welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world, i'm christine romans in new york. >> i'm laura jarrett. a lot to get to this morning. we have john berman live on the ground in lviv, ukraine. good morning. >> good morning to both of you. this morning russian forces seem to be largely stalled in several parts of ukraine, including around chernaiv, mikolaiv and they say russian troops have

made no progress in moving towards the capitol of kyiv. we have new video showing ukrai ukrainian troops on patrol. battles are ongoing. around the port city of mariupol the mayor says russian forces have consolidated some of their control with evacuation corridors mostly under russian control. new video shows the devastation after weeks of the bombardment that has killed untold numbers of civilians. those who have remained are enduring without heat, electricity, water. meantime, the kremlin spokesperson ruled out russia using nuclear weapons in ukraine telling pbs moscow would only use them if there were a threat to russia's existence. right now crucially a new round of face-to-face talks between

russia and ukraine is underway in turkey according to authorities there -- well, actually, we saw them going in. we saw them going in. talks are underway. we see pictures taking place. talks happening right now. we begin in kyiv with phil black. mariupol, a city under siege. >> increasingly there is the sense of inevitability there. the ukrainian military says they are maintaining a circular defense. they are surrounded. day by day that patch of territory seems to get smaller and smaller. it's confined just to the center of the city. it seems increasingly difficult to imagine that the fall of mariupol can be prevented at this point. all of this while we understand there are still 170,000 people in that city. that's the latest estimate from the mariupol city council. in addition to some pretty

shocking casualty and death figures. they think 5,000 people were killed including more than 200 children. these are impossible to verify, of course, but they do seem to match and fit the level of devastation and destruction we've seen there over the course of the four weeks so far. now while mariupol is the most bombarded of cities and the broader battlefield does seem to be stalled as you touched on, other cities are experiencing this indiscriminate bombardment. even in areas where the ukrainians say they are making progress. irpin to the west of the capitol of kyiv where the ukrainian military says, yes, they finally have full control of that area as of yesterday, overnight there was more russian rocket fire. yes, we have that territory but it's too soon to describe it as secure. >> i thought it was interesting to hear president zelenskyy

talking about, hold on, hold on for a second, nothing is certain. >> very sober response. everything across the battlefield is tense. >> this happens again as the negotiations are taking place. thank you very much for being with us. want to bring in cnn military analyst major general dana batard, author of "hunting the caliphate." thank you for being with us. if mariupol is to fall, can you explain the strategic significance? i want to make clear, it hasn't happened yet, but if it does fall to the russians, what does that mean strategically. >> good morning, john. if mariupol were to fall, what that will do, will allow the russians to complete or just about complete the land connection between eastern ukraine, the donbas region and all along the coast which was

one of the russian objectives. >> i don't think there's any question that the russian invasion over the last five weeks hasn't gone as planned and in a number of instances the russian troops have under performed. is that correctible? a military that is under performing the way they have, with problems on the supply line, morale problems, communication problems, is that something that is correctible and that ukrainians should be concerned about? >> one thing about the russian force, yes. they've had command and control problems, logistical problems, but they still have immense capability and lethality and there's something to be said about their numbers and modern equipment. they're taking a tactical and operational pause outside of kyiv so they can reinforce,

reconstitute units. let there be no doubt, they're still going to try to encircle kyiv. ukrainians should be concerned that russia still maintains that capability. also, i think a key factor as far as morale and russia period will be this friday. this friday, april 1st, will be con skriptdion day in russia. russia expects to get 130,000 new recruits at that time. so we'll see if that happens. >> in terms of restocking, the united states says it will restock missiles, javelins and stingers. any risk the united states and nato won't be able to meet the need the ukrainian forces have? >> there is risk in doing that. if we're waiting on the production of javelins and stingers, that's a problem. obviously that should be for the next couple months.

immediately stocks should be used so ukrainians can get what they need. ukrainians were the victims of their own over extended supply lines. >> major general dana pittard, thank you for being with us early this morning. thanks for waking up. >> thank you, john. representatives from russia and ukraine meeting face to face at this moment. these are crucial meetings taking place in turkey. more ceremony, i would say, surrounding this round of talks than we have seen yet. unclear whether there's any reason for optimism but we're watching that situation closely.

plus, the kst cost of war i ukraine. citizens paying more for gas and consumer goods. stick around. otezla is not a crcream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. ♪ my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge that's why i use the freestyle libre 2 system. with a painless, e-second scan

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happening at this very moment, this new round of in-person talks between russia and ukraine. it's underway in istanbul. i want to bring in international diplomatic editor nic robertson. this is round five. the first four didn't go well. i will say the pomp surrounding this round seems to be at a different level than we've seen

before. >> reporter: it has, and we may get some of the hints of what a future deal may look like but when the battles are still being fought on the ground and fought with intensity, there's certainly the sense if you look at other sort of peace negotiations in the past where when the war is going on and one side thinking they can make gains against the other despite what's being said at talks, then things can continue to play out on the battlefield for some time. i think if we look at where russia and ukraine are, president zelenskyy says he's willing to consider neutrality, that is attractive to the kremlin. the kremlin appears to have indicated but of course any value in their words cannot be matched by expectations. such a poor track record of credibility. they have indicated they're no longer indicated in regime change. they've dropped the de

denazification. russia is trying to cut off the south of the country and that's clearly a no go for the ukrainians because president zelenskyy said any changes in the future of ukraine need to happen with agreement of the ukrainian people. it's hard to see the kremlin agreeing to pull out of tactical gains it's made on the ground that it thinks are important to supply the southern corridor to crimea, the important peninsula in the black sea for them. interestingly in this, even turkish officials have indicated it's not a given that crimea that russia illegally annexed in 2014 can remain in the hands of russia at this stage.

