welcome back, everybody, to the top of the hour. i'm yasmin vossoughian. if you're just joining us, welcome. if you're still with us, thank you. there are growing concerns that we're about to see a further escalation of tactics by russia

in ukraine. a new general with a history of scorched earth tactics put in place by vladimir putin. and a new convoy headed to an already besieged area. have ukrainians pleading for more help from the west. >> ukraine won the battle for kyiv. now, another battle is coming. the battle for donbas. and of course, we are preparing for it, working with our partners to get all necessary weapons. >> we're doing everything we can as the united states working around the clock to deliver our own weapons. >> so the latest in a moment in a live report. we're also following several stories at home. we have new developments in the january 6th investigation, including reports the house committee has what it needs to refer criminal charges against donald trump, but may not send that referral to the douric. and a move to drop charges against a texas woman arrested

over a, quote, self-induce abortion. it has raised national kerms of a move towards criminalizing abortion and the women who need the procedure. that discussion is a few minutes away. we want to begin with newly released satellite images out of ukraine showing a large military convoy made out of hundreds of armored vehicles and trucks spanning eight miles or so. you can see the coun voy moving south through a small ukrainian town about 60 miles east of kharkiv. this is of course coming amid growing concerns that an eastern offensive could break out in the coming days as the capital of kyiv remains in ukrainian hands. want to bring in ali arouzi for us on the ground in lviv. bring us up to date this hour, of course, of what we know so far about the new satellite images we're seeing of this convoy heading east. >> hi, yasmin. that's right. this eight-mile convoy packed with russian hardware, you know,

artillery, tanks, armored vehicles, all heading south and southeast to take the donbas region. from the intelligence we're hearing from the ukrainians, from the west, they're heading to a town which the russians captured last week, and they want to use it as a launching pad to get to sloveniacs, that's a pivotal town for both sides in this war. ukrainians took that back in this war. they lost it in 2014. and whoever controls it is going to have a good launching pad into the donbas area. if the russians get it, they'll be able to encircle the donbas area, and they're expecting a really bloody fight for that area. the ukrainians have been fighting hard. they have been holding back this huge russian war machine. their army is much smaller. they have much fewer machines. so they're expected to put up a huge fight there. as they have been saying all

along, they need more weapons. not in a week, not in a month. they need them today to fight the russians because they're doing it on their own. it's just ukrainian soldiers doing it. and they're saying if they can get that, they'll be able to fight the russians back, but this is going to be a huge offensive for the russians. they failed to take kyiv. they want to make their mark in the donbas area. they want to control it completely. and so i think we're going to see a massive offensive there in the next few days, and it's likely to be very bloody. >> talk to me about dvornikov. we're hearing of these general being appointed to overseeing all of ukrainian military -- excuse me, russian military operations inside ukraine. appointed by russian president vladimir putin. suggesting there is a shift in strategy and what that means. what do you know about him, ali? >> well, what we have learned about him is he's been described as an old school general. a blood and soil nationalist. he's been trained in soviet

military doctrine that means that they want to obliterate civilian targets to gain battlefield momentum. and we have seen that in syria. he was brought in in 2015 by putin to turn the tide in syria, when they felt that the assad regime may be losing the battle against the other forces there. and he launched a brutal campaign on them. look, he wiped out the idlib area, he wiped out syria's biggest city, aleppo, and that was done by targeting civilian posts, schools, bread lines, hospitals. you know, all of the pillars of civilian use. and the fear is that campaign is going to be accentuated here in the donbas region. that he will establish military air bases like he did in syria to hit the civilians hard, to gain battlefield momentum. to take the donbas area, and of course, he wants to make his mark here so that's why we're thinking it's going to be a really tough battle and a bloody

