good monday morning to you i m jim sciutto. a significant day in ukraine and europe as the u.s. president joe biden makes a surprise visit to the war-torn capital of kyiv as air raid sirens sounded around him. [ air raid sirens ] walking side by side there in the capital with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, president biden with this visit sending a strong message to ukraine and to russia, it is his first trip to the country since russia invaded ukraine nearly a year ago. cnn has learned the president made the final decision only on friday to make the unannounced visit, this after multiple invitations from zelenskyy. this morning, the ukrainian president says that biden s visit leaves ukraine, quote, closer to victory. calling it the most important visit to his country in the history of u.s./ukraine relations. during a news conference, president biden announced a fresh swath of sanctions against russia as well as pledging another half billion dollars in military aid,
different. the u.s. is not at war there. u.s. does not have full control over the security on the ground. quite a risk, i m sure the security measures put in place notable. kaitlan, thank you so much. clarissa, you were able to see in the capital, kyiv, boyden meet with zelenskyy this morning. i wonder what is the reception in ukraine to this? boost to moral? how significant for ukrainians? reporter: i think it s definitely significant. there has been a lot of excitement across the city. the city was brought to a standstill in terms of traffic this morning. large parts of the center cut off to vehicles entirely. but the only thing you saw on social media were essentially messages of excitement that president biden was finally making this trip. we heard president zelenskyy come out and say with this visit or with this conversation with president biden, ukraine is now one step closer to victory. and as you just heard there, with kaitlan, this is something