>> that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on twitter and instagram. thank you for the privilege of your time. yasmin vossoughian picks up with more news right now. good monday morning, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian in for craig melvin. the situation in eastern europe is changing by the second. russian forces on kyiv's doorstep and desperate civilians taking cover across the country's major cities. a person who fled the besieged city saying there are no places

that rockets haven't hit in mariupol. and secretary of state tony blinken is in the middle of his three-country sweep through the baltic states. here's part of what he said from latvia in just the last two hours. >> the incredibly brave and resilient ukrainian people will fight for as long as it takes for their country. >> this is happening as we get an exclusive look inside the u.s. deployment in latvia, including this look at an active military exercise. we'll take you to that exercise in moments as well. underscoring all of this, by the way, is the escalating humanitarian crisis across europe. the u.n. saying more than 1.7 million ukrainians are fleeing

their homes to neighboring countries. we'll go live to poland as the situation grows increasingly desperate. >> i just left my home to nowhere. i have no plan. i just want to save my child. >> our team is spread out across eastern europe. we're going to check in in a moment with erin mclaughlin. but we want to start with courtney kube and jay gray. we joined by andrea kendall jenner, former cia analyst and national deputy intelligence officer for russia and now senior fellow at the center for a new american security. thanks for joining us on this. we're talking about the humanitarian crisis happening across the country in ukraine and across europe as well. you're at a train station. hundreds of thousands of people seeking safety, refuge and

poland coming to where you are. talk me through what you're seeing on the ground there this morning. >> yup. and, i could tell you about it for days but showing you will really drive this home. you can see people that have gathered here outside of the train station. that's because inside it is simply too crowded. there's no more room. hundreds of thousands of people fleeing ukraine, this is their first stop. they come here and then they get on a train and go elsewhere. you can see the line. it been here all day. and now we're being told that we need to step back. this is the first time we've had that situation. but if we can come this way and around. i want to show you inside this place and give awful example of exactly what's going on, as more people right here are being unloaded and moved in. i can tell you right now that this station is overwhelmed. they don't know how they're going to handle the crowds.

the crowds have grown so much over the last several days, and they say it's going to be even more people coming in the next few days. so obviously it's so crowded inside they're pushing us back at this point, but i can tell you we've been here for eight days, i haven't seen the crowds like this at all. unfortunately, as we've all been talking about, these numbers are going to grow. >> jay gray, we appreciate you joining us on this. i'm going to let you get back to it. thank you for now and please stay safe, my friend. courtney, you had incredible reporting coming out last night talking about what we're hearing from a senior defense official when it comes to military action on the ground. the russian military advance, and the ukrainian military, how they're staving off the russians. the overall outlook of what the ukrainians are dealing with

right now. >> at least 95% of the russian forces amassed around ukraine during this massive buildup of forces over the past several months, at least 95% of them are inside ukraine. we hope to get another update. we suspect the number may be higher than the 95% we heard about late yesterday. the vast majority of the russian military forces and many of their capabilities are now inside ukraine. an overall operational picture of what we're seeing here, they're really focused on the capitol city kyiv, coming in from two sides around that city but they have really been meeting a lot of resistance. there's a convoy we hear a lot about the last several days that's coming in from the northwestern side of the city. it is basically stalled. the one coming in from the northeastern side is really hung up around a city called

cherniviv. and there's an eastern front around a city called kharkiv. there's been tremendous fighting since the beginning of the campaign. but also they're having a hard time taking control of that city, even having a difficult time encircling it. the south, though, is a very different operational picture. the russians have made pretty quick progress down there, moving in from the sea. and one of the major reasons, you can see on that map right there, they're trying to encircle the city of mariupol now. and they're moving west towards odessa. they're having an easier time because of the logistics capability that they have inherent in there right now. there are russian forces inside crimea and donbas. they have a much easier ability

