. >> this is the "cbs weekend news" from chicago with adriana diaz. >> diaz: good evening. russia's powerful army thundered across ukraine's border, nearly six weeks ago, very little has gone according to plan. troops have been met with fierce resistance, and tonight, especially around kyiv, those forces appear to be in retreat. ukrainians reclaiming towns and villages in the capital region are finding a dystopian landscape, one of death and destruction. today, pope francis, visiting malta, rebuked russia for its "savage war." and as the fighting rages in several other parts of ukraine, so does the suffering of civilians. we begin with cbs' holly williams in the city of dnipro. >> reporter: good evening, adriana. the u.s. says it has evidence that this invasion has been a strategic disaster for russia, and ukraine says russian forces are now slowing withdrawing from the north of this country, but there are fears they're regrouping elsewhere and where russian troops have been forced out, they've left devastation. vladimir putin's original battle plan appears to have failed.

>> this is the "cbs weekend news" from chicago with adriana diaz. >> diaz: good evening. today, russia reminded ukrainians and their western allies that the whole country remains under threat. its forces pounded multiple targets across ukraine. new strikes also shook the cities of kyiv and lviv, both in the west. in the northeast, missiles rained down on the city of kharkiv. once again, civilians and neighborhoods were hit. and in the southeast, russia today claimed its forces now control urban areas of mariupol. already, the strategic port city has largely been reduced to rubble and ruins. today, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy praised the courage of ukrainians and described the russian invasion as absurd and suicidal. all of this as russian forces pivot to a new battlefield in the now-eight-week war. cbs' holly williams is in ukraine with the latest. >> reporter: good evening, adriana. president zelenskyy said in a video message last night that the length of this war and how many ukrainians are killed will be decided in part by how quickly ukraine's friends supp

. >> this is the "cbs weekend news" from chicago with adriana diaz. >> diaz: good evening. today, ukraine's president said that the u.s. secretary of state, antony blinken, and the defense secretary, lloyd austin, would visit the country's embattled capital, kyiv, tomorrow, orthodox easter sunday. so far, there's no comment or confirmation from the state department or the pentagon. volodymyr zelenskyy spoke at a defiant news conference, where he said the visit was not "a big secret." also today, russian forces launched deadly missile strikes on odessa, hitting a residential neighborhood. the russians also took aim at targets in the besieged city of mariupol. cbs' charlie d'agata has the latest tonight from vinnytsia. >> reporter: good evening. normally tonight, people in ukraine would be getting ready to celebrate orthodox easter tomorrow. but no one is in the mood to celebrate. those who aren't fighting for their lives, will be praying for those who are. instead of a temporary cease- fire to evacuate civilians,liann ukrainian officials accused russian troops of trying to s

i'm adriana diaz in chicago. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captined by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >>> smoke is poring over the bridge and flames are tearing through solano county. it is a windy day in the bay area and soon it will be wet. it's only april, but fire season feels like it's coming early. we are from voters who rescued two teen girls washed up to see. we begin tonight on the fire watch. have new video ripping through the peer sending plumes of smoke up and over the bridge. the fire broke out the flames engulfed a dock. the fire crews say the underside of the peer is all timber they are having a hard time getting close to the flames. new video shows flames burning close to those ships.

police chief here says they released all the videos to be transparent with the public. >> garrett: adriana diazon musk took the twitter-verse by storm today with an unsolicited bid to buy the social media platform. musk made billions with electric cars and reusable rockets and says he now wants to turn twitter to "the platform for free speech." >> reporter: tonight, the richest man in the world is hunting for more, mounting a hostile takeover bid for twitter with a $43 billion cash offer. >> you made an offer to buy twitter. why? >> i don't know. ( laughter ). >> reporter: just 10 days ago, musk became the company's largest individual shareholder, announcing he bought a 9% stake, but he then declined to join the board, criticized management, and said it needs to be transformed as a private company. that would give musk unregulated control. >> if you're a privately run company without any s.e.c. oversight, you can do a lot of what you want. >> reporter: musk has argued the company needs to be a better platform for free speech around the world. >> it's just really important that people have the--

adriana diaz has the story. >> reporter: it's a simple sunflower set against a blue sky.em have sprung up in seven states, from south carolina to illinois. tony chaffy came up with the idea. >> we get phone calls, what sit about? >> reporter: this is what it's about. chaffy was infired by this moment in the first days of a new war. a defiant ukrainian woman confronting a russian soldier. she gives him sunflower seeds, saying when he dies, sunflowers will flow in his place. it's ukraine's national frlower a sign of peace, long displayed on stages and now in the streets. a field of them serve as a battleground in ukraine's 2014 with russia. and now they grow here, on bill boards across america. why did you decide not to put any wording on it? >> the beauty of a picture is that it's made for the interpretation of what you see. most people that love sunflowers know a lot of attachment is to ukraine. and if it makes other people find out about that, it's a beautiful journey. this is far from an advertising message, it's just a thought bomb. >> reporter: a silent symbol of resi

the police chief here says they released all the videos to be transparent with the public. >> adriana diaz, we thank you. >>> elon musk took the twitter-verse by storm today with an unsolicited bid to buy the social media platform. musk made billions with electric cars and reusable rockets and says he now wants to turn twitter into the world's "platform for free speech." here is cbs' jonathan vigliotti. >> reporter: tonight, the richest man in the world is hunting for more, mounting a hostile takeover bid for twitter with a $43 billion cash offer. >> you made an offer to buy twitter. why? >> i don't know. [ laughter ] >> reporter: just 10 days ago, musk became the company's largest individual shareholder, announcing he bought a 9% stake, but he then declined to join the board, criticized management, and said it needs to be transformed as a private company. that would give musk unregulated control. >> if you're a privately run company without any s.e.c. oversight, you can do a lot of what you want. >> reporter: musk has argued the company needs to be a better platform for free speech around

adriana diaz, cbs news, grand rapids, michigan. >>> coming up on "cbs mornings," members of the punkanthony mason about their debut album "growing up." >>> plus, we mark the 75th anniversary of jackie robinson breaking the color barrier in the major league. we'll hear from his son, david robinson, and current marge of the los angeles dodgers, dave roberts. >>> and a psychology us about her new book. >>> that's the "cbs morning news" for this friday. thank you for watching. i'm diane king hall. have a great weekend. ♪