good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. a shocking and sickening end to the brazen kidnapping of four americans in mexico. two found dead, a third is injured. some were calling for military action against drug cartels before this tragedy. so what is the administration

going to do now? we may get some early answers when the white house briefing starts just a few minutes from now. and we have some brand-new information about the two americans who survived. plus, one republican lawmaker calling bs on tucker carlson's narrative that january 6th was a peaceful protest. another republican calling it flat out a lie. the capitol police are going further, insisting it invites the prospect of more antigovernment violence. and president biden's big pitch for 2024 that he's the only one who can save medicare. how it fits with his larger message to voters and contrasts with maga republicans he says are intent on making things worse. but, we begin with that breaking news. two of the four americans kidnapped in mexico just a few days ago have been murdered. two others are alive and we just learned minutes ago that they are now back across the border to the u.s. one of them, though, injured.

a state department briefing is scheduled next hour with key questions unanswered, who exactly is responsible and what will the u.s. do about it? one of the biggest clues is the disturbing video of the initial kidnapping. the gunman seen here wearing a bulletproof vest, drags people into a white pickup truck in what the u.s. officials say is a case of mistaken identity. i want to bring in nbc's ken dilanian who just got new reaction from the attorney general and frank figlucci. what do we know about the investigation and the whereabouts of the two survivors? >> the best information we're getting so far is from mexican officials, the attorney general of the town of tamaulipas saying that in fact the two americans who survived have been transferred to u.s. custody. we are seeing photos of an ambulance from brownsville, texas, going across the mexico

border back to texas. we have not confirmed whether that's related. u.s. officials steadfastly unwilling to comment on any of this, presumably because they want to wait and talk to the victims' families once they know the full story. but, i have been told by law enforcement sources that what happened here, as you said, a case of mistaken identity. these four americans were crossing the border because one of them was en route for a cosmetic surgical procedure in mexico where it is much cheaper to do that and they were fired upon by cartel gunmen. and one working theory about what happened here is the cartel thought these were haitian people smugglers encroaching on their turf. but regardless of the motivation, we saw from that video, some of those americans were grievously wounded right away, we saw cartel gunmen dragging them into a white pickup truck and they were taken, presumably the cartel quickly realized their mistake and dropped them off and the mexican authorities picked them up. i was able to ask attorney general merrick garland about this, he wouldn't comment on the status of the americans, but he

did talk about the ongoing battle between the u.s. government and the mexican drug cartels. take a listen, chris. >> the general problem of the cartels, look, the cartels are responsible for the deaths of americans, and we are fighting as hard as possible, the dea and the fbi are doing everything possible to dismantle and disrupt and ultimately prosecute the leaders of the cartels and the entire networks that they depend on. >> and, chris, of course, this incident is putting a spotlight on just how much of mexican territory is really open to the cartels who seem to be operating with impunity and raising questions about what the mexican government is doing about it, and what the u.s. government is doing to help, chris. >> thank you so much. i appreciate that. i know you're going to continue to let us know if you get more information. frank in the meantime, you have been involved in the investigations like this. what are u.s. and law enforcement officials doing right now to get those answers and what resources do they have in place? >> so, first, ken already

referenced the complete debriefing that is going to occur between u.s. law enforcement, particularly led by the fbi, and these returning victims. they will glean a lot of intelligence about who, what, where and when and that will become important pieces of the puzzle. that will be put together with mexican law enforcement partners. part of the challenge in working to mitigate the threat in mexico has been the lack of trusted partners amongst various law enforcement agencies in mexico. the u.s. works hard to develop trust with certain people that they can go to and the federal police and various state authorities, but it is a challenge because of the influence of the drug cartels. it is all about the money and the power and sometimes they own the very police officials that the u.s. enforcement agencies are trying to work with. >> so what are the chances that the families get answers, that the american people get answers, that we just have any understanding of what really

happened here? we think this is the case of mistaken identity, there is nothing in the background of these folks to suggest anything otherwise, but what are the chances we find out what really happened here? >> well, i can tell you this mistaken identity theory or assertion actually is consistent with kinds of things that we have seen happen in various hot spots in mexico. meaning that the cartel violence really doesn't want any part of harming americans, but rather is engaged in such regular battles, street gunfights, that inevitably americans get caught up in it. i think it is a good working theory. the problem is what to do about it. and here is where i think an increased presence with -- the agreement and concurrence of the mexican government, u.s. law enforcement, even as some are proposing potential advisers from the u.s. military with alongside mexican military could help here, but with regard to this investigation, chris, you'll see this go quiet as they

