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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Refuses Offer By U.S. to Leave Ukraine During Ongoing Russian Invasion; Russian Forces Attempting To Encircle Ukrainian Capital City Of Kyiv; Russian Forces Possibly Deploying Mobile Rocket Launcher Weapons; Kremlin Spokesman Says Russia Offered Talks With Ukraine But Ukraine Refused; Russian Citizens Protest Their Government's Invasion Of Ukraine; Russian President Vladimir Putin States Ukraine Government Contains Neo-Nazis; Thousands Of Ukrainians Attempt To Flee Country After Russian Invasion; Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Describes Resistance To Russian Forces As They Attempt To Take Ukrainian Capital Of Kyiv. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired February 26, 2022 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:08]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington, and we are following breaking news. The city of Kyiv is still standing as Ukrainians stand their ground against the Russians, and the underdogs in the battle appear to have a ton of fight left in them. Dramatic new video out of northern Ukraine shows Ukrainians courageously using their bodies to try to stop Russian tanks from rolling forward. One man pushing the tank with the bare hands before kneeling down in front of it. There you can see that video right there, just remarkable.

As the fighting continues throughout the country, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected an offer from the U.S. to evacuate, telling the world, quote, "I need ammunition, not a ride." And he posted this defiant message online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Good morning, Ukrainians. Currently, there are a lot of games appearing on the Internet, like that I am asking our army to put down arms and evacuate. So I am here. We are not putting down arms. We will be defending our country, because our weapon is truth, and our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this.

That is it. That is all I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: As Zelenskyy is urging his people to fight on, Ukrainian citizens are taking up arms, some holding a gun for the very first time. Televisions are broadcasting step by step instructions of how to make Molotov cocktails. Even those who are hunkered down in bomb shelters find ways to show their patriotism by singing the Ukrainian national anthem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But the Russians continue to push forward. CNN cameras were rolling as Russian tanks moved toward the front lines. Furious fighting is happening in the city of Kharkiv and eastern Ukraine, and sporadic clashes can be seen in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

A security camera caught the moment a rocket or missile struck an apartment building in the Ukrainian capital just hours ago. Kyiv is now extending a strict curfew until Monday. Putin's bloody and unprovoked war triggering a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations says at least 120,000 refugees have fled to other countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we are afraid. My husband is still there. We will fight even if Europe doesn't help us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And let's begin with CNN senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt in Kyiv, a city now under curfew, as we were just saying. Alex, what have you been seeing and hearing throughout tonight? I imagine it is not staying quiet.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is not, Jim. This may be another difficult night. As you mentioned, there is that curfew in effect. It's not just overnight. It is for the next 48 hours, and that gives you a sense of how worried they are and how significant they think this threat is. They are saying if you are hear the air raid sirens, head down into those shelters, there are thousands of them all across this city.

And just moments ago, for the second time this evening, we did hear those air raid sirens. That has become a familiar sound over the course of the past few nights. This is the third night of this Russian invasion. We have also heard familiar sounds of fighting. There have been explosions during the direction behind me to the north and to the east. We have also heard gunfire.

So, there is significant fear that Russia is ratcheting up their encirclement of the city. We know that they are trying to encircle it. We know that there has been fighting in every direction, north, south, east, and west. And some of that fighting has gotten much closer to the city center.

Earlier today, there was a residential apartment building that hit by a rocket. Miraculously, no one was hurt or killed. The Ukrainian say that it was a Russian missile or rocket. The Russians are denying it. And then there was in the early morning hours some of the most significant fighting within the city limits just about three miles from where I am standing in the western part of the city near a military installation. The Ukrainian military says that some five Russian military vehicles were torched by them, that they used an anti-tank missile to take out a tank.

And Jim, ominously, we are hearing from the Kremlin after what was a relatively quiet day during the daytime, we are hearing from the Kremlin now saying that they are going to resume their operations in all directions. That comes after they claimed that they had put their operations on pause in order to be able to negotiate with the Ukrainians, accusing the Ukrainians of not wanting to negotiate. Ukraine denying that.

