April 9, 2026 - PBS News Hour full episode

Good evening. I'm Amna Nawaz. And I'm Jeff Bennett. On the NewsHour tonight, the fragile U.S.-Iran truce is holding for now as Israel signals readiness for direct talks with Lebanon. A day after strikes, they are threatened to derail the ceasefire. A new high-powered artificial intelligence model raises major concerns about the potential dangers of this technology getting into the wrong hands. And Ukraine's military faces a growing problem of desertion from extreme battlefield fatigue after years of fighting off Russia's invasion. I thought people would be valued. I thought there would be some kind of support there. Well, I got there and I realized that the commanders were sending people to their deaths. Welcome to the NewsHour. Israel has agreed to negotiations with Lebanon as it continued strikes on Beirut today. The bombing across Lebanon is jeopardizing the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. It comes as American and Iranian diplomats are set to meet in Pakistan this weekend. But a wide gulf of trust and lack of clarity on demands threatens this possible end to more than five weeks of fighting. The Correspondency Monofil team starts our coverage from Lebanon still reeling from the deadliest day of Israeli attacks since the start of the wider war with Iran. Rescue teams in Beirut have been working around the clock since Israel unleashed an unprecedented wave of attacks yesterday. 18 people have been pulled dead from the rubble of this building alone. There is little hope for a four still buried underneath. But the civil defense isn't giving up until everyone is accounted for. We are currently carrying out this search and rescue operation the fastest we can. We came here so we can implement this mission and so that we can recover the four missing victims. Volunteer Ali Khalid Habi came to the capital as part of reinforcements sent from other parts of the country. There is a drone in the sky right now. The strikes are still ongoing. Are you worried about your safety? It's not just a worry. It's a risk above our head. This constant annoying sound that's making us nervous. So yes, we are a bit distracted, but we will stay here to complete the mission. In just 10 minutes, Israeli warplanes carried out more than 100 strikes, killing more than 300 and injuring more than a thousand in one of the bloodiest days in Lebanon's recent history. Israel says it was targeting Hezbollah. The strikes hit densely populated residential neighborhoods exacting a heavy civilian toll. Scenes of devastation like this one are repeated across the capital Beirut in areas that were previously deemed safe. That perception of relative safety has been completely shattered. There is a profound feeling of shock, uncertainty and fear that there are no guardrails to prevent this war from escalating further. President Trump has pushed Israel to scale back attacks on Lebanon and today Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to direct negotiations. I instructed the cabinet to open direct negotiations with Lebanon in order to achieve two goals. One, the disarmament of Hezbollah. Two, a historic sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon. The direct talks slated to be in Washington would be the first such negotiation between the two countries in decades. As those negotiations play out, President Trump vowed US troops, aircraft and the fleet of warships in the region aren't going anywhere until the quote, real agreement is reached and fully complied with. He added the US military is looking forward actually to its next conquest. It comes as President Trump has heavily criticized the NATO Alliance for what he says is a lack of support for the US war effort in Iran. Allies are doing everything the United States is asking. In Washington, one day after meeting with the President, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte signaled support for the US military and that the Alliance may play a role in securing the state of Hormuz. But what I see when I look across Europe today is allies providing a massive amount of support, basing logistics and other measures to ensure the powerful US military succeeds in denying Iran a nuclear weapon and degrading its capacity to export chaos. But Iran remains defiant. The Supreme Leader, Majtaba Khamenei, put out a statement today declaring victory for the Iranian people and news anchor read it out on state TV. It is clear before everyone's eyes the dawn of the Islamic Republic's emergence is a great power while the evil is facing the downhill slope of weakness. For many Lebanese mourning their loved ones and picking through the rubble of their homes, promises of a ceasefire deal let alone peace with Israel seem more elusive than ever. Raghat Ali Mohammed survived the strike on this building in central Beirut. His living quarters were on the lower ground floor, which is likely why he escaped unharmed. The dental clinic right above him was completely destroyed. I was in my room downstairs and suddenly the rockets came down hitting this dental clinic. The ceiling came down on us. There was no warning. The place was full of dust. It took 10 to 15 minutes until I could see anything. So I could open the door and escape through a small crack. Raghat has worked as the building's attendant for five years. He knew each and every person who lived here and said none of the residents were affiliated with Hezbollah. Our building has seven floors. All of the residents are civilians. There's no one else here. The building across the street was also targeted and completely razed to the ground. The IDF said it expanded its military campaign to neighborhoods like these because Hezbollah had moved outside its traditional areas of control, but it has provided no evidence to support these claims. In the wake of so much loss, accusations are swirling around, fueled by paranoia and growing internal rifts among Lebanese. This woman, who lives in the neighborhood, came up to us to say that she saw suspicious movements in and out of the building that was demolished. She wanted to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety. For two years, we've been saying that there are trucks entering the building that we are suspicious of. They've entered several times. We couldn't verify these claims. Another neighbor told us that authorities reportedly inspected the building and found nothing. Even if Hezbollah was present here, international law still requires Israel to observe principles of proportionality and precaution to prevent civilian harm. But yesterday's air raids were all but proportional, and they came without warning. Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salaam said the government would file a complaint to the UN Security Council. This dangerous escalation comes in defiance of all international and regional efforts to end the war in the region and blatantly disregards the principles of international law and international humanitarian law. Indeed, it flagrantly violates them. The Prime Minister repeated calls to disarm Hezbollah. The army and security forces are required to immediately begin enhancing the state's full authority across Beirut and restricting arms to legitimate forces only. That process was ongoing before the war escalated last month. The Lebanese army had confiscated much of Hezbollah's weaponry in Lebanon's south, completing the first of a precarious five-face plan to disarm the militant group. But army officials have said it's not feasible to take Hezbollah's weapons by force and as long as Israel keeps attacking and occupying the country. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Simona Fultin in Beirut, Lebanon. In recent days, the focus has been on the ceasefire with Iran, tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, and Israel's continued strikes in Lebanon. But less attention has been paid to the people inside Iran, those who have borne the brunt of U.S. and Israeli attacks. What are they thinking about this war and about the regime that governs them? For that, we turn now to Holly Doggress. She's a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. She spent her teenage years in Tehran and now curates the Iranist. That's a weekly sub-stack newsletter. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. So what are you hearing? What has daily life been like for people in Iran, the people that you've been speaking with? Well, I should note that there's been an internet shutdown for now 41 days. It was state and pose. And so what's peering out of the country is mostly anecdotal. And what I'm hearing at this juncture is that a lot of Iranians are confused about what's happening. There was this unprecedented massacre in January, and then the president said that help was on the way. And then now the ceasefire happens with the regime that they wanted ousted, and they're having to live with that. But then there's also a sense of relief from Iranians that were anti-war to begin with, or maybe anti-war over time because they saw all these civilian casualties. There have been at least 1,700 according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. You mentioned the president's rhetoric. That social media post earlier this week where he said, quote, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. How was that interpreted by people in Iran? So it really shook Iranians. I had Iranian Americans actually reaching out to me and saying, is the president going to drop a nuclear weapon on our families in Iran? And then we had the White House actually issue a statement saying that that wasn't going to be a reality. But going back to my original point, I mean, you're saying you want to help the Iranian people and oust the regime, and then you're threatening them with getting rid of them as an entire civilization. It didn't resonate well at all. There were reportedly Iranians fleeing the capital to Iran, stocking up on food, water, electricity. People were saying that their families were saying goodbye. They weren't necessarily sure that they'd have electricity and be able to contact the outside world, or if they would even survive what was going to come, because they were staying up all until 3.30 a.m. to hair on time to see what was going to happen. So I think it really irked a lot and scared a lot of Iranians across the board. You mentioned before the war there were Iranians who opposed the regime and welcomed outside pressure. Has the way this war has progressed so far, has that changed their point of view? I would say arguably yes. Again, we're dealing with the state imposed internet shutdown. We're not getting the full picture. But from what we're seeing is that just based off what the president's rhetoric was before the war, during the war, and now with the ceasefire, it's not adding up for Iranians. And I really, the big worry now is that, yes, the war may end, but now the Islamic Republic is going to take revenge on the Iranian people. We've seen at least 1,500 people arrested. We've seen at least 10 executions. Some of those were protesters during the January anti-regime uprising. And so there's a real worry about what's going to be waiting for them, because now the Islamic Republic is a ramp regime, arguably more hard-line, more repressed, and now more emboldened, because they've been able to survive this and have control of the Strait of Hormuz. And the president suggests that there are Iranians who want the U.S. strikes to continue. Are you hearing that at all, or is that a misreading of what people actually want? Well, you know, I heard that commentary. I think that initially, at least, there were some Iranians that were feeling this way, but the goalposts of the war have changed. This isn't about the ouster of the Islamic Republic. It seems like this is about, at the juncture, degrading its military capabilities and leaving the people in a worse situation than they were originally. And so it's hard to say that this is something that the Iranian people asked for. They've asked for the ouster of the Islamic Republic, when that now, apparently, Vice President J.D. Ebbance and a team are going to be meeting with Islamabad for talks. So I don't think this is what the Iranian people want. Understanding that no group is a monolith, how has this war reshaped how ordinary Iranians view the