hello and a warm welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. we're following breaking news on russia's war in ukraine. just ahead --

>> translator: forever the russian army will be written in history as the most barbaric and inhumane army in the world. >> we're not willing to say it will be inevitable. another $800 million in security, military. >> we need to be prepared. this is cnn breaking news. it's wednesday, april 20th. 9 a.m. here in london. 11 a.m. in mariupol, ukraine, where deputy prime minister says kyiv has reached a preliminary agreement with russia to evacuate women, children and the elderly. that corridor is set to open in the next hour. they've said the demand is nothing more than a surrender to

give up in mariupol. they're taking shelter. food and water are running out. >> translator: this is our statement to the world. it may be our last statement. we might have only a few days or even hours left. the enemy's units are ten times larger than ours. they have supremacy in the air, artillery and units that are dislocated on the ground, equipment and tanks. we appeal to the world leaders to help us. >> the same marine commander says the steelworks is crowded with 500 wounded left to rot without medical care and the rest of the city is in ruins. ukraine security service claims it intercepted communications threatening to level everything in the area.

that's a similar story in donbas. the governor says the russian forces are attacking from all directions with intense artillery. new damage shows some of the damage in eastern ukraine. you can see multiple buildings torn apart. these scenes playing out less than 40 kilometers from a town, crimea. this next video is graphic and may be hard to watch. this is the northeastern city of kharkiv. a barrage of russian shelling left at least three people dead and 16 people injured on tuesday. the city's mayor says civilian areas have been under enormous pressure. those attacks on civilians will forever taint russia's history.

>> translator: forever the russian army will be written in history as the most barbaric army in the world. the targeted killing of civilians and this is just a trademark of the russian army and this will truly mark the russian federation as the source of evil. >> krimatorsk is one of the russian cities coming under fire. >> reporter: just a few minutes after 3:00 in the afternoon in krimatorsk, a missile hit the construction warehouse causing all of this damage and at least one person was killed. the body's under this yellow and blue tarp. according to police on the scene, at least three people were injured, but an hour before

this strike there was another missile strike in another part of town but as far as we know there were no injuries in that case. now as russian forces mass nearby and have actually taken one town about an hour's drive from here, this may be a taste of things to come. >> u.s. president joe biden says he's unsure whether he'll visit kyiv any time soon. instead he'll send weapons. sources say there will likely be another weapons package valued at $800 million. meanwhile, we're learning the u.s. has very few ways to send weapons. oren lieberman says it isn't slowing the hustle to get weapons into the hands of ukrainian troops. >> reporter: max, it used to take weeks or months to ship

weapons. now during this ongoing russian invasion of ukraine a senior defense official says they're working around the clock 24/7 to get the shipments reviewed, approved and sent as quickly as possible. and that includes what can generally be a lengthy process. it starts with bilateral discussions between the u.s. and another country, that is ukraine. then it checks its own stocks what is available, what can be sent. then it gets a recommendation from the joint chiefs and what analysis it will have on military readiness and secretary of defense approval and secretary of state and then back to the pentagon to begin the process of shipping the weapons. that is compressed to as little as possible to ship weapons from the u.s. to ukraine. the u.s. knows this is a

priority. they know the insatiable need of the ukrainian forces in this fight. they are trying to make this go as quickly as possible. a process down to 48 to 72 hours from beginning to end to start shipping weapons. we see it, for example, last week's approval of $800 million from the biden administration to ship to ukraine. within days that has already begun shipping. a separate senior defense missile five flights have gone in, another seven flights in the next 24 hours. that speaks to the speed by which these shipments, weapons, packages of equipment are moving. max? >> joining me now from geneva, switzerland, neil melvin. the director of international security studies at the world institute. thank you so much for joining us. $800 million is obviously a huge amount, but the ukrainians saying it doesn't compare to what was sent to afghanistan so

is it enough still in. >> hello, max. yeah, it is very significant. it's actually the key equipment that ukraine needs at the moment which as your correspondent was highlighting, it's artillery, all of the artillery shells, small weapons. body armor. in terms of what ukraine needs, this is spot on. the challenge is to get it to the front line really quickly. >> yeah. also this strategy of the russians to take out rail lines and roads to try to damage the supply lines, make it difficult for the americans to get that equipment to the ukrainians on the front lines. >> yeah. we see the battle now is very much focused on donbas. russia is striking other parts of ukraine. we've seen strikes on key cities such as lviv. this is trying to stop them from

crossing from the polish borders and other areas to reach the ukrainians in donbas. >> what do you make of what's happening in mariupol? pretty extraordinary ukrainians are holding the city after this time. no greater surprise we're hearing russian commanders talking about leveling the city. >> desperate situation. this is really frustrating the military and they want to pivot them to the fight in donbas. this is not about mariupol, but it's holding up the whole russian push which is gathering force further to the north. >> presumably at some point the russians again have to take some sort of break because they must be pretty exhausted after being rerouted around the donbas area. how long can they keep going without a break, do you think?

