0 so, we continue to see that being added. did that help? >> yeah. >> toni. >> what steps are being taken to make sure that the entire 82nd airborne's immediate response that you're sending to poland, that they're staying away from any harms way, in case there's an invasion? will there location be pretty much central poland and nowhere near the border? >> i'll let the commander talk about where he's going to put the troops, tony. they're sent over there for a range of contingencies. they're multi-mission capability, as you know. and as we talked about, if one of the contingencies are, if one of the needs are to help with evacuation assistance on the polish side of the border, as people come across that border, should they come across that border and need help, they'll be prepared to do that. if that's the mission to conduct, you're going to be somewhere near that border, right? but again, i won't get ahead of leaders on the ground and what they're doing. but, i do want to just -- i know we've said this before, it's worth repeating, there's no intention, there's no plan. and there's approval to put these troops into ukraine. they're being sent to poland. they're going to stay in poland. >> the best laid plans, you've heard the saying that they accidentally drawn in -- >> they're not going to be accidentally drawn into ukraine. >> they're not? >> no. >> what the incident, you indicated that sharing broadly. but is it tactical intelligence? >> i will tell you we've been very transparent with our ukrainian partners about the intelligence we've been seeing in that environment. and that i'm comfortable and confident that it has been of a sufficient level of detail to convince. let's put it that way. jeff sullivan. >> john, thanks very much for doing this. some questions on russia and ukraine. firsts, was the pentagon aware that the ukrainian president was going to post on facebook today about russia invading on wednesday? and also, for weeks you and others in the u.s. government has been sharing information about possible russian spy operations, how russia could launch military action in ukraine. are there any indications that the warnings from your voting and others has done anything to change russia's calculus, if not? and finally if i may, has europe asked for influx of refugees as a result of anything russia might do? >> okay. there's an awful lot there. on mr. zelensky's facebook post, i don't know whether anybody here in the building was aware of that, jeff. i certainly wasn't. but that doesn't really say anything. i don't even have a facebook account. but i don't know, jeff. i can take the question to see. i would -- you know, just point out that he's -- he's the president of ukraine. he can post on facebook what he wants and when he wants. he doesn't have to run that by anybody. or seek approval from us. you know, he's the leader of a sovereign state. so, i'll check to see if we have any kind of heads-up. but i would, frankly, be surprised if we did. and that's perfectly okay. on the false question, you know, what i would just tell you, we continue to see indications in the intelligence that there's -- that the russians are exploring that option. i think i'll just leave it at that. on refugees, the focus of the troops that are going over there, as i mentioned in my answer to -- i think it was matt, that multimission capable, certainly, assistance, with evacuation flow is something that they could do. and could do quite well. and they're going to be working with polish authorities on what that looks like. and how they would handle that. i know of no other efforts inside, at least u.s. troops in europe, to contribute to like operations should they be needed. but obviously, one of the great things about the u.s. military is that it's multimission capable, is that it's flexible. as you heard the secretary say when he was up here a couple weeks ago, if that's something that we're called on to do, outside of yooik, you know, we would certainly be able to contribute to that kind of mission. but, your question, though, and pardon me for foot stomping again, but it's a good question. but it gets to an outcome here that doesn't have to be. there shouldn't be a need for evacuation assistance. there shouldn't be a need for people to have to flee their homeland. because there shouldn't be any invasion of it. a sovereign state, by another nation state next door, who clearly has shown agress tendencies here. and alarming buildup of military capabilities and certainly has shown no side yet of being able to de-escalate or unwilling tons take those capabilities off the table. and to find a real diplomatic path forward. and i think it's important to remember, again, not that this really answers your question specifically, but -- but should they conduct another major military action, real lives will be at risk. ukrainian lives, to be sure. but also russian lives. this will not be bloodless. this will not be easy. and not only will you see people trying to flee the country, but you're going to see people seriously hurt. and seriously killed as a result of it. and there's no reason for it. the russians can de-escalate immediately. they could easily sit down and take seriously a diplomatic path forward and stop this now. so that there is no need for people to have to flee their homes. so there are no casualties. there is no bloodshed. it's -- it's within mr. putin's power to make the right decision now. and, obviously, we