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democracy stands. >> the president of the united states on an unprecedented and dangerous trip into ukraine as russia's invasion nears one year of barberism and bloodshed. >> this conversation brings us closer to victory. >> president biden's visit to kyiv, a rebuke of vladimir p putin. how far will the u.s. and allies go to defend a no, ma'amsy on the brink? and what will puten do next? >> russia's aim was to wipe ukraine off the map. putin's war of conquest is failing. >> we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, and this is a special edition of the situation room. president biden is back in

ukraine tonight, preparing for a momentous day tomorrow when he and vladimir putin will be delivering dueling addresses nearly 800 miles apart. president biden traveled under a cloak of secrecy to the capitol this morning, a city russia thought it could capture at the start of the invasion, but kyiv still stands one year into this war. what a dramatic show of solidarity, to see vth biden standing alongside volodymyr zelenskyy with a very audible reminder of the extreme danger that exists around them. the surprise trip coming on the eve of a speech by putin to his nation, attempting to justify a second year of bloodshed. >> putin's war of conquest is

failing. he thought he could outlast us. i don't think he's thinking that right now. >> so how will the russian leader respond to president biden only hours from now? we have seeteam coverage coming. in moscow. cat lynn collins is live in warsaw where the president just arrived. sam kylie is joining us from kharkin. let's go to jim sciutto for more. >> wolf, it is a complicated journey from the u.s. capitol to the ukrainian capitol. it began on sunday morning at 4:15 a.m. here in washington with stops at the airbase in germany for refuelling. another stop at a polish air base. the rest of the journey to kyiv on a train. we should note, the u.s. gave a head's up to russia in advance. in effect a warning, do not fire on the ukrainian capitol while

the u.s. president is there. we should also note u.s. air assets were deployed up to the polish border. they did not want to come into conflict with russian military resources there, but close enough both for overwatch for the president's safety and also in the event there was an attack and the president was injured in some way, they would have the ability to evacuate him and quickly. of the president's small team, there was a medical team traveling with president biden. that final leg on a train from poland to kyiv, an unusual train trip for a president known as amtrak joe, but this is the path into kyiv that world leaders, u.s. officials and others have used. the safest, not the fastest route. >> a ten-hour train ride. let's go to kaitlyn collins, joining us from the polish capitol of warsaw right now where president biden just

ar arrived. you are getting new it was on the president's visit. update our viewers. >> this had been a trip they had really been planning for months. of course initially the public schedule the white house put out had president biden coming to warsaw first. as we all know now, that did not happen. there was a detour to kyiv as he left the white house as jim was noting there in the early hours of sunday morning, traveling with the shades down on air force one. also traveling with the shades down on the train he was taking to kyiv once he had gotten to poland and was going into ukraine. it was something they had been planning for months. instead of typically going into large groups of staff throughout the agencies inside the administration, only a few people were told about this, wolf, because it was so sensitive and so closely held that it was not something that could be shared for planning. it was last friday that the president gathered in the oval office with his top aids and made the final decision to go to kyiv. he was presented with security options, what the risks were,

what this would look like and he made the final desession to go. jake sullivan, his national security adviser was describing that as he believed, yes, there was a risk, but he believed that risk was worth taking because of the message he would be sending by going into ukraine days before that one year anni anniversary. the idea they did give the kremlin a head's up that he would be coming to ukraine is notable. that is not a tip lowmatic nod from the united states to russia. that instead was for de-con flix purposes. that was for the president's safety why they told them that, wolf. >> kaitlyn, president biden and russian president putin, as you know are set to give dueling speeches tomorrow just ahead of the one-year anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine. what message do you expect president biden to deliver, given that we heard him call out

