democracy is freedom it can't be measured in money josh letterman, nbc news, kyiv >>> still ahead tonight, the buffalo bills rookie just cut from the team amid allegations of rape. his accuser and her father speaking out. >>> later, portraits of honor one photographer's mission to remember heroes before it's too late >>> just days before the nfl season kicks off, the buffalo bills cut their rookie punter amid accusations he took part in the rape of a teenager last year tonight we're hearing from that young woman and her father a warning, some of what you are about to hear is quite disturbing jesse kirsch reports >> the kid's first punt today >> reporter: two weeks after wowing fans with this booming punt, tonight, nfl rookie matt araiza is out of a job. the bills released him saturday just two days after a civil lawsuit was filed accusing the rising star and others of gang raping a 17-year-old girl the alleged victim, identified as jane doe, shared her story with san diego's pbs station. >> they threw me down on the bed facedown and they took turns assaulting me from behind other things i

killing the daughter of one of vladamir putin's allies, a fierce defender on the war with ukraine josh letterman reports. >> reporter: tonight, investigators say the car bomb that killed the daughter of one of vladamir putin's allies may have been a contract killing eyewitness video showing what's believed to be the suv she was driving engulfed in flames her father, alexander dugan, appears to be on the scene, visibly distraught russian authorities say she was likely murdered, a bomb placed under her seat. the question is why. russian state run media citing witnesses saying her father decided last minute to travel in a different vehicle and may have been the target himself. he has been called putin's brain, whose right wing views found their way into putin's speeches, including his staunch support for invading ukraine views echoed by his daughter, seen on state tv on thursday for the last time. [ speaking foreign language ] she says, people in the west are living in a dream, and they need to be nourished by this war russia's foreign ministry speculated that ukraine may have killed her, but no ev

josh letterman is in central ukraine with the latest. , good morning. >> reporter: willie, good morning. president putin has called crimea a sacred place. russia annexed crimea in 2014 and used it to attack ukraine. but now ukraine is putting russia on the defensive. explosions rocking the skies over russian occupied crimea, the local governor says crimea's air defenses were activated again overnight after a drone targeted the naval headquarters. president zelenskyy predicting crimea will be liberated. he says, you can literally feel it in the air. as fierce fighting continues across the south and east, ukrainians still fearing nuclear catastrophe, with reports of shelling near two nuclear power plants. in moscow, russian authorities confirming the daughter of a putin ally was killed in a car bombing. meanwhile, there's fresh hope for hungry nations relying on ukrainian grain. four more ships set to depart, carry 3g 3,000 tons of food. the u.n. secretary-general touring a grain ship on saturday. >> it will be the largest cargo ever coming

joining us now from ukraine, josh letterman. josh, good morning. forces are running out of key supplies like boots and gloves. what is the level of confidence that ukrainian officials are equipped to take territories in the south? >> reporter: well, they're confident enough that they opted to start this offensive, after weeks in which ukraine kept signaling they planned to start this, but the offensive didn't seem to materialize. we did see ukraine launching a series of strikes in crimea, behind enemy lines, in what we can now identify was efforts to really lay the ground work for this offensive. knocking out some of those ammunition depots deep in russian-held territory, as well as air bases to clear the ground and to push russia out of those territories that they have occupied for months now. so far, we're seeing a lot of explosions in the kherson area. the first part of ukraine to fall to russia during the war with ukraine claiming that in the first 24 hours, they were able to destroy dozens of russian military asset. the russians claiming that

