supported by specially trained officers. they have also said that there is a postmortem examination to be carried out to establish because of death. meanwhile, the scene here remains active, there are forensic officers who have been working here today and also specialist teams who are doing very detailed searches of the area. ukraine s military says the eastern region of donbas is coming under heavy russian attack, but putin s forces have so far failed to capture three areas they are trying to seize. officials in kyiv admit their troops have suffered many casualties. ukraine s army has released pictures showing what it says are strikes on russian reinforcements to the area around the city of izyum, a key battleground in the kharkiv region. however, the uk and united states say the russian advance in the east is days behind schedule. today, president emmanuel macron has said france will increase its military and humanitarian support to ukraine. the city of mykolaiv is 20 miles from the
water for over two weeks. 0ur correspondent caroline davies has been speaking to those who are still living there. birdsong in mykolaiv. spring has arrived, but there s little sign of a new beginning. so we re in the south of the city at the moment with the bomb disposal unit. they re following up on reports that they ve had of multiple rockets that have landed, and then checking to see if they can make the area safe. through a suburban front yard into what remains of valery s sitting room. a rocket hit his home two days ago. translation: there was a strong explosion and when a rocket - fell here, there was a massive shock wave. books, my things, everything is damaged. the unit move from home to home, removing a rocket from a front room and a section of an unexploded bomb from the driveway.
despite the constant shelling and lack of water. it s not easy, but what we can do? i was trying to join - the army, but they say that you are a little bit too old. and another problem, you are nearly blind . | i said, maybe i m nearly blind, - but i can smell a russian tank, 0k? if it will be necessary, - if russians will come here, of course i will fight. after months of living on the edge of the battle, mykolaiv has found a way to continue. but the constant threat from russia sits just over the horizon. caroline davies, bbc news, mykolaiv. our correspondent, caroline davies is near to the port of odesa, and has been giving us the latest. of course mykolaiv, which is 20 miles away from the front line, we are about two hours wait here in odesa, just down the coast,
the city is less than 20 miles from the front line and has been heavily shelled since the beginning of the war. this children s hospital was hit a little over three weeks ago. translation: at the moment, j we ve got used to the situation, and it is scary. you don t know what comes tomorrow, what comes within an hour, what may happen to your relatives, to your patients. in the premature babies ward, care continues. the windows have been blocked and the unit have relocated into the centre of the building. translation: we can t - evacuate children who need artificial ventilation. we can t close the department, because there are other children who may need our help. dotted around the city, people queue to refill their bottles at tankers or at natural springs. mykolaiv has been without running water since the supply was cut off after russian shelling more than two weeks ago. now, even the fire brigade have to find new ways to refill. here, it s our bathroom. no water too. grandmother tatia
mykolaiv is an incredibly important city because if the russians take mykolaiv, the next one along is odesa an important port in ukraine. odesa has not has had much action as somewhere like mykolaiv. which is being shelled on a near daily basis. there has been missile six and this afternoon we had another here in odesa, this time on the airport and we heard earlier from the press centre of the southern defence forces who said the runway at the airport had been hit and that meant it was impossible to use it at the moment. we don t have any further details, commercial aircraft have not been travelling into ukraine since the 24th of february. this is not something that is going to be affecting passengers but the fact that an airport has been hit is always of concern. we were here earlier today and heard a very loud bang that reverberated across the city from the south west of the city. it was so loud we saw dogs running away from the direction of the noise, clearly