Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Russian Forces Seize Huge Ukrainian Nuclear Plant, Fire Extinguished; Brutal Onslaught Rages In Ukraine As Russia Expands; Russia, Ukraine Agree To Set Up Evacuation Corridors; Kids With Cancer In Ukraine Shelter In Hospital Basements; Fire at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Extinguish; Russia Ramps Up Campaign to Take Over Southern Ukraine; Russian Tycoon Looks Into Putin's State of Mind; Using Tools to Investigate Possible War Crimes. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 04, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:28]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine.

And fears of the Russian invasion leading to a potential nuclear accident appear to have been averted, at least for now.

Ukrainian officials say they have put out a fire at a nuclear power plant that they say was caused by an assault by Russian forces. The Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine is the largest in Europe, one of the biggest in the world. Officials stress that radiation levels have not been elevated, which is good news. Ukraine's President though offering this condemnation of Russia for the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We contacted our partners. I talked to Charles Michel, Scholz, I talked to Duda, I talked to President Biden, we have contacted President Rafael Grossi, also Prime Minister Johnson, and we warn everyone that no other country other than Russia has ever fired on nuclear power unit. This is the first time in our history, in the history of mankind, the terrorist state now resorted to nuclear terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: I spoke earlier with Mariana Budjeryn, a research associate with Harvard University's project on managing the atom. Here's what she had to say about the possible dangers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIANA BUDJERYN, PROJECT ON MANAGING THE ATOM, HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL: What is critical for a safe operation of a nuclear reactor is the functioning of a cooling system of a reactor core. So if you can imagine it's a sort of big pool into which the fuel rods inserted, and it has to have a constant supply of cold water to keep that core and that nuclear fuel at a certain temperature.

And of course, that system relies on, A, supply of water, that supply of water depends on the functioning of the pumps, that pump that water to the core, and the pumps rely on electricity. There are backup electricity systems should the main power grid go out. That's standard for every nuclear power plant. Those are diesel generators. At that -- And then there's also batteries for redundancy.

But in a full scale invasion in a middle of the war, it's not inconceivable that all these systems could be compromised, and then we really have to worry that that there could be serious accident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Russian forces meanwhile advancing throughout the country in the South. Mariupol being attacked from all sides with civilians cut off from access to food, water and power. Shelling also increasing in northern cities. And a new video shows a horrifying aftermath of a Russian strike. This is north of Kyiv.

Official say an apartment building in the city of Chernihiv was hit on Thursday, leaving at least 33 people dead, 18 wounded. We're wanting you the footage you're about to see is graphic.

Now local officials tell us there are no military facilities near that apartment complex.

Now we've got correspondents around the world covering every aspect of this story, including Sara Sidner on the Polish border with Ukraine covering the refugee crisis, Nick Paton Walsh in Odessa as Russia advances in the south, and we begin with this report from CNN's Jim Sciutto here in Lviv.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russian forces on the march, closing in on cities in southern Ukraine. The mayor of Kherson says his city is now under Russian control. Ukrainian forces have left though a senior U.S. defense official says there is still fighting there.

Russian forces have also surrounded the city of Mariupol as the deputy mayor tells CNN it has lost water and power.

[01:00:04]

DEPUTY MAYOR SERGEI ORLOV, MARIUPOL, UKRAINE: We have continuous shell and for 26 hours. 26 hours they are destroying our city.

SCIUTTO: In the north USS Russian forces are making slower but still devastating progress. The Russian military flattened a residential area near Kyiv and houses in the town of Zhakovlinko (ph). It also destroyed an oil depot near Chernihiv, just north of the capital. In Kharkiv, in the Northeast, Russian barrages struck at least three schools. The U.S. says Russian forces are staging just outside the city now. The Ukrainian military is still fighting. They claim to have hit the miles long convoy that had stalled approaching Kyiv from the north.

