this is "don lemon tonight." our breaking news, as russia's bombardment turns bloodier by the day, russia could decide to use chemical or biological weapons and putin might make up a false flag lie using them. that warning coming as russia is accused of bombing a maternity and children's hospital in mariupol, the southern city russia has been plummeting for days and the refugee crisis in ukraine growing. more than 2 million people have fled the country since the invasion began two weeks ago. we'll get straight to ukraine and cnn's michael holmes live in livi. these images are heartbreaking. a mother carried out on a stretcher by volunteers and this pregnant woman bloodied up trying to make her way down a flight of damaged stairs. what are you making of this

attack on a maternity hospital. >> reporter: outrageous, don. there is outrage in the country. what happened at that hospital in mariupol, the president saying the bombing is proof of a genocide of ukrainians. he said that in a video message posted to telegram late on wednesday night. i want to just get the satellite photos up, don. i know you have them. i think we can show a photo of the hospital before the attack, and then another image of the after and in the eyes of the world of this brutal and kacall attack, the after trying to get your head around the scale of that -- look at the person in there. there is a person in there. that shows you how huge these blasts were. russia, well, i guess they are just trying to get their message straight. the russian ambassador to france said essentially it wasn't us. it wasn't russia. the russia foreign ministry spokeswoman incredibly accused

ukraine of using the hospital for combat positions and clearing out the patients but as you say, the videos, photographers show otherwise. the heavily pregnant woman being carried out after the bombing, staff, bodies being collected, there is images of that. it's easy to make a denial or accusation or deflection but the i images speak for themselves? horrifying. more images speaking for themselves. incredibly disturbing images just into cnn that is important to show the true cost of war. michael, these are from a mass grave in mariupol. ukraine yiians are burying thei dead, horrifying. >> reporter: unbelievable. it's a scene out of i don't know what, hard to watch and important to see. on top of no water, no food, no electricity there is a death toll. 1300 dead in mariupol. he first said a week ago douzens and hundreds and now into the thousands.

we can't confirm those numbers ourselves independent by but look at the images. these people don a few weeks ago were living normal lives, going to work, sending kids to school and going shopping. the mayor said they hadn't been able to collect or bury the dead. well, now they can in mass graves in trenches. dehumanizing frankly sickening and, you know, thousands of the living are still trapped inside that on going hell, don? >> michael holmes will be anchoring live coverage from ukraine in about an hour. i want to play one of the calls for help in the moments right after the hospital was attacked and i have to warn you again, this one is disturbing, as well. joining me is alexi, the

politics editor for "the kyiv indepe independent" currently in western ukraine. thank you for joining us. you've been reporting extensively on the war ripping apart your country, the images of the attack and maternity hospital are horrific. you said the whole city of mariupol is getting destroyed. talk to us about that and what is going on. >> yes, the city of mariupol is encircled by the russian troops for the past seven or eight days. the city is cut off from food, water, medicine, doesn't have electricity. the city is -- was home to 400,000 people now is on the verge of a human -- >> do the people have enough food and water to survive now? we've been getting reports from people there people are even

melting knosnow to have drinkin water. >> according to our reports, there is not enough food and water. people have their -- everything they had already done so that's why the mayor was pleading russia for allowing a humanitarian corridor to mainland ukraine. ukraine and russians met for three times and the main collection was allowing a safe passage from mariupol and all those three times russia continued shelling and we see horrible images from the maternity hospital, from the children's hospital, from the university destroyed so russia is continuing attacking the city and it looks like their main message is they're not going to let people out. >> alexi, you say it is important to pay attention to the city that's being encircled

by russian troops. do ukrainians have what they need to fight for this city? >> yes, currently, we looked at russians are advancing in the south and the regional capital of mykolaiv. it's a direct road to 0 dodessa one of the largest port cities and if mykolaiv falls, there is a direct road to kyiv. >> there are cars lined up for miles as people try to escape. how hard is it for ukrainians to

