and a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome, everyone, to "alex witt reports." we're beginning with breaking news. once again, ukraine's presidential adviser says the front lines between russian and ukrainian forces are frozen. ukrainian leaders now claim russia does not have the combat strength needed to push further. this matches new assessments from both british and american intelligence. they believe stalemate conditions on the ground will lead to more air attacks. also new today, russia claiming it's used hypersonic missiles for the second straight day. nbc has not been able to verify that. at any minute president volodymyr zelenskyy is set to address israel's knesset in his push for a diplomatic solution among a huge show of support from ukraine supporters outside the knesset. and turkey's foreign minister says the sides are closer on critical issues

including ukraine renouncing ambitions to join nato, ukraine's demilitarization and protection of the russian language in ukraine. on the ground, the maybe of kyiv put out this video a short time ago showing an apartment building he says had just been shelled. he says no one was killed. in mariupol, this new video, taken by a resident who escaped, shows bombed-out apartment buildings, ukrainians trapped by heavy fighting are right now being removed from the city by pro russian separatist forces. ukrainian government officials claim ukrainians are being illegally deported. in mykolaiv, as many as 40 ukrainian marines are killed. the woman who staged this protest live on russian teach, this is her first interview on a western tv outlet. >> first i want to say to everyone, russian people are

really against the war. it's putin's war, not russian people's war. and here's a look at the latest heartbreaking numbers. 902 kills according to the u.n. human rights office. 10 million people are displaced inside and outside ukraine. that is according to the unhcr. let's go to our correspondents overseas. nbc's jacob soboroff is on the ground for us in lviv. jacob, what are conditions like, how are people getting by? >> reporter: alex, good afternoon you to, good morning out west, good evening from here in lviv. the situation from mariupol, in particular the southern port city, is quite dire. the latest from there is about 400 or so people have come under attack at an arts school doubling as a shelter. we don't know the latest on the people that are inside that facility right now, although a local official does say rescue

efforts are under way as the crisis continues to expand here. we don't know that the scope and the scale of this invasion will continue to grow. but that's what people fear the most. the russian military is advancing into mariupol, attacking an arts school. 400 people inside. the city has been under heavy bombardment for two weeks now, much of it reduced to rubble. while russia denies targeting civilians, a maternity hospital, a theater turned shelter, and countless residential homes tell a different story. president volodymyr zelenskyy saying the blockade in mariupol will go down as a war crime, a terror that will be remembered for a century, and again calling for peace talks. if this port city falls, donetsk and luhansk will be controlled by moscow-backed separatists.

with homes destroyed and food supplies running low, apocalyptic scenes now the new normal. "we cook food in the court yard and hear planes overhead, it was a constant state of horror," he said. in lviv, sirens. it's just past 5:30 a.m. here in lviv, you can hear another air ride siren. these are becoming constant. over the last week, every single day. russia upping its military tactics. in this air strike, claiming to have destroyed an underground ammunition warehouse, although nbc news can't verify this. this was the first time russia claimed to have used hypersonic missiles. the second time this morning. president biden called president putin a war criminal and

questioned his judgment. one russia ally says putin is doing just fine. president lukashenko said, "the west should get this stupidity out of your heads, president putin is doing just fine." those fleeing this country would most certainly disagree. the wide scale terror that russia's invasion in this war has brought upon this country has upended lives just about everywhere you look, including here in lviv where there were rockets attacks just a couple of days ago. this morning we were woke up by that air raid siren. as i walked around the city, alex, i stopped into a church, it was filled with people praying for peace and praying that this nightmare would end soon. >> i can imagine, that is the first prayer everyone is uttering there in ukraine. thank you so much, appreciate that, jacob soboroff from laugh -- from lviv.

