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east coast. breaking news, for many world leaders, a frustrating end to another long dave efforts to convince president vladimir putin to end his 11-day conflict in ukrainian. instead, the fighting continues with civilians taking heavy fire on the way out of the cities and villages. [ bleep ] the mayor claims that eight civilians were killed while trying to escape today. russian forces are preparing to bombard the i is the of odesa from the south and new video from the russian area of donetsk shows pro russian forces handing out food to a village newly under russian control.

some welcome news for ukraine's president zelenskyy. new indications that the u.s. may be taking steps to potentially sanction russian oil. all working to provide with fighter jets from poland. as night falls in poland, refugees continue to stream across the border searching for a warm and safe place to stay. we have breaking news from ukraine, poland and washington. joining us from a very chilly lviv, ukraine. molly, give us the very latest. >> reporter: it is very, very chilly. we are staying in a nice warm hotel. there are so many people in western ukraine who have made it across from east of the country who are walking in, getting on freezing cold trains and have nowhere to stay. i want to take you to the big news of the day. back to mariupol. president zelenskyy is warning that odesa is next.

mariupol is just east of that. that's where we started the day. we thought there would be a cease fire. both sides announce ad cease fire, a humanitarian corridor. families woke up in that city thinking their nightmare might be over. they might be able to get to safety today. 200,000 people are still there. a city of 450. and they were going to try to evacuate them. several hours after the announcement, the cease fire was clearly over. it was shattered. the red cross confirmed from the city council that shelling had continued. they say their team is still on the ground. their team started the day by trying to open up the humanitarian quarter. they remind the world, russians, that they are neutral. of course, they will facilitate between two parties. anyone who works for the red cross, any vehicles that have that red cross emblem, any building that's belong to the red cross are protected by international law. and that's not the only city that the red cross and the international committee for the red cross is working to evacuate

in a suburb northeast of kyiv. we've been talking about this all day. yesterday, alex, 3,000 people got out. the red cross would try to do the same today and evacuate civilians if the same exact place they evacuated them from yesterday. russian shells, russian attacks hit that exact same spot. we just heard in the last hour from the mayor who confirms that eight people died. now, all of these freedom the southeast, the northeast, are working their way to the relative safety of the west. we are in lviv. it is the big landing spot for people from the east. also the depart you point for people trying to get to poland and neighboring countries. there are a lot of idps. internally displaced people. people who want to hold. on who think they can wait it out in the west. maybe they'll be able to go home. and i want to finish this moment. we are in lviv. in our last shot i tried to get you a shot of the elder ukrainians singing. we ran down, we shot some of

that sound and i want to share that moment with you and our viewers. so take a listen. ♪♪ there is tremendous resilience here. and the word that is war continues to move from east to west. i'll second it back to you. >> i love the sound of that music and the national unity that is bringing forth. thank you for making the effort. appreciate it. new stories of desperation at the border of poland and ukraine. they come with warnings of disaster for water, food, medical supplies all running low in ukraine. let's go to allison once again near the border for us. what is it like?

what are you seeing, ellison? >> reporter: you talk to people as they cross the border for the first time and there is this moment of almost relief because they know they are somewhere safe. but then great sadness for what they've left behind. and then this hyper focus on figuring out what to do, where they go next. yesterday we were at a border crossing a little bit south of here. we met a woman in her 60s. she looked down after i finished talking to her and pointed to three bags she had. and she said, 68 years of my life in three bags. she wasn't upset that she had lost things but it was just that in an instant, everything she thought she new changed. she is from eastern ukraine. she talked to me about seeing the bombs, seeing her home, her community destroyed. and then talking to friends, family members in russia who were telling her that none of that was true.

listen to what she told us. >> translator: we are ordinary people. we cannot get why this is happening. they are telling us, don't tell us that we are bombing you. it is impossible. and i'm telling them. but why our houses have been exploded. >> reporter: when we met that woman, i asked her if she had any family with her and she said she has a sister who still lives in ukraine. in poland, she has no one. i watched as a volunteer, a police officer helped her get on a bus to go somewhere else. when we first started reporting on refugees fleeing to poland, cher the majority of that 1.5 million people who have fled ukraine have gone, we were meeting people who came here because they had friends or family to stay with in poland.

