♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, president biden. >> we're not going to dictate to them what the end result is. >> david muir's exclusive interview in poland and at the white house. >> we know president zelenskyy continues to say what he really needs are f-16s. will you send f-16s? >> one year after russia's invasion of ukraine, president biden and president zelenskyy together in ukraine walking side by side. air raid sirens overhead. >> how risky was it for a sitting president of the united states to go into kyiv? >> i didn't think it was that risky. >> asking about that chinese spy balloon. >> were they surveilling the u.s. or attempting to? >> that's what that balloon

does, surveillance. >> his plans for 2024. >> let me ask you the question everyone is asking. are you running? >> and the question about age. >> is your age part of your own calculation into whether to run again? plus easter island. an incredible and historic discovery on a remote volcanic island. 2,000 miles off the coast of chile. dry skin is sensitive skin, too. and it's natural. treat it that way. aveeno® daily moisture with prebiotic oat is proven to moisturize dry skin all day. you'll love our formula for face, too. aveeno® bye, bye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing? hashtag still not coughing?! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion and any type of cough, day or night. mucinex dm. it's comeback season.

♪ thanks for joining us. tonight, david muir at the white house with president biden for an exclusive interview as the bloody war in ukraine now enters year two. and a critical new phase. what the commander in chief says victory looks like. and china's new plan for peace. we also ask him about his plans for 2024 and how his age might influence tht decision. >> mr. president, you know, as we sit here today, it was one year ago today the russian invasion of ukraine. you said in warsaw that ukraine will never be a victory for russia. how does this war end, and what does victory look like? >> well, that depends on what the ukrainians decide. but here's what we're going to do in the meantime. we have to put the ukrainians in a position where they can make advances this spring and summer and move to a place where a

negotiated -- they can negotiate from a position of strength. but you know, that expression you heard me using before, and others, nothing about ukraine without ukraine. we're not going to dictate to them what the end result is. >> when you talk about them negotiating, does that mean they get to keep crimea and parts of east? >> that means they decide that. they, the ukrainians, decide that. but i could picture a circumstance where there's a transition to that. it's not all at one time. look, a year ago today there are only 70 kilometers from the border where russians expected they'd come rolling down into kyiv and own it all. they got pushed back. it didn't happen. and i think they underestimated a great deal, the russians did. >> reality check for the american people watching this at home tonight could you and i be sitting here a year from now talking about the war in ukraine still? >> well, we could. i'm not a prognosticator. i can't -- i don't have a

crystal ball. but look, for all the difficulty that ukraine has in maintaining the weaponry, having what they need, so on, so forth, the circumstance in russia is even worse. russia, you know, they've put 180,000 forces into ukraine. a year ago today. an invasion. and where are they? where are they? >> you announced another $2.5 billion in aid to ukraine today. $113 billion now. we know the vast majority of americans support ukraine. but there are now many who are asking, how long can we spend like this? >> well, first of all, i'm not sure how many are asking. i know the maga crowd is. the right-wing republicans are, you know, talking about we can't do this. we find ourselves in a situation where the cost of doing -- of walking away could be considerably higher than the cost of helping ukraine maintain its independence.

>> we know the germans are now sending tanks in after the u.s. said it would send abrams tanks as well. but we know president zelenskyy continues to say what he really needs are f-16s. will you send f-16s? >> look. we're sending him what our seasoned military thinks he needs now. he needs tanks. he needs artillery. he needs air defense, including another himars. there's things he needs now that we're sending him to put him in a position to be able to make gains this spring and summer, going into the fall. >> you don't think he needs f-16s now? >> no, he doesn't need f-1 sicks now. >> is that a never? >> look, first of all, the idea that we know exactly what's going to be needed a year, two, three from now -- but there is no basis upon which there is a rationale, according to our military now, to provide f-16s. >> you're not ruling it out? >> i am ruling it out for now. >> for now. people this week that china's n-

president xi is coming to russia, likely as early as this spring. i know the state department and the pentagon now have both warned china not to offer lethal military assistance to russia in this war with ukraine, saying the u.s. is concerned that china is considering providing lethal support to russia. would that cross a line for you? >> look. it's not in china's -- i had a very frank conversation with president xi this past summer on this issue. and i pointed out to him -- the conversation went like this. i said, "mr. president, this is not a threat, it's just an assertion, a statement what i think the reality is. you saw what happened when the rest of the world -- europe in particular -- saw the brutality of what putin was doing in ukraine, to the ukrainians, from russia." and i said, "without any government prodding, 600

