unlimited possibilities. a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york.

welcome, everyone, to "alex witt reports." president biden wrapped up a major speech, outlining steps the u.s. is taking to bring an end to this conflict and rallied europe to never give up. >> time and again history shows that some of the darkest moments are the greatest progress follows. and history shows this is the task of our time, the task of this generation. let's remember the hammer blow that brought down the berlin wall, the might that lifted the iron curtain, were not the word of a single leader -- it was the people of europe who for decades fought to free themselves. >> a few minutes before biden spoke, nbc correspondents in lviv reported new explosions on the outskirts of the city just across the border from poland.

several fires have broken out in a city that previously had not been targeted. this latest escalation comes with new warnings today from two top russian officials saying russia would use nuclear weapons against any act of aggression which, quote, brings the existence of the state under threat. and ukrainian officials report ongoing air strikes on military and civilian targets in the southern donbas region. they say while there was agreement to open ten humanitarian corridors for evacuees, more than 100,000 people remain trapped in the besieged port city of mariupol. we're following that breaking news out of lviv for you where there are some new explosions. let's see -- jacob, you have moved your position from when we saw you an houror so ago. tell me where are you and what you're seeing. >> reporter: alex, we backed away from that fuel depot that was struck at about 4:30 p.m. what i'm hearing -- i'm going to

pause so you can hear it -- is the all-clear siren sounding. [ siren ] >> reporter: so around 4:30 p.m. here local time there was a strike on a petrol, a fuel depot, to the north of the city center here in lviv. that direction. we could see it. we moved closer. we're about a mile away, less than a mile away from those strikes. that's still burning right now as i speak. around 6:55 p.m. local time, to the south of here on the other direction of the city center, there was reports according to the mayor of the city of other explosions. and generally what happens here is you get the air alert siren to go and shelter, and then it is followed by at some point what you're hearing now, the all clear. that's the signal from civil defense here in lviv that it is safe to come out of your

shelter. let me double check -- guys, that's the all clear? we're listening to the all clear, okay. that's the all clear that we're hearing right now, alex. of course this has been a constant background noise to life in the city. you get the alerts both your phone, and you hear them over the cold war era, the soviet era air raid siren system here. that sounded today like it has many days since we've been here in this city, the city that has been a transit hub, place of sanctuary and security for the hundreds of thousands, millions of internally displaced people leaving to go into the countries on nato's eastern flank. today that changed, and the war came here to lviv, just outside of the city center. the closest it had been to date was about four miles away from where i am right now. an airport maintenance facility on the outskirts of town. this strike, these two strikes were much closer than we have seen before, and it has -- it

has changed people's posture and certainly the feeling of life here in the city of 700,000 people in the western part of ukraine near the border with poland. >> well, let's hope this date, march 26th, that is all that people in lviv see. we will have to certainly pay very close attention with your help as to what is next for the now-beleaguered city there of lviv having been attacked twice today. thank you so much, jacob, for that. let's go to nbc's josh letterman in warsaw, poland. of course, that's where the president just wrapped up what the white house is calling that major address on the war in ukraine. give me some of your biggest takeaways from the president's speech. one that came to my mind, josh, is that the president said this man cannot remain in power, when referencing vladimir putin. earlier in the day he had spoken of him and called him -- he certainly called him a war

criminal now a few times, but it's the kind of thing -- that's a very bold statement to see that the duly elected head of another country cannot stay in power. that was powerful. >> reporter: and he called president putin a butcher in comments to reporters shortly before giving that speech today, alex. there was a clear concerted effort by president biden in these remarks to try to separate the russian people from the russian leader and to say this is the fault of one man, of vladimir putin, to try to make clear that the massive effort that the u.s. and its allies are undertaking right now to squeeze russia is not intended to hurt the russian people, but that it is about their leader who is waging this war that he said has been a strategic failure already for russia. and a big focus of this speech was trying to give people some confidence that the efforts that have been undertaken so far are succeeding, are making a difference. he noted the way that the