one there. >> ali arouzi, thank you for your reporting on this. good to see you. >> coming up shortly, i'm going to talk more about the appointment of this new russian general with a reputation for brutality. i'm going to be joined by a russian journalist and author of all the kremlin's men, mikhail zhagir. >> more on the election in france where president macron will face marine le pen in the presidential election run-off in two weeks' time. that's according to exit polls from today's first round of voting which gave macron about 28% of the vote and le pen 23%. the run-off will take place on april 24th. it is likely to be a tight race, while le pen's nationalist views and support for vladimir putin, the election could impact the entire political direction of europe. >> turning now to breaking news out of the state of texas, where murder charges against a 26-year-old woman have been dropped. lizel herrera was arrested earlier this week for what authorities called, quote, the

death of an individual by self-induced abortion. though it is unclear whether she was accused of having an abortion or whether she helped someone else get a termination, in a statement released a short time ago, the star county d.a. said this, in reviewing applicable texas law, it is clear that ms. herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her. the issue surrounding this matter are clearly contentious, however based on texas law and the facts presented, it is not a criminal matter. despite the d.a.'s decision, the arrest itself is raising concerns about this growing focus in red states like texas of targeting not only abortion providers but of those women seeking out abortions. want to bring in my panel to talk more about this. juanita tolliver, msnbc political analyst, and irina shah, adviser at renewed democracy initiative. welcome to you both.

great to see you. we don't have all the information, and i tried to get some from a reporter we had on in the last hour who cleared some things up for us, but there's still a discrepancy as to if she was actually who sought out the abortion or if she helped in the termination of the pregnancy. at this point, it doesn't really matter because what we're talking about sb-8, the restrictive abortion laws in the state of texas as well. talk to me first about your reaction to the story. >> look, yasmin, i feel like it's a heartbreaking traumatic snapshot of the anti-abortion push that we're seeing in texas go into effect. i think that i still have a lot of questions that d.a. ramirez did not outline in his letter about why it even happened, and the sinister actions from the hospital workers who reported it, the sheriff's deputies who arrested luzel herrera, as well as the grand jury that did not last any type of statute she

violated in the indictment. it shows without any type of substantial evidence, with any reference to a statute that someone can be not only arrested but held on $500,000 bond, it shows the strength that these anti-abortion pushes are having in allowing people and prosecutors to just do whatever they want. it appears grateful that d.a. ramirez has stepped in, and i'm also grateful that advocacy groups were able to step in and advocate on behalf of lizel herrera, but it paints a very grim picture for what is awaiting the rest of the country when we know that we're sitting with a supreme court that allows sb-8 to take effect in spite of decades and decades of precedents set by roe. >> and irina, juanita brings us a good poin because this is about a larger conversation. we're not just seeing this happen in texas. this is happening in many states in the south, conserve tsk

states specifically with these abortion laws in place. oklahoma, we just saw last week as well which basically all out bans abortion altogether, and it speaks to this vigilante law they set up essentially in the state of texas where people are reporting others, and it doesn't even necessarily seem as if this case was applied to sb-8. there you are, sb-8 on the screen there. want to review for folks what sb-8 is before you weigh in here. almost all abortions are banned six weeks essentially when they detect a fetal heartbeat. it establishes a civil violation, important to note civil, not criminal, and forbids state agents from enforcing it. it seems like this is a two-fold thing here. a confluence of two things. you have likely the fear of complying when it comes to medical professionals, nurses, doctors, folks add the hospital. and then folks that are emboldened. people that want to see this in place and feel as if the law is in their hands to charge,

criminally charge, arrest women. >> well, yasmin, it's very antithetical here. if you look at it on its face, from the political side, having made my career on the right, having come up in conservative grassroots politics over the past two decades, i think where the republican party in texas, in oklahoma, and in states throughout the south especially, are standing right now is very shaky ground. they're trying to draw the line directly to murder, in criminalizing abortion, and obviously the story plays right into that. you can see this now. it's real. it's not just something they talk about now. they're doing it at the state level. i think what we really have to fear here the most as american women is how we are becoming second class citizens in the eyes of our state legislatures that are controlled by republicans. i just told you, i made my career in the republican party, but where the sort of logic has gone is illogical now, to the point of that, and it's

