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Russian Troops Lay Siege to Several Ukrainian Cities; Refugees Flee Ukraine as Russian Attacks Intensify; Residents in Lviv Gear Up for a Fight; Interview with Lesa Vasylenko, Ukrainian Member of Parliament, Russian Invasion's Toll on Families. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired March 03, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russia's assault on Ukraine continues without mercy. This is what's left of a university in Kharkiv, the country's second city. Amid the pounding of civilian air raids.

In the port city of Mariupol, also the scene of heavy shelling, local officials say hundreds of casualties are now feared. The United Nation has confirmed more than 200 civilians killed across Ukraine. In the week since this Russian invasion began. Ukrainian officials say the figure is much higher.

You think those figures would scare people off the streets. But look at this scene from the town of Konotop where a Russian officer holds up two grenades for protection after delivering an ultimatum, demanding surrender. Shame on you, the angry crowd shouts. Just go back to where you came from.

Minutes later, the local mayor sets out Russia's terms. If we start resisting, they will shell the city, he tells the crowd. But if you vote for it, we will fight back. The decision has to be taken by everyone, though, because the artillery is aimed at us, he warns.

Across Ukraine, there continue to be courageous acts of civilian defiance against the Russian occupiers. This was a scene in the southern town of Melitopol, now under Russian control. Locals literally lying in front of these military vehicles to resist.

And there is resistance on the battlefield too. Russian officials admitting nearly 500 of their own soldiers have been killed so far. Ukrainians say the figure is closer to 6,000. Either way, the human cost of this war is already tragically high. Matthew Chance, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES CNN ANCHOR: All right, I want to play you now the heart-breaking plea of the Ukrainian refugee. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLGA SHEVCHENKO, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: Ukrainians are very friendly. If you don't want to have war, we don't want to have war. We want just peace. We want to have children, to go to school, to go to work, you know? Does he want war? We ask Russian president. We ask all Russians please stop the war. Because it is so dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now she is among the 1 million people who have fled Ukraine to escape this war in just over a week. That's according to the U.N. Some getting out by trains like this one in Kharkiv, which are taking people across the border where humanitarian aid is ready and waiting.

All right, CNN's Scott McLean joins me now with more. I know you've covered the Polish border. It was crazy up there for a while. What are we hearing now?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're hearing now, at least according to whole as U.N. ambassador, that they're finding more and more unaccompanied children. I haven't seen that for myself when I was at the border, but they say it is becoming more and more of a common problem, perhaps its people getting separated along the way, in lineups at the train stations, whatever it sort of the chaos. Perhaps men are finding it difficult to leave and so they're sending children with others. It is not entirely clear. Every circumstance is certainly different.

But the bottom line is it is getting easier, it seems, to get out of the country. We're seeing less traffic at land borders both on foot and by car. At the train station, things are getting more orderly. Though I have to say there is still a steady stream of people trying to leave the country.

What we have noticed visibly is far fewer foreigners, far fewer men in general trying to get out. It was by and large women and children, lined up, to get out by train, which seems to be the easiest method. But it's still not easy. I mean, the folks who were waiting for the train last night, they were there for hours and didn't know when or if that train would come at all. They are allowing some men on board, though, in lesser numbers, and only on specific trains they're delegating. Other than that, it is the smallest most vulnerable children who are getting on those trains first.

I spoke to one man yesterday who was in line, I spotted him because it is unusual to see men in line, especially Ukrainian men, and he wasn't there to try to get on the train, he was actually there just because he knew what he was going to have to do. He knew he was going to have to go sign up for the military. He knew that he was saying good-bye to his family and he just wanted to spend every last moment that he possibly could with them. And so, the was in line with them for a couple of hours. He walked them up to the door of the train. Gave them a kiss, gave them a hug. It was a really emotional moment and you can understand why. Because he has no idea if they're going to be gone for a few days or if they're going to be gone for a couple of months. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:35:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is war. And for me, it is better that they will be safe and that's why I have another feelings because I have to understand that they are in safety.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It is very difficult. I don't feel any emotions. I hope I will come back. I don't think it is going to be for a long time. I think everything is going to be fine. We will win, I believe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Heart breaking.

MCLEAN: And the chant from the crowd is glory to Ukraine, glory to heroes. There is a lot of patriotism in that line. A lot of people feeling optimistic about this war, including that man himself, who as I said is going to enlist in the military, just this morning, here in Lviv. He says he's, you know, had some level of confidence that the war could end in a matter of days, but obviously they don't know. And one of the other thing to point out from the train station, is the trains that are coming in are especially just shuttling back and forth between Poland. They don't have anyone coming this way. Just to make things a little bit more streamlined. What we are expecting to see more of, though in the coming days is trains packed with humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

HOLMES: I had a representative from UNICEF on earlier. And we were talking about just how incredible it is. He said he's never seen anything like a million people in eight days fleeing a country. The other thing he said, half of them are kids. Half of them. What are some of the parents telling you?