now we're meeting a lot of people like that woman who came here because they needed to be somewhere safe quickly. and what happens next? they don't really know. alex? >> tom end, is there any sense of how long poland can house these refugees? how long this can continue? >> reporter: so the european union unanimously voted to approve a directive to give temporary protection to refugees. ukrainian people who have fled ukraine or third party nationals who had protected status or permanent residence in ukraine. what that means is they don't have to file individual asylum claims. they can to go a european country like poland and they will be eligible for thing like housing, social welfare programs and that can last for a area. they have the ochings extending that up to three years. this is a directive that they passed, came up with after the balkan wars. it is a very big deal it is used

now. we haven't seen it used since then. when it comes to people who are living in ukraine since they were students, we've met quite a few of those. they were told when they cross into poland, they have 15 days to get out. to figure out where they go from here. coordinate their transportation, whatever it is. and then be on their way. >> okay. thank you form answer. appreciate it. so also breaking for you, world leaders trying to convince vladimir putin to end the aggression in ukraine. they called for a cease fire. this happened during two separate phone calls with putin today. our reporter is joining us from our d.c. bureau. what are we learning about these calls? were they able to accomplish anything of substance? >> this war has high stakes for both these countries, in part because of how close they are jae graphically. turkey is a neighbor of ukraine, separated only by the black sea and the distance from lviv to

france is similar to the distance from washington, d.c. and miami. one of the things the french president macron discussed is the situation at the nuclear power plan in ukraine. according to the kremlin, they blame ukraine for provoking it. erdogan also spoke. they claim that russian forces are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of civilians and claimed that russia won't end the military operation until its demands are met. we're seeing a defiant putin, refusing to back down from this war despite the pressure he's facing. despite the global opinion turned against him. meanwhile, secretary of state antony blinken who recently arrived in the balkans is trying to do what president biden has been doing from the start. unify the allies to speak with one voice and maximize the pressure on think that a. let's have a listen to what blinken said earlier. >> i've been in europe the last couple days working closely as

always with our allies and partners, that nato, the european union, the g-7 countries, and all of us together are continuing to take steps to increase the pressure on russia through additional sanctions, all of which are very actively under discussion, and will be implemented in the coming days, as well as taking further steps to give the ukrainians what they need to defend themselves against the russian aggression. >> and as part of that effort, we're seeing a growing appetite among the u.s. and european allies to have assistance to ukraine that congress is hoping to pass as early as this week. >> okay. thank you for reporting that for us. joining me now, joe holiday. a national security researcher at a strategic intelligence and advisory firm. he is also a former if not office here work in military intelligence. a big welcome to you. what is your assessment.

where things stand today, where they are heading next? >> of course. so i think to start with, the simple, quick explanation is the advance remains largely stalled in the north as they move toward kyiv. and they're continuing to take ground pretty effectively in the south. and really, in two different directions in the south. in the southeast, at this point, they've established a land bridge connection between crimea and the two areas that russia has seized in 2014. and at this point, they've surrounded mariupol in entirety and they're on both sides. in the coming days, we'll see continued shelling in and around mariupol as they sort of beat that city and those people into submission. this is the russian way of war. we saw that earlier from the videos that you were showing.

opening up the humanitarian corridor to start to shell them. it is about amassing fire power. we saw this in 2000, in aleppo if 2016, and we'll expect to he sue it play out here. so that's in the southeast direction. and southwesterly, also very important to watch. perhaps the most important thing to watch in the coming days. the russian forces are closing in on odesa. a very important port city for ukraine. the mayor, the leadership of that city has warned its citizens to expect massive bombardments as soon as tonight. and that is an area that i expect to see russian forces closing in in the coming days. and probably the most important area to watch right now. >> essentially, a campaign of terror, putting bombs on people, trying to blow up those trying to escape through humanitarian channels. let me ask but the reports about a potential deal to get soviet

