members of congress that want to impose this full embargo on russian oil. my guess is the european partners are the most reticent on this. where does this stand?

did they acknowledge maybe the politics is getting ahead of them. >> reporter: look, they've left the energy sector after they've done a number of other sanctions for a reason, chuck in is where the really hard stuff comes in and what you've seen the white house try to do is really do, you know, all hands on deck in terms of keeping the allies united, the nato allies and u.s. partners. that's something that president biden talked about every time he's talked about ukraine this week, he's really emphasized. they see that as a critical asset going forward, not just with the allies and overseas but domestically. if they're completely ununited there, it gives the president leverage with congress and the administration is having discussions about what sanctions on the energy sector would look like. are there ways that they would do it so it's not super harmful to the u.s. economy?

and they're going to have to figure that out. as you heard from secretary blinken, this is something that could go on for some time. so what you see is a real effort by the administration to keep those allies united. the president spoke for almost an hour with the president of poland, president zelenskyy, as you said, he's going to meet with the president of finland and it all comes, as you said, while congress is putting a lot of pressure and the white house kind of wants to take a more cautious approach, at least to make sure everybody's aligned. again, they see that as their big asset here in confronting russia. >> last night the phone call between president zelenskyy and president biden, is certainly sounded like president zelenskyy was i think opening that the you tack on the nuclear plant would change their mind on this idea there could be a no-fly zone. obviously that is still

considered a nonstarter on the u.s. side. what about the rest of nato. does the white house feel they're feeling more pressure to do more? >> reporter: i think everybody in the white house feels more pressure to do more. that's what you keep hearing from congress, from president zelenskyy is that they want more, whether it's sanctions or assistance to ukraine. the president has been very clear they are not sending in u.s. troops to fight russia and ukraine and they've tried is to squawk this is getting drawn into a conflict with russia, which the president said the u.s. is not going to do. but it's not to go away. the continues continue to be asked and the pressure is still there. right now that's their position. it hard to see that changing given the red line that the president has drawn but they also don't know exactly where putin is going to go with this. >> events on the ground could

very much dictate a lot of things there. carol lee at the white house for us, thanks. i want to bring in a moment of the ukrainian parliament. i want to start with president zelenskyy's ask for immediate admission to the eu. explain why that is happening to me. >> thanks for having me. this is important because it was one the putin's plans that we give up our aim to join nato and eu and become a neutral country. it's written in the ukrainian constitution that we want to join eu and nato. it's the will of the ukrainian people. and we see because we are fighting together and because the european union is definitely one of our strongest allies, that right now could be a great time for us to not only be part

of the union virtually but become a part of the union physically. when we are talking about the war, it's not a war between russia and ukraine anymore. and i think everybody realizes that especially after the events of tonight when the nuclear plant was attacked, this will take everybody in the world, it definitely will take every single country. radiation doesn't really care which passport you're holding, doesn't care if you're a nato member or not. that's why it's so important that if we are fighting in this war against tyranny, against pastime and our fellow journalists were saying it seems in ukraine like second world war. it does because putin is trying to rebuild the russian empire and soviet union and drag all of us to the past and we want to go to the future. and we see our future with the

eu and not with some russian empire or whatever the hell is in his head. so that's why it's so important for us to become a real part of the european union. >> do you feel -- how -- tell me the sort of -- i'm guessing on one hand you feel somewhat supported by the west, money's coming in, arms are coming in. but that's all that's coming in. so do you feel supported or do you feel alone in this fight against russia? >> we do feel supported and we are grateful for all the help that we are getting. we all know that also the next step that we see is a no-fly zone over ukraine. and i know that everybody is saying no, no, no, the third world war will start. i will be very blunt with you. it has already started. because the attack on the nuclear plant, again, affects everybody. it affects european union, it affects united states, it

affects united kingdom and emirates, everybody. president biden and boris johnson made a statement of condemnation of putin, well, great, but putin doesn't care about condemnation, he doesn't care about emails where he's called to stop doing what he's doing. the only thing putin cares about is force and power and this what we need to give him. i, as a ukrainian who bore arm and ready to fight for her country, i know i will do very good on the land fight and ukrainian army is very good on the land fight but we cannot protect ourselves from the air. no matter how hard i am trying, i can only shoot russian soldiers but i cannot protect myself and my family from the

