janssen can help you explore cost support options. good monday morning. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york. it is monday, march 28th. and this morning, there are reports of explosions in central ukraine, even as the russian military claims it's turning its focus towards the east.

there are also questions about whether president biden's unscripted remarks about vladimir putin's fate could embolden putin at this critical moment. in the capital of kyiv, unusually calm overnight, no air strikes reported. and in fact the ukrainian military said some russian forces are leaving the region around the capital, pulling back to belarus to regroup. in other places, they've stopped advancing and are digging into defensive positions. but that means suburb ban cities continue to be devastated, some of them leveled. the principal of one school about an hour outside of kyiv talked to sky news about what she's seen. >> translator: it's very difficult for the children suffering. 135 kids up to today. she's the custodian of their futures and she's remembering the ones who perished. >> she can't hold back her sobs. >> translator: they died because

these people couldn't agree. >> of the extensive devastation across ukraine, mariupol continues, at least appears to have gotten the worst of it. 160,000 people still trapped in that city. again, no water, no power, no heat. we learned this morning that there will be no humanitarian corridors today to allow people to escape from mariupol or anywhere else. the siege there fits with what the russian military is describing as its key focus now, controlling the eastern region known as donbas where separatists have been fighting for eight years. if that's true, it would be a dramatic reduction of russia's original military goals and a possible sign that the kremlin is looking for an off-ramp. more talks between ukrainian and russian negotiates are scheduled for this week. president zelenskyy saying overnight he is seeking peace without delay, offering security guarantees as a possible pathway

to a deal. after making those offers in an interview to russian journalists on sunday, though, the russian government banned it from being published. the major question this morning remains how all of this may be impacted by president biden's words delivered saturday at the tail end of a successful international trip in which he said off the cuff that president putin can't remain in power. secretary of state antony blinken tried to clarify those remarks sunday. >> i think the president, the white house made the point last night that, quite simply, president putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against ukraine or anyone else. as you know, and as you heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in russia or anywhere else for that matter. >> this morning, a spokesman for the kremlin described president biden's remarks as, quote,

alarming. i want to bring in nbc's molly hunter in odesa, ukraine, carol lee cover the white house, kori schake director of foreign policy studies at american enterprise institute. she served under president george h.w. bush. and retired four-star general barry mccaffrey. kori, president biden made these overtures to the russians, offering the possible of a neutral status and security guarantees if russia offers what zelenskyy calls peace without delay. given where we are on the battlefield, do you think there's any possibility the russians could take him up on it? >> yes, i think the russian's statement their war is only about donbas is the recognition they're not succeeding militarily and looking for negotiated solutions. and i think president zelenskyy's been incredibly smart to reinforce his message

that ukraine are the good guys in this fight by showing a willingness to be flexible on the negotiations. >> you know, general, obviously the best time to push a negotiate is when you have the stronger hand to play. do you believe ukraine has the stronger hand right now? >> yeah, i do. i agree with dr. kori schake's remarks. but we shouldn't kid ourselves. putin himself makes the decisions. and i don't think he's changed his strategy. he's faced a tactical defeat with his combat forces. so i think his generals are saying we better defeat the ukrainian army in the east and seize odesa, i think, as our short-term principle goals. but any weakness on the ukrainian part i think putin will continue to try and seize the entire country and reintegrate it back into mother russia. i think that was his goal going in and it still remains his goal. >> so, molly, if it's about seize og december is a, tell us

what's going on on the ground there right now. >> reporter: okay, so we can barely show you anything in the city, it's a city of 1 million people, about half the population has left the city, the other half have enlisted, they are engaged in supporting the city. we're at a volunteer center. they're holding up water. we can't show you the sandbags or the military check points. we can't show you how this city of 1 million on the back sea is hunkering down. they are ready, chris. i want to take you inside. i'm going to show you wa everyone here is doing. so just walk with me for a second and forgive if our signal breaks up at automatic. this was a food court, chris. and inside now we've asked who actually is working here. it is all these young people who used to spend time at the food court. just come in. they are so well organized. they have medical supplies, they have food, they have basic supplies for anyone who's staying and hunkering down. anything people here don't need

they're sending out. look at how many people. they are categorizing the information when they get supplies and sending it east. they're responding specifically to requests from the military. we spoke with the held organizer of this center. i want you to take a listen. there is a lot of discussion up to four weeks ago that odesa was going to be next, it would get hit hard, be under attack. >> i believe it can be, but we will be here and we will proceed with our support anyway. >> reporter: now, chris, we've also been speaking with the navy here. we've asked them are they ready, preparing for anything. they say russia is out of options. they say they're in a fight on land. they do not anticipate anything coming from the sea. but i want to give you a sense, up there was a bar where all of those young people are working on their laptops. there's a sign that says

