GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "NewsHour" tonight:  On the eve of the two-year  

anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine,  

we speak to a top State Department official and  a Ukrainian soldier about the state of the war.

YURA, Ukrainian: We have nothing to lose,  because, like, if we will lose this war,  

we will lose, like, everything, our  freedom, our country, our lives.

AMNA NAWAZ: The boyfriend of a  dual Russian-American citizen  

speaks out after she was arrested  in Russia on charges of treason.

GEOFF BENNETT: And with Nikki Haley struggling to  close the gap with former President Donald Trump,  

a look ahead to tomorrow's South  Carolina Republican primary.

(BREAK)

AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

The Biden administration today unveiled  a new set of sanctions against Russia to  

punish it further for the full-scale invasion  of Ukraine that began two years ago tomorrow.

GEOFF BENNETT: The sanctions are  also meant to target Russia for the  

death of anti-corruption activist  and politician Alexei Navalny. He  

died in an Arctic prison one week  ago from a cause still unknown.

Earlier today, I spoke with  U.S. Undersecretary of State  

for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland  about the state of the war two years on.

Victoria Nuland, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

VICTORIA NULAND, U.S. Undersecretary of State  For Political Affairs: Thank you, Geoff.  

Great to be with you.

GEOFF BENNETT: As the world prepares to mark the  second anniversary of Putin's Ukraine invasion,  

Ukraine's counteroffensive has  stalled. Ukraine lost a brutal,  

monthslong battle for Avdiivka.  Additional funding, as you well know,  

is stuck in the GOP-led House. And  Russia is showing no signs of quitting.

What is the outlook for Ukraine right now?

VICTORIA NULAND: Well, Geoff, you are not  wrong that these are tough days for Ukraine.

And, as you said, they have had to come  out of Avdiivka. When I was out there a  

couple of weeks ago, there were soldiers  on the front line with only 20 bullets a  

day to defend themselves. And this is why  the administration is pushing so hard for  

this additional $60 billion to support  Ukraine, because the Ukrainians need it  

if they're going to continue to defend  the line and push back the Russians.

But with this money, we actually think that  they can make some serious gains in 2024,  

particularly by enhancing some of the asymmetric  techniques that they have been using. But we need  

to support them, just as the Europeans have  just given them an additional $54 billion.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, so far,  House Speaker Mike Johnson has  

refused to bring up a Senate-passed  package, at least for a quick vote.

Is there a way for the administration  to get that much-needed aid to Ukraine,  

absent action from Congress?

VICTORIA NULAND: Geoff, I would  just start by reminding that this  

bill passed overwhelmingly in the  Senate; 70 senators supported it.

And they supported it because they understand  that, as much as this is about Ukraine's  

ability to survive as a democratic state,  it is also about the larger principles of  

a free and open international order  that benefits the United States,  

and that, if we don't stand with Ukraine, if  Putin wins here, then dictators and tyrants  

all over the world will take note and will get  hungry with their own territorial aspirations.

So we need to pass this money, and the  American people broadly understand that.  

So we are hopeful that they will tell their  members when they're home during this recess  

how much they support this money, and  we are confident that it will pass.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden  today announced more than 500  

sanctions on Russia. This is the largest  tranche since the conflict started.

Is this a tacit admission that the  previous sanctions haven't worked,  

what with Russia's military industrial  complex up and running and seemingly  

drawing on limitless supplies and  support from its authoritarian allies?

VICTORIA NULAND: Well, let  me start with your premise,  

Geoff, that previous sanctions haven't worked.

Russia has become a pariah state around the world,  

thrown out of the international banking system,  and now so desperate for weapons that it has to  

go to countries like Iran and North Korea  to get them. But those Russians are wily,  

and they have over the last six  months found ways to evade sanctions,  

but we have also got smarter about how to hurt  them, and that's why this package is so massive.

It looks at punishing sanctions evaders. It  looks at closing down further Russia's access  

to credit and finance. It also punishes for  the death of the leading opposition figure,  

Navalny, at the hands of  Putin and his prison guards,  

and it sanctions those involved in the  abduction of Ukrainian children into Russia.

