kelly o'donnell in warsaw, poland, following president biden's european trip and jacob soboroff is with us once again. jacob is in lviv in western ukraine. kelly o., we'll start with you. any moment now president biden expected to meet with members of the famed 82nd airborne. what do we expect from that meeting? what do we expect from that visit? >> reporter: well, this is one of the chances for a commander in chief moment, craig. the president has popped in to see these service members, soldiers at first who were getting their hair cut and then he's working through a chow hall going table by table, sitting down, having a bite to eat with soldiers, asking them how long they've been in, asking them about this mission, sent to be a part of the fortification of the nato allies on the eastern flank, not that far from the ukraine border. u.s. service members are trying to send a message with this added presence that nato is standing strong against any russian aggression that could spill over from the conflict, the unprovoked war in ukraine. and so the president is having some time to have ki

joining me from warsaw as well, senior white house correspondent, kelly o'donnell. sting discussion there, but some of the parts that stood out to me is when joe biden said america's ability to uphold its responsibility in the world relies upon stability in europe which basically undergirds what you and i were talking about earlier. the point here is that america can do certain things vis-a-vis russia, but the european countries that flank russia, the former eastern bloc countries are very, very worried about the impact of this invasion in their own countries and their own sovereignty. >> you get a perspective that really puts that in a sort of different land being here and certainly the president is getting that first hand by having the conversations he's having being with leaders who have their own geography so much closer to the conflict than we do in the united states, and in a broad way we understand the threat to democracy. they understand it in a way that is far more accessible and real because they know the history of what has happened in europe before. they

nbc's kelly o'donnell and kelly cobiella are here in poland with me. ambassador john herbst is the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine and senior director of the atlantic council's eurasia center. and hagar chemali is the former spokesperson for the u.s. mission to the u.n. kelly cobiella, i want to start with you. you are in southeastern poland, not far from where the president will make his first stop when he arrives in the country. we just learned the president is going to meet with refugees tomorrow. we also learned that he's going to make a major address. kelly cobiella, tell us what it is like where you are right now. >> reporter: i think what really strikes you when you come to these parts of poland is just the scale of the crisis and the scale of the response on the part of poland and all of the different aid groups who have been trying to accommodate and help these refugees as they've been coming to poland over the past four weeks. the numbers have slowed down. today at this train station just across the border from ukraine here in poland, about

today there were major advancements on both fronts kelly o'donnell is at the white house with more. >reporter: tonight, the u.s. and poland on a new course to help ukraine defend its skies. a plan that could give zelenskyy's forces the kind of russian-made fighter planes they are trained to fly, from poland's military, and the u.s. would pledge to replace them >> we're talking very actively about this, looking at what we could do to backfill poland if it chooses to send the migs and planes that it has to ukraine. >> reporter: but buying replacement jets takes time, and the u.s. says poland cannot be left vulnerable by giving up any of its defenses still, lawmakers say zelenskyy's request for aircraft is compelling. >> we don't need you to fly our planes or fly your planes into our war zone we need the planes that we can fly ourself. >> reporter: from aiding ukraine to cutting off putin's oil sales, today the clearest sign that the u.s. position is changing >> we are now in very active discussions with our european partners about banning the import of russian oil to our countries, whil

kelly o'donnell is traveling with the president tonight. >> the president of the united states, joe biden. >> reporter: in a direct and dramatic finish to his visit to europe, president biden called for an end to vladimir putin's grip on russia. >> for god's sake, this man cannot remain in power >> reporter: that sounded like a provocative call for regime change in russia but that is not the u.s. position. so white house officials put out a statement that the president actually meant putin cannot be allowed to exercise power other his neighbor further clarifying, president biden was not discussing regime change but there was no clean up on this warning to russia that it dare not expand its war beyond ukraine. >> don't even think about moving on one single inch of nato territory. >> reporter: from threat to olive branch aimed at the citizens of russia. >> you, the russian people, are not our enemy. >> reporter: but the heart of his message for ukrainians >> we stand with you period >> reporter: earlier in the day, the president made his first direct connection with refugees ukrainian child

a senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell is with me here in poland and correspondent ali arouzilive in lviv, ukraine. let's start with you, kelly, a big day for president biden, of course meeting with the ukrainian foreign minister for the first time since two days before the invasion back in washington, meeting with the defense minister, he's already said, kelly, as you know, to white house reporters traveling with him that he really wanted to go to ukraine, but they told him he couldn't obviously for security reasons but he wanted to see it for himself and he's getting the best possible firsthand briefing from those who have been calling for more jets, more anti tank missiles. president zelenskyy did yet again today. kelly? >> reporter: andrea, you get the sense this would be the meeting where the most substantive conversations with president biden and ukrainian officials can take place about specific needs they may have and president biden, who in his past public life has spent a lot of time in ukraine, knows the country well and he did talk about wanting to be there personal

