expected to remain in the hospital for several days let's bring in nbc news foreign correspondent claudio lavanga who is in rome do we flow know how the pope is doing? >> reporter: good morning phillip. the vatican in the last hour came up with a short statement saying the night went well, only four words but words that i'm sure a lot of faithful around the world were hoping and expecting to see we were already reassured about the condition of pope francis last night after the surgery that lasted about three hours. the doctor who performed the surgery told us journalists at the hospital that the pope tolerated well the surgery and general anesthesia and was wide awake and vigil. the best indication that he'sing to fine is that the interest s doctor said he did not lose his sense of humor. the doctor has already operated twice on the pope. this time and also in 2021 for the colon surgery. the pope upon when he woke up said well, doctor, when are we having the third one now the doctor said for a patient that undergo that kind of surgery, it's expected that they spend about five to seven days in hos

thank you for bringing it to us, claudio lavanga in rome. thank you. >>> nearly 2% of ukraine's farm land, over a million acres, could be destroyed after the massive dam was breached officials say the flooding knocked out the water supply for dozens of irrigation systems also take a look at these stunning satellite photos provided by planet labs pbc. it shows shows the dadnipro rivn after it was flooded >>> a plane is back en route to san francisco again. the jet had to make an emergency landing in remote siberia after pilots reported an engine problem. crew members and passengers had to stay overnight in makeshift accommodations american, european and japanese airlines have stopped flying over russia because of the tension over the war in ukraine. >>> millions of americans are waking up to yet another smokey day. angie lassman is here tracking air quality across the country angie, we're all learning, or at least a lot of us are now learning what the air quality index is >> yeah, historically people think this is a west coast problem, where

joining me from roam is nbc news foreign correspondent claudio lavanga.ay to weasel his way out of it, silvio berlusconi was doing it before him and changing the face of politics. >> reporter: if you think about it, silvio berlusconi has been the godfather of populism. you called him the telephone teflon dom, but he formed his own party and months later he won and became prime minister. he basically proved to the rest of the world you don't have to be a career politician to win the hearts of voters. then you can carry on 20, 30 years, becoming prime minister many times over. he also proved that personality is more appealing to voters sometimes than ideals. that promises don't have to be followed by facts. he when the judges went after him, as you mentioned he said he was a victim of a witch hunt, he was the most persecuted man in the country, he was a womanizer. he had no shame admitting it. he even took pride in it, he took pride in it in the infamous bunga bunga parties, the sex parties while he was still in power, that kind of started, basically, his d

for the latest we go to claudio lavanga in rome. what's the latest on the counter offensive? >> reporter: good morning, phillip. the ukrainian army says that in the last 24 hours it did make advances even though only by a few hundred yards at a time towards the city of zaporizhzhia where there is still the nuclear power plant still in the hands of russians and toward bakhmut, the city that ukraine lost to russia in may after the longest and bloodiest battle since the beginning of the war the ukrainian army said its troops are engaging in fierce battles in the face of aviation and artillery superiority by russia in the meantime, the death toll from the strike on the hometown of president zelenskyy has risen to 12. >> speaking of president zelenskyy, he's urging for nato to make ukraine a member how are they looking at ukraine getting in >> reporter: that's right, the issue of ukraine joining nato is very divisive. some eastern european countries are pushing everybody else to make a commitment, a strong political commitment for that membership ahead of that summit next month bu

let's bring in nbc news foreign correspondent claudio lavanga this morning can you give us a recap of what's again on this weekend >> good morning, jessica well, yes, yevgeny prigozhin, the leader of the wagner group fighting in ukraine on friday turned his men around and launched an armed rebellion against russia after he claimed that the russian army fired at his mercenaries. then his men crossed the border into russia. they easily gained control of the city the major city of rostov inside russia and then marched towards moscow, almost facing little or no resistance from the russian army but when it got to about 120 miles from moscow, prigozhin decided to stop the advance, claiming that he wanted to avoid spilling russian blood it later emerged that he signed with a deal with vladimir putin brokered by alexandr lukashenko, the leader of belarus where prigozhin is believed to be now. >> and claudio, what do you think this could mean for putin's rule going forward >> well, it was a stunning turn of events of course over the weekend that leaves more questions than answers well, now we

