nbc s jesse kirsch crunches the numbers reporter: for months, ann bell thought about saving money and the planet by swapping out her suv for an electric vehicle. but she was still on the fence until gas prices skyrocketed after russia invaded ukraine. she took the plunge. buying a 2020 nissan leaf i am in love with it, especially as i drive past gas stations reporter: she s not the only one shifting gears. auto research firm edmund said its website traffic for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles is up 84% from just last month. bell decided to buy in late february and found a car days later. i was a very lucky person reporter: more and more people are thinking about flipping the switch to an all-electric vehicle. but that means you ll have a tough time even finding one of those cars to find here in the chicago suburbs, we re on a lot with hundreds of vehicles new and used, and only one of them is fully electric. people who never bought one before say, hey,
what likelihood is there that peace talks could have any results? reporter: you know, jose, we heard those comments from president zelenskyy saying the time to talk is now. since then we ve heard from the russian foreign minister who says any final agreement must include a promise from ukraine that they won t join nato jose cal perry in lviv, thank you. russia s bloody, costly, and so far unsuccessful invasion has been denounced by much of the world. but what about those inside russia? how much are they being told about what s actually happening with the war? kathy park reports reporter: russian president vladimir putin making a rare public appearance justifying the invasion in ukraine, as thousands appeared to pack a moscow stadium friday putin saying, the best proof is how our boys are fighting at this special military operation, shoulder to shoulder they help and support each other his message blurring the realities of the bloodshed in ukraine
ukrainian authorities now say at least 112 children have died and that another 140 are wounded. overnight, ukraine s president zelenskyy released another defiant video shot in the streets of kyiv, calling for peace talks, saying it s the only chance for russia to minimize the damage done with their own mistakes tonight, there s growing concern the fighting could spill farther west after this air strike friday in the outskirts of lviv, just 40 miles from the polish border and nato territory even though life has gone on mostly as normal here in lviv, there are constant reminders that this is a country at war today in the middle of the day, air raid sirens but some of the worse suffering remains in the besieged southern port city of mariupol, which has endured a relentless russian onslaught for weeks. this is a new satellite image of the bombed out theater, where a massive rescue operation is still underway to save people trapped underneath the rubble.
equipment in punishing winter weather so, courtney, these nato exercises, do they have anything to do with what s going on in ukraine? well, the exercises are not specifically intended to prepare for a conflict with russia, the reality is this year that s in the back of many people s minds, jose courtney kube at thank you. still ahead, the race to contain those deadly texas wildfires. plus how two states cut around 30 cents off the price of gas overnight.
two weeks. translator: it s very difficult to leave them behind. reporter: tonight an ominous sunset in kyiv, as ukraine braces for more fighting yet to come and gabe joins us now live from lviv gabe, there are now troubling allegations some ukrainians may be getting sent forcibly to russia. reporter: yes, jose according to the mariupol city council, russian troops have rounded up thousands of residents over the past week and deported them to russia nbc news has not been able to verify that, jose gabe gutierrez in lviv, thank you. we re going to take a step back for a moment and try to cut through the fog of war. the barrage of daily headlines can sometimes obscure the big picture of how far russia has actually advanced in this war, how successful ukraine has been in battling them, and at what cost to both. cal perry lays it out for us from the western part of ukraine. reporter: today, another claim of battlefield success for ukraine, the death of another russian general,