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precarious moment. the volatility in ukraine. secretary blinken just finishing up a news conference at nato, seeing, we are at a pivotal time, with the stability of europe in the balance. also this afternoon, a plea and a warning from ukrainian president zelenskyy to europe. >> translator: i would like to call upon you not to be silent. if ukraine will not stand, europe will not stand. >> that call for help coming as the humanitarian situation in ukraine gets more and more desperate. more than 1.2 million people have left the country trying to get to safety. our richard engel was with evacuees in kyiv not too long ago. watch. >> this training is heading towards lviv in the west and now people are trying to crowd on.

not everyone is able to get on. >> this is the push at the door. we've seen some people dropping bags, some people are holding their babies up in the air as they're trying to cram as many people as possible on to this train. >> the image of that baby in a car seat, that is what we are seeing in ukraine. i want to bring in matt bradley in ukraine, with us here, with our team in washington, courtney kube at the pentagon, josh lederman in brussels, carol lee is covering the white house. matt, let me start with you. a lot of developments. bring us up to speed on what it's like where you are? >> here in lviv, things have very, very calm. we keep hearing the siren going on and on and on every night. but there have not been any bombardments. the streets are calm. there is a curfew that comes into place here at 10:00 p.m. alcohol sales, like a lot of cities through ukraine are

forbidden. even though the store shelves are completely stocked and this is to keep the population sharp, because there is an expectation that there could be bombing here. there could be a ground invasion. so people here really do feel very much on edge and as my colleague, richard engel was reporting, this is the node, this is the site where all of the refugees are coming from the rest of the country, excuse me, internally displaced people are coming from the rest of the country, as they make their way to the polish border, which is a hectic scene here, as well. now, for the rest of the country, what we're starting to see here is the russian military focusing on its strengths. and that's not in the two axis of assaults in the north, going down on that capital of kyiv and on the eastern -- the second largest city of kharkiv. they're coming up from the south and they're coming up very, very quickly from the black sea, as we've mentioned before. they came up from the southern area, up there.

now they're making their way up the river to the city of neeper. this is putting the entire center part of the country, which i just traversed through over the last several days into questions, because that is a place that was spared the worst for the past couple of days and now they're really closing in on the rest of the country. this means the entire country can be developed if they get their way and their fast movement continues apace. >> there has been so much discussion today, matt, since the overnight hours, of this nuclear facility, that the russians have seemed occupied at this point. any update, any assessment on that? >> yeah, i mean, it seems fairly safe. the situation there is essentially that the employees who had been running it are still running it. the really chilling thing that we've been hearing is that they're running it at gunpoint, because it is occupied by the russians. so the staff were allowed to enter, allowed to continue operating, thank goodness this massive nuclear facility that if it were to implode, we're told,

could release an amount of asymptomatic waste the size, maybe six to ten times that of chernobyl back in 1986, that disaster. the people here still remember and very much, halley, still associate with the oppression and intimidation of the soviet union. so for ukrainians here, this disaster, this war is of a piece with centuries of intimidation and bullying by moscow and this zaporizhzhia disaster, that was just so narrowly averted, is just part of that. and it really was for so many ukrainians here, a rallying car. just another way of saying, this is not just our problem. this is europe's problem. and this is the world's problem. and if you don't help the ukrainian people, then the entire world could be put in jeopardy and things like a nuclear power plant coming under attack, that really just crystallizes it for everyone and reinforcing their argument. halley? >> matt bradley, we're glad to have you live in ukraine. josh lederman, let me go to you.

there have been some movements. secretary of state tony blinken talking about the sort of diplomatic side of this, what is left of it at this point. talk me through what stood out to you and where this goes next. >> reporter: what was most striking here in brussels, halley, is how the united states and nato are using the same language to discuss their approach. we heard that this attack involving a nuclear power plant was reckless. and we heard from secretary blinken, using the same word. saying it was reckless. but at the same time, already these growing calls, as we're seeing, these continuing images, harrowing sites out of ukraine, for nato and the west to do something more than just economic sanctions. to actually intervene militarily or at least impose a no-fly zone over ukraine. the secretary of state general of nato, he said that the west has an obligation not to do that. go ahead. >> josh lederman in brussels, thank you. i'm only interrupting, because

we told you we would play back when we saw president biden in the oval office with the finish leader. we know that's about to play out any second. we know that the president took no questions, but we want to listen in to what the president did have to say in these statements. watch. >> here with us today, the president of finland at the white house in what is a critical moment involving all of europe. and, you know, we've been in regular touch for some time now and coordinated a united transatlantic response to hold the russians kblt and unjustified aggression against ukraine. and we agreed, it's not only an attack on ukraine, it's an attack on the security of europe and on global peace and instability. and finland is a critical part of the united states, a strong defense partner as well.

