since then the national average for a gallon of gas has gone up 62 cents. yesterday i filled up my car, a jeep, $118. this is something americans are grappling with. that does it for us this morning. we continue our coverage as chris jansing picks up the coverage. good morning. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters here in new york city. it is thursday, march 10th. this morning, ukraine and the rest of the world reeling from a new level of atrocity. the russian bombing of a maternity hospital in mariupol that buried children, doctors, and pregnant women in piles of rubble. at least three people, including a child, were killed in that attack. it alds new urgency to the latest appeal from ukrainian president zelenskyy for the west to protect his country with a no-fly zone. >> don't wait me asking you several times, a million times, close the sky. no. you have to phone us to our

people who lost their children and say sorry, we didn't do i want yesterday, one week ago, we didn't push putin, we didn't speak with him a lot, we didn't found -- find a dial-up with him, we did nothing. >> this morning russian and ukrainian foreign ministers melt in turkey. these are the highest level talks between the two countries since the war started, but sergey lavrov used it as an opportunity to spread more lies. he claimed that the maternity hospital had no patients in it, said it was being used by ukrainian fighters. he claimed that the west was to blame for the war and then he said this. take a listen. >> we are very concerned all this information that came to light that pentagon has created a few dozens of biological laboratories on the ukrainian territory as part of their

program of creating these laboratories all over the world. >> that's lavrov repeating the lie the russian foreign ministry told yesterday, claiming that the u.s. and ukraine have been working together on a bio weapons program. the administration called that allegation absurd but warns that russia could use it as a pretext for launching its own chemical or biological attack. even if that doesn't happen, the war appears to be moving into a more destructive phase at it enters week three. while the russian advance has slowed down, it has not stopped and the bombing have intensified. look at this video out of a city two hours west of kyiv where two war hospitals were bombed. there were no injuries, but the world health organization says there have been 18 confirmed attacks on hospitals and ambulances during the war. in mariupol, residential buildings are being bombed once again today. 1,200 people have died in that one city alone according to the

ukrainian government. the people there desperate, starving, cutting down trees for heat. >> translator: we don't have electricity. we don't have anything to eat. we don't have medicine. we have nothing. >> and if that isn't bad enough, the weather is about to take a turn for the worse. temperatures in ukraine will plunge to their lowest levels of the winter this weekend. windchills forecast below zero. all this making evacuations taking place throughout the country all the more critical. the ukrainian government says 60,000 people were able to escape the war zone on wednesday, and those evacuations are continuing today. more than 2.3 million people have fled the country already. now, right now, vice president harris is in poland meeting with some of those refugees. she also met with the polish president and prime minister. harris set to meet with u.s. troops tomorrow before heading

to romania. so much to talk about. we've got nbc's allie in lviv, brendan kearney, helene cooper from "the new york times," and megan stack, an award-winning war correspondent. she was moscow bureau chief for the "l.a. times" and is currently at george washington university where she is a fellow. megan, i want to start with the lies about this maternity hospital. no patients when we can see the pictures of pregnant women being carried out. does this demand a new level of response from the u.s. and the west, maybe a better way to put it? how much does this amp up the pressure? >> well, i mean, i think it's another strike against civilians in a conflict that has been, you know, marked with attacks on civilians. i think -- i don't know what the response should be. it's not my job to decide how people respond to aggression,

but russia has a track record of bombing hospitals in syria and chechnya. this isn't exactly new war-time behavior from the russians, so i think, as horrible as it is to see these images, we have to remember this has happened before, and i think we can expect this to continue if if these peace talks don't come up with some kind of an offer ramp. >> the stories of suffering are devastating, children alone trying to get out of the country, doctors reporting already ukrainians have serious cases of hypothermia and frostbite, the range of horror we see going on. what can you tell us about efforts to get people out of the war zone? >> hey, chris. well, i mean, it is not going particularly well. mariupol is in a terrible situation right now. it's not just the hospital as the ukrainian authorities are saying here. 400,000 people are being kemtd hostage in mariupol without energy, without water, without

