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Russian Targets Multiple Ukrainian Cities; 40-Mile long Russian Military Convoy Outside of Kyiv; Brutal Russian Onslaught Rages in Ukraine as Zelensky Call for More International Support. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 02, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:54]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN special coverage of the war in Ukraine and President Joe Biden's first State of the Union address. I'm Pamela Brown.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon. The President harshly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying Vladimir Putin met a wall of strength that he never imagined. Both the United West and the Ukrainian people are fighting back.

BROWN: It's now early Wednesday morning and Ukraine and we're covering all the angles on this breaking news story. CNN's Michael Holmes is in Lviv tonight.

LEMON: And former CIA Chief of Russia Operations. Steve Hall is right here in New York with me.

BROWN: Michael, let's start with you. Russia is intensifying its bombing campaign targeting Ukraine second largest city of Kharkiv in the capital of Kyiv. How are the Ukrainians handling all of this incoming fire?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they're trying to defend it. They've done pretty well, as we've seen so far. And yeah, you're right. The Russians are -- they're now trying to move on a number of cities. They still don't own a major city, we should point out and that's credit to Ukrainian forces. This was shown in the south that's just north of Crimea, the major city and strategic city of Mariupol. That's on the Sea of Azov, Russians trying to surround that right now, as you said, they've been pummeling the country's second biggest city Kharkiv. And of course, moving closer to the capital, Kyiv.

The fears there that they will encircle, they could lead -- slay siege, cut it off. Now, Putin's forces could just stay there and prod and pressure and, you know, squeeze or he could potentially press on, in what would be a bloody entry to the city itself with the aim, of course of toppling the Zelensky government. We know about that massive column, 40 miles long, 65 kilometers, just outside the capital, that's helped give a sense here that of a new and grim chapter perhaps could be coming in the next couple of days.

The real fear is that having stalled in his advance, in the face of that unexpectedly strong Ukrainian resistance, Putin will now ratchet things up militarily. You know, and Putin has forming this, Chechnya, Syria. He has form and not shying away from brutal tactics.

LEMON: Michael, I want Steve Hall here in New York with me to react to that. I see you shaking your head as he's saying that. A Senior Defense Official told CNN today that Russian advanced, Russian advanced in Kyiv is basically where it was. Yesterday, they're running out of fuel and food. But we know that this 40 mile Russian convoy is just outside of Kyiv. What do you think Putin's next move here is?

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think he's been frustrated because, of course, his expectation and I think the Russians expectations as well. It's sort of like a blitzkrieg, within a couple of days. We'll have everything under control. And that's not what's happened.

But I think the illusion back to Chechnya as a good one. We see what happens when it doesn't go well, for Putin. In this he learned very early on in his career, which is just you bombed them back to the Stone Age, which is what happened in Grozny. And I anticipate that unfortunately, the harder it gets, the more frustrated that Putin gets and the more pressures that he feels back home, you're seeing more and more protests, you're seeing greater, you know, the economic sanctions are biting, he's going to be more and more tempted to just go ahead and pull out all the stops, use all of this heavy, heavy weaponry, all of his heavy artillery, already we're seeing some strategic elements and strategic aircraft that he's beginning to use. So it's just going to get heavier and heavier. He's going to pound harder and harder and that's going to -- that's going to really hurt the Ukrainians over the short and midterm.

BROWN: And Steve, President Biden said tonight that Vladimir Putin is now more isolated from the world than ever before. Is that how you see it?

HALL: Yeah, I do. He really is isolated in a number of different ways. First of all, everything that he wanted to have happen. He wanted a divided West. He wanted less NATO troops on his border. He wanted specifically divided the United States and he had a good bit of that not too long ago, and all of a sudden, he wakes up and he's got a united E.U. He's got a united NATO. The United States as we saw in the President's speech this evening, you got Republicans and Democrats all, you know, standing up and applauding with regard to Ukraine.