partner to nato, especially in strengthening security in the baltic sea area. we're committed to helping ukraine defend itself and in support of the humanitarian needs. we're koorngt everything from sanctions to export controls and i want to thank you for making the trip, mr. president. our relationship is vitally important to the united states and i think you see it the swam. and this is another opportunity to further strengthen that relationship. thank you for being here. welcome to the oval office and the floor is yours. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you very much for the opportunity to have this discussion with you.

i want to thank you for the leadership you have showed. we need it now. our thoughts today are undoubtedly with the ukrainian people who are fighting braver for their country and we do our best to help them like you, mr. president, said, we have a long-lasting partnership and very good relations. and i hope during this meeting and discussion, we can strengthen them more. between the united states and finland and the nordic countries, altogether. thank you, mr. president. >> you know, my predecessor sat in this seat. president obama used to say, it would be all right if we let everything to the nordic countries. it would be fine.

>> well, we don't start wars. >> thank you all very much. >> thank you, guys! let's go! thank you! let's go! thank you, guys! let's go! thank you! let's go! thank you, let's go! >> reporters making their best effort to try to get a question into pai there as he is preparing with salino nisto of finland. this is an important optical moment, right, for the president of the united states with a finish country that has tried to walk that line between maintaining some kind of relationship with the kremlin, although, since, of course, the invasion of ukraine, reports have grown for inclusion. not a full nato member to shore up alliances with those nato countries. it's already a member of the eu. >> and this was really designed to send a message to russia and

really the world to say that the u.s. is aligned with its allies and its partners and finland is a critical component of that and the fact that they are drawn closer to the u.s. and europe is the opposite of what vladimir putin said was his intended goals here. this is an important moment in the view of the white house. what you're seeing is an all hands on deck mode. as they move into this face with secretary blinken and others, this could drag on for some time and now they're looking at sanctions that are really the harder stuff. there's a reason why energy sanctions were left to last. and so that they are discussing on how they might be ab to get on the same page. you heard that there were a number of questions there thrown at the president including, is the president in support of banning russian oil imports into

the united states. and that's something that the administration is really trying to distances themselves from. they're looking at various options. they don't want to disrupt the supply, but they also have some options where they may be able to punish russia in other ways while leaving the supply the way it is. so it doesn't hurt the u.s. economy and europe. but this is a balance. and they're getting into like i said, this tougher phase of keeping the alliance united. >> it feels like when i listen to top white house officials talk about the issue of banning russian oil imports, it boils down to two buckets, basically. reading between the lines. i'm taking it from diplomatic white house speak to plain english, one is, our allies are not really onboard. the other is, we don't want to

make gas prices go up more. and that's the concern of exactly what it would do. >> those the things they're trying to balance. what we heard from the press secretary is there are options to reduce consumption of russian energy, but they don't want to cut supply. so she said, there are domestic options, there are international options. at the same time, the u.s. doesn't want to step out and get out in front of europe. they want to make sure to keep that alliance together. at the same time, the president is facing a lot of pressure on banning russian oil imports. there's an argument to be made that that's something that could be symbolic. but we've seen the administration take symbolic sanctions moves. they sanctioned russian president vladimir putin, knowing that it's very difficult to pin his money down.

so this is a something that will continue to snowball, and they want to make sure that they can stay in line with the allies. >> josh, since you are covering the diplomatic front, is there -- what would it take for there to be on appetite among the alliance to do something like what carol is talking about here. and how do they see this moment with the finish president alongside the american president? >> the ukrainians have been begging the u.s. and nato to go ahead with a no-fly zone, but we're not seeing any appetite for that, despite the terrifying nuclear incident last night, with both the u.s. and nato firmly ruling out that they are going to be involved on doing anything like that that could bring them into a war. and secretary blinken in a news conference making clear it is still economic penalties,

nothing military that they're considering. take a listen. >> no one should doubt america's readiness or our resolve. at the same time, we'll keep open the adore to dialogue and diplomacy, while making sure to the kremlin that unless it changes course, it will continue down the road of isolation and economic pain. >> secretary blinken was also asked, short of a no-fly zone, what about sending fighter jets to the ukrainians, something zelenskyy has asked about specifically. blinken did not rule that out. he said, they're constantly looking at that technology they can provide, what technologies they want to be able to give the ukrainians stuff that they can deploy quickly. we don't necessarily have any evidence that any move like that is coming imminently, but it was notable that blinken did not rule out providing equipment like aircraft to the ukrainians. >> josh lederman, thank you very much.

