♪♪ good afternoon, i'm joe fryer in for yasmin vossoughian today. a lot of news to get to at this hour. as russia intensifying its assault around ukraine's capital, president biden is authorizing additional aid to ukraine. up to $200 million. the funds would cover weapons plus other military services and training that could help ukrainians repel russian forces. just a short time ago, vice

president kamala harris spoke about the invasion and its impact on the world while addressing the democratic national committee in washington >> russia's invasion threatens not just ukraine's democracy. it threatens democracy and security across europe and by extension, when democracy is threatened anywhere, it threatens us all. >> diplomatic efforts to end the war are coming from multiple western countries today. french president emmanuel macron and german chancellor olaf scholz talked with president putin for over an hour. a french official said the call was very frank and very difficult and that putin gave no sign that he would stop the war. right now, ukrainian officials are reporting that seven people,

that includes a child, were killed after russian forces fired on an evacuation convoy while trying to flee a city in eastern ukraine. that report follows news that russia and ukraine had agreed to open up 14 safe corridors for evacuees trying to leave cities under russian attack or russian control, and as russian forces close in on kyiv, u.s. embassy there is urging american citizens to get out of the country using ground transportation but only if it's safe. let's get right to nbc's ali on the ground in lviv. we know lviv sits near the polish border and it has not been touched by russian bombs yet. there are fears that could change quickly. how is that city preparing? >> reporter: that's right, joe. this is a city on the edge. it may be a safe place, but as the russian bombardment moves further west, every day you hear air raid sirens here, and it has

people jittery, but they are preparing for a possible invasion by the russians, and you see it across the board in this city. beer factories have been turned into places where they make molotov cocktails. steel factories have been turned into places where they make hedgehogs, those massive spikes that are thrown on the road to immobilize tanks. you see people that have fled the east of the country. they've come here. they're living in office buildings with their children, with their wives, but they're not idling about. they're working. they're doing their jobs because they say they have to help the economy in any way they can, because that's part of the survival here, that the economy stays working. so, everybody is pitching in, and then you see that they're preparing on the outskirts of lviv for a possible invasion. sandbags are set up on the perimeter all over the city, these makeshift sand banks with volunteers guarding them if the

russians were going to invade. you see on hotels and buildings in the city, their windows, some of them, have been boarded up on the ground floor so glass doesn't break in and hurt people. office buildings have turned their places into shelters for people and places for people to work, so this place may be frightened, but they are prepared for any possible invasion and the result, i must tell you, is very strong in this city. >> which is good to hear, ali. i mean, we know by now lviv has enjoyed relative safety since the war started, even housing more than 200,000 refugees who lived in other parts of the country, then escaped to the west. we know so many journalists are there. what are you hearing from folks on the ground as the situation does grow increasingly dire? >> reporter: well, people are scared. i have to tell you, joe, lviv is an incredibly beautiful city. it's a unesco world heritage site, and one of the fears are that putin might order a bombing

of these beautiful, important sites to demoralize people. but i don't think that's going to dampen their tighten spirit. but people are scared. this is a major hub for all of the refugees that have come from the east, about 2.5 million people have fled their homes. most of them come to lviv, and you see some really tragic stories of people. we were at lviv bus stop today. there were people that had left sumy. they had left their husbands, their fathers behind. just scrambled whatever they could together to get on a bus and get to lviv to figure out their next move. so, there's a lot of confusion here. there's a lot of uncertainty. people don't know where they're going to stay. some of the people we spoke to had very little money in their pockets. they had no network of help beyond lviv into poland where they were heading, so it's uncertain. it's scary for them. they don't know what's going to

happen to their relatives and their homes that they've left in the east. all you can say is it's a city shrouded in uncertainty, but people are still chugging along. >> ali, we reported at the top of the hour, the u.s. embassy in ukraine urging any americans who are left to try and leave. do we have an idea, are there many americans left in the country? >> reporter: i think there are still some americans left in the country. it's not very easy to get out of here, firstly, especially if you're in the east of the country. you know, there's some humanitarian corridors were opened up today, about 14 of them, but they don't work that well. so, it's not easy to get out of here. i'm not sure how many people are still left in the country, but there are still americans coming in here. we met a bunch of americans from a samaritan aid group that had just flown in yesterday. they're here in lviv. they're trying to help out all the people that they can in this city, so yeah, there are still

