From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tibernese. This is The Daily.

Today, from the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the United States took pains to avoid the appearance

that it was entering a direct confrontation with Russia. This week, that may have begun to change.

My colleague, David Sanger, on the new US approach and the risks it carries.

It's Friday, April 29th.

So, David, we've seen a lot of activity by the United States over the past week in regards to Ukraine.

And I want you to walk us through exactly what the US has been doing.

Well, Sabrina, the most important thing that happened was seeing senior American officials walking around

Kiev and meeting with President Vladimir Zelensky.

There had been a succession of Europeans who came into Kiev, including Boris Johnson and

a number of other European leaders. But the Secret Service would not let President Biden go into

an area that the Russians could easily shell. So, they decided that the next best thing to do was to send

Secretary of State Anthony Lincoln and Lloyd Austin, the Defense Secretary, in together.

They actually landed a military plane in Poland. They left their press corps there.

They got on to a train where the windows were blackened.

And they had the train take them in to Kiev with a complete news blackout so that the Russians

wouldn't know when they were coming. And so, this was the first time that we had actually seen Americans there.

And then they left the country, returned to Poland on a train, and met up with their small press corps.

This was in our judgment an important moment to be there, an important moment for Ukraine for the war.

And Secretary Lincoln and Secretary Austin held a press conference. And that's when things got sort of interesting, Sabrina, because at one moment.

Are you defining America's goals for success? Any differently in Ukraine now than you were at the beginning of this war? And if so, what are those goals today?

Secretary Austin was asked about their objectives. And what he said was...

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