debrief the victims and they use sensitive intelligence methods, sources, techniques to really pinpoint who did this and where they are and you're likely the next news you're going to hear is the possibility that we'll just hear that they have been taken down and the threat has been mitigated. >> how much, frank, electronic surveillance is there here? we're so used to in the united states and anybody who watches the crime show knows you, essentially follow a car, right, from point a to its end point, but does any of that exist in mexico, particularly in this region? >> a sensitive topic. of course, i can tell you this, you know, it is going to sound crit cryptic, there is joint cooperation agreements with regard to sensitive agencies, three letter agencies, and the sharing of intelligence with trusted partners and, yes, there are certainly forms and techniques of sensitive electronic intercepts, but the

problem is who you're dealing with and whether it leaks and whether the people who did this have enough juice, power, influence in the right places to get tipped off that they need to get out of dodge. and likely are already in a panic, knowing about the international tension, and have already changed locations. so that makes it even more challenging. >> so there was a $50,000 reward that was offered by the fbi, as i'm sure you know. i don't know whether or not that had anything to do with where we are fairly quickly after this disappearance. but having said that, when you talk about mexican law enforcement partners and how they can be bought off by the drug cartel, is there a financial incentive that can and would be used, perhaps by the mexican government, to get more information? >> so, i -- it is interesting, i view that reward, which, by the way, was fast and high with regard to my experience in the fbi. so, that is interesting. because it is an acknowledgement that money plays a role here. but i believe the reward was

really aimed at mexican citizens who may have seen or heard something, but not the cartel members or organization members because in reality in their life, $50,000 versus execution or incurring the wrath of your cartel leader is not worth it. i think the reward was aimed at citizens who might have heard or seen something and would discreetly share it with the u.s. >> all right, want to bring in nbc's morgan chesky at the u.s. border. right now the u.s. state department tells americans flat out do not travel to the region where this happens. it is one of six regions they say to avoid because of crime or kidnapping or both. morgan, remind us what these americans were doing there, have you seen any visible security in the area? bring us up to date. >> reporter: yeah, chris, according to family members of these victims, this group of four originated in south carolina, they rented that white van we have seen in that

horrific video with north carolina plates and then according to family members they made that long journey, hundreds of miles to south texas to brownsville, texas, on friday officials say they crossed over one of the international bridges here, and it was just shortly thereafter that federal authorities say they fell under heavy gunfire from a group of armed men. from there we pick it up with this video that we have seen now where you can see these armed individuals walking around in broad daylight, taking these individuals, loading them into the back of that pickup truck. according to family members, the only one of the primary reasons they made this drive was so that a woman in this group of four could undergo a cosmetic procedure, just across the river here in matamoros. this comes as you mentioned, despite a level four travel advisory being in place, not just in the city of matamoros, but in the state of tamaulipas since october 2022. and yet despite the -- urging

from state department officials, do not travel there, they did so. and unfortunately we are seeing the horrific consequences of that play out in real time here, chris. >> so many people who go over the border to get much less expensive medical procedures, dental procedures, in addition to medications. morgan chesky, thank you. frank, you're going to stay with me. in the meantime, another big story we're following and it is a fair warning from fed chairman jerome powell. expect more interest rate hikes and faster, which means that if you're thinking about buying a house or a car or you've got credit card debt, interest rates are heading even higher than policymakers expected. it is a sign the battle against inflation isn't done yet. and the back and forth over fed policy in front of the senate banking committee got a little bit intense when elizabeth warren cited the fed's own study that this move will cost jobs and lots of them. >> chair powell, if you could

speak directly to the 2 million hard working people who have decent jobs today, who you're planning to get fired over the next year, what would you say to them? >> i would explain to people more broadly that inflation is extremely high and it is hurting the working people of this country badly, all of them, not just 2 million of them. >> and putting 2 million people out of work is just part of the cost and they just have to bear it? >> will working people be better off if we walk away from our jobs and inflation remains 5%, 6%? >> nbc news business and data reporter brian cheung is here on set with us. look, this is complicated stuff. none of us, at least i'm not, most of the people watching, are not economists. we look to the fed, but so far a lot of people are looking at their 401(k)s, they're looking at food prices, they're looking at their everyday lives and saying whatever you think you're doing, it is not working. and why should we believe that this time is going to be any