joining me is kelly o'donnell.he's in warsaw, poland, traveling with the president and joining me on set is kirk volker, a former ambassador for nato. let me start with kelly o'donnell traveling with the president. kelly, we heard the president's remarks earlier today. i'm curious, what should we expect in this speech he's giving here? when presidents give formal speeches overseas, they have multiple audiences that they intend to hear those remarks. what should we expect? >> well, in some ways, chuck, the president may have tipped a bit of that today when he spoke with the airmen and the paratroopers from the 82nd airborne, the soldiers from that elite division. the president talked at times about what was at stake, the existential threat, giving you a sense of what's on his mind could be reflected in remarks tomorrow. this is the message, one of the audiences is vladimir putin and trying to show the solidarity, the unity that the president is stressing between the united states, the european allies, the nato allie

. >> i want you to stand by gabe, and ali, and jacob, i want to bring in kelly o'donnell here in warsaw. this is obviously very important because the president is here and he's here because of these attacks that are going on in ukraine, but the idea that lviv may be a new front for this thing makes the urgency of what is going on right now with president biden even greater. he has -- i don't know if he's left the stadium yet but he's going to be delivering an important speech very shortly and i'm sure this is going to play a part. i'm sure there are people going through the speech right now wondering whether they have to do something a little differently. >> reporter: well, i do believe that the president is in a period right now between the stadium visit where he had a chance to meet with refugees. he spoke to reporters about the impact of that, and one of the things that he told reporters, part of the pool that works up close with the president is how in his encounters with those refugees, so many of them said say a prayer for or told an anecdote about a son, a brother, a father back

joining us now is nbc news senior white house kelly o'donnell, former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul, and former secretary of state, richard engel. mr. mcfall, what do you think vladimir putin is doing in response to the interview and the mixed messaging over the weekend, oh, we're only going for eastern ukraine and dom ambassador, and exactly as the president -- donbas, and exactly as the president is appearing in poland. >> i encourage everyone to watch it, it's 90 minutes long. obviously it's in russian with sub titles. you get a real sense of president zelenskyy's thinking. he speaks very honestly and very candidly about everything, so please watch it. i congratulate the russian group that interviewed him, including tikhon, including somebody i have known for many years. with respect to the war, i would say two things, and i'm echoing something president zelenskyy said in that interview, remember, there's been lots of disinformation, trial balloons racing after hopeful messages, and this is what it seems to me that what we're doing with the ge

i want to turn to kelly o'donnell. we've been here in brussels reporting on the summit, which is now under way, kelly, and it started with this unite and powerful show of force of the western allies. what are you watching for and what's the real agenda here? >> i think there are a couple things. in terms of some of the atmospherics it's important to be together and stand together. there will be a photo released showing the leaders side by side. that is powerful in its symbolism. with specifics, additional sanctions and ways to find new tools to stop any russian workarounds, meaning how can the kremlin not get access to some of its reserve funds? how can the central bank not be doing business in certain ways in commodities like gold, looking for ways to shut off financing? that's part of it. we're also hear prg the united states today a plan to welcome immigrants from ukraine, refugees who would be willing to resettle in the united states. we know many would want to be in europe, would want to go home to ukraine if that

kelly o'donnell, ali arouzi, thanks to the both of you. and our thanks too to colonel kearney, who had to diskkt. we appreciate your time. coming up we have a lot more to get to as far as news from capitol hill just this afternoon. including what we know and don't know about that hours-long gap in president trump's phone logs on january 6th and how the select committee is reportedly trying to fill it in. >>> plus the ginni thomas text message fallout growing within just the last hour. what the top senate democrat now wants supreme court justice clarence thomas to do. we're talking about that right after the break. mission control, we are go for launch. um, she's eating the rocket. ♪♪ lunchables! built to be eaten. ♪ i may be close to retirement, but i'm as busy as ever. careful now. - thanks. -you got it. and thanks to voya, i'm confident about my future. -oh dad, the twins are now... -vegan. i know. i got 'em some of those plant burgers. -nice. -yeah. voya provides guidance for the right investments, and helps me be prepared for unexpecte

kelly o'donnell has the latest kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, peter. the penalty against russia goes after what president biden called russia's signature industries blocking famous products like caviar and vodka congress, with strong bipartisan support, is expected to vote next week to cut off russia status as a normal trading partner with the u.s the president remains firm of the limits of u.s. intervention. horror in ukraine. draws more u.s. action ramping up military and humanitarian aid while turning up the economic pain on vladimir putin. but president biden was blunt when talking to house democrats about the line he says he will not cross. americans in the fight >> don't kid yourself. no matter what you say that's called world war iii. >> reporter: his caution comes as the u.s. and ukraine raise concerns about russia's potential to use chemical or biological weapons >> russia would pay a severe price if they use chemical weapons. >> reporter: friday at the united nations, russia made claims that ukraine had manufactured biological weapons. the u.

