campaign like that. you've got to planted. you've got to execute it. that's reason number one. that might come back, by the way. they might be stunned at the moment, but that might come back. moment, but that might com back we're much better prepared, and there's a lot more >> peter pommerantsey, who has written several books on this topic, learned a lot from him, thank you very much for your time tonight. i really appreciate it. good evening. i'm it is now midnight on the east coast as we continue to follow breaking news out of ukraine. russia is accelerating its offensive and more civilians are being killed in the attempt to seize control of kyiv. one senior u.s. defense official tells nbc news it made 100% of the military forces that

vladimir putin mobilized for war are now inside ukraine. president zelenskyy remains in his country and he spoke to the nation from his office in the capital. zelenskyy amazingly posted this video to facebook saying he will not leave ukraine and he will be there as long as it takes to win this war. latvia, secretary of state blinken called out russia for strikesed on civilians and referred to the siege by german nazis who invaded ukraine in 1941 with a personal reference to vladimir putin. >> we've seen scenes like this before in europe. every russian has lived or learned about the siege of leningrad during world war ii in which that city's civilian population was systematically starved and intentionally destroyed over nearly 900 days leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths. that siege affected millions of russian families.

including president putin's. whose 1-year-old brother was one of the many victims. now, russia is starving out cities like mariupol. it's shameful. >> the u.n. says the 12 days of fighting so far in ukraine has killed more than 400 civilians, but also says the actual death toll is certainly much higher than that. and nearly two million ukrainians have now fled the country. >> president putin's war of choice has already turned half a million children into refugees. already more than 1.7 million civilians have fled ukraine into surrounding countries. 100 refugees are crossing into poland every minute. 100 a minute. >> here with us tonight, nbc's cal perry in lviv ukraine and ali velshi is near the hungary

ukraine border. thank you very much for joining me. let's start with you in lviv. the mayor says the city is struggling to feed those who have fled war-torn ukraine. what you are seeing playing out there? >> this is a city starting to bend. it hasn't broken yet but i think it is great fear that day will come. this is a city of 6 to 700,000 people and 200,000 internally displaced persons have been resettled in this city and 350 miles away from kyiv, we are having more and more air sirens, hearing the sound as the day goes on, and in the old part of the city is a you ness co heritage site and what we have seen are very historic stat use some from the 16th andst 17th centuries get bundled up and protected by blankets, fireproof blankets and some starting to be moved and it looks like this city l is starting to prepare f

the eventuality that the army could come here and interesting to see some statutes from world war one and world war ii get sort of protected as this situation seems to only grow. people here are concerned this city was supposed to be safe. it wasd supposed to never be pt of this conflict and nowd folk because of the widening conflict, they're worried that sooner or later it will happen here. >> and cal, let me ask you this. we in the west are absorbed with this conflict, a lot of chatter. what can we do? ukrainian politicians are saying that the west needs to bera doi more. what are the people on the ground saying? are they talking about the international community, about what the rest of the world should or shouldn't be doing? >> absolutely. and a week ago, it was a very different answer when you would ask people what do you want from thepe west. the answer is a week ago, we want what we're seeing, sanctions against russia and more weapons from nato and support as we fight our war, against russia. the issue now is, a week later, you have a dozen ukrainian cities in the east surrounding

where the russians are going to that play book that we feared they would, which is cutting off the power, cutting off the water, cutting off the heat, surrounding city, bombing them into dust, we heard today from the ministry of energy, for example, that city of mariupol, which we've been talking so much about on the black seacoast has been without power or water or heat since the second of this month. that's six days where people are huddledwh in these basement, whe people are being killed. we heard today from the u.k. ministry of defense that indeed, urpine was targeted by russian troops, the intersection was targeted and civilians were intentionally shot at. now the answer here has changed when you ask people what do you want fromeo the west, they say wantwe a no-fly zone, nato or t americans to implement a no-fly zone so we can control the air space so that we can start to turn the tide, against this russian invasion, the politics of that are incredibly tricky, we've heard from the nato secretary general saying he believes more lives will be saved by not implementing that no-fly zone because he is concerned as is america, that