jets, these m-16s, to ukraine. how useful are those likely to be? it is my understanding they need a lot of runway. and we know they've targeted airports. what about training? are these ukrainian fighter pilots, are they able to fly these planes? are they in good condition? what are your thoughts? >> yeah. so i think first of all, this is to break into the different pieces coming out here. most of the stuff i've read, the idea of it being polish mig 29s, that poland is only willing to do it in the case that the united states would commit to backing, to filling that gap in their flaet with modern u.s. jets, right? so it would be, transfer the old migs to the ukrainian air force and backfill that with more modern jets. in that regard, they would have the facilities and the training

to operate these jets. it is an important point. if the ukraine air force were to have more to backfill in the opening hours of the conflict. that could make a difference. that could make a difference to control the air space. and potentially to go on the offensive with status targets, such as the convoy stalled to the north of kyiv. i think the other thing i would quickly mention here as it goes to air defense and the ability of the ukrainians to defend themselves from russian bombers which will be increasingly important here, over the past weekend there is been continued efficacy of the air defense systems with the ukrainians downing several russian attack helicopters and russian fighter bombers in the past few days.

so ukraine air space is by no means entirely russian controlled. but whatever can be done to help the ukrainians make that air space even more contested is going to make it harder for the russians to just use bombers at great numbers in those urban areas. >> in terms of russian vulnerability, is it especially vulnerable in the 40-mile stretch from belarus? british intelligence reports that those supply lines have been targeted. >> i think those splas have been targeted. any sort of static target make it great for people to go if they're not moving. it is fairly straightforward to plan to get close to it and to do damage and then back off. i think there's also cases all over the place of supply lines where you have russian vehicles that have lost their way or have gone in a more vulnerable route, getting targeted.

and i think one of the interesting things to come out of this may be just how effective anti-tank weapons systems have become for anybody to use. everyone from the territorial defense unit to ukrainian special operations have been very effective at stopping russian armored vehicles in their tracks all over the place. so it is something to watch. one thing to consider quickly, the russians are continuing to push from the northwest area and try to close that gap to make it harder to target that big stalled convoy to the north. and i expect to see the russians try to make movements around to the south and to the west of kyiv to try to find the new path, a new access into the city. that convoy up there, it stopped and it is not going anywhere any

time soon. >> thank you. so for your analysis and sharing it with us. appreciate that. my next guest is writing about his experiences in ukraine for rolling stone. he describes one situation as, quote, a claustrophobic straight jacket of fear. that's next. that's next. wrap their arms around us, could we put little handles on our jackets? -denied. -can you imagine? i want a new nickname. can you guys start calling me snake? no, bryan. -denied. -how about we all get quotes to see if we can save with america's number one motorcycle insurer? approved. cool! hey, if bryan's not gonna be snake, can i be snake? -all: no. (vo) right now, the big switch is happening across the country. small businesses are fed up with big bills and 5g maps that are mostly gaps— they're switching to t-mobile for business and getting more 5g bars in more places. save over $1,000 when you switch to our ultimate business plan... ...for the lowest price ever.

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we're back with this breaking news. thousands of civilians are trapped in the ukrainian city of mariupol. the evacuation convoy was not able to leave today due to heavy shelling. it is the second time this weekend the ukrainian authorities have accused russia of breaking its ceasefire agreement. joining me now, jack, good to see you again. tell me generally where you are if you can and what's happening around you. >> i recently made to it lviv, ukraine, the city in the west where many reporters are based

now. i sort of followed this long refugee, i'm not sure if humanitarian corridor is the right word but i followed the path that many refugees are taking out of the country, tracing a long looping route around the entirety of ukraine from kharkiv in the northeast and then down into dnipro. we did it by car. there are many doing it by train, on foot at times, and it was really kind of a striking experience to travel this far across this country with thousands of people making the same trip. to put some distance between them and the truly horrific violence happening in many parts of the country. >> this article you've described this whole experience leaving kharkiv as being a class troe phobic straight jacket of fear. i'm most interested in the ten

minutes where you were down in the hotel lobby. everything seemed okay. ten minutes later, it was dramatically not okay. what transpired? >> it was a very surreal moment. the day before there had been a major attack incursion in which some units of russian troops managed to make their way into the city center of kharkiv. this was fierce fire for a while. we were all trapped in the hotel for the day. then it quieted down. i remember, i got seven hours of sleep in my room at the hotel for the first time in days. and the shelling was not too bad. we made plans to leave for the drive the next morning. i came down. i chatted with igor, one of the just absolutely long suffering and heroic staff at the hotel, and i asked him about his family and he said, yeah, quiet night. things are okay.

