as far as she's concerned, she gained several daughters. >> reporter: and when they're all together, ashlea is there too. >> announcer: that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales, thanks for watching. welcome to the show tonight, i'm katie phang in for zerlina maxwell. it has been five weeks since russia invaded ukraine and if you want to get a sense of the horror inflicted on civilians look no farther than the southeastern port city of mariupol. the city has been under siege for weeks, with dwindling supplies of food and water for the tens of thousands of civilians that are still trapped there. on friday, some residents were able to leave mariupol but yet

another large scale evacuation effort failed. ukrainian officials say russian forces blocked a convoy of 45 buses from leaving and stopped the international red cross from bringing in aid. a senior defense official has confirmed to nbc news that two helicopters struck a fuel storage facility inside of russia on friday. >> it marks the first ukrainian air strike in russia since the invasion began. ukrainian officials also say that russian troops have now left the shuttered chernobyl nuclear facility after suffering radiation exposure there. the international atomic energy association says it is looking into those reports. but russian forces may soon be bolstered by hundreds of syrian troops who are now on their way to ukraine according to the "new york times." and now, russia's faultering military campaign and the relative success of ukrainian forces has raised another question. will the united states and nato be continue to supply ukraine with enough weapons or could a

stockpile starts to run low? that question comes as some members of congress and officials in kyiv are calling for a more ambitious approach, one that would help ukrainian forces roll back the russian campaign rather than just holding it to a stalemate. starting us off tonight is retired colonel, the former chief of staff for marine corps forces in europe. colonel, thank you for being here. could you lay out for us right at the start how you think this war is going right now for both ukraine and for russia? >> katie, it's going extraordinarily well for ukraine. they have surprised all of us, in the profession of arms, over their efforts here, over the last six weeks. it's been really remarkable and a real testament to what a well-led and highly motivated

force can do in the face of what we thought was going to be a walk in the park for the russians, and the russian military, to the contrary, has performed abysmally. poor leadership. poor execution. poor planning. poor logistics. i've got a list that would probably go on for about another five minutes but it is really a testament to the ukrainians. >> help me reconcile something, what we have seen, what we're seeing on screen, horrific images, bombed-out cities, and we know that the refugee numbers are escalating by the day. help me reconcile for our viewers this idea that the ukrainian forces are doing so well. i don't disagree with you that they're highly motivated but how do you reconcile those images with what you're telling us that you think is going so well for the ukrainian forces? >> well, katie, i don't think we would be seeing these images if

the russians had succeeded and met their own expectations. they anticipated again, a walk in the park, in getting into kyiv, and occupying mariupol, and some of the other large cities they've been encircling here, they thought they were going to have that done in five or six days, so they haven't. they have taken horrendous casualties. and their response is essentially to take this war to a level of terror against the civilians. so that's why we see the damage, that's why we hear of these ongoing tragedies involving children, civilian, the innocents of war, the russians are frustrated and they're taking it out on the people who can't defend themselves. >> the france defense minister has said that russia is supposed to be reorganizing its forces in ukraine but not retreating. what does that tell you about what is happening with russia's military progress at this point? >> it's stalled. they have lost momentum. they have lost initiative.

that has gone over to the ukrainians. what the russians now have to do is go ahead and either reconfigure their forces, some of them which were moved through belarus and back through the western border of russia, and down towards mariupol and donbas. the other forces that are up around kyiv are going to have to dig in, and get into the defensive positions which are actually going to make them easier targets for the ukrainian, because the ukrainians are not going to let up on them. they are going to keep going after them. >> colonel, how much of a breakdown in logic and tragedy is happening here with the fact that putin rules with such an iron fist, in his country. do you think that there is some level of strategic independence that the russian forces are able to implement in terms of strategy, in terms of how they plan and implement military attacks in ukraine. it is such a huge amount of land for them to be trying to take over. >> it is. it is a very large amount of