better? give us sort of the lay of the land, brian. >> yeah, chris, the real difficulty here is that the federal reserve, the steward of this economy, is essentially between a rock and a hard place. the rock of high inflation, high prices at the store, but also the hard place of potentially increasing the amount of job loss that we have in this country, if you try to take inflation down by raising interest rates, which the federal reserve has done. by the way, over the last year, at the fastest pace since the 1980s. you make the borrowing costs higher and that will take steam out of this economy which should hopefully lower prices. do businesses start to lay people off because of the slowing economy. isn't happening yet because the unemployment rate is still at lows that we haven't seen since the 1950s. but, look, at the end of the day, the story is that the federal reserve is raising interest rates and the suggestion from the fed chairman this morning is they might have to get even more aggressive, they could increase the size of their interest rate hikes in two weeks, we'll have to see. >> i don't know if we have a

board ready to go, but i was checking to see what was going on. here we go. look at this. down 472 -- not a surprise, though, right, given what he had to say? >> it was a surprise to markets what he did say. when we talk about how leading up to this testimony this morning, we hadn't heard anything explicit from the federal reserve that said, look, they were slowing the pace of the price -- the interest rate hikes over the last few meetings, but maybe they could reaccelerate that again. we heard from the fed chairman that essentially it is on the table for them to reincrease the amount of interest rate hikes they do at a single meeting, which could be on the table for two weeks now. either way, the translation is that your mortgage rates, credit card rates, auto loan rates are going to remain high as the federal reserve continues to try to get inflation under control. >> our crack control room, see how quickly they got the numbers out. wasn't planned. thank you so much, brian. good to see you. appreciate it. new, a republican senator just called bs on tucker carlson

for his interpretation of video from january 6th. and new warnings that it could spawn dangerous conspiracy theories. plus, if you can believe it, another major air scare. this time someone tried to open a door midflight and stab a flight attendant. the big step the faa is now taking to drill down on safety. and later, the bloody battle for bakhmut reaches an inflection point, inside the fight that has russian soldiers resorting to using shovels as weapons. you're watching "chris jansing reports," only on msnbc. you're watching "chris jansing reports," only on msnbc. did you know if you turn to cold with tide you can save up to $150 a year on your energy bill? how? the lower the temp, the lower your bill. tide cleans great in cold and saves money? i am so in. save $150 when you turn to cold with tide.

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stark warnings from capitol police today, concerned that tucker carlson's airing of a selectively edited video of january 6th will spawn dangerous conspiracy theories and potentially fuel more violence. in a letter just obtained by nbc news, the capitol police chief went even further, blasting the segment as being, quote, filled with offensive and misleading conclusions about the january 6th attack. carlson's version of the insurrection is that it was nothing more than, as he put it, peaceful chaos. to support that, he showed this video, protesters mostly milling around the capitol, describing it as a proof it was neither an insurrection nor deadly. but it was pulled from 44,000 hours of security camera video

and we don't know how it was edited and frankly neither do security officials. although carlson claimed they had run all the video by the capitol police, a source tells nbc news they only saw one clip. carlson, meanwhile, downplayed images like this, describing it as the work of a small number of hooligans and calling majority of protesters meek and orderly. the violence that left 140 officers injured contributed to the deaths of several others and had lawmakers hiding and running for their lives was barely mentioned. i want to bring in ali vitali on capitol hill and frank figliuzzi is back with me. ali, i understand tons of reaction is coming in. what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah, chris, the reaction is coming in, but it depends which republican you're asking and frankly which side of congress you're asking those questions on. because in my conversations with house republicans in recent days, they have been eager for this footage to come out.

