thank you for the privilege of your time. more news picks up now. good morning. i'm lindsey reiser. live at msnbc headquarters in new york. right now, we're following breaking news overseas. a massacre at a day care center in northeastern thailand. more than 30 people killed. most of them children. after a former police officer opened fire. the shooter also killing his wife and child. what we're learning this morning. north korea escalating a tense situation with its neighbor. the ap reports that it deployed 12 warplanes near the south korean border hours after its sixth missile test in less than two weeks. how the u.s. is responding. and if you just started getting used to those slightly lower gas prices, don't get too comfortable. they're already climbing back up.

it isn't just because opec plans to cut oil production. more on the refinery issues in the u.s. that are also contributing. and what we just heard from the president. also this morning, we're following the growing scrutiny of hershel walker scrambling to respond to another bombshell just 33 days out from the midterms. the daily beast reports that the staunchly antiabortion former football star not only urged a woman to have an abortion in 2009, but he also had a child with her, casting doubt on his insistence that he doesn't know who she is. it's a story nbc news has not confirmed and one that walker is also denying saying overnight, quote, there's no truth to this or any other daily beast report. now he's out with a brand-new ad about his mental health battle. we'll talk about that and the rest of the story with the daily beast reporter who broke it all. that's where we start today.

yamiche alcindor is in georgia. also joining us, the daily beast reporter who broke the story and the host of simone on msnbc and former chief spokesperson for vice president harris. good morning to all of you and thanks for being with us. ahead of this scheduled walker campaign event, he did publicly speak out this morning. what can we expect to hear from him today? >> reporter: good morning. i'm here in georgia about three hours outside of atlanta. a deeply red part of the state. and it's here that hershel walker is expected to come to hold a campaign event. he's been denying these claims that he paid a woman who was carrying his child to have an abortion. he's also been denying that even after the daily beast reported that this woman is a mother of his children. he's saying this is an attack by democrats and he's going to go on and win this election. take a listen to what hershel

walker was saying this morning. >> do you have any idea who this alleged former lover of yours is who says you paid for an abortion and fathered a child? any idea whatsoever? >> i have no idea at all and that's the problem. i know for a fact no one has ever told me or i paid for an abortion. that never happened. >> reporter: so there you have it, hershel walker continuing to defend himself, continuing to say these claims are false. of course, that woman has told the daily beast that she finds that to be ridiculous. the lieutenant governor of georgia also speaking out. he said that even the staunchest republicans in the state, they're becoming a little rattled by the flow of information and the drip, drip, drip by this woman who is continuing to stand by her allegations. i've been talking to voters, and the ones who don't like herbal

hershel walker, they say this is more evidence. people are sticking by him, though. we should also note that there are so many people in this state that are still sticking with hershel walker. even though that state republican is saying that there are people who rattled by the weight of this baggage, national republicans so far are sticking with hershel walker. >> roger, you broke the story. we heard walker denying it. but you interviewed the woman at the center of it. the beast is not naming her. but i want to read one of her quotes, he didn't accept responsibility for the kid we had together and he isn't accepting responsibility for the one he didn't. now he wants to take that choice away from other women and couples entirely. roger, tell me about your conversations with her, why she's choosing to speak out. >> the woman is absolutely

remarkable. i want everyone to know that. she's truly brave and it's been quite amazing. she's fearless. she's been very kind to me in sharing her story and being able to back it up. yes, i've spoken to the woman at length. we have, you know, ample information that that corroborates exactly who she is. the campaign can definitely find out who she is if walker is not pointing it out to them. get him to show you the check. just look up his bank statement, you'll see it right there. >> you heard reporting that state republicans are maybe stepping back a little bit, a little reticent. but national republicans are jumping to walker's defense including senator ted cruz. let's listen to jeff duncan last night on cnn. >> if we're being honest, hershel walker won the primary

because he scored a bunch of touchdowns back in th '80s and he's donald trump's friend. >> simone, what do you make of that? >> i want to say two things. first, i think it is important that people understand that hershel walker is an icon in georgia. he's a football star. he's an athlete. and although i have seen all of these interviews that he's done and i think he's a terrible candidate, terrible candidate choice, voters in georgia, including some black voters who may not be supportive of him but do not want to hear people speak disparagingly about another black man, they are paying attention to the discourse around what is happening. the second thing is this. i think national republicans have said as much, republicans want the senate seat in georgia full stop. they're not going to walk away from hershel walker. even if they did, his name would still be on the battle.

