catastrophe in southern city of mariupol seems to get worse everyday after intense russian bombardment, continued fighting, refusal by ukrainian forces to surrender. we hear from the president of ukraine, there are like 100,000 civilians stuck in there, trying to get those residents out. according to president zelenskyy, just yesterday, russian forces intercepted one of the convoys trying to get people to safety and kidnapped the drivers of the buses. president zelenskyy s view, this is just another example of the depths to come russian forces are happy to sync as they continue to continue what zelenskyy says are war crimes. todd: we ve been hearing about belarus over the course of the last few weeks issue but
shelling and russian missiles hitting street after street, apartment after apartment, civilians, in the thousands, we believe, may have died there and are still trying to get the hundred thousand or so trapped out. president zelenskyy accused russian forces of actually intercepted one of those humanitarian convoys and kidnapping the drivers of the buses, who were simply trying to get ordinary ukrainians out to safety. todd and carley. carley: the spokesman for the kremlin warned russia could use nukes if there is existential threat to their country, would you characterize that as escalation and does the biden administration need to respond to a comment like that coming
faces as soon as they saw on the bus, they were all waving. i m just glad they re safe. i m just glad they re safe. reporter: these kids now on their way to lviv. but for many ukrainian leaders like kim, they say their only choice is to stay and fight. do you ever think about leaving? would you ever leave? i thought about leaving, but i don t i can t do this because this is my city, my region and they are my people and my land. so i can t do this. that defiance we ve seen over and over again. let s get to maggie rulli in lviv. maggie, safely evacuating civilians from these besieged cities is still a concern. but you are learning about desperate efforts to get much needed aid into those areas. reporter: yeah, whit. there are still hundreds of thousands trapped in cities. tonight, in a last-ditch effort, president zelenskyy has announced that priests have volunteered to lead a humanitarian convoy into that hard hit city of mariupol. they re essentially using themselves as human
the extent of the damage, the besieged city can be seen from these satellite images. this photo taken before the war. and this one taken after the recent shelling. and here you can see devastation in the southeast of the country. residents sheltering in basements. the city above reduced to ruins. ukrainian officials releasing this video they say shows an outspoken mayor allegedly kidnapped by russian forces. today residents taking to the streets demanding his release, chanting to the occupiers, shame on you. as russian forces continue to bombard residential areas, growing concerns about how to evacuate the remaining civilians tonight. abc s maggie rulli leading us off from ukraine. reporter: tonight, a defiant ukrainian president zelenskyy warning the russians they would have to carpet bomb kyiv and kill all of its residents if they wanted to take the city, saying, if that is their goal, let them come. the ukrainians resolve unwavering on the 17th day of this conflict, as russia
using to safely evacuate nearly doubled. about 13,000 ukrainians used those corridors today alone. it was just yesterday president zelenskyy accused russian forces of attacking some of those corridors. whit? victor, thank you. and tune into a special edition of this week tomorrow morning. martha raddatz will be on the ground anchoring from lviv with exclusive interviews with pentagon press secretary john kirby and lviv s governor. turning now to that major winter blast impacting 75 million people, from florida to maine, the northeast hit with snow, these vehicles got stuck in new york. that same system brought wind gusts topping 70 miles per hour in parts of florida. more than 100,000 customers without power throughout the storm zone. let s get right to abc s senior meteorologist rob marciano, and, rob, those strong winds still a major concern tonight. reporter: yeah, the winds and the wild swings in temperatures, whit, are the hallmark of this system. check out what the wi