translator: for now i only feel enormous pain, pain and emptiness, that s it. reporter: and even worse for that family that soldier, dan, his father was also inside that mariupol steel plant complex fighting there. the last time the family heard from him was mid march. so his fate, too, is unknown. really is a remarkable story. you hear people in ukraine referring to mariupol as heroic mariupol or epic mariupol, courageous mariupol, these are the words used to describe now the people who stayed behind to fight there. matt, thank you so much for that report. the defense department announced that the administration is sending more than 121 phoenix ghost tactical unmanned aerial systems or drones to ukraine and that has raised some eyebrows because even military experts haven t heard about this drone before. cnn s tom foreman joining us at the magic with a you will to explain what we do know with
tactical unmanned aerial systems are actually something called switchblade drones, similar to the ones that you would see here. they are portable, low cost, single use weapons, that can strike enemy targets from miles away, and fly much faster than the turkish drones that ukraine has been using to date. these u.s. switchblade drones are also small enough that they cannot be detected by most air defense systems. now, these weapons are coming at a crucial time for ukrainian troops, who, today, according to ukrainian officials, began launching counter attacks against russian forces outside of kyiv. in the russian control in southern city of these are aerial images of the russian occupied, kherson airport. tonight, ukraine s military defense reported that they destroyed several helicopters that were parked there. joining us now is andrea zakharova knee act the former ukrainian minister of defense