i am now joined by ben hodges, a former u. s. army officer, who served as commanding general united states army, europe, and co author to book future war and the defense of europe in 2021 general is good to have you with us. germany has pledged to spend more than 2 percent of its budget on defense, something the u. s. has been pushing for years. your reaction? well, obviously i'm proud to see germany. our most important. our extent this responsibility is always had to be a decision by germany, not something imposed on germany. it had to be a decision by german. and so now the owners and the german government accepting his responsibility on it's welcome. i'm not sure whether you know this, but just very recently, putin just just put out rushes nuclear deterrence forces on higher lurch. what do you make of this? well, nobody should be surprised that he would do this. of course it cost him nothing. nothing to threaten the use of nuclear weapons. they've been doing this for years and all of their exercises, but it will cost him ev

for more on this we turn now to retired general ben hodges who serve as the general for the u.s. army in europe. general, thank you for 'ing with us. i want no ask you, do you expect russian troops to be able to take over and hold kiev and also what do you make of some of the attacks that we are seeing. this missile strike on an apartment building, for example? >> well, first of all, i am so impressed with what i have seen ukranian armed forces as well as ukrainian people. some of them, the film you're excellent team is showing, there is a lot of fight here. around i would say that ukrainian armed forces have over performed in these first 72 hours while russian armed forces have under performed. the fact that they have not achieved all their objectives on time is i think a consequence of ukrainian resistance and this given the huge disadvantage they are when it comes to air power and sea power, is why the ukrainians are asking for, pleading for stingers, shoulder fire-to-air defense systems, so the fighting that's been happening, these are helicopters that are bringing in special

that's a ben hodges many. thanks, sir. thank you. that was the day as ever. the conversation continues online. you'll find us on twitter d. w. news. thanks for watching. with with to the point. strong opinions, clear positions, international perspective. russia has launched a full scale attack on you crate. the assault was ordered by v mapleton, ukrainian president, ultimate lensky says posey wants to wipe you crane off the map. is the west power loss against hooton's expansionism? find out on to the point shortly. with tragic. ah, they've had it for decades. the people of iraq, their country is devastated and there's no way to defy. how did he come to this? key witnesses reveal unprecedented story. they were freeze of the you as they knew what the consequences these sanctions are. and they've lied to the war about a ca, manichean, let's say, is it that someone could kill his friends and as a fee a through easily was a he behaved exactly. lights have domicile and the poison spread. bedrooms ah lush, my 0 misery in the great documentary series destruction of a

for more on this we're joined by lieutenant general ben hodges.r joining us this morning. listen, for anybody watching this space or our network for that matter, going into eastern ukraine for russia really was low-hanging fruit. that was the most likely option in terms of sending troops in, if that's what vladimir putin ultimately would decide. i'm curious, given that, do you think it is surprising that it seems to have been hours and now we're still waiting for a definitive or a more aggressive response from the united states in terms of sanctions as opposed to what we saw last night, sanctioning that region as a whole? >> well, thanks, you and jim both have perfectly framed the situation and the description and i wish more elected officials would talk about the fact that this is really a continuation of what started in 2014. this is not a new war or something. this is just the next phase. i believe that the kremlin understands that we would be hesitant or uncertain when it comes to sanctions because they didn't launch 100,000 troops in a gigant

retired general ben hodges former general of the u.s.great to see you, come back soon, i'd love to have you back as soon as you're ready. >> thank you, rachel. >> we have much more ahead, stay with us. much more ahead stay wit s ame. we're carefully designing our bottles to be 100% recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back. don't settle for products that give you a sort-of white smile. try crest whitening emulsions... ...for 100% whiter teeth. its highly active peroxide droplets... ...swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. shop crestwhitesmile.com. - [narrator] this is steve. he used to have gum problems. now, he uses therabreath healthy gums oral rinse with clinically-proven ingredients and his gum problems have vanished. (crowd applauding) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine store

