phil mattingly, thank you very much. joining me is retired brigadier general army attache to europe larry diamond, and also, the author of "ill winds" saving russia from rage and idea of am dission and complacency. so larry, thank you for being with us, and general, thank you for being with us, and larry, let me ask you about the president's speech a few moments ago and how significant that president biden said that vladimir putin could no longer remain in power and should no long remain in power s. that remark a game-changer. we know that a few moments ago, dmitri peskov said that it is for the russian people to decide and not an american president, and we know they don't exactly have free and fair elections in russia. >> well, it is not a game-changer, jim, because we don't have the power on our own to bring about a change of leadership in russia. but i think that the speech overall is a game-changer, in the churchillian call for nato and by extension the democratic alliance and reminding the americans in a time that t

well, phil mattingly takes a look. >> reporter: there's been palpable and increasingly public concernby u.s. officials about potential chinese actions to aid russia either economically or military support, so much so the issue was raised to the absolute highest level. a secure video call that lasted nearly two hours and focused according to officials almost entirely on ukraine. now, in that call president biden didn't make any specific asks but did lay out the u.s. view of what has transpired as well as the scale of the united western response when it comes to sanctions, military issues. the implications very clear china needed to be warned what could happen if they decided to engage. >> we have that concern the president detailed, you know, what the implications and consequences would be if china provides material support to russia as it conducts attacks against ukrainian cities and civilians. >> china has to make a decision where they want to stand and how they want the history books to look at them and view their actions. >> and that unified western response will be on full display

phil mattingly is also here. phil, lots of dramatic developments today. give us the latest. >> reporter: wolf, three emergency summits over the course of 12 hours, underscoring the highest of stake moments for president biden and western leaders. included in that is palpable concern about the possibility that russian forces may move towards utilizing chemical weapons. it was something the president addressed both privately at length with nato and european allies over the course of the day but also publicly, say for the first time if russia were to go down that path, there would be a response. as to what that response would be, the president did not detail it, saying only it would match up with the scale of the attack or the use of those weapons. but while u.s. and western officials are attempting to grapple with president putin's next strategic goals, it was a strategic miscalculation that the president gave a candid view into. take a listen. >> putin was banking on nato being split. my early conversations with him in december and early january, it was cl

senior white house correspondent phil mattingly is traveling with the president. phil, shortly before president biden touched down in brussels, the u.s. declared russian forces have committed war crimes in ukraine. give us the latest. >> reporter: wolf, it's the timing that just underscores the urgency of this moment, the high stakes that president biden faces when he launches into three separate serious meetings with european officials over the course of the day tomorrow. in that formal declaration, secretary of state antony blinken said, quote, today i can announce based on information currently available the u.s. government assesses that members of russia's force haves committed war crimes in ukraine. both president biden and secretary blinken said over the course of the last week that they believed ukraine had committed war crimes, but this official and formal announcement came on public information and intelligence assessments and underscores that very real concern which is only growing out of concern of escalations. in this case the use of chemical weapons,

phil mattingly, you know, the china issue, very, very significant right now. the president basically saying when he spoke with xi jinping the other day, basically saying, if china supports russia, providing military assistance, provides other assistance to russia, china's going to pay a huge economic price. the sanctions against russia have been almost pretty crippling right now. china potentially could race for something along those lines. that was what the president was suggesting, right? >> reporter: you know, the white house has been very cautious about laying out exactly what any repercussions would be should they see that china is delivering military assistance, delivering any type of assistance, economic assistance as well, or attempting to circumnavigate the sanctions regime that has been put into place. the interesting piece of what the president said publicly and what i was told he also said privately to president xi is about the broader kind of economic goals of china and how this would run head long into them in a very negative manner, and that inv

let's go to our senior correspondent phil mattingly here in warsaw. phil, a very, very strong message from president biden about putin that apparently was senate planned. tell us the latest. >> reporter: wolf, it was a forceful and carefully cag brated speech designed to send an unequivocal western strength about democracy. it was an off-the-cuff remark at the very end that may have given a window into the urgency president biden sees in this moment. >> for god's sake this man cannot remain in power. >> reporter: tonight president biden delivering a force st and dramatic condemnation of vladimir putin. >> a dictator on rebuilding an empire will never erase the people's love for liberty. the white house later clarifying he was not caller for regime change ukraine will never be evicted. >> they declared a calm for western democracy at the moment of the highest stakes, drawing parallels from emergence from soviet rule. >> it was a long, painful slog. not over not days and months, but years and decades, who emerged anew in the great battle for freedom, a b

