the lead starts right now. president biden s surprise trip to ukraine, how did the white house pull it off? plus the new promise the president is making while some republicans chastise him for growing. russian families on the run from the brutal war and ending up at the u.s. southern border. what one family went through to escape. and the murder of a bishop found dead in his california home. new details just coming in in this case. welcome to the lead. i am john berman in for jake tapper. moments ago president biden arrived back in poland after his unannounced trip to ukraine and stood side by side with president zelenskyy where biden declared putin is failing as the war nears its one year mark. biden said his trip was important to reaffirm unwavering u.s. support. one year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of kyiv. america stands with you, and the world stands with you. as part of the trip, biden announced another half million-dollars in assistance for ukrain
testing a small group to put together a trip with no historic precedent. the president decided it was a calculated risk and one he was prepared to take. in the cover of darkness on 4:15 monday morning. two reporters on the trip were required to turn over their electronic devices. he flew to poland and then the ten-hour trip to kyiv. we did send the notification to the russians several hours before the president left primarily for deconfliction purposes. while the russian response was not characterized, president biden s message to putin was unequivocal. putin thought the ukraine was weak and the west divided. he was plain wrong. there was a stream of social media chatter in a city that had been locked down without