0 empty stream and the next second chaos is erupting around you. we don't know the extent of his injuries but we're praying for him and his family that he comes back to us. >> sandra: we should have an update soon, we hope, from the hospital there. thanks for joining us. i'm sandra smith. >> john: and i'm john roberts. "the story" with martha starts right now. >> martha: thanks to you both. we're all praying for ben hall at this hour as john and sandra just told you. i'm martha maccallum at fox headquarters in new york. right now on "the story," as questions are raised about america's role in the world, putin is knocking at nato's door and president zelensky says what he said all along. >> and now i repeat again, if you do not close our sky, it's a matter of time before russian missiles fall on your territory, nato territory, on the homes of citizens of nato countries. >> martha: with that in mind, keep in mind our rivals are forcing closer ties today as china, russia and iran simultaneously provoke their neighbors. the white house sends jake sullivan to talk to the chinese to try to keep them from backing russia. so we're about to take you to the white house. they're delayed we're told and also the pentagon, very important briefing from them this hour with all of these building requests. some coming from congress for us to step it up in terms of military aid to ukraine. let's take you now to mike tobin who is reporting on the ground in lviv ukraine. mike, good afternoon. >> good afternoon. so much of the conflict was to the east of here. the last four days, we've seen four air strikes in four days, the last of them or yesterday came perilously close to the polish and nato boundaries. they were so close to the polish border that people with cell phones were able to report the impact of the missile. what we're getting through the u.s. defense sources, a different account than what we got through the ukrainian authorities yesterday. a reporter said the air strikes took off from ships in the black and the azoz sees. there was one russian aircraft that took off. what we hear through u.s. defense officials is that none of the strikes eliminated from the black seas came from russian aircraft and were launched over russian airspace. the major of lviv repeat the montra that they want nato to close the skies, implement a no fly zone. he went a stuff further and said they need something akin to the patriot missile. >> we need system to protect us. missile intercept. we need system here, not poland and czech. here. >> senior u.s. officials said the no fly zone would not have made a difference in this case because the russian aircraft were all over russian airspace when they launched the attack. it led to a lot of speculation that what the russians were after at that particular space where they struck is the resupply of anti-tank and stinger missiles. the u.s. defense officials said that's not the case. the weapons were not at the base. so whatever russia used these tremendous resources to strike, it wasn't the resupply of the anti-tank or surface to air missiles. no u.s. personnel were at the base at the time of the strike. martha? >> mike tobin, thanks so much on the ground in la -- lviv. >> martha: kurt volcker is here. we're waiting to hear from the pentagon and the white house in just moments. i want to begin with this quote from the "wall street journal"'s editorial board. it says this. mr. putin is taking every advantage of president biden i desire to avoid escalation at all costs. he heard him say his overriding goal is to avoid world war iii. as russia escalates, mr. biden and nato better be prepared. putin may give them no choice. what to you think about that? >> i think that's right. putin is taking advantage of biden's avoiding aware. he wants to kill cities, escalate the war because he knows that we're constantly messaging that we don't want to join the war. i think that we need to be messaging our warnings to putin. we need to be sending a signal that we will respond if nato is attacked, if nato's forces are attacked, if he uses weapons of mass destruction. we need to stop them in the ukraine. and the point about desperation. putin is asking for help from china. the economy is in tatters. he's destroying cities now and targeting civilians and threatening supply chains to the ukrainians. all of this points to his time may be limited. >> martha: that raises questions on putin's side. if he feels cornered in that way, why do you think and certainly none of us want to see this that he hasn't escalated to using other weapons of war, biological, chemical, things that don't require the supplies that he seems to be seeing damaged every single day and then on the other side of that equation, since he is vulnerable to some extent, why are we not stepping it up to take advantage of that? >> i think putin is concerned about drawing the u.s. in to the conflict. it's not something that he wants to do. he has a hard road to be concerned. if he attacks nato directly or uses wmd, that we would respond directly against russian forces somehow. he really wants to avoid that. it's going badly enough when we're not involved. that is a deterrent. we need to be more ex-me -- >> martha: you hear the mayor of lviv say we need them now, not a month. there's an effort underway right that just signed a letter with specific letter to surface to air missiles, planes that would help to close the skies over ukraine. there's efforts from poland and other countries that would like to send in more. do you see that happening? where is president biden? that conversation? >> first off, i do see it happening. the more we see of putin's brutal attacks on civilians and how badly things are going there, we will ultimately react. the problem is we're too slow, taking a half step at a time and we eventually get there. the astonian parliament voted to support a no fly zone over the ukraine. you'll see more nato countries come out and support that as well. perhaps even u.s. eventually will. president biden as you said, he's seeking to avoid the u.s. getting involved in the conflict out of concern that this would lead to a wider war with russia, nato and the u.s. and russia and possibly involving nuclear weapons. it's a serious risk. we have to respect the judgment that he's making. at some point, when is enough enough? when are enough civilian casualties enough? >> martha: in terms of the language coming out of the capitol, jake sullivan being asked what if, what if an errant missile ends up in pond. they're very close to the border now. what if there is a nato provocation. watch