the russians will then just starten targeting nato countrie. but i just want to say this one thing. if you're in a basement in mariupol, if you fled from kharkiv on a train that was bombed as it was headed for kyiv, world war three has started with you and it is hard to sympathize with a widening conflict. >> of course. and two million refugees almost have left ukraine. you have been watching bus loads arrive where you are in hungary near ukraine's border. how is hungary coping with this influx of people from ukraine? >> well, it's complicated. we don't get as many as they're getting in poland. poland gets about 60% of them. you saw linda greenfield talk, the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., sayingsa 100 people are going io poland every hour, and we're not getting that many, but about 180,000, probably close to 200,000 now in hungary, a

country that hasn't been that open to the idea of refugees in general but a little more from ukraine as opposed to syria struggled with a few years back. and hungary is a nato country who is really struggling with exactly how strong of a position to take against putin. the stronger position he takes, the more putin describes hungary as a hostile country, and the currency here has been suffering, they are very dependent on russian energy. he has said if the eu sanctions russian energy, we are not going to, so hungary is stuck. it, is a bit of a problem. they have agreed to have nato soldiers move in, but it is west of the danube river, west of budapest, the troops are not supposed come here, weapons can come here to goom to ukraine bu can't go directly to ukraine, they gottl to go through a thir country. one thing i've seen today that i have not seen before. very heavily armored military

presence in eastern hungary. including a truck that had anti--aircraft missiles on it. we're not quite sure what they're planning to do with that because hungary doesn't want to get into that sort of conflict with russia but it is feeling a littleus more armed than it was when you and i talked about 24 hours ago. >> quick last question, for you, ali, almost two million refugees in 12 days, these are historic monumentalth numbers. they could get higher. three, four, five million, god forbid. >> sure. >> how does hungary and poland cope withar those kind of numbe? >> well, polands at least has camps that they are setting up and i can't imagine, refugee camps in europe but they got them. hungary is saying none of those. what they are really hoping for is people who comear in here, transit through somewhere else, in poland you go to warsaw to getgo to an airport to go somewhere else that you know people. same thing in pude pest. you got an airport that by the way, another one of these bosses that we've been talking about, this is the first one, since daylight, a bus coming s in, wi

the refugees, that they're going to drop off here, to get aid. and at the moment, they're mostly going through. people i talked to are looking to get budapest and get on a plane and go somewhere else, particularly those who were noncitizens of ukraine. but for the moment, there's no plan. you're right, it could be four, five million people. the u.n. hcr says it is probably bigger than the numbers we're talking about already because people don't account for the people who get off the bus. one u.n. hcr guy here, maybe he gets some, maybe he doesn't. we know it is not slackening up. it isng getting more serious. >> we'll have to leave it there. ali, cal, stay safe. thank you for your time tonight. with that, let's bring in our experts tonight, brian class, a columnist for the "washington post" and assistant professor for university politics, and author of "corruptible" and nya hawk, former state department senior adviser.te

thank youad both. brian, let me start you with. the pentagon saysst this invasi is not going the way vladimir putin planned and i think that is clear even though we're not military experts. what is going through vladimir putin's head tonight? i know it is a 64 million ruble question, but it is the question, what is putin thinking? >> i think putin miscalculated very badly because he's a victim of his own propaganda machine and his own megalo-mania and the way despots work, they create these fake realities and force people around them to parrot lies as loyalty tests, this is why the russian foreign minister is constantly saying the same things on behalf of vladimir putin on show he is loyal to him. and over time, i think you start to understand that these lies become real to people like putin. so, you know, i think this is something we have to recognize. because it is very dangerous to be negotiating with a despot like putin and assume that he is rational in some way, assume

that he has not been warped by his own propaganda machine so any sortag of diplomatic overtus are required to take into account the fact that this is no longer someone who is behaving like a rational actor on the global stage. >> and the russians put out what they called proposals for peace today, things like accept that weat control the independent, quote unkwoept republics in the east, accept crimea as part of russia,.tut in your constitution that you will never join nato, and be neutral, are those dismissed out of hand or, are those the things that will form the basis between the ukrainian government and the russianee government going forward? >> they have been dismissed out of hand by the ukrainian president zelenskyy. one of the options on the table that putin presented was to have zelensky serve as a figurehead and have a putin-installed prime minister actually running the country. which most suspect was the plan all along,ct that putin's not wanting to have to take over the entire country and run it, out