>> well, i think this is really the key question now. this is phase 2 for the russians. they're trying to put together forces and they have one more go of this. many of these units already quite exhausted. the ones fighting mariupol are questioned whether there will be much if they manage to suppress the final ukrainian resistance. they've been exhausted and are out of ammunition. my thought is we have a couple of weeks where the russians will push and try to break through the ukrainian lines. >> what's your view about what happens after that? is the hustle for kyiv over? >> it depends on what happens to the battle for donbas. the russians are using their forces which is artillery and air power.

they'll try to denude the ukrainian forces and then potentially move on kyiv. we don't know their political goals. their broad political goals seem to have been abandoned. they're probably not going to replace the ukrainian government. the key is can the ukrainians hold on for a couple of weeks or even a month and we'll see if the russians are exhausted at that point. >> neil melvin, thank you very much for your analysis. residents and volunteers are cleaning up the massacre russia left behind in bucha. bodies are being found in basements, on the streets and mass graves. it's kept the coroner's office extremely busy. a warning to our viewers, some of these images are disturbing. >> reporter: morgues aren't supposed to be busy or so over

capacitated a team of volunteers to move bodies around and large mobile refrigerators to accommodate them. this is one of seven sites in and around kyiv working to cope with the tide of death left behind by russia's retreating forces. >> reporter: there are still more bodies coming? >> a lot. every day. >> reporter: this gentleman normally teaches forensic medicine. now he's a fthd volunteer performing endless autopsies. how many murders have you seen? >> murders? 100%. >> reporter: by his definition, that means 30% of the people in these bags have deliberate gunshot wounds to the head. we witness a continuous cycle. shuffling bodies from vehicles to storage to autopsy to storage

and ultimately preparation for burial. usually it will be their second. most have been exhumed from temporary graves. families buy clothes as a gesture of respect. they often go unworn. they can only be laid inside the coffin. the condition of the bodies mean dressing them is impossible. among those lying here waiting to be collected is iman. his family says he was killed when munitions struck the village. intense fighting meant she couldn't escape the house. victor yo's brother igor said my sister had to step over her husband's body for two weeks. she had to go through it to get to food or water. the room is still covered in blood.

she is very bad now, very bad. i don't know how she will live with this loss. others who grieve are living through a different form of hell. they can't find the body of the person they love. vladimir is searching for his brother. he shows us where he was shot and killed. where he was buried in a shallow make shift grave before officials exhumed the body and took it away. so vladimir has taken leave from active duty going morgue to morgue but no one can help. eventually he's directed to a police office with a central list of the dead. he's told his brother probably hasn't been processed yet. vladimir must return to the war. he doesn't know when he'll be

able to come back even if his brother's body has been found. it hurts a lot. he says. it hurts a lot, but we don't give up. russia has left so much death. phil brak, cnn, bucha, ukraine. what the city is asking for and what it signals about the 250i7s of attacks they fear could be coming. while some travelers are celebrating the end of the mask mandate and others are urging caution in some settings. details ahahead. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger.

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the deadline is looming in the besieged ukrainian city of mariupol. russia has given ukrainian soldiers hold up in a sprawling steel fact try until 2 p.m. local time to lay down their weapons and leave or face more attacks. that's a little less than three hours from now. the ukrainian forces have so far refused to surrender despite

being surrounded. in the capitol kyiv deputy mayor has now requested 200,000 gas masks. the u.s. has already shipped some protective gear to ukraine. more is on the way. in eastern ukraine's donbas region where much of the fighting is now focused, ukrainian soldiers have repelled several attacks. russia is accusing the united states and its western allies of doing everything they can to drag out the war. russia's defense minister claims western weapons shipments into ukraine prove the u.s. wants to provoke ukraine into fighting. there has been a shift in bringing the u.k. and the u.s. into the language as to them being the aggressors.

