helene cooper, you're colleague at "the new york times" david sanger noted the shift and wrote this. quote, the immediate impetuous for mr. austen's declaration, several administration officials said was to set up president volodymyr zelenskyy of ukraine with what one senior state department official called the strongest possible hand for what they expect will be some kind of cease-fire negotiation in the coming months. but over the long-term, mr. austin's description of america's strategic goal is bound to reinforce president vladimir putin's off-stated belief that the war is really about the west's desire to choke off russian power and destabilize his government. and by casting the american goal as a weakened russia military, mr. austen and others in the biden administration are becoming nor explicit about the future they see. years of continuous contest for power and influence with moscow that in some ways resembled what john f. kennedy termed the long twilight struggle of the cold war. right now we have an ambassador going back to ukraine. we have the foreign minister of ukraine

joining me now is helene cooper. have been writing about this, this next phase of the war which is i think all part of the worst hit us the next phase. they are trying to encircle kyiv. they now have this bottle concentrated in the south, and the east. what is the pentagon's assessment of how much military capabilities have degraded, and what it means for who has the upper hand in this bottle? >> hi, chris. thank you for having me. it is a really good question that you are asking. at the moment the pentagon is spending a lot of hopes on the ukrainian military's ability to continue to stymie russia. this is a new phase now of the war. this concentration in the donbas means that instead of trying to enter cities, which is what the russian military had tried to do in the first two months and spectacularly failed by and large to do, they are going to be fighting now, trying to fight over much more open plains. more open territory. this is all typically where the ukrainian military has been digging trenches ever since 201

ambassador to ukraine, bill taylor, and "new york times" pentagon correspondent helene cooper. what we're hearing is a defense official, one of the backgrounders there saying mariupol is still not in russian hands, that the defenders are still holding them off. >> yeah, we just had a briefing at the pentagon on this, and he said that, the senior defense official said that mariupol is still, as far as the pentagon is concerned, being contested. you just saw the report from raf sanchez about those fighters in the steel factory who seem determined to fight to the last breath. and defense officials said last week, even while everybody's been sort of expecting that mariupol would fall at some point, even if it does, don't assume that the ukrainians won't go back to try to take it as they have done in other places, so i think this battle, this fight for mariupol that we're seeing is emblematic of this will to continue fighting. the pentagon also said that in the most of the russian strikes have been in the east, with the exception of some air strikes into lviv. and so we just covered

helene cooper he's a pentagon correspondent with the new york times, she has been covering the sinking >> hi, katie. a senior defense official today confirmed today, that the american intelligence officials believe that two neptune missiles -- ukrainian made -- hit the moskva and that there was a huge fire earlier afterwards. the official said. and that it eventually sank. the official said that the belief is that there were big numbers of russian casualties. they do not know the exact number. but they -- american intelligence -- does believe there were russian casualties. and that intelligence picked up lifeboats. they believe there were also russian sailors who were rescued from the ship, because we saw lifeboats around the ship after it was hit. this is a big deal, katie. because this was the flagship russian cruiser of the black sea, in the black sea, now at the bottom of the black sea. this is a big deal. it really hurts russian morale. but it also limits russian ability to carry out. this ship had a lot of missiles that are now at the bottom of the black sea. this is a big deal.

. >> joining us live from kyiv, nbc news foreign correspondent, molly hunter and helene cooper with the what are you seeing today in kyiv? >> jose, good morning. great to be with you. so we went to the eastern suburbs of the capital this morning. we spent a lot of time around the west and the northwest suburbs, which we've spoken a lot about. but we went to the east today to see what it was like there, kind of just short of chernihiv. and we were with some paramedics, jose. they were delivering medicine to people who hadn't had any medical care in six weeks. these people had been living underground. they've had no water, no food, and no medical care. and that means for people with basic illnesses like diabetes, of course, people who can -- not basic, but people who can regulate that in normal times are having a hard time. so the number one thing they're being asked for is insulin and ibuprofen. the presidents that are visiting president zelenskyy here in kyiv, that follows over the weekend british prime minister boris johnson. no u.s. visit on the cards yet, but we did just get a new te

