intervene with our freedom, and believe you me. >> zelenskyy went on to talk about the lives lost, children killed by putin's air strikes. and when he finished, a standing ovation. as so many around this world we live in are so deeply moved by what is unfolding in ukraine. our special coverage of president biden's state of the union address begins now with anderson cooper and jake tapper. this is cnn breaking news. >> these are live pictures from the ukrainian capital where new explosions were heard tonight. the city bracing for an all-out assault by russian forces. vladimir putin's brutal war is intensifying at this hour as president biden is about to deliver his first state of the union address. i'm anderson cooper coming to you tonight from lviv in western ukraine for this special edition of "ac 360." there is grave concern across this country and in the region

about russia's increasing 11 aggressive bombing campaign. we have seen russian rockets striking strategic targets in the heart of ukraine, blasting a government building and hitting civilians in the second largest city in the east in kharkiv. russian troops in hardware are on the move as well, that massive 40-mile convoy positioned just outside kyiv, its forcing regrouping and could roll into the capital at any time or at least try to. after decades -- excuse me, days of extraordinary resistance by ukrainians, the coming hours could go a long way to deciding the fate of ukraine, its people, and its democracy. i want to go to jake tapper in washington. jake, this is a war, certainly a huge test for president biden. what do we expect to hear from him tonight? >> when president biden enters the house chamber at the capital about an hour from now, he's expected to not only address congress and the american people, but to deliver a message to the world, including to vladimir putin. we're told president biden will

directly call out putin this evening in his speech that was reworked to respond to the fast moving and tragic developments in ukraine. biden, we're told, will slam the russian president for launching a, quote, premeditated unprovoked war and rejecting efforts of diplomacy, and we learned he will announce a ban on russian aircraft from entering u.s. air space. this is the newest move to punish russia for its aggression in ukraine, punishing putin for this war clearly a top priority for president biden at a time when he and the american people are facing extraordinary challenges and frustrations here at home, which of course, biden will also discuss tonight. we'll have more on that ahead, but right now, let's go back to anderson cooper in ukraine. anderson. >> jake, i want to get an update on the situation in ukraine's capital, kyiv, at this hour. clarissa ward is there. clarissa, brutal bombing today. 40-mile convoy of russian troops outside the city. what is the latest?

>> well, anderson, it's been quiet here for the last couple of hours, but it certainly wasn't that way earlier on in the day. we are now getting new images and they are a little bit distressing, of the aftermath of some kind of a strike on two apartment buildings in a suburb of kyiv. it's about 30 miles to the west of kyiv. and from what you can see in this video, a man is showing you around the aftermath, the area where that apartment building was hit. apparently a restaurant was part of that complex. you also see a children's playground at one stage, which is littered with debris, the aftermath. cnn does not have any information about whether there were any casualties, anyone killed or injured, and you can hear a man talking over the video. he says they hit our homes. i hope you die, putin you scumbag, and then towards the end of the video, he says simply, look at what you have

done, putin. this is just one incident today. we also, anderson, saw the kyiv tv tower, that was hit. next to a holocaust memorial park. and so five people at least were killed in that attack. and everyone now bracing themselves for what may come next with that russian convoy that you mentioned bearing down on the ukrainian capital, anderson. >> clarissa ward, thank you. we'll check in with you throughout the next several hours. the president of ukraine is urging president biden to deliver a strong message about the russian invasion in his speech tonight. cnn got an exclusive interview with president zelenskyy in the bunker where he is leading his country's military response. he spoke with our senior international correspondent, matthew chance. take a listen. >> the united states has said that it will not enforce a no-fly zone over this country. and it won't put boots on the ground. do you think it is now time for president biden and other

western countries to reconsider that? and to help you, not just with military aid, but with manpower? >> translator: i have already turned to some foreign leaders with this request. i believe that leaders must support democratic states of the world who are keen to defend such principles. the powerful issue of closing the air space helps us tremendously. this does not mean dragging nato into this war. we spoke many times with president biden and i'm thankful for him for these opportunities and support, but they also did not hear me. i told hem ukraine will fight hardest of all. you will see, but us alone against russia, we will not be able to do it. >> your army has enjoyed some significant battlefield victories in the past week. i myself have been to see some of the russian armored columns that have been totally hammered and destroyed by the weapons and the men that you have fighting the russian advance. are you now concerned, though,

