that fly in untouched and reconstruction, providing money to rebuild. you can see the end of the war and ukraine exiting as a sovereign independent state, and really we haven't had a huge conversation about how the u.s. is going to lead, and how the eu is going to lead an effort to rebuild ukraine to be a modern 21st century city, powerful, and really incapable of being further attacked by russia in the future. >> colonel vindman, thank you, i know your own family's refugee experience, which informs all of what you're saying today. that does it for this special saturday edition of andrea mitchell reports. alex witt continues our coverage right now. alex. t now. alex our thanks to andrea mitchell as we bid all of you a

very good day from msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome everyone to "alex witt reports," 6:00 p.m. in kyiv, and notably 5:00 p.m. in poland, that is what you're seeing right now. president biden getting ready to deliver what is being described as a major speech in warsaw. but as the president met today with officials from poland, and ukraine, and with ukrainian refugees, who have escaped, just 200 miles away in lviv. nbc news correspondents were on the air when air-raid sirens and explosions rang out. >> you see some smoke in the distance, and that appears to be coming from the site where just a few minutes ago we heard at least one explosion here in lviv. we don't have confirmation on exactly what was hit. we're trying to find that out right now. >> ukrainian officials say biden reassured them that the u.s. will stand by them until victory.

reassurance biden also extended to poland. >> we take article 5 as a sacred commitment, not a throw away, a sacred commitment that relates to every member of nato. >> now, the explosions in lviv came hours after russian military officials claimed they would shift priorities in ukraine to focus on the donbas region. today ukrainian officials report ongoing air strikes on military and civilian targets in donbas. they say while there was agreement to open ten humanitarian corridors for evacuees, more than 100,000 people remain trapped in the southern port city of mariupol. russian military officials meanwhile released video showing what they claim were cruise missiles launched from the sea. they say it struck a warehouse where ukrainian ammunition and weapons were being kept as well as a fuel base. nbc news is not able to verify when or where this video was actually recorded. we've had this breaking news in

the last few minutes, watching these attacks there, as we go right now to jacob soboroff. you're on the move, just outside of lviv, the city center. tell me what you're seeing. i know there were the attacks, lots of smoke, what's been the target? >> reporter: it's a fuel depot, alex, at least what it appears to be. you can see down below the mayor of the city of lviv says five people have been injured. it looks as though firefighters are spraying water on those fuel depots, as i'm speaking to you right now. again, this is a precision strike, coming at a time when russia has said just over the course of the last 24 hours, they're going to move their focus to the eastern part of this country, and a very specific and targeted military operation. that is obviously not true. we are in the far west of the country, we are relatively speaking, not far from where the

president of the united states across the border in poland is today meeting with refugees about to make a major address to the world, to our country and to the world about nato, about the future of democracy versus authoritarianism, and right as he's about to do that, hours before what appears to be a russian air strike on a field depot, inside what had been a relatively safe city to this point, happened as we were talking to you on the air. this is a city where hundreds of thousands of refugees, transited on their way to the countries of the nato eastern bloc, the eastern flank, i should say, and now here in lviv, a city that has been a sense of security, a sense of safety, a place of relative peace, although there has been targeted strikes outside of this city center, on military installation, on an airport maintenance facility, on several facilities that were used by the ukrainians in

between here and the polish border, this is the closest the most direct strike on lviv, the city itself, and a local military official here in this region has said three explosions could be russian rockets, we don't know yet. what we're looking at is clearly a fuel depot, ablaze and firefighters battling those flames as i'm speaking to you live on msnbc. >> jacob, the timing of this cannot be lost on you and those assessing what is happening here as well as our viewers, if you think about it, the eyes of the world have been focused on brussels over the last couple of days with the president there at the nato headquarters, having these talks and a show of unity. today they have been focused on warsaw, president biden meeting with not only president duda of poland, but also meeting with

refugees. it would stand to reason that putin wants to be part of the conversation and by doing this, if this was indeed a targeted attack on a military installation a fuel depot, something that would supply ukrainian war efforts, that this is the time to do it. we are approximately an hour away of when president biden will be talking at that castle. is that the kind of thing you can surmise from your coverage looking at the strategies of putin that indeed, this may have been a timing target? >> our colleague richard engel reported there have been similar strikes on the outskirts of kyiv. a fuel depot was struck as i recall in the last couple of days by the russians, and this appears to be, although unconfirmed, a similar type of attack, not at the capital, not where there has been active warfare, at least not in this city center or adjacent to the city center. the closest attack to the city was that military, excuse me,

