the pentagon says it has no reason to dispute ukraine's claim calling it possible and plausible. russia struck a military facility with a cruise missile. they threatened to hit the capital two days ago. that is of note. and russian forces are building presence in eastern ukraine. russian troops continue their advance towards the donbas. a chilling warning from cia director william burns. he said the potential for russia to use tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons in ukraine cannot be taken lightly. also, the "washington post" said russia has sent a formal diplomatic note to the united states warning u.s. and nato shipments of the sensitive

weapons systems to ukraine are adding fuel to the conflict and there could be, quote, unpredictable consequences. brianna. let's begin in mykolaiv which is where ed lavandera is. ed, can you tell us the latest from that region? >> reporter: well, good morning, brianna. it has been a hectic night here and morning in the city of mykolaiv, just east of odesa. we have been hearing bombardment throughout the night in the distance. and this morning, in the mid morning hours, a cluster bombs going off here in a residential neighborhood. this is a park where we are told several people were walking around. and you can see the impact on the ground from various -- of these cluster munitions that detonated in a largely residential neighborhood. apartment buildings behind me. this is an orthodox church. we will walk you back over to

one of the impact sites. two dead so far in the explosions and the attacks going on this morning. in fact, here at this church, they have spent the morning cleaning up the rather gruesome scene left here. this is one of the areas where people were killed. they have actually already started covering up the impact site here. this is just feet away from this orthodox church. this was much wider a little while ago. they have started filling it up. this is the glass and everything they have been cleaning up from these windows. and you can see the damage inflicted here on this building. as several people have told us, brianna, this was an area in the park where people were walking around this morning, walking their dogs. doesn't seem to be any clear indication of any kind of military presence in this area at all. one witness said the munitions were going off for 10 minutes trying to scramble to hide and how to get to safety.

there had been attacks, according to officials, in various parts of this skpraoepblg this city. as i told you off the top, we have been hearing bombardment. the front line is probably 30, 45 miles away toward the city of kerr shonn, and from the south to the north, that's where the front line has been the last few days. so attacking like this and the sounds of this warfare have been common. an attack like this in the city, a deadly attack sends a great deal of anger. we talked to one witness a little while ago who described what it was like here and how they reacted to what was happening. >> ed, let me give people a accepts of where you are. mykolaiv is right here. you can see it's not part of the area controlled by russia. close, though. you mentioned kherson, which is right here. and just to give people a sense of also the action that people are expecting is actually in the

east, in this part of the country. and ed is right here. so i guess my question, ed, is there a concern where you are in mykolaiv that even while the main russian focus might be further in the east, that mykolaiv could still be a target, that there still could be a russian push to take over the full black sea coast. >> reporter: there has been a concern for some time in the east and southeast of the country. if you look at the map, you can see crimea is just southeast of where we are. and that has been a launching point for russian forces coming into this area. so the offensive has been rather strong. in the last few days, john, we have been driving around in some of the areas north of mykolaiv. and we have seen a steady flow of refugees trying to escape the villages and the cities in this occupied, russian-occupied areas of southern -- of southern

ukraine. so there is a great deal of sense that this offense, renewed offensive into ukraine has sent people forced people to move to safer place in the country. it does kind of serve as a reminder for people here that as they try to figure out exactly what is the motivation for the russians, what is their strategy going to be and moving into this part, are they satisfied with where they are or keep pushing west into ukraine moving through mykolaiv and down to the city of odesa. that has been the question looming over these people and these cities for quite some time now.