courtney, let me bring you into the conversation here. with the vast majority of those russian troops that had gathered to invade ukraine actually in the country now, according to those assessments, no >> that's right. of the russian troops that were amassed around ukraine before this invasion, now 92% of those have moved into ukraine. there were some in the neighborhood of 150 upward of 200,000 troops. we're still talking about thousands of troops that have not moved in. but we're also told to russia has fired more than 500 missiles since this invasion began a week ago. that is a tremendous number of missiles and many of those have been fired inside ukraine, meaning that russia has moved some of their systems into ukraine and are firing short-range missiles.

some have been fired are inside russian territory. in addition to those 500 missiles, the russian military is still flying over ukraine. there have been air strikes, there's artillery fired, ground-to-ground artillery. a massive amount of firepower has been unleashed in the first week of this invasion. and we spoke with matt bradley about what's been happening in the last 24 hours with that nuclear power plant. while the defense official could not say with certainty that russia is now controlling that power plant, the assessment is not certain in that respect, we did hear from pentagon press secretary john kirby a short time ago about just why the russians being in charge there is such a dangerous situation and here's what he had to say. >> attacking a nuclear power plant is exceedingly dangerous

and could have visited a lot more damage and destruction to the people of ukraine and perhaps even to make countries had this gone a different way. and we continue to call on russia to stop the invasion period, de-escalate, move their troops out, but certainly, short of that, to be more mindful of their obligations under international law. >> what's important to point out here, hallie, it's not just the possibility that some sort of a russian munition would hit the power plant. it's the concern that as they're attacking it, even if they're going after the administrative buildings around there, if they knock out power to the nuclear reactor, and they can no longer cool itself, that in and of itself is a tremendous concern to the people not only in that area, but in the area around ukraine. it is a very real possibility that something like that could have happened while these strikes were ongoing last night. that's one of the reasons that

press secretary john kirby was saying, it's such a dangerous situation. we've heard a lot in recent days about this convoy in the north as well and about the stalled efforts of russia. but the reality is, if you look at the country as a whole, the russian military still is making some advances. in the south, they are pushing forward, pushing towards mariupol. over on the eastern side of the country, the southeast, they are also making some advances, up in kharkiv, on the more north side of the country. they are pushing forward. while there's a lot of attention right now on the stalled convoy moving towards kyiv, our viewers should know, the overall russian military campaign is actually donating. they are makinging advances in some parts of the country. it is thestalled. >> courtney kube, such important context and great reporting from the pentagon. carol lee, the same to you.

a live report from the polish border later this hour, where people are just flooding. we'll show you some of those images. first, our team is watching something happening right now. the first january 6th-related trial happening here in d.c. we just heard from the defendant's friend, testifying against him today. a day after guy reffitt's own son took the stand. and a convoy headed to d.c. as we speak. ben collins is here with that scoop in a minute. that scoop in a minute.

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turning now to the latest in the first capitol riot case to go to trial. guy reffitt faces a gun charge and one of the guy who came with him testified that he was armed with a handgun and zip ties. he said he also joked about dragging house speaker nancy pelosi down the stairs of the capitol. you're looking at images of

reffitt there at the insurrection. talk about the importance of hardy's testimony for the government's case and what else has stood out to you today so far. >> i think it's helpful to the government's case, but not essential. there's a lot of evidence in this case. there's photos, there's videos, there's statement from guy reffitt's own son about his father bragging about what happened. what hardy adds to the picture here is the fact that they met the texas, according to hardy, who's testifying under a grant of immunity. whatever he says here in this trial cannot be used against him in a separate proceeding. and so far he has not been charged in the capitol riot cases. he said he met in texas, they traveled together, and it was during the trip, he says, that reffitt talked a lot about dragging nancy pelosi out of the capitol and having her head hit the steps as she came down. and also talked about the fact that they both carried weapons,

which is one of the charges against guy reffitt, and he believes that guy reffitt had his handgun with him when he came to the capitol on january 6th. to some extent, there were sop things that he said today that could be helpful to reffitt, as well. because he said that reffitt was given to wild exaggerations and hyperbole, which seems to be the favorite word now when talking about reffitt's statements, that some of these things were said jokingly, and that's something that his own lawyer tried to elicit from him as well. and another part of the testimony was getting people who were in the capitol that day, describe the process for the jury, what was happening in the capitol, the whole business of the counting the electoral votes and hearing from the secret service about the disruption once the riot started. >> pete williams live for us on that. thank you. coming up, the rare and public dispute between mitch mcconnell and another senate republican who is not back doung today and not-so-subtly criticizing the