we started to pack up to leave and then the shelling just broke out. and our driver had arrived and all of a sudden, it seemed like the rest of the journalists in the hotel were coming, just pouring down the stairs. it went from a tranquil like, thanks for having us, i think we're going to be leaving this morning to we need to go immediately and this flurry of activity. everyone pulling on body armor in the lobby. and the shelling actually got significantly closer to us than it had been in the past. and that was monday of this week. and i think we've all seen tilages of what happened in that city almost immediately afterwards. >> it was extraordinary listening to you, reading, i fell in the way you were describing it, listening to you share it. you go with fellow journalists, you go in the car with vlad? that was your driver? >> yeah. >> he was supposed to take you along. instead, you have the shelling.

you come running back in the hotel lobby and you're gathering with all the different foreign journalists. some you know. some you don't. you talk about two young journalists. you said take our car. i'm going to catch a ride with somebody else. as you're leaving that hotel, jack, you don't know where you're going. i mean, you're going into shelling moments after it stops and you think you have a clean getaway. >> in those decisions, you have to go based on your gut at the time. and our sense was, we had made the call to go, i think everyone was leaving. and it really seemed like, i put two other journalists in the car that we had because everyone was jockeying for spots. the sense wasn't that things would get immediately dangerous at the hotel. we could have retreated to the safety of the parking garage. but i think the fear for a lot of the media was that the window to leave the city was closing. and i think the fear is things

that we're seeing now in mariupol where there are thousands and thousands of civilians there still trapped and who cannot get out because as we've seen, the russian authorities cannot be trusted to ensure safe passage of civilians of the press, noncombatants at all, coming out of areas. so i think that inspired some of our urgency. >> something that struck home. you said it is a natural thing to put yourself first in a war as we sped out of the city and the shelling faded. i felt nothing but relief. yet you go on later and you write about the guilt you feel, leaving behind those and knowing the inevitable death and destruction in your wake in kharkiv. >> yeah. that's something i've been struggling with a lot. i'm in lviv. anyone here knows that's the worst of it. it is where refugees are coming to find refuge but also where people are coming to cross the

border to find places in other countries. i myself, it is time for me to rotate out for a little bit of time. i'm hoping to leave tomorrow. it is very difficult to grapple with that and your feelings as a journalist in a story that is very much still ongoing. with people that you've built relationships with who are still very much suffering. and i don't know how to navigate that. everyone has to find out their own way out. >> i'm going to suggest, jack crosby, that you write about it. you're a brilliant writer for "rolling stone." we're also happy to have you be a contributor here at msnbc and write about it and continue reporting if do you so. thank you, jack crosby. newborns in the war zone inside the maternity ward in kyiv. yeah, you'll get used to it. this mom's depositing money with tools on-hand.

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for those of you just joining us, we're following the

breaking news out of ukraine where civilians are bracing for the 11th night of terror and attacks. earlier today, evacuations out of the city of mariupol were called off after ukrainian officials accused the russians for heavy shelling in the second day in a row. that city has been without heat and electricity and water for several days. it comes as the biden administration is discuss hough to supply polish soviet era jets to ukraine. meantime, tiktok announcing in the last hour, they will suspend live streaming and new content to their app in russia. let's get a first hand look at the impact russian attacks are having on the lives of civilians. joining me now, a "washington post" video journalist. whitney, give me a sense of where you are and what you've been seeing. >> reporter: sure. i'm in ky. i've been in ukraine the last six weeks or so.

we've spent time going, some of the things that people do as live goes on, weddings, funerals and even seeing new babies in in a eternity wards undergrounds, the maternity wards. some of this happening in bunkers. the losses have had to do with war, people dying because of the war. so it's all been colored by this experience. >> i can imagine. i can't, to be perfectly honest. looking at your videos helps me enshigs what you're going through. talk about the maternity ward you were in in kyiv. also that video of a woman who is laying her husband to rest. how powerful are these stories? what is it like for you to have to tell them with your video? >> reporter: yeah, you know, i think a lot of with us cameras hide behind them a little bit.

