when it comes to pain medicine, less is more. aleve gives long-lasting freedom from pain, with fewer pills than tylenol. instead of taking pills every 4-6 hours, aleve works up to 12-hours so you can focus on what matters. aleve. less pills. more relief any minute we're going to be getting an update from the pentagon talking about the war in ukraine. with the senior defense official telling nbc news 5,000 more troops are headed to europe to be enablers. new reaction for the potential

of a ban on russian energy imports. stocks are down on wall street. the price of oil is up. what it means for how much you're paying and will be paying for everything. here live with us congressman dean phillips. we're also live in ukraine, people trying to escape kyiv. this is what it looks like. the u.n. saying more than 400 people inside ukraine have been killed. nearly 2 million have left the country. i'm hallie jackson in new york. we're joined by former ambassador to russia michael

mcfall. let me start with the latest on the ground between the, quote, unquote, peace talks between ukraine and russia. talk to us about the idea they're propaganda corridors considering russia had been trying to funnel refugees to their country. >> reporter: we just had the end of the third round in belarus. there's no reason to believe these negotiations are going to go anywhere. we've seen negotiations weeks and weeks ahead of the attacks. now we're seeing the negotiations during the actual fighting. that's shrouded in pessimism. the russian proposal that was instigated by president emmanuel macron of france, that went nowhere. of the six humanitarian corridors the russians proposed,

they led right to russia. when we're talking about the negotiations it's the third round. there's no reason to expect this round will go anywhere. considering that the white house is going to be collecting evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity by russia, this looks as though this situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. hallie. >> matt bradley in ukraine. thank you very much for being with us. mike, let me turn to you. there have been developments on the domestic side. i heard jen psaki say no decision has been made on the banning of russian energy imports for which there seems to be momentum building on capitol hill for that. >> reporter: we've been hearing from the biden administration over the last several days that the biden administration is open to the idea of banning russian

oil imports, an idea that has much more currency on capitol hill with every passing day. when we saw that white house schedule -- the president's schedule was updated today to include a meeting with world allies, the prime minister of the uk, chancellor of germany, president of france, it seemed like we were moving towards announcement. everything the administration has been doing has been in lock step with our allies. the fact that announcement has not come, the fact that jen psaki said no decision has been made is significant. it speaks to a significant moment. we're seeing that agreement with our allies doing things in concert fracturing because of domestic pressures. the biden administration says the russian imports only accounts for 10% of our imports,

but a third for the european allies. we're seeing that increased pressure on capitol hill and also among the general public as more and more americans are going to fill their gas tanks and seeing much higher prices. jen psaki said the president is doing everything he can to mitigate the gas prices, including a conversation with venezuela, but also pointing the finger at vladimir putin saying he's the one largely responsible for the instability that caused the spike. clearly the white house trying to get ahead of that and reminding the american people that there's one real culprit here responsible and that's vladimir putin. >> you have -- i've heard it from a democratic law maker, senator joe manchin said people will understand if we put this

ban in place. the american people will get it. they understand this is the price of democratic freedom and of sending a message to russia. there seems to be more and more consensus from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to do more of this. >> reporter: that's right, hallie. there appears to be some movement. members of congress said in a joint statement they have a legislative path forward banning russian oil imports, as well as imports from belarus. this is a joint statement released by kevin brady, the top republican on the ways and means committee. he said there's other elements being used as well, including suspending russia's participation in normal trade relations. we've not seen a bill yet or

have yet to hear from other tax writers but this reflects a growing appetite on capitol hill to impose crippling sanctions on russian's economy, as well as a $10 billion aid package expected to pass later this week for humanitarian and security assistance for ukraine. the one thing that lawmakers overwhelmingly oppose is a no-fly zone, a military trigger that could spark a full-scale war between the united states and russia. hallie? >> courtney, let me turn to you. in about seven or eight minutes we'll hear from the pentagon press secretary. a big question, what's going to happen with the u.s. providing ally ness europe, backing them up with planes, or helping

