working class families to be able to weatherize their homes, to save them money to, keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. it's a direct grant. this program has been around for a while, and in the past it has delivered to average families another $327 in savings when they weatherize, and now they have the ability to reach ten times as many families because of the legislation already passed in the legislation. in addition to that we are also setting new standards to boost fuel economies to new vehicles sold in america. within five years we will travel ten miles more on every single gallon we have because the average fuel economy of 49 miles to the gallon will be required. that means hundreds of dollars in savings for families at the pump. we're setting similar standards for appliances, the washer and

dryer. look, the bottom line is this, between ramping up production in the short term and driving down demand in the long term, we can free ourselves from our independence on imported oil from across the world. look, i know gas prices are painful. i get it. my plan is going to help ease that pain today and safeguard against tomorrow. i am open to ideas to strengthen the plan but i will not be put off and put it on hold. it's time to deliver true independence in america, and i will use every tool at my disposal to protect you from putin's price hike. it's not time for politics. americans can't afford that right now. let's meet this together. we are the only nation that has turned every crisis we faced

into an opportunity. let's show true strength in the nation, and true or revolve and innovative spirit in america. if we stand up to the bullies of the world, the autocrats and dictators, we stand up to those who are ready to unite, unite with us, the united states of america. may god bless you and may god protect our troops. thank you. >> could putin be misinformed by his advisers? >> that's an open question. there's a lot of speculation, but he seems to be -- i am not saying this with a certainty. he seems to be self isolated, and there's some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers. but i don't want to put too much

stock at this time because we don't have that much hard evidence. >> how much in monetary terms do you estimate today's announcement will reduce gas prices and when can americans expect to see these changes? >> there's no firm answer. prices came down when it was released that biden was going to release so many barrels. my guess is we will see it come down and continue to come down. how far down, i don't think anybody can tell. there will be a slight delay. because if you are out there and you are a gas station and you purchased x amount of gas at a certain price, you will not lower the price at the pump until you get back what you invested, and i am talking about a matter of days and weeks. but it's hard to tell, but it will come down and it could come

down fairly significantly. it could come down from 10 cents to 35 cents a gallon. it's unknown at this point. i am also waiting to see whether or not our allies -- exactly how many barrels they release from their supplies now. my guess is it could be as high -- somewhere between 30 million to 50 million barrels, and the higher the number the more likely the prices will come down. thank you all very much. appreciate it. thank you. >> mr. president have you seen any signs -- >> good to be with you. i am katy tur. with oil prices surging, president biden just announced he would release oil from u.s. strategic reserves. 1 million barrels every day for as many as six months. now, when asked about how much prices are going to drop the

president said it's hard to know but he did make a point of blaming this mostly on vladimir putin, calling it a crisis that will not end until the war is over. today a kremlin spokesman played down any expectations that presidents putin and zelenskyy will meet face-to-face anytime soon, which would be an indicator of an end to the war. i am going to leave that here for a second because president biden just came back out. let's listen. >> let's say, i am just going to focus on donbas but not worry about the rest of the country. i don't have proof, and he could continue to keep an eye on and move beyond the rest of the country. i don't know the answer, but it appears so far that he has not pulled all of the troops from around kyiv and moving south. there's no evidence that he has done that. thank you.

>> all right. it does not appear he will come back again, just to button things up here, i believe the president was asked about vladimir putin and the russians saying they are going to back off kyiv and other cities. he says that it's not quite clear yet if anybody can trust that, that they are maybe just refocusing on the donbas and key cities, and that's what i believe he was answering just then. back to what we were talking about in terms of u.s. intelligence. yesterday the intelligence had said vladimir putin was not being told the truth by his advisers. a kremlin spokesman rejected those claims by the u.s. and rejected the intelligence that vladimir putin is being misled.