leave kyiv right now? >> it's hard to leave kyiv. it was home to over 3 million people. the russians are stationed in the northwest suburbs of kyiv. they're occupied. there is also a humanitarian ka at -- catastrophe there with people trying to flee once those cities were once prosperous suburbs of kyiv. so people understand that russians are close. they're trying to flee and obviously, we see traffic jams to western ukraine and some people tell me that it took them three days to travel from kyiv to a safe heaven in western ukraine. >> as of now, you're in a safer location but you're still in a country at war. as you report on the shelling

and so many ukrainian cities, do you worry at some point nowhere will be safe. we feel safer in lviv or here, but are you getting to a point where nowhere is really safe? >> well, despite ukrainian victories and we know that russians are facing substantial casualties, we also don't see russia slowing down. we don't see that russia is stopping and unfortunately, we understand that russia has more soldiers, more planes, more tanks and if this continues, it is a matter of time all of ukraine will be covered by war. >> alexi, thank you. appreciate you joining us. be safe. thanks so much? thank you. so we're getting new video of fighting in the streets of the city in southeastern ukraine. this is from earlier today.

watch this. so that was ukrainian forces using soldier fired missiles and joining me now is defense secretary, former defense secretary william cohen. happy to have you and i learn so much from you. appreciate it. ukrainians are putting up a pierce resistance but today we saw putin's forces are willing to strike women and children in hospitals, babies, right? unborn babies and now the white house is warning that russia could use chemical weapons in ukraine with a madman calling the shots. what can the rest of the world do? >> well, we can hold the course. at this particular point, i can tell you in this household there are a thousand tears shed every night. i got members of my family that can't sleep spread around the

country. everybody is touched to the core with heartbreak of what putin is doing. i think we have to be careful. i heard a number of commentators say this is just the way that russia operates. this is their kind of war. when we normalize it saying this is how they do it, it becomes more acceptable, i guess, on the international stage. this is not the way you do it in the 21st century. so the rest of the world has to stand up and do what we can. you know, i'm angry most of the time but this is a cool medium and anger is said to blow out the lamp of the mind and i have to try to maintain and hopefully all of our leaders maintain as much control as we can under circumstances that are barbaric. there is a debate that rages can we have a partial no fly zone? i don't know how you define that and go from partial to full given the either the

inexperience of the conscripts who are in the front lines or some of the generals who are now ordering these missile shots from 15, 20, 30 miles away. i think what we have to do is continue to give the ukrainian people as much support as we can, keep pouring in the air defense systems that we have and the stinger missiles and the ability to take out tanks with the javelin and other types of perhaps armed uavs so we can put them over the skis and see the russian troops and hit them where they are but not putting aircraft in the air beyond what they have now as far as the ukrainian air force. i think we're trying to really thread the needle here but it may come to a point in time where we're no longer able to say this is acceptable, this is a red line there you cannot cross. right now, putin is the only one drawing red lines saying if you try to put any kind of air defense equipment in or aircraft in, that's a red line.

so he keeps drawing lines and we keep waiting to see how far he's going to go. should he use chemical weapons and he's done it before? they've had anthrax facilities. they producer serin gas and chemicals. he's used them. we have to say -- i don't know if we'll draw a red line but that comes awfully close to a nuclear type of use on his part on a tactical basis. >> he's also raised the possibility of nuclear weapons and now there is this possibility that the white house is warning that, you know, he could use chemical weapons and then but listen, that's a possibility. what we know right now is that he -- they bombed a maternity hospital. and the ukrainian president zelenskyy says the maternity hospital strike is proof of genocide of ukrainians.