electricity, even president zelenskyy said that one child died in mariupol yesterday because he didn't have any water, of dehydration. so the situation is desperate there. the humanitarian corridor that the russians said they would keep open hasn't been kept open. that corridor has been bombed. there's no way into mariupol or out of mariupol. many of the surrounding cities are in the same situation. the only place that the humanitarian corridor worked was summi, people allowed to get out and travel west. but the rest of the area is a disaster zone. the ukrainian authorities have said some of the offers that have been made by the russians are just unacceptable to create a corridor for ukrainians to go to russia or belarus. they said that's just not an option for their citizen, and there's one of the reasons why they can't come to some sort of understanding about how to get these people out because they just can't agree on any of the

corridors and the russians are not playing nice. >> ali, thank you. i know you have to do more reporting. please stay safe there. general, that brings me to this big picture, what you heard ali say, people desperate to get out of the country. they're bombing hospitals a ul over the country. the uk says russia has confirmed russia sb using vacuum bombs. this seems to be galvanizing the resistance. you think they'd be exhausted right now. what do you see? what is the status of this war as you assess it? >> well, i think the situation obviously is dire. it's being exasperated by this cold weather front that is coming in that makes it so very difficult on the civilians, the innocents, and makes it also tough on the russian attackerings and the ukrainian defenders. the ukrainian forces are primarily stationary in their defensive positions so it's a little bit easier to stay warm that way. but for the russian attackers,

this just makes their lives miserable from a logistics perspective. it just makes it so much harder for the russians, which is what we want to see. again, this absolute disaster is something they brought on themselves. >> colonel, do you see that the dynamic has shifted? because there was a lot of thought that a lot of what the ukrainians were doing was delaying the inevitable, that the russian troops' overwhelming firepower would prevail. colonel, do you see a shift here? >> well, you know, i've argued since the beginning that, although we've used terms like overwhelming, it really isn't. they vastly underresourced the offensive actions they've taken in ukraine. this almost 200,000 men is a fraction of what they should have done if they really were going to professionally conduct

this type of offensive operation. so, they're underresourced. their lines of communication, their logistics issues have all stretched to the limit, and i think that's one of the reasons we see such little action on the ground right now other than this horrendous bombardment taking this war to the civilians, which they're just sitting there. and shame on russia for the type of come bat they're conducting against innocent civilians. >> yeah. that's especially what president zelenskyy said. you're bombing a maternity war. what kind of country does that? did you think that the pregnant women were going to be firing on your troops? helene, that brings me to vice president harris. she is in poland and in the middle of this debate about a no-fly zone and whether jets can be provided to ukraine. let me play what john kirby said yesterday. >> at this time, we believe the

provisional of additional fighter aircraft provides little increased capabilities at high risk. we also believe that there are alternative options that are much better suited to support the ukrainian military in their fight against russia. >> it seems, helene, that's a shift, not that this could trigger world war iii but it essentially wouldn't make a difference. what do you make of what we're hearing in terms of messaging on this? there's a lot of pressure on the biden administration to do something more. >> hi. thanks for having me, chris. the pentagon has been adamant from the start that this is for days now that they do not see the point of in the words of the pentagon these mig requests for poland, in part because pentagon officials say ukraine isn't really taking the battle to the skies anyway.

