Ukrainian forces dig in against Russia’s eastern assault as the U.S. pledges more aid

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• Judy Woodruff:

  There are two major stories we are following tonight, Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, which we will get to in a moment.

  But, first, in Ukraine, Russian forces struck targets across the country with missiles, while Moscow's main focus remained on the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian troops there are defending a wide battlefront, a day after the American secretaries of state and defense met with Ukraine's president in Kyiv.

  The U.S. said it would speed weaponry to Ukraine.

  Special correspondent Willem Marx reports.

• Willem Marx:

  Across Ukraine, its people are digging deep, this, however not a grave, but a defensive trench. Zaporizhzhia is the last major city in the country's southeast that remains under full Ukrainian control. That means these machines and these men must prepare for a potential Russian advance.

• Col. Ivan Arefyev, Spokesman, Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration (through translator):

  It is necessary to make fortifications, because the enemy is insidious. We do not know what the enemy will do next, so we must prepare the city for defense.

• Willem Marx:

  Further West, excavation of a different kind, with workers in Odessa clearing rubble after a weekend of rockets. Ukraine's interior minister said Russian forces fired at least six cruise missiles here Saturday. One struck a residential address.

  A day later, America's top diplomat and defense secretary met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the capital, Kyiv, the strongest show of in-person support since this conflict kicked off, promising more military aid.

  Afterwards, at a warehouse inside Poland, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the conflict continues to confound the Kremlin.

  Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: In terms of Russia's war aims, Russia has already failed and Ukraine has already succeeded.

• Willem Marx:

  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin suggested a newly aggressive stance.

  Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense: We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.

• Willem Marx:

  The latest U.S. support will include $322 million of military financing for Ukraine, a further $165 million in ammunition, and $391 million for more than a dozen other allies.

  U.S. diplomats will soon return to the country, to be led by a new ambassador, Bridget Brink, the first appointed to Ukraine since 2019.

  In the eastern Donbass region, British intelligence says Russia has made minor gains since shifting its focus there, while, in Mariupol, Moscow's forces still fail to seize control of the Azovstal steel plant, with its 2,000 Ukrainian defenders.

  From the civilians trapped there, another desperate plea.

• Woman (through translator):

  On behalf of all the residents of Mariupol, I appeal to the world. Please help us. We want to live. We are tired of these bombardments, these constant airstrikes on our land. How long will this last?

• Willem Marx:

  The besieged plant now a prison, and, without swift intervention, potentially a tomb.

  One woman showed where they sleep, children without fresh diapers, walls covered in mold. Once more today, Russians reassured that a route out from the facility would be safe. Once again, Ukrainians refused to trust refused to trust Moscow's guarantees.

  Above ground, Putin's forces focused on safe passage for their own troops. Elsewhere, no respite from Russian strikes. Overnight, missiles hit nearly 60 targets supporting Ukraine's war effort, including five railway sites. In the West, in Lviv, this train station torched.

  Meanwhile, in Russia, a much larger fire burned for hours at an oil depot in Bryansk, near the border with Ukraine. No word yet what caused the conflagration, but, last week, Russian officials said Kyiv's forces attacked the same region.

  Here in the city of Dnipro, some six hours southeast of the capital, in the country's industrial heartland, homes and shelters are fast filling up with refugees who have fled here from the fighting for the east. And, Judy, we have seen firsthand how the health care system, hospitals included, is under heavy strain from the high number of incoming casualties, both civilians and soldiers alike.

• Judy Woodruff:

  That was Willem Marx in Dnipro.

  And thank you, Willem.

• And a note:

  The "NewsHour"'s coverage of the war in Ukraine is supported in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.