. welcome back. i'm aaron gilchrist in for yasmin vossoughian today. it is 10:00 p.m. in ukraine, where the country is nearing the end of the 18th day of russia's invasion. earlier today, at least 35 people were killed, 134 people injured when a russian air strike hit a military base in

western ukraine just six miles from the polish border. effectively bringing the war to nato's doorstep. u.s. officials said today that america will defend every inch of nato territory. >> chuck, the american president has been clear for some time now that there are no u.s. troops currently operating in ukraine, in eastern ukraine or western ukraine, and that we will defend every inch of nato territory, but u.s. forces will not engage russian forces inside ukraine. it's no surprise that 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. >> this as diplomatic efforts to end the war continue. ukrainian president zelenskyy speaking just a short time ago with the prime ministers of both the united kingdom and the czech republic. the uk readout saying boris johnson committed to continue to pursue more options for bolstering ukraine's

self-defense. zelenskyy also was seen visited injured ukrainian soldiers, even awarding medals to some at a hospital in an undisclosed location. plus, the red cross warning of a worst case scenario for hundreds of thousands in mariupol where they continue to be trapped by ongoing russian shelling, without water, without electricity. fleeing civilians are facing a barrage of attacks, but the u.n. reports more than 2.6 million refugees have successfully fled to safety. we begin with that deadly russian attack on a ukrainian military base today very close to nato territory. 35 people, again, left dead there. ali arouzi is in lviv for us. night has fallen, obviously, there in ukraine. what new reporting do we have on this air strike from the russians today? >> hey, aaron. i can tell you, the air strike happened last night when we were in between live shots just before 6:00 a.m. local in the morning, and we heard several loud booms in the distance. we weren't sure what was

happening. people were kind of expecting this to happen, but it was a surprise. then this morning, the details of those booms came out. it was a missile attack on that military air base just six miles from the polish border, as you mentioned. pretty close to nato territory. the ukrainians say they intercepted many of the missiles that were aimed at that base, but the ones that landed there did significant damage. they killed 30 people, and they injured 134 others. and it's a sensitive base. it's close to poland. it's a place that nato and u.s. forces have trained ukrainians in the past. i have to stress there were no nato or u.s. forces there at the time. it's also a place where ukrainian volunteers conscripts would go there for training before going to the front lines. this was the furthest attack west that has happened so far. and it's made people here in lviv a little bit jittery. lviv has become a hub for all the displaced people that have

fled the brutal bombing of the east of this country. there are so many people here, and they feel nervous that this bombing has come so close. i spoke to one family here in lviv, they had escaped kyiv. they said this is their last safe zone. if the bombing starts here in lviv, they have nowhere else to go. and those bombs at that airport, at that military base only landed about 35 miles from where we are right now, aaron. >> we know earlier today, too, that president zelenskyy visited ukrainian soldiers who were wounded, who were in a hospital now. what more do we know about his visit today? >> that's right. he visited an undisclosed hospital at an undisclosed location. he handed out 106 medals, 17 of them posthumously to ukrainian officials fighting on the front lines. he posed for selfies with them, and it's a big morale boost for

many in the country, not just the soldiers but the regular people. he's been very good for morale, when he comes on tv and makes speeches and visits people like this, it lifts the spirits in the country, and a lot of the people i spoke to were very touched to see him at that hospital visiting the soldiers, smiling with them, taking selfies. so it was a nice moment for the soldiers and for the ukrainian people to see their president there rallying around his troops. >> before we let you go, i do want to ask you, president zelenskyy has said this week that russia had entered a new stage of terror there. he accused the russian forces of abducting a mayor earlier in the week, now there are reports about a second mayor having been abducted according to ukrainian officials. what do you know about that? >> that's right. the mayor of the zaporizhzhia region was taken at 8:30 this morning by russian forces. that would make him the second

mayor to have been abducted since friday. ukrainian authorities are saying these are terror tactics by the russians to install a puppet regime at the local level. and that's basically what happened at mariutopol where the mayor was captured on friday. there's images of him led away by russian forces, blindfolded, the russians have installed their own mayor in that city and they have levied terrorism charges against the mayor of mariutopol. the deputy interior ministry here has said the ukrainians are making plans to flee him. we don't have any more details on what the plans consist of. >> ali arouzi for us, thank you. joining me now is the first deputy mayor of the city of lviv. we appreciate you making time for us today, mr. deputy mayor. what are you concerns now for your citizens right now as we have these attacks that have happened so close to your city?

