world. wolf blitzer is off today, i m brianna keilar, and you are in the the situation room. let s go right to ukraine, as we follow the pivotal ballots for bakhmut, and growing concerns it could fall to the russians very soon. melissa bell has our report from the war zone. reporter: bakhmut still stands, says the ukrainian military out of sight any sign of life driven underground. what is like life for the civilians, for the soldiers? what life? what, what life? you know, the soldiers are doing their work, which is quite and civilians are trying to survive. there s no water, there is no electricity. reporter: this was bakhmut in august when the siege had just begun. this is bakhmut seven months on. the city is empty, people are afraid to go . empty, people are afraid to go out. every day new destruction. it s better not to go outside writing dr. elena from inside the town. cnn met her and other nurses on christmas eve, not quite happier times, but certain l
the u.s. is arming ukraine with more american ammo and rocket launchers. the lead starts right now. stocking up ahead of a likely russian spring offensive. the u.s. deploys another $400 million in military aid to ukraine. can president biden secure even more as russians encircle the strategic town of bakhmut? plus, from prominent attorney to convict, the swift prison sentence today for alex murdaugh after a jury took only a few hours to find him guilty of killing his wife and son. and drag shows shut down. tennessee becomes the first in the nation to put new restrictions on the performances. welcome to the lead. i m pamela brown in for jake tapper today. we start with our health lead. moments ago, the white house announced a lesion removed from president biden s chest last month was a common type of skin cancer. cnn s phil mattingly joins us now from the white house. tell us more about this diagnosis. reporter: that lesion was removed during the president s annual phy
world. wolf blitzer is off today, i m brianna keilar, and you are in the the situation room. let s go right to ukraine, as we follow the pivotal ballots for bakhmut, and growing concerns it could fall to the russians very soon. melissa bell has our report from the war zone. reporter: bakhmut still stands, says the ukrainian military out of sight any sign of life driven underground. what is like life for the civilians, for the soldiers? what life? what, what life? you know, the soldiers are doing their work, which is quite and civilians are trying to survive. there s no water, there is no electricity.
into ukraine. cnn s melissa bell is in ukraine where officials are worried thousands of civilians remain trapped in the city under siege. reporter: bakhmut still stands, says the ukrainian mil mil military but only just. looks really hellish. reporter: the bridge along the last possible supply route in and out destroyed overnight. leading out of reach and nearly encircled around 4, 500 civilians including 48 children. the ghosts of bakhmut, entirely out of sight, any sign of life driven underground. what is life like then in bakhmut today for the civilians, for the soldiers? very, you know, the soldiers