i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters here in new york city. we start with hundreds of thousands of civilians from ukraine in the crosshairs trying to escape the war zone. they are fleeing into the capital of kyiv as the russian military pushes to within a few miles of that city. it follows two separate attempts over the weekend to establish so-called humanitarian corridors. twice russia and ukraine agreed to cease-fires in order to give people a chance to get out. both times russia broke the cease-fires with violent

indiscriminate shelling. watch the video out of irpin outside of kyiv. civilians in the background headed for a bridge out of town. >> at least four people, including a woman and her two children, were killed in that attack. russia agreed to open evacuation roots for a third time but those roots would take those civilians into russia or belarus. ukrainians and russians are scheduled to begin a third round of talks but with hope of changing anything on the ground. that's because ukrainian president zelenskyy now says today he expects russian forces to unleash a new even more brutal wave of attacks on the ukrainian people, targeting

defense sites in major population centers. it's a devastating prediction for those still caught in the war zone and for refugee who is wonder if they'll ever have a home to go back to. >> they're shooting at schools, on hospitals. they're shooting everywhere all the time for the last three days. >> putin's a war criminal, the antichrist. you've been waiting for him. now you've got him. >> we've been not sleeping for two days. we're living this terrible life because someone decided ta my children should not have home anymore. >> in russia inside of putin's attempts to keep his citizens from hearing stories like that with a crackdown on everything from tv to social media, there is new evidence this morning that the anti-war movement may be gaining steam. look at this. what appears to be a group of russian police beating and kicking a protester. according to one human rights group, more than 4,500 protesters were arrested sunday

after demonstrations were held in 50 different stays in russia. and with international outrage only growing, president zelenskyy spoke just hours ago, once again demanding the west provide his country with fighter jets to defend itself. and, in fact, there is word the white house is actively considering the plan to do so. in addition, secretary blinken says the white house is in, quote, active discussions with european partners about blocking russian oil sales as well. in fact, in about an hour, president biden will be in the situation room on a secure video teleconference with the leaders of france, germany, and the uk. but u.s. gas prices could expect to go even higher. a dicey proposition when the price hit $4.07 a gallon, a few cents shy of the all-time record. the cost of a gallon is way up in just the past week. i want to bring in amman awas

and. barry mccaffrey and mary elise serrat, a professor at johnson & johnson hopkins and author of the book "not one inch: america, russia, and the making of the post-korld war stalemate." i want to start with richard engel in the capital of kyiv. what's happening on the ground right now? >> reporter: the russians have now arrived at the gates of kyiv. this foot bridge is one of the only ways people are able to escape, a much more intense battle on the side that the russians have taken over and get to rel tism safety. the russians have taken over this suburb, which is on the northern edge of kyiv. they are bombarding it heavily. the ukrainians blew up this bridge in order to slow down the russian advance, but it has also made it extremely difficult for people to evacuate these areas that are hotly contested as

russian forces try and consolidate their positions and the ukrainians try to keep them on that side of the river. all day we have seen a stream of panicked people, some being carried, some in wheelchairs. they are each carrying one bag at a maximum. some families have been separated here, broken down into tears. but this is now a small evacuation, a reverse evacuation, where people are leaving the suburbs, heading into the center of kyiv, hoping they can find relatively safety in numbers in the built-up part of the city. >> richard, thank you for that. general, we're running out of adjectives here -- heart breaking, sickening, deadly, obviously. the next step is targeting defense industries in heavily populated areas. we've seen attacks on civilian targets. what are you expecting to see next? >> well, it's painful to see.

40 million people, a gigantic country being subject to basically barbaric terror, artillery fire, bombing, rocket fire. the ukrainians are source e forced to fight and they are doing very effectively an asymmetric battle. it's too late to give them a tank force, to give them a conventional ground attack air force. u.s.-european command is organized very effectively the shipment of thousands of smart munitions that can be man carried, both javp lin and stinger in particularly. the ukrainian military l is trying to hold this off but it's discouraging. putin has led his country into a disaster, economic, diplomatic, militarily. i see no way for him to back out. now we need to think about supporting the refugees and

supporting the internally displaced people is our primary focus. >> i just want to make sure i understand what you're saying, general, because i was listening in when secretary blinken and the president of moldova held a press conference the other morning and blinken gave an indication that active conversations are under way. poland would provide fighter jets, the u.s. would consider backfilling. is your suggestion that won't help? >> well, again, i don't see -- you know, a -- >> because you know that's what president zelenskyy is desperate for. he's desperate for that help. >> yeah. he's desperate for people to stop bombing civilians, targeting civilians. much of this with artillery, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, some air-delivered munitions, but putin's strategy now clearly is encircle and starve the city, bombard them from the outside. that's going to produce instability and terror.