>> kelly o'donnell from the white house. thanks so much. chuck chaud is the political director and moderator of "meet the press." the biden administration has been reluctant to share because it doesn't want to escalate yet sending hundreds of millions of anti-aircraft weapons and other materials into ukraine. what is a provocation and what is not a provocation, as putin said we view as something we're going to attack if you send weapons into the country. >> let me quote jeremy crow. he said i don't see a distinction between sending over an anti-aircraft missile and a mig. at the end of the day they're defending their country. none of these are offensive weapons when you're the country that's been invaded. i quote him because that's what's going on here, willie, is there's a growing majority in congress. it really is bipt. it not like one of those 80-20. it's really down the middle on this that would like to see more done. a question i for sullivan this morning, you okayed -- why are they bombing the west? essentially to stop the aid into uk

this is a significant development, and i want to bring back kelly o'donnell and josh letterman. president biden was asked about this several days ago, is vladimir putin a war criminal and he said, yes, i believe hes and this makes it official. >> at that time the white house was clear to point out the president was speaking personally and echoing what many of us around the world have been watching and that feeling we have in seeing the lives lost, the tragedy and our personal assessment that this has gone beyond the rules of war, and now they are saying an official assessment based on intelligence and analysis of things like the demarcation of children as a nonmilitary asset, that that was a clear violation of war as one of the elements they are looking at, and much like they would see like an every day criminal court in the united states, there are rules that apply and evidence gathered and then an assessment is made, and it's not just an opinion, it follows that and similarly even on this grand stage here, that's what at play here. and it's sending a message, a message that ma

is nbc news national correspondent gabe gutierrez, nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell in brussels and helene cooper, pentagon correspondent with "the new york times" and msnbc political analyst. kelly, what's the message this morning on this critical meeting with allies? >> reporter: just a few minutes ago, jose, we saw the president join with g7 leaders after earlier meeting with nato. this is an emergency session, and you get a sense of the high stakes here and the sense of urgency that these leaders feel, to do something new, something more to try to stop and push back vladimir putin one month into this conflict with so much devastation. so part of that is to find new ways to further penalize russia financially and to block any potential work-arounds that russia might be able to use with the financial sanctions already put in place. so you allowed to some of the sanctions that the u.s. is putting in place today. some of what the leaders are talking about are ways to put up additional roadblocks so things like commodities like gold, reserves russia may have abroad ca

senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell joins me with more about the unusual meeting. kelly? >> reporter: jose, it was about 300 lawmakers from the senate and house who dialed in and sources i spoke to called president zelenskyy's account gripping and powerful as he described attacks on civilians. lawmakers posted images taken during the video call as zelenskyy asked for help to secure the skies, including aircraft that ukrainian pilots are trained to fly that means migs, which poland has and the u.s. could help to negotiate. zelenskyy urged the u.s. to stop buying russian oil and block use of visa and mastercard in russia late today, both companies announced they are suspending service there. after nearly an hour, dozens of lawmakers unmuted speaking together to promise more help and the white house urged them to approve more than $10 million in aid jose >> kelly, thank you. >>> if the u.s. and allies stop buying russian oil and gas, prices would go up, but they're already nearing record highs would you be be willing to pay more at the pump to punish russia gadi schwar

kelly o'donnell, thanks to you because we are joined by nato's secretary general.nk you very much for joining us. i can't imagine how busy your day is and you've been chosen for another term. which would be a third term, i believe, because of your leadership in this crisis. it's a great tribute to you on what you have done in pulling this alliance together, sir. >> thank you so much for having me, andrea. >> well, i want to get to what the nato agreement really means in terms of the commitments to president zelenskyy. he wants 500 tanks, specific weapons. he's warning if you don't stop putin in ukraine, he'll go all the way into nato countries and territory. what can you do to stop vladimir putin? he doesn't seem to be deterred by sanctions? >> sanctions work and they have seeveer consequences for the russian economy and they make it harder for him to fine angs his war but we're doing more than sanctions. we're providing unprecedented support to ukraine. the nato allies are delivering significant military support, including advanced air defense systems, antitank we

