courtney kube with that report. thank you. >>> let me bring in a former defense secretary, bill cullen. mr. secretary, let me talk about that. listen to what courtney just described. so, we have this idea, our commanders have this idea, they think they know what the russians are going to do here. they're going to regroup, try to sort of get their act together, and focus on the east and make these gains. what should we be doing right now for the ukrainian military? what should nato be doing, number one, to secure the gains they've made and make sure we don't -- you know, they don't feel like they are vulnerable again in kyiv and in some of the places that they've pushed them out in? and what can we be doing for ukrainians right now while the russians regroup? >> first, let me commend richard engel and the other war correspondents you have. they've been doing an outstanding reporting. but in terms of what we can do, we can accentuate the positives, so to speak. we can accelerate the weaponry that ukrainians need to kil

courtney kube at the pentagon.atever we want to say about the russian military strategy before the last 48 hours, it looks like they've tried to learn some lessons from their failures in the past. this feels a little more strategic, doing what they did targeting military facilities. we've been admiring the ukrainian military up until now. are they going to be able to hold up here? >> reporter: yeah, so this will be a very different fight from the last almost two months here, chuck. so the shaping operations that we've been hearing about is exactly what we are still seeing. but they have been matched now with some ground movement by russian forces. the russians have been slowly trickling in more and more of these battalion tactical groups, two more in the last 24 hours or so, they're moving them into the east. why this is going to be different is it's going to be a much more concentrated fight in that eastern area. so you mentioned the word strategic. we're already seeing what is generally a russian strategy play ou

let me go now to nbc's ali vitali and courtney kube. courtney, let me go to you first because you heard the national security advisor lay out the expectations for russia's next moves after what happened in bucha and he was unequivocal billion how horrific those images out of bucha are. >> yeah, that's right. what a lot of our viewers may not know is bucha is just outside of kyiv. this is an area that has been surrounded by russian troops and bucha has had russian troops even inside of it for several weeks now. and now as these russian troops are starting to pull out of that area to move back and reposition back into many cases up north, the u.s., the world is starting to see what was happening there during these past few weeks. there hasn't been a whole lot of media coverage and seeing what's been going on there. now, according to a senior defense official, as of today about two-thirds of the russian troops that were arrayed in that area for the last month or so have pulled back. the belief is that they are moving back out, they are goin

thank you. >> reporter: okay. >>> let me move to courtney kube at the pentagon. courtney, i want to get to you and these weapons systems. the foreign minister is clearly -- there's some nato nations maybe not ready to give. what or who is he referring to? >> so, it's not so much -- it's a combination of things. it's not even so much that they're not willing to give because they don't want to help ukraine, it's more about concerns that they hurt their own readiness. we're talking specifically about some of the countries right there around ukraine. there's been some reporting about potentially sending some t-72 tanks, the old russian tanks, to ukraine and some of the neighbors, some of the allies who have that, who have some of those supplies aren't able to do so because they don't want to hurt their own readiness. but the things that u.s. officials that we've spoken with say ukraine really needs right now include air defenses. as you just mentioned. that is because the expectation is that russia right now are refitting, readying themselves for the next phase of th

let me go to courtney kube at the pentagon. over the last couple of days, i think i was speaking to you, we have the ability to confirm via satellite footage at some point. so, courtney, is that what's likely happened here as we were able to comb through our satellite footage and indeed see this ship was hit with two missiles? >> defense officials aren't saying exactly how they know but they are now confident according to a u.s. assessment there were two ukrainian neptune ruise missiles that struck the ship. this ship is largely used for air defenses. why didn't its own air defense systems defend it against these incoming missiles? so senior defense official is saying they don't know yet but there a couple of working theories. one is they may have been a maintenance period going on. another is they simply may have been shut off at the time and it possible that these. they teens were coming in at an angle that the russian air ship defense systems did not work. the ukrainians had been saying they fired the neptune missiles at the

courtney kube is at the pentagon and general ben hodges, general from 2014 to 2017. and also with us is the senior attache to moscow. the sinking of the ship, embarrassing for russia. tell us what else you're seeing at your location. >> reporter: halle, it's huge. it's been seen as a huge boost. in kyiv people are lining up to buy a stamp that bore the image of that sunken ship. and as you said, there are conflicting report about exactly what caused it. the ukrainians said they hit it with a missile, the russians still saying that they had a fire on board but wouldn't elaborate, only that its crew was evacuated and that it was towed to port or tried to and it sunk in the stormy weather. but i want to get to what i'm seeing here right now. this is the town of macari, about 45 miles west of kyiv. you're looking at an industrial bakery. just look at all this destruction, halle. if you walk around here, it extends pretty much everywhere around this town. this particular site was hit with a missile more than a month ago. it was an industrial baking but it was being used a

