inside. a ukrainian commander from inside, inside that factory, told cnn what it's like on day 64 inside that plant with russians voubding them. >> the situation is critical. it's beyond a humanitarian catastrophe. very difficult situation. we have very little water, very little food left. right now we don't have any tools but we have some basics. but we also are in dire need of medication. we have almost no medication left. >> russia is making advances in the east. >> this video shows bombs hitting this region. they're fighting back in that same city. a fuel depots was hit. and ukrainians say have retain a village that is the largest city in the east. it shows the ukrainian flag flying over the town hall. cnn's anderson cooper joins us now from kyiv. 24 hours ago when you just first went on the air with us, we got first reports of the air strikes hitting kyiv. so tell us what is happening since then. >> yeah, we know a little more. a ukrainian journalist was killed in the strikes yesterday. they hit the factory which manufacturers missiles. rescuers found a 54-year-old woman according to kyiv police. the radio liberty reporter died while in her second floor apartment in a building next to the plant. six others also suffered injuries. ukraine is condemning the strikes which took place just as the u.n. secretary-general was wrapping up his visit here. i spoke to the mayor of kyiv who said that this was a middle finger from russia to ukraine and to the secretary-general. the fact that they targeted this plant at the same time that the secretary-general was on the ground here. in a move to help ukraine's defense, kyiv officials are urging people to not drive their cars due to fuel shortage in order to try to reserve that gas for the military. our international security editor joins us now from southern city as we mentioned mariupol's mayor claims that 600 people were injured in recent bombings of the steel plant there. what doels we know about what is happ happening on the ground? >> it was today yet again there were hopes there would be humanitarian corridor to get the dozens of children, hundreds of civilians and 500 fighters still in that steel plant. that had been a hope raised by statement by the ukrainian president. light on detail. also too by the u.n. secretary-general and his trip to moscow where he met russian president putin. this possibly on the agenda, the humanitarian corridor also, too, is meeting with president zelenskyy in kyiv. the bombs that rain down on the city while he was there to quote the mayor of kyiv, another middle finger to the notion of a humanitarian corridor out of mariupol. russia wants to meddle with the plans as frequently as possible. we can't verify the information ourselves, it does appear that russians have blocked access from the north of the steel plant potentially impeding this attempt to get people out. and now a trauma of living in the only fortified place they can find in the ruins continues for another day, anderson. >> there video which have come out showing the aftermath of the russian shelling of a railway bridge in eastern ukraine. what does it mean strategically? >> yeah. i mean, you know, there is this fascination with the russians and railways. since this war began eight years ago. and i think it speaks to some degree to the kind of pace of war they're fighting here. it is not won from the air like you would see where that who they feel to be great foe here in nato. it is something that requires rail stock to move lumbering armor. and so certainly, yes, while we saw targeting of western railway hubs during the visit of secretary of state blinken and sikt s secretary of defense lloyd austin, it is something that russia seeks to weaken. they prevent them from moving in and may prevent russia from bringing its armor closer forward in occupied areas. but it does speak, i think, to the nature of the war we're seeing here that railway lines are considered to be optimum thing to strike. >> nick peyton walsh appreciate it. thank you. the pentagon announced the u.s. has begun additional training for ukrainian arms forces and military installations in germany. all this as we learn more than a dozen flights carrying military assistance for ukraine from the u.s. are expected to arrive in the region in the next 24 hours. want to go to our cnn pentagon correspondent. the same official says that russia is trying to take out the ways ukrainian forces are supplying replenishing troops in the east. what more do we know about it? >> russia has repeatedly threatened whether it is the foreign minister or putin to disrupt, to attack all these supplies coming into ukraine from the weaponry to the equipment that ukrainian forces and others are using. they haven't actually attacked the convoys, the movement of all this equipment coming in. in fact, the u.s. says that russia has difficult striking a dynamic target, a moving target. instead, as nick talked about, they hit the railways, they tried to hit some of the pathways, some of the infrastructure that is supporting the movement of all this equipment. and that the u.s. assesses