personnel to leave the country. and warning americans to avoid travel to ukraine and russia. we'll get reports from our team on the ground in both ukraine and russia. meanwhile, back here in the u.s., burnout, anxiety, and exhaustion. those are some of the feelings among nurses as hospitals grapple with the highly contagious omicron variant. also happening right now, the leader of the far-right group, the oathkeepers, will appear in a texas courtroom after facing charges for his involvement in the january 6th riot. and this morning out west, a wildfire has forced hundreds to evacuate from their homes as firefighters work around the clock to contain the blaze. and we begin this morning with a show of force by nato amid increasing tensions between russia and ukraine. the military alliance says the u.s. and other members are putting forces on standby and sending additional ships and fighter jets to eastern europe to bolster defenses and deter russian president vladimir putin. a senior administration official tells nbc news the u.s. is having conversations with nato countries that could receive u.s. military assets. this as russia continues to build up its forces along the border with ukraine and in neighboring country of belarus. and secretary of state tony blinken is talking with europe foreign ministers one day after reiterating the u.s. and its allies will respond strongly to anyone russian action against ukraine. >> there'll be a swift response. there'll be a calibrated response. there'll be a united response. so what we're doing, and i've been engaged in close consultations with all of our european allies and partners, including in europe last week, to make sure that across all of these scenarios, we have a clear and united skpons we will. >> and joining me to talk about this is matt bradley in ukraine, matt bodner in moscow. he lane cooper, "new york times" pentagon correspondent and an msnbc contributor. and evelyn farkas, former deputy secretary of state for russia, ukraine, and eurasia. helane, what more can you tell us about what this deployment would look like? >> well, it's interesting to -- and good morning. thanks for having me, jose. it's really interesting to know that first of all the troop deployment that president biden is considering would be to nato's eastern flank. he's not talking about sending troops to ukraine itself. that's a nonstarter for biden, who doesn't want to ramp up another american war after, particularly after 20 years in afghanistan, but he is very worried about nato unity and about reassuring the very skittish and wary eastern europeans, what they call nato's eastern flank, and that's the baltics, you're talking about latvia, lithuanian, estonia, the poles are very worried. the people who are closest -- the countries who are closest to russia are very concerned about, a, whether they might be next. they're very concerned about being so close to a potential russia/ukraine war. so the whole point of sending american troops would be to sort of bolster and reassure those countries that are in nato. remember, ukraine is not a part of nato, that are in nato, that the u.s. and nato, the alliance itself has its back. but that's also really -- in the past, the united states has sort of tiptoed, the biden administration, and administrations before president biden have tiptoed around the whole question of putting too many u.s. troops or nato troops on -- close to russia and right on the russian -- closer to the russian border, for fear of provoking russia. but now you're seeing a sea change. i think the administration has sort of given up on the idea that their moves are going to influence vladimir putin, and they're pivoting now to a more muscular posture. while at the same time, they're still saying that you're not going to see american troops inside ukraine itself. >> yeah -- >> at least -- >> that were already there. >> helane, you're reporting showing that the president is considering sending u.s. troops, but not a part of a nato, larger group of troops that could be sent though those countries. >> well, nato is also -- nato countries are also looking at deploying -- at the possibility of deploying nato forces, as well, and pushing them to the east. so all of that is up in the air right now. >> matt bodner, has the russian government had anything to say about what's all going on? what the plans are and what now the united states and nato is considering doing? >> jose, they definitely have. so we heard from the kremlin just a few hours ago, and basically, the kremlin spokesman put this all at the foot of the u.s. and nato, saying that it is those two entities that are responsible for driving up these tensions in eastern europe right now. of course, the kremlin is saying this, having deployed a very large proportion of its combat-ready troops to the borders of eastern europe and to belarus, into ukraine. but you know, just kind of taking a step back from for a second, from my position here, it looks like we are textbook example of a security dilemma. they have the russians justifying their moves. they've been using that before, based on what they say nato is doing. you now have nato in response. we just keep getting into an ever-mar dangerous situation by the day, with both sides blaming each other and not really talking. so they're definitely aware of these troops coming in, or at least the talks of it. they will use it to justify their own actions. and by the way, also, the kremlin spokesman today said that they are seeing evidence of ukraine preparing their own offenive on eastern ukraine. this is the lay of the land today. >> and evelyn, i'm