for "pbs news weekend," i'm nick schifrin in kyiv. can watch all of nick's reporting on the one year anniversary of the russian invasion on our website, pbs.org/newshour. new cdc data says the number o americans taking medicine to get a good night's sleep is on the rise. the latest study surveyed more than 30,000 american adults about their sleemedication use in 2020, both prescription and over the counter. nearly one in five said they had taken sleep medication during the previous 30 days. 8% of adults reported taking sleep medicationvery or most days in that period, double what the cdc had found a decade earlier. the report also found that women, older adults and people with lower incomes were all more likely to use sleep medication. earlier, i spoke with dr. karen lee, a neurologist and a sleep specialist. i asked her how the cdcs findings compare with what she sees in her practice. dr. lee: overall, that survey is pretty much in line with what i have been seeing over the years in my practice. unfortunately, there's been a large amo

host: nick schifrin reporting from kyiv.host: in the days other headlines, new late-night earthquake touched off more terror across torque or--- turkey-syria border region. it was centered in southern turkey and was less intense and the earthquake that killed 46,000 people two weeks ago but it was still felt hundreds of miles away. officials reported more buildings collapsed trapping peoplenside. north korea drew condemnation after its latest round of missile firings. it launched two short range missiles into the sea off of japan following the launch of an intercontinental missile on saturday. un security council called an emergency meeting in new york today. u.s. criticized russia and china for opposing new sanctions. >> the council's lack of action is worse than shameful. it is dangerous. now is the time for the security council to work together towards a peaceful solution on the korean peninsula before it is too late. host: in pyongyang, the sister of the leader warned the regime will keep losing the pacific as its firing

with the support of the pulitzer center, nick schifrin reports from kyiv. : at the end of a 5000 mile journey the commander in chief , visited a capital at war, to provide an embattled country a show of solidarity. on the right, the leader who one year ago refused a us effort to evacuate, wearing his trademark olive drab. on the left, the leader who became ukraine's most important supporter, wearing a tie striped with ukraine's national colors. pres. biden: i'm here to show our unwavering support for the nation's independence, your sovereigy and territorial integrity. nick: the administration today called president biden's visit unprecedented in modern times, to a warzone without a significant us military presence. russia launched its full scale invasion 361 days ago. president biden remembered, it seemed dire. pres. biden: one year ago, the world was literally at the time bracing for the fall of kyiv. perhaps even the end of ukraine. you know, one year later kyiv stands and ukraine stands. democracy stands. the americans stand with you, and the world stands

am: nick schifrin with another piece of reporting. a little bit of what president zelenskyy had to say today. it was a two hour press conference. what stood out to you from his remarks? nick: a spokesman called on more than 40 reporters across five continents. there was clearly a desire from his team to get into the markets across from latin america all the way to east asia. on the u.s., he was asked about americans who were saying to pollsters that they believe the administration is putting too much money to support ukraine. he warned of the u.s. did not support ukraine enough to win over russia, then russia would eventually launch a war against nato and american soldiers would have to go and fight and die like ukrainian soldiers would fight and die, or are fighting and dying right now. on china, beyond the peace plan, he said beijing must not send weapons to russia. he said that was his number one priority. i'm doing everything i can to ensure that doesn't happen. that is something the u.s. is also warning beijing is considering. ge

with the support of the pulitzer center, nick schifrin reports again tonight from ukraine. in the ancient heart of the city that has endured one year of war, they sang the national anthem. it is titled "ukraine has not yet perished." the dark but determined call to stay resilient on a solemn anniversary. president volodymyr zelenskyy, is leadership forged in the fire of war, nored the men and women who have saved the country. >> i am grateful to everyone who endured last february, this past year, and who gives ukraine invincibility. nick: there was a moment of silence for lives lost. the honored grieving widows, he awarded ukrainian servicemen with the highest of awards, hero of ukraine. and from a key basement, summons he gave a two and a half hour press conference and recalled for him what was the war's worst moment, the day he visited the sites of some of the war's's worst atrocities. president zelenskyy: i think booch i, the moment we de-occupied booch i was horrible. we have seen the devil is not somewhere below us, he is among us. nick: two days after china visited the