>> ed, thank you so much. please stay safe. you're in an area that was just hit. >> russian troops retreated from northern ukraine, this area that you see right there earlier this month are resurfacing in the donbas to the east in and a large-scale attack is expected in days, perhaps even hours. the shelling has already begun. cnn's barbara starr live at the pentagon this morning. barbara, what are you hearing? >> reporter: good morning, john. the pentagon says they are beginning to see the leading edge of this russian advance moving into the donbas. russian fighters -- russian-backed fighters have been there for years. this is something very different. they are seeing the russians move in with artillery, with command and control, with other leading-edge capabilities as they push into the donbas for what they expect to be major land combat. it is the beginning of setting

up the military capability for long-range fires in that region. it is something that is being watched so carefully because vladimir putin wants to declear clare some sort of victory, it's widely believed, sometime next month. he is looking next may to score a win in his mind. this is the place he's going to try and get it. because he feels he has the capability in him to do it. the troops that will move in are likely to be russian troops that left from northern ukraine around the capital of kyiv several weeks ago, went back, got replied and now are positioning to move into the donbas from the north. so what about ukraine forces? well, the u.s. is now beginning to assemble that $800 million package of weapons, artillery, helicopters, radars that it is going to ship to ukraine forces so they can challenge the russians on that front in the donbas. but consider this, john.

$800 million of heavy women's. they will get them to the polish border. ukrainians will have to pick them up and move them across the country into eastern ukraine. the last time the u.s. tried to move $800 million worth of gear, it was lighter weapons and it took them a month. so time is of the essence here. time is nobody's friend on the ukraine side of this fight. john. . >> yeah. they have a long way to go. once they get to the border, they still have a long way to go to get to the donbas region over there. barbara starr at the pentagon, thank you very much. joining us now is former counterterrorism official analyst phil mudd. phil, first i want to talk with you about this formal diplomatic note that russia sent to the u.s. it can't escape you that this comes as you have those upgraded weapons that barbara was just detailing going from the ukrainians to the u.s.

how worried is russia about those weapons? >> it's a rare moment when i tell you in the midst of the war we have a good news story. one of the things i learned in watching wars, when the adversary complains, you can guarantee you have gotten under their skin. al qaeda complained a lot about troepbs. you know what that means, more drones. when russians are complaining about weapons supply, they means they're under a lot of pain. i say, continue the supplies. the flip side if you're at the state department, pentagon, white house, you have to have a contingency plan in case they start striking neighbors, such as poland. i would say in general, sort of good news story. contingency if they move out and strike more targets of allies, you can't leave the allies out to dry.

>> an escalation. on the subject of escalation, phil, the cia director warning that the united states should take seriously the risks of a cornered vladimir putin using these tactical or low-grade nuclear weapons. there is no significant intelligence that putin is planning it, just it is increasing. . >> if you look at what's happening in ukraine, we used to use the phrase low probability, high compact. he said the likelihood of these. he doesn't see movement of things that would be part of this. the cia director burns, the cia doesn't have intelligence about use of these. but if you look at the psychology of isolated dictators, and i'm referring to putin as a dictator, the ability of information to penetrate the close circle of people is low.

putin might be sitting thering a, hey, why not use tactical nukes. the cia has a plan for that because they are dealing with somebody who may not be thinking quite clearly. low probability, high impact. the cia has got to pay attention. . >> phil, this russian ship actually did sink. i wonder how significant that is in reality when it comes to fighting this but also symbolically. >> the indication that david can go against goliath and win. so many weapons, so much time into this campaign, the likelihood we are sitting here in months or years to come and russia don't have a foot hold in the east and south and moving west, i think the likelihood is

very high. the chance that ukraine can hold out forever, i just don't see it. . >> just don't see it. all right. phil, thank you so much for that. appreciate it. just in, a cnn exclusive on the january 6th investigation back in the united states. we're now seeing text messages from trump allies in congress to the white house. so what do they reveal? plus, violence erupting in jerusalem. more than 150 people hurt after fights break out between palestinians and israeli security personnel at one of jerusalem's holiest sites during holy weekend stpwhraofplt and developing now, china's military conducting drills near taiwan amid a visit from u.s. lawmakers.