missiles coming from the air. that is why we have to have support and otherwise there will be russian controlled country in the center of europe. is this something nato needs? that's why the no-fly zone question will never be off the table until we are getting it this or other way. >> just to put another exclamation point on here, you believe you have no chance to push russia back without a no-fly zone? >> absolutely. i believe we will stand up to russia, we will die if we have to, but the only way that we will be able to definitely win is a no-fly zone over ukraine right now. >> kira rudik, a member of the ukrainian parliament, we're all pulling for you. stay strong. stay strong in this fight. thanks very much. for lots more on these topics, be sure to stay tuned to the

chuck toddcast as we dig into nuclear safety, deterrence and a little bit of climate and new mexico -- nukes as well. and more than a million people have fled ukraine and it just been eight days of war. such a massive humanitarian crisis is going to need a massive amount of humanitarian aid. that's next. you're watching "meet the press daily." atching "meet the press daily.

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welcome back. turning to the escalating humanitarian crisis in eastern europe, it's exploding so high that they've really seen an exodus explode so quickly. more than 1.2 million ukrainians have fled since russia invaded. it more than 2% of the population. it's only a fraction of what's to come. the u.n. estimates as many as 4 million could flee the country in the coming weeks.

millions more forced from their homes due to the violence and destruction. the u.n. expects 10 million people, 25% of ukraine as total population will be displaced by this growing conflict. yesterday russian and ukrainian did meet. to understand the scale of this challenge, i'm joined by the president and ceo of the international rescue committee, a former foreign secretary of the united kingdom. david, let me just start -- look, we tried to put the extro introduction here. explain what your organization is doing. and what help does poland need?

>> thanks, chuck, for your interest. i've been speaking to our team on the ground in poland today. there are three parts to the humanitarian crisis at the moment. part one and the most extreme are the people stuck in the cities where there is fighting. they're hiding in bomb shelters, hiding in undergrounds and metro administrations and they're under bombardment. we've got the prospect of siege of cities and we remember that from the 1990s in sarajevo but also in syria. richard engel is doing an amazing need of showing some of the needs at the train station and then you've got the third group of the people who made it to safety in europe. there's been a strong, united european reaction to welcome these refugees, a million of them so far, but the needs inside ukraine are only going to grow and that's where our

greatest fears are at the moment, health care, water, food. those are all going to be extremely important in what i think is going to be days, weeks and months ahead. >> there have been some reports, as much as the neighboring countries have liberalized their border laws and some of their documentation needs, there has been some documented proof, i want to read you a statement from the international organization of migration. they wrote "we have credible and documented discrimination against third country nationals arriving in neighboring countries and documented acts of xenophobia." this, if you recall during the north african migration crisis in eastern europe, we saw a lot of prejudice essentially get used in keeping people from

going across the border there. are you seeing this? what are we doing about it in. >> yes, we had a statement out on wednesday about the same thing. this is an appalling abuse, our refugees are teachers, they're accountants, they're journalists, charity workers, farmers, they're people and it doesn't matter what their race or religion is or they are shouldn't matter. there's been an appropriate outcry in the last two days. my information this morning is that there have been significant changes on the european side of the border. there need to be changes on the ukraine side of the border as well. you're absolutely right to draw attention to this because every one of these people is a story of heartbreaking tragedy and it's absolutely essential given the values that are at stake in this crisis, the values of decency and the rule of law that they're not sullied by appalling discrimination. the overwhelming number of people are obviously ukrainian, but there are people from africa, from south asia, from

india, who are students or workers in the country and they need to be treated properly as well. >> how do we prevent a situation in ukraine that clearly has happened in afghanistan? so if ukraine falls into russian hands, we got to get humanitarian aid in there and not have those folks being held hostage. the afghan people are being held hostage by its distrust of people of the west, however you want to look at it, but there are a whole lot of people suffering as a result of this. how do we prevent that from happening in ukraine in. >> it doesn't need to happen in afghanistan or in ukraine. i don't want to be glib but we've got to do the right thing. if we were doing the right thing in afghanistan, this wouldn't have a starvation crisis. in respect to the ukraine crisis, it going to be about establishing really effective mechanisms for getting aid into ukraine, across borders, across

conflict lines, but it also going to involve the political and economic pressure to stop the fighting. we as humanitarians can staunch the bleeding, if you like, but we need the politicians to stop the killing. that will be a redial of the putin/macron call yesterday. things are going to get worse but the essential requirement on us is to do the right thing. from my point of view, there is the damage that they are not paying the price. we need to do the right thing in both theaters. >> i know you are focused on the humanitarian crisis. you are a former politics, a former secretary. watching europe unite right now, it too a while. europe seems more united than ever.