[01:05:02]

So he's isolated and in that sense. I think there's a chance it's hard to tell what's going on in Moscow specifically but he's becoming a bit more isolated even amongst Russians. You've got Russians who are very soon going to be very upset about not being able to get money out of their ATMs. And you got oligarchs who are going to be very upset about not being able to access their money and travel abroad.

BROWN: And, Michael, I want to bring you back in. What are you hearing from the Ukrainians are still desperately trying to get on the country. It is so dire right now?

HOLMES: Pam, this is the heartbreaking aspect of this. It really is. We're meeting people here in Lviv because I people coming from the east passing through here, some staying some moving on to the border, and it's getting worse and worse, literally by the hour. This is a humanitarian crisis that isn't building it is here. The U.N. saying well over 650,000 people. 650,000 have fled the country. The experts say could get to 4 million. And on top of that you've got internally displaced people, people who have fled their homes but not the country. There is assistance coming in for those who've crossed into neighboring countries. But for those displaced inside Ukraine, those people hunkered down in basements and homes. There are also worries about things like medical supplies, even food supplies in some of these major population centers now being surrounded and more and more cut off.

You know, it's the worst humanitarian crisis of its kind in decades, and it's a displacement last four years, which you could, it could have long reaching impacts for Europe and not dismiss the fact of massive brain drain for Ukraine.

LEMON: Yeah. You know, Steve, I want to ask you, and for all for what, you know, he says, possibly 4 million people, this humanitarian crisis of hundreds and hundreds of 1000s of people's micro supply and so on. You mentioned Chechnya, people like the former ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper here on CNN, calling Putin unhinged. But hasn't this always been his MO, the way he operated to the extent, whether it's Chechnya, as you said, whether it's Crimea, whether it's Georgia, even poisoning his enemies, at home and abroad?

HALL: Yeah, there's no doubt and of course, you know, Clapper and McFaul both of I worked for with know this well. This is part of his style. It's, you know, it's just how authoritarians work and especially in Russia, it is something that is very, is very common.

The biggest question in my mind is, this, of course, was entirely unprovoked in Ukraine. There was no -- there was despite Russian propaganda, there was no threat of attack, there was there was no reason for him to go into Ukraine, except for the fact that this was something that Putin decided that now is the time to go ahead and do it.

And again, the great strangeness of the whole thing is that, as he looks -- as he looks at the situation, he has achieved the exact opposite of everything that he hoped to. So that part is inexplicable. In Chechnya, we knew what he was up to and all the other conflicts to include Syria. We knew what he was up to, he knew what he wanted to accomplish. And in large part, he did so but he appears to have seriously miscalculated in Ukraine. And as a result, he's got great United Forces looking to push back against.

LEMON: Steve Hall, Michael Holmes, thank you both very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Don, we'll take it from here. And I want to bring in former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, John Herbst.

Ambassador, thank you for your time tonight. So Russia is getting hit with crippling sanctions from the U.S. and its allies. And tonight, President Biden announced Russian aircraft will be banned from U.S. airspace. What else do you think the U.S. should be doing to support Ukraine?

JOHN HERBST, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: I think the odds of Putin leveling as savage campaign against Ukraine, as your previous guests mentioned, as he did in Chechnya, and in Syria, are quite high. And we need to take some steps to at least reduce the impact of that if he goes in that direction.

So first of all, you know, the people been talking about a no fly zone, that's probably not realistic, because that would probably -- that would almost certainly involve U.S. aircraft, shooting and Russian aircraft. So we don't want to do that.

But we could, for example, help Ukraine jam rush in electronic warfare, that would give Ukraine some of the advantages of a no fly zone. And we should do that seriously.

We also have to help provide, make sure that Ukraine gets the arms. We should have sent them months ago. That was one serious mistake in the Biden approached us. When we started the flow the additional arms about four or five weeks back, we need to send a lot more stingers, we need to send more javelins. And we also need to help Ukraine acquire more drones. The drones that Ukraine acquired from Turkey have been very important. We need to help get them more immediately.

