against top democrats for leading the trump impeachment by kicking them off the house intelligence committee while ignoring george santos campaign financial possible violations and false resume? we will have the latest tit for tat from capitol hill. good day, i m andrea mitchell in washington. president biden is about to announce a major shift in his policy for arming ukraine. he is sending advanced u.s. tanks that the pentagon has been insisting cannot be properly maintained on the battlefield. what s changed? we see the president walking into the roosevelt room. 11 months since russia s invasion of ukraine. 11 months in which ukrainian people have showed putin and the world the full force of their courage and the determination to live free. through every single step of this horrific war, the american people have been strong and unwavering in their support. democrats and republicans in congress have stood together. the united states worked with our allies and partners a
conference in germany. this is an important moment, a critical moment in the fight in ukraine. western allies are meeting and have been there to hammer out the latest plan to support ukraine now and support ukraine going forward. a key point of contention right now is germany s refusal so far to supply ukraine with tanks that it said are necessary to win against russia. tanks are not part of the latest aid package that was just announced by the pentagon. a very big package, though. $2.5 billion for ukraine. that does, however, include striker armored vehicles for the very first time. we re going to stand by and going to this press conference any moment. oren liebermann is standing by at the pentagon. what are we expecting to hear. reporter: one of the things that we could hear from lloyd austin is a thank you for everything that countries have provided. the u.s. on the front foot here with a just announced yesterday $2.5 billion package. the second largest the u.s. has ev
standoff between its allies. lloyd austin meeting with european defense ministers at ramstein air base in germany. we are also, though, just getting in some breaking news, cnn white house reporter natasha bertrand, oren liebermann joining us. what are you hearing potentially about what more we re learning? even this secret meeting that the cia director held last week with president zelenskyy? yeah, so about the meeting between ukrainian president zelenskyy and cia director bill burns we are learning that burns went there really to brief the ukrainian president on what the u.s. believes are the potential battle plans by russia to launch an offensive in the spring. now, of course, bill burns has been a very key emissary between the u.s. and ukraine as well as even with russia over the course of the war and this really just signifies the urgency the u.s. feels in this moment getting ukraine the information the intelligence it needs ahead of this potential russian offensive see
and failed to get german signoff on the allies of ukraine s tanks something that poland says they would do on their own. and president biden was asked about it today. polands call to send tanks and money. u.s. tanks to ukraine? president biden: ukraine s going to get all the help they need. anchor: that s ukraine s president, he says he needs more than western gratitude to hold off the russians. hundreds of thanks, are not hundreds of tanks. also, today, the white house told reporters, that the mercenary fighters made up in part of russian convicts, this all come as day after we learned that cie director briefed president zelensksyy on how the spring russian may play off. fred starts us off from kyiv. reporter: hugely important week in ukraine. one that could be pivotal for the war and the future of their country. they want it take the fight to the russians, they understand that they need more modern, western weapons to do that. at the same time they re bracing
6:00 eastern. > . tonight a critical moment in the war in ukraine and a crucial one for country supporting it with russia potentially just a couple months away from a spring offensive defense contact group led by america top military leaders met at the base failed to get german sign-off on the allies foremidible tanks, president biden was asked about it today. poland s goal to send the tanks by germany s other countries to ukraine, and ukraine needs all the help they need. as for ukraine s president, he says he needs more than western gratitude to hold off the russian hundreds of thank yous are not hundreds of tanks. also today, the white house told reporters the treasure department will designate the russian bogner group, mercenary fighters made up in part of russian convicts a trans national criminal organization comes day after we learned that c.i.a. director burns briefed president zelenskyy on how the spring russian offensive martin play out. lots to start o