putin directly earlier today. >> he did. he challenged him directly saying, basically, he got it wrong. what he thought was going to happen has not happened. that does not mean they're in this ideal scenario. obviously there is a brutal war waging in ukraine. but talking about how far putin's expectations have fallen from a year ago. you and i were here 11 months ago listening to president biden speak in the same place he will be speaking tomorrow. that was when he made that comment about putin saying he cannot remain in power. of course, still a feeling that the president shares today. but what you are going to see on display tomorrow is president putin will speak first. then you will hear from president biden hours later. it will be two vastly different world views, this thing you have seen president biden return to time and time again. that is going to be more of what he's saying tomorrow. but underneath all of that, there will be questions about what other support the u.s. is

prepared to provide to ukraine. you have seen what they have called for, what was not delivered today. those will be the big questions coming out of two dueling speeches tomorrow night. it will be a remarkable split screen. >> so glad you are there in warsaw covering all this for us. we want to bring back jim sciutto. how does this latest round of what $500 million in assistance fits in the with the billions already provided? >> let's look at the headline figure. so far close to $30 billion, it is a big headline figure. but when you place in the context of the overall u.s. defense budget in 2023, $816 billion, that means the aid to ukraine. we're speaking specifically of military assistance amounts to less than 4% of the overall u.s. defense budget. u.s. officials made the point for that 4%, the u.s. has contributed to the decimation of russia's ground military capability.

a lot of it is ammunition. 102 million artillery rounds. i was told ukraine is firing in a day what it takes the u.s. two weeks to make. that is the pace of the war at this point. the antitanks had an enormous effect neutralizing russia's advantage in heavy armor. most recently, the focus has shifted to vehicles. we know the effect the artillery striking russian forces far behind lines. more recently the focus on abrams tanks. we're seeing tanks from europe and other partners. bradley fighting vehicles. why these now? these give ukrainian forces the ability not just to defend territory but also, they hope, to take territory back. there is an enormous amount of hope among ukrainian military leaders right now, that with these weapons, they will be able

to push back and take back some of the territory taken since the first -- well, first now of this invasion. >> yeah. impressive amount of arsenal. impressive amount indeed so far and presumably going to get much, much bigger. jim, standby for us. i want to go by to the capitol of kyiv where our chief correspondent is standing by for us. despite this infusion of military assistance, the ukrainians are still pleading for more. what can you tell us about that? >> well, they see what's coming on the horizon with this russian offensive and they want to be prepared for it. they don't want it to turn into a protected stalemate. they know in order to try to precipitate some kind of victory, they say they need long range artillery, things of that

nature. we heard him elude to the fact that potentially some kind of agreement or some kind of movement was happening with the white house that he said issues are being resolved, and those that were stuck have been sped up. we don't know specifically what he was talking about there, but as mentioned, these more heavier weaponry are exactly what they have been looking for, what they have been asking for. in the short term, the most desperately needed thing in ukraine momentarily is ammunition. according to cnn's own reporting, ukrainians have been burning through ammunition, particularly in the east of the country at such a rate that u.s. and nato have not been able to produce it fast enough to replenish it. so we did see today a guarantee of a lot of ammunition coming this way. that would be greatly received. but now the next question becomes how can they push to

extract that heavier weaponry that's more difficult for the u.s. to agree to? we have seen the uk agree in principal to start training ukrainian pilots on uk fighter jets. although, they did row that back and qualify it by saying that it could take years. and that's the real concern, wolf, for ukrainian officials, is that they don't have years. >> yeah. all right. klarissa, standby. we will get back to you. i want to get back to jim sciutto and take a look at the next phase of this war. we're anticipating the spring offensive to get bigger as the weather gets better. what can we expect? >> the focus of the fighting has been here, along the eastern front. they have become the killing fields. the casualties on both sides staggers. sometimes many hundreds a day. both russian forces and ukrainian forces. why a hailstorm of artillery fired back and forth. rocket fire back and forth along