russian economy has really cratered in the last several weeks saying their economy is set to constrict by half in the coming years, that the ruble has been reduced to rubble, and that they're seeing a brain drain of all of their best leaving the country right now. but there was also a part of this that was aimed at trying to keep people's fortitude for what he describes as a long effort ahead. the president saying in this battle we need to be clear eyed, this battle will not be won this days or months. and i think that white house officials have acknowledged that there's a concern that there will be some fatigue setting in. not only for public support for this effort against the war, but also for maintaining these sanctions, for continuing to funnel more and more weapons into a battle that is starting to look, according to a nato official i spoke to a few days ago, like a stalemate. but we also heard president biden trying to send that clear message of reassurance to the

nato allies to make clear that they will be defended. here's part of what biden said about that -- >> we want to make clear is there movement on ukraine, don't even think about moving on one single inch of nato territory. we have sacred obligations -- [ applause ] -- we have a sacred obligation under article five to defend each and every inch of nato territory. russia's managed to cause something i'm sure he never intended, but the democracies of the world are revitalized with purpose and unity found in months that we've once taken years to accomplish. >> reporter: the flip side of this, alex, is that we did not hear from president biden any major new announcements or new steps that the u.s. or the west are going to be taking. certainly there were some of those during the last few days on his trip when it comes to sanctions and moves on energy,

but we know the ukrainians have been really craving to hear a message of we are going to do something fundamentally more than we've been doing in the past. and in fact, some ukrainian government officials in the wake of their meetings with president biden's team today have said they wanted something more, they wanted a bold announcement that made clear that the u.s. was really going to step up its assistance militarily to ukraine. that continues to be a step that the biden administration at this point is not willing to take, alex. >> all right, josh letterman from war so. joining us member of ukrainian parliament, ina, welcome to the broadcast. i want your reaction to president biden's speech and biggest takeaways, what did you hear? >> what i did hear was he really said that he has an obligation to protect poland, to protect other nato member states. but what i didn't hear is that

there will be any protection of ukraine. and i'm sorry for being blunt, but i'm very disappointed with what i heard because he was saying that people of europe will be fighting for democracy for the human rights, for all the great ideas, but it is not people of europe, not people of nato member states that are fighting for that now, but my people here in ukraine. my boyfriend in the army, my son on the air raid alerts every single day. and i didn't hear something that will make me be reassured that we shall get help that asking for. i'm sorry, but over here -- i'm reading the social media here. everyone is just extremely disappointed. we were hoping that this would be more than a speech, but it will be a commitment to help us, to do more in order to save people in mariupol, to do more to save people fighting right now around kharkiv, to do more to stop those bombings which have been taking place as biden was speaking, in the western city of lviv. i'm sorry we didn't hear that. i'm sorry i cannot be praising

the speech. i'm sure the polish people appreciated it. but we are the ones who have been killed right now, and we believe after the speech putin will continue killing us, and no one will do more than was done before. >> ina, i can hear the heartbreak and the frustration in your voice. i sympathize. it is something that so many of us here in the west as we've been watching this unfold, we've been wanting something to be done to stop all the atrocities there in ukraine. i'm sorry you go through this with your boyfriend, with your son, and their concerns, as well. tell me what you had hoped to hear. i will remind you that you heard about the $1.35 billion worth of military support, humanitarian aid. that is something that the united states has put forward since the beginning of this war directly to ukraine. that is something. what more would you have wanted to hear? >> well, of course we do need specific weapons.

the weapons that will actually help us gain strategic advantage in this war. the whole world did see the ukrainian army is extremely capable of fighting back. but we cannot fight without the proper weapons. and we did get lots of support in terms of weapons from the west. but the grenade launchers, some intelligence support. but we need armored vehicles. we need artillery. we need the long-range weapon to hit russian artillery. that would actually help us save people in mariupol. we need the fighter jets. i'm sorry we are bringing this up again, but as long as we don't have the fighter jets, all the nice words about protecting democracy are just that, are just the words, because putin will continue to bombard us while we are hearing my speeches about protection of democracy. so i'm sorry, but if we are not getting that, what are we getting then? the words of support, thank you so much, but they're not really saving lives. >> ina, i'm going to move forward with the conversation. let me say you have nothing to

