welcome, everyone, to "alex witt reports." a dramatic turn on the war in ukraine, the bombing of an air base within 20 miles of the border with poland. at least 35 people were killed and 135 wounded when more than 30 missile strikes pounded the international center for peacekeeping and security. ukraine officials say they were russian bombs and that antiaircraft defenses shot down several of them. nbc news has not verified the missile strikes and no information about victims was immediately available but u.s. officials say americans were not at that facility. >> there were no american service members, no americans at all working at that training facility. we had left, as you know, several weeks ago. >> the bombings on the edge of nato's doorstep prompting urgent calls from ukrainian authorities for more air power. >> the highest demand is in planes, fighting jets, attack

aircrafts, because unfortunately air force of russia and ukraine are uncomparable. and yes, it's true we shoot them down, but they also shoot us down. if they have control over the sky, we cannot prevent two things from happening. we cannot prevent -- we cannot stop russian bombers destroy our citizens, killing civilians, and we cannot destroy russian columns heading towards our big cities on the roads. to achieve those two purposes, we need more planes. >> today ten humanitarian corridors are open to allow civilians to evacuate war zones. president volodymyr zelenskyy released video showing him visiting wounded soldiers at the medical facility. he said ukrainian groups have shuttled 150,000 people to safety so far.

>> translator: we will also defend. ukraine doesn't surrender, the army doesn't surrender, people don't surrender. all of ukraine is fighting heroically. >> new satellite images show that civilians in mariupol are being targeted by missile strikes. and a pro-russian opposition politician has declared herself mayor in melitopol following the kidnapping of the mayor there. joining us, nbc's matt bradley is in ukraine. kelly cobiella joins us from poland and leigh ann caldwell is in washington. welcome to all three of you. nbc's matt bradley in northwestern ukraine, matt, i know we're seeing something of a new front in this war today. what are you learning about it? >> reporter: yeah, what we're hearing, alex, is of course bombings or shellings that are

going on far beyond the front lines. that's what we saw with lviv, the 35 people killed on a military base. the russians say these are legitimate targets because they're essentially military installations. but take a look at where i am right now, alex. this is not a legitimate military target. this is a civilian area. this is a neighborhood. this was a residence around here. and this was about three people who were killed right when they flattened this neighborhood. now, we spoke to a man earlier. this was his home. he told me his daughter, who he believed was pregnant at the time, was killed in this attack, just a couple of days ago. this is devastating to people here. and, you know, one of the things we keep hearing from people in this city of zhitomer is that this is terrorism. we asked why are civilians bearing such a burden in this war, and they said the russians are trying to intimidate them, trying to demoralize them. they said that kind of fits the

definition of terrorism. that is the same language that the ukrainian government is using about that attack in the western city of lviv. they're saying that this is not a legitimate military target, that essentially this is the russians, vladimir putin, trying to demoralize the ukrainian people, trying to get them to pressure president volodymyr zelenskyy into capitulating to russian demands. there are some military targets around here in zhitomer, there is a bark and around the corner there. it's not used as barracks anymore, it was housing residential people, civilians. but now this area, all of this, this is just collateral damage. that's the next paradigm shift that we're seeing. that's the next phase of this war, because remember, alex, the russian military relies heavily on artillery, heavily on air strikes. they can say they're sort of tenderizing the ground, softening the ground in preparation for ground invasions, because one thing

that has not been so successful as far as the russians have been concerned are those ground invasions. they've been having to order air strikes to weaken the ukrainian military which has put up a stronger resistance over the last two weeks than anyone has expected anywhere in the world, they've impressed the world. military analysts that i talked to before this began thought this was going to be a much, much shorter conflict. now the russians frustrated and demoralized, they're relying on shelling and that's bringing such a burden to the civilian population, especially in places like this, neighborhoods like this that have no military installations around here, not within this area. now we're seeing devastation and just terrified people. >> and matt, there in zhitomer, i presume you're seeing no electricity. that is clearly a war zone. do you see any lights around you? >> reporter: actually we were speaking with some people over

