0 it was actually 108 people in the heavenly hundred. the youngest of them was just 16 years old. it all happened as the combination of protests that had started the previous november. people are protesting in ukraine. because the government of that country had had the chance to sign on to a big trade deal with europe, a deal that was expected to have big economic benefits for ukraine, just episode bring ukraine closer to europe, and closer to the west. people in ukraine bought weird forward to it. this is a popular thing that they're very much wanted. but the president of ukraine at the time he decided he wasn't going to do it and he basically decided that because russia didn't want him to do it in 2014 the president of ukraine and i know this sounds rude to say but he was basically a -- a puppet of russia, of vladimi russia had paid for his political rise and for his political party. they had worked to install him in power. they totally controlled him. he was theirol guy. that was how russia controlled ukraine. they controlled the ukrainian president. they installed him in power and they told him what to do, and he did it. and russia, of course, didn't want ukraine to have better economic ties to the west. they didn't want ukraine to have any ties to the west. they wanted ukraine to only be tied to russia. and so when ukraine had the opportunity to sign-on to this pro-european trade deal russia didn't want thempe to do it, an russia's guy in ukraine, this very corrupt, very compromised pro-russian president he said he didn't want to sign that trade deal with europe. he wanted to sign a new deal with russia. instead of that decision by him they started protesting in november of 2013. andin a few months into it by february of 2014 the protests and the protesters were still there, and they were not showing any signs of going away, despite the cold winter and how long they'd been out in the streets protesting already, by all accounts by february 2014, four months plus into these protests moscow had started putting increasing pressure on their guy, on the pro-russian president of ukraine that he needed to end it, he needed to get these protesters off of the streets of ukraine. and so by this time of the year, by mid-february, ukraine's then-president, russia's hand picked guy, he gave the order. and security forces started using lethal force without restraint against their ownce citizens in the streets. they started using live fire. over february 18th and february 19th and february 20th between 2,000 and 3,000 citizens were injured by security forces and police operating in the streets of kyiv. people also started dying in considerable numbers. dozens of people killed. on february 20th alone more than 50 people -- more than 50 protesters in one day murdered in the streets, some of them shot by snipers, shot from a distance by military snipers using live ammunition to kill teenagers, to kill 83-year-olds, to kill these people who were protesting. by the end of that extraordinarily bloody day of february 20, 2014, it was more than 100 people who had been shot dead in the streets in total. and their corpses were lined up in the street, and those were the people who they called the heavenly 100. but the history of ukraine took sort of a 90-degree turn that day, on this date, february 20th. after all those people were massacred overnight on february 20, 2014, the following day, february 21st that pro-russia, pro-putin president of ukraine, he got intoa, a car and he fled he left ukraine. he was the president of ukraine and he fled the country. he fled naturally to russia where he is still in exile today. and that series of events, february 20ofth, and february 2t when the21 president fled, that started the story effectively where we are now. after their pro-russia puppet president oversaw the murder of dozens of protesters in the streets and then fled the country, russia for their part they freaked out they no longer had their own guy running the country next door. russia, of course, in 2014 soon invaded ukraine and started taking over parts of that country by force, parts of eastern ukraine and crimea. ukrainians, meanwhile, started learning about how exactly their pro-russia puppet leader had been living while he'd been in charge. i meann they knew he was corru. that was part of what they'd been protesting against, but after he was gone they found his private zoo he'd been seekiately kept for himself. they found his gold toilets carved to look like animal feet, his secret car collections, found his private restaurant on a boat made to look like a spanish galleon he used to float around on on a private lake he'd made for himself at taxpayer expense. and at the time what seemed like just a bizarre sideshow american connection to all that was the fact it was actually a high dollar american political consultant who had been paid to be the top political advisor to that wildly corrupt pro-russian ukrainian president. the american political consultant who had been paid to getns this pro-russian guy inton power, who had run his campaigns, who had overseen a personal makeover for the guy, wrote all his speeches, who got the guy installed in power, the american political consultant who did that is a man named palm manafort. paul manafort got paid millions andt millions of dollars to install the pro-russian puppet as ukraine's president. until he oversaw a massacre in the streets of kyiv a and had t flee to russia. after years and years paul manafort soon popped up a few years later to work on his first american campaign in decades. after what happened in 2014 in ukraine paul manafort was soon back in america all of a sudden for the first time in years to become campaign chair for the donald trump for president campaign in 2016, and interestingly he said he was happy to do that one for free. he didn't ask to be paid for that one. president biden today going to ukraine, going to kyiv on february 20th. it's a surprise and an astonishing thing for us to see, for people in ukraine to see. at base level this is an active war zone in a part of that country thatf gets hit by russn missiles the time. seeing the american president there walking the streets of kyiv while air-raid sirens literally sounded in that moment about possible incoming fire from russia, it's just not something you ever expect to see. we've never seen an american president in an active war zone where there wasn't an american military presence there, not before today. president zelenskyy of ukraine put outky this statement, this terse to the point statement about president biden's visit today. he said