that the kremlin will double down on its military operations and hit ukraine even harder? >> translator: firstly, why are we winning or why are we defending ourselves? because this is our home. yes, russia will double up, but take a look at them. why our men are stronger, more powerful and successful? because as i said, we have what we need to protect. and they do not even understand our state. they do not know these streets. they do not know our people. do not understand our philosophy, our aspirations, what type of people we are. they don't know anything here. they were just sent here to fight and to die. >> matthew chance joins us now from kyiv. it's an extraordinary interview. how did the president seem to you? >> well, he seemed -- he was under a great deal of stress. you saw a picturef of him there. he looked very pale, hadn't shaved for a few days. wearing the kharkiv military

fatigues that have been characteristic of his public appearances over the last couple days or weeks since the threat with russia has been so massive. and he's obviously, you know, somebody who is attempting and succeeding perhaps to step up to this idea that he is the sort of pillar of strength in the country, when it comes to resisting this massive russian force that has gathered not just around his capital of kyiv, but around the entire country, pounding it as we have been hearing on a daily basis. and so yes, a man who is under a lot of pressure. also, a man who considers himself to be a target by the russians. not just that, but his family are a target as well. he expressed that on several occasions. he was asked earlier during this interview when the last time was that he saw his family. you could see him sort of welling up, such an emotional sort of response to him. he said i haven't seen them

since the beginning of this war. and so yes, on a personal level, clearly, this has taken a toll, and he's having to move from bunker to bunker. you know, we met him in that underground bunker. a lot of pressure he's under, but he is determined, it seems, to keep up the resistance and the fight against russia. >> yeah, matthew chance, appreciate that. jake, want to go back to you. >> thanks. i'm over at the magic wall. tonight, it's our version of a war room, as we map out the latest military maneuvers in ukraine. john king is here along with retired colonel cedric leighton, cnn military analyst. give us an idea of what president zelenskyy and the people of kyiv, the capital city in ukraine, are facing as russia approaches. >> absolutely, jake. one of the big things that he's going to have to deal with is really all kinds of movements from the russians at this point.

because what we see here is the russians, the closest point of approach is right here. this area right to the northwest of kyiv is the area where the russians are going to really be focused on moving forward because that's probably from their assessment the most vulnerable point of the city. and that makes sense because when you look at kyiv itself, this area is a river valley right here. they're coming from this direction right here. and coming down this way. so they're coming down from the northwest toward this part of town. they have already penetrated areas in this suburb right here, and they're moving down this way. they're taking paths down the river valley and they could potentially go this way as well. and that is an area where there would be a lot of different movements, but there's also danger for the russians because what can happen here is they can actually go in and be enmeshed in urban warfare.

>> one big question has been why. you have a 40-mile convoy. an impressive force, but it's moving at a snail's pace. they're having food shortages, fuel shortages. it's a sitting duck as a target if you will. what is the strategic calculus if you're the russians. why is this sitting here for days moving so slowly toward kyiv? >> that's an interesting question because i'm looking at this from my old air force perspective, i would say this is the ideal target set. i would blow that up completely. one problem from the ukrainian point of view, they don't have the weapons to do that, they don't have the air superiority that they need. they have the possibility of using drones, using some of their fighters which are still in existence, and they could potentially do something, but the question is can they get the planes off the ground and do it in such a way that it would actually make a difference to cut the convoy off. if they did this, one thing they could do is actually start interdicting the convoy in several different areas. for example, if you cut, like

let's say at a place like this, what you would have is the ability to use this color. you could cut it here potentially in other areas like this. any cross roads might be a possibility. you want to create as much damage as you possibly can so they either to have try to go around it or they have other issues to deal with there. >> yet, even though -- look, it's slow. it's not going as fast as putin would like. but when you look at the map, six days, beginning of the seventh day, the russians have made a lot of gains down here and the question is here, all of this shelling today leads most people to believe something more aggressive is about to happen. >> vladimir putin has nothing but time, i think, when it comes to this. much more ahead. we're getting more insights into vladimir putin's mindset as he wages this war of aggression. we're standing by for president biden to leave the white house to deliver his first state of the union address. stay with us. we'll be right back. our bottles are made to be remade. not all plastic is the same.