it appeared his advisers had been too afraid to tell him the truth, and we said russia's claims of de-escalation are hollow, back to what the president was speaking about a moment ago. nato's secretary general said their intel shows russia is not withdrawing but repositioning its troops. in kharkiv, a new humanitarian corridor was open according to the regional governor. the forces were difficult to predict leaving thousands of citizens trapped across that region. meanwhile a convoy of 17 evacuation buses did make it out of the besieged city of mariupol today. the russian defense ministry agreed to a cease-fire and humanitarian corridors starting on friday. more than 100,000 people have been trapped in that city as it has been targeted by russian

bombs. most are without electricity, food, water and shelter. it's, again, hard to take the russians at their word for things. and joining me now, dan duhlus and shannon petty. i want to get to the announcement from the president releasing the oil and asking americans to get more energy independent, use solar, adding incentives for that. i am curious about the threat to oil companies, saying they need to tap into the drilling that they are able to do and not hold anything back. i wonder, has there been any interaction between the white house and oil companies behind the scenes before today's stick, i should say? >> yeah, there has been a tit for tat. there was outreach over the

summer when oil prices were high and i talked to people close to the oil industry and they said the white house reached out and there had been conversations and it was the first outreach they had on a significant level since the beginning of this administration, where of course, things from the oil company's perspective got off to a bad start like some of the executive orders like drilling on federal lands. as things progressed the administration talked about reaching out to work with the oil industry. when i talk to people close to the oil industry, they say that outreach has not been there or been productive. instead we have increasingly heard from the white house accusing the oil industry of not drilling enough on federal land, so a bit of an ironic message that we heard from the administration that came in committed to scaling back drilling on federal land and scaling back the use of fossil fuels are trying to shame the oil industry into drilling more

on federal lands and use some of the leases they do have, and it seems like the tensions have escalated. of course, today, a rather significant escalation with the president calling on congress to fine oil companies for not using drilling permits they have on federal land. here's more of what the president had to say there. >> to help execute the first part of my plan, i am calling for a use it or lose it policy. congress make companies pay fees on leases. companies that are already producing from these wells won't be affected, but those sitting on unused leases and idle wells will either have to start producing or pay the price for their inaction. >> you know, the oil industry says, you know, their response to that is that some of these wells, it takes years to develop. there's often litigation that ties things up. they say sometimes they get a

lease and it turns out the oil is not viable on there. essentially the two sides don't appear to be working at all when the oil companies, the administration says, needs to be producing more oil and the industry says they are not getting the help or support they need and the administration is missing the mark on what they feel they need to produce more. >> the price of oil is a global thing. we can release all the oil we want, but it doesn't mean the prices will go down in this country but the entire market will go down, which makes it a less dramatic drop than people might want. the president was asked directly about how much he expects the price to drop, and he said very honestly that it's hard to tell. >> yeah. just to put some of the numbers into context. the president is releasing about a million barrels a day and that will come on the market in may, and america uses about 20 million barrels of oil a day so

it increases that. and it will have to do with what other companies step up with. opec plus does not appear to be willing to pump up their production, so now it's the president turning to the g7 and some of the other developed countries with oil to step up their preserves and all the administration says it's a shorter term solution until they can get to ultimately the long-term solution they see as reducing the use of fossil fuels, and then you heard about mining and trying to use the defense production act to up that so you have more batteries for electric vehicles and we are less dependent on china for those vehicles as a solution to this. >> there's a real oil crisis in

terms of grain and wheat. ukraine exports a lot of the world's wheat. i heard you address this a little earlier today, but tell us how ukraine is doing in its ability to export food around the world? >> hey, katy. ukraine is the world's sixth largest exporter of wheat. it accounts for about 10% of the global market, so that is very significant economic lifeline for this country. but the u.n. is now saying that wheat exports could be reduced by about 20 or 30%, which is very significant and part of the reason for that is all of their port cities have been decimated by russian bombardment, as we have seen in places like mariupol and obviously mariupol.