just sort of focus on the story. but it is, when you stop and think about it. a lot of the stuff is really gutting and heart wrenching to see what these people are going through. the woman who had to bury her husband. that one really sticks with me. that's a loss that will never be recovered. the underground maternity ward. all of that is so tough. those are families that, many of them told us, they would flee. they would have been gone to lviv or poland or some other safe haven. because they were expecting children, they couldn't go. and that is really hard to think about. the longer that you stay here, the more of a chance you could get stuck or worse. >> yeah. >> so whitney, being in kyiv. you say you've been there a couple of weeks now. the start of your tenure in kyiv to where we are today, how much worse has it gotten?

>> so i arrived in kyiv six weeks ago and i've done some traveling in between and i've stayed here the last few weeks. when i first got here, it was this bustling, beautiful cosmopolitan city. my family joked that it looked like i was on a european vacation because of all the nice dinners. and then the city just dramatically changed overnight after the invasion. everything is shut here. all the restaurant are closed. you might find the occasional grocery store but most are closed. it is really hard to get gas. food is hard to come by. we're really lucky the hotel we're at is taking really good care of us but eventually supplies will dwindle as trucks are unable to deliver supplies and food. so it's a starkly different place than a few weeks ago. >> are you scared for your life knowing that kyiv is the directive for the russian troops? they're heading that way.

>> reporter: i try that to think about that. i think about all the other people around us who have lost their lives and whose lives are very much in danger for quite a long period of time probably here. i'm lucky that we have a security team and lots of resources that hopefully can get me out and it is not super simple. that like i can get to the airport and leave. so there are moments when it is a little scary. i just feel grateful when we have someone helping us when others don't. >> i don't know if you heard my last conversation with jack crosby. he is supposed to cycle out. he talks about what he will take with him. same question. what will you take with you when this is all over? >> yeah. did i hear some of the conversation. i feel a lot of the same i think that jack does. it is really hard to leave. i'm at this point myself where i should probably, i would like to go home soon and we're trying to

figure out how exactly to make that happen. the safest way, while i also sort of finish some work that i want to do here. leaving the story is hard knowing there is still so much to tell. and you know, of course, i will carry the stories that i've heard from these people for the rest of my life. this is absolutely a life changing experience, being here, meeting these people and seeing how resilient they are but how much they've had to endure already. how much fear there is of what is to come. you can't shake that. that will stay with us. >> yes. brittney, from the "washington post," thank you for sharing your story with me today. do stay safe. i hope you can get home soon. there is a new layer to the ukraine conflict. the middle east. we'll talk about this article next. lk about this article next ?

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we are closely monitoring the situation of brittney griner, the nba star who has been detained in russia on drug charges. she was taken into custody last month when official say they discovered cannabis oil cartridges. katie beck is joining me with the latest on this. what can you tell me? thank you for joining me. about where she is, what she's been accused of and how long she's been detained?

>> reporter: those are really good questions and we're putting the pieces together based on what we're hearing from her agent and from russian authorities. from what we can tell, she passed through a security check point at the airport sometime in the month of february. it looks like it has been about three weeks since that happened. since that time has been in custody under investigation for trafficking drugs into the country. now, her agent, her family, all of those associated with her and her team say that she is beloved and they are deeply concerned about her health and mental well-being and the safety of her concern. they are very much concerned, monitoring her situation and hoping to find a slags to expedite her return. where she is being held and exactly how long is still a question we don't have an answer to. we know that she's under investigation. we know roughly what happened at that check point because of the video that was released by

russian authorities. in terms of specific details, there's still a lot of unanswered questions in this case. >> okay. there have to be some concerns, given the tensions right now, that she could be used as a political pawn. is anybody expressing that? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. she is facing some really serious charges. drug trafficking charges in russia carry a possible sentence of up to ten years behind bars. so people are looking at the severity of that sentence and the fact that she's a celebrity, the fact that she's well known. and they're saying given the escalating tensions between russia and the united states right now, it sure is interesting that russian authorities would release this video and that we would find out about this case roughly a month after it happened. so yeah. there is definitely a question in a lot of people's mind. what is this incident being used for? it will be used for leverage or some type of political game,

