quentin somerville, bbc news, near izyum, ukraine. let's get some of the day's other news: the number of people suffering from covid—like symptoons in north korea is fast approaching 1.5 million, just a week after the state admitted its first outbreak of the virus. so far, state media has suggested around 56 people have died. the country's leader, kim jong—un, has mobilised the military to help the supply of medicine but an offer of help from south korea's new president has so far not been taken up. at least three people have died as dust storms affect several countries in the middle east. skies have turned red across nothern syria, much of iraq and part of saudi arabia. such extreme weather has been occurring increasingly regularly in the region this year, a near daily experience, as the climate heats up. sri lanka's new prime minister says the country urgently needs $75 million to pay for essential imports, amid worsening shortages of fuel and medicine. government officials say the country has very little stock of gas and the ne

quentin somerville, bbc news, near izyum, ukraine. our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, is here. you mentioned earlier that the uk chief of defence staff has really expressed some optimism about the progress being made by the ukrainians in this conflict. why? not because i think there is going to be some great breakthrough, as we saw the fighting as hard and brittle, but i think it is seen as settling down now is a conflict into something of a war of attrition. a few gains here, a few losses there, in other words the russians are getting bogged down. from the map, you see the initial russian plan was to encircle ukrainian forces in the donbas. those forces are fighting very hard and making it difficult for the russians to make gains. there have been counter events in the north near pushing back russian forces. the russians have been having such a bad time of it that western military sources now say vladimir putin is himself getting involved in tactical battlefield decisions, normally left tojunior decisions, normally left to j

the bbc�*s quentin sommerville and cameraman darren conway have been near the eastern city of izyum, known as the gateway to donbas, where they have been on patrol with volunteer fighters. war descended suddenly upon ukraine. along the eastern front, its men may be in bunkers but they do not cower here. three times in the last month, the russians have attacked this base with infantry and tanks, and three times they have been repelled. another attack may be imminent. so here they wait. vladimir putin has turned their days into night, and taken them away from theirfamilies. but, for the men of this territorial defence unit, this is now home. above their heads hangs a constant threat. the town they have dug under is all but abandoned, its people gone. orphaned pets have sought shelter here, too. the men know it won't be long before the next attack. explosion. above, a russian barage is the signal. it's time to get to work. outside these walls, everything is in the line of fire, and these men face it daily. distant explosion. they need little reminder that to the north, the majority of r

they have been fighting for, trying to push south of izyum, and that would divert their forces to here. this whole thing, josÉ, is diverting their forces from the eastern area of donbas, and as long as they are fighting in kharkiv, they are using up what they wanted to use for other areas, and mariupol, that's almost all in russian hands, except for the steel works that is stubbornly in ukrainian hands. things are going the russians way, but they have not managed to overwhelm the ukrainians. what we are seeing if you asked me a couple months ago even before this started, the ukrainians have managed to create a counter attack, and the russians withdrew when they met ukrainian forces. that's why you are hearing noises from president zelenskyy and others in the ukrainian government saying they think they can take more land from the 24th. >> extraordinary reporting on your part, matt, and we see some of the images you captured just outside of kharkiv today, what struck out to you, matt, about what you saw this morning in the outskirts of kharkiv? >> one of the things we were doing is we w

tryingo surround ukrainian forces in the donbas region, advancing north from mariupol and south from izyum. but officials say the russian advance is going slower than expected. they're also meeting fierce resistance. on saturday, ukraine released a video purportedly showing strikes against a russian convoy driving through izyum. two hours north, in the city of kharkiv, soldiers are fighting off russians, and their own fatigue. reservist: i'm doing everything i can. i joined the territorial defence unit, i took up arms, but unfortunately, i can't catch flying missiles with my bare hands and throw them back. the feeling that i can't do anhing about it makes me feel sad. ali: but those feelings don't stop them from reloading, and grouping, to fight another day. for "pbs news weekend," i'm ali rogin. ♪ geoff: in today's headlines... a 22-year-old marineorps veteran, willy joseph cancel, who traveled from the u.s. to join the war in ukraine was killed in the fighting there this week. members of his family confirmed his death to multiple news outlets. cancel is believed to be the first america

remember, that this was a town, izyum, that was taken by russian forces on the 1st of april. heavily shelled after that. and this collapsed building the result of some of that shelling. it's unclear how long the bodies have been there, but local officials fear that there may be many more bodies to be uncovered. and in comes of course in the context as well of the u.n. saying that it fears that its current count of the number of ukrainian sieve jans who have lost their lives in war, 3,381, what the u.n. is saying the actual count may be many more thousands than that. that is the sort of discovery that is being made even as the fighting continues in towns like izyum and ukraine celebrates some of the victories to the north of kharkiv, warning that there is much more to be done. >> of course. melissa bell joining us from lviv in ukraine. many thanks. >>> a journalist recently travelled to kharkiv to get a firsthand look at the situation there. she joins me now live from kyiv. thank you so much for talking with us. >> thanks for having me. >> reporter: now president zelenskyy say