ukraine with additional fire power itself? >> reporter: this idea gaining increased momentum on capitol hill is the idea that poland would supply migs, fighter jets, to ukraine and the united states would backfill with some u.s.-made jets, most likely f-16s. it's true according to a defense official, that, yes, this is something the biden administration is considering. it's something they're working through and if the united states would be able to provide the fighter jets and how quickly. no decision has been made at this point. the defense official also pointed out if poland wants to provide thes migs to ukraine, the united states wouldn't stand in the way of that. the big question is here what can the u.s. do and how quickly? what we do know is that russia has now committed roughly 100% of all of the russian forces

that have been amassed around ukraine during the large build-up of forces. nearly 100% of those are inside ukraine. russia has also two dates since this military campaign began they launched 625 missiles of all types. russia is trying to bring in foreign fighters, specifically the official says russia has been trying to recruit syrians to go to ukraine and fight on behalf of the russian military. what does this say about the strength of these more than 170,000 or so russian forces that are there in ukraine that the russian government is now looking to syrians to come in and help them fight? also, from an operational perspective, it's important to point out much of russian military has been stalled, particularly in the north and east. they're still making advances on the south. the military campaign there

continues. we're seeing heavy bombardment from the air, particularly from long-range fires in the north and east. hallie? >> courtney, thank you. ambassador mcfall, let me go to you and discuss what we talked about a couple minutes ago. this ban on importing russian emergency and oil. mike rightly addressed the daylight, the little crack of daylight now, between the u.s. and european allies. how effective would this be? would it have teeth if if u.s. did this unilaterally? >> first of all, this is a no brainer. let's cut to the chase, okay? >> please. >> don't import that much oil from the russians. by the way, a lot of what we import and refine and export it is something a lot of americans don't understand. we need to cut this oil off right now.

it is immoral for the united states of america to be sending dollars to support this war. nancy pelosi is right. this is going to happen within days. that's my prediction. i urged the biden administration to get ahead of it rather than be responding to congressional action. it's a no brainer. the oil price in the world is set globally. this notion that if we cut this off it's going to affect our prices here, that's not the way it works. >> it's a global market price. >> that's a no brainer. should have been done days ago. i heard that voice, no decision has been made. i heard that from your reporters. it's time for people to be making decisions. i say the same thing on the jets. this is a no brainer too. i talked to somebody close to zelenskyy hours ago. they're asking, they're pleading, they're living in a bunker asking us why is it

taking us so long to make a decision that every leader supports? i ask that question too. get that 27 migs there. agree to the f-16s. i have no doubt it will happen, but it needs to happen sooner than later. >> forgive me if i'm misreading your tone. candidly you sound pissed. >> this is the worst war since world war ii. what putin is doing mirrors what hitler did to poland. people need to get their heads around this. this is on scale and scope the largest conventional war we've seen in europe since 1939. this is not just a fight for ukraine. this is a fight for freedom around the world. if putin wins in ukraine and he subjugates this country -- he

won't win in the long run. if he wins in the short run it emboldens xi ji ping. it makes our partners in europe nervous. people need to get their heads around how big an event this is. it's time to move faster. >> brittney griner, there are still a lot of questions about what is going on with that situation. from what i'm being told the press secretary at the white house was asked about this. she referred to state. we've heard minimal amounts of information from the state department. with her safety and security here -- she's being detained in russia after apparently vape cartridges were found in her luggage. she plays overseas in russia. how does this get resolved,

ambassador mcfall? >> this is so hard. i dealt with this -- not with wnba superstars. i dealt with this as an u.s. ambassador. people need to know, people that own companies need to know there's no rule of law in russia. the counselor of affairs needs to do what they can. i hope our ambassador is engaging on this to get her out. it's very frustrating even under good times and we're not in good times. it should be a wake-up call for any american company, for any religious organization, for any ngo that still has americans on the ground in russia, i plead with you, take the prudent action and get out now. >> abc news spoke with president zelenskyy. i want to get your reaction to a bit of that segment. i'll play it right here. >> what needs to be done is for

