But it is important to bear in mind that they they can take caretory. the question demonstrated by the incredible resistance in mariupol. and uh, you can take take a city but can can can you continue to occupy it in the face of partisan warfare? which is definitely what is going to happen, if in fact they can even take it. and i mean they really hope, clearly the kremlin that victory would come much more easily, now what, da
A sprawling steel factory in mariupol is all that remains really of ukrainian forces defending the strategic-port city. the other complex is surrounded by russian troops and is being constantly shelled but rather than storm the facility, russian president vladimir putin has ordered a blockade, even a fly can t get through his words. well, hundreds of men, women, and children, and unknown number of ukrainian fighters are believed to be inside without much food or water. not very far away, the grim discovery of this. more suspected mass graves. mariupol officials estimate 20,000 city residents have died, so far. many of those bodies are now believed to have been dumped in these very long trenches you can see right at the top of your screen. and despite president putin s boast of so-called liberating mariupol, ukraine denies the city has fallen.
translator: it is more like not a war but a terrorist operation by russia against mariupol and the people of the city. reporter: matt rivers, cnn, lviv, ukraine. a truly dire situation you are witnessing inside mariupol. meanwhile, a gruesome example of russian soldiers brutality is allegedly caught on tape. ukrainian military intelligence says it intercepted russian communications giving an order to kill ukrainian pows, specifically those in the luhansk region, which is bearing brunt of russia s renewed attacks. sl have a listen to this. translator: what can i tell you, dammit? you keep the most senior and let the rest go. let them go forever, dammit, so that no one will ever see them again. including relatives. now, cnn cannot verify the aw
People from the battered city of mariupol and surrounding towns really under russian control. they looked relieved, as you can see there, to be out of the war zone by as you can imagine, anxious about what comes next. russian and ukrainian authorities, as well as aid groups have been trying to negotiate for weeks to get more people out of harm s way. the mayor says many more are desperate to leave but can t. translator: there are still 100,000 people in the city who for a second day in a row are waiting for evacuation and they give us just a tiny number of buses. like yesterday, they said there would be 90 buses be you only seven of them arrived. well, those evacuees are among the nearly 8 million internally displaced. try to get your head really around that number. 8 million displaced internally. and another 5 million people have already left ukraine to different countries, as you can
Situation inside as, quote, close to a catastrophe. now, not far away, the grim discovery of more suspected mass graves. mariupol officials estimate 20 thp city residents have died so far. many of those bodies now believed to have been dumped in the long trenches you see on your screen. now, despite president putin s incredible boast of, quote, liberating mariupol, despite the images you have seen, the u.s. president, joe biden, says it is questionable how much of the city russian troops actually control. ukraine, for its part, denies the city has fallen. for more, let s bring in isa soares, who is live for us in la viefb, in ukraine. good morning, to you, isa. good morning, michael. and the dire situation you were describing in the azov steel factory we have been reporting in fact for days, the ukrainian fighters remain define.