defeat the russian army. also breaking this morning, russian forces attempting to make a new push into the donbas region in the eastern part of the country, in luhansk, they have now taken control of a village there, kreminna. the battle lines i'm told by u.s. officials remain largely static. however, no major territorial gains on either side. the biden administration announcing a new round of economic sanctions against the kremlin. the russians taking the opportunity to test launch a new nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missile, sometimes referred to by the name, if you can believe it, satan ii. putin said publicly on russian state tv, this launch should make russia's enemies think twice, a deliberate message in the midst of the war. u.s. officiales say they were not surprised by the launch. they saw it coming, they downplayed the threat. let's begin with cnn chief

international correspondent clarissa ward. i want to begin with the situation in mariupol. you have putin now seeming to back off for now saying he doesn't need to assault this steel plant there that has become something of a lifeboats for those remaining. we have learned throughout this war to take the words of vladimir putin with skepticism and to assume he's misleading. what do you think his game is here now for mariupol, his intentions? >> reporter: well, i think, jim, it is looking more and more like this might be the small victory that russia hopes to be able to proclaim ahead of may 9th, which is victory day in russia. people have been speculating furiously as to how they were going to try to construe anything in this war as some kind of victory. mariupol may provide him with that opportunity, which may be why he is seemingly trying to appear as magnanimous in this moment, even though we know that

the -- according to ukrainian commanders and people inside the city that the shelling continues, that hundreds of injured people are not able to be evacuated out, that despite efforts to open up those human ka tarin corridors there has been no resolution to end the misery of the thousands of civilians who are left. you talked about how he says there is no need to storm that azovstal steel plant, where ukrainian forces and some hundreds of civilians have been hunkered down now. but he did also say blockaded so that not even a fly could enter. so clearly it appears the plan now is to extract maximum humiliation out of this moment to try to appear magnanimous while simultaneously starving people out, forcing them to surrender, so that this can be construed or framed in some warped way as some kind of a victory for russian forces.

it will, jim, strategically allow them to claim a lancorrid through kherson which they also hold to the annexed crimean peninsula. so it is going to be a very difficult few days ahead for those people who still remain in that city, but it does appear that its fall is now imminent, jim. >> how, clarissa, are things shaping up there on that eastern front, especially as president zelenskyy is warning that his forces don't have the weaponry they need? >> reporter: so this had been hailed as the big russian offensive after the humiliation of its failure to take kyiv in the north. this was the opportunity for russian forces to redeem themselves. but what we saw when we were down around the front line over the past few days is as jim mentioned before, frontlines that are relatively static,

ukrainians fighting very hard, also trying to launch various counteroffenses to stop russian forces from taking the remaining parts of this donetsk and luhansk region that make up this wider donbas area. what is very difficult for ukrainians, though, is not only that they are nation a huge amount of weaponry right on russia's doorstep, but the logistics of trying to extract and evacuate civilians from these areas. these are very hardy resilient, and very poor people, many of them, who have lived under the shadow of russia's war for eight years. a lot of them are refusing to evacuate, there isn't that same infrastructure in place that we saw in kyiv and its suburbs, for example, during the attacks there, and so a lot of people are staying in their homes until it becomes too late to move them. this is going to be a real challenge for ukrainian forces going forward as this sort of war, which increasingly looks

like a war of attrition continues to grind on. >> the contradiction of humanitarian corridors monitored by russia is that the evidence is and we see it every day, russia is deliberately killing civilians, leveling civilian areas, the idea of trusting them to honor humanitarian corridors, you can understand why many are skeptical. clarissa ward in dndnipro, than you so much. russia saying it successfully test launched its intercontinental ballistic missile, dubbed satan ii by western officials. president vladimir putin bragging in 2018 that the weapon would render nato defenses completely useless. joining us is tom foreman. tom, it is fascinating and scary when you learn what this weapon can do, and maybe we understand why putin bragged about it as he did. >> this is called a super heavy icbm. and it is about the length of a football field. it can carry around 15 warheads or dummies or perhaps a