courtney kube of nbc news joins us now from the pentagon.i remember seeing that and thinking that is the kind of bravado that you would want from a government official, but i was not quite sold that that was correct at a military level. it does seem at this point the battle for kyiv in the initial stages has been won by the ukrainians and they have repelled the russian advances? is that with the u.s. government sees? >> nobody is spiking the football here to say that kyiv is completely out of danger. if you look at this as one of the faces of the russian military campaign for a large-scale invasion of ukraine, this initial phase of going in and taking kyiv, the russians have all retreated. it does look like the ukrainians have repelled this initial phase. now, i think the reason people are not saying this is a huge win for ukraine because it is very possible that later down the road, the russians could come back. they could attack even the air, that is still possible. it is not that kyiv is out of the woods completely. but you are absolutely

. >> and alley araouzy from ukraine, and courtney kube. zelenskyy has been saying this for weeks, this is just like world war ii, and the rest of the world needs to get involved. he's asking for a no-fly zone and the soviet-era jets and he's not getting those two things. i wonder when you are speaking to ukrainians, what is their feeling about the rest of the world right now as they're enduring this conflict? >> reporter: well, they are echoing to what zelenskyy says, and he says we are grateful for a lot of the weapons we have gotten from the west, from america, the anti-tank and aircraft systems, but it's just not enough, it's not enough to fight off this massive russian assault. the russian army is eight times the size of the ukrainian army. the russians have 900,000 troops available. the ukrainians only have 200,000 troops, so they need that very advanced hardware. they need those jets, those tanks to fight off the russian onslaught. you see this eight-mile convoy of russian hardware heading to the donbas area, and they are saying if w

let me bring in courtney kube. let's talk about what is the definition of a fighter jet. we given them more fighter jets or the ability to put more fighter jets in the air, courtney, and does the u.s. see a difference that the ukrainians do not see? >> so it is the latter. the u.s. has helped coordinate addition parts for fighter jets. both fighter jets and bombers existing in the ukrainian arsenal to help them get more aircraft online. and according to a senior defense official, it is actually increased the ukrainian air force by 20 aircraft. that is a significant amount given the size of their total air force. there is a lot of confusion about this. the u.s. has been providing and is going to continue to provide some more helicopters. so rotary wing, not fixed wing. but the u.s. is not providing any fixed wing. instead they're providing some spare parts. that being said, there are other countries that are still considering, one in particular that is still considering sending some actual jets, some actual full fledged jets to ukraine but that hasn't happened yet, chuck.

a lot of concern about what we're going to see unfold in the coming weeks and days, hallie. >> courtney kube, thank you. jim, let me turn to you and if you can talk about the significance of what courtney has laid out with russia putting this new general in charge. >> well, courtney did a great job on that report. john kirby really laid it out as well. we're going to have to see just what he's going to do. they have had a command and control problem. you can see it in so many ways, the russians just failed over the past few weeks, whether it's leadership in terms of morale, whether it's logistics, whether it's tactics in the field. they have been -- they have been really short-sighted and lost a lot of their commanders. so with the so-called butcher of syria coming in, i think we have to focus on how good is he in terms of leading troops, how good is he in terms of massing the forces that they're going to need to pull off taking the donbas. he might be a butcher and done all that we've heard about in syria, and i'm certain he did, but to see how good he is as a military leader. how good will

courtney kube, mike memoli, you've got reporting to do. i'll let you get back to it. we turn now to ambassador taylor. and ambassador, i was struck by courtney talking there not just about delaying the speed at which ukraine would lose this war, which has -- how it felt like we started this a couple of months ago to the possibility that ukraine might win it. is that too rosy of an assessment? and what does that look like? we've not heard much about peace talks or diplomatic efforts or anything other than this upcoming conflict in the east over the last couple of weeks. >> right, garrett. it is the upcoming conflict. and the russians have to be a bit worried. they've got manpower problems. they don't have equipment problems. they've got manpower problems. and we see that in a couple of ways. one was this whole business about mariupol. putin didn't want to lose a lot of his soldiers trying to take mariupol. that facility there, that steel plant, has been defended as you've been reporting, garrett, for nearly two months. for six weeks. and they have killed a lot of russia