american corporations left russia, from mcdonald's to exxon to across the board." and i said, "if you are engaged in the same kind of brutality by supporting the brutality that's going on," i said, "you may face the same consequence." i don't anticipate, we haven't seen it yet, i don't anticipate a major initiative on the part of china providing weaponry to russia. >> but if they did, would that be crossing a line for you, mr. president? >> it would be the same line everyone else would have crossed. in other words, we would impose severe sanctions on anyone who has done that. >> so there would be serious consequences? >> i'll let you characterize what they would be. we would respond. >> i ask you all of this because there's a new report in the german newspaper that the russian military could be negotiating right now with a chinese drone manufacturer to produce kamikaze drones for russia. are you aware of this? is u.s. intelligence tracking this?s, intelligence is aware of

everything that's going on in this area. but i'm not going to confirm specifically what u.s. intelligence has found out or not found out. >> what do you make of this chinese peace plan floated overnight, that putin is now applauding today? >> i think you answered the question. putin's applauding it, so how could it be any good? i'm not being facetious, i'm being deadly earnest. i've seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than russia if the chinese plan were followed. the idea that china is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that's a totally unjust war for ukraine is just not rational. >> let me ask about u.s./china relations in general. already strained after the chinese spy balloon over the u.s. let me just ask you this first. do we know definitively whether or not the spy balloon was flying over the connegligent u.s. intentionally?

>> it is almost not relevant once it was over the united states. >> so there's a possibility president xi didn't know? >> there is a possibility of that. >> were they surveilling the u.s. or attempting to? >> that's what that balloon does. surveillance. >> let me ask you when the balloon was shot down off south carolina, the defense secretary placed a call to his chinese counterpart on a line that's supposed to always be open. the chinese did not take the call. they didn't pick up the phone. does that trouble you? >> yes. there should be a direct open line of communications, particularly two of the most powerful nations in the world, to be able to resolve anything quickly so there's not a mistake made. >> the defense secretary says they still haven't had that call. how does the u.s., how does your administration fix this? >> we make it clear that it's necessary for that to occur. we can't fix it. issst home. ask about

it's been three weeks since the toxic train derailment in east palestine, ohio, as you know. the mayor says he saw you in ukraine, and he says, it tells you he doesn't care about us. they're asking, is the president coming to ohio? do you have any plan to travel to ohio, and have you talked with the mayor yet? >> let's put this in perspective. within two hours of that derailment, the epa was in there. within two hours. every major agency in the united states government that's had anything to do with rail and or cleanup was there and is there. in addition to that, i've spoken at length to the congresspersons, the governors, the senators from both states of pennsylvania and in ohio. and i've made it clear to them, anything they need is available, we'll make it available to them. whatever happens, we've got to understand, it's the responsibility of the railroad company who's made, by the way, tens of billions of dollars in

profits. tens of billions of dollars of profits lately. >> do you plan to travel there, and have you talked with the mayor? >> i can't recall whe think'valo the ali' tked t eveon there multiple times. talked to both the senators, both governors, i've talked to everyone there is to talk to. and we made it clear that everything is available. >> let me ask you the question everyone is asking. are you running? >> well, apparently someone interviewed my wife today, i heard. >> i heard that too, just before i came in. >> i got to call her and find out. no, all kidding aside -- my intention has been from the beginning to run, but there's too many other things i have to finish the near term before i start a campaign. >> let me ask you, you brought up your wife, the first lady, jill biden traveling in kenya. she was asked today, is all that's left at this point simply setting a time and a place for the announcement? and she said, "pretty much." do you agree with your wife's assessment? >> i say, god love her.

look. i meant what i said. i've got other things to finish before i get into a full-blown campaign. >> let me ask you about a conversation that people are having at home. both your supporters and your critics, they know that if you're re-elected, you would be 82 when you're sworn in. you would be 86 at the end of your term. is your age part of your own calculation into whether to run again? >> no. but it's legitimate for people to raise issues about my age, it's totally legitimate to do that. and only thing i can say is, watch me. >> let me ask you one of the immediate questions. if and when you do announce that you're running again, you and the former president are both now under investigation by the justice department for the discovery of these classified documents. i know that you believe these two cases are very different. but i do remember something you said after the discovery at mar-a-lago. you said, "i thought data that was in there may compromise sources and methods and names of people who help and it's just

totally irresponsible." can you assure the american people that none of the documents discovered in your garage or your old office compromised sources or methods or u.s. intelligence? >> i've been advised by the counsel, let the justice department make that decision, to not try to alter the case in any way. there have been very few documents that have been confis confiscated, found in my possession, that are in -- other than -- in my possession meaning, in my home. all the stuff that was moved out of my senate office over the years, i'm told, there were a couple of things from 1973 or '74, documents were marked classified. i don't know of anything -- there may be -- i don't know of anything that is marked like it was, top secret, highly -- et cetera. but i'm told not to comment on that because i don't even know what they are able -- what they confis confiscated. >> there are many who will understand why you can't comment, why your lawyers are saying not to comment.

