what other things could we see from russia? perhaps we've been waiting for the cyber attacks that haven't happened yet, if peace talks don't go anywhere. >> there will be a ramping up. this was a political move. you picked private citizens, like hillary clinton at the moment, and didn't pick people who might have much more to do with the current situation in russia. so, you know, i think there will be a ramping up. we may face some cyberattack risk and so on. but the long-term goal has to be limiting putin's leverage over us. we need to make it so when his sanctions are announced, as they were yesterday, they're feeble. we need to make it to his ability to hurt us is limited because we're less entangled with his regime. that's the long-term goal here. basically, disinvesting from russia, ensuring they are isolated for not just months but years and perhaps a generation until they change leadership. >> press secretary jen psaki laughed at the sanctions from the white house podium yesterday when they were announced. associate professor of global politics at the college of

london, author of "corruptible," who gets power and how it changes us," appreciate you. thanks to all of you for getting up "way to early" with us on this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. nobody is going to break us. we are strong. we are ukrainians. [ applause ] >> translator: we'll fight in the sea. we will fight in the air. we will defend our land. whatever the price is. [ applause ] >> translator: and i am confident that, together, we will overcome and will be victorious. glory to ukraine. thank you to canada. [ applause ] >> standing ovations in brussels, london, and canada for

the president of ukraine. today, his message goes straight to washington, d.c., and the people's house inside the united states capitol. like churchill, king, and mandela, ukraine's zelenskyy is a leader who inspired the world and possesses the ability, in the words of robert f. kennedy, to bend history itself. today, ukraine's president, democracy's spiritual leader, delivers a rare, joint message to congress, thanking them for their support and asking them for more. more weapons, more planes, and a no fly zone that would likely lead to the third world war. mika, much to see today. >> in a moment, we'll go live to richard engel in kyiv for the latest on the russian attacks. first, more on the address that ukraine's stoic wartime leader, president volodymyr zelenskyy, will make virtually to both chambers of the u.s. congress this morning. zelenskyy is expected to thank

lawmakers for the $13.6 billion in aid already passed on the hill and make the case for even more assistance. the ukrainian president has been relentless in his calls for nato to enforce a no fly zone over his country and is pleading for fighter jets in the war against russia. so far, the u.s. has refrained from granting either request. yesterday, senators discussed what more could be done for ukraine and what to expect from today's speech. >> i look forward to a really stirring, moving address that will rally the american people to the cause of ukrainian freedom and democracy. >> we need to do what we can to facilitate the delivery of the russian-made migs to the ukrainian fighter pilots, so that they can wage this war themselves. i'm frustrated that we can't do

more. >> the president of a country that truly is under a terrible onslaught, and i know he will ask for more help. >> he already knows that the u.s. is not going to engage directly in ukraine. we are not going to enforce a no fly zone in ukraine. but there are a lot of weaponst controlling the air. >> you can see zelenskyy's address to congress at 9:00 eastern time. we're going to carry it right here on "morning joe." we'll stay on the air. zelenskyy's speech to congress today comes after a rousing address to the canadian parliament yesterday. introduced by prime minister justin trudeau as the world's, quote, champion for democracy. the ukrainian president reiterated calls to close ukrainian air space, something canada has already publicly said it would not support. >> translator: imagine that someone is talking vancouver.

can you imagine it for a second? all these people are left in such city. this is exactly the situation that our city of mariupol is suffering right now. currently, we have 97 children that died during this war. can you imagin in toronto? if it was hit by russian bombs. of course, i don't wish this on anyone, but this is our reality. >> zelenskyy also met with the leaders of three nato member countries in ukraine's war-torn capital yesterday. in the capital of kyiv. the prime ministers of poland, slovenia, and the czech republic traveled to kyiv for the rare, in-person gathering. >> unbelievable. >> they discussed increasing sanctions against russia and also plans to rebuild after the war. zelenskyy thanked them for

coming, calling the visit a powerful expression of support for ukraine. he also invited other world leaders to join him in kyiv. let's bring in the council on foreign relations, richard haass. former u.s. ambassador to russia, now the director of the institute for international studies at stanford, now an nbc news international affairs analyst, michael mcfall. and host of "way too early" and white house bureau chief at "politico," jonathan lemire. good to have you all with us this morning. >> michael mcfall, mr. ambassador, we've been talking for some time, how the last month has really been dizzying, if you look at how quickly history is going. you had people on that train yesterday, and you look at the polls going in the name of the eu. the eu is saying, well, not exactly. still, going in the name of the eu when you had the eu actually

sanctioning the pols. you had all of these fights, all of these squabbles. here, you have zelenskyy right in the middle. a man who has united the west, has become a spiritual leader for western democracy. he inspires these three prime ministers to make a remarkable, remarkable journey into the heart of a war zone. >> i agree. incredible. incredible that they went. i hope they came with good news for mr. zelenskyy, president za zelenskyy. he needs some help. i think you'll hear today, what from i've been told, he'll say thank you for all your solidarity, but your solidarity and your unity is on the sidelines. he's right about that. we're all watching, and we all look at him heroically, but we're all watching him from the sidelines as he battles, his military battles this

tremendously powerful russian army. it's not doing well. we've said that many times. the ukrainians are fighting heroically, but putin still has most of his forces available and he's still moving forward. he is creeping towards where president zelenskyy is sitting in his bunker today. so he is going to ask for more weapons to help him stop putin's army. >> and, of course, congress has approved $13.6 billion. people i speak with, i'm sure you've spoken with, many people telling you this, as well, there are armed shipment going in there that we don't know about, that nato, that the west does not want putin and russia to know about. what more can we do? >> well, it's good we don't know about it. i think, you know, if you go back to the whole mig-29 fiasco, and that is not over as far as what i've heard in the biden administration, but the problem with that whole decision was it was so public, it was a fight --

>> exactly. >> -- of who is going to hand them over? pols said, it's yours. we said, no, it is not ours. i think it'd be much better for nato to make closed door decisions as an alliance, by the way, not individual countries. maybe implemented by individual countries, but we need to stand firm as an alliance. then send those weapons in quietly. i think that's right. and it's not just the mig-29s. the 70 or so mig-29s that the four nato countries, former communist countries have. that's why they have these soviet russian jets. but the main system that he really wants are surface-to-air weapon systems, including western systems but also including russian systems. the s-300s, very effective weapon. we, in the alliance, have some of those systems because we have former communist countries in the alliance. those are the weapons he needs, and those weapons that can be used against artillery fire.

remember, it's not just closing the sky that they need to do. it's shooting those artillery weapons that are lobbing these stupid bombs into their cities and killing people. they need weapons against those systems, as well. >> i was going to say, mika, the arguments about the migs seemed to miss the central point here, that what's really -- as the ambassador said, the stupid bombs, the missiles that are coming in that they need defenses against even more so, obviously, than migs. >> well, and to give you a sense of just how he has the attention of the world, president biden will address the nation today following ukrainian president zelenskyy's remarks to congress. biden is expected to announce about $1 billion in aid for ukraine, according to two u.s. officials. that's part of the $13.6 billion of aid allotted in the spending bill that the president just signed. meanwhile, the white house has announced that president biden

will travel to brussels next week. the president will attend a nato summit to discuss the war in ukraine. nato secretary general jens stoltenberg tweeted, at this critical time, north america and europe must continue to stand together. in europe, the president will participate in the european council summit. white house press secretary jen psaki said that meeting would focus on sanctions against russia and humanitarian support for refugees. richard haass, in terms of what are the options we can do, as time goes by, the world looks more and more helpless as these images splash across television and phone screens across the world. and, okay, no fly zone, but what are some of the options that could help put this in the direction toward ending? >> mika, we didn't start this war, and we can't end it.

that's up to vladimir putin. what we can do is make it as difficult as possible, as costly as possible for him to prosecute this war. the entire logic or premise of the western response is an indirect strategy. we are giving ukraine the means to defend itself and qualitative and quantitatively, we ought not to be holding back. there's not time to train them up on western systems, and that's why what mike mcfaul is talking about makes sense. whatever we have from the former soviet union that ukrainian soldiers are much more familiar with, we ought to be getting those there quickly and quietly, i would agree. when the president goes over to europe, it's not simply maximizing support for the economy, the military, the refugees, but also -- and adding to that that nato is trong. -- strong. we've taken the precautions. we have to think about political

steps. nato, united states, and ukraine, all of us need to be on the same page about how we will manage any negotiation with russia, how we will manage or conteplate any sanctions vis-a-vis russia. daylight can't open up and putin can pick us off from one another. >> let's just say, it has been remarkable, the job biden has done, to make sure no daylight gets between the united states and its partners. that's a battle, mike, he's had to take every day. while he is getting dinged by, let's say, some people in the republican party, not many, but by domestic critics, so many of his considerations are balancing, of course, what germany, what france, what our nato allies want to do. let's just say right now, he's done a pretty remarkable job,

keeping that alliance together. >> i could not agree more, joe. i absolutely. remember, diplomacy is, you know, hundreds of phone calls and talking and keeping people all together. they did that in the run-up to this war, and they've kept it together during this war. i would say on all three fronts. you know, i'm a professor. i would give them very solid as for, a, keeping the alliance together and strong on the borders, b, for the sanctions they put in place against the russian economy, incredible sanctions. the number of them and how fast they put them in place. and, c, the quantity and quality of military systems that richard just talked about. extraordinary. i think this will go down as a historic moment in all three of those things. but, and here's the big but, this is only -- we're only three weeks into this war.

so, a for your first midterm, but there will be more midterms where you have to perform. the final is winning the war. it's not good enough to win the first three weeks of the war. we have to keep doing more to continue to win in the future. it's just that simple. it's about winning, by the way. winning is everything. >> right. >> losing this will have catastrophic consequences for our national interests in europe, the middle east, and asia. winning will have the exact opposite effect on all of our interests around the world. >> no doubt about it. mika, spoken like a true stanford professor. done well but it is only the midterms. >> yeah. >> we have a long way to go. >> except then the frightening concept of this is what richard said, and the only person who can end this is putin. what if he doesn't care? i mean, that's in the back of my mind at all times. what if he doesn't care about anything that is being done to his people or to his friends? >> you know what you do? you make him care.

