'Your World' on border crisis, Russia-Ukraine war

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Title 42 cancellation elicits 'complete chaos' near Texas-Mexico border: Lt. Olivarez

Lt. Chris Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety responds to the White House's decision to end the Title 42 border policy on 'Your World.'

This is a rush transcript of "Your World with Neil Cavuto" on March 30, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Wait a minute. We thought the Russians were not going to do this, that they would cut back on reducing attacks on Kyiv and Chernihiv. Indications today that, well, they lied.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto. And this is "Your World."

And we are on top of Russian troop movements and some startling developments that have it that Vladimir Putin might have been misinformed on Ukraine, might still be misinformed. That's from U.S. intelligence. We're going to get into that.

But we have got you covered in the meantime with Alex Hogan in Lviv Ukraine and what they're seeing and hearing there, and our own Lucas Tomlinson in Washington on how the Pentagon is digesting what could come next.

Let's begin with Alex.

Alex, how are things there?

ALEX HOGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil.

After five weeks of fighting, the defense tactics and endurance of Ukrainian troops is likely not what Russian forces expected. Now, after their decision to say that they will withdraw from Chernihiv and Kyiv, the capital, Russia says this was all part of a calculated plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. IGOR KONASHENKOV, RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE (through translator): The plan was to make the enemy concentrate the bulk of their forces, resources and heavy armor on securing large cities on those destinations, including Kyiv, to cripple them on the battlefield and avoid victims among the civilian population.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOGAN: The spokesperson went on to say that the goal was to tee up the final stage of the operation to weaken Ukrainians' army and then take out the Donbass in the east.

But, even in the north, Russia is already going back like yesterday's assurance is to lay off Kyiv and Chernihiv by even striking Chernihiv overnight, leveling buildings, homes and libraries.

Rescue teams in Irpin today, which is just outside of the capital, one of the places that Ukrainian soldiers have managed to recapture, take the -- taking back their own land, they are now going through the city, retrieving the bodies of victims who were killed during shellings, carrying them under blown-out bridges, and then laying them there one after another.

Rescue teams today also in the southern part of the country, in Mykolaiv, were searching for survivors. More than 15 people were killed and 33 people were injured. As far as Mariupol, this is the city that the governor and the mayor have been telling everyone to evacuate as quickly as possible, but, still, 100,000 people remain there trapped.

That was also the site of another attack today, Russian missiles targeting a Red Cross warehouse. Now, the Red Cross says that no one was inside that building, but says it is an increasingly alarming situation to see Russian strikes even targeting these humanitarian aid points -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Alex, thank you very much.

Alex Hogan following all these developments in Lviv.

Let's go to Washington right now. And Lucas Tomlinson is there.

Lucas, these sudden stepped-up attacks, when the Russians had promised they'd stop them, it does feed this other narrative out there that maybe talk of doing this was a chance for Vladimir Putin to sort of realign his troops and give him time to do what he really wants to do, which is not make peace with Ukraine.

What do you make of this? What are they telling you?

LUCAS TOMLINSON, FOX NEWS PENTAGON PRODUCER: It's good point, Neil.

Well, a press briefing in the Pentagon with John Kirby just wrapped up, and he says that Russia has sent 1,000 mercenaries to Eastern Ukraine's Donbass region to fight Ukrainian forces. These are reinforcements, Neil, and a tacit acknowledgement how poor Vladimir Putin's forces have done in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I mean, I think a couple of things.

They have used Wagner contractors in the Donbass over the last eight years. So this is an area where the Wagner Group is experienced. The point is that it's just another example of how Mr. Putin is going to -- is going to throw more energy into trying to occupy the Donbass.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOMLINSON: NATO estimates Russia's lost up to 15,000 soldiers in Ukraine in just five weeks of war. Neil, that's how many the Soviets lost in Afghanistan over a decade during the 1980s.

A unnamed U.S. official who apparently spoke to just about every media outlet here in Washington says Putin didn't even know his military was losing and is using conscripts in Ukraine, about a quarter of all his forces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRBY: Mr. Putin has not been fully informed by his Ministry of Defense.

