Dinner, including all of the major networks and john carl who shook hands with the president. the associate president is telling cnn they publicized protocols and encouraged boosters before that event. thank you for your time. ana cabrera picks up our coverage right now. [ music playing ] hello, thank you for being here. i m anna ka brer remarks we begin this hour in ukraine, hope and dread are emerging today from the ruins in mariupol. that s the destroyed steel plant there. that is the city s last stand of resistance. these are some new images we are receiving of russia absolutely pulverizing the steel plant complex. mariupol s mayor says he has lost contact with the last of the defenders as russian forces have ramped up their bombardment from land, sea and air.
Zvonyk was dead and his body was picked up on sunday. cnn can t confirm how he died but we know he died after being taken into custody either by russian or russian-backed separatist forces. do you think that the russians killed your son? translator: yes. i m sure. reporter: russia s ministry of defense did not return a request for comment about how zvonyk died. for weeks cnn has heard directly from soldiers inside the steel plant complex who told us they will not surrender to the russians for fear of being executed. within their ranks zvonyk s death only hardened that sentiment. does what happened to him only reinforce the notion that the soldiers that are there are not going to surrender to the russians? matt, don t you think it confirms their fear and actually expectations what russia did today? this is a war crime. reporter: we asked zvonyk s mother anna if she is angry with the russians? her answer, honest and gutting.
Confirmed to cnn that he was dead and his body was picked up on sunday. his family said there was a large wound in the back of his head. cnn can t confirm how he died but we know he died after being taken into custody either by russian or russian-backed separatist forces. do you think that the russians killed your son? translator: yes, i m sure. reporter: russia s ministry of defense did not return a request for comment about how he died. for weeks cnn has heard directly from soldiers inside the steel plant complex who told us they will not surrender to the russians for fear of being executed. within their ranks, his death only hardened that sentiment. does it reinforce that the soldiers there are not going to surrender to the russians? we think it confirms their fear and what expect what russia did today.
Slowly, what we re hearing from ukrainian officials is the hope by the end of the day today you could be talking about hundreds if not thousands of ordinary citizens of mariupol who could get on buses, make their way to zaporizhzhia and complete an evacuation officials have been trying to get under way at scale for weeks now. so, that is the one hand. on the other hand, you have the steel plant complex, the azovstal steel complex. it s the last remaining ukrainian pocket of resistance with the last ukrainian fighters are holed up in that for tress-like complex. alongside those fighters there are hundreds of civilians. for the first time since that became the focal point of attention in this war, we saw civilians get evacuated over the weekend. we re not talking about large numbers but dozens, maybe more than 100 civilians made their way out of that steel plant, also with the goal of getting to zaporizhzhia. that is also supposed to continue today. we re not exactly sure at this point w
Country, third side, need to be involved as a guarantee with the international nongovernment organizations or government organizations who will provide guarantee for a safe evacuation for civilians or military. i asked that commander several times, we ve asked people inside the steel plant complex, why don t the soldiers just surrender to the russians? the answer is the same every time, these soldiers who are fighting in that complex do not believe that they can safely surrender to the russians. in fact, many believe that they would be summarily executed. they ve told me that personally. they think they would be killed by the russian forces if they were, in fact, to surrender. that s why they re calling on this third party country to get involved with these evacuations to guarantee their safety. but as far as we can tell, at least publicly no substantial progress made on that front as of yet. matt rivers, cnn, kyiv. important context from matt rivers on the situation in