operating there and my team is currently in lviv, which as you know, was attacked on saturday night, despite these very challenging issues, we have good experience of working in conflicts, good experience in remote management and activating partner networks on the ground. >> and we thank you and all of your team for that. alan glasgow, we appreciate you for taking the time. that's going to wrap up this hour. i'm chris jansing. jose diaz-balart pix up breaking news coverage right now. good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. civilians continue to pay the high price for putin's violent offensive on day 20 of the war in ukraine. overnight, officials say a residential area in kyiv was destroyed after a night of relentless russian shelling. today, ukrainian president zelenskyy is set to meet with the leaders of poland, slovenia, and czech republic in kyiv, in person, as he pleads with the west for more support. senator richard blumenthal will join us to discuss what else the

united states can do to support its allies and curb russian aggression. meantime, a bold act of courage caught on camera. a russian state television employee interrupted a broadcast to protest moscow's invasion of ukraine. her sign says in part, stop the war, don't believe the propaganda. you are being led to hear. in just a few hours, ukraine's capital city, kyiv, will be under a 35-hour curfew, as russian offenses intensify their violent attacks. >> the curfew follows a night of intense russian shelling of a residential neighborhood in kyiv, according to officials. overnight, first responders rushed to an apartment building that went up in flames, after the bombardment. officials say at least three people were killed as a result. and across ukraine, the deputy

prime minister says they're hoping to evacuate more citizens through nine humanitarian corridors today. in the next hour, ukrainian president zelenskyy will address canadian parliament, as he vows, everything will be rebuilt after the war and renews his plea to the west to do more to stop the violence. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard angle had the very latest for us from kyiv. >> russia is now expanding its attacks deeper into the heart of kyiv. this is one of the city's main subway stations, and it was hit by a russian strike at roughly 5:00 in the morning. people had been sheltering here, people have been using these subway stations as bomb shelters, staying mostly in the underground levels, deep below the streets. no one was killed or hurt in this attack, because they were deep underground, but there is a lot of damage, and volunteers have been coming in from the entire neighborhood to help pick up all of the broken glass here. in one sense, this shows that

russia is expanding its attacks, hitting right into the center of kyiv. you can't get a more downtown location than that one. but it is also a sign of weakness, because russia's front lines have not been advancing. its troops and armored vehicles and that long convoy outside of kyiv are where they are and have not been advancing for the last several days. instead, russia's relying more on its long-range weapons, its artillery and rockets to carry out attacks like this one, that are generally untargeted, hit primarily civilians, and are part of a long russian campaign of attrition. >> nbc's richard engel in kyiv, thank you. joining us now is nbc news foreign correspondent, ali arouzi from lviv in the western region of ukraine. ali, you've been in lviv, which was once insulated from the conflict, but now russians have expanded this conflict westward.

how are people where you are coping? >> they're showing incredible resilience here in lviv and across the country. this is one of the last safe zones in the country. you've seen wave after wave of displaced people arriving here in lviv. but they're holding strong. i mean, they are fightened. they're afraid that the fighting my come to them. but they're digging in here. they say if the russians come, they'll fight them. most of the men i've spoken to here have no problem with taking up arms and fighting the russians. it's not just men of age. you speak to men over the age of 60. because when you're 60 years old in this country, 60 and above, you can leave, you don't have to fight. but i've met men 63-year-old, 64-year-old men that are saying, they're just not going to leave the country. we're going to stay here and fight. i spoke to another young woman yesterday. and i asked her, are you worried that this russian invasion is going to overwhelm your country,

that the russians are going to take ukraine. she said, the only way the russians are going to take ukraine is if they kill us all. 17-year-old vlad and his grandmother's passage to safety turned into a desperate scramble to save her life. their perilous, long journey took them from the battered east to the relative safety of the west, but it department go as planned. the strain of it all became too much. lupov, worried for her pet cat, collapsed just after arriving in lviv by bus. >> when we went out from the bus, she became bad. so she has some problems with heart. and i went to the medical center and asked for the help. >> an overwhelmed vlad found that help for his grandmother from the samaritan's purse, an american charity, a health clinic helping the displaced at the train station in lviv. >> so we ran over there,