of moscow, but wanted a puppet regime similar to what he had in belarus, but zelensky ukrainian dissent has proven to be far stronger than putin accelerated and the military has had some serious operational defects and not onlyat have they lost one o their senior most generals just this week but they have also lost all secure calm and knocking out the 3 g towers, they are no longer able to make phone calls back home to the kremlin, as part of why the west knows so much about what's been going on. so putin is grasping at straws, is hoping to use the diplomatic off-ramp, essentially to stall for time. >> one fascinating aspect to this conflict has been obviously we're seeing the heart breaking horrific scenes out of ukraine. but also what we're seeing in russia, in terms of anti-war protests, have been rounded up, detained, arrested and there are thousand, and now obviously this is a country a of many, many million people, we shouldn't

extrapolate from anti-war protesters saying putin is about to fall, about to cave, but what do these protests tell you about the nature of the russian regime right now. and what it is dealing with at home? >> we oftenng call pute an stro man. and this is a kind of weakness that he has to force people to shut up because they oppose him. now, i think there are significant elements of the russiansi population that do ba vladimir pute. and it's difficult to discern whether that's because they're constantly living in his propaganda machine, fed disinformation andpr lies or because they generally understand what isca going on i ukraine and they support. it i think you've seen disturbing images of the sign z that is put on people's clothing as a nationalistic, militaristic symbol in support of vladimir putin and this shows youor how e russian regime operates, it is a culture ofte fear, it is a culte of fear in which you must show feel ty to the leader or face the consequences.

that's a dynamic that will worsenam in russia as this conflict goes on and russia becomes more isolated, the domestic crackdown on dissent will get worse than before and it is saying a heck of a lot because it is very oppressive in the russian state. >> let's talk about what is happening herek at home. gas prices rising. talk of a ban on russian oil. and a u.s. administration, you served in the state department, trying to send diplomats to maybe to venezuela, maybe to saudi arabia, to a friend, saudi arabia, to an adversary, the maduro regulation to try to get more oil pumped. how hard is that going to be to pull off? >> it's already proving very difficult. the saudis have zero interest in helping lower the price of oil. in fact,th they said that they will help negotiate with russia, but they will not participate in negotiations to lower the price of oil. opec and russia have a strong relationship. and the saudis actually are taking advantage of this moment,

right? this is presidentom biden's opportunity to show the world that theop democracies are unit against autocracies but none of the ally notice middle east including israel, which is the largest exchange of u.s. defense military equipment, the united arab emirate, not stepping up, they'reng abstaining from everything, even though we have military bases there, none of the gulf allies are choosing the side of democracy in this case and trying to leverage the relationship with putin on their advantage. with mbs now coming around, the prince of saudi arabia, coming back around saying he can be an honest broker between both the united states and ukraine and russia. >> i love the idea, people having to deal with different parts of the world. let me ask you this. the oil issue is a big issue here inis the u.s. something everyone can get behind is targeting oligarch, something we have talked a lot

on the network and the u.s. news media since the state of the union. you wrote a book about corruption and people abusing power to get rich. is there a danger that the oligarchs will be fine, they willol always get away with it d the russian people are the ones thatn are going to suffer. >> i think that is definitely going to happen in theha short term but i think the only way to have leverage against vladimir putin is to go after the money. my argument has long been you have to make the lives of the oligarchs more russian, they send their kids to schools in places like britain and u.s. and stash the cash in offshore bank accounts and sail around in their yachts in the mediterranean for vacation. if they have to start worrying about what happens in saint petersburg and moscow, they will put more pressure on putin on fix this. and the unfortunate aspect of this is there are going to be innocents russian civilians wh will have a invery, very diffict time because i don't think this geopolitical shift is the short-term, is a short-term slap on the wrist. it is a major pivot point in the 21st century. and so, you know, my view on