Three, we need to help the Ukrainian people by delivering humanitarian assistance. We can send on U.S. cargo planes. Military cargo planes. Humanitarian aid to Kyiv, just tell the Russians we're coming, and send the planes. Similarly we do the same at sea, sending U.S. Navy ships, cargo ships into Odessa with humanitarian aid. Besides providing the aid Ukraine desperately needs, it would also show that Russia doesn't control completely the seas around Ukraine or the skies above it. So these types of steps should be taken.

[01:10:20]

BROWN: You know, one thing that President Biden really wanted to convey in his speech, it seemed, was the unity between America and NATO countries, other NATO countries, the 29 others, and you really have seen Europe rally behind Ukraine, even traditionally neutral Switzerland, Germany made a big turnaround. Are you surprised by how forceful their response has been against Russia?

HERBST: This is an amazing, even a historic turn in Europe. Basically, Germany had been rather weak on the Kremlin as it launched this war in Ukraine in 2014, as demonstrated, especially by the Nord Stream 2 project was a monumental disgrace to Germany, and also to the Biden administration for Germany have its way. But Germany went from that in a space of five days, to not just all the agreeing to the end of Nord Stream 2, but to sending arms to Ukraine, to increasing its defense budget to over 2% a year and a game of seven American presidents. Putin's want an aggression in the past few days, the past week, has changed Germany's position and as you mentioned, Switzerland's position, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and all sending arms to Ukraine. This is unprecedented.

BROWN: And also you have president --

HERBST: Besides --

BROWN: Go ahead.

HERBST: In addition, historically, both Sweden and Finland have been neutral countries. But as a result of this latest Russian aggression 62% of the Finns want to join NATO, Sweden also a large number, in the low 40% want to join NATO. This is a stunning, a huge blow to Putin, huge blow.

BROWN: A huge blow and you talked about how, in essence Putin has galvanized these typically neutral countries like Switzerland or countries who initially were not as forceful Germany. But also you have President Zelensky, who was really, I think you can say when -- has won the hearts of the world with his courage. He says he is Putin's number one target. CNN spoke with President Zelensky today. We're going to play that interview coming up. But he's in a bunker in Kyiv, vowing to stay however, Russian troops they're bearing down on Ukraine's capital, as we've been talking about tonight. How do you think this goes for Zelensky?

HERBST: Oh, it's just not clear. Yes, there's -- the troops are -- I don't know 15, 18, 20 miles from Kyiv. But if those troops tried to enter the city, many of them are going to die. Because the Ukrainians going to fight from street to street, and civilians have signed up to join the battle. And we've seen the pictures of the Babashi both threatening Russian troops and also preparing Molotov cocktails.

What Putin will probably do, as your other guests mentioned, he's going to probably start a major, major, a completely wanton bombardment, which will actually be a war crime because it'll be killing civilians. But that's what he did in Syria and in Chechnya.

So those he will face, you know, dangers from that bombardment, but more likely in his bunker, he can survive it. And then the question is, can Russian troops go in, and essentially seize the whole city.

And again, besides the civilians, Ukrainian civilians, Russian, many Russian troops will die. And that will be a major problem for Putin and home, both the Ukrainian civilians because the Russian people don't want their army, killing civilians, and of course, the Russian soldiers. So this is not going to see Putin in Ukraine, I think Putin's going to -- either he's going to have to withdraw from Ukraine, or he'll be defeated there. And there'll be a new leadership in Moscow.

BROWN: All right, we'll leave it there, Ambassador Herbst. Thank you. Don?

LEMON: Yeah, that is a pretty bold assessment. Thank you very much, Pamela. The Russian invasion into Ukraine moving into urban areas. Here to discuss, California State Guard, Colonel John Spencer. He is the Director of Urban Warfare Training for the 14th Infantry Division.