this frontier with minimal gains, sometimes measures in yards per day. now, the focus in recent weeks has been discussion of a russian offensive, a spring offensive. you heard a lot of advertisements of this particularly from the russian side. but the u.s. military side of this, i have spoken about the u.s. assessment of russian capabilities is that is more aspirational and realistic because though russia amassed a large number of forces here, they don't have the quality of forces, the training, and they don't have the equipment to gain serious ground, perhaps for several months. at the same time, ukraine believes they have an opportunity now to push in this direction and perhaps even usually cross this border with those weapons we have been discussing, the striker vehicles, the bradley fighting vehicles and the tanks from germans and other nato allies to not just defend this frontier but take back territory already

taken from russia. it will be a brutal deadly fighting season. the ukrainians think they have the advantage. >> jim, thank you very much. just ahead, what happens if china joins in on this ukraine invasion. president volodymyr zelenskyy offering a very, very grave warning to the world tonight. how worried is the united states about talk of world war 3? we'll ask president biden's deputy national security adviser. standing by live. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." they customize your car insurance. so you only pay for what you need! whoo! we gotta go again. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ it's easy to get lost in investment research. introducing j.p. morgan personal advisors. -hey david connect with an advisor to create your personalized plan. -let's find the right investments for your goals okay, great. p. morgan wealth management.

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mounting concern tonight that china may increase its support of russia by arming it with lethal weapons as u.s. officials warn china that doing so would cross a red line. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy raised an alarm that china's involvement would risk what the president of ukraine calls world war iii. the giopolitical fault lines deppen further as china's top diplomat traveled to russia today. let's get some insight right now from a white house insider who was directly involved in planning president biden's unprecedented very dangerous trip to kyiv. john is serving us. he serves as principal deputy national security advisor. thank you for joining us on this day. we'll get to china in a moment. but let's start with the

president's trip to kyiv. the planning took, i understand, months. but the president made the final decision to go on friday. how did he try to make the decision in clearly an active war zone. >> that's right, wolf. the president had been briefed on the plan as it came together over a period of months and, again, in recent weeks he went through all the details down to the minute of each movement, each meeting that would take place and how the security team and others involved in conducting the trip were going to think about and manage risk. on friday, he gathered with his senior white house staff and with his national security cabinet, secretary of state, secretary of defense, intelligence officials and talked to the group about the prospect of going ahead with the trip and decided to go so. believed it was manageable and believed the message it sent was well worth going ahead. when you conduct a trip like this, you can plan perfectly but

in an active war zone, there are always things that can go wrong or unknown factors that hadn't been taken into account. they were gratified that everything went as good as it did today. >> was there anyone, john, who was actually advising him not to go? i ask the question because as a former white house correspondent myself, i know the secret service is always nervous about wherever the president of the united states goes. >> so one thing i think that i take seriously and is a real privilege about being involved in these discussions is you don't walk out in front of the tv cameras and talk about who came down on which side of the argument. ultimately, everyone was comfortable with the president proceeding and he is the ultimate decision maker, make the decision to go ahead. >> what was the decision? why did you make a decision to inform the russians of the president's trip in advance of it becoming public knowledge? >> it was something that we discussed for a while in advance of the trip and ultimately the decision was made with security

and safety being the utmost priority, we were better off letting the russians know so they could deconflict anything they were contemplating because we didn't want them to misperceive any activity or treat it in the wrong way. we conveyed that information just before the president departed and, again, everything went more or less as planned. >> in regards to china right now, this is a huge issue. you heard president volodymyr zelenskyy's warning today that ch china's support for russia could lead to a third world war. does the white house share those fears? >> leaving aside that ultimate worst-case scenario, we have mounting concerns about chinese support for russia's war. antony blinken spoke about this earlier in the week. china is making a public presentation about the desire to

