for yourself. and that actually includes a group of grandmothers in one smaller town who are not afraid to stand up to the russians. cnn s ed lavendera brings us their story. reporter: the sign into town reads, russian soldier, you will die here. the russians didn t listen. this is the story of how the small city fought off the russian invasion in early march. the mayor of this city of 30,000 people took us to the bridge, at least where the bridge used to be, where ukrainian soldiers, volunteer fighters, and a fearlessly creative cast of civilians stared down the russians. z how close did the rupgs russian to taking over this city? you can siee over here on the other side of the bridge in the distance there, on the other
reads russian soldier, you will die here. the russians didn t listen. this is the story of how the small city fought off the russian invasion in early march. is the mayor of the city of 30,000 people took us to the bridge at least where the bridge used to be where ukrainian soldiers, volunteer fighters, and a fearlessly creative cast of civilians stared down the russians. how close did the russians get to taking over this city? [ speaking in a foreign language ] you can see over here on the other side of the bridge in the distance there just on the other side of the bridge a row of tires. that s as close as the russian tanks came. the mayor said the ukrainians blew it up so the russians couldn t cross into the heart of the city. that sparked a two-day confrontation with thousands of residents trapped on the other side of the bridge. the only section of the city
remarkable story. reporter: the sign into town reads russian soldier, you will die here. the russians didn t listen. this is the story of how the small city fought off the russian invasion in early march. the mayor of this city of 30,000 people took us to the bridge at least where the bridge used to be, where ukrainian soldiers, volunteer fighters, and a fearlessly creative cast of civilians stared down the russians. how close did the russians get to taking over this city? you can see over here, on the other side of the bridge in the distance there, just on the other side of the bridge, a row of tires and that s as close as the russian tanks came. the mayor says the ukrainians blew it up so that the russians couldn t cross into the heart of the city. that sparked a two-day
managed to stop the russian army. cnn s ed lavandera has this remarkable story. reporter: the sign into town reads russian soldier, you will die here. the russians didn t listen. this is the story of how this small city fought off the russian invasion in early march. the mayor of this city of 30,000 people took us to the bridge at least where the bridge used to be, where ukrainian soldiers, volunteer fighters, and a fearlessly creative cast of civilians stared down the russians. how close did the russians get to taking over this city? you can see over here, on the other side of of the bridge in the distance there, just on the other side of the bridge, a row of tires. and that s as close as the russian tanks came. the mayor says the ukrainians blew it up so the russians
black sea coast in odesa. you have a remarkable story of one town that took on the russians and won. reporter: yeah. it really is. this is a battle that happened early in the war. and significant, though, because as we see developing in the breaking news this morning and this push from russian forces to the east, the small towns will once again find themselves in the crosshairs. the sign reads, russian soldier, you will die here. this is how the small city fought off the russian invasion in early march. yevgen is the mayor of the city of 30,000 people. he took us to the bridge at least where the bridge used to be, where ukrainian soldiers, volunteer fighters and a fearlessly creative cast of