that is what is going on on the ground. i don't see a useful way, unless nato intervenes with military force. it looks to me like a tactical movement by the russians to take down kyiv, kharkiv, odesa in the south and other cities. thoo i don't know how many crying mothers i saw over the weekend just saying all i want is to get my kids to safety. and the ukrainian government says russia is just using talk of these humanitarian corridors as propaganda. clearly, one after the other after the other they've shown that they don't have any intention of doing that. what's your take on what you're seeing in terms of trying to get people out of that country? >> chris, we should remember the guiding principle for the west when it comes to putin and russia is watch what they do and not what they say. so far what we've seen has been strikes on civilian targets and indiscriminate bombing that has

killed, according to the u.n., the latest numbers this morning, some 1,200 civilians across ukraine. that's why you're seeing people fleeing in the way they are. i will say, look, so far, general mccaffrey is right, it has been brutal to watch. it has been horrific to watch. i'll also say we have seen this before. a lot of people who followed, who covered, were witness to what the russian aerial bombardment did in syria after they entered the war there in 2015 and specifically in aleppo, which was a brutal campaign, a month-long bombing campaign, that killed countless civilians, a flood of ref jais, over 6 million civilians are refugees after that bombing and war. many are saying putin is using the serial playbook in ukraine, and that is a terrifying reality. the folks i talked to on the ground in kyiv, they seemed to be bracing for a tough battle

ahead, ground warfare, in fact. they've been sending me pictures of some of the vehicle barriers being trucked in. i spoke to a member of a territorial defense force, a volunteer force of civilians who have been training and working alongside the ukrainian army. they are prepaing for the worst battle ahead. some have been reluctant to evacuate their families and they are doing so. they think this is a very long haul. one told me in particular, this is russia in a corner. a senior defense official said they believe some 95% of russian power and combat power that they amassed on the border has already been committed inside. ukrainians who are fighting on the ground say they think these are -- this is russia in a corner, that they don't have much left, the aerial campaign is what they are now banking on. and one man in particular said, look, ukrainians have been resilient, they have been determined to defend, and now he's saying they're adding on

top of that. >> if vladimir putin, if russians are in a corner, ukrainians are continuing to die. the hague is looking at attacks on civilians as potential war crimes. tony blinken says there's evidence these attacks are deliberate. but in reality, what does that do to say, well, we have a war criminal here, what can be done in real time? >> right. that's the huge question right now is what can we do to help the ukrainians because we in the west need to help them. this needs to stop. the question is how do we do that in a way that does not escalate the conflict since obviously we are dealing in russia with another nuclear power. the good news, if there is any, is that we have experience in doing that. it was called the cold war. we in the west fought a cold war with russia and avoided escalation, and we found ways

to -- at times we found proxy wars where other countries suffered and the west did not. at times we found ways as in berlin in 1989 to help people achieve their goals of freedom. so the question is what can we learn from history? how can we help ukraine without pushing this to a global conflict? >> let me ask you finally, general, about this report in the "wall street journal" over the weekend. there was a sense that the ukrainians did have an advantage in the cities that they were familiar with the cities, that urban warfare would be a strength, so the "wall street journal" is reporting that hiring syrians who are familiar with urban combat to come and fight with them, i wonder what you make of that and what it tells you about where the russian generals feel they are right now. >> it's great comment. i can't imagine that russians

have a manpower problem. they've probably suffered 10,000, 15,000 casualties so far. putin now is bringing in foreigners, chechnyans, syrians and others. look, the battle of kyiv will be the end of it. if the ukrainians elect to fight block by block, the advantages overwhelmingly for the defender. the armor will have the least impact on the fight in the cities. but conversely, that means this giant beautiful city of millions of people, 3 million people, will be a battleground with civilians stuck in the middle of it running out of food and medical supplies and the electric grid turned off and the heat turned off. it will be a humanitarian disaster of the first order. zelenskyy's got some tough decisions coming up. time and russian casualties and the pressure on putin are his

three major allies, not mig 29s. we'll see how this transpires. i think the situation is grim at best. >> general barry mccaffrey, amman and mary, thank you. coming up, 142,000 ukrainians fled to poland yesterday alone. we'll take you to one of the casualties of families that fled for their lives have no idea what's coming next. and sometimes it's the youngest victims, children, who give hope for the future with a glimpse of normalcy. one little girl playing with a soccer ball and smiling for our ellison barber yesterday. and another, like so many little girls around the world, who knows the words to the famous song from "frozen" by heart. ♪♪

