settlements in that area that russia managed to take and this is more indicative of what s going on in the east, not seeing largescale russian gains by any means, very incremental, the progress the russians have made and a an interesting report by british intelligence today talking about the fact that of the 120 or so battalion tactical groups that russia committed to this war, these are some of their main fighting units, some 25% of those according to british intelligence are now combat ineffective meaning they cannot do what they re supposed to do because of what s happened and some of the groups which are the best troops the russia has, special forces troops are the units seeing the highest rates of attrition so russia continuing to have issues with the combat troops in the east not making the kind of ground, making up the kind of ground russia clearly want to have done by now. matt, thank you very much. outfront now, captain palomar, deputy commander of ukraine s asov regimen
trapped in that city that has been under siege for so long. how long is the alleged ceasefire supposed to last while they get people out of that steel plant? reporter: we re still trying to get more information out of the steel plant because it is so difficult to get in touch with people who are there due to the lack of communications infrastructure that is reliable. however it was a few hours ago, that was the last time that we spoke to the commander of the azovstal regimen inside that steel plant that is one of the last remaining fighting units in mariupol. and he said that there are evacuations ongoing with the red cross being involved alongside russia in terms of getting people, civilians, from inside that steel plant complex out, getting them supposedly to ukrainian-held territory in zaporizhzhia. but what he was saying is that only 20 or so civilians of the hundreds that are inside right now have managed to get out. so while this is the first good news in terms of evacuations t
three ton ones from the sky. reporter: so, of course, referencing bombs dropped from potentially russian warplanes. and what we have been seeing over the past few days is just a consistent shelling, a consistent bombardment of that steel complex, the azovstal steel complex, a massive complex that has really become the focal point of ukrainian resistance in that city. that is where ukrainian marines are, that s is where members of the azov battalion are, fighting units, and where hundreds of civilians have now been sheltering for weeks. it is really kind of a microcosm of what we re seeing across mariupol where you have fighting alongside, you know, ordinary civil glanz ians in mariupol tht get out. we re hearing of a humanitarian corridor that may or may not be open at this point. the mayor of mariupol is urging residents to use this
age are not allowed to leave the country. the president has invited people back. you and i have both run into people in kyiv or lviv who had come from other countries to fight. they maybe have ukrainian heritage, some more canadians or americans why would anyone join the azov battalion as opposed to the open invitation to join the ukrainian military or national guard? that is a very good question. a clear answer is that this is one of the most at the fighting units in ukraine right now. they are considered to many ukrainians heroes especially because of what their special forces units are doing a mariupol. they have single-handedly been able to hold down and stop the russians have taken entire control the city. there is a lot of goodwill from that. i think the second thing is, look, it is impossible to avoid and prevent any extremists coming from europe with united
or national guard? that is a very good question. a clear answer is that this is one of the most at the fighting units in ukraine right now. they are considered to many ukrainians heroes especially because of what their special forces units are doing a mariupol. they have single-handedly been able to hold down and stop the russians have taken entire control the city. there is a lot of goodwill from that. i think the second thing is, look, it is impossible to avoid and prevent any extremists coming from europe with united states to join the azov. analysts who spoke to said that they are still coming, but is a small number. that is perhaps one reason. the danger of course, which we won t know now, perhaps we will learn a few months or years, is whether or not some extremists did join the as off and will return to their home countries and possibly create violence or anti government activity.