We're so glad to have you on, Colonel, I appreciate it. Ukrainian cities are a battlefield right now. You saw that shocking video from Kharkiv earlier today. A new video shows a military strike on apartment blocks in the city just outside of Kyiv. How does Ukraine fight back against that?

COL. JOHN SPENCER, CALIFORNIA STATE GUARD: So I think this is -- you know, I've been studying urban warfare for a decade. I've been training it, teaching it from the tactical level up to the theory level like we're talking about here. Ukraine, like the president said not only entered a wall of strength and Ukrainian people is getting ready to hit a wall have concrete in the cities. Urban Warfare doesn't matter it may be the biggest military but the Russian military got the best military even for the best military, and even for the best military, if you can pull them into urban terrain, it's a living nightmare for them.

[01:15:15]

And we know what's going to happen. I actually think it's ironic based on historical studies, that we think that the Russians have a massive force compared to the Ukrainian force. In urban fights, you need five times the amount of troops against one defender. So if you count the numbers of fighters, even if you don't count the civilians within Kyiv. What Putin bring is not enough. Even if you count the entire force that he's put into Ukraine, you know, 190,000 troops, the U.S. coalition into the invasion of Iraq, which I was a part of, I jumped into northern Iraq, and was part of the invasion took down Baghdad was only about 177,000. And I tell you, Iraq, is not Ukraine, Iraq was lightly defended, barely at all. And it was still hell. This has the possibility.

And I actually agree with your prior guests, this is going to go really badly for the Russian military, who is not the best, they've actually shown as you were talking about, how unprepared they are. They're running out of equipment. And to be honest, and you mentioned just a few minutes ago, this is about will, all wars about will of both sides. It's your ability to inflict you will on the other.

The Ukrainians have the will to pay the ultimate price. The Russians, you know, and I know that the Russian soldiers don't have the will to pay the ultimate price. They're already demoralized, that didn't know the plan going in. They don't have time to siege the city that I think that's highly unlikely that they've seized Kyiv. They got to break through. So hopefully they've run into a wall of concrete.

LEMON: It's interesting that you said that these urban fighters really have the advantage on this supposedly, and we're saying not so, you know, evident mighty Russian military. It is also shocking that someone like Vladimir Putin underestimated the people of Ukraine, even people who had no military training, the citizens of Ukraine who were saying, there is no way we're going to allow you to do that. How much does his termination play into this?

SPENCER: It's everything, Don. I mean, it is everything. I agree with you. He completely underestimated the resistance he would face. Maybe he was listening to general -- generals that don't have any experience in urban warfare, since every one of the battles is urban. And this is all about the strategic objectives. If they don't take Kyiv they can't win. And if Ukrainians can keep them from keeping Kyiv -- as long as they don't lose, they're winning. But this is -- that will and that determination has everything. I mean, think about the numbers that the Ukrainians have, even if all they have is a Molotov cocktail, how many are left in Kyiv a million, 2 million? There's no way in my personal opinion as an expert in urban warfare, that the Russians can take this without paying a huge price. So the question is, how much of a price is he willing to pay?

LEMON: Let's talk about even with that, I want to talk about this convoy heading towards Kyiv, a senior defense officials say that that Russian convoy heading there, has stalled that Russian forces are facing fuel and food shortages and probably some morale issues as well because they didn't think that they would be facing such challenges, using this is giving the Ukrainians a critical window to exploit, talk to me about that, Colonel.

SPENCER: Every hour they get, so if I was in -- so if I was a soldier, you know, a commander in Kyiv at this moment, I would be on a 24 hour cycle, barricading every street, every alley, every house, turning every inch. And the President mentioned this about fighting for every inch of Ukraine, I would make the Russians fight for every inch of that city. And one of your guest talked about a barricade construction team. That's exactly what they need to do in order to continue to make it the most difficult fight that -- and I can guarantee it, that any of these Russians have ever faced, even if you think about Grozny, it wasn't at this scale.

