Good morning. It is Saturday, February the 25th. It's 10 a.m. in New York, 5 p.m. here in Kiev,

Ukraine's resilient capital city, which is still standing, despite tremendous odds after 367 days of war.

I'm Ali Velshi. As you can see, life is carrying on all around me and otherwise regular

Saturday afternoon, if not for the rusted out captured Russian tanks displayed in the streets

and the air raid sirens that have become a regular part of everyday life for millions of

Ukrainians around this country.

Most residents have learned to live with it and to adjust to this way of life, and as guests

in this remarkable city, so must we.

If an air raid siren goes off during the show, one went off less than an hour ago, we

will need to leave this location and go somewhere more secure.

Now, if that does happen, my friend and colleague Alex Witt, is standing by in New York

to pick up coverage until I'm all set and safe to rejoin you.

While air raid sirens don't always mean that there's an imminent threat in the area,

these are precautionary measures that we're going to abide by, particularly during a week,

when everyone here has been on high alert.

There's been a concern that Russia would mark the first anniversary of the war with an attack

that would likely have targeted Kyiv.

But the skies around this city have actually been eerily quiet.

The anniversary came and went without any major new offensives or acts of aggression by Russia.

Fighting, however, continues in the eastern and

southern parts of this country, like in and around the city of Bahmoud, where Ukrainian and Russian

forces have been locked in battle for months. And while Kiev has been relatively peaceful in recent

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