nbc's josh lederman, welcome to you. the war in ukraine is getting closer to nato's doorstep there. talk about what the president will be looking to achieve at this summit. >> reporter: certainly a big part of this, alex, will be focused on what more nato allies can do militarily to help ukraine. there are discussions under way with several of them about providing more air defense like s-300 missile defense systems to the ukrainians. but a large part of this is going to be focused on what more can be done to shore up the nato nations because as you alluded to, a lot of concern from these nations that they could potentially be next. and we know that nato is looking at ways to reorient itself against longer term threat from russia, including more substantial troops moving to the eastern flank, more air and

missiles defenses, hardened cyber defenses as well as additional carrier strike groups and submarines persistently stationed in the region. nato secretary general stoltenberg discussing that on "meet the press." >> regardless how the conflict ends, we are faced with a new security reality where russia more openly contests core values and our willingness to use military force to achieve its objectives. therefore we need to reset our deterrence. and one of the issues we started to discuss at the upcoming summit of nato leaders this week in brussels is how we do the more long term adaptation, the long term reset on defense. >> reporter: president biden's visit to nato here in brussels later in the week so far is the only stop the white house has announced for that trip, alex, although it's certainly possible

that the president could also try to go elsewhere in the region and show countries closer to ukraine that he is supporting them and that nato is behind them. one place he will not travel to, despite increasing calls, is ukraine. white house spokeswoman jen psaki saying on twitter today that this trip is designed to show support for ukraine and unity against russia but that the president will not be going to ukraine which of course is certainly understandable given the in the middle of a war. >> given the fact that nato is based there in brussels, how much is the war in ukraine on the minds of belgians who live there, knowing that nato is the epicenter of all of this? >> reporter: it's a great question, alex. it certainly is hugely on their minds. also the evaluate u is ba the e brussels. you see blue and yellow flags waving all over here. and whenever we're at nato

headquarters where i've been almost every day for the last couple of weeks you hear chants from protesters who are now gathered daily outside of nato, chanting "close the skies." they want to see a no-fly zone. they're very aware that europe has seen war before and could see war on this continent again in a much broader way and they want to make sure that doesn't happen, alex. >> okay, thank you so much, josh, appreciate that live report. let's bring in right now retired u.s. navy admiral james stavridis, msnbc chief international security and diplomacy analyst and co-author of "2034: a novel of the next world war," glad to have you, and i have to say, i hope your new book is not prophetic given the circumstances of which we're speaking. here we go. big developments today, first, what is president biden's number one job when he goes to brussels? >> first and foremost, it's to maintain the diplomatic unity of the alliance which has been

quite remarkable. number two, it's to encourage and thank the nato nations that are increasing their defense spending, notably our german allies. germany has decided to add 100 billion euros to their defense budget. it's a huge amount of money, about $120 billion, to put it in perspective, russia's defense budget, alex, is only $70 billion. huge plus-up. so the president will want to encourage that. third and finally, he'll want to talk very tactically about what weapons can we put in the hands of ukrainians, recent discussions in particular about a fairly advanced antiair warfare system called the s-300, some of our allies have that, that could be transported into ukraine to help close the skies. those would be the three key vectors of the conversation. >> can i ask you quickly about

germany and the fact that they're investing significantly more in their military defense? what does that tell you, what's inside the minds of germans, if i can ask you to just make presumptions. >> yeah, and i spent four years in deep conversations with our german allies. one of my significant headquarters was in stuttgart, germany. i knew chancellor angela merkel extremely well. in those days, alex, the minister of defense was the person who is now the head of the european union. when vladimir putin has russian tanks rolling west in europe, it rattles old ghosts. those elders in that society remember 1945, russian tanks and russian soldiers conquering and looting their way across germany at the end of world war ii. they remember those tanks going into hungary in 1956. they remember those tanks going