DMYTRO BILOTSERKOVETS, ADVISOR TO KYIV MAYOR: You need to understand when a nation of ants everybody know what to do. That is why Putin could not win. We will win.

SCIUTTO: Ukraine also claims its forces have destroyed 20 Russian military vehicles near the Gostomel airbase. As the fighting rages, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met for a second round of talks today in Belarus as a Ukrainian negotiator tweeted that Ukraine's needs are not yet achieved. President Zelenskyy appeal for direct talks with Putin.

ZELENSKYY: I think I have to talk with Putin. The world has to talk with Putin, because there are no other ways to stop this war. That's why I have to.

SCIUTTO: Zelenskyy continued with this message for Putin. I don't bite. Sit down with me and talk. What are you afraid of? Putin, however, says his invasion will go on.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The special military operation in Ukraine is going according to plan in strict accordance with the schedule. All tasks are being successfully carried out.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: And the goal was to maximize the impact on Putin and Russia.

SCIUTTO: Today, the Biden administration announced new sanctions on Russian oligarchs and their families, part of an effort to keep up the economic pressure on Russia.

Direct U.S. military intervention remains off the table. But that has not stopped Zelenskyy from asking for the U.S. and NATO to impose a no-fly zone

ZELENSKYY (through translator): If you can't provide a no-fly zone right now, then tell us when? If you can't give Ukrainians a date, when, how long do you need? How many people should be blown up?

SCIUTTO: Jim Sciutto, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: Now John Spencer is a retired U.S. Army Major and Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Madison Policy Forum. He joins me now from Colorado Springs, in Colorado, and thanks for doing, sir. So before I get to your area of expertise, I wanted to ask you how disturbing is it that a nuclear power plant would be the site of Russian incoming fire, munitions going into a power plant like that? MAJ. JOHN SPENCER (RET.) CHAIR, URBAN WARFARE STUDIES, MADISON POLICY FORUM: That's a global disaster waiting to happen is very scary, especially firing anywhere near any type of weapon, that's just ridiculous.

HOLMES: You are an expert on urban warfare. That is the big fear in terms of what could be coming. If the Russians assault Kiev with heavy weapons, then a no holds barred entry. What would that look like in a kinetic sense?

SPENCER: It would look like hell on earth, to be honest. I mean, we're just seeing the very start of this, the indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas with the hope that there's some defenders and they're not following international law of ensuring there's, you know, making sure there's no civilians or whatever you're striking.

I mean, it's Russian doctrine, unfortunately. And we're going to see this intensify. Just think about the Battle of Grozny. The Russian started by just started on day one firing 3,000 artillery rounds a day, when they really faced resistance, it ended up being about 30,000 rounds a day.

HOLMES: Well, 30,000 a day. I actually covered the retaking of Mosul from ISIS in Iraq, and that that's sort of starkly illustrated how fighting in a city can be, you know, incredibly damaging the infrastructure, obviously, and far more likely to result in high civilian casualties. I think in Mosul, some estimates were 10,000 civilians died. Just describe how bad it can get and why.

SPENCER: Yes, so that -- I think this will be 10 times what the Battle of Mosul was, just because of the resistance you're fading. In the battle of Mosul was, you know, 5,000, maybe estimate 10,000 untrained terrorist, still took 100,000 people, forces backed by the most powerful and law of armed conflict abiding airpower in the world, and it still took them nine months and destroyed most of the city.

This could get in the tens of thousands of civilian casualties, and destroy every building there if the Ukrainians productive resistance, but for me more importantly, and what I hope I stand with Ukraine is that they can make Russia pay a huge, huge price.

[01:10:03]

HOLMES: Right. And yes, and to that very point, the Ukrainians are the defenders and I know you've written extensively about many of the advantages of being in that position. What are the main advantages? What would Ukrainian forces be doing to prepare or should be doing to prepare?