ukraine isn't really using the fighter jets that they have in dogfights in the sky against russian pilots. what they're doing very effectively is from the ground, which is they've got stinger anti-aircraft missiles which they're using to bring down russian planes, and the u.s. is much focused on giving them more of that, the javelins, the anti-tank missiles. they think going with the migs at this point would be too provak tich and could take this -- one of the things that the obama administration has been trying not to do is to escalate this further with russia. they think that might be a red line for putin, which could up what he does in response. so that is the pentagon line right now. >> obviously, megan, the talks continue, but they didn't seem to amount to anything this morning. "the times" says -- "the new york times" says there has been

what officials call this subtle shift in putin's language and behavior, maybe indicating he might want some sort of off-ramp. do you see that? have you seen any shift in what we're seeing and hearing from russia? >> i think that if you watch vladimir putin over many years you will find that there are multiple moments people will say his tone has shifted. there's always this kremlinology in trying to read into what he's doing and what he wants. i find it very difficult to predict at this point because this entire invasion has been so ill-advised and absolutely disastrous for him. so, you know, rationally he should certainly be booking looking for an off-ramp, although to be honest, things have gone so far it's very hard to foresee his future. even if, let's suppose, he makes a deal and the invasion ends, let's say he keeps control of

the two republics in the east as well as l the pence lashgs is he then going to resume his role as a world leader? he's had very badly damaged relationships with almost all the countries in the world. he has, you know, incurred sanctions. it's just very hard to see what he is envisioning as his future at this point. and that makes it a bit scary. >> but in the meantime, helene, he continues to fight, and as you said, the pentagon has made it clear jets aren't in the offing, so short of that, and understanding that -- exactly what president zelenskyy said overnight, is every day you wait, every week you wait, more innocent civilians have died because we waited, what else might be on the table? what else is being talked about right now, helene? >> chris, you're really hitting the essence of this very fine

line that the united states is trying to walk. president zelenskyy is understandably calling for war action from nato and from the united states because he is being bombarded, his troops are fighting valiantly, they've held the russian forces off in so many areas, they've embarrassed putin, but at the same time, the more the united states does, are we going to risk going to war with a nuclear armed russia? and that is the quandary right now facing america and nato. how far do you go to help ukraine defend itself? and are you willing to risk going into any kind of military confrontation with russia? so when we talk about how much more the united states and nato can do, we have to define it

that way. people have to be very clear about what they're asking and what is on the table when we're saying that the west needs to do more. you start talking about a no-fly zone, for instance, over ukraine, that means you're saying that american pilots should go in there and enforce it and be willing to shoot down russian planes if they enter this no-fly zone. that is a -- that is, you know -- that can easily turn into war. so that's something i think that the public discussion of this needs to encompass, be very clear about what we're saying when we say nato and the united states should do more. >> helene cooper, colonel, and megan stack thanks to all of you. with russian attacks targeting more civilians, u.s. officials are concerned russia could use chemical weapons. is there any line putin could cross that would force the united states to get more involved? i'll ask neld price ahead.

but first he went from playing president to being president. now he's standing up for his country and against putin. we'll talk to a former tom adviser to ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy next. xt ♪♪ why don't you do cool spins? uh, people need to read it. i can't read it. [ chuckles ] that's 'cause you're like 4. 4 1/2. switch to progressive, and you can save hundreds. you know, like the sign says. ♪ ♪ ♪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

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in another of his widely watched videos overnight, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskiy appeared near tear, reacting to the deadly air strike on a maternity hospital. and his former press secretary yuliya mendel posted this photo,

writing, "never forget the real face of putin's russia." she's been posting frequent updates on twitter and last week wrote an op-ed for "the washington post" warning of a pending humanitarian disaster in her hometown, kherson. she joins me from western ukraine. thanks for taking the time. there does seem to be a shift in tone from your boss, president zelenskyy, your former boss. he's gone it seems from rallying support and was successful at it getting more money and sanctions from the west so almost trying to shame them for not doing more. anybody who follows you on twitter knows you share his frustration. what do you want people to know right now? >> thank you for having me today. i think the world should be tire offend the continuing actions in ukraine. this is the 15th day where we

are suffering the military invasion of russia. and so many people have died already. i just want to tell you that i -- just before going and they are telling me they already feel there were signs coming back. they have shortage of food already. it takes time. it would mean that russians bombarded mental health hospital, which is in the outskirts of kherson. they actually picked a part where there was -- food for 24 hours. people are concerned that beam mental disease didn't have enough food so buying food from paris. this is what putin is doing when