The fact that he may not have all the context, that he may not fully understand the degree to which his forces are failing in Ukraine, that's a little discomforting, to be honest with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOMLINSON: The Pentagon has dispatched 10 U.S. Marine Corps F-18 Super Hornets to Eastern Europe. None of them will be flying over Ukraine, despite pleas from Ukraine's president and many Ukrainians who are begging U.S. military to -- quote -- "close the sky" over the country.

The Pentagon also says 200 U.S. Marines have now landed Lithuania to bolster NATO forces following cold weather training in the Arctic. Earlier, on Capitol Hill, the top U.S. general in Europe said two U.S. warships, guided missile destroyers, were sent out of the Black Sea ahead of the invasion back in January.

General Wolters said this was a policy decision from the administration -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Lucas, thank you for that, Lucas Tomlinson.

Now to General Jerry Boykin, the former deputy undersecretary of defense, former Delta Force commander.

General, this story now that Vladimir Putin feels misled by his military, and now his military is afraid to talk to him, what do you make of all of this?

LT. GEN. JERRY BOYKIN (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Yes.

First of all, Neil, I -- if I was one of his generals, I think I'd probably only last through one episode of not giving him the full truth. And then I would be gone. And I think that's the case with his other generals.

How can you live in a world like we live in today and not know what's going on, on the battlefield? I think it is very, very clear to Putin that he has failed miserably to achieve his objectives. He is now changing his strategy, or at least trying to convince us that he is. But I don't believe that his generals have so misinformed him that he didn't realize he was losing this war.

Quite the contrary. I think that the proof is just what is obvious to everybody that is paying any attention here. And that is that his troops have now started digging in, in some of the key places. Yes, they're starting to uproot and move north, but they started digging in. That's a defensive position.

And it is -- it has to be clear to Putin that they have not achieved their objectives here.

CAVUTO: So, General, what does he do to save face? I mean, if you're continuing talks, even though it appears that at least his commitment to sort of cool it on airstrikes didn't pan out the way he said it would, but if he is interested in talks, and he wants to leave this debacle, how does he do that?

BOYKIN: I'm not sure that there's any way for him to end this thing without jeopardizing his future.

I think he's gone. I have told you that before. I think that he's gone when this is finally resolved, whatever that resolution might be.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: When you say, General, that he's gone, how is he gone? Do you think that he's overthrown? What do you mean gone?

BOYKIN: Yes, I think he's overthrown.

I think that, first of all, he has taken on the oligarchs. That's probably not a smart thing to do. But I think that the Duma, I think that the Russian people are going to demand his head when this is all over with. And I don't mean that in a physical sense of an assassination, although that could be the case.

CAVUTO: Right.

BOYKIN: But I think that -- I don't think he can survive.

I have talked to a couple analysts last week who are both Russian speakers. Both spent a lot of time in Russia. And they both said, no, he cannot survive from this point on. He has lost all credibility in the world. And the Russian people are so fed up with him right now that he's going to -- when this war is over, he's going to have a war in the streets of Moscow.

And there's going to be quite a contentious situation.

CAVUTO: There's another argument to that one, General, that goes something like this, that, through the course of this four- or five-week war, his soldiers have taken about 20 percent of Ukraine, largely along the east, parts of the south along the coast, and that one of his demands, that is, Vladimir Putin's demands will be, I keep that, along with Crimea.

I cannot envision President Zelenskyy agreeing to that, but what do you think of that?

BOYKIN: Well, you -- generally speaking, you start your negotiations based on where your troops sit at the time those negotiations begin.

And I think that's exactly what Putin will want to do. Now, if he's looking for an off-ramp -- and I think he is -- but, again, I think it's going to be difficult to find one that is going to give him what he wants.

But I don't think Zelenskyy is going to give him the Donbass region or allow him to have a land bridge down into Crimea there. So I think that the negotiations are going to be very, very difficult here, because I see more fighting going on for some period of time here, even though the Russians have taken incredible casualties.

I mean, look at the -- not only the maybe 15,000 lives, Russian soldiers, that have been killed, but look at the number of tanks and armored personnel carriers that have been destroyed. And look at the size of this army that they're up against. This is David and Goliath.

CAVUTO: Yes, and David's doing pretty well.