SPENCER: So the defense is always the strongest form of war has always been and the urban defense 10 times that. They can prepare every street. They can block every street, put guns in every window hidden, and just make it impossible for the Russians to come in without fear. The Russians fear urban combat, and that's why they're going to bomb it, unfortunately, a lot because all soldiers don't want urban warfare. So inside of Kyiv, if I was there, building the barriers, ensuring that they have protection digging, so they can go underground when the bombing starts or getting -- picking out which building they're going to be in, picking out which building they're going to shoot from. I mean, the resistance is amazing, but it's so powerful.

I don't believe the stories. I mean I've studied this for over a decade and I can give you all kinds of historical examples. If the Ukrainians fight, Kyiv can hold.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes, that's incredible analysis. I did want to ask you this before we go. There's a lot of talk about Russia's thermobaric weapons, I mean cluster munitions as well, which they've already used. But briefly one of these thermobaric weapons what potential applications in an urban or city environment?

SPENCER: Yes, so they're thermobaric, some people call a vacuum bomb just because what a thermobaric does when it hits the ground is sucks all the oxygen out of the room, out of the person's lungs and then fills it with fire. So some people call them a flame thrower weapon, but the thermobarics are advanced technology is meant to destroy things like tanks, and big vehicles in the open. They're not meant for urban terrain.

So if that was fired into urban terrain, which it will be and it was in the first battle of Grozny, it just melts concrete, melts metal, it just -- I mean it is a cruel and unusual weapon to use an urban terrain.

HOLMES: Just horrific to contemplate. Yes, this sort of warfare could be on the horizon. So it's great to have you in to get your expertise on this. John Spencer, major, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

SPENCER: Thank you.

HOLMES: Now, Russia says it has agreed to a humanitarian corridor in Ukraine during the latest round of talks. Refugees currently flooding to Ukraine's neighboring countries, but the corridor would be used by civilians and for aid to come in the other direction. The UN says more than a million refugees have fled Ukraine in just a week. CNN's Sara Sidner talks to some of the families who have escaped into Poland.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN Senior INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Ukrainian families mad rush to safety parents desperate attempt to shield their two children from the terror only war can bring.

The family lives just outside of Kyiv. The explosions rattle their bones. We fell to the ground we were shielding our children with our bodies. We got so scared. This is beyond words. We ran. We just ran. But the adults will shed no tears here. They have made a path, smile and pretend everything is OK even when they had to take the children to a shelter as bombs exploded.

(on camera): How are you still smiling? Why am I still smiling because it helps us stay alive. My youngest daughter was crying all night long and she asked me why are you laughing, Mom? Why are you joking? And I told her, it keeps us alive and keeps us mentally strong.

We saw that strength on display by hundreds of mothers traveling alone with their children across the border into Poland. Their husbands left behind to fight but not everyone at the Medica (ph) border crossing is coming into Poland.

We witness men going the other way to join the fight in Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm Ukrainian go into fight against Russians.

SIDNER: But for a million other Ukrainians fleeing is the best option to save themselves and their children. For this family the husband though remains with them even though Ukraine's government has demanded men of his age must stay put. He's been allowed out. His duty is to his family. He says he is the only breadwinner because his wife's duty is to the children who struggle with disabilities.

At the train station their youngest smiles and clutches her most prized possessions her old fuzzy tiger and a new keepsake a handful of gravel from her homeland. Sara Sidnerm CNN, Przemysl, Poland.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

[01:15:00]

HOLMES: Heartbreaking, isn't it. Well, coming up here on the program being a child in a warzone that's terrifying enough of course, but the kids who are already fighting a different battle with cancer, the Russian invasion has made their struggle even tougher. We go inside a hospital working to keep those kids safe and healthy. Coming up, also.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I asked them, children come here, please be safe. Come to me. But they didn't want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: As Russia closes in, mothers cope with their children leaving to fight rather than fall under the heavy hand of Moscow. We'll have that much more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Now this was the scene Wednesday in Melitopol in Ukraine as hundreds of angry Ukrainians protested the arrival of Russian troops there. Some protesters trying to smack a Russian armored vehicle as it drove past the crowd. Others taking to the streets waving Ukrainian flags.

