Russia launches airstrikes ahead of Ukraine's planned spring counteroffensive

The fighting in Ukraine has intensified as Kyiv launches a series of drones in Crimea ahead of an expected spring counter offensive against Russia. Senior foreign correspondent Charlie Dagoda is in Nipro with more. The battle for Bakhmut has burst into flames. Ukraine accusing the Wagner mercenary group of using banned incendiary weapons, possibly white phosphorus, posting videos as proof. Clinging them in civilian areas is a war crime. A ferocious parting shot as the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Progoshin, declares he's pulling his forces out of Bakhmut by Wednesday, following a rant against Russian defense officials in front of dozens of corpses of his men, saying their blood is still warm, blaming their deaths on a severe lack of ammunition. The death toll after 10 months of fighting has run into the thousands, unsustainable losses for both sides.

A sea of Ukrainian flags fly over the final resting place of the country's war dead. The Ukrainian government never reveals the true death toll of those soldiers killed in action, but these fresh graves tell their own story, including those you're preparing to fill. Instead of the looming Ukrainian counter-offensive, Russia has gone on the offensive. The US State Department clocked more than 150 airstrikes since the start of May. Ukraine has stepped up its attacks, too, striking targets like fuel depots on Russian territory. It's still not clear who is behind the attempted drone strike at the Kremlin on Wednesday, but US officials and Ukrainian experts tell CBS News it had to be launched from inside Russia. Maybe not the terrorist act to kill Putin, the Kremlin says it is.

But it's an embarrassment ahead of a show of power for the president, Moscow's Victory Parade, an annual symbol of Russian military might, while the bloody battlefields of Ukraine tell a much different story. Although that Moscow parade is still scheduled to go ahead on Tuesday, more than 20 parades across Russia have been canceled, citing security concerns. So there are questions about whether there are enough troops and equipment to put on display. Margaret? Thank you.

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