General, thank you very much. Very good catching up with you, General Boykin on these fast-moving developments.

We're going to take a quick break here.

Markets up, even with all these anxieties about whether these talks are progressing or not. The Dow on the day, though, sort of giving up a lot of those gains, again, on concern here that the war words might escalate. But, again, there's no way of knowing.

But what's been remarkable, looking at the markets in general, is how far they have come back from lows reached a little more than a few weeks ago. In the case of the Nasdaq now, it has come back about 13 percent from those lows, Dow and S&P close to double digits as well from those lows, a sign, at least in the eyes of some investors, that cooler heads will prevail, or so they hope.

Stay with us. You are watching "Your World."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right President Biden and President Zelenskyy spoke on the phone today. Not surprisingly, President Zelenskyy wants more aid and for that aid to get there a lot more quickly. Time's a wasting.

Jacqui Heinrich on how that conversation went and how the White House has been responding.

Hey, Jacqui.

JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Neil.

Yes, we just got a little bit of information what went on in that call. We know that President Biden told Zelenskyy that the U.S. will be providing $500 million in direct budgetary aid, and that will go toward things like keeping the Ukrainian government open, salaries paid, government services running.

Biden also detailed last week's announcement of the new sanctions from last week, sanctions on Russian elites, and a billion dollars in humanitarian assistance that the U.S. had previously allocated.

But multiple times today, I want to note, multiple times today, the White House has sidestepped questions about whether this administration believes that Ukraine can win this war. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEINRICH: Is there any reason why no one from this administration has just plainly said we think Ukraine can win this war?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: We -- I think in our actions and in the support that we have provided, we have been very clear that we're doing everything we can to stand with Ukraine and ensure that they are able to push back against Russian aggression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEINRICH: You will recall that the intelligence community and broader administration widely believed that Russia would take Kyiv within three days and other cities within 10, and what would follow would be a low- simmer war of attrition.

But Ukraine has continued to take back occupied cities. The White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield, didn't answer whether the U.S. has adjusted its strategy since Ukraine started to win. Analysts believe there could be a reason why the administration won't say that Ukraine can win.

Today, Bedingfield also didn't answer a direct question if Ukraine is even currently winning. Listen to General Jack Keane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK KEANE, FOX NEWS SENIOR STRATEGIC ANALYST: I don't like saying this, but the facts are, we don't want Putin to lose. We don't want Putin to lose because we're afraid that, if he loses, there will be a provocative reaction on his part.

So it explains why we're not all in on helping Zelenskyy win, who is begging for all of that help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEINRICH: The only new revelation today is the administration has declassified intelligence showing that Putin did not know that he was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, the belief that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing.

The White House said they didn't declassify that information to change Putin's calculus at all, but to really highlight what a strategic blunder Putin has made here -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Oh, to be any one of those advisers to Putin.

Jacqui, thank you. Great reporting. I appreciate it.

Jacqui Heinrich at the White House.

Meanwhile, do any of you remember long gas lines and when they rationed gas in this country in the 1970s? Well, Germany is facing that right now, not with gas you put in your car, but natural gas you heat your home with and factories and all of that. Because Vladimir Putin has demanded that Western countries, by and large, pay in rubles for the natural gas it provides a lot of them to come back and said, no, no, no, no, no. It's priced in dollars. That's the way the contract reads.

Nevertheless, Germany now is warning that it might have to ration that natural gas. And it could be, could be preview of coming attractions.

Charles Payne wasn't even born, of course, when we last had something like that in this country. But, nevertheless, as a friend, he decided to help me out and weigh in on this.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Charles, good seeing you again, my friend.

I'm wondering what you make of this. I mean, Germans are going to be taking the brunt of this, because they are most dependent on Russian fuel, energy of almost any sort, but especially natural gas. And if they have to start rationing it, that could get anxious. What do you think?

CHARLES PAYNE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Yes, you're 100 percent right; 50 percent of their nat gas comes from Russia, but, then again, the E.U., 41 percent.

So the entire continent is in trouble here. And it just makes you wonder, because, in Germany, natural gas is the number two source of energy for their homes and their businesses. Coal is number one. Coal is up 175 percent in the last year. Nat gas in Europe is up 560 percent.