ben hodges, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> thanks for the privilege. >>> back to the markets and assessing the impact of the sanctions on russia by world leaders. steeper losses as we prepare to kick off a trading week here let's bring in the managing dist director of equities anneka treon, i mentioned with the general, it appears as though the sanctions are having more of an effect on putin's support base in russia than some of the military actions are. how exactly are markets handicapping all of this in real time >> it is indeed very challenging and confusing to rip apart what is happening from the human perspective and how one should consider that from the financial markets need to do two things we need to zoom out and what was the state of the macroeconomics prior to that. we need to zoom out to previous geopolitical tension events going back to world war ii and how markets behaved. going to the latter, markets have gone accustomed to dealing with the tensions. you see it tends to be a knee-jerk effect

ben hodges thinks the invasion will come from the sea. look at maripol, odessa, they're lightly de-februarieded. you know, testing weapons, the big concern here is that the russian invasion could come from the sea and there's nothing anybody can do to stop it. certainly does not appear the sanctions that biden administration has threatened and nato and others have threatened does not appear to be thwarting president putin from doing this. recall, sandra, russian president putin has never recognized ukraine. he thinks that ukraine and russia are one in the same. he feels threatened by ukraine. when remember nato expanded to take on poland, hungary, romania. putin saw it as a threat. three weeks later, nato launched air strikes in serbia. he felt threatened by that. george h.b. bush wanted ukraine part of nato. four months later, he launched an invasion in georgia. sandra? >> sandra: thanks, lucas. nato chief stoltenberg says europe is facing a dangerous moment for security. what should the president's next move be? general keith kellogg jo

billions of dollars will be lost because of-- this ego. >> stahl: retired general ben hodges knows a lot about vladimir putin. hodges was a nato commander in 2014 when russia last invaded ukraine and annexed crimea. later, he was the top general of the u.s. army in europe until 2017. is putin boxed in at this point? >> hodges: no. >> stahl: well, if he withdraws... >> stahl: isn't he embarrassed? >> hodges: sure, but, i mean, that's-- that's-- i'm reluctant to say he's boxed in. this is a crisis 100% of his own making. >> stahl: yeah, but the world is going to say he was one-upped by biden. can he-- can he accept that? we know his ego. >> hodges: his ego should not be our-- our ultimate concern. our ultimate concern has got to be protecting the values that we care about. >> stahl: do you think what happened in afghanistan, our ugly retreat from afghanistan, had any effect on his thinking? did he think the united states had become soft and weak? >> hodges: i think that the way we came out of afghanistan probably brought some satisfaction to president putin, to see us struggle like thi

to start off our coverage this hour, nbc news correspondent erin mclaughlin and retired general ben hodges, persian chair and strategic studies at the center for european policy analysis. erin, let me start with you this morning. what is happening right now in ukraine, in kyiv where you are? >> reporter: well, just a three or four-hour drive from the capital kyiv is the chernobyl nuclear zone, jose. we are now hearing from an adviser to the minister of the interior that the russians have breached the ukraine border from belarus in the chernobyl zone. the national guard of ukraine, which guards the storage of unsafe radioactive waste in chernobyl is fiercely resisting this adviser to the interior minister saying, quote, if the occupiers strikes hit the facility, radioactive dust may cover the territories of ukraine, belarus and the eu countries. this, again, coming from an adviser to the interior ministry. obviously this is a source of serious concern here in ukraine. we all remember the chernobyl nuclear disaster from 1986. my understanding is that the dome that covers that disaster, they'

again, i'm not sure how it's going to turn out. >> lieutenant general ben hodges, thank you. i'm sure we'll have you on as we learn exactly how it's turning out. >>> next, we'll talk to a lawmaker who just returned from the high-stakes security conference in munich. you're watching "meet the press daily." "meet the press daily. [singing] oven roasted cooold cuts cooold cuts ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -dad, what's with your toenail? -oh, that...? i'm not sure... -it's a nail fungus infection. -...that's gross! -it's nothing, really... -it's contagious. you can even spread it to other people. -mom, come here! -don't worry about it. it'll go away on its own! -no, it won't go away on its own. it's an infection. you need a prescription. nail fungus is a contagious infection. at the first signs, show it to your doctor... ... and ask if jublia is right for you. jublia is a prescription medicine used to treat toenail fungus. its most common side effects include ingrown toenail, application site redness... ... itching, swelling, burning or stinging, blisters and pain. jublia is recognized by

