you like, of russia s unprovoked invasion. no move really for hem in the south, to speak of. nothing significant. stalemate there. in the east, maybe some incremental moves forward. slowly perhaps, yes. even ukrainian officials accept that. but here, to the north of kharkiv, frankly, something which i am sure russian military plans would have thought would be easier to take early on, supply lines are potentially at risk. when russia controls of its narrative here again, i don t know what we are looking at here is a stalemate, if not slow collapse of their positions, don. nick paton walsh, thank you very much for that. new tonight. defense secretary lloyd austin speaking with his russian counterpart for the first time since russia s invasion of ukraine started. here to discuss, former defense secretary william cohen. good evening, secretary. thanks so much. ukraine president zelenskyy tonight claimed that 27,000 russian soldiers have been killed. if that is true, that is a huge loss
the russian ruble is becoming official currency in south ukraine as of today. the local cell phone services have been disconnected and the russian network is supposed to come alive. so they have signs of russia just trying to absorb those areas and the russian flags are now flying from government buildings and schools the russian military is trying to reopen the schools with russian language and education also being russian. a lot of people in that region don t want to happen. especially the men because already happened in february in the areas that russia controls in the donetsk is that everyone after the age of 65 was mobilized into the military and then thrown with antique rifles dating before world war ii to fight against ukraine forces. that s always been the greatest
front of three russian vessels waving a ukranian flag. we have seen videos of russian troops with full shopping carts wheeling them around, clearly involved in looting, or they might suggest fulfilling the lack of supply lines that often has imperilled their advance. if you eventually say to russian troops who have been in battle for a long time who have no supply lines behind them, they start to move into populated areas. 46 dead in about 48 hours is a significant toll for a town that was just so peaceful and desperately hoping that the fighting raging on the eastern outskirts from the bridge there was extremely vital as they head to crimea that russia controls
estimates. the territory that russia controls has not changed considerably in the past four weeks. despite 100% of russia s forces amassed inside the border at this point in ukraine for more than a week now. according to the new york times, morale is becoming an issue for the russian troops. more than 7,000 soldiers have been killed in three weeks including three high-ranking generals. in another sign of moscow s struggles, the white house announced president biden will be speaking with xi jinping tomorrow, a meeting that was asked for. the fact china says yes says a lot. nbc news reported earlier this week that russia sought military aid from beijing. but with their advances remaining stalled, the peace talks are ongoing, but vladimir putin remains defiant in his rhetoric comparing the west to nazi germany. so let s get a sense of where things are both on the ground and in the military part of things. richard engel is in kyiv. courtney kube is at the
donetsk and luhansk, it has a breakaway region which russia controls or gained control of in 1992 following an armed conflict. there are about 1500 russian troops there now. this week of council of europe declared transatrea belonging to moldova in other words not recognizing it. it has applied for eu membership earlier this month and the situation there since russia s invasion of ukraine has become tense and they re fear frl of what may come especially with russia s apparent goal of taking former soviet states back under its flag. in pack, during a presentation to the security council one week into the war the president of belarus, a steadfast ally of russia s vladimir putin showed a map that appeared to invade