hypersonic missile that could then be launched from this missile to carry other warheads forward. and it would travel at about 15,000 miles per hour, not uncommon for this type of missile that actually goes out of the atmosphere. so, does it have real capabilitys? yeah. they have been work on it for a long time. they finally reached the testing phase. and so far, the testing seems to be going the way they want. launching from 3500 miles to land on kamchatka peninsula, tracked by u.s. forces all the way. >> how would this render defenses useless? >> well, that's the claim of the russians. will it actually work that way? that's hard to say. think about it this way, this is not that it is doing something that is really unusual, it is just embracing possibly the belief is something that the russians like called fractional orbital bombardment. fractional orbital bombardment would mean that, for example, if

you say -- if you have a traditional icbm, it would follow a big arc up into space, and as it comes down it will release its warheads toward given targets, which gives you an idea of where they're going to hit. fractional orbital bombardment involves a missile that follows a much lower trajectory, maybe 90 miles up, still in space, but then releases as it comes out of orbit this way and makes it a little harder to figure out where things might be headed out there. whether the russians have mastered this, whether this will actually work, is unknown. but that's what they're touting right now. they're saying we think we can launch it around the poles, we can launch it different ways and reach the united states in surprise ways that we haven't before. that remains to be seen. if they can really have that technology mastered, brianna. >> is this something that changes the state of play on the battlefield in ukraine or is this just a show of force, at this particular time, for u.s. and western allies?

>> more the latter, it sounds like. this can be used for conventional weapons too, by the way. doesn't have to be used for nuclear weapons. but this really wreaks of right now, one of the reasons u.s. forces don't seem terribly concerned about is they're saying, look, they have been working on this a long time, this is more or less a standard test, they have had nuclear weapons that they could fire for a long time, and this really doesn't apply to what is happening in ukraine right now. more likely a face-saving move by vladimir putin, after his military has looked very, very bad, and right before they had their big victory day celebrations in moscow, where he would like to look big and like to be able to point to something and say, well, at least we have this. >> very good point. tom foreman, thank you for taking us through that. i do appreciate it. jim? >> earlier this morning we posed questions for ukraine's former president, viktor yushchenko. he was poisoned in an attempted assassination while running for president here in 2004 which he

and his advisers blamed on russia, poisoning at the time scarred his face brutally, the price it seems for standing up to the candidate putin wanted. here is our conversation about what ukraine is facing today. russia has amassed an enormous force in the east, can ukrainian forces prevail there? >> translator: if you understand correctly what is going on in the east of ukraine, then, yes, i would say of course we will win because what is going on in the east of ukraine is while ukraine is fighting this moscow threat, it is one of the gigantic battles of our times. it is a battle between good and evil. it is a battle between light and darkness. and therefore, of course, it is not a regional battle. it is not a battle between russia and ukraine.

>> how does this standoff in mariupol end? is it possible, should a third country try to extract ukrainian forces and civilians? >> translator: mariupol is a symbol. as a symbol of the ukrainian nation and it has become a symbol for the world. and, of course, if we talk about it, yesterday we heard statement from our ukrainian armed forces and they said that they're not going to lay down arms. they are going to defend the remaining part of mariupol, and if they have to leave out, if they have to get out of the encirclement, they will do so with their weapons in hand. but for putin, mariupol is possibly one of those victories that he needs to secure before their sacred date of the 9th of

may, that they usually arrange their victory parades on this date and their sabbath. mar mariupol is a significant date for them. that's the issue. >> you yourself suffered immeasurably at the hands of putin, poisoned by forces friendly to him, perhaps in retaliation for your role in the orange revolution. do you believe that putin or other russian leaders will ever be held accountable for their alleged war crimes here? >> translator: i think if we want to secure a proper world order, and we need to think about how we're going to live in the future with such a fascist state as russia, a terrorist state that organizes and finances terrorism around the