going into all of this, russia said even before the war that the future of crimea was not up for debate, it was russian, end of story, period. there are big, big differences here. so what we may have learned is what the future could look like but not necessarily what it will look like, john. >> huge differences as in how do you declare a cease-fire if you are ukraine if there are russian troops on your land. nic robertson, thank you very much. laura, christine, back to you. >> thank you so much, john. 15 minutes past the hour. consumers everywhere paying a price for russia's invasion of ukraine. inflation is beginning to wear down millions of americans. the top white house economic adviser thinks the war in ukraine could accelerate it. >> this may well put upward pressure on energy and food prices. that could reinforce inflation which was an issue due to the

pandemic, supply chain constraints and strong demand for goods. >> inflation shot up to 7.9% in february mostly driven by big cost increases for basic necessities and that data was collected before the economic fallout of russia's invasion could be calculated. the cost of the war is reflected in president biden's $1.3 trillion budget proposal which came out yesterday. that includes $6.9 billion for nato and other programs to counter russian know goeks yags. there is more funding for military and for local police in the u.s. so that's a big improvement. >> you don't think that tax will be done? >> i think that will be difficult to get done by november. >> coming up, president biden trying hard to tamp down all of the blow back from an ad lib that he had on vladimir putin. what he says now he really

meant. >> cnn plus is here. stay informed of live news, stream exclusive films and series and participate in int interactive interviews. learn more at cnn plus. okay everyone, our mission is to provide complete balanced nutrition for strength and energy. woo hoo! ensure, complete balanced nutrition

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uconn is heading to its 14th straight women's final four but needed double overtime to do it. andy scholes has more in the bleacher report. >> good morning, laura. death, taxes, uconn women's basketball team in the final four, those seem to be the three guaranteed things in life. uconn and nc state putting on an instant classic. playing in the first overtime

game in women's elite eight history. fantastic game. nc state had a chance to win it in regulation but they missed the three. we head to overtime. the huskies who had been 0 for 5 had the lead until the wolfpack hit a three from the corner with less than a second left. that sent it into overtime. the reining player of the year, hayden becker and kristin williams ceiling it. uconn getting the win, 91-87 to advance to the final four for a 14th straight season. this year the final four in minneapolis. ten miles from where becker grew up. >> today's a godsend, win or go home. we won. i'm so excited no matter the location, no matter where it is. i just keep playing with my team. >> couldn't have done it without

both of you. without both of you. >> all right. louisville heading to the final four for the fourth time in history. sophomore guard haley van led leading the way. 62-50 win. this is her fourth straight win. next up, cardinals going to face overall number one seed south carolina in the final four friday night. it's going to be uconn facing defending champion stanford. the winners will meet in the championship game on sunday. the nfl is stepping up its efforts to create more diversity amongst its coaching staff. the league owners adopting a policy saying all 32 teams must hire a minority to be an nfl assistant. there's been a trend of offensive coordinators becoming coaches. there aren't enough minorities in those positions. the league is creating an advisory panel to review all of

their hiring practices. finally, three-time mvp albert puljos back again. receiving a hero's welcome. he signed a one-year deal to return to st. louis. he returns needing 24 more home runs to hit 700 in a career. >> close the door on me. i didn't never close the door on their conversation either. i think it's a great opportunity, you know? just everything is always happening last time. this is perfect time right now. i'm back here. really excited. just getting ready to go. guys, pretty cool to see pujols back with the cardinals. he says it's going to be his last. >> that's amazing. 40's the new 30. these guys are ageless. >> seems like it.

>> nice to see you, andy. the unthinkable, would russia use nuclear weapons in ukraine? the kremlin offering an answer to that question just ahead. and what jared kushner could tell the january 6th committee as soon as this week. plus, a coup in search of a legal theory. a scathing ruling from a federal judge on donald trump's plan to overturn the 2020 election. shipstation saves us so much time it makes it really easy and seamless pick an order print everything you need slap the label on ito the box and it's ready to go our cost for shipping, were cut in half

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the kremlin's chief spokesperson facing questions about russia's nuclear arsenal, specifically would russia use it in ukraine? atika shubert joins us now. atika, dmitry peskov was asked to clarify russia's position. what did he have to say? >> reporter: yeah. this was an interview with pbs and he said russia would only use nuclear weapons in the event of an existential threat, so far the special military operation of ukraine, by which he means the invasion of ukraine, is not that. take a listen to what he said. >> the outcome is not a reason for usage of a nuclear weapon. we have a security concept that very clearly states that only when there is a threat for existence of state in our country we can use and we will

actually use nuclear weapons to eliminate the threat for the existence of our country. >> reporter: now as you heard him say there, only if the threat of russia's existence is at stake. so far with the special military operation in ukraine, that doesn't meet that sort of threshold, however, there is a caveat to that and we've heard it from russian president vladimir putin before. if it expands, if it includes other nations specifically nato countries, then russia could see that as an existential threat and that is why we have seen russia repeat the warning that it reserves the right to use the nuclear weapons, john. >> atika shubert. thank you. great to see you. russia escalating its attack on the capitol of kyiv. cnn team was able to drive to a village north of the capitol and what they found was horrifying.

cnn's senior international correspondent frederick pleitgen reports. >> reporter: kyiv remains under full-on attack by vladimir putin's army. ukrainian officials say russian forces are trying to storm the capitol but failing unleashing civilian ba rajs. we drove to the village north of kyiv a few miles north of the front line. even the streets are pot marked with shrapnel and massive impact craters. whole buildings laid to waste. look at the utter destruction caused by this massive explosion. thick brick walls, even they were annihilate by the force of what landed here. the people telling us they only felt one really large explosion and it wounded several people and killed a small child. that child was 2-year-old stepan killed while in his bed when the house came under fire.

