actor? as vladimir putin lost his mind? that is really the subtext of all of the conversations about whether the russian president is actually willing to drive humanity to the brink of a nuclear disaster. i bet it s keeping president biden up at night, how about you? how are you sleeping ever since president biden used the word armageddon. just a moment last president biden outright how close he thinks we really are to the brink. what options are on the table? as biden noted, putin s choice isn t options are narrowing. we will defend our land by all means. we will secure the security of our people. are english putin dictionary right here, when he says we will defend our land what he means our land is the 18% of ukraine and he just declared part of russia. and by our people he means the ukrainians who have taken up arms to stop them. and races by all means, that is rhetoric that has gone nuclear. the u.s. is only country in the world have used nuclear weapons on two occasi
good morning, everyone, inn bianna golodryga. happening right now, west coast swing. this hour president biden departs the white house kicking off a multistate blitz just 27 days from the midterms. in focus this morning the president s exclusive cnn interview with jake tapper where he sounded off on a number of critical global challenges facing the united states and his administration today, including of course the war in ukraine. president biden calling vladimir putin a rational actor, while saying the russian president totally miscalculated his invasion. warning putin s mistakes could end in nuclear armageddon. our reporters, correspondents and guests are standing by to bring you the very latest. let s begin in morning with cnn white house correspondent mj lee. the president s interview with jake covered topics from russia to the economy to even questions surrounding his son hunter. walk us through what he said last night. reporter: you re right that this was a very wide
as russia s brutal assault from the sky intensifies. on the front lines ukrainian forces claim five cylvillages h been liberated. no response from russia on this but it s what s happening in the air that has ukraine on high alert. fighter jets today patrolling kyiv after news of more russian missile strikes. at a market, suburbs near a nuclear plant, both among putin s latest targets. also today reports of arrests now being made after putin s prize bridge to crimea was severely damaged a few days ago. matthew chance is with us now and has more on all of this. tell us about these arrests. what are you learning, matthew? reporter: hey, ana, that s right. this is a new development that s come to us within the past few hours out of russia where the russian federal security service, the fsb, who are investigating this attack on the bridge linking the russian mainland with crimea say they ve made eight arrests of people they believe may be responsible and connected with the dev
hello. i m victor blackwell. welcome to cnn newsroom. four weeks before the election and cnn has a new poll for what americans think of their government right now. views of joe biden has improved over the summer. it s up to 44%, up from 38% in july. but the national outlook on the economy is still bleak. only 22% of americans rate economic conditions as good. most americans have no confidence that biden, congress, really the federal government as a whole, are doing enough to address the economy or the other major issues facing the country. cnn political director david tallian is here to break down the new numbers. let s start with the approval rating. 44%, better than july. still not where he wants to be, under water right now. how could this impact the midterms? take us through the numbers. here s the 44%. you d rather be on the uptick than the decline. biden will take this. but it s not necessarily where a president would like to be this close to the midterm election. h
it s the top of the hour on cnn news room. it s good to have you. i m victor blackwell. president biden just upkdated congress on what his administration sees as the biggest national security threat facing the country. in his new national security strategy, vladimir putin s invasion of ukraine is not the top political challenge according to biden. that distinction goes to china. russia was however at the heart of a key global meeting. there was a meeting with 50 other defense ministers on how to boost ukraine s air defense systems. ukraine is facing a third day of intensified air assault from russia which was condemned by the defense ministers for continuing to target civilian facilities. cnn s kaitlan collins is at the white house. kaitlan, you re up first. let s begin with the president and his just released national security strategy. why is china above russia here? reporter: yeah, it might surprise some people given of course, russia s ongoing invasion of ukraine, but b