world, in the 21st century, how has it even been able to do that. a state that kills people, kills civic initiatives, and so we need to understand how that we have to work out how to live with that, and how to organize this new international space that i'm sure we will, and we will need to organize a response to this genocide in ukraine, against thousands of ukrainian villages that have been destroyed now, i'm sure. and ukrainian cities, so i think the response to this question lies ahead. >> russia conducted a test launch of a new icbm right in the middle of this war. putin said very publicly it should cause anyone threatening russia, quote, to think twice. is this just rhetoric in your view, or a sign of a leader who

when threatened might escalate here? >> translator: well, putin is a liar. he lies all the time. he has a huge inferiority complex. he needs -- he suffers from this complex so much, he needs to wear heels that are higher on his shoes. and so for his ambitions, he has -- his ambitions are too high. he has exaggerated ambitions for himself and for his country. and so yet another -- this missile that they tested yesterday, this is yet another achievement that they are saying, putting forward another

achievement, but i'm sure this is either something that will never see the battlefield. putin keeps shifting his emphasis on the battlefield and in his dialogue with the west. and his nuclear rhetoric is basically a bluff. and he is bluffing -- it is the bluff of a gangster from leningrad. and he needs this bluff so that he can reconcile himself with the failure of the first phase of the war, with blitzkrieg that failed. and this isn't common to russia at all. but he's shifting emphasis with the west because he is -- he needs to stop the west helping ukraine. and so this bluff is to intimidate, aimed at intimidating the west and stopping it helping ukraine, and pursuing the political course that -- and position that has been taken in the west. and so that's its true purpose.

>> putin is bluffing, he says, from a man who has felt his wrath very personally before. just a short time from now, president biden will address the nation on u.s. support for the ukrainians in this war. and we have just learned what exactly, what aid he will announce in those comments. plus, also back in the u.s., brand-new reporting about what republican leaders did and said after january 6th, including one who was ready to push donald trump to resign. he's changed his tune very much since then. this is cnn's special live coverage. why woolite? because its specially formulated to protect your clothing from damage in the wash. like fading, stretchingg and pilling. woolite has a first of its kind formula that keeps today's fabrics looking like new. woolite e damage and darks defense. refresh italiano subway now has italian-style capicola on the new supreme meats and mozza meat. just like my nonna makewhen she cooks! i don't cook. wait, what? it's a good thg he's so handsome.

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breaking news into the investigation on the capitol hill insurrection. the new york times is reporting in the days following january 6th, kevin mccarthy told other republican leaders that he was going to call president trump and advise him to resign. also, that mccarthy and senate republican leader mitch mcconnell looked into the 25th amendment as an option for removing trump from office. joining us now, we have "new york times" national political correspondents and cnn political analysts, both of them, alex burns and jonathan martin. this is their book "this will not pass: trump, biden and the battle for america's future," preordering is available now. i think you're probably going to want to do that after you hear some of what's in this book.

this is the first time we're hearing it. it is fascinating. talk to us about this. mccarthy it sounds like, you know, after january 6th happens, he is going to -- his plan is to ask trump to resign, recommend that he resigns. what happens? >> we're taking readers inside the inner sanctum of the ca capitol, inside these rooms, these private meetings and conversations that are taking place with urgency after january 6th. the leaders of the gop and congress desperate to figure out what do we do, how do we hold this president accountable, how do we solve frankly this political problem? and mccarthy in this moment is almost desperate to figure out how can i address this and he says, he's going to take urgent and decisive action. he's going to call president trump and say, democrats are going to impeach you, you should resign. it really captures importantly not just this period of history, but this is about tomorrow as well as yesterday. and it is important for viewers

to know that, that this also offers a picture of what it could be like if president trump does run again in 2024. because his party capitulated to him once in this moment after the 6th, and they're still tied to him to this day. >> in your title, it gets to that. it really does. but mccarthy, for his part, what is his camp saying about how this went down? >> well, they denied selectively a couple items of our reporting. they have not denied that he said trump's behavior was apr atro atrocious, they didn't comment on those components of our reporting. they have denied he said he was going to call trump and call on him to resign. we are a thousand percent confident on our sourcing on that comment. we're capturing in this moment just how much danger the united states was in on and around january 6th, how much danger it is still in today, and the degree to which men like kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell knew at the time, and likely