these videos given to us by local authorities show the chaos and the aftermath as the wouldn'ted -- wounded appear in shock. stepan pronounced dead on the scene. stepan was the second youngest child. he found a leg sifting through the rubble of his house days later. inside he shows me the damage caused by the explosion. he was at home when the bomb hit. his wife, other children and mother-in-law had been brought to the hospital when he arrived. stepan couldn't be saved and because of staff shortages at the morgue, he had to prepare his son's body for burial himself. >> reporter: i h >> translator: i had to watch him and dress him. his arms, his legs, a total hematoma not compatible with life.

besides that, lots of other wounds were discovered after death. >> reporter: many other houses have also been hit here. police tell me the russians shell the town every day. we bumped into 84-year-old haline in the town center. she was a child when the nazis invaded this area and says now things are worse. >> translator: worse than fascists. when the germans were here, enter our homes, they would shoot at the ceiling and not touch us. they're killing children. >> reporter: the kremlin claimed its forces don't target civilian areas, but it's said the russians are frustrated by the lack of progress and they're firing longer range weapons because they can't make headway on the ground. >> translator: they understand sooner or later our troops will push them out of our territory.

now they are doing dirty tricks. they shoot more at civilian areas than at positions of the ukrainian army. >> reporter: ukraine's army says it's pressing its own counter offensive trying to dislodge the russian troops. the kremlin's forces, meanwhile, so far unable to take the ukrainian capitol and instead ever laying waste to the suburbs. >> our thanks to fred for that. that's so important to see these even as the ukrainians have some luck in these offense sifs, the russians are leaving the towns and cities destroyed in rubble and these are civilians who are suffering. >> heartbreaking. you're right. thank you, fred, for that reporting. president biden, meanwhile, explaining his off the cuff comment that vladimir putin cannot remain in power. jasmine wright live in washington. the white house has spent three

days explaining the president wasn't calling for regime change. this was the president's outrage. >> reporter: that is exactly right. he was expressing his moral outrage to president putin's actions in ukraine. that was president biden. he said these were his personal feelings and he wasn't going to apologize for expressing them but, again, he wasn't announcing a policy change. take a listen to the president in his own words here. >> fact of the matter is, i was expressing the moral outrage i felt towards the way putin is dealing and the actions of this man, just brutality. half the children in ukraine. i had just come from being with those families and so -- but i want to make it clear, i wasn't then nor am i now articulating a policy change. >> reporter: so there we heard again, no policy change. i want to note one thing that he said in that sound bite, christine, where he said he had

just been with those families. he had spent the day meeting with hundreds of refugees. we saw the viral photo of him lifting up that little girl telling him that he wanted to bring her home with him. these are personal feelings that the president was experiencing that day. when asked what led him to say this off the cuff comment that was unscripted, he said he was speaking to the russian people. again, these were personal feelings but they were in no way articulating a policy change. that is what the president is standing by today after really hours and hours of the white house trying to downplay exactly what he said. >> jasmine, thank you so much for that. nice to see you this morning. still ahead for you, frustration on the january 6th committee spilling out in public view. some members now calling out the attorney general directly. that's next. and the pentagon's new plan to keep up with ukraine's request for all those missiles to fight russia.

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welcome back. the january 6th committee voted unanimously to recommend holding former trump advisers in contempt of congress for defying its subpoenas. committee members also in process calling out the biden justice department. >> this committee is doing its job. the department of justice needs to do theirs. >> the department of justice has a duty to act on this referral and others we have sent. >> cnn senior crime and justice reporter caitlyn polanz joins us this morning. clearly some lawmakers frustrated much like their constituents with the speed at which the doj is working. >> reporter: the justice department does not work on the same time line as capitol hill wishes that they would. in this situation there's a lot going on already.

it's not as clear-cut as just do your job. the house committee has subpoenaed dozens of people and some of the people closest to donald trump including advisers like dan scavino, they do not want to comply with the subpoenas. what does the house do? they need help. so they're asking the justice department now for help. they're asking for criminal prosecutions of the people who have not complied given them documents or sat for depo depositions. they've done this twice once with steve bannon and once with mark meadows who was the chief of staff. steve bannon was a pretty quick turn around. he was charged with contempt of congress in court. he's fighting those charges. mark meadows, much more complicated. he went to court to sue. he's tried to say there may be assertions of executive privilege. secrecy around the president that is protecting him from complying a little bit more, so now we have this backlog where

the justice department has not charged mark meadows. it's been 15 weeks since the committee made the referral on him and now, too, dan scavino and peter navarro. these people are daring the justice department that perhaps the house subpoena power isn't as powerful as the house wishes it were to reresult in a case right away on the time line the house needs. >> thank you, caitlyn. former federal prosecutor, michael zelden. great to see you as always. let's start with these calls from lawmakers. you just heard from caitlyn laying it out there. the call for lawmakers basically for doj to do more. do you think this will add any pressure on attorney general garland to move on? >> it shouldn't.