into prague and crushing the prague spring. old ghosts are rattling, especially in the minds of germans who have been victims of the russian army many times. and therefore that defense spending is quite popular at this point in germany. >> that's a very sage assessment there. let's talk about the status update on russia/ukraine talks provided by turkey's foreign minister and his assertion that they are close to agreement on russia's key demands. are these legitimate issues that russia is first of all raising? and secondly, sir, do they sound like things that president zelenskyy would agree to? >> first and foremost, alex, we ought to be happy to see even the tiniest little green shoots of spring in terms of negotiation. at least the russians and the ukrainians are talking. and i applaud the turks who have been very engaged in trying to bring this together kind of at every level. so point one is, they're

talking. point two, these demands are something that putin has consistently looked for. he seeks to place ukraine in a kind of a neutral status, a bit like finland has been throughout much of the cold war between the u.s. and soviet union. austria, sweden. these are nations that are essentially neutral, although they lean to the west. i think there is probably trade space inside that conversation. but job one is the russians have got to stop immediately in place and put a cease-fire for humanitarian aid and stop committing war crimes like you're showing right now, bombed-out apartment buildings, indiscriminate fire against civilians, that has to stop before there can be any serious consideration of the russian demands. >> let's talk about the nato question here relative to the chinese, which raised this,

after president xi's call with president biden. they said, quote, the u.s. and nato should have dialogue with russia to address the crux of the ukraine crisis and security concerns of both russia and ukraine. so why didn't nato declare from the very beginning that ukraine's membership was likely never a serious consideration, certainly not right now, not that it would have necessarily changed putin's behavior, but why not put it out there before? >> nato is based on a treaty signed in 1949. i encourage anybody who wants to really understand these issues, read the nato treaty. it's extremely short, you can read it in ten minutes. it only has 14 articles in the whole treaty. but one of them, and a crucial one, is that membership will be open to a democracy that seeks to apply and is capable of furthering the aims of the alliance within the european theater. nato shouldn't have to change its treaty and change its

modalities because vladimir putin starts rolling tanks into ukraine. we ought to, again, remember who is the aggressor here, who launches the missiles, who is attacking civilians, who has displaced 10 million ukrainians. it's not nato. and by the way, putin always says he's threatened by nato. i would say this to president putin. open the book of history, mr. president, and show me where a nato tank or an american tank has ever attacked russia. you won't find that page in the book of history. but you will find many pages, as i've described, of russian tanks rolling west. so no, i don't accept the russian idea in its fundamental form here. >> so if russia and china are allies here, and china says the u.s. should talk to russia, does this at all suggest to you that

putin could be interested in talks with president biden? >> i would hope so. and here we have to maintain the ability to have a conversation with russia. and we're going to have to maintain the ability to talk to president putin. and the reason is because he has a large nuclear arsenal. if he did not, we might be in a different place. but we live in a real world where he has control of a world-ending number of nuclear weapons. therefore we have to keep open conversations. if china can help facilitate those conversations, i'm in favor of that. if president biden is willing to talk to president putin and address these concerns, i would certainly support that, but it has to be done, alex, with a clear-eyed understanding of who started this war, this war of choice, and that the fundamentals here, democracy, freedom, the nato alliance itself, we're not going to bend

those because vladimir putin needs us to. >> how effective do you think that call was between presidents biden and xi? what did president biden want to get out of that call, and did he get it? >> president biden is, along with all of his senior team, so this is kind of happening at every level, the president, the secretary of state, the minister of defense from china, with secretary austin, the national security adviser, last week, jake sullivan, was in rome talking with one of his rough counterparts, all of them at this point are quietly saying to china, hey, get on the right side of history here. and doing it in a way that's not confrontational. it's trying to be conversational, trying to be cooperative, keeping it outside of the glare of publicity. that's what the administration wants, is for china to not

violate sanctions, not provide military assistance, god forbid, to the russians, which serious reporting suggests they've asked for. how effective it's going to be, alex, time will tell. watch what beijing does. there are mixed messages coming out of beijing right now, some messages of support generally for russia, but in other places you see the chinese talking about the importance of national sovereignty and also of the need for negotiation and also of the requirement for humanitarian assistance, which china has given to ukraine. so there are mixed messages. we'll know more in the weeks ahead. i think the administration is doing the right thing, keeping it below the radar, keeping it conversational. there may come a time when they need to sharpen and harden that message. but for now, let's try and do quiet diplomacy. >> okay.