was that airport maintenance facility four miles outside of the city center. we're not far from the city center of lviv. it didn't take us long to get here, and that appears to be exactly what we are witnessing in realtime, alex. vladimir putin and the russians if indeed this is a confirmed air strike by the russians, attacking a city of relative peace, a city of transit and refuge, for internally displaced people, the millions of internally displaced people whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the brutality and ruthlessness of the russian invasion in this country. at the moment, almost minutes before the president of the united states of america is to address the people of the world about authoritarianism, about democracy, and about, frankly, the future of the united states

involvement in this ongoing war in ukraine, this ongoing invasion of this country by the russians, and if you want to know what it looks like in realtime, you're looking at it right now. >> real quick, jacob, you said it didn't take you long to get there from the center of lviv. i saw you reporting from there, not one hour or so ago before this attack. are we going in the direction of the polish border from lviv with this attack. is this heading west, and if so, how close to the border do you think you are? >> reporter: to be honest with you, alex, things are still sort of discombobulated at the moment. on our drive here, i couldn't tell you. guys, in terms of city center what direction have we aheaded. >> this is northeast. >> about 2 kilometers from the city center in a northeasterly direction. we're not to west, but alex, it's almost -- it almost doesn't matter. this is so close to the heart of where that train station is, where the refugees have been gathering.

where not only the humanitarian organizations from all around the world have gathered but obviously people from around the world who are covering this ongoing war. and sol it is -- this city, lviv, of 700,000 people, 300,000, internally displaced people, millions of people transitting to flee this war has become the centers of it. >> excellent reporting. i'm glad you're wearing the helmet for safety's sake, and you can be forgiven for not pulling out your google maps for exactly where you were. let's go to gabe gutierrez who's also in lviv, where the residents are scrambling into the bomb shelters after multiple strikes hit near the city center. gabe, welcome, i believe that jacob said there were three explosions. whether that was determined by three missiles or whether it could have been explosion, one leads to the next, given the volatility of a fuel tanker, we

don't know yet, but can you pinpoint about how far this is from the central part of lviv, how far this explosion is? >> alex, it's just a few miles. as you mentioned, as jacob was discussing, northeast of the city center, and i want to give you some perspective as to where i am. i'm closer to the city center. if we zoom in, you see really how close this is, and how much you can still see this ominous black smoke rising in the distance. alex, according to a local official in lviv. there were actually two missile strikes, and at least five people have been injured. again, that's according to a local official, the head of the lviv regional state administration. they say that at least five people have been injured after two missile strikes in lviv. so you're seeing those live pictures with that ominous black smoke still rising above the

city center, and as we just heard from jacob who's right there next to the scene, he's reporting that it is a fuel depot, and yes, alex, this has been, from my count, the third missile strike in and around lviv since the war began. the first one through a military installation, another through ammunition or fuel depot, and just a few days ago, there was an attack on an aircraft repair facility near the airport. this would be the third attack in lviv, and alex, as jacob pointed out, this is a city that has been seen as the safe haven of this war. thousands of refugees even today still streamed through this city on their way to poland. it is just 40 miles or so from the polish border. 40 miles or so from nato territory. and as you see those live

pictures right from the scene, what appears to be a fuel depot, the fuel still burning, we're hearing from a local official in lviv that at least five people have been injured. again, we have no confirmation on any fatalities potentially at this point, but we're seeing this black smoke rising, not far from the city center in lviv. this strike happened just northeast of the city center, and right now, the local officials say that there is still a threat, that potentially another missile strike. we have not been given the all clear here in the city center, but we have seen residents going into bomb shelters over the last several hours since this strike happened. our team here on the ground heard multiple loud booms in the distance, and then we came out and we saw this black smoke rising. but again, the breaking news according to a local official, two missile strikes, five people injured, alex. >> so gabe, the ukrainian people, particularly those in lviv, they have shown tremendous courage in their ability to just

try to continue every day normal life to the best of their ability. this has got to rattle some nerves. did you notice any hiccup in activity, people either stopping and looking and to your point, you know, running into a bomb shelter or do you see as i look at cars behind you, gabe, does it feel like they're going to carry on as normal for as long as they can? >> reporter: they do. and this is a city that has air-raid sirens multiple times a day now, sometimes at night. sometimes in broad daylight, and this was a morning, a saturday morning that just like any other, except there is of course a war going on in this country, but there were people in coffee shops. we saw heavy traffic. we saw people walking around. since the explosions happened, yes, we did see people heading into bomb shelters, but they, you know, weren't, you know, running for their lives or anything like this.

