president biden said to president zelenskyy when they met here when the president asked for those fighters jets and, you know, i m not pleased with what i m hearing out of the mouths of former u.s. officials, the former deputy secretary-general who is an american said, well, the reason we can t give fighter jets is because it takes a long time to train ukrainian fighter pilots. well, had they done this before the full-scale invasion, ukraine pilots would be in a position probably right now to get into the cockpits of those jet, so i think it s a very weak argument and i think it only serves to prolong the war even further. michael, you sent us some video you ve taken of the emptiness of the streets there. the emptiness of store shelf, the emptiness of train stations. we ll play some of that for our viewers right now and so what is it like to be living there? sure, well, it s very sad actually and i ve been here on and off since before the start of the war. you know, you can see the
reporter: the installation hanging in this stairwell reminds us the war actually began in 2014 with putin s annexation of crimea, invasion of donbas, and an attempt to crush an independent nation, calling this greater russia, of lessia calls that absurd. i don t think this is ukrainian identity, that is a problem at all in this war. it s russia s identity. if russian identity is imperial, ukraine is essential part of it. right. but if you rethink russian identity as a non-imperial identity, then you do not need ukraine, baltic states within your well. that is the point of putin s war, to crush democracy, whose now world-famous flag was publicly raised in 1990, just ahead of independence. before that the soviets would have jailed anyone caught carry rg it. today, olessia says it remains a
sadness, i wouldn t say hopelessness but sadness etched on the faces almost everyone you encounter here. when there s no end, i think a lot about my friends who have small and medium size businesses who are basically on life support. huge damage done to the agricultural sector which represents a big part of the ukrainian economy and then, alisyn, quickly, the overall mental health. i remember when you and i were on air way back in april. i just came back from the area and saw the strikes which have been increasing on civilian areas, you know, those images of the bomb craters with shredded teddy bears in them and broken toys and remnants of kids. you know, this is happening on an increasing basis, we talked you talked earlier about that strike on dnipro so this war needs to end quickly to avoid more human suffering. you probably just heard
sell the crisis at home either but to your point, we have to convey to the american people, when i say, people of good conscience have to convey that it is in our geopolitical national interest to help the free people of ukraine fend off this unjust war being waged by russia for a variety of reasons not least of which russia is a nuclear power who will not stop at ukraine and who will increasingly pose a threat to our sovereignty. but also because china, which i think most people acknowledge is an even bigger threat than russia is going to see a russian victory as an excuse or permission, shall we say, for it to then expand its reach including through invading taiwan but also not stopping there and, you know, it s going to be a lot harder to sanction china than it is to sanction russia because our economies are so interconnected. yeah, and speaking of the
welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada, and around the world, i m kim brunhuber, ahead on cnn newsroom, the united states announce more sanctions on russia, as the war enters the second year. a slow-moving storm floods highways and prompts a rare blizzard warning in southern california. details plus the wintery forecast for tens of millions of people. alex murdaugh back on the stand, prosecutors target the lies the disgraced lawyer admits telling while maintaining he did not kill his wife and son. live from atlanta, this is cnn newsroom with kim brunhuber. the second year of russia s war on ukraine is beginning with reports of more attacks, we re told russian forces have shelled the southern district overnight into saturday and just a short time ago came word of heavy