merrick garland should make a decision based on the law as the way he sees it. if navarro, if scavino if indicted, they're not going to cooperate. they don't believe he was the duly elected president. the likelihood that they're going to get testimony from these guys is fanciful. merrick can't be pressured by them as much as they'd like them to be. >> you do wonder what's going on with mark meadows case. obviously a number of rulings have now come out that have bolstered doj's case should it choose to make one. now another one yesterday. federal judge in california issuing a significant ruling in favor of the january 6th committee. it's all in the case where they want to get documents and the lawyer john eastman came up with the blueprint for overturning the 2020 election. as part of the ruling the judge found it, quote, more likely than not that trump corruptly

attempted to obstruct the vote count on january 6th. this is a civil case. i want to be clear about what it's doing and not doing. how much do you think this ruling does bolster the work of the committee? >> well, this is an important ruling and, actually, going back to our guest segment, it should inform mark meadows that he is going to lose any legal challenges that he makes. the court in this case said that the illegality of the plan to stop the election was obvious and so if you've got a judge saying this is an obvious illegal plan and mark meadows in some way is implicated by it, that i think is way more important for meadows' attorney to determine whether he will could often perfect rate. >> the judge lays it out in the course of 44 pages. if the doj should choose to use this for a blueprint for making this case, it lays out a pretty compelling one, i want to ask

you about this. jared kushner, the former president's son-in-law, expected to appear before the january 6th committee. cnn has learned would do it voluntarily, not under subpoena. what would the committee gain from talking with kushner? >> well, we know that kushner's wife, ivanka, was in the white house on january 6th and was begging her father, so the reporting goes, to stop the insurrection, to come out forcefully and say, stop. he didn't do that. she didn't prevail. but the implication here is that jared knows what was going on there from talking to ivanka or from others and so he may be another set of eyes on what was going on in the white house on january 6th, which is at the heart of what the committee is trying to get at. >> yeah. still waiting to see what ivanka chooses to do here as of course the committee wants to talk to her as well. michael zeldin, thank you as always for your analysis, my friend. appreciate it. >> thank you.

more legal news on the trump front. a new york judge ordering the trump organization to fully comply with a subpoena from the state's attorney general's office by the end of april. a subpoena issued more than two years ago as part of a long-running civil fraud investigation. the new york ag says they've uncovered significant evidence, these are their words, that the trump organization art figure -- artificially inflated its value. to florida where the don't say gay bill is now law. governor ron desantis signed the law. let's bring in steve from florida. they say this hurts an already marginalized community. what's the reaction this morning? >> christine, the reaction has been swift. we've seen outrage and anger all

throughout the state. yesterday's action wasn't a surprise by any stretch. he has said for weeks that he supports the legislation and he was expected to sign it into law, but nevertheless there was immediate outrage. a lot of pain and also a promise to fight on that there are already organizations going to be set up using legal defense funds for any teachers or schools that might be sued under this legislation and there is also an expectation that opponents will fight this legislation and keep it from going into effect by filing lawsuits. yesterday actually disney, one of the state's largest employers who has faced backlash from its own employees over its lack of vo involvement on this bill, the company issued a statement saying it hopes this bill is overturned by the courts saying it should never have been passed and it should never have been signed into law. and we also heard from the biden

administration saying that it's going to keep a close eye on what happens in florida to make sure there aren't any violations of federal discrimination laws. but governor desantis, you know, he has said what he has said all along yesterday when he signed this bill. he said that this has been widely misconstrued by its opponents and by the media saying it doesn't prevent teachers or schools from having conversations with students about sexual orientation or gender identity. it doesn't prevent kids from talking about their same-sex parents. it just prevents curriculum that is designed to teach kids about sexual orientation and gender identity. >> is that curriculum being taught in florida? is that what the governor is trying to stop? is there some widespread problem with same-sex curricula? or is this a law in search of a

problem that doesn't exist? >> the governor did provide a couple of one-off examples yesterday where there have been instances where teachers have brought instructional materials into the classroom that he doesn't think are appropriate for children aged kindergarten through third grade. he at the outset of this debate had said he didn't think this was happening very often in schools and many teachers and lgbtq groups have said this isn't part of instruction. it's not part of curriculums and this is a problem -- this is a solution in search of a problem. there are one off examples that he was able to provide yesterday but, again, they're few and far between. >> we know you'll continue watching it for us. fascinating. opening up teachers to civil suits. thanks, steve. opening up teachers to civil suits if a parent doesn't like

something they're hearing about in the classroom. >> so they're going to err on the side of fighting litigation. >> crucial talks underway right now between russia and ukraine. what's it going to take for a breakthrough to end this fight? e the entrance they make, the surprises they initiate. otezla. it's's a choice you can make. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% cleaearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein.

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looking at marked around the world. asian shares have closed mixed. europe has opened strongly higher. on wall street it looks like gains here if the futures hold into the opening bell. it was a higher start to the week on monday. tech led the gains. tesla rose 8% after it said it wanted to split its stock to pay shareholders dividend. oil prices fell. that's good news for consumers if it translates to lower gas prices. for weeks prices have been rising over supply due to russia's invasion of ukraine. it's a big week of data. february jolts survey that tracks job openings and quits. 450,000 jobs likely added. jobless rate expected to fall to 3.7%. credit suisse part of a

federal probe after the bank asked investors to, quote, destroy documents related to ja yachts and jets owned. the world's largest beer brewers joining the big, long list of companies pulling out of russia. beheineken had already called f a halt. now the companies say along with 400 other companies they are exiting their businesses in russia. heineken said the move will cost the company $439 million. carlsberg says it will cost a lot for them as well. it's telling.

there's so much risk in the russian market right now. so they are out to more than 400 on that list. thanks for joining us, everybody. i'm christine romans. >> i'm laura jarrett. "new day" starts right now. this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. it is tuesday, march 29 9. i'm john berman in lviv. what you're listening to the sounds of the air raid sirens warning of a threat in the western ukrainian town telling people to go seek shelter. these have been going off fairly regularly in the last few days. people are generally heeding these warnings now after the attack over the weekend at the fuel storage depot. so we'll listen to these sirens for a little bit. we'll monitor the situation very closely bringing you any updates as they come in. in the meantime, there is important breaking news

elsewhere. russia and ukraine at the negotiating table in turkey at this very moment. ukraine's foreign minister says that at the very minimum he hopes these talks yield a solution to the humanitarian crisis caused by the russian invasion. this is the first time they've met in weeks so no one should think this will be but there does seem sob more ceremony surrounding today's talks. we're also watching these closely. but again, talks happening as air raid sirens are going off gives you a sense of how expectations should be tempered. the russian attacks here all over the country relentless. jug into cnn, russian forces hitting the regional state administration building demolishing half of it. most employees were able to get out, but they are looking for eight civilians and three military personnel who could be under the rubble. look at the hole in the building

