happening now, breaking news. dramatic developments here in the middle east. the first major release of hostages since the hamas attacks on october 7th. 13 israelis and 11 foreign nationals finally free from gaza after nearly seven weeks. i m wolf blitzer live in tel aviv, israel. and i m jim acosta here in washington. president biden is vowing to return every single american hostage even though none were included in today s agreement. as the president says it s unclear if americans will be included in the next release but praised today s hand-off as a promising sign. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. you re in the situation room. the breaking news this hour, an outpouring of emotion here in israel as hamas releases 24 hostages kidnapped back on october 7th. cnn s matthew chance has details including a closer look at the video hamas released of the hostage hand-off inside gaza. they kidnapped and killed, but now hamas is showing
we know the u.s. has expressed its commitment to approve the supply of these jets as soon as that training is complete. and of course there are still talks ongoing between the u.s. and its european partners over what other countries might potentially supply ukraine with these u.s.-made f-16s. of course, we also know president zelenskyy has been in talks with counterparts in sweden over the possible supply of the swedish-made griffin fighter jet. that is expected to be an ongoing discussion. the hope there is it will bolster ukraine s air defense operations and also offensive operations as they continue to battle russia s ongoing encroachment in the eastern region. meanwhile, those talks are ongoing, but ukraine and sweden appear to have agreed on a statement of intent on the supply of swedish-made armored vehicles to boost ukraine s counteroffensive capabilities on the front line. nada bashir reporting, thank you so very much. ukraine made some progress in its counteroffensive,
according to the ukrainian authorities, some residential buildings have now sustained damage as a result of these air defense systems or shot down the drones over kyiv, including one residential building which did, in fact, catch fire although that fire is said to have now been extinguished with no casualties reported. of course we are continuing to see that fierce fighting across the east as well as in bakhmut, where that is intensifying. nada bashir reporting for you. thank you so much. ukrainian civilians around bakhmut say russian attacks have utterly devastated their homes and upended their lives. many have lost their loved ones and are struggling to cope with the trauma of war. cnn s nic robertson has their story. reporter: 20 miles from the bakhmut front line, a house erased from this tiny village, its fate sealed by a random russian rocket three days ago. luckily, no one in it at the
that evidence is crucial, and we ve heard from the eu s own foreign policy chief describing this as an important first step, as just the beginning. we ve seen investigation teams on the ground still gathering evidence. that evidence could prove crucial in the coming years when it comes to holding russia, holding president putin legally to account. nada bashir reporting. thank you so much, nada. well, international tribunals have been there before, going after presidents and other high-profile leaders for suspected war crimes. matthew chance looks back now at the record of bringing those leaders to justice. reporter: the suspected crime of overseeing the abduction of ukrainian children has earned vladimir putin a place in a rogue s gallery of alleged war criminals. although the icc established in the hague in 2002 has a checkered record of bringing those accused of wrongdoing to
solutions, new homes, and the government has pledged to start rebuilding around 30,000 apartments in march. but this is going to take months, if not years, for the government to fully rebuild this area. laila. nada bashir reporting live from turkey. for information on how to help the earthquake victims, go to cnn.com/impact. you ll find a list of organizations working on rescue and relief efforts. voting in nigeria s presidential and parliamentary elections is now under way. security has been tight with armed guards keeping a close eye on preparations. the elections take place at a turbulent time for nigeria. there s an armed conflict in the northeast, surging crime, and shortages of fuel and electricity across the country. there s also a manhunt under way after a senate candidate from nigeria s opposition labor party was shot dead earlier this week. cnn s senior africa editor stephanie busari is live for you