First, Battle of Grozny, the Russians were defeated. Second one, they did this heavy bombardment, which is now a part of their doctrine, which will happen unfortunately, but they still had to enter it. I think one of the critical things they have to do is what they're doing. And the more time they get in this delayed combo, like we all know, the more walls they can put up and by walls, I mean, barriers and defensive belts and lines and weapons and start organizing the civilians to be a part of the resistance because I've been trying to put out information the same like if I was in any city, doesn't matter where I was, these are the things that I would do. Like they can't stand on the streets. So that's the type of information that has -- that's the planning and preparing the has to happen now. Nobody can stand on the street because then, they're immediately going to be struck by something.

[01:20:09]

But urban terrain, Don, is the great equalizer. Doesn't matter how powerful that military is. Think about the Battle of Mosul, which is no, we provided complete air supremacy for the Iraqi security forces. And it took 100,000 forces to get 5000 rookie terrorists out of Mosul. It took them nine months to do that.

LEMON: Wow.

SPENCER: This is not going like -- I think there's this narrative that the Ukrainians don't have the advantage. They have the hope. They had the will. And right now they have the strongest form of war. And they're preparing every hour that this goes on.

LEMON: Colonel Spencer, learned a lot. Very interesting. We'll have you back. Thank you so much, sir. I appreciate it.

SPENCER: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Thank you. A rare moment of unity on Capitol Hill tonight, Republicans and Democrats applauding President Biden's stance against Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

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[01:25:11]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: So on this night, in our 245th year as a nation, I have come to report on the State of the Nation -- the State of the Union. And my report is this: the State of the Union is strong, because you, the American people, are strong.

We are stronger today. We are stronger today than we were a year ago. And we will be stronger a year from now than we are today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: President Biden giving his first State of the Union address tonight making his pitch for his domestic agenda and foreign policy to the nation. CNN speech reaction poll finding 71% of Americans who watch this speech had a positive reaction to what they heard.

Joining me now to discuss CNN's Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston, CNN National Politics Reporter Eva McKend, and CNN Political Analyst Laura Barron-Lopez.

All right. Late night crew, let's talk about this. Look, President Biden went into the speech with horrible approval rates by anyone's measure. But those were pretty good numbers for the reaction, the audience reaction to his speech, he is facing no doubt, tough domestic headwinds at home and international crisis. But do you think he came away from this speech a stronger president than going into it?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, a couple things. One thing we should note about that poll, and we always see this, after the speeches is that whatever party is in office, their supporters tend to watch more than the other party. So in this particular poll, I believe that the speech watches were 11% more Democrat. So you have to factor that in. But to your point, if you look at those numbers, I mean, he did well, a win for him tonight was not a loss. I mean, really, the expectations for Joe Biden to come in and deliver a speech. That's all he's been really criticized for, you know, certainly over the past year from Republicans. So he went out tonight, and delivered a fine speech. It was a laundry list of things to do, he was able to talk about unifying themes. And I think the fact that we saw Republicans and Democrats at least come together on Ukraine, if anything, I think was a positive development. But it's not going to change the hearts and minds of Republicans. It's certainly not going to change the hearts and minds of Democrats. I think Joe Biden right now, though, is just trying to keep the ship moving forward at this point, and it's going to be very difficult. His domestic agenda is very much in trouble as it has been for his, you know, first year in office.

BROWN: Yeah, it certainly is. And he started off his speech, even with talking about Ukraine. And we saw tonight, lawmakers wearing the colors of Ukraine's flag, blue and yellow, the colors that Republicans joining Democrats and standing up a show of bipartisanship that we really haven't seen much in recent years. What is the significance of that?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: I think it was a rare and moving site, and it reflected the spirit of the country. I think regardless of party affiliation, there is universal discuss at the barbarity of Vladimir Putin. So no surprise that Republicans and Democrats both echoing that sentiment.