So it is a massive package,  and partly it's because we  

have got to staunch this evasion and  because we have far more targets now,  

as we understand better how to staunch  the Russian industrial complex.

GEOFF BENNETT: Why should it, though, take  an event like the death of Alexei Navalny to  

prompt these types of sanctions? Couldn't  some of this have happened two years ago,  

at least to stop the flow of technology  into Russia's military industrial complex  

that goes into building the kinds  of missiles that kill Ukrainians?

VICTORIA NULAND: Geoff, we did sanction technology  

from around the world as -- two years  ago, just before and after the invasion.

What has happened is that Russia has  found ways to evade those sanctions,  

going to third markets or buying, for  example, a billion washing machines,  

and then taking out the computer chips  that we have denied them in other ways.

So, this is a tightening of those sanctions as  Russia adjusts, and we're confident that they're  

going to have a very profound impact.  But the other thing that's happening,  

and this is quite worrying, is that Russia  has been willing to intensify its economic and  

security relationship with China, in fact,  becoming increasingly dependent on China.

And that is how it is fueling its war machine.  It's also been willing to put the vast majority  

of its own economic stimulus into the war  effort, so it is starving Russia and Russians  

of investment in education in their own future,  all in service of Putin's imperial ambitions.

So, what we are having to do is adjust as well.

GEOFF BENNETT: As we wrap up our conversation,  

you said you're confident that the aid  package will ultimately pass Congress.

There is this question, though, of  what good would additional aid do,  

especially among those who view this as  a war of attrition and point to the slow  

progress of Ukraine's counteroffensive. If  the U.S. continues to provide Ukraine the  

same sorts of weapons, why wouldn't  that lead to a further stalemate?

VICTORIA NULAND: First of all, this aid is  going to allow Ukraine to do four things.

It's going to allow them to continue  to fight. It's going to allow them to  

build a highly deterrent military of the future,  

so that they will increasingly be able to stand  on their own feet in security terms. It's going  

to help them recover and get more of their  own people home and rebuild their tax base,  

so that we have -- there's less economic support  that they need from the rest of the world.

And it's also going to help them reform and  become a more European, democratic country.  

With this money on the battlefield, first  and foremost, it will ensure Ukraine can  

hold the line. But, as I said, they're getting  increasingly proficient at asymmetric weapons.

And I expect, as I said in Kyiv a couple of  weeks ago when I was there, that if we can  

provide this support, Putin's going to get some  very nasty surprises on the battlefield in 2024,  

in addition to Ukraine being able to  really rebuild a 21st century military.

GEOFF BENNETT: Victoria Nuland is  the undersecretary of state for  

political affairs at the U.S. State Department.

Thank you for your time and  for your insights this evening.

VICTORIA NULAND: Thank you, Geoff.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines:  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made  

a surprise visit to Ukraine to reaffirm  America's support for the war effort.

The trip came as a $60 billion bipartisan aid  bill for Ukraine remains stalled in the House  

after passing in the Senate. Schumer  was joined by four other Democratic  

senators. They met with President Volodymyr  Zelenskyy and U.S. Embassy staff in Lviv.

In the Middle East, Palestinian leaders are  rejecting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin  

Netanyahu's proposed postwar plan  for Gaza. Presented late yesterday,  

it seeks open-ended control over security  and civilian affairs in the Strip.

In the meantime, officials in Gaza say IDF  airstrikes have killed at least 100 Palestinians  

since yesterday. A survivor described  one horrifying overnight attack in Rafah.

NOUR HAMAD, Gaza Strip Resident (through  translator): We were sleeping. We woke up to the  

sound of the bombardment. We rushed to find the  remains of people scattered in the streets, smoke  

and gunpowder. It was terrifying. The homes shook.  We stayed at the hospital until the morning.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary  of State Antony Blinken condemned the  

expansion of Israeli settlements  within Palestinian territories.

His comments marked a return to a  stance the U.S. has held for decades,  

but had shifted under the Trump administration.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State:  New settlements are counterproductive to  

reaching an enduring peace. They're  also inconsistent with international  

law. Our administration maintains a firm  opposition to settlement expansion. And,  

in our judgment, this only weakens,  doesn't strengthen, Israel's security.