courtney kube, thank you for that report.i want to get your reaction to this senior russian military official revealing, or at least discussing russia's intent not just to take donbas in the east but grab territory in the south, maybe all wait to moldova, a country we haven't really been talking about much yet in this country. >> well, they've been talking about this, you know, in various ways. the land bridge, it's called novarossiya. it's a territory that used to be part of the russian empire. the focus has been on that for a long time, and mariupol is the key piece there. putin as you know yesterday declared victory in mash yup ol. it didn't sound very confident. it was more like we got it, now we have to move on. this what this general said of course is an expansion, though. especially to odesa because if god forbid they could take odesa all wait to moldova, that then would block all the ports for ukraine, right? mariupol is a major port. odesa is a major port. they need those ports for their exports. and that would have

and courtney kube is at the pentagon. and peter, let me start with you and this new reporting. first here to our network on another round of sanctions that the white house and allies are planning to announce tomorrow. this is, as we laid it out at the top here, more muscle behind this punitive response to vladimir putin given some of the images that we're seeing in places like bucha. >> yeah, that's exactly right, hallie. in the words of one source familiar with the matter, this is a white house administration that is now exploring use of all of its accountability tools as they described it to respond to the atrocities that the world has now witnessed taking place in bucha. as you note, the white house has already said it concluded evidence of war crimes in ukraine but they say what's happening in bucha is just further evidence of that. so as you see on your screen, here is what we are expecting to hear from the administration in terms of an announcement of new russian sanctions, part i am told of its response to the atrocities there. a ban on all new investments in russia. inc

the coming days even more weapons, military aid flowing into the ukrainian military, hallie. >> courtney kubethere at the pentagon. courtney, thank you. great reporting. appreciate it. coming up, we've got some new reporting in from the january 6 committee. what sources are telling our team about a possible interview with them and former president trump. don't miss that. plus, our nbc news scoop, going inside mr. trump's finances. a look at the kind of obscure online-only bank that's lending him money now that all the big banks have cut ties. that's coming up. ties. that's coming up you're probably thinking that these two are in some sort of lover's quarrel. no, no, no. they're both invested... in green energy. and also each other. digital tools so impressive, you just can't stop. what would you like the power to do? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person... to come to the table and do more incredible things. inner voice (design studio owner): i'm over here waiting... ... looking in

of the campaign here, which is likely to focus on the donbas area in the southeast, hallie. >> courtney kube, staying on top of everything i know at the pentagon. courtney, thank you so much. ambassador mcfaul, let me fwet to you. let me take this in a couple of buckets. first your reaction to these military and diplomatic developments here, specifically this new assistance that we're talking about here. >> fantastic. i applaud all new military assistance. same with the sanctions. these are serious sanctions, especially on sberbank and the state-owned enterprises. i would have liked to have seen them earlier, but fantastic news. and i look for more announcements tomorrow. and that's the point. we have got to keep ratcheting up sanctions on the ukrainian economy. there's still lots more that can be done, especially on oil and gas, and there the lead of course is our european allies. and there's more military assistance that can be provided. so bravo for today and do something more tomorrow. >> let's talk a little more about those sanctions and specifically the ones on vladimir putin's daughte

. >> so let's bring in our pentagon correspondent courtney kube. d that the u.s. was sort of similar criticism that president biden got a few weeks ago when he hint offed at regime change and then they walked that back. any -- any sort of clarification from the secretary on his comments about russia? >> no. we'll actually hear from him later today so we'll have the opportunity to hear more about what he thinks about how the momentum may have shifted, but he -- to secretary austin's point here on the russian losses, we just heard from a senior defense official who said that the russians now have 92 battalion tactical groups inside ukraine dedicated to this fight in the donbas area. it's in the southeastern part of ukraine, and it has been moving very slowly. it's not fair at this point to say that it's stalled necessarily, but it's really a back and forth, literally day to day fight between the russians and the ukrainians. sometimes the russians are moving forward a bit and the next day the ukrainians are pushing them back. we've also got more sense,

the question is how fast can they do it and how can and courtney kube, our pentagon correspondent, is joining us now. she was part of that pentagon and as we were rejoining the show, he was being asked about those switch blade drones and how quickly these advanced weapons can get to ukraine because i was noting earlier before you joined us that the s-300s from slovakia that we promised a couple of weeks ago are just now getting in. so they're putting in a lot but the supply chain is not getting there as fasts as they can. >>> you're right, andrea. everything that's needed is needed before the next phase moves in. the next phase in slovakia, that is moving in. a patriot battery was moved to poland a couple weeks ago so for any ally that might have an s-300. on the switch blades, we know over 100 have made their way into ukraine. there's not a lot of fidelity about that and how many more may be going into. but a lot of our views may not be familiar with it. it kind of referred to as a drone butch it's a lot more that than. it's a small, very compact loitering munition. it's fired from a

