0 the italians are dependent on russian energy. depending on what country you're talking to you get a different answer and agenda. talking about what they could potentially do next, all we have seen essentially is an agreement to diversify, try to find in the next several years a way to diversify away from russian energy sources. also in the last 24 hours after a very very long meeting, i've heard that it was quite a long slog, they decided to potentially do price caps. >> hadley, here comes -- hadley here comes rude interruption from me. just a moment, let's take a listen as we listen to bells ringing there at the presidential palace in advance of the president. presidential pe of the president well, apparently we were able to hear the bells, they're no longer ringing and again that's the presidential castle, not the palace, i want to make that distinction, and as we look at that sea of people awaiting the arrival of president biden, you see quite a beautiful backdrop setting for the president to make this speech that will be listened to by people around the world. those two large american and polish flags there draping, showing the unity between these two countries. hadley, i'm sorry to have cut you off, but i want to ask you, shannon, at this point, the crowd there, when we spoke with you, and it was a little lighter, i'll admit in the last hour, but about how many people do you think have gathered and what do you think the tenor is? is there a excitement, is there -- are people rather tenuously awaiting what this president will say out of fear or trying to make sure that he's going to deliver help to the polish people as they take in so many refugees? >> yeah, well, i mean, the audience here of course is a domestic audience. of course it is a global audience, but part of the president's message in these past two days in poland has been to the polish people as you note there. there is an awareness, and a trepidation here now that -- and of course with the developments of the last hour or so with bombs now striking, or missiles striking lviv, just about 45 miles from the polish border, they are on the front lines, not only of a military conflict but of course a humanitarian crisis as well, which is something the president has been seeing firsthand. a big part of the president's message has been to reassure and thank the polish people and reassure the u.s. will be there to support them militarily under their commitments with nato, and also from a humanitarian aspect of this refugee crisis. many broadly speak, though, the president's message from the speech, a big theme of this trip has been trying to unite the western allies behind this pressure campaign. they are trying to put on russia. a big focus of this speech is going to be trying to rally support and of course many many countries out there are supporting ukraine, but to push them to increase their support, and to sustain that support because we have heard white house officials say it is one thing to support a country in the early weeks and months. it is one thing to take in refugees and provide them assistance in those early weeks, but to sustain this, that is another thing. and the white house and white house officials continue to indicate that they do believe this is going to be a conflict that could potentially stretch on for months longer and only escalate. that is the type of ground work the president is trying to lay with his speech today. >> those of you watching right now to the left of shannon, you probably surmised that was the presidential motorcade heading to that presidential casino there will in warsaw. we're told it was about a ten-minute drive from where the president had taken off. but we done know exactly where that tunnel was, so he may be very close proximity, and that speech was supposed to start just a couple of minutes ago. virtually on time here if he takes to the podium shortly. as we await the president's arrival, let me ask you how you think the president's speech will be measured and to whom you believe the most important audience is? we see lots of polish people presumably this that audience that shannon was talking about. the president needs to reassure them but of course the message extends far beyond poland. what should be top of mind for you that he needs to get across today? >> alex, i think there's two primary audiences, as you said, the people of poland and the rest of the free world as we know it. the other audience that i think is going to be listening very very closely is the russians. they're going to be primarily vladimir putin and his ruling circle. and they're going to be looking not only for the words. they're going to be looking at the body language. they're going to be looking at the sincerity that the president emotes as he makes these statements. we -- as we mentioned before, you know, a united europe with the united states as a full participant in not only the defense of europe but with strong support to the ukrainian people is a significant story that the russians are trying to come to grips with. so he will do that. he's got any prayers of support. he's our president, but he's also one of the leaders of europe, nato, and ukraine. >> hadley i want to pick up on what colonel was saying about that message and how it will get to russia as we see people doing their what's called a white balance, and they're letting the cameras get all situated which means the president is not too far away from that podium. but hadley, you have spent time and as a matter of fact i've interviewed you a couple of weeks ago when you were in moscow proper. what are the chances that anybody over russian state television will see anything from this president? the colonel suggested it's going to be heard certainly by vladimir putin and military leadership, but is there any chance that the russian people will hear part of this speech? >> reporter: this is an excellent question, alex, and it's something i actually asked the coo of facebook, sheryl sandberg, i was asking her specifically. what can we expect the russian people to hear at this point? because as you say, they have been cut off from so many different channels of social media that one has to wonder what really in terms of the factual case gets back to them. at the end of the day, 2/3 of these people are unbanked, talking about millions of people who eventually are going to feel the economic sting of what's been happening as a direct result of the invasion of ukraine. i had a chance to ask various people, coos of gas companies, foreign minister of turkey. this is a man who has destroyed his committee. at