>> that's the challenge. >> that's what the west is doing right now. >> as for the righting, russia's assault on the ukrainian capital of kyiv continues with its forces inching slowly to the city center. russia has increased its indiscriminate lobbing of missiles at residential buildings. russia shelling rocked a 12-story apartment building this morning, injuring two people and damaging a neighboring 9-story structure. ukraine's state emergency services says at least 37 people were evacuated from the fire caused by the attack, while search and rescue efforts are under way for more victims. this as a russian missile yesterday hit a weapons factory in the city, causing heavy damage. moscow has said in the past it plans to attack ukrainian arms factories, calling them, quote, legitimate targets. the city's mayor has imposed a curfew through tomorrow morning, saying it is a difficult and dangerous moment. the head of kyiv region says that russian troops are trying

to cut off the capital. 12 towns around the city are without water. half of those are without heat. the mayor of ukraine's second largest city, kharkiv, yesterday said at least 600 buildings have been destroyed in that city since the invasion began. joining us now from kyiv, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel. richard? >> reporter: good morning. the streets here in kyiv are uttering quiet. there is nobody out. nobody is walking around. there is a blanket curfew, and it is being enforced. the -- if you look on the streets now, you will not see a single car. the only people you see on the streets are soldiers, civil defensemanmanning checkpoints. as russia lobs missiles into the city, there was a large explosion on the outskirts a short while ago while you were reading that previous report. but ukrainian forces also are

going on the offensive, according to several ukrainian officials. starting last night and into this morning, they say that they have launched several, what they're describing as, large-scale offensives against russian troops, and they're encouraging battlefield information. in mariupol, in the south, two local officials describe a troubling situation in that city. as you know, the city had been surrounded for days. there was a humanitarian corridor that opened yesterday, allowing 2,000 cars to leave. it didn't allow -- it was just one-way traffic out of the city. there was no supplies that went in. then the local officials said that russian troops took between 400 and 500 people hostage, herding them into a hospital that russian forces have taken over, including doctors and patients, and are holding them as human shields, not allowing them to leave the building.

ukrainian officials are warning of the dangers of that. going back to what you were saying earlier, overnight, there was the extraordinary visit by three nato prime ministers who came to this city, met with president zelenskyy, and because they couldn't fly, there is effectively a no fly zone because it is a contested air space, they had to come by train. >> richard, i'm curious, what we read in the united states, what we hear from you and others, generally seems to be that the battle for kyiv has really ground to a halt. the russian advance has stopped. now, this morning, you're telling us that, actually, the ukrainians are now pushing back with counte offenses. what more can you tell us about the russian forces and their inability to circle this city? and what are you hearing from troops on the ground there?

>> reporter: so we're hearing from ukrainian troops, but i'm also hearing from u.s. military officials, that the russian offensive has been poorly coordinated. it seems to be -- there's very little communication between the national guard and the regular russian army troops. they're not coordinating well with air cover. sometimes russian troops have been sent into small engagement battles, russian armored personnel carriers and tanks, without air cover and they've been quickly eliminated by the ukrainian forces. they've been using their turkish drones effectively. they are hoping, as the biden administration is now suggesting, that they might get some more lethal drones from the united states. in particular, a switchblade, which is a launch drone system which is launched into the air and dive bombs, kamikaze style, into targets and explodes. they are hoping to get more of those. but the russians have not been

able to -- not even advance into the center of kyiv. they've not taken some of the surrounding suburbs, even though they have been fighting there for several weeks now. as of overnight, ukrainians say they're taking advantage of the stalled momentum that the russians have been facing too launch a counteroffensive. so this city is not surrounded. this city is not under attack with street-to-street fighting. if anything, the russians seem to be on the back foot in their positions around the city. >> fascinating. thank you so much. nbc's richard engel, as always, for your extraordinary reporting. please be safe. we greatly appreciate it. jonathan lemire, you go down the list of what the united states has given ukraine so far, $13.6 billion. as david ignatius said, just an extraordinary amount of arms flowing across the

polish-ukrainian border. my sources high up in the administration at the pentagon telling me there are weapon systems going over there that we don't even know about. they don't want putin to know about them. of course, that's the way it should be. is there a growing sense of frustration at calls to do more when, in fact, as the ambassador said, who agrees we need to do more, what has been done thus far is nothing short of historic. let me say that again for people writing snarky op-eds about this administration and about congress and about the united states response. what has happened over the last three weeks is nothing short of historic. and anybody suggesting that donald trump would have done any of this, please. please, start your clown show somewhere else.

we don't want to watch it. we don't want to hear it. now, back to the question, jonathan. >> thank you. >> is joe biden getting frustrated at this point, despite this historic alliance, despite the historic aid flowing into ukraine that he is still getting attacked domestically? >> yeah, i posed this question at the white house yesterday to several administration officials, and the answer was there is some frustration from the white house towards domestic politicians. republicans namely, but a few democrats, as well, who are promoting unrealistic scenarios. including that no fly zone. officials really stressed to me, there's no frustration toward president zelenskyy, who is, yes, asking for things that president biden can't provide, but they understand it. his country's very existence is at stake. they understand why he is doing so. joe, i have some details of what we'll hear from president biden today. he is going to speak in the hours after zelenskyy makes his address to congress. it is going to be $1 billion of

aid. about $800 million of that is new. it is going to be -- a lot of it is devoted to anti-air, anti-armor weaponry, including the javelins and stingers that have proven so effective to this point against russian vehicles. the president is going to talk about that today. he will -- aides know that zelenskyy is going to ask for the no fly zone again. he is going to ask for those jets through poland. the answer, at least on the administration side, is still no to this point. in part, because they don't think those jets will be as useful as some of the weapons they are providing, including these anti-aircraft devices. we're going to hear that from president biden today. they understand zelenskyy likely emotional, almost certainly will trigger congress to be that much louder in pushing for the administration to do more. but they are pointing to what they've already done, saying this is the correct approach. particularly now, russia said they're targeting convoys of weapons coming in from the west.

they don't want to advertise that stuff is coming. one other note, the president, of course, a major symbol heading to europe next week to meet with nato and the european council. officials also considering, not locked in, but considering a stop in poland, as well, to give thanks to that country and visit with some of the ukrainian refugees who have had to fled their homeland. >> richard haass, i think you would probably agree with the administration, also with ambassador mcfaul, that it looked like amateur hour when you had some of our allies putting on websites about jets that they're going to take to our largest base in europe. is this a positive development, that we're now quietly moving weapons into ukraine? quietly, without press releases or fanfare, getting weapon systems in that vladimir putin doesn't know about. i'm curious, though, from what you heard jonathan say, we are going to be hearing from the president today, how does that

sound to you? is that enough? do you have any suggestions about what else needs to be done? >> again, joe, it sounds right. we've got an indirect strategy. you know, you can kind of look at the micro details of how many of these weapon systems and all that. i think too much emphasis has been put on the planes, for what it's worth. they've almost become symbolic. there's all sorts of other systems that can help you control what goes on in the air, various types of anti-missile systems and all that. too many armchair strategies here, kind of micro managing or observing what is going on. but there is no argument, what needs to be done. i think people also understand now we're in a long war. i think at first, everyone was talking about it, almost as a political demonstration, a standing by ukraine. people understand now, this is serious. we have to have a pipeline that we can sustain for weeks,

months, or however long it takes. however much we can push through it. so i think this is all good. can i say one other thing? you know, listening to all these reports, when this is all done, it'll be really interesting to do an intelligence assessment of how we all got so wrong the capabilities of the russian military. all the assumptions were that they would come in and they'd come in like a knife through butter. they obviously are not. and i just -- it'd be interesting to know, what did we have right, and what did we have wrong? what does this tell us going forward? what are the implications that we may have exaggerated what russia can do? does this mean we're right or not about other capabilities, such as china's and all that? what does this mean for where we have to emphasize in the future in terms of military spending and deployments? i actually think this is a really important issue that's come up here. >> it is an important issue. and we have seen what, bluntly, we've been saying on this show now for years. that is, as a fighting force,

the united states military stands alone. there's not a close second. we've said that time and time again. i remember the lead up into the first and second gulf wars. we heard about the iraqis having the fourth largest military on the face of the earth. i remember seeing a peter jennings special where he took something and cracked a map that shattered all of the middle east, because the iraqi fighting forces were going to be so strong. they were nothing compared to the united states military. our men and women in uniform, this is just the reality. we keep trying to tell people who watch this show domestically and across the world. there is not a close second. people need to stop

underestimating the united states. they need to stop underestimating nato. they need to stop underestimating the power of the united states and the eu combined together. over $40 trillion in gdp a year. the best weapon systems in the world. more importantly, the best fighters in the world. >> the best people, the heart and the mind. >> and what we have in the west is something tha xi is learning about quickly. front page of the "wall street journal" this morning shows china's economy sagging. why is it sagging? he is moving away from the market reforms that china was trying to practice over the past two decades. he's becoming more autocratic. guess what? their economic output is going down. it is a closed society. it's not transparent. they have mishandled covid from the very beginning. they have shut entire cities

down because their lack of transparency. they haven't been able to confront covid, just like they haven't been able to run their economy the way we can in the west. >> all these aspects have an impact on the fighting forces. i mean, nothing compares to a military that is fighting for democracy based on democratic values. >> fighting for freedom, exactly. >> there's a difference. >> fighting for freedom. rahm emanuel had a press conference a couple weeks ago, and he made a statement, talking about the difference between the west and russia. >> right. >> the west and china. i mean, who are their allies? their alies are convenience. people are still dying. it is not something we're proud of, but i thought it was telling a couple days ago. i want to go to ambassador mcfaul. ambassador mcfaul, this reminds me of something john kennedy said. for all of democracy's failings,

we don't have to build a wall to keep our people in. i read the horrifying story in "the new york times" about immigrants from india who thought they could cross over into the united states on the northern border. a family of four froze to death. they were so desperate to get into this country. four pages later, inside "the new york times," talked about all of the people that were racing out of russia, running out of russia, doing everything they could to get the hell out of there. why do i say this? because this matters in war. this matters to people and what they're fighting for. when they're fighting not only to defend their homes, to defend their communities, to defend their country, they're also fighting for freedom. >> yeah. >> oh, my god. that is extraordinarily powerful. that's something that vladimir putin will never understand.

>> or have. >> again, i couldn't agree more. i want to agree on several fronts. first of all, yes, the best and the brightest of russia are fleeing. many of them are my friends, joe. i have friends in azerbaijan, kazakhstan, georgia, armenia right now trying to get visas to get out of there because they're fleeing. number two, putin is shutting down. right, he is shutting down independent media, including me, by the way. i had a video on deutsche tv that had 2 million viewers in 4 hours. if you click on it now, it is shut down. he is shutting down the information just like you said. number three, to richard's point about the russian military, i completely agree. we look at numbers spent, right, and we measure that and compare that to numbers spent in the west. we don't think about corruption in the russian military industrial complex. i think there's been billions of dollars of corruption leading to

this bad outcome. we also don't know how to measure will, as you were just talking about, right? i've watched 40 or 50 videos of the russian soldiers. they have no idea why they're there. putin hasn't given them an argument for why they're there. they're killing their people that are much like them and speak the same language. they don't understand it. the ukrainians know exactly what they're fighting for. number four, what you said about nato, thank you. there's so many people, like, popping off. richard, the armchair strategy. ukraine first, poland next. really? are you kidding me? [ laughter ] russia can't even fight in ukraine right now. they are fighting to a standstill against a poorly armed force, and, suddenly, he is going to open another front and attack the most powerful alliance in the world, anchored by the most powerful military in the world? i don't think so.

finally, on the armchair folks, i would just say one thing. as we're going to hear, i think, a world hero today, he is going to speak before congress. i had the honor of hosting him here at stanford several months ago. i then talked to him a few days ago. i think he will go down in history as a heroic figure. what about listening to him rather than we pretend that we know what he needs. what about if he thinks he needs these weapons, why don't we listen to him? when we say, oh, they'll be shut down. oh, he doesn't have airplanes to put the migs in. what about listening to his judgment, to help him fight the war that he is -- he, after all, is the one fighting the war. we're not fighting it. i hope when he speaks to the american people, we'll say, okay, let's trust his judgment because he is the guy sitting in the bunker in kyiv. he's not in new york. he's not in d.c. he's not sitting out here in palo alto like i am. let's trust his judgment at this critical moment in the history of his country.