here, just over my right shoulder, they actually had lights on, they had energy, they had gas, so they were able to operate. the thing we keep hearing, this man who lost his whole home, he lost everything in the past week, and he said that his son and out fighting on the front lines. i said, what are you going to do? he said, he's waiting for his son to come back from the war and then they'll rebuild this house. that's what their plan is. they're not going to go anywhere, they're not leaving the country. the folks i talked to just on the other side of the street there, they were terrorized. they described just horrific events of the previous week. and they said they're not going anywhere either. there's just this real sense of defiance in this neighborhood and everywhere else i've been in ukraine, i've been criss-crossing the country and everybody has been saying first they didn't believe there was going to be an invasion. now that there has been, so many people are just so defiant about it. the folks here, there have been a lot of people, as kelly

cobiella will be reporting, who will be fleeing this country. a lot of people who have felt the violence right in their faces, are determined to stay. >> they're incredibly courageous people, it's remarkable what they're doing at this stage in the war. and to your point, yes, joining me from eastern poland, nbc news foreign correspondent kelly cobiella. let's talk about the reaction from the polish government after that devastating strike at the base in ukraine. i think it's even less than 20 miles from the polish border. any word yet on the details from them? >> reporter: we haven't heard directly. nbc news has not heard directly from the polish government just yet. but i think a number of representatives have been making the rounds on some of the political shows, and, you know, the reaction here in poland is one of shock and anger. it's rattled nerves. people here have been worried about being drawn into this

conflict from day one. it's part of the reason you see so many people opening their homes to ukrainian refugees. but it is also raising questions about nato and nato's involvement. poland of course is a nato country. and today, defense spokesman john kirby was asked about this. take a listen. >> i can tell you that we have been consistently concerned about nato's eastern flank and that airspace and of course that ground space on that flank of nato. and we continue to look for ways to bolster the defenses of our nato allies. we continue to look for ways to try to protect that airspace. just a few days ago, as you know, martha, we repositioned two patriot batteries from germany into poland, not far from where you are right now, to make sure that we can absolutely defend that airspace. >> reporter: you know, that strike happened about 12 miles from the polish border. and there are villages just on the other side of the border,

five miles from ukraine, people who say, i can see ukrainian land from my balcony. so people are very, very nervous, and there's talk of, you know, what happens next, how are these people protected if there is no no-fly zone, if nato doesn't want to go there in terms of a no-fly zone which of course the united states and others have said just isn't tenable right now, alex. >> people in poland generally, have you gotten reaction from them? i mean, are they frightened, could they hear this bombing? i mean, just being so few miles away, what did you say, 12 miles away? you would think they could hear it. >> reporter: it's about 12 miles away. we haven't spoken to people who were that close. we actually visited that village that's about five miles from the border yesterday, and yesterday there hadn't been a missile strike just yet. they were extremely concerned, they've been worried for days about this.

it's the reason they took -- you know, we spoke to a retired couple, they took in some refugee family just a couple of days ago and they said, you know, we can identify with these people, we wonder, you know, if the attacks do come closer to our border, you know, will there be a stray missile strike, will there be an accident, will we be evacuated? they can see themselves in these people's shoes. that's why, a, they're nervous, and b, they're helping as much as we've seen them help over the past more than two weeks now. >> kelly cobiella, thanks so much, in eastern poland, we appreciate that. joining me now is andre kozorov, he played a role in ending the cold war and developing closer ties between russia and the west. he was involved in the decision to is dissolve the soviet union.

those talks between belarus, russia, and ukraine. foreign minister, what is going through your mind today as you're watching this conflict take an even deadlier turn, what are you feeling as a former russian government insider but now looking at this from the outside? >> good afternoon, did you for having me. i feel first very, very disturbed. as a russian, because ukrainians are our brothers, but not in the sense as putin uses it, as they should be subdued. but they are our brothers. so it's awful to see our brothers suffering like that. as a foreign minister, i can -- a former foreign minister, i can tell you that putin's aim in ukraine is to stop the advance

of democracy, stop the advance of, if you want, european political culture and european economic culture close to russia. he wants to stop this advance. and the ukrainians want to join the european union, the nato. and they want to be free, not like russians today. so that's the problem. and he will go probably all the way, using all means as you can see now, to achieve his goal. whether he succeeds, i don't think so, especially in the medium and long term. but in the immediate terms, he might succeed like in syria, destroying a lot of the country.