without zelenskyy's bravery, would europe being this united right now? >> i think so. president zelenskyy has done an amazing job, but, frankly, the penny really dropped when the russians invaded ukraine eight days ago. and i think that the european reaction over that friday, saturday, sunday where they moved from doubt about intelligence, at least on part of some of the western europeans to a full embrace of a new posture, a new military posture, a new economic posture, a new geo political posture, i think it's very significant indeed for germany to be so out and so loud about its defense, for sweden and finland to think about joining nato, for ireland, this is a major change. the critical thing is that momentum is now built.

i do recognize and i'm happy to answer questions about the divisions that you've spoken to in the past. the time for divisions is over. the time for real action and real unity is now and that needs to go beyond the transatlantic alliance. this is now a global effort to counter with accountability in the name of a rules-based order, climate and health sector as well. >> i really appreciate you coming on and i'm glad to help bring some attention to your efforts here. good luck. we are still expecting the secretary of state, tony blinken to speak from brussels. still to come, a wartime presidency brings wartime politics. how the crisis in ukraine could reshape the landscape in washington in on thele campaign on a couple of important issues. you're watching "meet the press daily." press daily. caused by a heart valve problem.

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welcome back. we are starting to see a growing level of political fallout at home to the war abroad, both in washington and on the campaign trail. lawmakers are facing pressure to sanction the russian energy industry and many are pushing legislation to push american drilling in hopes of keeping gas prices from spiking further. meanwhile, reelection campaigns

are ramping up. take a look at this ad from evan mcmullen, the first using putin and ukraine in an ad. take a look. >> as the world rallies around ukraine, mike lee was one of only two senators to oppose sanctions on putin. then he flew to the kremlin and discussed dropping sanctions. he even opposed arming ukrainians fighting for their lives. senator lee abandoned our values, making us weak and unsafe. >> to help us break down what's at stake amid this new wartime environment, democratic strategists. betsy, i want to start with you. i want to get into the energy debate that is about to be sparked with that here and in fact it feels like that's one where you have a growing up in

of democrats who say, yeah, let's ban all russian oil and i do think you'll have a growing up in of democrats ready to join republicans saying let's drill for oil, too. >> the idea of u.s. facing imports of oil and gas from russia just based on my folks from the administration is a total nonstarter. and the argument is oil is fungible. if the u.s. stops importing it, china will just buy it. ukrainian members of parliament have been really, really banging a drum here. they're being for moves that not just have an actual impact but also that are symbolically important and their hope is that momentum will build. i just don't see this happening. >> sochi, symbolism, it's like hearing a pushback on the idea of suspending the gas tax. doesn't make any sense. sometimes symbolism matters more

than what makes sense. >> well, listen, we have been hammer being joe biden for the last few months about rising costs. one of the things that they have said is that it could impact supply. if it impacts supplies costs could go up. i think what the white house is doing right now is smart. they are trying to rally republicans and democrats around ensuring that they are tough on russia and rallying around ukraine. what republicans are doing is, yes, they are going to play partisan politics regardless. you have joe biden who stood up at the state of the union, showed leadership, spent half of the state of the union talking about what he was going to do and he has the american people on his side, about 76% of the american people support the economic sanctions and so as long as biden continues to show leadership and continues to show that he's putting america first, then i think he will be in a solid standing. but you're right, you know, during tough times leaders are

tested. joe biden is being tested and right now i think he is holding on strong. >> bill, congress is frustrated because they have nothing to do. they have no way of having an impact on this. what's a way to have an impact? hey, we can do this. i think some of that is a motivation. they want to show their constituents, hey, we're doing something, too. this would be that, i think. >> but actually congress can play a useful role in these circumstances. i was there when they pushed the clinton administration to end the war quickly. and didn't speaker pelosi also call for it not letting it go on? it doesn't hurt to have people on the outside saying have you talked this through, maybe we could be a little more aggressive, encouraging getting more arms to ukraines and other things. i think there's some good faith instances where the system is