they also saw you comment on former president trump. so at the very least -- >> because look, they were showing -- you guys were showing on television things lying on the ground that said top secret, national -- you know, code words. the difference is every single solitary thing i've been asked to, do i've done voluntarily. i've invited the justice department to come into every aspect of any place that i had any control over. there was no need for search warrants, no need -- "what do you need? just come, whatever you want, whatever you want, wherever you want to go, you can go." that was totally different. >> but that one word you used when you hear about boxes in your garage or in your old office, you called the trump discovery irresponsible. is there something irresponsible here, though, too? >> you know, you're a good lawyer. but you're trying to make a comparison. there's degrees of irresponsibility that are --

they can be significant degrees of responsibility. what -- the way in which the boxes were packed up from my office, apparently not as gon t meticulously as it should have. but there was no intention. i opened up my home, all my homes. my homes -- the home at the beach and the home that i -- my permanent home. and they spent hours and hours going throug everything. personal, everything i had. and that's a fundamentally different thing. there's nothing for me to hide. >> and there's much more with david's exclusive from warsaw with the president and what he reveals about his secret trip to kyiv. how do you become america's #1? start by taking care of families for over 75 years. earn the trust of 32 nfl teams. be there for america's toughest.

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♪ david muir also spoke with the president earlier this week in warsaw about that historic trip to kyiv. why he says it was important to stand with president zelenskyy and why he made the journey into a war zone. >> i know this is a defining moment in this war. we watched your speech here in warsaw. and as you know, just hours before vladimir putin gave his speech. i wanted to ask you about something vladimir putin said. he said that russia is suspending participation, cooperation, in the nuclear treaty with the united states. what's your message to putin on that? >> it's a big mistake to do that. not very responsible. and -- but i don't read into that that he's thinking of using nuclear weapons or anything like that. i think it's a -- i'm not sure what else he was able to say in

a speech at the moment. but i think it's a mistake. and i'm confident we'll be able to work it out. >> he is saying he's going to suspend participation in this nuclear treaty. rhetoric is one thing, but we're a year into this war now. does it concern you when he says something like this? and are we less safe? >> well, look. i think we're less safe when we walk away from arms control agreements that are very much in both parties' interest and the world's interest. but i've not seen anything, we've not seen anything, where there's a change in his posture and what they're doing. the idea somehow this means they're thinking of using nuclear weapons, international continental ballistic missiles, there's no evidence of that. >> the world watched this surprise visit to kyiv. how risky was it for a sitting president of the united states to go into kyiv? >> i didn't think it was that risky. >> you like a train? >> notth, gh >> with those air sirens, those

air raid sirens overhead in kyiv, how important was it that the world saw you standing next to president zelenskyy? >> well, look. i think that's for -- i'm not being facetious. folks like you decide how important that is. it was important to me to stand with zelenskyy and let the world know, on the year anniversary, we're not walking away from ukraine. >> our thanks to david. coming up, the beauty and wonder of easter island and the fascinating and historic new discovery. aah, it's a good day to cough. oh, no! bye, bye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! hmmm, ok. not coughing at yoga? antiquing not coughing? not coughing at the movies?! hashtag still not coughing?! aaah. oww! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion anty mucinex dm gives you 1 or night. relief

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♪ finally tonight, that spectacular new find on easter island. abc news is the first to capture the discovery.

a new discovery this week on enchanting easter island. on the small patch of land more than 2,000 miles west of chile, historians have long puzzled over the origins of the statues known as mowai. 1,000 human figures, some as big as 33 feet tall, carved out of volcanic rock centuries ago. this week the indigenous community announced they've discovered a new statue, and abc news is the first to film it. over the last two years, the lake has dried up, possibly due to climate change. it's the first statue to ever be found here. and next week, our own michael strahan will be live from easter island on "good morning america" on tuesday and thursday. that's "nightline" for tonight. watch all our full episodes on

hulu. see you back here next week. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america, have a great weekend.