to resupply the russian forces down there so they're moving further north and east. that's the front people need to be focused on. that's where the russian forces are having more success. >> if you can stand by, i want to bring erin mclaughlin in to the conversation. erin, let me go to you in lviv. talk me through what we're seeing on the ground inside ukraine right now. >> reporter: hey, jasmine. i've been talking to people trapped in cities or besieged by russian forces. the common theme is anxiety and despair. i was talking to a woman in the city of sumi, about 18 miles from the russian border. she arrived in the city to visit her mother and her grandmother just before the war broke out,

woke up one morning and the city was surrounded by russian forces, she doesn't know what to do and she doesn't know how to get out of the city. take a listen. >> the reality changed. it changed so fast that you cannot accept it. we were thinking a lot of times about going out from the city but it's too dangerous and it's getting more dangerous every day but i cannot force my mom to leave the house. i cannot force my granny, she wants to stay here. but have i no choice to leave them here but how can i leave them here? it's hard to make this kind of decision. so now we don't know what to do. we just hope for the best but getting ready for the worst. we're just living in our apartment and hope for the best.

sorry for crying but too complicated. anyway -- >> what else can you do? >> i don't know. the situation will even get worse of course we will have no choice but to try to leave the city, but it's still very dangerous. >> reporter: i was speaking to another woman who managed to escape the -- a besieged city. she said the city was being shelled day and night. she managed to hunker down in her tiny basement with five other people. it was so crammed that they had to sleep sitting up. they had no food, no water, no electricity and in the end no choice but to get in their car and make a run for it, not knowing if russian soldiers were going to fire on them as they

left. they managed to escape, joining the 1.25 million ukrainians evacuating, each one of those people with a story of grief and trauma. >> the heart breaking story every person and story having to deal with this. it makes it worse to be watching this unfold and not seeing any end in sight, any off ramp. erin, thank you for joining us this hour. we just heard from courtney, aaron and jay. i want to start first and pull on this thread that courtney talked about, which is the capturing of odessa. we're seeing this advantage on the port city of odessa. can you talk about the significance, of what that would

do to the country if russian forces were able to take control of odessa. >> there's a couple of things at play here. first and foremost is that we are seeing the russians target those areas where they expect the resistance and the opposition to be greatest. as courtney talked about, kyiv is the primary focus but it's also symbolic cities like odessa. so that's number one. number two, i think this is also an evolution in russia's strategy, which they are looking to subjugate the ukrainians and i think the kremlin understands they have to break the symbolic will. the goal for them is to try to lessen the resistance the ukrainians have been putting up to this conflict in order to advance their political objectives. it's getting increasingly hard

to see when russia can win this war. it is only hardening ukrainians' opposition. it's difficult to see how putin can win this conflict. >> i can't help but think about the major intelligence failure that has happened here. we talk over and over about the fact in a putin is the original spy, former kgb agent. he has ron this as a former spy, not as a military man. you can even see it kind of play out with this invasion on ukraine. but this has been a major intelligence failure for president putin. we saw reports that he could take over kyiv in 48 hours. that has obviously not happened. what does that say to you about the future of this thing at this moment, at this hour? >> i want to start with the miscalculation on the russian side. putin is a k.g.b. man. to me, the faulty planning and

assumptions and mistakes that russia is making stems in large part from the political system russia has put in place and that is a political system where power is totally concentrated in the hands of one man, vladimir putin. it is that personalization of power that has led to these faulty assumptions and mistakes on the kremlin side. it's highly likely that the kremlin was fed from their intelligence community over the optimistic assessment of russia's military capabilities, they underestimated the ukrainians' will. and i think the kremlin understood this war would be highly unpopular with russians so they wanted to win it quickly, keep it out of the eyes of the russian public. so what happened is russia is fighting a war that it didn't train for and they are now really struggling to adapt to the reality on the ground. so i would say this is very much an intelligence failure for the russian side in large part because putin surrounds himself

with these yes men who can't tell them anything that runs contrary to his world view and they are now paying the price for that with all of the mistakes in their planning. >> so much of what you say is laid out in this incredible piece. i want to read a quote from it. "the thing about repressive regimes like putin's russia is that they often look stable right up to the point that they are not. putin has taken a major risk in attacking ukraine and there is a chance, one that seems to be growing, that it could mark the beginning of his end." andrea, can you explain more? >> yeah. we're seeing more of a response than expected. i'm seeing the very significant cost that russians are having to