phil mattingly, phil, what are president biden's priorities when he meets with nato allies?don, the president is expected to land here in a couple hours, really the highest stakes diplomatic trip of his presidency, when it comes to europe, probably the highest an american president has had in decades. officials make clear to maintain unity but also ramp up pressure on president vladimir putin, a series of issues the subject of negotiations, ramping up sanctions on individuals, russian lawmakers, oligarchs, trying to put in place measures that will block sweeping sanctions across different economic spheres of the russian economy and discussion about increased nato troop posture in eastern european countries that will be ramped up over the course of the coming days and weeks. i think there's a continued discussion, don, when you talk to u.s. officials and european officials here about the recognition of two things, one, no near term end to this conflict and, two, the fact the fighting on the ground has reached a stalemate level has drawn concerned what vladimir putin may do ne

ivan watson is in dnipro and phil mattingly. we have an overview of the day. >> reporter: tonight president vladimir putin's war leading to staggering losses of his men. up to 15,000 russian soldiers have been killed in the four weeks since russia invaded ukraine. the shocking number comes as the battle for kyiv is raging. ukraine now claims it is not just fending off the russian advance but pushing russian forces back. in the suburb of irpin, which has seen some of the fiercist fighting, the mayor who says his own house has been destroyed, 80% has been retaken and national police are going back to work there. in the town of makariv, it has been fully retaken. this was posted by the kyiv regional police and cnn has confirmed it's from makariv. kooe firefighters have had to work tirelessly to douse the flames including on countless civilian homes. this man using his own garden homes. >> it was many, many bombs. >> reporter: today the mayor of kyiv said 264 civilians from kyiv have been killed. >> a bombing attack right now, it ca

phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. >>> now, earlier i spoke with the former u.s.erests or whether or not it ends up helping russia. listen. >> i think that china is very much in a predicament. first of all, many of your cnn pictures and video of the tragedy, the massacre, the devastation, and the suffering within ukraine has been broadcast throughout china. and china has even reiterated publicly its respect and acknowledgment of the territorial integrity of ukraine, that it is a separate country. and so, um, i think china would be very, very hard pressed to justify to its own people any type of military or economic aid to russia despite the -- the close relationship that china has with moscow. nonetheless, the -- china has also seen just how swiftly, decisively, and extensively the west has imposed sanctions on russia. so, i'm sure that in the conversation today between president biden and president xi of china, that president biden reiterated the firm commitment of the united states and the west to impose sanctions, should china intervene on behalf of russia. >>

and phil mattingly is beginning our coverage tonight. phil, this was probably the most significant speech of biden's presidency, at least so far. >> yeah, no question about it. that was by design. white house officials putting the speech together, carefully worded to send a very clear message, not just to ukraine, but the president made clear that the united states will stand with, not just to eastern europe where the president was standing in warsaw, poland. but to the entire warldorld abo the stakes of the moomt. but it wasn ad libbed line about putin not needing to be in power. the white house walking it back. but if you listen to the entirety of the speech, there is no question about it, this was a sharp speech with a very clear design, one that the president did not mince words on. take a listen. >> yesterday i met with the troops serving to bolster the frontline defenses. the reason we want to make clear, their movement on ukraine, don't even think about moving on one single inch of nato territory. a dictator bent on rebuilding an e

let's bring in white house correspondent phil mattingly. 's traveling with the president in brussels. phil, walk us through more of what the president laid out in response to the first month of this invasion. >> reporter: look, if there's one overarching message to take away and one overarching goal from the president on down coming into this kind of day of diplomatic sprinting through three different summits with all of the critical western allies it's that unity is by far the most important thing. while that sounds easy or simple enough on paper, given the fact each country has its own domestic equities, its own economies to work with, and given russia's critical piece serving as a critical piece on the energy side of things for many of those european economies, keeping that group together, unified not just for the near term but the long term, is considered critical in the response to if not deter -- which they didn't, if not stop, which they haven't, a strategic failure over the long term. that was the overarching goal of the day. i think

cnn's phil mattingly joins us now in warsaw. phil, tell us a bit more about how the white house is clarifying things here. >> reporter: look, it was a dramatic statement at the tail end of a dramatic speech laying out the urgency of this moment that one that at least in the statement in and of itself would have seemed to imply a dramatic shift in terms of white house policy related to regime change and president vladimir putin. that is, however, not the case according to a white house official walking back that statement in a separate statement saying his point was that putin can't be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors in the region. he was not discussing his power in russia or regime change. sounded like he was. the official making it official that he wasn't. what seems to be clear, jim, is it was an ad libbed line, but it's worth noting the president's view of president putin publicly has grown increasingly dark. called him a butcher earlier today, called him obviously a war criminal. the united states supporting the