"oysters and champagne," and people say they cannot wait until this center gets to return hopefully as early as the summer to what it was. chris? >> general, obviously, that's been a key part of the ukrainian strength. they love their country. they want their country. they want to return their country to what it was. we all know the physical not to mention the loss of life and the emotional devastation we've seen, but i wonder as you're looking at this, and listening to what we just heard, is vladimir putin out of options, truly out of options? or is that a mistake to think that because of some of the changes we've seen on the battlefield and picking up on what you were saying earlier that he doesn't have a whole hold of options, all of them really bad for the world and for ukraine. >> yeah. well, look, i think tactically he's been brought to a standstill by these extremely courageous ukrainians with massive support, not by nato

specifically by individual countries, the brits, the french, the u.s., you know, 20,000 smart munitions. they've done an incredible job. now poor mr. putin is scrambling to find bodies to replace his casualties in the combat unit. we say 15% casualties at rifle company or tank company level, it's much more severe. so the guy is in trouble, but his short-term fallback as we've seen is to become an artillery force, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and to pound the urban areas into submission, trying to force capitulation. so the war isn't over yet. it's still grim. and i hope the u.s. and our allies can be can provide some game-changing technology, anti-ship missile, better air defense capability, and continued supply of javelin, stinger, and other smart munitions.

>> what became the big conversation over the weekend, carol, was not about the ukrainians. it was about what president biden said, right? he has this smooth, disciplined trip, he gives a forceful speech, and with just a few words at the end of it, it blows everything up in the view of a lot of people. president macron put hit the way -- we shouldn't escalate with words or actions. that's exactly what the white house's sort of strategy, their belief has been all along. internally, what are you hearing from folks at the white house? do they think that this could complicate the situation, complicate the efforts that obviously zelenskyy wants to make right now to come to some sort of negotiated end to this for peace? >> reporter: sure, chris. that's part of the concern that some administration officials have about the president's comments. that's why you saw the white house come out so quickly to try to walk them back. the concern is that anything that sounds like the u.s. is seeking regime change in russia could, as you said, complicate

peace talk efforts but also potentially provoke further aggression from vladimir putin and feed the narrative that putin has in russia that the west is just out to topple the russian government. the president's comments are complicated by the fact that if you're a person just looking at what he says, it would be logical to say of course he doesn't think vladimir putin should remain in power, he has called him a butcher, says he's committed war crimes. but the u.s. from their position, the administration's official position is that anything that sounds like regime change is unhelpful and that want it to be very clear that the u.s. policy is not officially regime change in russia. so that's where they're drawing this distinction here. and, look, this is a speech that was supposed to be the capstone of what the white house saw as a very successful trip overseas that was hastily put together. they felt the president had rallied the u.s. allies, met

with refugees, and then was giving this very stirring, impassioned speech, and now all of that is overshadowed by that last ad lib line saying that vladimir putin should not remain in power. >> people are asking could this provoke putin. another argument is he doesn't need to be provoked, he seems to do what he wants in any moment. it also may shine a light on the fact that what president biden said is frankly what a lot of people around the world are already thinking, right? they just want vladimir putin gone and maybe that's a recognition on his part. i wonder just how you think with your knowledge of vladimir putin, how it's playing really. >> well, i certainly think vladimir putin doesn't need to be provoked. he's already lashing out and dangerous. but the president's sloppy lack of discipline will make it harder for russia to capitulate.

