preparations the president of the united states met with ukraine s president just four days short of year that russian forces invaded. with reminders that continuing threats quite literally sounding all around, the two leaders. many american presidents have made dramatic trips before, nixon to china, reagan to the berlin wall and president xi visited u.s. troops in war zones but never like this. this was the first trip ever by an american president into a worn zone without the protection of u.s. troops on the ground or american warplanes controlling the airspace overhead. american air assets were active on ukraine s border and moscow was told about it in advance. as for the presidents own message, here is some of what he had to say we know, it was one year ago this week. that we spoke on the telephone with the president. it was very late at night in washington, very early in the morning here in kyiv. russian planes were in the air and tanks were rolling across your border.
closer to victory. president biden s visit to kyiv, a defiant review of vladimir putin, as the world asks, when will this war and? how far will the u.s. and allies go to defend democracy on the brink, and what will putin do next in his unprovoked attack on a sovereign state? russia s aim was to wipe ukraine off the map. putin s war is failing. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i am wolf blitzer. and this is a special edition of the situation room. president biden is back in poland tonight, after a day that will go down in history, preparing for another momentous day tomorrow, when he and vladimir putin will be delivering dueling addresses, nearly 800 miles apart. president biden traveled under a cloak of secrecy to the capital of ukraine earlier this morning, the city that russia thought it would be able to capture right at the start of this invasion. but kyiv still stands almost one year into this war. what a dramatic
alec baldwin got a break today. prosecutors downgrading the manslaughter charges against him in the 21 shooting death of cinematographer halyna hutchins on the set of the movie rust. the decision, which also caused the film s armorer, reducing the prison time that they could receive, if convicted by five years. the news continues. the situation room with wolf blitzer starts now. [sirens] tonight an extraordinary moment in a war at a crossroads. when you later, gave stands, and ukraine stands, democracy stands. the president of the united states on an unprecedented and dangerous trip into ukraine. as russia s invasion nears one year of barbarism and bloodshed. this conversation brings us