>> reporter: the more weapons that are shipped in, the heavier the weapons. that's all the talk between the united states and euro peel allies and partners at the moment. tanks, heavy equipment, howitzers. that sort of material, armored vehicles. the more it sort of allows russia to fuel its own propaganda campaign saying it's under threat by nato. it feeds into russia's narrative. russia also feeding its own narrative of what its objectives are. the foreign minister sergei lavrov reiterating again in part propaganda to the russian people that their main mission taking kyiv failed. they're trying for the eastern area of donbas and how important this is. this is how he framed it.

>> in the east of ukraine, this operation will continue. another stage of this operation is beginning and i am sure this will be a very important moment for the entire special operation. >> reporter: so a very important moment. what russia recognizes is that its push in donbas has to be successful. whether they'll try to push further, that depends on how they get in donbas. it has to be successful to give the leadership in moscow something to say that they're actually making some real gains and victories on the ground. this is why they're coming down on the supply of weapons to ukraine. the more heavy weapons supplied to ukraine the less russia can

take. these coming weeks are expected to be defining. no one is saying it is going to be over but does it grind to stationary front lines or does it give russia impetus? >> it's probably going to come up as a topic of discussion, isn't it, between the european council chief who's in kyiv at the moment. he's going to talk about getting more weapons to the ukrainians. they're trying to send the message they are going to continue supporting the military there. >> reporter: support at every level. support economically, humanitarian aid, with weapons, security guarantees. perhaps not quite liking to the strength kyiv wants. should there be a peace at some point, shah michelle, president

of the commission already visited over the past few weeks but it does reaffirm the message that the european nations are behind ukraine. shah michelle represents the european council. he's the one that sits down with all those heads of the european union nations so he confers with them. he tries to draw consensus. he's the one that really negotiates at the very, very top table. so his conversations with president zelenskyy are important for both the e.u. and for ukraine. >> nic in brussels, thank you. we'll watch that visit as it unfolds. the war in ukraine and uncertainty about oil supplies is pushing gas prices in the u.s. back up. a regular gallon of gas averages $4.10. aaa says a steady decline bottomed out at $4.07 a gallon. lower oil prices and the

unprecedented price fueled that drop. americans are paying $1.23 more now than this time a year ago. now netflix says it's lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year. the company blames a myriad of factors from increased competition, rising inflation and russia's war on ukraine to users sharing their account passwords with roughly 100 million other households. netflix expects to lose more subscribers, 2 million in the next quarter. following the news, the stock dropped as much as 25% in after hours trading. watching to see what happens on wall street later on. the reversal of the mask mandate on public transportation is causing confusion as travelers deal with inconsistencies. coming up, advice on how to travel safely. >> contradicting. don't do this, don't do that.

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people to make a choice. >> if someone's not wearing a mask, even if you're wearing a high quality mask like this, an n-95 mask, they're infected, you have about an hour, 1:15 protection from them. on the other hand, if both of you are wearing good n-95 masks, that goes up to 6:53 minutes. that's good enough for most long flights. i'm really worried about buses and subways and places that don't have great ventilation. a lot of people don't have the choice about whether to take public transportation to work. what i would say here 1 just because the government says you don't need to.

>> it's advising people to wear masks in indoor public transportation settings for now. the british prime minister is alele apologizing to house members. >> i take this opportunity on the first sitting day to repeat my whole hearted apology to the house. >> boris johnson was said to have broken his own covid rules. on tuesday he doubled down on his defense. >> let me also say not by way of mitigation or excuse but purely because it explains my public words in this house. it did not occur to me then or subsequently that a gathering in a public room could account to a

breach of the rooms. >> it is bizarre, isn't it, that he is kind of saying he didn't do anything wrong, he was within the rules. he's accepting the fine. a lot of people pointing out he could appeal the fine if he doesn't think he broke any rules. >> exactly. the prime minister has said he respects the decision. he accepts the understanding that he did break the rules, the laws that he put forward and put in place, but he has maintained that he didn't understand at the time that the actions of he and his colleagues in downing street could amount to -- >> that's a defense under the code. if he didn't intentionally do it here, he couldn't be responsible. >> he didn't knowingly mislead house leaders intentionally.

they described the prime minister's defense there as a joechblgt take a listen. >> what a joke. even now as the latest meely mouthed apologies stumble outside of his mouth, a new set of deflections or distortions pour from the ore. but the damage is already done. the public have made up their mind. >> yes. >> they don't believe a word the prime minister says. >> >> hhere here. >> the prime minister denies being fined. he was filmed denying that he was involved. now the labor party is proposing an inquiry, parliamentary inquiry into whether or not the prime minister knowingly misled parliament.

that debate will take place on thursday. there are still calls for the prime minister to resign as well. >> thank you very much. we'll see what happens. in hong kong nearly a dozen flights into the city are suspended right now due to china's strict covid restrictions. meanwhile, other cities remain under full or partial lockdown. the lockdown has sparked widespread angle, crippled supply chains and resulted in shortages of food and essential supplies. still to come on cnn, why local leaders in texas and elsewhere along the u.s. southern border are bracing for a new surge of migrants, possibly as soon as next month. with the presidential runoff just days away, france's presidential can daets are preparing to debate each other in the coming hours.

