i m pamela brown in washington. and you re in the cnn newsroom. historic, timely, brave, those words from ukraine s president zelenskyy about president biden s surprise trip to kyiv just hours ago. biden walking the embattled capital streets, promising america s unwavering support as air raid sirens blared. and as russia s brutal assault nears the one-year mark. a consequential trip at a consequential moment on this president s day. biden laying a wreath inside ukraine, which is an active war zone, where the u.s. military has no control. the white house giving russia a heads up only a few hours before president biden arrived and delivered this message. russia s aim was to wipe ukraine off the map. putin s war of conquest is failing. one year later kyiv stands. and ukraine stands. democracy stands. the americans stand with you, and the world stands with you. and we have teams standing by in kyiv and in moscow, but we begin in warsaw, poland, president bide listen give a
show the ukrainian people america s unwavering support. you can hear them there, those are the air raid sirens as the two presidents walked the capitol streets. they laid a wreath outside st. michael s monastery to honor fallen ukrainian soldiers. the one-year anniversary of russia s invasion is just days away. wearing tie with the colors of ukraine s flag, president biden pledged more aid and promised the u.s. will never abandon its allies. one year later, kyiv stands. and ukraine stands. democracy stands. the americas stand with you, and the world stands with you. it s worth fighting for for as long as it takes and that s how long we ll be with you, mr. president, for as long as it takes. cnn chief white house correspondent phil mattingly joins us from warsaw, poland, and alex marquardt is in kyiv. we have heard the president say time and time again the united states will be at ukraine s side for as long as it takes. it does make a huge difference to say that from was
the lead starts right now. president biden s surprise trip to ukraine, how did the white house pull it off? plus the new promise the president is making while some republicans chastise him for growing. russian families on the run from the brutal war and ending up at the u.s. southern border. what one family went through to escape. and the murder of a bishop found dead in his california home. new details just coming in in this case. welcome to the lead. i am john berman in for jake tapper. moments ago president biden arrived back in poland after his unannounced trip to ukraine and stood side by side with president zelenskyy where biden declared putin is failing as the war nears its one year mark. biden said his trip was important to reaffirm unwavering u.s. support. one year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of kyiv. america stands with you, and the world stands with you. as part of the trip, biden announced another half million-dollars in assistance for ukrain
it is 5:00 a.m. and with daylight will come more of a sense of damage and countless homes have been destroyed. but in the middle of all that devastation, we re often seeing inspiring scenes like this, a local reporter saving ae iing ad nurse who was pleading for help. he had to carry theoryher to sa his back. pawleys island, the storm washed parts of the pier away. authorities are still assessings damage and working to restore power. and brian todd is in naples, florida with a closer look at the damage there. nothing left. zero. the full extent of hurricane ian s destruction now coming fully into view. aerial damage assessments showing coastal florida neighborhoods with roofing tore off, homes flattened, house either flooded or wiped out. some buildings with nothing left but the concrete slab. remote lotions locations cut of the mainland. these images showing how hard sanibel was hit. only way to access that is either by sea or by air. reporter: so far more than 700
a crisis with no ordinary solution because this was no ordinary storm. look at the staggering scale of destruction. complicating hundreds of rescue efforts. it laid waste to entire towns, robbing people of their homes and livelihoods. some residents are now beginning to pick up the pieces. others have no pieces left to pick up. i just returned from a boat ride with the cageous navy where i saw some of the destruction for myself. this is what ian did to matt lachey in lee county where most of the deaths occurred so far. in matlacha. they find one of your neighbors? yeah. yeah. they found, like, i think three bodies so far in the water. i know there s more. cnn s nadia romero is in arcadia. we begin with brian todd in naples. officials said it could take months to recover. we have seen evidence all day long from our boat ride to where you are right now. where do things stand today where you are? jim, we re going to show you more evidence of why it s going to take so lon