take in order to vocalize opposition to the war. we've seen protests in more than 60 cities across russia. the other thing that is extremely notable to me are these signs of elite disagreement with the conflict. that's new in russia. that's something we didn't see even during protests in 2011 and 2012 when putin came back to the presidency. we've had luke oil, a private company, come out with opposition to the war, russian oligarch abromwich sold the football club and said he would send the proceeds to the victims of the ukrainian war. this suggests that putin's hold on power is much less today than it was before this. the way it happens in the regimes is the opposition starts slowly, slowly, slowly until it goes very quickly, you often gets this cascade of opposition and i think it's fair to say the

longer this conflict goes on, the more opposition we're likely to see to putin inside russia. >> thank you for your analysis on this. as always, we thank you for your incredible reporting. >> and jay gray showed us thousands of ukrainians lining up at a train station in poland. the big question is where are they going once they alive? we're going to go live to a refugee camp there as europe deals with its fastest growing refugee crisis, by the way, since world war ii. plus, this war is creating unimaginable new heart break for families who have been trying to adopt orphans from ukraine. the obstacles, they are facing. and this war is driving the cost of gas higher and higher by the minute. >> if it's going to be 7 now, it's going to be 9 pretty soon.

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♪ ♪ it's all about those moments. that moment happening at a makeshift camp in poland where thousands of ukrainian refugees are now staying. this is now, by the way, the fastest growing refugee crisis since world war ii. allison, it's good to see you. you've experienced some of these moments on the ground, seeking safety but also showing a moment of light, showing one moment where a woman is singing for the people around her. what are you seeing at that camp when it comes to people's

spirits and also supplies that they have available? >> reporter: one thing that you see a lot of people going for as soon as they get here, warm food. you can imagine many people, they have spent days trying to get to safety in the bitter cold. we spoke to one woman earlier, and she talked about how they hadn't really slept for ten days because they were so scared when they were in ukraine listening to the bombs in their city and then traveling, she had to keep an eye on her children at every minute. so they really hadn't slept, hadn't eaten. so a moment like that, food from volunteers, it means a lot to people here. most people that we have met here, whether they are young or old, they are often traveling with pets. they have very little belongings with them, just whatever they could carry. they are trying to figure out where they go from here. inside this building we're told there are 2,000 cots. as we walked around it today and

also over the weekend, it seems like there are a lot more people than that here because when they're on the cots and this is the main door people come in and out of, you often see, two, three, four people sitting at times, it looks like family members are taking turns sleeping. then when they come outside, they can get on busses. this is one of the big things at this site is they have transportation for people headed to other cities in poland, headed to nearby train stations, sometimes headed to other countries like germany. cities like berlin or czech republic to prague. a lot of people get here, they look for food and look for help but they tell us they don't really know where they are going from here. we met woman earlier today who was from kharkiv and she talked about how she spent days hunkered down in her hallway and then had a ten to 15-minute

sprint to get to a train station to get to safety. >> russian news it's mud, ukrainian news, it's true. who believes russian news, i don't have words. not true site. and we listen everything. we see a house black color, really black color and so many people died. some people go for take water and they also die. everywhere blood. we see this picture and we know this is true. >> reporter: that woman is three months pregnant. she told me she was supposed to have a doctor's appointment and ultrasound on march 2nd. she has a family she is staying with but the next thing she's trying to do is find a doctor in poland or wherever she end up because she needs to check on her baby. >> everybody has their own

unique story and it's all so heart breaking. alison, thank you. this morning russian officials were a no-show for an international hearing at the hague. a decision on ukraine's request is expected within days. >> still ahead, everybody, one way the crisis in ukraine is having an impact here at home, gas prices are surging. >> it really hurts the people that have to drive 20 and 30 miles every day to and from work. >> the national average for a gallon of gas is now 46 cents more than it was this time last week. how could a proposed ban, by the way, on russian oil impact those prices? that's next. prices that's next. h™ and subway's refreshing everything