the threshold for taking his name off the battle has passed. we need to be 60 days out from election day. by this point, we're 33. and i think this really comes down to can voters trust hershel walker. i frankly do not care if he paid for the abortion or not. i know for a fact he did because of the check. the question is, again, can voters trust him. if he's going to lie about this, can you trust that if you send hershel walker to the united states senate, will he do what he says he is going to do. >> simone, you had mentioned that you don't care about these actions, but isn't it also something voters should think about if he is espousing one kind of political ideology but then in his own private and personal life he's acting otherwise? >> i think absolutely, yes. but i guess, lindsay -- i say i don't care and maybe voters don't care. i think back to donald trump and his comments caught on tape. so many people like myself were

outraged about those comments. it was hypocrisy. how we speak and talk about women, the folks that came out and defended it as locker talk, and we saw republicans, we saw voters, some conservative voters in this country rally around then-candidate donald trump. this to me is a similar thing. and i hope women in georgia are paying attention. and i -- i know what -- yamiche can speak better to this than me. but in my experience in campaigns, there's some people who are not willing to say what they really think. and i think women in georgia are paying attention to this. >> i do want to bring you into the conversation. we know that a walker source says his campaign has raised more than $500,000 since his appearance on fox news monday. that's new reporting from you there. let's talk about his opponent, senator raphael warnock. he's scheduled to appear where you are this morning. so far, his camp has stayed

silent on this. what are you hearing? >> senator warnock is not engaging directly with the story. he told reporters after roger broke the story that, you know, he believes a patient's room is too small to fit a doctor and the government. now there are a couple reasons for that. the first is, democrats here in georgia are playing a good cop/bad cop routine. they're spending lots of money attacking hershel walker going negative on him and that leaves senator warnock to talk about his own positive message which he's much more comfortable with. now he's not particularly fluent in the kind of personal politics that this story dredges up. and he's out there talking about things like medicaid expansion, georgians who could be fixed with a simple policy tweak, the inflation drug act that democrats passed on their own. he likes to talk about how he partnered with republicans,

including ted cruz, as well as tommy tuberville of alabama. these are the kinds of things that i expect to hear from senator warnock at his rally a little bit later today down the street in savannah where i am right now. i would not discount that at all, yes, yamiche is right and we've seen evidence that many voters are not moved by it, probably not most voters, moved by this. but this is georgia. you don't have to move a couple -- you know, several percentage points for it to matter. even moving tens of thousands of votes could be the difference between defeat and victory in a state this close that decided control of the chamber in 2020. may well do so again this time around. and that's why the story matters. it goes to the question of honesty and trust and character which democrats have already been attacking hershel walker for on the air and it also adds a question of political hypocrisy for a candidate who is talking about banning abortion, aligning with the movement that likens it to murder. supported an exception for himself years ago according to

roger's story. >> roger, yamiche talked about this drip, drip, drip that's coming out in large part due to you and your publication's reporting. but there's another story i want to ask you about. "politico" reporting that walker's team new of an abortion allegation months before it surfaced. they're saying, the reaction is, they're not going to say that because it's like everything else, people aren't going to find out. why do you think this wouldn't come out? >> i don't know. i would just like to call attention to one thing about that "politico" article. i have no idea whether this is the same allegation. i don't think that it is. i spoke to the one on-record source that they have in that article and she tweeted last night that she no longer thinks it's the same allegation either. that's the source. one of its off -- i'm sorry, background sources says that, well, they can't be sure either. i would like to call everyone es

