finalists are incumbent president emmanuel macron and his far-right rival marine le pen. france s interior ministry reports that the current president won about 27% of sunday s first round of voting, putting him in first place in a crowded field of a dozen candidates. le pen is in second place with around 23%. the second round of voting in two weeks is set to be a rematch of the 2017 election. after the polls close, the centrist macron made his pitch, while the far-right le pen made appeals to the mainstream. translator: i want a france which enscribes itself in a strong europe, which continues to form alliances with great democracies to defend itself. not a france that exited from europe would have for its only allies the international populace and xenophobes. that s not us. translator: the french people
sa casualties are mounting, ukraine s interior ministry reports since russia launched unprovoked attack on wednesday, 352 civilians including 14 children killed, nearly 1,600 injured, 116 of them children. many fled to neighboring countries. from suffering, i think of the kids because there were so many little kids and it was freezing outside. i had to stay all night outside so just taken that from first border, to second border, third border. fierce resistance by ukrainian forces and armed civilians have stopped at least one attempt by russian troops to advance into a major city today. cnn s alex marquardt has more on that. alex. reporter: pam, the ukrainians are defying expectations in this fight, so far, keeping the russians at bay from the major