did you think the russian forces would come this far west? >> this evening was, even the previous night, was quite tough, especially for our region because it's a huge peace keeping and safety center, which was always known, and was attacked by russian troops. so unfortunately, it's very sad, but 35 of our heroes were killed and more than 100 were wounded. and today, so we have seen day by day, it is less than 20 kilometers to the border. approximately 40 kilometers to lviv. for the last several weeks, lviv became like one big hub where a

lot of -- it's approximately more than 200,000 people who are located from cities like mariupol, kharkiv, kyiv, where russian troops killed on the streets children and women, so they tried to find some safe places in our city. today, we have a lot of ukrainians, i can emphasize, the whole ukrainians heroically defend, so we will do all what we can because it's our land, and we don't have another. >> you have, ali arouzi reported he has spoken to people in lviv who heard the missile strike this morning, who say they felt shaking to some degree. how is your city bracing for the possibility of more attacks in western ukraine? how are you reassuring people if you are about their safety? >> today, i can emphasize that

approximately each person in our city are engaged in order to defend our city, our country. a lot of people today, military, a lot of people in military defense units. a lot of today works like volunteers. we don't have time simply to think. today it's time to defend our country, so today i can say that everyone is ready to defend, so it was completely awful, but also it's a sign of to emphasize this war is not russia against ukraine. it's putin against the whole world. so it have to be one more sign in order to close the sky on ukraine because so it can save a lot of lives and the whole world has to understand that they can

and they should help our country in order to save democracy in the world. >> you know, president biden announced $200 million more in aid to your country yesterday to help supply weapons, to give some military assistance there. what more would you like to see? what additional actions are you hoping to see from the u.s. and from other nato countries at this point? >> so it's a question today on several issues. first, of course, is to support our country in military way, because you see that russia used all of what's in even unbelievable in order to explain and even understand several weeks ago, because when you i suppose it's photos from mariupol, from the bombed children's hospital or a lot, i

can say even can't imagine a lot of children were killed by russian troops in peaceful cities of our country, so it's completely awful. so it's likely to help with humanitarian aid because you know a huge part of the economy was destroyed by russian troops so they destroy the road, the railway in order to have especially in our cities especially. and so it also has to be provided by international organization in order to support the people who are relocated and to be the help of the people who are right now in center of ukraine and east of ukraine. >> before i let you go, i would like to ask you about this reporting that at least two mayors in ukraine have been kidnapped by russian forces. what do you know about that, and what precautions are you taking and other mayors and officials around ukraine, what precautions

are you taking right now? >> today, the whole world sees that russia tried to use different approach how to show they're in power, but they even can't imagine at the beginning of this new wave of war, because i want to emphasize war has already now, but in this new peak of war, they didn't expect that for some heroically our ukrainians from kyiv, from kharkiv, the military can defend, because it didn't expect today through the past three weeks we defend our country, so we will win this war because it's our land. we don't have another country, and we'll defend it. >> first deputy mayor of lviv, ukraine, we appreciate your time today, sir. thank you. i want to bring in nbc's

josh lederman in warsaw, poland. this russian strike hit just a few miles inside ukraine from the polish border. how are people there reacting to what has happened today with russia? >> well, you can definitely get the sense, aaron, this latest strike has increased the sense of urgency, not only because this facility was barely 15 kilometers from the polish/ukrainian border, but also the fact that this facility really has served as a hub for foreign forces that had been in ukraine prior to the war. it was a training facility for ukrainian troops where american troops had been based, including many from the florida national guard who were evacuated a few weeks ago. there were polish troops there, there were british troops there, and others. so this really hit close to home, both figuratively and literally, for a lot of the governments in the region.