and so i think the president ought to have just stuck with the speech about am lied unity rather than closing on a line that allies actually don't agree on and that will make it harder for ukraine to achieve its objectives of pushing russia out and restoring peace to ukraine. i wish he hadn't said it. it was unhelpful. but i don't think it's a major ordeal, and i do think what our focus should be is on strengthening the ukrainians to fight and encouraging the russians to stop fighting. >> yeah. i saw you nodding when the general was talking about more things that the united states and nato could be doing in terms of providing weaponry and so on to ukraine. thank you, general barry mccaffrey, kori schake, carol lee, and of course molly hunter in ukraine. coming up, we have the latest on the refugee crisis in ukraine after unicef said half of the

country's children have already been displaced. plus, here at home, the shocking moment everybody's talking about after will smith smacked chris rock at the oscars last night. but a huge day for the committee investigating january 6th as they gear up to vote on contempt charges for two former top ailds to former president trump. and members of congress sound off on ginni thomas. don't go anywhere. riders! let your queries be known. yeah, hi. instead of letting passengers wrap their arms around us, could we put little handles on our jackets? -denied. -can you imagine? i want a new nickname. can you guys start calling me snake? no, bryan. -denied. -how about we all get quotes to see if we can save with america's number one motorcycle insurer? approved. cool! hey, if bryan's not gonna be snake, can i be snake? -all: no.

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developing in the nation's capital just hours from now, the january 6th committee is set to vote on contempt of congress charges for two former aides to president trump. the select committee says former trade adviser peter navarro and former deputy chief of staff dan scavino have defied subpoenas. navarro responded last month with a statement indicating he would not comply with the summons. if the committee aproves the contempt measure, the full house votes on whether to make a formal referral to the justice department. prosecutors in the u.s. attorney's office would then decide whether to file charges against the pair. and new this morning, january 6th committee is also weighing whether to question ginni thomas about her revealing set of text images between her and former president trump's chief of staff mark meadows. that's according to one member of the committee. advocating for efforts to keep

then prumpl in office, even pushing congressional republicans to be out on the streets, protesting the results of president biden's legitimate victory. there are a growing number of democrats raising red flags about whether these new revelations present a conflict of interest for ginni thomas' husband who is supreme court justice clarence thomas. >> you have the wife of a sitting supreme court justice advocating for an insurrection, advocating for overturning a legal election to the sitting president's chief of staff. and she also knows this election, these cases are going to come before her husband. this is a textbook case for removing him, recusing him from these decisions. all i hear is silence from the supreme court right now. and that better change in the coming week. >> joining us now, jake sherman, co-founder of punchbowl news, gl

enkirshner, a former prosecutor. why are these two former trump aides so important to the committee's investigation? what do they want to hear from them? >> i mean, these are people -- everybody that the january 6th committee subpoenas or most people they believe has direct knowledge of what the president was doing, thinking, planning, plotting around january 6th. and the web of financial ties there within. so obviously scavino is someone with close ties to the president, as is peter navarro. they've both spoken publicly. i would say there's basically no doubt. i'll leave the legal element to glen, but no doubt that the january 6th committee is going to recommend the justice department charge them with contempt. that will happen today. there's a little bit of a question whether it will come to the floor of the house. but i'd even say that's most likely. so this seems to be an open and shut thing. the basic way the january 6th

committee used it, this is not an optional exercise. this is a committee with subpoena power and you must listen to this committee, which is vested with system power, when it issues subpoenas. >> glen, this will be the third and fourth person being held in contempt after mark meadows and steve bannon, but the doj has only pursued bannon. that's stuck in legal limbo. where does it all head? >> i'm with jake. this is not an optional exercise and subpoenas are not something that can be declined. but the facts are clear. scavino and navarro have information and evidence directly related to president trump and the desire to overturn the election results. the legal end is murky because we've seen criminal referrals for contempt of congress before. the first was steve bannon, and it took the d.c. u.s. attorney's office 22 days to indict him.

that was a bit of a delay but still an indictment was handed down by the grand jury. mark meadows by my count, i'm not great with math, i think we're on day 104 of the mark meadows indictment watch. what does that tell us? it tells us there is some sticking point at the department of justice with respect to asking the grand jury to indict mark meadows for the crime he inarguably committed, a crime for which he has no defense, contempt of congress, because when you're subpoena'd, the supreme court says you show up. you can show up and on a question-by-question basis decline to answer questions asserting a privilege. but meadows didn't do that, navarro hasn't done it, and scavino hasn't done it. the challenge becomes congress can refer these men for contempt all day long, but they're still at the whim of the department of justice of justice regarding the doj's determination to indict these people. >> meantime, jake, we're getting new reaction from lawmakers