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breaking news this morning. new texts show how two congressional trump allies went from encouraging the white house efforts to overturn the 2020 election or at least block the results to ultimately warning them about the consequences. ryan nobles as this cnn exclusive story. there's a lot in here, >> ryan: >> no doubt about that, john. good morning from capitol hill. what our exclusive report reveals for the first time are close to 100 text messages between two republican lawmakers and the white house chief of staff mark meadows. these text messages reveal a willingness to be open to the idea that there was enough evidence of fraud and league precedent. as time ticked close to january 6th, both agreed the trump plan was not going to work and they were encouraging meadows to convince trump to stand down.

senator mike lee of utah and congressman chip roy of texas, two of former donald trump's most loyal defenders in congress. dozens of private texts to chief of staff mark meadows, a picture shows how it went from aiding the efforts of the election results to ultimately warning against it. the texts obtained by cnn show how they were trying to help initially but, by the end, raised concerns to the top deputy about standing in the way of 2020 election. we're driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic, roy warned meadows in a text on january 1st that is in possession of the january 6th select committee. historic warning after hard evidence of election fraud and concerns that the lack of specific evidence was a real problem for the trump legal team. we must urge the president to

tone down the rhetoric, he wrote to meadows on november 9th. roy did believe there were problems with the election. early december he went to the house floor, imploring decades to look into the thin examples of fraud. . >> the american people are raising legitimate questions and this body is missing in action and doing nothing. >> reporter: senator mike lee started out hopeful there was a path to challenge election results. in early november, he touted the work of conservative lawyer sidney powell, calling her a straight shooter. two weeks later, powell appeared with rudy giuliani in what would become an infamous press conference where the duo made wild, baseless claims about the election. >> president trump won by a landslide. we are going to prove it. >> reporter: lee then changed his tune calling powell a liability and turned his focus to touting eastman. he pushed a plan to offer up a

set of alternate electors. when that plan fizzled, lee decided he was no longer on board. he texted december 16th to mark meadow, i think we are past the point we can expect anyone will do it without some direction and a strong evidentiary argument. both lee and roy ultimately chose not to join other republicans to vote against certifying the election. >> our job is to open and then count, open, then count. that's it. that's all there is. >> reporter: privately, they were they are more emphatic about what trump's team was on. the president should call everyone off. it's the only path. three days before january 6th, he warned, i know only that this will end badly for the president unless we have the constitution on our side. they did not. but the trump team and a group of loyal republicans went ahead

with their plan anyway. as it became clear their effort would not be successful, hundreds of trump supporters stormed the capitol in protest. as the violence was raging, roy texted messages, fix this now. >> the gentleman from texas. >> reporter: he then went to the house floor and placed the blame squarely at the president's feet. . >> and the president should never have spun up certain americans to believe something that simply cannot be. >> reporter: both the offices of mike lee and chip roy. khoeup roy spokesperson said they believe the texts speak for themselves. the texts do not contradict what he was saying publicly. >> ryan nobles with this exclusive report. ryan, thank you very much. i want to bring in george conway, columnist for the "washington post" and attorney. george, what do you think?

. >> it's a remarkable chronology. and i think the key its significance is the contrast with trump's behavior. the judge in california who said that donald trump likely committed crimes pointed out all the evidence that was presented to trump or available to trump that he should have known that there was no fraud sufficient to overturn the election. and what you see with these texts is a remarkable chronology in realtime of them wanting to see, find evidence of fraud, and then not hearing any from giuliani and sidney powell. and all the cases they lost, 60 plus in federal, state courts throughout the country. and they came to the conclusion that there was no constitutional way to overturn this election. and yet donald trump persisted. >> these two members, lee and roy, senator lee and representative roy, basically saying, help me help you. >> right. >> but then over time they realized there was, in their