play a role in diplomacy to try to end the war. meanwhile, we have concerns they may be increasing their support to russia. our strong view is if china is interested in ending the war, they should talk to the ukr ukrainians and consult about what their requirements would be and not funneling increasing amounts of support potentially to russia which could stop this war at any moment if it desired to do that. >> what action is the biden administration willing to take if china offers lethal support to russia? >> look, we don't want to get ahead of any decisions. we have been quite clear about our concerns. we have options available to us, but we are not about to lay them out in advance of conversations we had with the chinese, that we have with the ukrainians and our partners and allies that share the concerns we have spoken about publically during the course of recent weeks. >> we have seen how this war shifted the u.s. position on military aid to ukraine ramping

up to include the patriot air defense missile system and now battle tanks. is sending f-16 fighter jets or longer range missiles also a possibility? >> the president has spoken to this, and i will not elaborate on his comments. we made decisions at every phase of this conflict that have been tailored to what we believe the ukrainians needed to be successful. early in the war, that was stinger anti-aircraft systems. that was anti-tank rounds, javelin systems and that enabled them to fend off an assault on their capitol where the russians were trying to take over the entire country. that shifted into an artillery war in the east. we have been providing artillery so they could compete during that phase of the conflict. it's been armored vehicles, tanks as you mentioned but

infantry fighting vehicles for the next phase of the war where they would like to go on the offensive themselves later this spring. we are working with them to get the equipment to do that, we're training them on the best way to go about that. and every phase of this is tailored to what we think their operational needs are, and that's going to continue. >> while i have you, i want to get your thoughts on this. the u.s. today joined more than 30 countries to call on the international olympic committee to reverse its decision last month to enable russia and belarus athletes to join the upcoming olympic games. why was it important for the united states to take this stance? >> look, i will let the decision of the u.s. olympic committee speak for itself. it is not a policy decision that comes before the white house. it wouldn't be appropriate for me to offer a view on it. but certainly nothing to contradict anything they decided. >> but do you support that decision? >> i have to look at it more

carefully, honestly before just going out and commenting on it. >> jonathan, thank you very much. i know it is an incredibly busy day today. thanks for joining us. we will continue this conversation for sure down the road. up next, what will vladimir putin say tomorrow after being upstaged by president biden today? the russian leader's plans to address his people, taking on even more importance right now. and the first and only ukrainian born member of the u.s. congress with her view on whether the u.s. is doing enough to help her home country. stay with us. you're in the situation room. "t.

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welcome back to a special edition of "the situation room." tonight we're awaiting reaction from russia after president biden's historic visit to ukraine. fred is joining us from moscow right now. he has details. we're expecting to hear directly from putin tomorrow. what do you anticipate? >> hi there, wolf. one of the interesting things

about today is from the kremlin we heard absolutely nothing about president biden's visit to kyiv. we thought the kremlin would react, but there was nothing. one of the reasons for that is that obviously the russians are gearing up towards that vladimir putin speech that will happen only seven hours from now. i can tell you from being on the ground here, there is a lot of people in russian politics who do believe that will be an important speech and one that will probably set the stage on how the russians continue what they call their special military operation. as far as president biden's visit, though, of course it was everywhere on russian media throughout the entire course of the day. of course there were other officials who did comment on it. one of the thins they played on was the fact that obviously the white house, as has been mentioned on this show, informed the russians before president biden meant. some russian officials criticized that but also some russian officials said it showed that president biden needed

security guarantees. one is the former president of this country. he said, quote, biden, having received security guarantees in advance, finally went to kyiv. and here it is important to know that the west already delivers weapons and money to kyiv quite regularly in huge quantities, allowing the military industrial complex of nato countries to earn money and steal weapons to sell to terrorists around the world. so you can see some pretty harsh words there from the former russian president. but this is really a narrative that the kremlin has been putting out there essentially saying, they're not fighting against ukraine, but they believe they're also fighting against nato and specifically the united states, wolf. >> are there any signs at all, fred, any signs at all that putin may be backing down or looking for some sort of exit ramp? >> well, there is -- right now there certainly isn't at all. that's one of the reasons, one of the things we also expect to hear in that speech from