for more we're joined by retired lieutenant general ben hodges who has been meeting with ukrainian officialsation. lieutenant general, eight a pleasure to have you on here. right now, what do you make of the reporting from the "new york times" citing the ukrainian military that portions of russia's army have reached full combat strength and appear to be in the final stages of readiness for military action, should the kremlin order it? >> well, lindsey, for sure russian federation forces have been gradually building up really since last year using exercises to sort of mask what they're doing to build up their capability, so we're in a dangerous time. when i was in kyev, i talked with president zelensky, it's very clear. he's not confused about the threat. they know what is out there and what the potential is for a very serious attack. >> is he essentially putting forth a more relaxed persona outwardly not to close panic. behind closed doors and maybe in conversations with you it's much more serious? >> look, he has a difficult challenge, for sure he is concerned about the survival not just of

and with me now from frankfort, germany, is ben hodges, now persian chair for european studies.pleasure to see you. i understand that you were in kyiv just last week. you had an opportunity to meet with president zelensky. what's your assessment of the situation there? >> well, jose, thank you very much. and by the way, i'm also a fellow floridian, so good to work with you right now. >> likewise. >> i've been to that tank factory where matt was just reporting, and it's an amazing place. what they're doing there, but his assessment, i think, is accurate. and when i spoke to president zelensky last week in kyiv, he made it clear to me that he fully understands the threat. he understands that the existence -- the survival of his government as well as the survival of the sovereignty of ukraine is at stake, because of the danger put in place by russia. but he also is having to balance his economy -- i mean, they're bleeding money right now, which is part of the intention of the kremlin. and so they're trying to find a balance on preparation, but also the economy. and i tend to agree

ben hodges, former u.s. commanding general in europe.hat we have learned in the last 30 meds were so is that we will hear from president biden to speak about russia and ukraine at 12:30 eastern time in d.c. just a little less than two hours from now. also heard from a defense official the following. just a bit of color on what is happening on the ground. important details. the russian ground incursions began into ukraine at around 5:00 a.m. eastern time. u.s. officials estimate russians have used 75 fixed wing bombers and more than 100 missiles to attack. just some detail there on what has been happening on the ground. tom: some of that is out on twitter, and we have to be very careful with it, but to get those numbers is really sobering because social media stuff is happenstance. one here, one there, five planes , four missiles. this is a summation with some real authority. jonathan: big headlines from the prime minister. "the financial times" reporting that the prime minister is pushing for russia to be ejected from the swiss system. l

thank you so much, josh lederman from brussels, joining me now is retired army general ben hodges iii, during the conflict in bosnia, and former commander of the u.s. army in europe in 2014, the year russia first invaded ukraine. he is now the pershing chair in strategic study in the center for european policy analysis. general, sir, welcome, so glad to have you here. first question to you, are you surprised by intelligence reports that the russia is meeting with more resistance than it expected? >> this is the best news i've heard in a long time. but i'm not surprised. the ukrainian soldiers have learned and grown so much since 2014. and i think that what we're seeing is our ukrainian armed forces over performing and russian forces under performing. i think matt has done a good job of laying that out. none of the objectives have been met on time, almost every single city and airfield that was targeted is either still in ukrainian hands or was lost after a much tougher fight than was expected and what we're seeing in kyiv, frankly, at this point, and i'm reluctant to predict how long

julia founding partner and washington correspondent for puck, and retired army lieutenant general ben hodges is with the center for european policy analysis. thanks to all of you for joining us. matt wagner, let me start with you, parts of biden's speech was aimed at the russian government, part of it at the russian people. what's been the react over there? >> good morning, chris, i guess it's no surprise this was a big topic of discussion agent the daily kremlin press briefing with the spokesperson. he started by latching on to biden's remarks that the united states wants diplomacy. russia wants to engage on positive proposals that have come forward, things like arms control, especially with missiles in eastern europe but they want to approach this in a way that couples their demands of the alliance with those discussions. we're really not seeing much movement on that. one of the interesting things about biden's speech was the appeal to the russian people. i have to say if that was said with the intention of kind of breaking through and actually reaching the russian public and resonating wi