president putin to start the dialogue instead of living in an informational bubble. he's getting this information and you don't know how realistic the information is. >> speak to the bubble president zelenskyy is talking about and where putin is now compared to a week ago, two weeks ago. >> president zelenskyy is absolutely right. remember, i've known vladimir putin for 30 years. i sat across the table with him for five years. even when i was the ambassador to moscow, we wrote cables talking about how isolated he was back then. that's 2014. he doesn't have -- the word adviser to president putin is an incorrect word. he doesn't listen to advisers. he gets all his information through secret channels. those people have an incentive to falsify what he does. when you listen to him talk, you

know, he talks about ukraine in ways that are not understandable. the nazis that are running thing there is. he's believing his own propaganda. that makes him really dangerous. that makes him really dangerous which is why i applaud all leaders that are interacting with him. president macron, others doing it, any contact we can have with him directly is vitally fes necessary right now. i agree with president zelenskyy he's living in an information bubble and that makes him dangerous. >> ambassador, i know you'll stick around. thank you for that. i want to bring in democratic congressman dean phillips. thank you for being on the show. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, hallie. >> i know you were on that call

with the ukrainian president over the weekend. there's new bipartisan legislation that we talked about. does it go far enough? >> it's a good beginning. we have to continually increase our sanctions regime. i think it's working. we listened intently to him. i believe we have an obligation to provide fighter jets from poland. i believe it's time to ban import offense russian oil. it will have an impact on american consumers. i think it's time for a middle class tax cut in the united states. we have to also recognize, hallie, that sanctions will be effective. the most important army in the world are the russian people who are going to be feeling the horrifying effects of these sanctions. they are right now. it's time to make an appeal to russians. vladimir putin has done an

extraordinary job of dividing americans. it's time we use some of his tactics against his own people because they are the most likely army in the world to end this madness. >> you're talking about an uprising against vladimir putin? >> i think the russian people should be aware -- the propaganda machine of vladimir putin can be very effective on the air waves and television screens particularly with older russians. younger russians are connected to the internet. they know better. i think it's time we make an appeal to russian soldiers fighting in ukraine, to russian nationals whose leader is woefully misguided and russia will be affected by it. it's time to do. >> when we talk about this potential legislation on a timetable on that new bill, the vote on the funding for ukraine? >> president zelenskyy made it clear. every hour counts, hallie. we're in washington right now.

we have votes beginning this evening. we shouldn't leave until we do so. this isn't going to end in a week. we have to dedicate ourselves. our first priority is to protect americans physically and economically. we have to protect american ideals. if we don't do so, the rest of the world is watching. by the way, it's not mutually exclusive to protect americans and take on vladimir putin. we can do both. we must do both. strangely enough vladimir putin has done what nobody has done in recent years for the united states, starting to unify us. don't mistake and underestimate how important that is. i hope to see that in congress in the coming day. >> congressman dean phillips, thank you for being with us. we want to get to the pentagon now where john kirby is briefing reporters about the 500 troops headed to europe.

>> ft. bragg and support maintenance company out of ft stewart, georgia. third infantry is deployed. we said before when we deployed the additional 7,000 there would be enablers with them. this is part of that support. all these adjustments are being done as you know in full consultation with the nato allies in question. switching topics if i could to the red hill storage facility in hawaii. secretary austin decided today and you should have the statement, if you don't, you'll have it shortly, that directs

the secretary of the navy in coordination with the commander of the united states pacific command to take all steps necessary to defuel and permanently close the red hill bulk fuel storage facility in hawaii. i know many of you are attracting the importance leaders have placed on the november leak and the contamination that resulted from it. leads from department of the defense and navy remain focussed on this issue and the impact it's had on families, the community and our responsibilities in national security and being good stewards of our resources and the environment. throughout this process, the department's approach has been guided by the commitment to protect the population, goals that are mutually supportive. as the secretary outlined to the department of the navy, the department of defense launched a