vladimir putin. being on the ground here, speaking to people in russian politics, in russian media, russian commentators. none of them believe putin is near backing down. in fact, it seems he is doubling down. one of the things that the russian still seem to believe is they think they can outlast the ukrainians but also the support that the ukrainians are getting from the u.s. and especially the u.s.'s european allies. look for the speech to a harsh one where putin tries to rally this country around the special military operation where he will double down on that. the russians do believe that offensive that seems to be shaping up in the east of ukraine by those russian forces, that that is something that will happen, but not necessarily something that will happen in a fast way. they think it could be a slow moving thing and that just with the fact that there are so many russians that they can mobilize that they could in effect

overwhelm the ukrainian forces on the ground there in the long term because, again, they believe they are simply in it for longer than the ukrainians can hold out. but definitely look for a very, very harsh speech from vladimir putin tomorrow and vladimir putin showing no sign of backing down or wanting to compromise in any way, wolf. >> fred, thank you very much. live in moscow. appreciate it. let's continue the discussion right now with republican congresswoman victoria smarts, a ukrainian born member of the u.s. congress. thank you for joining us. i know you have been back to ukraine many times since this brutal war began a year ago. what message does it send for the president of the united states, president biden, to make this risky trip to kyiv? >> well, i think it was very important, even though i disagree with a lot of things. but i think it is very important. it is a very tough war.

american people spend a lot of money. a lot of ukrainians died. i think for the president of the united states to go there and to show our support is very important. i think, you know, it's been politicized this war a lot and i hope president biden does other things that will be uniting our congress and our country because we have a lot of politics and ukraine gets dragged in to politics, it is not healthy because i truly believe american people support these efforts with ukrainian people. and too much politics hurts our efforts. >> a small number of your republican colleagues criticized president biden's trip to kyiv today arguing he should be more focused on problems here at home like the border or the ohio toxic derailment issue. what do you say to those republican colleagues of yours? >> well, i think these issues are not mutually exclusive. we have serious issues that we need to deal in our foreign

policy. it will also have internal issues in border security. and i hope president biden will try to find common ground with republicans to deal with it because it is a serious situation. we have our judiciary committee coming to the border to try to get attention. i think if president biden wants to start governing and stop doing politics, he needs to deal with both of these issues. otherwise, it will be divisive. it is harmful what we have right now. we have a lot of drama, a lot of circus, a lot of politics. but i think governing the country is in need of governing. >> president biden announced $500 million in new u.s. military service to ukraine. talk about ammunition and other weapons. does the u.s. need to start providing fighter jets to ukraine. >> we need to provide whatever it takes for ukrainian people and ukrainian military, which is

amazing, brave and tough. whatever it takes for them to win. you know, we shouldn't say, well, we're not going to do this or provide this. we should not tweet about what we're providing. we need to help the ukrainian people to win this war and we need to make sure that we do it promptly and proactively. we're doing much better now than we did a year ago, but if we're more proactive we save a lot of lives and save a lot of money for american people, too. >> at the same time, i have taken a look at some of your public statements, you have been calling for more accountability. you are calling for the u.s. to deliver assistance much faster to ukraine. how do you balance that, accountability as well as delivering military assistance quickly? >> well, i think accountability will streamline logistics and make sure the aid does get to the right people, to the front lines because ukraine is a very complicated country with a lot

of infiltration, potential sabotage, a lot of corruption and a lot of people that could take advantage of this situation. but it is also has a lot of brave people fighting for freedoms. so the better system we have set up and reporting back to congress and to the american people, the more successful they will be in this effort. and i think efficiency is going to bring us better results. so i think better oversight will make us much more efficient and more strategic and have better policies. so i think congress needs to request on a bipartisan basis. i will be honest with you, republicans and democrats did a lot of work to put pressure on this administration to become better and more efficient in what they were supplying to ukraine because ultimately it is a reflection of the american people. >> but you have expressed concern in the past about