Now so far here in Lviv, Russia's invasion has brought dozens of air raid sirens but mercifully no bombs so far.

[01:20:06]

Still the situation is perilous here and all across the nation, the WHO says it is seriously concerned about a massive humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS KLUGE, EUROPE DIRECTOR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Let's not forget that Ukraine has three super imposed emergencies. Number one, still the COVID-19. People need life-saving oxygen. Number two, we're outbreaks of pneumonitis, and the third one is a military conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right, some of the conflicts youngest victims struggling to get to hospitals as the violence intensifies. Our Anderson Cooper visited a specialized children's ward here in Lviv that is fighting to help sick kids despite the constant threat of danger.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The fighting hasn't come to Lviv but the wars littlest victims have. This Children's Hospital is full with kids being treated for cancer. More than 100 have arrived here in the past few days from Ukrainian city is already under attack.

(on camera): How did they get here?

DR. ROMAN KIZYMA, WESTERN UKRAINIAN SPECIALIZED PEIATRIC MEDICAL CENTER: Different ways. So, they tried to get any bus or train and mostly at night they arrived and we tried to get them from the trains and you know, it's chaos in the railway station. So people just push them because it's panic.

COOPER (voice-over): Dr. Roman Kizyma has barely slept in three days.

(on camera): What do you need here?

KIZYMA: First of all, we need the information to be spread that the risk kind of problem so we need to stop, stop the violence and get the treat, get the treatment for kids. And the second thing is strategical planning. We will face shortages of the drugs and technologies in very short future.

COOPER (voice-over): He's trying to get as many kids as possible into hospitals in Poland to save their lives.

KIZYMA: A lot of them will die in the nearest future because of these shortages of vaccines. And this treatment breaks and not only for cancer, but a lot of other things. And we know that and we are desperate.

COOPER: The rooms here are crowded and conditions are less than ideal.

KIZYMA: We have a constant alarm. Like we had four of them last night, I guess. And we -- COOPER (on camera): Air raid sirens?

KIZYMA: Yes. And then we have to have all these kids grabbed and taken into shelter.

COOPER: So every time there's an air raid siren you have to -- even if it's a false alarm, you have to bring them down?

KIZYMA: Yes, yes, yes, there's a mess. And it just looked like, I've never seen that, like in the movies. You know, a lot of both kids and mothers crying and they are just running somewhere.

COOPER: What game are you playing? How do you play?

(voice-over): Eight-year-old Alexey (ph) has brain cancer. He'd been making good progress in Kyiv until the war stopped his treatment. He got here four days ago with his mother Lita.

(on camera): How are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It is difficult. Because we've gone through such a long way of treatment. We have been getting treatment for a year now. And then we had such a little step left to make to the finishing line, to the happy end, this dream abruptly stops.

COOPER: Tomorrow, she'll take Alexey (ph) by bus to a hospital in Poland. She's left her other children behind in Kyiv.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My youngest is three and my oldest is 16. They have to stay there and my heart is breaking. I am grateful that we can go and continue the treatment and help my child who really needs it right now. But on the other side, I am so worried as I'm leaving my two other kids behind.

COOPER (on camera): That is an impossible decision to have to make.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Yes, but we have made it so far in the treatment and I have strong belief that our treatment will be successful.

COOPER (voice-over): In another room, we met Bogdan (ph).

Is this your truck?

At two, he survived a heart attack, a stroke and stomach cancer. Now eight the cancers come back. His mother Natalia (ph) is with him around the clock.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We have only gone through one course of chemotherapy. Now we are doing more blood tests. So far the results are not good. We are preparing for the second course of the therapy. You know it is very difficult now and when the sirens go off, the doctors come and disconnect him from the treatment.

