February 21, 2022 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent two separatist regions of Ukraine Monday, and hours later ordered Russian troops to conduct what the Kremlin called a "peacekeeping operation" in those regions. After Putin's earlier moves, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union all announced targeted sanctions. Nick Schifrin reports.

In our news wrap Monday, Iran's foreign ministry says negotiators are making headway in talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by former President Trump, daily COVID infections fell to about 100,000 over the weekend, Canada's government tries to keep emergency powers in force to deal with dwindling protesters, and Brazil's death toll from last week's disaster rose to 176.

UKRAINE CRISIS PT 2

The number of unruly passengers on airplanes is skyrocketing. The federal aviation administration has reported nearly 500 incidents so far just in 2022. Now, some airlines are calling on the Justice Department for help. Chief Washington correspondent Geoff Bennett has the story.

It will be 50 years this summer since Watergate, when five burglars broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters and set off a series of investigations that led to the resignation of then-President Nixon. A new book looks at how the scandal we thought we knew was actually a series of events. Historian Garrett Graff, author of "Watergate: A New History," joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

On Presidents Day, we look at the White House during the Kennedy years. A new exhibit called "First Children" at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, shows how the young residents navigated their new home, and how mother and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy tried to protect her children from the press and public. GBH Boston's Jared Bowen reports for our series, “CANVAS.”

Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician, anthropologist and founder of a leading global health organization, died Monday at the age of 62. The group he co-founded, Partners in Health, said he died in his sleep. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro looks at Farmer's life and legacy and his impact on the developing world.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including how President Biden is confronting Russian aggression in Ukraine and how that may impact the political landscape in the United States, and COVID-19 mandates amid falling infection rates.