a firefight in the besieged southeastern seat of mariupol, or ukraine s president zelenskyy now says it is likely tens of thousands of people are dead. though, that number cannot be verified. after its defeat around kyiv, russia is now shifting its assault east. the country s largest city in the east, kharkiv, has seen more deadly airstrikes. in the suburbs of kyiv, after russian forces retreated, a clearer picture of the destruction is emerging. the death toll is rising, now topping 400. here in bucha, a painstaking recovery is underway. forensic investigators are still exhuming the bodies from this mass grave, and war crimes prosecutors are on the scene. today, sacha came to pay respects to his good friend who was buried here. he tells us his father in law died of hunger. i want the world to know that this is genocide, he says. our thanks to gabe gutierrez. at the un today, the focus was
early stages of a reinforcement effort. they are trying to organize themselves better for a now more geographically can find and more specific set of target objectives, now in the donbas specifically and the south. and ukraine s president says russia, now amassing tens of thousands of troops for its next offensive. putin is also reportedly tapping a new ground commander to lead his forces in ukraine, a general who oversaw troops in syria and who has a history of using ruthless cruel tactics well targeting civilians. some have referred to him as the butcher of syria. there s no question about this individual s brutality, this has already been a brutal campaign in ukraine, and we could expect to see more of it. russia s continued assault on mariupol is a big part of it strategy to try to change the direction of the war. nbc s gutierrez is on the ground in ukraine for us tonight. this body camera video shows a firefight in the besieged southeastern seat of mariupol, or ukraine s p