wondering how you see all of this. is this action by the united states and other nato allies going to deter or help deter putin or maybe the contrary? >> well, jose, thanks again for having me on the show. i think it's really critical that we continue to deter vladimir putin. so far, the jury still out. all he has done, every day, is escalate the situation further. and by putting those forces that helane mentioned into belarus, he actually now has created a situation that nato has to respond to, because belarus shares a border with poland, latvia, and lithuania. those are nato countries. that's part of the reason why this new issue of contemplating putting u.s. and other nato forces in there. but more needs to be done. we need to get vladimir putin to back down and noord that, we need to show that ukraine defend itself. we to help ukraine with air defense, with maritime defense, with intelligence support. and also diplomatically at the united nations, because this is a global issue. >> i'm just wondering, and please give us a little bit more context on what you were saying about the belarus situation, because that was a step that was taken over the weekend. what is it that you are seeing that the russians are doing, that is prompting these reactions? >> well, putting more forces into belarus, obviously threatens ukraine, because they share a border with ukraine. and we know that russia is already threatening ukraine, you know, or almost all around its borders. but it also means that there's now greater contingent of russian forces and equipment and, you know, i don't have access to the intelligence about what that equipment is, but that puts then the nato allies in some greater danger. and we know that vladimir putin will not stop with ukraine. and latvia, lithuania, and estonia, the baltic countries that are nato members, they used to be part of the soviet union. vladimir putin has this idea that he should have a sphere of influence that starts, at least, with the former soviet union. so, again, this is why it's so important to stop him in ukraine. because if he gets his way with ukraine, and that doesn't mean that he has to control the whole territory, but if he controls the government, he'll try to use his military to intimidate all the other governments that he would like to have control over. >> where have we seen this before? you know, when have we seen this before? >> actually, so this is interesting. because the last time we saw this was in '90/'91 when saddam hussein invaded kuwait, and said, i hereby annex kuwait. kuwait is now part of iraq. and the international community, you know, went to the united nations, we put together a coalition and condemned saddam hussein at the time and told him he had to withdraw. russia is a nuclear-armed country, so it's a little different, we're not going to put together an armed coalition, but we certainly need to deter putin and get him to try to stand back. and diplomatically, we need to put the pressure on russia, because he is challenging the international order. the rules of the road that govern and keep us safe and have kept us safe since world war ii. >> matt bradley, you're on the ground there. we're talking about ukraine from, you know, a distance. how is the situation where you are? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, jose, if you walk around kiev, like i've been doing, really, it's quite quiet. there's no panic. all the stores are open. people are walking around. you really don't get the feeling in this city that there is a massive world power breathing down its neck, threatening to invade. and in fact, you know, the drums of war here are really heard from a distance. you just don't get that feeling here. and there's a couple of reasons why. one, you know, i've spoken with some ukrainians. they were saying that they -- they reminded me that they've been at war for the past eight years, the separatist part of their country in the east, with russian-backed fighters who are pro-moscow. so this isn't necessarily new for them. a lot of ukrainians also really believe that putin is bluffing. and that he won't actually invade. and that a lot of this stuff has been drummed up. some of them believe putin's line that it's the u.s. and nato who are needlessly escalating this situation. while a lot of people here really don't trust vladimir putin. and there's a lot of frustration here. because the ukrainians haven't been involved in the negotiations, to such an extent that you would expect for a country that is directly affected by the results of those -- of that diplomacy. so, you know, the ukrainians feel as though they've been left out. and this is something that they've observed and felt for generation after generation. ever since world war ii or before world war ii. they've seen moscow using ukraine, using their country as a cudgel with which to beat the west. and that's hugely frustrated. everything that they've seen in history that involved ukraine, even though, in the impeachment of donald trump a couple of years ago, that had everything to do with ukraine and nothing to do with ukraine at the same time. and ukrainians are frustrated that they are merely observers for their own fate. jose? >> yeah. matt bradley, matt bodner, evelyn farkas and helane cooper, thank you for being with me this morning. now to breaking news from the u.s. supreme court where the justices have agreed to hear arguments on another case with affirmative action. joining me now, myla wiley and pete williams. pete, tell us more about what the supreme court will be looking at in this case. >> it will be looking at whether or not