Russia tightens grip on eastern Ukraine with plans for secession referendums

Judy Woodruff:

Officials from Turkey and the United Nations say they expect to sign a deal with Russia and Ukraine tomorrow to allow Ukraine to resume vital exports. The country is one of the world's largest providers of grain and oil.

Meanwhile, the battles grind on. Russia this week said that its goals had expanded to the country's south and southeast, as the war of attrition continues in the Eastern Donbass.

Nick Schifrin reports.

Nick Schifrin:

Where children once played, today, soldiers and police dug through the obliterated remains of a school where children once learned the latest Russian attempt to erase Ukraine's future, an entire generation shattered by war.

Dmytro, Former Student (through translator):

I graduated from the school two years ago. I cannot believe this is the reality we live in.

Nick Schifrin:

Residents of Kramatorsk are shell-shocked. They know they are now the front lines. Missiles destroyed Yevhen Harbach and his wife's home while they were inside.

Yevhen Harbach, Kramatorsk Resident (through translator):

I could not believe it when we were under the rubble. After all, one wants to live. So we dug ourselves out with these hands. What else was there to do?

Nick Schifrin:

Kramatorsk is in the Donetsk region that Russian forces are now trying to seize, after capturing virtually all of the Luhansk region. The two regions make up the Donbass.

But, yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow's goals go beyond that.

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (through translator):

Now the geography is different. This is not only the Luhansk people's republic and the Donetsk people's republic. This is also the Kherson region and the Zaporizhzhia region and a number of other territories.

Nick Schifrin:

Parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions have been captured and occupied by Russia since the February invasion.

National Security Council Communications Coordinator John Kirby said Russia intends to make those gains permanent.

John Kirby, NSC Coordinator For Strategic Communications:

You're seeing ample evidence in the intelligence and in the public domain that Russia intends to try to annex additional Ukrainian territory. Russia is beginning to roll out a version of what you could call an annexation playbook.

Nick Schifrin:

To try and prevent that, the West has sent billions of dollars worth of weapons, the most advanced, the U.S. High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. Senior U.S. officials say Ukraine is using them against high-value Russian targets, including command posts and a bridge in occupied Ukraine that Russia uses to supply its military.

The U.S. has sent 16, but limited the ammunition range to 40 miles. Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov said this week there aren't enough.

Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukrainian Defense Minister (through translator):

For an effective counteroffensive, we would need at least 100, I think, that could become a game-changer on the battlefield.

Nick Schifrin:

The Ukrainian strategy is to force Russians to pay a high price to achieve little progress, says Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley.

Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: Is the Donbass lost? No, it's not lost yet. The Ukrainians are making the Russians pay for every inch of territory that they gain.

Nick Schifrin:

But in every inch of land, there are thousands of civilian lives. Families continue to leave the front lines on trains headed west, mothers whose children may never see their homes again.

Kateryna, Severodonetsk Resident (through translator):

To abandon your house is the worst thing ever. We abandoned our life there. I feel empty. How are we going to keep on living?