quentin somerville, bbc news, near izyum, ukraine. in other stories today, turkey's president has restated his opposition to finland and swedenjoining nato. president erdogan said they need not send delegations to convince turkey, a nato member, of their bids. he's chiefly angered by what he sees as their willingness to host kurdish militant groups. translation: the swedish and finnish delegations _ translation: the swedish and finnish delegations are - translation: the swedish and finnish delegations are coming. finnish delegations are coming to turkey on monday, are they coming to convince us? excuse me, but they should not tire themselves. first of all, we should not say yes to those who impose sanctions on turkey to join nato, because the nato would cease to be a security organisation and become a place of representatives of terrorist organisations being represented. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we'll have the very latest from california, where police say the suspect behind a mass shooting at

quentin somerville, bbc news, near izyum, ukraine. bait bradley bowman is senior director of the center on military and political power at the foundation for defense of democracies. badly, thank you very much for your time. badly, thank you very much for yourtime. i mean, there are many desperate individual stories —— bradley. wejust had one of them there. but i wonder what you make of this ukrainian ability to maintain a rearguard action, indeed even to be pushing the russians back around places like kharkiv? thanks for the opportunity to join you and thanks for the question. the stories you are covering there are just so heartbreaking and admirable at the same time. before the invasion, a lot of us were counting tanks and armoured vehicles and aircraft and talking about the supremacy of the russians, but we are looking at concepts like to they actually have the means to employ them in a combined arms way. but the biggest thing many people overlook is the determination of a free people to defend their homes. and when you combine

quentin somerville, bbc news, near izyum, ukraine. in other stories today — turkey's president has restated his opposition to finland and sweden joining nato. president erdogan said they need not send delegations to convince turkey, a nato member, of their bids. he's chiefly angered by what he sees as their willingness to host kurdish militant groups. translation: the swedish and finnish delegations are coming to turkey on monday, are they coming to convince us? excuse me, but they should not tire themselves. first of all, we should not say yes to those who impose sanctions should not say yes to those who impose sanctions on should not say yes to those who impose sanctions on turkey should not say yes to those who impose sanctions on turkey to join nato because that nato would cease to be a security organisation and become a place where representatives of terrorist organisations are concentrated. in the pandemic the bastions of zero covid have fallen one by one as the greater infectivity of the omicron variant breached defences from

you can see izyum there on the map on the far western side of that red area there. there's another area east of there, a town called propause now. the ultimate goal here is for russia to take that donbas area. they were supposed to move south from izyum and move on several different areas both east and west and develop the donbas area with the goal of creating a land bridge. they have not been able to do that. and they do have mariupol, if not at least the area around it, and the goal is to have the entire sea coast there, but they have not been able to do that. what we should expect is additional u.s. and other allied equipment to keep flowing in to help push back russia. one thing that has been getting more attention is the amount of intelligence that the united states and others are providing. that has been the game changer here. they are providing the ukrainian military with real-time battlefield intelligence. it allows the military to know where the russians are and stop them literally as they are moving, josÉ. >> courtney, the extraordinary fact of the deaths

russia highly likely, it says, intends to proceed beyond izyum to capture kramatorsk and another city there, capturing these locations would consolidate russian military control of the northeastern donbas and provide a staging point for the efforts to cut off ukrainian forces in the region. joining me now is retired army major mike lions. thank you for being with us. just to show people what that is talking about here, it says russian forces are in izyum right there, 22 battalion tactical groups moving toward kramatorsk. the significant? >> 22 battalion tactical groups is 15 to 20,000 soldiers. they're trying to outnumber the ukraine forces that are in that location. severodonetsk is in this other city here and kramatorsk, that's where that attack was on the rail lines a couple of weeks ago. key. if they can control that kind of terrain there, take away that kill zone, this is where the ukraine defense forces have been killing russian forces they have been trying toe eadvance. if they can outnumber and outoverwhelm and control that salient there, that gives them that possible opportun

quentin somerville, bbc news, near izyum, ukraine. we can now speak to nato expert michael hanlon who's s a senior fellow and director of research in foreign policy at the brookings institution. quentin sommerville, our correspondent there, spelling out what stalemate looks like. that's what it is, too, isn't it, now? that's what it is, too, isn't it, now— that's what it is, too, isn't it, now? �* . . , it, now? i'm afraid it may be startin: it, now? i'm afraid it may be starting to — it, now? i'm afraid it may be starting to look _ it, now? i'm afraid it may be starting to look like - it, now? i'm afraid it may be starting to look like that - it, now? i'm afraid it may be starting to look like that and j starting to look like that and i appreciated the choice of the phrase eastern front, evocative of course of the phrase of the western front in world war i. it is far too soon to talk about that kind of stalemate but things aren't happening that fast. now, they still could. things could change for a lot of reasons pretty quickly

