 and of course, Russia, Ukraine, discussing the need for troops and military plans nowadays with all the Russian aggression to be able to adapt and change very quickly. Wolf?
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, stay with us as we bring in CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson, he's joining us from Brussels right now. Nic, what message is Putin trying to send with this intercontinental missile test at such a key turning point in the Ukraine war?
NIC ROBERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. I think there are two messages here. There's the message to the international community, that despite how the war is going, we continue to test and develop our newest improved weapons systems. That we can do this while we're actually fighting a war. The war is going on to the west of Russia. This missile test was from the north of Russia, all the way to the far-east Russia.
So there is a message that the army is capable, it's functional, it can do multiple things, and fire these very big new sophisticated systems upgraded from the soviet era. But I think it is the internal message that perhaps more important for Putin at the moment, part of this, the message that we just saw from him, and Barbara is reporting there, was broadcast to Russians.
And the announcement of this missile test brought to the Russians. And I think this is to reinforce again the message that the army is capable, it is a modern army, it's a modernizing army, and that it can continue to fight.
And this, if you will, will try to scorch over all the little bits of bad negative information that are slowly, slowly filtering out to Russians, that the war in Ukraine is not going well.
However, the Kremlin tries to spin it. They have had to pull out of Kyiv. They've spun that to their population. Putin talks about the fight now in terms of a noble cause. And trying to re-rally troops and put more people into the fight.
So it's all part of that narrative that the Russian government is still on track with its military goals and poses a threat to its enemies.
BLITZER: Well, on that point, Nic, how desperate is Putin right now, for any sort of victory, potentially, for example, in the battle for Mariupol after Russia's humiliation around the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv?
ROBERTSON: Mariupol is a fight that he is so committed to. That he -- if the Ukrainians were to be able to break through, do this sort of what seems to be impossible at the moment, break through from the outside and relieve that forces inside, that would be a huge humiliation for Putin.
That doesn't seem to be on the cards. But if he continues to stall and not be able to take this final piece of ground that's held by these few Ukrainian fighters that are left in there, that's going to be a humiliation for him. It is a humiliation to have not been able to take Kyiv. They've re-spun that that was their intention.
But if he gets bogged down in Donbas, that will be very hard to sell to the Russian people, that they're not making gains, not getting the territory that they've been talking about, and, of course, that will undermine his bigger aims which are to secure bigger territory in the south and along the Black Sea.
So, he cannot afford another significant loss. So, not being able to beat a thousand fighters holding out in Mariupol for another several weeks, that just is not going to look good for him, Wolf, back home.
BLITZER: Yes. Good point. Barbara, you're over at the Pentagon. President Biden says weapons and ammunition are flowing into Ukraine daily, he says, from the U.S. and other NATO allies. But the administration is also preparing for yet another $800 million package of military aid for Ukraine. Are they bracing for the long haul?
STARR: Well, I think longer than perhaps they might have originally planned. Who knows? But there is another $800 million that is being assembled to go in. It is going to focus very heavily on artillery and ammunition.
Those are the key items that the Ukrainians need for this fight in eastern Ukraine. Right now, the focus is on getting weapons into Ukraine in order to help those forces defeat the Russians over the long haul, decisions will have to be made about what future weapons capabilities might be transferred into Ukraine to keep them secured over time. Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, Nic Robertson outside the E.U. headquarters in Brussels. Thanks to both of you both.
The breaking news here in THE SITUATION ROOM continues next with more on Russian forces laying waste to huge swaths of Ukraine. How will the country rebuild? We'll speak with a key Ukrainian government minister when we come back. Stay with us.
BLITZER: We're following breaking news. Vladimir Putin is intensifying brutal assault on eastern Ukraine right now. Where forces control as much as 80 percent of the Luhansk region and one official is warning Russia will, quote, destroy everything in its path.
Let's go to our Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman. He's in Eastern Ukraine for us, in Kramatorsk. Ben, I hear the air raid sirens going off where you are. I want you to be careful. But tell us what's going on. I understand you had a chance to speak to a Ukrainian military officer. What did he tell you about this battle that they're facing right now?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: First, yes, the air raid sirens are going off in about 15 minutes ago. We heard six to seven large explosions within and into the city of Kramatorsk, the closest we've heard since we got here.
And, yes, we had an opportunity to speak to an officer who we've gotten to know, and is a pretty good reliable source of information near the town of Barvinkove, which is south of Izyum, which is one of the strategic fronts in the current Russian offensive.
He was telling us that they believe there are around 15,000 Russian troops in the area. But despite that, Ukrainian forces have been able to actually retake some ground there. He told us that they have taken prisoners, they have taken Russian prisoners and that they found that there is poor coordination between Russian units, there's poor communication between them.
And among the soldiers they captured, they say there's clearly very poor morale. They said -- this officer was telling us, that in one particular area, the Ukrainians were outnumbered by the Russians seven to one. But nonetheless, they were able to push the Russians back.
And, certainly, the impression is given that the Russians haven't made a lot of progress despite supposedly the beginning of this offensive, is that many of the shortcomings that were so blatant apparent during the battle around Kyiv and North Central Ukraine are also showing up here, poor coordination, communication, morale.
So it seems that even though it was thought that perhaps some aspects of this current Russian operation in Eastern Ukraine show improvements, by and large, the problems among the troops are very much in evidence. Wolf?
BLITZER: They certainly are. We still hear those air raid sirens going off where you are in Kramatorsk so be careful over there. Ben, we'll get back to you. Thank you very, very safe. Stay safe.
I want to continue to follow breaking news right now. Joining us, Oleksiy Chernyshov, he's the Ukrainian minister for regional development. Minister, thank you so much for joining us. I know you've been on the ground in Kyiv, the capital, and other key cities in the north after Ukraine pushed back the Russians.
When you look at the homes flattened, the water and heating infrastructure completely destroyed. Just how absolute is the devastation that was committed by Putin's army?
OLEKSIY CHERNYSHOV, UKRAINIAN MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Yes, thank you, Wolf. First of all, I would like to admit that refugee crisis and humanitarian disaster are deepening because Ukrainian civilians are deliberately targeted by Russia. Moscow's clear objective is to destroy Ukrainian nation as a viable political entity through the war of obliteration.
We are facing a terrific, terrific numbers of destroyed assets, or destroyed buildings. And I have visited the number of regions, the number of the occupied regions, and they are facing a very, very tragic situation. I can tell you that 10 million of Ukrainian people have to leave their houses and 4 million are already abroad, which is already a serious risk for Ukrainian economy.
Nevertheless, 6 million are still in Ukraine and they prefer safer regions to be there. And this is, of course, a dramatic situation for the country.
BLITZER: Minister, what does the process look like of actually trying to rebuild your country?
CHERNYSHOV: Rebuilding of the country will take definite time. We're definitely going to do it. First of all, we are concentrated right now on basic things. Visiting the occupied region is our main concentration. It will be to get back the electricity, water supply, heating where it is needed and, of course, we are providing basic construction and renovation works, which is very important for this moment.
Of course, we are taking care about of the displaced people and the people who have lost their houses and many as you can see on the screen right now. And from this point, we have several strategies.