. >>> and joining us now from odesa, ukraine, is josh letterman. so josh, what is the latest?ng each other for this shelling, katy, which is now occurred for the third day in a row. but just to paint a picture for you, there are six nuclear reactors at this site. the largest nuclear plant in all of europe. so it's more like a small city than it is one specific site. and that is contributing to the haziness of exactly what has gone on. we know that russian troops have been based at the site. in fact, the head of the state nuclear agency tells me there are about 500 russian troops and 50 russian military vehicles there and have been using areas right around the site to launch missile and rocket attacks at nearby towns. and so the ukrainians have been trying to defend themselves without shelling the plant itself. so it's very unclear who exactly has been launching this. but when i spoke to the head of the yoouk agency here about exactly what the risk is, if there's more shelling, he told me this. >> if there's more shelling at this power plant, is there a risk of a major nuclear

nbc's josh letterman is in kyiv. what's the latest on the ground?heard tonight from president zelenskyy sounding the alarm after that cutoff of the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from ukraine's grid for the first time in history. the entire region lost power and what appears to have happened is there are four electric transmission lines to the zaporizhzhia plant. three of them had been damaged earlier in this war. there was fire today that apparently damaged the last remaining line. now, it has been brought back online, but for a period there, diesel generators were activated and the plant also had to rely on another nearby fossil fuel power plant that has its own connection to the nuclear planted, but the fear here is if that nuclear plant loses external power, it becomes very hard to continue to power the cooling systems there that keep the nuclear reactors from melting down and causing a nuclear catastrophe, and so this is a huge source of concern as the iaea, the nuclear energy agency tries to get inspectors on the ground there. ukraine wants

joining us now from kyiv, nbc news josh letterman. what's the latest on the ground there?n energy company says that one of the six nuclear reactors has now been reconnected to ukraine's electricity grid. they are ramping up capacity from the reactor a day after a fire damaged the last remaining transmission line out of four. there are typically four transmission lines to the plant, three damaged early in the war than yesterday the last one was damaged and they were able to repair that and get it back online but in the meantime according to president zelenskyy, the nuclear plant had to rely on backup power because a lot of people don't realize a nuclear plant can't operate in a vaccine it needs energy to power the cooling systems. while this crisis was averted, suffice to say, jose, the nuclear energy agency is scrambling to get inspectors on the ground here in ukraine to get stability to the situation that has really been spiraling out of control. here the iaea has been a hangup over ukraine insisting the nuclear inspectors come through ukraine to get to the plant while ru

nbc's josh letterman joining us live from kyiv. josh, what more do you know?: well, lindsey, the state department confirming the death of that american, but not identifying who the american is, which is a typical in these kinds of situations. the state department does say that they are in touch with the family and are providing all consular assistance as they can, as that family tries to figure out what happened to that loved one. in the meantime, we have also heard from a russian local official in one of russia's provinces who has said on his telegram account today that this american was a volunteer. who was fighting alongside ukrainians and had recently arrived at the front line and died in some type of a clash between those ukrainian troops and russian troops there. we have not been able to independently confirm that, but this is not the american citizen to die in ukraine during this war. it was just back in july that americans luke luciscion and brian young who were fighting with the ukrainians lost their lives. we heard from the standpoint once again urgi

nbc's josh letterman was there when inspectors arrived. truck for weeks the international community has been demanding that u.n. nuclear inspectors be granted access to the nuclear power plant. today we watched the convoy of u.n. vehicles rolling in as they prepare for a perilous last leg of the journey to the power plant in russian occupied territory where there has been shelling for weeks. i spoke with the director general as he arrived here. he told me he is confident they can carry out this mission safely. he also told me that despite any potential efforts by russia to conceal what has been going on there, he is confident that they will have a very good sense of what the situation is by the time they finish this mission. which he says he expect it will take several days and also hoping over the longer-term to establish a permanent presence here so the world has eyes and ears on what has turned into a major flashpoint in the war in ukraine. do you believe the russians will let you see what is really happening? >> we are a team of very e

josh letterman is in ukraine. ea is located has seen some of the most intensing. you have been there. what can the inspectors do to make the situation any safer? >> reporter: part of this is a fact-finding mission. they want to assess how much damage has been done to this power plant. and which parts of this sprawling facility, the largest in europe, have been affected. beyond that, they also want to assess whether the safety and backup power systems that are traditionally kept intact at power plants like this are actually working right now. they want to know if something were to go wrong, whether those fail saves are still in place or whether they have been knocked out by the shelling and other fighting that's been done around this plant. they also want to speak with the ukrainian nuclear workers who have been working there for months now under duress, according to many accounts. they have a claim they have been tortured there perhaps being held against their will, in some cases by the russians who are now in char

