and a good monday morning to you. craig melvin here this hour. we have the rapidly changing situation, including a possible shift in russian strategy on the ground. in just the last hour or so, the mayor of the city of irpine said ukrainian forces have liberated that city. it's a claim that can be not independently verified by nbc news but they say russia could try to split the country in two. ukraine's military intelligence chief said putin has realized he, quote, can't swallow the entire country. also the russian government is out with a response to president biden saying vladimir putin, quote, cannot remain in power. we'll have that response. plus, we'll have insight from a former member of ukraine's parliament in just a few

minutes. meanwhile, in hard-hit mariupol, the nightmare continues. that city's mayor today says around 160,000 people are stuck with, quote, no water, no light, no heat, no communication and that the city is, quote, impossible to live in today. to the north in kharkiv, a group of entertainers doing their best today to give children living on subway platforms a brief break from the violence above ground. some have been living there underground with no sunlight for more than a month. >> reporter: so many people have left this country. why are you staying here? >> translator: this is our land and we love it, she says. >> let's get to our team on the ground. richard engel on the ground for us once again, let's start in ukraine. give us a sense of the energy

where you are. what more can you tell us about this possible shift in russian strategy? >> reporter: so it is very hard to know if this is a real shift in russian strategy or if this was simply a statement from the russian military to try and save face. the russian military has had its most success, if you can call it, the only place where it's able to really able to hold territory and take territory, in the south, particularly in the southeast and other pockets of the east. we heard a couple days ago the russian military announced its main objective was really the east and particularly the areas around the separatist pockets. but we're not -- it's not at all clear that russia has given up its objectives around kyiv. and just a short while ago, one of the top military spokespeople in ukraine said he didn't see any evidence of a russian

withdrawal around kyiv. we have this stated change in strategy, which may be a face-saving maneuver, and no real change of troops or armor around kyiv. but the ukrainians are still pushing ahead because they recognize the russian troops particularly in the west, particularly around the capitol are on their back foot, have been suffering losses, that their supply chain was stretched too thin and the mayor of urpine has been taken back. so the fact that they've been able to take that suburb is a big accomplishment for the ukrainian government but i'm not sure it means that the russian military has given up on kyiv and has pulled back its forces. it could have been just that it's an acknowledgement by russia that its offensive toward kyiv has been failing and losing

ground so it is now claiming to have redirected its forces here and to the east. >> richard, records of another attempted peace talks tomorrow. any reason at this juncture to be optimistic that there may be some sort of solution that comes out of that? >> not really. i say that with great regret because the ukrainians that we've been speaking to said that the russians are still demanding basically everything. they're demanding large pieces of this territory, they're demanding denatsification, demilitarization, naziification and why would you ask your enemy fighting with your military to lay down its arms. they do seem far apart.

but the russian military has been a fiasco. so the ukrainians have a lot more leverage than one would have expected, certainly more than the russian side would have expected as we're more than one month in. the short answer is no. i don't think we're looking forward to any breakthroughs coming out of the talks at istanbul tomorrow. >> our chief foreign correspondent richard engel once again on the ground in kharkiv. stay safe, my friend. thank you so much for your report. carol, the president calling president biden's comment about putin, quote, alarming. the russians aren't the only ones responding about that off-the-cuff comment by biden. >> reporter: we've seen multiple

attempts from the administration to try to walk back and clarify the president's comments. there was an initial statement released by the white house shortly after the president made that comment in an ad-libbed line at the end of his speech. secretary blinken repeating that the effort was not about regime change. and there's been multiple attempts to try to walk this back and clarify it. at the same time you're hearing from a number of lawmakers who are stressing the importance of the u.s. making clear that their policy is not regime change in russia. we heard senator cory booker, a democrat and rob portman, a republican, talking about this on "meet the press." take a listen. >> i think the administration has made it clear that the goal of the united states is not regime change in russia, it's

defending the extraordinary people of ukraine. >> we're in a crisis. we're in a war situation. so clarity is incredibly important. and we need to be sure that we are also clear with our nato allies because that's how we are stronger. >> look, craig, the concern that officials have here is that in the line that the president said could provoke putin to be more aggressive or it could just generally feed russia's propaganda machine with this narrative that putin puts out there that the west, the united states, that the ultimate goal is to really topple the russian government. again, the u.s. coming out and saying that is not the case, not the goal. but the bottom line is that the president had what the white house saw as a very successful trip to europe. he reassured u.s.'s nato allies and he met with refugees and he