izyum was the plan for the russian military and they wanted to take all of donbas and that has failed up to this point. but what we did hear from mika right before is the casualties ukrainians are taking as well. this is a long hard slog. and the one thing we don't know through most of the battle is how is ukrainian military doing. we see their successes in the defense but they were doing counter offensive last week and offense equals man power and man power equals casualties as you look at what is happening over time. the original plan of the russians was to try to link up izyum and donetsk and that is not happening. you're seeing a traditional slog of artillery where the russians are pushing out right around this area north and west. they would like to try and link up and surround donetsk, that is the town where you hear about the intense battles going on right now and that is the lead in to our discussions today. but these encirclements are much shawler and every day the ukrainians are pushing forward and the m-777 making its way out on to the battlefield. that will be a game-chang

tonight, a special report from just outside the city of izyum. our correspondent and camera journalist have been on patrol with volunteer fighters of the ukrainian defense force. >> war upon ukraine, along the eastern front, mainly in bunkers. three times in the last marine, the rushenings have attacked this base with infantry a tanks and three times they've been repelled. another attack may be imminent. -- imminent. so here they wait. vladimir putin has turned their days into night. and taken them away from their famies. but forhe main of this territorial defense unit, this is now home. above their heads hangs a constant threat. the town they've dug under is l but abandoned, its people gone. orphaned -- have sought shelter here too. the men know it won be long before the next attack. above, a russian barrage is the signal it's time to get to work. outside these walls, everything is in the lane of fire and these men failst dalive. [bombing] >> they need little reminder that to the north, the majority of russia's forces are headquartered and to th

putin's forces have been driving southeast along the donetsk river and south from izyum. russia's stated aim is to capture all of the donbas. that includes the luhansk and donetsk provinces. they say they can hold the russians back for now. but he says we need powerful long range artillery, and that unfortunately is not here yet, and it could completely change the whole war. without the heavy weapons already promised by the u.s. and other western allies, he says, the russians will destroy everything with artillery and mortars. they destroy with aircraft, they use helicopters. they are just wiping everything off the face of the earth so there's nothing left to hang on to. for ukraine, this is an existential battle. re-enforcements have been rushed to the front lines. but there's no sign of the heavy weapons needed to block a russian advance. much less reverse it. a doctor says ludmila will be moved west for more treatment, but the fate and that of her 96-year-old mother is unknown. we simply cannot physically handle so many wounded with such severe injuries, he says. this

but what they're trying to do push from belgrade, into his access of izyum. reports from izyum, over the last three to four days is that many of the russian officers there and potentially the chief of staff were there and hit with indirect strike of some sort from the ukrainians. this is pretty devastating. we've not seen much action from there. the fight from here on forward is really going to be here on the east. when we zoom in, this is the battlefield as it looks today. the russians are trying to advance really in these two corridors, here and here. they want to bring their forces inslovyansk. it's a key city, if they take the city, they can envelope the ukrainian forces dug in here and want to equip the forces coming up from donetsk. that's essentially the end of western donbas if they're able to do that. but big questions about their ability to do that, when you zoom back out and look at the bigger picture. separately, we saw russian forces doing probing operations here in the south. but i think that's mostly to keep ukrainian military forces tied. you

russian troops have been in control of izyum for nearly two months. this is the last holdout in the besieged city of mariupol. and ukrainian officials say several hundred soldiers remaining at the azovstal steel plant are refusing to give up the fight. at least 100 civilians, mostly men, are still trapped. video shows a ukrainian flag still flying over the steel plant. cnn cannot verify that it is still there. and here at home, the house of representatives today will consider an additional $40 billion in supplemental funding for ukraine. president biden calling on cock to act immediately, warning that existing aid will run out in approximately ten days. >> we'll bring in cnn's isa soares live in ukraine. let's start with the repeated attacks in odesa. >> reporter: a very good morning to you, john and brianna. president putin didn't reveal his hand as we saw on monday, with forces not holding back, pummeling the port city of odesa, with missiles being fired from submarines, ships and planes. witnesses felt the impact of those strikes about 25 miles or

ukrainian forces learned that the general may have been at a russian base in izyum near kharkiv just before it was destroyed by fighters and the report is that the general was wounded in the leg during that attack. those claims were not repeated by official ukrainian armed forces sources. ukrainian forces claim that at least 200 russian soldiers, including a separate general, were killed saturday, in the russian-controlled city of izyum. visits to the front lines by such a high-ranking member of the russian army is unusual. this general is known as vladimir putin's right-hand man in the military. joining us now, news director for new alliance magazine, investigative journalist michael weiss, one of our favorites keeping us informed on the war. let's start there. the report of the general, whether or not he is injured, but what does it mean he was in the front lines at all? >> it is kind of extraordinary. this is the chief of the general staff, the top general russian military, several years ago, he created a white paper, which kind of got bandied about in the analytic community about

