He told the assembled media that he had no doubts russia would achieve all of its objectives and he insisted his military operation was going to plan. translation: the goals are perfectly clear, they are noble. i said from the very beginning back in my first public statement - addressing the countryj and the armed forces, i directly set the goals. the main goal is to help the people in donbas, l the people of donbas which we ve | recognised, and we had to do it. | so president putin is saying his focus is to help the people of the donbas, let s just pick up on that for a moment. the regions of donetsk and luhansk, close to ukraine s eastern border with russia is moscow s new military focus. the key to the entire area is the port city of mariupol, which has been under siege since the end of february. as battle for mariupol grinds on, the city s mayor says an estimated 21 thousand civilians have been killed there. there have also been unconfirmed reports that chemical weapons have be