in kyiv, here's josh letterman. >> reporter: president zelenskyy is urging ukrainians living in russian occupied crimea to stay away from russian military installations, and ammunition depots. the same day as a suspected ukrainian strike on an ammo depot in occupied crimea. zielinski's comments are particularly interesting because ukraine has not said one way or another whether it was behind that strike in crimea, today, or another strike in crimea about a week ago. zielinski's comments urging ukrainians to stay safe, potentially a suggestion that ukraine could plan additional attacks in crimea in the future, as it looks to start a counteroffensive, and takeback territory from russia. we are also hearing growing concerns from the international community about the situation at the nuclear power plant, with the u.n. secretary general gutierrez planning to come to ukraine on thursday, to meet with zielinski about the situation at that plant. >> josh letterman in kyiv, thank you. >>> the u.s. air force carried out a test of an unarmed minuteman three intercontinental ballistic missile. it l

nbc's josh letterman is on the ground with the latest in ukraine. ith a big escalation in the war in ukraine just ahead of the six hch month, i don't want to say anniversary, but the six-month mark of this war. >> reporter: yeah, independence day here in ukraine is also on wednesday, coinciding with the six-month mark of the war, hallie. and that is the big concern, is that this may be a russian pretext to really step up the attacks on this country. we're really in the land of spy games and cold war intrigue here. but we saw how quickly within 24 hours of this woman being killed, russia's intelligence service coming out and saying they've solved the mystery, they've solved the murder, blaming on this ukrainian woman, who they say was part of the security service. she came in with her child to russia a month ago from ukraine and then kill her, and free to estonia. the estonians say they're hearing about this for the first time from russia. ukraine says it makes no sense at all, and what we're seeing here play out is an internal power struggle amongst

with me is josh letterman and ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser to president obama to start with some news we have this morning. there was a call between president macron of france, president putin of russia, that talked about the plant today. what did they discuss? >> they discussed sending iaea inspectors to the site. that's the u.n.'s nuclear agency. and according to both the russians and the french, president putin agreed to allow u.n. inspectors to visit the site. now, how quickly that's going to happen is the real question. because in the last 24 hours or so, russian officials had said that it wouldn't be feasible to facilitate access to the site for iaea inspectors until the first week of september or later, which is far too late, given the dramatic concerns that people have in the region right now. yesterday, there were claims both from the russians and the ukrainians that there was going to be some type of provocation at the plant today, which really sent the fears here surging, but to give you a sense of how hard it is to get information out of the zaporiz

ports, but ukrainian officials warn that agreement could be short lived in odesa, here's nbc's josh lettermanas a delicate deal takes hold to end russia's blockade on ukrainian exports raising hopes for ukraine's troubled economy and for the global food crisis so far, about a dozen ships have left ukraine, carrying tens of thousands of tons of grain navigating black seawaters filled with mines and patrolled by russian war ships, but no one is declaring victory yet especially ukraine's government. mickalo is with president zelenskyy. he says think, the russians will let the first ships pass and after that russia will look for opportunities to disrupt these agreements the farmer runs the largest grain mill his costs have doubled since the start of the war he says if we don't sell it the quality of the grain will deteriorate every month. we won't be able to buy fuel, fertilizer and seeds for next season >> this wheat is among the more than 17 million tons of ukrainian grain that has already been harvested this year the ports are now open the question is when will it get out? half of ukraine's 18