unreasonable because this is about really defining the core values of the party. the party believes in freedom. what are we doing here to women that seek out abortion services. >> which party? >> well, you know, the reality here is at six weeks. many women don't know they're pregnant. a personal point of privilege, i'm 39 weeks pregnant. >> congratulations. any moment now, girl. it could happen on national tv. let's bring it. water's going to brab. come on, baby. >> i'm ready for her to get here. but i have to tell you, this is my third pregnancy. at no point at the six week mark did i know i was expecting. and i just as an elder millennial, i must add none of us thought that body autonomy was going to be on the line ever. the fact that we have freedom to do what we need to do with our bodies, american women, we thought was enshrined in our founding document. so if you're listening out there

and you're just as concerned as i am and you're someone who is anti-abortion for yourself but pro choice for other women like i am, then look at what your state is doing. they're putting out ballot initiatives and trying to create a second class citizen, and that scares me for our democracy. it is absolutely anti-democratic. >> and juanita, by the way, the people that are going to be affected by these laws most, what is hanning most, right, abortions in the state of texas by race, 38.8% were hispanic. 27.9% were black. 26% were white. and 7% were other racial and ethnic groups. these are not -- these are disenfranchised people that are going to be affected most by these restriktdive abortion laws in the state. >> it shouldn't surprise anyone that lizel herrera was a latino woman who was targeted at one of the most vulnerable points in

her life and criminalized. i think that is something we're going to continue to see across the country, in idaho, in kentucky, in arizona, where similar bans are likely to be put forward and passed. and i think that it just goes to show that the republican party's intention here is to make sure that they are targeting the most vulnerable communities already with this legislation, with this type of action. and that's something that's going to continue, sadly. i think that there is still a possibility for federal legislation through the women's health protection act, which already passed through the house and the senate absolutely needs to take it up because going into the midterms, you're going to want latina women, black women, and any person who can become pregnant to know you're fighting for their basic constitutional right. >> juanita and irina, thank you both. >> good luck, by the way, irina. >> still ahead, everybody, is a possible criminal referral for former president trump in the works? and a new analysis of ads shows

what republican candidates are spending their money on. >> are you a racist, do you hate mexicans? >> abut first, what president putin's new military commander says about his strategy as well as new videos showing the convoy moving south.

. so the u.s. is answering ukraine's pleas for more weapons with defense secretary lloyd

austin confirming a slew of new military support. richard lui is joining me now. take us through it. we have been seeing these satellite images. we know there's a promise of new weapons from the united states to ukraine. the need is there to fight back russian forces. so what do you have? >> and part of that, yasmin, has been the president zelenskyy's call to close the skies so his forces can be protected. and one of -- part of that answer might be something that goes all the way back to the 1970s soviet era. that's a missile defense system that just was delivered by slovakia. it's called the s-300. this is what it looks like. it is very simple. it is mobile. it has in this case two particular launch tubes. they launch this, it moves very quickly at mock-2.5. that it can actually take down a missile. it goes back to 1979, but has been updated many times. the latest, 2007. and it has a range of about 125 miles. now, this is very important

because it can shoot down enemy aircraft. it also can take down the missiles that have been coming in. i'll dig into that later. essential here is ukraine forces do not need training because they already have been using these. they have about 300 of them so far. according to forbes, ukraine had 300 of the older versions when the war began. they have since lost at least 21. i'm going to show you, here's russian satellite imagery. it's claiming to show one at least destroyed launcher in this picture. again, a russian defense minstraer picture. this is one of them here. you'll notice there are four tubes because there are so many different variations, it means it could potentially have launched four different missiles at very short amount of time. you can see it on the left-hand side, what appears to be another destroyed one in the picture and one down here as well. again, from russian defense minstraer. this is the concern, they're losing their air defense capability in ukraine. the news friday that i was just remarking on, an s-300 battery which could have dozens of

