said evacuations should continue today but there haven t been any signs of them happening so far. at least 100 civilians remain trapped underground bunkers along with the last defenders. on friday, 50 civilians were rescued and made it to ukrainian-held territory. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy said he is hoping to get soldiers out safely as well. this as ukraine s forces say russian forces have blown up bridges. now cnn can t independently verify either of those claims. so we ll show you now the war in ukraine from an entirely different sperktive. it involves a ground battle recorded in realtime by a russian military drone. the footage was released by pro-kremlin media outlets as
U.S. military officials assess that a crucial, and perhaps decisive, phase of the Ukraine war is shaping up in the eastern part of the country, where Russian troops may surround Ukrainian forces in hopes of pummeling them in an epic, long-distance ground battle reminiscent of the last century.
violently, against their will from their homes to the unknown. reporter: now, we don t know exactly how many ukrainians have been forced into russian territory. but the threat of that is undoubtedly hampering evacuation efforts today. just yesterday, russia offered a cease-fire to allow people to get out of the azovstal steel plant. the ukrainian ministry rejected it saying the russians could not be trusted to keep their word. john. scott mclean, thank you very much. to break down everything that scott just brought us is retired brigadier general mark kimmitt, he served as secretary of state in the bush administration. thank you for joining us this morning. you saw what scott just reported there. you know what u.s. officials are saying. that this looming ground battle is going to be critical in determining the outcome here. i m wondering what you re seeing and happening in the last 24 hours on the ground and what
that can move equipment and logistics at scale to any place in the world and do it rapidly. no other country has the means to do that. nor do they have the skills to do that. united states does. so we have got to be all in here. how long can the u.s. maintain the level and pace of this military support for ukraine? well, we have the capacity to do this for a long time. president biden today announcing more weapons, money for more weapons ammunition going into ukraine. the associated press says the heavy artillery, weapons biden s decision to quadrupled the number pledged arms package reflects what is shaping up as a major ground battle in the contested donbas region of eastern ukraine. we are back with the panel. josh, there is this effort, not only to have the president use his current authority but to go
the airport just south of the city, apparently here at izyum, and reinforcement of russian forces as part of the potential pinzer move to cut off ukrainian forces, mariupol under attack. how do you see it unfolding in the days and weeks ahead? from the russian perspective, airport here but also again this hits the rail system. so it s two things. hitting the logistics and sowing terror. the rest is ground battle. fierce fighting at several different points. for ukraine to try to prevent the russian link-up. russia wants to take the people s republics of donetsk and luhansk, including mariupol. john: let me ask you about the man appointed as the lead commander for all the forces in the east and the south. what do you know about him, is