in-person meeting with g7 leaders as the u.s. plans to announce more military aid to the country worth hundreds of millions of dollars. on again, off again as talks to extend the united states debt ceiling start and stop, the hope of a deal happening this weekend becomes dimmer. and syrian president bashar al assad welcomed at the arab league summit after a 12-year suspension. i ll talk to an expert on how he s being received. announcer: live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with laila harrak. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy touched down in hiroshima, japan, just moments ago to take part in the g7 summit. it s the latest stop on his whirlwind diplomatic tour to boost support ahead of his country s expected counteroffensive against russian forces. cnn white house reporter kevin liptak joins me now live from hiroshima, japan. well, arguably the guest of honor has touched down. what kind of reception will he get? reporter: yeah, we did see him land here
reaction from moscow on this. of course mariupol is a key base for moscow. we understand, of course, earlier in this month that russia had looked to mobilize further russian troops in the city. so this is a significant development. a key concern for moscow. this comes as we continue to see fierce fighting in the east as well as in the country s capital over the last few days and, indeed, overnight in kyiv. we saw an air attack by the russian armed forces. the ukrainian authorities now just in the last hour giving updates on the situation in the capital, saying that the ukrainian armed forces were able to target and destroy the russian drone attacks on the city. they say that there has been debris, though, however, in the city, calling for residents to remain in shelter until it is safe to leave.
been reporting, people are when using words like apocalyptic, barbaric, primevalwhen using words like apocalyptic, barbaric, primeval when people are living without food, water, heating. while russia uses this medieval tactic of siege and shelling to try to bring the city to submission. abs, to bring the city to submission. a dire situation there in mariupol in that strategic port city. thank you so much for bringing us up to date with all of you reporting there from the capital kyiv. britain and america have accused russia of manufacturing a fake story to justify carrying out a possible chemical attack in ukraine. moscow has requested a meeting of the un security council claiming without providing evidence that the us has been developing biological weapons in the country. washington has rejected the russian claims as laughable . our security correspondent, frank gardner, reports. this is the aftermath
a city of 3 million have now left. this is a city which becomes ever more fortified every day. everyday we go out, there are more checkpoint the streets, the sandbags are piled higher, there are more civilians with their distinctive armband. of course all this takes place with the reports that the russian convoys are approaching from multiple directions. the closest, as we have been reporting today, coming from the north west, less than ten miles away. and moving slowly but certainly. and with the armoured convoy that everyone had their eye on for the past week stretching for nearly a0 miles, that seems to have broken up with different parts of its dispersing. as russia seems to be reassessing its options, regrouping as it moves closer to the capital. the capital seems to be in its sights, but to be on the situation in mariupol. as we have
very closely all of the reports about what is happening around the city. we do have reports, particularly in the last 2a hours, that russian forces are trying to move very slowly but very certainly towards the capital from multiple directions. from the north west, they seem to be most advanced. they are said to be less than ten miles away. today, there was not a lot of activity around the city, we often see the surface to air missiles fired by ukrainian forces streaking across the sky. there was occasional air raid sirens. the priority for russian forces, even as they regroup it seems around the capital kyiv, is they are pounding cities, particularly to the south in that strategic belt of land on the black sea coast in the sea of as us including of course mariupol, which seems to be the most grave humanitarian situation. we have been saying for days now that the