he occupies territory, sometimes bombing and killing people. it's much worse in mariupol where people are taking mortar from the melting snow -- water from radiators in their homes not to have dehydration. we don't have time anymore. every time when we say it takes time, we need to understand that it takes ukrainians' lives. and we don't know how long it will be lasting, how many lives to defend our country. so president zelenskyy is of course trying to reach president putin and explain that people make decisions and we see that all our opportunities, all our attempts at this, they are doing without. what president zelenskyy is asking for is impose a no-fly

zone and the majority of ukrainians are supporting this decision. we understand there are some ways the west has spoken about. this is first thing. the second thing is that there is definitely the threat of nuclear catastrophe from russia. russia occupies the nuclear power plant. they also do not allow us to access the power plant, which is ten times more powerful than the other power plant. and also, you know, we fear some

time of chemical weaponry. we of course feel like, you know, we are here waiting for different kinds of weaponry to be used against us. yesterday, john kirby's statement about it's not time yet extra to ukraine actually shows that the miscommunication in the u.s. government as four days ago we heard from mr. blinken, the head of state department, they could provide extra military from may toe countries. we were asking for no-fly zone, but if we don't get it, why don't we get the extra jets? they just try to fight this and big miscommunication, which is very disappointing for ukrainians because we are being killed. let me say another very

important fact. it takes a lot of time and takes a lot of ukrainian lives to provide us the military support that we need. this military the united states put under -- >> iuliia mendel, thank you so much. we are losing -- we are breaking up and we're having trouble now understanding. but thank you so much for your time. i want to go straight to state department spokesman ned price. ned, i don't know how much of that you were able to catch, but her point is and you've heard this before from the ukrainian president, you have the threat on the ground. you see yesterday the horror of people being brought out of a maternity hospital bloodied. we know at least one child died,

others died. she's also talking about the very real pocket that seems more urgent than it did two weeks ago when this war started about a nuclear threat, a chemical weapons threat. she is asking the question why aren't we doing more, why aren't we doing the no-fly zone. and if not that, why not at least more jets? >> well, chris, first of all, the scenes that you've referred to including the strike yesterday in mariupol against the maternity hospital, look, they are abhorrent, they're despicable, they're shocking. unfortunately, they have become par for mr. putin's playbook. so that is why at every turn we have sought to be responsive to the needs of ukraine and to be responsive to what we hear from president zelenskyy, from what we hear from foreign minister that putin met with. over the course of the last year, we've provided a billion

dollars worth of security assistance, more than $250 million in recent days alone. and we're going to do more. with thanks to congress, soon we expect to have more than $13 billion to work with, about half of which will provide ukraine the defensive security assistance it needs. when it comes to the planes, though, the challenge is that the threat ukraine faces is better designed for surface-to-air systems. these are systems that we have provided to ukraine in the past, and the department of defense is looking into options to provide additional such systems so their ukrainian partners can be more effective in taking on the precise threats that we are seeing wreak such havoc, wreak such destruction across ukraine right now. >> you know the president of ukraine disagrees with that analysis. he believes it's something he needs. in fact, i want to play for you his response to what the u.s. has said about why it can't do some of the things he's asking

for. take a listen. >> so it would be worse for whom? for our families? no. for whom? for them? no. who knows? nobody knows. but we know exactly that now is very bad. and in future, it will be too late. and believe me, believe me, if it's prolonged this way, yes, you will see, they will close the sky but will lose millions of people. >> so too late is his point, that he believes at some point if it goes on this way the west is going to realize that it has gone too far and they have to intervene, but in the meantime, so many more innocent people are going to die, ned. >> well, first, president zelenskyy has been an inspiration not only for his people but for the world. the courage, the dignity, the