now joining us for more is retired general ben hodges, who is the former commanding general for the unitedarmy in europe. general, thank you very much for joining us, you were actually in kyiv a few minutes ago. what is your assessment of the country's ability to fight back against russia? and is, as many fear, defeat inevitable? >> jane, thaou. i was impressed when i was in kyiv with the spirit of the ukrainian peopl clearly, the government waited too long to start doing some things. but i's a matter of moral and will to fight, ukraine is going to fight. we are asked to this over the west -- the last 48 hours. russian forces have underperformed while ukrainian forc have over performed despite being as a significant disadvantage. lots of russian casualties, lots of destroyed russian tanks, lots of airplane shut down. now, i'm reluctant to say they won't eventually get there because mass will play a role here. so far, ukrainian soldiers have given a good account of themselves. jane: in the absence of troops on the u.s. and european allies, what extra military support can ukraine use? and is

well, i think what ben hodges that, you know, he was, of course, the, the former commander of the u. s. army in europe. he really knows his stuff, militarily. what he was talking about is, of course the scale of operation that some people have been talking about, which is where the vladimir putin is not just going to attack easton ukraine, but, but potentially come in from the north, from belarus, and march all the way on to key of expressing a skepticism about that in terms of the scale of the force. and he was talking about as a force of around a $100000.00. that the numbers that we're now hearing from, from the u. s. government a, a close to $200000.00. but i, i think what really been hodges message was now that there's a huge range of options to vladimir putin has. here. it's not just, it's sort of a switch like a invade or, or do nothing. is a huge kind of range of potential options in between there from ranging from cyber attack and disinformation campaigns, right up to a major military operation to aimed at toppling the government. and that's part of what makes this so difficu

ben hodges retired us army officer. and the former commander of us forces in europe. welcome to the day sir. you are a veteran of the iraq war, the war in afghanistan. did you ever expect to see war return to europe in this way? well, i am a realist and we've been watching for russia now. for several years. they invaded georgia in 2008, and we, the west did nothing. they invaded ukraine in 2014, and we really did not do anything consequential. and so what's happening now is the continuation of this is also for the innocent people and ukraine. ok, but it is the reality we're in now. you can almost say that those earlier invasions were test runs. i mean, this is a big one. considering the movements of russia is military, their target so far. is it possible to see a game plan and perhaps is an game here? well, i think it's clear that what he intends is to bring about the collapse of ukrainian government. started off with going after their economy to isolate ukraine from the black sea and see him as of the strange elation by having so many forces on the border. already we

ben hodges, said there eoanything further to my think u and i just want to say that we gotta get theinvestors to vote and it makes it so difficult in our country to carry out our foreign policy when we do not have our diplomats imposed and in a single process but we are paying a price for now but not having all of our posts filled think you for your support. >> you're absolutely right, i agree there's a lot of things you by the biden administration was not that fast and naming the ambassadors and some key positions and there has been individual senators republican assenators good old just about every nomination which means they have to go through a lengthy process and confirmation which is totally uncalled for but we recognize that we raise that issue many times we do thank you so a national security concern to get confirmed ambassadors and i have to respond because the only senator here. any further comments with doctr hill our investor taylor and thank you all very much we appreciate your n participation and with that we stand ad adjourned. [background sounds]. [background sounds].

