welcome to "meet the press daily." i'm garrett haake in for chuck todd. ukrainian forces are trying to desperately maintain control of mariupol in the south as we enter a new and potentially bloodier phase of this war. it appears russian forces are closing in on capturing the strategic port city of mariupol. ukraine's defense ministry said the last defensive forces in the air are refusing to surrender, even being outmanned and outgunned. russian troops are accused of holding 20,000 people in concentration camps and as many as 100,000 people are trapped in the city without food, water or shelter. with shelling in kharkiv, at least 18 people were killed and wounded more than a hundred others, according to president zelenskyy. a famed chef missiles destroyed a restaurant where they were making food for those in need. ali arouzi was in lviv in the middle of an interview when the attack happened. here's what some of that moment looked like in realtime. >> that wasn't a plane, that was a cruise missile. >> a cruise missile? >> yeah. wait for one more. they fire them in 30-second interviews. three cruise missile caliber. stand by. five, six, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12. 13. >> there's the smoke. >> that's through. >> so through cruise missiles. >> pretty extraordinary stuff. adjoining me is the aforementioned ali arouzi. i'm also joined by clint watts the at our big board for a look at how the russian military strategy is changing. and joining me -- ali, tell me about the moment when the missiles struck lviv? >> we were doing an interview with malcolm nance. the first one that crossed over, you didn't see it. we heard a thump. by the time the second one came, we looked up into the sky and saw the object flying across the sky and it was so big, at first i thought it was an airplane. these missiles are about 26, 27 feet long. they are the size of a small jet. we saw that one really whistle across the sky with a frightening sound and then a massive thump and smoke coming up from not far from where we were sitting and it was followed by several others. it was quite disconcerting. we've seen attacks on the outskirts of lviv but we have to be very clear, this was bang in the center of lviv. the noise was disconcerting, the thump was disconcerting. i can't imagine what it was like for residents sleeping in their apartment or malcolm was speculating it may have been launched from the sea but it's not clear. this is certainly the first time the russians have done such a serious target in the middle of city and this is the first time people have been killed in lviv since the beginning of this conflict. >> ali, do we know why the russians are targeting this city? there's been so much reporting, so much intelligence about this renewed assault in the east and here they are attacking a city clear across the country. >> reporter: well, look, the attacks we've seen before have hit a fuel depot facility, an airplane, a repair facility for military air crafts and they were all on the outskirts of the city. this was an auto repair shop and tire facility. they said there were some military facilities in and nearby there. so one of the reasons we were thinking they are hitting these places is because they provide supply lines for troops fighting in the east. as this war becomes worse and worse for vladimir putin. as he's not gaining momentum and his strategy is falling apart, he doesn't want to get anything that the ukrainians are building or supplying to the troops that are anything that's splud to the ukrainian will come from those borders, near poland, which is even further west. this is a critical juncture for the ukrainians to get troops, get supplies over to the east of the country. it appears day by day, and they're becoming more of a target to try and hold the ukrainians from reaching their objectives and stopping the russians going forward. >> real quick, the deeper we get into the war, the clearer it gets that there is no place save before these attacks were on the outskirts. so many rattled people in this country but this has really shaken the place up. there isn't really a feeling of safety here anymore. these rockets hit the middle of the city. it was a very, very built up area. as we were driving away, it was full of houses and apartment blocks. seven people have been killed here and that's not happened before in lviv, including a 3-year-old child that said kharkiv was injured there as well so no safety for anyone here anymore. >> ali, thank you very much. i want to turn to clint watts now to tell us how russian groups have been regrouping and how mariupol is so important for both sides. clint? >> reporter: russia continues to position its forces. those that came from kyiv into belgorod and moving them down towards izyum. but the real story today is happening in mariupol. we've been talking over the last two to three weeks you how the russians have surrounded mariupol on all sides. mariupol is important for the russians because they created this land bridge her and secondly they moved in here from russia, the last part of that koslineall of them pushed here to this iron and steel with. the russians have offered for the ukrainian military to stand down and surrender and they will not. when you look at this facility here, this is going to be a tough fight for the russians. the longer the ukrainian military can hold out here, the less time the russians will have to reposition their forces north towards donbas. in terms of urban fighting, this