this is cnn breaking news. hello. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm john vause live in lviv, ukraine. coming up, negotiations continue to open up evacuation corridors for the hard-hit city mariupol. still, too, the russian

bombardment of that city. details of that this hour. i'm rosemary church in atlanta with the latest on the biden administration fighting back about the mask rule taken away from public transportation. >> reporter: we begin in mar mariupol. russian shelling continues. negotiations are underway to try to open up more evacuation corridors. this is what they hope to publish in terms of evacuations so far. russian forces were not able to adhere to a cease-fire for a much larger humanitarian

corridor. president zelenskyy said they do not have what they need to defend the city. >> translator: according to our information, they are keeping 120,000 people in besieged mariupol. i'm confident with the combined efforts we can bring all of those responsible to justice and i promise you we'll find them all. >> reporter: now to a bleak assessment by the governor. russian troops are destroying everything in their path. the governor says 80% of lieu hans k is under control. u.s. defense officials say russia has added 70 ba tallian tactical groups. the rs 28 dubbed the satin 2 by nato is capable of carrying a

much bigger pay load. there is growing evidence of trouble within the ranks of the russian military. recent intercept of conversations among russian troops show frustration and at times anger. cnn's jim sciutto has the story. the images in this report are disturbing. >> reporter: as russia's attacks on the east intensify, there is new evidence that some of its own soldiers have had enough. the security service of ukraine releasing purported new conversations. one man recounting a conversation he had with his commander. he can be heard saying we asked the commander, quote, what shall we do? we've got nothing. he said, the told the commander told him f'ing shoot.

whoever leaves their post will be a desserter. that's when another soldier on the recording said, tell them to f off. as the conversation continued they say russia has all but abandoned them. just imagine, they didn't provide a way to retreat. didn't say anything. didn't even bring food. f them. cnn cannot vouch for the authenticity of the recording but ukraine has previously released audio of russian soldiers and russian troops have used unsecured lines of communication according to military openers. as the warren terse the 56th day, new images reveal how the situation in mariupol is getting worse by the hour. bodies piling up from the nonstop shelling and fierce street fighting. human remains lining the streets, some with bullet holes in their backs.

others killed by missile strikes. ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy said the slaughter is worse than anything he's even. >> reporter: crimes there are much more scary than borodianka. >> reporter: they killed numerous civilians and left behind utter destruction. >> there are no words to explain what i feel not as president of the european council but as father, as human being. these are atrocities. these are war crimes. it must be punished. it will be punished. >> european council president releasing that report by jim sciutto. 5 million people have fled this

country in addition to 7 million displaced in ukraine. more people actually returned to ukraine than those who actually crossed into poland for the first time since the war began. our next guest has seen this up close and personal. al aliceever stop and in terms of the coming weeks. >> unfortunately our expectations are the situation is going to get worse. we've seen the mass exodus is going to get worse.

the needs are going to be greater. >> my im3regs is shelterbox provides relief and as this drags on and goes into months, are you transitioning into a longer time? >> we are. we're focusing on people who might be in a collective sense. we're providing mattresses and kits for people in areas in north kyiv and we've heard about the grave situation that took place in bucha. we want to make sure they have the ability to rebuild and restart their lives as soon as

possible. sometimes the complex work, we are needed beyond the first few months. preparing for more work. we want to make sure we have the funds in place. >> reporter: i understand your people are working with many. you have spent some time with people who have been there. it's tragic. we've been busy and trying to work remotely in ukraine. what we're seeing is a city within a city. if it sees normal like with cafes, people are walking around, then you look closer and you see sand bags.

when the sirens go, when we all go down into the shelters, you see people night after night going and repeating the cycle of what is unfortunate to have become normal in this conflict and war. what we find really hard to see and when we hear of three people we're working with is when they're trying to support their families leaving, you get to somewhere like lviv which has been until now relatively safe and then the missile strike three days ago. the people at the train station feeling like they're trying to seek safety but not really. nowhere in ukraine is safe at the moment. >> yeah, a lot of aid groups have spoken about the scope, scale, speed of the crisis. 12 million displaced. that struggle continues to try and get people out of those

areas in eastern ukraine. how important is it to have people up and running and with a group like yours and others in navigating? >> it's incredibly important to have the safe passages for people out of these areas and to make sure they have the choice, security and ability to move. what we're seeing is numbers of days being passed where we hear reports where they've not been established, agreed to or supported. that's incredibly concerning. we know situations dire. the people are leaving for the most part, have the means and ability to do so. what we at shelter box are concerned about are the needs of people who are mobile, elderly, people with children who are effectively trapped away from this. so all sides need to come together and buy predictable, safe passage for people.