again with the support of the pulitzer center, nick schifrin reports from ukraine. >> hello, poland. an eastern european capital, neighboring the largest war in 80 years, president biden today spoke in the language of civilizational conflict. pres. biden: the principles and the stakes are eternal. the choice between chaos and stability. between building and destroying. between hope and fear. between democracy that lifts up the human spirit, and the brutal hand of the dictator who crushee chcleeeae rl py tarergeted one . pres. biden: the west was not plotting to attack russia, as putin said today. this war was never a necessity. it's a tragedy. president putin chose this war. every day the war continues is his choice. he could end the war with a word. poland was among the first countries to join nato. today, biden reiterated the u.s.' commitment to nato's collective defense, and vowed democracy, would prevail over autocracy. lll.. biden: president putin'scw thran l've for their country will prevail. democracy in the wld will stand guard over freedom today, torrow and forever. nick: 11

nick schifrin has more. 900 years princes and politicians have walked these steps, in westminster hall. today, to rapturous applause the leader fighting europe's largest war in 75 years, predicted freedom would win. >> we proved together that the world truly helps those who are brave in defending freedom and, thus, paves the way for a new history. nick: and ukrainian president volodmyr zelenskyy asked for a specific weapon by handing the house of commons speaker the helmet of a ukrainian pilot. >> we have freedom. give us wis to protect it. nick: today britain pledged to train ukrainian pilots on british jets, including typhoons. and british prime minister rishi sunak said providing ukraine the jets was not off the table. >> the first step in being able to provide advanced aircraft is to have aviators that are capable of using them. that is a process that takes some time, we started that process today. >> i heard from mr prime minister the desire to provide fighter jets. when it comes to supplying typhoons to

amna: nick schifrin, thank you very much. nick: thank you.democrats and republicans have been sparring for months over the federal government's two main social safety net programs, social security and medicare. in tuesday's state of the union address, president biden said some, but not all republicans want to target the programs for cuts. his remarks drawing jeers from some members of the gop, all of it leading to an unusual moment of live policy negotiation and apparent agreement. pres. biden: social security and medicare is off the books now, right? they're not to be touched? [cheering and applause.] all right. we've got unanimity. let's all agree -- and we apparently are -- let's stand up for seniors. [cheering and applause] stand up and show them we will not cut social security, we will not cut medicare. geoff: while republicans have accused president biden of misrepresenting their proposals, a handful of gop lawmakers have fload making changes to the programs. rep. waltz: if we really want to talk about the debt and spending, it's the en

amna: nick schifrin reporting tonight from ukraine, good to see you. nick: thank you.or more on what ukraine needs in order to counter russia, we get a rare perspective from an american who has fought in that war. william brangham has that story. william: after doing several tours as an army ranger in iraq and afghanistan, and then several years in eastern europe as a green beret, my next guest thought his military days were over and decided to go to graduate school. but then russia invaded ukraine, and that all changed. former staff sergeant david bramlette left the u.s. last march, went to ukraine, and voluntarily fought against the russians for 10 months. he led a multi-national team of up to 50 other volunteers and former soldiers. david bramlette is back, and back getting his master's degree at johns hopkins school of advanced international studies, and he joins us now. david, thank you so much for being here. can you explain a little bit more about the decision you made? you seemingly had put your military life behind you. you were in graduate school. but that al