josh letterman is live in kyiv for us. what do we know and what are we learning?t zelenskyy saying the death toll from that attack could increase, it could go beyond 15. apparently there were four railway cars that were on fire that have now apparently been extechnology ting wished but we're -- extinguished but we're hearing this is the, quote, unquote, congratulations for independence day from president putin they were worried about when president zelenskyy was warning russia might be planning something brutal to mar this independence day and to remind ukrainians on the six-month mark of this war that they remain vulnerable anywhere in the country. we were in the nipro region two days ago where this attack took place today. it's a civilian area. this atta place today. it's a civilian area this is not necessarily military infrastructure but this is an attempt by russia according to ukrainians to really make sure that they are feeling every bit of this war, even as they are trying to celebrate this independence day. trying to cels independence day. that attack is t

josh letterman live in kyiv. when do we expect the inspectors to be able to get into that nuclear plant? >> possibly within days, maloney or the u.n.'s national atomic agency has been working for weeks now to negotiate access to the sky for its negotiators to go and stabilize the situation, but there is a major hangup. ukraine is insisting those experts travel through ukraine to get there, but the russians are insisting they travel through russian occupied territory. ukraine is also insisting that no russian nuclear experts should be a part of that i.e. you a mission. the head saying, he is willing to personally lead the mission. >> i think now it is general recognition that we need to be there, we need to be there soon. kyiv accepted, moscow accepted, we need to go hopefully very, very soon. >> russia took over the power plant in early march, near the start of the war and has been occupying it ever since, although ukrainian nuclear workers are still running the plant, some of them reportedly being tortured by th

josh letterman spoke to some of their mothers, desperate to see their sons come back home. >> translatord around 7:00 a.m. and said, mom, i am fine. he did not say a word to me about what happened on the island. >> translator: the day russia invaded, her son was serving on the first iconic battle. >> translator: he really liked the island, nature, the sea. >> her son was a cook in ukraine's military, also on snake island. these two others now bound together by anguish. they learned their sons had been captured by spotting them on russian tv, being bused to occupy crimea. >> this is your son's room, you have kept it exactly like it was for him when he comes back? >> nothing at all, are they healthy, have you eaten anything? >> as ukraine marks six months of war on wednesday, there are countless families waiting and hoping. >> translator: we are talking about several thousands of prisoners of war. >> ukraine's military says, nearly 600 have been released in exchanges with russia. many explained torture, death threats, and in april, ukraine said, it was holding about 600 russian p.o.w.s. he

in eastern ukraine, here is josh letterman. >> it is early on a sunday morning.ung ukrainians is already awake, ready to work. in a village devastated by russian artillery, 69-year-old ola is waiting for them. she is waiting and what is left of the home she and her husband built 45 years ago. she says, i cried all day yesterday because everything is lost. there is nothing left. now, a new kind of army is fighting ukraine. not to tear down, but to build up what has been lost. it is called, repaired together. a band of teenagers and twentysomethings preparing their own way to fight for their country's future. more than 1500 ukrainians have stepped up in cities across ukraine, mostly connecting through in graham. in some events, the cleanup turning into a raise with djs spinning. >> i really needed to help. donating money is nice. i do that, but it does not feel like enough. i wanted to do something with my bare hands. >> the hope and optimism as these ukrainians cleanup and rebuild, you can almost forget there is a war still raging. there are reminders here that th

ukrainian forces nearby shelling so intense, inspectors fear they can't assess the damage nbc's josh letterman spoke to the head of ukraine's nuclear energy company >> is there a risk of a major nuclear accident? >> for sure. this only depends on where it will be actually pointed >> reporter: he said should a rocket strike the wrong place, it could be a radiation catastrophe. meanwhile, volunteers in the city of poltava helping equip ukrainian soldiers katarina obcharenko and her team weaving special camouflage for front line fighters. anything to get an edge so you're not just handing out food and first aid kits, you're making silencers right here in poltava? >> yes >> and this is given to a ukrainian sniper or someone on the frontlines >> yes, for free >> for free? >> yes for free >> i imagine the waiting list for one of these -- >> we have quite a lot of people waiting for this stuff >> reporter: tonight, ukraine says at least one employee was injured in an explosion saturday when they were struck by shrapnel. but officials stress all reactors appear to be operational and as of right now th