historic, timely, brave. i think this image in particular from getoday, this image of president biden at st. michaels cathedral in hakyiv, not his overall trip to the cathedral, but this singular image of him there i think is going to be seen one of the photos of his presidency if not one of the photos of his life. but for ukraine i mean it's one thing for us to see this as americans. this is landmark thing, a historb thing for an american president to have done. the ukrainians also recognize the historic nature for what president biden did today, but for him to have done it on this day, february 20th lands with a different weight than it does forff us. every year on february 20th they lay wreaths, commemorate the murders of those heavenly 100, those protesters who died. and we do have an odd american connection to the violence of thoseo protesters, to the snip sasination and murder of those 100 plus people. there really was an american political consultant who had put thatho pro-russia leader in pow, who put in power the leader who did that. i think that's still a sort of hard thing to wrap our heads around.ur what was our connection to a pro-russian leader taking over inn ukraine? well, there was an american connection toth it. and the american connections to these politics, they can be hard to tfollow. for example, this weekend there was a random and i mean truly random rally on the national mall in washington, d.c. a rally in support of russia, i guess,ru given all the russian flags.si at least a rally against supporting ukraine in trying to stand up against the russian invasion of their country. this was a tiny event, it was small.t it was a weird assemblage of americans, proud boys there and unite the right rally groups in charlottesville years ago also represented, there were a lot of people withte russian flgs, als the occasional flag of the former soviet union. also at least one person who guest hosts for tucker carlson on the fox news channel was there as n a featured speaker. there were anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists, a lot of them. there were crypto currency promoters. it was a really weird group. it was a small rally and a weird one. but that's what it looks like. that's the assemblage of short straws and splitem ends and loo change and loose electrons that's advocating in this country that russia's in the right in this war and america should be on putin's side as he keeps invading other countries. i mean no disrespect to the americans who turned out as part of this small event this weekend but it's not like they represent a big constituency that is arguing for this pro-russia point of view. but while this happened this weekend, meanwhile president biden was heading to kyiv secretly, and once he got there today and we all found out he'd made the trip to kyiv at least one pro-trump republican member of congress who happens to have a seats on the homeland securi committee called for him to be impeached for having gone to ukraine. other pro-trump american members of congress today said it was a disgrace and a shame and how dare president biden go to ukraine today. florida governor ron desantis who wants to runor for presiden apparently he went on the fox news channel this morning and said that president biden was wrong to go, and we shouldn't be supporting ukraine in this war because whatever russia's doing, it's nothing to worry about. again, it's not clear in political terms what the big constituency is for this stuff, but that is where at least the trump and trump-ish wing of the republican party says they are on this issue and good luck to them with it. with republicans in control of congress now and with the trumpy part of the republican party being a little -- or at least a little unpredictable on this issue, it's not clear yet whether in our domestic politics there are going to be complications ahead and how much and howd well we'll continue t support ukraine as this war startshi its second year this week. for his part in ukraine today while he was meeting with president biden, president zelenskyy went out of his way not only o to thank president biden for making the trip, which again he called historic, and timely and brave, he thanked president biden forve making th trip, thanked president biden for supporting ukraine, thanked president biden for making the first call to him from a foreign leader when the russian war started, the first call he said came from president biden. president zelenskyy also today shrewdly i think thanked the american congress for its bipartisan support, which at this point isn't a forgone conclusion that it will remain. president biden for his part went onto say america's support for ukraine will lasts as long as it takes and also said russia cannot win in this fight. >> russia's aim ozto wipe ukraine off the map. putin's war of conquest is fail. russia's military has lost half itsha territory it once occupie. young, talented russians are fleeing by the tens of thousands not wanting to come back to russia. not fleeing from the military, fleeing from russia itself. because they see no future in their country. >> president biden is right that russia's military did fail in its initial objectives in this war, and i its military performance has beenil shocking bad compared to expectations for what the russian military was capable of these days. on the other side of the ledger, ukraine's resilience and their military performance has been shockingly good compared to the urld with's expectations for how they would stand up against such an assault. even so it's not like anyone cac clearly say that ukraine is winning or indeed it's not at all clear anybody can say with any real clarity, with any confidence how this is going to end. as bad as russia's military has performed in traditional combat thus far, russian infrastructure attacks punishing ukrainian civilians have been quite effective. i mean they're finding shooting power plants and shooting water infrastructure is easier than fighting opposing forces, and they're focusing on that to an intensifying degree and that imposes immense cost tuesday the civilians of ukraine. today while president biden was in kyiv the top foreign policy official in the chinese government traveled to moscow amid warnings from the u.s. government china is ramping up its help to the russian side in this war. china materially propping up russia in this war would, of course, change the arithmetic about how long it would take for russia to exhaust its efforts and resources and will in fighting all these losing battles. even beyond that, even as president biden