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we are back live from ukraine on a very tense night across this country. as russian forces have been ramping up their attacks on major cities. we also are standing by, of

course, for president biden's speech tonight. his state of the union address, going to condemn vladimir putin's war as he delivers the state of union. i want to go to southern ukraine and the port of odesa. nick paton walsh is there for us. residents of odesa fearing they might be putin's next target. talk about what's going on around you. >> chilling to see people putting in barricades that their grandmothers having spoke of last seen in 1941. a different generation here trying to defend this city of odesa. yet to see a full russian onslaught, but cautious and alleged it may happen any day. the train station, people leaving, but people still digging in for defense here and sharing supplies. but this is on the receiving end of what's been growing russian pressure we have seen ourselves over the last five days. key is the city that to me was a revelation today, violent fighting for the strategic

bridge and its outskirts, but residents wondering what happens in the town? do russian troops bother coming in? they have their arms today. russian soldiers walking through the streets, clashes it seemed. men being arrested, looting from stores by russian soldiers, it seemed, presumably looking for food because of poor supply lines. a real sign of what they may seek to do if they come into population centers. pressure, too, mounting on this, the third largest city in ukraine, and its vital strategic port, 30 miles drive away from here, shelling and small arms fire and a real fear, i think, that we may in the hours, days ahead, see pressure upon this city, which frankly, unless you can control it, you don't control ukraine's economy. anderson. >> nick paton walsh, appreciate it. be careful. as the war in ukraine unfolds, there is enormous international concern about vladimir putin's state of mind, his decision making capabilities. i want to bring in fareed

zakaria. james clapper says putin is, quote, more unhinged than he's ever seen him. do you think this is a different vladimir putin? and how capable is u.s. intelligence really of understanding what's going on in anyone's mind, let alone the leader of russia? >> he does seem to be a different man, anderson. from the more cautious, more calculating man who took office. he was careful in his military interventions. he seemed to weigh cost and benefits more. what changed? he's been in power 22 years. when he took over, russia was a basket case. it now has high oil prices, high energy prices. big foreign exchange war chest. so at some level, anderson, probably it is more than anything else that old line, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. which lives us with a dilemma. as you say, he's now mercurial,

unpredictable, rash. we can use all these descriptive terms. he's also evil. what he's doing is wicked. he is showing extraordinary vengeance against a country, against a people who have done him no harm. >> also, this is a leader who has said that he believes that the fall of the soviet union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century. we have seen what he has done in other countries. you think about in chechnya, what leveling of groceny, the installing of a vishing thug who now rules in chechnya. how much of what putin is doing is a bid to reconstitute the old soviet union? >> it's an important point, and an important analogy because the russians, they may have killed a quarter of a million people in chechnya, and grosni was essentially leveled. putin has dreams of being a

great czar. he often talks about peter the great being his role model and he wants to unify the russian people. behind all that is a particular animus putin has, which is a very dangerous one, which is he sees russia as the great victim. he sees russians as being the great victim. that quote, the greatest geopolitical tragedy that the west has wronged russia. whenever you hear that, i don't make hitler analogies loosely. but these are the kind of things when people start thinking of themselves as victims, as having been humiliated, strips of their lights and dignity, it tends toward the feeling that anything justifies their actions. and clearly, what putin is doing is in a sense very much out of that playbook. think about the destruction he is leveling on ukraine for an operation that he claimed, anderson, was a special military operation to protect the people of donbas, of eastern ukraine.

>> diplomats like to create what they call off ramps that allow their opponent to save face in a retreat. is there an off ramp here for vladimir putin? >> i believe there is if he is at all -- has any rationality left. at the end of the day, most wars end with some kind of a brokered solution. and we should continue to search for ways. look, the ukrainian government, the president of ukraine, despite showing incredible bravery and courage and fortitude, is also keeping the path open. i believe washington should do the same. we have to find some way to allow this to happen. is there a path for him? well, look, here there is one silver lining. it's an odd silver lining. vladimir putin completely controls his media space. he controls all of russian media, all of russian tv. he can go and tell people that he got some great diplomatic victory, he got some kind of

