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it is sunday, february 19th. welcome to our new home at 10 am. this is saint sofia church in kyiv, ukraine, the capital of this country. it is a beautiful night here. it's a mild night. it's not common to see the city lit up at night for various reasons, including the fact that it has been the target of air raids for almost an entire year now and because russia infrastructure has been hit. the city is lit a night. it's beautiful. it's 5 pm, 6 pm here in kyiv. on friday, we're going to mark one year since russia's unprovoked invasion. i was in ukraine last spring in lviv in the west of the country. they are now back to see what has changed what i stayed the same and what is next for this global fight for democracy. one thing, as you know, i keep

saying this that remains the same as that russia continues to rain terror from the skies in the form of missiles and rockets and airstrikes and drones, even here in kyiv both in the battlefield and far away from it in places like i am right now. something that is very evident, the air raid sirens have become a part of everyday life in. you ordered a few minutes ago with richard engel where he is in kramatorsk in the southeast of the country. the herman multiple air raid sirens each day. while most ukrainians have come to live with them, they hear and acknowledge them and largely continue on with their day. for my team and me, if an aerate siren goes off during the show, we will need to immediately leave this location and relocate to a more secure place. if that does happen, my friend and colleague jonathan capehart is standing by in new york. i'm grateful to him for doing that. he's going to pick up the coverage until we are set and safe to rejoin. tomorrow, presidential biden is heading to poland. on tuesday, he's going to deliver remarks commemorating the anniversary of the invasion. since february 2022, last year, the added states has committed around 30 billion dollars of

aid to ukraine. u.s. officials tell nbc news to expect a large military aid package for ukraine to be announced around biden's trip. in addition to potentially $10 million in aid to help the ukrainian government function. while in poland, biden is going to meet with the polish president andré due to another eastern european leader. yesterday, he said he fears that this war will not be over by this time next year and that putin hopes to exhaust the west adding that if that is allowed to happen he is, quote, convinced that russia will attack another state, and quote. duda made those remarks in an interview. vice president kamala harris was in attendance of the conference. she was perfectly clear about how the united states used russia's actions in ukraine. >> from the starting days of this unprovoked war, we have witnessed russian forces engage

in horrendous atrocities and work rhymes, gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape, and deportation execution style killings, beatings, electrocution. russian authorities have forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of people from ukraine to russia including children. there is no doubt these are crimes against humanity. i say to all of those who have perpetrated these crimes and to their superiors who are complicit in these crimes, you will be held to account.

>> this is not the first time for the second time that the united states has used this type of language regarding russia's barbaric actions in ukraine. notably, last april as the world watched in horror as the first images of civilian slaughter emerge from the just liberated kyiv suburb of bucha, biden said that what took place constituted work-arounds. vladimir putin was a war criminal. he called for a worker i'm struggle and said that the atrocities amounted to a genocide. joining me now is the former united states ambassador to ukraine. she held opposition from 2016 until 2019. donald trump removed her from her post because she would not participate in his and his cronies, notably rudy giuliani and the partisan attempts, to extort ukraine via quid pro quo. giuliani and company developed an entire scheme to discredit her, including making up stories of her corruption. however, the stories we're not

true. they were proven not to be true. the ambassador wrote about this episode and more of her time as a career diplomat serving the mid states in her book, lessons from the edge. ambassador, good to see you. thank you for being with us. i appreciate your time today. something you said the other day struck me. for all the miscalculations vladimir putin made almost one year ago today, one of the miscalculations was that joe biden wasn't going to be able to rally the world and reignite nato to come to the defense of ukraine. >> i think that's right. i mean, clearly, a number of miscalculations were made by putin. he miscalculated the strength and efficacy of his own military. he underestimated not only ukraine, the ukrainian military, but also the ukrainian people. he completely does not understand that ukraine is a people, a culture. they have their own language. they will fight back against

the russians as putin has discovered. i think that one of the issues was that a year ago putin was looking at the lay of the land in europe. europe seemed to be divided, fragmented. elections were coming out. far-right seem to be gaining ascendancy. in the united states, i think you took the measure of joe biden and decided, you know, this is not a guy who's going to be able to lead an effective alliance against me, especially after the withdrawal from afghanistan. he was wrong on that. i think that president biden has been extremely effective in bringing together allies and partners to support ukraine in ways that a year ago, if you and i have been talking, we would never have imagined, whether it's on sanctions, whether it is on security support, whether it is on economic support.