this has become a way of life, they calmly went about their business, although, there was less foot traffic after these explosions that we've seen. you can see cars behind me in my life shot, but for the most part, traffic is much lighter than it was just a few hours ago. the weather also a concern. it went from being a very pleasant saturday morning with very sunny day, now it is dark. it is overcast, there is rain coming in. and of course you see this ominous site of black smoke rising from the city center. >> quite profound. we're going to continue following that. thank you so much for your live from lviv. as we move, everyone to josh lederman, joining us from warsaw. josh, welcome to you. let's talk about the busy day for the president so far. what have we heard from him today, and what do we expect ahead of this big speech that is scheduled 45 minutes or so from now if he's running on time. >> reporter: well, alex, to pick

up with what jacob soboroff was talking about, the russian military leader saying they were refocusing on the east of the country, suggesting they might be changing their strategy as they failed to have a lot of military victories in major cities, and closer to the west. president biden today as he was speaking to reporters here in poland said he's not so sure that's the case. and then it was literally just a few minutes after president biden said that that we saw these strikes in lviv, the western most part of ukraine, seeming to underscore what president biden was alluding to. the russians seem intent on wreaking havoc across ukraine. if you can hear the clamoring behind me, it's because they're taking down right now some of the security barriers that they had up outside the presidential palace, which is literally about a block from where i'm standing right now where president biden met with polish president duda

today, and affirmed that not only does the u.s. stand with its nato ally poland, but president biden said your freedom is our freedom, and i think the way to think about his trip, both to brussels where he focused on security but also here to poland, is that president biden has been trying to answer the question of why should people around the world care about this conflict, especially as it drags on now into the second month, and a big part of that is the humanitarian crisis, president biden has been working to put a human face on as he held up a refugee girl from ukraine here in poland today, and met with a mother, a ukrainian woman who had fled the country and told president biden this, just a bit ago. watch. >> i'm here with my daughter. my husband and my son are in service. over there.

>> that's frightening. >> and we're just afraid he's going to keep moving. he's going to keep moving. we ukrainian mothers are ready to strangle him with our bare hands to be honest. >> reporter: and so that is the emotional atmosphere here right now as president biden himself just a few minutes ago called president putin of russia a butcher, alex, and he is expected, when he speaks in about an hour from now at a castle down the street from here, to really lay out for americans in broad terms why this matters, why this is a fight between authoritarianism and democracy that the u.s. and its allies are hoping to be on the right side of. president biden hoping to drive home for people that this is a conflict that matters beyond just ukraine and its neighbors, that really this is about how countries want to conduct themselves in the 21st century. alex. >> josh lederman in warsaw,

thank you so much for that. joining me now, msnbc political contributor, ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser, under president obama. and former u.s. mc chief of staff to europe, and we hope to get shannon pettypiece, digital reporter to join the conversation. ben, i'm going to start with you, what do you think the most important message is for the president to get across in his address today? >> well, i do think that this has been such an overwhelming month of news and images for americans back home in terms of digesting something that we have not seen on the european continent since world war ii. and i do think that he needs to kind of step back, and explain what is taking place, why it matters to us, what we're doing, but also where this is going. we've had sanctions imposed, troops deployed to the eastern flank, pouring weapons into ukraine, and i think what the world is looking for is what story president biden can tell

about why democracy must prevail over authoritarianism. what we and our allies are going to do to help ukrainians on the front line of the flight. and also preparing people for how difficult this is, and this is not something that we're going to solve in a week or a month. as someone who has had to write presidential speeches about tough issues, nothing on the scale of this war. he has to explain to people, this isn't going away in a week or two weeks or three weeks, millions of refugees is going to be an issue for many years. the consequences of this war are going to be felt around the world for a very long time, and i think you want a speech like this to kind of reset americans' expectations for just how long and how invested we're going to be in this conflict. >> yeah, you know, ben, just before asking another question, i'm curious about the logistics of writing a speech like this which of course you've had a lot of experience with, is this the kind of thing given the attack we're seeing in the last 90

