the mayor of the besieged city of mariupol says 180,000 people are still waiting to be evacuated. no humanitarian corridors were open today. russian forces blocking the buses meant for evacuation. but as cnn s matt rivers reports, defenders are still holding out in a desperate fight for every block of the city. reporter: weeks after russia began an offensive bombardment to take the city, and still ukraine s government says mariupol has not yet fallen. the keyport on the southeast coast of ukraine increasingly a symbol of both ukrainian resistance and russian military goals. ukrainian officials are holding up the city as a symbol of a heroic fight with an aid aide to president volodymyr zelenskyy says they have managed to continue their fight.
ukrainian capital to meet with zelenskyy. they discussed aid for ukraine. they also offered to help investigate war crimes committed by the russian troops. cnn correspondents are covering the region here. they had this conflict covered from every angle. nima elbagir is in kharkiv. we begin with matt rivers here in la viv with the dire situation in mariupol. reporter: weeks after russia began an offensive bombardment to take the city and still ukraine s government says mariupol has not yet fallen. the keyport on the southeast coast of ukraine increasingly a symbol of both ukrainian resistance and russian military goals. ukrainian officials are holding up the city as a symbol of a heroic fight with an aide to president zelenskyy saying on facebook the two different units defending mariupol have managed to link up and are continuing the fight. one of them released a message they, quote, did not give up
served the cause. there is not much left of the besieged sort city of mariupol after weeks of relentless artillery fire, missile attacks, as well as air strikes. ukrainian officials fear tens of thousands may be dead. those who have been able to get out have escaped. cnn s matt rivers reports now on those who are left behind are fighting back. reporter: weeks after russia beg began an offensive bombardment and still, ukraine s government says mariupol has not fallen. increasingly, a symbol of both ukrainian resistance ask russian military goals. urain yan officials are holding up the city be heroic fight, with an aide to president zelenskyy saying on facebook two different units defending mariupol have managed to link up and continue their fight. one of those units releasing a message saying they, quote, did not give up their positions. and now, there are accusations from the ukrainians that russia has used chemical weapons here.