they cannot get out those essential exports. mariupol, not only wheat comes out of mariupol, but 80% of ukraine's wheat, coal, corn and machinery comes out of the port of mariupol, and that's not maneuverable for them. that's a dramatic de-escalation of funds for this country which they need very badly. they will issue special licenses for wheat exports because they want to keep that wheat in the country because of possible food shortages here, but they still need to get a lot of that out of the country and they are not able to do it because the russians now have control of the black sea making it difficult for them to get a much-needed financial lifeline here. >> in terms of lifelines, the u.s. has been sending not just financial lifelines to ukraine, but we have been sending

military lifelines in terms of arms. you have some reporting about how long that is sustainable for us? >> that's right. this relative success of the ukrainian forces and slowing down the russian invasion has created a whole situation that i think nobody in government expected and that's to move weapons on a really large scale to ukraine. we are sending thousands of anti-tank weapons, and hundreds of stingers and rounds of ammunition, and you are hearing on capitol hill this may not be sustained without a serious program to try and ramp up production of some of these weapons because there is so many of them on the shelf, and the nato countries have the same problems, and canada said they cannot any longer draw on their own supplies, they will have to go out and purchase some of these weapons. so it's another kind of unexpected challenge of the

conflict that the biden administration is trying to grapple with. >> really interesting. guys, thank you so much for taking an alternate perspective to a story that we have been covering so much for over a month now. thank you, guys. joining me from kyiv is adviser to president zelenskyy's chief of staff and parliament. i want to talk to you about what you are seeing or hearing about on the ground in ukraine in terms of the military. it seems like everybody overestimated russia's military, at least in this conflict and underestimated ukraine's military. >> that's true. >> what is the assessment of what you are getting right now about where the war stands? >> it's true, the ukrainian army was very much underestimated and before the war started they promised to take control over our capital during two or three, four days.

let me say, we have almost five weeks of this war in ukraine, and kyiv is a safe place and they are trying to come in from the north and west, but with really a lack of success. yesterday they declared that maybe we are going to move our army in another direction just as a sign of possible de-escalation. believe me, they did it not because of the goodwill but because the ukrainian army very much aggressively attacking them out of kyiv. you know, very successfully attacking them to control periods around the capital. this is our idea to at least invite people back to the capital to have life it was before. also we have success in the eastern region. yesterday i was in a small town

that is well known because they have a chocolate factory from kraft, one of the global companies, and they leave about 35 days under there occupation, and now this town is released. what i watched yesterday with my own eyes, it was horrible, they destroyed hospitals and railway station and tanks left by russian troops on the ground, blood everywhere. food -- the rest of bodies. it smells horrible. like in a movie, but it's not in movie. this was the reality that was under the occupation. now i agree with the statement that maybe russia wants to just maneuver to take some troops from kyiv and to put all efforts

to control donbas region, with the idea to control where they did not control before the war started, and to make the position stronger and to have war initiation with ukraine. >> you touched on this a second ago that people -- it will be safe enough for people to start coming back to these retaken regions and cities. is there an expectation you will be able to keep the russians off or is it still too unstable right now? >> i permanently call to come to kyiv back, and i see how things changed since march, in the last month, and so in the beginning of march it was like a host city, and now we have low cafe

restaurants, supermarket, pharmacies and service shops open. so life, step by step, coming back to the capital. that is why i believe as early people come back as better they feel themselves a new reality to face. life is going to be changed, but it will be less normal than it was before but i believe as soon as we start the economy work, as soon as people come back, as better ukraine goes through this crisis, through this war. that's why it's very important for people, at least in cities like more less safe to come back. and kharkiv, much less safer, i believe now. i heard the sound of bombing at night but i think there's clean in kharkiv, the streets are clean and all the horrible

things destroyed that we watched at the beginning of the month, we just have buildings destroyed and it's important for some business to come back and start working. next week it will be the restart of the plant in ukraine, which was stopped at the beginning of the war. we are looking for another big factory owned by international corporation to start working in the city of our president zelenskyy. so the early response as strong as the ukraine economy can be, and we are looking for support from the international community and not only with weapons but financial support, because it's difficult but i think we lost about 30% of our economy immediately during the first month of the war. >> yeah, that had to freeze. i think it's interesting you are asking people to come back to kyiv, that it's stable enough right now and the idea that