thorough review of the facility's long-term future. a few points on today's decision. first, national security. we will defuel red hill and reposition the fuel to land in other locations. this will meet our national security objectives by better positioning the united states to meet future challenges in the pacific region. secondly, as the secretary noted, we'll take care of our people in the community. we're committed to mitigating the impacts of the november incident and we're restoring safe drinking water to all residents and providing testing to ensure the continued safety of the drinking water. we'll complete environmental mitigation efforts for any impacted areas. one additional note, which i believe many of you are tracking, the commander of the

u.s. pacific fleet directed a command investigation into the releases and contamination of the water supply. when that review is complete, the navy will publicly release the report and work closely with hawaii about follow-up actions. i want to end by noting the secretary's decision is not considered by the department to be a quick fix. we have work to do. we know that. we're going to stay transparent, as fully transparent as we can. we'll continue to update you and them as actions are taken. we do believe this decision by the secretary today marks a significant first step in the path forward. with that, i'll take questions. >> reporter: on ukraine, i wanted to discuss sort of the overall direction of the russian campaign in ukraine and in

particular the increased use of long-range fire artillery and rockets. is this an adjustment by them? is this a new phase of the war? are they compensating for problems in other areas? how would you describe where they are right now? >> with the caveat that we don't have perfect visibility into russian plans what we believe is happening as the russians continue to get frustrated and slow down, they haven't made any progress in the past few days except down south. what we assess is as they continue to get frustrated they continue to rely more on what we would call long-range fires. this is bombardment, missile strikes, long-range artillery into city centers they're not in

yet in any significant number. we're seeing that. that has been leading to -- as you would expect it would when you're relying more on long-range fires, you're going to cause more damage and kill more people. that's what we think is happening. that's what we're seeing them do. we think it's because they have not been able to make up for lost time they continue to suffer from on the ground in terms of the advancement of ground forces. >> reporter: they've not taken control of any of the cities yet? >> i wouldn't say no cities. we believe they have control of berdans. we believe they're in control of that power plant near the river that we talked about last week. some smaller towns as they continue their advance down south.

in the north, we do not see them having any control over kyiv, kharkiv, still a lot of heavy fighting outside kharkiv. kharkiv is really becoming victim to these long-range fires. in that time to the northeast of kyiv, they're attempting to encircle the city. down south you see them have more success and some control over some local population centers. up in the north not so much. the other one i would note is mariupol, just to the south of donbas. we believe they very much are aimed on taking mariupol. mariupol is a violent place to be right now. this is another location for long-range fires and bombardment. you heard the mayor himself talk about power outages and water supply problems. we believe they're trying to encircle mariupol as well.

they have not done it. >> reporter: have you seen any evidence that russian morale among the troops is low? have you seen any evidence of that? how would you characterize that convoy, the 40-mile long convoy north of kyiv? if it doesn't have tanks, where did they go? >> i don't have perfect visibility on the convoy. we're watching it much the same as you are. we believe the main purpose of it was resupply. it does -- when you look at the images from the air you can see a lot of it -- they don't look like armored vehicles so much as resupply trucks. that's not to say there aren't combat vehicles in there. we don't have perfect visibility. the assessment is it was largely meant to resupply. it's stalled. it's stuck. we don't assess over the course of the weekend it's made any

progress. i'm sorry, you had another one. >> reporter: morale. >> we see what's in the open press that you see about anecdotal evidence that some soldiers are flagging in their morale. we have picked up other indications that morale continues to be a problem for many of the russian forces, particularly up in the north and in the east. it is not clear to us that all of the soldiers that russia has put into ukraine realize that that's what they were doing, that they were actually going to invade ukraine. it's not clear to us they had full visibility on the mission they were being assigned. >> reporter: if that convoy was a resupply convoy and not armored vehicles, where were those columns of tanks that were supposed to encircle kyiv? were they send elsewhere?