is about as difficult as it gets. the russian military would have to conduct an assault on a heavily fortified area with a ukrainian military that refuses to surrender. it's going to be a tough, tough fight for the russian military and the remaining ukrainians, there, that your really fighting for their country. >> we just heard from our nbc reporter about what he saw during that missile strike. you were also in lviv. talk to me about where you were and what you heard. >> i was officialically at the place where the missile attack happened. so cruise missile literally flew above our head and the explosion was probably 500, 600 meters from us. luckily it was another side of the railway station. it was confirmed 7 were killed and others injured. it simply confirms that russians are continues this brutal strategy of missile war and shelling of ukrainian citizen as they're not really happy to come by to ukraine, an army on the ground. so the risk is still high that it will continue on a daly basis. >> do you see this as terror tactics? you heard about ali talking about the missiles hitting a tire shop. that is not a target that makes sense unless you're just trying to keep a major city terrified all the time. >> that's exactly the strategy to keep tension and terrify everyone and the country. lviv is a gateway for humanitarian aid to ukraine and also for military aid to ukraine. yes, in fact all these four missiles were used for nothing because they destroyed this car, and there were just civilians there. the russian strategy is to keep threatening everyone but it's too late for us to be afraid off. the other side of the story is it is another confirmation that we need more capabilities to protect the sky. we speaking on that since day one. we need more air defense systems because it's the only way how we can save people on ground. >> i want to ask you what's going on on the far side of the country. their adviser to the mayor accused russia of holding up to 20,000 people in these filtration camps, getting ready to move them out of the country into russia, interrogating people on the ground. what's your understanding of the situation both in and around mariupol? >> during several weeks everything what is happening in mariupol, it's catastrophe. it's catastrophe of 21 century in the center of europe. it's getting worse and worse but, again, it difficult to be even worse because people without access to food, water, to anything during all these weeks. yes, we know about the filtration camps. for us it is another war crime, which is doing by russians. yes, we are doing on political level all possible things to save our people on the ground and to save the heros of mariupol. so these people are doing absolutely amazing things because this small group of ukrainian fighters, they still keep a huge amount of russian forces locked around mariupol, not giving them any chance to move further to the north or to the east of the country. but the battle will continue. we now all understand that vladimir putin needs at least some victory so this all south and southeast of the country will be more tough and just worsening within upcoming weeks. >> you talk about putin needing a victory. when you take into account all of the brutality we just been talking about, do you think there can be a negotiated end to this war? >> look, we went so far that it's very difficult to negotiate something. plus putin put himself into position when he need to explain to his people what the hell he is doing in ukraine, why so many losses in russian army and so on, so forth. i think know putin is trying to defend his power and his influence because during the history of russian empire, most russian leaders who were losing wars usually were losing their position. so that's why i think in the coming future the chances for any negotiations are close to zero. >> all right. a andrii osadchuk, please stay safe and i'll speak to you later. >> plus, former president trump plunges into the contentious ohio senate primary backing a candidate who once called him an idiot. you're watching "meet the press daily." ♪ ♪ nice suits, you guys blend right in. the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this. people are taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ e*trade now from morgan stanley. as a main street bank, pnc has helped over 7 million kids develop their passion for learning. and now we're providing 88 billion dollars to support underserved communities... ...helping us all move forward financially. pnc bank: see how we can make a difference for you. (announcer) enough with the calorie counting, carb cutting, diet fatigue, and stress. just taking one golo release capsule with three balanced meals a day has been clinically proven to repair metabolism, optimize insulin levels, and balance the hormones that make weight loss easy. release works with your body, not against it, so you can put dieting behind you and go live your life. head to golo.com now to join the over 2 million people who have found the right way to lose weight and get healthier with golo. welcome back. evidence of atrocities and crimes against humanity are mounting in ukraine, as russian forces threaten to take over the long besieged city of mariupol and launch pressure attacks against the went city of lviv. but most people in russia have not seen the devastating pictures out of ukraine. they don't know about the casualties on either side and they don't even call the conflict a war. putin's propaganda regime and