MCLEAN: It is remarkable. Because you have to keep in mind, that by the time I've spoken to them, whether it was at the border or here in Lviv, they have traveled sometimes for two or three days. Because it is difficult to get out of Kyiv. It's difficult to get out of other cities, especially if you're relying on these packed trains to actually go. They're coming sporadically. There doesn't seem to be much of a schedule, and it is just sort of a bit of chaos in trying to get on.

Others are coming by car, but obviously it's difficult with some logjams and checkpoints, different things like that. And so, they're exhausted by the time they get here. They're exhausted, they're overwhelmed and, you know, the tears come easily because when you're tired, when you are overwhelmed, you had enough, everything -- doesn't take very much to set you off. And, you know, your heart just breaks for these parents because of course as you know, I'm sure, it's difficult enough just, you know, surviving, getting along in everyday life with a small child, and keeping them safe and healthy and happy, and just imagine doing that under the circumstances where you're waiting outside for hours on end and that's exactly what these parents are doing.

HOLMES: And explaining to them what a war is.

MCLEAN: Yes, exactly. It is a difficult conversation for sure.

HOLMES: Scott McLean, great to have you on set here. Scott McLean has been covering the refugees for some time now. Appreciate that.

We will be back with much more after the break.

[04:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. Factory workers, teenagers, even beermakers all coming together to gear up for a fight against Russian forces in Ukraine. That's happening in the western city of Lviv, where I am, which so far is untouched by ground battles or artillery and missiles. But as Anderson Cooper reports, its residents still want to be ready.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (through translator): In an old factory in Lviv, they prepare for war as best they can, welding steel to block roads. Hedgehogs, they're called.

COOPER: These are most effective, I'm told, when the ground is soft and that they can get dug down into the earth. Or perhaps even on a cobblestone street they can dig down between the cobblestones. But with a hedgehog this size, it's unlikely to be able to stop a Russian tank. But perhaps a vehicle or a Humvee.

COOPER (voice-over): Lviv has so far been mostly unscathed. At night, air raid sirens sounds, but the fight is still further East. Each night, each day, the determination here grows.

At a brewery in Lviv, they now make Molotov cocktails. Tara Maselko (ph) says they've made 2,000 at least, using empty bottles of a popular anti-Putin beer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's "Putin Duren" which means Putin dickhead. And you will see --

COOPER: Wait. The beer is called "Putin Dickhead"?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

COOPER: How long have you've been making Putin Dickhead beer? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, we started to brew this beer in 2015, because in 2014, Russians came to Crimean Peninsula and gathered in Eastern regions. So, this label has a history already. So --

COOPER: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you see --

COOPER: That's quite the -- that's quite the image.

COOPER (voice-over): It's a primitive weapon but potentially deadly. These Molotov cocktails also have additional materials in them to ensure the fire will stick to whatever it's thrown at.

COOPER: Petrol alone isn't good enough. You want something to make it sticky so that it sticks on -- on a person?

UNIDENTIFIED: Yes. Stick on the surface.

COOPER: When we got here to the factory, there was a group of maybe 70 or so men who were all standing around a car. And there was somebody in a uniform, a Ukrainian in uniform, who was explaining to them how to throw a Molotov cocktail inside a vehicle to the best effect.

There's a lot of people here who are trying to get as much training as they can in order to be able to face Russian forces, if and when they come.

COOPER (voice-over): In another neighborhood, residents gather supplies and send them wherever they're needed. Spike strips to puncture tires. Flak jackets with metal plates inside.

"We're continuing sending them to our guys there throughout the day," he says. Here you can see camouflage nets. They're to use as a cover so that the enemy doesn't know where our tanks and armored personnel carriers are located. In other rooms we have medicine and groceries."

A week ago, he was a construction worker. But then Putin invaded, and everything changed.

COOPER: You have a message to Vladimir Putin? What is it?

COOPER (voice-over): "What would I tell? him?" he says. "I would tell him he can go (BLEEP) himself."

Fourteen-year-old Andriy's (ph) school is closed. He says volunteering makes him less nervous about the war.

COOPER: Are you scared?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the first time, first day I was. But now, I understand that we need help and support to our soldiers and people, and then we will live in peace. In peace.

COOPER (voice-over): Before leaving, we meet Pavlo (ph) and his son Artur (ph), just 10 months old, wrapped in the Ukrainian flag. He told me, "I just want to say my son Artur (ph) will learn to say, "glory to Ukraine" faster than he says mom or dad."

COOPER: Those will be his first words, "Slava (ph) Ukraine"?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

[04:45:00]

COOPER (voice-over): Anderson Cooper, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Joining me now from Kyiv is Lesia Vasylenko. She is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament. I'm glad we were able to connect with you. It wasn't easy. I do want to start with a tweet that you posted and I want people to hear it and see the words.

You said this: I don't know what to write anymore. Second time in three months I had to hand off my 9 months baby girl not knowing if I will ever see her again. This is a pain that only a mother can know. It is more painful than all of war put together. The amount of hatred in me grows every day.

It is painful to even read that, let alone you living those emotions. Try to explain what that feeling is like.

