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Ukraine-Russia Talks Set to Take Place in Coming Hours; Ukraine Forces Hold off Invasion of Kyiv; Images Show Russian Military Convoy on Road to Kyiv; Nearly 6,000 Detained Amid Anti-War Protests in Russia; BP to Dump 20% Stake in Russian Oil Gas Giant Amid Crisis; Thousands Flee Across Ukraine's Borders to Reach Safety. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired February 27, 2022 - 23:00   ET

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

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown. And I'll see you again next weekend. CNN continues right now as we leave you with this shot of the sun coming up over the Capital city in Ukraine, Kyiv.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, coming to you live from Ukraine. I'm Michael Holmes, on a snowy morning here in Lviv.

Now, our breaking news this hour, Ukrainian and Russian delegations, they're going to be meeting for talks in the coming hours. Even as bitter fighting continues for a fifth day. The delegations will meet Ukraine's border with Belarus which of course is a key Russian ally. Ukraine's President though appearing to have little hope that the conflict will soon be resolved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): Alexander Lukashenko asked for the Ukrainian Russian delegations to meet on the Pripet River. And I emphasize this without any conditions. I will say this, frankly, and as always, I don't really believe in the result of this meeting. But let them try. So then later on, we no citizen of Ukraine would have any doubt that I, the president, did not try to stop the war when I had a chance, small as it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So far, Ukrainian forces have managed to defend the Capital, Kyiv, despite being outgunned and outmanned. I got some video to show you now released by Ukraine's armed forces. It shows a drone attack on Russian forces. This is just outside the Capital, Kyiv. But Russian forces continue to press forward. New Satellite images show a Russian military convoy stretching more than four kilometers on a roadway that leads to Kyiv.

Now, to the south Russian forces have taken control of a town on Ukraine's coast that is home to a small naval base. That's according to the town's mayor. Now, we've also seen intense fighting in and around Ukraine second largest city, Kharkiv, where Ukrainian forces also managed to repel a Russian advance on an airfield.

Meanwhile, the Russian President Vladimir Putin only seems to be escalating the crisis. On Monday, he put Russia's deterrence forces including its nuclear arms on high alert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): Top officials in leading NATO countries have allowed themselves to make aggressive comments about our country. Therefore, I hereby order the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff to place the Russian army to turns force on combat alert.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: But he is facing pushback from the Russian people, or at least some of them nearly 6000 have been detained so far as anti-war protests continue across Russia. And Moscow also facing condemnation from many global leaders of course and increasingly severe sanctions from the west standards allies and the E.U. and others are ramping up support for Ukraine, pledging more weapons and military gear. Even the private sector jumping into the fray, BP, announcing on Sunday that it is offloading its stake in a Russian oil firm.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Mykolaiv, which is a city near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. He shows us what it's been like for people living there through this conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Pitch battles are happening outside, many Ukrainian towns at the moment and we visited one of them where it was extraordinary to see the determination, the heroism, but also to try and understand what on earth Moscow's forces are trying to do, fighting their way into densely populated areas.

The bridge here hasn't been raised for as long as they can remember, but neither as the sleepy port town of Mykolaiv been invaded. The clack, clack is likely exchanges with Russian paratroopers who were told landed nearby. Locals struggling to keep up with their world here collapsing and soldiers edging.

The fear here, Russian saboteurs like these two suspects thrown to the ground by soldiers. Then the sirens go off. And it is back in the basement for Mother's and cats.

Hear the noise of what Russia would do to these towns in the name of subjugation and geopolitical game. Police tried to turn lights off, it seems in businesses that closed in a hurry, life persisting, caught between hoping this is short lived, and wondering if it may go on forever. [23:05:05]

Behind it all, in empty streets, the fear they may be overrun. And whether each huge blast with the decisive strike that lets put in troops enter. The shelling just went on and on. The next morning, we saw where it hit. It's likely a missile tore up these Ukrainian tanks, but nobody left, feels broken.

(On camera): How do you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) good, very good.

WALSH: Good. Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

WALSH: They tried to come into the town. But I see (foreign language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in foreign language).