nbc's matt bradley is in lviv, kelly o'donnell is at the white house. also with me is jason beardsly, national director of the association of the u.s. navy. he is a former green beret master sergeant and jay gray will join me from poland in just a few moments. matt, diplomatic talks went nowhere overnight. those humanitarian corridors, it would seem as if the majority aren't necessarily holding, russian troops pushing through just west of kyiv, along with other towns northwest of the capitol. take us through what else is happening right now where you are. >> reporter: i think the best way to look at this is three axis of attack. the most successful and the most advanced one is coming out of crimea to the south. now, the crimean one is falling into the same pattern that we've been seeing in the north, which is kind of like a siege around that city of mariupol. the only city that's really fallen is the city of kherson, which is now basically occupied. it's the only occupied city in all of ukraine. and now the russians are entering, as you said, a troublin

kelly o'donnell, let's talk about these troubling reports. u.s. officials confirming to nbc news that the u.s. government has reason to believe russia has asked china for military equipment, other support as well. what more are we hearing from the white house about that part of the story? >> reporter: there's real concern that as russia has not been able to accomplish its military goals in the timely way it had envisioned and we know that russia is looking for help in a world that has closed its doors and russia and we've seen how many nations have pulled away, china has remained one of its friend on the global stage. right now the president's national security adviser is in rome meeting with a top chinese diplomat to send the message clearly there will be economic penalties for china if they side with russia in this fight. this is a case where russia is looking for lifelines and the u.s. says any attempt to provide those lifelines will be met with swift penalties and further steps from the west, the u.s. and likely european allies as well to send

kelly o'donnell is at her post at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. matt bradley is in lviv once again in western ukraine. i also want to bring in john gunderson, the former acting u.n. ambassador in ukraine, estonia, iceland and norway and opened the u.s. embassy in kyiv. he was a former army officer in vietnam. a big thanks to all of you. kelly, let's start with you there. president biden just announcing he's going to be moving to revoke russia's status as a most favored nation. explain in layman's terms what that means and how this is going to ratchet up the pressure on russia's economy even more. >> reporter: craig, this is one of the privileges of the international community, to have that kind of status, allowing countries to engage in commerce with each other without the kind of tariffs that can be costly, imposing this new level of sanction by removing that friendly relationship means that the u.s. can now impose tariffs or taxes on goods coming into the united states from russia. now, typically that would have been namely oil and gas products

and kelly o'donnell also in warsaw today. first to you. some of the major ukrainian cities to the east, they just look like rubble. but president zelenskyy's forces are not backing down. it's just extraordinary what they're doing. >> reporter: so, we're seeing that russia's military offensive is increasingly focussed on the east and that's been confirmed by russia's defense ministry. in a statement saying that its focus now is to consolidate its mission in the east; that the first phase of the operation is nearly complete and it will, quote, completely liberate the donbas region. and that is by attacking them and the hardest hit area continues to be the city of mariupol. in the south. and we just got some very difficult news from mariupol this morning. the local city counsel there claims that 300 people were killed in a theater in that city nine days ago. that attack captured the world's attention because hundreds of people were sheltering in the theater. they had signs out -- you're showing the video right now. taken from inside the theat

i want to bring in ali arouzi, keir simmons, and also kelly o'donnell. ali, give us the play of the land as it stands right now. >> the ukrainians continue to fight back as hard as they can. we are 34 days in to this conflict and they have defied the odds. despite being outgunned, outnumbered but the russians, they continue to push back, they continue to reclaim territory that the russians had taken early on in this conflict. and that is because they have such a big fighting spirit. you see it from ukrainians of all walks of life. and the reason that they are taking all of the land back is not just because of the armed forces but because of regular ukrainians that have joined volunteer groups to fight the russians on the front lines. we spoke to ome ukrainians in lviv, they had never fired a gun but they were willing to fight the russians. let's take a listen to what one of them had to tell us. >> translator: there are such people who never held any weapons in their hands. it is firstly spirit, not the weapon, that wins the war. and all these people have

joining me from brussels, kelly o'donnell for nbc news, nbc senior international correspondent keir simmons, richard engel is in kyiv, and a former u.s. ambassador to nato under barack obama. we're trying to answer this basic question -- what happened in brussels today? kelly, start from the american side. how have the meetings gone so far? >> reporter: well, chuck, this is a dense day of conversations, and the president and his colleagues across europe are running a bit behind. that's not a surprise. there's a lot to cover here. these are difficult issues. and there are not an easy set of answers here. but they are looking at that range of issues, how to try to blunt what russia has done, how to push back vladimir putin, how the create measures that would stop any evasion of sanctions that already have been put into place to try to get russia to not be able to find workarounds to get by the financial constraints put on them thus far and looking at what are some of the what-if scenarios. because vladimir putin has already done things that have really threatened the peace in europe and have