I will say, though, in the weeks ahead, that is when the real test will come because this crisis is far from over. And now both parties are going to have to come together to continue to respond. This is not to say that there hasn't been criticism from Republicans of President Biden's execution of all of this, of handling this, but in terms of rebuking Putin, which President Biden did very strongly tonight, there was support for that. And I think in the weeks ahead, when we see that there has to be votes on sanctions has to be voted on a relief package. That is when the true test comes will Democrats and Republicans hold together to be able to continue to respond to this?

BROWN: Yeah. Well, you see that unity you saw the chamber filter into that.

Laura, I want to turn to his economic message because Biden hammered home this message of buy American, build American tonight. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: When we use taxpayer dollars to rebuild America, we are going to Buy American: buy American products, support American jobs.

We will buy American to make sure everything from the deck of an aircraft carrier to the steel on highway guardrails are made in America from beginning to end, all of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: So what do you think? Did Biden show us a democratic answer to Trump style populism here?

[01:29:44]

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean this has been a key part of Biden's agenda since he ran for the president, right, which is that he has been trying to argue that they would bring manufacturing back. That they would show that democracies can work not just in what he's doing right now in confronting Russia, but also showing that democracies can provide jobs for people at home, can provide higher wages, can make sure that America is actually bringing manufacturing back.

And so that's what he was hitting on there. They were able to get infrastructure last year, right. His arguably biggest win out of Congress, aside from the rescue plan, was the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Something that a lot of Democrats want to see Biden and their fellow party members really drawing that contrast, and saying a lot of Republicans didn't vote for this bill, even though it was bipartisan, and some did in the Senate. So that's something that you might see them hit on more heading into the 2022 midterms.

But to Mark's point, so much of his economic, domestic agenda is stalled right now in Congress, and it's not moving anytime soon.

We heard Senator Joe Manchin leave the chamber tonight telling reporters that he thought that what Biden was saying, he's not sure where it came from and that there haven't been any resumed talks, and that he's not on board right now with a lot of those agenda bullet points that Biden laid out.

BROWN: By the way, Joe Manchin sitting with the Republicans tonight. Yes.

PRESTON: That was a controversy though because nowadays, as there was in past days, you're not allowed to sit with somebody on the other side of the aisle or you'll be considered a traitor.

Now, Joe Biden, for a lot of Democrats, has been a traitor, you know, I think certainly the progressives are very upset at Joe Biden -- excuse me, Joe Manchin.

But the fact of the matter is at a time when we need unity, when we need the Congress to come together, they're not going to agree on everything but there's got to be some domestic items that they can agree on.

He just points as well, there's got to be agreement on how we're going to deal with Ukraine, how we're going to deal with them financially. How are going to deal with them sending weapons or with him. And quite frankly, how we're going to deal with Vladimir Putin.

What's interesting, tonight with all t he criticism that Joe Biden got from Republicans about his approach to Vladimir Putin with merely a word about how Donald Trump embraced Vladimir Putin during his presidency.

LOPEZ: And to Mark's point, I mean in the days leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Fox News as well as a number of Republicans were siding with Russia, were saying why are we opposing Russia?

And we saw two members of the Republican House, two house recently join the white nationalists conference where there was speakers praising Russia and having chants that were saying, you know, we should support Russia. So I think that that's an important context here.

Also on the speech if I could add, one thing that I thought was notable was Biden at the very top clearly wanted to hit on the theme of democracy. And Democracy versus autocracy.

But one thing that I thought stood out was that he when he mentioned at home, the potential threats to democracy, he didn't really connect the dots of there's threats abroad, there's threats at home, and that is why this is a huge piece of my presidency, and what it really is all about, right now.

He mentioned it, but he almost mentioned the election bills the Democrats are trying to pass, in passing as well.

BROWN: Yes. All right, thank you so much Laura, Eva, Mark, appreciate it.