literally, and started administering aid. he had a pulse. when she got there, she was, she was weak, sweaty. >> reporter: no time for a stretcher. a nurse named peter lifted her on his back and ran to the medical tent. >> it's not perfect, but when you're in a crisis, you do what you have to do. >> reporter: vlad was already emotional. he had to leave his parents behind. >> i am really nervous. i hope that all will be okay. and i think that i did everything, what i can, to help my grandmother. >> reporter: he told us his grandmother's name, lubov, means love in ukrainian. >> she wants to stay at home, but it is very dangerous, because every day, their attacks are more -- are bigger and bigger. we will stay here. my grandmother don't want,

because she think that in other countries, she can't leave, because she loves ukraine. >> reporter: the medics stabilized her. >> where's the cat? >> the cat's here. >> reporter: she was taken into waiting ambulance, but it didn't drive off. from outside, we could see the vehicle bouncing up and down, the medics were working desperately on her. but again, her vitals dropped. this time, nothing could be done. she couldn't be saved. >> i can't -- >> reporter: vlad broke down. the bombs and bullets may not have killed his grandmother, but the stress of war did. >> reporter: what's next for you, vlad? what are you going to do now? >> i don't know. i called my mother. she will come here. >> reporter: lviv was meant to be a safe place for vlad and his grandmother. the tragedy etched on his face. he clutched on to her few

belongings and her cat, devastated at the loss. the future, uncertain. and hoy, vlad's mother came back from hard-hit summy to lviv to make funeral arrangements for her mother. we asked if we could speak to her, she sent us a message saying she was too emotionally exhausted to talk to us. that the war had taken away her dearest person. i mean, truly tragic. and of course, jose, when she put her mother on a bus, trying to send her to safety, she didn't know it was going to be the last time she says good-bye to her. >> what a -- what a difficult situation, what a tragedy, which is no doubt being replicated throughout that country. ali, you also attended a funeral earlier for ukrainian soldiers. what did you see? >> reporter: that's right. we attended a funeral for ukrainian soldiers, just very close to where we are. those are the soldiers that were hit in that air base, very close to the polish border. there was a lot of camaraderie

there. you can see all the people that showed up, the regular people in lviv that showed up, they were all very emotional. you could see the sadness on their face, but a massive sense of camaraderie. and there was one message from everybody, close the air space. we're getting pounded from the air. and you hear that all over this city. >> ali aruezi in lviv, thank you so much for being with us this morning. joining us now, peter salmayef, the director of the eurasia democracy initiative. he joins us from just outside kyiv. peter, thank you for being with us. we first spoke with you on day nine of the invasion. we're now in day 20. how have things changed? >> well, there's a little bit of a normalization -- the war -- needless to say. even though that the blood and the carnage is increasing, the burden on civilians is increasing. you have all seen what was happening in mariupol. that's only one-hour drive from where i was born and raised in

donetsk. it's really pretty barbaric, what is happening. but overall, there's a sense that people are kind of digging in for the long haul. people are exhausted, mentally, and physically, but at the same time, there's a sense that ukraine can win this thing. obviously, not without a tremendous destruction, but, you know, we see that the carnage of civilian life is actually proportional to the military setback that vladimir putin is suffering. it seems like he has bogged down in ukraine and it has grown desperate, as a result. >> yeah, and you know, the fear, of course, is that that desperation may lead to even more carnage, destruction, civilian attacks. peter, how do you -- i don't know, internalize that? last time i had the privilege of speak with you, you said your family was safe after you dropped them off with your colleague. how do you internalize this?

and this is a country that, you know, three weeks ago, had nothing like this. >> i mean, we had nothing like this. there's no precedent for this. you have to go back to the 90s. but all of a sudden, it's in color and it's in 3-d. it's staring you in the face. the whole country is engulfed in this. you are living through history. you're living through an incredible moment of clarity. i mean, we see things, you know, in terms of a struggle between good and evil. so while we feel we are on the good side, and we're fighting the evil ones. the hate red we feel for the economy is corrosive. it's also exhausting, in and of itself. you have to grapple with this feeling. and it's going to stay with you for a while. at the same time, the huge wave of sympathy we felt for the ukraine, feeling like we're country number one.

