"early today" starts right now >>> good morning i'm vinita nair. >> and i'm frances rivera. we begin this day now 35 of the war in ukraine today's peace talks bringing a shred of hope for the war torn nation but ukraine and russia remain skeptical including the biden administration ukraine addressed biden's promises >> we'll see i don't read anything into it until we see what their actions are. >> now to nbc's gabe gutierrez who was onviv with more. good morning >> reporter: vinita and frances, good morning those concessions by the russians during the peace talks yesterday were met with widespread skepticism around the world. the russians saying they would drastically reduce military action in and around kyiv as well as the northern city of chernihiv, and the ukrainians meanwhile saying they would consider giving up their nato ambitions and being a neutral nation, but this would all have to go before a referendum before the ukrainian people and that could take some time still that concession by the russians has been seen widely by military analysts as potentially being a way

. >> hi vinita, good morning. this is seen as an escalation of the conflict by russia, as you mention. just yesterday the ministry of defense admitted for the first time the use of those hypersonic missiles and combat. you saw that video of what russia says is one of those missiles hitting a target in western ukraine, underground ammunition depot in the western part of the country. just this morning, we are hearing again from the russian ministry of defense, saying it connected more strikes. at least one second strike using those hypersonic missiles. vinita, as you mentioned, those missiles of at the center of an arms race with russia in the u.s. for several years. basically what makes this so concerning is that these types of missiles basically of a all missile air defense systems. they are extremely difficult to shoot down, they travel up to speeds of up to ten times the speed of sound, and also they have a range of more than 1200 miles. all very concerning. but i want to point your attention, a need, it to anot

i'm vinita air. >> and i'm frances rivera. russia says 33 people were killed when they a military base near the polish border another 31 people were injured in the air strike. during public remarks, president zelenskyy doubled down on the need for a no-fly zone zelenskyy argued after the bombing only about 15 miles from poland the u.s. would inevitably be battling russia above skies if a nato union was hit. >>> an award-winning american journalist was killed outside kiev another journalist was wounded in the attack. >>> we turn now to nbc's molly hunter who's live in lviv. mo molly, the u.s. has agreeted to work closely with ukraine to see where russia may use chemical weapons. >> reporter: that's right. late last week jen psaki in a white house press conference said they should be very concerned about the risk the war could escalate in this way with russians using chemical weapons and nonconventional weapons. she said we should all be on the lookout for russia to use chemical weapons or create a false flag operation in using

i'm vinita n >> now at 4:30, a growing plea for help.ainst ukraine reaching new depths as troops are closing in on the capital of kyiv. and a new curfew technical glits teachers without pay. the protest under way to make sure they get their money. >> and meteorologist kari hall is tracking light rain in parts of the bay area. how long will the wet weather last? we'll ask her in just a bit.

. >> good morning and happy friday i'm vinita nair. >> good to be with you i'm frances rivera the academy awards was last night and, man, one moment in particular has everyone talking. we'll talk about the physical confrontation between will smith and chris rochlkt it happened after chris rock told a joke about jada smith being bald and g.i. jane. the joke didn't sit well with jada's husband will smith. take a look. >> oh, wow wow. will smith just smacked the [ bleep ] out of me. >> out your [ bleep ] mouth. >> wow, dude. >> yes. >> it was a g.i. jane joke. >> keep my wife's name out of your [ bleep ] mouth. >> i'm going to. >> moments later smith came back to the stage after winning for best actor and in his speech talked about being a defender of his family. >> i'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people i want to apologize to the academy. i want to apologize to all of my fellow nominees. >> reaction this morning is rampant. look here. the "daily news. the new york "daily news," fresh hit of bel air, and the "new york post" went wit

i'm vinita nair. >> i'm francis rivera. powerful winds whipped across louisiana overnight. possible tornado damage seen here in the town of big branch a twister touched down in the same area just one week ago. now there are numerous reports of downed trees and power lines. in new orleans tourists on boshen street were sent scrambling wind gust reached up to 60 miles per hour and a tornado was spotted northeast of the city, i the big easy is also facing a flooding risk >> there are more than 150,000 power outages being reported this morning many of those ipmississippi and alabama where there's been multiple sightings of tornados. this all comes after two ef-2 tornados sent several people to the hospital on wednesday. nbc meteorologist bills has been up all night tracking the severe weather is it over is it done in. >> i think we're past it but still not done it doesn't look like any of those were the big huge ones, the ones that take out a whole town we haven't had any reports of fatalities gar we see the blue dots was high wind reports or wind damage so here's what we're lo