in fact, part of the reason why tucker carlson has it is because people on most right flank of republicans in the house pushed mccarthy to release this footage in the first place. that's on the house side of this. the way that most republicans are receiving this footage. on the senate side, though, much more quick to criticize and it sounds a little bit like this. listen. >> i think that breaking through glass windows and doors to get into the united states capitol against the orders of police is a crime. to do somehow put that in the same category as a permitted peaceful protest is -- is just a lie. >> i think it is [ bleep ]. i was down there. and i saw maybe a few tourists, a few people who got caught up in things. but when you see police barricades breached, police officers assaulted, all of that, or in close proximity to it, if you were a tourist, you should

have lined up at the visitors center and came in on an orderly basis. >> reporter: and the reaction from capitol police and rank and file here themselves, we have seen on twitter in recent days and hours, officers who were injured on january 6th showing what happened to them after that day. and then, of course, a letter from tom manger, the head of the capitol police, to his officers, at one point saying the program last night conveniently cherry picked from the calmer moments of our 41,000 hours of video. he goes on to say the commentary fails to provide context about the chaos and violence that happened before or during these less tense moments. tv commentary will not record the truth for the history books. truth and justice are on our side. hundreds of cases are still working their way through the department of justice, but certainly the agreement that we had heard about and what i knew was happening during the january 6th hearings was that when this kind of security footage was

going to be used, there was coordination between the capitol police and at that point the january 6th committee. i talked about this recently with then chairman bennie thompson about how they used to do that and there were portions where capitol police said to them, we don't feel comfortable with you using that and they didn't use it. that's not the kind of coordination that happened with tucker's show. >> and this so-called insurrection, these are lies about january 6th, he says, are being used as a pretext. i'll quote him here, to strip their civil liberties and freedoms and to eliminate some of our core human rights, what is your level of concern with this kind of messaging to folks who already believe 2020 was stolen and who supported maybe what happened on january 6th? >> you know, we heard the term big lie so often with regard to the claims of fraudulent and presidential election.

but this is the next big lie, that january 6th didn't happen. it wasn't violence. it was fabricated, ginned up, fabricated by the government, people are political prisoners now. i want to point a couple of things out. first of all, it is dangerous it could lead to yet another attack, but there is also a macro strategy here, which is, you know, we have a former president who is under investigation for his role in inciting the very violence that happened on january 6th. and what fox news seems to be implying is any prosecution of a former president or high ranking official for that kind of violence is bogus because that never happened. so what we're seeing here in selective editing is not just a calm before the storm, but a calm minus the storm. congressman dan goldman had a great quote on this, which was if you videotaped the four planes hijacked on 11

9/11 everything would look peaceful until they were hijacked and crashed. >> what would you say, big picture, if someone told you they believed tucker carlson's version of events? >> tucker carlson wants people to believe in their rabbit hole with him that this was a largely nonviolent protest that the people charged were up to officially 1,000 arrests now, chris, and by the way, the guy that was featured so prominently with tucker last night, the qanon shaman, he pled guilty to the charges against him and marjorie taylor greene is calling for him to have a new trial. he didn't have a trial because he conceded he did what he was charged with and he regrets doing it. the notion that is out there that the capitol police let everybody in, there is no idea they committed any crime and this is all a sham, the reality

is six capitol police officers had been dismissed for their conduct that day. and many of the officers were trying to survive by not doing battle with a greatly larger crowd than the police officers could match. >> frank figliuzzi, thank you. ali vitali, great to have you on the program. so what could the release of this january 6th video mean for as frank just pointed out a thousand plus cases that the doj is investigating connected to that day? i'll ask a former prosecutor and legal expert ahead in our next hour. a man accused of trying to stab a flight attendant, adding to the growing concerns surrounding airline safety, including close calls and turbulence so severe it was deadly. the troubling details next. s deadly the troubling details next moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq.

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>> the suspect ranted and yelled and allegedly tried to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken spoon. passengers tackled the 33-year-old who was arrested and charged when the flight safely landed. an emergency landing in cuba when birds struck the engine of a southwest flight, causing the cabin to fill with smoke, it is a pattern the senate plans to investigate starting tomorrow. joining me now is nbc's tom costello. let's start with one of these cases, nbc reached out to the lawyer for the man charged in the boston air scare. we haven't gotten any comment back thus far. what else do we know about that? it looks like it had to be terrifying to be on that flight. >> i just moments ago got done interviewing the woman who shot the home video we have been showing, the cell phone video. she said it was terrifying, she