>> it's hard enough working in a war zone when all sides are in a war zone. we appreciate your time and what you do. thank you. >> thank you. you can help as well. if you'd like to help ukraine for those in need of shelter, food and water, go to cnn.com/impact. you can be guaranteed whatever you give will go to the people. raising questions on a contentious presidential debate in france. we are live in paris with rosemary church in a moment. with fragrance that's always fresh, neverer overpowering. air wick. connect to nature.

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the u.s. justice department is appealing monday's ruling striking down the mask mandate for public transportation. airlines moved quickly to make masks optional. the white house said it would wait to hear from the centers for disease control before taking action. the cdc is moving ahead with an appeal. to protect cdc's public health authority beyond the ongoing assessment last week, cdc has asked doj to proceed with an

appeal. it is cdc's continuing assessment that at this time in order to require masks in the indoor transportation is necessary for the public health. what's interesting here is the cdc is explaining the rationale on two fronts. on the one hand they're saying the conditions right now in the country make it necessary for this mask mandate to still be standing for travelers to be required to wear masks on planes, for example, as well as trains and other modes of transportation. what they're also saying is they're appealing this decision in order to preserve that legal authority that they had to implement this mask mandate. jen psaki said, look, there are going to be highs and lows in this pandemic. should there be some kind of a new variant, more serious strain

or an uptick in cases once again, that the cdc wants to retain that authority, that legal authority to be able to reinstitute that mask mandate if necessary. jeremy diamond, cnn, the white house. with just days to go until sunday's runoff election, the french presidential candidates went head to head in their first and only tv debate. for nearly three hours wednesday president emmanuel macron and his far right challenger maureen le pen sparred over a number of topics. cnn's jim bidderman joins us live from paris on all of this. good to see you, jim. which of the two presidential

candidates came out on top in this face-to-face clash? was anything said that might change the election? >> reporter: that's something we asked voters if there could be a game-changing moment. i didn't see it. i don't think other people did either. in fact, the way it looked from a snap poll done by our colleagues of 650 viewers who watched the debate, 59% believe that macron was more convincing compared to 39% for madam le pen. and on other aspects as well, mr. macron seemed to have the best plan according to the viewers, whereas, madam le pen seemed to be scary according to some viewers. she also was rated as someone who was a little bit ambiguous

on some of the issues. the major thrust is i don't think battle lines changed. if that's the case, then it does look like mr. macron has the polling numbers at least to -- heading into sunday's vote that will make him victorious but we'll have to see. there are always surprises in french politics. one of the better exchanges or more interesting exchanges took place on pocketbook issues. marine le pen may have scored some points on pocketbook issues. here's how he responded to that. >> translator: i am proud that altogether we have made it possible to create 1.2 million pay slips because i was looking at your program, your 22 measures. there is not even the word unemployment in it, which is striking. >> reporter: so it was a lively debate, rosemary.

not any evidence of any gotcha moments. >> jim, many thanks as always. do join us sunday at 8 p.m. paris time, 2 p.m. here in the u.s. for special live coverage of the french election right here on cnn. a russian billionaire who founded one of their country's biggest digital banks is lashing out at what he calls the insane war in ukraine after he was slapped with international sanctions. a live report from london just ahead. if your moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms are stopping you in your tracks... choose stelara® from the start... and move toward relief afteter the first dose... with injections every two months. stelara® may increase your risk of infecections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection,

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welcome back, everyone. i'm live in lviv, ukraine. negotiations are ongoing over trying to get safe passage out of the besieged city of mariupol. it's been under siege since march 1st. there was an evacuation on wednesday. there were women, children and the elderly. there's attempts to ensure the evacuations continue again today. the city remains under constant

bombardment by russian forces. one of the reasons why only four buses managed to get out on wedn wednesday, the russians failed to abide by a cease-fire agreement. there are an unknown number of people hold up in a sprawling steel mill. food and water are running low. there are at least 500 wounded soldiers who are yet to see any kind of medical attention. the fighters do not have the weapons they need to get some. now they walked out of a session when russian delegates spoke. janet yellen said there can be no business as usual for russia.