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maryland today. this is what you're looking at from right around pittsburgh. participants making their way through parks on your screen there. one of the notable departures from the convoy from canada, the reason for participating in the first place. because the criticism of vaccines and mandates are a little bit moot. so what are these truckers looking for now? quote, accountability. okay. accountability on what? a whole range of things. kind of depends who you ask. ben collin reports that part of the focus of the group that plans the convoy has shifted more recently to a conspiracy theory about the war in ukraine. and this totally made-up story that former president trump and vladimir putin are secretly working together to stop bioweapons from being made by dr. anthony fauci. ben collins is here with us now. so, ben, what? please explain this. >> yeah, look, as they made their way across the cup, this has been about two or three

weeks now since they've come from california all the way to washington, d.c., mask mapts have lifted. they have not had a specific unifying message. they think that they had something to do with those mask mandates lifting, not the reduction of omicron. now they want what they say is accountable for what they call crimes against humanity, which are masking children or vaccine mandates. accountability can mean anything to any number of these people, but there is a very heavy qanon ting to this sort of thing. the idea of military tribunals or things like that. and the idea that anthony fauci has biolabs, and he's creating another coronavirus in these biolabs and this is some sort of secret operation to take out the deep state in ukraine. that is their idea here of sort of squaring this unsquarable circle, where for years they were told, maybe vladimir putin isn't the bad guy, but they're seeing all of these horrific images in ukraine. and now they are sort of trying

to figure out a way for all of this narrative to make sense. >> so what is the -- what is the plan for tomorrow? like, where do things stand on that froont for what we expect to see where i am in washington, ben? >> they're in hagerstown, maryland, right now, going from small town to small town all throughout the country. refueling and giving stump speeches at these small places. even until right now, they were in indianapolis for two days and still trying to figure out a plan to watch what to do in washington, d.c. some of them say they want to go to the white house, which they're not going to go to make it to the white house. some say they want to politic the beltway, which is 64 miles along. i can tell you right now, hallie, a lot of people have written this off, because there have been these false starts throughout the country. this one pass picked up steam. there are people weight on those overpasses. there are hundreds of cars in this convoy, dozens of semis in

this convoy. so one way or another, there'll be something in washington tomorrow, we just don't know what it is. >> anything else about this range of -- i don't know, demand, or range of requests? >> reporter: it's kind of unclear. they kind of won. they think that they won. they think they had something to do with these mask mandates being taken out. but they had nothing to do with that. you can't convince them of that. they're in their own complete separate media ecosystem. the issue is now, because it's so nebulous, you know, they're trying to sort of wedge in this ukraine talking appoint where it doesn't really make sense or fit with the rest of it, but don't want to come off as whiney in the midst of a real brutal war and a real brutal oppression. they're trying to wedge themselves into it. it's just not quite working out the way they want. >> i urge folks to read that new reporting. we're getting new reaction from the white house, comments from sagt senator.

nbc news capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell joins me now. something republican lindsey graham said who has alluded and implied that vladimir putin should be taken out by the russian people. his spokesman said that he was talking about a coup, but it is widely being interpreted as the reference to brutus, is there a brutus in russia? as a call for assassination, even some of his fellow republicans are pushing back on this now with senator ted cruz, a member of the gop calling this a terrible idea. here is -- i'm paraphrasing there. here is white house press secretary jen psaki in response just moments ago. >> we have left the door open for months now to be engaged through de-escalation. if de-escalation occurs. obviously, humanitarian corridors, a cease-fire. those would all be steps that would be welcomed. but no, no, we are not advocating for killing the