was on board with her husband and her 17-year-old daughter and that man was having some sort of a psychological issue and when he then started allegedly stabbing the flight attendant with a broken spoon, you saw there multiple male passengers jumped up, tackled him, right there near the exit on the left-hand side, and between the exit and the galley and kept him down for 45 minutes. he continued to struggle, she said, until they landed in boston, immediately met by massachusetts state police who put him in cuffs and took him into custody. the flight attendants suffered minor injuries, scrapes, because the other passengers were there so quickly. he's facing federal charges. 33-year-old francisco torres, and he faces the possibility if convicted of life in prison for interfering with a flight crew in a violent manner. clearly very terrifying moments for those people on board. >> wow, all right. so, tomorrow, the senate commerce committee is going to

be looking into whether there is a larger safety issue because you had, what, six runway close calls, several cases of violent turbulence, emergency landings. so what do we think is going to happen there and what are you hearing from the industry? what are they doing to respond? >> well, as it relates to the faa, which already called a safety summit, a national gathering of all the players, the airlines and the unions and the pilots and the flight attendants and the controllers, everybody coming together next week in washington for this national safety summit to drill down on safety because those runway close calls we have been talking about, six of them now, they're called runway incursions, those are very, very concerning. and even the hero of the miracle on the hudson, captain sully sullenberger says this is a can nary in a coal mine, we have to address it. here is what the faa chief says. >> i want to hear from the participants about what they are seeing in their own operations.

and more important i want specific ideas about how to enhance our already robust safety net with concrete actions. >> let's be very clear. we had an incredible string of very safe skies. we haven't had a fatal accident in this country, thank god, a commercial airliner since 2009. the system is very safe. the concern is are we seeing complacency kind of seep into the system because it is now operating back at full throttle, full capacity, following covid. that's going to be the core issue that they're going to be addressing. potentially complacency in the cockpit, complacency in control towers as well. >> more, tom, than the other things i think you and i have talked about in the past, which is the concern that the systems have not come up, you know, kept up with the demand, have not kept up with the technology. >> i think that's right. concern is the system is operating at max capacity right now. and so you'll know if you fly

virtually every plane is full these days, that's pretty much the rule. and there are many, many, many planes on the tarmacs on the runways and the airlines and those air traffic controllers are trying to accommodate all of them. get them in and out of airports as fast as they can. they're very good at that. but the runway incursion, several of them have happened, when we had controllers, as we just saw in sarasota, we found out about, controllers allowing or calling for one plane to land on a runway when another one was taking off from the same runway. we had multiple reports of this kind of a situation, that's a control issue. air traffic control potential error, and the problem is we had several of these, so now in addition to pilot error, the faa and the airlines are trying to drill down on this and reiterate the basics, there is no substitute for going by the book. and making sure that you follow every single procedure line by line perfectly. >> every flyer out there is

saying here here. tom costello, thank you so much. can president biden's newly released plan save medicare? or do republicans have an alternative? all of those questions as the 2024 entitlement wars heat up. that's next. 2024 entitlement wars heat up. that's next.

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eugene, you could argue this is very joe biden, we can fix this, it is not as complicated as they make it out to be, the republicans just need to really do the right thing for the american people. does it make sense, both politically and legislatively? >> i think politically it does because he supports medicare and social security and he wants to make sure that these programs that so many people rely on are solvent going ahead in the future, and he has set his -- raise taxes on making more than $400,000 a year. that's been kind of his benchmark for what qualifies as wealthy and what doesn't and he points to not raise taxes, a penny on those making less than

$400,000 a year and this is consistent with that and he plans to raise money by medicare bargaining on drug prices and reducing drug costs. some evidence that that can save some money. so it is a biden-esque solution. it is kind of incremental. it saves the program until 2050, pushes the can down the road. but substantially down the road and i think it will probably be popular. >> so, look, analysis by the nonpartisan center on budget and policy priorities, i had to look down to get that right, has some pretty sobering statistics, which are, entitlement spending accounts for 46% of the total federal budget. 21% goes to social security. 25% goes to medicare and medicaid and other health insurance programs. you don't have to be an economist to know and to have heard that something has to be done about it.

