france spoke with china's president xi. in february, the chinese leaders stood shoulder to shoulder with president putin, ahead of the olympics. xi called for maximum restraint, warning sanctions against russia will dampen the global economy. but despite the diplomatic tension, a senior russian foreign minister official called for maintaining a constructive dialogue with the u.s. in international security. >> our thanks to keir simmons for that report. that wraps up this hour. i'm chris jansing. jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. >> good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart reporting from washington. new today, russia is now accusing the u.s. of unleashing an economic war after president biden banned russian oil from entering the u.s. this as more evacuations are happening right now in ukraine. people are now fleeing through new humanitarian corridors, hoping they can escape alive. people in the outskirts of the capital are trying to reach

safety, as russian forces try to enter kyiv. we're going live to ukraine. and just hours ago, the ukrainian president pleading with the u.s. and poland, quote, just send us the planes. this after the u.s. rejected a deal proposed by poland to give the u.s. fighter jets that could then be sent to ukraine to help fight russian forces. and later this hour, we'll joined by congressman raul ruiz, who is also a doctor, and recently traveled to ukraine's border with poland. what he saw there and what still needs to be done. >> we begin with the very latest from ukraine on day 14 of the russian invasion. ukraine is raising alarms about the situation at the chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. ukraine officials say russian forces disconnected the decommissioned facility from the power grid, and called for a cease-fire in order to restore

power. ukraine's foreign minister says the plant has diesel generators that can power it for 48 hours. but after that, the cooling systems for nuclear fuel stored there will stop, making radiation leaks imminent. nbc news has reached out to the russian government for comment. the international atomic energy agency said in a tweet that it saw no critical impact on safety, but that the power loss violated a key safety pillar. the agency went on to say that the heat load of the spent fuel storage pool and the volume of cooling water at the plant are sufficient for effective heat removal without the need for electricity. meanwhile, ukraine's deputy prime minister says ukraine and russia have agreed to day-long cease-firs at humanitarian corridors in six areas in the southeast and near kyiv. this comes one day after the ukraine government said about 5,000 people were able to escape from the northeastern city of sumy. and as we learn more about the desperate situation in the southern port city of mariupol,

here's how the associated press described it. corpses lie in the street. hungry people break into stores in search of food and melt snow for water. thousands huddle in basements, trembling at the sound of russian shells. ukraine's foreign minister says russia continues to hold over 400,000 people hostage in mariupol, blocking humanitarian aid and evacuations with indiscriminate shelling. he also says about 3,000 babies there lack medicine and food. we're also getting fresh images from the kyiv suburb of irpin, where people are making their way through ruins in search of safety. joining us to start off our coverage, molly hunter as well as richard engel, who is in the capital of kyiv. richard, let me start with you. how worried are ukrainians now about the situation in chernobyl? >> the ukrainian government is raising the alarm about chernobyl, and this is the

second time they've done this. obviously, chernobyl was the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster and when the russians took over chernobyl, they immediately expressed concerned. they said then that the russian bombing could stir up the earth in the area which is still radioactive and potentially even damage the concrete sarcophagus, which covers the site. russian forces did take it over. there were no evaluated radiation levels reported. and now ukrainians are once again sounding the alarm, because they -- the russians cut off the area, the so-called exclusion zone from the main power grid. and according to the ukrainian foreign ministry, that means that the monitoring devices, some of the safety, specifically, you mentioned the cooling devices won't work. but then, quite quickly, i think we saw that response from the iaea, not expressing a great

deal of alarm. we're not seeing any kind of panic here, but once again, it's the ukrainian government raising the nuclear issue, calling it to the world attention. there are numerous nuclear power facilities in this country, not just chernobyl. there are at least two now that have been the site of either russian occupation or fighting. and ukraine is saying that this is now yet another reason why the world needs to step in and get the russians to stop this offensive. and there does seem to be, we'll see if it's too early in the game, a little bit of diplomatic momentum. you just -- in the last hour, keir simmons, who's still bravely reporting from moscow, mentioned that president xi says he supports negotiations, supports diplomatic efforts, and tomorrow in turkey, for the first time at this level, we're seeing -- they're expected to