amna: we turn now to nick schifrin, who is in the donbas, the main target of russia's push. nick and his team are reporting with the support of the pulitzer center. you heard secretary austen seems to have a lot more urgency in what he is saying. what is driving that right now? nick: it is what you said, the russian offensives that the u.s. believes are underway a few miles east of here. it is the ukrainian need to launch a counteroffensive, just weeks away. a senior u.s. official tells me new intelligence about helicopters and jets on the ukrainian border. it is not like the lights are blinking red, but there are accelerating concerns that already existed about ukraine's air defense. up until now ukraine has relied on a soviet era air defense known as the s 300 and has denied pressure the ability to fly freely over the country. u.s. officials tell me that the parts and munitions will run out , so at some point they will need to create all western air defense. you have american patriots on the top and systems from germany and france on the bottom. that requires the coalition

that is where nick schifrin is again tonight. ukraine is supported by the pulitzer center. so, nick, what is russia claiming today? and how is nato responding? nick: well, the u.s. believes that the russian offensive here in the donbass has begun, focused on two points here in donetsk province, and an additional point in neighboring luhansk province. russian forces are pushing in the town of kreminna. now, russia today claimed some kind of incremental progress, but provided absolutely no detail. t in luhansk, we have seen russian tactics, including this village completely wiped out in a video shared by a ukrainian official. and you really see, geoff, old tactics being used, artillery en masse against a single target. now, russia and ukraine have used millions of rounds of artillery. and that has meant that the west has had to step up its artillery production. and today, nato secretary-general jens stoltenberg said that the west wasn't keeping pace enough. jens: there's a big need out there to provide ukraine with ammunition. this

nick schifrin has been following these developments. what more is known about the object? as you heard, the u.s. does not know the origin or exactly what the object was doing, but it does know it was flying at 40,000 feet. that is the altitude civilian airplanes fly, and that was the crucial variable that led president biden today to order it shot down, and saw it as a threat to the civilian airliners. the pentagon says it dispatched fighter jets yesterday to observe the object, and they assessed it was unmanned. they say it has been shot down over frozen water, which could make the salvage operation a little bit easier than it has been for that chinese balloon. geoff: how does this incident compare to the fighter jet shooting down the spy balloon off the south carolina coast? nick: john kirby says the two objects are different in terms of apples and oranges. one is the size. the chinese balloon was 200 feet tall, had a payload the sizef a jetliner. and the object today was the size of a small car. not clear that the object today was capable of any kind of surveillance like

as the war in ukraine enters its second year, nick schifrin reports from the battle-weary nation on effortso not just fight, but rebuild. volodymyr: we are hopeful. we are confident that we will win this war. that our lives will be good. john: then... the pandemic has seen a big increase in sleep loss and the use of medications to tackle it. we learn about the best practices when you have trouble sleeping. and... a missouri law barring police from enforcing some fedel gun laws is creating confusion. ♪ >> major funding f "pbs news weekend" has been provided by --

here again is nick schifrin. reporter: to better focus the u.s.s efforts to confront china, the new congress created a new panel to examine the relationship. the select committee on the strategic competition between the united states and the chinese communist party. with me now are the new committee's two leaders, republican chairman mike gallagher of wisconsin, and democratic ranking member raja krishnoorthi of illinois for their first joint interview. thank you very much. welcome to the newshour. let me start with you on the news of the day. . defense officials told congressional staffers today that the balloon entered continental u.s. airspace on january 31. do you believe they could have and should have shot this balloon down safely at that point? >> yes, i do, particularly if you are tracking it is a transited over the islands in alaska, i don't think there's any serious concern about debris in that area, furthermore i don't know why we didn't have the same ability to shoot it down over sparsely populated areas over canada and in partnership

but nick schifrin reports that in war, ukraine is crafting a new, united union.s that story through three russian-speaking cities, and three ukrainian mayors, starting in the south. >> in the first days of the war the mayor got a phone , call. russian official who assumed he would betray his country said, open the city gates. he said, go [beep] yourself. we met him at a shelter for ukrainians fleeing occupied territory. before the full-scale invasion, he was a central figure in ukraine's pro-russian political party. he once ran for president, backed by pro-russian politicians. >> listen, i've never been pro-russian. i've been sanctioned by russia since 2018. >> vilkul has long denied supporting russia. but on ukrainian tv, he routinely called the 2014 revolution that overthrew a pro-russian president a "coup." one of the revolutions leaders fought him in the studio. but that was a different time. before russia's total war to, quote, "liberate russian speakers from ukraine's nazi government." >> russia mistakenly believed that those people in ukraine who speak rus