bravery he's exemplified is something we have marvelled at. as you know, president biden has had a number of discussions with president zelenskyy, as i just mentioned. we met with his foreign minister inside ukraine territory a couple days ago. that's why we've continued to be responsive to the needs of our ukrainian partners, a billion dollars in the past year and more than $250 million in recent days alone. but this goes back to what i was saying before, there are two concerns with the specific proposal that -- as it pertains to the planes. you heard this from the department of defense yesterday. first, the department of defense has concluded that what ukraine needs to take on the russian assets that are causing such destruction, the missiles, the rockets, the artillery are not planes, but these are surface-to-air systems and systems we have provided ukraine and are looking at options to provide even more. the other point, an important

one, our goal is to bring this conflict to an end. our goal is to put an end to this aggression. we do not want to see this conflict expand. we do not want to see more bloodshed. we do not want to see more countries and more entities dragged into what is already a dech stating conflict. the concern, and we've heard this from the intelligence community, is that if planes are provided to ukraine in this manner, it could be seen as escalatory. so we are going to remain focused on doing everything we can to save lives, to ensure that this conflict doesn't expand, to ensure that our ukrainian partners have what they need to take on precisely the threats they are facing from the russian federation. >> let me ask you about -- because i know you have to go -- the possibility of any kind of diplomatic solution and off-ramp for vladimir putin, because after watching children being killed, after watching pregnant women hit with air strikes, watching mass graves being dug, ned, how does the ukrainian negotiator sit down across from

the russian foreign minister, one? and two, how does he talk to someone who lies repeatedly, whose boss lies repeatedly? how do you make progress under those circumstances? how do you trust a word that they say? >> well, we don't trust, chris. i think that's our operating assumption. and we have plenty of reason to operate with that principle in mind as do our ukrainian partners. you heard from the foreign minister before he took part in the latest round of diplomatic discussions with his russian counterpart today in turkey, that they had low expectations for this round of diplomacy. we are on precisely the same page with those low expectations. i think as of this morning, it is unclear to us whether even those low expectations have been met. at every turn before the invasion and now during this war of choice, the russian federation has engaged in something that we call the pretense of diplomacy. that is to say that russia goes through the motions, sometimes

quite theatrically, sometimes at quite high levels, to give the impression that they are interested in a diplomatic solution when all we see them investing in is this war machine, this effort to aggress pon ukraine and brutalize the ukrainian people. but russia has two problems. one, its war effort is not going to plan. putin has severely miscalculated. he's encountered stiff resistance the ukrainians have mounted with our massive security assistance that we continue to provide. the next challenge is that the economic measures, the sanctions, the export controls, the other measures that we've put in place have had a devastating effect on the russian economy, the russian financial system, the ruble is literally worth less than a penny at the moment. the russian stock market has been closed for days in an

effort to prevent capital flight. companies are fleeing moscow by the second. and so president putin is under significant pressure. that pressure will continue to increase, both on the battlefield in ukraine but also on his economy and ultimately his strategic positioning. regardless of what happens. in the coming days, if russia manages a tactual victory, takes a city or town, russia will have -- will be in a strategically weaker position when this is all said and done. we see elements of this already now. but the converse of that is that the international community, nato, we are more purposeful, more united, we are stronger regardless of what comes to pass in the coming days. so we are going to continue to support a diplomatic path to bring this conflict to an end with everything we can. we're behind our ukrainian partners 100% in this effort and will continue to be. >> ned price, thank you. appreciate it.

>> thank you. still ahead, new inflation numbers that show prices continue to rise at 40-year highs as gas prices climb as well, which begs the question -- are the american people actually willing to deal with it just to support ukraine?