it has been very strong, a very robust, and it needs to continue. we need to be sending the ukrainians as much as possible as fast as possible. as you just noted, i think we're going to be hearing more about that with the president's trip to poland this week. >> well, it's interesting what president duda of poland said. he said that this might not end soon. if it's still going on in a year, russia might feel emboldened to go into another state. one cannot imagine that happening. there are some estimates that 97% of russia's military is engaged in this war in ukraine. the polls and the lot valentin lithuania's, they worry about this. they're really worried that russia either loses or is emboldened. give me your view on it. >> yeah, well, you know, polls know russia. they know russia not only this president incarnation by russia over the centuries. i think president duda and

others have a real point. i think russia is fundamentally fighting a different kind of war than we indicted states are used to. this is a total war. it's a war not only against the ukrainian military. it's a war as we have seen so dramatically and as vice president kamala harris just pointed out in the crimes against amenity, against the people of ukraine. we are seeing these missile attacks. there are photos of the destruction in ukraine, people dying. most terribly, the most heinous crime is the deportation of children who -- they are never going to know that they are ukrainian. they will forget that ukrainian language unless they are brought back. they will never know that they have families in ukraine who love them and wanted them and are thinking about them every day. i mean, if that's not a crime against humanity, i don't know what is. --

russia is preparing for the long term. putin is convinced that we will move on to the next shiny object, the next crisis, and that we will not stick with ukraine. i've been very impressed by how, as we just spoke of, president biden has led this coalition to support ukraine. we need to keep at it. it takes work. it takes communications with our population about why this is important, that this is, when putin talks about the war in russia, there have been different narratives over the last year. the current narrative is that this is a war against nato and the united states. we need to be mindful of that. if putin and russia are not stopped, they will keep on going. we will have to deal with that one way or another, sooner or later. it might not be at a time of our choosing or to our advantage. the best policy is to help

ukraine now to stop russia in the future. >> you and i have talked about this before. you write in your book about the work that you did when you are the ambassador here. ukraine is a country that did not a sort of pivot west as early as other eastern european countries did. you are here to try and show american support for getting this country on its feet and making the pivot that ultimately wanted to make. that was interrupts in the last administration by a few things. including that phone call between donald trump and president zelenskyy that. colonel vindman are part of the change. and i think it happened to you. there was an undermining of that relationship between the united states and ukraine. what a, roll if, any did that have to do with where we are today? >> i think it embolden russia. i think that putin has always had it in his mind to absorb ukraine as part of the empire. he is thinking about his

position in history. he wants to be the next peter the great. he's also thinking about the russian empire and he wants to reconstitute russian borders. he's been very clear about that. both in his writings, in what he has said and frankly, in his actions as well. i think that he took great -- he was gonna do this anyway. it was a question of how he was gonna do this. i think he took a lot of -- from president trump's comment about ukraine, crimea, russia, various things like that. obviously, he had a very important influence over former president trump. and i think that he was hoping that maybe he could get, he could absorb ukraine through peaceful means with the u.s. not saying now. there would be no support