is an attempt to slow down the equipment flowing into the country. the pentagon press secretary said a short time ago that germany is one of the locations where u.s. force and others are training the ukrainians on the planes going in and the other advanced systems that the u.s. and others have committed to sending into ukraine. >> you're learning that the u.s. is seeing the russians making progress. some forces, however, equipment are degraded though. >> this is a very qualified sort of progress. senior defense official yesterday called it some progress uneven. now certainly that could add up and that will be significant. but they're seeing that russians are hiding many maf the same issues they had in the early part of the invasion, logistics, morale is an enormous issue. something the russians are trying to solve. there isn't overwhelming evidence they managed to solve it. the u.s. is surprised by the conditions or the lack thereof for that matter of some of the russian units, some down to 70% of their combat strength which according to western military doctrine is where you begin to lose combat effectiveness. they're replacing some of the damaged or destroyed units with older units. sort of much older equipment. all of that means they're mixing modernized equipment with unmodernized and the u.s. assess that's will begin to have an infect or has begun to have an effect on how effective they are at combat. ore or enleberman, appreciate it. >> we go to max boot, a senior fellow on the counsel of foreign regulations and national post columnist. mr. ambassador, so the russians fired these five missiles on kyiv while the u.n. secretary-general was there. you heard anderson just reporting that the mayor of kyiv says that is a middle finger to the international community. is there any other way you would interpret it? >> no. this is the subjugas station of the american people. this is a very nasty objective. >> ien into was actually an attack sort of, de facto, on the u.n. i mean this was, mr. ambassador, him saying -- i don't know if he was trying to hit the secretary-general or trying to avoid the secretary-general. but it seems like there was room for error there. >> he was saying that he's not looking for any humanitarian solutions to any problem relating to the war. he is not going to let those defenders out of the steel works in mariupol. he wants them captured or killed. if you misunderstood that, that suggests he understood mr. putin has no interest in helping civilians. >> we're just watching this human crisis unfold hour by hour before our eyes. babies, elderly, children, people have been trapped in there for 64 days. and the russians keep dangling the possibilities of an evacuation route and last night in the past 24 hours, they hit that steel plant with 50 air strikes. and now hundreds more people are injured in there. it's just -- i mean none of us can bear watching this unfold. >> there is no good option if you're counting on the humanity of the russian humanity. there is no humanity. he sees killing civilians as being the most effective way to win the war. that strategy is not working, by the way. all he's doing is he is leading the resistance the part of ukrainians. almost all ukrainians now understand they're fighting not just for their freedom, but for their very lives. because the russian invasion forces, a force of war criminals competing who are carrying out unspeakable acts and, of course, mariupol is one of the worst atrocities. it's only one of many. the only way to provide any relief for the people of ukraine is to help defeat the russian invaders. >> the people in it there have said they're not going to surrender. they are not going to surrender. even when given that option. even though they are completely outmanned and surrounded. putin just accepted -- did you want to say something there? >> i just want to say that's what happens when you commit the atrocities and, you know, massacre ukrainians. you're not going to find a lot of ukrainian soldiers willing to surrender. they'll fight to the death. they know the consequences of being captured can be so dire. >> so, mr. ambassador, putin accepted the invitation to the g-20. is that a good sign of him wanting to be part of the international community? how do you it interpret that? >> no. this is an unfortunate sign. they should have never invited putin. they also invited zelenskyy. they're not completely beyond the pale. putin is an international pariah. inviting him suggests he's not. and now he poses dilemma for president biden whether or not they should go to the g-20 or demand it is structured to make the clear that the most nations condemn the brutal war on ukraine. >> how should president biden respond to this? >> there is no way in hell any western democratic leader should be attending a conference with the butcher there. putin is a war criminal. he is kmigt arguably genocide as president biden said. there is no way he should be meeting with him at th e g-20. >> ambassador, this makes the g-20 fall part? >> it is the problem for the existence of the g-20. i agree with max. one way to handle probably these is just to refuse to go unless buttin' is uninvited as in all the other g-20 members understand that putin is a war criminal and the real g-20 conference. >> ambassador and max, thank you very much. okay. another inflation metric shows prices hitting a fresh 40-year high. economists say the worst is behind us. that's next. and with the war in ukraine raging, a new report shows russian economy is reeling from global sanctions. we have details ahechltd ♪ we believe there's an innovator in alall of us. ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person... to come to the table and do more incredible things. i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on 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? 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>> it might be. i think a lot depends on what happens with the war and covid. today's report confirmed inflation is really, really high in march. we have this line chart showing how inflation keeps getting worse. highest level since 1982. nowhere near the fed's goal of 2%. it's pretty bad for the modern era. paychecks are not going as far as they used to. the good news is core inflation which excludes food and energy cooled off a bit for the first time in a year and a half. goldman sachs says that that's suggests that march was the peak for this metric. economists can exclude food and energy. families can't. the two big questions for inflation is what happens to the war and covid? if there supply disruptions, that's gets worse. >> the national average up 2 two pennies overnight to $4.16 a gallon. not as bad as that peak last month at $4.33. but again, it's moving up. that is very visible. diesel prices also moving higher dramatically so. the national afrnl for diesel hit a record of $5.18 a gallon. 68% over the paragraph year. that's a big deal. d.c. sl what powers the trucks that transport the stuff we buy. company will eventually pass those along to consumers too. >> how do you describe what happened in april? >> yeah. it's been a brutal month. the dow is down almost 600 points. 1.7%. the s&p 500, the broadest measure t is on track for the worst month since march of 2020 when covid wrecked the economy. tech stocks are getting hit really hard. the nasdaq is down 11% this month. this is the worst month for the nasdaq since october 2008 during the financial crisis. even amazon is getting hit hard losing 14% of the value today alone. this, again, is all being driven by concerns about high inflation, the fed's plans to try to cool inflation off, and worries about slower growth. >> and happy friday to you, too. >> the news is the month is over. >> great to see you. >> okay. so russia is preparing for a big parade as its own economy is struggling. let's get things back to cnn's anderson cooper with us in kyiv. >> yeah. noted helicopters and tanks and troops taking part in the first rehearsal for the next month's military parade in moscow. the event is set for may 9th, a very important day in russia known as victory day so russia had setbacks in the current phase of the conflict. will that impact the so-called victory parade? >> no, i think it makes it even more significant. we know from u.s. ib tell jens and experts this is a crucial potentially a crucial day in the conflict. that according to u.s. intelligence is why russia shifted the focus in the conflict away from taking the whole of ukraine and the fact they couldn't take the whole of ukraine towards just taking the donbas and now with he see them trying to take some of the south of ukraine along the black sea. because they want to bring home some kind of success, some victory for may 9 rnlg. m th. . that is the thinking. that creates a dangerous moment for the week to ten days. the if they can't bring a victory, perhaps an announcement of sorts. the uk defense secretary suggesting they may announce a mobilization of reserves. a big call out to the public. it does create a dangerous moment going into this holiday. >> yeah. a lot of eyes on that date to see what russia does. the decline was when the sanctions were imposed. what do we know about the economic fallout. >> the 8% to 10% by the russian central bank, that's in it line we heard from the world bank. what i can tell you anderson is the full force of sanctions has not yet been felt by russia. en that is because of the central bank. frankly that may be the only entity that emerges with the reputation intact. they stabilized the financial system. the ruble hit a two year high. it is stronger than it was in the days before the war broke out. but the trouble is coming. russia, you know, cannot import parts to make cars. it can't maintain the planes. we're starting to see some kinds of shortages. there is more trouble on the horizon. and potential oil embargo or gas embargo would compound this situation. so there is more trouble to come for russia. >> all right. thank you. that may 9 is a date we have heard a lot about and focus on how russia is going to try to show some sort of victory for that day. >> yeah, it will be very interesting to see. thank you. we'll check back with you shortly. so president biden has a new plan for the midterms, to go after the gop. we have the new cnn reporting ahead and will it work? 