right there. amazing. the may your of kyiv tells cnn the shell ing in the capital ha intensified. russian forces appear to be largely stalled in several parts of ukraine. that's according to a senior u.s. defense official. and ukrainian officials say 90% of the residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed. 160,000 people still trapped there. and ukraine's president says russian troops control all evacuation routes in 1k out of the city. the russians bombed another fuel depot setting off a raging fire. they have now targeted fuel depots at several locations around ukraine. including right here in lviv. >> in the meantime, president biden is refusing to walk pack his off the cuff comment that vladimir putin cannot remain in power. he's offering no apologies.

>> nobody believes we're going to -- i was talking about taking down putin. nobody believes that. the last thing i want to do is engage in a war or nuclear war with russia. that's not part of it. i was expressing my outrage at the behavior of this man. it's outrageous. >> reaction from the kremlin was swift. a spokes mantling pbs the comments were alarming and a personal insult. >> join ing me is phil black. the air raid sirens off for the moment here. the discussions in istanbul very much on. >> reporter: on but manage your expectations as you have touched on. no real breakthrough is expected here today. on some of the positions they remain a very long way apart. and because essentially both sides are still trying to inflict as much pain as possible opt the battlefield in order to force concessions at the

negotiating table. neither side is at that point yet. on the day these negotiations are taking place, we have had some interesting comments from the defense minister. who has reenforced statements made by a senior general, which essentially say the first phase of the battle is over. we have tied down ukraine's forces and now we can focus on our real priority, which is purely eastern ukraine. that remains the purpose here. what that means in the context of what we're see isn't clear. in key cities you still see russian forces strike at those cities indiscriminately with indirect fire. even in places where ukraine is doing well, overnight in the area of which ukraine took back, there was more rocket fire and president zelenskyy says that area is not secure.

ukraine is maintaining a circular defense. there's nowhere to go. we spoke to mariupol's mayor yesterday. he said that they are still fighting fiercely, but they will fight to their very last drop of blood. >> they are still there. they are in control of part of the city right now. but the situation very, very dire. phil black, thank you for pg with us this morning. u.s. defense officials say they olympian to step up production of the missiles being sent here to klain ukraine for the record in order to refill their own depleted stockpiles. the wish list from the u.s. includes 500 stinger missiles, 500 javelin missiles per day. barbara starr is live at the pentagon with the details of this. how quickly can production get

going? >> well, they are trying to ramp it up. the idea is increase production and lower production times so you can get more missiles back into u.s. inventories so what is inside u.s. inventories can be shipped off to ukraine. that's the whole idea here. the antiair missile, the javelin, the anti-tank missile, these are the two things they are trying to improve. how would you improve production? more workers on the line. get rid of obsolete parts. get more modern tooling. all the industrial things that sound worrying, but are going to be essential to getting more missiles out the door. right now, the wish list is 500 javelins, 500 sting rs a day. already, as you can see there, the u.s. and the allies shipped out thousands. the u.s. is promising hundreds more right now.

according to a fact sheet put out by the white house, that's what's on the to do list, if you will, to ship off to ukraine. but again, what they have to do is get more back into u.s. inventory so they can ship from inventory over to ukraine. it's vital right now. and what this is all really tell ing us i think, everyone is settling in for a very long haul on this. this is a very long-term proposition to try to improve production and get more missiles out to the front line. >> day have one official tell me basically haven't we prove d we know how to use them. javelins and stingers making a big difference on the ground here. thank you very much. let's talk about where things are right now with retired major general james spider marks. stalled, largely. tell us what's going on here. >> yeah, significantly. what you see is what we have

seen for the past couple weeks. that essentially the russian offensive is kind of stalled. but as been reported, what's taking place in places like kyiv and certainly in mariupol. we have tauds about kharkiv as well. incredible rubble destruction, families are being missers anded. you look at this and think ukrainians are doing well. they are doing extremely well. but what's happening inside that little grid square is a lot of human suffering. that's what's really significant. let's dgo down here. there's a lot of reporting how this city is 90% rubble. it's really a wasteland. strategically, you might say this is the logical -- what is russia trying to achieve? essentially, as we have been discussing, russia just wants to turn this into a land bridge so you can get into russia from crimea. you don't have to go across this bridge.

so the destruction of mariupol in a military guy's mind makes no sense. eventually you have to reclaim it or unless you're going to completely level the thing. but bear in mind, the ukrainians also had some success here. they knocked that ship out of effective use. this is just -- i think it's fair to say we're at a stalemate where the russians are achieving success through long-ring fires of artilleries and rockets. you don't need precision to dpo after stationary targets. then ukrainians are having incredible success tactically going against those russian formations that's why the russians can cannot get any traction at all. so you have push by the ukrainians, great success, then the russians refuse to engage in battle. thn they launch all these rockets at families and apartments and hospitals. it's criminal. >> it's stunning the descriptions that we're hearing of the damage here in mariupol. i want to ask you about the

kremlin spokesman reiterating that russia would use nuclear weapons only if there's a threat to to the sbis existence to the st. why they keep repeting it? >> they want to remind everybody they have this capability. the russians are having a hard time tactically in ukraine, ask they want to hold up this big hamer and make sure the wasorld doesn't forget. the world has not forgotten that the russians have nuclkes. the united states has about 5,000. so at the same number of nukes as the russians. again, by comparison, the chinese only have 400. so when you look at the nukes, this is the challenge right here. one nuke is enough.