>> well, we'll be carrying his statements live at 9:00 eastern time right here on msnbc. joe and i will stay on the air. president biden will follow a little later in the morning. now this, two fox news journalists have died after coming under fire outside of kyiv on monday. piere pierre. sasha was 24 years old, a native of kyiv and working for fox as a consultant. helping crews navigate the area and gather information from sources. colleagues at fox have posted tributes both on social media to both of them. one said, pierre was as good as they come. selfless, brave, passionate.

that's what it takes to be there. another remembered sasha as a beautiful and brave woman who did a brilliant job. fox news correspondent benjamin hall was also hurt in monday's attack. he's still in the hospital, and there is no update right now on his condition. >> mika, let's talk for a minute about these two fox news journalists who died. when you tell me about your time working, you always talk about -- >> the crews. >> -- the crews. you talk about the cameramen, like pierre. you've always told me, your time at cbs, you've always told me that they were family. that they really were the ones that were so responsible for everything. they made things happen. then you look at sasha. the local fixer, the people that come in, the people that are your eyes and ears, tell you

where to go. the people you depend on the most. those people, it is extraordinary, the job they do. they're behind the camera, but they're the reason why we get the news from across the world. we can't -- >> they're the reason we feel anything. because without pictures and without capturing the emotion and without getting in there and getting the shot, you have nothing to go with. you have nothing to write to. you have nothing to show to people. beyond that, what it takes to be pierre and the many crews that cover our stories in war zones and all around the world, it takes the ability to know the language, to understand the culture, to understand how to get problems solved, to understand how to cut through things, to understand how to deal with people. to understand how to protect your reporter or the people around you. audio, whoever. you have responsible for

everybody and multi-talented beyond numbers. it never comes out. you're grateful for the pictures, but what it takes to get those pictures and what it takes to be there, day in and day out, night and day, in uncomfortable conditions, missing family. they sacrifice so much, and they sacrifice so much to get the images to the world. i just -- you're forever grateful as a journalist to work with crews like pierre and sasha. it is just tragic beyond belief, and i hope there isn't more. this seems like it is going to be a very long haul. >> and those people, pierre, sasha, and so many people like that, they're the reason that we know of the horrors that are going on in ukraine right now. they're the reason why when president zelenskyy comes to speak this morning, americans

will stop, they'll look at their television set. members of congress will go to their feet and applaud. because these are the people who help us understand just what is at stake over there. >> everybody at fox news and every network will be thinking of this loss as they cover this story moving forward. coming up on "morning joe," russia gets mocked by the white house after sanctioning president biden and several senior democratic officials. plus, nearly 3 million people have fled ukraine as moscow increasingly threatens kyiv. we'll get a live report from the polish border. also ahead, the biden administration is thinking about providing ukraine with killer drones. we'll have brand-new reporting on that. and the federal reserve is set to raise interest rates for the first time since 2018. what that could mean for americans as inflation continues to surge. as we go to break, the mayor

of kyiv, former champion boxer, with this pointed response to russia's lies about the invasion of ukraine. >> putin says he is only targeting military targets. >> bull [ bleep ], sorry. this building --

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44 past the hour. a live look at the white house. >> you know, that's a daylight savings time white house right there. >> still dark out. >> kids are going to be standing at bus stops in the dark at, like, 8:30 in the morning next january if the senate has its way. we'll see how that goes. i remember back in the '70s, when i think one year during the energy crisis, they just did daylight saving time throughout the year. it was really cool until you're,

like, at school and it was, like, third period and it's, like, "hello, is the sun coming?" it is dark all day. not sure why we were talking in british accents in mississippi, but, again, maybe we were just put off by the fact we had daylight savings time around the year. this is a great idea right now. talk to me in january when parents start complaining about their kids sitting out in bus stops when it is pitch dark. >> exactly. 44 past the hour. a lot of folks are up and getting ready for work. here's a look at some other stories making news this morning. the husband of vice president kamala harris, doug emhoff, has tested positive for covid-19. emhoff tweeted that his symptoms are mild and said he is grateful to be vaccinated and boosted. meanwhile, covid cases are rising at an increased rate in europe, drawing renewed attention to a sub variant of the omicron strain. in the uk, daily covid cases soared above 100,000, marking a jump of 77% in a week.

in recent weeks, germany has continued to mark record high daily infections with more than 250,000 new cases a day.switzer and the netherlands, covid infections are starting to rise following a rollback of covid protocols. >> people are getting out, starting to live again. if you haven't been vaccinated, get vaccinated. haven't been boosted, get boosted. go out and live your life. we're not shutting the world down again. >> if you feel like it, wear a mask. >> two years into it, resistance in most countries, most countries, other than, like, china, which has a zero covid tolerance policy, in most countries, resistance is also up. we can get out there and, you know, people get colds. they live their lives. now, two years later with vaccines, with boosters, with resistance going way up -- >> we move through it. >> -- we have to move through it. last block, joe mentioned china. a surge in covid cases prompted

chinese officials to lock down residents, shutter factories, and stop traffic. "the new york times," quote, measures in china, home to about one-third of global manufacturing, are disrupting production of finished goods like toyota and volkswagen cars, apple's iphones, as well as components such as circuit boards and computer cables. >> at some point, some point, ceos are going to figure out -- i heard jeff elmheld say a decade ago, build things in the united states and we don't have to worry about the supply chain so much, the cost of shipping, disruptions in the supply chain. at some point, we'll start making a lot more stuff in the usa, like joe biden talked about. >> how about get off dependence on russian oil and supply chain in china? >> we saw this during covid. oh, wait, we have no masks. chinese make all the masks. medicines, we're having trouble with pharmaceuticals.

wait, china is making 90%, however many, because we're saving 0.000001% in the cost. stop. make it in the usa. make it in canada. make it in mexico. let's make it all here in north america. we don't have to worry about the supply chain. we don't have to worry about tyrants. meanwhile, president xi jinping's push to steer his country away from capitalism. >> how is that working for him? >> it's thrown the chinese economy into ucertainty and exposed cracks in his hold on power. policymakers began alarmed at the end of last year by how sharply growth had slowed after mr. xi tightened controls on private businesses. china's stringent covid lockdowns, part of mr. xi's approach to handling the crisis, have ramped up against covid cases -- as covid cases surge,

hurting consumer spending and factory output. add to that a pact with russia in early february that has widened a gulf between china and the west and underlined how high the costs could be for china, of implementing mr. xi's agenda at home and in foreign policy. >> let's bring in right now cnbc's dominic chu. you look at the oil prices going down. obviously, that has a lot to do with china. you look at the front page story in the "wall street journal" today. it is remarkable. xi turned his back on all of ping's economic reforms. turned his back on the direction china has been going over the past three, four years. they're starting to understand at home, totalitarianism, not as good an economic engine as capitalism. >> to your point, and it's not just about that, you take a look at an economy like china. it's spent so many years trying

to make itself legitimate. spent decades trying to interject itself into the world economy. by the way, they've been successful at it. they're the world's second biggest economy after just, yes, the united states. the issue right now is whether or not they've been trying to chop themselves off at the knees by some of the policies that they've enacted. specifically, you mentioned the oil market. it is important because china, being the world's second biggest economy, is also the world's second biggest consumer of oil behind after just, yes, the united states. but it is the world's biggest importer of oil. those oil prices very much in focus will. also, the technology companies. china is now in a relative cold war with america and has been for several years now. specifically when it comes to technology. it's not that it is about cooperation. many of our products, electronics wise, otherwise, were made in china. remember, china is trying to assert itself in terms of supremacy over that technology trade the next 10, 20, 30, 40

years. it's the reason why, every year, you see china battling america for who has the fastest and most powerful super computers in the world, who is more advanced in things like artificial intelligence, machine learning. all those things come into play. why would the chinese communist party want to take some of the biggest technology companies in that country and then chop them off at the knees? talk about more regulation. talk about the fact they have too much influence. i think a lot of that is now played into what's been going on with the narrative there. they realize that they can't have it both ways. if you want tech supremacy in the coming decades, you have to let your tech companies flourish. that's the reason why many people are stating the chinese government may be rethinking its thought process here. this idea that they have to now support their tech companies instead of chopping them off at the knees. >> i mean, you look at what they've done, and you ask, could they have been any more stupid? first of all, they go after

their tech companies. secondly, they make jack ma disappear. basically, if you're too successful, you're frightened into thinking you'll go under house arrest, like you're a subject of vladimir putin. then they have the economic hub of asia in hong kong, and they crack down on that. like me, you hear from one business after another going, you know what, we're just not comfortable. it's not the same country it was five years ago. we may not be expanding in china anymore. by the way, finish up on that, then tell me what we should hear from the fed today. >> okay. here's what i'd say. remember, you know, the story for businesses, right, 20, 30, 40 years ago, is how can i sell a toothbrush to every single person in china? that has now completely changed into a point now where the chinese kind of story around its business involvement in the world is very much about how it wants to be the center of kind of manufacturing and everything else. by the way, you mentioned hong kong as a financial hub.

shenzhen is turning into the hub, which is mainland china. to your point, all this is being considered by the fed right now, with regard to its policy decision today. no surprise here. pending a disastrous outcome in a couple hours, they will be raising interest rates. jay powell told congress he was going to do it in the last couple weeks. the reason why it is important right now, though, is because america is trying to battle this inflationary picture. by the way, supply chain issues tied to china are part of that inflationary picture. if it were to do this, it'd be the first interest rate hike they've done in roughly four years. the real issue, joe, mika, is about whether or not fed chair jay powell, in his statement later on today or in the press conference question and answer with reporters, will talk about what the projected interest rate path is going to be going forward. are they just going to keep raising 25 basis points every single meeting for the

foreseeable future? would they be open to more aggressive stances if inflation is still a problem? that'll be the real key, guys. >> cnbc's dominic chu, thank you very much for being on this morning. coming up, an update on the protest heard around the world. how russian authorities are responding to the television producer who called out the kremlin on live tv. we'll talk more with ambassador michael mcfaul about that. ahead in our next hour, democratic senator joe manchin joins us live. we'll ask him about reduing america's dependence on foreign energy. "morning joe" is coming right back. as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchemel... cut. liberty mu... line? cut. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. cut. liberty m...