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>> i think what we point out is that if you replace the democrats with republicans, what are you going to get? biden impeached, i i don't know, a bunch of hunter biden stuff. it does bear pointing out the main republican aagenda gentleman is attacking biden. and not helping on the economy. i think that's, you know, reasonable to do. is it going to work? i think that's the question. and i think that you got a bunch of democratic voters that already know republicans are not their favorite choice. >> there are accomplishments that president biden could lean into. a few, $1.9 trillion covid relief deal. which obviously helped so many states. had the 1.2 trillion infrastructure package, it creates jobs. unemployment now at 3.6%, down from 6.2% when he took office. judge brown jackson confirmed to the supreme court. so i mean voters forgot that stuff. why not lean into that stuff? >> i think it's about contrast. what you did is bad and good. i think what you're going to have to deal with at this point is that there was some overpromising and underdelivering, especially last summer. then people say where is the beef on the last round of promises? the first round he delivered on. then he made a bunch of other promises and didn't. >> if you look at the numbers here, his approval rating is 87%. of now it's to 67%. how do you explain that? >> a couple things. one is i think that black voters felt we did the most and got the least. you look at the senate. you look at georgia and black women out there doing the most to make sure that biden won and then we haven't gotten enough on voting rights. haven't got enough on police reform. haven't got enough on things that are important to us. that's tough. then you have republicans trying to pull black voters over by doing something interesting saying, look, we may not be your cup of tea. >> it is working. >> yes. >> they are bleeding or siphoning. >> yeah. >> let's talk about the special report you have on cnn tonight. it's been 30 years today, this is the anniversary since the l.a. riots. that's a day that changed your life. >> it d i was a kid in law school. i was out there working for a civil rights group trying to monitor the protests. i got arrested myself in the middle of all that. and so i had seen a beating that i thought was unlawful and unfair. i said i'm going to spend the rest of my life fixing the justice system. i have. 30 years later, we're as far from 1992 as 92 was from 62. even so -- >> let's watch. >> april 29th, lafrment went under flames. then we had protests all across the country including here in san francisco. you're a young lawyer. i was still in law school. our boss eva patterson said protest is going on. good to have a legal observer. she said did you ever be a legal observer? i said no. it was a friday night. i was going to go do this thing and then go home. >> we didn't make it home. not that night. >> this is really where i think things started to get heated. the route was supposed to keep going. police presence started closing in. as we headed up market street, there were a lot of cops up there. that's where we got stoptped an arrested. >> we were done for. of they brought out the big plastic bags and poured out plastic handcuffs on the ground. and then they brought city buses. empty city buses. i said listen, i'm a law student. this is the problem. a police not letting us have our rights. >> oh, my gosh. what is it like to watch all that again? >> you know, it's amazing. in those days we got to fight to get people to understand there was a problem with policing. now people around the world understand you have to convince them there's a solution. and so 30 years later we're still dealing with the same issues. think about how one young guy saw one video of the beating. it changed my life. you have a generation now, they see the videos every day on their phones. much so the level of commitment, this new generation has to change is un -- you can't imagine it. yet they don't know this history. this documentary is going to blow people's mind. even those of us there 30 years ago. >> what will we learn? >> there is a lot of stuff. >> what? >> we didn't understand at the time. we talk to the lawyers in the case. we talk to korean merchants from those days. we talk to a lot of people. there is stuff that can only now be told of going on behind the scenes, man. >> is that right? >> and there's a lot to be learned. because at the end of the day, people just want the police to obey the law. people want to feel that they can be treated with respect. and if if you go too long with the disrespect, do you get outcomes like this. i think we now have enough of an understanding of the problem. we should now get on with the solutions. >> yeah. i was thinking about seeing this. p it' it's when you pour sunlight on a problem it changes the entire equation. and because people can't turn away. >> they can't. >> great. i can't wait to see it. that's an excellent tease. thank you very much. >> good stuff. >> great to he soo you. >> all right. >> join him on a journey to learn the real story behind the l.a. riots 30 years later. the new cnn special report begins at 11:00 p.m. president biden needs more covid funding and more ukraine aid. he needs it approved by congress. will he get it? 