>> kelly o'donnell, i'll let you get inside. thank you. matt, let me head to you. is has been, as kelly alluded to here, it seems an escalation now in this phase of war here getting closer and closer to nato's doorstep. with a military base near poland, in ukraine targeted. we're running and have been running video of the aftermath. viewers should know that it is disturbing. you will be disturbed by it. matt, from your perspective on the ground, what kind of shifts are you seeing, what is the mood like where you are in lviv? >> reporter: in lviv, i got to say, this is an exuberant city and it was when we got back this afternoon. there was a person singing songs and playing guitar. everybody was walking around. it felt like the era before the war. this city is a jumping off point for displaced people to move to elsewhere in eastern europe. right now the mood here is the same despite that deadly bombing of that base not far from the polish border that just mentioned. i was earlier today and for the last couple of days in the city just to the west of kyiv. that city wa

kelly o'donnell, as you well know, getting a lot of questions about this intelligence the u.s. is now talking about, that vladimir putin was not in sync with his ministry of defense and some concerns about where that goes. fill us in on the latest from the white house after the president of course spoke with president zelenskyy for nearly an hour today. >> a lot of different parts here. and on the putin piece, what's so interesting about this is that vladimir putin is a very difficult target for western intelligence. he is so isolated and removed, making it difficult to assess intelligence very close to putin. and that makes this new piece of information very interesting and very illustraive of what's happening. what the u.s. intelligence is saying is that they believe that the ministry of defense officials around putin are not giving him accurate information about what is happening in real world terms on the battlefield in ukraine. that is important because if putin is the ultimate decision maker on the course of events in ukraine and this war that was unprovoked, that putin h

>> kelly o'donnell, thank you. dan and gabe, i so appreciate your reporting too.ry much. general, let me turn to you. and then ambassador, i'll get to you as well. your reaction to the latest assessment from the pentagon. and dan deluce laid it out at the top of the show. they're bringing in reinforcements yet they're also meeting significant ukrainian resistance. with again that big question mark of how long that resistance can go on. how do you see this? >> first of all, a long resistance goes on -- war, there's a certain thing, momentum. the ukrainians i think are heartened. they feel momentum. they're exhausted. it's a horrible fight. what's happened to their civilians is beyond the pale. but they are emboldened. they see the russians wilting in places. while the russians constant traichted the ukrainians have worked along their flanks. when you have a throng thrust like the russians have had in a number of places you open long flanks. the russian military is full of tanks and armored personnel carriers but not that much infantry, meaning ground people. so i t

let me -- kelly o'donnell, nbc. >> thank you, mr. president. do you believe what you said -- thank you, sir. do you believe what you said that putin can't remain in power or do you now regret saying that because your government has been trying to walk that back. did your words complicate matters? >> well, yes, three different questions and i'll answer them all. number one, i'm not walking anything back. the fact of the matter is i was expressing the outrage i felt toward the way putin is dealing and the actions of this man, just brutality. half the children in ukraine. i had just come from being with those families. and so -- but i want to make it clear i wasn't then or am i now articulating a policy change. i was expressing the moral outrage i feel. >> personal feelings? >> my personal feelings. secondly you asked me -- what was the second question? >> does it complicate the diplomacy of this moment? >> no, i don't think it does. the fact is that we're in a situation where what complicates the situation at the moment is the escalatory things b

. >> kelly o'donnell who's at the white house for us. give us some context to the answer, and the importance of a series of meetings we're going to see the president with nato allies with the g7 and european counsel. >> reporter: i'm in brussels ahead of the president when he was asking if any of the members of the press were on the trip. most of us have already arrived here to welcome the president. a small contingent will travel with him on air force one. so he was asked about his message to the other leaders. of course he'll be meeting with the 30 leaders of the nato countries. he'll also be meeting with the european union, the g7 and it is unusual to have this kind of a summit of leaders from the biggest democracies of the world coming together in very short notice. it typically takes years to put the plan together for these kind of summits but the urgency of this war has brought them together quickly. part of the reason it is unusual because when leaders come together at this level, they want to have specific areas where they will a