still know just as well today that that danger exists and how little they have done about it. >> it is alarming that they're denying obviously what is true there. these 25th amendment conversations, jonathan, what were those like? >> look, in this period of the days after the 6th, you have to remember, there is videos coming out every day of the extraordinary brutality and violence on the steps of u.s. capitol, and i think more and more americans and certainly more and more members of congress are getting angry. we have to do something. and so in response to that swelling anger, mccarthy and his fellow leaders in the congress are considering every possible option. who do we address this issue, how do we stop this political bleeding and they're trying to figure out, okay, can the cabinet do the job for us. basically the 25th amendment allows members of the president's cabinet to ban together and force him from office. and i think it was a period of where can the cabinet save us

from having made a tough call, can they avert impeachment because that obviously would address the trump issue? the cabinet wasn't going to do that, of course, and so it fell on the congress to address president trump. >> another fascinating moment that you report here, mcconnell telling advisers back in kentucky that, quote, the democrats are going to take care of the son of a bitch for us, referring to the imminent impeachment vote in the house. he said, if this isn't impeachable, i don't know what is. his role in impeachment is what? what do you make of this moment? >> this is a critical moment because you capture -- we capture in the book there not just what we all know about mitch mcconnell, which is that he doesn't care for president trump, that he thinks january 6th was really bad. but that in that brief window immediately after january 6th, he was cheering on impeachment, and later on, of course, vote against convicting president trump and would point to the

reality that trump had left office at that point as a reason why they can't proceed in that way, it would be improper. but he knew on january 11th when he made those comments that a trial was not going to wrap up before president trump left office and he suggested strongly in that moment that there would be the bullets for conviction, 17 republicans or more voting to convict president trump and after that there would be an opportunity for the congress to bar president trump from ever returning to public life. he obviously did not follow the route. >> this moment is like access hollywood in the fall of 2016, there is that period of a day or so, little bit longer in this period, where the republican leadership, the old guard, the mitch mcconnells of the world, this is finally it, he's finally gone too far, he's discredited himself, our voters are going to see the light, in this moment mcconnell thinks this is our shot. the democrats are going to bring up impeachment in the house, i'm going to have the votes, mcconnell's ultimate vote

counter, he sees his conference, thinks, yes, this is too much, even for some of them, we have the votes to convict, our trump problem is going to be over, but much like access hollywood, and the fall 20of 2016, something happened, the republican voters didn't care that much about what trump had done or said and once the republican members of congress realized their voters didn't give a damn, they lined up with their voters once again. that's the story here, the republican members of congress who were basically bowing to what they believed is the preference of their voters. and their fear of president trump. it is a story that is still going on. this will not pass is the title, because this is an ongoing story. the ongoing story american politics today, will president trump try to come back and seize power in this country in 2024, and what will the party do about it? >> mccarthy goes to mar-a-lago, shaking hands with trump there.

it is fascinating. you paint this incredible pick picture of these guys in the book. >> the quote, i didn't get to be the leader by voting with five people in the conference. >> yes, indeed, this is fantastic reporting. thank you for coming on personally. >> thank you for having us. >> it is out may 3rd, hope you all will buy it. >> i'll preorder mine today. alex burns, jonathan martin, thank you. the book is "this will not pass". russian tennis players now barred from participating in wimbledon. we're joined by a ukrainian tennis player who says that doesn't go far enough. and a short time from now, president biden will address the nation on russia's invasion of ukraine. what the united states is doing and is it enough? when you're tired of looking at your tired old bath, we fit your style, with hundreds of design options. bath fitter. it just fits. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. (vo) wildfires have reached historic levels.