because obviously the support is critical to ukrainians fighting back. you look at what president trump said about nato. his former senior advisor said that had he won a second term, he would have taken the u.s. out of nato. these are all goals that russia and putin have had four years. if you can do that just through the actions of the american president and the kind of passive assistance of the american president. no need to go to war. he was always ready to go to war. he would've done that whether president trump law is still the president or not. >> marie yovanovitch, thank you for your service to this country that we're in right now. your service to the states of america -- ambassador marie yovanovitch is the former united states ambassador to ukraine. the author of a really important book called lessons from the edge, amend war. still ahead, we got much more

coverage on the war in ukraine including the story of ukrainian refugee -- who i met on a train platform last year in hungary on the border between hungary and ukraine as she was fleeing the violence in our native land. icon up with her recently in a talk to her about she's doing almost a year later and after a series of recent hospital stays former president carter says he's opting for hospice care at his home in georgia. we're gonna have the very latest on his condition after this. you're watching velshi live from ukraine. ukraine lomita feed is 101 years old. when covid hit, we had some challenges. i heard about the payroll tax refund that allowed us to keep the people that have been here taking care of us. learn more at getrefunds.com. next on behind the series... that performance was legendary. they just piled it on. roast beef, ham, oven roasted turkey. all on the subway club. three peat - that's great. three meat - that's epic. the subway series. the greatest menu of all time.

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back. i'm bringing you the show today live from kyiv, ukraine. where it is just i experimented. treacherous for a moment to an important story back home. the carter center has announced that after a quote series of short hospital stays, former president jimmy carter has opted not to receive for the medical treatment and instead,

spent its final days at home with his family while receiving hospice care. and 98 years old, carter is the oldest living former president. his family has a history of pancreatic cancer. and eight years ago, carter himself underwent radiation treatment after doctors discovered melanomas spots in his liver and on his brain. the treatment was effective. he was declared cancer free just a few months later. although carter only served one term as president, his legacy extends far beyond his time in the white house. perhaps no other president has had such an effective post presidential career as carter. who's been the year since leaving office is a diplomatic humanitarian. in 2002, who came the third american president to receive the nobel peace prize which the noble committee awarded to him for quote his decades of a tiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts to advance democracy and human rights and promote economic and social development and quote. back in 2013, nine years ago, after at boarded a flight at kennedy airport to cover the funeral of nelson mandela. i looked up to see president

carter standing in front of me, facing me. we proceeded to discuss now some adult of the fights evidence occurred detail insisted that you take a seat. we spoke mortuary the long flight. i asked if we could continue the conversation on tape. after we landed in johannesburg, he said to give him a 30 minute head start and then to meet him at his hotel. hear somebody told me during the following hour long conversation we had about how his upbringing in a predominantly black community near planes georgia shaped his worldview. >> as i grew older and ran for the state senate and governor, i saw the devastating impact of racial discrimination on not only my black neighbor's lives but also the white peoples lives in my community. when i became governor in my eight men inaugural speech i said the time for racial discrimination in is over. it was such a remarkable statement at the time that i was on the front cover of time magazine because i said that.

by the time i got to be through my governorship and into the white house, i resolved that the civil rights commitment at home and in the united states of america should be expanded on a global basis and that i should be a champion of human rights. >> we're going to continue to monitor news of the former presidents health throughout the course of the show and the day. we're going to be continuing our special coverage of the war in ukraine from here in kyiv over the next week as well. i will be sitting in for chris hayes at 8 pm eastern tomorrow, tuesday, wednesday, and friday. i will be guest hosting for my friend nicole wallace from four to 6 pm eastern. i will bring you lots of important conversations in those hours as well as information i've been collecting on the ground here. next weekend, right here on velshi at our new 10 am time slot, i will be joined by the ukrainian prime minister and the former ukrainian president. i will be having a conversation about culture, literature, and

the new cannon of ukrainian war stories as we convene yet another special meeting of the velshi banned book club from right here in ukraine. i was speaking with one of ukraine's most famous authors. his book great bees is set in the donbas region of ukraine in 2014. it follows too many living in a neutral gray zone and the honey bees that keep them grounded as the conflict swirls and grows around them. he is blacklisted and banned in russia. he said he had no plans to write his book, but the influx of refugees from donbas to kyiv inspired him to write. don't miss that conversation. you have yourself a week to read the book. i'll be right back. a week t read the book. i'll be right back i'll be right back this mom's one step closer to their new mini-van! yeah, you'll get used to it. this mom's depositing money with tools on-hand. cha ching. and this mom, well, she's setting an appointment here, so her son can get set up there and start his own financial journey. that's because these moms all have chase.