. >> michael, always a pleasure to see you, courtney kube, thank you both for being with us this morningd "on assignment with richard engel, ukraine, freedom or death" tonight 10 p.m. eastern, 7 p.m. pacific and streaming on peacock. and more breaking news right now. we're watching a courtroom in atlanta where congresswoman marjory taylor greene has just taken the stand. this hearing centers on a lawsuit challenging her qualifications to run for reelection because of her rhetoric surrounding the insurrection. what's going on there? >> reporter: jose, she is on the stand in the building right behind me. she's been on the stand for about 20 minutes or so and facing questioning from a group of voters who have essentially challenged her candidacy. it looks at a provision of the 14th amendment ratified during the civil war era, essentially saying anybody who has taken an oath to protect the constitution and then challenges it is not eligible to run for office. casting doubt on the election results, all of that played a large role in the insurrection and what happened on january 6th. we're lis

courtney kube, the pentagon has once again started shipping yet another round of military aid and equipment to ukraine. there is some issue about what ukraine -- what is on ukraine's wish list, and what they are capable of actually operating and supporting over there. is there a gap, and is there a way to close that gap? >> there is. we actually learn some new details about how the pentagon has been doing. that the u. s. military has been doing that, just even recently in the last couple of weeks. one way is with the switchblade drones. the american people probably don't know a whole lot about these. it is not a common piece of equipment that people know about. it is a drone that is launched off, it is small, it is about the size of a backpack. it can be launched at a location, and it literally crashes into it, and it explodes. it has ammunition on board, and it explodes. it is a single use drone, but just that very nature of the name, drone, it does not involve an operator. it does not put people in danger. but it can be very effective in targeting things as big as tanks, and equipment on

we want to bring in courtney kube.have new information within the last couple of minutes about what exactly hit, what missile struck that train station in the eastern part of the country. what are you learning? >> that's right, peter. a couple of enough pieces of information. one is on that tragic attack on the rail station, a senior defense official said that was a russian-fired short range ballistic missile and it was fired from inside ukraine. it's not exactly clear yet. the defense official said they're trying to figure out what the munition was. they're confident that analysis was that that it was in fact a short range ballistic missile. and on the ongoing efforts to get more and more equipment into the ukrainians, peter, this senior defense official said there are now between eight and ten planes landing every single day in the area around ukraine to flow that equipment directly into the ukrainian military. it's been a really herculean effort on the part of many of the allies to get this equipment in to them. at

the more advanced systems are going, including surface to air missiles, a hand launch drone, courtney kube how did report earlier tonight about the switchblade drones. not only our equipment going in, we are training ukrainian military service members outside ukraine here in the united states and potential in europe. this unprecedented military campaign but united states is absolutely change the battlefield geometry. it assisted ukrainians and rolling back the russian aggression. this light infantry effort by the ukrainians to attack rearguard mechanized armored by the russians has forced the russians to absolutely abandon plan a. plan a was to decapitate the central government. that plan is at the window. now they are falling back to try to take before they launch this latest onslaught in the east. >> julia, i want to talk with sanctions. i understand why sanctions are imposed in phases, especially on things like oil and gas, given your dependency. to sanction putin starters today, we're in the world took him so long? by now, it is safe to say that those two girls have cleared out there a

courtney kube, when you look at the bill, can you tell us what sort of military aid will be sent? >> we know there's $5 billion out of the massive 33 billion supplemental. 5 million is marked for drawdown authority. that's money that will specifically be providing weapons to ukraine. the u.s. has already spent more than $3.5 billion sending weapons and equipment to the ukrainian military. there's still a small amount of the previous presidential drawdown authority, and it's somewhere like $250 million. we should expect to hear the last of that used in the last week or so. now another $5 billion. what the ukrainians continue to need is more ammunition, and it's not just for the small arms but for the artillery, and we have heard so much about artillery, and that's going to be the weapon that we see used in the fight for the donbas, and we will hear about more flowing not just from the u.s. but from the u.n., and we have heard about the howit surz. they are moving more in on a very freak and daily basis, katy. in addition to that the u.s. provided the ukrainians with the counter rad