land. virtually the size of texas, and i think what some folks have described it as. and you know, the russian military has had a long history of centralized control from the very top. and they don't have a decently performing junior loss report, their nco core is semi, semi professional at best. their troops are conscripts so they're not taught to go ahead and execute a tactical plan. if you lose communications, as an example, our marines and i'm sure the shoulders and sailors have proven it over the years, that if their bosses, we watched radio coms, if they lost it, i knew the marines could execute the plan, no problem. the russians can't do that, they're virtually professionally incapable of doing that. >> it is confirmed at nbc news, that ukraine struck a fuel depot inside of russia. ukrainian officials however are

denying that they were behind the attack. my question for you, colonel, is why would they deny it? wouldn't they want to stake some claim in sending a message that you know what, you may be located in russia but we're still able to get to you? >> well, that is a message that i think will quietly be spread throughout the ukrainian armed force, but you know, the actions or the inaction in terms of a public statement from the ukrainians is right out of the russian play book. this is classic russian disinformation, to do something and then blame it on somebody else, or simply deny it. so it is not a surprise to me at all that the ukrainians are keeping silent on this. and not taking public credit. but good on them. this is how you fight a war. you just don't take the punches. you have to throw some back. so i was surprised it took them so long to do this but glad they have. >> we mentioned earlier that some members of congress and officials in kyiv, for example, they want to take that more

ambitious approach of rolling back the russian campaign. what do the ukrainian forces need more, colonel, at this point, to be able to effect that, and make that happen? >> well, we need to continue to supply them with as much of these anti-tank and anti--aircraft munitions as we possibly can. additionally we need to get them some ground to sea anti-ship missiles back down on the black seacoast to go ahead and keep the russian navy held back. the other thing is, it is quite frankly, i would love to see somebody figure out a creative way, and those minds exist, in washington, d.c., and in warsaw, to get those 27 mig aircraft into the hands of ukrainian pilots. this is, for us to be standing in the way of the ukrainian request is unconscionable. guys sitting in the pentagon thousands of miles away shouldn't be making those type of judgment calls. let those soldiers on the ground, ukrainians, that they

need the stuff, let's facilitate that, let's get it there. >> colonel brenden kerney, thank you for your insight and for being with us this evening. >> happy to participate. thank you. coming up, more on the russian invasion in ukraine. we're going to speak to somebody who is actually on the ground in lviv. plus the fascinating perils between the investigation into january 6th and the mueller report. i'll explain in a few minutes. we'll be right back. landscaper larry and his trusty crew... were delayed when the new kid totaled his truck. timber... fortunately, they were covered by progressive, so it was a happy ending... for almost everyone. grillin', chillin', spillin', dillin'. bec-ing. never brie-ing. smokin', yolkin', flippin', dippin'. if you're not oozing, then you're losing. tater totting, cold or hotting. mealin', feelin', pie-ing, trying. color your spread. upgrade your bread. pair it. share it. kraft singles. square it. if you really wanna find out what you're made of,

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as we heard in the last segment, ukrainian forces are having unexpected success in holding back the russian campaign in parts of the country, the "washington post" is reporting what happened in a village northeast of kyiv, and on tuesday of this week, russia pledged to reduce hostilities around kyiv, well the very next day, their forces bombarded the moschchun with artillery and mortars but the ukrainian counter offensive held the rush -- russians back and it is considered a victim after trying to take kyiv. a "washington post" correspondent joins us now, and an msnbc contributor and as i just mentioned he is there in lviv. thank you so much for being here. happy to see that you are safe. but just a little bit ago, you

were in the area and lay out what is happening right now, around that area of kyiv. we know that was an ultimate target, an objective for russia. clearly it hasn't happened. what is your opinion at how the ukrainians are being able to manage to push the russians back at this point? >> well, several things have happened. the most, in terms of the ukrainians themselves, what they've used, they've used gorilla tactics to really push the russians back. the russians were expecting a conventional war, but they got anything but that. and moshchun, it is a village, just about five miles from the airport, which is where the russians initially landed, in the first day of the invasion, and the whole goal was to use that airport to fly in tanks and equipment and then push into the capital.