words, no help there. just look at the evolution from chip roy. he said we need ammo. we need fraud examples. later he is saying the president should have never have spun up something to americans that is not true. . >> no there there. that's the point that the judge was making about trump's probable intent. he did not care whether or not there was evidence or not. >> let me just read more from mike lee here. he writes, closer to january 6th, i only know that this will end badly for the president unless we have the constitution on our side and unless the states submit new selectors according to state law. it never happened. it gets to consciousness of guilt. mark meadows certainly knew. >> right. he basically was saying this was a violation of the constitution to proceed with trying to overturn the election and that

getting certificates from the states, if you didn't have the valid certificates of states, that would be a violation of the constitution. and yet donald trump, on january 5, is trying to get mike pence, brow beating him, bullying him into trying to not count the valid electoral certificates that were signed and sealed and reflected the actual victory of joe biden. . >> does this in any way hurt the former president in terms of whatever legal case he might face? . >> i think it should. because i think the contrast, whether it's admissable into evidence i would say for another day. i think overall it just illustrates the amount of evidence there is that should have been -- that probably was, definitely was to some extent, made apparent to trump that he lost. and there's so much other evidence.

white house counsel's office, barr. >> mike lee, from the beginning, was calling on the state legislatures around the country to submit alternate slates of electors, different slates of electors, calling on the legislature to do so. . >> right. >> how different is this scheme from the trump world to just submit different electors? . >> it wasn't. it is really the same thing. although i think mike lee pulled back when he realized that, you know -- there is no league basis in the first place, but no factual basis for these legislators to conclude that the election did not go the way it went. >> mike lee was basically saying the legislatiors need to acceptd the new electors. they never did. . >> right. . >> steven miller, president's former aide, former former president's aide. they were focused on the speech

that he gave january 6th at the ellipse, asking a lot of questions about the choice of language used. why the former president kept saying we, we, we. i want to listen to a little bit of that speech. no? we don't have it. he kept referring to the speech talking about we, we, we. why does the language choice matter. >> we must fight, we must go to capitol hill. we must show strength. by saying we, he is saying you're doing this for me, we're doing this together. and it goes straight to the question of what donald trump thought he was doing. was he inciting a riot at the capitol? that's probably what they spent a lot of time asking him about, why did you choose the word wee? what was the object there? and the fact of the matter is, it's secondary to the -- to what

we saw and what is out in the public. the fact of the matter is, we did see -- the language was inflammatory, urging people to go up and intimidate the vice president. they were saying things like mike pence has to show strength. and a lot of the people who have been charged for committing violence on capitol hill or trespassing on capitol hill january 6th said they did it because of donald trump. >> what does it tell you the committee is asking of these questions in probably the ninth inning of the game in terms of the investigation. when where do you think they are right now? . >> i think you're right. i think they have to be at the ninth inning. they have to be wrapping up. they have a lot of evidence to go through. we have only seen just a tip of the iceberg. there's probably -- there's got to be a lot more there we

haven't seen. we're going to be in for quite a show i think in may >> george conway, thanks for being here. i appreciate it. next, we will be joined by senator steve daines to visit ukraine since the russian invasion began. he will join us live from ukraine. and the little girl in the red jacket in the movie shindler' shindler's list she joins us on "new day". ♪

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breaking overnight, the russian military says it hit ukraine.

joining us is senator daines. thank you so much for being with us. could you tell us why you think it was so important for you to go and what the most revealing thing you saw or have seen was. >> well, john, we're hearing lots of reports of prime ministers, of presidents, of members of parliament who have visited kyiv, have been to bucha. i think it was important to have american presence here to see it firsthand. i have to tell you, i'm standing here in western ukraine at the moment. but i've got to tell you it was gut wrenching to see what's happening with these war crimes committed by russian soldiers and vladimir putin. john, we're the parents of four children, three grandchildren. to see the mass tkpraeufs being dug while we are there, the stench was horrible. you are looking at bombed-out