WALSH: He's saying, the Russian has tried to come in last night but the town of Mykolaiv defeat them. And you can see what it looks like here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in foreign language).

WALSH: He's saying look around here, I'm asking him how you feel living here, looking at all this? This is where you live, right? Because I look at this, look at these windows that are blown out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in foreign language).

WALSH: Yeah, so the words of Russian ministers who's be saying that they're not going to hit civilian infrastructure here. He's repeating them back to me saying look, look at this. They say they're not hitting civilian infrastructure. Look at this damage around.

(Voice-over) Putin's rockets may have shattered glass, but not dented the anger here. As they take stock, you have to ask yourself why Moscow ever thought these towns would gladly be occupied and what Russia's end goal is. Temper spray here, blood has been spilled. But despite Russia's overwhelming firepower, they did not pass.

(On camera): Now, come Sunday night we heard from the mayor of that town on his telegram channel telling people to organize the circular defense of the town and to get Molotov cocktails. A sense it's certainly facing another onslaught. But you can see in that report how serious they are about defending their homes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now the United States says Vladimir Putin is using dangerous rhetoric by putting Russia's nuclear deterrent on high alert. And U.S. lawmakers say he knows what the response would be if he indeed used those nuclear weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM MALINOWSKI, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Putin trying to rattle us, that's psychological, deterrence works. He knows perfectly well that if he were to do anything with nuclear weapons, it would be the end of his country and of him personally.

AMY KLOBUCHAR, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: We stand by the ready when it comes to our nuclear defenses. But I think we have handled it right. And that is to continue to focus on supporting the people of Ukraine. And I think Vladimir Putin thought that he was going to march into this country, and that they were going to throw rose petals at him and instead it was Molotov cocktails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: For more on the U.S. reaction to the day's development, let's go to CNN White House Reporter Jasmine Wright joining me now live from Washington. Certainly an escalation with this nuclear rhetoric from Vladimir Putin, Jasmine.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, that's right. And well, U.S. officials have had tough words for Putin, the White House appears to be trying, at least in some part to deescalate instead of really matching Putin's rhetoric, Michael, they have instead said that Putin's threats are part of a wider pattern of unprovoked escalation and of course, manufactured threats. I think the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, she summed up the White House's stance here today pretty well, in this ABC interview, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is really a pattern that we've seen from President Putin through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing threats that don't exist in order to justify further aggression and the global community and the American people should look at it through that prism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: Now, those comments from Jen Psaki, which are reflected in other administration officials speaking out today, it comes after about the second time in just a week that President Putin has really referenced his nuclear arsenal, threatening those nuclear capabilities. But it also comes after about a week of unified response from U.S. and European allies and, of course, Canada, in their both condemnation of Russia but also in those strict sanctions that the U.S. and along with their partners has rolled out really in waves, they say trying to respond proportionally to Russia's continued aggression.

Now, no doubt, Michael that this will be a topic of discussion for President Biden when he holds a national -- when he talks to allies and partners at the White House in the situation tomorrow when he returned back from Wilmington, Delaware. Michael?

[23:10:03] HOLMES: All right, Jasmine Wright there in Washington D.C., thanks so much.

Well, if Russia prevails in this war and does take over, there is a lot of speculation that Ukraine is not going to lay down and take that. The Ukrainians will rise up. There will be a guerrilla war. There will be an insurgency.

Well, Douglas London is a Retired Senior Operations Officer with the CIA. He's also the author of The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence. He joins me now from McLean, Virginia.

And thanks for doing so. You are a Russian speaking former CIA officer. You manage counterinsurgency operations. If Putin overthrows the Ukrainian government militarily? How likely do you think it is there would be an insurgency? And how effective might it be?

DOUGLAS LONDON, RET. SR. CIA OPERATIONS OFFICER: An insurgency is very likely to occur based on the preparations that have been ongoing since at least 2015 after the Russians invaded last and annexed Crimea. It's clear that the U.S. military's openly been providing support as well as other Western nations. But I'm pretty confident that the CIA has also been providing support to its counterpart. So they've had a lot of time to prepare for what they're going to do.