admiral james stavridis, thank you, my friend, appreciate your insights. i might think russia has exhausted all its weapons but there is one they haven't used in a significant way. i'll ask a member of congress who might have an answer for us, next. who might have an answer for us, next ♪ your dell technologies advisor can help you find the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers. and it's easy to get a quote at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need. isn't that right limu? limu? sorry, one sec. doug blows a whistle. [a vulture squawks.] oh boy. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪ welcome to ameriprise. i'm sam morrison, my brother max recommended you. so my best friend sophie says you've been a huge help. at ameriprise financial, more than 9 out of 10 of our clients are likely to recommend us. our neighbors the garcia's, love working with you. because the advice we give is personalized. hey john reese, jr. how's your father doing?

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we're back with this breaking news. president biden preparing to head to brussels later this week to meet with other western leaders for a nato summit. earlier today, u.s. ambassador to the u.n. linda thomas-greenfield discussed what's expected to be on the agenda around the war in ukraine. >> certainly the purpose of the meeting is to consult further with our partners and our allies on additional actions that we will take to address this aggression, this brutality that the russians are carrying out in ukraine, and to see what other measures we might take to increase the pressure. but it's also to coordinate our

support for our allies, and particularly those that are along the border with ukraine. >> and joining me now is new jersey congressman tom malinowsky, democratic member of the house foreign affairs, transportation, infrastructure, and homeland security committees. welcome back to the broadcast, it's good to see you. let's get into this, president biden heads to brussels this week to meet with nato leaders, what is the goal of this trip in your eyes and what do you want to see come out of it? >> it's all about unity. nato is more united today i think than it has ever been in a national security crisis. that's been essential to our success. nato will be tested, we'll all be tested in the coming weeks. i think job one here is making sure that all of our allies are prepared for anything that putin might do including testing article v, the nato defense commitment, including use of unconventional warfare that might be designed to terrify us

into making concessions to him. that's number one. number two, continuing the effort that is already under way to deliver weapons to the ukrainians from particularly our eastern european allies that have air defense systems like the s-300 and other systems that the ukrainians can use right away effectively to beat back the russians. and then i think number three is talking about energy independence, about helping the european countries break free of their dependence on russian gas and oil because that's the last thing that's keeping the russian economy going, under the sanctions. >> let's talk about white house press secretary jen psaki who tweeted today that there are no plans for the president to travel into ukraine during his trip. on the face of it, you would think, perhaps, if the u.s. is not sending troops into ukraine, why would we put the president

in that situation? so do you agree with this decision? is this the right move, keeping the president out of ukraine? >> i used to -- i worked at the white house, i traveled the world with the president, i know the multiple layers of security that go with that. and so, you know, i would not want to be the secret service officer planning that trip. that said, this is a war of symbols and gestures as much as it is a war of steel. and one way or another, i would be advising the president to think about symbols and gestures that demonstrate our commitment and our support and our strength. so i won't go beyond that, because i do not want to be providing security advice to the president of the united states. >> i can imagine. >> that's the tradeoff. >> given the end of your statement, if the president were to go, could that also be viewed

as a provocative move? >> you know, i think we're making a little bit too much of the provocation arguments. and i say that as somebody who does not support any direct military involvement by the united states in this conflict. i think a no-fly zone would be a bad idea for ukraine as well as for us, for example. but i wouldn't go too far in the direction of allowing putin to make our decisions for us. >> okay. so one more question on this vein. if you could guarantee the security, if you weren't the guy in the secret service planning the president's trip, would you want to see him go to ukraine? >> i would want to see the president standing with ukraine in every way possible, let me just put it that way. >> so would you like to see him go to ukraine?