let's bring in cnn senior white house correspondent phil mattingly, who is live in washington. good to see you, phil. the state of the union, it's normally about sort of connecting with the american public for a president. but biden had a lot of audiences for this year's speech and sent messages to putin, zelenskyy, as well as u.s. allies. how well did he fill those buckets? >> you know, look, michael, when you go back to when president biden first started thinking through what he wanted to say in his first state of the union, a critical global geopolitical crisis is not anywhere near the top 10, maybe 15, maybe 20 of the issues that he wanted to focus on. and yet that is the reality of this moment. the first 12 minutes of the speech, a 60-minute speech, all about ukraine and all about this moment you are in. when you talk to white house officials leading up to this speech, they made the same point you kind of laid out there. they wanted to deliver a direct message to vladimir putin. they wanted to deliver a direct message to the ukraine people. they wanted to explain the americ

let's go right to our senior white house correspondent, phil mattingly. phil, four weeks into this brutal, awful war. the president of the united states wanted to send a message to putin and to the world. >> reporter: yeah, no question about it, wolf, a senior u.s. official describing the mood behind closed doors where the leaders gathered as sober, resolute, a group keenly aware of the historical nature of this moment but more than anything else, a group that's unified. >> nato has never, never been more united than it is today. putin is getting exactly the opposite what he intended to have as a consequence of going into ukraine. >> reporter: tonight, president biden marshaling the full weight of the world's democracies to isolate vladimir putin. >> the single most important thing is for us to stay unified and the world continue to focus on what a brute this guy is and all the innocent peoples' lives being lost and ruined. >> reporter: one month to the day since the start of russia's unprovoked and increasingly escalating invasion of ukraine, biden pressi

let's go to senior white house correspondent phil mattingly. details for us. phil, the white house wants to keep pressure on putin. give us the latest. >> the sanctions have been the central foekle point of the u.s. and its allies' response to russia's invasion up to this point and president biden made clear today that effort is only going to continue to expand. take a listen. >> today, i am announcing that we are adding dozens of names to the list including one of russia's wealthiest billionaires. and i am banning travel to america by -- by more than 50 russian oligarchs, their families, and their close associates. >> now, wolf, this is the latest in a series of rounds that really kind of urchd underscores the multilayered approach. they have targeted state-owned enterprises but also going after key individuals. today, slapping sanctions on eight of the country's wealthiest individuals. also hitting a number of companies and information entities as well and perhaps most importantly, targeting their family members. and this is done as part of a new strategy to

cnn's senior correspondent phil mattingly begin our coverage. the stakes could hardly be higher for president biden tonight. >> reporter: high stakes and a palpable sense of urgency as they are expected to meet over the course of hours tomorrow to do anything to reset the die animal pick president putin has made clear won't shift any time soon. >> reporter: tonight president biden arriving in europe for a diplomatic sprint with the highest of stakes. as russian strikes continue even as they mount their own offenses. with growing concern about escalation from the u.s. -- >> how high is that threat? >> i think it is a real threat. >> and it would change the name of the conflict. it would be a blatant violation. national law and far-reaching consequences. >> reporter: on the same day secretary of state antony blinken declared the u.s. has assessed that members of russia's forces have committed war crimes in ukraine. u.s. officials now pressing for an unequivocal show of western unity, and new measures to ramp up the pressure on russian president vl

phil mattingly joins us live with the details. s of intensive u.s. diplomatic efforts in unifying the west when it comes to sanctions. when it comes to diplomacy and the approach in the wake of russia's invasion of ukraine, there's another element of this that's increasingly important, particularly if you look at gas prices here in the united states, that's the effort, very quiet, very intensive diplomatic effort to try and increase or secure increases in global oil supply. now, as the u.s., over the course of the last several months, has worked on this front. there are really two countries they've focused in on, saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. there's a problem there, the relationship with those two countries on a bilateral basis is extraordinarily tense and frosty. saudi arabia, the crown prince's association with the murder of jamal khashoggi, "the washington post" journalist. the uae, significant frustration over the u.s. approach to yemen and iranian backed attacks on awe abu dhabi. officials have made a clear effor

cnn's phil mattingly with the latest from the white house. >> reporter: u.s.fficials are watching near minute by minute what's happening on the ground in ukraine as russia's invasion continues, the escalations continue and there is real palpable concern about how things may ramp up in the days ahead. however, top administration officials from the white house, the state department, the united nations, u.s. ambassador to the united nations all across the board continuing to condemn russia's actions, call for de-escalation and make clear allies are as united as they've ever been. president biden meeting with finland's president in the oval office and underscoring that point and the stakes. take a listen. >> we've been in regular touch for some time now and coordinated a united trans-atlantic response to russian -- holding be russia accountable for the unprovoked and unjustified aggression against ukraine. and we agreed it's not only an attack on ukraine, it's an attack on the security of europe and on the global peace and stability. >> reporter: that meeting occu

phil mattingly is cnn's senior white house correspondent. phil, what are you learned about this call? >> reporter: well it was a call that lasted about an hour long between president biden and the big four western european powers and their leaders and this is the key group that needs to be aligned in this intensive week of diplomacy in store. this serving a call, as the first act. he's also going to be traveling to brussels on wednesday. he will meet with nato partners and with what is considered an extraordinary summit, hastily called given the situation on the ground in ukraine right now. also attend a european commission meeting and also a g7 meeting called by germany before heading over to poland. and i think the key to this entire moment is maintaining a unified approach as these different countries and leaders attempt to figure out a way to ramp up what has been an extensive response up to this point. obviously a sanctions regime with more than 30 countries over four continents with no pressure from the size and you've seen partner coun