this came as one of the russian oligarchs is speaking out. he said it's insane. he's a billionaire. he said the war gives vladimir putin a way out. interesting words from the oligarch saying the russian generals worry about a hangover in the morning and realize their army wasn't champions words that he used. how can everything else be good. these are significant words and it is right to criticize the army. this army had a strong reputation before the war broke out. they lost the reputation. he, by the way, has criticized

the war before. this wasn't new for him. these were the strongest words. he named vladimir putin, this is something you don't normally see, those who have gotten rich. he said at the end of the face and it's clear in russia very few people have much sway over vladimir putin. recently putin was described as a dictatorship, not an oligarchy. it shows he's losing support among people who doing what he was doing in ukraine. >> criticisms of vladimir putin continue to disappear.

claire, thank you. rosemary church in england. >> thank you so much. >> john, you and your team have done such an incredible job. appreciate it. >> appreciate that. humbled, apologetic and refusing to resign. we'll have the story in just a moment. likike a free score from some app or something like that. but lendnders don't even use that score. creditrepair.com hahas a free credit snapshot that can s show you exactly what's happening with your credit score. and killing my interest rates. well, great seats though. -thank you. -like really. just knowing your score won't improve it. instead, work to actually fix your credit with creditrepair.com.

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>> reporter: in the last two hours the talks were jobs and ukraine. back home many lawmakers and voters are not ready to forgive and forget the party gate scandal. there could be a vote on whether boris johnson misled people. the prime minister apologized twice. he's rejected calls to resign and stop short of admitting he broke the law. he's now vowing to, quote, get on with the job. >> we're going to get on with delivering for the british people making sure -- making sure that we power out of the problems that covid has left us,

more people in work than there were before the pandemic, mr. speaker, fixing our energy problems and leading the world in standing up to the aggression of vladimir putin. >> let's bring in cnn's nada bashir tracking this live. boris johnson won't be able to leave his troubles behind on his overseas trip. the party gate scandal is being discussed. >> there has been a lot of discussion on this. voting in the house of commons whether a parliamentary investigation should be done. the conservative party putting forward an amendment that will be discussed in the house of

commons. they want to see the vote postponed until the metropolitan police investigation into party gate scandal is complete and also until the cabinet office investigation into the alleged party at downing street and other government offices is also complete. so that is interesting. we do understand the conservative party members of parliament have been instructed to vote in favor of that amendment. we do expect that to go through. clearly the conservative party are trying to delay this vote into parliamentary investigation. in january when we saw the initial findings highlighted serious failings by government officials, by staff members at downing street. that had a significant impact on public opinion, both from boris johnson and the conservative party overall. it is interesting that they hope to wait a few weeks, perhaps, for that to be discussed. we do know local elections are

coming up. the timing is interesting. there has been continued calls for the prime minister to also resign. he has brushed those off. he said he won't resign and he wants to and intends to lead the party into the next general election. that's on his way to india . we are following a story in jerusalem. there are clashes around the al aqsa mosque. palestinians launch fireworks towards them. there are also stun grenades fired. the area has been the site of

periodic clashes. russian tennis players will be banned from competing at wimbledon this year because of their country's invasion of ukraine. belorussian players couldn't take part. organizers for the grand slam event cite russia's, quote, unjustified and unprecedented military aggression. the kremlin calls the decision unacceptable. this will affect a number of high ranked players, both men and women, including world number two and reining u.s. open champion dannel medvedev. russia is flying a flag of victory over ukraine. it's the soviet victory flag from world war ii. this comes ahead of may 9th which is russia's world war ii victory day and a date which this year putin is hoping to declare some kind of victory from his so far bungled war in ukraine. a statue of former soviet leader

lenin has been installed outside of the council building. for our international viewers, "inside africa" is coming up next. for everyone here in the u.s., i'll be back in just a moment.

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florida governor ron desantis is celebrating two controversial legislative victories. the state senate approved his measures to punish disney. the senate also passed the governor's map redrawing florida's congressional districts which could help republicans pick up four house seats. final debate and votes are expected in the coming hours. diane gallagher has our report.

