heard bide ten talk about before, this idea of democracy versus autocracy. how did biden make his case? reporter: jake, if yesterday in kyiv, that surprise visit was a dramatic, deeply similar bottic moment about the war itself, today was to paint a broader picture, underscore the bigger stakes, a larger effort that the president detailed about why this isn t just about ukraine or just about the war, in but many stead about the fate of wercht western democracies, particularly pointing here in warsaw as the president detailed, is about freedom. there s no sweeter word than freedom. there s no nobler goal than freedom, no higher aspiration than freedom. americans know that, and you know it. and all that we do now must be done so our children and grandchildren will know it as well. jake, when you talk to white house advisers, they acknowledge that they understand this war that is on going shows no sign of ending any time soon. the western coalition painstakingly held toget
heard, that military setbacks, failures and bloodshed are all part of a conspiracy to bring russia to its knees. translator: the western elites do not conceal their goals. as they say, it s a direct quote to bring russia a strategic defeat. what does that mean for us? it means to end us once and for all. we understand it exactly and will react to it accordingly because this is about the very existence of our country. reporter: it doesn t feel that way in ukraine where troops are dying on bleak battlefields, defending grim front lines against a russian foe. ukrainian officials calling putin s remarks irrelevant and confused. there s growing criticism in russia, too, as new image pgs emerge of more coffins reportedly from the front lines,
one popular blogger claimed that putin held back from officially declaring war, not a word about failures and defeats, he writes. there s no point listening any further. but there was one major new announcement, one escalation. to applause, putin suspending participation in moscow s last-remaining nuclear arms treaty with the united states and a warning that russia may restart nuclear tests. tran tran of course, we will not do it first, but if the u.s. conducts its tests, we will do it as well. nobody should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be broken. reporter: no illusion either when it comes to russia s standoff with the west. the kremlin is even thinking about backing down. jake, after hearing putin s
well. jake, when you talk to white house advisers, they acknowledge that they understand this war that is on going shows no sign of ending any time soon. the western coalition painstakingly held together with a level of durability that surprises even some u.s. officials, is not a guaranteed piece of this process. that s why the speech today is so important and the stakes were viewed as so critical. phil, the setting of the speech was striking. it was almost an olympic disney vibe accompanied by pop music, kids waving flags. estimates from both sides are incomplete. but we know tens of thousands of people have been killed in putin s unprovoked war. what was the reason for making this a little more celebratory instead of somber? reporter: jake, it was jarring when you walked in. there was lights. there was beyonce playing or bruce springsteen playing it felt like a campaign rally to some degree. the reason it was such a disconnect to some degree when
captured when they first invaded, jake, back in 2014. sam kiley in kharkiv. let s discuss all this and more with spokesman for the u.s. state department, ned price. thank you for joining us. president biden says every day this war continues, it s putin s choice. we keep seeing the horrifying attacks on civilians. sanctions have not changed putin s mind or stopped his war machine. further arms and aid packages, billions of dollars worth to ukraine haven t changed his mine. what can western allies do to stop putin from waging this war? quite simply, we can continue doing what we ve been doing over the course of the year. to the point one of your correspondents made, we do see the nexus between what happens on the battlefield and what will ultimately happen at the negotiating table. we know, just like president zelenskyy knows, that this war will have to end with diplomacy, it will have to end with negotiations. right now we re focused on