zelenskyy is person number one. he's on the cover of "time" magazine. we're the talk of the town. so while there's a sense of elation, there's also a sense of frustration. because all of these mega demonstrations in support of ukraine around the world did not sway vladimir putin one wit. he still went ahead and started bombing our cities. nothing sways the guy. we're dealing with a psychopath. so it's a sense of, you know, of the surreal. you know, being kind of helpless, you know, for as long as this monster is alive, we'll continue to suffer. but one thing is for certain. he will not see -- he will not live to see ukraine disappear. i am more confident than ever that ukraine shall survive as an independent state. we will never tolerate the russian world in ukraine. >> peter, what would you say to folks here in the united states and lout the world that have been raising their voice in

solidarity for ukraine? what else do you need? >> we need to instrumentalize, you know, the -- these emotional, you know, appeals. it's all good and well. we've seen the support from all the various corners, from politicians, from elon musk, who has just challenged vladimir putin to a dual, from madonna, et cetera, it's been great. but we need to mobilize and start arming ukraine to the fullest. i don't want to come across as a warmongerer. the no-fly zone is a no-go zone for the american policy makes. once they've made that determination, they need to understand that they cannot afford to give up on ukraine. the legitimacy of the western world, of liberal democracies of america, of nato, of eu is riding on the outcome of ukraine. give ukraine a surface-to-air support missiles, you know, arm

it to the teeth, and let's see if he's defeated once and for all. >> peter, thank you so much for being with us. let's keep in touch. i very much appreciate your voice. still ahead, ukraine's president is set to address congress tomorrow. what, if anything, can he say to convince the u.s. to increase its actions, to further help beat back russia? plus, while the refugee crisis in the country surrounding ukraine is just getting worse. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." e. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. trelegy for copd. [coughing] ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze driftin' on by... ♪ if you've been playing down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day,... ♪ ...it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. ♪...and i'm feelin' good. ♪ no once-daily copd medicine... has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler,

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17 past the hour. in less than 24 hours, ukraine's president zelenskyy will be addressing members of congress virtually. tomorrow's speech comes two weeks after zelenskyy met privately with u.s. lawmakers when he urged them to send fighter jets to ukraine. and right now, biden administration officials are considering whether president biden will travel to europe to reassure u.s. allies in the region, according to three u.s. officials, and two people familiar with the discussions. joining us this morning, yamiche alcindor, moderator of "washington week" on pbs. also with us, jake sherman, cofounder of punch bowl news and an msnbc political contributor. yamiche, i want to start with you. the news surrounding president biden potentially heading to europe within the next couple of weeks. what do you know? >> well, we know that nbc was outfront with this story, which is that the white house and

president biden are considering going to europe. the trip would be focused on trying to make sure that the united states is very much showing support for nato and very much showing that they support the ukrainian people, even though the president continues to not want to be involved militarily in defending that country. the possible details of this trip are still coming together. if it happens, it would be, of course, a very watched trip, because we've seen other white house officials go over to eastern europe, including the vice president, kamala harris. she was just in poland, really again making sure that nato allies really understand that the united states is ready to defend nato territory. another thing to note is that the white house, as they're having these conversations, this is happening in parallel to nato, sources tell nbc news. nato possibly having a meeting next week, sometime, in brussels, to talk more about the ukrainian crisis. this is the white house possibly traveling to that meeting. again, we're not sure whether or not that's going to actually happen.

nothing has been finalized, but this would be a very big deal if president biden was to go specifically to europe during this crisis. >> indeed, it would. and jake, as president biden considers meeting with european allies, president zelenskyy will be addressing members of congress tomorrow. what do we know about that? >> well, a bunch. president zelenskyy is going to address both chambers in a closed session, which is going to be streamed for the outside public to listen to. and here's the thing to keep in mind. zelenskyy is asking for two things that the american government, that the white house and capitol hill seem to be unwilling to deliver on. that is these airplanes, these soviet-era mig jets that the pentagon shut down last week. and a no-fly zone over ukraine. there is nothing, based on my reporting, from last night when we reported this, there is nothing that zelenskyy can say that will shift opinion on those two issues. now, that's not to say that the u.s. is doing nothing. the u.s. just approved, you know