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin in kyiv.eoff: your favorite tv comedies likely owe a lot to larry wilmore. as the creator or guiding force behind some of the most popular and most impactful sitcoms and comedy shows over the last 30 years. starting in the 1990's, as a writer on hit shows like in living color, and the fresh prin of bel-air, to creating and executive producing the bernie mac show, which earned him an emmy for writing. from there, consulting on the office before executive producing black-ish. in 2015, wilmore hosted his own late-night talk show, "the nightly show with larry wilmore," which ran for two seasons on comedy central. on cam now, he's tapping into his experiences in late-night for a primetime comedy that abc recently announced. i spoke with him earlier about how work has challenged traditional notions of politics, race, and comedy, in the process, helping to shape the broader cultural conversation. it's part of our arts and culture series, candace. it is great to speak with you. larry: thank for having

with support from the pulitzer center, nick schifrin and videographer eric o'connor visited all threethe front. starting at one of the most southern points on the front line novosilka. , and a warning, some images in this story are disturbing. nick: the road to ukraine's 1st tank brigade frontline position is bumpy, and tense. we're escorted by a sergeant who tells us to stay low, and move fast. >> ok, let's go!. nick: trees provide the best color. our guide calls ahead with our positions using codewords. they refer to us as "ants." and so we go marching in single , file, on the same path ukrainian soldiers take, past the craters. the russian line is only a mile and a half. (boom) [explosions] nick: we just heard an explosion nearby so we are just taking a little cover -- a lot of cover. right now we are trying to walk along the ee line so that we're not too visible. trying to get to these ukrainian trenches down the road here. dobra dein how are you? trees may conceal, but don't protect from t incoming. [explosion] the trench is the safest defense. ukraine's front line is 700 miles l

nick schifrin has their stories. nick: afghan women are undaunted. but they are hunted. woman in the red scarf, she and her friends are at war. the taliban target her, and other female activists who dare to protest. including last august, on what they call the dark day, one year of taliban rule. we spoke to her by phone and are protecting her identity. >> they beat me and my friends up. most of us were held hostage. they were shooting guns right in front of us, and they were thatening us. nick: before the taliban takeover, she worked in the government. her daughters attended school. they, and she, lost everything. she's fighting for the life she once had. for that, she's punished. >> they hit my back with the butt of a rifle. they hit my hands with a whip. they kicked me, too.ust like me, most of my friends have been beaten up and arrested. some of my friends were taliban hostages for almost a month. nick: nevertheless, she persists, demanding change, but suffering immediate blowback. >> after every protest, i couldn't go home for almost a month because there was the pos

nick schifrin has that story. mick: the earthquake devastated a region already scarred by a brutal war. for more than a decade, the redence of idlib have endured bombardment by the syrian military and its russian allies, as well as one of the world's largest humanitarian crises. the syrian civil defense, known as the white helmets, has spent years trying to say victims of bombings. now they are trying to save victims of the earthquake. ismail alabdullah is a volunteer. >> we need help from everyone to save our people. nick: ismail alabdullah joins me now from idlib province. welcome to the newshour. you and your teams have spent the last couple days combing througthe debris of people's homes, of buildings that have collapsed, trying to save people's lives. what are the conditions? pres. zelenskyy: the largest -- ismail: the largest scale of destruction is the great difficulty we are facing now. the earthquake caused massive damage in every city and village. many places collapsed completely, entire families under t

