That the u.s. goal is for russia to be weakened militarily saying today that the u.s. wants to make it harder for russia to threaten its neighbors they have already done to mold v.a. this comes as russia has shown zier iso signs of backing down and is threatening to cut off the gas ply to poland and bulgaria and more alarming foreign minister sergei lavrov says there s significant risk of nuclear war. placing the blame on the west and ukraine despite the obvious fact that russia started and has continued this unprovoked war and humanitarian crisis. meanwhile, the ukranian national guard said today that the steel plant in mariupol where 2,000 civilians are sheltered with limited access to food, water and medication has been hit 35 times in 24 hours. nbc news can verify those numbers. joining me now is the chief correspondent for pbs newshour and an msnbc contributor. thanks for being here.