brutal restrictions on the press often stop the truth from breaking through. that doesn't stop some from trying. this critic is one of the people who spoke out and he was jailed last week hours after calling putin a murderer in a cnn interview. he wrote his latest piece for "the washington post" from prison writing, quote, when you are told that no one protests against the war in russia, don't believe it. joining me is the wife of vladimir and has been speaking out on behalf of her husband in prison. so thank you for coming on. i want to ask you about this piece for "the washington post." your husband writes in it that he's cape cod it what does freedom look like for the russian people and are you as optimistic as is your house? >> and forgive me this opportunity to speak out on vladimir's behalf. i do believe in what my husband does. and he's extremely involved and committed to his cause. and he has recently joined the ever growing list of prisoners of conscience in the russian federation. even before the war we had over 400 people serving unlawful prison sentences for their political views or religious beliefs. that was before the war. since the beginning of the war, over 50,000 people have been arrested across russia for protesting against it and for spreading truth fall he would not stay sigh lend under the circumstances. it is unthinkable to stay silent when people are dying by the hundreds and thousands. in ukraine, that's how our closest neighbor, that's unthinkable. and it is not the first time that vlad mir had this kind of attention from the russian government. in russia if you get this kind of special attention from the russian government, it means that your work doesn't go unnotice p. it means who and what they do. vladimir has been fiercely advocating for the implication of murders and thieves since 2010. he's close partner in this advocacy and his close friend paid the ultimate price, he was killed, shot in front of the kremlin in 2015. vladimir was twice poisoned in 2015 and 2017 and had to relearn how to walk and hold oo spoon. but once he was able to, he it can as has to be somewhere. his people is fighting against this murderous, bloody regime. he's going to continue his work even though the russian government now decided i think to change its tactic. they decided to lock him up because he's so but, yes, it is true that all these protests of russia happened among the atmosphere. >> can we talk about these protests a little bit? i mean, how is resistance still happening in russia? how are people communicating and how are people like your husband trying to get the truth of what's going on in ukraine in front of russian viewers and readers and open-minded russians who want to know what's going on? >> these protests happened in the atmosphere of an unprecedented crackdown on the russian civil society on independent media, on freedom of speech. the last independent media outlet of moscow radio was closed down at the beginning of the war. russians have no access to independent free objective information about what is happening. the younger population is better prepared because they can, you know, they know how to do things. they are online more. they know how to install the services. but it's a tricky situation even for the younger population, who know about this stuff. because in order to install a service, you have to pay for it. it's not free. you have to use your apple pay. but there is no apple pay anymore in russia. so even for those who are willing to do it, who are sticking it's very difficult for them to access to that information. the older population is in a more dire situation because they don't know how to do that stuff. they're not online. most of them are not online especially in the regions. and on top of that their main source of information has been the tv set for many years. and so they switch it on they say that we are surrounded by enemies that the russian army is liberating ukraine from nazis. you witch to another channel. they repeat the exact same information. you switch again, you're getting the same thing the third time. >> what's your sense of how many people believe the kremlin line on this? we see polling from russia, we're not going to put it on tv. it not a reliability thing. what's your sense of how many people understand that the situation is different than what they're being told? >> well, you are absolutely right in saying that we should not trust opinion polls conducted in a totalitarian state and that's what russia has become under vladimir putin. you we went from an authoritarian state. but let not forget about those 15,000 people. that was like few days ago. that number continues it grow. those are people who go out to industry there is a law nowadays under which you for 15 years for calling this war a war or for spreading objective information about it. just recently a young artist from st. peters he was arrested and is now facing a 15-year prison centers for situating price tags at the local superintendent two people were arrested, one in moscow, for holding peaceful, silent actions with a copy of and let's if the and if so they have to leave russia and they continue helping from outside. there's something about helping refugee in poland, hun fwra and germany. there was a very important initiative by of prominent russian opposition figures, a very well known writer, a leading economist and ex-world chess champion and my husband is in this group people as well. they create that helps -- and russians forced