♪ ♪ >> reporter: florida governor ron desantis is riding an increasingly controversial wave of wins. positioning himself as a warrior against anything he deems as woke. >> wokism is a form of cultural marksism. >> reporter: during the height of the pandemic he bolstered his name by having health mandates. >> we've stood for freedom across the board and the result has been florida has defeated fauciism. freedom has prevailed in the sunshine state. >> reporter: it's a strategy that has his party singing his praised. >> we're convinced we have the best governor in the united states right knew. he's very definitive. he knows what he thinks and he acts on it and he's very clear. >> reporter: elected governor in 2018, desantis is running for

re-election this year. >> there's one fella that just hates florida and his name is joe biden. he doesn't like florida and he doesn't like me because we stand up to him. >> reporter: rising conservative rock star, desantis does not shy away from engaging in political battles over hot button topics that energize the right like critical race theory and led in part to the florida department of education rejecting 50 math textbooks from next year's curriculum. >> because we will not spend money to teach our kids to hate our country and each other we have banned crt in k-12 education.

he called a special session this week when the only map considered is the one submitted by desantis. >> it's play or punish. if you are going to play in the hands of the governor or be punished. >> they do not run this state. they do not control this state. >> reporter: which spoke out against a law in which schools taught gender identity. >> it's the kindergartners in florida where they want to have transgenderism as the core curriculum. >> dubbed the don't say gay bill, they stopped donations after desantis signed it into law last month. the same day the state passed a bill that would make disney its

own district. >> what is disney going to do next? today he's eliminating black majority districts and punishing disney for speaking out against him. who is next? >> reporter: now the desantis map is set for a vote on thursday. it would increase republican representation in congress and reduce the number of black members of congress from the state of florida. it will inevitably end up in court as democrats have called it plate tently unkonco unconstitutional. as far as his political

aspirations, we'll see. in parts of the u.s. critically dry weather conditions are continuing to fuel fires across the southwest. millions in the region are already under red flag warnings or fire weather watches and officials are warning of a potentially dangerous scenario on friday. pedram javaheri joins us from the weather center. what are you seeing? >> you said it well. the elements are in place to cause it to spread. there are 12 large active fires across the united states expanding six states. arizona, drop conditions are in place. there's 0% containment. windy conditions are going to make the fire expand rather quickly. that's the biggest concern for

nier fighters. you'll notice from space you can clearly pick up smoke being brought away. dwee have the fire concern. gusty winds, dry weather, low humidity. supporting it with critical concerns. that's where the fire weather is. let's come in up front. that will make it that much more dangerous. notice severe weather across the central united states. there are portions of northern oklahoma, kansas and north dakota and areas of the central united states in particular where large hail and isolated tornadoes are possible with afternoon storms across the region. the area stands quite a bit after going as far as weather

and a few isolated tornadoes can't be ruled out. notice the storms, as they develop, heavy rainfall across the chicago metroplex. the western u.s., it is all about the heavy snow and higher elevations. we know drop conditions have been widespread across the state of california. the entirety of the state of california dealing with moderate drop conditions. as spring arrives, we're expecting more snowfall here. >> pedram javaheri, many thanks. appreciate it. actor johnny depp returned to the stand inside a court in his defamation case against his ex-wife amber heard. he described their relationship and how it changed accusing heard of calling him names and making demeaning comments.

an argument with them ended in him seeking medical care. >> she threw the large bottle and it made contact and shattered everywhere. then i looked down and realized that the tip of my finger had been severed. >> depp is suing heard for $50 million over a 2018 washington post op ed in which she wrote about her experience. new mexico officials say they violated the shooting rules. the "rust" film production company was fined nearly

$137,000 the maximum al loud by new mexican report. gun procedures were not being followed. here's more from a state owe fillings igs alls to suggest that if standard industry is to be there. >> baldwin's attorney told cnn they appreciate that the report exonerates the actor and clarified critical issues. well, an already bad year for netflix is getting a whole lot worse. a day after announcing its first subscriber loss in more than a decade, shares of the streaming giant fell 35% wednesday. that wiped out 50 b$50 billion

year. the company expects two to leave the culture. netflix expects greater competition, password sharing and the withdrawal from russia. along with the slew of accolades already under her belt. all of the twift group, it is named after the singer. he is a self-proclaimed huge swift ban wanted to honor her because, quote, the music has gotten me through tough times. >> thank you very much for your company. i'm rosemary day.

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hello. warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and all around the world. following breaking news in russia's war in ukraine just ahead. >> translator: they are keeping 120,000 people in mariupol. >> this will show our armed forces. >> will this war kill your business? >> yeah, it will. >> translator: it's already killed it. >> as far as human beings, these are atrocities.