jonathan: that was ben hodges, the former u.s. commanding general in europe. good morning.are positive on the s&p, on the nasdaq. stocks higher by 0.3% on the s&p, 0.4% on the nasdaq. yields up four basis points, reacting to this headline in the past 30 minutes. according to interfax, russia ready to send a delegation to minsk for ukraine talks. still waiting for reaction on the ukraine side to that headline of the last 30 minutes. tom:tom: the reaction in the markets is a stability for a bit. we want to bring you authorities like general hodges, on the ground for the u.s. army, putting troops into europe this morning or last night. we just showed you bill browder with all of his family heritage of eastern europe, and now we do the same thing from a ukrainian village in chicago, lynn neu. if you are -- from ukrainian village in chicago, illinois. if you are in chicago, there's a huge amount of people watching this crisis. nell -- natalie jaresko joins us this morning from puerto rico, the former finance minister of ukraine. thank you for joining us. you are one of the lead

ben hodges, former commander of u. s. army europe. many, many. thanks, sir. thanks for the privilege. as we just heard, russian president vladimir putin has put his deterrence forces, including nuclear armed forces on higher alert. in a video speech distributed by the kremlin, putin said that nato powers had made aggressive statements toward russia. he also cited economic sanctions that will cut off major russian banks from international transactions and from vilnius. i am now now joined by constantine agri, d. w. russians affairs, expert contents, constantine, welcome again. what do you make of this? a higher lured order? well, from an officer, i had a very big problem discerning what actually meant. he never served in the army but his mother and cheap. the expression he used to indicate some kind of heightened states of russian armed forces does not exist in russian military manuals. a form which he used an expression which is roughly translated like heightened, meditated duty. there only 4 states left in in russia minutes. remember, a regular heightened wa

. >> ben hodges, you were in charge of nato allied land commit in 2014 when putin a nexted crimea throughhat lens. how does the u.s. respond now? >> well, kelly, i would say that up until now the administration and our allies havebeen -- hav had the right approach but i have to say that i am disappointed at this first response are sanctioned against the leaders of the so-called independent republics. that's not exactly something that's going to cause the kremlin to -- to freeze in their tracks, so i'm hoping that there's something else coming very quickly that would send a much stronger signal this the no exactly or what most of us are accepting? what about germany, france, the nato u.n. security council, where russia has a veto? how do you see the rest world responding >> excellent point that is gut check for the european union and for nato and also and obviously russia belongs to seven the today's mood is a lack look at the lack of respect and its pain it's time now for some action. if you allow me. you just showed the comment from senator cruz, and i think that half of the reason why p

you just had general ben hodges talk to you and i agree with everything he just said. i want to take a little umbrage with words about being full scale invasion. i've said more than once the forces on the border are not enough to do what i would call a full scale invasion, but the forces on the border are more than enough to do several options for mr. putin, one of them including is to put great pressure on kiev. griff: general, what should the president be saying to vladimir putin right now? what is the message that he should be sending that would get us out of being on the brink, as it appears things are now? >> well, for me to advise our president, but if it was me i'd be offering him carrots and sticks. we have some things that we want to talk -- both of us want to talk about for structures, intermediate range missiles, et cetera, in europe and we should try to move forward on those and make it very clear if he invades ukraine he'll get the things he doesn't want. many ask why are we sending forces into the n.a.t.o. areas and griff, if you remember what they put in

now we bring in general ben hodges, former commander of the u.s. army europe. he is from the center for european policy analysis. great to see you, general. i want to pick up where jennifer griffin left off there. if in fact you have vladimir putin moving tanks and troops in to these break-away territories, that he has now declared independent, does this slow down the whole process of him moving in to greater ukraine? does he put forces in to these break-away territories and sit and wait to see what the response is? >> trace, thanks. i thought jen's description of president putin and his speech was actually very good and important for us to absorb. i mean, to discussion in the arrogance and the hatred coming out of putin in his speech, the disdain that he has for ukraine and indirectly for the rest of us by demonstrating no respect for all the hard work that's been done to uphold international law, this is important. we need to understand who it is we're dealing with. this is a guy that used poison against the opposition in his own country. so i completely beli

