that did not happen. the kremlin blaming bad weather for that. as putin was speaking in moscow, ukraine s president released his own victory day message. translator: very soon there will be two victory days in ukraine, and someone won t have any. we won then, and we will win now. happy victory over naziism day. u.s. diplomats return to kyiv for the first time since the war began. it s a big step towards officially reopening the embassy. let s go right to cnn s matthew chance live for us in moscow. mat matthew, what stood out to you about putin s speech this morning is this. this morning? look, first of all, the atmosphere, the spectacle of the display of russian military might was as we expected it to be, quite dramatic. we saw thousands of russian troops on the cobbles of red square chanting patriotic slogans, military bans playing patriotic kind of war songs. there was a march passed and a salute taken by by president putin as the crowd cheered and applauded and t
surprise visit to a ukrainian school and meeting with ukraine s first lady. at around the same time, canadian prime minister officially reopened canada s embassy in the capital. the two leaders also took part in a crucial call with joe biden and g-7 counterparts who vowed to phase out russian imports. on the other side, we just learned a russian deputy visited mariupol, a city russia has been trying to take over for two months. he s now the highest ranking russian to set foot there since the war began. that visit coming hours before the victory paid in russia. they will commemorate the soviet defeat of the nazis in world war ii. it s a stark contrast to the war being waived by russia today. russian forces bombed a school in eastern ukraine. dozens of civilians were sheltering at that school. cnn s sam kiley spoke to survives. reporter: to to putin is what a modern victory looks like. dozens dead or missing from a russian air strike on a russian-speak village as part of a ru
happen, what message do you leave behind to the russian people? come on, daniel. no, no way. it s like you re making a movie about the case of my death. again, i m ready to answer your question. but please let it be another movie, movie number two. like, let s make a thriller out of this movie. and in the case i would be killed, let s make a boring movie of memory. [ speaking foreign language ] [speaking foreign language] are you not scared, alexei? what do you expect in moscow? [speaking foreign language] unexpectedly, vladimir putin has a genuine challenger, a handsome 41-year-old lawyer, alexei navalny. one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, running against the man who controls the kremlin. more than any other opposition figure in russia, alexei navalny gets ordinary people out to protest. if i want to fight putin, if i want to be leader of a country, i have to do something practical about it. well, i have to kind of organize people. [speaking forei
captions by vitac www.vitac.com russia s invasion forces making slow and uneven progress and trying to learn from two months of mistakes, but not with any success. that s the latest assessment from western defense officials. according to one figure, the attacks are somewhat better coordinated but with small formations. in nato, this would be basic stuff. that said, ukrainians are learning the sheer destruction even a less than competent army can inflict is considerable. cnn s nick paton walsh got very close to the front lines today. he joins us now. what is it like where you are? reporter: anderson, it seems the renewed southern offensive, up from kherson, where russia took and we are learning about plans for intensified russian control, that russian offensive is seeing some sort of progress. even the ukrainian military are saying they are seeing russians advance partially there and in the east as well. we saw ourselves what that looks like, particularly along the vit
not being allowed to surrender. hundreds of ukrainian soldiers and civilians are inside now surrounded by a russian blockade. here you see pro-russian forces parading down a mariupol street as the kremlin reveals for the first time its goal seize full control of southern and eastern ukraine to provide a land bridge to crimea. this morning here on cnn, mariupol s mayor said the civilian losses in his city are horrific. translator: we have around 20,000 dead, civilian deaths in mariupol. and these were people who were buried by enemy shelling, by enemy bombardment. buried under the rubble and at the moment, we are witnessing the enemy trying to hide the evidence of their crimes using the instrument of mass graves. cnn s nic robertson joins us in brussels. what else do we know about this call between putin and the president of the european council? yeah, blunt and direct is how charles michel is categorizing the call with putin. it was 90 minutes long. the reason the eur