$15 billion in aid to ukraine. the biden administration released another $200 million to the ukrainians. they've been very generous, we, the united states, has been very generous with aid to ukraine, to fight back -- to fight russia. but those two items, jets and a no-fly zone are just a no-go for the u.s. >> yeah, i mean, yamiche, the address certainly is going to be significant tomorrow, but as jake says, there's very little, it seems, that zelenskyy or anybody else can do to convince the u.s. to send in some no-fly zone areas or send in the equivalent of the migs, if it's through a second channel. >> that's right. and president biden has been very clear now for weeks that he sees any involvement militarily in the united states, in ukraine as potentially world war iii, because american military officials might then come into contact with russian military

officials. so he has really been very strong and very consistent on saying that. it was also very telling that when he went to the democratic retreat last week, he reiterated that and reiterated to his own party, lawmakers who are feeling pressured when they're watching these pregnant women and children be bombed and killed in ukraine. and wondering, what more can the united states do? the president has been very clear that while this is very -- this is heartbreaking and that this is devastating for the ukrainian people, that the united states has to really be reserved in what it does next. so really, zelenskyy here is going to be pulling at the heartstrings of lawmakers, once again, and putting a face to the crisis there. and once again sort of telling lawmakers just how bad he wants more help. but whether or not that's going to move the needle is a totally different story. and based on my reporting, it doesn't seem like anything that zelenskyy says, at least at this point, is really going to change the minds of democrats or republicans, who are in some ways united in the idea that the united states should not be, at this point, at war with russia.

>> yeah. and i mean, jake, where do things stand on capitol hill when it comes to congress taking more action to punish those close to putin and deliver aid to ukraine? >> the president has basically authority to do whatever he wants when it comes to sanctions. the president has wide berth, wide authority, and congress, quite frank, would be willing to give the administration any authority that it needs to further punish russia. now, i'm not sure what more they could do on aid. again, they just passed $15 billion of fresh aid to ukraine, so they would be willing to do more, but i talked to a lot of senators yesterday, chris murphy of connecticut made the good point to me, the point that a lot of democrats make privately, that congress should not micromanaging this conflict. they should allow the president to operate within his authority and do what he needs to do to try to manage this conflict. but again, you see bills popping up almost every day, people trying to seize russian oligarch's property, whether

it's boats or cars or houses in the u.s., and i imagine we'll see more of that, but i think it's safe to say that congress' appetite to punish russia is basically endless. >> and we'll be speaking to senator blumenthal about this very point in a couple of minutes. jake sherman and yamiche alcindor, thank you very much for being with us this morning. still ahead, we'll bring you the latest developments on two men accused of horrific attacks in new york city and washington, d.c. but first, a show of solidarity with ukraine at the metropolitan opera in new york city. ♪♪ the singers and musicians got a standing ovation last night when the met opened a special benefit concert with ukraine's national anthem. a singer from ukraine led the chorus during the anthem. the concert broadcasted to dozens of countries throughout the world. all ticket sales will go to support relief efforts in the war-torn country. reflief effort war-torn country

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we'll is more breaking news from ukraine coming up. but first, a check of the top stories here at home. this morning, we have an update on two stories we brought you yesterday. a person who police say is connected to several shootings, including two killings of homeless men in d.c. and new york was arrested early this morning in washington. he is currently being questioned by authorities. separately, the suspect who reportedly stabbed two employees at new york's museum of modern art over the weekend was arrested in philadelphia. 60-year-old gary cabana was found sleeping on a bench at a bus terminal. he is awaiting extradition back to new york where he will await trial. and the idaho, the legislature there passed the first texas-style abortion ban. it relies on ordinary citizens to enforce the new rule that women cannot get illegal abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, when many women don't even know they're pregnant. and 150 haitians arrived at the florida keys on monday. officials say this image shows the sailboat they took.