launchers. we don't know the exact details of it, arrived from slovakia, nato member, to ukraine. it marks the first nato country to send any sort of air defense system to ukraine. the first time. this includes radar trucks. you can see this on the convoy. missile launches, command posts, and even more. that's a battery. now, one s-300 system can make a notable difference. it's surface to air missiles have a range of up to 125 miles. roughly 20%. i want to show you this, what does that mean? if it was right here, if they put that battery there, about 125 miles of that radius, draw a circle around it, you can see how one battery can protect this 20% from the air of the country. that's a big deal, and slovakia could be giving up to 45 missiles to protect this area, according to abc news. and each successful shootdown as

we know of a russian missile could be significant. we just have to thing about at the train station where 50 people were killed by one missile. if this was there, it could be the beginning of closing down the skies. >> this is good news with the military might they're receiving. we know they still want those fighter jets. the u.s. has yet to say they're going to send those. they have stood their ground on that. that being said, there's also good news when it comes to tear toys, right? where the ukrainians occupy and where the russians are. >> as you have been talking about it with your guests this afternoon, this is what it loos like on the map. right now, if we look at what was a week ago here. i'm going to draw a circle. odd looking circle. this was last week. this was a lot of red, which means russian controlled area. and i'm just going to advance it for you to today. watch that little triangle. empty. a big significant in terms of

where they're moving all of their forces, which is right down into this area. you're showing the pictures you just got in of the convoy. the question is, the convoy didn't do so well in the north. how will they do in the south? >> that's one of the major questions and how inukrainians are going to be able to fight back to maintain control of their territory and expel russians from ukraine. richard lui, as always, great to see you. thank you. from there, i want to bring in mikhail zhegir. author of all the kremlin's men. great to talk to you once again. thanks for joining us on this. there's a few things i want to tick through with you. first and foremost, the appointment of general dvornikov to the russian military to head up the russian military in inside ukraine. what do you make of it? what do you know about him and what does it suggest about putin's strategy? >> hello, yasmin, thank you for having me. general devorn akauv is not

really a celebrity in russia, but he's called civil butcher by most russian journalists. especially by those who know his track record. he's known for commanding russian troops in syria during the last five years. and his reputation is not really impressive. he's known for not caring about any civilian victims or not caring about the troops. he's probably the general who is known to be really cruel to both soldiers and civilian population. but at the same time, it's significant to mention that he's not going to be really the commander in chief of all russian troops because we know

that there are a lot of different forces, really active in ukraine, including national guard. national guard definitely will not be under general dvornikov. they're going to be under a different general who is ex-body guard of president putin, and that's totally separate force. at the same time, all the chechen forces are not going to be part of that group commanded by general dvornikov. so it's hard to say that all russian troops fighting against ukraine are going to be more organized. probably it's going to be worse, but i won't dare to say that russian invasion of ukraine is

going to be more effective. >> can you talk to me about the command structure when it comes to the russian military? and i ask this because, of course, what has happened in bucha and what we are imagining has happened in mariupol although we have not seen images. all these things are now being called war crimes, and the question is does this trace directly back to russian president vladimir putin? did he in fact give these directives? when you talk about the russian military, dvornikov, you talk about the national guard as well, which is being headed by a separate general that you just mentioned, are the directives coming from the top town, from vladimir putin? is he instructing the military to kill ukrainians execution style from your understanding and your belief of what you know of him? >> you know, i always believe that influence of president putin is a bit overestimated by global media. and according to my estimates,

there is much greater powers in political system and especially in russian army today. i don't think that there is everything going according to the plan, and president putin is not the man to have a master plan and trying to fulfill it. he's really responding to all the new signals, and he's very reactive, not strategic planner. and what we have seen in bucha, that's a terrible war crime. but you know, for many people living in russia, we have witnessed a lot of terrible tortures implemented in russian prisons by russian police, for example, in 2020, the movement started in the united states.

