I ve obviously he knows that part of the world really. well i think that he enjoys being unpredictable, i think he probably enjoys having tweaked us for the last number of days, thinking that something big was going to come, and then watching us get all worked up, and then showing oh i didn t do what you thought i was gonna do, i m not so easily categorized. that doesn t mean that something big can t happen, or doesn t have to have to happen on victory day for him to decide that he s going to escalate, or in some way make this war even more deadly and devastating and it s already been. so, we get worked out about the holiday, but it s days after the holiday that we should probably be thinking back. ambassador taylor, peter bigger wants to hear, from you and that means so do i. alicia, peter, it s great to be able to talk to you. i think peter s right, i think peter s right. president putin had to pat options, people were debating whether he d choose one of the other, that is doub
Against china, against russia. so it s time to look at how do we get in front of these, rather than behind them. and i would suggest the white house has got a great opportunity, while the american people are very supportive of the strong defenses. it s better to do this and avoid a war that you get inside of one and have to end it. peter, to that sense of urgency, the president is pushing congress to immediately approve more aid to ukraine. he says it needs to be done before trying to secure more covid funding. the house taking up the measure tomorrow. what should we be watching for? yeah, as we re striking of course, the president united states came to congress, he said, i need 33 billion dollars to help ukraine with his military and humanitarian aid. and congress is beating him up. they look like they re adding those seven billion dollars to those, and indicate by the way, a certain bipartisan consensus here in washington, which is rather remarkable, given everything else. they r
The, east and in the southern part of the country s cities marred by massive bombardment. the city of mariupol has been wiped off the map, the city of odessa issued saying the last six hours has come under cruise missile fire. at least seven rockets landing in the city of odessa. a lot of fear about what could happen in odessa, as well, because it is one of those black sea ports. nbc s cal perry, life earth in kyiv, ukraine. kyle, thank you. let s bring in our experts peter, baker chief white house correspondent in the new york times, he spent years as a moscow bureau chief for the washington post, closely watching the rise of putin. jason beardsley, a decorated u.s. military veteran with over 20 years of experience and then army and navy, he is now the national executive director of the new association of the navy. and william taylor, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, is also the united states institute of peace vice president for russia. gentlemen, it s good to see you all. peter,
Ukrainian people that are so tough. peter, we also saw evidence on russian media of anti war sentiment, there is hacking on russian tv, instead of a display of the usual channels, a message took over the screens that read, quote, the blood of thousands of ukrainians, and hundreds of murdered children s on your hands. the kremlin has made it a crime to express anti war sentiment. people could get arrested, could a protest like that prompt the kremlin to crack down even harder? certainly, yes, absolutely. they are very, very jealous of the information space they have, over the years, repeatedly crackdown on any information source that got in their way, as they saw it. they have been incredibly repressive since this war began, with this new law threatening a 15-year sentences in prison, for even using the word war to describe the special military operation, and arrested hundreds if not thousands of people over the last few months. they ve successfully tamp down
it s also difficult to know what president putin is planning. it s difficult to speculate because his decision circle is so small. if i were a betting person i d say it s most likely the president putin is doubling down his special military operation in ukraine. peter, putin tried to defend the war today, but why do you think he chose to refrain from making any major declarations about what is next for ukraine? well, i think first of all, the reality on the ground is such that it makes any kind of pronouncement along those lines pretty hard to, cell. even in a country where the kremlin controls the media, where the information is under state auspices, there is a lot of reality still there in russia. they see the body bags coming home, they hear the stories from their loved ones on the front line, they know it s really going, on at least a lot of them do. i think it will be hard for them to sell a story a victory at a time when there is clearly nothing like that. secondly, i don t