HOLMES: Yeah, and you pointed this out in a really fascinating piece in foreign affairs that, as you say, since the invasion of Crimea, the U.S. may well have helped Ukraine plan and insurgency. But on the flip side, I guess Mr. Putin expects such a thing and has his own counter plan, how messy could it be worried to happen?

LONDON: insurgencies are very messy by design, and they're supposed to inflict casualties, are supposed to seize the narrative. They're supposed to undermine political support at home. Dictator, not Putin still responds to what's going on domestically. And one of his greatest concerns is a grassroots opposition at home, I think the idea would be to send video and carnage and such like that, that Russians were so connected internationally, despite what you might do to the Internet are going to see.

And the Ukrainians have the advantage of a fairly long border with NATO, with several NATO countries where they can get resupply, it's still debatable how far the Russians would push if they collapsed Kyiv and Kharkiv, would they go to the west and secure that territory, would be a stretch for them?

Insurgencies take time to build momentum. So I think they wouldn't necessarily be revealed at the outset. How effective, but over time, I think it would certainly sap the will -- the might of the military and also start changing opinions back home that he might have to respond to.

HOLMES: You mentioned the borders and that's interesting. Is there worry in an insurgency, what are the chances that it bleeds across borders including Putin's own perhaps? LONDON: There's certainly the means and the opportunity to do so. I'm certainly it's on the shelf as a plan. I think Belarus might be the first victim of this because they're right on the border with Poland and Lithuania and Latvia. And they've been a direct ally and accomplice in exacting the military attack on Ukraine. So they might make themselves vulnerable, and it might start there. Clearly, there's a lot of Ukrainians in Russia, there's a lot of American allies across Eastern European NATO members who have people there and there are also other allies who have folks who can travel there and perhaps resident there with Russian nationality credentials. So I think there's certainly a possibility that he could face an increased acceleration of challenges that could include in his own homeland.

HOLMES: Do you think Vladimir Putin miscalculated? I mean miscalculated the world's response, but the performance of the Ukrainian military as well and in thinking he could invade putting his own guy in a few days in it at all be over. Do you think he miscalculated?

LONDON: I think it's evidence he's miscalculated. I still can only hope that the Ukrainians will be able to maintain their resistance. But I'm pretty confident that Putin didn't expect to have so much trouble. Not that he may have expected to be greeted as liberators. But I think he would have planned on a bit more support from Russian speaking Ukrainians, those who he's tried to appeal to in the east, particularly, but Ukrainians haven't really had eight years of just focused on their contempt and hatred for Russia, for the invasion in the ease, for the annexation, and he created a lot of this on his own by his booze eight years ago, which I think has sold over time, the seeds that are maturing in a way that he didn't calculate for and he didn't necessarily expect it would be this heart of the battle. And I also would expect he thought he could have pre-empt the early stages of insurgency. We've seen press reporting on these lists of people individuals officials, security, personalities who either wanted to assassinate or arrest, who he thought might participate, and lead and insurgency. But it looks like that's going to be much harder to apply them he would have imagined.

[23:15:17]

So perhaps he got bad information, perhaps his isolation over the past two years the pandemic have impacted his thinking, but I just can't imagine he wouldn't have gone into this with an end game. But it seems his endgame isn't working.

HOLMES: Your comments there about his perhaps mentality is interesting. And I wanted to ask you about that. Anyway, a lot of people have said that he's become more isolated during COVID. That he's perhaps lost touch with reality, become paranoid perhaps. Your observation of how he's addressed these people, there's anger in a lot of what he says. Do you think that all of this might have clouded his judgment in a Kremlin where -- when no one dares to say no to him?

LONDON: When a leader insulates himself, such that his closest advisors self-censor the information, they're going to give him out of fear for his reaction, he's obviously not getting the most accurate and detailed information from which to plan. So I can't judge from here, whether it's paranoid and he's having no such mental disposition, as it is simply inaccessibility to good intelligence to good information, and accurate advice. If he's basing his calculation against what his advisers are going to tell him, and they're going to tell him what he wants to hear, then he's not getting the best information with which to make these decisions.