concessions. nobody will contest it. there will be no dissenting voices. truth does not get through. yes, in small magazines and little radio stations like echo, which have been shut down, but there was a little bit, the vast majority of russian media is vladimir putin's narrative. if he wants to claim that somehow he won and it spares the lives of hundreds of thousands of ukrainians and it provides some kind of peace settlement, i think we should look for it, but at the very same time, we should be arming the ukrainians. we should be helping them in whatever way we can. it is absolutely clear that vladimir putin needs to see a brick wall before his bayonet will stop. >> fareed zakaria, appreciate it. we'll have live coverage of the war here in ukraine throughout the evening tonight. as we wait for president biden to leave the white house for capitol hill. we're also getting new details of his state of the union address. jake tapper will have more of that in a moment.

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we are getting closer and closer to president biden's first ever state of the union address. it's a very different speech than he might have planned months or even weeks ago, before russia began its brutal assault

upon ukraine. let's bring in our chief white house correspondent, kaitlan collins. what are you learning about the president's speech this evening? >> well, jake, as we're waiting on president biden to walk out those doors you just showed, we're learning more about what he's going to announce in the speech tonight when it comes to russia. we have confirmed here at cnn the president is going to say that the united states is banning russian aircraft from u.s. air space. joining a move that we have seen several other countries take in recent days as they seek to punish the kremlin for this invasion ongoing of ukraine. that follows a decision by the united kingdom to do so, the european union, and canada as well. we should note as the white house was deliberating whether to take this step, this came as they were noting that fully aware russia could retaliate for this decision, as they have done with other european nations that have ban russian aircraft from their flight zones, from their air space, saying they can't fly there anymore. that could cause a problem for some of the cargo planes that

come from the united states, fly over russian air space, maybe to get to asia. that is something white house aides had said had been a consideration in recent days but this is another step you're seeing president biden take to punish president putin. he's going to try to lay out some of those steps as he has one of the biggest audiences a president ever enjoys and this is an audience not just interested in the domestic aspect of the state of the union, but also the global aspect given what is happening in ukraine. >> thanks so much. i'm joined here in studio with my friends and colleagues, dana bash and abby phillip. interesting the president is going to talk about a no-fly zone over the united states for russian aircraft. zelenskyy, the president of ukraine, is begging nato, europe, president biden to establish a no-fly zone over ukraine. but you spoke with house speaker pelosi about that. that's not going to happen. >> it's universal across the american government right now. we have heard that from the administration, and you're

right, i was on capitol hill this afternoon for a small briefing with the house speaker and also the senate majority leader, chuck schumer. and they both made extremely clear that a no-fly zone over ukraine, which is what president zelenskyy is asking for, is not going to happen. and she put it in really stark terms, jake. she said the no-fly zone is a third world war. and it's really unfortunate. >> and nobody has been more clear about that than president biden himself, who has been crystal clear that there are limits to the support that we're going to provide to the ukrainians. and so tonight, i think his task is also to explain, okay, we're not going to do that, but what are we going to do, how are we going to prevent putin from being a menace on the global stage? and you know, what i'm hearing from people at the white house is that this is a president who feels like this is his moment. he has been in the political space, in the foreign policy space for decades.

he ran on the idea that he was the most experienced person to be in this position. and so this very difficult task that he has to basically say to the american public, we're not going to go so far as to put boots on the ground, but i do think we will succeed in deterring the march of putin's authoritarianism. that's the big task, and this president, according to the people i'm speaking to, feels in this moment that this is what he was elected for, and his job is to remind the american people of that. >> i hate playing i'm the old man at the table card, but i was born to that position. this is the first time since george h.w. bush was president that there is a foreign policy crisis on a relatively new president's desk. and people might disagree with how he's handling it, but nobody is questioning his expertise, as opposed to bill clinton, george w. bush, barack obama, donald trump, people were worried. he doesn't know much about the

subject. this is a subject joe biden, again, you might disagree with his policy, he knows the players and the policy. >> he was just there when he was vice president. he was the highest ranking person in american government to go there most recently. and on that note, as the white house, as the president's aides were drafting and redrafting his speech that he's going to give tonight, i was told they went back to look at the last time a president began his speech with something on national security like this. and it wasn't since george w. bush during the iraq war. president obama did quickly at the end of the iraq war. but when it comes to a national security crisis, it hadn't happened since george w. bush. >> we're waiting for the president to come out. let's pop in with wolf blitzer now while we wait for the president to come out of the south portico door there. wolf. >> he should be walking out