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age is just a number, and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv restless nights fogging up your day? tonight, try zzzquil pure zzzs bakery-inspired flavor. sleep plus next day energy, with melatonin to help you fall asleep naturally, plus extended-release b-vitamins. wake up feeling refreshed. pure zzzs. sleep better. wake up your best. >> according to vice president kamala harris, russia has committed crimes against humanity. i want you to remember that term. during its nearly year-long

invasion of ukraine, those are the official findings of the u.s. government, according to harrison, where the announcement at the munich security conference yesterday. >> the united states has formally determined that russia has committed crimes against humanity. i say to all those who have perpetrated these crimes and to their superiors who are complicit in these crimes, he will be held to account. >> secretary of state antony blinken corroborated the vice president's remarks of the n official statement issued the same-day. if you recall, the biden ministration last march formally determined that russian troops had committed war crimes in ukraine. it's a different thing. this is the first time that

they have leveled the clam crimes against humanity. the criminal court which is unusual vehicle for trying the offenses opened an investigation last month. ukraine officials have been looking behind the scenes to law a tribunal which can prosecute them to begin with. that's known as the crime of aggression. it's noticed a mother of all crimes because all the other offenses that i cited stem from the act of aggression. . ursula von der leyen announced the creation of an international center to set up in the head. it is likely to boost momentum for any international efforts to prosecute russian atrocities. in the meantime, rights activists on the ground have been gathering evidence of the crimes in anticipation of

future proceedings. they include cases like four-year-old lyzaiah who was in her stroller last july when a russian missile killed her instantly. her mother was severely injured while trying to shield her daughter and told the washington post that she was thankful to have strapped her daughter onto her stroller before the missile landed because it meant her family had an intact body that they could bury. she was my life, her mother said about her daughter. what russia took for me cannot be forgiven. my plans are destroyed. other cases include a 52 year old who russian soldiers abducted from her hometown izium. she was thrown into a shed and brutally raped and tortured for ten days. she remembers the exact length of time because she used a nail to mark each passing day. not expecting to make it out alive, she also scratched out her name onto the wall. with the same nail, she described her ordeal in just four words in the hopes that her son would one day find it. electrical shock, andrés,

painful. these are two disturbing accounts included in a growing body of evidence of crimes against humanity leveled against russia. all of this may one day lead to the prosecution of russia's most senior leadership. with more on the potential implications in yesterday's announcement and what any future prosecution might look like, i'm joined by ana hathaway. she's a professor at yale law school. she's a former -- thank you for being with us. you and i have talked about this a law in the last year. it's tough because we don't really know the differences between some of these allegations, between work rhymes and crimes against humanity. tell us a bit about the difference between these charges and what they amount to and how they are prosecuted. >> yeah, so war crimes are basically the crime of committing war in the wrong way. you are going to war, there is a set of rules that govern how

you can wage for. you can shoot and members of an opposing armed forces. you can intentionally sue to shoot at civilians. you can try to blow up military facilities, but you can't write a blog hospitals and schools. if you break those rules, that's considered a war crime. crimes against humanity are something a little bit different. crimes against humanity is widespread and systematic crimes. which can include a number of different crimes. murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation. a number of crimes and they have to be committed in a widespread or systematic wafer to constitute a crime against humanity. both of these are not investigation. now, both can be prosecuted international criminal court. >> the last time i spoke to you, we discuss to the implications of the u.s. saying this. it's hard not like anybody saying it. the u.s. has a particularly influence unroll and whether war crimes or crimes against humanity are prosecuted. >> there is a very serious