hope to see him do that. okay. thanks, everybody. appreciate it. you have been listen, of course, to the pentagon press secretary john kirby, laying out the pentagon's view as to the crisis happening along the russia/ukrainian border. that russia could invade, you heard john kirby say with little or more warning, i'm hallie jackson in washington covering all of this with nbc news team. mike memoli outside the white house. leigh ann caldwell on capitol hill. and former ambassador to russia michael mcfaul. msnbc and international affairs analyst, richard, i'll go to you first. what we're hearing from mr. kirby there has been the first reaction officially and formally from the biden administration, to the speech in which the ukrainian president delivered to his people in which he referenced this date coming up, february, february 16th as the potential date that russia may invade. what are you hearing and what do you know? >> so, that speech has caused some confusion here in ukraine. so, let's just take a bit of a step back. for the last several days there's been a lot of speculation about when russia might attack. and in the media, wednesday, the 16th, was the date that had been floated everything times. there were articles in european newspapers, several news outlets pointing specifically to wednesday as the possibility. now, on record, u.s. officials never went that far, as far as i know. they were only highlighting that an attack could come at any stage, that it could come even before the end of the olympics. but this date, the 16th was put out there. now, just a short time ago, or earlier today, president zelensky gave the speech in which he referenced the 16th. and his office is now saying that he was referencing those media reports that he doesn't believe that russia is necessarily going to invade on the 16th. that they, meaning the media reports or the officials who leaked those comments to the media, are even specifying that the 16th could happen. and that he was saying it in a sarcastic way, because president zelensky is not happy with what has been happening over the last -- well, since this weekend. he said that he believes it's a mistake for the united states, he just referenced, countries moving their diplomatic personnel. he said he believes it's a mistake for countries to take the diplomats out of kyiv and move them to other parts of the country, specifically to western ukraine. saying there is no western ukraine. it is all ukraine. and he strongly suggested that it was a sign of weakness. that if there was a russian invasion, the russian invasion would be potentially everywhere, so that moving farther west wouldn't accomplish anything. so, while the united states and nato allies have been working very hard to get on the same page, from the beginning, really, president zelensky has had a different view, when it comes to the seriousness of the threat. whether it comes to the timing of the threat. whether it comes to what steps should be taken to protect foreign diplomats. and i think we saw a little bit of that divergence playing out a short while ago saying the 16th, saying, no, no, i was being sarcastic, referencing media reports. and you saw admiral kirby in that press instance distancing himself saying president zelensky is the president of a sovereign country he can put on facebook whatever he likes. >> he didn't shut it down but he didn't endorse it either. the office of the ukrainian president reaching out to our colleagues as you well know on nbc news, saying essentially we're told the attack was february 16th. the president was referred to a date spread by the media. it's not even a date that you're reporting here. ambassador mcfaul, how do you read that, because this is something that made international reverberations if you will, this was around the world when president zelensky said that? >> well, i think he should have used more careful language that we weren't trying to interpret on the tvs what he meant. i think we're in a very difficult position because publicly, of course, he wants to calm his citizens down. he doesn't want bank runs, he doesn't want people leaving over borders. privately, i can tell you, i speak to ukrainians every day. i spoke to 50 this morning. people privately are afraid. and that's exactly what you would expect from a political leader right now. so, i think he's in a very difficult position. he doesn't want panic. at the same time, he understands if there is an attack there will be critics of his, opponents, that will blame him for not doing more preparations. remember, ukraine's a democracy with real opposition parties and that's the delicate needle that he's trying to thread. >> i should let folks know as we heard from john kirby, we're expecting to hear any minute from the white house, with a press briefing, supposed to begin around 11 minutes ago. top of the hour, you can see our reporters there, including kelly o'donnell there in the room ready to pull on threads. one of them, richard, and then dan, i'll go to you, yes, russia is building up more and more troops along the border in just the last 24 to 48 hours. can you talk a little bit, richard, you've heard what the ukrainian president said. can you talk to what will are hearing from officials there on the ground and who you speak with? >> the russian buildup is not slowing down, it's still intensifying. people are starting to take matters in their own hands there is a bit of