attention here really quickly to walker's denial of this story. he says that nothing in the daily beast is -- that's not true. he confirmed two of my reports about his secret children. i put those reports out in june just two days apart. he confirmed both of them. he does not think that everything the daily beast prints is a lie. he's not denied that. he's doing some sort of jedi mind trick where he says i deny it on one hand and then he's also, like, asking, you know -- appealing for forgiveness and grace and all of that on the other. which one is it? are -- can you hold those ideas in your head at the same time? some people might be able to. that's kind of disturbing -- >> let's go ahead and play some of that ad that you had just mentioned. >> i wrote a book about mental health and by the grace of god,

i've overcome it. one as a preacher who doesn't tell the truth. >> so yamiche, roger touched on it. what's the strategy right here? >> the strategy really is to appeal to people's idea of faith and religion and america's idea that people love a comeback. you have voters who told me that if they believed these allegations, if these allegations are true, that it just shows that she's someone -- he's someone who had mistakes in his past. one voter told me he's found god, he's a redeemed sinner, he's opposing abortion. so people who are evangelical christians, they see him as a comeback story. but you have here him saying i didn't do this, but i do want forgiveness for all the other things in my past because there are a number of voters who told me they care about this

allegation but they also care about the domestic abuse allegations that he was facing before this and they weren't going to vote for him because of those allegations. so he already had a lot of baggage coming into this. he's saying, i have a lot of baggage, but i don't think i have this particular baggage. the daily beast has been doing important reporting here with this woman coming out. i'm interested to see if hershel walker comes here, takes questions, because one of the questions i'll have is, tell me more about the this denial and are you sure that this woman who says she's a mother of your children, are you sure she's not right by these allegations, lindsay. >> we will be watching for that. thank you. thank you all for joining us. coming up, a shocking scene of violence today in thailand. more than 30 dead, most of them children, killed by a former police officer at a day care. we'll have the latest on the investigation. plus, new provocation from north korea, the regime flying

warplanes near the korean border hours after launching two more ballistic missiles. how the u.s. is responding. and why a decision by the world's biggest oil producers will mean higher prices at the pump for all of us. >> i'm going to drive with a frown and a tank with fully overpriced gas. d a tank with fu overpriced gas this is the moment. for a treatment for moderate-to-severe eczema. cibinqo — fda approved. 100% steroid free. not an injection, cibinqo is a once-daily pill for adults who didn't respond to previous treatments. and cibinqo helps provide clearer skin and less itch. cibinqo can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. do not take with medicines that prevent blood clots. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma,

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authorities in thailand are investigating a horrific attack at a day care center that's being called the deadliest in the country's history. at least 38 are dead, most of them preschool-aged children. after a former police officer opened fire at the childcare center. police say the suspect later took his own life after killing his wife and child at home. nbc news foreign correspondent kelly cobiella joins me right now. what more have we learned about the suspect and the attack? >> well, lindsay, place say he was a 34-year-old former police

officer as you mentioned. he had been fired last year because of a -- an alleged drugs offense and he was in court earlier today because of a drugs charge. they say he arrived at this day care around midday, he's agitated when he found out that his own child wasn't there. he started shooting members of the staff. the staff managed to lock the door to the room where 30 children were sleeping but police say he was able to shoot his way through that door and continue his attack. they say that he was shooting inside that room and that most of the children who died at the day care, about 22, were stabbed, not shot. they say he got in his car and drove shooting while he was driving, driving into people, went to his home, killed his own wife and child and then turned the gun on himself. now, police aren't talking about a potential motivate today. they've just mentioned that drug history. but, you know, this has left

thailand really in shock, the deadliest mass killing in that country's history as you mentioned, lindsay. >> kelly, how rare is something like this? >> well, mass shootings are relatively uncommon in thailand. the last one was two years ago when a soldier went on a shooting spree, 16-hour long shooting spree, in and around a shopping mall, killing 29 people. but this really is a country that has a culture of -- a strong gun culture, guns are seen as almost a status symbol because they're relatively expensive to buy. gun ownership rates are very high in thailand and so are gun homicides. it has one of the highest gun homicide rates in asia and guns -- there are strong gun laws there, but they're still relatively easy to buy in the black market.