gave this big speech and all of that is being overshadowed by this particular ad libbed line at the end of his speech. >> i want to bring in dan, a national security and global affairs reporter for nbc news. u.k. officials say russian forces have made no progress in the past 24 hours and it comes as we're perhaps seeing a shift in moscow's efforts. what does this tell us? >> it does seem like it's a rationalization of really a month of failures. this has been a faltering campaign now for four weeks for the russians. they have really not achieved any of their major objectives. so we'll just have to see whether this is just a temporary kind of statement, a holding statement that they make or

whether this is genuinely a change in their objectives. but the statement that they've made about how they're going to focus on the eastern region now and claiming they never really aimed to go after kyiv or the west and now we do see more russian forces and activity and energy focused on that eastern donbas region. it does suggest the russians might be narrowing their objectives and try and seize just part of ukraine, perhaps the eastern part of ukraine and declare victory or at least use that as leverage moving forward. we'll just have to see. but at the same time, they still are showing missile strikes elsewhere. so it's hard to say. no question the way the ukrainians have fought back and taken out tanks and helicopters, this has all taken a toll and the russian campaign has been marked by a series of setbacks,

mistakes and really incompetence. so they're possibly trying to regroup now and maybe we'll see even more forces, you know, deployed in the east. they're talking about bringing in reinforcements from the republic of georgia where russian forces are. it's another indication despite having amassed a huge number of troops, they still need more fire power to push forward and gain traction. >> thank you so much for that. we also have a major update on a story we've been following from ukraine. the family of that ukrainian american pastor says he has been freed more than a week after they say russian forces kidnapped them from their house in southeastern ukraine. his family made that announcement today saying they are, quote, relieved. his family told nbc news on sunday night between eight and ten russian troops snatched him

the morning of march 19th. thankfully that kidnapped pastor has been freed. >> still ahead, a former marine who was recently in ukraine said in an op-ed, i trained ukrainians to fight russia. i've never seen a war like this. >> and now starting today, kids in the capital of kyiv are resuming school remotely. i'll talk to a former member of ukraine's parliament about that part of the story. >> and just moments ago, the white house releasing the budget. a special focus on billionaires.

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in just the last few minutes, nbc news has learned that the united states is working to speed up entry for ukrainians with u.s. relatives. josh letterman is in warsaw, poland, helped break this story for us. the new information comes from a question you asked the state department. what did the spokesperson there tell you? >> reporter: well, craig, we know there has been a lot of fresh hope for ukrainians who have gathered here, more than 2 million who fled ukraine, since president biden announced he would accepted refugees. they're going to do it through a mix of refugee program, parole

status, immigrant and non-immigrant visas. all have very complicated, lengthy processes. ukrainians, we watched them teeing up here outside the embassy in warsaw today trying to figure out how do i get in, where do i send my application? if you're a relative of a u.s. citizen, you're supposed to go to the u.s. consulate in frankfurt, germany. now a states department spokesman telling me they're working to speed up this process and exploring how they can accelerate the arrivals of ukrainians, specifically those with family ties in the united states. they'll have more to announce about these new perhaps think in these different posts to make sure they it handle this influx of applications that is leading to really long wait times. if you're trying to get an

appointment for a visitor visa to the united states, the wait time for an appointment right now is 125 calendar days. sorry, we've got a light falling here. in poland at the consulate, it 100 days. 350 days if you're waiting in moldova and in hungary, they're only accepting emergency basis appointments right now. so that is the challenge that the state department is trying to address here, even as they are figuring out how to get refugees into the country through existing legal channels. that's just a drop in the bucket when you think about the well over 4 million ukrainians who have fled their country and are looking for a safe haven to ride out the rest of this war. craig. >> the always unflappable josh letterman. iphone with the breaking news with the left hand, stopping the

falling right. impressive, my friend. thank you for that brand new reporting. i'm glad you're safe. meanwhile, no bad grades or homework. that's the plan for the remote schooling that got back under way today for the children of kyiv. officials say the balance but a little more than 20 miles west of kyiv, even that is impossible for this small village. the entire town up flattened by russian shelling. sky news correspondent alex kauford talked to a school principal there. >> reporter: svetlana has been the principal here for the last two decades, only to see it all leveled in an instant. >> translator: i'd like for all of this to be sorted, she tells

you. this is so very hard for her. it 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. she can hardly talk through her weeping. it's not right, children are not guilty of anything, she says. >> our sky news correspondent alex crawford there. with me now, hanna hopko, the chairwoman of the democracy in action conference and a former member of the ukrainian parliament. let's start with the city of kyiv, restarting remote is that