they were hoping to take the capital within a couple of days. instead, they got stiff resistance in places like moshchun and elsewhere. the ukrainians were using guerrilla tactics like ambushes and building trenches and there especially, they were told, in the end, there is one thing that really cut off the russians and their supply line. they actually destroyed a dam further up the river, which is near this village, and the village started to flood which prevented the russians from bringing in reinforcements and destroyed a bunch of bridges and cut off the russians inside the village, so they were essentially pushed back without any supplies or reinforcement, and that's really how the ukrainians managed to seize control of that village again. >> can you explain something? because it's not like these ukrainians that are running these counter offensives, as you mention the, mentioned the guerrilla tactics and they got

training for this, and it is not like got training and woke up and said this is how do you this. can you give us some insight for speaking to the people in the village and running the counter-offensive how you think that they just have figured out how to push back against these what you would suspect are these better-armed and maybe better-organized forces from russia? >> well, you know, from the very outset, the whole strategy of ukraine was to basically, it was a defensive tactic. their whole goal was to slow the russian forces down and they were available to have outside pressure, diplomatic sanctions and processes and others, and they realized they couldn't frontally attack the massive russian army so they started

using these other tactic, and the fact is they had weapons, not that they didn't have them, they had javelin anti-tank missiles and they had anti-tank missiles supplied by britain and they had tanks and other weaponries. and in the quantity as the russians, they chose their moments and basically on the defensive most of the time and when they spotted a moment and they went on the counter offensive, especially in the last ten day, they've been seeing opportunities to really push the russians out step by step from all of these various towns and villages that are surrounding the capital. >> these people though, the people that are remaining in the villages, the ukrainian counter offensive forces or the defensive forces you could talk about, let's make sure people understand, they don't have working electricity, little to no supply, basics like food for example, they don't have cell phone service, how is that

they're able to organize themselves to be able to push back the way that they've been doing? >> well, look, in a village like msohchun all of the civilians fled so there is maybe a handful of people left there and yes they were cut off from the whole world. we actually met one elderly man who decided to stay with list wife, he refused to leave, because this was his home, and he was cut off from his family, his granddaughter, his daughter, and son-in-law, and in fact when we got there, he rushed, you know, he hadn't spoken for nearly three 1/2 and a half weeks and he came out with a photo for his granddaughter and handed us a number for his daughter to call her. so you've got this area where people have been cut off without food, electricity, cell phone

reception but the people inside the villages who are fighting back, they are mostly, they are these territorial defense force, many civilians picked up a gun and started to fight and others have had training and fought, eastern ukraine and others fought for the military and a mix of different forces that are fighting and pushing back the russians. >> i know that you are now in lviv, with the little bit of time that we have left, can you kind of show us what is the vibe, what is the energy, what is going on in lviv, do you feel safer in lviv now versus being a little farther east than kyiv? >> absolutely, it's completely different. actually life is quite normal here. there have been some attacks here but very, very few. so life, all of the restaurants are open, there is still a curfew, i think it is 9:00 p.m., but still, people are walking around the streets, and you know, this city is really, close

to poland, and when i left kyiv yesterday, there is a new normal, even though there were bombings, just 20 minutes away from downtown, people are having, you know, coffee, or some restaurants were open. so life is starting to resurrect itself again, in places like kyiv. but you know, what this also shows, this is a way of defiance. this is a way of resilience for the ukrainian people. you know, they're telling the russians, you may be bombing us, but we want to continue living our live, like the way we used to. >> sometimes the best revenge is to just live. thank you so much for being with us. coming up, the erie familiarity between the moment we're living in now, as we await news on who will be held accountable for the attack on the u.s. capitol and the months leading up to the release of the mueller report. >> and why next week will be