process that is undertaken before the united states will make a statement like this. it isn't just sort of on a whim. there is a serious investigation of the facts as they are known currently on the ground of the information that has been gathered so far. to begin to build a case against russians for war crimes, crimes against humanity. then the legal advisers office of the state department state will review that evidence and compare the facts to the law. make a determination as to whether, in fact, what we know about what's happened meets the legal definition for war crimes and crimes against humanity. the fact that the u.s. has come out and said, yes, these are war crimes that are being committed in ukraine. the story -- this is a crime against humanity that's been committed. means so that process of review has taken place. there is a clearer definitive determination that in fact the evidence we have so far

supports those charges. >> what has to happen for crimes against humanity hubris acute it in terms of -- does somebody have to be under arrest? to russian leaders had to be charged and be subject to appearing in a court? >> they don't necessarily have to be under arrest in order to begin the process. what will happen and the international criminal court what's happening in ukraine. domestic ports within ukraine. they begin to collect evidence. they documented. they ensure that it is carefully managed and maintain so that when you eventually do have a trial, you have evidence you can actually use that trial. there will be a process of beginning an investigation as to whether who particularly is responsible. we know that these crimes are being committed, that there were crimes and crimes against humanity being committed in ukraine. who is responsible in order for there to be a criminal trial you have to identify particular

people who have made those decisions. who are responsible for it. and who can, in fact, eventually be tried for it. they are trying to determine who those individuals are. they'll be collecting evidence. they'll be securing that evidence. making sure that it is maintained in a secure and safe locations that can be used properly in a court. and then, they will eventually issue indictments. and arrest warrants. those are all things that can happen even before you actually have anybody in custody. >> and a half away, good to talk to you again. thanks for being with us and get a -- professor of international law at yale law school. she's the director of the school center for global legal challenges and the executive editor of just security. coming up, all casually dozens of refugees i met a year ago in the early days of the war here. she whistling russian violence. we'll talk about what the past years and like for her and hope she's looking out for for the future. future will you make something better?

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we're live from kyiv, ukraine. this morning, we're learning more about a group of american military veterans who are risking their lives to rescue not people but pets from some of those dangerous cities and towns in ukraine. however, i should warn you, some of these images are about to see are upsetting. nbc news came across these veterans on this mission and

eastern city of kharkiv. the animals are placed in shelters southerners committed reunite with them and just last month, the group has rescued more than 300 pets. nbc news foreign correspondent raf sanchez met over the team's leader to learn more about their work. raf? >> and we, we've talked so much over the last year about heroic volunteers who risked their own lives to save other people. we met a group of u.s. military veterans risking their lives to save animals that are called canine global rescue. they don't just rescue dogs. cats, ducts, lizards, birds, you name it, they save them. they say they rescued more than 1000 animal so far over the course of the year. this was a chance encounter. we are on the highway in kharkiv. their van overtook a and they started waving american flags at us. we met with them on the side of the road. they asked not to be identified by anything other than their first names because they are former special forces

operators. they are worried about possibly being targeted by the russians here in ukraine. i asked the leader of their group, phil, about the risks they were prepared to take. >> some people watching this might ask your prepared to risk your own life for dogs, cats, a lizards. >> yeah. if it were my pet, as part of my family, it would mean the world to me if somebody was willing to care enough to come in and take care of my family and my pet. by taking care of my pet, it takes care of me. >> ali, he told us that in some cases, there are families who are on the front lines. their homes are being shelved. they don't want to leave because they can't get their pets to safety. actually, by this group of american veterans taking the pets off their hands. they're able to move their families to safety. there have been heartbreaking scenes where you have pedro nurse just sobbing, begging forgiveness into their animals as they hand them over to the americans.