>> i don't know. we don't have perfect visibility on what they're moving and what alternative routes they might have taken. i don't want to leave you with the idea that we know perfectly what each and every vehicle is in there. our assessment was it's largely meant for resupply. it's a very long convoy. we can't even say it's all one convoy and not several. it does remain as our best assessment is it remains stalled. >> reporter: so when the reports about efforts by the russians to recruit syrian fighters to fight in ukraine, first of all, what do you have to say about these reports? based on your knowledge did this effort start before the war or after the war? who are these fighters they're seeking? are they from the syria military? what is your -- >> i can't speak for russian recruiting efforts.

we do -- we do believe that the accounts of them, the russians, seeking syrian fighters to augment their forces in ukraine, we believe there's truth to that. so it's interesting that mr. putin would have to find himself relying on foreign fighters here. who they're going to be, how many there will be, what they'll pay them, we don't have visibility on. we're in no position to refute they're looking for syrian fighters. >> reporter: it's interesting that the russian president is trying to rely on foreign fighters. despite all the troops he has inside ukraine, why does he have to go and tap into foreign fighters? >> i can't get inside mr. putin's head. he has pretty much all the combat power he assessed -- that

he assembled. our assessment is all of it is inside ukraine now, the ground forces in particular. he has a lot of combat power available to him. we assess he has the majority of that combat power available to him. i can't speculate why he finds it necessary to seek help from foreign fighters. we do believe, as i said to jen, they're having morale problems. they're having supply problems. they're having fuel problems. they're having food problems. they're meeting a stiff and determined ukrainian resistance. we maintain they are several days behind what they thought they were going to be in terms of progress. honestly i cannot get inside mr. putin's brain as to why he would find it necessary to seek support from foreign fighters. david? >> reporter: this issue of

polish mig 29s to ukraine, the number of u.s. officials have said it's under active discussion about how the u.s. might backfill. we went back and looked at previous statements by polish officials. on sunday the chancellor, the prime minister of poland tweeted poland won't send fighter jets to ukraine. on march 1st the president of poland said we are not sending any jets to ukraine. what are we talking about here? i mean, it sounds like this is flogging a dead horse. is this really a proposition on the table? >> i can't speak for polish leadership, david. what we said is that this would be a sovereign decision for a nation's state to make whether poland or anybody else.

should they want to provide aircraft to the ukraine air force, that's a sovereign decision they can make. the united states is not going to stand in the way of that. there was discussion about if a nation such as poland were to do this, would there be a capacity for the united states to backfill those aircraft with american-made aircraft. what i can tell you is -- i can only speak for the department of defense. we are part of a discussion to examine that possibility. no decisions have been made, certainly none we're aware of by poland as you pointed out in your quotes there. we are having a discussion about should a nation like poland want to do this and should there be a desire or need for some sort of backfill of assets, what would that look like, how would we do that, how many, from where, those are the kinds of things we're talking about. >> reporter: one other question.

former nato commander has said that ukrainians -- some ukrainians have been trained to fly the a-10 and there are six a-10s in storage available for transfer to ukraine. is that under consideration? >> i've not heard anything about a-10s. i can't verify the number that are, quote, unquote, in storage. >> reporter: i wanted to ask about red hill. whatever relief or assistance might be available to military families? can you give us a sense of the scope of what needs done at that site or a dollar figure? >> can't give crow a much of a dollar figure or timeline. let me talk process for you. before i do that, the impact to

families obviously is foremost on everybody's mind. i don't want to speak for the navy. they're working very hard to get these families back safely to their homes and to take care of them where they are. i would refer you to the navy to speak to the specifics of that. you'll see it in the secretary's memo, taking care of these folks is a paramount concern to him. >> you've been listening to john kirby who has been taking questions and made announcements about ukraine. virtually no progress that the russia military is having in the north part of ukraine. a frustrated russian military is relying more on long-range attacks. the resupply convoy is still stuck. there are other indications, the