we already heard earlier today from some of the baltic leaders saying this is another reason that they would like to see permanent nato troops stationed in their countries, not just rotations of troops. and we also heard from the u.s. national security adviser, jake sullivan, who said look, if this spills beyond ukraine and does -- there are strikes that hit here in poland, that that absolutely would trigger article 5 of nato, and there would be a response from all of the allies. here in poland you can also get the sense of how closely this is hitting for the population. many of whom still recall world war ii. they don't want to see war on their territory and on the streets of warsaw, throughout the last few days, we have been seeing an outpouring of support from the polish people. they have been chanting in the streets. they have been singing, waving ukrainian flags, making it clear not only that they stand with their ukrainian neighbors but

also that they don't want to see russian aggression spill over into poland or anywhere else. >> josh, you have been doing a lot of traveling all over eastern europe, a lot of great reporting on the diplomatic efforts that have been brought to bear from the west, trying to reach out to putin and to bring this conflict to some sort of a resolution. is there any sense yet about whether this strike near poland is going to change the direction of things? or just in general, whether diplomacy is making any headway? >> yeah, you know, it's hard to attribute any shifts to any one particular event because the situation is so fast moving and there are just so many dynamics at play. we did hear from the deputy secretary of state wendy sherman earlier today who said that the u.s. is seeing real signs from the russians now that president putin is interested in serious substantive diplomatic negotiations to try to end this conflict. that is certainly a shift from just a few days ago when the u.s. was saying there were no

indications that president putin was ready to end this conflict or was serious about diplomacy. now, whether or not that's going to materialize into anything actual or real, it's a little early to tell, but we know there are so many foreign governments right now that are doing whatever they can to try to get some type of diplomatic process on track. the israelis, the turks, the french, the germans, many other governments who have been trying to act as intermediaries between the rushes and ukrainians, particularly given the military challenges putin has been facing. all of their lack of progress in the first couple weeks, to see whether or not that may have changed putin's calculus a little bit and whether there may be more room for a diplomatic off ramp. aaron. >> josh lederman for us in poland today. thank you. we do have some breaking news today from former president barack obama. a short time ago, he tweeted that he has tested positive for covid. obama says he had a scratchy throat for a couple days but is

feeling fine otherwise. he says that he and former first lady michelle obama are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted. she, by the way, has tested negative, and he's also asking everyone who has not been vaccinated to get their shot. >> coming up, is there a line that putin won't cross? it seems unlikely following these latest attacks. we'll discuss it with a former adviser to the president of georgia, molly mccue, when we come back. ♪ ♪ ♪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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this refugee crisis is defined as an exodus of women and children. across the city, there are makeshift nurseries to entertain the youngsters. and women distraught, they left husbands, brothers, and fathers behind in ukraine. anna has left her husband in kyiv. she also has to contend with a mother-in-law in russia who refuses to accept why she's fled to poland. >> she said, oh, just a little, not big, not big situation. just little. he said mom, we have no house. russia has destroyed our house. >> our thanks to sky news lisa holland for that incredible reporting there. moscow is dialing up its propaganda campaign while at the same time escalating its war in ukraine, putting world leaders on edge now. the ukrainians say at least 35 people were killed, 134 injured

after russia launched that barrage of missile strikes at a military base near the polish border. it is the closest russian forces have come to nato territory since the start of the war. and it immediately drew condemnation from the u.s. white house national security adviser jake sullivan warning today that any attack on nato territory, even an accidental shot, will trigger the full response of the alliance. for more now, i want to bring in molly mckew, former adviser to georgian president. molly, i want to start with the missile strike near the polish border. dangerously close, we know, to nato territory. you have said repeatedly that vladimir putin will not stop at ukraine, that he was waiting for the right moment to expand his reach in europe. do you believe that this is the beginning of that moment? >> i think that putin is most dangerous when he doesn't understand what the boundaries are. you can interpret that in a