>> yes, of course, but you're asking me to not take into account the president's security, which in the real world you have to take into account. but beyond that, yes. >> the symbolism. >> you know, i'm more focused on the practical support. this is a war and i want those brave ukrainian soldiers and civilians not just to survive but to triumph. but we're also trying to rally the american people and the people of the world in defense of freedom and symbols do matter. so -- but i can't set aside the security issue in advising joe biden what to do. >> understandably. let's talk about reuters' reports, which is that turkey's foreign minister says that russia and ukraine are nearing an agreement on critical issues. he's hopeful for a cease-fire. on the diplomatic side of this, we've also seen countries like france and germany making

frequent calls with vladimir putin. do you think it would help or hurt to add the u.s. to these diplomatic efforts? direct diplomatic efforts, i should say, direct. >> yeah, i don't -- look, i think we've got to have a cease-fire. we need to see the russians stop shelling these ukrainian cities and stop killing ukrainian civilians. president biden had multiple conversations with putin before the war. we told putin exactly what we would do if he made this mistake. we're now doing it. i think -- i know the administration is in touch with third countries that have been talking to the russians. i don't think there's much to be gained by having some sort of putin/biden summit without any realistic expectation, without any sense from the russians that they are prepared to stop this daily bombardment. if we get to that point, then yeah, of course i would support any diplomatic effort that would lead to the result that we want.

but right now we've got to focus on beating them in the field so that they feel like they've got an incentive to have that kind of conversation. >> and to that extent, congress has pushed, the president has signed, a lot of military funding for ukraine. is there any sense among your colleagues that there's room for more diplomatic considerations from the u.s. side, that all this military aid somewhat overshadows even modest discussions of diplomacy? >> talking about diplomacy, we need to support the ukrainians here. we can all have our own opinions about how this war might end, how this war should end. they are the ones doing the fighting, they are the ones doing the dyeing. we should not be telling them what to do in any negotiations with russia. we should support whatever they end up doing. and so, you know, that should be our message right now. if the ukrainians ask for our help in negotiations, we should provide it.

but they've got to be in the lead. where we need to make a decision ultimately, and this would be a good problem to have, is what to do with the sanctions that we have imposed. you know, do we -- if there is some sort of cease-fire or diplomatic agreement, do we lift some of the sanctions? do we continue to put sanctions in place, to leave the sanctions in place until there's some accountability for what putin has done, until russia, for example, contributes to the reconstruction of ukraine? those are going to be the decisions we have to make. only the ukrainians can design how this ends, because they are the ones on the front lines. >> another variable in whether or not sanctions get reduced to any degree, or removed, amid this war, what is your assessment of threats to the u.s. homeland? there's new article you may have seen in vox, and it asks, is russia holding back from cyber

war? russia's military losses may have impacted its cyber tactics. since the invasion started, sir, we've heard warnings of retaliatory cyberattacks against the west. is this still a threat or have russia's cyber capabilities been impacted or overestimated? >> i think it's still a threat. it's interesting that it hasn't happened. i would say that one of the really important things that the biden administration did here was to warn the american people, american industry and people all around the world, that this invasion was likely to happen. we used that time to strengthen our cyber defenses. the russians understand very well that we also have very strong cyber offense. so that if they were to hit us, if they were to hit a critical utility or a pipeline or something important in the united states, we could and i believe would do exactly the same thing to them. so i'm only speculating here,

but perhaps putin has decided he doesn't want to absorb that pain on top of all the other pain we're conflicting on his economy. >> new jersey congressman malinowsky, thank you so much. . we'll be right back. > . we'll be right back. ♪♪ three times the electorlytes and half the sugar. ♪♪ pedialyte powder packs. feel better fast.