army forces in europe, retired lieutenant general ben hodges, who was in ukraine over the weekend.with us. i wonder what you saw and heard in kyiv, and how you assessed the situation on the ground there. >> anderson, thank you. i was impressed with president zelensky. he's a fighter, he is not confused about the threat. he understands very clearly what the threat from the kremlin is. but he's also working hard to try to keep his population, let's say, calm and confident about their preparations and of course this is having a significant impact on their economy. as well. >> in your meeting with zelensky, was it clear where his head is with the threat from russia? there's been this debate about the word imminent. we've heard from ukrainian officials speaking off the record, pushing back on the idea of imminent. >> well, i think it's probably a good thing that the white house is backing away a little bit from the word imminent. because that implies obviously as you know that it's absolutely going to happen. i think that in the zelensky government, they believe this pressure will conti

lieutenant general ben hodges, retired. thanks very much, general. >> thank you. >> martha: moments ago, governor youngkin delivering on a campaign promise to let parents decide if masks are right for their children when they go to school in the morning. bill hemmer previews how the education issue is already heating up across the country ahead of the mid-term next. >> last night during the race, the voters sent a clear message, a clear message as it relates to the school board and the need to begin the process to refocus on our children. no one deserves the american dream of homeownership more than veterans. at newday, you can buy a home with no down payment. and they're holding the line on purchase loans with rates in the twos. already own a home and need cash? with the newday100 loan, you can get up to $60,000 or more and lower your payments $615 a month. no bank, no lender, no one knows veterans like newdayusa. it's my woke-up-like-this migraine medicine. it's ubrelvy. one dose can quickly stop my migraine in its tracks

joining us now is retired lieutenant general ben hodges.2014 to 2017. he's intensely familiar with this area. and certainly with what is going on with u.s. troops in the area as well. general, what do you make of this moment where we see these russian forces so close to kyiv? >> brianna, thank you. first of all, i'm impressed how well ukrainian soldiers have been fighting and with the determination of civilians with whom i've spoken with in the last 24 hours and whom i've heard on your program. there have been a lot of examples where ukrainian forces have inflicted severe losses on forces and so, you know, trying to understand what's actually happening on the ground is difficult when you've got reports coming in from multiple directions. this is the nature of war, friction, so trying to figure out what's really happening is a challenge. there's no doubt that the russians own the air space. helicopters are flying around without too much fear and so this is something that we've got to help ukrainians address. >> general, we did get word, to y

ben hodges retired us army officer. and the former commander of us forces in europe. welcome to the day sir. you are a veteran of the iraq war, the war in afghanistan. did you ever expect to see war return to europe in this way? well, i am a realist and we've been watching for russia now. for several years. they invaded georgia in 2008, and we, the west did nothing. they invaded ukraine in 2014, and we really did not do anything consequential. and so what's happening now is the continuation of this, this is also for the innocent people and ukraine. ok, but it's a reality we're in now. you can almost say that those earlier invasions were test runs. i mean, this is a big one. considering the movements of russia is military, their target so far? is it possible to see pollutants, a game plan and perhaps is and game here? well, i think it's clear that what he intends is to bring about a collapse of ukrainian government. started off with going. busy after their economy to isolate ukraine from the black sea and see him as of the strange elation by having so many forces on th

army europe, lieutenant general ben hodges. lieutenant general, i will not go through my long question again, but talking sanctions, a lot imposed up until now if you're taking the pipeline from russia to germany off the table in terms of sanctions, is putin really going to move? >> just to be clear, germany has not taken it off the table. they said yesterday everything is on the table. that's a step in the right direction. i want to make sure that's clear. you're right about sanctions and the problem with sanctions and the idea if you launch a new invasion in ukraine, we'll give you sanctions like you've never seen before, that's after the fact. which means deterrence failed and it's hard to keep everybody onboard. the sanctions they're talking about will have a negative impact on all of us. you mentioned london. people joke about london because so much russian money in there. if we're serious about standing up for the things we care about then we'll have to impose these kinds of sanctions. the key is, is it everybody? preside