this is that that short-term pain will t be worth it, if we n actually fundamentally shift the international banking system, in a way that starts to stamp out money laundering and some of these ways, in which the russian oligarchs and other oligarchs by the way around the world move their money freely around the world despite the illicit origins. >> less than 60 seconds left. quick answer. joe biden tomorrow could stand up and say we're going to take as many refugees as we need to takege from ukraine and probabl have a lot of public support even from some republicans, wouldn't he? >> yes, indeed. probably far more public support than that, for taking refugees in from haiti or from syria which both have been options in the past or from mexico and i'm intriguedo personally to see h much the biden administration refugee policy or asylum change, since it hasn't changed since the trump administration but now that there are ukrainian blond haired blue-eyed people people trying to get in from the southern border, will that wall be the rallying cry for the

right wing or will they let the ukrainians win? you tell me. >> i hope that this will drive some kind of positive change at home, especially on the refugee front. brian, we'll have to leave it there. thank you very much for both of you for your time. the rachel maddow resumes after this quick break. ter thisk

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this was the associated press headline on november 13th, 1959. date line per lin. east germans jail buyer of blue sans. the east german communists jailed a teenager for two months because he bought blue jeans in west berlin, the judge told the 18-year-old that the sentence would quote serve as a warning to certain young people who ardently want blue jeans or rock and roll, end quote. throughout the cold war, blue jeans and in particular levi's blue jeans were a coveted and at

times forbidden items in the soviet union, the soviet teens demanded levi's, so much so that they were struggled into the soviet union like narcotics, sold at outrageous prices. the east german government first tried to manufacture their own knockoffs, that didn't work, and then the government bulk purchased almost 800,000 pairs of levi's jeans, and had them literally air-lifted from the united states so that they could start distributing them right away. well, today, once again, in 2022, levi's jeans have halted their sales in russia, joining a growing chorus of companies, disney, warner brothers, sony, universal, paramount, all stopping film releases in russia. microsoft, apple, samsung, hp and intel all stopping new sales. netflix has pulled out. tiktok won't allow new posts by russian users. flying out of russia is nearly impossible now as is buying anything with major credit cards like visa, master card or american express.

all of which in addition to punishing western sanctions takes a toll. try taking a disney movie away from a kid or an iphone away from a teenager. in addition to a massive ground stop on western goods and service, the russian economy is showing real strain. russian interest rates are now 20%. the ruble, up less than a penny. massive inflation. russian state media is doing its best to put a positive spin on this invasion of ukraine except you can't call it an invasion in russia, it is called a special military operation but even russian citizens who have fully bought into the state sponsored narrative will have trouble squaring up what that means and why they can't use their master card anymore and why they're running out of food at shops and why their money is worth nothing if this is just a special military operation in ukraine a large part of the russian population is old enough to remember the cold war and the soviet invasion of afghanistan

and what that did to the economy and how it all led to the collapse of the soviet union. we have already seen more than 13,000 anti-war protesters arrested across russia. that unrest seems to be building, despite the massive increased risk associated with protesting because of a new law that's been put into place. is the broader russian population including many that support putin, are they actually going to accept a costly war of choice against a neighbor and the resulting economic deprivation? or is it possible that at some point, vladimir putin and the russian government could lose control of the russian people? joining us now, ian bremer, president of the eurasia, a leading consulting firm. you have studied this more than most. let's talk about this. less say you can't getle real information. you are in russia and for whatever reason everything you read follows the official line that this is a strategic

operation in ukraine, it's not a war, it's not an invasion, but suddenly your credit cards don't work and you can't buy stuff and you can't use stuff and you can't see stuff, and things aren't available on the shelves and your interest rates are 20% and your money is not worth anything, at some point people are going to say, this official story line doesn't jive with my life. >> some people are, ali, but most people are not. some people are going to be primarily young, educated, literate, and online. and least previously online. given how much is being shut down right now by russia. in major cities. but the majority of the population is overwhelmingly fed information through state media, and you know, that's television, it's newspapers, it's not digital, and the level of support for putin has historically been exceptionally strong among this group. and it's going to continue to be. and if you think that the united states is incredibly divided,

and that people only follow news and cable and social media that they agree with, it is literally exponentially less than what you're experiencing in russia right now, and we have to be aware of that, even as the russian economy starts to crater, which it will do in spectacular fashion in the coming days. >> but the russian economy cratering, and some of that was in part due to how much money that the ussr was spending in afghanistan, in the body bag, and the people coming back dead, but a lot of it was the economy and how bad things were for the russian people which prompted them to throw off their system, their political systems back then. why wouldn't the same thing happen now when people are frustrated that 30 years of economic and to some degree political gains seem to be evaporating in front of their eyes. >> because a lot of the reasons that russians believe, again,