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trump's obstruction, mueller kept a tight lid on the investigation, leaving all of us to speculate what his team knew. after all what was in the report. when the report finally came out, it contained damning evidence but it didn't have the impact that many hoped it would. in part, because trump and his allies were able to run out the clock, robert mueller said so himself when asked why donald trump didn't sit for an interview. >> there's a balance, how much evidence you have, to satisfy the last element, against how much time are you willing to spend in the courts litigating. the reason we didn't do the interview is because of the length of time that it would take to resolve the issues attended to that. >> let's fast forward to today. the department of justice is investigating the violence we saw on january 6th. and attorney general merrick garland has vowed that they will follow the facts wherever they

lead. but it is still unclear if the people at the top will ever face accountability. so as we wait to see what will come out of these investigations, it's hard not to see all of the same way we did back in 2017, what's in the box? and will trump and his allies be able to stone wall their way out of legal trouble again? joining me now is jill, an msnbc legal analyst, and former assistant watergate special prosecutor. jill, always love to spend time with you. you know, do you agree that the delay tactics that we saw in the, deployed by trump and his allies back with mueller are similar to the ones that we're seeing that are happening right now with garland and the d.o.j.? >> it is. but there's a difference, which is the administration above garland is different than the administration that was above mueller, and so maybe it won't have the same impact. we need to know what the president knew, and when he knew it. and the investigation has to go

full steam ahead, and it has to happen quickly. not just because time is not a friend of an investigation, but because the american people want to know, and they're frustrated with justice being delayed. and it could, you know, the attorney general will be in office for two years after the midterms, so that's not going to have the same impact that it might have on the january 6th committee. but it still can't be allowed to fester. enough evidence has been made public that many people have already been able to draw a conclusion about criminality, and given that, i think the department of justice has to act. >> jill, listen, i'm a fan of the idea that the integrity of an investigation remains sacro

saint and give a prosecutor as much leeway as they may need to achieve the ultimate goal as justice. justice can be defined in many different ways but the problem i have which you just noted which i think people need to understand, there is so much evidence that is in the public now, there's not stuff that's going on behind closed doors to which we're not privy, so what can possibly be done to be able to hasten, some type of conclusion, to the investigation that's being done by garland and the d.o.j. right now. >> well, it's, i understand fully, based on my experience in water gate, how long it takes to put a case together. but it's not as long as what is going on. i also know, as a prosecutor for even years before water gate, that you could investigate forever on every particular case, but sometimes you get one case fully developed, or one element, one crime, and you may have two or three others that are even better, but if you need

to stop criminalality, then you have to act on the first one that you have, you can keep working on particular the smoking gun tape which has become sfams, we got in the months, just the months before trial, it was a trial subpoena, it wasn't before the indictment, we kept building the case after we indicted, and we got better evidence. but we had enough evidence to go ahead with indictment and to go to trial. we didn't need the extra. it helped. it was really good. but at some point, you just have to say, enough is sufficient and i'm going to do it. >> you were, as we all know, an assistant watergate special prosecutor, you just mentioned it a second ago, when you learned about the missing seven hours and 37 minutes in donald trump's call log, you got flashbacks, right? >> i definitely had flashbacks. and my phone started ringing crazy. because everybody else was having them.

and i will say, one, seven hours and 37 minutes is a lot longer than an 18 1/2 minute gap. and it is even more suspicious, because i know from my experience in subpoenaing and getting white house call logs, and daily diaries, that it is a routine function to keep them. there is no way that there is a seven hour gap with no calls into the presidential office. even if president trump refused to answer any calls, the call would be logged as having been received by the white house. he may have chosen not to make outgoing calls from his white house office, he may have used a burner phone, although he says he doesn't know what one is, we know from other testimony that he does, and he may have just used an aide's phone which we know he routinely did, and he may have used a personal cell phone despite his having made a