[14:05:04]

We have heard from the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been applauding his forces, talking about how they have managed to keep the Russian forces at bay, saying we have ruined their plans. They have not advantage over us. Take a listen to a little bit more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have survived and are successfully repelling enemy attacks. Fighting going on in many cities and districts of the country, but we know we are defending our land and the future of our children. In Kyiv, and in key parts of the country, our army is in control. The enemy tried to seal off the center of our country and install their puppets here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So President Zelenskyy there well aware of what the threat is, and that would be the Russians taking this city and replacing him, deposing him, even killing him. He says he is target number one for the Russians.

Jim, we know that now European and the American officials have offered to get Zelenskyy out of town, to evacuate him, that he has turned that down. He has said, according to the Ukrainian embassy in London, "I need ammunition, not a ride." That is what we have heard for weeks from Ukrainian military officials, that they need more, they need more weaponry, they need more ammunition. I was speaking today with a Ukrainian defense official who said we need that now, not tomorrow. Jim?

ACOSTA: Alex Marquardt, thanks very much for that report. We appreciate it. We'll get back to you.

Let's go now to CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen who is in the Belgorod region in Russia. Fred, you witnessed Russian forces moving toward the front line in Kharkiv where some of this fierce fighting is going on. Give us the latest.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, that is certainly something that we saw a couple of hours ago. And since then, really, there has been a lot of movement by Russian forces here in this part of southern Russia, which, as you mentioned, is really sort of the gateway into Kharkiv. In fact, the street that you see behind me there, that's a direct route to Kharkiv.

I would say that the Ukrainian border is probably a little less than maybe 15 miles away from where we are right now. There has been a constant stream of Russian armored vehicles going in that direction. There has also actually been some coming out as well. It certainly seems as though the Russians are rotating some of their forces, but by and large putting a lot more forces in than they are taking out.

Jim, one of the things that we see increasingly overnight, it's quite interesting for the Russians to say that they have resumed their military operations, because from our vantage point right here, it certainly didn't seem as though those military operations had ever really stopped judging by the movement that we see. But increasingly what we've have seen tonight is rocket artillery fire coming from positions close to where we are. It looks as though the Russians are firing artillery rockets into Ukrainian territory from right around here. Of course, some of those artillery rockets have a pretty wide range, a pretty long range, and they can obviously hit targets especially in the Kharkiv area where, of course, a lot of people have been under fire for the past couple of days since this offensive has started.

Whether or not the Russian offensive has somehow come to a slowdown, or whether it is bogged down in any way, shape, or form, very difficult to see from our vantage point whether or not that's the case, Jim. The only thing that we are able to see is that behind us, the checkpoint that is behind me, we have seen some ambulances sort of racing out of that area as the day has progressed. Now whether or not that means the Russians are taking the casualties or something like that is very difficult to see from our vantage point, but it's certainly an observation that we have been making throughout this day.

What we can also see, Jim, and I think this is quite important, is that the Russians certainly do still have the capacity it appears to severely escalate all of this. If you are go and drive around this area, you can see that there are Russian forces in almost all of the side villages, almost all the side streets, and larger troop concentrations as well. So, if indeed the Russian advance is slowing down, it is certainly from our perspective appears as though they do have the capacity to really severely escalate if that's what Vladimir Putin chooses to do, Jim.

ACOSTA: And Fred, tell us about this. We saw some disturbing images of Russia sending in these so-called heavy flamethrowers that are capable of sending thermobaric rockets. Tell us about that. Our viewers, some of our viewers may not be aware of what that even is.

PLEITGEN: That's an observation that we made today where we saw one of these multiple rocket launching systems which the Russians call a flamethrower, called a TOS-1. That flamethrower, actually, or rocket launcher uses thermobaric weapons with thermobaric warheads. And essentially what that does is it sets the air on fire and then sucks the oxygen out of people's lungs. So it is definitely a very severe weapon. By the way, right we have another Russian convoy coming past here.

Those are fuel trucks that the Russians appear to be sending to the front lines right now.

[10:01:00]

But that flamethrower certainly a very dangerous weapons, and certainly one that we were surprised to see. And it's a weapon that we can't say with certainty that it has been used in the conflict yet, but certainly it is a fact that it is around here and can be deployed at any time, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much for that.

