Contesting Mariupol News Today

Wouldnt change the dynamic that much for the ukrainians except, of course, there is a political and symbolic value to mariupol and keeping it is, obviously, in ukraines interest. its almost like an alamo last stand kind of thing. of course, its much bigger and a much more significant thing for the ukrainians. but in terms of the actual battlefield, none of this would really change. the russians would get their land bridge in here and they would potentially be able to then turn and move their for...

Chemical attack. these people arent stupid. they have outfoxed the russians at every turn, every single turn, outnumbered three to one, five to one. i assumed they gamed this out and have a plan for mariupol. >> are you hearing -- if it is confirmed that they used chemical weapons, how does this change the war? >> well, i would say in some ways its the sign of desperation, right? i mean, you turn to wmd when conventional warfare isnt working. its clearly not working for the russians, and putin c...

Those reports. it comes as cnn is getting new video of that devastated ukrainian city. you can see smoke rising outside a shipping yard there. i want to bring in journalist and authors sebastian unger. good to see you. lets talk about whats happening in mariupol specifically because ukrainian marines in mariupol are vowing to hold on to the end they are saying, but their city is being demolished. president zelenskyy is saying tens of thousands of people have died there. and the u.s. is lacking i...

Map in here. obviously, they are right in this area as well. a little element right here. what theyre trying to do is theyre trying to keep these areas away from the russians. in essence, what they are trying to do is save central ukraine. if the russians get a hold of zaporizhzhia, that would be a major problem for the ukrainians. so what they are trying to do is trying to contain the russians along these lines right here. of course, in the north they also have a job of containing them up here....

Weapons in mariupol? the reports are unconfirmed but the pentagon is fmonitoring the situation. if true, how would it change the war? >> russian forces may use a variety of riot control agents including tear gas mixed with chemical agents that would cause stronger symptoms to weaken and incapacitate entrenched ukrainian fighters and civilians as part of the aggressive campaign to take mariupol.

The coast of the sea of azov. the problem is its almost impossible for the ukrainians to resupply through here or, obviously, through the sea. so thats not going to happen. so the ukrainians who are in mariupol, the only way that they can be saved is either through air drops or through -- of supplies or through some kind of miraculous movement of ukrainian forces in here, and thats going to be really tough for them to do. so the ukrainian forces in mariupol have a very tough time standing fast i...

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