big deal about hillary's emails, we know that he does that often. and he may have done it deliberately, to evade being on the call logs, which are official presidential records that have to go to the national archives, but i am sure that any, even a cursory examination of the facts will lead to a lot of evidence about how that seven hour gap was created, whether it was deliberate by evading it, using other phones, or whether someone actually deleted the white house records. both of which are bad. and both of which violate the presidential records act. >> merrick garland was asked today at a presser if the department of justice would move forward with mark meadows charging recommendation, as we know, there was that referral made. let's listen to some of the sound from that presser. >> it's been coming up on four months now, since congress referred mark meadows to you guys for contempt of congress,

what's taking so long? >> again, going to an off topic conversation, we don't comment on ongoing referrals. >> is it surprising to you, jill, that the d.o.j. is still sitting on the mark meadows referral? >> it is. and the reason that it is, is because it seems to be an open and shut case of contempt. he stopped cooperating. he completely ignored the requirement to show up and testify. you can show up and you can claim the fifth amendment, you can claim some other privilege, executive privilege, although i think that there is no basis for either of those, in this particular set of circumstances, but you cannot fail to show up. and there can be no congressional oversight, if people are allowed not to show up, the congressional oversight is extremely important to our system of checks and balances, our whole foundation of

government, and democracy, is based on that. so i think it's really important, the only thing that you could think of is that possibly they're seeing him as a substantive defendant. and so that's why they're not pursuing him as a contempt defendant. rather than doing the contempt, they're waiting to indict him for something substantive. >> jill, i only have a few seconds left with you, but i would be remiss if i didn't ask, tell us very quickly about today's jill's pin? >> today's jill's pin is a ukrainian flag which i am trying to wear something to represent my support for ukraine in this horrendous, illegal, immoral, invasion, where civilians are being targeted, and a war criminal is being asked by our former president to help him politically. so i will continue to support ukraine, and hope that they are prevailing in this fight.

>> jill, my friend, thank you for being with me. coming up, a preview of what's to come next week for judge ketanji brown jackson, as she looks to make history. plus, a little bit about my personal connection to judge jackson. and speaking of supreme court justices, there is more wild reporting about clarence thomas' wife ginni thomas. this time, it's about just how influential she was inside the trump white house. those details in just a few minutes, we will be right back. k the world is full of make or break moments. especially if you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, it's time to make your move to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months. do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. serious allergic reactions like low blood pressure, trouble breathing, throat tightness, face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened.

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next week is shaping up to be a busy one for the confirmation process of judge ketanji brown jackson to the united states supreme court. the senate judiciary committee will vote on judge jackson's nomination to move it to the full senate on monday. if everything goes according to plan, the senate will then hold procedural votes and a final confirmation vote by the end of next week. with all 50 democrats on board, and vice president harris there,

as the tie-breaker this thing looks like a done deem. how many republican votes might judge jackson be able to get. a few notable gop senators have already come forward to announce how they're planning to vote. if you watched any of the confirmation hearings, you likely remember republican senator lindsey graham stirred up some drama, and it should come as no surprise, that he will announce he will vote no on her confirmation. the first time he ever votes against a supreme court nominee. >> my decision is based on, upon her record, of judicial activism, sentencing methodology regarding child pornography cases and i believe judge jackson will not be deterred by the plain meaning of the law when it comes to liberal causes. 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 a radical left and i will vote no. >> let's not forget though,

lindsey, lindsey graham was one of the only three republican senators to vote in favor of judge jackson just last year. when the senate confirmed her to the united states court of appeals, for the dc circuit. so let's be clear here. nothing has changed since then, versus now, when it comes to judge jackson's record. i would argue it's an intellectually dishonest position for that senator to take. on the flip side, republican senator susan collins who also voted to confirm judge jackson to the appeals court last year, said this on wednesday. >> i spent a great deal of time reviewing judge jackson's record, interviewing her twice, once before the hearing, once after the hearing. in the end, i decided that she has the qualifications, the experience, and the credentials that we require of a supreme court justice and warranted my

support. >> well, it is senator collins, so hopefully that opinion holds until next week. we are still unsure how republican senators mitt romney and lisa murkowski would vote. if i had to vote next week to confirm judge jackson, it would be a resounding yes. we actually went to the same high school, in miami, we were on the same debate team, although she is just a little bit older than me, and back then, judge jackson was known for her brilliance and for her kindness. she deserves to sit on the supreme court of the united states. she has more than earned that privilege. and this country, it deserves to finally see a black woman on the highest court in the land. coming up, another day, another shocking story about the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas. i'll tell you about the hiring and the firing risks she was bringing directly to donald trump when he was in the oval office. when we come back. val office when we come back. what you're made of, you can forget the personality tests