a lot of people in russia were a bit surprised because for russian police, that's so obvious, to kill and torture innocent civilians, that's a normal practice in russia. it's kind of a normal practice that people representing the state having weapons, arms in their hands, they can use violence. they torture civilians on daily basis. so that's why i'm totally sure that that was not an order from vladimir putin. but actually, he doesn't care. unfortunately, we haven't seen and we haven't heard any reaction or anything from russian authorities, from russian ministry of defense or from kremlin denouncing those massacres in bucha. they do not protest, and they do

not try to accuse all those soldiers in those war crimes, never. >> so the loss of civilian life essentially is part of russian political structure, which is just terrifying even to hear that reality. mikhail, we thank you so much for sharing your views with us. as always, appreciate it. >> coming up, everybody, reports that the january 6th committee has enough evidence to send a criminal referral for former president trump to the doj. but not everyone on the committee wants to send it. plus, a first-hand account of russia's war on ukraine from a journalist there from the beginning. we'll be right back. meets power? you try crazy things... ...because you're crazy... ...and you like it.

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committee member liz cheney says the panel does have enough confidence to refer donald trump for criminal charges but has yet to decide on whether to send the referral to the justice department. nbc's allie raffa is on capitol hill for us. good to talk to you this hour. what's holding up the decision here? what's the thinking behind it? >> well, yasmin, there could be a few reasons behind this, but first i really want to point out how significant this could be if it does happen. you and i have talked about members of trump's inner circle that the committee has sent criminal contempt referrals for to the justice department, but as close as the committee has been able to probe, the former president himself has remained largely unassociated with this. not called upon, and now as you said, committee vice chair liz cheney is saying the committee does have enough evidence to send at least one criminal referral to the justice department about the former president. listen to part of her interview on cnn this morning. >> we have not made a decision

about referrals on the committee. i think that it is absolutely the case. it's absolutely clear that what president trump was doing, what a number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was unlawful. they did it anyway. i think what we have seen is a massive and well organized and well planned effort that used multiple tools to try to overturn an election. >> and cheney later in that interview denied "new york times" reporting that there is a dispute among the committee members, seven democrats, two republicans, about whether to send this criminal contempt referral to the justice department, but there are a few reasons why they could be delaying doing this. first of all, it would be unprecedented, the first time in history a former president has had a referral sent about him. and it could take the oxygen out of the room for lack of a better analogy for other criminal contempt referrals that the committee has sent the justice

department. it could potentially look like political pressure from a democratic controlled congress to the justice department. and secondly, the department of justice technically doesn't need a referral from the committee to be able to do this. they could do this on their own before or after the committee finishes its investigation because as you know, congress technically cannot convict anymore. these referrals are largely symbolic, yasmin. >> allie raffa for us, thank you for that. >> our coverage of the russian invasion of ukraine continues ahead. but first, what topics are political candidates spending their ad time on less than seven months from the midterms. the biggest takeaways including the republicans' bogeyman. >> the bogeyman was just a fantasy. >> had its own power. >> the boogeyman. ruthann and i like to hike. we eat healthy. we exercise.

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those are the top issues emerging out of political ads right now as the midterm elections are drawing near. an nbc news analysis of more than 200 unique ads last month found 1 in 5 blamed illegal immigration or inflation and raising gas prices for the problems in their state. unsurprisingly, almost all of those ads were aired by republicans. >> biden's open borders killing alabamans. drug overdoses in record numbers. christian conservative katie britt will fight back. she'll build the wall. >> do you hate mexicans? the media calls us racists for wanting to build trump's wall. >> inflation is the democrats' tax on the middle class. >> it's roared into our lives. biden's raging inflation. we're paying the high price. >> with me is one of the researchers for nbc's political unit who combs through hundreds of add ads. thanks for joining us.

