third largest city, odesa, a strategic port. scarred still from a war for the last generation. horridly con verdicted food holes, the youth know this is their turn. this is like hipster paradise. two days we organized a small chat. firstly it was five people and after that in two days it s the biggest humanitarian help in odesa region. reporter: food, fuel, history fuel them here. they stack sand bags outside the nearby opera house fortified like it hasn t been since 1941. the split screen circulated by cell phone. i m sorry, but let me just
little left but to appeal to a hare power that any russian rule might be be9. head from kherson west along the coast and the pressure builds. especially here, 30 minutes north of odesa. the town hit with shelling. the next stop is this. ukraine s third largest city, odesa, the strategic port. scarred still from a world for the last generation. in the converted food halls, the youth know it is their time. this is like hipster paradise. two days ago i was with my friends organizing, it was five people and then after that, in two days, it is transformed in the biggest humanitarian help volunteer center in the odesa
russian advancement. he is at an undisclosed location in the country. he is at an undisclosed location in the country. all these actions in the past days, including the bombing of kharkiv yesterday and today was the act of intimidation and threatening the population of kharkiv, the population of other cities that are under attack now. obviously, the population of kyiv. russian forces are also reported to have surrounded the city of kherson. the strategic port lies on the black sea and west bank of the dnieper river in southern ukraine near the russian controlled crimean peninsula here you can see soldiers wearing white armbands patrolling the streets of kherson. the local mayor says russian forces have set up checkpoints surrounding the city. and here in the southern ukrainian port city of berdyansk tanks have been seen on the streets. also in the south, there were strong words from the mayor of the port city of mariupol,
translator: this is genocide, nazis and i am ashamed that we are in the 21st century, in 2022, and we are seeing acts where people are told, the end of the world, forget predictions, this is the end of the world. that warning and that call for help coming just as russian forces have, for the first time, seized a major ukrainian city. the port city of kherson, home to 300 million people. threatens to cut off to the black sea and fighting in another strategic port in mariupol surrounded right now by russian troops. told cnn this morning, the city has no power, no water, no heat.
it seems the russians have freedom of movement within the populated areas there. the mayor has called the men of the city to the defense of it. he called them out on sunday. that was a false alarm. but they re now seeing what they say is 100-plus strong convoy on the outskirts of that town. deep concerns there as well because of the violence we saw inflicted on civilian areas there with heavy weaponry and now over here, odesa on high alert, barricades across the streets here. utter silence in this third largest city of ukraine. it s a strategic port. you can t really run the country without controlling this economic lever to it. and i think what we re seeing, the russian movement stall up north, they have moved up from crimea and appear to be having more motion. unclear if that s permanent progress. anderson? nick paton walsh, we ll continue to check in with you throughout the hours ahead.