apologize for. we all understand the difficult position that you are in, and certainly sympathize. and perhaps your words on what you need have been heard loud and clear. they're words that are not unique. we have heard these same requests over and over again from people inside ukrainement so thank you for repeating them. let me ask you about what russia's tactic shift is doing here. there's reports there focusing on taking full control of the donbas region. now russia is claiming, oh, this was the plan all along. first of all, do you believe it, or do you think that ukrainian resistance of what you're speaking about, has that forced russia to change their strategy? >> well, if their plan was all along to protect donbas region, they wouldn't have moved toward kyiv, they wouldn't have moved toward kharkiv, they wouldn't have tried to go to odesa because odesa, all those cities are truly far away from donbas. i believe they are trying to change the rhetoric and the

tactics, the result of the ukrainian resistance truly. so they are trying to relocate some of their troops, particularly from the suma region northeast, and we believe they will take them to donbas because donbas is the single area where they have some fighting chances. but of course, it all falls into the issue of whether mariupol will hold or will fall. and that is the biggest challenge for the russians in terms of keeping their area of donbas fully under their control. today we heard from the russian military official saying that they believe that mariupol will fall within a week. well, frankly speaking, i do not see how to hold control of mariupol if we do not get the weapons that we have been asking for. so i'm -- probably the russian officials and that sound right, we do not know how to hold mariupol any longer, despite all the courage of the people who have been defending it for months in unbelievable conditions. >> yeah. >> so we believe that that is the result of the ukrainian resistance. but you have to realize that

they're not pulling troops away from kyiv. like two hours ago, i was just hearing explosions close to my place from the battles taking place northwest of kyiv. they're not pulling their troops further from kharkiv, but they have been pushed further from. we're not seeing them moving the troops apart from the smaller area in northeastern so far. >> ina, given your position there in the ukrainian parliament, has there been any legitimate discussion about ongoing negotiations between ukraine and russia? are there areas that you believe ukraine could compromise with russia, or does ukraine hold 100% firm to what they set out from the beginning which is russia, get off of our land, and we are going to be a country that controls ourselves without you telling us what to do and controlling us? >> that is not just ukraine's principle, that is the very

principle that international relations are built upon. if we give that up, if the west is pushing us to give that up, that is a challenge not just to us, that is for the whole world order as it functioned from minutes to 45. yes -- from 1945. yes, we are demanding full sovereignty of our territory. no, the united states would not give up one of its states if another country started bombarding. that is one to ask and one to discuss. we are holding our ground. that is our territory. that is where our people live. crimea is the region where -- they do not have any other region in the world which they can call their motherland. now it is under russian control, and the russians are just arresting those left in the -- in the area. we cannot let that happen. that is not right. that is not just. >> ina, i would love to have you

back on the broadcast when you're able to give us an update on things from the ukrainian perspective, given your position in parliament. thank you very much. thoughts are with you. that's all i can say right now. we are thinking of you. thank you. a closer look at the russian army and shortages of ammunition, food, and fuel and how it might impact the war next. impact the war next new dove men stress-relief body wash... with a plant-based adaptogen, helps alleviate stress on skin. so you can get back in sync. new dove men. a restorative shower for body and mind. (vo) small businesses are joining the big switch. save over $1,000 when you switch to our ultimate business plan for the lowest price ever. plus choose from the latest 5g smartphones. get more 5g bars in more places- switch to t-mobile for business today. (grandmother) thank you for taking me home. it's so far. (young woman) don't worry about it, grandma! gthis'll be fun. in more places- (young woman) two chocolate milkshakes, please. (grandmother) make it three. (young woman) three?