affirmative action is constitutional or discriminatory, in both a private university, harvard, and a public university, the university of north carolina. the supreme court will be hearing these cases in the fall. but, you know, it's been six years since the supreme court upheld affirmative action, saying that colleges and universities can use it as one factor to be considered among many in order to achieve a more diverse student body, which the supreme court said has educational benefits. but a group called students for affirmative -- for fair admissions, rather, has challenged the process, saying that it discriminates against asian americans in the case of harvard and both asians and whites in the case of unc. two things have changed, jose, since the supreme court last looked at this issue. and that is the retirements of both anthony kennedy and ruth bader ginsburg, who were both supporters of affirmative action, replaced by trump appointees who take a less-friendly view towards affirmative action. this is the most serious challenge to affirmative action to school admissions in decades and it may spell the end of this in public and private universities, as well. >> maya, what do you make of this move by the supreme court to revisit the issue? >> you know, i view it as deeply troubling, for the reasons that pete has already said, which is, number one, the supreme court has a long history, including with republican members of the bench, like justice sandra day o'connor as well as justice kennedy in upholding affirmative action, doing so last in 2016 for the university of texas. but that it's very hard to imagine that they're not taking this case up in order to revisit long-standing precedent on affirmative action. and you know, we really have to consider something here about how even the dynamics on the supreme court underscore how important it is to have diverse colleges and universities, which is that one of the reasons that sandra day o'connor in 2003 upheld allowing race as a factor in admissions, because there were so many amicus brief, friend of the court briefs filed, especially by u.s. military, saying it was an issue of national security, to have our ability to work together, including our differences, on the armed forces. but also on the court, one of the things that she understood about society, she learned because justice thurgood marshall was on the bench with her for all of those years. they formed a close relationship and she learned about experiences in this country that she could not know as someone who was white. and the very fact that we inform ourselves about experiences, particularly for blacks, latinos, native americans, for all of our residents, is by having relationships with one another, is one of the things that we need considered when we talk about what it means to have a quality education and a fair admissions process. so i worry about what it indicates that they've done. >> maya wiley and pete williams, thank you so much for being with me this morning. right now, stewart roads, the founder of the far-right militia group the oathkeepers is facing a federal judge in a texas courtroom. earlier this month, roads and ten others were charged with seditious conspiracy related to the january 6th attack on the capitol. joining me now is nbc news correspondent, ken dilanian. ken, what's expected to happen today? >> reporter: good morning, jose. prosecutors will make their case as to why roads should be held without bail as this case makes its way to trial, which really underscores the extraordinary nation of this prosecution. although roads is alleged to have brought weapons to the d.c. area, he's not accused of personally carrying out any violent act himself. but prosecutors say that the charges that he led a seditious conspiracy are so serious that they merit the extraordinary step of keeping him behind bars with no bail. making that argument, prosecutors told the judge that rhodes spearheaded a conspiracy to oppose by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of presidential power in the united states. and they say bail should be denied, because the case involves the use of weapons. prosecutors say rhodes spent over 22,000 on firearms and ammunition in the weeks before january 6th. prosecutors also say that rhodes is a flight risk, because he lacks a permanent address and lastly, they say, there's a risk that he could tamper with witnesses in evidence and they note that he's already charged with one count of tampering with documents to hide evidence of the alleged conspiracy. now, his lawyers -- rhodes' lawyers are expected to argue that, look, he's been around for a year while this investigation has been unfolding. the prosecutors have known his whereabouts. they've been fine with keeping him free then, so why should he be in jail now? his lawyers are also saying that this case is without merit. that much of what he said is protected under the first amendment to the constitution. so that's the set of arguments that's shaping up in court today, jose. >> ken dilanian, thank you very much for that update. >> you bet. still ahead, some hospitals are strained with covid patients right now, they are asking staffers who are sick with covid to come back to work. plus, what's fuelling a rare winter wildfire in california that's already forced hundreds to flee? you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." flee? you're watching "jose you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports.eartburn waking her up. now, that dream... . ...is her reality. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts, for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 h without heartburn? voiceover: riders. wanderers on the road of life. the journey is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in. - [narrator] every three minutes, a child is born with a cleft condition. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... without surgery, some will die. those who do survive face extreme challenges. operation smile works to heal children born with cleft conditions. we need you. there are still millions in dire need of healing. go to operationsmile.org today and become a monthly supporter, or call. (gentle music) as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable nationwide network. with no line activation fees or term contracts... saving you up to $500 a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business: powering possibilities. now to the latest on the coronavirus pandemic, just in the last hour, top infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci joined my colleague, stephanie ruhle, to discuss the state of the omicron surge. is he said that while cases have tapered off in the northeast, the rest of the country still has a ways to go. >> in some of the southern states and the western states, it has not yet peaked and it's either continuing to go up or leveling off, which is the first step towards getting to that peak and turning around. i believe that in the next few weeks, we will see, as a country, that it is all turning around. >> all of this as health care centers out west continue to grapple with the surge, with nurses bracing for what's ahead. joining me now is nbc news correspondent, jesse kirsch. also with us is dr. vin gupta, a pulmonologist and global health policy expert. he's an affiliate to an assistant professor at the university of washington. also an msnbc medical contributor. jesse, you've been talking to nurses on the front line of this latest surge. what are they telling you? >> reporter: jose, some health care workers out here are questioning how much longer they can be doing this work. here in california, we continue to see hospitalizations go up. we've been seeing a seven-day average of more than 100,000 cases in california over the last two weeks. and here in southern california, the providence hospital system, including right here at st. joseph's, we are seeing according to the hospital system, a jump from about 400 covid patients to around 900 covid patients in their system over the last month. but thankfully, they are starting to see a little bit of a drop. but just to give you a sense of the distress that health care workers are seeing, a survey conducted last year of about 1,400 health care workers out here found that more than 70% of those workers were feeling fatigue and burnout. this comes from united nurse's association of california, the union of health care professionals. they were also feeling depression, suffering from insomnia, and the top two reasons that these health care workers were pointing to were fear of bringing the virus home, and also staffing issues. and this survey was conducted before both the delta and the omicron surges, so you can imagine how those feelings may be exacerbated right now. here's what we've been hearing from some health care workers in recent days. >> i wonder sometimes why i stay in it. i have that conversation with myself every time i encounter a difficult situation. just last week, a nurse in the er was bringing a patient, and she walks in to bring me a report. and i noticed, she's in tears, and i thought something had happened to the patient. and i thought, there's this terrible thing. and she looks at me and she goes, it's been nonstop. patients don't stop coming and phone doesn't stop ringing and there's so little of us. and i am so overwhelmed. >> reporter: so, again, that's what some health care workers are feeling out here in the west right now. and that's as we continue seeing those hospitalizations out here in california going up. jose? >> dr. gupta, how does this reflect on what you're hearing from your colleagues and your own personal experience. >> jose, good morning. thank you for highlighting this. we are worried in health care. one of the biggest crises we haven't talked a lot about is what happens by the end of this decade, jose. we're going to lose about 40% of our nursing capacity. a lot of nurses in the icu are looking for medically adjacent careers. we don't have enough supply in the system to replenish what we're going to lose. this is a crisis. we have icus, my icu running at sub-optimal capacity, because we don't have enough staffed bed for dialysis and other therapies. so this is a chronic crisis that's been made more acute. i think your team actually has a projection that i would like to show your viewers. it's on where you can get therapeutic medications if you're higher risk, immunocompromised, where you can get them at your zip code. go to this website, healthdata.gov. you can search for the pfizer oral anti-viral pill, for the monoclonal antibody, for pre-exposure prophylactic. we're trying to keep as many people out of the hospital as possible. this is how we do it. >> so this is key, doctor, and thank you for bringing this up. so if you would, expand a little bit more on it. who are the people that should be looking for these? how do we get access to the information. and then what do we do with that information? >> you bet. so, it's critical that folks know this website, healthdata.gov. there's two medications i want to draw your viewers' attention to. one is uvishield, it's a monoclonal antibody that's used for pre-exposure prophylactic, meaning you're over 65 