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ba.2 covid variant starts spreading across the u.s. fauci was asked if an increase in cases could lead to more restrictions. >> george, not right now. i don't see us going back into any more very strict kinds of restrictions but you always have to have the flexibility. >> fauci also says that the new variant does not appear to be any more severe or evade immune responses from vaccinations. new figures from the united nations today tell quite a dramatic story. more than 3.3 refugees have fled -- 3.3 million refugees have fled the war in ukraine. nbc's kelly cobiella is joining us from warsaw, poland. kelly, there is word that poland is reaching or is close to a breaking point. what are you hearing there? >> reporter: that's right, actually, we're hearing about cities in the czech republic now

becoming quite overwhelmed with the number of refugees they receive, prague struggling to house the huge numbers of refugees from ukraine. the interior minister in the czech republic saying they're going to have to move some of these people to smaller cities or other villages because they just don't have the infrastructure. and that's also happening in other cities. we've seen that berlin has taken in a huge number of refugees. also stockholm. here in warsaw, we've been talking about this over the past week or so, this city of just under 2 million has taken in just under 300,000 ukrainian refugees. the warsaw mayor, we spent time with him on friday, said it's putting a strain on public services. he said the city is more than willing to take in as many as they can but it does put a strain. and he's also worried about what could potentially happen if russia strikes the western part of ukraine. take a listen. >> for now, western ukraine is a

safe haven for quite a lot of displaced persons. if they all cross the border, we're going to have 7, 8, 10 million refugees in europe. and of course most of them will end up here. that's why we need a relocation system. we cannot improvise, we cannot simply rely on pledges that we're going to take a thousand or someone else is going to take 2,000. we need a system. we need united nations and european emergency agencies who are very qualified to do that, in place. >> reporter: the warsaw mayor has been calling for spot. relocation program, international relocation program for more than a week. but countries in europe are still sort of responding to this in an ad hoc way, with refugees welcome in other european countries, alex, but no coordination across the eu or into other countries like the u.s., like canada, australia, and so on, to figure out a way

to relocate people temporarily until we see what the endpoint is in this war. many of these people, if not most of these people i've spoken to, want to go back to ukraine. it's not a case of wanting to resettle long term in europe. >> it is stunning, though, these numbers, less than a month, 3.3 million refugees, absolutely stunning. thank you, kelly, for that report. after one month of war and escalating russian attacks on civilians, president biden prepares to meet with nato leaders later this week. but with the no-fly zone off the table, what does the president hope to accomplish, to send a message to russia and maybe even to china? way! shop the biggest selection of outdoor furniture and furnish your habitat from your habitat. get a new grill and cook over an open flame. now that's outdoorsy! go wild on garden decor, find shelter from the elements and from predators or just be one with nature.

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breaking news, as any moment now the president returns to the white house to prepare for his trip to brussels next week. joining me now is peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and msnbc political analyst. welcome on a sunday, peter, glad to have you. as we look at where this war is right now, logistically, geographically, it is perilously close to nato's eastern flank. this year russia attacked facilities close to the poland border. what can these nato talks do to avoid world war iii and how do

you expect biden to approach the meetings? >> as congressman malinowsky told you earlier, to show unity, to show that putin has failed to drive a wedge between the united states and its european allies. but secondly, to plan out for the scenarios you're talking about, what will they do if this happens or that happens, if there is an encroachment on nato territory, what would be the response? you don't want to be talking about it in the moment when it actually happens, you want to be prepared in advance to know what your options are, what your plans are, what kind of response or retaliation you'll do, because you don't want to find yourself in an all-out shooting war with a nuclear-powered russia. >> so with regard to this hour, ukrainian president zelenskyy speaking to israeli elected leaders, the latest of course in a series of parliamentary addresses, prime minister neftali bennett is playing

something of a unique role in the negotiations between ukraine and russia. is israel a useful mediator, peter, are other countries equal to or even better aligned to find a diplomatic solution to this war? >> israel is in an interesting position here because first of all, of course, it's tried to maintain a balance in friendships between the united states and russia. the more america has pulled back from the middle east, the more russia has shown up there again, and therefore as an important interlocutor for israel in terms of its own security. plus of course remember a significant portion of the israeli population is russian-born or russian-speaking, because of the people who came at the end of the cold war and collapse of the soviet union. keep in mind of course president zelenskyy of ukraine is of course the first jewish president of ukraine which creates an emotional resonance among a lot of israelis. so they're watching this speech, not only in the knesset, the