about those texts from ginni thomas to mark meadows, which of course sparked controversy over where justice thomas should recuse himself. take a listen. >> he's jurist who has a lot of integrity, and i think he will make that decision. i don't think what your spouse says should recuse you from whether it's in the legislative or judicial branch. >> i think we also want a thorough investigation to better understand exactly what has happened with the judge's wife. >> is there anything congress can do, or is that a separation of powers issue? >> i think we have a lot of problems with separation of power issues. itch a lot of frustrations with the supreme court as a whole that they have not taken belter measures to police themselves. >> one of the things we heard from senator cory booker is he wants a more thorough investigation into ginni thomas' actions. but what really might come of this? >> well, i would be shocked if they didn't subpoena her and at least ask her how involved she was in this effort, was she

involved with the planning of the rally and what did she tell -- again, i'm just projecting based on what i think they will do. they'll want to know whether she spoke to her husband about it. by the way, cory booker said that the supreme court does not police itself is a frustration of members of congress more broadly. they have very lax disclosure requirements. this is something that congress has talked about clamping down on. i just can't imagine that they will just let this go by without any further investigation. >> from your perspective, glenn, does something need to happen? yeah, supreme court justices famously don't abild by a set of ethics rules. it's basically self-policing. >> yeah, chris. three things need to happen. the january 6th committee absolutely needs to subpoena ginni thomas and find out what her pressure campaign involved on the white house, trying to get the white house to overturn the results of a free and fair

election, and what did she carry back to what she calls her best friend in her texts with mark meadows, she essentially says i'm keeping him apprised. at the same time, donald trump is vowing to take the election challenge to the supreme court. that raises the next issue. this couldn't be a more direct actual conflict that justice thomas had. he absolutely should have recused himself, removed himself from having any role in deciding whether a challenge that was brought in court should be heard by the supreme court, a challenge involving whether his wife's texts in part should be disclosed to the j-6 committee or hidden from it. i share senator booker's frustration, there really is no oversight mechanism and there is a separation of powers issued. but the supreme court has proved it can't be trusted to police itself, so there has to be some remedy, and that is going to be something congress has to tackle. >> glenn kirshner, jake sherman,

thanks to both of you. still ahead, one of the most shocking moments in the history of the oscars, will smith walking on stage and slapping chris rock for a joke he made about his wife. we're digging into the latest fallout next. maybe it's another refill at your favorite diner... or waiting for the 7:12 bus... or sunday afternoon in the produce aisle. these moments may not seem remarkable. but at pfizer, protecting the regular routine, and everyday drives us to reach for exceptional.

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so, let's talk about the oscars. huge win for "coda" last night, the first film from a streaming service and with a largely deaf cast to win best picture. that's not what people are talking about. instead the moment dominating every single headline is will smith, walk on stage and slapping chris rock after the comedian made a joke about his wife jaden pinkett smith's shaved head. she has alopecia that means hair loss. then he was accepting the award for best actor. joining me, joe fryer and eric dugginns. joe, even the lapd is a part of this. what's going on? >> the lapd basically saying the person involved in this incident, chris rock, has declined to press charges and basically he needs to be the one

to want to press charges if that's going to happen. at this point, that's not happening. you can see lapd will be available if he desires one. that's not happening right now. let's take a look back at what happened last night. >> reporter: it all started with a joke by presenter chris rock directed at jada pinkett smith. >> gi-jane 2, can't wait to see it. moments later, will smith rushed the stage slapping rock. uncensored clips that aired in other countries show what smith said after. . >> keep my wife's name out our [ bleep ] mouth. >> she revealed in 2018 she has alopecia, which causes hair loss. about 40 minutes after the altercation, will smith won his first oscar portraying venus and serena williams' father richard. >> he was a fierce defender of his family. i'm being called on in my life

to love people and to protect people. and to be a river to my people. i want to apologize to the academy. i want to apologize to my former fellow nominees. love will make you do crazy things. >> reporter: sunday night's incident sending shock waves through theater. >> did i miss anything? >> reporter: casting a shadow over hollywood's biggest night including an historic win for best picture. >> "coda." >> reporter: for the first time a streaming service won the top prize. apple tv plus. >> i want to thank the academy for recognizing a movie of love and family. >> that's not all. it also won best supporting actor for the first man actor to win an acting oscar. >> which would have been the big stoishgs but as we know, eric,