minutes so or does this get incorporated into his speed or does it stay more broad based, in other words, folks like you, are they scrambling on their computer to get things perfected before giving president biden a final draft? >> alex, you have no idea how many times i had to literally finish a speech on a foreign trip like this on a laptop in my lap in a motorcade to the speech venue or inserting language into the teleprompter before the president speaks. however, this speech and everything the administration has been saying, you know, this is their chance to not just give a news of the day comment. he's been talking about the news in stride throughout this trip in press conferences. you want to use a speech like this to step back, and explain to people how did we get here, what is happening, where is this going, and why should you care about it. so while i'm sure they may need to adjust to the things that happened today from the attack, from the russians, which very well may have been intended to send a signal and get into the

global consumption of president biden's speech, i think you also want to make sure that your core message isn't altered by something that happened during the day because that's the whole point here. >> absolutely. >> we have a strategy we're going to carry out no matter what happens. >> one more question, i know i have to let you go, nato has made clear ukraine is going to decide for itself what it is willing to agree to in negotiations to try to get this conflict over and done with. should, though, nato be more involved in trying to mediate? could nato have influence in any sort of a deal between russia and ukraine? >> well, first of all, i think the basic principle that the ukrainians decide what they're willing to accept and not accept has to be the principle that everybody abides by. i think and the reality is nato is inevitably involved in these negotiations. one of the things that's clearly on the table is a statement from the ukrainians that they are not going to intend to join nato, they're going to be neutral in their status. you have nato members who are

very involved in the negotiations, turkey is playing an important role. france is in frequent contact with president putin. inevitably, discussions between the american government, nato countries, and those parties helping to mediate, never mind the ukrainians themselves who are in close contact with americans. i don't know that you want to bring nato to the table. this is a ukrainian matter in terms of sitting at the negotiating table but the overall focus of nato should be whatever we can do to help the ukrainians in this fight, and whatever the ukrainians need from nato in terms of that negotiation. >> got you. ben, good to have you on the show. i think you're going to join us after the president's speech coming up in the next hour. i will see you then. meantime, colonel to you now, the explosions near lviv, they are most significant. i was asking about the timing of the attack, given your vast experience, was this something of a message from putin to counter the show of unity that's

in brussels and warsaw. >> i think you're spot on. i think this is absolutely a message from the russians to the ukrainians and nato and the rest of europe and the world that they can still range and fire missiles or artillery, in this case, it was missiles, when they want to, and that the presence of the president of the united states does not hinder them in any way, shape or form when it comes to their showing a degree of their strength. >> absolutely. i had mentioned shannon pettypiece, nbc news digital white house reporter. we did get shannon to join us. shannon, the next question for you, as the president is preparing to wrap up his trip to europe. he has this major address coming up, how does the success of a speech like this get measured? >> well, the white house is certainly hoping that this is a message that's going to not go to a domestic audience but an

international audience. you can see behind me, there's quite a crowd gathered in warsaw behind me to listen to this speech, to see the president. there's a lot of support in this country for the president right now. so a lot of people enthusiastic about this trip. so a domestic audience as well as an international audience, and what the whole goal of this trip the white house has said is to build unity, and of course it feels like there's unity right now, but sustained unity and to rally support for what they think is going to be a long haul conflict that is going to need support not just for a few weeks or a few months but for potentially six months, a year, and that they feel that that type of support and unity is going to be difficult to sustain. that's what they're looking to get out of this trip and of course the speech today. >> how critical was this week's show of unity within nato. it included that announcement to send more battle groups to eastern europe.