possible? >> so let me honest, before ukraine wings and i am sure we are winning this war. we just need more weapon. so this is the only way for us to go. we need to supply our armed forces with their own defense with anti-tank and anti-missile systems that our kids could be back to normal. schools and also refugees also from poland, from slovak republics, they need to be back home. so the key goal of ukraine's government, ukraine government and our goal is to win these and this is in the interest of the american people, it's in the interest of you, it's a global way, and this is crucially

important for us. >> there appear to be reports of the ukrainian military retaking some of these towns and cities. those are the reports we're getting back here. can you confirm those reports? are ukrainian troops actively retaking towns and cities that had been under russian control? >> i of course my best friend, he's like 40 kilometers to russian water. and he has military experience. and yesterday we gave him two cars, and he is now sink, he has called in for more humanitarian assistance because it's so important to rebuild

infrastructure. and he's one of the most successful mayor. he's eight years of the service. it was one of the most beautiful, one of the most how to say effective in providing services to the look out and you know about it's a city closer to kyiv, our capital. of ukrainian to help us to win. are you helping us to win or not to collapse? do you have the strategy of a post-putin world? because definitely, we are will

and we demand the green card. and in mariupol, it's a genocide. russia violates international humanitarian law. we are and they will be punished at the international tribunal. >> hannah hopko for us again. thank you and please continue to stay safe and we'll talk to you very soon. thank you again, hannah. >> please continue supporting us. and the sooner we win, the fastic victory comes, the less human laws so we'd to help ukraine and make our victory closes. thank you for covering the

situation in ukraine. >> the ukrainian armed forces undoubtedly that is something that has been demonstrated time and time gorch the last two months. back here, the white house just unveiled pride mr. a budget budget po a a proposed billionaire tax. what it means for the 20,000 wealthiest american households and yours. 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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you'd think the sax player would be getting ready for his solo... but no. he's currently checkin' his investments. you gotta have a plan outside the band, man. digital tools so impressive, you just can't stop. what would you like the power to do? just moments ago the biden white house released its 2023 budget proposal, and the budget includes funding for some key domestic issues like covid relief, affordable housing, clean energy and $773 billion from the department of defense and more than $7 billion to support european allies. it also includes a new plan to get billionaires to pay more. it's called the billionaire

minimum income tax plan and it would create a 20% minimum tax rate on americans that are worth more than $100 million. with me, elan mui. what does the plan say about this white house? >> obviously the white house believe the wealthy are not paying their fair share. what's interesting is not only that it goes after the risk but it rethinks the way we calculate wealth. this tax would be on not only the money you earn for your job and work but all the other stock options and holdings live most of their life off of. this new tax would require them to pay a tax on these earnings as they go along, not just when the stock is sold, not just when

the money is in their pocket. as and that's a really big difference in the way that taxes are calculated but it would raise $360 billion over the next decade according to the white house and they want to use that money to fund some of those domestic priorities you talked about. >> that was a great explanation of the change, by the way, ylan, in terms of not just paying the tax on the stock sale, but paying the taxes that stock continues to appreciate in value. the reason a lot of these uber wealthy folks don't pay much in taxes, they've got really good lawyers, very smart accountants to find ways around our overly complex tabs. >> well, it's quite possible they will do the same thing here. one of the ways that billionaires get around these

taxes is by simply leaving those stocks and all those assets to the people who follow them, their survivors when when they pass away. they pass it on to the next generation. they also give it away to chart. and he said if any of those things happen, the and since they never sold the stock, they gave it away. that's one way they could get around it still. the other reason is because the irs is overtaxed and overwhelmed. we know the tax and to try to add this on their and that could mean that they don't have the resources to go. >> thank you for your time this morning, ylan mui. . >> quote, the academy does not

don't violence of any form. that short statement comes on the wave watch made be the wildest moment in the history of the oscars. actor will smith minutes away from winning the award for best in that dynamic moment on stage, and smacking chris rock. rock had just made a comment about his wife jada pinkett. >> wow, will smith just smacked the [ bleep ] out of me. have we heard anything new from smith or chris rock? >> reporter: nothing directly

from smith or rock. the only comment we might have from rock comes indirectly from the lapd. they said chris rock declined to pursue charges. police says what made this surreal after it happened, everyone in the room realized there was a 99% chance going going to win ans and gave a six-minute speech with tears coming down his face. here's just a little bit of what he said. >> i'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people. i want to apologize to the academy, i want to apologize to all my fellow nominees.