let's be frank. but we're talking 4,500 nukes. there's a comparison between how the united states and western powers view the use of nuclear weapons. the russians view this objectively. they have a checklist. this criteria, this criteria, check, check, check, launch a nuke. this takes the social and the political completely out of the discussion. that's the major issue. the notion of escalation, one nuke then could lead to hundreds of nukes, that is a very, very difficult discussion to have. when objectify it, you can get to 200 in a heartbeat. when you keep it social and political and understand the significant of all that, then you back off and you don't remind the world that you have 4,500 nukes. everybody knows that. what you have is a more mature discussion about what is the real value of having this capability. >> it doesn't feel like a mature

discussion. it feels like someone flashing as a knife as they come into a store right now. general, thank you so much for take us through that. really appreciate it. several people involved in the fwoerkss between russia and ukraine getting sick. now officials are down playing the possibility that they were poisoned. plus cnn is on the ground at the site of destroyed homes and villages in kyiv. what our reporter found is chilling. customizes your car in, so you only pay for what you need? like how i customized this scarf? check out this backpack i made for marco. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. libertrty. liberty.♪

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...or solving a workplace challenge that's yet to come. wherever the new world of work takes your business, the world works with servicenow. welcome back. i'm john berman in lviv. twro negotiators and a billionaire suffered minor skin peeling and sore eyes during the ukrai ukraine/russia talks a few weeks ago. the "wall street journal" and investigative group reported that ukrainian peace negotiators suffered from suspected poisoning at the talks aimed at

ending the conflict. a source tells cnn the incident was not regarded as serious with the reuters news agency citing an unidentified u.s. official who suggested the cause was environmental factors. joining me now is a russian investigative journalist that's now blocked in russia. he's also the co-author of "the compatriots." thank you so much for being with us. this minor skin peeling and eye irritation, i know there are all the caveats about what we don't know here, but what do you see going on? >> the symptoms are quite consistent with what happened before, specifically in 2018, a very prominent russian activist was poisoned in moscow.

then emigrated to jurygermany, now he's okay. they have a history of poisonings. one of the most preferred methods being used. the last 20 years we saw lots of poisonings in russia. >> i have read your writing before. you said russia loves poisoning. the question is if they were involved in this and this was poisoning, why poison the peace talks? >> well, poisoning is quite different from say other methods to kill a person because it's not only bad, it's also about sending a message. it's about scaring people and sometimes it's about messaging. so you send a message that these guys, you need to be cautious and remember who is in charge. you don't necessarily kill people for that.

everybody would take this message very serious ly. so maybe here it's a question about loyalty and it's about reminding people what is at stake. >> so one of the people who was experiencing the skin peeling and eye irritation is this russian oligarch, who owns the chelsea football club, who was there two weeks ago for these negot negotiations. the times is reporting he's there today. as russia and ukraine sits back down at the table for these talks. why him? why is he there, do you think? and if someone was trying to poison him, even to send a message, why to it to him? >> well, he's a very special kind of russian oligarch. he's not just some rich guy. he's extremely chose to the family of the first russian president. so he was always seen as a representative of his family, if

you wish. so his position is quite special. but right now, he has some access to putin, but i cannot say that putin would listen to him in all cases. and that makes him a very interesting character to choose for negotiations. so you can listen to him, use him, but you can dismiss him if you wanted. this question about poisoning is absolutely mysterious. maybe there's some questions about his loyalties right now in the kremlin. that's why we have this situation. >> i really appreciate you helping us understand the r ramifications of what's going on here and the possible motivations behind all of it. thank you for your expertise. >> thank you. russian attacks on the suburbs of kyiv. we have seen some devastating impacts.

fred pleitgen met an 84-year-old woman who was a child when the nazis rolled through in world war ii. she say this is time it's much worse. our report from the ground, next. plus the city under siege. we just spoke with the mayor as a bomb appears to go off during the interview. it was a tragedy. with k knockoff batteries, little miss cupcake never stood a chance. until, energizer ultimate lithium. who wants a cupcake? yay! case closed. it's still the eat fresh refresh™

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gruesome images show some of the devastation from the barrage of military strikes in and around kyiv. high-rise buildings, schools and hospitals now just huge piles of rubble as ukrainian troops

defend the capital in hopes of keeping it from falling under russian control. cnn's fred pleitgen has much more. we want to warn you some of these images are disturbing. >> reporter: kyiv remains on full-on attack by vladimir putin's army. officials saying russian forces are trying to storm the capital but failing unleashing barrages on civilian areas in the process. we drove to the village north of kyiv only a few miles from the frontline. even the streets here are marked with with shrapnel and massive craters. whole buildings laid to waste. just look at the utter destruction caused by this massive explosion. there's some really thick brick walls that even they were alated by the force of whatever landed here. the people only felt one really large explosion and it wounded several people and killed a small child. that child was a 2-year-old

killed while in his bed when the house came under fire. these videos given to us by local authorities show the chaos in the aftermath. as the wounded appear in shock, residents and rescuers tried to save those who were inside. the 2-year-old was pronounced dead on the scene. he was his second youngest child. we found them sifting through the rubble of his house days later. inside he shows me the damage caused by the explosion. he was at work when his home was hit. his wife the other children and his mother-in-law had already been brought to the hospital when he arrived at the house. he couldn't be saved. and because of staff shortages, they had to prepare his son's body for burial himself. >> i had to wash him, dress him. his head from his left to right

ear, one large hematoma. a total hematoma not compatible with life. lots of other wounds were discovered after death. >> reporter: many other houses have also hit here. the russians shell the town every day. we bumped into an 84-year-old in the up to center. she was a child when the nazis invaded this area and says now things are worse. >> translator: worse than fascists. when the germans were here and entered our homes, they would not touch us. they would move us into the woods, but they did not shoot us like the russian soldiers are shooting now killing children. >> reporter: the kremlin claims its forces don't target civilian areas, but the u.s., nato, and the ukrainians say the russians are frustrated by their lack of progress and are firing longer range weapons because they can't make headway on the ground. >> translator: they'll

