By ZEKE MILLER and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden sat down with The Associated Press to discuss the state of the economy, his concerns about the national mood and his commitment to standing up to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

Takeaways from Biden’s first news media interview since February:

PAIN AT THE PUMP

Biden on Thursday blamed gas prices for the nation’s economic pessimism, saying before prices started rising, “Things were much more, they were much more optimistic.”

The Democratic president acknowledged that Americans are paying vastly more to put food on their table and fuel in their cars and that it was putting a dent in his approval rating.

“If you want a direct barometer of what people are going to talk about at the kitchen table and the dining room table and whether things are going well, it’s the cost of food and what’s the cost of gasoline at the pump,” he said.

But while Biden said his message to oil companies was “Don’t just reward yourselves,” he has few tools at his disposal to meaningfully bring down prices in the near term.

THE U.S. HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO STAND UP TO RUSSIA

Biden said he didn’t consider the domestic political impact from U.S. efforts to sanction Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, particularly how it would roil the economy.

Without such action, he said, “I fear what would happen next is you’d see chaos in Europe.” He added: “It’s not about my political survival. It’s about what’s best for the country.”

Biden suggested that he’s willing to pay a political price as a result, saying his advice to young people interested in public service is, “Unless you know what’s worth losing over, don’t get engaged.”

BIDEN WANTS TO BUCK UP THE NATIONAL MOOD

After more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden said the American people are “really, really down.” He emphasized that the need for mental health in America “has skyrocketed because people have seen everything upset.”

Biden maintained that he’s optimistic about the country’s future, and that Americans should feel it too — even as the majority of voters say the country is on the wrong track.

“Be confident, because I am confident we’re better positioned than any country in the world to own the second quarter of the 21st century,” Biden said. “That’s not hyperbole, that’s a fact.”

Still, it wasn’t clear whether Biden’s rhetoric would have a tangible impact on the nation’s glum outlook.

HE STILL HAS HOPES FOR A DOMESTIC SPENDING BILL

Still smarting over the December collapse of a massive Democratic package to expand the social safety net and address climate change, Biden suggested he was hopeful that a slimmed-down bill could pass before the midterms.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s objections torpedoed the earlier efforts over inflation concerns. Biden needs all 50 Democrats to support a package in order to get around GOP opposition under the Senate’s budget rules.

“There’s more than one way to bring down the cost for working folks,” Biden said. “Gasoline may be up to $5 a gallon, but somebody who has a child with stage two diabetes is paying up to 1,000 bucks a month for their insulin. We can reduce it to 35 bucks a month and get it done.”

He added: “We have the votes to do it. We’re gonna get that done. I can’t get it all done.”

Biden also suggested there was consensus on providing tax credits for winterizing homes, which would help lower utility bills, and to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing to address supply chain issues that have driven up prices.

AND FOR GUN CONTROL

Biden was optimistic about a bipartisan framework to address gun violence by tightening some background check requirements for young firearm purchasers and incentivizing states to establish “red flag” laws to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.

As lawmakers draft the legislative text, momentum appears to be building in the Senate after decades of inaction and mass tragedies. Biden acknowledged the progress, albeit limited.

“We’re going to get gun safety,” he said, adding, “We’re not going to get what I wanted.”

BIDEN HAS SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT REPUBLICANS

Despite years of political differences, Biden said he still views Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as a Republican he can work with — something he said he considered an endangered species in today’s GOP.

The president said that when he took office, he knew that there “were probably, probably 15 sort of traditional, mainstream, conservative Republicans left. And I include in that — and I’m going to get myself in trouble, gonna get him in trouble, probably — the minority leader from Kentucky.”

Biden added of McConnell, “He’s a solid, mainstream guy.”

The president, who has taken to branding other Republicans as “ultra-MAGA,” said examples included Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and Florida Sen. Rick Scott.

By DAVID KEYTON, JOHN LEICESTER and SYLVIE CORBET

IRPIN, Ukraine (AP) — Four European leaders made a high-profile visit to show their support for Ukraine on Thursday, denouncing the brutality of the Russian invasion as they surveyed the ruins of a Kyiv suburb that was the scene of intense fighting early in the war and where many civilians were killed.

After arriving in Kyiv to the sound of air raid sirens, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania headed to Irpin, which was seized and briefly held by Russian troops along with other areas near the capital. Mass graves have been unearthed in the area, most notably in Bucha, and French President Emmanuel Macron decried the massacres and said there were signs of war crimes.

He denounced the “barbarism” of the attacks that devastated Irpin, and praised the courage of its residents and others in the region who helped thwart Russia’s attempt to overrun the capital.