It was up 2000 percent by March 17. It's come down since then. No pun intended, Russia has Germany and a lot of other countries over a barrel right now, but they put themselves in that position. Nuclear right now is 13 percent of Germany's energy power. They're going to get rid of their nuclear power facilities. It's just -- this is a mind-boggling path that they have gone down.

And it's such an amazing cautionary tale for America in our efforts to be a greener nation, that there's a smart way to do it and there's a suicidal way to do it. And we're seeing what the latter looks like.

CAVUTO: Well, if the latter comes here, those gas lines I was talking about from the 1970s, I remember them well, odd-even days, with lining up to get your gas, based on the ending digit and your license plate.

We could revisit that here, all because of a stubborn refusal to tap energy sources we have in abundance here. Do you think that could happen?

PAYNE: I really do.

If you had asked me maybe a few months ago, but after seeing what we have gone through, I mean, right now, you have got -- there's going to be another energy kind of summit. The White House, they're calling up some executives. Of the top three refiners in this country, they don't even have them in there. The three refiners that represent 33 percent of output, they haven't even been invited.

So it's another one of these sort of smoke and mirror kind of things. It's -- there's no -- they're not serious. They're just really not serious. It's -- we could actually go down that path. On Friday, last Friday, Janet Yellen said the administration will not deviate from its climate change agenda. So, this is the price we are going to pay as Americans.

The middle class are going to take a drubbing. And it could get -- actually get worse. If we start talking about taking supply off the world stage, I mean, if you have a choice, Neil, between dealing with the mullahs of Iran, where we take the Iranian Revolutionary Guard off the terrorist lists, a Maduro from Venezuela, or a Texan.

(LAUGHTER)

PAYNE: Those are three choices you could get the extra fuel from.

I'm going with the Texan.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: That's an easy one. That's an easy one.

Charles, thank you so much, my friend, a very good read on all of this.

PAYNE: Thanks a lot, Neil.

CAVUTO: Way too young, although he still has his leisure suits. I think he still has the leisure suits.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Charles Payne, "Making Money" on FOX Business, signature show. He's a signature guy. He's passionate about helping you make money and understand what's going on in the world. Man, oh, man, does he work hard too, which is an added benefit.

All right, in the meantime here, what Charles is citing happening on the energy front is among the big concerns of Americans these days. The overwhelming majority right now are concerned it gets worse before it gets better. And it is their principal concern, rising prices and just how they're going to deal with it.

Sarah Westwood of The Washington Examiner on that.

That does not surprise me at all. But if you think about, a little more than a month ago, while it was a worry, it wasn't a top five worry. Now it is the top five worries. What happened?

SARAH WESTWOOD, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Well, obviously, Americans are increasingly feeling the pressure from having to pay more at the pump.

And those increased fuel prices are reflected in the rising prices of a whole host of other goods as well. So there's a lot of pressure on everyday Americans' wallets right now. But I don't think that you have yet seen the Biden administration shift to treat this like a top five concern, even though the numbers have shifted.

The Biden White House is really still treating this like a messaging problem, that, if they could just find the right scapegoat, the right combination of words to sort of deflect the blame off of themselves for these rising gas prices, then they won't really have to contend with it as a problem in the midterms.

But what they really do have is a policy problem when it comes to the rising gas prices. And Biden is so boxed in by his liberal base and the very vocal climate activists in it, they can't really pursue any of the options that would have a meaningful impact in gas prices right now.

CAVUTO: People -- it always surprises me, because, with history, the one thing you learn is how we keep repeating these mistakes.

And I can remember, even in the late 1970s, in the second oil embargo, Jimmy Carter was quite right to point the finger at OPEC and a volatile Middle East and all of that, just as Richard Nixon was some years prior, but the fact of the matter is, Americans don't care. They're just pissed off. And they think that you should be doing something about it.

And the frustration in these polls is -- is clear. People do not feel it is or that this is going, to just sort of ride through, we will get through it, it's going to be transitory. After a year, it's clear that it's not transitory. And that's not cutting it, is it?

WESTWOOD: It's not.

And you see some state level Democratic lawmakers leading Biden on responding to this. I mean, you have far left California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is proposing at least something to try to ease the pain of Californians who are paying a lot for gas right now.