Let's go to CNN's Nic Robertson in Moscow. Nic, Russia's disinformation campaign continues. They won't even report casualties that they have sustained in this fight, I understand. How much do the Russian people know about what's going on right now, and what are you seeing where you are?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the lady that just walked behind me there, I believe, my Russia is not so good, I believe she said, "Free Ukraine." I'm not 100 percent sure of that.

So certainly, people here are very well aware of what is happening. That of course is the Ukrainian embassy, and there has been a sort of a cat and mouse with the police here today. Let me show you here. When we arrived here a few hours ago, there were a lot of people here, and there were a lot of flowers along this fence here. The flowers have been cleared away by municipal workers. There's a few left up here.

But the police, also, the people who are here, have been here, have also been cleared away by the police. Check out some of the flowers here. This little child's toy with a band-aid on its head between flowers of yellow and blue, of course representing the Ukrainian flag. And our team was down here earlier today. They were talking to people who were laying flowers.

And one couple said to us, look, we are afraid even to walk out of the store with yellow and blue flowers. Why? Because we're afraid other people's reaction. We're afraid of what the authorities might to do us, because officials have said protests like the one here today are not allowed, that you can get a criminal record and that can hang over you in effect the rest of your life.

So the people who have been coming here are really taking a risk, and they have been doing it because they say they don't believe in the war. They don't support the war, they don't want the war, they think it is wrong for the country. They're worried in some case because they have got relatives in Ukraine, family there. They don't know what is happening to them, and some of them, they are afraid that they are hiding in bomb shelters.

So there is a passion here among people to get out and send this very clear message, no to the war. But there's also a passion that presidency, President Putin has put the police out here on the streets to make sure that people don't gather and chase them away. An hour- and-a-half ago, we watched several people get arrested here, literally arrested in seconds. As soon as a lady pulled out a small sign that said no to the war, boom, the cops were on her and took her away to one of the big trucks here.

As I say, there's no one here now protesting. It has been a cat-and- mouse game. But this is not isolated. At least two dozen cities across the country today, there have been protests, more than 2,700 people arrested in the past three days of protests, more than 1,000 of them, Jim, here in Moscow.

ACOSTA: Nic, I think Putin's police state is going to have its hands full in the coming days. Nic Robertson, thank you very much for that.

Coming up, a united front, Russia's army encountering more resistance than expected from ordinary citizens. Could Vladimir Putin get desperate? And more from Ukrainians narrowly escaping the country, many forced to leave their loved ones behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:13]

ACOSTA: Air raid sirens ringing out over Kyiv just moments ago as the fight for Ukraine's capital rages on. The city is now under curfew.

Joining me now is former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and CNN military analyst General Wesley Clark. General Clark, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. Good to see.

Do you think that Vladimir Putin expected this level of resistance? And with Ukrainian citizens so united against him, taking up armies, ready to fight, what do you think Putin's next move will be? We're seeing Zelenskyy even declaring in this latest video that they've ruined Russia's plans. What are you watching for in the hours ahead?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: I think that Mr. Putin underestimated the challenge of Ukraine. I think he thought that he could come in with a stiletto, take out a few weapons, the Ukrainian people would sort of collapse, there would be a lot of disruption internally, and maybe all the spy craft would work. But that is not working. The Ukrainian army is fighting brilliantly. The Ukrainian people should be united on this.

But, but, the bulk of the Russian forces haven't yet engaged. They are closing in. The Russian military tactic is to use these forward detachments, operational maneuver groups, they're called, their battalion tactical groups, tanks, engineers, artillery, air defense, and they spread out. They find the opposition, they fight against it. Sometimes they win, sometimes they penetrate. And that is what is going on right now. This is the very early stage of the battle. The mission is to close in on Kyiv, and then besiege it, and then, apparently, Mr. Putin has given orders to clear it.

So this is going to become very bloody and very violent in the days ahead, unless we get support and assistance and get this fighting stopped. And I am hoping that the United States and our allies are going to push Javelin missiles and Stinger missiles into Kyiv now, now, while there is a break.