defense department says, without specifying what they are, is that morale continues to be a problem inside the russian military. you heard john kirby say it's not at all clear the russian soldiers knew the intent was to invade. because of morale issues, supply issues, food, fuel, russia is likely several days behind where they thought they would be. john kirby wouldn't speculate on why russia would be bringing in syrian fighters. i want to bring back in mike memoli, michael mcfall and barry mccaffrey. general mccaffrey, good to see you. what stood out to you? he hit a few buckets, where the

military is, they've not taken kyiv or kharkiv, the morale piece of it and the help we might get to our european allies. >> first of all the u.s. and nato partners not acting under nato legitimacy provided support to ukraine thank god. there's four nato nations that joined ukraine. they're getting smart munitions in there which are making a huge difference on the battlefield. we're seeing the flow of food, mra rations, food, body armor. we've been stuck on the aspect of migs, how many could be got from poland or other eastern

european countries. i don't think it's going to make a difference. it requires huge runways, 2,500-foot runways. my guess is the u.s. and our partners are trying to get smart munitions across the border hopefully to include a lethal drone action. at the end of the day, putin can't back out. he has 200,000 troops in there. they are completely messed up formation control. it looks to me like they lost command control capabilities. he's got to take kyiv. he's under huge pressure. he's going to start firing or shooting generals if he can't capture the capital. >> talk about the impact of a potential loss in command and control as you see it.

>> well, you know, i've been a company commander in combat and a division commander in combat. you get the company sort of screwed up, with your own voice and energy you can get it back on track in 20 minutes. when you lose control of 200,000 troops, thousands of vehicles, boy, i tell you it's going to be a week to reset the battlefield. a lot of that is due to the courage and aggressiveness of the ukrainian armed forces. it's astonishing what they're pulling off. they've blown bridges. they have been really magnificent. they're knocking down a lot of russian aircraft apparently. the numbers i'm reading are possibly as many as 60. the russians -- the other thing, hallie, when you talk about morale of troops, i can't

understand where a company commander wouldn't know he was going into ukraine and thought he was on a training exercise. it's so unbelievable that it's hard for me to give credence to it. i think a lot of that is going on. i watched a lot of prisoner debrief by ukrainians on video. they're saying they were ashamed on what they were doing. they didn't get the word on what was happening. they were disorganized, hungry. the ukrainians have treated them nicely, let them call their mothers. it's a mess for putin's army. >> how do you see that connecting to the reporting that putin may be looking to recruit syrian fighters? >> well, he thinks he needs more forces. there are no belarus soldiers

there. we were anticipating they would go in. looks like belarus got cold feet. that's a good sign. the syrians, that's part of the urban fight. that's what they were going at in syria. there's another group that are fighters from check -- chechnya. putin wants to kill or imprison, he wants to wipe out president zelenskyy. he wants these kinds of fighters that are used to urban fighting. remember the morale part. i speak fluent russian and i hear those children speaking to their mamas and they're crying. they have no -- they can't understand why they're there

killing people that speak their language. putin has not given them an argument for why they're there. having these cold-blooded as assassins, watch for them. we'll hear more about them. they're able to do more of the dirty work that comes at the end. i hope it doesn't get to that point. i think they're preparing for that operation in the capital of kyiv. >> it's ominous to hear you say that, ambassador mcfall. >> these are horrible times. we should not forget. >> mike, i believe the press secretary at the white house was finishing up or continuing on with her briefing. any news on that front we may have missed? >> reporter: we were monitoring two different briefings at two different buildings. sort of similar messages we heard on two important issues. the first was the potential provided air support to the

ukrainians through poland. both kirby and psaki emphasizing while it's a decision in poland's court at the moment, the logistical demands are very significant and potentially a barrier to doing it quickly. we heard this have kirby specifically, he said don't have perfect visibility into russia's plans at this point. we heard something similar in response to a question from jen psaki about how we can't read putin's mind. we were talking about in week one of this invasion, the fact that largely every step that russia took leading up to the invasion was predicted by the u.s., by our intelligence which we were sharing. we're now at a point where every step has been less predictable on the part of the russians. it's complicating the ability of the biden administration to move forward to decide what steps to take next, whether that's the