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more than 1 million people have fled to poland since the invasion began. 142,000-plus crossing the border on sunday according to the polish border guard. ellison barber is live in poland at a refugee reception center along the border with ukraine.

you were there all weekend. saturday you were at a different point. on sunday you had a chance to be where antony blinken was over the weekend. give us a sense of how you've watched this development, how -- what you're observing on the ground right now? >> reporter: yeah, so this is by far the most organized refugee welcome center, reception center we have been to, this one organized by the polish government. when people arrive here from the border crossing via bus, they will see signs over there, you see in a lot of different languages, english saying poland will help you. inside, they have free food, they have wi-fi, they have medical care for people who need it, and then a very important thing, they have buses, transportation to other places, other cities. you'll hear through the speakers someone calling out different names of cities. those names they're calling out, it's for where these buss are going. the two that just left are headed to a nearby train station, but throughout the

weekend we've heard as buses, they've called out names like berlin, prague, and then also other cities in poland. there are a lot of volunteers here, a lot of food here as well as official workers, police, fire, the polish army, some of them here, all of them helping people try to get to wherever they need to go next. we met today a woman who was three months pregnant and she talked to me about how she wanted to stay in her home in eastern ukraine, but as the bombs, the air strikes continued, she knew she had to get somewhere safe. she was figuring out where she would go next. she had a family to stay with here. her biggest task was finding a doctor because she was supposed to have an ultra sound on march 2nd and she missed it. we met a woman who fled car kwooef two young children. listen to what she told us. >> translator: we just put everything we have in our bag, but the rest of the clothes were

left in ukraine. our city is destroyed. we don't have it anymore. some residential areas are still standing, but there aren't many of them. my children are sitting down on the ground. just look at it. we came from other country. >> is this your first time here? >> reporter: yes, this is my first time. >> reporter: do you have any family, friends, places to stay? >> reporter: no, no. we -- some strangers are helping us, some volunteers are helping us. we are hosted by strangers and they do help. we really had chances to sleep outside, but some kind people gave us shelter, so we are thankful to poland. >> reporter: most of the people we are seeing is women and

children because men between the ages of 18 and 60 have to stay in ukraine to fightfight. inside this building there are 2,000 cots. again today, you see multiple people sitting on cots. at times you see one person taking a break nap, and the other person with them is sort of watching out as they take a moment to rest. when we first started reporting on the refugee crisis here a little over a week ago, we were meeting a lot of people coming to poland because they have friends and family they were going to stay with. now, chris, we are meeting a lot of people who have never been to poland, they do not know anyone here. they are just trying to survive, and this for a lot of them is one of their very first stops. >> ellison barber, thank you for

your reporting. our thoughts continue to be with them. that mom, it's unbelievable but heart warming to see how much help is there along the way. up next, the price of crude oil is surging to a 13-year high. you know what that means. rising gas prices. chances are you've already felt it. we'll tell you how high they might go. and major credit card companies are the latest businesses to cut ties with russia.

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skal. what, over 7 bucks a gallon over the weekend? $6.99 for regular? >> reporter: exactly. it's hard to believe. you know, you come down to some of these gas stations inside the city and it's like, wow, how can people afford to do this? the answer is most people can't because what we're seeing in terms of price growth is very much outpacing wage growth here. so there's a lot of pain at the pump. the national average is $4.07 a gallon. the all-time record national average high is $4.11. you do a little math here, we could see that price as soon as tomorrow because yesterday it was $4.01 for a gallon of regular and there's the average nationwide. the numbers are going through the roof. it is very much driven by the volatility in the oil markets right now. we do know that many drivers understand there is the russia invasion of ukraine. and they see that as, you know, something to contend with. but they also tell us, look, it

doesn't make it any more affordable here to pay for that gas. so what we're hearing about is a lot of driving rationing, making trips and making them much, much more efficient, especially from fixed-income individuals who rely on that social security check every month. to be able to be more efficient to save those pennies and simply not go as many places as usual. so certainly a lot of pain at the pump. when you look at it, it's inflation driven and only expected to get worse in the coming weeks, chris. >> joe ling kent, thank you. more american companies are suspending their services in russia adding to the economic pressure on vladimir putin and the kremlin. the list just keeps growing. businesses from exxon and ikea to netflix. major credit card companies are ceasing operations in the country as well. david, look, businesses make decisions in most circumstances