It's a bad idea, what Newsom has proposed, throwing more money at the problem. He's proposed giving debit cards to pay for gas for Californians. But it shows you how fearful Democrats are of this as a problem that somebody like Newsom is willing to take the criticism that he's currently facing from climate activists to essentially subsidize continued reliance on oil and gas, which is in contradiction to his sort of oil-free California energy agenda.

He's willing to risk angering climate activists who are so important to his constituency, because it's that big of a deal for him. And you see it in Connecticut as well, with Democratic lawmakers voting to suspend the gap tax, something that would be sort of unthinkable to Democrats before this entire crisis.

So there is a recognition out there, at least outside of Washington, D.C., that this is a sort of red alert, five-alarm fire problem for Democrats heading into the midterms. For some reason, though, President Joe Biden hasn't really yet caught up to the sense of urgency that this problem is sort of generating among voters.

CAVUTO: Well, just drive by a gas station. That should explain the urgency.

Thank you very, very much, Sarah. Great catching up with you, Sarah West of The Washington Examiner.

Now, we often talk about the problems that Ukraine's borders here, as better than four million Ukrainians now seek to get out, but, sometimes, people forget that we have got a problem at our own border and some numbers that are truly staggering, and I mean really staggering -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: And you thought Ukraine had border problems. You should see what's happening at our Southern border and a situation that is getting worse, and I mean much worse. And this isn't even the height of the season.

Why a million or...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Mr. President, are you going to extend Title 42?

BIDEN: We will have a decision on that soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, so what will the president knew about this policy that allows for those captured at the border to be returned to Mexico or the country of origin?

Because they're giving serious thought, just drop it all together. We don't need to do that. It won't make a difference.

Well, apparently, that is news to lieutenant Chris Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Lieutenant, if they were to drop this provision that would allow us to return those captured here to Mexico or what have you, that's a game- changer, is it not?

LT. CHRISTOPHER OLIVAREZ, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: It is. It is a game-changer, Neil.

And what I can tell you right now is that the fact that Title 42 is already in place and the fact also that the reinstatement of the remain-in-Mexico policy was placed in effect last December by court order, and even with those in place, right now, the numbers are continuing to escalate.

We're already on track to hit one million for the first six months of the fiscal year. So, that just goes to show you that, right now, the federal government is not taking this border crisis serious. There's no type of border strategy in place. And that's why the state of Texas is continuing to step forward.

And we have a comprehensive strategy for border security. And that's why Governor Abbott launched Operation All Star as of last year to help stem the flow of mass migration and to go after the criminals and the criminal organizations that are profiting off of this border crisis.

CAVUTO: Right.

Yes, that's just one million encounters. You bump into these people, you see these people, and you can't arrest all of them right away. So a lot of them get through. What's your guess as to how many are?

OLIVAREZ: Yes, that's a good question, Neil.

I can tell you right now, at least for this fiscal year, there's been well over 200,000 got-aways reported. But that's only reported. Now, those are individuals that set off a type of sensor or a camera. But you got to also keep in mind those that don't set off any cameras or sensors, and those are the ones that we have to be concerned about, because those individuals are coming in, not only to the state of Texas, but into the entire country.

And that is a dangerous threat to national security. That's one thing that needs to be taken serious by the federal government. Again, right now, they essentially have turned their back on the American people. And that's why the state of Texas continues to step forward and lead the charge in trying to develop plans and address threats that are occurring along the Southern border, so we can take care of our fellow Texans and the entire country.

CAVUTO: Lieutenant, I don't mean to be as jaded here to think that the motivation for the White House wanting to drop this is because it was a very successful program under President Trump, and that that is the reason for this.

OLIVAREZ: Well, that's a good point.

But we know for a fact that, ever since last year, every viable resource that was working for the U.S. Border Patrol, as well as immigration policy, was completely canceled. So what does that do? It leads to complete chaos on our Southern border. And that's what we're seeing right now.

We thought last year, historic numbers in decades that we have never seen before. This year is catastrophic. We're already on track to surpass one million, as I mentioned earlier, in the first six months.

CAVUTO: Wow.