>> which is a tragedy in the making, without any doubt. you said, sir, that nato is being too cautious. why do you think that is? do you get the sense that vladimir putin strikes a sort of fear in the hearts and minds of western leaders? >> exactly. but, you know, it's long known, in russia there is a saying that fear is a bad adviser. and that's true. if you are guided by fear, you just go under the table and sit there, while in this american tradition, it was not that way, starting from the american revolution, they stood strong against at that time british colonizers and they were much weaker, relatively, at the

initial stages, but their resolve was there. and now, nato is much more powerful than russia, economically it's incomparable. it's like 20 times, at least 20 times, not 20% but 20 times in favor of the nato. >> andrei, when you say it's 20 times more powerful than russia, you're talking about its military prowess, is that what you're referring to relative to nato? >> no, i'm speaking of economic pro when he was. >> okay. >> from the standpoint of economy, you cannot have a first class military if you don't have the economy to maintain it. so that's what happened. and he's succeeded to scare, it's like, you know, the smaller

power has succeeded to scare the lion while it should be the other way around. >> so what do you think nato should be doing right now that would make putin blink but would also not lead to world war iii? >> he does not want a world war iii, because he will lose. if it is conventional war, he will lose very soon for the fact that nato is much more powerful, also militarily. america alone is much more powerful militarily. if he hints to nuclear weapons, that is empty threat, mostly. why? because he knows that if he sends missiles to nato countries, nuclear missiles or to america, he will get back

devastating blow. nobody could survive this kind of war. so he should be suicidal. but this guy likes life, he enjoys very much talking to european leaders who are coming to him for unclear reasons, for me as a diplomat i don't see much reason, but they are coming for him and asking him something. so he does not look suicidal to me. >> so it begs the question,s how of a role does vladimir putin's ego play in all this? is he too invested now to turn back even if his army is taking significant hits and even if he were secretly thinking i need to end this conflict? first of all, is that even possible, would that thought cross his mind?

>> it will, if he gets a strong response. today, the response of the west exceeds his expectations, definitely. but you know what, it takes time. it takes probably months before russia starts to feel the credit burden of those sanctions. that's how it works. so for now, he does not feel it much. you know, he's very sensitive, actually, he's not mad, he's quite rational and sensitive and he can smell that nato is more afraid of this so-called third world war than he. imagine if khrushchev in the

cuban crisis thought that jfk was more afraid of the war than khrushchev in moscow. the nuclear missiles would be standing in cuba to today, and they would threaten america with those weapons to today. so that's a game of impression. if you think that your opponent is fearful, you blanch. if you feel he's resolved to punch back immediately, not later but immediately, then you will calculate twice what to do. >> think twice about any actions. former foreign minister of russia andrei kozorov, thank you, we'll speak again. in just a moment, new word

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a bit more on the breaking news we told about you at the top of the hour, new reaction from the biden administration on the bombing of a ukrainian military base 12 miles or so from the polish border. nbc's leigh ann caldwell is in washington. leigh ann, what are we hearing from the white house? >> reporter: alex, this is something they're obviously watching very closely. they also say this is an expansion of russia's targets, noting this is obviously a military base but also so close to polpoland, so close to the n border. administration officials blanketed the sunday television shows this morning, reiterating their two principles. the first is that there will be

no u.s. troops on the ground in ukraine. and also that they are completely committed to article v's defense of nato. let's listen to jake as a result of jake sullivan on "meet the press" this morning. >> there are no u.s. troops operating in eastern or western ukraine. we will defend every inch of nato territory but united states forces will not engage russian forces inside ukraine. it's no surprise the russians are trying to expand the number of targets in this war because they're frustrated by their lack of ability to take some of the major cities. >> reporter: and so just on that article v point, i want to reiterate, because sullivan was pressed not only by chuck but also other sunday show hosts, he said, yes, they will absolutely defend themselves if that become necessary. now, congress is watching too. senator marco rubio, the head