corruption in ukraine. is that right? >> well, i did. listen, you know, i was very surprised to see that actually this is my constitutional duty to make sure that regardless who is in charge, republican or democrat, we have oversight of the money that we're spending. and i was very surprised to see that i got criticized from both sides of the aisle because that is what we had to do. putting pressure on the administration made us much better. i think we need to do more to see what's happening. ukraine has a lot of problems with corruption. i have noticed that a lot of people that have been involved in corruption didn't have any consequences of them doing what they're doing and it is demoralizing for the people dying for freedom. i think we should put pressure, make sure they have democratic institutions and make sure that they don't steal the money and ask us for more money. that's important so we have

long-term support. >> thank you so much for joining us. we will continue this conversation as well. appreciate it. >> thank you. what does it mean for those that still call ukraine home, to see the leader of the free world standing with their president in kyiv. cnn talks to ukrainians including one woman going through a painful moment in this war as our special report continues. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." among my patients, i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity & gum gives us the dual actn effect that really takes care& gum of botour teeth sensitivity asell as our gum issues. there's no queion it's something that i would recommend.. we're carvana we created a brand new way for you to sell your car go to carvana answer a few questions and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value

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details there. sam, what are ukrainians telling now about the president's trip? what is their reaction? >> well, wolf, i just come from an area or villages very close indeed to the front line. villages are getting pounded on a regular and increasingly intense level. and the reaction there was, first of all, when we were speaking to people as joe biden's arrival in kyiv was being made official and public knowledge just before he was meeting or after his meetings got underway with president volodymyr zelenskyy. people were, if they were cognizant, were really focused on getting aid. they were being distributed a limited amount of kaid. but this, though, was very kind of moving in a sense because for many people living in the front line the war is so raw.

it is very difficult for them to focus at all on the grand politics. this was the reaction of one elderly woman there. did you know that president boyden is in kyiv today, the american president just arrived in kyiv today? >> i did hear yesterday that he was coming, that it would be putin and biden, right? i saw this on tv yesterday, that they would be meeting. >> no. they're not meeting. he's come to show solidarity meeting with volodymyr zelenskyy today. >> they will be burying my son-in-law tomorrow. they will bring him in a coffin because of the war. >> the generalized curse on the geopolitics that led to private and personal misery for the family there. but we spoke to one man, and he repeated the sort of wider

statement, wider reaction to american international help, give us more weapons. what do you think of biden's visit to kyiv today? he's meeting volodymyr zelenskyy right now. >> it is for the best. >> do you have a message for him? >> what would i tell the american president? give us for weapons so we could fight them off. >> this area, wolf, is an area that was liberated in september from the russian invaders and they're anxious both at the government level and at the local level that the pounding they're getting from artillery is the precursor to a more wide and more aggressive russian offensive. wolf? >> sam, thank you very much for that report. coming up, the secret and historic mission to put the president of the united states into an active war zone, a truly

extraordinary risk for an american president. no major american military presence to watch his back, at least not now. how this day compares to the legacy of past american commanders in chief when our special report continues. you are in "the situation room." . unpack once, and get closer to iconic landmarksks, local life, and d cultural treasures. because when you experience europe on a viking longship, you'll spend less time getting there and more time being there. viking. exploring the world in comfort.