putin is supporting russian, which is not the whole population, but a solid 60 to 70%, the reason why they believe the country has fallen into disarray, they don't blame putin, they blame things like shock therapy, they blame nato enlargement, they blame the west, and so when they hear from the kremlin that the reason that the russian economy is cratering is because of a war that the ukrainians have started, or special military operations that are happening because the russians were about to launch a war, or because they were creating genocide against russians in the occupied territories, absolutely verifiably false but completely what the russian, the kremlin narrative has been now for months across russia, that they're going to buy it. come on. we've got still a strong majority in the united states of people that voted for trump that believed that the election was fake. and in fact, a strong minority that believe that he should be returned to power immediately through violence if necessary.

that's the united states. that's a wealthy comparatively educated country. in russia, this is vastly more dysfunctional. and you just have to appreciate that putin does have the capacity to drive that narrative, even in the case of what's going to be a much worse economic collapse than what anyone in the united states has been experiencing for nearly a century. >> what's the blowback on the rest of the world? we've already seen oil prices topping 125 bucks a barrel. a whole bunch of people tweeting me today that they have filled up for more than $4 a gallon. we are seeing, we are approaching some of the highest prices for oil and gasoline that we've seen in a while. that's going to happen all over the world. what else happens if this continues? >> it's probably about a 1% contraction in global gdp, and that we'll experience in the united states, and in europe, and it is a lot more persistent inflation, it's supply chains

being more severed and more challenging. so a lot longer time for to you get whatever it is you are trying to order. but that's really not the suffering, the suffering are the poorest, and it's a combination of, we've seen about 60 million people die of starvation in the last 12 months around the world, which is higher in the pandemic than it was before the pandemic, and that's going to get a hell of a lot worse, you just had the largest grain producer in the world, invade the fifth largest grain producer in the world. and this is going to cause enormous challenges. the poorest people in the world who already don't get enough to eat, sub saharan africa, yemen, afghanistan, also emerging markets that are seriously indebted and don't have access to credit, are going to be in much more trouble here, the potential for a financial crisis in turkey, for example, a lot of other medium income emerging markets that have lived through two years of pandemic but nowhere near the capacity to make their middle classes whole

the way the americans or the europeans have through the pandemic, they're going to get smashed right now, so it is really global inequality. the last 40 years, globalization has driven the emergence of a global middle class. the pandemic and now even worse, this russia/ukraine crisis, is going to force all of those people around the world to take it on the chin. >> ian, thanks as always for your analysis. you bring us a lot of clarity to a conversation that is confusing and frightening. ian bremer, the president of the eurasia group, we appreciate your time tonight. one of the most culturally significant cities in all of ukraine and now there are fears that it may be one of the russian forces' next targets. we'll go live to odesa after this. 'll go live to odesa after this

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well, with russian progress largely stalled in the north of ukraine, today russian troops continued their assault on the city on the black sea, this building you're looking at was gutted by shelling this morning as russian forces advance on the city. about 80 miles to the west, in the city of odesa, there are scenes of heart-wrenching goodbyes as some parents evacuate their children, dhusing to -- choosing to send the children alone to romania. the main promenade that is just 12 days ago was bustling with pedestrian, mostly empty now, littered with these metal hedge hogs, they're anti-tank devices, obstacles.

and odesa's famous opera and ballet theater is fortified with sandbag barricaded surrounding its famous edifice. the oldest church, the transfigure ration cathedral has become a little sanctuary for families as air-raid sirens blair at night. odesa, located in southwestern ukraine, is the third largest city in the country, it's home to what you can see in the bottom left of the screen, home to about a million people and also a sea port which makes it an economically strategic target for russian forces. russian war ships have been spotted from the shore for several days, yesterday, president zelenskyy released a message warning that russian forces were planning a military assault on odesa. doing so, he said, would amount to a war crime. but the resolve of the ukrainian people remains. today, ukrainian journalist natalia summed it in an op-ed titled ukrainians are fighting a people's war and everyone is