americans here. they are being urged to leave. some have decided to stay. some have come in to help, but you know, it's a war zone. it's confusing. you don't know what everybody's movements are. some people have an emotional attachment here. they have some family attachments here, so yeah, i mean, it's all happening here, and people are coming, people are going, and those that can get out do get out. those that decided to stay have stayed. >> all right, ali arouzi, thank you for that report. continue to stay safe, my friend. with me now to discuss is igor novikov, former advisor to ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. i want to start with lviv, one of several cities now under threat as russia expands this bombing campaign, moving it westward. as we said, lviv has been a place of relatively safety over the past few weeks, accepting more than 200,000 ukrainians who fled from other parts of the country. how worried are you about this? just how catastrophic could it be? >> well, first of all, i think,

you know, western ukraine was also featured in putin's plans from the start. i think it all went wrong for him in belarus, so at the moment, you know, from what we're hearing, the military there is hesitant as to whether they want to take part in this or not, seeing the result. so, i think, yeah, i think western ukraine is under threat, and we shouldn't forget that president putin openly declares testing article v as one of his objections, and in order to do that, he needs to create chaos in the western of ukraine. plus, all those -- all the humanitarian aid and the military aid comes through western ukraine, so -- and that's creating the problem for russians, so i think it's safe to say that if putin has capacity to escalate this war further, in terms of territory, we are likely to see some action in the west of the country in the coming days or weeks. >> let's talk about the eu.

they're debating tougher sanctions on russian oil. the latvian prime minister said such sanctions need to go much further. how do you feel about this, especially knowing the u.s. and its allies don't want to establish that no-fly zone? >> well, first of all, you have to remember that this is not a war for ukraine. it's a war for what the future holds for the democratic countries in the west. and i think, look, i think the west at the moment, especially in europe, is losing momentum. putin has shown that he's not going to stop. he's going to escalate further and further and further, and the more the west waits, the weak your starting point in what's coming next. so, that's important. plus, look, you have to remember, this is the ugliest conflict we've seen since the second world war, and it's turning uglier by the day, so the only way to stop this would be to unite and push back

against what putin has in store, and unfortunately, at the moment, i'm not seeing as much consolidation as i would love to. >> what do you want to see the west do? >> well, we need to see suffocating sanctions on russia, sustained and coordinated. we need to see military pushback in the form of military aid to ukraine. and probably in some way or form closing down the air space over ukraine. because look, what's going to happen? i mean, this is my forecast, and unfortunately, i've been right so far about everything. what putin is going to try and achieve, if he can convince lukashenko in belarus, he's going to create chaos in places like lutsk and lviv and that's europe's and nato's border. so -- and then you're going to experience the hybrid war. if certain shells and missiles

fly across the ukrainian border into the nato territory, putin will be saying, well, it was the ukrainians. he'd blame the ukrainians. but in the fact, you'd be having active conflict on the nato territory, and that's what putin is after, so the further east you push back, the more there is chance of actually stopping what's coming next. >> despite all this diplomatic efforts continue. we've seen russian officials dangle ceasefire agreements as bait multiple times. just today, the french said a ceasefire was a nonstarter on a call with putin. yet, president zelenskyy still is emphasizing his willingness to try and negotiate with putin directly. do you think there's any point in negotiating with putin if you can't trust him at all? >> well, i mean, if it stops the fighting, at least temporarily, obviously it's worth it. i mean, human life is -- is and should be the top priority there, but i'm not a huge believer in diplomatic victories at the moment, because look,