. >> cnn's phil mattingly is at the white house. what was said?ore than 3 1/2 hours after this call was ended between president biden's and xi the white house put out their version of the events and included in that call some of the key elements am white house officials made clear the president wanted to underscore in that conversation including laying out the details in scale of this coalition brought together by the u.s. and allies to try to impose costs on russia do to the invasion, but also warning clearly china should not get involved on russia's side, and he described the implications and consequences if china provides support to russia as it conducts and the president underscored his support to the diplomatic resolution to the crisis. we've seen it in public statements from administration officials increasingly over the course of the last several days very palpable concern china is considering aiding russia through some shape or form. u.s. officials received some indication russia had made requests for that and now president biden had laid

where phil mattingly is standing by. phil, we're learning the u.s. has now raised concerns that china may be open to actually providing assistance to russia economic and perhaps even military assistance. what are you hearing right now? >> that is right. as the u.s. and allies have taken steps over the course of the last several weeks to isolate russia, there is growing concern inside of the who is that the china/russia relationship may give russia some opportunity to fill some of the gaps. in fact, according to information received by u.s. officials, china has expressed some openness to helping on both economic and military requests poezzed by the russians. now both the russians and the chinese have denied those requests have been plead but it is an issue white house officials have brought forth publicly over the course of the last 24 hours but perhaps most importantly, privately. jake sullivan sitting down for more than sevens with his chinese counter part today in rome and raised the issue directly and clearly. made clear that the u.s. objections t

phil mattingly, cnn, warsaw. >>> and for analysis of mr. biden's speech we are joined now by cnn's european affairs commentator dominik thomas joining us live from paris. good to see you. this was a sweeping address by the u.s. president on the russian invasion. yes, there was that one unscripted line in particular that got the most attention and we will get to that in a moment but overall what did you take away from this speech? >> the really important thing was that president biden made the trip, that his feet were on the ground, that he met in person with european leaders, nato leaders, traveled to poland, met with displaced peoples, and was able to experience that emotion of the, and tension around this absolutely crucial moment. the reaffirmation of the multi lateral order, of the importance of nato, an organization which let's not forget former president trump has described as being obsolete. all of those together were absolutely crucial. that what for me was one of the most important moments in this speech, and it was a departure fro

phil mattingly, cnn, warsaw. >> well, so what could be the ramifications of mr. biden's address? earlier kristie lu stout spoke about that with dominick thomas. he said the speech was important for several reasons, starting from the fact that it was given in poland. >> the really important thing was that president biden made the trip, that his feet were on the ground, that he met in person with european leaders, nato leaders, traveled to poland, met with displaced peoples, and was able to experience that emotion and tension around this absolutely crucial moment. the reaffirmation of the multilateral order, of the importance of nato, an organization which, let's not forget, former president trump has described as being obsolete. all of those together were absolutely crucial. for me what was one of the most important moments in this speech -- and it was a departure from the state of the union address just a few weeks ago -- was the way in which he explained to people the importance of fighting for these democratic principles and that we have to steel ourselves for the long fight ah

phil mattingly in warsaw for us. phil. >> pamela and don white house officials made clear that the president had a mental he wanted to deliver at the end of the european trip. it was a mental that would be delivered to the ukrainians, certainly that message to russian president vladimir putin. but more than anything else a message to western democracy sees about the importance of unity and the inflection point he sees the world in. message he absolutely delivered in a forceful manner including an ad-lib line that went a little further than most white house officials wanted. >> for god's sake, this man cannot remain in power. >> tonight president biden delivering a forcefulful and dramatic condemnation of vladimir putin. >> a dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase the people's love for liberty. >> the white house later clarifying biden was not call for regime complaining. but an unmistakable message. >> ukraine will never be a victory for russia. >> as biden delivered a clarion call to western democraci