. >> reporter: for the news, i am josh letterman in odessa, ukraine. >>> some normalcy is returning toaine. mcdonald's announced that it plans to reopen some of its restaurants there. the fast food giant closed locations in ukraine, but it said that it continued to pay its employees there. according to the company will gradually open locations in kyiv, the capital, and in western ukraine where it is quieter. the company said that they want to reopen restaurants for the sake of employees who want some sense of normalcy. >>> you have got the tiktok, the instagram, the twitter. options might be limitless for people, but they have got their favorites. next, the social media sites that are hot, and the one that is definitely not. >>> online influencers moving into the crypto space and cashing in, but a cnbc investigation has found that you might want to take a closer look before buying what they are selling. iter who n eed, when you need it, and they deliver. - [narrator] ziprecruiter. rated the number one hiring site. try it for free at ziprecruiter.com try it for free at ziprecruiter.com

joining me now is josh letterman in dnipro, ukraine. josh, what's the latest about an attack. you've been in constant touch with the international atomic agency inspectors who so far have not been able to get in. >> that's right. so far no indications of an explosion or any attacks at the site today, which is the good news, though in the past, when the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been shelled, it's happened after dark. everyone is bracing for what could happen this evening. i have to tell you, it's really tough not only for us but for the international community to know exactly what is happening at any point in time at that plant. we were in zaporizhzhia yesterday. the radiation levels were fine. people were still on the streets. we've pulled back to dnipro. but the only people who know what's happening at that plant are the russian troops who are there, the ukrainian nuclear officials who are there working under harrowing conditions that some officials say include torture and members of the russian state run nuclear agency, which according to one official, were told

. >> joining us now josh letterman in dnipro, ukraine. ceo of the woodrow wilson center, josh.h, what are you learning about what's going on in the plant today? . >> well, both russia and ukraine have been predicting there could be some type of provocation there today, jose. that has followed in which both countries were accusing each other of shelling the nuclear plant. it's been difficult to know exactly what's happening there. the russians do control the plant. the ukrainians have said this is all a false flag operation by russia to try to blame ukraine and also to potentially try to disconnect the power plant from ukraine's energy grid and instead connect it to crimea and russia. they say when the explosions go off there there is only a second and a half to three seconds between the time of something being launched and impact, which they say makes it clear that russia is launching munitions from the nuclear power plant, at the nuclear power plant in an effort to blame ukraine for it. they have been holding nuclear disaster drills. and new video shows russia has placed milit

josh letterman is our correspondent behind that reporting. ers at the plant, hey, don't come to work tomorrow. tell us more about it. >> well, tonight, ukrainian military intelligence is saying that employees of the russian state-run nuclear company were told today if they are onsite to get out of there ahead of what both ukraine and russia are predicting may be some type of provocation at the plant tomorrow just to explain to people, there's some double negatives here. russia controls this plant. they have occupied this territory. ukrainian nuclear officials are still nominally running it, but russia also has its own nuclear officials on the site and for weeks now, as there has been shelling at this plant, russia has said to ukraine, russia is shelling it itself in order to blame ukraine as part of a false flag operation. so today when russia's defense ministry said that they were expecting some type of a provocation there tomorrow, ukrainian officials said that sounds a lot like russia laying the ground work to attack the plant itself tomorr