republican on the intelligence committee, he tweeted just moments ago that the reason russia bombed that facility is to try to intercept the delivery of weapons and ammunition from poland into ukraine. so this is something that congress, the administration, is going to be watching very closely, alex. >> yeah, i can imagine. thank you so much for that, leigh ann caldwell, we'll see you again. joining me right now is peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times," also an msnbc political analyst whom we saw a bit earlier on "meet the press." peter, thank you so much for joining me, as we talk about french president emmanuel macron who says his 75-minute, three-way call between the german prime minister and president putin, he said it was very frank and also difficult. french officials said putin gave no indication he would stop the war. is this empty diplomacy at this point? or is there any way to reason with putin? >> well, look, putin at some

point will make a decision and his decision will be whether or not he thinks this is a tenable war to continue. if at some point he decides he doesn't think it is, he'll find a way to get out of it and diplomacy will simply be an excuse for him to do it. it doesn't, obviously, hurt to have the french and german leaders present a unified front to russia. part of the tactic, part of the strategy that putin has had all along is to divide the west, to divide france and germany, divide germany and the united states, to put a wedge in between the alliance. what he's seen instead has been a pretty strong consensus among washington, london, berlin, paris, all these capitals more or less on the same page. putin thought he could divide them and so far he hasn't. >> let's talk about israel's prime minister naftali bennett who has tried to mediate something between the kremlin and ukraine. he reportedly asked zelenskyy to accept a plea deal from putin.

today you have the flip side of that, you have israel's foreign minister countering, calling on russia to halt its attacks, end the conflict. so there are mixed messages here from israel. what do you make of that, and any attempts on their part to play a diplomatic role in this conflict? >> yeah, it's a complicated situation in israel, because remember, a large percentage, a significant percentage of israel's population is russian-born. after the soviet union collapsed, a lot of russian jews moved to israel. so there is an obvious sympathy for russia among a lot of people who live in israel and russia has been a big player in the middle east, they don't want to offend moscow at a time when they feel like they matter to their own neighborhood. but at the same time, for israel of all countries to abandon or seem not to be on the side of volodymyr zelenskyy, the first jewish president of ukraine, is pretty hard to take for a lot of american jews and a lot of israelis as well. so naftali bennett is playing a

kind of awkward balance here, he's trying to position himself as a negotiator, as a broker, but so far hasn't gotten very far. >> let's talk about one of the highest profile russian oligarchs, that being roman abramovich, owner of course of the chelsea football club, that may be how he's best known. he's now been forced to sell off that club after being sanctioned by the british government. your first big story upon arriving in moscow in 2001, you profiled the then-34-year-old oligarch. the headline, "an unlikely savior on the tundra." so talk about this man, what you found out about him and how you think he might be viewing putin's war. >> yeah, he's an interesting character, of course, he was one of the early oligarchs. you mentioned, 34 years when i met him in 2001, he was already a billionaire through oil acquisitions from the state. he traveled with him to the farthest reaches of russia,

about as desolate and frigid a place you'll find on earth, where he decided to become governor for mysterious reasons. people were wondering why he was out there and using money to try to rebuild that gogodforsaken pt of russia. he told me he was already bored with business at age 34, having made billions. he was somebody who wanted to integrate himself with the west. he owns luxury houses not just in london but in new york, aspen, tel aviv, st. bart's. as you say, he owned chelsea. he wanted to be part of the west. now because of what's happening, that's all going away. he can no longer operate or even live, i think, in london. he's going to have a hard time, you know, traveling outside of russia at this point. and that's an important point, because if the people around putin, people like abramovich,

can they put enough pressure on putin to pull back and get out of this war. >> does he have the ability, peter, to influence putin at all? you're making the point he's global, he understands western ideology well and benefits from it, investments in it as well. given putin's hatred of the west, at least that's how he's perceived, would someone like this be able to influence him? >> we really don't know who pint listens to these days, especially after the last two years, when he's been so paranoid about covid, he's