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thousands of americans in the northeastern u.s. are without power after a nor'easter bringing strong winds. the storm brought down power lines and tree limbs in several states. to the west a blanket of snow can also be seen in the state of wisconsin, usually nor easters affect mainly coastal areas. this week's system tracked much further inland off the u.s. east coast. in arizona a massive fire has been burning for several days northeast of flagstaff. residents near the so-called tunnel fire are under evacuation orders. dozens of firefighters working to contain the blaze which is threatening about 200 homes. at last check the fire had grown to some 6,000 acres. republican governors of 26 states are joining force to form

the governor border strike force. they're sharing intelligence connected to border security. the texas governor says states must step up in the federal government's absence. republicans and democrats dislike the lifting of the trump era policy which allowed forth quick deportation of hundreds of thousands of migrants. now border officials are again bracing for a potential surge at the southern border once title 42 is lifted. more now from cnn's rosa flores in san antonio, texas. >> reporter: this park in downtown san antonio has turned into a waiting area. how many days have you been in san antonio? >> seven. >> seven days? from migrants that are exempt from title 42, among those who are exempt an electric engineer,

a paramedic and a professional artist. they say they earned between 2 and $4 in their home countries a month of cuba. they're sending a letter sounding the alarm about the unsustainable increase in migrants. his administration warning that if title 42 lifts, the city's ability to meet the humanitarian need could be limited. dhs estimates that thousands more migrants could arrive at the border. would you be ready to serve that many more migrants? >> daunting. >> reporter: katdy myers from interfaith welcome coalition says on average between 150 and 200 migrants arrive at this bus station every day. many with cell phones, the migrants say, issued and geo located by the u.s. government. >> take a picture of yourself. >> reporter: some migrants confused how to use the

equipment. another 300 to 500 migrants being dropped off at the airport every day says myers. the latest spike, she says, started in mid march. how many of you had money to buy a ticket to your destination? >> no. >> reporter: and it came with a new challenge. migrants are arriving with a plan and no money. the result? sleeping at the park. how many people have been sleeping at the park? >> there might have been 10 or 20. >> reporter: per night. that's why pastor roberts opened a shelter at the church. women with children are placed in hotels. men are here. >> they can shower, eat, receive the proper food and they can wait until they're safl think through. he's a nonprofit filling in the gaps for the federal government.

>> it falls on to nonprofits and municipalities that are indifferent to the local or national politics but have to find a solution. >> reporter: u.s. representative henry queia is bucking the policy. >> it would be a mistake. >> reporter: when you ask them for a plan -- >> they say more people are coming. that's not plain. that's a notification. we're going to bring some of the agents from the northern border over here. that's only temporary. >> reporter: most migrants stay here a few nights. jesse amailla is waiting for his wife to cross. what's your biggest worry? her physical safety. he says he plans to wait for her in san antonio, the place they hope to call home.

what is the mayor of san antonio asking the federal government for? first of all, more resources and also a heads up before the federal government drops off an increasing number of migrants in his city. rosa flores, cnn, san antonio. ♪ ♪ in several hours france's candidates will face off against each other. polling showed incumbent president emmanuel macron widening his lead over maureen le pen. the far left leader came in third in the first round. jim bidderman is in pair ras. it's the first and last debate

and crucial for both of these candidates. >> reporter: the only debate, in fact, debates in the past here have had an impact on the way people voted. back in 2017 it was the same two candidates, maureen le pen and emmanuel macron faced off. maureen le pen was widely believed to be the loser in that debate. she lost her cool and even she admitted she could have done much better. she said since she was tired from all of the campaigning. this time around she's taken the last 48 hours off so she's not so tired and she'll do a better job. we'll see. about 1/4 of the french population was watching the debate last time around, 2017. so there's a lot of people going to be watching this tonight and making a judgment because of it. max? >> issues with macron appear to