or have a high-risk condition like being on chemotherapy for cancer. in that particular instance, you should just go and see if you can get access though medication, because it's pre-exposure prophylactics. this is going to help bolster your protection. folks who have leukemia, are on chemotherapy, high-dose steroids. talk to your doc, i might meet the criteria. it's a lot of the burden on the patient, but that's what we live in. paxloben. what do you do? you're higher risk, over 65 or over have poorly controlled diabetes or cancer. many of the same indications, just like i mentioned. you go though website, see if you have that medication available, this medication is more widely available in common drugstores, like our cvs or our walgreens. you go there, get your doc to prescribe that medication within the first three to five days of testing positive. this is if you've tested positive and you're higher risk. uvishield is if you're higher risk and you want to bolster your protection before you test positive. so pre-exposure prophylactic for uvishield, if you're higher risk. the oral antibody pill, early treatment if you'v been diagnosed. healthdata.gov. >> doctor, thank you so much for your this information. it's so important. i very much appreciate it. jesse kirsch, thank you for being with me this morning, as well. time now take a look at headlines out west. the deadly weekend for law enforcement, a houston deputy was in what's officials described as a brutal attack during a traffic stop. the suspect exiting the car and firing multiple times at the officer, killing him. joining us now with the very latest, nbc's steve patterson. steve, good morning. what do we know about the officer? >> reporter: jose, yeah, no doubt, deadly and really horrible weekend for officers across the country. we'll start in texas. 47-year-old houston deputy, charles galloway was shot and killed early sunday morning in which officials describe, as you mentioned, as a brutal attack. the deputy was shot multiple times after pulling over a man during a traffic stop. officials say the driver exited the vehicle and immediately began shooting galaway, who unfortunately died at the scene. using what has, characterized as an assault-style weapon. the suspect then simply driving off. harris county deputies released a statement saying that corporal galloway was very much loved by the men and women that he served with. there's a lot of broken up officers who he meant a lot to in their lives. the deputy is survived by his daughter and sister. there is a manhunt for the suspect. this incident follows another fatal attack across the country. just a few days earlier, three new york city police officers were ambushed, responding to a domestic call between a mother and a son in harlem. 22-year-old jason rivera was shot and killed. his partner, 27-year-old wilbur moral, gravely injured. the pair trapped in a narrow hallway as the suspect let loose a hail of gunfire. a third officer, a rookie, returned fire and finally hit the suspect, ending the incident. these were the third and fourth incidents in a series of new york city police shootings that started late last week. jose? >> what a tragedy. the colorado fire, meanwhile, is burning along california's big sur coast. >> reporter: yeah, jose, that wildfire sweeping over an iconic part of california late in the season. the so-called colorado fire, because it's named after california's palo california canyon grew to more than 700 acres sunday night, according to cal fire. intense, gusty winds blew the flames erratically across the area's steep canyons and famous landmarks, like the picturesque bixby bridge on highway 1. more than 200 structures are still in the threat zone, even as the winds have now started to ease and die down. and you can add this to a list of fires burning outside of the peak season, in an area with little-to-no fire history. you can imagine the vegetation, fresh fuel, as year over year, this footprint gets bigger, these fires get worse. that fire now, 35% contained. jose? >> steve patterson in los angeles, thank you so much. still ahead, why former attorney general bill barr is talking to the january 6th. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." you're ing diaz-balart reports. are you one of the millions of americans who experience occasional bloating, gas or abdominal discomfort? 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(whistle blowing) did you just spike the footlong? sorry, i didn't want the delay of game. save big. order through the app. oh, man that is wrinkly. save big. like, not even just a little wrinkly, that's a whole lot of wrinkly. i've got wrinkles on top of wrinkles! at least my shoes look good! help prevent wrinkles in the dryer with bounce wrinkleguard, the megasheet with three times the wrinkle fighting ingredients. half that's the hour, with the midterm elections just ten months away, there are some troubling signs for democrats in a brand-new nbc news poll. 72% of respondents say that the country is moving in the wrong direction. essentially, unchanged from october. democrats are facing an enthusiasm gap, with 61% of republicans saying that they are very interested in the upcoming midterms. compared to 47% of democrats. joining me now, "usa today" washington bureau chief, susan page, and carol leonnig, national investigative reporter for "the washington post" and nbc news contributor. thank you for being with me. susan, this poll is not a promising sign for either political party, especially for democrats. what does it mean, you think, looking towards the midterms? >> well, i think it's full of red