AMNA NAWAZ: Also today, the U.S. military  said they destroyed several Houthi attack  

drones and anti-ship cruise missiles in the  Red Sea and Yemen. They say they posed an  

imminent threat to commercial  vessels and U.S. naval ships.

Back in this country, Alabama Governor Kay  Ivey says she will support legislation to  

protect in vitro fertilization treatment in the  wake of her state's controversial Supreme Court  

ruling. Last week's decision maintained  that frozen embryos could be considered  

children under state law. Several clinics  have since paused their treatments. The  

state's attorney general also said he doesn't  intend to prosecute IVF providers or families.

A jury in New York has found that the  National Rifle Association mismanaged  

its finances and engaged in lavish spending.  It also said that the group's former leader  

Wayne LaPierre violated his duties  and cost the NRA more than $5 million.

A new report from the U.N.'s Human  Rights Office is warning that sexual  

violence committed during the ongoing  conflict in Sudan may amount to war  

crimes. It cites at least 118 cases of  rape or other forms of sexual violence  

over an eight-month period. The U.N. says  at least 19 of the victims were children.  

The turmoil began last April when clashes  broke out between rival forces in Khartoum.

The U.S. and South Korea staged a show of joint  military strength today over the Korean Peninsula.  

It was an apparent response to North Korea's spate  of weapons tests. Advanced F-35A fighter jets,  

many deployed by the U.S., maneuvered through  the sky for missile interception drills. The  

North has launched six rounds of  missile tests so far this year.

In Kenya, a state funeral was held today for world  marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum. Hundreds of  

mourners turned out for the 24-year-old's  burial near his hometown, including Kenyan  

President William Ruto. Kiptum died in a car crash  earlier this month. He broke the world marathon  

record last October at the Chicago Marathon,  running it in just two hours and 35 seconds.

And trading was light on Wall Street today. The  Dow Jones industrial average gained 62 points  

to close at 39131, a new record. The Nasdaq  fell 45 points, and the S&P 500 added two.

Still to come on the "NewsHour":  

a look at the dangers of parents promoting  their children's content on social media;  

the Biden campaign works to regain the  support of disillusioned Democratic voters;  

David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on  the week's political headlines; plus much more.

GEOFF BENNETT: Ukraine finds itself in  a bloody stalemate on the frozen plains  

of the country's east and south now two  years into Russia's full-scale invasion.

Russian and Ukrainian forces have taken  immense losses throughout the war,  

and now there are calls in Kyiv  for a mass mobilization. But many  

people are answering their own calls  to protect their nation and joining up.

Nick Schifrin and filmmaker Amanda Bailly  in Kyiv introduce us to one of them.

NICK SCHIFRIN: On the stage of war, one  man plays many parts. And on the streets  

of Ukraine's capital, Yura is recasting himself.

YURA, Ukrainian: At some point, you're  accepting your fate, and you just believe,  

so, like, if you should live, you  will live. If not, you will die.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Before the full-scale invasion,  the 28-year-old, who asked us to withhold his  

last name, was a snowboard instructor, a  tour guide, an I.T. specialist, a model.

But after the invasion, he swapped the  suit vest for one that stops bullets. He  

translated for and drove a Human Rights Watch  team into and through the horrors of war to  

document Russia's crimes. War forever  transforms its victims and witnesses.

YURA: When we came to Bucha, I can  remember definitely the smell of  

rotten bodies. It was like -- like a horror movie.

And I remember the screams of mothers  who were recognizing their children.  

And it was something that you cannot forget.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Nothing about this war  will be forgotten. In the center of Kyiv,  

the carcasses of Russian armor are  rusting witnesses to Ukrainian courage.

YURA: All them burned down  is because somebody just,  

like, in the distance of 100 or 200 meters had  enough bravery and skill to shoot the rocket.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yura says he now needs  to find his own bravery. He's tried  

to help the war effort in other ways.  But Russia now has military momentum.

And Yura says too many of his friends are fighting  the war outmanned and increasingly outgunned.

YURA: A lot of them are already two years  in this hell. Despite the fact maybe that I