announced another half billion dollars in military aid to ukraine today, the ukrainians are nevertheless pressing further for the u.s. to deliver f-16 fighter jets as well. andet that is something preside biden has thus far said, no, he'll not do, but there is some influential bipartisan support for him to go ahead and do it even as the republican party continues to cleave, some of them saying not only continue to ramp up support and send them f-16s others saying we should be on putin's side on this war, we have no issue with putin, why are we helping ukraine? we're going to get some expert help tonight talking about those political concerns and practical concerns, the opennd questions that, remain about how this wa is going to go and for how long. but todayis as a first principl matter, today was history. it was the american president surprise in the war zone in kyiv, the first u.s. president in a war zone abroad where there wasab not a u.s. military presee there to support miz presence and protect him. and now tomorrow looking ahead it's going l to be a split scre as president putin in russia will give his equivalent of the "state of the union" address with the kremlinen and on the same day president biden will give a speech on war saw, a speech open to the public, a speech about democracies to stand together and do so for as long as it takes. joining usit now is presidentia historian, pulitzer prizewinning author of many books. including one that looks at the leadership of roosevelt, lincoln, and fdr. thanks for being with us. >> i'm so glad to be with you on this historic moment. >> it does feel historic. and i wanted to ask you sort of if that is a fair characterization. we doai know in just sort of ra statistical terms it is the first time in modern u.s. history an american president has gone to a war zone, is there anything else you have in mind as an analogous situation, any time an american president has done something like this? >> well, certainly i mean abraham lincoln went to the active battlefield more than a dozenie times during the war, a there was a moment actually he was at fort stevens when a bullet went rights by his side hitting a surgeon who was standing next to him and he said get down, you fool. i think the extraordinary thing when iin look at this moment it brings back echoes for me of the partnership between churchill andp fdr. i think of zelenskyy as a modern day churchill. he's been able with the power of his words give power to the ukrainian people, similarly churchill stayed in london, had the power of his words. and there's a sense in which fdr had to do what biden has had to do, which is go step by step in ratcheting up his support for britain because this was in 1940, '41 before pearl harb, and we didn't have enough weapons to give to britain. when we were only 18th in military power, we went up in powerhouse then. he gavepo 12 fighter planes at which point the military said you can't do that, if germany conkkers europe and they find our weapons there you'll be hunb by a lamppost. so that same concern biden has had how to move forward, at the same time we've become hostages to fortune right now in terms of how ukrainian democracy works. that's the question biden will need to present even more weapons to them in order to let this war be won because if it's lost then his presidency is courageously built on it. that means the ukrainians have to win their battle and we have to helpe them do it. >> on the point of the domestic politics around this thing, i feel we're in a state in the opposition of this party and this f war. obviously we've got some messaging, but i think it's confused messaging and not particularly cogentng messaging from the right side of the republican party not wanting to support ukraine anymore, talking about ukraine fatigue and in some extreme instances being quite pro-putin, suggesting we might support the other side in the war. but it doesn't seem coherent and there are a lot of republicans who support president biden and the democrats in standing by ukraine on this. i wonder if you describe as the churchill and fdr dynamic affords any lessons to president biden thinking about isolationism atbo home and peop trying to score political points on him at home by prioritizing bipartisan support for ukraine? >> i think the important thing to i realize is that roosevelt d have to face a dominant mood of isolationism before he took those steps in 1940 and '41 in pearl harbor. he gradually educated britain. i think the challengete for president biden is going to be he's going to g have to persuad the american public. he's going to have use that bully pulpit, and maybe that's what tomorrow's speech is partly about. but he's going to have to keep doing that and educate the public. it passed and by a good majority because through g his fireside chats he'd already educated people why this was necessary. so that's going to be the continuing battle i think for biden to use that public u persuasion and make su that theio country and bipartisanship that's there right now and these other people remain as you said a weird group of people out there, and not the pro-russian people but the people who don't want us to necessarily use our energy, time, andus money for something over there then we've got a problem here. >> when president biden goes and gives that speech tomorrow in warsaw, it'll be early morning here because of the time difference. it's at a landmark location in warsaw, at a castle that overlooks the city. it'll be open to the public. but i think it will be in the eyes of the national media certainly or international medit certainly a sort of split screen between him giving that address within hours of president putin giving his state of the union, sort of the state of the state address in russia. and i think we expect russia to talk about the ukrainian government being nazi and nato wanting to invade russia and being imperialist and all the other things he says about nato and the west and the united states. i think president biden will make the case democracies needs to stick together and authoritarianism needs to be opposed in a democracy. that head to head contrast with two world leaders telling opposite stories about one another, that itself is powerful just as a dichotomy, isn't it, for the world? >> oh, absolutely. and again it's a historical moment. maybe you knowis i've loved history for all my life so i love to bring it in when i can, when roosevelt gave a fireside chat, that very night the germans specifically bombed london, the heaviest attack they've ever done destroying a big chunk of the old c