this war is taking the turn for the uglier, unfortunately, at the moment. we've received military intelligence today that especially in the kyiv region, russian forces have been executed, wounded russian soldiers. you mentioned that they've attacked a humanitarian convoy comprised of women and children, killing seven civilians, including, i think, one or two kids there. and look, here's a personal story for you to get an idea of what this war is like. one of our close friends has relatives in the north of the country, near the sumy region, and their house has been occupied by the russian soldiers who are kind of stationed there. so, basically, what they've done, they've locked our friends' relatives in the cellar. they've slaughtered all the livestock and ate it. and literally they let them out once a day to do the chores and then lock them back in. this is not the 21st century. this is not even the 20th century. and you know, we're going to see more and more of this because

apparently russians are turning into the self-sustaining mode, so basically, they've given the green light to their troops to kill and steal from people and to do whatever needs to be done for them to be self-sustainable in the field. so, there's no way diplomacy solves it quickly. so we should aim at diplomacy but the west needs to consolidate and stop it as far east as they can because i, so far, don't see any markers of it stopping in kyiv or even in lviv. >> igor, we keep hearing stories like that. i also want to talk about your story and leave on a personal note. a sweet message from your younger daughter that you shared with us. let's take a listen. >> i love you, america. >> i love you. >> america. >> america.

>> she's absolutely adorable. what is it you do want the u.s. to know right now? >> well, i want the u.s. to know that, you know, this is not a stage. this is the final battle. the battle between the good and the evil, the battle between autocracy and democracy, and you know, we have every faith and respect for our american friends and partners, and we need your help. >> igor novikov, thank you so much. we are thinking of you, your family, your friends, everyone in your country. please continue to stay safe. >> thank you. coming up, running out of room. we're live in poland where officials say their cities just can't cope with any more refugees. for the millions seeking safety, their first thought might be where their next meal comes from. here's famed chef jose andres

with a look at what his organization is doing to help. >> we have so many restaurants like them inside ukraine. in poland. in romania, in hungary, in moldova. we're in so many places and we're now in france. in shelters. i mean, the team, it's all hands on. besides the other projects we have from previous emergencies. this one, this is almost two weeks since everything began. i can tell you that we already phase one, phase two has happened and now phase three, which will be -- this is going to be achieved and we need to make sure that ukrainian are supported as they start reconstruction and they hopefully will come back to their homes very soon. hopefully will come back to their homes very soon. (vo) small businesses are joining the big switch. save over $1,000 when you switch to our ultimate business plan for the lowest price ever. plus choose from the latest 5g smartphones.

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first, they started to throw bombs on airport. >> wow. >> and we were just very, very close to the airport. our houses also were destroyed. then, they destroyed roads, shops, oh, everything. i will say everything. it doesn't exist anymore. >> reporter: we were told it's about 14,000 people who live there and most of them have now left. >> yes. yes.

we have no houses, and it was very cold outside. they used to hide in basements, anywhere. they tried to hide in the forest, but all our forests are filled with russians. >> reporter: oh, wow. >> yes. they are behind every bush. >> reporter: when you came up here a few moments ago before we were on tv, i asked you how you're doing, and you said, you're alive. >> i'm alive. this is the best. >> that was ali velshi speaking to a ukrainian refugee on the ground in hungary. well, neighboring countries have for the most part welcomed these refugees. some are now warning it's getting hard to absorb so many people. that includes the mayors of poland's two largest cities, warsaw and krakow. they say their maxed out and struggling to accommodate refugees. both are now asking the eu and u.n. to intervene. let's bring in nbc's ellison barber, who's on the ground in one of those cities, krakow.

ellison, what is it you're hearing on the ground? what more can you tell us about what these polish cities are asking for? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, the last two days we have been in one of the main train stations here in krakow where so many people are coming after they've made their way past the border. most people, understandably, they want to stay close to home because they're hoping they can go back soon, but what we're seeing happen here in krakow and in warsaw, the bigger cities, is that they're getting this massive influx of people and the system, local leaders say, cannot handle all of these alre living here. we're seeing in trainrolled-out they're waiting in line, oftentimes after waiting in line for hours to try and see whether or not accommodation is available for them, in the city, they're being told that there are simply no more rooms left. we spoke to the leader of a