refugee crisis firsthand in poland, out in front a train station along the poland border and phil mattinglye have escaped from ukraine. the vast majority, more than 2 million of those in poland. you know, here it is approaching 1:00 in the morning and you can see how this is still the number of people looking to take trains further into europe and this is a scene that even though the number of refugees that we are seeing here in poland has slowed down quite a bit in the last week, but there are still a large number of people coming through, looking for places of safe haven in europe, and the what the president is going to hear from many of these people is the ordeals they've been through, hearing in recent days about journeys in eastern europe especially around kyiv, taking close to five days to get here to the polish/ukrainian border because of russian attacks on convoys, of civilians trying to escape, all the hazards that they find along the way, as well as checkpoints and curfews, so that is really lengthening the amount of time that people are facing to try to get out of the country. an

let's go to phil mattingly. he warned president xi there would be consequences if china provides material support to russia. what more are you learning? >> that's right, world, u.s. officials have been working to head off any efforts by china to assist russia through economic or military means. those efforts reached the highest levels today. a two-hour call, described as substantive, detailed and candid. in large part, the president laying out in detail what the u.s. has viewed as what has transpired, but the scale of the united response since. still, however, concern still. >> the president detailed, you know the implications and consequences if china provides material support to russia as it conducts brute all attacks. obviously that is something we will be watching and the world will be watching. they discussed how -- that's a decision for president xi and the chinese to make. >> reporter: the president did not make any explicit acts, but the full scale of a united western front will be on full discipline nex

phil mattingly is in warsaw. >> for god sake, this man cannot remain in power. >> reporter: tonight, president biden delivering a forceful and dramatic condemnation of vladimir putin. >> a dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase a people's love for liberty. >> reporter: the white house later clarifying biden was not calling for regime change but an unmistakable message. >> ukraine will never be a victory for russia. >> reporter: as biden delivered a clear call to western democracies at the moment of the highest stakes, drawing parallels to eastern europe's emergence from soviet rule. >> it was a long, painful slog fought over not days and months, but years and decades. but we emerged anew in the great battle for freedom. the battle between democracy and autocracy. between liberty and repression. >> reporter: the speech, a capstone of the european swing defined by unity in the face of searing images of disaster just a border away. >> ukraine and its people are on the front lines fighting to save their nation. and their brave resistance is part of a larger fight for an e

our senior white house correspondent phil mattingly in warsaw with the president's emotional visit. phil? >> reporter: white house officials made clear the president had a message he wanted to deliver at the end of this european trip. it was a message delivered to the ukrainians and certainly to vladimir putin and more importantly than anything else a message to western democracy about unity and the inflection point he now sees the world in inclu including an ablibbed line that went a little further than most white house officials wanted. >> for god's sake, this man cannot remain in power. >> reporter: tonight president biden delivering a forceful and dramatic on vladimir putin, the white house later clarifying biden was not calling for a regime change but an unmistakable message. as biden delivered a clarion call to western democracies at the moment of the highest stakes, drawing parallels to eastern europe's emergence from soviet rule. >> it was a long, painful slog fought over not days and months but years and decades. but we emerged anew in the great battle for freedom, a battle

phil mattingly has more from warsaw. >> president biden wrapped up his trip to europe with a very cleara in mind. he wanted to deliver a message, a forceful message, a message that could be read by any number of people whether the ukrainians, russian president vladimir putin or the world, but one that underscored the stakes of the moment, the urgency of the moment and the fact at least in president biden's view this is not just a singular moment but something much bigger, making comparisons in his remarks to the soviet union and its fall, the berlin wall, the iron curtain and how the west in particular eastern europe where he was standing in poland specifically rose up and were able to fight back with the support of western democracies. and that support is the unification of those russian democracies the president is so keen on keeping together. certainly you've seen it over the course of the last month. white house officials know it's fragile particularly as domestic pain on the economic front is likely to increase in the weeks and months ahead. however, it was one line in particular t

. >> our sam kiley is out front live in kyiv tonight, phil mattingly in brussels with biden at the nato meeting. sam, with you, devastation on the ground where you are but also ukrainian forces appearing to nosecure more victory around kyiv, what is the latest tonight is that. >> reporter: i think the most dramatic event is the ukrainian's forces attack in berdyansk where they knocked out and blew up a russian ship that was docked there in this very important port city. massive explosion followed by several other what they call secondary explosions. that's when the ammunition or fuel or both inside that ship is detonating. now, in and of itself, not necessarily of significant strategic move by ukrainians but a good illustration of how they're putting to best use the kind of weapons they're demanding, begging nato to increase their supplies to them. now, they're going through what nato's estimated what the ukrainians use, could use over a week. the ukrainians are saying they're going through in a 24 hour period. they have been enjoying a degree of success here in kyiv, pushing back the f