it wasn't. you were tweeting this in real time. a lot of people thought this was planned, so there's no doubt in your mind this was real. >> no doubt in my mind this was real in part because we had -- npr had a reporter on the scene who confirmed with the photographer who took pictures of what happened that chris rock was slapped. you could hear the sound of the slap through his microphone. people on site eventually realized it actually happened. i think in the hall especially they thought it might have been a bit until will smith got back to his seat and began cursing at chris rock and it was obvious then that he was not pretending and that what they thought they saw had happened actually happened. >> arguably, eric, two things can be true at one time. it's not nice to mock a medical condition but it's definitely not okay to hit someone even if

you're mad. how shocking was this? you watched a lot of oscars over the years. >> i have. this is a really shocking moment. it was shocking for a bunch of reasons. it was shocking because it took the air out of the room and it took attention away from the category that was announced. you know, the band leader for "the tonight show" won his first and might be his only oscar as director of "summer of soul." in me mor yam segment later was overshadowed by all the buzz in the room people talking about what just happened. and will smith about to receive his first oscar. this was going to be a creative coronation for him. he'd been a popular actor for a long time but hadn't gotten the same creative recognition for the quality of his acting. i think it was thought that tonight's -- sunday's oscars was

going to be a coronation of sorts, a win for fans to sort of acknowledge what he had achieved. and he ruined all of it by physically attacking someone who told a joke that he didn't like. and that was the saddest thing of all. this was completely avoidable and something that he brought on himself. and then when he came to apologize, he didn't apologize to the man that he struck. he didn't apologize to the person who won the oscar who had to try and recover from what he did. he didn't apologize to all the families of the people who were recognized in the memorial segment. i was shocked that will smith, who advises people how to live their life in their best way, would stoop to something so low and then not have the courage to admit he did something wrong. i was surprised the academy eve ain't loued him on stage to give his speech in light all of all of this. >> more to come on this for

sure. eric dugginns, thank you, joe fryer, appreciate you being here as well. up next, president biden's approval rating just fell to the lowest level of his presidency with people across the country worried about inflation and how he's handling the war in ukraine. steven kornacki at the big board to break it all down for us. we need to reduce plastic waste in the environment. that's why at america's beverage companies, our bottles are made to be re-made. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be 100% recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back.

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president biden is releasing his budget proposal for the upcoming year and he will discuss it publicly this afternoon. it's new chance for him to push his economics plans at a time most americans say he isn't doing anything that's working. there's a new nbc news poll that shows his approval rating has fallen to its lowest level yet, getting negative marks on everything from the economy to foreign policy. steven kornacki joins me now to break it down on the big board. also with me, former north dakota democratic senator heidi heitkamp. steve, walk us through the new poll numbers. >> seems to be a direct link with these numbers between what you're talking with about the economy and joe biden's standing in the polls and his party's standing in the polls. we find a 40% approval rating for joe biden, well over 50% disawe prove. compare this to our last poll taken in january. again, there's been a slide here over a period of time for biden.

it was 43. now it's down to 40. he's moving the wrong direction in the last couple of months. why is he moving in the wrong direction? well, interestingly, it may not be because of this. we've been talking so much about covid in. in our new poll he's back above 50% with his handling in covid. in the last poll he had fallen under water. you see cases go down, the masks start to come off. biden's numbers on covid have inched up. what is driving that? first of all, you have the war in russia and ukraine. there's a lot of unity in the poll when you ask folks about their attitude towards ukraine, their attitude towards russia, their attitude towards president putin, but when it comes to biden's handling of the situation, you can see he's under water, 41 approve, 52 disapprove. as you mentioned, it is the economy. biden's handling of the economy now almost 2 to 1 disapprove in this poll, 33/63.

again, compare this to a previous poll in january, back then he was closer to 40%. now he's closer to 30%. and long term, since the start of his presidency, 2021, this number approval of joe biden on the economy has ticked down and down and down. this is a new low for him on the economy. 33/63. asked voters an open-ended question here, what do you think the most important issue facing the country is? and there you can see the top two now cost of living, job and the economy, the war in ukraine capturing everybody's attention but it's the cost of living, jobs, the economy. those are the two answers you get from americans. i thought this was interesting. when you pose the question this way, as we did in this poll, you say, hey, both of these things are very important, controlling inflation and improving the economy, ending the russian/ukraine war, let's stipulate they're both important. which, though, do you voters think should be joe biden's top priority? you can see here it goes 68/29