but we talk about a divided congress, but has every congress just sort of fallen back to let's kick it down the road and when it really has to be dealt with, well, that's somebody else's problem? >> yes, in a word. that's exactly what happened. and you did not count the portion of the budget that goes toward payments on our debt, of course. because we have $31 trillion debt and we're paying interest on that every year. so, yes. this is -- we are the biggest economy in the world, and we print the reserve and benchmark currency for the world. and so therefore we -- many economists think we have the ability to kind of kick this down the road or more ability to do that than, say, other countries would. countries not like a household. it is different. households don't get to print their own money. nonetheless, you know, logic

would say there does have to be a reckoning at some point. and maybe it is that involves incrementally making things better. i think that would be a biden-esque solution. >> the president is formally going to unveil his budget proposal on thursday. they almost always do it at the white house. he's going to philadelphia, why, and what we are expecting to hear? >> the location is interesting, the timing is interesting, and the subject matter is interesting, all especially with an eye toward 2024. the budget rollout usually done at the white house. this is being done in philadelphia and he has been since taking office president biden, he's been to the city of philadelphia more than he's been to most of the other 50 states, which gives you a sense of his political priorities. we all remember, of course, that pennsylvania was the state that when we called it, it was what put him over the 270 electoral votes to become be the president-elect. the white house knows pennsylvania is likely to be critical and philadelphia is that turnout engine for the

state. this also is an escalation of the battle that president biden has really been waging with congressional republicans. we remember at the state of the union address, the way he felt like he got republicans on record in opposing significant changes to entitlement programs, retirement programs like social security and medicare. and in the absence of a republican challenger that is clear at this point, it is going to be a year before we really know who emerges from that very tough republican presidential nominating fight. it is congressional republicans who are going to be president biden's main sparring partner for the next year. he really does feel like he has a political winner in making these arguments. one, yes, he is asking in his budget plan for an additional 1.2% tax in medicare to help fund this extension of it. but it is really also about things he's already done. he's also been able to do this because of the inflation reduction act and because of savings under the affordable care act this is the president leaning into an issue where he thinks he already has the advantage.

>> mike memoli, eugene robinson, thank you. a fierce battle in an eastern ukraine city, why russia is sending convicted criminals, some fighting with shovels. and can parents be held criminally liable for their kids' crimes? what happened today in a hearing that may provide an answer ahead. hearing that may provide an answer ahead. hey bud. wow. what's all this? hawaii was too expensive so i brought it here. you know with priceline you could actually take that trip for less than all this. i made a horrible mistake. ♪ go to your happy price ♪ ♪ priceline ♪ i think i'm ready for this. heck ya! with e*trade you're ready for anything. marriage. kids. college. kids moving back in after college. ♪ here's to getting financially ready for anything! and here's to being single and ready to mingle. who's ready to cha-cha?! ♪ ♪ start your day with nature made.

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and friends, for the sake of privacy and out of respect to the families, we are going to refrain from further comment about those circumstances at this time. i can confirm that u.s. officials are in touch with the families of the individuals, but, again, we will respect their privacy regarding our conversations with them. we appreciate the hard work of the justice department and the fbi, dhs and dea for their swift response to this awful incident and for their continued collaboration with mexican authorities. these u.s. agencies remain in close touch with their counterparts and we expect that they will share more as they can. attacks on u.s. citizens are unacceptable. no matter where or under what circumstances they happen. we will continue to work closely with the mexican government to ensure justice is done in this

case. since day one of this administration, we have been focused on disrupting transnational criminal organizations including mexican drug cartels and human strugglers -- smugglers, pardon me. in the past few months, president biden signed an executive order giving the department of treasury expanded authorities to penalize cartel organizations and those who control or enable them. and we have imposed powerful new sanctions against cartel organizations in recent weeks. we remain committed to applying the full weight of our efforts and resources to counter them. right now our immediate concerns are for the safe return of our citizens, the health and well-being of those who survived this attack, and the support which must be rendered to the families of those who -- who need it. now, i want to move on to the news that we put out this

morning. >> and so that's karine jean-pierre on the brazen kidnapping in broad daylight of four americans, two killed, two brought back to the united states, one of them injured. we're expecting to get more information from the state department at a briefing about ten minutes from now. that's when it is scheduled to start in any case. but we'll keep our ear to that white house press briefing to see if there is anything else that is newsworthy and bring it to you. in the meantime, at this hour in ukraine, officials are vowing to find the russian soldiers they say killed an unarmed prisoner of war. that death was apparently captured in a viral video released by the ukrainian military too gruesome to show you here. but what you are seeing is a screen shot of the soldier just seconds before he was shot shot according to ukrainian officials. his last words we're told, glory to ukraine. nbc news has not been able to independently verify the video and the russian defense ministry did not respond to requests for