israeli parliament, but they're showing it on a big screen outside on the plaza, it has emotional resonance there. neftali bennett, i don't know that he'll be able to bring these two parties together. so far nothing seems to be getting through to vladimir putin at this point, who doesn't seal to be interested in any kind of resolution or negotiated settlement that would make any kind of sense. he's trying, but like the french president and the german chancellor, i don't think he's getting very far. >> we had president biden calling vladimir putin a war criminal this week, comments that secretary of state antony blinken later backed up. take a listen to what he said. >> reporter: a war criminal, sir? >> oh, i think he is a war criminal. >> president biden said that in his opinion, war crimes have been committed in ukraine. personally, i agree. intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime. >> okay. so this was not a prepared

statement, this was an off-the-cuff answer that president biden gave to a reporter. that said, what do you make of this, is it worrisome, could putin react to that? >> clearly it personalizes it a little bit. it clearly makes it even more directed at putin individually. remember, they've already sanctioned him, so it has been personalized to some extent already but this obviously raises the stakes a little bit. it may complicate efforts to wind this down in some way, to resolve this, if you're the russians and believe that your president is going to be targeted for war crimes, kind of accountable that could have some sort of impact. remember, it's not likely there's going to be an international tribunal that could put the russian president on trial. they're going to ignore anything like that, they're not going to participate in anything like that, there's no way the outside world could force that upon him. but it does sort of remind us the stakes that are involved here and who is responsible,

because this is vladimir putin's war. if you talk to senior american officials, one of the things that's striking is how much they think this is him personally, not necessarily even the people around him, that there are people around him who don't agree with this, who don't think this is a good idea but don't feel the ability to even talk to president putin at this point. his regime is so, you know, repressive at this point that his own advisers are wary of crossing him in some way. that puts it all on putin. >> okay. peter baker, we'll put it all on you again next sunday when we see each other. thank you so much. brand-new poll numbers are showing us something we haven't seen in recent memory here in the u.s., and the dramatic shift may surprise you. that's next. at's next. with liberty mutual, so we only pay for what we need. -hey tex, -wooo. can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ you're pretty particular about keeping a healthy body.

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hello cashback! hello, kevin hart! earn big time with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. when you're driving a lincoln, stress seems to evaporate into thin air. which leaves us to wonder, where does it go? does it shoot off like a rocket? or float off into the clouds? daddy! or maybe it takes on a life all its own. perhaps you'll come up with your own theory of where the stress goes. behind the wheel of a lincoln is a mighty fine place to start. new polling this week shows something we haven't seen in the u.s. in a long time. bipartisan agreement on a political issue.

pew research suggests when it comes to the u.s. respond on the war in ukraine americans are more united than any other issue in recent memory. 85% of americans want to keep swift sanctions on russia and 77% support keeping military in countries nearby. and joining me, susan del percio, a republican strategist and msnbc political analyst and david jolly, former congressman from florida and msnbc tributer. sunday family good to see you. saw the numbers. in one way or another breaks into america's collective awareness. i pose the same question to each of you. what are you hearing from friends and family with respect to what's happening in ukraine and america's response to this invasion? is there conventional wisdom out there on what this government is or isn't doing? david what are you hearing?

