with president zelenskyy and the first lady of ukraine, greeting mr. biden. uniformed ukrainian military officers lining the streets, as the two presidents walked through the ukrainian capital, locked down for security. air raid sirens in the distance. then, this dramatic moment, laying a wreath at the wall of remembrance for fall and ukrainian soldiers. punctuated by a moment of silence. tonight, we are learning more about the risky operation that was months in the making. president biden, giving the final sign off on friday, and leaving in the predawn hours sunday. these newly-released images, showing him arriving in kyiv after a ten hour train trip across the ukraine border. the kremlin was notified hours in advance. all as russia has begun its major new offensive in the east. biden is now in warsaw, poland, where he will give a speech and he will be meeting
began, and it s the first from a modern-day president to an active war zone with no u.s. military presence on the ground or the air. once in kyiv, biden announced another $500 million in military aid, and promised continued u.s. support. one year later, kyiv stands and ukraine stands. democracy stands. america stands with you and the world stands with you. russia s aim was to wipe ukraine off the map. putin s war conquest is failing. reminds us that freedom is priceless. it is worth fighting for, as long as it takes, and that s how long we are going to be with you, mister president. for as long as it takes. let s get more on biden s visit from nbc s kristen welker. the momentous day, starting
with nato allies. his remarks will come as russian leader, vladimir putin, it s set to give his statement at the nation address tomorrow in moscow. meanwhile, u.s. officials are closely watching the relationship between china and russia. there is growing concern from u.s. officials that china is considering giving russia lethal aid that could be used in ukraine. let s get right to msnbc chief correspondent, ali velshi. he s live in ukraine s capital of kyiv. ali, how have people in the capitol responded to president biden s visit? very warmly, simone. this was sort of a little extra push that they needed. there s certainly no doubt in ukraine, as i spoke to people a year ago and now, there is no doubt amongst ukrainian people that this war is being prosecuted with ukrainian determination, but with remarkable resolve and assistant weaponry, and training from the west, from america, from nato. but nobody takes that for granted, and the idea that in a
in here because here is what president zelenskyy s former adviser said earlier about president biden s visit, as we near the one year mark of the war. originally, it was all going to be about russia. you know, president putin has set up all the theatrical. yet president biden kind of acted proactively, rather than reactive lee. he came to kyiv before putin said, like, look, we re here for the long run. ukraine will not lose. peter, what does this trip mean, in terms of escalating tensions between biden and putin? well, i think ali velshi had it right. this is a sharp stick in the eye for vladimir putin. think about this. just a year ago at this time, if you would ve asked adam putin which president was going to be in the capital of kyiv today, it wouldn t have been joe biden, right? he s not expecting for the americans to be so successful in arming and helping the ukrainians beat back their invasion. they expected to be in kyiv