are planes of soviet design, russian design that ukraine already has in its arsenals, that its pilots are already trained in. it s much faster to get them up to speed on this. i heard i m quite sure ukrainian warplanes roaring very high overhead the other night in eastern ukraine. the russians have not succeeded in establishing air superiority over ukrainian skies. so ukraine still fields planes. every addition helps it in this contest, this test of wills and manpower and weaponry with ukraine. the issue about other weapons, the ukrainian government is constantly asking for help. it s been pumped with billions in aid. the latvian prime minister was in kyiv today and has pledged 1% of its entire gdp to defense assistance to ukraine. in recent months we ve heard about tanks coming, leopard 2
helmets they were offering and now sending tanks. it s dramatic, seismic to some degree, and a shift based on the last seven or eight decades in terms of the posture of germany when it comes to how they operate on the defense side of things and that has been driven in large part by the relationship between chancellor scholz and president biden. obviously germany very cognizant of what the russian invasion means for europe and the continent. the transatlantic relationship has been critical and that s where the president was going with his remarks talking not just about the defense assistance which the u.s. and germany have been incredibly aligned and clear points of tension, like we discussed when it came to tanks. the president ensured chancellor scholz got what he needed to enable the unity to continue to some degree but the way things have moved over the course of the last 12 or 13 months, despite very real issues on the domestic side and politically,
verbally and also to make very clear whether it is through u.s. troops or whether through u.s. assistance that they ll be there no matter what and the president reiterated a key point and he never hess t hesitates to on ar. the war between ukraine and russia. knowing there is no end in sight at this point in time and there s much more that will have to be done and you often view it through the lane of defense assistance and humanitarian aid for ukraine, these countries want to know what the claim is and these countries want to understand the thought process going forward and that s why this is such a critical meeting and it is not just some way to end the trip. this mattered and it s something that the president has pursued in terms of the alliance and this group in particular throughout the course of the last 12 months. absolutely. it s great to see you, phil. thank you so much.
of the critical symbolism and messages over the last 72 hours there is more work being done on the substance side. the u.s. and counterparts could have a new sanctions package this week and a new defense assistance packages are in the works as well. keep an eye on what happens with future u.s. assistance. there is no question that eventually they will have to go back to congress for more money and as we laid out, the dynamics there with the new house republican majority, very much difficult to read. it is something administration officials are keenly aware of, working on behind the scenes and something they ll have to address sooner rather than later, wolf. phil mattingly, thank you very much. let s go to moscow where vladimir putin is rallying russians for a second year of conflict and reinforcing his relationship with china. cnn correspondent fred pleitgen joins us from moscow. what could you tell us about putin s very high-profile
year ago, the expectation was that russia and russian soldiers would be inside of kyiv. now, a little less than a year later, the president of the united states is inside of kyiv announcing more support, more assistance, both on the economic side, on the aid side, but also on defense assistance as well. just underscores one, it s almost stunning the last 360-plus days it s been. but, two, just how steadfast, the u.s. support, the support of president biden and the administration has been and will continue to be over the course of coming weeks, months and years. guys. phil mattingly in warsaw, alex marquardt in kyiv. talk to us about the impacts of this trip from the american president will have on morale for ukrainians. reporter: well, phil is absolutely right. in terms of how far we have come. i mean, just a year ago, and i was here, we did think that the russians were going to loop around the capital, perhaps cut it off from the rest of the country. there were all sorts of questi