this image shows a group of asians gathered in front of a home in the keys. people in haiti are fleeing the worsening political and humanitarian crisis in haiti. last week, u.s. coast guard returned to haiti 158 haitians who made it to the florida keys. activists say the u.s. government continues to deport haitians who make it to the border with mexico. over the weekend, authorities sent back to cuba 74 people after they were spotted at sea. south of key west, they are the latest of thousands of cubans trying to escape a growing crackdown by the regime in that island. still ahead, senator richard blumenthal joins us live, just back from his trip from the ukraine/poland border, where he saw the grief and terror up close. what refugees told him, next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." t reports. every year we try

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than 1.5 million children have become ukrainian refugees since the russian invasion began. that's equal to one child refugee per second. overall, nearly 3 million people have fled ukrainian for neighboring countries. the overwhelming majority have ended up in poland. officials in poland, though, the two largest cities, warsaw and krakow warn that they can no longer cope with the influx of people. joining us now from medica, poland, is row hailya. what's the latest on the ground where you are? >> hi, jose. how are you? what you said, the number that the u.n. said about children coming to this place, it's amazing. one children every second, and you can see mothers with their children, no men, because men between 18 and 60 years old,

they must stay in the country, because they must defend the country. but you can see the work that volunteers are doing here. they are offering tea, coffee, some candies, fruit. so people, jose, is trying to get something, even when they are crossing the border, they are trying to get a hug, because there are relatives here that are waiting for them. not all of them, but some have got relatives that are waiting for them. on the other side, there are buses that take them to the humanitarian aid center. so they can get to another destination. for example, to another city of poland or another country in the european union. but you can see, children, women, jose, it's amazing. it's a humanitarian crisis. and you can see people that are trying to give them a smile. at the other side of those buildings, at the green buildings, there is ukraine. we are very close to the border now. this is a control passport. and you can see how many people

is waiting here, jose. children with pizza, all the women are tired, because they were alone sometimes for days. it is amazing, jose, what we see here -- >> rojalio, you have been there for over -- >> tell me, jose. >> you've been there for over a week now, and you have been reporting almost daily on the amount of people that arrive from ukraine and yesterday, you were reporting that the amount of people that you saw, you hadn't seen before. we're seeing an increase, rojalio, of the desperation, of the need of people to leave that country. it's been noticeable, the amount of increase of people you're seeing? >> jose, i think we are seeing more, more, and more, you know. yesterday, we came here at the

night, and we saw a long line waiting for the buses and i haven't seen anything like yesterday night. and now, i think it's going to be the same, because night is coming, the weather is better than the last week. that was really, really cold. so this week, the weather is better. so people is coming in huge numbers, jose. it's going to be 3 millions of ukrainians out of -- out of their country. and almost 2 million here in poland. so it's a huge amount of ukrainians leaving this war, jose. >> more of course tonight, thank you for your time, very much appreciate it, sir. joining us now is senator richard blumenthal. thank you, of connecticut. he is the member of the senate armed services committee and recently traveled to poland with

a bipartisan group of senators. senator, it's always a pleasure to see you. i want your thoughts and what you're seeing and what you saw in poland. >> what was so stunning, as we went to the border crossing, where refugees, women and children, were fleeing the bombing that had occurred just hours before, 12 miles away, was the terror, trauma, horror, misery, the real suffering. the magnitude of this humanitarian crisis is really indescribable and incalculable. but keep in mind, those bombs, just 12 miles away, shook the border crossing in poland. it was perilously near to an attack on a nato ally. and so, what we're really seeing in realtime is putin taking enormous risks through this bombing. and also, the urgency of our

providing better air defenses, whether it's aircraft batteries, planes, or drones, to counter russia's stunning air superiority. >> yeah, i mean, you know, senator, you talk about putin just being reckless and really just, you know, going right up to the edge there. is it maybe because he thinks that there are very little things that he could do, as long as he doesn't cross the border into a nato country, that will prompt the u.s. and the west to do things like exchange migs, to do some form of a no-fly zone. >> putin is becoming increasingly reckless, as he's stymied in his invasion. and that kind of closeness to poland shows that he is taking the war, in effect, to nato, challenging, and daring us to do more. and that's why we need to counter his air superiority. you know, the ukrainians can win