people -- >> it's more stable than it was before. >> more stable. >> it's not stable while there's russian troops, and there is our very strong condition, but they can stay there for a while and that's why it's important to normalize peoples' lives as soon as possible. >> small victories. more stable is better than it was before. thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. still ahead, we have new and surprising insight into what russians think of vladimir putin. plus, jared kushner speaks but beyond what he said. what his mere appearance means for the january 6th investigation. later, severe storms cut through the south. at least 18 tornadoes and two people dead. where the storms are going next.

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? (woman) oh. oh! hi there. diyou're jonathan, right?ve, the 995 plan!n't stop. yes, from colonial penn. your 995 plan fits my budget just right. excuse me? aren't you jonathan from tv, that 995 plan? yes, from colonial penn. i love your lifetime rate lock. that's what sold me. she thinks you're jonathan, with the 995 plan. -are you? -yes, from colonial penn. we were concerned we couldn't get coverage, but it was easy with the 995 plan. -thank you. -you're welcome. i'm jonathan for colonial penn life insurance company. this guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance plan

is our #1 most popular plan. it's loaded with guarantees. if you're age 50 to 85, $9.95 a month buys whole life insurance with guaranteed acceptance. you cannot be turned down for any health reason. there are no health questions and no medical exam. and here's another guarantee you can count on: guaranteed lifetime coverage. your insurance can never be cancelled. just pay your premiums. guaranteed lifetime rate lock. your rate can never increase. pardon me, i'm curious. how can i learn more about this popular 995 plan? it's easy. just call the toll-free number for free information. (soft music) ♪

everyone's a multitasker these days. and with supersonic wifi from xfinity, your internet can multitask too. it's got gig speeds to the most homes... advanced security that blocks billions of cyberthreats... and enough power for a house full of devices. plus when you get xfinity internet and mobile together, you can save hundreds off your wireless bill compared to verizon. hello? it's for you. xfinity can do all that. sorry, verizon. he's the highest ranking official and first family member

to speak with the january 6th committee. jared kushner sat for the committee today. joining me is national correspondent, betsy woodruff swan. and also daniel goldman. you have been in rooms like this and you formulated questions along these lines, not for this particular episode, but, you know, others. what sort of questions will the committee be asking -- or did they ask, in your mind, jared kushner? >> they will ask jared kushner what conversations he had with any number of people involved in the effort to overturn the election, certainly on the heels of the reporting last week of the ginni thomas text, supreme court justice thomas' wife where she wrote in a text to mark

meadows that she forwarded an e-mail to his e-mail that she had written to jared, assuming jared kushner that morning related to the election and alleged and debunked allegations of fraud. i am sure that he will be asked about that. jared kushner has remained kind of quiet in the whole january 6th investigation. in fact, in the lead up to january 6th. so it's interesting that he kind of took a step back and was not at the forefront of any of this effort to overturn the election. i will say that, you know, his past experience testifying to congress has been under whelming. he testified before the house intelligence committee before i got there and put his -- his lawyer put a lot of restrictions on his testimony that the republican majority of the committee at that time allowed

him to sort of get away with, but he was not particularly forthcoming nor did he spend a lot of time answering difficult questions during that testimony. so i wouldn't expect the committee to get a whole lot of valuable information from him, but, you know, jared is following his prior footsteps of at least going and at least showing up so that he doesn't get crosswise with the committee. >> on that point, and i think it's a stretch to think that jared kushner will come in and rip the band-aid off and separate himself from his father-in-law, from donald trump. he has not done so before now, why would he do it now? betsy, before his appearance before the committee, he could try to delay and he could have tried to force a subpoena and he sat voluntarily. >> yeah, that's a big deal. it's no small thing. it signals to people in the

