vow to fight on. we won t give up bakhmut. we will hold on until the very last. glory to ukraine, death to the enemies. and the wagner boss in an audio message, acknowledges the ukrainians aren t budging. translator: the ukrainian army is throwing extra reserves into bakhmut and trying to hold the town with all their strengths. tens of thousands of ukrainian soldiers are repelling the attacks. bloodshed increases every day. reporter: wagner mercenaries are the spearhead of the invasion force. he claims they re making progress but often lack the ammunition to advance. translator: i will say a system needs to be worked out. i hoch that this system will start functioning soon, and we will be getting ammunition regularly. reporter: the u.s. and ukraine say the attrition rate among wagner s assault groups, often made up of prisoners recruited from russian jails, is as high as 80%. but the media channel is trying to convey how wagner is helping the convicts. in this film,
show the ukrainian people america s unwavering support. you can hear them there, those are the air raid sirens as the two presidents walked the capitol streets. they laid a wreath outside st. michael s monastery to honor fallen ukrainian soldiers. the one-year anniversary of russia s invasion is just days away. wearing tie with the colors of ukraine s flag, president biden pledged more aid and promised the u.s. will never abandon its allies. one year later, kyiv stands. and ukraine stands. democracy stands. the americas stand with you, and the world stands with you. it s worth fighting for for as long as it takes and that s how long we ll be with you, mr. president, for as long as it takes. cnn chief white house correspondent phil mattingly joins us from warsaw, poland, and alex marquardt is in kyiv. we have heard the president say time and time again the united states will be at ukraine s side for as long as it takes. it does make a huge difference to say that from was
establishment wing. balking over finalizing the very rules mccarthy conceded last week to hard liners to become the house speaker. is this normal? plus, president biden s upcoming meeting with the president of mexico after visiting the border. where critics say the true scope of the humanitarian crisis was hidden from his view. and prince harry dropping bombs, accusing his stepmother of leaking stories to help her image. what does the royal family have to say about all of this? welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start in our politics lead with the first test of newly elected speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy. in just a few hours, the house is going to vote on its new rules package. this will include one of the biggest concessions mccarthy made to the hard line rebels to get the gavel. that one-person motion to vacate rule. this means just one member of congress can now force to remove mccarthy as speaker. he also made other concessions including allowing more fre
murdaugh from being convicted of killing his wife and son. diane gallagher in walterboro, south carolina, thank you so much. closing arguments are the focus of cnn primetime this evening. join our senior analyst tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. coming up, one week after a shooting that killed a florida tv reporter and a 9-year-old girl, florida governor ron desantis is calling out a local prosecutor. why he s calling her actions a failure. stay with us. bacocon and garlic aioli. i ve tasted greatness. great garlic though - tastes way better. can t argue with that analysis. trtry subway s tastiest menu upgrade yet.
steve, thank you. the federal government is deploying medical experts to east palestine, ohio, to assess conditions after that train derailment disaster. residents there are still worried that toxins could be putting their lives at risk. we ll speak one of them straight ahead. us subs. there s the philly, the monster, the boss. if i hadn t seen it in person, i wouldn t have believed it.t. eaeating is believing steph. the subway series. trtry subway s tastiest menu upgrade yet. i m jonathan lawson here to tellll you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you re age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insuran on fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can t increase, and a price that fits your budget. i m 54, what s my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month.