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. welcome back, everybody. right now a gallon of regular will set you back about 36 cents

than a month ago. say you have a 12 gallon tank. that's a jump of over $7 every time you phil up. $6.95 a gallon. russia's war on ukraine is driving prices to levels we have not seen in around 14 years. jolene kent is joining us from los angeles where it looks like the sign says gas is even more expensive there now, around $6 $6.99. this is all happening as the u.s. is considering sanctioning russian oil imports. >> reporter: yes, there is so much pressure on consumers right now. the drivers we talk to say, yes, we understand there is a war going on in ukraine, russia invading and some sharing their solidarity with the people of ukraine, but it doesn't make paying for gas right here, $6.99 a gallon for regular any easier

on the regular. 60% of americans live paycheck to paycheck. so these budgets are being slashed even more. i talked to a driver who said he's going to take a look at his food budget and across the country in atlanta, i met carolyn hartfield. she's on a fixed income and it's getting even more difficult. >> the last time i put gas in my car, when it got to $40, i quit and it still wasn't full. i do not do unnecessary trips. >> reporter: how much are you looking forward to the day the gas costs less? >> oh, my gosh, i'm really looking forward to that. >> reporter: carolyn is basically cutting all trips out of her agenda. she no longer drives down to florida. she does only trips where she does multiple stops for her errands in one big loop so she

isn't wasting a shred of gasoline. if you look at the bigger picture here, the reason it's so alarming that gas prices are expected to continue to go up, if you look at inflation, we're sitting at about 7.5% but hourly wages only 5.1% in the upward direction over the last year. so inflation outpacing wage growth plus demand going up and, by the way, that summer blend of gas is coming to a gas station near you and we're not even into the peak demand driving season just yet. so expect a lot more to come. >> jolene kent, as always, thank you. great to see you. we got these surging gas prices as jolene just pointed out. speaker of the house nancy pelosi announcing sunday the house is working on a bill to ban russian oil and energy products. and here's what secretary of state tony blinken told my colleague chuck todd on "meet the press" yesterday.

>> we are now in very active discussions with our european partners about banning the import of russian oil to our countries while of course at the same time maintaining a steady global supply of oil. >> so with me now is the former director of the state department's counterterrorism office and now professor of nonproliferation of the middlebury institute of studies. >> thanks for having me. >> we're seeing these high gas prices. this is something the president predicted would likely happen. and these numbers could go up. we're above $6 in california, that number could go even higher, right? and there's an assessment being made at the state department how is this going to affect moscow, how is this going to affect russia and the domestic audience there. but then there's the question of

is this the right thing to do? is this what we should be doing considering the atrocities on the ground inside ukraine? >> we've inflicted so much pain on the russian federation, going after senior leaders and the oligarchs with weather and cutting off some of those banks from s.w.i.f.t., and the rainy day fund because putin knew these sanctions were coming. we've been reluctant about going over the oil and gas component of the federation. 40% of government funning that the russian federation gets comes from energy. we're continuing to buy this energy, oil and gas. in essence, we're fueling russia's war in ukraine. as i see the toll on civilians,

we have to consider this. this is one of the most significant things we still can do vis-a-vis sanctions but it's going to take the multi-lateral community to buy into it. it's going to be cold in europe. you start cutting off the russian federation as movement of oil and gas into europe, the pain is going to be inflicted on the europeans and we're going to have pain, too. the prices are sky rocketing. i live in california. i paid nearly $5 a gallon just a few days ago and now i'm shocked at how expensive it is now in places like los angeles but i think it's a small place for us to pay to inflict the pain we need to on the russian federation so the war machine can stop. >> there are ways we can bridge that gap, conversations we know that will likely happen between the united states and saudi arabia to fill the holes that russia will leave behind if of course we cut off those gas and oil imports. not enough to lower those gas prices and provide all the gas and oil needed especially across the continent of europe but