isolated himself at his dacha, we've seen pictures of him at a table far distant from his staff. it may be nobody, it may be that not a single oligarch by himself can change his mind, but the theory goes that they as a class, the power structure in russia as a class around putin will at some point grow so disenchanted, so upset with their losses, the economy being choked and their own fortunes being impacted, that treasure may eventually rise to the point were putin himself feelings it. now, we don't know that. it's hard to know, it's a very opaque system right now, but that's the theory in the west, one of the logics behind the sanctions put behind people like abramovich. >> peter baker, thanks. in ukraine, while the bombing by russia goes on unabated, the one target that remains is untouched, and it's a

critical one to both sides. we'll show you what that is and get some answers on that front, next. hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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think i'm gonna wear these home. -excellent choice. at least 35 people have died, 134 injured in ukraine after russia launched an air strike on the international center for peacekeeping and security, a military base less than 20 miles from the polish border. jake sullivan responding to those attacks this morning. >> vladimir putin is frustrated by the fact that his forces are not making the kind of progress he thought they would make against major cities including kyiv, that he is expanding the number of targets, that he is lashing out, that he is trying to cause damage in every part of the country. >> that attack came after russia's deputy foreign minister suggested today that it could try to destroy foreign shipments of weapons to ukraine from the u.s. or other native allies,

branding them legitimate targets. meantime the mayor of dnipro, a city in southwestern ukraine, was captured by russian forces today. nbc news has not been able to independently verify this but it comes one day after ivan federov, the mayor of melitopol, was reportedly taken hostage by the russians. virginia congressman gerry connolly is president of the nato parliamentary assembly. congressman, it's awfully good to see you. i want to start with your thoughts on this air strike, the base very near lviv, i believe it's only 20 miles away or so from the polish border. it is where the u.s. and nato, as you know, regularly send instructors to train ukrainian soldiers. the fact that this facility was targeted, how much closer does this bring the fight to nato? >> this was a clearly premeditated action by putin and

the russian military to send a message to poland and to the nato allies that they're not going to easily tolerate the continued training and shipment of equipment occurring on the ukrainian/polish border. this is a very serious escalation by putin. it isn't just another target. it's in the west, which has largely been precluded from the intense fighting in the east and the south of ukraine. but more importantly, this is where defensive military equipment from the west is coming into ukraine to help the ukrainian military fight the russians. and so this was a very decided, very definite act to send a message to the united states and its allies that they are going to target any centers of the shipment of military equipment. >> which means what, then?

trying to get this equipment into ukraine and support the people as nato and the united states included in that has promised to do, the eu as well, i mean, if you can't get the equipment safely in, first of all, what happens, are there other alternatives, just top of mind i can't think of any, and by transporting these things you're putting nato allies in danger, potentially, where does that leave us? s. >> there are of course hundreds of miles of border not only with poland but other nato allies as well, and the ukraine. this is not the only one, but it's very clear from their point of view, from the russian point of view, that's a fair target. and i think we have to set some boundaries for them, which is that we double down on the transshipment of military equipment for the ukrainian defense forces.

and that includes mig fighters, that includes more stingers, more javelins. i think we have to up the game here. >> what about european leaders, you have macron, you have scholtz, how helpful are these talks and should the u.s. have more of a role in these? would putin be paying more attention if he talked directly with biden or another u.s. official? >> yeah, look, i think it was churchill who once said jaw-jaw is better than war-war, if you can talk somebody out of a military engagement as reckless as this one, great. but there's not a lot of evidence that putin is listening or frankly is open to these kind of importunings by the european leaders. it's worth trying. but i think putin has made it very clear, he intends to subjugate ukraine.