oil import ban that sounds like it's being strongly considered, whether it's the decision to share more air power. the fact that russia has faced much stiffer resistance in this invasion, was not able to overrun the country quickly made the response more difficult going forward because of the images we're seeing, the blood shed we're seeing that has raised political pressure for stronger action when the biden administration is still working hard with our allies to find new measures to take, but it's not happening at this point. >> mike memoli, ambassador mccall, general mccaffrey, thank you for being with us. appreciate it. coming up, an nbc news exclusive, a look you'll only see where. where u.s. troops are training overseas. plus as the u.n. security council meets on the humanitarian crisis, we'll tell

you what the u.s. ambassador just said. stay with us. just said. stay with us

it's time to say goodbye to appliance heartbreaks. and hello to new quality finds you'll love on wayfair. you can always get the brands you trust. the support you need. and dependability you can count on. plus, get financing up to 60 months on qualifying purchases. fast and free delivery. and installation and haul-away. so with wayfair, you'll always find your perfect match. ♪ wayfair you got just what i need ♪ riders! let your queries be known. yeah, hi. instead of letting passengers 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.

people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible... with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration,

which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to the possibility of lower a1c with rybelsus®. you may pay as little as $10 for up to a 3-month prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. unitedhealthcare medicare plans offer so much more... ...so you can find just the right plan for you. like the “visit a doctor anywhere our rv takes us” plan. the “zero copays means more money for rumba lessons” plan. ♪♪ and the “visit my doctor while eating pancakes” plan. unitedhealthcare is the #1 medicare plan provider, so you're sure to find the right plan for you. including the only plans with the aarp name. get medicare with more. age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein.

we just got an update from the pentagon on the war inside ukraine. >> the u.s. and its allies are preparing for what may come back. secretary of state tony blinken were telling the balkans they might be the next target of vladimir putin. we got an exclusive look at u.s. troops preparing. at poland, we're talking to refugees as humanitarian agencies tell us hundreds of thousands are kids are making that journey, some alone. i want to bring in nbc news correspondent josh letterman. josh, let me start with you and

the look at these nato drills. tell us more. >> reporter: hallie, the talk about how an attack on one is an attack on all and defending all of nato territory might seem hypothetical in the past, right now it's immediate in for the for the u.s. and nato troops who have gathered here for exercises to make sure they are ready to carry out that mission if necessary. we watched today in the war games and fascinating. they essentially broke up into two groups. americans today playing the attackers. multinational troops on the other side. they switch it up and after they break the two groups up they let them go at it in the forest replicating real world conditions they could find trying to repel an attack from russia or another adversary. this is something that nato does regularly and fresh urgency as

the countries on the eastern flank of nato including latvia so concerned if president putin overtakes ukraine they could be the next targets. i spoke about what type of message they try to send to russia or any other adversary. >> we believe in defense. you know, defense through deterrence and readiness and some of the best way to deter an enemy is to let them know that you are ready so exercises are critical to hone the skills and be ready for whatever the nations ask us to do or we decide to do as an alliance. >> reporter: when we talk about nato, we often talk about defense and deterrence. nato insisting recently that it is act defense, not aggressive.