COOPER (on camera): What is it like to be a mother trying to protect a child during this war?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It is so difficult. I cannot just put it into words. Do you understand it is impossible to put it into words? Because every mother wants their baby to be healthy.

COOPER: How do you explain what is happening to an eight-year-old?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I am trying not to involve him too much in the situation not to traumatize him. When we are writing he asks if we can take a break he wants to walk a bit.

[01:25:02]

He wants to walk around his room a bit as he is constantly bedridden getting the treatment. At first when we were going down to the bunker, he was getting very scared. What is going on? Everyone is running to hide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First time when I came here, was very afraid. I did not know where we are going.

COOPER: It's scary to see the other people who are scared. You're very brave.

(voice-over): There is no shortage of bravery in this place. These kids, these moms, they've been fighting for years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Please help us. It is very difficult for us here. Help us to save our country. There's every day in the news we hear about invasion, that our big city Kyiv, capital of Ukraine and the rest of our land is bombarded. People are running away from there. And we do not know what awaits for us. We just cannot know. We hope that the whole world will have to stop the aggressor.

COOPER: Anderson Cooper, CNN, Lviv.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: Now, Andrey Kurkov is a renowned Ukrainian writer. He joins me now from the west of the country. And Andrey, firstly, give us a sense of day-to-day life, yours and those around you?

ANDREY KURKOV, UKRAINIAN WRITER: Well, I'm in the place that West is full of refugees. I mean, we are also in the place where there are lots of refugees. And all the lady relative of our friend gave us yesterday, her flat with a full fridge. And she moved two daughters. So I mean, I think many Ukrainians in the Western Ukraine are doing the same.

I mean, it's quiet here, but there's a lot of police checking documents, stopping cars. There were some people arrested, including one, apparently a Russian citizen who was taking photos of military objects. Objects here in the region.

HOLMES: Right. What are people thinking about the enemy? I mean, powerful and frightening, or young, uncommitted and beatable. What people think about the Russians?

KURKOV: I mean, the spirit is very high because some of the resistance of the Ukrainian army and of course the support of Europe and United States also influence the morale and the attitude of people. So I mean, most of the people are optimistic, but very angry, very bitter, especially getting news about bombardment of nuclear station in Zaporizhzhia, about the criminals being brought from Crimea to Kherson to organize fake demonstrations, for Russian demonstrations, and to announce Kherson People's Republic. So I mean, the news which are coming is making people very, very angry and bitter.

HOLMES: Yes. Many people, of course, thought Putin would never actually do this invade Ukraine. But I know you've spoken about the change that you saw recently in Vladimir Putin and how it made you think that it could really happen. What is it that you saw?

KURKOV: Well, first of all, the top Russian officials, including Putin started using prison slang. I mean, Putin was always in love with prison slang, but his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lavrov, usually was diplomatic and then stop being diplomatic and started using practically abusive and underground world slexic (ph).

So I mean, it was obviously that they are gearing up themselves for aggression, that they're there to sort of try -- trying to get more hate for Ukraine and spread more hate to Ukraine in a modern Russian population.

HOLMES: Your 2018 novel, Gray Bees, it's set in the Donbas region, which of course has been at war since 2014. And is really central to what is happening now. How does it feel as an author to having written about that, and then finding your country in this situation a few years later?

KURKOV: Well, I mean, first of all, I want to say that I didn't plan to write this novel. And I didn't want to write about the war until the war is over. But I met a lot of refugees from Donetsk and Kyiv, and one of them told me that he is driving his car every month to a village near front line where there are seven families left and he is bringing their medicine and everything they need and they are paying him with reserves, vegetable pecans, et cetera.

And then I understood that the gray zone sort of the strip of land between positions of separatist Russians and pro Russians and Ukrainian armies 430 kilometers long and there are thousands of people stranded there without infrastructure, electricity, shops post administration and I wanted to give voice to these people, so I mean that's why I wrote the Gray Bees. [01:29:48]

ANDREY KURKOV, UKRAINIAN WRITER: And then I understood that the gray zone, so the strip of land between positions of separatist Russians, and pro-Russians, and Ukrainian armies. 430 kilometers long and there are thousands of people stranded there without infrastructure, electricity, shops, posts, administration.