Jim, these forces can't operate continuously 24 hours a day, because somebody has got to sleep and they have got to be refueled, and so forth. So you're going to see these pauses in the action from time-to- time. And right now is time that we need to get the reinforcing supplies into Kyiv and into the Ukrainian defenders. The president said we're going to do it. I hear nations talking about it. It has got to get there now.

And in the meantime, we should be calling for a complete cease-fire and a halt to the Russian operations. They have no right to invade an independent country. And take them to the U.N. This is the action of a war criminal, and he should be held to account on that basis.

I believe the United States is looking at a number of options. I think that there are some options. A lot of people are talking about a no- fly zone or some other safe zone. I'm recommending that we look at things like this.

[14:20:05]

I don't know. It's up to the Pentagon to get the president the plans on how to do it, but this is a significant moment in global strategy and history right now coming up. Not tonight, but in the next few days.

ACOSTA: No question, and I have to ask you about this, this video that we have that just came into CNN in recent hours, this video of Russia sending in these so-called flamethrowers that shoot these thermobaric rockets. You were talking about how bloody and violent things are going to get for Kyiv. I'm just wondering what your take is on that when you see that kind of equipment, that kind of firepower coming into Russia. It is looking like Putin is going to unleash unholy hell on the Ukrainians.

CLARK: That would certainly be the intent. And he would certainly use it if he has to. And that's why we've got to get the reinforcement supplies into Ukraine. They have got to continue to keep the enemy away from the central urban areas. The range of that thing is about six kilometers. You can expect heavy jamming, loss of communications, and a lot of other things as they close in on the fight here.

So this is a real challenge for the west and for our ideas of humane, 21st century life. Mr. Putin is a throwback to an earlier era, and the globe, the world has to unite to stop this.

ACOSTA: And how desperate to you think Vladimir Putin might get here? If he is so desperate, it appears that, as you were saying earlier, things are not going according to his plans. And if the Ukrainians continue to put up this sort of fight and slow the Russians down, frustrate them, frustrate Putin, what does a desperate Vladimir Putin do? What should the Ukrainians be preparing for?

CLARK: I think he could do virtually anything. He probably has chemical weapons. Maybe he has nuclear weapons. He could do anything.

But here's the thing, Jim. The Russian people know better than this. They don't want a war against Ukraine. And the Russian military know better than this. There will be some in the military who are starting to say, what is this about? This wasn't what we were told. We can't go through this. Why would we wipe out a city, why do we want to kill these people? They are our brothers.

So I think that a combination of the Ukrainian resistance and common sense within the Russian generals, they're going to stop this. There is a chance they could stop this. Putin is a dictator. He has got his security forces. He has got his -- he eliminates the opposition. But this is a time where we need Russian leadership to stop this man who wants to wreck another nation. It is just inhumane and it's criminal, and it should be stopped.

ACOSTA: It seems that he has gone mad. He has just gone mad. General, we have learned that Germany will send 1,000 anti-tank defense weapons and 500 stinger missiles to Ukraine. Is that going to be enough? What do you make of that? And I guess as the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, I have to ask you, you must be awfully proud of how this alliance has come together and the way that it's standing up to Vladimir Putin right now.

CLARK: I think that the alliance is really coming together. I'm really proud of them. I'm really proud of the administrations and President Biden and his team, to the leadership. The U.S. leadership is essential to bringing the alliance together, and we have got it.

As for the reinforcements, look, 1,000, 500 -- send them in. Will it be enough? Probably not, because when you look at this, this is not like an accounting process. Some of them are going to get stopped before they get. They will be intercepted. Others will be wasted. Some will be deployed in the wrong place. Some missiles will miss. If you have got 20 or 40 tanks out of that, with those 1,000 missiles, you will probably be doing well.

So we know that you have to really put the ordnance in to be able to stop an assault like this. And Jim, the key thing is, you have to make the night -- the night has to become the Ukrainians' friends. They have to go out at night in small detachments. They have to take out these Russian forces when they are trying to refuel and rest and feed themselves. They've got and get away from Kyiv and push them back and keep them out of there. Eventually, if they do that, then that is with what provides the leverage for the Russian generals to fight it out with their boss.