meet the ukrainian and russian foreign ministry. we're having now numerous important players in this great power conflict calling for a cease-fire and taking action. we'll see if the nuclear issue helps make those talks more urgent and potentially more conclusive. >> meanwhile, ukrainians are dying and many are forced to leave their homes and entire lives. we're talking about more than 2 million refugees now have left ukraine. 14 days into this invasion by the russian army, and yet kyiv remains strong. what an extraordinary testament to the people of ukraine. >> people did not expect -- when i say people, i should say, u.s. military officials, intelligence officials, nato intelligence officials, all the estimates, at least that i was hearing, were,

they had a consensus that the government, that the military would not be able to hold out this long against a russian onslaught. what changed that calculation was zelenskyy. she's showed a tremendous fighting spirit. ukrainians are not in the same place that they were in 2014, when russian took over crimea. they're much more united. they are much more aware of the risk and the russian military offensive has not looked to be as cohesive as many were expecting. when you have the extinction of these three factors, a russian military offensive that has struggled with supply issues, struggled apparently with morale issues, and we've seen quite a few issues of russian vehicles left abandoned with the weapons inside, and the ukrainian leadership here with zelenskyy and the people united behind him, it means that the city is still hanging on strong, two

weeks into this conflict and showing no signs of surrendering, no signs of weakness. there are checkpoints everywhere. people are volunteering, they are coming out, they are helping each other. the main issue is the areas that are really now on the front lines, like mariupol, where there are 400,000 people cut off from food, water, power. those front line areas to the north of kyiv, kharkiv, several areas in these countries that are really open fire zones. >> most of the people who are fleeing are women and children, men are staying behind to fight most of them. what kind of help are they receiving in lviv? >> reporter: jose, yeah, look, we've been spending a lot of time at the lviv central train station. it is chaotic and confusing when people arrive here.

they're often coming off 24-hour traumatic train rides. and what's interesting about the people fleeing now versus two weeks ago, is that people have seen likely a lot more conflict and a lot more violence. they held on at home for just that much longer. i want to share with you some sound. we did get up to a private room, jose, with really just young mothers and the youngest children, it was a place for them to catch their breath. 5-year-old miraslav and mother natalia left zaporizhzhia. >> you left your husband? >> yeah. >> reporter: but she's safe. >> reporter: natalia says miraslava finally believes that once again. olga and 9-year-old sonia left kharkiv as the bombing intensified. russian air strike evers minute, she says. the circle getting smaller and smaller around their house. but here, there's still smiles and plenty of hugs to go around. there were still some smiles out there, jose.

but look, i think the population of women that we are meeting now is very different than the people that came two weeks ago. a lot of women don't really have relatives abroad or the means to travel around. not really sure whether they're going to stay here, wait it out. we did speak with some mothers who believe in their country, who believe in their army, in their brothers who are back in the east fighting, who want to see if they can wait it out, here in lviv, in the relative safety of the west before going back home. >> molly hunter and richard engel, thank you so much for being with us this morning. joining us now is alexandra in kyiv. give us a sense of what things are like in the capital? >> we are preparing for the next massive russian attack. so everybody in kyiv, now in their own places and provide general resistance. >> how are you and your family

doing. how are you dealing with this, just -- i restored the initiative, which we created and we work with them in the prevention of war crimes. >> how are people there dealing with this, every day? we're in day 14 of this invasion. >> like people in the war, who couldn't stop it without assistance over reaction, over international community. >> what would you say to the international community? what are your words for people watching. >> we are very grateful for solidarity and we feel it. it's provided us courage to continue our struggle. but we need proactive actions, because we really need fighter

planes. we need ar defense system. we need something which can help us to protect our civilians from targeted shelling by russian missiles. >> thank you for being with us this morning. very much appreciate your time. . in what could be a step back for ukrainian efforts to get the fighter jets that alexandra was talking about to push back against russia, the pentagon has rejected an unexpected offer from poland to have the u.s. take custody of soviet-era fighter jets that would then be transferred to ukraine, saying the offer is not tenable. this plan deferred from a previous proposal to have poland deliver the jets directly to the ukrainians. the ukrainian president slammed the decision earlier today.