given the claim between russia and the u.s., and how severe the consequences are for the action that happened there. >> okay. catie beck. thank you for bringing us the very latest and following the story. let's go from there to breaking economic news. the average price for a gallon of gas, $4. in a matter of hours, it went up 8 cents. up 40 cents in one week. joining me now, "wall street journal" reporter, ben, oil producing gulf nations have resisted any u.s. pressure to up the ante and raise the output. an analyst with the energy information agency said the gulf countries claim that this isn't our war. talk about what is behind that attitude. >> oh, yes. thank you for having me. indeed, their assumption at the moment is that there is no need to take action. that the old price has been pumped up by geo politics and

that as opec members, they don't have to take action. and second, it's not their conflict so why would they help when they're not getting anything. >> how much is this about the price of oil was deflated, so they were losing money comparatively as to the price of oil now. in fact, these countries are making more money off the sale of their oil. >> absolutely. something has changed from 2014 where there was a crash because of the rise of u.s. shell oil. one, shell oil is not bouncing as much from the pandemic as it would have in the past because investors once returned, on the one because they're turning their attention leeway

for persian gulf oil producers to keep sort of restricting their production in some way and still getting the high price without u.s. replacements. so in a way, they can wait it out. not move and get the cash in the bag without really taking any action. >> you write in the "wall street journal", between the u.s. and its arab partner has become, with doubts about american staying power in the region. so weigh the u.s. relationship with those countries and russia's also got relationships with them. how do they compare? >> remember that you know, oil for security relationship is a very ancient one. in some ways, you can say still exists. persian gulf countries benefit from u.s. military presence and defense, you know, agreements

and equipment, not to mention. that has helped them for a long time somehow to a certain degree from at left a massive attacks from various neighbors. so that is still in existence. we know a number of the countries felt, they want more. they want better protection and there's been different things that have happened in the meantime. it has "washington post," it has made the relationship with the u.s. more difficult. on the other hand, there is this new thing with russia which is new and fish. they are getting more money and they don't want to jeopardize it and kill the relationship. a delegate told me the embrace with russia makes them stronger. >> the "wall street journal"

giving us both sides of this issue. thank you very much. coming up next, an historian explains why she thinks today's new cold war will be much worse than the first one. re fed up wih big bills and 5g maps that are mostly gaps— they're switching to t-mobile for business and getting more 5g bars in more places. save over $1,000 when you switch to our ultimate business plan... ...for the lowest price ever. plus, choose from the latest 5g smartphones— like a free samsung galaxy s22. so switch to the network that helps your business do more for less—join the big switch to t-mobile for business today. it's still the eat fresh refresh™, and subway's refreshing everything like the new baja turkey avocado with smashed avocado, oven-roasted turkey, and baja chipotle sauce. it's three great things together. wait! who else is known for nailing threes? hmm. can't think of anyone! subway keeps refreshing and re-

iron curtain could be dropping my next guest is a cold war historian who fears that russia's invasion portends a new era of immense hostility with moscow and this new cold war will be far worse than the rest. that's a quote from the professor of historical studies and author of not one inch, america, russia, and the making of post-cold war stalemate i have to ask you about this what is it about this russian violence that leadsut you to believe that it will be worse than what we have seen before? >> we have lost many of the characteristics of the cold war

version one that helped to keep us safe. so partly those who, to cite three examples, a whole host of arms control agreements all of which are now gone except for the new starchgo treaty, that w not a cold war treaty but a follow-on due to expire in 2026 withe little chance of renuvl. that's the only treatal currently contraining the united states and russia, which are the countries that more than 30 years after the end of the cold war, still control 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. they're operating in isolation from each other which is a danger for everyone, and we lost kind of the patterns of interaction. the cold war lastns time went o long enough that we knew what to expect from oneha another, but putin is being brazen and unpredictable, and lastly, we lost the culture awareness of the cold war. i grew up in the cold war and i had aol sense, a healthy regardf what it would mean if we had a thermo nuclear conflict.