LESIA VASYLENKO, UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: That feeling can only be understood by mothers and fathers across the globe. And it is to mothers and fathers to whom I appeal today with the words save Ukraine. Because it is actually a real threat that my country and people, my children and the children of a million Ukrainians are living through, a real threat to be exterminated by Russia. And in order to stop that from happening, what we really need is a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

So, the appeal that I'm making today to the parents who know exactly when I'm talk what I'm talking about. Because when it comes to making hard choices about staying with your kids or keeping your kids in safety, you will tear that child away from you, just to keep him or her safe.

And I had to do that. And I had to go through that as did many, many parents across Ukraine. What we need now for our children to keep safe, the ones that remain here, is the no-fly zone. And you can appeal for that to your members of Parliament, to Congressmen, to your government, and ask for no-fly zone over Ukraine to be introduced. Because without that, as Ukrainians, we're going to carry on dying because Russia is carrying on with their massacre on the whole of the Ukrainian nation.

HOLMES: And in fact, your Twitter feed overall is heart breaking to scroll. People should check it out. But you are there in Kyiv, the Russians are on the outside. Just give us a sense of day-to-day life where you are for you personally. What are you seeing and hearing?

VASYLENKO: Today I was driving through the city from point a to point b. The city is pretty empty. There's a lot of checkpoints, it's quiet. Everything has gone quiet. So, your usual places where you would have a Sunday coffee or drink at the bar, everything is closed. Literally all the restaurants have turned their kitchens to 24/7 to supply the needs of the army, of the territorial defense or of the hospitals.

It's good that the city was unblocked and that it is not starving anymore because there was stress that people would not be getting food and would not be getting any water so that problem is fixed. But still there is a sense of war. You can smell it. You can smell it in the air, on every street corner. And it is the same thing throughout Ukraine.

For the last two days I spent driving around several cities, it's exactly the same everywhere. At night, sirens go off, children go to bed in cellars and the lullabies are silent. That sound of alarm to keep people safe. And we wake up every morning and every city, every village of Ukraine, we thank God that we are alive, that we see the sky, that we see the sun sometimes when it comes out, and we carry on fighting. Hour by hour. This is how we live our day to day. Hour by hour of fighting against the Russians, of fighting for the very sake of our existence.

HOLMES: Always you are painting an eloquent portrait of what life is like for Ukrainians. Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko, thank you so much for joining us once again. We will be checking in with you. Stay safe.

VASYLENKO: Thank you.

HOLMES: All right, I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv. We will have more ahead on the war in Ukraine. For now, let's go back to Isa Soares in London -- Isa.

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Very moving interview there when she said, you know, there is a sense of war, you can smell it. Thanks very much, Michael. We have some new developments on the investigation now into the capitol riots in the new court filings. The January 6th committee alleges that former U.S. President Donald Trump and right-wing lawyer John Eastman were part of the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The committee alleges Eastman helps to orchestrate the plot and they're attempting to obtain his emails. It's something Eastman refused to hand over, claiming attorney/client privilege. The news continues after this short break.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: An American couple was in Kyiv to meet their new daughter, born to Ukrainian surrogate. Like many others soon after the Russian invasion began, they tried to leave the country by road, but kept hitting roadblocks. Eventually they abandoned their car and finished the journey on foot. What came next, we'll hear in their own words.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACOB BOECKMANN, EVACUATED UKRAINE WITH NEWBORN: After sleeping in the car overnight, we were within we felt like about 20 kilometers of the border. After three or four hours in the car we found out we were, we moved just very little. And so, at that point we decided that it was going to be the warmest part of the day, and the only opportunity to make it to the border before night fall would be to get out and walk. Our biggest concern with our daughter being 4 days old was hypothermia. It was very cold. But we felt like if we didn't act then, we wouldn't know how much longer it would be until we would make it across.

JESSIE BOECKMANN, EVACUATED UKRAINE WITH NEWBORN: When we first got out of the car, I was worried that Jacob and I had made the wrong decision. It was pretty windy outside and I'm sure the windchill was even colder than 30 degrees. But we constantly stopped to make sure the baby was warm enough and that she was breathing.

[04:55:00]

As the walk went on, I realized we made the right decision. We just walked through miles and miles of cars that weren't moving at all. And so, I knew at that point that our walk to the border was the best decision we made.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: The couple and the newborn are now safe at home in California. And of course, we wish them all the very best.

The Russian owner of the legendary English football club Chelsea says he plans to sell it. Billionaire Roman Abramovich made the announcement on Wednesday. Announcing the move would be in the best interest of the club fans, employees, as well as sponsors. We learned last week, if you remember, he gave stewardship of the club over to trustees. Abramovich said when the sale takes place, net proceeds will be donated to a foundation set up to help those affected by Russia's invasion.

Russian and Belarusian athletes will no longer be able to compete in the Winter Paralympics in Beijing. That change coming after multiple teams threatened to not compete in the games, which kick off Friday, with the opening ceremony. Less than a day ago, the International Paralympic Committee was allowing those athletes to compete as neutrals. The president of the IPC says the decision was made to preserve the integrity of the games, as well as the safety of the participants.

And that does it for us here on the show. Thanks very much for watching. I'm Isa Soares in London. Our breaking news coverage of the war in Ukraine continues on "NEW DAY" with Brianna Keilar and John Berman. You're watching CNN.

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