And we don't have to feel sorry for Mr. Putin. He has brought this on himself. And it is really up to us to provide the support we need to Ukraine, that they need to be able to make the stand they need to turn this around. But it is about American leadership ultimately.

[14:25:10]

ACOSTA: Absolutely, and nobody is feeling sorry for Vladimir Putin right now. Maybe he is feeling sorry for himself, but nobody else is. He is a villain.

General Wesley Clark, thank you very much for your time, we appreciate it.

CLARK: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: Coming up, Putin's playbook, the Russian president tries to justify his war with lies, baselessly claiming he is fighting neo- Nazis in a country whose leader is Jewish and lost family members in the holocaust. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:05]

ACOSTA: Vladimir Putin is now urging Ukrainians to rise up against their own government, telling the lie that this is a fight against neo-Nazis

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Do not let Banderites and neo-Nazis use your children and wives and old people as human shields. Take power into your own hands. It looks like it will be easier for us to come to an agreement than with this gang of drug- addicts and neo-Nazis that has settled in Kyiv and taken hostage the entire Ukrainian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: We should note Ukraine's president is not only Jewish, he is the grandson of holocaust survivors.

Joining me now is the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Ambassador Richard Haass. Richard, great to see you. I am wondering what the Russian soldiers are going to do when they get to Ukraine, and they don't see neo-Nazis in the streets of Ukraine. Putin has also said Ukraine is not a sovereign nation, and that it shouldn't exist at all. I have to tell you, I spoke with a former high-ranking eastern European official this week who said it's hard to decide if we're dealing with Hitler or Stalin here when it comes to Putin. Maybe it's a bit of both. What are your thoughts on all of this?

AMB. RICHARD HAASS, PRESIDENT, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Look, what we are dealing with is someone who is seriously out of touch. He has now spent several years in some kind of un-splendid isolation. There is no one around him who is in a position to speak truth to power, or you can only do it once, and that's your last chance. He may also be physically ill or mentally ill or both, from the looks of him, and also from his erratic behavior. Some of the things you just quoted are so preposterous.

It will be interesting to see how, two things, one, how the Russian people react to what is going on, but also how Russian soldiers react over time. I don't know what they were led to expect. Were they led to expect, for example, there would be no resistance? Obviously, there is serious resistance. What then? So this is -- war is never what it's planned to be, and in this case, it is just looking like Putin is making a habit of underestimating either, originally the United States and NATO, now the people and military of Ukraine.

ACOSTA: And shouldn't we be treating Putin like a war criminal? Sanctions have not been enough to deter Vladimir Putin. How should the U.S. respond if Kyiv falls, for example, and Zelenskyy is executed?

HAASS: Well, the answer is that he is a war criminal, but I'm not sure what it means to treat him like one. He is not going to travel. We're not going to have access to him. There's questions also about whether you want to brand him as one now and remove from him any sense that there might be some kind of a path of escape. That's a tactical question. But that's essentially symbolic.

The most important thing now is to affect the situation on the ground in Ukraine, and that involves getting them the arms and ammunition and economic help they need, and affecting things within Russia itself, and that's a matter of sanctions and political messaging. There will be time enough after this to think of the equivalent of Nuremberg.

ACOSTA: And I want to ask you about China, because they were one of the three countries that abstained from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Russia. And this followed, of course that cozy meeting that we saw between Putin and Xi Jinping at the Olympics. What questions do you have about that relationship and how we can get China to do more in this?

HAASS: One thing I would love to know is what Putin told Xi Jinping. Chinese diplomats even after that meeting were going around discounting the possibility of war. So did Putin mislead Xi Jinping? Xi Jinping can't be happy with this war. It goes against one of the fundamental principles of Chinese foreign policy not to have internal interference other countries. China doesn't want other countries in what it sees as its internal affairs. It doesn't want to see economic disruption.

All this is happening on the eve of what is for Xi Jinping, China's leader, a critical moment. He wants to get the green light for a third term. So I can't believe that China is wildly happy about what is going on, doesn't want to see its economy disrupted.