to threaten the supply lines that the russians have, the supply lines that run down to places like izyum and into the donbas because that is really now where the battle is going to be focused, the eastern region of ukraine. if the ukrainians can start to threaten those supply lines, bring more troops in, well, they can give themselves a key strategic advantage in what is going to be the battle for the future of this country. in ukraine, this week, the country's national guard said that at least 500 of its members have died since russia's invasion more than two months ago. many fear the real number could be much higher. and behind each death, there are comrades left behind to mourn those who've lost their lives in battle. volodymyr tarasov is one of those, and he met the bbc at a military cemetery on the outskirts of dnipro. i want to bring you some news just into this year at the bbc. this relates to the fact that finland has said that it wants to join nato without delay, following russia's invasion of ukraine. well, we are just hearing the word from interfax, which is the russian state

pictures showing what it says are strikes on russian reinforcements to the area around the city of izyum, a key battleground in the kharkiv region. however, the uk and united states say the russian advance in the east is days behind schedule. our correspondent in kyiv, ben brown, has more on what ukrainian officials have been saying about this attack in the donbas region. they expect it to get even heavier, that russia will further ratchet up in the east. russia basically took the decision to abandon their attempts to take this city, kyiv, and to focus on that offensive in the east, on the eastern front in donbas, and that is certainly what they are doing. they have been raining down artillery, mortars, bombs from the air, onto ukrainian positions in trenches and bunkers on that eastern front. the ukrainians are admitting that they have taken heavy casualties, although they are also saying that they have inflicted what they called "colossal" casualties on the russians. but as far as president zelensky has said, you know, it goes on, the defence of this country goes on despite that russia

the bbc�*s quentin sommerville and cameraman darren conway have been near the eastern city of izyum, known as the gateway to donbas, where they have been on patrol with volunteer fighters of the territorial defence force. war descended suddenly on ukraine. along the eastern front its men may be in bunkers, but they do not cower here. three times in the last month the russians have attacked this base, with infantry and tanks, and three times they have been repelled. another attack may be imminent. so here, they wait. vladimir putin has turned their days into night, and taken them away from theirfamilies. but for the men of this territorial defence unit, this is now home. above their heads hangs a constant threat. the town they have dug under is all but abandoned, its people gone. orphaned pets have sought shelter here to. the men know it won't be long before the next attack. explosions. above, a russian barrage is the signal. it's time to get to work. outside these walls, everything is in the line of fire, and these men face it daily. explosions. they need little reminder that to the

to threaten the supply lines that the russians have, the supply lines that run down to places like izyum and into the donbas because that is really now where the battle is going to be focused, the eastern region of ukraine. if the ukrainians can start to threaten those supply lines, bring more troops in, well, they can give themselves a key strategic advantage in what is going to be the battle for the future of this country. russia has warned that the entry of finland and sweden into nato would lead to a militarisation of the baltic region. the russian deputy foreign minister said they would respond to any deployment of nuclear weapons near russian borders. the foreign ministers of sweden and finland are due to meet their nato colleagues in berlin. the meeting comes as elite troops take part in nato�*s largest special forces exercise — right across the alliance's eastern flank. our defence correspondentjonathan beale�*s been given rare access to see them train. in the black sea, a team of special forces from romania, the us, and the uk are about to raid a ship that has been hijacke

one place in particular, this izyum area, you're not seeing the russians advance anymore. small reconnaissance moving from there. i think that speaks to the bigger picture of what we see in the east. the ukrainians have pushed all the way through here, taken this part of the eastern section of kharkiv. they pushed russian artillery out. if you went on social media today, you'll even see ukrainian soldiers running right up to the russian border at this point. they're trying to maintain this corridor from belgorod to izyum. i'm not sure they can advance. the plan for russia, i think, is stalled. you saw signaling yesterday from inside russia that they may be thinking about what the end game is. sanctions are hitting. ammunition supplies, manpower, russia is having a hard time continuing to reinforce those groups. separately, the ukrainians are building combat power. a lot of that u.s. military equipment, the m-777, switchblade drones, it's making its way to the eastern front at the donbas. i'd like to talk about the bigger picture and how we think this might end or what it c

general of the chiefs, he was there in izyum. that's not what we would see from other militaries, and that's not just the only example. they have had officers forward in this case, and part of it is the way the russian military is structured here. they don't delegate decisions down to a lower level so they have more of the senior people there making battlefield, tactical decisions on a day-to-day basis, in a way that the u.s. military, for instance, would delegate down to a captain or lieutenant, and they are put in much more precarious positions on a daily basis, and it stands to reason these general officers would have been in positions of danger. the u.s. has not been able to confirm, at least not publicly or to the media how many russian generals may have been killed throughout the course of this invasion, but there's an acknowledgment some have been killed throughout the campaign. >> it seems unusual, but courtney is being, as always, so clear, and what is your reaction to that, ambassador? >> courtney is absolutely right. t

izyum is a flank they want to bring here to the south. that speaks to the bigger picture, which is what we're seeing on this multi-front battle. the russians did take some small ground here. they're trying to bring all of these flanks together to this area known as slovyansk. the last thing of note to kind of consider is we've seen here in mariupol they're still fighting every single day. you're seeing the russians try to clean up some of the area, bring logistics into it, and maybe try to absorb some of the southern front. the russians also want to push some of these forces here up to donetsk. they want to bring donetsk and this izyum axis together and cut this part of donbas off. one thing to note, there has been conflict in donbas since 2014. there has been sustained fighting there for a very long time. this is not unusual for this area. when we're talking about when would the war end or when would putin stop, he hasn't stopped since 2014. this has been going on. that brings me to the last point here. crimea, you know, he took nearly a