helene cooper, great to see you and have your reporting as well. thank you. coming up some breaking news out of new york city. the first ever amazon union. and the brand new response from the white house about it. what's being called one of the biccest wins for organized labor in a generation. >>> plus the new fight inside the democratic party. why a couple more senators have now come out to blast the biden administration today for what one democrat calls a, quote, frightening decision. >>> and then later disney versus desantis. what florida's governor is now threatening the company with today for speaking out against the state's anti-lgbtq plus law. eventually. with less moderate-to-severe eczema, why hide your skin if you can help heal your skin from within? hide my skin? not me. dupixent helps keep you one step ahead of eczema, with clearer skin and less itch. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes, including b

also with us, pentagon correspondent for "the new york times," helene cooper.ut today but we need to talk about you first. >> why? >> no, we have to talk about you first. you are like a star. >> are we doing the intervention today? >> no, no, it is not -- >> i saw some guys out there with like a jacket, a straight jacket, kind of handcuffs. i thought it was for mike but it turns out it is for me. >> we do four hours, we do four hours now on ms. he does all of the hour now on show time on sunday night. he was on "billions" last night. >> what? that's interesting. >> how was it? >> it turns out actors have a hard job. no, seriously. >> no, no, seriously. >> put a script in front of you. >> coal miners have a hard job. >> i mean compared to what we do. compared to this, that was my point. >> anybody -- >> not compared to coal miners. >> seriously. >> all right. >> they have a really hard job. >> i have to say, even -- aside from having been on it, there's the '60s and they survived the departure. the show has been great. incredible pros there. it was really fun. >

helen cooper, of course. >>> reunited, former president barack obama will be back at the white housefor the first time since leaving the oval office. why he is joining his former vice president for that rare event. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ♪ 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. covid-19 moves fast, and now you can too by asking your healthcare provider if an oral treatment is right for you. oral treatments can be taken at home and must be taken within 5 days from when symptoms first appear. if you have symptoms of covid-19, even if they're mild don't wait, get tested quickly. if you test positive and are at high risk for severe disease, act fast ask if an oral treatment is right for you. covid-19 moves fast and now you can too. you'd think the sax player would be getting ready for his solo... but no. he's currently checkin' his investments. you gotta have a plan outside the band, man. digital too

joining me now is nbc news foreign correspondent, ali arouzi, and an msnbc political contributor, helene cooper. what is the latest on the ground, ali? >> reporter: katy, it's a truly appalling situation in mariupol. as you mentioned, there was a convoy of buses trying to get in there, but we just heard from the deputy prime ministers that once again the russians have stopped that convoy of buses go into mariupol to get people out. she says they have not honored their word and made it very difficult for the buses to travel in there and because they are doing whatever they want on the ground there. earlier about several dozen people managed to get out, and those convoy of buses were meant to get 6,000 people out of mariupol, and the buses didn't get in there and they are hoping to get in again tomorrow but the ukrainian authorities said do not trust the russians to honor that once again, and inside mariupol the situation is absolutely horrifying. as you mentioned, they are down to the last handful of fighters in that city. we just heard from somebody in that azov brigade, and now they are making

helene cooper and courtney have made this point that a few weeks ago, there was a perception at leastther these systems were offensive or defensive in nature and both predicted that either because of or concurrent with what we're seeing out of bucha that those lines have disappeared or will soon. can you speak to that. >> sure. i think we're not trying to divide the phrase offensive from defensive. we're trying to get them weapons and that's what we're calling them. weapons and systems, supporting systems for those weapons that we know they can use to defend their country. that's what our focus is on. how they use them, that's up to them. there have been cases in just the last few days where ukrainians literally in the same battle space are both defending and going on the offense against russian forces. kyiv is a great example. we assessed today that all the russian forcings are out from kyiv and out from around kyiv and into belarus and into russia, but that wasn't by accident or just by the russian plan because as they started to retreat, the ukrainians were going on the offense and

