perimeters. texas governor greg abbott, he defended himself in the criticism among his response to the shooting and his praise of police efforts. during his visit to uvalde on friday, the republican governor said he was initially misled by law enforcement officials and was restating what he heard when corroborating their version. i was misled and i am livid about what happened. and as everybody has learned, the information that i was given turned out in part to be inaccurate. and i m absolutely livid about that. and here s my he expectation. my expectation is that the law enforcement leaders that are leading the investigations which includes the texas rangers and the fbi, they get to the bottom of every fact with absolute certainty. the governor is saying at that press conference at the cost the funerals for the victims was being taken care of by an anonymous doaner who gave $175,000 to make sure every funeral is paid for. he provided mental health care services for the
Welcome back, everybody. i want to cover what is happening overseas as well. european leaders pushing for new peace talks between russia and ukraine. french president spoke to putin by phone over the weekend urging him to hold direct talks with president zelenskyy. the leaders also pressed putin to release hundreds of ukrainian fighters that made the stand inside the bombed out steel plant. those soldiers have been registered as prisoners of war. there is intense new fighting between ukrainian and russian forces in the eastern part of the country. nbc news correspondent richard engel has more on this. reporter: russian troops are a mile from the this village. and they re closing in. russia claims to be attacking the village and dozens of similar ones in donbas to free ukrainians from nazi rule. but there are no nazis here.
Objection, and remember the vast majority of americans, 70% of americans or more, have said that they did not want this, but the people who were most low receiverous about this were people under 45, democrats, obviously women, and these were the voters who democrats were particularly worried about in the fall. will they come out, will they participate. there has been polling suggesting that the enthusiasm wasn t there. this could galvanize those voters, don. america will be waking up soon, so lots more reaction throughout the day. but for now, we ll cross to the latest on the situation in ukraine with isa who is in lviv. thanks very much. good morning to you, max. all eyes on mariupol this morning, and the bombed out steel plant where many civilians are still of course trapped inside. the city council says more
Similar plan for kerrson. meanwhile russian forces are pushing further to the west in ukraine. officials report a number of russian missiles strikes on the city of odesa. ukraine president says a 14-year-old boy was killed in another teen wounded in an attack on a dorm. also signs that ukrainian forces are fighting back. claiming to hold off 12 russian attacks over the past day. and video posted online shows the after math of a large explosion at an airfield in a russian held area. near neither side is commenting. this morning yet again all eyes on mariupol. and the bombed out steel plant where many civilians are still trapped. the city counsel says more evacuation efforts are due to resume this morning. it s not clear if the plans involve the people inside the plant. around 100 were able to make it out for the plant sunday.
Yeah, it s been somewhat of a confusing picture. we know we are expecting the second round of evacuations to take part, but it s been an incredibly desperate situation growing even worse in the besieged city of mariupol itself. remember, there are about 100,000 people or so stuck in the city of mariupol. now, the city council says the evacuation efforts are due to resume, paula, in the coming hours, but it s not clear if those plans involve civilians that were trapped inside the bombed out steel plant. of course, we saw thing vac wagss on sunday. now, around 100 were able to make it out off that plant on sunday, but another round of evacuations planned for monday, well, that never happened. a ukrainian commander inside the plant said they ve been under constant bombardment since early monday and this video really appears to confirm those reports, it shows a large plume of smoke rising over the city from an area near the plant. meanwhile, some evacuees did begin arriving in zaporizhzhia