in the moment, nick schifrin interviews the ambassador the to u.n., but first, he looks at at the urgent somalia. nick: across the arid landscape of southern somalia, families are on the move, to try to escape death by starvation. they set up tent cities, this one in baidoa. bundobo hassan left her home after her livestock was killed by drought. >> we just survive on what people give us, we just eat what we have. nick: somalia faces its worst drought in 40 years. the last five rainy seasons have been dry, ravaging crops, killing millions of livestock, and pushing more than one-third of the country's 17 million residents into “acute food insecurity.” current estimates say the crisis could be worse than the 2011 famine that killed more than 250,000 people. >> the level of human suffering that these communities go through is beyond comprehension. nick: victor chinyama is unicef somalia's spokesperson. >> the capacity of families and communities to withstand these climatic shocks gets eroded every single year, and that is why now you have large numbers of people that have been displaced and

nick schifrin speaks to the man whose office is trying to ensure accountability-for both corruption, imes. nick: this is all that remains of what used to be apartments. all that's left of a kitchen. the pulverized ruins, left over from a russian missile, that landed overnight. the ripped-open insides of multiple living rooms, bedrooms, families' lives their contents, , now a single collection. ukrainians are already cleaning up after russia's latest missile strike. the accountability is just beginning. we spoke to ukraine's prosecutor general, andriy kostin. >> their massive missile attacks which are happening every week or every two weeks, cause the deaths of dozens of civilians. nick: he visited washington, d.c. this week to rally support in his pursuit of justice. he says multiple russian recent missile stris, last month in dnipro, that ripped an apartment building in two, and last summer in kremenchuk, that gutted a mall, were conducted with the same type of russian missile, by the same russian unit, that he wants to prosecute. >> we definitely know that this type of missiles is o

nick schifrin is here to discuss all of that. what did we learn today? what new details?dent: u.s. officials say this was part of an international program, that the chinese have launched of spy balloon's that they say flew across 40 countries across five continents. the bloom that we are talking about here was 200 feet tall and had a jetliner size payload. according to a senior state department official it was capable of conducting intelligence collection operations. it means it can pick up communications from u.s. military base is as it flew over them. the official said it had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of correcting -- collecting and geo-locating communications and solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence sensors. officials say they are making this public, something the intelligence community as historically resisted because they are trying to pull back the curtain on chinese spying and ying to refute what beijing today said that they are trying to engage in information warfare. bouncer re

with support from the pulitzer center, nick schifrin, and videographer eric o'connor visited all threearts of the front. starting at one of the most southern points on the frontline, novosilka. and a warning, some images in this story are disturbg. nick: the road to ukraine's first tank brigade frontline position is bumpy, and tense. we're escorted by a sergeant who tells us to stay low, and move >> let's go. nick: trees provide the best cover. our guide calls ahead our position, using codewords. they refer to us as "ants" . and so we go marching in, single file, on the same path ukrainian soldiers take, past the craters. the russian line is only aile and a half. -- half away. stop, get down. we've just heard an explosion nearby, and are taking cover. we're trying to walk along the tree line so that we're not too visible. trying to get to these ukrainian trenches down the road here. dobra dein, how are you? trees may conceal, but don't protect from the incoming. the trench is the safest defense. ukraine's frontline is 700 miles long. this trench, just one small section, 1000 feet, eigh

geoff: nick schifrin reporting from eastern ukraine. thank you. ♪ amna: britain expects 3000 to 4000 unaccompanied children to cross the english channel in small boats this year. the government is trying to devise a way to keep these young asylum seekers safe after the abduction of 200 unaccompanied minors while supposedly under the state's care. from brighton, special correspondent malcolm brabant reports. >> the remains of brighton's west. and the return of migrating birds are a metaphor for britain's so asylum system. scores of unaccompanied minors by ruthless criminal gangs. brighton is one of britain's sanctuary cities, where refugees and economic migrants are welcome to add supposed to feel secure. yet this quiet residential street was anything but safe for 76 unaccompanied minors temporarily housed in this hotel. it's feared they're now drug runners or sex slaves >> it's a massive scandal, and i think the government are not taking it seriously and they never have. malcolm: besides being deputy leader of the city council, hannah a