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welcome back to "morning joe." look it the view over washington, d.c. it is 6:58 a.m. in the morning.

if you're just waking up in washington, d.c., around washington, or up and down the east coast, and you have to be at work by 7:00. >> you're late. >> you're in trouble! you are in trouble. unless, of course, wait, you work at home. nevermind. roll over and get to work. i wonder how long that'll last. as you look at washington, d.c., it looks like it is waking up a little bit. new york city is waking up. you certainly see -- >> well, you see it in the bars and restaurants. >> in new york, the bars are packed, man. restaurants, absolutely jammed. you look at the sporting events, there's just not a seat. concerts, the clubs, people absolutely everywhere. office space up and down 6th avenue, not so much. hmm. what a beautiful view of washington, d.c. let's go to some office space that is occupied in new york city and go to 30 rock where

richard haass is. richard, we were talking about china. you don't have to touch any of that. much safer to talk about china. but we're talking about china. i've been saying for some time that xi has been making one decision after another that amounts to a self-inflicted wound. he's gone after his tech sector. he's gone after a man that people call the steve jobs of china, basically chased him into hiding. he's more concerned in consolidating his own power than letting the economy grow. he's turned his back on all the economic reforms of deng xiaoping. look at what they did to hong kong. they're basically warning the west to not get too attached to

china because they're a lot more interested in being more authoritarian than they are in free markets. what's the long-term impact of that? >> short-term impact is, even though he is still likely to get his third term when the national congress meets this fall, the glide is not as smooth as it was. we've been talking, obviously, about the crisis in ukraine. he bet wrong. china now potentially faces blowback from secondary sanctions. it's violated the most basic concepts of chinese foreign policy, about the respect for sovereignty and not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. the economic problems. haven't figured out what to do about covid. chunks of china now are locked down, and it is hard to blame anybody else if you've consolidated more power than any chinese leader since mao. that's, in some ways, the contradiction. you're willing to hurt technology firms to pay an economic price because you can't

allow anyone to get too much power economically. that might translate into their ability to push back. that's the contradiction of xi jinping. it is interesting. in the last couple days, joe, and we talked about it a little bit, we're beginning to see articles appear. academics don't just publish articles in china like in the united states. it is not like mike mcfaul or me. they have political protection there. that suggests to me, for the first time, that xi jinping has clearly overreached. i'm not suggesting for a second that he is in dire trouble, but his ability to run china as a one-man show is beginning to get some pushback. i'd say in both countries, in china and russia, we're seeing what happens with authoritarian overreach. democracies make mistakes all the time. our great advantage is we can self-correct. the great flaw of authoritarian systems is they overreach. there's no mechanism for self-correction, so it gets brittle. what we're seeing from both china and russia is the danger

of authoritarian overreach at home and abroad. the question is, does this brittleness lead to dramatic change? i don't know. both countries in an odd way have put themselves into play now. certainly, after putin and xi disappear from the scene, there's no orderly succession that's planned. this is one of those -- you can almost feel history happening in both countries. >> history is happening. >> such a good point. >> they're both becoming more authoritarian. the result of that is predictable. do these people not have books? do they not know what happened to the soviet union? did they not see what happened when china had an opening to the united states and deng xiaoping started to be champion of market reforms? do they not understand this? richard, let me just ask, how many more times can xi screw up? how many bad mistakes can xi make? he bet wrong on the tax

sector. he's bet wrong on entrepreneurs like putin, a basic thug like putin, with an economy smaller than the state of texas. he's gone after entrepreneurs that were fueling his economy. he's bet wrong on covid. he's had the zero tolerance policy on covid. they still haven't recovered, and they're not going to recover because, for all of our flaws in america, our resistance has been built up. whereas, in china, it hasn't. they've got lousy, lousy vaccines. so my question is this, china is not russia. russia is run by one man. china actually, as you know, though xi has accumulated more power than any leader since mao, there are some checks and

balances inside the bureau, like there was in the old soviet union. how many mistakes will they allow xi to make before they reign in some of that power? >> i think they might, ultimately. it'll be interesting to see if and when he gets his third term, whether there are certain conditions attached. whether he is forced to swallow a little bit more collective rule. the reason he's still fairly strong, if you remember, joe, the anti-corruption drive, what that did in the name of anti-corruption, which on one level was legitimate, on other level, though, it was get rid of any actual or political competition or opponent. he dramatically reduced the pushback. i think this number of mistakes, internally and now in his foreign policy, has possibly opened up -- the "wall street journal" piece you were talking about -- the cracks. it's opened a little political space in china, i think, for members of the chinese establishment -- because, as you say, there are still institutions. there's 95 million people in the communist party. there still are institutions in china. it'll be interesting to see whether we begin to see some

signs of pushback. >> richard, thanks. at five minutes past the top of the hour, today is a big morning in washington. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy will make a rare, virtual address to congress, as the fighting rages on and the attacks in kyiv intensify. we're going to have full coverage of that historic speech. we'll stay on the air for that. first, we have former ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul with us, and we want to get his analysis on this development. we've been talking about the russian people and their response to the invasion of ukraine. many are leaving the country. young people feel it's wrong. many are protesting, and many have no idea what's really going on. the producer who stormed the set of a live russian state television news broadcast to protest the war was fined 30,000 rubles yesterday, the equivalent of about $280.

marina ovsyannikova could also face more serious charges. the possibility of up to 15 years in prison for making a public display against the kremlin's false narrative of the war. she was seen walking out of court yesterday, and she said she was exhausted after an interrogation that reportedly lasted more than 14 years. the u.s. state department says some 15,000 russians have been detained so far for protesting the war. there's also this. russia has sanctioned president biden and several u.s. officials in a move that very few are taking seriously. secretary of state antony blinken, white house press secretary jen psaki, the president's son, hunter, and former secretary of state hillary clinton all made the list of more than a dozen names. here's what psaki had to say about it. >> i would first note that president biden is a junior, so they may have sanctioned his dad.

may he rest in peace. the second piece i would say is that, won't surprise any of you, that none of us are planning tourist trips to russia. none of us have bank accounts that we won't be able to access. we will forge ahead. >> hillary clinton responded on twitter, posting, i want to thank russia for this lifetime achievement award. that is something. ambassador mcfaul -- >> by the way, ambassador mcfaul got the lifetime achievement award a long time ago. >> he's not allowed back to russia, ever. mr. ambassador, i want to go back to the protester who faces 15 years in prison and what she did. i feel she was speaking to the audience that is most in need of the truth. >> absolutely. yes, i've made that list in 2014, so i'm glad to welcome my fellow americans to join the list. mika, it is an incredible story.

it's incredible that you could pronounce her name, too. i think we should say her name so people continue to know her. >> yes. >> marina ovsyannikova. it is a hard name so day. incredibly courageous young woman. editor at the largest state run television station there. her family, one of her parents is from ukraine, one is from russia. right before she did this, she explained on a video that they never fought. we don't understand what this war is. then facing 15 years in jail, did what she did. but there is another little tidbit that is interesting. this is a giant building. this is their television tower out there. thousands of people work there. you don't march on that screen unless a lot of people are passively allowing you to do that. i think that's something people need to think about. just like those 15,000 that you just mentioned that were arrested, that's incredible

bravery, that you'd be arrested and, again, face these years in jail. that suggests to me that there are millions that think the same, they just don't want to go to jail. finally, let's not forget alexi navalny. court case ended yesterday. he'll get 13 more years in jail. yet, from his jail cell, he is calling on russians to stop this war. come out on the streets. realizing that they have a role to play in stopping putin's horrific war. incredible, incredible bravery, as well. >> ambassador mcfaul, thank you very, very much. here now are the latest developments this morning with russia's invasion of ukraine. ukrainian president zelenskyy expected to make a rare, virtual appearance to the u.s. congress in just about two hours from now. he is expected to ask lawmakers for more military support and harsher sanctions against russia. that help is headed ukraine's way. president biden is expected to

announce a fresh round of military aid later today. nato defense ministers are meeting right now in brussels, discussing adding, quote, substantially more forces to its eastern flank. president biden also travels to brussels next week for a nato summit on the war. and a daring show of moral support for ukraine yesterday, as three eastern european prime ministers visited the ukrainian president in kyiv. despite attacks on that capital city intensifying. joining us now, former ambassador to ukraine, bill taylor, former democratic congressman jane harmon of california. she's a distinguished fellow and president emeritus at the wilson center. and mike barnicle is with us. jonathan lemire still with us, as well. good to have you all on board this hour. >> mr. ambassador, what do you

expect to hear from president zelenskyy, and what should the united states give? what should it pass on? >> joe, i really look forward to president zelenskyy's talk. he's been articulate. he's been charismatic. he's been charming, joe. he has really had the opportunity to speak to the world, and he's done so. he'll do so again today. he will certainly ask for additional military support. it sounds -- well, we saw the big aid package just passed. $13.8 billion coming from the united states. president biden is going to talk a little bit more about that right after president zelenskyy. that'll come. he'll also ask for additional sanctions. there are some sanctions left to ratchet up and squeeze the russians more. so i look forward to president zelenskyy's talk today. >> clearly know this landscape. jane harmon, you know the landscape in europe. let me ask a question that arose yesterday during conversations i

was having with people in washington. it is this, that we are perhaps at a pivot point in terms of europe and the world. that the combination of one country, ukraine, one people, the ukrainians, and one man, the president of ukraine, who will be speaking to us at 9:00 this morning, have changed the political and strategic nature of europe, perhaps for a decade, perhaps for a generation. along with that, there are no longer the big three, russia, china, and the united states. russia now a client state of china. what's your view of that thought? >> well, mike, you and i are political junkies, and we've been at this for half a century. we know that politics can change on a dime, and it changed. i totally agree with the thrust of your question. i was in munich when zelenskyy spoke. this is before the war started, just three weeks ago. and he was so powerful. he looked at the audience, and

he said, "don't be appeasers." i flinched when i heard that word. obviously, i have a history with my own father, a refugee from nazi, germany. but don't be appeasers. now, it is playing out. your point is, and i agree with your point, that the world has realigned under our noses. no longer do we have, really, what we call the liberal world order. we don't have world recorder. we have the west, and i give joe biden enormous credit for working with partners and allies. he said he was going to do it. he's doing it. he is flying to nato, i just learned that from your broadcast, next week. bravo for him. and for kamala harris going last week to visit with appropriate leaders in the region. but while this is happening, china is -- even with an economy, joe, that is not as robust as it should be, big

mistake by xi -- it's got the population, the nukes, and the world position to work with russia to real re-align our world. if we don't get some success soon, i worry that it'll be china, russia, and then the west. but the west has got to grow some more muscles to push back and hopefully stop this before it goes as far as i fear it could. >> yeah. jonathan lemire, let me read you breaking news from the "wall street journal." we heard this from richard engel about 45 minutes ago. ukraine mounts a counteroffensive to drive russians back from kyiv and other key cities. strike on moscow, forces in kherson destroys helicopters as russian bombing continues. it appears there is a counteroffensive now going on. we've been talking about it for the last three days, how russian

forces have been, basically, stranded, have not been making any advances at all. all they can do is fire dumb bombs from russia and blow up apartment buildings. now, reports breaking in the "wall street journal" and also from our own richard engel on the ground that ukrainian counteroffensive has begun. >> yeah. it appears they have blown up a facility russians were using to launch helicopter attacks, as well. so this is quite the backdrop for president zelenskyy's speech here. certainly, the russians have just been bombarding these cities with these bombs. sort of destroying them, committing what many officials believe are war crimes, and trying to hollow them out. trying to get ukrainians to flee these cities, which would perhaps lessen the resistance when the russians are eventually able to move in. ukrainian forces now really trying to reverse that momentum, as slow as it had been. ambassador taylor, there is something else breaking this morning in the hours before president zelenskyy addresses

congress. there seems to be a little progress with perhaps negotiations with the russians and ukraine. we heard from lavrov, saying it'd be acceptable to the kremlin if ukraine was a neutral state, status comparison to sweden and austria. that is something the kremlin might feel is acceptable, though afp is reporting, at least so far, ukraine is rejecting that proposal. what do you make of the idea, number one? number two, this general sense of could there be some momentum now for peace talks? is putin looking to get out of this? >> putin might be, on your second question, jonathan, putin might be looking to get out of this if, indeed, there is a continued stall on his attempt to take over kyiv and other cities. and if there is this pushback and counteroffensive from the ukrainian military. ukraiian military has done an incredible job. >> yes. >> day 21, i'm sure president

putin was told by his generals they'd be in kyiv by day three. three weeks later, it stalled. he may be looking for some alternatives. sanctions are much tougher. unity is much tougher. zelenskyy is much broader and shows more leadership. putin may be looking for alternatives. however, it's only when he decides that he is going to do that. and the glimmer, and the question about neutrality, i know the ukrainians are looking for ways to ensure, to guarantee their security going forward, one way or the other, with or without nato, other models. i know they're taking a look at this, and they should. it is going to be a long time before they're in nato. they need to be secure now. they need -- and this is the opportunity to get that. so that i got the support of the united states. they got the support of europe. they have the economic support behind them. this is the time to really guarantee some security, real security for ukraine going forward. >> i've got to say, mika, there

is a -- there are many different ways to do that. there are ways to be creative when you talk about neutrality. there can be a neutrality that may not have the ukraiians in nato but could have the ukrainians in the eu. but it is interesting. again, just to put this in context for people that are watching at home, and also members of congress that are going to be watching zelenskyy, remember, it was three weeks ago that the russians were saying they were not going to negotiate. ukraiians needed to surrender. they had to demilitarize. they had to de-nazify. here we are, three weeks later, and they are talking about neutrality and talking about finland, talking about sweden. there obviously is movement. you've heard this from the ukrainian negotiators at the table over the past week.