and if he needs to destroy ukraine in order to do it, he's more than willing to do that, in fact he's doing it as we speak. so we have to take that into account. we cannot afford magical thinking about vladimir putin. he is an aggressive, reckless, sociopathic leader who is absolutely bent on subjugating the ukrainian people and others in the former soviet orbit. the west has to find a way to help the ukrainians and resist this while also making it very clear to putin that the nato boundaries of nato members are sacred, inviolate, and he will have a swift military response from the nato alliance if he violates it. >> let me ask you about your trip, you went to visit the polish/ukrainian border last weekend. tell us what you saw during your

visit and what stood out most to you. >> you know, we saw thousands of refugees at the one crossing we were at. there are eight polish border crossings. we were at mitika and i think there were 20,000 refugees that crossed that day. the next day, i'm told it went even higher. and the polish response was heartwarming. i mean, the polish people deserve enormous credit for opening their homes, volunteering, making sure people are warm, have food, and are sheltered. it is remarkable that with 2 million refugees, there are no refugee camps yet, people are actually being placed in homes. but you also saw the tragedy that one man is creating. women with their children or older women, but almost no men,

because men from roughly 16 to 60 who are ukrainian cannot cross the border, they've got to go back and fight. and that means that in addition to the terror, these women and their children have been subjected to it, they also now have the terrible loss of separation from their loved ones, not knowing if they'll see them again. the face of human tragedy is just everywhere apparent in these refugee centers. and it just is heartbreaking because this was a completely unnecessary human tragedy. >> heartbreaking is the word, sir. virginia congressman gerry connolly, thank you so much for sharing your insights, much appreciated as always. >> thank you, alex. there is one bit of good news about gas prices in the u.s. but an important lingering question remains. some insight from cnbc's scott cohn. he's in california where people are paying a lot to fill their tanks. that's next. lot to fill their tanks. that's next. we gotta tell people that liberty mutual

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now to the story on the minds of millions of you out there, the high gas prices. prices at record highs after president biden announced a ban on russian oil imports last week. but there is a sliver of good news. joining me now in santa clara, california, nbc news correspondent scott cohn. let's focus on the good, my friend. what is it? >> reporter: well, the good, alex, and this is all really, really relative, is that prices are starting to level off and in some parts of the country come down. if you think you have it bad where you are, come out here to san jose where the price of regular this sunday morning, $5.89 a gallon. if you have to do premium, $6.29 a gallon. the state average in california here is $5.74, which is up a penny from yesterday. nationwide, $4.32 a gallon, roughly unchanged, which means

we're starting to level off, as experts say that the oil companies are starting to ramp up their supply. some of that is because they want to capitalize on the high prices, but also because there are calls really from both sides of the aisle to really ramp up domestic production. but experts are saying that with the loss of russian oil and just the uncertainty about oil prices globally, that to really ramp up the supply of oil in the short term may mean some tough choices. >> the administration is going to have to make difficult choices in how they get more crude oil supplies to the market right away. and that includes getting saudi arabia, kuwait, the united arab emirates, to utilize more of their spare capacity or to come to an agreement with iran over their nuclear program, or coming to an agreement with venezuela to relieve some of the

sanctions, none of which presents a very nice political out. >> reporter: the issue is that, you know, we're hearing so much, again, from both sides of the aisle, about increasing domestic supplies, whether it's using unused oil leases or drilling elsewhere. but none of that is going to do anything in the near term. and that's why imports are still an important factor here. >> let me tell you, san jose doesn't have a corner on the market of the high california gas prices. i'm never going to forget my son calling me friday and saying, hey, mom, i filled up a tank of gas in los angeles, $100.40. that's etched in my mind. it is incredibly expensive in california and elsewhere. thank you so much, scott. up next, what a new poll is showing as both parties invoke the ukrainian conflict with the midterms approaching. g bills

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now we have more breaking news to share. nbc news has confirmed a u.s. journalist has died in the war in ukraine. award-winning filmmaker and journalist brent renault, 50 years years old killed while reporting in the suburb of kyiv. more at the top of the hour. meanwhile, new reports show how the president of ukraine and the president of united states is bringing up putin's price hike at the pump and democrats touting the economic sanctions by his level on russia contrasting them with former president donald trump's praise for putin. joining me right now, michael starr hopkins, democratic strategy and contributory the daily beast. susan del percio and msnbc political analyst and david jolly, former congressman from florida and msnbc news political contributor. welcome all. good to have you here. michael, start with you, because the "post" goes on to say