but, lindsay, even after that mass shooting two years ago, there was no real shift in public opinion and no real push for stronger gun laws in thailand. this simply isn't something that they see on a daily, monthly, yearly basis even. the last mass shooting was back in 2020 and that was the deadliest mass killing in that country at that point until, sadly, today. >> just a terrible story. kelly cobiella, thank you. this morning a dangerous new escalation from new york. just hours after the country launched two short-range ballistic missiles, officials in south korea say north korea flew 12 warplanes in formation near the south korean border forcing south korea to scramble its own warplanes. janis mackey frayer joins me now. what's the latest you're hearing on the response to north korea's

escalation? >> reporter: well, there have been six missile launches in the past 12 days by north korea and we saw that escalation this afternoon when we learned that these north korean warplanes were flying close to the border. they were doing air-to-surface firing drills and acting so provocative that south korea sent up 30 aircraft at their response. we're seeing the u.s. now holding trilateral military exercises with south korea and japan, the strike group moving back into the waters around the korean peninsula. we're seeing that escalation prompted earlier this week that went clear over japan, flying further than any north korean missile had flown before. but the concern now is not only

the sharp escalation in tension here, lindsay, but the pace of the testing that we're seeing. some 24 launches in this record year for north korea and this is reminiscent of 2017. the last time kim jong-un conducted a nuclear test and that is the thought now that that will be the next step by north korea. it's something that u.s. officials and government officials throughout the region are expecting. and there is evidence showing up in satellite imagery as well. it's suggesting that there's been construction and the upgrading of tunnels at a key nuclear site in north korea. the same nuclear site, by the way, that north korea claimed they destroyed in 2018 during that short-lived diplomacy with then-president trump. things are going nowhere at the u.n. security council beyond accusations that china and

russia who hold veto power are standing in the way of any open discussion about north korea, and in some ways, protecting north korea from stronger sanctions. but the concern now, again, is this nuclear test. and as has been the past case with displays by north korea, timing and context, matter for common, but the sense is a nuclear test is imminent, probably after china holds its key communist party here in a couple of weeks, but before midterm elections in the u.s. lindsay? >> can you talk to me also about the bigger picture here and the motivation behind this escalation? >> well, for the past couple of months, the u.s., south korea and japan have been engaging in what are fairly routine military exercises. these are billed as drills of preparedness to show defensive

posture in the region and as well to show that these allies can work together and mount a counterattack if need be in an efficient and swift way. north korea sees it all as provocation, as hostile acts and in many ways as justification for a weapons program to build bigger weapons, stronger weapons, and certainly more of them. lindsay? >> janis mackey frayer, thank you so much for your reporting. the long road to recovery. the urgent needs on the ground for florida residents who lost everything in hurricane ian. and across the country after weeks of lower gas prices, experts say, we're in for another spike. what to expect ahead. what will you do? ♪ what will you change? ♪ will you make something better? ♪

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ian destroyed that trailer of his. shelters in the hardest-hit areas have filled up and for folks in florida now without a home, hurricane ian is really worsening the state's housing crisis where there isn't enough affordable housing to begin with. but the cleanup and recovery effort did get a huge boost during president biden's visit to florida yesterday alongside governor ron desantis. he announced multiple actions including the doubling of the amount of time the government will foot the bill for recovery. jesse kirsch joins me now. >> reporter: one of the biggest things was getting a bridge built to this community. we've been able to cross onto pine island. up until yesterday, there was no bridge to cross by car. the county, lee county here confirming to me that residents and workers who are doing cleanup out here and rebuilding are able to now access this