And I wanted to give voice to these people, so I mean that is why I wrote this maybe. But, I didn't expect --

(CROSSTALK)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. It is a -- it is a pleasure to speak with you, Andrey -- a famed author here in this country. Ironically, known for comedic work, as well. This is not a laughing matter. It's been wonderful to speak with you. Andrey Kurkov, thanks so much.

Well, Ukrainians aren't giving up without a fight, of course, not even close. But neither are the Russians.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, how tripwire and booby traps are making life even more unbearable for Ukrainians, living in cities under siege. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And welcome back to our viewers, all around the world. Live from Lviv in western Ukraine, I'm Michael Holmes.

Now, Ukrainian emergency crews say they have extinguished the fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Flames broke out a few hours ago after what locals called Russian shelling of the plant. And authorities feared that it could cause a nuclear incident.

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, blaming Russia for the dangerous situation.

[01:34:57]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I appeal to all Ukrainians, to all Europeans, to all people who know the word "Chernobyl", who know how much grief and casualties the explosion that the nuclear power plant brought.

It was a global catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of people struggle with its consequences. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated. Russia wants to repeat this, and is already repeating it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile smoke poured out of residential buildings. This is in the town of Hatne, just outside the capital Kyiv, where Russian troops continue their advance. And Russia appears to be gaining more ground in the south and the east. It is fighting now in the second week.

The Ukrainian president pleading for more help, from western nations.

And in southern Ukraine, port city after port city facing increased attacks from Russian forces.

Nick Paton Walsh has more on Russia's campaign to tighten its control.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The town of Kherson refuses to give up it seems. Looting, crippling life here, this Russian soldier's bid to get into a cell phone store -- a sign of the lawless world they brought with them where food and medicine is lacking.

And what life is left, made more unbearable by the laying of tripwire mines, local officials said. This one posted online to warn others.

On the other side of Russian-held Crimea, Mariupol under siege, without water or electricity. The mayor, saying the Russian, quote "scum have found no other way to break us".

The prize in the south as this -- Odessa. Its opera house fortified. Its coastline, a harder task where the tide could bring Russians in with it, yet still lapse, as if nothing has changed.

An Estonian ship sank Thursday, east of here, its crew rescued with Ukrainian officials accusing Russia of shelling it to act as cover for their landings ships. Any hour now when the landing force could hove (ph) irrevocably into view.

Odessa brims with locals ready though. Like so many here, these civilian defendants don't want their whereabouts filmed, but are happy to speak.

Zhenia (ph) is chief marketing officer for an IT company who has traveled Europe and Africa. But joined up to fight on day one.

ZHENIA, VOLUNTEER FIGHTER: Unfortunately, I have lost two of my friends in Kherson two days ago.

WALSH: I'm sorry.

ZHENIA: They also have been --

WALSH: Were they fighting in Kherson?

ZHENIA: Yes, they were fighting. They were in a volunteer troop. So they had no military background as well. Both of them are programmers.

WALSH: We're joined by (INAUDIBLE) age 19, a nanny who fled Russians in Crimea when she was 11.

"We are ready to the end, to defend our land," she said. The occupiers came to my home before. My family is still there. Only I could leave, because I don't want to live in Russia."

Across town, mothers knit camouflage netting, while like Nellia, her daughters fight. Hers staying behind to defend Kyiv.

NELLIA KONONOVA, VOLUNTEER: We know the danger, we know that it will come, but we didn't know when will it come. And I asked them, children, come here please, be safe come to me. But they didn't want. No mom, please stay alive, stay safe but we will defend because everybody loves our motherland. Everybody.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Everybody wants to be independent, to be free. They decided to stay there, and I can't influence their decision. But I pray every day, I pray every night for them to stay alive.

