you know, in world war ii, stalingrad was the turning point for the soviet armies and it resonates given the fact that tomorrow is the big victory day celebration for world war ii in moscow. mariupol is that pivot point because it gives the russians that land bridge basically that goes between crimea, the donetsk and then eventually into russia. that s one military reason and economic reason to have that. there s also a huge symbolic value. we know the russians have changed the road signs and, you know, they re going to change the currency back to rubles. they re changing the road signs into russian. they want to eliminate the use of the ukrainian language in the territories they ve occupied. so mariupol symbolizes all of this. it s a symbol for both sides as well. so on the one hand, it represents the the steel plant represents a victory for the russians in their view.
offensive in the east. now, it seems it has begun. ukraine s top security official, a 300-mile front line stretching from kharkiv, donetsk, and luhansk region came under attack by russian forces monday. for the most part, that defensive line held. the city in western lieu hans ks was repeatedly hit by artillery, igniting heavy fires across the city, smoke filling the sky line. a senior defense official says moscow may have changed tactics after suffering humiliating defeats in the north. each btg consists up to 800 troops, which means tens of thousands of russian soldiers. but ukraine s president says despite being outnumbered and outgunned, his country will not give up the fight.
that s what i argued several weeks ago. i said ukraine probably needed to have a plan where they would fight what is called a fighting withdrawal to where you continue to exact press on the attackers. but you have preplanned, fallback lines to where you have defensible positions so you don t get flanked and it appears ukraine has chosen that they are going to stay in the defensive positions, and just see if they can hold out. that is an option. i wouldn t have done it if i was in charge but we will see how it works out. they probably know more than do. we will see. colonel, thank you so much. peesht are your time. appreciate you being with us. thank you. well, kramatorsk, the donetsk region says at least eight residential build gts were destroid, as well as educational and infrastructure facilities, and the artillery shelling lasted throughout the night. cnn s ben wedeman has more from
sheltering. many of them died in that strike. you never get used to images like that. and a fresh look at the damage in irpin. showing fred pleitgen a fraction of the destroyed vehicles in that city after ukrainian forces pushed the russians out. and this morning, the battle for donbas is under way. officials are reporting a new round of shelling, the donetsk and luhansk regions. fighting there expected to be a pivotal moment in this war. cnn is covering the latest across the ground in ukraine. cnn anchor brianna keilar live in lviv this morning. russian forces now, they ve withdrawn from around kyiv. they re focusing, fire power on eastern ukraine. one regional governor said a town near kharkiv is now the hottest spot in the fighting so far. it s amazing how quickly we ve seen the focus shift. reporter: it really is, jim, and i spoke earlier to the mayor of kharkiv and he said over the