HOLMES: Yeah, it was interesting watching his security council meeting a week or so ago, and they were clearly terrified of him. Interesting optics. Douglas London, a fascinating aspect of this and how it could potentially unfold, great to speak with you. Thanks so much.

LONDON: Thanks for coming on the program.

HOLMES: Well, the humanitarian crisis that is becoming more dire as Ukrainians try to escape the fighting. Just ahead, what E.U. leaders are saying about possibly taking in millions of refugees. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:20:53]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADEZHDA TOLOKONNIKOVA, PUSSY RIOT CO-FOUNDER AND ACTIVIST: Putin is a sad authoritarian leader who I would not want to be a leader of my country, and besides him deeply, deeply ashamed of the leader of my country. And I really wished that we could get rid of him earlier before he started a war in Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, according to the United Nations, at least 368,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries. And there are predictions that perhaps millions more will flee the country in the days ahead. Leaders in the European Union are already considering what to do with refugees likely headed to E.U. states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YLVA JOHANSSON, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: I'm really impressed of the strong solidarity that E.U. citizens are showing towards the Ukrainians coming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any estimations on how many refugees there might be in the future?

JOHANSSON: No, but I think we need to prepare for millions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: People fleeing the violence in Ukraine, but they're threatened by more than just bombs and bullets. Of course, the journey can be arduous, the freezing temperatures, brutal. CNN's Arwa Diamond is at a border crossing and Poland as 1000s pour across in hopes of reaching safety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's extraordinary, because every single person who you talk to, and I think this is important to remember, has their own unique to a certain degree experience of what it was like for them to have to say goodbye to those who they love as they left them behind. But it's not just that.

We're right now at a reception center. And by the time the vast majority of these families actually get here and you have some new arrivals over in this direction, the vast majority of them would have gone through days on the road. I'm talking about 36 to 48 hours, walking and waiting out in the cold. The stories we're hearing about these overnights in these freezing temperatures, with no food, no water, no bathroom with little children. And then as they get closer to the actual border crossing from the sheer panic and the emotional agony of it all, it ends up largely being a free for all with people just trying to push through just to cross over to the other side.

Now, once they actually get here, they're met at these various different makeshift reception areas that have cropped up either by family members, by friends. But then you also have this army of volunteers that right now is behind a police line because there are so many of them. And as these buses pull up, they'll hold up signs, advertising locations, that people who are arriving can get free rides to, locations where they can stay for free. So you do have this big sense of community once you actually hit this side. But none of that makes their experience any less agonizing.

We have met sisters, two sisters who left their father behind. We have met wives who are now trying to cope with all of the children who left their husbands behind, some of whom have told their children don't worry, daddy is going to be coming, not knowing if they were lying to their kids, or maybe they hope telling the truth. You see these parents trying to be so strong still trying to be heroes, for their children doing all that they can to mask their own fears and everything that they're going to.

And earlier today, I just want to tell the story of one family who we met because they were actually from Afghanistan. They had fled Afghanistan in May ended up getting asylum in Ukraine. And now they had to flee again and their trauma, their agony, their fear, they know what this is.

[23:25:05]

We've met families from Ukraine who have already been displaced more than once, a mother who was from the Donbass region, that is -- that area that was under separates control, she had fled in 2014, only to find herself having to flee again. What a lot of those coming across the border are telling us, though, is that what's happening on the other side, the difficulty of just getting to safety, that is something that has to be addressed. There has to be more organization there. Because the temperatures are dropping, we're expecting rain, snow and waiting outside the way they've been having to wait up until now. It's just going to become incredibly dangerous as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: That was CNN's Arwa Diamond at the Polish-Ukrainian border. In fact, it did snow here overnight, and inshore too and you can imagine what that's like on the border as you're waiting to get across.

Now, if you would like to help people affected by the war in Ukraine, who might need shelter, food water, just go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find several ways you can help there, if you wish.