we've been talking about this izyum access for two to three weeks now. separate and out here, there are convoys, essentially, logistical convoys that moven this, the russian military has to move back to reinforce this communication line. i think that speaks to the bigger problem the russians are having, just across the board. instead of going for the big area, izyum to donetsk, you're seeing them push through. the river crossing which was right here, this is essential for them. they have to move from one end of the north to the south to develop this area, severodonetsk. they couldn't take the luhansk region. they were talking about losing 80 vehicles, one to two tactical troops. if they're losing that much troop and manpower, you can't get through the river now. there's so many vehicles destroyed there. how will they take this intermediate objective rather than the big one? in the was create a giant hook here to take all of donbas. this is what putin restated may 9th. he wanted all of donbas. this is the donetsk region of donbas. this is the luhansk regi

from kharkiv down to izyum, you're seeing very short axis where they're trying to push their armor forces together. when you zoom out one more time and look at this area here, you'll see they're trying to go for this location, sloviansk. they want to bring them together, encircle and take over this western area of donbas and flank a lot of the ukrainian forces. that being said, the ukrainian military is performing very, very well in this defensive formation. they are stopping each of these advances. the russians advancing very slowly. every day the russians are delayed, essentially can't move forward, the ukrainian military is able to bring the weapons and man power back in to help with these defenses. >> last week you were talking about that this stage of the war is going to be a war of artillery. is the ukrainian -- are the ukrainian forces sufficiently equipped for this war of artillery? >> yeah, so what's interesting, jose, a lot of these weapons are moving back in to ukraine. in terms of artillery, several different things going on. one is the javelins. you saw president biden this w

can they take the line down to the izyum access. the izyum access, the original second plan of the russians. remember, they first went after kyiv and failed. they now have failed really to build this out here which is to do a full development of the western part of donbas. trying to link this izyum group with donetsk. while there are russian soldiers redeploying there. they haven't been able to bring this together. what is a much smaller attack by the russian military to chip away at the ukrainians. southern severodonetsk is this area right here, trying to bring it further together, if they can do that, they can slowly advance against the ukrainians. the problem is the soldiers are motivated and they're not particularly successful. where the russians have strength is artillery but that has changed. the ukrainian military is building up their counterfire. with the addition of western weapons coming in, this battle is going to be a hard-fought one and very slow, i think, at this point. the big question, as you zoom out and start to lo

when they did that, they put pressure on the command line that goes down to izyum. the russians need to take that location so they can create a larger envelopment. they have not been able to advance. this is also where there's reports of a general meeting with a lot of senior officers, potentially being injured there and lots killed. it's causing the russians to have to move back north and essentially have to defend their rear lines. that is a setback for them. that's the lie blue area around kharkiv. and in and around luhansk. there are many individuals in the ukrainian military who use the new artillery pieces and you're starting to see the switch blade drones deployed for the first time. that is going to be devastating for the russians. in the south, those troops in mariupol for the russians are being deployed northern for donetsk. while going there, they need a russia. how motivated are they to advance north they've been in intense fighting when things aren't going well. particularly in the south and east, what is success? you've got to believe in the cause, you

it essentially drivers down izyum, and if they can push the russians out of kharkiv, the indirect fires in the center of town won't be as precise. when you look further to the south, you see this area which will be the central battle point probably for the next days, weeks, and maybe throughout the summer. the russians want to advance here, here and here towards this key town, and they want to envelop those forces and keep the ukrainian army boxed in, and you are seeing the ukrainians send a lot of manpower and material and a lot of the new weapon systems coming in from the u.s., they are going to push to this area here in donbas. when people ask when this will end, i remind them fighting has been going on in donbas since 2014. >> russia is struggling on the battlefield but still inflicting horrors on the ukrainian people. 60 were feared dead after a russian air strike on a school in eastern ukraine. what do you know? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. as a matter of fact, today the governor of that region said they had to put a pause on a recovery mission at that school because they were

and the donbas fight, especially in the north, especially in the donetsk area and north of izyum have to cross the donbas region. when you see a pontoon bridge, it's important from a military perspective. what i would also say, there have been other pontoon bridges attempted to be laid by the russian military. in every occasion, they have been destroyed by ukrainian counterattacks. so, the ukraine army continues to have increased capability where those upontoon bridges, have to be defended, aren't capable of sustaining the kind of transport the russians would like. >> as we look at how everything is playing out, now day 75, i believe, what we heard from putin this morning, no declaration of victory, as we know. more defensive. but also no indication of an end in sight. when you look at what is happening on the ground, specifically in the south and east of ukraine, where do we stand on day 75? >> well, where we stand, first of all, confirms what you just said, day 75. this was supposed to be a three-day war by the russians. they fought for eight years in the donbas and didn't achieve a