>> the president there saying, we need those planes. quit playing ping-pong. this is not a ping-pong game. with us now is nbc news pentagon correspondent, courtney kube. great seeing you. what does the pentagon mean by the polish proposal not tenable? >> so this is really about logistics, at the end of the day. the u.s. has said in the past that they are in favor, and they would support the idea of poland transferring these mig fighter jets from poland to ukraine. but that's the key point here. the agreement of this actually happening was between poland and ukraine. poland came out, surprised the united states yesterday, by announcing that they were willing to transfer all of their mig fighter jets, directly to the u.s., in germany. that was the part that no one had been tracking here at the pentagon, at the state department, the administration seemed caught completely by surprised by that announcement.

what the u.s. was willing to do, and what they were looking into was the possibility of back filling those polish jets in poland potentially with some f-16 fighter jets. now, that's not easily as said as it is done, jose. it's not like the u.s. has a bunch of these things sitting around that they can just send over. but they were looking at trying to get some used jets to poland, something to back fill this capability. so poland wouldn't be caught without their air force and without their capabilities. >> so, it just seems like, in the poland proposal was, we don't need the planes to come in before we give these planes to the ukrainians, right? in other words, is it a game of ping-pong here? if the planes are available and they're willing to give them, what's untenable about that? >> so, it's the -- it's the logistics of sending them from germany, with the u.s. being in charge of them, to send them into ukraine. number one, the u.s. doesn't fly migs. the polish military does, the

united states military does not. it doesn't really make sense to send them to germany and have u.s. -- the u.s. transfer them into ukraine. not to mention, if you just look at a map, poland is closer to ukraine than germany is, so why send them further away, only to fly them back in? that's one piece. the reality is that president zelenskyy is right. he is caught in the middle of this back and forth, where the reality is, poland did not want to transfer them directly to ukraine because of the danger of sending them in. russia has -- not only do they have this extremely contested air space over ukraine right now, where the reality is, russia controls more of the air space than ukraine does. they don't have full control of the air space, but they do control more of it. and it's not just that. the places that ukraine is still able to fly, it is contested, it is dynamic, it is extremely dangerous for manned aircraft to fly over there. so bringing these migs in, flying them in, is a dangerous mission. not to mention the russians have s-400s over northern ukraine.

they're actually in belarus. but they control the air space or they have some control over the air space. if the polish government or the united states or whomever was to fly these migs in, there is a very real possibility that they could be shot down. haas the logistical hurdle that people are talking about here. it's not that it's impossible, that it's such a long distance or any of that, but it is an extremely dangerous mission. and that's what people are taking into account here when they talk about this actually happening, jose. >> courtney kube, thank you for this very clear explanation. i really appreciate it. >> thanks. still ahead, how the u.s. ban on russian oil will impact american families at the gas pump. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." mp you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports.

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20 past the hour. people across the country are having to make tough choices as they face skyrocketing gas prices. in just one week, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas nearly 60%, 60 cents to $4.25, according to aaa. gas prices continue to tick up a, after the u.s. banned the imports of russian oil. joining me now from los angeles, nbc news business and tech correspondent, jo ling kent. jo, good morning. what about the rise in gas prices? they're almost like instantaneous, going up and up and up. >> reporter: yeah, certainly, the global market's driving these oil prices up, and the reason we're here on ventura