complexes. bombed civilian houses, apartment complexes, retail centers. this is the definition of a war crime. when exhuming the bodies of children, of women, of civilians, we've got great help from the french and others who have sent their forensic scientists who are doing autopsies now. we watched them literally pull the bodies out of the trench and take them into a tent where they were photographing the wounds, the nature of death. because there is going to be a war crimes trial with the icc. it needs to happen. and vladimir putin needs to be held fully accountable for what he has done to the people of ukraine. >> senator, it's brianna keilar. i wanted to ask you about this new tranche of weapons being sent from the u.s. these next couple weeks could be really pivotal in whether ukraine is able to push russia

back effectively enough. are those weapons going to get here in time? >> it's a real concern. i spoke with a number of ukrainian leaders, i spoke with military leaders while i was there. if there was one message, it's this. the war crimes aren't going to end until the war ends. the human tear yann crisis is not going to end until the war ends. and the war is only going to end when the ukrainians win this war against the russians. and they're only going to win it if we can get this lethal aid to them in time. they have a long list. they have prioritized it. it's heavy artillery, heavy armor, surface-to-air capabilities. time is of the essence. they need more. there is a window of time we have at this moment. they pulled on it of northern

ukraine. they pulled out of that area that we saw visibly in bucha. and they're now coming back to the south and the east. that is where the war will be won or lost. . >> senator daines, we appreciate you joining us, sharing what you witnessed firsthand in and around the ukrainian capital. stay safe, senator. . >> thank you. the child actor who famously played the girl in the red coat in steven spielberg's "schindler's list" is grown up and helping ukrainian refugees at the poland border. just last week, mimi reinhard, one of the fortunate people changed by oscar schindler, passed away at 107. she was the secretary who typed up "schindler's list" of jewish people to be spared from

extermination by nazi, germany. joining us is the actress helping ukrainian refugees, owe live va. thank you for being with us. tell us what you are doing on the border not far from where you were, where there was a russian strike. >> so at the border actually i transported people. this is something i do very often. there is also other work to do. i moved here not still at the border but in my own city and a group of volunteers. so i not always work at the border. this is finding homes, for example, finding medical help

and jobs for refugees. actually, i can say i must react to the needs. and i will do this. and if i can't, i don't know how, i will find someone who can. that is how it works. >> yes. i know your mom is with you as well, doing this as well. i word, oliwia, because i think the character you played was so symbolic in that movie. and it's something i was thinking about yesterday when i was talking about a little girl who died in mariupol and she was wearing unicorn pajamas. i thought they are sort of like the red coat in that movie. and i wonder if you see that character you played in the children here in ukraine? >> in everything. in every girl, in every boy. i saw so many children who are going across the border. i saw so many little eyes with

tears, eyes completely lost. for me there are dozen thousands of children who are like this little girl in the red dress. and it touched me a lot. >> i think we feel that way too. so many people do, oliwia. the work you are doing is amazing. we thank you so much for joining us on "new day" to talk about it. >> thank you very much for the support in ukraine. breaking overnight, more than 150 people injured in clashes at one of jerusalem's holiest sites. what sparked the chaos on a sacred day for judaism, islam and christianity. new this morning, china's military is conducting drills around taiwan as a group of u.s. lawmakers make a visit there. live reports from both jerusalem and taipei ahead.

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two major breaking stories this morning. in jerusalem, violence ahead of holy weekend. in china, military drills around taiwan while u.s. lawmakers visit the country. and the chinese, i should say, are conducting military drills around taiwan. let's begin with jerusalem with a clash that left 150 people injured. hadas. >> reporter: john, imat the gates to the old city. the stream behind me are people leaving after the midday prayers. earlier today, around 5:00 a.m., clashes broke out between israeli forces and palestinian protesters. israeli police say they had to respond to rioters they said