variety of different ways. you know, being able to expand into territory without coming up into a hard surface is what we have talked about, but in this situation, he's unaware of what the boundaries are because he's never faced this landscape. the russian economy has essentially been destroyed. he's deep into a military incursion that he has no control over. and is not winning. and i think that that, again, makes him incredibly dangerous. i think we're going to continue to see a pattern of activity from the russians, for example, striking this base, which not very long ago had american and other nato soldiers on it. in an attempt to escalate. and i think we need to be aware of what that looks like and what our responses will be because there will be a moment when we need to respond. >> i want to read a bit of the new yorker's recent interview with steven catkin, a leading scholar on russian history. you have an autocrat in power or even now a despot, making decisions completely by himself.

does he get input from others? perhaps. we don't know what the inside looks like. does he pay attention? we don't know. do they bring him information that he doesn't want to hear? that seems unlikely. it's why despotism or authoritarianism is all powerful and brittle at the same time. it creates the circumstance of its own undermining. the information gets worse, the sycophants get greater in number. the corrective mechanisms become fewer and mistakes become much more consequential. do you believe there's anybody left around putin who could urge him to find an off ramp in this war? >> reason with him, no. find another solution, perhaps. and i think this is the challenge that we now have, which is the answer to the question, what do we do about this putin thing? right now it's in russia, and none of us have the ability to influence that or to move that forward as quickly as we would

like. but i think there's a lot of thinking about how to create more pressure on putin, on how to encourage the russian people to speak out and to be active. how that sort of reaches the circle around putin and then putin himself, i think, there's a lot of debate, but it is an imperative that we try to find ways to reach into the wall behind his wall of information into the population and into his advisers. because it's a critical point of influence right now that we need to try to exert. >> you know, there are these reports today from ukrainian officials that a second mayor in ukraine has been abducted by russian forces. the first we know is allegedly kidnapped and replaced by russian forces. president zelenskyy condemning this, saying this is a new stage of terror. how do these tactics reflect putin's political position right now? >> you know, it's interesting

because it's very stalinist, and i think we don't know what's happening to these mayors. i think we'll know more later. in the stalinist times if the local authority wasn't doing what you wanted, you would kill them and replace them with the next guy in line. there was from the beginning this attempt to engineer the perception that ukrainians would welcome in their russian liberator cousins and flowers would be rained upon them. and that didn't happen. they're still trying to engineer those moments. so they will try to find local authorities, you know, counselors, if the mayors won't do it, who will stand up and say oh, yes, our russian brothers have liberated us from the terrible ukrainian nazis but we should all see this for the cynical show it is when in fact the images we're seeing on the screen right now are what are happening in ukraine. >> molly mckew, we appreciate your time and perspective. >> up next, we're live in kyiv

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pnc bank: see how we can make a difference for you. new video of ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy visiting a hospital earlier today where he presented wounded ukrainian soldiers with state honors for their sacrifices. this visit coming only hours after russian forces expanded their violent campaign westward toward lviv, where they unleashed a barrage of missiles at a ukrainian military base near the polish border, very close to nato territory there. ukrainian officials estimating at least 35 people were killed, 134 injured in the strikes. nbc news has not yet independently verified those numbers. misha zelenskyy has been seeing the crisis in ukraine up close. he's a full-bright scholar and covering the war for the australian financial review. he joins us now from lviv. you have been near the polish