leader of a foreign country or regime change. that is not the policy of the united states. >> leigh ann caldwell is joining us now. there's opinion other reaction, not just from the white house, but from capitol hill too, including from congresswoman marjorie taylor greene, who is controversial in her own right, who said that this idea in her words, is dangerous and unhinged. >> that's right. so when lindsey graham tweeted last night, perhaps it was just a tweet of passion, but he decided to double down on fox news this morning. that's when the reactions and responses started coming down. of course, the russian ambassador completely criticized the tweet, saying that it's unconscionable and uncalled for. but members of his own party who are also very adamant that president biden take very, very tough responses to vladimir putin and to russia and what they're doing in okay said that this is not okay. senator ted cruz is one of those, as you mentioned, saying,

we don't take out leaders of other countries. that instead, you need to sanction russia, you need to supply the ukrainians with ammunition and with defense capabilities and that is where the actual conversation is happening on capitol hill. it's not about vladimir putin or putting troops into ukraine to fight russian soldiers. it's important to note that that is not the policy of united states, to assassinate other world leaders. that's where it stands. we'll see what lindsey graham says when he comes back to washington next week and if he continues on this. but so far, this is the position he has. he hasn't walked it back yet. >> leigh ann caldwell live for us on capitol hill. coming up, we're staying on the hill with the newest escalation in a republican rift that is now pretty public. what senator rick scott has to say about senator mitch mcconnell, coming up, right after the break. r mitch mcconnell, coming up, right after the break.

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over on capitol hill, a new escalation in some of the republican infighting we've seen over in the senate, with senator rick scott, to use perhaps the world's favorite political cliche, doubling down, gang, on his gop agenda proposals that drew a verbal body slam from senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. senator scott wrote a new op-ed in the "wall street journal" out now, entitled, why i'm defying beltway cowardice. scott writing in part, even if it is just a few bucks, everyone needs to know what it's like to pay some taxes. it hit a nerve. part of the deception is achieved by disconnecting so many americans from taxation. it is a genius political move and it is interrupting us. nbc's garrett haake is on capitol hill. that is a reference, clearly, to what scott had put into this initial agenda of putting a tax on even the poorest americans, forcing them to pay at least some level of tax to the federal

government. this whole agenda drew real concern, when members of congress had been out, the senate wasn't in. folks saying, hey, how can we run on some of these controversial positions, and mitch mcconnell making very clear in the last couple of days, he decides the agenda and this ain't it. >> you can argue this goes back even further than that. i remember when mitt romney got basically nuked for having a similar position leaked out behind closed doors. what you have at its heart is a dispute between two people who ostensibly have the same goal. mitch mcconnell believes the way to do it is run a pure referendum campaign on joe biden. saying, you don't like joe biden, we're for whatever he's not for. we're against whatever he's for. and not get into anymore specifics than that. rick scott comes out with this incredibly detailed policy plan of what all the things that

republicans will do, and it led to mitch mcconnell's equivalent of a dunk on scott earlier this week. these guys theoretically should have the same goal. there's also some speculation that rick scott who already has been a governor, is now a senator, already has more money than he can spend in his life, may have another goal in mind, and that's the white house. and by contrasting him with other republicans, he start to set himself up for a future run to pursue that goal in the future and that's what's led to the deepening of this rift. >> garrett haake live for us on the hill. thank you. next up, a closer look at the persistent and verified report of discrimination against refugees of color at the ukraine/poland border. >> how would you describe what's happening at the border? >> how would you describe what's happening at the border? now, there's skyrizi. ♪ 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 ♪

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the crisis in ukraine going well beyond the borders of that country. today, the united nations is saying more than 1.2 million people have left the country, as fast as they can. desperate to find safety in nearby countries. you see them on the map here. poland, hungary, romania, and others. you can see on your screen, look at this. long, long lines to enter

poland. you know how long it's taken some of these folks to get in? as many as two days. up to 4 million people could end up leaving ukraine, meaning this could be the european union's highest influx of refugees ever. i want to bring in kelly cobiella, who is in poland right along the border. you have been seeing it and bearing witness to it on the ground. what these families have been going through. >> yeah, hallie. and while the border crossings, the times of border crossings have changed. they improved quite a bit in the past couple of days. it is still an incredibly difficult and long journey for a lot of these families, just to get to that point. one or two days just to get to a border crossing. and once they cross through into neighboring countries, including poland, they are so traumatized, they're exhausted, and they've come with next to nothing. they need warm clothes, they need toiletry, they need a

shower, they need just to sleep for a night. and we're seeing this huge volunteer effort. we've talked about it over the past couple of days. there's really no like one big ngo orchestrating all of this, particularly in poland. there are lots of tiny and volunteers who are chipping in. we went to a company today opening the offices to refugees and turned them into homes for 25 people. they were receiving another 16 this afternoon. we spoke to one of the employees and clear the emotional toll all of this is taking on refugees and the people who are witnessing this. take a listen. >> i was already had three breakdowns when i saw on the streets big buses with -- with

