shooting. and the platinum jubilee celebrations in the u.k. minus the guest of honor. announcer: live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with michael holmes. welcome, everyone. the war in eastern ukraine now being described as a grinding slog with neither side appearing to make any significant gains in recent days. ukraine concedes russian troops have made some modest in roads in and around the key city of severodonetsk but were pushed back from nearby towns. britain s defense ministry says it expects russians will control all of the luhansk region within two weeks. the international red cross said the scale of destruction defies comprehension. but ukraine claims its forces have progressed into the southern kherson region. as the conflict surpassed 100 days ukraine s president, volodymyr zelenskyy, remained confident of the outcome. translator: we have been dedefending ukraine for 100 days. victory shall be ours. glory to ukraine. now, the human toll in ukraine
with kim brunhuber. we begin in uvalde, texas, where frustration is growing as we learn more chilling details about the mass shooting at an elementary school. 19 young students and 2 teachers gunned down. we re getting more on 911 calls made from inside the classroom while the attack was under way and the pleas from a student as gunfire rang out. there s growing criticism of police actions and inactions and scrutiny of the company that made the murder weapon. and cnn is speaking with the attorney for a teacher s aide from robb elementary. she s sharing her side of the story after police falsely blamed her. omar jimenez begins our coverage. reporter: it was supposed to be an end of the year class party. before it became a nightmare. she saw everything from the time he recked to the time he was taken out of there. special education aide was meeting a co-worker with a food. she propped the door open, went back inside to get her phone and called 911. but to report the a
then, i don t want to die, quote of a student who called 911 as a gunman was inside her cl classroom. did the police on the scene ever eve hear her plea for help? i m erin burnett, 100 days of war, destruction and death, grim milestone in putin s invasion of ukraine. his blitzkrieg on kyiv failed but tonight, ukrainian military officials say once again putin is ramping up, flooding ukraine with more troops and reenforcements and artillery as i speak and they say he s said to have, quote, partial success in the east of ukraine in a key city of severodonetsk. but success in this horrific war for putin, again, just means leveling places, utter destruction, rendering them unhabitable. it s unclear how much of is left of severodonetsk at this point and the red cross, as destruction rushes past in eastern ukraine, in their words, defies comprehension. these images show what is left of a high school in the east in another town, every single window blown out. there s nothing left, it
weapons. now, those measures are getting a cool reception from republican lawmakers who remain opposed to gun control laws. as tom foreman reports, they re doubling down on mental illness as the root cause of gun violence. reporter: in the wake of mass shootings there appears to be a blueprint for some republican leaders. brush off talk of gun control. it s never been about guns. reporter: call the killers crazy. we need to make it far easier to confine the violent and mentally deranged into mental institutions. reporter: and insist mental health is what matters. we as a government need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it. reporter: yet there is little evidence of top republican lawmakers broadly supporting such efforts. in a 2017 survey of how much of a state s budget goes to mental healthcare, the states that led the pack went democratic in the
preston phillips the shooter intended to kill. also remembered were dr. stephanie hoosen. and william love. survivors and relatives of victims in uvalde and buffalo shootings are set to testify on capitol hill next week. now, as staff level discussions on gun policy continue and republicans double down on mental illness as the root cause of gun violence. in an interview with politico, texas senator john cornyn emphasized the need for, quote, identifying people with criminal and mental health problems that are a threat to themselves and others. and yet when it comes to actual support for mental health services, the senator s home state is behind the curve. here is cnn s tom foreman. reporter: in the wake of mass shootings, there appears to be a blueprint for some republican leaders. brush off talk of gun control it s never been about guns.