understand our troops will push them out of our territory. now the russians are doing dirt tricks. they shoot at civilian areas than the positions of the ukrainian army. >> reporter: ukraine's army says its pressing its own counteroffensive trying to dislodge troops from the outskirts of kyiv. the kremlin's forces so far unable to take the ukrainian capital instead laying waste to its suburbs. fred pleitgen, ukraine. >> even in these areas where ukraines have had success, the russians leaving behind so much destruction and so much suffering. much more from here in just a moment. in the meantime, back in the united states, members of the january 6th committee frustrated with the attorney general and the justice department telling them to, quote, do your job. plus for the frs time since live television, will smith with a

message for chris hrock.

democratic and republic members of the january 6th committee hare saying to merric garland. they recommend that two former top trump advisers be referred to the doj on criminal contempt of congress charges. both men refuse to cooperate with the committee's investigation. >> this committee is doing its job. the department of justice needs to do theirs. >> the department of of justice has a duty to act on this referral and others we have sent. >> let's talk about this with maggie haberman, political analyst and washington correspondent for "the new york times." they sound over this. they sound really unhappy with

merrick garland. >> i think that's right. i think you have seen increasing pressure coming from this committee on doj. this committee has behaved as if it's a prosecution. this is much less like a house committee than we have seen at any other time certainly in my memory. and they are trying to exert pressure on the justice department, which is the only entity that can bring criminal charges. congress can refer and that's it. but i-don't know how much of their frustration is about these specific referrals which two of which just happened or whether it's just an overall frustration that there have not been charges brought against former president trump where people closer to him on doj's own initiative, which you hear a lot of complaining about. i'm not saying there's justification for that. just that's their complaint. >> for instance, steve bannon has been indicted. but doj still hasn't said if it's going to pursue the criminal charges that the committee recommended for mark

meadows. what is the hold up here? do we know? >> we don't know. i certainly don't know. usually, these things take some time. i remember when steve bannon was indicted. i believe it's a misdemeanor, not a felony. when steve bannon was indicted, that moved pretty quickly and people commented how quickly that was. if there's going to be one it's moving on a standard timeline. >> it feels like it begins slowly but it happens all at once. so there's this frustration that builds up. we have seen just yesterday a federal judge saying that trump and john eastman, his former cam pair lawyer, likely committed a crime. more likely had than not. how significant is that. >> criminally, it's not necessarily significant because this is a judge. this is not a prosecutor. this is not doj. but it is certainly significant in potentially significant in

the court of public opinion. this is not a democratic senator. this is not adam schiff or somebody you have heard the former president condemn over and over again. this is a sitting judge. still a sitting judge. so making that comment is pretty extr extraordinary, whether it changes anything, means anything, i don't know. i do think the thing that the public needs to bear in mind, we have seen this over and over over the last four years, there's always this sort of sense that investigations related to trump are building to something, which is why comments from congressional members saying things like do your job to doj, it does leave the public with a sense of this is heading in a certain direction that it might not be heading in. >> that's right. this is an expectation that's being built up if it's not met. what happens then. the committee is seeking an interview with jenny thomas, the wife of associate justice clarence thomas. what are you watching for here? >> the main thing is whether

they subpoena here. as of now, we know they are likely to ask her to come in for a voluntary interview. my colleagues and i reported this week that this issue has pretty much split members of the committee. they are not in agreement about how to approach her. this is an unprecedented situation because she's the wife of a supreme court justice. so whether they go ahead and subpoena her i think remains to be seen. we referred earlier this week to experts saying they would be seen as having a double standard if they don't because they have subpoenaed people for associates of trump's children and so forth for far less than the text she had with meadows. >> what do you make of what you have learned about her text messages? she was texting with mark made does. she also referred to as if she were texting with jared kushner and other aids and telling him to keep on with the fight. to keep fight the election result. she continued saying basically that after january 6th.

>> she's always been very politically active. her political activism and the work that she has done on policy issues has been a flash point for a lot of of democrats who have raised questions about it. ginni thomas supporters said this is a fake standard. this is not a standard that would apply to other justices. i can't think of another spouse who has been as active as she is. what i was struck by in those texts is frankly not just what she was saying. she was pushing a lawyer who she thought they should be using and that was sidney powell. that was striking because the case could have ended up before the supreme court. and other cases related to trump did. what was striking is mark m meadows seemed to be on the one hand i know he was telling senate republican leadership there's going to be a peaceful transition of power and he's describing this as a fight between good and evil.

i was struck by how much he seemed to be telling everybody what they wanted to hear. >> talking out of all sides of his mouth. that's a good point. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. will smith is now apologizing to chris rock for slapping him at the oscars. cnwe have new developments in t oscar drama. it was telling when he apologized during his acceptance speech for best actor. he did not apologize to chris rock. here we have this. >> you're right. notably absent in his acceptance speech in his apologies to the nominees and the academy, he didn't have an apology to chris rock. less than 24 hours after the slap had seen round the world, we have that. so this is what will smith said in an instagram post. he says violence in all forms is poisonous and destructive. had my behavior at last night's academy awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. he goes on to say jokes at my expense are part of the job. but he went on to say when it comes to jada's medical

condition, an auto immune disease where she's been lose ing her hair, that's when it really just sent him over the edge. he goes on to say i would like to publicly apologize to you ch, chris. i was out of line, i was wrong and says i'm a work in progress. i can tell you that two sources told me yesterday that there was an impromptu meeting held by academy members who were really divided over with what next steps should be. and then we got that statement from the academy saying that they are looking into all options and that they are launching their own investigation into this. and then another source telling me that in the actual broadcast, there was discussion about whether or not will should be removed from the dol by theater, but all of the people in the academy leadership were seated and it makes sense all over the theater. so it was hard to get everybody together to discuss what next steps should be. and next thing you knew, 40 minutes later, it was his

category and then he won. so a lot of things at play. but i can guarantee that probably in the next day or so, we are going to have some answers from the academy on what are they going to do next. >> really interesting to watch. thank you so much for that report. we have more on our breaking news. ukraine says that the russian military bombed a government building in one city and now civilians are trapped under the rubble. the new video, ahead. plus the city is right now under siege. we just spoke with the mayor as a boll appeared to go off during his interview. (music throughout)

