chambers. the gentleman from maryland i was just listening to the house speaker here along with you, jake, announcing who s going to be escorting president volodymyr zelenskyy in. i always find the pomp and circumstance of these meetings with congress that is so impactful and now it will be the ukrainian president coming into that room. of course, members of the cabinet will be coming in. you see the vice president already there and the house speaker nancy pelosi has brought it to order. and we are just a few moments away here, as i said, it ll be the cabinet coming in next and then the escort for volodymyr zelenskyy. clarissa ward is with us as well as we await volodymyr zelenskyy walking into that room. clarissa, it is hard to overstate. i talk about the pomp and circumstance and all of this coming together days before christmas in washington for the ukrainian president.
reporter: this is a pivotal moment, erin. and i think that volodymyr zelenskyy understands that perfectly well. he knows that there is going to be a new political reality or a somewhat shifted political reality in the u.s. come january. and he also knows the challenges that he is now facing at home despite these incredible successful counteroffenses that the ukrainians have had on the battlefield. they are facing a very tough fight in the east and in the southeastern part of the country. they are constantly being bombarded day in, day out. russia targeting critical civilian infrastructure, roughly 20% of kyiv now has power full-time. people are having to go and charge their phones at makeshift centers that the government has set up. and then, today, erin, we hear from president putin himself and also from his defense minister sergei shoigu a very definitive series of statements saying that there is no chance that russia is backing down, that they are
who are going to be bringing him in. members of the cabinet as well. as we are watching this, i want to also bring in will ripley who is live in kyiv. we are watching this and awaiting this moment, will. and, of course, where you are, everyone is as well, and around the world this night for volodymyr zelenskyy, what we are all about to watch live for him and for everyone where you are is about the very survival of their country. this may be the most important speech he ll ever make, or at least the most important speech he s made thus far. this is a man who went to law school, who studied the complex history of russia, of europe, and then got bitten by the acting bug, is very well known here as previously a standup comedian. and he had a show called servant of the people who kind of stumbled into the presidency. so now we have this ordinary guy who knows how to communicate by
towns and villages destroyed, and for them to want to take the time to reach out in that very personal, visceral way, that s very special. when you think about everything that they re facing right now and bakhmut, by the way, as cnn s been reporting, that s been the scene of pretty intense fighting in the last few days. these aren t guys that are sitting around drinking coffee all day. they are in the fight. and for them to take that time out and to send that message, that means a lot. the president was moved today when president zelenskyy gave him a medal that had been awarded to a ukrainian soldier. and the ukrainian soldier wanted president biden personally to have it in his possession. and of course the president will look for a way to personally thank that ukrainian soldier. but that medal and that flag, those are tangible. you can reach out and touch them, stark reminders of the sacrifices that ukrainian soldiers are making every single day. and we re told that president zelens
going to push them to the table. that s why the president focused so much of his time today both private and publicly talking about the security assistance that we re going to continue to provide them. there s another idea that president zelenskyy will discuss this evening. and he mentioned it very briefly at the joint-press conference they had, which is this idea of a peace summit to hold a peace summit this winter. does president biden think that that could be successful? can president biden help with that summit, in any way? well, we ll have to see where this goes, jake. this is a nacient idea that president zelenskyy has floated. certainly we re along to take a look at that and consider it in all its aspects. but i think we want to get more information about it, we want to study that a little bit more. the idea, though, of coming to closure on the war, finding a just peace, ending this in terms that the ukrainian people can live with and deserve to live with, that s really what