OLIVAREZ: It's only going to get worse.

And one thing to keep in mind too is that the criminal organizations are messaging. They're telling these individuals to come across because of this Title 42 cancellation. And regardless or not, they're still going to come across. And that's what we're seeing right now.

CAVUTO: So the Title 42 thing, if you nix that, that's actually like a clarion call for those who are trying to get here to come here because the getting's good.

OLIVAREZ: Right.

I mean, these organizations are profiting hundreds of million dollars a month. It's a billion-dollar trade, human smuggling. We're just talking about human smuggling, not even narcotics. So these smuggling organizations are going to continue to tell these illegal immigrants to come across because they will be let go into the United States.

And that's what we're seeing right now. So, because of that, we're going to continue seeing this flow of mass migration taking place with or without Title 42. With Title 42, we're going to see a tidal wave of illegal immigrants coming across, and that's only going to get worse.

CAVUTO: So, Lieutenant, we're at the point where, as staggering as these numbers are, as you said, these million encounters since October 1, we're not even in high season, right?

I mean, that we're coming up on what will be a crushing demand. And your guys have to address it.

OLIVAREZ: You're right on point.

So we're not even -- we're not even into the peak season right now, where we're seeing the mass migration that we have been seeing since last year. Also, you got to keep in mind, think about the deaths that occur, especially during the summer months.

CAVUTO: Right. Right.

OLIVAREZ: Those illegal immigrants are coming across, where now we have to start performing -- we have to start performing rescue operations as well.

So it's only going to -- it's only going to continue to escalate and get worse. And something needs to be done, at least on the federal government side, because, right now, the state of Texas right now is doing all weekend to come up with some type of strategy to protect our fellow Texans in the United States.

CAVUTO: Lieutenant, and you were way ahead of this.

I remember talking to you not too long ago, and said that we have a certain view of those trying to come in either from Mexico or close by South American countries.

But it's actually over 100 countries that are represented in these captures and these encounters. What happened? How did that get so big and so many?

OLIVAREZ: Well, it's going back to what we mentioned earlier about the policies that were completely canceled.

We have the cancellation of the border wall, also restricting ICE to take any enforcement action to go after the criminals. And, because of that, the messaging gets across to these individuals in all these countries. And that's why you see a mass flow of illegal immigrants coming across, because the criminal organizations, they know what they're doing.

They're very strategic in what they're doing. It's a profit for them. They're not going to let that be canceled by any type of policy or law enforcement. They're going to continue sending that message across, so these immigrants can come across, and they can continue making their billions of dollars a year that they're making right now.

CAVUTO: Lieutenant, I don't how you do it, but you do it.

And it's hard work, where you and your men and women somehow try to make up for what politicians are not doing.

Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, the Texas Department of Public Safety, good luck, Lieutenant, and thank you for taking the time.

OLIVAREZ: Appreciate it, Neil. Thank you.

CAVUTO: Just incredible.

All right, back again to probably a better known refugee problem, at least to the world, what's going on in Ukraine, and how in Poland they're trying to deal with that. They are with open arms, but not necessarily open checkbooks. They need help -- the latest after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, the exodus continues out of Ukraine.

Better than four million Ukrainians have sought safer places, and a good half of them right now have ended up in Poland. And with the bombing campaigns that continue on the part of the Russian soldiers, that is expected to speed up and get to be even more problematic for Poland that has, again, taking the lion's share of these refugees, and has never said no to a single one.

Alexis McAdams is in Poland with how they're handling all of that -- Alexis.

ALEXIS MCADAMS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil.

Well, they are doing their best here in Poland, their very best, to keep up with these waves and waves of refugees. It has slowed down to some at the border. We're not seeing tons of people flood in by the day, but there are still thousands that are escaping from places like Mariupol.

It's one of the hardest hit port cities in Ukraine because of its strategic location. And that's why the Russian troops have circled that area for days. Those people, Neil, who are leaving Mariupol have horrendous stories of seeing destruction and death all around them.