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the role of belarus in the war in cain kraib still unclear after nato officials said last week that the country was increasingly likely to enter the conflict. the leader of the belarus opposition, in 2020 she took over the husband's campaign after her husband sergey was jailed and eventually sentenced to 18 years in prison for allegedly organizing riots. she's now living in exile after losing the election, which the u.s. state department would later characterize as not free and fair. she spoke to president biden this weekend and she joins us now. thank you so much for being with us this morning. i do want to ask you. do you think that belarus will order belarus troops into ukraine?

>> good morning. he's not recognized as president. i have to say that belarus is already in this war and in our country into this war against our brothers and sisters. but our army doesn't want to participate in this war. our people don't understand why they have to fight for one person, why they have to fight against our brother ukraines and are demoralized. the troops could be in ukraine already one week ago, but something went wrong. and the army doesn't want to fight for lukashenko. many officers voted for me and even joined the rails and i

released an appeal to them. refuse to fight or defect. and officers and soldiers had already joined the independent unit. and fight ukrainians. >> who do average belle russians want to win? they were there to help ukrainians because we're sure when we will be in need, ukrainians will had come to help us.

>> i know you spoke to president biden by phone. what do you want from president biden and the united states? >> we need to keep belarus in focus. because they are interaconnecte now. and i told him that they support ukraine and i really feel president biden's personal engagement in our story. he understands the situation quite well. and it's important that belarus now will not be a huge loophole in sanctions against russian federation. i think that lukashenko shares for this war and the toughest sanctions should be enforced on the regime as well. but what is more important is

implementation of the sanctions. sanctions are imposed by the control of the imlemtation. and it's very important to create especially european union, important to create mechanisms of implementation of sanctions. >> your husband is in prison. you're in exile. what do people know? what should they know about life in belarus? >> just imagine life, you don't have rights at all. if you are against regime, if you are against the war, you will be detained. after the war had started, we had a huge rally against war. and about 100 people went to the streets to show their attitude. about 1,000 people had been detained. they had been tortured in jail. a lot of people went directly to

hospitals and after so-call ed interr interrogations. you're nobody in your country. and a lot of people had to flee belarus because of oppressions and young people are flee ing te country because they are afraid. they don't want to fight in this war. but on the other hand, despite all this repressions and atrociti atrocities, people are ready to fight. we will work hard with this movement and be launched antiwar movement at the moment. we are working hard to crack regime's systems. our people disrupt the railway connection between belarus and ukraine to stop russian military

equipment to ukraine. so we have very small space of opportunity, but belle russians are eating tore continue our fight. because without new elections in our country, without the moment that all political prisoners, there will be more for belarus. we want to choose our future. we don't want to be in this influence in the country. >> thank you so much for joining us. a lot of people looking to you for guidance. i appreciate your time. stay safe. >> thank you. crucial face to face talks underway at this moment between russia and ukraine. what are the chances for any kind of movement? plus we're just getting word from ukraine they say russian troops withdrawing from the region around kyiv . we're going to speak to the

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innocent ukrainian children turned upside down as russia's attacks intensify. they now must find ways to cope with the continuing stress of war. we have more on that. you have been spending time with kids here in lviv who fled from so many different places. >> half of the children have been rs forced out of their homes. that's an entire generation. there's volunteers trying to give them a sense of normalcy, but there really is no normal. ween went to this art therapy class. some were of flowers and puppies and cats, but some of the pictures were of soldiers and

tanks and guns. and what the kids were doing is very far from normal. they were writing postcards to the frontline troops to try to keep them safe. take a look. >> reporter: this is art therapy for the youngest forced out of their homes. today's task is to make postcards for good luck to keep the frontline troops safe. had this 9-year-old escaped from kyiv was for if iing. i saw rockets flying and guns, he tells me. and there was a crushed tank in front of our house. this is his message to ukraine's defenders. i wake up every day wishing for peace, he reads. please protect us. she loves drawing the faces of his country's poets and warriors. >> why do you like to draw portraits? >> because they look beautiful, he says, and they are not too difficult for me.

i have drawn a famous ukrainian cosa, he says. i 24i he will protect the troops. halfway through class an air raid siren sounds. the children head into the basement, trau by torchlight and sing the national anthem to pass the time. childhood should not look like this. back in the classroom, we meet two children who are already insap prabl. >> why did you become best friends? >> translator: we both love anime so we became very close. >> reporter: this 13-year-old is from kharkiv, hard hit by russian bombardment. >> i want to tell that my

country is now in bad time. houses are broken now. >> when you're drawing, does it make dwrou you feel calmer? >> yes, about life. >> reporter: an entire g generation of children desperately trying to cling to their lives before war. i think what was so hard to see was that each of these children was trying to make sense of something that we can't make sense of as adults. an unprovoked war, a brutal, brutal invision of their country. they don't know if they will go home. they don't know if their homes still stand. they left behind their pets. but they also understand that their lives are forever changed. >> imagine like that boy told you waking up hoping for peace and that the soldiers will protect him. that was lovely. you keep showing us such an important side of life here in