WALSH: The defiant words of the Ukrainian soldiers of Snake Island who told a Russian ship where to shove it echo here.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Russian ship (EXPLETIVE DELETED) -- it is the logo, it's the logo now in Ukraine.

WALSH: They will need more than high spirits in the days ahead.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN -- Odessa, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:39:44]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kim Brunhuber, following our breaking news from CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta.

After the break, a former Russian tycoon is trying to read Vladimir Putin's state of mind, as he invades Ukraine. Once Russia's richest man, he now says this about the Russian leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, PUTIN CRITIC: I don't want to imagine what he is thinking about. I am absolutely convinced though that he is the enemy of humankind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: As Russia's assault on Ukraine continues to escalate, America's top diplomat is planning to visit U.S. allies to talk about how to handle the ongoing crisis.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, touched down in Brussels a short time ago. In a few hours, he'll meet at NATO headquarters with foreign ministers from the alliance. After that he'll continue on to meet with NATO allies from Poland to Latvia to talk about what the State Department calls Russia's unjustified war against Ukraine.

The White House is piling on the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin by going after his inner circle. On Thursday, President Joe Biden slapped new sanctions on a group of oligarchs close to the Russian leader. They'll be cut off from the U.S. financial system while their assets and property will be frozen or blocked.

Britain later followed suit, slapping its own sanctions on to oligarchs worth $19 billion combined. Biden says earlier sanctions have already had an effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The severe economic sanctions on Putin and all those folks around him, choking off access to technology as well as cutting off access to the global financial system. It has had a profound impact already.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: A former Russian oil tycoon has concerns about Putin's state of mind, as the Russian leader's military tries to push deeper into Ukraine.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was Russia's richest man before he spent a decade in prison for alleged fraud and tax evasion. But he says those charges were trumped up, partly, because of his support for the Russian opposition.

He recently spoke with CNN's Nina Dos Santos.

[01:44:53]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHODORKOVSKY (through translator): I have been fighting him for almost 20 years, and ten of those years in prison. I don't want to imagine what he is thinking about. I am absolutely convinced though that he is the enemy of humankind.

So this is a man who took the decision that he can kill people, and bomb towns for some interest of his own. He is my personal enemy, and I think he is the enemy of any normal human being.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What frame of mind you think he isn't?

KHODORKOVSKY: Of course, we can see that in the clinical features of paranoia. We can see a man who is afraid of his own entourage. But that doesn't mean to say that he's not dangerous anymore.

DOS SANTOS: Has Vladimir Putin bitten off politically a lot more than he can chew at this point?

KHODORKOVSKY:I think Putin thought he would be met with flowers in Ukraine and that he would convince people that he was there to liberate them from the so-called Nazis he keeps going on about.

Putin is firmly convinced that people themselves can't fight for freedom themselves. It must be some Americans forcing them to do it. And so today he is shocked.

DOS SANTOS: Do you think that we will see Vladimir Putin and members of his entourage in The Hague facing war crimes?

KHODORKOVSKY: To me, by invading Ukraine, Putin became a criminal.

DOS SANTOS: Do you think that there's a sense that this is the end of Putin's time in office?

KHODORKOVSKY: I'm convinced that Putin hasn't got much time left, maybe a year, maybe three.

But what he has done in Ukraine has significantly reduced his chances of remaining in power much longer. Today we are no longer thinking in terms of his being around another decade as we thought a week ago.

DOS SANTOS: So these sanctions -- seizing yachts, bank accounts, potentially expensive houses here in London -- is this going to be enough?

KHODORKOVSKY: At the moment I don't want to even think about the effect this sanctions will have on Putin's inner circle -- in a year or two from now. That is totally irrelevant at the moment.

What is important now is the next couple of days, or even hours and stopping the war. We have to deprive Putin's regime any financial oxygen.