is this the kind of thing that could deter putin, from taking the fight beyond ukraine, would he dare cross that line? >> first of all, i think this absolutely, this entire situation has accomplished, and i have to give putin credit for this. he has accomplished what presidents prime ministers, all the leadership of europe has failed to accomplish since the fall of the soviet union. that is he is reinvigorated nato. he has given the rationale, the reason for nato to come together again after really kind of falling apart over the last 25 plus years. so do i think that, first of all i think this is a new world for putin because i think he thought nato was going to continue down this path of disagreement, and it's been exactly the opposite. so i think the russians are having to completely recalibrate

their estimation of where their opportunities lie or no longer lie. so putin would be well served. his advisers would be well served if he's listening, don't take nato on. nato is strong. >> a smile actually crossed my face when you said you're giving vladimir putin the credit for this. you're indeed 100% right that indeed he has been the person to unify nato, the likes which we have not seen since world war ii. that said, you know it was certainly not his objective to do that. it was the antithesis of what he hoped to have happen. there's a lot of irony in that. the meeting with refugees earlier, what did you make of these interactions and how impactful they could be towards the u.s. humanitarian response going forward? >> reporter: the president certainly said that seeing this

firsthand makes this whole crisis so much more tangible, and certainly being on the ground myself seeing it firsthand, it does make it feel much more tangible. it's one of these moments where the president doesn't get to get out of the white house much. they don't get to interact with actual people very much. it's one of the rare moments he's able to get outside of the white house, the bubble, and have that face-to-face interaction. i mean, you heard he had very strong words about putin, saying he's a butcher after meeting with these people and hearing some of the story, you know, a woman talking about how her two little kids have been holed up in a basement, another woman talking about her experience in mariupol, and how the city has just been flattened and of course the president mentioned a number of children he had talked to who said, you know, pray for my father or my grandfather or the people who are left behind and i do think this also adds

significance to the speech today and having to be in warsaw, which is a city that is really experiencing this crisis firsthand, in realtime. the president's motorcade went right past a train station where refugees continue to pour into the country, who were lined up and receiving food as the president was driving by. there are flags showing support for ukraine and the refugees throughout this city, and of course a very strong sense here in poland as well that they could be next. you know, that a city like kyiv wasn't that different from a city like warsaw two months ago, so there's that sense as well. i think having this speech here, given the refugee crisis this country is having and having a border with ukraine, i think is going to add a lot of significance from what we heard from the president today as well. >> agree with you on that. colonel one more question to you

sir with regard to the president having vowed that nato will respond if russia were to use chemical weapons in ukraine, what more, sir, can the u.s. and nato do to make vladimir putin understand the extreme cost of using such a weapon which could end up with his own likely destruction? >> i think the president and the other leaders of nato, and i think it's important that the other leaders also be speaking about this. just consistently reemphasize the position nato has taken. we're not going to tolerate, and that has -- and then follow that up with a demonstrated reinforcement, additional reinforcements on to those eastern borders of poland, and into the baltic state asks down -- and down into romania. we have to show resolve, and to a man like putin, resolve is something that he looks at the

munich reports in 1939, the russian experience with watching england and france basically bend over backwards with the efforts that hitler went on. you know, we have to convince him as best we can that we are deadly, deadly serious and that nato will stand united in defending all of europe and what's left of ukraine right now. >> retired colonel brendan kearny, and shannon pettypiece, i thank you both for your thoughts this first half hour. we're certainly coming back to you shortly. thank you again. we're following that breaking news out of lviv where two missile strikes a short time ago have injured at least fooich -- five people. we're going back to jacob sober as i look over your right

shoulder, we can very clearly from this distance away, jacob see the flames, has anything abated in terms of putting these fires out yet. >> reporter: no, on the contrary, alex, it's continued to grow, the fire because there are what appear to be multiple storage facilities containers of fuel, the governor of lviv reginald military has posted an update, over infrastructure facilities has not been confirmed. according to preliminary data, five people were injured, and then the threat of missile strike is there, stay in the shelters, don't walk down the street. just to be clear, generally what happens, when we've gotten these missile alerts over the past couple of weeks here, there is a siren that sounds, and then an

all clear sounds. we have not gotten the all clear at this point for very obvious reasons. this is an active, ongoing situation at the field depot, and the local government, local officials do not want people out. cars driving by. people are out in the streets, not to the level that we saw earlier today, but there is certainly movement here in lviv, not far from the city center. there has not been a strike that we have heard, explosion we have heard beyond the two that we heard directly after late this afternoon, that air-raid siren sounded, and shortly thereafter, we heard two booms, and that black smoke you are seeing rise over the hill here, and became very clearly visible from the city center of lviv. we're now closer, a couple kilometers closer, i would say 10, 15 minutes drive if that away from where we were reporting at the time. i was on the air with ali velshi

