politics. i m john king in washington. thank you for sharing your day with us. air raid sirens rang through the ukrainian night as russia lobs artillery, drones and missiles in every corner of the country. that as the united states delivers a public warning to china, do not dispatch weapons to vladimir putin. plus, the chairwoman of the republican national committee thinks she can get donald trump to put pen to paper and say yes to supporting the party s 2024 nominee, even if it s not him. and new intelligence pushes the energy department to change its view of how the covid pandemic began. the agency now believes the virus leaked from a chinese lab. up first for us this hour sh, turnover and triage in ukraine. president zelenskyy dismissing the commander of joint force operations. mr. zelenskyy did not explain why or why now, as this leadership shuffle collides with a new russian offensive. 14 iranian made aircraft buzzing over kyiv. they shot towdown 11 of those drone
14 iranian made aircraft buzzing over kyiv. they shot towdown 11 of those drones. russia launching 81 artillery strikes over the last 24 hours. russia hopes the bombing frenzy chokes off ukrainian forces and breaks a battlefield stalemate. let s begin with alex marquardt with the latest from the battlefield. reporter: john, you re right, a pivotal moment in this fight. as we focus on the fighting in the east, we have also been reminded that russia continues to try to bomb cities all across ukraine with drones. overnight at least two people killed in a city that is in southwestern ukraine, very far from the front line. they were both first responders who were responding to an earlier strike by a drone, a so-called double tap attack. there were some 11 drones that were sent over kyiv.