watching in the united states, canada and all around the world. ahead on cnn newsroom, we re live in kyiv as russia s war in reign cain enters its second year. the u.s. is pledging even more support one important exception. with the mud slides and flooding, that s wasn t of biggest concerns as we re look ing a the a lot of rainfall and snow. the snow will melt and the wind and we worry about the mud slides. millions of people on the u.s. west coast now under a flash flood warning amud one of the strongest snowstorms to hit the region in years. we ll look at where the wintery weather goes next. and alex murdaugh is back on the stand to defend against charges he killed his wife and son. live from atlanta, this is cnn newsroom. russia s war in ukraine is beginning its second year with a barrage russian shelling overnight. no casualties are reported, but authorities say numerous buildings and infrastructure were hit. and we re hearing reports of large explosions in the
long-awaited hostage release could be just a few hours away. the expected truce with hamas appears to be on track at this hour, setting the stage for 13 captives to return from gaza on the first day of the temporary pause in the hostilities. oren liebermann has all of the late-breaking developments for us. reporter: after nearly seven weeks of war, it is the storm before the calm. final hours of fighting in gaza ticking down until a pause in the conflict set for early friday morning. 13 hostages, women and children, will then be freed by hamas on friday afternoon, transferred to the red cross and back to israel. we are waiting on a day-by-day base for a phone call to see if our loved ones are coming back. reporter: the pause is set to last four days. the spokesperson for qatar s foreign ministry hope that the deal would be the basis for a longer pause. we are hoping that this will work as a proof of concept for de-escalation measures including extending this humanitar
have to hedge their bets and move away from it on the republican side. i think as long as the president himself is comfortable defending this, i think he will hold support for it among the voters who he realistically has a chance at winning in the first place. so that s why toentd think he s going to feel a lot of pressure or democrat this is congress are going to feel a lot of pressure to move away. what you re going to see instead is the sharpened divide between nikki haley, mike pence, mitch mcconnell, who are more supportive of this, and then marjorie taylor greene and many of the fox hosts and even ron desantis, who has moved in a trump of way toward being skpt call of what we re ding. you doing think this even though the democrats no longer control the house, you don t think it will affect policy is? maybe even not just the house republicans withdrawing support or limiting support, but maybe holding it hostage and using it as collateral to get concessions
and he s particularly ambitious about making a europe that has what he calls strategic autonomy that develops its own military and that becomes a europe power. now he s trying to fast forward europe towards something like that, but there s resistance. countries like poland are very attached to the united states as a european power. and other countries are skpt call of macron s determination. if he s learned one thing, and he said the second term would be quite different, it s that he may have to listen a little better and go a little slower, put the pieces together so that he can move forward. rather than announcing what is aboutno to do. and assuming that everyone will follow.
will go the route we are with steve bannon and seek prosecution. all of this just one day after former president trump filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the committee from obtaining records related to the attack on the capitol. arguing that those documents are protected under executive privilege, a claim the current administration rejects. joining me now with more is nbc news justice correspondent pete williams and live on capitol hill is national political reporter sahill capor. walk us through what we expect to see. reporter: a big day for this committee. i would expect the vote to be quick and unanimous. in taifr of holding steve bannon in contempt. there s no daylight in terms of the way forward to throw the book at steve bannon for refusing to comply with this subpoena, whether it s progressive members or moderate members or skpt republican like