you have republicans who are essentially pointing the finger at the biden administration, wanting to blame them for inflation, wanting their voters to blame the biden administration, hence subsequently the turnout for republicans. talk to me about the theme we're seeing amongst these ads and if there's a likelihood this works, this haps into how republican voters are feeling. >> yeah, for sure. you mentioned inflation, and that's one of the biggest issues for american voters across the board in both parties. we have seen that in plenty of polls, the rising cost of gas, the rising cost of groceries is a big deal. so voters want their politicians and their elected oflts to speak to how they're going to solve those issues in the next year, and immigration particularly for republican voters is a big issue that they want to hear from their candidates as well. you know, we're in primary season. we don't have republicans and democrats facing each other quite yet, so it's appealing to the base, especially in light of the biden administration

announcing they're lifting title 42 at the border. there's a lot of voters in the border states and other states who want to hear how the people on the ballot is going to tackle these types of issues. this is one of the best places to speak directly to the voters, coming into their homes via these ads. >> it's hard to avoid talking about inflation in the run-up to the midterms whether you're a republican or democrat. there's this fear with inflation where it is, with unemployment at an all-time low we could be headed towards a recession. that's some of the conversation that's being had amongst major finance circles. with democrats as well some are tapping into using inflation in their ads. let's play a little bit of one i have and we'll talk on the other side. >> the price of gas, housing, prescription drugs, soaring. the old way of doing things isn't working. i'm andrew calc. i'm the son of public school teachers, a father of three, and a former lawyer at the aclu.

i'm not taking any money frame corporate pacs, big pharma or the fossil fuel industry. >> how do he and others make the case as well? >> yeah, for sure. so he's one of the ads we saw in march that was running up against inflation. we also have a few incumbent senators that are running in some swing states, particularly in georgia, we see senator raphael warnock and senator mark kelly in arizona that are both facing tough re-election challenges, and they're the party in power in washington. their job is to convince voters that despite the fact that we are in power and this happened while we were in power, we're still the people best equipped to fix the issue. and you know, lower those prices or get some relief to american families. so definitely a much easier argument for republicans to say, well, this happened under the other party sore if you vote us in, we'll fix it, but the democrats are against the challenge of we understand that prices went up and are still going up under our leadership, but here's how we're going to work to lower those prices and get you relief. so definitely an uphill battle

for them. >> much of the talk on friday, of course, the confirmation of justice ketanji brown jackson, was the ability to hone in on the supreme court, this is a fight for the supreme court in the midterms. that's also off the heels of this interview that emerged between jonathan swan and mitch mcconnell, and he was asked would you hold a hearing for the senate after the midterms for together supreme court justice if an opening were to happen, and he didn't directly answer that. a lot of people saying he's going to be holding a supreme court justice hostage or a vacancy on the supreme court justice in the supreme court hostage. so how are democrats going to seize on the supreme court in the lead-up to the midterms? >> yeah, of course. i mean, this was a historic achievement for democrats. the first black woman on the court isn't something they're going to take lightly, especially going into campaign season. i'm pretty sure we'll see them touting this on the campaign trail, in ads, in events with

voters. and as you mentioned, the supreme court is something that matters to a lot of voters, particularly we have some big decisions coming up this summer, especially on the future of roe v. wade and abortion, and so this is something that a lot of voters want to hear about. and you know, if we even just simply look at the timeline where almost in the middle of april, starting in may, a huge lineup of primaries throughout the country and that will continue into the fall. this could be one of the last biggest legislative achievements for democrats and they're going to want to tout that as something recent, something big that they got done for americans in washington. so definitely some things that will be seen. >> alex szandra marquez, thank you for your work. >> you have seen him across msnbc for more than a month as he reported from the front lines of russia's invasion in ukraine. >> i want people to see the effects of this war, so this is about a few minutes from where i

live. we are not clear about exactly what happened, but this building was hit. we don't know if it was debris, if it was a missile. i'm still on scene trying to figure out. >> now back in the states, terrell joins me to talk about his experience. 've been everywh, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ crossed the desert's bare, man. ♪ ♪ i've breathed the mountain air, man. ♪ ♪ of travel i've had my share, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere. ♪ ♪ i've been to: pittsburgh, parkersburg, ♪ ♪ gravelbourg, colorado, ♪ ♪ ellensburg, cedar city, dodge city, what a pity. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere. ♪