phil mattingly joins us now from the white house with the latest on that. from this call? >> reporter: anderson, white house officials know the stakes and they know the president knows the stakes. and the preparation behind the scenes has backed up the stakes of this moment but so have the public comments. secretary of state antony blinken making explicit concerns. >> we believe china particular has responsibility to use its influence to president putin and defend the principles and rules it professes to support. instead, it appears that china is moving in the opposite direction, by refusing to condemn this aggression, while seeking to portray itself as an arbiter. and we're concerned they're considering assisting russia. >> and the concerns have grown more palpable over the last few days due to intelligence american officials have collected and confusion about the ambiguity about the chinese position, the idea that china hasn't necessarily chosen one side or another. and that flies in the face of long standing policy. the president has made clear he's had

phil mattingly is over there at the royal castle. set the scene for us where you are, phil. give us a sense of what's going on. >> to give you a sense of kind of how the white house is trying to elevate this moment, there's about a thousand people gathered in front of the stage. it's a very calibrated and choreographed scene for the president to speak at the royal castle, incredibly important symbol for the polish nation. but inside the crowd, wolf, the most interesting, you have local officials, members of parliament, the polish president will be here as well, and i'm told ukrainian refugees into the crowd. if you look into the crowd, there are people holding polish flags, ukrainian flag, american flag, some holding all three. to fete at this point kaitlan is making about what the intent of the speech, the scene is certainly intended to back that up as well. we've seen the crowd file in. as we expect to hear the president in just a couple minutes. >> the crowd there, about a thousand people, these are by invitation only? is that how these folks arrived? >> yeah. what's inte

phil mattingly is our white house correspondent. re getting more information from your sources about what we should anticipate here. tell our viewers what you are learning, what we should brace to hear from the president. >> wolf, i think one of the interesting things is this press conference is going to be earlier than we expected it to. the trio of snap summits the president was having back-to-back-to-back or scheduled to have over the course of the day appears to have been thrown off. he met with nato leaders this morning. g7 leaders earlier today. but something, wolf, you know very well that happens at summits like this or international engagements is there are side meetings. the president has had side meeting -- on the sidelines with french president emanuel macron. a critical player. someone who has been having regular direct communications with russian president putin. and he's also spoken with the japanese prime minister on the sidelines. that's multi-faceted. we've seen the north korean missile test that i think brought a lo

let's go to our cnn senior white house correspondent phil mattingly. he is here with me as well as cnn's oren liebermann at the pentagon for us tonight. so phil, i'm going start with you. president biden spent the first 12 minutes of his address on russia's invasion of ukraine, and he made the point the moment we're in is bigger than just ukraine. >> i think that's a critical point. look, you focus on kind of the micro here. obviously a very direct message to president vladimir putin. a very direct message to the ukrainian people and the courageous effort they put in up to this point. there is a broader message the president made clear to his aides he really wanted to make over the dhoufrcourse of this s. take a listen. >> putin's war in ukraine will have left russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger. [ applause ] while it shouldn't -- while it shouldn't have taken something so terrible for people around the world to see what's at stake, now everyone sees it clearly. we see the unity among leaders of nations. a more unified europe, a more unifi

international correspondent michael holmes in levive, ukraine and our senior white house correspondent phil mattingly live from the white house. michael, i'll start with you in lviv. the pentagon is saying russia fired more than 500 missiles in ukraine and western intelligence officials telling cnn that the u.s. and nato believe that russia now plans to, quote, bombard cities into submission. talk about the toll that could take on the ordinary people who are helping to fight for their country. >> hi, don. it's frightening, isn't it, just those words, chilling, this intel moving to bombard ukrainian cities into submission. just those words. as we have discussed in the past you can look at grozni and chechnya, aleppo in syria, and you can see what that could look like. it is chilling. and you get from people we speak to, you know, a real sense of foreboding about how bad this could get. you mentioned the civilian death toll, the official one in the hundreds. it is likely much bigger than that already. and the sort of bombardment they're talking about just doesn't bear thinking about. already some of th

as phil mattingly reports, that likely will not be enough to stop putin's bloody and unprovoked siegehe president feels the way we need to avoid world war iii is preventing the united states from having direct military involvement on the ground. >> reporter: president biden staring down one of the most critical weeks of his presidency. as russian strikes on ukrainian civilians continue to escalate. biden held a call with the leaders of key allies, germany, france, and the u.k. while officials look to shift the dynamic in a crisis that shows no signs of abating. >> coming out of this, what the president is hoping to achieve is continued coordination and a unified response to the continued escalatory actions of president putin. >> reporter: biden set to travel to europe in the highest stakes of a president in a decade at a moment when cnn officials say russian's invasion sits at a stalemate. >> there are maneuver forces on the ground. they're essentially stalled. >> reporter: in palpable fears that horrific russian attacks are set to escalate. >> the russian government continues its bru