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tennis club said it would be unacceptable for the russian regime to derive benefits from the involvement of players with the tournament. so joining us now is a ukrainian professional tennis player, alina svitilina, ranked number 25 in the world. thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> as you know, in response to this decision, both the men and the women's tennis associations, they're criticizing wimbledon's decision. what specifically do you want to hear from russian and belarusian players before they can be allowed to play in tournaments such as wimbledon? >> for us, for ukrainian tennis players there should be few questions posed to russian and belarusian players. do they support the russian and belarusian invasion to ukraine? do they support their military activities that are happening in

ukraine? and do they support putin and the lukashenko regimes? these three questions should have been asked them, and for me if they would answer those questions negatively, then they would be allowed to play. but wimbledon made their decision. for me what is bad to see is 85% of russians, they support the war in ukraine. so that's why i think it is very important to know those answers. and then we would know that there are no bad people among us. >> mm-hmm. alina, i've been covering this war for weeks. i know the -- as my colleagues know and have witnessed, it is a horrible war and the people here are paying a horrible price. as you know, though, in belarus, in russia, there can be

consequences for people who publicly criticize the government. not just for those people, but their families, the families of people left behind in belarus and russia who criticized the government, they're punished as well. does that make you reconsider what you're asking these tennis players to do? >> there is danger for them, there is danger for us, every single day there are people dying, there are kids dying, they are shooting schools, the buses with kids, women, they're horrible things happening, so there is danger in ukraine. there is danger in russia. but i think what is happening, the invasion, the war that is happening is much more horrible right now. and i'm from ukraine and i don't know when the next time i'll be able to go back home, and as many other ukrainians, that's

their homes, the homes have been destroyed, so that's why for me this is a genocide what is happening right now. that's why we want to make it stop and that's why we are here speaking about it. >> before we go, elina, have any russian or belarusian tennis players spoken to you privately and said i can't say this out loud, but i support you? does that happen? >> very few. i can count on one hand how many tennis players came up to me, asked me how am i doing, how is my family, if everything is fine, so that's why for many ukrainians it was a big surprise that not so many russian, belarusians came up to us and gave us their support. so that's why for us was a big

surprise and still a big mystery. >> well, listen, i understand your reaction to this war here, what we're witnessing here is j just, it is heart breaking. i wish you and your family safety. elina svitolina, thank you. it is an election that could reshape europe. why vladimir putin was the focus at a fiery presidential debate in france. plus, back in the u.s., republicans once touted themselves as pro business. now, they're picking fights with companies such as disney, threatening to punish them economically, a reality check is ahead. allergies s don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stotos your body from overreacting to allergens alal season long. psst! psst! flonase all good. ♪ ♪

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french voters head to the polls on sunday, where they'll decide whether to give emmanuel macron a second term or to elect his far right challenger marine le pen. the two sparred in a debate last night where macron criticized le pen over her track record on russia.

let's listen to this. >> translator: you depend on russian power. you depend on mr. putin. a few months after saying that, madam le pen, you took out a loan from a russian bank in 2015, first check russian bank. when you talk about russia, you're not talking to other world leaders, you are talking to your banker. that is the problem. we see it. when there are brave and difficult stands to take, neither you nor your representatives are there. >> translator: he knows very well i am completely free and independent woman. i defend france and the french because i'm a patriot. and i've shown that all my life. >> joining me now is julia ioffe, founding partner and washington correspondent of "puck" and joined by former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, william taylor. can we get to the bottom of this russian bank loan? what is this about?