at the time the sirens sounded. we're 10, 15 miles away from the position we were at now, to be able to show you what's happening live as i speak to you here on msnbc. those fuel depots are ablaze. black smoke continues to rise over lviv, and i think it's fair to say that the war has come to the city of lviv. >> jacob, thank you so much. it is good for our viewers all of us to be able to see what is actually causing the black smoke as we have a split screen and you see those fires and the incredible thick smoke emanating from that, but clearly visible from downtown lviv. jacob, thank you so much for that perspective. we'll get back with you again. meantime, this breaking news this hour as the president overseas in poland is heading to the royal castle in that country, preparing to deliver that major speech. in the meantime, we're following all the latest news from around

ukraine. and where the southern city of mariupol has suffered some o. -- of the worst horrors. 300 people were killed in an air streak, in the war's single deadliest attack on civilians. joining me is a member of mariupol's city council. thank you for joining me in these difficult times. relative to the particular theater attack what more can you tell us about the people that were killed there. who was seeking shelter there, and i want to add that we're going to show some video. it was taken of people that were sheltering inside. it was posted on the mariupol telegram group. the city government cited eyewitnesss. they have called the death toll at about 300. it's not immediately clear how accurate that is. we don't know if emergency workers have finished searching through the rubble. can you update us on what you

know about this attack? >> hello, the most people who died was pregnant women. they was in the part of the theater which was totally destroyed, and a lot of people died in the other parts of the theater, but we don't know really the number of deaths in the theater, and we don't know the real count of dead of people in mariupol. because this is only drop of blood in the ocean of blood which putin's killers make in mariupol because today with

friends who get out from mariupol, and the stories are real terrible. the people go out to make some food from the basement. >> horrifying, and here you describe many killed in the theater attack as being pregnant women, perhaps those who had to seek a different form of shelter when the maternity hospital was bombed some two weeks ago, an atrocity. your city council says that russian air strikes, you describe it as having turned mariupol into the ashes of a dead land. you talk about people who leave a basement just to try to scrounge for food, and they take their life in their hands when doing so. what kinds of conditions are people facing there.

they have been tracked for days, weeks for some, without access to food, medicine, and crucial supplies. what is life in mariupol like right now? >> it's -- i don't have enough words to describe the situation. all the people who tell their stories from mariupol, it's so terrible that it's -- you can't believe it because some of the people now stay in the basement and they don't have water. so we have some people die because of dehydration, because they can't get water, because russian shellings are not stopping, and it's terrible because city council tries many times to get humanitarian convoy to mariupol to get help, to get medicine, now we have information that russian

terrorists take some of the people from the hospitals and take some workers of the hospitals and go away and don't understandable side. there are a lot of information but we can't check it, all of it, and the big problem when this war ends and when we count the death in mariupol, the number was -- it will be terrible. it will be terrible because we don't know even how much people in the buildings, how much people stay under the rubbles, and numbers to find. >> maxim, it is a terrifying story indeed, one that needs to be told.

i hope the world is listening to you and this horrific description of mariupol. our thoughts are with you, and stay safe wherever you are. >> yes, and i want to ask to all the journalists, foreign journalists, who are showing the separation from ukraine, not show online the sites of the explosions, and right after explosions because it helps russia to correct their air strikes, so please show them only after sometimes because people can die because of it. >> understandably so. maxim bourdin, thank you, stay safe. the president is getting ready to make the speech from the royal castle in warsaw, after the power explosions outside the city of lviv. we have a preview of the president's message next. we have a preview of the president's message next personality tests and social media quizzes. because the only way you're ever gonna know is by heading into the big, wild, raging