before i answer that, i want to shout out to vinita gupta. if you listen to her speech, she touched on a number of things that are really important. they she talked about guns. she talked about violence. she talked about morale, she talked about restoring public trust. we did a survey of all our police chiefs. that was the number one criteria. they thought, what was the most important thing that keeps them up at night, and it's restoring public trust. and she mentioned something about monitoring, about better control of monitoring. we've been watching that for years. she knows this issue. she's doing something. so just a little shout out that we have someone that's hearing us. >>> let me ask you all a question. the mayors, which i love to talk to. raise your hand if you're having trouble hiring police officers. okay, raise your hand if you're not having trouble hiring police officers. let me hear from the mayors who are not having trouble. what are you doing right? because this is the number one issue that keeps mayors and police chiefs up. i

i'm vinita nair. >> i'm frances rivera.nd the award for the most dramatic moment at the oscars goes to will smith with chris rock in a supporting role. the slap that stole the academy awards and what will smith said later in his best actor speech plus all the big winners. >>> president biden reaffirms that the u.s. is not seeking regime change in russia after denouncing vladimir putin and his latest in hard-hit mariupol. >> with sinking poll numbers for the president, the administration is proposing a new tax increase that could hit high earners up to 20%. >>

the first interest rate hikes since 2019 >>> thanks for being with us fry francis rivera >> and i'm vinita nair we begin with breaking news in west texas the department of safety confirmed a head-on collision between a pickup truck and a van. the van was carrying members of the university southwest men and women's golf teams a spokesperson for the dps said there were fatalities in both vehicles which caught fire but they're unsure how many people have died. coach tyler james was among those killed in the crash. we'll have much more on this breaking news story throughout the morning. >>> russia's attack on ukraine growing more intense now 21 days into the invasion. the kremlin's forces increasing bombing on the capital of kyiv which is now under extended curfew and 27 people were evacuated and at least two were injured after shelling caused an apartment building to collapse this morning. we turn to nbc's molly hunter who's live in lviv, and, molly, despite the dangers of traveling to kyiv three european prime ministers made the trip to visit with prime minister zelenskyy. >> reporter: yeah,

"early today" starts right now good morning and thanks for waking up with us, i'm vinita nair. >> glad you're with us, i'm frances riff ver have a. >>> the moment that stole the show and changed the tone of the entire night at the academy awards award-winning actor will smith getting physical with fellow actor and comedian chris rock. the contentious moment happened late into the ceremony when comedian chris rock told a joke about actress jada pinkett smith starring in "g.i. jane 2" apparently because her head is shaved she has spoken in the past about experiencing hair loss due to alopecia the joke didn't sit well with husband will smith, who walked on stage and slapped chris, take a look [ laughter ] >> oh, wow wow! will smith just smacked the [ bleep ] out of me. [ laughter ] >> keep my wife's name out your [ bleep ]ing mouth. >> wow, dude >> yeah. >> it was a "g.i. jane" joke. >> keep my wife's name out your [ bleep ] mouth! >> i'm going to. >> the whole tone of the ceremony shifted after that moment smith came back to the stage after winning best actor for his role in "king richar

i'm vinita mair. >> i'm frances rivera. breaking overnight a seismic shift in the capitol riot investigation. former president trump and his allies were involved in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. nbc's brie jackson is in d.c. with the latest. brie, good morning this is major change for this investigation. >> reporter: good morning, frances. that's absolutely right. this is the first time that the committee has suggested there may be evidence to conclude that mr. trump committed crimes to stay in office the sprawling new court document largely focuses on trump aligned lawyer john eastman who wrote memos arguing then vice president mike pence could overturn the election. eastman has claimed attorney-client privilege. this brief argues for a court review of eastman's documents saying the committee has reason to believe the material could show mr. trump engaged in a crime, specifically obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the united states and common law fraud. trump and eastman hav