island again by road and you can see here, where i'm standing, there is still some standing water. i can tell you cell phone reception is tenable in some areas and horrendous in other areas. we've had signals completely drop out on us. and one of the things that stands out to me about this community is that we've seen power lines snapped over still, those poles snapped like toothpicks and hanging over roadways on a level that i wasn't seeing on mainland. and i think that speaks to how difficult it's been probably to get equipment out here. and even though the roadways are open, we just saw a short time ago a helicopter landing in a street here moments ago in world food kitchen -- world central kitchen tells us this is a chopper they contracted to brin. we've seen people leave area with food from them. i want to show you an area of the bridge to pine island that has been rebuilt. there was some kind of excavator

tool dumping rocks out. i'm trying to get clarity as to what exactly the project was. it's slow going over the bridge but people are moving in both directions. that is welcome news for people who have not been able to access this community by road for several days now. >> jesse, thanks to you and your crew. appreciate it. turning now to the renewed pain at the pump. the national average for a gallon of gas has ticked back up to the highest it's been since august. it jumped four cents overnight. it's $3.87. and a more dramatic spike is likely in store in which opec announced the largest cut in oil production since the start of the pandemic. president biden spoke about it just in the last hour at the white house. >> what's your reaction to the -- >> disappointment and we're looking at what alternatives it may have. >> so what are americans facing as we head into colder weather?

blayne alexander has more on what this all means for you. >> reporter: after seeing record prices this summer, so many of us are watching these gas prices like a hawk and experts predict that we could now see another increase and it's not just here at the pump. the price of the gas you use to heat your home cold also go up. on the emotional roller coaster of rising and falling gas prices, experts say brace for another steep climb. >> i'm going to drive with a frown. >> starting next month, opec plus, a group of the world's largest and most powerful oil suppliers, says it will slash production by 2 million barrels a day. it's the largest cut in production since the start of the pandemic. driving up demand and likely prices at the pump. experts say that could mean paying as much as 25 to 30 cents more per gallon and it could increase home heating costs which were expected to hit a

more than ten-year high this winter. >> the oil market looks ahead. the price is already moving. higher prices for drivers, higher prices for heating. >> in a statement, the white house called the move shortsighted. experts fear another bump in the road. back in june, the national average peaked at $5.02 per gallon before leveling out at $3.67 in september. in california, gas is $6.42 per gallon. that's up 24 cents in the past week. >> i feel robbed, man. >> reporter: the rise comes amid skyrocketing inflation with prices increasing on just about everything. >> thinking about taking a trip. well, maybe we'll hold off a month. we're not going to go out to dinner for the next couple of weeks. >> reporter: gas prices look different depending where you are. california is the highest, by

far. for instance, here in georgia, the average price is about $3.19 a gallon. it's even lower in mississippi. experts say the high prices that we're seeing in california is because of refinery issues out west. back to you. >> thanks to blayne alexander for that reporting. this morning, president biden is getting back into campaign mode. his message in a key swing district. and that stop comes as some of the most closely watched house and senate races have gotten even tighter about a month from the midterms. the latest shifts in some races that may be leading to fresh optimism for democrats coming up. new astepro allergy. no allergy spray is faster. with the speed of astepro, almost nothing can slow you down. because astepro starts working in 30 minutes, while other allergy sprays take hours. and astepro is the first and only 24-hour steroid free allergy spray.

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up three points since september. he's set to arrive in a key swing district in new york. he's going to tour an ibm facility and announce a major investment in good-paying manufacturing jobs. this is part of the midterm swing. it will include stops in new jersey and new york city. white house correspondent mike memoli joins me now from poughkeepsie. how does this fit into the president's broader midterm message? >> reporter: with less than five weeks ago, it's interesting to see what kind of issues the president is trying to put voters' attention on at this stage. earlier this week, we saw the president at the white house convening his task force to talk about the 100 days that have elapsed since that dobbs decision struck down the right to an abortion. the president coming here to an ibm facility as the tech giant is announcing a $20 billion plan to expand its operation,