U.S. and view Israel? You know, for a long time, I've said that Iranians were arguably the most pro-American in the Middle East, if not the world. And I'm not entirely sure how they're going to feel after this war, assuming that the ceasefire holds because of what has happened over the past few weeks. But I think that there's also a reality that Iranians know how to separate the government of the United States from the American people, and they've always said that. And so I think that we can't put one sort of thinking for Iranians, especially anti-regime Iranians. Ali Douglas, thanks as always for your insights. Thank you. In the days other headlines, NASA scientists say they're feeling optimistic as final preparations are underway for the return of the Artemis-2 astronauts tomorrow. Re-entry into Earth's atmosphere is one of the most dangerous parts of the mission. Their Orion capsule is set to hit speeds of nearly 24,000 miles per hour. At a press conference today, officials said they had, quote, high confidence that all will go smoothly. Tomorrow, the crew is going to put their lives behind that confidence. Until then, the flight control team, the engineering team, the recovery forces in the Pacific to every engineer, every technician that's touched this machine tomorrow belongs to you, the crew has done their part. Now we have to do ours. NASA also released new photos today showing the astronauts at work during their journey around the moon. They're expected to splash down on Friday evening off the coast of San Diego. The Justice Department is reportedly investigating whether the NFL used anti-competitive tactics in its media rights deals. According to several news outlets and was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, fans, regulators and members of Congress have voiced concerns in recent months over the cost of watching games now that they're offered across various broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. In a statement, the league defended its practices, saying that, quote, with over 87 percent of our games on free broadcast television, the NFL has for decades put our fans front and center. The UK and Norway said today they foiled a covert Russian submarine operation to potentially sabotage undersea cables in the North Atlantic. Britain's defense minister John Haley told reporters that military operation lasted more than a month and involved a Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel. He said the Russian vessels eventually left with no evidence of any damage to cables or pipes. At one point, Haley addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin directly. We see you. We see your activity over our cables and our pipelines. And you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences. Russia has dismissed previous claims of sabotage. Undersea cables are crucial for electricity, internet and global communications, especially for the UK. More than 90 percent of its day-to-day internet traffic travels through such cables. Back here, the nation's fertility rate fell to another record low last year. That's according to provisional data out today from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were just over 53 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age in 2025. That is down from nearly 54 births the year before and continues a trend that dates back to 2007. The overall number of babies born in the U.S. last year also slipped to around 3.6 million. One factor driving the decline has been lower birth rates for teens and women in their 20s. Emperor penguins are now considered an endangered species as climate change threatens their natural habitat. The International Union for Conservation of Nature cited a decline in sea ice for its change of status, the world's largest and most recognizable penguin species. Emperor penguins rely on this ice to live, hunt and breed. Scientists warn that without major cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, Emperor penguin numbers could be cut in half by the end of this century. The group also added the Antarctic fur seal to its endangered species list as rising ocean temperatures affect its food sources. On Wall Street today, stocks ended higher amid cautious hopes for a lasting ceasefire in Iran. The Dow Jones industrial average added 275 points on the day. The Nasdaq rose nearly 200 points, or almost 1 percent. The S&P 500 also ended firmly in positive territory. And K-pop supergroup BTS kicked off its reunion world tour today after a nearly four-year hiatus. Tens of thousands of fans from all over the world brave the rain at today's kickoff performance near Seoul. The downpours didn't dampen the mood for its army of fans, as they're known, and the band didn't disappoint with a set list of more than 20 songs. BTS burst back on the scene with a massive one-off concert last month in Seoul. All seven members had recently completed South Korea's mandatory military service. They head next to Tokyo before bringing their tour here to North America. Still to come on the NewsHour, the president's aggressive rhetoric about the war in Iran faces increasing congressional scrutiny. We take a look at how people in Israel have been marking Passover in the shadow of war. And we go inside Chicago's innovative Steppenwolf Theater Company as it celebrates 50 years. In a rare public address from the White House, First Lady Melania Trump today denied allegations she had a close relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Galeen Maxwell, our White House correspondent. Liz Landers joins us now with more. So Liz, what did the First Lady say? This was an extraordinary statement from a First Lady that we rarely see have this kind of public statement. She spoke for just six minutes or so from the grand foyer there in the White House, and she distanced herself from Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator, Galeen Maxwell. Listen to some of what she said. Never had any knowledge of Epstein's abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity. I was not a participant, was never on Epstein's plane, and never visited his private island. She pushed back on what she says are numerous