involved from top to bottom and until recently, defending democracy meant voting, organizing, fighting corruption, building up civic institutions. now it means something else. ukrainians are fighting to save the people in the most literal sense. end quote. joining us now is natalia, a journalist in odesa. thank you for taking the time to be with us. odesa is an historic city, a beautiful city, a fabled city, and they are trying to close things up and protect them as much as they can, but when those bombs start landing, those missiles start hitting, if they do, odesa may be destroyed. it is something to watch people leave that historic city that they have lived in for generations, tell me what the situation is there. >> so yes, the situation is of course difficult, people are leaving, as is myself, coming from the border with the neighboring country moldova,

with long, long lines, especially of females with kids coming, because indeed, those news are here as well. so far, it was largely calm. there are sirens. however, the attacks and strikes were closer to the outskirts of the towns, to the military base, for instance. and indeed, as you said, it is a cultural capital, it's a place, it's very multi-cultural city, which makes it also hard to observe that that would be food for the ukrainian army, the greg businessman organizing, the building the blocks and helping to organize the defense, and at the same time, there would be russian art museum, trying to preserve the canvas, the paintings of the russian artists, that's insane that we are defending russian art from the russians.

that's how the people would describe it. but yes, so far, it's let's say, the port, there are concerns here. but the other concerns are that, about there is some hope, whether it be russia destroying this cultural part of the city, and the example of other towns, is it could happen. just myself, which i also am in very close touch in different other town, very close to folks living in the city of karkhiv, which is an important town, a cultural place on the russian border and in the beginning, the attempt was to attack and overtake it. later, when it didn't happen, the strategy changed to let's say terrorizing people, with attacks of civilians as well.

museums, residences, places in the center of the town. and that is also, in this moment, we cannot say that it won't happen to odesa as well. we understand that the ukrainian army will defend it, but there is a limit to what is possible. >> yes, and what you say is interest can, because here in hungary, i have met people who have come from kharkiv, from nepro and people from donbas, from kyiv, and all of them said the same thing, they knew it was going to happen, it was likely to happen, but they didn't leave because they kind of hoped it wouldn't happen, and now, they see the images and they hear the stories, and the things that you described, which are war crimes, when you attack people, when you attack residences and you attack hospitals and you attack people who are trying to escape in the

streets. what is it that is causing people to either stay or make the decision to leave? is it the idea when enough bombs fall and michls fly missiles fly, they realize this is real and they have to go? >> absolutely. first of all, people who are leaving, they are trying to move the elderly, the kids, the second group of people who are leaving, those who are capable, you know, who probably have cars, who have some relatives otherwise, but when they see what happens close to them, then everybody tries to flee. that was the case of kharkiv, so it is becoming really difficult for your parents, you make efforts to do that, but the active people prefer to stay. everybody says, our town is about to be invaded, we are from here, we have to defend but of course, a huge amount of people are trying to defend but that should be a limited amount of

course, and with everybody who could fight. >> we wish you the best, and those of you in odesa. a journalist in odesa, we appreciate your time tonight. please stay safe. well, just ahead, the united nations says more than 1.7 million ukrainians have now been forced to flee their country as russian forces advance. we're there headed, where they're headed now and how they're being received, a report on the burgeoning refugee crisis is next.

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they are in a line, frantically trying to keep their families together amid mayhem and gunfire, handing over toddlers to strangers and soldiers, scrambling to get away. many have spent days under fire, trapped in their homes until they realized it was run or die,

with the russians getting closer. the stream of people fleeing are traumatized but many are also angry and full of despair. >> putin is a war criminal, she said. the anti-christ. you've been waiting for him. now you've got him. families torn apart in the chaos. from the village outside before escaping, too, and they have left elderly relatives behind. >> our house was on fire. >> how much destruction is there that you can see in the town center? >> i think all of it, there is nothing to help, there is nothing to build or defend. there's nothing. >> i came here, and i left my parents to die, she tells us, and i told my husband, you've got to go back and bring them here, because i can't just leave them to die. >> but in amongst the suffering