now, we met up with this team later on that night. they had just returned from the bucket area. they had more than 30 animals in the back of their van. ali, this was not an amtrak puppy moment. the city was under attack about time by russian missiles. these animals were absolutely terrified. both by the noises and what they've been through over the course of the day. they were safe. it is a reminder of the links that people are prepared to go to save the lives of animals who feel like family. ali. >> thanks to nbc's raf sanchez here in ukraine. if you like to land help or support the canine global rescue, you can visit their website wwe that canine quibble rescue dot org. that's the letter k, the number nine, global rescued. oracle tweeted out for you so that you got it. coming up next, the story of -- ukraine refugee who i met last

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ukraine. i'm in kyiv. the capital. i was in lviv, ukraine, in the west of the country last spring. although, that journey began in hungary and poland. during my first days in hungary, during the very first days of the war, i'm at a woman, inna tokareva. she's a ukrainian refugee. i met on a train platform in hungary. just to the border from ukraine. she, like thousands of other ukrainian refugees, that just arrived after fleeing the russian invasion. for now, that specifically manned and offensive on her hometown of hostomel which is a suburb just 40 miles northwest of ron. during russia's failed attempt to capture the capital. this is her story.

>> first, they started to throw bombs on airport. and we were just very, very close to the airport. our house also were destroyed. then they destroyed roads, shops, everything. i will say everything. it doesn't exist anymore. russians knocked out our door and they say you better go out because it will be hell in some -- into hours, it will be how here. okay, we jump in our car. and we try to find a safe way. all the bridges for exploded. we were jumping from bush to bush. we were crawling through the forest it. no road, nothing. they did not allow us to have

pictures of what was destroyed by them. any one who had pictures, they smashed the phone from time to time, they smash the faces of these people. >> and that i thought would be the end of the story. she moved on. however, recently, while i was still a new york, before heading back to ukraine. my team found inna. they made contact with her and i caught up with their depend on what she's doing and what he's been up to after leaving that will train plan from the hungarian border almost as you are go. >> i took the train to budapest. then from budapest, i took the train to -- slowly, i found my place in switzerland. i'm living still in a beautiful shelter for refugees. i have my room, i have a place to sleep, to eat. i have everything. i can work.

>> both times they have the opportunity to talk to arena -- inna tokareva on that platform during the first days of the world from her safe haven in switzerland almost as you are go. i was struck by this. her intensive determination. >> what will you do? what work to do? >> anything to survive. i mean i have profession. i have a small business on american marketplace electronic marketplace at sea. i'm a crafter. i have my hands, i will survive, no problem. >> before, i got a job in a factory, i have washed 1 million of plates in a small pizzeria. did i could buy my sewing machine. i am still running my small business on etsy. everything is perfect for me. it was my hobby before. now, it's business.

i sell what i make with my hands. >> when i first met inna coming up the train, she was alone. meta fighting it would allow to leave ukraine. meaning her husband and her son remained in their homeland. >> i'm alone. >> your kids are back there? >> my kids -- they are still there. >> what is their plan? >> well, they will join me later. they will turbulent. or >> where are they now? >> they are still in ukraine. they are alive. i am a mother of a soldier, i am a wife of soldier. they are well and now. >> like her fellow ukrainians, inna does not mince words about the russian invaders of her country. >> i don't consider them being humans, being people.