were flowing rocks, launching fireworks. more than 150 people were injured from things like stun grenades and rubber bullets. things are calm now. but tensions have been rising in israel and the west bank for some time. the israeli military stepped up operations in the west bank in response to a series of terror attacks the past three weeks that killed 14 people in israel. jerusalem, until now had called on supporters to come and defend the mosque in the face of what they say were threats from jewish extremist groups, temple mount to the jews, and participate in a passover ritual sacrifice. they never made it to the compound but clashes erupted. what will happen now? what will happen at the end of the day? how will the military group that runs gaza respond? it was clashes just like these

that happened last year around this time that helped spark off the 11-day war between hamas in gaza and the israeli military army. . >> thank you so much for being there with us. brianna. we go now to will ripley, live in taipei, taiwan, with china's reason for conducting military drills in the area. will, what can you tell us? >> reporter: brianna, these are the largest chinese military drills near taiwan that we have seen possibly this year. these were joint impact drills, naval raids, warships, bombers, fighter jets involved. and this was not only in east china sea and airspace near taiwan. why is china doing this? they said it's a response 20 what they call u.s. wrongful signs of support for taiwan. they are angry about six u.s. lawmakers on the ground here saying this is u.s. bad behavior, these tactics are dangerous, futile, and the u.s.

is continuing to go down a serious road, warning washington not to continue these official level exchanges. the senate foreign relations committee is here. senator menendez said china is very unhappy but says there is a reason why u.s. lawmakers continue to come here. taiwan security has a global impact given this island produces 90% of the high-end semi conductors. from our computers, smartphones, cars. for u.s. to abandon tie juan would be to reward the worst in humanity. nancy pelosi was actually supposed to be on a trip to asia. it was widely reported she would also be coming to taiwan. her trip has been postponed due to covid. it drew angry response from china last week. if she does make the trip later this year, we have to monitor very closely what china's

response will be. >> very significant move. thank you for that report from tie taipei, taiwan. a grim assessment by a top war crimes prosecutor after visiting towns in ukraine laid to waste by russian forces. cnn reporters are covering the war from all angles. >> reporter: i'm mat rivers in lviv, ukraine. the chief prosecutor visited the ukrainian times of bucha and borodianka after the withdraw of forces from earlier this month according to a tweet from the icc, he said ukraine is a crime scene. we are here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the icc are being committed. we have to pierce the fog of war to get to the truth. >> reporter: i'm nic robertson in london. the deputy chairman of russia's

security council is threatening to ramp up russia's military forces along the border with europe, saying they will more than double their troops on the western flank, potentially put nuclear weapons in the baltic sea, and reinforce the navy that this russia's russian from dimitri medvedev reaction to the possibility that sweden and finland could join nato. >> reporter: i'm clare sebastien in london. alexander navalny is calling on the west to for an ad campaign. it has made it a crime to publish what it calls knowingly false information about its special military operation, a move that is almost completely stifled independent media in the country. the majority of russians still access western social media sites. and for the cost of one javelin

missile they could get 200 million ad views. all right. breaking news this morning, a series of strikes across ukraine overnight. this comes after russia's key warship sinks in the black sea. russia striking a military facility on the outskirts of kyiv with a cruise missile. cnn is on the front lines this morning. president biden's approval rating at a new low this morning. we'll dig into the numbers. h me. eyes on the ball baby. digital tools so impressive, you just can't stop. what would you like the power to do? i don't just play y someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientistst. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain pformance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. where you find the perfect graphic designer? well, we fou her in austin between a dog named klaus and r favorite shade of green.