to emigrate and to ukrainians who are trying to flee russian bombs. and who needs help and support, any help and support of the world. >> all right. thank you very much. we'll be thinking about your husband. we're going to tweet his piece, which he wrote from a russian prison. somebody goes to the trouble of speaking their mind from a russian prison, you should read what they've got to say. up next, as somecy cities are reinstating prepandemic events, at lest juan big city is reinstating pandemic restrictions. you're watching "meet the press daily." ctions you're watching "meet the press daily. your strength, and see how far it takes you. tonal. be your strongest. [sound of helicopter blades] ugh... they found me. ♪ ♪ nice suits, you guys blend right in. the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this. people have their money just sitting around doing nothing... that's bad, they shouldn't do that. they're getting crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. they're taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ good to have you back, old friend. yeah, eyes on the road, benny. welcome to a new chapter in investing. [ding] e*trade now from morgan stanley. as a main street bank, pnc has helped over 7 million kids develop their passion for learning. and now we're providing 88 billion dollars to support underserved communities... ...helping us all move forward financially. pnc bank: see how we can make a difference for you. welcome back. we're back at work but the holiday weekend continues for one new england state today. after two years of the pandemic, it is once again marathon monday in massachusetts. athletes have not run the boston marathon on patriots day since 2019 after the covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of 2020's race and postponed 2021 race until last october. all were required to be fully vaccinated before taking on the world famous 22.2 mile course. another honored tradition is making a comeback, the easter egg roll made its triumphant return to the white house this morning with the president welcoming thousands of children and, yes, of course the easter bunny to the white house south lawn for a full day of festivities. on top of the usual egg hunt, there's a slew of events planned which reflect this year's theme, eggucation. come on, guys! another city in the east is marking the return of covid restrictions. masks are back in philadelphia for public indoor places today. it's the first u.s. city to bring back a new york mask mandate cases in pennsylvania and it and further good news, covid hospitalizations are at their lowest point since the very first days of the pandemic. still to come, the biden administration sees a surge in migrants now crossing the southern border, and that's before the white house lifts the title 42 restrictions at the border. you're watching "meet the press daily." g "meet the press daily. that's all behind me now. nurtec can treat and prevent migraines. don't take if allergic to nurtec. the most common side effects were nausea and stomach pain and indigestion. ask your doctor about nurtec today. you're pretty particular about keeping a healthy body. what goes on it... usually. ♪♪ in it... mostly. even what gets near your body. please please please take that outside. here to meet those high standards is the walgreens health and wellness brand. over 2000 products. rigorously tested. walgreens pharmacist recommended... and particularly kind to your wallet. ♪♪ re-entering data that employees could enter themselves? that's why i get up in the to ymorning!et. i have a secret method for remembering all my hr passwords. my boss doesn't remember approving my time off. let's just... find that email. the old way of doing business slows everyone down. with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com for a free demo. ♪ ♪ when you order the all new deluxe three cheese and bacon omelette, you get a smile on your plate. only from ihop. join the rewards program and earn double pancoins with any omelette purchase. ♪ limu emu ♪ and doug. ♪ harp plays ♪ only two things are forever: love and liberty mutual customizing your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. 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(emu squawks) (the crowd gasps) no, kevin, no! not today. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ welcome back. rivals of the united states southwestern border hit a 22-year high last month. in a court filings the department of homeland security revealed that agents had over 222,000 encounters with migrants last month. that's not just a new record for the biden administration, it's the highest number since these types of records have been kept. the numbers are a combination of encounters at ports of entry by u.s. customs and border patrol and by u.s. border patrol. the same filing revealed over 100,000 migrants were sent back under title 42 policy but that won't be in place for much longer. the biden administration plans to lift that policy next month. the decision is creating some significant tension within the democratic party as some candidates are concerned that more chaos at the border to add to their difficulties in an already tough mid-term environment. julia ainsley, who covers the department of homeland security joins me now. julius, take us through these numbers and what the situation at the border is now. >> 221,000. that's an encounter of somebody who comes across. >> can you encountered any number of times. >> yes. if