. >> phil mattingly, thanks so much. let's dive into this with our panel.upp. here's what jen psaki had to say. take a listen. >> his goal is to meet in person face-to-face with his european counterparts and talk about and assess where we are at this point in the conflict in the invasion of ukraine by russia. we've been incredibly aligned to date. that doesn't happen by accident. the president's a big believer in face-to-face diplomacy, so it's an opportunity to do exactly that. >> se, president biden has been having these same conversations virtually for weeks now. what do you make of him now heading to brussels to speak with other nato leaders? is it really about the face-to-face conversations o is it more about the symbol, the image going to brussels, standing with nato? >> i think it's the latter. look, it is important to meet face-to-face with people. you and i know through the pandemic, it's hard to do what we do virtually. but i think there is some symbolism. there's only so far that he wants to go in terms of helping nato and ukraine, and so this is

. >> oren stand by, phil mattingly at the white house. almost overnight the u.s. and its allies will turn russia into a financial pariah with crippling sanctions. you are reporting about the behind the scenes months long diplomacy. >> the scale and velocity of the sanctions package surprised even some officials here at the white house. but the origins of that package, actually getting to that outcome started in mid-november. it was at that point i'm told by several officials that three cabinet agencies, officials from three cabinet agencies across the national security council really put the full weight of the biden administration behind crafting that package, trying to let their european counterparts in particular, but also those in the uk, australia, canada, other countries as well, know what was coming and what they thought the response should be, and the scale of that response changed over time. it evolved over time. it evolved in particular over the course of the last several days when one european official told me that they saw what was happening, they saw t

our senior white house correspondent phil mattingly joins me tonight. phil, i'm glad you're here.e president speaking with the leaders of france and germany and italy and the uk today. what happened during that call? >> laura, it was an hour-long call and you can frame it as an opening act of the consequential diplomatic weeks a u.s. president has as it pertains to decades in decades. this would be meetings of the four western european powers with the chance to coordinate, share perspectives on what's going on, the siege issues the ukrainians have been dealing with, you were talking about earlier in the show, specific discussions about mariupol and what's been going on there. but also a chance to talk about what lies ahead in the meetings later this week and also the expansive response when you look at what the western alliance has put together. it is on a scale particularly on the sanctions side but i don't think many white house officials thought possible a couple months ago. now they're here. putin is continuing to ramp up and escalate. what can be done to change this dynamic?

. >> phil mattingly in the white house for us. thank you, phil. >>> top of the hour on "cnn newsroom." i'm victor blackwell. >> and alisyn camerota. ukraine's forces said russian war planes over the black sea fired six missiles toward lviv. four of them struck an aircraft repair plant. the city's mayor said work at that plant had already stopped. the region also serves as a crucial weapons supply route, so today russian state media reported the kremlin will consider any weapons shipments entering ukraine as a, quote, legitimate target. >> u.s. and several nato countries have pledged hundreds of millions to support ukraine. villages and cities throughout ukraine continue to be ravaged by putin's war. look at this. there is a son in kyiv surrounded by all the rubble just crying there for his mother. the man beside his mother's body in the aftermath of a downed rocket that landed in a neighborhood yesterday. today the city of lviv setup 109 empty strollers to symbolize the 109 children killed in ukraine so far in this war. >> two of t

and frederick pleitgen live for us in kyiv, phil mattingly in brussels. hello to both of you. fred, i'm going to start with you. even in spite of russian bombardment, fred, ukrainians are gaining groundout pz outsidf kyiv. >> there's been intense shelling and explosions going on especially toward the north of kyiv, toward the northwest and northeast of kyiv. there you can see the uranians are increasingly firing at russian positions not just with artillery but rocket artillery as well. clearly a large operation that's been going on there. and the ukrainians aren't really talking much about it. the gains they're making there, they believe those gains are still quite fragile, and also they believe if they provide too much information they might tip off the russians as to what exactly their strategy is up there. we have heard from the local authorities here, for instance, one of those districts under russian control in the northwest or towards the northwest of kyiv, that's now 80% back under the control of ukrainians. the ukrainian national police went back in there. they're burk

phil mattingly begins our coverage. first of all, give us the latest information. >> reporter: yeah, wolf, we've seen for weeks what appeared to be russian movement toward trying to encircle the ukrainian capital of kyiv. and perhaps take the city itself. it is what u.s. officials were looking at in their intelligence before the invasion even began. with fierce fighting, at this point in time a senior u.s. defense official said the russians are digging into defensive positions in the outskirts of the city. they've shown no interest in moving forward toward the city at the current standpoint. they also seem to be focusing most of their interests on the eastern part of the country. the donbas region, which tracks what we've heard today from russian military officials, saying that was their focus. the eastern part of the country. it seems to be at least somewhat of a strategy shift. most possibly a face-saving shift as well, given the difficulty russian forces have had over the first month of the invasion. one thing to kee