. >> i heard general ben hodges earlier today laying out how dangerous an urban fight would be right he said, look no further than iraq to note. how bad do you think a fight in kyiv could get and what people should be preparing for? >> i think first that putin does want this fight. he welcomes a chance to demonstrate russia's combat power and punish and kill the ukrainian people. this is what's behind this talk about the nazis. he wants to show his combat power. i think it's going to be a bloody difficult fight. i think if russia is willing to destroy much of the city, if it's willing to use its artillery in the city and so forth, i think the outcome is going to be very tragic. i think the ukrainians are determined to resist, at least up to a certain point. we don't know what that point is, but they value their freedom, their association with the west, they fought valiantly so far and they don't want to be put back under the thumb and oppression of vladimir putin and his oligarchs and mafia. >> ambassador, to the point that the general is making and leading to, i want to play somethi

black see and also in the sea of asoz, which is not national waters, i spoke to retired general ben hodgess. army europe. he thinks an invasion will come from the sea. look at the map of ukraine, maripol is just over the border. there's a lot of talk would putin take this land bridge to con fact that donbas to cry mere i can't. what would be the international reaction to that. we've heard from european leaders saying there it would be strong outrage. there's worries on the ground here in kiev that if the russians were to take that land bridge, there wouldn't be this international cry that we've been hearing. >> martha: thank you, lucas. great reporting. let's bring in pete hegseth, an army veteran that served in afghanistan and iraq. we have joe concha with us from the hill and fox news contributor. mark penn, former adviser to bill and hillary clinton. great to have you all with us. all of you represent a different area of expertise and the full picture of what the political scene is that the president faces right now. pete, you've been listening to military analysis and reporting from lu

interviewed retired lieutenant general ben hodges who is the former head of u.s. army europe.was surprised when he saw cruise missiles hitting targets deep in syria. it's a message to the world, a show of force much like the u.s. navy firing tomahawk's from its guided missile destroyers. what to do guided missile destroyers and president putin have in common? vladimir putin one of the biggest gripes he has with nato and the west encroaching on the russia are two missile defense interceptors sites built during the bush administration in romania and poland. those interceptors fire interceptor missiles, those are defensive missile systems used to shoot down rogue iranian ballistic missile. the west told russia this is not about you, not about shooting down your muscles, this is for iran. russia doesn't buy that, the missile interceptors are the same launch system, the mark of one launchers on guided missile cruisers, what else are they fire? tomahawk cruise missiles. that's one reason why vladimir putin thinks the west in the united states have violated the imf treaty, the treaty

. >> richard engel, kelly o'donnell, and lieutenant general ben hodges, thank you very much for being with me this morning. and from ukraine is a ukrainian journalist and researcher, a non-resident fellow at the center for european policy analysis. olga, thank you so much for being with me this morning. after putin's speech yesterday, you tweeted this. quote, if you want to know how ukrainians react to putin's speech, here's a glimpse. moms on facebook discussed putting stickers on their children's clothes when they go to school, indicating their blood type. tell us more about what ukrainians take away from putin's speech and what has happened since? >> well, this speech makes people very angry. the main reaction is not one of fear, but of anger and also of determination. yet, i saw this debate on mom's groups and social media that the schools were actually issuing orders to the parents to put -- to prepare the stickers and the cards where they indicate the contacts of closest relatives and also the blood type, in case there's a bombardment of school, so the personnel is prepared to p

joining me now to talk strategy retired general ben hodges.hat would you doing right now that the biden administration is not doing? >> jesse, thank you very much. well, what i would be doing, of course, is accelerating much of what the administration is trying to do to at this point to put weapons in the hands of the ukrainian forces but as fast as we can particularly air defense systems like the stinger as well as more anti-tank weapons, what we have heard here in the first 24 hours, actually quite a few local tactical successes by ukrainian armed forces they real really need air defense weapons to knock down drones and helicopters. i think that would make a difference. to answer your question, i would accelerate that if i could. >> jesse: how do you get those types of weapons into that country? you can't fly over that airspace. the russian also probably shoot it down. and then you are in world war iii. so what do you do? >> well, of course what we need to be doing is opening up what we call a ground lock coc, communication, moving from pola