Still to come here on the program, we will have a report from Kyiv as a Russian military convoy heads towards Ukraine's capital. That's coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:30:21]

HOLMES: Hello, everyone, I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine where we are tracking the latest developments in Russia's assault on this country. Now in the coming hours, representatives from Ukraine and Russia are expected to hold talks at the Belarus border in an effort to stop the war now in its fifth day. The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. says President Volodymyr Zelensky will not be part of the delegation.

Now the diplomatic efforts come as the fighting on the ground in Ukraine rages on, including in Kharkiv, where forces repelled the advance of Russian troops. The European Commission president spoke with Mr. Zelensky about strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities. This is part of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: For the first time ever, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack. This is a watershed moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: World leaders have been working to put pressure on President Putin for his attack on Ukraine. And in the hours ahead, the U.N. General Assembly will hold an emergency session on the crisis. The German Chancellor says the international response will have a significant impact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: Very soon the Russian leadership will feel what a high price they will have to pay. The stock market in Russia has come down by 30 percent. This shows our sanctions worked.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: With diplomatic efforts ongoing, we are learning more about the military situation on the ground. The latest satellite images show a convoy of Russian forces heading to Kyiv. CNN's Alex Marquardt reports the streets are mostly empty as Ukraine's capital prepares for the Russian forces.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ukraine's capital is bracing for the worst. Checkpoints with armed forces, sandbags stacked in front of the mayor's office in central Kyiv.

(on-camera): There are no Russian forces in Kyiv right now, according to the mayor, but there have been battles against them. And the mayor says that large groups of Russian saboteurs were destroyed overnight.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): In the physical heart in Ukraine's 2014 revolution they may done, the streets are deserted.

(on-camera): And it was exactly here eight years ago that Ukrainian citizens rose up against a pro-Russian government, a pro-Russian president and ousted him. And that is something that President Putin has complained about for years. Now, his own forces are descending on the city and circling it in order to try to topple this government and replace the President with a puppet who would answer to President Putin.

(voice-over): Now, four days into this Russian invasion, there is mounting evidence of Russia's attempt to encircle this city, fighting in every direction around. Plumes of smoke marking the areas of the most intense fighting. Living in this city these days is not for the faint-hearted. While we're out right on cue, another deep boom breaks through the silence.

Below the Maidan, in the tunnels of the city's Metro, which also act as bomb shelters, the arteries of the city are also deserted. A pinging only adding to the eeriness. Kyiv has held strong for longer than some of the more dire predictions, which saw it falling within 24 to 48 hours. Optimism has grown with the Russians inability to take any real control here. But everyone knows it is far too soon for any confidence.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, everyday people are doing what they can to help those fleeing their home towns, including English teacher, Khrystyna, who joins me now from Western Ukraine. And it's a sign of the tensions that we are only using Khrystyna's first name. Thanks for being with us. Tell me what made you start helping people trying to leave? How did that come about?

KHRYSTYNA, ENGLISH TEACHER: Good morning, everyone. The story starts with my husband. He was actually going on the gas station to fuel the car. And he simply saw people who were coming to him and asking him for help. Where can we stay and leave? We're on the road like for 20, for 30 hours. And, of course, he respond for that. That was actually the way when he felt we're staying here and we're just helping people to get through that way.

[23:35:10]

They were going like 30 miles on the road. Lots of cars. And they were so tired, they were cold, they were hungry. The hotels was full of people. So he just left his phone on the hotel and everyone starts calling like 40 calls per hour.

Also, lots of friends they join to help people, our friends. So they organized the place where it was the store where they organized. They bring all the stuff, mattresses where people just can leave and rest. Also bring some people to our homes, to friend's homes.

HOLMES: Yes, no sorry. You brought people to your own home. What did you do for them?

KHRYSTYNA: So what exactly would we do? We just gave them rest. They can do the basic things to help and to -- we provide their needs. Our friends from, actually, Kyiv came to us and they were coming here for 20 hours and they're just living right now with us because the situation there is danger -- in a danger.

So --

HOLMES: It must be terrible for these people. What did they tell you about why they are fleeing? How frightened are people about what's going on?