he's been mpleading with nato t establish the no fly zone and i know the fear is triggering a wider war. but is there a point that this needs to be considered or as you said, you know, should we stay the course? america, nato, stay the course now and not even a partial as you say or a limited no fly zone? >> well, if someone can explain to me how you can construct a limited no fly zone that doesn't spill over into a full scare -- >> and one mistake with a limited no fly zone can escalate into something that's a atrocio but go on, please. >> fshor the russians to take o of our aircraft out or us take them out and putin say you declared war against russia and expand it. i don't know as heart broken as the american people are, i don't know how many of the american people would say it's time to

risk going to war with russia. perhaps he is just bluffing. you know, there is an old expression that a bluff that's taken seriously can be helpful but a threat that is not taken seriously can be catastrophic. a serious threat that we ignore. i think we have to walk very carefully here before we say mr. putin, you have krocrossed the e and we're prepared to take action on your forces on the ground and air. i think that's something that the american people will not support and i don't think the american leadership is going to support that. the question is can we keep ukraine people alive long enough for these sanctions to really hit the russian people because that -- that is what is going to change this war is when the russian people see the truth. when they see what their president is doing to their fellow sitcitizens and the

potential of mother earth, when they see this because they're not seeing it now. when they see this, they will take to the streets in tens of thousands and already, there are thousands of people risking going because their demonstrating on streets of russia. so i think we have to keep pressure up, intensify it if we can on the sanctions part of it. sanctions won't change everything. they will make life hard for the russian people and hopefully take to the streets at that point. >> but i hope there is -- let's -- i'm sure the people who are in ukraine dealing with this are saying that is going to take time and i don't know if time is really on their side at this point. we'll have to talk to you more another time. thank you secretary. appreciate you joining us this evening. thanks so much. next, a young woman in kharkiv dorkcument what is is happening and says it's harder to leave than live with the bombardment. , his future became my focus.

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millions of ukrainians seen bombs and shelling near their homes near kharkiv. a bombardment made it difficult for reporters to cover what is happening so what are they going to see now? you're going to see now i should see is rare and incredibly important. this is itv news dan rivers. he filed this report about one woman in the city using her camera to tell her story of her city under assault. >> reporter: kharkiv is resembling the 21st century war. only this time it is russia

laying siege to a city defiantly resisting. somehow amid this, its restidens are surviving. the day after a missile slammed into kharkiv's town hall we asked a resident to document what is happening to her home. >> my city kharkiv is under constant attack, bombs, rocket fire, artillery fire all day non-stop just today four russian war planes flew near my house. >> reporter: she is trying to keep her body, mind and soul together with her family in their apartment where they're sheltering from the bombs. >> this is our hiding place. it's an area between two walls with no windows. we also have a little bit of space for our bunny rabbit.

i just found out russians have bombed my favorite place in kharkiv. i feel really angry. look what they've done. i celebrated my birthday one time in this bar. >> reporter: as the siege tightens, her struggle to survive forces her to venture outside. >> me and my sister are going to pick some water. my sister is going to fill this bottle. all set. so the elevator is not working for ten days now so we need to

walk on stairs, go, go. this is how we do it. >> her sleep is now often interrupted by the sound of war planes circling as the bombing of kharkiv intensifies. >> have some good news. my family is alive. i am alive. my house is still standing. my friends are okay. no one i personally know have yet died during russian invasion of ukraine. i have electricity, drinking water, some food. not much but enough. >> reporter: each day the bombs are falling closer. this is the university sports complex. >> we heard very loud explosion.

the door shook and windows, too. and this was it. apocalypse now. and among the ruins, we have found a little dog. look at him. my sister says he's really trembling really hard. last night was probably the most terrifying night of my life. kharkiv was terribly bombarded last night. air strikes all over the city. dozens of buildings destroyed. civilian buildings where people

live . just -- [crying] . i'm not going to take much because i'm hoping i will return soon enough. my sister says it's like going on a trip but an awful one, i guess. so as my parents can no longer with stand it, the constant bombing, especially after last night, which was truly a terrifying thing, we are going

to leave. if we live that long, of course. so i don't want to leave and i want to be living in ukraine. we will be moving to somewhere just parfarther away from russi border. i don't know why but being bombarded is easier than leaving your home. [crying] >> dan rivers, thanks for that report. russia attacking civilian targets as ukrainians try to hold on to key cities. how long will they be able to with stand putin's assault. nurse mariyam sabo knows a moment this pure... ...demands a lotion this pure.