president's orbit, including people quite close to the president that there is some sort of permission structure under which they can cooperate with a subpoena. remember -- or even with a voluntary request to come in and talk with the panel. it was a couple days ago that the panel referred to senior officials to the justice department asking them to prosecute those men because they refuse to comply with a subpoena. the other thing worth keeping an eye on is if we can read the tea leaves as to whether ivanka trump will answer questions from the committee. we know she's engaged with the panel through her lawyers. we don't know the current status of that engagement, but the fact that jared went in would be a source of optimism that ivanka might come in as well, and she

has better intel than jared. jared was on a trip to the middle east on january 6th. ivanka was in the white house at the dining room of the oval office with president trump during the attack. it's hard to think of anybody with more firsthand detailed knowledge than she does. that could be an extraordinary break through for the committee. up next, no way out and no help allowed in. and trolling him with the truth. what the u.s. is doing to get inside putin's head.

in hard hit kharkiv, people were supposed to be able to get out today but russia sent more missiles. richard engel was there. >> reporter: it's a toll that russian president putin may not know about or want to know about, but u.s. and british officials say commanders are too afraid to tell putin. on the outskirts of kharkiv we followed ukrainian troops the see what u.s. and british intelligence say russian generals are too afraid to show their president, that the russian military is losing ground and taking heavy losses. this was a russian camp. you can see they had all of their weapons here, dug out

positions and they were bombed. there's still bodies in this area, and they left a lot of their equipment behind after what appears to have been a devastating attack on their position. there's nothing left. it seems these russian troops never knew what hit them. their uniforms were scattered everywhere, along with weapons and ammunition, and ukrainian soldiers helped themselves. knocking out this position allowed ukrainian forces to retake their town. the bombings were horrible. the air strikes were the worst, she says. they took us to where they had been hiding, no electricity or lights. they lived down in the tiny cellar for 27 days next to potatoes and pickles. you think the worst is over? >> i hope our soldiers tamed

this beast. the russian president -- it was my therapy to keep calm, she says. wise words from a girl that just turned eight. now she's drawing with her chalk outside. down the road, 80-year-old woman was sitting by herself and frightened. i am so afraid my whole body is shaking. she said at night i cover myself in a blanket and i shake. mostly she wanted comfort. she lived through world war ii and says she doesn't have the strength to go through it all again. she was overwhelmed by all she had been through, and she was extremely lonely. she was all alone in that house and has not been in touch with

her son or grandson for a long time and said she misses them deeply so i became a stand in for them, and she does appear to be in a state of shock and she's doing better now and has received some humanitarian aid, including food. >> glad you were there to give her a hug. richard, thank you so much. and then dmitri said the pentagon doesn't have any information about what is happening inthe kremlin. british intelligence suggested vladimir putin had, quote, massively misjudged the war. joining us is a former senior intelligence officer at the cia and also served as senior chief of operations in europe and she is also the author of "clarity

in crisis: leadership lessons from the cia." good to see you. we used to have pretty high-level sourcing inside the kremlin and that was publicly lost when that person was put in danger a few years ago and brought here to the united states. i am wondering -- you might not have an exact answer for me, but what is your sense of the visibility we have inside the kremlin? >> well, you know, between u.s. intelligence and, of course, this incredible partnership we have with all the intelligent services of nato and the ukrainian intelligent services, clearly we have a window inside. it's important that our policymakers have an understanding of what is happening around the inner circle of vladimir putin and what we talked about before,

these are not leaks but disclosures, and obviously he's going to know that somebody is inside and there's a mole, but it's also classic trolling. when you see the russian, you know, spokesman respond to this, you know it has hit a raw nerve. >> so what you are saying, for us saying vladimir putin is not getting the truth, here's the truth, and that message is getting to vladimir putin, and it's getting inside of his head? we're trolling him with the truth? >> we are. what is really important, you look at the foundations of, you know, of the security services, and if all of a sudden we are casting doubt on their abilities, we're in essence saying you are not being told