night ukrainian military took out a number of russian military vehicles southeast of russian occupied izyum and this is some new video that we're getting in also provided by the ukrainian military that appears to show a drone strike on at least two russian military positions on russian-occupied snake island. isa soares is joining us live from lviv with the very latest in western ukraine. what can you tell us? >> reporter: a very good morning to you, brianna. let me start with what we heard from pope francis, in fact, in the last 40 minutes or so. he has slammed the leader of russia's orthodox church for really endorsing putin's reasoning for this war, the reasoning, of course, we have heard so far calling this a special military operation, saying that it's de-nazifying ukraine. according to an italian newspaper pope francis told the patriarch not to become putin's altar boy, those were his words to the patriarch of russia's orthodox church. also pope francis saying that there's not enough will for peace but he is prepared to travel to moscow to meet with president putin. and on the pope's m

from what the russians seem to be doing is organizing here in bell go rod for this access here down to izyum. this is a stalled front. these fingers that you see sticking off here in multi-color, those are recognizance probes. they use those to find the ukrainian front lines to bring in indirect fire and missile strikes. but they're going to run out of that munitions, they're moving increasingly to just broad based fires and different from the beginning of the war, the ukrainian military now has counter battery, now has artillery coming in and ammunition coming in, we've talked a lot about the logistics involved in this fight. it is going to boil down to this area right here. the russians are pushing on multiple fronts. they made some small gains here. they continue to probe here but are not making significant advances. not enough to push through. and here and here they're also pushing through. their goal is to envelop and i think the conversation for me today is really about man power. why do people fight. they have to believe in the mission. they have to believe in the plan, they have to b

as russian forces have -- are going to be forced now to leave izyum, places in the south and the don bassbas region to reinf this town, the major logistical supply point for where the russians are getting logistics and communications coming in. the fact they have to withdraw from that main fight in the donbas, in this region here, they're having some success here, kramatorsk, but the fact they have to take troops offline to this area to bring them back here, tremendous failure from the military perspective. >> so the ukrainians are having enough success around kharkiv that in a way it is hampering the rest of the russian efforts in donbas. they're having to move troops? >> absolutely. what happened is the 20 or so battalion tactical groups that russia deployed into the region after failing in kyiv have been grinded up, virtually spit out and had to move 40 or so, 40 or 50 in the region so far, and replace them. the thing is, this area is just too big, too big an area for 40 or 50 battalion tactical groups to try to do anything offensively. so, again, russia gets up every day, their p

also up here in izyum area, we know they have been trying to cross the river for weeks as well. what happened was the ukrainians conducted such a successful counter offensive in this area that the russians have had to redeploy forces back in here to protect their strategic logistics lines because belgrade up here is where the logistics hub is, so i mean, everywhere you look, militarily, vladimir putin is not achieving his objectives and he's being beat tactically in every possible way. >> reporter: so to this, the director of national intention spoke to congress saying even if russia is successful in taking control of the donbas region, and i'm quoting here the intelligence community is not confident that will end the war. general, i want to ask you about this because there's been hope among some that putin had just said, look, i'll go ahead and try to get the donbas and my land bridge and i'll declare victory and rytry to move out. now the dni is saying, no, that that is not likely to happen. what do you think? >> i think he's probably right. i think that we're probably going t

. >> bodies of 44 civil januarys discovered in the rubble of a five-story building in izyum under russian control. ukrainians say the building was destroyed by the russians. in mariupol, several hundred soldiers are holding out in the azovstal steel plant. at least 100, mostly men, are still trapped there. you can see the flag flying over the plant. cnn cannot verify in the flag is still is there. >> and a senior official tells cnn that anecdotal reports show that some russian officers are refusing to obey orders to move forward in the donbas offensive. some of these officers have either refused to obey orders or not obeying them with the same measure of alacrity it that you would expect an officer to obey. >> joining us a retired major general james "spider" marks. general marks, what do you make of this? what does it tell you about russian leadership? >> well, what it really tells you what we've been talking abe for of the past two months, which is there is no leadership at the top measures. and the back bone, the skeletal structure. if you're working for leadership like that, i've got

near belgorod, one of the main cities russia has on the border here from luhansk all the way down to izyum, one of russia's key fronts on their bid to exercise greater control over donbas. and, don, you just got to ask yourself. here we are so far into the sort of second phase, the reset, if you like, of russia's unprovoked invasion. no move really for hem in the south, to speak of. nothing significant. stalemate there. in the east, maybe some incremental moves forward. slowly perhaps, yes. even ukrainian officials accept that. but here, to the north of kharkiv, frankly, something which i am sure russian military plans would have thought would be easier to take early on, supply lines are potentially at risk. when russia controls of its narrative here again, i don't know what we are looking at here is a stalemate, if not slow collapse of their positions, don. >> nick paton walsh, thank you very much for that. >>> new tonight. defense secretary lloyd austin speaking with his russian counterpart for the first time since russia's invasion of ukraine started. here to discuss, former defense sec