After weeks of hiding in bunkers, now many are coming in across the border here to Poland, and they have warlike injuries. And now the hospitals are filled with kids. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILENA, 11 YEARS OLD (through translator): I remember fainting and loud noise in my ears. Then I woke up. And my mother put me on the ground and started to scream for help. Soldiers ran up to me and tried to stop the bleeding. Then they put me in a Red Cross car and took me to the hospital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCADAMS: And that's an 11-year-old girl talking about these horrendous things happening to her and her family.

These are some of the newly released drone images, though, of Mariupol. You can see that destruction stretching for miles. Refugees tell us they couldn't leave their area because Russian troops have them surrounded for days, blocking off the exits and also stopping help from coming in.

Now, for the first time in several weeks, some have managed to escape to Poland. American doctors tell us that they're volunteering at the border crossing and are seeing more people come in from Mariupol with war injuries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF HORNSTEIN, VOLUNTEER PHYSICIAN: So, those were the -- and probably the most difficult thing to see as a human, that you began to see civilians with war-related injuries, so a mother and her 6-year-old child that both had black eyes, and the mom had an open laceration to her forehead.

That was five days' old, because it took four days to leave Mariupol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCADAMS: Now, Mariupol has been one of the hardest hit because of its location. That southern port city is home to the largest Ukrainian trading port. So, Putin's troops have been surrounding it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTORIA MELNICHENKO, REFUGEE FROM MARIUPOL (through translator): I hope that the whole world will hear us and start helping Mariupol, especially Mariupol. Help is crucially necessary there. People die and die. There's nothing left to eat or drink.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCADAMS: Now, since the start of the war, more than four million Ukrainians have fled their homeland because of that destruction and death.

They're trying to get out as we speak, thousands coming in. More than two million of those refugees, Neil, are kids. And Poland, as we mentioned, is doing their best to keep up with these people and their needs, because they need more help once they arrive.

CAVUTO: Incredible.

Thank you for that, Alexis McAdams, following these developments in Poland.

They have their work cut out for them, to put it mildly.

In meantime here, do any of you remember the old television series "Lost in Space"? Well, we came darn close to seeing a U.S. astronaut stranded because the Russians didn't want to give him a ride home. Turns out they did and two other cosmonauts with him, but what a journey -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Here's how bad things are getting with Russia.

For a while, this American astronaut you see, the Russian space commander had wanted to just keep him up there spinning around the Earth, bring the cosmonauts home who were him, but not him. It got pretty nasty, but he is home. Those two cosmonauts are home.

But Phil Keating follows all of that from Miami.

They were serious for a while. This is weird. But at least he's home.

PHIL KEATING, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It seemed serious, at least for a few days. But, in the end, the diplomatic fury that the United States and Russia are sharing over its invasion of Ukraine did not translate up to the International Space Station.

So, this morning, as expected and planned, NASA's astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned back to Earth on board a Russian Soyuz capsule. Vande Hei returned with two Russian cosmonauts, Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, parachuting down in Kazakstan.

Vande Hei spend a record 355 days orbiting the Earth, surpassing retired astronaut Scott Kelly's historic 340 straight days in space, at the time, the record.

Kelly was back in the news a couple of weeks ago in a bitter Twitter back- and-forth with the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, with each calling the other a moron and a child.

Rogozin even suggested maybe NASA astronauts could just fly home on broomsticks, instead of a Russian spacecraft. Kelly told us last night he felt obligated as an American to chime in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT KELLY, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: And leaving an American crew member behind, an American crew member that they're responsible for, it kind of was outrageous to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEATING: The farewell in space happened just before midnight, with the Russians and Americans all calling each other brothers and one crew, and politics remain on the ground, on the planet.

So, Vande Hei and the two Russians undocked for the four-hour trip back to terra firma. As was the case back in 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine's Crimea, as well as the case now, space cooperation between Russia and the U.S. continues, as does the research and shared space walks, with the astronauts and cosmonauts leaving political differences on the ground and friendly teamwork and partnership on the orbiting space lab.

Vande Hei landed, was medically checked, flown by helicopter two hours, got on a plane. And he is currently en route for a very long journey, journey back home, after nearly a year, on board a plane with some NASA medical staff and others.

So, finally, he's going to be sleeping in his own bed, perhaps by tonight, if not by tomorrow.

CAVUTO: A year in space. That's a long time my friend.