place in los angeles this morning, that it's not just oil and gas prices that are being affected. it is everything. restaurants, coffee jobs, boutiques, the retail stores, all across the board, girding for the prices to hit their bottom line. and of course, gas prices have been increasing over the past several months. the biggest spike certainly happening over the past couple of weeks. and we've been talking to drivers, they do express that important perspective. that they do support the russian ban on oil by president biden, even if it means higher prices. a recent quinnipiac poll shows that 71% of those surveyed do support the russian ban on oil, even if it means that they have to pay more. the real question here is how much longer can small businesses and individuals sustain this. because right now, overall, inflation is 7.5%. tomorrow we get a new reading on inflation, expecting that to perhaps break records. and so it's a very difficult situation here in terms of economic and political outcomes, if you're looking at it from a

midterms perspective, if you will. but in terms of what it means for individuals. it means that people, 64% of americans, really, live paycheck to paycheck. if you're paying more for gasoline, it means you're siphoning off fund from what you're buying in terms of food, paying for medical bills, and everything in between. so we are seeing this willingness right now, this understanding, a lot of drivers trying to say that they do stand with ukrainians, but the question is, how long are they able to sustain the affordability piece of their own personal wallet and budget, jose. >> jo ling kent, thank you so much. with us now to take a closer look at this, eugene daniels, politico white house reporter and playbook co-author, as well as an msnbc contributor, and francisco malnaldi. eugene, what led to the president's decision to ban russian oil and gas imports? he did so unilaterally.

>> there was this pressure to find out ways to make it even more clear that they are cutting ties as many ways as they possibly can with russia. that was starting in congress. and the white house even just last week, when i was sitting in a press briefing, jen psaki, the press secretary was kind of waving off a little bit, and saying the idea that the president was going to do this, and that changed very quickly because of that building pressure. and this is a white house, that has proven that they don't want to be out of step with their leadership in the house, in the senate, and you saw speaker pelosi say that, you know, ban the oil. she made it very plain. so that's how that happened. and i will say, the white house has talked about and will continue to talk about ways in which they can make this easier for folks, because, this is going to, as the president said, raise prices at the pump, even if americans at this point are saying, they are willing to do

that, if it means helping the ukrainians, it is going to play out, especially as we get closer to midterms. >> francisco, the u.s. imported nearly 700,000 barrels of oil a day from russia, one of the places it's apparently looking out to make it up is venezuela. venezuela's state oil company has been devastated. i mean, it used to be it was one of the world's jewels as far as the industry, and now it's -- is venezuela able to do it if they wanted to, pump out 700,000, 800,000 additional barrels day? >> no, venezuela cannot add that much barrels, but it's a little bit less than 800,000 barrels per day. and most of it is sent to china, a little bit to cuba. but they cannot add more than probably 100,000 barrels, if the u.s. sort of allows them to export oil to the u.s. having said that, they can divert some of the oil that they

send to china, to their refineries in the gulf coast, and the heavy oil that venezuela produces is the kind of oil that some of these refineries take. but that will not make a dent in the oil price. it's important to understand that the price that americans pay comes from the price of oil at the international world market. >> how did they go from a crowned jewel of effectiveness to what it is today? >> it's a mix of corruption and the socialist ideology of president chavez made him extricate most of the international oil companies, so they stopped investing in venezuela. and he took, you know, more money out of national oil company than he could. he fired anyone that he felt was in a position, a person to him in the national company. so the company collapsed from producing more than 3 billion

barrels than what it's producing today. of course, u.s. sanctions in the last couple of years have also impacted the venezuelan oil industry. >> from 3 million a day to 8,000 a day. still ahead, we're live on the ground along the ukrainian polish border where some refugees are now being told to go elsewhere, because all the beds are taken. and those weary travelers are speaking out about their very difficult and dangerous journey. >> stop putin. we don't want to fight with anyone. we want to be in our home with our parents, children. we don't want to any countries. i we got the house! you did! pods handles the driving. pack at your pace. store your things until you're ready. then we deliver to your new home - across town or across the country.