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therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores. breaking news, the new numbers just out this morning shows inflation rose 7.9% year over year in february. this is the highest number in nearly 40 years. at the same time, gas prices reached another record, $4.32 a gallon this morning. let's go to jo ling kent. we've talked about the trickle-down effect. restaurant owners might have to raise their prices. what are you hearing? >> reporter: they don't want to do that, but the staggering inflation, one thing is very real, the pace of inflation is picking up again. here in the mountain west region, it's the worst in the nation. we have brand-new numbers. inflation here in wyoming and across the mountain west 9.7% year over year. that is nearly 10%, about two

points higher than the rest of the country. this is hitting everything from food prices like chicken, gasoline, of course, and hitting restaurant food as well. we talked to brian, the owner of in restaurant raunt in cheyenne and he's trying not to raise prices but he may have to. listen to this. >> there's times where they're going to have to add a fuel surcharge. there's times when they aren't going to be able to get us the product not necessarily because the product isn't available but they have to pay to get the product to their warehouse, and then we have to pay again to get it here, and somebody's paying that bill. it ultimately becomes us or our guests. >> reporter: now, the albany restaurant likes to serve chicken and all kinds of protein, standard. chicken prices are up a whopping 120% driven by that inflation number in wyoming. across the board looking at the numbers and what's being impacted by inflation, you're seeing some of the biggest

increases on record. i'm talking about furniture, chicken, toys, baby food, all across the board here. in fact, brian there at the albany restaurant says that the price for a liter and a half of jamison is now up by $10 a bottle compared to last year. you can imagine that bottom line being hit very hard. he says i don't want to raise my prices, i love being a community restaurant, but i may have to soon. chris? >> yeah. you can understand why. joining us, republican congressman brian fitzpatrick from pennsylvania, co-chair of the congressional ukraine caucus just back from the poland-ukraine border with a bipartisan delegation. let's talk money first at home. you voted for the bill the house passed last night banning russian oil and energy productings after president biden announced that ban earlier this week. look, polls show the vast majority of american people support that. but when you support that, when you look at the gas price numbers and the inflation numbers, you wonder how long

americans can hang in there. what's your thought on that? >> thanks for having me, chris. a small percentage, and this is a reflection of the poll they're referring to, a very small percentage of the bump-up in gas prices has to do with the conflict in ukraine right now. we've seen prices rise due largely to energy policy adopted in the last year, shutting down the keystone xl pipeline, the thumbs down for the mediterranean pipeline, and green lighting the nord stream 2 people line, which thankfully has been eliminated. a lot of decisions have been made over the past year that have led to higher gas prices, that the marginal bump-up we're seeing now regarding the conflict in eastern europe, that is, you know, a small piece of this, but i think that is a small piece that people are going to pay in order to protect lives in ukraine. >> well, let me ask you about this, because your governor, tom wolf, joined the governors of

five other states this week calling for a federal gas tax holiday. is that something you support? >> if it helps give relief at the pump, yeah. we have to work out the economics of it, but, you know, i think it's important, chris, we dissect properly and break down what is all part and parcel of the increase in prices we're seeing, particularly -- >> i understand that, congressman, but you're a politician, you know this better than i do, people are just looking and saying can you help us, can you give us some relief. >> sure. and we ought to give them that releech, chris, for sure. anything that does that we have to do. >> let me ask you about ukraine, because it is somewhat personal for you. you lived and worked in that country assen fbi agent before being elected to congress. you helped in counterintelligence operations, so you know this. what did you see when you were at the border? and in terms of cyber in particular, is there more we can and should be doing? >> it was absolutely

heartbreaking, chris, being at the poland/ukrainian border. as you know, men in ukraine ages 18 to 60 are not permitted to leave, and they want to stay and fight for their country. there's between 12 million and 15 million men in ukraine ages 18 to 60, and we had to see some horrifying images, chris, of these men bringing their wives and children to the border, dropping them off, embracing them for what may very well be the last time they see them. the ukrainian army is outnumbered 10 to 1 by the russians, outmatched from a technological standpoint. my concern, chris, and listening to some of your other interviews, that vladimir putin amongst all the other heartache is going to be creating an entire generation of widow es and orphans in ukraine. it's heartbreaking. there's more we need to be doing also in terms of defensive weapons. >> republican congressman brian fitzpatrick, we are out of time. thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us.