nongovernmental organization here in krakow, and he talked about how he feels like there has been a disjointed lack of organization from the federal government here and that because of that, you're seeing the sort of ad hoc, minute-by-minute volunteer-led effort to help refugees, something that is good, heartwarming to see people stepping up, but not sustainable in the long term. listen to more of what he told us. >> i believe because the government is doing nothing and european union is trying to do something, but in terms of practical stuff, they are not doing anything right now. i believe it will go this way that we had this massive solidarity movement for last weeks, but it will quickly change to anger and people will get angry on ukrainian refugees because they are poor, because they will be homeless, because they will have no jobs. they will take jobs from polish people, and we already observe right-wing politicians, you

know, blaming ukrainian refugees for what's the situation. >> reporter: you think about just the massive number of people who have been forced to leave their homes in ukraine, over 2.5 million. over 1.5 million have come here to poland alone. you see a lot of efforts to help people right now, but this is likely going to be a longer term problem and you have a lot of people, be it volunteers, ngos, local leaders, sounding the alarm, saying, hey, we're not sure we're entirely prepared for this and we don't know what this will look like in two, three, four weeks, and you have an incredibly vulnerable population coming to poland, needing help. the question is, will that help be there in an efficient manner in a month or two? joe? >> especially as those numbers continue to rise. ellison barber in poland, thank you so much. after the break, we're on the ground with terrelle jermaine

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to see if we can save with america's number one motorcycle insurer? approved. cool! hey, if bryan's not gonna be snake, can i be snake? -all: no. . welcome back. with each passing hour, the humanitarian crisis is escalating in ukraine. so far, more than 2.5 million people have fled their homes to escape the invasion by russian troops. over the past week, journalist terrell jermaine starr has been sharing updates on one ukrainian family that he was helping get to safety. marina, one of the family members s a cancer patient. she needed to find a place where she could continue to get the treatments that she could no longer get in ukraine. >> i need to try. i need to try with the help of my friends, my family, because in ukraine, it's impossible to do currently. all hospitals closed.

>> joining me now from lviv, ukraine, is terrell jermaine starr, host of the black diplomats podcast and nonresidence sent senior fellow at the security council center. you've said she is now in lithuania. you had quite the journey, 30 different checkpoints. what more can you tell us about how she's doing and the care she's getting right now? >> first of all, thank you for having me on the show. in regards to irina, she is safe, so we will learn more about what the next steps are for her treatment on monday. she has an appointment to speak with an expert who has already taken her medical records prior to her arriving there. i worked with a -- an ngo based there who is helping -- who has helped her to get from lviv to

there, so they have her medical records and someone was there ready to assist her, and so on monday, we'll learn more about that and i'll share that with my twitter and thus with the msnbc community. once we learn more about that. but her son is safe, 5-year-old son, ivan. also her husband is here in lviv. also, her mother is there with her. the community has embraced her, just as they have many ukrainian refugees who have arrived in lithuania. >> we are thinking of her and look forward to your update. a mother battling cancer with a 5-year-old, just unreal. i want to talk a little bit more about your experience. you tweeted today, like you do almost every day now to your followers that you're alive and well. folks can read the entire tweet right there. it is a harrowing message that you and so many ukrainians need to put out there every single day, every single chance you get. you don't have to be there right now. why is it so important for you to be there? >> well, one of the things a lot

of people don't know about this. my first experience in this part of the world came through the united methodist church and i am a believer in jesus christ and i feel it is my mission. i am a journalist by training. my job is to report and to document, but i am a follower of jesus christ. gary b. simpson is my pastor in brooklyn, new york, so i have a christian obligation to be here first and foremost. i've been given the skillset of a journalist to document things so my mission is to be here. that is the primary mission why i'm here but also an expert, i'm here to document the truth about what's happening in ukraine, which is an extreme aggression by russian president vladimir putin against the ukrainian people. what i personally consider to be a genocide against the ukrainian people, and my job is to seek justice through my journalism for the ukrainian people, and

so -- but also, i feel like my best skillsets in addition to being a journalist is the humanitarian efforts via my social media, and so if i can help families get from dangerous situations into more safe ones, then that is my goal. i use my platform to do that, and i'm very happy that families here are benefitting from that, so i feel that i can be a journalist and i can be a humanitarian at the same time. >> part of your mission has also been talking about the flight of foreign students who are trying to flee. do you have an idea how many are still stuck in the country, and what are some of the efforts under way to try and help them out? >> yeah, so, there are tens of thousands of foreign students here. well over 100,000 foreign students who attend here. they apply, you know, particularly indians, nigerians, which is the highest representation of people from the continent of africa are here. they particularly go to the medical university.