flags for democrats. it's not like republicans are so popular. just about 45% favorable view for republicans, same as democrats. but when people are unhappy about the general direction of the country, they take it out on whichever party is in charge. and at the moment, that's the democratic party. i think that things can happen in ten months, on the economy and on covid, but the moment democrats are in a very sorry spot when it comes to those midterm elections. >> a lot to do with the way that the country is heading. and it's such an odd way of kind of defining that, right? how do you define how the country is going for voters? >> well, and you know, you look at jobs, jobs are doing well. wages are going up for some jobs, but people are focused not on jobs, but inflation, and the costs they see in their own household budget to inflation. and covid has been a damper on everything. there was a time last summer when we thought that we were coming out of the pandemic. that proved not to be true, because of first delta and now omicron. some more promising signs now, omicron receding, but i think people do not feel confidence that we are at the end of this pandemic. if there was a sense that the pandemic was under control, that could do a lot to lift americans' spirit. >> we've learned that the former attorney general had informal conversations with the house committee. what could that development mean for the investigation? >> keep in mind that bill barr is a person who was perhaps the president's most ardent enabler and helper, but behind the scenes, he was also, while trying to get trump re-elected, pretty angry with donald trump. and he was beside his shoulder multiple times when the president was basically demanding that somebody do something and declare the election invalid. whether the facts backed it up or not. and the most critical moment that bill barr can testify to or can provide insight to is when he basically said, and told the president, point-blank, the emperor has no clothes. this election was not rigged. i have an entire team of prosecutors and investigators who have looked into this, mr. president, and and there is no there there. these claims that rudy giuliani and sydney powell have brought you are bogus. and he can testify to the president's reaction. and from what i understand from sources to be the president's absolute defiance and demand that he produce evidence whether it existed or not. >> and some of the evidence included a draft order that would have directed the secretary of defense to send national guard troops to seize voting machines around the country, after the 2020 election. talk to us about the significance of this report? >> so, jose, you know, this would have been scary enough when it happened in realtime, that michael flynn, the former national security adviser, and sidney powell, started talking publicly. michael flynn was on television discussing this, that he was going to urge the president declare martial law, seizing the voting machines in swing states, and quote/unquote, rerun the election. well, that's really not what happens in a democracy. the newly discovered memo shows that things went a little further than just michael flynn recommending it to the president, then a little further than the president just michael flynn come in for a very unusual oval office meeting, a three-hour, free-wheeling meeting to discuss ways to block biden from the peaceful transfer of power that everyone expected. it went further than that. it went into this draft order, which is fascinating. and you've got to wonder, well, who drafted that? who was helping the president sort of formalize this idea that was discard as so insane. >> carol leonnig and susan page, thank you both very much for being with me this morning. coming up, what the complicated history between russia and cayne tells us about in a moment in time. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." t in a moment in time. you're watching "jose you're watching "jose diazal-bart reports. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to prote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day. like pulsing, electric shocks, sharp, stabbing pains, or an intense burning sensation. what is this nightmare? 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>> i think it's important for everyone to stay grounded in the fact that ukraine is a country with an ancient history going back several centuries. they identify with this history. when we had the 2014 revolution as dignity known as uruguay dawn, popular uprising led by the internet generation in ukraine, the people that came up with the internet, it was launched by a facebook post, by an afghani-born journalist. when they launched that revolution, they had murals to some of ukraine's greatest thinkers like the feminist playwright, the what women of ukraine and others so even though ukraine has not been around very long, 30 years, but the spiritual identity of being their own people goes back several centuries before moscow existed. so i think that's important to keep in mind. you have statutes to some of ukraine's cultural founders, like the men and women married off princes and princesses across europe. ann of kiev is a very strong example of ukraine's ancient ties to europe, going back many centuries. and all of this is significant, because putin has been trying to co-op this history for russia, which is part of his soviet aims to bring back the russian empire. >> ukraine may be an independent country since 1991, but it has such a rich history of wanting to live as a nation of its own. and it's always been the desire of