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russian missiles and air strikes reeking havoc and targeting ukrainian civilian inf infrastructure. the latest hit a power plant. a horrific bombing in mariupol targeting a maternity and children's hospital and president zelenskyy renewing his pleas for a no fly zone. joining me to discuss is a cnn military analyst and retired air force colonel cedric. russian forces bombarding mariupol of isolating the city

in recent days. this is a strategically critical collusion for the invaders. how long can the defenders hold out? >> that's a very big question for them and mariupol is between the separatest areas and this area that the russians have occupied once they've moved north from crimea. so what this means is the russians are moving to that land bridge they were talking about from the very beginning. they want this land bridge in order to cut off every single part of ukraine's access to the sea. how long can mariup ol hold out? probably a matter of days based on the number of bombing raids that we've seen and the number of rocket attacks and missile attacks against the city and the basically the pounding of that city through these means as well as the number of troops that are there. it's going to be a matter of days, i'm afraid. >> so the scenes at the

hospital, colonel, they are heartbreaking, civilian locations like this, they're supposed to be avoided by any responsible military, am i wrong with that? >> not at all. you're absolutely right, don. the laws of war very ex police s -- explicitly state, any hospital or institution of care, any type of structure that helps people live their lives cannot be attacked and that's a key element of the laws of war. they have been violated in this case. >> we are getting this new video tonight of street fighting more than 50 miles north of the city. what does it mean russian soldiers are moving into that area? >> so the city right here is just to the northwest of kherson. what is happening here is interesting because the russians have two ways of going.

they can go toward 0 odessa or north towards kyiv. this is going to be another path the russians can take to go towards kyiv and circle the c capital of ukraine. >> i mentioned air strikes in the city west of kyiv earlier. what purpose can these strikes hold for russians? >> so this is the city that was struck in the report that you're talking about. the strategic purpose right here is to basically cut off supplies that come in from the west. so anything that's coming in from poland for example can be bombing the area and it can also mean that they're using this as a way to help the forces that they have encircling the ca capital. so this is baysically the idea

they will take the opposition points around kyiv and do it in a way that is going to help the sieging forces encircle that city. >> the pentagon is opposing the idea of giving fighter jets to ukraine but there is a discussion sending more anti air capabilities including surface to air missiles and officials believe ukraine has several squadrons of aircraft. why don't they seem to be doing more? >> there is one reason for that. this is the s 400 and that's a missile system the russians have that's come into the news every now and then because it has a fairly ly effective range. if we look at the broader map of ukraine, if you have s 400s a raid in areas around ukraine and you don't have to be in the country, you can actually take out any target that is in these areas. so it has a range of about 250 miles and it can actually take out anything that is in that

area, any aircraft. so all ukrainian air fields that are within this area can be affected by the s 400 and the radar system so they're all at risk. that's one of the main reasons why the mid 29s aren't a favorite solution by the pentagon. >> thank you, appreciate it. russian state media fueling support of vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine spreading lie what is is really happening but the pictures tell the real story and my next guest is working to get out the truth to the russian people. they were the first to be verified by usp, an independent organizization that sets stririct quality and purity standards. nature made. the #1 pharmacist recocommended vitamin and supplement brand.

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a ukrainian family fleeing conside kharkiv, focused on getting accurate information to the people, the russian people and joins me now. victor, i really appreciate you joining us. you sent my team some pictures of kharkiv from before the invasion. now the russian army is just outside of kharkiv and the city faced serious damage. how are you processing the destruction of your home and how are you doing? >> i'm fine. the family is fine, as well and safe. house is still there.

our house, which is perfectly good and other side or other houses. the pictures all damaged. everything we will spent -- >> victor froze for a moment. we'll give it a second to see if we can get him because we're dealing with long distances. are you back? >> can you hear me? >> please start over. how are you doing and how is your family doing now? >> family is safe first of all. everything is good. i have the children, all of them safe which is perfectly fine and we glad to have it.

our house we're living is still there which is kind of surprised but worst case other houses are broken, bombarded, missile, many people damaged, killed especially children who are not really -- who are just civilians. people -- so yeah. >> you got a 5-year-old s son,-year-old daughter, how are they dealing with this? >> we move out on the first day so they don't know anything about war really. so we don't know what bombarding is. we didn't hear the sounds around so all of them are good. my daughter is coming back to her school, online school right

now. so. >> we're having trouble with victor. we're looking at beautiful pictures of his family there. nice christmas pictures, as well. he said his children don't really know what bombardment is right now. so victor, we're sorry we're having trouble. again, you're in a war zone and dealing with very long distances here. i know you work for an i.t. company and you and your colleagues are working to get real information to russians. how are you doing that? >> yeah, you probably know -- >> oh, boy. >> we're sorry for that. so i wish -- i'm sure he can hear us. victor, thank you. we're sorry for the technical difficulties. we know you're dealing with that. they are doing a good thing to get the right information out to russians because there is such

an information vacuum there being fed information by state media, which is not true. so our thanks again to victor and we wish him and his family well. the ukrainian city of mykolaiv leaving the city in ruins and leaving the innocent in hospital bebeds.

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port city mykolaiv. residents are fighting back but days after of air strikes and shelling are taking their toll. cnn's nick paton walsh is there. >>. >> reporter: this is probably when russian forces tried to cut off mykolaiv. pushing to its north to encircle it, ukrainian shells here not holding them back. the governor told locals to bring tires to the streets, which they did fast. and in the dark, russia's punishment of just about everyone here did not let up. an air strike flattened this warehouse. and if you needed proof the kremlin seeks to reduce all life here, 1,500 tons of onions, beer, and pumpkins were an apparent target for a military

jet. so, in the back bedroom, when a missile hit. shenya built this home himself 43 years ago and knows he lacks the strength to do so again. she says she doesn't even have her slippers now. the hospitals are steeped in pain. their corridors running underground. s svetlana lost three friends tuesday when russian shells hit the car they were traveling in. when she ducked, she saved her life. she names her three dead friends.

mykolaiv was badly burned by a missile in his yard. moscow targets hospitals and so they perversely need their own bomb shelters. where sick children wait for the sirens to end. stas is 12 and alone but he doesn't know the reason his father is not here just now is because he is burying his mother and sister .

>> reporter: sonya has shrapnel in her head. causing her to spasm. her mother explains they were outside taping up the house windows when the blast hit. while all the time, trying to get sonya to keep still. [ speaking foreign language ]

>> reporter: outside, it is cold and loud. nick paton walsh, cnn, mykolaiv, ukraine. >> thank you, nick. and thanks for watching, everyone. our live coverage continues. his future became my focus. lavender baths always calmemed him. so we turned bath timeme into a business. ♪ and building it with my son has been my dream job. ♪ at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com

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hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. i'm michael holmes coming to you live from lviv in ukraine. horrifying and depraved. that's how many including world leaders are describing the attack on a children's hospital and maternity ward. this is in the besieged city of mariupol in ukraine. we are about to air some images you might find disturbing. they show some of the 17 pregnant women and staff who were visibly wounded in the blast. there were likely many more. now, that casualty count provided by regional police, by the way. and you can see, there is blood, there is tremendous amount of rubble. a few hours before the bombing, russia's foreign ministry claimed ukrainian combat troops were holed up in that hospital and had expelled patients and staff. well clearly, that is not true. russia's ambassador to france, in fact, insisted russian forces were not involved in the explosion, and that they are under clear orders not