fake images and statements about her relationship with Epstein. There is one real photograph of Melania and Donald Trump photographed together with Jeffrey Epstein and Galeen Maxwell. And also the Department of Justice released an email exchange between Melania Trump and Galeen Maxwell. She said that that email should not be considered anything more than a trivial note. And I should add, Jeff, that Melania Trump has never been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein and Galeen Maxwell. What about the timing, though? Why is this happening now? I reached out to the First Lady's office to ask them this. We did not hear back from them. President Trump himself was asked by an MSNOW reporter if he knew about this. She said he didn't know anything about the statement prior to it happening, which was also rather extraordinary. We don't know what prompted the First Lady's statement today. However, the First Lady and the journalist Michael Wolfe have been involved in a legal back and forth over some reporting that he has said about her and Epstein. Melania Trump's lawyer sent him a letter to demand that he retract and apologize for linking Melania to Epstein in response. He sued her last year, saying that she was threatening to file a billion-dollar lawsuit against him in an attempt to intimidate him. OK. Liz Landerser, thanks, Steve, as always. In terms of action, Democrats in both chambers are planning to force roll call votes on their resolution to end military action in Iran and force the president to get congressional consent before he does anymore. Now, that kind of move has failed in the Senate before I expect it to fail again. But how does Democrats think they may have a chance of a symbolic victory there? They need just two Republicans, depending on who shows up, to pass it. And they think with that civilization quote, and with the back and forth over the ceasefire, the confusion, that maybe they have a shot there. We also expect Democrats to keep pounding away at the idea of the 25th Amendment. Many of our viewers know that's the part of the Constitution that says a majority of the cabinet can vote to remove the president. Now, we spoke with constitutional law professor, Michael Gerhardt, about this. He said the drafters may have had a good idea when they wrote that, but it's really impractical. It is, I think, unimaginable to expect a cabinet to be turned, an entire cabinet, to turn against the president and put them there. In this situation, it's even less likely because the president chose people for their loyalty. And he says there really is zero chance that he sees this cabinet moving on Trump in that way at this time. However, Democrats here are making a political point, really. They don't have the ability to push Trump out. They don't have the votes. They don't have the power. They want to put all of Trump's negatives on Republicans as we head into a midterm. So let's talk more about those Republicans, how they're reacting to the president's rhetoric and his approach to Iran. They may not necessarily want to remove him, but they're not exactly seeing this the same way, are they? Yeah, I said this on Twitter and at Cause or X, I should say. It caused a little bit of controversy. But really, I did not see the kind of avalanche or tidal wave of support that we usually see for President Trump's big decisions from Republicans. That's not to say there was no support. There was some, including from Burgess Owens. He's a congressman from Utah. And he wrote this as the ceasefire news came across, saying it was a very positive step and that he added Iran has been allowed to inflict terror for too long. But in contrast, look at Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and what she wrote. She said the president's threat to wipe out Iran's civilization just cannot be excused away and it is an affront to the ideals our nation has sought to uphold for 250 years. That's a fellow Republican. What about Republican leaders was one of my main questions. There you see House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Leader John Thune, neither one of them, even to this day, has had any direct words about the president's actions in Iran, the ceasefire, none of it. So their lack of comment, I think, is noteworthy. Meanwhile, who is going on social media? Let's look at some faces, some loud voices from the right who used to be very big Trump supporters. Now they're blasting the president for his Iran War policy from Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tucker Carlson to Meghan Kelly there and Alex Jones. So when Congress returns next week, expect all of these dynamics for Republicans to collide. What about the Democrats then? What is your reporting showing whether they will actually try to impeach President Trump? It's a passionate debate behind the scenes, especially for House Democrats right now. They know that they don't really have the votes to get it through the House or the Senate, but they are concerned about what they see. And they also, their base is pushing them to make a point. There are some, for example, like Senator Andy Kim, who says Republicans should join in the impeachment effort. We know that Trump is unfit to be commander in chief. He's dragged us into an unconstitutional, deeply unpopular and senseless war of choice with no plan, no strategy about what happens next and how we get out of this. And let's be honest, this war is not going well. It's making your life more expensive and less safe. Enough. But many Democrats say, wait a minute, we get into an impeachment fight that we know we're probably going to lose. That gets in the way of our bigger messages, which he's trying to get at on affordability this year. You're going to be tracking all of this in the days ahead. Lisa Desjardins, thank you very much. You're welcome. Anthropic announced this week it has begun limited testing of its newest AI model called Mythos, one the company says is so powerful it could cause widespread disruption if released to the public. It's just generally better at pursuing really long range tasks that are kind of like the tasks that a human security researcher would do throughout