especially in the advanced semiconductor industry. this is the president going to link that back, of course, to one of those string of legislative successes over the summer, the chips and science act. the president is going to be talking about another announcement from another tech giant which is planning to open a facility outside of syracuse related to the semiconductor industry. these are, according to the white house, going to create jobs over the long term, but these kinds of announcements run in the face of what is a more short-term pressure that the white house is well aware of. you were talking about it before the break, a potential spike in gas prices. white house officials say they're aware of it, they're frustrated by opec's decision but they know gas prices have come down more than a dollar. it's worth noting who is with the president today. we talked about democrats either joining or running away from the president at this stage. the president will be joined here by pat ryan. that may be a familiar name. he's the newest democratic congressman in the house. he won that closely watched

special election here in upstate new york in august. he's joining the president today. his grandfather worked at this factory here. a notable decision to the schedule here. and the president, you mentioned some of his other stops today. he's going to be in new york and new jersey raising money for democrats. this is another main concern as they're being outspent on the airwaves, the president doing his part to help load the coffers in the final stage of the race. with control of congress in stake, dave wasserman has a reality check this morning for democrats fighting for control of the house. right now, 211 seats, at least, lean republican. 194 seats at least lean toward democrats and there are 30 toss-ups. so democrats would still need to win 24 to 30 toss-up races, about 80%, to keep their majority. dave wasserman joins me right now. good morning. thanks for being with us. this new poll that shows a boost in biden's approval also shows

the top issues for voters are first and foremost inflation, then preserving democracy, followed by abortion, immigration and health care. how are you seeing these issues shape the races you're following and both party's chances for winning the house? >> well, republicans hope that their focus on inflation and crime will take a bit of the momentum from democrats who were polling better over the summer after dobbs. there's no doubt the democrats are polling better in house races than they were five months ago and that means that republicans have increasingly hyperfocused their resources on the 20 or so races that will get them to the majority, including playing defense in some of their own seats like in florida and iowa where we just moved ratings towards democrats. but we are seeing republicans forego some of their longer shot opportunities that they were talking about earlier this year that would have allowed them to -- if they won them, to get a much larger gain and a much more comfortable majority. so, our best guess is that

republicans pick up 10 to 20 seats. but that's a very narrow margin and it's not a foregone conclusion in the house. >> what is important about how those races are shifting? you just mentioned that, changing the forecast on ten house races, seven moving in democrats favor, three to republicans. >> the fundamentals still favor republicans in terms of redistricting and retirements and recruitment. but we have seen democrats poll better in states where the top of the ticket has collapsed for republicans, for example, in michigan and in pennsylvania. pennsylvania where we just moved the seventh district, susan wild, back to toss-up. and so republicans' opportunities are in some surprising places, like the rio grande valley, even more blue states like oregon. but there's a lot of uncertainty in the house and with just five

weeks to go, it's not impossible that democrats could hold their majority. they would have to sweep the toss-up column. >> one of the most closely watched races, of course, is the senate contest in pennsylvania between john fetterman and dr. oz. we got new fund-raising monies from the fetterman campaign. they raised $22 million in the third quarter of this year which is a pennsylvania fund-raising record. the political report moved that race from lean democrat to toss-up this week. so what's behind that tightening? >> it's crime. and frankly dr. oz, even though every time he's tried to come across as a more regular guy, he's dug himself into a deeper hole, he isn't entirely bad at marketing. there's a reason he's been able to sell so many non-fda products over the years. he says john fetterman is soft on crime, in terms of his advocacy of more discretionary sentencing in murder cases, and that has helped move the needle

in oz's favor. it hasn't brought his favorability up, but it's brought fetterman's negatives higher and that's made the race too close for comfort for democrats. >> it's also working -- these negative ads by republicans on crime in places like wisconsin. do you get a sense from democratic strategists that you're talking to that they need to retool some of their messages. >> democrats are being much more aggressive in trying to cast themselves as advocates of additional law enforcement funding. we're seeing democrats ranging from christina bohannon in iowa, feature sheriffs in their ads telling voter that the democrat is going to secure additional funding for police. and that's one way for democrats to blunt these attacks. but still in the case of pennsylvania and some other races where democrats have particular records on the issue that republicans are picking

apart, it does have the potential to shift a few points in republicans' directions. >> thanks for joining us. >> thanks a lot. up next, on the front lines, how a group of ukrainian volunteers liberated russian-held territory and their message to russian troops. >> go away. do something for your country. >> i hope you never come here. if you come, you will die. if you come, you will die. you ready babe? “everywhere” by fleetwood mac ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪can you hear me calling... out your name?♪ ♪you know that i've falling...♪ ♪and i don't know what to say♪ ♪i'll speak a little louder...♪ ♪i'll even shout...♪ ♪you know that i'm proud and i can't get the words out♪ ♪oh i♪