other countries. i mean, you know, zarah's russia, poland, the soviet union, the ottoman empire. everybody's been wanting to get at ukraine, the bread basket of the soviet union, as it was called, but also, it's been the site of such horrendous foreign decisions like 1932 and 1933. talk to us about it. >> it's the stalin's genocide in ukraine. it's considered arguably the worst of the genocides that stalin committed. what he did was during his five-year plan, he went and con confiscated their grain, the people were left to starve to death. i interviewed a survivor who described how she and her brothers were boiling twigs and leaves over an open fire and a soviet soldier came and dumped this out. and in the years in the famine, the famine was put in motion earlier than that. it began as all genocides do with hate speech, with propaganda, dehumanizes ukrainians, comparing them to insects and pests, justifying that they had to be destroyed. and so there's this whole all-out attack on ukrainian national identity. the language was banned. you had ukrainian institutions shut down. you had leading ukrainian thinkers arrested or driven to suicide. the human rights lawyer, raphael lenkin, who coined the term genocide called stalin's ukraine the classic example of genocide, how genocide works. and i think what's really important is people should watch movies like my film "mr. jones," directed by three-time academy award nominee who herself has suffered under soviet repression. holland grew up in soviet-occupied poland. both of her parents were journalists. her father's official cause of death was suicide while under police interrogation. so this film was very personal for her to make, as well as for me, because of my family that suffered through stalin's genocide famine. and i think an important lesson from this dark little-known chapter is how the west is complicit in furthering the kremlin's aggression and allowing theyml with atrocities in ukraine. it has a very long the real life villain of my film is the new york pulitzer prize winner who ran the moscow bureau for "the new york times." he won the pulitzer prize for a series of articles praising stalin, essentially soviet propaganda covering up at the time that stalin was laying the groundwork for his genocide. an historian said, yes, this guy should not have won his pulitzer, this is soviet propaganda. a lot of soviet statues going down in recent years, it's about time that the pulitzer committee said we're no longer going to allow him to have his pulitzer given the atrocities he helped commit given the propaganda and disinformation. >> those who turn a blind eye must at some time or other face the history and what they helped to create. you know, it's tragic to see now putin talking how great stalin was. i'm just thinking later, you know, let's not forget a ukrainian, nikita krushiev. i thank you this morning for with being with me. the dow jones industrial average is seeing another big drop for the seventh trading day in a row, down almost 600 point. it appears to be on worries about rising tensions on russia and ukraine and fourth quarter corporate earnings and what could be a key decision from the federal reserve later this week. take a look at the numbers. boy, we're just like an hour into the opening and we're going to be probably crossing that minus 600 point. >> coming up, a win today for wiki leaks sounder assange. wiki leaks sounder assange ever. that's what it does. ever notice how stiff clothes can feel rough on your skin? it's because they rub against you creating friction. and your clothes rub against you all day. for softer clothes that are gentle on your skin, try downy free & gentle. just pour into the rinse dispenser and downy will soften your clothes without dyes or perfumes. the towel washed with downy is softer, fluffier, and gentler on your skin. try downy free & gentle. recognized by the national psoriasis foundation and national eczema association. breaking news this morning in the ongoing legal battle to extra tied p diet wikileaks founder julian assange. a court ruled against an appeal that would allow for extradition to the u.s. he faces 18 charges, including violation of the espionage act. what does today's ruling mean, raf? >> reporter: today's ruling means assange can appeal his extra digs to britain's supreme court. if they don't, the decision on whether or not he is sent to the u.s. will go to the british home secretary, basically the top domestic attorney here in britain. this is just the latest twice in this very long-running legal saga. assange spent seven years hold up in the ecuadorian embassy here in london. he was eventually dramatically dragged out. he's now in prison here in the u.k. the u.s. government says assange is a hacker who violated the espionage act, damaged american national security. press freedom advocates say there is a real worry here that this is effectively criminalizing journalism. jose. >> raf sanchez in london. thanks for that update. opening states are about to get under way in the trial of three form are minneapolis police officer at the scene of the george floyd killing. prosecutors say they failed to intervene when former officer darren chauvin nailed on floyd's neck for five minutes. all three officers have pleaded not guilty to the charges. stay with us for more coverage on the story in our next hour. and that wraps up this hour. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. cell melvin picks up after a quick break. your time. cell melvin picks up after a quick break. what can i du with less asthma? 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