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>> allison, i just returned from leading congressional delegation to the region. and i am convinced that if we don't provide the critically needed further weapons for the ukrainians to defend themselves against russia's aggression that we may see a turning point in ukraine's war to retain their independence, sovereignty. and i do think that we should continue to provide military assistance to ukraine. they have fought bravely. they have fought far better, far longer against the russian military machine than many analysts had expected. frankly, president zelenskyy has challenged and inspired all of us in congress and i hear from the people of delaware regularly that they want us to do more. they want us to support the millions of ukrainian refugees throughout the region of eastern europe, millions more that rinne ternlly displaced in it ukraine. and they want us to provide the material, the weapons needed for the ukrainians to successfully push back on russian aggression. >> senator ran paul had an interesting exchange with tony blinken this week in which senator paul says he wasn't justifying russia's invasion of ukraine. but he was trying to explain it. so let me play a portion. >> we can also argue the countries they attacked were part of russia. >> well, that -- >> they were part of the soviet union. >> yes. firmly disagree with that proposition. it is the fundamental right of the countries to decide their own future and their own destiny. >> i'm not saying it's not. >> i'm saying that the countries that have been attacked, georgia and ukraine, were part of the soviet union. and they were part of the soviet union since 1920s. >> senator, what did you think of that exchange? >> i thought that was ridiculous and outrageous. frankly, that is the excuse that putin has been using for his aggression against georgia, against moldova and ukraine. i don't think there is a second member of the foreign relations committee would agree with senator paul. putin has launched a completely unjustified illegal and immoral invasion of ukraine. he has killed thousands of innocent civilians. ukraine posed no threat whatsoever to russia. and just because there used to be a ussr, a soviet union that was largely accomplished by military conquest of the baltic states, of the states of the caucuses and eastern europe doesn't justify any renewed effort to re-estabilsh the soviet union. so i stand on the side of freedom, democracy, and the fight to retain the independence of ukraine and their ability to choose their own path. putin is outraged that countries like georgia and moldova and ukraine are leading to the west, european union, towards nato and wants to stop them from doing so. i think the united states is the nation in at the world that for decades and decades after the second world war stood for the ability of european countries to decide their own future. and the soviet union stood opposed to that. why we would tolerate any argument in favor of re-estabilshing a soviet sphere of influence a greater russian sphere of influence, i don't understand. the. >> we can see that you're coming to us from the headquarters today. you're invested on getting more covid relief aid. why spend billions of more dollars when we're coming out of the most acute phase of the pandemic. >> we're not out of the pandemic. there is nearly three billion people in the world who haven't had a single vaccine dose in the united states. things are looking better. and all of us want to be out of this pandemic. it's killed a million americans. it's killed six million people worldwide. this has been a tragic and difficult chapter in global public health history. but the united states today has hundreds of millions of effective vaccine doses that we developed and innovated and there are billions of people around the world who don't yet have access to the delivery of the vaccines or the therapeutics that help prevent people if they get sick from dying. so i'm urgently working with my colleagues to persuade them to invest just a few billion more in making sure we finish this job for three reasons. one, for our own health and safety. because if another variant emerges, allison, as the last two did from the developing world, that's where omicron and delta emerged, that comes back to the united states and gets around our vaccine protection and reinfects us and puts us back into pandemic shutdown, we will all regret it. so it's pennies on the dollar to protect our own public health. second, it's the right thing to do. there is billions of people waiting for american vaccines that can help them. last, many countries around the world had to rely on chinese or russian