we are told from a senior defense official telling courtney kube in the next 24 to 48 hours those first flights from the u.s. with some of this equipment that's in this $800 million package will be leaving the u.s. this is going to include howitzers and those artillery rounds. this official says that artillery will be in the hands of ukrainians by the end of this weekend. so that gives you a sense of the time frame. now, if you're president zelenskyy, you wanted them yesterday. so that's not exactly, you know, going to satisfy him. but i think from the administration's perspective and that's why you heard the president say he's asking congress for more money to send more weapons, you know, they recognize that they need to do this and need to send more and get it there faster. the question, though, is, you know, the president talked about this being a critical window or russia's laying the groundwork for this next phase of the war. is what they're sending enough for ukraine to be successful in this critical window, though? that's the question. >> carol, i want to dissect something the pr

also with us, courtney kube and evelyn farkas, a former adviser to the supreme allied commander of europe. raf, what are you seeing on the ground there today? >> reporter: well, jose, you can probably see behind me, it's actually fairly calm here in lviv right now. people are out on the streets, but all morning here, the air raid sirens have been blaring as vladimir putin's cruise missiles have rained down on this city. as you said, the governor of lviv saying seven people killed in the strikes, 11 wounded, including one baby. now, several of the missiles hit military warehouses on the side of the railway tracks, but we just came back from a car repair shop, an ordinary place that you would go and get your tires fixed that took a direct hit from one of these missiles. it is not at all clear why that shop was struck. it may be that the russians were going for the railway lines, just a few yards away. but jose, it could also be that they are just attacking civilian infrastructure, as we have seen them do in cities all across this country. as you said, these attacks have shattered the sense

our colleagues carol lee and courtney kube and ken delanian are reporting, that some of this information warfare that the u.s. government has been engaged in with declassified intelligence, there are some folks acknowledging, hey, some of this intelligence is maybe one source, right. it is not rock solid. it's -- and they're using it any way. that presents a bit of a risk. so far the intelligence has been pristine. and playing this game has worked. but the idea that they are using intel that isn't, say, rock solid, how risky is that and do officials acknowledge that their playing a little bit of a risky game here? >> right. and i mean that is something that i know sources and officials told my colleagues in that reporting. that it risks undercutting u.s. credibility if the u.s. comes out and they're wrong here. one of the things the administration officials said early on is in a way we hope you're wrong when it comes to timing. we hope necessarily that russia is not going to invade this week or we have some more time. or we hope the cyberattacks aren't going to take place but we're going

also with us nbc news pentagon correspondent courtney kube. and we're joined by retired army brigadier general peter zwack, who served as senior defense attache to russia. and matt, i want to get started with you. you're in kyiv. we've got this new russian offensive really lighting up the east of ukraine while they're still trying to hold on to mariupol in the south. bring us up to speed on everything going on on the ground there. >> reporter: yeah, garrett, i mean, i don't know if we would call it lighting up the east. so far we've heard from the ukrainians that the massive offensive that has been much anticipated for weeks and weeks has started in the east in the donbas region. remember, garrett, this is a region that's been at war for the past eight years. so what looks like a war is actually something that's been going on for a while. so there might not be such an appreciable difference. and in a way i'd say this offensive, which has been signaled by the ukrainian authorities, has kind of started with a whimper rather than a bang. we've he

joining us now, courtney kube a john brennan, a msnbc senior national security and intelligence analystch for the ages describes what is happening in his country as a genocide. what do you make of these sanctions and what do you make as to whether or not vladimir putin is feeling any pain at all or simply rallying his nation to his version of events? >> well, clearly an evil leader like vladimir putin produced evil followers and that is what we're seeing play out in the battlefields of ukraine. these horrific killing of civilians and they are trying to make it as painful as possible for vladimir putin to continue this awful war and they're hoping there is a cumulative impact here. in terms of the cost that the russian military has incurred on the battlefields but also the financial and economic and other pressures. and so what i think the biden administration is doing and what biden said today, is he's trying to make sure that any possible opportunity for russia to use its sovereign wealth is going to be cut off. now obviously we need to have the cooperation of countries around the worl