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if you felt a scandal surrounding ginni thomas could not get any worse, you are sorely mistaken. it appears that the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas is way more involved with the chief of staff and among others to overturn the election. the daily beast reports today that during donald trump's presidency ginni thomas would visit the white house often, and armed with written memos who

trump should hire and purge from the administration. her hiring recommendations reportedly included known one suspected spy and noted bigots and the firing lists were often based on conjecture and deep state conspiracy theories. one former senior trump official told the daily beast, quote, we all knew within minutes after ginni left her meeting with the president, he would begin firing and when she showed up you knew your day was wrecked. these blank lists were so insane, and remarkable, a lot of them were dripping with paranoia and read like they were written by a disturbed person. joining me now, for more, is molly, a contributing writer for the atlantic. molly, molly, how was ginni thomas, this dripping with paranoia and sanity, ginni thomas able to gain so much sway inside the trump white house? was it merely just because her husband was justice clarence thomas?

>> yeah, i mean one of the trademarks of the trump white house was that they would just bring in whoever, right? i mean they had, you know, trump saw someone on tv that could end up working in the white house. i don't think there was a huge barrier to entry. and i think the issue was she was very extreme pretty whacky woman who a lot of people thought was pretty out there, an because trump became president, this kind of very whacky far right stuff became more and more the norm. and so some of this stuff that people wouldn't even listen to, because it was so ridiculous, was now sort of standard gop fare. >> but molly, trump left the white house more than a yearation, a year ago, right? so why is it that we are just finding out now, so much more about a supreme court justice's wife, often visiting the president of the united states in the oval office?

>> some of it is incompetence, because they didn't keep good records, some of it is nefarious, because they didn't keep good records because they were doing stuff they knew was wrong, some of it is that, you know, she's the wife of a supreme court justice, she's not a supreme court justice herself. and now, it happens to be, that a lot of the stuff that she is involved with, january 6th, has really sort of shined the spotlight on her, right? we know she went to the january 6th rally. we don't really know what other involvement she had. but certainly, it's very dubious. and i think that sort of throws her into the spotlight. also, you know, thomas did vote against that january 6th, he was the dissent on the shadow docket which he didn't need to do. so i would say yes, she sort of put herself in the spotlight, but it is clear from everything i read, and from the interviews that i've seen that she has always been very ambitious, and very interested in trying to

kind of leverage her position, to have more of a voice in the conservative party. >> and you talk about clarence thomas, himself, his own involvement, vis-a-vis january 6th and some other stuff, in terms of trying to prevent the transparency that we always need and deserve, in the american public. after the revelations about the texts she was sending to mark meadows overturning the election came out, some democrats have called on clarence thomas to recuse himself from cases involving january 6th. is that enough? recusal? or do they need to be more aggressive and call for him to be off the supreme court of the united states? >> i think democrats politically should call for whatever the most stringent punishment is, which would be an impeachment, just because it's wrong. and we see that there's a lot of nefarious stuff here, and what's wrong is wrong, and democrats need to stand up for the rule of

law, because republicans sure won't be doing that. i think the problem ultimately is that democrats have a very small majority, they only have 50 seats in the senate, and they're holding the house by a little bit of a fraction.

