in the face of cruelty, also being tested, military bravery. in villages like this one on the eastern front lines the ukrainian army s success in inflicting losses on russian troops has come at the cost of the village itself. local officials saying our troops retreated a little because not much, because there was no longer anything to hold on to. they re still holding on. and if the resistance succeeds here as defense secretary austin today said it could, these scenes will be multiplied many times over, as will stories like these. in this case, women and children stuck in a basement at a giant steel-making complex in mariupol over the last two months. translator: my city is completely skroidestroyed, the children here are crying all the time, they want to play, they want to live. we can t even go outside.
her death, like that of thousands of ukrainians over the last two months, was neither accidental nor incidental to any military objective, it simply was because, russians have been targeting residential areas from the beginning of this invasion. it is, more than anything, this war s defining characteristic, targeting civilians, or, in this case, in irpin targeting civilians simply trying to flee the bombardment. a family here, evacuees at a train station. children in a well-marked bomb shelter in mariupol. countless civilians in the more than 100 hospitals and health facilities hit so far. two months and a day have taught us that about human endurance, in the face of cruelty, also being tested, military bravery. in villages like this one on the eastern front lines, the ukrainian army s success in inflicting losses on russian troops has come at the cost of the village itself.
all steven rhodes wants is to play college football. the middle tennessee state freshman was ineligible because he played in the marine corps. only it was just a recreational league. now the ncaa says he can practice. the university president hopes for a full reversal for the married father of two. so do we, of course. here is more military bravery. a soldier jumps 217 feet from the liberty memorial in missouri. this was a tribute up to the world war centennial. and then a diver left 75 feet from a helicopter into new york harbor. why? i think jumping into the head son may be who are dangmore dan the actual fall. it was to promote the cliff diving world series. beautiful dive. don t tell these 195 flyers fans that hockey season is over. oh, no, it s not. they were in philadelphia to watch logos on the ice get painted over.
search for victims after friday night s disaster. you won t believe some of the recordings of this conversation, some of the things that went back and forth. just seeing this guy just had a completely unconscionable. yeah. coward is the right word. just left that ship with people s lives in the balance. you can find the entire transcript on abcnews.com as well. check it out. we ll get to that in just a minute. that ongoing story there. also this morning, this got a lot of conversation in the office this morning. celebrity chef paula dean admits she has had type 2 diabetes for years now. but can we expect her now to change her popular menu of sugar, spice, and everything rich, fried, and fattening? she had kind of an emotional interview right here at abc. we ll get into that too. sugar, spice, and everything nice. right? nice, yeah. and later this half hour, a tribute of military bravery. more than six decades late, why