. >> for the nose -- news, i am josh letterman. >>> injured american servicemembers.ng to the u.s. government official. they tell us two separate rocket attacks hit facilities housing american troops. it is not yet clear how many troops were hurt. officials say the injuries were minor. they also say the u.s. responded with airstrikes from helicopters, targeting at least three vehicles. no reports of which was responsible. the attacks come after the united states military contracted airstrikes. u.s. jets bombed nine bunkers. this will serve as ammunition details and supply facilities. this is according to military officials. the chinese government is locking down yet another city. official scrambled to contain a tiny covid outbreak. it is happening on the outskirts of beijing. they are facing new restrictions after authorities report just eight new cases. new york city is averaging 2400 new cases every day. a small outbreak, raising fears of another lockdown in beijing. antigovernment graffiti is popping up at covid testing centers across the city. antigovernment in ch

let's bring in josh letterman in ukraine and lieutenant general the former deputy commander of european on the ground. i know you have been focusing a lot on the u.n. weapons inspectors. >> that's right. they are expected to arrive within the next 24 hours or so at the earliest where they certainly have their work cut out for them. not only inspecting the damage to the plant, but also trying to get a handle on what backup safe tiff systems are still operable. there's been ongoing squabbling over the route that they are going to take to get there. ukraine saying today troops have been firing on the routes they need to get there from kyiv where those u.n. inspectors are currently. and today ukraine also accusing russia of using that nuclear plant as cover to launch attacks at a town just over the river from the nuclear power plant. so even as those inspectors are heading to do that important work, the shelling has not stopped. it remains a a very dangerous situation as those inspectors head into what can only be described as an unprecedented visit. >> thank you so much. and general, i wan

let's go to josh letterman, i understand you got a chance to speak with the director of the team.mission? >> reporter: we saw that convoy of u.n. vehicles arriving here in zaporizhzhia and i asked the general whether he's confident they can carry out this mission safely and he said that they are confident, that they can do this. but just to give you a sense of how perilous this is, we're here in zaporizhzhia, a city of 700,000 people. from here, they're going to have to go 30 miles down the river into russian-occupied territory where there has been constant shelling for weeks and then they expect to spend several days at that site which is controlled by russian troops, getting a handle of what damage has been done to the nuclear reactors there and the other facilities as well as inspecting the backup systems that are supposed to keep it safe. there's also big questions, frankly, alex, about what they're really going to see and whether the russian troops there are going to give them an unvarnished view of what's happening or conceal some of what's happened at the power plant. i ask

josh letterman, thank you for that. >>> nasa was hoping to take a giant leap forward.anned lunar mission has been grounded for now. we're at the launch site for when we could see liftoff. and what you need to know if you're traveling by plane this labor day weekend. weekend. 's un. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. ♪ ♪ 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. announcer: type 2 diabetes? discover the power of 3 in the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. announcer: ozempic® provides powerful a1c reduction. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart d

joining us now, nbc news correspondent josh letterman, live from central ukraine. rter: well, mika, there was a lot of skepticism that this long promised counteroffensive by ukraine might have been a head fake. the ukrainians had been talking about it for weeks. but now, according to ukraine's military, that offensive has begun and ukrainian military officials saying this morning that over the last 24 hours, they were able to damage about 30 russian military assets in the area of kherson, including an s-300 anti-aircraft system. now, russia has not confirmed whether that's the case. in fact, russia's military has said, as they were trying to repel the ukrainian counteroffensive, were able to kill several hundred ukrainian troops. another claim that can't be verified. but there have clearly been multiple explosions in the area of kherson, over the last 24 hours, signal thing fight is really moving to the south as ukraine tries to start to wrest back some of that territory from russia that moscow had claimed early on in this war. but the other big focus here in ukrain

2020 those i think are the two really most interesting moments for her because 2016 and i see josh letterman who we were sitting in our white house booth during that campaign trying to figure out you know, where the biden family was. she's the one who literally says we write about this in the book. she literally says as advisors are putting, you know timelines in front of them and you know, here's here's how late you can get in. here's when we're gonna have to be hitting these fundraising deadlines. she literally says, we're not ready. you know bo has just died, you know, we're not ready and she has to vocalize that almost for him. he can't really say it himself. he can't get himself to the point of walking away. she plays that really important role, but then you fast forward to 2020 and conventional wisdom again is he's too old the party is too liberal. the party has moved too far to the left and she is actually one of the most forceful voices behind the scenes say no this this actually is your time so, you know her evolution and the role she plays in those campaigns i find to be really fas