based on their bottom line. is that what's going on here? is this good for businesses to pull out of russia? tell us what's happening. okay. so, we just lost david. obviously you could see his shot froze. we'll try to get back to him. in the meantime, a lot more ahead, nato vowing to protect its members from any further russian invasions. we're live in latvia near russia's border as nato troops prepare for the worst. [copy machine printing] ♪ ♪ who would've thought printing... could lead to growing trees. ♪

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learn how abbvie could help you save. welcome to the eat fresh refresh at subway wait, that's new wait, you're new too nobody told you? subway's refreshing with better ingredients, better footlongs, and better spokespeople. because you gotta you gotta refresh to be fresh now an exclusive, a revealing look inside to nato's deployment to flight in latvia after baltic nations feared they could be putin's next target. secretary of state antony blinken speaking moments ago during his stop in latvia. >> my message on behalf of the

united states, the people of latvia, to all of the baltics is that the united states is more committed than ever to standing with you as our democrats rise to the challenge of this moment. >> let's go right to josh lederman in latvia with exclusive access inside the active military exercises that are going on there. josh, what can you tell us? >> reporter: when you hear president biden talk about defending every inch of nato territory, we're here where 7,000 u.s. troops have been added to europe as the u.s. tries to shore up its nato allies, make sure it is prepared for any possibility that putin's aggression could expand beyond ukraine to actual nato allies. you can see some of these troops from the 173rd airborne brigade.

they are paratroopers and have been here about 10, 11 days. they were quickly deployed after the start of this war and they are training here on the ground along with their latvian colleagues. they are learning about and practicing how to do maneuvers that involve urban warfare, how to quickly deploy into risky situations, light infantry, meaning they're often just on their feet. we heard from some of the troops who are training here about how important it is for them, especially after nato came to america's aid after 9/11 for them to be doing their part for nato as well. i have a specialist from alabama. here's what he told us about what this means to him. >> i've been able to work with spain, latvia, on the way up we were in lithuania and helped

poles as welp. >> reporter: people from all over the world. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: one mission. >> one mission. coming together to train for attack number 22 in order to strengthen the alliance and to show that we are always ready. >> reporter: some of the skills people are practicing as part of this exercise, operation crystal arrow, chris, involve air strikes from the ground, find out where your assets in the air are, how to prepare for unexpected environments as well as what to do if you lose contact with other units, how to carry on your mission independently. these are skills that these troops hope they will not have to use in protection of nato. but they say if called to do so, they will be ready. chris? >> josh lederman in latd v latv thank you. in ukraine on sunday, a seen

or defense official said they estimate 95% of the russian forces gathered around the ukrainian border are now inside the country. despite that, the u.s. says russians failed to make significant progress. we've all seen that massive convoy of russian forces intended for kyiv. that remains stalled outside the city. msnbc national security analyst clint watts is standing by at the map for latest on the troop movements headed into this week. where do things stand after the weekend? and can either side hope for a break in what appears to be just an ongoing deadly series of confrontations? >> chris, it seems like it will be a much longer war than vladimir putin thought. week one we talked about russian setbacks in the north. week two, we saw progress points for the russian military in the south. they went and essentially built a land bridge across the sea of azov. we talked about that on friday. it connects with forces around donbas. here we saw them advance out to

kherson and further at the end of last week. they cross two water obstacles, two rivers, and if they are able they can advance to this point here, which is in moldova. important to kind of note you'll hear more about this, there is a separatist territory here. it's ethnic russians. putin oftentimes talks about unifying all russians under his banner. and this area here essentially stretching all the way across and down to december is a, which is really the economic heart of ukraine, is often called new russia. it's historical reference to the late 1700s. this could be a different objective for putin moving forward. and it would seal ukraine off from the sea, essentially making it impossible for them to get logistics in by water, and with the major boon for the russians. in addition, important to note is we have a major problem on the horizon here. in southern ukraine, one of the