border. what do you know about the attack on the military base there? >> we had the alarms going off early in the morning, this morning, so in the middle of the night, effectively. they have been an expectation of an attack from the russians in the western part of the country. we have already seen the attacks gradually moving westward. the bombing of the airport, and so the expectation that lviv would be hit at some stage was in the intelligence briefings. so we saw that bombing of the facility, which is only 55 kilometers outside of lviv, so enormously close to lviv, the closest strike thus far, and lviv is the capital of the ukrainian independence movement. the idea putin wouldn't attack it is not something i would support. it's an area where a lot of people that he dislikes reside, so the fear is that as he gets

more indiscriminate in his attacks that he's going to start to hit cities like lviv that have a lot of his purported enemies within it. the idea he's now hit a facility that's only 25 kilometers away from the border of nato allied nation is extraordinarily concerning for anyone worrying about this escalating. >> we haven't heard a big response from the western allies at this point to this, but do you believe this attack could actually change the way that poland and it way that nato respond to russian aggression at this point? >> well, the polish have already shown that they're prepared to step up. they trided to provide the needs which the united states government at this stage has not backed, but the truth is in terms of the holding back russian aggression, every time the west or nato allied nations make a statement that they don't want to provoke russia, russia tends to increase its military activity and its striking.

so 25 kilometers away from the border is extraordinarily close. it doesn't take a lot of, you know, sort of inaccuracy to start to get over the border. we have seen jake sullivan saying that any sort of strike whatsoever on a nato allied nation will have a full response. we don't know what that looks like, but putin is getting right up to the precipice with his behavior right now. he's made it clear that he does not care about civilians in ukraine. he's prepared to hit them in the cities that they live. he's prepared to kill and destroy them in the properties where they are residing. so the idea that he has any restraint whatsoever is not something that nato allies, i believe, should be supporting at this point. they need to be doing everything possible to arm ukrainians so they can fight for themselves and looking at everything possible short of a no-fly zone to make sure that putin understands that western resolve is not going to break at this point. >> i do want to talk to you about the humanitarian crisis there that is getting bigger

every day. you wrote a really moving piece about the ukrainians you're meeting who are trying to get out, in particular, an 82-year-old woman, nadia, who asked you for help carrying some of her belongings. you wrote, as we walk, she describes the bombing raid that destroyed her kharkiv apartment. it looked like hell was raining down from the skies, with no close family and no friends over the border, she does not know what the future holds. the russians don't want us to have a calm life, imagine a whole life in one bag, she shrugs. really just a moving account of what you're hearing there. how common are stories like that in your travels? >> well, they're everywhere. so that's just one story. i couldn't fit all the stories into one column, regrettably. i went on a bus trip out with 200 refugees from lviv out to the polish border where they waited several hours to get across, and then a 20-hour bus

drive to belgium to safety where i was able to correspondent with a young 17-year-old man and his family where he's now safe and secure, but they're the lucky ones. they got on the bus. the person that was organizing the bus said there's no fighting amongst yourself because you're the lucky ones. the woman, nadia, you mentioned, she's 82, older than my grandmother. i thought about my own family's story. my family is eastern european, russian extraction. we ran away from the soviet union 75 years ago. to see people of my grandmother's vintage having to cross the border for their own safety, we're back where we started 75 years ago, it's start and striking and heartbreaking. nadia, you know, literally had a crutch under her left arm and a walking stick in her right arm. and a bag in the crook of her elbow and ask mead to carry a bag for her. it was just absolutely heartbreaking to hear the story. the rest of her story after her apartment was blown up in

kharkiv, she had a 36-hour train ride where at times she had to lay down on the train floor whilst bombing raedz were going on. this is what people are having to endure every single day to get away from putin's indiscriminate bombing of cities. kharkiv, irpin, kyiv, mariupol, all these cities are being bombarded every day and night. civilians are being killed. hospitals are being destroyed. and the west is sitting back and saying, well, there's not much we can do here. putin needs to understand there's going to be consequences for his actions. otherwise he's going to continue to escalate as he's proven. he's edging further and further west. he's daring the west to take him on. and he's not really bothered at all by killing ukrainians, because ultimately, his military strategy has failed. putin mfs military strategy has failed. he can't win the war the way he hoped. he hoped to knock over the ukrainian government in 24