the course of an entire day. Obviously capabilities in a model like this could do harm if in the wrong hands. And so we won't be releasing this model widely. For now, Anthropic is giving more than 40 tech companies, including some rivals, access to Mythos to test it and identify vulnerabilities across systems. And even that move is raising concerns. We're a closer look at all of this and the implications. We're joined now by Garrett Bandouic, who covers AI for the Washington Post. Thanks for being with us. Of course. So help us understand the concern here. What specifically makes this model different from other AI models and why is there so much, frankly, fear around it? The specific concerns that are being called out here is that this model is really good at finding gaps in software that hackers could exploit. Right now, all software has bugs, but software is pretty complicated and you need to really know what you're doing in order to sift through all that code to find something that you could then use to hack into a system. And what Anthropic is saying and some of the independent cybersecurity experts that they've also given access to this model to are saying is that this can essentially do that automatically. It can sift through all sorts of code, something that might take humans who are very good at this months to do. It can do in minutes or hours. And so the concern here is that if this is sort of out in the public, anyone can use it, that anyone who wants to hack into any kind of software for whatever reason would be able to do it using this technology. And that's why the company is saying at least they're sort of keeping it under wraps for now. Keeping it under wraps, but also giving, as we mentioned, some 40 other companies, including Microsoft and Nvidia, access in part to strengthen their own cyber defenses. What do we know about that decision? Is sharing it more widely actually reduce the risk or potentially increase it? Yeah, I mean, there is a bit of a precedent here in cybersecurity. Often if one company finds some lack in another company's software, instead of just giving it to the public and creating a situation where that other company could be hacked, they will sort of go behind the scenes and say, hey, guys, we found this. You might want to fix this before the rest of the world figures it out. And so I think it's sort of in that tradition that they're doing this. But of course, some people are saying, hey, now we have all these powerful tech companies that have access to this allegedly extremely powerful tool for cybersecurity. Well, is it also powerful for other things, other things that they could use to increase their business, get an edge on other companies? So there are some complaints that if this thing is really so good, why don't you let the rest of the world actually see it for themselves? And then we can decide what to do with it. Logan Graham, who's one of Anthropics researchers, suggested that if this AI program were fully released, it could force widespread software updates, eventually exposing weaknesses everywhere. Is that a realistic scenario or is he in some ways overstating it? Yeah, potentially. I mean, it's difficult because, you know, besides these companies, no one has really been able to get their hands on it. And I think we always need to take these big AI companies with a grain of salt. It's not the first time an AI company has said, oh, my goodness, our new technology is so powerful, we should be afraid of it. You know, it's great marketing, right? Because if something is so powerful that it could, you know, change the world or cause chaos, it's also very powerful for doing other things. And so I think we need to be careful. You know, I don't, I'm not necessarily saying that Anthropic is lying or misleading the public here. I'm sure they are very legitimate about these concerns. But I do think that we're already in a situation where cybersecurity is pretty atrocious. I mean, everyone's personal data has been hacked at some point. If anyone really wants to get into a software system, if they have the resources, the, you know, incentive, they will probably be able to do it. We already live in a world where software is broken and needs to be updated constantly, right? Every time you open your operating system, it's probably pinging you to update the apps that you have on your computer, right? That's because of the cybersecurity situation we have right now. And in the same way that this mythos technology could be used to hack into computers, it could also be used to defend against hacks. And so a lot of the cybersecurity experts are saying, look, yes, this is concerning, but we can also use this technology. The good guys can also use it to protect us. And so it doesn't necessarily completely change that balance of power that we have right now. We'll say more about that because there is this strange disconnect where you have now even the AI companies themselves warning about the potential dangers. And this is as the AI companies are also racing to release more powerful systems at the same time. What accounts for that? Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, it's very easy to sort of point that and say, like, look, like what's really going on here? And I think, you know, each AI company is slightly different. They have different incentives, but it's true. I mean, they are all in this extremely competitive race to build the best AI system. It's very expensive to train these things. It costs hundreds of millions of dollars to develop each new version of this AI technology, and very few companies are able to do it. And the entire tech industry is in agreement that this is, you know, the most important technology to come out probably since the internet itself. And so there's a huge amount of money that is incentivizing the development of this technology. At the same time, a lot of the people who work at these companies do legitimately believe that there are concerns that it could be used for cybersecurity. It could be used for misinformation. It could, you know, some people even believe that it could, you know, become so smart in the coming years that humans