with us to share their reporting, seung min kim of "the washington post," laura baron-lopez and phil mattingly is from a piece in the "post" today. chris dodd, longtime senator, this is a dicey one. he'll appreciate this is not the moment given the events of the last few days to forget about covid and everything else to try "happy days are here again." it would be a huge mistake. donald trump said i can handle crisis, i'll get us out of it. he hoped this was the speech he could say we're coming out of it. we're making important steps and now in the middle of a standoff with putin. >> he sold himself as the leader who could handle multiple crises. not just that he had deep experience in diplomacy with his years on the senate foreign relations committee but he'd be the president to shut down the virus. now he's juggling many crises on multiple fronts. whatever tone he strikes tonight will be really critical. white house officials were well aware of this and the difficult dance that he would have to do in this speech well before russia actually invaded ukraine. now that adds an extra dimension th

phil mattingly traveling with the president. what more is the president saying about what the u.s. and nato are preparing to do? >> reporter: the scale is significant. it largely matches up with the elements of the sanctions regime, the humanitarian aid we've seen rolled out over the course of the last couple weeks. they are continuing to ramp it up. it's the point the president is making so long as president putin continues the invasion and horrific attacks they've seen over the course of the last month, the u.s. and allies will continue to ramp up sanctions. more than 400 new individual sanctions were applied today. the u.s. and european allies, another attack on the central bank and the ruble which is pricing out at less than 1 cent for every dollar. the overall effort has not changed the dynamic, anderson. that's the complication here. something they're trying to grapple with. it's raised concern about what president putin may do next. three different summits over 12 hours, the potential for chemical attacks. preparation from the u.s. side, the nato side as well. there's no nea

we want to get straight to phil mattingly in warsaw covering president joe biden's trip. also fred pleitgen is in kyiv for us. we'll start with you. it would be tough to overstate just how vitally important the president's visit is. >> yeah, no question about it and don, it's not just in the near term, in the moment or just because of ukraine. it's a bigger picture point. and it's a point the president tried to make himself earlier in his meetings in a town about an hour from the ukrainian border. he's flying back to warsaw right now. he met with u.s. troops now in country. that total population of u.s. military forces in eastern europe has expanded over the course of the last five or six weeks as the u.s. has moved to step up deterrence and also reassure nato allies in the region. poland being one of those sitting about 100,000 right now. and the president making clear he believes this is an inflection point, not just for eastern europe, but for the entire world. and i think to some degree, don, we talked about this last night, you looked at yesterday as a diplomatic spr

us to share the reporting and their insights cnn national security correspondent cily atwood, phil mattinglyned here is the key? actually this is secretary of state blinken on cbs on sunday and the pentagon spokes pen saying never mind. >> in fact we're talking with our polish friends right now about what we might be able to do to back fill their needs if in fact they choose to provide these fighter jets to ukrainians. >> we do not support the transport of additional fighter aircraft to the ukrainian air force at this time and therefore have no desire to see them in our custody either. >> just moments ago on capitol hill the director of national intelligence, averal haines says there was a new assessment that informed this decision to say no, at least no for now on the jets. she would not explain. she was asked does this mean putin would take it as an escalation, putin would lash out? she would not explain that part. then what happened? >> i think you have senators asking that question right now. because they're the ones who heard from president zelenskyy over the weekend during a phone call

joining us sun ming kim and phil mattingly and julie davis of "the new york times."peech was a major moment probably in history. here in the united states, there was bipartisan support. there's a lot of bipartisan support for the u.s. reaction to ukraine. but you almost wouldn't know it based on the reaction from some republicans on capitol hill. >> right. it's been really interesting to watch over the course of the last three weeks where right at the start, at the end of february when the conflict began, you did see this almost rally around the commander, even on capitol hill when republicans are going after president biden every turn. as the conflict goes on -- you see partisanship come into that. a lot of what we saw this week was a lot of that messaging coming from republicans. republicans have said for some time and are escalating their criticism saying the president is not going far enough. the white house is saying, you didn't support our request for additional aid to ukraine. i feel that as long as this conflict goes on that you are going to see more and more

as cnn's phil mattingly reports, cnn learns u.s.icials have information suggesting that the chinese government is open to providing the russians with military and financial assistance. >> putin's brutality and what he's doing and his troops are doing in ukraine is just inhumane. >> reporter: as russia continues to escalate its attacks on ukraine, the u.s. message to allies is clear. >> we're meeting at a moment where demands on unity in the world are really accelerating. we have to be united, and we certainly are. >> reporter: but president biden set to put the unity to the test against the most formidable of outliers on friday. >> i'm going to be speaking to president xi tomorrow. >> reporter: at the moment officials are concerned about ties between china and russia. >> we're concerned they're considering assisting russia with military equipment to use in ukraine. >> reporter: and as the mounting evidence of russia's targeting of civilians led biden on wednesday to say this of president vladimir putin -- >> i think he is a war crim