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presidents historic visit to ukraine marks the first time in american commander in traveled into a war zone but that a major u.s. military presence there to protect them. our prime time has been digging into previous presidential vigilance to war zones so brian, how does the tops take a trip like this take place? >> involves meticulous planning it done almost entirely in secret with complicated logistical arrangements and a little bit of faith, and, luck to carry them through. >> it was at the height of world war ii. when the conflict still wasn't going america's way. president franklin delano roosevelt engaged in a high stakes game of misdirection, tricking journalist into thinking he was taking a train to his home in upstate new york. but he secretly switched trains in baltimore. headed to miami. then took a series of arduous

plane hops and ended up in casablanca morocco, it was january 1943. the first time a sitting american president wrote on an airplane. a trip shrouded in secrecy, so that fdr could strategize with winston churchill. a journey fraught with danger. >> you not only have the possibility of the commander-in-chief being shot down but the technology was such that air travel was not a safe in the 1940s as it is today. >> some u.s. troops in iraq didn't know the president was coming until he rode past them in a jeep. historians say war zone trips for american presidents had always been complicated, even dating back to the civil war. >> at least 12 presidents have gone to war zones in the past, starting, of course with abraham lincoln in the civil war. there is famous pictures of him in his top hat visiting union soldiers to boost the morale. but it is a big risk. >> there could be johnson won

twice as president. but richardson wants to vietnam on the war there was raging. >> i know instant wanted 1969 to saigon all of his advisors were saying don't do it, it is too dangerous. >> george w. bush, barack obama, donald trump, went to iraq and afghanistan to visit u.s. troops. >> islamist would've been very happy to assassinate george w. bush or barack obama and so when those presidents went to kabul and baghdad respectively they were taking huge risks. >> when george h. w. bush, as a former president, visit to kuwait in 1983, saddam hussein's intelligence service tried to have iraqi operatives assassinate him. a plot that was narrowly foiled. presidents have taken these risks to boost troops tomorrow. to strategize with other commanders. and sometimes to decide whether a war should even continue. >> i shall go to korea. >> that was dwight d. eisenhower's objective as president elect when he took a secret trip to south korea in

december 1952. >> eisenhower not only want to make the troops, not only meant to meet the south korean leader, but actually took a plane over chinese and north korean positions to get a view, himself, of the nature of the defenses. that's an extremely hazardous trip but >> this story ends tim the faulty says despite the incredible rewards are very high. as commander-in-chief it is crucial for president to show their commitment to the fight and to show that not only to american forces, but also to the adversaries as well. >> it sends a powerful message indeed. president abraham lincoln is thought to be the only american president to actually have come under fire at one point. is that right? >> that is right. extraordinary moment july of 1864. confederate troops were assaulting fort stevens within the washing d.c. bounce. washing goes out to see the battle, he looks at the top of the fort, i don't get it with

gunfire. it has a tiger soldier told to get down you down full. but he came close that day to getting hit. >> thank you very much brian todd. we'll be right back with some important notes about a monumental day tomorrow. this is cnn special coverage. t. you can ease in. you can chow down. or you can show off. choose from sisix delicious dishes, like lobster lovover's dream. welcome to funun dining. it's easy to get lost in investment research. introducing j.p. morgan personal advisors. -hey david connect with an advisor create your personalized plan. -let's find the right investments for your goals okay, great. j.p.organ wealth management.

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- [announcer] do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call invent help today. they can help you get started with your idea. call now 800-710-0020. a very big day tomorrow, again. president biden delivers a major speech. and russia president vladimir putin gives his own speech just ahead of the one year mark of this war. i'll be back tomorrow. of course, in the situation room. 6 pm eastern. i'll be back for another special edition of the situation room, tomorrow night, 9 pm eastern. among other guests will speak live to former british prime minister, boris johnson. who has visited ukraine several

times since the war began. and our own christiane amanpour is look at to meet the polish president. president duda. on what he's pushing president biden to do. a lot going on we'll have a full full special report coming up tomorrow night 9 pm eastern. 12 are viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer, in the situation room. cnn tonight with alison camerota starts right now. >> good evening everyone. welcome to special holiday dish on cnn tonight on this presidents'day. one man who seems to want that job, governor ron desantis, taking his war on woke show on the road today. he's going to blue states and offering police officers money to move to florida. one person who really does not like what desantis is selling, donald trump. and, congressman george santos

give