across the networks of msnbc news, thank you for staying up late. i will see this weekend. thank you and good evening from here, if i m ali velshi and it has been an extraordinary day in america and ukrainian history. nearly one year after russia s invasion, president biden made a surprise visit today to this war torn country. we whitehouse kept the trip a closely guarded secret with the president under the cloud of darkness a supporter of commuter rail, the amtrak-loving president traveled ten hours by train from poland to the ukrainian capital. this is the first time that a sitting u.s. president has visited ukraine in 15 years. the white house is calling the trip unprecedented because of the absence of any u.s. military footprint in this country. in his remarks, biden pay tribute to the ukraine forces and promised a strong coming from the u.s. going forward. i thought it was critical that do not be any doubt, none whatsoever, about u.s. support in ukraine and their w
speaking in poland a former eastern bloc country that s no stranger to russian aggression, biden started off by saying that the war has so far defied two big expectations. one, that kyiv would fall within days, and two, that the western alliance would splinter as the war dragged on. watch. one year ago the world was bracing for the fall of kyiv. well, i can report kyiv stands strong. kyiv stands proud. it stands tall. and most important it stands free. when russia invaded it wasn t just ukraine being tested, the whole world faced a test for the ages. europe was being tested. america was being tested. nato was being tested. all democracies are being tested. the questions we faced were simple as they were profound. would we be strong if we looked the other, would we be weak? all of our allies would be united or divided? one year later we know the answer. we did respond, we would be strong, we would be united, and the world would not look the other way. president biden also
led the country. he has vowed to make his country a great environmental power . pope francis has addressed thousands of people who ve gathered at st peter s square in the vatican, a day after the death of benedict xvi. the pope described his predecessor as a faithful servant of the gospel, and the church. the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, has described britain s social care system as broken . in his new year message he said that he wanted everyone to work the climate campaign group extinction rebellion says it will temporarily stop using public disruption tactics in the uk. hundreds of the activists have been arrested after blockading traffic, locking and gluing themselves together, but the group say very little has changed . now on bbc news. review 2022 the war in ukraine. over the next half an hour we will chronicle russia s invasion and tell the story of the conflict which has seen many thousands of people killed or wounded and millions of others displaced
from loved ones as the war continues in their home country. hello and welcome to bbc news. a fierce arctic winter storm has triggered emergency alerts across parts of the united states and forced the cancellation of more than 2000 flights. forecasters say the cold snap could bring the coldest christmas in decades. presidentjoe biden has encouraged everyone to heed warnings and bring forward christmas travel plans where possible. this is what it looks like when a bomb cyclone descends on north america. these huge banks of snow in north dakota are the result of an intense blizzard that swept through the state. conditions that are set to engulf almost the entire country, just in time for christmas. but this is no winter wonderland. the storm could prove deadly. great swathes of the us will experience some of the lowest temperatures ever recorded here. there is already chaos at the airports. this is new york. for many, it should have been the first normal christmas after covid. b
has triggered international outrage. two people have been shot dead in paris and two others seriously injured. police say a 69 year old man has been arrested. you are watching bbc news. now review 2022 the war in ukraine. over the next half an hour, we will chronicle russia s invasion and tell the story of the conflict which has seen many thousands of people killed or wounded and millions of others displaced. the story of the war is told by our correspondent paul adams, and a warning you may find some of his programme distressing. translation: a decision has been taken about a special military operation. singing. translation: we are defending our independence, our country. i glory to ukraine. explosion. in the depths of winter, a growing menace. russia flexing its muscles. preparing for something. moscow said these were simply drills, it had no plans to invade. but for months, it held a gun against ukraine s head. the west was alarmed. satellite images showed russian forces