democrats hope this message will help address biggest liabilities. chief among them, biden's low approval rating and widespread perception democrats are at fault for a sharp increase in inflation. how effective do you expect that to be? >> president biden has been extremely effective not just uniting nato but the international community against vladimir putin and showing a strong result. one of the things missing, combine the international message with the message that had republicans aloud the child tax credit to pass, some of that money could have been used now to help the families suffering as gas and food prices go up. a message domestic, international, would be even more popular for the biden administration. >> yeah. got the "washington post," which also says that biden's record so far on ukraine, that includes his ability to help unify nate other and challenges offered what democrats hope is a chance

to resurrect the pitch made to voters as a candidate that he represents an anecdote to the trump administration and capable of restoring the united states leadership on the world stage. david is that sentiment making people who may be or at least were skeptical about biden's leadership, now give him a second look? >> i wish the president would call me skeptical of this strategy purely on political grounds. if you are suggesting that the message going into november is biden's ability to lead in this moment, he is entrusting his fates to the ukrainian military. what would happen if ukraine falls? does that, then, suggest biden failed in the effort to protect ukraine? what is a, what does a strong president look like in this moment when the u.s. has not actually engaged in direct military action? i think that's the disconnect. right? we don't have the domestic rally around the flag moment, because the u.s. has not been hit, nato

not drawn in. look, between now and november this thing could get a little better or a lot worse. i think democrats and the president will be informed where things are closer to november. as we stand today, a risky strategy to suggest biden's leadership on ukraine could be what saves them in november. >> yeah. what about his new abc ipsos poll out today showing 77% of americans want russia oil imports stopped. punish putin doing that. then you have 70% of americans disapproving of president biden's handling of gas prices. say one thing and then complain about it. does that put the administration into an impossible position? >> yes it does, because at the end of the day, what we see is that people are willing to support ukraine in more of a sense of a patriot duty or

feeling that we protect, we stand with our allies, but we also know just from the get-go, 50% of this country is against joe biden, no matter what he does. the fact is, that as much as, and as clever as the biden administration is in calling it the putin gas hike, the fact is that gas prices have been rising for months. now, it's true. the president actually doesn't control -- any president doesn't control the global price of gas, but they are always held accountable. i think what the president needs to do is, yes, fight this war, or he's not fighting it. he has to be a leader in the conversation when it comes to ukraine, to david's point, but also got to deliver things at home and, of course, even if it's just insulin kept at $35 or other things for increased medicare. anything to bring some relief to

people directly that democrats can point to, because otherwise like david said. we don't know how long this is going to go on. i think americans are willing to pay a little more at the pump now, but will they be willing to do it a month from now? that's the question. >> let me ask you all the same question. that has to do with the putin apologists, call them, within the republican party right now and that's start at the top with donald trump. okay? then you have a number of people that are making supportive statements, indicating support for donald trump and those that aren't. but that wing of the far right gop, how is that something that the democrats can harness? aren't they going to have to answer to this right now given what everybody is witnessing, the heartache we're feeling, compassion, emotional toll this war is taking on people across this country? start with you, michael, on the answer to that one. >> look,

absolutely hammering donald trump, tucker carlson and everybody else who stands up and does the backing of vladimir putin. people who kill children, corrupt and steal from their country, every day a time administration hits them with a sledgehammer for doing this. not just unpatriot, immoral and stand against everything americans believe in. these people pretend they are tough americans but really just support weak dictators. >> hmm. well said. susan. you? >> at this point we see most of the putin sympathizers on the far right are candidates running for office. not as many elected officials in congress are with that line. yes, a few, but even kevin mccarthy knows that's a losing argument and came out very hard in the last couple of days against this. right now democrats can capitalize on these extremists and hope they win primaries,

because in swing districts the best shot a democrat has is having a crazy right-wing trumpkin. >> last words to you, david. >> i think the voices of tucker carlson, madison cawthorn and donald trump, disvalued. and joe biden a strong reliance with voices like lindsey graham and mitch mcconnell on one issue we agree. that putin is an enemy to the free world and nothing otherwise, happy sunday. appreciate you all joining you. we told you about a deadly attack on a base in poland. what this all means you'll hear in just a couple of minutes. in just a couple of minutes.

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