the truth, it will cause dissension and that's a good thing, and this is what we want to happen. i will throw one other thing out there. there's also the sense, you know, we talk about offerings and it's a world i don't love using, and it offers appeasement, but in this operations campaign, we could give him a way out because he could at some point as russia continues to lose in the war, he can tell the russian people, i can be misled by my own intelligent services, and perhaps in a campaign well coordinated with our allies, this motion of putin not being told the truth, there are goals involved here. >> perhaps. i want to ask another question. i was reading this from brett stevens in "the times," putting out there a counter narrative and wondering out loud. he wondered if potentially the

west is being played by vladimir putin, playing into his hands with this narrative that, you know, his military is doing really badly and he didn't know and he was not aware of all this. he wonders if the goal all along was eastern ukraine with all its oil and energy riches, and he did not want to conquer getting into kyiv and the country and taking it over alongside its people. what do you think about that? >> katy, sometimes we build putin up into this wildly, you know, former kgb character, and my view and other views of those in the intelligence world, he's a thug. this is putting too much faith in him. the fact of the matter is the russians have lost upwards of 10,000 soldiers and that's a staggering amount. the idea that this is part of

his master plan gives him too much credit. >> i wonder if he cares about the staggering loss or is it just a bruised ego? does he care about the loss of life there? >> he doesn't. it's against -- they are leaving their dead on the battlefield, and we bring our dead home. there are dead russians laying in the streets of ukraine. vladimir putin does not care. you are 100% right. >> we just saw one blurred out in richard engel's report right before you. thank you for being with us. >> thanks, katy. still ahead, 18 tornadoes and two dead. where is the storm headed next. but susan collins dove in first, and who else might jump in after her? the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this.

people have their money just sitting around doing nothing... that's bad, they shouldn't do that. they're getting crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. they're taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ good to have you back, old friend. yeah, eyes on the road, benny. welcome to a new chapter in investing. [ding] e*trade now from morgan stanley. [zoom call] ...pivot... work bye. vacation hi! book with priceline. 'cause when you save more, you can “no way!” more. no wayyyy. no waaayyy! no way! [phone ringing] hm. no way! no way! priceline. every trip is a big deal.

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? we're watching and when

kirby starts to talk we will go there. and with this week's yes with republican senator, susan collins, and all 50 democrats in lockstep, and now they are eyeing other potential republican yeses, maybe folks like murkowski or mitt romney. lindsey graham is a no. there are 48 more republicans out there. what do we know there? >> and most of them are nos, katy. just a few outstanding republican members we are waiting for, and you mentioned two of them, lisa murkowski and mitt romney, and she is the most likely to vote for her, but we don't know. she's up for re-election this

year and she could have a tough race and primary as well. senator lindsey graham, he voted for ketanji brown jackson for the lower coats just last year, and this is what he said on the senate floor today. >> somebody worked hard to achieve, and her tendency to achieve outcomes in spite of what the law requires are common sense would dictate. after a thorough review of judge jackson's record and information gained at the hearing from an evasive witness, i now know why judge jackson was the favorite of the radical left and i will vote no. >> a favorite of the radical left. one thing susan collins pointed out in her statement in support of ketanji brown jackson is the requirement no longer required

to support a supreme court justice nominee is the qualifications. now it seems to be ideology. that's something that increased over the last few years, especially in the trump years and into this nomination, katy. >> lindsay graham voted yes for her to get on the u.s. court of appeals, the 10th circus in washington, d.c., so quite a change in a couple years. thank you. here's a look at other top stories we are following right now. a storm system unleashed severe weather across the south is moving east. it brought tornadoes, thunderstorms and high winds to the deep south overnight killing two people in the florida pandemic. that system is bringing rain and wind to the east coast today. the state department will make an x gender marker available on u.s. passports starting on april 11th. the x will be defined as unspecified or another gender

identity. and the cdc has dropped its covid-19 advisory for cruise travel. the agency still recommends travelers have up-to-date covid vaccinations before they board. i really hope my husband was not listening to that headline. he's dying to go on a cruise and i am dying not to go on a cruise. up next, a canadian fisherman with family in lviv puts himself in the line of fire, quite literally, and that's not the right picture but we will have one in a moment. fear no food. new poligrip power hold and seal.