and trauma, there are small glimpses of hope, her 81-year-old mother and father are found. and the family is reunited. how could i live without you, she said. there is incredible heartache and fear and also an astonishing defiance about these people. >> that was alex crawford reporting from a small town northwest of kyiv where ukrainian families have been fleeing amid heavy russian shelling. those families if they are lucky will join the 1.7 million refugees, mostly women and children, who have fled ukraine, since russia began its invasion 12 days ago. all of this migration, in less than two weeks, makes this the fastest-growing refugee crisis in europe, since world war ii according to the u.n. high commissioner with refugees and with russia potentially targeting more population centers across the country,

millions more ukrainian refugees will likely flee, and need some place to stay. refugees like this 11-year-old ukrainian boy who arrived at the slovakia border alone this weekend. he traveled about 600 miles by himself, with only a backpack, a plastic bag, his passport, and more importantly, a phone number, written on the back of his hand. the slovakia ministry of the interior says the volunteers were able to use that phone number to reach the boy's relatives who arrived to pick him up. today, he met with the interior minister of slovakia who said the young boy has sought temporary protection in the country. slovakia officials called him a hero for making that long journey and there are millions more like him trying to make their trek to safety, too. meanwhile, here near the hungary border with ukraine, we are seeing an influx of refugees. i got a chance to speak with some of them and with their humanitarians who are coming to their aid. >> here, smoke rises from

chimneys that were new, a century ago. the tiny village of hungary sits across the river from a now war-torn ukraine but as refugees pour out of these buses, it might as well be a world apart. >> i feel that i don't have a home. because somebody thinks that they just can take over a country. it's not normal. we need to do something. i really wanted to stay in ukraine. i love ukraine. it's my home. but i can't. >> a home both unsafe and for now unreachable. friends svetlana and orlina met in kyiv, hailing from the donbas region fighting that hadn't touched her home until weeks ago. >> my home is ukraine. but now, russian military pound

my home, and now i don't know what happens, what will happen with my mom, with my grand mom, with everyone, today, tomorrow, i don't know, because they can't -- >> you can't call them? >> yes, because we can't. >> she shares a story with every person off the bus, the faces are mostly women and children, the men had to stay and take up arms in ukraine. a corner of this quiet village now bustles with activity. to show the refugees they are welcome here. hungary hasn't been so friendly recently, to outside evers -- outsiders but not this time. a pop-up barbecue stand to wave a friendly hello and some helpers arrived only to realize they needed to stay.

>> they showed me pictures about their city, and about their street, and they don't have house anymore. it has been bombed. >> this man came to drop off supplies from another distance village, he stayed for nine days. >> you can't prepare yourself for this. you can't. you see everything, other people's lives but you have to do one day four or five, and it's done, and it's okay, and then your soul be will be okay. >> most of the people with whom we spoke plan to go somewhere else in europe, none plan to stay. there is only one place they want to be. >> you want to go home. >> yes. of course. i want to see my family. it's my family. >> we are going now to budapest,

and then we will make our passport and then we will get to the airport and maybe tomorrow, or maybe in two days, three days, you know. >> do you believe that you can go home? >> of course. i believe it. >> of course. i believe it. a young ukrainian refugee keeping hope alive that she will one day be able to return to her home. we'll be right back. right back.

an update tonight on the ukrainian man whose story we have been following. this man, a 55-year-old ukrainian man, has for the last ten years served as a mechanic on a luxury super yacht, the yacht is owned by a russian arms dealer whose yacht is currently moared in the spanish island of ymayorka in the mediterranean and he was sup set that russia was attacking the homeland and he sack tage sabotaged the yacht, tried to sink it, he admitted to the crime, and fled mayork making his way to the ukraine to sign up for the military, he arrived in kyiv and still waiting to join the fight and today he sent a picture with the military recruiter and he said this is the last time you

will see me in civilian clothes. and now he said he has been issued a uniform and a weapon and is undergoing training, and he says, he is prepared to die for ukraine. that does it for us tonight. we will see you tomorrow. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is up next. good morning. and welcome to "way too early." on this tuesday, march 8th. i'm jonathan lemire. let's get right to the overnight developments from eastern europe. ukraine announced this morning that russia reached an agreement with the red cross, to open a humanitarian corridor from the besieged northeastern city of sumy. it will take civilians on an indirect route to poltova. russian proposed five corridors but so far ukraine has agreed to the one route from sumy where russian attacked residential areas yesterday. including apartment buildings. two ch