yesterday, when they left negotiations, they said that they were very difficult negotiations, very tough negotiations, but there was room for compromise. mika, it appears they're moving in that direction. they're moving toward compromise, certainly as the ukrainians said four, five days ago. you have russians that aren't making demands anymore. they're actually negotiating. >> this as russian forces are reportedly struggling to conduct offensive operations in ukraine because of sustained resistance. according to an intelligence update from the uk's defense ministry, the russian military suffered such losses that moscow is, quote, increasingly seeking to generate additional troops to bolster and replace its personnel losses in ukraine. the intel update also said russia is seeking to exploit irregular sources, like private military companies and syrian mercenaries.

meanwhile, congressional officials tell nbc news the white house is now considering ukraine with u.s.-made killer drones. the cutting edge technology acts as a guided missile that could accurately target russian tanks and artillery positions from miles away. no definite decisions have been made, but the administration is weighing the option of equipping ukraine with explosive-loitering missiles, called switchblades, as part of a military aid package. the switchblades are robot-smart bombs, equipped with cameras, guidance systems, and explosives. they can be programmed to automatically strike targets mikes away, and they can be steered around objectives until the time is right to strike. the company that makes the drone says one version can fly for 40 minutes and up to 50 miles. president biden is expected to

discuss it later today. >> jane, i've been talking to officials high up in the administration, as well as in the pentagon, who are telling me that when you hear these discussions about weapons systems that we're sending in there, that's fine. that's what putin knows. also talking about -- and i'd like you to talk about this -- how they're moving other weapons systems from other nato countries who don't want to be identified doing so. but there are a lot of weapon systems going into ukraine that they're deliberately not telling putin, the russians, and the rest of the world about. >> yes, there are. i haven't had the classified briefings, but i'm sure this is what we're doing. i think not every move needsnno >> exactly. >> right. >> many of us felt that president biden announcing at the beginning what he wouldn't do might not have been the best move. certainly, he made clear some things he does not want to do, and surely nato doesn't want to

do, but let's do a few things off air. no insult to you. i just want to make another point, though. that is, it is ukraine's call whether they want their sovereign country to settle this in some way. it is not our call. surely, we can talk to zelenskyy, but we have to give them that respect. second point is, russia's already annexed crimea, and it's declared two federations independent in the donbas. i just wonder if part of their deal is they won't give those back. i'd worry about this because if russia does, in some way, take over parts of ukraine, it could easily take over parts or all of the other non-nato countries in georgia and moldova, right next -- nearby. let me come back to the first point i made, which is, the world realigned.

henry kissinger may say border is more important than peace, but i don't know if we could have order with a russia-china alliance versus a u.s. and the west. they have a lot of things they can play with, and i think it is hugely important to prevent that from happening. if these smart drones are part of that package, good, but i'm sure -- in fact, i am absolutely sure that other interesting material is coming from europe. bravo to the germans who changed their longstanding policy to get in this fight. >> bravo to the germans, to switzerland who stayed neutral during world war ii, to sweden, to finland who are looking at nato membership. thank you so much, jane. it's always great. >> former democratic congresswoman jane harmon. she is the author of the recent book "insanity defense, why our failure to confront hard national security problems makes

us less safe." here we are. >> another thing congresswoman harmon said talking about china and russia not being alike, china has a decision to make. the decision is simple. they can be on the right side of history or the wrong side of history. i'll say this again. usually, things are not as black and white as this. china has a decision to make regarding russia. they can be on the right side of history, the wrong side of history. they can be on the winning side of history, or they can be on the losing side of history. they can chain themselves to an economy that is going to continue collapsing because of vladimir putin's war, or they can realign with the west and continue to grow economically. >> two choices. >> it is very easy. the question is, is xi going to continue making terrible decisions and continuing to hurt his country's economy? we'll see. mike barnicle, i just want to conclude this by talking about what we've seen over the past three or four weeks.

again, i keep talking about context. i keep going back to context because we see images coming on our screen every day. we have so much information coming at us 24-hours a day, sometimes we get overwhelmed by the twitter feed, by all the video, the 24/7 cable news chatter. let's just stop and take a deep breath here for a second and talk about what ambassador mcfaul brought up earlier this morning. you have joe biden, who has taken a shattered nato, a nato that donald trump, for four years, unsuccessfully tried to undermine. tried to finish off once and for all. you have a nato more united than any time since the early 1960s. from my best recounting. you have the most extraordinary list of economic sanctions levelled against any country in,

my god, in our lifetimes. it is extraordinary. you have an awakened europe, an awakened germany, an awakened finland, awakened sweden, awakened switzerland. quoting bill clinton, if a turtle is sitting on top of a fence post, it didn't happen by accident. this has happened because what joe biden has done. this has happened because biden took it cautiously at the beginning, because he didn't want to spook our european allies. he took his time. he brought them along when there's all this screaming and yelling and chattering from the trump right. he kept his head down. he kept consulting with allies. because of that, germany didn't feel like it was chasing america into another war. germany walked along with us, side by side, as did finland, as did sweden, as did switzerland, as did nato, as did the baltic

states, as did poland. i have no doubt that we're going to look back on this, historians are going to look back on this, as an extraordinary amount of work over the last three or four weeks. much like george h.w. bush before the first gulf war. while we talk about the other things he needs to do, while we're going to be listening to zelenskyy, if somebody really wants to look at the context of this and understand where we are, they need to always keep that context in mind. >> joe, in the history of these past two, three weeks and going forward, perhaps, another three to four months, we don't know that yet, when the history is written, it will include a full chapter, maybe a couple of chapters, on what joseph r. biden, president of the united states, has done for the past six, seven, eight weeks, with regard to ukraine. today, when president zelenskyy addresses the congress of the

united states, we know that he will be extremely emotional. it'll be an extremely emotional speech, an extremely political speech. he'll ask for things the united states cannot do, including closing the sky, things like that. i'm sure, or i hope and i pray that, at some point, he thanks president biden for what he has done. you cannot -- i don't think we can, any of us, imagine the work joe biden has done over the past couple of months. on the phone multiple times a day, each and every day of the week with our allies in europe, holding that together, putting it together, assembing a coalition that is going to be changing the face of europe for perhaps a decade. confronting a two-point attack from china and moscow combined. splitting, in effect, moscow from china. moscow is now perhaps on the verge of being a client state of

china. all of this is due to a lot of hard work by the biden administration. that has been underestimated and it's not gotten the credit. you won't be able to give him the credit until the history of this chapter is finally written. but you are absolutely right, the work of the president of the united states has resulted in where we are today, in the progress the ukrainians have made fighting the russian army. >> and the decisions have been made with a specter of nuclear war hanging over him every second of the day and night. >> chilling. >> with a man who may be unbalanced, who continues to threaten nuclear war. has threatened nuclear war from the start of this crisis. >> to this point, columnist frank fore writes in the "atlantic," a piece titled "biden answered the 3:00 a.m. call." he writes, in part, this. when hillary clinton sought to sow doubts about barack obama, she ran an attack ad in which a

husky-voiced narrater intones, it's 3:00 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep, but there's a phone in the white house and it's ringing." there's clearly been a terrible international incident. the narrater asks, "who do you want answering the phone?" joe biden hans received the full credit he deserves for his statecraft during this crisis. rather than touting his accomplishments in mobilizing a unified global response to the invasion, he has portrayed the stringent sanctions as the triumph of an alliance. by carefully limiting his own public role, he has left vladimir putin with little opportunity to portray the conflict as a standoff with the u.s. in the middle of joe biden's 3:00 a.m. call, i find myself grateful that he is the one answering the phone. >> now, mr. ambassador, we would, obviously, be making a grave mistake if we didn't talk about, also, the extraordinary

things happening in europe. a continent that you know a great deal about because you worked there and you worked in close accord. yesterday, we saw the three prime ministers going to the middle of kyiv, a war zone where reporters are dying. other westerners are dying. of course, so many ukrainians are dying day in and day out. but they went there anyway. we talked about finland. we talked about sweden. we talked about switzerland. of course, germany, my god, the most significant move since 1989. talk about a revitalized and reawakened europe. >> joe, you're exactly right. that visit by those three prime ministers was so important for europe, but also really important for ukraine. the ukrainians know that that kind of demonstration, when they show up in the capital, when they show up in kyiv and demonstrate that support, and that was europe. that's exactly what you say,

joe. europe has stepped up. i am sure that part of president putin's concern is that unity. he didn't expect europeans to be unified. he didn't expect the united states to be able to lead an alliance like he has, like president biden has. so that has got to put a challenge for president putin. that may, going back to our earlier conversation, that may push him to be thinking about negotiations. europe has stood up. it's been seen to be strong. >> former ambassador to ukraine, bill taylor, thank you very much for being on this morning. coming up on "morning joe," ahead of president zelenskyy's address, we'll be joined live by abigail spanberger, former cia caseworker. also, senator joe manchin joins us, who is key in the push to ban russian oil imports. plus, nbc's tom winter sat down with the top federal prosecutor tasked with going after russian oligarchs. he joins us with that exclusive,

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38 past the hour. in biden's recent state of the union, he announced a task force to seize assets of russian oligarchs. joining us now, investigation reporter tom winter. you spoke with top federal prosecutors tasked with going after those oligarchs. what did you find out? are they annoying them enough? >> i think we're about to find out pretty soon, and i think it'll be annoying on a level they haven't had to deal with before. mika, good morning. when you look at it, there's three areas of focus or categories for the oligarchs

that are available to the task force to go after and prosecute. the first is the kgb hard liners, those close to putinput. the businessmen who have made out well-being a part of the inner circle of the kremlin. the third group, military types that have done so well, as well, and are oligarchs in their own right. those are kind of the three categories. it is a tough mission ahead of them, but he's got a couple opportunities here to succeed, including going after the networks that allowed these individuals to launder money. let's take a listen. >> we're looking to disrupt networks. we're looking to disrupt the comfort that the oligarchs and these sanctioned people enjoy. real estate, yes. bank accounts, yes. artwork, the fruits of a luxurious life that is ill-gained, all of that is on the table. >> reporter: andrew adams, the man hunting the oligarchs'

money, tapped by the justice department to run clepto capture. >> the reason for coming to work is chase the money and the crime underneath the money. >> reporter: the oligarchs are vladimir putin's inner circle. known for yachts, villas, and sports teams, some could now see those perks seized if federal prosecutors think they've committed a crime. are there any specific places you can pinpoint that you would say would be areas you're going to focus on geographically? >> we're talking about luxury buildings, luxury real estate. that maps onto geography in a pretty tight way. >> reporter: places that rhyme with miami, new york, chicago, los angeles, that type of thing? >> sounds right. >> reporter: how is it you can go after somebody's personal or private property? >> you can't walk up and grab somebody's yacht. you have to walk through the facts that link the property to a crime. you have to be able to describe not only what crime was

committed with a degree of probable cause, but you have to trace the property to the commission of the crime. >> reporter: it's not just the oligarchs who are in adams' sights. it's the people who move the illicit money for them. >> the task force is also designed to look at facilitators. look at third parties who assist, either knowingly or by turning a blind eye, to moving dirty funds. so we call them facilitators. you can say aiders and abetters. >> reporter: his team is armed with tools to go after ill-gotten gains and launderd money. >> the subpoena power with our investigations is critical. it allows us to ask for records and to review financial transactions in a powerful way. >> reporter: adams knows he's got a lot to sift through. >> we may be talking about tens of millions of documents. we may be talking about thousands of bankers boxes of documents. >> reporter: what do you hope the overall impact of your work is when this is done?