they go to kharkiv, sumy, kyiv as well, and so what's particularly challenging with students who are foreigners who come here in addition to the unfortunate racism that they face at the -- at various border points, it's the fact that many of them did not come here and were not prepared for war. and so, being a refugee is quite expensive. the fact that several families have been able to assist, i was -- i actually spent my own money. i'm very thankful to people who have been giving -- contributing to my journalism work, but i've used a substantial amount of my money to assist these families going from where they were safely to the border, and so unfortunately, many families -- many foreign students don't have the access to, a, on-the-ground contacts that they can reach out to, to get from where they are en route to the border because you have to spend a day

overnight some place at least, and so i've been -- you know, so many people don't have those resources and i've been very fortunate to use my resources to assist folks who want to get to the border by providing them my own context to do so it's a very harrowing, very challenging road. you go through dozens of checkpoints. you have to spend if it's one tank of gas on a regular trip, you have to spend four or five so it's particularly difficult so that's what makes it hard is the fact that you came here to study. you didn't come here prepared for war. >> all right, terrell jermaine starr, we appreciate you taking the time to speak with us and everything you've been doing to help so many people. getting the word out there. we'll stay in touch with you. stay safe. >> thank you. let's talk more about this heavy diplomatic push from the west to bring an end to the war. publicly, vladimir putin is saying there are some, quote, positive shifts in talks with ukraine, but a readout of a call just this morning offered a much more pessimistic view. i want to bring in ambassador william taylor, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, now vice president for russia and europe

at the u.s. institute of peace. ambassador, good to have you with us. so, both french president emmanuel macron and german chancellor olaf scholz spoke with president putin today. the french readout says calls for a ceasefire were no a nonstarter. do you have any faith in this french and german effort? can anything helpful come out of this? >> so, i think we have to try. i think it's fine and it's good that the french and the germans made that effort, had a long conversation with president putin. president putin probably doesn't understand fully what's going on, even within his own military. it's not doing great. he probably doesn't understand that so the ability for president macron and chancellor scholz to be able to talk to him directly and try to give him a sense of reality, i think that's a good thing. and if they can push towards a ceasefire, if he hears ceasefire from the french and the germans, maybe it will be others, joe.

maybe, for example, president xi, who's a -- is a big brother to putin's little brother, it is possible that president xi could get through to him. the message is, mr. putin, this is a disaster. you have made a colossal mistake, and you need to start to get out of it. ceasefire's the first step. and he needs to hear that from the french, from the germans, from the chinese, from others as well. >> i mean, when it comes to talks between russia and ukraine, do you think there are really any positive shifts as putin said, or do you think that's just purely public spin by putin? >> purely public spin, joe. there's been no indication that any of the conversations, as we know, not too long ago, the prime minister, prime minister kuleba met with the russian prime minister, lavrov, and kuleba, i was in touch with him right after that. he said that lavrov was there with no instructions. he was not able to do any negotiating. we know there's another channel

that they've pointed to, which is this channel between ukrainians and russians on the belarusian border at the river, and the ukrainians have been positive, have been constructive, have been well ready to have that conversation. the russians have not. the russians sent a former minister of culture, so they weren't really serious. so, all to say, joe, it's not -- there's no evidence that the russians are serious about negotiation. >> looking at the military, president zelenskyy claimed today russia has suffered enormous losses. given what you have seen so far, what does it say about the strength of ukrainian forces, and what happens if russians do eventually get into the capital city of kyiv? how do things unfold from there? >> so, joe, on your first point, it is amazing. it is just amazing. here we are. what, day 17 in this fight. and the ukrainian military has held off this enormous military from the russians. it's held off this military that