>> what so many people are talking about right now is how this really overshadowed everything else that happened in the oscars. chris rock was there to present the oscar for best documentary, which went to quest love. a lot of people probably weren't paying terribly close attention to his motional speech for winning for "summer of soul" and it's the first time a streaming service won an award, and the first deaf man won an acting trophy, a powerful, emotional, heartfelt moment, all of that overshadowed by what happened within chris rock and will smith. >> it wasn't just the slap. it was will smith returning to his seat and screaming the obscenity at chris rock as well, after he already slapped him. >> that's right. if you were watching an american

television, you didn't hear that. the sound went down. in some countries they did broadcast that. he used an expletive. keep my wife's name out of your mouth is what he said. so many people didn't know at the time was this a joke, was this a sketch, was it real? and when people saw the motion on will smith's face, people started to realize it was real. i think people are wondering if the academy will say anymore beside that brief statement. joe, thank you so much. and, by the way, folks, you can see joe on "morning news now" over on our streaming network

weekdays 7 a.m. eastern. you can also see joe saturdays on "weekend today." joe fryar does not sleep much. up next, they survived the holocaust in world war ii. and they're in danger once again and the race is on to rescue them. >> on our way to lviv, she said we were driving past these twouj. what does russia want from us? i don't understand this. ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible

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flee their homes. jacob soboroff followed a rescue operation for who of them. here's how it went. >> reporter: the dangerous rescue mission began soon after curfew lifted. aid workers sent to extract two who will cast survivors. this woman 82 with her daughter, veronica. next boris and his daughter-in-law, also named nat alia. both spent their childhood evading nazis. they set off on the 350-mile drive to lviv. a member of the rescue organization was waiting for them. >> reporter: you came during the war to rescue holocaust survivors? >> yes. >> reporter: i met survivor

natalia. we came back and asked about her past. did you have to hide from the nazis? >> her daughter, veronica, said that she did and that veronica's most carried her to a shelter. >> reporter: just hearing your daughter tell the story of your life as a child here, it's made you cry. >> translator: it's not just remembering the stories, it's about what's happening now. it's really stressing me out, natalia said. >> reporter: what do you want the world to know? >> translator: live, enjoy, live in peace, she said. what do we do if that's all gone? >> reporter: what was it hardest to leave behind in your home? >> translator: you have to abandon your whole life, she said. on our way to lviv we were trying past these huge fields and i told my daughter this was the battlefield during world war ii. what does russia want from us? i don't understand this.

>> reporter: we left them to pack up and saw boris waiting to start his journey. >> for so many the holocaust is something you read in a history book but you lived through it. "i was just a child," he said. >> what does this bring up for you? "it's disgusting," he said, living through putin's war. >> jacob, thank you. take a look at this. ukrainian service member standing on top of a russian tanks. this picture captured just outside kyiv on sunday. my next guest will be a former u.s. marine who has trained fighters all over the world, including in ukraine now.

in an op-ed he writes he's never seen a war quite like this, like backyard paint ball but with a horrific human toll. what he saw on the ground that led to that comparison next. ext. what could the father of the bride possibly be doing on his phone? checking in with his merrill advisor to see if he's on track to do this again... and again. did i mention she made the guest list? digital tools so impressive, you just can't stop. what would you like the power to do? a financial advisor who gives me personalized advice that helps build my portfolio and my confidence? now you're talking. no wonder ameriprise financial has been named the #1 most trusted wealth manager. ameriprise financial. advice worth talking about.

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quote, i trained ukrainians to fight russia. i've never seen a war like this ". that's what a retired marine who traveled to ukraine told "the washington post" about his time training fighters on the combat line. he trained for 14 years as a force reconnaissance trainer but he never worked with soldiers who were the last line of defense on their own door steps. he says the militia was, quote, made up of local men who only a few weeks earlier worked as shop keepers and truck drivers and almost any other job you could think of that didn't involve holding a rifle. zachary joins me now. first of all, three days after russia started its invasion in ukraine, your friend says to you do you want to go? and you write we had no idea what this war would be like but