momentarily, jake. and then driving up pennsylvania avenue to the u.s. capitol. we'll watch that closely. gloria borger and david axelrod are with me. there's the president. let's see if he answers a question. he clearly did not want to answer a question. there were reporters there, pool reporters there in the vehicle, they'll be heading to capitol hill right now. he's got to have a major challenge right now because the russian president putin, david axelrod, is going to be presumably, if not watching, he's going to get a report. i suspect based on everything i heard today, that president biden is going to want to send a direct message to putin. >> you know, this is, when you work in that building across the street, you learn very quickly you can't control events. you can plan as much as you want. they didn't plan on this. they had a whole different scheme for this, but it is an opportunity because he's going to stand on the platform and he's not just speaking at the

american president but really as the leader of the free world, in a time of crisis. and that is an opportunity for him, and that's important because this is a guy who doesn't always look like he's in command at a time when people feel things are out of control. this is a big moment for him. >> he really does have to reassure not just the nation but the world that things eventually will get back on track. >> he does, and i think this is an opportunity for him in talking to a senior administration official today, put it this way, look, this is an opportunity for the president to talk about american values and it is a way then he can segue into his administration's values, when he starts talking about domestic policy. and we know that in his inaugural speech, he talked an awful lot about democracy versus authoritarianism. i think you're going to hear that again tonight. one interesting thing i was told today is that they have rewritten the putin portion of the speech multiple times.

we know that he has a relationship with putin, and it is not good. he has told him face-to-face, you have no soul. so i'm wondering what the language is going to be when he talks aboutpute tonight. >> i was in geneva last june when putin and biden met, and they both put their best foot forward, but it was a tough meeting. still ahead, we're going to go back to the war zone in ukraine. we'll get new insight into the big question right now, will putin order a major assault tonight? and we'll also go live to the u.s. capitol as we await president biden's arrival. new reporting on his message and the stakes as he delivers his very important address to the world. that's coming up.

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getting seated in the capitol. we are back with our live coverage of the war in ukraine as well. live pictures from kyiv tonight on a night of growing fear that russian forces may soon unleash some of their most devastating attacks yet. this escalating conflict will be a significant focus of president biden's state of the union address beginning just minutes from now. we'll bring that to you live. we want to get you the latest on the ground here all around ukraine. we talked to nick paton walsh in odesa earlier. let's go back to clarissa ward in kyiv tonight. the second round of talks between the ukrainians and russians are scheduled for tomorrow. obviously, president zelenskyy has expressed his skepticism, i guess you could say, about the potential results from that. how optimistic do you think are ukrainians heading into these talks? >> well, at this stage, anderson, it's not even 100% they will take place. russian media has been reporting

that they're scheduled to happen. the ukrainians had said that in principle, they would attend, but that it will really depend on whether we continue to see the sustained sort of bombardment that we saw yesterday. president zelenskyy saying basically, you can't really have talks about ending the conflict unless there's some kind of a cease-fire or at least a cessation of hostilities, a pause, if you will, that allows for a good spirit of communication to continue between the two sides. he called today's attacks undisguised terror, talking particularly about an apartment building in kharkiv that was hit. also the municipality, the sort of town hall and freedom square in kharkiv, that's ukraine's second city where some ten people were killed. so the feeling is here that it's very difficult to come to the negotiating table and make substantive concessions as long as this kind of indiscriminate

shelling is going on. one other thing i wanted to add that i think is interesting in terms of the state of the union address tonight and what the ukrainians are hoping to see from it, what they really would like to see is president biden talk forcefully about what's happening here, not just as a fight for ukraine, as a nation state, but a fight for ideals. the ideals of sovereignty, of self-determination, of liberal democracy. i can't tell you how many people on the ground say the same thing to us. this isn't just us fighting for our way of life. it's fighting for yours as well. >> important point. cluracea ward, be careful. we'll continue to check in with you throughout this evening. i want to get back to washington and jake. >> thanks, anderson. let's go to jamie gan gel, working her sources ahead of president biden's first ever state of the union address, and jamie, you have learned roughly how much the president is going to focus on ukraine in his remarks tonight. >> according to a source familiar with the speech, it