comment. the ukrainian military said prittener had been missing around the city of bakhmut where russian forces are closing in. bakhmut has little strategic importance but massive symbolic value to both sides. joining us, retired general stef twitty, former commander for u.s. european command. i want to talk about the large number of mercenaries fighting now for russia. the leader of the wagner group says they're being deprived of ammo, reports of hand-to-hand combat in bakhmut, russian soldiers using shovels to fight after running out of bullets. "the washington post" says many of the mercenaries are prisoners being sent, and they use the phrase, certain death. what's going on there? >> so, there is a couple things. number one, we've been fighting or the ukrainians and russians have been fighting for bakhmut

for about eight months now and the wagner group is the lead organization, mercenaries, that are fighting to seize bakhmut for the russians. they have a combination of two type of forces that are fight. number one, they have the convicts that you just talked about, and number two, they have some really well-trained forces that are seizing from africa and syria. the ones that are the convicts, are the ones leading the fight. they are very ill-trained. they are not well equipped. they're fighting in huge waves and don't know what they're doing and the ukrainians are just mowing them down, in many cases they're not given proper ammunition and their hence the shovels. so you're going to see this continue with the russians using these convicts to try and

advance into bakhmut. currently it is working. to be honest with you, they've been able to pick up the south portion of bakhmut. they've been able to pick up the west and the northern portion. there's one round in for the ukrainians right now that's in the east. it's technique, one i wouldn't advise any other military to us. >> the ukrainian president, obviously, volodymyr zelenskyy, says he met with his top generals yesterday and they urged him not to withdraw from bakhmut. i mean, there is a strong case to be made, that those resources could be better used elsewhere, perhaps even allow ukraine to go on the offensive, but on the other hand, we talked about just how much this means in terms of momentum, in terms of morale, to both sides. what do you make of the decision to keep fighting overall? >> well, i think the reason the decision was made, i go back to eight months of fighting, and so

to every one ukrainian that has been lost, there have been seven reportedly russians that have been lost. there have been a lot of lives lost in the fight for bakhmut that is really not a significant or strategic objective. so i think it all goes down to the fact that someone wants to win this fight, and the ukrainians don't want the russians to win because it would be a symbolic victory for them and a symbolic loss for the ukrainians. i think at the end of the day, that's what this is all about at this point. >> retired general steph twitty, always good to have you on the program. thank you for your time, sir. teacher turnover. schools across the nation now seeing a record number of resignations. why is this happening? we'll hear from some teachers who have resigned, next. this is going to be great. taking the shawl off. ok i did it.

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there's no sign today of a slow down in the nationwide teacher shortage after new numbers show resignations are at an all-time high. nbc's stephanie gosk has more. >> reporter: across the country, fed up teachers, many tired of long hours and low pay, are calling it quits. in one virginia county they are hoping a $3,000 bonus will keep teachers from leaving the job. >> our teachers work hard, our staff works hard.

>> reporter: they are down more than 150 teachers. it's a similar story in school districts across the country. new numbers show how tough things are getting. maryland and louisiana saw the highest number of resignations in a decade. in washington state it was the highest number in three decades. >> when everything shut down and covid kind of took full swing, that was my first year in the classroom. >> reporter: angela resigned from her teaching job in massachusetts last december. >> covid is still very much affecting the education system. the gaps are striking, and there's only so much that you can do as one person in the overload of work. >> it sounds like you reached a real breaking point? >> yes. i did. >> reporter: like many, she shared her story online. there are a mix of reasons. >> i am not going to miss unreasonable class sizes. i am not going to miss 23-minute lunch breaks. >> reporter: children are struggling academically. teacher shortages mean more work and then there's the pay. >> today was my last day as a

teacher. i would like to think it's just a pause, but i honestly don't know right now. >> reporter: in the fall sayerville, new jersey, sent out flyers hoping to inspire people to help. three retired teachers returned to the job, but the district still has 12 vacancies. >> we were starting to experience a little bit of the shortage last year, but it seems that we hit the pinnacle this year. >> did it get worse? >> without a doubt. >> reporter: the key, educators say, is getting young college students to choose the pro sneegs our message to them is you couldn't ask for a more noble field. if you really want to make an impact on this world, this is where it's to be done. >> thanks to stephanie gosk for that report. we've got a lot to cover in our second hour of "chris jansing reports." let's get right to it. at this hour, a french revolution. hundreds of thousands of demonstrators are goi