and defeat russia, if it's a fair fight on the ground, if it's only on the ground, but the pummeling from the air, whether it's missiles, bombs, aircraft, are the major disadvantage that ukraine needs to overcome. and that's why the plea tomorrow from president zelenskyy, for more support, is so urgent. we saw, at the border, how the transfer of arms is going at enormous magnitude and very effectively. and zelenskyy is very much on top of the transfer of javelin stinger missiles and other anti-air defenses, but he needs more, and we should be providing more. it is an absolutely historic mandate for us to meet this challenge. >> so senator, what more do you think the united states should be providing? are we thinking about, do you think, for example, the polish request to send migs over to germany and have the u.s. put them into ukraine, a no-fly

zone, those are the that i think so this zelenskyy that be asking for and will no doubt ask tomorrow. >> the administration has been pretty unequivocal in saying no to a no-fly zone. but there are plenty of tools we can give ukraine, including, for example, more of the stinger missiles that have proved enormously effective against the russian aircraft. the ukrainians have taken them down at stunning numbers. and also, more of the kinds of anti-aircraft batteries that the ukrainians are trained to operate, the soviet-style, not the patriot missiles. but also, drones. turkish and possibly israeli drones that have proved, again, enormously potent against russian air superiority. but here's the thing, also, economic sanctions. we need to absolutely crack down, crack down on putin's wealth. and we need also to complete many of the economic sanctions that have begun against the

largest banks, not just the second largest, but the first, and gazprom, which collects a lot of the russian proceeds from oil transfers. these economic sanctions are having a severe bite. they are really hurting the russian economy. putin knows it and it has driven him to be increasingly reckless, as the strike on poland or near poland indicates. >> senator blumenthal, it's always a pleasure to see you. i thank you for your time. >> thank you. up next, an exclusive sit-down with the head of the u.n.'s nuclear agency about the nuclear dangers in ukraine. what he says keeps him up at night. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." t. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. develop their passion for learning. and now we're providing 88 billion dollars to support underserved communities... ...helping us all move forward financially. pnc bank: see how we can make a difference for you. ♪ everybody dance now ♪ ♪♪

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around the clock. he spoke with their director general about the potential nuclear dangers from russian strikes in ukraine. joining us now is nbc news josh letterman in vienna. josh, what did he tell you. >> reporter: jose, he told me that when it comes to what you were just describing, the fact that russians are now in control physically of those nuclear sites, that it is a huge problem that the ukrainian nuclear experts who are supposed to be running those facilities are now having russian officials breathing down their necks. he compared it to as if you or i were in the studio doing our work as journalists and there were armed guards with kalashnikovs pointed at our heads while we were trying to do our work. he also said that it is absolutely vital that the iaea, the u.n.'s nuclear watchdog, get boots on the ground in ukraine to be able to monitor the situation, because you have these discrepancies, with the

russians saying, you know, we haven't targeted any kind of nuclear sites, the ukrainians saying something completely different. and without independent watchdogs there, it's very difficult for the international community to know what's actually happening, and also, to be able to respond to it, if there was an incident. he says that if there were some type of massive incident, it's possible that radiation could actually spill over across the border into other european countries, and i asked director general groszy what his biggest fear is right now. here's what he told me. >> stepping back, what scenario in ukraine is keeping you up at night right now? >> well, the scenario that's keeping me up is the possibility of an attack or an episode, where wittingly or unwittingly, there could be, a direct impact to any of the facilities. when you are in an armed

conflict, an active armed conflict, these things can happen anytime. >> reporter: here at the iaea, jose, they have had an operation center manned 24/7 since the war broke out late last late last are monitoring radiation sensors inside ukraine. they still have most of those intact, though the ones in chernobyl no longer transmitting data back here. they are speaking data to ukranian officials on the ground to get the very latest and make sure that the u.n. is prepared to respond if there is a nuclear incident that could potentially threaten civilians, jose. >> thank you so much. take a look at this live shot that we have in kyiv. right now this is happening. you can see the smoke, the area there at distance. this is in the ukraine capital. that's happening right now live.