we appreciate it. coming up, more than 300 corporations -- mcdonald's, starbucks, google, netflix -- all pulling business out of russia over the invasion of ukraine. we'll explain the role employers are playing and employees in that decision. ♪ ♪ ♪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

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beyond government sanctions against russia from the u.s. and allies, the economic pressure against putin is ramping up. more than 330 firms have announced withdrawals from russia, including some of the world's biggest names -- mcdonald's, starbucks, coca-cola. these moves are also prooufg popular with the american public. a recent poll showing 75% of americans back corporations cutting business ties with russia. we bring in is een yor associate dean at yale school of management. andrew ross sorkin is with cnbc. andrew, give us some perspective. this has all happened so incredibly quickly. let's face it, speed isn't always something big corporations are known for. what's driving it? >> look, it's unprecedented, and in truth, your guest, jeffry son

fed, has had a large role in it behind the scenes. lots of conversations between business leaders trying to take a stand at least publicly. the question of course is going to be how long this lasts, what is the red line, do they return at some point assuming and hoping that things get better? and also thinking about -- i don't know if these are voluntary sanctions, how you think about the role of china in all of this. i think there is some concern among many of these companies about what it means to leave a place like russia and whether that actually creates a bigger role for china in the future. so there are two sides to these stories always. >> all right. so let me start with one thing, jeffrey. i want to play something for you that you said yesterday on "morning joe." >> there's so much feedback inside these firms of vocal workers who can leave this it's not just the customers, but you look at the chat groups. people are furious and ashamed if their companies are on the

wrong side of history. that's symbolically and substantively very important. >> jeffrey, there was a time like when i was starting out, if you didn't have long experience with a company, if you weren't a manager, you probably would never speak up. you would never be heard. this isn't that world anymore. . tell me a little bit more about that and some of the conversations you've had with business leaders. >> thank you very much, chris, it's an honor to join you and, of course, join andrew and holding me accountable as i'm trying to hold other people accountable for yesterday's remarks. i'm glad i changed my tie today. as andrew said, this is unprecedented to some extent andrew had a lot to do withholding up accountability on gun safety issues, voting rights, a lot of other issues where there's been a stampede effect. he's right, it's never been this much this fast. as you point out, chris, it's the internal voice. many people are looking at consumer feedback and sentiment.

there are backlash issues and boycott issues about brands that seem reluctant to shift and be what i would think would be more responsible in this matter. however, it's those internal voices that have an anomaly here. i think andrew would back me on this. we've never seen, not only this many companies this fast, but the professional service firms. we now have 15 major law firms, all the major consulting firms and accounting firms. these companies would often rather shoot themselves than engage in conflict on geopolitics. it's because of the internal employee chat groups, just as you're raising, chris. whether it's pandemic, endemic or something about gen z, there's a great deal of concern. these accounting firms and law firms don't face investor backlash or consumer backlash. it's the internal results. good for you for flagging that. >> let me ask you about the one whose aren't, jeffrey. one of the arguments has been you're only hurting the russian

workers. correct me if i'm wrong. i think there are some big companies that will pay workers anyway because they don't want them to feel the impact. their point is to get at vladimir putin or to get at the russian government. but what about the companies that are staying, and what are those conversations like? >> they have very persuasive and sometimes tortured explanations. the whole reason we got into making this list this time, you saw a number of perhaps excessively spin-driven statements going out in various gauzy websites where you can't figure out who is actually doing what. the companies that are on a list that many see as a list of shame are feeling a good deal of backlash and pressure internally and externally, so they've been moving. some are digging in their heels. they're trying to argue on humanistic grounds, you have this loyal workforce, one big

happy family period, building a bridge to freedom back in the 1990s. well, that world is gone. the mindset of many well-intended boards and ceos is to find common ground, find a third path. there isn't one. we have a vicious, tyrannical, murderous villain on one side and these innocent victims being slaughtered on the other side. there's no middle ground. that's what has their mindset in a bit of a time warp. there are some who say we have critical products. i don't know if baby diapers and chocolates are as critical and they argue and they should not say. companies that are paying salaries, just between us, it's a mistake. the idea of these sanctions is to exact pain. you want to halt civil society to show the totalitarian he doesn't have total control over his government. that's what succeeded gandhi in

