politics. i m john king in washington. thank you for sharing your day with us. air raid sirens rang through the ukrainian night as russia lobs artillery, drones and missiles in every corner of the country. that as the united states delivers a public warning to china, do not dispatch weapons to vladimir putin. plus, the chairwoman of the republican national committee thinks she can get donald trump to put pen to paper and say yes to supporting the party s 2024 nominee, even if it s not him. and new intelligence pushes the energy department to change its view of how the covid pandemic began. the agency now believes the virus leaked from a chinese lab. up first for us this hour sh, turnover and triage in ukraine. president zelenskyy dismissing the commander of joint force operations. mr. zelenskyy did not explain why or why now, as this leadership shuffle collides with a new russian offensive. 14 iranian made aircraft buzzing over kyiv. they shot towdown 11 of those drone
they re trying to hold every inch of territory in that city. how has that changed the way they re fighting this side? reporter: it s made it on the russian side, dirtier. on the ukrainian, more desperate. the last few days as the offensive gains in intensity, as the conditions on the ground worsen, those images geolocated by cnn that showed the conditions around bakhmut pretty grim with mud, making the roads pretty much impassable. what ukrainian authorities and president sens has said tonight is things are getting more and more challengichallenging. what we re seeing are a series of intense attacks, but it is the battle for the town of bakhmut that gets worse and more intense by the day with ukrainian officials describing it as the epicenter. there have been today hundreds of artillery barrages and rocket strikes by the russians as they try and encircle the town, and specifically the areas of settlements to the west of it. desperate pleas on the part of the ukrainians once
address, days after russia s invasion of ukraine. tonight, his speech is going to be heavily focused on reminding americans what his administration has accomplished over the past two years. it comes as ukraine is now preparing for a major russian offensive. we ll have more on the mobilization of troops in putin s army. meanwhile, we are learning more about the chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down, and other incidents that went undetected by u.s. force. also ahead, the latest from turkey and syria where the death toll is rising following a massive earthquake, and rescuers continue to hold out hope of finding survivors. good morning and welcome to morning joe. it is tuesday, february 7th. the death toll from the earthquake in turkey and syria passed 5,000 and continues to climb. a 7.8 magnitude quake hit the region early yesterday along with multiple aftershocks, including a 7.5 magnitude one that struck just hours later. tens of thousands have been injured.
this sunday, crime and punishment. president biden backs down from fighting a republican effort to block dc s more lenient approach to crime. we will make chicago the safest city in america. just after the perception of rising crime took down chicago s mayor. we fought the right fights. can biden s moves help democrats from being seen as soft on crime going into 2024? plus, divide and conquer. florida governor ron desantis isn t officially in the race yet, but he s eagerly courting trump s base. i think there is a strong anti-woke majority across the country. the primary fight is kicked into high gear as more candidates consider challenging trump. for those who have been wronged and betrayed, i am your retribution. i will talk to chris sununu who is considering his own white house run. and confronting china. a bipartisan push to face the growing threats from beijing. this is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century.
presidential podium to make them. but first, there s another norfolk southern train derailment to tell you about, this one also in ohio prompting local officials to order people living close to the crash to shelter many place. this comes, of course, just one month after a train carrying ox thetic chemicals derailed in east palestine, ohio, about 180 miles away from yesterday s incident. more questions about the safety of the railroads and what the government can do about it. hello, everyone. welcome to a brand new hour of fox news live. i m eric shawn. hi, arthel. arthel: hi, eric. hello, everyone, i m arthel neville. norfolk southern saying no hazardous material was onboard any of the more than 20 cars that ran off the tracks yesterday, but this incident along with the east palestine derailment is causing lawmakers to question safety measures. railroads continue to enrich their executives at the expense of public safety and public health and lay off workers and comprom