thought that they were going to be in kyiv in a day and a half, in two days, and here it is day 17, and this is what i say that president putin doesn't understand what's going on. i'm sure he doesn't understand why his troops aren't already there and the answer is twofold. one is because the ukrainian military, as you have indicated, is doing an incredible job of holding off the russians, incredible job. they're defending their own land, they're motivated, but they're also well trained, they have better equipment, and they're getting more equipment every day. that's the first thing. second thing is, the russian military is not doing well. they weren't prepared. they were prepared for a short hike into kyiv and it turns out it's a real battle so that's been a real problem. not at all clear they're going to get anywhere. but then you ask the question, joe, what happens if the russians use this overwhelming military capability to push through all the way to kyiv? they will have a hard time. they will have a very hard time. battle to battle, door to door, street to street, house to house fighting favors the defense.

so, the ukrainian military and the ukrainian people, joe, we've seen them train. we've seen them prepare with their weapons. they are going to fight the russians tooth and nail, and in the end, in my view, in the end, the ukrainians will prevail. >> urban warfare is a different kind of combat. ambassador william taylor, as always, we appreciate your insight. thank you so much for joining us today. >> thank you, joe. up next, hiking up the sanctions. the latest moves from the biden administration to put economic pressure on vladimir putin and what you won't be seeing on the shelves anymore because of it. we'll be right back. because of . we'll be right back. [♪♪] if you have diabetes, it's important to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control®. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost® today. it's still the eat fresh refresh, and subway's refreshing their italians. so, we're taking this to italy. refresh.

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u.s. intelligence agencies are looking into who owns a $700 million super yacht currently in dry dock in italy. "the new york times" reports the yacht could be linked to vladimir putin. the "times" says a former crew member said it was for the russian president's use. an intel agency would not give details on what they know. officials say that putin keeps a little of his money in his own name, instead using homes and boats owned by russian oligarchs. the white house dealt a couple financial blows this weekend to vladimir putin. his oligarchs and the russian economy. one of the new sanctions announced by president biden banning several russian imports, including caviar, vodka, and diamonds, while asking congress to approve raising tariffs on russian exports. the administration is also joining allies in ending normal

trade relations with moscow. that action removes russia's status as a most favored nation. lauren egan joys us from the white house. president putin shrugged off this announcement yesterday. does the white house even have more options when it comes to sanctions? >> reporter: yeah, well, the white house has essentially launched a financial war against moscow, but they are running out of options that they can take. of course, the sanctions that are already in place will start to have more and more of a devastating impact against the russian economy the longer that they are in place, but that doesn't mean there's not still an appetite for president biden to do more. i don't know if you can hear some of the protesters behind me outside of the white house, they are holding ukrainian flags, and we can hear them calling on president biden to go further to support the ukrainian people as we see this invasion continue. there are some steps that the biden administration can take. for example, they could try and

convince europe and germany to cut off all their oil from russia. that is a steep hill to climb. germany and europe are incredibly reliant on russia for their energy needs, and of course, any sort of disruption in the global emergency market would lead to higher gas prices back here at home. something that this administration has said that they are very sensitive to. the goal here over the past few weeks, as this invasion unravelled, and as we saw the white house along with its european allies unveil round after round of sanctions, the goal was to pressure the russian president into coming back to the negotiating table, hoping to push him into a corner where he had to find some sort of off-ramp to de-escalate the situation. that has not happened and it's looking less and less likely like president putin is willing to find some sort of diplomatic resolution to the situation, joe. >> and lauren, we can hear those

protesters making their voices heard there near the white house. i also want to ask you, there's concern russia may turn to using chemical weapons as their economy guess squeezed. here's what president biden said about that on friday. >> i'm not going to speak about the intelligence, but russia would pay a severe price for the use of chemicals. >> so, lauren, quickly, the white house insists they won't be sending troops into ukraine, so how would the administration make putin pay that severe price? >> reporter: we don't know the answer to that. we have asked the white house multiple times. white house press secretary jen psaki was asked this on thursday, and she said that the administration would not engage in hypotheticals. she declined to draw a red line. what the white house is saying is they are reiterating president biden's commitment to not send any u.s. boots into ukraine to fight directly with russia, joe. >> lauren egan, thank you so much. russian troops are refocusing their advance on

kyiv, and those who live in the capital are preparing for the worst. the steps they're taking to protect their city. that's next. 're taking to protect their city that's next.

