![Why Ukraine's battle for survival may be far from over](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/220316220612-kharkiv-ukraine-uncer-attacks-031622-restricted-super-tease.jpg)
Why Ukraine's battle for survival may be far from over
CNN
Another day of horrific civilian carnage in Ukraine underscored the desperate need for a ceasefire -- and explained why an end to the barbaric war may still be far away.
Russian forces Wednesday escalated their assault on soft targets, which prompted President Joe Biden to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal. The fate of hundreds of people sheltering in a theater in the coastal city of Mariupol is unknown after a Russian barrage slammed into a building flanked with the word "children" on the ground to ward off attacks. Another bombardment hit a swimming pool in the same city used as a shelter.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after delivering a moving virtual address to the US Congress, revealed that at least 103 children have perished so far in Moscow's onslaught. The World Health Organization criticized what it said were deliberate attacks on Ukraine's health care infrastructure. More than 3 million Ukrainians have fled in a refugee exodus, according to the UN.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250216092711.jpg)
Amid Democrats’ shock and bickering over how much to respond to President Donald Trump is a deeper question rippling through leaders across the Capitol and across the country: How much should they rely on the same institutional and procedural maneuvers they used during the first Trump term, and how much are they willing to wield their own wrecking balls?
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250215102651.jpg)
In less than a month in office the Trump administration has simultaneously dismantled foreign aid programs that support fragile democracies abroad and put on leave federal workers who protect US elections at home in a move that current and former officials say abandons decades of American commitments to democracy.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250215092938.jpg)
Sen. Mitch McConnell was a generational force for the Republican Party — using procedural tactics and political will to stymie much of former President Barack Obama’s agenda, hand President Donald Trump key first-term political victories and deliver a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court majority. Now he’s the odd man out.