Russia intensifies attacks in Eastern Ukraine

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• Judy Woodruff:

  Russia intensified its onslaught across Eastern Ukraine today, raining a barrage of artillery and airstrikes that marks a new stage of the war. Ukrainian officials are now calling it the battle of the Donbass.

  In the besieged city of Mariupol, the last Ukrainian forces remain trapped and under intense fire at a massive steel plant. Kyiv now says it's ready to hold negotiations with Russia over the fate of the city without conditions.

  Amna Nawaz begins our coverage.

• Amna Nawaz:

  From inside Mariupol, a plea for help.

  Maj. Serhiy Volyna, Commander, Ukrainian 36th Separate Marine Brigade (through translator): This could be the last appeal of our Lives. We're probably facing our last days, if not hours.

• Amna Nawaz:

  A Ukrainian commander speaking from what he said was the Azovstal steel plant, one of the besieged cities last strongholds.

• Maj. Serhiy Volyna (through translator):

  We appeal and plead to all world leaders to help us. We ask them to use the procedure of extraction and take us to the territory of a third-party state.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Today, another Russian ultimatum for these final Ukrainian forces to surrender in Mariupol expired. Plumes of smoke billowed from the plant today ,where Ukraine says more than 500 soldiers were wounded and at least 1,000 civilians are sheltering.

  And city plans to evacuate 6,000 civilians were largely stalled after Ukraine accused Russia of failing to observe a cease-fire. The lucky few who boarded buses to leave the city described weeks of horror and now finally relief.

• Tamara, Mariupol Resident (through translator):

  We need a break after the shelling, after all this nightmare. We have been hiding in basements for 30 days.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov warned not to trust Moscow when it came to humanitarian support.

  Sergei Orlov, Deputy Mayor of Mariupol, Ukraine: Me, personally, do not believe in any trust or any words from Russia. And I'm absolutely sure they are not going to take their word.

• Amna Nawaz:

  U.S. officials say Russian forces continue to press across Eastern Ukraine. Russian troops are advancing south from Izyum into the Donbass region near Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. Moscow continues to strike front-line cities stretching far west to Mykolaiv.

  The U.S. says Russia's next stage is conventional warfare in the Donbass away from urban spaces and onto rural terrain, using tanks artillery and planes. In Moscow, President Putin says Russia test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile, something he said his enemies wouldn't be able to match.

  But also today, at a choreographed Kremlin event for nonprofits, the Russian president delivered a contradictory message of peace for Eastern Ukraine.

• Vladimir Putin, Russian President (through translator):

  The tragedy that was happening in Donbass, including the Luhansk People's Republic, forced Russia to start this military operation everyone knows about now.

  First of all, the goal of this operation is to help our people living in Donbass.

• Amna Nawaz:

  But, for the people of Donbass, this is the reality of Putin's war. In Kramatorsk, a journalist filmed the remnants of a school hit by Russian missiles now reduced to scattered shrapnel.

  For weeks, Kramatorsk has been under deadly attack. Now it's nearly empty. Those who chose to stay brave daily attacks to secure basic supplies.

  Ella Vinnikova volunteers at a charity to supply many of the remaining elderly residents with food.

  Ella Vinnikova, Volunteer in Kramatorsk (through translator): We are not prepared in any way for an attack or an invasion. We can't go away. And, actually, I don't want to go away. We are not prepared for an attack.

• Amna Nawaz:

  President Zelenskyy in his overnight address made another call for arms and said history will judge Russia's war.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through translator):

  The Russian army in this war is writing itself into world history forever as the most barbaric and inhumane army in the world.

• Amna Nawaz:

  The U.N. reports, more than five million people have left Ukraine since the invasion began, with more than 2.8 million first fleeing to Poland.

  Viktoriya is one of them. From her refugee camp, she shows pictures of her home in Mariupol, unclear when she will ever return.

• Viktoriya Savyichkina, Refugee (through translator):

  We cry. We all have the feeling that there is no home. There is no idea where to go, what to do, where to run. That is very scary.

• Amna Nawaz:

  But back in Ukraine's east, soldiers wounded on the front lines sought treatment in Slovyansk, sirens outside a constant reminder of war. But Alexander is firmly fixed on what's ahead.

• Alexander, Ukrainian Soldier (through translator):

  I think that, in the near future — and I came here only yesterday. I think that, in the near future, everything will be fine.