at this hour, pressure is building in kyiv as russian forces close in on the capital city. ukrainian soldiers are preparing for the fight. already demonstrating their ability to hold off russian tanks and the outskirts of town this week. but both soldiers and civilians know the battle is far from over. alex crawford with sky news is in kyiv and shows us how they're planning to protect their city. >> reporter: russian tanks and other armored vehicles in an eastern suburb of kyiv. now abandoned and damaged, but gleefully driven by the ukrainians who ambushed them and pushed the troops into retreat. but this is demonstrable evidence the russian military is on the move and trying several

different routes to get into the capital. the ukrainians are grasping this as an opportunity to emphasize just how capable they are of defending their main city. the drone footage released by ukraine's armed forces is now being lauded as a tremendous military defense. in the footage, the russians come under repeated attack with soldiers running for cover, rockets frantically fired in this built-up area. it's the main eastern highway leading directly into the center of the capital. the battle has left military debris scattered all over the e-95 road, which may also help in hindering russian progress. you can still see smoke in the distance where the russian tanks managed to get to. they're trying to hold them back, but they're very worried that they're going to try and make a push from here or, again, try down this main road into brovary. but the activity around the capital's outskirts has definitely picked up over the

past 24 hours. these pictures filmed by journalists with ukrainian soldiers appear to show the troops under fire as they engage their russian counterparts. apparently in a village in the greater kyiv area. we were invited to see some of the casualties in brovary, a number of them children, including a 14-year-old girl, shot whilst fleeing in a car with her family. the bullets hit her hand and shoulder. she's only a teenager and was with her 4-year-old brother, grandmother, and parents. we were driving down the main road from my grandmother's, she says, and they just started shooting at us. her father, sergei, had part of his hand blown away. he and his family are lucky to survive. he told us the russian troops seemed very panicky. to me, they were scared, he said. and they shot everything that moved. there's increased tension around the capital and soldiers are

wary of everyone. they suspect russian saboteurs might be posing as journalists. >> he's russian journalist. >> reporter: and they're on the hunt for one in particular. the hospital staff are edgy too and have found themselves treating some soldiers but overwhelmingly their patients are civilian casualties. it's very hard, physically and emotionally, he says, to see young people being crippled and dying for no reason. satellite pictures appear to show the huge russian military convoy repositioning, apparently regrouping to encircle the capital before launching a prolonged attack on the city center. probably within days. but the man with hero status in ukraine for raising millions to support their armed forces insists they're ready. >> we will fight from every window. we will fight from every basement. we have enough anti-tank missiles, thanks for our allies from united kingdom, from united

states, so they will lose tanks every street, every block, every crossroads. >> reporter: there are more and more barricades going up in and around the capital. they're digging trenches, and this is in the middle of the city, although we're not showing the location for security reasons. either way, soldiers and civilians are preparing for either attack or siege. they have created a whole network of these trenches, as much as protection but also from where they can mount fighting positions. they've been taking on russian troops around several points on the edges of the capital. but there's a growing expectation that the city is headed into a very grim few days or weeks. alex crawford, sky news, kyiv. coming up in our next hour, the app that's helping place

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in for yasmin vossoughian. today, we're continuing to follow the latest developments in ukraine as the country and its western allies try to bring an end to russia's invasion. right now, russian forces are working to surround the ukrainian capital of kyiv while cities across the country are under siege, being bombarded by shelling and missile strikes. earlier today, french president emmanuel macron and german chancellor olaf scholz demanded an immediate ceasefire during a phone call with russian president vladimir putin. but a french official reported that putin gave no sign that he would stop the war. and earlier today, ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy floated the idea of meeting face-to-face with putin, possibly in israel. >> translator: i'm not even talking about technical meeting, but about meeting at the level of heads of state and maybe israel could be such a country, especially jerusalem. that's my opinion. and this is what i told him. as