are, you know, challenged to keep it under control. And so I do think that those are real beliefs held by some people at these these these companies. And yet they are locked in this competitive dynamic. Garrett DeVink covers AI for the Washington Post. Garrett, thanks again for being with us. Ukraine's military says it's facing a growing problem of desertion. Experts estimate approximately 150,000 service members may be missing from their units as the war grinds through its fifth year. Soldiers cite extreme fatigue caused by long deployments without rotation, anger at orders seen as suicide missions and forced mobilization. Special correspondent Jack Husson reports on one young soldier who says these pressures pushed him beyond his breaking point. We've changed the names and voices of some of the subjects in this report to protect their identities. Across Ukraine's towns and villages, tens of thousands of former soldiers hide from a duty they can no longer face. For many like Andriy, it wasn't always this way. He signed up to fight willingly in 2023. I couldn't just sit there healthy and young and not go defend my country. I thought there was something to fight for. When Andriy arrived at the front in Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, he was just 18 years old, but his useful enthusiasm to defend his country quickly turned. At first, he was sheltered from frontline missions, according to his comrade Sasha. He was the youngest among us. To be honest, he was like a child. He didn't understand where he had come from. He was a little confused. As he became an accomplished fighter, Andriy's youthful enthusiasm and patriotic zeal would be tainted by his perception of the battalion's leadership. I thought people would be valued. I thought there would be some kind of support there. Well, I got there and I realized that the commanders were sending people to their deaths. It was crazy. It was this allegedly flippant attitude towards life and the pressures of the command that he believes led to the suicide of a friend, Dennis Boyko, at a frontline position in early 2024. I went into the kitchen and saw the soldier lying there, his head gone. I just saw that and froze. I just stared at him and that was it. I couldn't even understand anything. I just stared at him, his head gone. It was just crazy. Boyko recorded his suicide on the eve of a dangerous assault mission he didn't want to complete. He filmed the suicide note on his phone before shooting himself in the head with his assault rifle on camera. The man couldn't take the pressure because the commander put a lot of pressure on him. The man shot himself and he was only 20 years old. Chief Sergeant Vladimir Tach was also present at the time. He agreed with Andrei that Boyko had been pressured, but he said other factors were also in play. He had a fight over his girlfriend, a little alcohol, a little unprofessional work by a psychologist with him the day before, and plus the pressure from the command. And this young man simply couldn't cope. Deeply traumatized by the incident, Andrei's mental health would deteriorate over 2024, as he was sent on ever more dangerous missions, often stranded on the hard front without adequate ammunition or even food and water. They fried snakes there and ate them. I drank water from puddles through a straw. I wanted to drink so badly. What would soon prompt Andrei's desertion were a series of catastrophic missions in Krasnohorivka in 2024. Missions, he says, convinced him he could no longer trust his commanders. We have a battalion. We just entered Krasnohorivka in 2024, and our battalion was immediately bombed, everything. It was just awful what was happening. Just a few people survived. One soldier next to me is suffocating. The other has no legs. The commander says evacuation will be in a couple of days. He says, well, that's how it is. He says, you can't do anything. Just endure it. I'm in shock. I'm sitting there thinking, what's going on? Lucky to survive that bombardment, Andrei would have been eventually be winded in a drone attack. After only a few days in hospital, he returns to the front where his commanding officer told him he would be deployed on an assault mission the following day. This was his breaking point. He said, you're going to storm the building. I say, no, that's it. I'm done. I say, I endured two and a half years, endured, endured, endured. And now I say, you're a scumbag. Will you come with me? He said, no, that's it. Then the sergeant took my machine gun because I wanted to shoot him. Our commander. They took my machine gun away from me. The commander just said, if you are killed, it doesn't matter. I will send new soldiers. He's not a commander. He's just a monster. The commander Andrei is referring to is Major Alexei Kucharenko. Andrei's comrade, Sasha, also complained that Kucharenko's decisions had repeatedly cost lives and almost cost him his own. After returning from one mission, having lost men, he said Major Kucharenko merely mocks them. He said, guys, you fought badly. Not many of you died. Couldn't you fight better? No. Then we'll replace you and send you to even deeper places. Chief Sergeant Tach also identified Major Kucharenko as a factor in Andrei's eventual desertion that said he was symptomatic of a broader failure. I can name Major Kucharenko, the battalion commander at the time, but I emphasize this is a systemic problem. I must say that Major Kucharenko's fault, in my opinion, lies in his incompetence and in supporting this system that doesn't work. If you talk to Major Kucharenko, he will say that he is a great guy and the company commander is a fool. Sorry for being frank. Well, and so on. The company commander will say that he is a great guy and that is the sergeant who gave the order, etc. And with the grim brutality of the front, throughout last year, Ukraine saw a sharp rise in soldiers deserting. Thousands have walked off of the front line. Soldiers and some commanders describe exhausted infantry units, collapsing rotations, forced conscription and resentment at leadership failures. If in 2022, 2023, we had one or two maximum three people in the unit who became deserters, then