frustration with the government. i understand completely what ambassador mcfaul was talking about, how zelensky, the whole russian objective out of this buildup is to get a more pliant government. a more pro-russian government and the easiest way to do that is getting rid of zelensky. without having to invade the country. so he wants to show that he's strong. he's not afraid of a russian invasion. but people want to start getting ready. they know these troops are here. and troops around the country. they could invade. and the date was floated, maybe they'll even invade on wednesday. so by zelensky bringing up wednesday, he did a bit of the opposite of his job. he's been trying to calm people down, then by making a sarcastic remark by wednesday, they could come and invade. he sowed a little bit of panic and say, oh, by the way, they could invade on wednesday. but he was walking back the comments saying i was just referencing the general atmosphere where people are throwing out dates, here, there, everywhere, including on the 16th. but as the military officials have been saying consistently, the russian military buildup continues. and it is continuing up until this morning. and diplomacy so far has not achieved anything but more meetings. >> dan, you're following developments from the pentagon. i want to preapologize if i have to interrupt here if we jump to the white house podium. but, dan, the secretary-general will move forward with this trip to work with and essentially with the nato allies? >> the secretary-general is going to poland, lithuania, with allies, especially allies on russia's borders. of course, that's where the u.s. has already sent a small number of troops to try to bolster that eastern flank. but, again, they're making clear there's no plans to send u.s. troops, of course, to ukraine itself. at the briefing, i thought it was interesting that press secretary john kirby would not discuss or address the idea that intelligence reports had suggested that russian troops had actually moved closer to the ukrainian border. he wouldn't get into that. he wouldn't confirm it. he wouldn't deny it. but he did say that the buildup continued. that ground units are moving. there are naval forces, substantial naval combat forces in the black sea. including forces that have the ability, that have amphibious vessels that can move troops ashore for a possible landing, on that front as well. so, a very worrying array of russian military power and absolutely no sign of that buildup being pulled back or scaled back in any way. >> and it is that troop buildup, mike, that has the u.s. government relocating essentially operations farther west? >> yeah, that's right, hallie, we heard that from secretary of state tony blinken this afternoon, in a statement talking about the dramatic acceleration of that military moving the u.s. embassy personnel. what remains there. of course, they've already evacuated everybody but the core personnel from kyiv. 300 miles west of kyiv, that's a few hundred miles from the border with poland. there's concerns, obviously one kyiv itself being sacked, in the kind of assault that jake sullivan has outlined could take place. also, you could have complications when you're trying to evacuate u.s. personnel. i think back to what we saw in kabul last year. the u.s. has often said anyone who wants to leave and can, there will be assistance in having them evacuated. sometimes, our diplomats have family members who maybe aren't american citizens who have visa complications. one of the reasons you see them moving the personnel, to help buy some time, frankly, to deal with the paperwork issues that you often deal with. also, all of this coming as the president spoke today with the uk prime minister boris johnson. we've seen as the white house has laid out, two paths, diplomatic and deterrence. and the diplomatic has continued with the allies speaking himself with vladimir putin either in person or by phone over the last few weeks. you have the german chancellor set to do that in person tomorrow. and no de-escalation on any point on the russian side of further escalation. that's why you see very clear, unusually public, the declassification of information what the united states expects from russia sort of a hail mary here that level of exposure will have them do anything further. >> so ambassador mcfaul, talk about that hail mary, by the way, we were just taking a look live at the u.s. embassy in kyiv that mike was references. ambassador. >> well, i applaud the biden administration use of intelligence, declassification, this is new, this is different. much more aggressive than when i worked at the white house for president obama. i think it's right. i think the world needs to know this is putin pushing us towards war. when i hear commentators here in the united states, democrats and republicans alike saying biden is causing this war. i shake my head. the biden administration is trying to make peace, not war. by adding this information it helps the other part of the hail mary is the diplomacy. the other part of the hail mary was the phone call on saturday, scheduled for monday but they moved. you because president biden is not going to stop talking to putin about negotiation. if putin wants to talk about new ideas for enhancing european security, that would be in russia's interest, america's interest, ukraine's interest, european interest. there's lots of work to be done there. i think the