security intelligence correspondent ken dilanian, andrea mitchell and retired lieutenant general ben hodgesith you in kharkiv. we heard from cal perry a few minutes ago who was on the ground in lviv. you and i were on the air at 5:00 this morning eastern on msnbc. and you were in the thick of it. what do you see tonight and what are you bracing for? >> well, actually, because we were in the thick of it this morning we've left kharkiv. we're in nipro, a couple of hours south. we heard a massive bombardment. i was in the midst of telling you and ayman mohyeldin how we were in the eye of it. we were in the ring road. we weren't seeing much inside the city. that changed dramatcally. this is what you're seeing in this battlefield. we started hearing bombardments and a rat-a-tat-tat of guns sounding from like pretty near to where we were. this lasted several minutes. this is par for the course in this conflict but we had thought and we put ourselves there because it wasn't too close to the action. and so we decided after we took shelter in an underground parking garage under the hotel for a littl

we are joined by retired lieutenant general ben hodges, who is the strategic studies at european center for analysis and almost four decade career in the united states army. lieutenant general serves in multiple joint and army assignments including commander of nato, allied land commanded in turkey and commanding general of europe and germany from 2013 -- 2014 to 2017. with us is dr. andrea kendall-taylor. director of the transatlantic security program. dr. kendall-taylor has researched extensively on u.s. security challenges regarding russia from 2015 to 2018, dr. kendall-taylor served as deputy national intelligence officer at the national intelligence council. last but not least we are joined by the honorable ambassador richard grenell who has served in multiple roles for the u.s. government, most recently as the former acting director of national intelligence from february to may of 2020 and previously served as ambassador to germany from may 2018 until june 2020. and as a matter of disclosure. the ambassador and i were classmates at harvard kennedy school. many many years ago, and

contractor stocks move higher, general dynamics and raytheon technologies, joining us commander ben hodgese a number of analyst's mosts out this morning suggesting we are now moving into this fast-moving forecast thing. roman schweitzer at cowan weighs out two special scenarios, this is either a prelude to a wider invasion or a potential way for russia's putin to do something before stepping back from the brink and engaging in further goess, how do you see it >> i like that second course of action i think it's much more feasible and likely this is a continuation of what russia started in 2014 when they first invaded ukraine. they never left. and the aim here for the kremlin is to collapse the ukrainian government and they're going to do it by collapsing the ukrainian economy. so think about a boa constricter that's wrapped itself around the body of ukraine. with all of these troops, significant russian navy out there disrupting traffic in and out of ukrainian ports, always the threat of a massive assault, i don't think that's likely if the russians can achieve what they want without actual

i very much respect general ben hodges, it is true that southeastern ukraine are very exposed but alsoe that now the capital city kyiv, in central ukraine, is exposed to the military exercises in belarus. sad fact is russia has troops en circling ukraine. my estimate based on the late troop movements into belarus is that vladimir putin decided that he wanted to get to the capitol sooner rather than later, the first wave of attack into ukraine should vladimir putin choose to invade. >> sandra: so the military drills that russia started with belarus, that tells you this could be happening sooner than later. >> i think the military drills in belarus are nothing but a cover for a likely invasion. i think they tell us since they are starting so soon, that we could be down to a matter of days, not weeks for that potential invasion. >> sandra: so as far as the role congress plays in all of this, many republicans like yourself in the senate have long said that the u.s. should act first and not wait for putin to make the first move here. what tools do you have at your disposal in congress if bi

we are also joined by lieutenant general ben hodges. he is joining us virtually. believe from germany. he is lieutenant general retired, holds the chair and strategic studies at the center for european policy analysis. he joined in february of 2018. a native of quincy, florida, general hodges graduated from the united states military academy in may of 1980 and was commissioned in the infantry. he has served in so many places, including iraq and afghanistan. and i believe that he is recently back from ukraine. ambassador retired william taylor is the vice president of russia and europe at the u.s. institute of peace. in 2019, he served in affairs at the u.s. embassy. during the spring, he saw u.s. assistance and support in egypt, tunisia, libya and syria. he served as u.s. ambassador to ukraine from 2006 until 2009. he earlier served on the staff of senator bill bradley. we always mention the most support and parts of your resume if you have connections to the united states senate. he graduated from west point and harvard university's academy school of government.