working. on the other hand you also have republicans, i saw these two tweets back to back this morning. gas prices are up a dollar. outrage. and we should be tougher on the oil imports. you can't have both. that's just politics. it's been better so far than i would have expected. >> so far. let's see what happens with the gas prices. >> most has been reasonable policy criticism or nudging so to speak. some demagoguery, but let's see. >> i think the reason it's been the way they are, things are changing so far. the fact that the ukrainians have held on as long as they have and there's been the outcry around the world in support of ukraine. that's the kind of thing that officials are sensitive to. >> this putin sanction stuff, so

ed mcmullen was hitting on mike lee and i think rob johnson was on that trip and there was a couple of head scratchers if i remember. john thune was like what are you doing there on that trip? is there going to be a painful outcome? >> let's hope not. donald trump was pro putin until basically three days ago. putin is smart and clever and yesterday didn't he encourage china to take taiwan or excused ahead of time anything that president xi -- >> he seemed to say this would be a good time. good timing. >> that is so deplorable, if i can use the term in is the former president of the united states. the fact that other republicans don't feel any need to say, wait, that does not speak for

our party. >> how long have we heard that statement? >> fair enough. >> since 2017, 18, 19? >> we're at war now. >> does war make all of this different, betsy? >> what's important for republican politics, there's an easy way to gauge. the farther away from the base, the father away. all the way over on the other ends folks like j.d. vance, jake masters, people running in republican primaries who are basically saying why do we care, nobody in the united states even knows where ukraine is, really downplaying any sense of responsibility the west may have. >> yet in sochi, there was this focus group and it's qualitative, not quantitative where swing voters, trump/biden

voters seem to buy the idea that putin wouldn't have done this in trump was president. i don't buy that but voters do. that's a perception issue. >> one of the eerie things about this, just picture an america where donald trump is our president right now. i mean that, is scary. and what democrats have to do is they have to go out there and run against republicans that are not standing up against trump and at the same time say we're protecting american interest. look at the leadership that joe biden brought. joe biden was brought into office and elected into office because people wanted some normalcy, people wanted a leader. people wanted someone who wasn't going to alienate our allies and that's what they're seeing from joe biden. it's in stark contrast from where trump was and even where trump has been in the last few days, right? you do have a republican party that is loyal to trump, especially those who are in

primaries right now and democrats should use that against the republican party. >> bill, i think a lot of people kept wondering when are republicans going to take their off ramp? they've had a few trump off ramps. i got to think mitch mcconnell is. i always thought mitch mcconnell will never admit it but he'll second guess that vote probably in perpetuity. but the most obvious off ramp with trump is what he's doing with putin and they're not taking it. why? >> they have paid no price for not taking all those off ramps. democrats, i love the democrats these days but they could a little better job of not having dissident members of congress of congress. we mentioned the focus group. there's an npr poll that has biden up a few points. that cannot be due to the state

of the union. i think there is still a rally to the flag effect and biden has shown good leadership. i have tiny criticisms of a few things. that's why we elect presidents, because of crises like these. >> piece of all politics here. rick scott named his candidacy. he defended his decision to put out his own 11-point plan. he said, yes, every should know what it like to pay taxes, despite mcconnell's rebuke. he's put it down on the floor, here i am. >> it's really an amazing level of tension within the senate republican conference, which is one of the few remaining usually collegiate groups of people on capitol hill, the fact that scott is really taking a shot at mcconnell in this op-ed is, i imagine, just a symbol of much more to come. it points to the fact that mcconnell has a real weakness with the republican base that

scott is positioned to exploit. >> if republicans one the senate is rick scott majority leader? if republicans don't win, mitch mcconnell's -- >> i think there's more of a chance that mcconnell -- we're used to mcconnell being leader, always got real loyalty. >> well, does he have that much loyalty? a lot of the senators were elected in the last two, three cycles. scott also has in the back of his mind obviously running for president in 2024. so one or both. >> sochi, bill and betsy, thank you. coming up, if it's the first friday of the month, we had a jobs report, quite something. what it means for workers and the white house next. you're watching "meet the press daily."