vital supply line to the east of where this retreat is occurring, that runs from russia right down to izyum where the bulk of their forces are, they may have destroyed some bridges to increase their protection there, but a lot moving back and forth in small incremental amounts around the front lines here. and in the east, in the center of the country, and also in the south, predominantly a stalemate, though. the u.s. secretary of defense, lloyd austin, speaking to his counterpart in russia just today, to keep that communication line open. the rest of the call not entirely clear, but interesting it occurs right now at the stalemate here quite palpable, jake. >> nick paton walsh, thanks very much. here with me to discuss is congressman adam smith of washington state. the chairman of the house armed services committee. thanks for joining us. cnn is reporting russia said they're going to stop sending electricity to finland as of tomorrow. they say it's due to a problem in receiving payments but this is a day after finland's leaders expressed support for joining nato. do you this is in retaliati

british officials said today russian troops are expected to move south from izyum and could capture the cities of kramatorsk and severodonetsk. further south in mariupol, senior u.s. defense official said russia maintains about 2,000 troops inside the city. in the center of that city two months ago, 1000 civilians, mostly women and children, sheltered in a theater's basement from russian strikes. today the associated press estimated a russian missile strike that destroyed the theater killed 600 civilians. that would double the official death toll. the ap's new estimate relies on 3d floor plans, videos, photos and the accounts of survivors, like maria kutnyakova. she lives only because she happened to walk outside before the russians attacked. >> this was the ultimate realization that they are not at war with the army, they are at war with every ukrainian, with every resident of mariupol. they came not to capture the city but to destroy it. nick: and destroy it they have. two months of russia's ruthless campaign have left a ravaged skeleton of a city. soldiers and civilians final holdout

so, in the east, russians are making gains in the critical city of izyum. they're pushing out a little bit to the west. and that's important for their supply lines down in the donbass. where we are, in the south, in and around the area of kherson, the lines are pretty static, according to ukrainian officials. but the mood, judy, at the top is positive. president zelenskyy tonight in his nightly address said that the war wouldn't end until russia returns everything that is ours. that suggests that ukraine wants russia not only to return what it has recently captured since the invasion two months ago, but, also, ukraine wants to recapture territory that russian-backed separatists have controlled in eastern ukraine since 2014. other ukrainian officials are using the word victory. and i have talked to multiple ukrainian officials in the last few days about, because they're getting new, heavier weapons, they want to launch counteroffensives, including in places like mariupol. so that, judy, adds up to a grinding war of attrition that u.s. officials are beginning

and in izyum, local officials recovered 44 bodies from a destroyed apartment block. >> let's go now to erin burnett in kyiv. erin, we have been talking about these attacks from russia in the east. their movements there. but the strikes we're seeing now in the south, in odesa, what more do you know about those? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, victor and alisyn, this is what we have been seeing, right, this escalation that's been going on and intensification in the east and the south, and russian strikes hit two hotels and a shopping mall in the southern city of odesa overnight so we do see that intensification there. at least one person was killed. five others injured. and this is really important. ukraine says russia used hypersonic missiles. the european council president was actually visiting the city when the strikes occurred, was forced to take shelter. president zelenskyy underscored how long it's been since odesa has seen this kind of violence. listen to what he said. >> translator: president of the european council, charles michele, visited odesa and saw with his own eyes what the bl

is significant for them, but if you look at the map we're showing right now, there was a town called izyum that you see there. that is an area where the russians were trying to have three lines of assault out of there. that is where they have made a little bit of progress. again, it's very slow. it's definitely much slower than the russians i believed to have thought they would be able to push forward toward the baton area, but it's not insignificant. if you consider the russians really are and as for months and months and months now, you know, they could make some actual progress toward the donbas. >> a constant concern that is underneath this war has always been poking putin . is always been concerned, be careful poking him too much whether it's president biden saying he had to go, things like this. there is no bigger poke at putin and finland joining nato. to me, this is and just forget anything else. how seriously is the pentagon taking some of these threats now coming from russia? >> as of now, was, the two big things they are watching they are most concerned about it the use of some

there's indications the russians are going to give up on the izyum access in donbas. where they're making gains are, indeed, in the east. they're taking over little pockets and villages and settlements, and they're trying to encircle ukrainian forces in lieu luhansk. it's slow. all the western kit, heavy armor and weaponry, howitzers, the a-2s provided by the united states and other countries are being brought to the eastern front. the ukrainians have shown amazing resolve, creativity. there was a great dispatch in the "wall street journal" the other day from a town, a city in eastern ukraine, which said the ukrainians cannot believe how much the russians are relying on these human wave attacks. they said they keep coming like zombies, was the quote, yet weir able to wipe them out. the ukrainians hold the line better than anyone thought they could. >> hand-to-hand combat. michael weiss, congratulations on the story. see where it goes in the weeks ahead. appreciate you being with us today. >>> thanks to all of you for getting up with us "way too early" on this friday m

