drowning. the search for 22-year-old bishop evans is now in its third day. we re also following the latest on elon musk s proposal to buy twitter. the wall street journal reports twitter now are re-examining musk s $43 billion offer to purchase the company. more on that with fox news contributor joe concha later this hour. but first tonight, an adviser to ukraine s president volodymyr zelenskyy says secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin are currently meeting with zelenskyy in ukraine s capital of kyiv. zelenskyy announced plans for that meeting at a press conference last night. the united states has not confirmed the sit-down. trey yingst is live in kyiv with the latest on what we mow there. trey. reporter: jon, good evening. i should reiterate we cannot independently confirm that this meeting is taking place, but according to an adviser to ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, a meeting is taking place between two top-level u.s. official
time right now. so that is yet to materialize. we ll see. so much breaking news. welcome, everybody, happy to see you this weekend. we re trying to get to the bottom of exactly what s going on there. what we know without doubt is that the russian assault not only in mariupol, but the eastern and southern part of the country is running very strong, and a record number of sorties over the past 24 hours. let s get the latest from matt finn. matt. reporter: neil, it s just a dire standoff at the steel plant in mariupol. vladimir putin said he would stop bombing that plant and instead barricade it, basically forcing the people inside to starve or surrender, but now ukraine says russia has resumed bombing on that plant. an estimated 2,000 yaiben marines ukrainian marines along with civilians have been holed up in tunnels underneath the plant, and now we re getting some of our first glimpses. new video released by the ukrainian military appear to show women and children hiding i
still some hope. it s questionable whether he does control mariupol. there is no evidence yet that mariupol has completely fallen. putin telling his defense chief there is no need to storm a steel factory that is home to the last ukrainian holdouts in mariupol. instead, putin ordered a blockade, quote, so that a fly can t get through. the ceo of the company that owns that steel plant says the situation is close to catastrophe because, he says, the civilians trapped inside are now running out of food. four buses of residents were able to get out of mariupol yesterday, but according to ukraine s deputy prime minister, overall the evacuation is falling short of its goal. in the east, the russian military remains on offense. luhansk top military official says russian forces are destroying residential buildings. one city he says has no food warehouses left. russia is marking its gains with propaganda stunts. that s a world war ii-era soviet victory flag. beginning to appear ac
ukrainians are, quote, not thinking about comfort, they re thinking about mere survival. his city fell back in early march. so far u.s. defense officials watching the battlefield see no major russian territorial gains in the donbas region to ukraine s east. we are, though, seeing destruction like this in major cities as russia steps up shelling across the east. and ukrainian soldiers are fortifying luhansk, the military governor there tells cnn 80% of his region s territory is under the control of russian forces and he says they re not stopping. the whole of luhansk territory is being shelled. there is no safe town. we understand that the russian government is going to push ahead and going to destroy everything on its path. let s get the latest now on the ground from cnn s matt rivers who is live for us in lviv. what s the latest? reporter: they say they will destroy everything in their path but that s whatever ukrainian forces, i guess, allow them to do based on their
for weeks now ukrainian, u.s. and nato officials have war on the russians preparing for a renewed military offensive in the east. it seems the battle for the donbas region is under way. according to ukraine top security official a 300 mile long front came under attack by russian forces monday. and for the most part that defensive line held. for civilians who remain trapped in the conflict zone, hope of a escape is starting to fade. ukrainian prime minister announced no evacuation corridors will be open today. pentagon believes 76 russian tactical groups have been deployed in the south and east. eleven added in the last few days alone. each consists of 800 troops. tens of thousands of russian soldiers committed to the offensive. and despite the out numbered and out gunned, ukraine president says his country will not give up without a fight. meantime we re receiving new images from mariupol. weeks of heavy fighting have decimated the port city. and russians are near total contr