The visit, which included a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, carries heavy symbolic weight since the three Western European powers have faced criticism for continuing to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and failing to provide Ukraine with the scale of weaponry that it has said is necessary to fend off the Russians.

Western arms were key to Ukraine’s surprising success in preventing the Russians from taking the capital — but officials have said much more will be needed if they are to drive Moscow’s forces out.

The leaders have also been criticized for not visiting Kyiv sooner. A number of other European leaders have already made the long trip overland to show solidarity with a nation under attack, even in times when the fighting raged closer to the capital than it does now.

On Thursday, NATO defense ministers met in Brussels to consider more military aid for Ukraine, and many hoped in Ukraine that the leaders’ visit could mark a turning point by opening the way to significant new arms supplies — particularly as the officials surveyed the war’s devastation.

Ahead of the meeting with Zelenskyy, the leader German Chancellor Olaf Scholz observed that officials must keep the destruction in mind in all their decisions.

“Innocent civilians have been hit, houses have been destroyed; a whole town has been destroyed in which there was no military infrastructure at all,” Scholz said. “And that says a great deal about the brutality of the Russian war of aggression, which is simply out for destruction and conquest. We must bear that in mind in everything that we decide.”

Italian Premier Mario Draghi said during the tour of Irpin that Ukraine’s backers will rebuild “everything” with European help.

“They destroyed the nurseries, the playgrounds, and everything will be rebuilt,” Draghi said.

Macron, Scholz and Draghi, representing the three largest economies in Europe, traveled to Kyiv together on a special overnight train provided by the Ukrainian authorities.

President Klaus Iohannis of Romania — which borders Ukraine and has been a key destination for Ukrainian refugees — arrived on a separate train.

After viewing Irpin, he wrote on Twitter that there are “no words to describe the unimaginable human tragedy and horrible destruction” and called for “all Russian perpetrators to be held responsible by the international criminal justice” system.

The Russian forces are pressing their offensive in the eastern Donbas region, slowly but steadily gaining ground on the badly outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian forces, who are pleading for more arms from Western allies.

Several air raid sirens rang out while the European leaders were in their hotel preparing for the rest of their visit, and Kyiv authorities urged people to seek shelter. Such alerts are a frequent occurrence.

Many leaders and regular people in not only Ukraine but the Baltic and Central European nations, which were controlled by Moscow during the Cold War, believe that Putin only understands force, and have viewed the efforts by Macron and others to keep speaking to Putin following his invasion as unacceptable.

Tamara Malko, a resident of the Donetsk region that is part of the Donbas, said Macron and Scholz had been “very cold” toward Ukrainians so far, and hoped for a change.

“We want peace very much … and have high hopes for Macron and Scholz,” she said. “We want them to see and understand our pain.”

Gov. Serhiy Haidai of Luhansk, which is also part of the Donbas, said the visit would not bring anything if the leaders ask Ukraine to sign a peace treaty with Russia that involves giving up territory. He said that is something Ukrainians would never accept.

“I am sure that our president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is not going to make concessions and trade our territories. If someone wants to stop Russia by giving them territories, Germany has Bavaria, Italy has Tuscany, the French can concede Provence, for instance,” he said.

“Today it will be one territory, tomorrow another one, the day after tomorrow another,” he said.

The visit comes as EU leaders prepare to make a decision June 23-24 on Ukraine’s request to become a candidate for EU membership, and ahead of an important NATO summit June 29-30 in Madrid.

In Ukraine, Macron responded to criticism of France’s response, including his recent comment that Russia shouldn’t be “humiliated,” which deeply angered Ukrainians. He insisted that “France has been at Ukraine’s side since the first day.”

His office also released a list of the dates of all his conversations with Zelenskyy. They have spoken by phone on 23 occasions since the war began; and Macron spoke with Putin 11 times, including three times with Scholz.

Macron is involved in diplomatic efforts to push for a cease-fire in Ukraine that would allow future peace negotiations. He has frequent discussions with Zelenskyy and has spoken on the phone several times with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Putin launched the invasion in late February.

Scholz had long resisted traveling to Kyiv, saying he didn’t want to “join the queue of people who do a quick in-out for a photo opportunity.” Instead, Scholz said a trip should focus on doing “concrete things.”

Germany on Wednesday announced that it will provide Ukraine with three multiple launch rocket systems of the kind that Kyiv has said it urgently needs.

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Leicester reported from Kyiv, Ukraine and Corbet from Paris. Srdjan Nedelikovic in Pokrovsk, Ukraine,, Colleen Barry in Milan and Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine