a very warm welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. following the breaking news coverage of the war in ukraine just ahead. serious operation with serious purpose. >> ukrainians are going a bit more on the offense now. >> each day mariupol is destroyed more and more. >> we are praying. every day we are praying for my brother. >> if the opportunity, it is time to end this absurd conflict. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> it is wednesday, march 23rd, 10 a.m. in ukraine where for the first time since the russian invasion nearly a month ago ukrainians are launching counter

attacks and seeing the small signs of progress. ukraine is fighting to retake the town of izium in the country's east. we are told russia moved military vehicles there to cut off the ukrainian army in donbas from the rest of the country .

>> you are watching a shootout. a local politician who posted the vide o they have managed to halt the response. it's been to bombard cities with missiles and artillery .

it shows them reclaiming melted ukrainian flag. >> he says it's still under fire and every second civilian building is damaged or destroyed. there isn't much left but if ukraine can now hold this ground, it could prove crucial in stopping russian forces from encircling the capitol. in ukraine's east the city of kharkiv, another much-wanted prize for the invading force has reported a noticeable increase in russian munitions.

there is only daily torment for the hundreds of thousands. >> about 90% of our infrastructure is damaged and destroyed. >> russian military are not hitting civil dodges .

then much later that day the report was edited and the numbers removed. the tabloid said it was hacked and someone inserted false information. the published figure is notable because it tracks with u.s. defense department estimates of up to 10,000 russian deaths in ukraine. after four weeks russia's invasion is stalled with little momentum and no significant wins. no problem says president putin's spokesman. >> we're speaking about russian military operation that is going on and it is going on strictly in coordination with the plans and the purposes. they were established beforehand. >> phil black joins us now live from lviv.

russia has been firing on the critical coastal city from the sea of a zof. across ukraine. there is clear evidence of ukrainian forces fighting back, fighting to regain territory from russia. not just in makariv and kyiv .

and at the port city of mariupol on the sea of azoff, it is increasingly difficult to get information out of that besieged city. have an accurate sense of what is happening day by day. satellite images show that the indiscriminate bombardment continues. there is clearly day by day more destruction. the deputy mayor told us that 90% of the city's infrastructure has been damaged. what it doesn't show is the suffering on the ground. the people hiding out in the buildings, still thought to be hundreds of thousands on very little food and water clearly in great fear. we heard from some days that

russian naval ships have turned their weapons on mariupol as well and the u.s. defense officials believe that, yeah, there's a group of seven naval ships and several of which have joined the attack on mariupol. one year into this it shows it is unequal and mismatched even as ukraine defends fiercely and goes on the counter attack and russia is still struggling to build up momentum. >> many thanks to phil black joining us from lviv. they are refusing to rule out the possibility that russia will use nuclear weapons in ukraine. in an exclusive interview with christian ammann poor, dmitry peskov says they want to change from an antineutral country to a

russian ones. he claims russia is not targeting civilians. >> the real question is what is president putin's strategic goal in blasting the civilian infrastructure of places like mariupol which we are watching turn to smitherines for the last several weeks. what's the strategic goal? >> the strategic goal is to clear up mariupol from nationalistic regimens. they are in a heavily covered environment and by the way, they are simply not letting people out from the town and this is a problem. now we're receiving refugees coming from there, they seem to tell us, they're eye witnesses, they seem to tell us that they were used like a shield. >> we need to be clear here, of course, russia has, in fact, hit many civilian targets,

hospitals, bomb shelters, apartment buildings and aid convoys and ukraine says russian forces stole 11 buses on tuesday meant to evacuate people from mariupol. cnn's senior international correspondent jim bidderman joins us from berlin. it is chilling to hear a putin spokesman refusing to rule out the use of nuclear weapons in ukraine. what is the latest on reaction across europe to this and other things that he said? >> reporter: well, it's pretty reflected. he reflected the paranoia we're hearing from the kremlin and vladimir putin the idea that poor mother russia is misunderstood. no one understands the threats they are under and this whole use of nuclear weapons came up in a very clear way. here's a little bit of what

peskov had to say about that. >> you can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used so if it is an existing threat for our country, then it can be used in -- >> if it's an existential threat. who's to determine that. peskov seems to indicate they do, they can say it's an existential threat at any time so it's a really dangerous situation. we don't know where it's headed. the other thing peskov said in that interview is there's no fear of opposition to people like alexey navalny who almost at the same time that interview was being conducted was sentenced to nine more years at hard labor. he's the opposition figure that russians tried to poison at one

point and then they sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in jail which he's already served and now 9 more years. so he says that in fact it's not a threat but yet there's that. there's the duma, russian duma in the parliament that will extend the draconian laws they have to criticizing the army to criticizing any government functions. it all leads to what human rights watch the president said was seeming in determination by the kremlin to isolate russian society to cut russians off from uncomfortable facts. rosemary? >> jim bidderman joining us live from paris. many thanks. many ukrainians escaping russian attacks is a chaotic, dangerous and sometimes deadly ordeal. emotional scenes across the border in poland as one family

is finally reunited. plus, we'll hear more from the first black woman nominated from the u.s. supreme court as they grill her over race, crime and guantanamo bay. construct. construction. there is a c crack. oh god are you k kidding me?! oh god... hi, aren't you tired of this? -yes! good days start with good nights. seems like a good time to find out about both. why are you talking like that? is this an ad? are we in an ad?

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welcome back, everyone. the u.n. refugee agency says more than 3 1/2 million people have now fled ukraine and more than 6 million others are internally displaced. western europe is ramping up preparations for an influx of refugees. france is opening up housing and employment assistance for at least 100,000 people and ireland's deputy prime minister says he expects 40,000 refugees to arrive by the end of next month. the world health organization says about half a million refugees in poland alone need additional support for mental health and emotional distress. many refugees fleeing the view owe slens reached safety in neighboring countries after harrowing ordeals. cnn's ed lavandera met one such family as they finally reunited.

>> reporter: tucked away in the back of the train station in poland, we see the latest train arrive filled with families escaping war. and it's where we find tatianna waiving joyfully at one of the carriages. this train is carrying special cargo. through the metal barricades she sees her son, two sisters and their three children walking off the train. she's waited three excruciating weeks for this moment. >> you have a very big smile on your face. i imagine you're very happy right now. yes, he says. it's very scary there. we have been waiting for them for a very long time. tatianna tells us they could not leave for a long time. the family tells us their journey to get to poland was a path through death and destruction. they live in a small village

south of kyiv. they say the only road ukrainian civilians could use to escape was constantly attacked by russian forces. he says there was shelling from both sides. everyone who wanted to leave by car was simply shot. we were afraid that if our family decided to leave, we would lose them. we waited a long time for the military to allow it. we waited for the russian troops to be removed so that our family could leave. we succeeded. we immediately told them to go. this was the escape route. the sister's father drove them in their car to the city of mikolaiv and from there they jumped in a mini bus and they boarded the train that brought them to poland. the area this family escaped has seen brutal warfare the last three weeks.

tatianna was in poland and couldn't return home in time when the war broke out. her son often told her about hearing military planes flying over their home and missiles explod exploding. finally the family is reunited outside the train station. in the moment it seemed unnecessary to ask tatianna what the moment meant to her. sometimes hugs and kisses speak far louder than words. ed laf ven dairy, cnn, poland. it has been almost a month since russia invaded ukraine and russia's tactics and the west response are drawing comparisons to the war in syria. survivors of that conflict recognize the russian playbook all too well as they see it used

in ukraine. here is some earlier reporting on ukraine. >> reporter: syria is where russia boasted about testing more than 300 types of weapons. it's also where it tested the world's limits and there seemed to be none. its war has no rules. no one is spared and no place is safe. russia's bombed hospitals, markets, schools. the u.n. called them war crimes but no one has faced justice. russia denies it's committed these crimes but its cruel attacks know no bounds. >> on the right side of your screen you see images of aleppo, syria, from 2016. on the left side you see images of mariupol, ukraine, from just three days ago. the harrowing accounts coming out of mariupol are hauntingly similar to those from aleppo where people were besieged and

bombed into submission. joining me now from london is emma biel. she is a nonresident scholar at the middle east institute and a senior adviser at the european institute of peace. thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you, rosemary. >> so you have written that there are many lessons ukraine can learn from russia's military operations in syria, particularly the sees fires and humanitarian corridors. we've already witnessed the horror of russians shelling civilians trying to flee their cities even when the corridors have been negotiated and agreed upon. no aid is going in. does russia ignore even the most basic rules of war? >> it would appear so. i mean, it's what we saw in syria and it seems to be what we are seeing in ukraine as well. the military strategy by and large doesn't abide by

international law or differentiate between military and civilian targets. that's through the use of siege. the use of siege like we're seeing in mariupol that is designed to force surrender. in those sieges, ouster as well like we're seeing in ukraine and syria, the denial of humanitarian assistance, the targeting of civilians and civilians areas like markets, infrastructure, hospitals and schools or even shelters. all of this is designed with one thing in mind really which is the capitulation of the population and that's why we see also the problems with negotiations around corridors, the ability to use those corridors and exiting as well. >> it seems to be win at any cost. follow no rules along the way. of course, what about fruitless efforts so far to negotiate an end to this war. of course, the outright lies,

russia first saying it had no intentions of invading, then doing just that, also denying the targeting of civilians. we're seeing endless evidence of that. how does ukraine negotiate a cease-fire if the word of their leaders means absolutely nothing and can't be trusted? >> well, it does make it really very difficult. at a practical level we are seeing some, you know, what seemed like successful negotiations for corridors and the difficulty that in some places they do come to fruition, right? in others there are difficulties we're seeing the negotiated corridors. we're seeing russia use some of the same tactics and offer the corridor and then say they can only go to russia. do it so quickly that people don't have time to actually use it or they can't get the right

transportation through. it's not just the corridor, it's the infrastructure. trying to get text into the security council resolution they're proposing last week and still doing this week. being able to gain control of the humanitarian system even though the ukrainian government should be the primary actor with regard to negotiating what happens inside of ukraine. all of that involves learning and being smarter than they are, really being on the lookout for those things that they are trying to do. i think this is going to get more difficult. we're already seeing some of that in the international tier in the last couple of days with the russian disinformation

getting up and running, we're seeing them try to rewrite truth, particularly with a focus on states that are outside of their immediate western coalition around ukraine. you know, in mariupol we saw the last associated press journalists leave because they were being targeted by russia specifically because they could assist with the negotiations based on the troops. i think we need to watch out for russia trying to rewrite what's happening in those spaces. it does impact the ability to negotiate the cease-fire, to negotiate that axis. if there are disputes about even what ends up happening on the ground. >> just very quickly, we also know that some ukrainian refugees have been taken against their will to russia. what will likely happen to those refugees if the war in syria is any guide? >> well, i think, you know, at some level we have to

differentiate so the syrian government has a role to play in syria. those people are being taken to russia. we can't necessarily judge what's going to happen to the invasion. an immediate opportunity that they wish to be in. controlling a neighboring country where they feel safe. we should be pushing in all of this for people to be able to reach safety, for the manipulations to seek assistance. >> emma beals, thank you for your perspective. >> thanks, rosemary. still to come here on cnn. as the bombs rain down on ukraine, president biden is planning new sanctions against specific russians, and we will tell you who's being targeted this time. plus -- >> i am here standing on the shoulders of generations of

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welcome back to "cnn newsroom." i'm rosemary church. an update on our breaking news on the war in ukraine at this hour. senior u.s. defense official says ukrainian forces are battling to retake the town of idiom. they believe forces moved in to block ukrainian forces in the

donbas region from reaching the rest of the country. a resident shot this video of the massive blasts hitting mariupol. the port city is still the target of relentless russian bombardment. new satellite images is offering this view of the widespread destruction. a u.s. defense official says mariupol is being fired on from the sea of azov. dmitry peskov said russian president putin hasn't achieved his goal to demill tar rise ukraine and he refused to resign that moscow could use chemical weapons. in the coming hours president biden will travel to brussels where he will meet with allies. while he's in europe he will

unveil new sanctions targeting hundreds of russians serving in the lower house of parliament. his announcement will set off what is expected to be a slew of new steps to punish russia. here's more from america's national security adviser jake sullivan. >> for the past few months the west has been united. the president is traveling to europe to ensure we stay united, to cement our collective resolve, to send a powerful message that we are prepared and committed to this for as long as it takes. >> for more on this, we wanted to pri in cnn's natasha bertrand. good to see you. more sanctions will be announced at this extraordinary meeting, but the big question of course is whether members will go so far as to apply them among america's energy sector. are they any closer than that. >> reporter: there's still major disagreements within the eu

about how best to target the energy sector without causing undue pain. members of the baltic states, they believe they should implement energy sanctions because that's where it could hit russia the hardest. then you have member states like germany, member states and italy and they say it's not possible given the dependence they have on the russian oil and gas. they're trying to figure out a way to cut russia off from the eu that can impose an embargo from russian oil and gas on the eu union that won't impact the energy security. that's one of the main targets the president will shut that off and how do they secure that so

they don't have to be so dependent on russia for their energy supplies. it remains to see whether the sanctions the president is going to offer is going to have much of an impact on vladimir putin's behavior. they have already implemented a number of very, very harsh sanctions on russia on the banking sector, on russian oligarchs. over 600 russian oligarchs and that has not deterred vladimir putin to date. if anything, his tactics in ukraine have only become more brutal. >> still ahead, a scary sight in the skies over new orleans as a massive tornado swirled towards the city. after two consecutive days of severe weather we had a tornado that left a fatality across portions of new orleans and areas east of new orleans. we'll break down the threat moving forward coming up here in a few minutes.

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there it goes. you can see it. okay, folks. get to your safe place. we've got a definite tornado so it's really racing. you can see some rotation around the main tornado. this looks like a wedge tornado now making lifting a little bit. another spinning around it. folks, this is something i hoped i would never see. >> extraordinary image there. a massive tornado tearing across parts of louisiana touching down near the city of new orleans on tuesday night. officials say at least one person was killed but also seeing widespread damage in areas east of the city with cars flipped over and homes shredded. one woman described the moment the store hit.

>> as soon as we went in the bathroom. we were watching it. the tv, the electricity started flicking, we went in the bathroom and you could hear it. i mean, it just -- it's just like they say, it's like a train. >> the twister was part of a larger storm system that swept through texas and oklahoma on monday. that system's making its way east with a tornado watch in effect for parts of alabama and florida. meteorologist pedram javaheri has the latest forecast. pedram. >> good morning, rosemary. the active weather continues across southern u.s. and we're talking about upwards of 200 severe weather reports in the past four hours. that number is coming in in the form of active tornadoes. you'll notice flooding becomes a major concern moving forward. flood watches widespread across the region and certainly the amount of rainfall justified 2

to 4 inches has come down in a very short time period. keep in mind, 100% of the state of louisiana underneath some sort of a drought. a lot of this rainfall is beneficial. any time you get too much in a short period, significant flooding becomes an issue. it's pushing around the florida panhandle. southern and central alabama. a system as it migrates a little farther towards the east, expect energy in a more populus region. the concern as far as severe weather threats diminishes quite a bit. on the scale of 1 to 5, it drops down now to a 2. it was a 4. places like tallahassee, charleston, raleigh, even into portions of the ohio valley severe weather is possible. it rains out or crosses into portions of the northeast, even

new york and boston. the tornado% down to 5%. we could see a cooler trend. enjoy the warmth across atlanta. temperatures in the 70s. colder air back here arrives across portions of the southern u.s. as well. >> many thanks for that, pedram. appreciate it. the first african-american woman nominated to the u.s. supreme court will be back on capitol hill for another marathon day of questions. republicans are taking aim at judge ketanji brown jackson on crime, racial justice and jessica schneider has the details. >> reporter: ketanji brown jackson defending her record during hours of questioning pushing back against their broa quote, soft on crime. >> in order for us to have a functioning society we have to

have people being held accountable for committing crimes, but we have to do so fairly under our constitution. as someone who has had family members on patrol and in the line of fire, i care deeply about public safety. >> jackson's brother was a police officer in baltimore and her two uncles were members of law enforcement. one was the chief of police in miami, but jackson's background has not insulated her from public attacks, particularly for her record representing terrorism suspects detained at guantanamo bay. >> why in the world would you call secretary of defense rumsfeld and george w. bush war criminals in a legal filing? it seems so out of character for you. >> well, senator, i don't remember that particular reference and i was representing my clients and making arguments.

>> reporter: democratic chairman dick durbin later provided context saying it was a procedural filing making claims on behalf of detainees. >> one was an allegation saying they sanctioned crimes. >> correct, senator. >> federal public defenders don't get to pick their clients. they have to represent whoever comes in. >> reporter: judge jackson also responding to claims she handed down lenient sentences to convicted child pornography defendants. >> as a mother and a judge who has had to deal with these cases, i was thinking that nothing could be further from the truth. these are some of the most difficult cases that a judge has

to deal with. >> reporter: republican senator ted cruz pressed jackson on critical race theory, something conservatives falsely claim is widely taught in elementary schools. >> do you agree with this book that is being taught to kids that babies are racist? >> i do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist ortho they are not valued ortho they are less than, that they are victims, that they are oppressors. i don't believe in any of that. >> reporter: jackson did have a chance to reflect on the historic nature of her nomination. >> this nomination against that backdrop is significant to a lot of people, and i hope that it will bring confidence, it will help inspire people to

understand that our courts are like them. our judges are like them doing the work, being part of our government. i think it's very important. >> reporter: and this marathon and intense question and answer session continues on wednesday with 20-minute rounds with each of the 22 senators on the committee. it will be the last day of questioning and then the issue will turn to will she get any republican votes. three republicans voted for her less than a year ago to elevate her to the appeals court in d.c. this time she is facing significant resistance from one of those senators, lindsey graham. jessica schneider, cnn, washington. the taliban have postponed the reopening of schools for afghan girls above sixth grade just hours after they were due to reopen for the first time since august. the taliban have promised schools for all students would open this week as long as boys

and girls would be separated but according to state-run news an appropriate uniform should be designed first. they said earlier they deplore the world's thoughts. ashleigh barty has announced she's going to retire. she has won 15 singles titles. barty says she started considering retirement after winning wimbledon last year committing fully to the idea after winning this year's australian open. good luck to her. ukraine's president will soon address lawmakers in japan hoping to look at the fight on russia. we'll look at what the war may mean after looking at tokyo's

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time. time is just a construct. construct. construction. there is a crack. oh god are you kidding me?! oh god... hi, aren't you tired of this? -yes! good days start with good nights. seems like a good time to find out about both. why are you talking like that? is this an ad? are we in an ad? welcome back, everyone. japan is among the countries sanctioning russia for its war in ukraine, and talks between

russia and japan have now broken down over formally ending world war ii hostilities. this comes as ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy will soon address the japanese parliament in an effort to rally more international support. and for the latest, cnn's blake esek is outside parliament in tokyo. good to see you, blake. ukraine is set to address japanese lawmakers. how far will they go? >> reporter: following that time we are likely to see them with more sanctions. this is a live virtual address. this is scheduled to start at the top of the hour. it is only expected to last about ten minutes. the goal of his virtual world tour is to continue rallying global support against russia's invasion of ukraine.

now in line with the united states having g7 nations, they are joining the call to cut russia from the s.w.i.f.t. banking system. they want to deliver defense equipment and even started allowing ukrainian evacuees into the country which is extremely unusual for a country that has been historically closed off to evacuees. russia suspended. a territorial dispute involving an island of akaido. they're stepping up to their international role and becoming more outspoken when it comes to taiwan. in the last few years japan is

increasing the defense spending as peace and stability become more uncertain surrounded by china, north korea and russia. it's important to recognize while it's clear that tokyo, like most people around the world, countries around the world have been horrified watching these scenes play out, japan definitely sees the crisis in ukraine as a global issue and its tough response to the crisis is not only meant to send a message to russia but also china in the hopes beijing will think twice about the goal of reunifying taiwan with the mainland. it's a what if authorities are working on that. many thanks. russia's war on ukraine has devastated so many lives and for some, including the most innocent, it's disrupted critical cancer treatment. now four ukrainian children with cancer and their families have arrived at saint jude chirp's

research hospital in memphis, tennessee. the children range in age from 9 months old to 9 years old. the u.s. state department coordinated with st. jude's to transport the group from poland. finally this hour a group of ukrainian sailors waiving their country's flag has tried to block a yacht tied to a russian oligarch from docking in turkey. the sailors are reportedly members of the odessa children and youth sailing school. the coach says his team raises ukraine's flag at international competitions and they want to show everyone who ukraine is. the tracking site marine traffic said the yacht eventually docked on monday evening. thank you so much for your company. i'm rosemary church. be sure to connect with me on twitter. "early start" with christine romans, laura jarrett and john berman is up next. you're watching cnn.

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and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. it is wednesday, march 23rd. it is 5 a.m. here in new york. i'm laura jarrett. >> i'm christine romans. john berman is in lviv, ukraine. john? >> good morning to both of you. so east of here near ukraine's capitol the pentagon says ukrainian forces are now on the offensive trying to take back territory.