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all on the network with more 5g coverage. it's the ultimate business trifecta, with the new iphone 14 pro on us. only from t-mobile for business. more u.s. aid for ukraine is on the way this morning. the $55 million to help repair pipes and improve key infrastructure as the country gears up to fight the war with russia in the winter months. russia is trying to regain footing with renewed attacks in the zaporizhzhia region. ukraine's foreign minister said russia launched at least seven missiles overnight. the attacks have destroyed residential buildings and sparked fires. rescuers have been pulling people out of the ruins. those attacks are near europe's largest nuclear power plant, which russian president vladimir putin has just ordered his government to take over.

erin mclaughlin joins us from kharkiv. what can you tell us what you are hearing from ukrainian troops? >> reporter: one of the seven missiles you just mentioned actually struck an apartment building, collapsing the building, trapping a number of people. footage showed ukrainian authorities pulling a 3-year-old child from the rubble. one was killed in the attack. that's the kind of attack ukrainians find infuriating. it's what is driving many ukrainians to the front lines to participate in the war effort. i spoke to a group of ukrainian men, a battalion of 200. they left their day jobs for the battlefield. in ukraine, the road to moscow is littered with the remains of russia's failed attack on kharkiv. miles from the border is this destroyed village.

a ukrainian commander takes us into the forest and shows us where the russians were holed up. >> it's russian stolen -- >> reporter: they stole it and put the z on it? and pushed out following an intense artillery battle. >> in one hour, 240, 250 ammunition come here. >> reporter: it's difficult to believe all this was liberated with the help of a brigade of ukrainian civilians. what started as a group of 35 untrained men, in two months he helped transform into a battalion of more than 200. >> we have guys who only want to fight. they don't want money. they don't want -- they want to kill russian because they want to protect country. >> reporter: basically, you have taken a group of people, men, that have never been on the battlefield before? >> they take rifle like automatic machine gun. what's this? >> reporter: including a farmer

who says he loves to grow sunflowers and a masseuse who goes by the call sign buga. buga shows us the dark and damp bunker where they endured bombardment. it was scary for everyone, he says. i understood that i might die. many already have. some in this very forest. >> two days ago in this area, die my friend. >> reporter: my god, your friend died? >> yes. >> reporter: how are you feeling? >> angry. i want to kill russian, everything what they do with my country. it was my people. >> reporter: he says his men are unfazed by putin's move to mobilize hundreds of thousands of reservists and at the tens o

thousands dodging the draft. when you see russian men running, what's your message to them? >> go away. do something for your country. i hope you never come here. if you will come, you will die. we fight not like soldiers. we fight like free people who fight on freedom. we fight for our freedom. >> reporter: erin mclaughlin, ukraine. he told me he has a 10-year-old son, which is another reason he is fighting. he says he is fighting now so that his 10-year-old won't have to. >> erin, i have seen so many of your reports. it was moving. that interview was powerful. your follow-up questions as he is walking through this area and

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," all eyes on controversial republican senate candidate herschel walker, on the trail in georgia this hour. will he answer questions about the growing scandal rocking his campaign just a month before the midterms? saudi arabia and russia rock president biden's hopes to keep gas prices down between now and the election as they decide to slash production to keep oil prices up. the president denying his fist bump saudi with the crown prince was about keeping oil flowing. the u.s., south korea and japan conduct more joint exercises. north korea fires off more ballistic missiles. will anything stop kim jong-un from going nuclear?