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30 past the hour. the humanitarian crisis is escalating in eastern europe with more than 2 million people escaping war-torn ukraine. powerful images are emerging of this tragedy, like this. little ukrainian boy finishing an exhausting journey, crying as he walks into poland, along with his mother. take a look at this from a train

station in poland near the border. polish mothers leaving their strollers filled with supplies at the station for desperate ukrainian parents traveling with their children. joining us now, kelly cobiella, live from the polish border with ukraine. kelly, are you seeing something like that continue and just, it seems like it's increasing. >> yeah, well, we're one of the busier -- one of the busiest transit points, really. this train station. you can see how hectic as it's as we show you around here a little bit. this is the world central kitchen. they're handing out meals, sometimes the first hot meal that these people have had in days. you can get, down here, you can get free sim cards, so you can keep in touch with your family and friends. and there are signs offering rides to all different places, to estonia, offering consular assistance, to people from japan, and then there's a room here where women and children can just spend a little bit of time, warm up, rest up, before

they continue on. because, jose, the numbers here are not letting up at all. this town of 60,000 is essentially doubling every day, with refugees. about 50,000 people are coming in every day, on trains, and across the border, at the pedestrian border crossing. most of them are women and chirp. they have next to nothing. but what they're being told now by volunteers here is that they can't stay here. so even after this very long and often dangerous journey, after traveling for a good couple of days, they have to go on even further, because there simply are no beds. we spoke to a family today who was thinking of going to italy. they had arrived here after two days' travel. we're told that they couldn't find shelter here, so they were getting on a bus to warsaw. that's a five-hour journey. and if they couldn't find shelter there, planning to move on to germany. the u.n. high commissioner for

human rights has said that this is a logistical nightmare and really, jose, we've seen that play out on the ground. despite best efforts by a lot of volunteers, it's just a huge number of people who have nothing and who need complete support, jose? >> kelly cobiella, thank you. still ahead, congressman raul ruiz joins us with what he saw on his recent trip to poland. his take on the situation. also, as a doctor, next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. at ameriprise financial, our advice is personalized. based on your goals, whatever they may be. all that planning has paid off. looks like you can make this work. we can make this work. and the feeling of confidence that comes from our advice? i can make this work.

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37 past the hour. the conflict in ukraine, now two weeks old. we continue to see widespread devastation. take a look at this video. our partners at sky news witnessed the most fragile citizens of ukraine, the elderly, the sick, the very young, making this journey across this makeshift bridge outside of the capital. for more of what it is like on the ground, we're joined by terrell jermaine star, who is in

western ukraine. he is the host of black diplomats podcast and is a non-resident senior fellow at eurasia center at the atlantic council. thank you so much, terrell, for being with us. how you doing? how are things changing where you are? >> i'm much better now than i was in the beginning of the war, thank you for asking. with regards to how things are developing, now we are into the second week in which the ukrainian military has been fighting very bravely and actually winning in the casualties against russian soldiers right now. there's a major humanitarian effort and process to get as many women and children in particular outside of the country. in addition to my journalism, i have been helping a few families make it to the border. even if you're able to leave a conflict area or not, there is, for example, a trip from kyiv to

lviv, which would ordinarily take eight hours. it takes a day and a half or maybe two days because of the dozens of checkpoints you have to go through and also looking for places to stay, because very few places are available. you have to rely on networks, friendships, families, et cetera to get through. it's a very specific travel process to do so. right now, it's a major humanitarian effort underway. this is almost difficult to fathom how widespread of an impact it's having throughout the entire country of ukraine. this as bombs are falling and civilians are dying. you've kris crossed that country, terrell. how do you describe what you're seeing, what you're witnessing? >> so right now i can tell you, in the first week, i missed a russian air strike by a matter of 200 meters.