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back with breaking news. as ukrainian forces are digging in with fierce resistance on this, the 31st day of russian attacks, still fighting to keep invading forces out of kyiv. and a senior defense leader says russia is facing a counterattack in kerson to the south. this comes as russia's bringing in reinforcements for the first time since the war started. joining me is joe holliday, national security researcher at a strategic intelligence and

advisory firm. he's also a former infantry officer who's worked in military intelligence. good to have you back on the broadcast. let's get into this. you have the pentagon assessment that says kerson is contested territory again, it comes after an intelligence update from the british defense ministry which said that ukraine was able to reoccupy towns in defensive positions a bit east of kyiv. what's your assessment now on this pushback that's coming from ukrainian forces? how long you think they can keep this up against russia? >> of course, alex, thanks for having me back. you know, i think we're seeing the ukrainian counter offense on two fronts, the first in the north and the second in the south around kherson. i'll start in the south because i think it is more strategically important. kherson was the first major population center that russia was able to take right at the beginning of the month on their push from the crimea westward toward odesa.

so after taking kherson, they moved forward on to mykylay where they're on the outskirts fighting. the statement from pentagon that they're considering kherson contested territory again is encouraging, and it is -- it can be valuable for the ukrainians to be able to take that ground because it would isolate all the russian forces in the area, and it would at a minimum really frustrate the supply lines that they would require to continue to push on odesa. >> let me ask you, joe, how does this even happen? i mean, we presume that the russians go in, they, you know, make gains in kherson, and then how is it that they get pushed back or pushed out of the area to allow for ukrainian military to get in there? is it because russia pulls out to some degree and minimizes its footprint? if i do that it's because they've got to take troops and move them elsewhere, a more

strategic or offensive level. how does that even happen? >> well, i think first it's worth noting that they haven't had total control over kherson. i think, you know, we see lot of images and examples of the really brave protests from people inside kherson. so they haven't controlled the population there in any sense. and even militarily, i think it was on the 15th of this month the ukrainians managed to take out a number of helicopters on the airfield in kherson where the russian command post has been set up. they claim to have killed another lieutenant general, so that brings a total to somewhere north of ten generals and colonels that the ukrainians have claimed to have killed this month. >> extraordinary. let me ask about lviv. we've been seeing the attacks just today within the last few hours. two separate attacks, maybe three total now that i think about it. there was that one to i believe the northeast, away from the border of poland where they -- two missiles they believe struck a fuel depot, and then on the

other side of town there were two other strikes, less significant in size, but nonetheless. what do you make of that -- i guess the question has to be asked, how secure is lviv right now? >> right. yeah, and i think i'll tie this back to what's going on in kyiv with the counteroffensive there. lviv is one of these places where the russians can only reach it with long-range bombers and artillery and cruise missiles because of how far from the front lines it is. there's a limit to how much damage russia can really do. one of the reasons why theishes koreans are trying to push -- the ukrainians are trying to push back around kyiv is to prevent russian artillery from getting within close enough range where they can hunker down and put in a lot more firepower to bear on the city center. up until now the russians have had to rely on more limited capabilities with bombers and with long-range rockets. and so, you know, i don't see anything changing in lviv. the russians will still be able to reach out and touch it. it doesn't mean that they have

the ability to really take or put real risks into that far west in ukraine at this time. >> okay. what about reports, joe, that russia has started bringing in reinforcements from georgia? that the russian forces are becoming more aggressive in the donbas region. what does this shift signal to you? >> yeah. yeah, so first -- basically what we've seen is the pentagon acknowledge that they're seeing russia move forces from the south region of georgia over to ukraine, to reinforce the effort there. so just a reminder, in 2008 the russians took that region of northern georgia. and so to see them pull forces out and apply them to ukraine after we've already had assessments that they've committed 75% or more of their ground forces to ukraine is

definitely important and -- to watch what the implications of that might be. you know, one example of the implications on the horizon here, we've seen a lot more shock rhetoric from the government of azerbaijan or members of azerbaijan, potentially reigniting a conflict in an area which is disputed between armenia and azerbaijan, and russia has backed armenia in that conflict. the latest round of which is recently in 2020. and even some reports that there was a tv drone killed a couple of soldiers in the area in the past day. this is a case where you see azerbaijan starting to potentially take advantage of russian focus and overcommitment in ukraine. and i think it's worth keeping an eye where we might see that in other parts of the region, namely in the south there where you mentioned troops were being pulled from.