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there is brand-new polling out on the presidential approval rating, and it is not good for president biden. joining us now, harry enten, cnn's senior data reporter. these numbers are really tough. >> you know, john, i don't like looking at one poll, i like looking at multiple polls, four different polls were released this week, quinnipiac, hart public opinion strategy poll, with cnbc, inassocipsos, reuter

news, they range from the low 40s, the key, the lowest or tied for the low for the pollster, lowest here, lowest here, one point off the low, lowest here, three of four pollsters showing the lowest numbers for the president of the united states, that's indicative of a president in a lot of trouble at least to where he has standed historically. >> how does president joe biden compare to former donald trump in the presidency? >> at this point in his presidency, donald trump's numbers actually, his average approval rating is one point higher than joe biden's, which is 41%, donald trump 42%. first term president at this point in his presidency, this is the lowest. this is the lowest for anyone who is elected to the presidency and didn't get up there through the vice presidency.

this is a really, really, really bad number. >> and in terms of the effect it is having on the democratic party, you, i think this is a great thing to look at, you look at special elections, it is about the margins. >> it is about the margins. there was the california special election that occurred last week and i think a lot of people weren't paying that much attention, devin nunes' old district, the district can get torn up through redistricting. this district will not exist in a year. it is the baseline, comparing the results of the baseline. this was a jungle primary, all the republicans, all the democrats ran against each other in one round. what did we see? we saw the total gop vote, 66%, 32-point margin. compare that to the 2020 presidential baseline. the republicans outperformed this by 14 points, the margin about 5 or 6. in terms of the margin, a 27-point overperformance. we went back in 2018, like, oh

my god, look at these great democratic overperformances. this was a huge republican overperformance. >> it is just a matter of republicans doing better than they had in the same place. not always about winning or losing. and that's something the republicans, you see some strength there overall? >> i do. again, it is not just about one poll, it is not just about one election. it is about looking at the elections in total. these are all the gop state and federal legislative special elections through this point in the year. the average margin. comparing this cycle with the last cycle. in 2022, the gop on average is outperforming trump by nine points. what a switcheroo from 2018 where the gop was underperforming, underperforming trump by 14 points. that led to a huge democratic tidal wave that november. >> finally, one thing driving this, the economy, economic concerns, i should say. >> economic concerns. so, you know, look, we spoke about this earlier in the week, if you look at jobs, the economy is doing pretty good. look at inflation, not so good.

how do voters see it, how do americans see it? this is the university of michigan consumer confidence index, 66 in april of 2022, going back since 1978, tied for the lowest, it was 66 in april of 1982, that was a good year for democrats in the house of representatives with the republican president. and i'll just note, if you don't believe that the economy is hurting the democrats and joe biden, look at the net approval rating, approval minus disapproval, joe biden at this point, minus 23 points. that is the worst on record since they started asking about economic job approval ratings back in 1978, with jimmy carter who, of course, ended up the economy and put it to bits. >> harry enten, thank you. "new day" continues right now.

good morning to viewers in the u.s. and all around the world. it is friday, april 15th. i'm brianna keilar in lviv, ukraine, with john berman in new york. after the sinking of a russian warship, ukraine claims to have hit with a missile, there was a flurry of russian strikes we saw overnight and into this morning, all across ukraine here. the sinking of the moskva, the crown jewel of russia's black sea fleet, would be an enormous achievement for the ukrainian military and it is a devastating setback for the kremlin. the pentagon says it has no reason to dispute ukraine's claim, though it cannot fully verify it. overnight, the russian military says that it struck a military facility on the outskirts of kyiv, with a cruise missile. the kremlin threatening to hit the capital here two days ago. russian forces are also rapidly building their presence in eastern ukraine. widespread shelling already being reported in the region. >> also reports of active

hostilities and shelling around izyum and kharkiv as russian troops continue their attacks there. and a chilling warning from cia director william burns, he says the potential for russia to use tactical or low yield nuclear weapons in ukraine cannot be taken lightly. also, "washington post" reports russia sent a formal diplomatic note to the united states warning that u.s. and nato shipments of the most sensitive weapons systems to ukraine are adding fuel to the conflict and that there could be, quote, unpredictable consequences. brianna? >> let's begin in the eastern city of dnipro with cnn's chief international correspondent, clarissa ward. clarissa? >> reporter: well, brianna, ukrainian military officials are saying that russia is beefing up its forces along the border as they continue to soften the ground in preparation for this major offensive, according to the ukrainia