>> so, several years ago, she did indeed took about a $10 million loan out from this russian oriented bank, affiliated bank. and she never denied it, said she'll pay it back, but that's a problem for her. >> been a while now. it has been a while now and still hasn't paid it back. you know what's interesting, though, yesterday, alexey navalny, the jailed russian opposition leader weighed in from prison on twitter with a long twitter thread urging the french people to vote for emmanuel macron saying, a, that le pen was not a true conservative, you know. if she is representing conservative values, then why is she constantly repping vladimir putin and all his people who have second and third families and mistresses, et cetera. and he said, you know, this loan from the russian -- from a russian bank is essentially, he said, my team has investigated it, it is essentially money laundering, and it would be akin

to marine le pen taking a loan from the italian mafia. >> it is incredibly interesting. she puts a lot of her policies in -- she frames them as this is what is best for the everyday french people, right? keep money in their pockets, don't cost them. and, of course, when you're talking about sanctions, on russia, there is a cost on the people who are obviously bearing them. there will be a cost on europeans, will be a cost on americans. but i wonder what you think because we're hearing from volodymyr zelenskyy, maybe a little more tepid than navalny. he doesn't seem to be a fan. >> he's not a fan. but the interesting thing is even le pen is backing off from her support for putin. putin is isolated. but even his -- people he lends money to do, like marine le pen are backing off from him. so this is an isolated man. and he knows this. >> if she were elected, how do

you think the policies might change? >> so she would -- obviously focus more on domestic issues, that's been her main thrust, as i understand it. and so she would focus on that. macron has been very active. not particularly effective, but very active in this in trying to find the solution. she probably would not do that. >> i want to take a focus on mariupol. we heard putin saying that he doesn't want to storm the azovstal metal plant. he wants to lay siege, a very tight siege to it. what is this rhetoric say to you? >> he said he want the siege to be so tight that a fly can't fly in. and he said that the reason he wants to do that is he doesn't want russian soldiers crawling around as he said in the labyrinth tunnels under the plant and that we have to spare russian soldiers. i think one, that's a signal saying, no, no, no, we do care about the lives of our soldiers,

they're not just cannon fodder. today marks eight weeks since the invasion, it seems they have been cannon fodder and putin has really cared much to date about russian casualties, now saying he does. i think it is also this we don't have to storm this thing, let's just -- let's starve them out, smoke them out, it is this kind of we already won, why do we even have to bother with this? >> what do you think about it? >> i think that the ukrainian people will see this as heroism. they will see -- they will see mariupol as a hero city. they do see it. this will be an inspiration. we have our symbols that we remember. they will remember mariupol. and they will fight on, they will fight to the death, and that's demonstrated, illustrated by the people -- by the soldiers and civilians in mariupol. >> and they'll celebrate that putin couldn't even go in it get the holdouts, right? julia, ambassador, thank you so much to both of you. just in, we're getting word of a prisoner exchange between

russia and ukraine as the war is intensifying in the nation's east. plus, new audio purporting to reveal some serious morale issues within russian forces. troops, soldiers saying the commanders effed off and left us, we're live in ukraine coming up. get help managing your money for the life -- and years -- ahead. with fidelity income planning, we'll look at what you've saved, what you'll need, and help you build a flexible plan for cash flow designed to last. so you can go from savining.. to living. refresesh italiano subway now has italian-style capicola on the new supreme meats and mozza meat. just like my nonna makes when she cooks! i don't co. wait, what? it's a good thing he's so handsome. bway keeps refreshing and refre-

florida governor ron desantis snapping back at disney

after they paused political donations in florida. and condemned the so-called don't say gay bill. the state senate advancing a pair of bills pushed by the governor aimed directly at the company. john avlon has a reality check. >> nice amusement park you got there. it would be a shame if anything happened to it. that's essentially the threat that florida governor ron desantis unleashed on disney after the company's ceo had the temerity to criticize a new state law dubbed don't say gay by critics. but this is more than just the old free speech for me, but not for thee hypocrisy. last night the florida state senate passed a bill in special session to eliminate disney's special tax district status, in place since 1967, and now goes to the gop led house. this was done at the governor's request, it was retribution for political opposition. it is funny how disney just missed the cutoff date in 1968, but a special district for the villages, a massive retirement community with right wing