appears to step up direct assault on civilians in missile strikes for the latest, let's go to claudio lavanga. what's the latest on the counter offensive? >> reporter: good morning, frances. the ukrainian army said in the last 24 hours they continue to advance even if by only a few hundred yards, into zaporizhzhia, which is still in the hands of russia and bakhmut, which is the city ukraine lost in may after the longest and bloodiest battle since the start of the war the ukrainian army said it is engaging in fierce battles in the face of aviation and artillery superiority by russia. in the meantime, the death toll from the monday's missile strike on the hometown of president zelenskyy has risen to 12. frances? >> president zelenskyy has urged that nato make ukraine a member. there is a nato summit next month. how is it looking for ukraine getting in >> reporter: the issue of ukraine entering a nato member-is very divisive among western allies some eastern european countries are pledging or pushing other members to make a strong political commitment towards that membership ahead of the nato me

ukrainian generals are feeling good about the ongoing action for the very latest on this we go to claudio lavangawhat do we know? >> good morning. the counteroffensive has started. the ukrainian army says they already conquered three villages previously under russian occupation in the southeast of the country. now russia is yet to confirm that claim but a video posted on social media shows ukrainian troops raising a ukrainian flag in one of the villages and another shows another ukrainian brigade shouting glory to ukraine, another of those claimed villages the villages are very small in size and population, but they're considered to be strategic because they paved the way for the ukrainian army for bigger targets like the city of mariupol, the crimea peninsula or bakhmut, one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the war. what is really boosting the ukrainian army in this offensive is the use of western weapons and equipment, including for the first time what appears to be use of american made bradley vehicles even though russia claims they already destroyed five of them throughout the weekend

feeling good about the ongoing action for the latest on this we go to nbc foreign correspondent claudio lavanga. what do we know about the latest on the fighting there? >> reporter: good morning, jessica. since zelenskyy confirmed the counteroffensive has now started the ukrainian army claims they already conquered three villages previously under russian occupation in the southeast of the country. russia has yet to comment or confirm this, but there is a video on social media showing ukrainian troops raising a ukrainian flag, on a destroyed building on one of those villages and another video shows another ukrainian brigade saying or chanting or shouting glory to ukraine in another of those villages the three villages are small in size and population but are considered to be strategic because they paved the way for the ukrainian military to bigger targets like the city of mariupol or the crimean peninsula or the city of bakhmut which was the scene of one of the longest and bloodiest battles since the start of the war. what is boosting the ukrainian army is the use of military weapons and equipme

let's bring in nbc news foreign correspondent claudio lavanga. good morning this escalated so quickly over the weekend before coming to an abrupt end break it all down for us. >> reporter: good morning, frances. yes, on friday the leader and founder of the wagner group fighting in ukraine suddenly turned his men around and launched an armed rebellion against russia after he claimed that the russianarmy fired at his mercenaries. then his men easily crossed the board noor russia and gained control of the city of rostov before they started marching towards moscow facing little or no resistance from the russian army but when they were only 120 miles from the russian capital prigozhin stopped the advance saying that he didn't want to spill russian blood. later it emerged that he did sign a deal with vladimir putin brokered by alexander lukashenko the leader of belarus where prigozhin is believed to be now, frances. >> what could this mean for putin's rule going forward >> reporter: well, even if prigozhin in the end stopped the advance for whatever re

. >> claudio lavanga, always good to see you my friend, thank you for that. >>> that's going to do itday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. our coverage continues with "katy turr reports" right now. >>> donald trump has pleaded not guilty. the only court case is on the