President Joe Biden will give his annual State of the Union Address at 6:00 p.m. A few weeks ago, we could have expected a largely domestic policy speech but that is different now because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That issue is on the top of many people's minds. They want to hear what the president will say about it in his speech.

"It's appalling what Russia is doing," Mike Goddard, Fallon resident said. "I think he's done a good job rallying people behind that and I think he's going to have to sort of prepare the public for some of the fallout from this event."

"He's already done a lot but I understand that he's probably going to get the world together and put the full strength of the world against Putin," Howard Fong, Sacramento resident said.

Others say they want the president to keep his cards close to his vest instead of giving Russian leaders insight on America's plans.

"If the president comes on today and says we're not going to war, we're not going to do anything with the Russians, we're not going to move in," Bernard McNulty, Reno resident said. "That's exactly what Putin wants to know."

Fred Lokken is a professor of political science at Truckee Meadows Community College. He says Ukraine is one of four main topics of the president's address. He says the world will be watching to hear what he says about one of his biggest foreign policy challenges.

"Everyone sees America and what America's doing is important," Lokken said. "Whatever we do, it does impact others in the world but especially tonight, with what's been playing out in Ukraine."

Biden is expected to tout an economy that includes job growth and higher wages but he will have to balance that with the highest inflation since 1980.

"Price of food, price of everything else inside of there has skyrocketed, so it's time we make some policy changes," Barney Wadley, Dayton resident said.

Saturday will mark two years since Nevada's first positive COVID-19 case. Mr. Biden's entire presidency has been during the pandemic.

"I want to hear from him that everything's going pretty smoothly and I think it is," Fong said. "You know, everybody's sort of unmasking nowadays and it's part of his policies that helped."

"We're not out of the woods but I think he will be sort of laying out a path that tries to keep the economy open, tries to minimize the impact on the wearing of masks," Lokken said.

Another one of the president's topics will be the Supreme Court. Last week, he nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.

"It is an important appointment," Lokken said. "It is historic and it looks like the democrats will have the votes to get it through."

The speech is happening ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, so Lokken says he will likely try to boost confidence in Americans about the direction of the economy.

"The democrats realize that they have a very small window to do something with the economy that gives people a reason to believe that the economy is going in the right direction to serve their needs," Lokken said.

There is a large domestic agenda to talk about. That could include things like voting rights and security, as well as immigration. Lokken says the portion of the speech regarding Russia and Ukraine will be very important, and that the changes on the ground could change his speech. He says Mr. Biden's message is that America will back Ukraine so it can help itself, while avoiding U.S. military action.

"It's being billed in some ways as the most important speech of his presidency and maybe of his political career," Lokken said.