repeatedly making 55,000 phone calls, sending 33,000 e-mails since august 14th. they solved problem after problem to keep the mission moving forward. they did this because this evacuation operation was very personal. many worked hand in hand for years with afghan partners. many of whom became trust friends. we also lost church members of our foreign service community in afghanistan. we ll never forget them. helping americans, our foreign partners who have been by our side for 20 years and afghans at risk at this critical moment was more than just a high stakes assignment for our team. it was a sacred duty. the world saw how our diplomats rose the the challenge. u.s. service members in kabul did heroic work. they are also providing vital support right now caring for afghans on military bases in europe, the middle east and here in the united states. we have seen pictures of u.s. service members cradling baby, comforting families. that s the kind of compassion and courage our me
heating the stoves. people are running out of fod and water. heading to a shelter is a pretty frightening concept. millions of texans are still struggling without power after severe winter weather shut down the power grid. it s a disaster. as for ted cruz, fresh off his stint toying with insurrection. well, he just returned from his 24 hour south of the border with fam. who wouldn t want a get away to a beach resort to mexico when their state is in crisis. his story about why he was out of country has evolved. here is ted after getting busted for the trip. texas going through horrific storms and millions of texans lost power and lost heat an had been hurt. our family was among them. we had no heat and no power. yesterday my daughter s asked if they could take a trip with some friend. heidi and i agreed. i flew down with them last night. dropped them off here and i m headed back to texas and back to continuing to work to try to get the power on. what s happening in texas is
soon as december. and herschel walker now says he s not backing down despite the abortion scandal rocking his campaign. ma maggie haberman joins me this hour on donald trump s decision to back walker despite his checkered past. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. let s begin our coverage in ukraine where a furious counteroffensive is now sweeping russian troops out of territory. moscow has held for months. cnn is your national security editor. nick paton walsh is joining us live from the war zone. nick, this rapid ukrainian advance comes as vladimir putin laid claim to that troubled nuclear power plant. what s the latest on the ground tonight? ukraine s president zelenskyy clear that half a thousand square kilometers of territory in the kherson region have since the beginning of the month been liberated from russian control. that s a larger number of than officials said earlier today and it s part of the slow drip we saw ourselves just yesterday of territory r
as russia s brutal assault from the sky intensifies. on the front lines ukrainian forces claim five cylvillages h been liberated. no response from russia on this but it s what s happening in the air that has ukraine on high alert. fighter jets today patrolling kyiv after news of more russian missile strikes. at a market, suburbs near a nuclear plant, both among putin s latest targets. also today reports of arrests now being made after putin s prize bridge to crimea was severely damaged a few days ago. matthew chance is with us now and has more on all of this. tell us about these arrests. what are you learning, matthew? reporter: hey, ana, that s right. this is a new development that s come to us within the past few hours out of russia where the russian federal security service, the fsb, who are investigating this attack on the bridge linking the russian mainland with crimea say they ve made eight arrests of people they believe may be responsible and connected with the dev