you came through and you're ordered deported, it was considered a crime to come back. we have 107,000 migrants waiting in mexico often in terrible conditions where they're exploited because they don't have legal stat us there so once it lifts, woo ecould see people coming, as well as central americans and others who think that now is time to come because the restrictions are finally lifted after over two years. >> you mentioned kids waiting in who who go -- >> it's interesting, i got some internal data just last night, if you take a snapshot of yesterday, the top three americans are ukrainians us because they can't get in legally right now, a lot of them are coming to cross illegally. haven't set up that pathway. much harder for them to get through. they're doing it because they're desperate. and we also see cubans. we know the political crises in this country has lead and they around they're really release leased into this country. and then they're expecting that when title 42 does lift, the nationalities who are being sent back will now see it as their chance to come. snoo snoo what is the sense at dhs? do we have any real clue about what these numbers are going to do if and when that policy changes? >> if you break it down by day, there were about 7,000 crossings in a month. if you look at what they're estimating, they're looking at between 12,000 and 18,000 a day. so 7,000 crossings a day going from 12 to 18,000 crossings a day. local sheriffs and mayors are saying they're working on this, they want to be in touch of their local i gets the sense, garrett, they don't want to show their cards too quickly. >> this is going to be a huge story for not just what it is but also in the mid terms. >> absolutely. >> coming up, new warnings from democrats as the party grapples with a smald agenda. my expert panel joins me after the break. you're watching "meet the press daily." you're watching "meet the press daily. now i'm down with rybelsus®. mom's a1c is down with rybelsus®. 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[ding] e*trade now from morgan stanley. welcome back. since immediately yaens build back better agenda died in december, we have seen months of finger pointing from democrats and a whole lot of hand wringing about how to salvage parts of the agenda as democrats head into that very difficult mid-term environments as they grapple with unhappiness in the white house and chuck schumer and joe manchin. meanwhile massachusetts democratic senator elizabeth warren is warning her party that democrats win elections when we show we understand the painful economic realities. if we fail to use the months remaining before the election to deliver more of our agenda, democrats are headed towards big losses in the mid terms. joining me is the aforementioned colleague of mine and with me is commentary editor john podhoretz. everything this went wrong with build back better, what are the hopes for a build back betterer? >> there is hope that they can put something together but that pressure is still there. president biden worked against his agenda, moderates blamed progressives for raising expectations sky high. a lot believe they made a big mistake and then there are the questions about chuck schumer. many democrats put the blame clearly on him. mean whul the moving forward with $3.5 million bill, of course it crashed. it hit a brick wall. this tension hangs over the efforts to put this all back together because as the ol' but you and i have talked to senator manchester tax increases on upper earners and corporations, clean energy and climate funding and half the savings have to go to deficit reduction. there is a big victory in the democratic leadership can say no to a lot of people. >> you can manchin-size this package but can you convince the progressives to do it? how difficult a needle to thread would this be to pass this thing? >> what broke it was the democrats couldn't get on the same page of your reporting supports that. when i talk to and when you ask them sort of there are people who say the into greens or something. they say joe manchin did agree when you look at what she's still not exactly on the same page of senator manchin but she's saying that they need to get something else done. i was texting with someone during the k.b.j. con are that's sort of the sense the democrats are feeling, like they still need to get something downopinion and the feeling is that there's going to be a difficult road ahead for democrats because there is still this tension. >> what do you make of that? do you go the carville route or the elizabeth warren route here? is it enough to sell what democrats have done or do they need to pass legislation? >> i think he hit the nail on the head when he said there are a couple things democrats can compromise on. we know we have control of the senate, we have control of the house and of the white house. we do not know if that will be the case after november, which is why we can in pass legislation that address that addresses the earned income packs cred pit we also and p but it's all democrats. do a better job of selling. we just first the first african-american woman on the supreme court. unemployment is down to 3.6%, covid deaths are down by 75% there's a lot this administration has done, the and it's a bitty travel week by this president's standards. john, i got you out there in tv land. the from from and least in terps of price tags so far. that took significant republican support. is there any republican support left