we don't have that anymore. that meant we didn't have time to re-create these things yet and that makes it a risky situation we're in now. >> all three points are good, but specifically to the second point, you began the recent esa outlining the cold war code of contact back in the day, how the u.s. andth russia, for instance the fighter pilots, they established between them a relationship. there was a isemlevel, i guess wants to sayl, a level of respe. pilots would conduct themselves a certain way in the skies and you could guarantee a larger helicopter would fall in a few 20 minutes later or so, but that doesn't necessarily exist today, and therefore, the creation of the accidental conflict line. so is there enough trust on both sides to insure a deconfliction line can even work? what you have seen in the past 11 days, does that bring about concerns to you about even the basic rules of engagement?

>> certainly, yes. what we were describing is an event i d described in my recen "new york times" op-ed during the cold war, a navy helicopter pilots launching off frigates keeping an eye on the soviet fleet, developed an unspoken routine with their soviet counterparts. the s helicopter pilots would launch, first some migs would fly out and do a visual identification and then helicopter gunti ships would co out and w shadow them, but in a unspoken but respectful manner. they kept the course steady and everybody got home safe at the end of the day. that kind of predictability is lacking now. if putin is reckless enough to pulverize ukrainians and risk a rebellion at home through his brutality, he might be reckless enough to provoke nato. we need to be aware of the risks that are involved. >> i'mat sure that is definitel being assessed at the highest levels of government now. let's talkrn about secretary

blinken. he's touring former soviet states coping with the refugee crisis.th they're seeking security assurances, we should say, from the u.s. he visited moldova just this morning. that is a militarily neutral country. that just three days ago formally applied to join the european union. so how do you view the bolstering of the alliances between the west and russia's neighbors at this very moment, and how might vladimir putin view this? >> yes, so the challenge for the west now is to counter moscow without escalating to nuclear war. now, that is a huge challenge, but the good news is we have decades of experience in doing that, and that's called the cold war. we also have more allies now than we did during the cold war, which is also another positive development. and i think blinken and his visit show the level of cooperation that is going on now. there is ain real sense of missn

and purpose that is a huge benefit. so the challenge is how do we thread that needle of helping the ukrainians, because this violence is horrific and it needs to stop. how do we thread that needle of helping them while avoiding escalation? there looking to historyin is a very good move and certainly also working very closely with our allies is blinken is doing is a good move because we need to do everything we can to help the ukrainians. >> big picture here, cnn and bbc have halted broadcasting russia after the duma passed the law making publishing so-called fake news punishable by up to 15 years. airbnb, mastercard, visa, tiktok also , suspending services in t country. is this a new iron curtain that's dropping? and how might the younger russians who did not live through this first cold war, the first iron curtain, how might they tarespond? >> yes, absolutely. i think we are seeing now what

we're going to call the new cold war. we'll have to reference to the old one as the old cold war. it will be different, for example, putin is not a communist. he's not trying to literally reassemble every piece ofly the puzzle of the former soviet union, but what we are seeing and it's breathtaking and frightening how quickly it has happened is a development of a new line between a washington centric bloc composed of voluntary allies and a moscow centric bloc composed of po involuntary allies who are forced to take part. russian people are going to have to decide what they want to do about that. i think in a way the sanctions being applied are in some ways turning russia into a very large north korea, so the question is, do the russian people or more particularly the wealthy and powerful strongmen around putin, do they want to live in north korea for the rest t of their le or not? they're going to have to think if they want that or want to

find the resolve to change their future. >> you have given us a lot to think about. thank you so much. before we leave you, another bit of breaking news. it involves the nuclear power plant attack the other day. we have received at least a little better read-out from french president emmanuel macron's call with vladimir putin. we learned macron received assurances from putin he would work withti europe to instill t safety and security of nuclear power plants in ukraine. that's going to do it for me. i'll see you again next saturday at noon eastern. yasmin vossoughian picks up our coverage. icks up our coverage

good morning, everyone. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we have a lot to cover in the three hours ahead. thanks for joining me. so the united states and its allies are on the offensive right now. working to help ukraine deal wi