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"the lead" starts right now. the justices erase race-based college admissions. we're talking to one of the attorneys that argued in support of affirmative action before the court. then documents shared exclusively with cnn show a russian general, whose whereabouts is currently unknown, was a secret vip member of the wagner mercenary group. plus cnn's erin burnett joins us live from kyiv where she just sat down with former vice president mike pence during his surprise trip. the parkland resource officer who did not enter the building is found not guilty. welcome to "the lead." i'm a...

♪ very good wednesday morning to you, i'm jim sciutto. >> and i'm erica hill. happening right now, more than 4,500 civilians are stuck in the ukrainian city of bakhmut, this as russian forces launch a barrage of attacks on the fiercely contested area, president zelenskyy calling it the country's most difficult situation. as of now, though, ukrainian forces are still holding the line. cnn is on the ground in eastern ukraine and we will bring you the very latest. plus a political -- >> sorry, go ahead. >> it's all yours. >> plus a political shakeup in chicago. mayor lori lightfoot...

states hits today and that is the legal limit. if congress does not raise that limit, the country risks default which would have almost unmanageable consequences. now the treasury department is taking what are called extraordinary measures to push that date back a bit. but they can't do it forever. this morning cnn has also learned that president biden still plans to announce he is running for re-election. he does plan to announce that bid after the state of union address next month. those are the plans that are in place. there are new details this morning about how this special coun...

set. this is what we're watching "at this hour." thank you for being here. i'm kate bolduan. the battle over the nation's debt ceiling is upon us. the united states just hit its borrowing limit of $31.4 trillion. and that means that the treasury department must now begin to use a series of what is called extraordinary measures to avoid default. extraordinary measures that are no longer so extraordinary since they have been -- they've had to be used so often. this is a completely avoidable problem that falls entirely on congress to raise the debt limit. something that republicans wi...

current prime minister fumio kishida really encapsulated the emotions felt across japan. he was visibly upset, in tears almost, you know, as he talked about the current condition of former prime minister abe and went on to say that -- calling the shooting an unforgivable act. abe's brother and current minister of defense nobuo kishi also addressed the media calling the attack an affront to democracy and the suppression of freedom of speech. witnesses say that abe was shot from behind, he didn't collapse after that first shot but did collapse after the second shot before receiving cpr...