counteroffensives around the country? reporter: yeah, i mean he said that. you know, they think, and he used the word low hanging fruit. they think, i think a lot like u.s. intelligence and the pentagon believes that these forces, if they are moving back and some are going to belarus, regrouping, maybe being refitted, resupplied and then redirected, and what we re seeing is that certainly, the beginnings of a major redirection toward donbas which the foreign minister confirmed. now that, of course, as we all know, is that eastern part, part of which the russians invaded in 2014 and occupied ever since, and it looks like that s what they re going to be focusing on, but they are also very likely to keep harassing and trying to pin down any kind of, you know, ukrainians in other parts like even here have been missiles, wasn t today, but yesterday, even as they were conducting these new operations. so it s not as if the threat to the rest of the country is over,
i m doing which is counter attacking in northern kyiv. that would fix them in place and not allow them to reposition en masse to the east. i would continue to attack them as they go into belarus to get refitted or russia to get refitted. i would not give them a free pass. so i suspect not only the ukrainian main defending units, the ukrainian army, but the ukrainian resistance are wreaking havoc in the rear areas. is there anything that can be done from a military standpoint for mariupol right now? wow, that s a tough one. that is a real that s a that is an unfortunate situation. the only thing that can be done is they have to conduct an offensive operation to free a zone, a lane, if you will, by
civilians? for sure, civilians. reporter: now relatively safe, they say lviv feels like a different universe. how does it feel seeing the pictures that you saw over the weekend? it could be us. reporter: you could be you? yes, it was just the luck, no less, no more. that was molly hunter reporting. ukrainian forces continue to make progress and have retaken key territories in the north of the country, but senior defense officials warn that while russia appears to be pulling back troops from around kyiv this shift does not mean the ukrainian capital is not still under threat. officials believe the russian troops are being refitted, resupplied and possibly reinforced with additional manpower, and will then be repositioned around ukraine to continue fighting elsewhere. defense officials assess troops will be moved to the eastern part of the country in the
we believe the russians are committing war crimes in ukraine. they need to be documented. evidence needs to be collected. investigations need to be completed. the united states, the united states, not just the d.o.d., the united states will be participant in that process. it comes as a senior u.s. defense official tells nbc news that about two-thirds of the troops that were centered around kyiv have now repositioned. the u.s. believes they are being refitted, resupplied, and perhaps reinforced with additional manpower, and will then be sent right back into ukraine to continue to fight elsewhere. the u.s. thinks they may go to the donbas region. it s a thought founded in the continued bombardment, brutal bombardment of key southern cities, including mariupol. that s where we start the hour with my friend and colleague, ali velshi, live from lviv. you are doing yeoman s work so i try not to bother you, but your tweets shocked me out of sort of my weekend respite from the
we just got a new assessment in from the pentagon which says about two-thirds of the russian military has left kyiv, but a senior u.s. defense official is warning russia may be getting refitted, resupplied and possibly reinforced with more manpower. let me go straight to kelly o connell there at the white house. i have to imagine that the situation in this ukrainian town of bucha is going to be front and center in this discussion. reporter: we expect that is why that jake sullivan was added to this afternoon s briefing. the president, when he got off of marine one this morning, made a point of coming over to reporters instead of reporters trying to draw him in. that s an important distinction in the rhythms of the president. he wanted to make that statement about what has happened in ukraine and specifically the events that he is calling new events of war crimes. and he was asked specifically if he thinks it is genocide. he made a distinction. it will be interesting to see