>> okay. joe -- >> the other question about donbas. >> yeah. make it quick. we're going to go to the president shortly. >> sure. statement from the russian military saying that the first phase of the operation is complete, and now we're going to focus on liberating the donbas region. that's not new, they've always claimed that was the justification for their invasion in the first place. what is interesting is the statement that some first phase of operation is complete and they're going to change, but too soon to say whether that will result in a different russian approach going forward. >> okay. joe holliday, many thanks for your assessment. i'll see you again. appreciate it. and coming up, everyone, we're going to look at what the president did a bit earlier before his speech when he was meeting with refugees. it is heartwarming. he was an empathic president on display. we'll be right back. ight back. m, but i'm as busy as ever. careful now. - thanks. -you got it. and thanks to voya, i'm confident about my future. -oh dad, the twins are now... -vegan. i know. i got 'em some of those plant burgers. -nice. -yeah.

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global address about the war in ukraine. before that he visited refugees in warsaw. let's go to josh letterman joining us also from warsaw, poland. josh, very heartwarming and heartbreaking moments that we witnessed with the president. >> reporter: that's right, alex. in his speech we got the big picture from president biden talking about how he doesn't believe the russian people accept the killing of children and grandchildren. but in person today, we got from president biden that human face of this conflict as he lifted up that young ukrainian girl that you can see on the left side of your screen there. president biden talking in very personal terms about remembering when his own son was at war and wondering if he would get that phone call that his son it died, and how so many ukrainian women and children who have fled this conflict are thinking about their husbands, fathers, sons, who are back in ukraine fighting against the russians whose fate at this point could really go

any way. and of course the united states in the last week has announced another $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to countries that are accepting the more than four million refugees who have fled out of ukraine. but this is going to be a long effort. here in poland, for example, most of these refugees, they're in people's personal homes. these are average polish citizens who are taking in their neighbors from ukraine, trying to feed them, trying to give them some optimism even though there's not a lot of optimism to be had. and that was really the emotional tone that president biden got to hear today, particularly as he heard from one ukrainian mother who told him this -- >> i'm here with my daughter, my husband and my son are in service. over there. >> that's frightening. >> and we're afraid he's going

to keep moving. he's going to deep moving. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: we as mothers are ready to strangle him with our bare hands. >> reporter: and alex, i also wanted to update you on one thing that we talked about when you and i were speaking about a half hour ago about president biden's speech and when he said that for the love of god this man, president putin, cannot be allowed to stay in power. we're now hearing from a white house official who's walking that back just a bit, making clear president biden was not suggesting regime change. this official saying that president biden's point was that putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region, but that biden was not discussing putin's power in russia or regime change. alex? >> that makes sense, and i think a few people anticipated that that was what he was discussing. but thank you for bringing that clarifying point from the white house. we are following that breaking news out of lviv where there have been some new explosions. we've been on top of of that

from the ground. two different locations today near both of those explosion sites. what are you seeing there, jacob? >> reporter: i'm reading the latest telegram updates here. this is from the mayor of lviv. as far as that second explosion to the south of where we are, the windows of one of the schools near the place of the air strike were broken by a shockwave. no one was injured. as far as injuries or wounded, we were that five people were wounded according to the martha of lviv, in the initial strikes to the north of our location at the fuel depot where five people were wounded. remember, if i could just reset for everybody, around 4:30 this evening here, local time, and right now it is 8:30, so four hours ago we got the first air strike warning. subsequently, very quickly soon after, those explosions that we heard and could see from this location i'm standing at now to

the north where the fuel depot was hit. and then at 6:55 local time, about an hour and a half ago, the second strikes were reported by local officials to the south of here. and you know, this is a city that has been shaken. this is a city that felt like it was a relatively safe place. this is a city in the west of ukraine, not far from the border of poland where the president of the united states is this evening. earlier today we were reporting that a senior russian general was saying that that government was going to cease its offensive after the first phase of the operation outside of the eastern part of the country, the donbas. but that is obviously not the case. we are in just about as far west as you can be in ukraine, and the fact that this place was a place of refuge, of tranquility, a place of transit for so many of the millions of internally