will be about a third ukraine and then about two-thirds domestic. i'm told biden's message will be directed toward obviously several audiences, the congress, the american people, our allies. but perhaps most important, he is sending a message to one man, vladimir putin. according to a senior intelligence official, biden is really facing the question, how far putin goes. and the source said, quote, the grim period is about to start. in response, my source believes the president's language has to be steadfast but calibrated and signal strength but not trigger putin. the source said there is a real psychological danger here with putin. and the source believes putin needs to hear the speech, hear the message from biden, and that the u.s. allies are backing ukraine and that the ukrainians

are not going to give that up. and take that into account as he makes his next moves. i'm also told, jake, that putin, he said, a spokesman said he doesn't usually watch these things, but i'm told it is likely he will be watching the reaction from republicans in the room. members of congress, to see if the united states is unified, jake. >> all right, jamie, thank you so much. you're looking at live pictures from the house chamber. if you end up seeing a lot of blue and yellow there this evening, and you might see some of the female members of congress wearing blue and yellow outfits, a lot of that is in tribute to ukraine. those are the colors of the flag of ukraine. we're joined by our national security analyst here, the former director of national intelligence under president obama, retired air force general james clapper. i guess one of the big questions

that a lot of people are wondering is has vladimir putin become eccentric and unpredictable? he's also been barbarous, always been murderous, but it seems like he took it to what he could get away with without any serious punishment, whether it was taking crimea or parts of georgia, killing this one or that one, but he never has faced punishment like he's facing right now from the western world. has he lost something? >> well, we have all become armchair psychologists as a result of this change in his behavior. and whatever it's attributed to. and i think this is set against the backdrop of his history. his history has been one of cold, objective, emotionalless actually rational, smart dialogue. the speeches of late have been

kind of unhinged, and he has been anything but emotionless. on the contrary, his anger, in fact fury, has been pretty clear. so you know, has he gone off the deep end? is he crazy? i don't think so. i do think he's under great stress. for exactly the reasons you cite. unprecedented pressure on him. and the isolation of russia, very suddenly from the economic system, from sports, which means a lot to him. plus the fact that things aren't going real great in the ukraine. the vaunted russian army has not exactly performed up to standards. but i think all these factors together, plus the fact he's had 30 years to stew about the grievances imposed on the soviet union and russia. he's been essentially isolated for 22 years, since he's been in a position of leadership. and the last couple years literally, physically isolated.

>> because he's really paranoid about covid. he's really worried about covid. you see that super long table he sits at. >> so i think all of these factors together tell me that he is behaving differently. and the thing that still bothers me, i found chilling, is his warning and then the heightened alert status of the strategic nuclear forces. vladimir putin is a head of state for the largest single nuclear arsenal in the world. larger than ours. when he behaves differently, behaves aberrationally and speaks and makes unprecedented pronouncements about the potential use of nuclear weapons, everyone sits up and takes notice. notably, the u.s. intellgents community. >> general clapper, that's chilling and fascinating at the same time. wolf. >> thanks, jake. i want to go right to the white

house, to our chief white house correspondent, kaitlan collins, getting more information as we watch members of the house and senate. they pretty much are in place right now, awaiting the president of the united states. >> and of course, wolf, you see several members of the cabinet there in the room tonight for president biden's speech. there's of course one member who is not included. that is the designated survivor, every time during a state of the union, you see a designated survivor just in case of some disaster that strikes, that person does not go. cnn has learned tonight that's the commerce secretary watching the pred's state of the union address from afar. of course, last year when the president addressed congress, there was not a designated survivor because most of the cabinet watched from afar during covid. in the room, we see the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general mark milley. that is someone who has been spending a lot of time with president biden in recent weeks. of course, as russia has continued to amass forces on ukraine's borders. started this invasion. we should note today president biden spent several hours rehearsing and editing his

speech, balancing that between monitoring putin's moves and of course spending 30 minutes on the phone today with ukrainian president zelenskyy, wolf. >> all right, we'll get back to you as well. you know, david axelrod and gloria are still with me right now. david, what is the president of the united states, as we're looking at live pictures coming in, what does the president need to achieve tonight? >> well, first of all, you're not going to change everything in your political life with one speech, but this certainly on this, he needs to be strong. i was struck by one item in his excerpts that were released. throughout our history, we learned this lesson, when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more pain, that's an important piece, not just about values, not just about ideals. it's about security as well. in terms of the rest of the speech, i think he wants people to know what he's done. but you can't be too triumphant in a country where 30% of the people say we're on the right