All right, thank you very, very much, Phil Keating, following all of that.

When we come back, I had a chance to talk to Garry Kasparov, of course, the former chess grand master, who says that Vladimir Putin, his war strategy, it ain't chess. It's not even checkers -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARRY KASPAROV, CHAIRMAN, THE HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION: Lying is one of the main traits of Putin's character.

So, that's, why when we hear any of his statements, we should assume they're false, misleading, until he proves otherwise. All these talks about de-escalation in Kyiv and Chernihiv area, it's a cover-up for regrouping.

For Putin, cease-fire means reload.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, the chess grand master is saying right now that Vladimir Putin simply can't be trusted, and you don't need to be a grand master to figure that out, or that his military strategy isn't chess. It isn't checkers. It isn't anything close to smart. But it is dangerous.

Lieutenant Colonel Bob Maginnis right now, "Alliance of Evil" author and much, much more.

Colonel, what he is saying essentially is that he's running amok, he can't be trusted, but he must be stopped. That kind of sums up where you are on this. But where are we on that?

LT. COL. BOB MAGINNIS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, that's true. We can't trust him.

And we just have to, as the President Biden said, look at his actions. And here's what's going on behind the scenes, Neil. He is sending repair and restoration equipment to the front. He's taking equipment out of storage. Of course, a lot of it doesn't work, that prepositioned equipment.

Now, he's told his draft boards to plan to send all those people to the front to Ukraine. He has recruited people out of Damascus, some of which are Hezbollah, and some have already arrived in Belarus, and probably will shortly be deployed into Ukraine.

So, behind the scenes, there's mobilization going on, equipment, reconfiguring of units. He's taken a shellacking really in terms of the poor performance by his soldiers. He's lost a lot of his battalion, brigade, and even some army division commanders.

And so when you look at it in a big picture, I can understand. He wants to stand down temporarily to refit and to then redeploy for what will likely be a very different type of war going forward.

CAVUTO: I'm wondering what you make of these intelligence reports that Putin is clueless to what's really going on or that a lot of this is being hidden from him.

Well, it's pretty plain to see now that the problems are growing by the day. What's happening with him?

MAGINNIS: Well, of course, his background is KGB. And he is a tough character to deal with.

He's been obsessing, Neil, for the last six years about doing precisely what he's doing now. After the 2014 takedown of Crimea, the annexation, and the striking of the insurgency in Donbass area, he said, look, I want -- and he's made this very public -- I want to reconfigure, to bring back into the fold what he called new Russia.

Now, that dates back to Catherine II in the 18th century, which included all that land from Moldova all the way to Russia, all belonged to the Russian empire. And so he has been saying this for years. And he also has been saying anybody that disagrees with him is a fascist and a Nazi.

And so this is not something new for him. He's very unpredictable. He's going to press his generals. He's going to arrest people in his own household that don't collaborate and cooperate with him. And he's really focused on redoing the things that he's been announcing for years and years.

CAVUTO: Colonel, real quickly, Jerry Boykin, the retired general, was with me earlier, saying he thinks the Russian people, the Russian oligarchs are going to start turning on Putin, that he's going to be overthrown, because this is beginning -- with everything going on in the economy and the sanctions and the pain, that it's already happening.

Do you agree with that?

MAGINNIS: Well, we certainly want that to happen.

The issue is the information operations. The Ukrainians have been incredibly successful against the Russians. And they have used social media, they have used other alternative sources to influence not only the Russian-speaking world, but, of course, here in the West.

And so I do believe that there is a growing instability within the Russian Federation itself because of the Ukrainian information operations, which are being very effective.

And I will assure you, when the mothers that have all those young conscript soldiers that have been killed or taken captive by the Ukrainians begin to find out the reality of what this man has done to their sons and, in a few cases, their daughters, there will be a general uprising against Mr. Putin. But he will push back.

CAVUTO: Colonel, we will see. We just don't know.

Lieutenant Colonel Bob Maginnis. The book is "Alliance of Evil." He was seeing a lot of these patterns before most.

All right, that will do it here.

A big inflation report is due out tomorrow. It could decide the tone of the economy and the markets maybe for a while. We will see you then.

"The Five" is now.

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