So my own hunch is they're trying to have it ways here, John. They want to distance themselves from Russia as much as they can without going -- without breaking from them. They obviously have some things in common. But I think the point of our policy ought to make it very uncomfortable and difficult for China to continue having it both ways. And at some point with sanctions, China should be forced to choose, you either support Russia, in which case you get covered by the sanctions, or you distance yourselves.

ACOSTA: And Richard, I was struck by the fact that Hungary, despite its strongman leader Viktor Orban, who is embraced by some on the far right, is voicing solidarity with Ukraine. What did you think of that?

HAASS: That is also on my positive surprise list. Turkey is on my positive surprise list. And then you've got countries like India, the UAE, and Israel which are on my negative surprise list, that are not distancing themselves, not being nearly as critical as they should be of Putin's Russia for their own narrow national reasons.

This is one of those clarifying events. It has got a long way to go. But again, there have been some positive surprises, as you say. But I think the big question is where we were a few minutes ago. How does China ultimately play its hand here, because that could be critical, because one of our goals has got to be to weaken the growing bond between China and Russia. We don't want to find ourselves on the wrong side of this triangle.

ACOSTA: No question about it. All right, Ambassador Richard Haass, thank you so much for being with us this weekend. We appreciate it. Great to see you, sir.

HAASS: Take care.

ACOSTA: Coming up, we'll get a live report from the Polish border where thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing Putin's invasion. Stay with us here in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:40:26]

ACOSTA: That is one of several warning shots fired at a train station in Kyiv as desperate Ukrainians try to force their way onto an evacuation train. The shots were fired into the air by Ukrainian soldiers trying to get the crowd of thousands under control and avoid a stampede, just a desperate situation there.

And we have chaotic scenes like this since the Russian invasion began, with thousands of people trying to flee Ukraine any way that they can. And fleeing a war means lives are uprooted, families torn apart, as you can see right here, parents making just impossible choices. You are looking at a tearful reunion at the border of Ukraine and Hungary, a mother hugging her child after the father was forced to hand their kids off to a stranger in the hopes that she could escort the children safely to the border. As you can see, they did make it across Europe. Dramatic scenes like this are set to play out as governments brace for an influx of displaced Ukrainians. Just heartbreaking, those images there.

And so far most have fled to Poland, 100,000 since the invasion began Thursday. That's more than 1,000 people fleeing to Poland every hour. A short time ago, CNN spoke to one of those people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KRISTIINA VISLAPUU, UKRAINIAN CITIZEN (through translator): We should not be left alone with this, because like, you know, when you have a, when you see a childlike beaten in your neighbor's yard, you don't just put sanctions on the person who is doing the beating, right? You just go and kick his ass, right? And that is not what we are doing now. The sanctions will not do anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN's Arwa Damon is in Poland near the border. Arwa, what are you seeing there, what are you hearing from the people making this very desperate journey?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You are talking about the families torn apart there, Jim, and despite the fact that there may be some happy reunions, a lot families do still remain torn apart, and that is because the men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not really being permitted to leave. They are expected to stay behind to fight, to help in the effort on that side.

And we spoke to one mother, her name is Yulia (ph), she is 30 years old. She's actually originally from the Donbas region, so that area that is right now under separatist control. She herself fled in 2014. So now this is her second time fleeing war. And she had to say goodbye to her husband this morning. She has her two small children with her. One is two-and-a-half years old, one is seven. Her seven-year-old son was asking her why daddy wasn't coming, when is daddy going to come to meet up with us. And she said, he'll come soon. The thing is, Jim, she doesn't know if she was telling her son the truth or if she was in it for lying to him, because she doesn't know when she is going to see her husband again.

He, right now, is at their home in Ukraine. He is waiting to get some sort of an order, unsure exactly what that is going to be. And you can see, most people right now at the train station have left, we are sort of in this lull in between the arrival of two trains. And this evacuation, though, is happening really painfully, slowly for so many, because it takes hours. The trains are being stopped on the Ukrainian side of the border for a processing, but also because they are going through and scanning for men ages 18 to 60. And then they have to get processed to come into Poland.