largest cheat exporting regions of the war, they won't be growing crops this spring, so lapter in the year we talk about inflation and other economic problems, this will be something to watch. in the bigger picture, what we're seeing is still russia bogged down but they're making some advances. they're starting to advance toward kyiv. up here, still advancing but taking significant losses and that convoy is still backed up on the way to kyiv. anti-aircraft missiles flying into ukraine. the russians don't have sufficient infantry to protect their armored forces. i think in the coming days there will be lots of losses particularly around kharkiv in terms of airpower for russians. you're seeing ukrainians put up a fight much stiffer than we thought they were going to. just to close out, we're talking about the land invasion, everything happening on the ground. other significant points that happened over the weekend, one, cyberattacks have started to

pick up. you're seeing major disruptions inside russia and inside western europe, but beyond that, social media companies and infrastructure, internet providers into russia have taken russia offline. this creates an interesting thing where russians don't hear the story, they don't hear the truth. but, two, if russia mass less access to the west, it increases their ability to do cyberattacks without harming themselves. >> clint, overnight we saw secretary blinken with the president of estonia -- over the weekend. look, threats against the baltic nations are nothing new. i was with president obama in 2014 and he was talking to baltic nations to calm their fears about a possible russian incursion. as you watch what's unfolded in the last week and a half, do you

think those concerns are even more escalating now? what we saw with josh lederman and the preparations that nato forces are making have the chances that they're going to need to be used increased? or is what you're seeing on the ground in ukraine lessen the chances of that happening? >> the issue for putin is he's so overextended himself in ukraine, taken such heavy losses. he doesn't have more troops to put into any fight. in the baltics, for example, defending the nato line. you saw the 173rd airborne forces there that got dropped in. so that is defense. but remember, for putin it is about bringing all russians back under the russian banner. he has so much combat tied up here, about 95%. i can't imagine he would go that direction. however, in some discussions there is a belief that he may have made a deal with belarus to essentially extend out towards the baltics and sever them from

the rest of europe. now, that's a thought or a plan i don't think putin has the ability to do it, but if he could take ukraine, he could extend further. one thing that is hampering everything he's doing is gross miscalculation. in each of these places he has not sieged secure areas. there will be insurgents there if he were to take ukraine. he will have a ukrainian insurgency that he will not be able to secure. he's overextended himself. i think he's tied down here and nato is doing everything it can to reinforce nato. we'll defend right up to the line what nato can do. >> almost sounds like you're saying, we have just 30 seconds here, that all of those nations that could be under threat including the baltics, owe a debt of gratitude to the folks on the ground in ukraine, the way they are holding their ground, the way they have decided to stand and fight continues to have those broad implications. >> it is shocking to me.

i've never seen an amored division or russian aif yaegs which is supposed to be superior and dominate the skies, this is contested air space here. that's why we're talk about poland, i think drones are much more important for the ukrainians, much easier to train. they can come in from places like turkey. this is contested. i don't think putin in his wildest dreams thought he'd be in this fight he is with the ukrainian military. >> clint watts, thank you so much. still ahead, we are 12 days into russia's invasion of ukraine. you've probably seen a lot of pictures, a lot of video from overseas on your phone. we're going to peel back the curtain on how we verify everything you see and separate fact from fiction. m fiction. when you're driving a lincoln, stress seems to evaporate into thin air. which leaves us to wonder, where does it go? does it shoot off like a rocket? or float off into the clouds? daddy! or maybe it takes on a life all its own.

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things on social media out of ukraine but not on our air because our gathering team is positioned around the globe is focused on verifying and debunking the headlines and the video clips we' all been seeing circulating on line. it's our job as journalists not to regurgitate but dive into the facts and report them out. let me show you an example. check out this tube video saturday morning. it says incredible footage from kherson in the south showing local civilians very literally putting their bodies in the path of occupying russian forces. let me play this out for a second. bianca britain from our team in london saw this video being shared yesterday and she set out to verify its accuracy. she knew almost instantly that the post contained a little bit of misinformation albeit she says she believes it was unintentional. she old seen a similar video

coming out of mariupol in the south of ukraine in the last couple days including this one, which her colleague sara coffman on the gathering team here in l.a. worked to verify. check this out. it's compelling video. ukrainian civilians are fighting back against the military. they're literally pushing on the vehicles. they're calling in occupiers. they're saying, go home. saying, f-you. they're protesting in the streets. let's look at them side by side right here. bianca was able to see the same vehicles, the same license plates, and the same road layout. basically, a different angle of the same event as the one that her colleague sarah had seen. but you might be asking, i was asking, how was sarah able to verify the accuracy of the original video? most importantly, she speaks russian and reads ukrainian. and she was able to match some of the signs you're about to see right there with information that was available on google