we knew what to look out for in a combat zone and we wanted to use our skills in combat medicine and resource coordination to help people. why -- why did you feel so compelled to travel thousands of miles from your home outside chicago chicago into a war zone? >> well, good morning, craig, thanks for having me. my friend yuri is from ukraine, a recent naturalized citizen. he said he wanted to go back home and see what was going on, see his family members, and we weren't going to let him go alone. once we had gotten there, we figured out how to get to work and how to help, and what they needed was to train their newly recruited fighters. >> and what did you teach the troops? what was your focus while you were there? >> i mean, we trained everything from how not to point a rifle at each other and combat medicine, to how to patrol, how to take cover in an alleyway, all kinds

of things, but really, really just the bare basics, minimum. >> in that op-ed, i was struck by your comparison, albeit not a direct comparison but you talked about the shopkeepers and folks who just a few weeks ago, you know, had regular jobs, and now -- >> right. >> all of a sudden they're forced to defend their own country, sort of conjured up images what it might have been like back here in this country around 1776 when farmers took up arms. you'd spent a lot of time talking to the ukrainians there, i would imagine. how did you find them to be? >> i found them to be fantastic people. very caring, very loving, very supportive. their hospitality was out of this world. you know, almost weren't allowed to order. when we went out to eat, they wanted to give us their best dishes, and they wanted to present their best things, but when i was working with the men we were training, i just found,

like, the highest level of selflessness you could find. there were so many men who had traveled back from living in europe who came to ukraine to fight in the war. there were so many men who were older than 60 who could have escaped ukraine, but chose to fight in the war. one of the individuals in charge of one of the groups we were training, three weeks earlier, owned an aquarium store. >> that's crazy. i mean, to what do you attribute their ability so far to keep the russians at bay? i mean, there were reports today that they're already starting to take back some of the major cities that were initially lost. to what do you attribute that? this sort of, not to oversimplify it, but perhaps by western standards, this rag tag bunch of service members who have been able to keep goliath at bay so far. >> right. and what i really found was that the whole country has mobilized in war effort, you know, women

were making cami netting to place on vehicles or, you know, sensitive items, and all kinds of things, and the men were taking up arms and filling sandbags all day. there was a priest who was building big jacks for in the middle of the road for armored vehicles, to impede them. just everyone's in straight war effort. i don't think there's any anyone that i met that was just selfishly looking for themselves. >> yeah. well, that's how they have become a global inspiration for sure. zachary, thank you, zachary burgart, and i understand you're going back at some point. safe travels to you, and thanks for what you're doing. god speed. tonight the january 6th committee is going to be meeting to decide whether two former trump administration aides should be referred to the department of justice for criminal contempt of congress charges, and right now, the big question, what happens now that we've seen those text messages from the wife of a supreme court

justice, the latest on the jeanie thomas saga right after this. bloop bloo

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the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas, and former president trump's chief of staff mark meadows where she urged meadows to challenge trump's election loss. nbc's sahil kapur is on capitol hill, following this story for us. what should we expect tonight from the committee? >> reporter: craig, we are first seeing grocery pressure on both the thomases, as a result of the fallout of these text messages, and justice thomas, facing pressure for recusal, now that his wife is roped up in the overturning of the election. some democratic lawmakers are calling for congress to pass legislation that would require the supreme court to set up a code of ethics. it is up to justice thomas whether to recuse himself, and notice some republicans are not joining the calls for him to recuse. the january 6th subcommittee has yet to announce whether they

plan to bring her in for questioning. they are considering whether to talk to her, whether to glean more information from her, and some are skeptical that the evidence that was handed over by mark meadows, then the chief of staff who was on the receiving end of those text messages is the complete story. let's have a listen to what one member of the january 6th committee, adam kinzinger had to say. >> i'm not confident meadows has handed over everything at all. he was cooperating in a little bit, and in an attempt to make donald trump happy he stopped cooperating. i'm not convinced he's handed over everything to us, and that's why it's in the doj's hands now, whether to prosecute him for contempt. >> reporter: now a january 6th committee aide declined to comment when i asked earlier if they intend to talk to ginni thomas. the committee will vote on whether to hold two trump administration officials, peter navarro, and dan scavino in contempt for refusing to comply with the subpoena. after that it goes to the full

house of representatives, once that passes as a formal recommendation for criminal prosecution. >> sahil kapur on capitol hill for us. thank you so much. and thank you as well. that's going to do it for me on this busy monday. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. good day, this is "andrea mitchell reports" back in washington. russia claiming to be shifting its assault against ukraine to the east. that claim has been contradicted by its strike on the western city of lviv on saturday while the president was 45 miles away on the border of poland. this is a top ukrainian official says russia is now trying to split ukraine in two, potentially slicing off more territory in the east, including donbas. in his first interview with