this. >> is the u.s. policy that any strike in to polish territory or airspace if it starts to set a presince that they can do something and we don't respond. we need to respond in the unintended attack scenario. nato would have a discussion about proportionality. what is appropriate in a situation like that. a limited missile attack that hits poland should be matched with a limited missile attack back. >> martha: president biden said we would protect every inch of nato territory. we hope that that is not a comment that gets tested. in the world we're living in, it could be the case. ambassador volcker, thanks very much. good to have you here, sir. >> my pleasure. >> martha: as we hate to hear what the pentagon has to say about all that we were just discussing, look at this man walking down the street in kyiv and the explosion that happens down the street. he apparently was okay. the reports are that two others were killed nearby. yesterday russians fired at a car carrying a journalist killing him. this is his colleague, who was with him. >> i saw him being shot in the neck. >> terrifying situation as that plays out and our reporters including our own are in very tough positions right now. in moments, ukraine ukrainian parliament member alexi, arming himself to defend his capitol. >> peel like me, have a civilians, i'm a member of the parliament. i took arms in my hands. i'm sure we can hold our cities. >> martha: we hear this from every member of parliament. first to trey yingst reporting live from kyiv. hi, trey. >> russian forces are getting closer and closer to the capitol city. we heard the russian shelling as fighter jets target kyiv. you can see from this video at a location this morning, an a president complex where two people were killed and nearly a dozen injured after a russian shell slammed into there building. firefighters looking for survivors trying to get the scene under control. this is what we've seen play out throughout the capitol today. another location there, a russian missile slamming into the side walk and killing one. the scenes of devastation in kharkiv, the second largest ukrainian city and mariupol in the south are starting to play out here as russian forces get closer by the day. in mariupol, we're getting new drone video that shows the level of destruction. the black smoke rising from the horizon and the devastation to residential areas. the result of indiscriminate russian shelling. we brought you this update of a pregnant mother that was carried out of the maternity hospital in the southern city. the a.p. reports that she has passed away. just gives you a real understanding of the civilians that are caught amid this war as russia pushes forward. at this point, there's no sign of letting up as they target the capitol city. john, sandra? >> martha: i'll take you back. we watched that woman. it's so heart breaking. we saw her carried out of that maternity hospital. hopeful she will be okay. it's a horrific story and one of so many that we see happening on the ground. always good to see you. so ukrainian member alexi joins us now from kyiv. sir, thank you very much for joining us. tell us the latest of what you're seeing on the ground there from where you are. >> thank you to you, to fox news. i'm very much -- i regret the situation that your correspondent journalist is wounded. we show the best to them, the best recovery. thanks for covering. that was his job to cover the situation in ukraine. that is so important for our people and nation. so thanks to you and to your team that you're doing these for the whole free world. thank you. speaking about the situation in kyiv, there are three bombings today. i was in place of all three bombings. three civilians were killed. 14 were injured. these were just civilian areas. civilian building, residential building. with more than 100 apartments there. just 100 meters from school. the cross roads in the center of the city where one man was killed accidentally. so putin is not looking for military targets. he's attacking have a civilians to make terror in ukraine. that's why it's important for us to receive weapons to have a possibility to defend women and children like in mariupol. a pregnant woman died with an unborn child. that is so awful. that is something that we prevent if ukraine already would have the aircraft, air defense, petro. american petro. missile systems, just to protect our skies. we don't ask for your soldiers, your pilots in the skies. just weapons to save people like this lady who is now dead. like your correspondent that is injured. that's what's going on there. >> martha: we already played a big commitment in javelins and stingers and money. right now it doesn't seem like it should change the dynamic of what our commitment clearly is. >> absolutely. you're right. >> martha: there's a lot of people that feel strongly that that should happen. i was reading a military assessment of the future of kyiv. it could be surrounded in about two weeks time by russian tanks, by russian artillery. is that -- do you see that from what you're seeing on the ground? what is the outlook for the next two weeks in kyiv from where you are? >> i'm not a military general. just an ordinary soldier in territorial defense. but what i do know that putin first said that it will take two days to take kyiv. then four days. then they gave us 96 hours more. as you see, the third week is on the plate and russians cannot even encircle kyiv, not to take kyiv. there's no words about this. so i feel -- i believe that we can hold the capitol. we can told kyiv. i will be here till then. if it will be needed, people like me with no military experience will fight. for the moment, i believe our army can stop them like they already did, like they already stopped them on their -- in the town center of kyiv and 20-30 meters from kyiv. they will try, but they will fail like they failed before. >> martha: it has been something to watch, to see the strength of ordinary citizens like yourself who have taken up arms and are protecting their neighborhoods and defending their country. please know that we're all watching you -- >> we appreciate it very much. thank you for covering and support. >> martha: we're going to go to the pentagon where john kirby has taken the podium. let's listen in. >> first stop is brussels for the nato defense minister. he looks forward to having another discussion to talk with our nato allies about all of the things we're doing as an alliance to bolster and support our deterrence capabilities on the eastern flank. from there, he will go to slovokia. i think we already talked