KHRYSTYNA: Most of our frightened children, the youngest was one years old. He was so tired and sleep and he was every -- all the time on mama's arms, of course. They're telling they lost their safety. They cannot stay in Kyiv, in closest cities because they're shooting and there's bombs and rockets and they can see everything outside their windows and it's in danger to stay there.

Or they could go outside where the garages and bomb shelters, but still they're hearing r all the time again and again, the shooting, shootings and shootings. So it's terrible. I have lots of friends from Kyiv and I saw this pictures where they -- it's crashes. Everything is crashes. Their homes --

HOLMES: Yes.

KHRYSTYNA: -- their hospitals and children places.

HOLMES: How difficult is the process for people to leave, the actual journey? How difficult is that? There are such long lines at the border. How difficult is it for people to get out?

KHRYSTYNA: It is hard. Some -- because we have this in a time when Syrians are sometimes showed up, so everyone should stay not on streets. So that's what we were doing with families. Fuel, what kind of stuff should they take? They have so small amount of town to leave.

But very good that people gather together. So in one car, they tried to make all passengers full. What else? There are not a lot of -- yes, there are not a lot of freeways. Yes. So they stuck in the cars.

HOLMES: Right. You told one of our producers and it really struck me, you said, we didn't ask them who they were. We just saw that they were tired and they needed to sleep. It shows great compassion, Ukrainians looking after Ukrainians. How difficult is life for you right now?

KHRYSTYNA: You know, comparing to other people, I think our life right now here it's good. We don't hear any shootings. We have quiet air, a quiet place. Nothing is in the air. To the closest big city, like 20, 25 kilometers. So there are sirens and people are calling us like be attentive. Do not walk on your -- even on your city.

But here in our home, we are OK. We are OK. We just give as much support as we can to all different people. As in the Bible says --

HOLMES: Yes.

KHRYSTYNA: -- God tell us to help and be sensitive, you know, be sensitive. And in our nation, what I see, it's in our blood to help and be sensitive -- be attentive to the person who need help.

[23:40:18]

HOLMES: Khrystyna, our thoughts are with you. I'm sure those people you're helping will remember your kindness forever. Stay safe. We appreciate you joining us and taking the time.

KHRYSTYNA: Thank you, Michael. Thank you for your work, with what you are doing. I'm so grateful that people from other countries are paying attention what's happening here. Because it's not acceptable what's happening. We made (ph) --

HOLMES: Yes.

KHRYSTYNA: -- this for in the morning, we did not expect it. We don't have anywhere inside the country. But the Russian aggression should be stopped.

HOLMES: You have a lot of support from countries and people all around the world. Khrystyna, thanks so much. Be safe.

KHRYSTYNA: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

HOLMES: Hearing those ordinary Ukrainian voices is so important in all of this analysis. It's important hearing from people speaking from the heart is equally so, perhaps, more so in many ways.

All right, well after days of fighting in Ukraine, it seems that Russia's military campaign might not be going as Vladimir Putin had planned. We'll talk about why next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:45:28]

HOLMES: Daylight starting to break here in Lviv, Ukraine. It snowed overnight at least an inch or 2. It is bitterly cold as people head to the border. It's about 27 or 26 degrees Fahrenheit subzero in Celsius here at the moment. And imagine those people on the border trying to leave this country in the open. Sometimes the wait can be 24, 36 hours.

Now, I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv. After days of punishing sanctions levied on Moscow by the West, Russians have been spotted forming long lines at ATM machines. Many apparently worried their bank cards will stop working or that banks will limit cash withdrawals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Since Thursday, everyone has been running between ATMs to withdraw cash. Some get lucky, some don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The U.S., European Union, U.K. and Canada all announcing Saturday, they would expel certain Russian banks from SWIFT, the international payment system that connects financial institutions around the world. That is a big deal. Other sanctions include freezing the assets of some of Russia's biggest banks.