subpoena s sympathies will remain untouched. coincidence. disney didn't even initially speak out against the bill, which restrictions discussions on gender, sexuality in schools until after it was passed. even that meager pushback from one of the largest employers in the state was too much for this ivy league populist intolerant. this shakedown is part of a larger fight brewing between the far right and big business. now, keep in mind the gop has long been the party of business. the conservative movement championed by ronald reagan believed freedom and free enterprise were one and the same. the idea of a politician attacking a private business for not toeing a political line would be seen with meddling with markets or much, much worse. since the rise of trump, we have seen a growing impulse by republicans to threaten businesses. trump's attacks on business were common occurrence, at least 21 companies he criticized or threatened with taxes, boycotts or revoked licenses in just the first two and a half years in

office. but that behavior started catching inside the gop, so when major league baseball pulled the 2021 all-star game from jrgeorg, representative jeff duncan of south carolina threatened its antitrust skexemption status. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell joined the pile-on saying corporations will invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far left mobs. later clarified that warning for businesses to stay out of politics did not apply to political contributions. and then when phone companies chose to comply with the january 6th committee's request to turn over cell phone records, house minority leader kevin mccarthy reacted with a threat of retaliation saying this, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the united states. a republican majority will not forget and stand with americans to hold them fully accountable under the law. just in case this was too subtle

for you, here is fox's laura ingraham earlier this month. >> when republicans, they get back into power, apple and disney need to understand one thing, everything will be on the table. your copy right and trademark protection, your special status within certain states, and even your corporate structure itself. >> imagine the reaction if a democrat leveled a similar threat. this is now being mainstreamed inside the gop. and now desantis wants to polish up his bona fides by getting there first, a sign of coming attractions. because this isn't a debate about the right level of corporate tax rates or environmental regulations, these are outright threats of retaliation against private businesses, using the power of the government, if they do not fall in line. this is not conservative. it is radical. this is not freedom of speech. it is intimidation and coercion. and it is most definitely not pro business.

and that's your reality check. >> you like that theme park, john avlon? you like it all right? >> i like that theme park. shame if anything happened to it. >> sure would be a shame. john avlon, thank you for that. the face-off over masks hitting a new snag. what the justice department just did that could impact the way that you travel. and we're waiting for -- we're waiting for an address from president biden with an update on the war in ukraine. and we just learned what he's going to announce. [eerie shrinking sounds] (brad) congratulations! you're having an out-of-apartment experience. but apartments-dot-com can help you trade this love nest for... (woman) ...an actual nest. (brad) apartments-dot-com. the place to finind a place.

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clearchoice changed my life. the polio epidemic put paul alexander in an iron lung. but for 70 years with only the use of his head he has broken barriers and is still going strong. dr. sanjay gupta tells us his remarkable story in today's "the human factor." >> meet paul alexander, he's one of the last people in the world still in an iron lung. the iron lung works to change the air pressure and stimulate breathing. it has been his home, keeping him alive for 70 years. in 1952, paul contracted polio,

and became paralyzed from the neck down. he was 6 years old. a therapist promised paul a dog if he could breathe on his own for three minutes. >> i developed a way to breathe. i worked on it for a year before i could breathe for three minutes. but i reached it. >> eventually paul would be able to gulp or take in air for hours at a time. allowing him to leave the confines of the iron lung during the day, and accomplish more than anyone thought was possible for him. college, law school, and a 30-year career as a courtroom attorney. paul wrote his autobiography, and he's working on a second book now.

>> the limitations of my life, i'm not going to do it. my life is incredible. >> what an inspiration. cnn's coverage continues right now. vladimir putin claims victory in mariupol. russian forces blocking all entry points into the city, while hundreds of ukrainians remain barricaded inside a steel factory. putin now claiming to offer, quote, dignified treatment to those who surrender. this as ukrainian president zelenskyy calls the siege a terrorist operation. good morning to everyone. i'm bianna golodryga in new york. overnight, russian troops making significant advances throughout ukraine. the besieged port city of mariupol bombarded again, as officials work to evacuate some 120,000 civilians and soldie