Well, more than 670,000 Ukrainian refugees have already fled the war torn country. But at the border, many people are waiting days in the cold struggling to survive.

[01:33:42]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The U.N. saying tonight that 677,000 people have fled Ukraine amid Russia's ongoing invasion. That number could grow to 4 million in the coming months. But not all refugees are being treated the same way.

CNN's Arwa Damon has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For too many here, this is a families last day together. An endless stretch of broken hearts and shattered realities, on the road to Ukraine's border with Poland.

At one of the border crossings, it's a parallel story of different forms of pain. On one side, Ukrainian families. Some have already said goodbye to their husbands, fathers, sons.

Men aged 18 to 60 are not permitted to leave. Some family stay together until the end, desperate to postpone that final farewell. They move through within hours. On the other side, non Ukrainians. Students and professionals from dozens of nationalities. All who we spoke to said they've been here for days in below freezing temperatures.

Angry, delirious, cold, weak. They said they walked here. Told they are not permitted to board the buses. Those are for Ukrainians only.

(on camera): So this is the fourth time you are trying to cross the border?

YASSER AHMED, REFUGEE: Fourth time, yes.

DAMON: Yasser is from Afghanistan here with his uncle and his family.

AHMED: Two months that I didn't hear my parents voice, yes. So it so hard.

DAMON: They have all been on the road for four days, back and forth from border crossings. His aunt's arms are aching from carrying her newborn. She had just given birth the day before Russia launched its first strikes.

AHMED: I stay at the night, in the border, and then --

(CROSSTALK)

DAMON: They did not think little Sumayel would survive.

[01:39:59]

DAMON: We lost track of them at the border. They were able to move to the front of the non-Ukrainian side because of the children.

But for the men waiting in a line that has not moved, another night in sub-zero temperatures is not something they think they can survive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where -- where are you going? Whom are you going to tell your problems to? You have no one.

DAMON (on camera): How long have you've been waiting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, I've been here for two days now.

DAMON: And you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four days.

DAMON: Four days? Right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

JOSEPH EISHUN, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: Our friends at home waiting for us. Every time this comes to my mind I feel like crying. Ukraine is a beautiful country, but they don't have to treat us like this. We are not the cause of this DAMON: There is not a single person here who can come to terms with

how quickly, how violently all they knew to be real and safe was ripped away.

Elina is from Vietnam married to Yuri from Ukraine. They are directed over to the Ukrainian line.

You're going have to stay here?

YURI: Yes. I will stay.

ELINA MOTLY: We have made this decision just this morning. Because I wanted to stay a little longer to wait, to see what is going on, next.

DAMON: How are you explaining this to the children?

ELINA: My older, he understands. My little girl, she knows that's the war. Now this war is here. But she doesn't really understand what is the war.

DAMON: Wow.

Hi, hi. It's the Afghan family. Did you make it?

AHMED: They didn't want to cross. They said the baby cannot cross. They baby haven't document.

We head over to the school turned shelter they are sent to. And there we find this German couple. The used a Ukrainian surrogate to carry their twins.

STEPHAN TEPOULE: They say on the border, go away, go back from the border. The kids are three weeks old. They must go to Poland, we need help.

They were waiting for their baby's passports when the war started. A war that has already crushed so many lives and ripped away so many dreams.

Arwa Damon, CNN -- Mushhifta (ph) Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Heartbreaking. Thank, Arwa.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has quickly emerged as an international hero standing up to Vladimir Putin and inspiring the Ukrainian people to fight back. Now he is speaking directly to CNN.

[01:42:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Amid the ongoing siege of Ukraine by Russian forces, CNN 's Matthew Chance talks with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Here is that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: So many messages. I think that he has to give those messages. What will really work? That is very important. To be very useful in these situations, in this war against Russia.

(through translator): I think, first of all, he's a world leader. It's very important for people in the United States to understand that despite the fact that war is taking place in Ukraine, it's essentially for values in life, for democracy, for freedom. Therefore this war is for all the world.