hours. now he's committed all of these troops, 55% of his total army are in the ukrainian nation. he's not winning, but he's made it clear if he can't win, he'll tear and destroy ukraine down with him. that's the real fear here, what is vladimir putin prepared to do as he loses this war? >> reporting some incredible stories, exactly the stories that need to be heard coming out of ukraine. dealing with the ukrainian people. we appreciate your time today. thank you. i want to bring in a retired army colonel, jack jacobs, msnbc military analyst, recipient of the medal of honor as well. colonel, i want to start with what we just heard, talking about vladimir putin, saying his strategy in ukraine has failed. and that what we're seeing now is in many ways the action of a desperate man. what do you make of that? >> yeah, i think that's right. and it's an echo of something that molly mckew in the last block said, too.

putin decided he was going to walk right over ukraine, he would walk in there, it would all be over, and that didn't happen because of the bravery of the ukrainian people. putin's out of ideas. but his objective is still the same, take over all of ukraine. and we believe that nothing is going to stop -- step in his way. he's going to continue to escalate the war against civilians with the ultimate objective of taking over the whole country. >> so then what do we do? there's no logic that says a desperate man starts to act rationally. it would seem this could only go downhill in terms of what vladimir putin is willing to do. so what's the next step? what's the response that is going to be able to stop this from turning into something much worse? >> well, the only thing that will stop it from becoming much worse is if putin decides that ukraine's all he's going to go

for. if there is any breach of the border, for example, between nato and ukraine, that's going to result in a large-scale counterattack on russian forces inside ukraine. and make no mistake about it, we have them all targeted down to one meter, we know exactly where they all are. what's really dangerous is for a response from the west is when, if, as, and when russian forces get inside the cities where there are lots and lots of civilians, then counterattacking by the west on russian forces is going to be extremely difficult because it puts ukrainians at further risk. what we have to hope for is that somebody will be able to convince him that there's a face-saving way to extract russian forces from the area and so far there's nobody like that we can see, aaron. >> all right, colonel jack jacobs, we apprec apt your time.

thank you. >> a very small bit of good news for those looking to fill up their gas tanks. prices are starting to level off a little bit. in california, though, it's still nearly $6 a gallon for gasoline. what drivers there are saying about it, next. sunday, at 8:00 p.m. eastern, with everyone woried about russian nukes, our coverage of ukraine continues with beatrice finn. she won a nobel peace prize. join us sunday live from 8:00 p.m. eastern. till the eat fresh refresh, and subway's refreshing their italians. so, we're taking this to italy. refresh. because subway now has italian-style capicola on the new mozza meat and supreme meats. love the smell of italian food. subway keeps refreshing and refres- meet three moms who each like to bank their own way. luckily they've all got chase. smart bankers. convenient tools.

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welcome back. american drivers continue to feel pain at the pump as gas prices skyrocket across the country now. costs have remained at historic levels since president biden's ban on russian oil imports last week. as the white house and industry officials argue over increased drilling as a solution to energy

concerns. arguably, nowhere is the situation more dire than in the state of california, where fuel prices are among the highest in the country, averaging more than $5.70 a gallon, which is steep even for californians who are used to paying higher prices for gas. that's where we find nbc's scott cohn outside a gas station in san jose where the price of a gallon is almost $6 a gallon there. scott, there are some oil industry experts who are saying that prices have reached a peak at this point. what have you been hearing from the everyday americans this is impacting the most there in california? >> yeah, remember, aaron, that the adage when it comes to gas prices is they go up like a rocket and come down like a feather. here's the price for regular at this station in san jose, $5.89 a gallon. it's just over the average for the state of california, which is $5.74, which is the highest in the nation. $6.29 if you want premium. you can see, somebody just