doesn't mean to instigate conflict but the exercises visible to the world are part of deterrence making clear to russia if it goes beyond ukraine it would have to conflict that individual nation and all of these nations including the u.s. military. troops here telling us not only teaching the latvian couner parts but they learn from them. >> yeah. kelly, numbers from experts estimates are 1.7 million people left ukraine, some kids by themselves. tell us what you are seeing. >> reporter: yeah. so we received this message basically from -- press release from unicef and unhcr saying

several, many potentially, kids are traveling alone across the border separated from parents. as we know male relatives between 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country and a lot of family separations at the border. we suspected children traveling on their own. we haven't seen that and witnessed that or spoken to children traveling on their own but meet up with families and talk to families who maybe the mother is traveling with friends' children. we have spoken to a mother at the train station waiting for her 14-year-old son traveling with a cousin so families are being separated and it's a very difficult journey and confused at the border and not surprising

that children are separated and need to be registered in the country where they arrive. poland, for example. that's really, really difficult because i think as we have shown you it is incredibly chaotic at the borders. there's no unifying system to process people really. it is a lot of volunteer agencies so just keeping track of the kids is really tough. probably another reason we don't have a good figure as to how many kids are traveling unaccompanied. >> thank you. good do see you on the border doing great work. joining me is matthew saltmarsh. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> i understand just to help viewers understand where you are, you are in the region. we won't specify why for

security reasons. tell me as you see as the most urgent need right now. >> i'm in the eastern parts of poland not far from the border with ukraine. the needs are huge. what we have seen is people coming over the border in the last day or so have been increasingly traumatized. probably increasingly vulnerable. the first days people coming over there were people perhaps with means and transport, places to stay and networks. as this crisis continues that becomes less the case and it's people who have just had to grab whatever they can. a woman we met had said she had 17 minutes to pack and to get out. so yeah. the people who are coming now are obviously very happy to be over the border in safety but also in a fairly traumatized state some of them.

>> can you tell me more about what we heard from the u.n. a warning of thousands of kids alone. leaving ukraine. what have you seen and what are you able to do? what are you trying to do to help the kids? >> as you said previously we won't have numbers at the moment but what we're trying to do is bring in experts from unhcr and unicef and other partners who can come in and do that initial registration. another part is tracing. so to make sure that the children's relatives or guardians can be traced in the case of poland the national authorities government who manage the process. and we have a procedure which is known as the best interest procedure meaning that what must be followed is in the best interest of the child so we have to see how many more come over in the coming days but certainly

unhcr and partners bringing in resources to try to help manage the situation. >> is there a specific moment or story that stuck with you or stayed with you as you have been working on the border to help these people? >> you know, probably not specifically. we have been working so hard here flat out and all of my colleagues are just working into the night, into the early hours just getting on the trains, up to the border. it is really a question of trying to bring a bit more order into the procedures. things that are basic like providing information. making sure people know where they can go to get on different buses and transportation options. because this happened so fast a lot of those structures were not in place and now a question of trying to put the building blocks in place so things run a

bit smoother. >> we have a team in this country in chicago with folks who are packing up aid for ukrainians still inside the country. i'm sure there are folks watching the images, tough stuff, trying to start a new life. they want to help. what can they do? what is the best thing to do. i'm sure you have reports of people booking airbnbs and not using them. what is most useful? >> at the moment probably financial. the u.n. system has a huge bill. 1.7 billion. but beyond that, there will be things that people can do and i think a lot depends on where the refugees enup going. we have seen increasing numbers moving west in europe and countries in europe to step up and volunteer and host to do those things and if increasing numbers go to the states there's

more that people will be able to do in the states to help but the focus is on financial support so that we can get those you are gently needed life saving supplies and then onward to ukraine. >> matthew, with the u.n. refugee agency, thank you so much. we appreciate that important information. thank you. thank you to all of you for watching. "deadline: white house" starts right now. ♪♪ hi, everyone. 4:00 in new york. nothing short of a 12-day nightmare for thousands of innocent people but a few moments since the conflict began more fraught or take rous than playing out right now. the latest from the war on the ground in ukraine in a moment

but first news on the international response to it. a short time ago this afternoon a white house national security council spokes pen said that the u.s. is now quote collecting evidence of possible war crimes. human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law. today president biden spoke with other world leaders from trance, germany and the uk. among the reported tommics a ban on russian gas and oil imports. meanwhile, secretary of state blinken is traveling stopping in latvia to reassure allies in eastern europe why this weekend defense secretary austin ordered additional 500 or so