be his style and arrogance. that sort of thing he could address in a tv debate but he has to tone it right. >> reporter: he has to tone right. that's a very important thing i think for emmanuel macron. unlike the last time in 2017 when these two squared off, the fact is he now has a track record. there's a lot of people that are angry at him for the way he has handled his presidency. we'll see how much they play into this. by the same token, maureen le pen has moderated her tone and has not been quite as aggressive. her positions are there in terms of antieurope and they're still there. the policies that appear on the party website. she has moderated at least her rhetoric somewhat, max. >> jim, stay with you throughout

the exciting election. brittain's prince harry is sharing details about his visit with the queen. the queen is on great form and he wants to make sure she's protected and has the right people around her. harry and meghan went to the castle for the first time since stepping away. that applies to her rather than him. they're in europe for the invictus games in the netherlands. as for the queen, she turns 96 on thursday. that full interview playing later. still to come, basketball fans were treated to some exciting finishes in the nba playoffs on tuesday. one team couldn't overcome a star player's injury. ordinary y supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain perfrforman. more brain performance? yes, pleasase! neuriva. thihink bigger.

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our next story contains images that are hard to watch. the moments leading up to the death of an unarmed black man during a traffic stop in the u.s. the family says the autopsy they commissioned shows he was shot

in the back of the head following an altercation with police in grand rapids, michigan. police footage released from that april 4th encounter shows the scuffle from multiple angles. the official certificate listing the cause of death is not yet released. the officer who shot him is on public leave but will not be publicly named unless there's public charges. demonstrators are chanting justice for patrick. johnny depp said he never hit his wife or any other woman in his life. he made the statement in the $50 million defamation trial. this stems from a 2018 opinion piece. herd wrote about her experience with domestic abuse. >> there were arguments and

things of that nature, but never did i myself reach the point of striking ms. herd in any way. >> amber herd posted a note in advance of the current defamation trial on the current social media account. she said, i never wrote about depp. i continue to pay that price but hopefully when this case concludes i can move on and so can johnny. julian assange's fight against extradition to the u.s. the founder of wikileaks has a hearing in a british court expected to start soon.

claire sebastian joins me. >> they're looking at the extradition. this gets him closer to the u.s. charges on the document dump 12 years ago that shows potential war crimes of the u.s. wars in afghanistan and iraq. this means it will go to the home secretary. his team will have one final chance to appeal. >> in terms of what the u.s. side is seeking here, what ultimately do they want to achieve? >> initially they've been fighting for several years in terms of when the indictment was unsealed where he was seeking refuge at the embassy. they are seeking to put him to trial in the states for what they've called in the indictment

one of the largest compromises in the history of the united states. these are the hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables that he's alleged to have got hold of thanks to the help of chelsea manning who has served time for this. the sentence is 175 years. we noah cording to the lawyers and assange's wife, he was married in prison less than a month ago, that his physical and mental health is very fragile. u.s. has given assurance about his care. he could serve out his sentence in australia. >> it's become so complex isn't it? this is a simple freedom of speech case initially. what's it turned into? how would you describe his support team? >> it is a case that really sort of gets to the heart of the

definition of journalism in essence. the decision by the u.k. supreme court not to hear his appeal. there are those who say this puts the u.s. national security at risk. >> claire, thank you. nba playoffs are in full swing. some teams inching closer to making it through first round. the miami heat held off an improved atlanta hawks team to take a 2-0 lead in the eastern conference match-up. miami came out on top. eighth seeded new orleans pelicans upset the phoenix suns to even their series at 115 a piece. brandon inge gram added 37 points to a solid victory. the suns had to make due without their star devin booker for most

of the second half. booker put on a show in the first half scoring 31 points but left in the third quarter with a hamstring injury. and in memphis the home team grizzlies crushed the visiting minnesota timberwolves 124-96. their best of seven series is now tied at one game apiece. good news for fried chicken fans around the world. fast food chain popeye's is on track to open 200 locations. the chain restaurant is going to open in france, china, india and the u.k. popeye's seen modest growth since the start of the pandemic. this is only the beginning for what lies ahead. thanks for joining me here on "cnn newsroom." i'm max foster. our coverage starts on "cnn newsroom" with kristin fischer.

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this is cnn breaking news. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm kristin fischer. laura jarrett and christine romans are off this morning. ukrainian forces holding the line in morning on at least two fronts but for how long? ukraine's troops have repelled numerous advances by russian forces in donbas even as russian shelling escalates. the u.s. says ukraine had years to prepare trenches for ambushes in the east.