>> one goal of this task force is to indicate there will also be enforcement of those sanctions. that there will not be an escape hatch around the sanctions through money launderers and opaque financial networks. >> one of the keys here, adams says, is keep in mind the rule of law. essentially, not just take over russian assets for the sake of taking them over. if you're going to prove the american system works and american judicial system works, you need to follow the rules here. that's finding the underlying crimes that he talked about. mika? >> nbc's tom winter, thank you very much for that report. now to the latest with the ukrainian refugee crisis. about 3 million people, 3 million, have now fled the country. roughly half of them children. nbc news national correspondent gabe gutierrez has the story. >> reporter: holding her two young daughters and nephew,

hannah is racing from her home in eastern ukraine. arriving in lviv, her emotions caught up with her. i'm fleeing for the sake of my children, she tells us. unicef says 1.5 million children have been forced to leave ukraine. that's around 55 children every minute of the war. almost one every second. from the netherlands to belgium to france, where president macron comforted refugees, more of europe felt the strain of the growing crisis. in italy, schoolchildren welcomed displaced ukrainian students, while in poland, warsaw's mayor says 300,000 ref refugees have fled to his city in two weeks. he is calling on the u.n. and european union to come up with a better plan. >> we can't do it forever. we can't improvise. we need help. >> reporter: as we traveled into ukraine, we met this woman reuniting with friends and family. she left kyiv with her two young children weeks ago. i'm just numb, she tells us.

we had no intention of being refugees. like her, so many now don't know when or if they'll return. the uncertainty here is crushing. >> i must save my family. it's first. >> reporter: this family is frantically trying to reach poland after their town in eastern ukraine was bombed. among their baby's first words -- >> boom, boom. >> reporter: she's 10 months old and already knows war too well. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez with that report. joining us live from the poland-ukraine border is kelly cobiella. what are polish authorities saying about their ability to handle the number of refugees and the more refugees that are coming? i mean, this is endless, almost. >> reporter: it is. mika, you know, it's just striking to see this every day, day in and day out. we head to these border crossings, train stations, bus

stations, and you just see thousands of women and children, again, every day. we're stunned by the numbers that we're seeing. there has been a bit of a slowdown in the numbers of people who are coming across the border into poland, in particular, over the past couple of days. we were seeing 100,000 a day. now, it's down to around 60,000 to 70,000. but those are still just incredibly high numbers. we've heard from the mayor of warsaw over the past several days now, saying that his city is overwhelmed. 300,000, more than 300,000 refugees in warsaw, a city of 2 million. krakow dealing with the same kinds of issues. we spoke to a woman yesterday who is here from kyiv. she'd escaped kyiv. she was with her three children. she said she was headed first to krakow and then on to amsterdam. she said there are just too many

people here. she had to flee kyiv. she said it was, you know, complete devastation where she was. she said it's not like tv. the war is real. she said it is like syria. but she was afraid to stay in this country just because there are already so many people here, and services, as we've been telling you over the past couple of days, really are becoming overwhelmed. shelters full. families taing in people. even, mika, some families finding it just too difficult to stay. we spoke to one family headed back to odesa on the black seaport with their 10-year-old child. the mother told me, you know, it's been really difficult to be here. we miss home. we miss family. we're talking to family back in ukraine, and they say that it's still safe. so we're going to take the risk, and we're going to go back. >> my god. >> they're in the minority, for sure. more people are coming than going back, but we are starting

to see moms and children going back into ukraine. >> well, and also, there's so many challenges within all this, as these numbers grow. the days go by, issues like human trafficking and other problems arise. the question is how to maintain safety among these moving masses. >> reporter: right. and the polish authorities have tried really hard to set up a system at a lot of these border crossings. they have police checking volunteers to make sure they're registered with the government if they're picking up a family. they've really sort of focused the process at the border so that refugee families are getting directly onto buses and straight to a processing center where they can be registered. so they can be tracked and can get proper services. and they don't end up in the hands of someone who may be trying to take advantage. but, again, this family from odesa, i go back to them because

they told us off camera that they ended up being hosted by a family, but they were put into one room, six people sharing one room. they were then asked for money. so these are the kinds of things that are going to pop up, despite best intentions of all of the volunteers, all of the aid workers, all of the government workers, the police, the firefighters, all of these people we've seen out here. the numbers are just so big that there will be people who are having a really tough time and people who are taking advantage of the situation, as well, unfortunately, mika. and people, you know, it is difficult to be a refugee, as we know. you're far from home. you don't speak the language. you're living in a shelter on a cot with, you know, thousands, hundreds of other people. it's a really difficult way of living, even for, you know, a week or two. we're finding that families are having trouble with it. >> nbc's kelly cobiella, thank

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live look at the capitol. the sun has come up over washington as we continue to cover the russian invasion of ukraine. we're standing by. in about an hour ukrainian president zelenskyy will be delivering a virtual address to the u.s. congress. joining us now democratic senator joe manchin of west virginia. he is chairman of the energy and natural resources committee and the member of the armed services. >> mika, he's the guy we need to

talk to. >> he's the one. >> he's going to be able to answer these questions about energy. >> absolutely. >> always good to talk to you, joe. let's talk about zelenskyy and what you're expecting to hear this morning and what you think the united states and nato should do beyond what we're doing. >> when we hear president zelenskyy, we're seeing a person willing to sacrifice everything for the cause of freedom. we're seeing how near and dear it is to them and the price they're paying. i only wonder are we willing to. will we give the same sacrifices we're giving? the least we can do is support them every way we can. i look forward to hearing from him. it's going to be passionate. it's going to be sincere. it's going to be a good delivery. we has to know we're there. we're behind him.

you got to give credit to president biden and what he's been able to do to bring that alliance back together after it had been shredded for the past four years. it's a very, very tedious situation. i trust the president will do a good job. >> you know, joe, a week or two ago when people were talking about banning russian oil, we said it on our oil and got criticized, heard it was impossible. you said it. people, economists, smart guys and smart women said it couldn't be done. you pushed ahead. i want to show you "the wall street journal" headline today, oil falls below $100. what can we do to keep those oil prices going down so consumers get relief at the pump? >> let's look at the reality and the world we live in. first of all, this is a putin

war. he has weaponized energy. he used it against europe. europe made some decisions that weren't good for them. they're paying the price because of their dependency on dirty russian oil and natural gas. the least we can do is maintain our energy independence and be able to backfill every way possible. we can with cleaner american energy. i know a lot of my friends on the far left, the environmentalists don't want to increase productivity. for us to be strong, to be the super power of the world, we should develop a north american alliance with canada and mexico and the united states as one continent basically that can be the energy hub. joe, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. we can make sure we produce the cleanest resources basically from fossil, but also be able to

seg into to a cleaner environment. we can do both. you can't do one and not the other and think we'll be fine. we should be ramping up production, out there doing everything we can to maintain our independence. if we don't get europe up and loaded for next winter, for the summer when they depleted all their reserves, there's going to be a big problem coming. >> joe, what you're talk about -- again, i keep talking about context. what you're talking about is what barack obama talked about when he was president. he said we needed an all of the above approach. that's where we're going to transition to alternative energy sources, but while we're doing that we have to worry about today. i'm curious. you have the germans that have fast tracked a couple of l and g

facilities. we see the facilities for clean natural gas. i'm curious, what's the possibility of us fast tracking two or three in the united states? it would bring energy prices down and more importantly it would cut through all the regulatory burdens that make these plans take forever to get completed and, again, it's a national security issue. i understand when we're debating in peace time. that's one thing. this has become a national security issue for our allies in europe. why don't we do that? >> joe, i don't know why we don't do it. this humanitarian crisis we're seeing could spread throughout europe if russia decides to do more and go further. in west virginia we have been trying to build a 42-inch pipeline, taking the abundant natural resources we have, that would bring 2 billion cubic feet

a day into the market. it will help with the l and g facility to backfill. it would help down in louisiana that would prevent a freeze up that we saw in texas. these type of things we should be doing. as we bring cleaner energy online, you can resleeve those with different size pipes. we need to be thinking of an all-in energy policy, absolutely. we can do it. the government has to be working as our partner, not as our adversary. that's all i'm saying. what they're concerned about is who is driving the train here? is the federal government driving policies and the government is pushing the policy that the market isn't willing to accept or are we as a capitalist

society -- society will accept that. reliability is the name of the game. for the super power of the world we should not be dependent on iran or venezuela to produce oil, the dirtiest in the world, when we can do it here in america. >> senator manchin, good morning. it's jonathan. >> hi, jonathan. >> you cited reasons for your opposition to the nomination of the federal reserve board. she withdrew her nomination yesterday. i want to read to you president biden's reaction. despite having been confirmed by the senate twice in the past

sarah was subject to baseless attacks by industry and conservative interest groups. you say that is why her nomination failed. what is your response to that? >> i have all the admiration for the president. i want him to succeed. you can have respectful agreements to disagree. we disagree. this was a ten-year appointment. it was basically money in the financial industries should be cut back into fossil fuels. we don't have the technology to take up the void of what would happen if we walked away from the fossil. what we can do is produce fossils much cleaner and bring renewables on board. when one overtakes the other, i guarantee you people will go with the renewables. the people aren't there yet.

i don't think she could get there. i have all the respect in the world for her. this is a philosophical belief i have and a ten-year position was a long time to take that risk. >> senator manchin, west virginia, great place, hard working families, a lot of them poor. 49th average family income. 46th for the percentage of families living in poverty. 43rd in terms of education and child care. what do you need to get behind the child tax credit bill and get that passed? >> we have a child tax credit bill in place now, mike. we do. we have a child tax credit in place. we had an enhancement during covid. we had an enhancement. it's gone on. we have 11 million jobs unfulfilled. we have thousands of jobs in west virginia unfulfilled.

inflation is killing us. in flation is overtaking us. we better get our financial house in order. west virginians are proud. they're hard working. we put $22 billion a year in helping people having a hard time. people forget -- they think we're leaving people with no support whatsoever. that is not true. there's a lot more we can do. people can do more to be involved. get into the workplace. we want good jobs. bring some of those factory jobs, bring the clean energy, bring it to west virginia, we'll show you how to build it.