nonetheless, it can help. >> absolutely. the saudis have to step up. they need to increase production and we have to look at our own oil reserves. the administration has signalled that is on the table as well. there are things we can do in the short run to help stem the pain we're going to inflict on ourselves by deploying these sanctions. i think it's inevitable the sanctions will move forward. the secretary of state and a number of senior leaders are throughout eastern europe trying to essentially tell our allies that we're there for them but also to get their buy-in for these sanctions as well. >> jason, stand by for us for a moment. secretary of state tony blinken speaking in latvia now. let take a listen for a moment. >> it's imperative this war come to an end and russia has to end it because it started it with no

provocation, unwarranted but also premeditated. we appreciate any efforts from our partners to see if there's any opening to end the war, consistent with the principles that we've all established starting with the ukrainian government and the ukrainian people, who must have their sovereignty, their independence and territorial integrity. so i look forward to hearing your ideas, hearing about some of the engagements that israel has had but we appreciate all efforts by friends and allies to look for a diplomatic resolution. that's always been preferably from the start. unfortunately, russia chose not to pursue the path of diplomacy, it chose aggression and now we have to all contend with that. i also look forward to speaking about some of the other issues and challenges we're facing together and we're united and committed to the proposition that iran must never obtain a

nuclear weapon and i look forward to bringing you up to date on the latest on where we are on the talks with the europeans, the iranians, russia and china on the jcpoa. so great to see you. >> secretary of state tony blinken there meeting with the israelis in latvia speaking about the war in ukraine and the russian invasion in ukraine. speaking specifically of diplomatic resolutions, what are the next steps here? the war needs to stop and we need diplomatic resolutions. i want to bring jason back to the conversation here. let's drill down a little bit on that. first and foremost, what more the west can do when it comes to getting moscow to stop their invasion and what diplomatic resolutions look like. and i want to talk first about something you wrote in the l.a. times and the headline reading this, the ultimate sanction, listing russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. you argue this, officially

deeming russia as a terrorist state would relegate russia to pariah status. why is this so important in this fight in. >> putin has been able to over the last few decades is continually launder his reputation. things don't stick to him. labelling the federation and putin as the archterrorist within the fed situation, that's something you can't come back from and there's a lot of significant consequences that does broaden in terms of what you can do vis-a-vis sanctions and pushes at the international monetary fund and the world bank and limits the number of dual exports that we would be sending to plays likes russian federation as well and it does tarnish putin's reputation.

he wants to seen as a strong leader and the next super power. putting him in this really small table with iran, north korea, cuba and syria, you can't come back from that. and i think in that sense the fact that it affects his reputation and broadens the sanctions is something we need to think about. >> jason, if you will, please come back. we have to continue this conversation. for now, thank you for sticking with us. >> thank you. >> on the front lines of nato's eastern flank, training drills are taking place in latvia. we are on the ground there next. .

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wel welcome back, everybody.

ukrainian families in the u.s. are working around the clock. they are packing hundreds of goods every single week. i think a lot of people are watching the coverage overseas, watching this war and wondering how they can help, especially ukrainians who have loved ones there. talk me through how this operation is working. >> exactly. you're seeing the images overseas and people are feeling they want to help. we're seeing at this shipping office where someone just came in and said we have diapers, we have medical supplies, what can we do? that's what they're doing in this shipping company. you have everything from protective elbow pads to gauze, band-aids. these items have just come in. we saw a big shipment come in in the past couple of minutes. then you have the volunteers spending hours sorting through the material and getting them on a ship or on a freight and then sending that overseas.

when you talk to them about why they're doing this, they're seeing those images overseas and they're saying this is their way to be part of that fight. listen to my conversation with one volunteer who was owning a cable company, stopped what he was doing and has been working more than 12 hours a day to help the aid effort. >> everybody has to do their part. so somebody a has to find and hold the gun at the front line and somebody has to bring the medicine to help people who are injured. >> reporter: you're part of that fight. >> absolutely. >> reporter: and what does that fight look like? this company alone and this is just one of the satellite offices they have here, they have shipped more than 80 tons of goods over to ukraine. and the process is not easy, as you can expect. they have a truck that then goes to new jersey. from jersey it goes to warsaw and then donated to folks in ukraine. many of these volunteers have family in ukraine, they have friends there. they're getting this list of goods directly from people on