I've never (INAUDIBLE) sanctions against Russia. But now we have to stop the war there is no price too high to pay to stop this war.

Why are these sanctions only covering 70 percent of Russian banks? Any payments in favor of Russia or in the interest of Putin's regime must be stopped.

For that, all Russian bank accounts, all accounts that belong to oligarchs, all of whom act as Putin's wallet -- they must be really painful for all until the war stops.

DOS SANTOS: Do you think Vladimir Putin would press the nuclear button? Do you think he would use nuclear weapons?

KHODORKOVSKY: Now I see he can do anything. Today we have the chance to stop him, we must do it. I think if he can cross any lines, if we will try to talk with him we look like weak -- we, you, we, Ukrainians must stop Putin now.

24 hours, 48 hours -- at that time we must decide, we stop Putin now, or we stop Putin later in the war between our countries.

DOS SANTOS: What's your message to Vladimir Putin right now?

KHODORKOVSKY: Only one. Stop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta, I will see you here in about an hour.

My colleague Michael Holmes will be back after the break to tell us about evidence of possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine and to show you what CNN is doing to help compile that proof.

Stay with us.

[01:48:45]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hello everyone. I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine with the latest on the Russian invasion of this country.

Ukrainian officials say a fire that broke up at Europe's largest nuclear power plant has now been put out. They say the blaze that the Zaporizhzhia plant started after a heavy Russian attack. There are no deaths or injuries reported at the moment. And one very important detail, radiation levels are still normal.

But the president of this country, Zelenskyy, he accuses Russia of purposely targeting the plant in southeastern Ukraine.

We now want to show you a video that some viewers will find graphic. And it is the aftermath of a Russian strike on an apartment building. This is in a town north of Kyiv. It shows victims screaming for help after the building -- this is in Chernihiv -- was hit on Thursday. Just down the street a children's hospital and a school. Officials say at least 33 people were killed, 18 others wounded.

Now targeting civilian areas during armed conflict is a war crime and there are growing calls from Ukraine and the global community for an investigation by the International Criminal Court.

CNN is using technical tools to verify and map attacks that might be considered war crimes including attacks on residential areas and schools.

Katie Polglase with that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH: As the shell started raining down on civilians of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, we began building an evidence base to investigate potential war crimes.

On Monday, Russian shelling hit a supermarket. Next it was a beer store, people running across the road as the missile launches itself in the tarmac.

With each new incident of civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv being hit, we map them out across Google Earth on locations like this to show the spread and the scale of the destruction.

[01:54:45] POLGLASE: This street was hit on Tuesday. "The building is gone," the man filming says.

Identifying this white building and this red brickwork, we geolocated the videos to this scene in western Kharkiv just meters from a hospital.

By Wednesday we found evidence a school had been hit.

So when we established the location of the school, we realized just how many other schools were in that vicinity. So whatever the target of the strike it was going to hit a densely-populated residential area.

Minutes later, more footage emerges, another school and then another. As more and more footage continues to roll in of the civilian destruction in Kharkiv, we continue to locate and verify each one.

And while the Russian government continues to deny that they are targeting civilian infrastructure, this mapping of the evidence is suggesting otherwise.

Katie Polglase, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Events of course are happening fast and the story in Ukraine changing pretty much by the minute. You can stay up to date though, live updates on CNN.com for you. And of course right here on CNN.

And finally a very touching human moment in the time of crisis.

That's Italian pianist David Martello (ph) there playing John Lennon's peace anthem "Imagine" for Ukrainian refugees arriving in Poland. He traveled from Germany to bring cheer to those displaced by the invasion.

Martello later joined by a Ukrainian woman and together they performed Queen's "We are the Champions". More than half a million Ukrainians have fled to Poland specifically -- a million overall. That's according to the U.N.

Live from Lviv, Ukraine I am Michael Holmes.

Our breaking news coverage continues after the break.

[01:56:49]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)