>> senator joe manchin, thank you for being on the show this morning. we're less than an hour away from ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy's address to lawmakers. it's intended to rally global support as the russian invasion intensifies. zelenskyy addressed the canadian parliament yesterday. today's address to congress comes 80 years after u.s. lawmakers heard from another war time leader. >> winston churchill addressed the united states congress. he was given the warmest welcome by washington. congress gave him a magnificent reception. [ applause ] . >> it is the duty of those to

overcome the military and geographical difficulies and begin to -- >> winston churchill's second war time address to the united states congress as he pledged britain's full support in the fight against japan. last week zelenskyy became the first foreign leader to address the british parliament in a speech that largely echoed churchill. there are stark differences between what he is requesting and what they're willing to do particularly when it comes to closing air space over ukraine. still zelenskyy is expected to plead for more aid and president biden will answer that call.

set to announce $1 billion in new military aid. nato defense ministers are meeting in brussels to discuss bolstering forces on nato's eastern flank. as attacks intensify on the capitol of kyiv, ukraine has mounted a counter offensive to drive russians back. here's nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: life and death in ukraine can depend on the building you live in, which floor and luck. as russian attacks grow more indiscriminate firing seemingly at random into kyiv and kharkiv and mariupol where officials say russian troops seized an

intensive care hospital and are holding at least 400 people hostage. leaders say the russians are using those people as human shields and barring anyone from leaving. nbc news has not been able to confirm the incident. russia's violence against civilians is the main reason why president zelenskyy has been asking for help to protect the sky. despite the risks zelenskyy received three nato prime ministers from the czech republic, slovenia and poland. with such friends, with such countries, neighbors and partners we will be able to defeat. russian troops still have the military advantage and say president putin are looked in a

propaganda bubble with yemen telling him what he wants to hear while russian tv feeds the country a controlled diet showing russian troops feeding ukrainians who the kremlin claim are happy to be liberated. some russians are contradicting the narrative. this journalist was detained and given a small fine, around $300. >> i don't like russia start this invasion and it was really terrible. >> reporter: other journalists are being silenced forever. fox news announcing the death of a cameraman killed in the same attack that seriously wounded correspondent benjamin hall. the translator working with the

team was also killed. >> joining us now congressman abigail spanberger of virginia. jonathan and mike are still with us. congresswoman, as we count down to hearing from president zelenskyy himself, his address to congress, i'm interested in what you think you might be hearing from him, but it's not lost on all of us that what he's going to be asking for, there's much of it that will not be delivered. >> well, i think it's important to first look at so much of the support that the united states has provided. we rallied countries around the world, particularly unifying our nato partners in support of sanctions which are crippling the russian economy, the javelins, stingers, intelligence and communication support and

medical support have been incredibly important. i expect that president zelenskyy will again raise the issue of planes or potentially surface to air missiles. it's important that the united states listen to the needs that a war time leader is putting forth. certainly we continue to see absolute horrible atrocities that putin's army is inflicting upon the ukrainian people and i believe the united states should be as supportive as we possibly can and give them what they need to win the war. >> congresswoman, could you speak to the issue of technology that we might be contributing to the ukrainians? it seems the russians have lost the ability -- their command and control ability, which means that technology has intervened here and they can no longer speak through secret channels to

one another. that might be as a result of what we and other nations are lending them in terms of technology. >> we've seen an advantage. while the russians have thousands and thousands of troops in ukraine, we've seen their convoys and we've seen the inability for them to maintain communications. the ukrainians have been extraordinary in their ability to take advantage of that. the u.s. assistance and the assistance of our partner nations in ensuring the ukrainians have an upper hand and the ability to stay corrected and ensure the russians are not is one that i think is contributing to this ongoing just extraordinary show of strength and resolve that we're seeing from the ukrainian people and their military forces as well as their territorial defense. >> congresswoman, the violence

has only picked up. the war is in a delicate phase, a terrible phase. negotiations have begun between the russians and ukrainians, both sides signaling a little bit of progress there. as we think about what the future may hold and an end to the war, an off-ramp for putin, how does the rest of the world re-engage with putin after that war considering what we're seeing, all these atrocities committed across ukraine? >> residential homes have been hit. children have been killed. what were supposed to be humanitarian corridors have been struck. maternity hospitals, they've taken a hospital hostage. this is not waging a war. it's war crimes. there's a distinct difference how we re-engage with russia and

how we re-engage with putin. my personal putin and i think one shared with many of my colleagues is that putin is a war criminal. the united states senate took that stance with their votes and must be held accountable for the crimes he committed. we have to have a long-term view of how we engage with russia, its economy and its people as we look past this war. the on the ground priority is to ensure that the ukrainian people are able to win what is not just a fight for their freedom, but a fight for democratic values everywhere. >> following up on the effectiveness the ukraine forces have had in flighting damage on russian tanks using very basic drones. this morning nbc is reporting the biden administration is considering giving ukraine

guided missiles called switch blades with his target tanks from miles away. they're robotic smart bombs equipped with guidance systems and explosives and can fly much faster than the drones ukraine has been using. >> let's bring in ken delaney. ken, you had a great report yesterday. it led us to ask the question why we're not doing more in the space of providing drones. we may have got our answer over the past 24 hours. tell us what you're finding out. >> reporter: you weren't the only person asking that question. it was being asked in congress, the white house and the defense department. we learned that the biden administration is considering providing these switch blades. the video you saw was the smaller version, the switch

blade 300, an anti-personnel weapon. there's a bigger one they weren't able to demonstrate for us. the bigger one can kill tanks. it's not clear exactly which version of this or both they're considering. there are a lot of questions, including how much training it would require for the ukrainians and how fast the company can make these things. this could be a game-changing weapon. this thing does what the hell fire missiles do more cheaply and easily. they can be carted around the battlefield much easier. that one there you're seeing is five pounds. it's man portable and they're launched out of tubes. we've given the ukrainians javelins to blow up tanks.

you have to get close to a tank, about a mile away. these things almost have a mind of their own and they can hover over a target until that target presents itself. the u.s. used these in combat, but in a limited way. they don't talk about it. if these things are used in the ukraine theater, it could be an historic moment for warfare and a game changer for ukraine. >> those are extraordinary. ken, did you say five pounds? >> reporter: yeah, the smaller one, the switch blade 300, five pounds. literally was the size of a toy drone i got for my kids. i held it in my hands. they launched it and showed me how they were able to put it through a window of a truck. it's designed to be discriminating. they said we could kill the driver, but not the passenger in a cia-targeted strike. the bigger one could blow up a

tank or armored vehicle. could do the same thing these turkish drones are doing, but more faster, more elusive, more dangerous. >> nbc's ken delaney, that is for that report. congresswoman abigail spanberger, how important would this be? >> they would be game changing. we've seen the ukrainians have made incredible use of the turkish provided drones which ken mentioned are a different technology, not as targeted as the american version, the american drones. to be able to enable them to attack, let's say, the tank lines that have been built up around kyiv, provides them such an important advantage in the fact that they could do it from much further away. that would be a significant impact protecting their own forces. i'm supportive of this potential

transfer. i hope it's one we'll see expedited. >> congresswoman, are you concerned about who would operate these drones and where they would operate them from? >> these drones would be operated from within ukraine and that's an important distinction, operated by ukrainians. some of the challenges we've faced thus far in providing weapon systems to the ukrainians has been a question of whether or not they have the ability to utilize them. that's why we have seen a pivot towards soviet style or earlier generation forms of weapons their soldiers know how to utilize. the important thing is this would be a capability that the ukrainians themselves would be able to leverage for their own defense and to use as a

significant advantage against the russian army which numbers-wise is more numerous. when we look at the heart and dedication that the ukrainians are bringing to the fight for their freedom it's extraordinary. that's why i want to make sure they have the tools they need to defend their country and ultimately democracy. >> congresswoman, thank you very much. still ahead, millions of ukrainians have left their homes. for those who haven't left their towns have been turned into war zones. plus, ukrainian president zelenskyy will address the united states congress. it will be a virtual address. he'll be calling for more aid, more weapons, more help against russia's brutality. shortly after we'll hear from president joe biden who will be

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it is 23 past the hour as the fighting intensifies in ukraine so does the humanitarian crisis. jacob soboroff has made his way to lviv to see how the ukrainian people are holding up. jacob, good morning. >> reporter: mika, good morning to you. the lviv central train station is familiar to all of us. it's the hub for people leaving the country. this is a humanitarian village, a tent city that sprouted up with all kinds of services for refugees coming and going. you can get sandwiches here. people are getting sandwiches, tents to sleep in, medical

supplies, all kinds of consultations, including power chargers to plug your phone in to call your loved ones. there are international nongovernmental organizations from all over the world here and the red cross took us inside their efforts. this morning thousands of desperate ukrainians in search of safety, buses with two red cross convoys carrying people evacuating. a separate convoy bringing medical aid to be distributed. overnight in lviv an ongoing red cross operation assists 300,000 displaced ukrainians in the city. it's almost curfew here. that hasn't stopped people from coming to the red cross tent to seek food and shelter. all these people at home just days ago. some left under the cover of

night for poland, natalia told us she fled kharkiv after constant russian bombardment. she said the city is gone. she fled with her three sons. now here, the lawyer and mother marking her 40th birthday in a strange place wondering what's next. ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ >> reporter: american steve mcandrews heading up the operation here. >> do you have the capacity to deal with this? >> no, but we have the intent and will to keep at it. >> reporter: we met tatiana and her three daughters preparing to get rest for the night. their hometown just outside of kyiv all but destroyed by the russians. >> what do you need?

[speaking foreign language] >> reporter: she wants the world to close the sky over ukraine. >> can you ask them where they want to go? >> they want to go home. >> i hope you guys can go home very soon. >> reporter: this is the tent that tatiana and her three girls slept in last night. some good news, mika, both of the mothers and their children who we met last night left this morning on buses to poland. as i'm talking to you, they're on their way there. when they get there, they hope to start a temporary new chapter of their new lives. they want to get back here as soon as the war ends. >> jacob soboroff, thank you for your reporting. still ahead on "morning joe," live pictures from capitol hill where we're about a half hour away from our live coverage of ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy's rare address to

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as the humanitarian crisis in ukraine continues to escalate more and more families are being forced to separate. we spoke with two ukrainian mothers facing some very difficult choices. >> reporter: for these two women fleeing ukraine was not a first choice. like many mothers, the safety of their children drove them to leave. >> 15 minutes to get my backpack, 10 minutes to say

good-bye and go. >> we moved to my parents place. i was sure we were going to stay there. it's western ukraine. it might be safer. then i heard they keep attacking hospitals and orphanage houses, everything that wasn't supposed to be attacked. >> reporter: the almost 3 million ukrainians who left are mostly women and children traveling to neighboring countries. natalia left for florida with her two daughters in what she hopes is a temporary stay. >> it was a hard decision because people who know me, like, i always say ukraine is the country i want to live in. >> reporter: poland has taken in the most refugees including ivana and her young daughter. the journey took her five days

and the experience haunts her. >> it was long and exhausting. i didn't have a chance to speak to my husband. one second you're okay. then i see these pictures of children in shelters and my heart breaks. >> everybody is doing everything they can. >> reporter: oksana is on the ground in warsaw coordinating refugee assistance along the border. >> they're in survival. you know the huge problem that we're just starting to fill is how children are being affected by this silence and by bombs. i heard a lot of mothers and children saying, oh, is it okay now? i'm afraid to go to bathroom

because of the bombings now. it's a huge psychological trauma. >> reporter: the toll of separation lingers and the life they once knew remains uncertain. >> my heart and thoughts and everything is in ukraine and my husband is in ukraine. we have no idea how we can join, how we can meet each other again. >> i think it's only today i've just begun to realize maybe it won't end in a week or two weeks. while i was crossing the border, i was hoping maybe in a week it will end. >> my kids are sure they're coming back. >> reporter: among the chaos and heart break of separation, resilience and the fight for a better tomorrow. >> i think that hope is now the main feeling that we have. they don't want even to think about refugee status.