i strongly wish them all to die. after all what happened with my country, they are not people. >> despite everything she's gone through, despite having her entire world turned upside down and being separated from her family, from the time that she was forced to flee her home in hostomel to what she found salter in salvation and work in switzerland. inna tokareva hasn't shed her optimistic outlook. >> when you came up here a few moments ago, just before we were on tv. i asked you how you are doing. and you said you are alive. >> i'm alive, this is the best. >> i had no idea what my life would be. i had to really no idea. i just understood everything what was before is broken, is finished. >> i have to find myself. i have to find the possibility

to help as much as possible. to help my country, to help my people as long as i am able to help. as long as i am able to make money and to give everything i can. it's okay. >> your son and your husband are both fighting. do you think the ukrainians will win this war? >> of course. earlier or later, the victory is ours. >> there is a lot of pockets of optimism in this country despite the fact of the war has been going on for a year. coming up next, summit also optimism i look forward to as my friend and colleague erin mclaughlin. she joins me here live on set in kyiv. v. 2a's monitoring his money with a simple text. like what you see abe? yes! 2b's covered with zero overdraft fees when he overdraws his account by fifty bucks or less. and 2c, well, she's not going to let a lost card get her stressed. am i right?

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is my longtime colleague and friend, and we see news correspondent erin mclaughlin. thank you for joining us again. you are working on a story that you're following up from last year. >> that's right. last april, what we met than six-year-old vlad dragoon. he's 70 russell today. today is his birthday. we met him last april. following the funeral of his mother. his mother died during the russian occupation in bucha. it was hitting flat particularly hard. take a listen to a report from ten months ago. >> ukrainians insist that military support is needed to

stop atrocities like the horror in bucha. where 33 year old marina -- was buried today. her husband says she died from stress and starvation. while sheltering in their basements. the only place they could hide from the russian assault. every day, her six-year-old son, vlad, visited her makeshift grave in the family's backyard. but today, vlad mourned -- the reality of his mom's final resting spot, too much for him to bear. he tells us he remembers what happened to her. and how ukrainian soldiers saved them from the russians. >> ukraine is strong, he says. >> you are very strong. >> that was last april. what we re-visited him this week. we actually went out to his school in bucha. it has reopened. partially reopened. it had been bombed during the

russian occupation. they've opened it up to some in-person learning. they said they realize how important that is for the children of bucha. we met vlad in class. he was so happy to be there. he was telling me how much he loved mathematics and p e. he was so happy to be there, he actually wasn't years when his dad came to pick him up. we followed him home for his afternoon snack and sat there and talk to his step brother and his dad and his dad was tommy just how difficult it is. they're still extraordinarily scared with all of these missile strikes. especially the russians may have gone. they don't feel safe. although because ukraine is still under martial law, his dad can't leave. ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country. he's forced to stay with his boys and four to hunker down. extremely tough. they say every day is a struggle for them. that's true adjusts so many ukrainians that we met here. >> you and i touched on this yesterday. on one hand, there are feels

like normalcy. the irate sirens go off and people don't do anything about it. on the other hand, their stories like this. seven year old boy celebrating his birthday today without this mother. we hear about these shelters. we hear about people being stuck in them. they starve, they -- bucha was the place for the world for saw what these atrocities really look like. how can it ever be normal? >> in many ways, it can't. if you drive through bucha, it's stunning to see the reconstruction. one road you may remember, we're all those tanks had been completely taken out by the ukrainian forces. the russian tanks. we all sign ukrainian resistance. that is now a construction site. you see cranes all over heave. buildings have been hit by missiles, they've been completely redone. you see that resilience. at the same time, when you talk to ukrainians, when you scratch me at the surface, there is that really deep trauma there. >> our thank you as always. talking through the course of the next few days. erin maclachlan, my colleague

with me here in ukraine. that does it for me. thank you for watching. casting back here next weekend as our velshi coverage from ukraine continues in our brand-new timeslot, and am to noon eastern. joining me this week through the week evening hours tomorrow 4 pm eastern. tomorrow at 8 pm eastern, i'll be sitting in for chris hayes and all this week. i'll also be in on tuesday at 4 pm eastern for my friend nicole wallace. stuart where you are. alex witt reports begins right now. now. >> a very good day to all of you from nbc news here in los angeles. welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. developing this hour. diplomatic tensions are rising between the u.s. and china on multiple fronts. the newest, accusations china maybe supplying russia or may in future supply russia