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welcome back. first friday of the month and

that means we get an update on the jobs picture here in america, bureau of labor statistics said the u.s. added a whopping 678,000 jobs in february, beat the forecasts that were sitting around 440,000. the unemployment rate fell to 3.8% in the process. pretty much where it was before the pandemic. we are this close to recovering every job lost during the pandemic. we're within a nose hair of it, 3.5% on the unemployment rate by 2020. it is likely going to be overshadowed by the news on ukraine. as it struggled to make positive numbers breakthroughs, other crises, particularly on people's perception of the economy, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been added each month,

particularly after revision. thanks to inflation and other issues, americans say they have a dim view of the president biden. even as job numbers like today show that the economy is rapidly recovering from the pandemic shock, we do not have a jobs problem, that's for sure. we are still waiting to hear from secretary blinken. those remarks are possible when we are back from the break. you're watching "meet the press daily." r my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this. your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, like asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee. yeah i should've just led with that. with at&t business. you can pick the best plan for each employee and get the best deals on every smart phone.

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welcome back. vice president kamala harris heads to selma, alabama, this weekend. it is to mark the 57th anniversary of bloody sunday. the anniversary commemorates a turning point in the fight for civil rights when activists john lewis and jose williams led hundreds of marchers across the edmond pettus bridge. john lewis, then only 25, suffered a fractured skull. two weeks later, martin luther king jr. led another symbolic march across that bridge. five months later, the voting rights act of 1965 was signed into law. this will be the second anniversary of bloody sunday since the passing of congressman john lewis, as voting rightses across the cub continue to carry on his legacy. i'm joined now by civil rights icon and host of "politics nation" here on msnbc, reverend

al sharpton. i'm curious, to me, this moment of bloody sunday and what we're seeing in europe, there is a connection. it's a fight for freedom, a fight for democracy. and rev, it's a statement i thought we would hear from the president on tuesday that connected the two. he didn't quite do that. i image you will be. >> i certainly will be. and i think that you said it perfectly, chuck. and i wish the president said it. you cannot fight and you should, for the right for the people of ukraine to have a democratic state and make decisions based on voting and then not deal with that same right to be upheld here in america, when we're looking at laws being changed in alabama where we'll be this weekend, in texas, in north carolina, and on, where you have going up to the supreme court, this whole question of an independent state doctrine,

where they're trying to say that state courts should not be even able to stop state legislatures from changing voting regulations in voting districts. so as we look for and pray for the people in ukraine, we need to also deal domestically. and i think that connection a very clear and we need to make it clear. and i will be doing that in the sermon sunday morning. >> you know the 2020 turnout in selma was just 57%. it was among the worst in the state of alabama. what does that tell you about the current state of voting access in this country? >> it tells us a lot. it tells us that, one, access is stopping things and it tells us that we have to inspire people to go past the road blocks, as they did in the '60s, as you talked about john lewis and jose williams. you have to remember that according to the reports, over

30% of the early voting ballots in texas in this pass tuesday's primary was rejected based on new texas laws. so we're going to see low amounts of voting everywhere if we do not challenge and turn around a lot of these restrictive laws that have been put in place since 2020, in 1 states or more. we are dealing with a voting emergency in this country, as we deal with ukraine, and we need to deal with it, and that's why this weekend in selma is extremely important, because we need to underscore that we cannot be global liberators and at home ignore the threat to democracy right here. >> vice president is going to be marching with you. who else will be with you? this to me is always such an important -- it's symbolic, but it's always been an important moment of unity. are we going of that on sunday as well?

>> i believe so. senator sanders and others have worked there in alabama, congresswoman sewell and martin luther king iii and many others will be marching. i think it is important that as the vice president comes and i salute her for breaking into her schedule to be there, because had it not been for the march in selma in '65, a black woman wouldn't be the vice president. a black woman would not have been nominated to the supreme court. but we cannot take them as symbols without substance. and that's what sunday is about and that's what every day ought to be about. >> i look forward to hearing your keynote sermon on sunday and sure to tune into "politics nation" this weekend at 5:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. rev, thanks a lot. thank you all for being with us this hour. we'll be back monday with more "meet the press daily." and if it's sunday, it's "meet the press" on your local nbc station. got a busy show. very ukraine heavy. msnbc's coverage will continue as we await the secretary of

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good to be with you. i'm katy tur. today is the ninth day of fighting in ukraine and here's what we know right now. ukrainian president zelenskyy addressed his nation and the world again about an hour ago. he called on global leaders to help ukraine in its time of need. framing the stakes as light over darkness and freedom