And a lot of the times, as you can see with this crowd moving past us now, it's women and children who are coming across. You may also be able to see the ambulance that is here. We have been seeing a couple of people, mostly elderly being loaded into the ambulance. It doesn't seem as if they have something that is very serious going on other than, understandably, sheer fatigue and shock.

We have met people on this side of the border, Jim, whose parents are across, people who live overseas. One young man who flew here from the United Kingdom because he has been waiting for his mother-in-law to be able to come out. He lives in the United Kingdom. But his father is inside, and his father isn't going to make it out. He knows this already. And when you are talking to people, they'll tell you that even now,

they still haven't been able to fully process what is happening. The young mother that I was telling you about, Yulia (ph), she was sort of half-smiling as we were talking.

[14:45:05]

And then at one point she paused and said, look, I'm smiling, but I'm not smiling. My smile is hysterics. She is admittedly feeling hysterical, but she can't show it, because she doesn't want to scare her children. This is such a painful situation for too many people at this point.

ACOSTA: And it just pains you as a parent to hear those kinds of stories. Arwa Damon, for anybody who says this is just happening to Ukraine, this is beginning to happen to the rest of Europe. You could just see the flow of people, desperate people, frail, elderly people, children coming into border areas like the one that Arwa Damon is in right now in Poland, and just see how this is starting to have a ripple effect across that part of the world.

Arwa Damon, thank you very much, we appreciate it.

Come up, the former president of Ukraine is going to speak with CNN one-on-one as he describes the terror on the ground in Kyiv.

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PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: This is a disaster, and this is just a demonstration of how difficult it is now in Ukraine and crazy is Putin, person from hell, who come here to kill Ukraine and kill Ukrainians.

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[14:51:03]

ACOSTA: Former Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko is telling the world, do not trust Vladimir Putin and do not fear him. Poroshenko has chosen to stay in Kyiv and fight against the Russian troops invading his country. He talked with my colleague, Fredricka Whitfield, earlier today from the streets of the Ukrainian capital.

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PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Look, I want to ask all the CNN viewers, all the people of the world, with one very simple request. Please don't trust Putin. Don't believe Putin. And two, don't be afraid of Putin.

Putin is lying. Just open us. We would be more than happy to have as many international correspondents as possible. They should be there at the front line. They should be in Kyiv. They should see with their own eyes the Russian plane, Russian missiles, and the victims among the Ukrainian civil population and among Ukrainian soldiers. And you, dear journalists, dear CNN, which plays a very important role, is playing good things against the Russian information war. We are for peace.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: But do you believe that you are potentially giving up your life today, over the next few days, to help save your country?

POROSHENKO: If I'm ready, unfortunately, yes. I hate the idea to be my country occupied. And I think that we should do our best to protect the nation, to protect the nation against Russian aggressor, definitely bring the risk of your own life. Everybody here, all the young and old people fully understand that we have this risk. Somebody has a choice to go abroad. Somebody had a choice to be the refugee on the -- some regions of Ukraine. But many, the biggest part make a decision to take the rifle and to protect the nation. I'm proud for these people. I'm proud of this country. And I'm proud to be Ukrainian.

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ACOSTA: And our thanks to Fredricka Whitfield for that interview. We'll be right back.

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AMBER BRYAN, TRUE MOVEMENT DANCE STUDIO: People say that dance is therapy, and I 100 percent agree with that. When you're just feeling and moving, and whatever is going on in your head, you can just forget about it, and express whatever you're feeling through movement. It's really beautiful and healing.

I started dancing when I was three-year-old. The mindset of a dancer is if you're hurt, get over it. You still see kids competing with casts on. I ended up needing hip surgery at 16-year-old. A couple years later, I had another hip surgery to fix everything that had been done within a past couple of years of me dancing. I had to realize that my dream, what I thought was my dream was over.

I started seeing what else my life could be. In 2019, I opened True Movement Dance Studio. I think just emphasizing correct training and not worrying so much about, I can get my leg this high, but are you doing it correctly, are you doing it safely?