we're just here temporarily, just it will take small time and we'll be back home soon. it concerns each and every person now in the world. it's about people. it's about people. it's about freedom and for everyone it's a different -- some lost their homes. some lost their loved ones. it is awful. it is something that -- it awakened so many fears that you never thought about. we wish to win on our terms. we won't give up for sure. we need your help. coming up, live coverage of the ukrainian president's address to the u.s. congress. we'll bring you that historic moment straight ahead. (music throughout)

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nobody is going to break us. we're strong. we're ukrainians. [ applause ] >> translator: we'll fght in the sea. we'll fight in the air. we'll defend our land, whatever the price is. [ applause ] >> i'm confident that together we will overcome and will be victorious. glory to ukraine. thank you to canada. [ applause ] >> standing ovations in brussels, london and canada for the president of ukraine. moments from now he'll turn to washington with a rare, joint message to congress. on capitol hill nbc news

correspondent garrett hague. at the white house chief white house correspondent peter alexander. in kyiv, ukraine, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel. garrett, we'll start with you. set the scene for us. what do lawmakers expect to hear from president zelenskyy? >> reporter: members are just starting to arrive for this address that should happen right at 9:00. we expect it to be only about 10 or 15 minutes. we expect it to be person. you played the applause line to the canadians. in that speech to canada, president zelenskyy pushed them hard and in personal terms to do more to save the lives of people in his country, whether through the no-fly zone or providing weapons or fighter jets. he referred to dear, justin, justin trudeau who was in the room and asked canadians to

think about what they would do if it was vancouver or toronto bombed every night. by the way, it largely has been congress who has been out in front offering to provide more weapons, offering to push sanctions further. you'll hear zelenskyy draft off that effort. members of congress are ready to respond. >> let's move to peter alexander at the white house. just weeks ago as this war was beginning, peter, the u.s. offered zelenskyy and his family safe passage to the u.s. and to that evacuation offer zelenskyy said i need ammunition, not a ride. there he stayed in ukraine speaking to the world through social media and now to these rare addresses to parliaments and congress. does the president -- does the white house plan to respond with more aid? >> reporter: we will hear from the president today in

announcement to take place shy of noon, a couple hours after volodymyr zelenskyy speaks to the american people. president biden will speak to americans about 11:45. we'll told he'll detail roughly $800 million in new military aid to replenish the stockpile that's already been provided to ukraine. you remember yesterday the president announced or signed that $13.6 billion in humanitarian and military aid to ukraine as part of that big government funding package right there. the administration tells me what they'll be providing, what the president is expected to announce is more of what they provided so far, javelins and stingers which has been so effective the white house says in terms of taking on tanks and hitting aircraft, but of course from the ground. this president has been

resistant against imposing the no-fly zone. he has opposed sending the mig fighters jets. i expect the president will go further in his announcement. zelenskyy is expected to ask for more of the armed drones. there are what are called switch blades, killer drones, that can accomplish their mission from miles away hitting targets including tanks. zelenskyy may will push for anti-ship missiles. all of this, of course, ahead of the president's own trip. he'll head to europe next week on thursday visiting for the first time since the war began with nato allies in an extraordinary summit as all sides come together. clearly the real voice, the symbol of democracy around the world is volodymyr zelenskyy. >> peter alexander, thank you so

much. let's go from the white house to kyiv where richard engel is. richard, this morning soon after your report of a counter offensive "the wall street journal" reported ukraine launched the counter offensive in hopes of stopping russia's momentum. what have you heard on that front? do you get the sense ukrainian soldiers are aware of what zelenskyy is doing, not only leading at home, but also spreading the word on the world stage? >> reporter: so all we've heard about the offensive is that it's been launched and launched in multiple locations, particularly to the north and northwest of kyiv where russia has a lot of forces and had been trying to push into the city, also trying to push into kyiv from the east. all of its advances have been stalled over the last several days. what russia has been doing

instead is long-range attacks, firing missiles, long-range artillery into the city more or less at random and not with a tremendous amount of velocity. ukrainians are aware of what their government is doing because the government has been very active. zelenskyy is today speaking to congress. every day he's been given addresses, addresses in ukrainian, in russia, addressing russian troops directly. there has been no cyber outage in this country. we thought russia would open its campaign by cutting off communications, but it hasn't happened. there are numerous indications it's because the russian's military equipment is dependent

on those communication network. the russian com systems haven't been working and they're relying on the standard cell phone towers in this country. people are glued to what is happening and able to follow zelenskyy's almost each and every speech. >> richard, thank you so much. be safe. garrett haig and peter alexander, thank you. >> zelenskyy's address reminds us of another war time leader, winston churchill in 1941. let's bring in jon meacham. jon, we talked about churchill and mandela's speech, the fight

for freedom heard across the world, and here now zelenskyy, a man who seems in the words of bobby kennedy to have the power, along with his fellow country men and women. talk about what we've been seeing today not only from the united states but also from a revitalized europe. >> the churchill analogy is fascinating. churchill spoke to congress, i think, three times. twice during world war ii and again during the cold war. all those speeches came after america was already in the war as a full ally. it was after pearl harbor. it was after hitler invaded -- sorry. it was after japan declared war

on us and hitler declared war on us. if you think about it, it's as if churchill had been invited in 1939 or 1940 to address the congress. he was always at privately lobb franklin roosevelt for arms, for aid, he said, you know, that things are afoot which will be told as long as the english language is spoken in any corner of the globe when he talks about the british defiance. he talked about british defiance, and i suspect zelenskyy alluded to churchill when he addressed the british parliament. it wouldn't surprise me if there's something from the american speeches that churchill gave in the speech today, and remember the great one was the french general who had dismissively said that britain would have her neck rung like

chicken and churchill said some chicken, some neck, and there's a kind of defiance, and churchill embodied that then and in a fascinating way, zelenskyy has, i think, exceeded any expectations in terms of both substantiative and spiritual leadership. i think he's captured the imagination of much of the free world and when foreign leaders like mandela, like churchill, when they address the congress, it's almost as if there's this virtual conversation unfolding between the democracies, the folks around the world who are devoted to the rule of law. it's a reminder that there are these larger questions that unite us, and remember, from the very few people who still see this as somehow removed from our concern, think about the trauma of the 1930s and 1940s, and i

understand the differences and the analogies, but broadly put, frankly roosevelt saw and the best saw, truman saw later that democracies tend not to go to war with each other. how did world war i begin, autocracies went to war. how did world war ii begin, hitler was on the march, dictatorshop was taking on democracy. as churchill would remind us often, with greatness comes responsibility. he may not want to be involved in the causes of the world but we don't have any choice because those causes to quote rfk as jou you just said, we are all linked. >> so we are about eight minutes away now as members of the senate and the house will be attending and you see it in the live pictures on your screen there, a virtual address.

that's what it's called, by ukraine's president, volodymyr zelenskyy. he will be introduced by speaker pelosi, and as we get closer to the moment, i want to talk to you, joe moore, about this concept of zelenskyy being able to bend history in a way that others in recent history have not, really teaching americans, and i'll speak just for americans about the preciousness of democracy and so precious that we're actually at a frightening juncture right now. this is about all of us in the end. but teaching about democracy in a way that the extreme cracks and divisions that we've witnessed in recent years. those divisions that we've experienced, just haven't been able to show the importance of a free press, the importance and preciousness of a democracy. this man has been able to rely pierce through that.

>> it's been a clarifying moment. you know, mike barnicle, i know you want to go to jon meacham next. i was hearing before, and it grows tiresome, hearing about the decline of america. my 6th grade teacher said america was in decline and may not last another decade. i must say, it's very very tiresome by now, but i have been hearing over the past five, six years, that we would never get back to a 9/11 moment when the democratic and republican party could come together. no, i knew we could. i knew we would and here you are. you have nancy pelosi, you have mitt romney, people on the right and the left coming together to support a man who's a spiritual leader of democracy in the west and around the world right now, mike barnicle, and this has been a clarifying moment to show that some of the things that have divided us, well, they've just been silly. we see very clearly between right and wrong from democracy and autocracy, from the till

liberal democracies of central and eastern europe and from russia, and what liberal democracy promises and what it inspires and what it's inspired in ukraine. >> you know, joe, history is littered with the ghosts of those who have underestimated america at every turn, and nearly every turn politically, economically, and governmentally. america is strongest when america stands together, and america now stands together at least overseas in europe. the president of the united states has performed remarkably well. we are about to see today, another man who has met the moment. a man who several months ago or perhaps five or six weeks ago, people would have looked at the president of ukraine, and said, what, come on, he's a comedian. he has met the moment and history is filled with people who have met the moment. i was rereading one of your favorite political speeches and

much more than a political speech in retrospect. robert f. kennedy's ripple of hope speech, in cape town, south africa. on june 6th, 1966, two years to the day that he was assassinated and to reread that speech today is to reread the essence of american hope going forward then, and going forward today. >> and those lines, again, one of the great lines from there, jon meacham is when bobby kennedy says in capetown, south africa, he said few have the ability to bend history itself, and yet we find here with zelenskyy just like those union workers, in 1980, just like mandela, and let's go back to lexington and concord, just like people there.

we have zelenskyy who seems to be bending history before our very eyes. >> you know, the thrilling and terrifying thing about democracy is that in fact, all of us in the end have the capacity to bend history. a democracy is the fullest manifestation of all of our dispositions bar none, and yes, there are structural questions, and yes, as senator kennedy was saying in cape town, not all of us are given great epic scope. it's one of the great lessons of literature. george elliot, the 19th century novelest. she wrote that not everyone can be a saint teresa, and found an order and changed all of persondom, but everyone can make life a little less difficult to another. and until the end, those are the table stakes of democracy, and zelenskyy has, you know, his

disposition in mind, winston churchill's disposition of heart and mind, the people of salma, the men who hit the beaches of normandy. the people at tiananmen square, the people who brought down the berlin wall. all of this may sound sentimental, but it has the virtue of being true that those folks in this kind of mysterious, yet discernible commerce between the leaders and the led made democracy what lincoln called the last best hope. >> right. >> and the key thing there is, yes, it's the last best hope, but it's also the best hope, and again, i don't mean to to get the kettle drums out, and we face enormous stresses here, generational. you're sounding like your teacher, and i guess, meridian,

we do face a generational task. and we do have the capacity, you and i and everybody else, if you believe in the declaration of independence, if you believe in the rights of human kind, if you believe in the rule of law, this is a moment to stand up. zelenskyy has the question for all of us. >> jonathan lemire, we have been talking about joe biden and the nato allies as we look at this bipartisan collection. it's important to remember the republicans who very early on stepped out and supported president joe biden, mitch mcconnell was one of the first to actually say i believe it was in the state of kentucky that he agreed with joe biden's approach on this issue. mitt romney has done that. they have been critical at times too. what we found is some members of the senate being far more bipartisan. mark, mika's brother, the

ambassador to poland has been greatly moved by codells that have come over there. he talked about how rob portman, roger wicker, along with democrats like senator coons, senator blumenthal, it's been moving to see how politics hasn't stopped at the water's edge, and he sees republicans and democrats focused on the same thing. >> certainly there are party disagreements but more united than divided when it comes to the issue of ukraine, joe. and this president, president biden who we'll hear from in a few hours in direct response to what we're going to hear from president zelenskyy in a few moments. he has from his campaign and now his first year has framed this century as a struggle between democracies, and autocracies. jon meacham knows a thing about that, and he has framed it initially as that rivalry with china, and certainly china does still