when it comes to dealing with the economy. we show how that is dragging down joe biden's approval rating. it seems to be rubbing off on his party, midterm election year. republicans with a two-point advantage in our poll, 46/44 over democrats. compared to the last midterm election, drumpl was president, march 2018, you remember the 2018 midterms ended in a debacle for the republicans. you could see it coming in that poll. democrats led by 10 on the generic ballot back then. now they trail by 2. that's how different of a political climate we're in, chris. >> steve, thank you. senator, you know how this works. you don't get those kinds of numbers without democrats jumping ship from joe biden. the republican pollster says this poll tells him, "president biden and democrats are heading for a catastrophic election." do you agree? and in any case, what can be done? >> well, i think that this is a

story that has long been in the making. this isn't the first bad poll. this started six, seven months ago. and i think the failure to take severe course corrections, you're seeing it now. on the ukraine issue, that's the second side of the coin when you think about it. the war in russia is going to drive up prices and increase inflation. and so they're connected in a way. the smartest thing joe biden has ever said is don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. and so the democrats' failure is not necessarily managing what they have right now in terms of these dual crises. their failure is not defining what the republican party would do about it. and i think that when we move forward, they've got to focus exclusively on defining the republican party and what the republican party would do or these are going to be catastrophic -- >> yeah, but what people are often going to say is, but what the democratic party is doing

isn't working, so you can compare it and say that's worse, but what you're doing isn't working. >> yeah. but what is the alternative? what is it that people want to have happen? we've got dramatic increases in energy costs driven by no small measure by what's happening with the war in ukraine. and so when you look at it, billionaires in the oil industry today basically have seen their wealth grow 10%. so if i'm the biden administration, i start talking about a windfall. i start talking about what it is that we're going to do to basically reduce those oil prices and make gas and energy affordable for americans. but you also have to say that republicans don't have a plan that's going to help you, here's our plan. if i were joe biden right now, the thing that i would want is i would want the senate to introduce a bill to make insulin prices $35.

cap it at $35. and guess what happens? the republicans all vote against it and you say they don't want to help average american families. you've got to define the alternative. if you can't find a way to improve your favorabiliies in the conditions you have. >> heidi heitkamp, thank you. steven kornacki, thank you. coming up, unicef says more than half of the children in ukraine have been displaced inside or outside of the country. so what can be done to help? i'll talk to an official working on the ground. like pulsing, electric shocks, sharp, stabbing pains, or an intense burning sensation. what is this nightmare? it's how some people describe... shingles. a painful, blistering rash that could interrupt your life for weeks. forget social events and weekend getaways. if you've had chickenpox, the virus that causes shingles is already inside of you. if you're 50 years or older ask your doctor

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the children in ukraine have been displaced after one month of war. that's a total of 4.3 million kids who are out of their homes but still in ukraine or who have crossed into neighboring countries. like 16-year-old elina, who managed to escape mother and yo s. >> you're the big sister. what do you tell your young siblings to keep their spirits high. >> usually they cry when the explosions go off, they were crying a lot. and i was telling them, keep calm and we're praying. >> what would you be doing right now if it weren't for the war? >> i would be studying with, i think, i would be seeing my friends. >> joining me now, unicef spokesperson, james elder. i'm happy to see you again. we talked about three weeks ago and you told me about the horrific impact this war is having on children. how has the situation developed since the last time we spoke? tell us what you're seeing.

>> yeah, chris, it's worse. and those numbers. one in two children in this country have had to flee hair homes. one in two. and when we say flee it, means, head to a bunker or on the way to a bunke because of a bombardment, have your mom lie over you for some additional protection. it means be under siege, as we speak in cities where we're suffocating, because there's no food or water. or it means fleeing out of the country. it's a deathly situation. it's a war. it has not got better. we hear about certain cities, but there are many others. you know, i talk to children all the time who are terrified in dealing with the trauma or pregnant women, as i was in a bunker the other night. women who were giving birth prematurely because of this war. so it has not gotten better at all. there are enormous things we are doing. but right now, that

indiscriminate attacks in cities across this country continues to put children under real threat. >> talk a little bit about what you are able to do and maybe what's on your wish list. what do you feel like you need to do, but you just can't get done right now, because of the circumstances. or maybe even finances. >> i think the major things we're doing is these supplies across the country. mums keep having babies in bunkers or oxygen kits. life-saving equipment, where you have 50 hospitals now in nine districts. these are attacks from forces keep hitting civilian infrastructure. it's like war has changed now. we keep seeing civilian infrastructure targeted. so we're getting generators in, or water purification tablets. never underestimate the value of play. we've got counselors in some of those scenes where you've got a thousand children right now as we speak in bunkers and train