displaced people coming through this country is no longer, is startling not only to the people here but people all throughout this country. i said earlier today that people didn't believe the russians on the ground here in ukraine when they heard the russians say that they were moving to a second phase of this operation, it was going to be focused on the east. and the picture you're seeing on the left-hand side of the screen from earlier tonight is evidence of that. they were right. ukrainians were right not to trust what they were hearing from the russians, and the evidence is in front of your face. i saw it with my own eyes earlier tonight. curfew is coming here in about an hour and a half which means the street will be cleared. tomorrow morning in daylight we'll get a clear assessment of the damage, both to the north and the south of the city center here in lviv. it is a unesco world heritage site. this place felt in some measure to the people that were out on the streets here day in and day out untouchable. it was a sense of defiance going out on the street.

there were people in the park, people singing, people walking with their families, tourists out and about, horse and buggies in the streets. and in an instant that was shattered here today in the west. the city here looking on the left of your screen, footage shot by abraham villeja, here with me now, this is the scene in lviv, and it is far different from what we thought it was going to be just hours ago. >> yeah. that's the fuel depot strike, and i want to have you reiterate it was a school that was hit in the other strike that came about an hour or so ago later -- >> reporter: no, but the mayor is saying that a school window was shattered in the vicinity of the second strike. >> but we don't know what was actually specifically struck? >> reporter: not at this time, alex. we can report that the fuel depot was struck. i can tell you with my own eyes. i saw that. to the south of here, we don't have confirmation yet of what the target was.

>> okay. i know once you get that confirmation you will let us know. thank you, my friend. appreciate that. all of you just heard nbc's josh lederman saying the president is walking back remarks about vladimir putin. we'll talk about what he said and meant next. we'll talk about and meant next visibly diminish wrinkled skin in... crepe corrector lotion... only from gold bond. why do dermatologists choose dove? the dove beauty bar, is gentle. it not only cleans, it hydrates my skin. as a dermatologist, i want what's best for our skin. with 1/4 moisturizing cream, dove is the #1 bar dermatologists use at home. tums vs. mozzarella stick wit when heartburn hits, am, fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast heartburn relief in every bite. crunchy outside, chewy inside. ♪ tums, tums, tums, tums ♪ tums chewy bites

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back now with that breaking news from poland. president biden just a few minutes ago calling out vladimir putin for the pretexts under which he has waged war against ukraine for the past month. >> today russia has strangled democracy, has sought to do so elsewhere, not only in his homeland. under false claims of ethnic solidarity has invalidated neighboring nations. putin has the gall to say he did

denazifying ukraine. it's a lie and obscene. >> joining me former u.s. permanent representative to nato and former u.s. special representative for ukraine negotiations under the trump administration from 2017 to 2019. ambassador, welcome. i'm glad to have you and yourin sights here, particularly after hearing that speech. give me your assessment first of all of the overall trip by president biden, and if you think he made any headway toward bringing this conflict to an end, or is that within his power to do? >> well, i think there's several things positive about this trip. first is the unity that has been shown at nato, it's very important. the increase of u.s. forces and other nato allied forces in central and eastern europe, very clear signal to putin don't attack nato. when it comes to supporting ukraine, i think it's very important that he saw the refugees. and we are increasing our humanitarian assistance, and we have committed to sustain our military assistance to ukraine. all of that is very important.