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back with this breaking news as we give you yet another look at the fuel depot just a short ways outside the city center of lviv. a place that had not been hit particularly hard, there had been one strike of course at an airport facility, but we are seeing this as a result of an air strike that involved two russian missiles, approximately two hours ago or so right now. that black smoke you see there emanating on the right side o the screen. that is all as a result of being

hit by two missiles. jacob soboroff, we'll stay on that story. in addition to talk about the president who is at this very moment on his way to the royal castle in warsaw, he'll be delivering what the administration says is a major address on the war in ukraine. he's expected to speak at the top of the hour. joining us now to discuss the expectations and political ramifications of the war, adrienne elrod, democratic strategist and former senior aide to the biden/harris campaign. welcome to you both. let's talk about this war and i'm going it ask you first, adrienne, about this, and the level to which this may be buoying the standing in the united states. he has seen a bit of a pop up in terms of popularity, and support for how he's gone about this war. there are many who would like

for him to go further. perhaps they're not taking into account the big picture were he to do so. nonetheless, how does this speech play into domestic politics back home? >> yeah, alex, first of all, president biden's numbers have gone up in polls because of the way he's handled this war, he's handled this war effectively, and strategically he's put politics aside, he's put democracy first, and he has really preached democracy over autocracy. he is uniting not just the world but to an extent, our country that needs as much uniting. i want to give props for that. also, alex, it's very important that president biden is giving the speech to warsaw, right next door to ukraine. he's getting as close as he can to where russia is putting their focus and their action because he wants to be as close to that as possible. so i think it's very important that he's giving the speech not from the oval office today but

from warsaw, and it's a speech not just targeted toward, you know, russia and the people of ukraine, but it's a speech targeted toward the world because america is seen as the number one democracy. it's incumbent on him, and he has been doing an excellent job as far as i'm concerned to continue to make the case for why america is doing what they're doing, and unifying democratic countries globally in terms of supporting ukraine. >> carlos, the profund schism between democrats and republican, do you get a sense that divide is shrinking. are republicans generally in support of the president's efforts in trying to show a united front with nato and the european union in this unprovoked attack by russia on ukraine? >> reporter: this conflict has definitely united the american people. it has made a lot of our divisions here seem small and

irrelevant, as we see this battle between good and evil playing out in eastern europe. you can look for president biden today to channel john f. kennedy, and ronald reagan, at the brandenberg gate where the russians are killing so many innocent ukrainians, and of course he's speaking to the world, to the ukrainian people, but he will be addressing the american people as well. he will be trying to heal this country. this is a big moment for joe biden. joe biden ran as a candidate who wanted to heal the country, bring republicans and democrats together, bring america back to the world stage. he hasn't been able to do that up until now because of the pandemic, and so many of the divisions we have in our country. he has that opportunity, and i think he's going to try to seize it today.

>> as we saw the president shoulder to shoulder, speaking to the ukrainian refugees, the people that we have all been watching for last three, four weeks, you know, flee in terror from their besieged country, watching a president of the united states, this president of the united states focus on the humanitarian crisis. how much is that message going to ricochet around the world, and hopefully bring more unity and the support even more than there is for helping people in ukraine. >> yeah, alex, that was a beautiful moment amid a sea of strife, to see president biden getting emotional. empathy, alex, is his thing, he is sort of the empathizer in chief. his ability to connect directly with people, especially in small settings has been something that's propelled his career for years and years. he's known for that. so to see him really have this heart-to-heart moment with a mother and her young daughter,

with the little girl, take a picture with her. to see the tears in his eyes, it was an important moment that i think was going to stand out, again, in a sea of strife, and a sea of sorrow, to demonstrate the fact that he, as president of the united states, is doing all he can to try to help the people of ukraine, and of course, alex, he just announced a couple of days ago that the u.s. will be taking in 100,000 ukrainian refugees. i think that's an important statement. i think other countries, you know, besides the ones who are doing this now and in europe, will take that to heart, and will follow his lead because, you know, poland can only take so many. they're pretty much saturated at this point. everyone needs to step up to the plate. i think that was a really important moment for president biden. >> absolutely. and to that immigration point that adrienne is essentially making, do you hear any republican dissension in the process of taking in a hundred

thousand ukrainians. republicans have been very very hard on, you know, keeping the border controlled, closed in certain places. are republicans on board with this move? >> most are, alex. you're going to have fringe elements that as usual are going to stir up controversy and politicize this, but because the country is so united behind the people of ukraine, so united behind president zelenskyy, you're not going to see a whole lot of republicans, especially not republican leaders going out there and criticizing the decision to accept refugees, which of course is very different from what we heard during the four years of donald trump's presidency, a big priority was to limit the number of refugees coming into the united states. those people who really in many cases tried to create doubt, sow fear, xenophobia about people coming into our country, they're out of business these days because there's so much public

sympathy and support for the ukrainian people as we watch these people get slaughtered unnecessarily, and viciously by the russians. >> indeed. carlos, and adrienne elrod, thank you so much for weighing in on this. i appreciate you both. right now of course the president is getting ready to make that speech from the royal castle in warsaw. our eyes and cameras are trained on that. we'll be right back. k. and found some really cool stuff... it was just a lot of fun. just to talk to my parents about it and to send it to my grandparents and be like, hey this person we're all related to look at this crazy stuff they did in arizona 100 years ago. it actually gives you a picture of their life, so you get to feel like you're walking the same path they did. ♪ ♪ this is vuity™, the first and only fda approved eye-drop that improves age-related blurry near vision. wait, what?