all of the stuff going to the border. it was like heart melting because i knew there are plenty of people seeking some shelter here. >> reporter: just so many people coming into this country in need of help. 99,200 people crossed into poland thursday. 25,000 by 7:00 this morning. there are almost incomprehendible numbers. every number is a terrible story and the quite said they need more than a billion dollars to care for and support the people down the line. they're still coming. 4 million is the number that's being thrown around long term why the number of refugees who could be fleeing ukraine as this conflict continues. >> kelly, live for us in poland,

thank you for the reporting. let's talk about the experience of african students studying in ukraine. they are denied entry. europe faced a different crisis and some politicians like the hungarian prime minister weren't not so welcoming to those from syria and africa. joining us now is a correspondent. bring us to speed on what you hear. >> the reports hearing from african students are disturbing. they face discrimination at the ukraine border and denied entry. an instance they pointed guns at them. now under #africans in ukraine in the russian invasion.

>> reporter: africans in ukraine allege racism and discrimination at the borders. video posted this week by a nigerian in ukraine appears to show military officials pointing guns at refugees raising their hands. alexander was there saying they turned the refugees of color away. >> do you identify. i see you white people only. >> how would you describe what's happening at the border? >> i don't like using the word racism but it's racism. >> reporter: verified footage shows denying a black person entry. >> we stay beside the queue. for more than two hours. pleading for them to include us. >> women and children to be -- to cross the borders don't allow

men. >> what about men? >> don't allow men. >> they do. >> reporter: noneuropean refugees faced discrimination. for aura he says after failed attempts to cross they stormed past the border and then granted legal entry. >> i want people to know that the exact people asking the world for help is committing a war crime against africans. >> for more context we know that african students make up a large number of ukraine's international student population and senator warner highlighted this fact and imploring officials to discriminatory treatment. a rep from poland called it a complete lie and ukraine's foreign minister said they need equal opportunities to return to the home countries. given the video this is a story we need to follow. >> you are right. thank you so much for staying on

top of this. great to see you here on the show. nbc news just obtained excerpts from a speech former vice president mike pence plans to give tonight to tell the audience that republicans should not relitigate the past when it comes to elections and if that sounds like to you, i don't know, a veiled barb or an obvious barb at former boss donald trump sounds that way to a lot of folks. i want to bring in ben camasar. he made comments with distance between himself and donald trump initially. a year after the insurrection why now saying, hey, republicans shouldn't be relitigating the past. some are. the guy at the front-runner for the 2024 nomination if he decides to run and that's donald trump.

>> what you are hearing from pence in speeches previously and knew is the refrain from many republicans. they see the election of 2022, the dynamics, president trump flounding at the polls. the economy is not rebounding to let pence run on it. there are all the dynamics pointing in favor of republicans with a big mid tell election and the only thing to hold them back in the eyes of many republicans this look back on 2020. the things that keep the party focused away from the dynamics that are good for them and relitigating an election that most people understand what happened there. >> we have obtained them that he is creating a freedom agenda with 50 of like the brightest stars of the conservative movement and you see the quote that ben was talking about.

we cannot win by relitigating the past. this ties back to something we talked about in the show. the republican agenda. pence it seems is trying to set one and take on the mantle. there is some competition on that front. >> certainly. you see two conflictinging ideas. mitch mcconnell. let's not focus on the republicans and what president biden has done wrong. is his message. there's a marketplace of ideas if you will partially because i think republicans want a roadmap of where they want to run after 2022 and want to be seen as the ideological successor of republicans if they within in 2022 so that you make a roadmap now and win that you have a sort of standardbearer to move forward. >> nbc's ben, thank you very much for that reporting. i so appreciate you watching

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♪♪ hi there, everyone. 4:00 in new york. a dangerous escalation in the russian invasion of ukraine serves as a grave reminder of the threat this war poses to europe and the planet. last night shelling by russian forces and europe's nuclear power plant in southern ukraine sparked a fire and led to fears the world over of a nuclear meltdown. that fire has since been put out and international monitors say there is no sign that any radiation leaked. condemnation of the attack was swift. an adviser to president zelenskyy accused russia of blackmailing the world. the situation led to an emergency meeting of the u.n.