the fact here is that the ukrainians are the ones who are fighting, we're supporting them, but they're the ones that are holding the russians off. they have done a remarkable job. they're using and integrating the equipment they're getting quite well. russia is not advancing on the ground anymore. that's why we're seeing these air strikes and rocket strikes because they can't get to ukraine, to these cities any other way. so they're forced to fire at a distance. more indiscriminate, more lynch is casualties, but it's a sign of ukraine's success in defending itself. we're not closer to the end of the war yet. ukraine is going to need more support, and it's going to need to keep fighting for a long time. the russians have a lot of firepower and troops, but ultimately there's no way that russia can win this we're. -- this war. the ukrainian spirit is unbreakable. >> let me recall part of my

conversation with ina, ukrainian parliamentary member. and she kept apologizing but saying that she was not pleased with president biden's speech because it's not giving ukraine what the ukrainian people need to fend off the russian aggression. and she talked about her husband, rather her boyfriend, her son and the fears that they have. and she said we're not getting what we need even though i did remind her of the $1.35 billion worth of military aid and humanitarian aid that have been donated to ukraine since the start of this war. but it is understandable, ukrainians want the jets. they want the skies patrolled. they want to be able to stop that which you just explained that russia's able to do. they want to be able to blow missiles out of the sky so they don't reach kyiv, so they don't reach lviv. so how do you expect this to be felt overall by ukrainian leadership? president zelenskyy? >> well, i was in a conversation

the other day with the chief of staff of president zelenskyy, and he also expressed disappointment with the trip for the very reason that you cited. president biden said quite correctly putin thought that he could divide nato, and he was proven wrong. but he also thought he could conquer ukraine, and he has not yet been proven wrong although he will be, and we have more capacity, we can do more. $1.3 billion is great, but as you said, what about those mig 29s that poland wanted to donate, why can't -- with poland over that -- >> ambassador, ask -- what is the quandary over that particular issue? i mean, why would that not be something -- why would that be so complicated that the united states would refrain from approving that move? >> there are two things. one of them is backfilling poland with aircraft that would be based there to patrol polish skies so that they do not exposed as a result of giving aircraft to ukraine. that should be done, should be doable, should not be a problem.

the second one is a self perception, a self limitation that putin might consider that aircraft somehow cross a threshold in bringing nato and the united states into the conflict in direct contact with russian forces. here i think we are being far too timid. and we're not understanding putin's position. he is not doing well this ukraine, and the last thing he wants is to draw nato or western forces into the conflict on ukraine's side. he's going to be very careful. i think we have a lot more leverage and a lot more space for action than we've been using up until now. >> do you believe it when you hear russian officials, this didn't come directly from vladimir putin, but just today saying that if something was done that they interpreted as an egregious attempt for involvement by the united states and nato in this war that they might -- at least they threatened using nuclear force. do you think they would do that? >> only putin can make that decision, whether to use nuclear

force or not, that's the first one. any use of nuclear force will bring direct consequences upon russia that they do not want. i think it is important that we deter that through a clear commitment to heavy response if they were to do it, and i don't think they will. and as i said, they don't want to draw nato or the west into there conflict. it's going badly for them. they thought it would be easy, they thought it would be a few days. it's been just the opposite. and now he war language from the russian defense ministry saying that they're concluding phase one, consolidating in the east. even though they're going to keep firing bombs at ukrainian cities and killing civilians. it is a cover story for the fact that they can't advance on the ground anymore. >> ambassador, there was a strong statement by president biden when he said this man cannot remain in power, that being, of course, vladimir putin. and the white house has felt the need to walk that back a little bit, to say that the president was in no way suggesting regime

change. i think few would actually interpret that, but of course the white house is being cautious that way. did -- did you have any concerns when you heard that in that speech? >> not at all. in fact, i think it's unfortunate for the white house to come out and contradict the president. he was speaking from the heart, and he's saying what we all know, that vladimir putin is destroying his own country, he's harming russia as much as he's harming ukraine economically. he's doing unspeakable damage to the infrastructure and civilians in ukraine. it's not saying that the united states or anyone is going to go about regime change, but it just states clearly what we can all see. he cannot remain in power, he has no path forward in russia. >> last question quickly with regard to poland, the polish people in the audience there. there was a lot of applause when the president said not one inch of nato will be violated by russia. does poland have good reason to