india, chai kres queue's fall. >> don't you think there's something to be said, if we're being fair about this, that the russian market for most of these companies that have come out thursday far are relatively small, that this decision is not an impossible one and is actually -- would be a much more difficult one if, in fact, they were told, for example, you can't do business or you shouldn't do business in china. it's created all sorts of questions about consistency in terms of messaging, what issues you're going to talk about publicly in the united states, for example. obviously there was a big debate about voting rights in georgia. delta bore the brunt of it. disney now involved in that debate in florida over lgbt issues and not speaking out on issues in china. you have this inconsistecy where people are saying is this hypocritical? is it not? is this about money or not? >> we are out of tiechlt i know

jeffrey wants to respond. can i have both of you back. quickly, jeffrey, you have 30 seconds. >> 30 seconds is, andrew, you look at bp, it's $50 billion leaving on the table. you have wealthy guests oven your show all the time. that would be a bad day for me. simply what they left on the table at exxon, $12 billion, shell, $35 billion. these are big hits. the companies that are staying, it isn't even 1% of their business. ferragamo, it's almost nothing, it's 1% of farp gam mother's business. what are they doing there? most of these companies it's 1 or 2%. >> thank you both so much. still ahead, the war in ukraine growing more urgent in the u.s. ukrainian exchange students extremely worried about their loved ones back home. we'll talk to them next.

new this morning, our conversations with ukrainian high school students studying here in the u.s. and deeply worried about the safety of their families back home. nbc's shaquille brewster spoke with them in indiana. i can't even imagine what they're going through, shaq. what did they tell you? >> reporter: there's a lot of stress, a lot of concern and worrying we know high school is already difficult enough with the classes and extracurricular activities. for these students, throw in the fact that they're dealing with a war back home, thousands of miles away.

listen to what they told me about how they're doing with this. >> for hours straight i was on the phone almost crying the whole time and i went to school. i just knew it wasn't going to help me to stay home. it wasn't an option. >> at first i didn't believe it. then i texted my parents and i got all the messages, i saw all the news. it was pretty hard for the first hours, first minutes. >> my grandparents are still in kharkiv. i'm trying to contact them at least twice a day because there's new news every five minutes about shelgs and blasts in my time. my city is only 20 miles from the border, this is a really dangerous place. this is just like a feeling that you can't really understand. >> lots of people come up to me and say they're praying for my country every day.

when people ask me questions, i understand people are curious, but also it makes me stressed. >> it's very, very hard with data there, so they don't have data at all. sometimes they can make phone calls, but it takes time. they also don't have electricity at all. so they use parts of their cars to charge their phones or computers to just text me that they're okay and still alive. >> reporter: there are about 200 of those ukrainian exchange students in high schools all across the country. many of them have been telling me they're feeling support from their colleagues, from their other classmates with donations, fund-raising drives that are being held in those schools. you also hear the strength and the pride that they also have. two of them telling me that, if they have the option to, they would go back home. at the end of the day, they just want to be with their family, chris. >> you don't doubt them. but the idea of a teenager having to check their phone time after time after time hoping for

a text from their family that they're okay. . good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. right now the russian siege of the port city of mariupol enters a dire stage, completely locked from humanitarian aid according to a ukrainian minister after a horrifying russian attack on a maternity hospital. more than 2.3 million people have fled ukraine according to the u.n. this morning ukraine and russia held their first high-level talks since the conflict began. we'll bring you the latest on what came out of that meeting. vice president kamala harris is in poland trying to reassure our nato ally after the pentagon rejected a polish plan to deliver fighter jets to ukraine. at any moment on capitol hill, the senate intelligence committee will begin a