since 2024, there have been tens of thousands across the country. And this means that this is a systemic problem. Why is it now that the numbers are escalating so quickly with regards to desertion? The reason is again very simple. Mobilization, how it is carried out. The catch is referring to the forced mobilization that since thousands of men, in some cases, literally pulled off of the streets into mini-buses, a phenomenon dryly referred to as busification, and then shipped on to the front. And when human rights are violated, you should not expect that this person will become a super patriotic hero. Shortly after our interview with Andriy, we discovered that he'd been arrested by military police and, despite his debilitating PTSD, was being forced back to front-line duty. He managed to talk to us briefly over a video call at a detention center in Nipro. There are people like me here. They were deserters, and they were also caught. Some were caught by military registration office employees and brought here. I don't know what they're doing here. I am very angry, very angry. They don't want to send me for treatment. I tell them I have torn ligaments in my body and a traumatic brain injury. My ear drums are ruptured. I have shrapnel inside me. And they say, you'll come to the battalion like this, and only then will we decide what to do. People here treat me badly. Before we could continue our interview further, Andriy was forced to stop filming by the guards at the detention center. He was taken back to the front line a few days later. Within weeks, we learned he had deserted once again. Responding to the allegations made in this report in a written statement, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said that any instances of misconduct were categorically unacceptable and had no place in their ranks. Additionally, they stated that the fact should be reported for legal assessment, and if confirmed, appropriate disciplinary action should be taken. We made multiple requests for comment from the command of the 21st Special Purposes Battalion and from Major Kuchurenko, but received no response. Despite the injustices described by soldiers in this report, all stressed their pride in their service and in their national cause. But forcing men to fight against their will is compounding desertion numbers and degrading morale. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Jack Huston in Ukraine. This year, Easter and Passover coincided not only with each other, but with the war in Iran. And that led to subdued holidays in Israel. Gatherings were restricted in size, and access to Jerusalem was severely limited. Producer Karl Bostek and Nick Schifrin have this report on Passover in Israel under fire. This year in the Holy Land, the holiday is turned into tests of faith. Residents in Matula, Israel's northernmost town, Russian side, whatever reinforced room offers seconds of safety. The sirens of incoming Hezbollah rockets or missiles provide only 15 seconds of warning. What sounds like distant booms, outgoing Israeli air defense on the first day of Passover. We are not safe. We cannot celebrate together like each year, every year. It was a misson. Miss you. This is the car, damaged no more. Miriam Hood shows producer Karl Bostek the aftermath of a Hezbollah strike just last week. This car, on her street, full of pockmarks. Her hotel, pierced by shrapnel. She owns the base Shalom. She says Passover doesn't feel as it should. Is there a reason to celebrate right now? No, no reason. We are not celebrating today. We stay home, no family. Holy Week is supposed to help inaugurate spring, but for many of the faithful this year, that joy was missing. And instead, weeks of war left emptiness. What should have been a full Western wall was instead deserted because of restrictions on group gatherings during the war. In northern Israel, with Lebanon in the distance, that means a town largely evacuated. One of Matula's residents, who stayed behind. This is the traditional food for Pesach. Is both spiritual guide and protector. Israel Pachter is a reservist on duty and a rabbi in Matula. He helps residents hold on to their spirit and their homes. The end of this street is Lebanon. He's Bala also thought it's a very good idea to start with us and he started. During the war with Iran, Israel says Hezbollah fired more than 2100 drones and missiles into northern Israel. Rockets, fire, whatever it's going to be, we are here to protect our community. Me and my friends, and we do it 24 hours a day. We first met Pachter two years ago when he and his wife, Sarah, were evacuated following the October 7 terrorist attacks in the 2023 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Part of the winning is to keep our morality up. Today, Israel has invaded southern Lebanon to create what it calls a security belt along the border, so Matula's residents can remain if they choose. Of course, it's not peacefully and quiet now like regular. And a lot of families went out only for Pesach. Many Matula residents fled here, Tiberias, 40 miles to the south, an ancient biblical city on the Sea of Galilee, where Scripture says Jesus walked on water. And it's a temporary home for the displaced to mark the moment the Jews gained freedom from a vengeful pharaoh in Egypt. Moshe Weinstein leads the Passover Seder with his family and Matula residents. But one is missing. His son, Omer, was killed in October 2024 by a Hezbollah rocket. Omer was supposed to inherit the family farm from his father. His gravestone overlooks the outskirts of Matula. If I had stayed in the synagogue and prayed 24-7 for a son like Omer, I wouldn't have received one. Across the table from him, his son-in-law, Moshe Waghshaw. But the Waghshaws continued the family business on the same land, where the family has lived more than a century. Despite being there for five generations, I never thought about giving Matula. We returned after the war. Our daughter asked us not to return. We promised her that at the first siren we would leave. We haven't kept that promise. The current war started and we stayed in Matula. Because on this holiday that marks Jews' escape from bondage toward the biblical promised land, they hold on to their homes in the face of war. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Nick Schifrin. Steppenwolf Theatre Company has long been one of the nation's most influential ensemble companies known for the actors it's launched and the groundbreaking work it's produced. Now, it's marking its 50th season, at a moment of real uncertainty for theaters across the country. Senior Arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown traveled to Chicago for our Arts and Culture series, Canvas. Think if I had stayed in the theater. A production of Dance of Death, a play by August Strindberg being presented in a modern adaptation. And growing old, it's horrible, but it is interesting. I'd imagine. For actor Jeff Perry, it's yet another opportunity to do his thing. Now 50 years on, at the theater company he helped create. It feels like, God, wishes fulfilled. It does. Yeah. A place built of artists, by artists and for artists. This an exceedingly rare experiment. Rare to start, rarer still to last. Steppenwolf Theatre's roots go back to the early 1970s. A group of teenage friends in a Chicago area high school, then at Illinois State University, and then a do-it-yourself theater company, co-founded by Perry, Terry Kinney and Gary Senees, putting on shows in a church basement in Chicago. Here's what we thought simultaneously, I think, is the truth. We're going to change the face of American theater, and we'll probably fall apart within, you know, within a month or two. You tell him that I got a couple projects, he might be incident. It would become an important incubator of American theater. Others including John Malkovich, here with Senees in a groundbreaking 1984 production of Sam Shepard's True West. I never thanked you for saving my life. Senees himself would become best known as Lieutenant Dan in the 1994 film, Forest Gump. Lori Metcalf, well known for her time on the hit series, Roseanne. Joan Allen, Amy Morton, Martha Plimpton, more recently, Carrie Coon. Playwrights including Tracy Letts, whose August Osage County won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, and Rajiv Joseph and Tyrell Alvin McCrainy. All of them and more, along with several directors, are to this day ensemble members of Steppenwolf, meaning they work together in different shows over many years. It sounds different every time you do it. And whatever else they do in theater, TV or film, they can and do come back to work at Steppenwolf. In 2016, as he rehearsed a new play written for his Steppenwolf colleagues, Letts told me that the freedom and sense of security that comes with the ensemble approach is priceless. I can afford to take chances. I can afford to make a fool of myself. They'll keep you around anyway. They'll keep me around anyway and they'll tell me. They'll tell me to my face, you didn't get this right. Success can be counted in many ways, including the number of shows, 18, that have transferred to Broadway over the years, winning 14 Tony Awards. You said your daddy was some sort of reverend, but not like this kind of reverend. Among them, Purpose, a Steppenwolf commission, which also won a 2025 Pulitzer for playwright Brandon Jacobs Jenkins. He told me then what it meant to work directly with the theater company. I'm designing the game board for these incredible artists to, like, every night find a new way through the story that might ping differently, create different emotions. Everything in this play was sort of inspired by the acting ensemble that emerged from it. You can't be sneaking up on a man like that when you express out. Among the Purpose cast, Glenn Davis, who now has an even more daunting offstage role, serving with fellow ensemble member, director and actor, Audrey Francis, as Steppenwolf's co-artistic directors. Fifty years is a long time to keep a group of 17-year-olds together and still performing together and still, you know, liking each other and enjoying beating the room together. So that's an accomplishment. And getting new generations of 17-year-olds. Yeah. And then adding new folks. I think that when Glenn and I took the role on, it was really as we were coming out of the pandemic. Why would anyone take on a leadership role of a nonprofit arts organization, in particular live theater at that time? The answer to keep a place that has nourished them and several previous generations alive and thriving. But Francis and Davis, who both in a sense grew up as theater professionals here, face a host of challenges. Steppenwolf in recent years greatly expanded its theater and public areas. More space to use, but also to fill. And it's not immune from the societal and other changes, now roiling American theater generally. The structural mechanics of doing theater today are very difficult. We used to do twice as many shows as we do now. So being able to employ the same number of artists becomes more difficult because you don't have as many shows, you don't have as many roles. Those difficulties are all over the place. So we try as best we can to manage those and move through them as seamlessly as we can. There's also the reality of American politics today. Chicago has been one center of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. Davis and Francis say the theater's core values and programming won't change. I don't feel necessarily a pressure to program something that is commenting on something that's happening right now because everything is happening so fast. What I do feel is an obligation to our city to make sure that we're providing a place that is thoughtful, intentional, can be fun, can be challenging. Every one of these brings up memories. And so 50 years on, Jeff Perry and his colleagues are still at it. It's almost entirely a nomadic profession. This held the promise at least of an ongoing family of choice. And it proved as the years went on how it really is that. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Jeffrey Brown at Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. And that is the news hour for tonight. I'm Amna Nawaz. And I'm Jeff Bennett for all of us here at the NewsHour. Thanks for spending part of your evening with us.