track. we have been through hell in this pandemic. people are concerned about crime, and certainly inflation. he has to address those things in this speech and give people some sense of direction for the future. >> you know, one speech can't transform anything, but it can start to change a trajectory. and his trajectory has been going down. and you know, the people in the white house say, look, this is an opportunity for the president to talk about who we are and who he is as a leader. and give people the confidence that you were talking about, wolf. give people the confidence that he can lead us out of the economic ditch we're in right now. and tell them about the progress he has made and what's coming, and turn the page on covid. finally. hopefully. >> you want to lay a foundation with this speech. you want to build on that foundation. you're not going to change overnight what have been some pretty harsh numbers for him, but you do want to lay the foundation for a message in the future. >> i think it will be interesting when he speaks about putin, when he speaks about

ukraine and russia, there will be bipartisan support, by and large. >> which is so rare. >> on the other hand, when he speaks about other issues, there might not be. >> he's starting with ukraine. you may see bipartisan exhibitions of support there. that's going to be very important, not just in terms of what the world sees but also to set a tone for the speech moving forward. >> i wouldn't be surprised if the republican caucus has made a decision -- >> the speaker is bringing the session to order. >> the gentleman from -- the gentlewoman from massachusetts, ms. clarke, the gentleman from new york, mr. jefferies. bl we're going to continue to watch this unfold. a dramatic moment, getting ready for the president's first state of the union address. >> one thing i would look for, wolf, does he try to reposition himself? there has been a criticism that he's been tugged too far left in some ways by members of his own party. on issues like crime, for example, and policing. are we going to see a different tone tonight? >> or is he going to talk about

issues, i was told, like the opioid crisis, which everyone can agree on, you need to deal with this. cancer, let's do the moonshot. let's finally do that. to try and get some kind of unity, which is going to be a theme of his speech tonight. >> but the big chunk at the beginning will be ukraine. >> let's bring in cnn's fareed zakaria, and fareed, president biden has a big task here. he needs to explain to the american people why they should care about the situation in ukraine and just how high the stakes of this conflict are. why they should be willing to see prices go up at the pump, for example. >> that's right, jake. and the stakes are very high. this is the largest assault on the international system that the united states created after world war ii, in decade. it's the most consequential one because it's a nuclear armed russia that is threatening to tear up the rules of order and

civilization. look, churchill begins his great world war ii memoirs by saying in war resolution. joe biden has to show resolution. the battle has been drawn. the question is who will prevail, vladimir putin or joe biden and the allies he has rallied. he needs to show the costs will keep going up, the stakes are worth it, the west will not lose its nerve. and if he can do that, i think he has an opportunity as david axelrod said, to step into the role as leader of the free world. he has rallied a large part of the world. now he has to put steel in that coalition. >> the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy, told matthew chance earlier today that he has urged president biden, and they spoke earlier today, to send a useful message,

a useful message on the russian invasion. what would that look like? because president biden has ruled out a no-fly zone over ukraine. he has ruled out boots on the ground in ukraine. what would that useful message be? >> the most useful message would be the costs will keep escalating and we will not stop at what we are doing now. you can imagine visa bans on are russians. you can imagine more travel bans. you could imagine hitting the achilles heel of the russian economy, oil and gas. all of those things should be part of the package. and we should always point out we are willing to, as long as president zelenskyy is willing, which he is, to negotiate, but you have to show deterrence. you have to show resolution. >> all right, fareed zakaria, thank you so much. let's go to jeff zeleny on capitol hill, which is a place where you can find outspoken pro-putin voices in the republican caucus these days.

jeff. >> for republicans to show a sign of unity when president biden talks about the american support for ukraine. look for a standing ovation from republicans. republican leaders have sent that message to their members, that they should indeed show support, and talking to most republicans here, they say they will. but jake, the political reality was clearly facing the president as he arrived on capitol hill. the fences are back up. national guard members are here, police are here. this is a bitterly divided capitol. yes, this is president biden's first state of the union address formally, but it could be his last to a democratically controlled house and senate. he knows that. he's aware of that. don't look for much progress on his agenda, but one top democratic senator told me just a short time ago, what he would like to see from the president is to show leadership and show that he is in command. i think that could help save this party in the midterm elections, jake. >> jeff, thanks so much.

