attorney general wants tech giants to flag you. the lead starts right now. attorney general merrick garland grilled on capitol hill today from classified documents to abortion rights, fentanyl to rising crime. the wide-ranging topics have put garland on the spot. and five close calls in 2023 and it s only march 1st. the latest, a private plane came 565 feet from a jetblue flight loaded with passengers at boston logan. are these frightening encounters happening more often or just being reported more often? plus, protests turning violent. the faceoff between police and anti-netanyahu demonstrators in israel as crowds there call for a national day of disruption. welcome to the lead, i m jake tapper. we start with two high-profile hearings in capitol hill. one room joe biden sen battled pick to lead embattled pick to lead the administration finally had a confirmation hearing after being picked nearly eight months ago. republicans pressed phil washington, a 24-year a
vow to fight on. we won t give up bakhmut. we will hold on until the very last. glory to ukraine, death to the enemies. and the wagner boss in an audio message, acknowledges the ukrainians aren t budging. translator: the ukrainian army is throwing extra reserves into bakhmut and trying to hold the town with all their strengths. tens of thousands of ukrainian soldiers are repelling the attacks. bloodshed increases every day. reporter: wagner mercenaries are the spearhead of the invasion force. he claims they re making progress but often lack the ammunition to advance. translator: i will say a system needs to be worked out. i hoch that this system will start functioning soon, and we will be getting ammunition regularly. reporter: the u.s. and ukraine say the attrition rate among wagner s assault groups, often made up of prisoners recruited from russian jails, is as high as 80%. but the media channel is trying to convey how wagner is helping the convicts. in this film,
military commanders say they re still holding on to bakhmut in the eastern part of the country as russian forces keep up their assault in the middle of the fierce battle. ukrainian officials say an estimated 4500 civilians remain in the city. cnn s fred pleitgen starts off our coverage with a look at how russian forces are bringing in more experienced fighters from the russian mercenary wagner group to secure a victory by any means necessary. reporter: russia s view of what is currently the most bloodily battle in ukraine. moscow troops here hitting a ukrainian armored vehicle in bakhmut, the city devastated by months of relentless fighting. here, mercenaries from the wagner group show off a u.s. made howitzer. even as they acknowledge they re on the back foot, the ukrainians