feel safe at this time from russian aggressions? >> i think so. i think so. i think the president's visit has been quite powerful and demonstrating support for poland. you know, we've had our ups and downs with poland over the past year or so, but it's been very strong with this visit. also the deployment of the nato forces, including the u.s. to poland, to the baltic states, to romania. i think they have every reason to be confident. and also, as i said, russia losing on the ground in ukraine is also going to give nato confidence that the russians aren't ten feet tall and we can protect ourselves if we have to. >> ambassador, very good to see you again. come see me again. thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. it wasn't just one question that probably got your attention -- there were many. coming up next, five mind-blowing questions republicans asked ketanji brown jackson during her confirmation hearings this week. confirmatio hearings this week but i didn't wait. i could've put off telling my doctor my leg was red and swollen just doing the crossword... but i didn't wait. they told their doctors. and found out their symptoms... leg pain, swelling and redness -

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she has won key support. senator manchin announced he is a yes vote appearing to show she will have the democratic votes needed to confirm her. this week however republicans led a bitter line of questioning on the stance on a number of issues. >> do agree with the book taught that babies are racist? in your understanding what does critical race theory mean? >> can you provide a definition for the world woman? >> on a scale of 1 to 10, how faithful would you say you are? >> could i decide i was an asian man? would i have the ability to be an asian man? >> senator, i'm not able to answer the question. you're asking me about hypotheticals. >> joining me now harry litman, that last comment by ted cruz. he went to harvard?

really? you have to wonder about what that. what do you make of that line of questioning? is the confirmation process broken? >> it is broken but this was broken veto an extra degree. what do i make of it. they weren't thinking about her qualifications or to derail the confirmation which as you say is assured. they were trying to do gotcha questions and kind of a mugging really in order to produce slogans to use not here, not to convince manchin but midterm election. it is really that kind of red meat forward time tested slogans to go after and nothing to remotely to do with the qualifications which were to the

extent that it boro them remotely they were just irrelevant and poorly argued. >> i will add laughable. some of it in the realm of the absurd. >> not to her. >> no, no, no. she was in the hot seat this week and responded this way to some questions. take a listen. >> senator, i have a lot of opinions. i have opinions on -- i'm a human being. i have an opinion on a lot of things. the reason why in my view it is not appropriate for me to comment is because of my fidelity to the judicial role. >> the old complaint about confirmation process is they fail to answer questions about how they would rule. is that the case here? were there questions legitimately focused on getting

her views on league issues? >> quite plainly not. that is the real point. she stayed within herself. she showed poise. didn't take the bait. it was grueling and what she was put through after suggested to be kind of polite was really overbearing and nasty. i thought it looked very poor for them except the audience they go for i think kind of likes it but nothing had remotely to do with her merits but a complete bogus attack and they knew it was on the sentencing of child pornography 0 fepders in line with everyone else in this country. >> she did a very good job on that sentencing. she pushed back by saying, hey folks -- paraphrasing. this is the role of congress to

put forth the rules by which judges adhere and the sentencing in those lines within the guidelines. >> very effective. she made them look silly. again what they were going after wasn't to score points against her really and persuade or dissuade manchin but really all about another arena. there's a basic disconnect in the hearings which is she was -- the dems trying to play defense and the republicans were trying to garner sort of nasty slogans to use outside of the process and they just exploited her and took advantage of her for that reason. it was very -- this woman will be on the supreme court. the treatment of her was really overbearing and unconscionable. >> do you think any republicans

will cross this line and support her nomination? >> make it bipartisan. my best guess is yes. not lindsey graham who voted for her before but i think that there are -- the two in play who were for her before and i think romney is in play and maybe some others and jon kyl expects it. that's what qualifies as bipartisan in these troubled times. i look to her to get 52, 53 votes. >> okay. thank you so much. see you again. that's the latest from me. i'll see you tomorrow at noon eastern. my friend yasmin vossoughian continues the coverage. continuee helps alleviate stress on skin. so you can get back in sync. new dove men.

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hey, everybody. good afternoon. following major developments in russia's war on crown. president biden wheels up any moment from warsaw wrapping up a visit to the region that ended with a major speech by the president. that speech coming almost simultaneously to the series of russian missile attacks on the ukrainian city of lviv. a place not far from the country's border with to land. the timing and the