maps, a tool that bianca was also using in her reporting. so all of this put together gave the social news gathering team enough corroborating evidence to verify that this incident took place on or around march 1st. and these are just some of the many pieces of content that are coming through every single day to our social news gathering team, working around the clock to sort through misinformation and verify the incredible amount of user-generated videos and photos on the ground in ukraine, particularly when our cameras are not always able to be there to capture the moment. back to you. >> jacob soboroff, thank you and thanks to our social media team, because the stuff that they're doing is unbelievable. we appreciate them very much. and still ahead, we just told you about the refugee crisis unfolding in ukraine. with more than a million people trying to figure out their next steps in poland alone, we'll take you back to ukraine where american families are trying to get kids out of an orphanage. f get kids out of an orphanage policy you no longer need? now

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this morning, new numbers show the u.s. has so far provided $54 million in food and other aid to help people inside ukraine. that's according to the u.s. agency for international developments. but everyday americans are also getting creative. joining others around the world, for example, to book airbnbs in some of ukraine's hardest hit areas. of course, they don't have any plans to go there. they're just trying to get money to the people there quickly. nearly $2 million raised already. airbnb waving all of its fees on ukrainian rentals to support this effort. jewish communities across the u.s. raising money to help the people of ukraine, including many here in new york city. and among the refugees stuck in limbo during this violence, orphaned children in ukraine and the americans who were hoping to adopt them. nbc's tom llamas spoke to american families who have been trying to get their children out

of one orphanage in lviv. tom? >> reporter: this morning, the mass exodus in ukraine reaching historic levels. now the fastest-growing refugee crisis since world war ii. >> i just left my home to nowhere. i have no plan. i just wanted to save my child. >> protecting children is fueling the migration, from the fighting in the east to safe havens in the west. >> these children you see here may be in the worst possible position, because they're orphans. they do not have family. they are in limbo right now. they are being taken care of. they're being fed. but like everyone else in ukraine at this moment, no one knows what's going to happen tomorrow. >> reporter: last friday, we introduced you to a group of ukrainian orphans, evacuated from the war zone. 8-year-old demetrius told us how he hopes to still be adopted. what do you want the world to know about ukraine? he told me, he wants the war to stop. anything you want to say to

anybody, friends back in that other region? demetrius' answer shook me, because it's the reality of this war. >> i want them to stay alive, not to die. >> reporter: our story hit close to home for several families back in the u.s., because they recognized children they were trying to adopt. >> i said, oh, my gosh, look, this is, this is viche, which is what we call him. >> he spent summers and winters in iowa, getting to know the lineick family who want to adopt him and his two siblings. >> he's so special and he wants to be with us so bad. and we have to say, you can't come today, we're waiting. >> reporter: they tell us that there are at least 300 american families in the same boat. >> it's kind of like you have that reach, but you can't get to them. >> reporter: the romeros also recognized a child they're trying to adopt. the couple is now in poland, on the border, helping refugees,

but also trying to move along the adoption of their child, who they say texts them every day, that he's afraid of the war. >> for the last two years, in my heart, he's been my son, and it doesn't matter what's on paper, but he's my son. and i just want to hug him. >> we thank tom llamas for that report. our thoughts are with all of those folks. thank you. don't go anywhere, because we are watching for a lot of things. supreme court decisions may come any minute now. we are standing by for some on key issues like guns and abortion. and any minute now, canadian prime minister justin trudeau will hold a press conference with british prime minister -- oh, there they are! they're already there. with british prime minister boris johnson, dutch prime minister, mark rueta in london. the three of them just held a meeting. we'll keep an ear on that. and it's a very busy monday morning on that front. half an hour from now, president

biden will be in the situationroom for a secure video conference with boris johnson and the leaders of france and germany as well. but for now, that's going to wrap up this hour. i'm chris jansing. jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. good morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. and we have things happening in ukraine as we speak. civilian casualties are mounting as russian forces ramp up intense shelling across major cities and close in on kyiv. we'll bring you the very latest from ukraine. meanwhile, in russia, moscow cracks down on dissidents at home, after thousands flooded the streets in protest of the invasion. all of this as 1.7 million ukrainians have now fled into neighboring countries, in what a u.n. official calls the fastest-growing refugee crisis since the world war. since the second world war. we're going to get a live report from the polish border. meanwhile, here in the u.s., with crude oil hitting a 13-year high, drivers are stretching