let's go to lauren fox who is inside the house chamber, where the vice president and the speaker of the house have taken their place behind where the president will be standing the first time in the history of the united states that a state of the union address is being given with those two seats occupied by women. not to mention the vice president being a woman of color, lauren fox. tell us what you're seeing there? >> this chamber looking very different than it did even last week when members were in here, because the attending physician has lifted that requirement about masks. there are now many members on both the republican and the democratic side meandering about, talking to their colleagues, getting very close, shaking hands. it's such a different scene than we saw even a year ago. i mean, the other thing to keep in mind here is that even though republicans and democrats are largely united around ukraine,

there was some missives fired right before this speech with mike mccaul, the top republican on the foreign relations committee, sending out a statement saying he hoped the president would use the speech to apologize. just shows you -- >> interrupting, we're just watching members of the supreme court. there's john roberts, the chief justice of the united states, as well as the retiring stephen breyer, elena kagan, who else is there, brett kavanaugh, and amy coney barrett. that's five of the nine in the chambers this evening. you just saw them walking in, the members of the joint chiefs of staff have already come into the chamber. i'm sorry, karen. go back to what you were saying. >> the other piece is just you have these republicans in the house of representatives who certainly we expect will make ukraine a political issue against the president. you had mike mccaul sending out that statement saying he hoped the president apologized tonight, jake, for all of the misfires that he argued we're seeing from afghanistan to his

dealing with russia. jake. >> all right, lauren fox in the chamber there. thank you so much. we'll come back to you. you do see, evan, some of the blue and yellow outfits in there, tributes to the ukrainian flag. you were in ukraine with then vice president biden. hold on one second. the escort is coming in with the first lady of the united states, jill biden. anyway, evan, you were in ukraine. >> i was, yeah, in 2014, with the vice president, when he went over. at that point, it was still in some ways smoldering from the protests from the departure of previous leadership. and what you heard from biden on that visit was very clear. he said to me, this is who vladimir putin is. that moves to today. >> i think we just saw the first lady with a ukrainian ambassador

to the united states. is that what you were going to say? >> exactly. oksana markarova, who has been there in the halls of congress, working as hard as she possibly can, to try to get support from members of congress, to do more than they have been doing. to do more than they have been doing. certainly, they're very willing to give as much aid as they can, to give as much support economically. but the limit is very much when it comes to american armed forces. >> here you see members of the biden cabinet led by the secretary of state, antony blinken and the secretary of defense, retired general lloyd austin. a lot of long nights for those two these days. there's janet yellen. merrick garland, the attorney general. and others. we have never really seen a

cabinet look exactly like this. you just saw deb haaland, the secretary of the interior, the first, i believe the first native american in a cabinet. certainly the first native american woman in a cabinet. xavier becerra. this is the most diverse cabinet in the history of the united states. >> it is. and it was part of a promise that candidate biden made about the kind of government that he wanted to create. if he were to be elected. pete buttigieg, the transportation secretary, who is gay, and ran for president and won the state of iowa, now in biden's cabinet. this is a cabinet that biden said would reflect america, and so it does. so as they come into this room, you can see actually what you're seeing here really is a lot of people who haven't been able to do this in quite some time. hugging each other, shaking hands, seeing each other's

faces. this is in some ways, i think the white house believes this can be not a, you know, not a mission accomplished moment, but a reset for the country when and it comes to covid and moving to the next phase. >>ia can see it visually. you have been talking about the fact there are lot of people wearing blue, wearing gold, the colors of the ukrainian flag. and you're seeing republicans on the gop side of the aisle holding ukrainian flags. so there already is, even before we hear the president in what the white house hopes will be a unifying moment, not just for america but for vladimir putin to see, and people around the world to see, you're already seeing the symbolism of it. >> there's linda thomas greenfield, she is the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, somebody whose face you may have seen a lot more in the last two or three weeks, dana, you just interviewed her sunday on "state of the union." evan, it's interesting because