i have seen territorial defense units literally kill people who are expected of being russian saboteurs. i have witnessed hours-long check points in certain parts of the country. i have witnessed civilian areas that have been hit by russian air strikes. you also see an overwhelming number of people who have come together. ukrainian citizens, who are assisting whether or not that means bringing food to checkpoints for soldiers, whether they be volunteer or regular russian army. you see people walking around with clicker any kofs where that would generally be unheard of. so you see humanity at its finest. you see a mixture of people coming together, working to ensure that they will survive

this russian military onslaught. and you see the travails of what it means to be a refugee and internally displaced person. >> and you came in contact with a family who was trying to leave ukraine as they sought cancer treatment for their mom. tell me about that. >> me and a good friend of mine, andray, we assisted a family who one of the members, a member who has a particular form of cancer, and she really needed assistance to get to the polish border, through my personal contacts, i was able to help make sure she had a ride to get from kyiv to the border. that took almost two days, required an overnight stay, that was provided by someone who knew me on twitter who connected me to their sister.

the trip retired four because of this trip during the checkpoint. she was able to make it to lviv, where a bus -- where a lithuanian charter bus took her and dozens of other ukrainians across the polish border and into lithuania. that's one of the many stories that are happening here in ukraine. so part of this crisis is that you have people who have disabilities who are unable to move, people who are pregnant, who can't move without any other support. and people like irina who we assisted, who is a cancer patient, who needed very critical care, and that was able to happen, because people decided to band together in order to make sure that she was able to seek safety and get the medical care that she needed. >> terrell jermaine star, i thank you so much for being with us this morning. soy appreciate your voice.

>> thank you. still ahead, congressman raul ruiz joins us, just back from a congressional trip to the polish/ukraine border. what he says the u.s. needs to do, what he saw, and how he feels about it. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." it you're watching os"je diaz-balart reports. ♪ ♪ ♪a little bit of chicken fried♪ ♪cold beer on a friday night♪ ♪a pair of jeans that fit just right♪ ♪and the radio up well i've seen the sunrise...♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's

46 after the hour. happening right now in ukraine, a health care disaster is unfolding in the midst of the russian invasion. critical medical supplies like oxygen, running low. health care centers like this one are facing intense shelling by russian forces. this hospital building now completely destroyed. in mariupol, a local official says russian bombing has destroyed a children's hospital there. president zelenskyy says children are in the wreckage. nbc news has not verified this yet. joining us now, democratic congressman raul ruiz of california. he was part of a bipartisan delegation just returned from the polish/ukrainian border. he's also an emergency physician. congressman, it's a pleasure to see you. what stuck out to you about what you saw on this trip? >> well, what i saw when we visited the border of ukraine and spoke with the ukrainian governor of lviv were hundreds

of families, women and children, the elderly, some disabled children with autism and disabilities on wheelchairs, crossing in tears, exhausted, exacerbated, and in fear of not knowing what to expect, moving over. that was the human tragedy. but in the midst of that human tragedy, what i didn't see were large refugee camps. those camps that you're accustomed to seeing in a crisis like this. and that is because the polish people have stood up and taken the refugees into their own homes, feeding them, sheltering them, clothing them. oftentimes, two families, even in a two-bedroom apartment, if they have to. and so we didn't see the massive concentration of refugees at the polish border. they had welcoming centers that were shelters with medical professionals and providers there, waiting to take care of them, supplies, food was being served. but that's going to end soon,

jose, because the first wave of individuals that went are people with resources, money, passports, their documents, and friends and family in other places that were assisting them to move to other locations. now the second wave is going to be even more people, and you're going to see more of those that are immobile, you're going to see more of the sick, the elderly, pregnant women and more children that were -- it wasn't so easy to leave and escape the first time. now they're going to come in droves. >> and congressman, what an extraordinary lesson the polish people are giving the world. what a message, right? congressman, the world health organization is warning that critical medical supplies, oxygen, et cetera, are running low in ukraine. the largest children's hospital in kyiv has already been evacuated. what do you think congress, we as americans, could do to help this crisis? >> well, jose, you know, first of all, it's an outrage and a