>> look, i think there's a unanimous feeling in the united states seeing the horrific images of vladimir putin particularly targeting women and children, also marching into a country without any pretense, that this is a war and an invasion. i'm not surprised by the numbers. i think a couple questions for the american people are -- are we okay if ukraine falls under this policy? right? if trying to cripple the russian economy is our strategy, trying to create political unrest in russia is or strategy, are we willing to accept the result if that does not work? and then secondly, with all of this support, i think it would be an opportunity for joe biden and hopefully some republicans to say, what's our foreign policy for the next ten years? to ensure biden gets no further than ukraine. we shore up the eastern front of nato and in the interests of the west. with those poll numbers, now's the time to enabout the a foreign policy for the next

decade, not just response to the current crisis. >> you meant to say putin gets no further than ukraine, of course. and same question. thoughts on that, and susan you after. >> 1,000% agree with everything the former congressman says. i think he wants to look forward and absolutely right thinking what we should do to craft our foreign policy. making sure putin gets no further but make sure another deficit autocrat isn't able to do the same thing. my greater concern -- excuse me, as great concern, also urge us to look backwards. over the last ten years. see how we were responsible at all politically as a political state for empowering vladimir putin. obviously i'm a partisan democrat. i think that responsibility lies squarely in empowered donald trump and his minions but all of us need to consider what we allowed to happen over the last ten years allowing putin to really just build up strength and allow himself to create empire and expand empire across

eastern europe. very problematic. i do think i'm seeing all of americans are united. really positive thing with really outlying exceptions on the far right. i'm concerned we are not mining into the history and putting pieces how we got here. >> exactly. how we got here. susan, last word to you. >> sorry. going to be the skunk at the picnic. yes, the numbers are great. united in supporting ukraine. look furtherer into that survey and you see, do you approve of how president biden is handling the crisis in ukraine? 47%. which tells me that this country is still so divided. we are, you know, senate 50/50, this is how the country looks. we can get united behind, yes, we love democracy. we are standing with ukraine. all think they should have the weapon needed but not willing to go there with biden. i think the administration

should be careful to look a the those numbers carefully, because they should not confuse the two and think that president biden himself has a mandate. >> okay. debbie downer. kidding. good point. glad to have it. switching gears. talk about the confirmation hearing for judge brown jackson. how much of a risk for republicans to make this a messy fight? >> well, comes down to individual senators, alex. most senators look in the mirror and see a president. i think what you'll see from a number of republican senators on the judiciary. holly, cruz, cotton and others believe they will one day run for president will seize on this moment to attack the nominee. in a very hyper partisan way. it will be unfair but the chair of the committee, dick durbin, i

think his approach will be run out the clock on republicans. they have the votes among democrats. frankly, over half republican senators currently serving have already voted to confirm the judge to the federal bench before. i think you'll pick up some republican votes in this nomination. perhaps you wouldn't have in the past, but it won't be without the thee attics of the outliers within the republican caucus. >> the confirmation hearing will be historic. >> yeah. i'm praying for the victorious kbj. qualified for highest court in country. the question, how hard will the confirmation process be? how difficult will vitriolic republicans make this continuing to show this country is not

entirely hospitable to women and black women ascending to equal spaces in this country. >> hmm. >> i'm concerned not so much for senator holly and cruz's political prospects going forward but hope they find it in their hearts and minds thinking how they will be recorded in history decades from now and temper and not be remembered in the way we remember orville or lester maddox or, you know, the previous segregationist republican governors, and democrat governors of the past, because that is how they will potentially look to generations to come if they don't get this right. >> susan, quickly. the expectations from voters? kind of feel it's like no one in america has an appetite now for a nasty, drown-out process? >> they do not have the appetite, alex. what's important to remember, yes, hearings are historic. people will watch. but the moment that will shine

it comes in june or july when judge jackson will be confirmed as a supreme court justice once justice breyer leaves. there is a second bite to this apple. normally you see confirmation hearings into confirmations swearing in to the position. in this case, there will be another wave of excitement, beginning of the summer. >> susan, don, david good to see you all. thank you so much. new develop to tell you about top of the hour from ukraine. plus a new report claims the war reach add bloody stalemate. what one former kgb agent says about a cornered putin should worry all of us. >> an autocrat put in a corner without much of a way out, possibly shoot his way out, and god help us all.

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