started seeing ukrainians standing in front of tanks, i thought, oh, god, don t do that, they re going to shoot you and the russians tried to politely tried to get them out of the way because their heart, as jay said, their heart is not in this battle. russian hearts not in this battle. even the oligarchs are saying, what is going on? vladimir putin is alone. it is hard to fight a war against a country as stubborn and determined as ukraine when you are afraid to sit within 20 feet of even your top ministers. joe, we know that soldiers follow their orders, and in the next several days we are going to see a level of anguish and a level of moral difficulty, not just in ukraine but for the whole world as we watch a country that s now going to be subject to all the power that russia amassed on the borders. i mean the convoy is just part
of this force. the russians hope to be able to avoid crushing the city of kyiv. their battle plan always was to surround it. they were waiting for the europeans basically to give up, for zelenskyy to flee the country and they ve stood firm. so the russians are having to change their plans, but don t imagine they don t still have the power to crush ukraine. i don t think that putin is ready to accept failure, which means that much more carnage is ahead. for all of us as we watch this, you know, outside invader try to squeeze the life out of freedom-loving people, speaking of zelenskyy this morning, it is going to be a terrible moment for all of us because we are all going to think, the west is going to think, we need to help these people, how do we help them without risking world war iii. right. that s what the next week is going to feel like. and that s the frustration a lot of people feel, why can t we
intensity, the passion of the polish feeling of nationalism, of the roots of their culture, of their anger at what putin is doing with russia, and of their solidarity with ukraine. that s the most important lifeline that ukraine will have going forward. a very dark heard is about to begin, as we ve been saying. it is wonderful to hear zelenskyy give his speech this morning, but just over the next day or two we are going to see some nightmare scenes of a country being crushed and its best friend will be its closest friend, poland. we will be trying to help in every way we can, but we ve said we re not going to provide troops. the pols said we will provide a corridor to help your partisans, your resistance struggles in these days ahead. so poland is crucial. i can only imagine, mika, what your dad would say if he were at the table with us here. he would just feel the deepest pride and conviction, not just
russian missile hitting kharkiv s government building. no word on deaths there yet. president zelenskyy condemned the attack and called it a war crime. this as the head of a region east of the capital said at least 70 soldiers were killed yesterday after a russian missile attack on a military base. nbc news has not yet identified verified those numbers. meanwhile, the international criminal court said it will open an investigation into possible war crimes perpetrated by russia. let s bring in our reporters on the ground. nbc news correspondent cal perry live from lviv, ukraine, in the western part of the country. and nbc international correspondent keir simmons is in moscow. let me begin with you on the ground in ukraine.
you are where there is a refugee crisis under way as the attack continues on the eastern part of the country. reporter: yes. look, my access to the front lines and the violence is through the faces of those who are fleeing and we are seeing it here in the city of lviv where hundreds of thousands of people are transiting through and they look shell shocked. people are coming from as far as kharkiv, 600 miles away. we are hearing people packing their cars, taking what they could, driving through the city of kharkiv, getting stuck while the heavy bombardment takes care of them. they get here where it is supposed to be safe and quiet and they are met with air raid sirens. people do not know the scope of which russia will widen the invasion. you talk about the satellite images, maxar technologies, 40 miles of tanks headed to the capital. people are keenly aware of it. we know what russians have played out in the past, grozny,