stations in kharkiv, the second city. we have counselors doing trauma work for them. those things are fundamentally, they're life-saving and dealing with the trauma children are facing. what we as unicef want to do in ukraine right now is just more of those. we want to get into those cities where children are trapped. where there have been bombardment, where they haven't had clean water for two days. and that means humanitarian corridors are respected, so we can get in with that support, chris. and it means that those children who need to get out, those children can escape. like, again, the mums i spoke to. i spoke to a mother yesterday, chris, who had had twins. but every time she goes to a bunker like where i am now, she takes one of her daughters, but the other is in an incubator. so the other daughter has to stay upstairs. and mother and daughter are separated. this is reality. we want to equip bunkers so bunkers are set up as hospitals.

we wish we didn't have to do that, but that's what we'll have to do right now as the bombs keep coming on civilian targets. >> my admiration and appreciation for all of you who make the conscious decision to go into contagious places to help people. it knows no bounds. thank you, james. i hope we get a chance to talk very soon and maybe we'll have a better story to tell. thank you so much for taking the time. and still ahead, nearly 2 million residents already fled kyiv, but another 2 million are staying put, and standing up to russian forces. i'm going to talk to a newspaper editor there who's staying back to cover the war, next. editor there who's staying back to cover the war, next thanks for coming. now when it comes to a financial plan this broker is your man. let's open your binders to page 188... uh carl, are there different planning options in here? options? plans we can build on our own, or with help from a financial consultant? like schwab does. uhhh... could we adjust our plan... ...yeah, like if we buy a new house? mmmm... and our son just started working.

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nearly 10% of ukraine's pre-invasion population is now refugees. tens of millions more, though, have stayed. some facing the impossible decision of whether to stay or

leave everything they know behind. some people caught up in unhumane conditions in mariupol, for example, can't get out. but others have chosen to stay, to fight, to take care of family, to report on the war. our next guest is part of that group. joining me now from kyiv, journalist veronica malkosadova thank you so much for being with us. and let me ask for you to report for us now. tell us what you're seeing on the ground, if you've noticed a change in military activity. >> yes. so, from the early morning, russian invaders have been trying to breach defenses of kyiv. they have been trying to cordon a corridor for themselves and to take control over several very important strategic routes and highways. but our forces have been fighting back. and according to the latest reports of the local mayor, they

have liberatd irpin. this is the town in kyiv that was also almost destroyed by the -- by russia's shelling. and it seems it has now been liberated. so, yes, despite announcing earlier that donbas is now the main priority of russian military, russian generals have lied again, and they keep attacking kyiv. >> in spite of the danger, i mean, the obvious danger, you've decided to stay. tell us why. >> because it's my city. i was born here. i met my husband here. i, i made my career in journalism here. i cannot imagine how i would leave the city. i understand people who decided to leave, most of them have kids.

i don't, to, maybe i don't have so much to lose as others, but i think that if everyone would leave kyiv, putin will win. and i don't want to let him win. so here, 2 million who have stayed, as i did, we have been trying to do our best to support the defense of kyiv, to support territorial defense and soldiers and others. >> we have very little time left, but are you hopeful that vladimir putin will not win? >> hope is everything we have left, so, yeah. >> there are a lot of, millions of people, here in america and around the world who hope along with you. veronica, thank you for continuing to report there and thank you for taking the time to talk to us. that's going to wrap up this hour. i'm chris jansing. i'll see you back here at 9:00 a.m. eastern.

jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin this very busy monday morning with the latest on the russian invasion of ukraine. the war on the ground may be changing shape, while the capital city of kyiv reported no new attacks overnight, a series of missiles plummeted the western city of lviv over the weekend, as a dire humanitarian scenario is unfolding in besieged mariupol, with critical resources running out. we'll bring you a live report from ukraine. and a ukrainian mother who fled to miami with her children will join us to share her story. meanwhile, the white house is trying to contain the fallout from president biden's comment that russian leader putin cannot stay in power, saying the u.s. is not calling for a regime change in russia. florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz will join us to discuss what more the u.s. can do to support its allies.