vaccines that don't work against the omicron variant the we have a chance to show them that the united states can be a better public health partner than other countries. so i think it's something we should move forward with. i negotiated hard with my colleagues on a covid supplemental. it's my hope that we will take it up and consider it in the weeks and days ahead alongside food aid which would meet some of the growing hunger around the world that is resulting from russia's invasion of ukraine. ukraine, i'll remind you, is the breadbasket for eastern europe and much of the middle east and africa. and there are tens of millions of people facing hunger now because of the war in ukraine. >> senator, last, given everything that you just spelled out and everything you've seen and data that you've seen, do you think it's a good idea for president bide tone go to the white house correspondent's din they are weekend? >> i think the president is going to follow tight protocols. everyone there has to be vaccinated and recently passed a test to show they're not positive. has to show their vaccination card to attend. and my understanding is he's not attending the dining portion of the evening. he's attending just the portion where he's speaking and, frankly, where he is being roaste roasted. i'll leave that up to the president and the white house doctors. sent public messages in support of getting vaccinated, following public health guidance, mask wearing over the last year and i think he'll weigh carefully his desire to participate in one of more fun events of the year in washington with the importance of respecting public health guidelines. the folks here at the cdc, allison, do an amazing job. there are thousands of public health professionals here who continue to work and service the american people. >> senator chris cone, great to see you. >> thank you, allison. great to be on again. newly obtained text messages between sean hannity and mark meadows reveal the fox host's eager i eagerness to spread trump conspiracies. after january 6th, there was a different tone. what if you could have the perspective to see more? 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[ cheers ] are we actually going? yes!! and once in a lifetime moments. two tickets to nascar! yes! find rewards like these and so many more in the xfinity app. new text messages exclusively in to cnn show how sean hannity used his cable tv position to help donald trump push his 2020 election lie. 80 plus messages between the fox host and former white house chief of staff mark meadows, they start on election day 2020 right up until the biden inauguration. in the texts, hannity eggagerly offers up his tv show to spread conspiracies. cnn chief media correspondent brian stelter helped break the news. tell about the lengths hannity was willing to go to act as part of trump campaign. >> hannity was a shadow chief of staff for donald trump, just as white house sources said at the time. that was all anonymously sourced and now we're seeing it for ourselves in plain text. hannity gives advice, he asks for direction, even talks to meadows about maybe business plans in the future, and you see a real evolution thinking about the big lie. look at this text from november 29th of 2020, where hannity seems to be all in believing the big lie. i had my team digging into the numbers. it's mathematically impossible. it's so sad for this country. we need a major breakthrough. meadow's responses are you're exactly right, working on breakthrough. hannity was evolving, so was meadows. here's december 22nd, 2020, with handy saying, hey, my friend, how are you doing. fighting like crazy. went to cobb county, georgia, to review process. very tough days. i'll keep fighting. >> hannity says you fighting is fine. the effing lunatics is not fine. he's referring to fringe figures who had gained trump's influence in the waning days of his presidency. did he say that on tv? did he say he was fed up? no, he didn't say that on tv. not exactly. he continued to prop up trump and sow doubt about the true election outcome. it's like he lost control of the proverbial monster that he helped feed, but now hannity has no interest in talking about this. he did not respond to our request for comment today, nor did fox. but all the text messages are online on cnn.com so folks can see for themselves. >> that's too bad because hannity's voice of region there would really have helped, i think, helped his viewers hear all that because they trust him, and so that was a real missed opportunity, and we see what happened. brian stelter, thank you. >> thanks. ukrainian commander inside that steel plant in mariupol is pleading for the safe passage of the hundreds of civilians trapped there. he tells cnn that there's been relentless russian bombardment, we have a live update soon. your what you need? oh, like how i customized this scarf? wow, first time? check out this backpack i made for marco. oh yeah? well, check out this tux. oh, nice. that'll go perfect with these. dude... those are so fire. 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