jonathan, good morning. i think there are a couple of factors here. first of all, the slow space in mariupol and the struggle with russian troops, that they seem to be having, gaining complete control of that region, and so they turn their attention to odesa. obviously, wanting to control the coastline there and traveling in and out but it is also crippling grain shipments that need to be delivered across the world. of course ukraine produces so much grain that it is used on the world market, and so that is another factor in all of this. they re trying to make sure that they can control and in some ways really deny any funds coming into ukraine for that grain that they were hoping to ship out. it s been a process, as you talked about, over the last 48 hours, that has been been intense shelling. and talk about those missiles that were soviet era missiles, that were recovered, according to ukraine authorities, they believe that that is a clear sign that the russians are
instead, macron proposed a new quote european political community. yesterday, to include countries with aspirations of joining the eu. but his comments come in direct contrast with those made by the president of the eu s own executive branch who just last month told ukraine s president that the country s application could be approved within weeks. ukraine belongs to the european family. we ve heard your request lud and clear. and today, we need to give you a first look. we know a lot about each other, because we ve been working together so intensively over the last years, so it will be not as usual a matter of years to form this opinion, but i think a matter of weeks. yesterday, the eu leader said she spoke with ukraine s president volodymyr zelenskyy to discuss quote eu support and ukraine s european pathway.
but many of them are literally, according to u.s. official, stuck in the mud there, and not making any real progress. and the resistance from ukraine fighters in that region has been outstanding. and in fact, as we talked about in the past, they already pushed back some of those units, from the area of kharkiv. the second largest city here in ukraine. so those forces are being met with staunch resistance, from the ukrainian fighters, and are running low, we are told on just the basics of supplies, including fuel, to move forward. even in the route to the war, u.s. officials had previewed that ukraine s muddy season would be an im medment to russia s advance and we re seeing that now. nbc s jay gray. thank you very much. stay safe. we appreciate it. president biden has asked congress to separate the latest aid package from ukraine from a covid relief bill hoping to get the ukrainian aid passed as quickly as possible. the president initially
some that might arrive on short notice so you need to set your dvr to record every night at 9:00 p.m. show which means setting it to record the rachel maddow show and msnbc prime. that s going to do it for me for tonight. way too early with jonathan lemire is up next. more death and destruction in ukraine. as russian missiles hit the black sea port city of odesa. and at one point, forcing the european council president who was visiting into a bomb shelter. this, as president biden puts new pressure on congress to approve his nassive request for ukraine aid. we ll tell you what that means for the covid relief bill the democrats say is also a priority. plus, inflation remains a top concern for voters heading into the midterms and today, the president is expected to announce his plan to lower costs. we ll have a preview. and the fight over abortion
a halt to this war. bloomberg tv s ann marie, thank you, as always. we ll speak soon. coming up on morning joe, the latest in ukraine after there are attacks in odesa again. plus, we ll hear from president petro poporoshenko. former u.s. attorney general eric holder says the court was broken long before the leak. eric holder will be a guest. as i mentioned, former secretary of defense mark esper joins with a tell-all from his time in the trump administration. morning joe a few moments away. welcome to the eat fresh refresh at subway wait, that s new wait, you re new too nobody told you? subway s refreshing with better ingredients, better footlongs, and better spokespeople. because you gotta you gotta refresh to be fresh