>> kelly o'donnell, thank you. gabe, let me come to you. when you hear secretary blinken talk about russia targeting civilians, the potential for war crimes and in his opinion that those have been committed you think about that theater in mariupol, the word "children" from satellite images written in russian to the side of it. you have this rescue effort happening today. slow, of course, considering the bombardment of mariupol is continuing here. tell me what it's like on the ground and what you're seeing and hearing about from other parts of the country. i know you're further in the west. >> yes, hallie. this is an increasingly disturbing situation that video out of mariupol is just astounding and when you consider that hundreds of civilians were in that building, underneath, is unclear the number of casualties but overnight, president zelenskyy said that essentially the russians dropped a huge bomb on that theater and that, yes, it was clearly identified, ukrainian officials say, as having children inside. again, there is no clear death t

kelly o'donnell has more now for us from the white house. >> reporter: a message to moscow, outreachrussia's neighbors president biden on the phone today with poland's president and in the oval office with finland's leader. >> we don't start wars. >> reporter: finland, long a neutral buffer between russia and the west, today coordinating with president biden against president putin's unprovoked war. >> we are committed to helping ukraine defend itself. >> reporter: the white house under bipartisan pressure to turn up the pain on putin by blocking russian oil sales. >> i'm all for that. ban it >> ban the oil >> ban the oil coming from russia, yeah. >> we need to stop buying russian oil and gas. we need to produce more here at home. >> reporter: the administration said it is considering some form of russian ban. >> we are looking at options that we can take right now if we were to cut the u.s. consumption of russian energy. >> reporter: imported russian oil makes up only about 3% to 4% of what is used in the u.s. but secretary of state blinken cautioned that any ban could push already

i want to go to my colleague, kelly o'donnell, who has been watching this all unfold. kelly, this is not the end of it, by the way. he's meeting with aid workers and refugees, and then there's going to be a major address. i assume these things like this major address which the whole world will be watching are preplanned. but it does feel like -- like president biden's been gathering data points throughout this entire trip. the meetings in brussels, the nato meetings, then his visit to the border, then his meeting today with president duda and other polish officials, and now his visit to this convention center in warsaw. it all seems to be coming together into something that he's going to talk about this afternoon. >> reporter: i think that's a fair assessment. and the president is collecting those points of reference and personal touchstones that fill out the picture of the things that he needs to understand in order to make policy and to try to reinforce the coalition that he's already helped to lead and to bring together the allies. each of the powerful nations involv

kelly o'donnell, nbc. >> thank you, mr. president. do you believe what you said, that putin can't remain in power, or do you now regret saying that, because your government has been trying to walk that back? did your words complicate matters? pres. biden: yes, three different questions, i'll answer the mall. number 1, i'm not walking anything back. the fact is, i was expressing the moral outrage i felt toward the way that putin is dealing, the actions of this man, just brutality, half the children in ukraine. i had just come from being with those families. and so, i want to make it clear, i wasn't then, nor i am now articulating a policy change. i was expressing the moral outrage i feel, and i make no apologies for that. secondly, you asked me about -- what was the second part? >> does that complicate the diplomacy of this moment? pres. biden: no, i don't think it does. the fact is, we are in a situation, a complicated situation at the moment -- the escalatory efforts of putin to continue to engage in carnage, and the type of behavior

support but the white house has rejected in favor of other kinds of defensive weapons lester >> kelly o'donnellthe white house, thank you. >> also this evening, we're tracking severe weather on the move in the south. 10 million are on alert for violent thunderstorms that could bring very large hail, damaging winds, and possible tornados cities in the risk area include dallas, texas, and shreveport, louisiana. >>> new developments in the search for a possible serial killer targeting the homeless in two separate cities police say the gunman has been linked to attacks in new york city and washington, d.c. emilie ikeda has more. >> reporter: tonight investigators releasing new images of a gunman behind five senseless shootings. authorities in both new york and washington, d.c. urging homeless people to be individual land. >> homelessness should not be a homicide. this was a cold-blooded attack. >> reporter: the attacker most recently caught on camera in manhattan walking up to a sleeping man saturday and firing execution style. earlier that morning, police say the suspect shot another person less t

the president insists he was just declaring moral outrage, not calling for regime change kelly o'donnell more on the fallout. >> reporter: back from europe, president biden tried to quiet a controversy of his own making one that shook allies and sent his administration into 48 hours of clean-up but today the president is defiant do you believe what you said, that putin can't remain in power? >> i'm not walking anything back. the fact of the matter is, i was expressing the moral outrage i felt toward the way putin is dealing and the actions of this man, just brutality. >> reporter: saturday in poland, defending democracy and ukraine, the president went off script and off message. >> for god's sake, this man cannot remain in power >> reporter: that reverberated among friends and foes the official u.s. government position does not seek regime change of putin's government >> i wasn't then nor am i now articulating a policy change. i was expressing the moral outrage i feel and i make no apologies for it >> reporter: today the president said his words did not muddy the process. >> complicate t

senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: good morning, peter. the white house is being pulled in two directions, banning russian oil would be another strong message to financially penalize putin, but they also don't want american drivers to pay a price with even higher gas prices, so officials say they're looking for ways to cut down on imports from russia while keeping stability in the global supply of energy. drivers in disbelief. >> this cost me like $40. now is 65. >> gas prices take a trip higher. >> every day, going up. >> in car loving los angeles, a staggering $7 a gallon was spotted. while the national average is close to $4 for regular. filling your tank could be linked to the prices in ukraine. as lawmakers, democrats and republicans, demand the u.s. stop importing russian oil. >> we are not going to send russia any more u.s. dollars to help them kill innocent people. >> reporter: house speaker pelosi agreed. >> ban it. >> ban the oil? >> ban the oil coming from russia. >> reporter: the president's economic adviser says that's now bei

kelly o'donnell is traveling with the president. kelly is in brussels. richard engel remains at his post there. our chief foreign correspondent is in the capital of ukraine, in kyiv. bill taylor served as ambassador to ukraine for 2006 to 2009, acting ambassador for ukraine from june of 2019 to january of 2020 and also back with me, ulia mendel. kelly, we know that president biden is going to be leading to meet with the president of the european council soon. what do we know at this point about the meeting that just wrapped or is perhaps still on going, the leaders of nato? >> well, they've had a series of meetings today, this includes some overlap. you have the nato countries more focused on the european leaders here, g7 countries. you have leaders sharing the same concerns to have been a port of the discussions over the last month, who have been in the meetings and in person trying to find out the best ways to respond at this point, one month into this conflict. and part of the discussion is what to do about next steps. if vladimir putin escalates with

we bring in kelly o'donnell here. y, you know, we do expect the president probably to get a ukraine-related question during the q&a. we'll take you to that, which may begin literally any second now. but correct me if i'm wrong, kelly. this meeting is coming because there was going to be a much larger meeting of southeast asian allies and the united states and that had to be postponed i think or at least some parts rescheduled. what's the genesis of this? >> reporter: this is an opportunity for the president to meet with the leader of the prime minister of singapore. you're right, i'll be delicate here, the control room will let us know when they go to questions. we expect one from each delegation, the u.s. reporters and the contingent that came from singapore. what the president emphasized in his early remarks is that the issue of ukraine was discussed with his counterpart, and that every region of the world, he mp sized, is concerned about what is happening in ukraine, not just europe, because of course the president

kelly o'donnell, nbc. >> thank you. do you believe what you said that putin can't remain in power or do you regret saying that because you're government has been trying to walk that back? does your words complicate mat matters? >> you asked three different questions. i'll answer them all. i'm not walking anything back. i was basicexpressing outrage os a actions of this man. just brutality. i wasn't there nor am i now articulating a policy change. i was expressing outrage i feel. i make no apologies for it. secondly, you asked me about. >> complicate the diplomacy of this moment? >> i don't think it does. the efforts of putin to continue to engage in carnage that makes the whole world say my god, what is this man doing. it's a what complicates things. >> you do feel he should be removed from power? >> i was expressing my outrage for this man. i wasn't ar tircticulating a po change. if he continues on this course that he's on, he's going to become a pariah worldwide. >> are you concerned this might escalate the conflict?

patrick's day without having kelly o'donnell on from the white house. we have to. ot? >> and mine as well. the covid testing at the white house today, they gave us green bands, so they were, at least, in the spirit. the irony was it was two years ago, chuck, when things blew up with covid with the former t shuck that came to visit with the former president, president trump, and so they wanted to do the passing of the bowl of shamrocks and covid finds a way to interrupt those kinds of plans. they were able to carry on the flag of ireland above blair house across from the white house. they are doing their best to suffer this st. patrick's day. a little bit of the irish humor and a little bit of the irish poetry might ease a few souls as well, chuck. >> i should ask, is the fountain green? >> the fountain is under repair. isn't that a metaphor for a lot of things. >> sure is. >> they have been doing work on the fountain on this side of the white house, but the president had that sprig in his pocket. now peace is certainly talking about what to do to bring the europeans