ambassador to ukraine and helene cooper. this is the first time potentially a confirmed ambassador. was dismissed by pompeo back in 2017. >> you're exactly right. it's been a long time in coming, but it's great news that the president is going to nominate bridget brink, well known diplomat. she's now an ambassador. she knows this job. she knows ukraine having worked on these issues earlier. so she's going to be a great addition to this team. ambassador brink will be there with the full support of the senate and the full support of the president. so this will be a good addition. >> and helene, what about getting these heavier weapons in? as matt bradley was just pointing out, we're getting to the point where zelenskyy is finally getting the kinds of weapons he's going to need for this period of the war. this is tank warfare. >> hi, andrea. >> sorry. go ahead. >> i think ambassador taylor is absolutely right. this is going to be heavy warfare, a different kind of warfare in the east compared to what we saw as russia stumbled around the rest of the country with their long convoy stalle

. >> helene cooper, great to have you on, thank you very much. that is all in on this wednesday night, the rachel maddow show starts right now. good evening rachel. >> thank, you chris, much appreciated my friend. and thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. i'm happy to have you here. i'm going to jump right in here tonight. i do not think there is any way to ease into this. i don't think there is any setup i can give you that would make this any more normal. no context i can provide you that would make this less weird. it is what it is and it stands on its own terms. ready? here we go. question -- mister president, you said that if you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them. would you? that was your statement? answer, trump. oh yeah, it was very dangerous. question -- what was dangerous? we were threatened. question -- with what. answer, trump. they were going to throw through fruit. we had a threat. question, how did you become aware that there was a threat that people were going to throw fruit. ans

. >> joining our coverage, helene cooper, "new york times" pentagon correspondent, also an msnbc contributore, let me start with you and the military assistance. the american public outside of folks like yourself who are expert in this are getting an education on howitzers and javelins. talk about the significance of this aid package and the stakes. >> well, hi, nicole. thank you for having me. i think teddy roosevelt is probably rolling in his grave right now. >> right? >> over biden -- carrying a big javelin. but this package, the difference now is that in the past week, and this is the second $800 million package we've seen in barely a week, this package now is much more focused on artillery for fighting in donbas. in the past, the early weeks of the war, it was all about javelins and stingers. now, javelins and stingers are continuing to flow over to ukraine, but you're seeing howitzer -- a howitzer is a long-range artillery armored vehicle that can shoot over miles and miles. and you're seeing that go in, 72 in this package alone. and that is because they're preparing for the fight in d

. >> and what is, you know -- i had helene cooper on in the last hour, and when you hear more weapons? how much have we held back in terms of sanctions and weapons? and you were in the region. i mean, what is the sense of, you know, are we 40% there, waiting for the genocide to really kick in before we get to 100%? what is the delta between what we've given and what is left to give, short of involving u.s. military in a ground war in ukraine? >> well, i would say there's a better person to ask on this panel than me, and that would be ambassador mcfaul about the economic thing and i have heard him, we've done a lot on economic sanctions. the key one goes to energy and that goes to europe. there's more that could be done there and the thing to really cut off the russian economy would be to have a full-on oil embargo that involves all of the european union in addition to what we've done in the united states. that's the big one there. there's others. i was talking about mike. there are more oligarchs that we could sanction, more people that we could hurt but the biggest one is the energy

cooperation and success in making these changes. thank you all for your good work. i appreciate it and please know personally, my family appreciates these improvements. >> co-chair madrid: thank you, helen. are there any other members who have questions at this time? [ indiscernible ] >> member: thank you, alex. good afternoon, presenters. i want to thank you for your presentation. i'll make it short and sweet because helen kind of emphasized some of the issues going on, but what i think is important in regards to the outreach that the disability community along with the small business worked together in partnership however we decide to do this. so it is as helen mentioned, so it's not -- i mean, the complaints come in, we want to identify those complaints, make the entrances to small businesses accessible when needed, but i want to keep a positive environment so when a small busies someone with a disability that wants to shop in their neighborhood that oh, god, someone is not coming here to complain or to sue me. so they understand that we want to work together. it's not adverse alenvironment. i think it would be beneficial to continue that. with regards to the accessibility grants. i