saying honey i'll be home in time for cocktails for dinner. what can we do to find out about clarence thomas' basis of knowledge in terms of what his wife is up to? do you think we're ever going to find out what he knew? >> i mean, probably not. i would be pretty surprised. i don't know how that would happen but i do think that ultimately, you know, this is really bad, and again, this supreme court is already so nuts. it's a 6-3 conservative court. thomas is one of the sort of, i mean he's very conservative but you know, kavanaugh might be the swing court. it's a conservative court, god

knows the decisions they hand down in june. i mean, you know, this is the canary in the coal mine. there's a lot of other stuff going on, but the problem, again, democrats don't have the votes and so i mean, the more the january 6th committee can do with hearings and having people testify and even like have jenny thomas testify. she's not above the law. just because she's married to a supreme court justice, i mean, if republicans had this, if this was happening, democrats were doing this, republicans would hold -- remember benghazi? they'd have everyone and their sister testify on television in prime time, and they would be -- i mean, the thing you really see is democrats are so bad at this. like this is really scary stuff that could lead to the end of democracy, and democrats are just really tentative and scared that it's going to, somehow republicans are going to try to get back at them and they have to do what's right.

democracy depends on it. >> any good investigation is, as we heard merrick garland say today you chase down all the leads and see where they go. i think jenny thomas has to sit down with the january 6th committee. thank you. coming up, koalas, the threats they're facing and what the aussies are doing to help save them, after this quick break. this is vuity™, the first and only fda approved eye-drop that improves age-related blurry near vision. wait, what? it sounded like you just said an eye drop that may help you see up close. i did. it's an innovative way to... so, wait. i don't always have to wear reading glasses? yeah! vuity™ helps you see up close. so, i can see up close with just my eyes? uh-huh. with one drop in each eye, once daily. in focus?

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new dove ultimate. am a lover of animals, which is why it pains me to say one of the most recognizable and adorable animals in the world is now an endangered species. koalas, only native to australia lost their habitats and lives because of climate change. sara james has more. >> reporter: the world's most iconic species found nowhere else but australia, and now endangered. >> in listing them as endangered, it brings them into the limelight and gets them that protection they deserve. >> reporter: the koala population plunging some 50% in queensland, australia, in the last two decades. the australian koala foundation says the country lost 30% of its

beloved marsupial over the past three years. among the threats, those intense wildfires in 2019 and 2020. according to the world wildlife fund in australia, some 60,000 koalas were killed or affected in some way, many caught in the fire, some dramatically rescued. >> his eyes are quite clear. >> reporter: australian army vets work to save the surviving koalas. >> we'll trim these, give them a good clean up, trim off the dead skin. >> reporter: the wildfires aren't the only factor in population decline. land clearing has stripped away the koala's natural habitat and food supply. tell me about her, she's super cute. >> she's female, about 8 years old. >> reporter: kaitlin cares for koalas at australia's moonlit sanctuary. kaitlin, what will we lose if they lost the koala? >> when you think australia, you think koalas, and they're an example of amazing adaptation.

they have found a niche in an environment where it's harsh and hard to survive. they eat a food source many other animals can't eat and get water from those leaves, up in a place that's safe for them at the top of the trees. they have managed to adapt to a harsh country, a harsh environment. >> reporter: do you think we can still save the koala? >> absolutely, but it requires acting now. we can't wait too late. we can't plant trees and have them grow up to be adult trees overnight. we have to plant trees now, thinking of where they'll be in ten years' tile. >> reporter: the australian government pledged $50 million to save this national treasure with measures including habitat restoration, health protection, and a national koala monitoring program. >> if you're watching us on msnbc, thanks for joining us. you'll see me right back here on msnbc at 7:00 a.m. every saturday and sunday starting next weekend.

♪♪ breaking right now on msnbc, another potential major embarrassment for vladimir putin. a russian official said ukrainians attacked a fuel depot on russian soil. now we're hearing from president zelenskyy about those claims. >> translator: everybody must know that if we are pressed in a corner on our territory, we will respond the way we can. breaking in washington, a look at jenny thomas' influence in trump world. the wife of a supreme court justice would send trump memos who