for any of the things this. >> garet, i feel like i'm in "ground hog day" here, a trillion-five, the white house and the mansion, i had this conversation 17 times last octo november. it's april of 2022. if democrats are having the same conversation that they had in november when the issue that is facing the united states is 8.5% inflation, this is why the tsunami is heading, and i don't care what they do. i don't care what deals they make. i don't care nothing -- none of this is about what is concerning the american people, which is crime and inflation. crime and inflation, inflation and crime, and crime and inflation. and you are talking about green new deals and people being mad at manchin, and i am listening to this and thinking if i am mitch mcconnell i am leaning back in my chair and whistling a happy tune right now. >> there's something interesting that is happening here, there was a trump endorsement late last week, and talked about electability and talked about be worried about picking the candidate that can win in ohio. what do you make of donald trump backing j.d.vanc? >> yeah, he did the same thing in pennsylvania when he endorsed dr. oz. this is a risk for donald trump making this endorsement. j.d. vance is polling second or third. if he makes all these endorsements and his candidates don't win, he could emerged weakened go into 2024. he wants to be sitting on his thrown in mar-a-lago, and his presence and the party would diminish, so i think he's taking a calculated risk and he would rather be in the game and take the gamble rather than be out of the game. >> trump already won. the ohio race was not a battle between somebody pro trump and somebody less pro trump, and it was the king of the hill mud wrestling match to find the person most trumpy, and here we are. >> former president trump is already at the top of the gop ticket. these candidates are bending over backwards to be as trumpy. and vance, he was pretty against former president trump. now you watch his commercials and he's saying i am going against joe biden and take back the borders, and when you think of north carolina, he won't even show up to debates because trump didn't show up to debates, and guess what? he was able to win. all of these candidates show that this long, long shadow of donald trump is just going to get longer. there's a risk here. i heard you say calculated risk, and i thought that's an interesting and articulate way for president trump to describe what he's doing. he's a gambler, and he knows at the end of the day everybody will still want to come and kiss his ring. >> to that end, what do you do when you are the trumpy candidate in one of these states that doesn't get picked by donald trump, and we are seeing it in ohio where the other candidates are trying to target his messaging, and what happens in these primaries now? >> i think we know that trump can kill somebody off, can kill a politician off by being relentlessly negative and harsh and we know his endorsement doesn't make people win, and maybe it can, maybe it can't, and it didn't tell brooks and roy moore and a lot of people. he's taking a risk in the idea that he can thread the needle inside the republican party and sort of pick people that he likes who will be on his side. i think it's kind of a weird decision, and what -- what's alike about vance and dr. oz is they are the most famous people in the race, and one was on television and one has a book, and i think it's a very open question whether that endorsement is going to make much of a difference or whether that is going to be something that pushes them forward. clearly none of these people, if they are not endorsed by trump but win the nomination is going to want to get on his bad side, because then you have georgia, and you have him talking somebody down -- talking a republican down and winning it for a democrat. i don't think they will want to do that. i think trump has done something that is arguably foolish because, you know, advance is not at the top -- he's not in the lead, and neither is dr. oz, so either he pushes them into the lead and they win and you can go, you see how evenly powerful i am, or not. >> one of these will have to face tim ryan in a general election, who has run a interesting campaign, and he's in a gym and talking about china and he doesn't mention he's a democrat. what do you make of the way tim ryan has tried to run a race in the environment that we describe as difficult for democrats? >> he was one of our candidates during the '05-'06 cycle. he also has a good feel for the way to state work, so i think he's running the kind of race that he believes he needs to win. i do think -- i am not naive to the fact that ohio has trended red in the last few cycles, but if you have somebody like j.d. vance, in a state like ohio ryan has a good chance. i do think josh mandel, too, and ryan would have a great chance against him as well. these guys are so far to the right and trumpian. >> got to go here. thank you for being with us this hour. chuck will be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." msnbc coverage continues with katy tur after this break. ♪ ♪ nice suits, you guys blend right in. the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this. people have their money just sitting around doing nothing... that's bad, they shouldn't do that. they're getting crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. they're taking financial advice from memes. 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