some point people will notice potentially they are not getting the entire full story of what's happening beyond their borders in ukraine, the rest of the west, in europe, and you've got to wonder about that. we know and understand that the media is very much controlled by the kremlin. people that we speak to on a real basis essentially saying we can't get the real story. if we didn't have access to external sights, we wouldn't know what is going on, and i think that is reflected, not just in the idea of what people are informed about on the ground there but also in the idea of the silo, if you will, that the kremlin is in at this point. they're only hearing their own information again and again. and i actually think when i was sitting in a week ago with that foreign minister's meeting with sergey lavrov, the russian foreign minister, you saw that in his answers to me. he was towing the kremlin line. when i spoke with the foreign minister of turkey, he said to me, listen, this is not the sergey lavrov that we have known over 20 years as a major international diplomat. this is a man hearing the same message, and if you will, drinking the kool-aid of vladimir putin. >> that is an interesting observation, and not surprising having listened to statements by sergey lavrov and other elements of russian leadership. let me ask you behind the scenes what you're hearing from the unity of nato, and how that unified -- that was projected that unified image. was there anything going on behind the scenes that had to twist arms, whether economically or diplomatically, did you hear anything about that? >> reporter: it's tough, alex, because at the end of the day, we're talking about multiple countries with competing agendas. nato can talk all they want about their unity. at the end of the day, it's all about their economy, whether they can sustain an economic level of output that guarantees them votes. the people running the countries are the ones we see at the nato meetings. one of the things that people tend to forget, oh, nato, amazing alliance, it's been held together for decades now. it's been under funded for a long time. the united states has been making up the bulk of nato, spending, as well as the majority troops to the nato alliance of 140,000 folks that have been deployed thus far, 100,000 are american troops. you've got to remember that these folks are not used to putting forward their own money and people when it comes to defending europe's security. that's what we're talking about at this point. there's a reason the president is in poland. he's in poland because we're talking about the potential of further action by vladimir putin that could impact eastern europe and we talk about poland for that reason. i think it's interesting, when we think about the disparate agendas, germany has a real problem. they have to import 60% of their energy, and they are the engine of growth in europe. if there's anyone that creates growth in europe, that's germany. talking about debt crises, and what's happening in greece and italy, and the southern european states that don't have the eyes on if you will of the economies we see in northern europe. that is a problem. at the end of the day, they have to take the bulk of the pain because they're in bed with russian energy, and also the ones that don't have the ability to flip the switch, full. they can't take this wonderful idea of u.s. l and g to europe because there's no way to directly import it, and. >> yep. >> they do not have -- >> hadley. >> we're talking about a heck of a lot of money they're going to have to spend. >> 100%. >> we're seeing movement on the dais. we want to report this breaking news. i'm being told there have been two more explosions near lviv. we're going to nbc's ali arouzi to give us the latest from there. what are you hearing, ali. >> reporter: just in the last five minutes or so, we heard another one or two explosions in a different direction to the first one. it was, again, followed by black smoke. i can't confirm what it is. we haven't heard any confirmation from officials here. there were two big booms. much smaller plume of smoke but it came there. you can probably hear the emergency services are all heading to that direction that i'm looking in now. fire trucks, security cars, under cover cars have their sirens blaring, heading there. much more unusual than we have seen before. those explosions in the previous days were fairly isolated. this has been a sequence in the last couple of hours. when we have more about what this could possibly be, i'll tell you, but i don't want to speculate at this point what it could have been but i have to stress, again, this is much smaller than the first one we saw, but none the less, it was another explosion in a different direction of lviv. we don't know what the target was or hit by. this has been a succession of explosions in the last three hours, in and around lviv. that does appear to be changing somewhat now, and given what the russian general has said this morning that they were going to concentrate on the donbas region. that may have been a little premature to think that all of these other places are in complete safety. we'll keep you updated. >> it would certainly appear lviv is under siege. given so many that have taken refuge there, let alone those who have live there had and tried to carry on with their lives. when you get information, let us know. we're going to be taking the president's speech in just a moment. before we take to the podium. one more check with josh lederman, joining us from warsaw, and in anticipation of the speech, josh, do you know -- have you gotten a readout, by the way, of the speech, although i should say that ben rhodes, a former speech writer had mentioned to me that it's the kind of speech, given the circumstances of this day, it may have been being written in that motorcade on the way actually to the presidential castle given all the late developments. >> reporter: that's right, and we know president biden will be revising his speeches up to the point he gives it. we are learning a little bit more about this speech, that it's going to be roughly a half hour that the president will speak. we're also learning more about who is in the audience with the white house officials saying that ukrainian refugees have been invited to personally attend this speech. that's obviously an important symbolic move as they try to make clear what is at stake here. this is the opportunity that president biden has to wrap all of this together, the humanitarian, the fight between democracy and authoritarianism, the security threat