police presence suggesting a prominent arrival. president biden left washington for poland just after 4:00 a.m. under the cover of darkness, and after a long train ride arrived to warm smiles and laughter from ukraine s first couple. his feelings left in a handwritten message about solidarity and friendship which was echoed on the streets of kyiv. translator: it is support for us and the message for the russians that this issue must be resolved and ukraine must win. we hope his visit will speed up the events. reporter: john, the white house says they warned the kremlin that biden would be on the ground for what they called deconfliction purposes so russia wouldn t do anything while he was here. that was hotly debated with hardliners criticizing president vladimir putin for allowing biden to come meet with zelenskyy. we heard from russian vice
there are little areas and little ways it is fraying. it took the united states after all to commit tanks before germany and many other nations would, and some are still to step up with tanks as well. so this is important, when the president of the united states does something demonstratebly big, that s a message that s heard and understood. white house national security adviser jake sullivan said president biden and zelenskyy, the talks were hyper focused on the next few months of fighting, calling it a critical juncture. is there any indication that air support was discussed as part of this given ukraine s persistent call for u.s. fighter jets? reporter: john, i think it s implicit. national security adviser jake sullivan, that s exactly what was discussed. the president didn t go into this meeting, unaware of what president zelenskyy asked for repeatedly over the course of
security. remarkable images of president biden and president zelenskyy meeting. it is something the white house said he wanted to do for some time. only now did they decide it was a manageable risk where he could make this visit. nic, clearly there are different audiences that the white house was directing this trip to be seen by him. u.s. european partners almost definitely one of them. how is this trip being seen by them? reporter: this is being seen real positively, a real commitment by the president of the united states. obviously the vice president was at the munich security conference with a very tough message against russia and being a pillar of support, leading the way, leading the other allies to continue the military, continue the economic, continue the humanitarian support for ukraine. this is a big deal. we ve heard comments from german officials supporting it. this comes at a moment where there is a need for unity. there is strong unit in the alliance at the moment, bu
the last several months. i m told long range missile systems and fighter jets were discussed. no red lines were drawn, i am told. that s perspectives were consistent with where they have been up to this point which has been the president repeatedly saying no. long range missile systems being rebuffed about what it would mean as far as escalatory issues with russia. there s been a clear evolution over the last 361 days of what ukraine has asked for. the u.s. has said no, not an option and then slowly shifted towards yes and delivery and training. that s an evolution certainly expected to continue. whether or not it will continue on fighters and these long range missile systems, that s still up in the air. one of the weapon systems that was a no until it was a yes were tanks. you were with troops as they were getting trained in the
i know it. and no matter where i go, there s cars everywhere, so i ll always have a job. reporter: pete muntean, cnn, washington. a remarkable program. our thanks to pete muntean for that reporting. moments ago, president biden arrived back in warsaw, poland, where he will deliver a speech tomorrow as ukraine nears one year after the russian invasion. thanks so much for watching this presidents day. ahead in the situation room, wolf blitzer will speak with senior white house official john kirby. -so you think yoyou can help? -i can try. hey, what you u doing? oh, just cleaning my trash cans. wow. it s important to build trust. see you put your address and phone number on here. well, you can never be too safe. with trash? progressive can t protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto -when you bundle with us. -don t look at the hedges. -they re a mess. -no one s looking at the hedges. (woman 1) i just switched to verizon business unlimited.