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. 55 past the hour. we're following that breaking news out of lviv where at the center of your picture right there, a couple of hours ago, two missile strikes have injured at least five people. let's go right to nbc's jacob soboroff, on the ground just a short distance from where the fuel depot was struck. what is the latest, with the darkness, it was hard for us to determine whether or not the smoke has abated at all. but it sure looks like it's continuing to rage out of

control. >> yeah, not at all, alex, the fire is continuing to burn at what is now being confirmed at least by the mayor of lviv to be a fuel storage facility. i want to read to you, you can see in the distance behind me, the flames burning, looks like there's an ambulance coming up the hill behind us right now. the mayor of lviv says this is an industrial facility where fuel is stored. due to shelling, and we don't know that it's shelling from artillery. we suspect this was an air strike, industrial facilities where fuel is stored is burning. housing infrastructure was not damaged. here comes that ambulance. all relevant services are working on site. i ask everyone to stay in the shelters until the air alarm goes off, meaning the all clear alarm. it's been over two hours since that first sounded earlier this afternoon. and that fire is still burning. i can see firefighters spraying water. when he says relevant services that must mean firefighters. i can see water being sprayed on

that facility. speaking from our vantage point up on the hill. the black smoke continues to pour out of that facility. and earlier when we had more daylight, you could see multiple fuel storage chambers, facilities, i can't tell you what they're called technically speaking but at least five next to each other. i don't know that the two booms we heard when the first strikes firsthand were two rockets striking or a rocket striking followed by a subsequent explosion because of the fire, the impact at this facility, but you can see, alex, that those fires are still burning. they're burning very aggressively, and when the mayor of lviv says services are on site responding. there is a battle against the blaze jacob thank you for keepi an eye on the developments

there. president is expected to deliver a major address in warsaw, poland, we are told he is running on time. we will speak briefly with msnbc anchor, hadley gamble, shannon pettypiece and retired colonel, brendan kearny, former chief of staff to europe. welcome, i apologize for the brevity, if the president's on time, or for rudely interrupting you. hadley, you're new to the conversation. you have been in brussels for the global summit on ukraine. you've spoken with multiple european and middle east leaders. give me a sense of the mood there leading up to this address from the president today, again, you've been focusing on the economic aspect of all of this. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. i had the chance to speak not only to the french president but the chancellor of germany as well, olaf scholz and the prime minister of the united kingdom, boris johnson. i asked all of them to weigh in

about what this could potentially mean for them, not just the broader question of democratic values and what that is worth to europeans, but what it means for the pocketbook, the crisis for gas, energy in general. listen in, when i asked the french president, i asked him about total energies, a company operating in russia, they're one of the last companies to say we're going to back out of russia but they told me today that when they say that they're not going to do business anymore with vladimir putin, that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to sell up, that they're going to get rid of their assets there because they don't want to sell them to the only people who would be buying, the russian government and the oligarchs who are closely tied to president putin's inner circle. i also asked could we see energy sanctions finally from the europeans when it comes to russian energy. and as we know, there are bigger problems with that. the germans have a competing agenda with the french. the french have big problems and

the italians are dependent on russian energy. depending on what country you're talking to you get a different answer and agenda. talking about what they could potentially do next, all we have seen essentially is an agreement to diversify, try to find in the next several years a way to diversify away from russian energy sources. also in the last 24 hours after a very very long meeting, i've heard that it was quite a long slog, they decided to potentially do price caps. >> hadley, here comes -- hadley here comes rude interruption from me. just a moment, let's take a listen as we listen to bells ringing there at the presidential palace in advance of the president. presidential pe of the president well, apparently we were able to hear the bells, they're no longer