not only for ukraine but all of the countries in europe and the nato alliance as well. after this speech, president biden is going to go back home where americans have been watching this war for more than a month now, and the president will have other items on his agenda. he's going to have to get his supreme court nominee through a successful vote. they are running out of covid funds, all of the other items on the agenda, and this is the chance that president biden has to make clear what the stakes are, why it is important that the u.s. is standing so firmly with its allies and trying to do what it can in ukraine. but it is also the opportunity for president biden to explain to people who are watching the horrors and who are watching what we are seeing on our screen right now, fires blazing in a city in western ukraine and wondering why the united states isn't doing more, why we are not going into the country and putting a stop to this. president biden has been very farm that there are significant risks if the u.s. gets dragged into a conflict with a nuclear armed russia. he says that's why we're not putting boots on the ground. that's why we are avoiding a no no fly zone. this will be president biden trying to explain why the u.s. is taking the careful, calibrated approach that it has been, relying primarily on arming the ukrainians with lethal weaponry, as well as the sanctions campaign to put pressure on president putin, but not going farther than that. it's also the moment he has to try and keep the focus on the conflict as so many refugees are struggling with growing needs, alex. >> well said all. josh lederman in warsaw. relative to that strike. everything that went down in the last ten minutes or so. we're going to gabe gutierrez, joining us in lviv. gabe, i understand you have a different vantage point from ali arouzi, is that the strike directly over your right shoulder? >> no, this is the first strike. i want to be clear about that. as you can look at it, there is still a lot of flames and a lot of smoke coming from what we believe to be a fuel depot here. this is the one that happened earlier this afternoon, alex, local officials say at least five people were injured. i want to make sure that separate from that within the last few minutes or so, the last ten, fifteen minutes, we did hear and see, i actually saw over the hill behind the camera position a very brief flash. >> all right, listen, gabe, we appreciate that description, but gabe, got to let you know, the president has taken to the podium there. we're going to take a listen, everybody to the speech. here it is, the president of the united states, joe biden. thank you very much. it's a great honor to be here. mr. president, they tell me you're over there somewhere. there you are. thank you, mr. president. be not afraid. these are the first words at the first public address of the first polish pope after his election on october 1978. they were the words that would come to define pope john paul ii, words that would change the world. john paul brought the message here to warsaw in his first trip back home as pope in june of 1979. it was a message about the power, the power of faith, the power of resilience, the power of the people. in the face of a cruel and brutal system of government, it was a message that helped end the soviet oppression in the central land in eastern europe 30 years ago. it was a message that will overcome the cruelty and brutality of this unjust war. when pope john paul brought that message in 1979, the soviet union ruled with an iron fist, behind an iron curtain. then a year later, the solidarity of movement. i know he couldn't be here tonight, we're all grateful in america and around the world for -- reminds me of that phrase of philosopher, fait sees best in the dark, and they were dark moments. ten years later, the soviet union collapsed and poland, and central and eastern europe could soon be free. nothing about that battle for freedom was simple or easy. it was a long painful slog. fought over not days and months but years and decades. we emerged anew in the great battle for freedom. a battle between democracy and autocracy. between liberty and repression. between a rules-based order, and one governed by brute force. in this battle we need to be clear eyed. this battle will not be won in days or months either. we need to steal ourselves of the long fight ahead. mr. president, mr. prime minister, mr. mayor, members of the parliament, distinguished guests, and the people of poland, and i suspect some people of ukraine that are here. [ applause ] frz we are gathere here at the royal castle in a city that holds a sacred place in the history of not only of europe but human kind's unending search for freedom. for generations, warsaw has stood where liberty has been challenged and liberty has prevailed. in fact, it was here in warsaw when a young refugee who fled her home country from czechoslovakia was under soviet domination came back to speak and stand in solidarity with dissidence. her name was madeleine kobel albright. she became one of the most ardent supporters of democracy in the world. she was a friend with whom i served, america's first woman secretary of state. she passed away three days ago. she fought her whole life for central democratic principles, and now in the perennial struggle for democracy and freedom, ukraine and its people are on the front lines fighting to save their nation, and their brave resistance is part of a larger fight for essentially democratic principles that unite all free people, the rule of law, fair and free elections, the freedom to speak, to write, and to assemble. the freedom to worship as one chooses, the freedom of the press, these principles are essential in a free society. but they have always, they have always been under siege, they have always been in battle. every generation has had to defeat democracy's moral foes. that's the way of the world. for the world is imperfect as we know. where the appetites and ambitions of a few, seek to dominate the lives and liberty of many. my message to the people of ukraine, is a message i delivered to ukraine's foreign minister and defense minister who i believe are here tonight. we stand with you. period. today's fighting kharkiv, the latest battle in a long struggle. hungary, 1956. poland, 1956, and then again 1981. czechoslovakia, 1968, soviet tanks crushed democratic uprisings, but the resistance continues until finally in 1989, the berlin wall and all the walls of soviet domination, they fell. they fell. and the people prevailed. but the battle for democracy could n