wrong hands. plus, sky high celebrations as most mask mandates for public transit end, marking a landmark moment in the pandemic. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start with a top aide to ukraine s president warning that not a single place, town, city or building is safe as the kremlin announce as new phase in its unprovoked war. today the town of mariupol rests on an unknown number of ukrainian fighters trying to defend the city s iron and steel factory. a four square mile complex. they have rejected multiple calls from the russians to surrender. in part, because of the estimated 1,000 civilians sheltering in the factory s basement. the battle job sharing this video saying these the men, women, children, babies who did nothing to deserve this bombardment and are now at the mercy of putin s military. despite relentless shelling and bombing from russian forces, a local official tells cnn, as of this afternoon, the ukrainian flag is flying over the city. today the p
mostly bombings, it appears. at least 11 civilians were killed including a 7-year-old ukrainian child. even more horrific news from the key port city of mariupol which has been under a relentless russian assault for weeks now. the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy making this grim assessment today. translator: mariupol lies destroyed. tens of thousands have been killed there and still the russians won t end their offensive. they want to make an example out of mariupol as a city ruined. today i m learning that nine volunteer drivers working to evacuate ukrainians from mariupol have been detained by the russian military. as of now, they remain missing. the head of the ukrainian organization help people says ten drivers have been trying to get civilians out of that besieged city. when their vehicles were stopped by russian soldiers who demand that had the evacuees and the mini buses go to russia, the drivers refused. they were detained. the head of the ngo lost contact
war. our correspondents are covering all of today s news from ukraine in key ukraine capitals and at the white house. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. the horrific scale of death and destruction in mariupol coming into sharper focus today. president zelenskyy says, i m quoting, tens of thousands are dead inside the besieged city and accuses russia of trying to make an example of the ukrainians who held out for weeks against the russian bombardment. this as american officials now warn kremlin forces are in the early stages of a major new offensive in the east. our chief international correspondent is standing by for us in kyiv. clarissa, the situation in eastern ukraine is especially dire tonight. what s the latest? reporter: well, wolf, we are now getting a glimpse of new satellite images that appear to show an eight-mile long russian convoy moving to the east of the city of kharkiv
to my grassroots and spend the day as a health care assistant in one of our busy care of the elderly wards. live now to our north of england reporterjessica lane who is outside the hospital where lucy letby and tony chambers worked. tell us more about this? we are outside the tell us more about this? we are outside the countess tell us more about this? we are outside the countess of - tell us more about this? we are outside the countess of chester| outside the countess of chester hospital and of course, it is very much in the news right now but it is also a busy working hospital. we have seen several families going into their maternity unit today and into their maternity unit today and into their maternity unit today and into the hospital. we have seen some pregnant women, some with young babies and of course this has caused real concern in the community here. this hospital doesn tjust cover chester, it also covers part of west cheshire and also part of north east wales.
traditional definition of being in a recession. the second quarter gross domestic product g.d.p. shrank at annual rate of nine tenths of a percentage point. that s the second straight quarterly deficit and that checks the box, historically considered as recessionary. president biden says it s no surprise the economy is slowing down because of inflation. but he insists he has the nation on the right path and, quote: it doesn t look like a recession to me. the president also spent time today on a call with his chinese counterpart in a time increasing tension with communist china. white house correspondent peter doocy starts us off tonight live from the north lawn. good evening, peter. peter: good evening, bret. the numbers are right there in black and white. the u.s. economy shrunk for a second consecutive quarter. but, until large, well-respected groups, nonpartisan groups of economists issue some sort of a formal declaration that a recession is underway, then officials here