the stalling of the russian offensive around izyum, they've been trying to head south. it's considered a good faith to the donbas region. it is understand, after they took the town on april 1st that that offensive is now stalling as a result of the ukrainian counteroffensive. now, the point of it was to try to protect kharkiv, a city incredibly affected by nearly two months now of being pounded by artillery. but it is also, of course, john, crucially about right to break some of those russian supply routes. trying to prevent them from getting those much-needed supplies to their troops further south. president zelenskyy announcing last night about the importance of these glalatest gains and explaining, wars are about momentum. they're about weaponry, manpower, and momentum. he believes some of that has now been won back, and this could mark a turning point for the war. also warning, however, john, that there might not necessarily be any certain gains ahead. >> melissa bell for us la viva. melissa, thank you so much for tracking things for us. >>> so this is a crisis. tha

they have forced now the russians that had pushed all the way down into this area in izyum to go back to defend their supply lines because they're up here in belgrade. that's where the logistics base is, so they continue to do a very very good job of putting the russians at risk logistically. and they're doing a good job, i think, of pushing as much as they can on their rail and their road networks out here into this area. kra kra ma they're doing everything they can to beef up their situation in kra mar . >> show us where the russians are making strides. >> where they've made strides is in this area right here in the luhansk and in this area, pushing into this area right here. okay, this is about still 50 miles from kramatorsk and the reason that they are being successful is once again, logistics. they have secure supply lines here from russia. they have friendly troops. they already occupied that area. the supply lines are not subject to interdiction. what they are able to do is bring up massive amounts of artillery. the artillery that they have up there, probably about eight to ten

here in izyum, they're trying to push through this town of kramatorsk, but they have been unable to do that because of this counteroffensive which has forced them to reposition back here. i mean, i know that the activity in luhansk is serious. that's really the only russian play. but i think the ukrainians will continue to carry the day because they have a very effective active mobile defense. they have superior technology. and they have the will to fight that the russians can't seem to break. >> they maintain the mobility, they're making things very difficult for the russians. general steven anderson, a pleasure to have you, thank you. >> thank you. >>> in moments, a new indicator of how the economy is doing as president biden warns inflation is going to, quote, scare the hell out of voters. >>> plus, a desperate mother joins us live as america's shortage of baby formula gets worse. what she is being forced to do. >>> and why a crowd of good samaritans risk their lives in a busy intersection in this incredible new video. (vo) every business, big or small, coast to coast, needs interne

fighting is most intense around the city of izyum, but the russians are making little progress. and there are reports of heavy losses. the bbc s andrew harding, has sent us this report, from eastern ukraine and a warning, it contains pictures you may find distressing. a quiet village in the donbas is saying farewell to ivan naduti. killed by a scrap of russian shrapnel. the 30—year—old builder volunteered to fight the day after putin's invasion. his wife begged him not to go. now his father is lost in grief. but something else is stirring in this village and across this region. a burning sense of defiance. "he was defending freedom for every one of us," says a village elder, his lip trembling. "glory to our heroes." a lonely ukrainian warplane thunders overhead. the front lines are just a town away to the north. and a defiant blitz spirit is growing here too, as the bombs fall at random in places like kramatorsk. seizing this corner of eastern ukraine, with its close ties to russia, was supposed to be an easier task for the kremlin�*s blundering army. but the blundering go

there was a report that he was in a town called izyum and may have been injured. but will this open the door for more communication between the two sides going forward. >> a phone call, secretary austin will not convince the russians to stop the war in a phone call. is this mostly about deconfliction here? >> reporter: so there's a separate channel for what the military calls a tactical deconfliction. that's literally what's happening on the ground. the potential for any kind of a military-to-military interaction is to stop that. and the russians, that's one place where the russians actually have been answering the phone, on about a daily basis, the u.s. reaches out and the russians pick up the phone on the other line. but there hasn't been any cause to actually use that deconfliction phone line. they've only been testing it. and one of the things that we did learn here today is that, you know, the u.s. has announced that this massive troop deployment that we saw over a number of weeks, in advance of and after the invasion began, u.s. troops flowing into the regio

but they've stalled to the south of izyum and around the city of kharkiv — again because of ukrainian resistance. thousands of civilians are still trapped in that fighting. and our correspondent andrew harding has been hearing from the people risking their lives in rescue operations. they sit in stunned silence on the school bus thatjust rescued them from hell. still weary with terror. two other buses with them did not make it back. "it was so scary," is all she can manage to say. thousands here are running the russian gauntlet, trying to escape from the kremlin's new offensive in eastern ukraine. but imagine escaping this, and then going back in again and again. that is what a group of remarkable volunteers are doing here in the donbas, including the man who filmed this. a british maths teacher, guy osborn, who came out last month to lend a hand. we have been going quite close to the front and evacuating huddled, bedridden people, a couple of blind people, people with zimmer frames. —— evacuating quite a lot of bedridden people. it is quite a risk you're taking. i am quite scared