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all right. during his time in ukraine, reporter ter rell went from covering to living and reporting from a war zone. you have seen him on this program so many times in so many kour rage jous acts and now

terell is back here in the united states safe, on set with us. it is so good to see you in person, to see that you're home safe. how are you feeling? how are you doing? >> my body is still in ukraine. body still in ukraine getting the sounds of war are still things that are a part of me, but i'm generally doing okay thinking about ways i can help people and the country back in ukraine. >> this is your first war that you have covered. >> it is indeed. >> it's traumatic. >> it's very traumatic depending on what you do. it's not even a matter of you being embedded with military personnel. it's the constant explosions wondering if one of those explosions is actually going to hit your building, the displace of employment and just senseless war that started over absolutely nothing. it's just a sight to see, and it's something i've never experienced before. >> i remember talking to you

when you were in your apartment one morning, and you were like, we're waking up, and i don't know what's to come today, but i know i'm alive this morning. we heard air raid sirens going off, that sort of thing. i remember saying good buy to you on that programming and thinking, i have to say good buy to him without knowing what's going to happen in the next 24 hours for him. you saw buildings completely obliterated just a few blocks from where you were. >> the thing about covering -- i actually covered that scene from the early stages of the war. so there are a lot of a ronys in that for example. for as many of the destruction that's taken place outside of kyiv and their suburbs, a lot of people thought those would be the safest places to be. the people who live inside the city were farther protected than

many of the people in the suburbs. one of the families i first helped to evacuate came from one of the suburbs the russians occupied and the stories of praying that no sexual assaults be committed against them, their homes would not be destroyed. but those stories are table talks. it's very common. >> look at the video. this is one of the buildings i was talking about, completely demolished. and that was not far from you. >> about a ten-minute walk, yes. >> now we know 180 children or so have lost their lives. >> in the one way, you see this building right here that's destroyed, but if you walk about five minutes away, you may not notice that there's any damage done to your city at all, so you have people just going about their day. so that's the thing.

with all of this destruction, there is so much about people going about their live. there's a grocery store people are going to, so you have all of these examples, these images of war, but at the same time, it's surreal in many respects. >> what do you think of the images we saw? >> genocide. you know, a lot of people are really uncomfortable with that word. you talk about the intention to destroy people and what's really been clear about president putin is his language, the way he describes the ukrainian people. he describes them as people whose culture and nationhood does not exist. so he started using language at the very beginning of this war to say they're not even a people. it really doesn't matter what we think and feel. it's really about what he can sell to the russian people, so one of the major fears you have in ukraine is this is not just

about putin. this is about the population in russia, which is survey after survey shows they support this war. people would just replace someone similar to him if he should fall that would have no benefit for ukrainian sovereignty. >> there was a poll that 84% approve of vladimir putin in russia. >> it didn't start there. it started with crimea. it started with donbass, right? because in this history, there's just never the sense that ukrainians were a version of people. >> are you going back? >> july, in fact. i'm taking a ukrainian course and i'm going to continue my journalism work there as this war continues. >> we are so appreciative of the work that you are doing there, that you have been doing there,

and that you are sharing it with us on our network. we are so grateful you are safe and able to be on the set with us today. thank you. incredible work that you have been doing overseas. your family should be proud. >> thank you. >> thank you. that wraps it up for me, everybody. reverend al sharpton, politic station starts right now. ♪♪ good evening, and welcome to politics nation. tonight's lead, a mobilizing moment. this sunday, i find myself inspired by the power of human persistence in ukraine. innocent civilians have been faced with the worst of human behavior. atrocities committed by invading russian forces