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ukranian president zelenskyy is thanking an anti-war protester who interrupted a russian tv one broadcast. you can see it in this video. she ran on to the tv news set with a sign that says stop the war. don't believe the propaganda. they are lying to you. nbc news correspondent and anchor with news now savannah sellers joins us this morning. you've been looking at how our teams at nbc news verified

videos like this one. >> that's exactly, right, jose. doing another deep dive on videos popping up on social media on the war in ukraine to show you how they are verified. this time we'll look at viral videos in both ukraine and russia to tell you how our social news gathering team, that's what they are called here at nbc news, makes sure that the videos that you see online are the real deal. so, first, let's play that one again if you're just playing. you just mentioned this. this, of course, has been going around on social media verified by our teammate who shows an anti-war protester interrupting a russian news broadcast on state tv. when i first saw this, i was waiting for our social gathering team to verify it because i was wondering could this real? turns out this is actually an employee of that news station. i want to show you something that happened right after this. right after the video started to go viral, notice a twitter account debunked blaming to be that woman popped up. this account is fake.

he established that the fake account was just created this month, march of 2022. as of a few days ago, get this, this account was tweeting as someone else. those are all red flags showing this as a fake account. also important because something that looked like it could have been fake was real and then a fake event comes after that. now let's move on to video of ukranian refugees. this one is heartwarming, kids being welcomed to a school in italy. this one was verified by matteo mascala on our nbc news social gathering team. it start making round on march 9th. matteo was able to verify this up by finding posts of the families of these kids, a whole school in italy cheering for them as well as geolow capital gains tax the school seen in that video, google maps, same toll you have at home to make sure it's the school in video that this post claims that it is. finally the videos shared across youtube of young violinists in ukraine playing an old folks

home sheltering in shelters. the organizers of this moment pointed out in their youtube posts, quote, more ukranians wanted to take part but now have guns in their hands instead of violins. pretty powerful stuff there, jose, that our team is working to keep verify for you. >> savannah sellers, great seeing you. thanks for being with us. >> absolutely. nbc is warning that propaganda about the war is spreading in social all across social media. russian-backed videos have gotten over $2.5 million views. joining us is nbc political commentator nbc latino. this is coming from russian news outlets, spouse nick mundo among others. what do we know about these outlets and when type of information and disinformation are they spreading?

>> so i am so grateful that you had savannah, right, basically talking about how hard it is to actually identify disinformation and that you all have a whole team at nbc to help verify it. imagine the average user. rti -- russia today established their network a little bit before the election in 2016 in mexico city, and it's become a foothold in who is actually receiving and creating information for not must mexico but the whole of latin america and the united states because we have such a large presence of latinos here in the united states, and the challenge is that they not only spread disinformation, but it creates chaos. we're seeing it absolutely with russia and ukraine where they are basically trying to say that ukraine was in some cases the aggressor, if you can believe that cynicism, and then also trying to make sure it a it neutralizes the russia on the world stage. just last week, believe it or not, the mexican government, the

president, actually issued a statement, jose, saying that they are pacifists in mexico and will not stand ground. it's one of the few latin american countries that have taken such a step and part of it is because of the sweltering disinformation. >> yeah. >> my concern with the disinformation as it should be for every single american is if you do not know what the news, is then can you can not make the right choices for you and your family and this is a stream of disinformation coming out of russia. as you recall after the 2016 election, russia infill trade our networks here in english and in spanish, and we you're pecting to see more. the biggest concern i have is that the biggest silence disruption that we could see in the 2022 election is the massive information of disinformation targeting american latinos who are spanish dominant, and this is something that we should be paying very, very close attention to so i look forward to perhaps having more reporting from you on that. >> we will indeed thanks to your

voice, maria theresa, as always, and we wanted to talk about also it's not just rt in espanol and there's another with venuzul that has been spreading this information, among other places supporting the cube anregime and nicaraguan regime. >> and we're seeing that in miami, seeing them pop up in miami, basically a spanish equivalent oan equivalent has popped up on radio so we need to pay attention to that. so thank you, jose. >> thank you. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm joseph diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of are your time. craig melvin picks up with more news right now. and a good tuesday morning to you. craig melvin other following new developments with the war in ukraine. roughly 15 minutes from now ukraine's president zelenskyy will be a