the ground. this is important to them. they've taken this personally and this is how they contribute to that fight. >> shaq, are they taking donations there if people want to help? >> say that one more time. >> they're taking donation there is if people want to help? >> reporter: yes, they're taking donations. and the reason why i'm pointing at the door right now, this is someone who came in. she said she's a nurse and has medical supplies she wants to be able to donate. that's what she's been doing right now and that's what you've been seeing, a flood of people doing whatever they can to help in any way they can. >> great. shaq brewster, thank you so much. we appreciate it. this morning richard engel captured this video of kids and their parents or care givers on a bus and they were desperate to get out of ukraine's capitol, kyiv. it's one of the images of families trying to escape. but for children without families, the war has left their fate in limbo.

>> 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 want to save my child. >> reporter: 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're being taken care of and being fed but like everyone else in ukraine at this moment, no one knows what's going to happen tomorrow. last friday we introduced you to a group of ukrainian orphans. what do you want the world to know about ukraine? >> reporter: he told me he wants the war to stop.

anything you want to say to anybody, friend in that other region? >> reporter: his answer shook me because it's the reality of this war. [ inaudible ]. >> our story hit close to home for several families back in the u.s. because they recognize children they were trying to adopt. >> i said oh my gosh, look, this is veech and he was eating. >> reporter: he came up to us asking to be on camera. he spent summers and winters in iowa, getting to know the family that wants to adopt him and his two siblings. >> he's so special, he wants to be with us so bad. we have to say we can't come today and we're waiting. >> reporter: they tell us there are at least 300 american families in the same boat. >> it's kind of like they're at 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. he's my son. son. and i just want to hug him. >> thank you to tom llamas for that. okay. up next, nato at the ready, we're going to go to latvia where u.s. troops are participating in training drills with our allies. we'll be right back. llies. we'll be right back. try boost glucose control®. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost® today. if you're a medicare beneficiary and live in the area, call now to see how this little card could get you some big benefits, including money added back to your social security check!

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so this is really the last frontier between russia and the west. this is the eastern flank of nato, and when president biden talks about defending every inch of nato territory, he's talking about this. we got an inside look here at how u.s. troops are training alongside their latvian, canadian, other nato allies making sure they are ready to support that mission, that article five commitment to defend all nato countries as an attack on one is an attack on all. and we saw how some of the troops here were practicing skills like calling in air strikes from the ground and what to do if an attacking force is trying to cross a river, what to do if your unit loses contact and needs to carry on its mission independently. i want you to hear from one soldier that we heard from who was talking about what it means to be serving alongside his nato allies. >> i have been able to work with spain, latvia, on the way up

we -- i ran into some lithuanians, and some pols as well. >> people from all over the world. >> yes, sir. >> but one mission. >> yes, coming together to train for saber strike 22 in order to strengthen the alliance and to show that we are always ready. >> reporter: i also spoke with brigadier general joseph hillberth who commands the training operation here who brought up the fact that the only time that nato's article 5 has actually been called into action in the history of the alliance was for the u.s. in the days after 9/11. he says it's part of the obligation allies have to each other for the u.s. to be here on the ground helping to make sure that our allies have what they need to defend this territory with secretary of state antony blinken also in the baltics today, nato is defensive, it's not intending aggression toward any country, doesn't want

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before we go, a display of love during the darkness of war. two new army recruits were married sunday just outside the front lines. a drone that would normally drop explosives dropped flowers instead. it is a wedding no bride could

ever imagine. >> i'm happy but my heart is crying because of war. >> love and light amidst all that darkness showing the true ukrainian spirit as we have seen amongst so many of their military members and their people just trying to get to safety and maintain their sovereignty and their independence. that does it for me, everybody. this busy hour. i'm going to be back here tomorrow. you can catch me weekends 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. eastern. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. good day, this is "andrea mitchell" reports in washington. as vladimir putin's soldiers are now on kyiv's doorstep, and ukraine asset forces and civilians are encountering a russian onslaught. >> the ukrainians blew up this bridge in ordero slow down the russian advance but it has also made it extremely difficult for people to