. >> joining our coverage, nbc news seechb your white house correspondent kelly o'donnell live in warsaw and correspondent ali arouzi live from krahn ukraine. you cannot hear that without having your heart break. are people there able to follow even that the president is there and based on the conversations you have had with people fleeing, what's the president likely to hear from refugees when he meets with them tomorrow? >> reporter: hi, chris. i can tell you speaking to many ukrainian people here there is a sense of solidarity that president biden is so close by and grateful for all the humanitarian aid, the money, the weapons that the united states have ginn and that nato has given but thank you keep saying it is not enough. they need more to fight the russians and running low on supplies, ammunition, need the migs and defensive systems. and they are really desperate. these guys are holding a strong fight against an army much more formidable than theirs and think especially nato has done far too little to help them considering that they're on the border with nato. i spoke to one ex-m

brussels, chief white house correspondent, kristen welker and chief white house correspondent, kelly o'donnell. great to have my colleagues and pals here. we'll be hearing some good news from kyiv. they're holding them off. but mariupol in the south is a disaster. what the nato secretary general said is we can no longer take peace for granted. that's what he said at the news conference. >> how unsubtle. >> nato has, for 70 years, been the guardrail against war in europe for the most part. and here you have nato standing guard but ukraine falling piece by piece to russia. >> and that's why there's so much pressure on president biden and thenatedo allies to announce something significant when they hold this emergency meeting. tomorrow we know they're going to announce new sanctions. we know they'll announce new hume an teargen and military aid. how far will they go? based on reporting overnight, we anticipate the president may announce that there will be a permanent increase to u.s. troop levels innato countries. he wants the polish migs and you have the threat of the use of chemical weapons and

joining me now, nbc news senior white house correspondent, kelly o'donnell. president biden and others were hoping for some concrete action from the summit. have they produced it? >> they will have things to announce and they will have substantive things to announce, and will that be in the area of sanctions, and mitigation against russia using its central bank to find ways to finance the war, and they will have humanitarian and military steps, so there are concrete actions. the real question is what will the impact be and will it change the course of events for the people of ukraine? will it satisfy president zelenskyy? will it stop vladimir putin? i think those are real questions. leaders coming together can produce results. certainly them having an opportunity to be here in person and talk about these issues in a face-to-face way is one part of diplomacy that can change circumstances, but it's a real question about how much more they are willing to do and how much more putin is willing to test them and that's a real question. >> the fact that they don't re

joining us now, nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, eugene daniels is politico's the president's strategy of hitting the road until the midterms. what's the goal? >> reporter: it is certainly par tradition to get out there and take some of the items the president will be talking about trying to sell and to bring it closer to the american people and to do it in places that will be key contested areas in the midterms. we know democrats historically and practically are facing some held winds, serious headwinds based on polling in the midterm elections. it's complicated by the fact that the president is also dealing with ukraine, has been dealing with covid. so he has not traveled as much as presidents typically do. but the president wants to get out there more. white house officials tell us they intend to have a more vigorous travel schedule for him, and he's also trying to react paj, refresh, dust off, maybe give a new face to some of the policies that were a part of the build back better agenda. now in a new form to build a better america and to tout the very succe

let me -- kelly o'donnell, nbc. >> thank you, mr. president. do you believe what you said, that putin can't remain in power or do you now regret saying that because your government has been walking that back. do your words complicate matters? >> well, yes. three different questions. i'll answer them all. number 1, i'm not walking anything back. the fact of the matter is, i was expressing the moral outrage to the way putin is, the actions of this man, the brutality, half the children in ukraine. i just came from being with those families. so i want to make it clear. i wasn't there or nor am i now articulating a policy change. >> personal feelings sir? >> my personal feelings. secondly, you asked me about -- what was this second part? >> does it complicate the diplomacy of this moment? >> no, i don't think it does. the fact is that we're in a situation where it -- what complicates the situation at the moment are the efforts for putin to engage in carnage, the kind of behavior that makes the whole world say my god, what is this man doing. that's w

. -- today's -- kelly o'donnell asked him about his comments. >> do you believe what you said, that putin you not regret saying that because your government has been able to walk that back? do your words complicate matters? >> you asked three different questions. number one, i'm not walking anything back. the fact of the matter is, i was expressing moral outrage in the actions of this man. just brutality. half the children in ukraine -- i just come from being with those families. and i want to make it clear. i wasn't then nor am i now, articulating a policy change. i make no apologies for expressing moral outrage. >> the expanding audiobook version of timothy snyder's book on tyranny, expanded audio addition -- as an audiobooks fan, i have to say, thank you for that. now, let's begin with the president speech on saturday and what you heard in that speech before we got to that last line. >> i'm glad you asked because it is a wonderful, historical speech, which stats -- sets the stage quite properly. president biden is correct that this is a historical turning point. it is a moment where we