about that last week. and today, the secretary has added a third stop in bulgaria. so he will extend the trip by a day. we'll have a chance to meet with senior civilian and military leaders in bulgaria. also a key stop in terms of the eastern flank of the alliance. we'll have more detail as the trip progresses and keep you informed. on an exercise night, operation noble defender is a recurring norad air defense. this year's noble defender planned for march 16 will occur during a series of arctic activities that demonstrate our strength. we will have assets from canada and the united states with support from denmark to allow our air defense operations -- to allow air defense operations from greenland. during this exercise, norad righters will intercept strategic command bombers from alaska to greenland. we'll keep you apprised of that. lastly, on behalf of everybody here at the department, we would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of brent renault who was killed over the weekend covering ukraine. we understand he was working on a documentary and refugees. this unprovoked war by mr. putin has created 2.5 million refugees. so we applaud the work that he was doing, the bravery with which he did it and again our deepest condolences and sympathies go out to his family. i would like to take this opportunity to express our concerns over what we understand now is that the injuries sustained by benjamin hall, we're given to understand that he's being treated in a hospital for his injuries. we wish him all the best, a speedy recovery and a safe return. again, two examples of the dangers in covering war. this is a war that didn't need to be fought. just as sure, there's journalists on the ground and telling the important stories. again, our best go out to mr. hall certainly our deepest thoughts go to his family as i'm sure they're worried about him and he's well-being. we're thinking about him. with that i'll start talking question. where's my a.p. guy. lita, you're on the phone. >> i'm here. thanks, john. can you talk about the strikes the other day? are the strikes making it more difficult for the u.s. to get security assistance in to the ukrainians and does that leave concerns about moving closer to the polish border? are there any new efforts going on to either supplement troops or other systems, weapons, et cetera to protect poland? >> so, again, without getting into much detail, jen, this was clearly a russian air strike. our understanding is these are cruise missiles fired from long range in the western ukraine. i can assure you there were no u.s. military personnel there. that's where the florida national guard had been doing their training before they left a few week ago. no u.s. contractor is there, no u.s. civilians, no u.s. government personnel there at all. for the damage done, we know several structures were hit. we don't have a perfect picture of the damage done or how much -- how much gear or equipment was hit and with what effect. but as we have said before, this is now the third significant strike in western ukraine. certainly appears as if the russians are broadening their target set. >> were nato weapons shipments going through that location? is that why it was being targeted? >> i can't speak for russian targeting justification. that's really not always clear to us. without -- we've been very careful about not wanting to talk about the routes through which security assistance getting to the ukraine. i don't want to start by doing that today. i will tell you that we have multiple routes to get security assistance in to the hand of the ukrainians. this is not one of them. >> these russian planes were in russian airspace. they didn't cross into ukraine. >> we know they were long range cruise missiles. >> is this air strike -- i believe there was another town that was targeted. do you have now indications that the russians are -- there's any efforts by the russians to interfere with supplies and routes in to crew ukrainian? is that a concern now? so far senior officials have been telling us that there were no indications of such an effort. is the strike on the -- >> we're not looking at this strike as an effort to go after the delivery of security assistance to ukraine. i'm not going to talk about all of the modalities of how we're continuing to find ways to help ukraine defend itself. you guys can understand that. and all i will tell you in answer to your question, your larger question, we're going to continue to get as much security assistance to the ukrainians as fast as we can and the most efficient effective way. there's lots of different ways that we're pursuing that. i don't think it's helpful, certainly not to the ukrainians for us to be details that here from the podium. >> the efforts by the russians, have you seen any indications that they're trying now to interfere with these -- >> all i will tell you, we continue to have ways to get stuff in to the hands of the ukrainians. i'm just going to leave it at that. i'm not going to talk about russian targeting and operations. >> go back to this strike. do you consider that a turning point in the war? the fact that they start striking in the west or do you consider that as just -- that we can do that if we want? >> i don't think we would reduce something like this to calling it a signal. i mean, they use multiple cruise missiles here. clearly they had their reasons for targeting that training facility. it is a ukrainian military targeting facility. as for a turning point, no. i wouldn't think that we would consider this or the other strike in western ukraine as some sort of turning point. the russians are expanding some of their target sets. that is obvious just from the fact that over the last couple days we've seen other targets hit in ukraine. it doesn't change our general upsing that they continue to be frustrated by a stiff ukrainian resistance and they're not making the progress that they thought. let's try lita. are you through? >> i'm here. sorry. can you hear me? can you hear me? >> yep, i got you. >> i want to expand a little bit on a couple of the questions. is it getting difficult more broadly to get security assistance in to ukraine at all? secondly, as this strike sort of got the site closer to the polish border, are you hearing anything from poland against requests for more security assistance to them or more troops? do you see anymore troops going to europe in the next week or so? >> i don't have any additional troop movements to speak to, lita, as you all know, when we do have something like that to talk about, we will do that. i'm not -- i have no