And that message should be sent far and wide, from Ukraine, to people in the United States.

So they understand what it is like for us here. What we are fighting for, and why support for Ukraine matters.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For a long time, you downplayed the U.S. intelligence assessments about there being an imminent Russian attack. Do you now regret that? And do you think the fact that you didn't act earlier has left the people of Ukraine unprepared?

ZELENSKYY: The response you see today, How we work, how our army works and defends us is a testament that we are ready for anything.

Even though we are preparing in advance, it's important not to let your enemy anticipate your reaction. That's why I really did not like that situation where we put everything at risk, and tell the world that we are preparing for war.

CHANCE: The United States has said that it will not enforce a no fly zone over this country. And it won't put boots on the ground.

Do you think it is now time for President Biden and other western countries to reconsider that and to help you, not just with military aid, but with manpower?

ZELENSKYY: I've already turned to some foreign leaders with this request. I believe that leaders must support democratic states and show the world, you are king to defend such (INAUDIBLE)

The powerful issue of closing the air space helps us tremendously. This does not mean dragging NATO into this war. We spoke many times with President Biden. I'm thankful for him for these opportunities and support.

But they also 0did not hear me. I've been telling them that Ukraine will fight hardest of all. You will see that us alone with Russia, we would be able to do it.

CHANCE: Your army has enjoyed some significant battlefield victories in the past week. I myself, have been to see some of the Russian armored columns that have been totally hammered destroyed by weapons and the men that you got fighting the Russian advance.

CHANCE: Are you now concerned, though, that the Kremlin will double down on its military operations and hit Ukraine even harder?

ZELENSKYY: First, while we are winning or why were defending ourselves, because this is our home.

[01:49:55]

ZELENSKYY: Yes, Russia will double up but take a look it. Why, I'm in a stronger, more powerful and successful, because as I said, we have what we need to protect.

And they do not even understand our state. They do not know the streets, they do not know our people, they do not understand our philosophy, our aspirations, what type of people we are. They don't know anything here. They were just sent here to fight and to die.

CHANCE: You sent your delegations to meet the Russians for talks. Did anything substantial come out of that? Is there any hope as the world watches for diplomacy?

ZELENSKYY: They decided to begin to speak about the situation. And I really want, you have to speak, everybody has to stop fighting, and to go to that point from where it was beginning.

Yes, began, six days ago. I think there are principal things that you can do, and that is very important moment. If you do this, and if that side is ready, it means that they are ready for peace.

If they don't ready, it means that you are just, you know, wasting time.

CHANCE: And you think you're wasting your time, or do you think they're ready?

ZELENSKYY: We will see.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Incredible interview. Matthew Chance with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.

Well, as Russia advances on Ukraine, one American family is scrambling to rescue what's very dear to them in Kyiv, their newborn twins.

That's next.

[01:51:42]

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BROWN: An American family is working to get their newborn twin babies out of Ukraine. The family's surrogate gave birth to the twin prematurely just hours after Vladimir Putin announced he would invade the country. LEMON: Well today, the babies were moved to a new hospital in Kyiv,

the hospital they were previously in, hit with a missile soon they left. Father speaking to CNN tonight.

ALEXANDER SPELCOR, FATHER: But we are hoping every day that this moment will come soon, and every day, we're faced with these seemingly impossible tasks, and each day brings a new task.

Long term, we're of course, or seeking for medical transporters, proper equipped medical transcript, but also a safe passage for the baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Let's hope they get safe passage and everyone is ok, Pamela. It's been a real pleasure working with you. Thank you very much , we'll see you soon. Thanks for watching soon.

You too John.

BROWN: Happy birthday. Got to squeeze that in although it's a little after Your birthday now.

B9 COBERT: Our live coverage continues with Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine and Rosemarie Church in Atlanta right after this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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