confirms its objective in ukraine is to take full control of the black sea coast. and establish a land bridge between russia and crimea. ukraine s president warns if that happens, russia s aggression will spread to other countries. mariupol officials say an evacuation column will be attempted again today. it s supposed to get under way right about now. an estimated 100,000 civilians are still inside the battered city. as ukraine s orthodox christians celebrate easter this weekend, ukraine s president he is hopeful against prevailing against russia, here he is. translator: the 58th day of our defense is coming to an end. it ends on good friday, one of the most sorrowful day of the year for christians. the day when death seems to have won. but we hope for a resurrection. we believe in the victory of life over death. and we pray that death loses. britain s ministry of defense says russia has made no major gains in the past 24 hours. its air and sea forces haven t established
britain s ministry of defense says russia has made no major gains in the past 24 hours. its air and sea forces haven t established control in either domain. and russian troops don t face heavy fighting in mariupol despite russia s claims the city has been liberated. and moments ago, we got this, the head of the kharkiv region. russian forces have continued shelling the city of kharkiv. as well as the region. we bring you details as they become available. we have cnn correspondents across the region. our matt river is in lviv. nic robertson is in brussels and jomana karadsheh is in sis stan bull. let s bring in scott harrisburg lean, that revelation that russia wants to take full control of the black coast and establish that land bridge. what more are we learns about the implications about this for the whole region? reporter: yeah, it s difficult to understate the
russian troops have been there since the 1990s. the president of ukraine volodymyr zelenskyy said that russia shouldn t be focusing on russian speakers there, but perhaps speakers in russia, listen. translator: to be honest, the territory in which russia should take care of the rights of russian speakers is russia itself where there is no stream of speech, no freedom of choice. where there is simply no way to dissent. where poverty thrives and where human life is worthless. reporter: so the government of moldova, obviously not very excited by this revelation. the foreign minister of that country summoned the russian ambassador to discuss saying moldova is a neutral country, and that all parties including russia should respect its borders and that russia has long agreed to respect the internationally recognized borders of moldova which include that area.