violation of international humanitarian law to attack civilians, to attack hospitals, to attack providers, especially humanitarians who are under the law being neutral. and therefore, those actions are considered considered crimes of war. but the united states can send all the money that we can and this week we're going to be voting on billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid. but here's the bottleneck, jose. the bottleneck is that in order for humanitarians and the aid to get in to the noncombatants and the people and the patients, you need a cease-fire. you need vladimir putin and president zelenskyy to negotiate with a third party, icrc, the commissioner that i spoke with, you need perhaps another country to come in and negotiate humanitarian corridors with

cease-fires that are honored. at this point russia is shelling. they're saying they have a cease-fire but a few hours later they'll start shooting people. you see them shooting women and children with their suitcases that have been escaping. so this is an outrage. that is why i told secretary of state blinken while we were in poland that the number one most immediate need is to provide cover and humanitarian safe zone so that the humanitarian, the aid can go in, the patients can come out and those that are noncombatant, women, children, disabled, elderly and the sick can evacuate before it's too late. >> congressman, can this be done? zelenskyy's been asking over and over again for a no-fly zone. is that something that maybe the world community could do? >> one, we need to make sure that they have the equipment to protect their skies. and so that way it won't be -- it will be more difficult for

russia to bomb from the skies. the other thing is under these negotiated diplomatic conditions, there could be a truce between the global community between nato and others or perhaps a third party like israel or others to help monitor the skies to come in during the cease-fire to ensure there's a no-fly zone during that time. but we know that if there is a nato plane, a nato air force pilot on that plane, then that would be direct combat with russia and we would be entering a war with russia. and that's something that the president's been very clear that we don't want because that could easily escalate to much more casualties, american as well as the nuclear threat. >> congressman ruiz, thank you so much for being with us. i so appreciate your voice.

>> thank you. >> up next, what could ukraine double against the military forces. against the military forces

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any city. it's good to see you. is there an off ramp for putin the way things are going now? how does this end for him? >> well, that's the dilemma senior u.s. and nato officials are thinking about 24/7. putin real faces a difficult choice. his forces are having trouble succeeding in ukraine. to succeed they'll have to batter the country in a way that will only deepen russia's isolation. so essentially their choices, first they altered the goals they had, initially demanded ukraine foreswear any nato membership ever. do they adjust that somewhat? there were signs over the last week they were changing those demands but we'll have to see. second and worryingly, they could decide to escalate in a

horizontal way, attacking other countries and attacking in the persian gulf where we have many vulnerable nations. they could attack vertically with an escalation across the united states. we've had putin talk about nuclear weapons, in effect threaten their use in an extraordinary way. so putin faces a dilemma. the one thing that's clear i think, jose, is that putin is not going to get a win out of this. he may get a settlement. i think any person would like to see a diplomatic ending out of this terrible conflict. >> putin's idol, stalin, didn't do everything by himself. at different times he was surrounded by people who he eventually killed, but that really supported that system. who does putin have? who are the people that are permitting him to take these decisions almost unilaterally? >> good question.

he, like other russian soviet predecessors, has consolidated power so radically. i'm told he has only three people very hard line who he turns to, trusts, his fsb chief. penetrating that circle is very difficult. will unhappiness within russia become so great that people go and say, mr. president, i must see you, i must warn you of the dangers ahead to the country we love. in the movies it might happen that way, but in today's russia, it's hard to imagine. putin doesn't have a military that is capable of creating an action on the battlefield when it faces reversals that could

have done better with the situation. we're seeing that. this is too top down, too linear. it's always a pleasure to see you. that wraps up the hour for me. thank you for the privilege of your time. craig melvin picks up with more news right now. a good wednesday to you. craig melvin here. we are following several major developments this hour with russia's invasion of ukraine. in about 15 minutes we expect to hear from secretary of state antony blinken. and also congress taking new action, striking