examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt these are crimes against humanity. vice president kamala harris says russia must be held accountable to actions against ukraine. meanwhile secretary of state antony blinken meets with his chinese counterpart to address the suggested surveillance balloon shot down earlier this month and it comes with king jong-un issuing a direct threat to the u.s. and south korea. good morning, and welcome to way too early on this monday, february 20th. i m jonathan lemire alongside nbc s ali vitali. we have breaking news this morning. president joe biden is in ukraine. he made the trip ahead of the one-year anniversary of russia s invasion of ukraine. he had been scheduled to depart tonight from washington to poland. he would give a speech marking the anniversary of the war and the u.s. s commitment to ukraine s cause, but he made this trip days in advance. we re seeing now brand-new images of president biden
whoa. okay. easy does it. we switched to liberty mutual and saved $652. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. with the money we saved, we thought we d try electric unicycles. whoa! careful, babe! saving was definitely easier. hey babe, i think i got it! it s actually. whooooa! ok, show-off! help! oh! only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. at least 23 people killed after major missile attacks across ukraine. several apartment buildings blown up. this as ukrainian officials say counteroffensive preparations are coming to an end. we ll take a closer look at the future of the war in ukraine. flooding is causing widespread destruction in the west as the swollen mississippi river continues to rise. making matters worse millions across the south are under threat of storms, hail, and even tornadoes. we ll show you who is at greatest risk. and a major win for abortion rights in two republican dominated states. bills re
sidner in new york. this is cnn this morning. kaitlan collins is anchoring live in warsaw, poland. she has some new reporting. let s cabibegin with you, what you hearing? obviously, we are learning details about the details, what happened behind this visit. how the white house is planning this. it was obviously kept secret until president biden was on the ground. he was actually on the ground for some time before we had the white house confirm that he was there, but we re learning that it was months of planning that actually went into this. only a handful of aides from different agencies that were involved in this. obviously, they wanted to keep it an incredibly close hold, because it is such a sensitive visit. what we re learning from the white house is that it was last friday when president biden made the final decision that yes, he was going to be going into this active war zone, right around the anniversary of russia s invasion of ukraine. that s when he decided to go.
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
pro punishing protesters forcing some to fight in the very war they want to stop. and crisis of democracies, a warning to the world from french president macron, and his message to donald trump after being wrapped up in the mar-a-lago case. welcome to the lead. i m pamela brown in for jake tapper. and we begin with our politics lead. and just in, special master of the trump mar-a-lago documents case opens the door to hearing witness testimony. this, coming after yet another legal defeat for former president donald trump. three judges from the 11th circuit court of appeals unanimously reversed district judge aleene cannon s decision. three-judge panel, one obama and three trump appointees. a special master s review of that subset, about 100 records is now partially stopped after judge cannon amended her ruling today. and just a short time ago, a special master deliver a new order to trump s legal team to prove one notable aspect in the former president s public claims. an in