♪ limu emu and doug.♪ and it's easy to customize your insurance at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need. isn't that right limu? limu? limu?

sorry, one sec. doug blows several different whistles. doug blows several different whistles. [a vulture squawks.] there he is. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪

people from all over the world are stepping up to help in ukraine. lex bukovsky is a lobster fisherman from canada with family in lviv. he flew to poemd and then bused to ukraine about three weeks ago to help evacuate vulnerable people from besieged cities. at the moment he has no plans to go home back to canada. joining me now from lviv is lex bukovsky. lex, thank you for being with us. i understand you were traveling even today. tell me what it's like and what you're doing. >> basically, today we're just

getting ready for our next trip, getting ready to leave in a few hours, actually. >> and what are you going to be doing? >> delivering aid to the eastern part of the country and busing people back, back to the western part of the country. >> going from the west to the east can be rather perilous. how do you do it safely? >> you can't -- safety's never really guaranteed here. you just hope for the best. we stack our buses or our vans with supplies, food and whatever else is needed, and we hit the road and we just hope we don't get in the crossfire and try to bring whatever people we can fit in the bus back to safety. >> you know, you've seen a lot.

you were also trapped in chernihiv for days. can you tell me what that was like? >> yeah. yeah, we got stuck there for about five days last week. i think we got back day before yesterday, i believe, in the morning. we -- i guess we went to deliver aid. like i said, it would have been seven or eight days ago now. and as we were passing outside of kyiv, there was some fighting going on. so we had to i guess spend the night in our vehicles to wait it out till the morning. and during that night the main bridge crossing to chernihiv was

bombed from the air. and that was pretty much the only supply line to the city, you know, the only way to get aid in and people out. we only learned that in the morning through the news, he'll, on the radio. we learned that our way in was bombed and no longer in existence. so we did find another way in. i've got to explain that the city right now is surrounded by russian army right around except for the southern part where the river is. that's why the only way to get in the city would be through the bridge. in any case, we did find a way in. so we did get in the city. as we off-loaded our aid and whatever else we brought with us. we were in a convoy of four

weeks. we loaded our bus -- or our vans with people and as soon as we tried to get out we got under really heavy shelling and pretty much our escape, our only escape route got bombed and shelled. as it was being bombed and shelled, we tried four times for the next two days to kind of squeeze in and there was just too much fire. it wasn't worth the risk really for the passengers to try to make it through. so you know, we got stuck there. and it was like that for the next five days that i was there. eventually, we found a way out by -- pretty much on foot we had to leave our vehicles behind. so we were able to get out and

finally make it back to western part of the country here a day and a half ago or so. >> we're so happy you did. you know, it's difficult being there and fighting. it is remarkable to see what's happening and to pack your bags and to go there to do what you can to help and to put yourself in danger every single day to get people food, which we're seeing in those images you provided us, and to get babies pampers, diapers. all the everyday essentials that so many people are without right now in this horrible time. lex, thank you very much for joining us today, and we wish you good luck as you keep on bringing people the basic supplies they need to survive. thank you very much. that's going to do it for me today. hallie jackson picks up our coverage next. coverage next. yeah...uhhh... doug? [children laughing] sorry about that. umm...what...it's uhh...

you alright? [loud exhale] [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has powerful, easy-to-use tools to help you find opportunities, 24/7 support when you need answers, plus some of the lowest options in futures contract prices around. [ding] get e*trade and start trading today. xfinity mobile runs on america's most reliable 5g network, but for up to half the price of verizon, so you have more money for more stuff. this phone? fewer groceries. this phone? more groceries!

this phone? fewer concert tickets. this phone? more concert tickets. and not just for my shows. switch to xfinity mobile for half the price of verizon. that's a savings of over $500 a year. switch today. ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person... to come to the table and do more incredible things.