administration has done boldly towards those goals, possibly if they're revealed would be critical -- critics here in the united states might wonder why they went so far. but he's gone so far to use the hail mary analogy because he wants to prevent war. >> leeann, you're posted up on capitol hill where we know he bes of the house received a briefing on developments in ukraine later today. and the senate will get its own briefing about ten minutes from now. talk to me what you're hearing from your sources, from the folks you're talking to, about what they expect and how that may go? >> yeah, hallie, what they want to hear is the latest up-to-date information. this is a classified briefing. they hope to get what the latest details are. in the briefing this morning, we're told there are also questions about the number of americans still left there. and also family members and american citizens as well. so, you can expect that to be questions among senators as well. now, it's not the entire senate that's going to get briefed. it's leadership, plus heads of relevant committees. there will be republicans and democrats there, but it's a much smaller group of people. those are the most relevant to what is happening. now, this is all happening where in the backdrop there's still negotiations ongoing about whether to sanction russia on an invasion. and if so, by how much. now, there were discussions about perhaps preinvasion sanctions. now, it seems like -- well, there's still a little bit of time, but not enough time, it seems for congress to get something done if something does in fact happen on behalf of the russians this week. but those conversations are still ongoing. there's a faction of the senate who really wants to impose very tough sanctions. there are some members of the senate who say it's up to president biden, he can have this authority if he needs to. then there are others who say they should keep their hands out of what is happening there, especially sending troops to ukraine. there are some members of the republican party who say troops should not be heading there, we should mind our own business, we have all of these different inactions in the senate and how they're moving forward. for the time being, as far as this briefing is concerned, they're hoping to get the latest information and the next steps of what the u.s. can do, hallie. >> with developments happening every hour at least today. ambassador mcfaul, let me turn back to you, that richard, mike, leigh ann and mike have talked about, the possibility about diplomacy. we heard about the pact for diplomacy, the possibility. how do you with your knowledge and expertise of the kremlin of the players involved here, how do you see the potential for any kind of off-ramp for vladimir putin? >> well, you know, i think it's low. because if you look at the capabilities that the russian army and -- all russian military forces have been doing, they've been marching towards war slowly, but marching towards preparation for war for many, many weeks now. nothing has changed, right? we see no -- when i talk to my friends in the u.s. government, the biden administration, when they're looking for off-ramps and tea leaves, they see nothing in terms of capabilities that has changed. that keeps moving. at the same time, you do see little hints every now and then from both putin and foreign minister lavrov, that they want to talk about off-ramps and they want to talk about negotiations. and, you know, as long as there's any light that they're showing. i think it's incumbent upon all western leaders to push us towards negotiation. >> richard engel, before we go, what are we missing in this discussion? what is an important that you feel hasn't been made about this? >> well, going back to the discussion we were having earlier, i think zelensky is in a tough position. he sees foreign countries telling their citizens to leave. about a dozen countries. he sees embassy personnel pulling back to the borders of poland. i believe it's right on the polish border, people from there, usually just hop on the train, go into poland. it's a day trip. you can come back. yet, he's trying to keep his people calm. not a good idea when he's trying to keep this people calm. when he off-handily says this country is going to be invaded on wednesday, he dialled that back. but it does go to the del delicate the situation is. they don't know are they going to have a country next week? are they going to be overrun by russian forces next week? and i think it is the precarious nature that it is live here. >> richard engel, leigh ann caldwell, dan delose. mike memoli, thank you. we expect to see the press conference. here peppered with multiple questions that we've been talking about on msnbc. we'll bring that to you live. we're also talking other headlines. including a move from somebody really important, president trump's legal push. trying to block january 6 investigators from getting access to. and the unlikely alliance between two georgia gubernatorial rivals why these two are teaming up, stacey abrams, david perdue. we'll be back. , david perdue we'll be back. age-related macular degeneration may lead to severe vision loss. and if you're taking a multivitamin alone, you may be missing a critical piece. preservision. preservision areds 2 contains the only clinically proven nutrient formula recommended by the national eye institute to 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