Russian authorities have detained meanwhile nearly 6,000 people for participating in anti-war protests across the country since the invasion of Ukraine began, that's according to an independent monitor. Now under Russian law, large demonstrations require a permit and heavy fines or even jail time can be imposed on those without the proper paperwork.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISA KURBANOVA, ECONOMIST (through translation): To start the war was a very bad decision for our people because many of them have relatives, friends, husbands and they will die for nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meantime, CNN Contributor Jill Dougherty is in Moscow monitoring the Kremlin's reaction to its military campaign against Ukraine. As Jill explains, it doesn't appear to be going as planned.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, RUSSIAN AFFAIRS: Several events here in Moscow that may indicate that the Kremlin is more and more concerned that this military operation in Ukraine is not going as they expected. Number one, President Putin ordering his military to put his nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, what he called special combat regime. The Russian president saying he was doing it because of aggressive rhetoric coming from NATO, and also from these draconian sanctions that have been leveled by the United States and by Europe.

The White House did respond but in a much more measured fashion saying simply that the Kremlin is manufacturing threats that do not exist. And there was no indication at least at this point, that the United States is changing its nuclear posture. Then another sign, the military, the daily briefing by the Russian military, admitting for the very first time that Russian soldiers have been killed and wounded in battle in Ukraine. There were no numbers given and the military spokesman saying that it was fewer than the Ukrainians had suffered, but still significant. That first example of their admission that people are dying in this military operation.

And then finally, another statement, this time from a former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, saying that there is no need, no particular need to have diplomatic relations anymore. He said, we might as well padlock the embassies and we can look at each other through binoculars and gun sights.

Jill Dougherty, Moscow.

HOLMES: Still to come, my colleague Anna Coren with how people around the world are rallying behind Ukraine condemning Vladimir Putin and Russia's war. And we'll take a look at some of the solidarity protests going on. I'll see you a bit later.

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[23:53:27]

ANNA COREN, CNN HOST: You are looking at the spectacular Niagara Falls on the U.S.-Canadian border lit up in blue and yellow in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and against the Russian invasion. Well landmarks on both sides of the border have also been lit up in support of Ukraine, and that support extends far beyond North America. Landmarks in Seoul, South Korea also lit up in Ukraine's colors.

Hello, I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong with more now breaking news coverage. Ukrainian Americans and their allies are finding solace in church attendance. One Ukrainian Catholic Church in New York is seeing an increase in attendees from those wanting to pay respects and others trying to find peace through worship. Polo Sandoval has this report.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're here at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church, church leaders estimating that out of the roughly 5,000 parishioners about 80 percent of them are Ukrainian immigrants. And we have seen for the last several days, many of them coming here and uniting in prayer. Faith certainly playing a massive role for so many Ukrainian-Americans. And we met several of them, including Maya Lopatynsky who attended Sunday service earlier this morning talking about that sense of unity that she's seen, not just within the church but around the Ukrainian-American community in general.

MAYA LOPATYNSKY, UKRAINIAN-AMERICAN PARISHIONER: It did and I think to see how packed the church was so early in the morning on an 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday, it just made me feel connected to a community. I feel, you know, I'm Ukrainian-American. I was born here to be connected to a community of immigrants and people who have born here.

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It just made me feel a lot better. And I do feel like coming to church is the best that we can do. It's all that we can do right now.

SANDOVAL: And outside of those Sunday services, we have seen people showing their support with this small memorial that is formed just that the steps of this church. Also in attendance during Sunday service was New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, telling the congregation today that he's not only praying for the Ukrainian community, but also praying with them as well.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

COREN: Around the world, we're seeing powerful protests and displays of solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Rallies were held in cities across the U.S. over the weekend, including the nation's capital, demanding an end to the war. In Berlin, thousands gathered at Tiegarten Park Sunday to express their outrage over the Russian invasion. And in Tel Aviv, thousands of Israelis, including many of Ukrainian descent, took to the streets to condemn Russia's aggression.

A Ukrainian brewery is contributing to the fight in their own special way serving up Molotov cocktails instead of the usual draft beer. They've even made a special label for the bottles featuring an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last week, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense encouraged citizens to make Molotov cocktails to combat the Russians, even providing complete instructions on how to make them on line.

Well, thanks so much for watching. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Our breaking news coverage continues after this short break. Please stay with CNN.

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