NBC anchor Chuck Todd is slammed by reporter for asking what Ukrainians thought of Biden's SOTU

NBC anchor Chuck Todd was slammed by one of his own colleagues on Tuesday night after he asked what Ukrainian locals thought of American President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union speech.

As the network’s coverage of the speech continued an hour after Biden gave his final remarks, DC-based Todd said he thought Ukraine’s growing refugee crisis was ‘a very important missed point by the president’ in his national address. 

‘It’s yet another part of this story that I think a lot of us thought he’d use this time with the American public to speak more about,’ Todd said, before turning the coverage over to Tom Llamas, who was reporting from Ukraine, asking: ‘What are you seeing in Lviv?’

‘I don’t know if that speech is going to resonate that much with the Ukrainian people for a number of reasons – one, they’re preoccupied right now,’ a seemingly flabbergasted Llamas replied.

‘Right, they have Russian troops in their country right now trying to take over their land,’ he said. ‘That’s number one.’ 

He also noted that it was 6am in Lviv, meaning that Biden’s speech would have begun at 5am, when many Ukrainians would have been sleeping – or sheltering from Russian attacks. 

During NBC News’ coverage of President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday night, host Chuck Todd, right, asked how Ukrainians felt about the speech

Tom Llamas, reporting from Lviv, responded by saying the residents are ‘preoccupied’ with ‘Russians trying to take over their land’ to watch the speech

Biden spent the first 12 minutes of his speech speaking about the crisis in Ukraine

But Llamas used the opportunity to talk about the things Ukrainians likely would have liked to hear from Biden.

Ukrainians, he said, want NATO to enforce a no-fly one around Ukraine and want the United States and its allies to put boots on the ground, both of which Biden said he will not do out of fear of escalating the matter into a potential nuclear war with Russia. 

‘Ukrainians have kind of accepted the fact that they’re going to go at this alone, they’re seeing that every single day,’ Llamas said.

Still, he argued, Biden could have ‘extended more inspiration’ and speak about the refugees fleeing the country.

‘It’s tough for them to kind of square this for them that everyone loves them, everyone’s singing their songs and raising their flag, but no one’s helping them.’

Ukrainians are using subway stations as bomb shelters as the Russian onslaught continues

One residential building was completely destroyed by the most recent shelling in Kyiv

Biden spent the first 12 minutes of his inaugural State of the Union address to speak about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and announced ‘strict’ new measures against Moscow and its wealthy elite with a new task force to go after the ‘crimes’ of Russian oligarchs, while reaffirming that he would not send American forces into Kyiv. 

The president called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine ‘premeditated and unprovoked,’ noting that Putin ‘rejected efforts at diplomacy.’

‘He thought the West and NATO wouldn´t respond. And he thought he could divide us at home,’ Biden said. ‘Putin was wrong. We were ready.’

He then announced that the U.S. is closing its airspace to Russian aircraft in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and will be going after Russian oligarchs, as he listed how the American government has helped out with the Ukrainian efforts.

‘Together with our allies we are providing support to the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom. Military assistance. Economic assistance. Humanitarian assistance. We are giving more than $1 billion in direct assistance to Ukraine,’ the president said.

‘And we will continue to aid the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and to help ease their suffering,’ he vowed.