victories. and they did initially in kherson and elsewhere. but now i think as everybody meets today and tomorrow, there is a sense here that this war is a long haul and that putin s bet is that the european s will give up or the u.s. will elect president trump, former president trump, or someone trump-like who takes the view that we shouldn t be in this war or the ukrainians will run out of ammunition. that s what last week and the cluster munitions was all about. and so i would say there s a considerable more pessimism now. then we don t know if zelenskyy is going to show up, president zelenskyy, of ukraine because he wants serious progress and at least a timetable for ukraine s entry into nato. you just heard the president. if the war is on, they re not going to give them a timetable. and we don t know how long the war is going to last.
been that the administration hasn t done enough for ukraine. and david, you know, many of the nato countries that biden will be meeting with have banned the use of these cluster munitions. and may not be in step with what biden s decision has been as of recent, but he says he did inform his allies about his decision ahead of time. so how does he navigate this nato summit while he s making these offerings to ukraine at the same time he is saying that ukraine is just not ready to be a member. so what are the discussions going to be? so, fredricka, there are two separate issues here on ukraine s readiness. the first is are they ready to be a part of nato to be able to make the contributions to nato, to be an established democracy. and while the u.s. has been helping them and nato has been helping them, europeans have, we don t know yet what ukraine s democratic course is going to be. obviously they re under martial
criticism he gets from democrats because of this decision regarding cluster bombs. and secondly, with regard to the republicans, the war in ukraine is a problem for the republicans. and there s it s nothing to do with president biden. it s the fact that republicans themselves cannot agree. so as we watch the primaries, the republican primaries or the competition of the primaries, we ll get a sense of that debate. the president being presidential is always a good thing, but we don t yet know what role the war in ukraine is going to play in the 2024 election. all right. we ll leave it there for now, gentlemen. thank you so much, tim naftali, david sanger, good to see you both. thanks. turning now to the latest in e war in ukraine. a russian official says their air defenses shot down a cruise missile. the incident closed the bridge for a time before being reopened and this is the same bridge that was attacked last october causing a partial collapse. cnn s ben wedeman is in eastern
president biden, who will soon arrive in lond don for the start of a high-stakes trip to london. during the five-day visit, biden will meet with leaders in the uk and finland. and in between those two stops, attend a critical nato summit. a meeting that will be keenly focussed on russia s war in ukraine. a conflict right on nato s borders. the summit comes just days after president biden approved giving controversial cluster munitions to aid ukraine in its fight against russia. munitions that nearly all nato members have banned. cnn s arlette saenz is traveling just ahead of the president s arrival, already there in london. what is first on the president s agenda? reporter: well, fred, president biden will arrive here in london in just a few hours. and tomorrow he will meet with british prime minister rishi sunic before heading over to windsor castle for an engagement with king charles. the first time the two will be meeting since his coronation in
may. one of the issues they re expected to discuss is climate change, a key priority and portfolio for the monarch. after this visit here to the united kingdom, president biden will head to lithuania, home to this year s nato summit. that is real the centerpiece of president biden s trip. he will then tl on to finland where he will meet with the country s president as well as nordic leader. but at the nato summit, really the war russia s war against ukraine will be the key focus, as the nato alliance wants to once again sure up their support for the war-storn country. also up for debate is the possible road map for ukraine to potentially join nato down the road. that is an issue that has already caused some debate amongst allies. president biden told our colleague fareed zakaria in an interview that now is not the time for ukraine to join nato. take a listen. i don t think it s ready for membershipnato, but here is