filled up their car, so 14 gallons, 15 gallons for $89. that's the kind of thing we have been seeing here. you can look at the way the prices have been going nationwide. they are starting to level off. so $4.32 a gallon nationwide. as i said, $5.74 in california. that can be tough to take. >> we're going to see a lot less driving. a lot of angry people. yeah, i myself was one of them. i'm a firefighter. so me driving to work, every time i fill up, it's $100, if not more now. and yeah, kind of makes me want to bike ride or walk mostly. and i live right down the street. >> oh, my god. i'm moving past $40. it usually takes me $50 to fill my tank up when the prices are low. >> so that's a little hard to look at, isn't it? >> yeah. i'm shocked now.

>> why is it so much more expensive here in california? gas taxes are higher here. there's environmental fees for gasoline here. it's a special blend of gas that's refined in california to cut down on emissions, but also, like other western states, this state is more reliant than the rest of the country on imported oil. remember, we just lost 8% of oil imports with the cut-off in russian oil. aaron. >> 8% sounds like a low number, but it has a big impact in reality. scott cohn for us in san jose, thank you. and up next, we have a conversation with a former president of ukraine, and as we go to break, a nice moment from a group of opera singers in ukraine. they came together on the streets of lviv to sing their country's national anthem. ♪♪

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in the past 24 hours, residential neighborhoods in the northern ukrainian city of shaniv have been bombarded by russian missiles. one russian missile here fell with such force that it actually crushed a brick wall of a homeowner's bedroom. that missile did not explode. ukrainian forces with some help of some civilians were able to pull that missile out of that

house. you can see it still fully intact. this morning, my colleague, ali velshi, spoke to the former ukrainian president. they talked about a range of topics from the russian invasion to the deadly attack on a ukrainian base earlier today that killed 35 people. let's listen to a portion of that conversation. >> the russian occupants, an aggressor, do not move ahead. ukrainian brave armed forces keep them under a distance of 15 miles from ukraine and capital, and this is right from this place. this is exactly 15 miles from russian tanks. we are every single day under missile attack, and this morning it's happening that 30 russian cruise missiles was attacked. the international peacekeeping and security where we have more than 35 killed, and more than 30

cruise missiles were sent into -- nato certified, which was just 20 miles from the nato border. this is a terrorist attack exactly at the nato border. what we need now -- on the first day during the war, we need just the anti-tank, anti-aircraft missile. we need arm carrier, and definitely we need military jets. today we should change it, and this is the high time for the western world to open the second front against russia. please learn the experience from the world war ii. and second front does not mean soldiers. this mean that we need to be delivered the defensive weapons. this is mean that we should have anti-aircraft --. we should have financial support, humanitarian support,

and we should have new sanction which motivate putin to stop the aggression and to take back from our country, and we should have a special act, land-lease act, from nutrition to ammunition because we're fighting here not only for ukrainian soil. we're fighting here for our partners and for nato, for freedom and for democracy. and i want to use this opportunity, by the way, to thank all the international journalists who works here in ukraine and deliver the truth about the russian aggression in ukraine. and i want to say condolences to the american people because just a couple hours ago, exactly near the zone of responsibility for my battalion, was killed the american journalist, and this is a disaster. this is the way how putin provide humanitarian crisis,

exactly a butcher. just yesterday was buried the 67 women and children unidentified which was killed by russian terrorists. this is the crimes against humanity. this is just happening in the 21st century in the center of europe, and can you imagine this has happened just 15 miles from this place. >> our thanks to ali velshi with former ukrainian president poroshenko. that wraps up this hour. thank you for watching. i'll see you tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. on nbc news now. reverend al sharpton and "politics nation" after a quick break.

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good evening and welcome to "politics nation." tonight's lead, the human cost. right now europe is bracing for a reckoning three weeks into russia's war and the offensive that has now pushed into western ukraine is nearly at nato's doorstep. nearly three dozen people were killed this morning by a russian missile attack on a ukrainian